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THE
CENTURY DICTIONARY
AND
CYCLOPEDIA
A WORK OF UNIVERSAL REFERENCE
IN ALL DEPARTMENTS OF KNOWLEDGE
WITH A NEW ATLAS OF THE WORLD
IN TEN VOLUMES
VOLUME VI
PUBLISHED BY
%\)t Centurg Co.
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904,
By The Century Co.
All Bights Reserved.
PUBLISHERS' NOTE ON THE COMPLETED WORK
With the publication of the Atlas which is incorporated in the present edition The Century Diction-
ary and Cyclopedia was brought to completion. As the Cyclopedia of Names grew out of the Dictionary
and supplemented it on its encyclopedic side, so the Atlas grew out of the Cyclopedia, and serves as an
extension of its geographical material. Each of these works deals with a different part of the great field
of words, — common words and names, — while the three, in their unity, constitute a work of reference
which practically covers the whole of that field. The total number of words and names defined or other-
wise described in the completed work is about 450,000.
The special features of each of these several parts of the book are described in the Prefaces which will
be found in the first, ninth, and tenth volumes. It need only be said that the definitions of the common
words of the language are for the most part stated encyclopedically, with a vast amount of technical,
historical, and practical information in addition to an unrivaled wealth of purely philological material;
that the same encyclopedic method is applied to proper names — names of persons, places, characters in
fiction, books — in short, of everything to which a name is given ; and that in the Atlas geographical
names, and much besides, are exhibited with a completeness and serviceableness seldom equaled. Of
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia as a whole, therefore, it may be said that it is in its own field
the most complete presentation of human knowledge — scientific, historical, and practical — that exists.
Moreover, the method of distributing this encyclopedic material under a large number of headings,
which has been followed throughout, makes each item of this great store of information far more acces-
sible than in works in which a different system is adopted.
The first edition of The Century Dictionary was completed in 1891 , that of The Century Cyclopedia of
Names in 1894, and that of the Atlas in 1897. During the years that have elapsed since those dates each
of these works has been subjected to repeated careful revisions, in order to include the latest information,
and the results of this scrutiny are comprised in this edition.
THE
CENTURY DICTIONARY
AN ENCYCLOPEDIC LEXICON
OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
PREPARED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF
WILLIAM DWIGHT WHITNEY, Ph.D., LL.D.
PROFESSOR OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY AND SANSKRIT
IN YALE UNIVERSITY
PUBLISHED BY
Cf)e Century Co*
NEW YORK
Mion
^
Copyright, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, by The Century Co.
y4ll Rights Reserved.
By permission of Messrs. Blackie^ Son, publishers of The Imperial Dictionary by Dr. Ogilvie and
Dr. Annandale, material from that English copyright woric has been freely used in the preparation of
The Century Dictionary, and certain owners of American copyrights having claimed that undue use of
matter so protected has been made in the compilation of The Imperial Dictionary, notice is hereby
given that arrangement has also been made with the proprietors of such copyright matter for its use
in the preparation of The Century Dictionary.
THE DEVINNE PRESS.
ABBREVIATIONS
USED IN THE ETYMOLOGIES AND DEFINITIONS.
a., adj adjective.
abbr. abbreviatioii.
abL ablative.
ace accusative.
accom accommodated, accom-
modation.
act, active.
adv adverb.
AF Anglo-French-
agrL agricolture.
AL Anglo- Latin.
alg. algebra.
Amer. American.
anat anatomy.
anc ancient.
antiq. antiquity.
aor. aorist.
appar apparently.
At. Arabic.
arch. architecture.
arcbaeol archaeology.
aritb arithmetic.
art. article.
AS Anglo-Saxon.
aatroL astrology.
astron. astronomy.
attrib attribative.
aag. augmentative.
Bav Bavarian.
Beng. Bengali.
biol. biology.
Bohem Bohemian.
bot botany.
Braz. Brazilian.
Bret Breton.
bryol bryology.
Bulg. Bulgarian.
carp. carpentry.
Cat Catalan.
Oath. Catholic.
cans. causative.
ceram. ceramics.
cf. L c&nfeTj compare.
ch. church.
Chal Chaldee.
chem. chemical, chemistry.
Chin. Chinese.
chron. chronology.
colloq. colloquial, colloquially.
com. commerce, commer-
cial.
comp composition, com-
pound.
compar. comparative.
conch conchology.
conj conjunction.
contr. contracted, contrac-
tion.
Com Cornish.
craniol craniology.
craniom. craniometry.
crystaL crystallography.
D. Dutch.
Dan Danish.
dat dative.
def definite, definition.
deriv. derivative, derivation.
dial dialect, dialectal.
diff. different.
dim diminutive.
distrib distributive.
dram dramatic.
dynam dynamics.
E East.
E. EngIish(u9i£a2Zj/mea»-
tn^ modem English).
eccL> eccles ecclesiastical.
econ economy.
e. g L. exempii gratia, for
example.
Egypt Egyptian.
E. Ind East Indian.
elect electricitj'.
embryol embryology.
I^g. English.
engin engineering.
entom entomology.
Epis. EpiscopaL
eqniv equivalent
esp especially.
Eth. Ethiopic
ethnog. ethnography.
ethnoL ethnology.
etym etymology.
Eur European.
exclam exclamation.
f., fem. feminine.
^ French (ygtiaUy mean-
ing modem French).
Flem Flemish,
fort fortification.
freq frequentative.
Fries. Priesic.
fut future.
G. GeTmaa(ugtiaUymean-
ing Xew High Ger-
man).
GaeL Gaelia
galv. galvanism.
gen genitive.
geog. geography.
geol geology.
geom geometry.
Goth. Gothic (Moesogothic).
6r. Greeli:
gram granunar.
gun gunnery.
Heb Hebrew.
her. heraldry.
herpet herpetology.
Hind HindnstanL
hist. history.
horol horology.
hort horticulture.
Hung Hungarian.
hydraul hydraulics.
hydros hydrostatics.
Icel Icelandic (^bouaUy
ineaning Old Ice-
landic, otJierwise call-
ed Old Norse).
ichth ichthyology.
i. e. L.idestt that is.
impers impersouEd.
impf. imperfect
impv imperative.
improp improperly.
Ind Indian.
ind. indicative.
Indo-Eur. Indo-European.
indef indefinite.
inf infinitive.
instr. instrumentaL
inter j interjection.
intr., intrans. ..intransitive.
It. Irish.
irreg irregular, irregularly.
It Italian.
Jap Japanese.
L. Latin (usuaUy mean-
ing classical Latin).
Lett Lettish.
LG. Low German..
lichenoL lichenology.
lit literal, literally.
lit literature.
Lith Lithuanian.
lithog lithography.
lithol lithology.
LL Late Latin.
ra., masc masculine.
M Middle.
mach machinery.
mammal mammalogy.
manuf manufacturing.
math mathematics.
MD Middle Dutch.
ME Middle English (other-
wise called Old Eng-
lish).
mech. mechanics, mechani-
caL
med. medicine.
mensur. mensuration.
metal metallnigy.
metaph. metaphysics.
meteor. meteorology.
Mex. Mexican.
MGr. Middle Gree^ medie-
val Greek.
MHG. Middle High German.
milit military.
mlneraL mineralogy.
ML Middle Latin, medie-
val Latin.
MIXx. Middle Low German.
mod. modem.
mycoL mycology.
myth. mythology.
n noun.
n., neut nenter.
X New.
N. North.
X. Amer. North America.
nat natnraL
naut uauticaL
nav. navigation.
NGr. New Greek, modem
Greek.
NHG New High Gemian
(wtuaUy simply G.,
German).
NL. New Latin, modem
Latin.
nom nominative.
Norm Norman.
north northern.
Norw. Norwegian.
nnmis numismatics.
O Old.
obs obsolete.
obstet obstetrics.
OBulg. Old Bulgarian (other-
toise called Church
Slavonic, Old Slavic,
Old Slavonic).
OCat Old Catalan.
OD OldDuteh.
ODan Old Danish.
odontog. odontography.
odontol odontology.
OF. Old French.
OFlem Old Flemish.
OGael Old Gaelic.
OHG Old High German.
Olr Old Irish.
Olt Old Italian.
OL. Old Latin.
OLG. Old Low German.
ONorth Old Northumbrian.
OPruBS. Old Prussian.
orig. original, originally.
omith ornithology.
OS Old Saxon.
OSp Old Spanish.
osteol osteology.
OSw Old Swedish.
OTeut. Old Teutonic.
p. a. participial adjective.
paleon paleontology.
part participle.
pass. passive.
pathol pathology.
perf perfect.
Pers Persian.
pers. person.
persp perspective.
Peruv Peruvian.
petrog. petrography.
Pg Portuguese.
phar pharmacy.
Phen Phenician.
philol philology.
philos philosophy.
phonog phonography.
photog. photography.
phren phrenology.
phys physicaL
physiol physiology.
pL, plur plnraL
poet poetical.
polit politicaL
PoL Polish.
poss possessive.
pp past participle.
ppr. present participle.
Pr. Provencal (vsuaUy
meaning Old Pro-
veuQalX
pref. prefix.
prep. preposition.
pres present
pret preterit
priv. privative.
prob probably, probable.
pron pronoun.
pron pronounced, pronun-
ciation.
prop. properly.
pros. prosody.
Prot Protestant
prov. provinciaL
psychol p^chology.
q. V. L. quod (or pL qiue)
vide, which see.
refi reflexive.
reg regular, r^ularly.
repr. representing.
rhet rhetoric.
Bom Roman.
Bom. Komanic, Bomance
(languages).
Buss Russian.
S South.
S. Amer. South American.
sc L. scilicet, understand,
supply.
Sc Scotoh.
Scand. Scandinavian.
Scrip. Scripture.
sculp. sculpture.
Serv. Servian.
sing. singular.
Skt Sanskrit
Slav Slavic, Slavonic
Sp. Spanish.
sub] subjunctive.
superl superlative.
surg sui^ery.
surv surveying.
Sw. Swedish.
syn synonymy.
Syr. Syriac.
technol technology.
tel^ tel^jraphy.
teratol teratology.
term termination.
Teut Teutonic.
theat theatricaL
theoL theology.
therap therapeutics.
toxicol toxicology.
tr., trans transitive.
trigon trigonometry.
Turk. Turkish.
typog typography.
ult ultimate, ultimately.
V verb.
var. variant.
vet veterinary.
V. L intransitive verb.
V. t. transitive verb.
W. Welsh.
Wall WaUoon.
Wallach Wallachian.
W. Ind West Indian.
zobgeog zoogeography.
zobl zoology.
zobt zootomy.
KEY TO PRONUNCIATION.
as
as
as
as
as
as
e as
e as
e as
i as
i as
in fat, man, pang,
in fate, mane, dale,
in far, father, guard,
in fall, talk, naught,
in ask, fast, ant.
in fare, hair, bear.
in met, pen, hless.
in mete, meet, meat,
in her, fern, heard.
in pin, it, biscuit,
in pine, fight, file.
in not, on, frog,
in note, poke, floor,
in move, spoon, room,
in nor, song, off.
as in tub, son, blood.
as in mute, acute, few (also new,
tube, duty : see Preface, pp. ix, x).
as in pull, book, could.
German u, French u.
oi as in oil, joint, boy.
ou as in pound, proud, now.
A single dot under a vowel in an unaccented
syllable indicates its abbreviation and lighten-
ing, without absolute loss of its distinctive qual-
ity. See Preface, p. xi. Thus :
a as in prelate, courage, captain,
e as in ablegate, episcopal,
o as in abrogate, eulogy, democrat.
u as in singular, education.
A double dot under a vowel in an unaccented
syllable indicates that, even in the mouths of
the best speakers, its sound is variable to, and
in ordinary utterance actually becomes, the
short i(-sound (of but, pun, etc.). See Preface,
p. xi. Thus:
a as in errant, republican,
e as in prudent, difference,
i as in charity, density.
o as in valor, actor, idiot.
a as in Persia, peninsula.
e as in the book.
u as in nature, feature.
A mark (^) under the consonants t, d, s, z in-
dicates that they in like manner are variable to
ch, j, sh, sh. Thus :
t as in nature, adventure,
d as in arduous, education.
g as in pressure,
z as in seizure.
th as in thin.
TH as in then.
ch as in German aeh, Scotch loch.
n French nasalizing n, as in ton, en.
ly (in French words) French liquid (mouillS) 1,
' denotes a primary, " a secondary accent. (A
secondary accent is not marked if at its regular
interval of two syllables from the primary, or
from another secondary.)
SIGNS.
< read from; i. e., derived from.
> read whence; i. e., from which is derived.
+ read and; i. e., compounded with, or with suffix.
= read cognate with; i. e., etymologically parallel with.
■/ read root.
* read theoretical or alleged; i. e., theoretically assumed,
or asserted but unverified, form,
t read obsolete.
SPECIAL EXPLANATIONS.
A superior figure placed after a title-word in-
dicates that the word so marked is distinct
etymologically from other words, following or
preceding it, spelled in the same manner and
marked with different numbers. Thus :
back^ (bak), n. The posterior part, etc.
backi (bak), a. Lying or being behind, etc.
backi (bak), v. To furnish with a back, etc.
back^ (bak), adv. Behind, etc.
backet (bak), n. The earlier form of bat^.
back^ (bak), «. A large fiat-bottomed boat,
etc.
Various abbreviations have been used in the
credits to the quotations, as "No." for number,
"st." for stanza, "p.'' for page, "1." for line,
^ for paragraph, ' ' f ol." for folio. The method
used in indicating the subdivisions of books
will be understood by reference to the follow-
ing plan •
Section only § 5.
Chapter only xiv.
Canto only xiv.
Book only iii.
Book and chapter
Part and chapter
Book and line
Book and page ). iii. 10.
Act and scene
Chapter and verse
No. and page
Volume and page II. 34.
Volume and chapter iv. iv.
Part, book, and chapter II. iv. 12.
Part, canto, and stanza II. iv. 12.
Chapter and section or If vii. $ or IF 3.
Volume, part, and section or IT . ,1. i. § or 1[ 6.
Book, chapter, and section or IT. . I. i. § or IF 6.
Different grammatical phases of the same
word are grouped under one head, and distin-
guished by the Roman numerals I., II., III.,
etc. This applies to transitive and intransi-
tive uses of the same verb, to adjectives used
also as nouns, to nouns used also as adjectives,
to adverbs used also as prepositions or con-
junctions, etc.
The capitalizing and italicizing of certain or
all of the words in a synonym-Ust indicates
that the words so distinguished are discrimi-
nated in the text immediately following, or
under the title referred to.
The figures by which the synonym-lists are
sometimes divided indicate the senses or defi-
nitions with which they are connected.
The title-words begin with a small (lower-
case) letter, or with a capital, according to
usage. When usage differs, in this matter,
with the different senses of a word, the abbre-
viations [cap.] for "capital" and \l. c] for
" lower-case " are used to indicate this varia-
tion.
The difference observed in regard to the
capitalizing of the second element in zoologi-
cal and botanical terms is in accordance with
the existing usage in the two sciences. Thus,
in zoology, in a scientific name consisting of
two words the second of which is derived from
a proper name, only the first would be capi-
talized. But a name of similar derivation in
botany would have the second element also
capitalized.
The names of zoological and botanical classes,
orders, families, genera, etc., have been uni-
formly italicized, in accordance with the pres-
ent usage of scientific writers.
phaimacological
pharmacological (far'ma-ko-loj'i-kal), a. [<
pharmacolog-y + -tc-ai.J 'Of or pertaining
to pharmacology : as, pharmacological experi-
ments.
Pharmaeologicdl considerations certainly render the
practical identity of the two solutions very probable.
Lancet, No. 3414, p. 240.
pharmacologist (Sr-ma-kol'o-jist), n. [= Sp.
farmacoJoffista = Pg.p1iarma'cologista; asphar-
inaeolog-y + -ist.'] One skilled in pharmacology.
pharmacology (f ar-ma-kol'o-ji), n. [= Y.phar-
macologie = Sp. It. farmacologia = Fg.pharma-
cologia, < Nli. pharmacologia, < Gr. ^p/taitov, a
drug, medicine, + -Xoyia,< Aeyew, speak: see -o^o-
gy.'] 1. The sum of scientific knowledge con-
cerning dmgs, inclnding (a) pharmacy, or the
art of preparing drugs, and (6) pharmacody-
namics, what is known concerning their action.
— 2. More speeifleally, same as pharmacody-
namics.
pharmacomaniacal (far^'ma-ko-ma-ni'a-kal),
a. [< Gr. (jidp/iaKov, a drug, meiciue, +"fidvia,
madness: see maniac, maniacal.'] Excessively
or irrationally fond of the use or trial of drugs.
pharmacomathy (far-ma-kom'a-thi), n. [< Gr.
(papuoKov, a drug, medicine, + -puiBia, < paBelv,
/lavBdvetv, leam.] Same as pharmacognostics.
pharmacon (far'iaa-kon), n. PJL. (> It. far-
maco = Sp. fdrmdco), < Gr. (jtap/janov, a drug,
whether healing or noxious, a heaUng drug, a
medicine, remedy, a potion, charm, speU, a
deadly drug, poison, a dye, color, etc.] A
drug; a medicine. Also pharmacum.
phannacopceia (far'^ma-ko-pe'ia), n. [= P.
pharmacopee = Sp. It. yarrnacopea = Pg. phar-
macopea, pharmacopeia, < NL. pharmacopoeia, <
Gr. ifap/ianonoua, the art of preparing drugs, <
<j)ap/iaK07rot6c, one who prepares drugs, < ^dp/iaicog,
a drug, medicine, + 5ro«Zv, make.] 1. A book
of formulsB or directions for the preparation,
etc., of medicines, generally published by au-
thority. The United States Fharmacopceia is revised de-
cennially by delegates in national convention, not more
tlian three each from incorporated medical colleges, incor-
porated colleges of pharmacy, incorporated pharmaceuti-
cal societies, the American Medical Association, and the
American Pharmaceatical Association, and not exceeding
three each appointed by the surgeon-general of the army,
the suigeon-general of the navy, and the surgeon-general
of the Marine Hospit^ This convention met last in
Wasliington in May, 1890.
2t. A chemical laboratory.
pharmacopoeial (far'ma-ko-pe'ial), a. [iphar-
macopceia + -al.] Of or pertaining to a phar-
macopoeia; made or prepared according to the
formula of the phannacopceia: as, pliarmaco-
£ie!a2 preparations ; a,pharmacopceial sohition.
armacopollst (far-mar-kop'o-Mt), n. [= Pg.
' pharmacopolista; cf. F."pharmacopole = Sip.far-
tnacopola = Pg.pharmacopola=zIt.farmacopola,
< L. pharmacopeia, < Gr. ^apimiami)\rig, one who
sells drugs, an apothecary, < ipap/iaisov, a drug, -t-
iraAeiv, sell.] A dealer in drugs or medicines ;
an apothecary.
Ho pharmaeopoliel conld sell one grain of hellebore.
Sterne, Sentimental Journey.
The plmrnuuopolist . . . compounds the drugs after
the order of the mediciner. Scott, Abbot, xxxiL
pharmacosiderite (far"ma-ko-sid'e-rit), n. [=
F.pharmaeosiderite,i Gr. ipapfiaKav, a drug, +
aiSi/pog, iron : see siderite.'] A hydrous arseni-
ate of iron: same as cube-ore.
pharmacum (far'ma-kum), n. Same as phar-
macon.
pharmacy (far'ma-si), n. ; t^\. pharmacies (-siz).
[< ME. fermacyejX OF. farmade, F. pharmaeie
= Sp. It. farmaeia = Pg. pharmaeia, < Gr. (pap-
jianeia, the use of drugs or medicines, pharmacy,
< (jiapfuzKeveiv, use drugs, < (//dp/iaKav, a drug, med-
icine: see pharmacon.'] 1. The art or practice
of preparing, preserving, and compounding
medicines, and of dispensing them according
to the formulee or prescriptions of medical
practitioners.
Each dose the goddess weighs with watchful eye ;
So nice her art in impious jjAarmoc?/ .'
Garth, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., liv.
Their pain soft arts oi pharmacy can ease.
Thy breast alone no lenitives appease.
Pope, Iliad, xvL 38.
2. The occupation
of an apothecary
or pharmaceutical
chemist. — 3. A place
where medicines are
prepared and dis-
pensed; a drug-store;
an apothecary's shop.
—Pharmacy Act, an
English statute of 1868
(31 and 3S Vict., C. 121X Phannacy Jare, i/th century.
279
4437
amended 1869(32 and S3 Vict, c. 117), regulating the sale
of poisons.— Pharmacy Jars, a name given to vases of
majolica and like wares made for use in dispensaries of con-
vents and similar pharmaceutical establishments in Italy,
the south of France, and elsewhere, and painted with the
name of the drug for which the jar was intended, ^'ases
of the form called albareUo were used for this purpose,
and a pitcher-shaped jar with handle and spout was also
common. See cut in preceding column.
Phamaceum (far-na-se'nm), n. [NL. (Lin-
naeus, 1753), cf . li. phamuceon, < Gr. (papvoKeiov,
a certain plant, a species of panax, so named^
according to Pluiy, from Phamaces 11. (Gr. ^ap-
vaKTjq), son of Mithridates the Great, and King
of Pontns or of Bosporus.] An apetalous ge-
nus of the order Ficoideie and tribe Molluginese,
characterized by the lacerate or lobed stipules,
five sepals, and stamens, styles, and carpels
usually three to five. The 16 species are mainly South
African. They are low herbs, erect or spreading, with al-
ternate or almost whorled leaves, often bristle-bearing at
the apex, and clusters of small white, greenish, or pur-
plish flowers. Some species are cultivated for the flowers,
and P. aeidum, the Longwood samphire of St. Helena,
yields an acid salad from its crowded succulent leaves.
pharo^, n. See faro.
pharo^t, «. Same as pharos.
pharoht, n. [Cf . Ir.faram, noise (?).] A shout
or war-cry of Irish soldiers. Daiies.
That barbarous Pkaroh and outcry of the Soldiers, which
with great straining of their voice they use to set up
when they joine battaile. HoUand, tr. of Camden, ii. 75.
pharology (fa-rol'6-ii), n. [< Gr. ipdpoc (see
pharos) + -hyyla, < ^^eiv, say : see -ology.] The
art or science of directing the course of ships
by means of light-signals from the shore.
Pharomacros (fa-rom'a-krus), n. [Nil. (De La
Llave, 1832), < Gr. ijMpoc (t), a lighthouse, + pa-
Kp6g, long.] A genus of trogons : same as Calu-
rus, and of prior date. P. moeinno is the para-
dise-trogon. See cut under trogon.
pharos (fa'ros), n. [Alsophare, < P. phare =
Sp. It. faro = Pg.pharo; < L. pharos, pharus, <
Gr. (pdpoQ, a lighthouse, < <^dpo^, Pharos, an island
in the Bay of Alexandria, famous for its light-
house.] 1. A lighthouse or tower which an-
ciently stood on Bie isle of Pharos, at the en-
trance to the port of Alexandria.
The famous Pharos, or light-house, was on a rock at the
east end of the island, that was on every side encompass'd
with water, and so in a manner a small separate island.
Pococke, Description of the East, I. 2.
Hence — 2. Any lighthouse for the direction
of seamen ; a watch-tower ; a beacon.
So high nevertheless it [the Peak of Teneriffe] is as in
serene weather it is seen 120 English miles, which some
double; serving as an excellent pftaros.
Sir T. Herbert, Travels in Africa, p. S.
We pass'd over to the Pharos, or Lantern, a towre of
very greate height. Evelyn, Diary, Oct. 17, 1644.
Here the college, which guided them all till they were
ready to launch on the ocean of life, still stands like a
pharos founded on a sea-girt roclc
Everett, Orations, H. 171.
Fhams (fa'rus), n. [Nil., < Gr. ipapog, a wide
cloak or mantle.] 1. In conch., the typical ge-
nus of Pharidse. J. E. Gray, 1840. — 2. In en-
tom., a genus of coleopterous insects of the
family CoceinelUdse, or ladybirds. Only a few
species are known, one Tasmanian and the
rest African. Mulsant, 1851. — 3. A genus of
opilionine arachnidans. Simon, 1879. — 4. An
anomalous genus of grasses, classed with the
tribe Oryzese, and characterized by moncecious
panicles with spikelets in pairs, one of them
pistillate and sessile, the other much smaller,
staminate, and pediceUed. The 5 species are found
from ilorida and the West Indies to Brazil. They are
stout grasses, bearing a loose and ample terminal panicle
with long lender branches, and are remarkable for their
large leaves, which are somewhat feather-veined, unlike
those of other grasses, and are often borne reversed on
their long-exserted twisted leafstalks. P. latifoliia is the
wild oat of Jamaica; its leaves, which reach 3 inches
broad and 8 long, are in use for wrapping small article^
etc. Lhaueus, 1767.
pharyngalgia (far-ing-gal'ji-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
ipdpvyS {<papvyy-), throat (see pharynx), + a2,yoc,
pain.] Pain in the pharynx.
Pharyngea (fa-rin'je-a), n.pl. [NL., < Gr. <pd-
puyf ((papvyj-), the throat: see pharynx.] A
group of planarians or Ehabdoceela having a
pharynx: distinguished from ^jjfearj/Mg'ea.
pharyngeal (f a-rin' je-al), a. and n. [< NL. ^feo-
rynx (pharyng'-),-phaTynx, + -e-al.] I. a. 1. Of
or pertaining to the pharynx ; entering into the
structure of the pharynx: as, a, pharyngeal arte-
ry, vein, nerve, muscle, gland, etc. — 2. Having
a pharynx ; specifically, of or pertaining to the
Pharyngea: as, a pharyngeal planarian. — 3.
Having ankylosed pharyngeal bones, as a fish;
pharyngognathous. — Pharyngeal aponeurosis,
the connective-tissue layer of the walls of the pharynx, ex-
ternal to the mucous membrane. — Pharyngeal arches.
pharyngo-esopliagus
Same as pastoral arches. — Pharyngeal artery, (a) Ai-
cending, the smallest branch of the external carotid, snp-
piying the prevertebral muscles, the constrictors of the
pharynx, the elevator and tensor muscles of the palate,
thetonsil, and the Eustachian tube. {b)Superwr. Sameas
pterygoptdaUne artery (which see, mider pterygopalatinej.
— Pharyngeal hones, the bones behind the last bianchial
arch in fishes, generally in a pair below (called hypopharyn-
geals) and in one to four pairs above (called epipkaryngads).
—Pharyngeal bursa, a mucous ciypt in the mid-line un-
der the sphenoid bon^ just behind the vomer. Medical
News, Sept., 1889, p. 264. — Pharyngeal clefts. Same as
pharyngeal slttti.- Pharyngeal fascia, the fascia invest-
ing the wallof thepharynx. — Pharyngeal fishes, the Pha-
iT/n^o^TuztAt.— Pharyngeal ganglion. See ganglum.—
Pharyngeal glands, racemose mncons glands, found
everywhere in the submucous tissue of the pharynx, but es-
pecially numerous at the upper part, around the orifices of
the Eustachian tubes Pharyngeal J aws. (a) Jaw-like
organsin thephaiynx, as in certain nereid worms, (b) The
pharyngeal bones when they have a jaw-like form or func-
tion.— Phatrngeal nerves, branches of the vagus, glos-
sopharyngeal sympathetic, and ileckel's ganglion. The
first three unite to form the pharyngeal plexus ; the last,
after passing through the pterygopalatine canal, is dis-
tributed chiefly to the mucous membiane of the pharynx.
—Pharyngeal plexus, (a) A plexus of nei-ves foimed
by the branches of the vagus, sj-rapathetic, and glosso-
pharyngeal, and supplying the muscles and mucous mem-
branes of the pharynx. (6) A plexus of veins on the outer
surface of the pha^x.— Pharyngeal sac, a sac or vessel
in the head of a butterfly, at the base of the proboscis or
spiral tongue, from which it is separated by a valve. Ey
the alternate contraction and expansion of this sac the in-
sect is able to suck up nectaror other liquids. — Pharyn-
geal slits, the postoral visceral clefts or gill-slitB wmch
any vertebrate or chordate animal may possess, to the num-
ber of not more than eight, tempoi^ily or permanentlyi.
The whole tendency is to the reduction in number of these
slits in ascending the vertebrate scale, and to their imper-
manence in the development of the embryos of the higher
vertebrates. In adnlt reptiles, birds, and mammals they
have all disappeared, excepting the trace of the first one,
which persists as the auditory passage. In batrachians
their progressive loss is seen in the transition fro^ gilled
tadpoles to the adults with lungs. In fishes and lower
vertebrates than fishes more or fewer persist as ordinary
gill-slits or branchial apertiu'es. Also called visceral
clefts, when the structures which separate the slits on
each side are known as visceral arches. — Pharyngeal
spine. Same as pharyngeal tubercle. — Pharyngeal
teeth, the teeth on the pharyngeal bones, especially on the
lower pharyngeals or hypopharyngeals. They are much
used in the taxonomy of the cyprinoid fishes. — Pharyn-
geal tubercle, a small elevation near the middle of the
under surface of the basilar process of the occipital bone,
for attachment of the fibrous laphe of the pharynx. —
Pha^ngeal veins, tributaries to the internal jugular
vein from the pharyngeal plexus.
n. n. A structure which enters into the com-
position of the pharynx: as, the ascending j)Aa-
ryngeal, a branch of the external carotid artery,
given off at or near the origin of the latter; the
ankylosed ^Aar^n^eate (bones) of some fishes.
pharyngectomy (far-in-jek'to-mi), n. [< Gr.
fdpvy^ {ijxipvyy-), throat (see pltarynx), + iicropii,
a cutting out.] The excision of a portion of
the pharynx.
pharynges, «. New Latin plural ot pharynx.
phaiTligeilS (far-in-je'us), re. ; -pi. pharyngei (-i).
[NL., (^pharynx (pharyng-), pharynx.] Apha-
ryngeal muscle. There are several such, distingtushed
by a qualifying word, generally in composition : as, stylo-
pharyngeus, palsAopharyTigeus. See the compounds.
pharynglsmns (far-in-jlz'mus), n. [NL., <
pharynx (pharyng-), pharynx.] Spasm of the
muscles of the pharynx.
pharyngitic (f ar-in-jit'ik), a. [< pharyngitis +
-ic] Of, pertaining to, or affected with pharyn-
gitis.
pharyngitis (far-in-ji'tis), re. [NL., < pharynx
( pharyng-) , pharynx, + -itis.] Inflammation of
the mucous membrane of the pharynx Granu-
lar, folliciilar, or chronic pharyngitis. See granular.
pharyngobranch (fa-ring'go-brangk), a. and n.
I. a. OtoT pertaining to the P}iaryngobranchii.
II. re. A member of the Pharyngobranchii.
Pharyngobranchia (fa-ring-go-brang'ki-a), n.
pi. [NL.] Same as Pharyngobranchii.
pharyngobranchiate (f a-ring-go-brang'M-at) ,
a. \XPiMryngob7-anchia + -ate^.] Same as pha-
ryngobranch.
Pharyngobranchii (fa-ring-go-brang'ki-i), «.
pi. [NL., < Gr. ipdpvy^ ((papvyy-), throat (see
pharynx), -t- Ppdyxta, gills.] An order or class
of acranial fish-like vertebrates, so called from
the pharynx being perforated at the sides for
the branchial apertures. The group was originally
constituted as an order of fishes ; the name is synonymous
with Cirrostomi, Leptocardii, ErUffmocrania, and Acrania.
It includes only the lancelets. See Brarwhiostoma and
lancdet, and cut on following page.
pharyngodynia (fa-ring-go-din'i-a), n. [NL.,
< Gr. ipdpvy^ {^apvyy-), throat, -(- bdi/v^, pain.]
Pain in the pharynx.
pharyngo-esophageal (fa-ring'go-e-so-faj'f-
al), a. [< pharyngo-esopha^us + -e-al.] Of or
S" srtaining to the pharynx and the esophagus.
aryngo-esophagus (fa-ring'^go-e-sof'a-gus),
"re. [NL., < Gr. ^apay^ '(papvyy-), 'throat (see
pharynx), + oiao(pdyoc, esophagus: see eaopha-
pharyngo-esophagus
d e d
« a I) c
Ch
Anterior End of Body of Lancelet {Braitchioseonta or Amphioxus),
representing tile Pharyngobranchii,
Ckt notocliord ; My, myelon, or spinal cord ; a, position of olfactory
( ?) sac : *, optic nerve J c, fifth ( ?J pair of nerves ; </, spinal nerves : e,
representatives of neural spines or of iin-rays : f, g, oral skeleton.
(The heavy lighter and dTarker shading represents mnscular seg-
ments, or myotomes, and their interspacesj
JF!(S.] A gullet extended to a mouth; a struc-
ture representing or consisting of a pharynx
and an esophagus comljined.
pharyngoglossal (fa-ring-go-glos'al), a. [< Gr.
<pdpvY^ {(jtafwyy-), throat, + j'/lanTua," tongue: see
glossal.^ Of or pertaining to the pharynx and
the tongue; glossopharyngeal: sls, a pharyngo-
glossal nerve. JDungUson.
pharyngognath (fa-ring'gog-nath), a. and n. I.
a. Of or pertaining to the Pharyngognathi.
II, 11. A member of the Pharyngognathi.
Pharyngognathi (far-ing-gog'na-thi), n.pl.
[NL., < Gr. ^dptiyf ((fiapvyy-), throat, + yvaffoq,
jaw.] In J. Miiller's classification, an order of
teleost fishes, having the inferior pharyngeals
ankylosed and the pneumatic duet closed, it
embraced both spine-rayed and soft-rayed flshes. In 6un-
ther'fl Bystem the group was similax'ly constituted, and con-
tained the families LahridiB, Enilnotocidgs, ChromideSt and
PmnaceMridse. In Cope's system the Pharyngognathi are
an order of physoclistous fishes with the cranium normal,
bones of the jaws distinct, third superior pharyngeal hone
enlarged and articulating with the cranium, and inferior
pharyngeals coalesced. It includes tlie same fishes as Giln-
ther's group.
pharyngognathous (far-ing-gog'na-thus), a.
[< pharyngognath + -oiis.^ Same as pharyn-
gognath.
pnarsmgographic (fa-ring-go-graf'ik), a. [<
pharyngograph-y + -Jc] Descriptive of the
S larynx ; of or pertaining to pharyngography.
aryngography (far-ln^-gog'ra-fl), n. [= P.
pharyngographie, < Gr. (jiapvy^ {tpapvyy-), throat,
+ -■ypa<t>ta, < ypd<peiv, write.] An anatomical de-
scription of the pharynx.
pharyngolaryngeal (f a-ring"go-la-rin'je-al), a.
[< Gr. ^dpvy^ (fapvyy-), throat, + Mpvy^ (Aa-
pvyy-), larynx: see laryngeal.^ Of or pertaining
to both the phai-ynx and the larynx: as, aplia-
ryngolaryngeal membrane Pharsmgolaryngeal
cavity, (ft) The lower part of the pharynx, into which
the larynx opens, separated from the pharyngo-oral cavity
by a horizontal plane passing through the tips of the hyoid
coruua. (6) The part of the pharynx lying below the soft
palate in deglutition. See cut under inoutk.
pharyngological (fa-ring-go-loj'i-kal), a. [<
pharyngolog-y + -ic-aZ.^ Df or pertaining to
pharyngology.
pnaryngology (far-ing-gol'o-ii), n. [< Gr. (pd-
pvy^ (^(papvyy-), throat, -I- -Tuiyta, < ?<.iyetv, speak:
see -ology.'] That part of anatomy which treats
of the pharynx.
pharyngomycosis (fa-ring"go-mi-k6'sis), «.
[NL., < Gr. ({idpvy^ ((jiapvyy-), throat, -1- NL. myco-
sis, q. v.] The growth of fungi, usually lepto-
thrix, in the pharynx.
pharyngpnasal (fa-riug-go-na'zal), a. [< Gr.
ijidpvy^ {(papvyy-), throat, + L. nasus, nose : see
nasal.'i Of or pertaining to both the pharynx
and the nose — Pharyngonasal cavity, the upper-
most part of the phai-ynx, separated from that below by a
horizontal plane passing through the base of the uvula,
or again defined as that pai't above the soft palate during
deglutition ; the nasopharynx. See cut under mmith.
pharyngo-oral (fa-ring-go-o'ral), a. [< Gr.
ipdpvy^ ((papvyy-), throat, + L. os (or-), mouth:
see oral.l Of or pertaining to both the pharynx
and the mouth ; oropharyngeal — Pharyngo-oral
cavity, the middle part of the pharynx, that into which
the mouth opens ; the orophai-ynx.
pharyngopalatinus (fa-ring"go-pal-a-ti'nus),
n. ; pi. pharyngopalatini (-ni). [NL., < Gr. <jid-
pvy^(paiyvyy-),\kto&t, + L. patetem, palate : see
palatine'^.~\ Same as palatopharyngeus.
pharyngopathia (f a-ring-go-path'i-a), n. [NL. ,
< Gr. ^SfyvyS {^apvyy-), throat, + trafof, a snffer-
ifag.] Disease of the pharynx.
pharyngoplegia (fa-ring-go-ple'ji-a), n. [NL.,
< Gr. ^apvy^ {^apvyy-), throat, + TvAiiyi/, a blow,
4438
stroke.] Paralysis of the muscles of the
pharynx.
pnaryngopleural (fa-ring-g6-pl6'ral), a. [<
Gr. 0apjj)f (fapvyy-), throat {see _pharynx), +
7r?pet)pd, a rib : see pleural^.'] Pertaining or com-
mon to the phai'ynx and to the lateral body-
walls: as, "the Qutei piharyngo-pleural mem-
brane " [of a lancelet], JEnci/c. Brit, XXIV. 184.
Pharyngopneusta (fa-ring-gop-niis'ta), n. pi.
[NL., < Gr. (^dpvy^ (^apvyy-), throat, + *irvEiiff-of
(cf. wvevariKd;), verbal adj. of nvelv, breathe.]
A superordinal division proposed by Huxley
to be established for the reception of the tuni-
cates or ascidians and the Enteropneusta (Bala-
noglossus).
pharyngopneustal (fa-ring-gop-nus'tal), a. [<
Pharyngopneusta + -al.1 Of or pertaimng to
the Pharyngopneusta Pharjmgopneustal series,
a name proposed by Huxley in 1877 for the series ol ani-
mals constituting the Pharyngopneiieta.
pharyngorhinitis (fa-ring"go-ri-m'tis), n.
[NL., < Gr. (pdpvy^ ((papvyy-), throat, + /ijf (piv-),
nose, + -ifis.'] Infiammation of the pharynx
and the mucous membrane of the nose.
pharyngorhinoscopy(fa-ring"ga-ri-noB'k9-pi),
n. [< Gr. (fidpvyi Qapvyy-), throat, + pk (A'"-)-
nose, -I- amizelv, view.] Examination of the pos-
terior nares and adjacent parts of the pharynx
with a rhinoscopic mirror.
phar3mgOSCOpe (fa-ring'go-skop), w. [< Gr.
(fdpvy^ {(papvyy-), throat, + ckokbIv, view.] An
instrument for inspecting the pharynx.
pharyngoscopy (fa-ring'go-sko-pi), n. [< Gr.
(pdpvy^ (papvyy-), throat, + mameiv, view.] In-
spection of the pharynx.
pharyngospasmus(fa-ring-go-spaz'mus), n. [<
Gr. (pdpvy^ ((papvyy-), throat, -I- O'lraa/id^, spasm.]
Spasm of the pharynx.
pharyngotomy (far-ing-got'6-mi), n. [= F.
pharyngotomie = 8p. faringotomia = Pg.pha-
ryngotomia = It. faringotomia, < Gr. <pdpvy^ (fa-
pvyy-), throat (see pharynx), + --ofiia, < re/iveiv,
TOfielv, cut.] In surg., incision into the pharynx.
pharynx (far'ingks), n. ; pi. pharynges (fa-rin'-
jez), rarely pharynxes (far'ingk-sez). [= P.
jjharynx = Sp. It. faringe = Pg. pharynx, pha-
1-ynge, < NL. pharynx, the pharynx, < Gr. <pdpvy^,
the throat ; technically the joint opening of the
gullet and the windpipe, but also applied to the
windpipe and the esophagus ; cf . <j)dpay^, a cleft ;
< ■y' (jiap, bore, in (papav, plow.] 1 . A musculo-
membranous pouch situated at the back of the
nasal cavities, mouth, and larynx, and extend-
ing from the base of the skull to the cricoid car-
tilage. It is continuous below with the esophagus, and
communicates above with the nasal passages, Eustachian
tubes, mouth, and larynx. It may be conveniently con-
sidered to be divided into the pharyngonasal, pharyngo-
oral, and pharyngolaryngeal cavities. The pharynx has
also been divided into two parts, called nasopharynx and
oropharytix. See outs under Branchiostoma, inauth, and
lainprey.
M. In invertebrates, some tubular or infundilDu-
liform beginning of the alimentary canal or
continuation of the oral aperture, a structure to
which the name applies is very commonly found in inver-
tebrates, even among those of microscopic size, as rotifers
and infusorians. See cut under Oxyuns, Appendicularia,
and .4rcKscffl.— Branchial pharynx. See branchial. —
Constrictor pharyngis superior, medius, inferior.
See constrictor, and cut under muscle. — Levator or dila-
tator pharyngis. Same as stylopharyngeus.— 'SXa.sal
Sharynx, the piiaryngonasal cavity ; the nasopharynx. —
rai pharynx, the pharyngo-oral cavity ; the oropharynx.
Fhascacese (fas-ka'se-e), n. pi. [NL., < Phas-
cum + -aceee.'] An order of bryaceous mosses,
named from the genus Phascum. They are very
small soft plants, with loosely areolate leaves and globu-
lar, immersed, subsessile or short-pedicellate capsules,
which rupture irregularly across the middle for the dis-
charge of the spores, there being no deciduous opercu-
lum as in most mosses.
Phascese (fas'e-e), n. pi. [NL., < Phascum +
-ese.l Same as Phascacese.
phase
Phascogale (f as-kog'a-le), n. [NL. (Temminck,
1827), contr. for *Phdscologale, < Gr. ^aaKO?,oQ, a
leathern Isag, + yaXij, a weasel.] A genus of
small insectivorous and carnivorous maraupial
mammals of the family Dasyuridx, inhabiting
the whole of the Australian region. They are of
the size of a rat or less, are of arborealhabits, and have a
pointed snout, rounded ears, and the fore feet flve-toed,
the hind feet being variable in this respect. There is usu-
ally one more premolar above and below on each side than
in the typical dasyures, making a total of 46 instead of 42.
There are several species, among them P. penioUlttia, the
largest one, with a long bushy tail, somewhat like a squir-
rel. Some differ in details of form from others, m conse-
quence of which the genera Chaetocereus, Antechinomye,
Antechimis, and Podabrus have been detached from Ptias-
cogale proper. See cut in preceding column.
Phascogalinse (fas-kog-a-li'ne), n. pi. [NL., <
Phascogale + -inse.l A subfamily of Dasyuridse
based on the genus Phascogale.
Phascolarctidse (fas-ko-lark'ti-de), n.pl. [NL.,
< Phaseolarctos + -idee.} The Phascolarctinse,
raised to the rank of a family.
Phascolarctinse (fas"k6-lark-ti'ne),n.i)?. [NL.,
< Phaseolarctos + -inse.'] A subfamily of Pha-
langistidse based on the genus Phaseolarctos.
Phaseolarctos (fas-ko-lark'tos), n. [NL. (De
Blainville, 1816), < Gr. ^d(T/cu?.of, a leathern bag,
-i- apicTog, bear.] A genus of PhalangisUdse, type
of the subfamily Phascolarctinse, having eheek-
pouohes, 30 teeth, no lower canines, only 11
dorsal vertebrre and as many pairs of ribs, no
external tail, the tongue not peculiar, a cardiac
gland in the stomach, and a very long cBeeum.
It contains the koala or native bear of Austra-
lia, P. cinereus. See cut under koala.
Phascoloniyidse(fas-k6-l9-mi'i-de), n.pil. [NL.,
< Phascolomys + -idse.'\ A family of diproto-
dont marsupial mammals ; the wombats. They
have two incisors above and two below, as in rodents,
large, scalpriform, enameled In front only ; no canines ; all
the teeth with persistent pulps ; the hind feet with four
subequal, somewhat syndactylous toes, and hallux mdi-
mentary; the fore feet flve-toed; the tail rudimentaiy; the
stomach simple with a cardiac gland ; and a short csecum
with a vermiform appendage. There is but one genus,
Phascolomys.
Phascolomys (fas-kol'o-mis), n. [NL., < Gr.
^d(7/naXof, a leathern bag, + fivQ, mouse.] The
typical genus of the family Phascolomyidse, in-
eluding the wombats. They are inoffensive terres-
trial and fossorial herbivorous animals of the Australian
Phascogale penicillata.
Wombat (,Pkascalomys TL'otnba/).
region. The genus has two sections— one containing the
common andbroad-nosed wombats, P. wombat and P.vlaiy-
rhinus, the other the hairy-nosed wombat, P. latt/rons.
See wombat.
Phascolosoma (fas-ko-lo-so'ma), n. [NL., <
Gr. ipdnKuKog, a leathern IJag, -I- "uibiia, body.] A
genus of gephyrean worms of the family Sipurt-
culidse, or spoon-worms, p. cementarium is common
in deep water on sandy or shelly bottoms along the New
England coast, living somewhat like a hermit-crab in the
deserted shell of some mollusk, the mouth of which is
extended and contracted by sand or mud cemented by the
secretion of its own body into a kind of tube.
Phascum (fas'kum), n. [NL. (Linuseus), < Gr.
ipdamv, same as cfuKoc, a kind of tree-moss.] -A
genus of bryaceous mosses, giving name to the
order Phascacese. They are minute but distinctly cau-
lescent plants, mostly growing on the ground, with cos-
tate leaves and monoecious "flowers." The capsule is
pedicellate, subglobose or ovate-oblong, dehiscing by ir-
regular ruptures. There are 3 North American species,
sometimes called earth-mosses.
phase^ (faz), n. [Formerly also, as ML., phasis
(plural phases, whence the E. sing. %)lMse) ; =
F. phase = Sp. It./a«c = Pg. phase, <ML. phasis,
< Gr. ijidaic, an appearance, <<l>dnv, shine,' = Skt.
ihd, shine; at. phantasm, etc., and see faee^,
faUe, etc.] 1. Aspect, appearance, or guise;
the aspect or presentation in which a thing of
varying modes or conditions manifests itself to
the eye or the mind, or the stage in its history
or development which it reaches at a particu-
lar time ; an era : as, the war entered on a new
phase; the varying j)7«oseg of life.
Certainly the mansion appeared to enjoy a quieter phate
of existence than the temple; some of its windows too.
were aglow. Charlotte Bronte, Shirley Ix
phase
We may oongiatalate oorselTes on having reached a
pha»e of civilization In which the rights of life and per-
sonal liberty no longer reqaire inculcating.
B. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 131.
That pecnliar phase in the life of the Greek common-
wealths which intervenes between oligarchy and democ-
racy—tbe age of the tyrannies. Eneye. BriL, XI. 94.
2. In astron., the particular appearance pre-
sented by the moon or by a planet at a given
time ; one of the recurring appearances of the
moon or a planet in respect to the apparent
form of the illuminated part of its disk.
At anch times as these planets show their full phatet
they are found to be sphaerical, and only lose this flgore
by virtue of position to the sun, to whom they owe Uieir
light Derham, Astro-Theology, v. 1.
Chief the planter, if he wealth desire.
Should note thepAoses of the fickle moon.
Grainger, The sugar Cane, L
3. lapliysics, a particular value, especially at
the zero of time, of the uniformly varying an-
gular quantity upon which a simple harmonic
motion, or a simple element of a harmonic mo-
tion, depends. The position of the moving object may
be expressed by means of a sum or sums of terms of the
form A sin (W -I- e), where ( is the time. The value of
tt + c, a.t any instant, especially when * = 0, is the
Shase. Two simple harmonic motions A sin (M -)- c) and
[ sin _(M -I- n) are said to differ in phase, meaning that
there is a constant difference in their contemporaneous
phases.
The distance whereby one set of waves is in advance of
another is called the difference ot phage.
^atSawaode, Polarisation, p. 32.
We have within the annnlarregions two electro-motive
forces at right angles, and differing in phaee.
Science, XIII. 100.
phase^, v.t. A bad spelling otfaze.
phasel, K. See faseV^.
phaseless (faz'les), a. [< pliuse^ + -less.1 Un-
changing; devoid of change in aspect or state.
Apliaselesg and unceasing gloom.
Poe, Tale of the Sagged Monntains.
Phaseolese (f a-sf-d'le-e), n. pi. [NL. (Bentham,
1835), < Phaseolus + -ea.] A tribe of legumi-
nous plants of the suborder PapiUonaceas, dis-
tinguished by racemose or fascicled flowers,
usually from the axils, stamens diadelphous or
nearly so, two-valved pods, pinnate leaves of
three entire or lobed leaflets, each with a pair
of stipels, and twining or prostrate habit, it in-
cludes 6 snbtribes and 47 genera, of which the principal
ai*e PhoMolvs (the type), Apios, Butea, Cajanvs, Clitoria,
DcAichos, Eryfkrina, Gaiactia, Kennedya, Mucuna, Physo-
stigma, and Shynehcsia.
phaseolite (f a-se'o-lit), n. [< Pliaseolus + -tte^.]
A generic name' proposed by Unger, under
which have been included various x-emains of
fossil plants, principally leaves, which are sup-
posed to belong to the Legwmiiiosae, and some of
which appear to be closely allied to the living
genus Pliaseolus.
HiaseolllS(fa-se.'o-lus),7!. [NL- (Kivinus,1691),
< L. pluiseolm, faseolus, also jyhaselus, faseliis,
(. Gt. ^rnfljo^, also 0a(7:joP.x)c, ijxujio^og, a kind of
bean: see phasel, fasel^.^ A genus of legumi-
nous plants, type of the tribe Pliaseolese and
the subtribe £uphaseolese, distinguished by the
spiral keel, orbicular banner, longitudinally
bearded style, and flowers clustered above the
middle of the peduncle. There are about 60 species,
widely dispersed through wanner regions, with about 100
well-marked varieties due to long cultivation. They are
twining or prostrate plants, with leaves of three leaflets,
persistant striate stipules, whit^ yellowish, red, violet, or
pm'pllsh flowers, and long straight or curving pods. To
this genus belong most of the beans of culinaiy use, for
which see bean^, kidney-tean, haricot, and green gram,
(under gram^). P. midUjUma, the scarlet runner, is often
cultivated for ornament. P. perennis, the wild bean-vine
(see cut under leaf), and P. diversifoHus, a trailing plant
remarkable for its polymorphous leaves, with two other
species, all purplish-flowered, are native to the eastern
United States. See Strophostylet.
? bases, ». Plural oiphasis.
'hasianella(fa*si-a-nel'a),n. [NL. (Lamarck),
fern. dim. of li. phd'sirnius, phesteant: see pheas-
ant.'] The typical genus
of PlMsianettidUe, containing
shells brilliantly polished
and colored, calling to mind
the tints of a pheasant, and
hence eaXledi pheasant-shells.
Phasianellidse (fa*si-a-nel'-
i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Pliasi-
aneUa + -idee.] A family of
gastropods; the pheasant-
shells. They are generally ranked
as a subfamily, called Phaxiand-
Una, of the family Turbiradse.
They are distinguished by their
nacreous shell. QSie species abound
chiefly in the Australian seas.
PhaBianidaB (fa-si-an'i-de), ph,^„,.,heii ,/.*,«^-
n. pi. [NL., < Phastanus + «^ua imfirtaim.
4439
-idsB.1 A family of rasorial or gallinaceouB
birds, containing the most magnificent repre-
sentatives of the order GaUiiise, as the peacock,
all the various species of pheasants, the do-
mestic hen, the turkey, and the guinea-fowl.
The last two, respectively the American and the African
representatives, are sometimes excluded as the types of
separate famUies. The Phasianidie are specially charac-
teristic of Asia and the islands zoologically relate There
are about 75 species, included in many genera. The lead-
ing types are Pavo and Polyplectnn, the peacocks and pea-
cock-pheasants; Argtis or Argvxianus, the argns-pheas-
ants; Phasianug, the common pheasants, snch as have
been introduced in Europe ; Chrysolophus or Thaumalea,
the golden and Amherstian pheasants; Pucrasia, the pu-
cras pheasants ; CrossoptUon, the eared or snow pheasants ;
Euj£ocanvu8, the macartneys, firebacks, kaleeges, and sil-
ver pheasants; Lcphophorus, the monanls or impeyans;
Ceriomig, the tragopans, satyrs, or homed pheasants;
Gallus, the domestic cock and hen, descended from the
jungle-fowl; Ithaginis, the blood-pheasants; Meleagris,
the turkeys of America; and Numida, GvUera, AcryUium,
Ageiastes, and Phasidtis, genera of African guinea-fowls.
These genera are by Elliot gixinped in no fewer than
eight subfamilies — Pavomnx, Tjcrphophorinse,Meleagrinee,
Phasiardnx, JEuploeavtinse, GaUinse, AgdasUnee, and Nu-
tnidirwe. See fnrther under Phasianttg and pheasanL
Fhasianina (fa'si-a-ni'ne), n.pl. [NL., < P7(0-
sianus + -irea?.] The Pliasianidse, exclusive of
the Pavonime, Meleagrinte, and Numidinse, or
still fnrther restricted to forms resembling the
genus P/josJarajts; the pheasants proper. Some
authors compose the subfamily of five genera —
Pliasianus, Tliaumalea, Euplocamus, Loiiopha-
sis, and Itliaginis.
phasianine (fa'si-a-nin), a. Of or pertaining
to the Phasianimse"
Phasianomorphse (fa-si-a-no-m6r'fe), 11. pi.
[NL.,< Gr.^ofTiaviif, a pheasant, + /«)p^, form.]
In Sundevall's syst«m of classification, a cohort
of GaUinse, composed of the pheasants proper, or
Pliasianidse, with the guinea-fowls, partridges,
quails, and hemipodes (Turnicidse).
phasianomorpllic (fa-si-a-no-m6r'fik), a. [<
PlMsianomorplisB + -tc] Of or pertaining to
the Pliasianomorphse.
Fhasianums (fa''si-a-nu'rus), n. [NL. (Waa-
ler, 1832), < Gr. <paaiav6c, a pheasant, + ovpd,
tail.] A genus of Anatidse: same as Vafila.
Fha^anUS (fa-si-a'nus), n. [NL., < li. pliasia-
nus, < Gr. tpattiavog, a pheasant : see plwasant.']
pheasant
other genera {Euj^ocaimtg and Thaumaiea). See fnrther
vmAet pheamnL
phasic (fa'zik), u. [< phased + -jc] Pertain-
ing to or of the nature of a phase. ^
Fhasidns (fa-si'dus), u. [XL. (Cassin, 1856),
appar. iiTeg. < Gr. ^{lavdo), a pheasant, + eHof,
form.] A notable genus of African guinea-
fowls of the family Numididse, having as type
P. niger, the only species. The head is bare,
the tarsi are spurred, and the plumage is black.
phasis (fa' sis), h. ; pi. phases (-sez). [ML. : see
phase!.'] In astran., a phase.
phasm (fazm), n. [< L. phasma, < Gr. <j>daun,
an apparition, < ij>deiv, shine: see phased. Cf.
phantasm.'] Appearance; fancied apparition;
phantom. [Bare.]
Such phasnu, such apparitions, are most of those excel-
lencies which men applaud in themselves.
Decay cf Christian Piety, p. S3.
phasma (fas'ma), n, [NL., < L. phasma, < Gr.
9a(7/ia, an apparition : seepliasm.] 1. VL plias-
jnato (-ma-ta). Same as ^j/tosm. — 2. [can.] A
genus of gressorial or ambulatorial orthopte-
rous insects, typical of the family PltasmidiE.
T'^
Reeves's Pheasant ( Pkaszantts or Syrmatxcus
reevesi).
The typical genus of the family
Pliasianidse and subfamily Phasi-
aninie, formerly nearly conterminous
with the family, now restricted to
such forms as Phasianus colchicus,
the common pheasant, long domes-
ticated in Europe. They have a mnch-
lengthei;.sd tail, with long acuminate middle
feathers, and the head crestless but provided
with lateral tufts. At least 16 species are com-
monly referred to this genus (in several sec-
tions, i-anked by some authors as genera). One
of the most remarkable is P. (Syrmaiieus)
reevesi, of noi'thei'n China, in which the tail
reaches the maximum length of 5 or 6 feet,
^e plumage is beautifully varied with black,
white, chestnut, and golden yellow. P. (Ca-
treus) waUichi is the cheer, or WalUch's pheas-
ant, of the Himalayas, with a long, broad tail
and much-varied plumage. P. (Graphopliasia-
nus) soemmeritt^ is Sommering's pheasant,
of Japan, with coppery-metallic plumage and
very long tail P. (Calophasis) eUioH is a gor-
geously colored pheasautof the mountains near
^'ingpo, in China. Certain green-breasted
pheasants, as P. versicolor of Japan and P. elegans of (}hina,
form a snmll group. King-necked pheasants, as P. insig-
nis and P. mongolicus, have a white ring around the neck.
The above-named approach more and more nearly to the
oi'dinary pheasant as domesticated in Em'ope, of which the
Tu'keatan P. shawi is a near relative. The silver and
golden pheasants, though long-tailed, are now placed in
Phasma rtidtettftdtiTn. fema.\e. (One half natural size.)
It formerly contained all the curious creatures known
as waUnng-sticks, but is now restricted to certain tropical
forms. Lichlenstein, 1795.
Fhasnuds (fas'mi-de), n. pi. [NL. (Serville,
1831), < Pliasma + -idse.] A family of Orthop-
tera, typified by the genus Phasma, composing
with the Mantidx the sei-ies Gresswia or Jm-
Jyiilatoi'ia. They are known as specters, leaf-insects, walk-
ing-leaves, vjolking-sticks, etc., from their extraordinary
protective mimicry of the twigs and leaves upon which
they live. The liody is usually long and slender, and the
wings, when not abortive, are foliaceous. A member of
this family, Diapheromerafemorata, is the common walk-
ing-stick of the northern and fasten! United States. See
cut under Phasma.
Fhasmina (fas-mi'na), n.j)l. [NL., < Phasma ■+■
-ina^.] A group of orthopterous insects corre-
sponding to the family Plmsmids.
Fuasmomantis (fas-mo-man'tis), ». [NL., <
Gr. ipdaua, an appearance, + /idvrtc, an insect
so called : see ManUs.] A genus of Mantidae,
containing the common praying-mantis or rear-
horse of the United States, P. Carolina. The fe-
male is about three inches long, of a pale pea-green color ;
the male is smaller, grayish, with dark-haiTCd fore tibise.
See cut under Mantis.
phassachatet(fa:S'a-kat), ». [< Gr. ^daaa, aring-
dove, + dxaTT/c, agate : see agate^.] The lead-
colored agate.
phaulographic (f&-lo-graf 'ik), a. [< Gr. (javAof,
bad, worthless, + ypdijietv, write.] Eelating to
bad or worthless literature. Haeckel. [Rare.]
Fh. B. An abbreviation of the Latin (Middle
Latin or New Latin) PMlosophiiB Bacealauretis,
Bachelor of Philosoj>hy.
Fh. D. An abbreviation of the Latin (Middle
Latin or New Latin) PhilosophUe Doctor, Doctor
of Philosophy.
pheasant (fez'ant), n. [Early mod. E. also
phesant, fesant ; <ME./esaret,/esa««t (with ex-
crescent t), earlier fesaun, < AP. fesant, fe-
samit, OF. faisan, F.faisan = PT.faisan,faylian
= Sp. faisan = 'Pg.feisSo = It. fagiano, fasano =
D. fazant = MLG. fasant, pliasyan = MHG. fa-
sdn,fasant, G.fasan{a,]so OHG./asJ/iwon, MHG.
pfasehan, pfasehuon, simulating huon, hen) (>
Bohem. Pol. bazhant = Russ. haghantu, fazanA
= Hung, fdtscbi) = Dan. Sw. fasan, < L. j>liasi-
anus (ML. fasianus), m., also i)hasiaua, f., < Gr.
pheasant
^acrmi'df , a pheasant (abbr. of L. Phasianus avis,
Gr. ^aaiavSg 6pvcc, the Phasian bird), < ^cunavSi,
Phasian, of Phasis, < <idaic, a river in Colchis,
near th*niouth of which these birds are said to
have been numerous.] A bird of the genus Pha-
sianus, family Phasianidx. (See the technical
names.) («) Phaxianus colchieus, the bird originally
called pheamnt from its Bupposed origin, of whioh no-
thing is certainly known, and now formany centuries nat-
uralized in Great Britain and in other parts of Europe.
The cock bird in full plumage is nearly three feet long, of
which length the tail is more than half. The head and
neck are deep steel-blue, glancing greenish in some lights ;
and there is a bare red skin about the eyes. The general
color is golden-brown, varying to chestnut or plain brown,
on most parts intimately barred or laced with black. The
4440
heritia. The former has long been known, and is often
reared in confinement. It is long-tailed and mfled ; the
plumage is scarlet, orange, golden, green, etc. These pheas-
ants are natives of parts of China and Tibet.— See the gen-
eric name.— Green pheasant, Phasianus versicolor, of
Japan, much of whose plumage is of an emerald-green. —
Guiana pheasant, Ortalida motmot — Homed pheas-
ant, a pheasant of the genus Ceriomis ; a satyr or trago-
pan ; so called from the fleshy processes on the head,which
resemble horns. See cut under trnpiopan.— Impey pheas-
ant. See Imj)eyan pheamnt. — Ealeege or kali) pheas-
ant, a member of the genus Euplocamus, and of that sec-
tion of the genus called Gallophasis. See kaleepe.—Ma,-
cartney pheasant, a flreback ; a pheasant of the flre-
baoked section of Euplocamus, as K ignitus, formerly in-
cluded in a genus Macartii^ya. — Native pheasant of
Australia, Leipoa oeellata: same as maUeebird.—'Pea,-
COCk-pheasant, any pheasant of the genus Polyplectron.
See cuts under ealcarate and Polypleotron.— PviCiaa
pheasant. See PMcrasja.— Ring-necked pheasant,
Plumanus torquatus, of China, with a white collar and buff
flanks, but in general resembling the common pheasant.
—Silver pheasant, a pheasant of that section of the ge-
nus Euplocamus called Nycthemerus, in which the upper
parts and tail are silvery-white, more or less varied with
black, but strongly contrasted with the jet-black of the
under parts. The best-known is E. nycthemerus of China,
whose specific name translates a native designation of the
dark and light colors, as if contrasting night and day.—
Snow-pheasant, an eared pheasant; any species of the
genus CrossoptUon: so called from their habitat. — Wal-
Uch's pheasant, Phasianus (Catrems) waUichi, the cheer.
— Water-pheasant, an aquatic fowl with a long tail, or
otherwise suggesting a pheasant, as the pintail duck or a
merganser; speei&cally, Hydri^haslanus chimrgue. See
cut under Eydrophasiamis.
pheasant-cuckoo (fez'ant-kuk'o), n. Any spur-
heeled or lark-heeled cuckoo; a coucal: so
called from the length of the tail. See Cen^
Common Pheasant {Phasianus colchieus).
hen is more yellowish-brown, and only about two thirds
as long. This pheasant runs into some varieties in do-
mestication, and also crosses freely with several related
species. The several other f oims of the restricted genus
are definitely known as to their origin and habitat, all
being natives of China and Tibet and more southerly re-
gions of Asia, as well as of Japan and many other islands
included in the Oriental fauna. Several of these are often
seen in aviaries and in seml-doraestication. They are
such as Shaw's, P. shawi; the Mongolian, P. mongolicus;
the Yarkand, P. insignis; the Formosan, P. formosanus;
the ring-necked, P. torquatiis; the Chinese ringless, P.
decoUatus; the Japanese green, P. versicolor; the green-
backed golden, P. elegans; also pheasants known as
Reeves's, Walllch's, Sbmmering's, Swinhoe's, Elliot's, etc.
Pheasants have often been inti'oduced in the United
States, where, however, none have been thoroughly natu-
ralized, unless the cases of P. versicolor and P. soemmer-
ingi in Oregon should prove successfuL (b) Hence, any
bird of the subfamily Phtmaninse or (with a few excep-
tions) of the family Phusianidx. (c) In the United States,
the ruffed grouse, Bonasa umbeUa : so called in the South-
ern and Middle States wherever the bobwhite (Ortyx
virginiana) is known as the partridge, and called par-
tridge in the Northern States wherever the bobwhite is
known as the quail. See cut under Bomzsa. (d) Loosely,
on e of various bu'ds which resemble or suggest a pheasant,
especially in the length of the tail : usually with a quali-
fying word : (1) The reed-pheasant, or bearded titmouse,
Panurus bia/rmicus. [Norfolk, Eng.] (2) The magpie.
(Cornwall, Eng.] (8) One of several different American
guans (Cracidse). (4) The Australian mallee-bird. See
Leipoa. (5) A duck, Daflla acuta: more fully called
pheasant-duxik, sea-pheasant, or water-pheasarvt. [Local,
U. S. and Eng.] (6) A merganser; any one of the three
species found in the United States: more fully called
pheasant-duck or water-pheasant. [Local, U. S.] — Am-
herstian or Lady Amherst's pheasant, Chrysolophus
or Thaumalea amh£rstise, one of the golden pheasants,
with a very long tail, and highly developed ruff around
the head, gorgeously arrayed in golden-yellow, green,
crimson, white, and other colors. It is sometimes seen
in confinement, like T. i)icto.— ArgUS-pheasant. See
Argus, 3.— Blood-pheasant, any member of the genus
Ithaginis, as 1. cruentatus. See cut under lihaginis. — Bo-
hemian pheasant, a variety of the common pheasant,
Phasianus colchieus, produced in serai-domestication.—
Copper pheasant, SOramering's pheasant, P. soemmer-
ingi, from Japan.— Cornish pheasant, the magpie.
[Cornwall, Bug. ] — Derblan pheasant. See Derbian and
Oreopfei»s.— Eared pheasant, a pheasant of the genus
CrossoptUon, having a tuft of feathers projecting like an
ear on each side of the head and neck. They are large
birds, not long-tailed, but with a peculiarity of the middle
tail-feathers; the males are spurred; the plumage is not
so brilliant as that of most pheasants, and the coloration
is chiefly massed in large areas of light and dark. There
are two Chinese species, C. Truintehuricwni and C. auri-
twm; and two Tibetan, C. thibetanum, and 0. drouyni.
All inhabit high mountain-ranges. — English pheasant,
the common pheasant, Phasianus colchieus, an Asiatic bird
naturalized in Great Britain prior to 1059.— Flre-baoked
pheasant, a flreback ; a Macartney pheasant ; a member
of that seccion of the genus Euplocamus in which the plu-
mage is intensely lustrous, part of the back being of a fiery
tint. There are several species, as E. ignitus, inhabiting
the Malay peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, and Formosa.
That of Slam is E. prselatus, formerly Phasianus diardi,
sometimes forming a separate section of the genus, called
Diardigallus. The Tormosan flreback, E. gwinhoei, has
the flery color of the back replaced by black and blue ; it
represents a section called Hierophasis.—QolAen pheas-
ant; a magnificent pheasant of the genus Chrysolophus
or Thaurnalea, as C. pietws or T. picta, and C. or T. am-
pheasant-duck (fez'ant-duk), n. Same as
pheasant (d) (5) (6).
pheasant-finch (fez'ant-finch), n. An African
astrild, Astrilda unSulata: so called from its
general figure and coloration.
pheasantry (fez'ant-ri), n.; pi. pheasantries
(-riz). [<! plwasdnt + -ry, after P. faisande-
rie.'] A place where pheasants are bred, reared,
and kept.
pheasant' S-eye (fez'ants-i), ». 1. SeeJdomis,
2. — 2. Same as phedsanfs-eye pink (which see,
TrndeT pink^).
pheasant-shell (f ez'ant-shel), n. A shell of the
genus Phasianella. See cut under Phasianella.
pneasant-tailed (fez'ant-tald), a. Having a
long tail like that of a pheasant: as, the pheas-
ant-tailed jacana, Hydropliasianus chirurgus, a
bird of the family Parridse or Jacanidse, found
in eastern and southeastern Asia. See out un-
der Hydrophasianus.
pheasant-wood (fez'ant-wud), n. Same as
partridge-wood.
phebe, ». ^66 phoebe^.
pheert, pheeret. Bad spellings of feer^ and
feer^.
pheeset, pheezet, «■ Bad spellings of /ee^el.
Fhegopteris (ff-gop'te-ris), n. [NL. (Presl,
1836), < Gr. fnydQ, an oali'(= L./o^MS, beech, = E.
heech), + TvTepi^, a fern.] A genus of ferns, the
beeeh-fems. The stipe is continuous with the root-
stock, as in the AspideSB, and the sori are naked, small, and
borne on the back of the veins, below the apex; the frond is
variable. There are about 90 species, of which number 6
are found in North America. By some pteridologists this
genus is regarded as a section of the genus Polypodium.
Pheidiac, «. Same as Phidian.
Fheidian, a. See Phidian.
Fhelipsea (fel-i-pe'a), n. [NL. (Tournefort,
1700), named after Louis andHi^r. PheKpeaux,
French naval officers and patrons of science.]
A genus of parasitic plants of the gamopetalous
order Orohandhaoese, characterized by the broad
and spreading corolla-lobes, equal parallel an-
ther-cells, and five unequal acute calyx-teeth.
Two species are Oriental herbs, with a rather smooth, un-
branched, leafless stem, bearing a few scales at the base,
above becoming a long smooth peduncle bearing a single
large scarlet flower. P. Ivtea, of the Old World, has been
used for dyeing black. Eight North American species,
foimerly included in this genus, are now separated, con-
stituting the American genus Aphyllon. See broom-rape.
phelloderm (f el'o-dferm), ». [NL., < Gr. (j>s^U(,
cork, 4- dep/ia, skin.] A definite layer of green
Earenchyinatous cells beneath the cork, formed
•om the inner layers of the phellogen. Phello-
derm maybe demonstrated in the stems of Bibes,
Lonicera, Spirsea, Deutzia, etc.
phellogen (fel'o-jen), n. [NL., < Gr. ipelU^,
cork, + -jsv^c, producing: see -gen."] Cork-
meristem, or cork-cambium; the inner layers
of cork-tissue, which possess cellular activity
and give rise to cork.
phellogenetic (f eVo-je-nefik), a. [< phellogen,
after genetic.'] In hot., pertaining or relating
to phellogen : as, phellogenetie meristem.
phalloplasties (fel-o-plas'tiks), n. [=V.phello-
plastique, < Gr. ^e^'Wf, cork, H- ir/lacrrdf, verbal
phenicin
adj. of Trlaaceiv, form: seoplasUe.l The art of
cutting and manipulating cork, as in makmg
architectural models, etc.
phelonion (fe-lo'ni-on), ». ; T^l. pheUmia (-a). [<
LQr. fe?i6viov, dcliniLov, also ^eTidvijc, incorrect
forms for ^alvdiiav, faiv6Ariq,<'L.psemula,penula,
a cloak, in ML. a chasuble: soe> pxnula,'] An
ecclesiastical vestment corresponding to the
Roman Catholic chasuble, worn by patriarchs
and priests of the Greek Church.
phenacetin (ff-nas'e-tin), n. l< :^hm(ol) +
acetin.] An acetyl derivative of amidophenol,
occurring in small tasteless colorless crystals
but slightly soluble in water, antalgic and anti-
pyretic.
phenacitp (fen'a-sit), n. [So called in allusion
to its having been mistaken for quartz ; < Gr.
fiva^ {(psvaic-), an impostor, + -ite^.] A rare
mineral occurring in transparent rhombohedral
crystals, colorless to wine-yellow, and having a
vitreous luster, it is a silicate of beryllium (glucinum)^
It is found in the Urals, also In Switzerland, and on Mount
Antoro in Colorado. As a precious stone, the colorless
transparent variety is extremely brilliant by artificial light
phenakismt (fen'a-kizm), n. [< Gr. <j>evaKiafi6(,
cheating, quackery, < ievad^siv, cheat, < ^emf
((pevaK-), a cheat, quack, impostor.] The act
of conveying false ideas or impressions; deceit.
Bacon.
phenakistoscope (f en-a-kis'to-skop), n. [< Gr.
(jievaKtanit^g, deceitful '(< ^evamt^etv, cheat, de-
ceive, trick, < ^tva^, a cheat : see phenakisni), +
CKxmelv, see.] An optical instrument which pro-
duces the representation of actual motion, as
in leaping, walking, flying, etc. It consists of a
disk on which a figure is repeated in successive positions.
Phenakistoscope.
The disk a has drawn uix>n it the figures arranged in successive
positions. It is rotated by spinning with the iingeis applied to a small
boss or nut in the rear (not shown m the cut), b.b are tne slits through
which the reflected images are viewed.
When the disk is caused to revolve and is observed through
a slit as reflected in a mirror, a single figure appeals to
the eye, owing to the principle of the persistence of im-
pressions on the retina, to assume in turn the various
positions of the separate figures, its motion appearing to
be continuous.
phenetol (fen'et-ol), n. l<phen(ol) + -et- + -ol.]
Ethyl phenyl ether, CoHg.OCeHg, a volatile
aromatic-smelling liquid— phenetol red. Same
as coccinin.
phengite (fen'jit), n. l&eefengite.] A variety
of muscovite, or common potash mica. See
miiscovite.
phenic (fe'nik), a. [< V.phdnique; asjjhen^ol)
+ -ic."] Obtained &om coal-tar: a,s, phenic ox
carbolic acid. See carbolic. Also phenylie.
Phenician. Phoenician (fe-nish'an), a. and n.
[= P. Ph&nicien, < L. PfteB«ici«s," Phenician, <
Phcenice, < Gr. ^oivUr/, Phenicia, < *oZwf (> L.
Phwnix), a Phenician.] I. a. Of or pertaining
to Phenicia.
11. M. 1. A native or an inhabitant of Phe-
mcia, an ancient country on the coast of Syria,
of which Tyre and Sidon were the chief cities.
The Phenicians were probably of Semitic race,
and were celebrated for their commerce, colo-
nies, and inventions.— 2. The language of the
ancient Phenicians. It was a Semitic dialect,
akin to Hebrew.
phenicin,phenicine (fen'i-sin), «. lAlsophce-
mem; < F. phenidne, < Gr. ^oZv«f, purple-red:
see phenix.'] A brown coloring matter pro-
phenicin
dneed by the action of nitrosulphurio aeid on
cavbolie acid (phenol).
phenicious (ff-nish'us), a. [Prop, 'phenieeous;
< L. pliteniceus, < Gr. <poiviKcoc, purple-red, <
(polvt^, -purple: eeephenix.'] Of or pertaining to
phenicin; of the color of phenicin. Alsophmni-
eeous.
phenicoptert, plioeiucoptert (fen-i-kop't6r), n.
[< F.phenicoptere = 'Pg.plienicoptero = It.feni-
cottero,feHicontero,<'L.plt(enicopterus,<GT. (poivi-
KOTrrepog, a bird, supposed to be the flamingo, lit.
red-feathered, < (poivi^ (foiviK-), purple-red (see
phenix), + irrepov, feather, wing.] A flamingo.
He [Vitelliasl blended together the livers of gUtheads,
the brains of pheasants and peacocks, tongaes of pheni-
eoptera, and the melts of lampreys.
Uaketaia, Apology, p. 381.
Fhenicopterus (fe-ni-kop'te-rus), n. See Phcs-
nicopterus.
phenix, phoenix^ (fe'niks), n. [Formerly /e?iix,
but now phetiix or pTioenix, after the L. spelling;
< M&.fenix,< &S.fenix = Jy. feniks = MLG./i^
nix = G. phSnix = Sw. J)sm..fonix = F.pMnix =
8p. fenix = Fg.pJienix = It.fenice, < li.phcejiix, <
€h:. (jioivi^, a fabulous bird, the phenix (see def . 1).
The name has no obvious connection with <jiol-
vi^, purple-red, purple, red, also the palm, date-
palm, date, also a kmd of grass, etc., also [cap.]
aPhenician: seePhenidan. Itisby some iden-
tified with Egypt, bennu, a bird (supposed to be
a small heron) sacred to Osiris, emblem of the
soul, and also symbol of a certain cycle of
time.] 1. In anc. Oriental myth., a wonderful
bird of great beauty, which, aiter living 500 or
600 years in the Arabian wilderness, the only
one of its kind, built for itself a funeral pile of
spices and aromatic gums, lighted the pile with
the fanning of its wings, and was burned upon
it, but from its ashes revived in the freshness
of youth . Hence the phenix often serves as an emblem
of immoitality. Allnsions to this myth are found in the
hieroglyphic writings, and the fable sorvives in popular
forms in Arabia, Persia, and India. By heralds the phenix
is always represented in the midst of flames.
Than the Brid Fenix comethe, and brennethe him self
to Askes. MandemUe, TravelE^ p. 48.
For, as there is bat one pTujenix in the world, so there is
but one tree in Arabia wherein she buyldeth.
Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber), p. 312.
The bird phcenix is supposed to have taken that name of
this date tree (called in Greek <^ot»'tf ) ; for it was assured
onto me that the said bird died with the tree, and revived
of itself as the tree sprung again.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xiii. 4.
Hence — 2. A person of unique excellence; one
of singular distinction or peerless beauty; a
paragon.
For God's love let him not be a phenix, let hjm not be
alone. Latimer, 1st Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1649.
That incomparable Queene, most deservedly called the
Phoenix of her sex. Varyat, Crudities, L 43.
The Haji repaid me for my docility by vaunting me every-
where as the yery phoenix of physicians.
E. F. Burton, El-Medinah, p. 60.
3. In entom., the geometrid moth Cidaria ribe-
siaria, whose larva feeds on the ciu-rant and
gooseberry: a collectors' name in England.
The small phenix is C. silaeeata Chinese phe-
nix. Same as fuMghwang.— VTasms. badge, a medal
struck in the reign of Elizabeth about 1574, bearing on the
obverse a portrait of Elizabeth, and on the reverse a phenix
in flames with cipher and crown above. The inscriptions
seem to refer to the plague then raging. It was probably
worn by the immediate favorites and courtiers of Elizabeth.
— Phenix fowls. See Japanete long-tailed fowls, under
Japanese. — FheniXPOSt. Seepost^.
pheniz-stone (fe'niks -ston), n. An artificial
stone in which fumaee-slag is used in place of
sand.
phenocryst (fe'no-krist), m. [< Gr. ipaiveiv, show,
-I- KpvaT{aMo!:), crystal: see crystal.'] One of
the prominent crystals in a porphyritie rock,
phenogam, n. See phsenogam.
Phenogamia (fe-no-ga'mi-a), ». pi. See Pha-
nerogamia.
phenogamlc, phenogamous, a. See phxno-
gamic, phsenogamous.
phenol (fe'nol), n. [< F. phenol, said to be < Gr.
(j>aivetv, shine, appear (but prob. < ipolv{t^, pur-
ple-red), + -01.] 1. Phenyl alcohol, C6H5OH,
more commonly called carbolic acid. — 3. The
general name of a compound formed from ben-
zene and its homologues by the substitution of
hydroxyl for hydrogen in the benzene nucleus.
The phenols correspond to tertiary alcohols, as thejr con-
tain the group COH, and all have weak acid properties.—
Phenol-camphor, camphorated phenol ; camphor com-
bined with carbolic acid.
phenological, phaenological (fe-no-loj'i-kal),
a. [iphenolog-y + -ie-al.] Pertaining to phe-
nology.
4441
phenologist, phsnologist (fe-nol'o-jist), n. [<
phenolog-y + -is*.] One who is versed in phe-
noloCT-. Nature, XXXTX. 12.
phenology, phaenology (fe-nol'o-ji), n. [Short
for phenomenology, with a restricted applica-
tion.] That branch of applied meteorology
which treats of the influence of climate on the
recurrence of the annual phenomena of animal
and vegetable life. So far as it concerns plant-growth,
phenology is also a branch of botany, and records dates of
budding, leafing, blooming, and fruiting, in order to corre-
late these epochs with the attendant progress of meteoro-
logical conditions. Among the phenomena of animal life,
the migration of birds has been especially studied as a de-
partment of phenology.
phenomena, n. Plural otplienomenon,
phenomenal (fe-nom'e-nal), a. {^Also phxnom-
enal; = P. pJlenomSnal "= Sp. fenomenal; as
phenomenon + -al.] 1. Of, pertaining to, or of
the nature of phenomena, or the appearances
of things, as distinguished from the things in
themselves; pertaining to the occurrences or
changing phases of matter or mind.
Mill, ... in holding that all knowledge is only rela-
tive and phenomenal, and that causation is merely inva-
riable sequence, cuts at the roots of our belief both in
matter and force, Dawson, Kature and the Bible, p. ISS.
The basis of Fichte's system is an absolute Ego, of which
the Egt> of consciousness is at best pJi^enomerud.
Veiteh, Introd. to Descartes's Method, p. Ixxix.
The PhenomemU is the Real ; there is no other real that
we can distingniah from it.
H. Sidgwiek, Methods of Ethics, p. 120.
Thought must alter the phenomenal sequence, no doubt ;
hut so also does mere emotion, and again sensation.
F. H. BraeOey, Mind, Xni. 26.
2. Of the nature of a phenomenon, or extraor-
dinary fact in nature ; so surprising or extraor-
dinary as to arrest the attention or excite won-
der; impressively notable or important; be-
yond what is common or usual; remarkable:
as, the pJienomenal gi'owth of the United States ;
a braia ot phenomenal size.— Phenomenal ideal-
Ism. Same as £erMeutni<2eaIi»n(wIiich see, under ideoJ-
ism)-
II. n. That which is in the nature of a phe-
nomenon. [Rare.]
The greatness of the change is sufficiently hinted in the
Vision of St. John : "I saw a new heaven and a new earth ;
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
and there was no more sea " (Rev. xxi 1), In the matter
of elemen tals, the new earth will be identical with the old ;
in the matter of phenomenals, the new earth will be differ-
ent from the old. Boardman, Creative Week, p. 289.
phenomenalism (ff-nom'e-nal-izm), n. [= F.
plienomenalisme ; a,s j)]tenomehal + -ism.] The
philosophical doctrine that the phenomenal and
the real are identical — that phenomena are the
only realities. Also called extemalism.
PhentymenaZieni ... is that philosophy which holds
that all existences, all possible objects of thought, are of
two kinds only, external and internal phenomena; or sen-
suous objects, such as color, shape, hardness, or groups of
theses and the unsensuous ideas we have of sensuous ob-
jects. J. C. Skairp, Culture and Religion, p. 58.
phenomenalist (ff-nom'e-nal-ist), n. [< ]^he-
nomenal-ism -f -isi.] An adberent or disciple
of phenomenalism.
phenomenality (fe-nom-e-nal'i-ti), n. [= F.
phenomenalite; a.s phenomenal' + -ity.] The
character of being phenomenal, in either sense
of that word.
phenomenalize (fe-nom'e-nal-iz), v. t.; pret.
and pp. piwnomenalized, ppr. phenomenalizing.
[< phenomenal + -ize.] To represent as a phe-
nomenon ; cause to figure as a phenomenon.
His [Locke's] integrity is also illustrated in his acknow-
ledgment' of the unimaginable, and in this sense incog-
nizable, in our thought of Substance. He tries to phe.
Twrnenatiae it; but he finds that it cannot be phenomenal^
ized, and yet that we cannot dispense with iC
Eneyc Brit., XIV. 760.
phenomenally (ff-nom'e-nal-i), adv. 1. As a
phenomenon ; as a mere pliase or appearance.
— 2. In an extraordinary or surprising manner
or degree.
phenomenism (f e-nom'e-nizm), n. _[< ^henomr-
enon + -ism.] "f he doctrine or principles of
the phenomenists.
phenomenist (ff-nom'e-nist), n. [< phenome-
non + -ist,] One who believes only in what he
observes, or in phenomena, having no regard
to their causes or consequences ; one who re-
jects a priori reasoning or necessary ^primary
principles; one who does not believe in an in-
variable connection between cause and effect,
but holds this to be nothing more than a habit-
ually observed sequence.
phenomenize (ff-nom'e-niz), v. t.; pret. and pp.
phenomeniged, ppr. phenomenieing. [< plienoni-
en-on + -t^e.] To bring into the world of ex-
perience.
phenyle
phenomenological (ff-nom'e-no-loj'i-kal), a.
[< phmiomenowg-y + -ic-al.] Of or pertaining
to phenomenology; related or relating to phe-
nomenology.
My metaphysic is psychological or phenomenological
metaphysic. Mind, IX. 466.
phenomenology (ff-nom-e-nol'o-ji), «. [= P.
phenomeiiologie = Pg. phenomeitologia, < Gr. (pai-
vdficva, phenomena, -1- -/xryia, < ?£yeiv, speak : see
-ology.] A deseriptionorhistoryof phenomena.
phenomenon (fe-nom'e-non), )?.; pi. phenome-
na (-na). [Formerly also phsenomenon; = F.
phenomene = Gr.phdnopien = Sw.fenomen = Dan .
fanomen = Sp.jendmeno = It. fenomeno = Pg.
phenomena, < IAj. phsenomenon, <Gt. tpaivo/uvci;
pi. ijiaivd/ieva, that which appears or is seen,
neut. of pass. part, of oaivttv, shine, show, pass.
i>atveo6ai, appear, < y ^av, extended form of
■\/ <j>a = Skt. bhd, shine: see phased, faee^, etc.
Cf. phantasm, phantom, phantasy, fancy, etc.]
1. Inphilos., an appearance or immediate ob-
ject of experience, as distinguished from a thing
in itself.
How pitif nil and ridiculous are the grounds upon which
such men pretend to account for the lowest and common-
est plisen&mena of nature without recurring to a God and
Providence ! South, Sermons, IV. ix.
The term appearance is used to denote not only that
which reveals itself to our observation, as existent, but
also to signify that wliich only seems to D€^ in contrast to
that which truly is. There is thus not merely a certain
vagueness in the word, but it even involves a kind of con-
tradiction to the sense in which it is used when employed
loT pheenomemm. In consequence ot this, the term j>A«-
nonunon has been naturalized in onr language as a philo-
sophical substitute for the term appeai'ance.
Sir W. BamiUon, Metaph., viii.
A phenomejum, as commonly understood, is what is
manffest, sensible, evident, the implication being that
there are eyes to see, ears to hear, and so forth.
J. Ward, Encyc. Brit., XX. 38.
And do we need anymore evidence to convince us that
phenoTnena — by wldch I mean the effects produced upon
our consciousness by unknown external agencies — are all
that we can compare and classify, and are therefore all
that we can know? J. Fiske, Cosmic Philos., I. 20.
2. In science, a fact directly observed, being
either (a) an individual circumstance or oecui-
rence, such as the emergence of a temporary
star, or more usually (6) a regular kind of fact
observed on certain kinds of occasion, such as
the electrical sparks seen in combing the hair
of some persons in cold, dry weather.
In fiction, the principles are given, to find the facts;
in history, the facts are given, to find the principles ; and
the writer who does not explain the phentnnena as well as
state them performs only one half of his office.
Macavlay, History.
We do not inquire respecting this hnman natiu'e what
are the laws tinder which its varied phenomena may be
generalized, and accommodate our acts to them.
S. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 507.
Last night we watched from our roof that lovely phe-
Tiomenon, the approach of Venus to the moon.
J. F. Clarke, Self-CtUture, p. 119.
3. Any extraordinaiy occurrence or fact in
nature; something strange and uncommon; a.
prodigy; a very remarkable personage or per-
former.
"This, sir," said Mr. Vincent Crummies, bringing the-
Maiden forward, "this is the infant phenomenon^ Miss-
Ninetta Crummies." Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, xxiil.
Cihess-bpard phenomenon, the effect produced by cross-
ing the visual axes in front of a chess-board or other simi-
lar object, so that there is a partial superposition of the
images in the two eyes, and an appearance as if the objects
were nearer and smaller.— Entoptic phenomena. See
en^tic— Leidenfrost phenomenon. See spheroidal
condition, under spheroidal. — Peltier's phenomenon.
See Peltiereffect(TiTider effect), and tkemuheleetrieity. = &j7i.
3. Prodigy, marvel, wonder.
phenozygons (fe-noz'i-gus), a. [< Gr. ^IvcLV,
show, + fiyov, yoke: see yoTce.] Having, as a
skull, the zygomatic arches visible directly
from above ; having the bizygomatic diameter
greater than the Tna.-!riTnnm transverse frontal
diameter, and the angle of Quatrefages posi-
tive.
phenyl, phenyle (fe'nil), n. [< F. phenyle; as
phem{ol) + -yl.] An organic radical (0^5 ; in
the free state, Gi^\o) found in phenol (or car-
bolic acid), benzol, and aniline, it ciTstallizes from
alcohol in colorless nacreous scales of an agreeable odor,
which melt at 70° C. and sublime at a higher temperature.
— ^Phenyl brown. See Irrovm.
phenylamide (fe-nil-am'id or -id), n. [<phenyl
-I- amide.] A compound formed by the sub-
stitution of one or more amido-groups for the
hydrogen of benzene. The phenylamides are very
feeble bases. The most important commercially is ani-
line.
phenylamlne (fe-nil-am'in), «. [< phenyl +
amine.] Same as aniline.
phenyle, «. See phenyl.
phenylia
[Nil., < "^.phenyl, q. v.]
[< phenyl + -ic] Same
1. A
phenylia (ff-nii'i-a), n.
Same as aniline.
plienylic (fe-ml'ik), a.
as phenic.
pheon (fe'on), n. [Origin obscure.]
barbed javelin formerly
carried by the royal ser-
geant-at-arms. Fairholt,
— 2. In her., a barbed
head, as of an arrow or a
flsh-spear, diflferiag from
the broad-arrow in being
engrailed on the inner
side of the barbs unless
otherwise blazoned. The
point is always directed' Pheon, 2.
downward unless otherwise stated in the blazon.
Also aaMeiferrumjaeuU. Compare broad-arrow.
Pherecratean (fer"ek-ra-te'an), n. [< Gr. ^epe-
KpaTT/g, Pherecrates (see def'.').] In anc.pros.,
a logaoedio meter (named from Pherecrates, a
Greek comic poet), similar to a trochaic tripody,
but having a dactyl for the second trochee (also
called Aristo])hanie); also, a logaoedic tripody
(catalectic or aeatalectie) with a dactyl either
in the first or second place.
Pherecratic (fer-ek-rat'ik), n. Same as Phere-
cratean.
phestert, n. A bad spelling of /esteri.
phew (fu), interj. [A mere exclamation; ef.
phoo, pho, phy, etc.] An exclamation of dis-
gust, weariness, or surprise.
pii (fi), n. The Greek letter i, corresponding
to the EngUsh ph (/).
phial (fi'al), n. and v. See vial.
phiale (E'a-le), ». ; pi. phialse (-le). [< Gr.
(pidXii, a patera, saucer: see vial.'] 1. A flat
saucer-shaped Greek vase used for pouring re-
ligious libations : commonly known by its Latin
nssme, patera. — 3. Same as cantharns, 2.
Phibalura (fib-a-lu'ra), n. [A mutilated and cor-
rupt form of Aniphibolura, q.v.] A genus of birds
established \>j Vieillot in 1816. The type and only
species is P. Jtavirostris of Brazil, a bird of the family Co-
tingidm, Ttie plumage is yellow and black, the beak yel-
low. The name is derived from the long, deeply forked tail.
Phidian (fid'i-an), a. [< L. Phidias, < Gr. *ei-
iiag, Phidias (see def.), + -an."] Of, pertaining
to, or produced by Phidias, the most eminent
artist of the most splendid time of ancient
Athens, during the fifth century B. c, the ar-
tistic director of the monumental works of Peri-
cles, and the sculptor of the decoration of the
Parthenon and of the chryselephantine Zeus of
Olympia. Hence, in general, noting the Athenian ai-t
of the third quarter of the fifth century, including not
only the work of Phidias himself, bat also that molded by
Phidian School of Sculpture. — The " Gaia and Thalassa " (or Deme-
ter and Kora), from the eastern pediment of the Parthenon.
his example and executed by the galaxy of great artists of
whom he was the chief; also, from the artistic standpoint,
noting the age when Phidias and his immediate disciples
worked. At this time the Greek artists had already won
complete command of the material side of their profession,
so that they were unhampered by difficulties of execu-
tion, and their work was constantly inspired by a high
and noble ideal. Also written Pheidian.
Phigaliau (fi-ga'li-an), a. [< Gr. fc/d^cm, Phi-
galia (see def . ), + -a».] Pertaining to Phigalia,
an ancient town in the Peloponnesus — Phiga-
lian marbles, a series of twenty-three blocks sculptured
in alto-rilievo, from the interior frieze of the cella of the
temple of Apollo Epikourios at Phigalia or £ass», now
preserved in the British Museum. They represent the
combat of the Centaurs and Lapithae, and that of the Greeks
and Amazons, and are of high artistic excellence, though
lacking the dignity and repose of the almost contempo-
raneous art of the Parthenon.
phil-. See pMlo-.
philabegf (fil'a-beg), ». Same a,s filibeg,
Philacte (fi-lat'te), n. [NL. (Bannister, 1870),
< Gr. iptkelv, love, + iiKTii, sea-shore.] A genus
of arctic maritime Anatidse of the subfamily An-
serinee, having a variegated plumage without
metallic tints, incised webs, rostral lamellae ex-
posed posteriorly, and skull with superorbital
depression ; the painted geese, p. canagica is the
emperor-goose of Alaska, abounding at the mouth of the
Yukon. The color is wavy bluish-gray, with lavender tint-
ing and sharp black crescentic marks, the head, nape, and
tail being white, the former often washed with amber,
4442
the throat black speckled with white. Its Sesh is rank
and scarcely fit for food.
philacteryt, »• 8e6 phylactery.
Fhiladelphian^ (fil-a-del'fi-an), a. and n. [<
Philadelphia (see def!) + -an. ' The name Phila-
delphia, usually explained to mean the ' city of
brotherly love ' (as if identical with Gr. (juXadeX-
(pla, brotherly love), is taken from the LL. Phi-
ladelphia, < Gr. ii?iade)ujiem, the name of a city
of Lydia (Eev. i. 11, iii. 7), now Ala-shehr
(also the name of a city in Cilicia, and of an-
other in Coele-Syria), lit. ' city of Philadelphus,'
namely, of Attains II., king of Pergamum, sur-
named Philadelphus (^iAdde/l^of) on account of
his affection for his brother Eumenes, whom he
succeeded; < (^iMSeAfog, loving one's brother or
sister, < ^t^lv, love, + aSeX^dc, brother, aSeTup^,
• sister.] I. a. Of or pertaining to Philadelphia,
the chief city of Pennsylvania, situated on the
Delaware and Schuylkill rivers.
II. n. A native or an inhabitant of the city
of Philadelphia.
Philadelphian2 (fil-a-del'fi-an), a. [< L. Phila-
delphtis(^(iT. ^iM6e/Uj>og, a man's name: see def.)
-I- -ian. Cf. Philadelphianyi Pertaining to
Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, 283-247
B. c, a patron of literature, science, and art.
philadelphians (fil-a-del'fi-an), m. [Ci.F.pMla-
delplw, member of a society formed in France
in the 17th century, < Gr. ^iMSe?i(j>oc, loving one's
brother: see Philadelphian'^.'] One of a short-
lived mystical denomination founded in Eng-
land in the end of the seventeenth century.
philadelphite (fil-a-del'fit), n. [< Philadelphia
(see def. ) -H -ite^.']" A kind of vermiculite found
near Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.
Philadelphus (fil-a-del'fus), ». [NL. (Linnseus,
1737), < Gr. ^(?,d(f£S,0ov, a sweet-flowering shrub,
perhaps jasmine ; named after Ptolemy PAito-
delphus, Gr. fc/lddE/^of, king of Egypt: see Phila-
delphian^. ] A genus of shrubs of the order Saxi-
fragesB and the
tribe Rydran^
gese, character-
ized by the
inferior ovary,
numerous sta-
mens, and four
or five imbri-
cate petals.
The 12 species are
natives of central
Europe, the south-
ern United States,
Japan, and the
Himalayas. They
bear round oppo-
site branches, op-
posite leaves, and
rather large flow-
era, corymbed or
solitary in the ax-
ils, white or straw-
colored, and com-
monly fragrant. They are common in cultivation as orna-
mental shrubs, under the names 'mock-(yrange and syringa.
(For flower-section, see cut under exngynoua.) P. grandi-
JUyrue and two other species are wild in the United States
from Virginia southward.
philamott, n. A bad spelling of ^temo*. Hol-
land, tr. of Pliny.
Philampelus (fi-lam'pe-lus), n. [NL. (Harris,
1839), <Gr. (pM/iireyioi, loving the vine, < ipiXctv,
love, + hjineT^q, a vine.] A genus of sphingid
moths of the subfamily Chcerocampinie, includ-
Flowerin^ Branch of Syringa or Mock-orange
{PhilacUlphus coronariits). a, the fruit.
Larva of Philampelus achenton, slightly reduced.
ing species of large size, with curved antennae,
somewhat pointed fore wings, and produced
anal angle of the hiud wings. There are four North
American species, two of them extending into the West
Pkilamfelus acfumon. Moth, slightly reduced.
philanthropist
Indies ; in the larval state all are vine-feeders, whence the
generic name. The larvte have the head small and glo-
bose, the anterior segments slender and retractile into the
swollen third segments ; and the anal horn is wanting in
full-grown individuals, being replaced by a shining lenticu-
lar tubercle. P. achemon and P. pandoms or mteUUia are
abundant, and of economic importance from the damage
done in vineyards by their larvae.
philander (fl-lan'd6r), n. [So called in allu-
sion to Philander, as the name in old plays and
romances of a lover, e. g. "Philander, Prince
of Cyprus, passionately in love with Erota," one
of the dramatis personse of Beaumont and
Fletcher's "Laws of Candy," and Philander,
the name of a virtuous youth in Ariosto's " Or-
lando Furioso," between whom and a married
woman named Gabrina there were certain ten-
der passages ; < Gr. filavSpoq, loving men, < ^i-
Mv, love, + av^p (avSp-), man. Cf . phyllis, n.
and».] 1. A lover.
This exceeds all precedent ; I am brought to fine uses,
to become a botcher of second hand marriages between
Abigails and Andrews ! — I'll couple you!— Yes, I'll baste
you f»gether, you and your Philander!
Congreve, Way of the World, v. 1.
3. In. zool., one of several different marsupial
mammals. Specifically — (a) The Australian bandicoot,
Peramelee lagotix. (&) A South American opossum of one
of several different species.
philander (fi-lan'der), «. ». i< philander, n. Cf.
phyllis, v.] To play the philander; pay court
to a woman, especially without serious inten-
tion; make love in a foolish way; "spoon."
Sir Kit was too much taken up phUanderingUi consider
the law in this case. Miss Edgeworth, Castle Backrent, ii.
You must msCke up your mind whether you wish to be
accepted : . . . you can't be phUandeHmg after her again
for six weeks. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xxv.
philanderer (fi-lan'der-er), n. One who phi-
landers ; a male flirt.
At last^ without a note of warning, appeared in Beddge-
lert a phenomenon which rejoiced some hearts, but per-
turbed also the spirits, not only of the Oxford philander-
ers, but those of Elsley Vavasour.
Kingsley, Two Years Ago, xix,
Philanthidae (fi-lan'thi-de)), n. pi. [NL., <
Philanthus + -idee.'] A family of fossorial hy-
menopterous insects, founded on the genus
Philanthus. They have a narrow prothorax, three sub-
marginal cells of the fore wings, the second and third of
which receive each a recurrent nervure, and sessile or
subsessile abdomen. These wasps are small but beauti-
ful ; they prey chiefly on bees and beetles, and their bur-
rows seldom exceed five inches in length. See cut under
PMlanthus.
philanthrope (fil'an-throp), «. [< F. philan-
thrope = Sp. flldniropo = It. filantropo = Pg.
philanthrope, < Gr. t^iAavOpairoQ, humane: see
philanthropy.'] A philanthropist.
He had a goodness of nature and disposition in so great
a degree-that he may be deservedly styled a pMtanthrope.
Roger North, Lord Guilford, II. 127. (DavUs.)
philanthropic (fil-an-throp'ik), a. [= F. pU-
lanthropigue = Spl filantrdpico = "Pg.philan-
tropico = It. filantropico, < ML. *philanthropi-
eus (in adv. philanthropice), < Gr. "^tXavdpaTrmdi,
a false reading for <tiiMv6poTro(, humane, a phi-
lanthropist: seepihilanthropy.] Of or pertain-
ing to philanthropy ; characterized by or spring-
ing from love of mankind ; actuated by a de-
sire to do good to one's fellows.
The kindlier feeling of men is seen in all varieties of
philcmthropie effort. H. Spencer, Social Statics.
=Syn. Benevolent, humane.
philanthropical (fil-an-throp'i-kal), a. [<
philanthropic + -al.] "Same a.s phiianthroxiie.
philanthropically (fil-an-throp'i-kal-i), adv.
In a philanthropic manner; benevolently.
philanthropinism (fil-an-throp'i-nizm), TO. [<
Gr. *<^t7M,vepimivog (a false reading for (piXMpa-
■Kog, humane: see philanthropy) + -ism.] A
system of education on so-called natural prin-
ciples, promoted by Basedow and his friends
in Germany in the eighteenth century.
philanthropinist (fil-an-throp'i-nist), n. [<
philanthropin-ism + -isi.] An advocate of phil-
anthropinism.
philantnropism (fl-lan'thro-pizm), n. [= F.
philanthropisme; &sphilanthrop-y + -ism.] Phi-
lanthropy.
philanthropist (fi-lan'thro-pist), n. [< pUlan-
throp-^ + -ist.] One wto is actuated by a
philanthropic spirit; one who loves mankind,
or wishes well to his fellow-men and endeav-
ors to benefit them by active works of benev-
olence or beneficence; one who from philan-
thropic motives endeavors to do good to his
fellows.
We all know the wag's definition of a phUarahropist—
a man whose charity increases directly as the souare of
the distance. George Eliot, Middlemarch xxxviiL
Philanthus "ventilabris,
natural size.
philanthropistic
philanthropistic (fi-lan-thro-pis'tik), a. [<
philanthropist + -jc] Eelating to or eharae-
terlzing professional philanthropists. [Bare.]
Over the wild-surging chaos in the leaden air are only
sudden glares of revolutionary lightning ; then mere dark-
ness with phUanthropietic phosphorescences, empty mete-
oric lights. Carlyle, Sterling, v. (Dame».)
philanthropy (fl-lan'thro-pi), n. [Formerly
philanthropie ; < V. philanthropies Sp.filantro-
pia = Pg. philantropia = It. filantropia, < LL.
philanthropia, < Gr. (tic?Mii6piMTia, humanity, be-
nevolence, generosity, < ^M,v6pimo(, loving
mankind, humane, benevolent, Uberal, < ^Oulv,
love, + avBpuTToi, man.] Love of mankind, es-
pecially as evinced in deeds of practical benefi-
cence and endeavors for the good of one's fel-
lows.
They thought themselves not much concerned to ac-
quire that Ood-like excellency, & philanthropy and love to
all mankind. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), III. L
=Syn. PkUanthropy, Charity. Originally these words were
the same, meaning the love of fellow-man, a sense which
philanthropy retains, but charity (except in Biblical lan-
guage : see 1 Cor. xiiL, authorized version) has lost. Each
expresses both spirit and action ; but phUanlhropy can-
not be applied to a concrete act^ while cha/rUy may ; hence
we speak of a charily, but not of sl phUanthropy ; on the
other Irnnd; as a spirit, phUanthropy looks upon human wel-
fare as a thing to be promoted, especially by preventing
or mitigating actual suffering, wmle charity, outside of
Biblical usage, is simply disposed to take as favorable a
view as possible of the cliaracter, conduct, motives, or the
like, of a fellow-man. As activity, charity helps men in-
dividually ; philarUhropy helps the individual as a member
of the race, or provides for large numbers. Philanthropy
agitates for prison-reform and the provision of occupation
for released convicts ; cha/rity gives a released convict such
personal help as he needs.
Philanthus (fi-lan'thns), n. [NL. (Pabricius,
1793), < Gr. tpuavB^Q, loving flowers (ef. *iAov6of,
a man's name), < <pt7Mv,
love, + avSof, flower.] 1.
In entom., a notable ge-
nus of digger-wasps, typ-
ical of the family Plniart-
thidas, having the third
submargiaal cell narrow
and the antennse insert-
ed in the middle of the
face, not far above the clypeus. There are 24 Ameri-
can and 5 European species. The British P. apivorus
preys especially upon the hive-bee.
2. In omith., a genus of meliphagine birds.
Also called Manm-rhina. Lesson, 1831.
philantomba (fil-an-tom'ba), n. [Nil.; sup-
posed to be a native name.] An A&ican ante-
lope of the genus Ceplialophus, as C. maxvoelli.
phuargUTOTlSt, a. [(.philargur-y + -oiis.'] Mon-
ey-loving; avaricious. Sir B. L' Estrange.
plillarguryt (fi-lar'gu-ri), n. IPropevly philar-
gyry; iSLi.*philargyria, philargiria, <Gr.0iAap-
yvpia, love of money, covetousness (the word
used in 1 Tim. vi. 10),< (ptfudpryvpof, loving money,
< (j>i?^lv, love, + apyvpog, silver, money : see argy-
rism, argent.'] Love of money; avarice.
philatelic (fil-a-tel'ik), a. [< philatel-y + -Jc.]
Of or relating to philately.
philatelist (fi-lat e-list), n. [ipJiilatel-y + -»«*.]
A collector of postage-stamps and revenue-
stamps as objects of curiosity or interest.
philately (fi-lat'e-li), n. [< ¥. philatSlie, in-
tended to mean 'the love of the study of all
that concerns prepayment,' i. e. of stamps, ab-
surdly formed (by M. Herpin, a stamp-collector,
in "Le Collectionnenr," in 1865) < Gr. ^I'/lof,
loving (prop, dj/av, love), -I- aretJif, free of tax
or charge (taken in the sense of 'prepaid'), <
a- priv. + T&jo^, tax, duty.] The fancy for col-
lecting and clawifyiug postage-stamps and
revenue-stamps as objects of curiosity; also,
the occupation of maWng such collections.
philantyt (fil'ar-ti), n. [Also pUlautie; < P.
philautie = Sp.JUauaa = Pg. philaticia = It.
Jttauzia, < Gr. (fn/Mvria, self-love, < ipi?MVTOQ, lov-
ing one.self, < ^i/siv, love, + avroQ, self.] Love
of self; selfishness.
Then PhUaiUy and Pride shall stretch her Soul
With swelling poison, making her disdain
Heav'ns narrow gate. J. Beaumont, Psyche, i. 38.
philazert, n. A bad spelling ot filacer.
philenor (fl-le'nor), n. [NL., < Gr. ^ilifmp, ^i-
Xdvup, loving one's husband, < <pi?Mv, love, +
av;?/], man, husband. Ct. philandei:'] A butter-
fly, Papilio philenor, one of the handsomest of
the North American swallowtails. Theforewings
are black with greenish metallic reflections; the hind are
(jrilliant steel-blus with greenish reflections ; the larva is
velvety-black, covered with long black fleshy tubercles
and shorter orange ones. It feeds upon plants of the genus
Arittolochia, and is somewhat gregarious in early life. See
cuts under PapSio and PaipUiomdee.
Philepitta (fil-e-pit'a), n. [NL. (Isidore Geof-
froy St. Hilaire, 1838), < Gr. ^ilelv, love, + NL.
4443
Pitta.] The typical genus of Philepitttdse, con-
taining two Madagasean species, P. castanea
and P. schlegeli. The systematic position of the genus
has been much questioned, it having been classed with the
Pittida or Old World ant-thrushes, the birds of paradise,
and the Jfectariniidm or honey-suckers. The genus is also
called Briss&nia, Buddinghia, and Paictes.
Philepittidas (fil-e-pit'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Phi-
lepitta + -idas.] A family of mesomyodian pas-
serine birds peculiar to Madagascar, typified by
the genus Philepitta. The syrinx is bronchotracheal,
with a peculiar modiflcation of the bronchial half-rings and
corresponding expansion of the muscular insertions. The
tongue is penicillate, the tarsi are taxaspidean, the wing-
coverts are long, the tail is short, and the male has a car-
uncle over the eye.
Philesia (fi-le'si-a), n. [NL. (Commerson, 1789),
< Gr. ^iXijaig, affection, < ^i7mv, love.] A genus
of liliaceous plants of the tribe Luzuriagex, dis-
tinguished by its one-nerved leaves and sepals
shorter than the petals. The only species, P. buxi-
folia, is the pepino, a smooth branching shrub f rqm south-
em Chili and the straits of Magellan, bearing rigid al-
ternate oblong leaves and showy drooping I'ose-red and
waxy flowers, large and bell-shaped. Their contrast with
the evergreen leaves makes it one of the handsomest of
antarctic plants. It is also remarkable for its structure of
bark, wood, and pith, similar to that of exogenous stems.
Philetaerus (fiil-e-te'rus), n. [NL. (orig. Phile-
tairus. Sir Andrew Smith, 1837), < Gr. ipiXelv,
love, + cTdlpog, a companion: see hetsera.'j A
genus of sociable weaver-birds of the family
Social Weaver-bird ^PkiUtarus socitts), with its liive-nest.
Ploceidse, having as type P. socius of South
Africa, the well-known social weaver, which
builds its enoiTnous umbrella-like nest in com-
mon with its fellows. See out under hive-nest.
philharmonic (fll-har-mon'ik), a. [= P. phiU
harmonigue = Sp. filarin6nico= Pg.philarmonl-
eo = It. filarmonieOf < Gr. as if *^i?jip/ioviic6c, <
^j^ftv, love, + apjwvia, hannony: see ha/rmony.']
Loving harmony; fond of music ; music-loving.
Philhellene (fil-hel'en), n. [< P. philhellhie =
It. filelleno, < Gr. ^i>£>jiTp>, < i^O.uv, love, + 'E?,^
7jriv, a Greek, pi. "EXP-^ref, Greeks: see Eellene.]
A Mend of Greece; a foreigner who supports
the cause and interests of the Hellenes; par-
ticularly, one who favored, supported, or actu-
ally assisted the modem Greeks in their suc-
cessful struggle with the Turks for indepen-
dence.
Philhellenic (fil-he-len'ik), a. [As Philhellene
+ -ic, after Hellenic] Of or pertaining to Phil-
hellenes; loving the Greeks.
Philhellenism (fil-hel'en-izm), n. [As Philhel-
lene + -ism, after Hellenism.] Love of Greece ;
the principles of the Philhellenes.
Philhellenist(fll-hel'en-ist), B. [As PhiVtellene
+ -ist, after Hellenist.] Same as Philhellene.
Philhydrus (fil-hi'drus), n. [NL. (Solier, 1834),
< Gr. <i>i?.vdpoc, loving water, < ipOi^lv, love, + vSup
(idp-), water.] In «jto»i., a large genusof water-
beetles of the family Hydrophilidx^ widely dis-
tributed and comprising species which have the
last joint of the maxillary palpi shorter than the
third. .Also Philydnis and Helophilus.
phiUater (fi-li'a-ter), n. [< Gr. iptVtaTpog, a
friend of the art of medicine, < ft7i£iv, love, +
ta-poQ, a medieiner, physician : see iatric] An
amateur student of medicine.
philibeg, philigreet. Bad spellings of filibeg,
filigree.
Philidor's defense. In clwss-playing. See open-
ing, 9.
phiUp (fil'ip)> «• [Also contr. jjfe^; a partic-
ular use of the proper name Philip (cf. "Philip
Sparrow," the name of a poem of Skelton). The
name Philipis < P. Philippe = Sp. Mlipo = Pg.
Philippo = It. Filippo, <T.. Philippus, < Gr. *i-
philippize
PuHTTTOf, lit. loving horses, < <l>t?Mv, love, + iinzo^,
horse.] 1. The common European house-spar-
row, Pa«*ej-dome«iicM«. — 2. The hedge-sparrow,
Accentor modularis. [Prov. Eng.]
When Philip lyst to go to bed,
It is a heaven to heare my Phippe,
How she can chirpe with chery lip.
Gascoigne, Praise of Philip Sparrow. (Naret.l
Philip and Cheineyt. [Also Philip and Chey-
ney (Ctieinie, Clieanie, Cheny); from the proper
names Philip and Cheiny, used like Tom, Dick,
and Harry. The name Cheiny, Clieyney, sur-
vives in the surnames Clieney, Cheyne.] 1.
"Tom, Dick, and Harry"; any one and every
one.
It was not his entent to bryng unto Sylla phUip and
cheinie, mo than a good meiny, but to bryng hable soul-
diours of manhood approued and well tried to ids handes.
Udall, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 311. iDavies.)
Loiterers I kept so meanie,
Both Philip, Hob, and Cheanie.
Tusser, p. 8. (Dames.)
2. Some stuff, apparently coarse or common, the
exact character of which is imcertain. [In this
use hyphened as one word.]
'Twill put a lady scarce in PkUip-and-cheffn^,
With three small bugle-laces, like a chamber maid.
Beau, and FL, Wit at Several Weapons, ii. 1.
No cloth of silver, gold, or tissue here ;
PhUip-and-Cheiny never would appear
Within our bounds.
John Taylor, Praise of Hempseed.
Philipist, n. See Philippist.
PhiHppian (fi-lip'i-an), a. and n. . [< L. Philip-
piamcs, Philippianj' < Philippi, < Gr. <ti7ujrjrot,
PhiUppi, < 4>yLHrirof, Philip : see jj/wZip.] I, a.
Of or pertaining to Philippi or its inhabitants.
n. n. A native or an inhabitant of Philippi,
a city of ancient Macedonia, the seat of an
early Christian church,to which Paul addressed
his Epistle to the Philippians.— Epistle to the
Fhillppians, a letter addressed^by the apostle Paul to the
church in Philippi, in which he alludes to the close per-
sonal relations existing l)etween himself and the mem-
bers of that church, encourages them to remain in unity,
and warns them against various dangers.
Philippic (fi-lip'ik), H. [= P. philippique = Sp.
filipica = Pg. philippica = It. filippica, < L.
pMlippica, sc. oratio, in plural philippicse orati-
ones (also absolutely pMlippica, neut. pi.), fem.
of Philippicus, < Gi'. ^i?^-iT7riK6c, pertaining to
Philip,< "ti'AiTrffOf, Philip: seephilip.] 1. One of
a series of orations delivered, in the f om-th cen-
tury B. c, bj the Athenian orator Demosthenes,
against Philip, king of Macedon, the father of
Alexander the Great, in which the orator pro-
claims the imminent jeopardy of Athenian lib-
erty, and seeks to arouse his fellow-citizens to
a sense of their danger and to stimtdate them
to timely action against the growing power of
Macedon. Hence — 2. [H. c] Any discourse or.
declamation full of acrimonious invective. The
orations of Cicero against Mark Antony are
called philippics.
In a tone which may remind one of the similar philippic
by his contemporary Dante against his fair countrywomen
of Florence. PreseoU, f erd. and Isa., L 8, note 31.
Philippic era. See era.
Philippin (fil'ip-in), n. [< Philip (see def .) +
-i»i.] A member of a small Eussian denomlna^
tion, chiefly in Lithuania. It was founded by Philip
Pustoviat, about 1700 ; its members have no regular priests,
and refuse military service and oaths.
Philippine (fil'i-pen), n. Same as philopena.
Fhilippism (fil'ip-izm), n. [< Philip (see def.)
-I- -ism.] The doctrines attributed to Philip
Melanchthon by his pupils and followers.
Philippist (fil'ip-ist), n. [< Philip (see def.)
+ -ist.] A pupU or follower of Philip Melanch-
thon, a German theologian (1497-1560). .Also
spelled Philipist.
philippize (fil'ip-iz), v. ; pret. and pp. philip-
pized, ppr. philippizing. [= P. philippiser, <
Gr. (jK/lOTTTifEtv, be on Philip's side, < Wuirirog,
Philip: see Philippic. In defs. I., 2, and H., <
philipp-ic + -dze.] I. intrans. 1 . To side with
Philip of Macedon; support or advocate the
cause of Philip.
Its prestige [that of the oracle of Delphi] naturally van-
ished with the downfall of Greek liberty, after it began,
as Demosthenes expressed it, to Philippine, or to yield its
authority to comipt indacement&
6. P. Fisher, Begin, of Christianity, p. 103.
2. To write or utter a philippic or invective ;
declaim. See Philippic.
With the best intentions ui the world he naturally jiAtZ-
ippizes, and chaunts his prophetic song in exact unison
with their designs. Burke, Itev. in France.
H. trans. To attack in a philippic; inveigh
against.
phiUppize
He argued with us, philippized us, denounced us, and,
as Nimrod said, "whipped us over the Almighty's back ! "
5. Judd, Margaret, iii.
Fhilister (fl-lis't6r), n. Same as Philistine, 3.
Fhilistian (fl-lis'ti-an), a. and n. [< PMlistia,
LL. Philistasa, Fhilistlisea (see Philistine), +
-a 11.1 I. a. Of or pertaining to PMlistia in Sy-
ria, or its inhabitants.
The cis-Jordan country . . . was the scene of a great
development of the Fhilistian power.
Encyc. Brit, XVIII. 176.
II. m. A Philistine.
But, Colonel, they say you went to Court last night very
drunk ; nay, I'm told for certain you had been among the
PMUstians. Swift, Polite Conversation, i. (Davies.)
Philistimt (fi-lis'tim), n. [< LL. PUUsthUm, <
Heb. Plishthim, pi. : see Philistine.'] A Philis-
tine : properly a plural (Hebrew), but used as
a singular.
They serued also the Gods of Aram, Zidon, Moab, Am-
mon, and the PhUisstAms, PurcJMS, Pilgrimage, p. 136.
Those PkUistims put out the fair and farre-sighted eyes
of his natural discerning.
Milton, Church-Government, ii,. Con.
Philistine (fl-lis'tin), n. [=P. PUlistin, < LL.
PhilisUni, also Philisthiim, Philistines (of. Ar.
Mlistiy, Philistines, Mlistin, Palestine), < Heb.
Plishthi, pi. PlishtMm, the original inhabitants
of Palestine (Philistia'),<jjotesA, wander about.
In def . 3 Philistine is a translation of Q-. Fhilister
(= D. Philister = Sw. Dan. Mlister), a 'Philis-
tine '), applied by German students in the uni-
versities, as "the chosen people" or "the chil-
di'en of light," to the townsmen, regarded as
their enemies, or "the children of darkness."]
1 . One of a warlike immigrant people, of dis-
puted origin, who inhabited parts of PMlistia
or Palestine, and contested the possession and
sovereignty of it with the Israelites, and con-
tinued to harass them with much persistency
for several centuries. Hence — 2. A heathen
enemy; an unfeeling foe: used humorously,
for example, of a bailifE or sheriff's ofS.eer.
She was too ignorant of such matters to know that, if he
had fallen into the liands of the PhUistiTies (which is the
name given by the faithful to bailiffs), he would hardly
have been able so soon to recover his liberty.
Pieldinff, Amelia, v. 6. (Davies.)
3. In Germany, one who has not been trained
in a university: so called by the students.
[Slang.] Hence — 4. A matter-of-fact, com-
monplace person; a man upon whom one can
look down, as of culture inferior to one's own ;
one of "parochial" intellect; a satisfied per-
son who is unaware of his own lack of culture.
The people who believe most that our greatness and wel-
fare are proved by our being very rich, and who most give
their lives and thoughts to becoming rich, are just the very
people whom we call Philistines.
M. Arnold, Sweetness and Light, § 13.
Fhilistinism (fi-lis'tin-izm), n. [= F. philis-
tinisme; as Philistine + -ism.] The character or
views of Philistines. See Philistine, 3, 4.
Out of the steady humdrum habit of the creeping Saxon,
as the Celt calls him — out of his wa^ of going near the
gi'ound — has come, no doubt, PhUistinism, that plant of
essentially Germanic growth, flourishing with its genuine
marks only in the German fatherland. Great Britain and
her colonies, and the United States of America. M. Arnold.
philizerf , n. A bad spelling of filacer.
phill-horset, »• A bad spelling ot fill-horse.
phillibeg, n. A bad spelling oi filibeg.
pMUipena, ». Qeephilopena.
phillipsite (fll'ip-sit), n. [Named after W.
Phillips, an English mineralogist (died 1828).]
In mineral. , a hydrous silicate of aluminium, cal-
cium, and potassium, commonly found in cruci-
form twin crystals, it is a member of the zeolite
group, and is closely related to harmotome. It occurs
chiefly in basaltic rocks, but was obtained also by deep-sea
dredging by the Challenger expedition. Also called chris-
tuinite.
PMUyrea (fi-lir'e-a), n. [NL. (Tournefort,
1700), fancifully transferred from Gr. AiTAvpta
(Theophrastus), an unidentified sM'ub, < ^ilvpa,
the linden-tree.] A plant-genus of the gamo-
petalous order Oleacex and the tribe Oleinese,
distinguished by broad imbricated corolla-
lobes, and a drupe with a thin stone. The 4 spe-
cies are native of the Mediterranean region and the East.
They are smooth shrubs with opposite evergreen leaves,
and small greenish-white flowers clustered in the axils,
hardy and wlapted to seaside planting, forming compact
and ornamental roundish masses, csRea jasmine box from
the relationship to the jasmine and resemblance to box.
philo-. [F. philo- = Sp. It. filo- = Pg. philo;
< L. philo-, < Gr. ^«Ao-, before a vowel or rough
breathing 0«X-, combining form of <j)i?^lv (ind.
pres. ^j/l^o), love, regard with affection, be fond
of, like or like to do, be wont to do, etc.; < fi^g,
loved, beloved, dear, pleasing; as a noun, a
friend, neut. <j>iAov, an object of love ; later, in
4444
poet, use, in an active sense, loving, friendly,
fond; orig. own, one's own (as in Homer); per-
haps, with adj. formative -;/loc, and with loss of
initial a, from the root of a^«f (dat. afiai, cipiciv,
a(^iv, oipi, dial. <j>iv, il>iv,il:e,eto., ace. afiag, a^e, etc.),
themselves, ■\/ sva, = L. suus, his, their (own),
etc. The element ^Ao-, in composition, is usu-
ally explained as "^I'Xof, loving," but the adj. is
not so used in composition; the element <piXo-
represents ^i7:£lv, love, as the element jjtiao-, of
opposite meaning, represents /iiaelv, hate.] An
element in many words of Greek origin or for-
mation, representing a verb meaning 'to love.'
See etymology, and words following. It is opposed to
miso; as in misogynist, etc. Before a vowel or A it becomes
phU-, as in Phil-Ainerican, Philhellenic, etc. It occurs
terminally (Latin -philus, Greek -^lAos, properly passive)
in bibliophile, Russophile, etc.
philobiblical (fil-o-bib'li-kal), a. [< Gr. ^tXelv,
love, + LL. biblid, the Bible : see biblical. Cf.
Gr. <pi%6pipMg, loving books.] Devoted to Bibli-
cal study.
The Duke of Brunswick, hearing of Hardt's fame, ap-
pointed him his librarian shortly alter the Orientalist had
founded at Leipslc & philobiblical society, with the object
of determining the sacred text. Encyc. Brit., XI. 476.
philocalist (fil'o-kal-ist), n. [< Gr. ^tUmlog,
loving the beautiful (< ^/.Tmv, love, + KoMg, beau-
tiful),-1- -isf.] A lover of the beautiful. [Rare.]
philodemic (fil-o-dem'ik), a. [< Gr. tpiMSti/ioc,
a friend of the people, (. <j>0[,eiv, love, + Srjfios,
people.] Loving the people.
Philodeudrese (fil-o-den'drf-e), n. pX. [NL.
(Schott, 1832), < Philodendron + -ess.'] A tribe
of monoeotyledonous plants of the order Ara-
cese and the subfamily Philodendroiclex, dis-
tinguished by their habit as erect sympodial
shrubs, often brancMng or climbing, by their
orthotropous or anatropous and often long-
stalked ovules, and by the rudimentary stamens
sometimes present in the pistillate flowers. It
includes 9 genera, all tropical, of which Philo-
dendron is the type.
philodendrist (fil-o-den'drist), n. [<Grr. fiTiddev-
6poQ, loving trees "(< (jiiluv, love, + SivSpm, a
tree), + -ist.] A lover of trees. Lowell, Study
Windows, p. 44.
Philodendroidese (fil^o-den-droi'de-e), n. pi.
[NL. (Engler, 1879), < Philodendron + -oidese.]
A subfamily of the order Araeeie, distinguished
by a spadix staminate below, flowers without
perianths (usually with distinct stamens), albu-
minous seeds, an axillary embryo, and abun-
dant tubular unbranched laticiferous duets.
It includes 4 tribes and 12 genera, of which PhUodendron
is the type. See also Peltandra and Bichardia.
Philodendron (fil-o-den'dron),W. [NL. (Schott,
1830), < Gr. (biXoSevdpog, loving trees, < Gr. fikelv,
love, + Shdpov, a tree.] A genus of araceous
plants, type of the tribe PhUodendrese and the
subfamily Philodendroideie, characterized by a
fruit not included in the persistent spathe,
stamens united into a prismatic body, and dis-
tinct two- to ten-celled ovaries with the orthot-
ropous ovules fixed to the inner angle of the
cells. There are about 120 species, natives of tropical
America. They are climbing shrubs, with broad coria-
ceous leaves and short terminal or axillary peduncles, com-
monly in clusters. They bear fleshy white, red, or yellowish
spathes, and a closely flowered spadix, followed by a dense
mass of berries. (SeeAracex.) Some West Indian species
are there known as wake-roHn.
philofelistf (fi-lof 'e-list), n. [< Gr. ^i^lv, love,
+ 'L.felis, a cat: see Felis.] A lover of cats.
[Rare.]
Dr. Southey, who is known to be SLphUcffelist, and con-
fers honours upon his cats according to their services, has
raised one to the highest rank in peerage.
SmMiey, The Doctor, Fragment of Interchapter. (Dames.)
philogalistt (fi-log'a-list), n. [< Gr. <^tUlv, love,
+ yala, milk: see galaxy.] A lover of milk.
[Bare.]
You . . . aie&phUogali^ and therefore understand . . .
cat nature. Soutj^e;/, Letters (1821), III. 240. (Davies.)
philogarlic (fil-6-gar'lik), a. [< Gr. i^Oizlv, love,
-I- B. garlic] "Loving garlic; fond of garlic.
De Quineey, Spanish Nun. [Rare.]
philogynist (fi-loj'i-nist), n. [< pUlogyn-^
+ -ist.] A lover of women: the opposite of
There are "philogynists" as fanatical as any_ "misogy-
nists," who, reversing our antiquated notions, bid the man
look upon the woman as the higher type of humanity ; who
ask us to regard the female intellect as the clearer and
the quicker, if not the stronger.
Eindey, Lay Sermons (1870), p. 21.
philogyny (fi-loj'i-ni), n. [= P. philogynie, <
Gr. (jtiMywia, love of women, < (juhyyivj/g, ^iX6-
ywog, loving women, < ^ilelv, love, 4- ywii, wo-
man.] Fondness or admiration for women;
love of women: the opposite of misogyny.
philology
We will therefore draw a curtain over this scene, from
that pMopj/nj/ which is in us. .
Fielding, Jonathan Wild, 1. 10.
Because the Turks so much admire philogyny.
Although their usage of their wives is sad.
Byron, Beppo, st. 70.
Philohela (fi-16'he-la), n. [NL. (G. R. Gray,
1841), prop. "Philela, < Gf. (ptTielv, love, + e^tof, a
marsh.] A genus of Scolopacidee, having short
rounded wings, the three outer primaries of
whiehare emarginate and attenuate ; the Amer-
ican woodcocks, p. minor is the common woodcock
of the United States, generically distinct from the Euro-
pean woodcock, Scdopax nisticula. See woodcock. Also
called Microptera.
Philohelleniant (fil''''6-he-le'ni-an), ». [For
"Philhellenian; as Philhellene + -ian.] Same as
Philhellene. Arnold.
philologer (fi-lol'o-jfer), n. l<philolog-y + -er^.
Cf. philologue.] Same as philologist, and for-
merly in more common use.
philologian (fil-6-16'ji-an), re. [< philology +
-an.] Same as philologist.
philologic (fil-o-loVik), a. [= F. philologique
= Sp. filoUgico = Pg. philologico = It.fllologico
(of. D.filologisch = &. pMlologisch = Sw. Dan.
filologisk), < MGr. ^t^?u>ytK6g, pertaining to
philology or learning, < Gr. ipO^oAayla, philolo-
gy, learning: s&ephUology.] Of or pertaining
to philology, or the study of language: as, phil-
ologic learning.
philological (fil-o-loj'i-kal), a. [(.philologic +
-al.] Relating to or concerned with philology :
as, philologiccU study; the American Philologi-
cal Association.
philologically (fil-o-loj'i-kal-i), adv. In a philo-
logical manner ; as regards philology.
philologist (fi-lol'6-jist),«. [iphilolog-y + -ist.]
One who is versed in philology. Also philologer,
philologian, philologue.
Leam'd philologists, who chase
A panting syllable through time and space.
Cowper, Retirement, 1. 691.
philologize (fi-lol'o-jiz), v. i.; pret. and pp.
philologized, ppr. philologizing. [< philolog-y +
-fee.] To discuss questions relating to phi-
lology.
Nor is it here that we design to enlarge, as those who
have philologized on this occasion. Evelyn.
philologue (fil'o-log), re. [= D. filoloog = G.
philolog = Sw. Dan. filolog, < P. philologue =
Sp. fildlogo = Fg.philologo, filologo = It. filologo.
= Russ. filologil, a philologist; < Xi. jphilologus,
a man of letters, a scholar; as adj., studious
of letters, versed in learning, scholarly; < Gr.
^(^rf/loyof, a learned man, student, scholar; prop,
adj., fond of learmng and literature, etc.: see
philology.] Same as philologist.
This is the flttest and most proper hour wherein to write
these high matters and deep sentences, as Homer knew
very well, the paragon of all phUologues.
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, i., Author's ProL (Davies.)
The combination . . . was and is a fact in language ;
and its evolution was the effect of some philological force
which it is the business of philologies to elucidate.
Latham, Elements of Comparative Philology, ii. 1, 2.
philology (fi-lol'o-ji), re. \^0TmeT\y philologie ;
= 'D.filologie = O^.philologie = Sw. Dan. filologi ,-
< F. philologie = Sp. filologia = Pg. philologia,
filologia = It. filologia = Kuss. filologiya, phi-
lology (see def.), < L. philologia, love of learn-
ing and literature (Cicero), explanation and
interpretation of writings (Seneca), < Gr. <lit-
XoJoyia, love of dialectic or argument (Plato),
love of learning and literature (Isocrates, Aris-
totle), the study of language and history (Plu-
tarch, etc.), in later use learning in a wide
sense; < ^iTidTtoyog, fond of words, talkative
(wine was said to make men so) (Plato), fond
of speaking (said of an orator) (Plato), fond
of dialectic or argument (Plato), fond of learn-
ing and literature, literary, studious, learned
(Aristotle, Plutarch, etc.); of books, learned,
scientific (Cicero), later also studious of words
(Plotinus, Proclus, etc.) ; as a noun, a learned
man, student, scholar (see philologue); < ipiTi^lv,
love, + hiyoc, word, speech, discourse, argu-
ment: see Logos, and cf. -ology.] The love or
the study of learning and literature ; the in-
vestigation of a language and its literature,
or of languages and literatures, for the light
they cast upon men's character, activity, and
history. The word is sometimes used more especially of
the study of literary and other records, as distinguished
from that of language, which is called linguistics; often,
on the other hand, of the study of language or of lan-
guages. See quotation under comparative phuology, below.
Philology . . . deals with human speech, and with all
that speech discloses as to the nature and history of man
Whitney, Encyc. Brit., XVIII. 765l
philology
ComparatlTe pbilology, the stndy of langaages as car-
ried on by the comparative method; investigation by
means of a comparison of iangoagea, of their history, re-
latxonships, and characteristics, within narrower or wider
limits ; lingnistic science; linguistics; glossology.
Philology, whether classical or oriental, whether treat-
ing of ancient or modem, of cultivated or barbarous lan-
goagea, is an historical science. Language is here treated
simply as a means. The classical scholar uses Greek or
latin, the oriental scholar Hebrew or Sanskrit, or any other
language, as a key to an understanding of the literary
monuments which bygone ages have bequeathed to us, as
a spell to raise from the tomb of time the thoughts of great
men in different ages and different countries, and as a
means ultimately to trace the socM, moral, intellectnal,
and religions progress of the human race. ... In comr-
parative phOtlogy the case is totally different. In the
science of language, languages are not treated as a means ;
language itself becomes the sole object of scientific in-
quii-y. Dialects which have never pnMluced any literature
at all, the jargons of savage tribes, the clicks of the Hot-
tentots, and the vocal modulations of the Indo-Chinese,
are as important, nay, for the solution of some of our prob-
lems, more important, than the poetry of Homer or the
prose of Cicero. \Ve do not want to know languages, we
want to know language ; what language is, how it can form
a vehicle or an organ of thought; we want to know its
origin, its nature, its laws, and It is only In order to arrive
at that knowledge that we collect, arrange, and classify
all the facts of language that are within our reach.
Max UUHer, Science of language, 1st ser., Lect. 1.
PhilomacllllS (fi-lom'arkus), n. [NL. (Moeh-
ring, 1752^, < Gr. (jiiXdiiaxog, loving fight, < ipi^iv,
love, + fiaxn, fight.] A genus of wading birds
of the family ScolopacicUe ; the mffs and reeves :
s^onymous with Machetes and with Pavoncella.
philomatll (fil'o-math), n. [= It. filomate, <
Gr. (piAo/iad^g, fond of learning, < ipi^^lv, love, +
/ioBoc, learning, < /mvBdvetv, fiaOeiv, learn,] A
lover of learning.
A solemn disputation in all the mysteries of the pro-
fession, before the face of every phUomath, student in as-
trology, and member of the learned societies.
Goldsmith^ Citizen of the World, Ixvili,
philomathematict (fil-o-math-e-mat'ik), n. [<
Gr. tpiXelv, love, + /laBtifia, learning, > /laBri/ia-
TiKoc, mathematic: see mathematie.2 Same as
philomath. Settle.
pnilomathic (fil-o-math'ik), a. l=F.philoma-
thique = Sp. filomdtico = Pg. philomatico; as
philomath + -«c.] 1. Of or pertaining to phi-
lomathy; also, of or pertaining to philomaths.
The IntematioDal PhiloTnatkic Congr^s, having for its
object the discussion of commercial and industrial techni-
cal instruction. Seietue, YTL 455.
2. Having a love of letters.
plulomatmcal (flW-math'i-kal), a. [< phUo-
mathic + -ai.] Same as philomathic.
philomathy (fi-lom'a-thi), n. [= Pg. philoma-
cia; <, Gt. ^t2x)fia6ia, '^iXofioBem, love of learning,
< iptXo/ta&^g, fond of learning: see philomath.']
Love of learning.
Philomel (fil'o-mel), n. [= F. pMlomMe = Sp.
filomela=:Pg'.philomela =:It. filomela,filomena,
< L. philomela, < Gr. ipOioiapM, the nightingale
(in tradition, Philomela, daughter of Pandion,
king of Athens, who was changed into a night-
ingale), < (fikelv, love, + (prob.) iiDuoq (length-
ened), song: see melody.'] The nightingale.
By this, lamenting Philomel had ended
The well-tuned warble of her nightly sorrow.
Shak., Iiucrece^ L 1079.
Philomela (fil-o-me'la), n. [Nil. (Bafinesqne,
1815), < ij. philomela : seephilomel.] A genus
of oseine passerine birds, the type of wmch is
the nightingale: now usnally called Luscinia
or Daulias.
philomenet (fil'6-men), n. [Appar. a var. of
philomel (Gr. ipiXoiaiJia), as if < Gr. ipiAEiv, love,
+ /lijvri, the moon.] Same as philomel.
To vnderstande the notes of Phylomene.
Gaacoigne, Complaint of Phttom«ne.
philomot, n. and a. See filemot. Spectator,
No. 265.
philomusical (fll-o-mu'zi-kal), o. [< Gr. ^i)ieiv,
love, + itovauai, music: see mvsic.'] Loving
music. TPHght.
Philonic (fi-lon'ik), a. [< L. Philo(n-), < Gr. *i-
^cn>, Philo (see def.), + -Jc] Of or pertaining
to PMlo, a Jewish philosopher and writer, who
flourished during the first half of the first cen-
tuiy of our era.
Philonthidae (fl-lon'thi-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Philonthus + -idee.'] A family of rove-beetles,
named byKirbyin 1837 from the genus Philon-
thus.
Philonthus (fi-lon'thus), n. [NL. (Curtis, 1825),
< Gr. ^iXelv, love, + bvBog, dtmg.] A very large
and wide-spread genus of rove-beetles, com-
prising more than 200 species, foimd in all
quarters of the globe. They have the ligula entire,
the femora nnarmeoT and the last joint of the labial palpi
slender. They are Insects of small size, and of the usual
Tove-beetle habits, except that some species inhabit ants'
4445
nests. Eighty-five species are found in the United States
and Canada- See cut under rore-beetie.
philopena (fil-o-pe'na), «. [A rural or pro%Tn-
eial word of undetermined origin and unsettled
speUing, being variously written philopena,
phUipena, phillipena, filopena, also philopene,
philUpine, filipeen, fillipeen, etc., the spelling
philopena simulating a Greek origin, as if 'a
friendly forfeit,' < Gr. <pi?JK, loving, friendly, +
-otvr/, a penalty (see pain'>;pine^). The correct
form appears to he Philippine (= F. Philippine,
D. filippiiw, Sw. filipin, Dan. jilipine), < G. Phil-
ippine, fem. of Philipp, Philip, these names be-
ing used by the man and woman respectively
in greeting the other party to the compact.
The use of the name Philippine is referred by
some to the tradition that St. Philip's two
daughters were buried (at HierapoUs) in one
sepulcher. The word is commonly said to be a
corruption of G. vielliebchen, ' sweetheart' (used
in address), lit. ' very darling,' < riel, much, very,
+ liebchen (= MD. liefken), sweetheart, darling :
see feel^ and liefkin.] 1. A custom or game of
reputed German origin: two persons share a
nut containing two kernels, and one of them
incurs the obligation of giving something as
forfeit to the other, either by being first ad-
dressed by the latter with the word philopena
at their next meeting, or by receiving some-
thing from the other's hand, or by answering a
quesHon with yes or no, or by some other simi-
lar test as agreed upon. — 2. The salutation in
the game or ctistom thus described. — 3. The
kernel of the nut used in the game.
philopolemic (fil^o-p6-lem'ik), a. [< Gr. <piXo-
irSXeiMg, ft^o7!T6Ae/iog, loving war, < tja^lv, love,
+ 7r6^c/ws, war: see polemic.] Loving war or
combat; fond of debate or controversy. [Kare.]
philopolemical (fil'^o-po-lem'i-kal), a. [<.philo-
polemic + -al.] SsLme 3.S philopolemic.
Philoponist (fi-lop'o-nist), n. [< Philopon-^us
(see def.) + -ist.] A. member of a sect of Tri-
theists, followers of John PhUoponus, an Alex-
andrian of the sixth century. See Tritheist.
philoprogeneity (fil-o-pro-jf-ne'i-ti), n. [Irreg.
< Gr. (ptXelv, love, +'L. progenies, offspring, +
-e-4ty.] Love of offspring; philoprogenitive-
ness. Science, Xll. 124.
philoprogenitiveness (fil^o-pro-jen'i-tiv-nes),
n. prreg. < Gr. (juXelv, love, '+ L. progenies
{see progeny) + -itive + -ness.] Jnphrenol., the
love of offspring; the instinctive love of young
in general. Phrenologists locate its organ above
the middle part of the cerebellum.
One of those travelling chariots or family arks which
only English pkQoprogeniliveness could invent.
Thaekeray, Pendennis, zzii.
Philopteridae (fil-op-ter'i-de), n.pl. [NL. (Bm--
meister, 1838), < Philopterus + -idse.] One of
the principal families of mallophagous insects,
having no tarsal cushions, no maxiUaiy palpi,
and filiform antennae with five or three joints,
typified by the genus Philopterus. They infest
the skins of birds and mammals.
PMloptems (fi-lop'te-ms), n. [NL. (Nitzseh,
1818), < Gr. ^iTielv, love, + irrepdv, a feather.]
A genus of bird-lice, or MaUophaga, haying five-
jointed antennffi and two-jointed tarsi, typical
of the Philopteridee. They are small Insects of much-
varied patterns, living in the feathers on the neck and un-
der the wings of birds. P. hologagter is a common para-
site of the domestic fowl in Europe.
philomitMc (fil-6r-nith'ik), a. [Of. Gr. ^«Aop-
vidia, fondness for birds; < Gr. fi^v, love, -I-
dpvi( {bpviB-), a bird.] Bird-loving; fond of
birds. [Rare.]
The danger has happily this year been met by the pub-
lic spirit of a jrarty of phUomithic gentlemen.
Contemporary Rev., LIV. 184.
philosoph (fil'o-sof ), n. [ME. filosofe (AS. phil-
osoph = D. 'filozoof = G. philosoph = Sw.
Dan. filosof), < OF. filosofe, philosophe, F. phi-
losophe = Ft. philosophe = Sp. fiUsofo = Pg.
philosopho = It. filosof 0, < L. philosophns, < Gr.
^ddaoipoc, a philosopher : see philosophy. Of.
philosopher.] A philosopher: a word some-
times used with a contemptuous implication as
nearly equivalent to philosophaster. Also, as
French, philosophe.
A little light is precious in great darkness ; nor, amid
myriads of poetasters and pMUmphes, are poets and phi-
losophers so numerous that we should reject such when
they speak to us In the hard, but manly, deep, and expres-
sive tones of that old Saxon speech which is also our
mother-tongue. Carlyle, State of German Literature.
philosophaster (fi-los'a-fas-ter), re. [= F. phi-
losophatre = Sp. It. filosof astro, < LL. philb'so-
phaster, < li. philosophzis, a philosopher, + dim.
philosophic
snflSx -aster.] A pretender to philosophical
knowledge; an incompetent philosopher.
Of necessity there mnst be such a thing in the world as
incorporeal substance, let inconsiderable pkUosophasterg
hoot and deride as much as their follies please.
Dr. H. More, Immortal, of Soul, L 14.
philosophatet (fi-los'o-fat), v. i. [< l,.philoso-
phatits, pp. olphilosopltari (> It. filbsofare = Sp.
filosofar = Pg. philosophar = F. philosoplter, >
D. filozoferen = G. philosophiren — Sw. filoso-
fera = Dan. filosofere), philosophize, < philoso-
phus, a philosopher: see philosophy.] To phi-
losophize. Barrow, Works, L xii.
philosophationt (fi-los-o-fa'shon), n. [< phi-
losopliate + -ion.] The' act of "philosophizing ;
philosophical speculation. Sir TV. Pettie, Ad-
vise to Hartlit, p. 18.
philosophdom (fil'o-sof -dum), «. [< philosoph
+ -dom.] Philosophs collectively; philoso-
phism. [Bare.]
They entertain their special ambassador in PMosophe-
dom. Carlyle, Jlisc, m. 216. {Daviet.)
philosophe (fil'o-sof), n. See philosoph.
phUosophema (fi-los-o-fe'ma), ». [NL., < Gr.
(pcAoad^^ia, a demonstration, < <l>ilooo<pclv, philos-
ophize, < fi/Aro^, a philosopher: see philos-
ophy.] Ssiine a,s philosopheme.
philosopheme (fi-los'o-fem), n. [= F. philoso-
plieme, < 'KLi. phUosophema : see phUosophema.]
1. Properly, a perfect demonstration. Hence
— 2. A theorem ; a philosophical truth.
This, the most venerable, and perhaps the most ancient,
of the Grecian mythi, is a j)Ai2o»>pAeni«. Coleridge.
philosopher (fi-los'o-fer), n. [< 'HE.philosophre,
philosafre, with term, -re, -er; earlier filosofe,
< OP. filosofe, philosophe, a philosopher: see
philosoph and philosophy.] 1. One who is de-
voted to the search for fundamental truth ; in a
restricted sense, one who is versed in or studies
the metaphysical an^ moral sciences ; a meta-
physician. The application of the term to one versed
in natural science or natural philosophy has become less
common since the studies of physicists have been more
specialized than formerly.
He said : But who are the true pjulosophersf
Those, I said, who are lovers of the vision of truth.
Plato, Kepublic (tr. by JowettX v. § 475.
He who has a taste for every sort of knowledge, and who
is curious to learn and is never satisfied, may justly be
termed SL philosopher. Am I not right?
Pia<o,Ilepubllc(tr. byJowett), v. § 475.
Philosopkerg, who darken and put out
Eternal truth by everlasting doubt.
Cowper, Progress of Error, 1. 472.
2. One who conforms his life to the principles
of philosophy, especially to those of the Stoical
school ; one who lives according to reason or
the rules of practical wisdom.
Be mine aphslompher'siiSe in the quiet woodland ways.
Where, if I cannot be gay, let a passionless peace be my
lot. Tenjiyson, Maud, iv. 9.
3f. An alchemist: so called with reference to
the search for the philosopher's stone.
But alhe that he was a phdosophre.
Yet hadde he but lltel gold in cofre.
Chaucer, Gen. ProL to C. T., L 297.
Henee — 4t. One who deals in any magic art.
"Alias!" quod he, "alias that I bihighte
Of pured gold a thousand pound of wighte
Unto this phUosopkre."
Chmieer, Franklin's Tale, 1. 833.
A priori philosopher. See a prion.— Flulosopher'&
eggt, a medicine compounded of the yolk of an egg, saf-
fron, etc., formerly supposed to be an excellent preserva-
tive against all poison^ and against plague and other dan-
gerous diseases. Naret. — Ftuloso^er's garnet, an in-
tricate game, played with pieces or men of three different
forms, round, triangular, and square, on a board resem-
bling two chess-boi^s united. HaUiweU. — Fbilosophers
of the garden. Seeyorden.— Plulosopher's oil, brick-
oil (which see, under oil).— FhilOBOpber'S stone. See
elixir, 1.
phllosophess (fi-los'o-f es), n. [= It. filosof essa ;
as philosoph + -ess'.] A female philosopher.
Carlyle, Diderot. [Rare.]
philosophic (fll-o-sof 'ik), a. [< F.pMlosophigue
= Sp. filosofico = Pg. philosophico = It. filosofico
(cf . D. filozofisch = G. philosophisch = Sw. Dan.
filosofisJc), < lAi. philosophicus, < Gr. *<l)tloaoil>iK6g
(in adv. ifi^ao^iicag), < (pAoaofia, philosophy : see
philosophy.] 1. (M or pertaining to philoso-
phy, in any sense ; based on or in keeping or
accordance with philosophy, or the ultimate
principles of being, knowledge, or conduct. —
2. Characteristic of or befitting a philosopher;
calm; qTiiet; cool; temperate: a,s, philosophic
indifference; a philosophic mind Philosophic
cotton. Sep cottoni.— Philosophic wool, finely divided
zinc oxid, resembling tufts of wool or flakes of snow : the
lana phUosophica of the alchemists. Also called pompho-
lyx.=Syn. 2. Composed, unmified, serene, tranquil, im-
perturbable.
philosophical
philosophiC£!,l (fil-6-sof'i-kal), a. and n. [<
philosaphic + -a/.] I. a. li' Philosophic, (a)
delating or belonging to philosophy or philosophers ; pro-
ceeding from, based on, in keeping with, or used in phi-
losophy or in pliilosophio study or research : as, a philo-
sophical argument.
Philosophical minds always love knowledge of a sort
which shows them the eternal nature not varying from
generation and con'uption,
Plato, Republic (tr. by Jowett), vi. § 486.
(&) Befitting a philosopher ; calm ; temperate ; wise ; con-
trolled by reason; undisturbed by passion; seU-controUed.
Clbber had lived a dissipated lile, and his phUosopMml
indifference, with his cai'eless gaiety, was the breastplate
which even the wit of Pope failed to pierce.
I. D'lsraeli, Quar. of Authors, p. 106.
2. Pertaining to or used in the study of natural
philosophy: as, _pfti?osopfefcai apparatus; a,pMl-
osophical instrument — piiUosopliical arrange-
ment, an Aristotelian category or predicament, — Philo-
sophical foot. See geometrical foot, under/oofc— Philo-
sophical pitch. SeepUchi. — Philosophical presump-
tion, an inference of the ampliative sort.
Il.t ». 1. A student of philosophy; a philos-
opher.— 2. pi. Philosophical studies; philos-
ophy.
Hen. Stretsham, a Minorite, who had spent several
years here, and at Cambridge, in logicals, pkilosophicals,
and theologicals, was one [that supplicated for that de-
gree, B. D.] Wood, Fasti Oxon., I. 61.
philosophically (fil-o-sof'i-kal-i), adv. In a
philosophical manner; according to the rules
or principles of philosophy; c^mly; wisely;
rationally.
philosophicalness (fil-o-sof 'i-kal-nes), n. The
character of being philosophical.
philosophise, philosophiser. SeepMlosophiee,
philosophizer.
philosophism (fi-los'o-fizm), ». [< F. philoso-
phisme ■= Sp. It. filosofismo = F^.phUosophismo;
as pMlosoplir-y + ■ism.'] Spurious or ill-found-
ed philosophy; the affectation of philosophy.
Among its more notable anomalies may be reckoned
the relations of Freiicb phUosophigm to Foreign Crowned
Heads. CarlyU, Diderot.
philosophist (fl-los'o-fist), n. [< P. philoso-
phiste = Sp. filosofista = Pg. pMlosophista; as
philosoph-y + -ist.] A philosopher; especially,
a would-be philosopher.
This benevolent establishment did not escape the rage
of the phUosophists, and was by them suppressed in the
commencement of the republican era.
Eustace, Italy, IV. v.
philosophistic (fl-los-o-fls'tik), a. [= Pg. pMlo-
sophistico; as philosophist + 4c, after sophiHic]
Pertaining to the love or practice of philoso-
phism, or spurious philosophy. Wright.
pnilosophistical (fi-los-o-fis'ti-kal), a. [< phi-
losophisUe + -al.] Same as phiibsopMsUc.
philosophize (fi-los'o-fiz), v. i. ; pret. and pp.
philosophized, ypv.plklosophizing, [(.philosoph-^
+ -ize.] To think or reason about the subjects
of philosophy; meditate upon or discuss the
fundamental principles of being, knowledge, or
conduct ; reason after the manner of philoso-
phers ; form or attempt to form a philosophi-
cal system or theory. Also speMeA. philosophise.
Anaxarchns his pain, though it seems not so sharp, yet
his courage appears as great, in that he eoxHiphUosophisie so
freely while lie was by the cruelty of Archelaus braying
in a mortar. Dr. H. Mare, Of Enthusiasm, § 59.
Every one, in some manner or other, either skillfully or
unskillf uUy philosophizes.
Sha/tesiury, Moralists, iii. § 3, quoted in Fowler, p. 74.
The most fatal error which a poet can possibly commit
in the management of his machinery is that of attempt,
ing to philosophise too much. Macavlay, Milton.
No philosophizing Christian ever organised or perpetu-
ated a sect. MilmaTif Latin Ciiristianity, ix. 8.
philosophizer (fi-los'o-fi-z6r), ». [< philoso-
phize + -eri.] One who philosophizes. Also
spelled philosophiser.
philosophressf (fl-los'o-fres), n. [< philosopher
-^- -ess.] A female philosopher. [Kare.]
She is a, phiiosophress, augur, and can turn ill to good as
well as you. Chapman, Csesar and Fompey, v. 1.
philosophy (fi-los'o-fi),«.; -pi. philosophies (-flz).
[< ME. philosophie, filosofie, < OF. philosophAe,
filosofie, F. philosophie = iip.filosofM = Pg. phi-
losophia = It. filosofia = D. fllozofie =.Gr. philo-
sophie =Dan. Sw. filosofi, < li. philosophia, < Gr.
^Uuoaoifiia, love of knowledge and wisdom, < ^i-
/Wiro^of, a philosopher, one who speculates on
the nature of things, existence, freedom, and
truth ; in eccl. writers applied to one who leads
a life of contemplation and self-denial ; lit. ' one
who loves wisdom ' (a term first used, according
to the tradition, by Pythagoras, who preferred
to call himself 6t%6ao^q, one who loves wisdom,
instead of cro^df, a sage) ; in later use (Hesy-
ohius) in the sense 'loving a handicraft or art';
4446
< Aihlv, love, + <7o^('a, wisdom, skill, art, < ao^6^,
wise, skilful : see sophist.] 1 . The body of high-
est truth; the organized sum of science; the
science of which all others are branches ; the
science of the most fundamental matters. This
is identified by different schools— (a) with the account of
the elementary factors operative in the universe ; the sci-
ence of principles, or the matter, form, causes, and ends of
things in general ; (6) with the science of the absolute ; met-
aphysics ; (c) with the science of science ; the theory of cog-
nition ; logic. In Greek, philosophy originally signified cul-
ture; but from Aristotle down it had two meanings— (a)
speculative knowledge, and (6) the study of the highest
things, metaphysics. Chrysippus defined it as the science
of things divine and human. In the middle ages philos-
ophy was understood to embrace all the speculative sci-
ences ; hence the faculty and degree of arts in German uni-
versities are called the faculty and degree in philosophy.
InpAiJosopAj/, the contemplations of man do either pene-
trate unto God or are circnmferred to nature, or are re-
flected or reverted upon himself. Out of which several
inquiries there do arise three knowledges, divine phUoso-
phy, imiurstl philosophy, and hwmBXi philosophy, or human-
ity. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii.
Philosophy has been defined : — The science of things di-
vine and human, and the causes in which they are con-
tained; — The science of effects by their causes ; — The sci-
ence of sufficient reasons ;— The science of things possible,
inasmuch as they are possible;— The science of things,
evidently deduced from first principles ; — The science of
truths, sensible and abstract ;— The application of reason
to its legitimate objects ; — The science of the relations of
all knowledge to the necessary ends of human reason ; —
The science of the original f oito of the ego or mental self ;
—The science of science ; — The science of the absolute ;
— The science of the absolute indifference of the ideal and
real. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaphysics, iii.
All knowledge of reason is . . . eitherbased on concepts
or on the construction of concepts ; the former being call-
ed philosophical, the later mathematical. . . . The system
of all philosophical knowledge is called philosophy. It
must be taken objectively, if we understand by it the type
of criticising all philosophical attempts, which is to serve
for the criticism of every subjective philosophy, however
various and changeable the systems may be. In tliis manner
philosophy is a mere idea of a possible science which exists
nowhere in the concrete, but which we may try to approach
on different paths, ... So far the concept of philosophy
is only scholastic. . . . But there is also a universal, or,
it we may say so, a cosmical concept (conceptus'cosmicus)
of philosophy, which always formed the real foundation of
that name. ... In this sense philosophy is the science of
the relations of all knowledge to the essential aims of hu-
man reason.
Kant, Critique of Pure Eeason(tr. by Miiller), II. 719.
Philosophy is an all-comprehensive Synthesis of the doc-
trines and methods of science ; a coherent body of theo-
rems concerning the Cosmos, and concerning Man in his
relations to the Cosmos of which he is a part.
J. Fiske, Cosmic FhQos., I. 9.
That philosophy only means psychology and morals, or
in the last resort metaphysics, is an idea slowly developed
through the eighteenth century, owing to the victorious
advances of science. Edinburgh BeKo., CLXV. 95.
2. A special branch of knowledge of high spec-
ulative interest, (a) Any such science, as alchemy (in
Chaucer).
Voydeth your man and lat him be theroute.
And shot the dore, whyls we ben aboute
Our privetee, that no man us espye
Whyls that we werke in \ias phUosophye.
Chaucer, Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 128.
(6t) Theology : this use of the word was common in the
middle ages, (c) Psychology and ethics; moral philosophy,
(d) Physics ; natural philosophy.
3. The fundamental part of any science ; pro-
psedeutio considerations upon which a special
science is founded; general principles con-
nected with a science, but not forming part of
it; a theory connected with any branch of hu-
man activity : as, the philosophy of science ; the
philosophy of history ; the philosoplvy of govern-
ment.— 4. A doctrine which aims to be philoso-
phy in any of the above senses.
But who so ooude in other thing him grope,
Thanne hadde he spent a! his phUoBophie.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T,, 1. 645,
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in -^q-^x philosophy .
Shale, Hamlet, i. 5. 167.
Of good and evil much they argued then.
Of happiness and final misery.
Passion and apathy, and glory and shame ;
Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy.
MUton, P. L., it 665.
We maj; return to the former distribution of the three
philosophies, divine, natural, and human.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii, 152.
We shall in vain interpret their words by the notions of
our philosophy and the doctrines in our schools. Loclce.
5. A calm temper which is unruffled by small
annoyances ; a stoical impassiveness under ad-
versity— Association philosophy. See association.
—Atomic or atomistic philosophy. See atomic—
Christian philosophy, the philosophy of St. Augustine
and other fathers of the church, — Constructive phi-
FhilydraceaB
perlmentSJ philosophy. See experimental. — First
philosophy, the science of the principles of being ; on-
tology ; metaphysics.- Inductive, mechanical, moral,
natural, Newtonian, etc., philosophy. See the ad-
jectives.- Italic school of philosophy. Same as Py.
thagorean school of philosophy.— Obiectivo philosophy.
Same as trantcetidental philosophy. — VbUOBOphieB of
the absolute. See absolute.— 'PbiloBOphy of Identity,
the philosophy of Mchelling and Hegel, as maintaining the
absolute identity of identity and non-identity.— Fneumat-
ict, positive, symbolical, etc.. philosophy. See the
adjectives.— Practical philosophy, philosophy having
action as its ultimate end ; the laws of the faculties con-
nected with desire and volition.— Pythagorean school
of philosophy. SeePythagorean.—'Iheoietical,Epecvi-
lative, or contemplative philosophy, that philosophy
which has no other aim than knowledge.— Transcenden-
tal philosophy, (a) The critical philosophy of Kant, (6) •
The philosophy of Hegel. Also called olijective philosophy.
philostorgyf (fil'o-stdr-ji), n. [< Gr. fi'/MJTopyia,
tender love, < (jiiMaTopyoQ, loving, tenderly af-
fectionate, < fOidv, love, + aropy^, affection, <
arepyeiv, love.] Natural affection, such as that
of a mother for her child.
philotechnic (fil-o-tek'nik), a. [= F.philotech-
nique, < Gr. (jiMrexvog, fond of art, < ipiAecv, love,
-I- rixv!), art : see technie.] Having a fondness
for the arts, or a disposition to study or foster
them; devoted to study of the arts, or to pro-
moting advancement in them.
philotecbnical (fil-o-tek'ni-kal), a. [< philo-
teehnic + -al.] Same as philotechnic.
philotheosophical (fil-o-the-o-sof'i-kal), a. [<
l}hilo{sophical) + theosophical.] Relating to
philosophy and theosophy. [Rare.]
King of Berytus, to whom Sanchoniathon dedicated his
philotheosophical writings. Cooper, Arch, Diet,, p, 10.
philozoic (fil-6-z6'ik), a. [< Gr. ftKelv, love, +
fpov, an animal, -I- -ic] Having a tenderness
for brute creatures ; characterized or prompted
by fondness for animals. [Rare.]
philteiiPhiltre (fil'tfer), «. [Formerly also fil-
ter; < I\ philtre, filtre = Sp. filtro = Pg. 2>hil-
' tro = It. filtro, < L. philtrwm, < Gr. ^'iKrpov, a
love-charm; prop. ^iXr/rpov, < tpiXelv, love: see
philo-.] A potion supposed to have the power
of exciting sexual love ; a love-potion.
They can make friends enemies and enemies friends by
philters. Burton, Anat. of Mel,, p, 128.
The cailliachs (old Highland hags) administered drugs
which were designed to have the effect of phUires.
Scott, Rob Roy, Int.
philter, philtre (fll'tfer), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
philtered, pMltred, ppr. philtering, philtring. [<
philter, n.] 1. To impregnate with a love-po-
tion: as, to pldlter a draught. — 2. To excite to
sexual love or desire by a potion. Dr. H. More.
Soon, like wine.
Her eyes, in mine poured, irenzy-phUtred mine.
Lowell, Endymion, ii.
philtrum (fil'trum), n. [L. : see philter.] A
philter.
Love itself is the most potent phUtrwm.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 434.
Philydor (fll'i-dfir), n. [NL. (Spix, 1824), < Gr.
fiTkslv, love, + Map, water.] A genus of South
Philydor supercitiaris.
American synallaxine birds, of the family D««-
drocolaptidse, containing numerous species,
such as P. superciliaris of BrazU.
Fhilydracese (flU-dra'se-e), n.pl. [NIj. (Lind-
,, *v v., V .o V „■ - -,,-ii. ley, 1836), <Pfe%drw» + -ace«.] A small order
S'tJ'the SereinMctWe DhfCohv ^^^^^ °* monocptyledonous plants, of the series Coro-
gosed to the merely destructive philosophy of Kant- nanesB, distinguished by the irregular flowers
with two petals, one stamen, and tworudlments,
three carpels, and numerous ovules, it includes
3 genera, each with one species, mainly Australian They
are small herbs with sword-shaped leaves sheathing at the
ConuBCUlar philosophy, the doctrine of atoms consid-
ered as a philosophy or general explanation of the phe-
nomena of the world, particularly that form of the doc-
trine advocated by Robert Boyle.— Critical philosophy.
See crOioal.- Doctor of philosophy. See doctor.- Ex-
Fhilydraceae
i ind a few smaller ones alons tte erect Btem, which
hem sessile flowers among sjnthaceons bracts^ forming
a niike or panicle. In habit they resemble the sed«e&
and in their flowers the spidoworts.
Fhilydmm (fil'i-dnun), ,i . [KL. (Banks, 1788),
so called from its growth in marshes: < Gr.
9Uvdpoc, loving water, < <^iv, love, + vdop
(Mp-), water.] A genus of plants, type of the
order Pliily€hracese, distiiigaished by the im-
perfect partitions of the ovary, and the long
nndivided spike. The only species, P. lanugmmm,
ranges from eastern Australia to sonthem China. It b^rs
a white woolly stem, two-ranked leaves becoming bracts
abore, and yellow Sowera solitary between their broad
bracta. It is cnltiTated for its brigbt^olored spikes, some-
times under the name of uoaiervorL
phimosed (fi'most), a. [< phimosis + -€d2.]
Affected ivith phimosis,
phimosis (fi-mo'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. ^lujait, a
muzzling, < ^lumv, muzzle, < ^i/iuSc, a muzzle.]
Stenosis of the preputial orifice. Comparefaro-
phimosis.
pnipt (fip), n. [A contraction of phaip.'\ A
sparrow; also, the noise made by a sparrow.
See philip. HaUiiceH.
And whan I sayd Phyp, Phyp,
« Than he wold lepe and skyp.
And take me by the lyp.
Alas ! it wyll me slo.
That Fhillyp is gone me fro.
StMon, Fhyllyp Sparowe, L 13&
phisiket, ». A Middle Ehiglish form of physic.
phisnon^ (flz'no-mi), 11. A corruption of physi-
ognomy. Palsgrave.
plutonf, n. A Middle Tgngliah form ot python.
phitonesset, n. A Middle t:Tigliah form of
pythoness.
pBiz(fiz), n. [Aisophyz; SD.abhr.otphisnomy,
physiognomy.'] The face or visage. [Humor-
ous.]
Why, imly a Body wonld think so by thy slovenly Dress,
lean Carcase, and ghasQy Phyz.
N. BfUUy, ix. of Colloqoies of Erasmns, I. 51.
Who can see soch an horrid ngly Phiz as that Fellow's
and not be shock'd? Stale, Grief A-Ia-Mode, L 1.
phlebectasia (fle-bek-ta'si-S), n. [XL., < Gr.
f'fjh^ {fXe^), a vein, + ektobic, dilatation: see
ectaMs.'] Dilatation of a vein.
pUebectopia (fle-bek-to'pi-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
4/^ {i^Mp-), a vein, + iKronog, out of place:
see ectopia.^ Abnormal situation of a vein.
Phlebenterata (fle-ben-te-ra'ta), n. pi. [NL.
(Quatrefages, 1844), < Gr. fXhi! (^/£3-), a vein,
+ hrrepov, intestine, + -oto^.] In conch., a di-
vision of gastropods, characterized by the rami-
fication of the gastric canal (alleged to serve
for circulation as well as d^estion) termed
fiastrovascular, comprising such genera as Ac-
tseon or Elysia. Quatrefages maintained that these
gastric ramifications pi^orm the office of branchial ves-
sels, and that the division he made was of ordinal rank,
bat by others they are believed to be hepatic. The feunHies
^didicLse and ElytHdae exhibit the stmctnre in question.
They are now referred to the NvdOranchiata. See cuts
under jEoLidid^e, Elysia, and Vendrmwtus.
pMebenterate (fle-ben'te-rat), a. and n. I. a.
Having the characteristics of the PhUbentera ta,
as a nudibranchiate gastropod.
H. n. A member of the Phlebenterata.
pMebenteric (fle-ben-ter'ik), a. [< phlebenter-
ism + -ic.] Characterized by or exhibiting
phlebenterism : as, the pMebenteric system.
phlebenterism (fle-ben'te-rizm), n. [< Gr. ^Af^
(o'/zi-), a vein, -t- tvrepov, intestine, + -ism.]
1 . Extension of processes of a loose alimentary
canal into the legs, as in certain arachnidans
(the Pycnogonida). — 2. The doctrine that the
gastric ramifications of certain nudibranchiate
gastropods (PMebenterata) have a respiratory
function.
phlebitic (flf-bit'ik), a. [< phlebit4s + -fc.]
Pertaining to or affected with phlebitis.
phlebitis (fle-bi'tis), n. [NL., < Gr. ipUf (^;U/3-),
a vein, + -tUs.'i Inflammation of a vein.
phlebogram (fleb'o-gram), ?! . [< Gr. ^Uf (ip^P-),
a vein, + -ypa/i/ia, a writrng, < ypa^v, write.] A
pulse-tracing or sphygmogram from a vein.
phleb<^raphical (fleb-o^raf 'i-kal), o. [< phle-
hograph-y + -ic^l.'\ Descriptive of veins; of
or pertaining to phlebography.
phlebography (fle-bog'ra-fl), n. [= F. pMebo-
graphie, < Gr. ^^ {^\e0^), a vein, + -ypa^ia, <
ypaifetv, write.] A description of the veins.
phleboidal (fle-boi'dal), a. [< Gr. ^W^ (#Ae^),
vein, + e«Jof, form.] Vein-like; in bot, noting
moniliform vessels. Eneyc. Brit., IV. 87.
phlebolite (fleb'o-llt), n. [= F. phUbolithe, <
Gr. ^Jf (ipAep-), a vein, + A^of, a stone.] Inpo-
fliol., a caleareoos concretion in a vein. Also
called veinstone.
4447
phlebolith (fleb'o-litii), n. Same a&phl^olite.
phlebolitic (fleb-o-Ut'ik), a. [< phlebolite +
-ic.] Having phlebolites; characterized by
phleboUtes.
phlebological(fleb-o-loj'i-kal),a. [iphlebolog-y
+ -ic-<rf.] Of or pertaming to phlebology.
phlebolog7(fle-bol'o-ji),n. [< Gr. <>/^ (f*£j9-),
a vein, + -'hrjla, ^'/Jyta; speak: see -olo^.]
That branch of anatomy which treats of the
veins ; a treatise on the veins. Dunglison.
phlebometlitis (fleb'o-mf-tri'tis), n. [XL., <
Gr. ^^^ {6>£3-), a vein, -I- iivrpa, the womb, +
-ife.] Uterine phlebitis,
phleborrhage (fleb'o-raj), ». [= F. phUbor-
rhagie, < Gr. ^/.e^ppayia,the burstiiigof a vein,
<o/^ (p/£^), a vein,+ -pfcy'ia,<. piiymvai, burst.]
Venous hemorrhage.
phleborrhagia (fleb-o-ra'ji^), n. [XL.: see
phleborrhage.'i S^rcLe as plUeborrhage. ,,- _ -- - ,^,
phleborrhexis (fleb-6-rek'sis), n. nSL., < Gr. PblegJnat. »•. Same asphlegpt,
4Ahl> i^^^), a veiii, + MiV, a rupture, < Pr/- PWegmagOglC (fleg-ma^j'ik), a. and «. [<
viww, break, burst.] The rupture of a vein. pMegmagog^ + -w.] I. a. Expelling phlegm;
phlebothrombosis (fleb'o-throm-bo'sis), n. having the character of a phlegmagogue.
[NL., < Gr. ^Xhl, (9?.f/8-), a Vein, + OpS^^ic, a , D- "• A phlegmagogue. „ „ ^,
becoming clotted or curdled: see thrombosis.] 'S^^1S^^^„^„^? J"?!?"^ j."" '" P^^R-
Thrombosis in a vein. my»nnm/» ^y,m„^^n„.,i, » » ..
phlebotomic (fleb-o-tom'ik), a. [< pMebotom-y
+ -ie.'] Of or pertaining to phlebotomy.
phlebotomical (fleb-o-tom'i-kal), a. [< phleb-
otomic + -oJ.] Pertaining to "or of the nature
of phlebotomy.
phlebotomise, v. t. See phlebotomize.
phlegmonoid
tive and respiratory passages, and liisehai^ed
by coughing or vomiting; bronchial mucus.
For throoghe cmditye and lack of perfect concoction
in the stomacke is engendered great abundance of naughty
baggage and hurtfnlljiUe'^DK.
Touchstone qf OmglaacBt, p. 118.
4. Dullness ; sluggishness ; indifference ; cool-
ness; apathy; calm self-restraint.
They only think you animate your theme
With too much fire, who are theanselves aH phlegm.
Vryden, To Lee, L il.
They judge with fury, bat they write with phlegm.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, L 662.
But not her warmth, nor all her winning ways.
From his cool phlegm could Donald's spirit raise.
CnObt, Works, I. 75.
His temperament boasted a certain amount of phlegm,
and he preferred an undemonstrative, not ungentle, but
serious aspect to any other. C%a>io((e frrmte, Shirley, xiii.
^Syn. 4. InsenabHity, ImpagsHnlity, etc. See apathy.
magogue, flegmagogue = Pg. phlegmagogo = It.
flemmagogo, < Gr. ^Xqfitayu-jo^, carrying off
phlegm, < ip^i^fia. phlegm, + ayaydc, carrying
off, < ayetv, lead, carry off.] A medicine sup-
posed to possess the property of expelling
phlegm.
^^ pMegmanf , n. See phlegmon.
phlebotomifit'(fle-bot'6-ii8t), n. TZ F. pTOe- PUe^nasia (fleg-ma'si-a), n. [= F. phlegma-
■ ■ " - ----- - - - J yj.jx^_„,_ sie, flegmaste,<NL. phlegma
botomiste = Fg.phleboUnnista (ef. Sp. flebdtomo.
It. Jlebotomo), a pblebotomist; asphl^tom-y +
-«st.] One who practises phlebotomy; a blood-
letter.
phlebotomize (fle-bot'o-miz), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
phlebotomized, ppr. phlebotomizing. [= F. phl»-
botomiser = Sp. fl^iomiear = Pg. phJeboto-
misar; as phlebotomy + -ise.] To let blood
[Also ftegmattc, and formerly flegtnatick (ME.
_masia, < Gr. ^Xey/ia-
oia, inflammation, K. ^jeyjxaiveiv, heat, be heated
or inflamed, < oaej/m, flame : see phlegm.'] In
med., inflammation phlegmasia dolens (literally,
painful inflammation), puerperal tumid leg : an affection
presenting thrombosis of the large veins of the part, with
swelling, hardness, whiteness of the skin, and much pain,
usually affecting the leg, most frequent shortly after child-
birth. Also called pidegmatia <Ma dalent, mitk4eg, and
phlebotomise.
An body politicks ... must iiave an evacuation for
their corrupt humoured they must hepihletxiUnnized.
Howdl, England's Tears (ed. 1645).
Letmebegyoanot . . . tospeakof a "iiiorongh-bred"
as a "blooded" horse, unless he has been recently pAfe-
hatoimzed. Iconsenttoyoursaying *'bloodhorse,''if you
UkCL O. W. Holmes, Autocrat, p. 40.
phlebotomy (fle-bot'o-ini),». [Formerly spelled
pMebotomie; < OF. pltlebotomie, F. phUboiomie
= Sp. flebotomia = Pg. phlebotomia = It. fle-
botomia, < LL. phlebotomia, < Gr. ^'/eSorouia, the
oi)enrng of a vein, blood-letting, <,' ^XejSoTdfioc,
opening veins, < ip/Jf (^/.f/3-), a vein, + ri/ivav,
ra/ielv, cut. Cf. fleam^.] The act or practice
ftewmatik, etc.); < F. flegmatique, phlegmaUgue
= Sp. jlegmdtico, flemdUco = Vg. phlegmaiieo,
flegmatico, fieumatico = It. flemmaOco, < LL.
pMegmaticus, < Gr. ^AEy/jarucog, like phlegm,
pertaining to phlegm, < ^Xtyjia, phlegm: see
phlegm.] If. Ofthenatureofphlegm; watery;
aqueous : as, phlegmatic humors.
Spirit of wine . . . grows by every distillation more and
more aqneous snAphlegmaiie. KewUm.
2f . Generating or causing phlegm.
Cold aniphlegmatiek habitations.
Sm- T. Browne, Vulg. Err.; vL la
3. Abounding in phlegm; lymphatic; hence.
of opening a vein for letting blood, asaremedy cold; dull; sluggish; heavy; not easily excited
for disease or with a view to the preservation
of health._
Every sin is an incision of t^e soul, a lancination, a phle-
botomy, a letting of the soul-blood. Donne, Sermons, xl
Phlegethontins (flej-e-thon'ti-us), ». [NL., <
Gr. tpi^yeOav, ppr. of ^2^/i6etv, bum, scorch, bum
up.] A genus of sphingid moths, founded by
Herrieh-Sehaffer in 1854, having the thorax
tufted, head prominent, palpi well developed,
eyes large and scarcely ciliate, and outer bor-
der of the wings obliquely rounded, p. eeleus
(formerly called MaerogUa quinmumaetilaia) is the com-
mon five-spotted sphinx, whose larva is the tomato-worm
or potato-worm, 2U>andant in the northern and middle
iJnited States npon the tomato, potato, Jimson.weed,
matrimony- vine, and ground-cherry. P. Carolina is the
tobacco- worm moth, whose caterpillar is f otmd in tobacco-
fields and often injures the plant. See cut under tomato-
to action or passion; apaliietic ; cool and self-
restrained: as, aphlegmaiic temperament. See
temperament.
Z;itt JleumaUt men [are occnpied] aboute otbere lima-
ginations^ but tho men that habounde in blak coler, that
is malencoly, ben occupied a thousand part with mo
thou5tis than ben men of ony othere complexioon.
Book <tf Qmnle Essence (ed. Fnmivall), p. IT.
The officers' understandings are so phlegmatie
They cannot apprehend us.
Fletcher, Had Lover, iL 2.
Heavy and pMegmatUHc he trod the stage.
Too proud for tenderness, too dull for rage.
Chunhm, TheSosciad.
Many an ancient burgher, whose phlegmatic features bad
never been known to relax, nor lua ^es to moisten, was
now observed to puff a pensive pipe, and the big drop to
steal down his cheek. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 465.
=Syn. 3. Frigid, impassive, unsusceptible. See apathy.
phlegmatical (fleg-mat'i-kal), a. [Kphlegmatic
+ -al.] Same as phlegmatic.
In a
norm.
phlegm fflem),Ji. lAlsoflegm,flegme,fleam,flem,
etc. (see Jleam^); < ME. fleme, fieume, < OF. phlegmatically (fteg-mat'i-kal-i), adv.
flegme, fieume, F. flegme, phlegme = Sp. flema, phlegmatic manner; coldly; heavily.
flegma = 'Pg.flegma,fleuma, phlegma, phleugma phlegmaticly (fleg-mat'ik-li), adv. Same as
= It. flemma, < ML. phlegma, flegma, phlegm, pMegmatically.
< Gr. ^Xiy/ia, flame, fire, heat, inflammation; phlegmon (fleg'mon), 7i. [Formerly also, erro-
hence, as the result of such heat, phlegm, a neonsly,^ife^i«n;<P._^^TOon,j)We^aH=Sp,
humor regarded as the matter and cause of
many diseases ; < ^H}eiv, bum : see flame.] If.
One of the four humors of which the ancients
supposed the blood to be composed.
The n. medicyn is for to heele the feuere cotidian, the
which is causid of pntrif accionn of Jtewme to liabonnd-
yuge. Book qf Qidnte Essence (ed. Fomivall), p. 21.
The water which is moist and colde
MakethyZeume. which is manifolde,
Foryetel [forgetful], slow, and wery sone
Of every thing. Gomer, Conf. Amant., ITL 9&
2.
flegmon, flemon = Pg. fleimao, phlegmao = It.
flemmone, < li.phlegmone, < Gr. <lAeyfioi>^, inflam-
mation, < ^Xfyejv, bum : seephleigm.i Inpathol.:
(at) Inflammation.
I shall begin with phlegmon or inflammation, . . . be-
cause it is the first degeneration from good blood, and in
its own nature nearest of kin to it.
Wiseman, Surgery, L 3.
(b) Inflammation of the connective tissue.
especially the subcutaneous connective tissue,
usually suppurative.
In old chem., the aqueous, insipid, and in- phlegmonoid (fleg'mo-noid), a. [< Gr. •^^•.
odorous products obtained by subjecting moist
vegetable matter to the action of heat. — 3.
A thick viscid matter secreted in the diges-
ftomeid^, contr. fXey/tov^d^, like an inflamed
tumor, < (^Xeyiiovi), an inflamed tumor (see phleg-
mon), + eJdog, form.] Besembling phlegmon.
phlegmonous
phlegmonous (fieg'mo-nus), a. [< F.phlegmo-
neux,flegmoneux = lt.'fl€mmonoso; asphlegmon
+ -oas.] Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of
S'llegmon : as, phlegmonovs inflammation.
_ legmy (flem'i), a. Pertaining to, contain-
ing, or resembling phlegm.
A pMegmy humour in the body. Chrnnber^a Cyc.
phlemet, n. An obsolete form otfleamX.
Phleiun (fle'um), n. [NL. (Linnreus, 1737), <
6r. 0X^uf, also ^/iioc, ^Tmvq, some -water-plant,
according to Sprengel Arundo Ampelodesmon.]
A genus of grasses of the tribe AgrosUdese, type
of the subtnbe Phleoideie, and characterized by
the dense cylindrical or ovoid spike, with the
empty glumes wingless, mueronate, or short-
awned, and much longer than the flowering one.
There are about 10 species, natives of Europe, central and
northern Asia, northern Africa, and northern and antarc-
tic America. They are erect annual or perennial grasses,
with flat leaves, and the flowers usually conspicuously
hairy, with a purplish cast in blossom from the color of
the abundant anthers, which are large and exserted. (See
timothy, also cal'e-taU grass (under cal's-tail) and herd's-
grogs, names for the most valuable species, in common
use in the eastern United States.) P. aZpirmm, the moun-
tain cat's-tail grass, is also an excellent meadow-grass for
' colder regions.
phlobaphenes (flo-baf'e-nez), n. pi. Brown
amorphous coloring matters which are present
in the walls of the bark-cells of trees and
shrubs.
phlogm (flo'em), n. [(Nageli, 1858), irreg. < Gr.
4/kwi5f, bark. Qt. phloBum.'] In tot., the bast or
liber portion of a vascular bundle, or the region
of a vascular bundle or axis with secondary
thickening which contains sieve-tubes. Com-
pare xylem. '
phloem-sheath (flo'em-sheth), m. In lot., the
sheath of phloem-tissue sometimes formed
about the xylem part in a vascular bundle, as
in certain ferns.
Phloeocharina, Fhloeocharini (fle"9-ka-ri'na,
-ni), n. pi. [^^L., < Phlceocharis + -ina^, ■mi'.']
A group of coleopterous insects named from the
genus Phlmocharia, and forming a small tribe of
the rove-beetle family, Staphylimdx, compris-
ing species of slender, depressed form. Only
four genera are known, of which two inhabit
the tmited States.
Phlceocharis (flf-ok'a-ris), n. [NI/. (Manner-
heim, 1830), < Gr. ^7\x)iiq, bark, + xdp^tv, rejoice.]
A genus of rove-beetles, typical of the tribe
Phloeocha/rina. Few species are known, con-
fined to Europe.
Phloeophora (fle-of'o-ra), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
^/lojrff, bark, 4- fipeiv = E. ftea/l.] In Carus's
classification, an order of protozoans rep-
resented by the sun-animalcules, Actmophry-
idse.
phloeophorous (fle-of 'o-rus), ». Of or pertain-
ing to the PhUeophord.
phloeum (fle'um), m. [NL., < Gr. (^7i/>c6c, bark.]
In bot, the cellular portion of bark lying imme-
diately under the epidermis. It is also termed
epiphkeum and bast. [Not used by later author-
ities.]
phlogistian (flo-jis'ti-an), n. [< phlogist-on +
4an7i A believer in the existence of phlogiston.
phlogistic (flo-jis'tik), a. [<. phlogiston + -ic]
1. Pertaining or relating to phlogiston.
The mistakes committed In the celebrated phlogistic
theory. J. S. Mill, Logic, v. 4.
3. In med., inflammatory.
phlogisticatef (flo-jis'ti-kat), v. t. [< phlogistic
+ -ate^.2 To combine phlogiston with.— puo.
glsticated air or gas, the name given' by the old chem-
ists to nitrogen.— Fhlogisticated alkali, prussiate of
potash.
phlogisticationf (flo-jis-ti-ka'shon), n. [z= F.
phlogistication; SuB phlogisticate + -ion."] The
act or process of combining with phlogiston.
phlogiston (flo-jis'ton), n. [NL., < Gr. tp^ia-
T(if, mflammafcle, burnt up, verbal adj. of 0/lo-
y'i,uv, bum, < ^U^, a flame : see pfeZoa;.] In old
chem., the supposed principle of inflammabili-
ty; the matter of flre in composition with oth-
er bodies. Stahl gave this name to a hypothetical ele-
ment which he supposed to be pure Are fixed in combusti-
ble bodies, in order to distinguish it from flre In action or
in a state of liberty.
It is only after StahVs [1660-1734] labors that a scien-
tiflc chemistry becomes for the first time possible ; the
essential difference between the teaching of the science
then and now being that the phenomena of combustion
were then believed to be due to a chemical decomposition,
phlogiston being supposed to escape, whilst we account
for the same phenomena now by a chemical combination,
oxygen or some element being taken up.
Roseoe and Scharlemmer, Treatise on Chemistry (1888), 1.14.
phlogogenic (flog-o-jen'ik), a. [As phlogoge'
nous + •ic.'] Same a,a phlogogenous.
4448
phlogogenous (flo-goj'e-nus), a. [< Gr. ^;Wf
(^^y-), flame, + -jEvr/;, producing.] Producing
inflammation.
phlogopite (flog'o-pit), n. [< Gr. ^7uiy6ij) (< ^Atif,
a flame, + o>f, the face), fiery-looking, flaming-
red, + -«te2.] ji^ ]ji[id of magnesia mica (see
mica^, 1) commonly occumng in crystalline
limestone and in serpentine, it has often a copper-
like color and pearly luster ; chemically it is usually char-
acterized by the presence of a small percentage of fluoriu.
phlogosis (flo-go'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. ^Uyuatg,
a burning, inflammation, < <j)MS (^^oy-); flame :
see phlox.] In 7»ed., inflammation.
phlogotic (flo-got'ik), a. [< phlogosis (-ot-) +
-ic] Pertaining to, characterized by, or of the
nature of phlogosis ; inflammatory.
Fhlomis (flo'nus), n. [NL. (Tournefort, 1700),
< Gr. fXo/itc;, also (pU/iog, also corruptly <j>XiJ/j.0Q,
ijiXdvoc, mullen, appar. so called in allusion to
the use of its thick woolly leaves as wicks (one
species being called fh)/itg h)xviTtg, ' lamp-mul-
len'); prob. for orig. *(l>Xoy/iig, < ij>Xoy/i6g, a flame,
< (pMyeiv, burn : see phlegm, phlox, flame. ] A
genus of gamopetalous plants of the order La-
biatse, the mint family, belonging to the tribe
StachydesBOJid subtribe Lamiese, and character-
ized by the villous and concave upper lip, the
plicate calyx, and the densely flowered whorls
in the axils. There are about 60 species, natives of the
Mediterranean region and Asia. They are herbs or shrubs
with rugose or puckered leaves, often thick and woolly or
hoary, and sessile yellow, purple, or white flowers. They
rank among the most showy hardy plants of the mint fam-
ily. About a dozen species are in common cultivation,
especially P. fruticosa, the Jerusalem sage (see sage), a half -
shrubby plant, 3 to 5 feet high, covered with rusty down,
and producing many dense whorls of rich-yellow flowers.
Several other shrubby species from the Mediterranean are
cultivated under the name PhZomis. P. Herba-venti, the
wind-herb, is the best of the herbaceous species. P. tube-
rosa occurs introduced on the south shore of Lake Ontario.
See also latn^wiek, 2, and Jupiter^s-distaff.
phlorizin (flor'i-zin), n. [= F. pMoorrhizine ;
irreg. < Gr. <l>?ioi6'p()iZoc, having roots covered
with coats of rind, < <p?ioi.6i, bark, + fiil^a, root.]
A substance (C21H24O10) discovered in the
fresh bark of the i-oot of the apple, pear, cherry,
and plum, it forma fine colorless four-sided silky
needles, soluble in water. The solution has a bitter and
slightly astringent taste. It has been used with success
in intermitteuts, and while it is administered produces
glycosuria.
phloroglucin (flo-ro-glo'sin), n. [< phlor(imn)
+ gluoin.] A substance widely distributed in
the vegetable kingdom, when pure crystallizing
in small yellow crystals with the composition
CqH3(OH)3 ; a trivalent phenol. It is used in
microscopy as one of the best reagents for test-
ing lignifled cell-walls.
Phlox (floks), TO. [NL. (LinnsBus, 1737), < L.
phlox, < Gr. ^A(5f , some flower so named from its
color, a particular use of aM^, a flame, < fM-
yuv, bum : see^me.] 1. A genus of ornamen-
tal gamopetalous plants of the order Polemonia-
cese, characterized by a deeply three-valved loo-
ulicidal capsule, included stamens unequally
inserted on the tube of a salver-shaped corolla,
and entire leaves. The 30 species are natives of North
America and Siberia. They aie erect or spreading herbs,
often tall perennials, bearing chiefiy opposite leaves, and
showy flowers usually in a flat or pyramidal cyme, red,
violet, purplish, white, or blue. Most species are culti-
vated under the name pMox, P. spedosa as the pride-of-
Columbia, P. mbvlata as the moss-pink. P. rrumdata is
the wild sweet-william of the middle and western United
States. P. paraeidata, with large pyramidal clusters of
flowers, native of the central and southern States, is the
parent of most of the perennial phloxes of the gardens.
The annual varieties in gardens are from P. Drwmmondii
of Texas, there discovered by Drummond in 1886. P.
divaricata is the wild phlox of the eastern States, with
early bluish-lilac flowers. P. r^/tans, the creeping phlox,
is an important spring-flowering species of the souui.
3. [I.e.] Any plant of this genus.
phloxin (flok'sin), n. [< Gr. i^M^, flame, +
-in^.] _ A coal-tar color used in dyeing, similar
to eosin . It is the potassium salt of tetra-brom-
diohlor-fluorescein.
phlox-worm (floks'wferm), n. The larva of
Seliothis phlogophagus, a noctuid moth, closely
resembling the well-known boll-worm moth of
the cotton. It feeds upon cultivated varieties
of phlox, and pupates under ground. See cut
in next column.
phlyctena, phlyctsena (flik-te'na), to.; pi.
phlyctense, phlyotsmm (-ne). {Kh. phlyctsma, <
Gr. fTMRTaiva, a blister, pustule, < ^Aiil^uv, <j>Xietv,
boil over.] A small vesicle.
pblyctenar, phlyctsenar (flik-te'nSr), a. [<
phlyctena, phlyctsena, + -ar3.] Affected with
S'alyctenro; blistered.
lyctenoid, phlyctaenoid (flik-te'noid), a. [<
Gr. ^TiVKTaiva, blister, -I- elSog, form.] Resem-
bling a phlyctena.
phocacean
Phlox-worm and Moth {Httiothis fhtoeophagus). natural sL
phlyctenous, phlyctsenous (flik-te'nus), a. [<
phlyctena, phlycteena, + -ous.] Pertaining to,
exhibiting, or of the nature of a phlyctena or
phlyctenaa.
phlyctenula, phlyctsenula (flik-ten'u-la), n. ;
■pi. phlyctenuleB,pMyctsenulsB{-le). [NL., dim. of
phh/ctena, phlyctsena.] In med., a minute phlyc-
tena in the conjunctiva or the cornea.
phlyctenular, phlyctaenular (flik-ten'u-lar), f,.
[< phlyctenula, phk/cisenula, + -ar^.] Pertain-
ing to, of the nature of, or accompanied by
pmyetenute PMyctenular ophthalmia, inflam-
mation of the cornea or the conjunctiva with phlyctenulfie
on the cornea.
phlyzacium (fli-za'si-um), ». ; -pi. phlyzada (-3.).
[NL., < Gr. ^Xv^diaov, a pimple, pustule, < ^TiiC^'iv,
(b^ieiv, boil over.] A phlyctena.
pho, i/nterj. A bad spelling otfoh.
phobanturopy (fd-ban'thro-pi), TO. [< Gr. (po-
pelaOat, fear (< (pdj^og, fear), + avOpunog, man.]
A morbid dread of mankind. Westminster Bev.
phobophohia (fo-bo-fo'bi-a), to. [NL., < Gr. (j>o-
jiElaBai, fear (< ipd^og, fear), -I- (jid^og, fear.]
Morbid dread of being alarmed.
Phobos (fo'bos), TO. [NL., < Gr. ^d/Sog, Fear, a
companion of Ares or Mars (War) ; a personi-
fication of <l>6poQ, fear, terror, dismay, < ^^/Jeer-
6at, be scared, fear, flee. Cf . beimos.] The in-
ner of the two satellites of the planet Mars, dis-
covered by Asaph Hall at Washington, in Au-
gust, 1877. This extraordinary body revolves in the plane
of the equator of Mars, at a distance of only about 3,700
miles from the surface of the planet, but as it is probably
only about five and a half miles in diameter, it would ap-
pear only one sixth of the apparent diameter of our moon
at the zenith, and on the horizon, owing to the enormous
parallax, only about one fourteenth of the same. At the
equinoxes it is in eclipse about one flfth of the time,
or double that proportion of the time between sunset
and sunrise. At the solstices it does not suffer eclipse.
It revolves about its primary in 7 hours, 39 minutes, and
14 seconds, and as Mars revolves on Its axis In 24 hours,
37 minutes, and 22.7 seconds, it follows that the satel-
lite appears to an observer on Mars to rise in the west and
set in the east, its return to his meridian occurring in 11
hours, 6 minutes, and 23 seconds, but, owing to its close
proximity, its velocity will appear to be much greater. At a
station on the equator of Mars (where the satellite always
passes through the zenith), it will, out of its 11 hours and 6
minutes of period, pass only 3 hours and 20 minutes above
the horizon against 7 hours and 46 minutes below.
phoca (fo'ka), TO. [= F.phoqm = Sp. It. foca
= Pg. phocd, < L. phoca, < Gr. ^<i/o?, a seal.] 1 .
A seal. — 3. [cap.] [NL.] A genus of Phocidee
or seals, formerly coextensive at least with the
Common Harbor-seal {Phoca vitutina).
family, now restricted to the section which is
represented by the common harbor-seal, P.
vitulina, and a few closely related species. See
seal^, and cut under harp-seal.
phocacean (fo-ka'ge-an), a. and to. [< phoca +
-ocean.] I. a. 1. Of or pertaining to the ge-
nus Phoca in a broad sense; phocine.
II. TO. A seal of the genus Phooa in a broad
sense ; a phocine.
Phocsna
Phocaena (f o-se 'na), n. [NL., < 6r. ^Koiva, a por-
poise; c£.^u«>r,iii., a porpoise, ^K7, a seal: see
phoca. ] A genus of delpMnoid odontocete ceta-
ceans, eonUuning the true porpoises, such as P.
communis, as distinguished from the dolphins
proper. There are about 64 Tertebrae, of which the cervi-
cals are 7, mostly ankylosed, and the dorsals 13 ; the teeth
are from 72 to 100, along nearly the whole length of the jaw,
with constricted necks ; the symphysis of the m&ndible is
very short, and the rostral is not longer than the craiial
section of the sknlL The dorsal flu is near the middle of
the back (wanting in P. melus, which constitates the snb-
genns ITomerit), tiiangnlar, of less height than breadth
at the base ; the fins have five digitc^ oval or somewhat
falcate. See cut under porpoiee.
Phocsenina (fo'-sf-ni'na), «. pi. [NL., < Pho-
esena + -i»a2.] a group of cetaceans, typified
by the genus Phociena ; the porpoises.
phocaenme (fo-se'nin), a. [< Gx. <p&Katva, a por-
poise, + -»B«i.] Eesembling a porpoise; of or
pertaining to the Phoceenina.
phocal (fo'kal), a. [< phoca + -oi.] Phoca-
eean; phociiie. [Bare.]
Phocea (fo-se'a), «. pftj., prop. Phoceea, < L.
Phocsm, < Gr. ^aKoia, a maritime city of Ionia,
a colony of Athens, and the parent city of
Massilia, now Marseilles.] The 25th planetoid,
discovered by Chacomac at Marseilles in 1853.
Fhocian (fo'sian), a. and n. [< L. Phocis, <
Gr. iuni^, Phocis (see def.), + -an.'] 1, a. Oi
or pertaining to Phocis, a state of ancient
Greece, or its inhabitants.
n. n. A native or an inhabitant of Phocis.
Phocidae (fo'si-de), n. pi. [NIi., < Phoca +
-idse.] A family of aquatic camiTorons mam-
mals of the order Ferx and suborder Pinnipe-
dia, having the limbs modified into fins or flap-
pers; the seals. The family was formerly coextensive
with the suborder, including the otaries and the walruses
as well as the true seals, and divided into three subfami-
lies: ^rcfocepAoIiTia, the otaries; ZVicAecAuia, the walrus-
es ; and Phoctiut, the seals proper. The last alone now
constitate the family PhoeidsR^ having the body truly pho-
ciform, with the hinder limbs projecting backward, and
not capable of being turned forwara; the outer ear obso-
lete; the fore flippers smaller than the iilnd ones, and
having the digits successively shortened and armed with
claws, while the hind flippers are emarginated by the
shortening of the third and fourth digits, and are usually
but not always provided with claws. The incisors are
variable in number, and the upper ones are nnnotched.
The skull has no alisphenoid canals, and the postorbital
processes are obsolete. In this restricted sense the Pho-
eidsR are represented by about 12 genera, and divided into
the subfamilies Phoeinas, Cygtophorinse, and ^enorhyn-
e/drue. See cuts under harpseali PagontySf Phoca, seaP-,
and Eri^ruithus.
phociform (f 6'si-f 6rm), a. [< Gr. <jii)iai, a seal, +
L./or»i<i,form.] BesemblingaseaJinstructure;
having the form or characters of the Phocidee.
Phocinse (fo-si'ne), n.pl. [NL., < Phoca + -inse.]
The leading subfamily of Phocidse proper, tj^i-
fied by the genus Phoca, having normally as.
upper and four lower incisors, and narrow na-
sal and intermaxillary bones. The genera be-
sides Phoca are Pagomys, Pagophilus, Erigna-
thus, Halichcerus, and Monachus.
phocilie (fo'sin), a. and n. [< Gr. ^lai, a seal,
+ -»«*!.] I, a. 1. Seal-like; of or pertaining
to the PhociiUe at large. — 2. Belonging to the
restricted subfamily Phocinse: distinguished
from otarine.
H. n. Any member of the Phocinee; aphoca-
cean.
Phocodon (fo'ko-don), n. [NIi. (Agassiz), <
Gr. 0UK7, a seal, '+ bdovg (odovT-) = E. tooth.'] A
genus of fossil cetaceans, giving name to the
Phocodontia. See Zeuglodon.
phocodont (fo'ko-dont), n. One of the Phoco-
dontia.
Phocodontia (fo-ko-don'shi-a), n. pi. [NL., <
Phocodon {-odont-)', + -ia.] Ctae of the primary
groups of the order Cetacea, entirely extinct,
consisting of the genera Zeuglodon, Sgmlodon,
and other laa^e cetaceans of the Tertiaiy epoch,
remarkable as furnishing connecting-links be-
tween the Cetacea and the pinniped aquatic
Carnivora.
phocodontic (fo-ko-don'tik;), a. [< phocodont
+ -ic.] Pertaining to the PhocodonUa, or hav-
ing their characters.
phocoid (fo'koid), a. and n. [< Gr. ^lai, a seal,
+ cMof, form.] I. a. Besembling a seal; be-
longing to the Phocoidea.
n. n. Any member of the Phocoidea.
Phocoidea (fo-koi'df-a), n. pi. [NL.: see pho-
coid.] A superfamily of pinnipeds, containing
the Otariidsc^aA Phoeidie, or the eared and ear-
less seals, together contrasted with Tiichechoi-
dea or Bosmaroidea, the walruses. They have no
tusks, or highly developed canine teeth, and the incisors
are persistent ; the lower molars are five on each side, the
upper five or six.
4449
phocomelns (fo-kom'e-Ius), ».; pi. phocomeli
(-li). [XL., <Gr. ^/o?, aseal, +//£^, a Umb.]
In teratol., a monster with very short extremi-
ties, the hands and feet being apparently at-
tached directly to the trunk.
Phoebades (f e'ba-dez). n. pi. [L. Phtebades, pi.
of PluBbas, < Gr.' ^tpac, a priestess of Apollo, <
^l^oc, ApoUo, Phoebus: see Phtebus.] Priest-
esses of the sun.
Attired like Virginian Priests, by whom the Sun is there
adored, and therSore called the PJuebadex.
Chapman, Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's
[Inn.
Phoebe} (fe'be), n. [Also Phebe; < L. Phabe, <
Gr. ^ipii, the moon-goddess, sister of ^ipoc,
Phoebus: seePA<E&ug.] 1. The moon ormoon-
goddess.
To-morrow night, when Phcebe doHi behold
Her silver visage in the watery glass.
Shak., U. K. D., LI. 209.
2. [I. c] A Cuban fish, Haliperca phcebe. F.
Pom/.
phoebe^ (fe'be), n. [An imitative name, ae-
com. in spelling to L. Phcebe : see Phoebe^. Cf .
pewit.] The water-pewee, or pewit flycatcher,
Sayomis fuscus. See cut TmAeipeunt.
Ph(Ebean(fe-be'an), o. [< PluBbus + -an.] Oi,
pertaining to, of produced by Phoebus Apollo.
'Whoseear
Is able to distinguish strains that are
Clear and Pheebean from the popular.
Shirley, Love in a Haze, FroL
phoebe-bird (fe'be-berd), n. The phoebe.
phoebitim (fe'bi-um), n. [NL., < Gr. ^ipoc,
Phoebus, i. e. the sun: see Phcebus.] A name
suggested by Proctor for the unknown sub-
stEuice which produces the 1474 line of Kirch-
hof^s scale in the spectrum of the solar corona :
commonly called coronium.
Phoebus (fe'bus), n. [= P. Phebus = Sp. It.
Febo = Pg. Phebo, < L. Phwbus, < Gr. *oj^,
Phoebus (see def.), < ^i^oQ, pure, bright, < <paog,
fac, light, < ipaetv, shine: seephase'^.] A name
of Apollo, often used in the same sense as Sol
or Helios, the sun-god.
Hark, hark ! the lark at heaven's gate sings
And PA<s&u5 'gins arise. £7i/uk.,Cymbeline,iL3.22.
PhoeniceSB (ff-nis'f-e), n.pl. [NL. (Bentham
and Hooker, i883),'< Phcenix (Phcenic-) + -ese.]
A tribe of palms, consisting of the genus Phce-
nix, and distinguished by the pinnately divided
leaves, with acuminate segments induplicate in
the bud, dioecious flowers, and a long, solitary,
coriaceous and compressed spathe.
phoeniceous (fe-nish'ius), a. [< Gr. (poiviiaog,
purple-red, < tpoivt^ (^vik-), purple-red.] Same
Phoenicercns (fe-ni-ser'kus), n. [NL. (Swain-
son, 1831, as Phcenicircus; emendieiPhcenieercus,
Strickland, 1841), prop. Phwnicocercus (Cabanis,
1847), and erroneously Phsenicocercus (Bona-
parte, 1850) ; < Gr. ipolvc^ (ipotvm-), purple-red, +
KepKog, tail.] A genus of South .American non-
oscine passerine birds, of the fanuly CoUngidse
and subfamily BupicolinsB, closely relaited to the
coek-of-the-rock (see Bupicola) : so called from
the color of the tail. There are two species, P. car-
t4fex and P. nigrienais, the former of Cayenne and Co-
Itnnbia, the latt^ found in the vicinity of Par^ Both are
chiefly of a scarlet or bloody-red color ; in P. ntgricoUis the
neck, back, wings, and tip of the tail are black. Also
called Carn^fex.
Phoenician, a. and n. See Phenieian.
?hoenicin, n. See phenidn.
'hoeilicophilinae(fe-ni-kof-i-li'ne), n.pl. [NL.,
< Phcsnicophilus + -ime.] A subfamily of Ta-
nagridse, represented by the genera Pheenico-
philus and Calyptophilus, peculiar to San Do-
mingo.
Phoenicophilns (fe-ni-kof'i-lus), n. [NL. (H.
E. Strickland, 1851), < Gr. ^tvt^ {^ivui-), the
PkcenicofkUus palma
Pholadidae
date-palm, + c^'Oo^, loving.] The typical genus
of Phcenicophilime, having a comparatively slen-
der bill, moderate tarsi, and square tail. P.
paJmarum is the leading species.
rihoenicopterf, n. See phenicopter.
Fhoenicoptends (fe'ni-kop-ter'i-de), n. pi.
[NIj.,<PluBnicopterus + -«?«.] Afamilyof birfs
of the suborder Odontoglossee and order Lamel-
lirostres, consisting of the flamingos only, its
systematic position is intermediate between the storira and
herons on the one hand and the ducks and geese on the
other. The group is called Odontoglossee by Sitoch, and
AmphimorphaB by Huxley. SeeJIamingo.
phoenicopteroid (fe-ni-kop'te-roid), a. Of or
resembling the Phcenicopterdidese.
PhflenicopteroideaB(fe-ni-kop-te-roi'de-«),n.|j?.
[NL., < Phcmicopterus + -oidese.] The flamin-
gos regarded as a superfamily: synonymous
with both Amphimorphie and OdontoglosssB.
phoenicopterous (fe-ni-kop'te-ms)_, a. [< Gr.
^cviKdTrrepog, in lit. sense 'red-winged': see
Phcenicopterus.] Having red wings, .is a fla-
mingo; relating to the genus Phcenieopterus.
Phoenicoptems (fe-ni-kop'te-ms), n. [NL.,
< L. phcmicopterus, the flamingo, < Gr. ipotvucd-
jTTepo^, a bird, supposed to be the flamingo, lit.
' red-winged,' < <j>oivi^ (^ivik-), purple-red, red, +
iTTepiv, feather, wing.] 1 . The typical and lead-
ing genus of PhcenicopteridsB, usually held to be
conterminous with the family, and sometimes
divided into four sections — Pheenicopterus prop-
er, Pheeniconaias, Phtenicorodias, and Phanico-
parrus. p. antimorum is widely distributed in AGrica
and some parts of Asia and Europe; P. ignmattiatus is
South American; P. minor is African; P. ruSer inhabits
the southern United States, the West Indies, and other
parts of tropical America; P. aiMrms is fotmd in the
Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and ChilL See cut underybmui^o.
2. The constellation Grus.
phoenicnrons (fe-ni-ku'ms), a. [< 1i. phtenicti-
rus, < Gr. ^ivimvpoc, a bird, the redstart, lit.
' having a red taU,' < ^Ivi^ (jaiviK-), purple-red,
red, + ovpd, a taiL] Having a red taU.
phoenix^ n. See phenix.
Phoenix2 (fe'niks), n. [NL. (Linnseus, 1737),
< Gr. ^Ivi^, the date-palm; cf. ^Ivi^, Pheni-
eian: see Phenieian.] A genus of palms, con-
stituting the tribe Phcenieese, characterized by
the three distinct carpels (only one of which
matures), containing a single erect cylindrical
seed wiUi a deep longitudinal groove, and hav-
ing the embryo near the base or on the back.
The 12 species are the cultivated and the wild date-palms,
all natives of the Old World, within or near the tropics
of Asia and Africa. The habit of different species varies
greatiy, the tnmks being either short or tail, robnst or slen-
der, erect or declined. The trunk is destitute of spines,
but is commonly covered with the pei-sistent leaf -bases.
The palms grow in close clusters, forming groves. The
pinnate leaves are large and terminal, forming a spread-
ing canopy, each conslBting of very numerous narrow,
rigid, and compressed leaflets, the lower ones shorter and
transformed into spines. The abimdant yellow and rather
smallflowershavethreesepalsandthreepetals. Thestam-
inate trees bear oblong or ovoid flowers on numerous erect
and much-branched spadices between the upper leaves.
The pistillate trees bear spherical flowers on similar but
often nodding spadices, followed by numerous cylindrical
orange, brown, or black berries, uiose of P. dactyl^era
being the dates of commerce. (For this friiit, see daU-
palm and date^; and for the sugar made from it^ see
jaggery and goor.) This species is the chief palm of his-
tory and of ceremony, having been used as the emblem
of triumph from the Egn>tian worship of Isis onward. It
is the palm of ancient Palestine, and has been for cen-
turies cultivated for miles along the Italian and French
Riviera, to supply pahn-branches for festivals. White
palm-branches are procured by binding the top of l^e
unfolding leaf-bud, thereby blanching the inner leaves.
It does not fruit in Italy nor under glass, and requires for
successful growth an average annual temperature of 80° F.
In Africa native huts are made from its leaves, its wood
is used for building, its fiber for cloth and ropes, its leaf-
stalks for brooms, crates, etc., its young leaves are eaten,
and an intoxicating drink is made from its sap. It reaches
a height of 80 and rarely 120 feet^ and bears fruit, though
In diminishing abundance, for as long as 200 years. T^e
necessity of artificially fertilizing it first drew attention to
the existence of sex in plants. P. sylvestris, the wild date-
palm of India and Africa, is smaller, reaches a height of
40 feet, bears yellow or reddish berries, and is an impor-
tantsourceof sugar and toddy, both prepared from its sap,
which it is said can be made to fiow from the upper pEut
of its trunk for twenty years. P. pusUla, a dwarf fiom
southern China, and P. rediitata, a decumbent palm from
the (^pe of Good Hope, also bear sweet edible berries, and
are valued, as is P. paZudosa, a stout Indian tree, for deco-
rative uses.
pholad (fo'lad), n. A member of the family
PlwladidcE.
Pholadacea (f 6-la-da'se-a), n. pi. [NL., < P7jo-
las {Pholad-j + -^cea.] 'A family of bivalves:
same as Pholadidm. be BlainviUe, 1825.
Pholadidae (fo-lad'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Pholas
{Pholad-) + -idee.] A family of lithodomous or
Uthophagous lamellibranch mollusks, typified
by the genus Pholas; the piddoeks anS their
allies. The animals have the lobes of the mantle mostly
Pholadontya Candida (exterior).
Pholadomya Candida (.left valve).
Fholadidse
united and everted npon the nmbonal region, long siphons
with fringed oriflces, narrow branchiie prolonged into the
branchial Biphon, and a short truncated foot The shell is
gaping and sinupalliate, without hinge or ligament, and
besides the pair of large valves there are small accessory
valves near the umbones. The family formerly included
Tendo, now made the type of TereivnMM. The species
are generally classed under at least 8 genera, and occur in
various parts of the world, generally boring into stone or
wood. See outs under accessory and piddock.
Fboladidea (fo-la-did'e-a), n. [NL., < PhoMs
(Pholad-) + -idea.'] A genus of Pholadidx,
characterized by the development of a corne-
ous tubular appendage to the posterior end of
the shell, surrounding the siphons at their base,
called sijj7io»oj>tea;. P. papyracea, of the Euro-
pean seas, is the type.
pholadite (fo'la-dit), n. [= P. pholadite; < L.
Pholas (PholaS-) + -ite^.] A fossil pholad,
or some similar
shell.
Pholadom3ndse
(f6"la-d6-mi'i-
de),n.pt. [NL.,
< Pholadomya
(the typical ge-
nus) (<Gr.^ijldf
(<paiad-), lurk-
ing in a hole, +
/ivg, mussel) +
4dse.'] A family of bivalves, typified by the ge-
nus Pholadomya. They are related to the Anatinidie.
The mantle-margins are mostly united, and the siphons
long and united ;
the foot is small,
with a small pro-
cess bifurcated be-
hind, and the bran-
chisB are thick and
appendiculate. The
shell is equivalve,
very thin, nacre-
ous internally and
with radiating ribs,
without hinge-
teeth, and with an
external ligament.
The living species are few, and are found only in very
deep water, but in former ages they were very numerous.
Fholas (fo'las), n. [NL. (Linnrous, 1758), < Gr.
<j)a7i6c ((j>a?.aS-), lurking in a hole, a mollusk that
' makes holes in stones {Lithodomiis) ; ef . ipaleiv,
lurk in a hole, duTiedg, a hole, lurking-place.]
1. The typical genus of the family PholadidsB
and the subfamily Pholadinse. It was formerly co-
extensive with the family, but has been variously subdi-
vided. By recent writers it is restricted to species having
the dorsal margin protected by two accessory valves (see
accessory), anterior and posterior, and with umbonal pro-
cesses reflected over the Deaks. i?he species are of some
economical value, the Pholas dactyliis, called piddock, be-
ing marketable and also used as bait in England.
2. [I. c] A species of the genus Pholas; a
pholad; a piddock. See cut under piddoci:.
Pliolcids (fol'si-de), n.pl. [NL. (C. Koch,
1850), < Pholcus + -idae.'} A family of spiders
formerly placed in the superf amily iJefite/ana,
but recently put among the more primitive
forms, near the DysderidsB, HypocliUidee, and
Mlistatidse. They are pale, long-legged spiders, living
in dark places and having either six or eight eyes. The
male palpi are very peculiar.
Pholcus (fol'kus), «. [NL. (Walekenaer, 1805),
< Qt. ^o'Ak6q, squint-eyed.] A genus of spiders,
typical of the family Pholcidx, having the eyes
in three groups, a cluster of three on each side
of the median two. Nine species are known in the
United States. They live either in cellars or under rocks
in the woods, and construct iiTegular webs in which they
stand upside down. The webs are violently shaken as a
defense. The egg-cocoon is carried in the female's mouth.
The legs of some species are multiarticulate, indicating a
relationship with the OpUwnes.
pholerite (fol'e-rit), n. [Prop. *pholidUe, <
Gr. foXig (^o/li(J-), scale, -1- -ite^.'] A clay-like
mineral closely related to or identical ■with
kaolinite. It usually occurs in masses con-
sisting of minute scales.
pholidote (f ol'i-dot), a. [< Gr. ^oTuSardq, armed,
clad with scales, < ifioXiq (<(io7uS-), a scale.] Pro-
vided with scales ; scaly or squamous.
Phoma (fo'ma), n. [NL. (Fries, 1828), < Gr. <S>oig,
a blister.] A. genus of parasitic fiingi, of the
class Sphserioidese, producing little pustules on
plants. About 660 species have been referred to this
genus, but they probably represent different stages in the
development of other forms. P. umcola, ol the grape, for
instance (see ^rape-rot), is now understood to be only a
stage in the life-liistory of Physalospora Bidwellii.
phonal (fo'nal), a. [< Gr. favri, voice (see
phone^), + -aLi Of or pertaining to sound or
the voice. [Bare.]
The Thibetan is near in phonal structure.
Max MiiUer, Selected Essays, i. 74.
phonascetics (fo-na-set'iks), n. [< Gr. ^urvaa-
Kuv, exercise the voice ; of. (j)uvaaK6g, one who
4460
exercises the voice: see phonasciis.'] Sys-
tematic practice for strengthening the voice;
treatment for improving or restoring the
voice.
phonascus (fo-nas'kus), ».; pi. phonasci (-i).
[L., a teacher of singing, LL. a musical direc-
tor, < Gr. <l>uvam6(, one who exercises the voice,
< <l>ov^, the voice, -I- aaitelv, train, exercise : see
ascetic.l In anc. Gr. mime, a trainer of the
voice; a teacher of vocal music.
phonate (fo'nat), v. i. ; pret. and pp. phonated,
■pgti. phonatimg. [< Gr. ^uv^, sound, voice (see
phone^), + -ate^.'] To utter vocal sounds ; pro-
duce a noise with the vocal cords.
In a marked case, on the patient's attempting to pho-
nate, the cords remain perfectly movable during the at-
tempt. Lancet, Ho. 3417, p. 373.
phonatiou (fo-na'shgn), n. [= F. phonation;
as phonate + -ion.]' The act of phonating ;
emission of vocal sounds ; production of tone
with the vocal cords. Encyc. Brit., XXI. 202.
phonatory (fo'na-to-ri), a. [<, phonate + -ory.]
Of or pertaining to phonation.
phoiiautogram(fo-na't9-gram),». [<Gr. ^uvi),
sound, voice, + avrdg, self, -I- ypd/i/ia, inscrip-
tion.] The diagram or record of speech or
other sound made by a phonautograph or a
gramophone.
phonautograph (fo-n&'to-graf ), n. [< Gr. (pav^,
sound, -I- airtf, self, -I- ypafuv, write.] 1. An
instrument for registering the vibrations of a
sounding body. That devised about 1868 by Won Scott
consists of a large barrel-shaped vessel made of plaster of
Paris, into the open end of which the sound enters ; the
Phonautograph.
BC, barrel with opening at C; c, brass tube with membrane and
style at b, and movable piece a, by which the position of the nodal
points can be regulated ; ^.handle to turn cylinder (j4) covered with
lampblacked paper.
other end, somewhat contracted in shape, is closed by a
membrane with a style attached on the outside, whose
point rests against a horizontal cylinder covered with
lampblacked paper. If the membrane is at rest the trace
of the style is a straight line, but when the sound enters
the membrane vibrates, and the writing-point registers
these vibrations with great perfection.
2. Same as mtmc-recorder.
phonautographic(fo-na-to-graf'ik), a. l< pho-
nautograph + -ic.] Of, pertaining to, or made
by the phonautogi-aph or gramophone. Jotir.
Franklin Inst., CXXV. 53.
phonautographicallv (fo-n§,-to-graf'i-kal-i),
adv. By means of the phonautograph. Jour>
Franklin Inst., CXXV. 53.
phone^ (fon), «. [< Gr. <j>uv^, a soimd, tone,
sound of the voice (of man or brute), voice,
speech, cry, etc., any articulate sound, vowel
or consonant (later restricted to vowels as
opposed to consonants), also the faculty of
speech, language, a language, dialect, also a
report, rumor, etc., < y ^a in ip^/^r/, speech,
report, etc., = Ij.fama, etc.; see fame^, fable.]
A sound; a vocal sound; a tone produced by
the vibration of the vocal cords; one of the
primary elements of utterance. See phonate,
phonetic.
phone^ (fon), n. [Abbr. of telephone, n.] A
telephone : generally applied to the receiver,
but sometimes to the wnole apparatus. Sci.
Amer., N. S., July 19, 1884, p. 43. [Colloq.]
phone2(fon), «.; pret. andpp.j)7io»?ed,ppr. phon-
ing. [Abbr. of telephone, v.] To telephone.
[CoUoq.]
phoneidoscope (fo-ni'do-skop), ». [< Gr. (jmjv^,
sound, + eldog, form, -I- anoTrelv, view.] An in-
strument for observing the color-figures of li-
quid films under the action of sonorous vibra-
tions. E. H. Knight.
phoneidoscopic (fo-ni-do-skop'ik), a. [< pho-
neidoscope + -Jc] Of or pertaining to the pho-
neidoscope or the phenomena observed by
means of it.
phonikon
At a meeting of the Physical Society of Paris, Guebhard
. . . showed thateventhefllmsoondensedfromthebreath
may exhibit phoneidoscopic properties.
Quoted in Smithsonian Report, 1880, p. 274.
phonetic (f o-net'ik), o. [= F. phondUqtie = Sp.
fonetico = Pg. phonetico = It. foneUco (cf. G.
phonetisch), < NL. phoneticus, < Gr. <Ixjv^ck6s, of
or pertaining to sound or voice, phonetic, vocal,
< fovetv, produce a sound, speak, < (jion^, a sound,
tone, prop, the sound of the voice (of man or
brute): seephone^.] 1. Relating or pertain-
ing to the human voice as used in speech ; con-
cerning articulate sounds, their mode of pro-
duction, relations, combinations, and changes:
as, phonetic science ; phonetic decay. — 2. Rep-
resenting articulate sounds or utterance: as, a
phoneUc mode of writing (in contradistinction
to an ideographic or pictorial mode); a, pho-
meiicmode of spelling (in contradistinction to a
traditional, historical, or so-called etymological
mode, such as the current spelling of English,
in which letters representing or supposed to
represent former and obsolete utterance are
retained or inserted according to chances of
time, caprice, or imperfect knowledge). — 3. In
entom., as used by Kirby, noting the collar or
prothorax of a hymenopterous insect when it
embraces the mesothorax and the posterior an-
gles cover the mesothoracio or so-called vocal
spiracles. — Phonetic shorthand, a system of short-
hand or stenography in which words are represented by
their sounds, and not by their spelling as in ordinary long-
hand writing ; phonography. All systems of shorthand in
use in writing English are phonetic, the phonetic princi-
ple being absolutely necessai7 to the requisite brevity.—
Phonetic spelling, spelling according to sound ; the spell-
ing of words as they are pronounced.
phonetical (f o-net'i-kal), a. [< phonetic + -al.]
Same as phonetic.
phonetically (f o-net'i-kal-i) , adv. In a phonetic
manner ; as regards the sound and not the spell-
ing of words.
phonetician (fo-ne-tish'an), n. [< phoneUc -t-
■4an.] One who is versed in or is a student of
phonetics.
We must serve our apprenticeship as phoneticians, ety-
mologists, and grammarians before we can venture to go
beyond. Max MiiMer, in Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XU. 700.
phoueticism (fo-net'i-sizm), n. [< phonetic +
-ism.] The quality of being phonetic; pho-
netic character ; representation, or faithful rep-
resentation, of utterance by written signs.
The Egyptian and Chinese alphabets, each of which be-
gan as simple picture-writing and developed into almost
complete pkonctieixm. Science, VIII. 66S.
phoneticist (fo-net'i-sist), n. [(.phonetic + -ist.]
One who adopts or favors phonetic spelling.
phoneticize (fo-net'i-siz), v. t.; pret. and pp.
phoneticized, ppr. phoneticizing, [(phonetic +
-ize.] To make phonetic ; render true, or more
nearly corresponding, to utterance. Science,
XV. 7.
phonetics (fo-net'iks), n. [PL otphonetici see
.4cs.] Phonetic science; that division of lan-
guage-study which deals with articulate sounds
and whatever concerns them ; phonology.
phonetism (fo'ne-tizm), n. [<phonet-ic + -ism.]
Sound; pronunciation.
phonetist (fo'ne-tist), n. [< phonetic + -ist.]
A student of or one versed in phonetics.
Different ^fion«itste of that time giving different lists.
Tram. Amer. PhUol. Ass., XVI. 66-
The author of the Ormulum was a phonetist, and em-
ployed a special spelling of his.own to represent not only
the quality but the quantities of vowels and consonants.
Encyc. Brit., VIII. 396.
phonetization (fd"ne-ti-za,'shon), n. [< pho-
netize + -ation.] The act or art of represent-
ing sound by phonetic signs. Webster's Bid.;
Imp. Diet. [Rare.]
phonetize (fo'ne-tiz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. jj7io-
netized, ppr. phonetizing. [< phoneUc + -ize.]
To represent phonetically. [Rare.]
I find a goodly number of Yankeeisms in him [Spenser],
such as idee (not as a rhyme); but the oddest is his twice
spelling dew deow, which is just as one would spell it who
wished to phimelize its sound in rural New England.
Lowell, Among my Books, II. 196.
phonic (fon'ik), a. [= "F.phonique = Sp./dmco
= It. fonieo, < Gr. as if *^tM>iK6g, < <j,uvfi, sound,
voice : see^/jOMci. Ct. phonetic] Oforpertain-
ing to sound; according to sound: as, the uftome
method. See phonics.
Pllon^CS (fon'iks), n, [PI. ot phonic: see 4cs.]
1. The doctrine or science of sounds, especially
those of the human voice ; phonetics. — 2. The
art of combining musical sounds.
phonikon (fo'ni-kon), n. [NL., < Gr. as if ia-
y((£(if, neut. of *^uvtK(if : SB% phonic] A musical
mstrument of the metal wind group, with a.
Tfbanikaa
n)hericaI-Bhax>ed bell, invented in 1848 by B.
F. Czerveny of Koniggratz, Bohemia,
phonocamptic (f o-no-kamp'tik), a. [= F.pbo-
noeamptique = Pg. 'phonocamptieo, < Gr. <p<jv^,
Boond, voice (see jjAon^i), + Ko/nrrd^, verbal adj.
of KafiTTTeiv, bend.] Eeflecting or deflecting
soand.
4451
and z, are not cleazly given. The contents of the strips of
foil may be reprodaced in soand after any length of time,
and repeated nntil the markings become effaced. The
instroment has recently been improved and made in the
form shown in the second cut, in which the cylinder is
driven by an eleclaric current from a battery, and the tin-
foil is r^laced by a cylinder of hard wax, which can be
tamed off to remove marlffi and thns fitted to register other
soonds — a process that maybe repeated many times before
the cylinder is rendered nseless.
[< phonograph,
"""^ nj] "Fo register or record by means of the pho-
The magnifying the soand by the polyphonlsms or re- , „ . „^.^„ „„™_
percassiooa of the rocks and other pAonocatnpticJ; objects, phonograph (fo'no-graf) V. t.
Phonocamptic center. Seecenteri. "•] "^^ ^ " ^
phonocamptics (fo-no-kamp'tiks), H. [PI. of "Ograph
phonocamptic: see ^.^ That branch of phys- P''°'^OBrapher (fo-nog'ra-fer), n. [< phono-
ics which treats of the reflection of sound. S^aph, phonograplt-y, + -erl.] 1. One who is
Besides what the masters of . . . phonoeamptio, ota. ^^rsed in phonography ; a writer of phonogra-
constics, etc., have don, something h^ ben attempted by Phy, or phonetic shorthand. — 2. One who nses
Uie Boyal Society. JBvetyn, To Doctor Beale. or who is skilled in the nse of the phonograph.
phonogram (f o'no^ram), n. [< Gr. ^oi^, sound, Phonograph-graphophone (fo'no-graf-graf '6-
voice, + ypa/ifta, a writing, letter: see gram^.^ ^on), ». See graphophone.
1. A graphic character representing a sonnd of phonographic (fo-no-graf 'ik), a. [= P. phono-
graphique; &splu>nograph,phonograph-^f,+ -ic]
1 . Pertaining to or used in the vrriting or rep-
resentation of sound.
Although onr own writing Das reached the alphabetic
stage, yet we still continae to employ a considerable num-
ber of phonoffrapJdc and ideographic signs.
Isaac Taylor, Ihe Alphabet, I. 6.
2. Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of pho-
nography, or phonetic shorthand; made in or
using phonetic shorthand : as, a phonographic
note or report; a, phonographic rejwrter. — 3.
Of or pertaining to the phonograph ; produced
by means of the phonograph.
phonographical (fo-no-graf 'i-kal), a. [< pho-
nographic + -a?.] Same a,s phonographic.
Thomas A. Edison, by means of which sounds phonographlcally (fo-no-gr^'i-kal-i), adv. In
are made to produce on a register permanent a phonographic manner." (a) Asregardsorbymeans
tracings, each having an individual character °' phonography. (6) As reg»^ or by means of the pho-
corresponding to the sound producing it. The "°e^P^
sounds can be afterward reproduced from the Pflonographist (fo-nog ra-fist) n [< pltono-
register. m its original form it consists essentially of Xnn^^l'o^rff^^'^.'^'f'i V w"^!^^ '
a curved tubei, one end of which is fitted with a month- Phonograpny (19-nog ra^fi), ». [= F.pJtonogra-
piecc, while the other end (about two inches in diame- phie, < Gr. 96)1^, sound, voice, + -ypaij)la, < ypa-
the human voice.
It is probable that the adoption of the important step
by which the advance was made from ideograms to pfio-
nojrams arose out of the necessity of expressing proper
names. Itaac Taylor, The Alphabet, I. 22.
2. The record of sound produced by a phono-
graph, or the sheet of tin-foil or cylinder of wax
on which it is produced.
There is a brass cylinder, on which the wax phonogram
is placed. Nature, yXTTT 108.
phonograph (fo'no-graf), n. [= p. phono-
graphe, < Gr. ijkjv^^ sound, voice, -f- ypa^w,
write.] 1. A type or character for expressing
a sound; a character used in phonography. —
2. A form of phonautograph, the invention of
ter) is closed with a diaphragm of exceedingly thin metaL
Phono£^raph [earlier fbniij'.
Connected with the center of this diaphragm is a steel
point, which, when the sounds are projected on the disk
from the mouthpiece, vibrates backward and forward.
This part of the apparatus is adjusted to a cylinder wliich
rotates on a horizontal axis. On the surface of the cylin-
^tv, write.] 1 . The science of sound-signs, or the
representation of vocal sounds. — 2. The rep-
resentation of words as they are pronounced;
speeificalljr, a system of phonetic writing in
shorthand introduced by Isaac Pitman of Bath,
England, in the year 1837. The consonants are rep-
resented by simple lines (called stems), curved or straight,
light or heavy, vertical, horizontal, or slanting, with initial
and terminal hooks, circles, loops, etc. ; the vowels are
represented by dots and dashes, light or heavy, by com-
binations of them, and by small angles and semicircles. In
actual use most of the vowel-signs aro omitted (though
they may in many cases be approximately indicated by the
position — above, on, or below the line — of the consonant-
stem), and the consonant-stems, by halving, doubling, etc ,
are made to perform extra duty. To secure further brev-
ity, various ai-bitiaiy devices are employed. Sir. Pitman's
system has been variously modified and improved by Mm-
Belf and othei'S in England and America. See shorthand,
3. The construction and use of phonographs,
and the recording of sound by mechanical
means, with a view to its reproduction
der is cat a spiral groove, and on the axis there is a spiral — ■u-^-ilx.. /i';T/„x iTt\ « r ■& «7.«*.«7^-rt« -d.-
screw of the £me pitch, which works m a nut When the PhonoUte (fo no-bt), re. [= Y.phonolim = Pg.
■ ■ .... - . ...._. . phonohte; equiv. to chnkstone; < Gr. (fuvrj, sound,
-I- TJBoq, stone.] The name given by Klaproth
instrument is to be used, a piece of tin-foil is gnnmied
round the cylinder, and the steel point is adjusted so as
j ust to touch the tin-foil above the line of the spiral groove.
If words are now spokeo through the mouthpiece, and the
cylinder is kept rotating either by the hand or by clock-
work, a series of small marks will be made on the foil by
the vibratory movement of the steel point, and these mark-
ings win each have an individual character corresponding
to the various sounds. The sounds thus registered are re-
prodaced by placing the diaphragm with its steel point in
the same position with reference to the tin-foil as when the
cylinder originally started. When the cylinder is rotated,
the indentations previously made cause the steel xjoint to
rise or fall, or otherwise vibrate, as they pass under it, and
the diaphragm is consequently thrown into a state of vi-
bration exactly corresponding to that which produced the
markings, and thus affects the surrounding air so as to
grodnce sounds closely similar to those originally made
y the voice. The reprodaced sound is, however, more or
less metallic and nasal, and some of the consonants, as s
to certain volcanic rocks of exceedingly varia-
ble and complex character, but closely related
to the trachytes. The essential constituents of pho-
nollteare sanlmne and nephelin, and some authors restrict
the name to rocks having this composition. Hocks con-
taining sanldine and leucite are called by Bosenbusch
leucite-phonolUes, varieties of which pass Into or are closely
allied with lencltophyre and lenclte-basalt. Nosean and
haiiyne are often present in rocks of this class, and give
names to varieties known as nosean-phonolUe and haui^ne-
phondliU. Authors are by no means agreed in opinion with
r^ard to the classification of the many varieties of neph-
elin and leucite rocks, which frequently pass into each
other by insensible gradations. Boricky makes eight di-
visions of the phonolite family. With the essentml con-
stitnents of the various phonolites are associated many
accessory minerals, especially magnetite, as well as ollvin,
apatite, zircon, etc. Various zeolitic minerals are of fre-
quent occurrence In the phonolites as alteration products.
Phonolite is peculiarly a modem volcanic rock. Auvergne
and Bohemia are localities in which it is found in various
forms characteristic of volcanic action.
phonolitic (fo-no-lit'lk), a. [(.phonolite + -ic.']
Of, pertaining to, or of the natiue of phonolite ;
composed of phonolite.
phonologer (fo-nol'o-jer), n. [< phonolog-y +
-eri.] Same as phoiiologist.
phonologic, phonological (fo-no-loj'ik, -l-kal),
a. [= Sp. fonoldgico = Pg. phonologico; as
phonology + -ic, -ic-aLI Of or pertaining to
phonology.
pnonologicaUy (fo-no-loj'i-kal-l), adv. In a
phonologic manner; as regards phonology
Phonograph (recent form). _ _, _ ._ .. _
0, armature ; d, field ; c, governor ; d, switch ; e, main pulley on phOnOlOglSt (f 0-nOl 0-jlSt), U,
annature.shaft;_/; pulley on c:ylinder.shaft:^, fixed screw * "•""" . . -. « .* . • -. .
holduif fixed-screw nuts ; I, c . .- . - . .
aim ; /, cylinder on mandrel , .... . - ,
A swmging arm ; y, stop and start lift : r, keys to start lift; s, leva
for changing diaphragm firom recorder to repniducer.
[< phonology +
■;°fg!S^fyfdia^ta|^f?.diapiS^ "-«*.] , 6ae who is vereed in phonology.
idrel; mTbody: n, bedplate; o, lock.bolt: phonOlOgy (fo-nol 6-]l), n. [=F. phonologte =
Sp. fonologia = Pg. phonologia = It. fonologta.
phonotypical
< NL. 'phonologia, < Gr. ^xjv^, sound, voice, t
-7j)yia, < >i)eiv, speak: see -ology.'] 1. The
science or doctrine of the sounds uttered by
the human voice, or used in a particular lan-
guage; phonetics. — 2. That part of grammar
which treats of pronunciation. Compare or-
tlioepy. — 3. The system of sounds and of their
combinations in a language.
These common characteristics of the Semitic alphabets
consist in the direction of the writing, the absence of true
vowels, the unique phonology, the ntimber, the names,
and the order of the letters.
Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, I. Ii9.
phonomania (fon-o-ma'ni-a), «. [< Gr. i^ovi),
slaughter, murder, killing, + /lavia, madness.]
A mania for murder or killing.
phonometer (f o-nom'e-ter), II . [= F. phonomd-
ire = Pg. phonometro, < Gr. (jxjv^, sound, voice,
+ fih-pov, measure.] An instrument for ex-
perimentally determining and exhibiting the
number of vibrations of a sonorous body (as a
string or tuning-fork) in a unit of time. The
simplest form comprises apparatus for imiformly moving
a paper tape coated with lampblack. In contact with a
delicate tracing-point fixed to the vibrating body. By this
means an undulating curve Is traced having a length cor-
responding to the time of its motion. The number of un-
dulations in the curve is also the number of vibrations
made by the soanding string or fork. By the substitution
of sensitized paper for the blackened tape, and a small
mirror for the tracing-point, permanent photographic
, tracings of such curves can be made. See Savarts wheel
(under wheel), and giren, and compare pAonauto^t^A.
phonomotor (fo-no-mo'tor), n. [< Gr. CKJvij,
sound, voice, -1- L. motor, mover: see motor.]
An instrnment by which the energy of sound-
waves, as those produced by the human voice,
may be made to perform mechanical work.
Such an instrument invented by Edison has a mouthpiece
like that of a phonograph, and a diaphragm the vibration
of which, transmitted by means of a pawl, causes a small
wheel to revolve. Compare phonoscope.
phonophore (fo'no-for), n. [< NX. phonopho-
rus, < Gr. 0ui^, sound, voice, + ijiopoc, bearing,
< (pepeiv = E. bear^.] 1. An auditory ossicle;
one of the phonophori. Coties. — 2. An appa-
ratus by means of which telephonic communi-
cation may oe maintained over a telegraph-
line without interfering with its use in the or-
dinary way. The principal feature of the instrnment
consists in the arrangement of two wires of considerable
length, wound in close proximity to but completely Insu-
lated from each other, which together act as a condenser.
Also called phonopore.
phonophori (fo-nof'o-ri), n. pi. [XL., pi. of
phonophorus : see phonophore.] The auditory
ossicles, or ossicula auditns, of Mammalia, col-
lectively considered as bones subservient to the
oflSee of hearing. Cones, Amer. Jour. Otology,
IV. 19. See cut under tympanic.
phonophorous (fo-nof'o-ms), a. [A? phovo-
pho^-e + -ous.] Conveying sound; having the
function of the phonophori. Coves.
phonoplex (fo'no-plefe), n. [Nil., < Gr. ipomj/,
sound, voice, + ■irXeKTT/, a twisted rope, < it^keiv,
twist.] A system of duplexing on telegraph-
lines by the use of condensers and the tele-
phone as a receiver, devised by Edison.
phonopore (fo'no-por), n. [< Gr. ^xjv^, sound,
voice, + ^6pos, a means of passing: see pore\]
Same a,s ^Jtonophore, 2.
phonoporic (fo-no-por'lk), a. [< phonopore +
-ic] Of or pertaining to, or made ly, the pho-
nopore. Electric Bev. (Amer.), XTv. 6.
phonorganon, phonorganum (fo-nor'garuon,
-num), n. [Nli., < Gr. <lxjvri, sound, voice, +
bpyavov, an instriiment: see organ^.] An in-
strument for imitating vocal sounds or speech ;
a speaking-machine.
phonoscope (f o'no-skop), n . [< Gr. (jiuyii, sound,
voice, + aamelv, view.] 1. A machine for re-
cording music as it is played or sung, or for
testing the quality of strings for musical in-
struments.— 3. Same as microphone.
phonotelemeter (fo-no-te-lem'e-ter), n. [< Gr.
fflfji^, sound, voice, + r^Af, far, -I- lurpcv, mea-
sure.] An instrument for determining dis-
tances by means of the velocity with which
sound Is transmitted.
phonotype (fo'no-tip), n. [< Gr. (puvri, sound,
voice, + -{-Of, mark, type: see type.] A sys-
tem of expression which provides a distinct
character for every distinct sound of speech;
a phonetic alphabet, or writing or printing in
phonetic characters.
phonotypic (fo-no-tlp'lk), a. [< phonotype +
-ic.] Of or pertaining to phonotypy: as, a ^J^o-
notypic alphabet ; 2)lumoS/pic writing or print-
ing.
phonotypical (fo-no-tip'i-kal), a. [<. phono-
typic + -al.] Same as pltonotypic.
phonotypically
phonotypically (fo-no-tip'i-kal-i), adc. Ac-
cording to or as regards phonotypy; in pto-
notypic characters. Ellis, Early Eng. Pronun-
ciation, rv. 1182.
plionotypist (fo'no-ti-pist), ». [<.phonotyp-y +
■isf] An advocate of pionotypy; one wto
S:aotises phonotypy.
onotypy (fo'no-ti-pi), n. [< Grr. ijiav^, sound,
voice, 4- TimoQJ mark, type: see type.'] A
method of representing each of the sounds of
speech by a distinct printed character or letter ;
phonetic printing.
pnoot, interj. Same aspho.
Pliora (fo'ra), n. [NL. (Latreille, 1796), < Gr.
^op6q, bearing, carrying, < ^kpeiv = B. ftearl.] In
entom., the typical genus of Phoridae, containing
many small active flies whose habits are those
of scavengers or, rarely, of parasites. They
feed usually on fungi and decaying vegetation.
Also called Noda.
Fhoradendron (fd-ra-den'dron), n. [Mj. (Nut-
tall, 1848), so called as being parasitic on trees ;
< Gr. <p£>p (= L. fur), a thief, + ShSpov, a tree.]
A genus of apetalous plants, the American
mistletoes, of the order LoranthaeesB and tribe
Viseex, characterized by the erect anthers sub-
sessUe on the base of the calyx-lobes, verti-
cally two-celled and opening by a longitudinal
slit. The 80 species are all American, widely scattered
through the wai'mer regions, extending into the United
American Mistletoe {Phoradendron Jlavescens).
a. branch witli the male inHore^cence ; b, branch with the frnit.
States to New Jersey, and especially found in the west, and
southward into the Argentine Kepublic. They are shrubby
yellowish-green parasites, generally with abundant short
much-jointed branches, ilat opposite thicliish leaves, and
terminal or axillary jointed spikes o( small sessile and im-
Tuersed flowers in several or many rows. P. flavesceits ex-
tends north to New Jersey, on various trees, especially the
sour-gum (Nysea eylvaUca), and is often destructive to the
tree, as in cases of grow^ on elms, hickories, and wild
cherries. (See mialletoe, 2.) It is used as a substitute tor
the European mistletoe.
phorantllium (fo-ran'thi-um), n. ; pi. plioran-
thia (-a). [NL.,' < Gr. <j>op6g, bearing (< ^ipeiv =
E. 6eafi),+ avBog, flower.] In hot., same as cli-
nanthium.
phorbeia (f6r-b!'a), n. [NL., < Gr. <^op^ela, a
mouth-band, a halter by which a horse is tied
to the manger, < ^oppii, pasture, fodder, < ^kp-
JSeiv, feed: see lierhJi Same as capistrum, 1.
Phoridae (for'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Phora +
■idse.'] A family of eycloraphous Diptera, found-
ed on the genus Phora. They are small, nearly
naked humpback flies with one- or two-jointed antennae,
arrd-large wings with two strong veins and from three to
five weak cross-veins. They are everywhere numerous,
and feed in the larval state on all sorts of dead animal and
vegetable matters, seldom attacking living insects and
thus becoming parasites.
phorminx (f 6r'mingks), n. \^., < Gr. <p6p/ity^,
a kind of lyre, perhaps < (jiipetv, carry, = E. l>ear\
as being a portable lyre.J An ancient Gteek
stringed musical instrument ; a cithara or lyre.
We beat the phormiva till we hurt our thimibs.
As if Btm ignorant of counterpoint.
Mtb. Brmmdrtg, Aurora Leigh, L
Phormium (f6r'mi-um), n. [NL. (J. and G.
Porster, 1776), < Gr. ijiopulov, a plant, a kind of
sage. Of. Gr. ^pii'un), dim. of ^pftiQ, a basket,
mat, < ^ipew = E. bearKJ A genus of liliaceous
plants of the tribe Heme-
rocallesB, characterized by
the turbinate form of the
perianth above its short
tube, with three lanceo-
late erect sepals and three
thinner petals slightly
spreading at the apex.
The 2 species, with several va-
rieties, are natives of New Zea-
land and Norfolk Island. They
are perennials^ forming large
tufts, with rigid two-ranked
sword-shaped radical leaves
from a short thickened rootstock. They bear a tall leaf-
less scape branching at the summit, with erect variegated
New Zealand Flax (P/fjr-
mzum tenax varieffaia).
4452
lurid or yellow and red flowers in a terminal panicle. The
largest variety produces green and gray leaves from-6 to 6
feet long, and deep oiange-red flowers on a stalk 16 feet
high. P. tenax variegata is the New Zealand flax (which
see, under flax, 1 (6)), also called flax-bush. It is a very
beautiful variegated-leafed variety, valuable for lawn
decoration. The other varieties aie cultivated also for
their beauty, and especially for their fiber— the strongest
vegetable fiber known. The plants are raised from the
divided roots or from seeds, and are hardy in England.
The fiber Is now sold for making cordage, paper, etc., and
gardeners use the leaves as cordage when simply torn into
slu'eds.
PhoroniS (fo-ro'nis). ». [NL., < Gr. ^opuvic, of
Phoroneus,"< <t>opuv£i>f, Phoroneus, a Mng of Ar-
gos.] A genus of Gephyrea, typical of the fam-
ily Phoromdee, They have a circlet of long tentacular
appendages around the mouth, close to which the anus is
situated. A pseudohemal system exists, and the fiuid is
said to contain red corpuscles. The embryo is mesotrochal,
but has also two ciliated bands, one around the anus, the
other behind the mouth, the latter being produced into a
fringe of numerous tentaculiform lobes, in which state it
is the so-called acUnotrocha.
phorononiiat(for-o-n6'mi-S,),». [NL.: soepho-
ronomy.'] Same a,s phoronomics.
phoronomics (f or-o-nom'iks), n. [<. phoronom^
+ -jcs.] That branch of mechanics which treats
of bodies in motion; kinematics; the purely
geometrical theory of motion.
pnoronoiuy (fo-ron'o-mi), ». [= 'F.p}iorono-
mie, < NL. phoronomia, < Gr. <tiop&, motion (<
^ipeiv, carry), -1- -vo/ila, < vdfiog, law : see nome^.']
■ 1. Same as phoronomics.
Matter, quantitatively defined, is "the moveable in
space." In this point df view it is the object of a science
we may call Phorimamy. E. Caird, Philos. of Eant, p. 489.
2. The inference of force from motion.
phoroscope (for'o-skop), n. [< Gr. i^op&, mo-
tion (< ^fpEtv = E. 6earl), + aioirelv, view. ] An
instrumentforproducing at adistanoe,by means
of electricity, acopy of an image as aphotograph.
phosgen, piosgene (fos'jen, -jen), n. [= P.
pliosgdne= Pg.phosgeno; irreg. < Gr. ^Sj, eontr.
of ^oof, light, + -yev^Ci producing: see -gen.J
Carbonyl ehlorid (COCI2), a gas formed by the
action of light on a mixture of carbonic oxid
and chlorin. Below 8° C. it is a colorless fluid
with a suffocating odor.
phosgenite (fos' jen-it), n. [< phosgen + -ite^.']
A mineral consisting of the ehlorid and carbo-
nate of lead. It occurs in white or yellowish
tetragonal crystals having an adamantine lus-
ter. Also called cwneons lead.
phospliate (fos'fat), n. [= P. phosphate = Sp.
fosfato = Pg. phosphato = It. fosfato; as phos-
phlorns) + -ate^.2 1. A salt of phosphoric
acid. — 2. A name given to various mineral de-
posits which consist largely of calcium or iron
and alumina phosphates, and are used in the
manufacture of commercial fertilizers Phos-
Shate of iron, a native blue ocher, in color similar to the
eeper hues of ultramarine ash, but more dull.
phosphated (fos'fa-ted), a, [< phosphate +
-e(Z2.] Phosphatio: as, pliosphated deposits.
Nature, XXXIX. 192.
phosphatic (fos-fat'ik), a. [='F.phosphatique;
< phosphate + -»c.] Of the nature of or con-
taining a phosphate ; characterized by the for-
mation or presence of a phosphate.— phosphatic
bread, bread made from bolted meal or white flour to
which nutritive salts which have been removed with the
bran or gluten coat are restored by the use of an acid phos-
phate and a carbonated alkali, which, also, by the evolu-
tion of carbonic acid, lighten or raise the Dread.— PliOB-
phatic diathesis, in med., the condition of the system
which evinces itself in phosphaturia. — Phosphatlc nod-
ules, concretions and nodules of phosphate of lime, now
largely used for artificial manure.
phosphatization (fos^fa-ti-za'shon), n. \iphos-
phatize + -ation.'] Conversion into a phosphate,
or a phosphatic condition. Amer. Geologist, I.
256.
phosphatize (fos'fa-tiz), v. t; pret. and pp.
phosphatized, ppr. phosphatiMng. [< phosphate
+ ■dze.'\ 1. To reduce to the form of a phos-
phate.
In most instances these fossils &v& pho^JuiM^d more or
less completely, in extreme cases to the extent of nearly
obliterating the organic structure. Science, in. 687.
2. To treat with phosphates, as with phosphatic
medicines or fertilizing phosphates.
phosphaturia (fos-fa-tfl'i'i-a), m. [NL.,<j)feos-
phate + Gr. oJpov, urine.] "The presence of an
excessive quantity of phosphates in the urine.
phosphene (f os'f en), n. [= P. phosphine; irreg.
< Gr. (jiag, light, + tpaiveiv, show.] The lumi-
nous image produced by pressing the eyeball
with the finger or otherwise. It is due to the
direct mechanical stimulation of the retina.
Press the finger into the internal corner of the eye:
you perceive a brilliant colored spectrum in the field of
view on the opposite or external side. . . . The colored
spectra have been called photphenei. Le Cmde, Sight, p. 67.
phosphorescent
phosphide (fos'fid or -fid), n. l<phosph(orus) +
-idef.2 A combination of phosphorus with a
single element: as, phosphide of iron or copper.
phosphine (fos'fin), n. l<pho8ph(oriis) + -ine^.^
Same as phosphiN-eted hydrogen (whici see,
under phosphureted) .
phosphite (fos'fit), n. [= P. phosphite = Sp.
fosfito = Pg. phosphito; as pliosph(orus) +
-ite^."] A salt of phosphorous acid.
phosphochalcite (fos-fo-kal'sit), n. [< phos-
pho(rus) + chaldtis.'] Hydrous phosphate of
copper. See pseudomalachite.
Phosphor (fos'for), n. [= P. Phosphore = Sp.
Fdsjvro = Pg. Pfiosphoro = It. Fosforo, Phosphor
(in def. 2, P. phosphore = Sp. fdsforo = Pg.
phosphoro = It. fosforo = Dan. Sw./o«/(w, <NL.
phosphorus, phosphorus), < L. Phosphorus, < Gr.
^aaifdpog, Lucifer, the morning star, < <jmaf6pog,
bringing light, < 0af, contr. otf6oQ, light (< ^tew,
shine : see phased-), + -^opof, < ^cpuv, bring, = E.
6earl. Cf. the equiv. Z<Mi«/er.] 1. The morning
star, or Lucifer ; the planet Venus, when it pre-
cedes the sun and shines in the morning.
They saw this Pho^kar's Infant-light, and knew
It bravely usher'd in a Sun as New.
Cowley, Davideis, ii.
Bright Phosphor, fresher for the night,
By thee the world's great work is heard
Beglnnmg. Tennyson, in Memoriam, cxxi.
2t. U- c-] Phosphonis.
Of lambent fiame you have whole sheets in a handful of
Addison.
phosphorate (fos'fo-rat), v. t; pret. and pp.
phosphorated, yi^T.phosphoraUrig. [Kphosphorus
+ -ate^.'] To combine or impregnate with
phosphorus Fbosphorated oil. See oa.
phosphor-bronze (f os'f or-bronz), n. See bronze.
phosphor-copper (fos'for-kop"6r), n. A com-
bination of phosphorus" with copper, prepared
by the reduction of phosphate of copper in a
graphite crucible, or in sbme other similar way,
for use in making phosphor-bronze.
phosphoreoust (fos-fo're-us), a. [< phosphor +
-eous.'] Same a,a phosphorescent. Pennant.
phosphoresce (fos-fo-res'), v. i. ; pret. and pp.
phosphoresced, vw.' ^hosphoreseimg. [< phos-
phor + -esce."]! To shine, as phosphorus, by ex-
hibiting a faint light without sensible heat;
give out a phosphorescent light.
phosphorescence (fos-fo-res'ens), n. [= P.
phosphorescence :=STf.fosf orescencia^Fg. ]}hos-
phorescencia = It. fosforescema; as pliospho-
rescenif) + -ce.] The state or character of be-
ing phosphorescent ; the property which certain
bodies possess of becoming luminous without
undergoing combustion. Phosphorescence is some-
times a chemical, sometimes a physical action. When
chemical, it consists essentially in slow oxidation attended
with evolution of light, as in the case of phosphorus.
AVhen physical, it consists in the continuation of the mo-
lecular vibrations causing the emission of light after the
body has ceased to he exposed to the light-radiation (or,
more generally, radiant energy) to which this motion is
due ; this is seen in the case of the diamond, chlorophane,
sugar, barium and calcium sulphids, and many other sub-
stances. Phosphorescence is also produced in some crys-
tals (diamond, calcite, etc.) by exposure to the electiical
discharge in a vacuum-tube. The phosphorescence of the
sea is produced by the scintillating or phosphorescent
light emitted from the bodies of certain marine animals.
The luminosity of plants is a condition under which cer-
tain plants (always, so far as now known, ThaUophytm)
evolve light. The so-called luminosity or phosphorescence
of decaying wood is due to the presence of the mycelium
of Agarwus melleus. Other luminous fungi are Agarictts
olearivs, A. ignevs, A. noctUus, and A. GardnerL Vaiions
algsB and diatoms also exhibit this phenomenon. See cut
under IfoclUuca.
What is correctly termed phosphorescence has nothing
to do with phosphorus, but it is merely a species of fluo-
rescence. Tait, light, § 204.
phosphorescent (fos-fo-res'ent), a. and n. [=
'P.pliosphoresccnt= Sp'.fosfo'rescente = Pg. phos-
phorescente = It. fosforescente ; &s phosphor +
-escent. Cf. phosphoresce.'] I. a. Shining with
a faint light or luminosity like that of phos-
phorus; luminous without sensible heat. Vari-
ous animals are phosphorescent ; as, among intusorians,
the noctilucas (see out under HfoctUuca) ; among polyps,
certain sea-pens (Pennatula phowharea, for example);
among insects, the glow-worm and other beetles of the
family Lampyridee (see cuts under firefly, Lampyris, and
lightning-bug), and many bugs of the family Fulgorida
(see cut under lantern-fly); among ascidians, the pyro-
Bomes or flrebodies ; and some fishes. A number of min-
eral substances exhibit a similar property after having
been exposed to a bright light, though from a different
cause, as calcium ehlorid, anhydrous calcium nitrate, the
sulphids of barium, strontium, calcium (luminous paint)^
the diamond, some varieties of fluor-spar, apatite, borax,
and many other substances. Some mineral bodies become
phosphorescent when strongly heated, as a piece of lime.
See phasphmescence.—VTanepTaoiesaesA dial, paint,
pnotograph, etc. See the nouns.
II. ». A substance having the property of
phosphorescence, or luminosity without heat.
phosphorescent
The additions used by as as the third constituent are
colonrleas salts, and all of them fusible at the temperatore
at which the phosphoregeenU are prepared.
PhOomphical Mag., 5th ser., XXVUL 428.
phosphoreted, phosphoretted (fos'fo-ret-ed),
a. aa,vao a.a phosphureted.
phosphoric (fos-f or'ik), a. [= F. phosphorigue
= Sp. fosforieo = Fg. pJiosphorico = It.fosfori-
co; as phosphor + -ic.'] Pertaining to, obtain-
ed from, or resembling phosphorus; phospho-
rescent.
How the lit lake shines^ SLphosphork sea,
And the big rain comes dancing to the earth !
Byron, Childe Harold, ill. 93.
The unseen figure . . • had caused to be thrown open
the graves of all mankind ; and from each issued the faint
phosphoric radiance of decay. Poe, Tales, L 334.
GlaciaJ phosphoric acid. See ^locia;.— Phosphoric
acid, FH<t04 (sometimes called okhopho^horic acid in
contradistinction to Wftaphmphmic (uSd), an acid usually
obtained by decomposing bone-ash, which consists chiefly
of calcinm phosphate^ with sulphuric acid, and separat-
ing from foreign matters the phosphoric acid thus Uber-
ated. It is^also produced by the oxidation of phosphorous
acid, by oxidizing red phosphorus with nitric acid, by the
decomposition of apatite and other native phosphates, and
in various other ways. It is a colorless odorless syrup,
with an intensely sour taste. It is tribasic, forming three
distinct classes of metallic salts, G?he three atoms of hy-
drogen may in like manner be replaced by alcohol radi-
cals, forming acid and neutral ethers. Phosphoric acid is
used in medicine as a tonic.
phosphorical (fo8-£or'i-kal), a. [< phospb/yric
+ -al.'\ Phosphoric.
phosphoridrosis (fos'for-i-dro'sis), n. [NL., <
pliogphorus (see Phosphor) + Gs. 'iJSpaaic, sweat :
see hidrosisS] Lnminons sweat, sometimes seen
in the last stages of phthisis. Lameet.
Phosphorist (fos'fo-rist), n. [< " Phosphoros,"
a Swedish periodical which was the organ of
this movement.] In Swedish literary hist., one
of a class of poets and writers of romantic and
idealistic tendencies who flourished about the
beginning of the nineteenth century.
Among the Phosphorigts, Atterbom was the man of most
genius. Enege. Brit., XXTI. 767.
phosphorite (f os'fo-rit), n. [= ¥. phosphorite =
Sp.fosforita = Fg. phogphorita; as phosphor +
-ite2.] j^ name applied originally to a massive
variety of apatite, but now used to embrace the
more or less impure earthy to compact calcium
phosphate which forms beds of considerable
magnitude in some localities (Estremadura in
Spain, Bohemia, etc.), and is of much economic
importance.
phosphorize (fos'fo-riz), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
phosphoriged, ppr. phosphorising. [= P. phos-
phortser = Pg. phosphorisar ; as phosphor +
4ze.'\ To combiiie or impregnate with phos-
phorus.
phosphorogenic (fos^fo-ro-jen'ik), a. [< Nil.
phosphoriis, pho^hortis, '+ Gr. -yev^s, produ-
cing: see -^en.] Producing phosphorescence :
specifically noting those rays of the spectrum
which possess the property of continuing the
phosphorescence of certain substances previ-
ously excited by exposure to light.
Glass is only less perfectly permeable than rock-crystal
to the phoiphorogenie rays that accompany the luminous
ones. mOer, Mem. of Chem., § 112.
phosphorograph (fos-for'o-OTaf), n. [< NL.
phosphorite, phosphorus, H- Gr. ypa^tv, write.]
A representation, as of the solar spectrum, ob-
tained by phosphorescence, as by projecting it
upon a phosphorescent substance like luminous
paint: in this way an impression of the invis-
ible infra-red part of the spectrum is obtained.
J. W. Draper has obtained what he calls a photphoro-
graph of the solar spectrum, and has compared it with a
photograph of the same spectrum.
Quoted in SmUft»rman Report, 1881, p. 368.
phosphorographic (fos^fo-ro-graf'ik), a. [<
phosphorograph + -ic] Of or pertaining to
phosphorography.
Phosphorographic studies for the photographic repro-
duction of the stars. Nature, XXXTII. 431.
phosphorography (fos-f o-rog'ra-fl)^ n. [< NL.
phosphorus, phosphorus, + Gr. ypaipetv, write.]
The art, method, etc., of making phosphoro-
graphs.
JL Ch. V. Zenger brought before the Academy of Sciences
on August 30th a paper entitled "PAospAoro^apAy applied
to the Photography of the Invisible."
Athmxum, No. 3073, p. 375.
phosphoroscope (£os'fo-ro-sk6p), n. [= P.
phosphoroscope, < ISIa. phosphorus, phosphorus,
+ Gr. (jiayn-elv, behold.] 1. An instrument for
measuring the duration of evanescent phospho-
rescence m different substances. It consists of a
hollow disk within which is placed the object to be tested.
I'he disk is geared with multiplying-wheels so that it can
be rotated at any desired speed, and is so perforated on op-
280
4453
poeite sides that the substance placed within it is alter-
nately exposed to a light placed behind the disk and to
the eye.
H. £. Becquerel has shown experimentally by his beau-
tiful phosphoroscope the finiteness of duration of the emis-
sion of light in the case of Bolids in which it was so brief
that its emission was described as " fluorescence."
Stokes, Light, p. 150.
2, A philosophical toy consisting of glass
tubes containing different phosphorescent sub-
stances and arranged in al)OX. When exposed to
sunlight or strong artificial lights and afterward put in a
dark place, the tubes glow with lights of different colors.
Alumina, . . . glowing with a rich red colour in the
phosphoroscope. Gordon, Electa and 3fag., H. 116.
phosphorous (fos'fo-ms), a. [= P. phospho-
reux = Sp. It. fosforoso = Pg. phosphoroso; as
phosphor + -oa«.] Pertaining to, obtained
from, or containing phosphorus.— phosphorous
acid, H3PO3, an acid produced by the action of water on
phosphorous anhydrid, by exposing sticks of phosphorus
to moist air, and in several other ways. Phosphorous acid
exists usually in the form of a thick uncrystallizahle syrup,
but it may also be obtained crystallized. This acid is di-
basic, forming two series of metallic salts, named respec-
tively neutral saadacidphosplates. — Phosphorous anhy-
drid, P2O3, a soft, white, r^dily volatile powder prepared
l^ burning phosphorus in a limited supply of air.
phosphomria (fos-fo-rS'ri-a), n. [NL., (.phos-
phorus, phosphom^ + Gr! dpov, urine.] 1.
Phosphaturia. — 2. Photuria.
phospnoms (f os'f o-rus), n. [L. (in def . 2 NIi. ), <
Gt. *6X7^pof, Lucifer: see P&«pAor.] 1. [cap.]
The morning star; Phosphor.
John Baptist was that Phosphorus or morning star, to
signity the sun's approaching.
Bev. T. Adams, Works, m. 224.
2. Chemical symbol, P; atomic weight, 31;
specific gravity, 1.826. A solid non-metal-
lie combustible substance, hitherto tmdecom-
posed, not found by itself in nature, but occur-
ring chiefly in combination with oxygen, cal-
cinm, and magnesium, it is widely distributed, be-
ing an essential constituent of all plants and of the bony
tissue of animals. It was originally obtained from urine ;
but it is now manufactured &om bones, wbich consist in
large part of calcium phosphate. Common phosphorus,
when pure, is semi-transparent and colorless. At common
temperatures it is a soft solid, easily cut with a knife, the
cut surface having a waxy luster; at 108° F. it fuses, and
at 550° is converted into vapor. It is soluble, bj[ the aid of
heat, in naphtha, in fixed and volatile oils, and in sulphur
chlorid, carbon disnlphid, and phosphorus sulphid. It is
exceedingly infiammable. Exposed to the air at common
temperatores, it undergoes slow combustion, emits a white
vapor of a peculiar garlic odor, and appears luminous in
the darlc. A very slight degree of heat is sufficient to in-
fiame it in the open air. Gentle pressure between the fin-
gers, friction, or a temperature not much above its point of
fusion kindles it readily. It bums rapidly even in the air,
emitting a splendid wMte light, and causing intense heat.
Its combustion is far more rapid in oxygen gas, and the
light far more vivid. The product of the perfect combus-
tion of phosphorus is phosphorous pentoxid (P2O5), a white
solid which readily takes up water, passing into phosphoric
acid (which see, under pTtosphonc). Phosphorus may be
made to combine with most of the metals, forming com-
pounds called phosphides; when dissolved in fat oils it
forms a solution which is luminous in the dark. It is chief-
ly used in the preparation of Inciter matches, and in the
preparation of phosphoric acid. It is used to some extent
in medicine in nervous affection^ but is virulently poison-
ous except in very minute doses. Phosphorus presents a
good example of allotropy, in that it can be exhibited in at
least one other form, known as red or aTnorpTious phospho-
rus, presenting completely different properties from com-
mon phosphorus. This variety is produced by keeping
common phosphorus for a long time slightly below the
boiling-point. It is a red, hard, brittle substance not
fusible not poisonous, and not readily inflammable, so
that it may be handled with impunity. When heated to
the boiling-point it changes back to common phosphorus.
—Bologna, BoIogMaii, or Bononian phosphorus, one
of the most powerful of the solar phosphoric substances.
It is prepared by locating barium sulphate intensely with
powifered charcoal, and filling with itwhile hot glass tubes,
which are at once sealed. After exposiue to sunlight, the
mass phosphoresces in the dark with a bright orange-col-
ored light.— Fhospborus bottle, (o) A contrivance for
obtaining instantaneous light. The light is produced by
stirring a piece of phosphorus about in a dry bottle with
a hot wire, and introducing a sulphur match. It is now su-
peraeded by lucif er matches and similar contrivances, (b)
A small bottle containing 12 grains of phosphorus melted
in half an ounce of olive-oiL On being uncorked in the dark
this solution emits light enough to illuminate the dial of
a watch, and it will retain this property for several years
if not too frequently used. — Phosphorus paste, apolson-
ous compound containing phosphorus, for the destruction
of vermin, as rats, mice, codo-oaches, etc
phosphorus-box (fos'fo-rus-boks), «. A box
containing oxymuriate matches, which first su-
perseded the tinder-box.
When I was about 161 Joined in partnership with a man
who used to mat^e pJwspTurrus boxes. I sold them for him.
A piece of phosphorus was stuck in a tin tube; the match
was dipped into the phosphorus, and it would ignite by
friction. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, 1. 373.
phosphurett (fos'fu-ret), n. [= F.phosphure =
Bp.fosforeto = 'P%.'phosplmreto; a,a phosph{orus)
+ -uret.'] Same as phosphide.
phosphureted, phosphuretted (fos'fa-ret-ed),
a. l<phosphuret+ -e^.'] Combined with phos-
photochromy
phorus — Phosphureted hydrogen, PH3, a gas pro.
cured by boiling phosphorus with a caustic allcali. Thp
gas so prepared is spontaneously infiammable^ owing to the
presence of traces of vapor of a liquid hydrid of phos-
phorus^ and during its combustion there are formed water
and phosphoric acid- The pure gas, while very combusti-
ble, does not inflame spontaneously ; it is colorless, is very
poisonous, and has a disgusting smell, resembling that of
decaying fish. When mixed with air or oxygen gas it ex-
plodes at a temperature of 300° F. It is produced by the de-
composition of animal substances. When this gas is cooled
below zero (C.) it deposits a liquid, hydrogen phosphide ;
the gaseous phosphide remaining is no longer spontane-
ously inflammable. Also called phosphme.
photalgia (fo-tal'_ji-a), n. [XL., < Gr. ^uc (^-),
light, + aXyof, pain.'] Pain arising from light.
photantitypimeter (fo-tan-tit-i-pim'e-ter), n.
[Nil., < Gr. ^a^ (^"i"-), light, -t- avriTmroc, corre-
sponding (see anUtype), + lurpov, measure.] A
chemical actinometer proposed by Marchand,
consisting of a solution of perchlorid of iron
and oxalic acid in water. When it is exposed to the
sunlight^ carbonic-acid gas is set free, the measure of whose
volume expresses the chemical intensity of the sun's rays.
photics (fo'tiks), «. [< Gr. ^ (^-), light, -t-
-ics."] The science of Ught.
Fhotinia (fo-ti^'i-a)> »• [Nli- (Lindley, 1821),
so called with ref . to the coriaceous and shining
evergreen leaves and white flowers; < Gr. ipa-
Tetvdc, shining, bright, < ^uf (^<Jr-), light.] A
genus of rosaceous shrubs and trees, of the
tribe Pomese, known by the evergreen leaves
and one- to five-celled berry-like pome, with
thin partitions. There are about 30 species, natives
of Japan, China, and the mountains of India, and one of
California. Th^ bear alternate undivided leaves, often
with leaf-like stipules, and usually white flowers in ter-
minal corymbs or panicles. The ovoid juicy fruit is
crowned by the five ovate calyx-lobes, and is sometimes
edible. P. serrulata and its varieties (often wrongly
called Crataegus glabra) are the Chinese hawthorn, and P.
arbvUfdlia is the Califomian May-bush of omameniial lawn
cultivation; both are hardy evergreens, growing to a
height of 10 feet. The bark of P. dvibia is used in Nepal
to dye scarlet. P. Japamca yields a small scarlet fruit
eaten by the Japanese, and is planted for ornament. See
loquLot.
Photinian (fo-tin'i-an), n. [< Uj. Phoiinianus,
an adherent' of Phottnus, < PhoUnus, < Gr. *6>-
ruv6c, Photintis (see def.), < iparEtvdg, shininjg,
bright, < ipof (^"T-), light.] One of a sect, dis-
ciples of Photmus, a bishop of Sirmium in Pan-
nonia in the fourth century. Photinus denied
Christ's essential divinity, and beUeved that his moral
character developed from human to divine,
Photinianism (fo-tin'i-an-izm), n. [< Photinian
+ -isTO.] The system 61 dootmie held by Pho-
tinus.
photo (fo'to), n. A colloquial abbreviation of
photograph.
photobiotic (fo'to-bi-ot'ik), a. [< Gr. #uf (jSijr-),
light, + piuTiKog', belonging to life.] Living
habitually in the Ught : said of a class of plant-
cells.
photocampsis (fo-to-kamp'sis), n. [NL., < Gr.
^uc (.i"^-), contr. of j>doc, light (< 0de<v, shine : see
phased), + K&fiipic, bending, < m/iirreiv, bend.]
Refraction of light. Thomas, Med. Diet.
photochemical (f o-to-kem'i-kial), a. [< Gt. fdi
(06)r-), light, + E. cliemical.'i "Of or pertaining
to the chemical action of light.
photochemist (fo-to-kem'ist), n. [< Gr. <pat
((jxjT-), light, + E. chemist.'] One who is versed
in photochemistry.
photochemistry (fo-to-kem'is-tri), n. [< Gr.
0uf (^MT-), light, -I- E. chemistry.'] That branch
of chemistry which treats of the chemical ac-
tion of Ught.
photochromatic (fo'to-kro-mat'ik), a. l<pho-
tochrom-y + -atic (after chromatic').] Of or per-
taining to or produced by photochromy. Athe-
nseum. No. 3235, p. 562.
photochromolithograph (fo-to-kro-mo-lith'o-
graf ), n. [< Gr. ^ag (^r-), liglit, + E. 'chromo-
lithograph.] A ehromoUthograph in the pro-
duction of which photographic processes have
been used.
photochromot3^e (fo-to-kro'mo-tip),^. [< Gr.
<j>ac (^tT-), light, + E. chromotype.] A photo-
process picture printed in colors in a printing-
press by any of the ordinary methods of typog-
raphy in colors.
photochromy (fo'to-kro-mi), n. [< Gr. (jioc
(i^oT-), light, + XP"!"'-^ color.] The art of re-
producing colors by photography, or of produ-
cing photographic pictures in which the origi-
nals are shown in their natural colors. There is
as yet no process by which natural colors can be registered
by photography by a single or simple operation, in such
form that the resulting picture will be permanent. By
the device of talunga separate negative for every color in
the subject, using in every case such chemicals or meth-
ods as will reproduce only the desired color, and after-
ward combining prints or matrices from all the negatives,
every one in its appropriate color, a remarkably close ai>-
photochromy
proximatlon is made to the natural appearance of the Bub-
ject. This process is peculiarly adapted to the reproduc-
tion of such works of art as jewels, tapestries, potteries,
and enamels.
photochionograph (fo-to-kron'o-graf), n. [<
Gr. ^uf (^oT-), light, + 'E! chronograph.'] 1. An
instrument for taking photoehronographic pic-
tures. See photochronography. — 2. A picture
taken by this method.
photoehronographic (fo-to-kron-o-graf'ik), a.
Of or pertaining to photoehrouography.
photochronography (f 6"to-kro-nog'ra-fi), «. [<
Gr. 0uf (0"''-)i light, + XP^^°C, time, + ypa^eiv,
■write.] The method, practice, etc., of taking
instantaneous photographs at regular and gen-
erally at short intervals of time, as of a bird,
horse, projectile, etc., in motion.
photocrayon (f 6-to-kra'on), a. [< Gr. ^uf (^ur-),
light, + E. cirayon.'] Produced by photographic
processes giving the effect of work in crayons,
or finished in crayons upon a photographic
groundwork: said of a picture.
photodermatic (f6"to-d6r-mat'ik), a. [< Gr.
^ag (^«r-), light, + Sipfjtn, skin : see dermatic]
Having a luminous or phosphorescent skin;
phosphorescent, as the mantle of a moUusk.
Nature, XL. 384.
photodrome (fo'to-drom), n. [< Gr. 05f (^t""-),
light, + dpdjwq, a running, < Spajieiv, run.] An
instrument for producing optical effects by
flashes of light thrown upon revolving disks on
which are painted various figures or devices.
photodynamic (£6"to-di-nam'ik), a. [< Gr. ^u?
(^6)--), light, + SvudfUQ, power: see d/ynamie.]
Of or pertaining to the energy or effect of light.
photodysphoria (f6"to-dis-f6'ri-a), «. [NL.,
< Gr. ^Sf (ipoT-), light, '+ Sva<j)opia, pain hard to
be borne: see dysphoria.'] An intolerance of
. light; photophobia.
photo-electric (f6"t6-e-lek'trik), a. [< Gr. ^uf
(<j>u>T-), light, + E. electric.] Acting by the
eombined operation of light and electricity;
producing light by means of electricity; also
noting apparatus for taking photographs by
electric light, or by a lamp whose illuminating
power is derived firom electricity.
photo-electrical (fo'to-e-lek'tri-kal), a. [< Gr.
fog (0ur-), light, + E. electrical.] Same as photo-
electric.
photo-electrotype (f6"t6-e-lek'tro-tip), n. [<
Gr. (pag (0ut-), light, + B. electrotype.] A pho-
tographic piotm'e produced in relief, such as to
afford, by the ordinary processes of electrotypy,
a matrix for a cast from which impressions in
ink may be obtained.
photo-engrave (f6"t6-en-grav'), v. t. [< Gr.
^uf (^ur-), light, -1- B. engra/oe.] To produce by
or in photo-engraving.
photo-engraving (f6"t6-en-gra'ving), n. [< Gr.
0uf (0i.)r-), light, -1- E. engraving.] _ A common
name for many processes by which a photo-
graph may be made to afford aplate-matrix from
which can be taken prints in ink corresponding
to the original of the photographic im age. These
processes depend upon the property, possessed by potas-
sium bichromate and analogous chemicals, of rendering in-
soluble, under the action of light, gelatin or some similar
body with which they are compounded. By applications of
this property, varying according to the process, a picture or
design can be produced on a metal sndace, and the blank
places etched out with acid ; or a matrix in relief can be
formed, from which an electrotype plate can be made in or-
dinary ways. In general, the term photo-engraving is lim-
ited to a relief -block or -plate produced by photographic
means for printing in an ordinarjr printing-press, to the art
of making such blocks, and to prints from them ; while the
term photogravure is commonly applied to a photographi-
cally engraved plate in intaglio from which prints may be
taken in a copperplate-press, to the art of making sucn an
incised plate, and to a print from it. In the OiUet pro-
cess a^ zinc plate coated with asphaltum is exposed be-
neath a negative, and those portions unchanged by light
are dissolved. The zinc is then etched. Photographs are
reproduced in the form of half-tone plates for use in the
printing-press by several methods, all of which depend
upon breaking up the surface of the picture by dark lines
in regular series. A gelatin film on which such a series of
lines has been photographed is placed between the sensi-
tized surface which is to receive the impression and a
positive picture. The resulting print will consist of the
subject appearing in half-tone on a ground of lines, and
from it a typographical matrix is prepared in the usual
ways. (Tor au example of a half-tone plate, see cut under
dekadrachm.) Also called photographic engraving, photo-
graphio-proeeaa printing, photographic proeets. See photo-
etching (GiUet process), and compare heliotypy and photo-
gravure.
photo-epinastic (fo-to-ep-i-nas'tik), a. Jipho-
to-epinasUj + -de.] In lot., of, pertaining to,
or of the nature of photo-epinasty.
photo-epinastically (fo-to-ep-i^-nas'ti-kal-i),
adv. In hot., in a photo-epinastie manner.
photo-epinasty (fo-to-ep'i-nas-ti), n. [< Gr.
^uf (^(Jr-), light, -I- B. epinasty.] In hot., an
4454
epihastic movement or state of curvature ob-
served in certain organs when exposed to in-
tense Ught, due to a more active growth of the
dorsal surface. Compare epinasty.
photo-etching (fo-to-eeh'ing), n. [< Gr. ^Sf
(dur-), light, + B. etching.] Any process of
photo-engraving or photogravure, or any plate
or print produced by such a process, in which
a subject in line is transferred by photography
to a metal surface in such a manner that either
the ground or the lines of the design will resist
acid, with which the plate is then etched : most
commonly used for relief -plates on zinc, such as
those of the Gillet process. See photo-engrav-
ing.
photogalvanography (fo-to-gal-va-nog'ra-fl),
n. [O&r. ^uf (06)r-)j light, + B. galvanography.]
A process of obtaining from a photographic pos-
itive on glass an intaglio gutta-percha plate
for printing like a plate. The gutta-percha plate is
a hardened impression from a relief negative in bichro-
mated gelatin, made according to the methods used in
photo-process.
photogen (fo'to-jen), n. [F. photoghis, < Gr.
0uf (^ur-), light', + -yevfig, producing: see -gen.]
A paraffin-oil: same as Icerosene.
photogene (fo'to-jen), n. [< Gr. ^oq (^ur-), light,
+ -yev^g, producing: see -gen.] A more or less
continued impression or picture on the retina.
photogenic (fo-to-jen'ik), a. [= ¥.photog4-
nique = It. fotogenico; as photogen^, photogevf
ous.] 1. Of or pertaining to photogeny. — 2.
In hiol., producing light without sensible heat,
as an animal or vegetable organism; giving
rise to luminosity or phosphorescence; pho-
togenous.
According to Schulze the males of Lampyris splendidula
possess two photogenic organs.
Hmdey, Anat. Invert., p. 379.
Fbotogenic drawing, (a) A picture produced by the
agency of light, according to any of the photographic pro-
cesses. Specifically — (b) A reproduction of the configura^
tion of any flat translucent object, as a leaf, or the wing of
an insect, or a drawing upon translucent paper or tracing-
cloth, made by confining it under glass in contact with a
sensitive film, exposing to the action of light, and fixing
or developing the image resulting in the film. A variety
of photogenic processes are now in use for copying me-
chanical drawings. See Uueprintin^.
photogenOUS (f o-toj'e-nus), a. [< Gr. ^5? (^ur-),
light, -f- -yev^f, producing : see-genous.] In. hiol.,
same as photogemie.
Their further studies . . . enable them to reconcile
their theory of photogenaui fermentation with thebypothe-
sis of the oxidation of a phosphorated substance, as pro-
posed by some biologists. Nature, XXXYIII. 512.
photogeny (fo-toj'e-ni), n. [< Gr. 05f {fm-),
light, -I- -yiveui, < -ytvfig, producing: see -geny.]
The art of taking pictures by the action of light
on a chemically prepared ground ; photography.
photoglyphic (fo-to-glif 'ik), a. {< photoghjph-y
+ -ic] Of or relating to photoglyphy.
photoglyphy (fo-tog'li-fi), n. [< Gr. 0Sf (#ur-),
light, + y7A<j)etv, engrave.] The art of engrav-
ing by means of the action of light and certain
chemical processes; particularly, the produc-
tion by photographic processes of a plate from
which copies can be printed in ink. Often re-
stricted to the production of intaglio plates, or
photogravure.
pnotogram (fo'to-gram), n. [< Gt. (pog (far-),
light + ypA/t/ia, a writing, a drawing, a picture,
< ypa^eiv, write : see gram^.] Same as photo-
graph. Nature, XXXVI. 317. [Bare.]
photogrammetry (fo-to-gram'et-ri), n. The art
of forming an orthogonal projection from two
perspectives.
pnotograph (f o'to-gr&f), n. [= P. photographe
= It. fotografo, a photograph (cf . Sp. fotografia
= Pg. photographia = It. fotografia, a photo-
graph: see photography); ^^. fotografo = Pg.
photographo = It. fotografo = G. photograph
= Sw. 'Da.n. fotograf = NGr. ^uroypa^of, a pho-
tographer, < Gr. 05f (<l»-rr-), light, + ypa^eiv,
write.] A picture produced by any process of
photography.—composlte photograph. See compos-
ite.—InstaJitaiieouB photograph. See photography.
—Phosphorescent pnotograpn, a photographic pic-
ture obtained by coating a plate with a mixture of dextrin,
honey, and potassium bichromate, and exposing it under
a negative. The parts affected by light through the trans-
parent parts of the negative harden, while those which
are protected from the light remain sticky, so that any
fine powder dusted over will adhere to them, while hav-
ing no hold on the hardened parts. If a phosphorescent
powder is dusted on this positive, and the plate is then
exposed to strong light, there will result a picture appear-
ing luminous in the dark.
photograph (fo'to-graf), v. t. [< j^hotograph,
n.] To produce a likeness or facsimile of by
photographic means.
photography
photographer (fo-tog'ra-fer), n. {(.photograph
+ -er^.] One who makes pictures by means of
photography. .. t, . ,
photographic (fo-to-graf'ik), a. [= F.photo-
graphique = Sp. fotogrdfico = Pg. photographs
CO = It. fotografico; as photograph.^ + -4o.]
Of, pertaining to, using, or produced by pho-
tography— Photograpbic engraving. Same as photo-
ensramri^.— Photographic lens, paper, etc. See the
nouns.— Photographic process, photograpmc-pro-
ceas printing. Same as photo-engraving.
photographical (fo-to-graf 'i-kal), a. [< photo-
graphic + -al.] Of or pertaining to photogra-
phy ; more or less directly connected with pho-
tographic matters: as, a. photographical priTit;
a, photographical society.
photographically (fo-to-graf 'i-kal-i), adv. By
means o^ or as regards, photography; as in a
S'lotograph.
otographometer (f6"to-gra-fom'e-ter), n. [<
'photograph + Gr. fdrpov, measure.] 1. In
photog., an instrument for determining the
sensibility of a film employed in photographic
processes, relatively to the amount of radiation,
luminous and chemical. — 2. A rotating photo-
graphic apparatus for recording automatically
the angular position of objects around a given
point.
photography (fo-tog'ra-fl), n. [= F. photo-
graphie = Sp. fotografia = Pg. photographia
= It. fotografia = D. photografie = G. photo-
graphie = Sw. Dan. fotpgrafi, photography (in
Sp. Pg. It. also a photograph), = NGr. (jiaro-
■ypatjiia, photography, < Gr. (jiag (<p(^-), light, -I-
-ypwpla, < yp&fuv, write. Cf . photograph.] The
ajrt of producing images of objects by an appli-
cation of the chemical change produced in cer-
tain substances, as silver ehlorid, bromide, or
iodide, by the action of light, or more gener-
ally of radiant energy. The rays which are in gen-
eral most active in this way are those of the upper part
of the spectrum, as the blue, violet^ and ultra-violet rays.
The red and yellow rays produce a much less marked ef-
fect on an ordinaiy sensitive plate ; but it has been found
possible to prepare a special gelatinobroraide plate which
is highly sensitive even to the less refrangible rays, as
those in the infra-red region of the spectrum. (See spec-
trum.) Photography rests on the fact that silver nitrate
and various other chemicals are decomposed by certain
solar rays and reduced, becoming dark or black, or in other
ways affected, according to the intensity and amount of
actinic rays received on them. The process consists (1)
in properly exposing a surface made sensitive to actinic
rays to a projected ima^e of the object to be reproduced ;
(2) in rendering visible if merely latent, or in coloring or
toning, the reproduction of this Image ; (3) in removing the
sensibility of tiiose parts of the surf ace which have not been
acted on, and in fixing permanently the image produced ;
and (4), if the image obtained is a negative, as in the major-
ity of processes, in the mechanical production of positive
copies from it The knowledge of the principle on which
photography depends reaches back to the time of the alche-
mists, who discovered that silver ehlorid exposed to the
sun's rays became black. Wedgwood and Davy in 1802
attempted to apply this fact to artistic purposes by throw-
ing the shadow of an object on a sheet of white paper,
or, preferably, of leather, covered with a solution of silver
nitnite and exposed to the sun's rays, but they were un-
able to fix the pictures. About 18U Kiepce, a I'renchman,
discovered a method of producing pictures on plates of
copper or pewter covered with a sensitive resinous sub-
stance called bitumen of Judea, and also of rendering them
permanent. ThisprocesshecalledAeZioorapAj/. Niepceas-
sociated himself with Daguerre, who elaborated, aboutl838,
tromtheformerprocesstheonewhichbearshisname. (See
daguerreotype.) This was soon superseded by various pro-
cesses, especially the caMype process (see ealotype) of Kox-
Talbot, fiist patented in 1841, who revived Wedgwood's
process of obtaining pictures on sensitized paper, and the
coUoditm process (see coUodvm), first suggested by M. Le
Orey, of Paris, and brought into practice by Archer in 18S0 ;
and all these later processes have been practically aban-
doned for the gelatinobromide dry-plate process, which is
now in almost universal use. Photographs produced by
any of these processes may be either negative ot positive.
Negative photographs exhibit the lights and shades as op-
posite to those in nature — that is, the lights appear dark
and the shades transparent; positive photographs exhibit
the lights and shades in accordance with nature. To pro-
duce a positive from a negative, the latter is placed in con-
tact with a surface which has been rendered sensitive to
light, and is exposed to the influence ot lights which pene-
trates the negative and affects the parts of the underlying
surface opposite the lights of the picture, while the parts
opposite the opaque parts of the picture are protected. The
operation for obtaining a positive from a negative is called
■ printing. Modifications are constantly being Introduced
in photography. One of the most important has been the
carbon process, popularized by Swan of Newcastle, accord-
ing towtilch a solution of gelatin and potassium bichromate
(the latter being the sensitizing agent) is mixed with a
pigment, and applied as a coating to a sheet of paper. The
positives are printed in the ordinary way on the black
cake, or tissue as it is called, thus produced, and become
visible and permanent by washing, as the pigment-coating
is rendered more or less insoluble by the effect of the light
passing through the negative. The autotype process, in-
vented by Johnson, is a simpler method of carbon-print-
ing than the carbon process proper, but the principles in-
volved are the same. One of the most important devel-
opments of the art is the so-called iristantaneous photog-
raphy, by means of which, through the use of very sensi-
tive plates and the shortness of the duration of exposure,
pbotograpliy
soeneSi motlone, etc., are reproduced and registered which
are too rapid or evanescent to be distinguishable by the eye
For various mechanical methods of multiplying photo-
graphic pictures, aeephoto-electrotype,phato-engravma,pho-
togalvanography, phologlyphy, photogravure, photdiUhogra-
pay, and heliotypy.
photogravure (f6"to-gra-viir'), ». [< F. photo-
gravure, < Gr. <pag (^ur-), light, + F. gravure, en-
graving.] The art of producing on metal, by
an application of the action of light on a sensi-
tized surface, often supplemented by etching,
an incised engraved plate for printing. There
are several processes by which this may be accomplished.
According to the Niepoe process, which is suitable for the
reproduction of line-engravings, a copperplate is coated
with bitumen and is then exposed to light beneath a neg-
ative. The resulting print is brought out with olive-oil
and turpentine, or with oil of spike, which dissolves the
parts acted on by light and acts little on the rest, and the
lines remain as bare copper. The plate ia then etched.
In the Fox-Talbot process the gelatin print is transferred
to copper which has had a grain given to it by sprink-
ling the surface with powdered resin and then warming
it (See aquatint.) The plate is then etched with ferric
acid, which renders the opaque portions of the gelatin
film insoluble and impermeable. The acid should be
weak and kept In motion during the biting, until the un-
covered parts have been sufficiently attacked. To increase
the regularity of the erosion, the plate should first be im-
mersed in a weak solution of copper sulphate. In the
Woodbuiy process, which resembles the Ooupil process, a
gelatin picture in relief is applied under pressure upon a
plate of soft metal, and is repeated on the metal in relief
and depression; The mold thus formed is filled with pig-
mented gelatin, over which a sheet of paper which is to
receive the picture is placed, and subjected to a level
Sressure in order to force out the superfluous gelatin. The
epressed parts, which represent the dark parts of the
picture, retain the most gelatin, and when the paper is
lifted it raises the gelatin from the mold in such a manner
that it forms a picture In low relief. In order to obtain
a grained surface which will hold printing-ink, pounded
glass may be mixed with the gelatin.
photogravure (fo"to-gra-vur'), "• *•; pret.
and pp.photogravure^ ■ppi.photogravuring. [<
photogravure, re.] To produce in photogra-
vure.
photoheliograph (fo-to-he'li-o-graf), n. [< Gr.
0£if (0ur-), light, + E. heUograph.^ A photo-
graphic telescope designed for making photo-
graphs of the sun, particularly at a transit of
Venus or at a solar eeUpse. There are several
forms of the instrument, differing widely in con-
struction.
photoheliographic (f6-to-he"li-o-graf'ik), a.
[< photoheliograph + ■4c.'] Of, pertaining to,
or made by means of a piiotoheliograph: as,
photoheliographic observations.
photohyponastic (fd-to-hi-po-nas'tik), a. [<
photoMjponast-y + -jc] In "bat., pertaining to
or characteristic of photohyponasty.
photohyponasty (fo-to-hi'po-nas-ti), n. [NL.,
< Gr. ^Sc (^UT-), light, + E. hyponasty.] In
hot, a hyponastio movement or curvature
brought about by the exposure of organs to in-
tense light after they have had their growth
arrested for a period.
photolithograph (fo-to-lith'o-graf), n. [< Gr.
06)f (0ur-), light, + £. lithograph.] A print
produced by photolithography.
photolithograph (fo-to -lith ' o-graf ), v. t. [<
photoUthograph, «.] To produce or reproduce
by the aid of photolithography.
photolithographer (f6"to-li-thog'ra-fer), n. [<
photolithography + -eri.] One who produces
pictures by photolithography.
photolithographic (fo-to-lith-o-graf 'ifc), a. [<
photolifhograph-y + -jc] Of, pertaining to,
or produced by photolithography.— photolitlio-
graphic process, any one df the various processes by
which photolithography is accomplished. All depend
upon the property of a gelatin film, sensitized with potas-
Dinm bichromate or an analogous chemical, of becoming
insoluble when exposed to light, and thus of affording a
photographic relief -plate, or a plate which will take litho-
graphic ink in the parts affected by light, and repel it else-
where, from which the design or picture can be transferred
by the ordinary methods of lithography to a stone, or to a
plate of zinc, etc.
photolithography (f 6"'to-li-thog'ra-fi), n. [= F.
photolithographie = Sp. fotoUtografia ; as Gr.
0uf (^ur-) + E. lithography.] ' The art of fixing
on the surface of a lithographic stone by the
agency of the action of light uponbichromated
gelatin combined with albumen, and by other
manipulations, an image suitable for reproduc-
tion in ink by impression in the manner of an
ordinary lithograph; also extended to include
processes of similar character in which the trans-
fer is not made to stone ; specifically, the pro-
cess of reproducing in ink any design or picture
executed on prepared stone by means of pho-
tography, either directly or by transfers from
photographs. The process is analogous to several pho-
to-engraving processes executed on metal. See photolUfw-
grapMeproeese, undev photolithographie. Also called litTio-
4455
photologic (fo-to-loj'ik), a. [= F. photologique
= Sf.fotoldgico '= Pg. photologico ; &sphotolog-y
+ -Jc] Of or pertaining to photology.
photological (fo-to-loj'i-kal), a. [< photologic
+ -al.] Same a,%'photologic.
photologist (fo-tol'o-jist), n. [< photology +
-ist.] One who devotes himself to the study or
exposition of the science of light.
The painter should never forget that his notion of colour
(as compared with that of the photologist) is a negative one.
Hersohel, Light, § 48.
photology (fo-tol'o-ji), n. [= F. photologie =
Sp. fotologia'= Ve. photologia, < Gr. ^ag (ipur-),
light, + -TMyia, < Myetv, speak : see -ology. Cf .
MGr. ^uTokdyoQ, announcing light.] The science
of light.
photolysis (fo-tol'i-sis), n. [KL., < Gr. ^ag
(0UT-), light, '+ liaig, a loosing, setting free, <
Xieuv, loosen, unbind, unfasten.] In iot., the
movements of protoplasm under the influence
of light : distinguished as apostrophe and epis-
trophe. In the first the chlorophyl-grains collect upon
the cell-walls which are parallel to the plane of incident
light ; in the latter, upon those which are at right angles
to it. Moore.
photomaguetism (fo-to-mag'net-izm), n. [<
Gr. (pag {ipoT-), hght, +' E. magnetism.] The
relation of magnetism to hght. Faraday,
photomechanical (f6''to-me-kan'i-kal), a. [<
Gr. (jiag (<I>(Jt-), light, + E. mechanical.'] Pertain-
ing to or consisting in the mechanical produc-
tion of pictures by the aid of light, as in photo-
engraving, photolithography, etc.
Of all the perfected photomecJianical processes, the col-
lotype is about the most useful for general puiposes.
The Engineer, LXVI. 279.
photometallograph (fo'to-me-tal'd-graf), «.
[< Gr. ^ag (0ut-), light, + /dTaVum, metal, +
yp6/peiv, write (see metallography).] Same as
photozinoograph.
photometer (f o-tom'e-ter), n. [= T.photomktre
= Sp. fotdmetro = Pg. photometro = It. fotome-
tro, < Gr. (jioig (^ur-), light, + fdrpov, measure.]
An instrument used to measure the intensity
of light, specifically to compare the relative
intensities of the light emitted from different
sources. Many forms have been devised, most of which
are based upon the determination of the relative distances
Bunsen's Photometer. ^
a, balance by which weight of candles bumed in a given time is de-
tennined: d, candles; g. clock, and meter which measures the gas
consumed in the test; y, gas-burner; A, flexible pipes for supplymg
gas to the burner; d, sight-box, supported on a carriage s; e, scale
Having a guide-way for the carriage of the sight-box, and graduated
to show the relative candle-power of gas which gives an illumination
having intensity equal to that of the candles. This graduation cor-
responds with the position of the sight-box when the latter is adjusted
so that equal intensity is obtained on both sides of the disk ; f is a cur-
tain to exclude other light during the adjustment of the sight-box ; «",
cord running over pulleys under the bottom of the instrument, by
which an operator can start or stop the dock at the beginning and
endof the test; £, disk, with the translucent serrated spot?,* ^n,sight-
tube ; o e', mirrors. Light enters the sight-box from the candles
through the opening ? in the side of the sight-box, and from the gas-
burner on the side of n. Images of both sides of the illuminated disk
are simultaneouslyseen at rt fi^y reflection from the mirrors at o ando'.
at which the light from two sources produces equal inten-
sities of illumination. One of the most common photom-
eters is that of Bunsen, which consists of a screen of white
paper with a grease-spot in its center. The lights to be
compared are placed on opposite sides of this screen, and
their distances are so adjusted that the grease-spot ap-
pears neither brighter nor darker than the rest of the pa-
per, from whichever side it is viewed. When the distances
have not been correctly adjusted, the grease-spot will
appear darker than the rest of the paper when viewed
from the side on which the illumination is most intense,
and lighter than the rest of the paper when viewed from
the other side. The intensities of the two lights are to one
another as the squares of the distances from the screen at
which they must be placed In order that the grease-spot
may appear neither brighter nor darker than the rest of
the paper. Another form is Rumf ord's photometer, which
employs a screen in front of which is placed a vertical
rod; the positions of the sources of light are so adjusted
that the two shadows which they cast are sensibly equal.
— Dispersion pbotometer, a form of photometer by
means of which the intensity of a brilliant light, as that
of an electric arc, may be determined. The dispersive
effect of a thin concave lens acts like increase of distance
in the common photometer to weaken the bright light to
the required degree.— Polarization photometer, an in-
strument in which the measurement depends upon the
properties of polarized light.— Wedge photometer, an
astronomical photometer in which a wedge of neutral-
photophone
tinted dark glass is used to cause the apparent extinction
of a star viewed through it. The thickness of the wedge
at the point where the star vanishes determines its bright-
ness.—Wheel photometer, an instrument in which the
light to be measured is weakened in any required degree
by transmission through adjustable apertures in a rapidly
revolving wheel.
photometric (fo-to-met'rik), a. [= F. photo-
metrique =Pg. ph'otometrico ; as photometr-y +
■4c.] Pertaining to photometry, orthe measure-
ment of the intensity of light, or to the photom-
eter, or instrument by which this is effected ;
employing or made by a photometer: as, pho-
tometric researches or observations Lambert's
photometric law [named after J^ohann Eeinrich Lwm-
oert (1728-77), an eminent mathematician and logician,
the discoverer of this law], the fact that a smooth, irregu-
larly reflecting surface appears equally bright under what-
ever angle it is seen.— Photometric standard, a oarcel
lamp burning 42 grams of refined colza-oil per hour, with
a flame 40 millimeters high. It is equal to 9.5 British or
7.6 German standard candles. The unit of photometry
adopted by the Electrical (Congress at Paris (1884) is the
amount of light emitted from a surface of one square
centimeter of melted platinum at its temperature of solid-
ification ; in 1889 one twentieth of this unit was adopted
as the practical unit, and called a candle. See eandle-
power.
photometrical (fo-to-met'ri-kal), a. l< photo-
metric + -al.] Same aa photometric.
photometrically (fo-to-met'ri-kal-i), adv. As
regards photometry ; by me ans of a photometer.
photometrician (f6"to-me-trish'an), n. {_<pho-
tometric + -ian.] One who is versed in pho-
tometry. S. A. Proctor, The Sun, p. 302.
photometrist (fo-tom'e-trist), n. [<photome-
tr-y -{■ .4st.] A photometrician.
The best way for a, photometrist to be certain of his in-
struments is to test them himself.
W. M. Bowditeh, Coal Gas, ill. 67.
photometry (f o-tom'et-ri), n. [= F. photomS-
trie = Sp. fotometria = l\,.fotometria, < Gr. ^ag
{^OT-), light, + -fieTpla, < fifrpov, measure.] The
measurement of the relative amounts of light
emitted by different sources. This is usually ac-
complished by determining the relative distances at which
two sources of light produce equal intensities of illumi-
nation. See phMonwter.
photomicrograph (fo-to-mi'kro-graf ), n. [< Gr.
<j)ag {(p(JT-), light, + E'. micrograph.] Aji en-
larged or macroscopic photograph of a micro-
scopic object; an enlarged photograph. Com-
pare microphotograph.
photomicrographer (f6"t9-mi-krog'ra-fto), n.
[<. photomicrograph + -er^.] A maker of pho-
tomicrographs ; one who enlarges photographs,
or makes enlarged pictures of small or micro-
scopic objects.
photomicrographic (fo-to-mi-kro-graf'ik), a.
[< photomicrograpji-y + -ie.] Of, pertaining to,
or used in photomicrography; obtained or made
by photomicrography: as, photomicrographic
apparatus; a. photomicrographic representation.
photomicrography (fo"tp-mi-krog'ra-fi), n. [=
F. photomicrographic; < Gr. fag ((for-), light,
+ E. micrography.] The art or process of en-
larging minute objects by means of the micro-
scope, and reproducing the enlarged image by
photography. It is to be distinguished from
microphotography.
photonephograph (fo-to-nef 'o-graf), n. [< Gr.
(pag ((pQT-), light, + vifog, a cloud, + ypcupetv,
write.] A name given by Abney to an ap-
paratus for taking simultaneous photographs
of a cloud from two points on the earth, it con-
sists essentially of twin cameras, adjustable at any angle
of elevation and azimuth, and, as used at Eew, England,
placed 200 yards apart. Two sets of photographs are taken
simultaneously at an interval of about a minute, and from
these the heights and motions of the clouds are deduced.
photonephoBcope (fo-to-nef 'o-skop), n. [< Gr.
(pag {(par-), light, + vifog, a cloud, + aicoizEiv,
view.] Same sm photonephograph.
photonosos, photonosus (fo-ton'o-sos, -sus), n.
PSTL., < Gr. fag {far-), light, + viaog, disease.]
Any affection resulting from exposure to a glare
of light, as snow-blindness.
photopapyrography (fo-to-pap-i-rog'ra-fi), n.
[< Gr. fag (0ur-J, light, + E. pajiyrography.]
A photo-engraving process in which a relief-
print on paper is formed as a matrix from which
prints in ink can be struck off.
photophobia (fo-to-fo'bi-a), n. [= F. photo-
phobie = It. fotofohia, < NL. photophobia, < Gr.
fug {far-), light, + -fo^la, < fSpog, fear.] An
intolerance or dread of light.
photophobic (fo-to-fo'bik), a. [< photophobia
+ -ic.] Affected with photophobia ; dreading
or intolerant of light; unable to bear Ught.
photophone (fd'to-fon), n. [< Gr. 0of (far-),
light, + favij, sound, voice : see phorui^.] An
instrument by which a beam of light may be
made to transmit spoken words to a distance.
photophone
One form oonsiata of a thin mirror of silvered mica wliich
receives the vibrations from the person speaking, and
upon wtiich a beam o£ light falls at the same time. This
light is reflected to the receiving-point at a distance.
There it falls upon a concave mirror, and is brought to
a focus upon a selenium-cell. The variation in the light
produces a corresponding variation in the electrical re-
sistance of the selenium, and this reproduces the spoken
words in a telephone connected with it.
In the earlier papers describing i . [the radiophone] and
the experiments which led to its invention it is called
photophone, because at that time the effects were supposed
to be wholly due to light Afterwards, in order to avoid
ambiguity. Bell changed the name to radiophone, and sug-
gested that, to distinguish between instruments depending
on the different kinds of radiation, the names pIwtopAone,
thermophone, &c., should be employed.
micyc. Bra., XXni. 130.
photophonic (fo-to-fon'ik), a. [< photoplwne
+ -ic] Pertaining to or produced by the pho-
tophone.
photophony (fo'to-fo-ni), n. [< photophone +
-^3.] The art or 'practice of using the photo-
phone.
pnotophosptaorescent (fd-td-fos-fo-res'ent), a.
[< Gr. ^ac (^(JT-), light, + 'E. phosphorescent.']
Exhibiting phosphorescence under the action
of light. Bee phosphorescence.
photophysical (fo-to-fiz'i-kal), a. [< Gr. 0uc
{<puT-), light, + E.pJm/sieal.'] " Pertaining to the
physical effect of light: opposed to photochem-
ical. Athenseum, Ko. 3235, p. 562.
photopolarimeter (f6-to-po-la-rlm'e-t6r), n.
[< G-r. <pS)c (0ur-), light, "+ E. polarimeter.'] A
form of polarimeter devised (1885) by Cornu.
It has a doubly refracting prism mounted at one end of a
tube, which at the other has a diaphragm of such size
that the borders of the two images, polarized at right an-
gles, just coincide with each other. A nicol prism suit-
ably mounted is made to revolve until these images have
the same intensity, when the angular position of its plane
of vibration gives a ready means of determining the de-
gree of polarization in the light under examination.
pnoto-process (fo'to-pros'es), n. [< Gr. ijiag
((jioT-), light, + B. process.'] Any process or
method by which is produced, by the agency of
photography, a matrix In reHef or in intaglio
from which prints can be made in ink; espe-
cially, the photographic production of reUef-
plates from which impressions are struck off
in an ordinary printing-press, it thus includes
photogravure, but is especially applicable to such pro-
cesses of photo-engraving as photolithography and photo-
zincography. The chief kinds of photo-process are differ-
entiated as follows. Heliotype is the production of a ma-
trix in gelatin, from which printing is done directly in a
lithographic press. Photogravure is the production of
incised or intaglio plates in metal. Photo-engraving is
(properly) the production of relief-plates of any kind
suited for printing, together with type, in an ordinary
printing-press ; though the term Is often used to include
photogravure also. Photo-engraving is particularly ap-
plicable to the reproduction of pen-drawings ; when used
for pictures, such as ordinary photographs, It is necessary,
in order to admit of printing, to employ some such device
as the formation over the whole surface of the plate of an
even series of fine lines, or a finely dotted or stippled
ground. Such plates are called haff-tone plates. (See
half-tone process, under photoengraving. ) Also used at-
tributively to note a relief-plate, or an impression from
such a plate, maAe by photo-process.
photopsia (fo-top'si-a), n. [NL.,< Gr. fag (^ur-),
light, + 6i\>iQ, look, sight, < V on, see : see mtic.]
The condition of having the sensation as of light
or of flashes of light without external cause.
photopsy (fo'top-si), n. [= F. photopsie = It.
fotopsia, < NL. photopsia, q. v.] Same as pho-
photo-relief (f 6*t6-re-lef' ), a. [< Gr. <pas (far-),
light, + E. relief.] Noting any process for ob-
taining by photographic means a matrix in re-
lief capable of receiving ink and communicat-
ing impressions, or any block, plate, or print
produced by such a process. See photography,
photo-engraving,
pnotoscope (fo'to-skop), n. [< Gr. ^fic (0"^^-),
light, + OKomiv, view.] 1. An instrument or
apparatus for exhibiting photograjihs. E. H.
Knight. — 3. An instrument consisting of a se-
lenium-cell, or an arrangement of some other
substance whose electrical resistance varies
with the degree of illumination, together with a
telephone-receiver placed in the same electrical
circuit, by means of which the varying intensi-
ties of light may be detected.
photosculpture ffo'to-skulp^tar), n. [= P.
photosGulpture ; < Gr. fag (far-), light, + E.
sculpture.] Aprocess of sculpturing statuettes,
medallions, and the like, by the aid of photog-
raphy. The person whose likeness is to be taken is
placed in the focus of a number of photographic cameras,
placed at equal distances from one another, and is thus
photographed all round. The resulting pictures are pro-
jected in succession by means of a magic lantern on a
transparent screen. The operator works behind this
screen on a piece of modeling-clay, turning it round as he
proceeds, and copying the images on the screen by means
of a pantograph which has its reducing-point armed with
4456
a molding- or cutting-tool, so that; as the longer arm traces
every figure on the screen, the shorter one reproduces it in
the clay.
photosphere (f 6'to-sf er), n. [= F.photosphh-e,
< Gr. fag (,<paT-), light, + aijialpa, sphere : see
spliere.] An envelop of light ; specifically, the
luminous envelop, supposed to consist of in-
candescent matter, surrounding the sun. Ac-
cording to Kirchhoff , the sun's photosphere is either solid
or liquid, and is surrounded by an extensive atmosphere,
composed of gases and vapors of the substances incan-
descent in the photosphere. According to the view now
more generally accepted, the photosphere is a shell of lu-
minous cloud — that is, the solid or liquid particles which
produce the light are minute, and disseminated through
the lower strata of the solar atmosphere.
photospheric (f 6-to-sfer'ik), a. [< photosjjhere
+ 4c.] Of or pertaining to a photosphere, and
specifically to the photosphere of the sun.
phototachometer (f6"t6-ta-kom'e-t6r), n. [<
Gr. (j>ag (0ur-), light, + fi. tachometer.] An in-
strument for measuring the velocity of light.
phototachometrical (fo-to-tak-o-met'ri-kal), a.
l<phototaehometr-y + -dc-dl.] Pertaining to pho-
totachometry.
phototachometry (f6"'to-ta-kom'et-ri), n. [<
Gr. fag (far-), light, +' B. tacliometry.] The
measurement of me velocity of light.
phototactic (fo-to-tak'tik), a. [< plwtotaxis,
after tactic.] In hot., pertaining to, character-
istic of, or exhibiting phototaxis.
phototaxis (fo-to-tak'sis), n. [KL., < Gr. fog
(0UT-), light, + rd^tg, arrangement: see taids.]
In hot., the taking by certain organisms or or-
gans of a definite position with reference to the
direction of the incident rays of light, as when
the zoospores of various plants (Ssematoeoecus,
niothrix, etc.) place their long axes parallel to
the direction of the incident rays.
phototelephone (fo-to-tel'e-fon), n. [< Gr. fag
(^6n--), Ught, + E. teiephone.] Same as photo-
plwne.
pnototheodolite (f6"to-the-od'o-Iit), n. [< Gr.
fag (far-), light, + Bi theodolite.] An instru-
ment for the performance of triangulation by
means of photographs.
phototonic (fo-to-ton'ik), a. [< phototonus +
■ic] In hot., exhibiting phototonus; charac-
terized by phototonus. Compare parofowfc.
phototonus (fo-tot'o-nus), n. [NL., < Gr. fag
(0ur-), light, -I- V&of,' tension: see tone.] In hot.,
a term proposed by Sachs for the peculiar con-
dition in which the protoplasm is capable of
exhibiting irritability induced in certain plant-
organs by exposure to light of a certain inten-
sity. This tonic influence of light is exhibited in the res-
toration of irritability in organs that have been kept for
some days in continuous darkness.
phototopography (fo-to-to-pog'ra-fi), n. Topo-
graphical surveying based on perspective views
of the terrene obtained by means of the camera,
U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Report, 1893,
Part II., p. 38.
phototype (fo'to-tip), n. and a. [Cf. P.jpfeoto-
typie; < Gr. fag f^ur-), light, +'TV7rog, type.] I.
n. 1. A type or plate for printing, of the same
nature as an engraved relief-block, produced
by an application of the photographic proper-
ties of gelatin sensitized with a bichromate
(see photo-engravijig), or by a combination of
photographic and etching processes or a com-
bination of photographic and mechanical pro-
cesses, as when the lines in intaglio are pro-
duced by mechanical pressure, these processes
when combined being commonly spoken of as
a single general process; especially, the pro-
cess known as photozincography. See photo-
zincography, photoUtlwgraplvy, a,nd. jahotogh/phy.
— 2. A picture printed from a relief-plate pre-
pared by a phototype process.
II, a. Pertaining to or produced by means
of phototypy : as, a phototype process, plate, or
print.
phototype (fo'to-Up), v. t. ; pret. and pp. photo-
typed, ppr. phoiotypikg. [< phototype, n.] To
reproduce in phototype or by phototypy.
phototypic (fo-to-tip'ik), a. [(.phototype +
-ic] Of, pertaining to, or produced by means
of phototypy.
phototypographic (fo-to-ia-po-graf'ik), a. [<
Gr. fag (far-), light, + rvnog, type, + ypdfecv,
write.] Of, pertaining to, or using a photo-
graphic relief -block adapted for printing in an
ordinary press : as, the phototypographic pro-
cess of Poitevin.
phototypy (fo'to-U-pi), n. [< phototype + -y^.]
The art or process of producing phototypes.
photovoltaic (fd*to-vol-ta'ik), a. [< Gr. fag
(^ur-), light, + E. voltaic] Eelating to an elec-
Fhragmites
trie current as produced or varied in intensity
by the action of light, as when the electrical re-
sistance of selenium is altered by light.
photoxylography (f 6"to-zi-log'ra-fl), n. [< Gr.
fag (0(JT-), light, + B. xylograplty.] The pro-
cess of producing an impression of an object on
wood by photography and subsequentprocesses,
and then printing from the block.
photozincograph (fo-to-zing'ko-grftf ), n. [< Gr.
fag (far-), Ught, + E. Oncograph.] A plate or
picture produced by photozincography. Also
pho tometallograph.
photozincograpnic (fo-to-zing-ko-graf'ik), a.
[< photozineograph-y + 40.] Of, piertaining to,
^ .pJiotomieographie; . - .. .. ,
E. zincography.] Aprocess of photo-engraving
analogous to photolithography, but having the
matrix formed on a plate of zinc instead of a
Uthographio stone ; also, photo-etching execut-
ed on zinc. Mao photozincotypy.
photozlncotype (fo-to-zing'ko-tip), n. [< Gr.
fag (^-), light, + E. zincotype.] A plate pre-
pared for printing by photozmoograpny.
In place of wood-cuts, photo-iineotypes are very often
used. Sei. Amer., N. S., LV. 49.
photozincotypy (f 6-to-zing'ko-ti-pi), n. IK pho-
tozincotype + -yK] Same aa photozincography.
fifcj. ^mer.,N. S.,LV.94.
photuria (fo-tu'ri-a), n. [NL., < Gr. fS>g (far-),
light, + oi'pov, urine.] The passage of lumi-
nous urine.
Fhoturis (fo-tu'ris), n. [NL. (Leconte, 1851),
< Gr. fag (far-), light, + tApa, tail.] A genus
of fireflies of the coleopterous family Lampyri-
dee, with nearly 50 species, mainly South Ameri-
can, three only being found in North America.
P. pennxylvamica is the common firefly or lightning-bug
of eastern parts of the United States, about half an inch
long and of a yellowish color. Its larva is also luminous.
See firefly, and cut under lightning-bug.
Fhoxinus (fok-si'nus), n. [NL. (Agassiz, 1837),
< Gr. fogivog, an unknown river-fish.] In ichth.,
a genus of small cyprinoid fishes; the true
minnows, of small size, tajjering form, and
brilliant colors, the lateral line incomplete if
present, the dorsal fin behind the ventrals, and
the mouth without barbels. The type Is the com-
mon Bnropean minnow, P. aphya or Items; several species
of the United States are also described. See cut under
Fhractamphibia (frak-tam-fib'i-a), n.pl. [NL.,
< Gt. ^pa/cTof, fenced, protected (< fpdaaetv, fence,
protect: aeephragma), + NL. Amphibia.] The
mailed or loricate amphibians, as labyrintho-
donts: oppoaed to lAssamphibia.
phragma (frag'mS,), n. ; -pi. phragmata (-ma-ta).
[NL., < GrT. fpay/M, a fence, partition, < fp^aaeiv,
fence in, fence, secure, fortify. Cf . diaphragm,
etc.] 1 . In iot., a spurious dissepiment or par-
tition, as that which occurs at the nodes of cer-
tain calamites, and in various fruits. — 2. In
^067., a partition, septum, dissepiment, or dia-
phragm. Specifically, in emtom. : (a) A transverse pai-ti-
tion descending from the dorsal snitace into the cavity of
the thorax. (6) The posterior inflexed border of the pro-
thorax, concealed by the mesothorax and wing-covers : it
is found only in those insects in which the prothorax is
movable.
phragmacone (frag'ma-kon), n. [< Gr. fpdypa,
afence, partition (aeephragma), + Kcmog, cone.]
The conical, spiral, or otherwise shaped and
chambered or septate internal skeleton of fossil
eephalopods, contained in the anterior part of
the cavity of a hollow hard structure called
the guard or rostrumi. It is homologous with
the chambered shell of other cephalopods. See
cut under belemmte.
phragmaconlc (frag-ma-kon'ik), a. [< phrag-
macone + -ic. ] Having the character of a phrag-
macone ; relating to a phragmacone.
phragmata, n. Plural ot phragma.
Phragmites (frag-mi'tez), n. [L., < Gr. fpay-
/iiTi/g, growing in hedges, < fp&y/ia, a, fence : see
phragma.] A genus of grasses of the tribe Fes-
tiiceee and subtribe ArundvnesB, distinguishes'
from its relative Arundo by spikelets with the
lowest flower staminate or sterile. There are 3 spe-
cies, widely scattered throughout all temperate and sub-
tropical regions. They are the tallest native grasses of the
northern United States and of Great Britain, where they
are useful in binding together the earth of river-banks by
their creg)lng rootstocks. They are perennials with flat
leaves and ample panicles, either dense and erect or loose
and nodding, furnished with conspicuous tufts of long
silky hairs enveloping the spikelets. P. communis is the
•narsn-reed of England and the Atlantic United States,
with the aspect of broom-corn, and bearing ornamental
plume-like panicles sought for decoration. Also known in
England as ditch-reed and hennett, and in the western part
of the United States as carte.
Phragmophora
Phragmophora (frag-mof o-is), n. pi. [NL., <
Gt. (ppdy/m, a fence, partition' (see »ftra^»(a),+
<pipctv = E. 6eari.] A section of decacerous
cepiialopods, having a phragmacone or internal
shell with a row of air-chambers traversed by a
siphon. It includes the extinct families Belo-
sepiidw, Belopteridse, and Belemnitidx.
phragmopliorous (frag-mof 'o-rus), a. [< Phrag-
mophora + -oils.'] Having tlie characters of the
Phragmophora; having a phragmacone.
phraise (fraz\ v. i. ; pret. and pp. phraised, ppr.
phraising. [Appar. merely a particular use
of phrase."] To use coaxing or wheedling lan-
guage; cajole; palaver. iScott, Eob Koy, xxiii.
[Scotch.]
phrampelti <(• A bad spelling of /ra»ij>e^ Mid-
cUeton and DekJcer, Roaring Girl, iii. 1.
phrasal (fra'zal), a. [< phrase + -ah] Of,
pertaining to, or consisting of a phrase ; con-
sisting of two or more words.
A third series of prepositions are the phraeal preposi-
tions consisting of more than one word.
J. Earle, Pliilology of the Eng. Tongue <4th ed.), p. 501.
phrase (fraz), n. [= D. G. phrase = Sw. fras
= Dan. frase, < F. phrase, OP. frase = 8p.
frase, frasis = Pg. phrase = It. frase, < Ii. phra-
sis, < Gr. (jipdaii, speech, manner of speech,
phraseology, expression, enunciation, < tppa^uv,
point out, show, tell, declare, speak.] 1. A
brief expression; more specifically, two or more
words expressing what is practically a single
notion, and thus performing the office of a sin-
gle part of speech, or entering with a certain de-
gree of unity into the structure of a sentence.
" Convey," the wise it caJL " Steal I " loh 1 a floo for the
phrase I Shak., M. W. of M., L 3. 33.
Now mince the sin.
And mollify damnation with aphrase.
Dryden, Spanish Friar, t. 2.
2. A peculiar or characteristic expression; a
mode of expression pecuHar to a language; an
idiom.
The Bible is rather translated Into English Words than
into English Phrase. The Hebraisms are kept, and the
Phnae of that langnage is kept. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 20.
And, in his native tongue and phrase^
Prayed to each saint to watch his days.
SeoU, Bokeby, iv. 9.
Betwixt them blossomed up
From out a common vein of memory
Sweet household talk, aaiphraees of the hearth.
' Tennyson, Frincess, 11.
3. The manner or style in which a person ex-
presses himself; diction; phraseology; lan-
guage; also, on expression, or a form of ex-
pression.
The chief and principall [subject of poesy] Is : the laud,
honour, and glory of the Immortall gods (I speake now In
phrase of the Gentiles).
Pvttenham, Arte of Eng. Foesie, p. 39.
The Sclanon dooth playuly vnderstande the Moscouite,
although the Mosconlau toonge be a more rude and harde
phrase of speach.
B. Eden, Ir. of John Faber (First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. 290);
, Thou speak'st
In heltev phrase and matter than thou didst.
Shak., Lear, iv. 6. 8.
A frantic Gipsey now, the House he haunts.
And in wild Phrases speaks dissembled Wants.
Prior, Henry and Emma.
4. In music, a short and somewhat indepen-
dent division or part of a piece, less complete
than a period, and usually closing with a ca-
dence or a half-cadence, a phrase usually includes
four or eight measures. The name is also given lees tech-
nically to any short passage or figure that is performed
without pause or break.
The singer who feels what be sings^ and duly marks the
phrases and accents, is a man of taste. But he who can
only give the values and Intervals of the notes without the
sense of the phrases, however accurate he ma;^ be, '.i a
mere machlue. Rousseau, Diet. Music. (Tr. in Grove.)
5. IxL fencing, a period between the beginning
and end of a short passage at arms between
fencers during which there is no pause, each
fencer thrusting and parrying in ttmi.— Adver-
bial, conditlonali prepositional, etc., phrase. See
the adjectives.— Extended phrase, in rmmo, a phrase
that occupies, by exception, more than the usual number
of measures. — Irregular phrase. In rmisie, apbrase of an
unusual number of measures. — To leam the phrases of
a house, to become familiar with the habits of a famUy.
BfMiwM. [Cornwall, Eng.]=Syn. 1. See term.
phrase (fraz), v.; pret. and pp. phrased, ppr.
phrasing. [= "P. phraser — Sp. frasear = Pg.
phrasear; from the noun.] I^ intrant. 1. To
employ peculiar phrases or forms of speech; ex-
press one's self. [Bare.]
So Saint Cyprian phraseth, to expresse effeminate, wo-
manish, wanton, dishonest, mimicall gestures, by the tu-
torship of an unchast art. Prynne, Hiatrio-Mastlz, n., 11. 2.
4457
2. In music, to divide a piece in performance
into short sections or phrases, so as to bring
out the metrical and harmonic form of the
whole, and make it musically intelligible ; also,
to perform any group of tones without pause.
_ n. trans. To express or designate by a par-
ticular phrase or term; call; style.
When these suns—
For so they phrase 'em— by their heralds challenged
The noble spirits to arms, they did perform
Beyond thought's compass. Shak., Hen. Vm., i. 1. 34.
The Presbyters and Deacons writing to him think they
doe him honour enough when tbtYPhrase him no higher
than Brother Cyprian, and deare Cyprian in the 26. Epist.
MiUon, Keformation in Eng., i.
phrase-book (fraz'buk), n. A book in which
the phrases or idiomatic forms of expression
peciuiar to a language are collected and ex-
plained.
I confess you are pretty well vers'd in Phrase-Books, and
Lexicons, and Glossaries.
XUUm, Answer to Salmasius, i. 32.
phraselesst (fraz'les), a. [< phrase + -less.]
Not to be expressed or described.
0, then, advance of yours that phraseless hand
Whose white weighs down the airy scale of praise.
Shak., Lover's Complaint, L 225.
phraseman (fraz 'man), m. ; pi. phrasemen
(-men). One who habitually uses a set form
of words with slight regard to their import; a
phrasemonger. [Bare.]
The poor wretch . . .
Becomes a fivient phraseman, absolute
And technical in victories and defeats.
And all our dainty terms for fratricide.
ColerCdge, Fears in Solitude,
phrase-mark (fraz'mark), n. In musical nota-
tion, a sweeping curve over or under notes that
are to be performed connectedly and as form-
ing a single phrase.
phrasemonger (fraz'mung'''g$r), n. l^phrase +
monger.] One who deals in mere phrases; one
who is an adept at stringing words or phrases
together.
phraseogram (fra'ze-o-gram), n. [< Gr. ^pdmg
(gen. ijipdtjeoc), speech,' phrase, + 7pa/i/«i, letter:
see gram^.] luphonog., a combination of short-
hand characters to represent a phrase or sen-
tence.
phraseograph (fra'zf-o-graf), re. [< Gr. <^i>&aig
(gen. ippiaeoe), speech', phrase, + ypS^siv, write.]
Same as phraseogram.
It contains an exhaustive list of reporting logographs,
word signs, phraseographs, etc., all of which will, of course,
be of great interest to the reporter.
SH. Amur., N. S., LXL, p. 27 of adv'ts.
phraseograpliy (fra-zf-og'ra-fl), n. [< Gr.
ippdaci (gen. (jipaaeog), speech, phrase, + -ypa^'m,
^ypoK^eiv, write.] The combining of two or more
shortened phonographic or stenographic signs
to represent apfiase or sentence; the use of
phraseograms.
phraseologic (fra''ze-o-loj'ik), a. [='W.phrase-
ologique = Sp. fraseoldgieo = Pg. phraseologico
= It.fraseologico; as phraseology + -ic.] Of or
pertaining to phraseology: a.a, phraseotogic pe-
culiarities.
phraseological (fra''ze-o-loj'i-kal), a. [_iphrase-
ologic + -al.] Same asphraseiilogie.
It Is the vocabnlaiy and the phraseological combinations
of f^e man, or class of men, which must serve as the clue
to guide us into the secret recesses of their being.
Marsh, Lects. on Eng. Lang., x.
phraseologically (fra'ze-o-loj'i-kal-i), ado. As
regards phraseology, or style of expression.
phraseologist (fra-ze-ol'o-jist), n. [= Pg.
fraseologista ; < phraseolog-y + -ist.] 1. A
sticHer for phraseology, w a particular form
of words; a coiner of phrases.
The author of Poetse Busticantis literatum Otium Is but
a meei phraseologist. Chmrdian, No. 39.
3. A collector of phrases.
phraseology (fra-ze-ol'o-ji), re. [= P. phrasi-
ologie = Sp. fraseologia = Tg. phraseologia =
It. fraseologia, frasilogia, < Gr. ippaaii (gen. ^pa-
o-£Of), speech, phrase, + -Tuoyia, < Myeiv, speak:
see -ology.] 1. The form of words used in ex-
pressing some idea or thought; mode or style
of expression; the particular words or phrases
combined to form a sentence, or the method of
arranging them; diction; style.
From me they [auctioneers] learned to inlay their phrase-
ology with variegated chips of exotic metaphor.
Sheridan, The Critic, i. 2.
Mr. Fox winnowed and sifted his phraseology with a
care which seems hardly consistent with the simplicity
and elevation of his mind.
JUacavIay, mackintosh's Hlsb Bev.
3. A collection of phrases and idioms. = Syn.
1. Style, etc. See diction.
phrenic
phrasical (fra'zi-kal), «. l< phrase + -ic-al]
Having the character of a phrase; idiomatic.
[Rare.]
Here it is phrasieaZ, and therefore not to be forced.
Rev. T. Adams, Works, L 896.
phrasing (fra'zing), n. [Verbal n. of phrase,
v.] 1. The wording of a speech or passage. — 2.
In music, the act, process_, or result of dividing
a piece in performance into short sections or
phrases, so as to give it form and clearness.
Skill in phrasing is one of the chief qualities
of a good performer.
phratria (fra'tri-a), ».; pX.phratrise^^-e). [KL.:
Be&phratry.] Same as phratry.
This tribunal [the Areopagus], however, did" not inter-
fere with the ancestral claims of families and phratriiB.
Von Banks, Univ. Hist, (trans,), p. 138.
{thratric (fra'tiik), a. [< phratr-y + -jc] Of
or pertaining to a phratry.
The phratri£ organization has existed among the Iro-
quois ^m time ImmemoriaL
Morgan, Contributions to North Amer. Ethnology, TV. 11.
phratry (fra'tri), re.; yl.phratries{-tTiz). [Also
phratria; = P. phratrie, < Gr. ippdrpa, (pparpia,
a tribe, a political division of people, < fpdr^p,
clansman, orig. 'brother,' = L. frater = E.
brother: see brother.] A brotherhood or clan ;
specifically, in the states of ancient Greece, a
politico-religious group of citizens, which ap-
pears to have been originally based on Idnship
and to have been a subdivision of the phyle or
tribe. By modem ethnologists the term is applied to
somewhat analogous brotherhoods existing among the
aborigines of Australia and America.
In Atistralla the phratries are still more important than
in America. Messrs, Howitt and Fison, who have done so
much to advance our knowledge of the social system of
the Australian aborigines, have given to these exogamous
divisions the name of classes ; butthe term is objectionable,
because it fails to convey (1) that these divisions are kin-
ship divisions, and (2) that they are intermediate divisions ;
whereas the Greek term phratry conveys both these mean-
ings, and is therefore »)propriate.
J. 6. Fraeer, Encyc. Brit., XXTTT. 473.
phreatic (fre-at'ik), a. [< p. phr4aUgue, < Gr.
(jipeap ((ppiar-), an artificial well.] Subterranean,
as the sources of wells.
pluren (fren), re. ; pi. phrenes (fre'nez). [NL., <
Gr. <^pvi>, the midnfl, diaphragm, also, commonly
in pi. ^pheg, the parts about the heart, the breast,
the heart as the seat of the passions or of the
mind.] 1. The tMnkingprinciple,op power of
thought and perception; mind. — 3, The dia-
phragm. See phrenic.
pnrenalgia (fre-nal'ji-a), re. [NL., < Gr. ^pi^,
mind, + akyo^, pain.] Psychalgia.
phrenesiact (fre-ne'si-ak), a. [< phrenesis +
-iac] Same as phrenetic.
Like an hypochondriac person, or, as Burton's Anatomia
hath it, a phremiaac or lethargic patient.
Scott, Waverley, xllL
phrenesis (frf-ne'sis), re. [< L. phrenesis, <_Gr.
(jipevTiaec, infiainmation of the bram, < <tip^, mind :
see frenzy.] Delirium; frenzy. Thomas, Mei.
Diet.
phrenetic (frf-net'ik), a. and re. [Also^ereetic,
frantic (see franUc); < ME. freneUTce, fieneUk,
frentiie, < OP. freneUgue, P. phr6n6Uque, frinS-
tigue = Vr.frenetic = Sp. frenSUco = Pg. It. fre-
netieo, < L. ph/reneUcas, phrenitieus, < Gr. ^octj-
Tucdg, frenzied, distracted,< i^pEvlrig, irenzy, phre-
nitis: see phrenitis.] I. a. See frenetic.
n.t n. A frantic or frenzied person; one
whose mind is disordered.
You did never hear
A phrenetic so in love with his own favour !
B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, iv. 3.
phrenetical (fre-net'i-kal), a. See frenetic.
phrenetically, adv. See fretieticaUy.
phreniatric (fren-i-at'rik), a. [< Gr. 0p^, mind,
-I- laTpiKdg, medicinal: see iatric.] Pertaining
to the cure of mental diseases ; psychiatric.
phrenic (fren'ik), a. and n. [= P. phrinique =
Pg. phrenico — It. frenico, < NL. phrenicus, <
Gr. as if *<l>pevuc6c, of or pertaining to the dia-
phragm, < ^p^ (fpev-) , the diaphragm, the mind :
seephren.] I. a. Jnanat:, of or pertaining to
the diaphragm; diaphragmatic: as, a phrenic
artery, vein, or nerve. — Plirenic arteries, arteries
supplying the diaphragm, (a) Inferior, two small branches
of the abdominal aorta. (&) Superior, a slender branch
from each internal mammary. Also called comes nervi
pAren&i.— Phrenic ganglion, hernia, etc. See the
nouns.- Plirenic glands, a group of small lymphatic
glands surrounding the termination of the inferior cava.
— Phrenic nerve, a deep branch of the fourth cervical
nerve, with accessions from the third or fifth, descending
through the thorax to be distributed to the diaphragm,
giving also filaments to the pericardium and pleura. Also
called internal respiraiory nerve of BeB.- Phrenic plex-
us. See i)feaf!«.— Phrenic veins, tributaries of the infe-
rior vena cava, accompanying the mferior phrenic arteries.
phrenic
II. n. A mental disease ; also, a medicine or
remedy for such a disease. Imp. Diet.
phxenicocolic (fren'i-ko-kol'ik), a. Same as
phrenocolic.
porenicogastric (fren"i-k6-gas'trik), a. Same
as phrenogastrio.
phremcosplenic (fren"i-k6-splen'ik), a. Same
as phrenosplenio.
phrenics (fren'iks), n. [PI. oiphrenic : see -ics.]
Mental philosophy; metaphysics. B. Parke.
[Rare.]
phrenicus (fren'i-kus), n. [Nil. ; see phrenic.']
Same as diaphragm.
phrenism (fren'izm), n. [< phren + -jsj».] The
power of one feeliiig to influence another;
thought-force,
phrenitic (fre-nit'ik), a. [< phrenitis + -ic]
Affected with or characterized by phrenitis.
phrenitis (fre-ni'tis), n. [NL., < li. phrenitis,
< Gr. ippevlrig, inflammation of the brain, < <PpV''i
the diaphragm, heart, mind: see phren.] 1.
In med., an inflammation of the brain or its
meninges, attended with acute fever and de-
lirium.— 2. Delirium; frenzy.
Phrenitis ... Is a disease of the mind, with a continual
madness or dotage, wliicti hath an acute f eaver annexed,
or else an inflammation of the brain, ... It differs from
Melancholy and Madness. . . . Melancholy is most part
silent, this clamorous. Burton, Anat. of MeL, i. 1.
phrenocolic (fren-6-kol'ik), a. [< Grr. (ppir"
(^pev-), diaphragm, + k67i.ov, colon: see coUc.]
Pertaining to the diaphragm and the colon. —
Fbrenocolic ligament, a narrow fold of the peritoneum
connecting the splenic flexure of the colon with the dia-
phragm.
phrenogastrio (fren-6-gas'trik), a. [< Gr. (jipvv
{(ppEv-), diaphragm, + yaariip (jaarp-), stomach :
see gastric?] Pertaining to the diaphragm and
the stomach — Phrenogastrio ligament, a short fold
of the peritoneum connecting the di&phragm with the
fundus of the stomach.
phrenography (fre-nog'ra-fi), n. [< Gr. ippfyv
{tppev-), diaphragm,' + ypi^eiv, write.] The ob-
serving and descriptive stage of comparative
psychology, or phrenology in sense 2. Smith-
sonian Report, 1881, p. 501.
phrenologer (fre-nol'o-jer), n. [< phrenology
+ -erl.] A phrenologist.
phrenologic (fren-o-loj'ik), a. [= F. phr4no-
logigue = Sp. frenblogico — Pg. plirenologico =
It. frenologiao ; as phrenolog-y + -ic] Of or
pertaining to phrenology.
phrenological (fren-o-loj'i-kal), a. [< phreno-
logic + -al.] Same ks phrenologic.
A particularly short, fat, greasy-looking gentleman, with
a head as free from phrenologicaZ development as a billiard-
ball. C. Lever, Hany Lorrequer, xxvii.
phrenologically (fren-o-loj'i-kal-i), adv. In a
phrenological manner ; according to the prin-
ciples of phrenology ; as regards phrenology.
phrenologist (frf-noro-jist), n. [= ¥. phrino-
logiste = Pg. phrenologista = It. frenologista ;
as phrenolog-y + -»«*.] One who is versed in
phrenology.
pnrenology (fre-nol'o-ji), «. [=:F. phrenologies
Sy.frenologia=Fg.phrenologia=tt.frenologia,
< Gr. (jip^ (ippev-), heart, mind, + -hyyia, < Tiiyuv,
speak: see -ology.] 1. The theory that the
mental powers of the individual consist of in-
dependent faculties, each of which has its seat
in a definite brain-region, whose size is com-
mensurate with the power of manifesting this
§ articular faculty. This theory, which originated at
le close of the eighteenth century, assumes, moreover,
as an essential part, the plasticity of the cranial en-
velop, by which the skull conforms externally. In the nor-
mal subject, to the shape and configniation of the brain
within, so that its form and faculties may be determined,
with sufficient exactness, from the skvll itself, whether in
the skeleton or in the living person. The ditf erent powers
of the mind or faculties are divided into two classes, the
feelings and the intellect, or the affective and intellectual
faculties, the former of which is again divided into the
propensities and sentiments, the latter into the perceptive
and reflective faculties. Each of these groups, as well
as each of the individual faculties composing them, is
located upon the exterior of the skuU with more or less
exactness, and it is by the prominence or depression of
the different regions that the mental powers and faculties
are ascertained. The system was founded by Dr. Franz
Joseph Gall (1768-1828), a Viennese physician, and was ex-
tended and promulgated by his pupil and associate. Dr.
Spurzheim, and by George and Andrew Combe and others.
The term is sometimes applied, in the phrase new phre-
nology, to the localization of cerebral functions which has
been established by experimental and pathological inves-
tigations, almost exclusively of the last twenty years, and
which has reached such a degree of certainty and deflnite-
ness as to furnish a basis for surgical operations on the
brain. But there is nothing in common lietween modern
cerebral localization and the views of Gall and Spurzheim.
8ee cut in next column.
2. Comparative psychology; the study of the
mind, intellect, or intelligence of man and the
lower animals. Smithsonian Report, 1881, p. 501.
4458
Spurzheim's Phrenological Chart of the Human Head.
Affective faculties.— I. Propensities: *, alimentiveness ;
I, destructiveness ; 2, amativeness j 5, philoprogenitiveness ; 4, ad-
hesiveness ; 5, inhabitiveness ; 6, combativeness : 7, secretiveness ; 8,
acquisitiveness i 9, constructiveness. II. Sentiments : 10, cautious-
ness ! II, approbativeness ; 12, self-esteem ; 13, benevolence ; 14, rever-
ence; 15, firmness; 16, conscientiousness; 17, hope; 18, marvelous-
ness ; 19, ideality ; so, mirthfulness ; si, imitation. INTELLECTUAL
Faculties. — I. Perceptive : 22, individuality ; s^, configuration ; S4,
size ; 25, weight and resistance ; &6, coloring ; S7, locality ; 28, order ;
so, calculation; 30, eventuality; 31, time; 32, tune; 33, language.
II. Rejlective ; 34, comparison ; 35, causality.
phrenomagnetic (f ren"o-mag-net'ik), a. [< Gr.
(jipijv {fpEv-}, mind, + ^.'magnetic] Pertaining
to phrenomagnetism : as, phrenomagnetic phe-
nomena. J. R. Buchanan.
phrenomagnetism (fren-6-mag'net-izm), n. [<
Gr. (ppTn' (^pEv-), mind, -I- !E. magnetism.] Ani-
mal magnetism, directed and controlled by will-
power; pathetism.
■ The simple physiological pheenomena known as spirit-
rapping, table-turning, phreno-magnetism.
Suxley, Lay Sermons, p. 90.
phrenomesmerism (fren-o-mez'mSr-izm), n.
[< Gr. <j>p^v (ippev-), mind,' -I- E. mesmerism.]
Same as phrenomagnetism.
phrenonomy (fre-non'o-mi), n. [< Gr. ^pirv
{(ppev-), heart, mind, +' v6/ios, law.] The de-
ductive and predictive stage of phrenology in
sense 2. Smithsonian Report, 1881, p. 501.
phrenopathia (firen-o-path'i-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
i^pltv ((ppev-), mind, -I- iraSof , disease: see pathos.]
Mental disease ; insanity: psychopathia.
phrenopathic (fren-o-patn'ik), a. [< phreno-
pathia -t- -ic.] Of or pertaining to mental dis-
ease; psychopathic.
phrenoplegia (fren-o-ple'ji-a), «. [NL., < Gr.
<l>p^ i^pev-), mind, + vXTfyri, a blow, stroke, <
TvTJjoaeiv, strike.] Sudden loss of mental power.
phrenosis (f rf-no'sis), n. [NL. , < Gr. ^fytpi (ippev-),
heart, mind, '+ -osis.] Psychosis.
phrenosplenio (fren-6-splen'ik), a. Pertain-
ing to the diaphragm and the spleen Plireno-
splenlc ligament, a short triangular fold of the peri-
toneum descending from the diaphragm to the upper end
of the spleen.
phrensict (fren'zik), a. [<phrens-y -\- -ic. Cf.
phrenetic, frantic] Phrenetic; mentally dis-
ordered; insane.
Peace, and be nought ! I think the woman hephren^.
B. Jomon, Tale of a Tub, il. 1.
phrensyt, phrenzyt, n. and v. Obsolete forms
of frenzy.
phrentict, a. and n. An obsolete form ot frantic.
phronesis (fro-ne'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. ^pdvjjaig,
practical wisdom, < tppovelv, think, < ^pfyv, mind:
see phren.] Practical judgment; the faculty
of conducting one's self wisely.
phrontisteiion (fron-tis-te'ri-gn), n. ; T^\.phron-
tisieria (-a). [Also phronUstery,<. OF. phrontis-
tere; < Gr. ippovrtar^piov, a place for deep think-
ing, a "thinking-shop" (as Socrates's school was
called by Aristophanes in " The Clouds"), later
a school, a monastery, < tj/povrtcT^e, a deep think-
er, < (ppovTi^eiv, think, consider, meditate, take
thought of, be anxious for, < ijipovrk, thought,
care, < (jipoveiv, think: see phronssis.] A school
or seminary of learning; a college.
His lodging ! no ; 'tis the leam'd phronitsterion
Of most divine Albumazar.
T. TomHs (?), Albumazar, i. 3.
phrontistery (fron'tis-ter-i), «. ; pi. phrontis-
teries (-iz). Same as phrontisterion.
Phrynidae
As to the scenery [in the old Greek comedies], he hold9
that the inside of the phroMietery is never seen.
Amer. Jour. PhUol., IX. 844.
Phryganea (fri-ga'nf-a), n. [NL., so called in
allusion to the appearance of the cases of cad-
dis-flies; < Gr. ippvyavov, a dry stick, < ^pvyeiv,
roast.] The typical genus of the important
neuropterous family Phryganeidx. it formerly in-
cluded all the caddis-flies then known, and was thus more
nearly conterminous with the modern family and equal to
the order or suborder Triehoptera. It is at present re-
stricted to about 12 species, widely distributed in Europe,
Asia, and North America, having rather slender wings with
dense pubescence on the anterior pair, and an oblique
transverse nervule between the costa and the subcosta.
Phryganeidae (frig-a-ne'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Phryganea + 4dse.]' Afamilyof triehopterous
neuropterous insects, typified by the genus Phry-
ganea, to which different limits have been as-
signed; the caddis-flies, (a) Including all caddis-
flies, and synonymous with the order Trictwptera or the
family Plidpennes. (6) Restricted to those caddis-flies in
which the maxillary palpi of the male are four-jointed,
only slightly pubescent, and shaped alike in both sexes.
This group contains the giants of the order Trichoptera,
and occurs only in the northern hemisphere. The larvte
live in still waters and make cylindrical oases of bits of
leaves and fibers spirally arranged. See cut under caddis-
worm.
Phrygian (frij'i-an), a. and n. [= F. Phrygien,
< L. Phrygianus,"< Phrygiits, < Gr. ^piyiog, Phry-
gian, < ^pif^^puy-), a Phrygian.] I. a. Pertain-
ing to Phrygia, an ancient province or country
in the interior of Asia Minor, or to the Phry-
gians— Phrygian cap. See cap.— Phrygian helmet,
a form of helmet suggesting the classical Phrygian cap.
This form, which is very rare in medieval representations,
is given to St. George, possibly with intention on the part
of the artist to denote the Oriental origin of the saint. —
Phrygian marble. SeemorWe.l.— PliiygUuimode. See
model, 7.— Phrygian ■work, gold embroidery ; orphrey-
work. See aunphrygia.
II, n. 1. A native or an inhabitant of
Phrygia. — 2. In eccles. Mst.,ssaaie as Montanist.
Phryma (fri'ma), n. [NL. (Linnseus, 1756), of
unknovirn origi'n.] A genus of plants, of the
gamopetalous order Verbenacex, eonstituting
the tribe Phrymese, known by the uniformly
one-celled ovary in a family characterized by
two- or four-celled ovaries. The only species, P.
leploltaAihya, is a plant widely diffused but nowhere
abundant, native of North America, Japan, and the Hima-
layan region. It is an erect herb, with a few stiff strag-
gling branches, opposite toothed leaves, and a long slen-
der spike of small scattered purplish flowers, at flrst erect,
then spreading, and in fruit reflexed, whence its popular
name, lopseed. The fruit is a small, dry, short-stalked utri-
cle, hooked at the apex, and adapted to distribution by
catching in the hair of animals.
Phrymese (fri'me-e), n.pl. [NL. (Bentham and
Hooker, 1876), <' Phryma + -ese.] A tribe of
plants, of the order Verienaceee, consisting of
the genus Phryma, characterized by the one-
celled and one-ovnled ovary, erect orthotropous
ovule, seed destitute of albumen, and reflexed
radicle.
Phrynichus (frin'i-kus), n. [NL. (Karsch,
1880).] A genus of arachnids, of the family
Phrynidse, in which the tibiee of the hind legs
have no subjoints, the maxillary palpi are much
longer than the body, which is slender and tubu-
liform, and the hand has four finger-like spines.
The genus is represented in southern Cali-
fornia.
Phrynida (frin'i-da), n. pi. [NL., < Phrynus
+ 4da.] An order of pulmonate Arachnida:
synonymous with Thelyphonida, See Pedipal-
pi^.
Pbrynidse (frin'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Phrynm +
■4dse. ] A family of piilmonate Arachnida of the
order Phrynida or Tlielyphonida, typified by the
genus Phrynus. The
abdomen is flat, oval, and
eleven-jointed; the postab-
domen is a mere rudiment,
like a button ; the cephalo-
thorax is flat, and covered
with a homy carapace ; the
pedipalps are long, strong,
six-jointed, and variously
armed, but their terminal
claw does not form a pincer ;
the first pair of legs are ex-
tremely long, slender, pal-
pilorm or even antennttonn,
and multiarticulate, the
fifth and sixth joints being
divided into ninety or more
subjoints ; and the eyes are
eight in number, two in the
central anterior region, and
a cluster of three on each
side. The species resemble
spiders with (apparently)
long feelers and a pair of
great claws. They are read-
ily distinguished from the only other family (Thayphani-
dse) of this order by not having a long tail like a scorpion.
They are nocturnal and sluggish, and live under stones
and logs. Compare also cut under Pedipalpi.
A Species of /'Af^KWj, about life-
size.
Fhrynorliombus
phrynorhombus (M-no-rom'bus), n. pfL.
(Gnnther, 1862), < 6r. dproof, a toad, + poji^,
a tnrbot.] A genns of flatfishes of the Conuly
Pleuroneetidse, having no vomerine teeOi. P.
vnimaeulabis is known as the topknot.
Fhiynosoma (fri-no-so'ma), n. [Nil. , < Gt. ^pS-
ixjf . a toad, + ou/uz, bodyTj A genns of lizards
of the family Iguanida, rnclnd^ig the curious
creatures known as horned toadg or hornedfrogs,
as P. comutum, P. orbiculare, P. douglasi, etc.
Some of them are Tecyabmidaiit in most puts of the west-
em SDd soatbwesteni United States and Goatbward. Some
attain a length of six indies, bnt they are nsnally amalL
The body is Tery flat, and more or less othicolar, with a
diort tan tapmng from a stont base, and shorter legs than
«'-- ' iff =-.-")
is nsnal in related lizards. The head is snrmonnted with
seTeral pairs of stout spines, largest in some of the sonth-
etiy and Mexican fonns, and the whole upper surface of
the body is roughly granular or tuberculous; the ond^
side is BmooQL The coloration of the upper parts is
Tsriegated with black, brown, gray, and reddish, in a
blotched pattern, and varies greatly, not only with the
different species^ but in different indiTidnals of ^e same
kind. The creatures have noUiing of the agility of most
lizards; they are clumsy in their motions^ ra&^ sluggish,
and cannot jump. They are perfecUy harmless, become
tame as soon as handled, and are often kept as pets for
Oieir oddity. Th^ feed on flies and other insects, bnt
can fost long, and may be safely sent by maH alive to any
part of Uie United States. Th^ bring forth alive. One
species (P. dmi^ati) occurs as tar norUi at least as flie
British bonnda^ of the United States.
Phiynns (fri'nns), n. [Nil. (OUvier, 1793), <
6r. ipvvoc, a toad.] The typical genns of the
family Fhrynidae. See cat under Phrymdae.
Phryxis (frik'sis), n. piL. (Cope, 1872).] A
genus of eave-dwelling arachnidans, eontain-
Pkryxis Zanffifa, (Line siiows natmal size.)
ing sneh forms as P. longipes of the Wyandotte
cave in Indiana : now considered synonymous
with Phalangodea.
Phthartolatrs (thar-tol'a-tre), fl. pi. [Nil., <
LGr.4Ai^oAarp^(oneof tte sect noted in def.),
< fBaprog, corruptible, + Aorpeietv, worship: see
latria.'i A sect of the sisth eentnry: same as
CorrajfticoUB.
phthinasis (thi-ri'a-sis), ». [= F. phihiriase,
phthiriasis = Sp. Miosis, < L. phthiriasis, < Gr.
idupiaatc, the lousy disease, < ^deipiav, have lice
or iJie lousy disease, < iOap, a louse.] The pres-
ence of lice on the body, with the irritation
produced thereby and its effects; the lousy
disease, formerly called morhuspedieiUosus.
Phthiriomyis (thir'i-o-nd'i-e), n. pi. [Nil., <
Gr. ^0up,2k louse, + fima, a fly.] A division of
pupiparous Diptera, consisting of the family
NycteribHdte, parasitic upon bats.
Fhtbilins (thir'i-us), «. [NL. (W. E. Leach,
1815), < Gr. <pdeip, a louse.] A genus of Pedi-
euUdx or true Hce, having the body broad and
flat, and the two hinder pairs of l^s very much
thickened ; the crab-lice (so called from their
appearance), p. pubis or ingmiudii is found on the
hair of the genitals, groin, and perineum, and occasionally
on other puts of ttie body. See cut nnder erakimae.
phthisic (tiz'ik), a. and n. [L a. (and IL n., 2).
Formerly also phUtisick, ptisike; = OP. Osique,
tesike, F. phthisique, now phtisique = Sp. tigico
= Pg. tigieo = It. tisieo, fUsieo, < L. phthisicus,
tnupUgicus, tisicus, < Gr. ^Ounmc, consumptive,
< ^^<c, consumption: see phthisis. H. n. 1.
Formerly also phthisidc, tisteh, tissiek, Uzsiek,
iysyke, tisie; < ME. tisike, < OF. Osique, P. phU-
sique = Sp. tisiea = Pg. tisica, phthisiea = It. Usi-
4459
ea. consumption, < L. phthisiea, fem. oiphthisi-
cu.<, < Gr. fbiauw^, consumptive : see L] I. a.
Same as phthisical.
IL n. 1. A consumption or wasting away;
phthisis. — 2. A person affected with phthisis.
liberty of speaking, then whic^ nothing is more sweet
to man, was girded azid stiaight lac't almost to a broken-
winded tizack. M^ton, On BeL of Bumb. Bemonsb
phthisical (tiz'i-kal), a. [Formerly j)t»*icfl7,
ptizieal; < phthisic -H -<rf.] Of or belonging to
phthisis; ^ected by phthisis; wasting the
flesh: as, af AtMsteal consmnption.
He . . . sobs me out half a doxen fUzital mottos wher-
ever he bad than, hopping short in the measure of convul-
sion-flts. Jfiiton, Apology for Smectymnuns, % 3.
phthisicky (tiz'i-H), a. [< phthisic{l:) + -yl.]
Phthisical.
Phihisieky old gentlewomen and frolicsome young ones.
Cdlman, The Spleen, i.
phthisiology (tiz-i-ol'6-ji), n. [= F. phfhisi-
ologie, < Gr. fdiai^, phAisis, + -layia, < "^Jh/zcv,
speak : see -ology.'] The sum of seientifie know-
ledge concerning phthisis.
phtmsipnenmonia (thiz'ip-nn-mo'nl-a), n.
[Nil., < Gr. fBicic, consumption (see phMsis),
+ irvti'pav, lungs: see j>ii«i(iiioiiMi.] Tupathol.,
phthisis.
phthisis (thi'sis), n. [= F. phthisis = Sp.
tisis = Pg. phtMsis = It. tisi, /Usi, fUsia, <
L. phthisis, < Gr. f6iatc, a wasting away, eon-
sumption, wane, decline, decay, < ^0iea>, waste
away, decline, wither, wane, decay.] A dis-
ease of the lungs, characterized by progressive
consolidation of pulmonary tissue, with break-
ing do^-n and the formation of cavities. This is
so extensively, if not exclnsiTely, pnlmonary tuberculosis
that the two names are often considered as equivalent.
Also called coimtB^Um Cllmid pbtblsis, slow-going
phfhisis, witii conMdenble production of connective tis-
sue.— Grinders' phtinais. Same as grmden! asOtma
(which se^ voider grinder). — niUiialS florida,Tery rs^id
phUiisis; galloping consumptioii.
phthisOZOiCS (tfai-zo-zo'iks), n. [< Gr. ^tecv
(^«7-), consume, destroy, + ^aoi>, an animal.]
See the quotation.
[Pht/usozoieg.] From two Greek words : one of which
signifies to destroy; tiieotti^ an animal. . .: — tiieartof
destroying such of the inferior animiilg as^ in fhe charac-
ter of natural enemies tiiresten destruction or damage —
to himself, or to such animals &om which, in the charac-
ter of natural servants or allies, it is in man's power to
extract uaefnl service.
Bentiam, Chrestomathia, note to table I. § 82.
phthongometer (thong-gom'e-ter), n. [Xli.,
< Gr. ^ayyoQ, the voice, a sound (see diphthong),
+ lUTpov, measure.] An instrument used for
measuring vocal sounds. WheweU. {Imp. Diet.)
phnlkari (fol'ka-ri), n. [Hind, ph&kari, a
tissued flower on cloth, etc., also an alkaline
efBoresceneeused to adulterate salt, <.phiil, a
flower, -I- -kdr, a suffix of agent.] A kind of
flower embroidery done by the natives of the
Panjab in India; also, a cloth so embroidered.
phnlwara (fnl-wa'ra), n. [£. Ind.] Same as
fuUca.
phyt (fi), interj. An obsolete spelling of fie^.
But, p^ tcr shame, when shal we cease this geare?
I to defle, and yon to fly for feare?
Sylvester, tr. of Du Butas's Weeks, iL, The Trophies,
Fhycidaet (fis'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Phyas +
-idsB.^ A family of pyralid moths, typified by
the genns Phyds: now called Phyeitidse.
Fhycinse (fi-si'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Phyeis +
-inseSi A sub&unily of gadoid fishes, named by
Swainson in 1839 from the genus Phyeis; cod-
lings. Two species are known in the United
States as squirrel-hakes.
Phyds (fi'sis), n. [NL. (Artedi, 1738), < Gr.
^unc, f., ^loKt m-i a flsb living in seaweed, <
fiiKoc, seaweed.] 1. In ichth., a genus of gadoid
fishes, typical of the subfamily Phycinse, having
a ray of the first dorsal more or less elongated
and filamentous; squirrel-hakes, p. cftussandp.
Moth ajid Case. (Line shows
nalnral size of moth.)
Squirrel-hake {Pkycts cAuss)
ienutgj together with a third species, P. chesteri, are found
along the Atlantic coast of the United States. They are
also known as codtings, and P. tenvig sranetimes as atver
hake. Th^ are quite different from the fishes more prop-
erly called hake (which seeX
2t. In CTitom., a genns of pyralid moths, erected
by Fabricius in 1798, and giving name to the
Phyddx or Phyeitidse. The name was changed by
phycozanthin
Curtis in 1828 to Phyeita, on
account of its preoccupa-
tion in ichthyology.
Ieq/-crvmp2er.
Phyeita (fis'i-ta), n.
[NL. (CJurtis, ^^S), <
Gr. diKOf, seaweed, fu-
cus: see fueus.'] The
typical genus of PAy-
eitidse, having cUiate
antennjB : same as Phy-
Ci.9, 2.
FhydticUe (fi-sit'l-de),
n.pl. [m,., < Pln/cita
+ -KfeB.] A family of pyralid moths, named
from the genns Phydta. The maxillaiy palps are
equal in the two sexes ; the labial palps sre concealed or
wanting; the fore wings have eleven, ten, or nine veln^
the first one not forked ; the hind wings have the middle
(%U dosed and the midrib hairy at the basa It is a large
and wide-spread group, whose members differ in habits^
some being leaf-crumpleis or leaf-folders, othera hotels,
and others camivorans. Formerly Phyeidx.
Phycochromaces (fi'ko-kro-ma'sf-e), n. pi.
[NL., < Gr. fvimc, seaweed, -t- xP'^M'^i color, +
-aceai.'} Same as Cryptophycese.
phycodbromaceoiIS (fi'ko-kro-ma'shins), a.
Eesembling or belonging to the order Phyeo-
chromacese.
phycochrome (fi'ko-krom), n. [< Gr. ipvuoc, sea-
weed, + ;rp^/<a, color.] The blmsh-green color-
ing matter of some aigm, a mixture of chloro-
phyl and phyeoeyanin.
Phycochromophyceae (fi'ko-kio-mo-fi'se-e), n.
pi. [NL., < Gr. fvnoQ, seaweed, + xpo/ut^ color,
+ fvKoc, seaweed, + -«e.] An order of Algse:
same as Cryptophyeese.
phycocyan (fi-ko-a'an), n. [< Gr. #koc, sea-
weed, + Kvav6^, blue.] Same ss phyeoeyanin.
phyeoeyanin, phycocyanine (fi-ko-^'a-nin), n.
[\ Gr. ^xof , seaweed, + loxrv^, t>lue7 + -tf»2,
-»Be2 (ef. eyamne)."] A blue coloring matter
which is present, in addition to chlorophyl, in
the cells of certain algse, and imparts to them
a bluish-green color, as in the Cyanophycex or
Phyeochromaceie. It is soluble in water, but
insoluble in alcohol or ether.
phyco-erythrin (fi'ko-e-rith'rin), n. [NL., <
6r. ^Koc, seaweed, + cpvBpog, red.] A red col-
oring matter to which the red seaweeds or
Florideae owe their peculiar coloring, whidi is
present, in addition to chlorophyl, in the cells.
It is soluble in water.
phycography (fi-kog'ra^fi), n. [< Gr. ^KOf, a
seaweed, + -ypa^a, < ypa^tv, write.] A scien-
tific or systematic description of algse or sea-
weeds.
phycologist (fi-kol'o-jlst), n. [< phyeolog-y +
-»sf.] One who is skilled in phycology; one
who studies algse or seaweeds ; an algologist.
phycology (fi-kol'6-ji), n. [= 'F.phyeologie, <
Gr. ^Koi, seaweed, + -Tjoyla, < ^iyeiv, speak:
see -ology J^ That department of botanical sci-
ence which treats of algse or seaweeds; algolo-
gy. [Kare.]
{Aiycomater (fi-ko-ma'ter), n. CNL., < Gr.
#(cof, seaweed, + un^p, Doric it&nip = L. mater,
mother.] The gelatin in which the spomles' of
algaceous plants first vegetate.
Phycomyces (fi-kom'i-sez), ». [NL. (Kanze),
<Gr. i^Koc, seaweed, + /aiisiKi a fungus.] A ge-
nus of phycomycetous fungi of the family Jfu-
coracese. The sp(ve-bearinghyp>ueareerect,iiot blanch-
ing, the sporangia spheroid or pyriform, and the spores
ovoid or spheroidal and hyaline. Three species are known,
of which P. nitengis very txmimon, growing on greasy sub-
stantses, as old bones and ofl-<»sks.
Phycomycetes (fi'ko-mi-se'te-e), n. pi. [NL.
(DeBary),<P%coi»yceg(-c*-)-h-ea.] Adivision
of fungi, named from the genus Phycomyces and
embracing the families MtuMreae, Peronospora-
eex, Saprolegniaceee, Entomophthoreae, Chytridi-
acese, and Protomycetacese. They are mostly para-
sitic on plants or animaiR ; a few are saprophytic. See Gie
above families or orders for special characterization and
illusfrataon.
Phycomycetes (fi-ko-mi-se'tez), n.pl. [NL.,
pL ot phycomyces.'] Same as Phycomycetese.
phycomycetous (fl-ko-ml-se'tus), a. Belong-
ing te the Phy corny ceteae : as, phycomycetous
fungi.
phycophaein (fi-ko-fe'in),n. [NL., < Gr. ^nof,
seaweed, -t- ^aiog, dusky, dun.] A reddish-brown
coloring matter present in the cells of certain
seaweeds. By Schutt it is limited to that part of the
compound pigment of the J<^(caee»and PAaxttpoFUK which
is soluble in water.
phycoxanthin, phycoxanthine (fi-kok-san'-
tmn), n. [< Gr. ^koq, seaweed, + ^av66g, yel-
low, + -in^, -ine^ (cf. xanthin)."] A yellow col-
oring matter: same as diatomin.
phygogalactic
phygogalactic (e*go-ga-lak'tik), a. and n. [<
Gr. ^yelv, (jieiiyeiv, shun, avoid, + yaTui (ya^Kr-),
milk.] I. a. Preventing the formation of milk
and promoting the reabsorption of what has
been already secreted.
H. n. An agent having these qualities.
phyla, n. Plural of p/t^fem.
Phylacterium found at St. Dun*
Stan's, Fleet Street, London. (From
** Archaeological Journal.")
-ed2.] Wearing a phylactery;" hence (because
the wearing of phylacteries was assumed to be
a sign of bigotry and of a desired separation
from the body of worshipers), narrow-minded;
bigoted; Pharisaical.
Who for the spirit hug the spleen,
Phylacter'd throughout all their mien ;
"Who their ill-tasted home-hrewed prayer
To the State's mellow forms prefer.
M. Green, The Spleen.
phylacteria, n. Plural otpliylacterium. .
phylacteric (fil-ak-ter'ik), a. [= Sp. filacterico
= Pg. phylaeterico; as phylactery + -ic] Of or
pertaining to the phylactery; accompanied by
the assumption of the phylactery.
phylacterical (fil-ak-ter'l-kal), a. [(.phylae-
teric + -al.'] Same as j)%tec<mc. L.Admson,
Christian Sacrifice,
p. 128.
pnylacterium (fil-
ak-te'ri-um), «.;
^\. phylacteria (-a).
[KL. : see phylac-
tery.'] A portable
reliquary. See phy-
lactery.
phylactery (fi-lak'-
te-ri), m.; i^l. phylac-
teries (-riz). [Now
written according to
the L. spelling; for-
merly philactery,
ME. philaterie, ear-
lier filaterie, < OF.
filaterie, philaterie,
also filaUere, philatiere, later phylacterie, phy-
lactere, F. phylact^e = 8p. filacteria = Fg.phy-
lateria = It. filateria; < LL. phylacterium, fy-
lacterium, a phylactery, < Gr. ij)v?iaiiTipiov, a post
for watchmen, or a garrison, a fort, castle, out-
post, also safeguard, preservative, esp. an amu-
let (whence the Jewish use), < (j/vkajiriip, a guard,
< ipvTiAaauv, watch, guard. ] A charm or amulet.
And Fathers, Councils, Church, and Church's head
Were on her reverend phylacteries read.
Dryden,, Hind and Panther, i. 399.
Happy are they who verify their amulets, and make
Vl^eiSx phyloGtaries speak in their lives and actions.
Sitr T. Brovme, Christ. Mor., iii. 10.
Specifically — (a) In JewisharMq., an amulet consisting of
a strip or strips of parchment inscribed with certain texts
from the Old Testament, and inclosed within a small lea-
ther case, which was fastened with straps on the forehead
just above and between the eyes, or on the left arm near
the region of the heart. The four passages inscribed upon
the phylactery were Ex. xiii. 2-10, 11-17, and Deut. vL 4-9,
13-22. The custom was founded on a literal interpreta-
tion of Ex. xiii. 16, and Deut. vL 8 and xL 18.
He which hath his Phylacteries on his head and armes,
and his knots on his garment, and his Schedule on his
doore, is so fenced that he cannot easily sinne.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 186.
(&) Among the primitive Christians, etc., a case in which
were inclosed relics of the saints. =SyiL (a) See defs. of
am/idet, talisman, and mezuzah.
Phylactolsemata (fi-lak-to-le'ma-ta), n. pi.
[NL., < Gr. ^Tmktoq, verbal adj. of '^vMaaeiv,
guard, + 7M.ijjb6i, throat.] A subclass or order
of Polyzoa, containing those whose lophophore
is bilateral, orescentie, or hippoerepiform, pro-
vided with a circlet of tentacles, and defended
by an epistoma. These polyzoans are larger, softer,
and more homogeneous than the Gymnoliemata, and are
specially characteristic of fresh water. The families Plu-
Ttiatdlidee and CrixtaMlidee are characteristic components
of the group. Also called Lophopoda and Hippocrepkt.
See cut under Po2^zoit.
phylactolsematous (fi-lak-to-le'ma-tus), a.
Pertaining to the Phylactolsemata, or having
their characters.
phylse, n. Plural oiphyle.
phylarch (fi'lark), ». [= F.phylarque,< L.
phylarchus, K Gr. ifmXapxoi, chief of a tribe, <
^vli), a tribe (see phyle), + apxeiv, rule.] In
ancient Greece, the chief or head of a tribe;
in Athens, the commander of the cavalry of a
tribe, the ten phylarchs being under the orders
of the two state hipparchs, the commanders-
in-chief of the cavalry.
phylarchy (fi'lar-ki), n. ; pi. phylarehies (-kiz).
[= F. phylarchie, < Gr. (jivhipxia, the office of
phylarch, < ih%apxoQ, a phylarch: see phylarch.]
4460
In ancient Greece, the headship of a tribe or
clan; the office or authority of a phylarch.
phyle (fi'le), n.; pi. phylx (-le). [NL., < Gr.
(^vM), a body of men joined by ties of birth, a
tribe, clan, class, phyle (cf . ipvkrv, a tribe : see
phylum),<. fveiv, produce, il)vea8at, grow : see &el.]
In ancient Greece, a tribe or clan ; one of the
subdivisions normally based on ties of blood, of
which the aggregate constituted a community.
In Athens the tribes did not rest on family relationship,
but were at first geographical divisions, then classes
formed according to occupation or wealth. Clisthenes
abolished the old tribes, and distributed his fellow-citizens
among ten new ones, named after ancient Attic heroes,
and arranged upon geographical lines and democratic
ideas ; and this arrangement persisted through the glo-
rious time of Attic history. Every full citizen of Athens
was registered in a phyle, in a deme, and in a phratry.
Every phyle was a political unit, to which were allotted the
choice of 60 of the 600 senators and that of its due pro-
portion of dioasts and of the higher civil and military of-
ficers of the state ; and every phyle was required to con-
tribute in a fixed proportion to the military service, to the
various liturgies, etc.
phyletic (fi-let'ik), a. [< Gr. fyXeriKSc, < fvlirrK, a
tribesman, < ^w/l^, a tribe : s&e phyle.] 1. Per-
taining to a race or tribe. Hence — 2. In iiol.,
pertaining to a phylum of the animal kingdom,
or to the construction of phyla ; phylogenetio.
Phyllactinia(fil-ak-tiu'i-a),TO. [NL. (L6veill6),
< Gr. ^vXTmv, leaf (see phyXlary), + cktIc (aKTtv-),
ray. ] A genus of pyrenomy cetous fungi of the
family Erysipheee. Each perithecium contains several
asci, and the appendages are needle-shaped and abruptly
swollen at the base. The only well-known species is P.
sufvUa, which grows upon the leaves of a great variety of
plants, especially weody plants.
phyllade (fil'ad), n. [< Gr. foXkaq (fu/lAod-), a
bunch of leaves, < MOmv = Jj. folium, leaf.] In
iot., one of the small imperfect leaves in Isoetes,
alternating with the fertile leaves, in the sub-
merged species these consist of a small lamina with no
sheath, and in the terrestrial species they are reduced to
mere scales.
Phyllanthese (fi-lan'the-e), n.pl. [NL. (Bart-
ling, 1830), < PhyllantJius + -ex.] A tribe of
plants of the order Euphorbiacese, distinguished
by carpels with two contiguous ovules in the
central angle, and the seed-leaves much broad-
er than the radicle, it includes 64 genera, mainly
tropical, of which Phyllanthus is the type. For other
principal genera, see Putranjiva and ToseicodeTidron.
Phyllanthus (fi-lan'thus), n. [NL. (Linnteus,
1737), so called from species with flowers seated
on leaf-like flattened branches ; < Gr. ^/lAov, a
leaf, -I- Avdog, flower (cf. L. phyllanthes, < Gr.
fvXkavBig, a plant with prickly leaves, prob.
scabious).] A large genus of plants, of the ov-
AetEuphorhiacex, type of the tribe Plvyllanthese,
characterized by the entire alternate leaves
and apetalous monoecious flowers, the male in
glomerate clusters and with from two to six
stamens, and by the pistil consisting of from
three to many carpels, their two-cleft styles not
dilated below the apex. There are about 460 species,
very widely dispersed throughout the warmer parts of the
world, rarer in temperate climates. They are either herbs,
shrubs, or trees, of great variety in appearance. The
leaves are generally two-ranked, and so arranged as to
make the branches resemble pinnate leaves. The small
greenish flowers are axillary or at the nodes of leafless add
often flattened branches, and are often tinged with yel-
low or purple. Several species are in medicinal repute as
diuretics in India, as P. Mruri and P. urinaria. The
bruised leaves of P. Cffna/mi are there used to stupefy fish.
(Compare Piseidia.) Many species are cultivated under
the name leaf-JUmer, from the blooming leaf-like branch-
es, or cladodia. (See cut under clodode.) The snow-bush,
cultivated for its white flowers, is P. nivalis, native of the
New Hebrides. Many others are cultivated as ornamental
evergreen shrubs under the names of EmiHica and Xylo-
phyUa, the latter a numerous group of woody-branched
shrubs with orange-red flowers, chiefly from the West In-
dies. For other species, see OtahMte gooseberry (under
gooseberry), seaside la/urel (under laurel, 3), and emblio my-
robalan (under myrobalan). The last produces an edible
fruit, used for preserves and in dyeing and tanning, and
long famed as an astringent medicine (but not now so
used), and a durable wood, used for implements, building,
and furniture in India and Burma. The so-called Otaheite
gooseberry is also known as star-gooseberry.
phyllary (fil'a-ri), n. ; pi. phyllaries (-riz). [<
Nh. phyllarium,<. Gr. ^vlMpipv, a leaflet, dim. of
i^iXkov = Ij. folium, a leaf: seefoiP-.] In hot.,
one of the leaflets forming the involucre of
composite flowers.
phyllidla, n. Plural of phylUdium.
Phyllidiobranchiata (fl-lid"i-6-brang-ki-a'ta),
n. pi. [NL., < phylUdium + L. hrancMse, gills :
see Iranchiate.] A suborder of palliate or tec-
tibranehiate opisthobranchiate gastropods, in
which the ctenidia are replaced by lateral la-
mellar functional gills. It contains the lim-
pets only. See Patellidee.
phyllidiobranchiata (fl-lid'''i-orbrang'ki-at), a.
Pertaining to the Phyllidiobranchiata, or hav-
ing their characters, as a limpet.
Fhyllium
phyllidlum (fl-lid'i-um), n.; pi. phylMia (-ft).
[NL., < Gr. ^A^lov, leaf, + dim. suffix -iitav.}
One of the rudimentary ctenidia of the phyl-
lidiobranchiate gastropods, as limpets, called
by Lankester capit(^edal bodies.
Phyllirhoe (fi-lir'9-e). n. [NL., prop. *Phyl-
lorrhoe, < Gr. ^TJuoppdog, shedding leaves, fvl-
Tixipoelv, shed leaves, < ^li}i?iov, leaf, + f)6^, flow, <
^slv, flow.] 1. The typical genus of Phyllirho-
idee. p. bueepJialiis, the best-known species. Is a lilghlyr
PhyUirkog bucephalus.
phosphorescent oceanic organism, bearing little resem-
blance to a mollusk. It Is thin and translucent, without
gills, shell, or foot, ending in a rounded tail-like fln witfr
which It swims like a flsh, and bearing upon the head ai
pair of long tentacles. Also Phytlirhoa and Phyllirrhee.
2. [I. c] A member of this genus.
phylllrhoid (fil'i-roid), a. and m. I. a. Pertain-
ing to the Phyllirhoidse, or having their charac-
ters.
II. n. A member of the PhylUrhoidee.
Phyllirhoidae (fil-i-ro'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Phyl-
lirhoe -i--idie.] A family of nudibranchiate gas-
tropods, typified by the genus Phyllirhoe. These-
singularly degenerate and simple moUusks have no cteni-
dia, cerata, mantle-skirt, or other processes of the body-
wall, even the foot being aborted. The intestine ends on
the right side, and the head has two long tentacles. They
are now sometimes ranked with Polybranehiata in a dis-
tinct section called Abraiuihia, but were formerlyreferredi
to the pteropods, the heteropods, and even the tunicates.
Also c^ed ocean f^ugs and PgUosonutta.
phyllisi (fil'is), n. [< L. PhylUs (Virgil, Hor-
ace), < Gr. *tjA/.if , a f em. name : so called in allu-
sion to Phyllis as the name in old plays and ro-
mances and pastoral poems of a country girl,
or shepherdess, or sweetheart. Ct. philander.]
A country girl ; a shepherdess ; a sweetheart r
a common name for such in old romances, pas-
toral poems, etc.
phyllis^ (fil'is), V. t. [< phyllis^ n. Cf . philMi-
der, v.] To address or celebrate in amatory-
verses. [Rare.]
He passed his easy hours, instead of prayer.
In madrigals and phillyHnff the fair.
Garth, Dispensary, L
Phyllis^ (fil'is), n. [NL. (Linnaaus, 1737),
so called from the handsome green leaves ana
their ornamental venation; < L. ph/yllis, an
almond-tree, < Gr. ^TJdg, foliage, < ^iiKTuov, a
leaf.] A genus of undershrubs of the gamopet-
alous order Bubiacese and the tribe Anthosper-
meee, characterized by stamens inserted on the-
base of the corolla, and fruit consisting of two
pyrif orm indehisoent carpels. The only species is
a native of the Canaries and the island of Madeira. It
bears opposite or whorled, broadly lanceolate leaves, stip-
ules united with the petioles into a sheath, and numerous-
minute whitish flowers in panicles, with tnread-Uke erect
stems, nodding in fruit. It is cultivated as a hardy ever-
green, sometimes under the name of bastard hare'sear-
(which see, under hare's-ear).
phyllite (fil'it), n. [= P. phylUthe (for *phyl^
Ute) = Pg. phyllite = It. Mite, < Gr. ^wAAi'-nyf , of
or belonging to leaves, < ^{lA&v, leaf: see phyl-
lary.] One of the names given to clay-slate or
argillaceous schist, it was introduced by Naumann-
as a substitute for thephijUade of D'Aubuisson. It is little
used by authors writing in English. By some later lithol-
ogists phyllite has been used as the equivident of ottre-
lite-slate, a schistose rock containing fine lamellse of the
mineral ottrelite.
Phyllites (fi-U'tez), n. [NL.: see phyllite.]
A name under which a great variety of fossil
leaves have been placed, in regard to whose
affinities nothing definite was kno-wn.
phyllitic (fi-lit'ik), a. [,< phyllite + -ic] Hav-.
ing the charac-
ters of phyllite,
or composed of
that rock.
Generally the slates
axe schisUtee, phyllit-
ic, and chiastolitic.
Nature, XXXIX. 81.
Phyllium (fil'i-
um), «. [NL., <
Gr. d)ii2,?uov, dim.
of (pv}i,?j)v, a leaf:
see phyllary.] A
genus of orthop-
terous insects be-
longing to the
family Phasmi-
dae, and popular- ,
ly known by the ^=^'-"==" [StrTi.i^l'""^'"'"^
PhylUnm
name of Jeaf-ingects or walking-leaves. Some of
them have wiog-coTera 8o closely nEembling the leaves of
Slants that they are easDy mistaken lor the vegetable pio-
actions around them. The eggs, too, bear a cnrlons re-
semblance to the seeds of plants. Th^ are for the most
part natives of the East Indies Aostralja, and South
America. The males have long antennse and wings, and
can fly ; the females have short antenns, and are incaoa-
ble of flight '^
pbyllobranchiai (fil-o-brangti-a), n. ; pi. pA^j-
lobranehise (-e). [< (Jr. ^/Jmv, leaf, + ^payxia
(L. branchise, sing, bronchia), gills: see bran-
ehiie.'] One of the lamellar or foliaceons giUs
of crustaceans.
In the prawns and shrimps, in Gebia and Callianassa,
in all the Anomora and Btachynra, the gills are phyllo-
branchia. Huxley, Proc ZooL 8oc., 1878, p. 777.
Phyllobranchia2(fil-o-brang']d-a),n.^?. [XL.,
< Gr. ^Ajum, leaf, +' Ppayxia, ^Hb: see bran-
ehim.'] A division of crustaceans, containing
those decapods which are phyllobranchiate.
phyllobranchial (fil-o-brang'M-al), a. {<pliyl-
lobranchia^ + -dl.'] Lamellar offoliaceous, as
gills; of or pertaining to phyllobranchisB.
pliylloliraiicliiate (fil-o-brang'ki-at), a. [<
pnyUobranehia^ + -ale^.'] Having phyllobran-
ebiffi, as a crab.
^hylloclade (fil'5-klad), n. Same asphyUocla-
dium.
phyllocladinm (fil-o-Ha'di-um), n.; yl.phyl-
lodadia (-a). [NL., < 6r. (pi/^ov, leaf, + ida6oc,
branch.] In bot., a stem or branch which as-
sumes tiie fonctions of foliage. The broad,
succulent stems of the Caetaeex are familiar
examples.
phyllocyanin (fil-o-sa'a-nin), n. [< Gr. (pv^Xov,
leaf, + idiavoi, bine : see eyanine.'] See chloro-
phyl.
pliyllocyst (fil'o-sist), n. [< Gr. ipvXXov, lea^
+ nixsTiQ, bladder: see cyst^ A cyst or cavity
in the hydrophyllinni of certain oceanic hydro-
zoans. See cut under cUphyzooid.
phyllocyBtic (fil-o-sis'tik), a. [< phyUocyst +
-icJ] Pertaining to or having the character of
a pl^llocyst.
phyllode (fil'od), ». [= F.phyUode, < JHh.phyl-
lodium: seephytlodium.'] Same as phyUodium.
pbyllodia, n- Plural of phyUodium,
phyllodineons (fil-o-din'e-ns), a. [<p1iyUodium
+ -in + -eous.'] In bot., resembling or belong
ing to a phyUodium.
phyllodiliiation (fil-o-din-l-a'shon), n. [< phyU
lodineous + ^i-ation.']' In&ot., the slate of being
phyllodineons ; the formation of twig-like parts
instead of true leaves. B. Brou^n.
phyllodinm (fi-ld'di-um), n. ; pL phyUodia (-a).
piL., < Gr. ^U&StK, like leaves, rich in leaves,
< ^iXm, leaf, + ditof , form.] In
bot., a petiole which usurps the
form and function of a leaf-
blade, as in many species of
Acada, it has nsn^y been farther
distingnished from a tnie blade by the
statement that it normally presents
the edges Instead of Xbs f^ces to the
earth and sky ; bat recent investigation
proves that this does not always hold
good, since some tmdonbted phyllodia
are not vertical, bnt are dorsiventrally
placed, like tme leaves. The Sonth
American Oxalis bufkUTifdlia is an ex-
ample. Also phyUode. See also cat
vxAev petiole.
Pbyllodoce (fi-lod'6-se), n. [NL.
(Brown, 1756), < ll. PhyUodoce,
a sea-nymph, daughter of Ne-
rens and Doris ; no correspond-
ing Gr. form appears.] 1. A genus of oceanic
hydrozoans of the family FhysophoridsB. Also
PhyUidoee. Lesson, 1843. — 2. The typical ge-
nus of PhyHodoeidse. P. viridis is the palolo,
also, however, placed in the genus Lysidice,
and now in Palolo,
Phyllodocidae (fil-o-dos'i-de), n. pi. [NIi., <
PhyUodoce + -idse.'] A family of polyelwBtous
annelids, having the parapodia modified as
swimming-plates by a widening of the ends of
the separated or fused parapodia, or of their
cirri: typified by the genus Phyllodoee. They
are known as leaf-bearing worms.
phyllody (fil'o-di), n. [< Gr. ^226d^, like
leaves: see phyUodium.'] In 6o*., the condition
in which true leaves are substituted for some
other organ — that is, in which other organs are
metamorphosed into green leaves. This condi-
tion may occasionally occur in bracts, the calyx, corolla,
ovules, pisUIs, and stamens. C^ed froTtdeseenee by £n-
gelmann, and phyUomorphy by Morren.
phyllogen (fil'o-jen), n. [< Gr. <pv^M>v, leaf, +
-yev^g, producing: see -gen.] Same as phyUo-
pJwre.
4461
phyllogenons (fl-loj'e-nns), a. [< Gr. ^v'/jxni,
leaf, + -yev^c, producing: see -genous.] Grow-
ing upon leaves. Thomas, Med. Diet.
FhylloglOBSIlin(fil-o-gloB'nm),n. [XL. (Ennze,
1843), < Gr. ^niiXov, leaf, + yiaaca, tongue.]
A peculiar monotypic genus of plants of the
natural order Lyeopodiacese. They are acanlescent
plants, with abasal rosette of from six to nine linear-subu-
late leaves, and a peduncled sjpike crowded with reniform
one-celled two-valved sporangia, each subtended by a cus-
pidate bract. P. Drummondii, Uie only specie^ is found
in Ansbalia, Tasmania, and New Zealand.
phylloid (fil'oid), a. [= F. phyVrnde, < Gr.
'fviXoeiS^g, eontr. ^^XiidtK, leM-Uke, < ^72ov,
leaf, -I- eidof, form.] Leaf-like; foUaceous.
Also phyUoideous.
phylloideons (fi-loi'df-us), a. [< phyUoid +
-eous.] Same SkS phyUoid.
pliyllomania (fil-o-ma'ni-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
^AAov, leaf, -t-iMvia, madness (see mania). Cf.
Gr. ^XAo/iovnv, run wildly to leaf.] In bot.,
the production of leaves in unusual numbers
or in unusual places.
phyllome (fil'om), n. [< Gr. tj>iA?Mim, leafage,
foliage, < ipv^^mn/, clothe with leaves, < tjiiiTSov
= li.foUwn, leaf: see foiU.] In bot., the leaf
in all it-s modifications ; foliage. Also phyU
loma.
We call foliage leaves, tendiUs, and anthers in their
various adaptations, metamorphosed leaves or phyUomes.
DeBary, Fungi (trane.^ P- 256.
Fhyllomednsa (fil'6-me-du'sa), n. [NL. (Wag-
ler), < Gr. ^Wov, leaf, + Irtj. (L.) Medusa.]
PhyUodimn (a)
of Acacia hetero-
fkylla.
Phyllomedusa bicotor.
The typical genus of PhyUomedusidae, having
apposable digits, so that the feet can be used
for grasping, "niere are several species, as P.
Mcolor of Sonth America.
Fhyllomednsidae (fil'o-mf-dn'si-de), n. pi.
[NL. (Gunther), < PhyUomedusa + -idaB.] A
family of salient anurous Batrachia, typified by
^e gem-as PhyUomedusa. They have free platydactyl
digits, maxillary teeth, ears perfect^ developed, parotoids
present, and sacral sqwphyses dilated. The famUy is now
usnally merged in Hjfiida.
phyllomic (fi-lom'ik), a. [< phyllome + -ic.]
In bot., of the nature of a phyllome; resem-
bling a phyllome. Nature, XXXTV. 17.
phyllomoipliy (fil'o-mdr-fi), n. [< Gr. ^Um,
leaf, + iwpit^, form!] Same as phyUody. Aiso
phyUonwrphosis.
Fhyllopbaga (fi-lofa-ga), n.pl. [NL. (Hartig,
1837), < Gr. ^Xaov, leaf, + ipayeiv, eat.] 1. In
entom. : (a) A series of seeurif erous hymenop-
terous insects, including the saw-flies or Ten-
thredinidae. They have the trochanters two-jointed, an-
terior tibise two-spurred, abdomen connate with the tho-
rax, and the ovipositor formed of two saws which are al-
ternately protruded. (6) A section of lamellicom
beetles which are leaf-eaters, as the chafers,
conterminous with Macleay's two families Ano-
plognafhidse&nAMelolonfhidx. LatreiUe. Also
Phyllophagi. — 2. In mammal., a group of eden-
tates corresponding to the Bradypoda, or sloths.
Owen, 1842.
phyllophagan (fl-lof 'a-gan), «. [< PhyUophaga
+ -an.] A member of the PhyUophaga, in either
sense.
phyllophagoxis (fi-lof 'a-gns), a. [= F.phyUo-
phage, < Gr. (jAMov, leaf, + <j>ayelv, eat.] Leaf-
eating; feeding on leaves; of or pertaining to
the PhyUophaga or PhyUophagi.
phyllophore (fil'o-for), n. [< Gr. <^Mo<p6poc,
bearing leaves: see phyUophorous.] In bot..
Phyllorhiniiiae
the terminal bud or growing-point in a palm.
Also phyllogen.
phyllopnorons (fi-lof 'o-rus), a. [< Gr. t^vUc^
pog, bearing leaves, < *iA^ov, leaf, + iipetv = E.
bear^.] 1. Leaf-bearing; producing leaves. —
2. In sooi., having foliaceousor leaf-like parts
or organs; speeificaUy, provided with a nose-
leaf, as a bat.
Phyllopnenste (fiJ-op-nu'ste), «. See PhyUop-
seuste.
phyllopod (fil'6-pod), a. and n. [< NL. *phyl-
lepus {-pod-), < Gr. 91/ /ot, leaf, + n-oif (irod-)
= 'E.foot.] I, a. Having foliaceous feet; hav-
ing the Umbs expanded and flattened like
leaves; specifically, of or pertaining to the
PhyUopoda.
n. n. A cmstacesui of the order PhyUopoda.
Fhyllopoda (fi-lop'o-da), n. pi. [NL.: see
phyUopod.] 1. An order of entomostracou»
crustaceans, the leaf -footed crustaceans, some-
times forming (with Ostracopoda and Cladoce-
ra) a suborder of Branchiopoda. in Iatreille'»
classiflcatioD the phyllopods were a section of his bian-
cbiopods^ corresponding to the modem order of PhyUo-
poda, and divided into (a) CeratophOudma, with the gen-
era lAmnadia and Bathjeria (composing the modern fam-
ily EstherUdx) and Artemia and Braneft^na (the modem
family BrancldpodMai), and (%) Aspidopliara, with the gen-
era Apug and Lepidurus (the modem family Apodidse or
Apugtdas). The feet in phyllopods are very variable in
number, and those of the locomotory series aro membra-
nous or foliaceous, as implied in the name. Excepting in
Branchipodidae, the body bears a very large carapace,
which in the Limnadiidx takes t^e form of a bivalve shell
with a hinge, closed by adductor muscles, into which the
legs can be withdrawn. Bnt this carapace is not a cepha-
lothorax as is usual in crustaceans. Two pairs of ant^n8&
are usually present. The month-parts are a pair of man-
dibles, two pairs of maxillae, and in some forms a pair of
maxlllipeds. Phyllopods hatch from the egg in the nanp-
lins st2^e ; in some of them parthenogenesis occurs, and
the ^gs are notable for their abilify to withstand desicca-
tion without losing their vitality. Phyllopods inhabit
chiefly fresh-water ponds, sometimes swarming in vast
numbers. Thespeciesof.^r<eniia,as.<l.«i^7ux, are known
as brine-ikriji^. The phyllopods are an old type, going
back to the Devonian, and have some resembluice to tri-
lobites. See cuts under Apia, BOheriidx, and Ixnatetii.
2. In conch., in J. £. Gray's classification (1821),
one of several orders of Conchophora, contain-
ing dimyarian bivalve moUusks having the foot
lamellar or elongate.
phyllopodal (fi-lop'o-dal), a. [< phyUopod +
-al.] Same a.sphyllopo3. Claus, quoted in En-
cye. Brit., VI. 650, note. [Rare.]
pliyllopodail (fi-lop'o-dan), a. and n. [<phyl-
U^od + -an.] Same as phyUopod.
pl^llopode (fil'o-pod), n. [< Gr. ^XKav, leaf,
+ 7roi>c (jrmJ-) = E. foot. Cf . phyUopod.] In
bot., the dilated sheathing-base of the frond of
Isoetes, an organ analogous to the petiole of
a leaf. It is hollowed into a pouch which in-
closes the sporangium. J. Gay.
phyllopodifoim (fil-o-pod'i-f6rm), a. [< NL.
*phyUopus (^od-), a phyUopod, + L. forma,
form.] Eesembling or related to a phyUopod.
Encyc. Brit., VI. 650.
phyllopodous (fi-lop'o-dus), a. l< phyUopod +
-ous.] Same as phyUopod.
Fhyllopsenstfe (fil-op-sus'te), n. [NL. (Meyer,
1815), also Phyllopseustes (Gloger, 1834), also,
appar. by a typographical error long afterward
current, PhyUopneuste (Boie, 1828), and Phyl-
lopneustes (Bonaparte, 1838); appar. so called
from some deceptive similarity to leaves ; < Gr.
i^iXov, leaf, + ipevarpg, a liar, cheat, as adj.
false, < ^jievdeai, deceive, cheat, rl>evdea6ai, lie.]
An extensive genus of smaU warblers of the
family Sylviidae, now conamonly caUed Phyl-
loscopus. See cut under PhyUoscopus.
phylioptosis (fil-op-to'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. ^z-
Aow, leaf, + Trraaic, a falling, < ■a'firruv, f aU.] In
bot., the fall of the leaf.
Fhyllorhilia (fil-o-n'na), «. [NL. : seephyUo-
rhine.] The typical genus of horseshoe-bats of
the family Bhinolophidx and subfamily PhyUo-
rhininse, containing about 20 species which have
the leaf not lanceolate behind and not covering
the nostrils. They have 1 incisor, 1 canine, 1 or 2 pre-
molars, and 3 molars in each upper half-jaw, and 2 incisors,
1 canine, 2 premolars, and 3 molars in each under half- jaw.
See cut on following page.
phyllorhine (fil'o-rin), a. andm. [<NL. "phyl-
lorhinus, prop, "phyllorrhinus, < Gr. (jni^/oi; leaf,
+ ptf {p">-), nose.] I. a. Having a nose-leaf,
as a bat; speeificaUy, of or pertaining to the
Phyllorhininae.
TL. n. A bat of the svibiaroiiy PhyUorhininsB.
Phyliortainuiae (fil'o-ri-nl'ne), n. pi. [NL., <
PhyUorhina + -inse.] A subfamily of leal-nosed
bats of the family Bhinolophidae, typified by
the genus PhyUorhina, having the toes with
only two phalanges apiece, and the iUopec-
Fhyllorhininse
Head of Leaf-nosed Bat (^Pkyllorhina iridens).
tineal spine united with a bony process of the
iliTim.
Phyllomis (fi-16r'nis), ». [NL. (Temminck,
1829, a^par. from a manuscript name of Boie's),
< Gr. fuMm>, a leaf, + 5pv(f, bird.] A genus of
birds, giving name to the PliyllornUhinse ; the
OTeenbulbuIs: synonymous with Chloropsis.
pnylloscopine (fi-los'ko-pin), a. [< Phylloscopits
+ -i»ei.] In ornith., resembling a species of
Phylloseopus in the character of the bill: said
of certain warblers. S. SeeboJim.
Phylloscopus^ (fi-los'ko-pus), n. [NL. (Boie,
1826), < Grr. ipvXTiov, leaf, + aiwirelv, view.] An
extensive genus of Old World warblers of the
family SyUmdsB and subfamily Sylviinse. The
type is Sylma trocMus; it has twelve Tectrices, yellow ax-
4462
bnacm on the grape (thought to be one form of the blaok-
rot), P. acericofa on the maple, etc.
Phyllostoma (fi-los'to-ma), n. [NL. (Geoffrey,
1797) : see phyllostomatoiis.'] A South Ameri-
can genus of phyUostomine bats from which
the subfamily and the family each takes its
name. p. kaetatum is one of the largest hats of South
America, next in size to Vampirus spectrum; P. elonga-
tuTti is smaller, with a larger nose-leaf.
Phyllostomatids (fil'S-sto-mafi-de), n. pi.
[NL., < Phyllostoma {-st'omai-) + -idss.'] A fam-
ily of tropical and subtropical .American bats
of the embaUonurine series. They have a nose-leaf
or other cutaneous appendages of the snout (somewhat as
in RkiiwlopMdse or horseshoe-bats, which are, however, of
a different alliance (the vespertiUonine)), three phalanges
of the middle Anger, and large middle upper incisors.
The eyes are comparatively large, and there is a distinct
tragus (wanting in BMnolophida). The family includes
the vampire-bats, some of which are true blood-suckers,
as the genera Desmodon and Diphylla. The presence of
variously formed appendages of the snout has often caused
bats of this group to be contused with the horseshoe-hats ;
but the presence of a tragus alone is sufficient to distin-
guish the phyllostomes. Leading genera are Mormope,
Vampirus, Phyllostoma, Glotsophaga, Stenoderma, and
Desmodon. The family is divisible into PhyllosUymatina
and LobostoTnatinsR. Mso PhylloBUmddas.
Phyllostoniatiiiae (fil-o-sto-ma-ti'ne), n. pi.
[NL., < Phyllostoma (stomat-) •V-4nx.'] A sub-
family of New World bats of the 'family P%to-
stomatidse, having a distinct diversiform nose-
leaf and either foliaceous or warty appendages
of the chin. See cuts under Desmodonies,
Glossophaga, Stenoderma, and Vampyrus.
phyllostomatous (fil-o-stom''artus), a. [< (Jr.
^liMcrv, leaf, + af6/ia, mouth.]' Leaf-nosed, as
a bat ; belonging to the family Phyllostomatidx.
phyllostome (fil'o-stom), n. [< TiUj. pJn/Uosto-
ma.J A leaf-nosed bat of the genus Phyllosto-
ma or family PhyllostomaUdse.
Phyllostomidse (fil-o-stom'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Phyllostoma + -idse.'] Same as Phyllosto-
matidsB.
phyUostomine (fi-los'to-mln), a. \_<.pliyllostome
+ -jjiel.] Leaf -nosed,' as a bat ; phyllostoma-
tous or phyllostomous ; of or pertaining to the
Yellow-browed Warbler {Phyiioscopus sufiercUiosus).
illaries, and the greater wing-coverts with pale tips. The
f ourBritishspecies are P. rtyte, the chiffchafC ;'P. irooWMS,
thfi willow- warbler; P. ^MLatrixi, the wood- warbler; and
P. sapertMosux, the yellow-browed warbler. See also cut
under cMffchaff. Compare PhyXtopseiude.
Phyllosoma (fil-o-so'ma), n. [NL.,< Gr. ^"kTMv,
leaf, + oa/io, body.] A spurious genus of crus-
taceans, based on certain larval forms called
by Leach Phyllosoma cla/vicornis. See glass-crab.
Phyllosomata (fil-o-s6'ma-ta), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. ^ijKKov, leaf, + aaiia (aa/iar-), body.] A spuri-
ous group of crustaceans, based on certain lar-
val forms; the glass-crabs. They were by LatreHle
made the second family of StmnaU^oda, under the name
of JBipelta^ composed of forms wmch are remarkable for
their rounded shape and the transparency of their tegu-
ments. They are now known to be larval forms of maeru-
rous decapods, as Palinurida and SeyUaridee. The name
is retained for such larvee. See cut under glass-cro^.
Phyllostachys (fi-los'ta-kis), n. [NL. (Siebold
and Zucoarini, 1837), so called with ref. to the
leaf-bearing lower branches of the inflores-
cence ; < Gr. (jATilov, leaf, + ar&xvq, spike.] A
genus of arborescent grasses, of the tribe Bami-
ousese and subtribe Arundinariese, character-
ized by the one- to four-flowered spikelets, in
spikes partly included within imbricated spa-
thaceous bracts. They are tall grasses with cylindrical
culms and prominent nodes, producing numerous dense
or loose panicled spikes, and short-petioled leaves, jointed
with the sheatli and tessellated with little transverse vein-
lets. The 4 or 5 species are natives of China and Japan,
resemble the bamboo, and furnish material for walking-
sticks and bamboo chairs. P. mgra is the wanghee-cane
of China, with black, nearly solid stems reaching 25 feet.
P. iamtMuMes is a dwarf species from which yellowish
canes are made.
Phyllosticta (fil-o-stik'ta), n. [NL. (Persoon),
< Gr. ^tiAAov, lea'f, + trri'in-iif, spotted, < aHieiy,
prick, stab: see stigma.'] A genus of parasitic
fungi of the class Sphieropsidese, order Sphaeri-
oidex, probably representing stages in the life-
history of other forms. The perithecia, which occupy
discolored spots on the leaves, are minute, opening with a
terminal pore. About 350 species are recognized, which
cause the well-known leaf-spot disease in many plants— P.
Catalpse on the oatalpa, P. pinna on the apple, P. Kosee
on roses, P. RiMs on cultivated species of Bibes. P. La-
striped Flea-
beetle {Phyllo-
treta •vittaia),
enlarged.
phylloxera-mite
Phylloxera (fil-ok-se'rS), n. [NL. (Ponseo-
lombe, 1834), < Gr. i^hnmi, leaf, + ^npk, dry.]
1. A genus of plant-lice or homopterous in-
sects of the family Aphididse and subfamily
Chermfisinse, usually of gall-making habits.
The front wings have two discoidal veinSj and the an-
tenna; are three-jointed, the third joint bemg much the
longest. The young larvae have one-jointed tarsi, and all
forms are destitute of honey-tubes. It Is a somewhat
large genus, nearly all of whose species are North Amer-
ican, forming galls on the leaves of the hickory in par-
ticular, but also on those of the chestnut, butternut, and
oak, as P. rileyi, the oak-pest. One species, P. vastatrix,
is a formidable pest of the European grape (,Vitis vinifera).
See def. 2.
2. [Z. c] A member of this genus, especially the
species just named, known as the grape-vine
phylloxera and vine-pest, the worst enemy of the
European or vimifera gp&pe. The fact that a vine-
disease which had long existed in southern France was
due to this insect was discovered in 1865 by Planchon,
who described the insect as P. vastatrix. The species
phyllostomous (fi-los'to-mus), a. Same asphyl-
lostomvne.
phyllotactic (fil-o-tak'tik), a. [< phyllotaxis,
after tactic.^ Of or pertaining to phyllotaxis.
phyllotaxis (fll-o-tak'sis), n. [NL. : see phyl-
lotaxy.] In hot, the distribution or arrange-
ment of leaves on the stem; also, the laws
collectively which govern such distribution.
Leaves are distributed so as to economize space and give
a good exposure to light; and to accomplish this they are
arranged in avariety of ways, which all fall undertwo prin-
cipal modes. These are the verticSlate or cyclical, in
which there are two or more leaves at the same height of
the stem, and the altemate or spiral, in which the leaves
stand suigly, one after another. In the verticiUate arrange-
ment the leaves form a succession of whorls or circles
around the stem, with two, three, four, five, or more in
each whorL In the altemate or spiral arrangement the
leaves are distributed singly at different heights of the
stem and at equal intervals. The simplest is the two-
ranked or distichous arrangement^ which prevails in all
grasses, in the linden, elm, etc., in which the leaves are
disposed alternately on exactly ojpposite sides of the stem.
The second leaf is therefore the fnrthest possible from the
hrst) and the third is the furthest possible from the sec-
ond, and consequently is exactly over the first, and so on.
They thus form two vertical ranks in which the angular
divergence is half the circumference, or 180°. In all cases
the angular divergence may be represented by a fraction,
in which the numerator designates the number of turns
of the spiral that are made in passing from one leaf to
the next one that is precisely vertical to it, while the de-
nominator expresses the number of vertical rows thus
formed, from which the class of phyllotaxis takes its name,
as the tristichous or three-ranked (§), the pentastichous or
five-ranked (|), the octostichous or eight-ranked (g), and
even as high as a thirteen-ranked (ji^) phyllotsixis has been
made out.
phyllotaxy (fil'o-tak-si), n. [= p. phyUotaxie,
< NL. phyllotaxis, < Gr. ^iTiTim, leaf, + rdfif,
order: see taxis.] In 6ot., same asi)%HotorBJs.
Phyllotreta (fil-6-tre'ta), n. [NL. (Chevrolat,
1834), < Gr. ^X)M), leaf, + Tp)/r<5f,
verbal adj. of rerpalvew (y/ rpa),
bore.] A genus of leaf-beetles
or Chrysomelidse, of wide distribu-
tion in temperate and tropical
parts of both the Old and the
New World. They are of small size,
often of metallic colors, and frequently very
destructive to vegetation; the larvaj are
white and usually linear. P. vittata is the
wavy-striped flea-beetle of the United
Statues, abundant in vegetable-gardens, where it attacks
cabbages and other cruciferous plants. P. tienwrwrn of
Europe, known as the turnip flea-teetle, has similar habits.
phylloxanthin (fil-ok-san'thin), n. [= p.
phylloxanthine ; < Gr. (jATiXov, leaf, + ^av86g, yel-
low, + -MI.2.] Same as xanthophyl. See chloro-
phyl.
vine-pest (.Phylloxera vastatrix),
a, healthy vine rootlet ; If, rootlet showing nodosities ; e, lYX>tlet in
decay [natural size); «f, female pupa ; «, winged female, or migranL
(Hair-lines show natural sizes.) (After Riley.)
had been named before (though Flanchon's name holds by
common consent) ; for in 1854 Fitch had described an Amer-
ican gall-louse on grape-leaves as Pemphigus vititfolise, and
this was identified with the European root-louse {Phyl-
loxera vastatruc) by Riley in 1870. The same discovery
was made by European observers in the same year. It is
now established that the native country of this phylloxera
is North America east of the Rocky Mountains from Can-
ada to the Gulf of Mexico, whence it spread to Europe,
and more recently to California, South Africa, New Zea-
land, and Australia. The insect exists under two distinct
forms: the root-form, called radidcola, on the roots of
the vine, and the gall-form, called gdUicola, in galls on
the leaves of the grape. The galls are transient, being
numerous one year and scarce me next. The rooi^form
is like the gall-form at first, but later acquires certain
characteristic tubercles. The phylloxera hibernates as a
winter egg above or below ground or as a young larva on
the roots. Late in the summer a generation of winged
agamic females is produced ; these fly abroad and spread
the pest. One of the females lays from three to eight
delicate eggs in or on the ground or on the under side
of the leaf, and from these eggs issue the true males and
females, both of which are wingless. These mate, and
the female lays the winter egg. The wingless hypo-
geal female may occasionally lay eggs which bring forth
the sexual brood without the intervention of a winged
generation, but this is exceptionaL The wingless indi-
viduals spread from vine to vine, and the winged ones
cany the pest from one vineyard to another. The symp-
toms of the disease above ground are the yellowing of the
leaves the second year and the death of the vine the third
year. Below ground, little knots are formed on the small
fibrous roots the first year; these roots decay the next
year, and the lice settle on the main roots. The third
year these rot, and then the vine dies. The vines suscep-
tible to this infestation include all the varieties of the
Titis mnifera, the wine-grape of Europe and California
and the hothouse-grape— the most valuable of the grape
family. The French government early offered a reward of
300,000 francs for a satisfactory remecfy, but this prize has
never been awarded. The most effectual metho(^ of deal-
ing with the phylloxera thus far ascertained are the under-
ground injection of bisulphid of carbon by means of a
specially contrived apparatus, the application of a watery
solution of snlphocarbonate of potassium, and the graft-
ing of the European vine upon hardy American varieties,
as the Taylor, Clinton, and Jacques. See also cuts under
gml-ltmse, oak-pest, and virhe-pest.
3. A genus of lepidopterous insects. Rambur,
1869.
phylloxera-mite (fil-ok-se'ra-mit), n. An
acarine, Tyroglyphus phyUoxerd, one of the nat-
ural enemies of the vine-pest, formerly de-
scribed in its transitional and quiescent stage
as Hoplophora aretata. Hoplophma was supposed
to be a genus of OribaUdm, characterized by the hard
covering or shield capable of being folded together to
mclose the head and lunbs, but the members of that ge-
phylloxera-mite
shielded FhyUoxera-mite {Hoploflurra arctata).
41, t, c, d, e, different attitudes assumed by it;y^ 1^. h^hly magnified.
nns are now known to belong to TtfroQ^ypJ""- l^e fig-
ures show the mite in this stage, in sereral positionaL
phylloxerated (fi-lok'se-ra-ted), a. [< Phyllox-
era + -ate^ + -«d2.] Injfested with phylloxeTae.
phyllozeric (fil-ok-ser'ik), a. [< PhyUoxera +
-ic.'] Of or pertaining to the phylloxera or
giape-lonse. Edinburgh Bev., CLKCV. 378.
Phylloxeiinae (fi-lok-se-ii'ne), ». pi. [NL., <
PhyUoxera + -ime.'] A'subfamily of Aphididse,
typified by the genus PhyVoxera; the vine-
pesta. See Chermesinse.
phyllcserize (fi-lok'sf-iiz), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
phyUoxerizedj-p^T.pkyataierieing. [< PhyUoiKra
+ ■ize.'i To contaminate or infect Vriui phyl-
loxersB.
phyllnlat (fi-M'la), n. pfL., < Gr. ipvUov, leaf,
+ ov?ji, scar.] In hot., lie scar left on ahraneh
by the fall of a leaf.
phylogenesis (fi-lo-jen'e-sis), n. [NL., < Gr.
^iov, ^74, a race, taribe (see phyle, phylum), +
yhtauQ, origin: aeegenesis.'] Same aaphylogeny.
phylogenetic (fi1o-je-net'ik), a. [<jp%<(^ene-
sig, after geneHcJ Same asphylogenie. Mux-
ley. Anat. Invert., p. 43. _
ph7logeneticall7 (filo-je-net'i-kal-i), adv. Ac-
cording to the doctrine or principle of phylo-
genesis; by means of phylogeny.
jNDylogenic (fi-lo-jen'ik), a. [< phylogeny +
-ic.'] Of or pertaining to phylogeny, as disiin-
goished from ontogeny. Also phylogenetic.
phylogeny (fi-loj'e-ni), n. [= P. phylogenie, <
Gr. ^Xov, ^yJi, a tribe, + -yhma, < -ytv^, pro-
ducing: see -geny.] That branch of biology
which attempts to deduce the ancestral history
of an animal or a plant from its ontogeny or
individual developmental metamorphoses; tri-
bal history: opposed to ontogeny, or the origin
and development of individual organisms. Also
3 phyo-
byloptera (fi-lop'te-ra), n. pi. pSTL. (Pack-
ard), < Gr. ^Xov, ^o^, a "toibe, + irrepdv, wing.]
A snperorder of hexax>od insects, including tiie
orders Neuroptera, Pseudoneuraptera, Orthop-
tera, and Dermatoptera.
phylopterons (fi-lop'te-ms), a. Pertaining to
the Phyloptera, or having tiieir characters.
phylnm (fi^um), «. ; pL phyla (-la). [NIi., <
Gr. ^Xov, <^^, a tribe: see phgte.'] 1. Any
primary division or snbklngdom of the anim^
or vegetable kingdom. Cavier recognized four ani-
mal types which wonld now be called pbyla : the BadiatOf
MoOusea, Articulata, and Vertebrata. Zoologists now rec-
ognize at least seven such phyla : (1) Protozoa, (2) Coden-
terata, (3) Eelumidermata, 0{) Vermes, (5) Arthripoda, (6)
MoUuxa, (7) TertdrrcUa. The main branches of a pbylom
are called tuipJ^Jo.
2. The graphic representation of the evolu-
tion of one or several forms of animal life by
descent with modification from preexisting an-
cestors, on the principle of the construction of
a genealogical table or "family tree."
Phymata (fi-ma'ta), ». [NL. (XatreiUe, 1802),
< Gr. ^fia ((^fiar-), a
tumor (< fvhv, produce,
^fixadai, grow), + -atol.]
The typical genus of
Phymatidae, having very
broad curved fore fem-
ora, of raptorial charac-
ter, p. eroM or P. wdffi is a
common North American bng
of carious form and green-
ish-yellow color, banded and
spotted with black, found on
goldenrod and varions other Phymata erosa.
plants of meadows and gar-
den^ preying on the insects which come to collect honey
or pollen. The species aboand in tropical and subtropi-
cal America.
4463
Fhymatidx (fi-mat'i-de), n. p\. [NL. (Amyot
and Serville, 1843), < Phymata + -ids.'] A
family of raptorial heteropterous insects, typi-
fied by the genus Phymata, belonging to Uie
coreoid series, and forming a connecting-link
with the reduvioids. It contains six genera.
Host of the species are tropical or subtropi-
cal.
phyogemmaria (fi'o-je-ma'ri-a), n. pi. [XL.,
< Gr. ^wj, growth (<" ^toBat, grow), + L. gem-
ma, bud: see gemmary.] The small gonoblas-
tids or reproductive buds of some physopho-
ran hydrozoans, as the TeleUideB.
phyogeminarian (fi'o-j6-n>a'ri-Sii)i "• U- Phy-
ogemmaria + -an.] Of or pertaSning to phyo-
gemmaria.
^lysa (fi'sa), n. [NL., < Gr. ^iaa, a
pair of bellows, breath, wind.] A lai^e
genus of pond-snails or fresh-water
gastropods of tiie family Xtmna^da;,
or made type of the Physidse, having
the shell sinistral. There are many spe- p,^f„.
cies, found on aqnatic plants in ponde^ as P. tinaiu.
/ontinala at Europe and P. lutentbropha of
America. The genus was named by Drapamand in 180L
Physalia(fi-sa'li-a),n. [NL. (Lamarck, 1819),
< Gr. "frma^ic, ^maa^ug, a blad-
der: see Physalis.] 1. The
typical genus of Physaliidse.
TheoR oceanic hydrozoans^ known as
Portuguese fiien-o/-toar, are remark-
able for their size, brilliancy, and
power of nrticatlng. There is alaige
oblong crested float which buoys the
anjTnfti up, from which hang many
processes, some of which attain a
length of 12 feet or more in indi-
Tidnals whose float is only a few
inches long. P.atlaTttica or pelagica
is an example^
2. [2. c] A member of this
genus.
physalian (fi-sa'li-an), a. and
n. I. a. Pertaining to the ge-
nus Physalia, or having its
characters. ^"^'SS*^ Man.of-
n. n. A member of the ge- ^a-lr'^'" *''"
nus Physalia.
Fh^aliidse (fis-ar^E'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Phy-
saUa + -idee.] A. family of oceanic hydrozoans
of the order Siphonophora and suborder Physo-
phora, represented by the genus Physalia. The
family is sometimes raised to the rank of a sub-
order. Also Physalidse, Physaliadse.
Physalis (fis'a-Us), n. [NL. (Linnseus, 1737), <
Gr. *<j»xjoMc, prop. ^vaaXUg, some plant with
a bladder-like husk or calyx (prob. Physalis
AUcekengi), < fvcaXXic, a bladder, < ^av, blow,
blow up, puff, < fiiaa, a pair of bellows: see
Physa.] A genus of herbaceous plants, of the
gamopetalous order Solanacese and tribe So-
laneSB, characterized by the five-angled, broadly
bell-shaped corolla, and the five- or ten-angled
bladdery fruiting calyx remotely inclosing the
much smaller globose berry. There are about 30
species, mainly American, especially in Mexico (17 in the
United States^ They are hairy or clammy annuals or
perennial£^ with sinuate leaves, and rather large flow^s^
solitary in the axils, vlolel^ yellow, or white, often with
a purple eye, and with yeUow or violet anthers. Some
y^ow-flowered species have been cultivated for orna-
ment. The two white-floweied species, once much cul-
tivated in the United States for their edible berries, under
the name of stravjberry-fomaio (which see), are P. AVce-
tenffi, the winter-cherry of the south of Europe, with red
berry and calyx (see aOcekengi and bladder-herb), and P.
Peructano, with yellow berries (see aOekengi, tmnter-
cherry (o) (ander cherry), and bladder-herb). Among the
native American species, all commonly known as ground-
cherry, the berries of P. angulala are considered edible,
and Oiose of P. vitcoia are strongly diuretic
physalite (fis'a-K*)> "• [= F'PJ^ysalite, < Gr.
*^aJug, ■piopy^vatMii, a bladder, + -ite^.] A
coarse, nearly opaque variety of topaz. Also
ea.Ued pyrophysaUte._
Fhysaraces (fis-a-ra'se-e), n. pi. [NL. (Ros-
tafinsM, 1875), < "Physdrum + -acese.'] A fam-
ily of myxomycetous fungi, named from the ge-
nus Physarum. They have the capillitium (with the
tube) delicate, reticulate, hyaline, or pellucid, and the
columella is small or wanting.
Physamm (fis'a-rum), n. [NL. (Persoon), <
Gr. (jniadpwv, dim. of (jniaa, a pair of bellows : see
Physa.] A genus of myxomycetous fungi, giv-
ing name to the family Physaraceae. The pend-
inm is composed of a simple or double membrane which
dehisces irregularly. Six^ species are known. See fairy
ring, under /ofry.
Physcia (fis'i-a), n. pSL. (Fries, 1825), < Gr.
^aai, a sausage, a blister, < ijnxrav, blow up, <
jmja, a pair of bellows, breath, wind: see Phy-
sa.] A large genus of parmeliaceoxis lichens,
with a f oUaceons cartilaginous thallus, scuteUi-
form apothecia, and ellipsoid, usually bilocular
Fhyseterldae
brown spores. Several of the species are used
in the arts for coloring, ete.
physcioid (fis'i-oid), a. [< Physcia + -oid.] Be-
longing to or resembling the genus Physcia.
Phyicomitlieae (fis'ko-mi-tri'e-e), n. pi. [NL.,
< Physcomitrium -I- -ek.] A tribe of bryaceous
mosses, named from the genus Physcomitrium.
They are short soft plants witbrelativelylarge leaves and
a nsnally comeons or gibbous capsule. The peristome is
absent, or has 16 teeUu
Physcomitriiun (fis-ko-mit'ri-um), n. [NL.
(Bridel, 1826), < Gr. qiamc, something inflated,
-t- lUTpiov, a little cap, dim. of furpa, a cap, mi-
ter: see miter.] A genus of mosses, giving
name to the tribe Physeomitriess. They are
simple or sparingly branched plants, with pyri-
form capsule and no peristome. See cut imder
mitriform.
ph^emat (fi-se'ma), n. [NL., < Gr. ^msiiiia, that
which is blown, £ bubble, < ^vaav, blow, blow
up, < ^ivaa, a pair of bellows, breath, wind : see
Physa.] 1. A mock pearl; an empty bubble in-
stead of pearl. E. PhUUps, 1706.— 2. The resin
of the pine-tree. E. Phillips. — 3. A swelling
or puffing in any part of the body. E. Phillips.
Ph^emaria (fis-e-ma'ri-a), n.pU [NL., < Gr.
^vari/ia, a bubble : see phyiiema.] Agroup formed
by Haeckel for the reception of two genera of
low metazoic animals, Saliphysema and Gas-
trophysema, which had been confounded partly
with the sponges and partiy with the protozo-
ans. The validity of the group has been denied.
physemaxian (fis-e-ma'ri-an), a. and n. [< Phy-
semaria + -an.] t, a. Of or pertaining to the
Physemaria. Huxley.
TL, n. A member of the Physemaria.
physeter (fi-se'ter), n. [= F. physetdre = Sp.
fiseter, fisetera, < L. physeter, < Gr. ifvarir^p, a
blowpipe, a kind of whale, < ^■aav, blow, < ^o,
a pair of bellows, wind: see Physa.] 1. A
sperm-whale or cachalot.
AVhen on the surges I perceiae bom tax
Th' Ork, Whiri-pool, Whale, or hnfflng Physeter.
Sylvester, tr. of Bu Bartas's Week^ t Sl
2. [cap.] [NL.] The typical genus of Physe-
terime, containing the ordinary lai^e sperma-
ceti-whales, or cachalots. The head is very large,
truncate in fronts and about one third of the total length
Afn ju
Top (A), Bottom (BU and Side (C) of Sfcoll of Fetal Sperm-^vlialeor
Cachalot (/^^jtf^^. .<4w. auditory; .5 C7, baaocdpital ; £0,exaccuH-
tal ; f M, et^noid ; Ft, fomtal ; Ju, yaeaX (di^laced behind in fig.
C) ; Mn, mandible ; Mx, maxilla ; N' N", nasal openii^s. tiie braies
not represented; Pfmje, Pmx, premaxillaries of r^t and left sides
(onsymmetiical] ; I>a, parietal; PI, palatine; Pt, pterygoid; S^,
st^iamosal; SO, sapraocdpital ; yo, nmer; SS, basi^benoid ; jiS,
ahsphsBaid.
of the body ; the blow-hole is near the edge of the Gooat;
and the brain-caTity is decliroos. P. macroe^haluB is
the common cachalot, from which ^>ennaceti is obtained.
Also called Catodon. See also cat under Catodonta.
Pli^seteridse (fis-e-ter'i-de), «. pi. [Nli., <.
Physeter + -idse.'\ 1. A femily of existent del-
phmoid Cetacea^ of the group Delphinoidea, hav-
ing fanctional teeth in the lower jaw only, and
the skull strongly asymmetrical. To this family
belong the sperm-whales proper {PhysetermsR), and sach
forms as the bottle-nosed whale {Hyperoodon).
2. In stricter use, a family of sperm-whales,
typified by the genus Physeter ^ and containing
the subfamilies Physeterinx and KogiinsBj or
ordinaiy and pygmy sperm-whales. They have
the head neither rostrate nor marginate ; the snoat high
toward the front and projecting beyond the month ; the
skull high behind or retrorsely convex ; fbe sapraocc^i-
tal bone projecting forward laterally to or beyond the ver*
Physeteridse
tloal of the temporal fosase, and the frontal hones visible
above as erect triangular or retrorsely falciform wedges
between the maxillaiies and the supraoccipitaL Some-
times called CatodorUidae.
Physeterinae (fi-se-te-ri'ne), n. pi. [NL., <
Physeter + -inse.'] 1. The typical subfamily
of the Physeteridse, containing the genera Phy-
seter and Kogia.— 2. This subfamily restricted,
by the exclusion of the genus Kogia as the type
of a separate subfamily, to the ordinary large
sperm-whales of the genus Physeter.
pnyseterine (fl-se'te-rin), a. and n. [< physeter
+ -inei.] I, a. Like or related to a sperm-whale;
of or pertaining to the Physeterinse.
II. n. A member of the Physeterinse.
physeteroid (fi-se'te-roid), a. and n. {(.physe-
ter + -oid.'] I. a. Belonging to the Physeteroidea,
or having their characters ; resembling the ge-
nus Physeter; xiphioid.
II. n. Amemberof the P/s^seim(J«, in either
sense; a xiphioid. Uncyc. Brit, XV. 393.
Physeteroidea (fi-se-te-roi'de-a), n. pi. [NL.,
< Physeter + -oidea.'] The Pliyseteridse, in sense
2, regarded as a superf amily. Gill.
physnarmonica (fis-har-mon'i-ka), n. [NL., <
Gr. (fniaa, bellows, -I- NL. harmonica, q. v.] A
small reed-organ originally intended to be at-
tached to apianoforte, so as to sustain melodies.
It was invented in 1818, and was the precursor
of the harmonium. See reed-organ.
physianthropy (fiz-i-an' thro-pi), n. [< Gr.
iiiacg, nature (see physic), +' avdpairoQ, man.]
The science which treats of the constitution
and diseases of man, and of medical remedies.
[Rare.]
physiatricst (fiz-i-at'riks), n. [< Gr. ipiaic, na-
ture, + laTpuai (sc. Ttxyi)t medicine, prop. fern,
of iarpiKd;, for a physician : see iatric.J That de-
partment of medical science which treats of the
healing powers of nature.
raic (fiz'ik), n. [Formerly p%sicfc, phisidk, <
t.phisikffisihe, natural philosophy, the science
of medicine, < OF.fisigue,fusike,phisique, natu-
ral philosophy, the science of medicine, F.phy-
sictee, f ., natural philosophy (physique, m., natu-
ral constitution, physique), = Sp. fisica = Pg.
Shysica = It. fii^ = D.physika = MHGr.fisike,
.physik= Sw. Baji. fysik, natural philosophy,
physics; < Jj.physica, physice, ML. aiaophisica,
fisica, natural philosophy, physics. ML. also
the science of medicine, < Gr. ^udi, f ., fvaina,
neut. pi., natural philosophy, physics ; as adj.,
'F. physique = Sp.fisico = Pg. physico = It. fisico
(Q. physiseh = Sw. D&n. fysisJc), physical, < L.
physic/US, < Gr. ipvauUiQ, natural; as noun, S^.
fisico = Pg. physico = It. jfeico, a natural phi-
losopher, physician, < L. physicus, ML. also
phisicius, fisicus, Gr. ifmamog, a natural philoso-
pher, scientist; < ^aiQ, nature, < ^eiv, produce,
%veadm, grow: see 6el.] If. Natural philoso-
phy; physics. Bee physics.
Physique is after the seconde [part of theorike],
Through which the philosophre hath fonde^
To techen aondry knouleehinges
Upon the bodeliche thinges
Of man, of beste, of herbe, of stone,
Of flsshe, of f oule, of everiehone
That ben of bodely substaunce,
The nature and the substance.
Gower, Conf. Amant., vii.
Phygic should contemplate that which is inherent in
matter, and therefore transitory; and metaphysic that
which is abstracted and fixed.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 160.
2. The science of medicine; the medical art or
profession; the healing art; medicine.
Seynt Luke the Evaungelist was Disciple of seynt Poul,
for to leme Phisik; and many othere.
MandevSle, Travels, p. 124.
Of late yeares I practised bodely phMck in Englande, in
my lorde of Sumersettes house.
W. Turner, Spiritual Physic (1665).
3. A medicine; a drug; a remedy for disease ;
also, drugs collectively.
The frere with his phisik this folke hath enchaunted,
And plastred hem so esyly thei drede no synne.
Piers Plowman (B), xx. 377.
Attempre dyete was al hire phisik.
ChavAser, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 18.
Throw pAj/sic to the dogs; I '11 none of it.
ShxUc., Macbeth, v. 3. 47.
But in tills point
All his tricks founder, and he brings his physic
After his patient's death ; the King already
Hath married the fair lady.
Shak., Hen. Vm., ilL 2. 40.
4. A medicine that purges; a cathartic; a
purge.
The people usedphysic to purge themselves of humours.
Abp. Abbot, Deacrip. of World.
Affliction is mj physic; that purges, that cleanses me.
Donne, Sermons, xlv.
44:64
5. In dyeing, the nitromuriate of tin, or tin-
spirits Culver's physic. See Cidver's-fhysie.— lJl-
(uan pbysic. See bowman's-root and Oillenia.—VbSBiO
gaxdent, a botanic garden. =Syn. 2. See mrgery.
physic (fiz'ik), v. t. ; pret. and pp. physicked,
ppr. physicking. [< physic, m.] If. To treat
with physic or medicines ; cure; heal; relieve.
The labour we delight in physics pain.
Shak., Macbeth, ii. 3. 66.
It physics not the sickness of a mind
Broken with griefs. Ford, Broken Heart, ii. 2.
2. To use cathartics orpurgativesupon; purge.
— 3. To mix with some oxidizing body in or-
der to eliminate phosphorus and sulphur, as in
the manufacture of iron.
He contended that sulphur could only be eliminated by
two processes, "puddling" and "physicking."
^ '^ ffre. Diet, IV. 474.
physical (flz'i-kal), a. [Formerly also phisical;
= It. fisicale, <"ML. physicalis, pertaining to
physic or medicine, < L. physica, natural philos-
ophy, medicine: see »fei/s»c.] 1. Pertaining to
physics or natural philosophy: a,s, physical sai-
enae-, physical law.— 2. Of or pertaining to ma-
terial nature ; in accordance with the laws of
nature ; relating to what is material and per-
ceived by the senses; specifically, pertaining
to the material part or structure of an organ-
ized being, as opposed to what is mental or
moral; material; bodily: &s, physical force;
physical strength.
Labour, then, in tlae physical world is always and solely
employed in putting objects in motion ; the properties of
matter, tlie laws of nature, do the rest.
J. S. Jfffl, Pol. Econ., I. i. § 2.
" Real SLnAphysical things," Spinoza tells us, " cannot be
understood so long as their essence is unknown."
FesfcA, Introd. to Descartes's Method, p. xovl.
3. External; obvious to the senses; cognizable
through a iDodily or material organization : as,
i'iie physical characters of a mineral: opposed
to chemical. See mechanical. — 4t. Of or per-
taining to physic, or the art of curing disease
or preserving health, or one who professes or
practises this art ; of or pertaining to a physi-
cian.
To take Tobacco thus werepAJsfcocZZ,
And might perhaps doe good.
Timei Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 71.
I have therefore sent him just now the following letter
in my physiccU capacity. Tatter, Ho. 246.
5t. In need of physio or of a physician; sick;
ill. [Rare.]
Thou look'st dull and physical, methinks.
Shirley, Bird in a Cage, iii. 2.
Aimwell. How now ? what means this apothecary's shop
about thee? &Tt physical f
Fmder. Sick, sick. Shirley, Witty Fair One, Hi. 4.
6t. Of or pertaining to the drugs or medicines
used in the healing art : of use in curing disease
or in preserving health ; medicinal ; remedial.
Attains .
leborum.
would plant and set ^%«u!ii22herbs, as hel-
North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 739.
Is Brutus sick? and is it physieaZ
To walk unbraced and suck up the humours
Of the dark morning? Sha3c., J. C, ii. 1. 261.
Balmes, Oiles, Medicinals and Perfumes, Sassaparilla,
and many oiYxi physicall drugs.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 74.
The tree hath a pretW physical smell like an apothe-
cary's shop. Mob. Knox (Arber's Eng. Gamer, I. 338).
7t. Purgative: cathartic— physical ahstraction,
equation, etc. See the nouns.— Physical astronomy.
See aseronomy, 1.— Physical ezamlmtlon, an examina-
tion for the determination of the presence or absence
of the various signs of bodily disease. — Physlcal-force
men. See 0Aar«i8«.— Physical fraction. SeeosJronom-
icalfraction, under/racijon.- Physical geography, that
branch of science which has for its object the comparison
and generalization of geographical facts. It differs chiefly
from geology in that it regards the present rather than
the past condition of the earth, but many authors in-
clude in their text-books of physical geography more or
less of that which is generally considered as belonging to
geology. Physical geography may be subdivided into va-
rious branches, of which the most important are — orog-
raphy, the study of mountain-chains, and in general of the
relief of the surface, in which branch geology can only with
difficulty be separated from geography ; thalassography,
the study of the ocean, its outline, depths, currents, tem-
perature, salinity, and the nature and distribution of ani-
mal and vegetable life on and beneath its surface ; hydrog-
raphy, tlie study of the river-systems, rivers, and lakes ;
climatology, the practical side of meteorology, or the study
of the climatic conditions of various parts of the earth's
surface ; botanical geography, the study of the geographi-
cal distribution of plants ; zoological geography, the dis-
tribution of animal life ; and, finally, ethnology and anthro-
pology, the study of the races of man and their distribu-
tions, and their manners and customs. The last two
branches, however, are special sciences, and are rarely
treated, except in the most succinct manner, in the text-
books of physical geography.— Physical geology, the
study of the geological changes which have taken place
on the earth's surface, and of the causes by which these
physicist
events have been brought about ; geology separated, as far
as possible, from paleontology, or from any consideration
of the order of succession and the nature of organic life
upon the globe, and of the classification of the stratified
formations in accordance therewith.— Physical horizon^
influx, mineralogy, necessity, optics. See the nouns.
-Physical influence. Same as physical mflux.— Phys-
ical partition, a partition by which the parts are really
separated ; real partition : opposed to ideal partitum.—
Physical perfection, possfbility, power. See the
nouns.— P^Blcal signs, such features of disease as are
directly appreciable by the examiner and are not the ex-
pression by the patient of his own feelings, as those elicited
by palpation, inspection, auscultation, percussion, etc.—
Physical truth, the harmony of thought with the phe-
nomena of outward experience. —Physical Whole, awliole
composed of matter and form.=Syn. 2. Corporal, Corpo-
real,etc. SeebodUy.— 3. Chemical, etc. See mechanical.
physicalist (fiz'i-kal-ist), n. {(physical + -ist]
One who maintains that man's intellectual and
moral nature depends on and results from his
physical constitution, or that human thought
and action are determined by physical organi-
zation.
physically (fiz'i-kal-i), adv. 1. In a physical
manner; according to nature; according to
physics or natural philosophy; not intellec-
tually or morally.
I am not now treating physically of light or colours.
Locke.
2t. According to the art or rules of medicine.
And for physic, he [Lord Bacon] did indeed live physi-
cally, but not miserably.
Sawley, In Spedding's Bacon, I. 66.
He that lives physicaMy must live miserably. G. Cheyne.
physicalness (fiz'i-kal-nes), n. The state of be-
ing physical. Worcester.
physician (fi-zish'an), n. [Early mod. E. also
physic/ion, phisicion, physitian, physition, phisi-
tion; < ME. fisicien, fiziden, fisioion, fisician,
fysycian,phisicien,phisicyen, eta., < OF. fisicien,
fisician, fusicien, etc., phisieien, physi(nen, a nat-
ural philosopher, also and usually a medical
man, a physician (F. physicien, a natural phi-
losopher), = Pr. physician = It. fisiciano, a med-
ical man, < ML. as if *physicianus, < L. physi-
cus (> It. fi^co = Sp. fisico = Pg. physico), a
natural philosopher, a physician, ML. physica,
physios, medicine, physic : seephysic.'] 1. One
who practises the art of healing disease and of
preserving health ; a prescriber of remedies for
sickness and disease ; specifically, a person li-
censed by some competent authority, such as
a medical college, to treat diseases and ;pre-
seribe remedies for them; a doctor; a medical
man. The physician a£ a prescriber of remedies is dis-
tinguished from the phamuieist, whose business is the
compounding or preparing of medicines, and from the sur-
geon, who performs remedial operations. The last, how-
ever, often follows the practice of medicine, as does the
licensed apothecary In England.
Seint Foul him self was there a Phisicyen, for to kepen
mennes Bodies in hole, before he was converted; and
af tre that he was Phisieien of Soules.
MandevUle, Travels, p. 123.
It sometimes falls out that he that visits a sick Man is
forced to be a Fighter instead of a Physician.
N. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. S24.
He was less directly embarrassing to the two physicians
than to the surgeon-apothecaries who attended paupers
by contract. George Eliot, Middlemarch, xviii.
2t. A student of physics ; a naturalist; a physi-
cist: specifically, in medieval universities, a
student of the Aristotelian physios.
physiciaucy (fi-zish'an-si), n. ; pi. physidancies
(-siz). [< physician" + -ey.'] Appointment as
physician; the post or office of physician.
He had In the previous year put hhnself forward as a
candidate for aphysiciam^ to St. George's Hospital.
Lancet, No. 3423, p. 711.
physicianed (fi-zish'aud), a. [< physician +
-ea2.J Made a physician; educated or licensed
as a physician. [Rare.]
One Dr. Lucas, a physicianed apothecary. H. Walpole,
physicianly (fi-zish'an-li), a. [< physician +
-i!!/!.] Pertaining to or characteristic of a phy-
sician.
Real knowledge of man and of men, of the causes and
courses of human failure, ... is Indescribably rich in
physicmniy force. Con/temporary Bev., UII. 603.
physicianship (fl-zish'an-ship), n. [< physi-
cian + -ship.J The post or office of physician.
Lancet, No. 3543, p. 941.
physicism (fiz'i-sizm), n. [< Gr. fvaticds, natu-
ral {seephysic), + -ism.'] Belief in the material
or physical as opposed to the spiritual. [Rare.]
In the progress of thespecies from savagery to advanced
civilization, anthropomorphism grows into theology while
physuasm (if I may so call it) develops into science.
Huxley, Lay Sermons, p. 163.
physicist (flz'i-sist), n. [< Gr. (jivrnxd, physics
(see physics), + -ist. ] 1. A student of physics ;
a natural philosopher.
pliysicist
4465
I do not think tbae is » donbt in tbe mmd of »ny com- of the state <3linn1rl he ■na<ipA hv a dirnpf tji-r oti
f^eat phgiicul orpliysiologist that the work done In lift, i ? » i ^™'"? f rajseapy a oirect lax on
bg the weight of the arm is the mechanical eqairalent ol ^?'"v -^^° called pkySMeraUgm.
a certain proportion of the energy set free by the moleca- physiocrat (flz'i-6-krat), n. [< 6r. ^cif, na-
lar changes which tetepliwe in the masde. tare, + imomv, rnle: see physiocraey.l One
Htatey, hmeteenth Century, TTT tSa. .'>^. '.. - . ^ ■> . . '.■•
2. In iM., one -who seeks to explain funda-
mental vital phenomena npon purely physical
or chemical principles ; one who holds that life
is a form of energy due simply to molecular
movements taking place in the ultimate mole-
cnles of the protoplasm, and capable of corre-
lation with the ordinary physicid and chemical
forces: opposed to pitaiwt S. A. Nicholson.
pliysicky(fi2'i-ki),a. [<pfty«»c(ifc)+ -yl.] Like
physic or drags.
Some aathors name it canda pavoni^ on account of its
inimitable beauty ; the flowers have a phyiieky smelL
Grainger, Sugar Cane, i., note 520.
physic-nnt (fiz'ik-nnt), «. See Jatropha^
physicocheinical (fiz'i-ko-kem'i-kal), a. [< Gr.
(ivaiK6c, physical, + K chemical.y Pertjuning
or relating to both physics and chemistry ; pro-
dneed by combined physical and chemical ac-
tion or forces,
physicologic (fiz'i-ko-loj'ik), n. [< Gr. fvaucd,
physics, + ioyuai, logic : see logic.'] Logic il-
lustrated by physics.
physiograpliy
mista; as physiognom-y + -ig*.] One skUledin
physiognomy, (a) One who jndges of the disposition
or qualities of the mind by obserration of Uie conntenance.
(&) One who tells fortunes by scrutiny of the face.
A certain phyaoffnomul, or teller of fortune by looMng
onely upon uie face of men and women.
HoUand, tr. ol Pliny, mr. 10.
physiognoinize (fiz-i-og'no-miz), c. t. ; pret. and
pp. physiognomized, ppr. physiognomizing. [<
physiognomy + -ire.] To practise physiog-
whoadvocates the doctrines of physiocracy;
speeifieaJly, one of a group of French philos-
ophers and political economists, followers of
Francis Qaesnay (1^-1774), which rose to
prominence in the latter half of the eighteenth
century, and maintained that a natural consti- - - -0^1-^^.-,
tution or order exists in society, the violation of ?-omyupon. Soufhey. [Rare.]
which has been the cause of all the evils suffered P|iysiOgnomoiUC (fiz-i-og-no-mon'ik),
by man. a fundamental right deriTed bom this consti- f^" ^*^*^*^"T'^"*' ^ ^^ ^'"T^"''"^' <
tntion or order was held to be freedom of person, of opin- <g'<"0)-V(JjMvia, physiognomy: see physiognomy.]
ion, ol proper^, aud of contract or exchange. The physi- Same as physiognomic.
ocrats regarded land or raw materials as the sole sonice of physiognomv (fiz-i-og'no-mi), n. : nl vhvsioa-
nomies (-miz). [Formerly also phistognomie,
also phisonomie, physonomy, physnomie, phisno-
[=
wealth, leaving out of account the elements of labor and
capital, and denying the dogma of the mercantile system
that wealth consists in the precious metals. They main-
tained that, as wealth conaiJ«d entirely in the produce of
land, iH revenue shonld be raised by a direct tu on land.
They advocated complete freedom of trade and the doc-
trine of laisser-faire. See phytioeracy.
There is no oUier thinker of importance on economic
subjects in France till the appearance of Oie phy^oeraU,
which mariffi an epoch in the history of the science.
Encyc BriL, XIX. 359.
Commerce, according to the theory ol the pkyaoerates,
only transfers already existing wealth from one hand to
another. W. Boxhtr, PoL Econ. (trans.X § 49.
pbysicological (fiz'i-ko-loj'i-kal), a. [< physir- physiocratic (fiz'i-o-krat'ik), a. [< physiocrat
wlogie +_ -oi.] Pertaining to physicologic. _+-»«.] Of or pertaining to government accord-
Swift. [Bare.]
ph^comathematics (fiz'i-ko-math-e-maf-
iks), ». [= P. physieomathemdaque = It. Jisieo-
matemaUco, < Gr. fvama, physics, + fu^fiarudi,
mathematics.] Mixed mathematics. SeematA-
emaUcs.
physicomental (fiz'i-ko-men'tal), a. [< Gr.
^ix6q, physical, -t- E. mentaX.^ Pertaining to
physical and mental phenomena or their mn-
toal relations,
ing to nature ; specifically, of or pertaining to
the physiocrats or their doctrines: SLS,physio-
craftc theories; the j>%«tocratic school of politi-
cal economy.
It [the m ercantHe system] forms the basis of the econom-
ic ideas of all writers of the eighteenth century who did
not belong to the pl^fgioeraiie school or to that of Adam
Smith. Cye. PoL Set, n. 827.
Be Gonmay, the elder IQrabean, MoreUet, and Dnpont
de Nemours are well-remembered names of the y^^afo.
erotic school. Pop. Sd. Mo., XXXVl 481.
l<physio-
physicophilraophy (fiz'i-k6-fi-los'6-fi), ». [< physiocratisiii (fiz-i-ok'r»-tizm), n.
Gr. ^«a, physics, + ^Oobo^Ki, pbUosophy.] crat + -izm.] Sajne as pliysiocracy.
The;)Mosophy of nature. . , .,. ^ „ physiogenesis (fiz'i-6-jen'e-sis), n.
pliyacoHlMlt^cal (fiz'i-ko-the-o-loj'i-kal), a. ait, nature, + yhieauc, generation.]
[<.physieotheolog^ + .*e^l.2 Of or pertaining physiogeny.
to physios and theology, or to physieotheology. phs^ogenetic (fiz'i-o-je-net'ik), o,
In the first case we have the cosmological and physieo-
theUogical proofs of Uie existence of God ; in the second,
the ontologicaL Adamxan, Philos. of £ant.
physicotheolo^ (fiz'i-ko-the-ol'o-ji), n. [<
Gr. (pvaucd, physics, + flroAoj'ia,' theology.] The-
ology illustrated or enforced by natiual philos-
ophy.
pl^sics (fiz'iks), n. [PL of physic, after Gr.
ifvauid, neut. pL, physics: see physic.] Natu-
ral philosophy; experimental philosophy; the
science of the jtrinciples operative in inoi^nic
nature; the science of forces or forms of enei^y.
Before the rise of modem scienoe, phyxia was nsnaUy
4eSned as the science of that which is movable, or the
science of natural bodies. It was commonly made to in-
clude all natural science. At present, vital phenomena
are not considered objects of phy8i(», wiilch is divided
into general and appUed physiei.
[< Gr. ^
Same as
[(.physio-
Genra^ physics in-
vestigates the general phenomena of inorgauic nature^
determmes their laws, and measures their constants. It T,livirinBHOiiK»r rfiz-i-Off'Tin-mfir^ n
ombraces lonr hranches-a) mechamet or dynamia, the PnyaO^Omer inz-l-Og no-mer;, «.
science of force in general, with extensive mathematical
developments; (2) the science qf graBitaUon, also main-
ly mathematical; (3) maUeular phyeics, the study of the
constitntion of m^^ter, and of the forces within and be-
genesis (after ^enefie).] ' Same a,s ph^iogenie.
piiysiogeilic (fiz'i-o-jen'ik), a. [< physiogeny
+ -»c.] Of or pertuning to physiogeny or phys-
iogenesis; physiological with special reference
to ontogeny and phylogeny ; evolntionary or de-
velopment^ with reference to physiology.
pbysiogen^ (fiz-i-oj'e-ni), «. [< Gr. 0tKRc, na-
tiire, + -yeveia, < -yevK, producing: see -geny.]
1. In biol., the genesis of function : the develop-
ment or evolution of those functions of living
matter which are the_province of physiology. —
2. The science or history of the evolution of
functions of living matter.
Just as . . . [moi^hogenyj first opens the way to a Ime
knowledge of organic forms, so will Physiogeny afterwards
make a true recognition of functions possible, 1^ discover-
ing Iheir historic evolution.
Baeckti, EvoL of Man (trana), H. 461.
_ . .. [<phyHog-
nom-y + -cri.] Same aa physiognomist.
Ton erre, loud phygiognomers, that hold
The inward minde foUowes the outward molde;
^ ., , , . , ^ , Time^ W/dgOe (E. E. T. S.), p. 2a
tween its molecules, mclading elasticity and heat (an ■, . .,!•,. ,-i \ r th i
indivisible subject), cohesion, and chemical forces; and pnySlOgnomiC (tiz'i-og-nom ik), a. [= J) . phy-
<4) the pl^itiaof the ether, behig the study of light or ra- sionomique = Sp.Jisiondmico = Pg.physiOTiomieo,
diation. electricity, and magnetism. Chemistry is for tbe
time being divorced from physics^ being chiefly occupied
with the description of the formation of different t^ds
of substances. Applied physics uses the discoveries of
general physics, in connection with special observation^
in order to explain the phenomena of the universe. Its
chief branches are astronomy, geology, and meteorology ;
to which may be added torreslnal magnetism, mineralogy,
and some other sabjects.
Physidse(fi8'i-de),n.p?. [NIj.,< Physa + -ieUe.]
A family of hygrophilons pulmoniferons gas-
physiognomico = It. fisonomico, fisionomico, <
MGr. fvaioyim/UK6c, a late and incorrect form for
fmnoyvuimvutAq: see physiognomonic.] Pertain-
ing to physiognomy, the face, or the art of dis-
cerning character in the face. Also phyeiog-
iwmonic.
From Da Vinci he caught one of the marked phyeiog-
Tunrnc traits of his visages, smiles and dimples.
Eneye. Brit., XEX. 458.
flite, fisnomy, etc. (whence eoUoq. phiz, q. v.j;
< ME. fysnomye, fisnomie, visnomie, fisnamy,
fyssnamy, < OP. phisonomie, physoaomie, physi-
ognomic, P. physionomie = Pr. phizonomia =
Sp. fisonomta = Pg. physionomio = It. Jisiogno-
mia,fisionomia, Jisonomia, < ML. "physiognomia,
phisionomia,phisono7nia,K MGr. ^vatoyvu/iia, late
and incorrect form of Gr. ^vmoyva/umia, the art
of judging a man by his features, < tfmatayv&iiuv,
judging by features, < ^vctf, nature, + yvd/iav, a
judge, interpreter: see gnomon.] 1. The art of
discovering the characteristic qualities of the
mind or temper by observation of the form anil
movements of the face or body, or both. Also
physiognomies.
Physiagnomy . , . discovereth the disposition of the
mind by the lineaments of the foody.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning; ii. 184.
2. The face or countenance considered as aa
index to the mind or disposition; particular
configuration, cast, or expression of counte-
nance.
Another [beast] called Aianata, which for the Physno-
mie and subtletie seemes to bee a kinde of Ape.
Pmrehas, Pilgrimage, p. 825.
Who both in fovonr and in princely looke.
As well as in the mind's true qnalitie.
Doth represent his father's physnomie.
Mir. for Mags., p. 756.
Faitii, sir, ft has an English main e, but his ./isnomi/ is more
hotter In France then there. ShaJc, All's Well, iv. 5. 42.
Let the idea of what you are be ponrtrs^ed in your face,
tliat men may read in year phygnomy.
B. Jonxan, Every Man in his Humour, L S.
The end of portraits consists of expressing the true tem-
per of those persona which it represents^ and to make
known IJa.'eax phytiognomy.
J>ryden, tx. of Dufresnoy's Art of Paintang.
3f . The art of telling fortunes by inspection of
the features.
Ger. Let me peruse
Thy face; m tell myself how ihou hast sped:
Well ; is 't not so? . . .
Thar. Yoai physiognomy
Is quite discredited. Slarley, Love in a Maze, it 3,
4. The general appearance of anything, as the
particular configuration of a landscax>e; the ex-
ternal aspect, without reference to other char-
acteristics.
The changes produced in the physiognomy of v^^tation
on ascending mountains.
Balfour, Botany, § 1158. ^Bneye. DicL)
Little details gave each fleld a particular phytiognomy,
dear to the eyes that have looked on them from childhood.
George EUot, Middlemarch, xiL
physic^ony (fiz-i-og'o-ni), ». [< Gr. ^ig, na-
ture, -t- 701/7, generation: see -gony.] The pro-
dnetion or generation of nature . Coleridge.
physiograpber (fiz-i-og'ra-f er), n. [< physiog-
raph-y + -eri.] One versed in, or who prac-
tises, physiography. Amer. Jour. Sei., 3d ser.,
XXX. 261.
physiogTapbic (fiz'i-o-graf' ik), a. [= ¥.physi-
ographique = Sp. fidogrdfico = Pg. physiogra-
phico = \%.fisiografico; as physiography + .4c.]
tropods, typified by the genus Physa, formerly pbysiognomical (fig'i-og-nom'i-kal), a. [<phys- Belonging or related to physiography : aphysio-
inelndedinLtmJKPMte. The annual has setiform ten- tognovuc + -al.] Same as physiognomte. ^ap7i»c description of the earth, or a p^gto-
tacles ; the jaw is single, and has a flbrons prolongation ;
the radnla has central multicuspid teeth ; and the lateral
as wen as the marginal teeth are pectinate or serriform.
IJe shell is sinistr^ and generally polishrf^ The species pliysiogllOmically (fiz'i-og-nom'i-kal-i), adv.
abound m fresh water in various parts of the world. "iTi „vS^Xrtr_v„ „„„„„ „* S^i,_„- IlLt: ""
In long observation of men he may acquire a phygiog-
nomictU intuitive knowledge ; judge the interiours by the
outside. Sir T. Browne.
i parts c
pbysiform (fis'i-form), a. [< NL. Physa, q. v.,
+ Id. forma, form.] Having the form of the ge-
nus Physa.
Physmae (fi-si'ne), n.pl. [TJL., < Physa + -inae.]
The Physidae as a snbfamily of Limnxidx.
pbysiocracy (fiz-i-ok'ra-si), n. [< Gr. ^iw^f, na-
As regards or by means of physiognomy, or ac-
cording to its rides or principles; as to the face.
ha^e'^SS^'frS^e^'ii^^S^lS^g.'SrSS^^'^^^^
converted physiognomieally into an admiral of the blue,
white, and red, ... on having to reply to a volley of
than^ Hood, The Elland Meeting.
graphic work, is a physico-geographical descrip-
tion or work — Fhysiogiapliic geology, nearly the
same as orography, or a discussion of the eaiith's general
features.— PhysiograpMc mineralogy, as the phrase is
most generally used, nearly or quite the same as descrip-
tive mineralogy. The use of this term is rare in Tgngliah
books, except in translations from the German.
...... ...,., fXphysi-
ographic -f- -al.] Same as physiographic.
Courses of lectures beting conn ectively on geographical
and physiographical subjects. The American, viu. 12S,
ture, + -Kparia, < Kparelv, rule.] The economic pbysiognomics (fiz'i-og-nom'iks), ». [PI. of pbysiograpbically (flz'i-6-graf'i-kal-i), adv.
doctrines and system advocated by the physi
ocrats; the theory that wealth consists m the
physiognomic: see -ics.] Same as physiog- ' As regards physiography; from a physio^aphio
nomy, 1. point of view: as, physiographicaUy important,
products of the soil, that all labor expended in pbysiognomist (fiz-i-og'no-mist), n. [= P. physiograpby (fiz-i-og'ra-fl), n. [= P. physio-
manufactures and in the distribution of wealth, physionomiste = Sp. fiswnomista = Pg. physio- graphic = Sp. fisiografia"= Pg. physiographia =
though useful, is sterile, and that the revenue nomista = It. Jisonomista, fisionomista, fisiogno- It. fisiografia, < Gr. ^doif , nature, -I- -ypa^ia, < ypa-
physiograpliy 4466
feiv, -write.] A word of rather variatle mean-
ing, but, as most generally used, nearly or quite are poisonous,
the eqiavalent of physical geography (yfhicih see, physionotrace (fiz-i-on'o-tras), «,
only botanic remedies, discarding those which
siono(mie), physiognomy, + trace, trace.]
instrument for tracing the outlines of a face
Chretien, in 1786, had invented an instrument which lie
denominated the phymnotrace, by which the profile out-
line of a face could be taken with mathematical precision,
both as to figure and dimensions. „,„„ „„
The Century, XXXVIII. 779.
Muder physical). Also called geophysics,
This term [physicai geography] as here used is synony-
mous with Phy^mraphy, wMch has been proposed in its
stead. QeUde, Elem. Lessons in Phys. Geog., p. 3, note.
(For the use of the word phyaiogra/phy by Huxley, as mean-
ing a peculiar Icind of physical geography, see the follow-
ing quotation.
The attempt to convey scientific conceptions without physiophilOSOpby (fiz'''i-0-fi-los'o-fi), ». C< J^T.
the appeal to observation which can alone give such con- Ayaig nature, + (biTMaoipia, philosophy.] The
ceptions firmness and reality appears to me to be in di- -nbilnsnnhv of nature
reot antagonism to the fundamental principles of sclen- * . V S-- /i^ ■ -*'- ^;^ •■ r/ Ti. AS,n,r nn
tiflc education. Physiography has veiy little to do with pnySlOphyly (fiz-i-of i-li), n. _ L< ^^- y^J'f'^a-
this sort of "Physical Geography." ture, -i- ^i/lov, a tribe : see "'•
Hiixiej/, Physiography (2d ed.), vii.] tribal history of function ; .
logeny which treats of function alone, without
reference to form, the tribal history or phylo-
geny of whichlatter Haeckel calls morphophyly.
physopliorous
ing no air-bladder, or having the air-bladder
closed, as a fish ; belonging to the Physoclisti, or
ihy- having their characters.
An Physograda (,S-sog'ra.-d&), n. pi. psrL.,neut.
pi. otphysogradus: see physograrte.i 1. In De
Blainville's classification of aoalephs, a group
of oceanic hydrozoans, provided with hollow
vesicular organs which buoy them up and en- .
able them to float.— 3. In a restricted sense,
an order or suborder of siphonophorous hydro-
zoans, represented by such forms as the Physa-
liidie : distinguished from the Chondrograda, as
Velellidee. See cut under Physalia.
Microscopic PhyaiOgraphy. Same aa lUhology or pe-
trography: a term thus far used only in the translation
from the German of an important work by Kosenbusch,
bearing the title "Mikroskopische Physio^^phie."
physiolatry (fiz-i-ol'artri), n. Q< Gr. >i(T(f, na-
ture, + Tiarpeia, worstip.] The worship of the
powers or agencies of nature ; nature-worship.
A pantlieistic philosophy based on the phystdatry of
the Vedas. it. WiUiame.
physiologer (fiz-i-ol'o-jfer), n. [< physkilog-y +
-eri.] A physical philosopher, or philosopher
of the Ionic school. See lomc.
lar float or buoy; of or pertaining to the Phy-
sograda.
II. n. A member oi the Physograda.
The generality of the old phisiologers before Aristotle
and Democritus did pursue the atomical way, which is to
resolve the corporeal phenomena, not into forms, quali-
ties, and species, but into figures, motions, and phancies.
Cvdworth, Intellectual System, p. 171.
The earliest philosophers or physuHogers had occupied Pj^y^^°*yPy (fij^9-*i-pi)
themselves chiefly with what we may call cosmology.
. ..„-._^..„-<„ the tribal history of the functions, or- _j,_gQjjgjjig^tQmetra, physohsematonietra (fi-
thehistoryof the palsBontologioal development of the vi- %Atjieir,//a-t6-me'tra), «. rNL.,< Gr. ^iffO,abub-
tal activities, has, in the case of most organisms, not yet °? "^ V "y,'^" t",^'', j.K.y; ' iiffiTOR 1 Thft
been examined. In the case of man, a large part of the ble, + ai/M{T-), blood, + /ivrpa, uterus.J ine
history of culture falls under this head.
Haeckel, Evol. of Man (trans.), I. 24.
physiosophic (fiz"i-o-sof'ik), a. [< physioso-
ph-y + -Jc] Pertaining to physiosophy.
pnysiosophy (fiz-i-os'o-fi), n. [< Gr. ^vaig, na-
ture, + aofia, wisdom.] A doctrine concerning
the secrets of nature.
Fanciful ideas of the vaguest kind oi physiosophy.
GUnther, Encyc. Brit., XX. 437.
Encyc. Bnt., XVIII. 792.
physiologic (fiz*i-o-loj'ik), a. [= F. physio-
logigue = Sp. fisioldgico = Pg. physiologico =
It. fisiologico, < L. physiologicus, < Gr. f^vaiokoyi-
Kdg, < <j)vaio?ioyia, physiology: see physiology."]
Of or pertaining to physiology.
In early society, incest laws do notieeogaize physiologic
conditions, but only social conditions.
J. W. Powell, Science, IV. 472.
No method is more alluring in physiologic studies than
this of accurate measurement and description.
Jf. A. Ben., CXXVI. 663.
physiological (flz"i-o-loj'i-kal), a. ^physio-
logic + -a?.] Of a physiologic character.
The Mosaical philosophy in the phyHological part there-
of is the same with the Cartesian.
Vr. H. More, Def. of Philosophic Cabbala, App. i. § 8.
The moBtcbarstctenstic physiological peculiarity of the
plant is Its power of manufacturing protein from chemi-
c^ compouuds of a less complex nature.
Buxley, Anat. Invert., p. 47.
Fbysiologlcal antidote, an antidote of opposite phar-
macodynamic properties to the poison. — Fhysiological
botany, chemistry, illusiftn, optics, etc. See the nouns.
— PliyBiolOglcal test, the test for a poison of giving the
suspected substance to some living anhnal — Fliysiologi-
cal time, the entire interval of time between an impres-
sion on an organ of sense and the muscular reaction ; re-
action-time.
physiologically (flz^i-o-loj'i-kal-i), adv. Ac-
cording to the principles of physiology; as re-
gards physiology.
physiologist (fiz-i-ol'o-jist), n. [= F. physiolor
giste = Sp. fisiologisia = Fg. physiologista; as
physiolog-y + -isf] One who is versed in
S'lysiology.
ysiologize (flz-i-ol'o-jiz), v. i. ; pret. and pp.
' physiologized, ppr. pliysiologizing. [< physiol-
og-y + -jae.] To reason or discourse of the na-
ture of things.
They who first theologized did physiotogize after this
maimer. Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 120.
physiology (flz-i-ol'o-ji), n. [Formerly also
phisiologie ; < F. physiologie = Sp. fisiologia =
Pg. physiologia = It. fisiologia, < L. physiologia.
[< Gr. <l>ijatc, na-
ture, +' fmo(, type.] Same as natwe-printing.
Physiphora (fi-zif' o-ra), n. Same as Physoph-
ora, 2.
physique (fi-zek'), »• [< P. physique, m., natu-
ral constitution, physique : aee physic] Phys-
ical structure or organization, especially of a
human being.
Out of this strong, ancient, and far-spreading root of
domestic piety the powerful physique and the healthy
mental and moral nature of the Soman grew.
Faiths of the World, p. 191.
physitheism (fiz'i-the-izm), «. [< Gr. (jmaic, na-
ture, + dedg, God, + -i«m.] The attribution of
S'lysieal or bodily form to the Deity,
ysitheistic (fiz'^i-the-is'tik), a. [< Gr. fiaic,
"nature, + fedf, God, + -ist^c] Of or pertaining
to physitheism. Pop. Sci. Mo., XXXVI. 208.
physiurgic (fiz-i-er'jik), a. [< Gr. (jAaic, nature,
+ ipyov, work. Cf. theurgic] See the quota-
tion.
Thus Natural History and Natural Philosophy are re-
spectively represented by Physiurgic Somatology and An-
thropnrgio Somatology : the one signifying the science of
bodies, in so far as operated upon in the course of nature,
without the intervention of man ; the other, the science
of bodies so far as man, by his knowledge of the convert-
ible powers of nature, is able to operate upon them.
Bowring, in Int. to Eentham's Works, § 6.
physnomyf (fiz'no-mi), ». Same as physiog-
nomy.
Physocalymma (f i"so-ka-lim'a), n. [NL. (Pohl,
1827), < Gr. 0vaa, a bladder, +"Kd?i,v/i/ia, a cover-
ing (calyx) : see Calymma.] A genus of poly-
petalous trees of the order Lythrariese and tribe
Lythrese, characterized by the change of the four-
celled ovary in fruit into a small one-celled and
many-seeded thin-walled capsule,inclosed with-
in the enlarged bladdery calyx. The only species,
P. flmUmnium, is a Brazilian tree with opposite oblong
roughish leaves and ample terminal loose-flowered purple
panicles. Each flower is composed of two broad concave
bracts which at first inclose the roundish flower-bud, an
eight-toothed and bell-shaped purple calyx, eight wavy
petals, and a row of twenty-four long stamens bearing
curved versatile anthers. The beautifully striped rose-
colored wood is the tulip-wood of English cabinet-makers,
also known as BrazUiam, pinkwood. See tvMp-wood.
< Gt. ^iffio^y^ natural philosophy, < ^wwAdyof physocele (fi'so-sel), n. [< Gr. ^aa, breath,
{> L. physiologus), discoursing of nature, as a wind, air-bubble, + Ki/Aii, tumor.] A herma
noun a natural philosopher, < ijAatc, nature (see containing gas.
" + -loyia, < ?^eiv, speak : see -ology.] physocUst (H'so-klist), n. and a. I. n. A mem-
S-esenee of blood and gas in the uterus.
ysohydrometra (fi-so-hi-dro-me'tra), n.
' [NL., < Gr. ^aa, a bubble, + vSup (J)Sp-), water,
-I- i^rpa, uterus: see hydrometra^.] The pres-
ence of gas and serum in the uterus.
physoid (fi'soid), a. [< NL. Physa, q. v. , + Gr.
eZdof. form.] Of or relating to the Physidse; like
the Physidee, although not of that family ; phys-
iform.
Physolobium (fi-s6-16'bi-um), n. [NL. (Hue-
gel, 1837), < Gr. fvaa, bellows, + Ao/Jiif, a pod,
lobe : see lobe.] A section of the plant-genus
Kermedya. See hladder-pod.
physometra (fl-so-me'tra), n. [NL., < Gr. ^vaa,
a bubble, + ikrpa', uterus.] The presence of gas
in the uterus.
Physomycetes (fi"so-mi-se'tez). n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. fbaa, bellows, + /iiiaie, v}- ftiiaiTec, a fungus,
mushroom.] A small section of Fungi, char-
acterized by the total absence of a hymenium,
and by the vesicular fruit inclosing an indefi-
nite number or mass of sporidia. Also called
Vesieuliferi.
Physonota (fi-so-no'ta), n. [NL. (Boheman,
1854), < Gr. <l>vad, bellows, + vCrroe, back.] An
American genus of
leaf -beetles or chryso-
meUds, with about 50
species, characterized,
by having the third
antennal joint longer
than the second, and
the fourth equal to the
third, p. unipunctata,y!ii.
quinquepuruitata, is the so-
called five-spotted tortoise-
beetle, whose larva has 20
smooth spines and feeds on
the leaves of sunflowers.
Physophora (fi-sof'o-ra), n. , [NL., < Gr. (j/vaa,
bellows, + -(jiopog, < <f^peiv = 13. iear^.] 1. The
typical genus of Physophoridse, containing such
species as P. h/ydrostatica, which float by nu-
merousvesioular organs. — 3. laentom., agenus
of dipterous insects. Also Physiphora. Fallen,
1810. — 3. [Used as a plural.] Same as Physo-
phorse.
Physophors (fi-sof'o-re), n. pi. [NL., pi. of
Physoph,ora.] An order of siphonophorous
oceanic hydrozoans, having the proximal end
modified into a float or pneumatophore (as dis-
tinguished from a somatoeyst). They are mostly
moncecious, and are sometimes provided with nectocaly-
ces, and the polypites are united by an nnbranched or lit-
tle-branched coenosarc, of filiform, globular, or discoidal
shape. The group is contrasted wil£ Calycapharse, as one
of twr ' . ". . . . . . . ,
Five-spotted Tortoise-beetle
{Physonota ttnifiunctata, var.
auingtufiunctata'), a, larva; i,
beetle. (Lines show natural sizes.)
If. Natural philosophy,
The unparalleld Des Cartis hath unridled their dark
vhustologv and to wonder solv'd their motions.
aianmUe, Vanity of Dogmatizing, xvui.
2. The sum of scientiflc knowledge concerning
the functions of living things. The subject com-
prises two grand divisions, namely animai and vegetable
physiology; when specially applied to the functions in
man, the term human physiology is used.
PM/siology is the science of vital power.
Hmdeyand Ymmans, Physiol., § 370.
physiomedicalism (flz''i-o-med'i-kal-izm), n.
[< Gr. ^(T(f, nature, + E. medical + -ism.] The
doctrines or practices of the physiomedicalists.
>wo orders of Siphonophora, and contains a number of
families, as Physophoridse and others. Also written Phy-
sophora, Physophvrida, Physophoridee. See cuts under hy-
dranth, hydrophylliwm, and Hydrozoa.
physophoran (fi-sof 'a-ran), a. and n. [< Phy-
sophora + -an.] I. a. Of or pertaining to the
Physophorie.
u.. n. A member of the order Physophorie;
g^oupofteleosttfshes having' the duet be- „^P^y^°P^f, ^8 ^^^O''"^^^ _, , -,
tween the air-bladder and the intestine closed : Physophore (fi'so-for), n. [< NL. PhysopUra.]
opvosed to PhySOStomi. It Includes the acanthopte- ^S^^il^^'J^J^f-P^'''!.'*; ,.,.., - ^-„ .
rj^ian fishes, and also the synent»gnathouB fishes, the sub- irnySOpnonaa (ti-so-tor 1-da), n. pi. [NL., <
brachial and jugular malacopterygians, the lophobran- Physophora + -ida.] Same as Physophorae.
chiates, and the plectognaths. In Cope's system of clas- PhySOphoridSB (fi-s6-for'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
sificationitisaprimarygroupofactinopterousflsheswith; Physopliora + -idlB.^ 1. A family of physoph-
ber of the Physoclisti.
II. a. Same as physocUstous.
Physoclisti (fi-so-kbs'ia), n. pi.
"physoclisUis : see j>hysocUstous.]
[NL., pi. of
In ichth., a
cine which, in its treatment of disease, uses
out a pneumatic duct, with the parietel bones separated
by the supraoccipital, and the ventrals thoracic or jugular
and without basilar segments.
physoclistic (f i-s6-klis'tik), a. Same as physo-
'• Wiuyyc. 'Brit, XVI. 671.
OUS (fi-so-kiis'tus)) a. [< NL. *phy-
Gr. (ffba'a, bellows, + K%eiaT6(, that physophOTOUS (fi-sof 'o-rus), a. [< Physophora
maybe closed, < K^feiv, close: see cZo«el.] Hav- + -ous.] Saxne &% physophoran.
orous hydrozoans, represented by the genus
Physophora; one of several families of the or-
der Physophorie. See outs under hydranth, hy^
drophylUum, and Sydrozoa. — 2. Same as Phy-
physopod
pbysopod (fi'so-pod), a. and n. [< Gr. ^o, bel-
lows, + iToi-c (to*.) = E. /oot.2 I. a. Having
a sort of sucker on the feet; speeifieaUy, of or
pertaining to the Physopoda.
n. n. A member of the Physopoda.
Fhysopodat (fi-sop'o-ds), n. pi. pn:,., < Gr.
^ina, beUows, + trovs (™J-) = E. foot.^ Same
as Thysanoptera.
Fhysospermum (fi-so-sper'mnm), n. [NL,
4467
-«naj.] A tribe of palms, distinguished by the
confluence of the ovaries in fruit into a globose
syncarp, and including the two genera Phytele-
phas and yipa, both very different from all
other pahns and from each other, but alike in
their growth from partly or whoUy prostrate
stems, their comeons albumen, and their flow-
ers of one or both sexes crowded upon long
drooping spadiees resembling catkins
(Cusson, 1782), so called with reference to the Phytelephas (fi-tel'e-fas), n. [Xli. (Eniz and
looseness of the outer coat of the young fruit; Pavon, 1798), so called with reference to the
^Gr. ^wra, beUows, + <TT£p/«i, seed: see «pem».]
A genus of nmbeUiferons plants of the tribe
Amminex and subtribe Smyrniese, distingnished
by the large oil-tubes solitary in their channels,
and the very slight ridges on the ovate or com-
pressed fruit. There are about 5 species, natives of
Europe and the Caocasns. They are smooth perennials,
wlOi ample and minutely dissected leaves, and compound
umbels of many white flowers with many linear bracts and
bracUets. Several species are cultivated for ornament, un-
der the name Itadder-teed.
Fhysostegia (fi-so-ste'ji-^), n. [NL. (Bentham,
1829), so called with reference to the enlarged
and somewhat inflated fruiting ealvx; < Gr.
^ixra, bellovre, + (rrtyri, a roof or covering.] A
genus of erect herbs of the order LahiaUe, the
mint family, beloi^ng to the tribe Staehydese
and subtribe MeUttese, and characterized by
the broad and five-toothed calyx, long-exserted
ample corolla-tube, parallel anther-cells, and
two-flowered spiked verticiUasters. There are 3
species, all North American, called falx dragon'i-head
(which se^ under dragon'g-head). They aretaU and smooili
perennials, with narrow toothed leaves, and showy sessile
pink or fiesh-colored flowers, forming one or many dense
or interrapted terminal spikes. P. VirgiTuana, the vari-
able eastern species, is often cultivated in gardens.
Fhysostdgma (fi-Sf-stig'ma), n. [NL. (Balfour,
1861), so called with reference to the bladder-
like apex 6f the style; < Gr. fioa, bellows, +
ariy/ja, stigma.] A genus of leguminous plants
of the tribe PhaseoUx and snbtribe Eupkaseo-
Use, characterized by the spiral keel and by tlie
continuation of the bearded style above the
stigma into a large and obUqne hollow hood.
The only specie^ P. venenogum, is a high-twining vine of
tiopical Africa, with leaves of three large leaflets, and az-
Hljuy pendulous racemes of purplish flowers^ followed by
long dark-brown compressed pods, each with two or three
thick oblong highly poisonous seeds of valuable medicinal
powers. See Caldbar hea n (under ieoniX chop-nut, aerine,
and fhysosUgmine.
physostigIIli]ie(fi-s6-stig'min), ». {<.PhysosUg-
na + -in^^ An alkaloid constituting the ac-
tive principle of the Calabar bean, it Is highly
poisonous, and when separated by the usual process pre-
sents the iqipearance dt a brownish-yellow amorphous
mass. It is tasteless being only slight^ ^luble in water.
physostomatons (fi-sd-stom'a-tns), a. Same
as physostomous.
pliysostome(fi'so-stom), a. andn. I. a. Same
aa physostomous. '
ll, n. A physostomous fish.
Fhysostomi (fi-sos'ta-mi), n. pi. [KL., pi. of
physostomus : see pTiysostomous.'] An order of
teleost fishes establidied by J. Muller in 1845,
containing those whose air-bladder, when pres-
ent, is connected with the alimentary canal
by an air-duct, the bladder thus having an
outlet or mouth: contrasted with Physoelisti.
hard albumen, called" vegetable ivory; < Gr.
iivr6v, plant,-!- ti^^ac, ivory: see elephant.'] An
aberrant genus of palms, type of the tribe Phy-
telephantifue, and ftom its singularity long sep-
arated as an order Phytelephanteie {Martius,
1835). It is unlike all otlier i>alins in its numerous sta-
mens, fllitorm stigmas, and onbranched spadiees, and in
the elongated petals of its female flower. There are 3 spe-
cies, natives A Peru and the United States of Colombia,
known from the nut as ivory-palm. They are dioecious
bees growing in dense and extensive groves, with a short
robust trunk sometimes 6 feet high from a creeping and
prostrate base of ten 30 feet long. Th^ bear a crown of a
dozen or more piimate leaves, reaching 18 or 20 feet in
length resembling those of the cocoanut-palm, and used
by the natives in roofing. The nude trees are taller, and
bear a fleshy and pendulous cylindrical fragrant spadix
about i feet long, crowded with small flowers between
minute bracts^ each with about thirty-six stamen^ and
Phjtoeoris linearis,
(Ijiie shows natmal size.)
drink; < Gr. ^in,
A genus of poly-
Fniiting Female Plant of Vegetable Ivory (Pkytelefhas
Tnacrvcarfa),
exhaling a penetrating od(» of almonds. The female tree
produces a shorter and erect sjKsdi^ six or eight at once,
each with six or seven pure-white flowers, which are far
the largest among palms, with &om five to ten fleshy pet-
als (each from 2 to 3 inches long), three papery triangular
sepals, numerous imperfect stamens, and a ronndlsh ovary
with &om four to nine furrows, carpels, and stigmas, be-
coming a drupe in fruit. The mass of six or seven drupes
from one spadjx consolidates into a heavy pendulous glo-
bose syncarp, or multiple fruit (from its size known locally
as negro' s-head), covered with hard woody prominences.
Each drupe contains about six large seeds; theses when
young, are filled with a dear liquid, which is sought by
travelers as a drink, and solidifies first into a pulp eagerly
eaten by nnimftla, and later into the hard^ albumen
known, whence its name voory-nuL This again softens in
germinating; taming into a milk and pulp, which feeds
the young plant nntal it has grown for a year or more.
The order was divided by Hiiller into 2 sulxffders and FltyteiUIl& (fi-tn'ma), n. [IfL. (Luuiseus, 1737),
terous fishes, with the basilar segments of the ventral tin
mdimental and abdominal, the parietal bones usually unit-
ed, branchiostegalrays developed, and the pneumatic duct
open. It indades, in addition to the forms recognized by
Hiiller, catain ganoids, as the .Antiui^ (order Haieeomor-
ph£) and Xt^ndi^eidse (order Ginglymodi). See cuts under
Pemptit, pike, and Siox.
physostomons (fi-sos'to-mus), a. [< NL. pky-
sostomus, < Gr. fvaa, bellows, + arS/ia, month.]
Having the mouth and air-bladder connected
by an air-duct, as a fish ; specifically, of or per-
taining to the PAysosfomi. Aisophysostomatovs,
pkysostome.
fvTEv/ia, anything planted, < fm-evetv, plant, <
^m, a plant: see phyton.] A genus of oma-
menljal plants of the order Campanvlaeex, dis-
tinguished by a five-parted corolla with narrow
spreading or long cohering lobes, and a fruit
closed at the apex and dehiscent latently.
There are about 90 species, natives of Europe, the Hedi-
teiranean r^on, and the temperate parts of Asia. Th^
are perennial herbs, with long-stalked radical leaves, ana
snuUl alternate stCTi-leaves. The flowers are conunonly
bine, sessile, and handsome, often in a dense head or
spike. Some species are wen known in cultivataon, espe.
cially as hardy ornaments in rockwork, by the name of
homed Tampion (which see, imder rampion\ and often
under a former generic name, Sapuneuius.
phytiform (fi'ti-fdim), a. [< Gr. fvrAv, plant,
+ L. forma, form.] Besembling a plant.
. some have strings aad phytiet, and others ■nhstdDliaffail (fi-tif'a-gan), a. and n. See vhv-
Lodce, Human XTnderstandlng; HL vt § 39. ^Ji^g^ - o~ « Jr 3
phytalbmnose (fi-tal'bn-mos), n. [<Gr. ^(iv, pl^tivoronst (fi-tiv'o-rns), o. [< Gr. ^<iy,
plant,+ oZ6Mj»(CTi) + -ose.] A form of albumen plant, + L.fK>rare, devour.] Feeding on plants
occurring in plants : so named to distinguish it or herbage ; herbivorous ; phytophagous. Pay,
from similar forms occurring in animals. Works of CJreation.
Phytastra (fi-tas'tra), n. pi. PJIJ., < Gr. firrae, phytoMology (fi-to-bi-ol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. ipm-ov,
plant, + atrriip, star!] In Lankester's classifi- plant, + E. InoVtgyl] That branch of biology
cation, one of two orders of Ophiuroidea, con- ■which deals with plants; vegetable biology,
trasted with Ophiastra. Athensum, No. 3253, p. 278.
Fhytelephantms (fi-tel'e-fan-ti'ne), n. pi. phytobranchiate (fi-to-brang'ki-at), a. [<Gr.
p5li. (Drude, 1887), < Phytelephas {-elephant-) + ^mriv, plant, + ^phyxia, gills.] Having leafy
pn^^^yt (fiz'i), ». [A corrupt form for fusee^
(simulating Gn. fbaa, a bellows f).] A fusee.
Some watches .
with five;
none.
, are made wlUi four wheels, others
phytoglyphy
g^lls; noting a division of isopods, in distino
tion ttOTa pterygoiranchiate.
ptaytochemical (fi-ta-bem'i-kal), o. [< Gr.
fiTov, plant, + E. chemical.1 Pertaining or re-
lating to phytochemistry.
phytochemistry (fi-to-kem'is-tri), n. [< Gr.
^TOT, plant, -l-E.cAe»iis<ry.] Vegetable chem-
istry ; the chemistry of plants.
phytoidlimy (fi'to-Mm-i), n. [< P. phytcchimie.
<- Gr. piToi', plant, + P. chimie, chemistry: see
alchemy, chemist.']^ Same &s phytochemistry.
phytochlore (fi'to-klor), n. [< Gr. oiTor, plant,
-I- x^JtipiK, pale-green: see ehlorin. ' Cf. chloro-
phyl.'i In hot., same as ehlorophyl.
Pnytocoridx (fi-to-kor'i-de), n. pi. [NIi. (Fie-
ber,_1861), < Phytoeori^ + -idsB.'] A very lai^
faniily of heteropteious insects, typified by the
genus Phytocoris, and collectivelT called j)2anf-
bugs. They are mostly of small size, and are extremely
variable in form ; the base of the wings has usually a
looped nervure ; and the ocelli are extremely minute or
wanting. They are divided into more than a dozen sub-
families among them being the bugs commonly loiown
as Cttpani or Capeina.
Phytocoris (fi-tok'o-ris), «. [NL. (Pallen,
1814),< Gr. furov, plant, + xipic, bug.] A genus
of plant-bugs, typical of
the family Phytocoridae,
having the be£& extend-
ing to the middle of the
abdomen, and the sides of
the head angular. There
are about 20 species, 7 of which
inhabit North America. P.tri-
pugbdatia is blackish, spotted
with orange^ and found on net-
tles.
Pliytocrene (fi-to-kre'-
ne), n. [IfL. (Wallich,
1882), so caUed with ref-
erence to a copions wa-
tery sap which flows from
the porous wood when
pierced, and is used as a
plant, 4- Kfilpni, fountain.]
petalous shrubs of the order Olaeineae, type of
the tribe Phytocrenese, characterized by capi-
tate flowers with filaments longer than the
anthers. The 8 species are natives of tropical Asia and
A&ica. They are high climbing and twining shrubs, with
alternate leaves, and small dioecious hairy flowers, the
staminate heads the size of peas and densely crowded in
elongated panicles, the pistillate heads solitary and reach-
ing tlie size of the human head, followed by a globular
inass of hairy or spiny dmpes with resinous stones. P.
gigantea, with white flowers, from Martaban in Bnrma, is
cultivated under glass by the names of u-ater-vine^vegetatie
fountain, and Salt InHan JaiatmnAne.
Phytocreneae (fi-ta-kre'ne-e), n.pl. pfL. (Ar-
nott, 1834), < Phytocrene'+ -ex.] A tribe of
polypetalous plants of the order Oladneae, char-
acterized by equal and alternate stamens and
petals, and broad leaf-like or fieshy cotyledons.
It includes 11 genera and about 37 species, all
tropical climbers, of which Phytocrene is the
type.
phytogenesis (fi-to-jen'e-sis), n. [NL., < Gr.
^mdv, plant, + yivtaiQ, origin: see genesis J]
The doctrine of IJie generation of plants.
phytogenetic (fi'to-gf-net'ik), a. [< phytogen-
esis, after genetic.] Ot or pertaining to phy-
togeny; of vegetable or phmt origin.
phytogenetical (fi-ta-je-net'i-kal), a. [< phy-
togenetic + -al.] Sajne &s phyHgeneiic.
The morphological and^tytogenetieal study of the higher
plants. Pop. Sei. Mo., YTYm 479.
phytogeny (fi-toj'e-ni), n. [< Gr. *tn-di>, plant,
+ -ytvEia, < -ytvK, producing : see -^eny.] Same
as phytogenesis.
plvtogeograidier (fi'to-je-og'ra-fer), n. [<
phytogeograph^ + -eri.] ' One who is versed
in phytogeography. Nature, XL. 98.
phytogeographic (fi-to-ge-o-graf'ik), a. [<
phytogeograph-y + -tc.] Of or pertaining to
phytogeography.
Islands may be arranged, ... toipkytogeograpUc^iar.
poses in three categories, according to their endemic ele-
ment. Nature, tttttt 333.
phytogeographical(fi-to-ge-o-graf'i-kal),a. [<
phytogeographic + -al.] Same as phytogeo-
graphic.
phytogeography (fl'to-je-og'ra-fl), n. [= p.
phytogeographie = It. fitogeografia, < Gr. ijnrrdv,
pUmt, +yajypa^ia, geography: see geography .]
The geography or geographical disMbution of
plants : correlated with zoogeography.
phytoglyphic(fi-to-glif'ik), a. \<.phytoglyph-y
+ -ic.] Of or pertaining to phytoglyphy.
phytoglyphy (fi-tog'li-fi), «. [< Gr. ^toi',
plant, + -yMxpeiv, engrave : see glyph.] Nature-
printing, as applied to the portoaying of plants,
phytoglyphy
for which the process was especially devised.
Also phytography.
phytograpner (fi-tog'ra-f er), n. \_<phytograph-^j
+ -eri.] One who describes, names, and classi-
fies plants.
phytographic (fi-to-graf' ik), a. [< phytograph-y
+ -ic] Of or pertaining to phytography or
ph^ographers ; relating or related to the de-
scribing, naming, and classifying of plants.
Nature, XXXVni. 220.
phjliograpllical (fi-to-graf 'i-kal), a. [<. phyto-
graphic + -al.'] Same s.s phytographic.
phytography (fi-tog'ra-fl), n. [= P. phyto-
graphie = Sp. fitografia = Pg. phytographia = It.
fitografia, < Gr.^uriiv, plant, + -ypat^ia, < ypa^siv,
write.] 1. The description of plants; that
branch of botany which concerns itself with
the mles to be observed in describing, naming,
and classifying plants.
Phytography is entirely subordinate to Taxonomy, or
Systematic Botany.
Henslow, Descriptive and Piiysiological Botany, 1 3.
2. Same a,s phytoglyphy.
phytoid (fi'toid), a. [< Gr. *<i>vTouSiig (in adv.
^■utouSuq), contr. ^6Srig, like a plant, < ipvrdv,
plant, + Eidof, form.] Plant-like : specifically,
in zoology, noting animals and organs which re-
semble plants in appearance.
Phytolacca (fi-to-lak'a), n. [NL. (Toumefort,
1700), so called in allusion to the crimson juice
of the berries; < Gr. iprndv, plant, + NL. lacca,
lac, P. lac, lake : see lac^, ZofceS.] A genus of
plants, type of the order Phytolaceacese and tribe
Euphytolaeeese, characterized by the depressed-
globose berry of from five to twelve sessile car-
pels, mere are 10 species, mainly tropical and American,
a few African and Asiatic. Tliey vary greatly in habit, be-
ing shrubs, herbs, or trees, erect or climbing, smooth or
ihairy, and with round, grooved, or angled branches. They
bear alternate undivided leaves, and small flowers in axil-
lary racemes or opposite the leaves, at flrst apparently
terminal. They are usually of marked poisonous and
imedicinal properties, especially P. decwndra, one of the
imost characteristic of American plants (for whjich see jw^
•weedf also called coa^Tn, Bcoke, redweed, red-in^ plant, ink-
•berry-weedfPigeonberry^gargetf &nA foxglove). P. icosandra,
:a small and shrubby plant, is cultivated for its graceful
.drooping racemes of white flowers, under the name of hy-
•iirangea^leafed poke. P, octandra is the Spanish calalu, or
West Indian foxglove. (For P. dimectf also called tree-poke
rand vmtfra-tree, see beUoBonibra-tree.) P. esculenta has
been cultivated, often under the name of Pircunia, as a
substitute for asparagus and for spinach.
Thytolaccaceae (fi"to-la-ka'se-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Liudley, 1835), < Phytolacca + -acese.'] An or-
■der of apetalous plants of the series Curvem-
hryese, distinguished by the usually many oar-
jels in a ring, each vrith an undivided style.
;lt includes about 60 species, of 3 tribes and 10 genera, of
■which Phytolacca (the type), Riimm, and PeHveria are the
•best-known. They are trees, shrubs, or herbs with a
-woody base, bearing alternate entire leaves, generally
•smooth branches, and I'acemed flowers, of greenish or whit-
ish tinge, with one bract at the base of the pedicel and
two smaller at its middle.
phytolitet (fi'to-Ut), n. [= P. phytolithe = It.
fitoUte, < Gtr. ifmAv, plant, + ItBoc, stone.] A
fossil plant.
phytolithologist (fi"to-li-thol'o-jist), n. [<
phytoliflwlog-y + -is*.] One who is skilled in
or who vnites upon fossil plants.
phytolithology (fi^'to-li-thoro-ji), n. [< Gr.
9trr(iv, plant, + E. lithology.'] The science of
fossil plants.
phytological (fi-to-loj 'i-kal), a. [< phytolog-y
+ -ie-at.2 Of or pertaining to phytology ; bo-
tanical.
phytologist (fi-tol'o-jist), n. [< phytolog-y +
-is*.] One who is versed in phytology, or the
science of plants ; a botanist.
As our learned phytologist Mr. Bay has done. Eedyn.
phytology (fi-tol'o-ji), n. [= P. pJu/tologie =
Sp. fitologia = Pg'. phytologia = It. fitologia, <
(jrT. ^6v, plant, + -7Myia, < 7^eiv, speak: see
-ology.J The science ofplants; botany. [Rare.]
We pretend not to multiply vegetable divisions by qnin-
cuncial and reticulate plants, or erect a rtevr phytology.
Sir T. Browne, Garden of Cyrus, Ep. Ded.
phytomer (fi'to-mer), n. [< Gr. ^tirov, plant, +
fiepoc, part.] In hot., a. plant-part, or plant-unit
— that is, one of the structures or elements
which^ produced in a series, make up a plant of
the higher grade. The ultimate similar parts into
which a plant may be analyzed are the serial leaf-bearing
portions, since they are produced from and in time may
produce similar parts. Also called phyton, phytomera.
Phytomyia (fi-to-mi'i-a), n. [NL. (Haliday,
1833), emended from Phytomyza (Fallen, 1810),
< Gr. ^vt6v, plant, + ftvta, fly.] A genus of
dipterous insects formerly of the family Musei-
dae, now giving name to the Phytomyidse. They
are small flies, of a blacidsh-gray color often spotted with
4468
yellow, and characteri;sed by a peculiar venation of the
wings. The larvss are leaf-miners, some transforming to
pupsB in the mine, while others pupate in the earth. The
genus is large and wide-spread, with over 50 European and
7 North American species.
Fhytomylds (fi-to-mi'i-de), n.pl [NL., < Phy-
tomyia + ■idse.'i A family of dipterous insects
named from the genus Phytomyia, formerly
merged in Museidee. Often called Phytomyzi-
dee, as by Osten Sacken, 1878.
phyton (S'ton), n. [NL., < Gr. fvrdv, plant, <
ipvziv, produce, pass, tpvtadai, grow, become : see
6ei.] 1. In lot., same stsphytomer. — 2. [cap.'i
In entom., a genus of Cerambycidse. Newman,
1840.
phytonomy (fi-ton'o-mi), n. [= P. phytonomie
= Sp. fitonomia = li. fitonomia, fitonimia, < Gr.
<I>vt6v, plant, + vdfiog, law.] The science of the
laws of plant-growth.
ph3rtopaleontologist(fi-t6-pa"le-on-tol'o-jist),
n. [K phytopaleontolog-y + 4st.\ Sameasjio-
leobotanist.
The nature of some Impressions described }:>yphytopa-
lemvtologiets as remains of fossil Algse. Science, I. 252.
phytopaleontology (fi-to-pa"le-on-tol'o-ji), n.
[< Gr. (jwrdv, plant, + E. paleontology,'] Same
as paleohotany.
It Is to defend his position, and that, Indeed, of phyto-
paieontology. Science, 1. 253.
phytopathological (fi-to-path-o-loj 'i-kal), a.
[< phytopatholog-y + -ic-al.'] Of or pertaining
to phytopathology.
phytopathologist (fi^to-pa-thol'o-jist), n. [<
phytopatholog-y + -isi.] One who is skilled in
phytopathology, or in knowledge of the dis-
eases of plants ; a mycologist.
phytopathology (fi"to-pa-thol'o-ji), n. [< Gr.
(jivrdv, plant, + E. pathology.2 The science of
the diseases of plants ; an account of the dis-
eases to which plants are liable ; mycology.
Phytophaga(fi-tof'a-ga), TO.i)2. [NL. (Dum6ril,
1806): see phytophagous.'] 1. In entom.: (a) A
very large group of phytophagous tetramerous
coleopters, having the head not i-ostrate, the
maxillae with
two lobes, the
antennse linear
and of moder-
ate length or
short, the body
ovate, oblong, or
rounded/andthe
elytra covering
the sides of the
abdomen. They
are found on plants,
on which they feed,
and number upward
of 10,000 described
species, represent-
ing several different
families. The leaf-
beetles, Chrysomeli-
dse, are characteris-
tic examples, and
the name is some-
times restricted to
these, though in a
wider sense the Ce-
ra/mbyddse, Spondylidse, and Bruchidx are also included.
See sJso cuts under Ceramhyx, Chrygamela, and Bruohv^.
(6) A division of terebrant hymenopterous in-
sects represented by the families Tenthredinidse
and Vroceridee, or the saw-flies and homtails;
the Securifera of Latreille : contrasted with En-
tomophaga and Gallicolee. (c) [Used as a sin-
gular.] A genus of dipterous insects of the
family IVpwKdffi. Bondani, 19:4:0. — 2. luichth.,
a group of cyprinoid fishes. — 3. In mamvial. :
(a) One of two primary groups into which the
Edentata or Bruta have been divided, the other
'being Entomophaga. The Phytopliaga are the
vegetable-feeders.
The Phytophaga are divisible into two groups, one ex-
isting, and the other extinct. The former consists of the
sloths, or Tardigrada ; ... [the latter are] the Oravigrada.
Hvxtey, Anat. Vert, p. 333.
(6) One of two prime divisions of placental
mammals, including the pachyderms, herbivo-
rous cetaceans {Sirenia), rodents, and rumi-
nants of Cuvier on the one hand, and the eden-
tates of Cuvier (minus the monotremes) on the
other hand, together forming two orders, IKp-
lodontia and Aplodontia, collectively contrast-
ed with Zoophaga.
phjrtophagan (fi-tof 'a-gan), a. and n. [< phy-
tophag-ous + -an.] 1. a. Same as phytopha-
gous.
II. n. A phytophagous animal; specifically,
a member of the Phytophaga, in any sense.
A member of the Phytophaga t^Prionus
laticollis'), female, natural size.
Fhytotoma
phytophagic (fi-to-faj'ik), a. Same a& phy-
tophagovis.
phytophagous (fi-tof a-gus), a. [= P. phyto-
phage = Pg. phyUphago = It. fltofago, < Gr. ^i;-
r&v, plant, + ^ayeiv, eat.] Plant-eating; feed-
ing on plants ; herbivorous ; specifically, of or
pertaining to the Phytophaga, in any sense.
Also phytophagan &n6. phytophagic.
phytophagy (fi-tof 'a-ji), n. [< Gr. fvrdv, a plant,
-f -<payia, <(pay£lv, eat.] The habit of feeding on
plants ; a phytophagous regimen.
pnytophllous (fi-tof 'i-lus), a. [< NL. phytophi-
lus, < Gr. i^&v, plant, + ijiOieiv, love.] Pond
of plants, as an insect.
phytophthire (fl'tof-thir), n. [< Gr. ^vt6v, a
_p]ant, -I- (jSeip, louse.] Same as phutophthirian.
Aytophthilia (fi-tof -thir'i-a), n.pl. [NL. : see
phytophthire.] A tribe or suborder of hemipter-
ous insects; plant-lice, etc. They have the thorax
normally constructed of three segments ; the mouth suc-
torial without palpi ; the wings four, two, or none, and
membranous when present ; the antennse of more than five
joints ; and the tarsi of one or two joints. It contains sev-
eral families, as the Cocddse or scale-insects, Aphididee or
plant-lice proper, Aleurodidie, or moth-blight insects, and
PsylMdse, jumping plant-lice, or flea-lice. Also called Ste-
norhyncM. See cuts under cocem, cochineal, Aphis, and
PsyUa.
phytophthirian (fi-tof-thir'i-an), a. and «. [<
phytophthire + -an.] I. a. Infesting plants, as
a plant-louse, scale-insect, or aphid ; specifical-
ly, of or pertaining to the PliytopMhiria.
II. n. Amemberof the P%*opAi/jina/ a plant-
louse. Also phytophthire.
Ph3rtophthora (fi-tof'tho-i-a), n. [NL. (De
Bary, 1876), < Gr. (jivrdv, a plant, -I- ipdopd, de-
struction, < ^eipetv, destroy.] A genus of para-
sitic fungi closely allied to the genus Perono-
spora, from which it differs by the spores being
lateral instead of terminal. There are only 2 spe-
cies, of which P. ivfet^ns, the downy mildew of the potato
or potato-rot, is the most destructive. See potato-rot.
phytophysiology (fi-to-fiz-i-ol'o-ji), n. [< Gr.
ijivrav, a plant, + fvaioAoyia, physiology.] Vege-
table physiology. '
Phytoptidae (fi-top'ti-de), n. pi. [NL., < Phy-
tcfptus + -idse.] A family of atraeheate Acarina
with two pairs of hind legs abortive, typified
by the genus Phytoptus. They are commonly
known as gall-mites or rust-mites.
phytoptosis (fi-top-to'sis), n. [NL., < Phytop-
tus + osis.] A disease of plants caused by
the attacks of mites of the genus Phytoptus.
It is accompanied by an abnormal growth of
the plant-tissue. See erineum.
Phytoptus (fi-top'tus), n. [NL. (Dujardin,
1851), < Gr. (fvT&v, plant, + *ojtt6c, verbal adj.
of-\/o7r, see! aeeopUc] A genus oif gall-mites,
giving name to the Phytoptidse, and containing
such species as P. quadripes, which galls the
soft maple in the United States.
phytosis (fi-to'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. Avt6v, plant,
+ -osis.] The presence of vegetable parasites,
or the morbid conditions produced by them:
especially used in designation of the dermato-
mycoses.
phytotaxy (fi'to-tak-si), n. [< Gr. fvrov, plant,
-I- rdfif, order, arrangement.] The science of
the classification of plants ; systematic botany.
Compare zootaxy, Lester P. Ward, Dynamic
Sociology, I. 120.
Phytotoma (fi-tot'o-ma), n. [NL. (Molina, .
1789), < Gr. (j>vt6v, plant, + -TofW(, < re/iveiv,
rafie'iv, cut.] The only genus of Phytotomidse.
Phytotoma rara.
Three species are described, P. rara, P. angmUroslrts, and
P. rvtda. These birds are said to do much damage by
cutting tender sprouts and buds with their serrated bill.
Their voice is harsh and grating.
Phytotomids
4469
pianoforte
^^!iT^.i£t*r.:^.?i'jj.Li^:!.5 n''^iM:^i^j}i_'': j=i-j^f!^!r^'_< pi^t^e'rii^i^fi'Sia^t.^'&'*] ^ ^-^
Phytotoma + -idae.'] A family of mesomyodi'an
or clamatoTial passerine brr<is, represented by
the genus Phi/totoma, having a eonirostral bUl
with serrate tomia, and certain peculiar cranial
characters representing an ancient type of
structure. It is pecnliar to Sonth America, and contains
one genus and a few species o( Chili, Bolivia, and tlie Aigen-
tine Republic. Its relationsbips ate witb the Colingidx
and Pipridte.
phytotomist (fi-tot'o-mist), n. [< phytotom-y
+ -Mt.] One who is versed in ph^otomy, or
vegetable anatomy.
phytotomoilS (fi-tot'o-mns), a. [< Gr. ^of, a
plant, + -ro/wg, < ri/ivav, Tajulv, cut.] Leaf-cut-
ting or plant-cutting, as a bird or an insect.
li. piacularis, ex^ftory, <piaeulum, expiation:
see piacleJ] 1. Expiatory; having power to
atone: as, jnocuZar rites.
In order to onr redemption, Christ suffered as a piaeu-
lar victim, which must be understood to mean in our
stead. Waterland, Works, Vn. 76.
The piacular sacrifice of his son and heir was the last
offering which the king of Moab made to deliver his coun-
try. Eruyc. Brit., XYL 696.
2. Requiring expiation ; blameworthy; crimi-
nal; sinful; wicked.
Our late arch-bishop (if it were not piacular for you to
read ought of his) could have taught you in his publike
writings these five limitations of injoyned ceremonies.
Bp. HaU, Apology against the Biownists.
phytotomy (fl-tot'o-m), n. [= P. phytotomie piacnlarity (pi-ak-u-lar'i-ti), n. [< piacular +
™,,i;/„^!T rfL J;i!l«'™ 5*^°*I„t„r^:!f;:i'''' -*<y-] The e^raeter of being plaSulL-; crimi-
,oo„» ,«_ „ . . ^ality; badness. De Quincey.
piacnlonst (pi-ak'u-lus), a. [< li.piaoulum, ex-
TQfuiv, cut.] The dissection of plants; vege-
table anatomy. •
Fhytozoa (&-to-z6'a),n.pl. [NL., pi. otphyto-
zoon, < Gr. ^ov, a plant, -I- f^ov, an animal.]
1. Plant-Uke animals, such as sponges, corals,
sea-anemones, and sea-mats. — 2. Certain ma-
rine animalcules living in the tissues of plants.
phytozoan (fi-to-zo'an), a. and n. I. a. Phy-
toid or plant-like, as an animal ; zoSphytie ;
specifically, of or pertaining to the Phytoeoa.
n. »■ A plant-lUse animal; a member of the
Phytozoa, in either sense ; a zoophyte.
Phytozoaria (fi'to-zo-a'ri-a), n.pl. [NL., < Gr.
fvTov, a plant, + MGfr. (omptov, dim. of Gr. f^,
an animal.] Same as Infusoria, in the widest
sense.
Hiytozoida (fi-to-zo'i-da), n. pi. [NL., as Phy-
tozoa + ■4da.'] A prime "division of protozoans.
It contained the flagellate infusorians. Also
called Filigera.
piation : see piaeleS] Same as piacular.
And so, as Cfesar reports, unto the ancient Britains it
was jnocufotu to tast a goose, wliich dish at present no
table is vrithout. Sir T. Brmme, Vulg. Err., iii 24.
piaffe (pi-af '),■». t. ; pret. and pp. piaffed, ppr.
Cfflng. [< F. piaffer, paw the ground, as a
se, lit. make a show, be ostentatious, strut.]
In the manege, to advance with the same step
as in a trot, flinging the right fore leg and left
hind leg diagonally forward, placing them on
the ground and balancing on them for a few
seconds, while the other two legs are flung
forward in the same movement. Tribune Book
of Sports, p. 41.
Sir Fiercie Shafton . . . kept alternately pressing and
checking his gay courser, forcing him to piaffe, to cara-
cole, to passage, and to do all the otherf eats of the school.
Scott, Monasteiy, zv.
. piaffer (pi-af 'er), n. [< F. piaffer, inf. taken as
anoun: see^no^e.] The act of piaffing. Some-
times called Spanish walk.
The slow piaffer is obtained by the slow and alternate
pressure of the rider's legs. The quick piaffer by quick-
ening the alternate pressure of the leg.
Garrard, Training Cavalry Horses, p. 65.
Of or pertaining
phyz, n. Bee phiz.
pii, pie* (pi), n. [The more common spelling j>t
is out of analogy, and due to ignorance of the
origin of the word, or to the supposition that it
is a mere abbr. of pica^, with ref . to the com-
mon use of that sort of type. The word is
otherwise referred to pie\ as a 'mixed mess';
to pie^, as 'pied' or ' mixed' ; and to pi^, as an pial (pi'al), a. [< pia + -al.1
allusion to the (asserted) frequent illegbilitj^ of to the pia mater ; pia-matral.
print in the serviee-book so called.] Printing- in gome cases also the appropriate adjectives are em-
types mixed together indiscriminately; type in ployed, e. g. jna2, dnraL
a confused or Jumbled condition or mass. BwXs Handbook of Med. Scietues, vm. 624.
One night, when, having impos'd my forms, I thought pia mater (pi'a ma'ter). [= P. pie-mire = Sp.
my day's work over, one of them by accident was broken, pia-ntdter = 'Pg.pia-mater=It.pia^madre,<. NL.
and two pages reduced topi. 1 immediately distributed
and compos'd it over again before I went to bed.
FrariUin, Antobiog., p. 176.
Unordered paradings and clamour, not without strong
liqnor ; objurgation, insubordination ; your military rank-
ed airangement going all (as the typographers say of set
types in a similar case) rapidly to pie.
Carlyle, French £ev., II. iu 4.
pii, J)ie* (pi), V. t. [< pi\ pie*, w.] To reduce
(pnnting-types) to a state of pi.
pi2 (pi), n. [The name of the Greek letter :r, m,
the initial letter of irspi^tpeia, periphery, circum-
ference.] 1. The name of the Greek letter n,
FT, corresponding to 'the Roman P, p. — 2. The
pia mater, lit. pious orgentle mother (opposed to
dura muter), a fanciful name : lj.pia, fem. of pius
(see pious); mater, mother: see nmter^.'] The
delicate fibrous and very vascular membrane
which immediately invests the brain and spinal
cord. It is the third or inmost of the three meninges,
covered both by the arachnoid and by the dura mater.
Also calledirf<i.—Fia mater testis. Same as tunica vas-
cvlosa.
pia-matral (pi'a-ma'tral), a. [< pia mater +
-al.'] Pertaining to the pia mater: pial.
plan (pi-an'), m. [< P. j)iaw, yaws.] lapathol.,
same a,s framtoesia.
name of a symbol (ir) used in geometry for the pianet, «. A Middle English form ot peony.
ratio of the circumference of a circle to its di-
ameter, or 3.1415927: first so used by Euler.
pia^^ (pi'a), n. [Abbr. of pia mater."} Same as
pia mater.
pia^ (pe'a), n. [Polynesian (Sandwich Islands,
Marquesas, etc.).] A perennial herb, Tacca
pinnatifida (also T. maculata), found wild or
cultivated throughout Polynesia, and to China
and Zanzibar, its value lies in its large fleshy tubers,
from which, after rasping, the starch is washed out and
pianet^t, n. [Also pionet, piannet, pyannet, py-
annat, appar. through OP. pion, dim. of OP. pie,
a pie: seepie^.J The magpie of Europe, Pica
fica.
pianet^f, n. [By confusion with pianei^, a mag-
pie; ult. < li. pious, a woodpecker: see Picus.}
1. The lesser woodpecker, Picus minor. — 3.
The oyster-catcher, Msematopus ostrilegris.
planet^ (pi'a-net), n. [Prop, pionet, <. pion +
-e*.] The double peony. [Prov. Eng.]
dried to form the South Sea or Tahiti arrowroot. This is pianette (pe-a-nef), n. [ipiano^ + -ette.'] In
„.-j.,,. „„j _» «.,„ „. j=.t .-„ *.,. < — !„ «„ _»«™ England, a siiiaU or miniature upright piano-
forte. In Prance also called a MM (a minced
form of beM, balj.y).
piangendo (pian-jen'do), a. [It., ppr. of pian-
gere, piagnere, weep: see plaint.'] In music,
plaintive : noting a passage to be so rendered.
widely used as an article ot diet in the tropics (in native
use not dried, hut fermented), and is especially valued in
diarrhea and dysentery.
piaba (pi-a'ba), n. [Braz.] A small fresh-
water fish of Brazil, of about the size of a
minnow, much esteemed for the table. Imp.
Diet.
piacere (piarcha're), n. [It., ='E,. pleasure.! In pianino (pe-a-ne'n6),m. [It., dim. of i)i«mo; see
. .^'^ .- . " ■- . -^ . . -" piano^.} An upright pianoforte.
pianism (pi-an'izm), n. [(.piano^ + -ism.J The
act, process, or result of performing music
upon the pianoforte ; the technique of the
pianoforte ; the adaptation of a piece of music
to effective performance on the pianoforte.
pianissimo (pe-a-nis'i-m6), a. [It., superl. of
piano: see piatib^.'] In. music, vevj son: with
the TuiniTnTiTn of forco Or louduess. Usually
abbreviated jjp or ppp.
music, in the phrase a piacere, at pleasure
(same as ad Ubitum).
piacevole (pia-cha'v6-le), a. [It., pleasant,
merry, < piacere, please : see pleuse.} In music,
pleasant; playful: noting passages to be so
rendered.
piaclet (pi'a-kl), n. [< OP. piacle = Pg.piaculo
= It. piacoio, piactdo, < li.piaculum, a sin-offer-
ing, expiation, also a sin, <j»are, appease, <pius,
devout, dutiful : see pious.'] A^rievons or se-
rious o&ense; acrim'e; a sin. b^'mpwe iiiic^ pianist (pi^an'ist), ». [= D. G. Dan. Sw.iwanfe*
Igj. o = F.ptaniste = Sp. piamsta = Pg. li.piamsta;
Norio answer me when you mind me is pure Neglect, asjtoo^ + 4st.] A performer on tHe piano-
find no less than a PiacU. Howell, Letters, I. iv. 16. lOrte.
281
piano^ (pia'no), a. [= F. Sp. Pg. piano, < It.
piano, soft, plane, < L.^?«toiw, plane: see^Iane,
plain,'\ In music, soft ; with little force or loud-
ness : opposed to forte. Usually abbreviated «,
—Piano pedaL ^ee pedal,
piano^ (pi-an'o), n. [= D. G. Sw. Dan. F. Sp.
Pg. piano, < It. piano J short for pianoforte :
see j[nanoforte.'\ A |>ianof orte Boudoir piano,
cabinet piano, an apright piano. — Cottage piano!
See cofto^e.— Dumb piano. Smie as digilorium. — Elec-
tric piano, a pianoforte whose wires are set In vibration
by electromagnets, instead of by hammers. — Grand pi-
ano. Seejttano/orte.— Pedalplano. Seei««2aZ,a.— Ho-
colo piano. See ^nceoto.— Square piano, upright pi-
ano. See pianqfarte,
piano-case (pi-an'o-kas), n. The wooden box
inclosing the meclianisni of a pianoforte.
piano-cover (pi-an'5-kuv'6r), n. A cloth or
rubber cover for a pianoforte.
pianoforte (pi-an'o-f6r-te or -fort), n. [= D. G.
Sw. Dan. F. Sp. Pg. pianoforte, < It, ptanof orte,
a pianoforte, <piano, soft {seepianoi), + forte,
strong,< L./or<»s, strong: seefortjforte^Jorce^.']
A musical instrument of the percussive group,
the tones being produced by blows of hammers
upon stretched strings, and the hammers be-
ing operated from a keyboard. Essentially, the
pianoforte is a lai^e dolcimer with a keyboard ; hat his-
torically it replaced tiie claTichord and harpsichord, which
"^d CO/
Action of Modem Upright Pianoforte.
a, key-frame; b, key; c. balance-rail ; d, cF, cushions; «, balance
key-pin ; /, balance ke^-Ieads, placed where needed to balance the
key ; ff, lar^e action-iad ; g'^ small action-rail ; A, ^rin^-rail or ham-
mer-rest, which is moved b^ the soft pedal, bringing me hammer nearer
to the string and causing it to strike a lighter blow ; i, siring-rail ; j,
r^ulating-rajl; ^hammer; //'.string; «n,hanmier-shank;«,nammer-
butt ; o, butt-flange ; p, counter-cheuc or bumper ; q^ hammer-spring
(insuring retreat of hammer from the string promptly after striking) ; r,
hammer-check, against wliich the bumper strikes to steady the ham-
mer after the stroke ; j, jack, or jack-fly, pivoted to the jack-flange and
actii^ against the hammer-butt to tluow the hammer forward when
the key is depressed ; y, jack-spring (restoring poation of jack after
the blow); ^, jack-flange ; «,whiporjack-whip, which carries the jack-
flange, hammer-checK, briole-wire, and damper-lifter, and which is
pivoted to the whip-flange v, whi^ latter is fastened by a screw to
the main action>rail ; -a, bridle-wire, which carries the bridle or flexible
tape extendi^ from the bridle-wire to and attached to the hammer-
butt, and whioi pulls the hammer back immediately after its blow
upon the string ; tp', regulatii^ or escapement screw, which releases
the jack-Sy from the hammer-butt and allows the hammer to be drawn
backward Dy the bridle immediately after sbiking; x, damper-lever;
yj damper-wire ; z, dami>er-head ; a', damper-lifter (otherwise called
spoon,boni its shape), which lifts the damper from the spring and holds
it away till the key is released from the pressure of the nngers; ^,
damper-flange, to which the damper-lever is pivoted, and which is rig>
idly screwed to the main action-rail ; c", damp^-spring, which presses
the damper E^^inst the string to stop its vibration when the key is re-
leased from pressure ; «'«', action-extension, which may be varied in
length, and which simply connects the jack-whip with tiie rockery,
screwed to the key; r'. recess in which a horizontal damper-rod (not
shown) is placed, which acts by means of forte pedal-action to remove
all the dampers ^multaneousfy, thus peimitting the strings to vibrate
without check.
were keyboard-instruments more akin to the harp than
to the dulcimer. The dulcimer has been known in some
form from the earliest historic times. Several attempts
were made during the sixteenth and seventeenth centu-
ries to combine a keyboard with it, perhaps the most im-
portant being the paiitaleoiie of Hebensfxeit; The chief
esthetic motive to these attempts arose from the fact that
the keyboard-instamments then known were nearly or en-
tirely incapable of gradation m the loudness of their tone ;
hence the new instrument, when invented, was call^ a
piario efortCy s.f<3rtepianOt or a pianoforte^ because its main
peculiarity was that its tone might be made either loud or
soft at the player's will. The earliest manufacture of pi-
anofortes of which there is certain record was by B^olo-
meo Cristofori of Padua, about 1710. Various improve-
ments have been and are still being made in details, but
the essential elements of tiie mechanism have not been
radically changed. These elements are as follows, (a)
The frame or hack is a framework of metal, with various
cross-bars and trusses so planned as to offer a stanch re-
sistance to the tension of the strings. This tension in a
modern grand pianoforte amounts to several tons. To the
frame are attached on one side or end the strii^-plate and
on the other the icrest-plank, to the former of which one
end of the stripgs is fastened, while in the latter are set
the tuning-pins, around which their other end is wound,
and by turning which Uieir tension may be adjusted.
Frames are sometimes made of wood, but usually of iron,
pr^erably cast in a single piece. (&) The brings are steel
wires of graduated thickn^s and length, the lai^er being
made heavier by being wound with copper wire. For
each of the ez^eme upper and lower tones only one
wire is provided, but for most of the others there are two
pianoforte
or three wires, which are tuned in unison, and placed so
that they shall be struck simultaneously by a single ham-
mer, (fi) The sounding-board is a thin plate of selected
wood 80 placed under the strings that it is drawn into
sympathetic vibration with them. The sonority and
quality of the tones depend much upon its material, form,
and attachment. At the side or end next the string-
plate there is an opening in the sounding-board for the
hammers, (d) The action comprises the entire system of
levers, hammers, etc., by which the player causes the
strings to sound. It includes a keyboard (which see)
made up of keys or digitals, each of which works on a
pivot near its center. When the front end of a key is de-
pressed, the back end is raised, carrying with it a rod
called a jacJ, the upper end of which propels a felt-tipped
hammer against one or more strings with a blow. At the
same Instant a damper is lifted from the strings so that
they can vibrate freely. After the blow is given the ham-
• mer falls back against a cheek, while the damper remains
lifted until the key is released. Various exceedingly in-
genious devices are used to prevent noise, to insure ease,
precision, and power, and to provide for extreme rapidity
of manipulation. Various mechanical effects are pro-
duced by means of pedals, such as the damper or loud
pedal, which lifts the dampers from all the strings at
once, so that all the strings sounded shall continue to
sound, and other strings shall be drawn into sympathetic
vibration until the pedal is released; a sustaining pedal;
which holds up all the dampers that happen to be raised
when it is pressed down, so that selected tones may be
prolonged at will ; and a soft pedai, which either inter-
poses a strip of thin felt between the hammers and the
strings, or diminishes the distance from which the ham-
mers strike, or moves them to one side, that they may strike
only one instead of two or three strings, so that a soft
tone shall be produced. The compass of the keyboard
varies from five to seven and a half octaves. G-reat care
is taken that the hammers shall strike the strings at such
a point as to bring out their desirable harmonies, and
suppress the others, (e) The case is a wooden box in
which the whole instrument is contained. Its form va-
ries according to the variety of the pianoforte. A grand
piano, the largest form of which is called a eoneert grand,
is harp-shaped, like the harpsichord, and has the strings
strung horizontally at right angles to the keyboard. A
square piano, until lately the commonest form for private
use, is rectangular, like the clavichord, and has the strings
strung horizontally, parallel with the keyboard. An up-
right or eaMnet piano is like a square set lip on edge, and
has the strings strung vertically behind the keyboard. In
both these varieties the case is often made of precious
woods elaborately carved and inlaid. The importance of
the pianoforte rests upon its powerful and finely graduated
tone, its convenience for tiie production of concerted
music, and its universal popularity. Its wide-spread use
brings into prominence, however, the disadvantages of a
percussive tone, which cannot be sustained or varied af-
ter the initial stroke, of an ease of manipulation which
' invites slovenly and vulgar use, and of a temperament
which, with the common neglect of frequent tuning,
often hopelessly corrupts the player's musical ear. The
technique of the pianoforte has developed gradually out
of that of the harpsichord and clavichord. Abbreviated
s/.— Oblique pianoforte. See oblique.— PlajiotoTte-
plEiyer'S cramp, an occupatiou-nem-osis, allied to writer's
cramp, developing in pianoforte-players. — Sostinente pi-
anoforte, a name given to various forms of the piano-
forte constructed with a view to sustain the full tone like an
organ. No such instruments have remained long in use.
piano^aph (pi-an'o-^raf), ». [< E.picmo + Gr.
-ypaipia, Cypaijieiv, write.] A form of musio-re-
corder. See mvMo-recorder.
piano-maker (pi-an'o-ma"k6r), n. A maker of
panofortes.
piano-muslc (pi-an'6-mii"zik), n. Music writ-
ten for or performed on a pianoforte.
piano-school (pi-an'o-sk81), n. 1. A school for
giving instruction in playing on the pianoforte.
— 2. A particular method or system of piano-
forte instruction; also, a book showing such
method.
piano-stool (pi-an'6-stol), n. A stool, gener-
ally adjustable in height, used by a performer
on the pianoforte.
piano-Violin (pi-an'o-vi-o-lin"), n. Same as
harmonichord.
piarachnoid (pi-a-rak'noid), n. lKpi(a mater)
+ arachnoid: see araclmoid, 2 (a).] The pia
mater and the arachnoid taken together.
Fiarist (pi'a-rist), n. [< NL. *Fiarista, < L.
pi«s, pious": see j^jjoms.] In the Bom. Catli.
Ch., a member of the Pauline Congregation of
the Mother of God, a secular order founded at
Eome by Joseph Calasanza about 1600 and sanc-
tioned a few years later, in addition to the three
usual monastic vows, the Fiarists devoted themselves to
the free instruction of youth. Th'sy are fomid especially
in the Austrian empire.
piarrliaeniia (pi-a-re'mi-a), n. [NL.| < Gr. JTca-
p6(, fat, -t- alfia, ijlood.] "Same as Kpsemia.
piassava, piassaba (pi-as'a-vii, -ba), n. [Pg.
jiiassava, piagaba; a Braz. name.] 1 . A coarse
fiber yielded by two palms, Attalea funifera and
Leopoldinia Piassaba. in South America it is made
into coarse but durable ropes ; in Europe it is used chiefly
for street-brooms. The product of the latter species is
less valued, and forms but a small percentage of the com-
mercial article. See Attalea, bast-palTn, Leopoldinia, Para
grass, and out in next column.
Since the introduction of Piassaba . . . the manufacture
of "bass brooms" has become an important branch of the
brush-making industry. Sponi Erusye. Manvf., 1. 554.
S. Either of the above palms.
4470
Piassava i^Attatea/unt/era).
a, the upper part of the stem with the fibers.
piaster, piastre (pi-as't6r), n. [< "E. piastre
= Sp. Pg. piastra, piaster, < It. piastra (ML.
plastra, a piaster), a thin plate of any metal, a
dollar, < L. empiastrum, a plaster: see plaster.2
1. The unit of Turkish oiurenoy, represented
by a silver coin worth about 4.4 United States
cents (the Turkish name for it is ghurOsli). — 2.
The Spanish dollar. See dollar, 1, and peso.
piationf (pi-a'shgn), n. [< L. piatio(n-), an ap-
peasing of the gods by offerings, < jpiare, ap-
pease : see piacle.'] The act of making atone-
ment; expiation. Imp, Diet.
piazza (pi-az'a; It. pron. piat'sa), n. [< It. pi-
azza, a square, market-place, = Sp. plaza = Pg.
praca = F.place,<. L. ptatea, place : see pZacei.]
1. An open square in a town surrounded by
buildings or colonnades ; a plaza: &B, the piazza
of Coven t Garden; the Piazza del Popolo iu
Eome ; the Piazza dell' Annunziata in Florence.
Whereupon the next morning, being Sunday, Wolfe
came to Chaloner's Chamber, and prayed him familiarly
to go walk with him abroad to the piazza or marketstead.
Foxe, Martyrs, an. 1666.
Din'd at my Lo. Treasurer's, the Earle of Southampton,
in Blomesbury, where he was building a noble square or
piazza, a little towne. Evelyn, Diary, Feb. 9, 1666.
The benediction was much finer than on Thursday, the
day magnificent, the whole piazza filled with a countless
multitude, all in their holiday dresses.
OreeUle, Memoirs, April 11, 1830.
2. An arcaded or colonnaded walk upon the
exterior of a building; a veranda; a gallery.
[A less correct use.]
The low projecting eaves forming a piazza along the
front, capable of being closed up in bad weather.
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 429.
He has put a broad verandah (what we so commonly call
a, piazza) all aiound the house.
MoOey, Correspondence, n. 283.
piazzian (pi-az'i-an), a. [i piazza + 4an.'\ Per-
taining to, resembling, or characteristic of a
piazza.
Where in Pluto's gardens palatine
Mulciber's columns gleam in far pia^zzian line.
Keats, Lamia, i.
pibblet, n. An obsolete form oipibble.
pibble-pabble (pib'l-pab'l), n. [An imitative
word, a varied reduplication of *pabble, equiv.
to babble.'] Tattle; babble. Worcester.
pibroch (pe'brooh), n. [< Gael, piobamreachd,
the art of playing on the bagpipe, pipe-music,
< piobaAr, a piper, < piob, a pipe, bagpipe (see
pipe'^), + fear, a man.] A wild, irregular kind
of music, peculiar to the Scottish Highlands,
pea-formed upon the bagpipe, it consists of a
ground-theme or air Called the urtar, followed by several
variations, generally three or four, the whole concluding
with a quick movement called the ereanduidh. Fibrochs
usually increase in difficulty from the beginning to the
end, and are profusely ornamented with grace-notes called
warblers. They are generally intended to excite a mar-
tial spirit. They also often constitute a kind of program-
music, intended to represent the various phases of a bat-
tle— the march, the attack, the conflict, the flight, the
pursuit, and the lament for the fallen. The names they
bear are often derived from historical or legendary events,
as "The Raid of Kilchrist," attributed to the piper of
Macdonald of Glengarry, and supposed to have been com-
posed in 1603. The term is sometimes used figuratively
by poets to denote the bagpipe itself.
Pibroch of Donuil Dhu,
Pibroch of Donuil,
Wake thy wild voice anew.
Summon Clan Conuil.
SeoU, in Albyn's Anthology.
piclt, n. A Middle English form otpike^.
pic2(pik), m. [Turk, pife.] Ameasure of length,
varying from 18 to 28 inches, common through-
out Moslem nations, and used especially for
measuring textile fabrics.
picaresque
Pical (pi'ka), m. [NL. (Brisson, 1760). < h.pica,
a magpie: "see pie^.] 1. A genus of oscine
passerine birds of the family CorvidsB and sub-
family GarruUnse, having an extremely long
graduated tail, the nostrils covered with an-
trorse plumules, and the plumage iridescent
black and white ; the magpies. The common magpie
of Europe is P. rustica, P. caudata, or P. pica. That of
America is commonly called P. hudsonica, but it is scaicely
a distinct species. The yellow-billed magpie of California
is P. nvttoMi. See out under magpie.
2. [l. c] A bird of the genus Pica; a pie; a mag-
pie.—Pica marina, an old name, not technical, of the
oyster-catcher, translating the popular name sea-pie.
pica2 (pi'ka), n. [= P. Sp. Pg. It. pica, < NL.
pica, a vifiated appetite, so called in allusion
to the omnivorous habits of the magpie ; < L.
pica, a magpie : see PicaX'] In med., a vitiated
craving for what is unfit for food, as chalk,
ashes, or coal.
picaS (pi'ka), ». P< ML, pica, the ordinal, so
called on "account of the color and confused
appearance of the rules, they being printed in
the old black-letter type on white paper, and
thus looking pied; < L. pica, a magpie: see
Pica^ and pie^.] 1. Eecles., same as ordinal,
2 (c).
Suppose then one that is sick should have this Pica, and
long to be annoiled ; why might not a lay-friend annoil a»
well as baptize? Sp. Hacket, Abp. Williams, p. 218.
2. An alphabetical catalogue of names and
things in rolls and records.
pica* (pi'ka), 11. [So called with ref. to the
black-lette'r type in which the pica or ordinal
was printed: see pica^.2 A size of printing-
type, about 6 lines to the inch, intermediate
between the sizes English (larger) and small-
pica (smaller). It is equal to 12 points in the new sys-
tem of sizes. (See points, 14 (6).) The sizes of type respec-
tively called 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-line pica have bodies that
are equal to 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 lines of pica. Leads are
described by their numerical relation to the pica body, as
6-to-pica or 10-to-pica, accorduig as 6 or 10 set together
make a line of pica.
This is Pica Type,
Double pica, in England, a size of t^e equal to 2 lines,
of small-pica. — DoulDle small-pica, ia printing, a size of
type giving about SJ lines to the inch. In Great Britain
this size is known a& double pica. — Two-line pica, a size
of type of about 3 lines to the inch, equal to 2 lines of pica,
or to 24 points in the new system of sizes.
picador (pik-a-dor'), 11. [Sp., < pica, a pike,
lance: see pike'^.'] In hull-fighting, one of the
horsemen armed with a lance who commence
the combat in the arena by pricking the bull
to madness with their weapons, but purposely
avoid disabling him. The horse of the picador is
often disemboweled by the bull ; the man has armor for
the legs, as much to keep them from being crushed by
the weight of the horse falling on them afi to protect them
against the bull.
The light darts of the picador . . . sting, but do not
wound. Q. W. Curtix, Haiper'a Mag., LXXVI. 637.
Ficffi (pi'se), ii.pl. [NL., pi. of Pica : see PicaK]
In the Linuean system of . classification, the
second order of birds, more fully called Aves
picse. It consisted of the genera Psittacus, Ramphastos,
Buceros, Buphaga, Crotophaga, Conyus, Caradas, Oriolus,
Oracida, Paradisea, Trogon, Buoco, Oucvlus, Yunx (lynx),
Picas, Sitta, Todus, Alcedo, Merops, ITpupa, Certhia, and
TrochUus. Though thus a heterogeneous and artiflcial
groupj it corresponds in the main with the modern order
Picanse, of which it is the prototype. Elimmation of the
passerine forms (namely, Corvus, Oriolus, Gracvla, Para-
disea, Sitta, and Certhia) would leave it very nearly the same
as PicariiB.
picamar (pik'a-mar), n. [= 'F.pioamare, < L.
pix (ijic-), pitch, + amarus, bitter.] The bit-
ter principle of tar. It can be separated in the
form of a colorless oil.
picaninny, n. See piccaninny.
Picard.! (pik'Srd), n, [Perhaps from one Picard,
the alleged founder.] Eecles., one of a sect in
Bohemia about the beginning of the fifteenth
century, suppressed by Ziska in 1421. The Ho-
ards are accused of an attempt, under the guise of re-
storing man's primitive state of innocence, to renew the-
practices of the Adamites, in going absolutely unclothed
and in maintaining the community of women, etc. See
AdamdtB, 3.
picard'-J (pik'ard), n. [< F. Picard, belonging
to Picardy.] A shoe worn by men, introduced
into England as the fashion of the French about
1720. It was high-quartered, and not unlike the
modem brogan.
Picardist (pik'ar-dist), n. [< PicardX + -isf\
An occasional form of PicardK
picaresque (pik-a-resk'), a. [P., < ^y.picaresco-
(= Ps.picaresco),<.picaro, a rogue : aeepicaro.l
Pertaining to or dealing with rogues or pica-
roons: said of literary productions that deal
with the fortunes of rogues or adventurers, and
especially of works in Spanish literature about
picaresque
the beginning of the seventeenth century, of
■'Crnzman de Alfarache" was a type.
4471
which '
The rise of the taste for pieamque liteixtDTe in Spain
towards the close of the 16m centiuy was fatal to the writ-
ers of pastoral.
Picaris (pi-ka'ri-e), n. ph [NI,., fern. pi. of
*picaritts, < L. pieus, a woodpecker : see Picus.'\
II. a. Small; petty; of little value or ac-
count : as, picayune polities. [C S.]
If only two cents are required, yon will have prevented
a.pieay«nt waste. The Writer, HL 112.
Smv^Bra.,XVllL3i6.^ picayunish (pik-a-yo'nish), a. [< picayune +
'""'"" -is7»l.] Of little value or account; small; petty;
paltry; mean. [Colloq., I*. S.]
In Nitzsch's system of classification, as edited piccadiJlt (pik'anlil), n. ' lAlsopiekadai,pic]ca-
by Bnrmeister in 1840, an order of birds, in- — - ••■ "" - -' ■'----■'-- - -'^- -
stituted for the reception of the Maeroehires.
Cuculinx, Picinse, Fsittadme, and Amphibolse
of his earlier arrangement, with the addition
of the Caprimidgime, Todidae, and Lmoglossx
(the last consisting of the genera Buceros,
Vpupa, and Aleedo). With various modifications,
and especially wltbtheezcloaioii of the Pttttad, the term
continues in genraal use hy omitliologists as the name of
a groap of non-passerine non-raptorial land-birds ; but it
is so heterogeneoos that no diagnostic diaiacteis can be
assigned, and the tendency now is to drop the term and
elevate several of the groups of genera wtdch it formerly
'- covered to ordinal or snhordinal ran^ under the names
Uaavchires, Coccyges, and PidforrMS, or their equivalents.
picarian (pi-ka'ri-an), a. and n. [< Picariee +
-an.] L o. Of of pertaining to the Piearias;
being or resembling one of the Picariee.
II. n. One of the Picarise.
picarot (pik'»-r6), ii. [Also jpicfcaro; < Sp.jwca-
ro = Pg. picaro = It. piecaro, a rogue ; cf. P.
iwcorer, steal cattle, forage: seepiekeer,ptclcery.^
A rogue ; a thief.
Thearts . . . used by our Spanish pidiaroes—I mean
filching, foisting, njnoming, jilting.
Middleton, Spanish Gypsy, iL 1.
picaroon^ (pik-a-ron'), n. [Formerly a^o pick-
aroune, pickeroon ; <.Bf.picaron,a,TOgaB,<,pie4i-
see pickeer, pickery.^
dil, pieadiU, piccadell, picadeU, pickadel, pieka-
dell, pickardtU; < 0¥.piccadille,picadiUe, a pic-
cadill, with dim. suf^, < Sp. ^cado, pricked,
pierced, punctured (cf . picada, a pimcture, pi-
cadura, an ornamental gusset), < picar, prick,
pierce, puncture, <j»ca, a pike: see jH&ei.] 1.
A hcrge stiff collar in f asmon about the begia-
ning of the reign of James I., but the precise
character of which is unknown. It appears to
have been of French origin.
This [halter] is a coarse wearing;
"Twill sit but scnrvily upon ttaa collar ;
But patience is as good as a Frvmch pidkad^
J?etcA«r, Pilgrim, ii 2.
Wbich for a Spanish blocke his lands doth s^
Or for to buy a standing picfcadea f
Pasquirs yight-eap OeiSy. (JTores.)
2. -An edging of lace or cut-work, forming the
ornamental part of the broad collar worn by
women early in the seventeenth century.
A short Dutch waist, with a round Catherine-wheel f ar-
dingale, a close sleeve with a cartoose collar, and a.p£ata-
Dekker and Webster, Northward Ho, iiL 1.
And in her fashion she is likewise thus,
In ev'iy thing she must be monstrous.
^erpwadel above her crown up-bears.
Her fardingale is set above her ears.
Dnq/ton, Mooncalf.
da.
see picki.'i Money paid by strolling players
turer,
I could not recover your Diamond Hatband, which the
Picaroon snatched from you in the Coach, tho' I used all
Means Possible. Hotoett, Letters, L IiL 30.
I think I see in thy countenance something of the ped-
lar — something of the picaroon. Scott, Kenilworth, xz.
2. A plunderer; especially, a plunderer of
wrecks; a pirate; a corsair.
This poore vessell . . . the next day was taken by a
French Pickaroune, so that the Frigot, out of hope of her
prize, makes a second time for the W^ Indies.
Quoted in CapL John Snath's Works, IL 132.
Some frigates should be always in the Downs to chase
picaroons from infesting the coast. Lord Clarendon.
picaroon^ (pik-a-ron'), n. [Origin uncertain.]
An instrument like a boat-hook, used in moor-
ing logs or deals. [Canada.]
and others for the privilege of breaking ground
for the erection of their booths at fairs, etc.
Know ye that King Athelstan of famous memory did
grant ... an exemption of all manner of Imposts, Toll,
Tallage, Stallage, Tnnnage, Lastage, /*iefaige^ Wliarfage.
IH^oe, Tour thro' Great Britain, iii. 1S8. iDmies.')
Courts of pie-powder, stallageE^ tolls, piccages, with the
fullest privileges ever enjoyed by the prior in the preposl-
toreof Cartm^
Quoted in Baine^s Hist. Lancashire, n. 6S0.
piccalilli (pik'a-lil-i), 71. [Origin obscure.] A
kind of pickle made up of various vegetables,
chopped and seasoned with mustard and pun-
gent spices.
piccaniiiny, pickaninny (pik'a^nin-i), ».; pi.
Fields
fourth of the anna) of India under British
rule, equal to about three fourths of a United
States cent. Alsopaysa, pysa.
Picea (pi'se-a), n. [Nli. (Link, 1827),<L.j»<!ea,
the pitch-pine, or perhaps the spruce or the
fir (cf. Gr. izti-ai, the fir), <;>tx (pie-), pitch: see
piUih.'] A genus of coniferous trees, of the
tribe Abietineee, including the spruce. It is char-
acterized by the evergreen four-sided leaves jointed to the
persistent petiole-base, staminate fiowers solitary in the
axils of the upper leaves, and reflexed cones with persist-
ent scales, hanging near the end of the branches. Great
confusion regarding the spruce and fir existed among the
Greeks and Boman^ and later among modems ; many an-
thers (following Don, 183S) long wrote Picea tor the fir,
Abies for the spruce ; Asa Gray and others (following Jus-
sleo, 1789) united both under Abies; present usage ^opte
(since Bentham and Hooker, 1880) Piam for the spruce^
Abies for the fir. Picea Includes about 12 species^ natives
of north temperate and arctic regions. They bear long
and narrow spirally scattered leaves spreading in all di-
rections, and long cones with double tMn-maigined scales
each with two winged seeds. See spruce and Hng-pine,
and compare^ and jn£eA2.
Picentine (^'seu-tin), a. [< L. Picentinus,
equiv. to Pieens {Picent-) and Picenus, -peTtain-
ing to Picenum, < Picetmm, Picennm (see def . ).]
Of Picenum, a district in the eastern part of
Italy noted for its fruits and oU.
Admirable receipt of a salacacaby of Aplcins: . . . three
crusts of pycentine bread, the fiesh of a pullet, goat stones,
vestine cheese, pine kernels, cucumbers, dried onions
minced small ; pour a soup over it, garnish it with snow,
and send it up In the cacabulum.
IT. King, Art of Cookery, letter iz.
piceons (pish'iua), a. [= Pg. It. piceo, < L.
piceus, pitchy, piteh-blsick, < pix (ino-), pitch :
see p»tcft2.] In bot. and zool., pitch-black;
black with faint dark-red tinge.
piche^t. A Middle English form of piich^ and
pitch^.
piche%, n. piarly mod. E., also pyche; < ME.
piehe,pyclie; originobseure.] A wicker basket;
also, a basket ortrapforfish. Cafft.Ang.,^. 277.
pichert, n. A Middle English form otpitdier^.
pichiciago (pich'i-si-a'go), H. [S. Amer.] The
mgiugsorueais. L'oaua.ua.j .'piccaninni^-piekaninniisi-izyiA^opicinin-
Plcathartes (pxk-a-thar'tez), ». [M^- O^esson,; J™^f. ^^ 'J^. . - jitfle an adi ised bv
1828), for »-Picacafliarfcs,< Pico + Ctaflkirfe», in "^' ^^oaa p*qutmm^ iirae, an aaj. usett by
allusion to the long taU, like a magpie's, and
the bare head, like that of an American vul-
ture of the genus Catliartes.'] A remarkable
genus of Comidse. The only species, P. gymnoeepha-
ha, is found in tJie forests of Denkera, In the Interior of
negroes, and applied to persons and things;
perhaps an accommodation of Sp. pequeno
niSo, little infant: peqveno (= Pg. pequeno),
little, small (cf . It. piccolo, small : see piccolo) ;
nitio, m., a chUd, boy, ntna, a girl.] A baby;
a child; especially, tiie child of -<% member of
any negroid race.
Ton should have seen me coming in state over the pad-
dock with my hair down, and five-and-forty black fellows,
lobros, pieamnnies, and all, at my heels. Yon would have
laughed. H. Kingsley, Hillyars and Burtons, zxviiL
You were an exceedingly small jncamnTij/
Someluneteen or twenty shoH summers ago.
F. Locker, The Old Cradle.
A poor puny ^tWe pickaninny, black as the ace of spades.
Harper's Mag., LXXYL 809.
picchef . A Middle English form otpitch?;pitch^,
and of pike^.
piCM^etatO (pik-ke-ta'to), a. In music for in-
struments of the viol family, detached, half-
staccato : noting tones produced by short ab-
mpt motions of the bow, without lifting it from
the string. Also pique, spiccato.
piccolo (pik'o-16), «. [< It. piccolo, smaQ; cf.
Sp. pequeOo = Pg. pequeno, small (see pteea-
Vaiaame Pie (.Picatiarta gymtixr^Aaius). ntnny).] 1. A Small flutc, soundiug au octave
higher than the ordinary 3ute. Also called
the Gold Coast, western Africa. It is 16i inches long, the flauio piCCoUt, octare-flute, ottavino, and otta-
tail TJ : the head is bald and of a brlght-yenow color, with t)i^._ 2. An OMjan-stop giving tones like those
a round black T>atch behind ; the upper parts are slat}'- • . „,„ „,.j,To r,
gray, inclining to blackish on the back, and the under of » piccolo.— Bombardo picccflo. Same as oip^ L
parts are creamy-white. This singular bird was called —Piccolo Bjano, a sman upnght^anoforte, mtrodnced
ttt^tedffnioKe In some of the old books, and Wagler named by BobertWomom of London m 1829
the genus Otigvltix m 1827 : but the latter name is pre- pice (pis), n. sing, and pi. [< Marathl pcasa.\
occupied In another connection (Brisson, 17S0). A money of account and a copper coin (one
picayune (pik-a-yon'), n. and a. [Prob. for
'picayoon (witH term, as doubloon, etc.), < F.
pieaUlon, a farthing, in slang use cash, "tin";
cf. It. picciolino, a farthing; piccolo, little. ] 1.
n. Formerly, m Florida, Louisiana, and adja-
cent regions, the Spanish half-real, equal to tV
of a doSax, or 6J cents ; now, the five-cent piece
or any sinular small coin.
SiM, the fact remains that the average " Communist"
has not one picayune's worth of interest in the State as Obveree, Reverse.
Such. Ifew Princeton Beo.,!. 38. Half-Pice, in the Biitish Museum. (Size of the ordinal.)
Pichiciago ( Chlamydophorus tntncatiis).
little truncate armadillo, Clilamydophorus trun-
catus.
Pi(>hlirim beam. A cotyledon of the seed of
the South American tree Ifeetandra Puchury.
These beans have the medicinal properties of common
aromatics, and are said to be used in South America in
place of nutmegs. Also Pitckurim bean, Brazilian bean,
and sasati^fras-nvt.
Ficicorvns (pi-si-k6r'vns), /(. [NL. (Bonaparte,
1850), lit. 'pie-crow,' < L. pica, a magpie, +
corvus, crow.] A genus of corvine birds of
western North America, having the form of the
Old World nutcrackers of the genus Xitcifraga.
Clarice's Clow, or American Nutcracker {Picicorsus cchtmfitunus).
but the plumage gray, with black and white
wings and tail. The only species is P. columbianus,
commonly called CSarke's crow or American nutcracker, in-
habiting mountainous and especially coniferous regions.
Ficidae (pis'i-de), «.. pi. psl^., < Picus + -tdas.]
A large family of scansorial zygodactyl picarian
birds, named from the genus Picus, character-
ized by the habit of picking the wood of trees
Picidse
both to procure food and to construct nesting-
places; the woodpeckers, (a) In a broad sense, a fam-
ily including the pioulets and wrynecks, which have soft
tail-feathers not used iu climbing, and divided into Pid-
nee, Pieumninee, and lyTtginss. See cuts under Pieurmuts,
Pims, and wryneck, (b) By exclusion of the last two as
respectively types of dififerent families, the woodpeckers
proper, which have stiff acuminate taU-feathers used in
climbing, being pressed against the tree, and forming with
the feet a tripod of support. The tail consists always of
twelve rectrices, but the next to the outer pair are very
small and concealed, so that there appear to be only ten.
The wing is more or less pointed, with ten primai-ies, of
which the first is short or spurious; the coverts are short,
as in passerine birds. The feet are four- toed and zygodac-
tyl (excepting in the genus Picoides). The arrangement
of the flexor tendons of the toes is antiopelmous, the oil-
gland is tufted, the carotid is single, cseca are wanting,
and the manubrium of the breaat-bone is bifurcate. The
principal peculiarities are found in the skull, beak, and
tongue. The palatal structure is unique and of the type
called by Parker saurognathous, and the whole skull is re-
markably solid and firm. The beak is eminently fitted, like
a gouge or chisel, for boring into wood. In some of the less
typical Picidee this instrumentis a little cui'ved, acute, and
not ridged on the sides ; in most woodpeckers, however, it
is perfectly straight, very hard, truncated chisel-wise (per-
pendicularly) at the end, and beveled and strengthened
with ridges on the sides. Except in afewgeuera(as5p%ro-
picus), the tongue is lumbriciform or cylindrical, barbed
at the end, and capable of great extension ; it is used as a
spear to capture insects. The horns of the hyoid bone are
very highly developed, as a rule, curling up over the back
of the head, even as far as the orbital or nasal cavities, and
the salivary glands are very large. The species are nu-
merous (upward of 300), placed in many modern genera,
inhabiting nearly all parts of the world. They are chiefly
insectivorous, but alsofrugivorous to some extent, nest in
holes which they excavate with the bill, and lay crystal-
white eggs. They are not regularly migratory, and not
musical. Besides their vocal cries, they make a loud rat-
tling noise by tapping trees. See cuts under CampophUue,
Centurus, Dryocopns, flicker, Melan^rpes, pair-toed, Picue,
pileaUd, pUahayat popinjay, sapsucker, woodpecker, and
Xenojpieux.
piciform (pis'i-f6rm), a. [< NL. piciformis, <
h. pious, a woodpecker, + forma, form.] Hav-
ing the form or structure of a woodpecker ; re-
lated to the woodpeckers ; picoideous ; specifi-
cally, of or pertaining to the Piciformes.
Piciformes (pis-i-f6r'mez), n.2)l. [NL., pi. of
piciformis: seejpto/orm.] 1. In Garrod's clas-
sification, a superfamily of anomalogonatous
picarian birds, having a tufted oil-gland, one
carotid, and no cseca, including the Pieidee and
some related families : contrasted with Cypseli-
formes. — 3. In Coues's system (1884), the wood-
peckers alone as a suborder of Piearise, com-
posed of the three families Picidee, Pioumnidse,
and lyngidse.
Ficinae (pi-si'ne), n.pl. [NL., < Pious + -inse.']
Inornith.: (at) In Nitzsch's classification (1829),
a superfamily of birds, equivalent to the Den-
droeolaptse of Merrem. (6) A subfamily of Pi-
cidee (a), made by elimination of the Pieumninee
and lynginee: same as Picidee (6). (c) A sub-
family of Pioidse (6), containing the most typi-
cal woodpeckers, which have the bill perfectly
straight, ridged and beveled on the sides, and
truncate at the end, and the tongue usually ex-
tensile.
picine (pi'sin), a. and m. [< NL. *picinus, < L.
pious, a woodpecker: see Pious.'] I, a. Like
a woodpecker ; being or resembling one of the
Pioidie.
II. n. One of the Picidee.
pick^ (pik), V. [Early mod. E. also pike, pyke
(partly merged in pilce^, v.); also peoTc, which
is partly differentiated in use (see jjecfci) ; < ME.
pioken, pikken, also pekken, also piken, pyken
Ipiken), pick; perhaps < AS. pycan (found but
once, in the passage "and let him pycan lit
his edgan," 'and caused [one] to pick out
his eyes' (AS. Chron., an. Vgey, where Thorpe
prints pytau, and Bosworth (ed. Toller) ex-
plains the word as pyoan for *pican) ; the AS.
form corresponding to ME. pikken would be
*piooan; at. WD. pioken, D. pikken, pick, = G.
picken, pick, peck, = Icel. pikka, pick, prick;
ef. Ic.pioeaim, I pick, pluck, nibble, = Gael.
pioo, pick, nip, nibble, = W. pigo, pick, peck,
prick, choose, = Corn, piga, prick, sting; con-
nected with the noun which appears as E. pike
and peak : see pike^ and peak^. Cf . also pitoW-,
an assibilatedform of picfcl.] I. irans. 1. To
prick or pierce with some pointed instrument;
strike with some pointed instrument; peck or
peck at, as a bird with its bill ; f own with re-
peated strokes of something pointed; punch:
as, to pick a millstone ; to pick a thing full of
holes ; to pick a hole in something.
Beware therefore leaste whyle thou contemne the
peaceable princes that god hath sent the, thou bee lyke
vnto Isopes frogges, to whom, for theyr vnquietnesse,
lupiter sent a hearon to picke them in the hedes.
R. Men, First Books on America (ed. Arber), p. 53.
4472
Pick an apple with a pin full of holes, not deep, and
smear it with spirits, to see if the virtual heat of the strong
waters will not mature it. Bacon.
The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to
obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out,
and the young eagles shall eat it. Prov. xxx. 17.
2. To open with a pointed instrument : said of
a lock.
Were beauty under twenty locks kept fast.
Yet love breaks through and pitks them all at last.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 676.
3. To remove clinging particles from, either
by means of a pointed instrument, by pluck-
ing with the thumb and finger, or by strip-
ping with the teeth : as, to pick one's teeth ; to
pidk a thread from one's coat ; to pick a bone.
Why, he wUl look upon his boot and sing ; mend the
ruff and sing ; ask questions and sing ; pick his teeth and
sing. Skak., All's Well, iii. 2. 8.
4. To pluck; gather; break off; collect, as fruit
or flowers growing: as, to pick strawberries.
He . . . hire his trouthe plyghte.
And piked of hire al the good he myghte.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 2467.
'Twas a good lady; we m&y pick a thousand salads ere
we light on such another herb. Shak., All's Well, iv. 6. 15.
5. To pluck with the fingers, as the strings of
a guitar or banjo ; play with the fingers ; twitch ;
twang.
What charming girls, quick of wit, dashing in repartee,
who can piek the strings, troll a song, and dance a brando I
C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 11.
Dat nigger, whar nuv'r know how to pick a banjer be-
fo', took it up an' play off dat ve'y dance.
Harpers Mag., LXXVIII. 42.
6. To filch or pilfer from; steal or snatch
thievishly the contents of: as, to pick a pocket
or a purse.
The Grekes were full gredy, grippit hom belyue,
Prayen and pyken mony priuey cbambur.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1371.
Pistol, did you^ft Master Slender's purse?
Sliak., M. W. of W., i. 1. 164.
He found his pocket was picked .' that being a kind of
Salmistry at which this race of vermin [gipsies] are very
exteroUB. Addison, Spectator, No. 130.
They pick'd my pockets bare.
Battle of Tranervt-Muir (Child's Ballads, VII. 173).
Pick my left pocket of its silver dime,
But spare the right — it holds my golden time!
0. W. Holmes, A Khymed Lesson.
7t. To separate and aiTange in order, as a bird
its feathers ; preen ; trim.
He kembeth hyra, he proyneth hym sadipyketh.
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, I. 767.
8. To separate ; pull apart or loosen, as hair,
fibers, etc.; pull to pieces; shred: sometimes
with up : as, to pick horsehair ; to xrick oakum ;
to pick up codfish (in cookery). — 9. To sepa-
rate and select out of a number or quantity;
choose or cull carefully or nicely : often with
out: as, to pick (or pick out) the best.
We vse as much as may be the most flowing words &
slippeiy sillables that we can picke out.
PuUenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 64.
To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked
out of ten thousand, Slmk., Hamlet, ii. 2. 179.
Can nothing then but Episcopacy teach men to speak
good English, to pick&nd. order a set of words judiciously?
Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus.
Our modern wits are forced to pick and cull.
And here and there by chance glean up a fool.
Addison, Prol. to Steele's Tender Husband.
10+. To seek out by ingenuity or device; find
out; discover.
He is so wise
That we can pick no cause to affront him.
Fletcher (and another), Queen of Corinth, iii, 1,
No key
Could from my hommpick that Mystery.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, ii. 76.
A tone to pick. See Sonei.— To have a crow to pick
with one. See erovfi.— To pick a hole in one's coat,
to find fault with one.— To pick a quarrel, to And or
make cause or occasion for quarreling.
She 'II pixk a quarrel with a sleeping child,
Ere she fall out with me.
Beau, and PL, Coxcomb, iii, 3,
To pick a thankt, to pick thankst, to procure consid-
eration or favor by servile or underhand means.
He is ashamed to say that which is said already, or else
to pick a thank with his prince,
/SSr T. Mare, Utopia (tr. by Robinson), i.
As I am not minded to picke a thanke with the one, so
am I not determined to picke a quarrell with the other,
Ijyty, Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 107.
By slavish fawning or by^Aiin^ thanks.
FitAer, Britain's Remembrancer. (Naires.)
To pick fault, to seek out petty occasion for censure ;
find fault.
They medle with other folkes busines, « , . exhort and
glue preceptes, rebuke and correote, pykefaules.
Hyrde, tr. of Vives's Instruction of a Christian Woman
[(ed. 1541), fol. 138 b.
pick
To pick off, to single outj aim at, and kill or wound, as
with firearms: as, the riilemen picked of the enemy.— To
pick one's way, to move cautiously or carefully.
He does not fail to observe the entrance of a stalwart
old gentleman, who picks his way up to the front chairs.
HaMherger's Ittws. Mag., I., Ward or Wife!
To pick out. (o) To piece out ; form by combining sepa-
rate or scattered parts or fragments ; find or make out.
Compare def. 9.
I did prety well picke out the sense of the Epitaphe.
Coryat, Crudities, 1. 156.
He brings me information, picked out of broken words in
men's common talk. Beau, and Fl., Woman-Hater, i. 3.
Hopeful . . . called to Christian (for he was learned) to
see if he could pick out the meaning.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p, 170.
(6) To mark as with spots of color or other applications of
ornament.
Tall dark houses, with window-frames of stone, or picked
out of a lighter red, Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xlvii.
This flying being [Eros] has his body painted in opaque
white ; his wings are VIms picked out with gold.
C. T. Newton, Art and Archseol., p. 388.
To pick pockets, to pick one's pocket. See pocket.
— To pick up. (a) To take up, as with the fingers ; as, to
pick up a stone ; to pick u^ a fan ; hence, to take up in
general ; pluck up : as, to pick up courage.
I picked up courage, and, putting on the best appear-
ance I could, said to them steadily, without trepidation,
" What men are these before?"
Bruce, Source of the Nile, 1. 195.
The sweet flavor of a frost-bitten apple, such as onepicks
up Under the tree in December.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, x.
(6) To take or get casually ; obtain or procure as opportu-
nity offers ; acquu'e by chance or occasional opportunity ;
gather here and there, little by little, or bit by bit : as, to
pick up a rare copy of Homer ; to pick up Information ; to
inch up acquaintance; to pick up a language or a liveli-
hood.
If iu our youths we could picic up some pretty estate,
'twere not amiss to keep our door hatched.
Shak., Pericles, iv. 2. 36.
They could find Trade enough nearer home, and by this
Trade the Freemen of Malacca ^'cft up a good livelihood.
Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 167.
When I was at Grand Cairo I picked up several oriental
manuscripts, which I have still by me,
Addison, The Vision of Mirza,
If you aawpick me up any fragments of old painted glass,
arms, or anything, I shall be excessively obliged to you.
Walpde, Letters, II. 190.
(c) To take (a person found or overtaken) into a vehicle or
a vessel, or into one's company : as, to %dck up a tired trav-
eler ; to pick up a shipwrecked crew.
On the way Mr. Gowen, who has charge of the first four-
teen miles of the aqueduct, ynapieiked up.
New York Tribune, Feb. 2, 1890.
(d) See def. 8.— To pick up one's cnunlis, heels, etc.
See the nouns.
II. intrans. 1. To strike with a pointed in-
strument; peck. — 2. To take up morsels of
food and eat them slowly ; nibble.
Why stand'st thou picking f Is thy palate sore.
That bete and radishes will make thee roar?
Dryden, tr. of Persins's Satires, iii. 226.
3. To steal; pilfer.— To pickat,toannoybyrepeated
faultfinding ; nag : as, she is forever picking at the child.
— To pick up, to improve gradually; acquire vigor or
strength, as after illness or failure : as, he is looking better,
and beginning to pick up. [CoUoq.]
This club began t^pick up, and now it has regained its
former prestige. The Century, XXXVII. 751.
pick! (pik), n. [In most uses from the verb;
but in senses 1 and 2 prob. a mere var. otpike^,
n., which is in part ult. the source of the verb
pick : see pick^,v., pihe^, n.'] 1. A pointed in-
strument of various kinds, (a) A tool used for
loosening and breaking up closely compacted soil and
rock. It is ordinarily a bar of iron tipped with steel at
both ends, about eighteen inches long, sometimes straight
but more generally slightly curved, and having an eye in
a and f, pickaxes, a (sometimes called a pick-mattock) having an
adz-like edge on the end opposite the point, and c having its edge in
Ime with the handle, like a common ax j *, a push-picK, having a
crutch-handle A. which is grasped by the hands, and a steD j for
the foot ; cv, a minets' pick ; e, the common pick used in excavation,
etc.
the middle to receive a handle or helve. The tips of the
pick are usually sharpened to a point by a square taper ;
somethnes, however, to a chisel-edge. The tapering ex-
tremities of the pick possess the property of the wedge,
BO that this tool is really hammer andwedge in one. Its
form allows it also to be advantageously used as a bent
lever. The pick is known in England by the names pike,
mandrel, slitter, mattock, and hack; the last two, however,
belong properly to forms of the pick with only one point
and that ending in a chisel-edge. The pick is largely em-
ployed by miners, especially by coal-miners. (6) An edged
or pointed hammer used in dressing stones, (c) A tooth-
pick. (CoUoq.] (dt) A fork.
Ward-lock with Key and Picks.
a, key; d, instnunent for takii^ im-
pressions of the wards; e and d, picks or
false keys, otherwise called picklocks.
These picklocks are made to enter the
lock, the maker beii^ guided by the im-
pression of the wards on a coating of wax
spread on the flat blade of b.
pick
TTndone, without redemption, he eats with jpickx,
Fleteher, MonsieiiT Thomas, L 2.
(a) A foDT-tined eel-spearwith along handle. [Prov. Eng.]
2t. A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the
center of a buckler.
Take down my bnckler.
And sweep the cobwebs off, and grind the piei on 't.
Beau, and Fl., Cupid's Bevenge, iv. 3.
St. The diamond on a playing-card : so called
from the point. Davies.
Throughout that brave mosaick yard.
Those picks or diamonds in the <^ird.
With peeps of harts, of club, and sjade.
Are here most neatly interlaid.
Herrick, Oberon's Palace.
4. An instrument for picking a lock; a pick-
lock.— 5. The
bar-tailed god-
wit, Limosa lap-
poniea: from its
habit of probing
for food. Also
prine. [Norfolk,
ling.] — 6. In
weaving,the blow
which (faves the
shuttle. It is de-
livered upon the
end of the shuttle
by the picker-head
at the extremity of
the picker-staff. The
rate ofaloomissald
to be so many picks
per minute.
This loom, fitted with Hattersley's patent heald machine,
can be worked at a speed of 130picis per minute, the speed
of the old loom fertile same purpose being about ibpieks
per minute. Ure, Diet., IV. 983.
7. la. painting, that which is picked in, either
with a point or with a pointed pencil; — 8. In
the harvesting of hops, cotton, coffee, berries,
etc. , in which the work is usually done by hand-
picking, the quantity of the article which is
picked or gathered, or which can be gathered
or picked, in a specified time : as, the daily ^cfc /
the picTe of last year. — 9. In printing, foul mat-
ter which collects on printiig-types from the
rollers or from the paper impressed; also, a
bit of metal improperly attached to the face of
stereotype or electrotype plates, which has to
be removed by the finisher. — 10. The right of
selection ; first choice ; hence, the choicest ; the
most desirable specimens or examples.
France and Bussia have the pick of our stables.
Btdvxr, What will he do with it? vii. 7.
We had bad luck with horses this day, however, two or
three travellers having been in advance and had the pick.
B. Taylor, Xorthem Travel, p. 44.
Pick and pick, in weaving^ by or in alternate picks ; even-
ly vari^ated, as the colors of a fabric.
A fine stripe ... is got out of twelve bars or threads
in the warp and fom* in the filling ; the warp is eight of
black and four of white, the filling is pick and pick, black
and white. A. Barloie, Weaving, p. 31&
The pick of the baabet. See ba^cet
pick^ (pik), V. t. [An obs. var. ofpitch^.'] To
pitch; throw.
I Id make a quarry
With thousands of these quarter'd slaves, as high
As I could fiat my lance. Shak., Cor., L 1. 204.
pick* (pik), n. A dialectal form otpitch^.
Tho' dark the night as pick and tar,
I'll guide ye o'er yon hills fu' hie.
Bobie NMe (Child's Ballads, TI. 100).
pick*t (pik), r. ;. An obsolete form otpeaTfi.
I mast hasten it.
Or else pid£ a' famine.
MiddUUm, Chaste Haid, i. 1.
picks (pik), m. [Short for i>icfcere/.] A pike or
pickerel. [U. S.]
pickaback, pickback (pik'a-bak, pik'bak),
ado. [Var. of piekapack, pichpack, simulating
ftacfel.] On the back or shoulders like a pack.
[Colloq.]
For, as our modem wits behold.
Mounted & pick-back on the old.
Much further off, much further he,
Bals'd on his aged beast, could see.
S. BuOer, Hudibras, I. ii. 72.
4473
pickax, pickaxe (pik'aks), n. [A corruption,
simulating a compound otpiclc^ + ojl, of ME.
pijceys, pikois, pykeys, < OF. picois, pikois, pecois,
piquois, piequois, a pickax, also a goad, a dart,
< piquer, pick, prick, pierce, < pic, a pick, pike :
see pick^, pike^/} A
pick, especially one
with a sharp point on
one side of the head
and a broad blade on
the other. The pointed
eud is used for loosening
hard earth, and the other
for cutting the roots of
trees. See also cuts under
pickl, n., 1.
Ill hide my master from
the flies, as deep
As these-pooT pickaxes can
dig.
Shak., Cymbeline, iv. i „ , „. , .^ ,
r*WMI Pickax or Pick-mattock.
a and 6, steel extiemities welded to
pickerel
7iu6e (ef. tilLiGr. pekelhUve = Sw. pickelhufva ^
Dan. pikkelhue, < G.), < MHG. G. hecken, a ba-
sin, + haube, cap: see basin and houve, and cf.
basinet.^ A kind of helmet formerly worn by
arquebusiers, plkemen, etc. : the helmet in use
in the present Prussian army is popularly called
pickelha ube. a similar helmet has been recently adopt-
ed by some infantry organisations in the United States and
elsewhere. It is ronnd-topped, and has a sharp spear-head
projecting at the top.
picker (pik'er), H. 1. One who picks, euUs,
collects, or gathers: as, a lag-picker; a hop-
picker.
O'er twice three pickers, and no more, extend
The bin-man's sway. Smart, The Hop Garden, ii.
3. The workman who removes defects from
and finishes electrotype plates. — 3. A tool or
apparatus used in difierent manufacturing pro-
cesses involving picking of some sort, (o) In eot-
Um^manttf., a macnine for opening the tussocks of bale.
[<j)»cP + -able.'} Ca-
Seepiccadill.
pickable (pik'a-bl), a.
pable of being picked.
pickadilf, pic&adillt, n.
pickaget, n. See piccage.
pickaninny, n. See piccaninny.
pickapack, pickpack (pik'a-pak, pik'pak),
adv. [<pick^,v.,+ obj.paek.J Sameasjwct-
abaek.
In a huiry she whips up her darling under her arms, and
carries the other i^ekapack upon her shoulders.
Sir B. UEOrange.
pickback, adv.
fnckaback.
pickcheese (pik'chez), n. [Prob. imitative.]
1. The blue titmouse, Parus cxruleus. [Nor-
folk, Eng.] — 2. The fruit of the common mal-
low. Compare cheese-cake, 3. [Prov. Eng.]
pick-darkt, n. Pitch-dark; quite dark. BcH-
liwell. [Prov. Eng.]
pick-de'Vantt, «• Same a,s pike-devant.
picked! (pik'ed), a. [<piek\ n., + -ed^. Cf.
equiv. piked, of which picked is but another
form. Cf. also peaked^.} 1. Having a sharp
point; pointed; piked; peaked: as, a picked
stick. [Obsolete or TJ. S. (New England).]
Their caps are picked like vnto a rike or diamond, broad
beneath, and 8han>e vpward. Haldvyts Voyages, 1. 255.
His beard, which he wore a little picked, as the mode
was, of a brownish colour. Evelyn, Siaiy (1623X p. 3.
2. Covered with sharp points; prickly; spi-
nous; echinate: as, the jJtctfff dogfish Kdked
dogfish, Squalus acanthias or Acanthias vulgaris, a small
shark yommon in British waters: so named from the
prickly or spinous skin; also. called bone-dog, ^nUle-dog,
hoe, etc. In the United States called simply dogfish.
pitied^ (pikt), j>. a. [Pp. of ^fci, r.] 1. Spe-
cially selected; hence, choicest or best: as,
picked men.
A playne tale of faith you laugh at, a picked discourse
of fancie you meruayle at.
Lyly, Enphues and his England, p. 353.
Ferdinand, on the approach of the enemy, had thrown
a thonssaid picked men into the place.
PrescoU, Ferd. and Isa., iL 13.
2t. Choice; affected; refined.
Certain quaint, pickt, and neat companions, attired — k
la mode de France. Greene, Def. of C. Catching. (Jfares.)
He is too picked, too spruce, too affected, too odd, as it
were, too peregrinate, as I may call it.
Shak., L. L. L., V. 1. 14.
pickede'Vantt, «. fiee pike-deiant.
pickedlyf (pik'ed-li), adv. [< picked^ + -ly^.'i
Choicely; neatly; finely.
yoT be thei so trymme nor so pickedly attired as the
other be. The Table of Cebes, by Poyngs. (Nares.)
pickedneSS^ (pik'ed-nes), n. [< picked^ +
-ness.] The state of being pointed at the end.
pi(^edness^ (pik'ed-nes), n. [< picked^ +
-ness.} Refinement; affectation.
Too mncb pickedness is not manly.
B. Jonson, Discoveries.
pickeert (pi-ker'), v. i. [Also piqueer; with ac-
com. term -f er; e&i^ei picquor ; <OP. (andP.)
picorer, forage, maraud : seepickery.'] To serve
in irregular or skirmishing warfare ; form part
of a body of skirmishers acting in the front or
on the wings of an army, or independenfly, as
foragers, etc. ; act as a skirmisher.
Ye garrison w^ some commons and the scotch horse
piequoring a while close by the walls on the east.
Tmlie's Narrative of the Siege of Carlide, p. 6. {HMiuxU.)
So within shot she doth pickier,
Now galls the flank, and now the rear.
Lovelace, Lucasta, IL
Tiridates on his side pickeered about, yet never ap-
proached within throw of a dart.
Gordon, tr. of Tacitus's Annals, xiii.
pickeererf (pi-ker' er), n. [Also pickearer, pi-
queerer, piequerer ; Kpickeer -t- -en-.'] One who
pickeers; a skirmisher; hence, by extension, a
plunderer.
The club pickearer, the robust churchwarden.
Fletcher, Poems, p. 190. iHattiweU.)
This I shall do as in other concerns of tliis history, by
following the author's steps, for he is now a piequerer, re.
lates nothing but by way of caviL
Soger North, Examen, p. 406. {Davies.)
pickelhanb (pik'el-houb), n. [G. pickelhaube,
earlier peckelhaube, bickelhaube, bechelhaube,
'MiB.Qr. peckelhabe, beckelhube, beclxnMbe, bechin-
Picker used in CottOD-manofactiixe.
a, nooden dium having lows of iron spikes altematiiigf on its cir-
cumference with upright uon ridges c. c, c, which pievent the cotton
Bom passing through the machine too rapidly ; d, d, wooden lid cov-
ering the drum ; r, wire gauze covering in the lower part of the drum;
r*, opening through which the clean cotton is removed; ^, feed-cloth;
k, t, grooved nipping-iDUers; 6, pulley.
cotton, reducing it to a more fleecy condition, and sepa-
rating itfrom dirt and refuse. (6) A priming-wire for clean-
ing the vent of a gun : usually applied to that used for
muskets, (e) In the mand^e, an instrument for dislodging
a stone from the crease between the frog and the sole of a
horse's foot, or between the heel of the shoe and the frog.
id) In founding, a light steel rod with a very sharp point;
used for picking ont small light patterns from the sand, (e)
In vjeaving, the part of a picker-staff which strikes the shut-
tle: it is covered withamaterialnotsohardas to injure the
shuttle^ and yet durable, such as i-awhide. (f) A utensil
for cleaning out small openings : thus, the powder-flasks
of the sixteenth century were fitted with pickers to clear
the tube, and lamps of both antique and modem make are
often fitted with a picker hung by a chain, (a) Jl needle-
like instrument us^ by anglers or fiy-tiers in the manufac-
ture of files. (A) A machine for picking fibrous materials
to pieces : as, a vool-puiker. (t) In certain machines for
disintegrating fire-clay for making fire-bricks, either one
of two horizontal shafts armed with spike-like teeth which
revolve in opposite directions, acting jointly to tear, break,
and disintegrate the liunps of raw clay fed to them through
a hopper.
4. ^e who or that which steals ; a pilferer.
It he be a ^ncter or a cut-purse, . . . the second time he
is taken he hath a piece of his Nose cut off.
Hakluyts Voyages, L 241.
Bos. My lord, you once did love me.
Harn^ So 1 do still, by these pickers and stealers.
Shak., Hamlet, iiL 2. 348.
5. A yoxmg cod, Gadus morrhua, too small to
swallow bait. [Cape Ann, Massachusetts.]
picker-bar (pik'er-bar), n. See mechanical stoker,
under stoker.
picker-bend (pik'er-bend), n. A piece of buf-
falo-hide, lined but not otherwise dressed, at-
tached to the shuttle by power-loom weavers.
pickerel (pik'e-rel), H . [Formerly also jMcfcreH;
< ME.pikerel, ~pykerel; <pike^ -I- -er -I- -el, double
dim. as in cockerel. Cf . OP. piearel, • ' the small
and white cockerel fish" (Cotgrave).] If. A
small or yoTing pike, Msox lucius.
Old fissh and yonge fiessh wolde I ban fain.
Bet is, quod he, a pyk than a pykerd.
And bet than olde boef is the tendre veeL
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 175w
When as the hungry jncirereS doth approach.
Mir. for Mags., 302. (Wares.)
2. A kind of pike : so called in the United States.
The common pickerel of North America is Esox retieu-
lotus. It has scaly cheeks and opercle^ and from four,
teen to sixteen branchiost^al rays; the color is green-
Common Pond-pickerel {Esox rettcjt/atus).
ish, relieved by narrow dark lines in reticulated pattern.
It ranges from Maine to the Mississippi, and is the com-
monest fish of the kind. The vermiculated pickerel, E.
vermiculatus, has scaly cheeks and opercles, and about
twelve branchiostegals, and the color is greenish with
pickerel 4474
f^^l^^^^Sl^^:'^;^^^^ Pit^-*-=l*7P (pik'et.klan>p), ... A device for
erel, £. armmmnua, is similar, witli about twenty blaclt- ^o'dmg pales while they are being dressed to
isli transverse bars. It is the smallest of the genus, and shape. M. M. Knight.
aetu ti. rJn'rS'^ '° streams near the coast from Massachu- pickstee (pik-e-te'), ". Same as r>icotee.
trie p^S^-™ ** °™""™ P'"''"'''' '' *" picket-fence (pik'et-f ens'), «. Alence formed
3. A pike-perch orsauger: a commercial name o^. Pickets or narrow vertical boards, often
of the dressed ash. See SUzostedion —4 A Po^^i^d, nailed at close intervals to cross-bars
small wading bird, as a stint, a purre, or a dim- "L^'^i^s supported by posts, into which they are
lin. [Scoteh.]_Brook-pickerel,the^;<«:a™«^a. ^^t^fi"""^,^^^^^^^ .. ,,
»i««.-Gray pickerel, the SKzostedi^n mirewm.-Llttle PlCket-guard (pik'et-gard), n. Miht, a guard
plcEerel, the western trout-pickerel, Esox vermumlatus. of horse and foot kept in readiness in case of
p.^^?.- ?"?^®'^^i.^*i*''?"f™"'"™'-I'o°d-Piokerel, alarm.
^Mjre«tc«to(iK.-ftout-pickerel,thebanded pickerel nickpt.1iTiArr>ik'ptliTi^ A -no^iHoT. helrl
Bs<^ ammcanus.-Va.iiea. pickerel, Esox ameHoanus.- PJCKeT-line tpiJi et-lm;, ». 1 . A position heW
Yellow pickerel, the pike-perch. "7 ^n advance-guard of men stationed at con-
pickerel-weed (pik'e-rel-wed), ». 1. Any plant siderable intervals. — 3. A rope to which oav-
of the genus Pontederia, but chiefly P. cordata, ^^^Y ^"'^ artillery horses are tied while being
of the eastern half of North America, it is a groomed.
handsome erect herb common in shallow water, with picket-machine (pik'et-ma-shen"), n. A ma-
ii^ells^l^i^e'SfaiTo^'erflrr ^sUr^^^^ t^L^"' "'''''^^ °^* and"shaping pickets for
?oni7ee°/ ^''''"'' '^''^'' °^ Potamogeton, ov pjcket-pin (pik'et-pin), «. A long iron pin with
J>fc»«-ei-«,eed, of which, I told you, some think pikes are tTIl7^ ^"^\^t ^^l*°T?' ^^ed f^'ith a rope or
bred. l.B'aZ«<^, Complete An|ler,vuf lanat for picketing horses.
pickeridge (pik'e-rij), n. A tumor on the back Picket-pointer (pik et-poin"t6r), «. A machine
of cattle ; woruil. o "a^-js. for dressmg the ends of fence-pickets; a picket-
pickering (pik'e-ring), n. [A perversion of ^^w™!' „ ,.,,,-,
pickerel.-] 1. A pickerel. [Local, U. S.I— 2 PlCket-rope (pik et-rop), ». 1. Sameasplcfce^
A percoid fish, the sauger, Stizostedian cand- '*"?' ^■~9- ^'^f T°P^ y^^^ ""^^^^ ^"^ .animal is
pickle-worm
2. Vinegar, sometimes impregnated with spices,
in which vegetables, fish, oysters, etc.; are pre-
served.— 3. A thing preserved in pickle (in
either of the above senses); specifically, a pick-
led cucumber.
A third sort of antiscorbuticks are called astringent, as
capers and most of the common pic&les prepared with
vinegar. ' ArlmthnoC Aliments.
4. In founding, a bath of dilute sulphuric acid,
or, for brass, of dilute nitric acid, to remove the
sand and impurities from the surface. U. S.
dense.
pickeringite (pik'e-ring-it), «. [Named after
one Pickering.] A hydrous sulphate of alu-
tethered to a picket-pin.
pickettail (pik'et-tal), n. The pintail duck,
Dafila acuta. G. Trumbull, 1888. [Connecti-
cut.]
minium and magnesium, allied to the alums, J^iJi,,!*,/ •, ,j,«,i, r/ ■ 7i .^ r.- ^ ,.-,
occurring in fibrous masses and as n.r, nfflnro^l P\''f*^^'ji*+iP^ fait),«. [,<pzckl,v., + oh}.fault.]
A faultfinder.
pick-hairedt (pik'hard), a. Having thin, sparse
hair.
Pick-hair'd faces, chins like witches',
Here and there five hairs whispering in a comer.
middleton, Changeling, ii. I.
pickie (pik'i), n. Same as picket^ [Prov.
Bng.]
occurring in fibrous masses and as an efSores.
eence.
picker-motion (pik'6r-m6"shon), H. Inweaving,
the system of parts in a loom which have to do
with operating the shuttle, including the pick-
er-staff and its connections.
pickeroont (pik-e-ron'), H. See picaroon^.
picker-staff (pik'er-staf), n. In weaving, a bar
hl''?hp'^in^L*"'t^",'^ ^""^ '^°^^^ automatically picking (pik'ing), n. [Verbal n. ot pi<!k\ ».]
bv the loom. T„..,i= „„..., .... „„„„...._...,.„. ^i_ rphl act ojf 5ne who picks, in any seuse.-i
2. In stone-working, same as dabbing, 1. — 3.
The final dressing or finishing of woven fabrics
Z, MJ°°™" ™^ disconnected end, called the picker,
strikes the shuttle with a sharp blow, sending it across the
warp first in one direction and then in the other.
pickeryt (pik'er-i), re. [Also picconj, piccorie;
< OF. picor^e (= Sp. jjjcorea), foraging, maraud-
ing (picorer, forage, maraud), < Sp. picaro, a
rogue: see incaro, picaroon^-. Ctpiickeer.] The
stealing of trifles ; pilfering.
For pickerie ducked at the yards arme, and so discharged
Thomas Nash. Hakluyfs Voyages, I. 283.
picketl (pik'et), n. [< OF. piquet, picquet, a
little pickax, a peg, stake, F. jnquet, a peg,
stake, a tent-peg, a military picket, piquet (a
tame at cards) (= Sp. piquete = It. piochetto),
im. ot pique, etc., a pike: see pike^.] 1. A
pointed post, stake, or bar, usually of wood.
SpeciflcaUy — (a) A pointed stake used in military stock-
ading. (6) A double-pointed stake used as a defense against
cavalry, (c) One of a number of vertical pointed bars or
narrow boards forming the main part of a fence, (d) A
pointed stake used hi suiTcying to hold the chain in its
place by passing through an end ring, (e) A pointed stake
used in tethering a horse in open country where there ai'e
no trees or other objects to which to attach the line.
2. Milit.: (a) A guard posted in front of an
army to give notice of the approach of the ene-
When removed from the pickle, the gilding has the dull
ochre appearance, and must be scratch-brushed.
Gilder's Manvul, p. 46.
5. A state or condition of difSculty or disorder;
a disagreeable position ; a plight. [Colloq.]
How earnest thou in this pickle f
Shak., Tempest, v. 1. 281.
I am now in a flue pickle.
B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 6.
But they proceed till one drops downe dead drunke, . . .
And all the rest, in a sweet j^^d brought, . . .
Lie downe beside him. Times' Whistle (£. E. T. S.), p. 60.
6. A troublesome child. [Colloq.]
Tummas was a pickle — a perfect 'andful, and was took
on by the butcher, and got hisself all dirtied over dread-
ful. Harpers Mat;., LXXVI. 140.
To have a rod in pickle for one, to have a beating,
flogging, or scolding in reserve for one. [Colloq.]
pickle^ (pik'l), V. t. ; pret. and -pp. pickled, ppr.
£ickUng. [Formerly also j»cA;eZ; =J).pekelen =
Q-. pekelen, pickle; from the noun.] 1. To
preserve in pickle or brine ; treat with pickle ;
also, to preserve or put up with vinegar, etc.: as,
to jjic/cte herring; to jjicMe onions. — 2. Toimbue
highly with anything bad: as, a pickled logae.
Johnson. — 3. To prepare, as an imitation, and
sell as genuine ; give an antique appearance to:
said of copies or imitations of paintings by the
old masters. Art Journal. — 4. To subject, as
various hardware articles, to the action of cer-
tain chemical agents in the process of mann-
faoture. See pickle^, n., 4. — 6. To treat with
brine or pickle, as nets, to keep them from rot-
ting.
by going over the surface and removing burs Plckle^ (pik'l), re. [Also picle, pightle, piglitel,
and blemishes by hand, or retouching the color '"""" "™™" "^"" — "^^ —■--'-■' ' "
with dye by means of a camel's-hair pencil. —
4. pi. That which one can pick up or off; any-
thing left to be picked or gleaned.
Compai-ed with the scanty j)icK«3« I had now and then
been able to glean at Lowood, they [books] seemed to offer
an abundant harvest of entertainment and information.
Charlotte JBronte, Jane Eyre, xi.
5. Pilfering; stealing; also, that which is ob-
tained by petty pilfering; perquisites gotten
by means not strictly honest.
Heir or no heir, Lawyer Jermyn has had his picking out
of the estate. George Eliot, Felix Holt, Int.
6. Removing picks or defects in electrotype
plates with the tools of an electrotype-finisher.
— 7. pi. The pulverized shells of oysters, used
in making walks. — 8. A hard-burned brick.
picking-peg (pik'ing-pe^), n. In a hand-loom,
the part that directly drives the shuttle. It is
ling,pykelynge, cleansing, freq. oi piken, pikken,
or the approach of an enemy : called an inlying
picket, (c) A small detachment of men sent
out from a camp or garrison to bring in such
of the soldiers as have exceeded their leave.
See guard, post, etc.— 3. A body of men be-
longing to a trades-union sent to watch and
annoy men working in a shop not belonging to
the union, or against which a strike is in pro-
gress.— 4t; A game at cards. See piquet. — 5.
A punishment which consists in making the of-
fender stand with one foot on a pointed stake.
— 6. An elongated projectile pointed in front.
The point may b6 conical, but is generally only conoidal,
the point being made from the cylindrical body of the pro-
jectile by easy curves.
picket! (pik'et), V. t. [< picket^ m.] 1. To
fortify with pickets or pointed stakes ; also, to
inclose or fence with narrow pointed boards or
pales. — 2. To fasten to a picket or stake, as a
horse. — 3. To torture by compelling to stand
_ jv,
pick: see jijcfcl. Ctpickle^.'] I,*to-a»s.~l
pick. Jamieson.
The wren ...
Sodainly corns, and, hopping him before.
Into his mouth he skips, his teeth he pickles,
Clenseth his palate, and bis throat so tickles.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas.
2. To glean.
II. intrans. 1 . To eat sparingly or squeamish-
ly; pick. — 2. To commit small thefts; pilfer.
Jamieson,
[Obs. or prov. in all uses.]
pickle^ (pik'l), n. [KpickleijV.] 1. A grain of
corn ; any minute particle ; a small quantity ;
a few. [Scotch.]
She gi'es the herd a pickle nits,
And twa red-cheeklt apples.
Bums, Halloween.
2. A hay-fork. SalliweU. [Prov. Eng.]
with one foot on a pointed stake.— 4. To place pickle^ (pik'l), n. [< Ms'inkil, pykyl (ML. re-
flex picula), also pigell = D.pekel = MLG. pe-
kel, pickel, LG. pekel, peckel, pickel, bickel, > G-.
pokel, bokel, pickle, brine; origin uncertain.
The Gael. Ir. pidl, pickle, is from E.] 1. A
solution of salt and water in which flesh, fish,
or other substance is preserved; brine.
or post as a guard of observation. See picket^,
n.,2. — 5. To make into pickets. [Rare.]
There is a great deal of enchantment in a chestnut rail
or picketed pine boards. Emerson, Farming.
picket^ (pik'et), «. [Perhaps < picket^, with
ref . to the picked tail, which is long and deeply
forked, with two slim pointed feathers.] The
tern or sea-swaUow. Also jwcfcie. [Local, Eng.]
Thou Shalt be whipp'd with wire, and stew'd in brine,
Smarting in lingering pic^Te. Sliak., A, and C, ii. 6. 66
pitle; origin obscure. Cf. pingle.] A small
piece of land inclosed with a hedge ; an inelo-
sure ; a close.
pickle-cured (pik '1-kurd), a. Preserved in brine,
as fish : distinguished from dry-salted or kench-
eured.
pickled (pik'ld), jj. a. 1. Preserved in pickle.
I could pick a little bit of ^kled salmon, with a nice lit-
tle sprig of fennel and a sprinkling of white pepper.
Dickerui, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxv.
2. Briny. [Rare.]
My pickled eyes did vent
Full streams of briny tears, tears never to be spent.
QMarles, Emblems, iv. 12.
St. Roguish.
His poor boy Jack was the most comical bastard — ha,
ha, ha, ha, ha,— a^wWed dog; I shall never forget him.
Farquhar, Recruiting Oflaoer, v. 4.
There is a set ot meny drolls, whom the common people
of all countries admire, those circumforaneous wits whom
every nation calls by the name of that dish of meat which
it loves best. In Holland they are term ed pickled herrings ;
in France Jean Potages; in Italy macaronies ; and in Great
Britain jack-puddings. Addison, Spectator, No. 47.
4. Same aspeckled.
The head [of the trout-fly] is of black silk or hair; the
wings of a feather of a mallard, teal, or piekled hen's wing.
Jr. Laimcm, (Arber's Eng. Garner, 1. 194).
pickle-herring (pik'l-her"ing), n. [= D. pekel-
haring, pehelliaaring = MLG. pekelherink, pick-
elherink, LG. pekelhering, a pickled herring, a
merry-andrew, > G. pokeUiering, a pickled her-
ring (cf . G. pidkeThering, merry-andrew, from
gie E. word, which was carried to Germany by
English comedians who played in that country
m the 17th century) ; asjjjc!fcfe2 -f herring.] 1.
A pickled herring.— 2t. A merry-andrew; a
zany; a buffoon. Compare second quotation
vmdiev pickled, 3.
pickler (pik'ler), M. One who pickles; spe-
cifically, m the fisheries, a man detailed to
put the fish in
;pickle.
pickle-worm
(pik'l-werm), n.
The larva of a
pyraHd moth,
Phacellura niU-
dalis, of striking
aspect, which,
lays its eggs on
young cucum-
bers and other
cucurbitaceous "°* °Si5/.°S°S/^^f "^
pickle-worm
plants. The larva, on hatching, bores mtn the vegeta-
ble, caufing it to rot The moth is found thronghoat
Krath and South America.
pickloi^ (pik'lok), H. l<pidci, v., + obj. toc/.i.]
1. An instrament for picking or opening a lock
without the key; a pick. See cut under j>ictl, 4.
Sow, sir, in their absence, will we lall to oai yidiloda,
enter the chamber, seize the jewels, make an escape from
Florence, and we are made for ever.
Pieteher (and another), Fair 3Iaid of the Inn, v. 2.
2. A person who picks locks ; especially, a thief
who tries to enter doors by picking the locks.
Any state.decn>beTer, or politic pieMoci of the scene, so
solemnly ridicnloos as to search ont who was meant by
the ginger-bread woman.
B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, Ind.
3. A superior selected wool. See the quotation.
In the woollen trade short-staple wool is separated into
qualities, known, in descending series from the finest to
the most worthies, as pUHdoek, prime, choice, super, head,
seconds, abb, and breech. Eneye. BriL, XXIV. 6B6.
pickman (pik'man), ».; pl.p>ciTBen(-men). A
workman who uses or is provided with a pick.
Vre, Diet., IV. 631.
^ck-mattock (pik'mat'ok), «. Amattock hav-
ing a pointed pick at one end of the head, and
at the other a blade set crosswise to the handle.
See cut wader pickax.
pickmaw (pik'ma), n. [Formerly pyhmaw ;
appar. < jwcfc (uncertain) + maw,yax. of niejfi.]
The black-headed or laughing gall of Europe,
Chroieocephalus ridibundits. ^sopickmire,pick-
sea.
pick-me-tip (pik'me-up), n. A stimulating
drink. [Slang.]
pickmireCpik'mir), n. Same asjnc^-TRau;. [Rox-
burgh.]
pick-mirk (pik'merk), a. Dark as pitch.
[Scotch.]
picknickt, n. An obsolete form of picnic.
pick-over (pik'o'ver), n. In weaving, a thread
running loose across the cloth, or detached from
the surface of the fabric. A. Barlow, Weaving,
p. 316.
pickpack, adv. See pickapack.
plc^eimyt (pik'pen'i), n. [< jwcfei, v., + obj.
penny. ^ A miser; a skinflint; a sharper. I>r.
H. More.
pickpocket (pik'pok'et), n. [< picTc^, v., + obj.
pocket. Cf.F.jwcipocfeei, from the E.] 1. One
who picks pockets; one who steals, or makes a
practice of stealing, from the pockets of others.
— 2. A plant, chiefly the shepherd's-purse : so
called from Its impoverishing the soil. Also
pickpurse.
pick-pointed (pik'poin'ted), a Having one of
its points like that of a pickax : said of a ham-
mer or an ax used as a tool or weapon.
pickpnrse (pik'pers), n. [< ME. pikepurs, pyke-
porse; <piek\, v., + obj. purse.'] 1. One who
steals the purse or from the purse of another.
The pOc^urg and eek the pale drede.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, L 1140.
Down with Christ's cross, np with pargaUyry piekpune.
Latimer, S^mon of the ^ongh.
I thmk he is not a.pi€k-purse uor a horse-stealer.
Shak., As yoa Like it, iiL 4. 24.
2. Same as pickpocket, 2.
pickqnarrelt (pik'kwor'el), n. [< pick\ v., +
obj. quarreP-.] A quarrelsome person; one
ready to inck quarrels.
There shall be men that love themselves, covetons,
high-minded, proud, raHers^ disobedient to faUier and
mother, unthankful, nngodly, churlish, promise-breakers,
accnsets, ov piekqucnrds.
TyndaU, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc., 1850), p. 105.
pick-rake (pik'rak), «. A small rake, with teeth
wide apart, used in the oyster-fisheries in gath-
ering oysters from the beds. [Massachusetts.]
JfLckxaVtit n. An obsolete form of pickerel.
picksea (pik'se), re. [Origin obscure. Ct. pick-
maw, pickmire.'] SAine as picJcmav).
picksome (pik'sum), a. [<.pick\ v., + -some.']
Given to picking and choosing; choice; select.
[CoUoq.]
We were not quite so pit^aome in the matter of company
as we are now. W. Besant, Fif (y Years Ago^ p. 136.
Pick's paint. See paint.
picksyt, n. An obsolete spelling otpixy.
picktamy (pik'tar-ni), n. [Also pi^tamie; cf.
pickie, picked, and tern.] The tern. Sterna hi-
rundo. Montagu.
pickthankf Cpife'thangk), n. [<picK^,v.,+ obj.
thank.] One who picks a thank (see rmdeTpick,
v.); an officious fellow who does what he is not
asked to do, for the sake of gaining favor; a
parasite; a flatterer; a toady; also, a talebear-
er; a busybody. Also tised adjeetively.
4475
A pack of piek-thatUa were the rest;
Which came false witne^ for to bear.
Gateoiffne (Arber's Eng. Gamer, L 63).
Which oft the ear of greatness needs must hear,
By BmUing piek-thanJ^ and base newsmongers.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., UL 2. 25.
Wherennto were joined also the hard speeches of her
pickthanke favourit^ who to curry favell spared nol^ etc.
EmOei, Hist. Turlis, p. 1(».
Be deaf nnto the suggestions of tale-bearers, calumnia-
tors, pM-thank or malevolent delator.
Sir T. Broicne, Christ llor., L 20.
pickthankf (pik'thangk), r. *. [< piclthank, n .]
To obtain by the methods of a pickthank.
It had been a more probable story to have said he did
it to pickthank an opportunity of getting more money.
I&ger NorOi, Bzamen, p. 27S. (Damet.')
picktooth (pik'toth), n. ; pL pickiooibs, im-
properly jwciteeife. [<j)icfcl, v., + obj. tooth.]
If. An instrument for picking or cleaning the
teeth ; a toothpick.
What a neat case of pick-tooths he carries about him
stiU ! B. Jonson, Every Han out of bis Humonr, iv. 1.
A carious parke i>al'd round with piek-teeth.
Banddph's Amyntan, il 6L {HdUiwdL}
2. An umbelliferous plant, Ammi Fisnaga, of
southern Europe : so called from the use made
in Spain of the rays of the main umbeL
pick-np (pik'np), a. Composed of such things
or fragments as are immediately available, or
can be got together; "scratch": as, a pick-up
dinner. [Slang.]
pickwick (pik'wik), n. [< pick\ v., + obj.
wi(^l.] A pointed instrmnent for picking np
the wick of an old-&shioned oil-lamp. -
Pickwickian (pik-wik'i-an), a. [< Pickwick
(see def.) + -ian.] Relating to or resembling
Mr. Pickwick, the hero of Dickens's ' ' Kckwiek
Papers." — Plckwiiikiail sense, a merely technical or
constructive sense : a phrase derived from a well-known
scene in Dickens's novel (see the first qnotation)w
The chairman felt it his imperative duty to demand of
the honourable gentleman whether he had used the ex-
pression tliat had just escaped him in a common sense.
Mr. Blottoo had no hesitation in saying that he had not —
he had used the word in its Pickwickian senge. (Hear,
hear.) Didcem, Pickwick Papers. L
Unitarianism and Tniversalism call themselves the
church in an altogether Piekwickuin sense of the word, or
with pretensions so affable as to offend nobody.
H. James, Subs, and Shad., p. 199.
picle, n. A variant of pickle^. Minsheu.
picnic (pik'nik), n. [Formerly and more prop.
pickniiSc Q'P. picnic, piquenique (before 1740)
= G. picknick = Sw. pMciack (1788) = Dan. pik-
kenik, a picnic) ; a riming name of popular ori-
gin, appar.<j>»cfei,t'.,+ *nick, tor *knick or knack
inknickkntick, nicknack, atrifle, but also apicnic.
As in many other riming names, the elements
are used without precision, but the lit. sense is
appar. ' a picking or nibbling of bits,' a snatch,
snack (ef . snatch, snack, in this sense, as related
to snatch, v.).] Formerly, an entertainment in
which every partaker contributed his share to
the general table ; now, an entertainment or
pleasure-party the members of which carry pro-
visions with them on an excursion, as from a
city to some place in the country: also used
adjeetively: as, a^ picnic party; picnic biscuits
(a kind of small sweet biscuits).
picnic (pik'nik), v. ».; pret. and pp. picnicked,
ppr. picnicking, [< picnic, n.] To attend a
picnic party; take part in a picnic meal: as,
we ficnicked in the woods.
picnicker (pik'nik-er), n. One who takes part
in a picnic.
picnid (pik'nid), n. Same as pycnidium.
picnobydrometer (pik'no-M-drom'e-ter), n. [<
picno{meter) + hydrometer.] A combination
of the picnometer and the hydrometer. M. H.
Knight.
picnometer, n. An erroneous spelling of pyc-
nometer.
Picnonotos, n. See Pycnonotus.
Ficoideae (pi-koi'de-e), n. pi. [Nil., < Picus +
-oidese.] A superfamily of birds, including the
families Piddse, Indicatoridm, Megalsemidse,
RhamphasMdx, Galbulidse, and Bueconidse, or
the woodpeckers, indicators, barbets, toucans,
jacamars, and puff-birds.
picoideons (pi-koi'df-us), a. Pertaining to the
Picoidese.
Picoides^ (pi-koi'dez), n. [NL. (Lac^pfede,
1801), < Pictis + -oides.] A genus of PicidsB
lacking the first toe, having but one behind and
two in front, but in other respects agreeing
with Pieus proper ; the three-toed woodpeckers.
"There are several species, of Europe, Asia, and North
America, spotted with black and white, the male with
red on the head, as the Enropean P. tridactylia and the
American P. americanui or birsutus. Another common
American species is the black-backed three-toed wood-
Picris
pecker, P. artHeta. Also called Tridacti^ Aptenua,
Pipodes, and Dinopium.
Picoides^ (pi-koi'dez), h. pi. [XL., < Picus -¥■
-oides (pi.).] In Blyth'? srstem of classification
1 S49), a series of his Zygodactyli, consisting of
the woodpeckers, honey-guides, barbets, and
the toucans, touracous. and eolies, the first three
of these being grouped as Cwieirostres, the last
three as Lerirostres.
picot (pe-ko'), n. [< F. pieot, a pearl, purl.
OF. picot, piquet, piequot, a point, dim. ol pie,
a point: see j>iA-el.] 1. A small loop form-
ing part of an ornamental edging, but larger
than the pearl and thicker, consisting of a thread
upon which other thread has been wound, or to
which small stitches or knots have been added.
— 2. The front or outer edge of a flounce or
border, as of lace. Compare /ooHn^, 11.
picotee (pik-o-te'), n. [Formerly aisopickeiee,
piquette; said to be < F. picotie, named after
Picot, Baron de la Peyrouse (1744-1S18), a
French botanist.] One of a group of florists'
varieties of the carnation, having petals with
a white or yellow ground, marked at the outer
maigin only with red or other color. In older
usage the picotee had a white ground, spotted or dustal
with the secondary color. Also called jncotee .puut. See
carnation, and cut under Dianthus.
picotite (pik'o-tat), n. [Named after Picot, Bar-
on de la Peyrouse {see picotee).] A variety of
spinel containing 7 or 8 per cent, of chromium
sesquioxid. See spinel.
picot-ribbon (pe-ko'riVgn), n. Ribbon having
a pearl-edge or a sort of fringe of loops made
by the projecting threads of the weft.
picotte (pi-ko-ta'), a. [P. picote, < picot: see
picot.] 1. In her., speckled and spotted. — 2.
Furnished with picots: as, & picotte ground of
lace.
picqnef, n. and r. An obsolete spelling of pique^.
Bp. Parker.
picqnerert, n. See piekeerer.
piccinetf, n. See piquet, 2.
piCQne-Work (pe-ka'werk), n. Decoration by
means of dots or slight depressions. Compare
pounced work, under pounced.
picra (pik'ra), n. [LL., a medicine made of
aloes, < Gr. mKpog, bitter. Cf . hiera-picra.] A
powder of aloes with oanella, composed of four
parts of aloes to one part of caneUa. It is used
as a cathartic.
Picrsna (pik-re'na), «. [NL. (Lindley, 1849),
< Gr. TTUcpof, bitter.] A genus of polypetalons
trees of the order Simarvhacese and tribe SimO'
rubese, characterized by its four or five stamens
without hairs, four or five petals not increas-
ing in size, a four- or five-lobed disk, and soli-
tary seeds without albumen. The 3 species are na-
tives of tropical America. They resemble the ailantus-
tree in habit, bearing alternate pinnate leaves, and cymose
panicles of greenish flowers, followed by small drupes re-
sembling peas. Their wood is whitish or yellow, and ex-
tremely bitter. See bitter-icood, 2, bitter ash (under ashX),
and quassia.
Picranmia (pik-ram'ni-a), n. [NL. (Swartz,
1797), < Gr. wucpoc, bitter, + 6a/noc, shrub.] A
genus of shrubs and trees, of the order Sima-
ruhacese, type of the tribe Picramniese, charac-
terized by carpels with two or more ovules, and
dioecious flowers with from three to five sta-
mens opposite as many linear petals. There are
abont 20 species, natives of tropical America. They bear
alternate pinnate leaves, and small green or reddish flow-
ers in clusters forming long slender drooping racemes,
followed by two-celled fruits resembling olives. 'They are
known as hitier^uKod, and P. AnHdeama, the species most
used medicinally, as cascara amarga bark (which see, un-
der bark^ also maeary^bitter, majoe-bi&er, otdrvoman's-
hitter, and Tom-BtrntryirCsAmsh.
Pi(3:amnieaB (pik-ram-ni'f-e), n.pl. [NL. (Ben-
tham and Hooker, 1862),<'Pi(5raj»nio-f-eaj.] A
tribe of plants of the order Simarubaeese, distin-
guished by the entire ovary of from two to five
cells. It includes 11 genera of tropical trees or
shrubs, of which Picranmia (the type) is the
chief.
picrate (pik'rat), n. \<picric + -afei.] Asalt
of picric acid.
picrated (pik'ra-ted), a. \<.picrate + -ed^.] In
pyrotechnics, mixed with a picrate as in a com-
position for a whistling rocket.
picric (pik'rik), a. [< Gr. OTxpdf, bitter, + -ic]
Same as carhazotic — Picric add, an acid which is
used as a dye on silk and wool, but more often in conjunc-
tion with other colors as a modifier of shades than as an
unmixed dye. Also used as an explosive. See carbazotic.
Picris (pik'ris), H. [NL. (Linnseus. 1737), < L.
picris, < Gr. -iKpic, a bitter herb, < TriKpdg. bitter.]
A genus of composite plants, of the tribe Cicho-
riacece and subtribe Crepidece, distinguished by
its plumose pappus. There are about 25 species, in
Europe, northern Africa, and temperate regions of Asia;
Picris
one, P. hieraeUndet, the German Intterkraut, is also widely
diffused throughout the northern hemisphere. All are
erect, branching, bristly, and rough, with many alternate
coarsely cut or entire leaves and bright-yellow flowers.
Several species are cultivated for the flowers. P. eehioCdes
(often called BelrrUntkia) is the British wayside weed ox-
Umgve, so called from the shape of its leaves.
picrite (pik'iit), n. [< Gr. m/cptif , bitter, + -ite2.]
A name proposed for one of the many varieties
of olivin-rook, in regard to whose nomenclature
lithologists are far from 'being in accord. Giimbel
used the term palaqpierite to designate a rock occurring
in the Flchtelgebirge, which, as he believed, consisted
originally of olivin, with more or less of enstatite, diopside,
augite, and magnetite — at present, however, almost en-
tirely altered to serpentine and chlorite. Kosenbusch con-
siders the palseopicrite of Gumbel to be an olivin-diabase
destitute of a f eldspathic constituent. See peridoiUe.
picrocarmine (pik-ro-kar'min), n. [< Gr. m-
Kp6c, bitter, + B. carmine.^ In histol., a stain
made from carmine and picric acid.
Picrodendron (pik-ro-den'dron), n. [NL. (Plan-
chou, 1846), < OTKpdf, 'bitter, + divSpov, tree.] A
genus of polyi)etalous trees, of the order Simor-
rubaeesB and tribe Picramniese, characterized by
the solitary pistillate and amentaceous stami-
nate flowers, the ovary with two pendulous
ovules in each of the two cells, and the fruit a
one-celled one-seeded drupe. The only species, P.
Jvglans, is a native of the West Indies, a small and exceed-
ingly bitter tree, with alternate leaves of three leaflets,
known as Jamaica walnut (which see, under uialnid).
picrolite (pik'ro-Kt), n. [< Gr. miipds, bitter, +
Udog, stone.] A. fibrous or columnar variety of
serpentine.
picromerite (pik-rom'e-rit), n. [< Gr. mKp6g,
bitter, + /iepoQ, ^art, -I- -ite2.] A hydrous sul-
phate of magnesium and potassium^ obtained In
monoelinic crystals and in crystalline crusts at
the salt-mines of Stassfurt in Prussia.
picrophyll (pik'ro-fil), n. [< MGr. irmp6(pv?.h)c,
withoitter leaves, < GJr. mxpdg, bitter, + fvTtXav,
( leaf.] A massive, foliated or fibrous, greenish-
gray mineral from Sala in Sweden. It is an
altered pyroxene.
picropbyllite (pik-ro-fil'it), n. [< picrophyll +
-ite^/\ Same a,B pi<^ophyll.
picrosmine (pik-ros'min), n. [< Gr. mKp6g, bit-
ter, -I- bajifi, odor, -f- -iwe^.] A mineral occur-
ring in fibrous massive forms, having a bitter
argillaceous odor when moistened, it is essen-
tially a hydrous silicate of magnesium, and is found in the
iron-mine of Engelsberg, near Pressnltz, in Bohemia.
picrotoxic (pik-ro-tok'sik), a. [< picrotox4n
+ -jc] Of or derived from picrotoxin; hav-
ing picrotoxin as the base : as, picrotomo acid.
picrotoxin, picrotoxine (pik-ro-tok'sin), n. [<
Gr. ncKpdg, bitter, + to^{ckAv), poison (see toxic),
+ -irfi. ] A bitter poisonous principle which ex-
ists in the seeds of Anamirta CocctClus {A. pani-
culata), from which it is extracted by the action
of water and alcohol, it crystallizes in small white
needles or columns, and dissolves in water and alcohoL
It acts as an intoxicating poison.
Pictl (pikt), n. [= P. Picte = It. Picti, Pitti (pi.),
< LL. Picti (AS. Pihtas, Peohtas, pi., > Sc. Pecht,
Peaght, etc.), the Picts (appar. so named from
their practice of tattooing themselves), pi. of L.
pictus, pp. otpingere, paint: see picture, paint ;
but the name (LL. Picti, etc.) may be an accom.
of a native name.] One of a race of people, of
disputed origin, who formerly inhabited a part
of the Highlands of Scotland and other regions.
Their language was Celtic. The Picts and Scots were united
in one kingdom about the reign of Kenneth Macalpine (in
the middle of the ninth century).
With Arts and Arms shall Britain tamely end.
Which naked Picts so bravely could defend?
Steele, Grief A-la-Mode, Epil.
Flcts' houses. See beehive Jumae, under b^eAiw.
pict^ (pikt), V. t. A dialectal (Scotch) form of
pick^ torpitch^.
Y&'Upict her [a ship] well, and spare her not.
Sir Patrick Spent (Child's Ballads, III. 841).
Pictish (pik'tish), a. [< Picti- -f ^g7jl.] Of or
pertaining to the Picts.
pictograpn (pik'to-grM), n. [< L. piotor, a
painter, + Gr. y'paipuv, write.] A pictorial
symbol or sign, or a record or writing composed
of such pictorial signs : as, the pictographs of
the North American liidians.
A lai'ge, vertical, soft rock on which pictopraphe are still
to be observed, although nearly obliterated.
Science, XI. 282.
pictographic (pik-to-graf 'ik), a. [< pictogra-
pli-y + -«c.] Of or pertaining to pictogfraphy,
or the use of pictographs or pictorial signs in
recording events or expressing thought; of the
nature of or composed of pictographs : as, pic-
tographic manuscripts.
pictography (pik-tog'ra-fi), n. [< L. ^ietor, a
painter, + Gr. -ypd^eiv, write.] Pietonal writ-
4476
ing; the use of picture-symbols in recording
events or ideas.
Pictor (pik'tor), n. [Nli. , < L. pictm; a painter,
< pingere, pp. pictus, paint: see picture.'} An
abbreviated form of EguuUus pictoris (which
see, under Eqwuleus).
pictorial (pik-to'ri-al), a. [= It. pittorio, pin-
torio, < LL. pictoriiis, < L. pictor, a painter: see
Pictor.'} 1 . Of or pertaining to pictures or the
making of them ; relating to painting, drawing,
etc.: as, the pictorial art. — 2. Expressed or
depicted in pictures ; of the nature of a picture
or of pictures ; consisting of pictures or of pic-
tured symbols: a,a, pictorial illustrations; i)ic-
ionaZ writing. — 3. filustrated by or containing
pictures or drawings: as, pictorial publications ;
a. pictorial history.
pictorially (pik-to'ri-al-i), adv. In the manner
of a picture; as regards pictures; with or by
means of pictures or illustrations.
pictoric, pictorical (pik-tor'ik, -i-kal), a. [=
Sp-pictdrico = It.pittorico; < 'L.pictor, a painter
(see Pictor), + -»c, -ic-al.'] Same as pictorial.
[Bare.]
pictura (pik-t&'ra), n. [L., painting, picture:
see picture. ] In zool., the pattern of coloration ;
the mode or style of coloring of an animal.
Pictura diflers from coloration in noting the disposition
and effect of coloring, not the color iteelf.
picturable (pik'tn-ra-bl), a. [< picture + -able.}
Capable of being pictured or painted. Cole-
ridge.
pictural (pik'tu-ral), a. and n. [< picture + -al.}
I, a. Eelatingto or represented by pictures.
Foreign Quarterly Mev.
Il.t re. A picture.
The second rowme, whose wals
"Were painted faire with memorable gestes
Of famous Wisaids, and with pieturals
Of Magistrates, of courts, of tribunals.
Spenser, F. Q., II. ix. 53.
picture (pik'tfir), n. [< 'MS.pycture, < OF. picture,
also pdntwej'S. peinture (with n due to orig.
inf.) = Sp. Pg. pintura = It. pittura, pintura, <
'L. pictura, the art of painting, a painting, < pin-
gere, fut. part, xoicturus, paint, = Skt. •\/ pig,
adorn. From L. pingere are also ult. 'E. paint,
depict, Pictor, pictorial, etc., pigment, pimento,
pint, etc.] If. The art or work of a painter;
painting.
Picture Is the invention of Heaven ; the most ancient,
and most a-kin to Nature. It is it self a silent Work, And
always of one and the same Habit ; Yet it doth so enter
and penetrate the inmost affection (being done by an ex-
cellent Artificer) as sometimes it overcomes the Power of
Speech and Ora1>ory. B. Jonson, Discoveries.
Mr. Blemwell was allowed of Lely to have had a very
good judgment in the art of picture, but his performances
were not equal to his skill. Roger North.
3. A painting intended to exhibit the image of
any person, scene, object, etc., in the natural
colors, and with a more or less close approxi-
mation to the appearance of reality ; especially,
such a painting having suf5cient merit to rank
as a work of art.
That only should be considered a picture in which the
spirit, not 'the materials, observe, but the animating emo-
tion of many such studies, is concentrated, and exhibited
by the aid of long studied, painfully chosen forms, ideal-
ized in the right sense of the word. HuakS'n.
3. Hence, any resemblance or representation
executed on a surface, as a sketch or drawing,
or a photograph.
The buildings they [the Bomans] most used to make
were walles for Cities, Calsies [causeways] in high wayes.
Bridges oner Uiuers, f ounteines artificially made, statues,
or grQaie pictures oner gates.
Ouevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 14.
4. An image ; a representation as in the ima-
gination.
Pictures and shapes are but secondary objects. Bacon.
My eyes make pictures when they are shut.
Coleridge, Day Dream.
But still she heard him, still his picture form'd
And grew between her and the pictured wall.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
5. Any actual scene, §roup, combination, or
play of colors, etc., considered as supplying the
elements or as a suitable subject of a painting:
as, the children at play formed a pretty picture.
— 6. A vivid or graphic representation or de-
scription in words.
A complete picture and Genetical History of the Man
and his spirituA Endeavour lies before you.
Carlyle, Sartor Besartns, i. 11.
7. In entom., a colored pattern on a white or
clear surface : generally used in describing the
wings of Hymenoptera,Diptera, 3,ndi Neuroptera.
Bee: pictura — Dissected picture. See ifmcrt.— Easel-
picture. See eosrfi.— Plane of the picture. Same as
perspe<Mve plane (which see, utlAqi perspective.
picturesaue
picture (pik'tiir), v. t; pret. and pp. pictured,
■ppt. picturing. [< picture, n.} 1. To depict or
represent pictorially.
Your death has eyes in 's head then ; I have not seen
lam m pictured. 5Aaft., Cymbeline, v. 4. 186.
An Attic frieze yon give, a. pictured song.
Lowell, To Miss D. T.
2. To form a mental image or picture of; spread
out before the mind's eye as in a picture.
Do picture it in my mind. Spemer.
Father Malaohl Brennan, P. P. of Carngahdlt, was what
I had often pictured to myself as the beau ideal of his
caste. Lever, Harry Lorrequer, vi.
3. To depict or describe in words; give a pic-
ture or vivid description of.
The animated strain of Pindar, where virtue is picturei
in thi successful strife of an athlete at the Isthmian
games. Sumner, Orations, 1. 143.
picture-board (pik'tur-bord), n. A deceptive
painting of any object or figure on a shaped
plank, such as a fierce dog in a garden, a bird
on a balcony, or a porcelain bowl on a book-
case. This conceit perhaps originated in Holland, but
was prevalent in other countries of Europe in the eigh-
teenth century.
picture-book (pik'tur-bui), n. A book of pic-
tures; also, a book illustrated with pictures.
To gie good lawful coin for ballants axiA picture-booh.
Scott, St. Kenan's Well, vL
The devil's picture-books. See book.
pictured (pik'turd), a. [< picture + -ed^.} In
entom., having a definite pictura or colored pat-
tern : said of the vrings of Insects.
picture-frame (pik'tur-fram), n. The more or
less ornamental border put around a picture to
protect it and to isolate it, bj; separating it
from other pictures, the decoration of the wall,
etc.
picture-gallery (pik'tur-gal"e-ri), n. Agallery,
apartment, or building in which pictures are
hung up or exhibited.
picture^ens (pik'tOr-lenz), n. A large double-
convex lens of very long focus, mounted in a
frame, and used for examining pictures hung
on a wall.
picture-molding (pik'tur-moFding), II. A mold-
ed strip of wood, ofteii gilded or colored, se-
cured to an interior wall near the ceiling to al-
low of the convenient hanging of pictures by
means of hooks, which fit over one of the mem-
bers of the molding. Compare picture-rod.
picture-mosaic (pik'tur-mo-za"i'k), n. A name
given to Boman mosaic and to mosaic imitated
from It, especially that of the imperial factory
at St. Petersburg, which derived its processes
and methods from the Eoman.
picture-nail (pik'tiir-nal), n. A form of nail
the shank of whie£ can be driven into a wall
without the (more or less ornamental) head,
which is afterward screwed on or slid into its
place.
picture-plane (pik'tur-plan), «. Same a,s per-
spective plane (which see, maier jierspecUve).
picturert (pik'Jur-6r), n. [(.picture + -erl.] A
painter.
Zeuxls, the curious picturer, painted a boy holding a dish
full of grapes in his hand, done so lively that the birds,
being deceived, flew to peck the grapes.
Fuller, Holy State, IIL xiii. § 10.
picture-rod (pik'^ur-rod), re. A rod attached
horizontally to a wall near the ceiling as a sup-
port for pictures. Brass tubing was much used for
this purpose ; but the picture-rod iSs been largely super-
seded by the picture-molding.
picturesque (pik-tu-resk'), a. [= 'F.pittoresqtie,
< It.pittoresco (= ^-p.pintoresco = 'Pg. pittoresco,
pinturesco), < pittura, a picture, painting: see
picture.'} 1. Picture-like; possessing notably
original and pleasing qualities such as would
be effective in a picture ; f oiming or fitted to
form an interesting or striking picture, as a
mountain waterfall, or apine-coveredheadland,
or a gay costume amid appropriate surround-
ings. The word does not imply the presence of the high-
est beauty or of sublimity— qualities which belong to a
more elevated plane.
Picturesque properly means what is done in the style
and with the spirit of a painter ; and it was thus, it I am
not much mistaken, that the word was commonly em-
ployed when it was first adopted in England.
D. Stewart, Philos. Essays, i. 5.
We all know what we mean by the word pUtureeque as
applied to real objects : for example, we all consider that
af eudal castle or abbey, when It has become an ivied ruin,
IS a picturesque object. Encyc. Brit., 'VII. 450.
Measured by its hostility to our modern notions of con-
venience, Chester is probably the moat picturesque city in
the world. Benry James, Jr., Trans. Sketches, p. 12.
He [the traveler] will miss . . . the picturesque costumes
to which he has become used further south.
B. A. Freeman, 'Venice, p. 68.
picturesque
2. Strikingly graphic or vivid; abounding or
diversified witn striking and vivid imagery: as,
picturesqiie language.
The epitbet picturesoue . . . meanB that graphical power
by which Poetry and Eloquence produce effectson the mind
analogous to those of a picture.
J>. Stewart, Philos. Essays, 1. 6.
Where he [Dryden] is imaginative, it is in that lower
sense which the poverty ol our language, for want of a
better word, compels us to calliiictureamie.
Lmma, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 64.
picturesquely (pik-tu-resk'li), adm. In a pic-
turesque manner.
picturesqueness (pik-tu-resk'nes), n. The
character of being picturesque.
picture-writing (pik'|ar-ri"ting), «. i. The
use of pictures or of pictured representations
in recording events or expressing ideas; pic-
tography: as, the picture^riUng of the North
American Indians.
There was a period when art and writing were not di-
vorced as they are at present, but so blended into one
that we can best express the union by such a compound
as Piclwre-vrriUng. 0. T. Nevulm, Art and Ai'chseol., p. 9.
2. A writing or inscription consisting of pic-
tures or pictorial signs.
picul, pecul (pik'ul), n. [Malay.] A weight
in use m China and the East generally, contain-
ing 100 kin or catties, and equal to about 133i-
pounds avoirdupois. By the CHnese it is called
tan.
picule (pik'iil), n. [< NL. *piculus, dim. of L.
picus, a woodpecker: see Pictis.'] A piculet.
piculet (pik'u-let), n. [< picule + -e*.] Any
one of the small goft-tailed woodpeckers of
the subfamily Picumnmse, family Piddx, of the
genera Picumnus, Vvoia, Sasia, and Verreauxia.
See cut under Picwmmis.
piculule (pik'u-liil), n. [Spicule + -ule.2 Abird
of the family DendrocolapUdie.
Picumninae (pik-um-ni'ne), ». j>i. [NL. (G-.E.
Gr^, 1840), < Picwmmis + -insB.'] A subfamily
of Piddx, typified by the genus Picumnus, and
characterized by the soft non-soansorial tail;
the pieules, piculets, or pygmy woodpeckers.
It is a small group of small woodpeckers of a low or gen-
eralized type, inhabiting tropical regions of both hemi-
spheres, as South America, the East Indies, and Africa.
The species have generally four toes, yoked in pairs as in
the true woodpeckers, but the East Indian genus Swda
has only three. Also Pieumnidm, as a separate family.
Picumnus (pi-kum'nus), n. [NL. (Temminok),
< L. Picumnus,
a deity of the
Romans, a per-
sonification of
the woodpeck-
er, < picus, a
woodpecker:
aee Picus."] The
tjfpical genus
of PioumninsB,
formerly con-
terminous with
the subfamily,
now usually re-
stricted to the
American spe-
cies, as P. le-
pidotus, all of
which have four toes. Also called PicuVus, As-
thenurus, and Mierocolaptes.
Picus (pi'kus), n. [NL.,< L. picus, a woodpeck-
er, perhaps < mngere {vpic), paint, in allusion
to file painted or spotted appearance of the
bird. Ct.Pica,pie^.'\ A Linnean genus of wood-
peckers, formerly coextensive with the family
PiiMie, later variously restricted. The name is at
piculet {Picufnmts Upidoluji),
4477
present used : (a) for the generic group of which the great
black woodpecker of Europe, Picvx marixux, is the type,
otherwise called Dryaeopia (see cut under Inyocapmy, (W
for a large series of smaller q)ecleB, spotted with black and
white, such as P. major and P. minm of Eui-ope, and the
hairy and downy woodpeckers of America, P. vnoxm and
P.pvbemsnx.
piddle (pid'l), v. i. ; pret. and pp. ;piddled, ppr.
piddling. [A var. of pittle, the variation being
due perhaps to association with peddle. Cf.
peddUng, var. of piddling.] 1. To deal in tri-
fles ; spend time in a trifling way or about tri-
fling or unimportant matters; attend to trivial
concerns, or to the small parts rather than to
the main; trifle.
She plays and sings too, dances and discourses.
Gomes very near essays, a pretty poet.
Begins to piddle with philosophy.
Fletcher, Wit without Money, i. 2.
2t. To pick at table ; eat squeamishly or with-
out appetite. Smft.
Content with little, I can piddle here
On brocoli and mutton, round the year.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. ii. 137.
3. To make water ; urinate : a childish word.
piddler (pid'ler), n. [< piddle + -erK] 1. One
who piddles ; a mere trifler or good-for-nothing.
Cm. You are good at the sport.
Col. Who, I? a piddler, sir.
MasimgeT, Great Duke of Horenoe, iv. 2.
2. A squeamish eater.
piddling (pid'Ung),^. a. 1. Trifling. Alsojjed-
piece
Pies are sometimes made without the under
thin layer of pastry. See pudding, tart, and
turnover.
Sokes and here knaues crieden "bote lives, hotel
Good goos and grys go we dyne, gowe .*
Piera Plowman (C), i. 226.
Mincing of meat in piet saveth the grinding of the teeth.
Bacon.
End now the white loaf e and the pye.
And let all sports with Christmas dye.
Herrujc, Upon Candlemasse Day.
And then therewere apple j»e8 and peach mes and pump-
kin jiies; besides slices of huu and smoked beef .
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 440.
The pie is an English institution, which, planted on
American soil, forthwith ran rampant and burstforth into
an untold variety of genera and species.
fl. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 342.
2. A mound or pit for keeping potatoes. Malli-
well; Jamieson. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch;] — 3.
A compost-heap. [Prov. Eng.] — a finger in th©
pie. Seefinger.—WaceAvie. Seemince.pie.—V6liS0lS,
pie, a pie flavored with tniiBes, which are most abundant-
nr found in F^rigord, JE^ance.— To eat humble pie. See
hur " --'-
Nine geese, and some three laiks tot piddling meat.
Middleton, Mayor of Queenborough, v. 1.
Let children, when they versify, stick here
And there these piddling words tor want of matter.
Poets write masculine numbers.
Shirley, Love in a Maze, ii. 2.
The ignoble Hucsterage of pidling Tithes.
Miltotb, Keformation in Eng., ii.
2t. Squeamish; difScult to please, especially
in eating.
A piddling reader . . . might object to almost all the
rhymes of the above quotation. Ooldamfh, Criticisms.
piddock (pid'ok), m. [Origin obscure.] Amol-
lusk of the genus Pholas or family Pholadidse;
especially, a name of those species which are
found in British waters, used rarely for food
but much for bait, as P. dactylus; a pholad.
Greater Spotted Woodpecker (Pzcui majcrt.
Fiddocks (.Pholas dactylus) in tlieir holes.
It has a long ovate shell with a narrowed tongue-like ex-
tension in front, and the entire surface marked with longi-
tudinal and concentric grooves and ridges, and radiating
rows of sharp spines. The beaks are anterior and cover-
ed with callosities. The piddock is capable of perforating
the soft rocks, into which it burrows. It is a common
inhabitant of European seas, and in winter is frequently
killed by the cold when left exposed by low tide. It is
edible, and is sought for by digging it out of the clay or
' shale. After being removed from the water for a day or
so, the animal changes color, and is said to shine like a
glow-worm. Also called dam, daetyl, and long oyster. See
Phdas, and cut under accessory.
pidet, a. An obsolete spelling of pied.
pidgeont, n. An obsolete form ot pigeon.
pidgin (pij'in), n. [A Chinese corruption of E.
business.] Business; affair; thing. [Pidgin-
EngUsh.]
Pidgin-English (pij'in-ing'glish), n. [Also
Pigeon-English; Kpidgin + English.] An arti-
ficial dialect or jargon of corrupted English,
with a few Chinese, Portuguese, and Malay
words, arranged according to the Chinese idiom,
used by Chinese and foreigners for colloquial
convenience in their business transactions and
other dealings in the treaty ports of China and
elsewhere in the China seas; the lingua franca
of the ports of China and the Par East.
piei (pi), n. [Formerly aXsopye ; < ME. pie, pye,
< Ir. pighe = Gael, jaighe, a pie ; cf . Ir. pithan,
Gael, pigheann, a pie.] 1. A dish consisting
of a thin layer of pastry filled with a prepa-
ration of meat, fish, fowl, fruit, or vegetables,
seasoned, generally covered with a thicker lay-
er of pastry, and baked: as, beefsteak ^ie; oys-
ter jjje; chiekenjjie; pumpkin jjje; custard jwe.
pie^ (pi), n. [Also pye; < ME. pie, pye, < OP.
(and P.) pie = 8p. Pg. pega = It. pica, < L.
pica, a magpie ; perhaps, like pieus, a wood-
pecker (see Picus), so called in allusion to its
spotted appearance, < pingere {,■>/ pic), paint:
see piclmre. Otherwise, perhaps both may be
derived, with loss of orig. initial s, from the
root of specere, see : see spy. To the same
source as picus, in this view, is referred E.
Speight, a woodpecker. Hence, in comp., mag-
pie.] 1. A magpie.
The thef, the chough, and ek the jangelynge pye.
Chaucer, Parliament ot Fowls, 1. 345^
They being all coltish and full of ragery.
And full of gergon as is a flecken pye.
W. Cartwright, The Ordinary, iL 2,
Hence — 2. Some similar or related bird ; any
pied bird : with a qualifying term : as, the smoky
pie, Psilorhinus morio ; the wandering pie of
India, Temnurus (or Bendrocitta) vagmundus;
the river-^ie, or dipper, Cinclus aquaticus; the
long-tailed j»e, or titmouse, yicred!«te rosea; the
murdering^ie, or great gray shrike, Lanius excu-
Mtor; the sea-pie, or oyster-catcher; the Seoul-
ton pewit or pie (see under ^jeipj*) ; etc. — 3t.
Figuratively, a prating gossip or tattler.
Dredeles it clere was in the wynde
Of every pie, and every lette-game.
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 527.
French pie, the great spotted woodpecker, Piims major.
pie^t (pi), n. {Alaojiye; < ME. *pie (?), < ML.
ji)ica: see jMcaX] 1. Same as ordinal, 2 (c).
The number and hardness of the Kules called the Pie.
Book of Cormrum Prayer {'Eng.), Concerning the Service of
(the Church.
2. An index; a register; a list: as, a piie of
sheriffs in the reign of Henry VIII fiy cock
end piet, a minced and mixed oath, consisting of an ad-
juration ot the Deity (under a corrupted name) and the old
Koman Catholic service-book.
By cock and pie, sir, you shall not away to-night,
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., v. 1. 1.
pie*, n. and v. See j>ji.
pie^ (pi), n. ■ [< Marathi pffi, a fourth, i. e. a
fourth part of an anna.] 1. The smallest An-
glo-Indian copper coin, equal to one third of a
pice, or one twelfth of an anna — about one
fourth of a United States cent. — 2. Formerly, a
coin equal to one fourth of an anna.
obverse. Reverse.
Pie of 1809, in the British Museum. ( Size of the original.)
piebald (pi'bWd), a. [Formerly also pyebald,
piebalVd; < pie^ + hold. Cf. F. pie, piebald,
and see p«e(J.] 1. Having spots or patches of
white and black or other color ; party-colored ;
pied: as, ajJieftaMhorse.
The flery Turnus flew before the rest ;
Apye-hall'd steed of Thracian strain he press'd.
Dryden, JGneid, ix.
A gold and scarlet chariot drawn by six piebald horses.
Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, xlii.
Hence — 2. Mixed; heterogeneous; mongrel.
piece (pes), TO. [Early mod. E. aiso peece; < ME.
pece,piece, < OV, piece, "P. piece = Pv.pessa,pesa
piece
= Sp. pieza,pedazo = Vg.pegatpedagOfpedasso
= It. pezza, pezzo, < ML.petium, also (after OF.)
peeia, a piece ; origin obscure. Cf . ML. pedica,
a piece of ground, appar. < L. pes (ped-) = E.
foo W] 1 . A relatively small porti on in bulk or
extent forming a part of the wbole in wMoh it
is or was included; a part; bit; morsel: as, a
;neceof bread or of chalk; a, piece ot grounA; a
piece of history; apiece of one's mind.
He alle naked hath a. f nl acharp Knyi in his bond, and he
cuttethe a gret pece of his Flesche and castethe it in the
lace of his Ydole, seyenge his Orysounes, recommendynge
him to his God. MandtwOle, Travels, p. 177.
There is surely apiece of divinity in us.
Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, il. 11.
But they relate this piece of history of a water about a
mile to the south-west of Bethlehem.
Pocoelce, Description ot the East, II. L 40.
Ill gle ye apiece of advice— bend weel to the Madeira
at dinner, for here ye'll get little ot after.
E. B. Bamtay't Scottish life and Character, it
2. A separate bit; a fragment: as, to fall to
pieces; to break, tear, cut, or dash to pieces.
Many a schene scheld scheuered al topeces.
William of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), L 3411.
The herte began to swelle with-ynne his cheste,
Soo sore streyned for anguysshe & for peyne
That alle to peels almoste itt to-breste;
Political Poems, etc. (ed. FumivallX p. 58.
If they fall, they dash themselves to pieces.
Shak., Eich. IIL, i. 3. 260.
3. A specimen, instance, example, or sort : as,
a, piece of impudence ; apiece of carelessness.
Othes, as if they would rend heaven in sunder, . . .
Hie from his mouth, that piece of blasphemie.
Time^ WhisUe (E. E. T. S.X p. 24.
Did you, I say again, in all this progress.
Ever discover such apiece of beauty,
Ever so rare a creatureV Fletcher, Valentinlan, 1. i.
0, 'twas apiece
Of pity and duty unexampled.
Ford, lover's Melancholy, v. 1.
4. A separate article; a thing: as, a piece of
plate.
Dumb as a senator, and, as a priest^
Apiece of mere ohnrch-fumiture at best.
Cowper, Tirocinium, 1. 425.
(a) A coin : as, a jjfea of eight (see phrase below) ; a four-
penny piece.
Meer. What is \ a hundred pound ?
Em. No, th' harpy now stands on a hundred pieces.
B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, iii. 1.
When apiece of silver is named in the Pentateuch, it sig-
nifies a side ; if it be named in the prophets. It signifies a
pound ; if In the other writings of the Old Testament, it
signifies a talent. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), L 290.
Hariy Fielding . . . was in nowise particular in accept-
ing a tew pieces from the purses of his rich friends, and
bore down upon more than one of them . . . for a dinner
or a guinea. Thackeray, English Humourists.
(6) A cannon or gun ; a firearm : as, his piece was not
loaded; a fowling-piece.
He lyith great pieces of ordnance, and mighty kings and
emperoi-s, to shoot against' God's people.
Latimer, Misc. Sel.
Sometimes we put a new signification to an old word,
as when we call apiece a Gun. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 66.
(ct) A building ; a castle.
Yet still he bet and boonst appon the dore.
And thundred strokes thereon so hideouslie,
That all tliepeeee be shaked from the flore.
Soenser, F. Q., T. ii. 21.
(di) A ship ; a vessel.
The wondred Argo, which in venturous peece
First through the Euzine seas bore all the flowr ot Greece.
Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 44.
(e) A distinct artistic or literary production ; a separate
article, poem, drama, painting, statue, or other artistic or
literary work : as, a piece of music ; to speak a piece; a
finely painted piece.
I bequeth to Edmund Faston, my sone, a standing pece
white covered, with a garleek heed upon the knoppe, and
a gilt pece covered wi^ an unicdme.
Paston Letters, HI. 285.
As I am a gentleman and a reveller, I'll make apiece of
poetry, and absolve all, within these five days.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, iiL 1.
I suppose one sha'n't be able to get in, for on the first
night of a new piece they always fill the house with orders
to support it. Sheridan, The Critic, L 1.
This gentleman [Mr. Beynolds] . . . painted a piece of
me. Lady Lyndon, and our little Bryan, which was greatly
admired at the esJiibition. Thackeray, Barry Lyndon, xvit
CO A lunch ; a snack. [Prov or colloq.]
5. A distinct job or operation taken separately ;
the amount of work done or to be done at any
one time : as, to work by the piece; to do piece-
work.— 6. A definite and continuous quantity ;
a definite length, as of some textile fabric de-
livered by a manufacturer to the trade ; a whole
web of cloth or a whole roll of wall-paper : as, . •
goods sold only by the piece; a whole piece of piece (pes;,
lace. i\ piece, n.}
4478
As in little patterns torn from a whole piece, this may
tell you what all I am. Donne, Letters, iii.
7. In brewing, a quantity of grain steeped. and
spread out at one time to make malt. Also
called ^oo?\
There can be no doubt that it is of importance to the
maltster that the law allows him to sprinkle water over
the pieces on the floor. Encye. Brit., IV. 268.
8. A plot of ground; a lot; afield; a clearing.
The fire took In the woods down back of our house ; it
went through Aunt Dolphy's piece, and so down to the
Horse Sheds. S. Judd, Margaret, iL la
9. An individual; a person: now used only
contemptuously, and commonly of women: as,
she is a bold piece.
St. John is called in p. 634 [of the Cursor Mundi] " a wel
godd pece." Olipharcl, Old and Middle English, p. 564.
She "s but a sallow, freckled-face piece when she is at the
best. Chapman, Monsieur D'Ollve, v. 1.
He is another manner Qi piece than you think for: but
nineteen years old, and yet he is taller than either ot you
by the head. B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, 1 1.
10. In chess, checkers, etc., one of the men with
which the game is played; specifically, in dliess,
one of the superior men, as distinguished from
a pawn. — Hf. A cup or drinking-vessel : also
used indefinitely for a cask or barrel of wine,
as the equivalent of the French piice, which has
different values in different parts of France.
Home, Lannce, and strike a fresh piece of wine.
Fletcher, Monsieur Thomas, v. 10.
12. In hookbinding, a tablet of leather which
fills a panel on the back of a book. — 13. In
whaling, specifically, a section or chunk of blub-
ber, more fully called hkmlcet-piece (which see,
below). — 14. In entom., any definitely hardened
or chitinized part of the integument, especially
of the abdomen, thorax, or head: technically
called a SClerite. Two pieces may be movable on each
other or free^ united with a suture between or perfectly
connate, so Hiat even the suture is obliterated, and the
pieces can be distinguished by their position only. — A
piece Of, a bit of ; something of ; one who is (a doer of
something) to some extent.
If you are a piece of a farrier, as every good groom ought
to be, get sack, brandy, or strong beer to rub your horses
heels every night. Sicift, Directions to Servants.
At aU piecest, at all points.
The image of a man at Armes on horsebacke, armed at
aUpeeees, with a lannce in his hand.
Holland, tr. of Camden, p. 780.
Axis ^_a ^iece. See oxisi.— Binding-piece. See hind-
piecemeaZ
I will piec;
Her opulent throne with kingdoms.
Shak., A. andC, LS.4a
I went and paid a moccinigo
Vor piecing my silk stockings.
B. Jonson, Volpone, iv. 1.
2. To repair by the use of pieces of the same
material, or without the addition of new ma-
terial, as by bringing the unworn parts to the
place where the most wear is ; hence, to make
good the defects of ; strengthen; reinforce.
It is thought the French Elng will piece him up again
with new Eecrults. BoweU, Letters, £ iv. 20.
3. To unite or reunite (that which has been
broken or separated) ; make one again; join or
rejoin, as one thing to another, or as friends who
have fallen out.
He'm. I heard they were out.
Nee. But they are pieced, and put together again.
B. Jonson, Magnetick Lady, iii. 1.
Gwendolen . . . had conceived a project ... to place
her mother and sisters with herself in Offendene again,
and, as she said, piece back her life on to that time when
they first went there. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, Ixv.
To piece out, to form, enlarge, or complete by adding
piece to piece.
To those of weaker merits he imparts a larger portion,
and pieces mil the defect of one by the excess of theother.
<9ir T. Browne, Kellgio Medici, i 18.
Though his grove was city-planted, and scant of the to-
liage of the forest^ there was Fancy to piece out for him
... far other groves. Farster, Goldsmith, iii 19.
To piece up, to patch up ; form of pieces or patches ; put
together bit by bit.
I have known
Twenty such breaches pieced up and made whole
Without a bum of noise.
B. Jonson, Magnetick Lady, Iv. 2.
He tells us that he began this History "about the year
1630, and so pieced up at times of leisure afterwardL"
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 444, note.
II. intrans. 1. To unite 'by coalescence of
parts ; be gathered as parts into a whole.
The cunning Priest changed his Copy, and chose now
Plantagenet to be the Subject his Pupill should person-
ate, because . . . itpieeedbetter, and followed more close
and handsomely upon the bruit of Plantagenets escape.
Bacon, Hist. Hen. 'Vn., p. 23.
Those things which have long gone together are, as it
were, confederate with themselves ; whereas new things
piece not so well. Baean, Innovations (ed. 188^
2. To eat a "piece"; eat between meals, as
a child. [CoUoq., U. S.]
in^.— Blanket-piece, a strip or section of blubber cut pieCB-broker (pos'bro^'Wr), n. A person who
from a whale in a spiral direction, and raised by means of buys Shreds and remnants of woolen cloth from
theoutting-tackle. As the blubber is unwound or stripped tailors to rpII niraiTi fnrnao in ■moT>,«T.,. t.o<^/.1>
from the animal it is called a blanket-piece, and after being P^""™' "> ^„SU again tor use in mending, patch-
cut in sections and lowered into the blubber-room it still ™S> etc. mmmonos.
retams the name; but when subdivided for mincing it is piCCCd (pest), p. a. Bepaired, strengthened, or
>.„.„ „..„ .....i.i, !_ J*. .. 1. 1 . completed by the adding or joining of pieces.
In bookbinding, those bindings are said to be pieced in
which the space between the bands upon which the title
is to be stamped is covered with colored leather, usually
ot a different color from the covering of the book.
known as a horse-piece, which in Its turn becomes a book
or bible, and when the oil has been extracted the residuum
is known asserop.— Bobstay; Characteristic, etc., piece.
.See the qualifying words.— Deciduous pieces. Same as
deddmrui cusps (which see, under deciduous). — Easel-
piece. Seeea«eii.— Face Of apiece. SeeVocei — Nob- -j. j z •_•. , ■- ■,
gtng-pieces. Seejjofrpin^.- Ofapiece,asif ofthesame piece Cle resistance (piasdSra-zes-tons'). [F.,
"*"■■'' """■*""" ■" — "*■ 'piece of resistance,' i. e. substantial niece-
piece or whole ; of the same nature^ constitution, or dispo-
sition ; of the same sort : generally followed by with.
Bee piece, de^, resistance.'] The most important
piece or feature; the show piece; the main
event or incident in any round or series, as
the most forcible article in a magazine, the
principal exhibition or performance in a show
or theatrical entertainment, or the most sub-
stantial dish in a dinner,
piece-dyed (pes'did), a. Dyed in the piece : said
of cloth dyed after weaving, as distinguished
As to the mechanism and scenery, every thing, indeed,
was uniform, and of a piece. Steele, Spectator, No. 14.
The episodes interspersed in this strange story were of
a piece urith the main plot. Macaiday, Hist. Eng. , vil.
Piece of cambric linen, or French lawn, formerly is
ells.— Piece of eigntt, the Spanish peso duro (hard dollar)
bearing the numeral 8, and of the value of 8 reals. The
commercial sign for " dollar " («) is supposed to have refer-
ence to this eight, the vertical strokes representing the
sr'5rcSi3s/^'txvrofn\'&fgn°T?.\f„r^^^^
rived from the stamp 8E. (8 reals) accompanied by two Piece-gOOttS (pes gudz), n. pi. All kmds of cot-
vertical strokes. ton, linen, silk, or wool fabrics which are woven
Tbo' the City be then so full, yet during this heat of ^ lengths Suitable for retail sale by the usual
S;^rX'^^"'^^„^7v^^ilsrfi^9* iirmX,TonTtsSSng1&' ^'^^*-
B4r ^'.tSd^nra^Ta-^^^tte^l ^aiSyS^^^^^
my Boy Xury. Defoe, Bobinson Crusoe!
Satisfaction piece, the formal certificate given by one
receiving payment of a mortgage or judgment, certifying
that it has been paid, and authorizing the public ofijcer in
charge of the record to note upon the record that it has
been satisfied.— To cut to pieces. See eul.—1o give
or continuous.
In thosepoor types of God (round circles) so
Keligion s types, the pieeeless centres flow,
And are in aU the lines which all ways go.
Donne, To the Countess of Bedford.
SSitt5.^4''?n?f ^^L^^jTy =t^S| un^?= Pif'l^-H^Tlf??!'!^^)' «•. ^pretHng, a part
-generally something uncompli-
mentary, or implying complaint or reproach.
In a majestic tone he told that officer a piece of his mind.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxxvill.
She doubled up an imaginary fist at Miss Asphyxia Smith,
and longed to ^i» her a piece of her mind.
B. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 199.
To goto pieces. Seeffo.=Syn. 1 and 2. SecHon, Divi-
sum, etc. (see part, n.), bit, scrap, morseL
' " " ' " ' pret. and t^t^. pieced, ^^^r. piecing.
I. trans. 1. To patch, repair.
of a mash which, being of a higher or lower
temperature than another part, but having the
same density, is added to that other part to
change its temperature without alterine its
strength. ^
piecelyt (pes'U), adv.
Huloet.
In pieces; piecemeal.
This sorrow works me, like a cunning friendship.
Into the same piece with it.
Beau, and Fl., King and Xo King, iv. 2.
piece-master (pes'mas"ter), n. A middleman
coming between an employer and the employed.
Mayheti: (Imp. Diet.) [Eng.]
enlarge, extend, or complete by the addition piecemeal (pes'mel), ad». ffarlvmod E a1,o
cnrtfta' "'^'"'''^ ''' *°^'''' ^ ^^™'"* *"■ ^ /'^T'"^"'^ < ^■pecemeletTS^l^-.^^lZ
curxain. m dropmeal, flockmeal. etc.] 1. By pieces;
piecemeal
bit by bit; little by little; gradually: often pleo-
nasticaUy hy piecemeal.
Being but yet weak in Body, I am forced to write bv
piece-meat, and break off almost every hour.
Maton, Ans. to Salmasins^ Pref., p. 5.
When we may conuenieutly vtter a matter in one entier
speacb or proposition, and will rather AoitpeecemeaieaDi
hy distribution of euery part for amplification sake . . .
Ptittenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 186.
Which little plots I thought they could not otherwise
sow but by patting in the come ty peece-meale into the
earth with their fingers. Coryat, Crudities, I. 83.
Piecemeal they win this acre first, then that ;
Glean on, and gather up the whole estate.
Pope, Satires of Donne, il. 91.
All was in ruin. . . . The vaults beneath yawned ; the
roof above was falling piecemeal.
LongfeUoWj Hyperion, u. 9.
2t. In pieces^ in or into bits or fragments.
Which (lifting liigh) he strook his helm full where his
plume did stand.
On which it piecemeale brake, and fell from his unhappy
hande. Chapman, niad, iii.
Down goes the top at once ; the Greeks beneath
Are piecemeal torn, or pounded Into death.
Dryden, Miiq\&, 11.
piecemeal (pes'mel), a. [< piecemeal, ad».]
Fragmentary ; disconnected.
It appears that this edition [of Shakspere] was printed
(at least partly) from no better copies than the prompter's
book, or piece^meal parts written out for the use of the
actors. Pap*, JPref. to Shakespeare.
piecemealedt (pes'meld), a. [< piecemeal +
-ecP."] Divided into smajl pieces. Cotgrave.
piece-mold (pes'mold), n. In brome-casHng, a
mold made up of separate pieces which are fit-
4479
There were milk-white peacocks, white and pyed pheas-
ants, bantams, and furbelow fowls from the East tidies,
and top-knot hens from Hamburg.
J. Ashton, Social Life In Reign of Queen Anne, 1. 99.
Pied brant. Same as harlequin brant (which see, under
harlequin). — Pied dishwasher, the pied wagtail. — Pied
ducl^ the Labrador duck, Camptolssmus labradorius, the
Pied or Labrador Duck ( Catnftoiamits tabradorius\
male of which is pied with black and white. It has be-
come extremely rare of late years, and is supposed to be
approaching extinction. It formerly ranged extensively
along the Atlantic coast of the United Stated — Pied finch.
See finchi.— Pied gralUna, the magpie-lark of Australia,
Grallina picata. — Fled hombill, Anihracocera malalba-
rica. a bird of the family Bruxrotidse.—Vie6. kingfisher.
See kingfisher. — Pied seal, ihe monk-seal, Monachus albi-
iwjiter.— Pied wagtail, Jfofactgo lu^uiru.— Pied wid-
geon. Same as garganey. — Pied WOlf, a pled varied of
Canis occideTi^ts, the common Ajnerican wolf .
ted together one after another upon the model, pied-billed (pid'bild), a. Having a pied hiU: as,
and beaten with a wooden mallet to make the the pied-billed dabchick, Podilymitis podice})s.
whole close and solid: between the pieces some pied-fort (pya-f6r'), n. [P. (a technical term
powder, such as brick-dust, is introduced to pre- oi the French mint), Ut. 'strong foot': pied,<
vent adhesion . L. pes (ped-), foot ; fori, < L. fortis, strong.] In
pi^ce mont^e (pias mdii-ta.'). [F., a mounted ««'"is., apattemforaproposedcoin.struckon
piece: piece, piece; montee, pp. of monter, a Aau or blank of greater thickness than the
mount: see »tOtt»f2.] l. Afancydish, such as ordinary coins. The term is especially applied to
a salad, prepared for the adornment of the ta- ^^™ch pattern pieces, such as those struck during the
necessarUy eatabll or intended to he eaten; tp^::Zu^r::^Z2nTl!^l-l:m::ili
taining to Piedmont, a region in northwestern
Italy, bordering on Switzerland and France.
In the modern kingdom of Italy, Piedmont is a
compartimento, containing the provinces of Tu-
rin, Alessandria, Novara, and Cuneo. — 2. By
extension, pertaining to any region situated at
or near the foot of mountains : as, the Pied-
montese districts of Virginia, North Carolina,
etc.
II. n. A native or an inhabitant of Piedmont.
sometimes, a cake or jelly crowned by such a
structure ; a set piece.
piecen (pe'sn), v. t. [< piece + -e»i.] To ex-
tend by adding a part or parts. [CoUoq.]
The huHding [an art-gallery], not designed from the first
in its entirety, has been piecened and enlarged from time
to time. Nineteenth Century, XXII. 820.
piecener (pes'ner), n. [< piecen + -e»'2.] A
piecer. See the quotation.
The children whose duty It is to walk backward and
forward before the reels on which the cotton, sUk, or piedmoiltite (ped'mon-tit)"~«. [< Piedmont +
worsted IS wound, for the purpose of jommg the threads "-l^Srn " ^A^ i _i i_. L.i l_^ ^ •^""•" '■■ •
when they break, are called piecers or piecener^.
Mrs. TroUope, Michaiel Armstrong, viil. (Dauiee.)
piecenlng (pes'ning), n. [Verbal n. ot piecen,
v.] In textile manuf., same as piecing.
piece-patchedt (pes'pacht), a. Patched up.
There is no manly wisdom, nor no safety.
In leaning to this league, tins piece-patcht friendship.
Fletcher (and others). Bloody Brother, IL 1.
piecer (pe
or that which
tSfiT^ ^ * ipinning-factory .„ j .^^.^ bracEet, pedestal, or socle, serving to support
piece-work (pes'w6rk), n. Work done and paid ^iXo^T^'n'^'Z^ ■Z^'^V""^'""'"'-
for by measure of quantity, or by prsvious es- Pieapouoret, n. aee piepowaer.
tima^ and agreem^ent, in'^ontra^dfstmction to ^Sl^^^^Sk^ioo ' sel'^t^Ta^d ^ '
work done and paid for by measure of time. P^, T t ' /"^'Snt toot . see peaal ana cli-
„-o„= ™.",i.^:^/^^"'„o"^w^ „ n^o wy,„ aI.^. rect.^ In arcli., an engaged_ pier, or a square
-ite^.'] A mineral closely related in form and
composition to epidote,but containing manga-
nese, hence sometimes called manganepidote.
It is of a reddish-brown color, and is found at
St. Marcel in Piedmont.
piedness (pid'nes), n. The state of being pied;
diversity of colors in spots. Shdk., W. T., iv.
4.87.
piece-worker (pes'wer'ker), re. One who does
pillar, projecting from the face of a wall. It
mecfi-work • one who work<! hv the nipcp or iob i*""*") projecumg iium hub xaue u± a wau. it
.?I^srj/^5'I,i^^\ „ n?i7^oi^^f S!l .^i-" 1 differs from a pilaster in that it has neither
liecmg_(pe'smg), «. _[Verbal n.otpiece,y.) 1. ,^^ ^„,. „„•.„/
hase nor capital.
ItlSot %"e^cX-2'tt«^TJ^! pied-wiBged .(pld'wingd), a. . Having, pied
the joining of the ends of laps, slivers, yams, or
wings: specific in the name pied^winged coot,
threads to~makecontinuous"lengths or to repair „._®j:I.^_Z / ?/2„^'i;n i ^mi,„ &„«!„„t,
breaks. Msopiecening. pie-flnch (pi finch), n. The dhafflneh.
pied (pid), a. [Formerly ^Iso pyed, vide, pyde; V^f (PfA \ [Perhaps ajar. speUmg and use
Tjne^+V Cf.P.i«i,piebild.]'>ai^oll f^^'^ A wedge for piercing stones. Sim-
ored ; variegated with spots of different colors ; _jgjg^." „ ^^ obsolete spelling of peeled
spotted. The word is now used chiefly to note animals *;.' ;^/ N Samp »<! »ionmp
wUch are marked with large spots of different colors. Pie-mag (pi mag;, n. oame as magpie.
" mau. Thisdistinc- pieman(pi man), H.; pl.pjen!e«(-men).
Speckled is used when the spots are small,
tion was not formerly observed, and in some cases pied is
in good use to express diversity of colors In small pattern.
This pied cameleon, this beast multitude.
Lust's Dominion, iii. 4.
A man
who sells pies ; also, a man who makes pies.
There are fifty street piemen plying their trade in Lon-
don : the year through, their average things are one guinea
a week. MayTiew, London Labour and London Poor, 1. 224.
Daisiespfed and violets blue. 5A«*., L. L. L., v. 2. 904. pie-nanny (pi'nan''i), «. The magpie. Also
I met a fool i' the woods (they said she dwelt here), nanpie
In alongj»e,2 coat FlOeher, Pilgrim, iv. 3. pjg^^i (pgnd), )(. 1. Same a,spem.— Z. In arch.,
T *_ - i ,1., i vT J* ?J?®!,'^ i an arris; a salient angle.
Intrusiye to thy table and to thy feasts ; _j__j _i.„„i, /T.n«,^'«i,ni,\ „ * _„v„i„ „„ n,«
Who daub thee with BSKfeflattenes. piend-check (pend ehek), ». A rebate on the
Heywood, Dialogues, iv. bottom piend or angle of the riser of a step m
pier
a stone stair. It is intended to rest upon the
upper angle of the next lower step. [Scotch.]
piend-rafter (pend'raf 'tfer), n. Same as angle-
rafter. [Scotch.]
piept, V. i. An obsolete spelling of ^eepi.
pie-plant (pi'plant), n. Garden-rhubarb, Rheum
Rhapontieum : so named from its use for pies.
His pie-plants (the best In town)^ compulsory monastics,
blanched under barrels, each in his little hermitage, a
vegetable Certosa. LoweU, Cambridge Thirty Years Ago.
Wild pie-plant, in Utah and California, Rwmex hymeno-
sepalus, with acid stem and leaves, used as a pie-plant. See
cajiaigre.
piepowder, piepouilre (pi'pou-der), ». [Also
piedpoudreQili. curia pedis xyulierizatt, 'court of
dusty foot'); < OF. piepoudreux{'Mli.ped^)ulvero-
sus), a stranger, peddler, or hawker who attends
fairs, P. piedpokdreux, lit. ' dusty foot ' (cf . equiv.
OF. pied gris 'gray foot') : pied, < L. jies (ped-)
= F.foot ; poudreux, <j;oj«?re, powder: seepow-
dei:'} An ancient cooi't of record in England,
once incident to every fair and market, of which
the steward of the owner or holder of the toll
was the judge, it was instituted to admmister justice
for all commercial injuries done in that fair or market, but
not In any preceding one. Imp. Diet.
Ffor chyders of Chester were chose many dales
To ben of conceill ffor causis that in the court hangid.
And pledld pipoudris alle manere pleyntis.
Sichard the Bedeless, iii. 319.
Is this well, goody Joan, to interrapt my market In the
midst, and call away my customers? can you answer this
at the pie-poudres? B. Jonson, Bai-tholomew Fair, ill. 1.
The lowest, and at the same time the most expeditious,
court of justice known to the law of England is the court
of piepoudre, curia pedis pnlverizati, so called from the
dusty feet of the suitors ; or, according to Sir Edward
Coke, because justice is there done as speedily as the dust
can fall from the loot Blackstone, Com., in. Iv.
piepowdered (pi'pou-derd), a. [< piepowder
(in lit. sense) + -ed2.] Having dtisty feet.
[Rare.]
One day two peasants arrived in the Eschenheimer Gasse
pie-powdered, having walked many hundred miles from
the Polish backwoods. Westminster Rev., LXXIV. 84.
pier (per), n. [< ME. pere, < OF. pere, piere,
pierre, stone, a pier, P. pierre, a stone, = Pr.
petra, p^ra, peya = Sp. piedra = Pg. pedra =
It. pietra, a stone, rock, < L. petra, a mass of
rock, crag (ML. also a castle on a rock, a tomb
of stone, slate), < Or. ■a-erpa. Epic and Ionic
-irpri, a rock, mass of rock, crag, ridge, ledge,
irerpof, a piece of rock, a stone (in prose usually
AtBc^'), later also, like irerpa, a mass of rock.
Prom the (Jr. irerpa, ■nerpog, besides petrary,
perrier, etc., are also ult. E. peter^, petrelX, and
in comp. petrific, petrify, petroleum, etc., salt-
peter, samphire, etc.] 1. (a) A mole or jetty
carried out into the sea, to serve as an embank-
ment to protect vessels from the open sea, to
form a harbor, etc. (6) A projecting quay,
wharf, or other landing-place.
But before he could make his approache, it was of necis-
sitle for him to make apere or a mole, whereby they might
passe from the mayne land to the citie.
J. Brende, tr. of Quintus Curtius, foL 54.
(c) One of the supports of the spans of a bridge,
or any structure of similar character. — 2. In
arch, or building: (a) The solid support from
which an arch springs. See first cut under arch'^.
For an Interior, an arch resting on a circular column is
obviously far more appropriate than one resting on &pier.
J, Fergusson, Hist Arch., I. 305.
(6) In medieval architecture, a large piUar or
shaft; specifically, a com-
pound or a square pillar.
At Siena there is not merely a
slight difference In the size of cor-
responding piers, but in many of
them the centres, as well as the
circumscribing lines of the bases
and capitals, are out of line one
with another.
C. R Norton, Church-buUding in
[Middle Ages, p. 126.
(c) One of the solid parts
between openings in a wall,
such as doors and windows.
On the fagade of the Dnomo of
Orvieto, upon one of the piers at
the side of its doors of entrance,
were sculptured representations of
the Last Judgment and of Hell.
C. B. Norton, Travel and Study In
[Italy, p. 127.
(d) The wall or post, of
square or other form, to
which a gate or door is hung.
(e) In a physical laboratory or ohservatory, a
structure, generally of masonry, designed by
its stability to prevent vibration in instruments
which are supported by it — Abutment-pier, the
pier of a bridge next the shore.— Floating pier, a decked
Pier Ic) in Cloistere of
Ste. Elne, near Ferptgiian,
France ; izth century.
pier
barge or caiBson used aa a landing-stage, and connected
with the shore by a pivoted bridge that enables It to rise
and fall with the tide ; a landing-stage.
pierage (per' aj), ». [^<. pier + -age.l Toll paid
for using a pier.
pier-arch (per'arch), n. An arch resting upon
piers.
pierce (pers, formerly also p6rs), v.; pret. and
pp. pierced, ppr. piercing. [Early mod. E. also
pierse,pearce,pearse,peerce,perce; dial, pearch,
peerch; < ME. percen, peercyn, persen, parcen,
perchen, perishen, perisshe/n, < OF. percer^perser,
percier, perchier, parchier, P. percer (Walloon
percher), pierce, bore; origin uncertain; by
some regarded as contracted < OF. pertuisier,
P. pertuiser (= It. pertugiare), <pertuis = It. per-
,tugio, a hole, < ML. *pertusium, also pertusus, a
hole, < L. pertusus, pp. ot pertvmdere, perforate,
< per, through, + tundere, beat: see pertiise.
Cf. partiean^, from the same source. Of. also
parch.} I. trans. 1. To thrust through with a
sharp or pointed instrument; stab; prick.
Mordrams to whome almyghty God after that appered
& shewed to hym his syde handes & feet peryssTied with
the spere and nayles.
Joieph of Arimathie (E. E. T. S.), p. 31.
One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and
forthwith there came out blood and water. John xix. 34.
If Percy be alive. 111 pierce him.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., v. 3. 69.
It thou wilt strike, here is a faithful heart ;
Pierce it, for I will never heave my hand
To thine. Beau, and Fl., Maid's Tragedy, ill. 2.
2. To cut into or through; make a hole or open-
ing in.
This must be doon }yYper«yng the monntayne.
The water so to lede into the playne,
PaUadiuB, Husbondrle (B. E. T. S.), p. 176.
A Cas]ipearc't to be spent,
Though full, yet runs not till we giue it vent.
Sylveiter, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 1.
The mountain of Quarantlna, the scene ot the forty days
temptation of our Saviour, is pierced all over with the
caves excavated by the ancient anchorites, and which look
like pigeons' uests.
R. Curzan, Monast. in the Levant, p. 179.
3. To penetrate; enter into or through; force
a way into or through : as, to pierce the enemy's
center.
A short orison of the rightuss man or of the lust man
thirlith oi peritsheth heuen.
Qeeta Romanorum (E. E. T, S.), p. 47.
Steed threatens steed in high and boastful neighs.
Piercing the night's dull ear.
Shak., Hen. V., Iv., Prol., 1. 11.
The Riuer doth pierce many dales lourney the entralles
of that Countty. Copt. John Smith, Works, II. 194.
In May, when aea^-winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh Khodora in the woods.
Emerson, The Bbodora.
4. To penetrate with pain, grief, or other emo-
tion; wound or affect keenly; touch or move
deeply.
Did your letteiB pierce the queen to any demonstration
of grief? Shak., leai', iv. 3. 11.
Tears did gush from every eye, and pithy speeches
pierced each others heart.
JV. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 24.
=Sy9. 1 and 2, Per/orate, Transfix, etc. See penetrate.
n. intrans. To enter or penetrate; force a
way.
She would not pierce further into his meaning than him-
self should declare. Sir P. Sidney.
These vovAs pierce deeper than the wounds I suffer.
The smarting wounds of loss.
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, 11. 2.
But see ! the mists are stirring, rays of light
Pierce through the haze, as struggling to be free.
Jones Very, Poems, p. 99.
pierceable (per'sa-bl), a. [< pierce + -able.']
Capable of being pierced. Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 7.
pierced (perat), p. a, 1. Penetrated; entered
by force; perforated. — 2. In her.: (a) Cut
through with an opening not so large as that
implied in clecM, and not of the shape of the
bearing. The shape of the opening should be stated In
the blazon, as triangular, lozengy, etc. ; when not stated,
the opening is supposed to be circulai*. Compare o«or-
ter-pierced, gnarterly pierced, under quarterly, (ft) Hav-
ing an arrow, spear, or other weapon thrust into
it but not passing through, as an animal used as
a bearing. Compare transfixed — MuUet pierced.
See nrnUet^.—TleiceA medallion, a thin plate orna-
mented by a pattern cut through its whole substance and
applied to the surface of a vase or similar object, the body
of the piece showing through the openings in the medal-
lion: used in metal-work of some kinds, and in some
manufactures of porcelain. Also peif orated medallion.—
Pierced work, decoration produced by numerous open-
ings, generally small. The solid pattern is usually height-
ened by chasing, embossing, or some Inlaid ornamentation
such as niello.
piercel (per'sel), m. li pierce + -el. Ct piercer.]
An instrument for forming vents in casks ; a
piercer.
4480
piercer (per'sfer), « . [Early mod. E. also^e»-c«r;
< ME. persour, < OF. perceur, piercer, < percer,
pierce: see pierce.] 1. One wno or that which
pierces.
Such a strong percer is money, and such a gredie glotton
is auarice. Hall, Hen. VI., an. 16.
2. Any sharp instrument used for piercing, bor-
ing, perforating, etc., such as an awl, a gimlet,
or a stiletto. Speclfloally— (a) A pleroeL (V) An in-
strument used in making eyelets, (c) A vent-wire used by
founders in making holes, (d) A bow-drill.
3. In entom., that organ of an insect with which
it pierces bodies ; the ovipositor. Also called
terebra.
The hollow Instrument terebra we may English piercer.
May, Works of Creation.
piercing (per'sing), n. [Verbal n. ot pierce, v.]
1, Penetration. Specifically — 2. In metal-
working, the operation of sawing out a pattern
or an object from a plate, as distinguished
from punching it out. It is done with a jig-
or band-saw.
piercing (per'sing),^. a. 1. Penetrating; sharp;
keen: aa, piercing eyes; a piercing wina.
The air in this bishopric is pretty cold and piercing.
D^oe, Tour thro' Great Britain, III. 220.
2. That touches or moves with pity, alarm, an-
guish, etc.: as, a piercing cry.
In piercing phraaes, late.
The anatomy of all my woes I wrote.
Sir P. Sidney (Arber's Eng. Gamer, I. 632).
piercing-drill (per'sing-dril), n. See drill^.
piercing-file (per'sing-fil), n. A sharp narrow
file used for enlarging drilled holes. M. H.
Knight.
piercingly (per'sing-li), adv. In a piercing
manner; with penetrating force or effect;
sharply.
piercingness (per'sing-nes), n. The power of
piercing or penetrating; sharpness; keenness.
piercing-saw (per'sing-sS.), n. A very fine thin
saw-blade clamped in a frame, used by gold-
smiths and silversmiths for sawing out designs,
the blade being introduced into holes previous-
ly drilled; a buhl-saw. £!. H. Knight.
pierelle (per-el'); n, [< F. pierre, stone (see
iner), + dim. -elle.] A filling for a ditch, com-
posed of stones thrown in without regularity,
and covered with earth or clay to afford a smooth
upper surface.
pier-glass (per'glas), «. A mirror used in an
apartment to cover the whole or a large part
of the wall between two openings ; especially,
such a mirror set up between two windows, and
forming a part of the decoration of a room.
Compare pier-table.
Pierian (pi-e'ri-an), a. [< L. Pierius (>It. Sp.
Pierio), Pierian," sacred to the Muses, poetic, <
Pieria, < Gr. Tliepta, a district, Hiepoc, a moun-
tain, in the north of Thessaly, haunted by the
Muses (hence called Pierides).] 1. Of or be-
longing to Pieria, or the Pierides or Muses.
A little learning is a dangerous thing ;
Drink deep, or toueh not the Pierian spring.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, ii. 15.
And ye, Pierian Sisters, sprung from Jove
And sage Mnemosyne. Wordsworth, Ode, 1814.
2. \_l. c] In entom., same as pieridine.
Fieridse (pi-er'i-de), n.pl. [Nli.,< Pieris^- 4dse.]
The Pieridinee or Pierinas as a separate family.
Pierides (pi-er'i-dez)j n.pl. [L. , < Gr. niepiSeg,
< IXf'epof, a mountain in northern Thessaly: see
Pierian.] The nine Muses.
Pieridinse (pi"e-ri-di'ne), n. pi. {NL., < Pieris
(Pierid-) + -imx.] A very large subfamily of
Papilionidse, typified by the genus Pieris. They
have no concavity of the abdominal edge of the hind wings,
the discoldal cellule is closed, the tarsal hook not indent-
ed, and the slightly pubescent larva attenuated at the
extremity. The subfamily includes about 30 genera and
800 species, and is of world-wide distribution. The larvse,
in many cases, are of great economic importance from
their destructive habits. Also Pierinse.
pieridine (pl'e-ri-din), a. Of or pertaining to
the Pieridinee'. Also pierian.
pietra serena
Pieris (pi'e-ris), n. [NL. (Schrank, 1801), < Gr.
Uieptg, sing, of iliepideg, the Muses : see Pierides.]
A genus of butterflies, typical of the Pieridinee.
They are rather email whitish or yellowish butterflies,
whose fore wings are rounded at the tip and mai'ked
with black. The genus as now restricted has over 12»
species, of all parts of the world. Most of those of
North America are known as edbhagebuUerJliea, with a
qualifying word, because their caterpillars feed on the
Southern Cabbage-butterfly {Pieris protodice), female, natural size.
Southern Cabbage-butterfly (^Pieris frotodice). male, natural size.
cabbage and other cruciferous plants. P. oleracea is the
pot-herb or northern cabbage-butterfly (see cut under pol-
herV) ; P. protodice, the southern cabbage-butterfly ; P. rm-
nuste, the larger cabbage-butterfly. The commonest one
in the United States now is P. raprn, imported from
Europe in 1866 or 1867, and known as the rnpe-frirfter/Iy
in England. See also cuts luider cabbagebutterfiy and
cabbage-worm.
pierre perdue (pyar per-du')- [P., lit. 'lost
stone': pierre, stone; perdue, fem. ot perdu,
pp. of perdre, lose : see pier and perdue.] In
engin., masses of stone thrown down at random
on a given site to serve as a subfoundation
for regular masonry, as in the construction of
a breakwater, etc.
pierriet, n. Same asperryK
pierrierf, n. See perrier.
pierrot (pye-ro'), n. [P., dim of Pierre, Pe-
ter.] 1. Aformof woman's basque cut low in
the neck, but having sleeves, worn toward the
close of the eighteenth century. — 2. Abiiffoon
whose costume was white, or white with stripes,
large and loose, and with very long sleeves : a
popular character in masked balls.
pier-table (per'ta'^bl), n. An ornamental table
intended to stand between two windows and to
occupy the whole of the lower part of the pier
between the windows, it is often combined with a
pier-glass, and the glass is sometimes caiTled down below
the top of the table and between its uprights.
piesf, n. See piee.
piet, plot (pi'et, pi'ot), n. [Aisopyot,p%at,pyat;
ipi^ + -et.] 1. 'The magpie. — 2. The water-
ouzel or water-piet, Cinolus aquaticus : so called
from the party-colored plumage. [Scotland.]
pieted, pioted (pi'et-ed, pi'gt-ed), a. [< piet,
piot, + -ed^.] Pied or piebald. [Scotch.]
Pietism (pi'e-tizm), n. [= P. pi^tisme = Pg.
pietismo; aspiet-y + -ism.] 1. The movement
inaugurated by the Pietists, who, from the latter
part of the seventeenth century onward, sought
to I'evive the declining piety of the Lutheran
churches in Germany ; the principles and prac-
tices of the Pietists. — 2. \l. c] Devotion or god-
liness of life, as distinguished from mere intel-
lectual orthodoxy: sometimes used opprobri-
ously for mere affectation of piety.
Pietist (pi'e-tist), n. [= F. pi^tiste = Pg. It.
pieUsta; as piet-y + -ist.] One of a class of
religious reformers in Germany in the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries. Thefr principles
as defined by the originator of the movement, Spener^at-
terpart -if the seventeenth century), included the more
earnest study of the Bible, the participation of the laity in
the spiritual work of the church, a more practic^ type of
piety, charity in the treatment of heretics, infidel, and
others, a reorganization of the systems of religious and
theological instruction in accordance with these prin-
ciples, and a more enlightened style of preaching. Spe-
ner's disciples were led into extravagances of feeling;
hence the term is sometimes applied opprobrlou^ to
any one who lays stress on mere emotionalism in reli-
gion, as distinguished from intelligent belief and practi-
cal life.
Pietistic (pi-e-tis'tik), a. [='Pg. pieOsUco; as
Pietist -I- -ic] 1. Of or pertaining to the Pi-
etists.— 2. [l.e.] Characterized by strong reli-
gious feeling as distinguished from mere mtel-
lectual orthodoxy, or doctrinalism.
Pietistical (pi-e-tis'ti-kal), a. [< Pietistic +
-al.] Same as PieUstio,"m either sense.
pietra dura (pya'tra do'ra). [It., hard stone :
see pier and dwe.] Ornamental work in in-
lay of hard stones, such as agates and jaspers,
especially when on a somewhat large scale.
pietra serena (pya'tra se-ra'na). [It., clear
stone: see jnersmdi serine.] A Kard gray sand-
stone quaiTied in the hills near Fiesole, and
much used for building in Florence and other
cities of Tuscany.
piety
piety (pi'e-ti), n. [Formerly also^jieHe (earlier
pitie, etc.: see pity) ; < OP. piete, 'E.pUU = Pr.
pietat, pitat, pidat = Sp. jjietJod = Pg. piedade
= It. pieta, < L. pieta(t-)s, piety, < jjiits, pious:
see p»oi««. GLpity, an earlier form of the same
word.] 1. The character of being pious or
having filial affection; natural orfilial affec-
tion ; dutiful conduct or behavior toward one's
parents, relatives, country, or benefactors.
If any widow haTe children or nephews, let them leam
first to shew piety at home, and to reqoite their parents :
ior that is good and acceptable before God. 1 Tim. v. 4.
How am 1 divided
Between the duties I owe as a husband
And piety of a parent !
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, iv. L
2. Faith in and reverence for the Supreme Be-
ing ; filial obedience inspired by these senti-
ments; godliness.
Goodness belongs to the Gods, Piety to Men, Bevenge
and Wicliedness to the Devils. HmteU, Letters, iL IL
The Commonwealth wliich maintains this discipline will
certainly flourish in vertu and piety.
Milton, Church-Government, il. 3.
Pelican In her piety. Seej)eiic(t7>.=Syn. 2. Devotion,
Sanctity, etc. See nligion.
piewipe (pi'wip), n. [Imitative.] Same as
pewit (b).
Ittezo-electricity (pi'e-zo-e-lek-bris'i-ti), n. [Ir-
reg. < Gr. nieQeiv, press, + E. electri&ty.'] Elec-
tricity produced by pressure, as liat of a
sphere of quartz, which becomes electrified
by pressure.
piezometer (pi-e-zom'e-ter), n. [= P. pidso-
mdtre = Pg. piezonietro; irreg. < Gr. m(^civ,
press, + /ie-pov, measure.] 1. Any instrument
for ascertaining or testing pres-
sure.— 2. An instrument for
showing the compressibility of
water or other liquid, and the
degree of such compressibil-
ity under varying pressures.
A common form (see figure) consists
of a strong glass cylinder, within
which is supported a email vessel (C)
with a graduated stem containing
the liquid under experiment, also a
thermometer (T) and manometer (M).
The pressure is exerted by the piston
moved by a screw at the top, and
transmitted by the water with which
the cylinder is filled to the liquid in
the vessel C. The amount of this pres-
sure is measured by the manometer.
The compressibility is shown by -the
fall of the liquid (and index) in the
graduated stem, and its amount can
be readily calculated if the capacity
of C, in terms of these scale-divisions,
is known.
3. An instrument consisting
essentially of a vertical tube
inserted into a water-main, to show the pressure
of the fluid at that point, by tKe height to wliich
it ascends in the tube of the piezometer. — 4.
A sounding-apparatus in which advantage is
taken of the compression of air in a tube by the
pressure of the water at great deaths to indicate
the depth of the water. — 5. An instrument for
testing the pressure of gas in the bore of a gun.
piff(pif), m. Seepaff.
piffero (pif'e-ro), n. [< It. piffero, piffera, pi-
fara, formerly also pifera, pifaro = Sp.pifaro
(also pifano) = Pg. pifaro {zl&opifano), a fife, <
OHG. py^o, a pipe, fif e : seejjipei, ^/e.] 1. A
musical instrument, either a small flageolet or
a small oboe, used by strolling players in some
parts of Italy and Tyrol. — 2. The name of an
organ-stop: same as hifara.
pigi(pig), n. [Also dial, peg; early mod. E.
pigge; < ME. pigge, pygge = D. ligge, Ug =
LG. bigge, a pig; origin obscure. An AS. *pecg
is mentioned as occurring "in a charter of
Swinf ord copied into the Liber Albus at Wells "
( Skeat, on authority of Earle) ; but this is doubt-
ful ; an AS. *peeg would hardly produce the E.
form pig. Whether the word is related to LG.
bigge, a little child, = Dan. pige = Sw. piga
= leel. pika, a girl, is doubtful.] 1. A hog;
a swine ; especially, a porker, or young swine
of either sex, the old male being called loar,
the old female sow. it is sometimes used in compo-
sition to designate some animal likened to a pig : as, a
guinea-p^. See hog, Suidx.
Together with the cottage . . . what was of much more
importance, a fine litter of new-farrowed pigs no less than
nine in number perished. Lamb, Boast Pig.
2. The flesh of swine ; pork.
'Sov pig it is a meat, and a meat that is nourishing and
may be longed for, and so consequently eaten ; it may be
eaten ; very exceedingly well eaten.
B. Jonton, Bartholomew Fair, 1. 1.
4481
3. An oblong mass of metal that has been run
while still molten into a mold excavated in sand ;
specifically, iron from the blast-furnace run
into molds excavated in sand. The molds are a
series of parallel trenches connected by a channel running
at right angles to tliem. The iron thus cools in the form
of semi-cylindrical bars, or pigs, united at one end by an-
other bar called the sow: so called from a coarse compari-
son with a litter of pigs suckling.
[We found] many barres of Iron, two ^s ot Xead, toore
Fowlers, Iron aho^ and such like heauie things tluowne
here and there.
Quoted in Capl. John SmUh's Works, L 104.
Sometimes a pig will solidify partly as white iron partly
as grey, the crystallization havingcommenced in patches,
but not having spread throughout the whole mass before
it solidified ; such ii-on is known as mottled pig.
Eneyc. Brit., XTTT. 284.
4. A customary unit of weight for lead, 301
pounds. — All-mine pig, pig-iron smelted entirely from
ore or mine material. — A pig in a poke. See poke^.—
Hunt the pl^. See hunt.— Lang pig, masked pig, etc
See the adjectives. — Pig's whisper, (a) A low or inaudi-
ble whisper, (b) A veiy short space of time. [Slang.]
TouTl find yourself in bed in something less than a pig's
whisper. Vtckens, Pickwick, xxxii.
Please the pigs, if circumstances permit: a trivial rus-
tic substitute for please God or \f it j^ase Providence. Pigs
is here apparently a mere alliterative caprice ; it has been
variously regarded as an altered form of pix, pyx, the box
wliich held the host ; or of pixies, fairies ; or of the " Saxon
piga, a viigin " (as if meaning the Virgin Mary). These
conjectures are all absurd. As to the las<^ no "Saxon
piga" exists; the entry "piga, pueUula," inSomner, Lye,
etc., is an error.
I'll have one of the wigs to carry into the country with
me, and [if (it)] please the pigs. T. Broom, Worljs, ii 198.
Sussex I>ig, a vessel in the form of a pig, made at the
Bellevue or other Sussex pottery. When empty it stands
upon the four feet^ but when in use it stands uprighl^
its head is lifted off to allow of its being filled, and it
serves as a drinldng-cup. The jest of being ordered to
drink a "hogshead" of beer in response to a toast, or the
like, ref eis to the emptying of such a cup. See Sussex rus-
tic ware, under wore.— To bring one's pigs to a pretty
market, to make a very bad bargain, or to manage any-
thing in a very bad way.
pig^ (pig), ». i. ; pret. and pp. pigged, ppr. pig-
ging. [< jpjfl'i, M.] 1. To bring forth pigs;
bring forth in the manner of pigs; litter. — 2.
To act as pigs; live like a pig; live or huddle
as pigs: sometimes with an indefinite it.
But he hardly thinks that the sufferings of a dozen fel-
ons pigging together on bare bricks in a hole fifteen feet
square would form a subject suited to the dignity of his-
tory. Macavlay, Sir William Temple.
To pig it like the prodigal son in the solitudes of ostra-
cism. Westminster Bev., CXXVm. 873.
The worldng man here is content to pig in, to use an
old-country term, in away that an English workman would
not care to do. The Engineer, LXT. 480.
pig^ (pig)j **• [Abbr. of jjigfi/mi.] 1. An earthen
vessel; any article of earthenware.
Quhair the pig breaks let the shells lie.
Smteh proverb (Hay's Proverbs, 1678, p. 388X
2. A can for a chimney-top. — 3. A potsherd.
[Scotch in all uses.]
pig-bed (pig'bed), n. The bed or series of molds
fprmed of sand into which iron is run from the
blast-furnace and cast into pigs.
pig-boiling (pig'boi*ling), n. Same as wet-pud-
dling. See puddling,
pig-cote (pig'kot), n. A pigsty. [Prov. Eng.]
pig-deer (pig'der), n. The babirussa.
pigeon (pij'on), n. [Early mod. E. also pidgeon,
pigion; < ME. pigeon, pijon, pygeon, pyjon, <
OF. pigeon, pyjon, pynjon, pignon, also pipion,
F. pigeon = Pr. pijon = Sp. piohon = It. pic-
done, pippione, a pigeon, a young bird, < L.
pipio(n-), a, young piping or chirping bird, a
squab, <pjpjre, chSp: see pipe''-, peep^. For the
form, et. widgeon. The native (AS.) word for 'pi-
geon'is dose; see doBei.] 1. Anybirdoftiie
family Colvmbidse (which see for technical char-
acters) ; a dove. The species are several hundred in
Domestic Pigeon, homing variety.
pigeon-hearted
number, and are found in nearly all parts of the world.
Many lands are distinguished by qualifying terms, Bs/rvH-
pigeon, ground-pigeon, passenger-pigeon, nutmeg-pigeou,
rock-pigeon, and any of them may be called dooe, as stock-
dove, rock-dove, ring-dove, turtle-dove, wood-dove. (See the
compound names, and doveK) Few species are common-
ly seen in confinement, except in very extensive avia-
ries, one of the commonest being the ring-dove ; but the
rock-pigeon or rock-dove, Coiumba livia, is everywhere
thoroughly domesticated, and perhaps all the aitificial va-
rieties liave been produced by careful breeding from tills
one. Fancy pigeons have naturally received many fanci-
ful names of their breeds, strains, and endless color -vari-
ations. Some of these names are — (a) from localities, ac-
tual or alleged, as Antwerps, barbs (from Barbary), Bruns-
wicks, Burmeses, Damascenes, Florentines, Lahores, Orien-
tals, Swabians ; (6) from resemblance to other birds, as
magpies, owl^ starlings, swallows, swifts ; (c) from char-
acteristic actions^ as carriers, croppers, dragoons, hom-
ers, pouter^ rollers, shakers, trumpeters, tumblers; (d)
from peculiarities of size, shape, or color, as capuchins,
fantails (see cut under /anteiZ), fire-pigeons, trills or frill-
backs, helmets, hyacinths, ice-pigeons, jacobins (see cut
under jacobin), nuns, porcelains, priests, runts, shields,
turbits. Some names, like archangel, mavmiet, and vic-
toria, are unclassifiable, and others are quite peculiar to
fanciers' nomenclature, as blondinette, sQverette, and tur-
hitleen. Young pigeons are known as sg^iabs and stjuealers.
The name pigeon is also used, with a qualifying word, to
designate some bird like or likened to a pigeon, ai prairie-
pigeon, sea-pigeon, etc.
2. A simpleton to be swindled; a gull: opposed
to rooi. See stool-pigemi. [Slang.] —Barbary
pigeon. Sameas&ari3,2.— BlueplgeoiLadeep-sealead;
a sounding-lead.— Cape pigeon, a sman petrel, spotted
black and wliite, abundant on the Cape of Good Hope ; the
damier, Procellaria or Daption capensis, belonging to
the family ProccZZaruffec. See cut under Z>a;ieu>n. — Clay
pigeon. See cJa;/-— Crown pigeon, SouracoroTiato. See
cut under Goura. — Diving pigeon, the sea-pigeon, sea-
dove, or black guillemot, Uria gryUe. See cut under guil-
lemot.— Mechanical pigeon, (a) A device to which a
flying motion is imparted by means of a spring released
by a trigger, or otherwise, to supply the place of living pi-
geons in shooting-matches, or to afford practice to marks-
men in shooting birds on the wing. It may be a strip
of sheet-metal with blades tient in a propeller form, and
caused to rise by being rotated rapidly, or it may be a
ball of glass, terra-cotta, or the like, (b) A toy consisting
of a light propeller-wheel, which, on being made to re-
volve rapidly by means of a string wound about a shaft on
wliich it rests, rises in the air in a short flight.— Nicohar
pigeon, Calcenas nieobarica. See cut under Calaenas. —
Pigeon 8 egg, a liead of Venetian glass, the form and size
of wliich give rise to the name. Such beads were pro-
duced as early as the fifteenth century, and very ancient
ones are preserved. — Pigeon's mn\r, a non-existent arti-
cle, in search of which April fools are despatohed. HaUi-
weU. [Humorous.] — Tooth-billed pigeon, Diduneulus
strigirostris. See cut under Didunculus.^To pluck a
pigeon, to swindle ; fleece. [Slang.]— Wild pigeon, in
the United States, specifically, the passenger-pigeon, Ecto-
pistes migratorivs. See cut under passenger-pigeon.
pigeon (pij'on), «. i. l< pigeon, n.^ , To pluck;
fleece; strip of money by the tricks of gam-
bling. [Slang.]
Then hey ! at Dissipation's call
To every Club that leads the ton,
Hazard 's the word ; he flies at all.
He 'apigeon'd and undone.
Observer, No. 27. (Bichardson.)
pigeonberry (pij'on-ber'i), n. The pokeweed.
See garget, 5, aai' Phytolacca.
pigeon-breast (pij'on-brest), m. l. The breast
of a pigeon. — 2. A deformity occurring in per-
sons affected with rickets, in which the costal
cartilages are bent inward, and the sternum or
breast-bone is thrown forward.
pigeon-breasted(pij'on-bres*ted), a. Affected
with pigeon-breast.
pigeon-dberry (pij'on-cher''i), n. Same as pin-
cherry.
Pigeon-English (pij'on-ing'glish), ■». See Pid-
gin-English.
pigeon-express (pij'on-eks-pres*), n. The con-
veyance of intelligenee by means of a carrier-
or homing-pigeon.
pigeon-fancier (pij'on-fan^'si-er), n. One who
keeps and breeds pigeons.
pigeonfoot (pij'gn-fSt), n. A plant: same as
dove?s-foot, 1.
pigeon-goose (pij'gn-gSs), n. An Australian
goose, Cereopsis novse-hoUandiee.
pigeon-grass (^ij'on-gras), n. A grass, Setaria
glauca, found in stubble-fields, etc., and very
widely diffused. It is said to be as nutritious
as Hungarian grass, but the yield is small.
[U. S.]
pigeon-hawk (pij'on-h&k), n. One of the smaller
hawks, about as large as a pigeon, or able to
prey on birds as large as pigeons, (o) A small
true falcon of America, Faleo colUTribarius, and some close-
ly related species, corresponding to what are termed mer-
lins in Euitipe. (b) Tlie slmp-sliinned hawk, AcdpHerfus-
cus or A. j^ox. See cut at sharp-shinned. [U. S.]
pigeon-hearted (pii'Dn-har'ted), a. Timid as
a bird; easily frightened.
Fir^ Out. The drum, the drum, sir !
Curio. I never saw anch pigeon-hearted people.
What drum! what danger?— Who 's that that shakes be-
Iiind there ? Fletcher, Pilgrim, iiL 4,
pigeonhole
pigeonhole (pij'on-liol), n. 1. One of the holes
in a dove-cote or pigeon-house through which
the birds pass in and out. Hence — 2. A little
compartment or division in a case for papers,
a bureau, a desk, or the like.
AbM Sieyes has whole nests otpigeon-lwlestnll of con-
stitutiona already made, ticketed, sorted, and numbered.
Burke.
3. One of a series of holes in an arch of a fur-
nace through which the gases of combustion
pass. — 4. One of a series of holes in the block
at the bottom of a keir through which its liquid
contents can be discharged. — 5. pi. An old
English game, resembling modern bagatelle,
in which ballswerex'oUed through little cavities
or arches.
Threepence I lost at nyneplnes ; but I got
Six tokens towards that at piffeon-Twlea.
Brorm, Antipodes, iv. 6.
In several places there was nine-pins plaid.
And pidgeon holes for to beget a trade.
Prost-Fair Ballads 0.6Si). ^Nares.)
6. In printing, an over-wide space between
printed words. Also called rat-hole.
pigeonhole (pij'on-hol), ». t.; pret. andpp.j)*-
geonholed, ppr. pigeonholing. [< pigeonhole, ».]
To place or file awajsin a pigeonhole ; hence,
to lay aside for future consideration; hence, to
lay aside and ignore or forget ; "shelve"; treat
with intentional neglect : as, to pigeordiole an
application for an appointment ; to pigeonhole
a scheme.
It is true that in common life ideas are spoken of as be-
ing treasured up, forming a store of knowledge : the im-
plied notion being that they are duly arranged and, as it
were, ^eon-holed for future use.
E. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., § 469.
He had hampered the business of the State Department
hy pigeon-holing treaties for months.
N. A. Rev., CXXVn. 63.
pigeonholed (pij'on-hold), a. Formed with
pigeonholes for the escape of gases of com-
bustion, as the ai'ch of a furnace, or for the
discharge of liquids, as the bottom of a keir.
pigeon-house (pij'on-hous), n. A house for
pigeons ; a pigeonry ; a dove-cote.
pigeon-livered (pij'on-liv"erd), a. Mild in tem-
per; pigeon-hearted; soft; gentle.
I am pigeon-lieeir'd, and lack gall
To make oppression bitter.
Shale, Hamlet, iL 2. 605.
pigeon-match (pij'on-mach), n. A meeting or
contest where pigeons are shot at as they are
released from boxes, called traps, placed at a
fixed distance from the marksman.
pigeon-pair (pij'on-par), n. Twins of opposite
sex, boy and girl: so called because pigeons
lay two eggs which normally hatch a pair of
birds, a male and a female.
pigeon-pea (pij'on-pe), n. See Cajanvs.
pigeon-plum (pij'on-plum), n. A middle-sized
tree, Coccoloha Floridana, common in semi-
tropical Florida, its wood is hard and close-grained,
of a deep brown tinged with red, and valuable for cabinet-
making. Its abundant grape-like fruit is a favorite food
of smaJl animals.
pigeonry (pij'on-ri), n. ; '^pigeonries (-riz). [<
pigeon + -ry.]' A place where pigeons are kept ;
a columbarium ; a dove-cote.
pigeon' S-blood (pij'onz-blud), n. The color of
a fine dark ruby, scarcely so dark as the beefs-
blood. These two shades are the most admired
in that stone.
pigeon's-grass (pij'onz-gras), n. [Cf. Gr. mpi-
cTEpEiyv, a kind of verbena, also a dove-cote, <
TcepioTcpa, a pigeon, dove.] The common ver-
vain, Verbena offidnalis, said to be frequented
by doves, and sometimes fancied to be eaten
by them to clear their sight.
pigeontail (pij'on-tal), n. The pintail duck,
Dafila acuta: so' called from the resemblance
of the tail to that of the wild pigeon or pas-
senger-pigeon. W. S. Herbert. See cut under
Dafila.
pigeon-toed (pij'on-tod), a. 1. Having that
structure of the feet which characterizes pi-
geons; peristeropod: said of gallinaceous birds.
The pigeon-toed fowl are the mound-birds or
Megapodidse of the Old World and the curas-
sows or Cracidse of America. — 2. Having the
toes turned in: said of persons. [CoUoq.]
The jdgeon-toed step and the rollicking motion
Bespoke them two genuine sons of the Ocean.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, n. 171.
pigeon-tremex (pij'on-tre"meks), n. A hyme-
nopterous insect of the family Uroceridse, or
homtails, Tremex columba : a book-name. The
adult oviposits in the trunks of maples and
other shade-trees, and the larva is a wood-borer.
4482
pigeonwing (pij'on-wing), n. 1. A mode of
dressing the side hair adopted by men espe-
cially in the latter part of the eighteenth cen-
tury; also, a wig so called.
A young man slightly overdressed. His club and pi-
gemrwings were fastened ivith three or four pins of gold,
and his white-powdered queue was wrapped with a black
velvet ribbon shot with silver.
Gr. W. Cable, Stories of Louisiana, xiii.
2 . A brisk fancy step or caper in dancing, skat-
ing, etc. : as, to cut a. pigeonwing.
Shaking oft straw and furs, wraps and pattens, the la-
dies had no sooner swallowed cups of tea than they were
whisked into line for the Virginia reel, over against arow
of cavaliers arrayed with baok-seam coat-buttons coming
beneath their shoulder-blades, who out the pigeon-wing
in SQuare-toed pumps. Then what life, what joyous frisk-
ingT ^ The Century, XJLXVII. B&S.
pigeonwood (pij'on-wud), n. A name of vari-
ous trees or their wood, from the marking or
coloring of the latter, (a) Pisonia oMnsata of the
West Indies and Florida : also called bee/wood, corkwood,
a.nd porlcwood. (6) Dipholis salicifoUa, a large fragrant tree ;
JXospyros tetrasperma, a shrub ; and several species of Coc-
coloba—all of the West Indies, (c) Guettarda speciosa, a
small evergreen of tropical shores in both hemispheres.
(d) Connarus Guianeims ( OmphcUolnum Lamiertii) of South
America and the West Indies. Also called zebrawood.
pigeon-woodpecker (pij'on-wud'''pek-6r), n.
S&m.e as JlicTeer^.
pig-eyed (pig'id), a. Having small dull eyes
with heavy lids, appearing sunken : said of per-
sons.
pig-faced (pig'fast), a. Having a piggish physi-
ognomy; looking like a pig: as, the pig-faced
baboon.
pig-fish (pig'flsh), n. Any one of various fishes
which make a grtmting noise when taken out
of the water, (o) Agruntorgrunter; aiuemberof the
Hmnmlonidse or Prislipomidee ; specifically, Orthopristis
ehrysopterus. (6) A scisenoid flsh, the spot or lafayette,
Liostom/us obliquus. (c) A cottoid fish, the sculpin, Cottus
octodecim^nosus. (d) A labroid fish of New South Wales,
Cossyphus or Bodianus unimaculatus.
pigfoot (pig 'flit), n.; pi. pigfoots or pigfeet
(-futs, -fet). A scorpsBnoid fish, Scorpeena por-
eits, of the Mediterranean and contiguous wa-
ters. The cheeks, opercles, and top of the head are
naked, and dorsal fins are developed ; the form is com-
pressed, and the color is reddish-brown mottled and
dotted with black.
pig-footed (pig'fuf'ed), a. Having feet like a
pig's: as, the pig-footed perameles, Chmropus
castanotis. See cut at Ckoeropus.
piggeryl (pig'e-ri), n.; T^\. piggeries {-liz). [<
Xrig^ + -ery.'] "A place where pigs are kept; a
pigsty or set of pigsties.
piggery^ (pig'e-ri), n. ; pi. piggeries (-riz). [<
pig"^ + -ery.} ' A place where earthen vessels
are made or sold; a pottery, Jamieson.
[Scotch.]
piggesniet, n. See pigsney. Chaucer.
piggin^ (pig'in), n. [< Gael, pigean, a little
earthen ]ar, pitcher, or pot, dim. of pigeadh
(= It, pigheaa), an earthen jar, pitcher, or pot.
Cf . Ir. pigin, a small pail, noggin, = W. picyn,
a piggin, noggin. Hence, by abbr., jjjgr^.] 1.
A small wooden vessel with an erect handle
formed by continuing one of the staves above
the rim.
A. piggin, to milk in, immulctra.
WooAen piggi-ns. Lamb.
Piggin, "a small wooden vessel with an erect handle,
used as a dipper." [Southernisms and Westernisms.]
Trans. Amer. Philol. Ass., XVII. 41.
2. A small earthen vessel; a pitcher; also, a
shallow vessel provided with a long handle at
one side, used as a dipper Boat-piggin, a small
wooden piggin belonging to a boat's gear, used for bailing.
piggin^ (pi^'in), n. [Origin obscure.] The
joists to wmch the flooring is fixed ; more prop-
erly, the pieces on which the boards of the lower
floor are fixed. Halliwell. [Prov. Bng.]
piggish (pig'ish), a. [<^»grl -^ -jg/ii.] Like a
pi^ in disposition, habits, or manners; hoggish;
swinish; especially, greedy: said chiefly of per-
sons.
piggishness (pig'ish-nes), n. The character of
bemg piggish; especially, greediness.
piggle (pig'l), i>. t. [A var. of piclcW-.'] To
root up (potatoes) with the hand. Halliwell.
[Prov. Bng.]
piggle (pig'l), M. [<piggle,v.'\ A many-pronged
hook, with a handle like that of a hoe, used in
digging potatoes, and in mixing various mate-
rials, as clay, mortar, compost, etc.
pig-headed (pig'hed"ed), a. [ipig^ + head +
-ed^. a. pig-sconce.'] Stupid and obstinate as
a pig; stupidly perverse; unreasonably set in
mind.
You should be some dull tradesman Toy yoar pig-headed
sconce now. S. Jonion, News from fee New World.
pigment-granale
If Mr. TuUiver had in the end declined to send Tom to
Stelling, Mr. Riley would have thought his friend of tha
old school a thoroughly ^-A«oii«(J fellow.
Oeorge Eliot, Mill on the Flosa, i. a,
pig-headedly; (pig'hed"ed-li), adv. In a pig.
headed, obstinate, or perverse manner.
pig-headedness (pig'hed''ed-nes), n. The char-
acter of being pig-headed ; stupid perversity or
obstinacy.
pig-hole (pig 'hoi), n. In some metallnrgio
operations, a hole, provided with a cover, in the
wall of a furnace, through which a crucible may
have an additional supply of pig-metal put in
it without the operation of the furnace being
interrupted.
pightt (pit). An obsolete preterit and past par-
ticiple otpitch\
pightle (pi'tl), n. [See pickle^.'] A small mea-
dow; any small inclosed piece of land. [Prov.
Bng. and U. S. (eastern end of Long Island).]
pig-iron (pig'T'Sm), n. 1. Iron in pigs, as it
comes from the blast-furnace. See pig'-, 3. — 2.
A flat piece of iron, which is hung so as to be in-
terposed between the fire and meat roasting,
when it is desirable to retard the cooking. Hal-
liwell.—'Pig-tron breaker, a power-hammer adapted for
breaking pig-iron into pieces suitable for charging a fur-
nace.
pig-lead (pig'led), n. Lead in pigs; lead in the
form in which it is ordinarily offered for sale
after reduction from the ore. Seepig\ 3.
pigmean, a. See pygmean.
pigment (pig'ment), n. [< ME. pigment, spiced
wine (,see piment),< OF. pigment (also piment),
F. pigment, < L. pigmentum, a pigment, < pin-
gere (•/ pig), paint: see picture.] 1. Any
substance that is or can be used by painters
to impart color to bodies; technically, a dry
substance, usually in the form of a powder or
in lumps so lightly held together as to be easily
pulverized, which after it has been mixed with
a liquid medium can be applied by painters to
surfaces to be colored, pigment is properly restrict.
ed to the dry coloring matter which when mixed witli
a vehicle becomes & paint; but the two words are com-
monly used without discrimination, i^epaittt.) In oil-
, painting, the pigments are ground or triturated to render
them smooth, usually in poppy- or nut-oil, since these
diy best and do not deaden the colors.
If you will allow me, Pyrophilus, for the avoiding of am-
biguity, to employ the word pigments to signify such pre-
pared materials (as cochineal, vermilion, orpiment) as
painters, dyers, and other artificers make use of to im-
part or imitate particular colours, Boyle, Works, II. 48.
2. In 6wZ., organic coloring matter; any organ-
ized substance whose presence in the tissues of
animals and plants colors them, pigment is the
generic or indifferent term, most kinds of pigment having
specific names. Coloring matter of one kind or another
is almost universal in animals and plants, comparatively
few of which are colorless. Pigments ai*e very generally
distributed in the integument and its appendages, as the
skin, and especially the fur, feathers, scales, etc., of ani-
mals, and the leaves and other soft parts of plants. The
dark color of the negro's skin is due to the abundance of
pigment in the epidermis. The black appearance of the
pupil of the eye is due to the heavy pigmentation of the
choroid, and various colors of the iris depend upon specific
pigments. Such coloring matters are often collected in
special sacs which open and shut, producing the "shot*
or play of color of the chameleon, dolphin, cuttlefish, and
other animals. In many low animals and plants the color
of the pigment is characteristic of genera, families, or even
higher groups, as among inf usorians, algals, etc. See cut
under cell.
3+. Highly spiced wine sweetened vrith honey;
piment.
It may be made with puttyng to pigment,
Or piper, or sum other condyment.
PaZladim, Husbondrie(K. E. T. S.), p. 166.
Figment color, in dyeing, a color prepared in the form of
powder, and insoluble in the vehicle by which it is ap-
plied to the fabric. O'NeM, Dyeing and Calico Printing,
5. 376.
pigmental (pig'men-tal), a. [< pigment + -al.]
Of or pertaining to pigment ; especially, secret-
ing or containing pigment, as a cell or a tissue.
pigmentary (pig'men-ta-ri), a. [= P. pigmen-
taire; < pigment + -ary.'] Same as pigmental—
Pigmentary degeneratllon. See degeneratim.—ng-
mentary layer of the iris, the innermost layer of the
iris.— Pigmentary layer of the retina, the eotoretina;
the outermost layer of the retina, composed of thick hex-
agonal pigment-cells united by a colorless cement.
pigmentation (pig-men-ta'shon), n. [= F. pig-
mentation; as, pigment + -ation.] Discoloration
by the deposition of a pigment in the tissues.
pigment-cell (pig'ment-sel),j!. 1. A cell which
secretes or contains pigment. See cut under
cell. — 2. A case or receptacle containing a spe-
cial pigment; a chromatophore.
pimnented (pig'men-ted), a. {(.pigment + -ed^.]
Charged with pigment ; colored.
pigment-granule (pig'ment-gran"iil), n. A
grain or particle of pigment; one of the minute
plgment-gTaniile
Btructnreless masses of which pigment usually
consists.
Itigmentless (pig'ment-les), a. [< pigment +
-less.'] Free from pigment; destitute of color-
ing matter.
ingment-molecnle (pig'ment-mol'e-kol), ».
Same as pigment-granule.
pigmentosa (pig-men-to'sa), n. [NL., fem. of
'pigmentosus: see pigmeniose.'i Same as tape-
turn.
pigmentose (pig'men-tos), a. [<.NIj.*pigmen-
tosus, < L. pigmentum, pigment: see pigment.]
Full of pigment.
pigmentons (pig'men-tus), a. [< pigment +
-oua.] Same as pigmentose.
pigment-priatillg Cpig'ment-^iin'ting), n. A
style of calico-printing in which ordinary pig-
ments are mechanically fixed on the fabric by
means of albuminous cement. E. H. Knight.
pigment-spot (pig'ment-spot), n. 1. A definite
pigmented spot,. or circumscribed pigmentary
area ; specifically, the so-called eye-spot of cer-
tain animalcules, as infosoidans and rotifers. —
2. In hot., a reddish or brownish spot present
in certain spores.
pig-metal (pig'met'al), n. Metal in pigs, as it
is produced from the' ore in the first operation of
smelting.— Pig-metal scales, a pair of scales arranged
for weiglUDg pig-metaL An iron truck of proper dimen-
sions to receive a farDace-charge traverses on rails npon
the platform of the scales.
pigmeyt, «. An obsolete form ot pygmy.
pigmy, n. See pygmy.
pignerate, v. t. See pignorate.
pignon (pin'yon), n. [< P. pignon, the kernel
of a pine-cone, also a gable, gable-end, = Sp.
piiion = Pg. pinhao, the kernel of a pine-cone,
\ Jj.pinea, a pine-nut, pine-cone, pine: see pine-
al.] 1. An edible seed of the cones of certain
pines, as Finns Pinea, the nut- or stone-pine of
southern Europe. — 3. In arch., a gable: the
usual French architeeturaJ. term, sometimes
used in English.
pignorate, pignerate (pig'no-, -ne-rat), v. t.;
pret. and Tp,T^. pignorated,pignerated, ypi.pigno-
rating, jyignerating. [< L. pigneratus (ML. also
pignoratus), pp. of pignerare (ML. also pigno-
rare), pledge, pignerari, take as a pledge (> It.
pignorare = Pg. penhorar = OP. pignorer,
pledge), < pignus Qpigner-, pignor-), a pledge:
seepigmis.] 1. To pledge; pawn; mortgage. —
2. To take in pawn, as a pawnbroker. Blount.
pignorate (pig'no-rat), a. [< ML. pignorattis,
pp. : see the verb'.] Kgnorative.
FignoraJLe and hypothecary rights were unknown as
rights protected hy action at the time now being dealt
with. Eacyc. Brtt., XX 690.
pignoration (pig-no-ra'shon), n. [= OF. pi-
gnoration, < ML. pignoratio{n-), LL. pignera-
tio(n-), a pledging, pawning, < L. pignerare, pp.
pigneratus, Tpledge: see pignorate.] 1. The act
of pledging or pawning. — 2. In civil law, the
holding of cattle that have done damage as se-
curity till satisfaction is made. See pignus.
p^norative (pig'no-ra-tiv), a. [= P. pignora-
tif= Sp. pignoratiio = Pg. penhoraUvo = It.
pignorativo, < ML. 'pignoraUvns, < pignorare,
pp. pignoratus, pawn, pledge: see pignorate.]
Pledging; pawning. Bouvier. [Bare.]
pignns (pig'nus), n. [< L. pignus (pigner-, pig-
nor-), a pledge, < y^pac, in pangere, fix, fasten,
paasci, agree, contract.] Apledge ; the deposit
of a thing, or the transfer of possession of it
or dominion over it, as security for the perform-
ance of an obligation. The essential idea in the So-
man and civil law is the putting of property, whether of
a chattel, or land, or territorial jurisdiction (or servants
or children, when they are regarded as property), under
the hand of the creditor or pledgee as security, so that,
although the right of the owner was not extinguished,
the creditor or pledgee could enforce his claim without
legal proceedings or any effort to gain possession ; and
this is also the essential idea in patim and also in the
strict use of pledge ; while hypothec and mortgage imply
that the owner retains possession, and that the creditor
has only a right of action, or a right to demand possession
in the contingencies agreed on.
pignut (pig'nut), n. 1. Same as hawknut.
1 with my long nails wHl dig thee pig^nuts.
Shak., Tempest, iL 2. 172.
FintSald. Fight like hogs for acorns !
See. Sold. Venture our lives for pig-nuU !
Fletcher, Bonduca, L 2.
2. The fruit of a North American tree, the
brown hickory, Hicoria glabra (Carya porcina) ;
also, the tree itself. The nut is thin-shelled, oily, at
first sweet, then bitterish ; it is eaten by swine. The wood
is very tough and is used like that of the shellbark, though
the tree is not so large.
There are also several sorts of hickories, called pig nuts,
some of which have as thin a shell as the best French wal-
4483
nuta, and yield their meat Teiy easily ; they are all of the
walnut kind. Bewrieyj Virginia, il *^ 14.
3. The fruit of Omphalea triandra and 0. di-
andra, of the West Indies and South America.
The kernel with the embryo removed is edible, and yields
(one species at least) a fine* limpid oQ. In Guiana a species
of Omphalea affords an oil said to be admirably a^pted
for lubricating there called ouahe-oiL Also called oo&nut
andlreadnuL
pig-pen (pig'pen), n. A pen for pigs_ ; a pigsty.
pig-rat (pig'rat), n. The large bandicoot-rat of
India, Xesolda bandieota. See cut a,t Sesohia.
pigroot (pig'rot), n. Any plant of the genus
SisyrincMum.
pigsconce (pig'skons), n. A pig-headed fellow ;
a blockhead.
Dijig. He is
l^o pig-sconce, mistress.
Secret He has an excellent headpiece^
Massinger, Ci^ Madam, iiL I.
These representatives of ^epig-sconces of the popula-
tion judged by circumstances ; airy shows and seems had
no effect on them. G. MeretUih, The Egoist, xxxviL
pig's-face (pigz'fas), •/». A plant. See Mesem-
bryanthemum.
pigskin (pig'sMn), n. 1. The skin of a pig,
especially when prepared for saddlery, binding,
or other purposes. — 2. A saddle. [Colloq.]
He was my governor, and no better master ever sat in
pigskin. Dickens.
pigsneyt, pigsnyt (pigz'ni), n. [Also pigsnye,
pigsnie; < ME. piggesnye, piggesneyghe, lit.
'pig's-eye'; pigges, gen. of pigge, pig; neyghe,
a variant, with attracted n of indef. art., of
eyghe, etc., eye: see eye^.] 1. A pig's eye:
used, like eye and apple of the eye, to denote
something especially cherished; hence, as a
term of endearment used of or to a woman, a
darling.
She was a primerole, a piggesnye.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, L 82.
Miso, mine own pigsnie, thou shalt hear news of Dame-
tas. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iii
Thou art,
As I believe, iiiepigsney of his heart.
Massinger, Picture, ii L
2. An eye: applied to a woman's eye. [Humor-
ous.]
Shine npon me but benignly.
With that one, and that othev pigsney.
S. BuOer, Hndibras, IL L 560.
3. The carnation pink,
pigsticker (pig'stik'er), n. 1. A pork-butcher;
a pig-killer. — 2. A boar-hunter. [Anglo-In-
dian.]
Owing to the courage, horsemanship, and skill with his
spear required in Gie pig^ieker, ... it [chasing the wild
boar] must be regarded as an admirable training for cav-
alry officers. Athensetan, Zs'o. 3226, p. 255.
3. A long-bladed pocket-knife. [Slang.]
pigsty (pig'sti), n. ; pL pigsties (-sSz). A sty or
pen for pigs ; a pig-pen.
To go and live in a pigsty on purpose to spite Wakem.
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, ii. 8.
pig'-S-wash (pigz'wosh), n. Swill.
Moral evil is unattainabUlty of Pi^s^ujash.
Cariyle, Latter-Day Pamphlets, Jesuitism.
pig's-'Wrack (pigz'rak), n. The Irish moss,
Chondrus crispus : so called in England because
boiled with meal and potatoes and used as food
for pigs.
pigtail (pig'tal), ». 1. The tail of a pig. — 2. A
cue formed of the hair of the head, as distin-
guished from that of the periwig. This was re-
tained by certain classes, as the sailors of the British navy,
after it had gone out of use in polite society. In this
way it survived as late as 1825. See cue\ 1. [Colloq.]
Should «ve be so apt as we are now to compassionate the
misfortunes, and to forgive the insincerity of Charles I., if
his pictures had portrayed him in a bob- wig and a pig4aUI
Bidwer, Pelhfun, xliv.
Yonder slill more ancient gentleman in powdered hair
and cu/toi^ . . . walks slowly along.
W. Besant, Fifty Tears Ago, p. 49.
3. A person who wears a pigtail or cue. [Col-
loq.] — 4. Tobacco twisted into a rope or cord.
I bequeath to Mr. John Grattan . . . my silver box in
which the freedom of the city of Corke was presented to
me ; in which I desire the said John to keep the tobacco
he usually cheweth, called pigtail. Swift, Will.
pigtailed Cpig't*l'i)> "■• [^ pigtail + -ed^.] i.
Having a tail like a pig's.
The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens dnr-
ing the past week include a Pigtailed Monkey.
Nature, XL. 628.
2. Wearing a pigtail or cue; having the hair
done up into a cue.
Dapur, i. e. the fortress of Tabor, of the Amorites, de-
fended in pigtailed Hittites against Bameses II.
Jour. Anthrop. Irtst., XVllL 229.
pike
Pigtailed baboon, the chacma Pigtailed macagae
or monkey, Macaeus nemestrinvs of Java, Snmatra, Bor-
neo, and the Malay peninsula, having a short tail
pigweed (pig' wed), h. l. a plant, one of the
goosefoots, Chenopodium album, also called
lamb's-quarters and bacontceed. It is sometimes
used as a pot-herb. The name extends more or
less to other species of the genus. — 2. The
green amaranth. Amarantus retrofleius, a com-
mon weed around sties and barn-yards.— injiged
pigweed, a coarse branching herb, Cyiiolonui platyphyl-
lum, found from the upper Mississippi westward, resem-
bling goosetoot^ but marked by a horizontal vring encir-
cling the calyx in fruit.
pigwiggintiPigwidgint, ». lAisoingwiggen, pig-
widgeon ; appar. a fanciful name, prob, based
on Pttcl- or pixy.] A fairy; a dwarf; hence,
anything very small: also used adjectively.
Pigwiggen was this fairy knight.
One wond'rous gracious in the sight
Of fair queen Mab. Drayton, Nj'mphidia, st 12.
By Scotch invasion to be made a prey
To such pigwidgin myrmidons as they.
Cleaveland Bevteed (1660). (Xares.)
pik (pik), n. A Turkish unit of length, a cubit.
There are tliree chief piks — the Stambouli or khalebi, the
endazeh, and the beladi or massri. The longest is the
Stambouli, which is 26.89 English inches in Constantino-
ple (28.85 in Wallachia, 26.43 in Moldavia, and 26.63 in
£gypt)i The pik endazeh varies from 23.05 inches in Egypt
to 25.70 in Constantinople. The pik beladi is 22.21 inches
in Egypt. Formerly the law of Wallachia prescribed that
the pik khalebi should be 2 feet 2 inches and 10 lines and
the pik endazeh 2 feet 1 inch and 5 lines English measure.
pika (pi'ka), V. A small rodent quadruped of
the genus Lagomys, family Lagomyidee, belong-
ing to the duplieidentate or lagomorphic series
of the Eodentia, inhabiting alpine regions of
the northern hemisphere. It is of about the size of
a rat, with soft fur, large rounded ears, and very short tail.
There are several species. Also called caUing-hare, little
chief hare, rat-liare, and cony. See cut under Lagomys.
pika-sqnirrel (pi'ka-skwur'el), n. A chinchilla ;
any species of the genus CliinchiTla.
If the foregoing [species of Lagidium] be called rabbit-
squirrel^ the Chinchilla itself (C. lanigeia) may be termed
Apika-squirTel. Stand. NaL HisL, V. 86.
pikel (pik), n. [Early mod. E. alsoj>jte; < ME.
pike, pyke, pyTc, a sharp point, an iron point or
tip of a staff or spear, a piked staff or spear, <
AS. pic, in earliest form piic, a pike (glossing
ML. acisculum for 'acicuhim, a needle or pin),
also in comp. horn-pic, a peak, pinnacle (rare
in all uses), = MD. pijcke, a pike, spear, later
pieke, D. pick, a pike, spear, flourish with the
pen, dash, = MLG. pek, LG. pek, pick; a pike,
spear, = G. pike, pieke, a pike, spear, spade
at cards, pieJs, a spade at cards, = Sw. pik, a
pike, spear, = Dan. pike, a pike, spear, jnk, a
pike, peak (naut.), = OF. j)ique, jyicque, a pike,
spear, pikeman, spade at cards, P. pique, pike^
spear, spade at cards, = Sp. Pg. pica, t., a pike,
spear, pikeman, = Olt. pica. It. picca, a pike,
spear, peak (ML. pica, a pike, spear, pickax);
also Sp. ])ico, m., sharp point, peak, top, point
of land, pickax, spout, beak, bill, = Pg. pico,
m., peak, top, summit, = Olt. pico, m., dim.
piixhio, an iron hammer, beetle, pickax, etc_.
(ML.picus, a hook) (the Tent, and Rom. forms
and senses show more or less reaction) ; also-
in Celtic: Lr. pice, a pike, fork, = Gael, pie, a
pike, spear, pickax, = W. pig, a point, pike,
bDl, beak, = Bret, pik, a pike, point, pickax ; ef .
Ir. picidh, a pike, spear, pitchfork ;peac,a. sharp-
pointed thing, etc., whence ult. E. peak (see
j>eofcl); prob. orig. with initial s, < L. spica,
t., spicum, neut., a point, ear of grain, top or
tuft of a plant, LL. also a pin, whence nit. E.
spike : see spike. Cf . pick\ the forms pick^ and
pike^ in noun and verb uses being more or less
confused. Hence pike^, v., pike^, pike^, and,
through OP. and P., Jjfte6 and^)ig«e, as well as
picket^, piquet, etc.] 1. A sharp point; a spike.
SpecificaJly — (o) A point of iron or other metal forming
the head or tip of a staff or spear. (6) A central spike
' sometimes used in targets and bucklei's, to which it was
affixed by means of a screw, (c) In turning, a point or
center on which to fasten anything to be turned.
Hard wood, prepared for the lathe with rasping, they
pitch between the pikes. J. Moxon.
(d) A thorn; a prickle, (et) The pointed end of a shoe,
such as were formerly in fashion, called piked shoon, era-
cows, etc. See cut under cracow.
It was ordained in the Parliament of Westminster, anno
1463, . . . "thatnomanweareshoesorbootshavingj»iih»
passing two inches in length."
J. Bryant, On Eowley's Poems. {Laiham.}
2. A staff or shaft having at the end a sharp
point or tip,usually of iron or steel. Specifically—
(at) Such a staff used in walking ; a pilgrim's staff ; a pike-
staff.
IHiey were redy for to wende
With pyke and with sclavyn
As palmers were in Paynym.
Richard Coer de Lion, L 611.
-ordinary infantry pike,
17th century.
pike
That Penitencia his pyke he schulde polsche newe.
Piers Plowman (B), v. 482.
<b) (1) A sharp-pointed weapon consisting of a long shaft
or handle with an iron head. It has
been in use from ancient times, but
the word dates apparently from the
fifteenth century. About that pe-
riod, and for some time later, it was
the arm of a large part of the infan-
try, and was from 16 to 20 feet long.
It continued in use, although re-
duced in length, throughout the
seventeenth century, and was re-
placed by the bayonet as the latter
was improved. It was retained in
the British army until a very late
date as a mere ensign of rank. (See
half-pike and spfymXxKm,) The pike
has always been the arm of hastily
levied and unequipped soldiers ;
thousands were used in the French
revolution. Such pikes have usu-
ally a round conical head, a mere
ferrule of thin iron bent into that
form, but long, sharp-pointed, and
formidable. The pike of regular
warfare had sometimes a round, sometimes a flat or
spear-like head.
In the Court there was a Soldier pourtrayed at length
with a blacke pike in his hand. Coryat, Crudities, I. 223.
(2) A weapon which replaced for a short time the sim-
ple pointed pike ; it had an ax-blade on one side and a
pointed beak or hook on the other. In this form it was
Tetained in the French army as a badge of rank as late as
the first empire, (ct) A pitchfork used by farmers.
A rake for to hale up the fitches that lie,
A pike for to pike them up, handsome to dry.
Tvsaer, September's Husbandry.
S. A shai-p-pointed hill or mountain summit;
a, peak. [North. Eng.]
A gathering weight of shadows brown
Falls on the valleys as the sun goes down ;
And Pikes, of dai'kness named and feai' and storms,
Uplift in quiet their illumined forms.
Wordsworth, Descriptive Sketches.
Masses of broken crag rising at the very head of the
valley into a fine ^e, along whose jagged edges the rain-
-clouds were trailing.
Mrs. Humphry Ward, Robert Elsmere, I. vii.
4. A point of land; a gore. See gore^, n., 2.
[Prov. Eng.] — 5. A large eoek of hay. [Prov.
Eng.] — 6t. Same asp JfeeTOoni, 1.
Your halbardier should be armed in all points like your
pike. Markham, Soldiers Accidence, p. 4.
7t. A measure of length, originally based on the
length of the weapon so called.
He had nineteene anda haltejiiiSret of cloth, which cost
in Loudon twenty shillings the pike.
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 249.
pike^t (B''')> *'• ; pi'et. and yp.piked, ■ppr. piking.
[< ME. pifcen, pyhen, prob. only or chiefly with
a short vowel, jjfteM, a var. of picken, pikken,
mod. pick^ : the ref . to pike^, n., being only see-
(Ondary: see pike^, piclc^, pitchX.'] I. trans. 1.
To pick or pluck. — 2. To pick or choose ; se-
lect; cull.
Diligently clodde it, pyke oute stones.
PaUaSus, Husbondrie (B. E. T. S.),p. 62.
Were it soe that the juryes could be piked out of such
choyse men as you desire, there would nevertheless be as
badd corruption in the tryall. Spenser, State of Ireland.
3. To bring to a point; taper.
And for this purpose must your bow be well trimmed
and piked of a cunning man, that it may come round in
true compass every where.
Astiham, Toxophilus (ed. 1864), p. 114.
II. intrans. To pick or peck, as a hawk
smoothing its feathers.
pike^ (pik), n. [< ME. pike, pyke, a fish so called
from its long slender shape and pointed snout ;
<j)ii'e, a sharp point: seejjjfcei. Cf. theequiv.
names, E. hake^, haked, etc.; E. brocliet, a pike,
< broehe, a spit; Bret, beked, a pike, < bek, beak ;
I), snock, a pike, < snoeijen, cut.] 1. A fish of
the genus Esox, or of the family Esoddes. The
common pike of Europe, Siberia, and northern North
America is E. lucius. Its cheeks are scaly, the operclea
Pike {Esox Uicit(s).
are naked below, the color is grayish with many round
whitish spots or pale bars, and the dorsal, anal, and cau-
dal fins are spotted with black. The other pikes of the
United States, except the maskalonge, are commonly
called pickerel. See also cuts under paraxphemxM, palato-
quadsraie, Esox, optic, and tdeogl.
3. Some other slender fish with a long snout,
or otherwise resembling the pike proper (def .
1). Specifically— (o) A cyprinoid fish, PtyehochUus Iv^
cius, of Blender form with a long snout, inhabiting the
^cramento river and other streams of the Pacific coast.
[California.] (6) Another cyprinoid fish, GUa grandis:
4484
a misnomer in the San Francisco market Also absurdly
called salmmi-trout. (c) In Australia, the Sphyriena no-
vee-hMandim and S. obtimUa. (d) The sea-pike (a belonid).
See also phrases below.— Bald pike, a ganoid fish, Amia
ccdva. [if. S.]— Bony pike. Sameassrmjjiic, 2.— Brazil-
ian pike, a scomberesocid fish, of the genus Uemi/rhmn-
phus. Pennane.- Federation pike, a pickerel, Esox
americanus: so called in allusion fo the bands with
which its body is crossed and rays being often thtoteen
in number.— Glass-eyed pike, the pike-perch, Stizoste-
dion americanum, or S. rrUrewm. Also called goggle-eyed
and wall-eyed ptie.- Gray pike. Same as Uue-pike.—
Great pike, the maskalonge, Esox noMior.— Green pike.
(a) The pike-perch, Stizogtedion vitreum. . (6) The common
pickerel, Esox j-eeioMiaiKg. — Ground-pike, the sauger,
Stizostedion catutdense.- Humpbacked pike, Esox cypho.
E. D. Coz>e.— Mud-pike, the sauger. [Lake Ontario.]—
Sand-puce, (a) The sauger. (b) The lizard-fish, Synodm
/(Ktens.- Wall-eyed pike. Same as glass-eyed pike.—
Yellow pike, the pike-perch, Stinostedion vitreum.
pike^ (pik), 11. [Abbr. of turnpike, turnpike
road.'] A turnpike ; a turnpike road.
pike^ (pik), ». i. [Appar. < pik^S^ ».] To go
rapidly. [Slang.]
pike*t, «■ *• An obsolete form otpiok^, pitch^.
pike^t, «■ »• IME.piken: seepeek^.] To peep;
peek.
Pandarus, that ledde hire by the lappe.
Com ner, and gau in at the ourtyn pike.
Chaucer, Troilns, iii. 60.
pike^t, »• An obsolete form ot pique.
pikedt (pi'ked or pikt), a. [< ME. piked, pyked;
<. pike^ + -ed^.'] 8a,m.e a,B picked^.
With scrip and pyked staf , y-touked hye.
In every hous he gan to pore and prye
And begged mele or chesse or ellis com.
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, L 29.
His teeth white and even ; his hair yellow and not too
piked. Sir T. More, Life of Picus, Int. to Utopia, p. Ixxviii.
Their shoes and pattens are snouted and piked more
than a finger long. Camden, Eemains.
Pangeas rich in silver, and Massapus for his high steep
piked rocks to be wondred at. Sandys, Travailes, p. 33.
Anne of Bohemia, to whom she had been Maid of Hon-
our, introduced the fashion of piked horns, or high heads.
Walpole, Letters, II. 121.
Fiked Bhoon. See pikei, n., 1 (e).- Piked staff. Same
pilar
pikelin(pik'lin),». [<pikei(1) + -Untov-Ungl.]
Same as pikelet.
pikemani (pik'man), n. ; j^l.pikemen (-men). [<
pike'^ + man.] 1. A soldier armed with a
pike ; especially, about
the sixteenth and sev-
enteenth centuries, a
member of a regularly
organized body of such
soldiers.
The Swiss battalion con-
sisted of pikemen, and bore
a close resemblance to the
Greek phalanx.
Macaulay, Machiavelli.
2. A miner who works
with a pike or crowbar.
Disraeli, Sybil, ii. 6.
pikeman^ (pik'man), n.
[< pike^ + man.} A
tumpikeman.
The turnpike has gone, and
the pikeman with his apron
has gone — nearly every-
body's apron has gone too
—and the gates have been
removed.
W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago,
[p. 42.
pike-perch (pik'pferoh),
the genus Stieostedion (or Lucioperca), of elon-
gate form, with a subeonioal head, and sharp
canines mixed with the villifomi teeth of the
jaws and palate. The most common pike-perch in
Europe is 5. lucioperca. In the United States two species
are common, in the upper Mississippi and Great Lake
Pikeman of early X7Hi century,
from print of the time.
A pereoid fish of
pike-devantt, ». [Also piekedevant, pickade-
vant, pickadevaunt, peake-devant, pickatevant,
jrickitwant; < OF. *pigue devant (?), < pique, a
sharp point, a pike (seepike^, + devant, before
(< de, from, -I- avant, before: see avant-).] A
beard cut to a sharp point in the middle, so as
to form a peak or pike below the chin. This
fashion is illustrated in most of the portraits
of the time of Charles I.
And here I vow by my concealed beard, if ever it chance
to be discovered to the world, that it may make a pike-
devant, I will have it so sharp pointed that it shall stab
Motto like a poynado. I^ly, Midas, v. 2. (Nares.)
He must . . . mark . . . how to cut his beard, and wear
his lock, to turn up hismushatos, and curl his head, prune
his pickitivant, or if he wear it abroad, that the east side
be correspondent to the west. Burton, Anat. of Mel., iii. 2.
pikedevantedt, a. [Pound as pittivanted; <
pike-devant + -ed^.] Having a pike-devant.
[Bare.] >
A young, pittivanted, trim-bearded fellow.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 480.
pike-fork (pik'fdrk), n. Same asfwk, 2 (c) (1).
Some made long pikes and lances light.
Some pike-forks for to join and thrust.
Old poem on BatUe of Flodden.
pike-hammerf (pik'nam'^r), n. 1. A form of
war-hammer with a long and formidable point,
like the prolonged blade of a lance, set in the
direction of the shaft. One of these weapons now
in the museum of artillery at Paris has a pointed blade
over 3 feet in length, with a shaft about 6 feet long.
2. The head of the staff of certain military
flags, specifically of those carried by the regi-
ments of the first French empire.
pikehead(plk'hed),«. 1. The head of a pike or
spear.
His speare . . .
Had riven many a brest with pikehead square.
Spemser, P. Q., I. vii. S7.
2. lu ichtJt., a fish of the family LuciocejjJialidse.
pike-headed (pik'hed"ed), a. 1. Having a
sharp-pointed head.— 2. Having a head like a
pike's, with long snout and jaws.— pike-headed
alligator, the common Mississippi alligator : so called as
atranslation of its specific name. Alligator lueius.—'BillLe-
headed anolls, Anolis lueius.
pike-keeper (pik'ke'per), n. The keeper of a
turnpike; a tollman.
"What do you mean by a pike-keeperf" inquired Mr
Peter Magnus. "The old 'un means a turnpike-keeper,
genTm'n," observed Mr. Weller, in explanation.
Dickens, Pickwick, xxii.
pikelet (pik'let), n. [< pike^ (?) -f -let.} A
light cake or muffin ; a thin circular tea-cake.
Halliioell. [Prov. Eng.]
He crumpled up his broad face like a half-toasted pike-
let. Anna Seward, Letters. (Latham.)
Pike-percli (StigosteditiH vitreum).
regions : S. vitreum, attaining a length of 3 feet, and a
weight of from 10 to 20 pounds, and S. earmdense, which
is rarely over 16 inches long. (See Ludoperca.) The former
is known as walleye, glasseye, waU-eyed or glass-eyed pike,
gray pike, aaAjaek-salmion. The other is called homftsh,
sauger, and sand-pike.
pike-pole (pik'pol), n. A pole with a prong
and hook at one end, used by lumbermen in
driving logs on rivers.
piker (pi'ker), n. [ipike^ + -eri.] A tramp;
a vagrant. [Slang.]
The people called in Acts of Parliament sturdy beggars
and vagrants, in the old cant language Abraham men, and
in the modem Pikers.
Barrow, Wordbook of the English Gypsy Language.
piker elt, n. A Middle English form of piekm-el.
pikestaff (pik'staf), n.-, pi. pikestaves (-stavz).
[< ME. pykstaf (usually jpifced staff) ; < pilce^ +
staff.} A staff with an iron head more or less
pointed and capable of serving as a weapon,
formerly used by travelers, pilgrims, and wan-
dering beggars. Also piked staff.
He had a pike-staff in his hand
That was baith stai'k and Strang.
Eobin Hood and the Beggar (Child's Ballads, V. 188).
Plain as a pikestaff, aeeplaini.
pike-sucker (pik'suk-'fer), n. Any fish of the
family^ GoUesoddse.
piketail (pik'tal), n. The pintail duck, Dafila
acuta. Also spiketail. See pintail. [Illinois.]
pikeyst, n. A Middle English form ot pickax.
piki, n. Beepeekee.
pikket. A Middle English form ot picU, pitclfi.
pilai (pi'la), n. [< 'L.pila, a mortar: seepile^,
pile^.} In archeeol. and art, a mortar, espe-
cially one notable ar-
ehseologically on ac-
count of its antiquity
or design. Specimens of
ancient mortars have been
found in-Switzerland, hol-
lowed out of the trunks of
large trees and having pes-
tles arranged to be wielded
by two men. See mortari.
pila2 (pe'ia), n. [It.:
see pile^.} The holy-
water font in an Ital-
ian church, usually a
stone vase of consider-
able richness.
pilaS, n. Plural of pi-
lum.
pilaget, ii- -An obso-
lete form of pelage.
pilar (pi'lar), a. Per-
taining to or covered Wiaa.-Duomo „f Pistoia, Italy.
Pilaster.
Grand Trianon, Ver-
sailles, France (built
by Louis XIV.).
pilar
with hair — Pilar muscles, the erector muscles of
hairs ; arrectores pilorum.
pilary (pil'a-ri), a. [< li.pilus, a hair (aeepile^),
+ -ayy.'i ' Of or pertaining to hair or the hair.
She had never sultered from any pHwry loss, cutaneous
affection, ... or any other symptom of disorder.
lledieal News, LIII. 411.
pilaster (pi-las'ter), n. \Fovm.evlya,\sopillaster;
= Sp. Pg. pilastra, < F. pilastre, < It. pilastro,
< ML. pilastrum, a small pil- „„ ,., . ^
lar, dim. of L. pila, a pillar:
see pile^ and -aster.'] A square
pillar, with its capital and
base, projecting from a pier,
or from a wall, to the extent
of from one quarter to one
third of its breadth; an en-
gaged pillar. In Greek architec-
tuie pilasters were not made to cor-
respond in form with the order of
columns in connection with which
they were used; hut in the Koman
and later styles they commonly fol-
low closely the design of the accom-
panying columns. See antal.
pilastered (pi-las't6rd), a. [<
pilaster + -ed^.'] Furnished
with pilasters.
The polish'd walls of marble be
P-Uastet^d round with porphyiy.
Cotton, Entertainment to f hillis.
pilau (pi-la'), n. [Also pilaw,
pillau, pillaw, pilaff, pillaffe; °'"-°"'
= F. pilau = It. pilao = G. pilaw = Russ. pi-
lavU = NGr. mMijii, < Turk, pilaw = Hind, pu-
ldo,palao, < Pers. pilaw, pilaw, a dish of rice
boiled with meat, spices, etc.] An Oriental
dish consisting of rice boiled with mutton, kid,
or fowl, and flavored with spices, raisins, but-
ter, broth, etc. it is a favorite dish among Moham-
medans everywhere, and its composition and preparation
vary among the different tribes in Turkey, Arabia, Persia,
Egypt, etc. It is eaten in Western countries with some
variations, such as the addition of savory herbs and vege-
tables, and sometimes of beef or pork.
Their most ordinary food is mllaw — that is. Bice which
hath been sod with the fat of Mutton.
Sandys, Travailes, p. 51.
The dinner concluded with apUlam of boiled rice and
butter ; for the easier discussion of which we were pro-
vided with cai'ved wooden spoons.
R. F. Burton, El-Medinah, p. 477.
Boiled mutton, cold chicken, i^lau of rice with raisins.
a. Kennan, The Century, XSXVI. 622.
pilch^ (pilch), n. [< ME. pilch, pylch, pilche,
mlehe, pyls, < AS. pylce, pylece {= OF. pelisse,
? B. pelisse), < ML. pelUcea, erroneously peli-
cmm, a furred garment, fern, of L. pelUceus, of
fm-orskin, <jjeTi!Js, skin: see^eWi.] If. A coat
or cloak of skins or fur ; later, a bufl or leather
jerkin : applied also to a coarse garment of other
material, worn for warmth.
And the! clothen hem also with PyUhes, and the Hyde
with outen. MandeiiiUe, Travels, p. 247.
No man caste his pSche away. Chaucer, Proverbs, L 4.
He . . . was blakke and rough, for-rympled and longe-
berde, and bar-foote, and clothed In a rough pilche.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), lU. 424.
Thy vesture that thou shalt use ben these, a warme
vylche for wynter, and oo Idrtel, and oo cote for somer.
MS. Bodl. 423, f. 182. (BalUwell.)
lie heate flue pounds out of his leather j»M.
Dekker, Satiromaatix.
2. A flannel cloth for an infant. HalUwell.
[Prov. Eng.]
pilcll^t, t], i. [Perhaps a var. of pick^ accom.
to pilfer 01 Jileh.] To pilfer. Vcmies. [Bare.]
Some steal, some pUch,
Some all away flloh.
Tusser, Husbandly, September's Abstract.
pilchard (pil'chard), n. [With accom. suffix
-ard for -er; earlier pilcher, < Ir. pilseir, a pil-
chard; cf.W.jjJicocf, pi., minnows. TheF.jp«7-
chard is from E.] 1. A fish of the family Clu-
peidse, Clupea pilchardus, resembling the her-
ring, but thicker and rounder, with the under
4485
2. A fish, CZupeasag'aa;, closely related to the pil-
chard. [California.]— 3. A third fish of the fam-
ily ClupeidsB, Sarengula maorophthalma. [Ber-
mudas.]— 4. The yotmg menhaden. [Chesa-
peake Bay, U. S.]
pilcherif (pil'chfer), n. [< pileh + -er (used in-
definitely).] 1. One who wears a pilch.
You mungrels, you curs, you ban-dogs [the Serjeants of
the Counter] ! we are Captain Tucca that talk to you, you
inhuman pHehers. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iii. 1,
2. A pUch. — 3. A scabbard. [Cant.]
Will you pluck your sword out of biBpHeher by the ears ?
Shak., R. and J., iii. 1. 84.
pilclier^t, «. Same as pilchard.
Doyt. What meat eats the Spaniard?
Pitch. Dried pUchers and poor-john.
Middleton, Blurt, Master-Constable, i. 2.
pilcornt, n. See pilleorn.
pilcrowt (pil'kro), n. {Formerly also piUcrow,
pilkrow, pyl&row, peelorow, corrupted forms,
simulating crow^ (the character %, in older
form %, with its black body, and with its stem
variously curled or flourished, suggesting that
sable bird), of pylcrafte, pararafte, pargrafte,
corrupted forms ot paragraph: seeparagraph.J
The character f, used to mark the beginning of
a new paragraph: same as paragraph, 4.
A lesson how to confer every abstract with his moneth,
and how to find out huswif ery verses by the pUcrrow.
Tusser, L
Zapet. But why ajpee2-crow) here?
Oca. I told him so, sir :
A scare-crow had been better.
Fletcher (and a/iwfhert), Nice Valour, iv. 1.
pile^ (pil)) ri. [< WEi.pile,pil, < AS. ptl, a sharp
stake or stick, as the gnomon of a dial, a stake
or pile driven in the bed of a river, a prickle of
the holly, a nail, a,lso in comp. an arrow or dart
{hilde-pil, 'war-dart,' or*feo»c-:P»i, 'subtle dart,'
searo-pil, 'subtle dart,' wielpU, 'slaughter-
dart'); also pile, a stake, in comp. temes-pile ;
= D.pijl = ■ML&.j)»7 = OB.Q. pMl,fU, MHG.
plwl,pfil, (j!.pfeil,a-D. arrow, dart, bolt, shaft, =
loel. pUa = Sw. Ban. pil, an arrow,
= 0'W..;^ile, m., a javelin, = Sp. Pg.
pilo, a javelin, = It. pilo, a javelin,
dart, pestle, < L. pilum, a javelin, a
heavy javelin used by infantry, Ut.
a pounder, pestle, contr. of *pislum,
*pisulwm (ef . pistillum, a pestle, > E.
pestle and pistil) ; ef . pUa, a mortar
(> AS. pile, a mortar, also in comp.
pil-stsef, a pestle, pitstampe, a pestle,
pUstocc, a pestle, deriv. pUstre, a
pestle), contr. of *pisla, *pisula; <
pisere, pinsere, pound, beat, bray,
crush.] 1. The pointed head of a staff, pike,
arrow, or the like, when not barbed, generally
of a rounded form and serving as a ferrule;
also, an arrow.
Cut off the timber of this cursed shaft.
And let the f ork'd pUe canker to my heart.
Chapman, Gentleman Usher, iv. 1.
Pile of an
arrow, 13th or
14th centuiy.
Filchard {Ciufea piichardus).
jaw shorter, the back more elevated, the belly
less sharp, and the mouth edentulous. These
fishes appear on the Cornish coast in England about the
middle of July in immense numbers, and furnish a con-
siderable article of commerce. See white-bait.
Pools are as like husbands as pilchards are to herrings.
SAa*.,T.N., iii. 1.89.
282
The artist has carefully distinguished the barbed head of
the arrow and the pUe of the crossbow bolt.
Hewitt, Ano. Armour, I., p. xiii.
With the right hand draw the arrow from the quiver,
pass It across the bow until the steApUe projects ten inches
beyond the handle. M. and W. Thompson, Archery, p. 16.
2t. A javelin. [Bare.]
That was hut civil war, an equal set,
yfiiere piles vriSapUes, and eagles eagles met.
Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii. 161.
[The above is an imitation of the following passage :
"Infestisque obvia signis
Signa, pares aquilas, etpHa minantia j>iJ?is,"
iMcan, Fharsalia, iii. 7.]
3. A pointed stake ; specifically, in arch, and
engin., abeamj heavy, generally of timber, often
the roughly trimmed trunk of a tree, pointed or
not at the end and driven into the soil for the
support of some superstructure or to form part
of a wall, as of a coflEer-dam or quay. For perma-
nent works piles are driven in loose or uncertain strata in
rows, leaving a space a few feet in width between them, and
upon the heads of the piles the foundations of the super-
structure are erected. In temporary constructions they
are driven close together in single or double rows, so as
to inclose a space of water and form a coffer-dam, from
which the water is subsequently pumped outj and thus a
dry space is obtained for laying the foundation of piers,
etc., in bridges and other similar worlis. Iron piles are
used for wharf- walls and other purposes ; they are hollow
or tubular within, and are cast in various forms. See cuts
under lake-dwelling, pile-driver, and pUework.
They ramme in great pUes of woodde, which they lay
very deepe, upon the which they place their bricke.-
Coryat, Crudities, I. 206.
What rotten piles uphold tlieir mason-work.
Tennyson, Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham.
4+. A post such as that used in the exercise of
the quintain.
pile
Of fight, the disciplyne and exercise
Was this. To have a pale or pHe upright
Of mannys hight, thus writeth olde and wise;
Therwitn a bacheler, or a yong knyght,
Shal first be taught to stonde and lerne to fight.
And fanne ot doubil wight, tak him his shelde
01 doubil wight, a mace of tre to welde.
This fanne and mace whiche either doubil wight
Of shelde, and swayed in conflicte or bataile,
Shal exercise as well swordmen as knyghtes.
MS. Cott. Titus, A. xxiii. lol. 617.
And noe man, as they sayn, is seyn prevaile,
In field or in castell, thoughe he assayle,
Tliatwith thei>ae nathe \i. e. ne hath, hath not) flrste grete
exercise ;
Thus writeth Werrouris olde and wyse.
Knyghthode and Batayle (quoted in Strutt's Sports and
[Pastimes, p. 185).
False pile, an additional length given to a pile after diiv-
ing. JB. H. Knight.— Gase& pUeB, large piles placed at
regular distances apart, with horizontal beams called i-un-
WMS fitted to each aide of them by notching, and seemed
by holts. They form a guide for the filling-piles, which
are driven between the runners, filling up the spaces be-
tween them. — Hollow pile, a large wrought- or cast-iron
cylinder sunk in sandy strata by digging away or forcing out
the sand from the inside. Sections of cylinder are added
above, as may be necessaiy, and secured by flanges and
bolts.— Hydraulic pile, a pile sunk in sand by means of
a water-jet. Two methods are followed. In one, a hollow
iron pile Is set upright in the sand in the position it is to
occupy, while a powerful stream of water is forced into
the pile and escapes through a hole at the point of the
tube, forcing up the sand, so that the tube rapidly sinks. In
the other method, solid wooden piles are sunk in the same
manner, the jet being delivered at the foot of the pile by
means of an iron pipe let down beside the pile and af-
terward withdrawn. On stopping the water-jet the sand
quickly settles around the pile and ^olds it firmly in posi-
tion.— Pneumatic pile. Seejmeumatic. (See also £f»'ew-
pnle, sheet-j^.)
pile^ (pil), V. t. ; pret. and pp. piled, ppr. piling.
[<j»iZei, ».] 1. To furnish with a pile or head.
At Delops Magus thi'ew
A speare vellpilde, that atrooke his caske ful in the height ;
off flew
His purple feather, newly made, and in the dust it fell.
Chapman, Iliad, xv.
2. To furnish, strengthen, or support with piles ;
drive piles into.
pile^ (pil), n. [< 'ME. pile, pyle, a pUe (tower or
castle) (the alleged AS. *pU, a pillar, is not au-
thorized), < OF. pile, f., a pier, mole, pyramid,
etc., F. pile, a pier, mole, pile or reverse of a
coin, = Bp. pila, a pillar, font, holy-water font,
trough, =OIt.j)ite, adam, bowlof afont, laver,
cistern. It. ^ite, a flat pillar, trough, holy-water
font, < L. pila, a pillar, a pier or mole of stone,
PUe in the senses given below is generally in-
cluded with^ifeS, 'a heap,' etc. ; but seepile^.
Pile^ is also more or less confused in various
senses with the related ^jfei. Ci.peel^.'] If.
A pillar; specifically, a small pillar of iron, en-
graved on the top with the image to be given
to the under side of a coin stamped upon it;
hence, the under side or reverse of the coin
itself: opposed to the cross. — 2t. A tower or
castle: same as^eeZ*.
For to deluen a dyche depe a-boute Vnite,
That holy-cherche stode in Vnite as it s.pyle were.
Piers Plowman (B), xix. 360.
AUe men children in towne & pile
To slee them, that ihesus myght with hem die.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 45.
The inhabitants at this day call it Miliiesse ; and as small
a village as it is, yet hath it a pile.
Holland, tr. of Camden, p. 775. (Davies.)
3. A large building or mass of buildings of
stone or brick; a massive edifice: as, a noble
pile; a venerable jjiie.
Went to see Clarendon House, now almost flnish'd, a
goodly pije to see to. Svelyn, Diary, Nov. 28, 1668.
In the midst of the ruins, there stands up one^e higher
than the rest, which is the East end of a great Cliurch,
probably of the Cathedral of Tyre.
Mawndrell, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 49.
High Whitby's cloistered ^e. Scott, Marmion, ii. 1.
4. A pyramid; a pyramidal figure ; specifical-
ly, in her., a bearing consisting of a pyramidal
or wedge-shaped figure (generally assumed to
represent an arrow-head), which, unless other-
wise blazoned, seems to emerge from the top
of the escutcheon with its point downward. It
is usually considered one of the subordinaries,
but by some authors as an ordinary. See jnle^,
1, and phrases below — Cross and pile. See crossi.
— Cross pile, a pile in which boards, iron bare, or the like
are placed in alternate layers at right angles to each other.
— Per pile, in her. , divided by lines in the form ot a pile —
that is, forming a V-shaped figure in the field. If this V-
shaped figure has not its point downward, the blazon must
express it as per pile transposed, perpHe reversed, per pile
traverse, etc. — Pile solid, in her., a pile represented as
In relief, having three lines, which give it the appeai'-
ance of a blunt pyramid, projecting upward from the
field. One ot the three trianpiles thus formed is of a dif-
ferent tincture fi'om the others, to help the solid appear-
ance.—Triple pile, triple-pointed pile, in her., a pile
pile
cut short at the pomted end, and having the end divided
into three projecting points.
piles (pii), n. [< ME. pile, a heap (tte AS. *pil,
a heap, is not authorized, being due to a misin-
terpretation), < OF. pile, t, a heap, pile, stack,
F. pile, a heap, voltaic pile, etc. ; appar. a par-
tiotdaruse otpile, a pier of stone, etc. (vf hence
any pile of stones or other things, etc.); but
according to some < L. pUa^ a ball (of. piles).
Ct.pile^^ 1. A heap consisting of an indefinite
number of separate objects, commonly of the
same kind, arranged of pui^ose or by natural
causes in a more or less regular (cubical, py-
ramidal, cyUndiical, or conical) form ; a large
mass, or a large quantity: as, a pile of stones;
a pile of wood ; a pile of money or of grain.
What^fleg of wealth hath he accumulated
To his own portion ! Shak., Hen. VIU., iii. 2. 107.
YoupUe of mountains, shining lilce a white summer cloud
in the blue sky. Irving, Alhambra, p. 121.
Specifically — 2. A funeral pile ; a pyre. See
funeral pile, imdeT funeral.
Woe to the bloody city ! I will even make the pife for fire
great. Ezek. xxlv. 9.
The father makes the pile: hereon helayes
His bond-led, blind-led Son.
Sylvester, Maiden's Blush (trans.).
3. An oblong rectangular mass of cut lengths
of puddled bars of iron, laid together and ready
for being rolled after being raised to a welding-
temperature in a reheating-furnaoe. The size of
a pile and the quality of the iron of which it is composed
vary according to special requirements, the same pile some-
times containing widely different qualities of iron in its
different parts.
4. In elect., a series of plates of two dissimilar
metals, such as copper and zinc, laid one above
the other alternately, with cloth or paper placed
between each pair, moistened with an acid so-
lution, for producing a current of electricity.
See electricity. The term is sometimes used as synon-
ymous with battery, for any form of apparatus designed
to produce a current of dynamic electricity. It is also
applied to an apparatus for detecting slight changes of
temperature. See tkermopUe.
5. A large amount of money : a fortune : as, he
has made his pile. [Slang, U. S.]
Great fortunes grow with the growing prosperity of the
countryj and the opportunity it offers of amassing enor-
mous piles by bold operations.
Bryce, Amer. Commonwealth, II. 704.
Dry pile, an electric pile or battery consisting of a series
of disks, generally of paper or leather, coated on one side
with silver or tin and on the other with finely powdered
binozid of manganese. These are arranged witti the sil-
ver of each disk in contact with the manganese of the next,
the whole forming a battery the action of which, due to the
hygroscopic character of the paper disk, is remarkably per-
manent.— Funeral pile. See funeral.
They conveyed them unto the futieraU pile on beeres.
Sandys, Travailes, p. 65.
Poles of a voltaic pUe. See pole^.— Volta's pile. See
battery, 8.
pile* (pil), V. t. ; pret. and pp. piled, ype. piling.
[< pile^, TO.] 1. To lay or throw into a heap;
heap, or heap up ; collect into a pile or mass :
as, to pile wood or stones.
Oi pile ten hills on the Tarpeian rock.
Shak., Cor., iii. 2. 3,
The sickening toil
Of pUing straw on straw to reach the sky.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 211.
2. To bring into an aggregate; accumulate:
as, to pile quotations or comments.
Life ^7ec2 on life
Were all too little. Tennyson, Ulysses.
3. Same as fagot, 2.— To pile arms, in milit. tac-
tics, to place three muskets or rines with fixed bayonets in
such a relative position that the butts shall remain firm
upon the ground, and the muzzles be close together in an
oblique direction. Called to stack arms In modem tactics.
pile* (pil), n. [= OF. peil, poil, F. poil = Pr.
pel, pelh, peil = Sp. pelo = Pg^ello = It. pelo,
< L. pilus, a hair, the hair. Hence ult. (from
L. pilus) E. depile, depilate, depilatory, pill^,
pelluce, plush, peruke (with periwig and mg),
and prob. also ^Zttcfci.] 1. Hair.
The beard is represented by two tangled tufts upon the
chin ; where whiskers should be, the place is either bare
or thinly covered with straggling pile.
B. F. Burton, El-Medinah, p. 320.
2. Specifically, in hunting, in the plural, the
hair or fur of an animal, as the boar, wolf, fox,
etc.; hence, hairs collectively; pelage. — 3. The
lay or set of the hair. — 4. A fiber, as of wool
or cotton. — 5. In entom., thinly set fine hairs
which are ordinarily rather long. — 6. Nap of
a x-egular and closely set kind, consisting of
threads standing close together and shaved off
smooth, so as to form a uniform and even sur-
face. The threads of pile always have a certain incli-
nation in one direction as regards the stuff, and can be
smoothed or depressed in that direction, while pressing
4486
them the other way roughens the surface. The longest
pile of any textile fabric is perhaps that of certain Orien-
tal carpets ; this, when of fine goat's hair, has a beautiful
gloss. The pile of velvet is sometimes of two different
heights or lengths.
Velvet soft, or plush with shaggy i)ife.
Camper, Task, 1. 11.
Cut pile, In a fabric, a pile woven in loops which are af-
terward cut so as to give a smooth surface composed of
the ends of the fibers, as in velvet, plush, etc.— Double
pile. Same as pUe upon pile : said of velvet.— Pile car-
pet. See corpef.— Pile upon pile, an arrangement in
which a part of the pile is shorter than another part, as in
velvet, in wliich a pattern is produced in this way, the pile
of a flower or le^ being perhaps twice as high as that of
the background.
pile* (pil), V. t. ; pret. and pp. piled, -ppr. piling.
[<piZe*, ».] To furnish with pile; make shaggy.
Thou art good velvet ; thou 'rt a tbree-piled piece, 1
warrant thee : I had as lief be a list of an English kersey
as be pUed as thou art pUed for a French velvet.
ShaJc., M. for M., i. 2. 33.
His cloak of crimson velvet piled,
Trimmed with the fur of marten wild.
Scott, Harmlon, v. 8.
pile^ (pil), V. t.
-pvet. and pp. piled, -pw-pilmg.
" [< ME. pilen, var. of pillen, ult. < L. pUare,
deprive of hair : sQ&pilP, of which pile^ is thus
ult. a variant. Of. peeP-, with whiSh pile^ may
have been confused.] To break off the awns of
(threshed barley). [Prov. Eng.]
pile^t, V. A Middle English form otpilP-.
Pilea (pi'le-a), ». [NL. (Lindley, 1821)^ so called
with ref . to the original species, in which one of
the three sepals is enlarged into a hood over the
fruit; < ti.pileus, a felt cap: se&pileus.'] 1. A
genus of apetalons herbs of the order Urtieacese,
tribe Urticese, and subtribe Procrideas, distin-
guished by the equUateral opposite leaves and
loosely branched or somewhat condensed green-
ish cymes. There are about 176 species, for the most
part small weedy plants, widely dispersed throughout the
tropics except in Australia, with one, P. pumila, the clear-
weed or richweed, with translucent watery stem, common
in rich woodlands of the United States. Many species
have the peculiarity of developing one leaf of a pair very
much larger than that opposite. See artillery-plant, bum-
ing-bmh, 2 (6), elearweed, coolweed, and dwarf elder (under
elder), the last peculiar in this genus (mainly of weeds) from
having a woody stem.
2. [I. c] Plural otpileum.
pileata (pU-e-a'ta), a. [L., fem. of pileatus,
capped: seepiledie.'] Capped — that is, covered
or stopped: applied to organ-pipes — pileata
diapenta, a stopped quint.— Pileata major, a stopped
16-foot pipe.— Hleata minor, a stopped 4-foot pipe.
pileata (pil'e-at), a. [< L. pileatus, pilleatus,
capped, bonneted, < pileus^ pilleus, a cap : see
pileus."] 1. Capped; specifically, in hot., hav-
ing a pilous or cap, as certain fungi. See
Agaricus. — 2. Having the form of a cap or
cover for the head. See cut under Crypturus.
A pHeated echinus taken up with different shells of
several kinds. Woodward.
pileated (pil'e-a-ted), a. [<.pileate + -ed^.'] 1.
Same 3.S pileate. — 2. In or»w<A., crested; having
the feathers of the pileum elongated and con-
spicuous: as, the
pileated wood-
pecker.— Pileat-
ed woodpecker,
Hylotom/us (or Ce-
opMaeus) pO,ealtus,
the largest wood-
pecker of North
America excepting
the ivorybill, local-
ly known as logcock
or Hack logcock. It
is usually 16 to 18
inches long, and
about 28 in extent
of wings ; the color
is slaty-black, con-
spicuously striped
with white or pale
yellowish on the
head and neck, this
color also varying
the hidden parts
of the wings; the
male has the whole
pileum scarlet; in
the female the crest is scarlet on the posterior half only.
This fine bird inhabits all the heavily wooded regions of
the country, where it represents the great black wood-
pecker of Europe, Pieus or Dryoaopus marUus.
pile-beam (pil'bem), n. A separate warp-beam,
upon which is wound and carried the pile-wai-p :
distinguished from the usual warp-beam of a
loom.
pile-bridge (pil'brij), ». A bridge consisting of
a platform supported by piles. It is probably the
earliest form of bridge, and is still largely used, especially
over shallow water and marshy ground.
pile-builder (pil'bil'''der), n. One who erects a
structure on piles; specifically, one of a com-
munity which customarily dwells in huts or
Fileopsidse
cabins erected on piles over a body of water,
as the ancient lake-dwellers, and some savage
peoples of the present day. See lake-dwelling,
palafitte.
As regards India, it seems to me there are good reasons
for believing these pile-builders are the direct descendants
of the pre-i&yan aboriginals. Nature, XXX. 169.
pile-cap (pil'kap), n. In hydraul. engin. , a beam
connecting the heads of piles.
pile-clamp (pU'klamp), n. In surg., an instru-
ment for clamping hemorrhoids previous to ex-
cision.
piled (pild), o. [< jjifei + -edz.] 1. Having
a pile, as an arrow.— 2. Supported on or by
piles.
Among those who build on piles many live and sleep on
the ground, using the piled part of the house for other
purposes. Nature, XXX. 169.
pile-dam (pil'dam), n. A dam made by diiving
piles and filling the interstices with stones.
The surfaces are usually protected with plank-
ing.
pile-driver (pirdri''''v6r), n. 1 . A workman oc-
cupied in driving piles. — 2. A machine or con-
trivance, usually worked by steam, for driving
piles. A common form, shown in tbe cut, consists of a
Pileated Woodpecker l_Hyloiomus
fiUatus).
Pile-driver.
ab, framework; f, the monkey — a block of cast-iron with guide-
ways which slide on vertical euides on the inner faces of the upright
parts d of the framework ; a, nippers ; e, inclines which engage the
arms of the nippers and release the monkey ; f, hoisting-pulley. Th4
hoisting-rope is attached to the nippers, and the nippers engage a
shouldered projection on the top of the monkey.
large ram or block of iron, which slides between two guide-
posts. Being drawn up to the top, and then let fall from
a considerable height, it comes down on the head of the
pile with a violent blow.
pile-d-^elling (pil'dweF'ing), n. A dwelling
built on piles, especially an ancient lake-dwell-
ing; a palafitte. Compare j)«fe-6Mi?^r.
pile-engine (pil'en''''jin), n. An engine for driv-
ing piles. ^Gdpile-drimer.
pile-noop (pil'hiSp), n. An iron band put round
the head of a timber pile to prevent splitting.
pilei, v,. Plural otpileus.
pileiform (pil'f-i-f6rm), a. l=F. pimforme,<'lj.
pileus, pilleus, a cap, + forma, shape.] Having
the form of a pileus ; pileated in shape.
pilementt (pll'ment), n. [< piles, ^., -f .ment.1
An accumulation.
Costly pSeiMnia of some curious stone.
Bp. Baa, Satires, III. ii. 16.
Pileolares (pil''''e-6-la'rez), n. [NL. (Pries,
1825), < li. pileolus, etc., dim. ot pileus, a cap:
see pileohtsT] A tribe of hymen omycetous fungi
of the suborder Tremellini, according to End-
licher. The receptacle is membranaceous, and
the hymenium inferior, free. Also Helotid.
pileolus (pi-le'o-lus), n. ; pi. pileoli (-li). [NL.,
<. 1j. pileolus, pilleolus, also pileolum, pilleolvm,
dim. of pileus, pilleus, a cap : see pileus.'] 1 . In
zool. and hot, a little pileus; some small cap-
like or lid-like body ; specifically, the receptsr
ole of certain fungi.— 2. [cap'.] A genus of
gastropods of the family Neritidse, belonging to
the Oolite, having no spire, the shell resem-
bling that of a limpet.
PileopsidSB (pil-e-op'si-de), n.pl. [NL., < Pi-
Uopsis + -idee.'] A family of gastropods, named
from the genus Pileopsis : same as Calyptrmdx.
Flleopsis
Pileopsis (pil-e-op'sis), n. [NL. (Lamarek,
1812), < L. pileus, pHUxts, a eap, + Gr. Inju^, ap-
pearance.] Age-
mis of bonnet-
limpets of the
family Calyptrse-
idae, liaving the
shell pileate in
form, with round-
„,..„. ed aperture, pos-
FooUcap.Un,pet (P,l.^s,s Hu^garUa^. ^^^^ spirally re-
cuTved apex, and horseshoe-shaped mnsoular
impression, p. hungarica is a common European spe-
cies, known as the Hungarian bonnet4iinpet or /oalscap-
limpet. Capulvs is a synonym.
pileorMza (piHf-o-ii'za), «.; pi. pileorhiziB
(-ze). [NL., < ti. pileus, "piUeits, a cap, -I- Gr.
pKa, a root.] In hot., the root-cap.
pileorhize (pil'f-o-riz), n. Same aiS jaileorhiza.
pileons (pi'le-us)', o. [< li.pilus, a hair, the
hair: seej)»te*0 Same asjMto«s.
pile-pier (pil'per), n. In hydraul. engm., a pier
supported on piles.
pile-plank (pil'plangk), n. One of a number
of planks, about nine inches broad and from
two to four inches thick, sharpened at their
lower end, and driven with their edges close
together into the ground in hydraulic works, as
to make a coffer-dam.
pileri (pi'ler), n. [<pile^, v., + -erl.] One who
piles or forms into a heap.
piler^t, n. A Middle En^sh form oipiOar.
piles Opilz), n. pi. [< NL. piUB, piles, pi. of
L. pQa, a ball : seepUe^.'] A disease originat-
ing in the morbid dilatation of the veins of the
lower part of the rectum, and upon the verge
of the anus ; hemorrhoids. Constipation favors
their development.
pile-shoe (pil'sho), n. An iron point fitted on
a pile.
pUe-start (pil'start), n. The pintail duck, Da-
fla acuta. J. P. Giraud, 1844. (Tiong Island.]
pileti, n. Plural otpiletus.
pile-towert (pil' tourer), n. Same a,s pile^, 2.
piletus(pi-le'tus),9i.; pi. j)jfots(-ti). [ML.,<L.
pilum, a javelin: seejwZei.] A form of arrow
used in the middle ages, having a knob upon the
shaft, near the head, to prevent it from pene-
trating too deeply.
pileum (pil'e-um), n. ; pi. pilea (-a). [NIi., < L.
pileum, a cap: seepileits.'] In ornith., the cap
or whole top of thenead, from the base of the
bill to the nape, and laterally about to the level
of the upper border of the eyes, it is divided into
three sections, the forehead or front, the vertex or corona,
and the hindhead or occiput. See diagram under iirdl.
pileus (pil'f-us), n. ; pi. pilei (-i). [L. pileus,
also pileum', also piUmis, pilleum, a cap or brim-
less nat of felt, made to fit close, a felt skull-
cap, = Gr. mAof, felt, a felt cap or hat, felt
cloth, etc.] 1. Among the ancient Bomans,
a conical cap or hat of felt; a cap or skull-
cap.— 2. In hot., the expanded cap-like or um-
brella-like summit of the stipe, bearing the
hymenium, in hymenomycetous fungi: same as
cap\ 2 (a). See cuts under Agaricus and
Fungi. — 3. In ornith., same as pileum. — 4.
[cap.1 [NL.] A genus of echinoderms.
pile-warp (pfl'wfi^), n. Same as nap-warp.
pile-weaving (pa'we''ving), n. A process of
weaving in which a third thread is introduced,
and formed into loops by weaving it over wires
laid across the entire breadth of the cloth.
The wires are subsequently drawn out, leaving the loops
standing, or the loops may be cut so as to form a nap or
cut pile.
pile-wire (pfl'wir), n. A wire used in pile-
weaving. In the manufacture of cut-pile fabrics
grooved pile-wires are used, laid with the grooves facing
the outer parts of the loops of the pile. In cutting the
pile-threacU the knife slides edge upward through the
groove or channel in the wire, thus making the cutting
uniform, without danger of injuring the warp or weft,
pilework (pO'werk), n. Work consisting of
piles, as that upon which lacustrine dwellings
are supported, or that constructed for many
purposes in hydraulic engineering. See cut in
next column.
The wants and habits of the people had changed, and
^he age of the Swiss pUewwks was at an end.
Sir J. Lubbock, Pre-historic Times, vi.
pile-worm (pil'werm), n. A worm or some
similar animal, as a gribble or shipworm, found
embedded in the timber of submerged piles.
See Limnoria, Teredo.
pile-worn (pQ'wom), a. Worn to such a point
that the pUe or nap has grown thin, so as to
show the threads of the stuff; threadbare.
YovspUewiym coat. Massinger.
4487
Cast-izon Pilework in Wharves at Deptford and Blackwall, Bngland.
j4, elevation ; S, plan ; C, C, sections, a a, piles ; d, a guide-
pile ; c,a stay-pile ; f^ </, iron lana-ties.
pilewort (pD'wfirt), n. One of the buttercups,
Banunculus Mearia, common in Europe and
western Asia, it produces annually grain-like tubers,
sometimes gathered for food, and locally fancied to have
fallen from above. Also called celandine aaijigwart. —
Great pilewort, an old name of the flgwoi't Scrophularia
nodosa.
pilfer (pil'fer), V. [< OF. pelfrer, rob, plunder,
<. pelf re, plunder, booty, spoU; at. pilfeier, rob:
see pelf.'] I. intrans. To steal in small quanti-
ties; practise petty theft.
Every string is told,
Tor fear same pUf ring hand should make too bold.
I>ryden.
The Malayans^ who inhabit on both sides the Streights
of Malacca, are in general a bold people ; and yet I do not
find any of them addicted to Sobbery, but only the pilfer-
ing poorer sort. Dumpier, Voyages, n. i. 165.
II. trans. To steal or gain by petty theft;
filch.
He wonld not pi^er the victory, and the defeat was
easy. Bacon,
pilferer (pil'fer-6r), n. One who pilfers or
practises petty theft.
To glory some advance a lying claim,
Thieves of renown and p^erers of fame.
YouTig, Love of Fame, ill 88.
=SviL TM^, etc. See rolAer.
pilferingly _(pil'fer-ing-li), adv. In a pilfering
manner; with petty theft; fllchingly.
pilferyt (pil'fer-i), n. [(.pilfer + -y^ (see -ery).']
The act of pilfering; petty theft; also, the
thing stolen.
They eat bread, and drunk water, as a wholesome pen-
ance, enjoined them by their confessors, for base pUferies.
B, Jonson, Volpone, ii. 1.
Proue it when you will, you slow spirited Satumists,
that haue nothing but the p^^fHes of your penne to pollish
an exhortation withall, no eloquence but tautologies to
lye the eares of your auditory vnto you.
Naxhe, Kerce Penilesse, p. 40.
pilgarllck (pU-gar'lik), n. [< pil^, v., + obj.
garlic (formerly garliek). See to pill garlic,
under pill^. The word came to be applied,
with the stress laid on pill with ref . to pilled,
bald, to lepers or to other persons who have
become bald "by disease, acquiring a particu-
larly opprobrious meaning.] A poor forsaken
wretch : a vague term of reproach. [Low.]
And there got he a knock, and down goes pUgarlick.
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, ii. 2.
pilgrim (pil'grim), n. and a. [Early mod. E.
&iso pilgrime, pelgrom; <MB. pilgrim, pylgrym,
pdgrim,pylgreme, pelegHm, pUegrim = OFries.
pUugrim, pilegrim = D. pelgrim = MLG. pele-
grime, pelgrim, pelgrem = OHG.- piligrim, piU-
Jcrim, WSQ.pilgerim,pilgrmi,pilgerem,pilgeram,
hilgerin, pilger, G. pilger = Icel. pilagrimr = Sw.
pilgrim = Dan. pilegrim, < OP. *pelegrm, pelle-
grin, pelegri,pelerin, peregrin, P. pMerin = Pr.
pellegrin = Sp. Pg. peregrine = It. peregrine,
pellegrine, < ML. peregrimus, perigrinus, a pil-
grim, traveler, foreigner, foreign resident, a
suburban resident, L. peregrinus, a foreigner,
pilgrim
stranger, foreign resident, prop, adj., foreign:
see peregrine.1 I. n. 1. A traveler; specifi-
cally, one who journeys
to some place esteemed
sacred, either as a pen-
ance, or in order to dis-
charge some vow or re-
ligious obligation, or to
obtain some spiritual
or miraculous benefit;
hence, a wanderer; a so-
journer in a foreign land.
The custom of pilgrimages has
prevailed especially in India,
among Mohiunmedan peoples,
and among Christians in the
middle ages. Frequented places
of Christian pilgrimage have
been (besides Jerusalem and the
Holy Land) Some, Canterbury,
Compostela in Spain, Einsiedeln
in Switzerland, and in modem
times Lourdes in France. Filgrim, in the recognized
. , -, , ...... dress worn at Rome in the
AndonMondayewemetwith isth century.
the shyppe with pylgrymes what
wentout of Venyce .iij. wekes before vs, whiche pylgrvmes
had done theyr pylgrymage and retoumed homewardes.
Sir S. Guylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 15.
These all died in faith, not having received the prom-
ises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of
them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were
strangers and jriZgnnu on the earth. Heb. xL 13.
With naked foot, and sackcloth vest.
And arms enfolded on his breast,
Did every pilgrim go.
~ ••, L. of L. M., vL 29.
2. In Amer. hist., specifically, one of the English
separatists who sailed from Delfthaven (in the
Netherlands) in the "Mayflower," touching at
Southampton, England, and founded the colony
of Plymouth, Massachusetts, at the end of 1620.
— 3. A new-comer, whether a person or an ani-
mal; a "tenderfoot." [Slang, western TJ. S.]
Pilgrim and " tenderfoot " were formerly applied almost
exclusively to newly imported cattle, but by a natural
tranaf errence they are usually used to designate all new-
comers, tourists, and business-men.
L. Smnbvme, Scribner's Monthly, IL 508.
4. A curtain or screen of silk hanging from the
back of a woman's bonnet to protect the neck,
worn in the latter part of the eighteenth century.
— Fllglim-bottle, a round, flat bottle having on each
side of the mouth or neck a ling for the insertion of a
cord. The type is a common one in pottery of many na-
tions and times, and is especially frequent in Italian work
of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and in imitations
of it. The simplest pilgrim-bottles are circular or oval
and without a foot; but more elaborate vases, if preserv-
ing the flat form and the rings for a cord, are also known
by this name. See co8fe-rf.— Pilgrim fathers, in Amer.
MxL, the founders of Plymouth Colony in 1020. See def .
2, above. — Fllgrisn'S pouch, a badge of lead or other
material, having the form of a pouch and hollow like it,
but very small: a variety of pilgrim's sign. — Fjlgrim's
slielL (a) A scallop- or oDckle-shell used as an emblem of
pilgrimage, or a sign that one has visited the Holy Land.
One of the scallops, Pecten Jacobievs, Is known as St.
James's shell, from this circumstance. See Peeten, 2 (a).
(6) In modern times,
a carved pearl shell
such as are brought
by travelers from
the Holy Land. P.
L. Simonds, Art
Jour., N. S., Xn.
72.— Pilgrim's
sign, a small object
given to pilgrims at
a shrine or sacred
place as evidence of
their having visited
it. Itwas sometimes
a medal, sometimes
a small ampulla of
lead or pewter, aud
bore the mark of the
monastery, church,
ete., which issued it.
—Pilgrim's staff.
(a) The long staff
which was one of
the badges of a pilgrim. (6) In her., same as hourdoii^. —
Pilgrim's vase, a decorative vase having a flat and disk-
like body, in partial imitation of a pilgrim's bottle.
II. a. Of, pertaining to, used by, or charac-
teristic of a pilgrim, or one who travels to a
sacred place in performance of some religious
duty; wandering as a pilgrim; consisting of
pilgrims.
A parish priest was of the pilgrim train. Cowley.
Till Morning fair
Came forth, with pilgrim steps, in amice gray.
Milton, P. R., iv. 427.
She remembered the parting words of thepilgrim count.
Irving, Moorish Chronicles, p. 31.
pilgrim (pil'grim), v. »._ {_< pilgrim, m.] To jour-
ney or travel as a pilgrim ; undertake or accom-
plish a pilgrimage.
The ambulo hath no certain home or diet, but pilgrims
up and down everywhere, feeding upon all sorts of plants.
Grew.
Pilgrim's Sign.
Journal of the British Archseologi-
cal Association," 1846.)
pilgrim
Pdgriming resUesBly to so many "Saints' Wells."
Carlyle, Sartor Resartus (ed. 1831), p. 117.
pilgrimage (pil 'gri-maj)j n. [Early mod. E. also
pugramage; < ME.pU'gnmage,pylgrymage,pile-
grimage, also pelrimage, pelrinage, < AF, pil-
rymage, OF. pelerinage, P. pilerinage = It. pel-
legrinaggio, peregrinaggio, < ML. *peregrinaU-
cum, also, e^tet iiom., jieregrinagium, a travel-
ing, voyage, pilgrimage, < peregrinus, a trav-
eler, pilgrim: seeipilgnm.J 1. A journey im-
dertaken by a pilgrim; a traveling on through
a strange country or to some place deemed sa-
cred in order to perform some religious vow or
duty, or obtain some spiritual or miraculous
benefit.
In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay.
Ready to wenden on mj'pUgri/mage.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 21.
We all by one assent auowed Supylgrymage to be made
in all our behalfles to our blessyd Lady o£ Loreta.
Sir R. Quylfarde, Pylgrymage, p. 68.
Mowbray and myseU are like two men
That vow a long and weary jnlgrimage,
Shak., Rich. II., i. 3. 49.
3. Pi^atively, the journey of lite; the time
spent m passing through the world to the " bet-
ter land."
And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of
my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years.
Oeu. xlrii. 9.
3t. The time occupied by a pilgrimage ; hence,
a lifetime.
In prison hast thou spent a, pilgrimage,
And like a hermit oyerpass'd thy days.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., li. 6. 116.
= Syn. 1. Voyage, Tour, etc. Seejoum^.
pilgrimaget) »■ »• [< pilgrimage, ».] To go as
a pilgrim. [Kare.]
To Egypt shell pUgrimage, at Meroe fill
Warme drops to sprinkle Isis Temple.
Sir B. Stapletan, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, yi. 66B. (Davies.)
pilgrimer (pil'gri-m6r), n. A pilgrim.
Now, I am Magdalen, a poor pilgrimer, for the sake of
Holy Kirk. Scott, Abbot, xv.
pilgrimize (pil'gri-miz)j v. i.; pret. and pp. pil-
grvmized, -ppr. ^ilgrimimng. [(.pilgrim + -fee.]
To wander or journey about as a pilgrim : some-
times with an impersonal it,
111 bear thy charges, an thou wilt but pUgrvmize it along
with me to the land of Utopia.
B. Jamtm, Case is Altered, ii. 4.
piU, n. Plural otpilus.
Pilldium (pi-lid'i-um), n. [NL., < Grr. mlidiov,
a little hat or cap, dim. of mTuog, a felt hat or
cap: see jp»?e«s.]
1. A generic
name given to
the larvsB of
rhynchocoele tur-
bellarians, or ne-
mertean worms,
under the im-
pression that
they are dis-
tinct animals.
Pilidium gyrans is
the larva of a S|)ecies
of the genus Mnevs.
The name is retained
as a convenient des-
ignation of such pile-
ate or helmet-shaped
nemertean larvee : in
this use it is writ-
ten without the capi-
tal and has a plural
pilidia.
2. In conch., a
genus of false
limpets of the
family Acmieid^.
— St. U- c] In
tot., a hemispherical apothecium in certain
lichens.
pillferous (pi-lif 'e-rus), a. [< L. piVm, hair (see
pile^), + ferre ="E. bear^.'] 1. InSo*., bearing
or tipped with hairs. — 2. In eool., bearing hairs;
hairy; piligerous: specifleally, in entomology,
noting the tubercles of caterpillars whence
bundles of hairs arise Pillferous layer, in hot.,
the layer of young superficial tissue of active roots that
is provided with root-hairs.
plllform (pi'li-f6rm), a. [< L. pilus, hair, -1-
forma, form.] Slender or fine as a hair; fili-
form; filamentous.
piligerous (pi-lij'e-rus), a. [< L. pilvs, hair, +
gerere, cany.] Covered with hair or fur ; pilous
or pilose ; piUf erous.
plling'^ (pi'ling), m. [Verbal n. of i)JZei,r.] 1. In
engin. , the operation of placing and driving piles
in position. — 2. Piles collectively; pilework. —
4488
Dovetailed piling, a combination of piles fixed by mortis-
ing them into one another by dovetails or dovetail-tenons.
piling^ (pi'ling), n. [< j)Jfe* + -ingK'] In lea-
ther-manuf., a slow inward sweating of the lea-
ther. C. T. Davis, Leather, p. 297.
piling-iron ,(pi'ling-i"6m), n. An instrument
for breaking off the awns of barley.
piliont, n. An obsolete form of pillion.
pilkins (pil'kinz), ». A corruption of ^iZZcomC?).
The Bantam said he had seen Tom secreting pilMm in a
sack. G. Meredith, Ordeal of Richard Feverel, ix.
pllUt (pil), v. [Early mod. B. s^ao pil, pile, pille;
also peel (by confusion withpeeP-), < ME. pillen,
pyllen, pikn, pylen, plunder, < Of.pillerj^.pil-
ler, phmder, rifle, ransack, loot, = Sp. piUar,
plunder, pilfer, = Pg.pilhar = It.pigliare (ML.
as if *pilim-e), < L. pilare, plunder, pillage, rare
in the simple form, but common in eomp. com-
pilare, scrape together and carry off, plunder,
pillage (> ult. E. compile), and expilare, plun-
der, pillage, and common also in ML., pilare,
pillare; usually explained as a fig. use of pila/re,
deprive of hair (see pilV^), but no doubt of in-
dependent origin.] I. trans. To rob; plunder;
pillage.
Thou sal noght be tyrant til thaim, topiOe thaime, and
spoyle thaim, als tile wicked princez duz.
j|f5. CoU. mm. 10, f. 6. (HaUiwell.)
It is more than two yere that thei cessed neuer to robbe
and topOe oure londes. Merlin (E. K T. S.), ilt 656.
The commons hath Toe pUl'd with grievous taxes.
Shak., Rich. II., it 1. 246.
Having pflW a book which no man buys.
B. Jonson, Epigrams, liil.
When he whopiB'd his province scapes the laws,
And keeps his money, though he lost his cause.
Dryden, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, !. 72.
II, intrams. To rob; practise robbery; plun-
der.
Whan the wolf hath ful hiswombe he stynteth to stran-
gle sheepe ; but soothly the pilours and destroyours of
Ooddes hooly chirche ne do nat so, for they ne stynte
neveretojiiZe. CAaucer, Parson's Tale.
The poor man that is wrong'd
Is ready to rebel ; he spoils, he pUli.
Greene, James IT., v.
pill^t (pU), V. [Early mod. E. also pil, pille; <
ME.piUen,pilen,pilien,pullen,pelen, < OF.piller,
peler, ^eiler, poiler, F. peler, deprive of hair,
hair (hides or sMns), scald (pigs), take turf off,
= Pr. Sp. pelar = Pg. pellar = It. ^Jela/re, de-
prive of hair, pluck, peel, strip, < L. pilare,
deprive of hair, depilate, ipilus,ha,ir: see pile*'.
Cf . inlU, rob, peeli, skin, with which pil^ has
been more or less confused.] I. trans. 1. To
deprive of hair ; make bald. Compare pilled.
— 2. To peel; strip; form by stripping oflf the
sHn or bark.
Jacob took him rods of green poplar, ,
white strakes in them.
Pilidium gyrans.
A, B, younger and older pilidia : a, ali-
mentary canal ; b, rudiment of the nemer-
tean. more advanced in B than in A ; C,
newly freed nemertean.
. . and pitted
Gen. XXX. 37.
They take llmons which tTuBypU, anointing themselues
thoroughly with the iuice therof .
EaklvySi Voyages, II. 58.
To pill garllet, to do some unpleasant office; endure
mortification. Compare ^^rarZic^.
And ye shul here how the tapster made the pardonere pull
Garhk al the long nyghte til it was ner end day ;
For the more chore she made of love, the falser was her lay.
The Merry Adventure of the Pairdaneire and Tamter at
the Inn at Canterbury (printed in tJny's ed. of Chaucer,
1721), L 122.
II. imtrans. To peel ; come off in flakes.
pilPt (pil), n. [< pill^, V. ; a var. of peeP-, m.]
1. Peel; skin; rind; outer covering.
Sweet is the "Sxit, but bitter is TnKpUl.
Spenser, Sonnets, 2Exvi.
The huske or pUl of a greene nut which blacketh one's
fingers and hands. HMyiand, Diet., 1693. (Halliwdl.)
These [hazel-shoots] prune and cleanse of every leaf and
spray, . . .
But perish not the rine and utter pCll.
J. Dennys (Arbor's Bng. Garner, 1. 149).
2. The refuse of a hawk's prey. Sallkoell.
pilP (pil), n. [Early mod. E. also pil, pille (=
MD. pille, pil =i G-. ijille = Dan. pille = Sw. pi.
piiller, a piU) ; an abbr. (as if of jnlule (= MHGr.
pillele), which actually appears later), perhaps
due in part to the written abbr. pil., pi. pill.,
in physicians' prescriptions, of L. pilula, a pill,
a little ball, dim. of pila, a ball (> OF. pile, a
ball, a pill) : see pilule. Pill is thus not directly
< L. pila, which is not used in the sense of ' pill,'
but from its dim. j^lula.'\ 1. A globular or
ovoid mass of medicinal substance, of a size
convenient for swallowing.
Hard is it for the patient which Is ill
Fulsome or bitter potions to digest
Yet must he swallow many a bitter 2n22,
Bre heregaine his former health & rest.
Timei )fftisHe(E.E. T. S.), p. 127.
pillar
Hence — 2. Something unpleasant that has to
be accepted or (metaphorically) swallowed:
usually qualified by Utter.
Yet cannot the! abyde to swallow down the holsome
mite of viritie, being Utlwr in their mouths.
J. Udail, On luke Iv.
He said the renunciation of this interest was a Kifer
pill which they could not swallow.
Jefferaon, To Madison (Bancroft's Hist. Const., I. 430).
3. A disagreeable or objectionable person.
[Slang.] —4. pi. A doctor or surgeon. [Milit.
and naut. slang.] — 5. In varnisli-maMng, the
cooked mass of linseed-oil and gum before tur-
pentine is added to thin it down and complete
the varnish.
pills (pU), V. t. [< pill^, «.] 1. To form into
pills.— 2. To dose with pills. [CoUoq.]— 3.
To reject by vote ; blackball. [Club slang.]
He was coming on for election at Bay's, and was as
ne&Tly pilled as any man I ever knew in my life.
Thackeray, Newcomes, xxx.
pill* (pU), n. [< ME. *pyll, < AB.pyll, pull, a
creek, = leel.pollr, a creek, < W. pwll, a pool, =
Iv.poU,pull,a,eTeek.. CtpooU.J AsmaUcreek;
one of the channels through which the drain-
ings of a marsh enter a river. SalUweU. [Prov.
Eng.]
From S. Juste piUe or creke to S. Manditus creeke is a
mile dim. Leland's Itinerary (1769), ill. 29. (HaUiimn.')
The pilh being the little streams which wear away a
sort of miniature tidal estuary in the mud-banks as they
empty themselves into the Severn and the Wye.
Seebohm, Eng. Vil. Community, p. 160.
pillafEie, n. Same a,s pilau.
pillage (pil'aj), n. [< MB. pillage, pyllage, pil-
age, < OP. (and P.) pillage = Pr. ^ilatge = Sp.
pillaje = Pg. jwZfeagfem, plunder, piUage, < ML.
as if *pilaticiim, after Bom. pillagium, plunder,
< L. pila/re (> OF. piUer, etc.), plunder: see
iJj'Ki.] 1. The act of plundering.
Pillage and robbery. Shak., Hen. T., iv. 1. 174.
2. Plunder; spoil; that which is taken from
another by open force, particularly and chiefly
from enemies in war.
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent-royal of their emperor.
Shak., Hen. T., L 2. 195.
= SyiL Pillage, Plunder, Booty, SpoU, Prey. These words
denote that which is violently got or carried off ; all except
prey suggest a considerable amount seized. Pillage also
denotes the act ; the others only the thing or things taken.
PiUage and spoil especially suggest the great loss to the
owners, completely stripping or despoiling them of their
property ; plunder suggests the quantity and value of that
which is taken : as, loaded with^mnder; booty is primarily
the spoils of war, but also of a raid or combined action, Sb
of pirates, brigands, or burglars ; spoU is the only one of
these words that is used in the plural, except, rarely,j»'£^.
Prey now seems figurative or archaic when not applied to
the objects of pursuit by animals : as, the mouse falls a
reaAyirey to both beasts and birds; hence, when applied
to that which is pursued or taken by man, it expresses
condemnation of the act.
pillage (pil'aj), V. t.; pret. and pp. pillaged,
ppr. pillaging. [< pillage, ».] To strip of
money or goods by open violence; plunder;
despoil.
Antwerp, the most famous Town of Trafflck In all Bn-
rope, was miaeiahly pillaged. Baker, Chronicles, p. 361.
Our modem compilers, like sextons and executioners,
think it their undoubted right to piUage the dead.
Golcmnith, Essays, Pref.
pillager (pU'a-jfer), n.
[<.pulage + -erK'i One
who pillages or plun-
ders by open violence ;
a plunderer,
pillar (pil'ar),M. [Ear-
ly mod. E. piller; < ME.
piUer, pillare, pyllare,
pyllour, piler, pyler,
pylere, pelere, pyleer,
pilour, < OF. piler, pi-
Uer, F. pilier = Pr.
Sp. Pg. pilar = It. pi-
liere = D. pilaar =
MliGr. pUere, pilar, LG.
jnler = OH.Qr. jpiliri,
pfOdri, WRGr. philsere,
pfUer, Gr. pfeiler =
Sw. pelare = Da-n. pil-
ler, pille = Ir. pileir, a
pillar, < ML. pilare,
also xnlarius, pilarium,
aud 2nlleare, a pillar, <
L. piln, a pillar, pier,
mole: seepile^.'] 1. A
column; a columnar
massofanyform,often
composed, or having
the appearance of be- ""^^SncJl^lthlLl"^."^
pillar
ing composed, of several shafts engaged in a
central core, as is frequent in medieval archi-
tecture : by architects often distinguished from
column, inasmuch as it may be of any shape in
section, and is not subordinated to the rules of
classic architecture. See also outs under lat&
and column.
Bche pUer is of Fenaance of preyeres to seyntes.
Of Almes-dedes ar the hokes that the gates hangen on.
Piera Plouiman (B), v. 602.
The Paier is a figure among all the rest of the Geomet-
rical! most beawtifoll, in respect that he is tall and vp-
right and of one bignesse from the bottom to the toppe.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 80.
And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave. Gen. xxxv. 20.
There are erected two wooden pillars in the water.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 3.
2. A support or supporter; one who or that
which sustains or upholds.
The pUere elm, the cof ere unto carayne.
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 177.
He is a.mainepUlm' of our church, thoughnotyet Deane
nor Canon, and his life our Keligions best Apologie.
Bp, Ea/rle, Micro-oosmographie, A Graue Diuine.
With grave
Aspect he rose, and in his rising seem'd
A pillar of state. Milton, P. L., ii. 302.
3. The upright and supporting part of some-
thing, as of a table having but one support, or
of a candlestick. — 4. In and*, and aooV., a pillar-
like or columnar structure, part, or organ; a col-
umn or columella; a crus: as, the pillar (colu-
4489
Pillbeetle {Byrrhta pitulus).
(Line shows natural size.)
uiuu ui uui.u.iuoxj.iir, a crus . ma, uiiB jfrMttt; ^uolu.- campus major ana to lorm the mnnria.— ruiars i
mella or modiolus) of a spiral shell ; the pillars palate. Seei)aiate,l.—Pompey's pillar, a noted
Pillar Dollar (reverse), 1661.— British Museum. (Size of the original)
letters, etc., which are collected at specified hours by
post-offlce letter-carriers. [Eng.]— Pillars of Corti.
Same as rods of Corti ^which see, under roti),— Pillars
of Hercules, the two hills on opposite sides of the straits
of Gibraltar— Abyla(Jebel-el-Mina), on the African side,
and Calpe (Kock of Gibraltar), on the European side —
which were said to have been torn asunder by Hercules.
—Pillars of the abdominal ling. See columns vf the
abdominal ring, under column.— ViMaxa of the dia-
phragm. See diaphragm. — Pillars of the fauces. See
/a«ceg.— Pillars of the fornix, the more or less com-
pact strands of the fornix passmg one pair anteriorly
and one pair posteriorly down toward the base of the
brain. The anterior pair pass down to the corpora albl-
cantia, and are called colum,ns of the fornix, or radices
ascendentes (by Meynert descendentes)fomicis. The poste-
rior pillars or crura pass downward to end in the hippo-
campus major and to form the fimbria.— PillarB Of the
" ' monu-
pillion
genus Syrrhus: so called from its small size and
rounded form, which when it draws ia or folds
away its legs and feigns death make it look
like a piU.
pill-box (pil'boks), n.
1. A box for holding
pUls. — 3. Humorously,
a kind of carriage.
She drove into town in a
one-horse carriage, irrever-
ently called, at that period of
English history, apUl-box.
Sickens, Little Dorrit, xxxiii.
pill-bug (pil'ljug), n. An isopod erustaeeau
of the family Oniseidse; a Mud of wood-louse,
slater, or sow-bug which can roll itself into a
ball like a pill. One such species is technically
called Armadillo pihilaris.
pill-coater (pil'k6"ter), n. A machine for coat-
ing pills with sugar. The puis are placed in a pan
with a compound of sugar, and agitated constantly by a
steady rotary motion, exposing their entire surface to the
sugar, and yet not allowing them to stick together.
pillcorn (pil'k6m), n. Seepillas.
pilledt (pild), p. a. [Early mod. E. also pild;
ME. *pilled, piled, pild; pp. of pilP^, v.'} 1.
Stripped of hair; bald.
As pHed as an ape was his skulle.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 16.
He miste no maistre [ben] kald (for Crist that defended),
Ne puteh [no] pylion on his pUd pate ;
But prechen in parflte lijf & no pride vsen.
Piers Plowman's Crede (E. E. T. S.), 1. 839.
(crura or peduncles) of the brain. See cut
under Discophora. — 5. One of the posts which
serve to connect the plates of a clock-move-
ment, and also to keep them the necessary
distance apart. — 6. In the manage, the raised
center of the ring or man&ge-ground around
which a horse turns. There are also pillars at
regular intervals around the ground. — 7. A
portable eitiblem in the form of an ornamented
column, formerly carried before an ecclesiasti-
cal dignitary as typical of his function as a sup-
port to the church.
With worldly pompe incredible.
Before hlmrydeth two prestos stronge,
And they bear two crosses right longe,
Gapynge in every man's face.
After them folowe two laye-men secular,
And each of them holdyng a. pillar
In their handes, ateade of a mace.
Skelton, Works. (Nares.)
8. Something resembling a pillar in appear-
ance.
ment of antiquity standing at Alexandria in Egypt. It
is a huge Corinthian column of red granite, rising to a
height of 98 feet 9 inches, exclusive of the substruc-
ture. The shaft is monolithic and unfluted, 73 feet long
,and 29 feet 8 inches in circumference. The capital is 9
feet high, and the square base measures about 16 feet
on the side. Despite the popular name, the monument
had nothing to do with Pompey : it was erected in honor
of the emperor Diocletian, a statue of whom originally
stood upon it.— Eib and pillar, in mining, a system
upon which the so-called "thick coal" was formerly ex-
tensively mined. It is a modification of the pillar-and-
breast method. [South Staffordshire, Eng. ]
pillar-block (pil'ar-blok), n. In mach., a pil-
low-block or pluniiber-blook.
pillar-box. Same aspillar letter-box (which see,
undev pillar).
pillar-brick (pil'ar-brik), n. In the construc-
tion of a bfick-Iilln by building up unbumed
bricks, one of the bricks which are laid up be-
tween the " straight courses," and which form
the sides of the arches through which the heated
products of combustion flow in the process of
burning.
And the Lord went before them by day in a j^lar of piUar-COmpaSSeS (pil'ar-kum'''pas-ez), n, A
cloud, to lead them the way ; and by night in a piBar of bow-pen ; a pair of dividers with an attachment
fire, to give them light. Ex. xiu. 21. f^^ g^^gj/ or pencil.
9. A solid mass of coal left either temporarily pillared (pil'ard), a. [<piUar + -ed^.2 1. Hav-
er permanently to_ support the roof of a mine, ing pillars ; supported by pillars.
-10. In harp-making, the upright post on the
side furthest from the player. It is usually
hollow, and contains the rods of the pedal-ac-
tion.— 11. A frame for supporting tobacco-
pipes in a kiln. E. B. Knight. — 12. The nip-
ple of a firearm. M. M. Knight.— CompoxaA pil-
lar, in arch., a clustered column. — From pUIar tO post,
or from post to pillar, from one thing to another with-
out any apparent definite purpose : as, to run or be driven
from pitta/r to post. The allusion, according to Brewer, is
to the pillar in the center of a manfege-ground and the
posts placed at regular intervals around its circumference.
See def. 6, above.
From thee poaet toe pOer with thoght his rackt wyt he piUaret (pil'ar-et), n.
toBseth. 5to»a«r««, .aineid, iv. 296. (Daofes.) "■ "" " " "
Our Guards, from pillar bang'd to post,
He kick'd about tiU they were lost.
Cotton, Scarronides, p. 62. (Vames.)
Knotted pillar. See knotted.
In the ground
The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow
About the mother-tre^ a.pUlar'd shaxle
High over-aroh'd, and echoing walks between.
Milton, P. L., ix. 1106.
All that remained [of a vihara] was a series of some
twenty cells and four larger halls surrounding a pillared
court 60 ft. square.
J. Fergusson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 137.
3. Having the form of a pillar.
Th' infuriate hill that shoots the pHlar'd flame.
Thomson, Summer.
[,<'0F. pileret, dim. ot
piler, a pillar : see pillar and -e*.] A small pil-
lar.
The Pillars and Paiarets of Fusill Marble.
Fuller, Worthies (Wiltshire), III. 316.
- .u .. . ■ ■ "'■-Hilar and breast, a piUar-file (pil'ar-ffl), n. A narrow, thin, flat
common method of mining coal, in which the breasts *?""? fiioTwi+li A'no oof a i " ~ — '_.'-.
common metnoa oi mining coai, in wnicn me oreascs '■r~ " J «i„ 'i+i, A'^o no-fa q/1<,q w jt TTnA^i,*
or working-places are rectangular rooms, usually Ave hand-file with one safe edge. E. H. Kmght.
or ten times as long as they are broad, and opened on pillaring (pu ar-mg), n. [<. pillar + -tng^.^ A
the upper side of the gangway, or main haulage-road, system or series of pillars : a method of apply-
or level driven on the strike of the coaL The breasts j ggj employing pillars. Thearle, Naval Arch.,
are made of various widths, usually from five to twelve ji oi e
yards, according to the character of the roof, but not so v^-'^"'' . , .,, . ,^ ,-, .^, , . , ., ^
wide that the roof will not sustain Itself . These breasts pillarist (pilar-ist), m. l<. pillar + ^st.^ Same
or rooms are separated by pillars of coal, broken only as stylite.
by cross-headings where these are needed for ventilar -siiav lin^nil'ar-li-n') n, Tn nnnnh, tliB inriBr
tion. The piltos are sometimes left so narrow that it ^''"^^T^P^E ,"S"^i'„ " „f^„„°T '
is not expected they will permanently support the roof or eolumellar lip ot a gastropoa.
of the mine; in such cases the object of the method is pillar-plait (pil ar-plat), n. In coneh., a oolu-
to get as much coal as possible in the shortest time and mellar fold. P. P. Carpenter.
at the least expense. If more economy of coal is consid- niUar-saint (pil'Sr-sant), n. Same as styUte.
sred desirable, the pillars are left wider, and, after the i**"""- .=««'""' v^ "t,„„i„j.„ *„_„ „* „m
orea8tsareentirelyworkedout»are"robbed"-thatis,ar» piUaryt, «• An obsolete toTmotpiUory.
cut away until all the coal has been obtained from them pillas (pu as), n. [Also pillis, pilleg, pellas,
which can be removed without too great danger to the etc., < Corn" piles, peloz, bare, bald. Cf . pill^.']
S!?/^"-,/ ™'' T?"?^ of mining is also oaUed^osJ and ^j^ ^^ ^ ^^^^^j ^„^a(, by some considered
stau, piuar and stall, pillar and room, stoop and room, ■'"° ." ha ;«*;.,« ai„«„„i'i„.i »,.-77„„».-, t^„„
board and pillar, etc. See long-waa.--pmax dollar, a avanety of 4. saiwa. Also caMedpillcorn. Jago,
silver coin of Spain (so called from its flgnre of the Pillars Grlossary. [Cornwall, Eng.]
of Hercules), coined especially for use in the former Span- pjUaU pillaw, n. See pilau.
tab colonies in -America. Also calle(i pesowdpi^e of Jiu.ij^etle (pirbe'tl), n. A coleopterous in-
aght. See cut in next column.— Pillar letter-box, a i'"'',"''j"rr ^i:„ji„ i.;!™j,..j„ „„„„„j^ii„ „* +t,„
short piUar placed in a street, containing a receptacle for sect of the family Byrrhtdx, especially of the
3. Having scanty hair.
With skalled browes blake andpUed herd.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 627.
3. Threadbare ; hence, forlorn.
I am no such pilled Cynick to believe
That beggary is the only happiness.
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, i. 1.
pilled-garlict (pild'gar'aik), n. Same as j;jZ-
garlick.
pillednesst (pild'nes), m. Baldness; bareness;
scantiness; threadbare condition.
Some scorned the pUdrtesse of his garments.
Hakluyt's Voyages, III. 167.
piller^t (pil'6r), n. [< ME. pillour, pellour, pi-
lour, pelow, a robber, < OP. "pillour, pilleur,
'F.pilleur, < LL. *pilator (in fern, pilatrix), ML.
pillator, a robber, < L. pilare, rob : see jjiWi. ] .A
plunderer; a robber.
To ransake in the tas of bodyes dede.
Hem for to strepe of herneys and of wede,
The pilours diden businesse and cure
After the batallle and disconfitnre.
CMucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 149.
They haue tooke notable goods of ours.
On this side see, these ta&epelours
Called of Saincte Malo, and ellis where.
Hakluyt's Voyages, 1. 190.
piller^t, n. An obsolete spelling ot pillar.
pilleryif (pil'6r-i), n. [< pilP- + -ery.] Eob-
bery; plunder; pillage; rapine.
And then concussion, rapine, pUleries,
Their catalogue of accusations filL Daniel.
pillery^tj n. An obsolete spelling oi pillory.
pillez (pil'ez), n. Same as pillas.
pilliocausia, pillicoshy (pil"i-o-ka'si-a, pil'i-
ko-shi), n. Hiera-picra, or powder of aloes and
canella.
pillion (pil'yon), n. [Early mod. E. alsopiUon,
pylion; < MB. pylion, pyllioun, < It.pilliun,piC
tin, apaek-saddle, = Gael. ^Wea»,jp»K«», a pack-
saddle, cloth put under a saddle, = W. pilyn =
Manx pollan, a pack-saddle ; < Ir. pill, a cover-
ing, = Gael, peall, a skin, coverlet, = L. pellis,
a skin: seepelU. In the sense of 'head-dress'
perhaps a di£E. word, ult. < L. pileus, pilleus, a
felt cap: see pileu^.'] If. A saddle, especially
a light and simple saddle without a raised bow
and pommel.
His strong brasse bit, his slyding reynes, his shanke pil-
lion without stirrups. Spenser, State of Ireland.
3. A pad or cushion fitted for adjustment to a
saddle behind as a seat for a second person,
usually a woman.
Every now and then drop'd a Lady from her Pillion,
another from her Side Saddle.
Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Eeign of Queen Anne,
[L84.
Why can't you ride your hobby-horse without desiring
to place me on a pniion behind you?
Sheridan, The QStic, 1. 1.
3t. In mining, tin recovered from the slags in
the smelting of that metal. This is done by re-
peated stamping, sifting, and washing. [Cfom-
wall, Eng.] — 4t. A head-dress, as of a priest;
a hat.
pillion
Ne puten pulion [cardinal's hat (Skeat)] on his pild pate ;
But preohen in parfite lijf & no pride vaen.
Piers Plowman's Orede (E. E. T. S.), 1. 839.
Mercury shall give thee gilts manyfolde ;
His PUlion, sceptre, his winges, and his harpe.
Barclay, Eclogue, iv.
pillioned (pil'yond), a. [Early mod. E. py-
lyoned; < pillion, re., 4, + -€tJ2.] Having a pil-
lion (the head-dress so called).
The idolatour, the tyrant, and the whoremongar are no
mete mynisters Jor hym, though they be . . . never so
lynely forced, pylyoned, and scarletted.
£p. Bale, Tocacion (HarL Misc., VI. 442).
pill-milleped (pil'mil"e-ped), n. A milleped
or thousand-legs of the family Glomeridse; a
kind of gally-worm that can roll itself into a
ball. Also pill-worm.
pillorize (pil'o-riz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. pillo-
rized, ppr. pillorizimg. [< OP. pilloriser, pilo-
riser, pyloriser, pilloriger (ML. pilorisare), pil-
lorize; &spillor-y + -ize.'] To set in a pillory.
Henry Burton . . . was . . . iJiiJorilsed with Prynne and
Bastwicke. Wood, Fasti Oxon., 1. 192.
pillorizing (pil'o-ri-zing), p. a. Serving to pil-
lorize or set up to ridicule.
Dandin lias become a,pSlorizing name adopted (probably
from folk-speech) by many French authors— as Kabelaia,
Racine, La Fontaine, Molifere —for types of various forms
of folly they have undertaken to scathe.
N. and Q., 7th ser., IX. 150.
pillory (pil'o-ri), n. ; -pi. pillories (-riz). [Early
mod. E. pillorie, pillery, pillerie, pillary, pil-
larie, < ME. pillory, pillorL pyllery, pullery =
MD. pilorijn, pellarin, < OF. pilori, pilorin, pi-
lerin,pellorin,y.pilori (= Pg.pelourinlio), a pil-
lory (of. OF. pilori, pillory, pillori, a ruff or col-
lar so called, encircling the neck tike the hoards
of a pillory); cf . ML. pilorium, piliorium, ijellori-
■um,pillorioum,pellericum,pilarioum, etc. (forms
-which, like the ohs. F.pillary,pillery, etc., simu-
late a connection with Mli.pilaretpilariumipi-
iorus, a pillar; cf. OF.pille, a pillory, another
nise of pile, 2>ilie, <. li. pila, a, pillar) , also spiUori-
■um, a pillory (in ML. also called colUstHgium),
< Pr. espitlori, a piUory (supposed, from the
fact that the P. form is evidently borrowed, to
have been first used, as the name first arose,
in Provence or Spain); perhaps lit. 'window,'
'peephole,' or 'lookout' (the prisoner with his
head confined in the pillory being humorously
regarded as looking out of a window or peep-
hole), < ML. as if *speculatorium, a lookout,
place of observation, neut. of L. speoidatorias,
of or belonging to spies or to observation, <
speculator, one who looks out, a spy, explorer,
examiner, ML. (also spiculator) also an under-
of&cer, attendant, jailor, tormentor: see specw-
lator. Cf . Cat. espitllera, a little window, peep-
hole, loophole, < Jj.apecwlana, pi. (rarely in sing.
specuUw), a window, cf . ^emltwis, of or belong-
ing to a looking-glass or mirror (or to looking),
< speculum (> Cat. espiU), a looking-glass, mir-
ror: see speculum. Forms corresponding to ^J-
lory do not occur in the other languages, the
Sp. l)emg picota. It. herlma, D. Icaalc, G.pranger,
Dan. gahestok, etc.] A frame of wood erected
on a post or pole, with movable boards resem-
4490
In Great Britain it was a common punishment appointed
for f orestallers, users of deceitful weights, common scolds,
political offenders, tliose guilty of perjury, forgery, libel,
seditious writings, etc. It was abolished in 1837.
Cros ! thou dost no trouthe
On a piUari my fruit to pinne.
He hath no spot of Adam sinne.
Holy Rood (B. E. T. S.), viii. 14.
Er he be put on the pvHery for [that is, in spite of] eny
preier, ich bote 1 Piers Plowman (C), iii. 216.
Than they were delyuered to the hangman, and fast
bounde layde in a carre and brought with trompettes to
the place of execution named ye haUes, and there set on
the pillery, and turned four tymes aboute in tlie syght of
all the people. Bemers, tr. of Froissart's Chron. , II. cxlvii.
The jeers of a theatre, the pCUary, and the whipping-
post are very near akin.
Watts, Improvement of Mind, i. 18. § 17.
Public executions gone ; pUlory gone— the last man pil-
loried was in the year 1830.
W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 263.
pillory (pil'o-ri), V. t. ; pret. and pp. pilloried,,
T^Tpv. pillorying. [< pillory, n.'] 1. To punish by
exposure in the pillory.
He [Lilbume] was condemned to be whipped, pilloried,
and imprisoned. Hume, Hist. Eng., Iii.
Hungering for Puritans to pillory.
MacaiUay, Hallam's Const. Hist.
Hence — 3. Figuratively, to expose to ridicule,
contempt, abuse, and the like.
pillourf, n. Same aspiOer^.
pillow (pil'6), n. [< ME. pillowe, pylowe, pelow,
pelowe, pilwe, pulwe, pylwe, pule (also pelwere,
pulmeri), < AS. *pylwe, found only in the reduced
tormpyle, = MD.puluwe. pulwe, D. peluw, peu-
luw = MLQ.pole, pol, Lft. poel = OBB. plviihci,
fulwi, phuluwi, ful%mi,plmtawi, plmliwi, phulwo,
M3Gt.2}lmlwe,pfulwe, G.pfiiM, apillow; derived
at a very early period, with omission of the L.
term, -rews, < 'h.pulvimis, also pulvinar, ML. also
dim. pulviUns, a pillow, bolster, cushion.] 1 . A
head-rest used by a person reclining; specifi-
cally, a soft elastic cushion filled with down,
feathers, curled hair, or other i^ielding mate-
rial, used to support the head during repose. In
India, China, Japan, and other warm countries of the East
a light bamboo or ratan frame with a slightly concave
or crescent-sliaped top is used as a pillow.
Weariness
Can snore upon the flint, when resty slotli
Finds the down pUlow hard.
Skak., Cymbeline, iii. 6. 36.
The second sister, she made bis bed.
And laid soft pOimus under bis head. ^^
Lay the Bent to the Bonny Broom (Child's Ballads, YIII. 19).
2. A block or support resembling such a cushion
in form or use. (o) Jf out. , the block on which the inner
end of a bowsprit is support. (&) In mach,, a bearing of
brass or bronze for the journal of a shaft, carried by a
plumber-block, (c) The socket of a pivot ; an ink or step.
(fit) In certain industrial arts, a supporter or ground upon
which to work, often a stuffed cushion, sometimes hard
and resistant ; especially, in lace-making, the cusliion upon
which laces are made. The lace-pillow is in England, and
Pillory.
bling those in the stocks, and holes through
which were put the head and hands of an offen-
der, who was thus exposed to public derision.
usually in Belgium, a simple cushion, square or rounded, or
rarely oblong, to which the threads are fixed by pins ; as
the lace is made, the pins have to be taken out and the
fabric shifted. In central France the pillow is a box cov-
ered with cloth and slightly stuffed on the outside, slop-
ing toward the worker, and having at the side furthest
from the worker a cylinder or drum to which the threads
are attached by pins, and which can be revolved, carryiju;
the finished lace with it. Another foi'm of pillow is a c^
inder set horizontally on a stand high enough to be placed
upon the floor in front of the worker.
3. A kind of plain fustian pillow of a plow, a
cross-piece of wood which serves to raise or lower the
beam.
pillow (pil'6), V. [< pillow, ».] I. trans. To
rest or place on or as on a pillow for support. '
So, when the sun in bed,
Qurtain'd with cloudy red.
Pillows his chin upon an orient wave.
MUton, Nativity, L 231.
II. intr'ans. To rest the head on or as on a
pillow. [R.are.]
Pilobolese
They lay down to rest.
With corselet laced.
Pillowed on buclder cold and hard.
Seott, I>. of L. M., t. 4.
And thou shalt pillow on my breast,
While heavenly oreathings float around,
J. Jt. Drake, Culprit Fay, p, .%
pillow-bar (pil'o-bar), n. The ground or filling
of pillow-lace, consisting of irregular threads
or groups of threads drawn from one part of
the pattern to another. These bars may eithei
be plain or have a minute pearl-edge.
pillow-bear, «. See pillow-bier.
pillow-bier, pillow-beer (pil'6-ber), n. [Also
pillow-bear; < ME. pillowebere, pilwebeer, piU
webere, jjelowbere; < AS. *pylwe, pyle, a pillow,
+ bier, a couch, pallet, also a bier: see pilhw
and hier.l A pillow-case.
For in his male he hadde SipSmebeer,
Which that he selde was oure lady veyl.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., L 694^
Do not make holes in the pillow-ieers,
Middleton, Women beware Women, iv. 2l
Your pillow is clean, and your pillow-beer,
For I washed 'em in Styx last night, son.
Lamti, Satan in Search of a Wife, t, 9i
pillofW-block (pil'o-blok), n. Same as pVimiber-
block Ball-and-socket pinow-Mo.ck. SeeftoBi.
pillcwir-case (pil'6-kas), n. A movable case or
covering which is drawn over a pillow.
When yon pat a clean pHlewcase on your lady's pilkw,
be sore to fasten it well with corking pins.
Swift, Directions to Servants, Chambermaid.
pillow-cup (pil'6-kup), n. A cup or drink taken
before going to bed; a "nightcap."
Th« l^i^ord . . . commanded his waiter Geoffrey to
handrennd to th« company a sleeping-drink, or pSlow-mp,
of distilled water mingled witli spices.
Scott, Anne of Geierstein, xbc
pillow-lace (pil'6-las), ». See laee.
pillow-lilien (pil'6-lin'''en), n. Linen especially
made or used for pillow-cases.
pillow-pipe (pil'6-pip), n. A last pipe smoked
before going to bed. [Rare.]
I sat with him whilst he smoked his piUow-pipe, as Ills
plirase is. Fielding, Amdia, iii> 2.
pillow-sham (pil'6-sham), n. An embroidered
or otherwise omainented cover to be laid ovei
a pillow when not in use.
PUlow-skams — one of the hostess's troublesome little
household fopperies — neatly folded out of the way.
The Century, XXXVn. 786.
pillow-slip (pil'o-slip), n. An outer covering
or ease for a pillow ; a pillow-case.
pillow-word (pil'6-werd), n. A meaningless
expression prefixed in Japanese poetry toother
words for the sake of euphony. [Bare.]
Almost every word of note has some pHlow-viord on
which it may, so to speak, rest its head ; and dictionariet
of them are often resorted to by the unready Japanese
versifier, just as rhyming dictionaries come to the aid of
the poetasters of modem Europe.
B. B. Chamberlain, Class. Poetry of the Japanese,
[Int., p. 5.
pillowy (pil'o-i), a. [< pillow + -^i.] Like a
pillow ; soft ;' yielding.
Shapes from the invisible world, unearthly singing
From out thejniddle air, from fiowery uests.
And from the pillowy silkiness that rests
Full in the speculation of the stars.
Eeats, I Stood Tiptoe upon a Little Hill.
pillpatet (pil'pat), 91. [< pill^, v., + obj. pate;
or for pilled pate.'] A shaven head; hence, a
friar or monk.
These smeared pill-pates, I would say prelates, flret of
all accused him, and Mterward pronounced the sentence
of death upon him. Beam, ii. 316.
pill-tile (pll'til), n. A metal plate having semi-
cylindrical grooves upon its upper surface, pre-
senting a series of upwardly projecting edges.
It is used with a correspondingly grooved roUer to out a
small roll of prepared material into equal parts, which are
subsequently rounded into pills. See pim.
pill-Willet (pil'wiF'et), n. [Imitative.] The
willet, Sympliemia semipalmata. Also wilUml-
let, pill-iBiCl-willet.
pill-worm (pil'w6rm), «. A gaUy-worm or thou-
sand-legs; a pill-milleped. Qee Glomeridx.
piUwort (pil'w6rt), n. A plant of the genus
Pilularia; especially, P. globuUfera, the creep-
ing pillwort of Europe : named from the pellet-
like involucres containing the fruit.
pilniewink (pil'ni-wingk), n. See pinnywinlcU.
She shall avouch what it was that she hath given to the
wretch Dryfesdale, or thepaniewinks audthumbikins shall
wrench It out of her fluger-joints. ScoU, Abbot, xxxtt
Filobolese (pi-lo-bo'le-e), n. pi. [NL., < Pilo-
bolus + -ese.l A small subfamily of phyco-
mycetous fungi of the family Mucoraceee, hav-
ing many-spored sporangia.
Filobolus
Filobolus (pi-lo-bo'lus), n. [NL. , < (?) Gr. m?ioc,
felt, + /3w^f, a clod, lump : see bole\ bolvs.'i A
genus of phycomyoetous fungi, typical of the
subfamily Pilobolese. p. crystaMinw, the commonest
species, ocouis on atiimal dung. Its glutinous spores are
forcibly ejected, often to a distance of ten feet.
pilocarpine (pi-lo-kar'pln), m. [< pilocarpiis
+ -jMeS.] An alkaloid (C11H16N2O2) isolated
from pilocarpus, which it resembles in its me-
dicinal properties.
Pilocarpus {pi-lo-kar'pus),m. [NL. (Vahl, 1796),
< Gr. m/loc, a cap, + xapwd^, fruit.] 1. A ge-
nus of polypetalous shrubs of the order Buta-
eese and tribe ZanthoxylesB, characterized by the
small calyx-teeth, valvate petals, versatile an-
thers, smooth ovary-lobes, and one-seeded cells,
and by the complete numerical symmetry of the
flower in circles of fours and fives. The 12 spe-
cies are natives of the West Indies and tropical America.
Theybear pellucid-dotted leaves, either thin or coriaceous,
pinnate or of one to three leaflets, alternate, opposite, or
whorled. The numerous small green or purple flowers
form very long terminal or axillary racemes.
2. [I. c] The leaflets of P. jaennatifoUiis, a very
powerful diaphoretic medicine. Also known as
jaborandi, though this word has been applied
to various pungent sudorific plants.
pilori-rat (pi-16'ri-rat), n. A book-name of the
Cuban hutia-conga, Capromys pilorides.
4491
All must obey
The counsell of the pilot, & still stand
Prest at his service, when he doth command.
Time^ WhisUe (E. E. T. S.), p. 144.
3. Same as coto-caicfter. Seeeutunder posaen-
ger-engine. [U. S.] — 4. A book of sailing-di-
rections.— 5. Pilot-cloth.
linings, rugs, wraps, and heavy friezes, piZois, druggets,
blankets, etc., in which bulk and warmth more than wear-
resisting qualities are required. Encye. Brit., XXXV. 661.
6. The pilot-fish.— 7. The black-bellied plover,
Squatarola helvetica. G. Trumbull. [Virginia
coast.]— Coaating-pllot. Same as co«m*-3»Jo*.— Pilot's
water, any part of the sea or of a river in which a pilot
must be employed. (See also trcmch-pUot.)
pilot (pi'lot), V. t. [< P. piloter, pilot ; from the
noun.] $0 steer; direct the course of, espe-
cially through an intricate or perilous passage ;
guide through dangers or difficulties.
Where the people are well-educated, the art oi piloting
a state is best learned from the writings of Plato.
Bp. Berkeley, Siris, § 332.
If all do not join now to save the good old ship of the
Union on this voyage, nobody will have a chance to^ot her
on another voyage. lAneoln, in Raymond, p. 89.
pilotage (pi'lqt-aj), «. [< P. pilotage, < piloter,
pilot: see piJb*,' «.] 1. The act of piloting;
direction of a pilot; guidance.
Under his pilotage they anchored on the first of Novem-
ber close to the Isthmus of Barien.
Maca/iday, Hist. Eng., xxlv.
pilus
pilot-fish (pi'lot-fish), ». 1 . A pelagic earangoid
fish, Naucrate's ductm; found va. all warm seas,
and occasionally on the Atlantic coast of the
United States, it somewhat resembles a mackerel,
being of fusiform shape, bluish color, with from f\ve to
seven dark vertical bars, and the Ikst dorsal fln repre-
sented by a few spines. It is a foot or more long. The
pilot-flsh is supposed by some to have been the pompilus
of the ancients, but the traditions respecting it have little
foundation in fact. The generic name Naucratee was ap-
plied by the ancients to species of JEeheneie and other
fishes with a suctorial disk. See cut under Nauerates.
2. pi. A term extended to all the Carangidse.
D. S. Jordan. — 3. A remora or sucking-fish of
the family Echeneididse, as Echeneis naucrates.
[This use of the term is nearer the original
meaning of Naucrates.'] — 4. A coregonid, Co-
regorms quadrilateralis, the Menomonee white-
fish or shad-waiter of New England, some of
the Great Lakes, and parts of British America
to Alaska.
pilot-flag (pi'lgt-flag), n. The flag hoisted at
the fore by a vessel needing a pilot, in vessels
flying the United States flag the pilot-flag is the union-
jack. It varies in other nationahties, but is always hoisted
at the fore.
pilot-house (pi'lot-hous), ». An inclosed place
or house on deok which shelters the steering-
gear and the pilot or helmsman. In modern
sea-going steam-vessels this is usually situated in some
commanding position forward, and generally in connec-
tion with the officers' bridge. In a very large proportion
of vessels, however, there is no pilot-house, the steersmen
and steering-gear being left exposed. Also called viheeit-
Z. The employment or services of a pilot: as,
rs^r^ki^f an-lfi-all'"°"'^'^^ "' Pi^sm (priot-izm), »• [<^.o. + -i^.] _ Pi-
lotage; skill in piloting. Cotgrave. [Kare.]
We must for ever abandon the Indies, and lose all our -sink's „'„-i, /■■nT'lnt.-inlr"! « A union or nthpr
knowledgeandp«o*..eofthatpartoftheworld. M«^K. P^^f ^^^^ei^by f vlssl'l ^S atig^Tfor a pilot
4. The fee or remuneration paid or payable to pjiot-jacket (pi'lot-jak"et), n. A pea-jacket,
a pilot for his serpces.--Compulsory pilotage, guoh as is worn by seamen. See peorjacket.
compulsory employment of pilots m accordance with local „ji-,+ is„i,* rnl'lnt litl « A vprv bttisi.II traa.
law.- Pilotage authority, a body ol men appointed to pUOt-llgllt (pi lot-lit), «. A very smau gas-
^ ■■ - ■'• - ■ ■ hght kept burning beside a large burner, so
that when the flow through the main burner is
turned on it will be automatically lighted by
the pilot-light. It is usually protected by a
shield from being accidentally blown out. See
by-pass.
Pilori-rat t^Capromys pitorides).
pilose (pi'los), a. [Also pilous; < L. pilosus,
hairy, < pilus, hair: see pile*'.'] Covered with
hair; hairy; furry; pilous; especially, covered
with fine or soft hair.
pilosity (pi-los'i-ti), w. [< pilose + ■ity.] The
state of being pilose or pilous ; hairiness.
PUosity is incident to oriflces of moisture.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 169.
pilot (pi'lpt), n. [Early mod. E. also pilotte,
pylate; < 5P. pilot, P. pilote = Sp. Pg. piloto =
It. piloto, pilota (ML. pilotus, piloto), a pilot ;
cf. MD. pilote, piloot, pijloot, pijlloot (Kilian),
peilloot (Sewel), D. piloot = MLG. pilote, a
pilot; origin uncertain; appar., through OP.
piloter, pUotier, "to sound the depth of water
with a line and plummet" (Cotgrave), < MD.
*peylloot, *peilloot, D. peillood, a sounding-lead
<= Q.peil-loth, sounding-lead, plummet), < pey-
len, pijlen (Kilian), D. peilen (= G. peilen, take
soun(£ngs) (contr. of 'MD.pegelen, measure the
capacity of anything, < pegel, the capacity of
a vessel's gage), + loot, D. lood = G. loth = E.
lead: see lead^.] 1. The steersman of a ship;
that one of a ship's crew who has charge of
the helm and the ship's course; specifically,
one who works a ship into and out of harbor,
or through a channel or passage, in this specific
sense the pilot is a person possessing local knowledge of
shallows, rocks, currents, channels, etc., licensed by pub-
lic authority to steer vessels into and out of particular
harbors, or along certain coasts, etc., and rendering such
special service for a compensation, fixed usually with ref-
erence to the draft of water and the distance.
And whanne we shuld a take the Porte, Sodenly fell
down and Deyde the Pylate of our shippe, which we call
lodysman. TorHngton, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 60.
Times answerable, like waters after a tempest, full of
working and swelling, though without extremity of storm ;
but well passed through by the wisdom of the pUot.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 131.
Passengers in a ship always submit to their pUofs dis-
cretion, but especially in a storm. Somth, Sermons, X, v.
The city remaining . . . without government of magis-
trate, like a ship left without a pilot.
North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 601.
The high-shoed ploughman, should he quit the land
To take the jpi7of» rudder in his hand, . . .
The gods would leave him to the waves and wind,
And think all shame was lost in human kind.
Dryden, tr. of Persius's Satires, v. 148.
2. A guide ; a director of the course of others ;
one who has the conduct of any affair requir-
ing knowledge and judgment.
test the qualifications of applicants for pUots' licenses, and
to grant .or suspend such licenses, etc.— Pilotage dis-
trict, the limit of jurisdiction of a pilotage authority.
pilotaxitic (pi"lo-tak-sit'ik), a. [Irreg. < Gr.
mXog, felt, + rdfiQ, arrangement, +. -ite^ + -ic]
In lithol., a term introduced by Kosenbusch to
designateaholocrystallinestructuresaidbyhim piiotry"(pi'lot-ri), n. Same a,s pilotism.
to be charaeteristie of certam rocks, and espe- pilot-snake (pi'lot-snak), n. Alarmless snake
eially of the porphyrites, in which the ground-
pilot-i
of the United
-snak), i
States, Coluber obsoletus.
mass consists of slender lath-shaped microUths pjiotweed (pi'lot-we'd), ». Same as compass-
offeldspar,withwhicharefrequentlyconnected pi^nt "
the phenomena of fluidal structure, amygdules, pfiot-whale (pi'lot-hwal), n. Same as caaing-
and the presence of minute vitreous scales. ' - vjt ..
pilot-balloon (pi'lot-ba-lon"), «. A small bal-
loon sent up in advance of a larger one to ascer-
tain the direction and strength of the wind.
pilot-bird (pi'lot-berd), n. A bird found in the
Caribbean Islands: so called because its pres-
ence at sea indicates to seamen their approach
to these islands.
pilot-boat (pi'lot-bot), n. A boat used by pi-
lots for cruising off shore to meet incoming
ships. On the coast of the United States pilot-boats are
handy, weatherly schooner-rigged vessels, and frequently yQ^lgi, (pil'u-la), «.; pi. pilulw (-le),
pilule.] hi pilar., a pill.
whale.
pilourt, n. See piller\
pilous (pi'lus), a. [< L. pilosus, hairy : see pi-
lose.] 1. Covered with hair ; hairy; pilose.
That hair is not poison, though taken in a great quan-
tity, is proved by the excrements of voracious dogs, which
is- seen to be yery pUoue.
J. RoWnson, Eudoxa(1658), p. 124.
2. Consisting of hair; hair-like; piliform: as, a
pilous covering.
Also pileous.
[L.: see
Coast Pilot-boat of the United States.
cruise at a long distance off shore ; they are distinguished
by a fiag and by a number painted conspicuously on the
mainsail, and at night by a flare-up light, in addition to a
masthead light.
pilot-bread (pi'lot-bred), n. Same as ship-bis-
cuit.
pilot-cloth (pi'lot-kl6th), n. A heavy woolen
cloth, such as is'used by pilots for pea-jackets.
piloteert, ». [.<pilot + -eer.] A pilot.
Whereby the wand'ring PHoteer
Eis course in gloomy Kights doth steer.
Howell, Letters, iii. 4.
pilular (pil'u-lar), a. [< NL. *piMaris, < L.
pilula, a pilule :' see pilule.] Of or pertaining
to or characteristic of pills: a,B, a, piUtlar mass;
a, pilular torm; a jpiZ^tor consistency.
Filularia (pil-u-la'ri-a), n. [NL. (Vaillant,
1717), so called' in allusion to the shape of the
reproductive organs; <.*pilularis,like & pill: see
pilular.] A genus of vascular cryptogamous
plants of the order Marsileaceee; the pillworts.
They are inconspicuous submerged plants with widely
creeping slender rhizomes, with a filiform leaf from the
upper side and a tuft of root^fibers from the lower side of
each node. Seven species are known, of which only one,
P. Americana, is found in North America. See pepper-
grass, 2, and pUlwort
pilule (pil'nL), n. [= P. pilule = Pg. pilula, < L.
pilula, a pill, dim. otpila, aball. Of. pill^.] A
Uttle pill or pellet.
pilulous (pil'u-lus), a. [< pilule + -ous.] Per-
taining to or resembling a pill; pilular; hence,
small; inconsiderable; trifling. [Eare.]
Has any one ever pinched into its pilulous smallness the
cobweb of pre-matrimonial acquaintanceship?
George Uliot, Middlemarch, ii.
pilum (pi'lum), n. ; pl.^jite (-la). [L. : see^iZei.]
1. A heavy javelin used by the Koman foot-
soldiers. — 2. Any javelin used by barbarous
races with whom the Romans had to do, as by
the Pranks, Burgundians, and others. — 3. In
phar., an instrument used to triturate sub-
stances in a mortar ; a pestle.
pilot-engine (pi'lQt-en"jin), n. A locomotive pilus (pi'lus), m.; pi. JJ«M(-Ii). [L., a hair, hair:
engine sent on before a railway-train to see the seepileK] 1. In bot., one of the fine slender
way is clear, especially as a precursor to a train bodies, like hair, covering some plants.— 2. In
conveying important personages. zodl., a hair or hair-like body, especially a hair
pilus
in any way distinguished from those which col-
lectively cover the 'body.— pm gossypil, cotton.—
Fill tacUlea, tactile hairs. See Judn.
pilwet, »■ A Middle English form ot pillow.
pily (pi'li), a. [< OF. *pile, < pile, a pile : see
j)ite2.] In Iter., divided into a number of piles
set side by side. Some qualifying term expresses their
Sosition it they do not point in a parallel direction and
ownward. The number of piles must also be mentioned
in the blazon.— Barry pUy. See 6or)i/2.— Plly paly, in
her., pily of the ordinary sort— that is, having the small
piles reaching from the top to the bottom of the shield.
Also paly pily, palimie.
pimaric (pi-mar'ik), a. [< L. pi(nus), pine, +
mar{itimv^), maritime, + -jc] Derived from
or occurring in the maritime pine : as, xiimaric
acid.
Pimelea (pi-me'le-a), n. [IfL. (Banks, 1801), so
called with ref . to tlie oily seeds and leaves ; < Gr.
mfielij, fat.] A genus of apetalous shrubs of
the order Thyme&aeex and tribe ISufhymelmem,
known by the two stamens, all others of the fam-
ily having four, eight, or more . There are 76 species,
natives of Australia and New Zealand, slender branching
shrubs with tough stringy bark. They bear small opposite
or scattered leaves, and white, pink, or yellow flowers in
terminal or axillary involucrate clusters, each ilower f our-
lobed, funnel-shaped, and without the appendages usual
in the order, followed by a small fruit with thick rind and
berry-like pulp. Many species are cultivated as beautiful
greenhouse evergreens, ot about 3 feet in height, under
the name rice-flMser. Others are known in Australia as
taughbark, and can be used for textile purposes, especially
P. aaijkira, the curryjong, a tall smooth shrub. Several
attain a height of about 10 feet, as P. drupacea, the Vic-
torian bird-cherry.
Fimelepteridse (pim'e-lep-ter'i-de), n. pi. [NL. ,
< Fimelepterus + -id,x.'\ A family of pereoide-
ous acanthopterygian fishes, typified by the ge-
nus FimelepUrus. The body is oval, compressed, and
developed nearly equally above and below ; the scales are
small, adherent, and extending over the vertical tins ; the
lateral line is uninterrupted ; and the t,eeth are generally
incisorial or compressecL The species are inhabitants ot
tropical and temperate seas. Also called Cyphoiadse.
Fimelepterinse (pim-e-lep-te-ri'ne), n. pi.
[NL., < Pimelepterus + -mas.] "A subfamily of
Sparidse, typified by the genus Pimelypterus.
Tliey have the front teeth incisiform or lanceorate, and
with horizontal baokwardly projecting bases, behind which
are smaller ones ; vomerine teeth are present ; and the soft
fins are densely scaly. All the species are by some referred
to one genus, Pimel^otentg, while others distinguish two or
more additional genera.
Pimelepterus (pim-e-lep'te-rus), n. [NL. (La-
c6pMe, 1802), < Gr. m/iE?i^',' tat, + wrepdv, wmg,
jTTEpuf, wing, fin.] The typical genus of Pi-
melepteridse, having the slnn and scales en-
4492
Pimeiodtts macitlatus,
and four mental barbels, typical of the subfamily Pirmlo-
pimentt, n. [< ME. piment, pym&nt, < OF. pi-
ment, < ML. pigmentum, spiced wine, spice :
see pigmmit.'] Wine with a mixture of spice
or honey, once a favorite beverage. Also pig-
ment.
He sente hire pymerd, meeth, and spiced ale.
CMucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 192.
?imental (pi-men'ta), ». Sa,me a,s pimento.
imenta^ (pi-men'ta), n. [NL. (Lindley, 1821),
< Sp. pimswta, allsjpice (a related tree): see
pimento.^ A genus of fragrant trees of the
myrtle family, order Myrtacex and tribe Myr-
tese, characterized by the circular or spirally
twisted embryo, and from one to six ovules pen-
dulous from the summit of each of the two cells
of the ovary. There are 5 species, natives ot tropical
America. They bear large and coriaceous feather-veined
leaves, and many small flowers in axillary cymes. For
P. aciis, called hlaek mammon, etc., see bayberry, S, hay-
rum, and wUd rfooe (under dove^). For the important P.
ojffUsinalis, ^ep^m&hto.
pimento (pi-men'to), ». lAlso pimenta ; < Sp.
pimiento, the pepper-plant, caipsiovan, pimienta,
the fruit of this plant, applied also to Pimento
officinalis, Jamaica pepper, = Pg. pimento, pi-
menta = F. piment, pepper (capsicum), < ML.
pigmentum, Bipiee: see pigmsnt.2 1. Allspice,
the berry of Pimenta officinalis {Eugenia Pimen-
ta), a tree, native of the West Indies,'but cul-
Bermuda Chub (Pimelepterus or Cyphosus bosct\.
croaching on the dorsal and anal fins, which
are consequently thickened, whence the name.
These fishes are partly herbivorous, and the species are
numerous in all warm seas. P. (or Cyphiom^ bosci ex-
tends from the Isthmus of Panama along the Atlantic coast
as far north as Massachusetts.
pimelite (pim'e-lit), n. [< Gr. irineXii, fat, -I-
/liflof, stone.] A mineral of an apple-green col-
or, fat and unctuous to the touch, tender, and
not fusible by the blowpipe. It is a hydrous
silicate containing some nickel.
pimelitis (pim-e-li'tis), n. [NL., < Gr. miJtekii,
fat, -I- -JWs.] Inflammation of adipose tissue.
pimelode (pim'e-lod), n. Any catfish of the
genus Pimelodus.
Pimelodinae (pim"e-16-<M'ne), n. pi. [NL., <
Pimelodus + -inse.'] A subfamily of catfishes
of the family SiluridsB, typified by the genus
Pimelodus, having the anterior and posterior
nostrils remote from each other and without
barbels. Some have a long spatulate snout, and in
others the adipose fln is highly developed. They are char-
acteristic of tropical waters, especially ot South America,
where they represent the catfishes of North America. A
few species are African. "
pimelodine (pi-mero-din), a. and». I. a. Be-
longing to the subfamily Pimelodinte.
II. n. A catfish of the subfamily PJme?0(i««a.
Pimelodus (pim-e-16'dus), n. [NL. (Lac6p6de),
< Gr. iniiMsim, fatty, < mfiM), fat, + elSoq,
form.] A genus of silurids, to which very dif-
ferent limits have been assigned, in the old
authors it was a very heterogeneous group, embracing a
vast number of species and including the common cat-
fishes of the North American lakes and streams, as well
4ts those of the South American, and various others. It
was gradually reduced, and is now restricted to South
American and Central American forms with two maxillai-y
Branch of Pimento (Pimenia ilfflcittalis), with Fruits.
a, flower ; 6, flower in longitudinal section, the stamens removed ;
c, fruit.
tivated almost exclusively in Jamaica, whence
called Jamaica pepper. The unripe berries, which
are ot about the size of a pea, are dried in the sun. The
shell incloses two seeds, which are roundish and dark-
brown, and have a weak aromatic taste and smell, thought
to resemble a mixture ot those of cinnamon, cloves, and
nutmeg, whence the name aUepice. Pimento is a warm,
aromatic stimulant, used chiefly as an adjuvant to tonics
and purgatives. Both the fruit and the leaves yield an
essential oil closely resembling oil of cloves and often
substituted for it. The name pimemdo is sometimes used
to include P. aciis.
2. The tree yielding this spice, a beautiful
much-branching evergreen, 30 feet in height.
pimento-walk (pi-men' to-wftk), to. In Jamaica,
a plantation of allspice or Jamaica pepper.
pimgenett (pim'je-net), n. [Also pimgennet,
pim^imit, piiyinnet ; origin obscure.] Apimple
on the face. [Slang.]
Is it not a manly exercise to stand licldng his lips into
rubies, painting his cheeks into cherries, pai'ching his
pimgimtg, carbuncles, and buboes?
Dunton's Ladies Dictionary, 1694. ^Nares.)
pimlico (pim'li-ko), n. [Imitative. Cf. ])em-
blico.'] The Australian friar-bird, Tropido-
rhynehus cornieulatus : so called from its cry.
See leatherhead, 2, and cut under /nor-Wrd!.
pimp^ (pimp), ». [Origin unknown ; according
to Skeat perhaps orig. ' a fellow,' < F. pimper,
dress up smartly (= Pr. pimpar, pipar, ren-
der elegant) ; of. pimpant, ppr., smart, spruce ;
appar. a nasalized form of pij^, pipe, begmle,
cheat, also excel ; ef. Pr. pimpa, a pipe, bird-
call, snare: aeepipe^. This explanation is, ho w-
Fimpla
ever, inadequate ; the word is appar. of low
slang origin, without any recorded basis.] One
who provides others with the means and oppor-
tunity of gratit^ng their lusts ; a pander.
pimpi (pimp), V. i. [< pimp^, ».] To provide
for others the means of gratifying lust ; pander.
But when to sin our biassed nature leans.
The careful Devil is still at hand with means.
And providently 2>w«ps for iU desires.
Dryden, Abs. and Achit., i. 81.
pimp^ (pimp), n, [Origin obscure.] A small
bavin. See the quotation.
Here they make those . . . small light bavins which are
used in taverns in London to light their faegots, and are
called in the taverns a Brush, and by the wood-men Pimpe.
Defoe, Tour thro' Great Britain, I. 138. (Damee.)
pimpernel (pim'per-nel), n. [Early mod. E.
pympernel; < ME. pympyrnel, pimpernol, pym-
pernolle = D. pimpernel = MHG. pimpenelle,
iebenelle, etc., G. pvmperneUe, < OF. pimper-
nelle, F. pimpinelle, pimprenelle = Cat. pampi-
nella = Bp. pnmpinela = Pg. pimpinella = It. pim-
pinella, Piedmontese pampinela, pimpernel, <
ML. pimpinella, pimpernella, pinpeneUa, jyenpv-
nela, also pampinella and pampinaria (simulat-
ing lA.pampinMS, a tendril), with unorig. m or n;
also pipinella, pipenella, pippinella, pippenella.,
piponella, pybenella, pipenula, etc., with initial
p. (due to influence of the following p) for orig.
initial b; also bipinella, bibvnella, bimpvnella,
bibaneUa, prop. *bipennella or bipennula, pim-
pernel (also bumet), lit. ' the two-winged lit-,
tie plant,' so called by confusion with bumet,
which has from two to four scale-like bracts at
the base of the calyx ;' < L. Upennis, two-winged :
see bipennate.'] If. The garden-bumet, Pote-,
rium Sanguisorba. — 2. The bumet-saxifrage,
Pimpinella Saxifraga. — Sf. The selfheal, Brur
nella vulgaris. — 4. A plant, Anagallis arvensis,
of the primrose family, sometimes distinguished
as red or scarlet jpimpernel, a native of the north-
em Old World and introduced into the United
States and elsewhere, it is a neat procumbent herb
with a wheel-shaped corolla, red in color, varying to pur-
ple, wliite, or blue. The flowers close at the approach of
bad weather, whence it is named poor m(m's(or shepherd's)
weaJther-glass; it is also called red chickweed, Jolm-go-Ui-
bed-at-noon, etc. The name is extended also to the other
species ot the genus, as A. tenella, the bog-pimpernel, and
A. ecemlea (A. JfoneKi), the Italian or blue pimpernel, a
garden species from southern Europe, with large flowers,
deep-blue shaded with pink. See cut under cireummssile.
— Bastaxd pimpernel Same as cha£weed.—tallB6 pim-
pernel. See i2s/8a»tAe8.— Italian pimpernel. Seedef.
4, above. — Sea/- or seaside-plmpemel, a sandwort, Are-
ivaria ^^oi(!e<. — 'Water-puupemel, the brookweed,
SamwlusValerandi. See SamtHivs. The name has also
been applied to Yeronica Beecdbunga and V. Anagallis. —
Yellow pimpernel. See Lysimachia.
Pimpinella (pim-pi-nel'a), «. [NL. (Rivinus,
1699), < MLi. pimpinella, pimpernel: see pimper-
nel.'] A genus of umbelliferous plants of the
tribe AmmimesB and subtribe Muamminese, char-
acterized by the narrow ribs of the fruit> the
two-cleft carpophore, and the usually obsolete
bracts and calyx-teeth. There are 76 species, widely
distributed throughoutthe northern hemisph ere andSouth
Africa, with a few in South America. They are usually
smooth perennial herbs, with pinnate or decompound
leaves, and compound umbels of white or yellow flowera.
For the three most important species, see anise, sweet cu-
win (under vamim),pijmpemd, weakttt(me, and nind.
pimping (pim'ping), a. [Cf . G. pimpeUg, pim-
pelieh, sickly, weak, little, ipimpeln, be weak,
moan ; cf . pim, imitative of the sound of a bell.
Cf.alsojp*mp2.] Little; petty; sickly. [Colloq.]
He had no paltry arts, no pimping ways. Crabbe.
" T/Vas I so little ? " asked Margaret. "Yes, and
enough." S. Judd, Margaret, i. 4.
Pimpla (pim'pla), n. [NL. (Pabrioius, 1804),
< Gr. JUjivIa, usually lii/inXeia, Pimplea, a city
and fountain in Pieria sacred to the Muses.]
Ring-leggred Pimpla (Pimpia annulipes).
(f, male abdomen; $, female. (Lines show natural size.)
Pimpla
1. A genus of pnpivorous hymenopterous in-
sects of the family Ichneumonidx, typical of a
subfamily PimpUnse. p. annidipes preya on the cod-
ling-moth (CarpocapmpamoneUa), the cotton-worm (Aletia
xylina\ and other destructive insects. P. mai^e^tOor is
a laiee European species parasitic on certain bees.
2. p. c] A member of this genus.
inmple (pim'pl), n. [Early mod. E. also pirn-
pel, pumple; < ME. *pimpel (?) (not found), per-
haps a nasalized form of AS. *pipel, a pimple,
blister, found only in the rare verb piplian,
pypelian, blister, grow pimply, used only in
ppr. pipligende, pypelgenOe, pimply, appar. <
L. papula, a blister, pimple: see papula. For
the form, cf. MD.pimpel, riepel, a butterfly, < L.
papilio, a butterfly. The alleged AS. *pinpel,
a pimple (Lye), is an error for mnpel, a wim-
ple. The W. pump, a knob, bump (see bump^),
and P. pompette, a pimple, are not connected.]
1. A small inflammatory dermal tumor or
swelling; a papule or pustule, such as are seen
in acne. — 2. A little elevation or protuber-
ance, of any kind, resembling a pimple.
So do not pluck that flower, lady,
That has these pimples gray.
Tmn Linn (Child's Ballads, I. 268).
On poor pasture land, which has never heen rolled, and
has not been much trampled on by animals, the whole
surface is sometimes dotted with little pimples, through
and on which grass gi'ows ; and these pimples consist of
old worm-castings. Darwin, Vegetable Mould, p. 288.
3t. A jolly boon companion.
The Sun 's a good Pimple, an honest Soaker, he has a
Cellar at your Antipodes.
Congreve, Way of the World, iv. 10.
Flmple In a, bentt, something very smalL
I could lay down heere snndrye examples, were yt not
I should bee thoght ouer cuiious by pi7ing owt a pimple
in a bent. Stanihurst, .^eid, Ded. {Davids.)
pimple (pim'pl), V. t. ; pret. and pp. pimpled,
ppr. pimpling. [< pimple, ».] To cover with
pimples: cause to abound with pimples; spot
or blotch as with pimples.
Yet you will pimple your sonls with oaths, till you make
them as well-favoured as your faces.
Xiddletan, Black Eook.
pimple-metal (pim'pl-met^al), n. See metal.
pimple-mite (pim'pl-mit), nV A parasitic mite
or aearine, Demodex folliculorum, occurring in
the sebaceous follicles of the face.
pimp-like (pimp'Hk), a. Like a pimp ; vile ; in-
famous; mean.
pimply (pim'pli), a. [< pimple + -y^.'] Covered
with pimples ; spotted.
pimpsnip (pimp'ship), m. Hpimp + sJdp,'] The
office, occupation, or person of a pimp. Imp.
Diet.
pimp-whiskint (pimp'hwis"kin), n. A person
of low habits or character. Ford, Fancies, i. 3.
[Contemptuous . ]
pin^ (pin), n. [< ME. pinne, pynne, a pin, peg,
bolt, bar, peak, < AS. pinn, a pin or peg (occurs
once, in Jisepsan pinn, the pin or bolt of a hasp),
= MI), pinne, D. pin, a pin, peg, = MLG. pinne,
LG. pinne, pin, > G. pinn, m., pinne, f., a pin,
peg, = Icel. pinni = Sw. pinne, a peg, = Dan.
pind, a, pin, pointed stick, = Ir. Gael, pinne, a
pin, peg, spigot, = W. pin, a pin, style, pen, <
ML. pinna, a pin, nail, peak, pinnacle, probe,
appar. later uses of L. pinna, penna, feather,
wing, fin, pen: see^e»2. The transition from
'feather' to 'pin' (a slender or pointed instru-
ment) appears to have been through 'pen,' a
quill, to 'pen,' a style or stylus, hence any slen-
der or pointed instrument: see pen^."] 1. A
wooden or metal peg or bolt used to fasten or
hold a thing in place, fasten things together,
or as a point of attachment or support, (a) The
bolt of a door.
Then take the sword from my scabbard.
And slowly lift the pin;
And you may swear, and safe your aith.
Ye never let Clerk Saunders in.
Clerk Saunders (Child's Ballads, II. 46).
I A peg or bolt serving to keep a wheel on its axle ; a
iihch-pin. (c) A peg on the side of a boat, serving to keep
the oar in place ; a thole. Also called thjole-pin, boat-pin.
(d) A peg of a stringed musical instrument. See peg, 1 (c).
Yell take a lith o' my little finger bane, . . .
And yell make &pin to your fiddle then.
The Bonny Bows o' London (Child's Ballads, II. 362).
(«) A peg used to stop a hole.
Yf thou will haue frute of diners colours, thou sbalt
make an hole in a tree ny the roete euyn to the pithe of
the tree, and anon doo in y hole good asure of Almayne so
that it be ny full, and stoppe the hole wel and iuste wt a
short pynn^. Amdd's Chran. (1S02), ed. 1811, p. 170.
(/) In mach., a short shafts sometimes forming a bolt, a
part of which serves as ajonmal. (sf) The axis of a sheave.
(A) In joinery, the projecting part of a dovetail, which fits
Into the socket or receiving part, (t) That part of the stem
of a key which enters the lock.
4493
(6).
hnc
2. A peg, nail, or stud serving to mark a posi-
tion, step, or degree; hence, a notch; a step;
a degree.
He will
Imagine only that he shall be cheated,
And he is cheated ; all still comes to passe
He 's but one pin above a natm-al.
W. Cartwright, The Ordinary, ii. 3.
Specifically— (ot) One of a row of pegs let into a drink-
ing-vessel to regulate the quantity which each person was
to drink ; hence^ a drinking-bout ; joviality. See on a
merry pin, below.
Edgar, away with pira i' th' cup
To spoil our drinkhig whole ones up.
Holbom Drollery (1673), p. 76. {Nares.)
(b) A nail or stud (also called a pike) marking the center
of a target; hence, the center ; a central part.
The very pin of his heart cleft with theblind bow-boy's
butt-shaft. Shak., K. and J., ii. 4. 15.
The pin he shoots at.
That was the man deliver'd you.
Fletcher, Island Princess, iv. 1.
Ill cleave the black jnn in the midst o' the white.
JUiddl^on, No Wit like a Woman's, ii. 1.
3. One of a number of pieces of wood, of more
or less cylindrical form, which are placed up-
right at one end of a bowling-alley, to be bowled
down by the player ; a skittle ; hence, in the
plural form, a game played with such pins.
Compare ninepins, tenpins. — 4. A cylindrical
roUer made of wood; a rolling-pin. — 5. A leg:
as, to knock one ofE his pins. [Slang.]
Mistake you! no, no, your legs would discover you
among a thousand ; I never saw a fellow better set upon
his pins. Surgoyne, Lord of the Manor, iiL 3.
6t. Apeak; pinnacle.
Up to this pynnacle now go we ;
I xal the sett on the hygheai pynne.
Coventry Mysteries.
7. A small piece of wire, generally brass and
tinned, pointed at one end and with a rounded
head at the other, used for fastening together
pieces of cloth, paper, etc., and for other pur-
poses.
Yet liberal I was, and gave herpijis.
And money for her father's o£Qcers.
Beau, and FL, Enight ot Burning Festle, v. 3.
Hence — 8. A thing of very small value; atrifle;
a very small amount.
But when he is to highest power,
Yet he is not worth a pin.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 93.
I do not set my life at spin's fee.
Shak., Hamlet^ i. 4. 65.
As tho* he cared not a pin
For him and his company.
Sir Andrew Barton (Child's Ballads, VII. 206).
9. A straight, slender, and pointed bar with an
ornamental head or attachment, used by women
to secure laces, shawls, etc., or the hair, and pifiai(pe'nya),M.
pinafore
2. To fasten with a pin or pins.
Good Mistriss Orgia, holde your hasty handes !
Because your maides have not pind in your bandes
According to your minde, must the stick flie
About their shoulders straight?
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. .S.), p. 106.
Xever more
Will I despise your leaniing ; never more
Pin cards and cony-tails upon your cassock.
Beati. and Ft., Scornful Lady, iv. 1.
I tied on my straw bonnet, pinned my shawl, took the
parcel and my slippers, which I would not put on yet, and
stole from my room. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxvii.
8. To transfix with or as with a pin; hence,
to seize and hold fast in the same spot or posi-
tion.
Haven't I come into court twenty afternoons for no
other purpose than to see you pin the chancellor like a
bull-dog? Dickens, Bleak House, xxiv.
4. Tonab; seize; steal. [Slang.] — 5. To swage
by striking with the peen of a hammer, as in
splaying an edge of an iron hoop to give it a
flare corresponding to that of the cask. E. H.
Knight. — 6. To clog the teeth of: as, to pin a
file: said of particles which adhere so firmly to
the teeth of a file that they have to be picked
out with apiece of steel wire To pin one's faith,
etc., on or upon, to rely on ; have confidence in.
The Latins take a great deal of pains to expose this
Ceremony as a most shameful imposture. . . . But the
Greeks and Armenians pin their /aUh upon it, and make
their Pilgrimages chiefly upon this motive.
Maundr^l, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 97.
To pin the baskett. See haskeL
pin^ (pin), V. t. ; pret. and pp. pinned, ppr. pin-
ning. [< ME. pinnen, pynnen, var. of pennen,
'E.pen^, with ref. to pin^, ».] 1. To inclose;
confine ; pen or pound.
If all this'be willingly granted by us which are accused
to^n the word of God in so narrow room, let the cause
of the accused be referred to the accuser's conscience.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity.
2. To aim at or strike with a stone. [Scotch.]
And who taught me to pin a losen [window-pane], to-
head a bicker, and hold the bannets ? >S^, Redgauntlet.
pin^t (pin), n. [< ME. *pinne, *penne (?), < AS.
pinn, a spot on the eye, prob. = It. panno, a
spot on the eye, < ML. pannus, a spot on the-
eye, a membrane, a particular use of L. pannus,
a cloth: see pane^. For the vowel relation,
AS. i from L. a, cf . pvmple, prob. < L. papula.']
A spot or web on the eye: usually in the
phrase ^jre and {or) web.
His eyes, good queen e, be great, so are they clear and graye,.
He never yet had pinne or webbe, his sight for to decay.
Gaseaigne, Princely PL of Kenelw. (JVarea.)'
And all eyes
Blind with the pin and web but theirs.
Shak., W. T., I. 2. 291.
[Sp. (Chilian), so called from
by men to secure the cravat or scarf, or for mere its shape ; a particular use of pifla, a pine-cone,
ornament. Compare hairpin, safety-pin, scarf- pineapple, < li.pinea, a pine-cone, <pinus,-piae:
pin, shawl-pin. — lOf. A knot in timber. see pin^^, pignon.'] The spongy cone of silver
The pinTM or hard come of a knot in timber, which hnrt^ l^f* behind, in the treatment of silver amal-
ethsawes. Nomendator. (Nares.) gam, after all the mercury has been driven off-
11. A noxious humor in a hawk's foot. imp. ^a^, m. Saiae a,8pifia-cloth.
D«c«.-Draw-l)0re pin. See <iro«;-6ore.-Dutch pins, Knaceae (pi-na'se-e), n. pi. [NL. (Lindley,
a game or pastime resembling skittles. Strutt.—Blaia lo4b), \ Li. ptnus + -acese.i The Coniferse.
pin, in a vehicle, a king-bolt or bolster-pin.— On or upon pinaclef , n. A Middle English form of pinnacle.
Their hartes . . . were set on so mery a pynne, for the °^ *^6 pmeapple-plant, Ananas sativa, and other
victory of Montarges. Hall, Hen. VI., an. 5. species of the genus. It is highly esteemed by
Close discourses of the honour of God and our duty to Orientals as a material for fine robes, scarfs.
Him are irksome when men are upon a 7iiem/j>»i. etc. Also pineapple-cloth, pine-eloth,
ChanuKk,yf oiia, I. W8. pinacocytal (pin'a-ko-si-tal), a. l<pinacocyte
The Calend'rer, right glad to find + ^^j Qf or pertaining to pinacocytes : as, a
H,s friend ^n "«"Vi»'^^^_ j^^ ^^^.^ pinococytal layer. Encyc. mt., XXH. 427.
pmacocyte(pin'a-k6-sit), «. [< Gr. TTjvof {mvan-),
a tablet, + tcvrocja hoUow (cell).] One of the
On one's pins, alive and in good condition ; on one's legs.
[Slang.]
Glad to hear that he is on Ails pins yet ; he might have
pegged out in ten years, you know.
Harper's Mag., LXXX. 269.
Fins and needles, the pricking, tingling sensation at-
tending the recovery of feeling in a limb which has gone
to sleep; formication.— Points and pins. See jiomtl.
simple pavement-epithelial cells of which the
ectoderm of sponges usually consists, similar or
identical pinacocytes form the endodermal epithelium,
except in the cases of the ascons and of the flagellated
chambera of all sponges, which latter are lined with cho-
anocytes.
UJ Sleep, l\ttllXtK,aiil\Jtd. f U.UXWP OOIU £#lXli9. WCC J/UW Bt*. . - .j / . / , • J \ r- y ^1 / t- I
Steady pin, in founding: (a) One of the pins in a flask pinacOltl (pm^ a^koid), n. [< Gr. Ttiva^ (jzivuk-),
_i....^ a* !_. i — .;„«,. 1 — .„« — n — a..i. ._iv.i board, tablet (soei pinax), + elSoi, form.] Tn
crystal., a plane parallel to two of the crystal-
lographic axes: as, the ha.sa,l pinacoid, or base
parallel to the lateral axes. The maeropinacoid and
braehypinacoid are planes in the orthorbombic system par-
allel to the vertical axis and the longer or shorter lateral
axis respectively; similarly the orthopinaeoid and clino-
pinacoid, in the monoclinic system, are parallel to the
vertical axis and the orthodiagonal or clinodiagonal axis
respectively.
pinacoidal (pin-ar-koi'dal), a. [_<pinacoid + -al.}
Of the nature of or characteristic of a pinacoid :
as, pinacoidal cleavage.
pinafore (pin'a-for), n. [<pinl, v., + afore.l
A sort of apron worn by children to protect the
front part of their dress ; a child's apron.
which flt into openings in the lugs of another flask, so that^
after the pattern is drawn, the two parts can be replaced
in their original position. (6) One of the dowels by which
tlie patterns are held together, when, for convenience in
molding, they are made in two or more parts. — To Put In
the pin, to stop ; give over ; especially, to stop or give
over some bad habits or indulgence, such as druiflsenness :
as. 111 put in the pin at the New Year. ' [CoUoq.]
pin^ (pin), V. t. ; pret. and pp. pinned, ppr. pin-
ning. [_< ME. pinnen, pynnen ;< pin\ n.'\ 1.
To fasten or secure with a bolt or peg.
Conscience held hym
And made Pees portor to pynne the gates.
Piers Ploummn (C), xxiii. 298.
I say nothing.
But smile and pin the door.
Middleton, Chaste Maid, i. 2.
Pin-borer {Xyleborus dispar),
z, female ; 2, femalejn lateral outline.
(Cross shows natural size.)
pinang
pinang (pi-nang'), «. [Malay.] The 'betel-nut
palm, or its fruit. See Areca^, and areca-mut.
pinaster (pi-nas't6r), n. [= F. pinastre = Sp.
It. pinastro, < L. pinaster, < pimts, pine : see
pjHel.] The cluster-pine. Seepine^.
The pinaster is nothing else but the wild pine ; it grow-
eth wonderfull tall, putting forth aimes from the mids of
the trunke or bodie upward.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xvL 10.
pinazf (pi'naks), n. [< L. pinax, < G-r. wiva^,
a board, plank, tablet, picture.] A tablet ; a
list; a register; hence, that on which anything,
as a scheme or plan, is inscribed.
Consider whereabout thou art in that old philosophical
pinaa; of the lite of man. Sir T. Browne.
pinball-sight (pin'bS,l-sit), n. Same as bead-
sight.
pinbankt (pin'bangk), n. [ipinX + bank^.'\ A
bank or row of pins or spikes used in tortxire.
Then was he thrise put to the pinne banke, tormented
most miserably, to vtter his fetters on, which hee would
neuer do. Poxe, Martyrs, p. 817 (Hen. VIII., an. 1666).
But alas ! when death commeth, than commeth agalne
his sorow; than wil no soft bed aerue, nor no company
make him merie. Than he must leaue his outward wor-
ship & cumfort of his glory, and lie panting in his bed as
it were on a pin-banJce ; than commeth his f eare of his euil
life, and of his dreadful death.
Sir T. More, Cumfort against Tribulation (1573), f ol. 41.
pin-block (pin'blok), n. A block of wood split
from a larger piece, and of a size adapted to
and designed for fashioning into a pin.
pin-borer (pin'- j 2
bor'^r), n. The
pear-blight bee-
tle, Xyleborus
•dispar, of the
family Seolyti-
dse : so called
from the small
round punc-
tures, like large
pinholes, which
it makes through
the bark. [Can-
ada.]
pin-bush (pin'bush), n, A fine reaming- or pol-
ishing-tool for delicate metal-work.
pin-buttockt (pin'buf'ok), n. A sharp angular
buttock. Shak., All's Well, ii. 2. 18. [Low.]
pincase (pin'kas), n. A case for holding pins.
What do you lack, gentlemen? fine purses, pouches,
pincases, pipes? B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iii. 1.
pince-nez (pans'na), n. [F., < pincer, pinch,
+ obj. nez, nose: see pinch and mosel.] Eye-
glasses kept in place on the nose by a spring.
The lady with whom India had entered put up her
pince-nez. ffarper's Jfa^'., LXXVI. 44.
pincers (pin'sferz), ». sing, and pi. [Formerly
also pinsers ; < ME.jpj/resoMr, < OP. pingoir, pen-
coir (applied to a kmd of ;pincers used as a
Dook-mark, and to a contrivance with iron
stakes used in catching fish), < pincer, pinch :
«ee pimch.'] 1. A tool having two hinged jaws
which can be firmly closed and held together.
See cut under nippers.
And with a payre otpinsers strong
He pluckt a great tooth out.
Taming of a SArei* (Child's Ballads, VIII. 187).
3. In zool., nippers or prehensile claws of cer-
tain animals, as insects and crustaceans.
Every ant brings a small particle of that earth in her
^nncers, and lays it by the hole. Addison, Guardian.
Specifically — (a) A chela, or chelate limb. See cMol, and
cuts under lobster and Pedipaipi^. (b) Anal forceps.
Sometimes oalledi pinchers.
Saddlers' piicers, a form of pincers similar to those of
shoemakers, but heavier and with straighter grasping-
jaws. A lug projects from one of the jaws, and is used
as a fulcrum in drawing nails, and in pulling leather for-
ward and holding it firmly while it is tacked or stitched.
M. H. KnigM.
pincette (F. pron. pan-set'), n, [< F. pincette,
pincers, tongs, <. pincer, pinch: sbQi pinch. Cf.
pincers."] Mppers; tweezers.
pinch (pinch), V. [< ME.pindhen, pynchen, pinch,
nip, find fault with,< OF. pincer, F. pincer, pinch,
= Sp.jjmcfeor, prick; ef. It. picciare, picchiare,
pinch, peek with a beak (picdo, picchio, a beak),
now pizzare, pinch, also extended pizzicare =
Sp. pizcar, nip, pinch; cf. also MD. pitsen, G.
dial. (Ba.\.) pfltzen, pfetzen, pinch; It. pinzo, a
sting, goad. The relations of these forms are
undeterndned, and the ult. origin unknown.] I.
trans. 1. To compress between the finger and
thumb, or between the teeth, or the claws, or
with pincers or some similar instrument;
squeeze or nip between two hard opposing bod-
ies ; nip ; squeeze : as, to pinch one's self to
keep awake.
4494
Yet can you pinch out a false pair of sleeves to a frieza-
do doublet. Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, ii. 2.
The pile was in half a minute pushed over to an old be-
wigged woman with eye-glasses jwTicAiJM' her nose.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, i.
Think you Truth a fai'thing Tushlight, to be pinched out
when you will
With your deft ofBcial fingers, and your politicians skill?
Lowell, Anti-Apis.
2. Tq squeeze or press painfully upon : as, his
shoes pinch his feet.
Stiff in Brocade, and pinch'd in Stays,
Her Patches, Paint, and Jewels on ; . . .
And Phyllis is but Twenty-one.
Prior, Phyllis's Age.
When you pull on your shoo, you best may tel
In what part it doth chief ely pinch you.
Heywood, Dialogues, ii.
3. To seize or grip and bite : said of an animal.
A houild a freckled hind
In full course hunted ; on the f oreskirts, yet,
He pinched and pull'd her down.
Chapman, Odyssey, xix. 318.
4t. To find fault with.
As St. Paul . . . noteth It for a mark of honour ab(*ve
the rest that one is called before another to the Gospel,
so is it for the same cause amongst the churches. Ana in
this respect he pineheth the Corinths, that, not being the
first which received the Gospel, yet they would have their
several manners from other churches.
Quoted in Hooker's Eccles. Polity, iv. 13.
5t. To plait.
Ful semely hir wyvapel pinclied was.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. IBl.
6. To straiten; distress; aflict: a,s,to\>e pinch-
ed for food; pinched with poverty.
There lies the pang thatpfncAes me.
Sang of the Outtmo Murray (Child's Ballads, VI. 34).
You . . . that would enjoy.
Where neither want can pinch, nor fulness cloy.
Quarles, Emblems, iii.. Entertainment.
How hardly will some pinch themselves and Families
before they will make known their necessities !
StiUingfleet, Sermons, II. vii.
My wife . . . insisted on entertaining them all; for
which . . . our family was jwncAed for three weeks after.
Goldsmith, Vicar, vii.
7. To narrow, contract, or nip, as by cold or
want or trouble: as, ^»»c7jed features; a mind
narrow &nd pinched.
The air hath starved the roses in her cheeks,
And 2>a«cA'd the lily-tincture of her face.
5*11*., T. G. of v., iv. 4. 160.
Pinch'd are her looks, as one who pines for bread.
Craibe, Works, I. 79.
8. To move with a pinch or crowbar: as, to
pinch a gun into position.
II. intrans. 1. To exert a compressing or
nipping pressure or force ; bear hard : as, that
is where the shoe pimches.
I pinch not oft, nor doo I often praise ;
Yet, must I needs praise the praise-worthy still.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Triumph of Faith, Ded.
But thou
Know'at with an equal hand to hold the scale,
Seest where the reasons pinch, and where they fail.
Dryden.
2. To lay hold; bite or snap, as a dog.
All held in dismay
Of Diomed, like a sort of dogs, that at a lion bay,
And entertaine no spirit U> pinch. Chapman, Iliad, v.
3. To snarl; carp; find fault.
Every way this office of preaching is pinched at.
LaJlimer, 6th Sermon bet. Edw. VI., 1549.
4. To be sparing, parsimonious, or niggardly.
For to pinehe, and for to spare.
Of worldes mucke to gette encres.
Gower, Conf. Amant., v.
Surely lyke as the excesse of tare is to be iustely re-
proued, so in a noble man motihe pinehyng and nygardshyp
of meate and drynke is to be discommended.
Sir T. Elyot, The Governoui', iii. 21.
The wretch whom avarice bids ixi pinch and spare,
Starve, steal, and pilfer to enrich an heir. Franklin.
Money is exacted (either directly or through raised rent)
from the huckster who only by extreme j»7icA£n^ can pay
hep way, from the mason thrown out of work by a strike.
H. fencer, Man vs. State, p. 73.
5t. To encroach.
Yf Ich gede to the plouh ich pynchede on hus halt-acre.
Piers Plowman (0), vii. 267.
To know or feel where the shoe pinches, to know by
personal experience where the cause of difficulty or trou-
ble in any matter lies.— To plnCh att, to find fault with ;
take exception to.
He speke wol of smale thynges,
As for to pynchen at thy rekenynges.
That were nat honeste, it It came to pruf.
Chaucer, Prol. to Manciple s Tale, 1. 74.
pinch (pinch), Ji. [(.pinchjV.'] 1. The pressure
exerted by the finger and thumb when brought
together forcibly upon something, or any similar
pressure; a nip: as, to give one a, pinch on the
arm. — 2. As much of anything as can be lifted
between the finger and thumb ; hence, a very
pincher
small quantity: as, a pinch of snuff; a pinch of
salt.
She gave her Charity with a very good Air, but at the
same IMme asked the Church warden if he would take a
Pinch [of snufl]. Steele, Spectator, No. 344.
3. A gripe; a pang.
Kather I abjure all roofs, and choose
To wage against the enmity o' the air;
To be a comrade with the wolf and owl —
Necessity's sharp pinch ! Shak., Lear, ii. 4. 214,
Now, since some pinches have taken them, they begine
to reveile yn trueth, <fe say M'. Kobinson was in y« falte.
Cushman, quoted in Bradford's Plymouth Plantation, p. 72.
4. Pressure; oppression; difficulty; need.
The Norman in this narrow pinch, not so willmgly as
wisely, granted the desire.
Selden, Illustrations of Drayton's Polyolbion, xvili. 736.
Where the pinch lay, I cannot certainly affirm.
Simft, Tale of a Tub, i.
Steele had the pinch of Impecnniosity, due rather to ex.
cess of expenditure than to smallness of income.
Encyo. Brit., XXII. 628.
5. A pinch-bar.
"Pinches or torehammers will never pick upon 'ii" said
Hugh, the blacksmith. Scott, Black Dwarf, ix.
In, on, upon, or at a pinch, in an emergency ; under the
pressure ol necessity.
At apynch a frende is knowen,
I shall put them in aduenture.
Bemers, tr. of Froissart's Chron., II. cxviii.
Undone, undone, undone ! stay ; I can lie yet,
And swear too, at a pinch; that's all my comfort.
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, iv. 4.
Although my proper employment had been to be sur-
geon or doctor to the ship, yet often upon a pinch I was
forced to work like a common mariner.
Swift, Gulliver's Travels, ii. 6.
Jack at a pinch. See JaekU— Finch points, points on
a double line at which the two tangent planes coincide.
pinchback (pinch'bak), n. [< pinch, v., + obj.
ftacfci.] A miser who denies himself proper
raiment. Macleay.
pinch-bar (pinch'bar), n. A lever of iron with
a projecting snout and a fulcrum-foot, used to
move a heavy body by a succession of small
lifts. Also called pinching-bar.
pinchbeck (pinch'bek), n. and a. [Short for
Pinchbeck metal; so called after the inventor,
Chr. (Christopher?) Pj>ic7»6ec/1;, a London watch-
maker of the 18th century.] I. n. An aUoy of
three or four parts of copper with one of zinc,
much used in cheap jewelry.
Illness or sorrow shut us in away from the world's glare^
that we may see colors as they are, and know gold from
pinchbeck. T. Winthrop, Cecil Dreeme, xvii.
Many wore ear- hoops of pinchbeck, large as a dollar.
5. Jvdd, Margaret, i. 10.
II. a. Sham; spurious; bogus.
Most of these men were of the school of Molyneux, and
theirs was pinchbeck patriotism.
Westminster Rev., CXXVm. 795.
The pinchbeck heroism that was so ridiculous in that
singularly unheroic age . . . had its first exponent in
Defoe. New Princeton Bei)., yi. 9.
pinch-cock (pinch,'kok), n. A clamp for com-
pressing a flexible pipe, either to regulate the
flow of a liqtud through it or to serve as a stop-
cock by holding the sides of the tube in contact,
An india-rubber tube furnished with a. pinchcock.
Ure, Diet., IV. 24a
pinchcommonsf (pinch'kom"'onz), n. [< pinch,
v., + obj. commons, 4.] A parsimonious per-
son; a niggard; a miser.
The crazed projector, and the niggardly jmncA-contnumi
by which it [a house] is Inhabited. Scott, Pirate, vi.
pinche, n. Same aspincho,
pinched (pincht), ». a. 1. Compressed; con-
tracted; narrowed; presenting the appearance
of being straitened in circumstances or with
cold, want, trouble, or the like : as, a pinched
face; a pinched look. Also used occasionally with
the meaning of ' narrowing' or 'thinning ' in speaking of
mineral veins : as, the vein is pinched.
2. Narrow; reduced in size ; "skimped": said
especially of some forms of writing-paper: as,
pinched -post.— 3. Petty; contemptible.
He has discover'd my design, and I
Remain a pinch'd thing. Shak., W. 1., ii. 1. 6L
4. Arrested ; apprehended. [Thieves' slang.]
-;-5. Of long, slender growth, as oysters,
pinchem (pin'chem), ». lAiao pincher ; imita-
tive of its note.] The note of the titmouse;
hence, a titmouse, as Parus ceeruleus. [Prov.
Eng.]
pincherl (pin'chto), n. [< ME. 'pincher, pyn-
char; < pinch + -eri.] 1. One who or that
which pinches. — 2. Aniggard; amiser. Prompt.
Parv., p. 399.-8. Among quarrymen, etc., a
person using a pinch, in contradistinction to
those moving stones, eto^ otherwise.
pincher^ (pin'chfer), n. Same as pinchem.
FiDchmg-tongs.
i, b't handles pivoted toge-
ther at c.
pincher
The titmouse foretells eold when crying Pineher.
Wa^ard, Nature's Secret^ p. 132.
pin-cherry (pin'oher^i), n. The wild red dheT-
■cy,Prunus Pennsylvanica, found in the northern
United States, etc. it is a small tree with clusters
of small acid fruits, sometimes used domestically and in
cough mixtures. Also pigeon-clierry.
pinchers (pin'eherz), n. sing, imipl. [An ae-
com. form ot pincers, aSter pineher.'} 1. Same
as pincers. — 2. A tool for splicing wire rigging.
pinchfist (pinch 'fist), n. [< pinch, v., + obj.
,^fi.] A niggard ; a miser.
pinchgut (pineh'gat), n. [< pinch, v., + gut.}
A miserly person.
pinching-bar (pin'ehiag-bar),n. Same aspinch-
bar.
pinching-bug (pin'ching-bug), n. The dobson
or hell^ammite. [Western Pennsylvania.]
pinchingly (pin'chmg-li), adv. Sparingly; par-
simoniously.
Giving stingily and pinchingly, now and then a little
pocket-money or so, to run the hazard of beiug transgress-
ors of the commandment, and having our portion among
the covetous and unmercifnL Atp. Sharp, Works, I. viL
pinching-mit (pin'ehiag-nut), n. A piuoh-nut,
jam-nut, eheck-nut, or lock-nut.
pinching-pin (pin'ohing-pin), w. In a steam-
engine, a part of the usual device for keeping
a slide-valve packed or tight upon its seat.
E. H. Knight.
pinching-tongS (pin'chlng-tdngz), n. sing, and
pi. In. glass-making,
a kind of tongs used
in the manufacture
of chandelier-pen-
dants, etc. Each Jaw
of the tongs is a die, the
two jaws when closed
forming a mold within
which the plastic glass
is compressed. The hole for the wire which suspends the
drop is formed by a piercer which is inserted into the mold
through the ends of the jaws,
pincho (pin'cho), M. [S.Amer.] A South Amer-
ican marmoset, Midas cedipus.
pinchpenny (pineh'pen''i), n.; yl. pinchpennies
(-iz). [< pinch, v., + obj. penny.} A niggard.
They accompt one . . . apy7icAj»nn^if hehenotpiod-
ygalL -2^2j/, Enphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 109.
pinch-plane (pineh'plan), n. A singularity of
a surface consisting of a generating plane in
the developable envelop of the planes having
double contact with the surface where the two
points of contact coincide.— Double pincb-plaue,
a singularity arising from the coincidence of two pinch-
plaues.
pinch-point (pinoh'point), n. A singularity of
a surface consisting of a point on a double line
or nodal curve where the two tangent-planes
coincide. — Double pincih-point, a singularity arising
from the coincidence of two pinch-points.
pinch-spotted (pineh'spofed), a. Discolored
from having been pinched, as the sUn. Shale.,
Tempest, iv. 1. 261.
pinckiainyt, n. Same a,s pigsney.
John. Prithee, little pinekany, bestow this iewell a me.
Beywood, If you Know not Me (Works, ed. Pearson, 1. 308).
Pinckneya (pingk'ni-a), n. [Nil. (Richard,
1803), named after Charles Cotesworth Pimek-
ney, a South Carolinian statesman.] A genus of
small gamopetalous trees of the order Bubiacese
and tribe Condaminese, type of the subtribe
Pinckneyese, characterized by the woolly corol-
la-lobes and calyx-tube, and by having one sepal
dilated into a large rose-colored leaf -like blade.
The only species, P. piibens, is a native of the soathern
United States (in the Carolinas and Florida). It bears
roundish and closely wool^ branchlets, with large thin op-
posite leaves, and showy pink- and pm^le-spotted flowers
in axillary and terminal corymbs, made more conspicuous
by the pinkish bracts, which are ovate and leaf-like and
reach 2 inches in length, the flowers IJ inches. See fever-
tree, 2, and Georgia bark (under ftorftS),
pin-clover (pin'Mo'ver), n. Same as alJileriUa.
pin-connection (pin'ko-nek'''shon), n. In an
iron or steel bridge, a connection of the parts
by the use of pins, m contradistinction to con-
nections made with tnm-buckles, rivets, etc.
This method of connecting parts of bridges is
believed to be of American origin.
pin-cop (pin'kop), n. A roll of yam, shaped like
a pear, used for the weft in power-looms.
pinc-pinc (pingk'pingk), m. [Imitative; cf.
pin0.} A name of the reed-warbler, Dry-
mceca or Cisticola schtmicla, and of other Afri-
, can warblers of the same genus. One of them.D.
textrix, is remarkable for building a beautiful nest^ some-
thing like that of the long-tailed titmonse, with a supple-
mentary nest outside for the use of the male. See cut in
next column.
pincurtlet, «■ A pinafore. HalUwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
4495
Pinc-pinc {VrymoKa textrix).
pincushion (pin'kush''gn), n. 1. A cushion
into which pins are stiick when not in use.
[The first quotation refers to the originally high
value of pins.]
Beggar myself with purse and^TicttfAton,
When she that is the mistress may be mine?
Shirley, Witty Fair One, iiL 2.
Thou art a Ketailer of Phrases, and dost deal in Rem-
nants of Bemnauts, like a Maker of Pincushions.
Corngrew^ Way of the World, iv. 9.
2. A plant of the genus Scabiosa, the scabious:
so called with reference to the soft convex
flower-head. Also applied locally to various other
plants, as the snowb^, VOmmum Opvlus, sometimes
called pincusAum-tree.— Sobln-redbieast's pincush-
ion. Same as bedegar.
pind (pind), V. t. [< ME. pynden, < AS. "pyn-
dan, in comp./or^p^JKiaK,put in a pound, pound,
< pund, pound : see pouncP. Cf . pend\ pen^,
pin^.} To impound, as cattle, shut up or con-
fine in a pound.
pindal (pin'dal), n. [Alsopinda,pindar,pinder:
said to be of African origin.] The groundnut
or peanut, Araehis hypogsea. [Southern U. S.
and West Indies.]
pindarH, «• Same aspinder^.
pindar^, n. Same a,s pindal.
pindara (pin-da'ra), n. [< Hind. Pinddrd, <
Canarese Pindara, Penddri, Marathi Pinddri,
eta.: see pindaree.}_ Ba.Tiie as pindaree.
pindaree (pin-dar'e), n. [Also pindarry; <
Hind. Pinddri, < Marathi Pindha/ri, prop. Pen-
dhdri = Canarese Pernddri, a plunderer, free-
booter.] A member of a horde of mounted
robbers in India, notorious for their atrocity
and rapacity. They first appeared about the end of
the seventeenm century, and infested the possessions of
the East India Company and the surrounduig country in
the eighteenth century. They were disorderly and mer-
cenary horsemen, organized for indiscriminate raiding and
looting. They were dispersed in 1817 by the Maiquis of
Hastings, then goTemor-generaL
Pindaric (pin-dar'ik), a. and n. [= F. pin^
darigue =: Sp. Pg. It. Pindarico, < L. Pindarieus,
< Grr. HivdapmSg, < Jlivdapoc, Pindar (see def.).]
I. a. Of or pertaining to Pindar, one of tiie
first of Greek lyric poets (about 522 to 443
B. c), or resembling or characteristic of his
style.
Almighty crowd ! thou shortenest all dispute, . . .
Thou leap'st o'er all eternal truths in thy Pindaric way !
Dryden, The Medal, 1. 94.
You will find, by the account which I have already
given you, that my compositions in gardening are alto-
gether after the Pindaric manner, and run into the beau-
tiful wildness of nature, without affecting the nicer ele-
gancies of art. Addison, Spectator, No. 477.
It was a strange misconception that led people for cen-
turies to use the word Pindaric and irregular as synony-
mous terms; whereas the very essence of the odes of Pin-
dar ... is their regularity. Encyc. Brit., XIX. 270.
Pindaric hendecasyllabic. See hendeeasyUabic.
n, n. An ode in imitation of the odes of Pin-
dar; an ode in irregular or constantly chang-
ing meter. Addison,
I sometimes see supreme beauty in Pindar, but English
Pindarics are to me Incomprehensible.
C. A. Ward, N. and Q., 6th ser., IX. 68.
Pindarical (pin-dar'i-kal), a. [< Pindaric +
-dl.} Same as Pindaric.
You may wonder, sir (for this seems a little too extrava-
gant and pindarical for prose), what I mean by all this
preface. Cowley, The Garden.
Pindarism (pin'dar-izm), n. [= F.pindarisme;
< Pindar + -ism.} Imitation of Pindar.
Pindarism prevailed about halt a century, but at last
died gradu^y away, and other imitations supply its place.
Johnson, Cowley.
A sort of intoxication of style — a Pindarism, to use a
word formed from the name of the poet on whom, above
sjl other poets, the power of style seems to have exercised
an inspiring and intoxicating effect,
M. Arnold, Study of Celtic Literature, p. 144.
pine
Pindarist (pin'dSr-ist), n. [< Pindar + -ist-l
An imitator of Pindar. Johnson.
pindarry (pin-dar'i), n. Same as pindaree.
pinderl (pin'der), n. [Early mod. E. also j>otn-
der, ailso pinner, pynner; <.'iKE.pynder,pyndare;
< pind + -er\ Cf. poundei-^.} The officer of
a manor whose duty it was to impound stray
cattle.
With that they espy'd the idUjpinder,
As he sat under a thorn.
*'Now turn again, turn again," said ibepinder.
For a wrong way yon have gone.
Jolly Finder of Wakefield (Child's Ballads, T. 205).
The poinder chafes and swears to see beasts in the com,
yet wiU pull up a stake, or cut a tether, to find supply for
his pin-fold. Bev. T. Adams, Works, L 183.
In the country, at every court leet, ale-tastera were ap-
pointed, with tbepinder or pounder, eta
5. DoweU, Taxes in England, IV. 56.
pinder^ (pin'der), n. Same a.s pindal.
The words by which the peanut is known in parte of the
South — goober and pinder — are of African origin.
Jour. Amer. Folk-Lmv, IX 162.
pindjajap (pin'ja-jap), n. A boat of Sumatra
and ttie Malay archipelago, with from one to
three masts, generally two, carrying square
Pindjajap of Sumatra.
sails, and having much overhang or projection
at both stem and stem. Pindjajaps are employed in
bringing spices, etc, to the ports frequented by Europeans,
and were also fitted out as pirate vessels.
Pindova palm. See palm^.
pin-driU, n. See drilP-.
pindrow (pin'dro), n. See Mng-pvne, under
pme^.
pindust (pin'dust), n. Small particles of metal
produced in the manufacture of pins.
The little pEuiicles otpindvst, when mingled with sand,
cannot^ by their mingling, make it lighter. Sir K. Digby.
pinei (pin), n. [< ME. j)ine,pyne, pin, < AS. *pin,
in eamp. pmie4m,pintredw, pine-tree, ='D.pijn-
(fioom) = MHG. pine{bomn), pm{boum) (G. 2rinie
= Sw. Deai.pinie) = F. Pr. pin = Sp. It. pino =
Pg. pinho = Ir. pm{chrann), < L. pinus, pine;
prob. orig. *picnus,<pia! (pic-), pitch: see^icft^.
Cf. Gr. idrvi, pine.] 1. Any ta-ee of the genus
Piniis. The pines are evergreens ranging in size from
that of a low bush up to a height of 300 feet. Some of
them are ot the highest economic importance from the tim-
ber obtained from them, which, though not of the finest
cabinet quality, is very extensively used in all kinds of con-
struction. In this regard the most important species are—
in Eui'ope, the Scoteh pine ; in North America, the (Cana-
dian) red pine, the common white pine, the long-leafed
pine, the yellow pine of the east, and that of the west ; in
India, the Bhutan, chir, and Khasian pines; and in Japan,
the mateu (Japanese pine). (Seebelow.) The resinous pro-
ducte of some are of great value (eeepitch^, tar, tierpen-
Une, resin, aMetene, avstralene ; also Aleppo pine, cluster-
pine, Cor^canpine, long^afed pine, Mughopine, and stmte-
pine — all below, and cAtr); and some species are useful
for their edible seeds (see ntft-jnTu). See also jir-v}odl, and
pine-needle wool (under pine-needle).
2. One of various other coniferous trees, as the
Moreton Bay pine and the Oregon pine (see be-
low) ; also, one of a few small plants suggest-
ing the pine. See ground-pine. — 3. The wood
of any pine-tree. — 4. The pineapple Aleppo
pine, a middle-sized tree, Pinus Hcdepehsis, of Mediter-
ranean Europe and Asia, occurring along with the Lebanon
cedars. It produces a useful wood, and is the source of the
Alepiwtnrpentine.— Aml)0ynapine,.4pattts(7)omn!ara,
ori^fitalis. Also called dammar-pine. See Dammara. —
Ausl^lan pine, a rather tall tree, Pinvs nigricans, of Aus-
tria, ete., having long dark glossy foliage, and resinous
wood of moderate worth. Also called Ua«i;^n«.— Bas-
tard pine. Same as dash-pine. — Bhutan or Bhotan
pine, Pinus exeelsa, of the Himalayas and Afghanistan, a
symmetrical tree growing 150 feet high, with a valuable
wood, close-grained and easily worked. Also called lofty
pine. A native name is kaU. — Bishop's pine. Same as
D&£^j»>ie.— Black pine, (a) Pinus Jfurroj/aTia, a tree
of moderate size and worth, of Pacific North America. Alsio
called tamarack, lodge-pole pine, ridge-pole pine, and spruce-
pine, (b) Same as Austrian pine, (c) Same as buU-pine
(a), (d) Same as miro. — Brajdlian pine, Araucaria Bra-
^Uensts, a fine tree growing 100 feet high, which forms
large forests in sontliem Brazil. Ite seeds are large and
pine
edible, and its wood is fit for boards, masts, etc. — Broom-
Bine. Same as long-leafed »in«.— Bull-pine. (a) Pinus
Jeffreyi, of tlie Sierra Nevadas, a large tree whose wood
afltords much coarse lumber. Also called black pinefTruckee
pine, (p) Same as digger-pine. (c)SameaayeUowpine(a). (d)
Same as yellow pine (c). — Buuya-buii^a pine. See bunya-
bunya. — Galabrian pine. See Cm-sican pine and c?w«ter-
jnne.— Canadian pme. Same as retj pine (a).— Canary
pine, Pinus Canariensie, forming extensive forests at high
elevations on the Canary Islands. Its timber is considered
good, and is not subject to insect ravages, — Candlewood
pine, a resinous Meidcan tree, Finns Zeocote. Also called
toJ-cApiM.— Cedar-pine, a middle-sized tree, Pimis gla-
bra, found locally in the southern United States, and of no
great value. Also called sprucepirw and wMte pine.—
Celery-pine, celei^-leafed pine, any one of the three
species of Phyllocladus, beautiful trees, so called from their
branchlets resembling a dissected leaf. P, trichonumai-
deSf of Kew Zealand, furnishes a strong durable timber,
and is called by the coloniats piteh-pine. The Tasmanian
P. rh07ti^oidalis(P. a^lenifolia) is known as the cdery-top
^ne, and yields elastic spars. — Cembra Pine, the Swiss
stone-pine. See stone-piney below. — Cheel, Cheer, or chir
pine, the long-leafed pine of India. See cMr. — Chilian
pine. See Arauearia.— ClUSter-plne, the Pimis Pinaster
of southern Europe. Its stout leaves are set in dense
whorls, and its cones are borne in clusters of from four to
eight It furnishes the Bordeaux turpentine fsee barras^
and galipot), and its timber is of fair worth. It is used on
a large scale in southern France to reclaim sandy wastes.
It is also called Tnaritime pine and. star-pine. The Gala-
brian cluster-pine is P. BruMa.— Corsican pine, Pinws
LariciOf of Mediterranean Europe, a species reaching a
height of 120 feet, notably forming woods on Mount Etna
at an altitude of from 4,000 to 6,000 feet. It yields turpen-
tine, and its coarse elastic wood is easily worked and dura-
ble. Its variety PaUasia'aa, of the Taurus Mountains, is
the Taurikn or seaside pine. Also called Caiairian pine
and Corsican larch.— Ooyrdie, cowrle pine. See kauri-
pine and Dammara. — Dammar-^lne. Same as Amboy-
napine, — Digger-pine, Pimts SaMrdana, a large tree com-
mon on the foot-hiUs of California mountains. It is much
used for fuel, and is one of the nut-pines. Also called
bull-pine.— 'DOMgiSS pine. Same as Oregonpine.—Tiwaxf
pine. See Xugho pine. — Dye-pine. Same aa king-pine. —
Emodl pine. Same as eheel pine. — Foxtail-pine, Pinus
Balfouriana, var. aristata, of Nevada, etc., a rather large
soft- wooded tree, used in timbering mines. It is now near-
ly exhausted. Also called hickory-pine. — Frankincense-
pine. Same as loblolly-pine. — Georgia pine. Same as
long-leafed pine. — Giant pine. Same as sugar-pine. —
Glnger-plne^ the Oregon, Port Orford, or white cedar,
Chameeeyparts Lawsoniaruiy admired in cultivation, and
most valuable for its hard, strong, close-grained, and dura-
ble wood, which has many uses. Its odoriferous resin is
apowerful diuretic and insecticide.— Goldeu pine. Same
as Chinese ov golden larch. See larch. — Gray pine, Pinus
Banksiana, a species ranging from the northern borders of
the United States northward, of an ashen color, vaiying in
size from 60 feet high down to a straggling bush. Its wood
serves for fuel, railway-ties, etc. Also called Hudson's Bay
or Labrador pine, northern scrub-pine, and prince'e-pine. —
Hard pine, specifically, the long-leafed pine.— Highland
pine, the horizontal Scotch pine. — Himalayan pine.
Same as iMoai-pine.— Hudson's Bay Pine. Seegraypine.
—Japanese pine. See matsu. The Japanese red pine
is the akamatsu.— Jersey pine, Pinus inops, a generally
small, straggling tree, growing in barren soil on the eastern
coast of the United States, in Kentucky, etc., and westward
largely used for pump-logs and water-pipes. Also called
scrub-pine.— Ehasiau pine, Pinus Knasya: in the Khar
slan mountains a small tree ; in the Burmese hills some-
times 200 feet high.— Elng-plne, a lofty flr, Abies Webbi-
ana, of the Himalayas and Afghanistan, a stout black tree of
columnar outline, or flat-headed, sometimes liSO feet high.
Its fragrant resinous wood is useful, and its young cones
yield a beautiful violet dye, whence it is sometimes called
dye-pine. The pindrow-flr is a variety of the king-pine.
— ^Ob-cone pine, Pinus tuliereulata, an unimportant
species of the western United States.— Labrador pine.
Same as gray pine. — Lacebark-pine, Pinus Bungeana, of
northern Cliina, cultivated by the Chinese in pots. It sheds
its outer bark every season.— Lambert's pine. Same as
n<f7ar-}){ne.— Lodge-pole pine. Same as blaek pine (a).
—Lofty pine, same as Bftuton pine. —Long-leafed pine,
a tree of great economical importance, Pimts palustris (P.
mistrcdU), forming extensive forests along the coast of the
United States from southern Virginia to Texas, rarely ex-
tending inland more than 160 miles. It grows 70 feet
high and a yard in diameter, and its needles are nearly a
foot long. Its wood is very hard and strong, tough, coarse-
grained, and durable, of a reddish color. It is largely man-
ufactured into lumber, and used in ship-building and all
kinds of construction. This tree furnishes also nearly all
the turpentine, tar, pitch, resin, and spirits of turpentine
produced in the United States. Also called tovthem or
Qeorgiapin£,yiMowpine,anAhardpine;a(ya\etvaie&broomov
red pine, and, especially in England, piteA-piiie. —Mahog-
any pine. Sameastotora.— Maritimefiine. Sameasc!M«-
ter-j)ine.— Meadow-pine. Sameassio«A-i>ine.— Monterey
pine, tlie Californian H,nus insignie, in the wild state rare
and local, but now widely cultivated on the Pacific coast
for shelter and ornament: a tree of rapid growth, with
beautiful fresh green foliage.— Moreton Bay pine. Same
asAopp-pine.- Mountaln-plne. (a)TheMughopine. (6)
See whUe pine (6).— MughO pine, Pinus Mughus, a small
tough-wooded tree found on the mountains of southern
Europe, and sometimes called mountain-pine. A variety,
the dwarf pine (P. Punalio) of Austria, etc., yields the
Hungarian balsam, sparingly used in medicine. See inee-
pine.— Neoza-plne, Pimus Oerardiarta, of the northwest-
ern Himalayas, a stout tree growing 60 feet high, with a sil-
veiy bark which peels off in long flakes. It yields abun-
dant turpentine, and each cone affords about 100 edible
seeds or neoza-nuts, whence it is sometimes called JVepaZ
nM^pin6.— Norfolk Island plne^ Araumria exeelsa, a
majestic tree, sometimes 200 feet lugh, abounding on Nor-
folk Island, and afifording a tongh and close-grained tim-
ber. It is said to produce very large compact knots of
a semi-transparent brown, valuable for turnery, etc.—
Norway pine. See red pine (a).— Nut pine. See nut-
pine and piflon, also neoza-pine and stone-pine. — OblspO
vine, a locsil C^ifornian tree, Pinus muricata, of no
4496
great value.— Ocote or okOte pine. Same as caruUe-
wocdpiTie.- Old-field pine, the loblolly- pine, which of-
ten springs up on abandoned lands, or as second growth
after the long-leafed pine.— Oregon pine, the Douglas
flr or pine, Pseudotsuga Douglasii. It ranges from British
Columbia to Mexico, but is at its best in Oregon and Wash-
ington, where it forms large forests, and sometimes exceeds
300 feet in height. It is the most valuable timber-tree
of the Pacific region. Its wood is hard, strong, and dura-
ble, difiicult to work, largely manufactiured into lumber,
and used for all kinds of construction , for masts and Spars,
railway-ties, etc. Lumbermen distinguish varieties of the
wood as red and yellow fir, the red less valuable. The bark is
serviceabl ef or tanning.— Oyster Bay pine, CaUitris rhom-
boidea, a somewhat useful conifer of Tasmania — Flnas-
ter-plne,theclnster-pine.— Pltch-plne. (ffl) InAmerica,
Pinusrigida, a moderate tree of stiff habit, found from New
Brunswick to Georgia. Its wood is used for fuel, charcoal,
and coarse lumber. Also called torch-pine. (S) In Eng-
land, the long-leafed pine, or its imported wood, (c) See
celery-pine. — Pond-pine, Pin2issero(in«, a moderate-sized
tree of peaty or wet ground from North Carolina to Flori-
da.—Pnnce'B-pine. (a) The gray pine. (6) See Chima-
pAi2a.— Redplne. (a) An important tree, PiniMresinoso,
found throughout Canada, sparingly in northern New Eng-
land, and at its best in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota*
It grows from 70 to 140 feet high. Its wood is of a light-
reddish color, resinous, light, hard, tough, and elastic ; it
is largely manufactured into lumber, and used for spars,
piles, and all kinds of construction. Without good reason
called Norway pine, (b) See DocJ^dium.— Ridge-pole
pine. Same aailack pine (a).
Ridge-pole pines, which grow close together, and do not
branch out until the stems are thirty or forty feet from
the ground. T. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips, p. 331.
Sosemary-plne. See 2oE>ion2/-pine.— Sunning pine. See
Lycopodium. — Sand-pine, a tree of moderate size, Pinus
dausa, found in Florida on sandy ridges : of small use.
Also called spnww-pine.- Sap-pine. Same as pitch-pine
(a). [Rare. ] — Scotch pine, Pinus sylvestris, the only indi-
genous species of Pinus in the British Isles, widely spread
throughout Europe, especially on mountains, in Scandina-
via forming large forests. Its reddish-tinged wood, one of
the mostgeneridly useful of pine woods, is extensively em-
ployed in civil and naval architecture, etc. It is the red
or yellow deal of Great Britain. More often called .^r than
ptTie; locally named redwood; commercially designated
as 'Dantzie, Riga, Swedish, etc. , fir. A variety, horizontalis,
with horizontal branches and red wood, is the Highland,
Speyside, or horizontal Scotch fir or pine. — Scrub-pine.
Same as Jersey pine. Tlie northern scrub-pine is the same
aagraypine. — Seaside pine. See Corsican pine. — Short-
leafed Pine. See i/e22ow pine (a).— Siberian pine. See
stone-pine (c). — Silver pine. Same as yellow pine (c). —
Southern pine, the long-leafed pine.— Speyside pine.
See Scotch pine. — Spruce-plne. Same as blaek pine (a),
cedar-pine, sand-
pine, and yellow
pine (a).— Stone-
pine, (o) The Ital-
ian stone-pine. Pi-
n/us Pinea, of Medi-
terranean Europe, a
low round-headed
tree, in Greece
growing 60 feet
high. It is much
cultivated for or-
nament and for
its large seeds,
which are a con-
siderable article of
trade as a dessert
nut. (jb) The Swiss
stone-pine, or arol-
la, Pint« Ceml/ra, a
middle-sized tree
with fragrant and
resinous, very flne-grained soft wood, much used for carv-
ing and cabinet-work. The seeds are edible, and abound
in oil. It yields a turpentine called Carpathian balsam,
(c) The Siberian stone-pine, Pinus Cemitra, var. ^Mrica. —
Sugar-plne, Pinus Laihbertiana, of the Pacific United
States, a common tree, sometimes 275 feet high, yielding a
light, soft timber, made into lumber, and used for inside
finish, etc., but less valuable than the eastern white pine.
Burnt or cut trees exude a sweet resinous matte^ sometimes
usedforsugar. TheconesaresometimesHfeetlong. Also
called ^nt pine, £in»5er('8pine.— Swlssplne. Seegfone-
piTie (b). — ^Tahle-mountaJn pine, Pinus pungens, of the
AUeghanies, in Tennessee forming large forests, in Penn-
sylvania largely made into charcoal. Also called hickory-
pine. — Taurlan pine. See Corsican pine.— Torch-pine.
Same as candlewood
pine,orpitch-pine(,a).
— Totaraplne. See
totaira. — Truckee
pine. Same as buU-
pine (a).— Umbrella
pine, Sciadopitys ver-
tieillata, of Japan.
See Sciadopityg. —
Virginian pine, an
old name of the long-
leafed pine.— Wa-
ter-pine,the Chinese
Taxodium helerophyl-
lum, a nearly ever-
green tree or bush
growing , in wet
places, and planted
along the margins
of rice-flelds. — Wey-
mouth pine,aname,
in England, of the
common American
white pine. It was
largely planted by
Lord Weymouth soon
Branch with Cone ofWMte Pine (PteBj f?'^'. JtS iutroduc-
Slrobus). a, the seed; 4, a very young ™° ™to England.—
cone. White pine. (a)Pi-
Cone of Stone-pine (Pt'nus Pinea). on its
branch. 2. A fascicle of (two) leaves.
pine
nus Strobus, found from Newfoundland through Canada
and the region of the Great Lakes, and south along the
AUeghanies to Georgia. It is at its best in the Upper Lake
region, where it forms extensive forests. It rises from 76
to 150 feet, and produces a lights soft, straight-grained
timber of a light straw-color, more largely manufactured
into lumber than tliat of any other North American tree,
and used in building and for a great variety of purposes.
The wliite pine is also an effective ornamental tree. See
Weymouth pine, and yellow pine (c). (b) Pinus nwnlicola,
a large species of the western United States, not very com-
mon but in Idaho an important timber-tree, (c) The cedar-
pine! (d) The Koclty Mountain species Pimts refiexa, of
Arizona, andP.fiexilis, which serves for lumber in Nevada,
where better is wanting, (e) Same as /raMiateo.— Yellow
pine (a) Pimts mitis, ranging from New Jersey, through
the Gulf States, to Texas, and thence to Missouri and Kan-
sas : the most valuable of the yellow pines except the long-
leafed in contrast with which it is called short-leafed pine.
Its heavy and hard orange-colored wOod is largely made
into lumber, especially west of the Mississippi, where it is
best developed. Also sprtice-pine and bvU-pine. (b) The
long-leafed pine, (c) An important species, Pinus pondero-
sa, found in the Black Hills, and from British Columbia,
through the Pacific region, to Texas and Mexico : within
Its range the most valuable tunber-tree alter the Oregon
pine. It sometimes approaches 300 feet in height, but is
commonly much lower, especially in the Kooky Mountains.
Its heavy, hard, and strong, but not durable, timber fur-
nishes lumber, railway- ties, etc. Also called bull-pine, sil-
ver-pine, (d) Pinus Arizonica, a species of minor impor-
tance in the mountains of Arizona, (e) A commercial
name of the common white pine. (See also grorand-pine,
heavy-pine, hoop-pine, hwm-pine, kauri-pine, knee-pine, lob-
lolly-pine, and slash-pine.)
pine^f (pin), n. [< ME. pine, pyne, < AS. pm =
OS. pin = OPries. pine = D. pijn = MLG. pine
= 0H&. pitia, hma, MHG. pine, pin, Gr. pein =
Icel. pina = Sw. pina = Dan. pine, pain, woe,
< L. pcena, ML. also pena, punishment, pain:
seepain^. Pine^ seadpain are both < L. jjasbo,
one coming through the AS., the other through,
the OF.] Pain: torment; anguish; misery;
suffering; wretchedness.
Doun with Proserpyne,
Whan I am dede, I wol go wone in pyne.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 474.
They shalle be clone of synne & pyne
As Cryste clensed the of thyne.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Fnmivall)^ p. 125.
His raw-bone cheekes, through penurie and piTie,
Were slironke into his jawes. Spenser, F. Q., I. ix.-S5.
O how sail I eat or drink, master,
Wi' heart sae fu* o' pine?
Burd Ellen (Child's Ballads, HL 217).
The victor liath his foe within his reach.
Yet pardons her that merits death and pine.
Fairfax, tr. of Tasso, xvL 57.
Done to pine, put to death ; starred to deattu
Whether he alive be to be found.
Or by some deadly chaunce be don£ to pine.
Spenser, F. Q., TI. v. 28.
pine^ (pin), V. ; pret. andpp. pined, ppr. pirmg.
[< ME. pinen,pynen, < Aa.pinian, torment, tor-
ture, = ML(3-. pinen = 0H&. pinon, MKG.pinen
(also extended OFiies. pinigia,pingia = 'D.pj-
mgen='MS.Q. pinigen, Or. peinigen) =Ieel. pinu
= Sw. pina = Dan. pine, pain, torture ; from the
noun : seepine^, n. Cf . pain\ v., punish.l I,
trans. 1 . To pain ; afSiet ; torture ; starve ; wear
out or consume, as with sickness, pain, or grief.
It nedeth nought to pyne yow with the corde.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 888.
A burning fever him so pynde awaye
That death did finish this his doleful! daye.
The Newe Metamorphosis (1600), MS. (Nares.)
Beare a pleasaunt conntenaunce with a pined conscience.
Lyly, Euphues, Anat. of Wit) p. 117.
I left in yonder desert
A virgin almost pin'd.
Fletcher, Sea Voyage, ii. 2.
This present Spring, Anno Christi 1666, a Quaker, bemg
put into prison at Colechester for his misdemeanours, re-
solved (as it appeared) to pine himself ; whereupon he ab-
stained from all manner of food for divers days together.
S. Clarke, Examples, p. 271.
2. To grieve for; bemoan; bewail.
Abash'd the devil stood, . . . and saw
Virtue in her shape how lovely ; saw, and pined
His loss. JfiJton, P. L., iv. 848.
II. intrans. 1. To be consumed with grief or
longing; grow thin or waste away with pain,
sorrow, or longing ; languish : often with away :
as, she pined away and died.
Ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine amay
for your iniquities. Ezefc xxiv. 23.
There is but One, but One alone.
Can set the Pilgrim free.
And make him cease to pine and moan.
Prior, Wandering Pilgrim, st. 11.
Upon the Eebels HI success James Fitz-Eustace, Vis-
count Baltinglas, fled into Spain, where he pined away
with Grief. Baker, Chronicles, p. 36L
On the death of the late Duke, it [Parma] was taken
possession of by the French, and is now pining away under
the influence of their iron domination.
Eustace, Italy, I. v{.
2. To long; languish with longing desire: usu-
ally with /or before the object of desire.
pme
Loathing, from racks of husky straw he turns.
And, pining, for the verdant pasture mourns.
Bmve, tr. of Lucan, v.
Far whom, and not /or Tybalt, Ja\iet pined.
Shak., R. and J., v. 3. 236.
I pine to see
My native hUl once more. Bryant, Song.
3. To shrink or "render," as fish in the process
of curing. =Syn. 1. To droop, flag, wither.
pineS (pin), n. [Origin obscure.] The black-
headed gull, Chroicocephalus ridibundus. Also
piiiemaw. [Ireland.]
pineal (pin'f-al), a. [= p. piniale = Sp. Pg.
pineal = It. pineale, < L. pinea, a pine-cone;
prop. fern, of pineus, of the pine, < pinus, pine :
see jrine^,'] 1. Pertaining to a pme-oone, or
resembling it in shape. — 3. Pertaining to the
pineal body.— pineal body, a small, free, ovoid, coni-
cal, reddish organ, attached to the posterior cerebral com-
missure, and projecting downward and backward between
the anterior pair of the corpora quadrigemina. It is be-
lieved to be a vestigial sense-organ, probably of sight.
Also called pineal gland, conarium, ptnus, and epiphysis
cerebri. See cuts under corpus, encephaton, and viscercA.
Courtiers and spaniels exactly resemble one another in
the pineal gland. Arbuthnot and Pope.
Pineal eye, a visual organ on the top of the head of some
extinct animals, of which the existing pineal body is sup-
posed to be the persistent vestige. The site of such an
organ is indicated by that vacuity of the skull of some ex-
tinct mammals and reptiles known as the pariebU fora-
men, and the eye itself is also called parietal eye and third
«S/e.— Pineal peduncles, the habenee or habenulse. See
jpeduncZe.— Pineal ventricle, the cavity sometimes fotmd
within the pineal body, as a persistent fetal condition.
pineapple (pin'ap"l), n. [Early mod. E. also
pyneapple, pyneable; < ME. pinappel, pynap-
pul, pynappylle, < AS. pinseppel, < pin, pine, +
^peZ, apple.] If. Theconeorstrobiiusof the
pine ; a pine-cone.
His [the pine's] fruite is great Boulleans or bawles of a
brown chestnut colour, and are cMeA. pine-apples.
Lift£, Dodoens, p. 769.
S. The fruit of Ananas (Ananassa) sativa: so
called from its resemblance to a, pine-cone.
This is a collective fruit, con-
sisting of a matured spike or
head of flowers, all parts of
which — flowers, bracts, and
axis— are consolidated in one
succulent mass. In hothouse
culture a single fruit has been
known to weigh 14 pounds.
3. The plant Ananas sa-
tiva, a native of tropical
South America, now
widely cultivated and
naturalized throughout
the tropics, its short stem
rises from a cluster of rigid
recurved leaves, like those of
the aloe, but thinner. The axis
extends beyond the single
frnit in a tuft of short leaves
called the crown. Highly cul-
tivated varieties are seedless,
and are propagated by the
crown, or(commonly) by suck-
ers, which produce fruit much
sooner. The chief seat of
pineapple cultivation is the West Indies, whence the fruit
IB exported in large quantities to the United States and
England. The leaves, some 3 feet long, yield a strong fiber,
which in the Philippine Islands and elsewhere is woven
into a fine fabric. So-called pineapple-cloths are also
made from the iiber of other species of Bromeliacese, as
Bromelia Pinguin, the wild pineapple.
4. A fish of the family DiodonUdx, a kind of
porcupine-fish, CMUymycterus geometricus : so
called from the prickly skin and the shape
when inflated Essence of pineapple. Same as
ethyl tutyrate (which see, under mtts^ote).- Pineapple
Cheese. See cA^esel.- Pineapple rum, rum flavored
with slices of pineapple.
pineapple-cloth (pin'ap'''l-kldth), n. Same as
pifta-cloth.
pineapple-flower (pin'ap-l-flou"er), n. Any
plant of the liliaceous genus Eucomis, which
consists of four or five bulbous South African
plants, moderately ornamental, somewhat cul-
tivated in gardens.
pineapple-treet (pin'ap"l-tre), n. [< ME. pyne-
appyltre, pynappul tree, pynapple tree; < pine-
apple + tree.'] The pine-tree.
Now for pynappul tree
The colde or weetisshe land most sowen be.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 98.
Heare, amonge certeyne wooddes of date trees and pyne-
aftfe trees of excedyngheight, he fownd two natiuesprynges
of fl*G9Rll6 IVflj^CF
R. Eden, tr. of Peter Martyr (First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 77).
pineastert, n. An improper form ot pinaster.
pine-barren (pin'bar"en), n. A level sandy
tract covered sparsely with pine-trees. [South-
ern U. S.]
A dreary and extensive forest of pine-trees, or, as it is
termed by the Carolinians, a pine-barren, where a habita-
4497
tion is seldom seen except at intervals of ten or twelve
miles. Lambert's Travels, II. 226.
Pine-barren beauty. See Pyxidanthera.—Piae-'bax-
ren terrapin, a tortoise of the family Clemmyidee.
pine-beauty (pin'bii"ti), n. A British moth,
Trachea piniperda, white with a yellow band
and red spots, whose larva feeds on coniferous
trees.
pine-beetle (pin'be"tl), «. A xylophagous bee-
tle, as Mylesinus or Hylurgus piniperda, de-
structive to pines.
pine-bUght (pin'blit), n. 1. An aphid, Chermes
pinicortieis, of the subfamily Cftenrees«»«, which
blights the bark of the pine. — 3. The fioeonlent
substance from this insect. — 3. The blighting
of the tree caused by this aphid.
pine-bullflnch (pin'bul'^finoh), n. Same aspine-
pine-snafee
pinemaw (pin'm&), «. Same as pine^.
pine-mouse (pin'mous), n. A North American
meadow-mouse of the subfamily ArvicoUnse,
Arvicola (Pitymys) pinetorum,eormnoii in many
parts of the tTnited States, about 4 inches long.
pine-carpet (pin'kar"pet), n. A British geo-
metrid moth, Thera firmata, whose larva feeds
on the Scotch fir.
pine-cbafer (pin'cha"f6r), n. A beetle {Ano-
mala pinicola) which feeds on the leaves of the
Ijine. [U. S.]
pine-clad (pin'klad), a. Clad or covered with
pines.
pine-cloth (pin'kldth), ■«. Same as piRa-eloth.
pine-cone (pin'kon), n. The cone or strobUus
of a pine-tree.
pine-orops (pin'drops), n. pi. See beech-drops
and Pterospora.
pine-finch (pin'finch), ». 1. Saxaeaspine-gros-
beak. — 3. A small Jringilline bird of North
America, ChrysomitrisoTSpinuspiims,<iOJniaon-
ly found in pine-woods. It is about 5 inches long,
and entirely covered with pale or flaxen brown and dusky
streaks, more or less tinged with yellow, especially on the
wings and tail. The bill is very acute, the tail is emargi-
nate, and the wings are pointed. It is an abundant migra-
toiy bird4n many parts of the United States and British
America, and is a near relative of the siskin or linnet of
Europe. Also called pine-linnet anApine-sisMTb.
pinefulf (pin'ful), a. [< pine^ + -ful.] Pull
of woe, pain, or misery.
With long constraint of pineSiH penury.
Bp. Hall, Satires, V. ii. 82.
pine-grosbeak (pin'gr6s"bek), n. A large frin-
gillLne bird of Europe and North America, Pi-
jtieola enucleator, found chiefly in coniferous
Pineapple {Ananas sativa).
Pine-grosbeak {Pinicola enucleator).
tvoods in northerly or alpine regions. See Pi-
nicola. Also QiaX\sdi.pme-huUflncli, pine-finch.
pine-grouse (pin'grous), n. Same as dvsky
grouse (which see, under grouse). [Western
U. S.]
pine-gum (piu'gum), n. A resin, scarcely dis-
tinguishable from sandarac, derived from Aus-
traUan trees of the genus CalUtris (Frenela),
as C. robusta and C. rhomboidea.
pine-house (pin'hous), n. Same as pinery, 1.
pine-kernel (pin'ker"nel), n. The edible seed
of some pines. See pine-nut.
pine-knot (pin'nof), »• The resinous knot of
a pine-tree, used as fuel. [U. S.]
In the remote settlements the pine-knot is still the torch
of courtship ; it endures to sit up by.
C D. Warner, Backlog Studies, p. 24.
pine-linnet (pin'lLn"et), n. Same aspine-finch, 2.
pine-liza^ (pin'liz'ard) , n. The common brown
lizard, or fenc&-lizar3, of the United States, Sce-
loporus undulatus, often found in pine-woods or
pine-barrens.
pine-marten (pin'mar"ten), n. A carnivorous
quadruped of the family Mustelidse, Mustela
martes ovMartes abietvm, a native of Europe and
Asia : so called in distinction from beech-mar-
ten. The name is extended to the American representar
tive, which is a different species, M. ameriearui. See ma/r-
ten^ and Miittda.
pine-mast (pin'mast), n. Pine-cones. See mas^.
Pine-mouse {Arvicola ptnetorum).
of a rich dark reddish-brown color, with very
smooth, glossy fur. This vole lives mostly in dry
soils, as of pine-barrens, and represents a section of the
large genus Arvicola of which the A. (or P.) miasiater is
another member found in Mexico, of a blackisn color.
pine-needle (pin'ne^dl), n. The acicular leaf
of the pine-tree.
Beneath these trees we walked over a carpet of pine-
needles, upon which our moccasined feet made no sound.
The Century, XXX. 229.
Fine-needle batb, a bath of water impregnated with an
extract of pine-needles. — Fine-needle wool, a flbrous
substance produced from the leaves of the pine in Nor-
way, Germany, and the southern United States. It is of
a light-brown color, and has a pleasant balsamic smell.
Garments are made from it when spun and woven on the
stocking-loom, and these are supposed to be beneficial to
persons threatened with rheumatism or with lung-com-
plaints. In the United States the fibers of pine-needles
have been used for coarse bagging. Also pine-wool and
fir-wool.
pine-nut (pin'nut), n. [< ME. pinnate, pynutte,
pynote, < AS. pinhnutu, < jnn, pine, + hnutu,
nut.] 1. A pine-cone. — 3. The edible seed-
kernel of several species of pine. See neoza-
pine and stone-pine, both under pine^. See also
nut-pine and. nation.
In the cottages at the shelter aboue, where we break
our cable, we found many pine-nuts opened.
EaUuyl's Voyages, III. 422.
Pine-nut tree [< me. pinnate tre\ the pine-tree.
Als dede the pinnote tre. Seven Sages, 1. 544.
pine-oil (pin'oU), w. 1. An oil obtained from
the resinous exudations of pine- and fir-trees :
used in making colors and varnishes. Also
called turpentine-oil. — 3. An essential oil dis-
tilled from the leaves and twigs of Pinus Mu-
ghus, and esteemed in German medicine ; also,
a similar product of P. sylvestris. — 3. A fixed
oil suitable for lamps, obtained in Sweden and
elsewhere from pine- and fir-wood by distilla-
tion or chemically.
pinert (pi'ner), n. An obsolete form ot pioneer.
pinery (pi'ne-ri), »i. ; yl. pineries (-riz). [ipine^
+ -ry."] l."A hothouse in which pineapples
are raised. Also called pine-house and pine-
stove.
A little bit of a shrubbery, . . . and a poor little flower-
bed or so, and a humble apology for a pinery.
Dickens, Dombey and Son, xxxvL
2. A place where pine-trees grow; especially,
a pine-forest in which an extensive lumbering
business is carried on, as
in the forests of white pine
(P. Strobus) of Michigan,
Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
In pineries, on the other hand,
valuable timber is obtained, and
the population is far superior to
the tar heel, the nickname of the
dweller in barrens.
Encyc. Americana, I. 199.
pine-sap (pin 'sap), n. A
tawny or reddish fleshy
plant, Hypopitys mulUflora
(Monotropa Hypopitys), re-
sembling the Indian-pipe,
but having several smaller
flowers in a raceme. So
named as parasitic on the roots
of pine. Also called false beech-
drops. See Monotropct.
pine-siskin (pin'sis"kin), n.
Same as pine-finch, 2.
pine-snake (pin'snak), n.
A snake of the genus Pityo-
phis, as P. bellona, the bull-
snake, of which there are several kinds. They
attain a large size, are harmless and inoffensive, and ai'e
commonly found in pine-woods. See cut under Pitno-
phis.
I. Flowering Plant of
Pine-sap {Hypopitys mul-
tiflora). 2. Plant witli
miits. a, a flower ; b, the
fruit
pine-stove
pine-stove (pin'stov), n. Same &sj)inery, 1.
pine-thistle (pin'this*!), n. A plant, Carlina
(Atractylis) gummifera, the root of whicli
abounds -with a gummy matter, which exudes
when it is wounded, it grows in the south of Eu-
rope, where the flower-stalks are dressed with oil and used
as food.
pine-tree (pin'tre), n. [< ME.pinetre,pynetre, <
AB.pintredw, ipin, pine, -I- tredw, tree.] Same
as pme^, 1 — Pine-tree cod. See coda.— Pine-tree
money, silver coins (the
shilling and smaller de-
nominations) of Massa-
chusetts, struckin the lat-
ter half of the seventeenth
century, and bearing the
device of a pine-tree.
These pieces were known
in their early days as Bos-
ton or Bay shUlings, etc.
The first application we
find of the name of pine
to them was in May, 1680.
Crosby, Early Coins of
America (1878), p. 62.—
Fine-tree State, the
state of Maine : so called
in allusion to its extensive
pine-forests.
pinetum (pi-ne'tum),
n. [L. (>It.^meto,jpj-
neta), a pine-grove, <
pinus, pme : see^Mjei,
».] 1. A plantation
or collection of grow-
ing pine-trees of dif-
ferent kinds, especi-
ally one designed for
ornamental or scien-
tific purposes. — 2. A
treatise on the pines:
as, Gordon's Pinetum.
pine-warbler (pin'w&r"bl6r), n. A small mi-
gratory insectivorous bird of North America,
Dendrceea pinus or vigorsi, belonging to the
Reverse.
Pine-tree Shilling, 1652.— British Mu-
seum. ( Size of uie original.)
Pine-warbler {Dentirceca fitius ot ■vigorsi).
family of wood-warblers {MnioUltidse or Syhii-
CoUdse), It is about 6 inches long, of an olive-green
color above and dull-yellow below, with white blotches on
the tail-feathers. It is one of the most abundant of its
tribe in some parts ot the United States, especially in
pine-woods of southern localities.
pineweed (pin'wed), n. Hypericum nudicaule :
same as orange-grass.
pine-weevil (pin'we''vl), n. A curoulio, Fis-
sodes strobi, which lays its eggs on the terminal
shoots of the white pine, into which its larvse
bore.
pine-wool (pm'wul), n. Same as pine^eedle
wool (which see, xmAeT pine-needle).
pine-worm (pin'werm), n. The larva of a saw-
fly of the genus Lophyrus. L. oMotti commonly in-
fests the wmte pine in the ITnited States, and L. leamtei
the Austrian, Scotch, and pitch pine.
piney, a. Seepiny^.
pin-eyed (pin'id), a. Having the capitate stig-
ma at the throat of the corolla, the stamens
standing lower : noting, for instance, the long-
• styled form of the cowslip, Primula uem, and
contrasted with thrum-eyed, applied to the snort-
styled form, in which the anthers are above.
Florists who cultivate the Polyanthus and Auricula have
long been aware of the two kinds of flowers, and they call
the plants which display the globular stigma at the mouth
of the corolla "pin-headed" or " i>in-ei/ed."
Darwin, Different Forms of Flowers, p. 14.
pin-feather (pin'feTH"er), n. See feather.
pin-feathered (pin'feTH'erd), a. Covered with
pin-feathers; not fuUy fledged: said of young
birds acquiring their first plumage after the
downy state, and of old birds renewing their
Elumage during the molt: sometimes used
guratively.
Hourly we see some law pinfeather'd thing
Attempt to mount, and fights and heroes sing.
Who for false quantities was whipt at schooL
Drydm, tr. of Persius's Satires, 1.
4498
pin-fire (pin'fir), (I. 1. Noting a cartridge for
breech-loading guns, invented by Lefaucheux
in 1836. Within a recess of the metal base of the car-
tridge, whose body is of paper, is placed a percussion-cap,
the open end of which faces a liole in the side of the base.
Into this hole is loosely fitted a brass firing-pin, which
penetrates the cap, and, when the cartridge is placed in
the gun and the breech closed, projects through a small
hole or recess in the barrel. The hammer of the look
strikes the outer end of this pin in firing, driving the pin
down upon and igniting the detonating material in the
cap. This cartridge is considered the parent of the mod-
em central-fire and rim-fire cartridges.
2. Noting a breech-loading gun in which a pin-
fire cartridge is used — pin-fire cartridge, a car-
tridge for breech-loading guns. Seedef. 1. Also called «»n-
cartridge.—Fin-Bxe gun, a breech-'loading gun in which
a pin-fire cartridge is used.
pinfish (pin'fish), n. 1. A sparoid fish, Zago-
don rhomboides, i-elated to the scup and sheeps-
head, common along the southern coast of the
United States. The body is elliptic-ovate and com-
pressed, the head is pointed, the upper molars are in two
rows, the incisors are broad and emarginated at the apex,
and there is a precumbent spine in front of the dorsal fin.
The color is olive, with silvery sides, six dark vertical bars,
a large dark blotch over the pectoral fin, and faint blue
and golden stripes on the sides. Also locally called chopa-
spina, bream, robin, sailors' choice, and squirrel-flsh. See
cut under Lagodon.
2. A sparoid fish, Diplodus holhroold, like the
Lagodon rhomboides, but with entire teeth. — 3.
A small sunfish of the United States, as the
copper-nosed bream, Lepomis paUidus.
pin-flat (pin'flat), n. 1. A small disk of double
cardboard covered with some textile material so
arranged that pins can be stuck into the edge. —
2. A scow carrying a square saU. Sportsman's
Gagetteer. [Canada.]
pinfold (pin'fold), n. lAlsopenfoM; < 'ME.pyn-
folde,punfolde,ponfolde,pondfolde,pynd^olde;
<.pin,pound^ (cf. derived verb i)jnd), + fold^.^
1. A place in which stray cattle are tempora-
rily confined; a pound.
Heo hath hulpe a thousande oute of the ieaelea ponfolde.
Piers Plowman (B), v. 633.
His pledge goes to the pinfold.
Jolly Finder of Walcefield (ChUd's Ballads, v. 205).
2. A fold or inclosure for animals.
The cattle slept ashewentoutto the pinfold by the light
of the stars. The AttanOc, LXI. 661.
For the penfdld [in which was a lion] surrounded a hollow
Which led where the eye scarce dared follow.
Browning, The Glove.
pinfoldt (pin'fold), V. t. \< pinfold, m.] To
confine in a pound or pinfold; impound.
Had this beene the course in the Primitive time, the
Gospel had heenplnfdlded up in a tew Cities, and not spread
as it is. if. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 46.
pin-footed (pin'tfifed), a. Having pinnate
feet; having the toes lobate, as a bird; fin-
footed.
ping (ping), 1). i. [Imitative.] To produce a
sound like that of a rifle-bullet whistling
through the air.
ping (ping), n. [< ping, v."] The whistling
sound made by a bullet, as from a rifle, in pass-
ing through the air. W. W. Greener, The Gun,
p. 479.
pingle^t (ping'gl), n. [Perhaps a var. otpightle,
pickle^.'] A small piece of inclosed ground.
Theacademy, a little ^7i^2&, or plot of ground, . . . ^as
the habitation of Plato, Xenocrates, and Polemon.
North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 226. (Lathami.)
pingle^ (ping'gl), V. i. ; pret. and pp. pingled,
ppr. pmglmg. [Orig. obscure.] To eat with
little appetite. [Prov. Kng.]
pingler*t (ping'gler), n. [Prob.< pJngrZei -I- -ej-i.]
A cart-horse ; a work-horse.
Perverslie doe they alwaies thinke of their lovers, and
talke of them scorn efullie, judging all to bee clown es which
be not courtiers, and all to hepinglers that be not coursers.
Lyly, Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 109.
pingler^ (ping'gler), n. [< pingle^ + -eri.]
One who eats with little appetite.
He filleth his mouth well, and is no pingler at his meat.
TopgeK, Beastes (1607). (BaUiweU.)
ping-pong (ping'pong), /(. [From the sounds
made in striking the balls.] Tennis played
upon a table upon which the courts may be
marked.
pin-grass (pin'gras), n. The stork's-bUl. See
alfilerilla.
Fingstert, n. and a. See Pinkster.
Pinguecula (ping-gwek'u-la), n. Same as Pin~
guicula, 1.
pinguefyt (ping'gwf-fi), v. t. lAlso pinguify; <
L. pinguefacere, make fat, < pinguis, fat (see
pinguid), -(-/ocere, make (see -^).] Tofatten.
The oyl or ointment wherewith women use to anoint the
hair of their head hath a certain property in it to pingw^y
withall. Hdttand, tr. of Plutarch, p. 944.
Pinicola
Pinguicula (ping-gwik'u-ia), n. [NL. (in sense
1 so named by Gesner, 1541, with ref . to the
popular name butterwort), < li. pingi4,iculus,i&t,.
tish, < pingms, fat : seepinguid7\ 1. Agenus of
gamopetalous plants of the order LenUbulariese,
characterized by the spreading posterior corol-
la-lobe, the four- to flve-parted calyx, and the
terminal one-celled anthers. There are over 30
species, widely dispersed throughout northern temperate
regions, and in the Andes to antarctic clunates. They are
stemless herbs of moist places, with a rosette of radical
leaves, and erect leafless scapes bearing a single purple,
violet yellow, or whitish flower. The broad entire leave&
have a peculiar surface as of little crystalline drops. The
irritation of foreign bodies causes the leaf-margms to roll
inward, imprisoning insects caught upon the stickysurf ace,
and assisting in the absorption of their softer pai'ts. Com-
pare Utrieularia, a related insectivorous plant. Six spe-
cies occur in North America, mostly either high northern
or near the southern coast, of which latter P. Ivtea is the
yellow butterwort, a showy plant of the pine-barrens. See
butterwort (with cut) and eaming-grass. Also Pinguecula.
2. [2. c] A plant of this genus.— 3. [I. c] A
small painless tumor of the conjunctiva, usu-
ally situated close to the edge of the cornea.
Also called interpalpebral blotch.
pinguid (ping'gwid), a. [With unorig. term.
-id (appar. in imitation of liqtdd, etc.) ; = Sp.
Pg. It. pingue, < Jj. pingms, fat.] Pat; xmctu-
ous.
Pinguid juice to nourish and feed the body.
Evelyn, Acetaria.
AjiiB^MMj turgid stile, as TuUy calls the Asiatic Rhetoric.
A. Tucker, light of Nature, IL iii. 29.
pinguidinous (ping-gwid'i-nus), a. [Also^JM-
guedinous = Sp. It. pingvuedinoso, < L. pingued(y
(^pinguedin-), fatness, < pingms, fat: see pin-
gtdd.2 Containing fat: fatty; adipose; greasy j
unctuous. Coles, 1717.
pinguinH, '*• -A.n obsolete form otpeng^lm^.
pinguin^ (ping'gwin),»i. Same as penguin^.
Finguipedina (ping"gwi-pe-di'na), n.pl. [NL.,
(-ped-) + -Jma2 ■] x group of traehi-
iPingunies^^ , _ = ^
noid fishes, named from the genus Pvnguipes;
in Giinthers system, the third group of Traclii-
nidse, having eyes lateral, the lateral line con-
tinuous, and a large tooth on the posterior part
of the intermaxillary.
Finguipedinae (ping"gwi-pe-di'ne), n.pl. [NL.,
< Pinguipes (-ped-) + -inse.'] A subfamily of
latiloid flshes, typified by the genus Pinguwes.
pinguipedine (ping-gwip'e-din), a. and n. I. a.
Of or pertaining to the subfamily Pinguipedinse.
II. n. A member of this group.
Finguipes (ping'gwi-pez), n. [NL. (Cuvier), <
L. pinguis, fat, + pes = E. foof] The typical
genus of Pinguipedinse, containing latiloid fishes
whose ventral fins are covered witti a thick mem-
brane, whence the name.
pin^lite (ping'gwit), n. [< L. pimguis, fat, -1-
■it^.J A soft oU-green variety of the hydrous
iron silicate chloropal.
pinguitude (ping'gwi-tM), n. [< L. pinguitudo,
fatness, < ^impajs, fat : see pinguid.'\ Fatness;
a growing f at,
pinhead (pin'hed), n. The head of a pin ; hence,
anything very small.
pin-headed (pi^'hed'^ed), a. Having a head
like that of a pin; specifically, in bot., same as
pinhead-sight (piu'hed-sit), n. Same as bead-
pinhold (pin'hold), n. A place at which a pin
holds or makes fast.
pinhole (pin'hol), n. 1. A small hole made by
the puncture or perforation of a pin ; hence, any
very small aperture. — 2. A minute perforation
or transparency, as if made with the point of a
pin, of which great numbers sometimes appear
in thefilm of a photographic negative from some
chemical defect or fault in manipulation.—
False pinhole, in pillow-lace making, one ot those pin-
holes on the Inner side ot a rounded strip, as of a collar,
which are used to fix the outer cuiTe by carrying the bob-
bins from the inner to the outer pins, the inner ones acting
as centers from which the outer ones are kept equidistant.
Also called /ffl&e sMch,
pinic (pi'nik), a. [= P. pinimie; as pine^ +
-!c.] Pertaining to or derived from the pine-
tree; noting one of the acids found in resin:
B.S, pinic acid.
Finicola (pi-nik'o-la), n. [NL., < L. pinus, a
pine, pine-tree^ -f colere, inhabit.] 1. A genus
of fringilline birds of the tamilj Fringillidee, the
type of which is P. enucleator; the pine-gros-
beaks. The biU is short, obtuse, and turgid, like a bull-
finch s ; the nostrils are hidden by tufts of nasal plumules :
the wmgs and tail are long - the former pointed, the latter
emarginate ; and the feet are small. The male is chiefly
dull-carmine or lake-red, shaded with black and gray in
some places, and varied with white. The female is gray,
heightened in some places with saffron-yellow. The genus
/^-r'
lit
Pinicola
IS restricted to northerly parts of the northern hemisphere,
where the birds chiefly inliabit coniferous regions. See
cnt vmi^T pine-groitKak.
2. A genus of hymenopterous insects.
pinlcoune (pi-nik'o-lin), a. [As pinicol^yus +
-tnei.] Inhabiting or frequenting pines or other
coniferous woods: said of various animals.
Coues.
pinicolons (pi-nii'o-lus), a. [< L. pinus, a pine,
pine-tree, -r colere, inhabit, + -ousJ] Same as
pinicoline.
pmiform (pi'ni-f&rm), a. [< L. pinus, a pine,
pine-tree, + forma, form.] Resembling a pine-
cone — Finiform decussation, the decussation of fibers
in the oblongata above the decnssation of the pyramids : it
lies between the pyramids and the central gray matter.
pining (pi'ning), n. [< ME. pining, pyning, <
AS. pinung, torment, torture, pain, verbal n. of
pinion, torraent: seepine^,v/i 1. Punishment;
torture. — 2. Suffering.
pining;ly Cpi'ning-li), adv. In a pining or lan-
^shing manner; by wasting away.
pining-Stoolf (pi'ning-stol), n. [< USE.pynyng-
gtole; <, pining + stool.'i A cueldng-stool.
lo ponyshen on pillories and on punyng-itdtes.
Pien Plowman (C), iv. 79.
pinion^ (pin'yon), n. [Formerly also pinnion;
< MB. pinionj pynyon, < OP. pignon, pennon,
panon, a pinion, plume, feather of an arrow,
same as pennon, penon, etc., a flag, banner, =
Sp. piflon, pinion, z= It. pennone, a bunch of
feathers, a pennon, < L. pen-
na,pinna, wing, feather: see
pirO-, pen^, and ef. pinion^,
another use of the same
word.] 1. A feather; espe-
cially, a remex or flight-
feather.
He is plnck'd, when hither
He sends so poor a pinion of Iiis
wing. .SK<u;.,A.andC.,iiL12.4.
2. The wing of a bird, or
the flight-feathers eollee-
tively.
Tell me it e'er yonr tender Pivioms
bore
Sach weight of Woe.
Conffrevej Tears of Amaryllis.
To Daphne's window speed thy
way;
And there on quivering pinions
rise.
And there thy vocal art display.
Slten^one, Sky Lark.
3. Technically, in omiih.,
the joint of a bird's wing fur-
thest from the body; the
distal segment of the wing ; , ,
the manus, consisting of ^t}W:^^e
the carpus, metacarpus, and pal, bearing two phaian
1. 1 * 11 J.. 1 X. _ ges, with which It IS anky-
phalanges, collectively bear- fo5^; ,y,-, another meta-
ing the primary remiges, or ^'i.'^'-fSf S^f"
largest flight-feathers, and carpal U the ankylosed
the alula or bastard-wing. KS„g ,^° ""^ " "'
Most adnlt birds show the seven
separate bones of the pinion here fignred ; but in a few
adults, and probably In all embryos, the osseous elements
are more numerous.
4. In entom., one of various moths: as, the
liTown-spot pinion, Anchocelis litura. — 5. [< j»n-
ion\ «.] A shackle or band for the arm. Ains-
worth.
pinion^ (pin'yon), V. t. [Formerly also pinnion;
< pinionf, n.] "1. To bind or confine the wings
of (a bird); restrain or confine by binding
the wings, or by cutting off the pinions ; bind
or confine (the wings). A very common bat cruel
method of pinioning, practised especially upon geese by
poulterers, is to twist the pinion over the next joint of the
wing, where it is confined by the primaries resting upon
the secondaries.
Not like a tame bird, that returns ; nor like a hawk, that
will shew where she is by her bells; but like an eagle,
whose wings thou canst neither clip nor pinion.
Ben. T. Adams, Works, I. 432.
2. To bind or confine the arm or arms of (a
person) to the body so as to disable or render
incapable of resistance ; shackle.
Know, sir, that I
Will not widt pintion'd at your master's court.
Shak., A. and C, v. 2. 63.
Away with him ! I'll foUow you. Look you pinion him,
and take his money from him, lest he swallow a shilling
and kill himself. Beau, and ii7.,Woman-Hater, v. 1.
All their bands \ie pinnioned behinde
With their owne girdles. Chapman, Iliad, xxi.
3. To bind; attach as by bonds or shackles.
Some slave of mine be pinionid to their side.
Pope, Dunciad, iv. 134.
pinion^ (pin'yon), «. [Formerly aS&o pinnion;
< P. pignon, a small wheel, pinion, spur-nut, =
Spur-wheel, with Pin-
ion a.
A small knife-edged
n. Fine calipers used
Pinion-bones or Iklanus
of Adult Fowl, together
with », r, ulna and radius,
bones of the forearm; w',
ulnar carpal ; f^, radial
1. . .,1 — >-.nxoffit5t
metacar-
4499
Sp. pOlon, the tooth of a wheel, pinion ; a par-
ticular use of the word represented by ^jnioni,
a wing, etc., < li.penna, pinna,
wing, feather, pinna, a float of
a water-wheel : seepen^fpiii^-,
and cf. pinioii^JJ A small
wheel with cogs or teeth which
engage the teeth of a larger
wheel with cogs or teeth, or
sometimes only an arbor or
spindle having notches or
leaves, which are caught suc-
cessively by the teeth of the
wheel, and the motion thereby
communicated. See also cut under j)awZ-press.
—Flying pinion, the fly of a clock. See^i, 3 (a).— Lan-
tern-pinion. Same as Ia7demnwheel.—L(mg pinion, a
pinion whose leaves extend so far along the axis tliat the
wheel into wliich the pinion works can move along its
axis without becoming ungeared.— Pinion of report, a
smaller pinion moved by the cannon-pinion of a clock.—
Rack and pinion. See rack.
pinion^ (pin'yon), n. Same as piMon. [U. S.]
pinion-bone (pin'ygn-bon), n. The bones of
the pinion taken together. See pinionX, 3,
pinion-file (pin'yon-fil), TO.
file used by watchmakers.
pinion-gage (pin'yon-gaj),
by watchmakers.
pinionistt (pin'yon-ist), n. [< piniorii^, n., +
-ist.] A winged animal; a bird. [Bare.]
All the flitting innnumtste of ayre
Attentive sate.
W. Broume, Britannia's Pastorals, i. 4.
pinion-jack (pin'yon-jak), n. In milling, a jack
for ungearing the pinion which drives the
stone.
pinion-wire (pin'yon-wir), n. Wire formed into
the shape and size "required for the pinions of
clocks and watches, it is drawn, in the same man-
ner as round wire, tiiroiigh plates the holes of which cor-
respond in section to the shape of the wire,
pinite (pin'it), n. [< Pini, a mine in Saxony, +
-ite^.'\ A hydrous silicate of aluminium and
potassium, occurring massive of a white to gray
or green or brown color and dull waxy luster.
It is formed from the alteration of other minerals (as io-
lite, etc.), and has many varieties ; it is probably essentially
a compact mnscovite.
Pinites (pi-ni'tez), n. [NL., < L. pinus, pine:
see pine*.'\ A generic name under which vari-
ous fragments of plants, chiefly cones, have
been described, which were supposed to belong
or to be related to the genus Pimis, but the
affinities of which were uncertain, a specimen
described by Steinberg under the name of PirdUs pulvi-
Tiaris is referred by Lesquereux to Knorria, a lepidoden-
droid plant occurring in the coal-measures. The great
tree-trunk found near Newcastle-on-Tyne, which mesr
snred sevenl7-two feet in length, and was designated as
Pimtes Brandlingi by Lindley and Button, has been re-
ferred by several recent writers to the Cycadacees.
pinjinnetf, n. Same a,s pimgenet.
pin-joint (pin' joint), n. A form of joint in which
each part is pierced with an eye and the parts
are united by passing a pin tlu-ough the eye.
The rapidity with which bridges with pin joints can be
erected is an immense advantage.
Set. Amer. Supp., p. 8937.
pink^ (pingk), V. [< ME. pinken, prick; prob. a
nasalized form of picken, pikken, pick, peck:
see jpjcfci, pecfci. Cf . P. piquer, priek, also pink
(pierce with eyelet-holes). Pink, ME. pink, is
a diff. word from ME. pingen, < AS. pyngan, <
li. pungere,pTiek: see pungent.'] I. trans. 1.
To pierce ; puncture ; stab with a rapier or some
similar weapon ; make a hole or holes in.
We cut not out our clothes, sir.
At half -sword, as your tailors do, AnApink 'em
With pikes and partisans. Fletcher, Mad Lover, L 1.
I will pink your flesh full of holes with my rapier for
this. B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iv. 1.
"Lovel," said Mr. Coverley, affecting to whisper, "you
must certainly i»»s* him ; you must not put up with such
an affront." Jame. D'Arblay, Evelina, IxxziiL
2t. To decorate with punctures or holes ; tattoo.
Men and women pirike theii' bodies, putting thereon
grease mixed with colour. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 648.
The sea-hedge-hogge is enclosed in a round shell, . . .
handsomely wrought and pineked.
R. Carew, Survey of Cornwall, p. 32.
Your Wife,
If once well piv^d, is cloth'd for Life.
Prior, Alma, ii.
He found thee savage, and he left thee tame ;
Taught thee to clothe thy psTii'iZ and painted hide.
And grace' thy figure with a soldier's pride.
Cowper, Expostulation, I. 486.
Specifically — 3. To decorate, as any garment
or article made of textile fabric or leather, by
cutting small holes of regular shape in succes-
sion, scallops, loops, etc., at the edge, or else-
pink
where, it is usually done with the pinking-iron, the ma-
terial being laid upon a block of lead or the like.
Buskins he wore of costliest cordwayne^
Pinckt upon gold, and paled part per part.
Spenser, P, Q., VL ii 6.
A doublet of black velvet . . . pinked upon scarlet satin.
Seott.
H.t intrans. To make a hole.
B.eo pinkes with heore penne on beore parcbemin.
Political Songs (ed. WrightX p. 166.
pink^ (pingk), n. [< pink^, u.] If. A puncture
or small hole made by some sharp slender in-
strument such as a rapier or dagger; a stab-
wound.
A freebooter's ^nnJIr, sir, tliree or four inches deep.
Middieton, Tour Five GaJlants, iii. 5.
2. A small hole or eyelet punched in sUk or
other material with a pinMng-iron; a scaUop.
Ton had rather have
An ulcer in your body than a pink
More in your clothes.
B. Jonson, Magnetick Lady, iii. 4.
pink^ (pingk), n. and a. [So called as having
the edges of the petals delicately pinked or
jagged ; < pink^, v. Cf . P. pince, pink, < pincer,
pinch, nip: see^wcfc (not connected with j)fnfc2).
According to some, so called from the small dots,
resembling eyes, on some of the species. Cf .
It. pincin, a gilliflower] I. m. 1. A plant of
the genus Dianthus. The common garden pink is D.
t^umarius, also called plumed or/eatJiered pink, and in its
ring-marked varieties pheasant s-eye pink. See JHanthus,
camationX, 3, maiden-pink, meadow-piTik, 2, and phrases
below.
2. One of various plants of other genera, with
some resemblance to the true pinks. See Lych-
nis, 2, moss-pink, and phrases below. — 3. A red
color of low chroma but high luminosity, in-
clining toward purple. — 4. In painting, any
one of several lakes of a yellow or greenish-
yellow color, prepared by precipitating vege-
table juices on a white base, such as chalk or
alumina. — 5. A red coat or badge, or a person
wearing one ; specifically, a scarlet hunting-
coat.
With pea-coats over their ^n^.
MacmUlan's Mag.,!. 16.
The pinks stand about the inn^loor lighting cigars and
waiting to see us start, while their hacks are led up and
down tile market-place on which the inn looks.
T. Bughes, Tom Brown at Bngby, i. 4.
6. A small fish, so called from its color, (o) A
minnow.
And full well may yon think.
If you troll with a pink,
One [a fishing-rod] too weak will be apt to miscarry.
CoOon, Angler's Bidlad.
The Trout is usually caught with a worm, or a minnow,
which some call apenk, or with a fly.
/. Walton, Ckimplete Angler, p. 90.
(5) A young grayling, (c) A young salmon before its en-
try into the sea. See cut under parr.
Presently the alevin grows into the fry, or pink, which
is an absurd little fish about an inch long, goggle-eyed,
and with dark bars on its sides. SL Nicholas, XTTT. 740.
7. A flower; in a figurative use, a beauty j
hence, the flower or highest type or example
of excellence in some particular; a supremely
excellent or choice example or type of excel-
lence: as, the^mfc of perfection.
I am the very pink of courtesy.
Shak., K. and J., it 4. 61.
He had a pretty pincke to his own wedded wife.
Breton, Merry Wonders, p. 7. (Dames.)
This is the prettiest pflgrim.
The pink of pOgrims ! Fletcher, Pilgrim, L 2.
I am happy to have oblig'd the Mirrour of Knighthood
and Pink of Courtesie in the Age.
Congreve, Old Batchelor, it 1.
Brown pink. See irown. — Carolina pink. See pink-
root, 1. — Carthusians' pink, Dianthus Carthusianorum, a
somewhat cultivated European species with a dense clus-
ter of small flowers, usually dark-purple or crimson. —
Cheddar pink, a pretty dwarf species, JHanthus csesius,
found at Cheddar in England.— Cushion-pink; Same as
?reoss-j»7i*.— Deptford pink, a European species, JHan-
thus Armeria, with small flowers, pink dotted with white,
adventive in the eastern United States.— Dutch pink, (a)
A yellow lake prepared from quercitron bark. It differs
. from Italian pink in not having as much coloring matter,
and in being usually precipitated on a chalk base instead ^
of alumina. It is, in effect, an inferior quality of Italian
pmk. (b) Blood. [Slang.]
That'll take the bark from your nozzle, and distil the
JHitchpinkfot you, won't it?
Cuthbert Bede, Mr. Terdant Green, n. 31.
Fire-pink, SHene Virginica, a plant with brilliant scarlet
flowers, native in the interior United States, sometimes
cultivated.— Glacier pink, a species of the Alps and
Pyrenees, JHanthus negleetus, growing in low tufts whence
spring many brilliant flowers.— Grass-pink, an orchid,
Calopogon pudchMus, common in North American bogs.
It has a slender stem with a single grass-like leaf at the
base, and a short raceme of beautiful pink-purple flowers.
— TTu11a.li pink, (a) See DiantAta. (6) Sometimes same
as pinkroot, 1 (United States), and cypress-vine (West In-
dies). — Italian pink, a yellow lake prepared from quercit-
pink
Ton bark.— Mullen-pink. See Lychnis, 2.— Old-maid's
pink, the common soapwort or bouncing-bet. — Pheas-
ant's-eye pink. See def. 1, above.— Rose pink, an in-
ferior kind of red lake, produced by precipitating a decoc-
tion of Brazil wood on to a chalk base. — Sea-pink, a
species of thi'ift in Europe, Arrmria vvigaris (A. itmri-
Hma).
II. a. Of the color or hue called pink ptnk
COraL See coral. — Fink crystals. Same as pinJt salts.
—Pink madder. See madder lakes, under madderi.—
Pink salt. See salt.
pink2 (pingk), V. t. [< pinlfi, a.] To tinge or
dye with a pint color. Webster.
pink^ (pingk), V. i. [< MD. pineken, D. pinken,
shut the eyes, wink, twinkle; cf. MD. pinck-
oogen, wink; origin obscure. Cf. pink-eye^.']
To wink; peep slyly.
Though his iye on us therat pleasantlie pinke,
Yet will he thiuke that we sale not as we thinke.
J. Heywood, Spider and My (1656). (Nares.)
A hungry fox lay winking and pinHng as If he had sore
eyes. Sir S. VEslrange.
I'll be with ye as soon as daylight begins to piiik in.
Thomas Hardy, Distracted Preacher, vi.
pink^t (pingk), n. [< MD. pinch, D.pink = MLG.
hOr. pinke (> Q-. pinke) ; cf . F. pinque = S]^.pinco,
pinque = Pg. pinque, from the D. or LGr. ; appar.
the same, with loss of the initial syllable, as
MD. emlnck = Icel. espingr = Sw. esping, a long
boat, < MD. espe = Icel. espi, asp, aspen-tree:
see aspi^.'] A vessel or boat with a very narrow
stern. Now aaSHedi pinky.
Thus by diuiding their squadrons, and spreading the
whole sea oner a mighty way, there could not so much as
the Iwai pinke passe but she was espied.
HaJduyVs Yoyoiges, I. 610.
From most parts of Holland or Zealand, pinks or ship-
ping may be had at the brewhouses in Saint Eatherine s.
John Taylor (Arbor's Eng. Garner, L 246).
A Dutch pink arrived, which had been to the southward
a trading. Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 124.
innk^ (pingk), n. [Imitative; cf. spink and
finch, and aiBo pinc-pinc. Hence dim. pinkety.']
A finch; the chaffinch or spink, Frmgilla ccelebs.
pink^t, »• [Origin obscure.] A game at cards :
the same as posfi, 11. CoMer's Hist, Dram.
Poet., ii. 315. (SalUwell.)
pinkcheek (pingk'chek), n. An Australian fish,
Vpeneichtliysporosus. [New South Wales.]
pinked (pingkt), p. a. Pierced or worked with
small holes, sometimes showing a lining of an-
other color; reticulated; scalloped.
A haberdasher's wife of small wit . . . railed upon me,
-till her pinked porringer fell oif her head.
Shak., Hen. VIII., v. 4. 60.
The Court is all full of vests, only my Lord St. Albans not
pinked, but plain black ; and they say the King says the
pinking upon white makes them look too much like mag-
pies. Pepys, Diary, II. 475.
Letters, long proofs of love, and verses ilne
Bound the pinUd rims of crisped Valentine.
Crabhc, Works, I. 111.
pinkeen (ping'ken), n. [< Ir. pincin."] The
stickleback. [South of Ireland.]
pinker (ping'k6r),». [< ^refcl + -erl.] 1. One
who scallops silk or other fabric; one who
makes eyelets or small ornamental holes or scal-
lops in cloth. — 2f. A piercer or stabber; one
who stabs another^ as in a duel.
pinkety (ping'ket-i), n. ; -pX. pinketies (-iz). [Imi-
tative ; as pimk^ + -ety, with dim. force.] The
chaffinch, Frmgilla ccelebs. [Pro v. Eng.]
pink-eyel (pingk'i), re. \<pin1fl + eye\'] A con-
tagious influenza of horses. It is a febrile disease,
closely allied to scarlet fever in man, named from the pink
color of the conjunctiva. There is a similai' inflammation
of the eye in man.
pink-eye^ (pingk'i), n. [< pink^, V. , wink, blink,
-I- eye', after MD. *pinck-oog7ie, pimp-ooghe, one
who has small eyes; cf. pinck-ooghen, pimp-
ooghen, make the eyes small, look at with half-
shut eyes, contract the eyebrows, wink, blink;
< pineken, wink, + ooghe, eye : see pink^, v., and
ci/ei. Pink in the Shakspere quot. is usually
regarded as an adj., with the assumed sense
' winking ' or ' blinking ' ; but if an ad j ., it must
"belong to pink^. Cf . pinky^.] A small eye.
It was a sport very pleasaunt of theeze beastz, to see the
bear with his pink ivyez leering after his enmiez approach.
Laneham, Letter from Kenilworth. (Xares.)
Plumpy Bacchns with pink eyne.
Shak., A. and C, ii. 7. 121.
pink-eyedl ^pingk'id), a. [< pink"^ + eye^ +
-e(J2.] Having pink eyes, literally, as a white
mouse or rabbit. This is the usual color of the eyes in
albinism, whether accidentally oucuiTing or aitificially pro-
duced. It is due to the absence of the natural pigment of
the iris and choroid, which aie then tinged alight-red color
by the blood in the minute vessels.
pink-eyed2 (plngk'id), a. [,< pink-eye^ + -ed^.J
Having small or blinking eyes.
4500
Them that were pink-eyed, and had verie small eies, they
termed ocellsB. Holland, tr. of Pliny, xi. 87.
pinkiei, pinkie^, etc. See pinky.
pinkiness (ping'id-nes), n. Pink hue ; the pale-
red color of the pink.
Mr. Bnlt . . . had the general solidity and suflusive
pinkiness of a healthy Briton on the central table-land of
life. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, zzii.
pinking (ping'king), n. [Verbal n. oipink^,
«.] The operation or process of punching a
decorative pattern of scallops and small holes
or eyes along the margin of silk and other fab-
rics used for dress or upholstery. Also called
pouncing.
pinking-iron (ping'king-I"6rn), re. A tool for
cutting out pinked borders. The material is laid
upon lead or other suitable substance, and the
iron struck upon it with a hammer.
dium acutarium, its carpels having long awns
like needles for pinking; also, Qie Venus's-
oomb, Scandix Pecten^eneris. [Prov, Eng.]
pinkroot (plngk'rot), re. 1. The root of the
Carolina or Indian pink, Spigelia Marilandica,
a well-known vermifuge officinal in the United
States: in large doses narcotic-poisonous. — 2.
The plant itself, an herb with showy flowers,
red outside, yellow inside, common southward
in the United States. Also called Maryland
pinkroot and worm-grass. The name extends to the
species S. Anthelmiao! the West Indies and South Amer-
ica, there used as a similar remedy.
pink-saucer (pingk'sa'''ser), re. A small sau-
cer coated with a coloring substance which,
when applied to the face, gives a fresh pink col-
or ; also, a similar saucer the coating of which
was formerly used to give a flesh-tint to silk
stockings or ribbons.
Pinkster (pingk'ster), re. and a. [Also Pinxter,
Pinaster, < D. Pinkster, Easter: see Pentecost."]
Whitsuntide: as,P»refc«ferfrolies. [Dutch Amer-
ican.]
The next day was the first of the three that are devoted
to Pinkster, the great .Saturnalia of the New York blacks.
AJthough this festival is always kept with more vivacity
at Albany than in York, it is far from being neglected,
even now, in the latter place. Cooper, Satanstoe, iv.
pinkster-flower (pingk'st6r-flou'''6r), re. The
beautiful shrub Rhododendron (Agalea) nudi-
florum, common in swamps and on shaded hill-
sides from Canada to Texas. The flowers have the
Flowering Branch of Purple Azalea, or Pinkster-flower {Rhcdoden.
arpn nudijlorum),
style and stamens much exserted, and are quite variable
in color— pink, purple, and (in the South) sometimes yel-
low. Also called azalea and honeysuckle. [Local, New
York and New England.]
pink-stern (pingk'stfem), re. A pinky.
pink-sterned (pingk 'sternd), a. Narrow or
sharp in the stem, as a pinky.
pinkweed (pingk' wed), re. The common knot-
grass. Polygonum aviculare: so called from a
pinkish color about the joints.
pink'WOOd (pingk'wud), re. A Brazilian tree,
Dieypellium (Persea) caryophyllatum, scented
throughout like the carnation, whence the
name ; also, an unspecified Australian cabinet-
wood — Brazilian plnkwood. See Physocalymma.
pinkyi (ping'ki), a. [< pink^ + -^i.] Of a
pink color ; somewhat pink.
pinky^ (ping'ki), a. [Also pinkie, pimkey; <.pink^
+ -yi.] Winking; blinking; pink-eyed.
The bear with his pinkey eyes leering after his enemy's
approach. Knight, Fict. Hist. Eng., II. 876.
pinnace
pinkyS (ping'ki), re. ; pi. pinkies (-kiz), [Dim.
of pinkf.] A narrow-stemed boat; a pink.
Also pimkie.
pinky-built (ping'ki-bilt), a. Built like a
pinky— that is, with a sharp stem.
pin-lock (pin'lok), re. 1. A form of lock in
which the bolt is a projecting cylindrical pin.
— 2t. A poundmaster's fee.'
The mrdoek, or pinder's fee, is regulated by an Act of
Philip and Mary at foui^penoe for any number of cattle
impounded, which custom has made into one of fourpeiice
for each head. V. B. Bedstone (N. and Q,.,ethaet.,X.iafl).
pin-machine (pin'ma-shen'O, re. 1. A machine
for making pins. — 2. A machine for cutting
and shaping wooden dowels and sash- or blind-
pins. It cuts and points pins of all shapes and
different sizes.
pin-maker (pin'ma'''ker), re. One employed in
the making of pins.
pin-mark (pin'mark), re. The small circular in-
dentation on one side and near the shoulder of
a printing-type. It is made by the pin which
dislodges the type from the mold in which it
was cast.
pin-mill (pin'mil), re. A kind of hide-null for
softening skins aiter they have been soaked in
a weak solution of sulphuric acid, rinsed with
clean water, and again steeped in a solution of
sal-soda and soap, which neutralizes any traces
of acid remaining after the rinsing process.
It consists of a large dmm, with pins projecting from the
interior surface, in which the skins are placed loosely, the
drum revolving till they are sufficiently pliable for future
operations.
The Morocco- tanners at Lynn, Mass., and other places
in New England where it is used, call it SipinrmUl.
C. T. Davis, Leather, p. 251.
pin-money (pin'mun'"'!), n. 1. An allowance or
occasional ^t made by a husband to his wife,
either voluntarily or as a part of the marriage
settlement, for her separate use, to be employed
in the purchase of apparel or of ornaments for
her person, or for other personal expenditure.
Technically, m law, it is an annual sum ; and aiTears can
be claimed only for one year, and by the wife, but not by
her representatives.
They have a greater interest in property than either
maids or wives, and do not hold their jointmes by the
precarious tenure of portions ovpin-mmiey.
Addison, The Ladies* Association.
The main Article with me is, that Foundation of Wives
Kebellion, and Husbands Cuckoldum, that cursed Pin-
Mvney — Five-hundred Pound per Annum PinrJAomey.
Steele, Tender Husband, L L
2. A similar allowance made to any one, as to
a daughter.
pinna'^(pin'a), re.; pi. pinnae {,-e). [NL., < L.
pinna, penn'a, a feather, wing: aeepen^pin^.']
1. In areat. and 0od7.: (a) A feather. Seenen-
na. (6) Abird'swing. Seejiinion^. (c) A fish's
fin: the usual technical name, {d) Some wing-
like or fin-like part or organ, as the flipper of a
seal or cetacean, (e) The outer ear, which pro-
jects from the head; the auricle, or pavilion
of the ear. See cut under earl, (j) The nos-
tril, or wing of the nose, (p) One of the smaller
branches of some polyps, as plumularians. (ft)
In entomology, a small oblique ridge forming
one of the lines of a pinnate surface. See^»n-
nate. — 2. In bot., one of the primary divisions
of a pinnate leaf: applied most commonly to
ferns, in a simply pinnate leaf it is a single leaflet, in
a bipinnate leaf it consists of a pailial petiole or rachis
with the leaflets arranged along the sides. See cut under
Osmiinda.— Dilatator pinns. Same as depressor alie
nasi.—ttaase of the nose, the alee nasi; the nostrils.
Finna^ (pin'a), re. [NL., < L. pinna, pina, < Gr.
irivva, wLva, a'kind of mussel.] 1 . A genus of bi-
valves, typical of the family
Pinnidse. They are commonly
called sea-vmigs, and are re-
markable for the size of the byssus
by which they adhere to rocks.
It is notably long and delicate, is
very strong, has a beautiful silky
luster, and is capable of being
woven into cloth, upon which a
very high value is set This
manufacture was known to the
ancients, and is still practised in
Italy. Some species of Pinna
measure about two feet long, with
a byssus of the same length. See
also cut under byssus.
2. 11. c] A bivalve mollusk
of the genus Pinna.
pinnace (pin'as), «. [For-
merly also jjireace; < Y. pi-
nasse, pinace = Sp. pinaza = Pg. piimga, < It.
J) j»a««a,^ireassa,apinnaoe, pine, anything made
of pine, a ship, < L. pinus, pine : see pine\ »•]
1. Naut: (at) A small vessel, generally with
two masts rigged like those of a schooner, and
Pinna rotunda.
byssus.
pinnace
capable of being propelled by oars; a galle7:
so called because bult of pine wood; poeti-
cally, any light sailing-vessel.
TboD canst safely steer
Uy Tent^na Pimuax to her wished Peer.
Sytvater, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii, Eden.
His fonrth Son Edwyn was by his Brother Athelstan,
oot of Jealonsle of State, pnt Into a little PinTiaee, with-
out either Tackle or Oars. Baker, Chronicles, p. 9.
■nils yeere Master Stickles, the exellent Architect of onr
time, did, onely to try conclosion, build » pinnace in Lea^
den hall, being of burden about flue or sixe tun, which at
pleasure might bee taken asunder and ioyned together.
Slow, Elizabeth, an. 1595.
There came from Virginia Into Salem a pinnace of eigh-
teen tons, laden with com and tobacco.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 67.
Swift as a swallow sweeps the liquid way,
Xhe winged pinnace shot along the sea. Pope.
(6) A large double-banked ship's boat. — 2t. A
procuress ; a prostitute. [Old slang.]
For when all the gidlants are gone out o' th' town,
0 then these ^nepinaces lack their due lading.
Songs oj the London Prentiees, p. 66. (HoSitoeS.)
She hath been before me — punk, pinjiace, and bawd —
any time these two and twenty years, upon record in the
Pie-Poudres. B. Jomon, Bartholomew Fair, L 1.
pumacle (pin'a-kl), n. [Early mod. E. also pin-
acle; < ME. pinnakeU, pinaide, pynaclt, < OF.
ptTuicJe, pinnacle, F. pinocle = Sp. pindculo =
Pg. pinaculo = It. pinacolo, pinnacolo, < LL. pin-
naculum, a peak, pinnacle; double dini.,< li.
j»n)m, a pinnacle : seepin^.'] 1. A sharp point
or peak; the very topmost point, as of a moun-
tain.
He then led me to the highest pinnacle of the rock, and
placed me on the top of It. Addieon, Vision of Uliza.
Far off, three mountain-tops.
Three silent pinnacUt of aged snow.
Stood snnset-liush'd. Tem^ton, Lotos-Esters.
2. In arch., any relatively small structure (of
whatever form^ but com-
monly terminating in a cone
or a pyramid) that rises
above the roof or coping
of a building, or caps a pro-
jecting arcMtectnial mem-
ber, such as a buttress, its
constructive object Is to give great-
er weight to the memb^ which it
crowns, in order that this may bet-
ter resist some lateral pressure.
The application of the term is
generally limited to an ornamental
spire-shaped structure, standing
on parapets, angles, and buttresses,
and often adorned with rich and
varied devices. Pinnacles are very
numerous in the fully developed
medieval style; their shafts are
sometimes formed Into niches, and
are sometimes paneled or quite
plain; in examples of late date,
every one of the sides generally
terminates In a gablet. The tops
are often crocketed, and have
flnials at the apex. Pinnacles are
most often square In plan, but are
sometimes octagonal, hexagonal,
or pentagonaL See also cut under
crockeL
Moay pynakle payntet watzpoudred ay quere^
Among the castel camelez, clambred so thik.
That pared out of papure purely hit semed.
Sir Gawayne and the Green Eraght (E. E. T. S.\ 1. SOL
Some renown'd metropolis.
With glistering spires and pinnacles adom'd.
MUton, P. L., ill 550.
pinnacle (pin'a-kl), v. t.; pret. and pp. pin-
nacled, ppr. pinnacling. [< ME. pyndklen; <
pinnacle, n."] 1. To put a pinnacle or pinna-
cles on ; furnish with a pinnacle or pinnacles.
A pygt coroune get wer that gyrl^
Of marlorys & non other ston,
Hige pyjiaMed of cler quyt perle,
Wyth flurted flowreg perfet vpon.
Alliterative Poena (ed. Morris),^ 207.
The pediment of the southern transept is ^n7iaoZ£(f, not
inelegantly, wlUi a flourished cross.
T. Warton, Hist. Kiddington, p. 8.
2. To place on or as on a pinnacle.
The loftiest star of nnascended heaven.
Pinnacled dim in the intense inane.
Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, ilL 4.
pinnacle-work (pin'a-kl-werk), n. In arch.
and decoration, ornamental projections, espe-
cially at the top of any object ; fleurons, knops,
flnials, and the like, taken collectively.
pinnadifonn (pi-nad'i-fdrm), a. [Irreg. < pin-
na^ + -ad- + form.'] In ichih., having the ap-
parent form modified by an extension or en-
croachment of the skin and scales on the fins
or some of them, as the dorsal and anal, as in
the ehsetodontids. CHll.
pinnae, n. Plural otpinna\
283
Pinnacle of Buttre^
York Minster, England.
4501
pinnagef (pin'aj), »i. [For 'pindage, < pfnd +
-age. Cf. eqsaY. poundage^.'] PoundJage of cat-
tle. See pound^.
Finnata (pi-na'ta), ». pi. [NTj., < li. pinnattis,
feathered : seepinnate.'] In herpet., themarine
chelonians; turtles witii flippers or fins. See
Euereta.
pinnate (pin'at), a. [= F. pinne = Sp. pinado
— It. pinnato, < L. pivtiatus, feathered, pinnate,
^pi)ina,pe)ina, feather: seepen?. Ct.^ennate.']
1. Shaped Hke a feather, or resembling a fea-
ther in structure, (a) In hot., noting leaves of such
form. Also pennate. (b) In enlom., noting a surface (es-
pecially that of the posterior femora of grasshoppers) hav-
ing minute parallel oblique lines on each side of a central
ridge, so that the whole somewhat resembles a feather.
2. IJizool. : (a) Feathered ; pinnated. (6) Pro-
vided with a pinna or pinnse; having wings,
fins, or similar parts Abruptly, alternately, de-
cnrsively, digitate^ pinnate. See the adverbs. —
Articnlate-piimate leaf, a winged leaf having the com-
mon footstalk jointed. — Equally or interrupt'Sdly pin-
nate. Same as abruptly jniHui<e.— Oppositely pinnate
leaf. See oppositely. — Pinnate drrose leaf, a leaf i^t
Is winged and terminates with a tendril. — Pinnate leaf, a
compound leaf whose leaflets, except the terminal one, are
attached to the sides of the main or partial racbls. See
cuts under Jaeob'^adder and PAytelepAos.— Uneanally
pinnate leaf, a pinnate leaf with a single terminal leaflet.
pinnated (pin'a-ted), a. Same as pinnate pin-
nated ^ouse. See grouse, prairie-hen, and cut under
Cupidonia.
pinnatedly (pin'a-ted-li), adv. Same as pin-
nately.
pinnately (pin'at-li), adv. So as to be pinnate.
— Fiimately cleft. Same as pinnatUd. — Pinnate^
lobed. Same as pinnottMed.— Pinnately nerved or
veined. Same as jw»mn«n»(2. See cut under nen?a<«m.
piimatifid (pi-nat'i-fid), a. [Also pennatifid;
= P. pinnaUfide, pennaHfide = Pg. pinnatifido,
< L. pinnatus, pinnate, + findere
{■\/ fid), cleave.] In hot., cut or
cleft in a pinnate manner, with
the diviMons half-way down or
more, and the sinuses or lobes
narrow or acute. Also pinni-
sected.
pinnatilobate (pi-sat-i-ld'bat), a.
[< L. pinnatus, pinnate, + NL. lo-
hatus, lobate.] Same as pinnati-
Idbed.
pinnatilobed (pi-nat'i-ldbd), a. [<
pinnaUlohe + -ed?.'] In hot., lobed
in a pinnate manner — that is, with
the divisions extending more than
half-way to the midrib, and with
either sinuses or lobes rounded.
See cut 7 under oak.
pinnation (pi-na'shon), TO. [< pinnate + -ion.]
In hot., the state or condition of being pinnate.
pinnatipartite(pi-nat-i-par't5t), a. [_=:¥. pen-
natiparUte; < L. pinnatus, pinnate, + partitus,
parted: see partite.] In hot, parted in a pin-
nate manner — that is, with the lobes extending
almost but not quite to the midrib.
pinnatiped (pi-nat'i-ped), a. and to. [= Pg. pin-
natipede; < 'Kh.pinnatipes {-ped-), < Jj.pinnatus,
pinnate, + pes {ped-) = E. foot.] L a. Fin-
footed, as a bird; lobiped.
H. «- One of the Pinnatifedes.
Pinnatipedes (pin-a-tip'e-dez), n.pt. [NL., pL
otpinnaUpes : see pinnatiped.] A group of pin-
natiped birds. Also Pinnipedes. Schaeffer.
pinnatisect (pi-nat'i-sekt), a. [= F.pennati-
seqtte; < L. pinnatus, pinnate, + sectus, pp. of
secare, cut.] In hot., pinnately divided; cut
quite down to the midrib, but with the seg-
ments not articulated. A\so pinnaOsected.
pinnatnlate (pi-nat'u-lat), a. [< LL. *pinnatu-
lus, pennatulus, dim., K L. pinnatus,_ pinnate : see
pinnate.] In hot., again subdivided: said of
the leaflet of a pinnate leaf.
pinna-wool (pin'a-wiil), TO. A fabric made from
the byssus of a pinna.
pin-necked (pin'nekt), a. Pinnated, as a grouse.
The pin-necked grouse belong to Cupidonia.
pinneri (pin'er), n. [< ME. pinnere; <p^?^l, v.,
-^- -er^.] 1. One who pins or
fastens with a pin. — 2f. A pin-
maker. Destruction of l^oy,
Notes, p. 486. — 3. An apron
with a bib, kept in place by
pinning; a pinafore.
She had <Sn a black velvet gown, and
a white pinner and apron.
Eingdey, Water-Babies, p. 229.
4f . A woman's head-dress, hav-
ing long flaps hanging down the
sides of the cheeks, worn during
the early part of the eighteenth
century: generally in the plural.
PinnatifidLeaf
of Centaurea
scabiosa.
pinnisected
Four Pixiners to help narrow Foreheads and long Koee^
and very forward, to make the Eyes look languishing.
Jfn. CetOliwe, Phitonick Lady, liL
It will neither be your crimped piniurt. Mis. Lllias
(speaking of them with due respect), nor my silver hair,
or golden chain, that will fill up the void which Boland
Graeme must needs leave in our lady's leisure.
Scott, Abbot, tL
pinner^t (pia'er), «. [<p»n2, i., + -«•!; ult. a
var. of j/j«<feri.] A pinder or pound-master.
One George-a-Greene, the Pinner of the town.
Greene, George-a-Greene;.
pinnetf (pin'et), «. [Dim. of L. pinna, a pinna-
cle: see jjinl.] A pinnacle!
Blazed battlement and pinnet high.
Blazed every rose-carveid buttress fair.
Seolt, L. of L M., vL 23.
Pinnida (pin'i-de), n. pi. [Nil., < Pinna^ +
■ddsB.] A family of bivalve moUusks, named
from the genus Pinna; the pinnas. They are
closely related to the Avicididx (with which they are
united by some conchologists), but differ in having a tri-
angular or mytillform shell with two mnscolar scars, a
linear ligament, and a hinge without teeth. The species
are mosOy inhabitants of warm seas, but one occurs in
English waters. Also named Pinninse as a snbfamHy of
Amculidas. J. E. Gray, 1840. See cut under PvmaZ.
pinnie, n. See pinny^.
pinniewinkle^ «. Bee pinnywinkle.
pinniform (pm'i-fdrm), a. [= F. pinnifonne,
< L. pinna, feather, fin, + forma, form.] 1.
Liike a feather; penniform. — 2. Like a fin or
flipper: as, the pinniform wing of the pengnin.
— 3. Pinnate in form, in any sense; lUate: lo-
bate; auriculate. — 4. Besembling a mollnsk
of the genus Pinna.
Pinnigrada (pi-nig'ra-da), n.pl. [NL., neut. pi.
of pinnigradus : see pirinigrade.] 1. The cri-
noids as an order of echinoderms. See Crinoi-
dea. [Little used.] — 2. In mamntaJ., same as
Pinnipedia. Owen.
pinnigrade (pin'i-grad), a. and n. [< NL. pin-
nigradus, < Jj. pinna, feather, fin, + gradi, walk,
go.] I. a. Moving by means of fins, flippers,
or other pinnate parts.
H. TO. A member of the Pinnigrada; a pin-
niped.
pinninerved (pin'i-n6rvd), a. [< li.pinna, fea-
•ther, + nervum, nerve, + -ed?.] In hot., same
as penninerved.
pinning (pin'ing), TO. [Verbal n. of |)t»l, ».] 1.
The act of fastening or securing with a pin. —
2. The masonry that supports studwork pin-
ning in, the operation of filling In the joints of masonry
with spalls or chips of stone. — Pinning up, in buUding,
the operation of driving in wedges for the purpose of bring-
ing an upper work to bear fully upon an andeipinning con-
structed beneath.
pinniped (pin'i-ped), a. and n. [< L. pinna,
feather, fin, + pes (ped-) = E. foot.] I. a.
Fin-footed, in any sense; having feet like fins
or flippers. Specifically— (o) Having flippers, as a seal ;
pinnigrade ; belonging to the Pinnigrada or Pinnipedia,
as a mammaL (b}_ Pinnatiped or lobiped, as a bird ; be-
longing to the Pinnatipedes. (c) Totipalmate or stega-
nopodouB, as a bird ; belonging to the Pinnipedes (see
Pinnipedes, 1 (b)). (d) Having alate locomotory appen-
dages, as a pteropod ; pteiopodons.
H. n. A member of the Pinnipedes or Pinni-
pedia: apyosed to fissiped.
nnnipedes (pi-nip'e-dez), n. pi. [NL., pi. of
pinnipes: see pinniped.] 1. In omith.: (a)
Same as Pinnatipedes. {h) Same as Totipalma-
tse or Steganopodes. — 2. Li mammal., same as
Pinnipedia. — 3. In Crwrtacea, crabs which have
some of the limbs like flippers, fitted for swim-
ming; the paddle-crabs, shuttle-crabs, or swim-
ming-erabs. See cut under paddle-crah.
Pinnipedia (pin-i-pe'di-a), n. pi. [NL., neut.
pi. of pinnipes. See pinniped.] In zoiil., the
piunigrade, pinniped, or fin-footed aquatic car-
nivorous quadrupeds, constituting one of the
prime divisions of the order Ferie or Camivora,
the other being the Fissipedia. in niiger's classi-
fication (1811) it was the thirteenth order of mammals.
The body is pione, not raised from the ground; the limbs
are modified into fins or filppers for swimming, and con-
fined within the common Integument beyond the elbows
and knees ; the feet are rotated backward. The-first pha-
langes and digits of the manus and pes are enlarged be-
yond the others. The -deciduous dentition is much re-
duced or rudimeAtary. The skull is greatly compressed
between the orbits ; the lacrymal bone Is imperforate, in-
traorbital, and rarely confiuent with the maullary, which
bounds the orbit; the palatines are not produced forward
laterally; and there are extensive vacuities between the
frontal and mazillaiy bones and between the tympanies
and exoccipitals. There are three families — the Otariidee
or eared seals (sea-lions, sea-bears, etc.), the Phocidee or
seals proper, and the TWcAficAuf^ or walruses. Also called
Pinnipedes and Pinnigrada. See cuts under otary, seal,
A-ad-iMdrus.
pinnisected (pin'i-sek-ted), a. [< li.pinna, fea-
ther, + sectus, pp. of secare, cut, + -etP.] In
hot., same as pinnatifid.
pinnitaxsal
pinnitarsal (pin-i-tar'sal), a. [< L. pinna, fea-
ther, + NL. tarsus, tarsus, + -aZ.] Having pin-
nate feet, as a swimming-erab.
pinnitentaculate (pin"i-ten-tak'u-lat), a. [<
L. pinna, a fin, -I- NL. tentaeulum, a tentacle, +
-otei.] Having pinnate tentacles, as a polyp ;
alcyonarian. See Alcyonaria.
pinnock^ (pin'gk), ». [< ME. pinnuc, hedge-
sparrow: said to be so called in imitation of its
snort piping note (cf . pink^).'] 1 . The dnnnock
or hedge-sparrow, Accentor modularis. See cut
under Accentor. [Prov. Eng.] — 3. A titmouse
or tomtit.— Bearded piunock, the beaxded titmouse,
Panurus Marmietts.
pinnock^ (pin 'ok), n. [Origin obscure.] A
tunnel under a road to carry off water ; a cul-
vert. [Local, Eng.]
pinnoite (pin'g-it), n. [Named after the min-
eralogist Pinno.'] A hydrous borate of mag-
nesium, occurring in tetragonal crystals and
fibrous massive forms of a yellow color. It is
found at Stassfurt in Prussia, where it has prob-
ably resulted from the alteration of boraeite.
pinnothere (pin'6-ther), n. [= F.pinnotdre =
Pg. pinoteres (pi.), < NL. Pinotheres, Pinoteres :
see Pinotheres.] A crab of the genus Pinnothe-
res; a pea-crab.
Pinnotheres (pin-o-the'rez), n. [NL. (La-
treille, 1807), -proTp.' Pinnoteres, < Gr. jrivvoriip^g,
a small crab that lives in the pinna's shell, <
ir'ivva, 'Kiwri, the pinna (see Pinna^), + rripilv,
guard.] A genus of small crustaceans, tjrpical
of the family Pinnotheriidse, so called because
they inhabit the shells of pinnas and other bi-
valve moUusks, as oysters ; the pea-crabs. One
ol the best-known Is P. ostreum, the litfle crab frequently
found in the American oyster (Ostrea mrginica), which
when cooked is of a delicate flesh-color with a red band.
P.pimm, the European pea-crab proper, inhabits mus-
sels. P. veterum was known to the ancients as inhabit-
ing the pinnas in the Mediterranean. See cut vmAet pea-
crab.
pinnotherian (pin-o-the'ri-an), a. and n. [<
Pinnotheres + -an."] I. a.'Belating to pea-
crabs; belonging to the genus Pinnotheres or
the family Pinnotheriidse.
II. n. A pea-crab.
Finnotheriidae (pin"o-the-ri'i-de), n.pl. [NL.,
< Pinnotheres + -idee.'] A family of braehyu-
rous decapod crustaceans, typified by the genus
Pinnotheres ; the pea-crabs. They are of small size
and rounded form, with slender legs and thin, soft integu-
ment, owing to their habitual residence inside the shells
of the various bivalves of which they are commensals.
pinnula (pin'u-la), TO. ; -pi. pinnules (-le). [NL. :
seepinnule."] 1.' In eool.: (o) A pinnule, or small
pinna ; some little pinnate part or organ, spe-
cifically—(l) A barb of^a feather. Seeftarftl, 3. (2) One
of the series of lateral branchlets of the arms of a crinoid.
See cut under Crirwid^a. {&) Same aiS pinnvlus. Sollas.
(6) [cap.'\ A genus of bivalve moUusks. Bafi-
nesque, 1815. — 2. In hot., same a,s pinnule, 3.
pinnulate (pin'u-lat), a. [< NL. pinmulatus, <
Jj.pinnula, a pinnule: see pinnule.'] In zool.
and iot., provided with piunulse or pinnules.
pinnulated (pin'u-la-ted), a. [< pinnulate +
-ed2.] Same as pinnulate.
pinnule (pii'ul), n. [= P. pinnule = It. pin-
nola, < L. pinnula, a little plume; dim. < L.
pinna, aiesAher: see pinna^,perfi.'] 1. A pin-
nula.— 2. In «cA*A., speoifloally, a small fin-like
appendage, it is developed especially in scombroid
fishes, as the mackerel, behind the dorsal and anal flns.
Hnniues are really low, short, detached iin-raye^ much
branched and without membranous connection with one
another or with the fin proper. See cut under rtmckerel.
3. In hot., a secondary pinna; one of the pin-
nately disposed divisions of a pinna : noting es-
pecially the ultimate divisions of the frond in
ferns. Also pinnula. See cuts under indusium
and Nothochlima.
pinnnlus (pin'u-lus),«.; pl.i)»»»MM(-li). [NL.,<
Li. pinnula: see pinnule.'] A form of sexradiate
sponge-spicTile resulting from the suppression
of the proximal ray and the development of
porrect spines on the distal ray. Also pinnula.
Sollas.
pinnyi (pin'i), a. [< pin^ + -y^.'] Pinned;
clogged; choked: s,s, a, pinny Gle.
pinny2, pinnie (pin'i), n. [Abbr. dim. ot pina-
fore.] A pinafore: a childish or colloquial
word.
When, poor bantling ! down she tumbled.
Daubed her hands, and face, and pinny.
F. Locker, Piccadilly.
pianywinkle, pinniewlnkle (pin'i-wing-kl),
n. [ Appar. a particular use and corrupted form
oi periiBinkU^.] An old instrument of torture
consisting of a board with holes into which the
fingers were thrust and pressed upon with pegs.
Also pinny winks. [Scotch.]
4502
They prick us and they pine us, and they pit us on the
pinny-winMes for witches.
Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, xxiii.
pinnywinks (pin'i-wingks), ». [Also penny-
winks, pilniewinks, etc.: seepinnywinkle."] Same
as pinnywinMe.
pin-oak (pin'ok), n. A tree, Quercus palustris,
found in wet places in the eastern half of the
United States: so named in allusion to the
persistent dead branches, which resemble pins
driven into the trunk, it grows from 70 to 90 feet
high, and affords a wood of some value. Also called
swamp Spanish oak and water-oak.
pinole (pi-no'le), n. [< Sp. pinole, < Mex. pi-
nolli.] 1. An aromatic powder used in Italy
for making chocolate. Simmonds. — 2. Maize
(or, more rarely, wheat) dried, ground, and
sometimes mixed with the flour of mesquit-
beans, which are quite sweet: used somewhat
extensively as an article of food on the borders
of Mexico and California.
piSon (pin'yon), n. [Sp.-Amer. : see pinion^.']
One of several nut-pines of the Kooky Mountain
region, as Pinus Parryawa, P. edulis, and P. mo-
nophylla; also, a seed of one of these trees. —
Hflonjay, the blue-headed or Maximilian's jay : so called
from its fondness for piflons and other nut-pines. See
CyanocephtUus, and out under Gymnoeitta.
pinpatch (pin'pach), n. The common periwin-
kle, Littorina littorea. [Suffolk, Eng.]
pin-pillow (pin'pil"d), n. A species of prickly-
pear, Opuntia Curassavica.
pin-point (pin'point), n. The point of a pin;
hence, a trifle.
pin-poppet (pin 'pop"et),». Apincase. [North.
Eng.]
pin-rack (pin'rak), TO. Naut., a rail or frame
having holes for holding belaying-pins.
pin-rail (pin'ral), TO. 1. A bar or strip, usu-
ally of wood, to which are secured pegs or hooks
for hanging up various objects. — 2. In organ-
huilding, a ledge of wood passing under the
keys of the manual, in which the key-pins are
fixed. — 3. Naut., a rail of wood or metal for
holding belaying-pins to which ropes are be-
layed.
pin-rib (pin'rib), n. A delicate cord or rib
woven in the substance of fine muslin.
pin-Fod (pin'rod), n. In a locomotive, a tie-
rod connecting the brake-shoes on opposite
sides.
pinsersti »• An obsolete form of pincers.
pinsnett (pins'net), TO. [Contr. of *pi/nsonet, <
pinson^ + -et,] Same as pinson^.
To these their netber-stockes they have corked shooes,
pinxneU, and fine pantoffles, which bear them up a finger
or two from the ground.
Stubbes, Anatomic of Abuses, p. 55.
pinson^ (pin'son), n. [Early mod. E. also pyn-
son; < ME. py'nsone, pensyn, pincers, forceps, <
OP. *pingon, pinehon, dim. of pince, pincers^ <
pincer, pinch, nip: see pinch.] Pincers: nip-
pers; forceps: usually in the plural. Balliwell.
[Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
The pemynnys, that drewe th" naylys owt
Of fete and handys, alle arbowt.
And losyd th* bodye from the tre,
Of myn synnys, lord, lose thou me.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 189.
Pynsorw, to drawe owt tethe, dentaria.
Prom^ Parv., p. 400.
They pull out the haire on their faces with little %nm£07i»
made for that purpose. Halduyt'i 'Voyages, II. 262.
pinson^ to. [Early mod. E. also pynson; < ME.
pinson,pynson,pynsone(8ee "Prompt. Parv.").]
A thin shoe ; a land of pumps.
Soccatus, that weareth stertups or pinsons.
Elyat (1&59). {Ealliwea.)
Calceamen and calcearium is a shoo, pvnson, socke.
WUhali^ Diet. (ed. 1608), p. 286. (Nares.)
pin-switch (pin'swioh), TO. A switch in which
electric connection is made by means of pins in-
serted in holes between plates insulated from
each other.
pint (pint), TO. [< ME. pinte, pynte, pyynte (AS.
*pynt is not authorized) = OPries. pfe* = MD.
pinte, D. pint = MLG. pinte = MHGr. pinte, G.
pint, < OP. (and "P.) pinte = Sp. P^. pinta (ML.
pinta), a pint, appar. so called as being amarked
part of a larger vessel, < Sp. pinta, a mark, < L.
pieta, fem. otpietus, painted, marked: see pic-
ture.] A measure of capacity eqtlal to half a
quart. The imperial pint is 34.65925 cubic Inches; the
United States or old wine-pint, 28J cubic inches (see gal-
lon) ; the old customary ale-pint, 36i cubic inches ; and the
old Scotch pint, about 3 old English ale-pints or 105 cubic
inches. There was also a local unit of weight of this name
for butter, equal to a pound and a quarter.
pinta (pin 'ta), TO. [Sp., amark: seejjiro*.] A
sMn-aSection which prevails in Mexico.
Finus
pintado (pin-ta'do), a. and to. [Sp., prop, pp,
ot pintar, paint: see paint.] I. a. Painted—
that is, spotted or pied — Pintado petrel, Daptum
capen^, the Cape pigeon. See cut under DopKon.
II. TO. 1. The pintado petrel. — 2. The com-
mon' guinea-fowl, Numida meleagris. See cut
under Numida. — 3. The "West Indian mackerel,
Scoinberomorus regalis. — 4. Chintz: the name
given to all printed goods in the East InjiieB,
especially those of the finer quality, many of
which seem to have been partly painted hy
hand.
To Woodcot, when I supped at my lady Mordaunt's at
Ashted, where was a room hung with pinteSo, full of flg.
ures greate and small, prettily representing sundry trades
and occupations of the Indians with their habits.
Evelyn, Diary, Deo. 30, 1665.
Fresh-colored taffeta lined with tTaeir plntadoes.
Birdwood, Indian Arts, 1. 133.
pintail (pin'tal), a. and ». I. a. Same as^iw-
tailed.
II. TO. 1. The pin-tailed duck, Daflla acuta.
Also called, from the peculiarity of the tail,
pickettail, pigeontail, piketail, sharptail, spike-
tail, spindletail, spUttail, sprigtail, sprittail or
spreettail, and kite-tailed vndgeon. See cut un-
der Dafila. — 2. The ruddy duck, Erismatiira
rubida. [Delaware, Maryland.] — 3. The sharp-
tailed or pin-tailed grouse, Pedioecetes phasia-
nellus, more fully caSed pintail chicken.
pin-tailed (pin'tald), a. 1 . Having the tail nar-
rowly cuneate, with long acute central feathers,
as the pintail duck, Daj^toocwto. — 2. Having the
individual feathers of the tail stiff, narrow, and
pointed, as the pintail ducks of the genus JEris-
matura.
pintle (pin'tl), TO. [In sense 1 taken to be a
dim. of ^TO, but in form and in sense 2 in fact
< ME. pintel, pyntyl, < AS^iTOte^dim. of *pint,
= OPries. pint, penth = MLG. LG. pint = Dan.
dial, pint, pintel, 'penis. Cf . It. pinco, pincio,
the same.] 1. A pin upon which anything re-
volves, or which holds two things together
while one or both are free to move in a certain
way. (a) In artillery, a long iron bolt about which the
chassis traverses, (b) The pin of a hinge, a dowel, or a plate
with pins taking the place of dowels, (c) In carriage-mak-
ing, the holt which allows the forward axle to revolve un-
der the body of the wagon, (d) In ship-building, that part
of the hinge of the rudder which consists of a vertical pin
designed to receive the ring of the other part. It is gen-
erally set in the stem-post with the pin erect, but in small
boats the i>intle is often attached to the rudder, in which
case the pin projects downward, entering the ring from
above.
2. The penis. [Old and prov. Eng.]
pintle-hook (pin'tl-huk), to. In artillery, a stout
projecting bar of iron, bent upward at a right
angle, and bolted to the rear of the limber-axle.
It serves to engage the lunette-ring on the end of the
trail of the gun-carriage, and attach the latter to the lim*
ber for transportation.
pinto (pin'to), a. and to. [Sp., painted, (. L.
pictus, painted: see paint,] I, a. Piebald.
[Western U. S.]
It is often a question whether the pinto, or painted pony
of Texas, is the result of a pinto ancestry, or of a generd
coupling ot horses of all colors.
The Century, XXXVn. 334.
II. TO. A piebald animal; specifically, the cal-
ico or painted pony of Texas.
pin-tongs (pin'tdngz), n. sing, and pi. A form
of pliers which are closed by a ring sliding on
the handles ; sliding-tongs.
For cutting the facets, they are held in small hand-vises
OT pin-tongs. Byrne, Artisan's Handbook, p. 76.
pin-tool (pin'tol), TO. In wood-working, a tubu-
lar cutter or punch for trimming to shape
sash-, door-, and other pins of soft wood, for
which the stuff is got out in the square. Hard-
wood pins are turned. E. H. Knight.
pint-pot (pint'pot), TO. 1 . A pot made to contain
a {(int, especially a pewter pot for beer.— 2. A
person who is addicted to the use of beer, or a
seller of beer. [Bare.]
Peace, good pint-pot; peace, good tickle-brain.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 438.
pint-stoup(pint'stoup),re. Avesselmadetohold
a pint, properly one made to hold a Scotch pint,
whichismuchlargerthan the English. Seepint.
De'il hae them that hae the least plnt-stoup.
Scateh proverb.
Pinus (pi'nus), «. [NL. (Tournef ort, 1700), < L.
pinus, pine: see pine^.] 1. A genus of conif-
erous trees of the tribe Ahietinese, known by the
staminate flowers in numerous short yellowish
catkins, and the two forms of leaves, the pri-
mary small and scale-like, the secondary long
and conspicuous and in clusters of from one to
five each, enveloped at the base by a dry sheath.
PinnB
There are about 70 specie^ widely distributed thronghoat
north temperate regions, with a very few extending within
the tropics in eastern Asia and Central America. They
are tall or sometimes low everifreens bearing ovoid or ob-
long cones of closely imbricated woody scales, with thin or
thickened apex. Every scale bears two winged seeds, the
embryo with from three to ten seed-leaves set in a circle.
(See cat under cotyledon.) The scales remain tightly set
together oyer the seeds from fertilization till maturity, and
after opening and discharging the seeds are long persistent
on their axis. The cones v^ in size from 2 inches and less
in P. edulii, the pifion, to 6 inches in the well-known cones
of the white pine, P. Strobus, and reach 18 inches or more
in P. Lambertiana, the sngar-pine. The United States is
particnlarly rich in pines, being the home of half the
known species. For species and uses, see ^Tiei. See cuts
under com, AhUtimsR, cotyledon, and pollen.
2. [I. c] Same as pineal body (YrMeh see, xmier
pineal).
pin- vise (pin' vis), n. 1. A hand-yise used hy
clock-makers for grasping small arbors and
pins. E. H. Knight. — 2. A small vise used by
professional and amatetir fly-makers to hold a
took while attaching and constructing a fly
upon it. Norris.
pinwheel (pin'hwel), n. 1. A contrate wheel
in which the cogs are pins set into the disk.
— 2. In tanning, a stout eircidar box contain-
ing warm water or water and melted tallow,
in which hides are rolled about over strong
wooden pins fastened to the inner eireumfer-
ence of the box. Harper's Mag., LXX. 275. —
3. A kind of firework, consisting of a long pa-
per case filled with a combustible composition
and wound spirally about a disk of pasteboard
or wood. When it is supported vertically on
a pivot, and ignited, it revolves rapidly, form-
ing a wheel of fire.
pinwheel (pin'hwel), v. t. In tanning, to sub-
ject to the action of the pinwheel.
pin-wingt (pin'wing), n. A penguin. Encyc,
Brit., m. 734.
pin-winged (pin'wingd), a. Having a short at-
tenuated falcate first primary. The pin- winged
doves are pigeons of the genus JEchmaptHa or
Engyptila, as E. albifrons of Texas and Mexico.
pinwork (pin'werk), n. In needle-point lace,
small and fine raised parts of a design.
pinwork (pin'werk), v. t.; pret. and pp. pin-
worked or pinwrought, ppr. pinworMng. In flax-
spinning, to work (fiax-yam) on a pin of wood in
a manner to increase its suppleness, when mak-
ing the yam up into bundles for paekiujg. sev-
eral hanks are operated upon at a time by passing them
over a stout arm fixed to a suitable support. A stout pin
is then passed through them, and with this tiie operator
jerks and twists the hanks till they are as supple as desired,
and will lie as placed while they are being bundled.
pinworm (pin'werm), n. A smaU threadworm
or nematoid, Oxyuris vermicularis, infesting the
rectum, especially of children. See Ascaridse,
and cut under Oceyuris.
pinx. The usual abbreviation of pinxit.
pinxit (pingk'sit), V. [L., (he) painted (this),
3d pers. perf. ind. olpingere, paint: seepaint.j
A word occurring as a part of a marginal note
on a picture, noting who painted it: as, Ru-
bens pinxit, ' Bubens painted (this).' Abbre-
viated j>ima;. a,ndi pxt.
Finzter, n. See PinJcster.
pinxter-flower, n. See pinlcster-flower.
pinyi (pi'ni), a. [Also piney; < pine^ + -^i.]
Pertaining to, of the nature of, consisting of, or
covered with pines.
Between the piney sides
Of this long glen. Tennyeon, (Enone.
We passed the beantifnl falls of the Tind Elv, drove for
more than twenty miles over wild piny hills, and then de-
scended to Kongsberg.
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 397.
The thrush that carols at the dawn of day
From the green steeples of the piney wood.
LongfeUow, Birds of Killingworth.
Hny resin, the product also called pfnj/ varmsh, Indian
(sometimes ManUa) and liquid copal, and white daimmar-
resin. See dammar^esin Hny tallffW, a concretef atty
substance resembling wax, obtained by boiling with water
the fruit of the Vateria indica, a tree common upon the
Malabar coast. It partakes of the nature of stearine, and
forms excellent candles. Also called Malabar tallow.
piny2 (pi'ni), m.; yl.pinies (-niz). A dialectal
form oi peony.
pionef, n. A Middle English form ot peony.
pioneati «• -A- word variously explained as
meaning 'overgrovyn with marsh-marigolds,' or
simply 'dug.' Aldis Wright.
Thy banks with pioned and twilled brims.
Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 64.
pioneer (pi-o-ner'), n. [Formerly also pioner,
Tseeely piner; < F.pionnier, OF. peonier, a foot-
soldier, sapper, or miner, Kpeon, pion, a foot-
soldier: see peon.'i 1. Milit., one of a party
or company of foot-soldiers who march before
or with an army, and are furnished with dig-
4503
ging- and cutting-implements, to clear the way
of obstructions, repair the roads, dig intrench-
ments, etc.
A thousand horse and foot, a thousand pioneers.
If we get under gronnd, to fetch us out again.
And every one an axe to cut the woods down.
Fletcher, Pilgrim, iii 4.
He [the Russian] nseth no Foot but such as are Pioneers
or Gunners, of both which sort 30000.
MUlon, Hist, Hoscovia.
2. One who or that which goes before and opens
and leads or prepares the way for others com-
ing after ; specifically, a first or early explorer
or experimenter in any department of human
enterprise.
The colonies and settlements . . . occupied with taming
the wild earth, and performing the functions of pioneers of
civilization.
Sir O. C. Lewie, Authority in Matters of Opinion, ilL
[(XotAom.)
Snow-drifts stretch by the roadside, and one by one the
pioneers of the vast pine-woods of the interior appear.
J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 31.
pioneer (pi-o-ner'), u. [<. pioneer, n.^ I. trans.
To go before and open (a way) ; lead or prepare
the way to or for.
I found that miners had pumeered the way some distance
down the river in search of gold. Tlie Century, XXX. 739.
It is true that in the earliest days of the settlement the
diggers who found their way to Eimberley were of a more
orderly and law-abiding class than those who pioneered the
gold-mines of California and Australia.
FortmghUy Ret., N. S., XLm. 877.
n. intrans. To act as pioneer; clear the way;
remove obstructions. Quarterly Sev.
pioneering (pi-g-ner'ing), p. a. Pertaining to
pioneers; serving to pioneer: as, a, pioneering
expedition.
pionert, n. An obsolete form ot pioneer.
Fionias (pi-o'ni-as), n. See Pimius.
Pionidae (pi-on'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Pionus -t-
-idie.'i A family of parrots, named from the
genus Pionias or Piomis. it is characterized by a
short broad tail half as long as the wings, a short grooved
and toothed bUl with an extensive naked cere, and color-
ation chiefly green. There are upward of 80 species,
most of which are American, the others being African.
pioningt (pi'o-ning), n. [< pioneer) + -jm^I.]
The working of pioneers ; miUtary works raised
by pioneers.
With painefull pyonings
From sea to sea he heapt a mighty mound
Spenser, F. Q., n. x. 63.
Pionus (pi'o-nus), n. pSTL. (Wagler, 1830), <
Gr. Telav, fat.] An. extensive genus of parrots
of the family Psittacidse (or a family Pionidse),
containing such species as P. menstrutts and P.
senilis of Brazil. Also, more correctly, Pionias.
?iony, n. An obsolete or dialectal form ot peony.
lopmla (pi-of 'i-la), n. pSTL. (FaUen, 1810), <
Gr. niav, fat, + (ptieiv, love.] A genus of dip-
terous insects of the taaaiy Musmdx, or giving
name to a family PJopMwfe, species of which in-
habit cheese ; the cheese-flies. The larva of the cos-
mopolitan P. casei, the common cheese-hopper, lives on
cheese, hams, and fat in general, and also, according to
Germar, in cooking-salt. One species has been reared on
the roots of celery. There are about 30 species, the adults
of aU of which are small black glistening flies. Three are
common to North America and Europe. See cut under
Fipa
2. Having faith in and reverence for the Su-
preme Being; actuated by faith in and rever-
ence for God; godly; devout: said of persons.
Here you stand.
Adore, and worship, when you know it not ;
Piovs beyond the intention of your thought;
Devout above the meaning of your will.
Wordsaorth, Exclusion, iv.
3. Dictated by reverence for God; proceed-
ing from piety: said of things: a,s,piotis awe;
pious services ; pious sorrow.
I have . . . paid
More pious debts to heaven than in all
The fore-end of my time.
Shak., Cymbeline, iiL 3. 72.
Sickness itself is appayed with religion and holy
thoughts, with jnoug resolutions and penitential prayers.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), L 901.
4. Practised under the pretense of religion or
for a good end: as, pious tia,u6s.
With devotion's visage
And pious action, we do sugar o'er
The devil himself. Shak., Hamlet, lit 1. 48.
Floos uses. See use. = Syn. 2. Beligions, holy, righteous,
saintly. See reUffion.
piously (pi'us-li), adv. In a pious manner;
devoutly; as anact of piety; dutifully.
Encompass'd and in great danger, he was valiantly and
piously rescu'd by his Son Titus. Milton, Hist. Eng., ii.
pious-minded (pi'us-minMed), a. Of a pious
disposition.
pip£ (pip), n. [Early mod. E. also pipe, pype, <
MiC. pippe, pyppe = MD. pippe, pipse, D. pip
= MLG. pip, tiGr. pipp, pipps = OKG. phiphiz,
pfipfis, MHG. phippfesz, G. (obs.) pfips, pfipps.
PiopMlidae (pi-6-fil'i-de), n. pi. [NL. (Mac-
quart, 1835), < Piophila + ■idsB.'] A family of
acalyptrate dipterous insects, l^ified by the
genus Piophila, having the auxiliary vein of the
wings coalescent throughout with the first lon-
gitudinal vein. Several genera belong to this
family, and four of them are represented in
North America. '
pioscope (pi'o-skop), n. [< Gr. w'u^, f at, +
CKoreiv, view.] A kmd of lactoseope invented
by Heeren. it consists of a black vulcanized rubber
disk having a central circular recess for holding the milk
to be tested. Upon this is fitted a glass cover painted
with six sectors of color, ranging from white-gray to deep
bluish-gray, around a central unpainted spot. 'Fhe color
of the milk as seen through the unpainted spot in the
center of the cover is compared with the colors of the
sectors, and the quality of the milk is estimated from the
color of the sector which most nearly corresponds to that
of the sample.
piot (pi'ot), n. Seepiet.
pioted, a. Seepieted.
pious (pi'us), a. [= F. pieux, an extended form
of OP. pie = Sp. Pg. It. pio, < L. pius, pious,
devout, affectionate, kind. Hence ult. (< L.)
piety, pity, pittance, etc.] 1. Having or ex-
hibiting due respect and affection for parents or
others to whom respect and affection are due;
also, pertaining to or consisting in the duties of
respect and affection toward parents or others.
No one Thing preserves and improves Beligion more
than a venerable, high, pious Esteem of the chief est Minis-
ters. HmoeU, Letters, iL 10.
MHG. allsopippusz, pippis, G.pips, pipps (after
LG.) = Sw. pipp = Dan. pip = F. pejne = Pr.
pepida = Sp. pepita = Pg. pivide, pevide= It.
pipita, < iSXi.pipita, pivita (after Eom.), < L.
pituita, phlegm, rheum, slime, also the pip;
prob., with loss of orig. s-, < spuere, pp. sputus,
spew: see spew.] A disease of fowfe, consist-
ing in a secretion of thick mucus in the mouth
and throat, often accompanied by the formation
of a sheath-like scale on the end of the tongue :
not to be confused with canker or roup.
Choose thou another [friend] of somewhat tougher frame,
and that will not die of the pip like a young chicken.
ScfM, Monastery, ix.
A thousand |>i|w eat up your sparrow-hawk!
Tennyson, Geraint.
pip2(pip), «. [Short for j»pj»»i.] 1. The kernel
or seed of fruit, as of an apple or an orange. —
2. One of the spots on dice or on playing-cards :
thus, the ace has one pip; the ten, ten pips.
— 3. One of the rhomboid-shaped spaces into
which the surface of a pineapple is divided. —
4. A trade-name used by manufacturers and
dealers in artificial fiowers for an imitation of
the central part of a fiower which bears the
seeds or fruit.
pip2 (pip), V. t. ; pret. and pp. pipped, ppr. pip-
ping. \\pip^, ».] To blackball. [Slang.]
If Buckle were pipped, they would do the same to every
clergyman. A. B. Ewth, Buckle, I. 252. (Encyc. Diet.)
pip3 (pip), V. [A var. of pipe\ peep^, in like
sense.] I. intrans. To peep, pipe, or chirp, as
a chick or young bird.
It is no nnfrequent thing to hear the chick pip and cry
in the egg before the sheU be broken. Boyle.
H. trans. To crack or chip a hole through
(the shell) : said of a chick in the e^.
Fipa Cpi'pp.), n. [NL. (Laurenti).] A genus
of aglossal tailless amphibians, typical of the
family Pipidse. P. ameiricana or surinamensis,
the Surinam toad, is the only species, its color
is brownish-olive above and whitish below. It is some-
Surinam Toad tj'ipa amgricanai, female.
times 7 inches long, and has a peculiarly hideous aspect.
It is particularly interesting on account of its mode of
rearing its young. After the female has laid the eggs,
Fipa
the male places them apon her back, fecundates them,
and then presses them Into cellules, which at that period
open for their reception, and afterward close over them.
In these cellules on the mother's back the eggs are
hatched and the young pass their tadpole state, for they
do not leave their domicile till their legs are formed.
Aaterodactylui is a synonym. See Aglosm.
Pipae(pi'pe),».;j2. [NL., pi. of P«p«.] Same
as Pipidse. Tschudi, 1838.
pipage (pi'paj), n. l<.pipel + -age."] Convey-
ance or distribution by pipes, as of water, gas,
petroleum, etc.
The question ot pipage is one of Immense importance.
Sei. Amer. Supp., p. 8765.
A public authority which, to dealing with the ques-
tions of constant supply, pressure, 9.n^ pipage, should be
bound to have regard not only to the convenience of cus-
tomers, but also to the requirements for the extinction of
flre. Engineer, LXVII. 343.
pipal (pe'pal), n. Same as pipul-tree.
Tor the discovery of theft they use an ordeal of Are, the
person accused carrying a piece of red-hot iron a few paces
■with nothing between it and the sMn but a few pipal
leaves. Atheneeum, So. 3202, p. 316.
pipel (^ip), v.; pret. and pp. piped, ppr. piping.
[Also, in the orig. sense ' chirp,' peep (formerly
also spelled jpjep) and j»p; < ME. pipen, pypen,
= D. pijpen = MLG. pipen, liOr.piepen, pipen
= MHG. pMfen, pfifen, G.pfeifen, piepen, pipen
— Sw.piija = Dan. pibe, pipe, peep, or chirp,
as birds, < OP. piper, also pepier, F. piper, pi-
pier, pipe, peep, or chirp, as birds or as frogs,
< li. pi2nre, pipiare, pipare (ML. sXso inpulare)
= Gtr. miriieiv, chirp; imitative of the sound of
chirping. In later uses the verb is from the
noun. Ci.peep\pip\'] I. in traws. 1. To chirp,
whistle, warble, or sing, as a bird.
It was Autumn, and incessant
Piped the quails from shocks and sheaves.
Longfellow, Pegasus in Found.
S. To sound shrilly, as wind.
His big manly voice.
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound.
Shak., As you Like it, ii. 7. 162.
Well piped the wind, and, as it swept
The garden through, no sweet thing slept.
WiUiatm Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 124.
3. To cry; weep: sometimes with up: as, the
ohUdren piped up at this. — 4. To play on a
■pipe, fife, flute, or any similar instrument of
music.
The yonger sorte eome pyping on apace,
In whistles made of line enticing wood.
Qascoigne, Steele Glas (ed. Arber), £pil., p. 82.
He^>'if, I sung; and, when he snng, I piped.
Spenser, Colin Clout, L 76.
We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced.
Mat. 3£L 17.
From street to street he piped advancing.
And step by step they followed dancing.
Browning, Pied Piper, vii
5. To make a shrill noise, as bees, in the hive
before swarming — To pipe la an ivy-leaf. See ivy-
leaf.
H. trans. 1. To utter or emit, as notes, in a
shrill or piping voice.
A robin . . . was basking himself in the sunshine, and
piping a few querulous notes.
Irvinff, Sketch-Eook, p. 256.
And, while the wood-thrush pipes his evening lay,
Give me one lonely hour to hymn the setting day.
Bryant, A Walk at Sunset.
When the summer da^ s are bright and long.
And the little birds pipe a merry song.
£. H. Stoddard, Under the Trees.
2. To play; produce on a pipe or similar mu-
sical instrument.
Things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp,
except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it
be known what ia piped or harped? 1 Cor. xiv. 7.
"Piper, pipe that song again."
So I piped; he wept to hear.
WUlioMi Blaie, Songs of Innocence, Int.
Piping a ditty sad for Bion's fate.
M. Arnold, Thyrsis.
3. Naut., to caU by means of the boatswain's
pipe or whistle: as, to pipe the crew to grog or
to prayers.
The men are generally in long before they are piped
down. Marryat.
4. To provide or supply with pipes.
This well was piped and used for a while, but, not yield-
ing enough water for cooltog purposes, was closed.
Sd. Amer., K S., LX. 33.
5. To convey by pipe, as water, gas, oil, etc.
Wherever the water comes from, it is usually conveyed
Into a tank or a reservoir, and then piped or ditched about
ever the farm wherever needed.
Pop. Sci. Xo., XXXVI. 365.
ITatural gas will be piped to Chicago.
New York Tribune, July 3, 1887.
4504
6. To furnish with or make into piping, as in
dressmaking or upholstery: as, to pipe a bor-
der.— 7. In hydraul. mining, to direct a stream
of water upon, as a bank of gravel, from the
hydraulic pipe.— To pipe one's eye, to weep; cry.
[mutical slang.]
Then reading on his 'bacco-box.
He heav'd a bitter sigh.
And then began to eye his pipe.
And then to pipe his eye.
Hood, Faithless Sally Brown.
Ha was very frail and tearful ; tor being aware that a
shepherd's mission was to pipe to his flocks, and that a
boatswain's mission was to pipe all hands, ... so he had
got it into his head that his own peculiar mission was to
pipe his eye; which he did perpetually.
Dickem, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxxii.
To pipe down (naut), to dismiss from muster, as a ship's
company, or to signify by means of a boatswain's whistle
that, the duty being finished, the crew have permission to
leave their stations.— To pipe or pipe Off, in thieves' slang,
to watch (a house or person) closely, in order to obtain in-
formation which may be of use in carrying out a criminal
plan.
pipei (pip), n. [< ME. pipe, pype, < AS. pipe,
a pipe, = OFries. pipe = D. jnjp = MLG. pipe,
LG. pipe = OHG. pfifa, fifa, MHG. pMfe, pfife,
G. pfeife = leel. pipa = Sw. pipa = Dan. pihe
= F. pipe = Sp. Pg. pipa = It. pipa, piva, a
pipe, < ML. pipa, a pipe (in various uses); from
the verb in the orig. sense 'chirp,' 'peep,' as a
bird:
see pipe'-, peep^,
1, V. In later uses the
verb is from the noun, while again some later
uses of the noun are from modem deflected
uses of the verb. Of. doublet ^/e.] 1 . A simple
tubular musical instrument, usually of wood.
The typical form is doubtless that of a flageolet or whistle,
or perhaps that of an oboe. The term is no longer tech-
nically applied to any particular instrument (though it
survives in bagpipe, V&napipes, etc.), except in connection
with the pipe-organ. See def . 2.
Tho up they gan their merypypes to trusse.
And all their goodly heardes did gather rownd.
Spenser, F. Q., III. x. 46.
They are not apipe for fortune's finger
To sound what stop she pleases.
Shak., Hamlei^ ilL 2. 75.
Neyther list I to dance after their pipe which ascribe a
musicall harmonic to the heauens.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 10.
These [antic trifles] be the pipes that base-born minds
dance after. Quarles, Emblems, ii. 8.
A Shepherd now along the Plain he roves.
And with his jolly Pipe delights the Groves.
Prior, Henry and Emma.
2. One of the tubes of metal or of wood from
which the tones of an organ are produced ; an
organ-pipe. Such pipes are either flue- or reed-pipes.
The tone is produced in Sue-pipes by the fluctuations of
a compact focused stream of air impinging upon a sharp
edge or lip, and in reed-pipes by the vibration of a metal
tongue hung in a stream of air. Metal pipes of either
class are usually circular in section, while wooden pipes
are usually square or triangulai-. (a) Flue-pipes consist
of a body and a, foot, the division between which is marked
by an opening on one side of the pipe, called the mouth.
The upper and lower edges of the mouth are called lips,
and its sides are often shielded by ears. Opposite the
lower lip a horizontal shelf, called the language or languid,
is inserted so as nearly to separate the pipe into two dis-
tinct cavities. Between this shelf and the lower Up is a
narrow slit called the flt/e or urind-way, through which
the stream of air is directed against the upper lip. The
quality of the tone depends upon the general shape of the
pipe, and especially upon a delicate adjustment of the
language and lips called voicing. The pitch of the tone
depends upon the length of the vibrating column of air
within the body. The upper end of the pipe may he open,
or may be closed with a plug ; an open pipe gives a tone
an octave higher than a stopped pipe of the same length.
Tuning is effected by altering the eflecll*e length of the
air-column in various ways ; and the adjustable metal flaps
or tongues placed at the top of the pipe for this purpose
are called tuners. The lower end of the pipe is open for
the admission of air from the wind-chest. (6) Reed-pipes
consist of a tute or tody and a mouthpiece, the only com-
munication between which is through a short metallic
tube called the shallot, or reed proper. The oblong open-
ing into the lower part of the shallot is covered or fUled
by a thin, elastic piece ot brass called the tongue, or some-
times the reed. When the tongue covers the opening, the
reed is striking; when it merely fills the opening, the reed
is free. The quality and power of the tone depend largely
upon the material and shape of the body, which serves
almost exclusively as a resonance-chamber. The pitch of
the tone depends upon the vibrating length of the tongue.
Tuning is effected by adjusting a wire spring of peculiar
shape so as to lengthen or shorten the part of the tongue
left free to vibrate : this spring is called the tuning-wire.
In the organ, pipes of the same variety are arranged in
sets called stops or registers, containing at least one pipe
for each key of the keyboard. (See stop and organ^.) The
breadth and sonority of a pipe's tone are much influenced
by its scale— th£Lt is, by the general ratio between its
width or diameter and its length ; broad, bulky pipes giv-
ing broad, diapason-like tones, and narrow pipes giving
thin, incisive tones. The proportions between the several
dimensions of the different kinds of pipes are regulated
by somewhat intricate mathefnatical formulae. The num-
ber of pipes in an organ is approximately equal to the
product of the number of keys in the keyboards and the
number of stops. The organ at Weingarten is said at one
time to have contained 6,666 pipes. The largest pipe in
an organ is the deepest one belonging to a 16- or 32-f eet
pipe
open stop of the pedal organ ; such a pipe is usually of
wood, and is about 16 or 32 feet long. The smallest pipe
is the highest one belonging to one of the mixture-stops,
and is usually smaller than a common lead-pencil. Pipes
are made either of wood or of metal. The metal most in
use for this purpose Is called pipe-metal or organ-metal,
and is an alloy ot tin and lead. Pure tin, zmc, and lead
have also been used, and a great variety of their alloys.
When a pipe is sounded, it is said to speak. When it fails
to speak properly, or speaks when not wanted, it is said
to cipher.
3. Any hollow or tubular thing or part: as,
the pipe of a key.— 4. A tube of metal, wood,
or earthenware serving for various uses, as in
the conveyance of water, gas, steam, or smoke :
as, a gas-pipe; a stove-pipe. — 5. A large round
cell in a bee-hive, used by the queen-bee. ITalli-
well. — 6. A tube of clay or other material with
a bowl at one end, used for smoking tobacco,
opium, or other narcotic or medicinal substance.
See chibouk, hooka, hubble-bubble, narghile.
The pipe, with solemn interposing pull.
Makes half a sentence at a time enough.
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 246.
The genial stoicism which, when life flouts us, and says,
"Put that in your pipe and smoke It ! " can puff away with
as sincere a relish as if it were tobacco of Mount Lebanon
in a narghileh ot Damascus.
Lowell, Cambridge Thirty Years Ago.
7. A pipeful; a quantity of tobacco sufficient
to fill the bowl of a pipe.
Sir, I am tor one pipe of tobacco ; and I perceive yours
is very good by th^ smell.
Cotton, in Walton's Angler, ii. 236.
Sir Jeoffrey, to show his good-will towards me, gave me
Supipe of his own tobacco. Steele, Tatler, No. 182.
8. A ■wine-measure, usually containing about
105 imperial gallons, or 126 wine-gallons. Two
pipes, or 210 imperial gallons, make a tun. But in practice
the size of the pipe varies according to the kind of wine it
contains. Thus, a pipe of port contains nearly 138 wine-
gallons ; of sherry, 130 ; ot Madeira, 110 ; and of Lisbon,
140. Sometimes confounded with &uf£ (which see).
The pint you brought me was the best
That ever came from pipe.
Tennyson, Will Waterproof.
9. Same as pipe-roll. — 10. The chief air-pas-
sage in breathing and speaking; the windpipe:
as, to clear one's ^^c. [Colloq.]
Drinke of this licoure wol cure up clene
The pipes and the gomes, as is sure
This Marcial expert upon this cure.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 88.
I should have quite defeated your oration.
And slit that fine rhetorical pipe of yours.
B. J Oman, Catiline, T. 4.
11. The sound of the voice; the voice; also,
a whistle or call of a bird.
There are who do yet remember him at that period —
his pipe clear and harmonious. Lamib, Old Actors,
Sad and strange as in dark summer dawns
The etaVLesH pipe of half-awaken'd birds
To dymg ears. Tennyson, Princess, iv.
12. Naut., the whistle used by the boatswain
and_ his mates to call or pipe the men to their
various duties ; also, the sounding of this instru-
ment.— 13. pi. The bagpipe. [Colloq.] — 14t.
A spool, as of thread ; a roll or quill on which
embroidery-silk was wound.
I preyyow do byen forme ij. pypysot gold [gold thread
on pipes or rolls for embroidery). Paston Letters, 1. 39.
15. A dingle or small ra-vine thrown out from
a larger one. Halliwell. [Local, Eng.] — 16.
In mining, an eeoiirrence of ore in an elongated
cylmdrieal or pipe-like mass, such as is char-
acteristic of the so-called pipe-vein. See jjjpe-
vein.— l'7. One of the curved flutings of a frill
or ruff; also, a pin used for piping or fluting.
— 18. In hair-dressing, a cylinder of clay used
for curling the peruke.— 19. In a steam-engine.
See inducUonpipe. — 20. In metal, a funnel-
shaped cavity at the top of an ingot of steel,
caused by the escape of occluded gas (largely
hydrogen) during the cooling of the metal.
This happens chiefly with steel of hard temper. The
formation of pipes of this kind is technically known as
piping. '
21. In the manufacture of black-ash or ball-
soda (impure sodium carbonate) by the so-
called Le Blanc ball-furnace process, one of
very numerous hollow charaoteristio' jets of
flame which shoot out from the massed mii-
ture of chalk, small coal, and sodium sulphate
°f™S the calcining process, and the beginning
of the subsidence of which indicates the com-
pletion of the calcination. These nets are also
called candles.— 2Z. The pufBn or sea-parrot,
Fratercula arctica. [Cornwall, Eng.]_Blow-ojr
pipe. See 6Jow-qr- Celtic pipes. Sa,me as fairy pipes.-
Dflp pipe. See dnp-plpc—^ry vipe, a pipe for taking
steam free from water from a boiler. See sUamhoil-
":--^iy>-t^axaaa'a VAW. See Dutchman' s-pipe.--Bi&0.
*^ ?«rtio^"^t,f •^"'^l'*5?»^-?airy pipes. See fairy.
—Indian pipe. See /ndtan-pipe.- tibial pipe See
pipe
loMoI.— Laminated pipe. See temtnote.— Oaten pipe
See oo/CTi.— Open pipe. See del 2.— Pan's pipes; a
primitive musical instrument, consisting of a gradoated
series of tabes of cane, wood, metal, or stones closed at the
lower end, the tone being produced by blowing with the
breath across the upper end. It has been used among
barbarous and semi-civilized peoples in various parts of
Pan's Pipes.
the worid. The tones of the instrument are often sweet
and pleasant Early in the nineteenth century an effort
was made in England to form companies of players upon
Fan's pipes of various sizes for Itinerant performances.
Also called Paitdean pipes, and syrinx.— Pipe gamboge,
gamboge in cylindrical sticks, as shaped by baiAoo-joints
in which the juice is collected. — Stopped Pipe See def
2.— To hit the pipe. See hitl.
pipe^t, V. An obsolete form otpeep^.
pipe*f, n. An obsolete form otpip^.
pipe-bender (pip'ben'dSr), n. l. A maehine
for bending sheet-iron stove-pipe in the opera-
tion of making elbows. — 2. A flexible man-
drel formed of a strong, closely wound steel
helix, which is inserted in a soft metal pipe in
order that it may be bent without distortion.
E. H. Knight.
pipe-box (pip'boks), B. In a vehicle, the box
of a hnb or nave which receives the arm or
spindle of the axle. E. M. Knight.
pi^e-case (pip'kas), n. (a) A case or box lined
with soft material to protect a valuable pipe
when not in use. (&) A similar cover for the
bowl of a pipe to protect it from the fingers
when in use, as when a meerschaum is being
carefully colored, to keep the fingers from
touching the bowl.
pipe-clamp (pip'klamp), n. A vise or holder
for a pipe ; a pipe-vise. E. H. Knight.
pipe-clay (pip'kla), n. A white clay suitable
for makmg pipes, and also used for whiteniiig
leatherwork, especially by soldiers.
pipe-clay (pip'kla), v. t. l. To whiten with
pipe-clay.
Fellows were singing as they pipe-clayed belts or bur-
nished sword-scabbards.
Arch. Forbes, Souvenirs of some Continents, p. 35.
Hence — 2. To blot out or wipe off; square or
settle : said of accounts. [Slang.]
You . . . would not understand allusions to their [the
midshipmen's] pipe-daying their weekly acconnts.
Sickens, Bleak House, xvli.
pipe-coupling (pip'kup'ling), n.
piece for unit-
ing two pipes A ^
so as to form
a continuous
channel, or for
forming a junc-
tion between a
pipe and an-
other object. —
Flexible pipe-
coupUng. See
couptiTig.
4505
opening, through which the plastic clay is forced by heavy
pressure, to give it the form of a tube. The inside of the
socket on the end of the pipe is shaped by what is called
a hnjjer die, and the outside of the socket is formed by
a device called the ring, which is interposed between the
outside die and a flange on the lower die.
2. A female screw or nut of hardened and tem-
pered steel used for cutting male threads on
the ends of metal pipes. The threads of the die have
grooves cut aci-oss them parallel with the axis on which
the die rotates. In cutting pipe-threads, these grooves
afford clearance for escape of the metal cuttings, which
would otherwise accumulate in the threads of the die and
prevent a clean, uniform cut.
3. Any one of the radially arranged and simul-
taneously adjustable screw cutting-tools which
in some kinds of pipe die-stocks have their in-
ner ends formed like chasers for cutting male
screws. (See chaser^.) a right-hand die is one
that cuts a right-handed screw-thread. One which cuts a
left-handed thread is a left-hand die. See screto-thread.
Also called outside die.
pipe-driver (pip'dri'vfer), n. An apparatus
for forcing into the ground pipes for driven
wells.
pipe-fish (pip 'fish), n. One of the several lopho-
branchiate fishes which have a long tubular
snout like a
pipe, as any
member of
theSyngnathi-
dee or Sippo-
campiAse. The
' members of the
latter family are
more commonly
called sea-hones, the pipe-flshes proper having the body as
well as the jaws Blender. One of the best-known pipe.
fishes is Siphostoma or SyngruUhus acus, common in Brit*
Great Pipe-fish iSipkostoma acitsi.
A joint or
Pipe-coupling.
a and &, pipes to be coupled and male-
threaded ; e, coupling, female-threaded at
each end. If one end of the coupling has a
left-handed female thread.it is called a right-
and-left coupling. If one of the pipes is
smaller than the other and the coupling is
reduced at one end to lit the smaller pipe, it
is called a reducing-coupling.
pipe-cutter
(pip'kut*6r),M.
1. A tool for
cutting iron pipes, a hook passes under the pipe and
serves as a rest, while a cutting-chisel or -disk is forced
down upon the pipe, about which the implement is ro-
tated until a complete section is effected.
2. A machine for truing the ends of pipes or
cutting them into lengths.
piped (pipt), a. [< pipei- + -ed?.'] Tubular or
fistulous,; formed with or into a tube or pipe.
— Piped key, a key with a hollow barrel which fits upon
a pintle contained in the lock. Also pipe-key.
pipe-dance (pip'dans), n. A dance resembling
the sword-dance, in which a ntunber of clay
tobacco-pipes are used instead of swords.
Sometimes they do the pipe-danee. For this a number
of tobacco-pipes, about a dozen, are laid close together on
the floor, and the dancer places the toe of his boot between
the different pipes, keeping time with the music.
Mayheie, London ^bourand London Poor, 1. 14.
pipe-die (pip'di), n. 1. In a press for molding
earthenware pipes, the ring-shaped die which
shapes the exterior surface of the pipe. A piece
called the core is supported in such manner that one of
its extremities protrudes outwardly into, and is held con-
centrically within, the pipe-die. This forms an annular
Massachusetts Pipe-fish i,Siphostomafusctii.
ish waters. The best-known American species is Siphos-
tffmafusca or Syngrnathus peckianus.
pipe-foot (pip'fut), n. _ In organ^iuUding, the
lower part of a flue-pipe. Its lower point is
called a toe. See^jiei, 2.
pipe-grab (pip'grab),«. A clutching tool which
is lowered into or upon a well-pipe to lift it to
the surface.
pipe-joint (pip' joint), ». A pipe-coupling. E.H.
Knight.
pipe-key (pip'ke), n. Same as piped key (which
see, TiadLeT piped).
pipe-layer (pip'la'er), n. l. A workman who
lays gas-, water-, or drainage-pipes. — 2. Apo-
litical intriguer^see the quotation) ; hence, any
schemer. [U. S.]
Among the Glentworth papers was a letter in which he
said that the men sent from Philadelphia were to be em-
ployed in laying the pipes for the introduction of Croton
water. The Whig leaders were immediately stigmatized
as pipe layers, a term persistently applied to them for sev-
eral years, Thurlow Weed, Autobiog., p. 493.
pipe-laying (pip'la*ing), ». 1. The act of lay-
ing down pipes for gas, water, and other pur-
poses.— 2. A laying of plans for the promotion
or accomplishment of some scheme or purpose,
especially a political one ; scheming or intrigu-
ing. See the quotation luideT pipe-layer, 2.
pipe-lee (pip'le), n. Tobacco half-smoked to
ashes in a pipe. G. A. Sola.
pipe-line (pip'lin), n. A conduit of iron pipe,
chiefly laid under ground, through which oil is
forced by pumping to transport it from an oil-
region to storage-tanks at a general market or
refinery. The method has been put in operation in the
United States on a vast scale, as a substitute for other
means of transportation, and carried out with all the re-
finements of modem pumping-machinery, the result being
an enormous reduction in the cost of transportation and
in the costof petroletim products to consumers. The con-
duits are constructed of lap-welded iron pipes, with pmnp-
ing-stations at intervals of varying lengths, according as
the grade is ascending or descending, the average being
about 30 miles. The diameters of the pipes are adapted
to the needs of the various lines, 6 inches being the size
used on most trunk-lines, and two or more pipes being
employed when greater capacity is required. The longest
existing trunk-line is that connecting the Pennsylvania
oil-region in opposite directions with New York and Chi-
cago. This and other trunk-lines, and lines leading from
wells to pumping-station^ etc., make up an aggregate ex-
tent of many thousand miles. The pipes are liable to ob-
struction from deposits of paraifin and foreign matters.
Such accumulations are removed by driving a sort of pis-
ton(called by the workmen a "go-devil") through the pipes,
from station to station, by the pressure of the liquid col-
umn behind it.
pipe-loop (pip 'lop), n. In harness-manuj., a
long, narrow loop for holding the end of a
buckled strap. E. B. Knight.
pipe-metal (pip'met*al), n. See organ-metal,
under metal.
Piperacese
pipemoutb (pip'mouth), n. A fish of the fam-
ily Fistulariidae: so called from the pipe-like
or tubular snout.
pipe-mouthed (pip 'moutht), a. Havinga piped,
fistulous, or tubular mouth, as a fish : specifical-
ly noting fishes of the families FisUdariidse and
Centriscidae.
pipe-office (pip'ofis), n. An ofBce, abolished
in 1834, in the English court of exchequer, in
which the clerk of the pipe made out leases of
crown lands, accounts of sheriffs, etc.
pipe-organ (pip'dr'gan), n. The organ proper,
the largest of musical instruments. See argan^.
pipe-oven (pip'uv'n), n. A hot-blast oven in
which the air passes through pipes exposed to
the heat of the furnace. E. H. Knight.
pipe-privett (pip'priv^et), n. A former name
of the lilac.
pipe-prover (pip'pro'vfer), ». An apparatus for
testing the strength and soundness of steam-
and water-pipes by hydraulic pressure.
piperl (pi'per), n. [< ME.^jjei-, pyper, pipere,
< AS. pipere = D. pijper = MLG. piper = OHG.
phifdri, MHG. phifsere, pfifer, G. pfeifer =
Icel. pipari = Sw. pipare = Dan. piber; as pipe^
+ -erK Ctfifer.^ 1. One who or that which
pipes J one who plays on a pipe, in the following
quotation from Chaucer the word is used to personify the
box-tre^ as furnishing the material from which pipes or
musical instruments were made.
The box tie pipere, holm to whippia lascb.
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, L 178.
The piper loud and louder blew ;
The dancers quick and quicker flew,
Bvms, Tam o'Shanter.
"Please your honours," said he, "I'm able^
By means of a secret charm, to draw
All creatures living beneath the sun . . .
After me BO as you never saw, . . .
And people call me the Pied Piper."
Browning, Pied Piper, vL
Specifically — 2. In ornith.: (a) A sandpiper
or sandpeep : a bird of the genus lYinga or
some rmated genus, as Ereunetes. See cuts
under Ereunetes, sandpiper, and sUnt. (6) A
young squab; a newly hatched pigeon.
Pigeon, . . . literally a nestling bird that pipes or cries
out, a ^^Pip&r" — the very name now in use among Pigeon-
fanciers. A. Nevjton, Encyc. Brit, XIX. 84.
3. 'hiichth.: (a) The most general English name
of the lyre-gurnard, Trigla lyra. (6) An exocoe-
toid fish, Hemvrhamphvs intermedius, with an
elongate body and ensif orm lower jaw, common
in New Zealand, and esteemed for its flesh as
well as for the sport it gives. Also called gar-
fish, ihi, and halfbedk.
I look on the Piper as the float flsh of D^ew Zealand.
The Field (LondonX Kov. 25, 1871.
4. A kind of caddis-worm. See the quotation.
Yon are also to know that there be divers kinds of cadis
or case-worms, that are to bee found in this nation in
several distinct counties, ... as namely one cadis, called
a Piper, whose husk or case is a piece of reed about an
inch long or longer, and as big about as the compass of a.
two pence. I. Walton, Complete Angler, L 17.
5. The piper-urchin. — 6. In apiculture, an af-
ter-swarm having a virgin queen. FMn, Diet.
Apiculture, p. 53. — 7. See the quotation.
A clever arrangement of screens over which a bushy-
tailed dog not u^ike a fox — the piper, as it is called —
is taught to leap at the word of command.
Athenseum, So. 3068, p. 231.
Drunk as a piper, very drunk. [CoUoq.]
Jerry thought proper to mount the table, and harangue
in praise of temperance ; and in short proceeded so long
in recommending sobrie^, and in tossing off horns of ale^
that he became as drunk as a piper.
Graves, Spiritual Quixote^ x. 29. ^Davies.y
To pay the piper. Seepayi.
Piper2 (pi'per), n. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1737), < L.
jjiper, pepper : see pepper.'] A genus of plants,
the type of the order Piperacese and tribe Pipe-
reae, characterized by the two to six stamens
with distinct anther-cells, and an obtuse or
slightly beaked ovary crowned with from two
to five stigmas, becoming in fruit a small berry.
There are over 650 species, widely dispersed through the
tropics. They are most commonly jointed shrubby
climbers, rarely trees or tall herbs, bearing alternate
entire leaves with several or many conspicuous nerves,
and large and often wing- like stipules. The flowers are
densely packed together in cylindrical stalked spikes (or
in a few species in racemes)— at first terminal, soon be-
coming cmposite the leaves (as in Phytolacca), pendulous
and slender, with dioecious or perfect flowers without ca-
lyx or corolla, each \xith a shield-shaped protecting bract.
The Piper ^thiopiemn of the shops is now placed in the
genus Xylopia. See pepper, Chanica, and oH of aibebs (un-
der oH); and for important species, see beM, colttfoot (and
lizard^U), ctdfeb, kava, kawa-kawa, and maJticcX.
Piperacese (pip-e-ra'se-e), w.p^. [NL. (Richard,
1815), < Piper ■f'-ace^.'] The pepper family,
an order of apetalous plants of the series
Micrembryex, distinguished by the syncarpie ,
Piperaceae
ovary with one cell and one ovule, with usu-
ally two, three, or four styles or stigmas. They
are generally axomatic or pungent herbs or shrubs, bear-
ing alternate entire leaves, commonly with three or more
prominent curving nerves, and often pellucid-dotted or
fleshy. The minute flowers are usually in unbranched
slender stalked spikes. It includes about 1,000 species
and 8 genera, ot which Piper (the type), Peperamia, and
Saururm are the chief. See pepper, eubeb, and Peperomio.
piperaceoiis (pip-e-ra'shius), a. [< Fiperace-se
+ -oits.^ Of or tielonging to the PiperacesB or
pepper tribe of plants.
pipe-rack (pip'rak), n. In organ-hmlclmg, a
wooden shelf placed above the wind-chests,
having perforations in which the pipes are
held and supported.
Piperese (pi-pe're-e), n. pi. [^^L. (F. A. W.
Miquel, 1843), < Piper + -ese.'] A tribe of plants
of the order Piperaeese, known by the ovary
with one cell and one ovule, indehisoent fruit,
and by the absence of the perianth, it includes
1,000 species in the two leading genera Piper and Pepe-
ramia, and about four in the three others.
pipe-reducer (pip're-du"ser), n. A pipe-cou-
pling having one end of less diameter than the
other, for connecting pipes of different sizes.
piperic (pi-per'ik), a. t< L. piper, pepper, -I-
-ic] Produced from plants of the pepper fam-
ily or from piperiue.-piperio acid, C12H10O4, a
monobasic acid obtained by boiling piperine with alco-
holic potash and acidifying with hydrochloric acid.
piperidge (pip'e-rij), n. [Also pipperage, pip-
rage, and pepperidge : said to be a corruption
of 6er&en«.] 1. The common barberry. Also
piperidge-tree,pipericlge-bush. [Eng.] — 3. See
pepperidge.
piperidine (pi-per'i-din), n. [< piperic + -id^ +
-i»e2.] A volatile alkaloid (C5HJ1N) produced
by the action of alkalis on piperme.
piperine (pip'e-rin), n. [< P. piperine, peperin,
p4p6rine, ilt" peperimo, a cement of volcanic
ashes,< L.as if *piperimus, of pepper,<^iper, pep-
per: see pepper.'] 1. A concretion of volcanic
ashes. — 2. A crystalline alkaloid (C17H19NO3)
extracted from pepper. The crystals of piperine are
transparent, colorless, tasteless, inodorous, fusible, not vol-
atile. They are very slightly soluble in water but readily
soluble in alcohol, and with oil of vitriol give a red color.
piperitioilS (pip-g-rish'us), a. [< L. piper, pep-
per, + E. -itiouS.'] Having a hot, biting, or
pungent taste, like that of pepper; peppeiy.
piperivorous (pip-e-riv'o-rus), a. [< L. piper,
pepper, + vorare, 3evour.] Eating or feeding
upon pepper, as a bird: as, the j)»pm»oro«« tou-
can, Pteroglossus piperivorus.
piperlyt (pi'p6r-li), a. [< piper'^ + -h/'^.'] Of
or resembling a piper.
Who in London hath not heard of his [Oreene's] . . .
piperty extemporizing and Tarletonizing, his apish coun-
terfeiting of every ridiculous and absurd toy?
0. Harvey, Four Letters, ii.
pipe-roll (pip'rol), n. The account kept in the
English exchequer containing the summaries
and authoritative details of the national trea-
sury: also called the Ctreat Boll. It was so
named from its shape in the middle ages.
The Pipe-Bolls are complete from the second year of
Henry II., and the Chancellor's rolls nearly so.
Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 126.
piper-urchin (pi'p6r-er"chin), n. A sea-urchin,
Cidaris papillata, the form of which, with its
club-shaped spines, is likened to a bagpipe.
[Local, British.]
pipe-staple (plp'sta."pl), ». [OD. stapel, a
stalk.] 1. The stalk of a tobacco-pipe; also,
a stalk of grass ; a windle-straw. Scott, Black
Dwarf, ix. [Scotch.] — 2. In ftot, the grass C)/-
nosurus cristatus, whose stiff stalks are used to
clean pipes. [Scotch.]
pipe-stay (pip'sta), n. Any device for holding
a pipe in place, or for hanging a pipe. U. H.
Knight.
pipe-stem (pip'stem), n. The stem of a tobacco-
pipe.
pipe-stick (pip'stik), w. A wooden tube used
as the stem of a tobacco-pipe. The long German
tobacco-pipes have sticks of cherry or birch from which
the bark has not been removed.
pipe-stone (pip'ston), ». Same as catlinite.
pipe-stop (pip'stop), n. A spigot in a pipe.
M. B. Knight.
pipe-tongs (pip't6ngz), «. sing, and pi. An im-
plement used by pipe-fitters in screwing to-
4506
gether lengths of pipe, or in unscrewing lengths
previously screwed together or united by screw-
threaded pipe-fittings.
pipe-tree (pip'tre), n. The lilac-tree, Syrtnga
vulgaris Pudding pipe-tree, the purging cassia. See
Cassia, 1. , J. •
pipette (pi-pef), n. [< F.pipette, dim. of ptpe,
a pipe: seejjjpei.] 1. In porcelain-making, a
small can arranged to hold slip, and to allow
it to flow through a pipe at one end. Pipettes
are sometimes fitted with adjustable pipes of
different diameters. See sUp-decoration. — 2.
A small tube used to withdraw and transfer
fluids or gases from one vessel to another. The
shape differs with the special use to which it is adapted.
Some are designed to measure fluids accurately as well as
to transfer them. —Absorption pipette, an apparatus
for subjecting gases to the action or a liquid- reagent. In
the figure, a and b are absorption bulbs connected by the
glass tube e. c and d are a second pair of bulbs, with
piping
sometimes imported along with di vi-divi f ortan-
ning, though very inferior.
Pipidse (pip'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Pipa + -ife.]
A family of aglossate amphibians, typified by
the genus Pipa. They have no teeth, dilated sacral
diapophyses, and coracoids and precoracoids which are
strongly divergent. It contains the Surinam toad. They
are sometimes called cell-backed toads. See cut under Pipa.
pipientt (pip'i-fint), a. [< L. pipien{t-)s, ppr.
of pipire, -pipe, chirp: aeepipe^v.] Pipmg;
chirping. Pev. T. Adams, Works, II. 118.
Pipile (pi-pi'le), n. [NL. (Bonaparte, 1856).]
A genus of guans, of the family Cracidee and
Composite Absorption Pipette. ^
their connecting tubes/, g, and m, serving as a water- joint
to prevent contact with air or escape of fumes. The re-
agent is introduced through the tube k, and connection
made by the rubber tube I.
pipette (pi-pef), V. t.; pret. and pp. pipetted,
ppr. pipetting. [< pipette, «.] To take up or
transfer by means of a pipette.
The solution of arsenic acid was pipetted into the bottle.
Amer. Chem. Jaur., IX. 177.
pipe-twister (pip'twis"t6r), n. Same as pipe-
wrench.
pipe-vein (pip'van), n. A mode of occurrence
of metalliferous ores somewhat common in, but
not limited to, the lead-mines of Yorkshire and
Derbyshire, England. In the so-called "pipes" the
ore occupies a more or less nearly cylindrical or pipe-shaped
cavity, usually quite irregular in its dimensions, and rare-
ly of any considerable length. Pipe- veins resemble ' * gash-
veins " in some respects ; and they also have certain pecu-
liarities in common with the "carbonas" of the Cornish
mines. The principal shoot of tin ore in the East Wheal
Lovell Mine, Cornwall, was followed from the 40-fathom
level down to the 110-tathom as one continuous pipe, in
the shape of a long irregular cylindroid with an approxi-
mately elliptic section, the dimensions of which were
about 14 by 7 feet. Le Neve Foster.
pipe-vine (pip'^vin), n. See Aristolochia.
pipe-vise (pip'vis), n. A vise designed for
grasping pipes or rods while they are being
threaded, etc.; a vise to which is attached a
pipe-grip.
pipe-wine (pip'win), n. Wine drawn from the
cask, as distinguished from bottled wine, when
claret was a common drink in English and Scottish taverns,
it was customary to keep it on tap.
I think I shall drink in pipe-wine first with him ; I'll
make him dance. Shak., M. W. of W., iii. 2. 90.
Piping-guan iPipileJacuiinga).
subfamily Penelopinse, including the piping-
guans of South America, as F.jacuUnga and
P. cv^vM.
Pipilo (pip'i-lo), «. [NL. (Vieillot, 1816), also
PipiUo^i 1. A genus of American frinpUine
birds, of comparatively large size, with short
rounded wings, long rounded tail, and large
strong feet; the towhee-buntinss. The species
are numerous, and found everywhere In the United States
See Leucothoe.
1. See organ\ 6. — 2.
Common Pipe-toogs.
a, a', handles; *, *', jaws; c, pivot; rf. curve in the jaw *, which
supports the pipe to antagonize it against the sharp angle y; which
bites into the surface of the pipe and thus engages it iirmly.
pipewood (pip'wud), n.
pipework (pip'werk), n.
Same as piping, 4.
pipewort (pip'wert), n. Any plant of the genus
Erioeaulon, or indeed of the order EriocaulesB or
(as formerly written) Eriocaulonacese.
pipe-wrencn (pip'reneh), n. A tool having one
jaw movable and the other relatively fixed, the
two being
so shaped as
to bite to-
gether when
placed on a
pipe and
rotated in
one direc-
tion around
it. When turn-
ed in the oppo-
site direction,
the jaws sUp
over the pipe
without turning it, and are thus brought into position for
a new effective stroke.
pipi (pe'pe), n. [Native name.] The astrin-
gent pods of Ceesalpinia Pipai, a Brazilian plant,
Pipe-wrench,
a, pipe ; £, hoolc-shaped jaw, serrated at ^, and
threaded at c / d, nut which turns in a recess in
the bloclc e, pivoted at /"to the shank h ; the lat-
ter is serrated at g", and is supplied with a wood-
en handle t. The laws g and g' are adjusted to
or from each other Dy turning the nut d, and then
a siight rocking motion on the pivoty causes them
to grip the pipe.
Chewink or Towhee-bnnting {Pipilo erytkropkthalmus^.
and adjoining parts of British -America, in Mexico, Central
America, and parts of South America. They inhabit shrub-
bery, audkeepmuchontheground. The common towhee,
chewink, or marsh-robin is P. erythrophthalnme, about 8
inches long, the male boldly colored with black, white,
and chestnut, and with red eyes. The female is ^lain
brown and white. Similar species or varieties inhabit all
the western parts of the United States. In the southwest,
and thence into Mexico, is another set of species, of plain
grayish coloration in both sexes, as the brown towhee,
P. fuseus, or Abort's towhee, P. abertl. Some greenish
forms also occur, as Blanding's finch, P. chlorurw.
2. [I. c] A species of this genus.
piping (pi'ping), n. [Verbal n. of pipe'i; v.]
1 . The act of one who pipes.
As Foetrie and Piping are Cosen gennans: so piping
and playing are of great affinity.
Oosson, Schoole of Abuse.
2. The sound of playing on a pipe or as on a
pipe; the music of pipes. — 3. Weeping; cry-
ing.
He got the first brash at Whitsunday put ower wi' fair
word a.nA piping. Scott, Eedgauntlet, letter xi.
4. A system of pipes; pipes, as for gas, water,
oil, etc., collectively. — 5. Fluting. — 6. A kind
of covered cord used for trimming dresses, es-
pecially along seams. — 7. In harness, leather
guards or shields encompassing a trace-chain.
— 8. A cord-like ornament of icing or frosting
on the top of a cake. — 9. hi jewelry, a support,
usually of a baser metal, attached behind a
surface of precious metal which is too thin to
preserve its shape unsupported.
Another smaller diadem found in another tomb may bo
noted. It is of gold plate, so thick as to require no pip-
ing at the back to sustain it. Sncye. Brit., XIII. 676.
10. In hart, a mode of propagating herbaceous
plants having jointed stems, such as pinks, by
piping
taking slips or cuttings consisting of two joints,
and planting them in moist sand under glass;
also, oue of these cuttings.
No botanist am I, nor wished to learn from you all the
Muses tlat piping has a new signification. I had rather
that you handled an oaten reed than a carnation one, yet
setting layers I own is preferable to reading newspapers,
one ot the chronical m^adies of this age.
Walpole, Letters (1788), iv. 440.
11. A way of dressing the hair by curling it
aroimd little pins of wood or baked clay called
bilboquets. — 12. In. metal. See pipe^, 20.
piping (pi'ping), p. a. 1. Playing on a pipe.
Lowing herds, and ptjpin^ swains. Swift
2. Having a shrill, whistling sound.
The mother looked wistfully seaward at the changes of
tlie keen piping moorland winds,
Mrs. Oaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, L
3. In zool., having or habitually uttering a
shrill, whistling cry: said especially of birds. —
4. Accompanied by the music of the peaceful
pipe, rather than that of the martial trump or
fife.
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace.
Have no delight to pass away the time.
Shak., Bich. m., L 1. 24.
5. Simmering; boiling. — 6. The noise made
by bees preparatory to swarming Piping liot,
so hot as to hiss or simmer, as a boiling fluid.
Waf res pipifng hoot, out of the gleede.
Chaueer, Miller's Tale, 1. 193.
A nice pretty bit of ox-cheek, jrijnn^r.Aoe and dressed with
a little of my own sauce.
QiMimuih, Citizen of the World, Ixv.
piping-crow (pi'plng-kro), n. Any bird of the
genus Gymnorhina, of wmch there are several
Australian species. The best-known is ft tiUeen, of
a black and white color, with great powers of mimicry.
It is often domesticated, and can be taught to speak words.
See cut under OymnarMna.
piping-gnan (pi'ping-gwan), n. A bird of the
genus PipiU.
piping-hare (pi'ping-har), n, A pika or calling-
hare.
piping-iron (pi'ping-i*6m), m. Afluting-iron;
an Italian iron.
piping-plover (pi'ping-pluv'fir), n. A smaU
nng-necked plover of North America, ^gialites
melodus, so called from its piping notes, it is ot
a pale-gray color above and white below, with a narrow
4507
North American. The flies are of small or moderate size,
and dark metallic-green or black color. They are thinly
a, larva; 6,
Root- louse Fly t^Pipiza radiiutn).
puparium ; r, fly, (Lines show natural sizes.)
pilose, have the scutellnm without points, and have the
tliird longitudinal wing-vein with no projecting stomp in
the first posterior celL
pipkin (pip'kin), n. [< pipe^ + -kin.'] 1. A
small eaijthen pot, with or without a cover and
with a horizontal handle. — 2. A small wooden
tub the handle of which is formed by the ver-
tical prolongation of one of the staves.
The beechen platter sprouted wild.
The pipkin wore its old-time green,
WkHJUer, Slowers in Winter.
Kping-plover t^^etalites melodus').
black frontlet and necklace^ and the bill black, orange
at the base. It is a near relative ot the semipalmated
plover, but is rather smaller and lighter-colored, and
lacks the semipalmation of the toes,
pipistrel, pipistrelle (pip-is-trel'), «. [< F. pi-
pistreUe, <lt. pipistrello, vispistrello, ve^istrello,
a var. or dim. of vesperUllo, vesperMio, < L.
vespertilio, a,Toa,t: aee Vespertilio.'] A small Eu-
ropean bat, Vesperugo pipistrellus, one of the
most abundant species, of a reddish-brown
color, paler and grayer below.
pipit (pip'it), n. [Prob, imitative of its cry.]
Any bird of the ^ernxs Anthus or subfamily J[»-
ihinse, of which there are many species, of most
parts of the world. The commonest pipit ot North
America is A. ludovieianus or pennsylvanicus, usually
called tiUarlt. Sprague's pipl^ also called the Missouri sky-
larlc, is A. (Neocorys) ^orag'uei. Common British pipits are
A. prat&nsiSf the meadow-pipit ; A. arboreus or trimalis^
the tree-pipit ; and A. ohscurus, the rock-pipit. Others of
occasional occurrence in Great Britain are A. spipotetta^
the European water-pipit; A. eampestris, the European
tawny pipit ; and A. riehardi. The red-throated pipit, A.
cervinus, of wide distribution in Europe and Asia, has also
been found in Alaska and Califomia. See cut upder Atiihus.
pipit-lark (pip'it-lark), n. A pipit.
Pipiza (pi-pi'za), n. [NL. (Fallen, 1816), < Gr.
mmt^elv, pipe, chirp.] A genus of syrphid flies,
whose larvae are useful in destroyingplant-lice.
Thus, the grub of P. femorcUis (Loew) or radteum fEiley)
preys upon the loot-louse of the apple (Schi&meura lani-
gera) and upon the vine-pest (Phylloxera vastatrix). Of
the many species of this wide-spread genus, about 14 are
pipkinet (pip'kin-et), n. [< pipMn + -ei.] A
little pipkin.
God ! to my little meale and oyle
Add but a bit of flesh to boyle.
And Thou my pipHnitet Shalt see
Give a wave-ofE'ring unto Thee,
Hem<*iToGod.
pipowdert, ». -An obsolete form oi piepowder.
pipperage, «. See piperidge.
Pippian (pip'i-an), n. [So called because de-
noted by P.] In math., same as Cayleyan.
pippin^f (pip'in), n. [< ME. p^in, popyn, <
OF. p^in, P. p^ain, the seed of a fruit, as of
the apple, pear, melon, etc.; cf. Sp. p4pita
(with diff. dim. suffix), the seed of a fruit, a
grain of gold or other metal; pipa, a kernel;
orig. applied, it seems, to the conspicuous seeds
of the melon and cucumber (cf. Sp. Pg. pe-
pino, a cucumber); with dim. suffix (P. -in,
Sp. -ino), < L. pepo (pepon-), < Gr. tt^iw, a
melon: see pepo, and cf. pompion, pumpion,
now pwmplcin, from the same source. Hence,
by abbr., pip^."] The seed of a fruit, as an
apple, pear, melon, etc. Now abbreviated jwp.
Cotgrave.
What thing may be of vyn, ot grape dried vnto the
popyn, thei shnlen not eete [later version: "Thei
schulen not ete what euer thing may be of the vyner, fro
a grape dried til to the draf';" tr. L. ab mm passa usjue
ad acinum], Wyd%f, Num. vi, 4.
Alle manerpe^7», comelUs and groynes must be set in
ye erth in depnes of iiij. or v, fingers brede, so that echo
be from odur half a tote, alwey keping this speciall rule
that ye ende or greyne of the pepin that stode next the
roete be northest in the settinge and that other ende vp-
ward toward heuyn. , . . In vere is most convenable tyme
for seedis greynes and pepins and in autnmpne of springis
and plantes. Arnold's Chron. (1502), ed. 1811, p, 168.
pippin^ (pip'in), n. [Formerly also pippine;
< OP. pepin, P. dial. (Norm.) pepin, a young
apple-tree raised from the seed {"> p^inerie, P.
p^ini^e, a seed-plot, a nursery of trees: see
pepinnerie) ; < pepin, the seed of fruit, as the
apple, etc.: see pippin^. The MD. pipping,
pupping (Kilian), later pippincJcj pu^pinck, D.
pippeling, Dan. pipling, Sw pijjptre, pippin, are
from E.] One of numerous varieties of the
apple, as the golden pippin, the lemon pippin,
t&e Newtown pippin, etc.
Tou shall see my orchard, where in an arbour we will
eat a last year's pippin of my own graffing.
Shai., 2 Hen. IV., v. 3. 2.
pippin-face (pip'in-fas), n. A round smooth
face, suggesting a resemblance to a pippin.
The hard-headed man with the pippin-face.
Dickens, Pickwick, vi.
pippin-faced (pip'in-fast), a. Having a round
rosy face, suggestive of a pippin.
A little hard-headed, 'BSaaioue-pippin-faeed man.
Dickens, Pickwick, vi.
pippin-hearted (pip'in-har''ted), a. Chicken-
hearted.
The inhabitants were obliged to turn out twice a year,
with such military equipments as it pleased God; and
were put under the command of tailors and man-milliners,
who, though on ordinary occasions they might have been
the meekest, most pippin-hearted little men in the world,
were very devils at parade, Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 301.
pippit, n. Same as pitpit.
Pipra (pip'ra), n. [NL. ; of S. Amer. origin (?).]
1. A Linnean genus of birds, formerly includ-
ing many heterogeneous species, now restricted
Pipnnculidse
to certain manikins, and made type of the fam-
ily Pipridse. They are confined to tropical America.
P. JUAcauda has the tail-feathers prolonged in stiif fil-
aments. P. suavissima is a beautiful species, velvety-
blacli, varied with bright blue, orange, and white.
2. [I. c] A species of this or some related ge-
nus; a manimn. See cut under Maruwus.
pipragef (pip'raj), n. Same as piperidge, pep-
peridge.
Pipridse (pip'ri-de), n. pi. [NL., < Pipra + -id*.]
A neotropical family of songless passerine
birds, typified by the genus Pipra; the pipras
or manikins. They are mesomyodian Passeres, with
bronchotracheal syrinx, heteromerous disposition of tlie
main artery of the leg, exaspidean tarsi, and somewhat
syndactylous feet, the outer and middle toes being united
to some extent. They are mostly small, of stout thick-set
form, with a short stout bill, broad at the base and some*
what hooked at the tip; the coloration is highly varied,
often gorgeous or exquisite in the mades, the females be-
ing usual^ plain. Black is the prevailiug color of tbe
males, relieved by brilliant blues, reds, and yellows, the
females being dull-greenish. Their habits are said to re-
semble those of titmice, l^e genera and species are nu-
merous, and almost entirely confined to South America,
piprine (pip'rin), a. [< Pipra + -wel.] Be-
longing or related to the genus Pipra or family
Pipridse.
pipsissewa (pip-sis'e-wa), n. [.Amer. Ind.]
The small evergreen, Chimaphila umbellata, the
prince's-pine.
Flowering Plant of Fipsissewa {Chimaphila umbellata).
z, a branch; 2, the stem with the fruits, a, a flower; b, a stamen.
exterior face ; c. one of tbe petals.
Fiptadenia (pip-ta-de'ni-a), ». [NL. (Ben-
tham, 1852), so called in allt^on to the decidu-
ous glands crowning the anthers; < Gr, wlirTeiv,
fall, -1- dd^, a gland.] A genus of leguminous
trees, type of the tribe Piptadeniese, character-
ized by vie globose heads or cylindrical spikes,
and flat two-valved pod with the valves entire
and continuous withm. There are about 30 species,
all tropical — 2 African, the others American, They are
shrubs or trees, with or without thorns, with bipinnate
leaves, small and very numerous leaflets, and smaU white
or greenish flowers. The best-known species is the niopo-
tree. Another South American species, P. rigida. Is the
source of valuable timber, and of angico-gum, similar to
gum arable,
Piptadeniese (pip'ta-de-ni'e-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Dui-and, 1888), \ Piptddenia + -ese.'] A tribe
of leguminous plants, of the suborder Mimosese,
consisting of the genera Entada, Plathymenia,
and Piptadenia, trees or shrubs of tropical
America and Africa, with sessile flowers in
dense spikes or heads, having valvate sepals,
ten stamens, and anthers crowned with decidu-
ous glands.
Piptanthus (pip-tan'thus), n. [NL. (D. Don,
1823), so called in allusion to the sides of the
banner-petal, reflexed as if fallen back on each
other ; < Gr. mirrav, fall, + aii6o(, flower.] A ge-
nus of leguminous shrubs, of the tribe Podaly-
riese, characterized by the membranous leaflets,
united stipules opposite the leaves, and united
keel-petals. The only species, P. Nepalengis, a na-
tive of the Himalayas, is a shrub with alternate leaves of
three radiating lea^ets, and large yellow flowers in short
racemes tenninating the branches. It is cultivated for
ornament under the name Nepal laburnum. See labuat-
nwm,i.
pipul, pipul-tree (pip'Td, -tre), n. [Also pipal,
pippul-tree, peepul-tree; < Hind, pipal, the
sacred fig-tree (see pepper), + E. iree.] The
sacred fig-tree, Mcus religiosa. See ho-tree.
Pipuncnlidse (pip-ung-ku'li-de), n. pi. [NL.
(Walker, 1834), < Pipunenlvs + -idae.] A small
family of dichsstous dipterous insects, typified
by the genus Pipuncultis. "Biey are thinly pQose
or nearly naked, with large sabspheric^ head composed
chiefly of the great eyes, which are contiguous in the male.
Pipunculidae
Several genera are recognized In Europe, but only Piptm-
eulua in America.
Pipunculns (pi-pung'ku-lus), v. [NL. (La-
treille, 1802).] A genus of flies, typical of the
family Pi^unculidie, having a seta on the third
antennal joint and the head globose. About 40
species are known, 10 of them North American. These
flies live on Bowel's, and the larva are parasites of other
insects, as the European P.fmeipes of tiger-beetles.
pipy (pi'pi)> o- [< inpei- + -i/l.] Resembling
a pipe; formed like a tube; tubular; hollow-
stemmed. [Bare.]
In desolate places, where dank moisture breeds
The yipy hemlock to strange overgrowth.
Keats, Endymion, i.
piquancy (pe'kan-si), n. [< piquan(t) + -cy.']
Piquant quality, (a) Agreeable pungency or sharp-
ness, as of flavor or taste, (o) Pleasing cleverness or raci-
ness, as of manner, style, etc.
A mind that tasted no piquancy in evil-speaking.
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, vii. 4.
"How disturbed?" inquired Holgrave. "By things
without, or by thoughts within?" "I cannot see his
thoughts! How should I?" replied Phoebe, with simple
piquancy. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xii.
Our American life is dreadfully barren of those elements
of the social picturesque which give pimmney to anec-
dote. Lowell, Stady Windows, p. 91.
(c) Keenness ; sharpness ; tartness ; severity, as of remark
or utterance.
Commonly also satyrical taunts do owe their seeming
piquancy, not to the speaker or his words, but to tlie sub-
ject and the hearers. Barrow, Sermons, 1. xiv.
piquant (pe'kant), a. [Formerly aisopieqtiant;
< F. piquant (= Sp. Pg. picante = It.piccante),
stinging, pungent, piercing, keen, sharp, ppr.
of piquer, prick, pierce, sting : see pike^, v., and
cf. j)ique^.'] 1. Of an agreeable pungency or
sharpness of taste or flavor; sharp; stinging;
biting: as, B&u.oe piquant.
He can marinate Fish, make Oellies ; he is excellent for
a piequant BAnce. Howell, Jjettera, I. v. 36.
There are . . . vast mountains of a transparent rock ex-
tremely solid, and as piquant to the tongue as salt.
Addimn, Kemarks on Italy.
2. Of a smart, lively, racy, or sparkling nature ;
keenly interesting, or fitted to produce a sud-
den or keen interest; "taking": as, a piquant
anecdote; a j»gj<a»* manner; apiqiuintBtyleot
female beauty; a, piquant hat.
The most piquant passages in the lives of Miss Ken-
nedy, Miss Davis, and Nancy Parsons.
Craik, Hist. Eng. lit., II. 805.
3. That pierces or wounds, or is fitted to pierce
or wound; stinging; sharp or cutting to the
feelings; biting; keen; pungent; severe.
Some . . . think their wits have been asleep, except
they dart out somewhat that ie piquant, and to the quick.
Bacon, 0£ Discourse.
Men make their railleries aspiquant as they can to wound
the deeper. Government oftfie Tongiie.
"You can manifestly see their untruths In naming it a
piquant letter," said Elizabeth, "for it has no sour or
sharp word therein." Motley, United Netherlands, II. 240.
=Syn. 3. Poignant, etc. See pungent.
piquantly (pe'kant-li), adv. In a piquant man-
ner; with sharpness or pungency; tartly;
smartly; livelily.
Piquantly though wittily taunted. Locke.
pique^ (pek), n. [< P. pique, a point, pike : see
pike^.} 1. A point or peak. [Bare.]
I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight,
Then shortened each stirrup, and set thei)in«« right.
Browning, From Ghent to Aix.
2t. A point of conduct; punctilio.
Add long prescriptions of established laws
And pfijue of honour to maintain a cause.
Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 401.
The ambassador appeared before the Council early in the
following month, and demanded, of his own motion, that
her [Mary's] ofHcers should be released, and her privilege
of worship restored until the Emperor were certified of the
position of things. He was told that he spoke without
warrant, and could have no answer from the King, and
was warned not to move those piques without commission.
E. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., xviii.
3. (a) A blind tick, Argas nigra, capable of
causing painful sores on cattle and men. See
Argas. (&) The jigger, chigoe, or chique. See
Sarcopsylla.—4:. In the game of piquet, the
winning of thirty points before one's opponent
scores at all in the same deal, entitling the win-
ner to add thirty more to his score.
piquel (pek), V. t. ; pret. and pp. piqited, ppr.
piquing. [Formerly also picque; < pique\ n.,
4.] To win a pique from. See pique^, n., 4.
If I go to pioquet, though it be but with a novice in 't,
he will pCeque, and repioque, and capot me twenty times
together. Dryden, Sir Martin Mar- All, i.
pique^ (pek). v. t. ; pret. and pp. piqmd, ppr.
piquing. [< F.piqtter, prick, sting, nettle, gall,
pique: see picki,pike\v. Ct.pique^.'] 1. To
4508
sting, in a figurative sense; nettle; irritate;
ofEend; fret; excite a degree of anger in.
I must first have a value for the thing I lose, before it
piques me. Gibber, Careless Husband, Iv.
2. To stimulate or excite to action by arousing
envy, jealousy, or other passion in a somewhat
slight degree.
Picqu'd by Protogenes'a fame.
From Cos to Bhodes Apelles came.
Prior, Protogenes and Apelles.
I'm afraid to afront People, though I don't like their
Faces ; or to ruin their Reputations, thou' they pique
me to it, by taking ever so much pains to preserve em.
Sir J. Yanbmgh, Confederacy, i.
The mystery . . . had notonlyi»g««(J his curiosity, but
ruffled his temper. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 46.
How the imagination is piqued by anecdotes of some
great man passing incognito ! Emerson, Conduct of Life.
3. Eeflexively, to pride or value (one's self).
Men pique themsdves on their skill in them [the learned
languages]. Locke, Education, § 168.
We pique ourselves upon nothing but simplicity, and
have no carvings, gildings, paintings, inlayings, or taw-
dry businesses. Walpole, Letters, II. 340.
= Syn. 1. To displease, vex, provoke. See piqued, n.
pique^ (pek), n. [Formerly also pike; < OF.
pique, F. pique (= It. jiiea, picca), grudge,
pique, < piquer, prick, sting, nettle, gall : see
pique^jV."] If. A quarrel; dispute; strife.
Consisting of manifold dispositions there was dayly
wauering, sometimes j»A»ff amongst themselues.
Daniel, Hist. Eng., p. 151.
It is not only the case of Heresie which renders them
obnoxious to the Popes censures, but particular pigii«« and
quarrels. StiUingfleet, Sermons, II. ii.
This dog and man at first were friends:
But, when $i pique began.
The dog, to gain some private ends,
Went ma<C and bit the man.
Goldsmith, Vicar, xviL
2. A feeling of anger, irritation, displeasure^ or
resentment arising from wounded pride, vanity,
or self-love; wounded pride; slight umbrage or
offense taken.
Men take uj? piques and displeasures at others.
Out of personal pique to those in service, he stands as a
looker on when the government is attacked. Addison.
He had been crossed in love, and had offered his hand
from pique to a lady who accepted it from interest.
Peacock, Nightmare Abbey, i.
=Syn. 2. Pique and umbrage differ from the words com-
pared under animjosHy (which see) in that they are not
necessarily or generally attended by a desire to injure the
person toward whom the feeling is entertained. They are
both purely personal. Pique is more likely to be a matter
of injured self-respect or self-conceit ; it is a quick feel-
ing, and is more fugitive in character. Umbrage is founded
upon the idea of being thrown into the shade or over-
shadowed ; hence, it has the sense of offense at being
slighted or not sufficiently recognized ; it is indefinite as
to the strength or the permanence of the feeling.
piqu6(pe-ka'),a. [P.,prop.pp.ofj>ig2(er^ierce,
stmg: seepique^,v.,andot.iriquant.'] Slightly
soured; beginning to have an acid taste: said
of wine which has been exposed to heat, or left
insufficiently corked. Also pncked.
piqu6 (pe-ka'), n. and a. ■ [P., < piqud, pp. of
piquer, prick, pierce: see pique^, «.] I. n.
1. A cotton material so woven as to have a
small pattern in relief, usually rather thick
and stia, used for waistcoats, children's cloth-
ing, etc.
Alpacas, Printed Muslins, or Piqu6s may also be cleaned.
Workshop Receipts, 2d ser., p. 148.
His silver-buttoned vest of white piqui reached low
down. G. W. Cable, Stories of Louisiana, xii.
2. (a) The pattern produced by quilting with
the needle, consisting of slightly raised parts
between the depressions caused by the rows of
stitches. Also called French quilting. (6) A
similar pattern in slight relief obtained in weav-
ing, as in the material called piqu6 (see def . 1).
— 3. Same as piqu^-work.
Bonbonniere of tortoise shell, inlaid with scroUsot gold
■ ■ HamiUon Sale Cat., 1882, No. 1986.
pirate
Diauette (pe-kef), »• [Fv < piquer, sting: see
pique^ ».] A drink made by steeping in vmter
the skins, etc., of grapes that have already been
pressed for wine-making; hence, thin, small,
and sour wine. . , ,
piauet-work, «• Same as ptqwe-^ork.
piau6-W0rk (pe-ka'werk), n. Decoration by
nieans of small points, sometimes pricked or
impressed, and then generally forming pat-
terns, sometimes inlaid in other materials flush
with the surface or in slight relief.
piquia-oil (pe'ki-a-oil), n. [< S. Amer. piquia
+ E. oil.^ A sweet concrete food-oil derived
from the fruit of Caryoear Brasiliense.
piquillin (pi-kwil'in), m. [S. Amer.] A bush,
Condalia microphylla, of the Rhamnese, found in
Chili and the Argentine Kepublic. It bears an
edible sweet and succulent drupaceous fruit.
piracy (pi'ra-si), 11. [< ML. piratia, for L. pi-
ratica, piracy, fern, of piratic/us, piratic : see
piratic.'] 1. Kobbery upon the sea; robbery
by pirates; the practice of robbing on the high
seas. Specifically, in the law of ■nations, the crime of
depredations or wilful and aggressive destruction of life
or property committed on the seas by persons having no
commission or authority from any established state. As
commonly used it implies something more than a simple
theft with violence at sea, and includes something of the
idea of general hostility to law. According to the opin-
ion of some, it implies only unlawful interference with a
vessel ; according to others, it includes also depredations
on the coast by a force landing from the sea. The slave-
trade was declai'ed piracy by statute in the. United States
May 15, 1820, by Great Britain in 1824, and since the treatj-
of 1841 by Austria, Prussia, and Buasia.
The trauel thither [to Ja^an] both for ciuil discord and
great ^racie, and often shipwracks, is very dangerous.
Hakluyt's Voyages, IL 11. 80.
Piracy is robbery on the sea, or by descent from the sea
upon the coast, committed by persons not holding a com-
mission from, or at the time pertaining to, any estoblished
state. Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, § 137.
2. Literary theft; any unauthorized appro-
priation of the mental or artistic conceptions
or productions of another; specifically, an in-
fringement of the law of copyright.
piragua (pi-ra'gwa), n. Same as peria^gua.
pirai (pi-ri'), m. Same as jjirai/a.
pirameter (pi-ram'e-ter), «. [Irreg. < Gr. ireipav,
try, test, + uerpov, measure.] An instrument or
apparatus for testing the relative resistance of
roads to the draft of vehicles. The original instru-,
ment was a rude form of dynamometer dragged on the
ground, and indicating resistance by a finger on a dial.
Draft-springs with graduated scales, resembling the oi'di-
uary spring-scales for weighing, are now used, the draft*
power being applied direcQy to the springs. Also spelled
piramidig (pi-ram'i-dig), n. [So called, it is
said, from its note,] Same as niglit-ltawk, 1.
piramist, «. Beepyramis.
piramuta (pir-a-mo'ta), n. [Braz.] A silu-
roid fish, Piraniutana piranvuta, of the common
South American catfish type, but with teeth on
the palate and with granulated head. It oocm-s
in the Rio Negro and Rio Madeira.
Piranga (pi-rang'ga), n. [NL. (Vieillot, 1807),
also Pyranga (vieiliot, 1816).] A genus of Tana-
gridee, having the beak dentate near the middle
of the tomia. Itisthe only genus which is extensively
represented in North America. There are several species,
extending from Canada to Chili. The common scarlet tanfr*
II. a. In music, same as piccltetato.
piquedevantt, n. Same as pike-devant.
piqueert, piqueerert. See pickeer, pickeerer.
piquet (pe-kef), «■ [_A\ao picket, and formerly
picquet; < ¥. piquet, a picket, a game at cards:
see picket^. 1 l.Milit. Bee picket^. — 2. A game
at cards played between two persons with
thirty-two cards, all the deuces, threes, fours,
fives, and sixes being set aside : players score
for carte blanche, or a hand of only plain cards,
point, or a hand with the strongest suit, se-
quence, quatorze, trio, and pique and repique.
For all Historians say.
She [Chloe] commonly went up at Ten,
Unless Piquet was in the Way.
Prior, The Dove, st. 11.
ger
ora
Rose-throated Tanager {Piranffa roseig-ularis).
;er or black-winged redbird of the United States is P. ru-
To, the male of which is scarlet, with black wings and tail,
and the female greenish and yellowish. "The summer red-
bird is P. sesliva ; the male is entirely rose-red. The Loui-
siana tanager, P. ludoviciana, extensively distributed in
the western parts of the United States, is bright-yellow
with a black back and wings and scarlet head. The rose-
throated tanager, P. roseigvlaris, is a rare and beautiful
species found in tropical America. The genus is also called
Phoenicosoma. See also out under tanager.
pirate (pi'rat), n. [Formerly also pirat, pyrate,
pyrat; = D. piraat = G. Sw. Dan. pirat; < OP.
pirate, F. pirate = Sp. Pg. It. pirata,<.lj.pirata,
a pirate, < (Jr. weipar^c, a pirate, lit. one who at-
pirate
tacks or attempts, < ireipav, attempt, try, attack,
< mlpa, an attempt, trial, attack, assault, akin
to vopav, pass over or through, pass, < Trdpof,
passage, etc., and to E. /are; see /arei. Of.
empiric, etc.] 1. One who without authority
and by violence seizes or interferes with the
ship or property of another on the sea ; specifi-
cally, one who is habitually engaged in such
robbery, or sails the seas for the robbery and
plunder of merchant vessels; a fs-eebooter or
corsair; a sea-robber. Qee piracy.
There be land-rats and water-rats, water-thieves and
land-thieves, I mean grates. Shale, M. of V., i. 3, 25.
Nor swelling Seas, nor threatening Skies,
Prevent the Pirate's Course.
Congreve, Pindaric Odes, ii.
2. An armed vessel which sails without a le-
gal commission, for the purpose of plundering
other vessels indiscriminately on the high seas.
— 3. A publisher, compiler, or bookseller who
appropriates the literary or artistic labors of
an author without compensation or permis-
sion; specifically, one who infringes on the
copyright of another.
Mores refers to them [Shakspere's "Sonnets"] in 1698
in a manner which Implies that though unpublished they
were well known among the poet's private friends, . , .
and in 1699 two of them were printed by the pirate Jag-
gard. Shatespeariana, VI. 106.
4. Any pirate-perch. =Syn. 1. Th^f, Brigand, ete.
(see roboer), corsair, bncaneer.
pirate (pi'rat), v. ; pret. and pp. pirated, ppr.
pirating, [i pirate, n."] I. iniraws. 1. To play
the pirate ; rob on the high seas.
They robbed by land, and pirated by sea. Arbuthnot.
2. To appropriate and reproduce the literary
Or artistic work of another without right or
permission; specifically, to infringe on the
copyright of another.
I am told that, it a book is anything useful, the printers
have a way of pirating on one another, and printing other
pctrsons' copies ; which is very barbarous.
W. King, Art of Cookery, letter vii.
We are doing all the pirating in these days ; the English
need to be in the business, but they dropped out of it long
ago. New Princeton Bev., V. 60.
II, trans. 1. To commit piracy upon; play
the pirate toward.
In the yeere 698, a puissant Pirat named Abeuchapeta,
passed from Asia into Africa, leading with him VOGaJleyea,
and 100 other vessels furnished for his exploite, with
which he pilled and pirated such as he met with all by
Seas. Guevara, XiCtters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 329.
2. To appropriate and publish without per-
mission or legal right, as books, writings, etc.;
use or reproduce illegally.
They advertised they \ronid pirate his edition. Pope.
It [Galignani's edition of Coleridge, Shelley, and Eeats]
was a pirated book, and I trust I may be pardoned for the
delight I had in it. Lowell, Coleridge.
pirate-fish (pi'rat-fish), n. The glutinous hag,
Myxine glutinosd. [Local, Eng.]
pirate-perch (pi'rat-p6rch), ». A fish of the
iamily Aphredoaeridee, Apliredodents say anus, of
the United States : so named from its voracity.
Pirate-perch {Aphredcdirus sayanus).
This fish is of a dark-olive color profusely dotted with
black, and has two dark bars at the base of the caadal
fln. It is notable for the peculiar flns and the position of
the anus, which in the adult is under the throat. It occurs
in sluggish streams and bayous coastwise from New York
to Louisiana and westward to Illinois. It reaches a length
of about 6 inches. See Aphredoderus.
Pirates (pi-ra'tez), n. [NL. (Burmeister, 1835),
< Gr. Treipariig, a pirate : see pirate.'] Agenus of
reduvioid bugs, typical
of a subfamily Piro/-
tinse, having the third
joint of the hind tarsi as
long as the first and sec-
ond joints together, and
that part of the head
which bears the ocelli
slightly elevated. They
are predaceous, and inhabit
both North and South Amer-
ica. P. biguUatus, sometimes
called the two-spotted corsair,
occurs from Virginia and
Florida toCalifornia. It lurks
in the branches of trees and bushes for its insect prey, and
has been found in houses in beds, where it is supposed to
bare come in search of bedbugs.
4509
piratic (pi-rat'ik), a. [= F. piratique = Sp.
piratico = Pg. It. piratico, < L. piraticus, < Gr,
TretpartKoc, of or belonging to a pirate, < netpar^g,
a pirate: see pirate,'] Hanie as piratical.
piratical (pi-rat'i-kal), a. [(.piratic + -al.] 1.
Of or pertaining to a pirate or piracy; of the
nature of piracy : as, piratical acts.
All naval war, not only during the middle ages but down
to the seventeenth century, was more or leas piratical.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 190.
2. Engaged in piracy, or robbery on the high
seas: as, a. piratical ship or commander. — 3.
Pertaining to or practising literary piracy : as,
piratical publishers.
The errors of the press were. . . multiplied. . .by the
avarice and negligence ot piratical printers.
Pope, Letters, Pref.
piratically (pi-rat'i-kal-i), adv. In a piratical
manner; by piracy.
piratouslyt (pi'ra-tus-li), adv. [< *piratcms (<
pirate + -oiis) +' -ly^.] Piratically.
Divers merchants . . . have had their goods piratously
robbed and taken. State Trials, Lord Seymour, an. 1549.
piraya (pi-ra'ya), n. [S. Amer.] A voracious
characinoid fist, Serrasalmo piraya, of tropical
America, it has a deep comi>ressed body with a keeled
serrated belly. The mouth is moderate, but its jaws are
armed with lancet-shaped teeth as sharp as those of the
shark. Cattle when fording rivers are sometimes badly
bitten by it. The natives of Guiana sharpen their tiny ar-
rows for the blow-gun by drawing them between two of
the teeth, which shave them to a point with their sharp
edges. The flsh sometimes becomes 3 or 4 feet in length.
Also called caribe and pirai. See cut under Serrasalmo.
pire^t, «'■ J. A Middle English form otpeerK
pire^t, n. A Middle English form oipear^^.
pire^t, n. An obsolete form otjner.
piriet, »■ A Middle English form otpear^.
piriform (pir'i-f6rm), a. [< L. pirum, a pear,
+ forma, form.] Having the form of a pear;
pear-shaped.
piri-jiri (pe'ri-je'ri), TO. [Tasmanian.] A wiry
branching herb, Soloragis micrantha (Gonocar-
pus citriodora), found from the mountains of
India to Japan and southeastward to Australia
and Tasmania. Itsleftves are said to be scented.
piriwhitt, »• Same asjperri/l.
pirkt (p6rk), V. Same a,s per}fi.
pirl (p6rl), V. and «. SeepurP-.
pirlie-pig (per'li-pig), n. A tlrelire or money-
box. [Scotch.]
pirn (p6rn), 11. [< 'MB.pyme; origin obscure:
cf. pirl, purV-. It is glossed by ML. panvs.]
Anything that revolves or twists, (at) A shuttle.
Pyme of a webstarys lome, panus.
, Prompt. Pwn., p. 462.
(&) The reel attached to a fishing-rod for winding up the
line, (ct) A roll of any sort. (<Jt) A stick for twisting on
the nose of refractory horses. WrigM. (e) A bobbin ; a
spool; a reel. [Scotch.] (/) The amount of thread or
Ime wound at one time upon a shuttle or reel.
pirnie (pir'ni), ». A striped woolen nightcap
made in Kilmarnock, Scotland. Simmmids.
[Scotch.]
Pirogoff's operation. See operation.
pirogue (pi-rog' ), n. [Also perogtte; = Gt.pirogue
= Dan. piroge = Sw.pirog, pirok = It.Pg. pi-
roga; < "P. pirogue, < Bp.piragua, a canoe, ^g-
out (seejjenagriMi); orig.W. Ind.] 1. A canoe
made from the trunk of a tree hollowed out.
Pirogues are sometimes large, decked, rigged with sails,
and furnished with outriggers. In Louisiana the terms
pirogue and canoe are used indifferently. See periagua, 2.
A number of officers, with three hundred and twenty
soldiers, twenty women, and seventeen children, left New
Orleans on the 27th of February, under the command of
an officer named Loftus, in ten boats and tv/o pirogues.
Gayarri, Hist. Louisiana, II. 102.
The earliest improvement upon the canoe was the Pi-
rogue, an invention of the whites. Like the canoe, this is
hewed out of the solid log; the difference is that the^
rogue has greater width and capacity, and is composed of
several pieces of timber — as if the canoe was sawed in two
eqiml sections and a broad flat piece of timber inserted in
the middle, so as to give greater breadth of beam to the
vessel. This was probably the identical process by which
Europeans, unable to procure planks to build boats, began
in the first instance to enlarge canoes to suit their pur-
Two-spotted Corsair {Pirates
bigtittatits). •
James Hall, Notes on the Western States (1838), p. 218.
On rounding a point a pirogue, skilfully paddled by a
youth, shot out.
5. L. Clemens, Life on the Mississippi, App. A, p. 697.
The white and the red man were on most friendly
terms, and the birch canoe &i\dpirogue were seen carrying,
in mixed company, both races.
W. Barrows, Oregon, p. 39.
2. Same &s periagua, 3.
Pirogue.— In modern usage in America, a narrow ferry-
boat, carrying two masts and a leeboard. Webster, 1828.
She is what they call a pirogue here [West Indies], but
not at all what is called a pirogue in the United States :
she has a long narrow hull, two masts, no deck : she has
usually a crew of five, and can carry thirty barrels of tafia.
Harper's Mag., LXXIX. 851.
piscatory
pirogue-rig (pi-rog'rig), n. A boat's rig con-
sisting of two leg-of-mutton sails. See bateau.
[Florida.]
pirol (pir'ol), ». [= Dan. pirol, < G. pirol, pi-
rolt, < ML. pirulns, pyrrhula, an oriole, < Gr.
■rrvppovhic, some red or yellow bird, ef. iriippa,
some red oryellowbird, < nvppdq, flame-colored,
red or jrellow, < Tzvp, fire : see fire.] The Euro-
pean oriole, Oriolus galbula. See first cut tmder
oriole.
pirouette (pir-o-ef), n. [Formerly also piroet;
< F. pirouette, a whirligig, a whirling about, a
pirouette in dancing I OF. also^M'o«e*,m.; also
pirevollet, a whirligig (Cotgrave); dim. of F.
dial, piroue, a whirligig, a little wheel ; ef . pirr,
pirry.] 1. In dancing, a rapid whirling on one
leg or on the points of the toes, as performed
by ballet-dancers. — 2. In the manage, a quick,
short turn or whirl of a horse.
pirouette (pir-§-et' ),v.i.; pret. and pp. pirouet-
ted, ppr. pirouetting. [< P. piroiietter, perform
a pirouette, < pirouette, a pirouette : see pirou-
ette, n.] To perform a pirouette ; turn or whirl
on one leg, or on the toes, as in dancing; ad-
vance or move along in a series of pirouettes,
or short graceful turns, as a horse.
The mountain stirr'd its bushy crown.
And, as tradition teaches,
Youug ashes jjirouetted down.
Coquetting with young beeches.
Tennyson, Amphion.
pirr (pSr), n. [Cf. 'birr^ and pirry.] A gentle
wind. [Scotch.]
pirreyt, n. An obsolete form otperry^.
pirryt (pir'i), n. [Early mod. E. also pirrie,
perry, perrie, pyrry, pirie; < ME. xririe, x^yrie,
perrie, pyry, also berry, berrie, < Gael, xiior-
radh = Ix. piorra, a squall, blast. Cf . pirr and
birr^.] Astormof wind; a squall or gust. Pals-
grave.
For sodainly there rose a straunge stonne and a quicke
pirie, so mischevous and so pernicious that nothinge more
execrable, or more to be abhorred, could happen in any
Christian region. Hall, Henry VI., f. 66. {Halliwell.y
A pirrie came, and set my ship on sands.
Mir. for Mags., p. 602. (Nares.}
Nat men and children only, 1)ut also . . . horses . . .
shulde [by learning to swim] more aptely and boldly passe
oner great riuers, . . . andnatbeaferdeof jjirrt^sorgreat
stormes. Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, i. 17.
Pisan^ (pe'zan), a. and n. [< Pisa (see def.) +
-an.] I, a. "Of or relating to the city of Pisa
in northern Italy, or its inhabitants, or its char-
acteristic school of art; of or relating to the
province of Pisa.
II. n. An inhabitant of Pisa.
pisan^ti n. [AXso pysane, pizain, inzaine, pusane;
origin obscure.] A part of the armor of the
breast and neck ; a gorgeret or plastron. Also
pizan-collar.
pisanite (pi-za'nit), n. [Named after M. Pisani,
a French mineralogist.] A hydrous sulphate
of iron and copper, allied to the iron sulphate
melanterite.
pisasphalt, n. Bee pissa^pjjMtt.
piscary (pis'ka-ri), n. [< L. piscarvus, belong-
ing to fish, < piscis, flsh, = E. fish: see fish^.]
In law, the right or privilege of fishing in an-
other man's waters.— Common of piscary. See
common, 4.
piscationf (pis-ka'shon), n. [= It. pescagione,
< IAj. pisca1io(n-), a fi'shrng, < L. ^iscatos, pp. of
piscari, fish, <jnscis, fish: see^fel.] The art
or practice of fishing.
There are extant of his [Oppiau's] in Greek . . . five
[books] of Halieutics ovpisealitm.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., i. 8.
piscatology (pis-ka-tol'o-ji), n. [Improp. < L.
piscari, pp. piscatus, fish, + Gr. -loyia, < Tisyeiv,
speak.] The scientific study of fishes ; ichthy- ♦
ology. Atwater, Logic, p. 217.
piscator (pis-ka'tgr), n. [L., a fisherman, <
piscari,yp. piscatus, ^sh: see piscaUoii.] An
angler; a fisherman. I. TValton.
Piscatores (pis-ka-to'rez), ra.jji. [NL.: seepis-
cator.] In Bly th's sy stem ( 1849) , a group of toti-
palmate birds correspondin g to the Steganopodes
or Totipalmatse of most authors; the fishers.
piscatorial (pis-ka-to'ri-al), a. [= F. pisca-
torial; as piscatory + -al.] Ssivae as piscatory.
piscatory (pis'ka-to-ri), a. [= Sp. Pg. It. pis-
catoriOfl.'L. piscatorim, belonging to fishermen,
(.piscator, a fisherman: see xriscator.] Pertain-
ing to fishing or to fishermen ; connected with
angling; given or devoted to fishing.
On the face of this monument ... is represented, in
bas-relief, Neptune among the Satyrs, to shew that this
poet was the inventor of piscatory eclogues.
Addison, Remarks on Italy.
piscatrix
piscatrix (pis-ka'triks), n. [L., fern, oipisca-
tor, a fisherman.] 1. The feminine of pisca-
tor.—2. [caj;.] [NL.] A genus of gannets of
the family Sulidse, the type of which is Sula
piscator. See Sula. Eeicheniach, 1853.
Pisces (pis'ez), n. pi. [L., the Pishes, a con-
stellation; pi. ot jnsds, a fish: see fishK'] 1.
A constellation and sign of the zodiac 0£) ; the
Pishes. The figure represents two fishes united by a
4510
piscina (pi-si'na),m.; pl.jpisciu* (-ne). [L.: see
j>focj«el.j 1. A basin or tank, usually orna-
mental, as for a fountain or a bath ; sometimes,
a large shallow vase for ornamental fishes or
aquatic plants; also, any tank or cistern of
moderate size.
In the garden of the pisdtut [at Fontainebleau] is an
Hercules of white marble. Evelyn, Diary, March 7, 1644.
2. JEccles., a stone basin, in old churches gener-
ally established within a canopied niche placed
close to the altar, used to receive the water in
The Constellation Pisces.
ribbon attached to their tails. One of the fishes is east,
the other souUi, of the square of Pegasus.
2. In zodl., a class of vertebrates, the fishes,
to which different limits have been assigned.
See fish^.
piscicapture (pis'i-kap-tfir), «. [< L. piseis,
fish, -I- captnra, taking: see captwre.'] The tak-
ing of fish by any means, as angling or netting.
[Rare.]
Snatching is a form of Oiieit pisdeaplvsre.
Standard, Oct. 21, 1S7& (fiavUt.)
piscicolous (pi-sik'o-lus), a. [< L. piseis, fish,
+ cohere, inhabit.] Parasitic upon or infesting
fishes, as fish-lice.
piscicultnral (pis-i-kul'tfi-ral), a. [< piscicul-
ture + -al.'] Of or pertaining in any way to
pisciculture ; fish-cultural.
pisciculture (pis'i-kul"tur), n. [= P. piscicul-
ture = Pg. jnsdcidtura, i L. pisds, fish, + cul-
tura, cultivation: see culture.^ The breeding,
rearing, preservation, feeding, and fattening
of fish by artificial means; fish-culture, pisci-
-coltui'e has been practised from very early ages. It ap-
pears to have been in use in ancient Egypt, and was fol-
lowed in China in early times on a very large scale. It
vas introduced in Great Britain by Mr. Shaw of Dnunlan-
rig, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, in 1837. An important
branch of modern pisciculture is the propagation andrear-
liig of young fish in artificial ponds, with the view of intro-
ducing fish previously not found in the locality, or of in-
creasing the supply of desirable food-fishes. Salmon- and
trout-ova sent from Great Britain have been successfully
propagated in Australia and New Zealand. Of late years
America has taken the lead in fish-culture, under the ad-
ministration of the United States Fish Commission, and
millions of ova and fry have been planted in various rivers.
pisciculturist (pis'i-kul"Jur-ist), n. [<,j}iscicul-
ture + -ist.'] One who practises pisciculture,
or is devoted to the breeding and rearing of
fishes; a fish-eulturist.
Fiscidia (pi-sid'i-a), n. [Nil. (Linnaeus, 1737),
< L. piseis, fish, '+ caedere, MU.] A genus of
plants of the order Leguminosse, tribe Dalber-
giese, and subtribe LonchocarpesB, characterized
by wing-petals adherent to the keel, and long
thick pods longitudinallj four-winged. The only
species, P. Erythrijia, a native of the West Indies, is a
tree with alternate pinnate leaves, white and red flowers
in short lateral panicles, and many-seeded indehiscent
linear pods. It is known as Jamaica or white dogwood,
reaches a height of about 35 f eet^ extends into Floiida and
Mexico, and produces a valuable, very hard, close-grained
wood, yellowish-brown in color and taking a high palish,
used in its native region for boat-building, firewood, and
charooaL (For the use of its powdered leaves and twigs
to stupefy fish, see Jisti-poison.) Its gray or brown acrid
bark is imported into the Umted States for its narcotic
properties.
piscifactory (pis'i-fak-to-ri), n. [< L. piseis,
fish, + E. factory.'] A 'place where piscicul-
ture is carried on. [Rare.]
The establishment in 1850 at Haningne (Hiiningen) in
Alsace by the French Government of the first fish-breed-
ing station, or pige^aetory, as it was named by Professor
Coste, is of great significance. Encyc. Brit., XIX. 128.
piscifauna (pis'i-f S,-na), n. [< L. piseis, fish, +
NL. /aa»a; see fauna.'] The fauna of any re-
gion or country, in so far as it is composed of
fishes: correlated with aw/aana. See fauna.
pisciform (pis'i-f6rm), a. [= P. pisciforme, <
L. piseis, flsh, + forma, form.] Having the
form of a fish ; like a fish in shape ; technically,
fish-like in sti'ucture or affinities; ichthyopsi-
dan; ichthyomorphic.
Piscina in Morning Ctiapel, Lincoln Catliedral, England.
which the priest washes his hands before the
celebration of the eueharist, and washes the
chalice after the celebration. Now rarely used
in the sanctuary, but often in sacristies.
piscinal (pis'i-nal), a. [< ML. *pis<nnaUs (LL.
piscmalis, pertaining to a bath), < 'L. piscina, a
fish-pond: see piscina.] Of or pertaining to a
piscina.
piSCineV (pis'in), n. [< MB. pyseyne, < OP. (and
P.) piscine = Sp. Pg. It. piscina, < L. piscina, a
fish-pond, a pool, cistern, basin, < pisds, fish:
see,^7ii.] A fish-pond.
And fyll all tbepyscynes, whiche are in grett nowmber,
and myche watir renneth now to waste.
Tarlmigton, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 38.
piscine^ (pis'in), a. [< 'S'L.pisevnus, < It. piseis,
fish : see flshX.] Pertaining in any way to fish
or fishes; ichthyic: as, piscine vexaama; pisei/ae
affinities.
Piseis Austrinus (pis'is ds-tri'nus). [NL.: L.
piseis, fish; austrinus, southern: see austrine.]
An ancient southern constellation, the South-
em Pish. It contains the 1.3 magnitude star Fomal-
The Constellation Piseis Austrinus.
haul^ which is 30 degrees south of the equator, and is in
opposition on the 3d of September. The figui-e represents
a fish which swallows the water poured out of the vaae by
Aquarius.
Piseis Volans (ijis'is vo'lanz). [NL.: L. piseis,
fish; volans, flying: see volant.] The Plying-
Pish, one of the southern constellations intro-
duced by Theodori, or Keyser, at the end of the
sixteenth century. It is situated west of the
star /3 Argus, and contains two stars of the
fourth magnitude. Also called Volans.
piscivorous (pi-siv'o-ms), a. [= P. piscivore
= Pg. It. pisdvoro, K L. pisds, fish, + vorare,
devour.] Pish-eating, as a bird: habitually
eating or feeding upon fishes; ichthyophagous.
The meat is swallowed into the crop, or into a kind of
antestomach observed in pigcivarom birds.
Bay, Works of Creation.
pise (pe-za'), n. [P., < piser, buUd in pis4, < L.
pisere, pinsere, beat, pound, bray, ciiiah.] In
arch., stiff earth or clay, as used to form walls
pismire
or floors, being rammed down until it becomes
firm. This method is as old as the days of Pliny, and i<
still employed in France and in some parts of England.
piggy (piz'gi), n. A dialectal form otpixy.
pish (pish), interj. [Imitative of a sound made
to show contempt.] An exclamation of eon-
tempt.
It is not words that shake me thna. Pish ! Koses, ean
and lips.— Is 't possible? Shak., Othello, iv. 1. 42.
pish (pish), ». I. intrant. To express contempt
by or as by the exclamation "Pish!"
Our very smiles are subject to constracUona ;
Nay, sir, it 's come to this, we cannot j>t«&
But 'tis a favour for some fool or other.
FUteher, Wit without Money, iii, i.
Bob. This is a Toledo ! Pish !
Step. Why do you piah, captain ?
B. Jansan, Every Man in his Humour, iii. i,
II. trans. To say "Pishl" to.
Hor. Pish; ha, ha!
Imp. Dost thoupisA me? Give me my long sword.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1.
pishamin (pish'a-min), n. Same as persimmon.
— Sweet and sour pishamin, in Sierra Leone, two clhnb-
ing shrubs, Carpodmus dtdcit and C acida, of the Apo.
eynamsB, bearing edible fruits resembling the persimmon .
so called by colonists from the southern tTuited States.
pishaug (pi-shag'), m. [Amer. Ind.] The fe-
male or young of the surf-scoter, a duck, (Edx-
7nia perspidUata. [Massachusetts.]
pish-pasb (pish'pash), n. [E. Ind.] A broth
of rice mixed with small bits of meat, much
used as food for Anglo-Indian children.
It [a child] sui'feits itself to an apoplectic point with
pUh-pmh; It bmiis its month with hot cnny, and bawls.
J. W. Palmer, The New and the Old, p. 341.
pishymew (pish'i-mfi), n. A small white gull.
[New Eng.]
Pisidiidae (pis-i-di'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Pisidium
+ -idsB.] A family of dimyarian bivalves, typi-
fied by the ge-
nus Pisidiwm.
They have the
branchial and pe-
dal orifices con-
fluent^ the anal
siphonate, the
foot large, the
shell equivalve
and oval or cunei-
form, with the
area in front of
the umbones lar-
ger than that behind, the hinge with two divergent cardi-
nal teeth in each valve and four lateral teeth in the right
and two in the left valve, and an external ligament These
small bivalves inhabit fresh water, and are remarkable lor
the posterior position of the umbones.
Pisidium (pi-sid'i-um), n. [NL. (Pfeiffer,
1821), dim. of Pisum, q. v.] The typical ge-
nus of Pisidiidse, containing such forms as P.
amnicum.
pisiform (pi'si-f6rm), a. and n. [< NL. jHsi-
formis, < li.pisum, a pea (aeepeasei, Pisum), +
fwma, form.] I, a. Hav-
ing the form of a pea, as
an ossification in tendons
at joints ; having a struc-
ture resembling peas, a
variety of iron ore is called pigi-
farm, from its being made up
of small ronnded masses about
the size of a pea.
II. n. In anat., a sesa-
moid bone, of about the
size and shape of a pea,
developed in the tendon
of the flexor carpi nlnaris
muscle of man and some
other animals, it is gener-
ally reckoned as one of the car-
pal bones, making eight in all,
in man, but is not morphologi-
cally an element of the carpus.
It is often of irregular shape,
andsometimesoneofthelargest
bones in the cai-pns, as in the
horse. See also cuts uuder.ilrM-
odactyla, Perissodactyla, solid-
ungulate, and hand.
pisiforme (pi-si-f6r'me),
«. ; Tpl. pisiformia {-Toi-'a).
[NL., neut. ot pist/wtiiis :
see insiform.] The pisi-
form bone: more ftdly
called OS pisiforme.
pisk (pisk), n. Same as
night-hawk, 1.
piskashish (pis'ka-shish),
n. [Amer. Ind.'] Same as Hutehins?s goose
(which see, under goose).
pislet, ». An obsolete form of pfeate. Purcluu,
Pilgrimage, p. 503.
pismire (pis'nur), n. [Early mod. E. also pi»-
myre, pysmyre; < ME. pismire, pissemyre, pyt-
Pisidium amnicum.
6, branchial and pedal orifice ; /, extended
foot ; s, anal siphon.
Fisifoim and other Bonesof
Right Carpus of Horse, front
view, corresponduig to back
of human wrist. The large
bone above is the lower end
of the radius. The lame bone
below is the upper end of the
middle metacarpal, or can-
non-bone, showing also the
ends of the lateral metacar-
pals, or splint-bones, • •- Be-
tween these are the carpal
bones — I, cuneiform; 2,7H'
nar; 3, scaphoid; 4< I^'
form ; 5, unciform ; 6, mag-
num ; 7, trapezoid.
Fisolidc Structure.
pismire
mere, pismoure, pyssmoure (= MD. pismiere),
an ant; <piss (with ref. to the strong urinous
smell of an ant-hill) + mire^, an ant: see mire^.
Cf. MD. pisimme, pisemme, an ant, < pissen,
piss, + "emme, emte, ant: see antKI An ant
or emmet.
He l3 as angry as a pisiemgre,
Tboagh that he have al that he kan desire.
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 117.
Nettled and stung Vfith piSTrUres.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., i. 3. 240.
pismire-MUt (pis'muvhil), n. [< ME. pismoure
hylle (also pysmerys hylle); < pismire + MIP-.']
An ant-hill. Cath. Aug., p. 281.
pisnett, n. Same as pinsiiefi.
pisohamatus (pi'so-hi-ma'tus), n. piTL., < Gr.
Triffoc, a pea, + li. hamatus, furnished with a
hook, hooked.] Same as piso-uncinatus.
polite (pi'so-lit), n. [< Gr. vrwof , a pea, + Wo^,
stone.] Limestone having an oSlitio strueture,
in which the individu-
al grains or globules
are as large as peas.
This mode of occarrence is
very characteristic of certain
parts of the Oolitic or Juras-
sic series in England. (See
pea-ffrit.) The name" Coral-
Kag and PUoliU " was given
by W. Smitb, in 1815, to what
are now generally called the " Corallian beds," a member
of the Middle Oolitic series in England. Also peagtone.
pisolitic (pi-so-Ut'ik), a. ![<2)isolite + -ic.'\ Hav-
ing the structure indicated by the term pisolite :
as, pisolitic iron ore, etc. See pisolite pisolitlc
limestone, a division of the Cretaceous, of some impor-
tance in the north of France, where it lies unconformably
in patches on the top of the white chalk.
Pisonia (pi-s6'ni-a), n. [NIi. (Liniueus, 1737),
named after Dr. Pison, a traveler in Brazil.]
A genus of trees and shrubs, of the order Nyc-
toffinese, type of the tribe Pisoniex, character-
ized by the terminal stigma and slk to ten ex-
serted stamens. There are about 60 species, mainly
of tropical America. They bear opposite or scattered ob-
long-ovate or lanceolate leaves, small dioecious rose, yel-
low, or greenish funnel-shaped flowers in panicled cymes,
and a rigid or stony, rarely fleshy, elongated fruit (an an-
thocaip), often with rough and glutinous angles. Several
species are trees cultivated for ornament. P. BruTwniana
is the New Zealand para-para tre^ a hai'dy evergreen;
others are greenhouse shrubs with green flowers, as the
fingrigo or cockspur, a rambling prickly bush of the West
Indies with glutinous bur-like fruit, forming thickets.
' See ie^wood, 2, corkwood, and loMoUy-tree.
Pisonies (pis-o-ni'e-e), n. pi. [NL. (Bentham
and Hooker, 1880),' < Pisonia + -ea?.] A tribe
of plants of the apetalous order NyctaginesB,
characterized by the straight embryo and the
elongated utricle included within the enlarged
and closed calyx-tube. It includes about 100
species, of 4 genera, Pisonia being the type.
pisophaltt (pis'o-falt), n. A corrupt form of
pissasphalt.
piso-uncinatus (pi-so-un-si-na'tus), n. [NL., <
Gr. irtffof, a pea, + L. undnatus, ftmiished with
hooks or tenters, barbed.] A muscle, of rare
occurrence, replacing the ligamentum piso-
hamatum, the short ligament passing from the
pisiform to the uncinate bone.
piss (pis), V. [< ME. jyissen, pyssen, pischen =
OFries. pissia = D. MXiG. hGr.pissen = G. pis-
sen = Icel. Sw. pissa = Dan. pisse, < F. pisser
= Pr. pissar = It. pisciare, piss ; supposed to be
of imitative origin, perhaps orig. suggested by
L. pitissare, pyUssare, < Gr. TrvH^etv, spurt out
water, spit feequently, freq. of tttveiv, = L.
^uere, spew, spit: see spew.'] I. intrans. To
discharge the fluid secreted by the kidneys and
detained in the urinary bladder; urinate.
The moste Synne that ouy man may do is to pissen in
hire Houses that thei dwellen in.
ifandoviKe, Travels, p. 242.
II. trans. To eject as urine. Shak., M. W.
of W., V. 5. 16.
piss (pis), n. [< ME. pysse = D. pis = MLG.
pisse = G. pisse = Icel. Sw. jnss = Dan. pis;
from the verb.] Urine.
piss-a-bed (pis ' a-bed), n. [= D. pissehed; tr.
F. pissenlit, dandelion; so called with ref. to
the diuretic properties of the expressed juice
of the root.] The dandelion. [Vulgar.]
pissasphalt (pis'as-f alt), n. [= F. pissasphalte
= Sp. pisasfalto = Pg. pissasphalto = It. pissas-
falU), < L. pissasphaltus, < Gr. maa6a^a%rog, a
compound of asphaJt and pitch, < irtaaa, pitch,
+ aaijiaXToe, asphalt.] A variety of bitumen.
The word is only used as the equivalent in English of
the corresponding Greek and Latin words cited in the ety-
mology. As used by ancient writers, pissa^haU seems to
have been an occasional designation of the semi-fluid va-
riety of bitumen now called maltha. Also pisasphalt.
4511
pissasphaltum (pis-as-fal'tum), n. [NL., neut.
otJj. pissasphaltus, ra.: see pissasphalt.'] Same
a,8 pissasphalt.
piSB-bowlt, n. A chamber-pot. [Low.]
She, beyng moche the more incensed by reason of her
housbandes quietnesse and stilnesae, powred doune a
pissebdUe upon hym out of a wlndore.
UdaU, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 25. (Dairies.)
piss-bumt (pis'bemt), a. Stained brown, as
if scorched with urine : said of clothes. John-
son. [Low.]
piss-clam (pis'klam), ■«. The common long
clam, Mya arenaria : so called from its squirt-
ing. [Local, TJ. S.]
pissing-whilet (pis'ing-hwil), a. A very short
time. B. Jonson, Magnetick Lady, i. 7. [Low.]
Pissodes (pi-s6'dez), n. [NL., < Gr. maa66iic,
like pitch, < ntaaa, pitch, + elSog, form.] A ge-
Wbita-pina'WeeviliPisstk&s street), a, larva; d, pupa.
(Line shows natural size.)
nus of weevils of the family Oureulionidse. P.
strobi is a species whose larva injures pines.
piss-pot (pis'pot), n. [= D. pispot = MLG.
pissepot = G. pisspot = Sw. pisspotta = Dan.
pissepotte; as piss + pot.] A chamber-pot.
[Low.]
pisti, piste (pist), n. [< F. piste = Sp. Pg. pista
= It. pesta, a track, < L. pistus, pp. of pinsere,
pisere, beat, pound.] The track or footprint of
a horseman on the ground he goes over. Imp.
Bid.
pist^ (pist), inter). [A sibilant syllable like hist,
whis^'st.] Same as l^ist.
Piet! where are you?
Kiddleton, Changeling, v. 1.
pistacet, n. A Middle English form ot pistachio.
pistache (pis-tash'), n. [< ME. pistace, < OF.
and F. pistofihe: see pisULchio.] Same as pis-
tachio.
pistachio (pis-ta'shio), n. [Formerly ^istoc/jo;
< Q^.pistacho = F.pistache = Vg.pistachajpis-
tacia = It. pistacchio, pisiacio = D. pistole =£ G.
pistazie = Sw. H&n. pistam,e, < Ij. pistawum, pis-
taceum, the pistachio-nut, pistada, the pista-
chio-tree, < Gr. TTusraiatyv, in pi. iriaTaiaa, also /3ot-
TOKia, ^iTTaiua, TpiTT&Kia, the fruit of the pista-
chio-tree, itself called mord/o?, ^Ax.Jistaq,fus-
tuq = 'Hind, pistah, < Pers. pistd, the pistachio-
nut.] Same a,a pistachio^ut.
Pistachoes, so they be good, and not musty, joined with
almonds, . . . are an excellent nourisher.
Baeort, Nat. Hist., § 50.
They [the Italians] call it PigtacM, a fruit much used in
their dainty banquets. Coryat, Crudities, 1. 184.
pistachio-green (pis-ta'shio-gren), n. A bright
green much used in Eastern decoration.
pistachio-nut (pis-ta'shio-nut), n. The nut of
the Pistada vera, it contains a greenish-colored kernel
of a pleasant almond-like taste, which is extensively used
by the Turks, Greeks, etc.,as adessert-nut or in confections,
and is also exported. It yields a wholesome food-oil, which,
however, soon becomes rancid. Sometimes called Madder-
nut. Mso pigtacldo, pistaeia-nut. See Pistada.
pistachio-tree (pis-ta'shio-tre), n. See Pistada.
Plstacia (pis-ta'sM-a), n. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1737),
< L. pistada, < Gr. "irujTiiai, the pistachio-tree :
see pistachio.] 1. Agenusof trees, of the order
Anacardiacese and tribe Spondieae, ^stinguished
as the one apetalous genus of that polypetalous
family. The 8 species are natives of western Asia and
the Mediterranean region, the Canary Islands, and Mexico.
Branch of Fistachio.tree {Pistacta vera} with fruits.
pistillation
They are large or small trees, exuding a resin (terebinth
or mastic), and bearing alternate evergreen or deciduous
leaves, pinnate or of three leaflets, and axillary panicles
or racemes of small ditecious flowers. (See vumUc, n., 1,
mastic-tree, lentisk, balsam-tree, terebinth, turpentine-tree,
CMan turpentine (under Chian), alk2, aUc-gum, piOachio-
nut, and bladder-nut.) Several species yield useful wood,
resins, and galls. The galls of a variety of P. Khinjuk, of
northwestern India, are sold in the Indian bazaars for
tanning, and are there known as Jcakra singhi.
2. \l. c] A tree of this genus.
Pietatia is graffed nowe to growe
In colde lande, and pynapul seede is sowe.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 128.
pistacia-nut (pis-ta'shi-a-nut), n. Same as pis-
tachio-nut.
pistacio, n. Same as pistachio.
pistacite (pis'ta-sit), «. [So called from its
color; < Pistada + -ite^.] In mineral., same as
^idote. Also pistazite.
pistacite-rock (pis'ta-sit-rok), -». Same as epi-
dosite.
pistareen (pis-ta-ren'), n. [Origin uncertain.]
In the West Indies, the peseta.
piste, n. Seepisf^.
pistelt, n. Seepistle.
pistellerf, n. [ME., by apheresis from epistlei:]
Same as epistler,
Fistia (pis'ti-a), n. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1737), <
Gr. TTurrof, liquid, < mveiv, dimk.] A genus of
monocotyledonous floating water-plants of the
order Aracese, constituting the tribe PisUoidese.
It is characterized by the absence of perianth, and the
position of the sollt£U7 or few staminate flowers on the
short free apex of a spadix which is adnate below to the
small white spathe, and heats at the base a single oblique-
ly globose one-celled ovary with thick style and cup-like
stigma. The only species, P. Stratiotes, is common
throughout the tropics excepting Australia and the Pa-
cific islands. It consists of a rosette of pale pea-green
rounded and downy leaves. It floats unattached, its tufts
of long feathery roots often not reaching the bottom, and
increases by runners, often soon covering ponds and tanks,
keeping the water fresh and cooL It bears the name of
tropkaZ duckweed, and in the West Indies of water4ettu£e.
pisticf (pis'tik), a. [< Gr. mariKdg, in the N. T.,
qualifying vapdog, nard ; taken to mean ' liquid,'
< TTioToQ, liquid (^iriveiv, drink). By some iden-
tifled with irusTucdg, faithful, genuine. < marog,
faithful, < veWeiv, irideiv, persuade, •neSeadai, iri-
6ea6at, believe.] An epithet of nard: a.s,pisUc
nard.
An alabaster box of nard 'pu^ic was sent as a present from
Cambyses to the king of Ethiopia.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), 1. 245.
pistil (pis'tU), n. [= P. pistil = Sp. pistilo =
Pg. It. pistiUo = G. Sw. pisUU = Dan. pisUl,
< NL. pisUnum, a pistil, so
called from the resemblance
in shape to the pestle of a
mortar; <. "L. pisUUum, pisUl-
lus, a pestle: see pestle.] In
hot., the female or seed-bear-
ing organ of a flower, a com-
plete pistil consists of three parts,
ovary, style, and stigma. The ovary
is the hollow part at the base which
contains the ovules, or bodies des-
tined to become seeds. The style is
simply a prolongation of the ovary,
and may sometimes be entirely
wanting. The stigma is a part of
the surface of the pistil denuded of
epidermis, upon which the pollen
f orf ertilizing the ovules is received,
and tlu'ough which it acts upon
them. The form ot the stigma is
very various in different plants, be-
ing sometimes a mere knob or point
at the apex of the style, a line, or
double Une, or of various shapes.
There are usually several pistils, or
at least more than one pistU, in each
flower; collectively they are termed
the gynaedum. See also cuts under
anticous, Lemna, lily, madder, Oxa.
lis, and pUcher-jiant. — Compound
pistil. See comp&undX.
pistillaceous (pis-ti-la'shius), a. [< pisUl +
-aceous.] In hot., of or belonging to the pistil.
pistillary (pis'ti-la-ri), a. [= 'F. pistillaire =
Pg. pistillar, < NL.' *pistillaris, < pisUUum, pis-
til: see pistil.] In hot., of or belonging to the
pistil. — pistillary cord, a channel which passes from
the stigma through the style into the ovary.
pistillate (pis'ti-lat), a. [= F.pisUlU, < NL.
i>js<iMate,<jjJs<iZZ«»j, pistil: seepistil.] 'Lahot.,
having a pistil : noting a plant or flower pro-
vided with a pistil, and most properly said of
one having pistils only. See cuts under Abie-
tinese, breadfruit, and croton.
pistillationt (pis-ti-la'shon), n. [< L. as if *pis-
tillatio(n-), < pisUllum, pisUllus, a pestle: see
pestle.] The act of pounding with a pestle in
a mortar.
The best [diamonds] . . . are so far from breaking ham-
mers, that they submit unto pistillation, and resist not an
ordinary pestle. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iL 6.
a.
Pistils.
a, Lilium bulbi/e-
rum ; b. Geranium
sanguitieum / c, Ele-
ocharis fatustris ; d,
Oryza satrva, r, ovary;
2, style; 3, stigma.
pistillidium
pistillidiuin (pis-ti-lid'i-uin), ».: pi. pisUUidia
(-a). [NL., < pisUllum, a pistil, + Gr. cMof,
form.] In cryptogams, same as archegoniwm.
pistilllferous (pis-ti-lif' e-rus), a. [= F. pistil-
Ufire = Pg. pistUlifero, (''Nli.pistillum, a pistil,
+ L. ferre = E. bear^.'] In hot., same as pistil-
late.
pistilline (pis'ti-lin), a. [< pistil + -ine^.J In
fcot., relating or belonging to the pistil.
The pistiUim whorl is very liable to changes.
Bfmsyc. Brit., TV. 128.
pistillody (pis'ti-16-di), n. [< NL. pistillum,
pistil, + 6r. elSoQ, form.] In hot., the meta-
morphosis or transformation of other organs
into pistils or carpels. PistUlody may affect the peri-
anth, the sepals, very frequently the stamens, and rarely
the ovule. See metmmrphaeis.
Pistioidese (pis-ti-oi'de-e), n.pl. [NL. (Durand,
1888), < Pistia + -oided.'] A tribe of monocoty-
ledonous plants, of the order Araceie, consist-
ing of the genus Pistia, and distinguished by
the uuappendaged spadix united to the back
of the longer spathe, the two connate stamens,
the numerous orthotropous ovules, and the
single soft berry which constitutes the fruit.
pistlet, pistelt, »• [ME. pistel, pystyl, < AS.
pistol, with apheresis of initial vowel < L. epis-
tola, epistula, epistle: see qnstle. For the
apheresis, cf. postle, ult. < LL. apostoliis, and
Mshop, ult. < LL. episcopus."] An epistle; a
communication.
The rowned she a pislel in his ere.
Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 165.
As Paul in s^pistele of hym bereth witnesse.
Fieri Plowman (C), xvil. 289.
pistle-clotbf, n. A covering or wrapper for the
books of the epistles.
pistol (pis'tol), n. [Formerly also pistoU; = B.
pistool = Gr" pistole = 8w. Dan. pistol, < OF. pis-
tole = Sp. P^. pistola, < It. pistola, "a dag or
pistoll" (Florio) ; ci.pistolese, " a great dagger,
a wood-knife" (Florio), OF.pistoyer, a dagger;
said to have been orig. made at Pistoria, < * Pis-
tola, now Pistoia, a town near Florence, < L.
Pistorium, a city in Etruria, now Pistoia. The
name appears to have been transferred from a
dagger (a small sword) to a pistol (a small gun).
Cf. pistole, and mstolet^, pistolet^.'] A firearm
intended to be neld in one hand when aimed
and fired, it came into use early in the sixteenth cen-
tury, perhaps as early as 1600, for by 1520 it was common
as a weapon of the reiters or German mercenaiy cavalry,
4512
»•*
*> J
^^ pistol-carbine.
«, locli i », detacliahle butt-piece ; c, spring-catch i </, socket
fitting butt of pistol-stock.
pistole (pis-tol'), n. [= G. pistole = Pg. pistia,
< P. pistole, a pistole, a coin appar. so called as
being smaller than the crown, < OP. pistole, a
pistol (a small gun) : see pistol. The name was
afterward applied to the ^old coins of other
countries, especially of Spain,] A gold coin of
Spain, worth at the beginning of the nineteenth
century nearly $4 United States money. The,
name was also appUed to the French louis d'or of gold
Obverse. Reverse.
Pistole of Charles IV. of Spain, i;90.— British Museum.
( Size of the original. )
issued by louis XIII. in 1640, and to gold coins of various
European countries, worth either more or less than the
Spanish pistole. About 1835, the Swiss pistole was worth
nearlyS4.75; theItalian,from$3.45 to«6.56; the German,
about $4.— Double pistole. Seedmiile.
pistoleer (pis-to-ler'), «■ [-Also pistolier = G-.
pistolier; < OF ^ pistolier (= Fg.pistolero = It.
pistoliere), < pistole, a pistol: see jjJstoZ.] One
who fires or uses a pistol; a soldier armed with
a pistol, especially a German reiter.
Is the Chalk-Farm pistoleer inspired with any reasonable
belief and determination ; oris he hounded on by haggard
Indefinable fear? Carlyle, Misc., iii. 94. (DavUs.)
Section of Steam -cylindei
and Piston.
a, piston ; b 6, piston-rod ;
c c. steam-ports.
Pistols.
a. Highland pistol for horseman, Z7th century ; b. Highland pistol for
the belt, i6th century; c, derringer.
who were called oisfoZeerc from its use. The early pistol
was fitted with the wheel-lock, which was superseded by
the flint-lock, and the latter by the percussion-lock. Pis-
tols with more than one barrel have been in use from the
introduction of the weapon, those with two having the
barrels sometimes side by side, sometimes one over the
other. The stock of the pistol has been made of many
forms, the old cavalry pistol having it only slightly curved,
BO that it was held, when pointed at an object, by the
light hand, with the lock uppermost, the barrel to the
left, the trigger to the ri^ht. When accurate aiming was
required, as in dueling- pistols, the handle was made much
more curved. See revolver.— VoXi&'s pistol, a metallic
vessel, closed by a corkj containing an explosive mixture
of gases which may be ignited by an electric spark.
pistol (pis'tol), V. t. ; pret. and pp. pistoled or
pistolled, pp'r. pistoling or pistoUing. [= F. pis-
toler; from the noun.] To shoot with a pistol.
1 do not like this humour in thee in pistolinff men in
this sort ; it is a most dangerous and stigmatical humour.
Chapmanj Blind Beggar of Alexandria.
This varlet afterwards threatened to pigttH me.
Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 1, 1644.
pistoladef (pis-to-lad'), n. [< F.pistolade, <pis-
toler, discharge "a pistol: see pistol, «;.] The
discharge of a pistol ; a pistol-shot.
pistol-cane (pis'tgl-kan), n. A pistol having the
form of a cane, tlie barrel constituting the stafE
and the lock being concealed; also, a cane which
in any form conceals or is combined with a pis-
tol. It is classed in the legal category of con-
cealed weapons (which see, under weapon).
pistol-carbine (pis'tol-kar^bin), n. A long pis-
tol having its stock so arranged that a shoulder-
piece or butt-piece can be adjusted to it, fitting
it for firing from the shoulder. See out in next
ooluinn.
pistolet^t (pis'to-let), n. [Early mod. E. also
pestilett,pestelei(alaopistolistto,<. It.); = 'D.pis-
tolet, < OP. (and F.)pistolet= Sp. Fg.pistolete,
< It. pistoletto (ML. pistolettits), a little pistol,
dim. of pistola, a pistol: see pistol.'] A small
pistol.
Pigtolets and short swords under their robes.
Marston and Webster, Malcontent, v. 3.
We haApestelets enew [that is, in plenty].
And shot among them as we might,
Baid of the Seidswire (Child's Ballads, ATI. 136).
Fetch me my pestUett,
And charge me my gonne.
Captain Car (Child's Ballads, TL 161),
pistolet^t (pis'to-let), n. [OF. pistolet, dim. of
pistole, a, iistoie: see pistole,] A pistole.
The pistolet and roials of plate are most currant there.
Bakluyts Voyages, IL 176.
Give a double pistolet
To some poor needy friar, to say a Mass.
Beau, and Fl., Spanish Curate, i. 1.
pistolettot (pis-to-let'6), n. [It. : see jjfetofeii.]
Same a,s pistolef^.
Give us leave to talk Squibs and Pistoletto's charged with
nothing but powder of love and shot of Reason.
jr. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 88.
pistol-grip (pis'tol-grip), n. A handle, shaped
like the butt of a pistol, attached to the under
side of the small of the stock of fowling-pieces
and rifles. It affords a better hold for the
hand than the ordinary form of stock. Also
pistol-liand. See out under gun.
pistolier, n. See pistoleer.
pistol-pipe (pis'tol-pip), n. In metal-working,
the twyer of a ho A)last furnace. E. H. Knight.
pistol-router (pis'tql-rou'ter), n. A form of
carpenters' plane; a router having a handle
shaped like a pistol-butt.
pistol-shaped (pis'tol-shapt), a. Having the
general form of a pistol — that is, partly straight,
with a curved addition or extension like the
stock of a pistol.
pistol-shot (pis'tol-shot), »8. 1. The shot from
a pistol, or the report from the firing of a pis-
tol.— 2. As an estimate of distance, the range,
or the approximate range, of a pistol-ball. — 3.
One who shoots with a pistol; a marksman
with the pistol: as, a good pistol-sJiot.
pistol-splint (pis'tol -splint), n. In su/rg., a
splint shaped like "a pistol, employed espe-
cially in fractures of the lower end of the
radius.
pistomesite (pis-to-me'sit), n. [< Gr. mardg,
true, -i- E. meaiit)iie,'] A carbonate of iron and
piston-sleeve
magnesium like mesitite, intermediate between
magnesite and siderite, but more closely related
to wie latter.
piston (pis'tqn), n. [< P. piston, a piston, for-
merly also a pestle, = Sp. piston, a piston, < It,
pistone, a piston, var. otpes-
tone,&\axgevest\e,<.pestare,
pound, < ML. pistare, pes-
tare, pound, freq. of L. pin-
sere, pisere, pp. pistus, beatj
pound: Beepestle,pistil,'] 1.
In mack., a movable piece,
generally of a cylindrical
form, so fitted as to fill the
sectional area of a tube, such
as the barrel of a pump or the
cylinder of a steam-engine,
and capable of being driven
alternately in two directions
by pressure on one or the
other of its sides. One of its
sides is fitted to a rod, called the
piston-rod, to which it imparts
reciprocatory motion, aa in the
steam-engine, where the motion
given to the piston-rod is com-
municated to the machinery, or
by which, on the other hand, it is
itself made to move, as in the
pump. Two sorts of pistons are used in pumps— one
hollow with a valve, used in the suction-pump, and the
other solid, which is employed in the force-pump. The
latter is also called a. plunger.
2. In musical wind-instmments of the trumpet
family, one of the forms of valve whereby a crook
is temporarily added to the tube and the pitch
of the tones altered, it is operated by depressing a
finger-knob, and thus pushing a plunger into a cylinder.
The plunger has channels for changing the direction of
the air-column. Pistons have been applied to various in-
struments, but especially to the cometj which is therefore
called the comet-d.^ston8.
3. In organ-huilding, a thumb-knob which may
be pushed in like a piston, whereby some
change in registration is pneumatically effect-
ed ; a pneumatic coupler or combination knob.
—4, The central retractile part of the ace-
tabulum or sucker of a cephalopod, whose ac-
tion in producing a vacuum resembles that of
the piston of an air-pump — Differential plstoD.
See mffererOial.—'DoVLTala-vAB.'bon. locomotive. See loco-
motive.— Oscillating piston, an engine-piston which os-
cillates in a sector^aped chamber.— Piston blowlng-
machine. See hlmm/ng-nutchme.
piston-head (pis'ton-hed), n. The disk which
is fitted closely to the interior of the cylinder,
and is the direct receiver or transmitter of the
power developed: distinguished from the pis-
torir^od.
piston-knob (pis'tgn-nob), ». Same a,spiston, 3.
piston-packing (pis'ton-pak"ing), n. 1. Any
material used to pack or make tight the space
between the perimeter of a piston-head and
the interior of the cylinder or -barrel in which
it moves. Many different materials have been usedfor
piston-packings, among which are hemp (usually in the
form of a braided gasket), either by itself or saturated with
tallow or mixtures of various oily or fatty materials, india-
rubber or compositions of which india-rubber is a princi-
pal ingredient, leather, metallic alloys, etc. Piston-pack-
ings are usually inserted in a groove or depression in the
perimeter of the piston-head, and expanded by mechani-
cal compression to make a steam-tigh^ air-tight^ water-
tight, or gas-tight joint.
2. A mechanical device for packing pistons, in
which the operation depends more upon the
construction than upon the fibrous, plastic, or
compressible properties of the packing-mate-
rial.—piston-paeWng expander, a steel spring In a
piston-head serving to expand the packing against the in-
terior of the cylinder ; a piston-spring, M. H. Knight.
piston-pump (pis'ton-pump), n. A pump con-
sisting of a pump-cylinder or -barrel in which
a reciprocating piston works, it is provided with
appliances for moving the piston,,as a piston-rod or pump-
rod, an d a hand-levA* actuating the pump-rod, or the cross-
head of au engine attached to it; an induction-port or
•ports covered with valves which permit a fluid to enter
the pump-barrel, but prevent its return ; and an eduction-
port or -ports provided with valves which permit effliui
of the fluid from the pump-barrel, but prevent its return.
These are the essential features of piston-pumps. They
usually also have induction- or suction-pipes, and fre-
quently eduction- or discharge-pipes. See pump^, liftr
pump, /oree-pump, plunger-pump, a.ad mctienpump.
piston-rod (pis'ton-rod), n. See jnston, l.-Pls-
ton-rpd packing, (a) A material placed in the stuffing-
box of a cylinder to make a steam-tight joint about the
]jiston, (b) The stufflng-box of a piston.
piston-sleeye (pis'ton-slev), n. The piston of
a trunk-engine, witli' which the connecting-rod
or pitman is directly connected by a pivot.
Such a piston has a hollow cylinder (sleeve) cast upon it
In order to give it sufficient bearing-length to en*le it
in Itself to perform also the function of a cross-head, the
walls of the cylinder then performing the function of the
cross-head slides, the pin which directly connects the pit-
man with the piston taking the place of the ordliur}
piston-sleeve
cross-head pin, and no pistonrod being ased. Tbis con-
struction enables tbe engine to be much shortened in the
line of its stiuke. See (ruiar-«n^n«.
piston-spring (pis'toa-spring), h. a coil aronnd
or inside a piston which, by its tension, acts
automatically as packing.
piston-valve (pis'ton-valv), n. A reciprocat-
ing valve resembling a working piston, moved
in a tubular passage to open or close a port or
ports for alternately admitting steam to or ex-
hausting it from the cylinder of an engine.
piston-wheel (pis'tgn-hwel), n. 1. In a rotary
engine or pump, a "disk or wheel carrying at
its outer margin one or more pistons. — 3. In
a chain-pamp, a wheel carrying au endless
chain to which are attached pistons working in
a tube or barrel. See rotary engine (under ro-
tary), and chain-pump.
piston-wMstle (pis'ton-hwisi), n. A whistle
in which, by shortening or lengthening the vi-
brating air-colnmu through the movement of a
piston sliding in the tube (or beU, as it is called
in steam-whistles), a sound of varying pitch is
emitted. See Modoc ichistle, under witisile.
Pisum (pi'sum), n. [XL., < L. : see jiease^,
jjeai.] 1. A genus of leguminons plants of
the tnbe Vieiese, distinguished from the large
related genus Lathyrus by tbe dilated summit
of the style, which is inflexed and hardened,
with reflezed margins above, and bearded on
the inner face. There are 2 specie^ one native of the
Taurus iu Asia Minor, tbe other, P. mUmem, the common
garden- and field-pea. IHvinus, lesi. See peal.
2. In zool., a genus of bivalves. Megerle, 1811.
pitl (pit), n. [< ME. 2>it, jrut, pyt, pette, putte,
pytte, < AS. pyt, j>ytt, a pit, hole, = OFries.
pet = D. put = OliG. pute, MLG. LG. ijuite =
OHG. puzzi, phuzzi, pfiizi, also puzza, putza,
buzza, etc., MHG. hutze, hiitze, pfiitze, G. pfiitze
= Icel. pyttr = Sw. puss = Dan. pyt= F.puits
= Wall, putz = Pr. potz, pouts = Sp. poza =
Pg. pofo = It. ]>ozzo, a well, < L. puteus, a well,
a pit; perhaps orig. a spring of pure water, <
■]/ ptt in purus, pure: see jpure.] 1. A hole or
cavity in the ground, whether natural or made
by digging.
And faste by it Is a Utylle jii/tt in the Erthe, where the
foot of tbe Fileer is zit entered. MandevUle, Travels, p. 94.
And as tbe child gan forby for to pac^
This cursed Jew him hent and held hiJDa fasten
And kitte bis throte, and in a pit him caste.
Chauear, Prioress's Tale, 1. 119.
Specifically— (o) An excavation or hole in the ground,
covered or otherwise concealed, for snaring wild beasts ;
a pitfall. (6) A hole dug in the soil of a potato- or tumip-
fleld, for storing potatoes, etc, daring the winter. The
vegetables stor»i are usually piled up to some height and
covered with earth to keep out the frost. [Great Britain.]
(c) In hoTL, an excavation in the soil, generally covered by
a glazed frame, lor protecting tender plants, or for propa-
g^ion. (<0 Infoutiditiff, a cavity scooped in the floor to
receive cast-metaL (e) Tbe shaft of a coal-mine, or the
mine itself. (/) A vat, such as is used in tanning, bleach-
ing, dyeing^ etc. . . , , ^ j.,.
2. A cavity or depression in the body: as, the
pit of the stomach; the arvapits.
For person and complexion, they bane broad and flat
visages, . . . thin haired vpon the upper lip and pit of
the chin, light and nimble-bodied with short legges.
Pwehas, Pilgrimage^ p. 421.
I found him lying on his bed with his clothes on, his
shoes merely sllppra off, and his hat held securely over
theptt of his stomach. H. B. Stcwe, Oldtown, p. 415.
3. A very small depression or dent, such as
that left on the flesh by a pustule of the small-
pox; a dimple. ■
Look what a pretty pit there 's in her chin !
Middieton, Spanish Gypsy, iii. 2.
The sandstone surface is distinctly marked by raindrop
pitg and by ripple or wave marks. Science, TV. 273.
4. In bot., one of the pores or thin places in
the more or less lignified ceU-waUs of many
plants. The bordered pits, which are especiaUy charac-
teristic of the wood of the Cordferse, are composed of two
concentric circles, which represent thin spots or pores in
tbe walls of tbe tracheids. They are very regularly ar-
ranged.
5. A hollow or cup.
Flowers on their stalks set
Like vestal primroses, but dark velvet
Edges them round, and they have golden piti.
Keats, Endymion, l
6. A deep place ; a gulf; an abyss. SpeciflcaUy—
(o) The grave.
Frendes, I am poor and old.
And almost, God wot,.on my pittee brynke.
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 157.
Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave ; thou bast
kept me alivet that I should not go down to the pit.
Ps. XXX. 3.
0) The abode of evil spirits ; hell.
We also saw there the Hobgoblins, Satyrs, and Dragons
of tbe pa. Bunyan, PUgrim's Progress, p. 131.
4:513 pitapat
Bach one reels sure by or as by the fingers: as, in dropsy the
Under the load towards tbejitf of death. skin pits on pressure.
SheOei/. Prometheus Unbound, u. 4. ^ZT^' . \, ,., ^ „ .„ i v »
,.,.^ The Carnage Monthly tells its readers how to remove
7. An inclosed place or area for the exhibition varnish from a panel after it has pilUd.
of combats of dogs or cocks, or where dogs are ScL Amer., N. S.,ivil. 276.
trained or exhibited in killing rats: a.s, a dog- pit2 (pit), «. [Avar, of j)jp2, by confusion with
pit; a cockpit. pit^.2 The stone of a fruit, as of a cherry or
Sir Thomas Jermin, meaning to make himself merry, plum. [U. S.]
and gull aU the cockers, sent bis man to the i»t in Shoe- pj^s (pit), r. t. A Middle English and Scotch
lane with an hundred pounds and a dunghill cock, ueaUy f^jm ^f nujl.
cut and trimmed for the battle. _jx« /— ji/Lax *.. ro— / ■\r«^ «v«v. -i 1 ti.«
Hot*. JfSL, No. 6393, quoted in Stmtt's Sports and pita (pe ta), n. [bp., < ilex, pita.^ 1. Ihe
[Pastimes, p. 376. maguey, Agatx Americana, and other species of
What though her chamber be the very i>a the genus.— 2. The fiber derived from Agave
Where flght tbe prime cocks of the game lor wit. leaves. It is of great strength, utilized for cordage, etc..
B, Jongon, An Epigram on the Court Pucell. and likely to be of commercial importance^ Sometimes
(»lled pita-flax, pita-hemp, or pita-threai. The name is
applied less properly to the istle-flber (see istle) and to
t\ai, of FwKraa (FauTcroya) gigaiitea.
Stage, and behind the usual station of the mu- pita-fiber (pe'ta-fi'ber), n. Same as pita, 2.
sicians. in the United Kingdom tbe name is now often nitahava (pe-ti-M'va), «. [ilex. Sp.l Any
8. That part of a theater which is on the floor
of the house, somewhat below the level of the
given to the inferior seats behind (iie stalls. In the United
States it has been superseded by mrehestra or parquet.
I and my wife sat in the pitt, and saw " The Bondman *
done to admiration. ' Pepys, Diary, March 26, 1661.
Bnt we, the Actors, humbly will submit^
Now, and at any time, to a full Pit.
Wychertey, Country Wife, ProL
All bad Poets we are sure are Foes,
And how their Number's swell'd the Town well knows ;
In shoals I've mark'd 'em judging in the Pit.
Congreve, Way of the World, EpiL
The Pit a an Amphitheater, fill'd with Benches without
Backboards, and adom'd and cover'd with green Cloth.
Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Eeign of Queen Anne,
[XL 6.
9. Those who occupy the pit in a theater: the
people in the pit.
Now, sir, your soliloquy — but speak more to the pit, if
you please — the soliloquy always to thepit — that's a nile.
Sheridan, The Critic, ilL 1.
He [King George IV.] was received with immense accla-
mations, tbe whole pit standing up, hurrahing and waving
their hands. GreeOle, Memoirs, Feb. 7, 1821.
10. That part of the floor of an exchange
where a special kind of business is carried on:
as, a grain-pit; a provision-pit. [U. S.] — 11.
The cockpit of » ship. — 12. The framework
in a belfry which supports the pivoted yoke
of a swinging bell. Sir E. Beckett, CHoeks and
Watches, p. 359. [Now little used.]-caers
soaking-pit, a cavity lined with refractory material,
used in metal-working to inclose large ingots, in order to
preserve them at a high temperature, and thus avoid the
necessity of reheating.— Olfactory pits, certain hollows
tall columnar cactus bearing edible fruit, as
Ceretis giganteus, the giant cactus, and C. Tlmr-
beri. Also pitajaya. [Southwestern TJ. S.]
Ceieus Thurberi is commonly called pitahaya by tbe
Mexicans, and this is the name by which it was known to
tbe Aztecs. ScL Amer., N. S., T.XT. 359.
FitalLayarW0Odpe<iker, Centums uropygtaHs, ihe Gila
woodpecker, wbi<m abounds in southern Arizona, and nsn-
Pitahaya-woodpecker {Ctuttirus urofiygiali^.
ally nests in the giant cactus.
peaar.
Also called sagvaro wood-
of the embryonic skuU which will become nasal passages, pitailet petallet, n. [ME., also pitaiH, pitall,
_w«o-„n: in hmr, «. nit adanted for raisine vounir '^pettaiU;< OP. pitoiUe, pietaiUc, pedaOe, foot-
soldiers, infantry, the populace, <piet,pied,toot,
< L. pes (jjerf-), foot: see/oot. Cf. peon,'] Foot-
soldiers; infantry; rabble.
Than Orienx chese onte of peple as many as hym liked,
that were wele xl°>> with-outen the petaSe that after hem
folowed. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 263.
-Pine-pit, in Aort, a pit adapted for raising young
plants to replenish pineries.— Pit and gallows, in feu-
dal times, the privilege granted by the crown to barons
of executing persons convicted of theft bjr hanging tbe
men on a gallows and drowning the women in a pit Also
pot aitd gaUom.— The bottomless pit, helL
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having
the key of fAe bottmidess pit and a great chain in his hand.
Bey. XX. 1.
Tourdeep-.conceited. cutpurse,who by thed^terity oi K*ata«^'*:r^>jl-,. [^^-'.ll^ '.^*^^^^^^
his knife wfil draw out the money and make a fiame-col-
oured purse show like the lioUomleis pit, but with never a
sonl in 't. iliddtOan, Tbe Black Book.
To shoot or fly the pit, to tnm tan and try to escape,
like a craven cock in a pit.
collection of Buddhist scriptures, as made in
Tibet.
The great Tibetan teacher . . . had no access to tbe
Pall Pitakag. Encye. BriL, XIV. 230.
pitaneef, n. A Middle English form ot pittance.
The whole nation . . . expressing utmost detestation and nitanfflia (oi-tang'swa), fl. [Braz.l A Brazil-
"^'S'tti^SSreM?^"^'^' iaSt^n^Vcatchlr^ri
party* ijoyer ilTorOl, Examen, p. 327. (Davies.) garliyncUus pitangua. See cut under Jfcffaj'/ij/n-
We were all to blame to make madam here >Iytt« pa as cftus. , . . , , __ ,„
shedid. iifcAanison, Pamela, a 308. (iMmes:) PitangUS (pi-tang'gus), n. [NXi. (Swamson,
piti (pit), V. ; pret. and pp. pitted, ppr. pitting. 1827), < Braz. piUtngua^ K genus of clamato-
T<pkh -^trar^. 1 ."^f o^atch', faS, 'or bu^ ^!^I^:?^l}l^?\i^%3^}lIrj:^:^t:t
in a pit,
They lived like beasts and were pitted like beasts.
Granger, On Ecclesiastes (1621), p. 213. (Latham.)
2. To form a little pit or hollow in ; mark with
little dents, as by the pustules of the smallpox.
An anasarca, a species of dropsy, is characterized by the
shining and softness of the skin, which gives way to the
least impression, and remains iritted for some time.
or tyrant-flycatchers; the Derbian flycatchers,
not including the pitangua. They have a long and
straight stout bfll hooked at the end, rounded wings longer
than tbe nearly square tail, the plumage brown above and
yellow below, the head marked with black, white, and
orange, the wings and tail extensively mfous. There are
several species, inhabiting tbe wanner parts of America,
as P. sulphuratus. One is found in Mexico and Texas, P.
(ferfcianiM. about lOJ inches long. Also called SntiropAaj^M*
and Apotites.
The red acid acts too powerfully and pits the copper.
Workshop Receipts, 1st ser., p. 172.
3. To impress with rounded cup-like hollows,
as the mold for a metal casting which is to
have rounded bosses on it.— 4. To put or set
in the pit or area for fighting: match as con-
testants or opponents, one against another, as
-dogs or cocks: used figuratively of any com-
petitors: generally followed by against.
Sharps, pjtapat (pit'a-pat), (idv. lAlso pitpat. pitypat,
' " j)jtfjrj;af; a varied reduplication of patl.] With
a quick succession of beats; in a flutter; with
palpitation.
Y. AreK Lord, how my heart leaps !
Pet 'Twill go pit-a-pat shortly.
Fletcher, Loyal Subject, iL 2.
His heart kep' goin' pity-pat.
But hem went pity Zekle.
Lowdl, The Courtin'.
[< pitapat, fldf.] Flut-
rbepitling of them [cocksl, as they call it, for tbe diver- PJJ^^t* (P^*'^'P^*^' "'
sion and entertainment of man, . . . was, as I take it, a lenng. ■,,,,.,.
Grecian contrivance. Archamlogia, ILL 133. She immediately stepped out of her pew and fell mto
Socratesispitt«taffa.n^thefamousatbeistfromIonia, the finest piHy-po* air. Steefe, Spectator, No. 503^
and has just brought him to a contradiction in terms. pitapat (pit'a-pat), n. l<. pitapat, adv.] Aught
Maeaulay, Athenian Orators, q^jgk ^tep; a succession of light beats or taps.
H. intrans. To become marked or spotted with yo,^ again I bear the pita-pat of a pretty foot through
pits or depressions; retain the mark of pres- ttie daik aUey. Dryden, Don Sebastian, iii. 2.
pitapat
pitapat (pit'a-pat), «. ». l< pitapat, adv. ^ To
step or tread quickly.
Run bow'd with burthens to the fragrant Fatj
Tumble them in, and after pU^a-pat
Vp to the Waste.
Si/lMiter, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Magnificence.
pita-wood (pe'ta-wtid), n. The pith-like wood
of Furcrcea (Fo'urcroya) gigantea, used some-
times in Rio Janeiro as a slow-match, and some-
times to line drawers for holding insects.
Pitaya bark. See harlfi and Cinchona.
pit-bottom (pit'hofum), n. In coal-mining,
the entrance to a mine and the underground
roads in the immediate vicinity, whether at
the bottom of the pit or at any point in it be-
neath the surface at which the cages are load-
ed. Also pit-eye. [Eng.]
Pitcairnia (pit-kar'ni-a), n. [NL. (L'H^ritier,
17861 ; named after Archibald Pitcairne (1652-
1713), professor of medicine at Edinburgh.] A
genus of monoeotyledonous herbs, of the order
Bromeliaeese, type of the tribe Pitcairnieie, char-
acterized by the terminal raceme with filiform
styles and septieidally three-valved capsules.
There are about 70 species, natives of tropical America.
They bear close-clustered linear short or elongated rigid
leaves, generally with spiny margins, and many showy
narrow flowers of scarlet, yellow, or other colors, often
with large colored bracts. They are considered handsome
greenhouse-plants. See Brometiaeex.
Pitcairnieae (pit-kar-ni'f-e), n.pl. [NL. (Ben-
tham and Hooker, 1883), < Pitcairnia + -ese.']
A tribe of plants of the oidev Bromeliaeese and the
pineapple family, characterized by the superior
ovary, and seeds with linear entire or wing-like
appendage, it includes 6 genera, all of tropical Amer-
ica, of which Pitcairnia is the type and Puya an impor-
tant genus.
pitch! (pieh), V. ; pret. and pp. pitched, formerly
pight, ppr. pitching. [< ME. 2}i<:chen, pycchen
(pret. pighte, pigte, pp. pight, pigt, pyst),
pitch, fix, pick, etc. ; assibilated form otpiclcen,
pihken, pick: see piclc^, d.] I. trans. If. To
pierce with a sharp point; divide with some-
thing sharp and pointed; transfix.
Christus, thi Bone, that in this world alighte
Upon the cross to suffre his passioun.
And eek suSred that Longius his \\evte pighte.
Chaucer, A. B. C, 1. 163.
2. To thrust into the ground, as a stake or
pointed peg; hence, to plant or fix; set up;
place: as, to pitch a tent or a camp; to pitch
the wickets in cricket.
Ther thei pight the kynges teynte, by the feirest welle
and the moste clere that thei hadde seen.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 160.
Shaip stakes . . .
They pitched in the ground.
SAffl*., 1 Hen. VI., i. 1. 118.
Where he spied a parrot or a monkey, there he was
pitched; ... no getting him away.
B. Jonsan, Bartholomew Fair, i. 1.
The Southern lords did pitch their camp
Just at the bridge of Dee.
Bmmy John Seton (Child's Ballads, VII. 231).
After their thorrow view of ye place, they began to pitch
them selves upon their land & near their house.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 340.
Wickets were pitched at the orthodox hour of eleven
a. m. Wim Year of a Sttken Seign, p. 84.
3. To fix or set in order; array; arrange; set.
A hundrith shippes full shene with sharp men of armys,
Pight full of pepull & mony prise knight.
Destruction of Troy (E. B. T. S.), 1. 4056.
There was no need that the book [the Book of Common
Prayer] should mention either the learning of a fit, or
the unfitness of an ignorant minister, more than that he
which descrlbeth the manner how to pitch a field should
speak of moderation and sobriety in diet.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 31.
Having ihas pitched the fields, from either part went a
Messenger with these conditions.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 135.
4. To fix, as a rate, value, or price ; rate ; class ;
Whose vulture thought doth pitch the price so high.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 561.
They jMtcfted their commodi ties atwhat rate they pleased.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 163.
5. To fling or throw; hurl; toss: as, to pitch
a pike or a dart; to pitch a ball or a penny.
He [his horse] pighte him on the pomel of his heed.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1831.
Now, if thou strik'st her but one blow,
I'll pitch thee from the clifl as far
As ever peasant pitched a bar !
Scott, L. of the L., iv. 23.
As for his cousin Eingwood Twysden, Phil had often
entertained a strong desire to wring his neck and pitch
him down stairs. Thackeray, Philip, xiiL
6. Specifically, in base-ball, to serve (the ball)
to the batter. See base-ball. — 7. In music, to
determine or set the key (tonality) or key-note
of; fix the relative shrillness or height of;
4514
start or set (a piece) by sounding the key-note
or first tone: as, to pitch a tune high. — 8. To
pave roughly; face with stones.
A plaine pitched walke subdio, that is vnder the open
ayre. Coryat, Crudities, I. 30.
9. In certain card-games, to lead one of (a
certain suit), thereby selecting it as trump. —
Pitched battle. See 6a«fci.— Pitched work', in maeon-
ry, work in rough stones which are neither thrown down
indiscriminately nor laid in regular courses, but let fall
into place with approximate regularity, so as to bind one
another. It is used in hydraulic engineering for the facing
of breakwaters, the upper parts of jetties, etc.
II. intrans. 1. To fix a tent or temporary
habitation; encamp.
Laban with his brethren jMteAed in the mount of Gilead.
Oen. xxxi. 25.
2t. To come to rest; settle down; sit down;
alight.
There pitching down, once more adieu, said she,
Dull home, which no such seat couldst spread for me.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, ii. 19.
Take a branch of the tree whereon they [the bees] pitch,
and wipe the hive. Mortimer, Husbandry.
A bud which . . . flowers beneath his sight ;
And, in the middle, there is softly pioM
A golden butterfly. Keats, Endymion, ii.
3. To fix or decide : with on or
He 's the man I've pitched on
My housband for to be.
Margaret of Craignargat (Child's Ballads, VIII. 252).
Ptteh upon the best course of life, and custom will ren-
der it the most easy. TiUotson,
Having pitched upon a time for his voyage, when the
skies appeared propitious he exhorted all his crews to
take a good night's rest. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 108.
4. To plunge or fall headlong.
Thereupon Zed pitched headforemost upon him across
the streaming pile, and the couple rolled and pounded
and kicked and crushed as before.
W. M. Baker, New Tunothy, p. 210.
5. Naut., to plunge with alternate fall and rise
of bow and stern, as a ship passing over waves.
The motion is most marked when running into
a head sea. — 6. To throw, toss, or hurl a mis-
sile or other object ; throw a ball ; specifically,
in games of ball, to fill the position of pitcher;
serve the ball to the batsman. — 7. To buck;
jump from the ground with the legs bunched
together, as a mustang or mule. Bportsmavls
Gazetteer. See cut under &Mcfc2._ pitch and payt,
pay down at once ; pay ready money.
Let senses rule; the word is "Pitch amdpay";
Trust none. 5Ao*., Hen. V., ii. 3. 51.
To pitch in, to begin ; set to work with promptness or
energy. [CoUoq.]— To pitch into, to attack; assault.
[Colloq.]
pitch! (pieh), n. [< pitch\ v. In def . 14 an
assibilated form of piclc^, n., of same ult. ori-
gin.] 1. The highest point or reach; height;
acme.
Boniface the Third, in whom was the pitch of pride, and
height of aspiring haughtiness. Fuller.
2. Height (or depth) in general; point or de-
gree of elevation (or of depth); degree; point.
If a man begin too high a ^itch in his favours, it doth
commonly end in unkindness and untbankf ulness.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 312.
To lowest inteh of abject fortune thou art fallen.
MUUm, S. A., 1. 169.
The chief actor in the poem falls from some eminent
pitch of honour and prosperity into misery and disgrace.
Addison, Spectator, No. 297.
To such an absurd pitch do the Moos'lims carry their
feeling of the sacredness of women that entrance into the
tombs of some females is denied to men.
E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. 224.
3. In acoustics and music: (a) That charac-
teristic of a sound or a tone which depends
upon the relative rapidity of the vibrations by
which it is produced, a relatively acute or high
pitch resulting from rapid vibrations, and a
relatively grave or low pitch from slow vibra-
tions. Pitch is therefore coordinate with force, timbre,
and duration. It is estimated and stated in terms of
the vibration per second of the sounding body. It is ex-
perimentally determined' either by direct comparison
with a standard tuning-fork or by such instruments as the
siren. (6) A particular tonal standard or ex-
ample with which given tones may be com-
pared in respect to their relative height: as,
concert pitch; French pitch. Various standards
have from time to time been used or promulgated — as, for
example, damcal pitch, during the last half of the eigh-
teenth century, for the A next above middle C about 415 to
430 vibrations per second ; concert pitch (commonly called
high pitch), used in concert and operatic music during the
middle of the nineteenth century, varying for the same A
from about 440 to 466 vibrations ; French pitch (common-
ly called low pitch), the diapaBbn normal adopted by the
French Academy in 1869, for the same A 436 vibrations;
philosophical pitch, an arbitrary pitch for middle C, ob-
tained by taking the nearest power of 2, that is, 266 vibra-
pitch
tions, or for the next A above about 427 vibrations ; Sch^b.
lei's pilch, adopted by the Stuttgart Congress of Physicists
in 1834, for the same A 440 vibrations.
Specifically— 4. The height to which a hawk
rises in the air when waiting for game to he
flushed, or before stooping on its prey.
The greatness of thy mind does soar ^ pitch
Their dim eyes, darken'd by their narrow souls,
Cannot arrive at
Fletcher (and another). False One, v. 4.
5t. Stature; height.
So like in person, garb, and pitch.
S. Butler, Hudibras, III. iii. 73,
6. Inclination; angle to the horizon.— 7. In
mech.: (a) The distance between the centers
of two adjacent teeth in a cog-wheel, measured
on the pitch-line, which is concentric with the
axis of revolution, and at such a distance from
the base of the teeth as to have an equal rate
of motion with a similar line in the cog-wheel
with which it engages. (&) The distance be-
tween the medial lines of any two sueeeasive
convolutions or threads of a screw, measured in
a direction parallel to the axis : the pitch of a
propeller-screw is the length measured along
the axis of a complete turn, (c) The distance
between the paddles of a steamship, measured
on the circle which passes through their cen-
ters, (d) The distance between the stays of
marine and other steam-boilers, (e) The dis-
tance from center to center of rivets. (/) The
rake of saw-teeth (see rake). — 8. A throw; a
toss ; the act by which something is thrown or
hurled from one or at something. Specifically, in
iase-iaU: (a) A throw or serve of the ball to the batter.
(5) The right or turn to pitch the ball.
9. A place on which to pitch or set up a booth
or stand for the sale or exhibition of some-
thing; a stand. PEng.]
In consequence of a New Police regulation, " stands " or
"pitches" have been forbidden, and each coster, on a mar.
ket night, is now obliged, under pain of thelock-up house,
to carry his tray, or keep moving with his barrow.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, 1. 12.
10. In card-playing, the game all-fours or seven-
up played without begging, and with the tnimp
made by leading (pitching) one of a selected
suit, instead of being turned up after dealing.
— 11 . In minmg, a certain length on the courae
of the lode, taken by a tributor, or to work on
tribute. Also called tribute-pitch. [Cornwall,
Eng., chiefly.] — 12. Xn floor-cloth printing, one
of the guide-pins used as registering-marks,
correerponding to the register-points in litho-
graphic printing. — 13. In naval arch., down-
ward angular displacement of the hull of a ves-
sel, measured in a longitudinal vertical plane
at right angles with and on either side of
a horizontal transverse axis passing through
the center of flotation : a correlative of scend
(which see). — 14. An iron crowbar with a
thick square point, for making holes in the
ground. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]— Auction-pltci,
a game of pitch in which the player entitled to pitch the
trump may sell the privilege to the highest bidder, add-
ing the points bid to his score before play, or may re-
ject all bids and himself lead the play, failure to make as
many points as the highest bid reducing the pitcher's score
correspondingly.— Gaining pitch, in a screw propeller, a
pitch which increases from the leading edge of the wings to
the following edge. F. H. Knight.— 'Be&i. Of the pitches,
in angling. See head.— Natural pitch. See natxral.-
Pltch and hustle. See AttsUe.— Pitch and toss. See
i)ifcA-a7id-«ogs.— Pltchhyperhola. Seefis/i)er6oJa.— Pitch
of an arch, the rise or height of an arch.— Pitch of a
plane, the angle at which the iron is set in the stock
Cammcn pitch, of 46° from the horizontal line, is used in
bench-planes adapted for soft woods ; half pitch, or 60", i»
used in molding-planes for mahogany and other woods
diflacult to work ; middle pilch, or 66°, is used in molding-
planes for deal and smoothing-planes for mahogany and
woods of like character ; York^ch, or 60° from the hori-
zon, is used in bench-planes for mahogany and other hard
or stringy woods, and for wainscoting. The pitch of
metal-planes and scraping-planes is 80°.— Pitch of aroot,
the inclination of a roof. It is expressed in angular mea-
surement, in parts of the span, or in the proportion which
the rafters bear to the span. The crnnmumpOch has a rafter
three quarters the length of the span ; the Gothic has a
rafter of the full length of the span ; the Elizaiellum, a
rafter longer than the span ; the Greek, an angle of from
12° to 16°; and the Roman, an angle of from 23° to 24°.-
Fltch of a saw, the inclination of the face of the teeth.
pitch2 (pioh), n. [< ME. pieh, pych, pyeJie,
pyoche, assibilated forms of pile, pylc, piiU
pylcke (> Se. piclc), < AS. pic = OS. OFries. j)ft
= MB.pifc, Bjjek = 'mjG!.pik,pek = OBG.peh,
pech, beh, MHG. pech, bech, 6. pech = leel. 6*
= Sw. beck = Dan. beg = Gael, pic = 'W.pyg^
OP. peiz, pois (> ME. peys, pays, pais), P. $oix
= Sp. Pg. pez = It. pece, iXt.pix (pic-), pitch, =
Gr. maaa, Attic rnVro (for *nlKya), pitch, turpen-
tine, also the fir-tree, = Lith.^ifcfe's, pitch ; prob.
akin to Gr. mrvi, the pine-tree, L. pinw (for
*picm««), the pine-tree: see jjinel.] 1. Athici
pitcn
tenaoioas resinous substance, hard when cold,
the residuum of tar after its volatile elements
have been expelled: obtained also from the resi-
dues of distilled turpentine, it is monutactnied
mostly in tar-prodacing countries, especially Knseia. It is
largely ased to cover the seams of vessels after calking,
and to protect wood from the effects of moisture ; also
medicinally in ointments, etc.
The ligaid pitch or tarre throughoat all Europe is boiled
out of the torch tree ; and this kind of pitch serveth to
calke ships withall, and for many other uses.
HdUand, tr. of Pliny, xvi. 11.
2. The sap or crude turpentine which exudes
from the bark of pines. [An improper use.] —
3. Bitumen: a word of indefinite meaning used
to designate any kind of bituminous material,
but more especially the less fluid varieties (mal-
tha and asphaltum).
And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and
the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall
become burning pitch. Isa. xxxiv. 9,
Bnrgnndy or white pitch, the yellowish, hard and brit-
tle, strongly adhesive aromatic resin derived by incision
from the Norway spruce, Pieea excelsa, and probably other
conifers: obtained in various parts of Europe perhaps for-
merly in En^undy. It is used as a mild rubefacient, and
for non-medicinal purposes. It is often replaced by in-
ferior artificial substitutes. — Canada pitch, a resin ex-
uding from the bark of the hemlock-spruce, Tguga (^Abies)
CanadermSf in North America. It is used in medicine
like Burgundy pitch. Also called liemlock-piteh and (im-
properly) hewlock-gum. — Elastic mineral pitch, see
elame.— Jew's pitch, mineral pitch; bitumen.— Min-
eral pitch. See mineral.
"pitch^ (pich), V. t. [< ME. pitchen (= Sw. hecka
= Dan. hege); from the noun.] 1. To smear
or cover over with pitch : as, to pitch the seams
of a ship.
Then into ^pitched potte he wol hem glene [collect].
Or salt water oon day and nyght hem lene.
PaUadiue, Husbondrie(B. E. T. S.), p. 90.
Great and well pitched Cables were twined about the
masts of their shippes. Bakluytft Voyages, I. 693.
Pitch it [the ark] within and without with pitch.
Gen. vi. 14.
8. To make pitch-dark; darken. [Kare.]
The welkin pitched with sudden cloud. Addi8(m.
3. In irewing, to add to (wort) the yeast for
thepurpose of settingup fermentation pitched
paper. See paper.
pitch^ (pich), V. i. [An assibilated form olpiclcK
var. otpeak^.'] To lose flesh in sickness ; fall
away; decline. Sallvwell. [Prov. Eng.]
pitch-and-toss (pich'and-tos'), n. A game in
which the players pitch coins at a mark, that
one whose coin lies nearest to the mark having
the privilege of tossing up all the coins together
and retaining all the coins that come down
"head" up. The next nearest player tosses those that
are left, and retains all that come down "head" up, and
so on until the coins are all gone.
Two or three chimney sweeps, two or three clowns
Playing at pitch and toet, sport their "Browns."
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 109.
pitch-back wheel. See hredst-wheel.
pitch-black (pich'blak), a. Black as pitch.
pitch-blende (pich'blend), n. -An oxid of ura-
nium, usually oocurringin pitchy black masses,
rarely in octahedrons. Also pechblend, peeh-
blende,pechurane, uraninite.
pitch-block (pich'blok), n. In metal-working,
a bed for supporting the object to be worked
in such a manner that it can be turned at any
pitch or angle. Thebottom of the block is hemispher-
ical, and is supported in a corresponding hollow of a bed
or foundation-block. For certain work a pad of leather
is interposed between this and the pitch-block. It is used
especially to support sheet-metal ware during the operas
tion of chasing.
pitch-board (pich'bord), n. A guide used by
stair-builders in their work, to regulate the
angle of inclination, it consists of a piece of thin
board cut to the form of a right-angled triangle, of which
the base is the exact width of the tread of the steps, and
the perpendicular the height of the riser.
pitch-boat (pich'bot), n. A boat in which pitch
is melted for paying seams, as a precaution
against danger of fire from melting it on board
ship.
pitch-chain (pich'chan), n. A chain composed
of metallic plates bolted or riveted together,
to work in the teeth of wheels.
pitch-circle (pich'ser"kl) , «. In toothed wheels,
the circle which would bisect all the teeth. "When
two wheels are in gear, they are so arranged that their
pitch-circles touch one another. Also called pitch-line.
pitch-coal (pich'kol), n. 1. A kind of bitumi-
nous coal. — 3. Same asje*2. Brands and Cox.
pitch-dark (pich'dark), a. Dark as pitch; very
dark.
There was no moon ; the night was pittlh dark.
Thackeray, Bluebeard's Ghost.
4515
pitched (picht), p. a. 1. FuUy prepared for
beforehajid, and deliberately entered upon by
both sides with formal array: used specifically
of a battle.
In the mean-time, two Armies flye in, represented with
foure swords and bucklers, and then what harde heart will
not receiue it for apitctied flelde?
Sir P. Sid7i£y, ApoL for Poetrie.
In five pitched fields he well maintained
The honoured place his worth obtained.
Scott, Kokeby, iv. 16.
The event of a pitched battle won gave the rebellion and
the Confederate government a standing and a sudden re-
spectability before foreign powers it had hardly dared hope
for. The CerUury, XSXYL 288.
2. Sloped; sloping: as, a. high-pitched root.
Wall fixtures . . . are equally serviceable where roofs
are pitched as when they are fiat.
T. D. Lockwood, Elect., Mag., and Teleg., p. 167.
pitchelongest, adv. [ME.; <pitch^ + -long -^■
adv. gen. -es.] Headlong.
Hede it that the hedes of hem alle
Into sum greet diche pitchelonges f alle.
PaUiuUui, Hnsbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. ISO.
pitcher^ (pich'er), «.. l<. pitch^ + -er^.'] 1. One
who pitches, (a) In ball-games, the player who serves
the ball to the batsman. See boie-baU. (b) The person
who pitches reaped grain or hay upon the wagon.
2. In coal-mining, one who attends to loading
at the shaft or other place of loading. [North.
Eng.]— Ktcher'a hex, in base-bdU, the station of the
pitcher.
pitcher^ (pich'er), n. [< ME. picher, pyeher,
pychere, pyehar, pychare, pecher, < OP. picher,
pichier,pechier, F. picher (ohs.), piehet, a small
jug, = Sp. pichel, mug, = Pg. picheira, a pitcher,
pichel, tankard, = It. pecchero, bicchiere, a gob-
let (= OKG.pechdri, G. beeher), < ML.picarium,
bicarium, a goblet, < Gr. jiiKog, an earthen wine-
cup, wine-jar: see bealcer,'] 1. A vessel with
an open spout and generally with a handle, used
for holding water, milk, or other liquid.
And . . . behold, Rebekah came forih with her jnicAer
on her shoulder ; and she went down unto the well, and
drew water. Gen. xxiv. 45.
I'll take a pitcher in ilka hand.
And do me to the well.
Sir William Wallace (Child's Ballads, VI. 239).
Dipping deep smooth pitchers of pure brass
Under the bubbled wells.
A. C. Swinburne, At Eleusis.
2. In bot., a specially adapted tubular or cup-
shaped modification of the leaf of certain plants,
particularlyof the genera Nepenthes and Sar-
racenia; an aseidium. See asddium, pitcher-
plant. Nepenthes, and Sa/rracenia Pitchers have
ears, there may be listeners overhearing us : a punning
proverb. In the form little pitchers have long ears it ap-
plies to children.
Not in my house, Lncentio, for, you know.
Pitchers have ears, and I have many servants.
Shak., T. of the S., iv. 4. 52.
pitcher-mant (picfer-man), n. Ahard drinker.
For not one shoemaker in ten
But are boon blades, true pitcher-men.
Poor Robin (1738). (Nasres.)
pitcher-mold (pieh'Br-mold), n. A terra-eotta
mold in which large pieces of stoneware and
other pottery were formerly made. Seejntefecr-
moldvng.
pitcher-molding (pich'er-moKding), n. In
ceram., the operation of casting in a pitcher-
mold. The mold is filled with the clay in a very diluted
form ; this being poured out, a little remains adhering to
the mold ; as soon as this is dry, the operation is repeated,
and so on until the requisite thickness is obtained. The
vessel so cast is separated from the mold by drying at a
low heat ; and the handles, spout, etc., are attached after-
ward.
pitcher-nose (pich'fer-noz), n. A form of fau-
cet with a bent-down Up.
pitcher-plant (pich'er-plant), n. A plant whose
leaves are so modified as to form a pitcher or
aseidium. See cut under asddium. The pitcher
commonly contains a liquid, and is adapted to the capture
and assimilation of insects. The common North Ameri-
can pitcher-plant is Sarracenia purpurea (see cut in next
column), and the parrot-beaked pitcher-plant of Georgia
and Florida is S. psittacina. (See Sarracenia.) The Cali-
fornian pitcher-plant, sometimes called caJfs-head, forms
the allied genus JDarlingtonia. Heliamphora nutans, of
the Sarraeeniacese, is a pitcher-plant of the mountains of
Venezuela. A large and quite different group, the East
Indian pitcher-plants, is termed by the genus Nepenthes.
For the Australian pitcher-plant, see CepAofofus.
pitcher-shaped (pich'er-shapt), a. In bat, hav-
ing the shape of a pitcher. See asddium, 2.
pitcher-vase (pich'er-vas), n. A vase having
the form of an aiguifere with spout and handle
on opposite sides : distinguished from a pitcher
in that it is merely decorative.
pitch-faced (pich'fast), a. In masonry, having
the arris cut true, but the face beyond the arris-
pitching-temperatnre
Pitcher-plant {Sarracenia purpurea),
a, a flower, sbowin^the calyx, one of the stamens, and the stvle with'
its umbrella and book -like stigmas, the petals removed ; b, longitu-
dinal section of the whole pistil ; c. the umbieUa of the s^le, seen
from above.
edge left projecting and comparatively rough,
being simply dressed with a pitching-chisel :
said of a block or of a whole piece of masonry.
pitch-farthing (pich'far'THing), n. [<j)itcAl,
v., + obj. /artftingr.] Same as c7jucfc-/arifeinff.
pitch-fieldt (pieh'feld), n. A pitched battle.
There haa been a pitchfield, my child, between the-
naughty Spaniels and the Englishmen.
Seau. and Fl., Enight of Burning Pestle, iL 2.
pitchfork (pioh'fdrk), re. 1. A fork for lifting
and pitching hay or the like, (a) a fork with a
long handle and usually two prongs or tines, used for
moving hay, sheaves of grain, straw, etc. (A) A fork with
a short handle and three or four prongs, used for lifting
manure, etc. ; a dung-fork.
2. A tuning-fork.
pitchfork (pich'fdrk), i;. i. [<.pitehfor'k,n.'i 1.
To lift or throw with a pitchfork. Hence — 2.
To put, throw, or thrust suddenly or abruptly
into any position.
Your young city curate pitchforked into a rural benefice
when aU his sympathies and habits and training are of
the streets streety, is the most forlorn, melancholy, and
dazed of all human creatures.
Nineteenth Century, XXn. 277.
pitchiness (pich'i-nes), re. The state or quality
of being pitchy^ hence, blackness ; darkness.
pitching (pich'ing), n. [Verbal n. of pitch^,
«.] 1. The act of throwing or hurling. — 2. A
facing of dry stone laid upon a bank as a pro-
tection against the wash of waves or cmTcnt;
a lining or sheathing of masonry.
Timber laden steamers of nearly, if not quite, 1000 tons-
burthen run up to Wisbech, some twelve miles up the
Nene, the banks of which, moreover, are steep, being held
up by f aggotting and stone pitching.
The Engineer, LXVn. 139.
The channel is to be made of clay with rubble stone-
pUehing. Ranktne, Steam Engine, § 140.
3. In leather-manuf., same as bloom^, 6 (d). En-
cyc. Brit., XTV. 384. — 4. In brewing, the admix-
ture of yeast with the wort to initiate f ermenta^
tion. Also called setting the wort.
pitching (pich'ing), J?, a. l<.pitch^,v.'] Tagun.,
noting the fire of cannon at full charge against-
an object covered in front by a work or a natural
obstacle. Farrow, Mil. Encyc, H. 531.
pitching-machine (pich'ing-ma-shen^), re. A
machine used by brewers for coating the inte-
riors of barrels or casks with pitch.
pitching-pence (pieh'ing-j)ens), re. Money paid
for the privilege of pitching or setting down
merchandise in a fair or market, generally one
penny per sack or pack. [Great Britain.]
pitchlQg-piece (pieh'ing-pes), n. In joinery,
same as aprorir-piece.
pitching-stable (pich'ing-sta''bl), n. A variety
of Cornish granite used for paving.
pitcUng-temperature (pich ' ing - tem " per - a-
tur), re. In brewing, the temperature of the
wort at the time the yeast is added to it. This
temperature has an important influence on the activity
of the fermentation. The English practice is to cool the
wort to from 51° to 64° F. 'Hie Bavarian brewers cool
the wort to from 46° to 50° F. Between these extremes
the temperature is regulated according to the tempera-
ture of the tun-room or f ermenting-room and the strength
of the wort, which is pitched at a lower temperature in
summer than in winter, and at a lower temperature with -
light beers intended for immediate use than for strong -
stock-ales or porter. Woit: for pale ales is also pitched at .
a low temperature.
pitcbing-tool
pitching-tool (pich'ing-tol), n. 1. A kind of
stone-chisel or knapping-tool, made of antler
or other hard substance, and anciently used
with a hammer for flaking off stone in making
arrow-heads, etc. — 2. In watch-making, a tool
for placing the wheels of watches in position
between the plates.
pitching-yeast (pich'ing-yest), n. In brewing:
(a) Yeast obtained from fermentation of beer,
and intended for use in pitching worts. (6)
Teast which has been prepared for pitching
worts by washing it with pure cold water in
the stuff-vat, and allowing it to stand covered
in the vat in a cool place for a day or longer.
pitch-kettle (pioh'ket"l), 11. Same aspitch-pot.
pitchkettled (pich'kef'lo), a. [< pitch-kettle +
-erf2. ] Covered as if with a piteh-kettle, and thus
cast into helpless darkness ; puzzled. [Rare.]
Thus, the preliminaries settled,
I fairly And myselt pttclilcelUed,
And cannot see, though few see better^
How 1 shall hammer out a letter.
Cawper, Epistle to Kobert Uofd, 1. 82. (Daviet.)
pitch-ladle (pioh'la"dl), n. See ladle.
pitch-line (pich'Kn), n. Same &s jntch-circle.
pitch-mineral (pich'mln"e-ral), n. Same as
bitumen and asphaltum.
pitch-opal (picn'ofpal), n. An inferior kind of
opal.
pitch-ore (pich'or), n. Pitch-blende ; uraninite.
pitch-pine, ». Seej)i«ei.
pitch-pipe (pich'pip), n. A small musical pipe
of wood or metal to be sounded with the breath,
by which the proper pitch of a piece of music
may be given, or an instrument tuned. It is
either a flue- or a reed-pipe, and may give either a fixed
tone, as A or C, or one of several tones. In the latter case
the variation is produced either by a movable plug or stop-
per altering the length of the air-column, or by a spring
that alters the free length of the tongue of the reed.
He had an ingenious servant, by name Licinius, always
attending him with 9^ pitch-pipe, or instrument to regulate
the voice. Stede, Spectator, No. 228.
pitch-plaster _(pich'pl&s'''t6r), ». See plaster.
pitch-point (pieh'poiut), n. The point of con-
tact on the piteh-line common to two engaged
wheels.
The piteh-point, where its teeth are driven by those of
the cogged ring, maybe in the same vertical plane, paral-
lel to tile axis. EavMne, Steam Engine, § 158.
pitch-polisher (pioh'pol"ish-6r), n. An instru-
ment of metal for polishing curved surfaces of
glass, as lenses, specula, etc. It varies in form
according to the nature of the work. Its surface is ruled
accurately into squares by incised lines, and In use is coat-
ed with a prepared pitch. Byrnes Artisan's Hand-book.
pitch-pot (pich'pot), n. A large iron pot used
for the purpose of boiling pitch for paying the
seams of wooden ships after calking.
pitchstone (pich'ston), n. An old volcanic
rock, resembling hardened pitch in appearance.
It is a natural glass resulting from the rapid cooling of
those ancient lavas of which common feldspar (orthocla^e)
foims a considerable part. Some pitcnstones have a
spherulitlc structure. See cut under ^m'tiii!.
pitch-tankard (pieh'tang"kard), n. A tankard
covered inside with pitch. The pitch gives a flavor
and perhaps a medicinal value to the beverage which the
tankard contains. Pitch-tankards aie still used in Ger-
many with certain kinds of beer, such as the Lichten-
hainer. The modern German pitch-tankards are made of
wooden staves held together by wooden hoops, and the
anci ent English pitch* tankards were made in the same way.
pitch-tree (pich'tre), n. The kauri-pine or the
Amboyna pine, as the sources of dammar-
resins ; also, the Norway spruce, as yielding
Burgundy pitch.
Pitchuriih Dean. See Piehwrim bean.
pitch-wheel (pich'hwel), n. One of two toothed
wheels which work together.
pitch-work (pich'werk), n. Work done in a
naine under an arrangement that the workmen
shall receive a certain pi'oportion of the output.
pitchy (pich'i), a. [ipitch'^ + -yl.] 1. Of , or
of the nature of, or resembling pitch; like
pitch.
Native petroleum found floating upon some springs is
no other flrnn this yery pitchy substance, drawn forth of
the strata by the water. Woodward, On Fossils.
The pitchy taint of general vice is such
As daubs the fancy, and you dread the touch.
CriMe, Works, II. 100.
2. Smeared with pitch.
The sides convulsive shook on groaning beams,
And, rent with labour, yawn'd tbeii pitchy seams.
Faleoner, Shipwreck, ii.
3. Black; dark; dismal.
When saucy trusting of the cozen'd thoughts
Defiles thepitefti/ night. Shak., All's Well, Iv. 4. 24.
'Ihe pitchy blazes of impiety. B. Jonson, Sejanus, iv. 5.
Pttehy and dark the Night sometimes appears,
Friend to our Woe, and Parent of our Fears.
Prior, Solomon, i.
4516
4. In zool. , dark-brovm inclining toward black ;
piceous.
pit-coal (pit'kol), n. Mineral coal, or coal ob-
tained from mines or pits: distinguished from
charcoal. [Great Britain.]
Divers ... of the prime Lords of the Court have got
the sole Patent of making all Sorts of Glass with PU-coal.
HoweU, Letters, I. i. 2.
pit-cock (pit'kok), n. Same as pet-cook. E.
H. Enight.
pit-crater (pit'kra'tfer), n. A volcanic crater
at the bottom of a pit or gulf.
The old cone had, like Mt Loa or the Maui volcano, a
great »it-cra(cr at top.
Amer. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., XXXII. 261.
pitet, «■ A Middle English form of pity.
piteous (pit'e-us), a. [< ME. piteous, pytyous,
peteos, piUvdus, pytevous, petevous, jyitous, pitos,
< OP. pitos, piteus. F. piteux = Pr. piatos, pie-
tos, pitos, pidos = S^.piadoso = P^.piadoso, pie-
doso = It. piatoso, pietoso, < ML. pietosus, piti-
ful, < L. pieta{t-)s, piety, ML. pity: see pity."]
1. Full of pity or compassion; compassion-
ate ; affected by pity.
A more suetter, humble, and amyable.
Gentile, debonair, sage, wise, and oonnyng,
Curtois, piteuom, and charitable,
Sehe vnto the pore f ul gret good doing.
Bom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 6247.
But of his peteose tender moder, alasse t
I am verray sure,
The wo and payn passis alle othere.
US. Bodl. Mue., 160. (HaHiweU.)
She gave him {parous oi his case,
Yet smiling at his rueful length of face)
A shaggy tapestry. Pope, Dunclad, 11. 141.
2. Such as to excite pity or move to compas-
sion; affecting; lamentable; sorrowful ; mourn-
ful; sad: as, & piteous look; a, piteous c&so.
And than he seide a p&mtee worde : "Ha! Cleodalis,*
quod he, "I crye the mercy of the trespace that I haue
don a-gein the, ilor I se well I am come to myn ende."
Merlin (E. E. T. S. ), 11. 3B4.
The moai pUeoua tale of Lear. Shak., Lear, v. 3. 214.
3t. Pitiful; paltry; poor: &s, piteous amends.
Milton. =Syn. 2. Doleful, woful, rueful, wretched, dls-
piteously (pit'f-us-li), adm. [< MS.petevously,
pitou^Vy; <. piteous + -ly^.'] In a piteous man-
ner; pleadingly; as if for pity or mercy;
mourmully; sadly; dreadfully.
Forsoth to hym spake full peteuoudy.
Rom. ofPmlenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3578.
Word it, prithee, piteoudy. Shc^., A. and C, Iv. 13. 9.
piteousness (pit'e-us-nes), n. The character or
condition of being piteous or pitiful.
pit-eye (pit'i), n. Same as pit-bottom Pit-eye
pillar, a mass of coal left around Ihe bottom of the shaft
to support the ground.
pitfall (pit'f&l), n. [< ME. pitfaHe, putfalle,
pyy'aUe; < pit'i- +f dip-. Ct pitfold.'] l.Apit
into which an animal may fall unawares, the
opening being so covered as to escape observa-
tion. Pitfalls are much used for the capture of large
animals In Africa and India and elsewhere, and are some-
times fitted with stout sharp-pointed upright stakes in-
tended to transfix the animal which falls upon them.
Poor bird ! thou'ldst never fear the net nor lime,
ThepHfaU nor the gin. Shak., Macbeth, iv. 2. 85.
Now, poor and basely
Thou sett'st toils to betray me ; and, like the peasant
' That dares not meet the lion in the face,
Digg'st crafty pitrfalls. Fletcher, Pilgrim, li. 2.
All around
Are dim uncertain shapes that cheat the sight,
AnApHfaUe lurk In shade along the ground.
Bryant, Journey of Life.
Hence — 2. Figuratively, any concealed dan-
ger or source of disaster.
pitfallt (pit'fftl), V. t. l< pitfall, «.] To lead
into a pitfall; insnare. [Rare.]
Able to shew us the ways of the Lord straif^ht and faith-
ful as they are, not full of cranks and contradictions and
pit/ailing dispenses. Milton, Divorce, Pref.
pit-fish (pit' fish), n. A small fish of the Indian
ocean, about the size of a smelt, colored green
and yellow. It has the power of protruding and
retracting its eyes at pleasure.
pitfoldt (pit'fold), Ji. [< pit^ + fold^; appar.
an aecom. form oi pitfall.'] ApitfaU; a trap
or snare.
lu her cheek's pit thou didst thy pit/old set.
Sir P. Sidney (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 608).
pit-frame (pit'fram), «. The framework of a
coal-pit.
pit-game (pit'gam), «. See game^.
pit-guide (pit'^d), n. In a mining-shaft, a bar
which serves as a guide for the cage.
pith (pith), n. [< ME. pith, pithe, pythe, < AS.
pitha, pith, = MD. pitte, D. pit, marrow, ker-
nel, = MLGr. pitte, pit, LG. pitte, pit, also ped-
pithecoid
dik, pick, pith; root unknown.] 1. In hot.,
the medulla, or central cylinder, composed of
typical parenchymatous tissue, which occupies
the center of the stems of dicotyledonous
plants. By Gris the cells of pith have been divided
mto (a) active cells, which have the ofilce of storing starch
and other assimilated products for a time; (6) cry8tal.celU,
in which crystals are formed ; and (c) inactive cells, which
are empty and have lost the power of receiving starch or
other products. See medulla, 2, parenchymatom, and cuts
under alburnum and exogen.
2. In anat. : (ai) The spinal cord or marrow ;
the medulla spinalis.
The. . . vertebres . . . [are] all perforated in the mid.
die with a large hole for the spinal marrow or pith to pass
along. ^"Vi Works of Creation, p. 288.
(&) The central or medullary core of a hair.
In the Peccari the pith of the coarse body-hair is crossed
by condensed cells, like beams, strengthening the cortex.
Owen, Anat., IIL 621,
3. Strength; vigor; force.
But age, alas I that al wol envenyme.
Hath me biraft my beautee and my pith.
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 476.
The paume is the pith of the honde> and profreth forth
the f yngres.
To mynystre and to make that myght of hond knoweth.
Piers Plowman (C), xx. 116.
I shall do what I can for that young man— he 's got some
pith in him. Oeorge Eliot, Mill on the Floss, iii. 5.
4. Energy; concentrated force ; closeness and
vigor of thought and style.
And hee alone in the jnth and weight of his Sentences
may be compared to Plato or Seneca.
Purchai, Pilgrimage, p. 439.
Others, that think whatever I have writ
Wants pith and matter to eternize it.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. L
5. Condensed substance or matter ; qutotes-
sence.
Perhaps you mark'd not what 's the pUh of all.
Shak., T. of thea, i. 1. 171.
He [Shakspere] could take Ulysses away from Homer,
and expand the shrewd and crafty^ islander into a states-
man whose words are the pith of history.
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 226.
6. Weight; moment; importance.
Enterprises of great pitA and moment.
Shak., Hamlet (ed. Knight), iii. 1. 86.
Discoid pith. See discoid.
pith (pith), V. t. [< pith, «.] To introduce an
instrument into the cranial or spinal cavity of
(an animal, as a frog), and destroy the cere-
brospinal axis or a part of it.
A spear from above intended to fall upon the head or to
pith the animal, etc. Sncyc. Brit., XIII. 521.
pith-ball (pith'bS/l), n. A small ball or pellet
of pith. Such balls suspended by a silk thread
are used in an electroscope. See electroscope.
pit-head (pit'hed), n. The head or mouth of a
mining-shaft or -pit, or the ground smTounding
it. — Fit-head gear, in coal-mining, same as head-gear, 3.
[Eng.]
pit-headed (pit'hed''''ed), a. [< pit^ + head +
-ed2.] Having a pit on the head, it is applied
specifically (a) to tapeworms, as Bothriocephalus latus (T.
S. Cohbald), and (b) to venomous serpents of the family
Crotalidse, known as pit-headed vipers (see Bothrophera,
and out under ptt-mper).
pithecanthrope (pith-f-kan'throp), n. [< NL.
pifhecanthrcrpus : see pitliecanthropi.'i One of
the supposed pithecanthropi.
Prehistoric man . . . has even been sometimes called
man-monkey, or pithecanthrope.
N. Joly, Man before Metals (trans.), p. 17.
pithecanthropi (pith'f-kan-thro'pi). «. j)!.
[NL., pi, of pitliecan^iropus, < Gr. vmikoc, an
ape, monkey, + avdpuirog, man.] Hypothetical
ape-men, pithecanthropes, or AlcM, See ape-
man, Alalus.
pithecanthropoid (pith-e-kan'thr6-poid), a.
[< pithecanthrope + -ojd'.] Relating to the
pithecanthropi, or resembling them.
Pithecia (pi-the'si-a), n. [NL. (Desmarest,
1804), < Gr. mdr/Koc, an ape : see Piihecus.'] The
typical genus of the subfamily Pitheeiinse, con-
taining such species as P. satanas, the black
couxio. They are known as sakis aji&fox-taiUd
monkeys. See cut on following page.
Pitheeiinse (pi-the-si-i'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Pi-
thecia + -inx.'] A South American subfamily
of CebidsB, having the cerebrum overlapping
the cerebellum, the hyoid apparatus moderate,
the incisors proclivous, and the tail bushy ; the
sakis and ouakaris. There are 3 genera, f«-
theda (the type), Chiropotes, and Brachyurus.
pitheciine (pi-the'si-in), a. Of or pertaining
to the Pitheeiinse.
pithecoid (pi-the'koid), a. and n. [= F. pith^
cotde; < Gr. ■kWtikoq, an ape, + clSog, form.] I.
a. 1. Eesembllng or pertaining to the genus
pithecoid
4517
Pithophoraceae (pith'S-fo-ra'se-e), n.pl. [NL.,
< Pimopltora + -acese.] A doubtfully distinct
order of confervoid al- »
gse, containing the sin-
gle genus Pithophora.
Beprodnction is by means
of non-seznal resting spores
and prolific celle^ no seznal
mode of reprodaction hav-
ing as yet been detected,
pithos (pith'os), n. [<
Gr. Tiidog; see def.] 61
Gr. antiq., a form of
earthenware vase, of
very large size and
spheroid shape, used
for the storage of wine,
oil, grain, etc., and
sometimes for the buri-
al of dead bodies.
pith-paper (pith'pa'per), «
Greek Pithos, now in the comt-
yaxd of Grace Churdi,Ncwyorlc.
pit-saw
That *s viQanoas, and shows a most pit^vi ambition in
the fool that uses it. Shak., Hamlet, lit i. 49.
"lis pitiful
To court a grin when yon shonld woo a soul.
Coaper, Task. iL 466.
pitifully (pit'i-ful-i), adv. In a pitiful manner,
(a) With compassion.
Pitifully behold the sorrows of onr hearts.
Book of Common Prayer [Eng.], Lesser IJtany,
(&) So as to excite pity; wretchedly.
Now many Ages since the Greek Tongue is not only im-
paired, and pH^fvUy degenerated in her Purity and Elo-
quence, bnt extremely decay'd in her Amjditude and Tnl-
gamess. HoteOl, Letters, iL 57.
(c) Contemptibly.
Those men who give themselves airs of bravery on re-
flecting upon the last scenes of others may behave the
most pit^fuUy in their own. Siehardson, Clarissa Harlowe.
Blacic Couxio iPitfucia saranas).
J'itheeus; belonging to the higher as distinguish-
ed from the lower apes; simian; anthropoid,
as an ape. — 2. Loosely, of or pertaining to an
ape ; related to an ape.
n. n. An anthropoid ape ; a simian.
IPithecolobium (pi-the-k6-16'bi-um), n. [NL.
(K. P. P. von Martins, 1829), so called from the
resemblance of the curved pods to a monkey's
ear; < Gr. ttIBtikoc, an ape, + ^Sjiuni, dim. of pitliy (pith'i), a.
'/MJ36c, an ear, lobe, or legume.] A genus of "
leguminous shrubs or trees, of the tribe Ingese,
known by the peculiar rigid pods, which are
two-valved and flattened, curved, curled, or
twisted, and somewhat fleshy. There are about
110 species, widely dispersed in the tropics, especially of
America and Asia. They are either unarmed or thorny with
axillary or stipular spines. They bear glandular biplnnate
leaves of many small or few larger leaflets, and globose
heads of white flowers, with long and very numerous sta-
mens. The most important species, P. dvlce, a lai^e tree
native of Mexico, and there called guanmchU, contains
in its pods a sweet pnlp, for which they are Imiled and
eaten. Introduced into the Philippine Islands,-and thence
into India, it is now cultivated there under the name Ma-
nila tamarind. (Compare <a>nart»d.) Several other species
produce edible pods, as P. JilifoUwm, the wild tamarind-
ti'ee of Jamaica, a large tree distinguished by the twice-
pinnate leaves from the true tamarind, whose leaves are
once-pinnate; and P. Sa/man, the genisaro, also called
saman, zamang, and rain-tree. The bark of some species
yields a gum, that of others an astringent drug, and that
of others, as P. bigemtnum, the soap-bark tree;, and P. mi-
craderdum, the savonette or shagbark of the West Indies,
is a source of soap. Several other species are cultivated
as hardy evergreen trees under the name curl brush-bean.
A smaller species, usually a shrub, is the cat's-claw, also
called nepJmtic tree or Kack bead-tree, of Jamaica. See
also algarrobiUa.
Pithecus (pi-the'kus), n. [NL. (GeofEroy, 1812),
< L. pitlieeus, < Gr. iriBriKo^, an ape.] A genus
of anthropoid apes : same as Simia.
Tithelemur (pith-e-le'mer), n. [NL. (Lesson),
< Pitlie(cus) + Lemur.'] A genus of lemurs:
synonymous with Tndris and Lidhanotus.
Itithfult (pith'ful), a. [< pith + -/«?.] FuU of
pith; pithy. >r. 5j-oicne, Britannia's Pastorals,
ii. 4.
■pithily (pith'i-U), adv. In a pithy manner;
with close application or concentrated force ;
forcibly; cogently.
'pithiness (pith'i-nes), n. The character of be-
ing pithy; strength; concentrated force: as,
iiie pithiness of a reply.
■pithless (pith'les), a. l< pith + -less.] 1. With-
out pith; wanting strength; weak.
T and pitMesa, are debarred
t joys. CkuTcluU, The Times.
pitifnlness (pit'i-fnl-nes), n. The state or
quality of being pitiful, in any sense.
A very thin film pitikinst, *»^J- [<j»*y+-Wre.] A diminutive
cut or prepared from the pith of a plant, and otjnty, used interjectionaUy, generally in con-
used for paper. See rice-paper. junction with' od?s for Go^s. See ods-pitiJcins.
pithsome (pith'sum), a. l< pith + -some.] pitiless (pit'i-les), a. [< pity + -less.'] 1. With-
Strong; robust. out pity; hard-hearted.
Beside her jritAamie health and vigor. The pelting of the jnttZess storm. SAait,Lear,iiL4. 29.
&D.£!a«fen<»-e,ClaraVaughan,lxiL iEncye-Dict.) 2. Exciting no pity; nnpitied.
pith-tree (pith'tre), n. The ambash. ^ ^
So do I perish pitiless^ through fear.
Sir J. Dories, Wittes Pilgrimage, sig. G. i.
=Syn. 1. MercHess, cruel, ruthless, inexorable^ unmerci-
ful, unpitying.
pitilessly (pit'i-les-li), adv. In a pitiless man-
ner.
The state of be-
pith-work (pith'werk), n. Useful or ornamen-
tal articles made of the pith of trees, especially
those made in India from that of JBscltynomene
aspera. See JEschynomene.
" .. [Early mod. E. also pitthie,
pyMhy; < late ME.2}ythy; <pith + -9I.] 1, Of pitilessness (pit'i-les-nes), «,
the nature of or full of pith; containing or ing pitiless.
abounding -with pith: as, apithy stem; apifliy pit-kiln (pit'Ml), n. Anovenfor themanufac-
snbstance. — 2. Full of pith or force ; forcible ; tore of coke from coal.
containing much in a concentrated or dense pitlef, n. Same as pickle^.
form; of style, sententious: as, & pithy saying pitman (pit'man), n. ; pi. pitmen (-men). 1,
or expression. One who works in a pit, as in coal-mining, in
To teach you gamut in a briefer sort, sawing timber, etc. Specifically — 2, The man
More pleasant, pithy, and effectual who looks after the pumping machinery 'within
Than hath been taught^nyrfwtrad^_^ ^ ^ the shaft of amine,— 3. Inmocft,, the rod which
Tour counsel, good Sir Thomas, is m pithy
That I am won to like it.
Webster and Sekker, Sir Thomas Wyat, p. 12.
Charles Lamb made the most pithy criticism of Spenser
when he called him the poets' poet.
LoweU, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 177.
3. Given to the use of pithy or forcible expres-
sions.
In his speech he was fine, eloquent, and pithy.
Sir T. More, TJtopia (tr. l^ Bobinson), i.
In all these Goodman Fact was veiy short but pithy; for
he was a plain home-spun man, Addison,
A white-haired man.
Pithy of speech, and merry when he would.
connects a rotary with a reciprocating part,
either for imparting motion to the latter or
Harvester Pitman. — a, knives; £, cutter-bar; f. pitman connection;
a, pitman; f, crank^wrist.
taking motion from it, as that which couples a
crank ■with a saw-gate, or a steam-piston with
its crank-shaft, etc. Also called conneeting-
rod. See also cut trnder stone-&reaier.
£n^(in(. Old Han's Counsel pitman-box (pit'man-boks), M. The metal strap
If en whov
From man's
=Syn. 2 and 3. Terse, laconic, concise, pointed, senten-
tious.
pitiable (pit'i-a-bl), a. [< OP. pitiable, pite-
ahle, P. pitoyaite; as pity + -able.] Deserving
pity; worthy of or exciting compassion: applied
to persons or things.
In the Gospel, he makes abatement of htimane infirmi-
ties, temptations, moral necessities, mistakes, errors^ for
every thing that is pitiable. Jer. Taylor, Sermon^ I, vii.
The pitiaMe persons relieved are constantly under your
eye. Bp. AtterSury.
If ye have grieved.
Ye are too mortal to hepOidble,
The power to die disproves the right to griev&
Mrs. Browning, Drama ot Exile.
pitiableness (pit'i-a-bl-nes), n. A pitiable state
or condition.
pitiably (pit'i-a-bli),od». In a pitiable manner. .. _4.j_ , ■^, - ,^. ,
pitiedlyt (pit'id-U), adv. In a condition or state Plt-martin (pit mar'tin), n
to be pitied, or sand-martm,
2. Lacking cogency or force.
The piOdess argumentation which we too often allow to
monopolize the character of what is prudent and practical.
Gladstone, Church and State, iL
pithole (pit 'hoi), n. A small hollow or pit;
■ especially, a pit left by a, pustule of small-
pox.
I have known a lady sick of the small pocks, only to
keep her face from ptthdles, take cold, strike them in again,
kick up the heels, and vanish !
Aau. and Fl., Fair Maid of the Inn, ii. 3.
Pithophora (pi-thof 'o-iS), n. [NL. (Wittrock,
1877), < Gr. iriBoQ, a laige storage-vase (see pith-
os), + ^ipeiv = E. bearl.] A small genus of con-
fervoid algse first detected in the warm tanks
in the Botanic Gardens at Eew, also at Oxford
and elsewhere, but since found in tropical
-America. The thallus is composed of branching fila-
ments of cells resembling dadophora, presenting here
and there barrel-shaped cells very rich in chlorophyl.
Th^ are further distinguished by the peculiar develop-
ment of thin I'hizoids.
284
and brasses which embrace the crank-^wrist of
the driving or driven wheel of a pitman. Also
called, more commonly, rod-e^id.
pitman-coupling (pit'man-kupning), n. Any
means, as a rod-end, for connecting a pitman
■with the part which drives or is driven by it.
pitman-head (pit'man-hed), n. The block or
enlargement at the end of a pitman where con-
nection is made with the member to which it
imparts motion or with the mechanism from
wmch it receives motion,
pitman-press (pit'man-pres), n. A press which
is worked by a pitman connection ■with a shaft,
instead of by an eccentric or other device.
Such presses are used for drawing, cutting, shearing,
stamping, and for packing materials requiring light pres-
sure.
The bank-BwaUow
or sand-martin, Cotile or Clivicola riparia,
See
He is properly and pittiedly to be counted alone, that is
illiterate, Fettham, Besolves, iL 49. , .-•_,./
pitier (pit'i-6r), n. [< pity + ^L] One who Pi^^^^^J^^^^^).
pities. Bp. Gauden, Hieraspistes, p. 3.
pitiful (pit'i-ful), a. [< pity + -ful.2 1 . Pull of
pity; tender; compassionate; na'ving a feeling
of sorrow and sympathy for uie distressed.
Onr hearts yon see not; they axepU(fid;
And pity to the general wrong of Bome . . .
Hath done this deed on Caesar.
Shaic., J. C, iiL 1. 169.
2, Exciting or fitted to excite pity or compas- ..--,,,
sion; miserable; deplorable; sad: as, apiUful Pltpan (pit pan), w. Avery long, narrow, flat-
condition ; a pitiful look. bottomed, trough-like canoe, ■with thin and flat
In faith, 'twas strange, twas passing strange, projecting ends^ed in navigating rivers and
Twaapit^, 'twas woniioaapit^. lagoons m Central America. Imp.IHct.
Shak., OtheUo, L S. 161. pitpat (pit'pat), adv. and n. Same as pitapat.
ThePngiims . . . stood stU], and shook their heads, for pitpit ^it'pit), n. [Imitative.] An American
they knew that the sleepers were in & pitiful case. honey-creeper of the family Cwrebidse; a guit-
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 336. gnit. Also pippit.
3. To be pitied for its littleness or meanness; pit-saw (pit'sa), n. A saw working in a pit, as
paltry; insignificant; contemptible; despicable, a large saw used for cutting timber, operated
which nests in gravel-pits and like places,
cut under banh-swaUow.
,, a. [A corruption of picfc-
mirk, dial, form of *piteh^mrk: see pitcl^ seiiA.
murk.] Pitch-dark;" dark as pitch. [Scotch.]
The night is mirk, and it 's very pit^mirk.
ArOde qf Ca'fidi (Child's Ballads, Yl. 90).
It 's p&yfMTk — but there *s no ill torn on the road but
twa. Seott, Guy Mannering; xL
pitonst, «■• A Middle English form of piteous.
pitouslyt, adv. A Middle English form otpite-
ously.
pit-saw
by two men, one
of -whom (called
the pit-savjyer)
stands in the pit
below the log
that is being
sawed, and the
other (called the
top-sawyer) on
the log.
pit-sawyer (pif-
sk"jki), n. See
fit-saw.
pit-specked(pit'-
spekt), a. Marred
by pits or small
depressed spots,
as fruit.
Pitta (pit'a), n.
[NL. (Vieillot,
1816); from the pit-saws.
Telugm name."! a,a,handlesfortop.sawyer;*,*,handles
1n«^ , . '-i forpit-sawyer;ff,f,shanks;rf,rf,blades. In
. J.ne typical No. i^ is prolonged and curved so that the
D-pmifl nf 7>ifHfia> pit-sawyer may stand out of line with the
genua OI ^lt5J««, falUng sawdust. No. 2 shows a pit frame-
mcludlng most of saw, in which the saw, stiffened by a frame
the Old World '■^' *^ ^°"^^^ ^°^ thinner than in No. i.
ant-thrushes, as JP. coronata. Also called Citta.
See Braclvyurvs, and cut under PitUdse. — 2.
[Z. c] Any member of this genus.
pittacal (pit'a-kal), n. [Also pittacall; = P.
pittacale, < &r. Virra, nlaca, pitch, + Kal6g,
beautiful.] A blue substance used in dyeing,
originally produced from the tar of beech-wood.
pittance (pit'ans), n. [< ME.pitance,pitaunce,
pytance, pytdimce, < OF. pitance, an allowance
of food in a monastery, ¥. pitance = Sp. pi-
tanza = Pg. mtanga = Olt. pietama, piatama,
It. pietama, dial, pitanza, an allowance, daily
subsistence (ML. reflex pita/ntia, pitanda, pic-
tantia, allowance of food in a monastery) ; cf .
OF. robe de pitance, a uniform; pitance, pitence,
an anniversary service: lit. 'a pious office or
service,' ' a pious dole,' 'an act of piety or pity,'
< ML.pietanUa, <.*pietan(t-)s, ppr. of *pietare, an
assumed verb (> ap.pitar), dole out allowances
of food, orig. of any alms, < L. pieta{t-)s, piety,
pity, mercy: see piety, pity. Cf. ML. miseri-
cordia, a monastic repast, lit. 'pity,' 'mercy':
see misericorde. According to Du Gauge, the
word (in the assumed orig. form Mh.'pictantia)
meant orig. 'an allowance of the value of a pic-
ta,' < picta.a, small coin issued Xty the Counts of
Poitiers, < LL. Pictavium, the capital of the Pic-
tavi, < Pictavi, for L. Pictones, a people in Gaul.
This view is accepted by Skeat as possible, but
apart from the consideration of the preceding
etymology, which is confirmed by the evidence,
ML. pictantia is not a likely form to be made
from^icte in such a sense, and there is no evi-
dence that picta was in such general circula-
tion as to make it a measure of value.] 1. An
allowance or dole of food and drink; hence,
any very small portion or allowance assigned or
given, whether of food or money ; allowance ;
provision; dole.
He was an esy man to yeve penaunce
Ther as he wiste ban a good pUaunee.
Chaucer, Gen. ProL to C. T., 1. 224.
Before, Diego,
And get some pretty pittance; my pupil 's hungry.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, ii. 1.
I am sensible that the income of your commission, and
what I have hitherto allowed you, is but a small piaonce
for a lad of your spirit. Sheridan, The Eivals, li. 1.
2. An allowance of food or money bestowed in
charity; a small charitable gift or payment.
One half of this pittarux was even given him in money.
Old World Ant-thrush (Pitta cucutlata).
3. A small portion or quantity ; a morsel.
Our souls shall no longer remain obnoxious to her
treacherous flesh and rebellious passions, nor ratiocinate
and grow knowing by little parcels and pittances.
Evelyn, True Religion, I. 244.
Far above the mine's most precious ore
The least small i^tarux of bare mold they prize,
Scooped from the sacred earth where his dear relics lie.
Wordswtyrth, Ecoles. Sonnets, L 32.
pittancer (pit'an-s6r), n. [< P. pitander (=
Sp. pitancero = Pg. pitamceiro), < pitance, pit-
tance: see pittance.'] The officer in a monas-
tery who distributed the pittance at certain
appointed festivals.
pitted (pit'ed), a. [< pifl- + -ed?-'] Marked
thickly with pits or small depressions : as, a
face pitted by smallpox; specifically, in hot.,
having pits or punctations, as the walls of
many oeUs ; in zool., having many pxmotations,
as a surface; foveolate; areolate— pitted teeth,
4518
teeth with pits in the enamel, resulting from defective de-
velopment.— Fitted tissue. See prosemhyma.— Pitted
TfiSS^. S66 vessel
titterif (pit'6r)', v. i. [A dim. var. ot patter^.]
To murmur ; patter.
When sommers heat hath dried up the springs,
.ind when his piUering streames are low and thin.
Greene (Pai'k's Eeliconia, 111. 67).
pitter^ (pit'6r), n. [< i)«i -1- -er2.] 1. One who
removes pits or stones from fruit. — 3. An im-
plement for removing the stones from such fruit
as plums and peaches ; a fruit-stoner. [XJ. S.]
pitterarot, »• Same as pederero iovpaterero.
In an original MS. Accompt of .Anns delivered up at
Inverary in obedience of the Act of Parliament for secur-
ing the peace of the Highlands, 1717, mention is made of
Two pitteraroes, one broken.
N.and Q., 7th ser., VIII. 128.
pitticite, n. See pittizite.
Pittidse (pit'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Pitta + -idle. ]
A family of me-
somyodian or
songless passe-
rine birds, typi ■
fied by the ge-
nus Pitta; the
Old World ant-
thrushes. They
are of stout form,
with very short
tail, and long and
strong legs ; the
plumage is bril-
liant and vailed.
The leading genera
besides PiUa are
EwsicMa, Hydrar-
nis, and Melano-
pUta. These birds
are characteristic
of the Oriental
and Australian re-
gions, though one
(P. angolenm) is
African ; they are specially abundant in the islands of
the Malay archipelago. About 60 species are known.
Fittlnse (pi-ti'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Pitta +
4nsB.'] The Pittidse regarded as a subfamily of
some other family. Before the peculiarities of the
Old World ant-thrushes were known, they were wrongly
associated with the South American formicarioid birds of
somewhat similar superficial aspect, the name ant-thrush
being given to both. See ant-thrush, and compare cuts
under Formicarius and Pittidse.
pittine (pit'in), a. Of or pertaining to the pit-
tas, or ant-thrushes of the Old World.
pitting (pit'ing), n. [Verbal n. oipit^, v."] 1.
The act or operation of digging or sinking a
hole or pit.
The exact situation of the clay is first determined by sys-
tematic pitting, to a depth of several fathoms, or occasion-
ally by boring. Spon^ Eneyc. Manvf., I. 636.
2. The act or operation of placing in a pit or in
pits : as, the pitting of potatoes ; the pitting of
hides. — 3. Apit, mark, or hollow depression on
the surface, such as that left on the flesh by a
pustule of the smallpox. — 4. A number of such
pits considered collectively; a collection of
pitmarks. — 5. In hot., the state or condition
of being pitted.
The peculiar pitting' of the woody fibre of the fir.
Eneyc. Brit., XIV. 411.
6. A corrosion of the inner surface of steam-
boilers, whereby the metal becomes gradually
covered with small cavities. — 7. A corrosion of
the bottom of iron ships. Blisters, and afterward
pits, are formed, apparently by the action of the carbonic
acid and oxygen in sea^water producing ferric oxid under
the protecting paint.
pittizite, pitticite (pit'i-zit, -sit), ». [Irreg.
< Gr. *OTrTif eiv, jTiaaitisiv, be like ;pitch (< irjira,
iriaca, pitch), + -«*e2.] j^n arsenio-sulphate of
iron, occurring in renilorm masses ; pitchy iron
ore.
pittlet, n. Same as pickle^, pightle. Minsheu.
pittle-pattlet (pit'l-paf'l), v. i. [A varied re-
duplication of patteri, patter^ ; cf . pitter^, and
prattle, tattle, etc.] To talk unmeaningly or
flippantly.
pittock (pit'gk), n. The coalfish. [Prov. Bug.]
Pittosporacese (pif'o-spo-ra'se-e), n.pl. [NL.
(Lindley, 1846), so eallei from their resinous
capsules ; < Gr. mrra, nlaaa, pitch, + airdpog,
seed (see spore), + -acex.] Same as Pitto-
sporeee.
pittosporad (pit'o-spo-rad), n. [< Pittospo-
rlaoeie) -I- -adX.I ' A plant of the natural order
Pittosporacex.
Fittospores (pit-o-sp6'r§-e), n. pi. [NL. (R.
Brown, 1814), < Pittospor'um + -eas.] An order
of polypetalous plants, of thg cohort Polygalinse.
It IS unlike the two other orders in its numerous ovules,
and In its regular flowers with five stamens ; it is also
characterized by its five imbricated sepals, five petals witli
pit-viper
their narrow bases or claws commonly forming an incom
plete tube, versatile anthers, an ovary usually two-celled,
a minute embryo in hard albumen, and looulieidal fiesliy
or papery fruit. There are about 90 species and 10 genera,
of which Pittosporum (the type), is the only one widely dis.
tributed, the others being all Australian. They are shrubs
or shrubby twiners, sometimes procumbent, generally
smooth, bearing alternate leaves, and white, blue, ycUow,
or rarely reddish flowers, solitary, nodding, and terminal,
or variously clustered.
Pittosporum (pi-tos'po-rum), n. [NL. (Banks,
1788), so called from the viscous pulp com-
monly enveloping the seeds; < Gr. ■Khra, At-
tic for ■Kiaaa, pitch, + oirdpog, seed.] A genus
of plants, type of the order Pittosporese, char-
acterized by the thick wingless seeds, and thick
loculioidal capsule, which is coriaceous or
woody, globose, ovate, or obovate, often com-
pressed and with imperfect partitions. There
are about 55 species, natives of Africa, warmer parts of
Asia, Pacific islands, Australia, and New Zealand. They
are erect shrubs, generally low, sometimes becoming small
trees, often with a resinous bark, generally smooth and
evergreen. They bear white or yellowish flowers in crowded
terminal clusters, or sometimes solitary or few and lateral
Many species have broad shining dark-green leaves, con.
trasting well with the white fragrant flowers, and are cul-
tivated under the name hedge-laurel. Other species are
known as Brixliane laurel, Queendand laurel, and haekwro,
JTrom the flowers of P. umiulatum, the Victorian lamel, a
highly fragrant volatile oil is distilled. This species and
P. bicolor, the Victorian cheesewood or whitewood, yield a
wood adapted to turners' use, and sometimes substituted
for boxwood. A few sometimes reach the height of 90
feet, as P. rhombfifoHnum.
pittypatt (pit'i-pat), adv. and a. Same as pita-
pat.
pitnita (pit-u-i'ta), n. [L., mucus, phlegm;
prob., with loss of initial s, < spuere, pp. sputus,
spit out: see spew. Cf.jjipi.] Phlegmormu-
cus; especially, the mucous secretion of the
pituitary or Schneiderian membrane. Also,
rarely, pituite.
As of the pituita, or the bile, or the like disorders to
which the body is subject.
T. Taylor, tr. of Five Books of Plotinus (1794), p. 102,
pituital (pit-u-i'tal), a. [ipituita + -aW] Same
as pituitary.
pituitary (pit'u-i-ta-ri), a. [= F. pituitaire =
Pg. It. pituitario, (.'Ij. pituitarius, inieni.pitui-
taria (sc. herba), an herb that removes phlegm,
< pituita, phlegm: see pituita.] Mucous; se-
creting or containing mucus, or supposed to do
so; relating to pituita — Pituitary body, a small
ovoid pale-reddish body, occupying the sella turcica, and
attached to the under surface of the cerebrum by the in-
fundibulum. It consists of two lobes— an anterior^ re-
sembling in structure that of a ductless gland, and a poste-
rior, which in the lower vertebrates is composed of nerve-
substance, forming an integral part of the brain, and
called the infundibular lobe, but in the higher vertebrates
showing only slight indications of nervous elements. Also
ca31eApUuiUiry gland, hypophysis cerebri. See cuts under
hrain (cut 2), Elasmobranchii, and encephalon, — Pituitary
diverticulum, a flask-like outgrowth of the middle of the
upper posterior part of the buccal cavity in the embryo,
which takes part in the formation of the pituitary body.
— Pituitary fossa. See fossal, and cute under pa/ra^
sphenoid, Struthionidse, Gailinae, Crocodilia, and slcuU (cat
3).— Pituitary gland. Same as pituitary fiodj/.— Pltul-
tarymembrane. See)n«m!iraDe.— Pitultaryspace,in
emffryol., an open space at the base of the skull, just in ad-
vance of the end of the notochord, inclosed by the trabe-
culse cranii : it subsequently becomes the seat of the pitnl-
tary body, and corresponds to what is known in human
anatomy as the sella turcica of the sphenoid bone. See
hypophysis, and cuts under chondroeraniwm and periotic
(adult turtle).— Pituitary stem, the hollow neck of the
pituitary body, by which that body hangs from the brain;
the infundibulum of the brain. See cut under corpus.
pituite (pit'u-it), n. [< F. pituite = Sp. Pg. It.
pituita, < Jj.'pituita, mucus, phlegm: see pitui-
ta.] Same as pituita. [Rare.]
Phlegm 01 pUutte is a sort of semifluid.
ArJmthnot, Aliments, vL, prop. 7, § 7.
pitnitous (pit-u-i'tus), a. [= F. pituiteux = Sp.
Pg. It. pituitoso, < L. pitmtosw, full of phlegm,
< pituita, phlegm: see pituita.] Same &s pit-
Pituophis (pi-tu'6-fis), n. See PityapMs.
pituri (pi-tu'ri), n. A plant. See Duboisia.
pit-viper (pifvi^per), n. A venomous serpent
of the family Crotalidse, as a rattlesnake; a
A Pit-viper, the Moccasin or Cottonmoutb {AncistrcdoH fisefvtrw).
three fourths natural size, a, nostril; d, pit.
pit-headed viper : so called from the character-
istic pit between the eyes and the nose. See
Bothrophera.
pit-wood
pit-wood (pit'wud), n. Timber used for frames,
posts, etc., in mines or pits.
Another consequence of the improvement that has set
in with the coal trade is the advance in pitwood.
The Eji^neer, LXVI. 40.
pit-work (pit'w^rk), n. The pump and gear
connected with it in the engine-shaft of a mine.
pity (pit'i), m. [Early mod. E. also pitty, pitie;
■p niH4—Rr\ iSJiltirl — V>cr ■ni^ir./iJ T+ i.-„<A as Waller was, may he j)«j«d, but meanr
a. pine — isp.pisdaa = Fg. pudade = It. pietd, contemptible nnder any circlmistances.
pity, <. Li. pieta{t-)s, piety, affection, pity: see Lowell, Among my Boo
piety. Cf. pittance.^ 1. Sympathetic sorrow
for and suffering with another ; a feeling which
inspires one to relieve the suffering of another.
And sapheria swete that sou^te all wrongis,
Tpoudride wyth pete ther it be ougte,
And traylid with trouthe and treste al aboute.
Michard the Seieleis, i. 46.
For oft the peple hane I gret pitte.
Rom. qfPartenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3194.
1 am not prone to weeping, as our sex
Commonly are : the want of which vain dew.
Perchance, shall dry jo\apitie».
Shak., W. T., iL 1. 110.
Tor pUy melts the mind to love.
Dryden, Alexander's Feast, L 96.
4519
2. To feel pity or compassion for; compas-
sionate ; commiserate : as, to pity the blind or
their misfortune ; to^^ the oppressed.
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear him. Ps. ciil. 13.
He pities them whose fortunes are embark'd
In his unlucky quarrel.
FletcJier {and another). False One, i. 1.
A weak man, put to the test by rough and angry times,
as Waller was, may be pitied, but meanness is notbiing but
'■"' ' " ■ ces.
Books, 1st ser., p. 19.
=Svn. 2. To sympathize with, feel for. See pity, n.
n. intrans. To be compassionate; exercise
pity.
I will not pSy, nor spare, nor have mercy. Jer. xiiL 14.
pityingljr (pit'i-ing-li), adv. So as to show pity ;
compassionately.
Pityunse (pit-i-li'ne), n. pi. [NTj., < Piiylus +
■dnsB.'] A subfamily of Tanagridee, typified by
the genus Pitylus; the fringilline tanagers, hav-
ing for the most part a conical or turgid bUl,
like a bullfinch's or a grosbeak's. The group is
sometimes relegated to the FrmgiUidie.
pityline (pit'i-lin), a. [< P%i«« -H -i»el.] Shar-
ing the characters of grosbeaks and tanagers;
^ __^ of or pertaining to the Pitylinse.
OMLgnMh, Des. ViL, 1. 162. Pitylus (pit'i-lus), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1817), <
Crr. m'TDf, pine.] The typical genus of pity-
line Tanagridse or grosbeak-tanagers, having a
tumid bill, as P. grossus.
Pityophis (pi-fi'6-fis), n. [NL. (HaUowell,
18o2; orig. Pituophis, Holbrook, 1842), < Gr.
niTVC, pine, + 404C, serpent.] A genus of North
American Colubridse, having carinate scales.
Careless their merits or their faults to scan.
His pity gave ere charity began.
Qdldsmit
Pity, which, being a sympathetic passion, implies a par.
ticipation in sorrow, is yet confessedly agreeable.
Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., xliv.
2t. An appeal for pity. [Rare.]
Let 's have no pity.
For if yon do, here 's tliat shall cut your wliistle.
Beau, and Fl.
3. A cause, matter, or source of regret or
giief ; a thing to be regretted: as, it is a pity
you lost it ; it is a thousand piUes that it Eliould
be so.
Pendragon was ther deed, and many a-nother gode baion,
wher-of was grete jnte and losse to the cristen partye.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.X i. 66.
That he is old, the more the pity, his white hairs do
witness it. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., li. 4. 514.
They make the King belieue they mend whats amisse,
and for money they make the thing worse than it is.
Theres another thing in too, the more is the pity.
Reywood, 1 Edw. IV. (Worlffl, ed. Pearson, L 46).
He 's a brave fellow ; 'tis pity he should perish thus.
Flkeher, Humorous lieutenant, iii. 5.
'Tis a thousand piHes (as I told my Lord of Arundel his
son) tliat that jewel should be given away.
Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 23, 1678.
To have pity upon, to take pity upon, generally, to
show one's pity toward by some benevolent act.
He that Ttath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord.
Prov. xix. 17.
=Syn. 1. P%, Compassion, CotmniseraMon, Sympathy,
Condolence. POy is the only one of these words that ^-
lows even a tinge of contempt ; pity and compassion come
from one who is felt to be so far superior. Sympathy,
on the other hand, puts the sufferer and the one sympa-
thizing with him upon an equality by their fellow-feeling.
Compassion does not keep so near its derivation ; it is deep
tenderness of feeling for one who is suffering. Sympathy
is equal to compassion in its expression of tenderness.
CommiseroKojiis, by derivation, sharing another's misery; ^ .,....,
eondolmee is sharing another's grief. ComrnmeratUm may pitynSiSiS (pit-l-Il a-Sls), n.
and co7u2o2en<» must stand for the communication to an-
other of one's feelings of sorrow for his case. It is some
comfort to receive com/miseration or condolence; it gives
one strength to receive sympathy from a loving heart | it
is irksome to need compassion; it galls us to be pitied.
Sympathy does not necessarily imply more than kinship
of feeling. See also the quotations under oondolenee.
The Maker saw, tools, pity, and bestowed
Woman. Pope, January and May, L 63.
In his face
Divine compassion visibly appear'd.
Love without end. Milton, P. L., iii. 141.
Losses . . .
Enow to press a royal merchant down
And pluck corrmviseration of his state
From brassy bosoms, and rough hearts of fiint.
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. SO.
With that sympathy which links our fate with that of
all past and future generations.
Story, Salem, Sept. 18, 1828.
To Thebes the neighb'ring princes all repair.
And with condolence the misfortune share.
CroxaM, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph.
pity (pit'i), V. ; pret. andpp.jjife'erf, ijypT. pitying.
[< pity, w.] I. trans. If. To excite pity in;
fill with pity or compassion : used impersonally.
It would pity a man's heart to hear that that I hear of
the state of Cambridge.
Latimer, 6th Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1649.
It pitied me to see this gentle fashion
Of her sincere but unsuccessful Passion.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, ii. 86.
Fine-snake {a species ^A Pityophis).
loral and anteorbital plates present, labials en-
tering into the orbit, posterior gastrostege en-
tire, and all the urosteges bifid. There are several
species, growing to a large size, but harmless, as P. bel-
lona and P. Tn^noleucus, known as pine-snakes and bidl-
The poor man would stand shaking and shrinking; I ^^ ^
dare say it would have pitied one's heart to have seen him ; . - , -i ^^
nor would he go back again, piu VF •''t ,»r ~ -^^ 77 ' ~' i '
^nyan. Pilgrim's Progress, p. 296. aeeplus.] More : as, ptu aUegro, qmokev.
[NL.,<LGr.7nr«-
p'matg, a bran-like eruption, < Gr. irirvpov, bran ;
cf. KTiaaeiv, winnow.] 1. In pathol., a, condi-
tion of the skin or some portion of it in which
it sheds more or less fine bran-like scales. — 2.
{_eap.'J In ormth., a genus of piping-crows of
the family Corvidfe, founded by Lesson in 1837.
The only species, P. gymnoeephalus, inhabits
Borneo and Sumatra — Fltyriasis alba. Same as
pityriasis simplex. — Pityriasis capitis, idopecia pi(7-
rodes capillitiL See alapeciM.— Pityriasis maculata et
circinata. Same as pOyriasis rosea.— Pityriasis pila-
ris, hypertrophy of the epidermis about the orifices of the
hair-foUicles. Also called keratosis pilaris and liohen
pi2(tm.— Pityriasis rosea, an affection of the skin last-
ing a few weeks and disappearing spontaneously. It pre-
sents round red maculae, level or slightly raised, and
covered with scales ; it begins on the thorax usually, and
may extend over the entire body. Kegarded by some as
a form of tinea circinata. Ais^e^eA pityriasis <nrcinxUa,
and pityriasis nirra maculata and circinata.— Pityriasis
rubra, (a) A rare, usually clironic and fatal, affection in
which all or nearly all of the skin is a deep red, and cov-
ered with scales ; itching and burning are slight or absent.
Also called dermatitis exffMa^va and pityriims rubra es-
sentialis. (b) A scaly eczema. Also called eczema squa-
mosum and psoriasis dt^a.— Pityriasis slmidez, a
simple scurfy condition of the epidermis, independent of
other trouble. Also called pityriasis oija.— Pityriasis
tahescentlum, scurfluess of the skin seen in certain de-
bilitated states, due to insufficient secretion of the seba-
ceous glands and sweat-glands.— Pityriasis versicolor.
Same as Unea versicolor (wUch see, under tinea).
pityroid (pit'i-roid), a. [< MGp. ■n-trvpoecdi/g,
Gr. contr. niTvpiidrjg, bran-like, < it'iTvpov, bran,
+ eliog, form.] Resembling bran ; bran-like.
[It., =F. plus, ill. plus, Tuove:
pixy-stool
pivot (piv'ot), n. [< P. pivot, pivot ; dim., < It.
piva, pipa, a pipe, a peg, < ML. pipa, a pipe :
see^ipei.] 1 . A pin on which a wheel or other
object turns. — 2. Milit., the officer or soldier
upon whom a line of troops wheels. — 3. Figur-
atively, that on which some matter or result
hinges or depends; a turning-point.
pivot (piv'ot), V. [< pivot, n.] I. trans. To
place on a pivot ; furnish with a pivot.
n. intrans. To turn or swing on a pivot, or
as on a pivot ; hinge.
pivotal (piv'ot-al), a. 1<F. pivotal; a.s pivot +
-al.2 Of the nature of or forming a pivot ; be-
longing to or constituting a pivot, or that upon
which something turns or depends: as, a piv-
otal question; a pivotal State in an election.
The slavery question, . . . which both accepted at last
as the pivotcU matter of the whole conflict.
The AOantic, LVin. 424.
pivotally (piv'ot-al-i), adv. In a pivotal man-
ner; by means of'or on a pivot.
pivot-bolt (piv'ot-bolt), n. The vertical bolt
which serves as the axis about which a gun
swings horizontally.
pivot-bridge (piv'ot-brij), n. See bridge'':
pivot-broach (piv'bt-broch), n. In watch-mak-
ing, a fine boring-tool used to open pivot-holes.
pivot-drill (piv'ot-dril), n. In wateli-maMng, a
bow-drill for making pivot-holes.
pivot-file (piv'ot-fil), n. In icatch^mahing, a&ne
file for dressing the pivots on watch-arbors.
E. H. Knight.
pivot-gearing (piv'ot-ger'ing) , n. Any system
of gearing so devised as to admit of shifting the
axis of the driver, so that the machine can be
set in any direction with relation to the power,
as in portable drilling-machines, center-grind-
ing attachments, etc.
pivot-gnn (piv'ot-gun), n. A gun set upon a
frame-carriage which can be turned about so
as to point the piece in any direction.
pivoting (piv'ot-ing), n. [Verbal n. ot pivot, ».]
The putting of an artificial crown on the root
of a tooth by means of a peg or pivot.
pivot-joint (piv'ot-joint), n. A lateral gingly-
mus joint. See cyclarthrosis.
pivot-lathe (piv'ot-lasH), n. A small lathe used
by watchmakers ior turning the pivots on the
ends of arbors.
pivot-man (piv'ot-man), n. The man at the
flank of a line oi soldiers, on whom, as a pivot,
the rest of the line wheels.
pivot-pin (piv'ot-pin), n. A pin serving as a
pivot; the pin of a hinge.
pivot-polisher (piv'ot-poFish-er), n. In watch-
malcing, an attachment to a bench-lathe for fin-
ishing and grinding pivots and other small
parts of the mechanism to any desired angle,
and for drilling holes at accurately spaced in-
tervals.
pivot-span (piv'ot-span), n. The movable span
of a pivot-bridge.
pivot-tooth (piv'ot-tbth), n. In dentistry, an
artificial crown attached to the root of a natural
tooth by means of a dowel-pin. E. 3. Knight.
piwarrie (pi-wor'i), n. [Also piworrie; S.
Amer.] A fermented liquor made in parts of
South America from cassava.
pizf. An obsolete form of _p^a;.
pixie, n. See pixy.
pix-jury (piks'jo'ri), n. In England, a jury of
members of the goldsmiths' company, formed
to test the purity of the coin.
pixy, pixie (pik'si), n.; -pi. pixies (-siz). [For-
merly also jw!fo^; dial. pislcy,pisgy: perhaps for
*pucksy, < pv^lc, with dim. formative -sy.'\ A
fairy: so eaUed in rural parts of England, and
associated with the "fairy rings" of old pas-
tures, in which they are supposed to dance by
moonlight.
If thou 'rt ot air, let the gray mist fold thee ;
K of earth, let the swart mine hold thee ;
If a j>me, seek thy ring. SaM, Pirate, zxili.
Pixy ring, a fairy ring or circle. See fairy ring, under
fairy. PfaUiweU.
pixy-led (pik'si-led), a. Ledbypixies; hence,
bewildered.
pixy-puff (pik'si-puf), n, A broad species of
fungus. HaUiwell.
pixy-pnrse (pik'si-p§rs), n. The ovicapsule of
a shark, skate, or ray; a sea-barrow. See cut
under mermai^s-purse. [Local, Eng.]
pixy-seat (pik'si-set), n. A snarl or entangled
spot in a horse's mane. [Prov. Eng.]
pixy-stool (pik'si-st61), n. A toadstool or
mushroom: sometimes applied specifically to
Cantharellus cibarius, or edible chanterelle.
pixy-wheel
pixy-wheel (pik'si-hwel), n. Same as whorl.
Compare /airy millstone, under /airy.
pizain, pizaine, )'■ Same as pisan^.
pizan-COUar, n. Same as pisanS. PlancUi.
pizeif, n. An obsolete form ot poise.
pize^ (piz), n. [Also pise, pies; origin obscure.]
A term used in mUd execration, like pox.
A pies upon you ; well, my father has made Lucy swear
too never to see Truman without his consent.
Cowley, Cutter of Coleman Street. (Nares.)
Pize on 'em, they never think before hand of anything.
Ccngreve, Love for Love, v. 2.
This peevish humour of melancholy sits ill upon you.
... A pize on it, send it oS. Scott, Eenilworth, i.
pizzicato (pit-si-ka'to), a. [It., twitched, nip-
ped, pp. of piggicare, twitch, nip, pinch; see
pinch.'] In music for stringed instruments of
the viol family, noting the manner of playing, or
theeffectproduced, when the strings are plucked
or twanged by the finger, as in harp-playing,
instead of sounded by means of the bow. The
end of a passage to be thus rendered is marked by c(^ arco,
'with the bow/ or simply arco. Abbreviated pizz.
pizzle (piz'l), n. [Early mod. E. also pizzel,
pisle; < IjGr.pesel, a ;pizzl6; dim. of MD. pese,
D. pees, a sinew, string, pizzle, whence also
MD. peseriek, a sinew, string, whip of bull's
hide, pizzle, D. pezerik, peesrik = MLCr. pese-
rik, LG. (G. AiaXT) peseriek, pizzle. The MHG.
visel, G. fisel, penis, is a dift. word, akin to L.
lyenis: see penis.] The penis of an animal, as
a bull. Sir T. Browne.
pk. A common contraction otpark and peck.
pkg. A commercial contraction ot package.
pi. An abbreviation of plural.
placability (pla-ka-bil'i-ti), ». [= OP. placa-
hilite = Sp. placaTnlidad = Pg. placabilidade =
It. placabilitct, < L. placdbiUta(t-)s, < placdbilis,
placable: seeptecaftZe.] The quality of being
placable or appeasable ; susceptibility of being
pacified or placated.
PlctcabUity is no lyttell parte of benignitie.
Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, ii. 6.
placable (pla'ka-bl), a. [< OP. (and 'W.) placa-
ble = Sp. placable = Pg. placavel = It. plaeabile,
< L. placabilis, easily appeased, < placare, ap-
pease: see placate."] Capable of being pla-
cated or pacified ; easy to be appeased ; will-
ing to forgive.
Methought I saw him ptacaMe and mild,
Milton, P. L., xi. 151.
So mild and j^acaile was Facilldas that he refused to
put him [Claudius] to death, but sent him prisoner to
the mountain of Wechne.
Brvxe, Source of the Nile, IIL 444.
placableness (pla'ka-bl-nes), 11. Placability.
placably (pla'ka-bli), adv. In a placable man-
ner; with readiness to forgive.
placard (plak'ard or pla-kard'), n. [Pormerly
also placart and plackdrd; = MD. plackaerd, <
OF. placard, placart,plaquart, < ¥. placard, pla^
quard (= Sp. dbs.placarte), a placard, a writing
pasted on a wall, etc., also rough-cast on walls
(OF. also a plate, a part of armor, a piece of
money), < plaguer, stick or paste on, also rough-
cast (< D. plakken, glue or fasten up, plaster), <
plaque, a plate, panel, piece of money, etc.: see
plack, plaque. Cf. placcate.] 1. A written or
printed paper displaying some proclamation or
announcement, and intended to be posted in
a public place to attract public attention; a
posting-bul ; a poster. — 2t. An edict, mani-
festo, proclamation, or command issued by
authority.
And that, vpon the innocencie of my said chancellor de-
clared, it may further please the king's grace to award a
placard vnto his attumey to conf esse the saide enditement
to be vntrue. Foxe, Martyrs, p. 741.
All Coins bear his Stamp, all Placarts or Edicts are pub-
lished in his Name. Howell, Letters, L ii. 15.
3t. A public permit, or one given by authority ;
a license.
Euery licence, placard, or graunt made to any person or
persons, for the hauinge maintenance or keeping of any
bowling alleys, dicing houses, or any other vnlawf ull game
prohibited by the lawes and statutes of this realme, shal
be . . . utterly voyde and of none effect. An. 2 & 3 P.
and M. cap. 9. Rastall, Statutes, fol. 344.
Others are of the contrary opinion, and that Christianity
gives us a. placard to use these sports. Fuller.
4+. In medieval armor, same as placcate.
.Some had the helme,the visere, the two baviers and the
tvioplaclcardeii of the same curiously graven and oonninely
eosted. HoK, HemylV., f. 12. (EalliwOl.)
5. A plate or tag on which to place a mark of
ownership.
Their Pistolls was the next, which marked Smith upon
the jUacard. Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 17.
4520
6t. Pargeting; parget-work.— 7. (a) The wood-
work or cabinet-work composing the door of a
closet, etc., with its framework. Hence— (6)
A closet formed or built in a wall, so that only
the door is visible from the exterior.
placard (pla-kard' or plak'ard), v. t. [< pla-
card, n.] 1'. To post placards upon : as, to pla-
card the walls of a town.— 2. To make known
or make public by means of placards: as, to
placard the failure of a bank.
placate (pla'kafr), v. t. ; pret. and pp. placated,
ppr. placating. [< Jj.placatus, pp. ot placare (>
It.pJacare = Sp. Pg. a-placar), appease ; ct.pla-
cere, please: see please.] To appease or paci-
fy; conciliate.
Therefore is he always propitiated and placated, both
first and last. Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 476.
placation (pla-ka'shon), n. [< OF. placation =
Sp. a-placaci6n=:Vg. a-placagSoz=It.placaeione;
< L. as if "plaeatioXn-), < placare, placate : see
placate.] 1. The act of placating, appeasing,
pacifying, or conciliating; propitiation.
They were the first that instituted sacrifices of placa-
tion, with inuocations and worship.
PuttenJiam, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 4.
2. A propitiatory act.
The people were taught and perswaded by such pJoca-
tions and worships to receaue any helpe, comfort, or bene-
fite to them selues.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 23.
placatory (pla'ka-to-ri), a. liplacate + -ory.]
Conciliatory; intended to placate or appease
or propitiate ; betokening pacific intentions.
placcate (plak'at), «. [= MD. plackaet, D.
plakkaat, a placard, an altered form of plack-
aerd (see placard) ; appar. < ML. *placcata, <
plaeea, placa, a plate : see plack, and cf . pla-
card.] In medieval armor: (a) A plate of steel
used as additional defense, and specifically the
doubling of the lower part of the breastplate, of-
ten made by bolting on an additional solid thick-
ness of iron : a similar placcate was used for the
back. (6) A plate of hammered iron reinfor-
ciug the gambeson or brigandine in the same
parts of the body as (a), (c) A garment of
fence worn in the thirteenth eenturjr, consist-
ing of a leather jacket or doublet lined with
thin strips or splints of steel ; a variety of the
brigandine. Also placket, plaquet.
place (plas), n. [< ME. place (= MD. plaetae,
D. plaats = MLG. plas, platse, pldtze = MHG.
platz, blatz, blaz, G. pZate = Icel. (13th century)
pldz = Sw. jilats = Dan. plads), < OF. place,
F. place, a place, court, = Sp. plaza = Pg.
praca = It. piazza, < Ij.platea, a street, court-
yard, area, < Gr. ir/uiTela, a broad way in a city,
a street; prop. fern. (so. 6S6g, way) of nTiarvq,
flat, wide, broad : seepZa^.] 1. A broad way
or open space in a city or town ; an area or
public courtyard devoted to some particular
use or having some specific character ; a public
square or quadrangle, with a proper or other dis-
tinctive name prefixed, ^jJace is often applied to a street
or part of a street, or to a square : as, Waverley Place, Wa-
terloo Place, Temple Place.
The other squirrel was stolen from me by the hangman
boys in the market-jiZace. Shak., T. G. of V., iv. 4. 60.
In the middle is a little place, with two or three caf^s
decorated by wide awnings.
H. Jamet, Jr., Little Tour, p. 176.
2. An area or portion of land marked off or
regarded as marked off or separated from the
rest, as by occupancy, use, or character; re-
gion; locality; site; spot.
The jiZoce whereon thou standest is holy ground.
Ex. iii. 5.
Whilst the mercies of God do promise us heaven, our
conceits and opinions exclude us from tiisXplace.
Sir T. Browne, Eeligio Medici, i. 56.
Iron Grates inclose the Place called the Choir, so that
there 's no Entrance.
2f. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, II. 26.
There was no convenient jjZacg in the town for strangers.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. it 44.
3. A particular town or village: as, Hampton
is a historic pZace; a thriving pZace.
I am a Devonshire man bom, and Tavistock the place of
my once abiding. £. Peeke (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 632).
This inner part of the bay [of Fana] has a fine beech on
the west and south sides for boats to come up to, and
seems to be the place called Notium by Strabo.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 7.
4. A mansion with its adjoining grounds; a
residence or dwelling ; a manor-house.
The Harringtons had of ancient time a f aire maxiot place,
within a mile of Hornel) Castell. Leland, Itinerary, VI. 59.
Yborn he was in f er contree
In Maundres al biyonde the see.
At Poperlng in the place.
Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 1. 9.
place
5. A building or a part of a building set apart
for any purpose ; quarters of any kind : as, a
pZoce of worship; a pZoce in the country; a
place of business.
I do not like the Tower of any place.
Did Julius Csesar build that place, my lord?
Shak., Rich. IIL, iii. 1. 70.
To see Mr. Spong, and found him out by Southampton
Market, and there carried my wife, and up to his cham-
ber a bye place, but with a good prospect of the fields.
' Pepyi, Diaiy, IV. 65.
6. A fortified post; a stronghold. — 7. Eoom
to abide in; abode; lodgment; location.
I know that ye are Abraham's seed ; but ye seek to kill
me, because my word hath no place in you. John viii. 37.
Can Discontent find Place within that breast?
Congreve, To Cynthia,
8. Eoom to stand or sit in; a particular loca-
tion, as a seat, or a space for sitting or stand-
ing, as in a coach, car, or public hall.
Out places by the coach are taken.
Dickens, David Copperfleld, xxii.
" No person to be admitted to keep PUues in the Pit"
seems a singular order, were it not explicable by the fact
that people used to send their footmen tokeepjp&wegfor
them until their arrival, and that the manners of these
gentry gave great offence to the habitues of the pit.
J. Ashton, Social Life in Beign of Queen Anne, II. 13.
9. A particular locality ; a particular spot or
portion of a surface or in a body: as, a sore
place; a soft pZace.— 10. The proper or appro-
priate location or position: as, apZaceforeveiy-
thing, and everything in itspZoce.
This is no place for Ladies ; we allow
Her absence. Heywood, Royal King.
That it may be possible to put a book in its place on a
shelf there must be (1) the book, and (2), distinct and apart
from it, the place on the shelf.
J. Ward, Encyc. Brit., XX 56.
11. In the abstract, the determinate portion of
space occupied by any body.
A mind not to be changed by place or time ;
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.
Uaton, P. L., i. 263.
Place . . . stands for that space which any body takes
up, and so the universe is in a iplace.
Locke, Human Understanding, II. xiii. 10,
12. A portion or passage of a book or writing.
The place of the Scripture which he read was this.
Acts viU. 32,
Rosea, in the person of God, saith ot the Jews : They have
reigned, but not by me : . . , Which place proveth plainly
that there are governments which God doth not avow.
Bacon, Holy War.
This place some of the old doctors understood too liter-
ally. Jeir. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), II. 136.
13. [In this sense a translation of L. Zooms,
Gr. TiiTrof (see topic).] In 'logic and rhet., a
topic; a class of matters of discourse ; an order
of considerations comprising all those which
have analogous relations to their subjects.
A place is the resting comer of an argumente, or els a
mark which geveth warning to our memorie what we may
speake probably, either in the one parte or the other, upon
al causes that fal In question. . . . For these places bee
nothing elles but covertes or boroughs, wherin, if any one
searche diligently, he maye finde game at pleasure.
Wilson, Rule ot Reason (1661).
14. la falconry, the greatest elevation which a
bird of prey attains in its flight.
A falcon, towering in her pride oi place.
Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd.
Shak., Macbeth, ii. 4. 12.
Eagles can have no speed except when at their jilmx,
and then to be sure their weight increases their velocity.
Thornton, Sporting Tour.
15. Boom; stead: with the sense of substitu-
tion: preceded by i».
And Joseph said unto them, Fear not ; for am I in the
place of God? Gen. L 19.
Sir Thomas More is chosen
Lord Chancellor in your place.
Shak., Hen. VIIL, iii. 2. 394.
In place
Of thanks, devise to extirpe the memory
Of such an act. B. Jonson,'Vol^ae, iv. 2.
16. A situation; an appointment; an employ-
ment; hence, office: as, a politician striving
tor place; a coachman wanting a pZace.
Though he had offered to lay down his jiace, yet, when
he saw they went about it, he grew passionate, and ex-
postulated with them.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 894.
For neither pension, post, hot place
Am I your humble debtor.
Bums, The Dream.
17. Official or social status or dignity; voca-
tion, station, or condition in life, etc. : as, to
make one know his place.
When any of great place dyeth, they assemble the As-
trologers, and tell the houre of his natiultle, that they
may by their Art flnde a Planet fitting to the burning of
the corpes. Purclias, Pilgrimage, p. 427.
place
Their summons call'd
From every band and squared regiment
By place or choice the worthiest.
Maton, P. L., I. 769.
She teaches him biuplace by an incomparable discipline.
The Century, XXXVTC 231.
18. Precedence; priority in rank, dignity, or
importance.
Come, do you think I'd walk in any plot
Where Madam Sempronla should take place of me,
And Fulvia come in the rear, or on the by?
B. Jormm, Catiline, ill, 2.
Yon do not know
What 'tis to be a lady and take place.
Shirley, Love in a Maze, L 2.
4521
Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such
as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness ; and place
such over them to be rulers of thousands. Ex. xviii. 21.
This gentleman was a Mr. Thompson, the son of ^placed
minister of Melrose.
Mem. ofH. H. Barham, in Ingoldsby legends, I. 80.
4. To find a place, home, situation, etc., for;
arrange for the residence, instruction, or em-
ployment of.
I am always glad to get a young person well placed out.
Four nieces of Mrs. Jenkinson are most delightfully situ-
ated through my means.
Jane Austen, Fride and Prejudice, xxix.
5. To put out at interest ; invest : as, to place
19. Point or degree in order of proceeding i ^°''?^ ™*^« funds.- 6. To arrange or make
as, in the first pUce; in the second place: m Pf vision for: as, to place a loan.-?. To set;
the last^Jace.— 20. In geom. See iocMS, '3.—
31. Position; specifically, in os/rore., the bear-
ing of a heavenly body at any instant: as, the
moon's jpface (that is, its right ascension and
declination, or direction otherwise specified).
— 22, Ground or occasion ; room.
There is no piace of doubting but that it was the very
same. Hammrumd, Fundamentals.
23. Position, in general.
By improvement they [of Scio] have all sorts of fruit
trees, and the mulberry-tree for their silk has a great
place among them.
Pococke, Description of the East, 11. iL 9.
Acroirychal, aphetical, common, decimal, eccen-
tric place. See the adjectives.— Apparent place of a
star. See apparent.— 'Boiy of a place. See hody.—
Heliocentric, high, holy, Inward place. See the ad-
jectives.—In place, (a) In position or adjustment. (J)
Into occasion, opportunity, or use.
And gladly ther-of wolde thei ben a-venged, yef the!
myght come in place. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 444.
(«) In geol, in its original position ; not moved, especially
by currents of water or by other erosive agencies, from its
natural bed^ or the place which it occupied when the de-
posit of which it constitutes a part was formed, (dt) In
presence ; present.
Thy love is present there with thee in place.
»•, F. Q., VI. X. 16.
repose : as, to place confidence in a
Jiunping-oif place. Seejumpi.—Law of place, the law
in force within a particular jurisdiction : commonly used
with reference to the place where a contract is made or
to be performed ; the lexloci.— Mean place. Seemean^.
— Most holy place. See Iwlyqf holies, undeT holy. — Out , t. • i / t- >■<. -^ \
Of place.. _(«) Not properly placed or adjusted in relation place-DriCK (plas hnk), n
to other things ; displaced. Hence— (6) Ill-assorted; ill-
timed ; inappropriate ; disturbing : as, conduct or remarks
out of place.— fla.ce kick. See /ticA:.— Place of election,
in surg. See elecUon.—'Pla.ce of Worship, a church,
chapel, or meeting-house. — Places of arms, in fort. See
orms.— Strong place, a fortress or a fortified town ; a
strongholdv
base; put;
friend.
Let them shew where the God of our Fathers imposed
any of those heavy burdens which the Scribes and Phari-
sees ;p2ace so much of their BeUgion in.
StiUingjleet, Sermons, II. i.
The Egyptians jiJoce great faith in dreams.
E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. 339.
=Syn. 1. Set, Lay, etc. (see put), station, establish, de-
Sosit.
acebo (pla-se'bo), n. [< ME. placebo, < OF.
placebo, < IJ. placebo, I will please; 1st pers.
sing. fut. ind. of plaeere, please : see please.']
1. In the Eom. Cath. Ch., the vespers o£ the
office for the dead, it was so called from the mitial
words of the opening antiphon. Placebo Domino in regi-
one vivorum (I shall be acceptable unto the lord in the
land of the living), taken from Psalm cxiv. 9 of the Vul-
gate (cxvi. 9 of the authorized version).
2. A medicine adapted rather to pacify than to
benefit a patient.
Physicians appeal to the imagination in desperate cases
with bread pills &nd placebos.
Amer. Jour. Psychol., 1. 146.
To sing placebotjto act with servilecomplaisanoe; agree
with one in his opinions.
Beth ware, therfore, with lordes how ye pleye,
Syngeth Placebo — and I shal if I kan.
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 367.
Of which comedie . . . when some (to sing placebo) ad-
uised that it should be forbidden, because it was some-
what too plaine^ . . . yet he would haue it allowed.
Sir J. Ua/mngton, Pref . to Ariosto's Orlando Furioso.
In brickmaMng, an
inferior kind of brick, which, having been out-
ermost or furthest from the fire in the clamp or
kiln, has not received sufficient heat to bum
it thoroughly. Place-brioks are consequently soft, and
uneven in texture. They are also termed peekings, and
sometimes sandel qt samel bricks.
At a few miles' distance was the strong place oi Eipa place-broker (plas'br6"ker), n. One who dis-
—■'■■-'- " " "— ^ -_j T— ,.- „ poses of official place for his own profit; one
who traffics in public offices, whether for his
personal profit or for that of others.
placefult (plas'ful), a. [< place + -ful.'] Pill-
ing a place.
And in their precinct
(Proper 9iadplacefulV) stood the troughs and pailes
In which he milk'd. Chapman, Odyssey, ix.
place-hunter (plas'hun'ter), n. One who seeks
persistently for public office.
The multiplication of salaried functionaries creates a
population ot place-hunters.
Sir E, Creasy, Eng. Const., p. 377, note.
placeless (plas'les), a. [< place + -less.'] Hav-
ing no place or office. Canning.
placeman (plas'man), n. ; pi. placemen (-men).
One who holds or occupies a place ; specifically,
one who has an office under government.
A cabinet which contains vot placemen alone, but inde-
pendent and popular noblemen and gentlemen.
Macavlay, Sir William Temple.
ar.pia- placement (plas'ment), n. [< place + -ment.]
1 0 put ^ putting, placingj" or setting. [Bare.]
They are harmful in proportion as the placement of the
loan disturbs the market value of the commodities.
Pop. Set. Mo., XXXI. 415.
Candida. Prescott, Ferdr and Isa., ii."2.
To give place, to make room or way ; yield.
And when a lady 's in the case.
You know all other things give place.
Bay, Hare and many Friends.
They heard Jonah and gave place to his preaching.
Latimer, Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1660.
Neither give place to the devil. Eph. iv. 27.
To have place, (a) To have room, seat, or footing : as,
such desires can liave no place in a good heart, (b) To have
actual existence. — To make place, to make room ; give
way.
Make place I bear back there !
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Eevels, y. 2.
To take place, (a) To come to pass; happen; occur.
(!>) To take precedence or priority. See def. 18. (ct) To
take effect ; avail.
But none of these excuses would take place. Spenser.
The powder in the touch-hole being wet, and the ship
having fresh way with wind and tide, the shot took place
in the shrouds and killed a passenger.
Winihrop, Hist. New England, I. 271.
place (plas), V. t. ; pret. and pp. placed, ppr. pla-
cing. [=¥. placer; from the noun.] 1 "
ov set in a particular place or position.
Place barrels of pitch upon the fatal stake.
That so her torture may be shortened.
Shah, 1 Hen. VL, v. 4. 57.
Hither came Csesar iorneying night and daye wyth as
muche speede as might be, and, taking the towne, placed
garyson in it. n..ijj^^ *- „*n«,™- *«i on
Human Placenta (unattached sui<
face), with umbilical cord.
placemonger (plas'mung"g6r), ». One who
traffics in public employments and patronage.
Golding, tr. of Ciesar, f ol. 30. place-name (plas'nam), n. The name of a place
The king being dead, or locality ; such a name as is given to places ;
This hand shall place the crown on Queen Jane's head. a local name : in contradistinction to personal
Webster and Dekker, Sir Thomas Wyat, p. 8. name.
This seate is admirably plac'd for field sports, hawking, placentt, n. [< L. placenta, a cake, = Gr . Tr^a/coif
huntmg, or racing. Evdyn, Diary, Sept. 10, 1677. (,rAo/cowr-), a flat cake, contr. of n%aK6eiq (?rXa-
Over all a Counterpane was plae'd.
Congreve, Hymn to Venus.
KOEVT-), flat, < TrAaf (TT/laK-), anything flat.]
cake.
Afterwards make a confection of it [flower-de-luce] with
clarified hony, which must be so hard that you may make
small placents or trocisces of it; dry them in the shadow.
T. Adams, Quoted in N. and Q., 7th ser., VII. 29.
3. To put or set in position or order; arrange;
dispose.
Commend his good choice, and Tight placing of wordes.
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 88.
For heobtaineth places of honor which can most fitly placenta (pla-sen'ta),«.; pi. pZacemto or pla-
place his wordes, and most eloquently write of the subiect centse (-taz, -te), [= H . bp. Pg. It. placenta, <.
propounded. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 438. JJL. placenta, placenta (something having a
3. To put in office or a position of authority; flattened circular form), lit. 'cake,' a particu-
appoinf; ordain to a charge. lar use of L. jjJacento, a cake: see ^?ace«t] 1.
Placentalia
In zool., anat., and med.: (a) The organ of at-
tachment of a vertebrate embryo or fetus to the
wall of the uterus or womb of the female, it is
a specially modified part of the surface of the chorion or
outside one ot the fetal envelops, of a flattened circular
form, like a plate or saucer,
one side ot which is closely
applied to the wall of the
womb, and from the other
side of which proceeds the
umbilical cord or navel-
string. It is highly vas-
cular, and in intimate vital
connection with a similarly
vascular area of the uter-
ine walls, serving for the
interchange of the constit-
uents of the blood between
the female and the fetus,
and thus acting during in-
tra-uterine life as the or-
gan of circulation, respi-
ration, and nutrition of the
fetus. The human pla-
centa is about as large as a soup-plate, and in connec-
tion with the navel-string and membranes is commonly
known as the uterine cake, afterbirth, or seeimdines. The
presence of a true placenta is necessarily restricted to vi-
viparous vertebrates, and does not occur in all of these
(the two lower subclasses of mammals, the marsupials and
monotremes, being implacental). Several forms of placen-
ta have been distinguished among placental mammals, and
made a basis of classification. See also cuts under embryo
mi uterus. Hence — (6) Some analogous part or
organ in other animals, having a similar func-
tion. (1) In ascidians, the organ by which a fetal sex-
less ascidiozooid is attached for a time to the wall of the
atrial cavity of the parent. See cut under Sa?pa. (2)Inin-
fusorians, a name given by Stein to the single mass result-
ing from the coalescence of the segments of the nuclei of
different individuals after the process of conjugation.
2. In echinoderms, a flat discoidal sea-urchin,
as a sand-dollar or cake-urohin : used in a ge-
neric sense by Klein, 1734. — 3. [c^,] A genus
of bivalve mollusks, now called Placuna. — 4.
In 6o *. , that part of the ovary of flowering plants
which bears the ovules, it is usually the more or
less enlarged or modified margins of the oarpellary leaves,
and is ot a soft cellular texture. When the ovary is com-
posed of a single leaf,
both margins give
rise to ovules, and
they are consequent-
ly in two rows. In
a compound ovary
there aie various
modifications ot the
placenta. Thus, when
the edges of the car-
pellary leaves all
meet in a common
axis, the placentas
are said to be aaiile.
When, by oblitera-
tion ot the dissepi-
ments, such an ovary
becomes one-celled, the axile placentas remain in a col-
umn as a, free central placenta. Or, when the edges ot the
carpellary leaves barely meet and slightly incurve, the
placentas become parietal, being borne on the wall. There
are all degrees ot incurvation, the placentas being located
accordingly. In vascular cryptogams the point giving rise
to the sporangia is sometimes called the placenta. The
placenta is sometimes termed the trophjspermium and
^emwphorum. See also cut under ovary. — Battledore
placenta, a placenta which has the cord attached to the
edge. — Deciduate placenta, a placenta which comes
away entire at parturition, as in woman and many other
mammals.— Discoidal placenta. See dMcaidal.—'SQa-
deciduate placenta, a placenta which is not deciduate.
—Parietal placenta. See parietal, and def. 4, abov«.—
Placenta adherent, aplacenta which has, through inflam-
mation during pregnancy, formed adhesions to the uterus.
—Placenta cruoris, blood-clot.— Placenta prsevia,
that condition ot the placenta in which it is attached over
the internal os, thus necessitating its rupture or detacli-
ment, with consequent hemorrhage, before the contents of
the uterus can be expelled. — Placenta sanguinis, blood-
clot. — Placenta succenturla, a supeniumeraiy placen-
tal mass, produced by the development of an isolated
patch of chorion villi.— Polycotyledonary placenta, a
placenta whose fetal villi are arranged in distinct tufts or
cotyledons, as in the cow.
placental (pla-sen'tal), a. and n. [< 'Sli.pla-
centalis, < placenta, placenta : see placenta.] I.
a. 1. Of or pertaining to the placenta. — 2.
Forming or constituted by a placenta: as, pla-
cental gestation ; a, placental part of the chorion.
— 3. Provided with aplacenta; plaeentate or
glacentary : as, a placental mammal Placental
ystocia, difiicult birth of the placenta.- Placental
mm:mur or souffle, a murmur heard on auscultation of
the pregnant uterus, and regai'ded as due to the placental
circulation.
II. n. A placental mammal ; any member of
the Placentalia.
Placentalia (plas-en-ta'li-a), n.pl. [NL. (Bon a-
parte, 1837), neut. pi. of piacentaUs : see placen-
tal.] Placental mammals; those mammals
which are plaeentate or placentif erous : distin-
guished from Implacentalia. The Placentalia were
formerly one of two prime divisions of mammals, contrast-
ed with marsupials and monotremes together. The divi-
sion corresponds to Monodelphia, and also to Eutheria.
Also Placentaria.
J. Free central placenta, transverse and
vertical sections, z. Axile central placenta.
3. Parietal placenta, a. a, Placentas.
placentalian
placentalian (plas-en-ta'li-an), a. and n. I. a.
Of or pertaining to the Plaeentalia; placental.
n. n. A member of the Plaeentalia; a pla-
cental.
Placentaria (plas-en-ta'ri-a), n.pl. [NL., neut.
pi. of placentarius: see placentary.'] Same as
Plaeentalia.
placentary (plas'en-ta-ri), a. and n. [= 'F.pla-
centaire, < NL. *placentarius, (.placenta, placen-
ta: see plaeent(C\ I. a. 1. Of or pertaining to
the placenta; placental; pertaining to the Pia-
■centaria. — 2. Made or done with reference to
the placenta or to placentation : as, a placen-
tary classification.
II. n. ; ■pi. plaeentaries {-xiz). 1. A member
of the Plaeentalia; a placental. — 3. In hot,, a
placenta bearing numerous ovules.
Flacentata (plas-en-ta'ta), n.pl. Same as Pla-
eentalia.
placentate (pla-sen'tat), a. [< T^,*rilaoentatus,
< placenta, placenta : see placenta.] Having a
placenta; placentiferous; placental.
placentation (plas-en-ta'shon), n. [= F. pla-
eentation=Pg.placentaeao; asplacentate + ■ion.']
1. Imool.: (a) The attachment of the embryo
or fetus to the uterus by means of a placenta ;
uterogestation. (6) The mode in which iiis at-
tachment is effected; the manner of the dispo-
sition or construction of the placenta: as, de-
ciduateordiscoida]j3teceiito*80».— 3. In6o«.,the
disposition or arrangement of the placentas.
placentia (pla-sen'sm-a), a. A word found only
in the phrase-name piaeentia falcon, apparent-
ly noting the large dark area on the belly of
that hawk, likened to a placenta. See falcon.
T. Pennant.
placentiferous (plas-en-tif'e-rus), a. [< NL.
placenta + Jj.ferre = E. JeaVi.] 1. Provided
with a placenta ; gestating in the womb, as a
mammal. — 3. In hot., bearing or producing a
placenta ; having a placenta.
Also plaeenUgerous.
placentiform (pla-sen'ti-fdrm), a. [= F. pla-
eentiforme, < NL. placenta, placenta, + L. for-
ma, form . ] 1 . In zool. , having the form, struc-
ture, or character of a placenta. — 2. In hot.,
shaped like a placenta ; having a thick circular
disk, concave in the middle on both upper and
lower sides. The root of Cyclamen is an exam-
ple.
placentigerous (plas-en-tij'e-rus), a. [< NL.
placenta, placenta, + L. ger'ere, carry.] Same
as placentiferous.
placentioust (pla-sen'shus), a. [< L. plaeen{t-)s,
pleasing (see pleasant), + -ious.] Pleasant;
amiable.
John Walbye, ... a placentioua person, gaining the
good-will of all with whom he conversed.
Futter, Worthies, York, III. 467.
placentitis (plas-en-ti'tis), n. [NL., < placenta,
placenta, + ■4Hs.2 Inflammation of the pla-
centa.
placentoid (pla-sen'toid), a. [< NL. placenta,
placenta, + Gr. eldo;, form.] Like a placenta ;
placentiform.
place-proud (plas'proud), a. Proud of position
or rank. Fletcher, Wit without Money, iii. 1,
placerl (pla's6r), ». l< place + -er''-.] One who
places, locates, or sets.
Lord of creatures all.
Thou placer of plants both humble and tall,
Was not I planted of thine owne hand,
To be the primrose of all thy land?
denser, Shep. Cal., February.
placer^ (plas'6r); Amer. Sp. pron. pla-sar'), n.
[< Sp. placer, a place near a river where gold-
dust is found (of. placet, a sand-bank), (.plaza,
a place: soe place.] In »KM»mp, a place where
the superficial detritus is washed for gold or
other valuable minerals. Plaoer-mininghas hardly
any other meaning in English than that of gold-washing,
but it is not used in speaking of washing for gold by the
hydraulic method. Washing for tin — a kind of mining
not carried on in the dnited States — is called streaming.
— Flacer-Claim, a mining claim to a placer deposit ; un-
der the United States mining law, a tract of mineral land
upon which the owner of the claim is entitled to the or-
dinary surface rights and all forms of deposit, excepting
veins of quai-tz or other rock in place, under the same cir-
cumstances and conditions as in the case of vein- or lode-
claims (see lodei, and mining claim, under mirang), except
that no location can include more than 20 acres for each
individual claimant, and that, where the lands located
under such a claim have been previously surveyed by the
United States, the exterior limits of the entry must con-
form to the legal divisions of the public lands and rectan-
gular subdivisions thereof. A patent for a placer-claim
includes a vein or lode not at the time known to exist with-
in its limits ; but it does not include a known vein or lode,
unless so expressed.
placet (pla'set), n. [L., it pleases; 3d pers.
sing. pres. ind. of 2?tec«re ; see please.] 1. An
4522
expressed sanction; permission given by one
in authority; specifically, sanction, granted to
the promulgation and execution of an ecclesi-
astical ordinance, and particularly such sanc-
tion granted by a sovereign to papal bulls,
briefs, and other edicts.
Such therefore is that secondary reason which hath
place in divinity, which is grounded upon the placett of
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 364.
placi
God.
3. A vote of assent in a council; a vote of the
governing body in a university.
placid (plas'id), a. [< F. placide = Sp. pldddo
= Pg. It. pladdo, < L. plaeidus, gentle, mild, <
plaeere, ;^ease: see please.] Gentle; quiet;
undisturbed; equable; serene; cahn; unruf-
fled; peaceful; mild.
It conduceth unto long life and to the more placid mo-
tion of the spirits, that men's actions be free. Bacon.
That plaeid intercourse [with the great minds of former
ages] is disturbed by no jealousies or resentments,
Macavlayf Bacon,
TkaX, placid aspect and meek regard.
MilUm, P. B., iii. 217.
=Syn. TranquU, Serene, etc. See cdlmX.
placidioust (pla-sid'i-us), a. • [(.placid + -iovs."]
Gentle; placid".
Most easie, peaceable, and pladdious.
TopsSl, Four-Footed Beasts, p. 168. (HalliweCl.)
placidity (pla-sid'i-ti), n. [= ¥. placidity = It.
plaeiditd,, < ti. pl(M!idita{t-)s, < plaeidus, plaeid:
seepladd.] The state or character of being
plaeid; tranquillity; peacefnlness; quietness;
calmness.
That habitual placidity of temper which results from
the extinction of vicious and perturbing impulses.
Leeky, European Morals, 1. 189.
placidly (plas'id-li), ads. In a placid manner;
calmly; quietly; without disturbance or pas-
sion.
placiduess (plas'id-nes), n. The state or char-
acter of being plaeid.
placitt, n. [= Pg. It. plaoito, < L. placitiim,
that which is pleasing, a maxim, an order, <
pZacJiMS, pp. of pZflscere, please : see please. Of.
plea, plead.] Same as placet.
Sextus Empiricus was but a diligent collector of the
plaeits and opinions of other philosophers.
Evelyn, To Mr. E. Thurland.
placita, n. Plural otplaeUum.
placitory (plas'i-to-n), a. [< ML. placitum,
plea (seeplaeit, plea), + -ory.] Of or relating
to pleas or pleading in com-ts of law.
placitum (plas'i-tum), n.; pi. placita (-ta).
[ML. : see plaeit, plea.] In the middle ages,' a
public assembly of all degrees of men, where
the sovereign presided, usually summoned to
consult upon great affairs of state; hence, a
resolution taken by such an assembly; also, a
Senalty or fine, or a plea or suit.
ack(plak), ». \<0^.pla^ue,placgue,plecque,
' placlie, a coin so called (also plaqueite), F,
plaque, a plate, slab, patch, veneer, etc., < MD.
placke, plecke (= Flem. placTce = MLG. placTce,
in ML. placa,placca), a coin so called, D. plak,
a thin slice, a ferrule ; cf . MD. placke, plecke,
a spot, a place, village, town, also a patch;
mixed, in the form blecke, etc., with MD. bleck,
bUck, a plate, as of tin or lead, D. blik, white
iron, tin, = OHG. bleh, pleh, plech, blech, MHG.
blech, a plate, thin leaf of metal, etc., = Sw.
bleck = Dan. bUk, white iron, sheet-metal. Cf .
placard, plaque.] A Scotch billon coin current
in the fifteenth century (from 1468), and also in
Flack of Mary, Queen of Scots.— British Museum.
(Size of the original.)
the sixteenth century. It was worth 4 pence
Scotch (about two thirds of the United States
cent), and under James VI. 8 pence Scotch.
—Hack and bawbee, to the last farthing; fully.
[Scotch.]
placket (plak'et), n. [< OF. plaequette, a thin
plate (a placket being appar. a patch sewed
on), dim. of plaque, plate: seeplaek. Ct. pla-
queite, placard.] If. A pocket, especially a
pocket in a woman's dress.
When she comes into a great prease of people, for fear
of the cutpurse, on a sudden she'll swap thee into her
plackerd. Greene, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, i. 1.
placoid
Just like a plow-boy tir'd in a browne jacket,
And breeches round, long leathern point, no placket.
Oayton, Notes on Don Quixote, p. 170. (Aora.)
3. The opening or slit in a petticoat or skirt;
a fent.
That a cod-piece were far fitter here than a phined
placket. Fletcher (tmd another), Love's Cure, i. 2.
3. A petticoat ; hence, figuratively, a woman.
Was that brave heart made to pant for aplaehetr
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant^ iv. ^.
If the maides a spinning goe,
Burne the flax, and fire their toe,
Scorch tbeii liaekete.
Herrick, Saint Distaff's Day.
4. Same a.s plaeeate.
placke't-hole (plak'et-hol), n. Same a,Bplacket, 2.
plackless (plak'les), a. £< plack + -less.] Pen-
niless ; Tidthout money.
Poor, plaeMeaa devils like mysel' ! Bwms, Scotch Drink.
plack-pie (plak'pi), n. A pie formerly sold for
a plack. Seott. [Scotch.]
Placobrancliia(plak-o:brang'ki-a). n.pl. [NL.
(J. E. Gray, 1857), < (Jr. »rMf (n?MK-), something
flat, a tablet, plate, + ^pdy%ca, gills.] A sub-
order of nudibranohiate gastropodSj established
for the family Elysiidse, characterized by hav-
ing lamellar or venose gills on the upper sur-
face of the mantle.
placoderm (plak'6-d6rm), a. and n. [< Gr.
n?id^ (n?MK-), a tablet, plate, + dip/ia, skin, <
depeiv, flay.] I. a. Having the skin covered
vidth broad flat plates, as a fish; belonging to
the Placodermi.
II, n. A ganoid fish of the group Placodermi.
placodermal (plak-o-der'mal), a. [(placoderm
-¥■ -al.] Same &s placoderm.
Flacodermata (plak-o-der'mar-ta), n.pl. [NL. :
see placoderm.] Same as PtacoderTni.
placodermatons (plak-o-d6r'ma-tus), a. Same
as placoderm.
Placodermi (plak-o-der'mi), n. pi. [NL. : see
placoderm.] An order of fishes, constituted for
some remarkable Paleozoic forms of doubtful
relationships. It has been variously defined. As usu-
ally limited, it includes fishes which had a persistent noto-
chord, neural and hemal spines and interspinals connect,
ing with a dorsal and an anal fin, a jointed pectoral ap-
pendage inclosed in a bony covering, the head and front
of the body inclosed by bony dorsal and ventral shields,
no ventrals, and a distinct lower jaw. Thus limited, it has
been made to include the families Coceoeteidm and IHnich-
thyidsB. Also Placodermata, Placoganoidei.
placodont (plak'o-dont), n. [< Plaeodus
(-odont-).] A member of the group Plaeodontia
or family PlaeodoniidsB.
Plaeodontia (plak-o-don'shi-a), «. pi. [NL., <
Gr. ir?i(if (n-Aa/c-), a tablet, plate, 4- odovc {oSovt-)
= E. tooth.] A group of extinct reptiles, whieli
had double nares (the posterior nares opening
directly into the roof of the mouth by horizon-
talapertures, as in the sauropterygians),no floor
to the narial passage, and maxillary as well as
palatal teeth, it has been referred to the fishes, and
among the reptiles to the Sauropterygia; but late system-
atists regard it as a suborder of the order Theramma.
Placodontidse (plak-6-don'ti-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Plaeodus (-odont-) + -idse.] A family of ex-
tinct reptiles, represented by the genus Plaeo-
dus. They are the only known members of the group
Plaeodontia. The general form is unknown. The skuft
was broad behind, with an apparently compound tempo-
ral arcade and a postorbital bar; the teeUi around the
palate were like paving-stones. The species lived in the
Tnassic period.
Plaeodus (plak'6-dus), n. [NLj < Gr. jrWf
(TrXa/c-), a tablet, plate, + bdoiig = E. tooth.] A
genus of reptiles having pavement-Uke teeth.
P. gigas is a species of the Trias.
placoganoid (plak-6-gan'oid), a. and n. [< Gr.
TrXdf (tt/Uzk-), a tablet, plate, + E. ganoid.] I.
a. Having a placoid exoskeleton, as a ganoid
fish ; belonging to the Placoganoidei.
II. n. A member of the Placoganoidei.
placoganoidean (plak''''o-ga-noi'de-an), a. andn.
[(placoganoid + -ean.'i Same as placoganoid.
Placoganoidei (plak"6-ga-noi'de-i), n. pi. [NL.:
see placoganoid.] Same as Placodermi.
placoid (plak'oid), a. and n. [< Gr. *n7ixua>et6fig,
contr. K^MKi^S^g, flat, < nU^ {tvUk-), » tablet,
plate, + eUog, form.] I. a. 1. Plate-like: not-
ing the dermal investments of sharks, which
take the place of true scales and are the ossi-
fied papillffi of the cutis . in combination they form
the shagreen of the sharks. The name is also extended
to the tubercular or thorn-like armature of the skin in
rays.
?■ ^^^^S placoid scales, as a fish; belonging
to the Placoidei. See cut under seale.--pia.coli
exoskeleton, the shagreen, ichthyodonilites, or other
forms of the dermal defenses of the elasmobranchlate
I1SI16S.
n. n. A member of the Placoidei.
Placoidea
Placoidea (pla-koi'df-S), n. pi. [NL.] Same
as Placoidei.
placoidean (pla-koi'de-an), a. and n. l<placoid
+ -e-o».] Same Sisplacoid,
Placoidei (pla-koi'de-i), ». »?. [NL.: seepla-
coid.'] In Agassiz's elassmeation, an artinoial
group of fishes, having plaeoid scales: oorre-
latedwith Ctenoidei, Cyeloidei, and Ganoid^. It
is mainly equivalent to the class ElasmobranchU,
but also included the naked maTsipobranchs.
placoidian (pla-koi'di-an), n. \<.placoid + -jom.]
Same a,s plaeoid,
Placophora (pla-kof o-ra), n. pi, [NL., < Gr.
TT/idf (jrAa/c-), atablet, plate, + (l)ipetv=z'E. oear'^,']
In Gegenbaur's system of elassiflcation, one of
two primary divisions of the Molliisca, consist-
ing of the chitons only. The Potyplaeopham and
Amphamoea of Lankester, though of a very diSerent taxo-
nomic grade, are conterminous. See Poly^^acophara, and
cut under Chitonidee.
placophoran (pla-kof 'o-ran), a. and n, [< pla-
cophor-ous + -an.'] 1. 'a. Placophorous ; be-
longing to the Placopliora.
II, «. A member of the Ptacopfiora; a chiton.
placophorous (pla-kof'o-rus), a, [< Gr, nTid^
(ffXa/c-), a tablet, 'plate) + ^ipeiv = E. Beorl.]
Same &a placopJioran.
placula (plak'u-la). n. ; pi. plamlsB (-le). [NL.,
dim., < Gr. jrXof" (Jr/laK-), a tablet, plate.] A
little plate or plaque: specifically applied to
certain disooidal embryos consisting of a mass
of cleavage-cells disposed as a plate or layer:
see monoplacula and diploplaeula, Syatt, Eroo.
Best. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1884, p. 97.
placnlar (plak'u-iar), a, [< plaoula + -oi-s.]
Plate-like; flat and broad; having the charac-
ter of a placula.
placulate (plak'u-lat), a. [< placula + -afei.]
Having the form' of a placula; being a plactda
or in the placnlar stage of development, as an
embryo.
Placuna (pla-ku'nS), n, [NL. (Brugui&re,
1792), < Gr. ttMS (irXaK-), a tablet, plate.] The
typical genus of Placunidse. They have thin, more
Saddle-shell iPiaeutia sella).
or less translucent shells, which are nearly eqnivalve, and
no byssus. Several species inhabit East Indian seas. P.
placetOa is known as the window-shell, P. sella as the
saddle-shell.
PlacunidSB (pla-ku'ni-de), n. pi. [NL., < Fla-
eu/na + -id*.] ' A family of bivalve moUusks,
typified by the genus Placmna, whose species
are generally associated in the same family
with the typical AnomUdsB, and are known as
window-shells, window-oysters, and saddle-shells.
pladarosis (plad-a-ro'sis), n, [NL. , < Gr. n-^da-
poiiaBai, become soft and flabby, < irAaiJapdf, wet,
damp, flaccid, flabby, < 7r?M6cn), be flaccid.] A
soft tumor or wart on the eyehd. Also plada-
rotis a.nd pladaroma,
plafond (pla-fond'), n. [= Sp. plafon; < F.
plafond, ceiling, <plat, flat (see_ptofe), +fond,
bottom: seefund^jfound^.'] In arch., the ceil-
ing of a room, whether flat or arched; also, the
under side of the projection of the larmier of a
cornice, and generally any soffit. Also platfond.
plaga (pla'ga), «.; pi. plagse (-je). [NL., <
L. plaga, a blow, stroke, wound, stripe : see
plague.2 In goal., a stripe or streak of color.
— Fiaga ScapulaXlB, in entmn., same as parapHsl,
plagal (pla'gal), a, [= F. plagal = It. vlagale,
< ML. plagiu's, < Gr. iMyioc, sidewise, slanting,
athwart, oblique, < ■Kl&yog, Tr^ayoc, side.] 1. In
Gregorian music, noting a mode or melody in
Which the final is in the middle of the compass
instead of at the bottom: opposed to auOienUe.
See mode^, 7. — 2'. In modern music, noting a ca-
dence in which the chord of the tonic is pre-
ceded by that of the subdominant. See cadence.
4523
plagardt, «• Same as placard, 4, iorplaecate.
plagate (pla'gat), a. [<plaga + -aiei.] Striped
or streaked.
plage^t, »■ A Middle English form ot plague.
plage^t (plaj), n. [< ME. plage, < OP. plage
(also plaie), F. plage = Sp.Tg. It. plaga, < L.
plaga, region, quarter, tract. Cf . Gr. n&yoc, the
side: seeplagal.^ 1. A region; a district.
Alle Cristen folk ben fled fro that contree
Thurgh payens, that conquereden al aboute
The plages of the North by land and see.
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 445.
As far as from the frozen plage of heaven
Unto the watery morning's ruddy bower.
Marlowe, Tamburlaine, I., iv. 4.
2. Quarter of the compass.
Now hastow her the foure quarters of thin astrelabie,
devyded after the loure principals plages or quarters ot the
firmament. ChoMcer, Astrolabe, i. 5.
Plagianthus (plaj-i-an'thus), n. [NL. (J. and
G. Forster, 1776), < Gr. nMytog, obhque, + av-
6og, flower.] A genus of polypetalous shrubs
of the order Malva^ese and me tribe Malvex, un-
like the other genera of its subtribe Sideie in its
longitudinally stigmatose style-branches, and
characterized by a five-cleft calyx, distant or
obsolete braoteoles, many-cleft stamen-colxmm,
and one, two, or many carpels, each with one
pendulous seed. There are 11 species, all natives of
Australia and New Zealand. They bear alternate or clus-
tered, usually entire or angled leaves, and polygamous red,
whitish, or yellowish flowers, usually small and densely
crowded in we axils or in a terminal spike. Several low
shrubby species produce a useful fiber. (See hemp-Tmsh and
carra^ong.) P. oetulimts, the ribbon. tree of Otago, New
Zealand, also called coUonrtree, laeebark, and aJcaroa-tree, is
an evergreen reaching sometimes 70 feet, though usually a
tangled bush, and yields a very flue tough fiber resem-
bling flax, derived from the inner bark ot the young
branches.
plagiarise, V. See plagiarize.
plagiarism (pla'ji-a-rizm), n. [= Pg. plagia-
rismo; as plagiar-y + ■4sm.'] 1 . The purloining
or wrongful appropriation of another's ideas,
writings, artistic designs, etc., and giving these
forth as one's own; specifically, the offense of
taking passages from another's compositions,
and publishing them, either word for word or
in substance, as one's own; literary theft.
Sir J. Keynolds has been accused ot plagiarism for hav-
ing borrowed attitudes from ancient masters. Not only
candour but criticism must deny the force of the charge.
Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting, IV., adv. p. vii., note.
2. A passage or thought thus stolen.
plagiarist (pla'ji-a-rist), n. {iplagiar^ + -is*.]
One who plagiarizes ; one who is guilty of pla-
giarism.
You glean from the refuse of obscure volumes, where
more judicious plagiarists have been before you; so that
the body ot yom* work is a' composition of dregs and sedi-
ments— like a bad tavern's worst wine.
Sheridan, The Critic, L 1.
plagiarize (pla'ji-a-riz), v.; pret. and pp. plagi-
arized, ppr. plagiarizing. [< 2)lagiar-y + -ize.'}
1. trans. To steal or purloin from the writings
or ideas of another: as, to plagiarize a passage.
II. intrans. To commit plagiarism.
Also s^eWeA plagiarise.
plagiary (pla'ji-a-ri), n. and a. [Pormerly^jZa-
giarie; < F. plagiaire = Sp. Pg. It. i)lagiario, a
kidnapper, a plagiarist, < L. plagiarius, a kid-
napper, plagiarist, < (LL.) plagium, kidnap-
ping, prob. < plaga, a net, snare, trap, prob.
orig. *plaea, < plec-t-ere = Gr. irTiiKeiv, weave:
see plait.'] I. n.: pi. plagiaries (-riz). If. A
manstealer; a kidnapper.
He was a Cyrenean by birth, and ... in the time of his
minoritie or child-hood he was by some Plagiary stolne
away from his friends, and sold to the Ismaelite Mer-
chants. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 243.
S. A plagiarist.
Why, the ditty 's all borrowed ; 'tis Horace's ; hang him,
plagiary I B. Jonsan, Poetaster, iv. 1.
3. The crime of literary theft ; plagiarism.
Plagiairie had not its nativitie with printing, but began
in times when thefts were difficult, and the paucity ot
bookes scarce wanted that invention.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., i. 6.
II. a. If. Manstealing; kidnapping.
Plagiary and man-stealing Tartars.
Brown, Travels (1885), p. 49. (Latham.)
2. Practising literary theft.
Or a Hos ego from old Petrarch's spright
Unto a, plagiary sonnet-wright.
Bp. Han, Satires, IV. ii. 84.
Flagiaulacidse (pla'^ji-a-las'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Plagiaulax (-lac-) + -idee.'] A widely distrib-
uted family of fossil mammals, typified by the
genus Plagiaulax. The premolars were obliquely
grooved and the last was enlarged, the true molars two
on each side and small, and the incisors of the lower jaw
inclined forward and two in number. The family was f or-
Flagiostoma
merly referred to the marsupials, but by recent writers is
generally relegated to the Pirototheria, as a representative
of a peculiar order, MultUubercuiata. Remains referred
to this family occur in Europe and America, ranging in
geologic time from the Triassic to the Eocene.
Plagiaulax (pla-^i-^'laks), n. [NL., < Gr. tt^-
ytog, oblique, + av7M^, furrow.] A genus of fos-
sil primitive mammals from the Purbeck beds
of the Upper Oolite, as P. becelesi, P. minor, and
others. See diprotodont, polyprotodont.
plagihedral (plarji-he'dral), a. [= F. plagi-
id/re, < Gr. Tr/loytof, oblique, + i6pa, seat, base.]
In aystal., having faces obliquely arranged, as
in certain hemihedral forms which are enantio-
morphous to their complementary forms — that
is, related to them as a right glove is to the left :
this is true of the trapezohedral planes on a
quartz crystal.
plagiocepnaliG (pla^ji-o-se-fal'lk or -sef 'a-lik),
a. [< plagiocephal-ous + -tc] 1. Having a
broad head with flattened forehead. Jow. An-
throp. Inst., III. 90. — 2. Pertaining to or ex-
hibiting plagiocephaly.
plagiocephalous (pla"ji-o-sef'a-lus), a. [< Gr.
■ir?iayiog, oblique, + Kc^a?4, head.] Same tkspla-
giocephalie, 1.
plagioceplialy (pla'-'ji-o-sefa-li), n. l< plagio-
cephal-ous + -y."] Oblique" deformity of the
skull, such that the anterior part of one half
is more devefoped, and similarly the posterior
part of the other half.
plagiocitrite.(pla"Ji-9-sit'rit), n. [< Gt. irX&yto^,
oblique, + L. citrus, citrus (see citrus), + -ite^.J
A hydrous sulphate of iron, aluminium, sodi-
um, and potassium, occurring in fibrous crys-
talline forms of a lemon-bellow color near
Bischofsheim vor der BhSn, in Bavaria.
plagioclase (pla'ji-o-klaz), n. [< Gr. TrJiAytog,
obhque, + K?idmg, fracture, < iMv, break.] The
name given by Breithaupt to the group of tri-
clinic feldspars the two prominent cleavage-
directions in which are oblique to each other.
The.Blagioclase-teldspar group includes albite, anorthite,
and ^tie intermediate species, oligoclase, andesin, labra-
dorite ; with these the triclinic potash feldspar microcline
is sometimes included. Seefeld^aar.
plagioclastic (pla''''ii-9-klas'tik), a. [< Gr. n-zld-
yiog, oblique, + KJiOirro'f, broken; cf. elastic.']
Breaking obliquely; characterized by two dif-
ferent cleavages in directions oblique to one an-
other, or pertaining to a mineral (as one of the
triclinic feldspars) which has this property.
Plagiodon (pla-ji'o-don), re. .[NL. (orig. Plagio-
dontia, P. Cuvier, 1836), < ■Kl&yiog. oblique, +
bSovg {bSavT-) = E. tooth.] 1. A West Indian
genus of small hystricomorphic rodents of the
family Octodontidee and subfamily Echvnomy-
Plagiodon adium.
insB : SO called from the diagonal grooves of the
molars. The molars are rootless ; the thumb is rudi-
mentary ; the tail is short and scaly ; the fur is coarse, with
silky under-fur ; the muzzle is blunt ; and the whole form
is stout. The genus is closely related to Capromys. There
is only one species, P. asdium of San DomingO.
2. A genus of reptiles. Dumiril. — 3. A genus
of mollusks. Isaa^ Lea.
plagiodont (pla'ji-o-dont), a. [< Gr. nMyioq,
oblique, + boovg (biovT-) = E. tooth.] Having
the teeth oblique : noting the dentition of ser-
pents whose teeth are like one another, those of
the palate being set in two converging series.
PlaglOdus (pla-ji-6'dns), n. [NL. (orig. Plagyo-
dus, SteUer, 1811): see Plagiodon.] Same as
Alepidosaurus. See cut under handsaw-fish.
plagionite (pla'ji-o-nit), n. [< Gr. irUywQ,
oblique, + -n- -^- -ite^.] A sulphid of antimony
and lead, occurring in oblique monoclinic crys-
tals and in massive forms. It has a dark lead-
gray color and metallic luster.
Plaglostoma^ (pla-ji-os'to-ma), n. [NL. (Sow-
erby, 1812), fem. sing. : see plagiostome.] A
genus of bivalve mollusks of the family Limi-
dee, or a subgenus of Lima, containing such
species as P. cardiiformis. See cut under
Lima.
Flagiostoma
Plagiostoma2 (pla-ji-os'to-ma), n. pi. [NL.,
neut. pi. : see j>lagiostome.'\ Same as Plagio-
stom. Mlsson, 1832.
Plagiostomata(pla"ji-o-st6'nia-ta),)i.j)Z. [NL.;
of. Flagiostoma^.'] The Plagiostomi as an order
of Chondropterygii. Giinther.
plagiostomatous (pla'ji-o-stom'a-tus), a. [<
Plagiostomata + -ous.'] Same asplagiostomotts.
plagiostome (pla'ji-o-stom), a. and n. [< Gr.
TrKayioc, oblique, + ard/ia, mouth.] I, a. Pla-
giostomous.
II. n. A plagiostomous fish ; any member of
the Plagiostomi, as a selachian.
Plagiostomi (pla-ji-os'to-mi), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. vM-yioQ, obUque, + ard/ia, mouth.] In the
older systems, an order of chondropterygian
or elasmobranehlate fishes, including all the
sharks and rays, in some recent systems It has been
used as a superordlnal or subclass name of the same group.
Its characteristics are the development of a distinct sus-
pensorium for the mandible (consisting of the undivided
palatoquadrate cartilage), live to seven pairs of branchial
apertures, and no operculum.
plagiostomous (pla-ji-os'to-mus), a. [As Pla-
giostomi + -ous.] Of or pertaining to the Pla-
giostomi. Also plagiostomatous.
Plagiotoma (pla-ji-ot'o-ma), n. [NL. (Dtgar-
din), < Gr. ir?M-yioc, oblique, + -To/io;, < rifivciv,
Tafielv, cut.] A genus of heterotrichous ciliate
inf usorians of the family BursariidiB. P. lutn-
hrici is known as the bean-animalcule of the in-
testine of the earthworm.
Plagiotremata (pla"ji-6-tre'ma-ta,),».pi. [NL.,
< Gr. TTAayiog, oblique, + Tprjiia, hole.] A sub-
class of E^UUa : sam3 as Lepidosauria.
plagiotropiC (pla,"ji-o-trop'ik), a. [< Gr. irla-
yiog, oblique, + rpdirog, a turning, direction, <
Tpiizeiv, turn.] In hot., exhibiting or charac-
terized by plagiotropism.
plagiotropicall^ (pla''ji-o-trop'i-kal-i), adv.
With plagiotropism.
plagiotropism (pla-ji-ot'ro-pizm), n. [< pla-
giotrop-ie + Asm.] In hot., oblique geotropism ;
a turning by which the organs of certain plants
have their long axes more or less divergent from
the vertical — that is, across the direction of
gravitation or of the ray of light. Compare w-
thotropism.
The plagiotroptgm of dorsi- ventral organs, such as shoots
and leaves, is a more complicated phenomenon. It is the
resultant expression of tile effect of light and of gravity
upon them, promoted, in many cases, by their own weight.
In some cases light, and in others gravity, is the deter-
mining factor. Vines, Physiol, of Plants, p. S02.
plagium (pla'ji-um), n. [L., kidnapping: see
plagiary.] In civil and Scots law, the crime of
stealingmen, women, or children, formerly pun-
ishable with death.
Plagopterins (plargop-te-ri'ne), n. pi. [NL.,
< Plagopterus + -insi.] A subfamily of eypri-
noid fishes: same as Medinse.
Plagopterus (pla-gop'te-rus), n. [inLi. (Cope,
1874), so called with ref. to the large dorsal
spine, which is capable of infiicting a wound;
< L. plaga, a wound, + Gr. nrepdrv, wing (fin).]
A genus of cyprinoid fishes, with a stout spine
on the front of the dorsal fin : same as Meda.
plague (plag), n. [< ME. i)?ofl'e, < OF. plague,
plage, vernacularly p?oie, P. plaie = Sp. plaga,
plague, llaga, wound, sore, ulcer, = Pg. chaga,
wound, sore, ulcer, = It. piaga, woiind, sore,
calamity, = B.plaag = MLG. plage = OHG. pla-
ga, MHG. bldge. plage, pfldge, phldg, G. plage =
Icel. plaga = Sw. pldga = Dan. plage, -pla^e,
< LL. plaga, a plague, pestilence, afliction,
slaughter, destruction; particular uses of L.
plaga, a blow, shock, cut, thrust, injury, mis-
fortune (= Gr. tO^vyh, a blow, shock, wotmd, mis-
fortune), < plangere {y/ plag) = Gr. lOJjaaeiv,
strike. ] 1 . A blow or calamity ; severe trouble
or vexation ; also, one who or that which trou-
bles or vexes, or ravages or destroys.
Oh, what a plague were it that a strange king, of a strange
land and of a strange religion, should reign over us !
Latimer, Ist Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1549.
He had a wife was the plague o' his days.
Farmer't Old Wife (Child's Ballads, VIIL 267).
But of all plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can send.
Save, save, on, save me from the candid friend I
Canning, Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin, p. 242.
In 1280 the Bishop of Hebron, vicegerent of the patriarch,
sends the thanks of the Pranks, and adds that Armenia
and Cyprus have been laid waste by a plague oi locusts.
Stubis, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 186.
2. Any epidemic disease of high mortality. The
diseasoKnown specifically as theplague, or bubo^agve, en-
tered Europe from the Levant in the sixth century, and lin-
gered there in scattered localities over a thousand yean.
It has appeared in various regions (Egypt, Turkey, Persia,
etc.) in the nineteenth century ; the last occurrence in
Europe was in the Volga district in 1878-9. Typical cases.
4524
after a period of incubation of from two to seven days, be-
gin su^enly with prostration, headache, dizziness, and
sometimes vomiting and diarrhea ; after a few hours or one
or two days a chill develops, followed by high fever with
noisy delirium, passing into coma ; on the second to the
fourth day buboes, most frequently inguinal, develop ; in
non-fatal cases they more frequently suppurate than re-
solve ; there may also be carbuncles, boils, and petechise ;
convalescence begins from the sixth to the tenth day. The
mortality is extreme, sometimes running as high as 95 per
cent. The black-death of the fourteenth century may
have been a modified form of this plague ; so, too, the Pali
plague. Also called the pest,the pestilence, glandular plague
ot pestilence, inguinal plague, Levant or Levantine plague,
Justinian plagtie.
Therf ore a gret fool were he that wolde presume to cure
these plagis of pestilence that ben vncurable.
Book of Quinte Essence (ed. Fumivall), p. 24.
A plague upon the people fell,
A famine after laid them low.
Tennyson, The Victim.
3. As an expletive with the article the, used
like the devil, the deuce, etc. Compare devil,^ 7.
How the plague shall I be able to pass for a Jew?
Sheridan, School for Scandal, iii. 1.
Indian plafue, a pestilential disease which prevailed lo-
cally in northwestern India during thenineteenth century,
similar in some respects to the plague as described under
def. 2, and perhaps identical with it. Also called Pali
plague.— Viastie on or upon, may a plague or curse de-
scend upon (the person or thing mentioned) : commonly
used lightly, in a diminished sense, and expressing mere
annoyance.
plaiding
Oh, 'twas a plaguy thump, charg'd with a vengeance I
Fletcher, Mad Lover, v. 4..
plaguy (pla'gi), adv. [iplaguy, a.] Vexatious-
ly; dencedly: as, plaguy hard; a plaguy long
time. [Humorous.]
He looked plaguy sour at me. Steele, Tatler, No. 25.
Tou're so plaguy shy that one would think you had
changed sexes. Goldsmith, Good-natured Man, ii,
plaice (plas), n. [Formerly also plaise, place;
< ME. plaice, playce,pleise, < OF. plais,plak, P.
plaise, also plateuse, plie = Sp. plaUja, < LL.
platessa, a flatfish, plaice, < Gr. wXarix, flat: see
flats. Cf. place, foom the same ult. source.]
, A fish of the family Pleuronectidse and genus^
A plague o' both your houses 1
Shak., £. and J., iii. 1. 94.
Plague tm your pity, ma'am ! I desire none of it,
Sheridan, School for Scandal, v. 2.
To be at tlie plague, to take the trouble. [Scotch.]
But I can seldom 6e at the plague, an' it binna when my
bluid 'a up. Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxvi.
plague (plag), V. t. ; pret. and pp. plagued, ppr.
plaguing. [= MLG. plagen = MHG. G, plagen
= Sw. pl&ga = Dan. plage = OP. plaier, hurt,
= Sp. llaga/r, hurt,plagar, plague, = Pg. chagar,
hurt, = It. piagare, wound, hurt, < HL.plaga/re,
wound, < "L. plaga, a blow, wound: see plague,
n] 1. To vex; harass; trouble; annoy; tease.
We but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor. Shak., Macoeth, i. 7. 10.
I think you are very foolish to plague yourself so.
Sheridan (7), The Camp, il. 1.
2. To infest with disease, calamity, or natural
evil of any kind.
Thus were they plagued,
And worn with famine. MUtim, P. L., x. 572.
=Syn. 1. Torment, Worry, etc. (see tease), gall, bore.— 2.
To afflict.
plaguefult (plag'ful), a. [< plague + -ful.]
Abounding with plagues; infected with plagues.
Mir. for Mags.
plague-mark (plag'mark), n. Same as plague-
spot.
pUlguer (pla'g6r), n. [< plague + -erK] One
who plagues or vexes.
plague-sore (plag'sor), n. A sore resulting
from the plague.
Thou art a boil,
A plague-sore, an embossed carbuncle,
In my corrupted blood. Shak., Lear, it 4. 227.
Come no more near me :
Thou art a plague-sore to me.
Fletcher, Humorous lieutenant, iv. 4.
plague-spot (plag'spot), n. 1. A spot charac-
teristic of the plague or of some foul disease.
The Idea that he had deprived Sybil ot her Inheritance
had . . . been thejifo^ue-gpot of Hatton's life.
Disraeli, Sybil, vL 13.
2. A spot or locality where the plague or other
foul disease is prevalent.
plaguily (pla'gi-U), adv. In a manner to vex,
harass, or embarrass; vexatiously; hence also,
humorously, greatly. [CoUoq.]
Most wicked woman, that hast so plaguily a corrupted
mind as thou canst not keep thy sickness to thyself, but
must most wickedly infect others.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, ill.
I am hart plaguily.
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, il 2.
He was plaguily afraid and humbled.
Sicift, To Stella, xxxl.
plafuy (pla'gi), fls. {(.plague -¥^^.] If. Plague-
stncken; infected with the plague; marked by
the plague or other foul disease.
Methinks I see him entering . . . plaguy houses.
Beaching his dose, walking Moorfields for lepers.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, i. 1.
Complaining to me of their bad takings all the last
plaguy summer. Middleton, Black Book.
2. Troublesome; vexatious; annoying. [Hu-
morous.]
This dragon he had a plaguy hide,
Which could both sword and spear abide.
Sir Eglamwre (Child's Ballads, Vm. 197);
Common Plaice l^Pleuronectes platessa').
Plewonectes, P. platessa. if is a well-known Brit-
ish food-fish, not found in American waters, growing to a
weight of 8 or 10 pounds. See also cut under asymmetry,
2. Hence, by extension, any one of various
flatfishes or flounders of the family Pleuronec-
tidse. Citharichthys sordidus is a plaice common along
the Pacific coast of America. Shomboidichthys lunatiu is
a Bermuda plaice. The smooth plaice, or smooth-backed
flounder, is Pleuronectes glabeir,
plaice-mouthf (plas'mouth), n. A small wry
mouth, like that of the plaice.
Some innocent out of the hospital, that would stand with
her hands thus, and & plaise month, and look upon you?
B. Jonson, Epicoene, iii 2.
plaice-mouthedf (plas'moutht), a. Having a
wry mouth like that of a plaice ; wry-mouthed.
And keep his plaise^mcuth'd wife in welts and gardes.
Lodge, in Beloe's Anec. of Scarce Books, II. 113. (Nora.)
plaid (plad or plad), n. and a. [< Gael, plaice
(= It. plaide), a blanket, plaid, contr. of jjej-
laid, a sheepskin, <peaUe,
a skin, hide: see pelU.]
1. M. 1. A garment of
woolen cloth, often hav-
ing a tartan pattern. See
ta/rtan. it Is a large rectan-
gular piece of woolen stuif, and
is worn in Scotland by both
sexes for warmth and for pro-
tection against the weather. It
is a special dress of the High-
landers, and forms part of the
uniform of certain infantary
regiments in the British army.
A variety of the plaid is called
numd.
My plaid awa, my plaid away.
And owre the hills and far awa.
The Elfin Knight (Child's Bal-
llads, I. ISO).
A himatibn, worn in the fash-
Ion of a shawl, as occasionally on
early Greek flgures,ora8 aplaid.
Encyc. BriL, VI. 465.
2. In general, any fabric
haying a pattern consisting of colored bars or
stripes crossing each other in imitation of the
Scottish tartan. — 3. A pattern of bars crossing
each other at right angles on anything.— Belted
plaid. See fieZteiJ.— Sbepuerd's plaid. Same as shep-
herd's tartan (which see, under tartan).
II. a. 1 . Ornamented with a pattern of bars
or stripes of color crossing one another at right
angles: said especially of textile fabrics: as,
a plaid silk ribbon; a plaid waistcoat.— 2.
Checkered. [U. S.; an improper use.]
plaided (plad'ed or pla'ded), a. [< i)laid +
-ed^.] 1. Made of plaid, or having a similar
pattern; tartan.
__ , . A military troop
Cheered by the Highland bagpipe, as they marched
In plaided vest. Wordsmrtk
2. Wearing a plaid.
All plaided and plumed in their tartan array.
CampheU, Lochiel's Wamiag.
plaiden (plad'en or pla'den), n. A corruption
ot plaiding.
plaiding (plad'ing or pla'ding), n. [ipUid +
■ing'^.] 1 . A strong woolen fabric differingfrom
flannel in being twilled. It. is used for blan-
kets and plaids, and sometimes for dresses.
[Scotch.] — 2. Plaid; tartan.— 3. A plaided
pattern.
Hielilander wearing modem
Kilt and separate Plaid.
plaiding
I could discern a partiality for white stuffs with apricot-
yellow stripes, for ilaidinge of blue and violet, and vari-
ous patterns of pink and mauve.
Harper's Mag., LXXIX. 844.
plainl (plan), a. and n. [I. a. < ME. plain^layn,
pleyn,plaine,j>layne,pleyne, < OF. plain, F.plain
= Ft. plan = Sp. piano, llano = Pg.plano, Ihano =
It. pianOfi L. planus, flat, even, level, plain : see
plan^^, a later form of the same word. 11. n. <
ME. plaine, playne, pleyne = "WD.pleine, D.plein
= Gr^ldne = Dan. pleene (< F.) : cf. MLG-. plan
z= MHG. plan, plane, Gr.plan = Sw. plan (< L.) ;
< OF. plain, m., plains, plaigne, F. plaine, f ., =
Pi. plana,planha,plaigna = STp.llano,m., plana,
(..=:'Pg.plano,m.,= lt.piano,m., aplaln; < L.
planum, level ground, a plain, neut. of planus,
level, plane : see I.] I. a. 1 . Flat ; level: smooth;
even; free from elevations and depressions:
as, a, plain surface or country.
This Contree is gode and pleyn and f uUe of peple.
Mandeville, Travels, p. 258.
It [Lombardy] is wholly plaine, and beautified with . . .
abundance of goodly rivers, pleasant nieadowes, &c.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 109.
Three Townes situated vpon high white clay clifts ; the
other side all a low playne marish, and the river there
but narrow. Quoted In Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 185.
Nor does the plain country in that land [the East] offer
the refuge and rest of our own soft green.
Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, rxxviii.
3. Open; unobstructed by intervening barriers
or defenses.
Ffaire yche furde folowand on other,
And past f urth prudly into the plaine teld.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7215.
The zj kynges were departed and deseuered. and yeden
onte in to the playn feldes with-oute the tentes, and made
blowe a trompe high and clere.
Merlin (E. E. T. a), u. 154.
3. Easy; free from intricacies or difficulties:
as, plain exercises in shorthand. — 4. Undia-
gtiised; frank; sincere; unreserved.
He cannot flatter, he.
An honest mind and plain — he must speak truth!
SAfflft., Lear, iL 2. 105.
There is at this time a friend of mine upon the seas — to
he plain with you, he is a pirate — that hath wrote to me
to work his freedom.
Beau, and Fl., Honest Man's Fortune, 11. 2.
If I cannot serve you, I will at once be plain, and tell
you so. Steele, Conscious Xiovers, i. 2.
5. Clear; evident; manifest; easily perceived
or understood: as, to make one's meaning
plain; it was plain he was offended.
It was very ^ntn that the Kussian commanders were
not provided with instructions.
Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. 29.
We have plain evidence of crystals being embedded in
many lavas whilst the paste or basis has continued fluid.
Vanmn, Oeol. Observations, i. 6.
6. IJnqualifled; undisguised; unmistakable;
sheer; downright; absolute.
This is plain confederacy to disgrace us.
B. Jomsan, Cynthia's Eevels, v. 2.
Others fell to plaine stealing, both night & day, from
ye Indeans, of which they greevosly complained.
Brac^ford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 130.
Through the multitude of them that were to suffer, it
could no more be call'd a Persecution, but a plain Warr.
MUtori, Eikonoklastes, zi.
They suspected some malicious dealing, if not plain
treachery. N, Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 107.
7. Without a figured pattern j unomamented
with decorative patterns or designs ; also, when
applied to fabrics, imtwilled or uncolored: as,
plain black cloth; plain muslin. — 8. Void of
ornament or bright color; without embellish-
ment; simple; unadorned.
Haning obteyned my long expected wish, 1 doe in all
hnmblenesse prostrate my self e and this plaine discourse
of my trauels to your most excellent Maiestie.
Webbe, Travels (ed. Arber), Ded., p. 15.
The women's dress [in Switzerland] is very plain, those
of the best quality wearing nothing on their heads gener-
ally but furs which are to be met with in their own coun-
try. Addimn, Remarks on Italy (ed. Eohn), I. 527.
I took a plain but clean and light summer dress from
my drawer and put it on ; it seemed no attire had ever so
well become me. Charlotte Bronti', Jane Eyre, xxiv.
9. Without beauty; homely: as, she is plain,
but clever.
Jer. By this light, she 's as handsome a girl as any in
SevUle.
7s. Then, by these eyes, I think her as plain a woman
as ever 1 beheld. Sheridan, The Duenna, ii. 3.
I looked at my face in the glass, and felt it was no longer
plain; there was hope in its aspect, and life In its colour.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxiv.
Suppose her fair, her name suppose
Is Car, or Kitty ;
She might be Jane — she might be plain —
For must the subject of my strain
Be always pretty! F. LocTcer, The Housemaid.
4525
10. Artless; simple; unlearned; without ar-
tifice or affectation ; unsophisticated.
I am ... as you know me all, a plain blunt man.
That love my friend. Shak., J. C, ilL 2. 222.
Of many plain yet pious Christians this cannot be af-
firmed^ Ha/mmand, Fundamentals.
You must take what he sayes patiently, because he is a
plaine man.
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Blunt Man.
Those [Friends] who entered the army illustrated in
their plain speech and quiet courage the virtues of their
lineage. The Century, XXXVin. 563.
11. Not highly seasoned; not rich; not luxu-
riously dressed: as, & plain diet. — 12. Incom-
plex; simple.
Plain sounds = simplices sonos.
Hoole, tr. of The Visible World.
13. Incard-playing, notimm-ps; lay: a,s,a,plain
card; a ^toin. "suit. — 14. Whole-colored; not
variegated: as, p^oire white eggs. — 15. Smooth;
unstriate, as muscular fiber In plaint, plainly ;
in plain terms.
He tolde him point for point, in short and playn.
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 521.
Plain as a packstaff or pikestaff, perfectly plain ; quite
clear. See quotations under jMcisto/.— Plain bonito.
See bonito. — Plain Cloth, any untwiUed fabric. — Plain
Clothes, the ordinary dress of civil life; non-of9cial
dress : opposed to uniform: as, a policeman or soldier in
plain clothes.
They met his Eoyal Highness in plain clothes.
Thackeray, Virginians, Ixi.
Plain compass, a simple form of surveyors' instrument,
including a compass, a graduated circle, a main plate,
sights, and levels. It is supported for use upon the head
of the Jacob's-stafE.— Plain couching. See eouehingl, 5.
— Plain descant. See counterpc^niS, s. — Plain dress,
dress without ornament, as worn by members of the So-
ciety of Friends.— Plain drill. See driKi. —Plain em-
broidery, (a) Embroidery which is without raised work,
or padding, or couching of elaborate character — that is,
simple needlework on a flat foundation, (p) Embroider^
in the same color as the ground. — Plain harmony. See
harrrumy, 2 (d).— Plain muscles or muscle-iiliers, un-
striated muscles or muscle-fibers. — Plain paper, sail-
ing. Stitch, titmouse, etc. See the nouns. — The plain
language, the manner of speech adopted by the Society
of Friends. It disallows all merely ceremonious usages,
as the plural you addressed to an individual, all titles of
compUment or rank, etc.=Syn. 4. Unaffected, honest,
candid, ingenuous, downright. — 5. Clear, Evident, etc. (see
manifest), distinct, patent, unmistakable, unequivocal, un-
ambiguous, explicit intelligible. — 8. Unvarnished, unem-
belllshed.
II. n. 1. An extent of level, or nearly level,
land ; a region not noticeably diversified with
mountains, hills, or valleys. The Plains, in North
America, are the lands lying between the 104th meridian
and the eastern base of the Bocky Mountains. This region
has a gradual slope from the mountains to the Missouri
and Mississippi rivers, but is nowhere broken by any con-
spicuous ranges of hills. It is a region of small precipita-
tion, wooded only along the banks of the streams, and not
always there. The Plains and the prairies are not prop-
erly the same, from either a geographical or a climato-
logical point of view. See prairie.
Alive gon men be the hille, besyde the Pleynes of Galy-
lee, unto Nazarethe, where was wont to ben a gret Cytee
and a fair. Mandeville, Travels, p. 112.
Ffrom thens a man may se all Arabye, and the Mownte
of Abaryn, and Nebo, and Phasga, the playnes of Jordan,
and Jherico, and the Dede see vnto the ston of Deserte.
TorMngton, Diarie of Bng. Travell, p. 37.
This City of Lyons . . . is situate under very high rocks
and hils on one side, and hath a very ample and spacious
plaine on the other. Coryat, Crudities, I. 59.
2. A field ; especially, a field of battle.
Pour forth Britannia's legions on the plain. Arbuthnot.
3. An open space surrounded by houses: as,
St. Mary's Plain; the Theater Plain, in Nor-
wich. Salliwell. [Local, Eiig.]_Cock of the
plains. See eaekl, and cut under Centrocereus. — Plain
of Mars, In palmistry, the space in the middle of the palm
of the hand between the line of the heart and the line of
life, and surrounded by the mounts.- The Plain, in the
legislatures of the first French revolution, the floor of the
House, occupied by the more moderate party ; hence, that
party itself, as distinguished from the Mountain.
plain^ (plan), adv. [< 'M.'E. playn, pleyn; <plain\
a.] In a plain manner; plainly; clearly; open-
ly; frankly; bluntly.
This is the poynt, to speken short &nA pleyn.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 790.
Sir, to tell you plain,
ni find a fairer face not wash'd to-day.
SAa».,L. L. L.,iv. 3. 272.
In them is plainest taught, and easiest learnt,
What maizes a nation happy, and keeps it so.
Milton., P. E., iv. 361.
plainit(plan),«. *. [< 'iS^.playnen, etc. ; <plain\
a. Ct.plane^,v.'\ 1. To make plain, level, or
even; smooth; clear.
Discreete demeanour . . . playneth the path to felicitie.
Lyly, Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 134.
The plot is also plained at the cities charges.
Heywood, If you Know not Me (Works, ed. Pearson, I. 289).
The streets of their cities and townes instead of paulng
are planked with flr trees, plained & layd euen close the
one to the other. Hakluyt's Voyages, 1. 480.
plainly
2. To make plain or clear ; explain.
His bretheren and his sustem gonne hym freyne
Whi he so sorwf ul was in al his cheere.
And what thyng was the cause of al bis peyne?
But al for noght, he nolde his cSLOsepleyne.
Chaucer, Troilus, v. 1230.
By Aeromancy to discover doubts.
To plain out questions as Apollo did.
Qreene, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay,
What 's dumb in show. 111 plain in speech.
Shak., Pericles, ill., Prol.
plain^ (plan), V. [< M.'El. plainen, pleinen, pley-
nen, < OP. pleigner, F. pkdndre = Pr. planlier,
plagner, planger, plainer, planer = Qp.plaflir =
It. piangere, piagnere, < L. plangere, lament,
beat the breast or head as a sign of grief, lit.
beat, strike, ^ (Jr. TrMiaaEiv, strike : see plague.
Cf. complain.'] I. intravs. 1. To lament; wail^
mourn.
But man after his deth moot wepe and j^ne.
Though in this world he have care and wo.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 462.
Tereu, Tereu, and thus she gan to plaine
Most piteously, which made my hart to greene.
Oascoigne, Philomene (ed. Arber), p. 89.
Though he plain, he doth not complain ; for it is a harm,
but no wrong, which he hath received.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, IL
The air was sad ; but sadder still
It fell on Marmion's ear.
It plain'd as if disgrace and ill.
And shameful death, were near.
Scott, Marmion, ill. 12.
2t. To whinny: said of a horse.
Bight as an hers that can both byte and pleyne. '
Chaucer, Anelida and Arcite, 1. 157.
II. trans. Tolament;bewail; bemoan; moum
over.
Adam playning his case, Ood sent three Angels after her.
PurclMS, Pilgrimage, p. 187.
Who can give tears enough to plain
The loss and lack we have?
Sir J. Harington, State of the Church of Eng.
plainant (pla'nant), n. [< F. plaignant, plain-
tiff, prop. ppr. oiplaimdre, complain : seejptem^^
v."] In law, a plaintiff.
plainbacks(plan'baks),m. Bombazet. [Trade-
name among weavers.]
plain-chant (plan'ehant), n. Same as plain-
song.
plain-clay (plan'kla), n. A British noctuid
moth, Noctua depuncta.
plain-dealer (plan'de'ler), n. One who ex-
presses his opinions with plainness ; one who
is frank, honest, and open in speaking and act-
ing.
1 the Plain Dealer am to act to-day, . • .
An honest man who, like you, never winks
At faults ; but, unlike yon, speaks what he thinks.
Wyeherley, Plain Dealer, Prol.
Every man is more ready to trust the i^ooT j^in-dealer-
than the glittering f alse-tongued gallant.
JJeo. T. Adams, Works, I. 29.
plain-dealing (plan'de'ling), a. Dealing with,
sincerity andfrankness; honest; open; speak-
ing and acting without guUe.
It must not be denied but I am a,piairi-dealing villain.
Shak., Much Ado, i. 3. 33._
It becomes us well
To getplain^aling men about ourselves.
Such as you all are here.
Beau., and Pi., Maid's Tragedy, iv. 2.,
plain-dealing (plan'de'ling), n. Sincere, frank,
and honest speech or conduct; conduct or deal-
ing that is without guile, stratagem, or disguise ;
sincerity and honesty in thou^t and act.
Too little wit and too much plain-dealing for a states- -
man. Sir J. Dmhmn, The Sophy, ill. 1.
plain-edge (plan'ej), o. In lace-making, not
having a pearl-edge, especially in the case of '
pillow-lace, which is usually so decorated.
plain-hearted (plan 'har 'ted), a. Having a
sincere heart; without guile or duplicity; of a
frank disposition.
Free-spoken and vlainrhearied men, that are the eyes of
their countiy. Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst, § 1.
plain-heartedness (plan 'har" ted -nes), n.
Frankness of disposition ; sincerity.
A religion that owns the greatest simplicity and open-
ness and freedom and plainhearted7t£ss.
HallyweU, Moral Discourses (1692), p. 40. (Latham.)
plaining (pla'ning), n. [Verbal n. otplain^, v.]
Mourning; lamenting.
And in your clefts her plaininga doe not smother,
But let that echo teach it to another !
jr. Broume, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 1.
plainly (plan'li), adv. [< ME. plainly, pleynly,
plainliche, etc.; < plain^ + -ly^.'] m a plain
manner, (a) Smoothly ; evenly. (5) Clearly ; without
obstruction or deception ; in a way to be easily perceived >
or understood; unmistakably, (c) Without disguise or
plainly
reserve; sincerely; hoaestly; bluntly; frankly, (d) With-
out ornament or embellishment ; simply ; soberly : as, a
lady plainly dressed.
plainness (plan'nes), ». The state or quality
of being plain, (a) Evenness of surface ; levelness.
(6) Absence of ornament ; lacli of artificial show, (c) Open-
ness ; candor ; blunt or unpolished frankness, (d) Clear-
ness ; distinctness ; intelligibility, (e) Lack of beauty ;
homeliness. =Syn. (d) Cleamesg, Lucidity, etc. See per-
spicuity.
plain-png (plan'pug), n. A British geometrid
moth, Mupitheoia swnotata.
plain-singing (plan 'singling), n. Same as
plain-song. W. Mason, Eng. Church Music, iii.
SBare.]
_ ainsman (planz'man), n. ; pi. plamsmen
(-men). A dweller on" the plains.
These j)2atn«7nen are far from being so heterogeneous a
people as is commonly supposed.
T. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips, p. 6.
plain-song (plan'sdng), n. 1. The unisonous
vocal music which has been used in the Chris-
tian church from its earliest centuries, its ori-
gin is unknown, but it contains elements taken from
the ancient Greek music, and possibly also from the an-
cient Temple music of the Hebrews. It is often called
Oregorian, from Its most prominent early systematizer,
or, in certain details, Ambrosian. It rests upon an elabo-
rate system of octave scales or modes. (See model, 7.)
According to the principles and rules of these modes,
numerous melodies have been composed or compiled,
which have become established by tradition or authority
as parts of the liturgies of the Western Church in gen-
eral and of the modern Koman Catholic Church in par-
ticular. This body of melodies includes a great variety
of material adapted not only to every part of the liturgy,
but to the several seasons of the Christian year. Flain-
song melodies are distinguished by adherence to the me-
dieval modes, by independence of rhythmical and metrical
structure, and by a limited and austere use of harmony.
Their elf ect is strikingly individual, dignified, and devo-
tional. The style as such is obligatory in the services or
the Koman Catholic Church, and has been pei-petuated
there with remarkable purity, in spite of its contrasts with
modem music in generaL It has exerted a profound in-
fluence upon general musical development, dominating
that development until nearly 1600, and furnishing innu-
mei-able hints and themes to all subsequent styles. The
medieval theory of counterpoint was a direct outgrowth
of the melodic principle of plain-song. See Orefforian,
tone, Tnodel, antiphon, inlroit, and prick-son^.
2. A cantus firmus or theme chosen for contra-
puntal treatment: so called because often an
actual fragment of plain-song. — 3. The simple
notes of an air, without ornament or variation ;
hence, a plain, unexaggerated statement.
All the ladies ... do plainly report
That without mention of them you can make no sport;
They are yo\tt playne song, to singe descant upon.
S. Edwards, Damon and Pythias.
The humour of it is too hot, that is the very pkmi-song
of it. Shak., Hen. V., lit 2. 6.
Audi. Lingua, thou strikest too much upon one string,
Thy tedious plOrin-song grates my tender ears.
Lin. Tis plain, indeed, for truth no discant needs.
Brewer, Lingua, i. 1.
plain-speaking (plan'spe"king), n. Plainness
or bluntness of speech; candor; frankness.
Boget.
plain-spoken (plan'spo"kn), a. Speaking or
spoken with plain, unreserved sincerity ; frank.
The reputation of a plain-spoken, honest man.
Dryden, All for Love, Pi-ef.
The convention listened civilly to Mr. Curtis, who pre-
sented fi very plairtr^oken address from the New York re-
formers. G. S. Merriam, S. Bowles, II. 269.
plainstanes (plan'stanz), n. pi. Flagstones;
sidewalks; pavements. [Scotch.]
I trow no grass grew beneath his feet on the plainstaTies
of London. QaU, The Steam-Boat, p. 262.
plaint (plant), n. [< 'KE.plamte,pleinte,pleynt,
< OF.pleinte, F. plMinte = Pr. planch = Sp. llan-
to, OSp. pranto = Pg. pranto = It. pianto, <
ML. plancta, f ., plaint, L. planetv^, a beating
of the breast in lamentation, beating, lamenta-
tion, < plangere, beat the breast, lament: see
plairfi.'] 1. Lamentation; complaint; audible
expression of sorrow ; a sad or serious song.
Greet was the pite for to here hem pleyne,
Thurgh yrhiche pteynies gan her wo encresse.
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 970.
Thy accent will excell
In Titigick plaints and passionate mischance.
Spenser, Colin Clout, 1. 427.
Nor Tears can move.
Nor Plaints revoke the Will of Jove.
Prior, Turtle and Sparrow.
2t. Kepresentation made of injury or wrong
done; complaint.
There are . . . three just grounds of war with Spain :
one plaint, two upon defence. Bacon, War with Spain.
3. In law : (a) A statement of grievance made
to a court for the purpose of asking redress.
(6) The first process in an inferior court, in the
nature of original process. [Rare.]
plain-table, n. See plane-table.
4526
plaintful (plant'ful), a. [<.2)laint + -ftil.'i Com-
plaining; expressing sorrow with an audible
voice ; also, containing a plaint.
Hark, plain^fvl ghosts, infernal furies, hark
Unto my woes the hateful heavens do send.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iii.
plaintiff, »• and a. An obsolete form of plain-
Uff, plaintive.
plaintiff (plan'tif), n. and a. [Formerly also
plaintif, plaintife; < ME. plainUf, playntyf, <
tyP.plainUf, complaining; as a noun, one who
complains, a .plaintiff : see plainti/ve."] I, n. In
lain, the person who begins a suit before a tri-
bunal for the recovery of a claim : opposed to
And 'tis well that yon
Begin, else I had been the Plaintiff now.
J. Bea/umont, Psyche, iv. 20.
Calling of the plaintiff. See calling.— Nominal plain-
tiff, one who appears by name as plaintiff upon the record,
but has no interest in the action. Also nominal party.
Il.t (t- Complaining.
His younger Son on the polluted Ground,
First Fruit of Death, lies Plaintiff ot a wound
Given by a Brother's Band. Prior, Solomon, iii.
plaintive (plan'tiv), a. [< F. plaintif, lament-
ing: < plainte, lament: see plaint. Cf. plain-
**#•] If- Lamenting; complaining; giving ut-
terance to sorrow or grief; repining.
To soothe the sorrows of iiei plaintive son.
Dryden, Iliad, i. 490.
2. Expressive of sorrow or melancholy ; mourn-
ful: sad: said of things: as, a, plaintive Bouad;
a, plaintwe air; a plainti/ve song.
Whose plaintive strain each love-sick miss admires.
And o'er harmonious fustian half expires.
Byron, Eng. Bards and Scotch Iteviewers.
=Syn. Plaintive, Querulous, wotul, rueful. Plaintive
and guerifZous agree in expressing weakness^ He who is
querulous is ready to find fault over trivial matters, and
m a weak, captious, tired way ; there is a tone recognized
as querulous. Plaintive is rarely said of persons ; &plain-
tive tone or utterance conveys a subdued regret or lamen-
tation : as, the plaintive note of the mourning dove. See
petulant.
The plaintive wave, as it broke on the shore.
Seemed sighing for rest for evermore.
Jones Very, Poems, p. 120.
Quickened the fire and laid the board.
Mid the crone's angry, querulous word
Of surlywonder.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, HI. 69.
plaintively (plan'tiv-li), adv. In a plaintive
manner; mournfully; sadly.
plaintiveness (plan'tiv-nes), n. The quality
of being plaintive ; moumf ulness.
plaintless (plant'les), a. [< plaint + -less."]
Without complaint; unrepining.
By woe, the soul to daring action swells ;
By woe, in pUmvtless patience it excels.
Savage, The Wanderer, ii.
plain-wanderer (plan'won'''der-6r), n. Abush-
quail of the genus Pedionomus : as, the collared
plain-wanderer, P. torquatus. [A book-name.]
plain-wave (plan'wav), n. A British geomet-
rid moth, AddaUa inornata.
plain-work (plan'wferk), n. Plain needlework,
as distinguished from embroidery.
plaisancet, ». [< F. plaAsance, pleasance : see
pleasance.^ An obsolete form ot pleasance.
PlaisaTice, and joy, and a lively spirit, and a pleasant
conversation, and the innocent caresses of a charitable
humanity, is not forbidden.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1886), I. 742.
plaisetf n. See plaice.
plaister, n. and V. An obsolete or archaic form
ot plaster.
plait (plat), n. [Also plat, pleat, and (obs.)
plight; eavljraod.'E. also playt,pleyght, etc.; <
ME. plaite, playte, < OF. pleit, plet, ploit,¥. pli,
a fold, ply, = Pr. pleg,plec = 8p. pliegne = Pg.
prega = It. piega, a fold, < ML. as if *pUctum,
neut., *plicta, fem., iov pUcatwm, plicata, neut.
and fem. of L. pUcatus, pp. otpUeare, fold : see
lily.'\ 1. A flattened gather or fold; an over-
lapping fold made by doubling cloth or some
similar fabric in narrow strips upon itself.
They vse all one mauer of appareyle : as longe coates
withowte plewlttes and with uarrowe sleaues, after the
maner of the Hungaiyans.
S. Eden, tr. of Sigismundus Liberus (First Books on
[America, ed. Arber, p. 320).
That attire.
E'en as it sits on thee, not a plait alter'd.
Middleton, A Mad World, iv. 4.
It is very difficult to trace out the figure of a vest through
all the plaits and folding of the drapery. Addison.
3. A braid, as of hair, straw, etc.
But in and cam the Queen hersel,
Wi' gowd plait on her hair.
Mary Hamilton (Child's Ballads, III. 325).
plan
A high crown of shining brown plaits, with curls that
floated backward. George Eliot, Felix Holli t,
3 Rope-yarn strands braided into sennit —
Brazilian, Leebom, etc., plait. See the qualifying
words.
plait (plat), V. [Also plat, pleat, and (obs.)
pUght; < ME. plaiten, playlyn, pUitm, pUtm, <
flayte, plaite, etc.: see plait, ».] I. trans. 1.
ofold; double in narrow strips: as, to plait a
gown or a sleeve. SeeplaiUng and iox-plaiting.
2. To braid ; interweave the locks or strands
of: as, to plait the hair.
She has plaited her yellow locks
A little abune her bree.
Hynde Etin (Child's Ballads, I. 204).
m weave her Garlands, and VWpleai her Hair.
Prior, Henry and Emma.
3. To mat; felt. M. B.
Il.t intrans. To twist; twine.
The worm lept out, the worm lept down,
She platted round the stone ;
And ay as the ship came to the land
She banged it off again.
The Laidley Worm of Spindleston-heugh (Child's Balladu,
[1. 286).
plaited (pla'ted), p. a. 1. Folded; made in or
with, or marked by, folds or flattened flutings;
pleated: as, a shirt with aplaited bosom.
The Eomaines, of any other people most seuere cen-
surers of decencie, thought no vpper garment so comely
for a ciuill man as a long playted gowne.
PtMenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 237.
2. In iot. and gaol., folded lengthwise like the
plaits of a closed fan; fluted. — 3. Wrinkled;
contracted; knitted.
A conflicting of shame and ruth
Was in Ms plaited brow. Keats, Endymion, u
4. Braided; interwoven: as, plaited haii.
Though barks or plaited willows make your hive,
A narrow inlet to their cells contrive.
Addison, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, iv.
5t. Tangled; intricate.
Time shall unfold y/b&t plaited cnnning hides.
Shak., Lear, i. 1. 283.
Plaited lace. See 2fice.— Plaited stitch, one of the
stitches of worsted work or Berlin wool work, in which the
threads span a considerable distance at each insertion,
the result being a sort of herring-bone pattern. — Plaited
string work, a kind of fancy work made with small cord,
or ordinary string, narrow ribbon, or tape, which is plaited
or twisted into simple patterns. — Plaited worms, the
A yndogasteridse.
plaiter (pla'tfer), K. [K plait + -erX"] One who
or that which plaits or braids ; especially, an
implement for producing plaits of regular size,
as in cloth.
plaiting (pla'ting), n. [Verbal n. ot plait, v.]
1. The act or process of making plaits or folds,
or of interweaving or braiding two or more
strands, fibers, etc.
Plaiting appears to have been the process first practised ;
for short fibers, such as grass, rushes, &c., can be used
without the aid of spinning by this means.
A. Barlow, WeaTing,(|. 404.
2. Plaits, folds, or braids taken collectively.— •
3. In hat-mahing, the felting or interweaving
of the hair to form the body by means of pres-
sure, motion, moisture, and heat. Also called
plaiting-machine (pla'ting-ma-shen"), n. A
machine for forming plaits in cloth; a plaiter.
In simple forms it is merely a board with a series of nee-
dles hinged to one side, the fabric being folded in plaits
under the needles in any manner desired, and held in po-
sition by the needles till the form has been impressed by
a hot iron. Other machines, whether sei-ving as attach-
ments to sewing-machines or working independently;
operate by means of reciprocating blades, which tack or
push the fabric into plaits, these plaits being fixed by
means of hot irons or heated cylinders.
plait-work (plat'wferk), n. Decoration by
means of interlacing or interwoven bands,
seeming as if plaited together. Compare strap-
worJc.
plakat (plak'at), n. [Siamese name.] The
fighting-fish.
plan (plan), n. [= D. G. Dan. Sw.plan, < F.
plan, a ground-plot of a building (= St^. plan,
piano = Pg. piano = It. piano), < jylan, flat, a
later form than the vernacular utow, < L. planus,
flat, plane: see j)temi,jj;anel.] 1. The repre-
sentation of anything drawn on a plane, as a
map or chart; specifically, the representation
of a building or other structure in horizontal
section, as it stands or is intended to stand on
the ground, showing its extent, and the division
and distribution of its area into apartments,
rooms, passages, etc., or its method of constmo-
*i°1 ^^^ *^® relation of its parts. The raised plan
of a buudmg is the same as an elevation. A geometrical plan
IS one drawn to scale, or one in which the solid and vacant
parts, aie represented in their natural propoi-tions. A
perspective plan is one the lines of which follow the rules
plan
of perspectire, thus showing more distant parts smaller
than they are m fact In relation to the nearer parts. The
term jian may be applied to the draft or representation
al any projected work on paper or on a plane snif ace : as,
the ixan of a town or city, or of a harbor or fort. See cuts
nnder camp and eanat-lock.
2. Disposition of parts according to a certain
design.
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man,
A mighty maze ! but not without a ^an.
Pope, Essay on Man, L S.
Man only mars kind Nature's pltm.
And turns the fierce pursuit on man.
Scott, £okeby, iii. 1.
3. A formulated scheme for the accomplish-
ment of some object or the attainment of an
«nd ; the various steps which have been thought
out and decided upon for the carrying out of
some project or operation.
Where there seemed nothing but confusion, he can now
discern the dim outlines of a gigantic 3^n,
H. Speneer, Social Statics, p. 322.
The very fact of a plan implies a logical procedure.
W. L. Davidion, Mind, XII. 253.
4. A method or process ; a way ; a custom.
For why? because the good old rule
Sufficetn them, the simple plan.
That they should take who have the power,
And they should keep who can.
W<n^d8^llarth, Eob Boy's Orave.
5. A type of structure : as, man is the highest
■development of the vertebrate ^to»/ the pUin of
» moUusk or an insect American plan. See Amer-
ican.—Common plan, in Mol., an archetype.— Details
ofaplan. See detail.— European plan. SeeMuropean
Balf-breadtll plan, in ship-bialding, a plan showing the
Half-breadth Plan.
various lines of one longitudinal half of a ship projected
on the horizontal plane. — Hemalplan, in mollnaks, that
modification of the common plan m which, by dispropor-
tionate growth of the postabdomen, the intestine acquires
a hemal flexure: distinguished from neural plan. — In-
stalment plan. See in^aimenLSeaial plan, in mol-
lusks, that modification of the common plan in which, by
disproportionate growth of the abdomen, the intestine ac-
quires a neural fiexure ; distinguished from Tiemal plan. —
Plan Of campaign, (a) A formulated scheme for carry-
ing on a campaign, (b) In Ireland, a system of procedure
formed in 1886 and supported by the National League. The
officers of the League, acting as trustees, received the rent
of tenants on rack-rented estates; this money,lesB a certain
jibatementdemanded bythe tenants,wasofferedtotheland«
lord; if the latter refused it, it was used for support in cases
of eviction.— WorUng-plan, a draft, drawn to a large
8ca1e,supplied to artisans orworkmen to work from. =Syn.
3, Draft, delineation, sketch.— 3. Plan, Scheme, Project,
Design, plot. Deaign may represent the end which apian,
teheme, oi project is intended to promote. They all indicate
thought given to the general aim and to the details. Scheme
is the most likely to represent something speculative or
visionary: as, he was full of schemes; project stands next
to it in this respect, ^vA project may fdso be the most def-
initeorconcrete : as, apro/^for building abridge. Plan
is the least definite ; design and plan may be very indefi-
nite, or have a concrete sense : as, a design or plan ol go-
ing away : a design oiplan of a house. Scheme is often
used in a bad sense ; design sometimes.
Lay square the blocks upon the slip.
And follow well tins plan of mine.
Longfdlou!, Building of the Ship.
The scheme of nature itself is a scheme unstrung and
mistuned. BushneU, Nature and the Supernat., p. 46.
And in my ear
Vented much policy, aai projects deep
Of enemies, of aids, battels, and leagues.
MUtan, P. K., iii. 391.
O Painter of the fruits and flowers !
We thank thee for thy wise design.
Whereby these human hands of ours
In Nature's garden work with thine.
MmtUer, Lines tor an Agricultural Exhibition.
plan (plan), V. t. ; pret. and pp. planned, ppr.
planning. [< plan, ».] 1. To lay down on
paper the different parts, divisions, dimensions,
and methods of construction of (a machine,
ship, building, etc.): as, to plan an edifice. —
2, To scheme ; lay plans for ; devise ways and
means for: as, to plan the conquest of a coun-
try; to plan one's escape.
Pfanwithallthy arts the scene of fate. Pope.
=Syn. 1. To figure, sketch out, delineate.
planaea (pla-ne'a), m. [KL.,<h. planus, Mt:
seeplain^jplane^'.'] A theoretical organism-, cor-
responding to the fourth stage in the develop-
ment of an ovum; a hypothetical multicellular
astomatous animal, whose larval form should
be that of a ciliated planula. Seeplanula. Also
called Uastiea. Haeclcel.
Planaeadse (pla-ne'a-d§), n. pi. [NL., < pla^
nsea + -adx."] A hypothetical group of animals
having the form of a ciliated planula and the
morphological valence of a blastula, supposed
4527
to have arisen in the primordial geologic period
in the direct line of descent of the remote an-
cestors of the human race. Saeckel.
planar (pla'nar), a. [< h. planar4us, flat: see
planary.'] Lying in a plane; planary; flat. —
Planar dyadic. See dyadic.
Planaria (pla-na'ri-a), n. pOi. (Miiller, 1776),
< LL. planahus, flat.] The typical genus of
Planariidse. P. torva is an example.
planarian (pla-na'ri-an), a. and n. [< LL^Zo-
narius, flat {soe planary), + -an.] I. a. Flat,
as a turbellarian ; belonging to the PVmaricla
or Dendroccela. See cut under Dendrocoda.
H. n. A member of the suborder Planarida.
Planarida (pla-nar'i-da), n. pi. [NL., < LL.
planarms, flat,' + -idai'i A suborder of Tur-
tellaria, containing the rhabdoeoelous and den-
droeoelous turbellarian worms ; the planarians.
When the so-called rhynchocoelous turbellanans or nemer-
tean worms are excluded, Plaruirida become the same as
Turbellaria. They are flatworms, mostly oval or elliptical
in form, moving by means of vibratile cilia. They are
hermaplirodite. In some the intestine is straight and
simple or rhabdoeoelous, in others branched and compli-
cated or dendrocoelous. They are mostly aquatic, inhabit-
ing both fresh and sidt water ; but some, the land-planari-
ans, are found in moist earth. See cut under Denaroecela.
planaridan (pla-nar'i-dan), a. and n. I. a.
Planarian in a t>road sense; turbellarian.
II. n. A planarian.
planariform (pla-nar'i-f6rm), a. [< LL. pla-
narius, flat, levelj 4- forma, jform.] Like a pla-
narian in form ; planaridan. A\ao planarioid.
Planariidae (plan-a-ri'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Pla-
naria + -idse.2 A' family of monogonoporous
Dendroccela of an oblong form, without a foot
differentiated from the body, typified by the
genus Planaria.
planarioid (pla-na'ri-oid), a. [< li'L.planarius,
flat, + Gr. etdaig, form.] Same as planariform.
planary (pla'na-ri), a. [< LL. planarius, flat,
level, <. L. planus, level, plane: see plain^,
pkme^.'] Lying in one plane; flat.
planate (pla'nat), a. [< NL. *planatus, < L.
planus, flat: Bee plane^."] In entom., flat; form-
ing a plane; flattened.
planceerf, n. Same a.s plancher.
planch (planch), n. [< F. planehe, < L. planea,
aboard, plank: see jjZorefc.] If. A plank. Fan-
shaw. — 2. In enameling, a slab of fire-brick or
baked fire-clay used to support the work while
it is baked in the oven. — 3. A flat iron shoe
for a mule. M. H. Knight.
plancht (planch), v.t. [< planch, m.] To plank ;
make of or cover with planks or boards. Also
plancher.
And to the vineyard is uplanched gate.
Shak., M. for M., iv. 1. 30.
Yet with his hoof es doth beat and rent
The planched floore.
Gorges, tr. of Lucan. (JTares.)
plancha (plan'eha), n. [Mex.] In the Mexican
silver-mines, a charge of ore ready for smelt-
ing, and also the disk or plate of argentiferous
lead produced by the operation.
planchert (plan'ohSr), n. [Alsoplanceer; early
mod. E. also plauncher ; < P. plancher, a floor or
ceiling of boards, iplanchejahoaxd, plank: see
planch, plank.'] 1. A plank.
Upon the ground doth lie
A hollow planeher. I/yly, Maid's Metamorph.
Th' anatomized fish, and fowls from planchers sprong.
Drayton, Polyolbion, UL 272
2. A floor of wood.
The holys that ben made forr hand gunnys, they ben
scarse kne hey fro the pla/umcher, and of soche holis ben
made fyve. Paston Letters, I. 83.
Oak, cedar, and chestnut are the best builders : . some
are best for plough timber, as ash : some for planchers, as
deal. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 668.
3. In anat., the inferior wall or boundary of a
cavity.
planchert (plan'cher), V. raiarly mod. E. also
plauncher; iplancher, m.] I, intrans. To make
a floor of wood. Abp. Bancroft, Letter, 1691, in
D'Oyly, n. 16.
If. trans. Same as planch.
Towers were plauncherd, & battlements and portcolyses
of timber set vp. Ooldivg, tr. of Csesar, fol. 133.
planchet (plan'chet), n. [< F. planchette, a
small board, a plane table, a cireumferentor,
formerly also the bottom of a stump, a bush,
etc. (= Sp. plancheta = Pg. prancheta, a cireum-
ferentor), dim. of planehe, a board: see planch,
plank.] A flat piece of metal intended to re-
ceive a die-impressionfor a coin; a coin-blank.
planchette (plan-chef; as P., plon-shet'), n. [<
P. planchette, a small board, a cireumferentor:
see planchet.] 1. A small heart-shaped or tri-
angular board mounted on three supports, of
plane
which two, placed at the angles of the base,
are easily moving casters, and the third, placed
at the apex, is a pencil-point, if the tips of the
fingers of one person, or of two, are placed lightly upon
it, the board will often, after a time, move without con-
scious effort on the part of the operator, and the pencil-
point will trace lines, words, and even sentences. It was
invented about 1855, and was for a time an object of not
a little superstition.
2. A cireumferentor.
plane^ (plan), a. and n. [I. a. < P. plan (f em.
plane) = Sp. piano = Pg. piano = It. piano, <
L. ^mitis, flat, level, plane, plain: see plain^,
a. n. n. < P. plan = Sp. Pg. piano = It. piano,
< 'Nh. planum, a geometrical plane; cf. ti. pla-
num, level ground, a plain, neut. of li. planus,-
level, flat, plane, plain : seeplain^, n. Ct.plan, '
n. Planei, plain^, plan, piano, are from the same
L. word.] I. a. 1. Having the character of a
plane ; contained within a plane : as, a plane
mirror; a plane curve. In n-dimensional geometry,
sometimes applied to a linear manifold of any number of
dimensions, for which Jlat is generally used.
2. In bot, having a flat surface or surfaces. —
3. In entom., flat and not deflexed; flat at the
margins: slb, plane elytra, Plane angle. SeeaTi-
gle3, 1.— Plane ashler. See asMer, 3.-^nane chart,
curve, function, geometry, inflection. See the nouns.
-Plane cubic parabola. See cubtc.— Plane scale, in
nav., a scale on which are graduated chords, sines, tan-
gente, secants, rhumbs, geographical miles, etc. — Plane
screw, a disk with a spiral thread upon its side.— Plane
surveying, the surveying of tracts of moderate extent,
without regarding the curvature of the earth.— Plane
trigonometry. See trigarumetry.—'PlaRe wings, in
entom., wings which are extended horizontally in repose.
II, «. 1. A geometrical surface such that if
any two points in it are joined by a straight
line, the line will lie wholly on the surface ; a
sfurfaee such that two of them which have any
three points in common must coincide over
their whole extent; hence, a real surface hav-
ing (approximately) this form, it is thus the sun-
plest -of all geometrical surfaces. A plane may also be
defined as a surface of the form which is the ideal limit
toward which the surfaces of three rigid solids. A, B, C,
approximate, if these are ground together in successive
pairs, AB, BC, CA, A6, and so on indefinitely. In liigher
geometry a planers considered as unlimited ; but in ele-
mentary geometry a part of such a surface is also called
Si plane.
Specifically — 2. In Mol.: (a) An ideal surface
of extension in any axis of an organism : as, the
vertical longitudinal ^Zawe of the body. (6) A
surface approximately flat or level; a "hori-
zon " : as, the plane of the teeth or of the dia-
phragm.— 3. In coalr^mimng, any slope or in-
cline on which coal is raised or lowered, but
usually applied to self-acting inclines, or those
on which the coal is lowered by gravity. [Penn-
sylvania anthracite region.] ' In England any
main road, whether level or inclined, may be
called a plane. — 4. In crystal., one of the nat-
ural faces of a crystal. — 5. Figuratively, a
grade of existence or a stage of development :
as, to live on a higher ptojie Alveolocondylean
plane. See craniometry. — Aspect of a plane. Seeos-
yect— Axial, basal, circular plane. See the adjectives.
— Camper's plane, the plane passing through the auric-
ular points and the base of the inferior nasal spine. Also
called auriculospinal plane. — Gleavage-plane, in min-
eral., a surface produced by cleavage.
The fiat surfaces obtained by splitting a crystal are called
its deavage planes. Ejicyc. Brit., XVI. 347.
Composition plane. See composition.— Cyclic planes
of a cone of Hie second order. See cj/cZia- Cydify-
Ing, diagonal, diametral, directing plane. See the
adjectives.— Double-acting inclined plane, in rail.,
ete., an inclined plane worked by the gravity of the load
conveyed, the loaded wagons which descend being made
to pull up the empty ones by means of a rope passing round
a pulley or drum at the top of the plane.— Double-tan-
gent plane. See double.— TleeROial, fleflecnodal, fo-
cal, frontal, horizontal plane. See the adjectives.—
Glabello-lambdoidean plane of Hamy, the plane of
the glabella and lambda, perpendicular to the median
plane.— Glabello-occlpltal plane, the plane of the gla-
bello-occipital diameter, perpendicular to the median
plane. — mcllned plane, in mech., a plane inclined to the
horizon, or forming with a horizontal plane any angle
whatever excepting a right angle. It is one of the two fun-
damental simple machines, the other being the lever. In
the figure, AC is
the inclined plane,
CB the height of
the plane, BA its
base, and BAC the
angle of inclina-
tion or elevation.
The power neces-
sary to sustain any
weight on an in-
clined plane is to
the weight as the height of the plane to its length, or as
CB to CA. This was first proved by Stevinus, as follows.
Let the two ends of a chain be joined, and let it be then
hung over the inclined plane. Then, the festoon which
hangs below AB pulls equally upou the two ends, and
consequently the part lying on AC balances the part on
BC— that is, weights proportional to the lengths of those
two sides of the toiangle balance one another. Hence, the
Inclined Plane.
plane
less the height of the plane in propflrtion to its length, or
the less the angle of inclination, the greater the mechan-
ical effect, or the less the height in proportion to the
length the less in the same proportion will be the weight
on the plane which balances a given weight hanging ver-
tically. The name inclined plane is sometimes loosely
applied to a short railroad of steep grade, where the cars
are drawn up the incline by means of a wire rope moved
by a stationary engine at the top of the slope, or where
special forms of rail and engine are used to overcome the
grade. The inclined plane of Mahanoy, Pennsylvania, is
an example of the first, the Mount Washington Eailroad,
New Hampshire, of the second. Inclined planes have been
used to lift canal-boats from one level to another, and more
recently, as at Cincinnati and at Hoboken, New Jersey, for
lifting street-cars and passengers.— Index of a plane,
.See tJMf ex.— Meckel's plane, the plane of the auricular and
alveolarpoint3.—Medlan, mesial plane. See the adjec-
tives— 'Merkel's plane, the plane of the auricular points
and the lower border of the orbits.— MetatatlC plane,
a plane which contains two inetatatic principal axes. —
Naso-lniac plane, the plane of the nasion and the inion,
peiTiendicular to the median plane.— Naso-opisthiac
Plane, the plane of the nasion and the opisthion, perpen-
dicular to the median plane.— Nuchal plane, the surface
of the occipital bone between the superior curved line and
the foramen magnum.— Objective, Oblique, origiual
plane. See the adjectives.— Occipital plane, the sur-
face of the occipital bone above the superior curved line.
— Orbital plane, the orbital surface of the superior max-
illary bone.— Osculating plane. See osrjMiate.- Pala-
tine plane of Barclay, in craniom., the plane tangent
to the arch of the palate along the middle line.— Pencil
of planes. Seepejwjii.- Perspective plane. See per-
spective.—fitch of a plane. See pScfti.- Plane at in-
finity. See infinity, 3.— Plane of Aeby, the plane of the
nasion and the basion, perpendicular to the median plane.
— Plane of Baer, in craniom., the plane determined by
the superior border of tlie zygomatic arches.— Plane of
Blumenbacli, in craniom., the horizontal plane upon
which the sl^nll, without the mandible, rests.— Plane of
Busk, the plane of the bregma and the auricular points. —
Plane of comparison, in fort., a datum-plane; a hori-
zontal plane passing through the highest or lowest part
of a fortiflcatiou or its site.- Plane of Daubenton, the
plane of the opisthion and the inferior border of the orbits.
— Plane of defilade, in fort. , a plane passing through the
interior crest or the highest point of a worlt, and paral-
lel to the plane of site.— Plane of flotation. See flotation.
— Plane of mastication, the plane tangent to the mas-
ticating surface of the teeth of the upper jaw.— Plane Of
Slorton, the plane passing through the most prominent
points oif the occipital and parietal protuberances.— Plane
of polarization. See polarization.— tlane of projec-
tion. Same as perspectiue plan£. — Plane of Rolle, the
plane of the auricular and the alveolar points. — Plane Of
the ischium, in obstet., the lateral wall of the true pelvis,
extending from the iliopectineal line to the end of the is-
chial tuberosity, andincluding small parts of the ilium and
pubis. —Plane of the picture. Same tLipergpectiveplane.
—Polar curve of a plane. See polar.— vo\ax plane of
a point. See jjotor.- Pole of a plane. See pdUS.-
Popliteal plane, the popliteal surface of the femur.—
Primitive plane. See ^WmiKwe.— Prismatic planes.
See prismatus.— Sagittal plane, the median longitudinal
and vertical plane of bilateral animals : so called because
the sagittal suture of the skull lies in this plane.— Tem-
poral plane, the temporal surface of the cranium.— To
aetail on the plane. See (2e(ai2.— Twinning-plane.
See twin. =Syn. L'See plaini., n.
plane^ (plan), v. t. ; pret. and pp. planed, ppr.
planing. [<.plane^,a. Gt.plain*a,ndplane^,v.,
ult. the same word.] To make plane or smooth ;
make clear.
What student came but that you planed her path
To Lady Psyche? Tennyson, Princess, iv.
plane^ (plan), v. t. ; pret. and pp. jylaned, ppr.
planing. [< MK.planen, < OF. (and 'ff.) planer
= It. pianare, < JJU. planare, plane (with a cut-
ting-tool), make level, < Ti. planus, level: see
jjtonei.] 1. To make smooth, especially by
the use of a plane : as, to plane wood. — Sf. To
rub out; erase.
He gained awey the names everichon
That he bif orn had writen in his tables.
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 50.
plane^ (plan), n. [< F. plane, a carpenters'
tool, < ML. plana, a carpenters' tool, < LL.
pianare, plane (with a eutting-tool), make
level: see plane^, v.'\ 1. A tool for paring,
smoothing, truing, and finishing woodwork.
The essential parts of a plane are a stock or frame of
wood or metal, having a smooth, concave, or convex base
or sole, and athroat in which is placed a steel cutter called
theptoie-iron or &it. Various devices are used to keep the
hit in position in the stock, the most simple and common
being a wedge of wood. Planes are made in a great variety
of shapes and sizes, and range from 1 to 72 inches in length.
Neai-Iy all are distinguished by names having reference to
the particular kind of work for which they are designed, as
t\ieedge-plan.e,'irwlding-plane,3.\\dLsrrwothing-plane. Planes
are also used for truing soft metal surfaces. Plane-irons are
inserted in their stocks at various pitches or angle^ ac-
cording to the duty they are to perform. Common pitch,
or 45° from the horizontal line, is used in all bench-planes
for soft woods. The pitch is increased with the hardness
of the material to be worked. See pitchl and plane-stock,
and cut in next column.
2. A metallic gage or test for a true surface;
a true plane or plane surface; a surface-plate.
— 3. An instrument, resembling a plasterers'
trowel, used by brickmakers for striking off clay
projecting above the top of the mold — Box-
slipped plane, a plane provided with slips of boxwood
to afford a more durable wearing surface.— Circular
4528
Planes,
a, plane-iron; d, wooden wedge for front of iron as used in c and (//
f, fore-plane; rf, smoother-plane ; f, jointer-plane ;y; iron jack -plane:
fi-, iron Dlock -plane; A, wooden jack-plane; j, wooden block-plane.
plane, a plane having a steel sole which is flexible and can
be adj usted to the required arc. Also called round planeanA
roM7id»ig'-2)tojc.— Combination plane. SeecomMnation.
—Concave plane. Same as compass-plane.— Coopeia'
plane, a long plane set obliquely, with the sole upward,
used for jointing staves. Also called jointer,— DovetaU-
plane, a side rabbet-plane having a very narrow sole, so
that it can be used to dress the sides of dovetail-tenons or
-mortises.— Fork-staff plane, a plane used by joiners for
working convex or cylindrical surfaces. — HDllOW plane, a
molding-plane with a convex sole.— Joiners' plane. See
joiner.— Long plane, a joiners' plane 27 inches long, used
when a piece of stuff is to be planed very true. K H.
Knight.— lllOTitb of a plane. See moirfft.— Kound-
nosed plane, in joinery, a bench-plane with a rounded
sole, used for coarse work.- Round ;plane, a round-soled
plane used for making beads, stair-rails, and other rounded
work. Also called rounding-plane, — Scale-board plane,
a plane for splitting off from a block the wide, thin chips or
sheets of wood for making a usual form of hat-box, etc.
It is either pulled or driven over the stuff, the thickness of
each shaving or scale-board depending upon the projection
of the iron. Sometimes the iron is fixed and the wood is
drawn over it, the scale-board dropping down through an
opening in the bench. Also called scabbard-plane. (See
&\so bench-plane. Mock-plane, fore-plane, jack-plaTie, rabbet-
plane, trying-plane.)
plane^ (plan), ». [< ME. jylane, < OF. plane,
F. plane, also platane = Sp. pldtano = Pg. It.
platano, < li.platamis, < Gr. •jrUravog, the plane-
tree,<ffAaT{if, broad: seeplat^.^ The plane-tree.
In serve and peche, in plane and popule.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 92.
Mock-plane, the sycamore maple, Acer Pseudo-tHatania,
whose leaves resemble those of the plane-tree. See under
Tnaple,
plane-bit (plan'bit), n. The cutter of a plane ;
a plane-iron. H. B. Knight— piane-'bit holder,
a device for holding a plane-bit to the stone while it is
ground.
plane-guide (plan'gid), n. In joinery, an ad-
justable guide or attachment to a plane-stock,
used in beveling the edges of boards.
plane-iron (plan'i"6m), n. The cutting-iron of
a plane. Plane-irons are made either double
or single, and are armed with a steel cutting
edge.
planeness (plan'nes), n. The condition of being
or having a plane surface.
On pulling the plates apart the bloom was found to he
burnished practically all over both surfaces, showing, of
course, that the platinating had not sensibly altered the
planeness of the surfaces.
Philosophical Mag., 5th ser., XXVUI. 454.
plane-plane (plan'plan), a. Having two plane
surfaces perfectly parallel to each other.
plane-polarized (plan'po-'iar-izd), a. See po-
larization.
planer (pla'nfer), re. [< plane^, v., + -er'i-.'i 1.
A tool for planing wood ; a plane; also, aplan-
ing-machine. — Sf. A utensil for smoothing or
leveling salt in salt-cellars.
Than loke your salte be whyte and diye, the planer made
of luory, two inches brode & thre inclies longe.
Babees Book (B. E. T. S.), p. 266.
3. In printing, a block of wood, about 9 inches
long, 3 J wide, and 3 high, on the top of which is
a strip of leather, by means of which the project-
ing types of a form are beaten down to a level by
blows of a mallet — Compovmd planer, a machine-
tool which combines two planes in one. E. H. Knight.
— Diagonal planer, a machine for wood-planing in
which the planing-cylinder is placed obliquely to the
line of motion of the stuff which is to be planed.— Planer
knife-grinder. See knife-grinder. — Snow-planer, an
implement for removing snow from the surface of ice.
Planera (plan'e-ra), n. [NL. (Gmelin, 1791),
named after 3 "3 "Planer (1743-89), a German
botanist.] A genus ctf plants of the order
plane-table
VrticacesB and tribe Dlmese. it is characterized 1»
the fruit, which is wingless, ovoid, nut-like, keeled, and
roughened, thick and coriaceous or somewhat fleshy, and
containing one cell and one seed. There is but one spe-
cies, native of North America. See planer-tree.
planer-bar (pla'nfer-bar), «. An attachment to
a planer to enable it to perform within certain,
limits the work of a slotting- or shaping-ma-
chine. E. H. Knight.
planer-center (pla.'n6r-sen"tfer), n. A device-
similar to a Jathe-center, used to support small
work on a planing-macmne. E. JB. Knight
planer-chuck (pla'n6r-chuk), ». A device
bolted or kejred to a planer-table, and serving
to dog an object under the action of the plane.
E. H. Knight.
planer-head (pla'ner-hed), n. The slide-rest of
a planing-machine.
planerite (plan'6r-it), n. [After D. J. Planer,
director of mines in the Ural mountains.] A
hydrous phosphate of aluminium, allied to wa-
vellite.
planer-tree (pla'nfer-tre), n. A tree of the
southern United States, Planera aquatiea. it is
a small tree, with alternate two-ranked toothed leaves,
preceded by small axillaiy clusters of polygamous flowera
with bell-shaped calyx and four or five slender projecting
stamens. It is most common along the Red Eiver and in
southern Arkansas. It resembles the elm, requbes wet
situations, grows about SO feet high/ and produces a hard
compact light-brown wood.
planer-vise (pla'n^r-vis), n. A device to hold
work on the bed of a planing-machine by means
of a movable jaw.
plane-sailing (plan'sa"ling), n. Innav., the art
of determining a ship's place on the supposi-
tion that she is moving on a plane, or that the
surface of the ocean is plane instead of being
spherical. This supposition may be adopted for short
distances without leading to great errors ; and it affords
great facilities in calculation, as the place of the ship is
found by the solution of a right-angled plane triangle. In
plane-sailing the principal terms made use of are the
course, distance, departure, and difference of latitude, any
two of which being given the others can be found. See
plane-stock (plan'stok), n. The body of a
plane, in which the cutting-iron is fitted, its
under surface, which in use is against the work, is called
the sole or face; the cutting-blade is the iron; the device
which holds the iron upon the inclined bed is the wedge;
the opening through which the plane-iron passes is the
mouth; a projecting portion at the front end is the hom;
and the pushing-handle which projects above the back
end is the toat.
planet (plan'et), m. [(.WE. planete = 'D.plar
neet = MHG. planete, G. Sw. Dan. planet, < OF.
planete, F. planete = Sp. Pg. planeia = It. piw-
neta, < HL.planeta, Ta,rely planetes, a planet, <
Gr. nTiavij-nic, a wanderer, a wandering star, a
planet, lengthened form of irXdvT/g, pi. jrAaM/ref,
a wanderer, a planet, cf. irTiavav, cause to wan-
der, pass. ir?iavda0at, wander, < irXdvi!, a wander-
ing, perhaps for *ira/lv/?, akin to L. palari, wan-
der.] 1. A star other than a fixed star; a star
revolving in an orbit. The sun was formerly coiiBid-
ered as a planet, but is now known to be a fixed star. By
planet is ordinarily meant a primary planet of the solar
system, or body revolving round the sun in a nearly
circular orbit. Of these eight are majmr ^anete— being,
in their order from the sun. Mercury, Venus, the Earth,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. There are be-
sides about 400minori)Zo!?i«te known. (Seej)ianctot(J.) The
periodic comets are not regarded as planets. A secondary
planet is a satellite, or small body revolving round a pri-
mary planet: thus, the moon is a secondary planet See
solar system (under solar), gravitation, Kepler'slawsimier
law), and the names of iSe major planets.
The planet earth, so steadfast though she seem.
Insensibly three different motions move.
Jlf«6o«,P. L.,vili.m
2. Same a,s planeta, 2 — Interior planets. See in-
terior.—Urait Of a planet. See limit.— Osculating ele-
ments of a planet. See oscwJofe.- Perturbations of
the planets. See perturbation, 4.— Superior planets.
See superior.
planeta(pla-ne'ta), m.; i,l.p7anetx(-te). [ML.]
1. Originally, an ample mantle, usually of cost-
ly material, similar to the psenula, or chasuhle
in its earlier or circular form, it was worn by the
wealthy, and especially by senators, officials, and nobles,
in Eorae and other parts of the West during the fifth and
sixth centuries.
Hence — 2. A chasuble. The name planeta (appa-
rently unknown to the Greek Church) seems to have been
especially used during the seventh and eighth centuries.
After this the vestment was usually called a casula or
chasuble; but planeta is still the official term in the Ko-
man Catholic Church. At certain penitential seasons
(Advent, lent, etc.) the deacon and subdeacon in cathe-
drals and some other churches wear a folded planeta (yio-
neta plicata), except in reading the epistle and gospel.
The planeta was worn by bishops as well as by presby-
'^"•s- Eneyc. BrU. , VI. 461.
plane-table (plan'ta"bl), n. l. An important
instrument of topographical surveying, consist-
ing of a drawing-board mounted upon a tripod,
and capable of being leveled and turned in
plane-table
4529
azimuth, sometimes also having two horizon- the group of very small planets revolving round
tal motions of translation. An indispensable accom- the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
?ShSU'e'?^r/upa",,l^^d^ir4ie^^e'i!tS (with one known exception), remarkable for the
cross-wires (geueraUy with a telemeter), which teleSoope is eccentricity of their orbits and the greatness of
hoiizoutally fixed relatively to the straight-edge, but has <iheir angle of inclination to the ecliptic ; a mi-
a motion in altitude. The alidade gen eraUy cai-ries a deli- nor planet ; an asteroid. The diameter of the largest
cate magnetic needle. A certain number of points having
been geodetically determined and marked by signals, the
plane-table is set up at any other point, and the paper upon
which the map is to be drawn, having the trigonomet-
ric points laid down upon it, is placed upon the table. The
latter is then brought into proper orientation, and the po-
sition ol the station determined graphically by the three-
point problem. The plane-table presents some slight diffl-
cnlties when the scale is to be so large that the board it- _i___4. -j i / ,
sell appears ol considerable size on the map, and especially P^laHetOiaal (pli
when irregularly laid out towns are to be smTeyed ivith ' " " "
the last degree of accuracy. On the other hand, tte plane-
table is of little use in mere reconnaissance. But in most
«ases it is the chief instrument of the topographer, and is
used in all topographical surveys except those of Great
Britain.
2. In mining, an inclined table or surface of
boards on which ore is dressed; a frame, or
framing-table.
Also plain-table.
plane-table (plau'ta"bl), v. t. i< plane-table, ».]
To survey with a plane-table.
plane-tabler (plan'ta"bler), n. A topographic
engineer using a plane-table.
plane-tabling (plan'ta"bling), n. The em-
ployment of a plane-table ; the act or process
of makii^ a map by means of a plane-table.
planetarium (plan-e-ta'ri-um), n. ; pi. planeta-
Hums, planetaria (-umz, -a). [= 'P.planStaireT=
Sp. Pg. It.planetario, < Mj. planetarium, prop,
neut. of LL. *pla7ietarius, planetary: se& plane-
tary.'] An astronomical machine which, by the
movement of its parts, represents the motions
and orbits of the planets. See orrery.
planetary (plan'e-ta-ri), a. [= P. planStaire
= Sp. Pg. It. planetaria, < LL. *planstarius,
planetary (only as a noun, planetarius, an as-
trologer), <i)to«efei, a planet: see planet."] 1.
Of or pertaining to a planet or the planets;
consisting of planets: as, planetary motions;
planetary inhabitants; the planetary system.
— 2. Having the character attributed to a
planet; erratic or wandering.
I am credibly informed he [Kichard Greenham] in some
soH repented his removal from his parish, and disliked
his own erratical zxi&ptavjetary life.
FuOer, Ch. Hist., IX. vii. 68.
3. In astrol., under the dominion or influence
of a planet; produced by or under the influ-
ence of planets.
Be as AjAanetary plague, when Jove
Will o'er some high-viced city hang his poison
In the sick air. Shak., T. of A., iv. 3. 108.
Bom in the plaJietary hour of Saturn.
Addison, Spectator.
nauetary aberration. See aberration.— Planetaxv
days, the days of the week as shared among the planed
known to the ancients, each having its day. — Planetary
nebula. See neZiiiZiz.— Planetary years, the periods of
is supposed not to exceed 460 miles,wliile most of the others
are believed to be very much smaller. Ceres was the first
to be detected, being observed for the first time by Fiazzi,
an Italian astronomer, on January Ist^ 1801 ; since 1847
no year has passed without the discovery of new plane-
toids. The number now known is over 460. In 1898 a
planetoid was discovered whose mean distance from the
snn is less than that of Mars.
_ an-e-toi'dal), a. [(.planetoid +
-al.] Of or pertaining to the planetoids; re-
lating to a planetoid.
plane-tree (plan'tre), n. . [< planeS + tree.]
1. A tree of the genus Platanus, especially P.
orientalis, the oriental plane-tree, or its variety
acemfolia, the maple-leafed plane-tree, often
regarded as a species. The oriental plane-tree and
its variety are found wild from Persia to Italy, and are
common in European parks as ornamental trees. The
wood is valued for cabinet-work and turnery. (Also called
Branch of the American Plane-tree {Platanus occidentalis\ with
Fruit a, a single nutlet, showing the bristles at its base.
cMnar-tree. ) The American plane-trees are better known,
where native, as sycamwre or buUonwood. The ordinary
species is P. occidentalis, the largest tree of the Atlantic
forests, often from 90 to 120 feet high, found chiefly on
bottom-lands. It is not seldom planted for shade and or-
nament, and its reddish-brown wood is used in various
ways. Other names are ImUoniaU and water-ieech. The
plane-tree of California is P. racemosa, a somewhat smaller
tree with very white bark. Plane-trees suffer from a dis-
ease caused by the attack of a parasitic fungus, Glaso-
spvrium ngrvisequum. The entire foliage appears in early
summer as if scorched and withered, but later in the sea-
son fresh leaves ai-e developed. The trees rarely die from
the effects of the fungus. See Platanue.
2. The sycamore maple, Acer Pseudo-platanus:
so called from the similarity of its leaves to
time in which the several planets make their respective those of the plane. Other maples are also
revolutions round the sun. sometimes known as i>toMe-/rees. [Local, Eng.
and Scotch.]
planet-stricken (plan'et-strik"n), a. Affected
by the supposed influence of planets ; blasted.
JAke planet-stricken men of yore.
He trembles, smitten to the core
By strong compunctions and remorse.
Wordsworth, Peter Bell, iii.
planeted (plan'et-ed), a. [(.planet + -e^.] Be-
longing to planets. [Bare.]
Tell me, ye stars, ye planets ; tell me, all
Ye starr'd saidplaneted inhabitants — what is it?
What are these sons of wonder?
Young, Night Thoughts, ix.
planet-gearing (plan' et-ger"ing), n. Anysys-
Same as
temof gearing in which planet-wheels are in- planet-struck (plan'et-struk), a.
troduced ; a mechanical device for converting planet-stricken.
power into speed, it has been employed for driving ^J^t^?^^n^tthf^^pl^t2\^k '""" "" ""^
the cutter-bars of reapers and mowers, and is an element ™^"'' ■'^^ '*'" as " "« BfvTAdwn^ Works I 479
pfanetL"(pl|-net'ik),a. [In form < LL. j,?a«««- Planetule (plan'et-iil), «.' t<planJt-i-.ule.i A
cus, wandering, < G-r. wTuavr/Trndg, wandering, bttle planet._
irregular, < irXavriTdQ, wandering, < n^avaadai,
wander: see planet. In sense direetly depen-
dent on planet.] Of or pertaining to a planet ;
resembling a planet in any way.
planetical (pla-net'i-kal), a. [< planetie + -al.]
Same as planetie.
According to the planstieai relations.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., v. 22.
Some planetical exhalation, or a descending star.
J. Spencer, Prodigies, p. 39.
planetingf (plan'et-ing), n. [< planet + 4ng'>-.]
The music of the planets or spheres.
Tempering all
The jarring spheres, and giving to the world
Again his first and tuneftil planetting.
B. Jomim, Sad Shepherd, iii. 2.
planetistt (plan'et-ist), «. [= P. planeUste =
Sp. Olt. planetista, < LL. *planeUsta, < planeta,
planet: seeplanet.] An observer of the planets.
planimeter
plangent (plan'jent), a. [< L. plangen{t-)s,
ppr. ot j)langere, beat: see plain^.] 1. Beat-
ing; dashing, as waves. [Rare.]
Nor heeds the weltering of the plangent wave.
SirH. Taylor, Ph. van Artevelde(ed. 1852), I., i. 10.
2. Resounding; clashing; noisy.
The bell on the orthodox church called the members of
Mr. Peck's society together for the business meeting with
the same pkmg&nt, laceraut note that summoned them to
worship on Sundays. W. D. BowMs, Annie Eilbum, xxv.
The shadows and the generations, the shrill doctors and
the plangent wars, go by into ultimate silence and empti-
ness. B. h. Stevenson, An Apology for Idlers.
plangort (plang'gor)^ n. [< L. plangor, a strik-
ing, beating, a beating the breast in token of
grief, < plangere, beat: see plain^.] Plaint;
lamentation.
The lamentable plangors of Thracian Orpheus for his
dearest Eurydice.
Meres, Eng. Literature (Arber's Eng. Gamer, IL 96).
Plan! (pla'ni), n. pi. [NL., pi. of "L. planus,
flat: see plane\] In Cuviers classifieation,
the second family of snbbrachiate malacop-
terygian fishes; the flatfishes: same as Pleuro-
nectidse in a wide sense and the luborder Sete-
rosomata.
planicaudate (pla-ni-k&'dat), a. [< li. planus,
flat,-l- cau^, tail,+ -ate^ (see caudate).] Hav-
ing a flattened taU: said of reptiles.
planicipital (pla-ni-Bip'i-tal), a. [< L. planus,
flat, -I- caput {capit-, in cdinp. -cixnt-), head, -I-
-al.] Having a flat head, as an insect.
planidorsate (pla-ni-ddr'sat), a. [< L. plamis,
fiat, -I- dorsum, back, + -afei.] Having a flat
back.
planiform (pla'ni-f 6rm), a. [< L. planus, flat,
-I- forma, form.] In anat., presenting a plane
or flat surface: said of the articular surface of
bones whose jointing is arthrodial.
planigraph. (plan'i-graf), n. [< NL. planum,
a plane, -I- Gr. ypa6eiv, write.] An instrument
for reducing or enlarging drawings. It consists
of two scales graduated in a definite ratio to each other, at-
tached end to end, and rotating about a pivot at their com-
mon origin. Measurements l^en on a copy at one side
are marked by the operator at the corresponding grada-
tions on the other arm of the instnunent. Interchange-
able scales are provided for different degrees of enlarge-
ment or reduction.
planimeter (pla-nim'e-ter), n. [= P. plani-
mitre; < NL. planum, a plane, + Gr. idrpov,
measure.] Aninstrument formeasuiing aplane
area by carrying a tracer round its periphery,
and noting the change of reading of a scale.
Planimeters are of various consti*uctions ; but the most in-
teresting is the polar planimeter (see the first figure). This
consists of an inner arm 0 J, turning about a fixed center 0,
and an outer arm JP, turning about a joint J, and resting
upon a point or tracer P, and upon a wheel W, having ite
axis coincident with or just below the line JP, and pro-
vided with a counting-apparatus, so that the turns and
fractions of a turn it makes can be read off. In order to see
that the instrument will accurately show the area, consid-
er the second figure, where the tracer is supposed to follow
P,R
planetoid (plan'et-oid), n. [= Y.planitoide, <
Gr. ■KkavifTri^, a planet, + eWof, form.] One of
planet-wheel (plan'et-hwel), n. 1. The ex-
terior wheel of the sun-and-planet motion
(see sum). — 2. In the
plural, an epicyclic
train of mechanism for
producing a variable
angular motion, such
as that of the radius
vector of a planet in
its orbit. The common
contrivance for this purpose
consists of two elliptical
wheels connected by teeth
in gear with each other,
and revolving on their foci
While the driving-wheel
moves uniformly, the radius
vector of the other has the
required motion.
plangencv (plan'jen-
si), TO. [<plangen(t) +
-oy.] The state or qual-
ity of being plangent ; a noisy dashing or beat-
ing. [Rare.]
the outline ot an infinitesimal parallelogram, PiP2P<tP4, so
placed that when the tracer moves from Pg to Pa and from
P4 to Pi the wheel moves from W2 to W3 and from W4
to W], both these paths of the wheel being in the direc-
tion of its axis, so that it only turns in passing from Wj
to W2 and from W3 to W4, during which motions the in-
Flanet'Wheels.
The spur-^ear to the right,
called the planet-gear, is tied to
the center of the other, or sun-
gear, by an arm which preserves
a constant distance between their
centers. Each revolution of the
planet-gear, which is ri^dly at-
tached to the connecting-rod,
gives t^vo to the sun-gear, which
is keyed to the By-wheel ^aft
planimeter
ner arm is stationary. The area of the parallelogram de-
scribed by the tracer is equal to the base PiPa = Wi W2
(JP2 -T- J W2) maltiplied by the altitude, which is evident
Jyeqnal to W2WJJ, so that the area is WjWg x WgWg x
gP2 -i- JW2). The wheel turns one way in passing from
W2 to W3, and the opposite way in passing from W4 to Wi.
But these two paths are not exactly equal, their difference
being plainly W1W2 x W2W3 -i- JW2. The algebraic
sum of the rolling multiplied by the constant length JP2
gives the area. Now, any finite area may be conceived as
fonned of such infinitesimal parallelograms, and were the
peripheries of all these traced out in the direction of the
motion of cloclc-hands, every boundary between two of
them would be traced once forward and again bacliward,
so that the ilnal reading of the wlieel would be the same
as if only the outer boundary of the area were traced. This
Is illustrated in the third figure. Also called plcetometer.
planimetric (plan-i-met'rik), a. [= F. plani-
mitrique = Pg. planimetrico; as planimetr-y +
-jc] Pertaining to planimetry or the mensu-
ration of plane surfaces.— pianlmetric function.
See/uncfion.
planimetrical (plan-i-met'ri-kal), a. [< plani-
metric + -al.'] Same &s planimetric.
planimetry (pla-nim'et-ri), n. [= 'F.plani-
mitrie = Sp. planometria, planimetHa = Pg. It.
planimetria; < NL. planum, a plane, + Gr.
-(itrpia, < fiifpov, measure.] The mensuration
of plane surfaces, or that part of geometry
which regards lines and plane figures.
planing-machine (pla'nmg-ma-shen"), n. 1.
A machine for planing wood,' the usual form
of which has cutters on a drum rotating on a
Planing-machme, with outside gear.
a a, bed ; * *, pedestals ; c, main drivine-pulley. keyed to the same
main driving-shaft as the pulley </, which transmits motion through
the belt e to the top cutter-cylinder pulley y; The feed-mechanism
consists of rolleis geared together and driven by the pulley £", which
derives its motion from the feed-belt e', driven by a small pulley on
the main driving-shaft ; A, a hand-wheel operating screw-mechanism
for raising or lowering the top cylinder ; t. crank operating mecha-
nism for adjusting matching-heads ', kff, cranks operating adjusting
mechanism for raising or lowering feed-rolls to accommodate dilTer.
ent thicknesses of stulT; /, cranlc for regulating the pressure-bar;
tn ntf weighted levers for holding the feen-rollers with constant pres-
sure.
horizontal axis over the board, which passes
beneath. There may also be cutter-drums underneath
and at the edges, so as to plane top, bottom, aud edges
simultaneously. Also called wood-planer,
2. A machine-tool for planing metals, in which
the metal object to be planed, fixed to a tra-
versing table, is moved against a relatively
fixed cutter. .Also called metal-planer.
planing-mill (pla'ning-mil), n. 1. A shop
where planing is done. — 3. A planing-ma-
chine.
planipennate (pla-ni-pen'at), a. [< L. planus,
S.a.t,+ pemia, wing, -t- -ate^ (seej)e»«afe).] Hav-
ing flat wings not folded in repose and approx-
imately equal to each other, as a neuropterous
insect; specifically, belonging to the Planipen-
nia.
Planipennia (pla-ni-pen'i-a), n. pi. [NL., < L.
planus, flat, + penna, wiiig.] A suborder of
neuropterous insects, with nearly equal naked
many-veined wings not folded in repose, well-
developed jaws, and elongate many-jointed an-
tenna. The larvae are mostly terrestrial, and voracious
insect-feeders; the pupse are incomplete and inactive; the
perfect insects are generally herbivorous. The suborder
includes such forms as the ant-lions (Myrmdeantidse), scor-
pion-flies {Panarpidm), and sundry other families, which
the genivsu Ascalaphui, HemeroUua, Comopteryx, Wantispa,
JKh^kidia, and SiaZis respectively represent. See cuts
under ant-lion and Panorpa.
planipennine (pla-ni-pen'in), a. and n. [< Pla-
nipennia + -ine^.'] I. a. Of or pertaining to the
iianipennia.
U. ». One of the Planipennia.
planipetalous (pla-ni-pet'a-lus), a. [= Sp.
planipitalo = Pg. planipetalo, < L. planus, flat,
+ NL. petalum, petal.] Li hot., having flat
petals.
planirostral (pla-ni-ros'tral), a. [< L. planus,
flat, -t- rostrum, beak.] Saving a broad flat
beak, as a bird.
planisll (plan'ish), V. t. [< OP. planiss, stem of
certain parts of planir, equiv. to planer, plane :
seej>teree2, «.] 1. To make smooth or plane, as
wood. — 3. To condense, smooth, and toughen,
as a metallic plate, by light blows of a hammer.
— 3. To polish: as, to planish silver goods or
tin-plate.
planisher (plan'ish-6r), n. [< planish + -eri.]
1. A thin flat-ended tool used by tinners and
4530
braziers for smoothing tin-plate andbrasswork.
2 A workman who planishes, smooths, or
planes.— 3. A device for flattening sections
cut by a microtome for microscopic examina-
tion. . , . , ,, . .
planishing-hainmer (plan'ish-mg-ham"er), n.
A hammer used for planishing, having a head
with highly polished convex faces, usually
rather broader than the face of a common ma-
chinists' hammer; also, less correctly, a simi-
lar hammer used for flattening, curving, etc.
planishing-roUer (plan'ish-ing-r6"ler), n. A
highly polished roller used for smoothing sur-
faces of metal plate, as copper plated with tm
or silver. Specifically, one of the second pair of rolls
through which coin-metal is passed in preparing it for
minting. They are made of case-hardened iron and
highly polished. The strips of metal are passed between
them cold, and are brought by them to the required
thiclcness. . , \ . a
planlshing-stake (plan'ish-ing-stak), n. A
small bench-anvil used to support anything
being shaped with a planishing-hammer.
planisphere (plan'i-sfer), n. l=F. planisphere
= Sp. planisferio = Pg. planispherio = It. pla-
nisferio, < 1,. planus, fiat, + sphsera, sphere : see
sphere.2 1. A projection of the sphere; espe-
cially, a polar projection of the celestial sphere.
— 3. An apparatus consisting of a polar projec-
tion of the heavens, with a- card over it turning
about the pole, and so cut out as to show the
part of the heavens visible at a given latitude
at a given local sidereal time.
planispherio (plan-i-sf er'ik), a. [= F. plani-
spMrigue; as planispliere + -ic] Of or per-
taining to a planisphere; resembling a plani-
sphere.
FlanUpherlo representation of the cerebral convolu-
tions. Nature, XXX. 161.
planispiral (pla-ni-spi'ral), a. [< L. planus,
fiat, + spira, a coil, spire : see spire.2 Coiled in
one plane, like a watch-spring or fiat spirM, as
the antlia of a butterfly; whorled in discoid
form, as a shell of the genus Planorbis. Also
planoim/ral.
plank (plangk), n. [< ME. j)ZonA;e, < OF.planke,
assibila,ted3)lanche,F.2}lancJie,6ial.plan1ce='Pr.
planca, plancha, planqua = Sp. plancha = Pg.
prancha = It.piana = 0¥iies.planke = D.plank
= MLG.planke=MH.Or.plan]ce, ilanke, Gr.planke
= Sw. planka = Dan. planlce, < L. planca, a
plank, a nasalized form of *placa, = Gr. 7r/.df
(jtAo/c-), a fiat surface, a plain, tablet, plate. Of.
plack. See planch, a doublet of plank. The
&. and "W. plane is appar. < E.] 1. A piece of
timber differing from a board in having greater
thickness; also, loosely, a board. See board.
Ne nevere man dide, sithe the tyme of Noe, saf a Monl^
that be the grace of God broughte on of the Plankes
doun ; that zit is in the Mynstre, at the foot of the Mon-
tayne. MavdemUe, Travels, p. 148.
Across the fallen oalc the jlank I laid.
ffa!/,.Shepherd's Week, Monday, 1. 107.
2t. A slab (of stone).
Over his [Sir T. Browne's] Grave was soon after erected
... a Monument of Freestone, with a Plank of Marble
thereon. Wood, Athence Oxon., II. 524.
8. In a printing-press, the frame on which the
carriage slides. — 4. In ribbon-weaving, the 'bat-
ten of the Dutch engine-loom or swivel-loom. —
5. Figuratively, one of the articles or para-
graphs formulating distinct principles which
form the program or platform of a political or
other party (the word platform being taken in
a double sense).
In the Chicago platform there is a plank on this subject,
which should be a general law to the incoming Adminis-
tration. Lincoln, in Raymond, p. 86.
We should get those amendments out of the way before
we stril^e out for the summer campaign. We want two
plamke — non-extension of slavery, and state reform.
S. Bowles, in Merriam, 1. 291.
Walking the plank, a mode of inflicting death formerly
practised by pirates by causing their victims to walk along
a plank laid across the bulwarks of a ship tQl they over-
balanced it and fell into the sea.
plank (plangk), V. t. [= OPries. plonken = MD.
planken = MLG. plcmken = G. planken = Sw.
planka = Dan. planke, plank; from the noun.
Of. planch, «.] 1 . To cover or lay with planks :
as, to plank a floor.
The streets of their cities and townes instead of pauing
are plaiiked with fir trees, plained & layd euen close the
one to the other. HaMuyVe Voyages, I. 480.
2. To lay or place as on a plank or table : as,
he planked down the money. [Colloq.] — 3. In
hat-manuf., to harden by felting. See planking,
4. — 4. To unite, as slivers of wool, to form
roving. — 5. To split, as fish, and cook upon a
board. See the quotation. [U. S.]
planometer
The principal dish was planked shad. By this proce»
four flsh are fastened to a board, and held towards a hot
flre. Whilst cooking, the fish are constantly basted with
a preparation made of butter, salt, and other ingredients.
Science, V. 426.
plank-hook (plangk'hiik), n. Apoleai-medwith
an iron hook, used in moving the runs or wheel-
ing-planks in a quarry, a mine, or the like.
planking (plang'king), n. [Verbal n. ot plank,
«,] iTThe operation of laying down planks
or of covering with planks. — 3. Planks con-
sidered collectively, as in a fioor; a piece of
work made up of planks ; specifically, in s/ijp.
building, the skin or covering of wooden timhers
on the outer and inner surfaces of the ribs, and
upon the beams . A strake is a line of planking,
Wales are strakes of thick planking. See cut
under beam. — 3. In spinning, the splicing toge-
ther of slivers of long-stapled wool. See ireai-
iMfl'-Zmrae.— 4. Oneof thefinishingoperationsia
felting hats. The hardened hat-body is passed throagh
a cistern containing a hot acidulated water, and between
pressing-rollers, the process compacting the fibers into
felt.
5. In a steam-cylinder, the lagging or clothing.
— Anchor-stock planking, in shipbuilding, planks wiQi
one edge straight and the other so cut that the planks taper
from the middle in both directions. The middle of one is
S laced over or under the ends of two others.
ankiug-clamp (plang'king-klamp), n. h.
ship-building, a tool used to bend a strake agaiust
the ribs of a vessel, and hold it in position un-
til it can be nailed or bolted.
planking-machine (plang'king-ma-shen*), n.
A machine for rubbing, pressing, and steaming
formed hat-bodies, to give them strength and
thickness.
planking-screw (plang'king-skr6), n. Same as
planking-clamp.
plank-sheer (plangk'sher), n. Naut., the gun-
wale; a timber carried round the ship which
covers and secures the timber-heads. Also
called covering-board.
plankton (plangk'tgn), n. [< Gr. TrTuiyKTd;, -6v,
wandering.] In zool., pelagic animals col-
lectively.
planky (plang'ki), a. [< plank + -^1.] Con-
structed of planks or boards. [Kare.]
planless (plan'les), a. [< plan + -?ess.] Hav-
ing no plan. Coleridge.
planner (plan'fer), n. One who plans or forms
a plan ; a projector.
planoblast (pla'no-blast), n. [< Gr. 7r;iowc,
wandering, + jSTuiaTog, germ.] A wandering
bud; the free medusoid of gymnoblastio hy-
drozoans ; the gonophore of such hydroids, de-
tached from the colony, leading an independent
loeomotory life, and discharging its mature
sexual products into the sea: distinguished
from the hedrioblast, or sedentary bud. With a
single known exception (that of Dieoryne), planoblasts are
craspedote or velum-bearing medussB, bell-shaped, with
the walls of the beU or umbrella mainly of gelatinous con.
sistence ; from the bell hangs a tubular body, the manu-
brium ; the opening of the bell-cavity is the codonostoma,
partially closed by a membranous velum ; and a variable
number of filaments, the tentacles, hang from the margin
of the umbrella.
To the gonophores belonging to this group [GymtuMas-
tea] the name of planoWasts (wandering buds) may be
given.
G. J. AUman, Challenger Reports, Hydroida, XXIDL ii. 26.
planoblastic (pla-no-blas'tik), a. Of the na-
ture of or pertaining to planoblasts ; medusoid.
plano-concave (pla"nd-kon'kav), a. [< h. pla-
nus, plane, -1- concavus, concave : see concave,]
Plane on one side and concave on the other.
piano-conical (pla"n6-kon'i-kal), a. [< h.pla-
nus, plane, + conicus, conic : see conic, conical]
Plane on one side and conical on the other.
plano-convez (pla^o-konVeks), a. [< L. pla-
nus, plane, + convexv^, convex: see convex,]
Plane on one side and convex on the other.
planodia (pla-no'di-a), n. [< Gr. wMvog, wan-
dering, + odig, a way, road.] A false passage,
such as may be made in using a catheter.
planogamete (plan'o-ga-met), n. [< Gr. irUn,
a wandering, + yajuTTic, < ya/ielv, marry.] In
6of., a motile gamete: aa.vae a,s eoogamete. See
gamete.
planographist (pla-nog'ra-flst), n. [< li.plantts,
plane, + Gr. yp&feiv, write, + -ist.] A surveyor;
a plan- or map-maker. [Bare.]
Ml planographisiU of the Holy City.
W. M. Thomson, land and Boole, p. 421. (Encyc, Diet)
piano-horizontal (pla"n6-hor-i-zon'tal), a. [<
L. planus, plane, + ML. *lim-igontalis", horizon-
tal : see iMyrizontal.] Having a plane horizontal
surface or position.
planometer (pla-nom'e-t6r), n. [< 1,. planus,
plane, + Gr. ixerpov, a measure.] A plane sur
Planorbis comeits.
planometer
face Tised in machine-making as a gage for plane
surfaces; a surface-plate.
planometlT (pla-nom'et-ri), n. [< L. planus,
plane, + Gr. -lurp'm, < /Urpm, measure.] The
measurement or gaging of plane surfaces ; the
art or act of using a planometer.
piano-orbicular (pla*n6-6r-l)ik'u-lar), a. [< L.
planus, plane, -I- NL. orhiculdris, orbicular:
see orl>icular.'\ Flat on one side and spherical
on the other.
Flanorbinse (pla-ndr-bi'ne), n. pi. [NL., <
Planorbis + ■dnse.'] A subfamily of pond-snails
of the family Limnseidse, typified by the genus
Planorbis, having a flat diseoidal or planispiral
shell. The subfamily is one of three, contrasted
with Idmnannse and Aneylinse.
planorbine (pla-n6r'bin), a. [< li. planus, flat,
plane, + arms, circle, disk, + -jnei.] Whorled
in a round flat spiral ; planispiral, as a pond-
snail ; belonging to the Planorbinee.
Planorbis (pla-n6r'bis), n. [NL., < L. planus,
flat, plane, + orbis, circle, disk: see orbK] The
typical genus of Planorbinee.
It is very extensive, including about
150 species, 25 of which are found in
the United States. They Inhabit
ponds and sluggish streams.
planorbite (pla-n6r'bit), n.
[< Planorbis + ■ite^.'] A fos-
sil species of Planorbis, or some similar planor-
bine shell.
Flanorbulina (plarudr-bu-li'na), n. [NL., < L.
planus, plane, + jNL. Orbulina, q. v.] A genus
of foraminifers whose tests are of planorbine
figure.
planorbuline (pla-n6r'bu-lin), a. [< Planorbur-
Mrea.] Of or pertaining to the genus Flanorbu-
lina.
Two of the most remarkable modiflcationa of the jp7a7U)r-
ftuZfne type, which strikingly illustrate the extremely wide
range of variation among Foraminifera, are Polytrema
and Orbitolina. Encye. Srit., IX. 380.
planospiral (pla-no-spi'ral), a. Bee planispiral.
planosubulate (pla"n6-sub'u-lat), a. [< L.
planus, plane,-)- NL. subulatiis, awl-shaped: see
subulate.'] Smooth and awl-shaped.
plant^ (plant), n. [< ME. plante,plaunte (partly
< OF.), < A.B.plante = T). plant = WLQr.plante =
ORGr. phlanza, flanza, pkima, MHG. G.pflanze
= Icel. pUmta = Sw. planta = Dan. plante =
OF. (and F.) plante = Pr. 8p. Pg. planta = It.
pianta, a plant, < L. planta, a sjjrout, shoot,
twig, sucker, graft, scion, slip, cutting, a young
tree that may be transplanted, a set, hence in
general a plant; prob. orig. a spreading sucker
(ai. planta, the sole of the foot: see plant^);
lit. "something flat or spreading,' < y plat =
Gr, izXariiQ, broad : aeeplat^, plate. In the later
senses (defs. 5-10) the noun is from the verb.
Of. clan.] 1 . A shoot or slip recently sprouted
from seed, or rooted as a cutting or layer; espe-
cially, such a slip ready for transplanting, as
one of the cabbage-^ptowte, tota&to-plants, etc.,
of the market.
Thoughe that Men bryngen of the Plawntei, for to plant-
en in other Contrees, thei growen wel and f ayre, but thei
bryngen f orthe nofructuous tiling ; and the Leves of Bawme
ne fallen noughte. ManieaiUe, Travels, p. 50.
Transplannte alle hoole the planinte [of cabbage], and it
is slaye. Pattadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 113.
2. A sapling; hence, a stick or staff; a cudgel.
He caught a plante of an appell tre, and caste his shelde
to grounde, and toke the barre in bothe handes, and seide
he wolde make hem to remeve.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 493.
There is a man haunts the forest, that abuses our young
planUwltli carving "Kosalind" on their barks.
SJiak., As you Like it, ill. 2. 378.
Sir Roger's servants, and among the rest my old friend
the butler, had, I found, provided themselves with good
oaken plants, to attend their master upon this occasion.
Addison, Sir Eoger at the Play.
3. An herb or other small vegetable growth, in
contrast with trees. — 4. An individual living
being with a material organism, not animal in
its nature ; a member of the vegetable, king-
dom ; a vegetable, in the widest sense, while
the difference between plants and animals in all their
higher forms is clearly marked, science has hitherto been
unable to fix upon any one absolutely universal criterion
between them. Nothing perhaps is so distinctive of the
plant as its power to appropriate and assimilate mineral
matter directly, whereas most animals live on the pro-
ducts of previous organization. The plant thus mediates
in the scheme of nature between the mineral and the ani-
mal world, forming an essential condition of most animal
existence. But many plants, including the whole group
of Fungi, and the saprophytic, parasitic, and carnivorous
flowering plants, live wholly or m part on organic matter,
while not all animals are confined to organic nutriment.
See animal and Protista. For the fundamental classifica-
tion of plants, see Cryptoga/mia and Phanerogamia.
4531
In some places, those iiiants which are entirely poisonous
at home, lose their ddeterious quality by being carried
abroad. 0(^dsmUh, Citizen of the World, xci.
5. The fixtures, machinery, tools, apparatus,
appliances, etc., necessary to carry on any
trade or mechanical business, or any mechan-
ical operation or process.
What with the plant, as Mr. Peck technically phrased a
great upas-tree of a tot^, branching out into types, cases,
printing-presses, engines, &c my fathers fortune
was reduced to a sum of between seven and eight thousand
pounds. Bvlwer, Caxtons, xt 6. (Davies.)
The entire plarU, and even the fuel, were transported on
heavy waggons across the Karroo, at an enormous cost to
the young settlement. Fortmghay See., N. S., XLIII. 880.
6. Concealed plunder. [Thieves' slang.] — 7.
A trick; dodge; swindle; artifice. [Slang.]
It wasn't a }3&d plant, that of mine, on Fikey, the man
accused of forging the Sou'- Western Railway debentures.
IXckens.
Such-and-such an author says that so-and-so was "burnt
alive," followed by a silly smattering of righteous indignar
tion at what never happened, while the dispassionate
scholar finds the whole thing a plant.
N. and Q., 7th ser., IX. 50.
8. In fish-culture, a deposit of fry or eggs. —
9. pi. Oysters which have been bedded: in dis-
tinction from natives : as, Virginia plants. [A
market-term, appUed chiefly to "Virginia (gsters
bedded in Providence River.] — 10. pi. Young
oysters suitable for planting or transplantation.
—Ballast-plants. See AoKcut.— Blind, berbaceous,
luminous, etc., plants. See the adjectives.— Flower-
ing plant. See PAaTien^omta.- Indicative plants,
species which, in their natural habitat, are reputed to in-
dicate the presence of certain minerals. [U. S.] — Move-
ment of plants. See mmemenJt. — Parasitic plants.
See jxiramiu!.- Pot-plant, potted plant, a plant grown
in a fiower-pot, as in conservatories and hothouses. = Syn.
4. See vegetable, n.
plant! (plant), V. [< ME. planten, plaunten
(partly < OF.), < AS. planUan (a-plantian^e-
plantian) ='D.planten = MLG.planten = OHG.
phlamon, ftanzon, MHG. G. pfianzen = Icel.
planta = Sw. planta = Dan. plante = OF. (and
F.)planter = Pr. Sp. Pg. plantar = It. piantare,
< L. piantare, set, plant, transplant, < planta,
a sprout, shoot, scion, plant : aeeplant^, m.] I.
trans. 1. To put or set in the ground for growth,
as seed, young shoots, cuttings, vegetables with
roots, etc.: as, to jjtera* potatoes; to plamtiteea.
Nowe onyons sowe, and tasul in his place
Lette vZaUTife; and cuuelsowe, eke Armarace [horae-rad-
ish]. PaOadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 210.
2. To lay out and prepare by putting or setting
seed, etc., in the ground; furnish with plants :
as, to plant a garden or an orchard.
The Iiord God ptaided a garden eastward in Eden ; and
there he put the man whom he had formed. Gen. ii. 8.
3. To implant; sow the seeds or germs of; en-
gender.
It engenders choler, planleth anger.
Shak., T. of the S., iv. 1. 175.
They vtarOed in them a hatred of vices, especially of ly-
ing, and in the next place of debt.
PuTchas, Pilgrimage, p. 373.
4. To put; place; set; especially, to post or
place firmly in position; fix; set up: as, he
planted himself in front of me; to plant a
standard on the enemy's battlements.
Plamt yourself there, sir; and observe me.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Eevels, ii. 1.
The Duke, having planted his Ordnance, battered the
other side.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's True Travels, I. 11.
The Duke of Marlborough planted his creatures round
his lordship. Goldsmith, Bolingbroke,
He planted himself with a firm foot in front of the image.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, 1. 148.
5. To establish or set up for the first time ; in-
troduce and establish: as, to j>tejst Christianity
among the heathen ; to plant a colony.
He would entreat your care
To plant me in the favour of some man
That 's expert in that knowledge.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, ii. 1.
When the Somans sent Legions and planted Colonies
Abroad, it was for divers political Considerations.
B-OweU, Letter^ iL 58.
6. To furnish ; provide with something that is
set in position or in order.
The port of the said Citie is strongly fortified with two
strong Castles, and one other Castle within the citie, being
all very -weii^nted with munition.
HaUuyt's Voyages, H. 281.
A veiy goodly strong Castle, well planted with Ordinance.
Coryat, CSuditics, 1. 93.
Eochdals, by a crosse pale welnigh foure miles long, is
also planted with houses along the pale.
Quoted in Capt John Smith's Works, II. 13.
7. To introduce and establish new settlers in ;
settle; colonize.
Flantaginese
Neither may wee thinke that Moses intended so much a
Geognipbicall history of all the Nations of the world, many
of which were not, long after this time, planted or peopled.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 45.
He came hither to return to England for supply, intend-
ing to return and plant Delaware.
Winthrop, Hist New England, II. 396.
T^his year the towns on the rivar of Connecticut began to
be ptarited. N. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 181.
8. To place or locate as colonists or settlers.
Vpon the twelfth of this Moneth came in a Pinnace of
Captaine Eargraues, and on the seuenteenth Captaine
lownes, and one Master Euans, who intended to plant
themselues at Waraskoyack.
Quoted in Capt John Smith's Works, II. 38.
9. To hide; conceal; place in concealment, as
plunder or swag. [Thieves' slang.] — 10. In
fish-culture, to deposit (eggs or fry) in a river,
lake, or pond. — 11. To bed (oysters); bed
down, transplant, or sow (young or small oys-
ters).— 12. To put, as gold or the like, in the
ground, or in a pretended mine, where it can
be easily found, for the purpose of affecting
the price of the land ; also, to treat, as land, la
this way; "salt."
A salted claim, a pit sold for a 10£ note, in which a nug-
get worth a few shillings had before been planted.
Percy Clarke, New Chum in Australia, p. 72.
H. intrans. 1. To sow seed or set shoots, etc.,
in the soil, that they may grow.
I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the in-
crease. 1 Cor. iiL 6.
2t. To settle down ; locate as settlers or colo-
nists ; take up abode as a new inhabitant, or as
a settler in a new country or locality ; settle.
If we desired to plant in Conightecute, they should give
up their right to us.
Winthrop, in Bradford's Plymouth Plantation, p. 349.
Taunton and Bridgewater men are confident that they
are plantinff about Assawamsit or Dartmouth, and did yes-
terday track 200 of them, as they judge, toward Assawam-
set.
Gov. Winslouf, in App. to New England's Memorial, p. 445.
plant^f (plant), n. [< F. plante = Sp. Pg. planta
= It. pianta, < Jj. planta, the sole of the foot:
see pldnt^.'] The sole of the foot, or the foot
itsefi. See planta.
Knotty legs, and plants of clay,
Seek for ease, or love delay.
B. Jomxan, Masque of Oberon.
planta (plan'ta), n. ; pi. plantse (-te). [L., the
sole of the foot : see plant^.] 1 . In vertebrate
(mat., the sole of the foot: corresponding to
palma of the hand, and opposed to dorsum or
the rotular aspect of the foot. See cuts under
digitigrade &-nA plantigrade. — 2. In ornith., the
back of the shank; the hind part of the tarso-
metatarsus, corresponding morphologically to
the sole of the foot of a mammal. See cut un-
der booted. — 3. In entom., the first joint of the
tarsus, when it is large or otherwise distin-
guished from the rest, which are then coUee-
tively eaUed the digitus. Also called metatar-
sus, in which case the other joints collectively
are the dactiylus.
plantable (plan'ta-bl), a. [= It. piantabile; as
plants + -cSile.] Capable of being planted, cul-
tivated, settled, placed, etc.
The Land as you go farther from the Sea riseth still some-
what higher, and becomes of a jaore plantaMe Mould.
Da/mpier, Voyages, II. ii. 58.
plant-a-cniive, plknta-crew (plant'a-kruv,
plan'ta-kr5), n. [Perhaps < OF. plante, a plant,
plant, 3j plantation, + acrewe, acreue, growth:
see accrue, n.] A small inclosure for the pur-
Sose of raising cole wort-plants, etc. [Scotch.]
antaget (plan'taj), TO. [<OP.ptentogie, aplant-
"ing or setting, also plantain, F.plantage, plan-
tation, = Sp. plantaje, a collection of plants,
= Pg. plantagem, plants, herbs ; cf . ML. plan-
tagium, plantago, a plantation of trees or vines ;
< L. planta, a plant: see plant^ and -age.]
Plants generally.
As true as steel, as plantage to the moon,
As sun to day. Shak., T. and C, iiL 2. 184.
[The allusion in this passage is explained by the following :
The poor husbandman perceiveth that the increase of
the moon maketh plants fruteful.
Reginald Scott, Disc, of Witchcraft.)
Flantaginaceae (plan"ta-ji-na'se-e), n.pl. [NL.
(Lindley, 1835), < Plantago {Plantaginr-) +
-acesB.] Same as Plantaginese.
Flantaginese (plan-ta-jin'e-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Ventenat, 1794), < Plantago (Planta gin-) +
-ex.] The plantain family, an anomalous order
of gamopetalous plants, little related to any
other, characterized by the searious corolla
with alternate stamens; sepals, petals, and
stamens each usually four; and the small en-
tire two-celled pod, usually circumscissile. it
Flantagines
inclades 3 genera and over 200 species, nearly all of which
belong to the typical genus Plantago, the other genera,
Bougueria and LittarMa, being both monotypic.
Plantago (plan-ta'go), n. [NL. (Tournefort,
1700). < L. plantago, plantain: see jptoreteMii.]
A genus of plants, type of the ond^ei Plantaginese,
distinguished by the peltate seeds, two-eelled
ovary, and ciroumseissile capsule, it includes
over 200 species, known as planJtain or ribwort, and found
«verywhere, from arctic to tropical regions, in wet or dry
^ound, but most common in temperate cUmatea They
are annual or perennial herbs, almost stemlesB, bearing
rosettes of spreading leaves, which are characteristically
broad, entire, Ave- to seven-nerved, with dilated-petiole
base. The small flowers are usually crowded in a long
spike, cross-fertilized by the earlier maturity of the pis-
tils. Many species are dimorphous, or include perfect
seed-bearing plants of two kinds, one form having long
stamens and short styles, the other the opposite. Most ol
the American species are introduced weeds (for which see
JalmOairil, iempi, hen-plant, and way-bread, and, for P.
anceolata, ribwort, rib-grati,jaekstraw, and cocH). P.media,
the hoary plantain, lamb's-tongue, or flreweed of English
pastures, is a pest on account of its stifling growing crops
by its broad flat leaves, dose-pressed to the ground ; and
the common P, major is sometimes similarly injurious in
America. P. Corotwpus is a peculiai' plant of the British
sea-cliSs, called star-o/-the-earth from its divided radiat-
ing leaves, also herb-ivy, buck's-hom, and hartsJiam-planr
tain. For other species, see Jleawort, 2, and ispaghid-seeA,
See cut under jiZantoml.
plantain^ (plan'tan), n. [Formerly also plan-
tan, plaintain; < ^lE. planteyne, plawnteyne, <
OF. plantain, P. plantaim, = Pr. plantage = Cat.
plantatge = Sp. llanten (also, after P., plan-
taina) = Pg. tanchagem = It. piantaggine, < L.
plantago (plantagin-^, plantain, so eafled from
its broad spreading leaf; from the same source
as planta, a spreading sucker, a plant, and
planta, the sole of the foot : see plants, j}Umt^.']
A plant of the genus Plantago, especially P.
majoTf the common or greater plantain. This is
A fEuniliar dooryard weed, wiui large spreading leaves close
Flowering Plant of Plantain (Ptanta^o rnajtfr).
a, the flower ; li, the fruit (pyxis).
to the ground, and slender spikes ; it is a native of Europe
and temperate Asia, but is now found nearly everywhere.
(See herir^^rd and way-bread.) The English plantain (so
called in the TJnlted States) is P. lanceolata, the ribwort,
rib-grass, or ripple-grass, of the same nativity as the
former. It has narrow leaves with prominent ribs, and
slender stalks a foot or two high, with short thick spikes.
(See cocks and jacketraw.) The sea-plantain or seaside
plantain, P. mariUma, with linear leaves, occurs on muddy
shores in both hemispheres. The leaf is bound upon in-
flamed surfaces with a soothing effect. See also cut under
ampAitropous.
These poor slight sores
!Keed not & plantain.
FletcTter (and another). Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 2.
Knot-grass, plantain — all the social weed^
Man's mute companions, following where he leads.
0. W. Holmes, Poems, The Island Ruin.
Indian plantain, any plant of the genus CacaZia. The
most common species is C. atriplieifolia, a pale-colored
plant from 3 to 6 feet high,
with palmately veined an-
gnlate-lobed and -toothed
glaucous leaves. — Rattle-
snake-plantain. See
Ooodyera. — Eobin's-
plantaln, Erigeran belli-
difolius, a species with few
rather broad heads and
bluish rays, flowering
early, common in the eas^
em United States.
plantain^ (plan'tan),
n. [Formerly also
plantan; < OP. plan-
tain, plane-tree, = Sp.
pldntano, also pld-
tano, plantain, plane-
tree: see planed. "] A
tropical plant, Musa plantain iMnsa paradisiaca).
4532
paradisiaca, or its fruit. The plantain closely re-
sembles the banana, and is in fact often regarded as a va-
riety of it. It is distinguished to the eye by purple spots
on the stem, and by its longer fruit. The plantain-fruit
is commonly eaten cooked before fully mature, while the
banana is mostly eaten fresh when ripe. The pulp is dried
and pulverized to moke meal. The fresh fruit is compa-
rable chemically with the potato, the meal with rice.
The plantain, together with the banana, supplies the chief
food of millions in the tropics. Though less nutritious
than wheat or potatoes, it is produced in vastly larger
quantities from the same area, and with far less effort.
Sometimes called Adam's apple, from the fancy that this
was the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden ; the specific
name refers to the same fancy. See Musa and banana.
They would also bring great store of oranges and plan-
tans, which is a fruit that groweth upon a tree, and is
very like vnto a cucumber, but very pleasant in eating.
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. iL 129.
Berries and chestnuts, plantains, on whose cheeks
The sun sits smiling.
Fletclier, Faithful Shepherdess, i. 1.
Bastard plantain. See Helieonia, 2.— Manila plan-
tain, wild plantain, Musa textUie, the Manila-hemp
plant. See manUa and Musa.
plantain-cutter (plan'tan-kuf'^r), ■«. Same as
plantainreater. P. L. S'clater.
plantain-eater (plan'tan-e"t6r), n. A bird of
the family Musophagidx ; a plantain-cutter or
touracou. See touracou.
plantain-lily (plan'tan-lil"i), «. See FunMa.
plantain-tree (plan't'an-tre), n. See plantain^.
plantalt (plan'tal), a. ' [Cf . OF. plantal, a plant,
set, scion: < Ml!'.*plantaUs, < li. planta, a plant:
see plant'-.'] Of or belonging to plants.
There 's but little similitude betwixt a terreous humid-
ity and ^antoJ germinations.
OlanvUle, Seep. Sci. (Latham.)
The same inequality of temper made him surmise that
the most degenerate souls did at last sleep in the bodies
of trees, and grew up merely into plantal life.
Dr. H. Mare, Immortal, of SouJ, iii. 1.
plantanti «• An obsolete form otplantain>- and
plantain'^.
plant-animal (plant'an"i-mal), ». One of the
zoSphytes or Phytozoa, as a sea-anemone or
coral.
plantar (plan'tar), a. [< L. ploMtaris, of or be-
longing to the" sole of the foot, < planta, the
sole of the foot: see plant?.] Of or pertaining
to the planta, or sole of the foot: as, a plantar
muscle, tendon, or liga-
ment; the plantar as-
pect of the foot or leg:
correlated with jja?»8ar;
often in composition:
as, lamimplmitar, scutel-
Uplantar.-'PiaMaxaxch,
the arch formed by the exter-
nal plantar artery. — Plan-
tar arteries, the two termi-
nal branches of the posterior
tibial artery in the sole of the
foot. The external, the larg-
er, passes outward and for-
ward to the base of the fifth
metatarsal, where it turns ob-
liquely inward to communi-
cate at the base of the Urst
metatarsal with the dorsal
artery, forming the plantai-
arch. The internal, the
smaller, runs along the inner
side to the base of the great
toe.— Plantar fascia. See
/oscM.— Plantar interos-
sei. Seeinterossetis. — Plan-
tar ligament, any ligament Plantar Arch.
of the sole of the toot, espe-
cially the long calcaneocuboid ligament. — Plantar mus-
cle, the plantaris.— Plantar nerves, two branches of the
posterior tibial, distributed to many of the small muscles
and the integument of the sole of the foot, the external
terminating in the skin of the little toe and of the inner
side of the fourth, the internal in the contiguous sides of
the others.— Plantar tubercle, the tubercle on the first
metatarsal bone, for attachment of the tendon of the pero-
neus longus.— Plantar veins, the venaj comites of the
plantar arteries.
plantaris (plan-ta'ris), n. ; pi. plantares (-rez).
[NL., se. rmmeulms, muscle : see plantar.] A
small fusiform muscle with a very long tendon
ending variably in or near the teudo Achillis.
It arises from the femur neai* the outer head of the gas-
trocnemius. The muscle is sometimes absent, sometimes
double. In man it is very small or vestigial in comparison
with its development in some other animals.
plantation (plan-ta'shon), n. [< ¥. plantation
= Pr. plantacio = Sp. plantadon = Vg. planta-
glto = It. piantazione, piantagione, < U-planta-
tio{n-), a planting, < plantare, pp. plantatus,
plant, transplant: see plants] If. The act of
planting seeds or plants.
In bower and field he sought, where any tuft
Of grove or garden-plot more pleasant lay.
Their tendance, or plantation for delight.
Milton, P. L., ix. 419.
In Aprlll they beghi to plant, but their chief e planta-
tion is m May, and so they continue till the midst of lune.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, 1. 128.
planter
2. Introduction; establishment.
Those instruments which it pleased God to use tor the
plantation of the faith.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i, eg.
The Biat plantation of Christianity in this island.
Mkon BasUike.
3. A planting with people or settlers ; coloni-
zation.
The first publick attempt against Heaven at Babel after
the plantation of the world again.
StUUngfleet, Sermons, I. vil.
Elizabeth thought the time had come for the coloniza.
tion or plantcUion of Ulster.
W. S. Oregg, Irish Hist, for Eng. Readers, p. 87.
4. A planted place, (a) A small wood ; a grove ; a
piece of ground Ranted with trees or shrubs for the pur-
pose of producing timber or coppice-wood.
I went to see the New Spring Garden at Lambeth, a
pretty contriv'd j^ntatUm. Evelyn, Diary, July 2, leei,
(6) A farm, estate, or tract of land, especially in a tropicri
or semi-tropical country, such as the southern parts of tlie
United States, South America, the West Indies, Africa,
India, Ceylon, etc., in which cotton, sugar-cane, tobacco,
coffee, etc., are cultivated, usually by negroes, peons, or
coolies: as, a &i^sx-plantation; also used attributively;
as, planlaMon life ; ^antation songs.
From the Euphrates we ascended the hills through
liantations of pistaohio nuts.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. 1. ua
The house was of the ordinary j)?(m«a<io» (ype— Jsrge,
white, with double piazzas, standing high from the gn^nd;
and in the yard was a collection of negro-cabins and stiSs,
The Century, XXS.y.m.
(ci) An original settlement in a new country; a colony:
as, Rhode Island and Providence plantations.
We kept a day of thanksgiving in all the plarOations.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 85.
5. In Maine and New Hampshire, an unorgan-
ized and thinly settled division of a county.—
6. An oyster-bed in which the oysters have
been artificially planted ; a cultivated area of
oyster-bottom : a legal term in the State of Dela-
ware— Council of Plantations, in Eng. hist., a com.
mittee of the Privy Council, established in the relga of
Charles II., for supervision of the colonies (or foreign
plantations) : it was soon united with the Board of Trade.
In the eighteenth century colonial affairs passed to a sep-
arate administration.
plantation-mill (plan-ta'shqn-mil),m. Anyone
of variously constructed mills adapted for use
on a plantation or farm for grinding oats, lin-
seed, etc., moved by hand or other power,
plant-bug (plant'bug), n. One of many differ-
ent heteropterous insects which suck the
juices of plants. They belong
chiefly to the family Capsidse, as, for
example, the tarnished plant-bug,
also called Lygus prateiisis, Capsus
oblineatus, and Phytocoris lineola-
ris, which does great damage to
many different orchard-trees, small
fruits, and vegetables in the United
States. The dotted plant-bug, a
pentatomid, Euschistus variolarius
OTpunctipes, is also a general plant-
feeder, though exceptionally car-
nivorous. See Nysius and Phy-
tocoris.
plant-cane (plant'kan), n. The original plants
of the sugar-cane, produced from germs placed
in the ground; or canes of the first growth, in
distinction from the ratoons, or sprouts from
the roots of canes which have been cut.
rWest Indies.]
plant-cutter (plant'kuf'er), n. 1. A bird of
the family Phytotomidse. — 2. pi. In the early
history of Virginia, rioters who went about
destroying tobacco-plants.
plant-disease (plant'dl-zez"), n. See disease.
plant-eating (plant'e"ting), a. Eating or feed-
ing upon plants; phytophagous; specifically,
in entom., belonging to the PhytopTia0.
planted (plan'ted),^. a. 1. la joinery, wrought
on a separate piece of stuff,
and afterward fixed in its
place: said of a projecting
member: as, ^planted mold-
ing.— 2, Introduced or nat-
uralized; not indigenous.
Dotted-legpredPlant-bug.
{Euschistus pututipa.)
(Line shows natural size.)
Panel with Planted
Moldings.
There are plenty of foxes, some native, some phoM,
and all wild. The Century, XXllI. 846.
planter (plan'tfer), n. [= "D. planter = MHG-
phlanzer, phlenzer, Q. pflanger = Sw. plante-
rare = T>a,n.pla/nier; as plants + -er^.] 1. One
who plants, sets in the ground or in position,
introduces, establishes, or sets up : as, a, planter
of maize or of vines; the first joZowters of Chris-
tianity; a planter of colonies.
These Planters of the ancient Literature In Englml
hoped well of their Mother Tongue.
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. <•
Your lordship hath been a great cZarrfer of learning.
Batmi, Advancement of Learning, Pref., p. vU.
planter
2. One who owns a plantation, especially in a
tropical or semi-tropical country: as, a coffee-
plantet-; the planters of the "West Indies.
The pkinteri . . . as well as the negroes were slaves •
though they paid no wages, they got very poor work.
Emetean, West Indian Emancipation.
3. A piece of timber, or the naked trunk of a ^^ .^.
toee, one end of which is fii-mly planted in the plantocracy (plan-tok'ra-si), n. [< L. pUnta,
bed ot a nver while the other rises near the plant, + Gr. -Kparia, < Kparelv, govern.] 1.
surface of the water: a dangerous obstruction Govemment by planters.— 2. Planters eollee-
sometimes encountered by vessels navigating tively. EclecUc Bev. [Rare.]
the livers of the western United States. Bart- plant-of-gluttony (plant'ov-glut'n-i), n. The
lett. — 4. A tool or machine for planting seeds: dwarf cornel, Corrms Cana^nsis — its berries
as, a coTTX-planter, a cotton-seed planter, etc. being regarded in the Scotch Highlands as
;;^I;h".„T/™^?'' HkP'® hand-tools for opening the stimulating to appetite.
fhanlstribu?e°S! l'%o^^fs'?aUeI T^roC^r^e I^lantosseous (plan-tos'e-us), a. Of or pertain-
4533
tanical name of a tree or garden-plant, intend-
ed to be set in the ground near its roots for its
identiftoation. Such markers are often made
of terra-cotta, Parian ware, etc.
plant-movement (planfmov^'ment), n. See
movemetU of plants (under movement), epmasty,
and hyponasty.
plash
that sows broadcast a seeder.
planterdom (plan'ter-dum), n.
-dom.'i Planters collectively.
planteiahip (plau't6r-ship), n. [< planter +
-ship.] The business of a planter, or the man-
agement of a plantation.
plant-feeder (plant'fe"der), n. Any insect
; pi. Jj«
! of the foot, -t-
ing to the plantossei.
[< planter + plantosseus (plan-tos'f-us), n.;
(-i). [Nil., < L. planta', the sole i
OS {oss-), bone : see osseous.'\ A plantar inter-
osseous muscle ; an interosseus of the sole of
the foot : correlated with dorsosseus a.ndpalmos-
seus. Coues and Shute, 1887.
which feeds upon plants, as a plant-bug, or plantsman (plants 'man), to.; pL pUmtsmen
See cuts under PA^to- (-men). A florist; a nurseryman. [Colloq.]
plantula (plan 'tu- la), n.; pi. plantulse (-le).
[Nil., < L. planta, the sole of the foot: see
plant^.'\ In entom., a membranous appendage
between the claws of certain insects, corre-
sponding to the onychium or spurious claw of
other species. Itcommonlyformsacushion-likeorgan,
by means of which the insect is enabled to walk over
smooth surfaces. When this cushion forms a sucking.
rr™ ni/.f tv cco ^^^ •* ^ called Oxe pulviUws.
planticle (plan ti-M), n. [< NL. as if *pla,n- in entom., of or pertaining to the plantula.
ticula, dim. of L. planta, & plant: see planfi-.-] plantule (plau'tul), n. [< F. plmituU, < NL.
A young plant or a plajit m embryo J)ar«;i»!. ^plantula, dim. of L.i>?a»to, aplant: seeptonti.]
Plantlgrada (plan-tig ra-da), n.pl. [NL., neut. in lot., same as plantlet; also, the embryo of a
pi. of planttgradus, plantigrade : see planti- plant r i i j
grade-1 A subdivision of Carmivora, or Ferie planula (plan'ii-la), m. ; pl.i)Zam«te(-le). [NL.,
fissipedia, em- , _^ dim. of L. planus, flat : see pUne\ ] The ordi-
plant-feeding beetle,
phaga and plant-bug.
plant-feeding (plant'fe'ding), a. Feeding upon
plants; plant-eating: phytophagous.
plant-food (plant'fod), n. Anything which af-
fords nourishment to vegetation or plants ; a
fertilizer.
Whilst in the shape of bone-dust it [insoluble phosphate]
is sufficiently available as plant-food to be of considerable
value.
bracing those
carnivorous an-
imals, as the
bear and rac-
oon, which walk
with the heel up-
on the ground.
In niiger's classifi-
cation (1811), the
PlaidigrcLda were a
family of his Falcu-
lata, or mammals
with claws, and con- «. planta or sole ; >^ digits or toes.
tained carnivorous
quadrupeds of several different modern families, as the
kinkajou, coati, racoon, badger, wolverine, and bear, yet
nary locomotory embryo of the coelenterates,
which is of flattened form, mouthless, ciliate,
and free-swimming. The term originally applied only
to such embryos of certain hydrozoans, but has become
more comprehensive. See cut under blastocc^.
planulan (plan'u-lan), n. [< plantila + -an.']
A planula. Encycl Brit.
planular (plan'u-lar), a. [< planula + -orS.]
Of or pertaining to a planula: as, planular
cilia; the planular stage of an embryo.
■; '■ '■ ; a. [< NL. ^Za-
mila + Li. forma, form.] Resembling a planula
in form, or having the morphological valence
of a planula. Suxley, Anat. Invert., p. 39.5,
Plantiffrada. — Leg of Polar Bear.
s£-£^^.^^:ori^:'arJ^i/& planiiliform (plan'u-lffdiin).
notaHof the members of the families to which the ani- planUlOld (plan'u-loid), a. [< m^. planula +
mals named properly belong. [Not now in use, excepting
as a convenient collective or descriptive term.]
plantigrade (plan'ti-grad), a. and n. [< NL.
planUgradus, < li. planta, the sole, -t- gradi, go,
walk.] I. o. Walking on the whole sole of the
foot ; having the characters of, or pertaining to.
Gr. eUoc, form.] Resembling a planula ; planu-
liform.
plannria, planury (pla-nii'ri-a, plan'u-ri), «.
[NL., < Gr. irAdvof, straying, + ovpov, urine.]
The discharge of urine through an abnormal
passage; uroplania.
Plaque in Relief of Enameled Pottery, by Bernard Palissy;
i6th century.
— 4. The especial decoration of a high rank in
many honorary orders. See star, insignia, order,
6 (6). — 5. In anat. and zool., a small flat object
of round figure, as a blood-disk; a little plate.
Also plaquette. — 6. A patch.
Warts, epithelioma, herpes, and mucous plaques.
LoMcet, No. 3468, p. 33B.
FlaoLue Of blood. SameasiZood^ptofe.— Plaques Jaunes,
patches of yellow softening in cerebral cortex. — Plaques
of Peyer. Same as Peyerian glands (which see, under
plaoiuet (plak'et), n. [OP. : see placket.'] In
medieval armor, same as placcate.
plaqinette (pla-kef), n. [F., dim. of plaque, a
plate: see pUique. Of. placket.'] 1. A small
plaque or flat decorative object, as a tile of por-
celain or a plate of metal, made for application
to a piece of furniture as part of its ornamen-
tation: as, a bureau decorated with bronze
plaquettes.
On the other hand, the finer of the two medallions . . .
bears, in its pseudo-classicality, a considerable resem-
blance to the work of another North Italian worker in
bronze, ... as will appear from an examination of several
plaguettes from his hand.
The Academy, Dec. 8, 1888, p. 377.
2. Same asplaqve, 5.
6. Hayem insists that the elements of the blood, to which
he gave the name of hematoblasts, are identical with the
j^aquettes, or corpuscules, described by Bizzozero.
Smithsordan Report, 1883, p. 7S5.
plash^ (plash), V. [< ME. *plashen (not found
except as in the noun), < yiT>.plassehen,plagsen
= MliG. plasJcen = late WRG.platsen, bletschen,
G. platselien = Dan . plaslce = Sw. plaska, d abble ;
with orig. formative -sk, from the root seen in
AS. plsettan, plsettian, strike with the hand, =
Sw. ^toite, tap, pat : seei)lat^,pat^. The word
came to be regarded as imitative, and appears
later as splash.] I. intrans. 1. To dabble in
water; also, to fall with a dabbling sound;
the Plantigrade: opposed to digitigrade. Man planxtyt (plank'sti), «. [Appar. an adaptation
IS perfectly plantigrade, and the same condition IS seen ip '^f j^ pUictus, a lament: see plaint.] Xla^
those quadrupeds, as bears, whose heels touch the ground.
II. n. A plantigrade mammal ; a member of
the PlanUgrada.
planting (plan 'ting), n. [< ME. plantynge;
verbal u. of plants, v.] 1 . The art of forming
plantations of trees ; also, the act or art of in-
serting plants in the soil. — 2. A planted place ;
a grove ; a plantation.
That they might be called trees of righteousness, the
ptanting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
Isa.lxi. 3.
3. In arch., the laying of the first courses of
stone in a foundation.
planting-ground (plan 'ting -ground), n. A
place where oysters are sown or planted.
ment; an Irish or Welsh melody for the harp,
often, but not necessarily, of a mournful char-
acter.
Dr. Petrie gives a Planecty of his in E-msqor, "Lady
Wrixon," from a collection published in Dublin in 1720.
W. K. Sidlivan, Introd. to O'Curry's Anc. Irish, p. dcix.
plap (plap), V. i.; pret. and pp. plopped, ppr.
plopping. [Imitative; et.plash,flap,slap,eto.]
To plash; fall with a plashing sound.
Hark, there is Barnes Kewcome's eloquence still plap-
ping on like water from a cistern.
Thackeray, Newcomes, Ixvl
plaqnage (plak'aj), n. [< F. plague, a plate, +
•age.] A method of producing calico-prints:
same as padding, 3.
r°,tlT.2^fJp!f-ii::tr^n^HiJ.^^^^^^^^
a plant, + vorare, devour.] Plant-eating, as
most caterpillars. JVestwood.
plantless (plant'les), a. [< plant''- + -less.]
Without plants; destitute of vegetation.
Edinburgh Bev.
plantlet (plant'let), n. [< plants + -let] A
small, undeveloped, or ru(Umentary plant. Also
planttde.
plant-louse (plant'lous), n. A small homop-
terous insect which infests plants ; specifically,
an aphid: any member of the Aphididse. The
members of the related family Psyllida are distinguished
as Jumping plant-liee. The Cocddee are more properly
named bartlice. These three families, with the Aleuro-
didse, are sometimes grouped as Phytophthiria. See cuts
under ^phis, PhyUoxera, vine-pest, Pemphiginse, and Pem-
phigus.
plant-marker (plant' mar *k6r), ». A label,
plate, or tablet bearing the common and bo-
285
al), slab, badge, patch, ticket, etc.: aeeplack.]
1. An ornamental plate; a brooch; the plate
of a clasp.
In front of his turban there was a plague of diamonds
and emerjilds. IT. H. Sussdl, Diary m India, 11. 239.
2. A square, oblong, or circular tablet of bronze
or silver, the largest dimension of which ex-
tends to three or four inches, ornamented in re-
lief with some religious, mythological, allegor-
ical, or decorative subject. The Pax, from which
the plaque originated, is set in an ornamental framework ;
the Renaissance plaque was intended to be hung up or
inserted in a box or a piece of furniture, or, if circular,
to be worn as a hat-medallion. Also called ];kaquette.
3. Any tablet or distinctly flat plate of metal
or porcelain, whether plain or ornamented ; par-
ticularly, an ornamental circular plate intended
for a wall-decoration. See cut in next column.
Hears, upon turret-roof and wall.
By fits the plasMng I'ain-drop tall.
ScoU, Bokeby, i. 1.
The bucket ^ashifig in the cool, sweet well.
Whittier, Monadnock.
2. To splash water or mud.
His horse is booted
Tp to the flanke in mire ; himselfe all spatted
And stain'd with plashing.
Heywood, Woman Killed with Kindness (Works, ed. Feai^
[son, 1874, II. 103)l
II. trans. 1. To make a splashing noise in.—
2. To sprinkle with coloring matter so as to pro-
duce an imitation of granite : as, toplash a waU.
plashi (plash), n. [Early mod. 'E.plasshe,plesh;
< 'ME. plasche,plaische, < 'MD.plasch, D. plasch,
plas, a pool, puddle; cf. G. platsch, pldtsch =
t)a,n. plash, splash, splashing soimd; from the
verb. Cf . flash^, in like sense.] 1 . A small col-
lection of standing water; a puddle; a pool.
Be-twyx a plasche and a flode, appone a flate lawnde,
Ouref olke fongene theire f elde, andf awghte theme sgaynes.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), L 2799.
Plasche or flasche, where reyne watyr stondythe (or pyt).
Prompt. Parv., p. 403.
Out of the wound the red blood flowed fresh.
That underneath his feet soone made a purple plesJu
Spenser, F. Q., II. viii. 36.
The illimitable reed,
And many a glancing plash and sallowy isle.
Tennyson, Last Tournament,
2. A sudden downpour of water; a sudden
dashorsplash: as, ap7as78of rain. — 3. Aflash;
a spot (of light).
The tall grove of hemlocks, with moss on their stems,
hke plashes of sunlight.
LoweU, Fable for Critics (2d ed.X Int.
4. A splash or splashing sound.
plash
Tweed's echoes heard the ceaseless plaeh.
While many a broken band,
Sisorder'd, throngh her currents dash
To gain the Scottish land.
Scott, Marmion, vi. 34.
plash^ (plash), V. [OP. plassier, plaissier, ples-
sier, plash (cf. *plesse (?) (ML. plessa), a thick-
et of woven boughs), a secondary form, < L.
plectere, weave : see plait, plai^, pleat. Cf .
pleach, a doublet otplash'^.\ I, trans. To bend
down and interweave the branches or twigs of:
as, to plash a hedge.
For Nature, loath, so rare a jewels wracke,
Seem'd as she here and there had plash'd a tree,
It possible to hinder destiny.
W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 4.
There is a cupola made with pole-work between two
elmes at the end of a walk, which, being cover'd by plash-
ing the trees to them, is very pretty.
Evdyn, Diary, Oct. SO, 1683.
II, intrans. To bend down a branch.
Some of the trees hung over the wall, and my brother
did plash and did eat. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, ii.
plash^ (plash), n. [< plash^, v.'] A branch of
a tree partly cut or lopped, and then bent down
and bound to other branches. Mortimer.
plashet (plash'et), n. [< jjiasfti + -et. Cf . ML.
plassetum.'] A small pond or puddle.
plashing^ (plash'ing), n. [Verbal n. otplash^,
v.] A dabbling in water ; a sound of plunging
water
plashing^ (plash'ing), n. [Verbal n. oiplash^,
v.] A mode of repairing or trimming a hedge,
by bending down a part of the shoots, cutting
them half through near the ground, to render
them more pliable, and twisting them among
the upright stems, so as to render the whole
effective as a fence, and at the same time pre-
serve all the branches alive.
plaslling:-tool (plash'ing-tol), ». A knife used
in plashing hedges ; a hedging-knife.
plashoott (plash'et), n. [Appar. for "plashet,
< plash^ + -et, the term, aceom. to slwot (young
twig).] A fence made of branches of trees in-
terwoven.
Woodcocks arrive first on the north coast, where almost
every hedge serveth for a road, and every plashoot for
springles to take them. R. Carew, Survey of Cornwall, p. 24.
plash-wheel (plash'hwel), n. Same as dask-
wheel.
plashy (plash'i), a. {iplash'^ + -^i.] 1. "Wa-
tery; abounding with puddles ; full of puddles;
wet; moist.
They shed their waters into the valley below, making it
plashy in sundry places. Sandys, Travailes, p. 169.
He also, being past Adrians wall [A. D. 209], cut down
Woods, made way through Hills, fast'nd and fill'd up
unsound and plashy Fens. Mitton, Hist. Eng., ii.
Along the streaming mountain-side, and through
The dripping woods, and o'er the plashy fields.
Bryant, £ain-Dream.
One among many plashy meadows, enclosed with stone
walls. E. Dowden, Shelley, I. 87.
2. Speckled as if plashed or splashed with col-
oring liquid.
In his grasp
A serpentfs ^ashy neck ; its barbed tongue
Squeezed from the gorge, and all its uncurl'd length
Dead. Seats, Hyperion, it
plasm (plazm), n. [< LL. plasma, < Gr. wJ^dafia,
a figure formed or molded from clay or wax,
an image, counterfeit, an assumed form or man-
ner, < irTuiaaetv, form, mold: Bee plasUc.'\ 1.
A mold or matrix in which anything is cast or
formed to a particular shape. [Rare.]
The shells served asjT^osms or moulds to this sand.
Woodward.
2. In iiol.f plasma. See hioplasm, deutoplasm,
protoplasm, plasmogen, sarcode.
plasma (plas'ma), 11. [NL.: see plasm."] 1.
A variety of translucent quartz, or silica, of a
rich grass-green or leek-green color, occurring
in large pieces, associated with common chal-
cedony. Many fine engraved ornaments of
this stone have been found among the ruins of
Rome. — 3. The liquid part of unaltered blood,
lymph, or milk, as distinguished from the cor-
puscles of the blood or lymph, or the oil-glob-
ules of the milk; also, the juice expressed from
fresh muscle; the muscle-plasma. — 3. The
primitive indifferent nitrogenized hydrocarbon
which forms the basis of all tissues of plants
and animals; the "physical basis of life," in
its simplest expression: now generally called
protoplasm. Plasma is now less used in this sense
than formerly, as it had originally the more restricted
meaning given in def. 2. See protoplasm and starch.
4. Inphar., same as glycerite of starch.
plasmasome (plas'ma-som), n. [< Gr. irl&afm,
a molded figure (see plasm), + aa/ia, body.] A
4534
separate particle of plasm ; a protoplasmic cor-
puscle.
The out-wandering plamasomeslorm Hie so-called para-
nuclei. Jticroi, Sci., XXX. n. 168.
plasmatic (plas-mat'ik), a. [= F. plasmatigue,
< Gr. ■!r?Mj/iaTiK6c, imitating, < 7r?Mjua,3, molded
figure, an image : see plasm.] 1. In biol, same
a.splasmio.—2f. Giving shape; having the pow-
er of giving form ; plastic. Imp. Diet.
plasmatical (plas-mat'i-kal), a. [< plasmatic
+ -al.] Same as plasmatic.
Working in this, by her [Psyche's] plasmatical spirits or
arohei, all the whole world Into order and shape.
Dr. B. More, Philos. Poems (1647), p. 342, notes.
plasmationt (plas-ma'shon), n. [< IAj. plasma-
tio{n-), a forming, creating, < plasma, a molded
figure, an image : see plasm-.] Formation.
The plamiation or creation of Adam is reckoned among
the generations. Grafton, Chron. i. 6.
plasmatoparous (plas-ma-top'a-rus), a. [< Gr.
irlaajia {0Ma/iaT-), a molded figure, + h.parei-e,
bring forth.] In mycology, noting germination
in which the whole protoplasm of a gonidium
issues as a spherical mass which at once be-
comes invested with a membrane and puts out
a germ-tube. Be Bary.
plasmatort, n. [ME., = F. plasmateur, < LL.
plasmator, a former, fashioner, creator, < plas-
mare, form, mold, fashion, < plasma, a molded
figure : see 2)lasm.] One who forms or creates ;
a creator.
Hayle 1 fulgent Phebus and fader etemall,
Parflte plasmator and god omnipotent.
York Plays, p. 614.
plasmaturet, «. [< LL. plasma(,t-), a molded
figure, + -ure.] Form; shape.
That so stately frame and plasmatiire wherein the man
at first had been created. Urgulmrt, tr. of Babelais, ii. 8.
plasmic (plaz'mik), a. [< })lasm + -ic] Of
the nature of plasma; pertaining to plasma;
plastic or formative; blastemie; protoplasmic:
as, plasmic substances or processes ; a plasmic
origin. Also plasmatic.
plasmine (plas'min), ». [< Gr. n'Aacfia, a molded
figure, -I- 4ne^.] A proteid precipitated from
blood-plasma on the addition of sodium ohlorid
and other salts. It coagulates, forming fibrin,
when redissolved in water.
plasmochyme (plas'mo-Mm), n. [< Gr. n7Ma-
fia, a molded figure, + xw^^t juice, chyle : see
cliyme^.] The thick fluid albuminous substance
of a cell. Also j)lasmoc1i/ym. Micros. Sci.,'XXK.
ii. 211.
plasmode (plas'mod), n. Same as Plasmodium.
Plasmodia, n. Plural ot Plasmodium.
Plasmodia! (plas-mo'di-al), a. [< Plasmodium
+ -al.] Having the character or properties of
Plasmodium. Also plasmodic.
Plasmodiata (plas-mo-di-a'ta), «. pi. [NL. :-
see Plasmodium.] Plasmodiate organisms: a
synonym of Mycetoeoa when these are regarded
as animals. E. B. Lankester.
plasmodiate (plas-mo'di-at), a. [< plasmodi-
wm + -ate^.] Provided with or producing Plas-
modia ; consisting of or contained in Plasmo-
dium.
plasmodiation (plas-mo-di-a'shgn), n. l<plas-
modiate + -ion.] In hot., the disposition of
Plasmodia. Jov/r. of Bot. British and Foreign,
1883, p. 371.
plasmodic (plas-mod'ik), a. [< plasmodi-um
+ -ic] Same a,s plasmodial.
plasmodiocarp (plas-mo'di-o-karp), n. [< NL.
Plasmodium + Gr. Kapirdc, a fruit.] In Myxo-
mycetes, a form of fructification which is more
or less irregular in shape. Compare xthaliwn, 2,
and sporangiwm. Cooke, Myxomycetes of Great
Britain, p. 30.
plasmodiocarpous (plas-m6''''di-6-kar'pus), a.
[<. plasm,odioca/rp + -ous.] Resembling, char-
acterized by, or producing plasmodioearps.
Cooke, Myxomycetes of Great Britain, p. 30.
Flasmodiophora (plas-mo-di-of 'o-ra), n. [NL.
(^OToms),<,plasmodium + Gr.^epE(i»=E. bear^.]
A genus of myxomycetous fungi, giving name
to the family Plasmodiophorese. The spores are
free, not quatemate, and are disposed in sori;
they emit zoospores in germination.
Flasmodiophorese (plas-mo'-'di-o-f 6're-e), n. pi.
[NL. (Zopf), < Flasmodiophora + -ex.'] A fam-
ily of myxomycetous fungi with the fructifica-
tion disposed in sori.
Plasmodium (plas-mo'di-um), n. ; t^\. Plasmodia
(-a). [NL., < Gr. irMa/ia, a molded figure, +
elSoQ, form.] 1. Protoplasm of protozoans in
sheets, masses, or comparatively large quanti-
plaster
ties, as formed by the plasmodiate members of
the Protozoa. True Plasmodium is foi-med by the or.
ganic fusion of two or several amoebiform bodies, and dis-
tinguished from the aggregate ^asmodium resulting from
mere contact. See cut under Protomyxa.
2. A definite quantity of Plasmodium, or the
Plasmodium of given individual organisms.
Large masses of gelatinous consistence characteriBtic ot
the so-called animal phase of the JVIyxomycetan, techni-
cally known as the Plasmodium,.
W. S. Kent, Infusoria, p. 42,
3. The naked multinucleated mass of proto.
plasm, exhibiting amoeboid movement, which
makes up the entire plant-body of the slime-
molds {Myxomycetes) during the vegetative
period of their existence. See Myxomycetes,
sUme-fnold, Fuligo, 2, and OZpifiMim.-piasmodl-
um malariie, a series of forms found in malarial blood,
believed to be different stages in the life-history ot a
single organism which causes paludism. Some ot tliese
forms are amoebiform, some crescent-shaped, some ro.
sette-shaped, some ciliate; some contain pigment-gran-
ules, and some do not.
plasmogen (plas'mo-jen), n. [< Gr. n-?ji(j/ta, a
molded figure, + -yer^f,. producing: see -gen.]
True protoplasm; bioplasm. See the quotation,
and germ-plasma.
Physiologists have come to use the word "protoplasm"
for one ot the chemical substances of which Scnultze's
protoplasm is a structural mixture— namely, that highest
point in the chemical elaboration of the molecule which
is attached within the protoplasm, and up to which some
of the chemical bodies present are tending, whilst others
are degradation products resulting from a downwai-d met-
amorphosis of portions of it. This intangible, unstable,
all-pervading element of the protoplasm cannot at present
be identified with any visibly separate part ot the cell-sub-
stence. . . . This " critical " substance, sometimes called
"true protoplasm," should assuredly be recognized by a
distinct name "plasmogen." Eneyc. Brit., XXIV. 817.
plasmogony (plas-mo^'o-ni), n. [< Gr. 7r?,dff,ua,
a molded figure, + -yovia, generation : see -gomj,}
The generation or origination of an organism
from plasma. Mossiter.
plasmology (plas-mol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. TrloAj/ia,
a molded figure, + -?Myia, < Myeiv, speak: see
-ology.] Minute or microscopic anatomy, as a,
branch of biology; histology; the study of the
ultimate corpuscles of living matter, as regards
their structure, development, and properties,
with the aid of the microscope.
plasmolysis (plas-mol'i-sis), n. [NL., < Gr.
n?i.6.a/ja, a molded figure, -1- Xvaig, a loosing.] Id
bot., the contraction of the protoplasm in ac-
tive cells under the action of certain reagents.
When the solutions employed are more dense than the
fluids within the cell, a certain amount of water will be
withdrawn from the contents of the cell by exosraotie
action, thereby causing a shrinking which can easily be
noted under the microscope, and, when the densi^ of
the solution is known, will allow tjie experimenter to as-
certain within very narrow limits the density ot the con-
tents ot the cell and the relative degree of turgidity.
plasmolytic (plas-mo-lit'ik), a. [< plasmolysis
(-lyt-) + -ic] In bot., exhibiting or character-
ized by plasmolysis ; employed in plasmolysis.
plasmolyze (plas'mo-liz), v. i. ; pret. and pp.
plasmolyzed, ppr. pldsmolyzing. [(.plasmolysis.']
To effect plasmolysis in or of; subject to plas-
molysis. Also spelled plasmolyse.
In order to see the primordial utricle better, plasmoly8&
the cell by running in 10 p. c. salt solution.
Huxley and Martin, Elementary Biology, p. 404.
plaster (plas'tfer), n. [Formerly also pMsier,
playster; < ME. plaster, also piastre, playster
(after OP.), < AS. plaster = D. pleister = MLG.
plaster = OHG. phlastar, plastar, MHG. pilas-
ter, x^Jlaster, plaster, G. pflaster = Sw. pldster =
Dan. plaster = OP. piastre, platstre, a plaster,
plaster, 'F.pldtre, gypsum, = Pr. piastre, a plas-
ter, = It. dim. piastrello, a plaster (ML. plas-
trrnn, gypsum); with loss of orig. prefix; ME.
enplastre, < OP. emplastre, F. empmre, a plas-
ter, < L. emplasirum, a plaster for a wound, <
Gr. ifiiryMaTpov for iiitv7^aaTin/, a plaster: see em-
plaster.] 1. In phar., a solid compound in-
tended for external application, adhesive at
the temperature of the human body, and re-
quiring to be softened by heat before being
spread.
My myddell woundys they ben dome & depe ;
Ther ys no plaster that persyth aryght.
Politicai Poems, etc. (ed. Furnlvall), p. 216.
Where any private harm doth grow, we are not to reject
instruction as being an unmeet plaister to apply unto It.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iv. 12.,
2. A composition of lime, water, and sand,
with or without hair for binding, well mixed so
as to form a kind of paste, and used for coat-
ing walls and partitions of houses.
AHouse shou'd be buUt or with Brick or with Stone;
Why, 'tis Plaister and lath ; and I think that's all one.
Prior, Down -Hall, at. 88.
plaster
8. Calcined gypsum or calcium sulphate, used,
when mixed with water, for finishing walls, tor
molds, ornaments, casts, luting, cement, etc.
Plaster used as a grouad for painting in distemper is un-
bunied, and of two Icinds, one coarse and one of a finer
quality. Both are made from white alabaster, but the lat-
ter, which is used also as a ground for gilding, and for
working ornaments in relief, is more carefully prepared
than the former. The plaster used for talcing casts from
life or from statues is always burned.
They suppose that this lyuer [Bahuan] hathe made it
self e awaye vnder the grounde by sume passages of plays-
ter or salte earthe. Peter Martyr, tr. in First Books on
[America (ed. Arber), p. 172.
Aconite plaster, aconite-root, alcohol, and resin plaster.
— Adhesive plaster. S&me aaresinpliiker. — Ammoniac
plaster, ammoniac and diluted acetic acid.— Ammoniac
plaster with mercury, ammoniac, mercury, olive-oil,
sublimed sulphur, diluted acetic acid, and lead-plaster. —
Antimonial planter, double tartrate of antimony and
potassium andBurgundy pitch. — Arnica plaster, extract
of amica-root and resin plaster. — Aromatic plaster.
Sameas8pu!«-i>I(Wtei-.— Asafetidaplaster,asatetlda,Iead-
plaster, galbanum, yellow wax, and alcohoL— Belladon-
na plaster, belladonna-root, alcohol, and resin plaster. —
Blisteringplaster. SameascarUha/ridesplaster. — Brown
soap plaster. S&me as soap-cerate plaster. — Burgundy-
pitch plaster. Burgundy pitch and yellow wax.— Cal-
cined plaster. Same as plaster of Paris. — Canada-
pitch plaster, Canada pitchand yellow wax.— Canthar-
ides plaster, cantharides, yellow wax, resin, and lard.
Also called cantharides cerate, blistering plaster, vesicating
plaster.— Capsicum plaster, resin plaster and oleoresin
of capsicum.— Carbonate-of-lead plaster, lead carbo-
nate, olive-oil, yellow wax, lead-plaster, and Florentine
orris.— Chalybeate plaster. Same as iron plaster. —
Court plaster. See court-^osfer.- Diachylon plas-
ter. Same as lead-plcLster. — Fibrous plaster, plaster of
Paris into which fibrous material of some kind is worked
to give it coherence : used for patterns in low relief for
ceilings, walls, and the like. — Galbanum plaster, gal-
banum, tui-pentine. Burgundy pitch, and lead-plaster ; or
galbanum, ammoniac, yellow wax, and lead-plaster. —
Hemlock-pitch plaster. Same as Canada-^ich plas-
ter.—lo6iAe-ot-lea.A plaster, lead iodide, soap plaster,
and resin plaster; or lead iodide, lead-plaster, and resin.
— Iron plaster, oxid of iron, Canada turpentine. Bur-
gundy pitch, and lead-plaster. Also called chalybeate plas-
ter, strengthening plaster. — Isinglass plaster, isinglass,
alcohol, glycerin, and tincture of benzoin. Also called
court^aster. — Lath and plaster. See lathK — Lead
plaster. See lead-plaster.— Litharge plaster. Same
as lead-plaster.— Logan's plaster, litharge, lead carbo-
nate, Castile soap, butter, olive-oil, and mastic. — Mahy's
plaster. Same as carbonate-of-lead plaster. — Mercurial
plaster, mercury, olive-oil, resin, and lead-plaster. —
Miraculous plaster, red oxid of lead, olive-oil, cam-
phor, and alum. — Opium plaster. See opium-plaster.
—Pitch-plaster, Burgundy pitch, frankincense, resin,
yellow wax, oil of nutmeg, and olive-oil.— Pitch-plas-
ter with cantharides. Burgundy pitch and cerate or
plaster of cantharides ; or cantharides, oil of nutmeg, yel-
low wax, resin, soap plaster, and resin plaster. Also called
warm plaster. — Plaster cast, a reproduction of an ob-
ject made by pouring plast-er of Paris mixed with water
into a mold which has been made from the object to be
copied. Many molds are needed for a complicated figure,
and the parts sepai*ately cast are united, showing raised
seams where they are put together. — Plaster jacket, a
bandage surrounding the ti'uuk, made sti^ with gypsum,
used in caries of the vertebrae. — Plaster mull, a plaster
made by coating a thin sheet of gutta-percha, backed with
muslin, with the substance that is to be applied to the
skin. — Plaster of Paris, (a) Native gypsum : so called
because fonnd in large quantities in the Tertiary of the
Paris basin. See gypsum. (6) Calcined gypsum — that Is,
gypsum from which the water has been driven off by
heat : used in building and in making casts of busts and
statues, etc. WTien diluted with water into a thin paste,
plaster of Paris sets rapidly, and at the instant of setting
expands or increases in bulk; hence this material be-
comes valuable for filling cavities, etc., where other earths
would shrink. — Plaster process, a method of making
stereotype plates for printing by the use of plaster. A
mold of the type page is made by pouring over it liquid
plaster of Paris; tliis mold, when baked entirely dry,
is filled with melted type-metal. Workshop Seeeipts, 4th
ser., p. 217. — Poor man's plaster, a plaster composed of
tar, resin, and yellow wax. I>unglison.—VOTOUS plas-
ter, a spread plaster having numerous small holes to pre-
vent wrinkling and to render it more pliable. — Rade-
macher*S plaster, red lead, olive-oil, amber, camphor,
and alum. — Resin plaster, resin, lead-plaster, and yel-
low wax or hard soap. Also called adhesive plaster, stick-
ing piaster.— Soap-cerate plaster, curd soap, yellow
wax, olive-oil, oxid -of lead, and vinegar.— Soap plaster,
soap and lead-plaster, with or without resin. — Spice plas-
ter, yellow wax, suet, turpentine, oil of nutmeg, oliba-
num, benzoin, oil of peppermint, and oil of cloves. Also
called aromatic plaster, stomach-plaster. — Sticking plas-
ter. Same as resin piaster.- Stomach-plaster. Same
as spice plaster.— StTStmomxna plaster, extract of stra.
moninm, elemi, and galbanum plaster. — Strengthening
plaster. Same as iron plaster.— Tbavsia. plaster, yel-
low wax. Burgundy pitch, resin, terebinthina cocta, Ven-
ice turpentine, glycerin, and ihapsia resin.— Vesicating
plasty. Same as cantharides plaster.— Vigo plaster,
lead-plaster, yellow wax, resin, olibanum, ammoniac, bdel-
lium, myrrh, saffron, mercury, turpentine, liquid storax,
and oil of lavender.— Warm (or warming) plaster.
Same as pUelt-plaster wUh cantharides. — Zinc plaster,
zinc sulphate and Castile soap.
plaster (plas'tfer), v. t. [Formerly also plaister,
playster; < ME. plastren, playsterm, playstren
= 'D.pleisteren = MLGt. plAteren = (j. pflasteiti
= Sw. pldstra = Dan. piastre; from the noun :
eee plaster, n. Ct. emplaster, v.'\ 1. To apply
a medicative plaster to ; cover with a plaster :
as, to plaster a wound.
4535
And be he bathed in that blode baptised, as it were,
And tbsaine plastred with penannce andpassioun of that
babi,
Heshulde stonde and steppe. Piers Plowman (B), xvlL 95.
2. To cover or overlay with plaster, as the walls
of a house, partitions, etc.
The east side [of the aqueduct] iaplaistered with a very
strong cement, probably to prevent any damage from the
sands that might be drove against it.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. 1. 59.
The houses [at Rome] are of stone, but plastered as at
Vienna. Eustace, Italy, II. L
3. To bedaub or besmear: as, to plaster the
face with powder. [Colloq.] — 4. To fill or
cover over with or as with plaster ; hide ; gloss :
with up.
But see here the conueyance of these spirituall gentle-
men in playsteryng vp their unsauery sorceries.
Bp. Bale, English Votaries, L
And suck out clammy dews from herbs and flowers.
To smear the chinks, and plaster up the pores.
Addison, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, iv.
5. To treat with plaster; add gypsum to: as, to
plaster vines by dusting them with gypsum in
order to jjrevent rot or mildew of the berries ; to
plaster wines by adding gypsum in order to neu-
tralize acid or produce other fancied benefits.
plasterbill (plas'ter-bil), TO. The siirf-scoter
or surf -duck, (Edemia {Pelionetta) perspicillata :
so called from a peculiarity of the bill. G. Twm-
hull, 1888. See cut under surf-duck. [Massa-
chusetts.]
plaster-clovert (plas'ter-kl6"ver), TO. The sweet
clover, Melilotus officinalis: so called from its
use in ointments.
plasterer (plas'ter-er), n. [= D. pleisteraar =
Gr. pjlasterer, pfldsterer; a,s plaster, v., + -eri.]
One who plasters walls; also, one who makes
plaster ornaments.
plastering (plas'ter-ing), TO. [< 'ULE.plasteryng,
playsteryng ; verbal n. ot plaster, u.] 1. The
act or operation of overlaying with plaster. —
2. The plaster-work of a building; a covei-ing
of plaster. — 3. The treatment of wines by the
addition of gypsum or plaster of Paris. See
planter, v., 5.
plastering-machine (plas't6r-ing-ma- shen"),
TO. A machine designed for use in spreading
plaster in forming interior walls and ceilinjgs.
Attempts to construct a practical machine of this kind,
adapted to general use, have not yet succeeded, and the
ancient method of plastering with hand-trowels is still
universal.
plaster-mill (plas'ter-mil), n. 1. A machine
consisting of a roller or a set of rollers for
grinding lime or gypsum to powder. — 2. A
mortar-mill.
plaster-stone (plas'ter-ston), n. Gypsum, or a
species of gypsum.
plastery (plas'ter-i), a. [iplaster + -yi.] Ee-
sembling plaster; containing plaster.
St. Peter's disappoints me ; the stone of which it is made
is a poor plastery material; and indeed Rome in general
might be called a rubbishy place. A. H. Clough.
plastic (plas'tik), a. [= F. plasUque = Sp.
pldstico = Pg. It. plasUco (of. D. Gr. plastiscJi
= Sw. Daji.plastisk), < L. plasticus, < Gr. Tt^aa-
Tuc6c, of or belonging to molding or modeling,
< irAaardg, verbal adj. of ■KiMaauv, mold or form
in clay, wax, etc. Cf. jjtoster.] 1. Capable of
molding or of giving form or fashion to a mass
of matter; having power to mold.
Benign Creator, let thypJosiic Hand
Dispose its own Effect. Prior, Solomon, iii.
Plastic Natui'e working to this end.
Pope, Essay on Man, iii. 9.
The One Spirit's plastic stress
Sweeps through the dull dense world.
Shelley, Adonais, xliit
2. Capable of being modeled or molded into
various forms, as plaster, clay, etc.; hence,
capable of change or modification ; capable of
receiving a new bent or direction : as, the mind
is plastic in youth.
StufE at hand, plastic as they could wish.
Wordsworth, French Revolution.
3. Pertaining to or connected -with modeling
or molding ; produced by or characteristic of
modeling or molding : as, the plastic art (that is,
sculpture in the widest sense, as distinguished
from painting and the graphic arts).
Pictorial rather than ^astic in style, both in action and
in the treatment of draperies.
C. C. Perkins, Italian Sculpture, p. 152.
4. In hiol., specifically, plasmic — Plastic bron-
chitis, pseudomembranous bronchitis.— Plastic Clay,
clay suitable for making pottery or bricks ; specifically, a
division of the Eocene in England, especially in the Lon-
don basin and on the Isle of Wight, where it is character-
istically developed. The Plastic clay series was so named
by T. Webster, in imitation of the name given by Cuvier
plastral
and Biongniart (Ar^ile plasUque) to a division of the se-
ries in the Paris basm. The beds thus named by Webster
were later designated by Prestwich as the Woolwich and
Reading series. Part of the series is very fossilif erons ;
among the fossils is a bird as large as the dinomis of New
Zealand.— Plastic crystaL See cj-j/stei.— Plastic force,
the sum total of agencies pitiducing growth and organi-
zation in living bodies, — Plastic gum, gutta-percha. —
Plastic imagination, the productive or creative imagi-
nation.—Plastic medium, something intermediate be-
tween soul and body, assumed to account for their action
one upon the other. — Plastic nature. See nature. —
Plastic operations, plastic surgery, operations which
have for t&eir object the restoring of lost parts, as when
the skin of the cheeks is used to make a new nose (rhino-
plasty).—Plastic solid. See solid.
plasticalt (plas'ti-kal), a. [< plastic + -a?.]
Same as plastic. I)r. H. More, Philosophical
Writings, Pref. Gen., p. xvi.
plastically (plas'ti-kal-i), adv. In a plastic
manner; by molding or modeling, as a plastic
substance.
plasticity (plas-tis'i-ti), to. [= F. plasticite =
Sp. plastiddad = Pg.plasticidade; a,s plastic +
■4ty.] The property of being plastic, (a) The
property of giving form or shape to matter.
To show further that this protoplasm possesses the ne-
cessaiy properties of a normal protoplasm, it will be neces-
sary to examine . . . what these properties are. They
are two in number, the capacity for life and plasticity.
H. Drttmmond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, p. 299.
(6) Capability of being molded, formed, or modeled.
The race must at a certain time have a definite amount
of ^^astieity — that is, a definite power of adapting itself
to altered circumstances by changing in accordance with
them. W. K. Clifford, Lectures, L 102.
Some natures are distinguished hy plasticity or the pow-
er of acquisition, and therefore realise more closely the
saying that man is a bundle of habits.
A. Bain, Emotions and Will, p. 473.
plastid (plas'tid), TO. and a. [< Nh. plasiidium,
q. v.] I. TO. 1. A unicellular organism; a sim-
ple unit of aggregation of the first order, as an
individual protozoan, or a cell considered with
reference to its developmental or evolutionary
potentiality. The word has no exact zoological signifi-
cation. Haeckel used it for any elementary organism, as
a cell or oytode.
If we reduce organized beings to their ultimate organ-
isms — cells or pUuUds.
Davison, Origin of the World, p. 377.
2. In bot., one of the variously shaped proteid
bodies, such as chlorophyl-granules, leucoplas-
tids, ehromoplastids, etc, which may be clearly
differentiated in the protoplasm of active cells.
They liave substantially the same chemical and, with the
exception of color, the same physical propeiiaes as proto-
plasm. They are regarded as being the centers of chemi-
cal activity in cells.
H. a. Having the character or quality of a
Slastidj plastic or plasmic.
astidium (plas-tid'i-um), n. ; Tpl.plasUdia (-a),
[NXi., < Gr. TTAjicrrdQ, verbal adj. of irTtdaceiv,
mold, form {see plastic), + dim. -iSiov.'] Same
as plastid,
Flastidozoa (plas'^'ti-do-zo'a), TO. pi. [NL., <
plastid(ium) + Gr. C^iw, animal.] Same as
Protozoa.
plastidular (plas-tid'u-lar)j a. [^( plastidul^ +
-ar3.] Of or pertaining'to plastidules.
plastidnle (plas'ti-diil), to. [(.plastid + -ule.']
A molecule of protoplasm; chemically, the
smallest mass of protoplasm which can exist as
such, or the very complex and highly unstable
molecule of the chemical substance protein,
when invested with vital activities.
plastilina (plas-ti-li'na), TO. [< plast(ic) +
-il + -ina.~i A modeling-clay so compounded as
to remain moist for a considerable time, and
thus dispense with frequent wetting during the
progress of the work.
plastin (plas'tin), TO. [< Gr. TrTiaarSc, verbal adj.
of ir?Maaeiv, form, mold, + -in^.'] In Mol., an
element in the chemical composition of the
ceU-nucleus: according to Swartz, who calls it
also cytoplastin, a viscous extensible mass which
resists pepsin- and trypsin-digestion.
Camoy . . . believes that the single, greatly coiled chro-
matin thread present in the nucleus in Arthropoda has a
"i?Zas(menvelope,"consistingofnuclein substances. . . .
Besides the "nuclein" discovered by Miescher, which
forms an essential part of the mass of the nucleus, Reinke
and Rodewald have found "plastin," and Eossel " histon "
and "adenin."
Quart Jam. Micros. Sci., XXX. iL 166, 169,
plastography (plas-tog'ra-fi), to. [< Gr. TT^aa-
rdg, verbal adj. of 7r?Ac!aeiv, form, mold, + -ypa-
(jiia, < ypatpEiv, write.] Imitation of handwrit-
ing; forgery.
plastra, ». Plural otplastrum.
plastral (plas'tral), a. [< plastr-on + -al.'] In
lierpet., of or pertaining to the plastron ; enter-
ing into the formation of the under shell : as,
plastral bones ; plastral scutes or sutures.
Plastron of Tortoise
(Effiys), ventral sur-
face (outside), showing
twelve horny epider-
malscalesas indicated
by the daric lines, one
of which traverseseach
xiphisternal {xp} and
each hypostemai (A/)
bony scute; /f, inter-
clavicular scute, or en-
toplastron ; ^ , clavicu-
lar scute (daviculari-
um) ; /ly, hyosternal
scute.
plastron
plastron (plas'tron), n. [< F. plastron (= It.
piastrone), a, breastplate, < OP. piastre, a plas-
ter: see plaster.'} 1. A breastplate; a garment
or part of a garment covering the breast, specifi-
cally-—(o) The early breastplate worn under the hauberk
or broigne : one of the earliest pieces of plate-armor In-
troduced in the "European middle ages. C. BauMl, Arms
and Armour in England. (6) A wadded shield of leather
which masters hang before the right breast when giving
lessons In fencing, (c) A detachable part of a woman's
dress, made of some soft mateiial, and suspended in loose
folds from the throat to the waist and caught in the belt :
as, a plmtran ot lace, crape, or sillc. (d) An ornamental
and often jeweled decorative plaque worn on tlie breast
by Hindu women, (e) A man's shirt-bosom, especially
one of the form fashionable for evening-dress 1875-90,
without plaits, presenting a smooth surface of lawn.
2. In herpet: (a) The ventral part of the shell
of a chelonian or testudinate ; the lower shell,
or under side of the shell, of a
turtle or tortoise : more or less
opposed to earapaee. The plas-
tron Is wholly an exoskeletalorintegu-
mentary structure, in which no bones
belonging to the endoskeleton or
skeleton proper are found. It con-
sists of a number, typically nina of
separate dermal bones, developed in
membrane, and covered with homy
epidermis,ortortoise-sbell. Thenine
typical pieces are one median and
four pairs lateral, called entoplastrojit
epiptastron, hyovtastrorif hypopkLS-
tron, and xiph^aatron. Formerly,
when these were supposed to contain
or represent sternal elements, they
wererespectivelynamedejUortcj'ft'MTO,
epigtamum, hyoBtemum, hyposter-
num^ and xtphistemum. Theplastron
is usually immovable, like the cara-
pace, but may be variously hinged,
in some cases so as to shut the animal
in completely. See also cuts under
cwapace, Pleumspondylia, and CAe-
loma. (6) One of the similar
exoskeletal plates developed upon the under
side of the body of certam Amphibia, as the
Lahyrintliodonta. — 3. In mammal., the ventral
shield or cuirass of the glyptodons or fossil
armadillos. — 4. In anat., the sternum with the
costal cartilages attached, as removed in au-
topsies.— 5. Li ornitU., a colored area on the
breast or belly of a bird, like or likened to a
shield. Coues.
plastron-de-fer (plas'trgn-d6-fer'), »• Same as
plastron, 1 (a).
plastrum (plas'trum), ».; pi, plastra (-tra).
[NL., an acoom. form otplastron; cf . ML. plas-
trum, plaster (gypsum): see plaster, plastron.]
Same as plastron.
platl(plat), V. t.; pret. a.Tid-pp.platted,ypr.plat-
Ung. [< ME. platten, pletten, < AS. plsettan,
strike with the hand, slap, = MS). pletten, strike,
bruise, crush, rub (freq. pletteren), = Sw. dial.
pldtta, var. pjdtta, tap, pat. Cf . pat^, prob. a
reduced form of plat'-.^ To strike with the
hand; strike.
Hisbevedof hepZette. HawJoi, L 2626.
Fernel Proud-herte^iZaefe hire to grounde,
And lay longe ar heo lokede.
Pfera Plowman (AX v. 45.
plat2 (plat), n. [Early mod. "K. platte; a var.
of jjfofi, <ME.^Zo*, <.ASi.plot, a plot of ground:
see jpfoil. The form jpZa* may be merely dial.,
but IS prob. due in part to plat^."] 1. A plot or
patch of land laid off for or devoted to some
particular purpose: as, a garden-^tot; a, plat
at ground.
Now therefore take and cast him Into the ptat of ground,
according to the word of the Lord. 2 Ei. ix. 26.
2. A flat representation of such plots or patches ;
a map or plan.
To take by view of eye the ptcMe of any thlnge.
Booke <if Preeedemx (B. E. T. S., extra ser.), 1. 5.
There was no other pastime nor exercise among the
youth but to draw plaUes of Sicile, and describe the sit-
uation of Libya and Carthage.
Xorth, tr. of Plutarch, p. 220 B. (Karet.)
We fallowed the shoare or land, which lieth Northnortb-
west, . . . asltdotbai>peareby thejtJae.
HaUuytt Voyages, I. 275.
3t. A plan or design; scheme; plot.
So shall oar plat in this one point be larger and much
surmount that wUch Stanihurst first tooke in hand.
PtUtenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 90.
Here might be made a rare scene of folly, if the jiat
could bear it. Marston, Antonio and Mellida, I., iii. 2.
To be workmanly wrought, made, and sett up, after the
best handlyng and forme of good workmanship, accord-
ing to a pirn thereof made and signed with the hands of
the lords execntois.
Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting, L, App., Indentures, t
plat^ (plat), V. t: pret. and pp. platted, ppr.
platting. \<pla^,n. Ct.plot^,v.'\ To make a
ground-plan of; map or plot; lay down on pa-
per: as, ix) plat a tract of land; to plat a town.
4636
The author acknowledges his indebtedness to . . .
Wharton's "Hydrographic Surveying," whence he takes
the method ot platting angles by means of chords.
Science, XV. 78.
The work ["Emblematic Mounds "] is illustrated by two
hundred and seventy woodcuts, many of them full pages.
They represent the efllgies both singly and in groups, just
as they were when measured and 2>totte<i. . „,,
Amer. AitHquanan, XIL, adv.
The town was platted in 1872, and named in honor of
Prince Otto von Bismarck. Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 360.
plats (plat), a. and n. [< ME. plat,platt,platte
= D. plat = MLG. 2^lat, LG. platt = G. platt =
Sw. platt = Dan. plat, flat, level, low; < OP.
(and P.) plat = Pr. plat = Sp. Pg. plato = It.
piatto, flat, level (ML. *platus, "plattus, only as
a noun, after Eom. : see plate), < Gr. irAartf,
flat, wide, broad, = Lith. plains, broad, = Skt.
prithu, wide, broad, < •/ prath, spread out,
broaden ; prob. ult. connected with E. flawn
{OEGt.flado, etc.), a flat cake (see flawn), but
not vrith E. flat (see flat^). Prom the same
ult. source ttve plate, pate\ place, plaga, piazza,
plaice, plane^, plateau, plaUna, platitude, plat-
ter\ etc. : see esp. plate^ I. a. If. Plat; level;
plain.
In another Yle ben folk that han the face all platt, alle
pleyn, with outen Nese and with outen Mouthe; butthei
han 2 smaleiioles alle rounde, instede of hire Eyen ', and
hire Mouthe is platt also, with outen Lippes.
MandeoUle, Travels, p. 204.
He lyeth downe his one eare all plat
Unto the grounde, and halt it f aste.
Oower, Conf. Amant., !.
2. Specifically, in lace-making, flat and of uni-
form texture: said of the sprigs or flowers;
hence, in general, noting the sprigs of bobbin-
lace, which are flat, as compared with those of
needle-point lace, which may have relief.—
Point plat. See iwsjiti.
II. n. If. A beam or plank laid horizontally;
a horizontal timber. Halliwell.
Thane was theprynce purvayede, and theireplacesnomene,
Pyghte pavyllyons of palle, anapUUtee in seegge.
;if orte Arthwre (E. E. T. S.), I. 2478.
2t. A large flat stone used as the landing-place
of a stair. — St. The flat side of a sword.
And what man that is wounded with the strook
Shal never be hool til that yow list, of grace,
To stroke him with the platte in thilke place
Ther he is hurt. Chaucer, Squire's Tale, L 1B4.
4t. The sole of the foot. Compare plaml^.
Withals, Diet. (1608), p. 284. (iVares.)— 5. In
mming, an enlargement of a level where it con-
nects with a shaft used for raising ore, its ob-
ject being to facilitate that operation, espe-
cially in mines where the ore is raised m kib-
bles.
plat^t (plat), adv. \}S^. plat, platte; < pla^, a.]
1. Platly; plainly; bluntly.
Thus warned she him ful plat and ful pleyn,
Chamcer, Monk% Tale, 1. 767.
Whanne we were in the hyghe see, about .xxx. myle in
oure waye from Modona, the wynde fell ^aUe ayenste vs.
SSr R. Guylforde, Pyferymage^ p. 69.
2. Smoothly; evenly.
plat^t (plat), V. t. [= D. pletten = G. platten,
lay flat, flatten ; from the adj. : see p'Uit^, a.]
To lay down flat or evenly; spread.
'B.e platteth his butter upon his breed wt his thombe as
it were a lytell claye. Palsgrave. iHailiiuiell.)
plat* (plat), V. ; pret. and ]^p. platted, ypv. plat-
ting. [< ME. platten; a var. oiplait: see plait.']
I. trans. To interweave; make or shape by in-
terweaving; wattle; plait. See plait.
When they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it
upon his head. Mat. xxviL 29.
Upon her head a. platted hive of straw,
which fortified her visage from the sun.
Shak., Lover's Complaint, \. 8.
Some plat, like Spiral Shells, their braded Hair.
Congrem, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love, ill.
II, intrans. To embrace. [Kare.]
And they twa met, and they twa.plat.
And fain they wad be near ;
And a* the warld might ken right weel.
They were twa lovers dear.
The Douglas Tragedy (Child's Ballads, tL 119).
plat* (plat), n. [< plat^, v.] 1. A plaited or
braided thing ; something produced by plaiting
or interweaving: as, straw plat for hats; a
plat of hair. — 2. Naut., a braid of foxes. See
_fox^, 4. Dana.
Flatacanthomylns (plat-a-kan''''tho-nii-i'nS),
n.pl. [Nh.,<Platacanthomys + -inee,] A sub-
family of MuridsB, represented by the genus
Flatanistidse
having transversely laminate molars and the
fur mixed with flattened spines, p. latiuns u
a small species like a dormouse, with a densely hairy taE
inhabiting mountainous parts of western India.
Platacidse (pla-tas'i-de), n. pi. [NL,, < Platax
(Platac-) + •idse.] A family of aeanthoptery-
gian fishes, typified by the genus Platax; the
sea-bats. They have a high compressed body, imbri-
cated scales, a long high dorsal with the spines few and
crowded in front, a long high anal, well-developed ven-
trals, setiform teeth in the jaws, and an edentulous palate.
About 7 species are known as Inhabitants of the lodian
and western Pacific oceans.
Platalea (pla-ta'le-a), n. [NL., < L. platalea
{also platea), the spoonbill, appar. < Gr. ?r^ar{if,
flat: see pla^.] The typical genus of Plata-
leidse, formerly conterminous with the family,
Spoonbill [^Platalea lettcorodia).
now restricted to the Old World spoonbills,
such as P. leucorodia, in which the intratho-
racic parts of the trachea are peculiarly con-
voluted. Also Platea.
Plataleidse (plat-a-le'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Pla-
talea + -idee.] A' family of large grallatorial
birds of the order Herodiones and suborder
Ibides, typified by the genus Platalea, having
the long flat bill dilated at the end like a spoon;
the spoonbills, or spoon-billed ibises. There are
5 or 6 specieEk of various parts of the world, chiefly in
tropical latitudes. They were formerly classed with the
storks, but are more closely related to the ibises. See cud
under Aiaia and Platalea.
plataleiform (pla-ta'le-i-f6rm), a. [< L. pin-
talea, a spoonbill, + 'forma, form.] Like a
spoonbill in form; plataleine in structure and
affinity.
plataleine (pla-ta'le-in), a. [< L. platalea, a
spoonbill, -I- ■4ne^.'] ' Pertaining to the spoon-
bills ; belonging to the Plataleidx.
platan, n. Seeplatane.
Flatanace£(plat-a-na'se-e), n.pl. [NL. (Lind-
ley, 1836), < Platamus 4- -aeese^ An order of
apetalous trees of the series Unisexuales, con-
sisting of the genus Platanus, and character-
ized by having monoecious flowers in dense glo-
bose heads, without calyx, and with but few or
minute bracts, by the ovaiy with one cell and
one ovule, and the fruit a ball of numerous long
achenes, each narrowed into a slender base
surrounded with long hairs. See out under
plame-tree.
platane, platan (plat'an, plat'an), n, [= D.
plataan = G. platane = Sw. Dan. platan, < F.
platane =S-p.pldtamo =Pg. It.platamo, <Ij.^te-
tarmSjK. Gr. jrAdravog, a plane-tree : see plan^
and Platanus, and of. plantain^.] The plane-
tree.
I espied thee, fair Indeed and tall,
Under a platane. Maton, P. I., Iv. 478.
Often, where clear-stemm'd^otoTU guard
The outlet^ did I turn away. '
Tenrtyson, Arabian Nlghta.
Platanista (plat-a-nis'ta), n. [NL., < L. pla-
tanista, < Gr. ■Kharavmiii, a flsh of the Ganges,
appar. this dolphin.] The typical genua of
the family Platanistidae, containing me Qan-
GangeKc Dolphin {Platanista gangeti^^.
Platacanthomys (plat-a-kan'tho-mis), n.
[NL. (B. Blyth, 1859), prop. *Platyacamthomys,
< Gr. irTiariis, flat, + mavda, a spine, + fivQ,
mouse.] The only genus of Platacanthomyinse,
getio dolphin, P. gangeUca. This is an enthwly «a-
yiatile species, having about 120 teeth, 50 vertebra, es-
tremely narrow jaws, no pelvic bone, rudimentary eyes,
and obsolete dorsal fin. It attains a length of about 8
feet, and feeds on small fishes and crustaceans.
Platanistidae (plat-a-nis'ti-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Platanista + -idee.]' A family of dolphin oid
odontooete cetaceans, framed to contain the
genera Platanista, Inia, and Pontoporia. Tli«J
Platanistidae
»re flavlatile or estaarine dolphins of warm waters hav-
ing a small or obsolete dorsal fln, broad trancate flippers,
distinct fluice^ external indication of a neck, free cervical
vertebMB, a long mandibular symphysis, no distinct lacry-
mal bone, distinct tnbercolar and capitular articulations
of the ribs, and long slender jaws with very numerous
functional teeth.
Platanus (plat'a-nns), n. pUj. (Tournefort,
1700), < L. platanus, < 6r. n-Adravoc, the plane-
tree: Bee platane, jjlane^.J A genus of trees
constituting the Older Platanaceai, and consist-
ing of 6 species, by some authors reduced to
3, natives of temperate or subtropical parts of
the northern hemisphere, 2, or perhaps 3, con-
fined to America, and 2 to the Old World ; the
plane-trees. They are large trees, with the light-brown
bark often scaling off in broad, thin, and roundish flakes,
exposing a whitish inner layer, and giving the trunk a
naked or spotted appearance wholly unlike that of any
other tree. They bear alternate broadly deltoid leaves,
palmately nerved and lobed, the dilated leafstalk cover-
ing the leaf-bud of the year following. SeebicUonbaU, guca-
mare, and ehiaaT-tree, and cut under plane-tree.
Platax (pla'taks), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1829), <
Gr. ir/iarof , a fish
Iikeaperch,also
called Kopaiuvo^;
prob. < srAariif,
flat: seeptots.]
The typical ge-
nus of Plataci-
dse, remarkable
for the height
or depth of the
body.
platband (plaf-
band), n. [< P.
platehande,plat-
hand, lintel, bor-
der, OP. platte-
hande, a flat
band, < plate,
fem/otplat,ila.t, ^•*"' <"'"" '««'-'«")•
+ bande, band: see ftanrfi.] 1. A border of
flowers in a garden, or along a wall or the side
of a parterre. — 3. In arch. : (o) Any flat rectan-
gular molding the projection of which is much
less than its width; a fascia. (6) A liutel formed
with voussoirs in the manner of an arch, but
with the intrados horizontal — a common and
yicious modem construction, but employed
even in some Eoman and medieval work in
places where a true arch was not convenient,,
and when monoliths of suficient size were not
available. See cut of ^iarcfe, under arcfti. (c)
The fillets between the flutes of an Ionic or a
Corinthian column,
plat-blindt (plat'blind), a. Entirely blind. MaU
Uwell.
plate (plat), n. [< ME. plate, a plate, < OP.
plate, platte, plaite, plete, plette, etc., f. , a plate
of mel^, plate-armor, ingot, silver, also|>^(,m.,
a plate, platter, a flat surface, a low lake, a flat-
boat, etc., plate, bullion, silver-plate, silver, P.
plat, m., a dish, plate, scale (of a balance), lid
(of a book), sheet (of glass), flat (of the hand),
blade (of an oar), etc.; = &Tp.plata, f., plate,
sDver, wrought metal, money, plato, m., a
dish, plate, = Vg.prata, t., plate, silver, prato,
m., a dish, plate, = iLpiatta, f., a flatboat,
piatto, m., a dish, plate (ML.plata, f., a dish,
ylsite, platum, n., a dish, plate, plattum, a flat
surface, ^2a<us, m., a dish, plate, also platta, L,
the clerical tonsure): cf. AS. platung, a plate
of metal (aeeplate, v.) ; OFries.platte, a shaven
pate, = D. plat, flat side, flat form, = MLG.
plate, a sheet of metal, = loel. plata, a plate,
mounted metal, = Sw. pl&t = Dan. plade, a
sheet of metal;
MHG. plate, G.
platte, SfylaXe, a,
shaven or bald
pate; from the
adj., F. plat,
etc., flat: see
plats. Ctpate^
the same word,
with loss of me-
dial I. The uses
of plate 'in vstrt
overlap those
of the related
noxaiplatS.'] 1.
A sheet of met-
al of uniform
thickness and
even surface :
as, a plate of
Annor of Plate. gOld; a Stcel
a, plate-armor, as distinguished from d, ^Inf^
chain-armor. ptUte.
4537
Over Uieir forehead and eyes they [mnlea] have Hme
pieces of flate, made either of brasse or Istten.
Coryat, Crudities, L 69.
2. Aflatpiece of metal used to strengthen arms;
hence, armor made of sheets of metal, as distin-
guished from mail or chain-armor. See cut in
preceding column.
Over that a fyn hauberk
Was al y wrought of Jewes werk,
Fnl strong it was of gUUe.
Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 1. 154.
Veplate, ne male, could ward so mighty throwes.
Spenser, F. Q., II. v. 9.
Uangled with ghastly wounds through piote and mail
MiUmt, P. L, vi. 368.
Squadrons and squares of men in brazen plates,
Tennyson, Fair Women.
3. A shallow dish of pottery, porcelain, or
metal, on which food is served at table, or &om
which it is eaten; also, a plateful; a course or
portion at table : as, a sawp-plate; a tndtrplate;
Sk plate of soup or of fish.
Both me and mine he caused to dine.
And serv'd us all with one plate.
The Kings Disgtdxe (Chad's Ballads, Y. 381]l
The European pilgrims dine and sup in the refectory
with the monks ; . . . they are well served with tliree or
tonr ^plates, and have exc^ent white-wine of their own
making. Pococke, Description of the Easl^ II. L 11.
4. Gold or silver dishes and utensils used at
table or in the home, including besides dishes
other vessels, as cups, flagons, etc., as well as
spoons, knives, forks, etc. : as, a sale of the fur-
niture ajiA plate.
A piece of antique plaie, bought of St. Hark,
With which he here presents you.
B. Jonson, Volpone, L 1.
The pJofe in the hall (all at the Queen's table being gold)
was estimated to be worth nearly £400,000.
Fird, Year <if a SatenBeign, p. 68.
5. Articles which have been covered with a
platii^ of precious metal not solid gold or
silver; plated ware.
Bich plate, even to the enamelling on gold, rich stnflB,
and cnrions armour were carried to excess.
Walpole, Anecdotes, L 2, note.
6. A cap or flagon or other article of gold or sil-
ver awarded to the winner in a contest, as to the
owner of the winning horse or the crew of the
winning boat in a race; a "cup." — 7. Abeam
or piece of timber laid horizontally in a wall to
receive the ends of other tim-
bers. The plate for roof-tim-
bers, and also for joists, is
called a waM-plate. Compare
plat^, n., 1. — 8. A flat piece
of metal, as brass, copper, or
steel, on which any represen-
tation or inscription is en-
graved: as, a dooT-plate; a
co&a-plate; especially, such
a piece of metal so engraved
for impression on paper, etb.:
as, a hook-plate; a earA-plate;
hence, the printed impression
from an engraved plate: as, a
book illustrated with plates. —
9. A duplicate, in one piece
of metal, of the face of com-
posed types or woodcuts. Such
plates are made by electrotype or
stereotype process. Plates of book-
pages are about one eighth of an inch
thick; plates of newspaper-pages are
much thicker.
1 0. (a) In dentistry, a piece of carpenter^ piates.
metal or composition fitted to «, nftei^piate; *,
the mouth and holding the ^^"^^1,^^-
teeth of a denture. (6) In ho-
rology, one of the two parallel pieces of metal to
which the wheels are pivoted in a watch or
clock, (c) The flat piece of metal forming the
side of the lock of a firearm, (d) A flat piece
of metal usually forming a part of the bed or
bosh of a metallurgical furnace, (e) A com-
monly rectai^ular piece of glass used in pho-
tography to receive the picture. (/) In base-
tall, the home base.
From the nature of things, a ball so knocked that it can-
not be caught or fielded to the plate before the man can
make the entire circuit of the bases yields an earned, or,
as it is in such Instance more gener^y called, a "home
run." The Ceniwry, XXXYm. 835.
(gr) Naut., a bar or band of iron, as in futtock-
plates, channel-plate, etc.; specifically, in iron
ships, the metal which forms part of the strake
on the ship's side. — 1 1 . Shale of the coal-mea-
sures. It is in these strata that the finest spe-
cimens of the coal-plants are most frequently
found. Also called 6iM(fe. — 12. Plate-glass.
plate
Themachlne in use forpolishing the glass is practically
that originally designed for the purpose ; it is not only
nsed in plate-glass works, but is the machine used for pol-
ishing tliat description of glass which is known as "pat-
ent jitote." <itass.mating, p. 168.
13. The finest quality of pewter. — 14. In anat. ,
zool., and bot., a plate-like part, organ, or struc-
ture ; a lamina or lamella ; a layer : not specific,
the thing indicated being designated by a qual-
ifying term. See cuts under carapace. Coluber,
and whalebone. — ISf. A Spanish money of ao-
eount. Also called old plate. Eight reals of old
plate made the^eso de plata, or piaster — that
IS, the Spanish dollar.
Be likehe has some new trick for a pnrse ;
And if he has, he is worth three hnndred jiliit(&
MaHovx, Jew of l£slta, ii.
Kealms and islands were
As plates dropp'd from his pocket.
Shak., A. and C, ▼. S. 92.
Ambnlacral plate. See amiuZacniJ.— A pairofplatest.
armor for the nreast and back.
Somme woln have a ptyre plaia large.
Chaveer, Knight's Tale, L 1262.
Argentine plate, German silver.
The manufacture of German silver, or Argentine plate,
became an object of commercial importance.
Ure, Diet, HL 414.
Aimorofplate. Sameaspiote-armor.— Auditoiyplate.
See auditory crest, under auditory. — Basilisk plates,
plates of enameled pottery decorated with a basilisk, or
Rjmilnr animal, which are foimd from time to time in the
neighborhood of Qnimper, in the department of Finist^re
in France. They are ttionght to be specimens of the fai-
ence of Quimper, but have often been classed as Bouen
ware. See Quimper pottery, under pottery. — Bobstay,
branchial, buckled plates. See the qualifying words.
— British plate. Same as albata. — Bulb plate, in iron-
and steel-mam^., a plate along the margm of which is
rolled a rib or bnlb thicker than the body of the plate.
The plate resembles tee-iron, except tliat the head of the
tee, or what corresponds to it; is more massive. Such
plates are used in iron ship-building for keelsons, etc., in
bridge-bnfldiug, and in iron arohitectnre. — Cardiac, cir-
cumeBOphaeeal, dinold plate. See the adjectives.—
Coat of plates, coif of inate. See eoot^, «i<^.— Com-
pound aimor-plate. Seennderonnor'^iiate.— Conect-
ing-plate. Same as eompensator (a> — Costsd, cribrl-
fonn, dry plate. Seetheadjectives.— Dovetau-plates.
See dovetau. — ^Dumb-plate, the part at the bottom near
the doors of a fnmace where thero are no air-openings or
spaces; the dead-plate. — Endochrome, ^te-end. geni-
tal, gular plates. See the qualifying words.— ^ua-
toilal plate, in iiol., the collection of chromatin-flbers in
the equator of the nuclear spindle dm-ing karyokinesls. —
Gold plate, gold vessels for use or ornament ; especisdly,
table utensiis of gold. — Half-tone plates. See pAoto-
j>roce8&— Head-block plate. See head-Hock.— Kara
plate, in embryol., the remaining ectoderm of a germ,
forming the epidermis of the embryo after the formation
from ectoderm of the rudiment of the spinal canaL
From this time the jemaining portion of the skin-sen-
sory layer is called the horn-plate or horn-layer, because
the outer skin (epidermis) with its homy appendages —
nails, hair, etc. — develops from it.
HaaJcel, Evol. of Han (trans.), I. 306.
Indnctlon-plate, a small insulated metal plate placed
opposite one of the quadrants of an electrometer, used
for reducing the sensitiveness of the instrument. For
this purpose the electrified body is connected with the
induction-plate instead of with the quadrant directly.
In order that somewhat larger differences may be mea-
sured, the Induction Plate is introduced to diminish the
sensitiveness. J E. H. Gordon, Elect, and Mag., I. 44.
Jugular, madreporic, medullary plate. See the ad-
jectives.—Lockl^-plate. Same as count^oAeei. — Uain
plate, the principal plate of a lock.— Muscular plate.
Same as mvade-jfiate.—'SaaaX, negative, occipital, oc-
ular, orbital plate. See the adjectives. — Patching up
plates. SeepofoA, — Patent plate, a name given in Eng-
land to cylinder-glass. — Perlsomatic plates. See^wri.
somatie. — Flate diamond. See diamond. — Plate of a
ftamace. See dead-plate. — Plate of wind, in organs
buHding, the flat sheet or jet of air which is projected
through the flue of a flue-pipe against the upper lip of the
month, and by the flnctnations of which the tone is pro-
duced.^— Flate-welding hammer, a steam-hammer of
special form. E. B. ^Ti^yM.— Pterygostomlal plates,
radial plates. See the adjectives.— Bibbed plate, sheet-
metal with its surface alternately ribbed or corrugated.
BHHKd plate is made by nsing a roller with grooves on
its surface. Workshop Beceipts, 1st ser., p. 65^
SUp-pIate, 3n inferior quality of wrought-iron plate.
Wronght-iron plates . . . are manufactured of . . . coarse,
brittle, and uncertain material, sometimes sold as sh^
j^lttte. R. Wilson, Steam Boilers, p. 32.
Terminal plate, in Wo/., the end-plate of a nerve-flber.
— Wheel-guard plate (mUU.), the rub-iron of a field-
artillery carriage, (See also amwr-plaie. bottom-plate,
floating-plate, honyplate, gieve-plate, spreading-plate, tie-
plate.)
plate (plat), V. t.; pret. and pp. plated, ppr.
plating. [< ME. 'platen, < AS. *platian in
eomp. dplaOan and verbal n. platung, a plate
of metal : see plate, m.] 1 . To arm with plate-
armor for defense.
Harshal, ask yonder knight in arms
Both who he is and why he cometh hither
Thus plated in habiliments of war.
Sfto*.,Bich. n., L 3. 38.
2. To overlay or coat with silver, gold, or
other metal; specifically, to attach a perma-
plate
nent covering or film of one metal to (the
surface of another). — 3. To arm or cover (a
ship) with armor-plates. — 4. To beat into thin
flat pieces or laminse. — 5. To implant (micro-
organisms) in a thin layer of gelatin spread
upon a glass plate. See plate-culture Chemical
plating or dipping, a process performed in some cases
by the mere immersion of one metal in a hot or cold soln-
tion of some salt of another metal, a& in plating iron with
copper by dipping the former in sulphate-of -copper solu-
tion, or the coating of Jbrass with tin by boiling the brass
in a solution of cream of tartar to which scraps of tin have
been added. Tin-plating of this sort is also variously called
waehingj tinning^ gUvsnng, or whitening. It is much em-
ployed in various arts, particularly in the manufacture of
brass pins. The words plaie and fiaMng are often coupled
with the prefixed name of the metal which forms the outer
surface : as, sUver-plaU, iHver-^aJUng, to plate with silver,
the process of plating with silver ; mekd-plate, nicM-^at-
injr, to plate with nickel, the process of plating with nickel,
etc. See also deetroplatie, galvanize, ^ and galvanc^as-
tic. — Dry plating, a process of coatmg the surface of
iron by rubbing it over with brass (usually a brass-wire
brush) till it is covered with adherent brass. The pro-
cess is used in mending broken cast-iron articles. Sur-
faces so coated may first be tinned over, and then sol-
dered with ordinary tin solder. — Fire-plating (also called
fire-gUding when the coating is of gold), plating performed
either by a process of soldering the film or coating direct-
ly to the surface of the object to be plated, or, when the
coating will not directly adhere, by first coating the object
with a metal which has an affinity for both the metal of
the obj ect to be plated and the metal used for the plating.
I'hus iron, to which silver cannot be made to adhere di-
rectly, may be silver-plated by first coating it with copper,
the latter having affinity for both iron and silver. In
fire-plating the surface to be covered is laid over with a
suitable flux, upon which the silver-foil is smoothly placed,
and the whole is then heated till the metals unite.— Rolled
plating, the soldering together of bai-s of different metals
and ol considerable thickness, and then rolling the com-
pound bar out into a thin plate. In this way a thin sheet
of some base metal, as copper, may be plated on one side
or on both with a much thinner layer of fine metal, as
silver. The material called rt^d gold, much used for
cheap watch-cases and jewelry, is thus made.— To plate
a port, in a steam-engine, to close a port by the land or
nnperforated part of the plate of a slide-valve. E. H.
Knight.
Flatea (pla'te-a), n. [Nli. : see PlataleaJ] In
ornith., same 'as Flatalea. Brisson, 1760.
plate-armor (plat'ar'mgr), n. Defensive ar-
mor consisting of plates of metal.
plateau (pla-to'), »»•; pi. plateatis (-toz'), pla-
teatix (-toz' ). [< F. plateau, dim. otplat, a plate :
see plate.'] 1 . Inphys, geog., an elevated region
of oonsiderahle extent, often traversed by
moimtain-ranges. The word is nearly synonymous
with taJiU-^nd as that word Is used by many geographers.
Thus, the Alps are characterized by the absence of pla-
teaus; the Asiatic ranges, from Asia Minor eastward to
China, by the presence of table-lands and high, broad, pla-
teau-like valleys.
2. (a) A tray for table servilse. (6) A decora-
tive plaque. [French uses.]
plate-basket (plat'bas''''ket), n. 1. A basket
lined with metal, for removing plates and other
utensils which have been used at table, pre-
paratory to washing them. — 2. A basket, usu-
ally divided into compartments, for holding the
knives, forks, spoons, etc., in daily use.
plate-bender (plat'ben'>'d6r), n. A pincers with
curved bits used for bending dental plates with-
out leaving marks.
plate-black (plat'blak), n. See black.
plate-bone (plat'bon), ». The blade-bone; the
omoplate, shoulder-blade, or scapula.
plate-box (plat'boks), n. 1. A grooved box
of appropriate size, for holding photographic
plates or finished negatives. — 2. A box espe-
cially designed to exclude light when closed,
for the saie-keeping of photographic dry plates
when removed from the manufacturer's pack-
age ; a safety-box.
plate-brass (plat'bras), )t. Boiled brass; latten.
E. H. Knight.
plate-bulb (plat'bulb), n. The swoUen part
on the edge of beams, having a cross-section
of mushroom form.
The plate bulh of beams should be bent before the an-
gle-irons are riveted to their upper edges, after which it
is necessai7 to check and adjust the curvature, which al-
ters slightly in the process of riveting.
Thearle, Naval Arch., § 310.
platecotet, ». A coat of plate-armor.
An helmette and a Jacke or platecote hideth all partes of
a manne, sauyng the legges.
UdaU, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 308. (fiavies.)
plate-culture (plat'kiil^tfir), n. The culture of
micro-organisms, especially bacteria, in a thin,
uniform layer of gelatin spread upon a glass
Slate.
ated (pla'ted), i). a. 1. Strengthened with
"plates of metal and defensive armor.
And over all the brasen scales was armd,
Uke plated cote of Steele, so couched neare
That nought mote perce. Spenser, F. Q., I. xL 9.
4538
2. Covered or overlaid with a different and es-
pecially a richer material : as, plated silk hose ;
plated forks and spoons.— 3. In zool., covered
or protected with hard dermal plates or scutes ;
scutate or loricate; shielded — plated ware, a
name especially given to vessels of base metal, eto., coated
or plated with gold or silver, as distinguished from plate,
plate-fleett (plat'flet), n. The vessels engaged
in transporting masses of precious metal; es-
pecially, the vessels which transported to Spain
the products of the mines in Spanish America.
The [Spanish] admiral's ship was called the Armadillo
of Carthagena, one of the greater galleys of the royal
plate-fleet. MUttm, Letters of State.
The Plate-Fleet also from Lima comes hither with the
King's Treasure. Dampier, Voyages, 1. 179.
plate-frame (plat'fram), n. hiphotog., a frame
of any kind for holding or receiving a plate ;
a dark-slide ; a plate-holder.
plateful (plat'ful), ». [< plate + -full As
much as a plate will hold.
plate-gage (plat'gaj ),n. A plate with notched
edges used to measure the thickness of metal
plates. The notohes are of graduated standard measures
of thickness, and are numbered in accordance with the
thicknesses they represent Different standards ai'e in
use. The thickness of a plate is definitely specified only
when both the number of the notoh it fits and the kind of
gage used are named : as, No. 16 Birmingham gage ; No.
10 Brown and Sharp's gage ; eto. See wire-gage.
plate-g[irder (plat'g6r"d6r), n. A girderf ormed
of a single plate of metal, or of a Series of
plates joined together.
plate-glass (plat'glas), n. A superior Mnd of
thick glass used for mirrors, and also for large
panes in windows, shop-fronts, etc. (See plate,
12.) The materials for this kind of glass are selected and
compoimded with much greater care than those of ordi-
nary glass. Tlie fused metal is poured upon a true-faced
iron uible and there rolled out into a plate having parallel
faces and a uniform thickness, by means of an iron roller,
I'unning on supporting bai-s at the sides of the table which
gage the thickness. By ingenious mechanism the plate
while yet hot is transferred to the annealing-oven. It is
carried through this oven, retained on fiat supports, and
is gradually cooled. Both surfaces are then highly pol-
ished. Machineiy is now universally employed for polish-
ing. See polishing-machine, 2.— German plate-glaES.
Same as broad glass (which see, under broad). — Rough
plate-glass, unpolished plate-glass. Before grinding and
polishing, the surface of plate-glass is not smooth enough
to permit distinct vision through it. In this state plate-
glaas is largely used for sky-lights in sidewalks and roofs,
windows opening into halls, ete., where light is desirable,
but where distinct vision would be objectionable. Flatos
of this kind vary in thickness from about f, inch to 1 inch
or more.
plate-hat (plat'hat), n. A hat made with an
outer pile or nap of finer material than the
body. Such hats are often made water-proof,
and stiffened before the nap is added.
plate-holder (plat'hoF'der), «. 1. laphotog.,
a movable frame fitted to a camera, used to
contain and transport a sensitized plate, which
is exposed to the image projected by the lens
by withdi-awing a slide or shutter after the hold-
er is in position in the camera; a dark-slide; a
plate-frame. The plate-holders for dry plates are usu-
ally made double, for economy of space, and, after expo-
sure of the plate in one side, are reversed in the camera
in order to expose the plate in the other side.
2. A j)neumatio device for holding a photo-
graphic plate during development or other ma-
nipulation.
plate-iron (plat'I^fem), n. Iron pressed into flat
plates by being passed between cylindrical roll-
ers; rolled iron.— Plate-Iron girder. Seegirderi.
plate-key (plat'ke), n. A flat key notched at
the ends or sides, as the key for a Tale lock.
plate-layer (plat'la'''er), ». In rail., a work-
man employed to lay down rails and fix them
to the sleepers. [Eng.]
Sundry new occupations, as those of drivers, stokers,
cleaners, plate-layers.
B. Spencer, Universal Progress, p. 64.
plate-leather (plat'lesH'-'er), n. Chamois lea-
ther used for cleaning gold or silver plate, es-
pecially when prepared for the purpose, as with
rouge-powder, etc., applied to the surface.
platelet (plat'let), re. liplate + 'let.] laanat,
a little plate; a plaque or plaquette.— platelet
of blood. Same as Uoo^plate.
platelyt, adv. Same a,s platly,
plate-machine (plat'ma-shen''''), n. A machine
for shaping, turning, and finishing plastic ma-
terials for making stone or china tableware,
plates, dishes, ete. : a variation of the potter's
wheel.
plate-mail (plat'mal), n. Same as scale-armor.
plate-mark (plat'mark), n. l. A legal mark
or symbol made on certain gold and silver
articles for the purpose of indicating their de-
gree of purity, etc. These symbols, according to
plater
British regulation, are— (1) The maker's mark or initials.
(2) The assay-mark. For gold, the assay-mark is a crown
and figures indicating the number of carats fine. For sil-
ver, in England, it is a lion passant ; in Ireland, a harp
crowned ; in Glasgow, a lion rampant ; and in EdinburgiL
a thistle. (3) The hall-mark of the district office. These
offices are at London, York, Exeter, Chester, Newcastle
Plate-marks.
El. crowned (maker's name— Eliot); Britannia and lion's head
(new standard of silver); castle (mark of the Exeter assay office);
M (date-mark — the year J712J.
Birmingham, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dub-
lin. The mark is generally the coat of arms of the
town. (4) The date-mark, consisting of a letter which is
changed every year. A duty-mark, consisting of the head
of the sovereign and indicating that the duty had been
paid, was used from 178^ to 1890, when the duty was
abolished.
2. In an engraving, the depression in the pa-
per around the ed|;eB of an impression taken
from an incised plate. It is caused by the
force of the press when striking off.
plate-matter (plafmat'-'Sr), n. Type cast in
a number of stereotype plates for msertion in
different newspapers, costing them much less
than would have to be paid for setting.
To-day one of these plate-matter manufacturing firms
has branch offices and foundries in New York, Boston,
Cincinnati, Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Francisco,
maintaining a corps of editors and employing a large force
of compositors and stereotypers at each point. It fur-
nishes matter for almost every department of a newspaper
except editorial articles and local news.
Westminster Bev., CXXVIII. 862.
plate-metal (plat'met"al), n. A plate of metal
produced in the process of refining^ pig-iron as
preparatory to its being puddled in the rever-
beratory furnace, according to the method fol-
lowed in Yorkshire for the production of a high
class of iron. Such plates are grooved on the bottom
and have been cooled rapidly, so as to be easily broken ia
pieces. Also called line-metal, white metal, or simply metoj.
plate-mill (plat'mil), n,. A mill for rolling
metal plates, it usuaUy has long rolls, necessitated
by the width of the plates, and the rolls are made veiy
heavy and strong in order to prevent springing and con-
sequent greater thickness of the plates in the middle than
at the sides.
platen^ (plat'en), n. [Also platim, platme; <
F. plaUne, a plate, lock-plate, piUar-plate,
scutcheon, plate of a printing-press, covering-
plate, etc., <^Zfl!*, flat: see pla^ axiA jilate.1 £i
printing, the flat part of a press which comes
down upon the form, and by which the impres-
sion is made. — Platen press, any form of printing-
press which gives impression from a platen, in distinction
from rotary or cylinder presses, which give impression
from a cylinder or a curved surface.
platen^ (plat'en), n. [Appar. a reduced form
and special use of platinum.'] An alloy used in
making buttons, composed of eight parts of
copper and five parts of zinc.
plate-paper (plafpa'pfer), n. 1 . Paper to which
a high gloss is imparted on both sides by pack-
ing each sheet between smooth plates of copper
or zinc, and subjecting a pile of the sheets so
packed to heavy pressure in a rolling-press,
bupercalendering (which see) has entirely su-
perseded this process. — 2, A heavy, spongy
paper used for taking impressions from en-
graved plates.— Hard plate-paper, soft plate-par
Ser. See paper.
_ ate-piece (plat'pes), n. The lower or under
half of the fore quarter of beef, used for com-
ing. Also called rattle-ran.
plate-powder (plat'pou'dfer), n. A polishing-
powder for silverware. One kind, called jewOeri
roage, is prepared by mixing solutions of soda and sul-
phate of iron, and washing, drying, and calcining the pre-
cipitated oxid of iron in shallow vessels until it assumes
a dera reddish-brown color. Compounds of rouge and pre-
pared chalk, or of oxid of tin and rose-pink, are idso termed
plate-press (plat'pres), n. A press for printing
from engraved plates of steel or copper.
plate-printer (plat'prin''t6r), n. A workman
who produces impressions from engraved cop-
per or steel plates, as distinguished from one
who prints from types or from stone.
plate-printing (plafprin^'ting), n. The act or
Srocess of printing from an engraved plate.
_ ater (pla'tfer), ». 1. One engaged in fee man-
ufacture of metallic plates, or in their applica-
tion in the arts and manufactures.
When being bent, the plate is lifted by a number of
men, under the direction of the ptaier in charge, who hold
the plate in the necessary position for obtaining the re-
quired curvature and twist. ThearU, Naval Ai'cL, § 296.
2. A machine for calendering paper by*meanB
of heavy pressure between smooth plates of
metal. — 3. One who plates or coats articles
plater
with gold or silver: generally in composition:
as, silvei-plater, goli-plater, nickel-^?oter. — 4.
A horse that competes for a plate. Lever.
plate-rack (plat'rak), n. 1. An open frame
for holding plates and dishes; specifically, a
frame in which dishes can be placed in a verti-
cal position to dry after they have heen washed.
—2. Any arrangement, other than simple
shelves, for holding plates in any number, as
the inclosed boxes, etc., in the pantries of a
ship. — 3. A grooved frame for receiving photo-
graphic plates while wet, and holding them di-
agonally on edge to drain; a negative-rack.
plate-rail (plat'ral), •«. In railway engin., a flat
raU. E. H. Knight.
plate-railway (plat'raKwa), n. A tramway in
which the wheel-tracks are flat plates. [Bng.]
plateresco (plat-e-res'ko), a. [Sp.] Same as
plateresque.
plateresque (plat-e-resk'), a. [< Sp. plateres-
co, < plata, silver : see plate.'] Besembling sU-
verwork : noting a certain class of architectural
enrichments. JFord.
plate-roller (plat'ro'ler), ». A smooth roller
for making plate- or sheet-iron.
plate-shears (plat'sherz), n. Hng. and pi. A
machine for cutting or shearing plate- or sheet-
metal, such as boiler-plate.
platessa (pla-tes'a), n. [NIi., < li.platessa, the
plaice : see plaice.'^ A genns of flatfishes of the
family Pleuronectidee, having as its type Pleu-
ronectes platessa: same as Pleuronectes in a
strict jCnse. See cnts under plaice and asym-
metry,
platessiform (pla-tes'i-f 6rm), a. [< li.platessa,
the plaice, -I- forma, form.] In ichth., resem-
bling the plaice in form or structure ; related to
the plaice or flounder.
plate-tracery (plat'tra'ser-i), n. In medieval
arch., a form of tracery in which the openings
ai'e cut or pierced in slabs of stone, as distin-
guished from ordinary tracery, which is con-
structed of assembled blocks. This form appeared
early in the transition from the round-arched to the point-
Plate-tracery. — Head of a clearstory window, Cathedral of Chartres,
France ; I3tn century.
ed style, and was often employed in subsequent periods
in places where stone of the necessary formation and
toughness was available. It was particiUarly esteemed in
Italy, where the excellent building-marbles, in addition
to their mechanical fitness, supplied a medium adapted
for delicacy of outline and profile^ and lending ItseLE to
high decorative quality in such tracery.
platetrope (plat'e-trop), n. [< 6r. whirvg, flat,
-I- Tpeireiv, tium.] A part symmetrically related
to another on the opposite side of the meson ;
a lateral homologue ; a fellow of the opposite
side. Wilder.
platetropy (plat'e-tro-pi), n. [< platetrope +
-y3.] The state or condition of being laterally
homologous; bilaterality; bilateral symmetry;
reversed repetition of parts or organs on each
side of the meson.
plate-vise (plat'vis), «. Inphotog., a frame for
holding a plate firmly in certain processes, par-
ticularly for cleaning or polishing the glass.
It consists essentially of two wooden jaws or sides, grooved
to i-eceive the plate, and adjustable by means of a screw.
plate-trarmer (plafwAr^mer), n. 1. A case
with shelves or any other device in which plates
are held before a fire, over a hot-air register,
etc. , to be warmed. — 2. A hollow metallic tray,
of the size and form of a plate, filled with hot
water and placed at table beneath a dinner-
plate to keep it warm.
plate-wbeel (plat'hwel), n. A wheel without
arms or spokes ; a wheel in which the rim and
nave are connected by a plate or web — Open
plate-wheel, a form of cast-iron wheel having large open-
4539
ings in the web between the arms, hub, and rim. It is
used for street-cars, etc.
platey, a. See platy.
platfond, n. Same as plafond.
platform (plat'fdrm), n. [Formerly also plot-
fm-m (simulating i?Jot2, plot^) ; = Sp. Pg.plata-
forma = It. piattaforma, < OP. plateforme, also
platteforme, and as twowoidsplate forme, platte
fourme, F. plateforme, a platform (terrace),
platform (in arch.), prop, mudsill (of a bridge),
etc., < plate, tern, ot pUit, flat, level, + forme,
form: see platS saad form.'] If. A ground-plan,
drawing, or sketch; apian; a map.
So I have made a plxtfarm, of a princely garden, partly
by precept, partly by drawing — not a model, but some
general lines of it. Bacon^ Gardens (ed. 1887)w
The young men meeting in places of exercise^ and the
old men also in Artificers Shop& and in their compassed
Chaires, or haUe circles where they sate talking together,
were every one occupied about drawing the Pla^orme of
Sicilia, telling the nature ot the Sicilian Sea, and reckon-
ing up the Havens and places looking towards Africke.
North, tr. of Plutarch (ed. lOseX p. 456.
Able so well to limn or paint as to take in paper the
situation of a castle or a ci^, or the platform of a fort^-
cation. Leigh. (Arber's Eng. Gamer, L 646).
2f. A plot; a design; a scheme; apian.
Alexander. Apelles^ what peece of worke have you now
in hand?
Apelles. Kone in hand, if it like your majestie : but I
am devising aplaVorme in my head.
Lylyj Alexander and Campaspe, v. 4.
And now there rests no other shift but this.
To gather onr soldiers, scatter'd and dispersed.
And lay new pla^ormg to endamage them.
Shak., 1 Hen. TL, ii. 1. 77.
A andden plo^orm comes into my mind.
And this it is. Grim, The Collier of Croydon, iL
St. Situation; position.
With your instrument for trying of distances, obseme
thej^Zot/brmfi of the place; HalduyVs Voyages, 1. 436.
4. A raised level place ; a terrace.
Bam. But where was this?
Mar. My lord, upon the platfonn, where we watch'd.
ShOk., Hamlel^ L 2. 213.
The buildings we now find on the pla^onn at Persepolis
may have been dedicated to somewhat different purposes
tbaa were those of Mneveh.
J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., L 189.
5. A raised frame or structure with a level sur-
face. Specifically — (a) A raised structure in a hall or
meeting-place for the use of those who are to speak ; a
rostrum or stage from which a speaker may conveniently
address his audience. (&) A raised walk along the track at
a railway-station for landing passengers and freight, (e)
The place where guns are mounted on a fortress or batteiy.
The Captain commanded them to cast anchor before a
certain town called Cris, which had Apla^orm or fort with
ordnance to defend it.
Sng. Stratagem (Arber's Eng. Gamer, I. 605).
((2) Naut., the orlop, (e) In a glass-furnace, a bench on
wliich the pots are placed. E.H.EmgM. (./) A projecting
floor or landing at the end of a railroad-car or stieet-car,
serving as a means of ingress and egress.
Specifically — 6. A systematic scheme or body
of principles, especially of religious or political
principles, expressly adopted as a policy or ba-
sis of action ; a syllabus, program, or scheme of
principles or doctrines adopted as a basis of
action, policy, or belief; specifically, in Z7. S.
politics, a statement of political principles and
of the course to be adopted with regard to cer-
tain important questions of policy, issued by
the representatives of a political party assem-
bled in convention to nominate candidates for
an election: as, the Genevan platform; a po-
litical platform; the Democratic platform.
The wisdom of a lawmaker consisteth not only in a plat-
form of justice, but in the application thereof.
Bacon Advancement of Learning, iL 355.
Every little society pretending to that venerable name
[the church] did the very thing they had complained of:
imposed the^a(/on7i of their doctrine, discipline, andwor-
ship as divine ; and were for rooting out all that opposed
or did not comply with it. Bp. Atlerlmry, Sermons, IL xiiL
The Whigs, whether on the Lexington platform or some
other non-committal pla^orm, will be and must be at once
known as the party that opposed their country in her just
and generous war.
Ret(XiMans of the Democratic National Convention, May 30,
[1844, quoted in New York Herald, May 6, 184&
Conversation in society is found to be on a plc^orm so
low as to exclude science^ the saint, and the poet.
Bmerson, Clubs.
7. Figuratively, the function of public speak-
ing, as that of lecturers or political speakers;
also, public speecjies or public addresses col-
lectively.
It is perfectly true that a great number of foolish and
erroneous, sometimes very mischievous, notions are fos-
tered by the periodical press, but the same might be said
of the pulpit and tbep&(fonn.
B. N. Oxenham, Short Studies, p. 86.
Cambridge platform, Saybrook platform, declara-
tions of principles respecting church government and doc-
trine adopted by church synods held respectively at Cam-
platilla
bridge, Massachnsetts, in 1648, and Saybrook, Connecticut,
in iroti. They substantially agree with each other and
with the principles still maintained by Congregational-
ists. See congregatianaligm. — Feeding-platform, a plat-
form, generally about two feet by four, placed in the middle
of a trout-pond, a few inches above the bottom : used by
flsh-cnlturists. If the food is thrown over this platform,
all not taken before it reaches the bottom will fall upon
it, and, as it can more easily be cleaned than the bottom
of the pond, there is less liability of fouling the water.
The fish will also take food better from a clean than from
a muddy bottom. It serves incidentally, too, as a cover
for the young fish.
platform (plat'fdrm), V. t. [(.platform, n.] If.
To sketch or lay down the plan of; set forth
in plan; outline.
Some ... do not think it for the ease of their inconse-
quent opinions to grant that church-discipline is plat-
formed in the Bible, but that it is left to the discretion of
men. Milton, Church-Government, i. 1.
2. To draw up a platform, or scheme of princi-
ples or policy. [Colloq.] — 3. To support or
rest as on a platfoi-m. [Bare.]
Platformxng his chin
On the palm left open.
Mrs. Brmiming, To Flush, my Dog.
platform-bridge (plat'f6rm-brij),H. Amovable
gangway over the space between the platforms
of two railroad-cars, designed to protect pas-
sengers from falling between the cars. [U. S.]
platform-car (plat'f6rm-kar), n. An open
Platfommar.
0, platform; d, truck-frames; f, buffers ; </, brake-shoes ; f.brake-
wheeL
railroad-ear, having no inclosing sides, or sur-
rounded merely by low ledges.
platform-carriage (plat'f6rm-kar'aj), «. A
four-wheeled platform, wagon, or truck used for
carrying mortars, guns, or other heavy mate-
rials or stores.
platform-crane (plat'f6rm-kran), n. 1. A de-
tachable crane on the margin of a railway-car
platform or a platform of a truck. — 2. A crane
permanently mounted on a movable truck,
which forms an integral pai-t of the machine.
platformer (plat'f6rm-er), n. [< platform +
-erK] A public speaker; one who draws up oi
invents a plan of proceedings. [Rare.]
But one divine Aretine in Italy, and two heavenly Tarle-
tons in England, the sole pla^ormers of odd elocution,
and only singularities of the plain world.
O. Barney, Kour Letters, iiL
platformist (plat'f6rm-ist), n. [< platfm-m +
-ist.] A public speaker or lecturer. [Colloq.]
platform-scale (plat'f6rm-skal), n. A weigh-
ing-machine or balance with a fiat scale or
platform for the support of the object to be
weighed. The designation is applied especially to a
weighing-machine in which the flat scale is placed near
to or on a level with a table, counter, floor, or the ground,
for the convenient reception of heavy bodies and to save
lifting, and is connected with the scale-beam by a system
of compound levers and links. Either sliding or detacha-
ble counterpoising weights, or both, are used on the beam,
which, when sliding weights are used, is graduated to in-
dicate weights and fractions of the unit of weight.
platform-spring (plat'fdrm-spring), ra. In a
vehicle, a compound spring consisting of a rec-
tangular arrangement of four arched springs,
each made up of long, thin, curved steel plates
of regularly diminishing lengths bolted toge-
ther. The extremities of the four springs are united at
the comers of the rectangle by links or stirrups, two of
the springs usually bowing upward and two downward.
The name has also been applied to a similar mechanism
of three springs arranged as on three sides of a rectangle.
plat-fult (plat'ful'), a. [ME. pZai/M?; iplat^ +
full] Choke-full.
So that my palays plat-fvl be pygt al aboute.
AUUeraUve Poems (ed. Morris), it 83.
plathelmintli, Flathelmintha, etc. Seeplaty-
helminth, etc.
platiasmus (plat-i-as'mus), TO. [< Gr- TrAaTci-
aa/iic, a broad manner of speech, a broad
Doric accent, < n2xtTEed(eiv, speak or pronounce
broa(ily,< TrAartf, broad : see plat3. ] Imperfect
speech, the result of an abnormal condition of
the tongue.
platicf (pla'tik), a. [< LL. platieus, general,
compendious, summary, < Gr. nTtaTVKdg, diffuse,
detailed, <jr/i«r{if, broad, wide: seeplki^.] In
astrol., pertaining to or in the position of a
ray cast from one planet to another, not ex-
actly, but within the orbit of its own light:
opposed to parHle — Platic conjunction. Seecoji-
juTtdion.
platilla (pla-til'a), n. A white linen fabric
made in Silesia.
platin
platin (plat'in), n. See platen.
platina (pla-te'na), «. [= D. G. Sw. Dan. pla-
tina = P. platim, < Sp. platina = Pg. platina
(NL. platina), platina, so called from its re-
semblance to silver, < plata, plate, silver : see
plate.'] X. Same as 2>toiinMTO; the older name.
— 2. Twisted silver wire. — 3. An iron plate
for glazing stuff.
platinate (plat'i-nat), v. t. Same as platinize.
Philos. Mag., 5th ser., XXVm. 454.
plating (pla'ting), n. [Verbal n. of plate, v.]
1. The art or operation of covering articles
with a thin coating or film of metal, especially
of overlaying articles made of the baser met-
als with a thin coating of gold, silver, or nickel.
It is effected in various ways; sometimes the plating-
metal is attached to and rolled out with the other metal
by pressure ; sometimes the one metal is precipitated
from its solution upon the other, electrochemical decom-
position being now much employed for this purpose. See
etecbrolype.
2. A thin coating of one metal laid upon an-
other.
plating-hammer (pla'ting-ham'fer),)!. Asteam-
hammer of from 500 to 700 pounds weight, used
for bending plates and for other operations in
armor-plating vessels.
platinic (pla-tin'ik), a. [<.plaUnum + -ic] In
eliem., of or pertaining to ^atinum.
platiniferous (plat-i-nit'e-rus), a. [< Idj. pla-
tinum + L./erre =E. 6eoVi.] Producing plati-
num : as, platiniferous sand.
platinirituum (plat'in-i-rid'i-um), n. [NL., <
platin{um) + iridium.'] An alloy of platinum
and iridium, occurring in isometric crystals and
crystalline grains together with native plati-
num.
platinization (plat^i-ni-za'shgn), n. The pro-
cess of platinizing, or the condition of being
platinized.
platinize (plat'i-niz), v. t.; pret. and vip. plati-
nized, ppr. platinizing. [< platin{um) + -fee.]
To coat with platinum in a fine state of di-
vision: as, to platinize the negative plate (sil-
ver) of a Smee's battery. Silver is platinized by
dipping it or waging it in a solution of platinum chlo-
rid, and then heating it in a closed vessel tiU the salt de-
composes. The negative plates of Urquhart's potassium-
bichromate cell — which consist each of a copper plate
having one face and its edges covered with platinum-foil
soldered to the copper, and its other face covered with
lead — have their platinum sides platinized by a deposit
of metallic platinum, obtained by decomposition of plati-
num chlorid with the aid of a galvanic current, the lead
being temporarily covered with an acid-proof varnish or
cement. Also spelled jjZnttnise.— Platinized glass. See
glaxs.
platinochlorid (plat"i-no-kl6'rid), ». \<.]flati-
num + chlorid.2 A double chlorid contaming
platinum: as, potassium platinochlorid Ethy-
lene platinochlorid. See ethylene.
platinode (plat'i-nod), n. [< ini. platinum, plat-
inum, -t- Gr. 6S6c, way (see cathode).'] The
negative or non-oxidizable plate of a voltaic
eell, which often consists of a sheet of plati-
num, as in the Grove cell.
platinoid (plat'i-noid), n. [< NL. platinum +
Gr. eldoi, form.] One of the metals with which
platinum is invariably found associated. The
platinoids are palladium, rhodium, iridium, os-
mium, and ruthenium.
platinotype (plat'i-no-Hp), n. [< platinum +
type.'] 1. A process of photographic printing
in which the paper is coated with a solution of
platinum chlorid and ferric oxalate, when ex-
]>09ed to the light under a negative and subsequent^ im-
mersed in a hot solution of potassic oxalate, the metal is
reduced in proportion to the action of the light. The pic-
ture is then finished by simply washing in slightly acid-
ulated water. Some patented platinum processes, a£ that
of Pizzighelli, simplify greatly the operations of develop-
ment.
2. A print made by any platinotype process.
Excellent specimens ot pUUinotypeay^sve shown.
Sd. Amer., N. S., LTV. 65.
platinous (plat'i-nus), a. [< NL. platinum +
-OMS.] Containing or consisting of platinum.
platinum (plat'i-num), n. [= ^.plaUne = Sp.
Pg. It. platino, < NL. platinum (with term, -um
added, in analogy with other names of met-
als), < platina, < Sp. platina, jjlatina (the orig.
name): see platina.'l Chemical symbol, Pt;
atomic weight, 195.2. An important metal,
introduced mto Europe about the middle of the
eighteenth century from South America, it does
not occur as an ore, but alloyed with other metals, espe-
cially with rhodium, osmium, iridium, and palladium, all
ol which, together with iron, copper, and gold, are almost
always present in it in small quantity in what is called its
native state. Platinum is suiTtassed in ductility only by
gold and silver, and in malleability only by those metals
and copper. It is easily rolled into sheets or drawn into
wire. Its specific gravity is 21.6, which is higher than
that of any other known substance except osmium and
4540
iridium. It is not oxidized in the air at any temp^ture,
and is not attacked by any of the simple acids. It is in-
fusible in the strongest heat of a blast-fuinace, but can
be melted in the flame of the oxyhydrogen blowpipe or by
means of the electric current. It is a rare metal, and the
regions which supply it are few. Most of the platmum
of commerce comes from the Urals. South America, and
Borneo. It is used chiefly in chemical manufacture ana
analysis, where its resistance to heat and acids is of spe-
cial value, and in electrical work. It was used for corn-
age in Eussia from 1828 to 1846.— Platinum chlorid.
Same as clilwoplatinic acid (which see, under cldoropla-
tinicX-Platinum luster. Seeluiterz
platinum-black (plat'i-num-blak'),K. Ablaek
dull powder consisting of very finely divided
metallic platinum. It was first obtained by E. Davy,
and considered to be a nitrite of platinum ; later it was
recognized by Liebig as metallic, and prepared by him by
warming a solution of platinum chlorid in potash with
alcohoL According to Liebig, platinum-black absorbs
more than 800 times its volume of oxygen. It can be pre-
pared in a vaiiety of ways, and is used in organic chem-
istry as an oxidizing agent.
platinum-lamp (plat'i-num-lamp), n. In elect.,
an electric lamp in which the incandescent fil-
ament is of platinum.
platitude (plat'i-tud), n. [< F. plaUtude. flat-
ness (of taste), vapidness, a flat remark, (^lat,
flat: see plats.] 1. Flatness; 'dullness; insi-
pidity of thought ; triteness. — 2. A trite, dull,
or stupid remark; especially, such a remark
uttered as if it were a novelty; a truism.
It does not seem so easy for a preacher to trade upon
his capacity of reserve, yet even in the clerical profession
many have gained the reputation of profound divines and
able judges in the spiritual life by a judicious manage-
ment of solemn plaUtitdes.
H. N. Oxenham, Short Studies, p. 76.
platitudinarian (plat-i-tti-di-na'ri-an), a. and
n. [(.platitude (-din-) + -arian.] I. a. Of the
nature of or characterized by platitude; given
to the utterance of platitudes.
II. n. One who is addicted to or indulges in
platitudes.
Vou have a respect for a political ptatitudinarian as in-
sensible as an ox to everything he can't turn into political
capitaL George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xxii.
platitudinize (plat-i-tii'di-niz), V. i. ; pret. and
■p'g.platitudinized,-ppr.platitudimzing. [(.plaU-
tude {-din-) + 4ze, as in attitudinize.] To utter
platitudes; make dull, stale, orinsipid remarks.
platitudinous (plat-i-tu'di-nus), a. [< plati-
tude {-dim.-) + -ous.] Relating to or character-
ized by platitude or platitudes; stale; trite;
flat; dull; insipid.
platitudinousness(plat-i-tu'di-nus-nes),w. The
state or quality of being platitudinous; dull-
ness; flatness; staleness; insipidity; triteness.
platlyt (plat'li), adv. [< MB. platly; < ]}U^ -1-
-ly^.] Flatly; plainly; certainly; surely.
This ^ynne iaptttUii agayns the Hooly Goost.
Chaueer, Parson's Tale.
If sou bamesbowe the brede of an hare,
Platty 36 be putte to perpetuell pyne.
York Plays, p. 328.
platnesst, n. [< plat? + -mess.] Flatness.
Palsgrave.
platode (plat'od), a. Same as platoid: corre-
lated with cestode, trematode, and nematode.
platoid (plat'oid), a. [Irreg. < Gr. whirvq, broad,
flat, + elSog, form.] Broad or flat, as a worm.
platometer (pla-tom'e-ter), n. prreg. < Gr.
7r?iar{)C, flat, -I- /jirpmi, measure.] Same a,spla-
nimeter.
platometry (pl5^tom'et-ri), n. [< Gr. 7r?udrof,
breadth, + -/lerpia, < fiirpov, measure.] The art
of measuring the breadth of rivers. Dee, 1570.
Platonia (plarto'ni-a), n. [NL. (Martins, 1829),
< Plato, < Gfr. Il/ldrav, the Greek philosopher:
see Platonici^.] A small genus of tropical Amer-
ican trees, belonging to the natural order Gutti-
feree and the tribe Moronobese. it is chiefly dis-
tinguished from the other genera of the tribe by the an-
thers being borne above the middle of the numerous fila-
ments into which the phalanges of stamens are divided.
The genus embraces only two (perhaps only one) species,
large trees with coriaceous, delicately penninerved leaves,
solitary and showy pink fiowers, and five-celled fleshy ed-
ible berries. The fruit of P. imiignis, called paeoury^va
in Brazil, is said to be highly delicious, its seeds almond-
flavored,
Platonic^ (pla-ton'ik), a. and ». [Formerly
also Platonick, PlatoniJce; = F. Platonique =
Sp. Platdnico = Pg. It. Platonico, < L. Platoni-
cus, < Gr. IlTMroniiKdc, of or pertaining to Plato,
< XUdrav, L. Plato, a Greek philosopher, son of
Ariston, orig. named Aristocles, and sumamed
mdruv with ref. to his broad shoulders, < TrXd-
Tvc, broad : seeplat^.] I. a. Pertaining to Plato
(about 427-347 B. c), or to his doctrines.
Keference to the school of Plato and to his followers is
more usually expressed by the adjective PlaUmistlo. Plato
wrote in dialogues, which are equally admirable from a
litenuT and from a philosophical point of view. He held
that the object of philosophy is beauty; that vrithout a
Platonism
deep sense of ignorance no man can philosophize ; that
judgments of common sense are open to doubt; that the
senses may err, and at best can afford only likelihocid
(eUatria); that experience (Sofa), built out of peiceptiouB
though safer, does not know the reasons of phenomena'
and that man is the measure of things, not in his experi'
ence of particular facts, as Protagoras would have it, but
in his knowledge of reasons, which alone is ennobling
Philosophy according to Plato has three branches— dia-
lectic, phjfsics, and ethics. Dialectic, the art of discus.
sion, proceeds by definition and division. Division should
be by dichotomy. He holds strongly to the truth of cog.
nitiou ; the process of mind and the process of nature are
one. Keither the Eleatic doctrine that all is One, and
the Many mere Illusion, nor the Heraclitan doctrine that
there is only a fluid manifold without unity, is the truth;
there is a mixed being Oiikti} oifina) : being has an eter-
nal and an evanescent element^ and only a compound of
these can be an object of science. The One in the Many
is the Idea, the active force prescribing regularity (aa we
should say, the law of nature), which in superoelestial
place subsists while individual cases arise and perish.
The ideas make up an organism, or living system (fciov).
They are themselves regulated by an idea of a teleological
character, the Good, or ultimate purpose of all things,
identical with Reason, the true Being (o^tu? oi'), the One,
King of heaven and earth, which, immutable, draws all
things toward itself. This Reason is God, who is related
to the ideas as a poet to the ideals he has created and in-
tends to embody. That other element which in the ac-
tual condition of things in this world has not yet been
eliminated so as to leave pure Reason is extended quan-
tity (fiiKobv Kol jute'-yo) or body (^To)^la), nearly Aristotle's
matter (wAt;). This is the secondary principle (trvyamov)
of the universe. God, the father, implants the seed of the
Good in space, the mother, and without his further inter-
vention the Cosmos, the only begotten son of God, made
in his likeness, grows up. This is a second blessed god,
Instinct with Reason. Plato was a political philosopher.
He abhorred alike the sway of oligarchy and of democ-
racy, and still more the outcome of the latter, the one-man
power — tyranny. He behoved in aiistocracy supported by
an iron socialism. The relations of the sexes should be
so regulated as to stop all increase in the population,
which should be limited to 6,040 households. Private
property and family relations should be abolished. Three
classes should be recognized — workmen, soldiers, and law-
yers. The education of a lawyer should begin with mu-
sic, gymnastic, and mathematics. In his thirtieth year
(up to which age he should be seen and not heard) he is
to begin the study of dialectic. His education should he
completed at the age of fifty, when he is to take his share
in the government. The above is an outline of the general
views of Plato ; many of his special opinions are celebrated.
He strongly maintains the immortality and previous ex-
istence of the souL The tie which holds body and soul
together is music. Virtue is not natural, nor can it be
commanded by the will, but it is the result of discipline.
The cardinal virtues are wisdom (a-o^ia), courage (av&pia.\
prudence (awifipoffui'ij), and justice (SiKatoaucij). The un-
just alone prosper ; the perfect man would suffer on the
cross. Reason resides in the head, desire in the abdo-
men, prophesy in the liver. Time is an image of eternity ;
it is produced by circular motions. Nature abhors a
vacuum. Like attracts like. The constellations and the
earth are living divinities. Plato was a mathematician,
and is said to have invented the ancient method of analy-
sis. His thoughts constantly show the influence of mathe-
matical studies, and the desire to import mathematically
distinct conceptions into philosophy. Aristotle, who was
Plato's scholar, declared that the Platonic ideas were num-
bers. Plato no doubt attributed active virtues to the
ideas of One, Two, Three, and Four.
Now the first Christians many of them were Platoiaek
Philosophers. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 63.
We are apt to ridicule the sublime Platonic notions they
had, or personated, in love and friendship.
Stevft, Conversation.
Platonic hodies, the five regular geometrical solids which
inwrap the center only once— namely, the tetrahedron,
the hexahedron or cube, the octahedron, the dodecahedron,
and the icosahedron.— Platonic idea. See Mea.— Pla-
tonic love, a pure spiritual affection subsisting between
the sexes, unmixed with sensual desire, and regarding the
mind only and its excellences.
The Court affords little News at present, but that there
is a Love called Platonic Love. HoweU, Letters, I. vi. 16.
Platonic yeax. See year.
II. m. 1. A follower of Plato ; a Platonist.
Other things which he with great palnes hath gathered
out of the Platonikes, stamped with Zoroasters name, are
many of them diuine. Pwehta, Pilgrimage, p. 367.
2. One who loves with a Platonic affection.
A talking dull Platonic I shall turn ;
Learn to be civil when I cease to bum.
Prim, Ode, st 5.
Platonic^ (pla-ton'ik), a. [< Gr. mdraD, Plato
(see def.).] 'Pertaining to the Greek comic
poet Plato (about 427-388 b. c.).— Platonic me-
ter, in anc. pi-os., a meter or period consisting of an iambic
penthemimeres between two daci^rlio penthemimeres.
Platonical (pla-ton'i-kal), a. [< Platonic^ +
-al.] Same as PlatonicK Bp. Atteriury, Se^
mons, I. xi., Pref.
Platonically (pla-ton'i-kal-i), acto. In a Plar
tonic manner. Sir B. ffbtton.
Platonise, Platoniser, «. See Platonize, Pla-
ionizer.
Platonism (pla'to-nizm), n. [< Gr. TlUrm,
Plato, + -ism.] 1. The doctrines, opinions, or
philosophy of Plato, or of the Academic school.
— 2. A Platonic saying or proposition.
The striking Platonieme of Coleridge.
-R. Choate, Addresses, p. 'C'i.
Flatonist
Flatonlst (pla'to-nist), n. [< Gr. UUtim, Plato,
+ -ist.'] One who adheres to the philosophy
of Plato; a follower of Plato.
Or, self-conceited, play the homorooB PUUmitt,
Which boldly dares afflrm that Spirits themselves supply
With bodies, to commix with frail mortality.
Drayton, Po^olbion, v. 180.
Platonistic (pla-to-nis'tik), a. [< Platonist +
-tc] Of or pertaining to Plato or his followers,
or the Platonic doctrines ; characteristic of the
Platonists.
Flatonize (pla'to-niz), v, ; pret. and pp. Plato-
nized, ppr. PlaUmizing. [< Gr. TUmtuv, Plato,
+ -izeT] I. intrans. To follow the opinions or
philosophy of Plato ; reason like Plato ; emulate
Hitherto Phno; wherein, after his usual wonti he via-
tamizee; the same being in effect to be found in Plato's
Timseus. Bakewia, Apology, II. vi. | 2.
The imagination instinctively Platanizes, and it is the
essence of poetry that it should be unconventional, that
the soul of it should subordinate the outward parts.
LoweU, Study Windows, p. 402.
n. trans. To explain on the principles of
the Platonic school, or to accommodate to those
principles.
Also spelled Platonise.
Flatonizer (pla'to-ni-zer), n. One who Plato-
nizes ; a Platonist. Also spelled Platoniser.
Philo the Jew, who was a great ^afemfeer, calls the stars
divine images, and incorruptible and immortal souls.
Dr. A, Young, Idolatrous Corruptions in Beligion, 1. 109.
platoon (pla-t5n'), TO. [< 'F.peloton (pron. plo-
t6h'), a platoon, lit. a 'hall,' i. e. cluster, a par-
ticular use otpeloton, a ball, tennis-ball, dim. of
pelote, a ball, pellet: see^e^tet.] If. A small
body of soldiers or musketeers, drawn out of a
battalion of foot to form a hollow square to
strengthen the angles of some military forma-
tion or position ; or, a small body acting toge-
ther, but separate from the main body. — 2. A
number of soldiers, as large as is convenient for
drill, etc., drawn up in two ranks, usually from
15 to 25 in each rank ; hence (since a company
of infantry is habitually divided into two pla-
toons), half of a company considered as a sepa-
rate body — Platoon firing, firing by platoons, or sub-
divisions of companies.
platopic (pla-top'ik), a. Same as platyopie.
Jour, of Anthrop. Inst., p. 156.
platte^t, V. t. A Middle English form otplafl.
pMte^t, a. A Middle English form oi plats.
platte^ (plat), n. [OF. : see plaie.^ Same as
placcate (c).
platte (pla-ta'), a. [OF., iplatte, a plate: see
plate."] In her., sem6 with plates — that is,
with roundels argent.
platted (plat'ed), a. Same as plaited.
platteu (plat'en), v. t. [< plat^ + -emi.] In
gUiss-Tnanuf., to open out and flatten into a
plate or sheet: said of a blown cylinder of
glass. The hot cylinder is first cracked on one side in
a straight line longitudinally by the application of a cold
iron rod ; then it is laid in the flattening-oveu (which has
a smooth stone bottom), and kept there in a soft state
till it opens out ; and lastly it is smoothed out with an im-
plement called SiflaUerur. Sometimes the cylinders are
cut longitudinally with a diamond, and then placed in the
furnace or fiattening- arch for opening and smoothing. The
flattening of crown-glass is osXioAjiasMng.
plattenlng (plat'en-ing), n. [Verbal n. ot plat-
ten, V.I In glass-mam^., the process of forming
glass into plates or sheets, ^^platten.
platter^ (plat'er), n. [< ME. plater, platere,
appar, orig. *platel, < OP. platel, dim. of plat, a
plate : see plate, and cf . plateau.'\ A plate ; a
large shallow dish for holding eatables; espe-
cially, a flat dish in which a fowl, a joint, or the
like is placed to be carved.
In the Lond of Frestre John ben many dyverse thinges,
and many precious Stones so grete and so large that men
maken of hem Vesselle ; as Plateres, Dissches, and Guppes.
MandemUe, Travels, p. 272.
Earthen Platters held their homely Food.
Congreve, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, xi.
The attendants bustled to and fro, and speedily brought
in several large smoking platters, lUled with huge pieces
of beef, boUed and roasted. Scott, Monastery, xxiv.
platter^ (plat'Sr), n. [< pUti + -erl.] One
who plats, braids, or interweaves.
platting (plat'ing), n. [Verbal n. otplat^, «.]
1 . The process of making interwoven or platted
work. — 2. A fabric made of fibers, bundles of
fibers, or thin slips of any pliable material, such
as cane or straw.
Bermuda hats are worn by our ladies ; they are made of
a sort of mat or (as they call it) idiUUng made of the pal-
metto leaf.
Bp. Berkeley, Proposals for Better Supplying of Churches.
plattnerite (plat'n6r-it), to. [Named after
K. F. Plattner (1800-58), a German chemist and
4541
mineralogist.] Native lead dioxid (Pb02), a
rare mineral occurring in iron-black massive
forms, of high specific gravity, it was originally
described as found atLeadhills, Scotland, but was regarded
as a doubtful species until recently identified from the
lead-mines of northern Idaho.
Plattner's process. See process.
platty (plat'i), a. [< plat^ + -yl.] Having
plats or bare spots, as grain-fields sometimes
have. HaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.]
plature (pla'tfir), to. [< NL. Platurus, q. v.] A
broad-taued humming-biid of the genus Pla-
turus.
platuTOUS (pla-tii'rus), a. [Prop. *platyurovs,
< Gr. w?MTvovpog, broad-taUed, < TrAarii?, broad,
flat, + ovpi, tail.] Having a broad tail.
Platurus (pla-tu'rus), TO. [Nil. (Latreille), prop.
*Piatyurus, i Gr. irXariovpoc, broad-taUed : see
platurous.^ 1. A
genus of venomous
marine serpents of
the family Hydro-
phidse, havingwide
and flat gastroste-
ges and two pairs
of frontal shields.
— 2. A genus of
broad-taUed Tro-
cMlidaB, named by
Lesson in 1829; the
platures.
platy (pla'ti), a.
[Also platey; <
plate + -!/!.] Like
a plate ; consisting
of plates.
platybasic (plat-i-
ba'sik), a. [< Gr.
TrhiTvg, broad, flat,
+ pdmc, foot, base
Platycrinoidea
platycephaly (plat-i-sef'a-li), n. [< platy-
cephal-ous + -^.] The condition of having a
platycephalic skull.
Flatycercidse (plat-i-sfer'si-de), m. pi. [NL,, <
Platy cercus + -idae.l The broad-tailed parra-
keets as a separate family of parrots.
Platycercinse (plat"i-s6r-si'ne), ». pi. [NL., <
Platycereus + -jn«.] A subfamily of Psittaci-
dse, typified by the genus Platycereus, to which
varying limits have been ascribed; the broad-
tailed parrakeets. it is properly restricted to those
parrots which have no ambiens and no furculum. In a
common acceptation, it contains parrakeets with a short
beak of greater height than length, a small cere (frequent-
ly feathered), and a long tail, usually exceeding the wings
in length, and in some cases with broad feathers. All the
Platycercitim belong to the Old World, and they are most
numerous in species and individuals in the Australian
About 70 species are described, among them the
Broad-tailed ;
Platurus/asciatus,
see JosJc] Having the
occipital bone about the foramen magnum
pressed upward ; having the negative angle of
Daubenton more than 80°. See craniometry.
platybrachycephalic (plat-i-brak-i-se-fal'ik or
-sef'a-lik), a. l<platy(cephaUc) + iraehyeepha-
Kc] " Plat and broad; both platycephalic and
brachycephalio: said of a skull.
platybregmete (plat-i-breg'met), n. [< Gr.
ir?jiTV(, broad, + jBpiy/ia, the front part of the
head: see bregma.2 A wide bregma, as seen
in Mongolian skulls.
platycarpous (plat-i-kar'pus), a. [< Gr. jr^rff,
broad, + KapTtdg, fruit.] In iot., having broad
fruit.
platycephalic (plat"i-se-farik or -sef'a-lik), a.
[< platycephal-ous + -ic] Same as pldtycepha-
lous.
Platycephalidae (plafi-se-fal'i-de), n.pl. [NL.,
< Platyceplialus + -idee.'] A family of acan-
thopterygian fishes, typified by the genus Platy-
ceplialus; the flatheads. They have an elongated
body depressed in front, a wide depressed head, imbri-
cated scales, two dorsals (the anterior shorter than the
posterior), a long anal, and perfect ventrals behind the
pectorals. Nearly 50 species are known as inhabitants of
the tropical Pacific and Indian oceans.
Platycephalinae (plat-i-sef-a-li'ne), n.pl. [NL.,
< Platyceplialus + -inas.] The Platyceplialidse
as a subfamily of scorpssnoid fishes.
platycephalous (plat-i-sef'a-lus), a. [< Gr.
TT/laTD/tE^a/lof, broad-headed, <f Tr^arif, broad, flat
(see plat^), + Ke(j}a?4, head.] Having the vault
of the skull flattened ; having a vertical index
of less than 70.
Platycephalus (plat-i-sef'a-lus), n. [NL. : see
platyceplialous.] 1 . The typical genus of Platy-
cephalidee : so called from the broad depressed
Platycerus quercus.
(Line shows natural size.)
Flathead {Platycephalus tenlaculatus),
head. Blocli and Schneider, ISOl. — 2. [I.e.] A
broad fiat skull, deformed from synosteosis of
frontal and parietal bones.
grass-, ground-, and zebra-parrakeets. See grass-parrakeet,
Euphema, Melopsittacus, and Platycereus.
platycercine (plat-i-s6r'sin), a.
belonging to the Platycercinae.
Platycereus (plat-i-s6r'ku8), n. [NL. (Vigors
and Horsfield, 1825), < Gr. tr^rvKepicog, broad-
tailed, < jrAartf, broad, + Kiprng, tail.] The
leading genus of Platycercinse, containing more
than half the species of this subfamily, having
the tail long and ample, with its feathers broad
to their ends, and the four middle ones longer
than the rest. They are beautifully and variously
colored, and range from the Malay archipelago to the isl-
ands of the Pacific ocean. Several are favorite cage-birds,
as the rosella or rose-parrakeet, P. eximius, and the king-
parrakeet^ P. scapulatus. See cut under rosella.
Platjrcerium (plat-i-se'ri-um), to. [NL., < Gr.
■nr?MTvg, broad, -1- KJipiov, a honeycomb, < loipd^,
wax: see cere.] Avery distinct and remark-
able genus of ferns, commonly associated with
the Acrostichese. it has been proposed to phice it in
a separate section, from its producing its sori in large
amorphous patches, not, as in the true Acrostichese, uni-
versal over the fertile portions. The species are few in
number, chiefly Eastern or Aus-
tralian, and for the most part
tropical.
Platycerus (pla-tis'e-rus),
TO. [NL. (Geoffroy," 1762)
(cf. L. pldtyceros, < Gr.
irlariKepac, having broad
horns), < Gr. irAarnf, broad,
+ Kipac, horn.] A genus of
stag-beetles of rather small
size, chiefly characterized by
the distinctness of the sixth
ventral abdominal segment.
The few species known are found
in Asia, Europ^ and North Ameri-
ca. Pour inhabit the United States,
' as P. quercus, found in oak-stumps throughout North
America, | inch long and brownish-black.
platycnemla (plat-ik-ne'mi-a), TO. [NL. : see
platycnemic] The condition of being platye-
nemic; platyenemism.
platycnemic (plat-ik-ne'mik), a. [< Gr. Tr/Uiriif,
broad, + ia4ft>i> the lower leg: see Cnemis.]
Broad and flat, as a tibia ; having such tibise,
as a person.
platyenemism (plat-ik-ne'mizm), to. [< platyc-
nem-ic + -ism.] The state of being platycne-
mic ; breadth and flatness of the tibia.
Platycoelia (plat-i-se'li-a), to. [NL. (Dejean,
1833), < Gr. TiTMTvg, flat, -f- imlog, hollow.] A
genus of lameUicom beetles of the family Bute-
lidse, or typical of a family Platycalidse. They are
large and handsome South American insects, with a very
convex head of a beautiful green color. Also Platycodus.
platycoelian (plat-i-se'h-an), a. [<.platycoel-ous
+ -ian.] Same as platycaeUms.
Platycoelidae (plat-i-se'li-de), n.pl. [NL., <
Platycoelia + -idee.] A family of coleopterous
insects, named from the genus Platycoelia. Bur-
meister, 1844.
platycoelous (plat-i-se'lus), a. [< Gr. n?MTvc,
flat, -I- KoihiQ, hoUow.] Plano-concave, as a
vertebra; plane or flat in front and cupped be-
hind, as the bodies of the vertebne of the eetio-
saurians: now usually called opisthoccelian.
platycoria (plat-i-ko'ri-a,), to. [NL., < Gr. TT^ric,
broad, + Kdpr/, the pupil of the eye.] In med.,
an undue dilatation of the pupil; mydriasis.
Platycrlnidse (plat-i-krin'i-de), to. pi. [NL., <
Platycrintcs + 4dse.] A family of Paleozoic cri-
noids or encrinites, typified by the genus Platy-
crinus.
platycrinite (plat'i-kri-nlt), to. An enerinite of
the genus Platyerinus or Platycrinites.
platycrinoid (plat'i-kri-noid), m. [< NL. Platy-
orimis, g. v., + Gr. elSoc, form.] A platycrinite.
Platycrinoidea (plat'i-kri-noi'df-a), to. pi.
[NL., < Platyerinus + -oidea."] Same as Platy-
crinidee.
Flatycrinus
Flatjrcrinus (plak-tik'ri-mis), n. [NL., < Grr.
irXartif, broad, flat, + Kpivov, lily (see crinoid).']
The typical genus of Platycrmidse, from the
limestone of the coal-measm'es : so named from
the flatness and breadth of the radial plates on
the receptacle. Originally Platycrinites.
platydactyl, platydactyle (plat-i-dak'til), a.
and n. [< NL. platydactylus, < Gr. TrXaTvc, broad,
+ (Sd/croAof, flnger.] I. a. Having broad or thick
digits; specifically, in herpet, having toes di-
lated at the ends; discodaotyl; belonging to the
Discodactyla : distinguished from oxy dactyl.
II. n. A platydactyl batrachian.
Platydactyla (plat-i-dak'ti-la), n. pi. [NL.,
neut. pi. of. platydactylus : se6'platydaotyl.'\ In
Giinther's classification, a group of opistho-
tlossate batrachians, having the toes dilated:
istinguished from Oxydactyla. Also called Dis-
codactyla.
Platydactylus ii
(plat -i- dak' ti-
lus), n. [NL.
(Cuvier, 1817):
see platydacty-
loibsJ\ 1. A ge-
nus of gecko
lizards. P.faeci-
cuiarie or murtUis
is the wall-gecko.
P. Tnauritanious, of
the countries bor-
dering the Mediter-
ranean, is known as
the tarente.
2. In entom., a
genus of or-
thopterous in-
sects. BrulU,
1835.
platydoliclioce-
ShaUc (plat-i-
ol"i-ko-se-fal'-
ik or -sef arlik),
a. l<. pld'ty(cephalic) + doUchocephalic.^ Flat
and narrow; both platycephalic and dolicho-
cephalic : said of a skull.
Flatyelmia (plat-i-el'mi-a), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
rv/UnTvg, flat, + ekiitv^ (i/C/wi/S-), worm.] Same
Platydactylus mauritan&us.
Flatygaster (plat-i-gas't6r), n. [NL. (Latreille,
1809) (of. Gt. TrhiTvydtTTup, flat-bellied), < Gr.
TT/laTfif, broad, flat, + yaaryp, stomach : see gas-
ter^.'] 1. A genus of parasitic hymenopterous
Platygasttr herricki. (Cross shows natural size.)
insects of the family Proctotrypidse, typical of
the subfamily Platygastermse. it is separated from
other genera by negative characters, and contains a large
number of species, more than 100 being known in Europe
alone. P. TimieH is a common parasite of the Hessian
fly in Nortli America.
2. A genus of true bugs of the family Lygsddx,
erected by Schilling in 1829.— 3. A genus of
fishes erected by Swainson in 1839. — 4. A ge-
nus of flies of the family Aaroceridx, erected by
Zetterstedt in 1840 : same as Sphserogaster.
Platygasterinse (plat-i-^as-te-ri'ne), n. pi. [<
Platygaster + -inse.J Animportant subfamily of
the parasitic hymenopterous family Proctotry-
pidse, consisting of minute black insects having
the fore tibise one-spurred, the mandibles tooth-
ed, and the anterior wings without marginal
, and stigmal veins, over 20genera have been founded,
though the group has been little studied. The species
seem to be mainly parasitic on dipterous laryoe.
platygastrlc (plat-i-gas'trik), a. [< Gr. TrTixirig,
broad, -I- yaoHip, stomach: see gas'kic.'] Hav-
ing broad or wide gastric cavities : belonging
to the Platygasterinse.
platyglossal (plat-i-glos'al), a. [< Gr. irTiorv-
yTuaaaog, broad-ton^ed, < Tzkarii^, broad, + y7£sa-
aa, tongue.] Having a broad or wide tongue.
Platyglossus(plat-i-glos'u8),m. [NL. (Bleeker,
1861, after Klein), < Gr. ir'^rvyTMaao^, broad-
4542
tongued: s&6pUtyglossal.'\ A genus of labroid
fishes of the wrasse family. They have the teefli
of the jaws distinct, the pharyngeal teeth not confluent,
the posterior canines weU developed, 3 anal spmes, 9 dorsal
spines, and the cheeks and opercles naked or newly so.
iW aie known as dmuxUas. P. roAbatm, 16 inches long,
inhabits West Indian and Moridan waters. P. semwmctus
is a kelp-flsh of the Pacific coast of North America.
platygonidium (plat"i-go-nid'i-um), m.; vhpla-
tygorMia (-a). [NLy < Gr. irXartf, broad, .flat,
+ NL. goni'dium.^ See gonidium, 3,
Platygonus (pla-tig'o-nus), n. [NL., < Gr. 7r;i<2-
Tir, broad, flat, + yovv, knee.] A genus of fossil
peccaries of the family DicotyUdx, founded by
Le Conte in 1848 upon remains of the late Ter-
tiary of America. Also called Hyops, Proto-
chmrim, and Euchwrus.
platyhelminth (plat-i-hel'minth), n. [< NL.
Pldtyhelmintha.'] A member of the Platyhel-
mintJia, in any sense ; a flatworm, as a cestoid,
trematoid, turbellarian, or nemertean.
Platyhelmintlia, Platyhelmintlies (plaf'i-
hel-min'tha, -thez), n.pl. [NL., < Gr. ttAotoc,
broad, flat," -1- l^^wf (iX/iivB-), a worm: see hel-
minth.'] A superordinal or other high group
of worms, variously named and rated, includ-
ing forms more or less flattened, usually ovate,
and indistinctly segmented; the flatworms, or
cestoids, trematoids, and turbellarians, toge-
ther contrasted with the roundworms or ne-
mathelminths. In some of the older anangements,
under the name Platyelmia, they were divided into the
non-parasitic order Turbellmria and the two parasitic
orders T^eniada and Trematoda. In another classifica^
tion the platyhelminths are a prime division of Vermes,
dindei into ntrbellaria (rhabdoccelous and dendrocoelous
tm-beUarians), Semertina frhynchoooelous tm'bellarians),
Trematoda, and Cestoda. In Lankester's latest arrange-
ment they are called Plalylielmia, and are divided into
two branches, CSiata and Cotylophora. The former is
the order Turbellaria in a broad sense, here divided into
three classes, lifuihdoeaela, Dendroecela, and Nemertina (or
Rhymshoaxla). The Colylophara ai'e divided into three
classes, TremaAoldea, Cestoidea, and BirudiTiea, the two
former of these, each with numerous orders, correspond-
ing in a general way with the families of other authors.
The Mesozoa of Van Beneden (see Dteyemida) are regard-
ed as probably classable with the CUwia. This arrange-
ment is peculiar in bringing the leeches and JHcyemida
under this head. Otherwise it resembles its predecessors.
The many arrangements of the flatworms differ more in
nomenclature and taxonomic rating than in actual signifi-
cance. Also Plathe^ifitha, PlaAhdraivihRS.
Platylobilim (plat-i-lo'bi-um), n. [NL. (Smith,
179^, < Gr. il/mtvq, broad, + Tid^iov, dim. of
/lo^(Sf, pod.] A genus of leguminous shrubs of
the tribe Genisteie and subtribe Bossisese, char-
acterized by the two-lipped calyx, orbicular
banner-petal, monadelphous stamens, uniform
versatile anthers, and broad flat two-valved
pod, opening elasticaUy along the lower suture,
broadly winged upon the other. The 3 species
are Australian shrubs, with slender branches, opposite
undivided leaves, and handsome orange-yellow fiowers
solitaryin the ajdls, occasionally red, resembling the sweet-
pea. They are pendent-branching evergreens, cultivated
under the name fat pea,
Platylophus (pla-til'o-fus), n. [NL., < Gr.
Tzhniq, flat, broad, + /Id^of, a crest.] 1. A
genus of birds of the family Corvidx and sub-
family Garrulimie, containing several species
of crested jays from Java, Sumatra, Borneo,
etc., such as P. galericulatvs, P. coronatus, and
others. Swainson, 1831. — 2. A genus of arach-
nidans. Koch, 1839. — 3. A genus of polypeta-
lous plants of the order Saxifragese and the
tribe Cunoniese, characterized by the two-celled,
two-seeded, and two-valved capsules, the two
awl-shaped recurved styles, four or five calyx-
lobes, as many smaller petals, and eight or ten
stamens, of the length of the petals, and in-
serted with them on the base of an um-shaped
disk. D. Don, 1830. The only species, P. trifolia-
tus, the white alder or white ash of Cape Colony, is a
very smooth and handsome tree, casting abundant shade,
and bearing multitudes of small white fiowers in long-
stalked axillary panicles, followed by small white capsules.
The coriaceous opposite and stalked leaves are each com-
posed of three toothed and veiny lanceolate leaflets. See
aiders, 2.
platymesaticeplialic (plat-i-mes"a-ti-se-fal'ik
or -sef 'a-lik), a. [< platyicephalicj + mesatiee-
phaUc.'i' Both platycephalic and mesaticephal-
ic: said of a skuU. Also platymesocephalic.
platymeter (pla-tim'e-tfer), n. [< Gr. ttW^c,
flat, + jiirpov, measure.] An apparatus for
measuring the inductive capacity of dielectrics.
It consists essentially of two cylindncally shaped con-
densers of equal size, having their inner coatingB con-
nected.
Platymiscium (plat-i-mis'i-um), n. [NL. (Vo-
gel, 1837), so called with ref . to the compressed
stalk of the pod; < Gr. v'kaTvg, flat, + */iiaitoc
for uiaxoc, a stalk, also, in form iiUjkoq, husk
or shell.] A genus of leguminous trees and
shrubs, of the tribe Dalbergiese and the sub-
platyphylline
tribe Lonchocarpese, characterized by the free
wing-petals, the opposite leaves and leaflets,
and tne indehiscent one-seeded long-stalked
pod, which is thin, flat, and oblong, in its op.
posite or whorled leaves it is almost alone in this large
order. The 13 species are natives of tropical America.
They bear yellow fiowers in racemes on the branches, p.
plalystaekyum is called roble in the West Indies,
Platynota (plat-i-no'ta), n.pl. [NL. : see plat-
ynote.l A group of existing Zacertilia, with a
columella and an orbital septum, proc(Blons
vertebrae, not more than nine cervical vertebwa,
and the nasal bone single. It embraces the moni.
tors or varanoids of the Ola World, with the American
genuB Beloderma. See vwniior, Eelode/rma.
platynotal (plat-i-no'tal), a. [< platynote +
-al.'] Broad-backed, as a lizard; specifically,
of or pertaining to the Platynota.
platynote (plat'i-not), a. and n. [< Gr. irht-
Ttivwrof, broad-backed, < w/jitvc, broad, flat, +
vurof, back.] I, a. Broad-backed, as a lizard:
applied to the varans or monitors.
II. n. A monitor or varanoid lizard.
Platynotus (plat-i-no'tus), n. [NL. : see platy-
note.Ji In zool., a generic name variously used.
(a) By Fabricius, 1801, for a ge-
nus of coleopterous insects, (i)
By Schilling, 1829, for a genus
of hemipterous Insects, (c) By
Wagler, 1830, for a genus of rep-
tiles, whence the name Platy-
nota. (fC) By Eaan, 1835, for a
genus of crustaceans.
Platynus (plat'i-nus), n.
[NL., irreg. < Gr. irXari)-
vew, widen, make wide, <
TzTuarvs, wide, broad: see
plat^.] A genus of cara-
boid beetles, p.maeulicollig
is at times so abundant in Cali-
fornia as to be a nuisance. It _, , ,. „.
is popularly called the overjiow '^'"'■'"JJS "■
bug.
platyodont (plat'i-o-dont), a. and n. [< Gr. vXa-
Tvc, broad, + bSoi'g (bdovr-) = B. tooth.'] I. a.
Having broad teeth.
II, n. A broad-toothed animal.
Platyonychus (plat-i-on'i-kus), n. [NL., < Gr.
7r?uiTvi)vvxoc, with broad nails or hoofs, < i:7mtv;,
broad, flat, + ivv^ (ovvx-), claw.] A genus of
Lady-crab {Platyonyckus ocellatus).
crabs of the family Portunidae. P. ocellatus is
a beautiful species known as the lady-erdb.
Incorrectly written Platyoniehus.
platyope (plat'i-op), n. [< Gr. Trlaric, tooad,
+ iyiji (ojr-), face. J
son, or skull.
A broad-faced animal, per-
platyopic (plat-i-op'ik), a. [< platyope + -ic.]
Broad-faced; wide across the eyes: applied to
skulls or persons whose nasomalar index is be-
low 107.5, as in the Mongolian races generally.
Also platopic.
platypetafous (plat-i-pet'a-liw), a, [< Gr. irla-
riii, broad, + ireraiMv, a leai (in mod. bot. a pet-
al).] InSot.jhavingverybroadpetals. [Bare.]
Platypeza (plat-i-pe'zS), n. [NL. (Meigen,
1804), < Gt. irTMTiiQ, broad, flat, + irHia^ foot.]
The typical ^enus of Platypezidie, having the
four basal joints of the posterior tarsi broad
and flattened, whence the name. They are small
velvety-black or gray flies, whose larvee live in fungi. Fif-
teen European and five North American species are known.
P. dngvlatm of the District of Columbia is an example.
Platypezidse (plat-i-pez'i-de), n.pl, [NL. (Fal-
len, 1817), < Platypeea + -jto.] A family ol
diehsetous brachycerous dipterous insects, typi-
fied by the genus Platypeza. They are of mtante
size, and resemble the Dolichopodidae, but the body is de-
pressed and the head hemisphericid, almost entirely occn.
pied by the eyes ; the legs are short and spineless, and the
hind tarsi are often dilated. The antennts are porrectsnd
three-jointed ; the bare eyes are contiguous in the male;
the abdomen is short, and pulvilli are present. The genera
are four in number.
platyphylline (plat-i-fll'in), a. [,< pi
l-OHS + -iwei.] In lot., broad-leavedT;
platyphylline
Thallna Bub-membnuiaceoas, stellate, oppressed oiote-
phyttine. B. Tuckerman, N. A. Ltchens, i. 74.
platyphyllouB (plat-i-fll'us), a. [< Gt. nhirv-
fvUog, broad-leafed, < Trlarbg, flat, + ^AAov,
leaf.] In hot., having broad leaves.
platypod (plat'i-pod), a. and n. [< TSli.platypiig
(-pod-), < Gr. jrXaTim-o'^f, broad-footed, tirTiariQ,
broad, + n-odf (ttoJ-) = E./oo*.] I. a. 1. Hav-
ing broad feet. In any sense ; belonging to the
Platypoda. — 2. In omith., having the toes ex-
tensively coherent, forming a broad sole; syn-
daotyl.
II, n. A broad-footed animal.
Platsrpoda(pla-tip'o-da),m.j>J. [NL.: seeplaty-
pod.J 1. In mammal, j'a, group of monotremes,
named from the genus PUitypus. See Ornitho-
rhynchidx, and out under dudlAiU. — 2. In
conch., a group of rostriferous gastropods mth
broad flat foot fitted for crawling, it includes
most of the rostiif eroas gastropods, among the best-known
of them being the Oypreeidse, Littannidae, MeUmUdae, Ceri-
Ihiidse, and ViviparUiee. J. E. Gray. See cuts under Ce-
rtCAtion, Cyprsea, I/UtarCnidte, and Viviparidie.
platypode (plat'i-pod), a. and n. Same a,splaty-
pod.
Flatypsyllids (plat-ip-sil'i-de), n. pi. [KL.
(Le Conte, 1872), < Flatypsyllus + -idee!] A
family of clavicom Coleoptera, typified by the
genus Flatypsyllus. They have the dorsal segments
of the abdomen partly membranous, ventral segments
free ; the tarsi five-jointed (at least one pair of tarsi) ; the
mentum large, and prolonged in three obtuse lobes be-
hind ; and the palpi distant at base. The family is cer-
tainly coleopterous, and its true position seems to be be-
tween the HydrophUidee and the SUpMda; bub the form
is degraded by parasitism to the semblance of amallopha-
gous insect.
Flatypsyllus (plat-ip-sil'us), n. [NL. (Eitse-
ma, 1869), < Gr. n-Aortif, broad, flat, + ipbXXa, a
flea. ] A remarkabl e ge-
nus of insects, type of
the tajoilj Platypsyllidse,
referred by some to the
order Aphaniptera, by
others to tiLeDiptera, by
Westwoodmade type of
anorder.4cfemop<ero,by
Le Conte placed in the
order Coleoptera among
the elavicorns. p. castmis,
a parasite of the beaver, is a
small eyeless and wingless
beetle with short elytra leav-
ing five abdominal segments
exposed. Also called Platy-
psyUa.
Platyptera (pla-tip'te-
ra), n. [NL., < Gr. nTua-
rtf, broad, -I- ■KTep6v, wing, = E. feather. 1 A ge-
nus of fishes, typical of the family Platypteridee.
The only known species, P. asp/ro, is an inhabitant of fresh
water in islands of the Sunda-Moluccan archipelago.
Platypteridse (plat-ip-ter'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Platyptera + -idle.'] AfamUyof acanthoptery-
^an fishes, represented by the genus Platyptera.
They are related to the Gobrida, and by many referred to
that family, but differ from it by having the ventrals
widely separate from each oQier, and from the Calliony-
mida by the scaly body, unarmed preoperculum, and
moderaiiely wide gUl-openings.
Platyptema (plat-ip-tfer'na), n. [NL. (Hitoh-
oock, 1848), < Gr. vXarvc, broad, flat, + irripva,
the neel.] A genus of gigantic animals, for-
merly supposed to be birds, now believed to
be dinosaurian reptiles, known by their foot-
prints in the Triassic formation of the Connec-
ticut valley.
Platypterygidse (pla-tip-te-rij'i-de), n. pi.
\^'L.,< Platypteryx (-pteryg-) + -idse.'] A fam-
ily of bombycid moths, l^ified by the genus
Platypteryx. The antennae of the male are pectinate,
those of the female generally filiform ; the abdomen is
slender, and the wings are small but comparatively broad,
and sometimes hooked at the tip ; the larvse have 14 legs.
Platypteryx {pla-tip'te-Tiks),_ n. [NL., < Gr.
■ahiTvg, broad, flat, + wrtpv^, wing.] In entom.,
the typical genus of Platypterygidse. The spe-
cies are known as hook-tip moths.
Platypus (plat'i-pus), n. [NL., < Gr. w2xitv-
Toiif, broad-footed, < niarvg, broad, + miig (n-od-),
= E. foot.] 1. In entom., a genus of xylopha-
gous beetles of the family ScoVytidx: synony-
mous in part with Bostrychus. Herhst, 1793. —
2. In mammal. : (a) A genus of monotremes,
now called Ornithorhynchus. Shaw, 1799. (6)
p. c] The species of this genus ; the duck-
billed platypus. See cut under duckbill. — 3.
In ornith., a genus of sea-ducks of the family
Anatidie and flie subfamily Fuligulinie: synon-
ymous with Pulim. Brehm, 1831.
platypygous (plat-i-pi'gus), a. [< Gt. izTjitv-
irvyo^, broad-bottomed, < n%aTvs, broad, + nvyfj,
ramp, buttocks.] Having broad buttocks.
4543
platyrhiue, Platyrhiiii, etc. B&% platyrrhirw,
etc.
Pla^hynchi (plat-i-ring'ki), n. pi. [NL., pL
of Platyrhynchus, q. v.] In Merrem's classifi-
cation of birds (1813), a group equivalent to the
Steganopodes or Totipalmati of authors, contain-
ing such genera as Pelecarms, Phaeton, and Plo-
tus, or the pelicans, gannets, cormorants, an-
hingas, tropic-birds, etc.
platyrnyuchine (plat-i-ring'Mn), a. [< Platy-
rhynchus + -j»ei.] Broad-billed, as a bird.
Platyrhynchus (plat-i-ring'kus), n. [NL. (Des-
marest, 1805), prop. "Platyrrhynchus, < Gr. ttAo-
Tvppvyxoc, broad-snouted, broad-beaked, < ttTm-
•rtf, broad, +
fniyxoc, snout,
beak.] 1. In
omith.: (a) A
genus of Amer-
ican tyrant-fiy-
eatchers, be-
longing to the
family Tyran-
midse, and tjrp-
icalof the sub-
family Platy-
rhynchinsBi'ha.Y-
ing a very
broad flat bill
with long vi-
briss8B, whence
the name.
There are sev-
eral species, of
South and Cen-
tral America,
as P.
us.
Head ot Platyrt^nehus mystaceus. top and
side views, natural size.
Parasite of the Beaver iPlaty-
fisyllujcastoris), (Line shows
natural size.)
is a synonym. (6) Same
Vieillot, 1825. — 2. In entom., a
genus 6t coleopterous insects. Thunberg, 1815.
— 3. In herpet., a genus of batrachians. Also
Platyrhinous. DwmSril, 1854.
platyrrhine. platyrhine (plat'i-rin), a. and n.
[< Gr. irhiTippi^ (-P"^), broad-nosed, < ■jriarig,
broad, + /«'f (/«v-),nose.] I. a. 1. Broad-nosed,
as any American monkey; belonging to the
PlatyrrMni. — 2. In oraniom. , having a flat nose ;
having a nasal index of from 51.1 (Frankfort
agreement) or 53 (Broca) to 58.
II. n. A platyrrhine monkey.
Flatyrrhiui, Platyrhini (plat-i-ri'm), n. pi.
[NL.: s^e platyrrhine.] A division of §Ma<Zr«-
mana, contrasted with Catarrhini and Strepsir-
rhini, including all the American or New World
members of the order Primates and families Ce-
IndcB OiTiA HapalidsB or Mididse; the platyrrhine
monkeys. There is no bony external auditory meatus,
the tympanic bone being annular ; the premolars are three
above and below on each side ; the nasal septum is usually
broad and fiat, and the nostrils are proportionately far
apart, presenting forward or laterally and not downward ;
the thumb, when present, is scarcely or not apposable ;
there are no cheek-pouches nor ischial callosities; and the
tail is generally long and prehensile or bushy. Also writ-
ten PlcUyrrkina, Platyrrhinx, and in all forms with single
or double r. See cuts under Cebinse and Hapalidx.
platyrrhlnian (plat-i-rin'i-an), a. andn. [<
platyrrhine + -ian.] I. a. 1'.' In sool., platyr-
rhine, as a monkey. — 2. In anthropol., having
broad flat nasal bones, as a person, a people,
or a skull.
II. n. A platyrrhinian animal, person, or
skull.
platyrrhiny, platyrhiny (plat'i-ri-ni), n. [<
Gr. TT^xiTvppig (-ptv-), broad-nosed: see platyr-
rhine.] The condition of having a platyrrhine
skuU.
Platyschistse (plat-i-skis'te), n.pl. [NL., < Gr.
irXari/axiOTog, with broad clefts, < jrhtriig, broad,
+ extardg, cloven, parted, divided, < (r;t:^fc«i', spUt,
part.] In Giinther's classification, the first sub-
family of MursenidsB, with the branchial open-
ings in the pharynx in the form of wide slits,
including aU the true apodal fishes excepting
the typical Mursenidx.
platyscopic (plat-i-skoi^'ik), a. [< Gr. irhirvq,
broad, fiat, + (namelv, view.] In opUcs, having
a wide and flat field of view: used as a trade-
name for certain achromatic combinations of
lenses, as for photographic use, or for hand-
magnifiers.
platysma (pla-tis'ma), ».; ■^l.platysmata (-ma-
ta) . [NL. , <' Gr. irTi&Tva/ia, a flat piece or plate,
C iryiariiveiv, broaden, extend, < irXarvg, broad,
flat: aeeplat^.] A thin broad muscle situated
immediately beneath the skin at the side of the
neck, and extending from the chest and shoul-
der to the face, it represents the panniculus camosus
of many mammals, which produces the movements of the
plaudit
skin, as in the horse.— Flatysma myoideB. Same as
platysma. See pannicvlus, and cut S^ A, nndeT muscle.
Platysomata (plat-i-so'ma-ta), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. irhiTvg, broad, + aa/ia {au/iar-), body.] In
Latreille's system of classification, the third
family of tetramerous Coleoptera, corresponding
to the genus Cucujtis of Pabrioius, and to the
modem family CucujideB, which, however, is now
differently located, among the clavicom pen-
tamerous coleopters.
platysome (plat'i-som), n. An insect of the
group Platysomata.
Platysomida (plat-i-som'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Platysomus + -idee.] A family of fossil lepi-
dosteoid ganoid fishes, represented by the genus
Platysomus. The body is generally high, covered with
rhomboganoid scales arranged in dorsiventral rows ; the
notochordispersistent,butvertebral arches are developed ;
the vertebral column is heterocercal ; the fins have fulcra ;
the dorsal fin is long, occupying the posterior half of the
back; the branchiostegals are numerous; and the teeth
are tubercular or obtuse. All these fishes are extinct.
Platysomus (plat-i-so'mus), n. [NL., < LGr.
Tr7iaTvao/ioc, with a broad body, < Gr. Trhnic,
broad, + aafia, body.] A genus of fossil ganoid
fishes, typical of the family Platysomidx. Agas-
sis, 1833.
Platystemon (plat-i-ste'mon)^ n. [NL. (Ben-
tham, 1831), so called in allusion to the dilated
filaments : < Gr. tOmtv^, broad, + cttjiujv, warp
(stamen).] A genus of polypetalous plants of
the order Papavera^xse and tribe BomneyeaB,
characterized by its three sepals, six petals,
many broad fiat stamens, numerous eoalescent
carpels distinct at maturity, and separate linear
stigmas. The only species, P. Cal^omicuSt common on
the lower hills of California and Arizona, is a hairy spread-
ing annual, with yellow long-stalked flowers, and narrow
entire leaves, alternate or whorled in threes, blooming pro-
fusely In dense dwarf tufts in early spring, and known as
creamreups.
Platjrsteruse (plat-i-st6r'ne), n.pl. [NL., < Gr.
vhtTvarepvog, broad-breasted : see platystemal.]
An order of birds in Nitzsch's classification of
1840. It is the subclass £aMUe of Merrem reduced to
ordinal rank and placed between Oattirue and GraUee, and
consists of the struthious or ratlte bh'ds — ostriches, cas-
sowaries, the apteryx, and other ecarinate birds. See Jio-
iiUe. [Little used.]
platystemal (plat-i-ster'nal), a. [< Gr. TrAarfc-
CTcpvo^, broad-breasted, < JtTmtvc, broad, -I- arip-
vov, breast, chest.] Having a broad flat breast-
bone, as a bird; ratite; non-carinate; specifi-
cally, of or pertaining to the Platystemae.
Platystoma (pla-tis'to-ma), n. [NL., < Gr.
jrXaTvoTO/jog, broad-mouthed": seeplatystomotis.]
1. Agenusof dipterous insects. Meigen, 1803.
— 2. A genus of South American catfishes of
the famfly Siluridee, having a long flattened
spatulate snout, a large mouth, sixbarbels, and
scaleless skin. There are several species; some of them
attain a large size, and P. tigrimtm of South American
rivers, called by the natives corutto, coltte, and oronni, is
one of the most beautiful and delicious of fresh-water
fishes. The Indians take it both by hook and line and by
shooting It with arrows.
3. In conch., a genus of gastropods. Conrad,
1842.
platystomous (pla-tis'to-mus), a. [< Gr. nla-
TvoTO/ioc, broad-mouthed, < jrAeervc, broad, -I-
crrdfta, mouth.] Having a broad mouth.
Platystomus (pla-tis'to-mus),_»i; [NL. : see
plah/stom^us.] 1. Agenusof sirenians: same
as Ihigungvs. — 2. A genus of flycatchers : same
as Peltops.
plaudf (plSid), V. t. [< Jj.plaudere, applaud, clap
the hands in applause, clap, strike, beat. Prom
the same source are applaud, displode, explode,
applause, explosion, implosion, etc., plausible,
etc.] To applaud. [Kare.]
At our banquet all the gods may tend,
Plauding our victory and this happy end.
Chapman, Blind Beggar of Alexandria.
plaud (pl&d), n. [i plaud, v.; or short for ^jteo-
dit.] Claim to applause; plaudit; applause.
[Obsolescent.]
To patient judgments we appeal ouiplaud.
Marl&ive, Faustus (cho.).
Shekels of gold may shrink to ^'alns
Into this treasury as they fall,
While a poor widow's hard-earned gains
May win the plaud " More than they all."
Pulpit Treasury, July, 1836, p. 201.
plaudit (plSi'dit), n. [FoxmeTly plaudite (in 3
syllables), sometimes spelled plamdity; < L.
plaudite, 2d pers. pi. pres. impv. of plaudere,
clap the hands, applaud, as an audience at the
theater (plaudite or vos plaudite, 'clap!' 'ap-
plaud!' a formula craving the approbation of
the audience, used by actors at the end of a
performance): see plaud.] An expression or
round of applause ; praise bestowed with audi-
plaudit
ble demonstrations : in the plural, equivalent to
applause.
Augustus CsBsar . . . desired his Mends about him to
give him a Plavdite, as if he were conscious to himself
that he had played his part well upon the stage.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, it 322.
Chuse whether you will let my notes have you hy the
ears or no ; hiss or give plaudites.
Dekker, Gull's Hornbook,
Our poet, could he find forgiveness here.
Would wish it rather than apkmdit there.
Dryden, Prol. to Univ. of Oxford (1673), 1. 39.
Now I have him that neer of ought did speak
But when of plays or players he did treat—
Hath made a common-place book out of plays.
And speaks in print : at least what e'er he says
Is warranted by Cvai,a,mplaudities.
Marston, Scourge of ViUanie, xi. 45.
When the committee read the report, the house passed
his accounts with aplaudite, without further examination.
Steele, Spectator, No. 248.
plauditet, w. An obsolete form otplaiidit.
plauditory (pM'di-to-ri), a. \<plaudit + -ory.'\
Applauding; commending.
plaudityt (plfe'di-ti), n. An obsolete form of
plaudit. ,
plausibility (pia-zi-bil'i-ti), n. [= P. plausi-
bility = Sp. plausibilidacl = Pg. plausibilidade
= It. plausimlitdt ; < L. as if *plausiMlita(i-)s,
<l)lausiUlis, -plavisible: see plausible.'] 1. The
quality of being plausible or worthy of praise
or aoeeptanoe; especially, a specious or su-
perficial appearance of being right or worthy
of acceptance, approval, or applause.
He insists upon the old Plea of his Conscience, honour,
and Reason ; using the ptausibUity of large and indefinite
words to defend himself. MUton, Eikonoklastes, xi.
Covetousness is apt to insinuate also by the plmtsibility
of its pleas. South, Sermons, IV. x.
Toigive any plausibility to a scheme of perpetual peace,
war must already have become rare, and must have been
banished to a prodigious distance.
De Quincey, Philos. of Rom. Hist.
The Austrian diplomatists propounded a new scheme
of politics, which, it must be owned, was not altogether
withoat plamiMlity. Macaulay, Frederic the Great.
2t. A praiseworthy act or quality; whatever
deserves or commands applause.
Being placed in the upper part of the world, [he] car-
ried on his dignity with that justice, modesty, integrity,
fidelity, and other gracious .pZau^f&z^ities, that in a place of
trust he contented those who could not satisfy, and in a
place of envyprocured the love of those who emulated his
greatness. Vaughan, Life, etc., of Dr. Jackson. (Trench.)
St. Applause.
With great admiration and plaustbilUy of the people
running plentifully on all sides.
HaUuyfs Voyages, I. 287.
plausible (pia'zi-bl), a. [< F. plausible = Sp,
plausible = Pg, plausivel = It, platisibile, < L,
flausibilis, praiseworthy, pleasing, acceptable,
plaudere, pp. plausus, applaud: see plaud.]
If. Deserving applause or approval; merito-
rious; praiseworthy; commendable.
The dactil is commendable inough in our vulgar mee*
tres, but raoBt plausible of all when he is sounded vpon the
stage. Pvttenham, Arte of Bug. Poesie, p. 106,
The plauiCbU examples of TuUy, Cato, Marius, Scipio,
divers such virtuous Romans, and sundry excellent Greeks,
are famously known. G. Havvey, Four Letters, ill.
This objection seems very plausible and cordiall to cov-
etous earthworms.
Prynne, Treachery and Disloyalty, iv. 14.
Beauty, composed of blood and fiesh, moves more.
And is more plausible to blood and fiesh,
Than spiritual beauty can be to the spirit.
B. Joimm, Poetaster, iv. 6.
These Comedies, bearing the title of The fair Maid of
the West : it they proved but as gratious in thy private
reading is they were plwiaible In the publlck acting, I
shall not much doubt of their successe.
Heywood, Fair Maid of the West (Works, ed. Pearson,
[II. 269).
3. Seemingly worthy of acceptance or approval;
apparently light, meritorious, or worthy of con-
fidence; having a specious or superficial ap-
pearance of truth or trustworthiness: as, a
plausible excuse ; a,plausible theory or doctrine.
Go you to Angelo ; answer his requiring with a plausible
obedience ; agree with his demands to the point.
Shak., M. for M., ilL 1. 268.
Well dissembling his untimely joys,
And veiling truth inptaiuxlble disguise.
Pope, Odyssey, xiil. 304.
The undermining smile becomes at length habitual;
and the drift of his plausible conversation is only to flatter
one that he may betray another.
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, Ded.
I am not at all clear that I could not write a fairly plau-
sible answer to myself ; only I am much surer that I could
write a rejoinder to that answer which should be some-
thing more than plausible.
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 88.
3. Fair-spoken and apparently worthy of con-
fidence ; using or presenting discourse or argu-
4544
ments that seem right and worthy of accept-
ance: as, & plausible person.
My boy— that delightful contradiction, who was always
plausible, yet never right , „ „ - , ,
C. W. Stoddard, South-sea Idyls, p. 259.
4t. Applauding; applausive.
That when the epilogue is done we may with franke in-
After the plaudite stryke vp ourplausHile assente.
Drant, tr. of Horace's Art of Poetry.
Euarchus, though neither regardingaprisoner's passion-
ate prayer nor bearing ovei-plausible ears to a many-headed
motion, yet [was] well enough content to win their liking
with things in themselves indifferent.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, v.
I will haste to declare of what virtue and strength the
true and Christian prayer is, that men, knowing the effica-
cy and dignity, yea, and the necessity thereof, may with
the pure »jaim6?e and joyful minds delight in it
Becon, Works, 1. 141. (Davies.)
=Syn. 2. Colorable, Specious, etc. See ostensSde.
plausibieize (pla'zi-bl-iz), v. t. [< plausible +
-ize.'] Torenderplausible; recommend. [Bare.]
He [Richard ni.] endeavoured to work himself into
their good will by erecting and endowing of religious
houses, so to plausibieize himself, especially among the
clergy. Puller, Church Hist, IV, iv, 7,
plausibleness (pl&'zi-bl-nes), n. Same Asplau-
play
playl (pla), V. [< ME. playen, pleyen, pkien
plegen, also plawen,plahen,plagen, < AS. pfen™
It is no trusting either to outward favour or to plcmsi-
bleness of disposition ; but the true fear of God is that the
comfort whereof will stick by us always.
Bp. Hail, Hard Texts, Frov. xxxL 30,
plausibly (pl&'zi-bli), adv. In a plausible man-
ner, (at) With expressions of applause or approval ; with
acclamation.
The 'Roxaems p^ugibly did give consent
To Tarquin's everlasting banishment.
Shak,, Lucrece, 1. 1864.
(6) With fair show ; speciously ; so as to command atten-
tion or win approbation.
They could talk plausibly about what they did not un-
derstuid. ■ Collier.
If they be well considered they will convince anyreason-
able man that, how plausibly soever this objection looks
at the first sight, yet there is nothing in the world in it,
but it is all mere cavill. Abp. Sharp, Works, II. viii.
Great crimes alarm the conscience, but it sleeps.
While thoughtful man is plausibly amus'd.
Cowper, Task, 111. 186.
plausire (pM'siv), a. [< L. plaudere, pp. plau-
sus, applaud, + -fee.] 1. Applauding; mani-
festing praise or approval.
"Ehose plavsiv^ shouts which giue you entertain
Eccho as much to the Almighties eares.
Heywood, If you Know not Me, i.
No mightier work had gained the plausive smile
Of all-beholding Phoebus !
Wordsworth, Sonnets, ii. 34.
The young graduate, when the Commencement anni-
versary returned, though he were in a swamp, would see
a festive light, and find the air faintly echoing vritb plau-
sive academic thunders. .Emerson, Works and Days.
2t. Plausible.
^is plausive words
He scatter'd not in ears, but grafted them,
To grow there and to bear.
Shaik., All's Well, i 2. 63.
plaustral (plfts'tral), a. [< L. plaustrum, also
plostrum, plaustra, a wagon, cart, H- -al.2 Of
or relating to a wagon or cart, [Rare.]
Whether this contention between three carts of differ-
ent parishes was promoted by a subscription among the
nobility, or whether the grand jury . , . had . . , com-
bined to encourage plaustrai merit, I cannot take upon
me to determine. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, IxzxvL
Plautidse (pia'ti-de), n. pi. [NL., < Plautus +
-ddee.] The auk family, named from the genus
Plautus; the Alcidse. Henry Bryant.
Plautine (pia'tin), a. [< Plautus (see def.) -f
-ine^.2 Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of
Plautus, a Boman comic poet (died 184 b, c.) :
as, Plautine diction.
It is needless to dwell further upon the details of Plaio-
tine scansion. Eneyc. Brit., XIV. 330.
Plautus (pla'tus), n. [NL. (Klein, 1759), < L.
plautus, also (Umbrian) plotus, flat, flat-foot-
ed.] 1. An old book-name of the great auk,
Alca impennis, lately used in a generic sense. —
2. A genus of gulls: synonymous with Larus,
Peidhenbach, 1853.
plaw^t, V. A Middle English form otplay^,
pla'w2(pl4),i;. [Also^to^; ME. plawen, playen,
boil.] I.t intrans. To boil.
Take a pot full of wyne, and steke yt wele ahoae that
no thynges go ynne nor owte, and put it ynne a cowdrun
ful of water, and layt yt play longe therin, and yt schal
be gode ayselle sone.
Sloane MS. 3648, f. 16, quoted in Prompt Parv., p. 403.
Item, a grete lede to brew v comb malte with one pla/w-
yng. Paston Letters, ni. 436.
II, trans. To boil ; especially, to boil slightly.
[Prov. Eng.]
(pret. plesgde), plegian, plegean, plmgian (pret.
plegode, plegede, pleogede), plagian (pret. pld
gade), move briskly, play, amuse oneself, exer-
cise, strive, play on an instrument, clap the
hands, etc., = OS. plegan = OFries. plegia
pligia, be wont or accustomed, use, = D. plegen
be wont or accustomed, use, commit, = MLGr!
LG. plegen = OH(J, phlegan, pflegan, plegen,
MH(J, phlegen, pflegen, G. pflegen, be wont or
accustomed, care for, cherish, administer, in-
dulge, apply, etc., = loel. plaga = Sw. plaga,
be wont or accustomed, use, entertain, treat
= Dan. 2)l^e, be accustomed ; the AS. senses
refer only to physical activity, the orig. sense
of all the forms being appar. 'be in action'
whence 'be busy,"be concerned' (withathing)'
'be wont or accustomed' (to do something)!
senses leading to those of the derivative plifflii
E.enoej}lay\ n., anApUgJit'^.'] I, intrans. 1. To
move lightly and quickly; move with a brisk,
lively, and more or less irregular and eapricioM
motion, as water in waves or in a fountain,
light and shadow on agitated water, leaves in
the wind, tremulous flames, etc. ; flutter; flick-
er; dart; dance; in mech., to move freely.
And Cytherea all in sedges hid,
Which seem to move and wanton with her breath,
Even as the waving seigee play with wind.
Shak., T. of the S., Ind., a 66.
But soon their pleasures pass'd ; at noon of day
The sun with sultry beams began to play.
Dryden, Mower and Leaf, 1. 878.
This [garden] of the Tuilleries is vastly great, has shaded
Tarrasses on two sides, one along the River Seine, planted
with Trees, very diverting, with great Barters in tlie mid-
dle, and large Fountains of Water, which constantly Play,
Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 181.
The self-same shadows now as then
Play through this grassy upland glen.
M. AmM, Resignation.
And hark the clock within, the silver knell
Of twelve sweet hours that past in bridal white.
And died to live, long as my pulses play.
Tennyson, Maud, xviif. 8.
The window was open, and barbs of fire, like serpents'
tongues, played over it. R. D. BlackTnore, Erema, t 211.
The motion [of an anchor] may be limited by a second
pin through the shoulder, playing in a long hole in the
flukes. lAiee, Seamanship, p. 2S3.
2. To engage in active exercise; exercise or
contend in any way, but especially with weap-
ons; technically, to contend with swords or
sticks; fence: said of persons.
Us he dude lede
Into a galeie
With the se to^eie.
King Horn (E. E. T. S.), 1 186.
Betere him were in Scotloud,
With is ax in ys hond.
To pleyen o the grene.
Execution of Sir Simon Fraser (Child's Ballads, VI. 282),
When yon play at weapons, I would have you get thick
caps and bracers [gloves].
Sir P. Sidney (Arbor's Eng. Garner, I. 309).
And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arisen
and play before us. 2 Sam. ii. 14.
He sends to know if your pleasure hold to play with
Laertes. Sluik., Hamlet, v. 2. 206.
3. To contend in a game of skill or chance : as,
toplay at chess or cards ; specifically, to gamble.
He wule come the nier
And bidde the pleie at the escheker,
Whane thescheker is forth ihrojt
Bithute panes i^eplei thu nogt
Flom and Blauneheflur (B. E. T. S.\ I 344
He made him to ben clept Melechmanser: the whiche
on a Day pleyed at the Ohesse, and his .Swerd lay beeyde
him. Mandemlle, Travels, p. S7.
I'll follow
The ladies, play at cards, make sport, and whistle.
Ford, Lady's Trial, T. 2,
After they [the Chinese] have lost their Money, Goode,
and Cloaths, they will stake down their Wives and Children :
and lastly, as the deaiest thing they have, wlUiJloy upon
tick, and mortgage their Hair upon honour.
Damipier, Voyages, IL i. 42.
4. To engage in exercise or occupation of any
kind for diversion, amusement, or recreation;
amuse one's self, as with games or diversion,
or with any occupation which is not a task or
for profit; sport; frolic; gambol.
Han pardoun thorw purgatorie to passen ful sone,
With patriarkes in paradys to pleyen ther-aftur.
Piers Plowman (A), vlU. 12.
He . , . preyed hath Daun John
That he sholde come to Seint Denys, topleye
With hym and with his wyf a day or tweye.
Chwucer, Shipman's Tale, 1. 6*
The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to
play. Ex. xxxu. 1
0 come ye here to fight young lord,
Or come ye here to wiaj/?
Katharine Janfarw (Child's Ballads, VI. SI).
play
It seems so little while ago since I used to see yon play-
ing abont the door of the old house, quite a small child !
BmiTthome, Seven Gables, iv.
5. To take part in a game or games ; join in
sport or frolic: as, to play yrith the children. —
6. To act thoughtlessly or wantonly; trifle;
toy; daily.
Do not play with mine anger, do not, wretch !
Beau, and Fl., Maid's Tragedy, iv. 1.
O golden hair, with which I used to play
Not knowing I 0 imperial-moulded form.
And beauty such aa never woman wore.
Tennyson, Qulnevere.
7. To act ; behave ; deal : as, to play fair or
false.
H she have played loose with me, ni cut her throat
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, iv. 1.
You flay false with us, madam — I saw you give the
baronet a letter. Sheridan, The Rivals, iL 2.
8. To act on the stage; personate a character.
lliere is a lord wiU hear you play to-night.
SlMh., T. of the S., Ind., L 93.
Courts are theatres where some men play. Donne.
9. To perform on an instrument of music : as,
to play on a flute or a violin.
With mnsicke sweete that did excell
Hee plates under her window then.
TTie Merchants Daughter (Child's B^ads, IV. 329).
We sat round a pan of coals, and three Mahometans
sung Arab songs, beating time with their hands, and play-
ing on a tam boor. Poeoeke, Description of the East, 1. 82.
10. To operate or act with continuous blows
or strokes, or with repeated action: as, the
esianon played on the enemy's wcjrks; the fire-
men j)ia^e<2 upon the burning building.
Upon the seaaeuteenth day of Aprill (the Archduke]
planted his Cannon against the towne, and played upon it.
Caryat, Crudities, I. 8.
Here, as before^ the firemen were not permitted to play
on the flames. The Century, XXXVII. 929.
"io play against the bank. See banlc2.—To play at
daw and drake. See dtuJrs.—TopIay false. See/alse,
adv.— To play fast and loose. See/a«ti, a.— To play
for love. See love^.—lo play in, to begin at once.
Balliwea. [Frov. Eng.] — To playu and outt. Same
as to play fast and loose. — To play into the hands of
some one, to act in such a way as to give the advantage
to one's opponent or a third party.
Why play . , . into the devil's hands
By dealing so ambiguously?
Broioning, King and Book, vi. 1833.
To play loose, in fencing, to practise attack and defense.
Bnoye. Brit., IX. 71.— To play Off, to simulate; feign;
make pretense: as, the man is not lU, he is playing of. —
To Play on or upon, (a) To make sport of ; trifle with ;
mock ; delude ; befool, especially for advantage or through
malice: as, to play upon one's feelings.
Art thou alive?
Or is it fantasy that ^a^s upon our eyesight?
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., v. 4. 138.
Is t not enough
That yon bxre played upon me all this while.
But still to mock me, still to jest at me?
B. Jonson, Case is Altered, iv. 5.
Ton lely upon the mildness of my temper — you do,
you dogl jon play upon the meekness of my disposition!
Sheridan, The Kivals, iL 1.
(&) To give a hnmorons or fanciful turn to : as, to play
upon words.
He jested with all ease, and told
Free tales, and took the word aoAplaifd upon it.
And made it of two colours. Tenrmsan, Geraint.
To play up. (o) To work forward. (6) To play (music)
more vigorously.— To play upon advantaeet, to cheat.
—To play with edged tools. See tod, and compare
edge4ool.—To play with fire. Seeyire.— To Play with
one's beard t, to deceive one. Nares.
Tet have I j^y'd tctth his beard, in knitting this knot
I promist friendship, but ... 1 meant it not.
B. Edwards, Damon and Fytbiaa
=SnL 4. To gambol, romp, caper, frisk.
n. trans. 1. To divert or amuse with or as
with sports or pastimes: used refiezively; [Ob-
solete or prov. Eng.]
They goon and pleye hem al the longe day.
Chaucer, Shipman's Tale^ 1 177.
Lete vs go for to pley vs and disporte in this foreste, to
assay yet we ^de eny aventure.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ili. 562.
Bot fyn I am put to a pojmt that ponerte hatte,
I schal me poruay pacyence, & play me with bothe.
AUiteraave Poems (ed. MorrisX iii. 36.
2. To take part as a contestant in (a game or
pastime engaged in at a particular time and
place) ; also, to be in the habit of engaging In
(a particular kind of game), be able to join in
(it), or be skilled in (it): as, to play a rubber
of whist; to play a round of golf; he does not
play chess, but he can play bniiards._ — 3. To
engage in a game, contest, or competition with.
I will play you for a hundred ponnds.
Warren, Diary of a Late Physician, EL xxv.
4. To put forward, move, throw, or lay on the
table, etc., iii carrying on a game or contest:
4545
as, play a svrift ball ; to ]alay the knave of clubs.
— 5. To use as a playthinig; trifle or fool with.
Some wise Men, and some Fools we call :
Figures, alas, of Speech, for Destiny j)2ay8 us alL
CauiUy, Pindaric Odes, vi. 2.
6. To manoeuver; handle or play with, as a
hooked fish in angling.
The river is large and free from obstacles, and when
yon are landed to play him, you have little to do except
to exercise the ordinary give and take which is within the
competence of any angler for pike or carp.
Quarterly Rev., CXXVL 340.
7. To produce music from; perform upon: as,
tx> play the flute or the organ.
The dancing-master, having to play the kit besides, was
thoroughly blown. Dickens, Battle of Life.
8. To perform on a musical instrument; exe-
cute: as,topte)/atune. — 9. To operate orcause
to operate with continuous or repeated action;
put into and keep in action : as, to play the hose
on a burning building.
The water is brought from a river which is lower than
the basin ; it commonly rises eighty feet and, by playinff
another pipe, it throws the water a hundred and twenty
feet highl Pocodce, Description of the East, n. iL 226.
10. To give out or discharge freely: as, to play
a steady stream..
In 1711 there were shown Sea Gods and Goddesses,
I^ymphs, Mermaids, and SaUrs, all of them playing ot wa-
ter as suitable, and some Fire mingling with the water,
and Sea Triumphs round the Barrel tbs,t plays so many Li-
quors ; all which is taken away after it had perform'd its
part, and the Barrel is broken in Pieces before the Spec-
tators. Quoted in Asbton's Social Life in Keign of Queen
[Anne, I. 293.
11. To perform or act on the stage ; represent
in character with appropriate action and acces-
sories: as, to play a comedy.
Two persons plaied a dialogue, the eflect whereof was
whether riches were better than love.
Hall, Hen. VUL, an. 1528.
The old comedies were plaid in the broad streets vpon
wagons or carts vnconered.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesle, p. 29.
Luscus, what 's play'd to-day? Faith now I know
I set thy lips abroach, fronl whence doth flow
Naught bat pore Juliet and Borneo.
Marston, Scourge of ViUanle, zL 37.
12. To take or assume the rdle of ; act the part
or perform the duties of; act or behave like:
as, to ^{a^ Hamlet; to ^2aj/ the tyrant; to play
the hostess.
I have a will, I am sure, howe'er my heart
May play the coward.
Beau, and Fl., Laws of Candy, iiL 3.
To play the fool by authority is wisdom.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 3.
Remember how thou playedst the man at Vanity-fair,
and wast neither afraid of the chain nor cage, nor yet of
bloody death. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 177.
Why, every Man plays the Fool once in his Life ;
But to marry is playing the Fool all ones Life long.
Congreve, Old Batohelor, iiL 10.
Neither the Pope nor the most Christian King will play
the devil. Walpole, Letters, IL 435.
13. To do; operate; enact; perform: as, to
play tricks ; to play a part.
But man, proud man, . . .
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep. Shak., M. for M., iL 2, 121.
No law nor justice frights *em ; all the town over
They play new pranks and gambols.
Fletcher, Loyal Subject, iv. 3.
Who can call him a wise man who playeCh the part of
aFoole or a Vice? £%t£&&e8, Anat. of Abuses.
I have indeed observed in several inscriptions of this
country that your men of learning are extremely delighted
in playing little tricks with words and figures.
Addison, Remarks on Italy (ed. Bohn), p. 522.
This man hnipiayed an important part in all the revo-
lutions which, since the time of Sui-ajah Dowlah, had
taken place in Bengal Macaulay, Warren Hastings.
14t. To use; apply; ply.
Yif thow wolt pleie this craft with the arisyng of the
mone, loke thow ifekne wel her conrs howre by howre.
Chaucer, Astrolabe, ii. 40.
15. To make a pretense of; make believe: as,
children play being devoured by lions.
We [merchants] may wel make chiere and good visage,
And dryve forth the world as it may bei
And kepen our estaat in pryvetee
Til we be ded : or elles that we pl^e
A pilgrymage, or goon out of the weye.
Chaucer, Shipman's Tale, 1. 233.
Flayed out. (a) Played to an end; finished; used up;
done for. [CoUoq.]
Brown thinks to himself that after all there is some re-
freshing sense of the primaeval about this played-out
country. FortiaghUy Rev., N. S., XLIIL sa
g) Ezhansted and brought to land or killed, as a fish that
IS been played.— To play hob foolt, booty, ducks
and drakes, first (or second) fiddle, gooseberry, hob,
booky. ete. See/ooJl, boiOy, duck^, fiddle, ete.— TO play
Ojr, to display : show : as, to play o/ tricks,— To playoff
a person, to exhibit or expose a person for the entertain-
play
mentormerrimentof others.— To play one false. See
false.— to play possum. See possum.— To play the
deuce or dickens. See deuced dickens.— To play the
devil, the fool, the hangment, the mischief, etc,
with. See the nouns.— To play up, to start or begin
playing; strike up.
Play uppe The Brides of Enderby.
Jean Ingelow, High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire.
playl (pla), n. [< ME. play, pley, pleye, pleie,
plege, aiao plawe, plahe, plage, < AS. 2>lega, brisk
motion, play, sport, game, also fight, battle
(cf. OFries. plega, pliga, custom, habit, prac-
tice, MLG.plege, care, custom, &iso plage, liGr.
plege, OH(x. phlega, MHG. phlege, pflege, G.
pflege, care, nursing, custom, etc., Icel. plag,
manner, Dan. pl^e, nursing, tendance, care,
maintenance, cultivation, encouragement, ad-
ministration, etc.) ; from the verb : see j>Zaji, ».]
1. Brisk or free motion; movement, whether
regular or irregular: as, xhoplay of water in a
fountain; thejjtej of a wheel or piston; hence,
freedom or room for motion.
The play and slight agitation of the water, in its upward
gnsh, wrought magically with these variegated pebbles.
HawOiome, Seven Gables, vL
The saw, with restless play.
Was cleaving through a flr-tree
Its long and steady way. Bryant, Saw-MilL
AnypZayorlost motion between the threads of the cross-
feed screw and its nut.
Joshua Rose, Practical Machinist, p. 34.
2. Liberty and room for action or display;
scope; swing; ease or freedom in performance.
Give him [the chub] jilay enough before you offer to
take him out of the water.
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 68.
He dares not give his Imagination its full play.
Addison, Spectator, No. 315.
The Mercian scribes appear to have been very excellent
penmen, writing a very gracefid hand with much delicate
play in the strokes. Eneyc. Brit., XVIII. 159.
3. Action; use; employment.
The senseless plea of right by Providence
Was by a flattering priest invented slnc^
And lasts no longer th^n the recent sway.
But justifies the next who comes in play.
Dryden, Character of a Good Parson, L 120.
Every kind of vehicle is brought into play on this day
to carry people down who prefer to drive over the mag-
nificent country roads between London and Epsoiru
T. C. Crawford, English Life, p. 15.
4. Active exercise ; especially, exercise in trial
of skill: as, sword-^faj. — 5. Any exercise in-
tended for recreation, amusement, or pleasure ;
a game or sport, such as cricket, foot-ball, curl-
ing, skittles, quoits, graces, etc.
And suche pleyes of desport thei make, til the takynge
up of the Boordes. MandemUe, Travels, p. 238.
They say that this Philosopher [LycnrgusJ did inuent
the Olympiades, which were certeine playes vsed euery
fourth yeere in the mounteine Olympus.
Quevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577X p. 21.
See that ^aies be published,
Mai-games and maskes, with mirthe and minstrelsie,
Pageante and school-teastes, beares and puppet-^iet.
Three Lords of London, in Strutt's Sports and Pastimes,
[p. 32.
The plays of children are nonsense, but very educative
nonsense. Emerson, Experience.
6. Amusement, diversion, recreation, or pas-
time; sport; frolic; fun; merry-making: as,
"all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
Al the ioge of cure herte nou is went a-wey.
For into serwe & into wo tomid is al oure pley.
Political Poems, ete. (ed. FumivaU), p. 232.
Gome forth than, my maidens, an show them some play.
Baron of Braikley (Child's Ballads, VL 194).
A tiger ... by chance hath spied
In some purlieu two gentle fawns at ^ay,
Milton, P. L., iv. 404.
But the instinct of play and the desire for amusement
is not exhausted in childhood.
J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, p. 386.
7. Pun; jest; sport: opposed to earnest: as,
it was done in play. — 8. Gaming; the practice
of contending for amusement, or for wager, as
at dice, cards, billiards, ete. : as, to lose money
a,t play.
They [the gamesters] will change the cards so often that
the old ones will be a considerable advantage by selling
them to coffee-houses, or famUies who love play.
Swift, Directions to Servants (Butler).
What are they to do who love play better than wine?
Sheridan, School for Scandal, iiL 8.
A sportsman keen, he shoots through half the day.
And, skill'd at whist, devotes the night to play.
Crabbe, Works, L 15.
He left his wine and horses and play.
Tennyson, Mand, xix. 7.
9. A dramatic composition ; a literary compo-
sition in which characters are represented by
dialogue and action ; a written tragedy, com-
edy, or other such production intended for rep-
resentation on the stage.
play
And when his jiays come forth, think they can flout them.
With saying he was a year aboat tiiem.
B. Jonton, Volpone, ProL
The first play ol this kind [miracle-play] specified by
name, I belfeTe, is called "St. Catherine," and, according
to Matthew Paris, 'was written by Geofrey, a Norman, after-
wards abbot of Saint Albans.
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 227.
10. Representation or exhibition of a comedy,
tragedy, or other form of drama ; dramatic per-
formance.
The play 'a the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.
Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 633.
Tor a play is still an imitation of nature ; we know we
are to be deceived, and we desire to be so.
Dryden, Essay on Dram. Poesy.
The King went to the play last night (Drury Lane) for
the first time, the Dukes of York and Clarence and a great
suite with him. Greville, Memoirs, Feb. 7, 1821.
I am just come from the play at Bichmond.
Wttlpole, Letters, II. 126.
11. Style or manner of playing; style of per-
forming or executing a play or game ; execu-
tion; performance; skill: as, he made clever
play with the foils.
There were Billiard Booms, where a young man from
the country who prided himself upon his play could get
very prettily handled. W. Bemnt, Fifty Years Ago, p. 136.
12. Manner of acting or dealing, or of treating
another: as, tsirplay; tovUplay.
Good my friends, consider
You are my guests ; do me no foul play, friends.
Sliak., Lear, iiL 7. 31.
13. A country wake. BdlUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
—A play upon wordB, punning; apnn.— Benefit play.
See &e7i«^t.—Cbild'B play. SeecAfld.— Fair play. See
/airi. — In play, in foot-ball and some other games, alive ;
that can be legitimately played ; not dead ; said of the
ball : the opposite of out tl^play. — Out of ^laV; in foot-
ball and some other games, dead : the opposite of in play.
—Play Of colors, an appearance of several prismatic col-
ors in quick succession on the surface of an object, as on
a diamond. — To hold in play, to keep occupied or en-
gaged ; hold the attention of.
I, with two more to help me.
Will luM the toe in :fiay.
Macatday, Horatius.
To make good play, to proceed or take action with
spirit or advantage. =Syn. 4. Activity, exercise. — 6. Pas-
time.
play^t (pla), V. A variant oiplaw^.
playa (pla'ya), ». [Sp., 'shore," strand.'] In
geol., a general name for various desiccated
lake-basins in the Western States. [U. S.]
playable (pla'a-bl), a. liplay^ + -able.'] Ca-
pable of being' played : as, a ball touching the
balk-Une is not playable,
play-acting (pla'ak"tiug), n. Theatrical per-
formance ; stage-playing.
play-actor (pla'ak"tor), n, A stage-player ; an
actor.
If any play-actors or spectators think themselves in-
jured by any censure I have past upon them. Prynne.
play-actorism (pla'ak"tor-izm), n, [< play-ac-
tor + -»STO.] The profession, habits, manner,
style, etc., of a play-actor; a stilted, theatri-
cal, affected style or manner ; histrionism.
Sterling's view of the Pope, as seen in these his gala
days, doing his big playaetorism under God's earnest sky,
was much more substantial to me than bis studies in the
picture galleries. Carlyle, Sterling, ii. 7. IDavies.)
playbill (pla'bU), h. A bill or placard dis-
played as an advertisement of a play, with or
without the parts assigned to the actors", a
bill of the play; a program.
Nicholas found himself poring with the utmost interest
oyer a large playbill hanging outside a minor theatre.
Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, xlviii.
play-book (pla 'buk), m. 1. A book containing
material for amusement or pastime ; a picture-
book or book of games for children.
There was compiled and printed "A Play Book for Chil-
dren, to allure IJiem to read as soon as they can speak
plain. " Asbton, Social Life in Beign of Queen Anne, 1. 12.
2. A Ijook of plays or dramatic compositions.
I would have them [women] well read, but in scripture
and goode bookes, not in playbookes and love-bookes.
Quoted in Tlie Aaantie, LXIV. 522.
That ridiculous passion, which has no being but in JJJw-
&oo^« and romances. Svnftt
play-club (pla'klub), n. In golf, a wooden-
headed club with a full-length handle, used in
driving a ball to a great distance.
play-day (pla'da), n. A day given to pastime
or diversion ; a day exempt from work ; a holi-
day.
Livius Drusus said of himself, he never had any pla/y-
days or days of quiet when he was a boy.
Jar. Taylor, Holy Dying, i. i.
player (pla'6r), n. [< ME. playere, < AS.plegere,
a player (of a wrestler), < plegian, play: see
yl.j One who plays, (a) One who takes part in
4546
sports, pastimes, or amusements of any kind. (6) An Idler ;
a trifler.
Saints in your injuries, devils being offended,
PJaj/cj-s in your housewifery. „., „ ..,,,„
Sftai., Othello, u. 1. 113.
(c) A contestant in a game or match of any kind; also,
one who is in the habit of playing, or who is skilled in, a
particular game : as, a chess-iJ(a8/«r; a bilUard-iiJaj/er.
If two play, then each one covers two divisions, the one
nearest to the wall being the inhand, the other one the
outhand player. Tribune Book of Sports, p. 128.
(d) A dramatic performer ; an actor ; one who enacts char-
acters on the stage.
The propartie and condition of Players is sometymea
to haue greate abundance, and at other times to suffer
greate lacke. . „ ,, ......^ „,o
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 318.
All the world 's a stage.
And all the mea and women memly players.
Shak., As you Like it, ii. 7. 140.
To give a poor soul a fai'thing at that door where you
give a player a shilling is not equal dealing, for this is to
give God the refuse of the wheat. Donne, Sermons, vui.
The jrfaj/er feigns for no other end but to divert or in-
struct you. Steele, Spectator, No. 370.
(e) one who performs on an instrument of music.
Seek out a man who is a cunning player on an harp.
1 Sam. xvi. 16.
Then playeris played, and songsters song.
To gled the mirrie host.
Battle qf Balrinnes (Child's Ballads, VII. 220).
playerly(pla'6r-li),a. i<.pUyer + -ly\'\ Player-
like.
AH which, together with the satyricall Invectiues of
Juuenalband others against this vaiamovA playerlie em-
peror, are a si^cient euidence.
Prynne, Histrio-Mastix, II. u. 1.
playfeert, n. [Also improp. playplwer; < ME.
playfere; < play^ + feerK'i A playfellow.
Pouerte & pacyence are nodes play-feres.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), iii. 45.
Learn what maids have been her companions a,ndplay-
pheers. FleUsher{amd another), Two Noble Kinsmen, Iv. 3.
She was wont to call him her dear son.
Her UVUeplay-feer, and her pretty bun.
Drayton, Moon-Calf.
The minion of delightj f aire from thy birth,
XAoni&play-pheeire,xai the pride of earth.
Heywood, Fah: Maid of the Exchange (Works, ed. Pearson,
[IL 13).
playfellow (pla'feFo), n. A companion in
amusements or sports.
Heart's discontent and sour affliction
Be playfellows to keep you company !
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 2. 301.
Danger's my playfellow;
Since I was a man, 't has been my best companion.
Fletcher, Wife for a Month, v. 3.
playful (pla'fid), a. [< ME.pleiful; <play^ +
-fuW] 1. Full of playj sportive; fronesome;
frisky: as, a playful child.
^^^playftd children just let loose from school.
Goldsmith, Deserted Village, 1. 120.
2. Showing a sportive fancy or sprightly hu-
mor; pleasantly jocular: as, apZaa/wZremark;
a, playful style; playful attentions.
playfully (pla'fm-i), ado. In a playful manner ;
sportively.
playfulness (pla'ful-nes), n. The quality or
state of being playful; sportiveness.
I thuik the word that Cowper was at a loss'f or was play-
fulness, the most delightful ingredient in letters, for Gray
can hardly be said to have had humor in the deeper sense
of the word. Lowell, New Princeton Bev., I. 167.
playgame (pla'gam), n. Sport; child's play; a
play of children.
Liberty alone gives the true relish to their ordinary
Locke.
playgoer (pla'_g6'''6r), n. One who habitually
attends theatrical performances.
I now became a confirmed playgoer.
T. Hook, Gilbert Gumey. {Latham.')
playground (pla'ground), n. A piece of ground
set apart for open-air recreation ;_ especially,
such a piece of ground connected with a school,
etc.
playhouse (pla'hous), n. [< ME. *pla/ylious, <
AS. pleglms, a theater, < plega, play, + lius,
house.] A house appropriated to dramatic
performances ; a theater.
These are the youths that thunder at a playlumse.
Shak., Hen. VIII., v. 4. 64.
Is your playhouse an inn, a gentleman can not see you
without crumpling his taffeta cloak?
Middleton, Spanish Gypsy, ii 1.
His lordship's avocations as a statesman prevented him
from attending the playlumse very often.
Thackeray, Pendennls, xiv
playing-card (pla'ing-kard), n. One of a pack
of cards used for playing %ames ; especially,
one of a set composed of fifty-two cards, of four
suits — diamonds, hearts, spades, and clubs.
plea
playing-passage (pla'ing-pas''aj), n. The gal.
lery of tne bower-bird. See cut under lower-
bird.
The Bower-birds, by tastefully ornamenting theh^pfau.
ing-passages with gayly-colored objects, . . . offer addi.
tional evidence that they possess a sense of beauty.
Darwin, Descent of Man, 1. 61.
playless (pla'les), a. [< play^ + -Uss.] With-
out play; not playing. Coleridge. [Rare.]
play-lomet, »■ [ME. , < play, exercise, as sword-
play, + lome, implement : see iiooml.] A wear
pon.
Go reche me my ptaylome.
And I salle go to iiym sone ;
Hym were better hafe bene at Borne,
So ever mote I thryfe !
Perceval, 2013. (HaUiweU.)
play-maker (pla'ma"k6r), n. A writer of plays.
play-maret, n. Same as IwVby-lwrse, 1.
This exhibition, the play-mare of Scotland, stood high
among holyday gambols. It must be carefully separated
from the wooden chargers of our nurseries. It gives rise
to Hamlet's ejaculation—
"But oh, but oh, the hobby-horse is forgot!"
Scott, Abbot, xiv., note.
playmate (pla'mat), n. A playfellow; a com-
panion in play or amusement.
Patience, discreetnesse, and benignitie, . . .
These be the lovely playmates of pure veritie.
Dr. H. More, Psychathanasia, III. iii. 58,
Nature does not like to be observed, and likes that we
should be her fools and playmates. Emerson, Experience.
playnet. A Middle English form otplainX and
plaint.
playntet, ii. «A Middle English form otplmnt.
playock (pla'ok), n. [< play^ + -ochj A play-
thing; a toy. [Scotch.]
play-pleasuret (pla'plezMur), n. Idle amuse-
ment; mock pleasure; pretended pleasure.
[Rare.]
He taketh a kind of play-pleasure in looking upon the
fortunes of others. Bacon, Envy (ed. 1887).
play-right (pla'rit), n. The proprietary right
of the author of a dramatic or musical eompo-
sition to its exclusive production or perform-
ance, as distinguished from the right to multi-
ply copies by printing. See stage-right.
playset, »t- An obsolete form of jjtoice.
playsome (pla'sum), a. [< playl + some.]
Playful; wanton.
All pleasant folk, well-minded, malicious, aniptaytorM.
Shelton, tr. of Don Quixote, iii. 3. (Lmiam.)
playsomeness (pla'snm-nes), n. The quality
of being playsome; playfulness; wantonness;
sportiveness.
playstowt (pla'sto), n. [Also pleystow, eov-
tu-ptly plestor ; < ME. *pleystow, < AS. plegstow,
a place for play, a wrestling-plaee, gymna-
sium, palestra, (.plega, play, -I- stow, place.] A
wrestlmg-place. [Prov. Eng.]
playtet, n. An obsolete form ot plait.
playtent, v. t. To plait; fold.
plaything (pla'thing), n. A toy ; anything that
serves to amuse.
A child knows his nurse, and by degrees tTue plaiytUngs
of a little more advanced age. Lockt.
playtime (pla'tlm), n. Time for playing; time
devoted to or set aside for amusement.
Upon festivals and playtimes they should exercise them-
selves in the fields by riding, leaping, fencing, mustering,
and training. Cowley, The School.
plasTWright (pla'rit), n. A writer or adapter of
plays for the stage.
Nor is it without reluctance that we name him [Grill-
parzer] under this head of playwrigJOs, and not under that
of dramatists, which he aspires to.
Carlyle, German Playwrights.
play-writer (pla'n^tfer), n. One who writes
Slays; a dramatist.
. aza (pia'za), m. [Bp.,=It.piagza=F. place,
> E. place: see place.] A public square or
open space surrounded by houses in a Spanish
or Spanish-American town or city; a market-
place in such a town: as, the Flasa of San
Francisco.
Overlooking the Plana, . . . yon hod before you, across
the midst of the open space, the Parker Hou^e, famous as
the first of Californian hotels.
J. W. Palmer, The New and the Old, p. 70.
plet, n. A Mid(Jle English form oiplea.
plea (pie), n. [< ME. plee, pie, play, plait, <
OP. plait, plaid, plat, play, plet, plee, f- i^tow
= "Px. plait, plag = Sip.pleito z= Fg. pleito,preito
= It. piatOfiML.plaeitum (also eontt.jylactuin,
placdwm, and, after Rom., plaitum), a decree,
sentence, suit, plea, etc., L. an opinion, deter-
mination, prescription, order, lit. 'that which
is pleasing,' 'pleasure,' neut. of pladttis, PP-
of placere, please : see please, and cf . j)tet*»
plea
Hence plead, ».] 1. In law : (a) A snit or ac-
tion ; tne presentation of a cause of action to the
court. Pleas were formerly distinguished as pleag qf the
araum, or public prosecutions, usually in criminal cases,
and camrtum plea^^ or suits between subjects or common-
ers in civil controversies, whence this name was given to
a court for such actions, the original of which was held
in an outer court of the lower of London, while the King's
Bench was held in an Inner court. Davit, Law in Sbak.
(6) In a general sense, that which is urged by
or on behalf of a Utigant, in support of his claim
or defense ; the contention of either party, (c)
Specifically, in modern practice: (1) At com-
mon law, a document (or in some inferior courts
an oral statement) on the defendant's part, de-
nying the allegations of the plaintiffs declara-
tion, or alleging new matter (that is, matter
not shown by the plaintiff's pleading) as cause
why the action should not be maintained. (2)
In equity, a document alleging new matter as a
cause why the defendant should not be required
to answer the complainant's bill, (d) In Scots
law, a short and concise note of the grounds on
which the action or defense is to be maintained,
without argiiment. — 2. That which is alleged
in support, justifi.cation, or defense; an urgent
argument; a reason; a pleading; an excuse;
an apology: as, a, plea for the reduction of tax-
ation; a jjfea for rationalism.
And thus I leave it as a declared truth that neither the
feare of sectf^ no, nor rebellion, can be a fit plea to stay
ref oi-mation. Hilton, Church-Government, L 7.
Hast thou no other plea for thy self but that thy sins
were fatal ? Stulingfleet, Sermons, I. ii.
Nor is it possible to urge in defense of this act of James
those pUa» by which many arbitrary acts of the Stuarts
have been vindicated or excused.
Maca/ulay, Hist. Eng., vii.
8. Pretext; pretense.
The Spaniards subdued the Indians under ^a of con-
verting them to Christianity.
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 178.
The invasion of private property under the doctrinaire's
flea of the general good. N. A. Rev., CXLin. 295.
4t. Proposition; proposal.
And yet shall 1 make to yow a feire plee : com with me
to Bredigan, where the Icynge Arthur me abideth, and do
hym homage, as the barouns seyen that ye owe for to do,
and I shall yelde yow the casteU all quyte.
Merlin (E. £. T. S.), il 365.
5t. A dispute or controversy; a quarrel.
Make a plee betwjrx glotony and thy pursse, Nevyrthe-
lesse be ware to which of thise two thow be advocate^ or
what sentens thou geue betwyx them, for glotony hath ef-
f ectualle wytnes.
PoliUeal Poems, etc. (ed. Fumivall), p. 30.
And wow but they were lovers dear.
And ioved f u' constantUe ;
But aye the mair when they fell out^
The sairer was their J72ea.
Taung Benjie (Child's Ballads, IL 300).
Court of Common Fleas. See court.— Declinatory,
dilatory, equitable plea. See the adj ectives.— Double
plea, in hw, a plea in which the defendant alleges two
aiSerent matters in bar of the action.— Foreign plea,
(a) In old Eng. law, a plea in either a civil or a criminal
case that the matter arose or the prisoner was taken in
another county than that where it is sought to try him.
and therefore that the court or judge of the latter place
has no jurisdiction of the case. It was one kind of plea
to the jurisdiction, but distinguished from other kinds by
the fact that it resulted in removing the cause. (&) An-
other litigation elsewhere, on the same subjeotj and be-
tween the same parties, or between the creditor and a
third party sought to be held for the same debt. When
used in tms sense it is commonly in reference to the ques-
tion whether arrest in one action is a satisfaction or bar
to the other.— Issuable, non-issuable, etc., plea. See
the adjectives.- Flea in abatement, plea In avoid-
ance, plea In bar, etc. See ahaiemerA, etc.— Flea of au-
terf ois acquit, of auterf ois attaint, of auterf ois con-
vict, pleas in criminal cases, that the accused has been
already acquitted, attainted, or convicted, as the case may
be, on a former trial for the same offense, the object of
which is to invoke the protection of the rule in law that a
man cannot be twice put in jeopardy for the same cause.—
Flea of non-claim. See rum-daim Flea of panel, in
Scotland, the plea of guilty or of not guilty.— Flea of pa/-
role demurrer. Same as age-prayer.— Yi&z. of preg-
nancy. See yreffnancj;.— Fleas of the crown, public
prosecution in criminal cases ; hence, the body of English
criminal law.— Flea to the jurisdiction. See jurisdic-
Uon Special plea, a plea which admits the truth of the
declaration, but alleges special or new matter in avoid-
ance. =Syn. 1. Argument, Plea. See argument.— %. Bx-
euse, etc. See apology.
pleach (pleoh), v. t. [< ME. plechen, < OF.
plescier, plessier, plesser, also plaissier, plassier,
plash, plait: see plash^, of which pleach is a
doublet.] 1. To unite (the branches of shrubs,
vines, etc. ) by plaiting, weaving, or braiding to-
gether; plash; mingle.
Bende as a bowe, or vynes that men pleche.
And cleme it, mose it, bynde it softe abonte.
PttUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 76.
Round thee blow, ae\i-pleachei deep.
Bramble roses, faint and pale,
And long purples of the dale.
Tennyson, A Dirge.
4547
Seeing I have sworn by the pale temples' band
And poppied hair of gold Persephone,
Sad-tressed and pieocAed low down about her brows.
A. C. Sminbume, At Elensis.
2. To form by intermingling or interweaving.
The prince and Count Claudio, walking in a thick-
pleachea alley in mine orchard, were thus much over-
heard. Shak., Much Ado, i. 2. 10.
Plundered vines, teeming exhaustless, pleaeh'd
New growth. Keats, Endymion, ill.
8. To fold, as the arms.
Wouldst thou be wlndow'd in great Kome and see
Thy master thus with pleaeh'd arms, bending down
His corrigible ueclc, his face subdued
To penetrative shame?, Shak., A. and C, iv. 14. 73.
[Obsolete or archaic in all uses.]
pleacher (ple'cher), n. One who pleaches.
The topiarius, or pleaclur, was kept actively at work
trimming the hedges and trellis walks.
Portfolio, No. 240, p. 231.
plead (pled), v. ; pret. and pp. pleaded, rarely
pled, plead (pled), ppr. pleading. [< ME. ple-
den, pleten, plaidien (?), < OF. plaider, pleidier,
F. plaider (> G. plddiren) = Pr. plaid^ar, plai-
deiar, playegar, plaegar — Sp. pleitear = Pg.
pleitear = U.piateggiare, piatire,TaleaA, offer a
plea, <^tej<, a plea: seeplea.'] 1. intrans. 1.
In law, to present an answer to the declaration
or complamt of a plaintiff, or the charge of a
prosecutor; deny the plaintiff's declaration or
complaint, or allege facts relied on as showing
that he ought not to recover in the suit. The
plaintiff is said to declare, complain, or allege; the defen-
dant pleads to his complaint or declaration. The crown
or the state prosecutes an offender, and the offender
pleads guilty or not guilty, confessing or denying the
charge.
Be ye noght ware how false Polyphete
Is now aboute ef tsones for to plete
And brynge on yow advocacies newe?
Chaucer, Troilns, ii. 1468.
3. To urge a plea, an argument, or an excuse
for or against a claim, or in support, justifica-
tion, extenuation, etc.; endeavor to persuade
by argument or supplication ; urge reasons or
use argument : as, to plead with a judge for a
criminal or in his favor ; to plead with a wrong-
doer, urging him to reform.
A ! lorde, a-yeenst the wee woie natpletfe.
For as thou wouledyst, hit is, and was.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Fnrnivall), p. 168.
I will plead against it with my life.
Shah, M. for M., iv. 2. 192.
The drooping child who prays in vain to live^
And pleads for help its parent cannot give.
O. W. Holmes, Ded. of Pittsfleld Cemetery.
3f . To sue ; make application ; enter a plea or
an argument.
If a Woman can prove her Husband to have been thrice
drunk, by the ancient Laws of Spain she Toay plead tor a
Divorce from him. HoweU, Letters, iL 54.
4. To argue or prosecute causes ; contend.
Whan shal your eaxsed pletyr^e have an ende?
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, L 495.
There do the Advocats and Civilians pleade, and dis-
cusse matters of controvercie. Coryaf, C!rudities, I. 31.
II. trans. 1. To discuss, defend, and attempt
to maintain by arguments or reasons offered to
the person or tribunal that has the power of
determining; argue: as, to plead a cause before
a court or jury. — 2. To urge or allege in ex-
tenuation, justification, or defense ; adduce in
proof, support, or vindication : as, to plead pov-
erty as an excuse for stealing.
What plead you to your father's accusation?
Beau, and FL, Laws of Candy, v. 1.
But who are we to make complaint.
Or dare to plead, in times like these,
The weakness of our love of ease?
Whittier, Thy Will be Done.
3. To set forth in a plea or defense ; interpose
a plea of: as, to plead a statute of limitations.
I . . . humbly crave pardon at adventure, having no-
thing that I can think of to pleoid.
If. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 91.
The punishment for this, by pleading benefit of clergy,
which of course was always done, was reduced to a very
minimum — something amounting to the supposed burn-
ing of the hand with a barely warm or cold iron.
AsMon, Social Life in Keign of Queen Anne, IL 196.
pleadable (pie 'da -bl),o. ^< plead + -able.']
Capable of being pleaded; capable of being al-
leged in proof, defense, or vindication: as, a
right or privilege pleadable at law.
Nor bargaine or sale that he [an excommunicate] maketh
is auaileable in law, neither anie of his acts whatsoever
pleadable, whereby he liueth as an outlaw.
Bolinshed, Descrip. of England, ii. 16.
Pleadable brie&t, in Scots law, precepts directed to the
sheriffs, who thereupon cite parties, and hear and deter-
mine.
pleader (ple'der), n. [< ME. pledere, pletere,
pletour, plaidur, < OP. plaideur, a pleader, < plai-
pleasance
(Jier, plead: seeplead.'] 1. One who pleads; one
who presents pleas for or against a claim, alle-
gation, etc. ; technically, a lawyer who pleads
a cause or argues in a court of gustice (the ori-
ginal meaning of the term), or who drafts, pre-
pares, or devises pleadings.
The thridde buffet signifieth these false pletours, men of
lawe, that sellen and a-peire theire neyghbours be-hinde
here bakke for couetise and envye.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ill. 434.
So fair a pleader any cause may gain.
Dryden, Aurengzebe, ill. 1.
2. The party whose pleading is under consid-
eration.—special pleader, one of a class of the Eng-
lish bar, whose business consists in giving opinions, and
especially in drawing special and difficult pleadings and
other documents. In the days of technical common-law
procedure, when the statement of the cause of action was
presented in different counts varying as to details so as
to cover every anticipated variation of circumstances, the
function of the special pleader was important to the Eng-
lish practitioner, whether in preparing documents or in
detecting defects in those of the adversaiy.
pleading (ple'ding), n. [< ME. pledyng, pier
tyng; verbal n. ot plead, ».] 1. The act of ad-
vocating any cause ; specifically, the act or prac-
tice of advocating clients' causes in courts of
law.
The lawyer is judged by the virtue of Tils pleading, and
not by issue of the cause.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, iL 189.
I fling my heart into your lap
Without a word otpleadvng.
Whittier, Among the Hills.
3. In law : (a) The document (or in some in-
ferior courts an oral statement) formally set-
ting forth the cause of action or the defense of a
party. The objects of pleading are to inform the adverse
party what questions he must be prepared to meet at the
trial ; to inform the court what questions are to be de-
termined ; and to preserve a record which, with the ver-
dict or judgment^ shall show what matters are not after-
ward to be drawn in question. The term pleadings is ap-
plied to the documents on either side, whether a declara-
tion, complaint, or bill with demurrer, or a declaration with
plea, etc., or a bill or complaint with plea or answer, etc.,
which form the issue on which it is proposed to try the
cause. See issue, 10. (6) The formal allegation on
the record of that which is to be relied on as
the support of the party's case in evidence, (c)
The rules and usages of framing such docu-
ments, and of the sufficiency of their contents ;
the art of drawing pleadings, (d) pi. (1) The
written allegations made in alternate series by
the plaintiff and the defendant of their respec-
tive grounds of action and defense, terminat-
ing in propositions distinctly affirmed on one
side and denied on the other, called the issue.
Heard. (2) In a more limited sense, only those
allegations or altercations which are subse-
quent to the count or declaration. Gould. —
Code pleading, color in pleadlngt, oral pleading.
See code, color, oral. — Fleading over going on to re-
spond by pleading, after a previous pleading has been
adjudged insufficient, or has been withdrawn. — Special
pleading, (o) The allegation of special or new matter, as
aistingnished from a direct denial of matter previously
alleged on the other side. (&) The science of pleading,
which, until the English Common-law Procedure Act, in
1852, constituted a distinct branch of the law, having the
merit of developing the points in controversy with great
precision. Its strictness and subtlety^ were frequently a
subject of complaint, and one of the objects of the act was
to relax and simplify its rules, (c) In popular use, the
specious but unsound or unfair argumentation of one
whose aim is victory rather than truth.
Not one of these [medieval wars] was simply a war of
aggression, . . . except perhaps the Norman Conquest;
and we aU know what an amount of special pleading was
thought necessary to justify that.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 217.
pleadingly (ple'ding-U), adv. In a pleading
manner; by supplication.
pleading-place (ple'ding-plas), n. A court of
justice. Cowley, Pindaric Odes, xiii. 5. [Kare.]
pleasablet (ple'za-bl), a, [< please + -able."]
Capable of being pleased.
I love not to have to do with men which be neither
grateful nor pleasable.
Northumberland, quoted in E. W. Dixon's Hist. Church
[of Eng., XX., note.
pleasance (plez'ans), n. [Early mod. E. also
pleasaunce; < ME. plesanee, plesaunce, pleas-
aunee, < OF. plaisance, F. plaisance = Pr. pla-
eensa = It. piacema, pleasure, < LL. placentia,
suavity, courteousness, lit. 'pleasingness,'< L.
placen(t-)s, pleasing, dear: see pleasant.] 1.
Pleasant manners; agreeable behavior; com-
plaisance.
Wrapped under humble chere, . . .
VndeT plesaunce, and under bisy peyne.
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, L 601.
2. Pleasure; satisfaction; enjoyment; delight.
He beholdethe in alle whiche of hem is most to his
plesanee, and to hire anon he sendethe or castethe a Eyng
fro his 'Fyagre. Mandeville, Travels, p. 39.
pleasance
Of love I seke nofhir ptetarice, ne ease,
Nor grete desire, nor righte grete affiance.
Politieai Poems, etc. (ecL i^mivallX p 62.
The nymphs
With pleasance hiugh to see the satyrs play.
Oreene, Orlando Forioao.
When my passion seeks
Pleaaamse m love-sigh&
Tennyson, LiUlan.
It was a pageant befitting a young and magnificent
chiel, in the freshness anipleamnce of his years.
Irving, Moorish Chronicles, p. 18.
3. Pleasure; will.
Doth ^ourplesaumiei I wol your lust obeye.
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 602.
Ser, if it he your will and your pleaeaunce.
Her am 1 come to offer my seruice
To your lordshippe, right as ye list to devise.
Qenerydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 654.
4. A garden, especially a pleasure-garden, or
part of a garden attached to a mansion but se-
cluded or screened by trees, shrubs, and close
The window . . . commanded a delightful view of what
was called the Pleasance — a s^ace of ground enclosed and
decorated with arches, trophies, statues, fountains, and
other architectural monuments, which formed one access
from the castle itself into the garden.
Scott, Kenilworth, xxvi.
Meanwiiile the party had broken up, and wandered
away by twos and threes, among trim gardens, and pleas-
amices, and clipped yew-walks. Kingsley, Westward Ho.
5. A kind of lawn or gauze in use in the fif-
teenth and sixteenth centuries, in one instance
at least it is mentioned as used for a napkin. It was
sometimes black.
Moreover there is j. kome in to ISnglond a knyght out
of Spayne, with a kercheff oi^esaunce i wrapped aboute
hys arme ; the wyoh knyght wyl renne a cours wyth a
sharpe spere for his sovereyn lady sake.
Paston Letters, I. 41.
Over their garmentea were vochettes of pleasauntes,
rouled with cryraosyne velvet, and set with letters of gold
like cairettes, their heades rouled iu pleasauntes and typ-
pers lyke the Egipcians.
HaU, Henry VIIL, f. 7. (HaSiwea.)
[Archaic in all senses.]
Kerchief of pleasancet. See kerchi^.
pleasancyt (plez'an-si), ». [As pleasance (see
-cj).] Pleasantness.
pleasant (plez'ant), a. and n. [Early mod. E.
also pleasatmt;"< WE. *plesant,pleasaund,< OF,
pleisant, plesant,plaisant, F. plaisant = It. pia-
eente,piagente,<. L.ptoceji(<-)s, pleasing, charm-
ing, dear, ppr. of placere, please : see please.'^
1. a. 1. Pleasing; delightful; agreeable; grate-
ful to the mind or to the senses.
The bocher sweet, \Aie]^easant flounder thin.
J, Dennys (Arbor's Eng. Garner, 1. 176).
How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell
together in unity ! Pa. czxiuii. 1.
This summer morning makes vs couetous
To take the profit of the pleasant aire.
Heywood, If you Know not Me, U.
This latter [Lord Weston] goes to France, Savoy, Ven-
ice, and so returns by Florence— a pleasant Journey, for
he carrieth Presents with him from King and Queen.
Howell, Letters, I. v. 88.
the pleasant savoury smell
So qnicken'd appetite that I, methoughtj
Comd not but taste. llUtan, P. L., r. 84.
Apleasant spot in spring, where first the wren
Was heard to chatter.
Bryant, Little People of the Snow.
2. Merry; lively; cheerful; gay.
'Tis merry.
And meant to make ye pleasant, and not weary.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, Prol.
Nay, then, I'm heartily pleasant, and as merry
As one that owes no malice.
Middleton, More Dissemblers besides Women, iii. 2.
Happy who in his verse can gently steer
From grave to light, from pleasant to severe.
Dryden and Soames, tr. of Boileau's Art of Poetry, L 76.
3. Jocular; witty; facetious.
They all agreed ; so, turning all to game
And pleasaunt bord, they past forth on their way.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. iv. 13.
It does become yon well to make us merry :
I have heard often of your pleasant vein.
Beau, and PL, Captain, iiL 3.
Can a ghost laugh . . . when you are o^o^anj with him?
LamA, New-Year's Eve.
=Syn. 1. Pleasant, Pleasing, Agreeable, Congenial, gratify-
ing, acceptable, welcome. Pleasing is the strongest, and
agreeable the weakest of the first four words. Pleasant
may be, and generally is, applied to things in the con-
crete: as, pleasant weather. Pleasing applies generally
to things not physical : as, a pleasant face ; a pleadng
aspect, variety. Pleasant suggests the effect produced,
pleasing the power of producing it; hence we may say
a pleasant or a pleasing variety. Pleasing must be objec-
tive, pleasant may be subjective : as, he was in a pleasant
mood. Agreeable and congenial are used of social qualities
and relations, but the latter goes deeper, expressing a
natural suitableness, on the part of a person or thing, to
the tastes, habits, temperament, or passing mood of the
person concerned.
4548
It was worth while to hear the croaking and hollow tones
of the old lady, and the pleasant voice of Phcebe, mingling
in one twisted thread of talk.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, v.
Sallies of wit and quick replies are very pleasing in con-
versation. Johnson.
Politeness and good breeding are equally necessary to
make you welcome and agreeable in conversation and com-
mon life. Chesterjield, Letters.
The natural and congenial conversations of men of let-
ters and of artists must be those which are associated with
their pursuits.
/. D'Isradi, Lit. Char, of Men of Genius, p. 147.
Il.t n. A humorist; adroU; a jester; a buf-
foon.
They bestow their silver on courtesans, pleasants, and
flatterers. HoiZond, tr. of Plutarch, p. 169. (mcycDict.)
pleasantly (plez'ant-li), adv. 1. In a pleasant
manner, (a) So as to please or gratify the senses or the
mind.
It standeth very pleasantly in a clif t betweene two hilles.
Hakluyl's Voyages, II. 104.
All these things were carried so pleasantly as within a
weeke they became Masters, making it their delight to
heare the trees thunder as they fell.
Quoted in Capt. John Snath's Works, L 197.
(5) Merrily ; cheerfully ; happily.
It is impossible to live pleasantly without living wisely,
and well, and justly; and it is impossible to live wisely,
and wdl, and justly without livhig pleasantly.
Quoted in W. Wallace's Epicureanism, p. 15S.
2t. Jestinglv; jocularly.
This embellishment carries an odd appearance, and has
occasioned strangers sometimes to ask us pleasantly,
"Whether we fastened our walls with tenpenny nails?
OUbert White, Nat. Hist, of Selborne, letter iv.
pleasantness (plez'ant-nes), m. 1. Pleasing or
agreeable character or quality; the quality of
being pleasing or of affoi'ding pleasure.
Her wa^ are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are
peace. Prov. iii. 17.
All the way from the white Promontory to this Plain is
exceeding Bocky ; but here the pleasantness of the Boad
makes you amends for the former labour.
Maundrell, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 53.
Bewitched with the pleasantnesse of the fruit to the taste
and sight. Purchae, Pilgrimage, p. 25.
In all satisfaction of desire there is pleasure, and thus
pleasantnessva an object isanecessary incident of its being
good. T. H. Oreen, Prolegomena to Ethics, § 171.
2. Vivacity; gaiety.
It was refreshing, but composed, like the pleaisaramms
of youth tempered with the gravity of age. South.
3t. Jocularity; pleasantry.
pleasantry (plez'an-tri), n,; pi. pleasantries
(-triz). [< 'P.plaisanterie = l\,.piaeenteria,pia-
genteria, pleasantry; as pleasant + -ry.] 1.
Good humor; cheerfulness; sprightliness.
The harshness of reasoning is not a little softened and
smoothed by the iufusions of mirth and pleasantry.
Addison.
But let us leave the serious reflections, and converse
with our UBual pleasantry,
B. FranMin, Autobiography, p. 295.
2. Humorousness ; jocularity; witticism; rail-
lery; wit.
He saw my distress, and, with a kind of benevolient
pleasantry, asked me if I would let him guess any more.
Miss Bumey, Evelina, Ixii
The harmless play ot pleasantry and mirth.
Cowper, Epistle to J. Hill.
The keen observation and ironical pleasantry of a finish-
ed man of the world. JKaeaiday.
3. A sprightly or humorous saying; a jest.
The grave abound in pleasantries, the dull in repartees
and points of wit. Addison.
4. A laughable trick; a prank; a caper: as,
the pleasantries ot -monkeys. Addison. {Worces-
ter.)=syn. 2. Sporl^ fun, facetionsness, jocoseness, drol-
lery.
pleasant-spirited (plez'ant-spir''i-ted), a. Hav-
ing a pleasant spirit; cfieerful; merry.
D. Pedro. Apleasant-aiirited lady.
Leon. There 's little of the melancholy element in her.
Shak., Much Ado, ii. 1. 355.
pleasant-tongued (plez'ant-tungd), o. Having
pleasing speech.
pleasauncet, n. An obsolete form of pleasance.
please (plez), v.; pret. and pp. pleased, ppr.
pleasing. [< WE.plesen, < OF. plesir, plaisir,
also plere, pleire, P. plaire = Pr. placer = Sp.
placer = Pg. pracer = It. piacere, piagere, < L.
placere, please, be agreeable, welcome, or ac-
ceptable, satisfy, impers.^facei (with dat. milii,
etc.), it pleases, suits (me, etc.), it is (my) opin-
ion or resolve, etc. From the L. placere are
also ult. E. pleasant, pleasance, pleasure, plea,
plead, complacent, complaisant, placid, placate,
etc. In constructions and flevelopment please
is similar to lilce^, v.'] I. trans. 1. To be agree-
able to; suit; satisfy; seem good to: used im-
pleaser
personally, and f oDowed by an object, originally
dative, of the person : same as likf^, I., 1. jy,
impersonal construction with the indirect object of the
person has given way in more familiar use to a personal
construction, the original dative ymi, in if you phase, tor
example, being now taken as the subject. (See II., i.) TJig
word in this sense was formerly common in polite request,
may it please you, or if it please you, or, elliptically, pkase
you : a mode of speech still common in addressing a judge
or persons of rank or position : as, may it please the court -
if it please your honor; please your worship; etc. Com-
pare II., 1.
It pleased the Father that in him should all f nlness dwell
, . CoLH9.
Please yon, lords.
In sight of both our battles we may meet,
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. L 173.
The toils and troubles.
All that is burthenous in authority.
Please you lay it on me.
Middleton (and another). Mayor of Queenborough, L 1.
It is very likely, an 't please your Worship, that I shonld
bullock him ; I have marks enow about my body to show
of his cruelty to me. Fielding, Tom Jones, U. 6.
2. To excite agreeable sensations or emotions
in; impart satisfaction, gratification, pleasure,
or delight to; gratify; content.
The either suster vndirstode hym wele, and gretly was
plesed with his doctryne. Merlin (E. E. T. a.), i. 6.
I know a Trout taken with a fljr of your own making will
please you better than twenty with one of mine.
Cotton, in Walton's Angler, ii. 247.
What next I bring shaU please . . .
Thy wish exactly to thy heart's desire.
Milton, P. L., via. 449.
Pleaid in Mind, he calls a Chair,
Adjusts, and combs, and courts the Fair.
Congreve, An Impossible Thing,
Tis certainly very commendable in the King, who ^eiues
himself in Planting and Pruning the Trees with his own
Hand, to make use of no other Trees but what the Neigli.
bouring Woods afford. Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 209.
If it were not to please you, I see no necessity of our
parting. Dryden, Mock Astrologer, iv.
Pleased with his daily task, or, if not pleased,
Contented. Wordsworth, Prelude, vl
Please the pigs. Seep^i.— To be pleased (followed
by an infinitive with to), (a) To be willing or weUincliiied.
Here also they are pleased to shew a stone, whicli, the;
say, spoke on that question.
Pococke, Description of the Easl^ II. L 9.
Many of our most skillful painters . . . werepteaeed to
recommend this author to me,
Dryden, Parallel of Poetry and Painting.
(&) To think fit or have the complaisance or kindness;
condescend ; be good enough ; be so kind as : an expres*
fiion of courtesy, often used ironically.
They arepleas'd, I hear.
To censure me extremely for my pleasures.
Fletcher, Valentinian, i. 8.
To be pleased In, to take pleasure in.
And lo a voice from heaven, saying. This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. Mat iii. 17.
= Sjm. 2. To rejoice, gladden, make glad.
n. intrans. 1. To like; choose; think fit: as,
do as you please.
Their troops we can expel with ease.
Who vanquish only when we please.
Dryden, Fair Stranger,! 12.
The Aga sent for my servant, and told him I might staj
as long as I pleased, but that I should see nothing more.
Pococke, Description of the East, L 119,
Since 1 last attended your Lordship here, I summoned
my Thoughts to Counsel, and canvassed to and fro within
myself the Business you jjfeoseif to impart to me, forgoing
upon the King's Service into Italy,
HoweU, Letter^ L iv, 26.
Spirits, freed from mortal laws, with ease
' Assume what sexes and what shapes they pUase.
Pope,R.ottheL.,iei.
|In this use common in polite request : as, please let me
pass; especially in the phrase if you please (see I., 1), Sy
ellipsis, in familiar use, please; as, let me pass, pleise.]
2. To give pleasure ; win approval.
For we that live to please must please to live.
Johnson, ItoL on Opening of Drury Lane Theatre.
Let her be comprehended in the frame
01 these illusions, or they pleaae no more.
Wordsworth, Sonnets^ iiL 8.
pleasedly (ple'zed-li), adv. In a pleased man-
ner; with pleasure or satisfaction.
Surely, he that would be pleasedly innocent must re-
frain from the tast of offence. Feltham, flesolves, it 41
He , . . that can look upon another man'slands evenly
and pleasedly, as if they were his own.
Jer. Taylor, Holy Dying, L 3,
pleasemant, »• [< please, v., and obj. mm.]
An officious or servile person who courts favor;
a piekthank.
Some carry-tale, some please-man, some slight zany, , . •
Told our intents before. Shak., L, L. L., v. 2. 463.
pleaser (ple'zer), n.
fies.
One who pleases or grati-
No man was more & pleaser of all men, to whom he (St
Paul] became all honest things, that he might gain some.
Jer. Taylor (?), Artif. Handsomeness, p, 190.
pleasing
pleasing (ple'zing), n. [< ME. plesynge; verbal
n. otplease,v.2 1. Pleasure given or afforded;
pleasurable or pleasure-giving quality; gratifi-
cation; charm.
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the lascivious pleaning of a lute.
Shak., Eich. III., i. 1. 13.
2. Satisfaction; approbation.
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleea-
ing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in
the knowledge of God. Col. i. 10.
3t. A matter of pleasure.
Swiche manere necessaries as bee ptesynges
To folk that hany wedded hem with rynges.
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tsde, 1. 613.
pleasing (ple'zing), j). a. [< ME. plesynge; ppr.
ol please, «.] Gtiving pleasure or satisfaction;
agreeable to the senses or to the mind; grati-
fying: as, a jpteosinj; prospect; a j)Zeasin£f reflec-
tion ; pleasing manners.
It were pleeynge to god that he hadde my doughter
spoused. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), il. 226.
I do
Protest my ears were never better fed
With such delightful pleasing harmony.
Shai., Pericles, ii. 5. 28.
I know there is no music in your ears
So pleasing as the groans of men in prison.
Massinger and Meld, Fatal Dowry, i. 2.
To be exempt from the passions with which others are
tormented is the oxHy pleasing solitude.
Steele, Spectator, No. 4.
She formed a picture, not bright enough to dazzle, but
fair enough to interest; not brilliantly striking, but very
delicately 2>Jeasinsf. Charlotte BrmUg, Shirley, xvi.
=Syn. Agreeable, Congenial, etc. See pleasant.
pleasingly (ple'zing-li), adv. In a pleasing
manner; so as to give pleasure.
While all his soul.
With trembling tenderness of hope and fear,
pleasingly pain'd, was all employ'd for her.
Mallet, Amyntor and Theodora, ill.
pleasingness (ple'zing-nes), ». The quality of
being pleasing or of giving pleasure.
Stafford's speech was esteemed full of weight, reason,
and pleasingness; and so affectionate it was that it ob-
tained pity and remorse in the generality.
Wood, Athense Oxon., II. 36.
pleasurable (plezh'ur-a-bl), a. [< pleasure +
-able.'] 1. Pleasing'; giving or capable of giv-
ing pleasure ; gratifying; pleasant.
On the restoration of his Majesty of pleasurable mem-
ory, he hastened to couri^ where he rolled away and shone
AS in his native sphere.
Brooke, Fool of Quality, I. 2. (Dames.)
By feeling is meant any state of consciousness which is
pleasurable or painful.
. J. SuUy, Outlines of PsychoL, p. 449.
2. Pleasure-seeking; capable of receiving plea-
sure. [Rare.]
A person of his pleasurable turn and active spirit could
never have submitted to take long or great pains in at-
taining the qualiflcatiODS he is master of.
Richardsmi, Clarissa Harlowe, I. xii. (JOames.)
I think we are a reasonable, but by no means tujOeasur-
dble people ; and to mend us we must have a dash of the
French and Italian ; yet I don't know how.
Gray, Letters, 1. 126.
pleasurableness (plezh'ur-a-bl-nes), n. The
quality of being pleasurable or of giving plea-
sure: as, the pleasurableness of the benevolent
emotions.
Able to discern the fraud and fained pleasurableness of
the bad. Feltham, Resolves, iL 61.
The Sensations that have been considered have no in-
herent anality of pleasurMeness or painfulness.
Mind, IX. S39.
pleasnrably (plezh'ur-a-bli), adv. In a plea-
surable manner; with pleasure ; with gratifi-
cation of the senses or the mind.
Woe to those that live securely and pleasurably in Zion,
and that trust to the impregnable situation of the City of
Samaria. Bp. HaU, Hard Texts, Amos vi. 1.
pleasurancet, »• Pleasure. Destruction of 7)-oy
(E. E. T. S.), 1. 3471.
pleasure (plezh'ur), n. [Early mod. E. also
pleasur, plesur; "with termination accommo-
dated to the noun suffix -ure (as also in leisure),
< OF. plesir, plaisir, F. plaisir = Pr. plaser =
S^. placer = Pg.prazer = It. piaeere, piagere,
please, inf. used as noun: see please."] l.That
character of a feeling by virtue of which it
gratifies the sentient being that experiences
it, so that there is an impulse to its continu-
ance or renewal. As being a character of a mere
feeling, pleamre is distinguished from tiappiness, which
is a general state of consciousness arising from such an
adaptation of circumstances to desires as to produce a
prevalent sense of satisfaction. According to hedonistic
writers, happiness consists in an excess of pleasure over
pain. Pleasure is measured by its intensity, its duration,
286
4549
the freedom from consequent pain, the number of persons
whom it affect^ etc.
And Salomon saithe, " The harte full of enuie
Of him selfe hath no pleasure nor commoditie."
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 349.
There is & pleasure, sure.
In being mad which none but madmen know.
Dryden, Spanish Friar, ii.
About three quarters of the way up the hill we came to
a level spot where there is a fountain, and every thing
made vei-y convenient for those who come here for their
pleasure. Pococke, Description of the East^ II. L 146.
How shall we define pleasure? It seems obvious to de-
fine it as the kind of feeling which pleases us, which we
like or prefer. H. Sidguiick, Methods of Ethics, p. 114.
3. Sensual gratification ; indulgence of the ap-
petites.— 3. That which pleases or gratifies the
senses or the mind ; that which is delightful or
beautiful.
Wiche Galyes went to the Turke Ambassetj and they
Caryed with them Siches and pleasurs, as clothe of gold
and Crymsyn velvett; and other thyngs mor than I knewe.
Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 18.
0 bonny, bonny was my love,
A pleasure to behold.
James Berries (Child's Ballads, I. 209).
4. A favor; gratification.
Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left Paul
bound. Acts xxiv. 27.
He [Domitian] would have done us some pleasure in
driving away those flies. Coryat, Crudities, 1. 151.
5. WiU; desire; preference, or whatever one
chooses, desires, or wills: as, it is vay pleasure
to remain.
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.
Isa. xlvi. 10.
It is his worship's j>2ea£ure, sir, to bail you.
Middleton (and others). The Widow, ii. 2.
Cannot a man of fashion, for his pleasure, put on, now
and then, his working-day robes of humility, but he must
presently be subject to a beadle's rod of correction?
Dekker and Ford, Sun's Darling, i. 1.
There is a prerogative of God and an acrhitiaiy pleasure
above the letter of his own law.
5»- T. Broume, Beligio Medici, i. 57.
At pleasure, as or whenever one pleases : as, an officer
removable atpleamre.
Here are many Tortoises, and abundance of all sorts of
foules, whose young ones we tooke and eate at our plea,
sure. Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, 1. 107.
But if love be so dear to thee, thou hast a chamber-sted
Which Vulcan purposely contriu'd with aU fit secrecie ;
There sleepe at pleasure. Chapman, Iliad, xiv. 288.
FoBltive pleasure. See positive.— "So take pleasure
in, to have satisfaction or enjoyment in ; regard with ap-
probation or favor.
The Lord taketh pleasure in them that tear him.
Ps, cxlvii. 11.
=Syn. 1. Joy, Delight, etc. (see gladness), satisfaction,
comfort, solace. — 2. Self-indulgence ; luxury, sensuality,
voluptuousness. — 4. Kindness.
pleasure (plezh'ur), v. t. ; pret. and pp. plea-
sured, -ppr. pleasuring, [(.pleasure, ».] To give
pleasure to ; please ; gratify.
I count it one of my greatest afBictions, say, that I can-
not pleasure such an honourable gentleman.
Shak., T. of A., iiL 2. 63.
Silvius doth shew the citty dames brave sights.
And they for that doe pleasure him a nightes.
Timesf Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 90.
I You're in the happiest way t' enrich yourself
And pleasure me. Middleton, Chaste Maid, iii. 3.
Aristides . . . would do no man wrong with pfeiwurini;
his friends ; nor yet would anger them by denying their
requests. JSfarth, tr. of Plutarch, p. 273.
The Birds rural Musick too
Is as melodious and free
As if they sung to pleasure you.
Cowley, The Mistress, Spring.
Tost his ball and flown his kite and roll'd
His hoop, topleasure Edith.
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field.
pleasureful (plezh'ur-ful), a. [< pleasure +
-ful.] Pleasant; agreeable. [Rare.]
This country, for the fruitfulness of the land and the
conveniency of the sea, hath been reputed a very commo-
dious and pleasur^ul country.
Abp. Abbot, Descrip. of the World.
pleasure-ground (plezh'ur-ground), n. Groxmd
ornamented and appropriated to pleasure or
amusement.
On his Tuscan villa he [Pliny] is more difEuse ; the gar-
den makes a considerable part of the description ; and
what was the principal beauty of that pleasure^ound?
Wttlpole, Modem Gardening.
pleasure-house (plezh'ur-hous), n. A house to
which one retires for recreation or pleasure.
1 built my soul a loidly pleasure-hou^.
Wherein at ease for aye to dwelL
Tennyson, Palace of Art.
pleasureless (plezh'ur-les), a. [< pleasure +
-less.'] Devoid of pleasure; without enjoyment
or satisfaction.
He himself was sliding into that pleasureless yielding to
the small solicitations of circumstance which is a com-
plebiscita
moner history of perdition than any single momentous
bargain. George Eliot, Middlemarcb, Ixxix.
pleasurer (plezh'ur-^r), n. A pleasure-seeker.
Let us turn now to another portion of the London popu-
lation; . . . we mean the Sunday pZeofurers.
Dickens, Sketohes, Scenes, ix.
pleasure-train (plezh'ur-tran), ». A railway
excursion-train. [Collbq.]
pleasure-trip (plezh'ur-trip), n. A trip or ex-
cursion for pleasure. "
pleasnristf (plezh'ur-ist), n. [(pleasure + -ist.]
A person devoted to worldly pleasure; a plea-
sure-seeker.
Let intellectual contests exceed the delights wherein
mere pleasurists place their paradise.
Sir T. Broume, Christ Mor., iiL § 23.
pleat, n. and v. See plait.
pleb (pleb), »• [(T'.plebs: seeplebe.] One of
the common people; a plebeian; a low-bom
person.
The muggur [broad-snouted crocodile] is a gross pleb,
and his features stamp him lowborn.
P. Eobinson, Under the Sun, p. 78.
plebe (pleb), n. [< OP. plebe = Sp. Pg. It. pleie,
< h.plebs, the common people: seeplebs.] It.
The common people ; the populace ; plebs ; ple-
beians.
Which . . . wrought such impression in the hearts of
the plebe that in short space they excelled in civility and
government.
Heywood, Apology for Actors (1612). (HattiweU.)
2. A member of the lowest class in the United
States naval and military academies; a fresh-
man. [Slang.]
The pletes of the last fall had passed through squad and
company drill, and the battalion was now proficient in the
most intricate manoeuvre. The Century, XXXvii. 464.
plebeian (plf-be'an), a. and n. [< OP.plebeien,
P. pUbMen, extended with suffix -en, E. -an (cf .
Sy.plebeyo = Pg. plebeo = It. plebeo,plebe^o, ple-
beian), < L. plebeius, of or belonging to the com-
mon people, < plebs, plebes, the common people :
seeplebs.] I. a. 1. Of or pertaining to or ahar-
acteristio of the plebs or common people; vul-
gar.
Distinguishing the senator's garded robe
From &^£beian habit.
Massinger, Believe as you List^ L 2.
Wordsworth . . . confounded ^jZe&eian modes of thought
with rustic forma of plirase, and then atoned for his blun-
der by absconding into a diction more Latinized than that
of any poet of his century.
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 156.
2. Belonging to the lower ranks.
He through the midst unmark'd.
In zhow plebeian angel militant
Of lowest order, pass'd. Milton, P. L., x. 442.
n. n. One of the common people or lower
ranks : first applied to the common people of
ancient Borne, comprising those free citizens
who were not descended from the original or
patrician families. See plebs.
They haue no gentlemen, but euery man is a Plebeian
vntill his merits raise him. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 438.
The word plebeian, m its strict sense, is no more con-
temptuous than the word commoner in England.
Eneyc. Brit., XVII. 526.
plebeianism (ple-be'an-izm), n. [< plebeian +
-ism.] The state or character of being ple-
beian; the conduct or manners of plebeians;
vulgarity.
Thor himself engages in all manner of rough manual
work, scorns no business for its plebeianism. Carlyle.
plebeianize (ple-be'an-iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
plebeianised, ppr. plebeianieing. [< plebeian +
•ize.] To render plebeian or common. Imp.
Diet.
plebicolist (plf-bik'o-list), n. [< L. plebieola,
one who courts' the common people (< plebs, the
common people, + colere, cultivate), + -ist.]
One who courts the favor of the common people ;
a friend of the people; a demagogue. [Rare.]
plebification (pleb''i-fi-ka'shon), n. [< L. plebs,
the common people, + -ficatio{n-), < -fieare,
make : see -fy.] The act of making plebeian
or common ; the act of deteriorating by vulgar-
izing.
Ton begin with the attempt to popularize learning and
philosophy ; but you will end in the plebiflealion of know-
ledge. Coleridge.
What is practically meant by the plebification of opinion,
as a danger to be dreaded, is, when put in its extremest
form, the tyranny of unintelligent or half intelligent mobs.
B. N. Oxenham, Short Studies, p. 127.
plebify (pleb'i-fi), v. t. ; pret. and pp. plebified,
ppr. plebifying. [< L. plebs, the common peo-
ple, + -fieare, make : see -fy.] To make ple-
beian; bring into accord, with plebeian ideals
or methods. Coleridge.
plebiscita, «. Plural of plebisdtum.
plebiscitary
plebiscitary (pleb'i-si-ta-ri), a. [ipleUsdte +
-fl)-^.] Pertaining to or'of the nature of a pleb-
iscite.
The plebiscitary confirmation makeB the reform illusory.
The Ration, May 12, 1870, p. 297.
plebiscite (pleb'i-sit or -set), n. [< 'P. plebiscite
= Sp. Pg. It. plehiseito, < Ij.plebiscitum, a decree
or ordinance of tbe people, < plebs, the people,
-I- sdtwm, a decree, neut. of scitus, pp. of smre,
know: see sdemce.j 1. Same as plebiscitum. —
2. An expression of the will or pleasure of the
whole people in regard to some measure already
decided upon; a vote of the whole people for
the ratification or disapproval of some matter :
chiefly a French usage.
If people by a plebiscite elect a man despot over them, do
they remain free because the despotism was of their own
making? H. Spencer, Man vs. State, p. 14.
Plebiscite we have lately taken, in popular use, from the
French. The word previously belonged, however, to the
language of the civil law. F. Bail, Mod. Eng., p. 310.
plebiscitiuu (pleb-i-si'tum), «.; pi. plebisdta
{-^?i)- U-'-'- see plebiscite.'] A law enacted in
ancient Eome by the lower rank of citizens
meeting in the assembly called the comitia tri-
buta, under the presidency of a tribune or some
other plebeian magistrate ; a decree of the plebs.
At first these decrees Hbound only the plebs, but by a law
generally assigned to 449 B. c, and confirmed by later
legislation (339 and 286 B. c), their effect was extended
to the patricians.
plebityt (pleb'i-ti), TO. [< L. plebita{t-)s, the
rank of a common citizen, < plebs, the common
people: see plebs.] The common people ; the
plebs. Wharton.
plebs (plebz), TO. [L., also less commonly jjfeftes,
in OL. pleps, also plebis, the common people ;
akin to plenas, full, plerigue, many, etc. : see
plenty.] The lower order of citizens in ancient
Rome; the plebeians; hence, in general, the
populace. The member^of this order were originally of
pure Latin blood, but were not among the founders of
Rome ; they were recruited from the ranks of the clients
and of the Latin peoples who had been annexed by Borne ;
while citizens, they did not figure in the three tribes or
in the curiee and gentes of the patricians, and were thus
excluded from the comitia, the senate, and all public,
civil, and religious ofi[ices. They liad all the duties and
burdens of citizens with greatly restricted privileges. Af-
ter the establishment of the republic there took place a
long struggle between the two orders. The plebeians se-
cured the institution of the tribunate, various reforms,
and an increased share In the government; their efforts
culminated when, by the Licinian laws (about 367 B. 0.),
they secured one of the two consulships. The offices of dic-
tator, censor, and pretor were soon opened to them, and
finally, by the Ogulnian law (300 B. 0.), the sacred colleges.
The strife practically ended by the final confirmation of
the extended plebiscitum, about 286 B. c. (See plebisciium.)
Under tlie kings and the republic a plebeian could be raised
to patrician rank only by a lex curiata; Julius Gsesar and
the emperors conferred the distinction by personal de-
cree. Patrician families or individuals sometimes went
over to the plebeian order, for various reasons.
Ceesar, as I stated in another Lecture, divides all the
Continental Celtic tribes into4:he Equites and the Plt^.
Maine, Early Hist of Institutions, p. 132.
Bethink you that you have to deal with plebs.
The commonalty. Browning, King and Book, 1. 153.
pleck (plek), TO. [< ME. pleeJc, plek; a var. of
plack^ A plot of ground. [Prov. Eng.]
For the hours watz so brod & so bigge alee.
Stalled in the fayrest stud the sterrez an-vnder,
Pnidly on a plat playn, plelc alther-f ayrest.
AUUerative Poems (ed. Morris), li. 1379.
plecolepidous (plek-o-lep'i-dus), a. [< G-r. jr^-
Kuv, twine, twist, + '/UTrtf (7^m6-), a scale : see
lepis.] In bot., having the bracts coherent that
form the involucre in the order Compositse.
plecopter (ple-kop'ter), TO. [< Gr. ttmksw, tynae,
twist, -t- irrep&Vj wing, = E. feather.] A pseudo-
neuropterous insect whose wings fold. Also
plecopteran.
Plecoptera (plf-kop'te-ra), n. pi. [NL.: see
plecopter.] In entom., a division of pseudoneu-
ropterous insects, having the reticulated wings
folded in repose, whence the name. The anten-
nse are long, setaceous, and many-jointed, and the jaws
rudimentary. The family Perlidee represents this divi-
sion. In Brauer's classification (1886), it is one of 16 orders
of insects. See cut under Perla.
plecopteran (ple-kop'te-ran), n. [(.plecopter +
-an.] Same a.s'plecopier.
plecopterous (ple-koij'te-rus), a. [< plecopter
+ -ous.] Having reticulated wings which are
folded in repose, as a perlid ; specifically, of or
pertaining to the Plecoptera.
Flecostomus (pl§-kos'to-mus), to. [NIj. (Gro-
novius, 1754), < Gr. wMkclv, twine, twist, + oTdua,
mouth.] A South American genus of oatfishes
of the family Siluridse.
PlecotinSB (plek-o-fi'ne), n.pl. [NL., < Pleeo-
tus + 4niB.] A 'subfamily of Vespertilionidae,
exemplified by the genus Plecotns, having rudi-
4550
mentary nasal appendages or grooves and very
large ears : the eared bats. The genera Pleeotus,
Symtus, Otonycteris, Nyctopldlws, and Antrozom are con-
tained in this group. Also called Plecoti.
plecotine (plek'o-tin), a. Belonging to the Ple-
Plec'otus (ple-ko'tus), «. [NL. (Geoffroy), < Gr.
nUicew, twine, twist, + oig (ur-), ear.] A genus
of eared bats of the family Vespertilionidas and
subfamily Plecotinx, having the incisors and
premolars each two above and three below on
each side, as the long-eared bat of Europe, P.
auritus, and the North American P. macrotis.
Plectellaria (plek-te-la'ri-a), n. pi. [NL., < L.
plectere, plait, twine, twist, + -ell- + -ana.] A
suborder of nassellarians, whose skeleton con-
sists of a simple silicious ring or of a triradiate
framework of spicules, usually furnished with
processes forming simple or branched spicules.
The branches of the latter maybe united into a loose plex-
us, without, however, forming a chambered fenestrated
shell. The skeleton is entirely wanting only in the sim-
plest form. '
plectellarian (plek-te-la'ri-an), a. and to. [<
Plectellaria + -an.] I. a. OJE or pertaining to
the Plectellaria.
II. n. A member of the Plectellaria.
plectile (plek'til), a. [< L. pleotiUs, plaited,
< plectere, plait: see plait.] Woven; plaited.
The crowns and garlands of the Ancients. . . weremade
up after idl the ways of art, compactile, sutile, plectile.
Sir T. Browne, Misc. Tracts, il.
Plectocomia (plek-to-ko'mi-a), TO. [NL. (Mar-
tins and Blume, 1830), so called in allusion to
the slender filaments; < Gr. rfe/cTiif, plaited,
twisted (verbal adj. of nUKziv, plait, twist), +
Kdfii;, hair.] A genus of ratan-palms of the
tribe Lepidocaryese and subtribe Calamese. it is
characterized by an axillary dioecious infiorescence, with
numerous persistent spathes, and the spadix divided into
many very long tail-like branches, every branch sheathed
witli numerous two-ranked closelyimbrioated shell-shaped
secondary spathes, each inclosing a short spike 3 inches
or less long, bearing coriaceous perianths. The 6 spe-
cies are natives of mountains in eastern India and the
Malayan archipelago. They are climbing palms, with
slender or robust, very much prolonged stems. The one-
seeded fieshy fruits are densely covered with overlapping
rough-fringed, almost prickly scales. The large leaves
are pinnate, with narrowly elliptical segments, and the
midrib extended into long whip-like tails, covered be-
neath with exceedingly strong compound claw-like spines,
which take firm liold of branches of trees, and support the
climbing stem, which in P, elon&cUa, the rotang-dahown of
Indian jungles, is said to extend to a length of 600 feet.
plectognath (plek'tog-nath), a. and to. I. a.
Pertaining to the Plectognathi, or having their
characters. Also plectognathic, plectognathous.
II. TO. A member of the Plectognathi.
Plectognathi (plek-tog'na-thi), TO. pi. [NL., <
Gr. TT^/crdf , plaited, twisted, -t- yvASog, jaw.] An
order of physoclistous fishes, with the cranium
normal, the premaxillaries usually eoossified be-
hind with the maxillaries, the dentary eoossi-
fied with the articular and angular bones, and
the lower pharyngeals distinct : so called from
the extensive ankyloses of the jaws. The order
includes the porcupme-fishes, swell-fishes, box-fishes,
globe-fishes, egg-fishes, file-fishes, and related fonns, as
of the families TriacavtMdse, BaXistidae, TriodonUdse, Os-
tradaiiUdse, Tetrodmitidse, Diodontidse, and Molidae.
plectognathic (plek-tog-nath'ik), a. [(.plectog-
nath + -ic] Same as plectognath.
plectognathous (plek-tog'na-thus), a. [(plec-
tognath + -ous.] Same as plectognath.
Plectoptera (plek-top'te-ra), TO. pi. [NL., <
Gr. TcAsKTdc, plaited, twisted, -t- irrepdv, wing,
= E. feather.] In Packard's classification
(^1888), one of 15 orders of insects, correspond-
ing to the pseudoneuropterous family Epheme-
ridsB alone. These had before (in 1885) been
raised to ordinal rank by Brauer, but without
a new name.
plectospondyl (plek-to-spon'dil), a. and to. [<
Gr. ir^icTdg, plaited, twisted, + airdvSv/ujg, aijiov-
6v7j}(, the backbone : see spondyl^ I. a. Hav-
ing some joints of the back-bone eoossified or
ankylosed together, as a fish; having the char-
acters of the Plectospondyli. Also plectospondy-
lous.
II. TO. Any fish of the order Plectospondyli.
Plectospondyli (plek-to-spon'di-li), «, pi.
[NL. : see plectospondyl.] An order of fishes
having a precoracoid arch, a sympleotic but
no coronoid bones, and the anterior vertebrae
co6ssified and connected with the auditory ap-
paratus by a chain of little bones. It contains
the cyprinids, characinids, and gymnonotous
fishes — all of fresh water.
plectospondylous (plek-to-spon'di-lus), a. [<
plectospondyl + -ous.] Same as plectoirpondyl.
plectra, n. Plural of plectrum.
plectrum
Plectranthus (plek-trau'thus), n. [NL. (L'H^-
ritier, 1784), so called in allusion to the spurred
coroUa of many species; < Gr. Tr^icrpov, spni'
(see plectruMi), + avBoc, flower.] A genus of
gamopetalous plants of the order Labiatie,
tribe Odmoideee, and subtribe .Euocimea, char-
acterized by the longer and concave anterior
coroUa-lobe, four perfect stamens, calyx with
five equal or unequal teeth, the posterior tooth
sometimes larger, and this or the corolla often
prolonged below into a spur or sac. nere
are about 80 species, natives of the tropics, especially in
Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, and also in Japan and at
the Cape of Good Hope. They are usually herbs, rarely
tall shrubs, bearing two-lipped flowers with a long tube, in
large or small cymes, which are variously racemed or pan-
icled, and are commonly blue or purple. The name cock-
spur-tlower is sometimes used for the cultivated Bpecies,
which are either tender annuals or herbs and shrubs grown
under glass. P. nudiJUtrus is the Chinese basil, and P.
fematus the omime-root of Madagascar.
plectre (plek'ter), «. [< P. plectre, ( L. plec-
trum, plectrum: see plectrum.] A plectrum.
[Eare.]
He "d strike that lyre adioitly — speech.
Would but a twenty-cubit ^fecfre reach.
Brouming, Sordello.
plectron (plek'tron), TO. Same as plectrum.
Plectropnanes (plek-trof'a-nez), to. [NL.
(Temminek, 1820), < Gr. wTJjKTpov, a cock's spur
(see plectrum), + faivuv, show.] A genus of
M-ingillidiB, so named from the long straight-
ened hind claw or plectrum characteristic of
some of its members; the snow-buntings or
longspurs. The bill is small and conic, with a nasal
ruif or tuft of plumules ; the wings are long and pointed ;
and the tail is short, and squareor emarginate. The com-
mon snow-bunting is usually called P. nivalis, but haa
been placed in a different genus (Plectroptiemx). The
Lapland longspur is P. lappomcus. The collared and the
painted longspurs are P. omatws and P. pustm. Exclud-
ing the snow-bunting, the members of this genus are now
usually called Centrojphanes or Calcarius. See cut under
Cetdrophanes.
Plectrophenax (plek-trof 'e-naks), TO. [NL., <
Gr. irTiijKTpov, a cock's spur (see plectrum), +
^ha^, a cheat.] A genus of FringilUdx dis-
memlDeredfrom Plectrophanes, having P. nivalis
as its type ; the snow-buntings.
Plectropteridse (plek-trop-ter'i-de), n. pi.
[NL., < Plectropterus + -idie.] The spur-
winged geese regarded as a family apart nom
Anatidse. See cut under Plectropterus.
Plectropterinse (plek-trop-te-ri'ne), «. f.
[NL., C Plectropterus + -inse,] A subfamily
of AnaUdx, represented by the genus Plectroji-
terus; the spur-winged geese.
plectropterine (plek-trop'te-rin), a. Belong-
ing to the Plectropterinse.
Plectropterus (plek-trop'te-rus), to. [NL, (W.
E. Leach, 1824), < Gr. nXij'KTpov, a cock's spur
(see plectrum). -I- irrepdv, wing, = E. feather.]
'%
Spur-winged Goose ^Piectrafiterus gambensis).
An African genus of geese having a spur on
the wing, as P. gambensis.
plectrum (plek'tmm), TO.; pi. plectra (-trS).
[NL., < 1,, plectrum, < Gr. TrAijKTpovfa thing to
strike with, as an instrument for striking the
lyre, a s^ear-point, a cock's spur, a punting-
pole, < TT/l^ffaeiv (ir^r/K-), sWke : see plague.] 1 ;
A small instrument of ivory, horn, or metal
used, for plucking or twanging the strings of
a lyre, cithara, or other similar instrument.
I heard the forlorn but melodious note of a hootinjiowl
Indefinitely far : such a sound as the frozen earth would
yield if struck with a suitable plectrum.
Tlwreau, Walden, p. 29Z.
3. Something like or likened to a plectruni.
(ot) In arua. : (1) The stylohyal bone, or stytoid proce«6
pleclnim
of the tempoi-al bone. (2) The uvula. (3) The tongne
Eneyc. Diet. (6) In omitli., a spur or claw on the wing or
foot, (c) In entom., a small bristle or point on the costal
margin of the wing, and standing out from it.
pled (pled). An occasional (less correct) pret-
erit and past participle of plead.
pledge (plej), n. [< ME. plegge, < OP. plege,
pleige, plaige, ploige, ploge, plage, m., = Pr.
pUeu, pleya = Olt. pieggio, a pledge, svirety,
bail (person or thing), prol). < LL. *prsebiim,
found only in ML. forms reflecting the Rom.,
plimum, pluvium, plegium, neut., a pledge,
surety, plivius, plegius, m., one who gives a
pledge, surety (cf . L. prxbrum, in pi. preebi-a,
an amulet), < L. prsebere, proffer, offer, give,
grant, afford (prsebere fidem, give promise or
security) : see prebend, and cf . plevin, from the
same source. 'H.ence pledge, v.] 1. In law:
(at) A person who goes surety or gives bail for
another ; especially, a sm-ety whom early Eng-
lish law required of a plaintiff on bringing an
action. After a time "John Doe" and •Rich-
ard Roe " did duty as such pledges. (6) A bail-
ment of personal property as a security for some
debt or engagement. Story, J. it differs from a
cKttttel mortgage in three essential characteristics : (1) it
may be constituted without any contract in writing, merely
by delivery of the thing pledged; (2) it requires a delivery
of the thing pledged, and is continued only so long as the
possession remains witli the creditor ; (3) it does not gen-
erally pass the title to the thing pledged, but gives only a
lien to the creditor, and the debtor retains the general
property. But, as regards choses in action, the distinction
that a mortgage is a ^ansfer of the title, while a pledge is
a mere lien without a transfer of title, does not always hold
good ; for in most cases a pledge of choses in action can
be made effectual only by atransfer of the legal title. (See
mortgage.) A pledge of a chose in action is now more com-
monly termed cdUateral security, or caUa;teral. (c) The
thing pawned or delivered as security ; a pawn.
— 2. Anything given or considered as security
for the performance of an act; a guaranty. Thus,
a man gives his word or makes a promise to another, which
is received as sl pledge for fulfilment; a candidate for par-
liamentary honors gives promises or jjiedg'^s to support cer-
tain measures ; the mutual aif ection of husband and wife
is a pledge for the faithful performance of the marriage
covenant ; mutual interest is the best pledge for the per-
formance of treaties.
Him litle answerd th' angry Elfin linight, . . .
But tlirew his gauntlet, as a sacred pUdge,
His cause in combat the next day to try.
fierier, F. Q., I. iv. 43.
I had been insulted by the boy that belonged to the
gate, who demanded money of me, and snatched my hand-
kercliief from me as a pledge.
Poeoeke, Description of the East, II. i. 7.
(a) Figuratively, a child ; offspring.
'lis the curse
Of great estates to want those pledges which
The poor are happy in : they, in a cottage.
With joy behold the models of their youth.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, i. 3.
(b) A surety ; a hostage.
Command my eldest son, nay, all my sons,
Aa pledges of my fealty and love.
Shak., 2 Hen. VL, v. 1. 50.
Samuel, their other consort^ Powhatan kept for their
pledge. Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 213.
(c) A formal obligation whereby one voluntarily binds
himself to abstain from the use of intoxicating drink.
3. A token or sign of favor, agreement, etc.
IiOt it therefore suffice us to receive Sacraments as sure
pledges of Gcd's favour, signs infallible that the hand of
his saving mercy doth thereby reach forth itself towards
us. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v., App. 1.
Here, boldly take
My hand in pledge, this hand, that never yet
Was given away to any.
Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, i. 3.
4. An expression of good will, or a promise of
friendship and support, conveyed by drinking
together; hence, in a more general sense, the
act of drinking together; the drinking of a
health.
Suppose that you winked at our friends drinking those
• - ScotL
4551
We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortimes,
and our sacred honour. Declaratian, qf Independence.
3. To bind to something by a pledge, promise,
or engagement; engage solemnly: ss, to pledge
one's self.
Here [shall] Patriot Truth her glorious precepts draw.
Pledged to Religion, Liberty, and Xjaw.
Story, Life and Letters, 1. 127.
4t. To guarantee the performance of by or as
by a pledge.
Yes, I accept her, for she well deserves it;
And here, to pledge my vow, I give my hand.
5AoJ:.,3 Hen. VI., iiL 3. 250.
5. To give assurance of friendship to, or prom-
ise friendship to, by or in the act of drntong;
hence, to dnnk a health to or with. (The use of
the word in this sense is said to have arisen from the
fact that, in the rude and lawless society of former times,
the person who called upon another to drink virtually
pledged himself that the other would not be attacked
while drinking or poisoned by the liquor.]
Pledge me, my Friend, and drink till thou be*st Wise.
Cowley, Ode.
ni pledge you. Sir : so, there 's for your ale, and f areweU.
Cotton, in Walton's Angler, ii. 228.
Sipping beverage divine.
And pledging with contented smack
, The Mermaid in the Zodiac
Keats, Lines on the Mermaid Tavern.
Keach me my golden cup that stands by thee,
AnA pledge me in it first for courtesy.
Jf. Arnold, Tristram and Iseult.
6. To assm^e solemnly or in a binding manner ;
guarantee.
Ye have plegged me vpon youre lyves that I shall have
no drede of deth. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 35.
=Syn.l-3. To pawn, hypothecate. Seeplighti,v.
pledge-cup (plej'kup), n. A cup for drinking
healths or pledges ; especially, a large cup de-
signed to pass from hand to hand.
pledgee (ple-je'), n. [< pledge + -eel.] The
person to whom anything is pledged.
pledgeless (plej'les^ a. [< pledge + -less.']
Having no pledges.
pledgeor (plej'orj, n. [< pledge + -ori.] In
law, one who gives a pledge ; a pledger.
pledger (plej'fer), n. 1 . One who pledges or of-
fers a pledge-
If a pawnbroker receives plate or jewels as a pledge or
security for the repayment of money lent thereon at a day
certain, he has them upon an express contract or condition
to restore them if the pledger performs his part by re-
deeming them in due time. Blackstone, Com., II. xxx.
3. One who accepts an invitation to drink af-
ter another, or who pledges himself, his honor,
word, etc., to another by drinking with him.
If the pledger be inwardlye sicke, or have some infirmi-
tie, whereby too much drinke doe empayre his health. .
Gaseoigne, Delicate Diet for Droonkardes.
pledge-ring (plej'ring), n. A ring capable of
being divided into three parts, each of which
could be worn separately, one part for each of
the parties to an agreement and one for the
witness.
pledgeryt (plej 'er-i), n. [< OF. plegerie, pleige-
rie, etc., <i)tes'er, pledge: se& pledge, v.] Sure-
tyship. Bailey, 1731.
pledget (plej'et), n. [Perhaps for *pludget, as-
sibilated dim. of plug: see plug.'] A smaU
plug; in surg., a smaU flat mass of lint, ab-
sorbent cotton, etc., used, for example, to lay
over a wound to absorb the matter discharged.
Get my rollers, bolsters, a.nii pledgets armed.
MiddUton, Anything for a Quiet Life, it 4.
pleet, n. An early modem English and Middle
English spelling otplea.
Plegadis (pleg'a-dis), n. [NL. (Kaup, 1829).]
A genus of lUdidse. having the plumage more or
pleiophylly
less metallic and iridescent ; the glossy ibises.
The type is the common bay ibis, F.falcinellus.
P. guaranna is the white-faced ibis of America.
plegaphonia (pleg-a-fo'ni-a), «. [NL., < Gr.
irXrryit, a blow, stroke, + -tpama, < (fuMuv, produce
a sound or tone.] The sound yielded in auscul-
tation of the chest when the larynx is percussed .
pleghan (pleg'an), n. [Cf. Gael, ploicean, a
plump-cheeked boy.] A stripling; a lad; a
haflin. [Scotch.]
The ordinary farmer's household consisted of n big man,
a little man, and a pleghan, i. e. a lad of fifteen to drive the
plough. Quarterly Mev., CXLVI. 39.
plegometer (ple-gom'e-ter), n. [< Gr. 17/;?)-^, a
stroke, -I- /iirpov, measure.] Same sspleximeter.
Pleiad (pli'ad), n.; pi. Pleiads, Pleiades (-ada,
-a-dez). [< L. Pleias, Pleias (-ad-), < Gr. UXTi'idc,
tii.etdg (-ot'-), pi. HXeiddeg, one of the Pleiads or
Seven Stars, traditionally so called as indicat-
ing by their rising the time of safe navigation ;
< 7r?^'tp, saU.] One of a close group of small
stars in the constellation Taurus, very con-
spicuous on winter evenings, about twenty-
four degrees north of the equator, and coming
to the meridian at midnight in the middle of
November. For some unknown reason, there were
anciently said to be seven Pleiads, although only six
were conspicuous then as now ; hence the suggestion of
, a lost Pleiad. In mythology the Pleiads were said to be
the daughters of Atlas and Pleione, and were named
Alcyone, Merope, Celseno, Electra, Sterope or Asterope,
Taygeta, and Maia. These names, with those of the pa-
rents, have been applied by modern astronomers since
Kicciolo (A. D. 1665) to the principal stars of the group.
Four of the brightest stars are at the corners of a trape-
zoid, with one in the base near the star at the northern
angle, and one outside the trapezoid, like a handle to a
dipper. Alcyone, the brightest of the group, is a greenish
star, of magnitude 3.0, at the east end of the base of the
trapezoid ; it is ij Tauri. Electra is a very white star, of
magnitude 3.8, at the westernmost corner of the trape-
zoid, on the short side opposite the base. Taygeta is a
yellowish star, of magnitude 4.4, at the northern comer
on the base. Merope is a yellowish star, of magnitude 4.2,
at the southernmost corner, not on the base. It id sur-
rounded by a faint nebula, discovered by Tempel many
yeai-s ago, and visible with a telescope of moderate dimen-
sious. But photographs show that the cluster is also full
of invisible wisps and filameuts of nebulosity, which are
for the most pai't attached to the larger stars. Maia is a
yellowish stai*, of magnitude 4.0, on the base of the trape-
zoid, close to the northern angle, but not in i1}. Asterope
is a double stai', of magnitude 5.7, not very conspicuous,
forming an equilateral triangle with Taygeta and Maia,
and lying outside of the trapezoid. Celseno is a star of mag-
nitude 5.2, half-way between Electra and Taygeta, just a
little outside the western slanting side of the trapezoid.
Atlas is a yellowish &tar, of magnitude 3.S, the second or
third brightest in the group, which lies out of the trape-
zoid, considerably to the east, as in the handle of the dip-
pev. Fleione is a star of magnitude 5.1, a little noi'th of
Atlas.
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or
loose the bands of Orion? Job xxxviii. 31.
Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow
shade.
Glitter like a swarm of fire-files tangled in a silver braid.
Tennyson, Lockaley HaU.
pleint, a- [ME., < OP. plein, P. plein = Sp.
Pg. plena = It. pieno, CL. plenus, full: see
plenty.] Full; perfect. Chaucer.
pleinlyf, adv. [ME. pleynly; < plein -(- -ly^.]
Fully. Chaucer.
plelo-. For words so beginning and not found
below, see forms beginning with plio-.
pleiochasium (pli-o-ka'si-um), n. [NL., < Gr.
TrMtw, more, 4- ;t:affjf, separation, < xalveiv, gape,
yawn: see chasm.] In bot., a cyme with three
or more lateral axes. Also called mulUparous
To hold in pledge, to keep as security.— To pat In
pledge, to pawn.— To taJie the pledge, to bind one's
self to observe principles of temperance or of total ab-
stinence from intoxicating drink. =Syn. 2. Covenant, etc.
See promise, n., and earnest.
pledge (plej), V. t. ; pret. and pp. pledged, ppr.
pledging. [< Ml^.pleggen, < OF. pleiger, ML.
reflex plegiare, plegire (beside plevire, pUvire,
etc., after the OP. plevir, pledge: see plevin);
from the noun: see pledge, n.] 1. To give as
a pledge or pawn ; deposit in pawn; deposit or
leave in possession of a person as security.
See pledge, n. — 2. To give or formally and
solemnly offer as a guaranty or security.
And so her father ^fedy'd his word.
And so his promise plight.
The Gay Goss-Hawk (Child's Ballads, III. 281).
Ahs. But my vows are pledged to her.
SirA.lje^ her foreclose, Jack ; let her foreclose ; they
«re not worth redeeming. Sheridan, The Rivals, iL 1.
Glossy Ibis {PUeadis/atcinetlus').
pleiomorphic (pli-6-m6r'fik)j a. [< pleiomor-
phism + -ie.] In iot., exhibiting or character-
ized by pleiomorphism.
pleiomorpllisill (pli-o-m6r'fizm), «. [ipleiomor-
phy + -ism.] In hot., the occurrence of more
than one independent stage or form in the life-
cycle of a species, as in certain uredineous fungi,
such as Puccinia graminis, which passes through
three stages. See hetercecism, Puccinia, tfredi-
nesB, etc. Also s^QMedi pleomorpMsm.
pleiomorphy (pli'9-m6r-fi), n. [< Gr. tO^Um,
more, -f- /^fp^, form.] 1. In bot., same a,spleio-
morphism. — 2. Tn vegetable teratol., the state of
a normally irregular flower when it becomes
regular by the increase in the number of its
irregular elements. It is due to an excessive
development. Compare peloria. Also spelled
pleomorphy.
pleiophyllous (pH-o-fll'us), a. [< Gr. irXeiw,
more, + <pv7Jk)v, leaf.] In hot., exhibiting or
characterized by pleiophylly; also, having sev-
eral or many leaves.
pleiophylly (pli'o-fll-i), n. [< pleiophyU-ous -I-
-y^.] In vegetabfe teratol., a condition in which
liiere is an abnormal increase in the number of
pleiophylly
leaves starting from a particular point ; also,
that condition in which the number of leaflets
in a compound leaf is abnormally increased.
Masters.
pleiosporous (pli'o-spo-rus), a. [< Gr. tt/Iemw,
more, + anSpog, seed : see spore."] In iot., having
or containing several or many spores.
pleiotaxy (pfi'o-tak-si), n. [< Gr. wXe'uM, more,
+ rdf (f, arrangement, order.] In hot., a multi-
plication of the number of whorls — that is, the
production of additional distinct whorls, as in
many so-called double flowers. Pleiotaxy may
affect the bracts, calyx, corolla, androeeium,
gyiioeeium., or perianth as a whole.
pleiothalaillOUS (pli-o-thal'a-mus), a. [< Gr.
ttAejiji', more, + ftiAa^uof, a bedchamber.] In
hot., several- or many-chambered or -celled.
pleiotrachea (pli"6-tra-ke'a), n. [NL., < Gr.
ffAciW, more, H- Tpa'xeid, the windpipe.] In hot.,
a membranous tube or trachea containing a
compound spiral fiber. Cooke.
Pleistocene (plis'to-sen), n. [< Gr. jT^iffTOf,
most (superl. otiro^vg, much), -I- koivoc, recent.]
The name given by geologists, with more or
less vagueness, to the lower division of the
Quaternary or Post-tertiary deposits, or to that
(uvision which cannot properly be included
under the designation recent. See Post-tertiary,
Tertiary, and Quaternary.
plekt, n. A Middle English form oipleck.
plenalt (ple'nal), a. [< ML. *plenaUs (in adv.
plenaUter),<JJ!plenus,tall(8Gepleina,iidplenty),
+ -aW] Full^ complete.
This free andplenaU act 1 make.
J. BeoMmont, Psyche, ix. 231.
plenallyt (ple'nal-i), adw. Fully; entirely.
Yours ptenaUy devoted, Thomas Heywood.
Heywood, Ep. Ded. to Fair Maid of the West.
plenart, *■ Seeplener.
plenarg^ite (ple-nar'ji-nt), n. [< L. plenus,
full, + Gr. apyvpoQ, silver, + -ite'^.'] A sulphid
of bismuth and silver found near Schapbach in
Baden: it is supposed to be similar in form to
miargyrite.
plenanly (ple'na-ri-li), adv. In a plenary man-
ner; fully; completely.
plenariness (ple'na-ti-nes), n. The state of
being plenary; fullness; completeness.
plenarlyt, adv. See plenerly.
plenarty (ple'nar-ti), n. [< OP. plenerete, pleni-
erte, fuUneas, iplenier, < ML.plenarius, full, en-
tire: see pZenors/. Ct.plener.] The state of an
ecclesiastical benefice when occupied; occu-
pancy by an incumbent : opposed to vacancy
or avoidance: as, the plea oi plenarly (that is,
the plea that the benefice was already filled by
valid appointment) was urged.
When the clerk was once instituted . . . the church
became absolutely fall ; so the usurper by such plermrty,
arising from Ms own presentation, became in fact seised
of the advowson. Blackstonet Com., III. xvi.
plenary (ple'na-ri), a. and «. [< ML^lenaritis,
entire, < Li. pleniis, tall: aeeplenty. Ci.plener.]
1. a. 1. PuU; entire; complete: as, a, plenary
license; plenary consent; plena/ry indulgence.
In a vawght vndemeth ys the very self Place wher our
blyssyd lady was born. And ther ys Plenarie £emission.
Torkinffton, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 31.
The King, to shew his plenary Authority of being at full
Age, removed the Archbishop of York from being Lord
Chancellor, and put in Iiis Place William Wickham, Bishop
of Winchester. Baker, Chronicles, p. 146.
Do not confound yourself with Multiplicity of Authors;
two is enough upon any Science, provided they be plenary
and orthodox. Bowell, Letters, I. v. 9.
2. In law, noting an ordinary suit which passes
through all its gradations and formal steps:
opposed to summary. Plenary causes in the ecclesi-
astical courts are now three — (a) suits for ecclesiastical
dilapidations; (6) suits relating to seats or sitting-places
in churches ; and (c) suits for tithes.
The cause is made a plenary cause.
Aylife, Parergon. (Latham.)
3. Having full power; plenipotentiary.
The chambers called into existence by the League of
the Tliree Kings met at Erfurt in March, 1860. Austria,
as an answer to the challenge, summoned a plerux/ry assem-
bly of the German Diet to meet at Erankf ort in September.
Quarterly Rea., CXLV. 334.
Flenaiy indulgence, the remission of all the temporal
punishment due to sin. See inMLgenxe, 4.— Plenan' in-
spiration, complete inspiration of Scripture in all its ut-
terances. See inspiration, 3.
What is meant by "plenary inspiration'"! A divine in-
fluence full and sufficient to secure its end. The end in
this case secured is the perfect infallibility of the Scrip-
tures in every part, as a record of fact and doctrine, both
in thought and verbal expression.
A. A. Hodge, Outlines of Theology, Iv. 7.
Plenary missal. See missal.
n.t n. In law, decisive procedure. AyUffe..
4552
plenert, a. [ME., also pUnar; < OF. plenterj'.
plenier= PT.plener,plenier=S]?. llenero = Pg.
It. plenariojC ML. plenarim, full, entire : see
plenary.] Pull; abundant; plenary.
Anon conueid to sitte att the table,
Thys teatplener and ryght delectable.
Smn.of Partenay (E.^.T. a.), 1.^51.
Oute of this woo he will you wynne.
To plese hym in more hlener place.
York Plays, p. 80.
pleneret, a^*'- [ME., < ^jfewer, a.] PuUy; com-
pletely.
Whan the peple y/as plenere comen, the porter vnpynned
the gate. Piers Plowman (B), xi. 108.
Now was Jason a seemely man withalle, . . .
And goodly of his speehe and f amulere,
And koude of love al craft and wteplenere
Withoute boke. Ckamcer, Good Women, 1. 1607.
plenerlyt.fls^i'- [ME., slsoplenarly,plenerliche;
iplener + -ly^.^ Pully; completely.
Not only upon ten ne twelve,
But ijfenerKcAe upon us alle.
Omer, MS. Soc. Antiq. 134, f. 34. (HaUvuieU.)
Wherf ore I say yow j)ZeKsriy in a clause.
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 187. (Harl. MS.)
plenicorn (plen'i-k6rn), a. [< L. plenus, full,
+ cornu, horn.] Solid-horned, as a ruminant ^
opposed to cavicorn.
plenilunart (plen-i-lu'nar), a. [< plenihme +
-ar^.'\ Pertaining to the full moon.
plenilunaryt (plen-i-lii'na-ri), a. Same a.spleni-
lunar. See the quotation under interlunary.
plenilunet (plen'i-liin), n. [< L. plenilu
the time of fvdl moon, < plenus, full, +
moon : see luna.'] The full moon.
Whose glory (like a lasting i>ZeniJ«ne)
Seems ignorant of what it is to wane.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Bevels, v. 3.
plenipot (plen'i-p6), n. A colloquial abbrevi-
ation oi plenipotentiary.
I'll give all my silver amongst the drawers, malie a bon-
flrebefore the door, a&y the plenipoB have signed the peace,
and the Bank of England 's grown honest.
Varibrugh, Provoked Wife, iii. 1.
plenipotence (ple-nip'o-tens), n. [= Sp. Pg.
plenipotencia = lt. plenipotenza; a,s plempoten(t)
+ -ce.] PuUness or completeness of power.
A whole parliament . , . endewedvflth the plenipotence
of a free nation. Milton, Eikonoklastes, § 6.
plenipotency (plf-nip'o-ten-si), n. Same as
plenipotence.
plenipotent (plf-nip'o-tent), a. [< ML. *plen4-
poten(t-)s, having full power, < L. plenus, fuU,
-(-jjote«(*-)s, having power: see potent.'] Pos-
sessing full power.
My substitutes I send ye, and create
PlenipotetU on earth, of matchless might
Issuing from me. Milton, P. L., x. 404.
plenipotentiary (plen*i-po-ten'shi-a-ri), a. and
n. p= P. pUnipotentiamre '= Sp. Vg.' plennpoten-
dario = It. plenipotemiario, < ML. phnipo-
tentiarius, < *plenipoten(t-)s, having full power:
see plenipotent.] I. a. Invested with, having^
or bestowing full power: as, plenipotentiary
authority ; ministers plenipotentiary.
I hear the Peace betwixt Spain and Holland is absolutely
concluded by the Plenipotentiary Miniatera at Munster.
Bowell, Letters, ii. 43.
II. n.; ■pX. plenipotentia/ries {-riz). A person
invested with full power to transact any busi-
ness ; specifically, an ambassador or envoy to
a foreign court, furnished with full powers to
negotiate a treaty or to transact other business.
A plenipotentiary is not necessarily accredited to any
specified foreign court. Frequently meetings of pleni-
potentiaries for concluding peace, negotiating treaties,
etc. , are held in some neutral place, so uiat they may con-
duct their negotiations and despatch their business unin-
fluenced by any special power.
The treaty of Blols had not received the ratification ot
the Navarrese sovereigns ; but it was executed by their
plenipatenUaries, duly authorized.
Preseatt, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 23.
The terms or propositions of peace should have been
fully, frankly, and unreservedly laid before the ^lenipo-
tentiaries assembled at Utrecht.
Leeky, Eng. in 18th Cent., i.
=Syn. See (tmiiuni<2or, 1.
plenish (plen'ish), V. t. [< OP. pleniss-, stem
of certain parts oiplenir, < ML. *plenire,W.Ti-p,
< L. plerms, full: see plenty. Of. ' " ~
plenis
plentiful
(plen'ish-ing), n. [Verbal n. of
v.] Household furniture or furmshiiur
[Scotch.]
We hae eMdepUnishing o' our ain, if we had the cast tf
a cart to bring fl down. Scott, Old Mortalily, viii.
OutBlfiht plenishing. Seeoutgight.
plenisning-nail (plen'ish-ing-nal), n. In carp.,
a large flooring-nail.
plenist (ple'nist), n. [< plenum + -j«*.] One
who maintains that all space is full of matter;
one who denies the possibility of a vacuum or
the reality of empty space.
Thegeneralityof the^STiiste. . . did not take a vacuum
in BO strict a sense. Boyle, WoiTss, I. 75,
plenitude (plen'i-tud), n. [< P. plenitude =
Sp. plenitud = Pg. plenitude = It pienitudirte, <
li. plenitudo, fullness, (.plenus, full: seeplenty.]
1. Fullness; abundance; completeness.
In him a, plenitude of subtle matter.
Applied to cautels, all strange forms receives.
Shak., Lover's Complain^ \. 30i
You know the plenitude of the power and right of a kinft
as well as the circle ot his office and duty.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, iL 280.
A clime
Where life and rapture flow in plenitude sublime.
Wordgworth, Desoltoiy Stanzas.
2f. Eepletion; animal fullness; plethora. Ar-
buthnot— The moon in her plenitude, in her., the
full moon.
plenitudinariant (plen-l-tii-di-na'ri-an), H. [<
L. plenitudo (-dim-), plenitude, + -arian.] A.
plelnist. Shaftesbwy.
plenitudinary (plen-i-tu'di-na-ri), a. [< L.
plenitudo (-din-), plenitude, + -ary.] Charac-
terized by plenitude, fullness, or completeness.
plentet, n. A Middle English form ot plenty.
plenteous (plen'te-us), a. [< ME. pknteus,
plentevotis,pUntivdus,plentefous,plentuos, < OF.
1. TofiU.
■]
How art thou then for spread tables anA plenished flag-
gon's? JJe«tM, God's Plea for Nineveh (1667). (Latham.)
He must be a Jew, intellectually cultured, morally fer-
vid—in all Uiis a naturer ready to hepknisked from Mor-
decai's. Qeorge Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xxxviii.
2. To furnish ; provide (a dwelling) with fur-
niture, etc. ; stock (a farm) with cattle, horses,
farm implements, etc.
[Old Eng. and Scotch in both senses.]
tuous, etc., <jj?eii«jf, plenty, <i)te»te, plenty: see
plenty.] 1. Abundant; copious; full; plenti-
ful ; wholly sufficient for every purpose or need :
as, a. plenteous supply of provisions.
I shall think it a laOBt plenteovs crop
To glean the broken ears after the man
That the main harvest reaps.
Shak., As you Like it, iiL 6. lOL
2. Yielding abundance ; fruitful; productive.
Toward that land he toke the waye full right,
Whlche was callid a,plenltevows contra
Generydes(E. E. T. S.),l. 103L
The seven plenteous years. Oen. sli. 8i
3. Bountifully or abundantly supplied; well
provided for; rich; characterized by plenty:
formerly sometimes followed by 0/ before the
thing that abounds or is plentiful: as, plente-
ous in grace ; plenteous of good fish.
It is a fair Gytee, and plesnteeeous of alle Godes.
Mandexfille, Travels, p. 2U.
Thys lie ys a grett He and a Plenteows of all maner of
thyngs. TorMngUm, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 20.
The Lord shall make thee plernteowa in goods.
Deut xxviii. 11.
The plenisovs horn
Of autumn, fllled and running o'er
With fruitt and flower, and golden com!
Whittier, Autumn Festival
4t. Bounteous or bountiful in giving; generous;
open-handed.
Se beth plentyuma to the pore as pure charite wolde.
Piers Plowman (BX x. 80.
Be aman neuer so valiannt, so wise, so liberall or ^)i«itu-
oius, . . . ifhe be sene to exercise iniustyce, . . . it is often
remembred. Sir T. Blyol, The Govemour, iii. 4.
=Syn. 1. Copious, eto. See ample.
plenteously (plen'te-us-li), adv. In a plente-
ous manner; copiously; plentifuUy; bounti-
fully; generously.
Al myhten tho same thinges betere and more plentevom-
ly ben couth in the mowth of the poeple.
Chmuser, Boethius, i. prose 6.
plenteousness (plen'tf-us-nes), «. The state
of being plenteous; abundance; copious sup-
ply; plenty.
plentiful (plen'ti-fld), a. [< plenty + -/«!.]
1. Existing in great plenty; copiotis; abun-
dant; ample.
The satirical rogue says here that old men have gn?
beards, . . . and that they have a pJeTiKftd lack of wit
SAaft., Hamlet, ii. 2. 202.
Alcibiades ... a young man of noble birth, excellent
education, and aplenti/iil fortune.
Swift, Contests and Dissensions, ii.
^ Can anybody remember when sensible men, and the
right sort of men, and the right sort of women were pirn-
wolf £mcrso», Works and Days.
2. Yielding abundance ; affording ample sup-
ply; fruitful.
plentiful
If it be a long winter, it is commonly a more plentiifvl
year. Bacon, Nat. Hist.
For as plent(fvl springs are attest, and best become
large aquaducts, so doth much virtue sacli a steward and
ofBcer as a Christian. Donne, Letters, Ixxxix.
3t. Lavish.
He that iaplentifiil in expenses of all kinds will hardly
be preserved from decay. Bacon, Expense (ed. 1887).
=Syn. 1 and 2. Profuse, luxuriant. Plentiful is eseential-
hr the same as plenteous. See comparison under ample.
plentifully (plen'ti-ful-i), adv. In a plentiful
manner; copiously; abundantly; wiui ample
supply.
Berne is ptentifully furnished with water, there being a
great multitude of handsome fountains planted at set dis-
tances. Addison, Kemarks on Italy.
Sometimes the Cashif sent for me to dine with him,
when the drams went round very j^enlifvlly whilst we
were eating. Pococke, Description of the East, I. 69.
plentifulness (plen'ti-ful-nes), n. The state of
being plentiful ; abundance,
plentl^t (plen'ti-fi), «. t l< plejity + -fy.^i To
make plenteous ; enrich.
For alms Qike levain) make our goods to rise,
And Ood His owne with hleasings plenlijieg.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Vocation.
plentivoust, adv. A Middle English form of
plenteous.
plenty (plen'ti), n. and a. [< ME.plentee,plente,
< OF. plente, plentet, < L. plenita{t-)s, fullness,
repletion, abundance, < plenus, full; cf. Gr.
irMug, full; akin to E./mH; see/MKi.] I. n. 1.
FuUness; abundance; copiousness; a full or
adequate supply; sufficiency.
There ben Hill es where men geten gret plentee of Manna,
in gretter habundance than in ony other Gontree.
MandeiyiUe, Travels, p. 152.
The fyer towards the element flew.
Out of his mouth, where was gieat plentie.
Ballad of King Arthur (Child's Ballads, I. 239).
God give thee . . . plenty of com and wine.
Gen. xxvii. 28.
They have great jtZcti^ of very large carp in this river.
Pococke, Description of the East, IL ii, 86.
2. Abundance of things necessary for man ; the
state in which enough is had and enjoyed.
It ne may ban togidere al the plenie of the lyf.
Chaucer, Boethius, v. prose 6.
Ye shall eat in pletUy and be satisfied, and praise the
name of the Lord. Joel ii. 26.
Thy lopp'd branches point
Thy two sons forth; , . . whose issue
Promises Britain peace and plenty.
Sttak., Cymbellne, v. 5. 458.
3. A time of abundance ; an era of plenty.
Dear nurse of arts, plenties, and joyful births.
Shai., Hen. T., v. 2. 35.
If a man will goe at Christmas to gather Cherries in
Kent, though there be plenty in Summer, he may be de-
ceiued ; so here these luenties haue each their seasons.
Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 196.
Horn of plenty. See horn. =Syn. Plenty, Abundance,
Emiieranee, Profusion. These words are in the order of
strength. Plenty is a full supply, all that can possibly be
needed. Abundance is a great plenty, as much as can be
wanted or more. EmJiJberavjce is an overflowing plenty, an
abundance that bursts out with fullness : as, the exiiber-
anee of the harvest. Profusion is a plenty that is poured
or scattered abroad ; profusion naturally applies to a^^large
number of units : as, a plenty of food ; a profusion of
things to eat. Emil)eranee and profusion may mean an
amount that needs to be restrained or reduced. See
Enough is a plenty. Old proverb.
All they did cast in of their o&unttoTMje; but she of her
want. Mark xii. 44.
With an exuiberance of thought and a splendour of dic-
tion which more than satisfied the highly raised expectar
tion of the audience, he [Burke] described the chEuacter
and institutions of the natives of India.
Naeaulay, Warren Hastings.
One boundless blush, one white-empurpled shower
Of mingled blossoms, where the raptur'd eye
Hurries iirem joy to joy, and, hid beneath
The Uar pr<tfusian, yeUow Autumn spies.
Thomson, Spring, 1. 112.
II. a. Being in abundance; plentiful: an
elliptical use of the noun, now chiefly collo-
quial.
Thel ordeyned hir a litier vpon two palfrayes, and lelde
ther-ynne fresch gras and erbes plente and clothes, and
than leide her ther-ynne softely.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 301.
For he maye not lese at the moost but a lyne or an hoke :
of whyche he maye haue storeplentee of his owne makynge,
as this symple treatyse shall teche hym.
Juliana Bemers, Treatyse of Fysshynge, fol. 2.
They seem formed for those countries where shrubs are
plenty and water scarce. Goldsmith.
When labourers axeplerUy, their wages will be low.
FranlcUn.
plenum (ple'num), n. [< Jj. pletmm, neut. of
plenus, fuU: S6e plenty.'] 1. The fullness of
matter in space : the opposite of vacuum : also
4563
used to denote fullness in general. — 2. A quan-
tity of a gaseous body in an inclosed space
greater than would remain there under normal
atmospheric pressure Plenum method (or sys-
tem) of ventilation, a system in which the air is forced
by artificial means into the space to be ventilated, while
vitiated or heated air is forced out by displacement.
plenytidet) n. [Irreg. (agpar. after plenitude)
< h. plenus, full, + E. tide.] A full tide ; flood-
tide.
Let rowling teares in pleny-tides oreflow.
For losse of England's second Cicero.
Oreene, Groats-worth of Wit
pleochroic (ple-6-kr6'ik), a. [< Gr. wMuv, wMav,
more, + xp^i color, -1- -jc] Exhibiting pleoehro-
ism. The epithet Includes dichroic and trieliroic.
Also pleoehromatic, pleoehroous, polychroic. —
Pleochroic halo or aureole, a spot within a mineral
(for example, biotite) characterized by strong pleochroism.
Such spots are frequently observed in sections when ex-
amined under the microscope, and are usually immedi-
ately associated with microscopic inclusions.
pleochroism (plf-ok'ro-izm), n. [ipleodhro-ic
+ -ism.'] In crystal., the variation in color ob-
served in some crystals when viewed in differ-
ent directions, due to the fact that the rays hav-
ing vibrations in different planes suffer absorp-
tion in different degrees, in general, a uniaxial crys-
tal may be dichroic, or have two axial colors, corresponding
respectively to the ordinary ray, whose vibrations are trans-
verse to the axis, and the extraordinary ray, with vibrations
parallel to this axis ; biaxial crystals may be trichroic, and
the axial colors are generally taken as those determined
by the .absorption of the rays which are propagated by
vibrations parallel to the three axes of elasticity. Tour-
malin is a striking example of a dichroic species, epidote
and hornblende of trichroic species. A more general epi-
thet for both ia^ieochroie.
pleoehromatic (ple'"o-kro-mat'ik), a. [< Gr.
5r/liui', TzTi^'uM, more, -1- ;);pu^(T-), color, + -ic.]
Same &s pleochroic.
pleochromatism (ple-o-kro'ma-tizm), n. [<
pleoehromatic + -ism.] ' Same as pleochroism.
pleoehroous (plf-ok'rg-us), a, [ipleochro-ic +
-ous.] Same 3.i pleochroic.
pleodont (ple'o-dont), a. [< Gr. TrAewf, full, +
b6oi)Q {oSovT-) = E. toofh.] Solid-toothed: op-
Sosed to ecelodont.
eomastia (ple-o-mas'ti-a), 7i. [NL., < Gr.
'irTiiuv, more, + fiaardg, one o£ the breasts.] The
presence of more than one nipple to one mam-
mary gland.
pleomazia (ple-o-ma'zi-a), re. [NL., < Gr. ttMuv,
TrTieiuv, more, + /m^oi, Ionic and epic for /laard^,
one of the breasts.] The presence of a greater
number of mammary glands than is normal.
pleomorphic (ple-o-m6r'fik), a. [_< pleomorpli^
+ -8C.] Same aspleomorphhtis. E. M. Lankes-
ter, Nature, XXXIII. 413.
pleomorphism Cple-o-m^r'fizm), re. [< pleo-
morphM/ + -dsm.] l! Same as polymorphism.
Nature, 'XXX. 433. — 3. Same a.s pleiomorphism.
pleomorphous (ple-o-m6r'fus), a. [ipleomor-
ph-y + -ou^.] Having the property of pleomor-
phism; polymorphic.
pleomorphy (ple'o-m6r-fi), n. [< Gr. irMom,
TrXeiuv, more, + fiop^, form.] 1. Same as^oZ^-
morphism. — 3. Saxaeaspleiomorphy.
pleon^ (ple'on), re. [NL., < Gr. ivMuv, tt^Um,
more : see plus.] In hot., a term proposed by
Nageli for those aggregates of molecules which
cannot be increased or diminished in size with-
out changing their chemical nature, as distin-
guished from micelUe, or aggregates that can be
so increased or diminished. See micella.
pleon^ (ple'on), 71. [NL., < Gr. irAfuw, ppr. of
ir^ew, ■Kkuv, sail, swim.] 1. In Crustacea, the
abdomen: distinguished from cephalMi (head)
and pereion (thorax). C. Spence Bate, Encyc.
Brit., VI. 634. — 3. The tail-spine or telson of
some crustaceans, as the king-crab: so named
by Owen, on the supposition that it represents
the abdomen: correlated with ifeoroceirore and
cephaletron.
pleonal (ple'o-nal), a. l<pleon^ + -al.] Of or
pertaining to the pleon or abdomen of a crusta-
cean. [Bare.]
pleonasm (ple'6-nazm), n. [= F. pUonasme =
Sp. Pg. It. pleonasmo, < L. pleonasmus, < Gr.
jT^^ovaa/idc, abundance, exaggeration, in gram,
pleonasm, < K?i£ovd(ecv, be or have too much,
abound, <TrMon/, izTkeluv, more, compar. of izoU%,
much : see^to.] 1. Redundancy of language ;
the use of more words than are necessary to ex-
press an idea. Pleonaan may be justifiable when the
intention is to present thoughts with particular perspi-
cuity or force.
The first surplusage the Greekes vaMPleonamius O call
him too full speechX and is no great fault : as if one should
say, I heard it with mine eares, and saw it with mine eyes,
as if a man could heare with his heeles, or see with his nose.
PvUenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 264.
plerome
2. A redundant phrase or expression ; an in-
stance of redundancy of language.
Harsh compositions, pleonasms of words, tautological
repetitions. Burton, Anat of Mel., p. 25.
3. In med., excess in number or size.=syn. 1. Pleo-
nasm, Verbosity, Tautology, Cireuvdoeutum, Periphrasis,
Verbiage, Redundancy, "'^y pleonasm ismeantthe employ-
ment of more words than usual, or of redundant words.
When properly employed, it is productive of a high degree
of emphasis. ... By Verbosity is meant an excessive use
of words ; it arises from a natmul gift of fluent expression,
which has not been sufilciently chastened and corrected.
. . . Tautology arises from verbosity, and may be defined
as the repetition of the same idea in diiTerent words. . . .
Circuwlocutum is another characteristic of verbosity ; it
means a i-oundabout mode of speech, where, instead of a
direct statement of meaning, the words are multiplied to
an unnecessary extent. When properly employed, this is a
recognized figure of speech, periphrasis. . . . Periphrasis
is also known as circundocution, but the term periphrasis
generally refers to those cases where the figure is used witli
effect, while cireuTnloeution refers to its faulty u6e. Pe-
riphrasis may be defined as naming a thing indirectly by
means of some well-known attribute, or characteristic, or
attendantciroumstance." J. De MiUe, Rhetoric, §§ 27, 28,
29, 132, 218. Verbiage and verbosity are contemptuous
words, verbiage being more often applied to the things
said or written that are verbose : as, iiis speech was mere
verbiage. Pleonasm and periphrasis are terms of rhetoric,
with some general use ; the others are in common use.
Sedundaney expresses without contempt the fact that
more words are used than are necessary.
A work on style might fitly take, from these documents
which our Government annually lays before all the world,
warning instances of confusions, and Illogicalities, and
pleonasms. H. Spencer, Study of SocioL, p. 268.
A relentless clock that has curbed the exuberant ver-
bosUy of many a lecturer before me. Ifalure, XXX. 135.
"In fine," added he, with his usual tautology, "it is
right that a man should do his duty."
Motley, Dutch Kepublic, 1. 279.
The eircuwZoeutions which are substituted for technical
phrases are clear, neat, and exact. Maeaulay, Dryden.
As the master [Pope] had made it an axiom to avoid
what was mean and low, so the disciples endeavored to
escape &om what was common. This they contrived by
the ready expedient of the periphrasis. They called every-
thing something else. JjomeU, Study Windows, p. 392.
Verbiage may indicate observation, but not thinking.
Irving.
He [Wordsworth] . . . lacked the critical sagacity or
the liEu^y courage to condemn and strip away his own re-
dundaneies. D. 6. MtteheCl, Bound Together, p. 194.
pleonast (ple'o-nast), re. [< LGr. TrAefooffrof,
abundant, < Gr. ir?i£ovdZetv, abotmd: see pleo-
jiasm:] One who uses more words than are
needed; one given to redundancy in speech or
writing.
Ere the mellifiuous pleonast had done oiling his paradox
with fresh polysyllables ... he met with a curious in-
terruption. C. Reade, Hard Cash, xxv. ^Davies.)
pleonaste (ple'o-nast), n. [So called in allu-
sion to the four facets sometimes found on each
solid angle of the octahedron; < LGr. ir/Udmo-
Tog, abundant, rich, < Gr. TrTieova^etv, abound:
see pleona,sm.] In mineral., same as ceylonite.
See «2»reeZ.
pleonastic (ple-o-nas'tik), a. [= Sp. pleonds-
tieo = Pg. pleonastico, < Gr. *7r7\£ovaaTCK6s, re-
dundant, < n?.e&vaaTos, verbal adj. of jrXeovofejn,
abound: see pleonasm.] Characterized by pleo-
nasm or redundancy; of the nature of pleonasm;
redundant.
pleonastical (ple-o-nas'ti-kal), a. [< pleonas-
tic + -al.] Saxae as pleortasUc.
pleonastically (ple-o-nas'ti-kal-i), adv. In a
pleonastic manner ; with redundancy.
pleonezia (ple-o-nek'si-a), re. [NL., < Gr. itaco-
vE^ta, greediness, < irTieovlK-nic, greedy, grasping,
having or claiming more than one's due, < ■Kkiuv,
ir'Aeiorv, more, -I- ix^if, hold, have.] Morbid
greediness orselfishness.
pleopod (ple'o-pod), n. [< Gr. nMeiv, swim, -I-
TTOtif (»ro(5-) = E. foot.] One of the abdominal
limbs of a crustacean ; a swimmeret. The pleo-
pods are the typical natatory limbs, or swimming-feet, suc-
ceeding the pereiopods or walking-feet.
pleopodite (ple-op'o-dit), «. {<pleopod + -/fe2.]
A pleopod.
pleroma (plf-ro'ma), re. [NL., < Gr. izTdipuim, a
filling np, <.' irTaipmrv, fill up, < TrKijpTjg, full: see
plenty.] 1. Fullness; abundance; plenitude:
m gnosticism, the spiritual world, or world of
Hght, including the body of eons.
In his system he [Heracleon] appears to have regarded
the divine nature as a vast abyss in whose pleroma were
ffionsof different orders and degrees— emanations from
the source of being. Encyc. Brit., XI. 681.
3. In iot., same a,s plerome.
pleromatic (ple-ro-mat'ik), a. [< pleroma{t-)
+ -ic] Pertaining to the pleroma or fullness
of divine being.
plerome (ple'rom), «. [NL. (Hanstein, 1868),
< Gr. Tz'kijpuim, a filling up: see pleiroma.] 1.
In gnosticism, same as pleroma. — 2. In hot. , the
cylinder or shaft of nascent flbrovascular ele-
plerome
ments at the growing-points of the axis of
plants.
Enclosed by this [theperiblem] is a central cellular mass,
out of which the flbro- vascular bundles and the structures
of the central part of the shoot or root are formed ; this
ikosheen termed plerovne, Encyc. Brit.,iy, 92,
plerome-sheatll (ple'rom-sheth), n. In hot.,
a limiting layer of surrounding cellular tissue
which incloses ordinarily a group of fibrovas-
oular bundles : with some authors the same as
iundlesheatJi.
pleromorph (ple'r6-m6rf), n. [< G-r. irX^pu/j-a,
a filling up, + fiopfi^, form.] A kind of pseudo-
morph formed by the filling of a cavity left by
the removal of a crystal of some species with
another mineral or mineral substance.
plerophoiia (ple-ro-fo'ri-a), n. [NL.] Same as
plerophory.
plerophory(plf-rof'o-ri),M. [< Ti^h.plerophona,
< Grr. irhipo^pia, full conviction, certainty, < tt/Ij?-
potpopelv, give full satisfaction or certainty, in
pass, be fully convinced, < n?i.^p^g, full, + <pkpeiv
= E. hear^.'] Pull persuasion or conidence;
perfect conviction or certitude. [Rare.]
Young men apprehend not the necessities of knowledge,
old men presume of apleri^hory and abundance.
Sev. T. Adams, Works, L 317.
Abraham had & plerophory that what was promised God
was able to perform. Barrow, Sermons, II. iv. (Latiumb.)
The plerophory or full assurance of faith.
Schaff, Christ and Christianity, p. 8.
plesancet, plesauncet, »• Obsolete forms of
pleasance.
plesantt, plesauntt, a. Obsolete forms ot pleas-
ant.
plesht, n. An obsolete variant otplashX.
Plesiarctomys (ple-si-ark'to-mis), n. [NL., <
Gr. TiXriaioQ, near, + NL. Arctomys, q. v.] A
Miocene gennsof sciuromorphie rodents, some-
what resembling marmots.
Flesiochelyidse (ple'si-o-ke-U'i-de), n. pi.
[NL., < Plesiochel^s + -idse."] A family of pleu-
rodirous turtles, typified by the genus Plesio-
cheh/s. They were distinguished by the total absence ot
the mesoplastral element in the plastron and the union of
the pubis above with the epiplastral. They were of Meso-
zoic age.
, Flesiochelys (ple-si-ok'e-lis), n. [NL., < Gr.
ivXr/atog, near, +• x^^i'Cj a tortoise.] An extinct
genus of turtles, typical of the family Plesio-
4554
dominal ribs are present. The skuU has a fixed quadrate
bone, one poatorbital bar, and no free paroccipital ; the
vertebra axe amphiccBlous, with neurocentraJ sutures, and
only two of them compose a sacrum. The nbs are one-
headed. The eyebaU has no sclerotic ring of bones, and
the teeth ai-e socketed in a single row in both jaws, ihe
order contains many genera of gigantic flsh-like saurians
from "the Trias, Lias, and Chalk, whose affinities are with
the ohelonians, notwithstanding the wide diflerenoe in
form. The order is also called Samropterygm, but Pleao-
sauria is its prior and proper name. See cut under Ple-
eiosaurus. _ ^.
plesiosauxian (ple''si-6-sa'n-an), a. and n. l<.
Flesiosauria + -an.'] 1. a. Of or pertaining to
the Plesiosauria; plesiosauroid; sauropterygian.
II. n. A member of the Plesiosauria; a plesi-
osaur,
Plesiosauridae (ple"si-o-sa'ri-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Plesiosaurus + -idse.] A family of gigantic
animals represented by the genus Plesiosamrus
and related forms, having both fore and hind
limbs perfectly natatory. The pterygoids diverge
backward, and do not overlie the basisphenoid, and there
are small infra-orbital vacuities in the palate. They lived
from the uppermost Triassic to the Cretaceous epoch.
Some ot the species were of huge dimensions.
plesiosauroid (ple"si-9-sa'roid), a. [ipUsiosawr
+ -did.'] Resembling a plesiosaur; plesiosau-
Plesiosaurus (ple-'si-o-sa'rus), n. [NL. (Cony-
beare), < Gr. jrAijaioi, near, + aavpot, lizard.] A
plesiomorpMc (ple"si-6-m6r'fili), a. [iplesio-
morph-ous + -dcT] Same as plesiomorphous.
plesiomorphism (ple"si-6-m6r'fizm), ». [(.ple-
siomorph-ous + -ism.l In crystal., the relation
of crystallized substances the forms of which
closely resemble each other, but are not abso-
Intely identical.
plesiomorphous (ple"si-o-m6r'fus), a. [< Gr.
TT/jiaioQ, near, + fiop(j>^, form, + -ous.'] Nearly
alike in form ; exhibiting plesiomorphism.
Flesiopidse (ple-si-op'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,< Ple-
siops + -idsB.] A family of acanthopterygian
fishes, typified by the genus Plesiops, generally
embraced in the family PseudochrowididsB.
Plesiops (ple'si-ops), n. [NL., < Gr. nli^aUig,
near, + u^, eye, face.] A genus of pseudo-
Skeleton of Plesiosaurus, TPith diagrams of the more important
parts.
A, skull : Na, nasal aperture ; Pmx, premaxiUa. B, left fore limb :
H, humerus: R, U, radius and ulna; r, i, u. radiale, imtermedium,
and ulnare of carpus: z, 2,3, distal carpalia; ^r, metacarpus; Ph,
phalanges. C, dorsal vertebra, with iS, ribs, and VO, ventral ossifica-
tions; C, centrum; NA, neural arch. D, left hind limb: p, femur;
T, tibia ; F', fibula; t, i,f, tibiale, intermedium, and iibulare of tar-
sus; I. 2, 3, distal tarsalia; Mt, metatarsus; Ph, phalanges.
genus of Beptilia, typical of the order Plesio-
sauria, and formerly conterminous with it_, now
restricted to forms from the Upper Tnassic
(Rheetic) and the Liassic, as P. doUeliodirvs,
with extremely long neck.
plesireti «• -A- Middle English variant of plea-
sure.
plessimeter (ple-sim'e-ter), n. Same as plex-
Plesiaps bteekeri.
chromidoid fishes, regarded by some as the type
of a family Plesiopidse. It contains fishes of the
Indian and Pacific oceans, as P. Meekeri.
plesiosaur (ple'si-o-sftr), n. An animal of the
order Plesiosauria.
Plesiosauri (ple'si-o-sa'Ti), n. pi. [NL., pi. of
PlesiosauTus.2 Same as Plesiosauria.
Plesiosauria (ple"si-o-sa'ri-a), n.pl. [NL. : see
Plesiosaurus. ] An order of extinct marine Bep-
tilia, having the limbs fitted for swimming, the
body fish-like, the neck long, and the head qioite
small. The fore and hind limbs both constitute flippers
orpaddles like those of cetacean mammals, having numer-
ous phalanges inclosed in a common Integument like a fln.
The pectoral arch is complete, with triradiate scapular
and large coracoid and clavicular elements, and the pelvis
is large, with separate ilium. Ischium, and pubis. There is
no sternum, nor are there any sternal ribs, but floating ab-
plet (plet), n. [Also plete, pUtt; < Bnss. pletH,
a whip.] A whij), espeeiaUy one of the form
used by the Russian penal administration for
the chastisement of refractory prisoners.
There is another fla^ellator, however, called the pleie, a
whip of twisted hide, which is still retained at a few of
the most distant Siberian prisons, and only for the most
incorrigible, on whom irons, the birch, and other punish-
ments have had no effect. Encyc Brit, XTY 752.
pleteM, V. A Middle English form ot plead.
plete2, n. See plet.
pleteref , n. A Middle Ei^lish form of pleader.
plethora (pleth'o-ra), n. [Formerly also pleth-
ory; = F.pUthore = 8-p.pUtora = Pg. plethora
= It. pletora, < NL. plethora, < Gr. ■KT^Spn, full>-
ness, in med. plethora, < irT^.^dog, fullness, < irTiii-
8eiv, be or become f uU, < V w/^v in m/i7rUvac, fiU,
7r?i^pric,lj.plenus,tall: see fuW-, plenty.'] 1. In
pathol., overfullness of blood; a redundant full-
ness of the blood-vessels.
At the same time he is full and empty^ bursting with a
plethory, and consumed with hunger.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 910.
Your character at present is like a person in a pleth/)ra,
absolutely dying from too much health.
Sheridan, School for Scandal, iv. 3.
2. OverfnUness in any respect; superabun-
dance.
ApleOiora of dull fact is . . . especially the character-
istic of . . . [this] volnme on ancient histoiy.
Athenxum, Jan. 7. 1SS8, p. 11.
pleuracanth
plethoretic (pleth-o-ret'ik), a. [< plethwa -f
-etic, as in diuretic, etc.] Same &s plethoric.
plethoretical (pleth-o-ret'i-kal), a. [< pletho-
retic + -al.] Same as plethoric.
plethoric (ple-thor'ik or pleth'o-rik), a. [< Gr.
vlrfiupiadg, <' irhj6i)p7i, plethora: see plethora.]
Having a full habit of body, or the vessels over-
charged with fluids ; characterized by plethora,
in any sense.
And late the nation found, with fruitless skill,
Its former strength was hvA plethoric ill.
Ooldmiith, Traveller, 1, 144.
At length he broke out into a plethoric flt of laughter
that had well nigh choked him, by reason of his excessive
corpulency. Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 169.
The pooketB, plethoHe with marbles round.
That still a space for ball and pegtop found.
Lowell, Eiglow Papers, 1st ser., Int.
plethorical (ple-thor'i-kal), a. [< plethoric +
-at] Same a.s plethoric.
plethorically (ple-thor'i-kal-i), adv. In a ple-
thoric manner ; with plethora.
plethoryt (pleth'o-ri), n. An obsolete form of
plethora. ,
Plethospongiae (ple-tho-spon'ji-e),w.i)!. [NL.,
< Gr. Tilijdot, fullness, + ciriyyoQ, sponge.] In
SoUas's classification of sponges, same as Miero-
mastictora.
plethron, plethmm (pleth'rgn, -rum), ».; pi.
plethra (-ra). [< Gtr. TrMdpov (see del).] In
ancient Greece, a fundamental land-measure,
being the square of 100 feet, or 10,000 square
feet. As a measure of length, the plethron was the side
of tliis square, the sixth part of a stadium, or about 101
English feet.
plethysmograph (plf-this'mo-graf), n. [< 6r.
irhidva/idg, increasing, enlargement (< vTufivuv,
be or become full, lAifiiivuv, make full, < ir/l^Sof,
irhfiiig, fullness), + ypdipeiv, write.] .A.n instru-
ment for obtaining tracings indicating . the
changes in the volume of a part of the body,
especially as dependent on the circulation of
blood in it. The part, as the arm, is inclosed in a tigM
vessel and surrounded by water, which is forced up or al-
lowed to recede in a tube as the volume increases or di-
minishes.
plethysmographic (plf-this-mo-graf'ik), a. [<
plethysmograph + -ie.] Of or pertaining to
the plethysmograph, or its use. Medical News,
pletingt, n. A Middle English form ot pleading.
pletourt, n. A pleader ; a lawyer.
pleugh, pleuch (pliich), n. and v. Scotch forms
of plow.
pleugh;paidle (plTieh'pa"dl), m. A plow-staff.
Scott, old Mortality, xxxv. [Scotch.]
pleural (^is'ra), n.; pi. pleurse (-re). [NL., <
Gr. TrTievpa, a rib, in pi. (also in sing.) the side,
side of a triangle, a page of a book; cf. neut.
JT/Irapdv, a rib, pi. ir'Jlevpd, the ribs, the side.] 1.
The principal serous membrane of the thorax;
the shut sac, having a serous surface, which
lines the walls of the chest, and is reflected over
the surface of each lung. There are two pleura,
right and left, completely shut off from each other. EacS
is divided into a parietel or costal layer and a viscenil
or pulmonary layer. (See the phrases below.) Like the
other serous membranes, the pleurae are moistened with
a serous secretion, which serves to facilitate the move-
ments of the lungs in the chest. See cuts under perita-
iwujm and thorax.
2. In conch., one of the lateral tracts on each
side of the raohis of the lingual ribbon of the
odontophore : generally used in the plural.
The teeth of the plev/rec are termed uncini ; they are ex.
tremely numeroas in the plant-eating gastropods.
Woodmri.
3. In eompar. anat., the lateral portion of one
of the rings composing the integument of an
arthropod or articulate animal, lying between
the tergum and sternum, and in insects and
crustaceans consisting of two pieces, the epi-
meron and epistemum. in descriptive entomology
the term is generally restricted to the side of the thorai,
as in Diptera. — Cavity of the pleura, the space between
the parietal and puuuonary layers of the pleura. In
the normal state these layers are in contact. See cut
under fftoroa;.— Parietal pleura, (a) Same as pleaim
oostalis. (6) All the parts of the pleura except the pul-
monary portion.— Pericardial pleura. Seepericaram.
— Pleura costalis, the costal part of the pleura, lining the
walls of the thorax.— Pleura mediastmalla, that pm
of the pleura which enters into the formation of the medi-
astinum.—Pleura pericardlaca. Same as pericardm
pleura.— Pleura phrenlca, that part of the pleura which
Invests the upper surface of the diaphragm; the dia-
phragmatic pleura Pleura pulmonallB, the pulmo-
nary or visceral part of the pleura, investing the lungs.—
Visceral pleura, the pleura pulmonalis.
pleura^, n. Plural otpleuron.
pleuracanth (plo'ra-kanth), a. and n. [< NL.
Pimm-acanthus.] Same as pleuraea/nthoid.
Pleuracanttaidse
Fleiiracanthids (pl6-ra-kan'thi-de), n. pi.
[NL., < Pleuraeantkus + -idse.'] A family of
fishes of the order Xenacanthini, typified by the
genus Pleuraeantkus. The body was moderately long;
the head i-oundiBh; the moath terminal and well slit;
the dorsal double, the first short, armed with an anterior
spine, and mostly above the head, the second extending
from the ilrst to the caudal fin ; the anaia were double,
and the caudal was long and diphycercal ; the pectorals
had a biserial arrangement of CE^ilaginous rays, and the
ventrals were sharlc-like; the teeth had two divergent
cones and an intermediate denticle. The roeciea lived
during the Carboniferous and Permian perio(U.
Pleuracanthini (plo^rarkan-thi'm), n.pl. [NL.,
< Pleuracantlms + -««».] An order of fishes
otherwise called Xeruicanthini and Ichthyotomi.
See Xenacanthini.
pleuracanthoid (pl6-ra-kan'thoid), a. and n.
I. a. Of or resembling the PleuracantUdie.
II. n. A member of the family Plewacan-
thidse.
Also pleuracanth.
Fleuracanthus (pl6-ra-kan'thus), n. [NL.
(Agassiz, 1837), < Gr. ttAed/xSv, a rib, + &Kavda,
spine.] A remarkable exMnct genus of fishes,
typical of the family Pleuracanthidae.
pleural! (plo'ral), a. [< plsura^ + -a?.] Of or
pertaining to a pleura or the pleurae: as, the
ptewraZ investment of the lungs ; the pleural cav-
ity ; pleural effusion or adhesions. Also^fejtnc.
pleural^ (plS'ral), a. l<pleuron + -al.2 1. Per-
taining to a rilJ' or a pleuron, or to the ribs or the
pleura collectively; costal; situated on the side
of the thorax or chest. — 2. Lateral, in general ;
situated on the side of the body: correlated
with dorsal, ventral, etc. — 3. In arthropods,
pertaining to an arthropleura or pleurite: ap-
plied to the lateral limb-bearing section of an
arthromere, between the stemite and the ter-
gite. See outs imder Brachyura and Trildbita.
— 4. Espeeially.in e»tom., lateral and thoracic:
as, a, plural sclerite; a, pleural segment of a
thoracic somite.— Pleural liacet of the movable pleu-
ra of a crustacean, the anterior part of a pleuron which is
overlapped by the preceding pleuron in flexion of the body.
—Pleural spine, a spine connected with a plenroid. O.
4555
lutroversible or capable of being withdrawn
by a backward movement of the parts into
which it sinks, as an evert: correlated with
aarecbolic, and distinguished from pleureoiolic.
[Rare.]
It [the pleurecbolic variety of eversion] may be called
acrembolic, whilst conversely the acrecboUc tubes are
pleurembMs. Lankeeter, Bncyc. Brit., XVI. 652.
pleurenchyma (plQ-reng'ki-ma), n. [NL., < Gr.
irTievpa, the side, + tyxi>l^, wfiat is poured in :
see enchymatous, parenchyma.'] In iot., the
woody tissue of plants. See wood-cell.
pleurenchymatous (plo-reng-kim'a-t"s), a. [<
pleurenchyma{t-) + -ous.'] Of, pertaining to,
or of the nature of pleurenohyma.
pleuric (plo'rik), o. [< pleura^ + -ic.'] Same
as pleural^.
pleurisy (plo'ri-si), n. [Formerly also^^Mns^,
partly associated (as in the equiv. ML. plurior,
pluritas, plethora) with L. pirns (gen. plwis),
more, as & implying a plethora of blooa; < F.
pUurSsie = Vr. ple/urezia = Sp. pleuresia = Pg.
plewriz = It. pleurisia, < LL. plemrim, a later
form of the reg. L. plemritis: see pleuritis.]
Inflammation of the pleura, it may be acute or
chronic, and may or may not be accompanied by effusion.
The effusion may he serous, seropurulent, pmnilent, or
hemorrhagic. Also called j^euritiff.
The Pleurisie stabs him with desperate foyl
Beneath the ribs, where scalding blood doth boyl.
Sylvester, tr. of Da Bartas's Weeks, ii. The Furies.
Virtue in a chafe should change her linen quick,
lieat plewrisy get start of providence.
Browning, Ring and Book, 1. 194.
Diy pleurisy, pleurisy without effusion.
pleurisy-root (pl6'ri-si-r6t), n. A plant of the
milkweed family, Aselqiias tuberosa : so named
pleuralgia (ipl^-ral'ji-a), n. [NL., < Gr. vT^pi,
the side, + akyoQ, pain.] Pain in the pleura or
side; pleurodynia.
pleural^C (plg-raiyik), a. [< pleuralgia + -Jc]
Pertaining to or affected with pleuralgia.
pleuralia (plB-ra'li-a), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi. of
'pleuralis, < Gr. ■KTtevpd, the side: see pleuralX,
pleural.'] In sponges, spicules forming a fur.
F. E. Shulze.
pleurapophysial (pie-rap-o-fiz'i-al), a. [<pleu-
rapophysis + -al.] Having the morphological
character of a pleurapophysis; of the nature of
a rib; costal; eostiferous.
pleurapopliysis (pl6-ra-pof 'i-sis), n. ; pi. pleu-
rapophyses (-sez). [NL., < Gr. TrTixvpav, a rib,
+ aTz6(pvai^, a process : see apopltysis.] A lat-
eral process of a vertebra, having the morpho-
logical character of a rib, or forming a true rib.
Such processes in the thoracic region of the spine are com-
monly highly developed, and movably articulated bothwith
the centra and with the diapophyses of the thoracic verte-
brsB, and they are then ribs In an ordinary sense. They are
mostly rudimentary in other parts of the spinal column,
but sometimes are very evident, as in the cervical ribs of
various vertebrates, including man. In man, in the neck,
they bound the vertebrarterial foramen in front, and pro-
duce the tubercles known as anterior on the transverse
process. Fleurapophyses are also by some considered to
be represented in the lateral mass of the human sacrum.
Developed and movably articulated pleurapophyses, form-
ing true ribs, often extend into the sacral as well as cervical
region, as in vaiious birds ; and in all of this class more
or fewer of them bear accessory processes called uncinate.
(See cut under epijieura.) In serpents they run in un-
broken series from head to tail, and assist in locomotion.
(See gastroetege.) In some reptiles they support a pata-
gium (see cut under dragon) ; in the cobra they spread the
hood. In Owen's nomenclature the term pleurapophytis
is restricted to the true bony part of a rib, the gristly part
or costal cartilage being called heTna^ophysis. See outs
under vertebra and encU^ixleton.
pleurarthron (plij-rar'thron), n. ; pi. pleurar-
thra (-thra). [NL., < Gr. w/uvpd, a rib,+ apBpov,
a joint.] "The articulation of a rib. Thomas,
Med. Diet.
pleurecboUc (plo-rek-borik), a. [< Gr. irTievpd,
the side, + iK^oX^, a throwing out: see ecbolic]
Eversible or capable of protrusion by a forward
movement of the sides of the containing tube,
as an invert: correlated with acrembolic, and
distinguished tiom pleurenibolic. [Rare.]
It is clear that, if we start from the condition of full
eversion of the tube and watch the process of introversion,
we shall And that the plewecbolie variety is introverted
by the apex of the tube sinking inwards.
LankeOer, Enoyc. Brit, XVI. 652.
pleurembolic (plS-rem-bol'ik), a. [< Gr. ■KT^evpa,
the side, + lii^oyi, a putting into : see embolic]
I. Part of the Inflorescence of Pleurisy-root (Asclepias tuberosa).
2. The root and the lower part of the stem, a, a flower : b, the anthers
and the stigma ; c. the fruit ; d, a seed.
from its medicinal use. Also called butterfly-
weed.
pleurite (plo'rit), n. [< Gr. ^Tievpd, the side,
+ -ite^.] 1. In arthropods, a pleural sclerite ;
a lateral piece or segment of a somitie ring or
somite, between the tergite and the stemite. —
2. In a restricted sense, the lateral or pleural
part of an abdominal segment of an insect.
pleuritic! (plg-rit'ik), a. [< 'L.pleuriticm, < Gr.
wX^vptTtK^c, suffering from pleurisy, < jrisvplng,
pleurisy: see pleuriUs.] 1. Pertaining to or
suffering from pleurisy : as, pleuriUe symptoms
or affections; a, pleuritic 'patient, — 2. Causing
or bringing pleurisy.
For while the efSuence of the skin maintains
Its native measure, the pleuritic Spring
Glides harmless by.
Armelrotig, Art of Preserving Health, iii.
pleuritic^ (plp-rit'ik), a. [< pleurite + -ic]
1. In arthropods, of or pertaining to a pleu-
rite; pleural, as a segment of a somite. — 2.
In entom., specifically, lateral or pleural and
abdominal; of or pertaining to a pleurite.
pleuritical (plo-rit'i-kal), a. [< plemiUe^ +
-al.'] Same a.s'pleurit0:
pleuritis (plo-ri'tis)^ n. [NL., < "L. pleuritis, <
Gr. irXsvplrtf, pleuritis (cf . jr^£vpiT7ig, on or at the
side), < ir%evpa, the side: see pleura^.] Same
as pleurisy.
pleuroblastic (plo-ro-blas'tik), a. [< Gr. ir2£v-
pa, the side, + pXdtsrd;, a germ.] In bof., in
the Peronoi^orese, producing vesicular lateral
outgrowths which serve as haustoria. De Bary.
Pleurobrachia (pl6 - ro - bra'ki - a), n. [NL., <
Gr. Tt'kevpa, the side, + ^paxiuv, the arm.] A
genus of ctenophorans : same as Ojjdippe, 1.
pleurobranchiai (pl8-ro-brang'ki-a), ».; pi.
plewrobramohix (-e). [NL., < Gr. nTuvpd, the
Pleuroconchse
side, + jSpdyxia (NL. branchise, sing, branchia),
giUs.] A pleural gill ; a branchial organ borne
upon an epimeron of any thoracic segment of
a crustacean. Some of the thoracic segments, as in the
crawfish, may bear on each side four branchise, a coxopo-
ditic podobranchia, anterior and posterior arthrobran-
chise, and epimeral pleurobranchiae.
Fleurobranchia^^ (plo-ro-brang'ki-a), ;». pi.
[NL., < Gr. TzJievpd, the siiie, + ppdyxia, gills.]
Same as Pleurobranchiata. J. E. Gray, 1821.
pleurobrancbial (plo-ro-brang'ki-al)^ a. [<
pleurobranohia?- ■¥ -al.] ' Of or pertaining to a
pleurobranchia : as, a pleurobranchial process.
Pleurobranchiata (pla-ro-brang-M-a'ta), n.pl.
[NL., neut. pi. of pleurobranchiatus : see pleu-
robranchiate] An order of opisthobranchiate
gastropods, whose gills are tufts on the sides
under a fold of the mantle, and which have gen-
erally a spiral shell in the adult as well as the
young. Also Pleurobranchia, Tectibranchiata.
pleurobranchiate (plo-ro-brang'M-at), a. [<
NL. pleurobraiiehiatus, < Gr. wP^rapd, the side, +
Ppdyxia, ^Hs.] 1. Having pleurobranchiae, as
a crustacean. — 2. Having gills along the sides ;
specifically, pertaining to the Pleurobranchiata,
or having their characters.
Pleurobranchidse (pl6-ro-brang'ki-de), n. pi.
[NL., < Pleurobranchus + -idse.] A family of
notaspidean nudibranchiate gastropods, t^i-
fied by the genus Pleurobranchu^s. They have dis-
tinct buccal tentacles forming a veil, branchis on the
right side of the body under the border
of the mantle, a proboscidiform mouth,
and numerous falciform marginal teeth
on the radula.
Pleurobranchus (pl6-ro-brang'-
kus), n. [NL., < Gr. lAevpd, the
side, + Ppdyxia, gUls.] A genus
of nudibranchiates, typical of the
family Pleurobranchidse.
Pleurocarpi (pl6-ro-kar'pi), n. pi.
nTuvpd, the side, + /co/«rof, fruit.]
of bryaceous mosses in which the fructification
is lateral on the stems, having proceeded from
the axils of the leaves. ' Sometimes called
PleurocarpsB.
pleurocarpoUS (plo-ro-kar'pus), a. [< Gr.
irTi^vpd, the side, + aapTrSg, fruit.] In bot., hav-
ing the fructification proceeding laterally from
the axils of the leaves, as in some mosses.
Saclis.
pleurocele (plS'ro-sel), n. [< Gr. vT^Evpd, the
side, -t- Kti^v, tumor.] Same as pneumocele.
pleurocentral (pl5-ro-sen'tral), a. [< plewro-
centrum + -al.] Of or pertaining to a pleuro-
centrum; hemicentral.
pleurocentrum (pl6-ro-sen'trum), n. ; pi. pleu-
rocentra (-tra). [NL.j < Or. iz'Xsvpd, the side, -f-
Kevrpov, the center.] One of the lateral ele-
ments of the centrum of a vertebra; a hemi-
centrum.
Pleurocera (plo-ros'e-ra), n. [NL., < Gr. irTievpd,
the side, + icepaQ, horn.] A genus of American
fresh-water univalves, typical of the family
Pleuroceridse. Also called Trypanostoma.
pleurocerebral (plo-ro-ser'f-bral), a. [< Gr.
■ir?,£vpd, the side, 4- L. 'cerebrum,"ihe brain: see
cerebral.] Connecting the side of the body with
the head: specifically, in moHusks and some
other invertebrates, noting a nervous cord con-
necting a cerebral with a pleural ganglion.
Pleuroceridae (pl6-ro-ser'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Pleurocera + -idee.] ' A family of tsenioglossate
gastropods, typified by the genus Pleurocera.
It comprises a great number of species, mostly occurring
in the fresh waters of the TTnited States, referred by the
old writers to the melanians. They are distinguished,
however, by their unfriuged mantle, want of a^distinct
male organ, and oviparity. Also called Ceriphasiidse and
Pkurobranchus
tne?nbranaceut.
[NL., < Gr.
A division
pleiirOCOele (plb'ro-sel), n. [< Gr. v?^evpd, the
side, + Koilov, a hollow, neut. of laAot, hollow.]
One of two lateral spaces of the posterior part
of the splanchnocoele of a brachiopod.
I propose to give the name %Aewrocceles to these spaces,
simply from their position as side chambers.
Davidson, Trans. Linn. Soc, XIV. UL 210.
pleuroCoUc (plo-ro-kol'ik), a. [< Gr. irT^svpdv,
a rib, + L. colon, colon: see colon?.] Same
as costocoUc pieurocolic ligament. Same as cogto-
colic ligament (which see, under cogtocolio).
pleurocollesis (plb'ro-ko-le'sis), n. [NL., <
Gr. irkevpd, the side,' + Kd'X'kiiai^, a gluing, <
Ko'D^av, glue, < ko/UW, glue.] Adhesion of the
pleura.
Pleuroconchaet (plo-ro-kong'ke), n.pl. [NL.,
< Gr. Tc'Kevpd, the side, + my XI, a mussel, shell.]
A suborder of inequivalve Conchifera, compris-
ing the families Aviculidse, Pectinidx, Spondy-
lidx, Ostreidse, and Chamidse.
Pleurodeles
PleurodelesCplo-rod'e-lez), M. [NL.] A genus
of tailed amphibians, typical of the family
PleurodelidsB.
Pleurodelid^e (plo-ro-del'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Pleurodeles + -idas.'\ ' A family of gradient or
tailed amphibians, typified by the genus Pleu-
rodeles. They have palatine teeth in two longitudinal
series diverging behind, inserted on the inner margin of
two palatine processes, which are much prolonged pos-
teriorly; the parasphenoid toothless; and a postfroutal
arch, sometimes ligamentous,
Pleurodira (plo-ro-di'ra), n. jpZ. [NL. : see
Pleurodires.'] A superfamily of tortoises with
the neck bending in a horizontal plane, and
pelvis ankylosed to carapace and plastron. It
includes the recent families Sternothseridse, Po-
doenemididse, Chelydidse, and several extinct
ones. Chelodines is a synonym.
pleiirodiran (plo-ro-di'ran), a. Same a,spleuro-
dirous. Amer. Nat., XJt'II. 36.
Pleurodires (plo-ro-di'rez), n.pl. [NL., < Gr.
ir'Aevpd, the side, +' Seip^, the neck.] In Gray's
classification, a suborder of tortoises whose
necks bend sidewise ; the pleurodirous tor-
toises: same as Pleurodira. See cut under
Chelydidx.
pleurodirous (ple-ro-di'rus), a. [< Gr. TT^evpd,
the side, + detp^, the" neck.] In Chelonia, bend-
ing the neck sidewise : noting those tortoises,
as the matamata, which thus fold the head and
neck in the shell : opposed to cryptodirous. See
cut under Chelydidie.
pleurodisCOUS (plo-ro-dis'kus), o. [< Gr. TrTievpd,
the side, + diaKog, a disk.] In 6ot, attached
to the sides of a disk.
pleurodont (plo'ro-dont), a. and n. [< NL.
*pleurodus (pleurodont-), < Gr. Tzlsvpa., the side,
+ o(5oiif (orfovr-) = E. tooth.'] I. fl. 1. Ankylosed
to the side of the socket, as teeth ; laterally fixed
Anterior Fart of Right Ramus of Lower Jaw of an Iguana, showing
Pleurodont Dentition.
in the jaw: distinguished from acrodont. — 2.
Having or characterized by pleurodont teeth or
dentition, as a lizard ; belonging to the Pleuro-
dontes; not acrodont: as, a. pleurodont reptile.
II. n. A pleurodont lizard ; a member of the
Pleurodontes.
Fleurodontes (plo-ro-don'tez), n. pi. [NL., pi.
ot*pleurodus (pleurodont-): see pteurodon-t.] A
group of pleurodont lizards, comprising such
as the American iguanoids. J. Wagler, 1830.
pleurodynia (pl6-ro-din'i-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
irAevpa, the side, +' 6diiw?,"pain.] In pathol.,
pain in the muscles of the chest.
pleuro-esopliageus (plS-ro-e-so-fa'je-us), n.
[NL., < Gr. nievpd, the side,' + oladfayog, esopha-
gus.] A band of smooth muscle-fibers connect-
ing the left pleura behind with the esophagus.
pleurogenic (plS-ro-jen'ik), a. [< Gr. irXevpa,
the side, + -yev^g, produced: see rgenous.]
Originating from the pleura: as, pleurogenic
phthisis.
pleurogynous (plg-roj'i-nus), a. [< Gr. nlevpa,
the side, + yvmj, female (in mod. bot. pistil).]
In hot., having a glandular or tubercular eleva-
tion rising close to and parallel with the ovary.
pleurogyrate (plB-ro-ji rat), a. [< Gr. 7r?LEvpd,
the side, + L. gyratus, pp. of gyrare, turn: see
gyrate.] In hot., having the ring on the theca
(of ferns) placed laterally.
pleurogyratous (plo-ro-ji'ra-tus), a. [< pleuro-
gyrate + -ous.] Same a,s pleurogyrate.
pleurohepatitis (plo-ro-hep-a-ti'tis), n. [NL.,
< Gr. ■k/Uvpd, the side, + ^n-dp (ijiror-), liver, -I-
-itis. Cf. hepaUiis.] Inflammation of the liver
and adjacent pleura.
pleuroia (plo'roid), n. [< Gr. wMvpdv, a rib, +
Ejdof, form. Cf. Gr. TrTicvpoeiSai, adv., after the
manner of ribs.] One of the pair of distinct
pleural elements which compose the pleural
arch of a vertebra; a pleurapophysis: correlated
with neuroid. G. Bam; Amer. Nat., XXI. 945.
pleurolepidal (pl6-r6-lep'i-dal), a. [< NL.
Pleurolepis (-lepid-) + -al.] OS or pertaining
to the Pleurolepididse ; having oblique rows of
ribbed rhomboid scales interlocking. Each scale
has upon its inner anterior margin a thick, solid, bony rib
extending upward, and sliced off obliquely below, thus
forming splices with the inverse parts of the upper and
lower scales.
Pleurolepididse (pl6"r6-le-pid'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Pleurolepis {-lepid-)' + -idse.] A family of
4556
fossil pycnodont fishes, typified by the genus
Pleurolepis. By some they are united with the Dap^-
Use. The vertebral column was homocercal, the flns had
fulcra, and the body was not very high. They flourished
in the Liassic. Also Pleurolepidm. .
Pleurolepis (plij-rol'e-pis), «. [NL., < Gr.
w^vpd, the side, + T^ivk, a scale.] The typi-
cal genus of the Pleurolepididse, having rib-
like rows of scales, whence the name. Agassie.
Pleuroleura (pl6-r6-lu'ra), n. [NL.,< Gr. nXevpd,
the side, + ?^evp6g, smooth, level.] A genus of
nudibranchiates, typical of the family Pleuro-
leuridse. Also called Derviatobranchus.
Pleuroleuridae (pis-ro-lu'ri-de), n.pl [NL., <
Pleuroleura + -idse.] ' A family of inferobran-
chiate nudibranchiate gastropods, typified by
the genus Pleuroleura (or Dermatobranclius).
They are destitute of specialized branchlse, and respi-
ration is effected by the skin. Also cpUed DermoMran-
pleuromelus (pl§-rom'e-lus), ».; v^. pleuromeli
(-li). [NL., < Gr. irXcvpd, the side, + /ie?Mg, a
limb.] In teratol., a monster with supernu-
merary limbs attached to the lateral regions
of the trunk.
Fleuromonadidee (pl8"ro-mo-nad'i-de), n. pi.
[NL., < Pleuromonas {-moriad-) + -idle.] A
family of pantostomatous flagellate Infusoria,
typified by the genus Pleuromonas. These ani-
malcules are free-swimming, and naked or Ulorioate, and
have a single lateral or dextral flagellum and no distinct
oral aperture.
Pleuromonas (plg-rom'o-nas), n. [NL., < Gr.
TvXevpd, the side, + NL. 'Monas, < Gr. uovdc; {/w-
vai-), a unit : see monad.] The typical genus of
PleuromonadidsB. P.jaoulans is an example.
pleuron (plo'ron), ». ; pi. pleura (-ra). [NL.,
< Gr. K?ievp6v, a rib: see pleura^.] A lateral
piece, part, or aspect of the body; especially,
the side of the thorax : chiefly used of inverte-
brates. Specifically— (») In Crustacea, a lateral piece
or part of any somite below the tergum and above the in-
sertion of the legs ; an epimeron. (i>) In Trilobita, one of
the flattened lateral sections of a thoracic or pygidial so-
mite, lying on each side of the axis or tergum. See cut
under TrUoUta. (c) In entom., the lateral section of the
thorax ; the pleural part of any one of the three thoracic
somites. There are consequently three pleura on each
side, called from their position the propleuron, mesopleu-
ran. and metapleuron, according to their respective seats
on the prothorax, mesothorax, and metathorax.
Pleuronectse (plo-ro-nek'te), n. pi. [NL., pi.
of Pleuronectes.] T'he flatfishes. See Pleuro-
neeiidee.
Pleuronectes (plB-ro-nek'tez), n. [NL. (Ar-
tedi, LinnsBus), < Gr! TrAeupd, the side, + v^KT?ig,
a swimmer.] A genus of flatfishes, giving
name to the family Pleuronectidse, formerly
conterminous with the family, later variously
restricted. By most recent writers the name has been
limited to the group typified by the common plaice, P. pla-
tesm, sometimes to the few species much like this type,
sometimes extended to a larger assemblage. By others it
has been used for the turbots, otherwise called Bothusaad
Psetta. By others still it has been employed for the genus
otherwise called Amogloggug. In a common European
acceptation it includes flounders of northern seas, having
the eyes and the color on the right side, the colored side of
each jaw usually toothless, the blind side with close-set
teeth in one (rarely two) series, the body ovate or elliptical,
the small scales ctenoid or cycloid, the lateral line nearly
straight or more or less arched anteriorly, and the small
gill-rakers widely set. About 12 species of Pleuronectes
in this sense are found in North America, a majority of
them on the Pacific coast, as P. (Platichihys) steilatwi, the
California flounder, one of the largest and most important.
P. (Limanda)/errugineus is the sand-dab of the Atlantic
coast. P. (Pseudopleuronectes) americanus is the mud-dab
or winter flounder, common on this coast from New York
. northward.
pleuronectid (plS-ro-nek'tid), n. and a. I. n.
A flatfish; any member of the Pleuronectidse; a
pleuronectoid.
II. a. Of or pertaining to the Pleuronectidse.
Pleuronectidae (pl6-r6-nek'ti-de), w.^?. [NL.,
< Pleuronectes + -idx.'] A family of teleocepha-
lous fishes, of the suborder Seterosomata, or
flatfishes, or the Anacanthini pleuronectoidei of
Giinther, comprising the flatfishes or flounders.
Pleuroptera
the dorsal and anal flns are long and soft The genera are
about 40 in number, with 4pp species, mostly camivoroug,
inhabiting sandy bottoms of all seas, sometimes ascending
rivers, and including such important food-fishes as the
halibut, turbot, plaice, and sole. With more restricted
limits, it embraces those which have the general physiog.
nomy of the plaice or halibut, distinctly outlined pre-
opercle and other bones, little twisted mouth, generally
subacute snout, and nostrils little dissimilar on two sides.
It thus excludes the true soles and like fishes (see Soleida).
See also cuts under ?uUS>vt, plaice, JUmnder, PmaKcWtys,
sole, and turbot. Also Pleuronectoidei.
pleuronectoid (pM-ro-nek'toid), a. and n. [<
Pleuronectes + -oid.] ' I. a. Resembling a fish of
the genus Pleuronectes; belonging to the Pleu-
ronectidse or Pleuronectoidei.
II. n. A member of the Pleuronectoidei; a
pleuronectid.
Pleuronectoidei (pl6"ro-nek-toi'de-i), n. pi.
[NL.: see pleuronectoid.] Same as Pleuronee-
Lefizdepsetta bilineata, of California, one of the PUuromctida.
In the widest sense, it includes all the representatives ol
the suborder. The head is unsymmetrical, with both eyes
on one side ; one surface is colored, the other colorless ; and
pleuropathia (plo-ro-path'i-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
■Kkevpa, the side, + mSoq, suffering.] Disease of
the pleura.
pleuropedal (plS'ro-ped'al), a. [< Gr. tr'ktvpli,
the side, + L. pes (ped-) = E. foot.] Connect-
ing the side of the body with the foot: specifi-
cally said of a nervous cord which connects a
pleural with a pedal ganglion, as in mollusks.
Also pedopleural.
pleuropericarditis (plo-ro-per'i-kar-di'tis), H.
[NL., < Gr. irleypd, the side, + 'i^h. perieardium,
q. v., + -ilAs.] Inflammation of the pleura and
the pericardium.
pleuroperipneumony(pl6-ro-per-ip-nu'm9-ni),
n. Same &s pleuropneumonia.
pleuroperitoneal, pleuroperitonxal (plo-ro-
per'''i-t6-ne'al), a. [<, pleurpperitoneum + -aC.]
In zoot. aaa£ anat., of or relating to the pleura
and the peritoneum, or the general body-cav-
ity or perivisceral cavity of a vertebrate ani-
mal when it is not divided by a partition (dia-
phragm) into a pleural or thoracic and a peri-
toneal or abdominal cavity, it is formed in the
early embryo by the splittingof the laminse ventral es into
inner or splanchnopleural and outer or somatopleural
layers, and the union of the latter layers of right and left
Sfdes in the ventral midline of the bod^.
pleuroperitoneum, pleuropentonseum (pie-
r6-per"i-to-ne'um), n. [NL., < Gr. ir'KEupa, the
side, + Trepirdvaiov, peritoneum : see peritoneum.]
A serous membrane, representing both pleura
and peritoneum, which lines a pleuroperitoneal
cavity, as in vertebrates below mammals.
Pleurophthalma (plo-rof-thal'ma),».i>J. [NL.,
< Gr. TrAcupd, the side, + b(ji6aX/i6s, the eye.] A
group of toxoglossate gastropods with the eyes
at the external borders of the tentacles, com-
prising the families Conidse, Pleurotomidse, and
CancellariidSB.
.pleurqplegia (plo-ro-ple'ji-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
n?i.svpd, the side, + ir%^^, a stroke. Cf. hemi-
plegia.] Absence of the power of conjugate
movement of the eyes to the right or left, though
convergence ma^ be preserved.
pleuropneumonia (pl6"r6-nu-m6'ni-a), II.
[NL., < Qrr. irltiipa, the sicle, 4- Trveifiav, lung:
see pleura^ and pneumonia.] 1. A specific con-
tagious disease, peculiar to cattle, affectingthe
lungs and the pleura, supposed to be caused
by some form of micro-organism. It was recog-
nized as far back as the eighteenw century, and now occurs
in all the countries of western Europe, in the United States,
in southern Africa, ami in Australia. The losses which
it causes are frequently enormous. The disease first ap-
pears in the interlobular tissue of the lungs, whenee it in-
vades the pleura and the lung-tissue proper. The latter
becomes solidified, and dark-red in color, which varies in
later stages. The interlobular tissue becomes thickened
into broad yellowish or grayish bands, which give the cut
surface of the lungs a peculiar marbled appearance. The
disease may be limited to a single lobe or involve one en-
tire lung. A lung becomes very heavy, weighing in some
cases over fifty pounds. The disease appears after a
period of incubation of from three to six weeks with a
feeble cough, which grows more troublesome from week
to week. There is slight fever, associated with partial
cessation of rumination and milk-secretion. The back is
arched and the head is stretched out horizontally during
fits of coughing. After a period of from two to six weeks
the animal may recover, or the disease may enter a second
or acute stage, in which all the symptoms mentioned be-
come greatly aggravated.
2. In medicine, pleurisy combined with pneu-
monia.
pleuropoUB (pl8'r6-pus), a. [< Gr. irTievpd, the
side, + 1T0VC = E'. foot.] In hot., having side
supports: noting in the genus Polyporus those
species which have several supports or stipes
instead of one as is usually the case. [Eare.]
Pleuroptera (plij-rop'te-ra), n. pi. [NL., < Gr-
TtXevpd, the side, + m-ep<iv,"wing.] A group of
mammals, containing such as the Galeopithe-
cidse, or so-called flying-lemurs (of the order /»-
sectivora): so named from the lateral extension ,
Plenroptera
of the skin, which forms a kind of parachute.
See cut under Galeopithecus.
Pleuropygia (pie-ro-pij^i-a), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
•KT^vpi, the side, + jtoj^, the rump, buttocks.]
A division of Bracliiopoda, containing the in-
articulate or lyopomatous members of that
class: contrasted with ^PWio •• same as i^opo-
mata.
pleuropy^al (plo-ro-pij'i-al), a. [< Plmropygia
+ -al.\ Of or pertaining to the Pleuropygia.
pleurorhizal (plo-ro-ri'zal), a. [< (Jr. Tt^^vpd,
the side, + l>i^a, root, + -at] In iot., having
the embryo with the radicle against one edge
of the cotyledons — that is, with the cotyledons
aeoumbent. Gray.
pleurorrhea, pleurorrhoea (pl6-ro-re'ii), n.
[NLy < GtT. TcAeupi,, the pleura, + poia, a'flow,
flux.] Effusion into the pleural cavity.
Pleurosauridae (pie-ro-sa'ri-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Pleurosaurus + ■4dsB.'} A family of extinct
reptiles referred by some to the oiaeT EhyneJio-
cephalia, and represented by the genus Pleuro-
saurus. They had an extremely elongated body with
many presacral vertebrse, and a long narrow skuU with
dit-like nares. Their remains have been found in the
Eimmeridgian rocka of Bavaria.
Pleurosaurus (pl6-ro-sa'rus), n. [NL., < Gr.
nTxvpdv, a rib, 4- aavpog, lizard.] An extinct
genus of lizard-like reptiles, typical of the
family Pleurosauridse.
Pleurosigma (pl8-ro-sig'ma), n. [NL., < Qr.
T/l£t)pa, the side, + ci-y/xa, the letter 2, <t.] A
genus of Diatomaceae, containing species in
which the valves show, with a good micro-
scope, a series of lines, capable, under high
powers and a favorable light, of resolution into
dots, and therefore furnishing excellent tests
for the power of a microscope.
Pleurospondylia (pWro-spon-diri-a), n.pl.
[NL. , < &r. TT/W t)/)(jv, a rib, + anMv?MQ, a vertebra. ]
One of the pri-
V mary groups
(< ^.ts^^^^s^ into which
EepUlia are di-
visible. It is
characterized by
the immobility of
the dorsal verte-
bras upon one an-
other, and of the
ribs upon these
vertebrse (and by
the absence of
transverse pro-
cesses from all the
vertebrsB), this fix-
ity being secured by the union of superficial bony plates
intowhich theribs and vertebrae pass, formingacarapace,
and further caiTied out by the development, in the ventral
walls of the thorax and abdomen, of dermal bones, usually
nine in number, of which one is median and asymmetrical,
the others lateral and paired, the whole forming a plastron.
The group contains the single order Chelonia or Testudi-
nata, and is alone contrasted with Herpeto^Mndylia, Pero-
sponiyUa, aniSuchoapondylia collectively, which together
include all other IteptUia. See these words ; also cuts
under Chelonia, ChdonidsSt carapace, and plastron.
pleurospondylian (pl5"r6-spon-dil'i-an), a. and
». [< Plewrospmdylia + -«».] I. a. Having
the ribs fixed immovably upon the vertebrse ;
belonging to the Pleurospondylia, as a turtle or
tortoise; chelonian; testudinate.
II. n. A member of the Pleurospondylia, as a
turtle or tortoise.
pleurosteal (plg-ros'te-al), a. [< pleuroste-on
+ -al.'] Lateral and' costiferous, as a part
of a bird's sternum; pertaining to the pleuros-
teon.
pleurosteon (pli?-ros'te-on), w.j pi. plemostea
(-a). [NL., < GrT. TzTievpA, the side, + borkov, a
bone.] In ornith., the anterior lateral piece of
the breast-bone ; that element of the sternum
which forms the costal process and with which
ribs articulate : distinguished from lophosteon,
coracosteon, and metosteon. See cuts under
carinate and ^pleura.
Pleurosternidae (vlS-vo-st^T'm-de), n.pl. [NL.,
< Pleurosternum + -idee.'] A family of pleuro-
dirous turtles, represented by the genus Pleu-
rosternum. The plastron had a mesoplastral bone and
an intergular shield, and the entoplastron was rhomboidal.
The species lived during the Oiflitlo and Cretaceous pe-
riods.
Pleurosternum (pl6-ro-st6r'num), n. [NL., <
Gr. jrAcwpdv, rib, + cripvov, the chest.] A ge-
nus of extinct turtles, typical of the family
Pleurosternidse.
pleurosthotonos (pl8-ros-thot'o-nos), n. Same
as pleurotliotonos.
pleurostict (plB'ro-stikt), a. [< NL. pleurostic-
tm, < Gtv. JTtoi/jd, tie side, + otik,t6c, verbal adj.
of arl^etv, prick, stab: see stigma.] In entom.,
Trans-section of the Skeleton of CheloHe
midas in the dorsal region, showing the dispo-
sition of vertebra ana ribs, forming the cara-
pace, and characteristic of Pleurospondylia.
Ci, centrum of a vertebra ; y. expanded neu-
ral plate; ^, arib; C, expanded costal plate;
M, marginal plate ; /', a lateral element of
the plastron.
4557
having the abdominal spiracles pleural, or sit-
uated on the dorsal part of the ventral seg-
ments; specifically, of or pertaining to the PZeit-
rosUeia: opposed to laparostict.
Dr. Horn exhibited seven species of Pleocoma from
California, of which three were new, and supported the
views of the late Br. Le Conte of the position of this ge-
nus, which he insisted was a laparostict, and not aPku-
rostict I,amellicorn. Amer. Naturaliet, XXII. 951.
Pleurosticta (plo-ro-stik'ta), n. pi. [NL., pi.
of pleurostiotus : see pleurostict.'] In entom.,
one of the two main divisions of the family
Scarahseidse, including those forms which have
the abdominal spiracles (except the anterior
ones) situated in the dorsal part of the abdom-
inal segments, forming rows which diverge
strongly, and with the last spiracle
usually visible behind the elytra.
The ligula is always connate with the men-
turn, and the larvae have the lobes of the
maxillEe connate. The other main division
is Laparogticta. Also Pleurot^ictica.
pleurothotonic (plo"ro-th9-ton'ik),
a. [< pleurothoton-os '+ -ie.] Per-
taining to, of the nature of, or affect-
ed with pleurothotonos.
pleurothotouos (plo-ro-thot'o-nos),
n, [NL., < Gr. Tri.evp^ev, from the
side (< irT^evpA, the side, + -6ev, from,
an adverbial suffix), + rdvog, ten-
sion: see tone.] Tonic spasm in
which the body is bent sidewise:
correlated with emprosthotonos and
opisthotonos.
Pleurotoma (plij-rot'6-ma), m. [NL.
(Lamarck, 1801), < (Jr. k^p&, the ^i'J^7J,Ta'
side, + -To/wc, < ri/iveiv, to/ieiv, cut.]
In conch., the typical genus of Pteurotomidse :
so called from the notch or slit in the outer
lip of the aperture. Formerly the name was used for
all the members of the family, but it is now restricted to
forms more or less like P. iatrylomm.
Pleurotomaria (pl5"r9-to-ma'ri-a), n. [NL.
(Defrance, 1826), < Gr. "
■K%mp&, the side, + rofia-
ptov, prop. dim. of T6pog, a
cut, slice, < ri/iveiv, Ta/ieiv,
cut.] The typical ge-
nus of Plewrotoma/riidse.
Pleurotomariidse , (plo-
ro-tom-a-ri'i-de), n. pi.
[i^L., C Pleurotomaria +
-idsB.] Afamilyof scuti-
branchiate gastropods,
typified by the genus
Pleurotomaria. The animal has the muzzle simple ;
there is no frontal veil, the tentacles are simple, and
the eyes on pedicels exterior to their bases ; two nearly
symmetrical gills are developed,
and lateral fringes, but no cirri, pro-
ject from the sides; the shell is
trochiform, and has a deep silt in
the outer lip, leaving a fascicle on
the completed whorls ; the opercu-
lum is horny and multispiral or
subspiral. Four living species, in-
habiting deep tropical seas, are
known, and many extinct species,
ranging from the Silurian epoch up-
ward, as the Liassic Pleurotonuiria
An ancient genus, ranging from the Devonian to
the Trias, is Porcellia, of which a typical species is P.puzosi.
pleurotomarioid (plo'ro-to-ma'ri-oid), a. and
n. I. a. Of or relating to the PleurotomarUdse.
II. n. A species of the family Pterotoma-
riidse.
Pleurotomidse (pl6-ro-tom'i-de), n.pl. fNL.,
< Pleurotoma + -idee^] A family of toxoglos-
sate gastropods, typified by the genus Plemo-
toma. Most of them have the shell spindle-shaped, with
a prolonged canaliculate aperture notched near the suture.
It contains about 600 species, sometimes known aajismre-
shells. See cuts under Lachesis and Pleanlmna.
pleurotomiue (pl5-rot'o-min), a. [<.Pleurotoma
+ -ine^.] Of or related to shells of the genus
Pleurotoma.
pleurotomoid (plij-rot'o-moid), a. and n. [<
Pleurotoma + -oid.] I. a. Of or relating to the
Pleurotomidse.
II. n. A shell of the family Pleurotomidse.
pleurotransversalis (pl6-r6-trans-v6r-sa'lis),
n.; -pi, pleurotransversales (-lez). [NL., <Gr.
TAevpd, the pleura, + NL. transversalis, q. v.]
An anomalous muscular slip arising from the
transverse process of the seventh cervical ver-
tebra, and inserted into the top of the pleural
sac.
pleurotribe (plo'ro-tiib), a. [< Gr. irXewpa, the
side, + rpi^eiv, riib.] In iot., touching the
side : said of certain zygomorphic flowers, es-
pecially adapted for cross-fertilization by ex-
ternal aid, in which the stamens stnd styles are
so arranged or turned as to strike the visiting
Pleurotomaria ans-lica,
from the Lias.
Porcellia puzosi.from
the Carboniferous lime-
stone.
plexus
insect on the side. Such flowers are especially adapt-
ed to bees. Phaseolv^, Lathyrus sylvestris, and Polygala
myriifolia are examples. Compare notoirSM and <fer7W-
tnbe.
pleurotropous (pl§-rot'ro-pus), a. [< Gr. i^'>~ev-
pa, the side, + Tpiireiv, turn.] In hot., having
the faces flat: noting the stems of certain spe-
cies of Selaginella. Compare goniotropous.
pleurovisceral (pie-ro-vis'e-ral), a. [< Gr.
n?^vpd, the side, + L. viscera, tfi'e internal or-
gans : see visceral.] Pertaining to the side of
the body and to viscera : specifically said of the
connecting cord or loop between a pleural and
a visceral nervous ganglion of an invertebrate,
as a mollusk. Also viscerqpleural.
plevinf (plev'in), n. lAlsoplevine, < ME. *plev-
ine,(.OF.plevine,plevigne,pleuvine,plevene (ML.
plevi/na, pleuvina, pluvina), a pledge, warrant,
assurance, < plevir, pleicir, pleuvir, pVuvir, also
plever, pl/imer = Pr. plevir (ML. reflex plevire,
plivire), promise, engage, pledge, give in pledge,
warrant, K L. prsebere, proffer, offer, give (prse-
iere fidem, give a pledge): see pretend. Cf.
pledge and replevin, replevy.] In law, a warrant
or an assurance.
plex (pleks), i). i. [<.plexus.] To form a plexus.
plexal (plek'sal), a. l<plex-us + -al.] Of or
pertaining to a plexus.
piexed (plekst), a. [< L. plexus, plaited (see
plexus), + -ed^.] Plaited, netted, or made
plexiform; plexiform.
plexiforin (;plek'si-f6rm), o. [< L. plexus, a
twining, plaiting (see plexus), + forma.iarai.]
1. In the form of network; complicated.
Quincy. — 3. to. anat., specifically, formed into
a plexus, as nerves ; plaited ; plexed.
pleximeter, plexometer (plek-sim'e-ter, plek-
som'e-tfer), n. [< Gr. ■Klrj^tg, percussion (< ir^^c-
CEI.V, strike: see plague), + /lirpov, measure.]
In med., an elongated plate, composed of ivory,
india-rubber, or some similar substance, from
li to 2 inches in length, placed in contact with
the body, commonly on the chest or abdomen,
and struck with the percussion-hammer, in di-
agnosis of disease by mediate percussion. Also
plessimeter, plegometer.
pleximetric (plek-si-met'rik), a. [< pleximeter
+ -Jc] Of or pertaining to the pleximeter or
its use.
piezometer, n. See pleximeter.
plexor (plek'sor), n. [NL., irreg. < Gr. itlrj^tg,
percussion, <7r/l:^<r(Tav, strike: see plague.] That
which strikes in percussion ; a percussion-ham-
mer.
plexure (plek'gur), n. [< L. as if *plexura
(ML. 1), \ plectefe, pp. plexus, interweave: see
plexus.'] An interweaving; a texture; that
which is woven together.
plexus (plek'sus), n. [< L. plexus, an inter-
weaving, twining, plaiting, < plectere, pp. plex-
us, interweave, twine, plait: see plait.] 1. A
network; any collection of intimately coherent
parts, as of an argument.
Antecedent and consequent relations are therefore not
merely linear, but constitute a plants; and this plerm
pervades nature. Amer. Jour. Set., 3d ser., XXXI. 286.
A peitect plexus of ideas that mutually support and in-
terpret one another. Etusyc. Brit., II. 55.
3. In anat., an interlacing of nerves, vessels, or
fibers; a net-like arrangement of parts, or the
Brachial Plexus of Nerves in Man.
V, VI, VII, I, n, the five main roots (anterior divisions of cervical
and dorsail spinal nerves) of the plexus ; other cords and continuations
of the plexus are named in the figure.
parts so disposed: especially said of certain
delicate vascular membranes chiefly composed
plexus
of minute anastomosing blood-vessels, as the
choroid plexus, and of similar arrangements of
nerves of the spinal and sympathetic systems.
— 3. In math., a system of one-fold relations.
— Aortic plexus, the network of sympathetic nerves on
the side and front of the abdominal aorta, between the
origins of the superior and inferior mesenteric arteries.
Also called intermesenteric plexits. — Auerbach's plexus,
an extensive gangliated plexus of nerves lying between
the longitudinal and the circular layer of the small intes-
tine. Also called myenteric 'plexm. — Axillary plexus.
Same as hrachiaX pleams. — Basilar plexus. Same as trans-
verse simLS (yvidcii see, under ^*nu«). — Brachial plexus.
See droc/iioi.— Cardiac plexus, one of the three great
prevertebral plexuses of me sympathetic, situated in the
upper thoracic region in front, and between the aorta
ana the pulmonary artery, where these vessels are in
contact. It receives the cardiac branches from the cer-
vical ganglia and those of the vagus nerves, and gives off
the nerves which supply the hearty together with some
smaller branches which contribute to the nervous sup-
ply of the lungs. That division (the smaller) which lies
in the concavity of the arch of the aorta Is called the
superficial cardiac pteams, while the deep cardiac plexus
is placed behind the arch of the aorta, between it and
the end of the trachea. — Carotid plexus. See carcftid,
— Caudal plexus. Same as coccygeal plexus. — Caver-
nous plexus, (a) The continuation of the carotid plex-
us in the cavernous sinus. (&) The continuation of the
prostatic plexus, supplying the erectile tissue of the pe-
nis. Also called cavernous nerves, — Cervical plexus, the
network of nerves formed by the anterior divisions of the
four upper cervical nerves, giving off numerous nerves to
the head, neck, and chest, and the phrenic nerve to the
diapliragm. A similar plexing of posterior divisions of
the three upper cervical nerves is known as the posterior
cervical plexus.— ChoioiA plexuses. See choroid.— Cil-
iary plexus, a fine gangliated network formed from the
ciliary nerves, spread over the choroid, and within the cili-
ary muscle, from which the nerves of the cornea, of the
ciliary muscle, and of the iris are derived. — Coccygeal
plexus, the connection formed between the anterior di-
visions of the fourth and fifth sacral and first coccygeal
nerves. — Coeliac plexus, the sympathetic plexus of the
coeliac artery, continued from the solar plexus, and divid-
ing into the gastric, hepatic, and splenic plexuses. — Colic
plexuses, divisions of the superior and inferior mesenter-
ic plexuses accompanying the colic arteries. — Coronary
plexus, (a) One of two plexuses, right and left^ de-
rived from tlie cardiac plexus, and accompanying the re-
spective coronary arteries. (&) Same as gastric pleayus (&).
— Cystic plexus, a secondary plexus of the hepatic, to
the gall-bladder. — Deep Jugular plexus, a plexus of lym-
phatic vessels extending along the internal jugular vein
to the base of the cranium.— Deferential plexus, the
continuation of the vesical plexus upon the vasa def erentia
and the seminal vesicles. — Diaphragmatic plexus, the
phrenic plexus. — Dorsispinal plexus, a network of veins
investing the arches of the vei-tebrse,andreceivingbranches
from the contiguous muscles and skin of the back. — Epi-
gastric plexus, the solar plexus, or solariplex. — Esopha-
geal plexus, plexiform branches of the pneumogastric
nerve on the esophagus. Also called plexus gvlse. — Gas-
tric plexus, (a) One of two plexuses, anterior and poste-
rior, formed by the left and right vagus nerves respective-
ly. (&) A secondary plexus of the coeliac, accompanying the
gastric artery. Also called coronary plexits. — Gastro-
epiploic plexuses, secondary plexuses of the hepatic
and splenic, accompanying the gastro-epiploic arteries.
—Hemorrhoidal plexus, (a) A. plexus of fine nerves
derived from the pelvic, vesical, and inferior hemor-
rhoidal plexuses, penetrating the coats of the rectum, (b)
A large and copiously anastomosing network of veins in
the lower wall of the rectum, beneath the mucous coat,
from which the hemorrhoidal veins proceed.- Hepatic
plexus, the largest division of the cceliac plexus, aecom-
panying the hepatic artery in the substance of the liver.
— Hypogastric plexus, an intricate sympathetic plexus,
formed by the prolongation of the aortic plexus on each side,
lying in the interval of the common iliac arteries, invested
by a sheath of areolar tissue. It divides into two parts
below, one on each side of the pelvic viscera, forming the
pelvic plexuses. Also called superior hypogastric plexus.
— Ileocolic plexus, the division of the superior mesen-
teric plexus accompanying the ileocolic artery.— Inferior
dental plexus, a plexus formed by the communications
of the branches of the inferior dental nerve within the
lower jaw.- Inferior hypogastric plexus. Same as
pdvie plexus.— lafeiiOT mesenteric plexus, a sympa-
thetic plexus derived from the left lateral part of the
aortic plexus, and surrounding the artery of the same
name.— In&a-orbital plexus, a plexus formed by the
union of the labial branches of the superior maxillary nerve
with branches of the facial nerve.— InterepitheliaJ plex-
us, the fine network of nerves among the cells of the epi-
thelium of the cornea — Intermesenteric plexus. Same
as aortic plexus.— latermxiscalax plexuses, gangliated
nerve-plexuses in the substance of organs having unstri-
ated muBcle-flbers.— Intraspinal plexus, an irregular
network of veins investing the spinal canal, emptying into
the intercostal, lumbar, vertebral, and lateral sacral veins.
— Ischiatic plexus, the upper part of the sacral plexus.
—Lumbar plexus. See iMmSari.-Melssner's plexus,
the gangliated plexus of the submucous layer of the small
Intestine, formed by branches derived from Auerbach's
plexus. — Meningeal plexus, the continuation of the ca-
rotid plexus upon the middle meningeal artery.- Mes-
enteric plexus, the sympathetic plexus accompanying
a mesenteric artery. The superior is derived from the
great solar plexus ; the inferior chiefly from the aortic
plexus. — Myenteric plexus. Same as Auerbach's plexus.
-Obturator plexus, the plexus of veins surrounding
the obturator foramen.— Ophthalmic plexus, the con-
tinuation of the cavernous plexus on the ophthalmic ar-
tery.—Ovarian Plexus. Seepampiniformz^exus. — Fam-
pintform, pancreatic, patellar, pelvic plexus. See
the adjectives Pancreaticoduodenal plexus, a sec-
ondary plexus of the hepatic, accomjianying the superior
pancreaticoduodenal artery.- Parotid plexus, the anas-
tomoses formed by loops of the seventh nerve on the side
of the face. Also called plexus or pes anserinus. — Pha-
ryngeal plexus. See^Aari/weai.— Phrenic plexus, the
4558
sympathetic plexus which accompanies the phrenic artery
to the diaphragm, arising from the semilunar ganglion.—
Plexus anserinus. Same as paroUd plexus.— Plexas
anserinus nervi mediani, the bundles from the eighth
cervical nerve that go to form the median nerve.— Plexus
brachialis, the brachial plexus.— Plexus cervicalls, the
cervical plexus.- Plexus choroideus, the choroid plex-
us of a lateral ventricle.— Plexus choroideus inferior,
the choroid plexus of the fourth ventricle.- Plexus cho-
roideus medius, the choroid plexus of the third ventricle.
— Plexus choroideus ventriculi lateralis, the choroid
plexus of a lateral ventricle.- Plexus choroideus ven-
triculi auarti, the choroid plexus of the fourth ventricle.
—Plexus choroideus ventriculi tertii, the choroid plex-
us of the third ventricle.— Plexus gangliof ormis, thelow-
er ganglion, or ganglion of the trunk, of the vagus nerve.-
Plexusgulse. Same aa esophageal plexus.— 'Plexuslwa-
balis, the lumbar plexus.— Plexus nodosus, the ganglion
of the trunk of the vagus.— Plexus patellsa, the plexi-
form network of the kneepan, formed by cutaneous nerves,
especially the long saphenous.— Plexus sacraUs,the sa-
cral plexus.— Plexus submucosus. Sams as Meumer's
plexus.— Posterior cervical plexus, a plexus often
formed by the internal branches of the posterior divisions
of the first three cervical nerves.— Prevertebral plex-
uses, the three large median plexuses formed by the two
sympathetic nerves, situated in front of the spine, in the
cavity of the thorax, abdomen, and pelvis, and respectively
known as the cardiac, solar, and hypogastric plexuses,—
Prostatic plexus, (a) The continuation of the vesical
plexus sup^ying the prostate body. (6) A plexus of veins
surrounding the base of the prostate, formed mainly from
the dorsalveinsof the penis.— Pterygoid plexus, aclose
network of veins covering both surfaces of the external
pterygoid muscle, receiving tributariesmostly correspond-
ing to the branches of the internal maxillary artery, and
emptying into the internal maxillary vein.— Pudendal
plexus, (a) Acloseuetof largeveinsoccupyingtheupper
part of the pubic arch, between the layers of the triangular
ligament, and mainly derived from thp dorsal veins of the
penis or clitoris. (B) The lower section of the sacral plexus
(a). — Pulmonary plexuses, thetwo plexuses, the anterior
and posterior, f onhed by branches of the vagus and sympa-
thetic on the front and back side respectively of each lung
at its root. — Pyloric plexus, a secondary plexus of the he-
patic, accompanying the pyloric artery. — Renal plexus, a
plexus formed of nerves from the semilunar ganglion, the
solar and aortic plexuses, and the smallest splanchnic nerve,
accompanying the renal artery and terminating in the
substance of the kidney. — Sacral plexus, (a) A plexus
formed by the union of the lumbosacral cord and anterior
divisions of the three upper sacral nerves, together with
a portion of that of the fourth. Its branches of distribu-
tion are the superior and inferior gluteal, great and small
sciatic, pudic, and muscular. (6) A plexus of veins in the
back of the pelvis, tributary to the middle sacral vein. —
Sacrococcygeal plexus, the series of loops formed by the
anastomoses of the external branches of the posterior di-
visions of the first three sacral nerves, the fourth and fifth
posterior sacrals, and the posterior coccygeal. — Santorl-
nian plexus, the pudendal plexus of veins. — Solar plex-
us, the largest of the three great sympathetic plexuses, sit-
uated at tlie upper part of the abdomen, behind the sto-
mach, and in front of the aorta. It consists of an intricate
network of nerves, associated with ganglia, receiving the
upper splanchnic nerves and some branches of the vagus,
and giving off numerous branches which accompany the
arteries to the principal viscera of the abdomen, consti-
tuting secondary plexuses. Its two principal masses, light
and left, are known, from their form, as the semilunar
ganglia. Also called epigastric plexus, solar ganglion. —
Spermatic plexus, (a) A small plexus, derived from the
' renal and aortic plexuses, accompanying the artery to the
testis in the male, to the ovary and uterus in the femiQe,
(&) Same as pampiniform plexus, — Spiral plexus, the
plexiform arrangement assumed in the spiral lamina by ijie
nerve-filaments given off from the spiral ganglion of the
cochlea.— Splenloplexus,oneofthedivisions of thecoeliac
plexus, accompanying the splenic artery into the substance
of the spleen.— Subepithelial plexus, the delicate net-
workjf ormedby the terminal filaments of the ciliary nerves,
ramifying on the basement membrane of the ectocornea, or
surface of thecomeaproper,beneath the epithelium. — Su-
perficial jugular plexus, lymphatic tributaries to the
jugular trunk from theoccipital, ear, and temporal regions.
— Superior dental plexus, the series of loops formed
by branches of the dental nerves of the upper jaw, from
which the filaments given to the teeth are derived.^— Su-
prarenal plexus, a secondary plexus derived from the
solar plexus, terminating in the suprarenal body, and re-
ceiving branches from one of the splanchnic nerves. —
TonsUar plexus, a plexus formed around the fionsil by
the tonsilar branches of the glossopharyngeal nerve. —
Triangular plexus, the plexiform arrangement assumed
by the bundles of fillers of the sensory root of the fifth
nerve before ending in the Gasserian ganglion.— Tym-
panic plexus, a plexus formed by the branches oi the
tympanic nerve, in union with others from the facial and
sympathetic, in the mucous lining of the middle ear.—
Uterine plexus, (a) A plexus derived from the p^vic
plexus, passing through the broad ligament with the uter-
ine artery to be distributed to the uterus. (6) Venous
channels at the sides of the uterus, and in the broad liga-
ments, emptying into the ovarian veins.— Vaginal plex-
us, a network of veins surrounding the vagina, especially
In its lower part.— Venous plexus, an anastomosing set
of veins, forming a network. There are several such, as
the ovarian, pampiniform, pharyngeal, prostatic, ptery-
goid, spermatic, uterine, and vaginal. — Vertebral plex-
us, the sympathetic plexus on the vertebral arteiy, joined
by filaments from the lower cervical nerves, — Vesical
plexus, (a) A plexus of veins surrounding the muscu-
lar coat of the bladder. (6) A plexus derived from the
pelvic plexus, distributed to the lower part and side of the
bladder, the prostate, and the seminal vesicle. — Vesico-
vaginal plexus, a plexus derived from the pelvic plexus,
distributed to the vagina and bladder.— Vidian plexus,
the plexus formed by the Vidian nerve about the Vidian
artery.
pleyt, i>- and n. A Middle English form otpkuy^.
pleynt, pleynet. Obsolete forms of plaim^,
plairfi, plain^.
pliant
pliability (pli-a-bil'i-ti), n. [< pKabk + .it«
(see -UUty),] ' The quality of being pliable"
flexibility; pliableness. '
Sweet pliability of man's spirit, that can at once sun-en.
der itself to illusions which cheat expectation and sorrow
of their weary moments !
Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. 84,
PliaMlity in politics, if accompanied by honesty is «
virtue. H. Adams, Gallatin, p. 677.
pliable (pli'a-bl), a. [< F. pliable = 'Pi,plicaik,
flexible, pliant, pliable, < L. as if *plicaUlis
that can be bent, < plicare, fold, bend: see ply,]
1. Easy to be bent; readily yielding to force or
pressure without rupture ; flexible : as, willow
is a pliable plant.
The younger they are when they begin with that art
[music], the more pliable and nimble their fingers are
touching the instrument. Sharp, Works, VI. viH
2. Flexible in disposition ; easy to be bent, in-
clined, or persuaded ; readily yielding to influ-
ence, arguments, persuasion, or discipline.
At the lastjhavingfound the cityBplyailetotbeyriesyet
theybounde the one to another by othe, and wrought Bore
wyth hostages and money. Qolding, tr, of Casar, fol. H6.
So is the heart of some men ; when smitten by God it
seems soft and pliable. Jer. Taylor, Works, II, xii.
Since I/was of understanding to know we knew nothing,
my reason hath been more pli(Me to the will of faith.
Sir T. Browne, Keligio Medici, L 10.
=Syn.l. Pliant, supple.— 2. Compliant, yielding, trac-
table.
pliableness (pli'a-bl-nes), n. The quality of
being pliable ; flexibility; the quality of yield-
ing readily to force or to moral influence; pli-
ability: as, the pliableness of a plant; pliaik-
ness of disposition.
The chosen vessel hath by his example taught me this
charitable and holy pliablenesse.
Bp. Hall, Satan's Tiery Darts, iii. 5.
Compare . . . the ingenuous rUvjMeness to virtuous
counsels in youth, as it comes fresh and untainted out of
the hands of nature, with the confirmed obstinacy in most
sorts of sin that is to be found in an aged sinner.
South, Sermons,
pliably (pll'a-bli), adv. In a pliable manner;
yieldingly; compliantly.
This worthy Doctor [George Morley] . , , was . . . not
of the number of those lukewarm irreligious Temporizers
who had learn *d pliably to tack about, as still to be ready
to receive whatever revolution and turn of afi'airs should
happen. Wood, Athence Oxon,, n, T7L
pliancy (pli'an-si),«. [< pUan{t) + -ey."] The
quality of ij'eing pliant, or easily bent or in-
clined in any desired direction ; readiness to be
persuaded or influenced: as, the pUaney of a
rod; pliancy of disposition.
To be overlooked for want of political pliancy is a cir-
cumstance I need not blush to own.
Anecdotes of Bp. Walson, 1. 306.
Avaunt all specious pliancy of mind
In men of low degree, all smooth pretence!
1 better like a blunt indifference.
Wordsworth, A High-Minded Spaniard.
Jane, you please me, and you master me— you seem to
submit, and X like the sense otpliarwy yon impart,
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxiv.
Insolence had taken the place oi pliancy, and the former
slave now applied the chain and whip to his master.
MoOey, Dutch Eepublic, III. 158.
There was in Bacon an invariable pliancy In the pres-
ence of great persons which disqualified him for the task
of giving wise and effectual counsel.
B. A. .4S!)0tt, Bacon, p. 21.
pliant (pli'ant), a. [< 'ME.plyaunt,< OV.pUmt,
pleiant, j)loiant, F. pliant, flexible, supple, pli-
ant, folding, < L. plican{t-)s, ppr. of plicare (>
F. pUer), fold: see ply.^ 1. Capable of being
easily bent; flexible; supple; limber; lithe;
as, a, pliant twig.
So pliaM were
His goodly timber'd Limbs, and yet so stout.
That wax and steel seem'd kindly marry'd there.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, 1 61.
Me of a pliant metall you shall flnde ;
See then you cast and shape me to your muide.
Heywood, Dialogues.
Who foremost now delight to cleave
With pliant arm thy glassy wave?
Gray, Prospect of Eton College.
A well organized and very pliant hand may determine to
occupations requiring manual dexterity.
Beddoes, Mathematical Evidence, note.
Pliant as a wand of willow. LongfeUcm, Hiawatha, vi.
Paint that figure's pliant grace.
-Jf. Arnold, Switzerland,!.
2. Easily bent or inclined to any particular
course ; readily influenced for good or evil;
easy to be persuaded; yielding.
Took once a pliant hour, and found good means
To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart.
Shak., Othello, i. 3, 161.
No man has his servant more obsequious and pliant.
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, i. 1-
pliant
WbatBoever creates fear ... Is apt to entender the
spirit, and make it devoat and^iant to any part of duty.
Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, iv. t!
His pjian* soul gave w^ to idl things base,
" le dreaded no disgrace.
He knew no shione, heo
Orab'be, Works, 1. 63.
In a pliant manner ;
The quality of be-
4559
The peculiar surface-marking . . , consists in a strongly
marked ridge-and-f urrow nJicotion of the shelly walL
If. B. Carpenter, Micros., § 487.
2. That which is plicated; a plica or fold.
Also plicature.
Why the deuce should you not be sittingprecisely oppo-
site to me at this moment, . . . thy joridic^ brow expand-
ing its j^icatioTie, as a pun rose in your fancy?
Scott, Kedgauntlet^ letter 1.
3. In geol., a bending of the strata; a fold or
folding.
In Western Europe the prevalent lines along which ter-
restrial plicati<ms took place during Palaeozoic time were
certainly from S, W. or aS.W. to N.E. or N.N.E.
Geikie, Xext-Book of GeoL {2d ed.X p. 27a
[< plicate + -me.2
pliantly (pU'ant-U), adv.
flexibly; yieldingly.
pliantness (pli'ant-nes),
ing pliant; flexibility.
plica (pli'kii), ». ; pl.^Zica(-se). [NL.,<L.^2i-
earc, fold: see ply."] 1. In pathol., a matted,
filthy condition of the hair, from disease. Also
called plica polonica, heloMs, and trichosis. — 2.
In iot., a diseased state in plants in which the
buds, instead of developing true branches, be- plicative (plik'a-tiv), a.
come short twigs, and these in their turn pro- Same &s plicate'.'
duce others of the same sort, the whole form- pUcatopapillose (pli-ka-to-pap'i-los), a. [< L.
ing an entangled mass.— 3. 'ba.zool. and anat., pUcatus, plicate, + NL. papillosus, papillose.]
a fold or folding of a part. — 4. In entom., a In entom., plicate and papUlose; forming a
prominent ridge or carina, often turned over series of elevations and depressions resembling
or inclined to one side, so that it appears like folds, as the papillose surfaces of certain larvee.
a fold; specifically, a longitudinal ridge on the plicatoi (pU-ka'tor), n. [< L. as if *plieator
internal surface of each elytron, near the outer (cf . L. f em. plicahrix), a folder (ML. pUcator, a
edge; an elytral ridge, found in certain Cole- coUeotor of taxes), < h.pUcare, fold: see ply. "]
optera. — 5. In herpet.: (a) lcap.'\ A genus of A device for forming a fold or plait : anattaeh-
Ameriean iguanoid lizards: named fiom.the ment to some forms of sewing-machine, etc.
folds of skin on the sides. J. E. Gray. (6) A Plicatula (pli-kat'u-ia), n. [KL.
lizard of this genus: as, the dotted ^Kca, P. (Lamarck, 1801)'J '< ti. plicatus,
pp. of plieare, fold: see plicate,
ply.'] In conch., a genus of bi-
valve mollusks of the ramily
Spondylidse, having the shell ir-
regu]ar,_ attached by the umbo
of the right valve, which is pli-
cate, the cartilage internal, and
the hinge-teeth two in each
valve.
punctata, — 6. In mensural music: (a) A kind
of grace-note. (6) A kind of ligature, (c) The
stem or tail of a note.— Elsrtral plica. See def. 4
and rfyfrirf.— Plica alaxis, in ormth. : (a) The feathered
fold of skin on the fore border of the wing which occupies
the reentrant angle made by the bones of the upper arm
and forearm, stretching from the shoulder to tiie wrist.
(6) The bend or flexure of the wing at the carpal Joint.
[Rare. ] — FlicSB ad^posse. Same as (dar ligament* (which
see, under a2ar).—nicse rectoveEicales. SameasiiJtca „,,„„
smCunOTMlJTOffiaOTi— EUcffisemllunaresDouglasii, if"":, ,_. , ,-, .,-,_., r,
two folds cf the peritoneum between the rectum and the PUCatUlate (pll-kat n-lat), a. [<
bladder. See cut under »en't(m««m.— Plica gubema- NL. *plicatuht3, dun. of L. pli-
trte, that peritoneal fold; which is in relation with the catus, folded: see plicate.'] In
gubemaculum testis.— Pliea interdigltalis, in trmith., j,„f L^„„tBiTr T.Hi>af<,
the webbing or palmation of the tols; the palama.-^ OOt.,mmuteiy plicate.
FUcaprimitlva, in emirj/o2., the primitive fold; either pllCature (pliK'a-tur), n. [< L. pucatura, a
lip of the primitive furrow of the early embryo of a ver- folding, < plieare, pp. pUcatuS, fold : aeeplicate.]
tebrate.— Plica semilunaiis, in human anat, a fold of game as plication 1 2
conjunctival mucous membrane at the inner comer of ji ',. ' *
the eye : the rudiment of a nictitating membrane or third The many plicatures so closely prest.
eyelid. See cut under ej/el. ^- B. More, Fsychozoia, L 18.
Plicacea(pli-ka'se-a),».j>J. [NL.,<j32JC65,afold, plicidentine (plis-i-den'tin), ». [<'NL. plica,
+ -aeea.'] In conch., a family of tracheUpod a fold, -1- E. denlme.'] Plicated or folded den-
gastropods, having the columella plaited, and tine ; a kind of dentine which is folded on a se-
containing the genera Tomatella and Pyrami- ries of vertical plates, causing the surface of
della. Latreille, 1825. the tooth to be fluted. Brande and Cox.
plical (pli'kal), a. \<. plica ■\- -al.] In dot., of pliciferous (pli-sif'e-rus), a. [< NL. ^Zica, a
Pticatula crisiata.
or pertaining to plica.
Plicaria (pK-ka'ri-a), n. [NL., < plica, a fold,
'+ -ona.] In aoncH., same as CanceUaria. Fa-
bricius, 1823.
plicata (pli-ka'ta,),M.; -pi. plicatse (-te). [ML.,
fem. of L. jpKcafes, pp. ot plieare, fold: see pli-
cate.'] In tiie Bom. Cath. Ch., the folded chasu-
ble worn at certain penitential seasons by the
deacon and subdeacon, or by a priest when Plici]|3ennes(plis-i-pen^ez)^m.jri.
ofSoiating as deacon. McClintock and Strong. - ''"' ' '' -
plicate (pli'kat), a. [< L. plicatus, pp. of pli-
eare, fold, bend, lay or wind together, double
up: see ply.] 1. In 6ofc, folded like a fan;
plaited: as, a plicate leaf. —
2. In sool. and anat., plaited,
plexed, or folded; formed into
a plication. — 3. In entom.,
having parallel raised lines
which are sharply cut on one
aide, but on the other descend
gradually to the next line, as
a surface ; plaited or folded.
Aiso plicative, plicated.
Plicate elytra, elyfra having two or
three conspicuous longitudinal folds or furrows, as in the
coleopterous family Psetaplddae. — Flicate wil^, in en-
tom., same a&foldei wings (which see, under /oMi)k
plicated (pli'ka-ted), «. l< plicate + -ed^.]
Same as plicate. „iiot
plicately(pB'kat-li), a(if. In a plicate or folded PiifV'J,
manner; so as to be or make a plication.
plicatile (plik'a-til), a. [< L. plicaUlis, that may
fold, + L. ferre = E. hear^.] Provided with
folds or plicae : specifically, in entomology, said
of those elytra which have an internal pliea or
ridge — ^Pliciferous Coleoptera, those Cofeoptera which
have pliciferous elytra.
pliciform (plis'i-f6rm), a. [< NL. plica, a fold,
+ 'L. forma, form.] In hot. aioAzool., plait-like ;
having the form of a plait or fold.
_'■ "_ .'ez),n.pl. [Nh.,<plica,
a foTd, + L. penna, a feather.] In Latreille's
classification, the third family of neuiopterous
insects ; the caddis-flies. It corresponds to the
Phryganeidse in a broad sense, or the Trichop-
tera of Leach. Also Pli<npennia.
plicipennine (pUs-i-pen'in), a. Belongingtothe
Plicate Leaf of ,rf^Atf-
mitla vulgaris.
Plictolophilise (plik-tol-6-fi'ne), n. pi. [NL., <
Plictolophus + -insB.] Cockatoos as a subfam-
ily of Psittacidie: same as Cacatuinse.
Plictolophus (plik-tol'o-fus), n. [NL., orig.
Ph/ctolophtis (Vieillot, 1816), later Plectolophus
(Bourjot St. Hilaire, 1837-8), Pluetol^Tius
(Nitzsch, 1840), Plissolophus (C. "W. L. Gloger,
1842), and PUctolophus (Otto Pinach, 1867), <
Gr. *7rXiKTSg, assumed verbal adj. of jr^iaaeiv,
cross one's leg in walking, stride, + ^Ajx)^, a
crest.] A genus of cockatoos : same as Caca^
tua.
An obsolete spelling of ^Zy.
pli6 (ple-a'), a. [F.pU^, bent, pp. of plier, bend :
see ply, plicate.] In lier., same as closed. ■ said
of a bird.
[Also, less prop. ,j)Zyer(cf. crier.
plight
pllformf (pli'f 6rm), a. [Prop, "plyform; < ply +
form.] In the form of a fold or doubling. Pen-
nant.
plight! (plit), «. [< ME. plight, plyght, pUgt,
pliht, danger, pledge, < AS. pliht, danger, d^-
age, = OFvies.plicht, danger; cf. OFries. plicht,
care, concern, = MD. plicht, plscht, duty, debt,
B.pligt, duty, =MLG. Ju<jc.plicht=:OE.Q.phUht,
fliht, MHG. pfliht, phliht, friendly care, con-
cern, service, duty, 4. pflicht, duty, = Sw. Dan.
pligt (< LG. ?), duty; with abstract formative
-t, from the verb found in the rare AS. *pleon,
plidn (a strongverb, yiet.pledl^pleh), expose to
danger, risk (whence aisopleoh,plioh, eoiAv.pled,
plid = OPries. ple,pli, danger), or in the re-
lated weak verb, OS. plegan, promise, pledge,
= 0'FTies.plegia,pligia, be wont,= 'iSH.pleghen,
be wont, practise, take care of, D.jptejem, pledge,
be wont, = 'i£liGr.plegen=OB.Qr.pflegan,plilegan,
phlekan, plegan, MH.Gr.phlegen,pflegen, Gr.pfle-
gen, promise or engage to do, take care of, keep,
be accustomed (etc.), = Sw.pldga = Dan. j)fc;e,
be wont, = AS. plegan, plegian, play, orig. be
in active motion: see playK The 0¥. plevir,
pledge, cannot be from the Tent. (OS. plegan,
etc.), but is to be referred, with the OF.pieige,
ML. plegium, etc. (whence E. pledge), to the L.
^raiere, proffer, give: see plevin, pledge. The
word plighfi- has been confused with plights,
state, condition: seeplightK] If. Peril; dan-
ger; harm; damage.
He [hath] mi lond with mikel onritb,
Witjk michel wrong, with mikel ^^
For 1 ne misdede him nevere nouth.
And havede me to sorwe brouth.
Havdok (1370). (Hattiwea.)
2. A solemn promise or engagement concerning
a matter of serious personal moment; solemn
assurance or pledge.
That lord whose hand must take mjvUght shall cany
Half my love with him. Snak., Jjese, i. i. 103.
So these young hearts, not knowing that they loved.
Not she at least, nor conscious of a bar
Between them, nor hypligM or broken ring
Bound . . . Tennyson, Aylmer'a Field.
In pllghtt, under promise or pledge.
Thus they justtyd tylle hyt was nyght.
Then they departyd inplyglit.
They had nede to reste.
MS. Cantab. Ff. iL 38, 1 76. (HoJZtweJZ.)
plight! (plit), V. t. [< ME. pUghten,plyghten,
pUgten, plygten, plihten, pledge, < AS. jiUhtan,
imperil, bring danger upon; = D. ver-pligten,
ver^Uchten = MLG. plichten = MHG. pflihten,
phlihten, G. hei-pJUchten, ver-pflichten = Sw. be-
pligta, for-pligta = Dan. for-pMgte, tiUpUgte,
pledge, engage, bind; from the noun.] To
engage by solemn promise ; pledge ; engage or
bind one's self by pledging: as, to plight one's
hand, word, honor, faith, truth, vows, etc.
Ye woot right wel what ye bihighten me.
And in myn hand your tronthe lighten ye
To love me best. Chaueer, Franklin's Tale, L 600.
Fylgrimis and palmers 2>i^;A(en hem to-gederes.
To seche seint lame and seyntysof rome.
Piers PUnenum (C), i 47.
And for to put hir out of fere.
He swore, and hath his trouth jiI^At
To be for ever his owne knight
Gower, Conf. Amant., iv.
Dearer is love then life, and fame then gold ;
But dearer then them both your faith once pligloed hold.
Spenser, F. Q., T. zL 63.
By this fair fount hath many a shepherd sworn.
And given away his freedom, many a troth
~ " " ■ Fleteher, Faithful Shepherdess, L 2.
be folded toget'her,<^Kcare, fold: seeplicateT] „i?^I^i/a-\ „
11. Capable of being folded or interwoven; ^}^%^)%^ + ^r\] -l.-OfieVhb orthat
pliable.
Motion of the plicatile fibers or subtil fbreds of which
the brain consists
Dr. H. More, Antidote against Atheism, App., x.
2. In entom., folding lengthwise in repose, as
the wings of a wasp.
plication (pli-ka'shon), n. [< ML. *plicaUo(n-),
a folding, < Ij. plieare, fold: see ply.] 1. The
act or process of folding, or the state of being
which pUes. — 2. pi. la fort., a kind of balance
used in raising and letting down a drawbridge,
consisting of timbers joined in the form of a St.
Andrew's cross. — 3. pi. Small pincers with long
jaws, adapted for handling small articles, and
also for bending and shaping wire. See cut un-
der nipper,— Saw-set pliers, aform of adjustable pliers
sometimes used in place of the saw-set for bending the
teeth of saws.
Sut in "folds; a folding'or putting in folds, as plif (pliE), «. A dialectal form otplow. Salli-
uplication or triplication. Also^Kca/«re. well. [TorkrfiiBe, Eng.]
Have we not plighted each our holy oatb,
That one should be the common good of both?
Dry den, FaL and Arc., i. 291.
=Syn. Pledge, Plight Pledge is applied to property as
well as to word, faith, truth, honor, etc. Plight is now
chiefly poetic or rhetorical ; to plight honor is, as it were,
to deposit it in pledge for the periormance of an act —
not often for the truth of a statement — to be forfeited if
the act is not performed.
plight^ (plit)) »»• [An erroneous spelling, due
to coilfusion with plight^, otplite\ < ME. plite,
plyte, plit, state, condition, < OP. plite; pliste,
condition, < ML. *pKcito,' prop. fem. of 'L.plid-
tus, pp. of plieare, fold: see ply. Cf. plight^.]
Condition ; position ; state; situation ; predica-
ment.
Certes I not how,
Se when, alias, I shal the tyme se^
That in this^tt I may ben eft wiw yow.
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 1480.
When Paris persayuit the plit of his brother.
How he was dolfully ded, and drawen in the ost;
Destruction qf Troy (E. E. T. S.), L 10363.
Kever knight I saw in such misseemingpIiJ^At.
Spenser, F. Q., I. iz. 28.
plight
For-thy appease your grief e and heayy plight.
Speruer, F. Q., II. i. 14.
Some stone horses came over in good plight.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 34.
I think myself in better plight for a lender than yon are.
Shak., M. W. of W., ii. 2. 172.
I am lately arrived in Holland in a good Plight of Health.
Howell, Letters, I. i. 7.
We continued here three weeks jn this dismal plight.
Addison, Frozen Words.
In plteons plight he knock'd at George's gate,
And begg'd for aid, as he described his state.
Oo!i6e,Works, 1. 126.
In particular— (o) A bad condition or state ; a distressed
or distressing condition or predicament ; misfortune.
And ther was no man that hadde seyn hym in that plite
buthe wolde haue hadde pite. Merlin (E. B. T. S.), ii. 354.
Have comfort^ for I know yo^a plight is pitied
Of him that caused it. ShaJc., A. and C, v. 2. 33.
(6t) A good condition or state.
He that with labour can use them aright,
Hath gain to his comfort, saxA battel in plight.
Tuaeer, February's Husbandry, x.
All wayes shee sought lum to restore to '
Spenser, F. Q., III. vii. 21.
plight^t, V. t. [An erroneous spelling oipliie^,
KME.pUten, plyten, var. oS plaiten, plait: see
plait, and of. pleat, plat^, «.] 1. To weave;
plait; fold. See plait.
Now, gode nece, be it never so lite
Yif me the labour it [a letter] to sow anAplyte.
Chaiuxr, Troilus, ii. 1204.
Her locks 2xe]^ighted like the fleece of wool
That Jason with his Grecian mates atchiev'd.
Greene, Menaphon's Eclogue.
On his head a roll of linnen plight,
Like to the Hores of Malaber, he wore.
Spenser, F. Q., VI. vii. 43.
A long love-lock on his left shon\Aev plight.
P. Fletcher, Purple Island, vii. 23.
2. To combine or put together in one's mind.
So she gan in hire thought argue
In this matere, of which I have yow told,
And what to done best were, and what teschue,
Ti^zkplytede she ful ofte in many folde.
Chmeer, Troilus, ii. 697.
pligtat^t (plit), n. \_Al.ao pleight ; an erroneous
spelling of plite'^, < ME. pUte, plyte, a var. of
plaite, a fold, plait: see plait, and cf. pleat,
plat^,n.'] A fold; a plait.
He perced through the plites of his haubreke vndir the
side, that the spere hede shewed on the tother side.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 265.
Straunge was her tyre, and all her garment blew.
Close rownd about her tuckt with many a plight.
Spenser, F. Q., n. ix. 40.
If a TallotU' make your gowne too little, you couer his
tanlt with a broad stomacher ; if too great, with a number
ot plights. I^ly, Euphn«s and his England, p. 222.
Our Gentlewomens dutch Fans, that are made either of
paper, or parchment, or silke, or otlier stufle, which will
with certaiue pleights easily ranue and fold themselues to-
gether. HaMuyet Voyages, I. 610.
plight^t. An obsolete preterit and past parti-
ciple otpluclc^.
pligtater (pli'tSr), n. One who or that which
phghts, engages, or pledges.
This kingly seal
And plighter of high hearts !
Shtik., A. and C, iii. 13. 126.
plightfult (pUt'ful), a. [ME.pUhtful; < plight^
+ -fill.'] Dangerous.
pligntlyf, adv. pSIE. plihtUe, < AS. ■plihtlio,
dangerous, <jjK/j*, danger: seepUghf^.l Dan-
gerously; with peril.
plihtt, n. and v. AMiddleEnglish form of j)%fe*l.
plim (plim), V. i. [Appar. related to plump :
see plMmp^.] To swell. Grose. [Prov. Bng.]
FlimsoU s mark. See marlc^.
Plinian (plin'i-an), a. and n. [< Plmy + -an."]
I. a. Of or pertaining to Pliny; specifically, in
nat. hist., pertaining to C. Plinius Secundus
(Pliny), a celebrated Roman author and natu-
ralist (A. D. 23-79): as, Plinian names.
II. 11. [I. c] A variety of cobaltiferous ar-
senopyrite, erroneously supposed by Breit-
haupt to be distinct in crystallization.
plinth (plinth), m. [= V.plimfhe^Bp. plinto
= Pg.plintlio = It. pUnto,< L. plmthus,< Gi.
wMvBog, a brick, tile, plinth : see ^^w*.] In arch.,
the flat square table or slab under the molding
of the base of a Eoman or Renaissance column,
of which it constitutes the foundation, and the
bottom of the order; also, an abacus; also, a
square molding or table at the base of any
architectural part or member, or of a pedestal,
etc. See phrases below, and cuts under base,
column, and capital.
The lower plinth is made a seat for people to sit on ; and
so 'tis no more to be seen in its antient state.
Poeocke, Description of the East, I. S.
4560
One grey plinth,
Hound whose worn base the wild waves liiss and leap.
Shelley, Kevolt of Islam, u. 18.
Course of a plinth. See cowsei.-PJmtii of a statue,
a flat base, whether round or square.— Plmtn of a wall,
a plain projecting band at the base of a wall, upon which
the wall rests. In classical and medieval buildings the
plinth is sometimes divided into two or more gradations.
plinthoid (plin'thoid), n. [< GiV.ir?uvBoei6^c, like a
brick, < jrMvdog, a briek, + elSog, form.] A math-
ematical surface having the general shape of a
water-worn brick.
Pliocene (pli'Q-sen), n. [= F. plioc≠ for
*Plionocene, < (Jr. irMuv, more, + Kaivdg, recent.]
In geol., the most recent of the divisions of the
Tertiary proper. See Tertiary. Also spelled
Pliohippiis (pK-6-hip'us), «. PSTL. (Marsh, 1874),
< Plio(cene) + di. 'nrmc, horse.] 1. A genus of
fossil horses or Eqnidm from the Pliocene of
North America.— 3. [l. c] A horse of this ge-
nus.
Pliolophidse (pli-6-lof'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < PU-
oloplnis + -idee.']' A family of fossil perisso-
dactyl hoofed quadrupeds, typified by the ge-
nus PUolophus, related to the ZophiodontidsB.
The nasal region was compressed and extended forward,
the supramaxillaries being excluded from the nasal apei-
ture ; the long nasal bones extended far forward, and ar-
ticulated with the premaxillaries ; and the upper molars
had two transverse rows of tubercles separated by an in-
tervening valley, with a cingulum anteriorly and inter-
nally. The external lobes of the upper molars were well
separated and litHe flattened, and the lobes ot the lower
molars scarcely united. It also includes the genera Hy-
racotherivjm and Systemodon, of Eocene age. Also called
Hyracotheriidse and Hyraeotheriinie.
pUolophoid (pli-oro-foid),a. and». I. a. Per-
taining to the Plioloplioidea, or having their
characters.
II. n. A member of the Plioloplioidea.
Pliolophoidea (pli-ol-o^foi'df-a), n. pi. [NL.,
< PUolophus + -oidea.] A superf amily of Peris-
sodactyla, framed by Gill in 1872 for the recep-
tion of the family PUolophidse.
Pliolophus (pli-ol'o-f us), n. [NL. (Owen, 1858),
< Gr. 7r?.elav, more,'+ ^6^oq, a crest.] The typi-
cal genus otPliolqpMdse. P. vulpieeps is a spe-
cies from the London clay.
PlioplatTCarpidee (pli-o-plat-i-kar'pi-de), n.pl.
[NL., < Plioplatyearpvs + -idee.'] A family of
pythonomorph or mosasaurian reptiles, repre-
sented by the genus PlioplatycarpibS. They are
distinguished by the presence of interclavicles and a sar
cmm. They lived in the Upper Cretaceous period.
Plioplatycarpus (pli-o-plat-i-kar'pus), n. [NL.,
< Plio{cene) + Gr. w^^aTv;, broad, flat, + Kapwdc,
the wrist.] An extinct genus of mosasaurian
reptiles, representing the famUy Plioplatycar-
pidss.
pliosaiirian (pli-o-s&'ri-an), a. Of or pertain-
ing to the genus Pliosaurus.
Further indications of Pliosaurian affinities are, more-
over, shown by the teeth themselves.
Quart. Jour. Oeol. Soc, XLY, 50.
Pliosaurus (pli-6-sa'rus), n. [NL. (Owen, 1866),
< PUolfiene) + Gr. aai/pog, lizard.]" A genus of
plesiosaurs from the Middle and Upper OBlite,
having the head large and the neck compara-
tively short. Also Pleiosaurus.
pliskie (plis'ki), K. [Origin obscure.] 1. A mis-
chievous trick. — 3. Plight; condition.
[Scotch in both uses.]
pUtt, plite^ti »• Obsolete forms oi plight^.
plite^t, V. t. An obsolete form of plait.
plitt (plit), n. Same as plet. North British Bev.
ploc (plok), n. [< F. ploc, sheathingiair, cow's
hair, waste wool.] A mixture of hair and tar
for covering a ship's bottom. Simmonds.
Plocamobranchia (plok"a-mo-brang'ki-a), n.
pi. [NL. , < Gr. irXdmuos, fringe (< jr7iiKsiv,wea,ve,
plait), -I- jBpdyxia, gills.] A group of tssnioglos-
sate gastropods, with rigid filamentary bran-
chial processes, proposed for the families Capu-
lidee or Cah/ptraeidsB and Hipponyddse.
Plocaria (plo-ka'ri^), «. Pttj., < Gr. izldimg,
something woven off plaited, < irTiiKEw, weave,
plait: seeplait."] A genus of algse, of the or-
der or suborder Ceramiacese. p. helminthoehorton
istheCorsican moss of the shops, once of some reputation
as a vermifuge. P. Candida, or Ceylon moss. Is used to a
considerable extent as an article of food in the East.
ploce (plo'se), n. [< Gr. wTiok'^, a plaiting, <
nXlKSiv, plait, twist.] In rhet., repetition of a
word one or more times in close succession;
especially, such repetition with a change of
meaning or application: as, a man should be
a man,
Ploceidse (plo-se'i-de), ». pi. [NL., < Ploceus
+ -idse.] A family of Ola World oscine pas-
serine birds having ten primaries and a ooni-
rostralbill; the weavers, weaver-birds, or wea-
plodder
ver-finches. They are a large and diversified family
many of them resembling finches or buntings, but alwam
distinguished from FringiUida by the presence of ten in.
stead of nine primaries. They are specially characteristic
of the Ethiopian region, where more than three foiutha ot
the species occur, but also extend into the Oriental and
Australian regions. The weavers are named and noted
for the construction of their nests, in some cases of in.
mense size, in others higlily artificial. (See cuts under khe.
nest and Ploceus.) About 260 species are recognized k,
f erred to some 60 genera, divided into 3 subfamilies, Ploa.
inee, Viduinee, and SpermesUnee. Many of the last-named
are common cage-birds, as amadavats, strawberry-flndies
and the like. '
ploceiform (pl6'se-i-f6rm), a. [< NL. Pbcm
+ L. forma, form.] Resembling or related or
belonging to the genus Ploceus or family Flo-
ceidse.
Ploceinse (pl6-se-i'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Ploeem
+ -inse.'] 1. The Ploeeidie as a subfamily oj
Frviigillidse. — 2. The characteristic subfamily
of Ploceidee, represented by such genera as
Plocem, Textor, Hyphantornis, Malimbus, Phi.
letserus, Nigrita, and Plocepasser. See cuts un-
der hive-nest, Philetxrus, and Ploceus.
Ploceus (pl6'se-us), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1817), <
Gr. iz7j}KEvq, a jmiw-i'iiw h m
plaiter, braider,
< irM^eiv, plait,
braid, weave :
seeplait.'] The
typical genus of
Ploceidee, for-
merly of great
extent, now re-
stricted to the
Indian and Ori-
ental baya-
birds, asP.^/w-
lippinus,P. ben-
galensis, and
others.
plodif (plod), n.
[< ME. plod, a
puddle; cf. Dan.
pladder, mire ;
prob. < Ir. Gael.
plod, a pool
(also a clod),
plodan, a small
pool (also a
small clod), plo-
<?ac/», a puddle.]
A puddle.
plod^ (plod), V. ;
pret. and pp. plodded, ppr. plodding. [< ME.
"plodden (found only in deriv. plodder); prob.
orig. splash through water and mud; (.plod^.n.
Cf . plodge, and plout\ plouter, plotter^, phwder,
of like sense'.] 1. i/ntrans. 1. To trudge; travel
or work slowly and perseveringly ; go on in any
pursuit with steady, laborious diUgence.
Why, universal plodding poisons up
The nimble spirits in the arteries.
Shak., L. t. L., iv. 3. 806.
I'le take my blew blade all in my hand, "«,
And plod to the green-wood with thee. 'iWy;
Jolly Pimder of Wakefield (Child's Ballads, V. M6|; j
She reason'd without plodding long,
Nor ever gave her judgement wrong.
Smft, CadenuB and Vanessa.
I, with my fate contented, will pZod on.
And hope for higher raptures when life's day is donei
Wordsworth, Skylarfc
2. To lag behind or puzzle upon the seent:
said of hounds. =Syn. 1. To trudge, Jog.
II. trans. To go or walk over in a heavy,
laboring manner; accomplish by heavy, toil-
some walking or exertion.
If one ot mean affairs
May yZod it in a week, why may not I
Glide thither in a day?
Shak., Cymbeline, iii 2. 53.
The plowman homeward plods his weary way.
Gray, Elegy.
ploddanf, n. [Prob. < Gael, plaide, a blanket,
plaid : see plaid."] The checkered plaid of the
Scotch. See plaid.
Coarse cloth of 2 or 3 colours in checker-trork, vulgarly
called ploddam.
English Traveller in Scotland, 1598 (PlancWs History of
[Costame).
plodder (plod'fer), n. [< ME. plodder; <f^^
+ -erl.] If. One who trudges or wanders
about ; a "moss-trooper."
There come out of castels & of clolse townes
Ffro the bowerdurs aboute, that hom bale wroghii
Klours [robbers] and plodders, piked [stole] there goodes.
DettTuMon tfTroy (k E. T. S.), L 12862.
2. One who plods ; a drudgis ; a dull, laboriouB
person.
Baya-bird l.Ptoceits fhilippitati).
Flomb£e(def.i), middle of i5th
century.
plodder
Small have continual plodders ever won
Save baae authority trom others' hooka.
Shak., L. 1. L., 1 1. 86.
plodding (plod'in^), p. a. Moving or working
with slow and patient diligence ; patiently la-
borious: as, a man oi plodding habits.
Some stupid, plodding, money -loving wight.
Young, Love ol Fame, it 161.
Fortune . . . fixes on the piodding mechanic, who stays
at home and minds his business.
OoldsmUh, Citizen ot the World, Ixx,
ploddingly (plod'ing-li), adv. In a plodding
manner; drudgingly.
plodge (ploj), V. i.; pret. and m.plodged, ppr.
plodging. [Appar. an extended toim otplod^,
r.] To walk in mud or water; plunge. Sal-
Uwell. [Prov. Eng.]
Floima (plo'i-ma), n. pi. [NL. (C. T. Hudson,
1884), < G-r. 7r?Mifiog, fit for sailing, < ■!r?.aew, var.
of n7jetv, sail, float.] One of three orders of lipo-
pod Eotifera, contrasted with BdeUograda and
Bhizota, containing those wheel-animalcules
which move only by swimming. Most rotifers,
whether loricate or illoricate, are ploiimate.
ploimate (plo'i-mat), a. [< Plmma + -ate^.']
Of or pertaining to the order Floima.
plokketi '"• *• A Middle English form of pluclii^.
plomt, n. A Middle English form otplunib^.
plombh n. and v. An obsolete form otplumb^.
plombee, plomm6e (plom-ba', -ma' ), n. [OF., <
fi!oj»6,lead: see pVumV^.']
. A variety of the mace
or martel-de-f er to which
weight was given by lead
combined with the head :
a common form bore a
mass of lead at the end
of the handle, and pro-
jecting from it in oppo-
site directions two points
of steel.— 2. A variety
of the war-flail. Compare morning-star (6).
plombgomme, n. Same as plumhogwmmite.
plombierite (plom'ber-it), n. [< PlomUires
(see def.) + -ite^.'], A hydrated calcium sili-
cate occurring in gelatinous forms (hardening
on exposure) at PlombiSres, Vosges, France,
where, with several zeolites, it is the result of
the action of thermal waters upon the brick and
mortar of a Roman aqueduct.
plomet, M. A Middle English form of jotoml.
plomett, «. A Middle English form of plum-
met.
plonun^, plonun^e, n. Seeplmnb^e.
plongeV, «>■ A Middle English form of plunge.
plonge^ (ploni), V. t. ; pret. and -g^.plonged, ppr.
plonging. [<P.^Z(»!g'er, plunge: see plunge, v."}
To. cleanse, as open sewers, by stirring up the
mud with a pole as the tide in a tidal river is
on the ebb. Plonging is distinguished from
flushing, the method used for covered sewers.
Mayltew.
plonge^ (plonj), n. [F.: see plunge, ».] 1.
Milit., the superior slope of a parapet. — 2.
The course of a bomb from its greatest altitude
to the point of fall; the descending branch of
its trajectory.
plong^e (pl6n-zha'), n. [P. : see plonge^, ».]
Same a,s plonge^.
plook, plOQky, n. See plomk, pUywky.
plop (plop), V. ».; pret. and pp. plopped, ppr.
plopping. [Imitative. Of. plap:\ To fall or
plump into water. Mrs. Gaslcell, Mary Barton.
[Prov. Eng.]
ploti (plot), n. [Also plat (see vlat^) ; < ME.
plotjplotte, < AB.plot (rare), a plot of ground;
cf. Goth, plats, a patch: see patch. The
sense 'scheme' (whence later 'stratagem, con-
spiracy') appar. arose from that of 'plan' or
'plat' of a piece of ground, as pilan, • scheme,'
tcomplan, 'plat,' 'draft.' The sense has prob.
been affected by association with complot, but
plot, ' scheme,' can hardly be an abbr. of corn-
plot. Instances of the loss pf the prefix comr-,
eon- are scarcely to be found except recently
in humorous or childish use (as in 'fess for con-
fess).'] 1. A piece of ground; specifically, a
small piece of ground of well-defined shape ; a
patch or spot of ground.
Loice ye, take gode hede of this plotte of grounde that
ye now sitte on, whan that ye be agein repeired.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iL 160.
They [the cities] be all set and situate alike, and in all
points fashioned alike, as far forth as the place or jpiof suf -
fereth. Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Eobinson), 11. 1.
This blessed i)2oe, this earth, this realm, this England.
Shak., Kich. II., ii. 1. 50.
4561
I saw an innumerable company of little pfote of come,
not much bigger then little beds (as we call them) in our
English Oardens. Coryat, Crudities, I. 83.
Love paced the thymy plots of Paradise.
Tennyson, Love and Death.
2t. A patch, spot, or splotch of any kind, as in
a garment.
He had a cote of Crystendome as holykirke bileneth,
Ac it was moled in many places with many sondrie plottes.
Of Pruyde here a plotte, and there a plotte of unbuxome
speche. P^s Plowjnan (B), xiiL 275.
3. In sicrv., a plan or draft of a field, farm, es-
tate, etc., surveyed and delineated on paper; a
map or plan.
I am a young beginner, and am building
Of a new shop, an 't like your worship, just
At corner of a street :— Here is the plot on 't.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, i. 1.
In another roome are represented at large mapps and
plotts of moat countries in the world.
Evelyn, Diary, Jan. 18, 1645.
4. A fully formulated scheme or plan ; a sys-
tematized purpose ; design; aim.
Thus was not the law of England ever properly applyed
unto the Iiish nation as by a purposed plott of govern-
ment, but as they could insinuat and steale themselves
under the same by theyr humble carriadge and submis-
sion. Spenser, State of Ireland.
Then doth the crafty fox begin to fill
His braines with cunning ; if Tiisjalotes doe hit
To his desire, his landlordes want of wit
Shall make him rich for ever.
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 65.
All things cannot
But suit aright when Heav'n do's lay the plot.
J. Beawmant, Psyche, ii. 9S.
5. A stratagem or secret plan; a secret pro-
ject; an intrigue; a conspiracy.
I thank you, fine fool, for your most fine plot;
This was a subtle one, a stiff device
To have caught dotterels with.
Beau, and Fl., Scornful Lady, iv. 1.
But the Gunpowder Plot — there was a get-penny I
B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, v. 1.
Oh think what anxious moments pass between
The birth oi plots and their last fatal periods.
Addison, Cato, i. 3.
The plot was the most wicked and desperate ever known.
Macavlay, History.
6. The story of a play, poem, novel, or romance,
comprising a complication of incidents which
are at last unfolded by unexpected means ; the
intrigue.
If the plat or intrigue must be natural, and such as
springs from the very subject, as has been already urged,
then the winding-up of the plot, by a more sure claim,
must have this qualification, and be a probable conse-
quence ot all that went before.
Le Bosm, tr. in Pref. to Pope's Odyssey.
O lud, sir, if people who want to listen or overhear were
not always connived at in a tragedy, there would be no car-
rying on any plot in the world. Sheridan, The Critic, ii. 2.
7. Contrivance; deep reach of thought; ability
to plan.
Who says he was not
A man of much plot
Hay repent that false accusation.
Sir J. Denham, Keturn of Mr. Killegrew.
Gunpowder plot. See gunpowder.— Vopish plot, in
Eng. hist., an alleged conspiracy of Koman Catholics in
1678, by which, according to the testimony of Titus Oates
and other informers, the king, Charles II. , was to be killed,
and the govei'nment and the Protestant religion were to be
overthrown. Several Boman Catholics were executed for
supposed complicity in these measures. — Rye House
plot,in Eng. hist., a conspiracy of some radical Whigs for
the assassination of Charles II. at Rye House, Hertford-
shire, in 1683. Algernon Sidney and Lord Knssell were
executed for alleged implication in this plot. =Syn. 5.
Combination, machination, cabal.
plotl (plot), v.; pret. and -pp. plotted, -ppr. plot-
ting, [i plot^, n.'] I. irows. 1. Tomakeamap
or plan of; lay down on paper according to
scale : as, to plot a farm or an estate ; to plot
a ship's course on a chart. — 2. To determine
or fix by measurements on a map or chart.
The position of 97 [water-]spouts, occuning on 60 differ-
ent dates, . . . has been plotted with respect to the centre
of low pressure areas. Amer, Meteor. Jour., III. 121.
3. To plan; form plans for ; devise; contrive;
conspire to effect or bring about: now rarely
used in a good sense.
Let your reason
Plot your revenge, and not your passion.
Beau, and Fl., Maid's Tragedy, iv. 2.
Conning Submission's language as he went.
And plotting how his Brethren to content.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, i, 125.
Plotting an unprofitable crime.
Dryden, Cock and Fox, L 776.
The good man and woman are long since in their graves
who used to sit and plot the welfare of us their children.
Steele, Spectator, No. 263.
=SyiL 3. To concoct, brew, hatch, plan.
n. intrans. To form a plan or plot ; scheme ;
especially, to conspire.
The wicked plotteth against the just. Ps. xxxvii. 12.
plounce
plot^ (plot), V. t. ; pret. and pp. plotted, ppr.
plotting. lAlso plout; cf., Gael. j)!o«iac/j, luke-
warm, parboiling. ] 1. To scald; steep in very
hot water. — 2. To make (any liquid) scalding
hot. [Scotch in both senses.]
plotcht (ploeh), n. [A var. ol plot, perhaps due
to association with splotch.'] A patch ; splotch ;
blotch; scab.
An idle vagrant person . . . who stood at the Temple
gate demanding of almes, with certaine counterfait ji2otenM
of a leper.
Benvemiio, Passengers' Dialogues (1612). (Naret.)
Floteres (plo-te'rez), n.pl. [NL. (F.plot^es —
LatreiUe), < Gr. n'^Mr^/}, a sailor, < 7r?MEtv, saU.]
A group of hemiptei'ous insects of the trrbe Geo-
cores, or land-bugs, containing such as have very
long legs and run on the surface of the water.
plotformf, n. An obsolete form oixilatform.
plotful(pIot'fvd),a. i<plotT^+-ful^ Abound-
ing with plots. Wright.
Flotidse (plot'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Plotus +
-idee.] A family of totipahnate birds of the
order Stegandpodes ; the darters, anhingas, or
snake-birds. They have a very long, slim, sinuous neck ;
long, slender, straight, and acute bill ; broad fan -shaped tail,
with stiff rectrices, of which the middle pair are crinkled
or fiuted ; naked lores ; and rudimentary gular sac. There
is only one genus, Plotus or Anhinga, with several species,
inhabiting swamps and marshes of warm countries in both
hemispheres. See avMnga, darter, Plotus.
Flotinian (plo-tin'i-an), a. [< Plotinus (see
Plotinism) + -ian.] Of or pertaining to Plo-
tinus or the Plotinists, or their doctrines.
Plotinism (plo-ti'nizm), ». [< LL. Plotinus, <
Gr. n^arlvog, Plotinus, a Greek philosopher of
the 3d century, + -ism.] The doctrine of Plo-
tinus or of the Plotinists.
Flotinist (plo-ti'nist), n. [< Plotin-^is + -ist.']
A disciple of Plotinus. See Neoplatonism.
plot-proof (plot 'prof ), a. Proof against plots j
not to be hurt by a plot or plots. [Bare.]
The harlot-king
Is quite beyond mine arm, out of the blank
Ana level of my brain, plat-proof.
Shak., W. T., IL 3. 6.
plotter! (plot'6r), «. [< plot\ v., -I- -e»-l.] One
who plots, in any sense ; especially, one who
contrives; a contriver; a conspirator.
plotter^ (plot'er), V. i. Same as plouter.
Miss's pony has trodden dahn two rigs o' corn, and j^ot-
tered through, raight o'er into t' meadow.
E. Bronte, Wuthering Heights, ix.
plottie (plot'i), n. [< plot^.] A sort of mulled
wine. [Scotch.]
Get us a jug of mulled wine — plotHe, as yon call it.
Seott, St. Bonan's Well, xxviii.
plotting! (plot'ing), II. [Verbal n. of ^jto*l, v.]
The act of making aplot. Specifically— (o) The act
of making a plan or map. (&) The act of forming or at-
tempting a stratagem or conspiracy.
plotting^ (plot'ing), n. [Verbal n. of *j;Zo*, v.,
< F. peloter (pron. plo-ta'), form into a ball, <
jjetote, aball: seepellet. Ct.platoon.] Insoap-
maJdng, the operation of forming the paste into
cakes by means of heavy pressure.
The soap is ready tor the final operation, known asplot-
ting (from the French pelotage), in which the paste is sub-
jected to enormous pressure, sometimes 3000-4000 lb. a
sq. in. , to form it into cakes, or into continuous bars from
which cakes may be cut.
W. L. Carpenter, Soap and Candles, p. 200.
plottingly (plot'ing-li), adv. In a plotting man-
ner; as a plotter.
The walls were covered with curious old Dutch prints.
. . . There was Frederick the Great, with head drooped
plottingly, and keen sidelong glance from under the three- '
cornered hat. Lowell, Cambridge Thirty Years Ago.
plotting-machine (plot'ing-ma-shen'''), n. A
form of press for shaping soap-paste into bars
or cakes. See plotting^.
plotting-scale (plot'ing-skal), n. A scale used
for setting off the lengths of lines in surveying.
It consists of two graduated scales, made of ivory, silver,
brass, or boxwood. One of these scales is pierced along
nearly its whole length by a dovetail-shaped groove, tor
the reception ot a sliding-pieoe. The second scale is at-
tached to this slidiug-piece, and moves along with it, the
edge of the second scale being always at right angles to
the edge ot the first. By this means the rectangular co-
ordinates of a point are measured at once on the scales,
or the position of the point is laid down on the plan.
Flotus (plo'tus), n. [NL. (LinnsBus, 1766), <
Gr. 7r/U)-3f , sailing, floating, < nT^eiv, var. of nM-
eiv, 7r?.av,sail: seeflow^.] The only genus of the
family Plotidse. p. anhinga is the common darter,
anhinga, snake-bird, or water-turkey ot America ; P. le-
veillanti is African ; P. m^larwgaster, Indian ; P. novie-
AoZIandte, Australian. Also called Ptj/nx and Pfottus. See
cut under anhinga.
plough, ploughable, etc. See jjlow, eta.
plouncet (plouns), v. i. ; pr?t. and pp. plounced,
ppr. plouncing. [Appar. a var. ot plunge (ME.
plounce
plongen, ploungen, etc.), aceom. to flounce^.']
To plunge.
Our obserration must not now launch into the whirl-
pool, or rather plomuse into the mndd and quagmire, of the
people's power and right pretended. That the sovereignty
is theirs, and originally in them.
Bp. Hacket, Abp. WiUiams, II. 200. (Davies.)
ploun^et, V. A Middle EngUsh form ot plunge.
plousiocracy, n. See pltmocracy.
plouti (plout), V. i. [Cf. plod^. Hence freq.
plouter, plotter^, etc.] To wade or flounder
through water or mire. [North. Eng. and
Scotch. ]
plout2 (plout), 4). <. S&me&s plotK [Scotch.]
plouter (plou'tSr), V. i. [Also plotter, plowder;
freq. oiploufi-.'] To dabble or paddle in water
or mire. [North. Eng. and Scotch.]
plouter (plou'ter), «. \<. plouter, v."] A dabbling
or playing in water; a splashing bath. [Scotch.]
Shepherd. Faith, I think I shall tak a plmter. (Shep-
herd retires into the marble bath. . . . The hot water is
let on with a mighty noise.)
WUtmi, Nootes Ambrosiante, III. 226.
plout-net (plout'net), n. [Appar. var. of pout-
net (perhaps affected by ptoj*).] A small stock-
ing-shaped river-net attached to two poles.
[Eng.]
ploutocracy, ploutocrat, etc. %qq plutocraey,
etc.
plover (pluv'er), n. [< ME. plover, plovere, <
OF. ptmiier, "F.plumer, a plover, < ML. *pluvi-
arius, pluvarius, a plover, so called because it
appears during the rainy season; prop, adj.,
equiv. to L. plvmalis, of the rain (cf . NL. Plv/vi-
ales, pi., the jjlovers), < pluvia, rain: see pluvi-
ous.'] 1 . A bu'd of the family Charadriidee and
genus Charadrius, C. pluvialis. This bird, more
Silly called tbegolden, yellow, or green plover, is very widely
distributed in the Old World, breeding in high latitudes,
and performing extensive migrations during the spring
and faU. It is about 10^ inches long and 22^ in extent of
wings, the wing 7 inches, the bill ^ inch, the tarsus IJ
Crook-billed Plover iAnarhynchlts
/rontirlis].
Golden Plover {Chni-adrius pluvialis). in autumn plumage.
Inches. The upper parts are black, and profusely spotted
with yellow and white ; the under parts are black in the
breeding-dress, whit-
ish in winter, various-
ly mottled or speckled
during the changes of
plumage. The bill and
feet are 'black; the
feet are three-toed.
The plover lays four
eggs, 1^ inches long
by \\ broad, of a piri-
form shape, drab
color, with heavy
brownish or blackish
blotches.
Hence — 3. Some
or any bird of the
family Charadri-
idse; aoharadrio-
morphic gralla-
torial bird. The
American golden plover, or fleld-plover, is Charadrius do-
TnCnicus, very closely resembling C pluvUdw, but having
ashy-gray instead of
white azillars. The
Swiss bullhead, or black-
bellied plover, is Squti-
larola helvetica, inhabit-
ing most parts of the
world, and having four
toes. (See out under
Squatarola.) Many
small plovers with
white under parts, and
rings or bands of black
on the head, neck, or
breast, are known as
rin^-plovers or ring-
necks, and mostly be-
long to the genus jEgi-
alites. (See £dso laUdee.')
The most singular of
these is the crook-billed
plover, Anarhynchwg
frantalii, having the
bill bent sidewise. It
S«:aUed Plover's Ere (that of K<,«A inhabits New Zealand.
lus criitaiiis). The mountain-plover of
4562
the western United States is Podoiocys nuintanwi. Some
plovers are known as dotterels. (See dotterel and Eudro-
mias.) The thickknees, stone-plovers, or stone-curlews
are birds of the family (Edictiemidee. (See out undei' CEdic-
nemus.) Stilt-plovei'S are the stilts, HimarUopinte. (See
cutunder8*3«.) The crab-plover is Z)rom««fflr*oJo. "Plov-
ers' eggs," so called in England, aie laid by the lapwing,
Vanellvs cristatits.
3. In various parts of the United States, the
Bartramian sandpiper, Bartramia longicauda,
jnoretxillyaaMeduxMnd, highland, pasture, field,
corn-field, prairie, grass, anA plain plover. See
cut under Bartramia.—^. The greater or lesser
yeUowshanks, Tetanus melanoleucus or T. fla-
vipes, commonly called yellow-legged plovei-s.
[Local, U.S.] — 5t. A loose woman: otherwise
called a guail.
Here will be Zekiel Edgworth, and three or four gallants
with him at night, and I have neither plover nor quail for
them ; persuade this ... to become a bird o' the game.
B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iv. 3.
Bastard plover. See ftosfard.— Bishop plover, the
turnstone, StrepsUas interpres. [Massachusetts.]— Black-
bellied plover. See def. 2.— Black-breasted plover.
(a) The golden plover in full plumage. (Ireland.] (6) The
black-heart plover. [Local, U. S.]— Black-heart plov-
er, the black-bellied or black-breasted sandpiper; the
American dunlin. [Local, Canada.]— Bullhead-plover.
See bullhead, 4.— Golden plover. See def. 1.— Gray
plover, (a) A misnomer of the knot, Tringa canvtus, a
sandpiper in winter plumage. [Scotland.] (o) The golden
plover when young. [Ireland. ) — Great plover, the stone-
plover.— Green plover, the lapwing, Vanellus eristatm.
[Ireland.]— Helvetian plover, the Swiss plover^ Squata-
rola helvetica.— Bishiaad plover, the Bartramian sand-
piper. AlsocalledBortram'sftis'AJaniisniiK.- Hill-plov-
er, the golden plover. [Forfar. ] — Kentish plover, ^gi-
cMes cantiamis, a small ring-plover of wide distribution
in tlie eastern hemisphere: so called because the speci-
mens from which it was first described (by Dr. John
latham) were received from lUr. Boys of Sandwich in
Kent, England.— Long-legged plover, a longshanks or
stilt; a bird of the genus flima«(oims.— Mud-plover,
Squatarola helvetica. [Local, British.] — Norfolk plov-
er, the stone-plover, Oidicnemus crepitans.-:- OyBtei-
plover, the oyster-catcher.— Plover's page. See page^.
— Red-legged plover, the turnstone, ^repsUasinterpres ;
the red-legs. [Massachusetts.]- Ringed plover. See
^gialites and fo'Mdce.— Book-plover, Squatarola helve-
tica. [Wexford, Ireland.]— Ruddy plover, the sander-
ling or three-toed sandpiper. Caimans arenaria, when in
fnll plumage : chiefly a book-name.— Sea-plOVer.SjMafffl-
rola helvetica. [Local, British.]— Silver plover. Same
as gray plover (a).— Spanish plover, the willet, or semi-
palmated tattler, Syynphemia semipalmata. March. [Ja-
maica.]—Speckled-hack or streaked-back plover,
the turnstone, StrepsUas interpres. [Massachusetts.] —
Spur-wlnged plover. See CAettMsfa.— strand plover,
Squatarola helvetica. [Cork, Ireland.]-'WMstllng plov-
er, (a) The golden plover, (ft) SgiMtoroZa helvetica, (c)
The Norfolk plover. (Various localities.] — Wry-billed
? lover, the crook-billed plover. See second cut above. —
ellow plover, the golden plover. [Bast Lothian.] (See
also lark-plover, marsh-plover, piping-plover, stone-plover.)
plover-quail (pluv'er-kwal), n. Any bird of
the genus Fedionomus.
plover-snipe (pluv'6r-snip), n. Any bird of the
group Pressirostres.
plO'W,plougll(plou),«. [Alsodial. (Bc.)pleugh,
pleuch; < MB. plow, plowe, plough, ploughe,
plowghe, ploug, plouh, ploghe, plughe, ploli, a
plow, a plowland, < AS. ploh (rare), a plow-
land (not found in AS. in the sense of 'plow,'
for which the reg. word was sulh, > E. dial.
suU, sullow), = OFries. 2)ldch = D. ploeg = MLG.
ploch, pHleh = OHG. pfluog, pfiMoh, phluog,
fluog, fluoe, ploh, pluag, MH(J. phluoc, pfiuoc,
G. pfiug — icel. plogr = Sw. plog = Dan. plov,
a plow ; perhaps from the root of play^ (AS.
plega/ri) and plight^ (AS. pUht), with ref . to the
activity or labor involved : cf . MHG. phluoc,
pfluoe, business, occupation, maintenance.
Like play and plight, the word plow belongs
only to Teut. (the Slav., etc., forms, OBulg.
plugii = Russ. plugii, etc., = liWi. pUugas, are
from OHG.). It is not found in Goth., where
hoha, plow. Cf . loel. ardhr, Norw. a/r, al, plow,
related to L. aratrum, a plow (see aratrum ter-
rse), MHG. arl, a plowshare, from the same ult.
root (see ear^). The explanations which con-
nect 2}low with the Gr. irhiiov = Skt. plava, a
ship, or with the Gael, ploc, a block of wood,
stump of a tree (and hence, as Skeat supposes,
a primitive plow), are untenable.] 1. An agri-
piow
cultural implement, drawn by animals or moved
by steam-power, used to cut the gro und and tum
it up so as to prepare it for the reception of
seeds. The soil is cut to a depth of several inches, raised
up, and turned over by the progress of the plow, the ob-
ject being to expose a new surface to the au' and, by pul-
verizing and loosening the soil, to fit it for the reception of
seed and the vigorous growth of crops. The plow, in va-
rious forms, is also much used for other pui^poses. In its
modern fomi, the common agricultural plow essentially
consists of a plow-beam provided with a clevis for attach-
ment of draft-animals ; handles, connected with each other
and cross-braced by the rounds; a mold-board, usually of
cast-iron ; a plowshare, usually of steel, or steel-pointed,
and bolted to the inold-boai-d ; a land-side, usually of cast-
iron, attached to the inold-boaid near the front edge of the
latter and in line with tlie beam ; ticolter, of wrought-hon
with a tempered-steel edge, attached to the beam in line
with the front edge of the mold-boaid ; and a standardot
sheth, projecting upward from and usually integral with the
mold-board, and connecting the latter with the beam. The
rear end of the beam is attached to the land-side handle,
one handle being attached to the rear part of the land-
side and the other to the rear part of the mold-board. Of-
ten a wheel is adjustably attached to the beam near the
clevis, for gaging the depth of the furrow.
2. Figuratively, tillage ; culture of the earth ;
agriculture. Johnson. — 3. A tool that furrows,
grooves, planes, cuts, or otherwise acts liy
pushing or shoving, like a plow, (a) In umdmric-
ing, a kind of plane used for grooving door-stiles and
similar work. It has an adjustable fence, and is usually
adapted to carry eight different widths of plane-irons, for
different widths of gi'ooves. (6) In dothman%f., an in-
strument for cutting the flushing parts of the pile or nap
of fustian, (c) The cutting-knife of a plow-press, (d) In
bookbinding, a hand-implement for cutting or trimming
the edges of books. Machines for the same puipose have
rendered the bookbinders' plow almost obsolete, (e) A
narrow shovel used in malting to bring the grains under-
neath to the sui'f ace. (/) A limmer or fatting-knite : as,
a mackerel-j72(m). See rimmer. (g) A hanging connection
' extending from a car propelled by electricity through the
slot of the underground conduit, by means of which the
current is conveyed to the motor on the car.
4t. -A plo:vland.
And I'll gie him to his dowi;
Full fifty ploughs ot land.
Childe ryet (Child's Ballads, n. 76).
Black-land plow, a plow specially adapted to plowing
rich soil free &om stones, as the black lands of prairies.—
Double mold-board plow, a plow which, instead of a
land-side, has a second mold -board with curvature therfr'
verse of the ordinary mold-board, so that it turns a double
furrow, throwing the earth in opposite directions. It is
used for making surface-drains, ridging up, etc.— Double
plow, (a) A plow by which two f uiTOws can be turned
at the same time ; a gang-plow consisting of two smgle
plows. (6) A plow which can be adjusted to turn a fur-
row either to the right or to the left. Also called driU-
plow,rever^bleplow,andtumin^mold-boardplow.~GBJlg-
Plow, two or more plows attached to a single stock or
frame, generally having wheels as a sulky-plow has, with
American Plow.
a, handles; ^, beam; c. mold-board; d, .share; e, slip-point (can
be replaced when broken or worn); /", colter; ^, colter-brace; A,
wheel (gages depth of furrow) ; i. arc by which the wheel is set to
regulate depth of furrow ; /, clevis ; Ji, land-side.
^ i
Gang-plow.
a, rear plow; a', front plow; i, long beam; b', short beam; c.
wheel running on land; c', wheel runninginfurrow;.rf, lever: «,seat:
/", ratchet-adjusting lever ; £, pole.
adjustable devices for regulating the depth of furrows, and
also a seat for the plowman, except when moved by steam.
Compare steartb-plovi. — Hand-plow, a light small plow
sometimes used in gardening, drawn or pushed by hand.—
Hoe-plow. Same as Aorse-Aoe.- Mole-plOW, a plow with
a long standard or sheth, to the lower part of which is at-
tached an iron shoe or burrowing-tool which makes a bur-
row under the surface without turning a furrow. It is used
for under-draining. The shoe is sometimes so attached to
the lower part of the sheth as to permit its free motion
around stones, etc. — Paring-plow. Same as sodMami
(which see).— pillowofaplow. SeepflJow.- ReverMhle
plow. Same as double plow (6). — Seedlng-plOW, a plow
with a box for holding and scattering seed in the path of the
furrow.— Shim-colter plow, a plow having in advance of
the mold-board of theprincipal plow a small inclined share
or scraper, which cuts oft weeds and scrapes them, and
sometimes spread manure, into the furrow previously
plowed, where the main plow covers them.— SlUm-plOW,
a plow cutting off a shallow slice from the surface of land,
for killing out weeds. Also called sAtm.— Side-hill
plow, a plow with a reversible mold-board, which can
Be turned to throw the furrow do^vnhilI in plowing in op-
posite directions along the side or slope of a IdlL Also
called hiUside-plow and turn-wrest plow. — ShOvel-plOW,
a plow with a triangular share, but having no mold-
board. It is used for cultivating growing crops. The
double shovel-plow has a very broad triangular share
attached to two standards.— SkeletOn-plOW, a plow
in which the parts bearing against the soil are made
in skeleton form, to lessen friction. E. H. KiUght.
—Steam-plow, a heavy plow or gang of plows driven
plow
by steam-power. Steam-plows, operating on various prin-
ciples, are In use in farming on a large scale. Some are
driven by a single stationary engine, which winds an end-
less rope (generally of wire) passing over pulleys attached
to an ajiLaratus called the anchor, fixed at the opposite
headland, and round a drum connected with the engine
itself. Others are driven by two engines, one at each
headland, thus superseding the anchor. As steam-plow-
ing apparatus are usually beyond both the means and
the requirements of any but the largest farmers, com-
panies have been formed at various places for hiring them
out. Locomotive engines drawing gangs of plows have
been tried, but compact the soil so injuriously that their
use has been practically abandoned.— Straddle-pIOW
a plow with two triangular parallel shares set a little
apart, used for running on each side of a row of dropped
com for covering the seed. K H. Knight. — Subsoil-
plow, a plow with a long standard and a share, but hav-
ing no mold-board. Following the ordinary plow, it
loosens the earth in the bottom of the ordinary furrow,
while itself turning no furrow.— SuUty-plow, a plow
attached to an axle with two wheels, the a^e carrying
a seat for the plowman and mechanism for adjusting
and guiding the plow. B. H. Knight— The Plow, the
prominent seven stars In the constellation of the Great
Bear; Charles's Wain.— To bold the plow. See holdi.—
To put one's hand to the plow, figuratively, to begin
a task; commence an undertaking.— Tum-wrest plOW.
Same as tide-kiU pJow.— Wheel-plow, (o) A plow in which
the depths of furrows are gaged by a wheel or wheels
attached to the plow and running upon the surface of the
land. (!i) A plow, having a wheel in the space between
the land-side and the mold-board, reducing the friction
of the plow by hearing the weight. B. H. Knight. (See
also bamnee^fiow, ice-plow, prai/iie-plow, snow-plow, sod-
plow.)
plow, plough (plou), V. [< MB. plmien (?),
plowgnen =D. ploegen = MLG. plogen = MHG.
phluogen, pfluogen, G. pflUgen = leel. plsegja =
Bw.plQja = Dan. plSje, plow; from the noun.
The older verb for 'plow' is ear: see ear^.l
1. trans. 1. To turn up with a plow ; till.
I should be vnwilling to go thither, . . . much lesse to
carry an Oxe or an Horse with me to plough the ground.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 83.
It s I hae fifty acres of land ;
It's a,plow'd and sawn already.
Olaegow Peggy (Child's Ballads, lY. 78).
2. To make furrows, grooves, or ridges in, as
with a plow; furrow^ figuratively, to move
through like a plow ; make one's way through.
Let
Patient Ootayia, plough thy visage up
With her prepared nails.
Shak., A. and C, iv. 12. 38.
Here 's a health to the mariners
That plough the raging main.
Mary Hamilton (Child's Ballads, IIL 126).
3. To effect as with a plow; traverse like a
plow,
A Fleet for Gaul addrest
Ploughs her bold course across the wondering seas.
Wordswortli, Eccles. Sonnets, ii. 15.
4. To trim or square, as the edges of paper,
with a plow. See plow, n., 3'(d).
Cutting or ploughing the edges [of a book) with a knife-
edged instrument called the plough. Eneyc. Brit. , IV. 43.
5. To cut or gash (a fish) with the plow or
rimmer. [American fisheries.] — 6. To reject,
as a candidate in an examination ; pluck. [Brit-
ish university slang.]
" I have been cramming for smalls ; and now I am in two
races at Henley, and that rather puts the snaffle on reading
and gooseberry pie, . . . and adds to my chance of being
ploughed for smalls." "What does it all mean?" in-
quired mamma, "'gooseberry pie' and 'the snaffle' and
'ploughed !'" " Well, the gooseberry pie Is really too deep
forme; but'jjJot/flrAcd'isthenewOxfordishfor'plucked.' '
C. Eeade, Hard Cash, Prol.
To plow in, to cover by plowing : as, to jpjow in wheat.—
To plow up or out, to turn out of the ground by plowing.
All Egypt shall be plough'd up with dishonour.
Fletcher (,an& another). False One, iv. 1.
The Arctic glaciers reach the sea, enter it, often plough-
ing up its bottom into submarine moraines.
TyndttU, Forms of Water, p. 134.
II. intrans. To turn up the soil with a plow;
till the soil with a plow.
He that plottgheth shall plough in hope. 1 Cor. ix. 10.
plowable, ploughable (plou'a-bl), a. [< plow,
plough, 4- -able."] Capable of being plowed;
arable.
plow-almst (plou'amz), n. A small coin paid
to the church in Eligland, in the early Anglo-
Saxon period, for every plowland, or for every
use of a plow between certain fixed dates.
plow-beam (plou'bem), n. [< ME. plow-heem,
ploghe-beme; < plow H- beam.^ The solid hori-
zontally projecting part of the frame of a plow,
by which it is drawn. See cuts under ^toro.
He was a little annoyed when Magill, getting down from
the plow-beam, stopped him.
B. Eggleston, The Graysons, xvi.
plow-bolt (plou'bolt), n. A bolt for securing
the share, land-side, or mold-board of a plow to
the stock. The head is chamfered or countersunk, and
In the former case generally has a square or fln, to prevent
itfrom turning when the nut is screwed on. JE. B. Kmight.
4563
plow-bote (plou'bot), n. In old Eng. law : (a)
Wood or timber allowed to a tenant for the re-
pair of instruments of husbandry. (6) A strip
of land set apart in the open-field system of cul-
tivation in the ancient village community for
the carpenter on a manor for the repair of the
plows and other farm implements.
plowboy, ploughboy (plou'boi), n. A boy who
drives or guides a team in plovring; hence, a
rustic boyj an ignorant country fellow.
plow-clevis (plou'klev'''is), n. A clevis of spe-
cial form used on a plow at the end of the plow-
beam. It is a stirrup-shaped piece with tliree loops, one
over another, in any one of which the open ring of the
doubletree may beplaced, according to the depth of fur-
row desired. E. H. Knight.
plower, plougher (plou'^r), n. [< ME. plough-
er = B. ploeger = G. pfliiger = Icel. plogari ; as
plow -t- -erl.] One who plows land; a culti-
vator.
The countrey people themselves are great plowers, and
small spenders of come. Spenser, State of Ireland.
plow-foott, ». [ME. plouhfot; <plow + foot.}
A plow-tail ; a plow-handle.
liyplouh-fot shal be my pyk-staf and picche a- two the rotes,
And help my cnlter to kerue and clanse the forwes.
Piers Plowman (C), ix. 64.
plow-gang (plou'gang), n. Same a^splowland, 2.
In Scotland a plow-gang of land was formerly
the property qualification to hunt under the
fame-laws.
OW-gate (plou'gat), n. Same aspjoiv-gang.
plow-nandie (plou'han"dl), n. [< ME. ploghe
handylle.l Same a,s plow-tail.
plow-head (plou'hed), n. [< ME. ploghe-hede.}
A plowshare: same as bridle, 5.
plowing-machine (plou'ing-ma-shen"), n. A
steam-plow.
plow-iron (plou'i"6m), n. The colter of a plow.
Shah., 2 Hen. IV., v. 1. 20.
plowk, «. [Also (diaX.) ploo1c,pluhe; < late ME.
plowhe, a, pimple; ct.plowkedj'pxmpij.} Apim-
ple. Cath.Ang.,-p.284:. [Obsolete or Scotch.]
plowkedt, a. [ME. ploviked, pluccid; < plowk
+ -erf2.] Covered with pimples; pimply.
Polidarius •ws&ptv^icid as a pork fat.
DestrwMm of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3837.
plow-knife (plou'nif ), n. In bookbinding, a flat
knife (about 6 inches long, 1^ inches wide, and
i inch thick) with a rounded and pointed out-
ting-face, sharpened on one side only, which
follows the groove of the bookbinders' plow in
cutting books or paper.
plowky, a. [Also plooTcy; < ME. plowTcky; <
plowh + ^^.} Pimply. [Obsolete or Scotch.]
For hyme that is smetyne of his awenne blode, and
spredls alle over his lymmes, and waxes j^ZowM^ and brekes
owte. Quoted in Cath. Ang., p. 284.
Plooky, plooky^ are your cheeks,
A.\idplooky is your chin.
Sir Hugh le Blond (Child's Ballads, III. 256).
His face was as plooky as a curran' bun, and his nose as
red as a partan's tae. 6dlt, Provost, xxxii. (Davies.)
plowland, ploughland (plou'land), n. [< ME.
plowlond, plmoe-lond, ploug-lond (= D. ploeg-
tand = MXiG. plochlant = G. pflugland = Icel.
plogsland = Sw. ploglomd = Dan. plojeland) ; <
plow + to.»di.] 1. Land that is plowed or that
is suitable for tillage. — 2. In early English
tenures, as much land as could be tilled with
the use of one plow; a hide of land; a caru-
cate. It was a descriptive term by which land might be
granted with the buildings thereon. The difference in
early authorities as to the area is probably to be ex-
plained by differences in local customs of husbandry and
in the arablenesa of the soil, and especially by the fact
that in some districts, and perhaps most generally, the
plow was drawn by eight oxen, while in others it may
have been drawn by four. It seems generally to have
contained about 100 acres more or less. Compare axland.
The pris of SLploug-lond of penyes so rounde
To aparaile that pyler were pure lyteL
Piers Plowman's Crede (E. E. T. S.), L 169.
Jugum feme, or halt a plow land, is as much as two
oxen can till. Sheppard, Touchstone.
0%iers say that one oxgange of land containeth 16 acres,
and 8 oxganges make a plow land. Coke upon LiUleton.
plowman, ploughman (plou'man), n. ; yl.plow-
men, ploughmen (-men). [<,ME. plowman, ploug-
man (= G. pfiugmann) ; < plow + man.} One
who plows or guides a plow; a farm laborer
who IS or may be engaged in plowing.
Wille . . . wrougte that here is wryten, and other werkes
bothe
01 Peres the Plowman, and mechel puple al-so.
Piers Plowman (A), xii. 102.
The merchant gains by peace, and the soldiers by war,
the shepherd by wet seasons, and \>\i& ploughmen by dry.
Sir W. Tenuple.
Like any Ploughman toil'd the little God,
His Tune he whistled, and his Wheat he sow'd.
Prior, Cupid turned Ploughman (trans.).
plow-witcher
Plowman's fee. See /eez.- Plowman's spikenard.
See spikenard.
plowmbet, plowmet, «• Obsolete (Middle Eng-
lish) forms oiplum^.
plowmeatt (plou'met), n. Cereal food, as dis-
tinguished from flesh-meat.
Some countryes lack plough-meat.
And some do lack cow-meat.
Tusssr, Husbandry, April's Abstract.
Plow Monday (plou mun'da). The Monday
after Twelfth-day, or the termination of the
Christmas holidays, when the labors of the
plow usually began, observed in England as a
rustic festival. On that day it is the custom of plow-
men to draw a plow from door to door, soliciting drink-
money. Also called Bock Monday.
Plough Monday next, after that Twelfth tide is past.
Bids out with the plough, the worst husband is last.
Tusser, Husbandry, Ploughman's Feasting Days.
plowngyt, a. An obsolete form of plungy.
plow-point (plou'point), n. A detachable share
at the front end of a plow-body, forming an
apex to the junction of mold-board, sole, and
land-side. E. S. Knight.
plow-press (plou'pres), n. In boolcbinding,
same as cutting-press, 2.
plow-service (plou'ser'vis), n. In early English
tenancies, the service rendered by villeins or
other tenants in plowing the lands of the lord's
manor, or furnishing oxen to the team therefor.
plowshare, ploughshare (plou'shar), n. [<
ME. plouhsciMre (= MLG. plochsckare = MHG.
pfluocschar, G. pftugschar) ; < plow + shared.}
1. The share of a plow, or that part which cuts
the ground at the bottom of the furrow, and
raises the slice to the mold-board, which turns
it over ; the sock of a plow. See first cut imder
plow.
Countries by future Plow-shares to be torn,
And Cities rais'd by Nations yet unborn.
Prior, Solomon, i.
2. In anat. , the vomer.
plowshare-bone (plou'shar-bon), n. 1. In
a»at., the vomer. — 2. In oj-Biffi., the pygostyle.
plow-shoe (plou'sho), 11. A block of wood fitted
under the point of a plowshare when not in use,
to prevent it from penetrating the soil.
plow-silver (plou'siFvSr), ». In old Eng. law,
money paid by tenants and retainers in com-
mutation of service due in plowing the lands
of the lord of the manor.
plow-sock (plou'sok), n. Same as plowshare, 1.
Scott. [Scotch.]
plow-staff (plou'staf ), n. [< 'mE.ploghe-staffe.}
A kind of paddle to clear the colter and share
of a plow when choked with earth or weeds :
called in Scotland apatlle or pettle.
plow-star (plou' star), n. See the Plow, under
plow.
Thee lights starrye noting in globe celestial hanging :
Thee seun stars stormy, twise told thee ^wstar, eke Arc-
ture. Stanihurst, .^neid, iii. 6^ (Dames.)
plow-stertt, n. [ME. (= D.ploegstaart = MLG.
plochstert = Gr.pflugsterz,pjhtgsteri3e = Sw.plog-
stjert = Dan. plovstjert), < plow + stert, taU.]
Same as plow-tail.
plow-stilt (plou'stilt), n. A handle of a plow.
plow-swain (plou'swan), n. A plowman.
Beasts leave their stals, plough-swains their fires forego.
Nor are the meadows white with drifts of snow.
SSir T. Hawkins, tr. of Odes of Horace, L 4. (fiames.)
plow-tail (plou'tal), n. That part of a plow
which the plowman holds ; the handle of a plow.
plow-team (plou'tem), n. In early English
times, usually a team of eight oxen, commonly
yoked four abreast. The estimated work of
such a team served as a measure of land. See
plowland, 2.
plow-tree (plou'tre), n. A plow-handle.
I whistled the same tunes to my horses, and held my
^ow-tree just the same, as if no King nor Queen liad ever
come to spoil my tune or hand.
Blackmore, Lorna Doone^ Ixxiv.
plow-truck (plou'truk), n. An attachment to a
plow, in the form of a riding-seat supported on
two wheels, to enable the plowman to ride at
his work. See sulky-plow, iiadeT plow.
plow-wise (plou'wiz), a. Going alternately
forward and backward in parallel lines, as in
plowing.
This was succeeded by Boustrophedon, or plough-wise
writing. Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, II. 33.
plow-witcher (plou'wich''''er), )!. One of a com-
pany of plowmen and other field-laborers who
drag a plow from house to house, soliciting
drink-money, with mumming, dancing, and
other sports, preparatory to the first plowing
after the Christmas holidays. See Plow Mon-
day. [Local, Eng.]
plow-yritcher
Seven companies of plmigh-witehers waited upon me in
my South Lincolnshire home ; and some of the perform-
ers—Bessy, the Doctor the Valiant Soldier, &c.— went
through the recital of their little play.
N. arid Q., 7th ser., I. 86.
plowwright, ploughwright (plou'rit), m. One
who makes and repairs plows.
Ploughwnte, cartwright, knacker, and smith.
Tusser, Husbandry, Com Harvest.
ployi (ploi), H. lAbbr. of emplo-y.'] 1. Employ-
ment.— 3. A harmless frolic ; a merrymaking.
[Scotch.]
ploy^ (ploi), V. i. [Cf. deploy.'] Milit., to move
from line into column: the opposite of de-
ploy.
ployment (ploi'ment), n. [< ploy'^ + ■ment']
Milit., the formation of column from line.
Fluchea (pl6'ke-a), n. [NL. (Cassini, 1817),
named after IsT." A. Phiche, a French abb6
who wrote upon natural history in 1732.] A
genus of composite plants of the tribe Inuloi-
dese, type of the subtribe Plucheinees, character-
ized by the corymbose heads of flowers with
dry broad bracts, each head containing numer-
ous truncate thread-shaped pistillate flowers in
many outer rows, and a few perfect but sterile
five-cleft flowers in the center. There are about 35
species, natives of warmer parts of America, Africa, Asia,
and Australia, a few herbaceous and extending into the
central or northern United States on the coast, the others
shrubs or undershrubs. They are woolly or glutinous,
with a strong or camphoric odor, bearing alternate toothed
leaves, and white, yellow, or purplish flowers. P. cam-
phorata is the salt-marsh fleabane of the Atlantic coast,
sometimes called camphor-plaTit. P. odoraia is the river-
side tobacco of the West Indies.
pluck^ (pink), V. t. [< ME. pluJcken, plokken,
plockien (pret. pluckede, plukkede, pp. plukked,
irreg. pret. plyghte, pp. plyght), < AS. pluecian,
pluccigean, ploccan (pret. pluccede, pp. plucced)
= D. pluklcen = MLGr. plucJcen, LG. plukken =
OHGr. *pfluechen (not found), MHGK phliicken,
pflucken, G. pflueken = loel . plukka, plokka = Sw.
plocka = Dan. plukke, pick, pluck; hardly a
Teut. word, the Scand. forms being appar. bor-
rowed from AS. or LG., and these prob. derived,,
through OHG. or Goth, (where, however, the
word is not recorded), from an early Rom. (LL.)
verb *piUcare, *pilueare, found in Olt. pelucare,
peluccare,piluccare,lt.piluccare,-phiek.lgra,'pes),
pick off (grapes) one by one, = Fi.pelucar, pick
out, = OP. plocquer, in secondary form *plue-
quier, plusquier, peluMer, peluchier, F. dial. (Pi-
ca,Td)pliiquer,plii,skier,pioki,pluclier,F. incorap.
eplucher, pick, gather (the F. forms prob. in part
reflections of the LG.) ; the ref. to plucking
grapes (which suggests the means of its early
introduction into Teut. use) being a particular
application or transfer of the orig. sense (Olt.
pelucare, etc.) 'pick out hairs one by one,' as
explained under the derivative peruke, the verb
(LL. *pilicare, *pilueare) being derived, with
freq. formative (L. -ic-are, LL. *-uc-are, It. -mc-
are, -ucc-are, etc., the same occurring in ^^MJigre,
ult. < ML. *plumbicare), from L. piliis, hair,
a hair : see pile^, peruke (and periwig and wig),
and also plush, from the same source. No evi-
dence of the existence of the Kom. (LL.) verb
at a period early enough to produce the earliest
Teut. forms is found ; analogous verbs in -icare
are, however, found, and the explanation here
given meets all the other conditions. It will
be observed that pluck still refers in most in-
stances to pulling hair or feathers or berries or
flowers, and that L. pilus, hair, has had in other
respects a remarkable development.] 1. To
pull off, as feathers from a fowl, or fruit or flow-
ers from a plant; pick off; gather; pick or cull,
as berries or flowers.
Hise disciplis j^uekiden eeris of com, and thel frotyuge
with her hondis eeten. Wydif, Luke vi.,!.
Al sodeynly thre leves have I^yght
Out of his book right as he radde.
Chaucer, ProL to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 790.
Ill show thee the best springs;
I'll pluck thee berries ;
ni fish for thee. Shdk., Tempest, ii. 2. 164.
As thro' the land at eve we went.
And pltieh^d the ripen 'd ears.
Tennyson, Princess, L (song).
2. To puU; draw; drag: used either literally
or figuratively.
Pluck him headlong from the usurped throne.
Shah., Rich. IL, v. 1. 65.
What poor fate follow'd thee, and pluck'd thee on,
To trust thy sacred life to an Egyptian ?
Fletcher {and another), False One, li. 1.
The best part of himself e he had lost before In Apos-
tasie, which plucked this destraetion upon him.
Pwrehax, Pilgrimage, p. 357.
4564
It is their Custom to make Men sit on the Floor, as
they do, cross-legg'd like Taylors ; But I had not strength
then to pluck up my Heels in that manner.
Dampier, Voyages, I. 502.
Especially— 3. To pull sharply; pull with sud-
denforceorjerk; give a tug or twitch to; twitch;
snatch ; twang, as the strings of a harp or guitar.
Sodeynly he plyghte his hors aboute.
Chaucer, Prol. to Man of Law's Tale, 1. 15.
Merlin caught theflayle of the yate and plukked it to
hym, and yede oute as lightly as it hadde not haue ben
lokked, and than departed oute mag[rle how it gracchid.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), IL 206.
You are thehare of whom the proverb goes.
Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard.
SAofc, K. John, iL 1. 138.
I have been plucKd and tugg'd by th' hair o' th' head
About a gallery half an acre long.
Fletcher (and another), Nice Valour, m. 2.
E'en children followed, with endearing wile,
And pluck'd his gown, to share the good man's smile.
GMismUh, Des. ViL, 1. 184.
4. To strip, as a fowl, by pulling off its feathers ;
strip the feathers from : as, to pluck a fowl.
Since I plucked geese, played truant, and whipped top,
I knew not what 'twas to be beaten till lately.
Shak., M. W. of W., V. 1. 26.
The King of Great Britain used to send for his Ambas-
sadors from Abroad ia pluck Capons at Home.
Howell, Letters, L v. 31.
5. To reject, after a university or other exam-
ination, as not coming up to the required stan-
dard. [College slang, Eng.]
He went -to college, and he got plucked, I think they
call it. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, x.
If a man is plmked— that is, does not get marks enough
to pass— his chance of a Fellowship is done for.
C. A. Bristed, English University, p. 268.
I trust that I have never plucked a candidate in the
Schools without giving him every opportunity of setting
himself right. Stiibbs, Medieval and Modem Hist. , p. 386.
Plucked Instrument, in mugic. See instruinwnt, 3 (c). —
To pluck a crow wltu one, to pick a quarrel with one.
O, these courtiers, neighbours, are pestilent knaves ; but,
ere 111 suffer it, I'll pluck a crow with some of 'em.
Dekker and Ford, Sun's Darling, iv. 1.
To pluck a pigeon. See^ii^eoB.- To pluck down a
side. See the quotation.
Other that never learned to shoot, nor yet knoweth good
shaft nor bow, will be as busy as the best, but such one
commonly plucketh down a side [to pluck down a side, I be-
lieve, is to shoot on one aide into the ground], and crafty
archers which be against him will be both glad of him,
and also ever ready to lay and bet with him : it were better
for such one to sit down than shoot.
Ascliam, Toxophilus (ed. 1864), p. 8.
To pluck offt, to descend in regard to rank or title ; de-
scend lower.
PJi«!*o/ a little;
I would not be a young count in your way.
' Shak., Hen. Vin., iL 3. 40.
To pluck up. (a) To pull ur haul up suddenly ; remove
entirely or by the roots ; eradicate ; hence^ to extermi-
nate ; destroy : as, to pluck up weeds.
They pluckt up anchor, and away did sayle.
The Noble Fishemmn (Child's Ballads, V. 331).
But if they will not obey, I will uttevly pluck up and de-
stroy that nation, saith the Lord. Jer. xiL 17.
X observed that the com here was plucked up by the
roots, accordingto the antient usage, which is retained also
in the upper Xgyvt-
Pocoeke, Description of the East, II. i. 131.
(6) To summon or muster up : as, to pluck up courage,
spirit, etc.
Pluk vp thi hert, my dere mayster.
Rotdn Hood and the Monk (Child's Ballads, V. 2).
Pluck up thy spirits ; look cheerfully upon me.
Shak., T. of the S., Iv. 3. 38.
Why did not Little-faith pluck up a greater heart?
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 188.
Pluck up a little resolution, and we shall soon be out of
the reach of her malignity.
Qoldxmith, She Stoops to Conquer, v.
(c) /TitraTM., to collect one's self ; gather spirit or courage.
BeTie. You break jests as braggarts do their blades. . . .
D. Pedro. But, soft you, let me be. Pluck up, my hearty
and be sad [serious]. Shak., Much Ado, v. 1. 207.
plucfel (pluk), n. [= D. pluk, plucking, gather-
ing, crop, = Sw. plock = Dan. pluk, gathering;
from the verb: see pluck, v. Indef.lthesame
word, the heart, liver, and lights being 'plucked
out' in preparing the carcass for market. In
def . 5 a colloq. fig. use of sense 4, like heart and
li^er in similar expressions.] 1 . A pull ; a tug ;
a twitch; a snatch: as, he gave the sword a
pluck.
Were they [the bones] dry, they could not . . . without
great difficulty yield to and obey the plucks and attrac-
tions of the motory muscles. Ray, Works of Creation, ii.
2t. A blow; a stroke.— 3t. About; around.
Why, wylt thou fyght a.pluckef
Playe of Robyn Hode (ChUd's Ballads, V. 423).
4. The heart, liver, and lungs or lights of a
sheep, ox, or other animal used as butchers'
meat : also used figuratively or humorously of
the like parts of a human being.
plug
It vexes me to the pluck that I should lose walking this
delicious day. Swift, Journal to Stella, xvia
There were lower depths yet : there were the purl houses,
where "Tradesmen flock in their Morning gowns, by Seven,
to cool their Plucks."
J. Ashton, Social Life in Keign of Queen Anne, 1. 234.
Hence — 5. Heart; courage; spirit ; determined
energy; resolution in the face of difficulties.
Decay of English spirit^ decay of manly pluck.
Thackeray.
Be firm ! one constant element in luck
Is genuine, solid, old Teutonic pluck.
0. W. Holmes, A Bhymed Lesson.
Attracted by the fame of Botta's discoveries, he [layard]
set to work digging at Nineveh with that pluck, that en-
ergy, and at the same time that discriminating judgment,
which he has since shown on other occasions.
Max MilUer, Biograph. Essays, p. 289,
pluck^ (pluk), n. [Origin obscure ; cf . Jr. Gael.
pluc, a lump, knot, bunch, ploc, a club, plug,
block: s&eplug and fttocfei.] The pogge, Ago-
^nus cataphractus. [Scotch.]
plucked! (plukt), p. a. Having the long stiff
hairs removed: said of the pelt of a fur-seal.
plucked^ (plnkt), a. [< pluek\ n., 5, spirit, cou-
rage, + -ed^.] Endowed with pluck or courage:
with a qualifying adjective. [Colloq.]
" What, going?" said he, " and going for good? I wish
I was such a %ooA-plucked one as yon. Miss AnviUe."
Thackeray, Eoundabout Papers, On a Peal of Bells, note,
A very sensible man, and has seen a deal of life, and
kept his eyes open, but a terrible hxtd-pluckei one.
'Calked like a book to me all the way, but be hanged if I
don't think he has a thirty-two-pound shot under his ribi
instead of a heart. Mngsley, Two Years Ago, iv. (Daviei.)
plucker (pluk'er), n. 1 . One who or that which
plucks.
Thou setter up and plucker down of kings.
Shak., 3 Hen. VL, il 3. 37.
2. A machine for straightening and cleaniBg
long wool to render it fit for combing., it has a
traveling apron which feeds the ends of the tufts to a pair
of spiked rollers, by which tufts and locks are opened, and
whence they proceed to a fanning apparatus for cleaning.
It is usually managed by a boy.
Pliickerian (plli-ke'ri-an), a. [< Pliicker (see
def.) + -ian.2 Pertaining to the geometrician
Julius Pliicker (1801-68).— Hnckerian cbaiacter-
IstiC, one of the quantities entering into the Pliickerian
equations.— Pliickerian equations, equations published
in 1834, substantially aa follows : Let m be the order ol a
plane curve, n its class, S its nodes, k its cusps, r its bitan-
gents, and i its inflections. Then
3m — K = 3n — l;
25 = m^ — m — n — 3k;
2t = ?i3 — n — m — 3i.
Pliicker's fonnulse. See formula.
pluckily (pluk'i-li), adv. In a plucky manner;
with courage or spirit. [Colloq.]
"No," said Frank, pluckUy, as he put his horse into a
faster trot. TrdUqpe, Tit. Thome, xxii.
pluckiness (pluk'i-nes), n. The character of he-
ing plucky ; pluck ; courage.
Her quaint^ queer expression, in which cteiosity,i)iiMW-
ness, and a foretaste of amusement mingled.
Mrs. Whitney, Leslie Ooldtbwaite, vl
pluckless (pluk'les), a. [<.pluck\ n., 5, + -less.]
Without pluck; faint-hearted. [Colloq.]
plucky (pluk'i), a. [ipluek'i^, n., 5, + -y^.] Pos-
sessing pluck, or spirit and courage; spirited;
courageous. [Colloq.]
If you're plucky, and not over-subject to fright,
And go and look over that chalk-pit whiter
You may see, if you wifi.
The Ghost of old GQl.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, IL 146.
pluff (pluf), V. t. [Imitative of a sudden puff;
cf . puff and fluffs.] To throw out smoke or fine
dust in quick whiffs, as by igniting gunpowder
or throwing out hair-powder from a puffball.
[Scotch.]
pluff (pluf), n. [< pluff, v.] 1 . A puff of smoke
or dust, as from gunpowder or nair-powder.
[Scotch.]
The gout took his head, and he went out of the world like
a pluff of powther. Soft, Steam-Boat, p. 78. (Jamiesoii.)
2t. An instrument used in powdering the hair,
made like a sort of bellows, by which the pow-
der was blown in a cloud. Also powder-puff.—
3. In bot., a Scotch name for a species of puff-
ball, Bovista lycoperdon.
pluffy (pluf'i), a. [< pluff + -yl.] Fluffy;
puffy; blown up.
Light pluffy hair. Albert SmUh, Pottleton Legacy, xxvii.
A good-looking fellow— a thought too pluffy, perhapB,
and more than a l^ought too swaggering.
Leeer, One of Them.
plug (plug), n. [< MD. plugge, D. plug, a bung,
peg, plug, = MLG. plugge, LG. plugge, pliigge,
a plug, = MHG. pfloc (pflock-), pfloclce, G. pfiock,
^ peg, plug, = Sw. plugg, pligg = Norw. plug =
Dan. plog, plok (prob. < LG.), plug, peg; of. W.
plug
ploc, a pliig, block, = Ir. ploe, a plug, block,
«lnb: see fttocifci.] 1. A piece of wood or other
substance, usually in the form of a peg or
cork, used to stop a hole in a vessel; a stop-
ple: a bung or stopper of anjr kind. — 2. A peg,
wedge, or other appliance driven in, or used to
stop a hole or fill a gap. {«) a piece of wood driven
hon2»ntaIIy into a wall, its end being then sawed away
flush with the wall, to afford a hold tor nails. (6) In civU
en^n., a heavy peg or stake driven in flush with the surface
of the ground as a permanent reference-point, as distin-
guishedfrom ngtake, one projecting above the ground, (o)
A piece of boxwood cut to cylindrical form, used by wood-
engravers. If any part of an engraved block has been in-
jured, a circular hole is drilled through the block, large
enough to remove the damaged part. A plug is then driven
into the hole, and a new siuface thus obtained which can
be reengraved.
This mode of repairing a block was practised by the
fiermanwood engraversof the time of Albert Dui-er. The
plug which they inserted was usually square, and not oir-
eular as at present. Chatto^ Wood Engraving, p. 369.
(d) A wedge-^in forced between a rail and its chair on arail-
way. («) A spigot driven into place, as in a barrel , in contra-
distinction to one screwed in. (/) A wooden stopper fitted
in the opening of the pump on a ship's deck during a storm,
to protect the water-tanks against lightning ; a pump-
stopper.
3. A small piece of some substance, as metallic
foil, used by a dentist to fill the cavity of a de-
cayed tooth. — 4. A branch pipe from a water-
main, leading to a point where a hose can be
conveniently attached, and closed by a cap or
plug; afire-plug. — 5. In. die-sinkmg, a, eylmdii-
cal piece of soft steel the end of which is fitted
tea matrix, when matrix and plug are forced together
tinder heavy pressure, the intaglio design of the matrix is
impressed in relief upon the plug. The plug is theQ.har-
deued, and becomes a punch, which can be used to make
impressions on die-faces, as tor coining, etc.
6. A flat oblong cake of pressed tobacco.
Tom brought out a corncob pipe for the preacher, and
shaved him tobacco from &plug.
The CeMury, XXXVm. 89.
7. Aman'ssilkordresshat; aplug-hat. [Slang.]
— 8. A worn, damaged, unfashionable, or oth-
erwise injured article, which, by reason of its
defects, has become undesirable, unsalable,
or in a condition rendering it diffloult to sell
without a large reduction of its price, as a
shelf-worn book, or an old horse worn down
by hard work. AIsooMjjZmj'. [Colloq.] — 9. A
short, thick-set person. [Slang.] — 10. Awork-
man who has served no regular apprenticeship.
' [Slang.] — 11. A sort of fishing-boat. [Cape
Ann.] — 12. Same asplug-rod, 1 Cutting plug.
In a chronographic apparatus for registering velocities of
projectiles from onepositionintheboreofagunto an other,
one of a series of plugs inserted into holes drilled radially
in the gun-barrel from its exterior into the bore. The plug
is connected with a looped electric conducting-wire of a
primary circuit, and at its inner end is a small knife pivoted
to the body of the plug in such manner that it slightly pro-
jects into the bore of the gun, and so arranged that, when
forced radially outward by the passage of the projectile
over it, it cuts the loop of the wire, ind breaks the primary
circuit. This induces a brief current in the secondary coil,
which has one of its terminals arranged at the edge of one
.of a series of rapidly, uniformly, and synchronously rotat-
ing thin disks of equal diameter attached to a common
shaft. The edges of the disks are coated with lampblack.
The induced current of the secondary coil produces a
spark at the terminal, which bums off a small dot in the
peripheral coating. A number of the cutting plugs are
inserted at uniform intervals in the gun. Each is serially
related to one of the disks, in the order of succession from
breech to muzzle of the gun ; and when the gun is fired
it records the instant the shot passes it on the edge of its
related disk. From the angular distance between these
records, the known diameter and rotating speed of the
disks, the time occupied by the shot in moving from plug
to plug is readily calculated ; and it is asserted that in-
tervals of time as small as one millionth of a second can be
measured. The data thus obtained are of great value in
the investigation of the action of explosives.— Fusible
plug. See/««i6ie.— Plug-and-collargage. Seegage2.
—Plug and feathers, a flat iron wedge (the i^ug) used in
connection with two semi-cylindrical pieces of iron (the
feathera), placed in a hole bored in a rock, with their flat
surfaces toward each other, between which the wedge is
driven with a sledge-hammer, the object being to split the
rock. See/eatAer, 2 (d).— Plug center-bit. Seecenter-M.
plug (plug), V. t; pret. and pp. plugged, ppr.
plugging. [= MLG. pluggen = Sw. pligga =
Dan.^teMe, plug ; from the noun.] 1. To stop
with a plug; make tight by stopping a hole : as,
io plug a decayed tooth; to plug a wound with
lint. — 2. To hit with a ball or bullet: a,s,topluga,
buck with a rifle. [Slang, western U. S.] — 3. To
cut out a plug from : said of watermelons when
a tapering plug is cut out to see if the fruit is
ripe, and then replaced. [Eastern U. S.]
plug-arbor (plug'ar'^bor), n. A lathe attach-
ment for mounting drill-chucks. E. H. Knight.
plugf-basin (plug'ba'''sn), n. A standing wash-
basin with a plug-hole at the bottom for empty-
ing. E. S. Knight.
plug-bayonet (plug'ba"o-net), n. A bayonet
of the early type, whicji'the soldier fixed into
287
a, body or barrel ; b, tapered plu^ ;
r, tightenin^-screw fitted to the bot-
tom of b, and bearing upon a washer,
e ; d, thumb-piece, in large cocks re-
placed by a hand-lever or wrench
4565
the muzzle of his piece. The haft or plug was often
of horn, more commonly'of wood, and the steel was se-
cured to this by brass or iron mounting.
plugboard (plug'bord), «. A switchboard in
which the connections are made by means of
brass or other conducting plugs.
plug-cock (plug'kok), n. A cock in which a plug
with a transverse hole in it is fitted into a trans-
verse hole in a hol-
low barrel or cylin-
der, the diameter of
the plug being great-
er than the interior
diameter of the cylin-
der, and therefore
permitting liquid to
flow through the lat-
ter only when the
transverse hole in
the plug is so turned
as to form a continu-
ous passage with the hollow in the cylinder.
The plugs are sometimes covered or packed with a yield-
ing material, and are usually tapered, so that pressing them
into their seats keeps them tight.
plug-finisher (plug'fin"ish-6r), n. In dentistry,
a fine file, of a great variety of shapes, used for
finishing the surfaces of plugs or fillings.
plugger (plug'6r), n. One who or that which
plugs; specifically, a dentists' instrument, of
various forms, for driving and packing a filling
material into a hole in a carious tooth. See den-
tal hammer, under hammer^. E. B. Knight.
plugglng-forceps (plug'ing-f 6r"seps), n. A den-
tists' instrument or pljigger used to compress
a filling in a carious tooth. M. H. Knight.
plug-hat (plug'hat), n. Same as chimney-pot
hat (which see, under hat^). [Slang.]
plugnet, «• An obsolete dialectal form otplow.
plug-hole (plug'hol), ». A hole for a plug; a
hole left by the removal of a plug.
A Burbase had been taken down, leaving large plug- Jioles
to be filled up. Pieper-lSmger, p. 21.
plug-joggle (plug'jog"l), n. The name given
by Smeaton to a stone such as the center-stones
of the Eddystone-lighthouse foundation, which
were joggled into the surrounding stones, and
also secured to the corresponding stones above
and below by a central plug of stone.
plug-machine (plug'ma-shen"), n. A machine
combining a cutter and shaper for making
wooden plugs for the draught-holes of beer-
and liquor-casks.
plug-rod (plug'rod), n. 1. In a condensing
engine, a rod connected with the working-beam
and serving to drive the working-gear of the
valves. Also, called plug, plug-tree. — 2. The
air-pump rod of a steam-engine. E. JS. Knight.
plug-switch (plug'swich), n. An arrangement
in which electrical connection between two con-
ductors is established by the insertion of a me-
tallic plug.
plug-tap (plug'ta^), n. 1. A cylindrical tap
for cutting the dies of a screw-stock; a mas-
ter-tap.— 2. A tap slightly tapered at the end
to facilitate its entrance in tapping a hole.
E. S. Knight.
A plug-tap has the full depth of screw-thread all along
its length. Campin, Hand-turning, p. 111.
plug-tree (plug'tre), n. Same s.s plug-rod, 1.
plug-ugly (plug'ug'li), n. A city ruffian ; one
of a band of rowdies who indulged in wanton as-
saults upon persons and property in streets and
public places : first used in Baltimore. [Slang.]
plug-VJllve (plug'valv), n. A valve closed by
a tapering plug at right angles to the flow of
the liquid.
plum^ (plum), n. [Formerly also, erroneouslv,
pkimb (as in limb for fern, numb for mtm, etc.) ;
< MB. plumme, with vowel shortened, earlier
plovme, < AS. plume, plyme = D. pruim = MLG.
plume, LGr. plumme = OHG-. pfruma, pflumo,
MHGr. pfiwme, phWme, phrume, prime, prime,
Q.pflaume = Icel. ploma = Sw. plommon = Dan.
blomme, plum, = F. prune (> E. prune) = Pr.
pruna = Sp. dial, pruna = It. pruna, prugna,
f., a plum, < ML. prima, f., a plum, li.prunum
(pi. prUna), neut., a plum, prun/us, f., a plum-
tree, < Gr. Kpovvov, neut., irpoivo;, f., earlier
7rpov/j,vov,ii6\it., a plum, ■Kpobfivij, f., a plum-tree.
Cf . Ir. pluma = Corn, phman = Gael. pVumbas,
plumbaiSjViiMm (< E. ?). Forthe change of L. r
to I and of « to m, cf. pilgrim, ult. < L. peregri-
nus. For the introduction of a Latin and Greek
fruit-name into Teut., nt.peaeh'^ axApear^, also
quime, quince.^ 1. A fruit of any of the trees
called jjZmws (see def s. 2 and 3) ; specifically, the
fruit of a tree of the genus Prunus, distinguished
plum
from the peach and apricot by its smooth sur-
face, smaller size, and uuwrinkled stone, and
from the cherry, by the bloom on its surface
and commonly larger size. Plums are of use chief-
ly as a dessert fruit (the green gage being esteemed the
best of all varieties), and as a dried fruit in the form of
g runes. {See pruned.) Locally a liquor is manufactured
'om them, and sometimes an oil is expressed from the
kernels.
3. One of several small trees of the genus
Prunus, forming the section Prunus proper.
The numerous varieties of the common garden-plum are
often classed as P. dmnegti^^a; but all these, together with
the bullace-plum, known as P. ingitiHa (see ^uUeux), are
believed to be derived ultimately from P. spinosa\p. com-
munis), the blackthorn or sloe of Europe and temperate
Asia, in its truly wild state a much-branched shrub, the
branches often ending in a stout thorn. Plum-wood is
useful in cabinet-work and turnery. The plum is chiefly
cultivated in ITrance (in the valley of the Loire), in Ger-
many, and in Bosnia, Servia, and Croatia. In America the
plum suffers greatly from the ravages of the curculio.
(See pluTnrCurculio.) The Japanese plum, P. Japordca,
though not insect-proof, is a valued acquisition in C£Qi-
fornia and the southern United States. For native spe-
cies, see heachrptum, cJi^nry-pluTrif and vnldplum, below.
In Almaunt, in himself, in male, in peche,
Ys gT&tied plumme.
Palladius, Husbondrie (£. E. T. S.), p. 216.
The harvest white plurn is a base plum.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 509.
It is as if the rose should pluck herself,
Or the ripe plum finger its misty bloom.
Keats, Posthumous Sonnets, xlv.
3. One of niimerous trees of other genera bear-
ing plum-like fruit. See phrases below. — 4. A
grape dried in the sun; a raisin.
So when you've swallow'd the Potion, you sweeten your
Mouth with a Plumb. Congreve, Double-Dealer, iii. i.
The dried grapes which the French term raisins sees,
or raisins passes, we term simply raisins when used for
eating uncooked, and 2>22«n« when they form an ingredient
in the famous English plum pudding.
S. VoweU, Taxes in England, IV. 37.
5. A good thing; the best or choicest part; a
sugar-plum : in allusion to the use of plums or
raisins in cakes, plum-pudding, etc.
The reviewer who picks all the plums out of a book is a
person who is regarded with reasonable terror and resent-
ment by both authors and publishers.
The Academy, Nov. 2, 1889, p. 280.
Often, indeed, the foot-note contains the very plum of
the page. The Writer, JJI. 120.
6. The sum of £100,000 sterling; hence, any
handsome sum or fortune generally; sometimes,
also, a person possessing such a sum. [Colloq.,
Eng.]
The Miser must make up his Phimi,
And dares not touch the hoarded Sum.
Prior, The Ladle, Moral.
Several who vr ere plums, or very near it, became men of
moderate fortunes. Addison, Vision of Justice.
An honest gentleman who sat next to me, and was worth
half a jduimb, stared at him. Steele, Tatler, Ko. 244.
My brother Heidelberg was a warm man, a very warm
man, and died worth a plumb at least : a plumb ! ay, I
warrant you, he died worth si plumb and a half.
Colman, Clandestine Marriage, iii.
Assyrian plum. See sebesten.- Australian plum, a
date-plum or persimmon, Diospyros (CargUlia) australis,
the black plum of Illawarra. For other Australian plums,
see Queensland plum and wUd plum (e). — Beach-plum,
Prunus maritiTna, a straggling bush on the coast &om
Maine to Mexico, with a rather pleasant red or purple
fruit, often preserved.- Black plum. See AustraMan
plum. — Blood-plum, (a) See Bamatostaphis. (6) A re-
cently introduced Japanese plum with red flesh. [U. S.]
— Canada plum. See wild plum (6), below.— Cheiry-
I>lU2]l, a cherry-like form of the common plum, the va-
riety myrobalana. Also called myrobalan plum. — Chick-
asaw plum, Prunus angustifolia (P. CMcam), a species
probably native in the southern Rocky Mountains, now
naturalized widely eastward and northward. It bears a
globose red or yellow fruit, thin-skinned and of pleasant
flavor. It is often cultivated, receiving special attention
as less subject than the common plum to the attacks of
the curculio. — COCOa-plum, Chrysohalanus Icaco. See
ChrysobtUanus. — Damask plum. Same as damson plum.
—Damson plum. See (fa?nso«.— Darling plum, the red
ironwood, Reynosia latifolia, a small tree of the West In-
dies and southern Florida. It bears an agreeable fruit,
and its dark-brown wood is very hard and strong. — Date
plum. See date-plum, Liospyros, and persimmmi. — Down-
ward plum, a small tree of the West Indies and Florida :
same as anfs-wood. Also called saffron plum.— East In-
dian plum, Flacourtia Cataphracta and F. Eanwmtoti
(including F. sapida). The latter is common, wild or culti-
vated, throughout India, and found also in the Malay archi-
pelago and in Madagascar, thence called Madagascar plum.
—French plum, a veiy superior plum grown in the
valley of the Loir^ entering the market in the form o£
prunes.— CSopher plum. Same as Ogeechee 2i>n« (which
see, under iJmeS).- Gray plum, in Sierra Leone, Parina-
rium excelsum, a large tree with a fruit having a large
stone and a thin, rather dry, and insipid pulp. Also called
rough-skinned plum and Ouinea ^j^Mm.- Green-gage
plum. See def. 1, and gageS.—Gxtiaiia. plum, a smaU
euphorbiaceous trea Drypetes croeea, of the West Indies
and southern Florida. Also called wAitetiwod.— Guinea
plum. See gray plum.— tttmeiatiice Plui. , » va^
rietyof the common plum.— .nimalca plum, Spondim
lutea, one of the hog-plums.- .Tapan plum, Japanese
plum, (a) An improper name tor the loquat. [Southern
U. S.l (6) Prunus Japonica and other true plums of Ja-
plum
pan. See def. 2, and Mood-plum (6).— Java plum, the
jambolana. — Madagascar plum. See Eagt Indian plum.
—Malabar plum, the jamrosade or rose-apple. — Mola
plum, in the region of the Zambesi, Parinarium MiAoLa,
which yields very oily two-celled stones called mabo-seeds.
— Myrobalan plum. See cherry-plum.— TSsAaX plum,
an evergreen shrub, Carissa grandiflma ol the Apocyna-
cex. — ngeonplum. {a)Seepwean^plum. (6) In Sierra
Leone, either of two species of Chrysobalanus, C, dlipticus
and C. luteue.—'Poit Arthur plum, a small handsome Tas-
manian tree, Cenarrhenes nttida, the foliage smooth and
bright-green, the drupe inedible. — Queensland plum.
See Owenia, 1.— Rougll-Bktnned plum. See ffray plum.
— SafEron plum. Same as downward plum.— Sapodllla
plum. SeeAchroi and mpodilla.— Seaside ptam. Same
as mmmtain-plum. [West Indies.]— Sebesten plum.
See Cordia and eeiesten. — Sour plum, sweet plum. See
Owenia, 1.— Spanish Plum, one of the hog-plums (Spm-
dias purpurea), also Marmaea, hwnUiB, both West Indian
and South American. — St. Julien plum, a variety of the
common plum known as Jvliana, yielding part of the
French plums. — Tamarind plum, a leguminous tree,
Dialium vndum, whose fruit has a delicious pulp resem-
bling that of the tamarind. — Tasmanian Plum. Same
as Port Arthur plum. — WUd-gOOSe plum, an improved
vSxiety of the Chickasaw, saia to have been raised from
a stone found in the crop of a wild goose;— Wild Plum,
any undomesticated plum. Specifically — (a) The Prunui
spinosa. See def. 2. (6) In eastern North America, the
wild yellow or red plum, or Canada plum, P. Americana. It
has a well-colored fruit with pleasant pulp, but tough acerb
skin. It is common along streams, etc., and sometimes
planted, (c) In western North America, P. subcordataj
whose red fruit, which is large and edible, is often gath-
ered, (d) In South Africa, Pappea CapensiB. (e) In New
South Wales, a tree, Sideroxylon australiSy with drupaceous
fruity sometimes very tall, having a hard, prettily marked
wood, available for cabinet purposes. See also Podocarpus.
(See also gingerbread-plwmt hog-plum, horse-plum,, maiden-
plum, mourUaii^-plum, olive-plum.)
pluni^t (plum), adv. and a. An obsolete spelling
oiplumh^.
pltuua (plo'ma), n. ; pi. plumx (-me). [L. : see
plume.^ In ornith,., a plume or feather of pen-
uaeeous structure; a contour-feather, as dis-
tinguished from a down-feather ; a quill-feather
or penna : opposed to plumule.
plmuaceous (plo-ma'shius), a. [< Nil. *pluma-
ceus, < L. pluma, plume : see plume.'] Having
the character of a pluma; pennaoeous, as a fea-
ther: distinguished trora plumulaceous.
plumage (plo'maj), «. [< P. plwmage (= Sp.
plumaje = Pg. piumagem = It. piumaggio), fea-
thers, < plume, feather: seeplume.'] The fea-
thery covering of birds; feathers collectively;
ptilosis. See feather and pterylosis.
Will the falcon, stooping from above,
Smit with her yarying plurruige, spare the dove?
Pope, Essay on Man, ill. 54.
Autumnal plumage. See atttumnaJ,— Laced plumage.
See lacing, 8. — Nuptial plumage. See nupUal.
plumaged (plo'majd), a. [(.plumage + -ed^.]
Covered with plumage; feathered: usually in
composition with a qualifying term: as, fuU-
plumaged.
plumailet, n. [ME. plomayle ; < OF.plumml,
a plume, plumage, < plume, plume : see plume.]
Plumage.
They plucked the jio^rmyle flrom th^ pore skynnes.
And schewed her signes ffor men shulde drede
To axe ony mendis ffor her mys-dedis.
Piehard the Redeless, ii. 32.
plumassaryt (plg-mas'a-ri), «. [Prop. *plumas-
sery, < F. plwnMsserie,"Va.6 feather-trade (also
feathers collectively), <. plumassier, a dealer in
ordresseroffeathers: see> plumassier.'] Aplume
or collection of ornamental feathers.
plumassier (pl6-ma-ser'), n. [Formerly also
plumasier; < 'F. plumas-
sier, a dealer in or dress-
er of feathers, < plume,
feather, plume : see
plume.] One who pre-
pares or deals in plumes
or feathers for orna-
mental purposes. See
plumist.
The conerings of his tent
. . . are all of gold, adorned
with stones of great price,
and with the curious worke-
manship of plumasiers.
ffakfuyti Voyagex, I. 260.
plumate (plo'mat), a.
[< L. plumatus, pp. of
plumare, feather, < plti-
ma,tea,thev: see plume.]
In entom., resembling a
plume: said of a hair
or bristle when it bears
smalIerhairs.-Piuma.te „„„,„,,„, „^,^ , , ,i^,e
antenna, an aristate anten- polypid in its cell or case, magni-
na with the ai'ista covered fied. a, ectocyst; t, endocyst;
with fine hairs, as in many m, calyx at base of tentacles, ?,
a\f.a on the lophophore, or oral disk ;
■n-i J. 11 /■ 1" *. mouth; 7^ esophagus; g, g,
IrlUmatella (plO-ma- stomach; A, intestine; i, anus;
tel'a), «. [NL. (L^ lf:^^i^^Vi:tS^.V,
marck), dim., < U. plU- gastroparietal band.
4566
matus, plvmiate: see plumate.] The typical
genus of Plnmatellidse, having a tubular coenoe-
cium and pergamentaeeous ectocyst, as P. re-
pens. See also cut under Polyzoa.
Plumatellidse (pl6-ma-tel'i-de), w.jji!. pSTL., <
Plumatella + "idse.] "A. family of phylactolee-
matous polyzoans, typified by the genus Plu-
ma tella. They are fresh-water polyzoans of various forms,
branching or massive, but always fixed. There are several
genera. See cuts under Plumatella anApolyzoarium.
plumbif, "■ An obsolete spelling of plumK
plumb^ (plum), n. [Early mod. Eng. also plomh ;
< ME. jjiom, < OF. plom, plomb, F.plomb, lead,
a plummet, = Pr. plom = Sp. plomo = Pg. chum-
bo = It. piombo, < L. plumbum, lead (plumbum
album or candidum,' vrhite lead,' tin, plumbum
nigrum, 'black lead'), a leaden ball, a leaden
pipe, a scourge with a leaden ball on the end
of it; cf. Gr. £(i/lt)/3of,u(i/u/3of, lUdAi'/Jdof, lead (see
molybdena). Hence ult. ((.h. plumbum) 'E.plum^
met, plumber, plump^, plunge, plumbago, etc.]
1. A mass of lead attached to a line, used to
test the perpendicularity of walls, etc. ; a plum-
met.— 2. Tlie position of a plumb or plummet
when freely suspended ; the vertical or perpen-
dicular.— Out of plumb, not vertical.
plumb^ (plum), a. [Ail ellipsis of in plumb. Cf.
phimb^, adv.] 1. True according to a plumb-
line; vertical.
I . . . cannot take a,plumb-]itt out of it, for my soul.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, iz. 13.
2. Of persons, upright in character or conduct ;
thoroughgoing.
Neither can an opposition, neither can a mlnistiy be al-
ways wrong. To be a pluynb man therefore with either is
an infallible mark that the man must mean more and worse
than he will own he does mean.
Pichardson, Clarissa Harlowe, IV. 262. (Vavies.)
plumb^ (plum), a(i». [Formerly also ^tom/ an
adverbial use of plumib^, n. ; in part an ellipsis
ot in plumb. Cf. flump^, adv.] 1. In a vertical
direction ; in a Ime perpendicular to the plane
of the horizon ; straight down.
Instantly the stony storm ot Hail
Which flew direct a-f rent, direct now falls
Plumb on their heads, and cleaues their sculs and cauls.
Sylveeter, tr. of Du Eartas's Weeks, ii.. The Oaptaines.
You might mistake it for a ship,
Only it stands too plumi upright.
Lowell, Appledore.
2. Exactly; to a nicety; completely: as, he hit
the target plumb in the bull's-eye. [CoUoq.,
U. S.] — 3. Downright: entirely; altogether.
[Colloq., U. S.]
0 Sal, Sal, my heart ai'plum broke !
The Century, XXXVI. 900.
plumb^ (plum), V. t. [Formerly also plum; <
plumb^, n.] 1. To adjust by a plimib-line;
set in a vertical position : as, to plumb a wall or
a building.
The Genius trims our lamps while we sleep. It plumis
us by day and levels us by night. Aleott, Tablets, p. 201.
2. To sound with or as with a plummet, as the
depth of water.
Where, red and hot with his long journey, He
Plummed the cool bath of th* Atlantic Sea.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, iv. 58.
1 consulted the most experienced seamen upon the depth
of the channel, which they had often plumied.
Swift, Gulliver's Travels, i. 6.
3. To ascertain the measure, dimensions, ca-
pacity, or the like, of; test.
He did not attempt to plumb his intellect. Bidwer.
I should have plumbed the utmost depths of terrified
boredom. PorrOer, Dickens, xlix.
4. To supply, as a building, with lead pipes for
water, sewage, etc.
Plumbaginacese (plum-baj-i-na'se-e), n. pi.
[NL. (Lindley, 1835), (Plumbago {-gm-) -{-
-acese.] Same as Plumbaginese.
Plumbaginese (plum-ba-jin'e-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Ventenat, 1794), < Plumbago (Plvmbagin-) +
-ese.] An order of dicotyledonous gamopetalous
plants, the leadwort family, of the cohort Pri-
mulales, characterized by a tubular or funnel-
shaped calyx with five, ten, or fifteen ribs, five
stamens opposite the five equal corolla-lobes,
five styles, and a free one-celled ovary with one
ovule pendulous from a long central stalk (funi-
culus) which rises from the bottom of the cell.
Both in its ovary and its farinaceous albumen it is unlike
all other gamopetalous orders. It includes 8 genera, of
which Plumbago is the type, and from 200 to 270 species,
all but 20 of which are contained in the large genera
Statice, Acmitholimon, and Armeria. They are maritime
herbs, natives especially of the Mediterranean region, with
a few widely diffused. They are commonly smooth stem-
less plants, with densely tufted or rosulate leaves, and a
branching mfiorescence bearing dry rigid bracts and flow-
ers usually having a rose, violet, blue, or yellow corolla,
with a calyx of a different color.
Plumb-bobs,
tz, plumb-bob in common use,made
of brass, with cap to attach cord, and
steel point at bottom ; 6, plumb-bob
with reel inclosed ; c, common cast-
iron plumb-bob ; d, common lead
plumb-bob with wire core.
plumbiferous
plumbagmous (plum-baj'i-nus), a. [< L. plum-
bago (-gin-), plumbago, -I- -ous.] Resembling
plumbago ; consisting of or containing plum-
bago, or partaking of its properties.
plumbago (plum-ba'go), n. [< L. plumbago,
black-lead, molybdena, also a plant, leadwort,
< plumbum, lead: seeplumb^.] 1. Black-lead;
graphite. See grapnitei-. — 2. [cap.] [NL.
(Toumefort, 1700).] A genus of plants, the
leadworts, of the order Plumbaginese and tribe
Plumbagese, characterized by a glandular calyx
with five short erect teeth, a salver-shaped
corolla with slender tube, free stamens, and
five styles united into one nearly to the top.
The 10 species are natives of warm climates, extending
to southern Europe and central Asia. They are usually
perennial herbs, with long branches, or partly climbing,
bearing alternate clasping leaves, and spikes of blue flow,
ers (or of other color^ at the end bf the branches. Sev-
eral species, bearing the name leadlvort, are in common
cultivation ; another, P. seandens, a trailing white-flow,
ered species, is native to
the south of Florida, ex-
tending thence to Brazil,
and known, like P. Euro-
psea, as toothwort, from
the use to which its caus-
tic leaves and I'oots are
put. P. rosea is used in
India to produce blisters.
plumb-bob (plum'-
bob), n. A conoid-
shaped metal bob or
weight attached to
the end of a plumb-
line. See also cut
under plumb-rule.
plumbean (plum'-
be-an), a. [<. plumbe-
ous + -an.] Of, per-
taining to, or resembling lead; leaden ; hence,
dull; heavy.
There will be & plumbean flexible rule.
Ellis, Knowledge of Divine Things p. 411.
plumbeous (plum'be-us), a. [< L. plumbeus, of
or belonging to lead, < plumbum, lead : see
plumb^.] 1. Leaden; heavy.
Attend and throw your ears to mee ... till I have en-
doctrinated your plnmbeows cerebrosities.
Sir P. Sidney, Wanstead Play, p. 622. (Doctm.)
2. Lead-colored; metallic gray.— piumbeouB
falcon. See falcon.
plumber (plum'^r), n. [Formerly also plvm-
mer; < ME. plummer, plomere, < OF. j;JoTO6«ef,
F. plombier = Sp. plomero = Pg. chumbeiro =
It. piombajo, Olt. piombaro, < liL.plumbarim, a
worker in lead, a plumber, prop. adj. (sc. arU-
fex), "L.plumbarius, pertaining to lead, < plum-
bum, lead: see plumb^. Cf. OP. plombeur =
Olt. piombatore, < ML. plumbator, a plumber,
< L. plumbare, solder with lead, < plumbum,
lead: see plumb^.] One who works in lead; es-
pecially, one'who fits lead pipes and other ap-
paratus for the conveyance of gas and water,
covers the roofs of buildings with sheets of lead,
etc.
Take thenne a plummers wire that is euyn and streyte
& sharpe at the one .ende,
Juliana Bemers, Treatyse of Fysshynge, fol. 3.
Early in the morning will I send
To all the pluTnbers and the pewterers.
And buy their tin and lead up.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii 1.
plumber-block (plum ' 6r-blok) ,n. A metal box
or ease for supporting the end of a revolving
shaft or journal, it is adapt-
ed for being bolted to the frame
or foundation of a machine, and
is usually furnished with brass
bearings for diminishing the fric-
tion of the shaft, and a movable
cover secured by bolts for tight
ening the bearings as they wear.
Also plummeT-olocTc, j^/wmmer-
box, pulow-Uoek.
plumbery (plum'6r-i), n.
[Alsoplummery; < F.plom-
berie, t., lead-making, lead-works, < L. ^
baria, sc. officina, lead-works, also (LL.)]jZMni-
barium, neut., a place to keep leaden vessels in ;
(plumbarius, pertaining to lead: see plumber.]
1. Works in lead collectively ; manufactures of
lead.
Whose shrill aaint's-bell hangs on his lovery.
While the rest are damned to theplumberuf
Bp. Baa, Satires, V. i. 120.
2. A place where plumbing is carried on. — 3.
The business of a plumber.
plumbic (plum'bik), a. [< L. plumbum, lead, 4-
-ic] Of or pertaining to lead; derived from
lead : as, plumbic acid.
plumbiferous (plum-bif 'e-rus), a. [< L. plum-
bum, lead, + ferre = £, bear^.] Producing
lead.
Plumber-block,
brasses; fi, cap; c. c,
bolts ; e, oil-hole.
plumbing
plumbing (plum'ing), n. [Verbal n. otplumb^,
v."] 1 . The art of easting and working in lead
(also, by extension, in other metals put to simi-
lar uses), and applying it to various purposes
connected ■vrith buildings, as in roofs, windows,
pipes, etc. — 2. The act or process of ascer-
taining the depth of anything. — 3. Lead pipes
and other apparatus used for conveying water
or other liquids through a building.
plum-bird (plum'bferd), n. The bullfinch, Pyr-
rhula vulgaris. Also csMed plum-bruider. [Lo-
cal, Eng.]
plumbism (plum'bizm), n. [< L. plumbum,
lead (see plrnnb^), + -isni.'] Lead-poisoning.
plumb-joint (plum'joint), n. A lap-joint in
sheet-metal the edges of which are not bent or
seamed, but merely laid over one another and
soldered; a soldered lap-joint.
plumbless (plum'les), a. [< plumb^ + -less.']
Incapable of being measured or sounded with
a plummet or lead-line ; unfathomable.
The moment shot away into the plumblesB depths of the
past, to mingle with all the lost opportunities that are
drowned there.
plumb-level iplum'lev"el), n. A plumb or
plummet considered with reference to its use
in testing the level of a plane. Also called
pendulum-level.
plumb-line (plum'lin), ». A cord or line to
one end of which is attached a metal bob or
weight, used to determine vertical direction,
depth of water, etc. ; a plummet.
plumb-line (plum'lin), v. t. [i plumb-Une, ra.]
To measure, sound, or test by means of a
plumb-line. G. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and
Mind, II. ii. $ 77.
plumbocalcite (plum-bo-kal'sit), m. [< Xi.plum-
6««»,lead, -t-E.caicJie.] A variety of calcite con-
taining a small percentage of lead carbonate.
plumbognmmite (plum-bo-gum'it), n. [< L.
plumbum, lead, -1- gummi-gam, + -ite^."] A hy-
drous phosphate of lead and alumina occur-
ring in globular or reniform crusts of a yellow
to brown color, looking like gum (whence the
name).
plnmbostib (plum'bo-stib), n. [< L. plumbum,
lead, + stibium, antimony.] A variety of bou-
langerite from Siberia.
plum-broth (plum'brdth), n. Broth contain-
ing plums or raisins.
Gkiod hits hee holds breedes good positions, and the
pope hee hest concludes against in plumnbroth.
Sir T. Overbury, Cliaracters, A f uritane.
plumb-rule (plum'rSl), n. [< ME. plom^ewle;
^plumb^ + rule.'] A narrow board with paral-
lel edges having a straight line drawn through
the middle, ana a string carrying
a metal weight attached at the
upper end of the line. It is used
by masons, bricklayers, carpen-
ters, etc., for determining a ver-
tical.
Set thy pyn by aplom-rewle evene up-
ryht. Chaucer, Astrolabe, ii. 38.
Bevel plumb-rule, a surveyors' instru-
ment for adjusting the slope of embank-
ments. K B. Knight.
plum-budder (plimi'bud-6r), n.
Same as plum-bird.
plumbum (plum'bum), «. [L. :
see plumb^T] Lead.
plum-cake (plum'kak'), n. A
cake containing raisins, currants,
and often other fruit.
plum-color (plum ' kul " or), n.
One of various shades of purple
and violet used in textUe fabrics
and as a ground color in Oriental
porcelain, in the latter use some-
times flat, sometimes mottled,
and sometimes in streaks, as if f^i;^;;''^""!; a
allowed to run freely down the piunSj-bob.
side of the vase or vessel.
plum-colored (plum'kuV'ord), a. Of the color
of a plum; dai'k-purple.
plnm-curculio (plum'k6r-]m''li-6), n. A weevil,
Conotraehelus nenuphar, which damages the
plum, peach, and cherry. It is one of the most
noxious of the Cweulionidie, and is commonly called the
little Turk, from the characteristic crescent-shaped mark
made Ire the female in the fruit in oviposition. See cut
under Conotrachdus.
plum-duff (plum'duf '), n. A stiff kind of flour-
pudding containing raisins and boiled in a bag :
a favorite sea-dish.
plume (plom), n. [< ME. plume, plome, < OF.
plume, F. plume = Sp. Pg. pluma = It. piuma,
a feather, plume, = 'MD.pluym, D. pluim, plume,
4567
feather, = MLG-. plume = G. pfiaum, jlaum,
down ; < L. pluma, a small soft feather, in pi.
plOmsB, soft feathers, down ; hence the down of
the first beard, the scales on a coat of mail ; cf .
W. pluf = Bret, plu, plumage ; < ■y/ plu, float,
Skt. V^^M, swim, float, fly: s&efleef^, float, fly^.
Cf. feather, ult. from another root meaning
'fly.'] 1. A fea-
ther, (a) Techni-
cally, a pluma or
penna: distinguish-
ed from plumvle.
See cut under Ore-
crtyx. (6) A long,
large, ornament^
specially modified,
or in any way con-
spicuous feather :
as, an ostrioh-i)fa»n«;
the plwmes of para-
dise-birds.
2. A tuft of fea-
thers; a set or
bunch of plumes
Plume as worn at tourneys and cere- WOm aS an Oma-
J^/^rnardTimTs';^! SS''' '"" ""'"'^- ""-^P''-f'*'= ment; an egret;
Masons' Plumb-
rule, a, center
of suspension ;
plumery.
His high plume that nodded o'er his head.
Dryden, Iliad, vi. 148.
8. Plumage. [Bare.]
The bird of Jove, stoop'd from his aery tour.
Two birds of gayest plume before him drove.
MUtim, P. L., xi. 186.
4f. A token of honor; a prize won by contest.
But well thou oomest
Before thy fellows, ambitious to win
From me some plume. Milton, P. L., vi. 161.
5. In bot., same as plumule, 3. — 6. In entom.:
(a) A hair with many flue branches, resem-
bling a little soft feather; a plumate hair. (6)
A phime-moth. — 7. A plumose part or forma-
tion, as of the gill of a crustacean or a moUusk.
At the upper end this stem on the gills divided into two
parts, that in front, the plume, resembling the free end of
one of the gills. Hvieley, Crayfish, p. 78.
Apical plume. SeepodobraTichia.
plume (pl8m), V. *.; pret. and pp. plumed, ppr.
pluming. [< plume, n.] 1. To dress the plu-
mage of, as a bird; preen.
Swans must be kept in some inclosed pond, where they
may have room to come on shore and plujne themselves.
Mortimer, Husbandry.
a. To strip off the plumage of, as a bird; pluck.
Madam, you take your hen,
Plume it, and skin it, cleanse it o' the inwards.
B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, iv. 1.
And, after they h&veplum'd ye, return home,
Like a couple of naked fowls, without a feather.
Fletelier {and another), Elder Brother, v. 2.
3. To adorn with feathers or plumes; feather;
set as a plume; hence, to decorate or adorn
(the person) in any way.
The mother of the Sfrens was not thus plumed on the
head. Bacon, Moral Fables, vi, ExpL
His stature reach'd the sky, and on bis crest
Sat horrour})J«7n«(f. Milton, P. L., iv. 989.
This gentlewoman being a very rich merchantman's
daughter, upon a time was invited to a bridal or wedding
which was solemnized in that towne; against that day
she made great preparation for the pluming of herself in
gorgeous array. J. Coolie, GreeiTs Tu Quoque, note 3.
The lists were ready. Empanoplied and plumed
We enter'd in, and waited. Tennyson, Princess, v.
4. To pride; boast: used reflexively: as, to
plume on(?s self on one's skill.
Can anything in nature induce a man to pride and plume
Mmxelf in Ws deformities ? Sovth.
What business have I, forsooth, toptvime mj/seJ/because
the Duke ot Wellington beat the French in Spain?
Thackeray, Men and Pictures.
Plumed adder, a kind of horned viper of the genus Ce-
rasteii, as C. comutus, having a plume-like formation of the
scales over each eye.— Plumed bird. Same as plume-
Wrd.— Plumed pink. Seei»nft2, l. ,,.,„,
plume-alum (plom'aFum), n. A kind of alum
occurring in feathery, plumose forms.
plume-bird (plom'berd), n. A member of the
subfamily Epimachinss, and especially of the
genus Epimadhus.
plume-holder (plom' hoi *der), n. Anything
made to secure a plume, as to the head or dress ;
especially, an extra piece screwed on a helmet
and having a slender pipe or tube, used for this
pxirpose.
plumeless (plSm'les), a. [< plum^ + -less.]
Featherless, as an animal ; having no plumage.
Borne on unknown, transparent plumeless wings [a bat].
Eusden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., iv.
plumelet (plSm'let), n. [iplume + -let.] 1. In
ornith., a plumule orplumula; a down-feather.
2. Anything resembling' a small plume, as a
tuft'of leaves or leaflets, or needles of a conif-
erous tree.
Grape-vine Plume-moth t^Pterophorus peri-
scelidactytus).
a. caterpillars in their retreat ; b, chrysalis ;
:. one of the dorsal processes of chrysalis,
enlareed ; d, moth ; e. one joint of larva, en-
larged, side view.
plum-gouger
When xasj plumelets tuft the larch.
Tmrtyson, In Memoriam, zcL
3t. In bot., a little plumule.
plume-maker (pl5m'ma"ker), H. A feather^
dresser ; a maker of plumes. See plumist.
plume-moth (plom'mdth), n. One of the small
delicate moths which compose the family Ptero-
(or
so
called from
the division of
the wings in-
to plume-like
parts or fea-
thery lobes.
Their larvee usu-
allyfeed upon the
leaves of plants,
and transform to
naked pupae. The
grape-vine plume-
moth is Pteropho-
rus perlseelidac-
tylus, whose larva
loosely webs with
silk the leaves on
which it feeds.
This caterpillar is
yellowish - green
with dull-yellow
tubercles, and is
usually found sin-
gly, though some-
times several teed
together. The
pupa is reddish-
brown with dark-
er spots, and the
moth itself is
yellowish - brown
with a metallic
luster, marked
with several dull-
white streaks and
spots. SeePtero-
vhorid.ee.
plume-nutmeg (pl6m'nut"meg), n. A large
tree of Australia and Tasmania, Atherosperma
moschata of the Monimiacese. It is aromatic in
all its parts, and the fruit-carpels bear each a
Sersistent plumose style.
nme-plucked (plom'plukt), a. Stripped of a
'plume or plumes ; hence, figuratively, humbled ;
brought down. [Rare.]
Great Duke of Lancaster, I come to thee
From plwme-pluelid Bichard.
Shak., Eich. XL, iv. 1. 108.
Flumeria (plB-me'ri-a), n. [NL. (Toumefort,
1700), named after Charles Plumier (1646-1706),
author of many works on American plants.]
A genus of trees of the gamopetalous order
Apocynacese, type of the tribe Plumeriex, and
of the subtribe Euplumeriese. it is characterized
by the numerous ovules m many rows in two carpels which
ripen into two rigid diverging follicles, a calyx glandular
within, stamens near the base of the tube of a salver-
shaped corolla, winged seeds, and unappendaged anthers.
There are about 45 species, natives of tropical America,
some of them naturalized in the Old World. They are trees
with thick branches, alternate long-stalked and promi-
nently feather-veined leaves, and large white, yellow, or
puil)Iish flowers in terminal cymes. Seeja«mine-tree, kam-
hodja, nosegay-tree, and pagoda-tree.
Flumeriese (plo-mf-n'e-e), n. pi. [NL. (End-
licher, 1836), < Ptumeria + -ese.] A tribe of
plants of the order ApoGynaeese, the dogbane
family, characterized by the distinct carpels of
the ovary, peltate seeds, and unappendaged
base of the anther-cells, which are filled with
pollen throughout, it includes 41 genera, mainly
tropical trees or shrubs — two, VaUesia and Ameonia, oc-
cm'ring in the United States, and another, the herbaceous
genus Vinca, extending into Europe, and widely natural-
ized in the Atlantic States. The four subtribes are typi-
fied by the genera Bauwolfia, Certera, Plumeria, and Ta-
tenuemontana.
plumery (plo'me-ri), n. [< plume -t- -ery.]
Plumes collectively ; a number of plumes taken
together; a display of plumes.
Helms or shields
Glittering With gold and scailet plumery. Sowthey.
plumetty, plumettd (pl5'met-i,^lo-me-ta'), a.
[Heraldic F.plwmetti, {OF.plumette, a little f ea-
ther, dim. of ^jMMie, feather: seephime.] Inher.,
covered with feathers, or feather-like decora^
tions: said especially of
the field when divided into
fusils each of which is
filled with a feather. The
decorations are then of
different tinctures, usual-
ly a metal and a color al-
ternately.
plum-fir (plum'fer),». See
Podoearpus.
plum-gouger (plum'gou". ^--g?^^" ,i5Z"sZ':^
]6r), n. A kind or cur- natural size.)
plum-gouger
«ulio or weevil, Coccotorus prunicida. it is com-
mon in the Mississippi valley,- where it ditmages plums,
nectarines, and allied fruits. Both sexes in the adult state
gouge the fruit when feeding, and the larva feeds upon
the contents of the pit or stone. It is single-brooded, and
passes the winter in the beetle state.
plumicome (pie'mi-kom), n. [< L. pluma, a
feather, + coma (< Gr. Kiijui?), the hair of the
head : see coina^.'\ In sponges, a hexaster whose
rays end in a number of plumose branches.
Compare florieome.
plumicomous (pltj-mik'o-mus), a. [< plumi-
come + -ous.'] Having the character of a plu-
micome.
plumicom (ple'mi-k6m), n. [< L. plimia, a
feather, + cornu, a horn.] One of the pair of
tufts of feathers, or egrets, also called ears and
horns, on the head in sundry owls, as species
of Bubo, Scops, Otus, or Asio; a feather-horn.
Also (rarely) called corniplume. See outs under
Buboninse and Otus.
plumigerous (plS-mij'e-rus), a. [< L. pVamiger,
feather-bearing, < ptuma, feather, + gerere,
bear.] Plumaged; feathered; having plumes.
plumiped, plumipede (plS'mi-ped, -ped), a.
and n. [< L. plumipes {-ped-), feather-footed,
< pluma, feather, + pes (i>ed-) = E./oot] I. a.
Having feathered feet.
II. n. A pliuniped bird.
plumist (plo'mist), n. [< P. pVumiste, a worker
in feathers, < plume, feather: see pmme.'] A
feather-dresser ; a maker of ornamental plumes.
Fine and feathery artisan,
Best of plumisU (if you can
With your art so far presume),
Make for me a prince's plume.
Moore, Anacreontic to a Flumassier.
plum-juniper (plum' je"ni-p6r), n. A handsome
Oriental juniper, Juniperus drupacea, whose
fleshy drupe-like cones are highly esteemed
as a fruit.
plum-loaf (plum'lof ), n. A loaf with raisins or
currants in it.
plummerf (plum'Sr), n. An obsolete form of
plumier.
plummer-block (plum'6r-blok), ii,. Same as
plumber-bloclc.
plummer-box (plum'6r-boks), n. Same as
plumber-bloeJc.
plummery, n. Same a,s plumbery.
plummet (plum'et), n. [< MB. plomet, < OF.
plomet, plommet, plombet, plummet, a piece of
lead, a ball of lead, a plummet, dim. of plom,
lead, a lead, plummet: aeeplumb^.'] 1. Apiece
of lead or other metal attached to a line, used
in sounding the depth of water, determining
the vertical, etc.
I'll seek him deeper than e'er j^ummet sounded.
Shak., Tempest, iii. 3. 101.
My conscience is the plummet that does press
The deeps, but seldom cries O fathomless.
Qua/rles, Emblems, iii. 11.
They would plunge, and tumble, and thinke to ly hid in
the foul weeds, and muddy waters, where no plum/m£t
can reach the bottom e. Milton, !Refonnation in Eng., i.
It is an oblong square well, which I found by a pluftir
tn&t to be a hundred and twenty two feet deep.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 25.
2. An instrument used by carpenters, masons,
and others in adjusting erections to a vertical
line ; a plumb-rule. — Sf. The pommel or knob
on the mlt of a sword.
Dickie coud na win to him wi' the blade o' the sword,
But feld 'im wi' the plunwt under the eie.
Dick o' IM Cam (Child's Ballads, VI. 75).
4t. A weight.
For when sad thoughts perplex the mind of man.
There is ^plwrnmet in the heart that weighs.
And pulls us, living, to the dust we came from.
BeoM. and Fl., Laws of Candy, iv, 1.
What hath hang plmnmets on thy nimble soul?
What sleepy rod hath charm 'd thy mounting spirit?
Shirley, Love in a Maze, iv. 2.
5t. A piece ht lead formerly used by school-
boys to rule paper for writing.
plummet (plum'et), v. t. ; pret. and pp. plum-
meted or phimmetted, ppr. plummeUng or plum-
metting. li plummet, n.'] To weight with plum-
mets, or as with plummets.
A rich plummetted worsted fringe valance may be pre-
ferred to drapery. Paper-hanger, p. 91.
plummet-level (plum'et-lev''''el), ». A plummet
used as a level. Any plummet may be used as a level
provided its base is approximately perpendicular to the
mean position of the plumb-line. If this hangs the same
way when the whole is rotated 180", the support is level.
Also called nuMOTts' level.
plum-moth (plum'mdth), n. A tortricid moth
whose larva infests plums. See Ch'aphoUtha.
4568
plummy (plum'i), a. l< plumt^ + -y^.] Full of
plums or excellences ; hence, good; desirable.
[CoUoq.]
The poets have made tragedies enough about signing
one's self over to wickedness for the sake of getting some-
thing j)2u7»n>y. Oearge Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xvi.
plumose (plo'mos), a. [= P. phim^ux = Sp.
Pg. plumoso = It. piumoso, < L. plumosus, full
of feathers or down, < pluma, feather, down:
seejj^Mme.] 1. Feathery; plumous; resembling
a feather, as something light, airy, and spray-
like.— 2. Feathered; plumed or plumaged; pro-
vided with plumes or feathers. — 3. In bot.,
feathery or feathered: specifically noting bris-
tles, etc., which have fine hairs on opposite sides
like the vane of a feather. A plumose pappus
is one composed of feathery hairs. See fig. &
under papp^ls.— Plumose anemone. See anemone.
plumosity (pl§-mos'i-ti), n. [= It. piumositd;
as plumose + -ity."] The state of being plumose.
plumous (plo'mus), a. Same as plumose.
plump^ (plump), a. [< ME. plomp, rude, clown-
ish (not found in lit. sense), = D. plomp =
MLG. liGr. plump, plomp, bulky, unwieldy, dull,
e:lowmah.,= Gr. plump = Sw. Dan-plump, bulky,
massive, clumsy, coarse (the G., and prob.
Seand. , from the D.) ; prob. orig. ' swollen,' from
the pp. of the dial. (orig. strong) verb plim,,
swell ; but more or less associated with plump^,
plumo^.1 1 . FuU and well-rounded ; hence, of a
person, fleshy; (at; chubby: as, ajjfewwfigure;
a, plump habit of body; of things, filled out and
distended; rounded: as, ajj?M?»p seed.
Banish plump Jack, and banish all the world.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. i. 527.
The ploughman now . . .
Sows hiB plump seed.
Fanshawe, tr. of Guarini's Pastor Fido, iv. 6.
Like a childe, she 's pleasant, quick, and plump.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Magnificence.
Of medium height, plump, but not stout, with a rather
slender waist and expansive hips, and a foot which stepped
firmly and nimbly at the same time, she was as cheeriul a
body as one could wish to see.
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 72.
2. Figuratively, round; fat; large; full.
Will no plump fee
Bribe thy false fists to make a glad decree?
Quarlea, Emblems, ii. 3.
3. Dry; hard. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
plump^t (plump), n. [< ME. plump, plomp, a
cluster, clump ; < plump^, a. ■ Of. clump^.] A
knot; a cluster; a group j a clump; a number
of persons, animals, or things closely united or
standing together ; a covey.
Whan thei wil fighte, the! wiUe schokken hem to gidre
in a plomp. MandeviHe, Travels, p. 262.
By means wherof such as were chief officers in his campe
reuolted by plumpee vnto Seleucus.
Oolding, tr. of Justine, tol. 83.
Here 's a whole plump of rogues.
Fletclier, Double Marriage, iii. 2.
So spread upon a lake, with upward eye,
A plump of fowl behold their foe on high.
Dryden, Theodore and Honoria, 1. 316.
plumpi (plump), V. l<plump\a.'i 1. intrans.
To grow plump; enlarge to fullness; swell.
Johnson; Imp. Diet.
II. trans. To make plump, full, or distended ;
extend to fullness ; dilate ; fatten.
The golden films, whilst they were in a liquor that
plum/ped them up, seemed to be solid wires of gold.
Boyle, Subtilty of Effluviums, ii.
I can with another experiment jj^umj? him and heighten
him at my pleasure. Shirley, Maid's Kevenge, iii. 2.
The action of the saltpetre on the hides or skins, it is
claimed, is to plunup or "raise" them, as it is called.
C. T. Davis, Leather, p. 249.
plump^ (plump), V. [< ME. plumpen = D.
plompen = G. plumpen, pVumpsen, fall like a
stone in the water, = Sw. plunvpa = Dan.
plvmpe, plump, plunge ; connected yriiihplump^,
adv.: words felt to be imitative, and so subject
to variation (G. pVwmpsen, etc.), but prob. ult.
due to L. plumbum, lead, whence also ult. E.
plunge, plump: see pVumb'^, plunge,'] I. intrans.
1. To plunge or fall like a heavy mass or lump
of dead matter; fall suddenly.
It will give you a notion how Dulcissa plumps into a
chair. Steele, Spectator, No. 492.
Heplump'd head and heels into ilfteen feet water !
Barhrnn, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 335.
2. To vote for a single candidate, when one has
the right to vote for two or more. In British par-
liamentary and other elections, when there are more per-
sons than one to be elected, a voter, while having the right
to vote for as many candidates as there are vacancies,
may cast a single vote for one ohly. He is then said to
plump for that candidate. In British school-board elec-
tions the voting is cumulative ; a voter may plump, by giv-
ing as many votes as there are vacancies to any one oan-
plumpy
didate, or he may distribute that number among the can-
didates in any way he chooses.
They refused to exercise their right of electing local
members, and plumped tor Earl Grey himself in 1848.
Westminster Jtev., CXXV. «2.
II. trans. To cause to fall suddenly and heav.
ily: as, to plump a stone into water — xo pluinp(a
thing) out, H> come out plump or rudely with (something).
" But if it ain't a liberty to plump it otd," said Mr. Boffln,
"what do you do for your living?"
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, vifi.
plump2 (plump), adv. [An elliptical use of
plump^,v. Ct.plumb^, adv.] At once, as with
a sudden heavy fall; suddenly; heavily; with-
out warning or preparation; very unexpect-
edly; downright; right.
The art of swimming he that will attain to 't,
Must fall plump and duck himself at first.
B«a«. and Fl., Wit at Several Weapons, i, 1.
Just as we were a-going up Snow-hill, plump we cornea
against a cart, with such a jog it almost pulled the coach-
wheel oil. Miss Bumey, Evelina, Iv.
How refreshing to find such a place and such a person
plump in the middle of New York.
T. Wittthrop, Cecil Dreeme, vL
plumpp (plnmp), a. [<plump^,v. Ci.plumi^,
a.] Blunt; downright; unreserved; unquali-
fied: as, a ^jfemp lie. Wright.
plump2 (plump), M. l< plump^, v.] A sudden
heavy downfall of rain. [Scotch.]
The thunder-j)2t<m^ that drookit me to the skin. QaU.
The whole day was showery, with occasional drenching
plum.p8. S. L. Stevenson, Inland Voyage, p. 89.
plumper (plum'per), n. 1. One of a pair o£
balls or rounded masses of some light material
kept in the mouth to give the cheeks a rounded
appearance.
And that the cheeks may both agree.
Their plumpers fill the cavity.
The Lona&n Ladies Dressing Room. {Nares.)
Now dext'rously herpZtMMjjers draws.
That serve to fill her hollow jaws.
Swift, A Beautiful Young Nymph.
2. One who votes for a single candidate in an
election, when he has a right to vote for more
than one ; also, the vote (sometimes the total
number of votes collectively) which one thus
gives to a single candidate. Beeplump'^, v. i., 2.
[Great Britain.]
Mr. Brooke's success must depend either on plumfen,
which would leave Bagster in the rear, or on the new
minting of Tory votes into reforming votes.
Oeorge JEliat, Middlemarcb, IL
3. An unqualified lie; a downright falsehood;
a "corker." [CoUoq.]
plump-faced (plump 'fast), a. Having a plump
or full, round face.
plum-pig (plum'pig'), m. A dish consisting of
figjures of pigs molded in pie-crust or cake, with
raisins or currants for eyes.
plumply (plump 'Ii), adv. Fully; roundly;
without reserve: as, to assert a tmiig plumply.
[Colloq.]
E>lll
plumpness (plump'nes), n. The state or qual-
ity of being plump; fullness of skin; disten-
tion to roundness: as, the plumpness of a boy;
plumpness of the cheek.
plum-porridge (^lum'por'ij), n. Porridge made
with plums, raisins, or currants.
All those new statutes [promulgated by the Senate of
Venice on Aug. 2Bth, 1626] principally reguard the English,
whom they thincke so inamored v/ith plumporredge, cakes,
and pies, as they will with currents swallow any thing.
Sir Thmnas Roe, quoted in N. and Q., 7th ser., IV. 604.
Nearly two centuries had elapsed since the fiery perse-
cution of poor mince-pies throughout the land; when
plum porridge was denounced as mere popeiy, and roast-
beet as anti-Christian.
Irving, Sketch-Book, Christmas Day, p. 266.
plum-pudding (plum'pud'ing), n. A pudding
composed of flour and finely chopped beef suet,
with raisins, currants, various spices, and wine,
brandy, or rum. it Is tied in a pudding-cloth and
boiled for some hours. It should be served with a blazing
sauce of brandy or rum. In the United States a plainer
pudding, resembling the above but without the brandy,
is sometimes called by this name.
plum-puddinger (plum'pud'ing-6r), n. A small
whaling-vessel which makes only .short voy-
ages : so called because the crew has fresh pro-
visions and an abundant supply of plum-pud-
ding or plum-duff. [TJ. S.]
Provinoetown has ever been foremost with her numer-
ous fleet ot^umrpuddingers, or, in whaling phrase, " plum-
pudnrs, " which are small vessels employed on short voy-
ages in the Atlantic Ocean.
C. M. Scammon, Marine Mammals, p. 241.
plumpy (plum 'pi), a. [< plumpT- + -^^.l
Plump; fat.
Come, thou monarch of the vine,
Plumpy Bacchus with pink eyne !
Shak., A. and C, a 7. 12L
Plumstead Peculiars
Plumstead Peculiars. Same as Peculiar People
(which see, uniei peculiar).
plum-tree (plmn'tre), «. [< ME. pVumtre, <
AS. plwmtredw (= 8w. plommontracl = Dan.
hlommetrse), < pMrne, plum, + tredw, tree.] A
tree that produces plums. See plmri^.
plumula (plo'mu-la), n.;vil.plumulse (-le). [NL.,
< h. plumula, a fittle feather: aee , plumule.^
Same a,8 plumule.
plumnlaceous (pl9-mu-la'shius), a. [< KL.
*plumulaceus,< ii.phimula, a plumule: see plu-
mule. ] Downy ; of or pertaining tea plumule ;
in omith., not pennaoeous. See plumule.
plumular (plo'mu-lar), a. \<.plwmula + -arS.]
In wmth., of or pertaining to a plumula or plu-
mule; plumulaceous.
Plumularia (plo-mu-la'ri-a), n. [NL. (hai-
marok), <L. piitmwto,'
a little feather : see
plumule.'] The typi-
cal genus of Plumu-
larUdse. P.fMeulais
an example.
plumularian (plo-
mu-la'ri-an), a. and
». ' [< Ptkmulmria +
-an.'] I. a. Pertain-
ing to the genus Plu-
mularia or the fam-
ily PlumularUdie, or
having their charac-
ters: correlated with
sertula/rian and cam-
Plumutaria Jilicula, natural size.
H. n. A member of
the PVumula/rUdx.
Plumulariidse (pls^-
mu-la-ii'i-de), n. pi.
[KL.', < Plumularia
+ -ddsB.] A family
of hydroid polyps or calyptoblastie Sydrome-
dussB, typified by the genus Plumularia, having
sessile polypites in hydrothecee on only one side
of the branched polyp-stock. They are colonial, and
include gaatrozooMs, generative zo3ids, and machopolyps,
(he flrat-named with one verticel of filiform tentacles.
plnmulate (plo'mu-lat), a. l^plumula + -ate^.]
In hot., minutely plumose.
plumule (plS'mul), n. [< li. plumula, a little
feather, dim. otpluma, a featiier: seeplum^.]
1. In omith., a down-feather; a feather of
plumnlaceous structure throughout. — 2. In en-
tom. : (fl) A little plume-Uke organ or ornament.
(fi) One of the peculiar oboordate scales found
on the wings of certain lepidopterous insects,
as Pieridee. —
3. Thebudof
the ascend-
ing axis of a
plant while
still in the
embryo, situ-
ated at the
apex of the
oaulicle (or
radicle),
above the
base of the
cotyledon or
cotyledons,
and inclosed
by them
when there
are two or
more, in such
seeds as the
bean and beech-
nut it consists of
rudimentary
pair of leaves
of a feather-
lilce appear-
ance, while in
the pea and
acorn it is a rudimentary stem which will develop leaves
only when germination is considerably advanced. In these
examples the plumule is manifest, but often it is scarcely
visible to the naked eye until the seed begins to germinate.
See also cuts under exogen and nwnocotyledon&ug.
plumuMorm (pl5'mu-li-f6rm), a. [< L. plu-
mula, a plumule, + forma, form.] Having the
appearance of a small feather. Thomas, Med.
Diet.
plumulose (pl8'mu-16s), a. [< plumule + -ose.]
In entom., branching laterally, as the hairs of
an insect, and thus resembling downy feathers
or plumules.
plum-weevil (plum'we^vl), n. A weevil which
infests the plum; the plum-curculio. See outs
under Conotrachelus amAplumi-gouger.
I, the seed of Vieia Faba, one cotyledon de-
tached; 3, genninating plantlet of Cyperus
vt^ettis; 3, germinating^ plantlet of Ifomaa pa.
ntculataj 4, germinating^ plantlet of Rheum
Moorcro/tianum, showing the plumule break-
ing through the tubular base of the petioles of
the cotyledons. Cott cotyledon ; P. plumule ;
R. root.
4569
plumy (plo'mi), a. [< plume + -j/i.] 1. Ee-
sembling a feather; feathery.
As thicke as when a drift wind shakes
Black clouds in pieces, and plucks now in great and
ptumie flakes
From their soft bosomes, till the ground be wholly cloth'd
in white. Cha^pvmn, Iliad, xii.
2. Plumed; adorned with plumes.
Appeared \as]alu7ny crest, besmeared with blood.
AddUon.
And Murray's 2>2uni!/ helmet rings —
Kings on the ground, to rise no more.
Scott^ Cadyow Castle.
3. Plumaged; feathered.
Angels on full sail of wings flew nigh.
Who on their J72t£m^ vans received him soft.
MMon, P. R., iv. 583.
A well
Shrouded with willow-flowers and ptemv fern.
Wordswmih^ Excursion, L
plunder (plun'der), n. [< MD. plunder, plonder,
household effects, furniture, < G. plunder,
household effects, furniture, baggage, lumber,
trumpery, rags, late MHG. phmder, blunder,
household effects, clothing, washing (also bed-
clothing?); cf. MLGr.phmder,plunde(iiieom-p.),
clothing, plunder, plonder, spoil, booty, LQ-.
plunne, plurm, in pi. plunmen, plvrnden, house-
hold trumpery, rags, = D. plunje, sailor's lug-
gage, etc. ; ulterior origin obscure. In defs. 2
and 3 from the verb : seeplunder, v.] 1 . House-
hold or personal effects; baggage; luggage.
[Local, U. S.]
An American, by his boasting of the superiority of the
Americans generally, but more especially in their lan-
guage, once provoked me to tell him that "on that head
the least said the better, as the Americans presented the
extraordinary anomaly of a people without a language.
That they had mistaken the English language for baggage
(which is called plunder in America), and had stolen it."
Coleridge, Letters, Conversations and Recollections, p. 214.
"Help yourself, stranger," added the landlord, "while
I tote yo\}i plunder into the other room."
Hoffman, Winter in the West, letter xxzili. ^Bartleit.)
2. The act of plundering; robbery.
Plunder^hoth name and thing, was miknown in England
till the beginning of the war ; and the war began not till
September, anno 1642.
Heylin, Examen Historicum (1659), i. 248, quoted in P.
[Hall's Mod. Eng., p. 113.
For my part I abhor all violence, pluTider, rapine, and
disorders in souldiers.
Prynne, Treachery and Disloyalty, iv. 29.
The Biscaiiis were almost quite disheartned by reason
of the frequent inrodes and plunders of the Saracens.
North, tr. of Plutarch (ed. 1676), ii. 36.
3 . That which is taken from an enemy by force ;
piUage; prey; spoil; booty.
The prospect of plunder reconciled all disputes. Dutch
and English, admirals and generals, were equally eager
lor action. Uacavlay, War of the Succession in Spain.
4. Hence, that which is taken by theft, rob-
bery, or fraud: as, the cashier escaped with his
plunder.=Sjn. 3. Sooty, ^aoU, etc. See pillage.
plunder (plun'der), V. t. [< MD. and 'D.plun-
deren, plonderen = MLGt. plundereii = Sw. plun-
dra = Dan. plyndre, plunder, < G. pUmdern,
steal household effects, pillage, plunder, prop,
remove household effects, < plunder, household
effects, trumpery, baggage: see plunder, n.
The word appears to have been carried from
Germany to the other countries during the
Thirty Years' War, in which many foreign mer-
cenaries were engaged, and much plundering
was done. For the development of sense from
'household effects,' 'clothing,' etc., to 'pillage,'
' rob,' cf . rob, reave, as similarly developed from
robe (AS. redf), clothing.] 1. To take goods
or valuables forcibly from; piUage; spoil;
strip; rob.
He [Ealeigh] hath flred and plundered Sauto Thoma, a
Colony the Spaniards had planted with so much blood.
Bowell, Letters, I. i. 4.
It is not demonstrated that kings and aristocracies wUl
plunder the people, unless it be true that all men will
plunder their neighbours if they can.
Maeaulay, West. Reviewer's Del of Mill.
2. To take by piUage or open force : as, the
eneray plundered all the goods they found.
A treasure richer far
Than what is plundered in the rage of war. Dryden.
=Syn. 1. Xo despoil, sack, rifle, ravage. See pillage, n.
plunderage (plun'der-aj), n. [< plunder +
-age.] In maritime law, the embezzlement of
goods on board a ship.
plunderer (plun'd6r-er), n. One who plunders.
It was a famous saying of William Rufus, . . . "Who-
soever spares perjured men, robbers, plunderers, and trai-
tors, deprives all good men of their peace and quietness."
Addison, Freeholder, No. 31.
plunderous (plun'der-us), a. [< plunder +
-ous.] Plundering; pillaging.
plunger
plunge (plunj), )\; pret. and pp. plunged, ppr.
plunging. [< ME. plungen, ploungen, plongen,
< OF. plonger, plonchier, F.plonger = Picard
plonker, < LL. *plumbicare, freq., plunge: cf.
Pr. plombar, plunge, = It. piombare, fall hea-
vily like lead, plimge, throw, hurl (see also
plump^, v.); < li. plumbum, lead: see phimb^.
The L. plwmbare means only ' solder with lead,'
' make of lead.' For the LL. freq. *plumbicare,
cf. pluek^, prob. < LL. *pilieare, *pilucare.] I.
trans. 1. To east or thrust suddenly into wa-
ter OP some other fluid, or into some penetra-
ble substance; immerse; thrust: a,B, to plunge
one's hand into the water; to plunge a dagger
into one's breast.
What it the breath that kindled those. grim fires,
Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage,
kniplwnge us in the fiames? MUton, F. L., ii. 172.
2. Figuratively, to cast or throw into some
thing, state, condition, or action: as, plunged
in grief; to plunge a nation into war.
Agranayn, that was plonged in to the presse, smote on
bothe sides hym a-bonte, and began yeve so grete strokes
that sore thei hym douted. MerUn (E. E. T. S.), ii. 194.
Without a prudent determination in matters before us,
we shall be plunged into perpetual errors.
Yet he listen'd, plunged in thought.
M. Arnold, Sohrab and Rustum.
3t. To entangle or embarrass : used chiefly in
the past participle.
For thou weU knoVst I have been so pluntfd, so torn
With her resolv'd rejection and neglect
Beau, and Fl., Enight of Malta, i. 1.
Plunged and gravelled with three lines of Seneca.
Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, § 21.
n. intrans. 1. To dive, leap, or rush (into
water or some fluid).
Bid me go find some desp'rate rock from whence
Down I may plunge into the deepest Main.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, iL 158.
Through the forest, like a wild beast, roared and plunged
the Saco's falls. Whittier, Mary Garvin.
2. To fall or rush headlong into some thing, ac-
tion, state, or condition: as, tojjZun^eintodebt
or into a controversy.
Bid me for honour plunge into a war
Of thickest foes, and rush on certain death.
Addison, Cato, i. 1.
3. To throw the body forward and the hind legs
up, as an unruly horse.
But th' angry Steed . . .
Calls for the Combat, plunges, leaps, and praunces.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Haudy-CteiftB.
4. To descend precipitously or vertically, as a
cliff.
While she sat on an ivied stone, on the edge of the
plunging jvall, I stood there and made a speech.
H. James, Jr., Pass. Pilgrim, p. 236.
5. To bet recklessly; gamble for large stakes;
speculate. [Sporting slang.]
Plunging was the order of the day, and lansquenet was
the game at which most of t\as pluriging was done.
Fortnightty Bev., N. S., XXXTX. 319.
plunge (plunj), m. l<. plunge, v.] 1. A sudden
dive, leap, or dip into something: as, a plunge
in the sea. — 2. An immersion in difficulty, em-
barrassment, or distress ; the condition of be-
ing surrounded or overwhelmed; a strait; dif-
ficulty. [Obsolete or obsolescent.]
Do you observe the plunges that this poor gallant is put
to, signior, to purchase the fashion?
B. Jonton, Every Man out of his Humour, iv. 5.
Then be thou in these plunges
A patron to thy mother in her pains.
Oreene and Lodge, Looking Glass for Lond. and Eng.
3. A sudden and violent pitching forward of
the body, and pitching up of the hind legs, as
by an unruly horse At a plunge, at a pinch; in a
strait.
He [Collins] had a pressing and immediate objection to
remove. And as he had no great stock of argument^
arid but small forecast, any thing at a plunge would be
received which came to his relief.
Warburton, Divine Legation, vL § 6.
Flow-and-plunge structure, in gedl. See JUmi.
plunge-bath (plunj'bath), n. Abath sufficiently
large to admit of the complete immersion of the
bawier.
plunge-battery (plunj 'bafer-i), n. See battery.
plungeon (plun'jon), n. [< F. plongeon, a plun-
geon, the diver, " also diving, < plonger, dive,
plunge: see plunge.] A diving bird. Ains-
worth.
plunge-pole (plunj 'pol), n. The hollow pump-
rod of a pumping-engine. [Eng.]
plunger (plun'j6r), n. 1 . One who or that which
plunges. — 2. A cavalryman; in the plural, cav-
alry. [Milit. slang.]
plunger
It 's an insult to the whole Guards, my dear fellow, after
refusing two of us, to marry an attorney, and after all to
bolt with a. plunger. Eivgiiey, Two Years Ago, xvl.
3. A reckless better; a dashing or venture-
some gambler or speculator. [Sporting slang.]
—4. A part of a machine or piece of meena-
nism that plunges, (a) The piston of a Cornish pump.
It Is a cylindricsa mass of iron which plays through a
stuffing-box up and down in tlie plunger-case, and forces
the water into the lift or tuba in which it rises to the
surface, adit-level, or other desired point. (6) Any solid
piston. See plwnger-pigton. (c) The dasher of a churn.
(d) The firing-pin or strilcer used in some breech-loading
firearms, (e) A metallic cylinder, hollow or soUd, some-
times surrounding and sometimes within the coil of wire
of a small inductorium, by the movement of which the
intensity of the induced current may be regulated. (/)
Any compression-machine in which the force is applied by
means of a plunger. See cuts under hydravUc, percussion-
/use, and pump. (^) A cylindrical graduated rod used in
blasting to ascertain whether the cartridge has reached
the bottom of the drilled hole, when charging the hole for
a blast.
5. In pottery, a vessel in which clay is beaten
by a wheel to the required consistency. E. H,
plunger-bucket (plun'jer-buk"et), n. 1. In a
pump, a bucket having no valve. — 3. Same as
plunger-piston, 2.
plu
plunger-case (plun'j6r-kas), n. The cylinder in
which a plunger works.
plunger-lift (plxin'j^r-lift), n. 1. In a pump, a
bucket having no valve. See cut under ^m«^.
— 2. Same sa pVumger-^ton, 2.
plunger-piston (plun']6r-pis"ton), n. 1. In a
pump, a solid cylindrical piston, either operated
by a special piston-rod with a erosshead, or pro-
truding from the pump-barrel sufficiently for
the direct attachment of a pitman to it outside
of the pump-cylinder. — 3. The solid piston of
a pressure-gage, steam-indicator, or some simi-
lar instrument. Also called pVumger-lift and
plunger-'bucket.
plunger-pump (pluu'jfer-pump), n. A pump
in \riiich the liquid confined in the pump-bar-
rel by a foot-valve or check-valve is forced by
displacement, during the inward stroke of a
plunger, through another cheek-valve into the
discharge-pipe or -passage, or the air-chamber,
of the pump.
plunging (plun' jing), p. a. Directed from above
downward ; poiu-ed down from a higher plane :
as, to subject the enemy to a plunging fire. See
fire, n., 13.
plungiug-siphon (plun'iing-si"f on), n. A small
tube with open ends which is thrust into liquor
in bulk in order to withdraw a sample by clos-
ing the upper end with the finger.
plungy (plun'ji), o. [< ME. plowngy; < pUmge
+ -y^.'] Rainy. [Prov. Eng.] ^
The wynd Nothns leteth Tai& plovmgy blastes.
Chaueer, Boethius, iiL meter 1.
plunkett (plung'ket), n. Same as hlunket.
Out came six ladies all in crimosin satin and phirtket,
embroudered with golde and perle, with Frenche hoodes
on their heddes.
HaU, quoted in Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 240.
plup. An abbreviation ot pluperfect.
pluperfect (pl6'p6r"fekt), a. and n. [Abbr. of
L. (Nil.) phusquam-perfectwm (so. tempvs). the
pluperfect tense, lit. 'more than perfect': L.
plv^, more (see plus) ; quam, than ; perfectum,
nent. of per/ectes, perfect: see jjerfec*.] I. a.
Noting the time, or the expression of time, of
an action occurring prior to another specified
time : as, the pluperfect tense.
II. n. In prawi., the pluperfect tense of averb,
or an equivalent verb-phrase: for example,
Latin amaveram, English ' I had loved.'
plural (plo'ral), a. and n. [< MB. plweUe, < OP.
pVwrel, F. ptunel = Sp. Pg. plural = It. j^lurale
= G-. plural, < L. pluralis, of or belonging to
more than one, or to many; in gram, pluralis,
sc. Humerus, the plural number; (.plus {pl/ur-),
more: see jjZms.] I. o. 1. Containing more
than one ; consisting of two or more, or desig-
nating two or more.
Better have none
Than plural faith, which is too much by one.
Shalc.j:. G. of v., T. 4. 62.
Specifically — 2. In gram., noting the form of
a word (primarily of a noun or pronoun, then
of an adjective qualifying it, and finally of a
verb of which it is subject) which mar^ it as
signifying or relating to more than one, as dis-
tinguished from singular, signifying only one ;
in some languages, which have a dual form for
two, signifying more than two: thus, ioys is
the plural number of boy, men of man, we of I,
these of this, are of is, and were of was.— Plural
marriage. See marriage.
4570
11. n. 1. The state of being manifold or
more than one.
If respect be had to the severall arts there professed,
Sigebert founded schools in the pluraU. But if regard be
talten of the cyclopsedy of the learning resulting from those
several sciences, he erected but one grand schooL
Fuller, Ch. Hist., II. ii. 56.
2. That form of a word which expresses plu-
rality, or the plural number. Abbreviated j>i.
pluraUsation, pluralise, etc. See plwraliza-
tion, etc.
pluralism (plo'ral-izm), n. l< plural + -ism.]
1. The character of being plural. — 2. The
holding by one person of two or more offices
at the same time ; specifically, the holding of
two or more livings or benefices at the same
time, or the ecclesiastical system under which
this is possible.
pluralist (plo'ral-ist), n. [< plural + -isf] A
clergyman who "holds at the same time two or
more ecclesiastical benefices.
Who, being a plurcUist, may under one Surplice, which is
also linnen, hide f oure benefices besides the metropolitan
toe. Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus.
Many ecclesiastics, some even of those who affected to
be evangelical, were pluraZists, and left their numerous
parishes to the care of those who would serve at the low-
est price. Banerqft, Hist. XJ. S., I. 215.
pluralistic (ple-ra-lis'tik), a. [< phtralist +
-ic] Holding to the existence of many reals.
plurality (plo-ral'i-ti), n. ; pi. plmraUUes (-tiz).
[< ME. pluralite, i' OF. pliiralite, F. pluralitS =
Sp. pluralidad = Pg. pluralidade = It. pluralilA,
< LL. plwraMta(t-)s, the plural number, < L.
pJjtraKs, plural : s&e, plural.'] 1. The character
of being plural; the fact of expressing or of
consisting of more than one ; also, a number
greater than unity: as, a, plurality of gods; a
plurality of worlds.
And bigge 30W benefices pluraiHe to haue.
Piers Plowman (C), iv. 33.
The wantonnesse
Of their insatiat appetite, that feeds
On such pluralHiy of viands, breeds
Offensive humors.
Timet' WhisUe (B. E. T. S.X p. 67.
We are now led to recognise the doctiine of the "plurality
of causes " in our explanations of things ; and the instances
of iinspluralUy are both numerous and familial'.
A. Bain, Emotions and Will, p. 213.
2. The greater number ; the majority.
Take the pluralHy of the world, and they are neither
wise nor good. Sir B. L'Eatrange.
The two avoyers are elected by the plwraUty of suffrages
of all the citizens. J. Adams, Worlra, IV. 332.
3. In U. 8. poliUcs, the number by which the
votes cast for the candidate who receives the
greatest number exceed the votes cast for the
candidate who receives the next greatest num-
ber, when there are more than two candidates
and no one candidate receives a majority of the
votes. If A receives 5,000 votes, B 4,000, and C 3,000, no
one has a majority, but A has a pluridity of 1,000 over B.
In most of the States a pluralify elects a candidate ; in
others, as Connecticut and Rhode Island, if no candidate
(as for governor) receives a popular majority, the election
goes to the legislature. Compare majartty,
4. Eccles.: (a) The holding of two or more bene-
fices by the same person at the same time ; plu-
ralism.
The most part of them were such as had preach'd and
cri'd down, with great show of zeale, the avarice and^u-
raliUeg of Bishops and Prelats. MUton, Hist. Eng., iii.
(&) One of two or more livings held by the same
incumbent. See living, 4 (a).
Who engrvOSB many pluralities under a non-resident and
slubbring dispatch of souls.
MUton, Apology for Smeotymnnus.
pluralization (pl6"ral-i-za'shon), n. [iplmal-
ize + -ation.'] The act of plurauzing; ttie at-
tribution of plurality to a person or tmng. Also
apeWeA pluralisaUon.
"Inferiors Invariably use the third person plural in ad-
dressing their superiors :" a form which, while dignifying
the superior by plwralizaMon, increases the distance ot the
inferior by its relative indirectness.
H. Spencer, Fop. SoL Mo., XIII. 8G0.
pluraUze (pl6'ral-iz), V. ; pret. and pp. plural-
ized, ppr. plurdUzimg. [< plural + -ize.] I.
trans. To make plural by using the termination
of the ijlural number; attribute plurality to;
egress in the plural form.
II. intrans. Eccles., to hold two or more ben-
efices at the same time.
Also spelled ^^aMse.
pluralizer (pl6'ral-i-z6r), n. Eccles., a plural-
ist. Also spelled phi/raliser,
plurally (plS'ral-i), adv. As a plural; in a
sense implying more than one.
Plato .
plurlserlal
often spoke of QodapluraUy.
Cm
'uduiorth, Intulectuai System, p. 402,
pluricapsular (pl6-ri-kap'su-iar), a. [< L. pivs
{plur-), more, -F NL. capsula, capsule : see cap-
sular.] Having several capsules; specifically,
Solycyttarian, as a radiolarian.
uricellular (pl8-ri-sel'u-lar), a. [< L. plus
'(plwr-), more,+ cellula, cell: see cellular.] Con-
sisting of many cells; composed of two or
more cells : as, pluriceUular tissues. See cut
under hair, 4.
pluricuspid (pl6-ri-kus'pid), a. [< L. plus
{plur-), more, + cuspis (cuspid-), a point: see
cusp, 5.] Having several cusps, as teeth. Also
pluricuspidate.
pluridentate (plo-ri-den'tat), a. [< L. plus
(plur-), more, + den(t-)s = E. tooth: see den-
tate.] In eool., having numerous tooth-like
processes : opposed to parcidentate or pauci-
dentate.
pluries (pl8'ri-ez), n. [So called from the LL.
word pluries, often, which occurs in the first
clause ; < li.plus (plur-), more : see plus.] In
law, a writ that issues in the third instance, af-
ter the first and the alias have been ineffectual.
plurifarious (pl6-ri-fa'ri-us), a. [< L. *pluri-
farius, manifold, in adv. plurifariam, in many
parts, in many ways, < plus (plwr-), more, +
-farius, as in bifa/riu^: see bifarious.] Mani-
fold; multifarious. [Eare.]
pluriflagellate (pl8-ri-flaj'e-lat), a. [< Kpltit
(plur-), more, + NL. flagellum, flagellum: see
flagellum.] Having several flageUa, as an in-
fusorian; polymastigate.
pluriflorous(plo-ri-fl6'rus)ja. [^(li. plus (plur-),
more, + flos (flor-), a flower.] Having several
or many flowers.
plurifoliate (plo-ri-fo'li-at), a. [< L. plus
(plur-), more, + folium, leaf: see/oKofe.] In
hot., having several leaves.
plurifoliolate (pl5-ri-f6'li-o-lat), a. [< L. plm
(plur-), more, + NL. foUo'lum, dim. of folium,
leaf, + -ate^.] In hot., having several leaflets:
said of a compound leaf.
pluriguttulate (pie-ri-gut'u-lat), a. [< L. plus
(plur-), more, + guttula, dim. of gutia, drop:
see guttulate.] In bot., containing many fine
drops or drop-like particles, as the sporules of
certain fungi.
pluriliteral (plo-ri-Ut'e-ral), a. and n. [< L.
plus (plur-), more, + "Uiiera, litera, a letter:
see Uteral.] I. a. Containing several letters.
II, n. A word consisting of several letters.
plurilocular (pl6-ri-lok'u-iar), a. [< L. plus
(plur-), more, -I- loculm, a cell: see loculus.]
in bot. and zool., many-celled; having several
or many cells or loculaments; multiloeular.
See cut under hair, 4.
plurinominal (plo-ri-nom'i-nal), a. [< L. plus
(plur-), more, + nomen (nomvUf), name: see
nominal.] In zool. and bot., same &% polynomial.
plurinucleate (pl6-ri-nu'kle-at), a. [('L.plus
(plv/r-), more, + nucleus, a, kernel: see nucle-
ate.] In bot. and zool., having several nuclei;
multinucleate.
plurinucleated (pl6-ri-nii'kle-a-ted), a. [<pUi-
rinucleate + -edX] Same as phmnucleate.
pluripara (plo-rip'a-ra),m.; -pi. phtriparx (-re).
[NL.: see plur^af'ovS.] A female parturient
for the second or some subsequent time, or one
who_ has borne two or more children.
pluriparity (pl8-ri-par'i-ti), n. [< pluripara +
■4ty.] The state of being a pluripara.
pluriparons (pls-rip'a-ms), a. [< NL. plwi-
para, < L. plus (pl'wr-), more, + parere, bear.]
1. Having several young at a birth; multipa-
rouB. /T. Spencer. — 2. Of or pertaining to a
pluripara.
pluripartite (pl8-ri-par'tit), a. [< L. jpto
(plwr-), more, -i-partitus, pp. otpartire, divide,
< pars (part-), a part: see part, v.] In lot.
SiJid zool., having several septa or partitions.
pluripresence (pie-ri-prez'ens), n. [< L. plus
(plur-), more, + preesetiUa, presence: see pres-
ence.] Presence in more places than one.
[Rare.]
Toplady. Does not then- invocation of saints suppose
omnipresence in the saints?
Johnson, No, Sir ; It supposes oriVyjduri-presemse.
BosweU, Johnson, an. 1773.
pluriseptate (pl6-ri-sep'tat), a. [< L. plus
(plw-), more, + NL. seppum, a partition: see
septate.] In bot., having several septa, parti-
tions, or dissepiments; pluripartite.
pluriserial (pl6-ri-se'ri-al), a. [< "L.plus (plur-),
more, + series, a row: see serial.] Consisting
Of several series. Encyc. Brit., XXH. 190.
pluriseriate
pluriseriate (pl8-ri-se'ri-at), a. [< L. plus
{plur-), more, + series, a row: see seriate.'] In
hot., disposed in many rows.
plurisetose (pie-ri-se' tos), a. [< li.pi'us (plur-),
more, + seta, a bristle: see setose.'] Having
several or many setse.
plurispiral (plo-ri-spi'ral), a. [< L. plris
iplui--), more, + spira, a ebil, fold: see spiral.]
Having several or many spiral tirms; multi-
spiral: speoifleally said of the opercula of
some shells.
plurisporous (pie-ri-sp6'rus), a. [< Jj. plus
(plur-), more, + Gr. cwopd, seed: see ^ore.] In
hot., having two or more spores.
plurisubinvariant (pie-ri-sub-in-va'ri-ant), /*.
A function, f, of a, b, c, etc., of a', 6', c',"ete., of
a", h", c", etc., such that (oD» + WDc + 3cDi +
etc. + a'D*' + eto. + a'Dyi + etc.) ^ = 0.
plurisyt (,pl6'ri-si), n. [An altered spelling of
pleurisy, simulating Ij.pVus (gen. pluris), more,
and taking sense aceorcfingly.] 1. Superabun-
dance.
Oh, great corrector of enormous times,
. . . that heal'st with blood
The earth when it is sick, and cur'st the world
O' thej>2ur% of people.
Metoher (and another), Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 1.
Ibypluri^ of goodness is thy ill.
Maseinger, Unnatural Combat, iv. 1.
2. Superabundance of blood; a plethora.
You are too insolent ;
And those too many excellencies, that feed
Your pride, turn to upluriey, and kill
That which should nourish virtue.
Beau, and Fl., Custom of the Countiy, ii. 1.
plurivalve (plo'ri-valv), a. [< L. plus (plur-),
more, + valva, a folding door: see vaive.] 1.
In entoni., havin{^ several valves or sheathing-
plates. — 2. In bot., having many valves: said
especially of capsules. — 3. In conch,, same as
nmlUvalme.
Plurivalvia (pl6-ri-val'vi-a), ji.^i. [NL.: see
plurivalve.] In conch., same as MullAvalvia.
plus (plis)> »• [< Ij. plus (plur-), more, pi.
plures, Oh. pleores, more, several, the majority
(eompar. of multus, much), = Gr. w^iav, ir^iuv,
pi. 'wteloveQ, more, eompar. of iro7cvg, many (= B.
feel^); ef.7r?L£(jf, full, L.pterews, full: s&ei plenty.]
1 . More (by a certain amount) ; increased (by
a specified addition) : followed by a noun as an
apparent object (a preposition, hy, to be sup-
plied) : as, the interest pirns the disbursements
amounts to so much ; 6 plus 9 is 15 : in this and
the next two uses correlative to minus, in
algebra and arithmetic this sense is indicated by the sign
+, called the plus sign or sign of addition : aa,a + b = x,
which is read " a plus b equals x." [A sign like this was
formerly sometimes used as a contraction of Latin et, and.]
His prose, then, is that of a wise man plus a poet.
E. C. Stedman, Poets of America, p. 134.
2. More than nothing; belonging to the posi-
tive side, as of an account ; above zero, or above
the lowest point of positive reckoning: as, a
plus quantity in an equation (that is, one hav-
ing the plus sign, or when initial having no
sign, before it). — 3. Marking more than zero;
positive: as, the plus sign.
Success goes invariably with a certain plia or positive
power. Emerson, Complete Prose Works, II. 352.
4. In etym., in composition with ; with the ad-
dition of (the word or element following) : ex-
pressed, as in mathematics, by the sign + (see
the etymologies in this work) . The same sign is
occasionally used to indicate cognate or related
forms.— Logarltlimic plus and minus. See logarith-
mic.
pllisb (plush), n. [Formerly also pelluce; =
D.pluis, a tuft or lock of wool or hair, plush,
= Q.phtsch = Sw. plys, plysch = Dan. plyds, < F .
pluche,peluche, shag, plush, = Sp.pelugea,pelus-
sa,pelMsa = Pg.jjeMwcJa, plush, nap, = It. »ete-
zo,pelucio, Ai^S.plusia, plush, nap, down ; < ML.
as if "pihidus, hairy, shaggy, < li.pilus, hair : see
pile*:, and cf. perulce and ^tocfci.] A cloth of
silk or cotton, and sometimes of wool (espe-
cially of camel's and goat's hair), having a
softer and longer nap than that of velvet. Plush
is used especially for upholstery, women's cloaks, expen-
sive liveries, and men's silk hats, and since 1870 as a
ground for embroidery in house-decoration, for curtains,
and the lilie.
The rich Tartars sometim es fur then: gowns with pdluee
or silke shag, which is exceeding soft, light, and warme.
HamuyVs Voyages, I. 98.
My tailor brings me home my fine, new, coloured-cloth
suit, my cloak lined with^M«ft— as good a suit as ever I
wore in my lite. Pepys, Diary, Oct. 28, 1664.
Banbury plush, woolen plush used for upholstery and
the like, first made in the town of Banbury, England. (See
also^r7it(«rfi-^t«A.)
4571
plush-copper (plush'kop'er), n. A capillary
variety of cuprite, or red oxid of copper: same
as chalcotrichite.
plushert (plush'Sr), to. [Origin obscure.] A
kind of dogfish.
The Pilcherd are pursued and devoured byabiggerkinde
of fish, called a Plusher, being somewhat like the Dog-fish.
R. Carew, Survey of Cornwall, p. 34.
plush-stitch (plush'stioh), n. In worsted- or
wool-work, a stitch that forms freely hanging
loops which can be cut, thus producing a long
soft nap similar to that of plush, or can be left
uncut, as a kind of fringe.
plush-velvet (plush' vel" vet), n. Plush having
a shorter nap than is common, and thus resem-
bling velvet.
plush-velveteen (plush'vel-ve-ten''''), TO. Cot-
ton plush closely imitating plush made of silk.
plushy (plush'i), a. • [< plush + -^i.] Consist-
ing of or resembling plush; shaggy and soft.
Then followed a long gaze out of the window, across
the damp gravel and plushy lawn.
H. Kingsley, Geoffry Hamlyn, iv.
Flusia (plo'si-a), TO. [NL. (Ochsenheimer, 1816),
with ref . to the silver or gold markings ; < Gr.
TT/loicriof, rich, < 7r/loii-of, riches: see Pluius.] 1.
A notable genus of noctnid moths, having the
body stout, the proboscis rather long, the ab-
domen crested, and the fore wings as a rule
partly gilded or silvery. More than lOO species are
known, and the genus is represented in all parts of the
plutocrat
Plutella (pl3-tel'a), to. [NL. (Sehrank, 1802),
< Gr. TT/loiTof , wealth, + dim. -ella.] 1 . A genu?
of tineid moths, typical of the family PlutelUdm.
'7r^ ^
Cabbage-plusia {Plusia brassica),
a, caterpillar ; b, chrysalis in cocoon ; c, moth, male.
CAll natural size.)
world. Many of the species are wide-spread, several being
common to Europe and North America, and one to Europe
and South Africa. The larvse of many are injurious to
growing crops, and P. brassier of the United States is one
of the worst enemies of the cabbage and other crucifei-
ous plants. In Europe the gamma-moth or silver- Y, P.
ganrnm, is equally destructive to the same vegetables. P.
ehrysitis is the bumished-brass moth.
2. [Z. c] A member of this genus ; especially,
in the United States, F. irassicse, known as the
eabhage-plusia.
Flusidse (pl6'si-de), n. pi. [NL.] Same as Plu-
PluttUa cruciferarum. (Cross shows natural size.)
They are small, with antennse not thickened at the base,
erect palpi, and the sixth and seventh veins of the hind
wings sepai'ate. The larva skeletonizes leaves, and pupates
in a gauzy cocoon. P. cruciferarum (xylostella) is a tumip-
and cabbage-pest of cosmopolitan distribution.
2. [I. c] A member of this genus; especially,
in the United States, P. cruciferarum, known
as the cabbage-plutella. In England and the
British colonies it is known as the diamond,
back.
Flntellidse (plij-tel'i-de), n. pi. [NL. , < Plutella
+ .4dse.] A family of tineid moths, typified
by the genus Plutella. The head is woolly, and the
palpi are provided with a strong bunch of scales on the
middle joint below ; they have the peculiar habit of hold-
ing the antennse straightforward when at rest (most other
tiueids holding the antennie back on the wings). The
family contains about 6 genera, of which Cerostoma is the
most extensive.
pluteus (pl8'te-us), TO. ; pi. plutei (-i). [L.,also
2>luteum, a shed ormantlet to protect besiegers,
a breastwork, parapet, a headboard of a conch
orbed, a partition, etc.] 1. Inane. Rom. arch.,
a barrier, as any construction of boards, osiers,
grating, or other light work, placed between
Qie columns of a portico ; a light wall occupy-
ing the lower part of an intercolunmiation ;
a balustrade or parapet crowning a building
or a part of a building; also, a shelf fixed to
the wall; the headboard of a bed. — 2. In
ane. Bom. milit. engin. : (a) Boards or planks
placed on the fortifications of a camp, or on
movable towers or other military engines, to
form a kind of roof or shed for the protection
of the soldiers. (6) A movable gallery on
wheels, shaped like an arch-covered wagon,
in which a besieging party made their ap-
proaches.— 3. In zool., a larval stage of the
eehinopsedia of certain echinoderms, as a holo-
thnrian, ophiurian, or echinid. It is known as the
Flusiidae (pl§-si'i-de), to. pi. [NL. (6uen6e,
1852), < Plusia + ^idse.] A family of noctuid
moths, typified by the genus Plusia, having the
palpi slender and ascending, and the wings of-
ten golden or silvered. It contains 8 genera.
plusiocracy, plousiocracy (plo-si-ok'ra-si), «.
[< Gr. irTMvcwg, rich, wealthy, -t- -Kparia, < Kpareiv,
rule.] Same as plutocracy. [Eare.]
To say a word against . . . the cruel punishments of the
Game-laws, or against any abuse which a rich man inflict-
ed and a poor man suffered, was treason against the pUra-
siocracy. Sydney Smith, in Lady Holland, ii.
Flusiotis (plo-si'6-tis), re. [NL. (Burmeister),
< Gr. 'ir7M>aios, ric'h; cf. nlovaidrjig, wealth.] A
genus of lamellicom beetles of the family Sca-
rabseidse, containing American species of large
size and burnished silvery or golden color.
Three species are known in the United States ;
the others are Mexican.
plutarchy (pl5'tar-ki), TO. [< Gr. w^mrog, wealth,
-f- -apxia, < apxciv, rule.] Same as plutocracy.
Southey, The Doctor, cii.
plutei, TO. FluxaX of pluteus.
pluteiform (plo'te-i-f6rm), as. [< NL.pluteus
(Bee pluteus, 3) + h. forma, torm.] 1. Hav-
ing the morphological value of a pluteus : as,
the pluteiform larva of an echinoderm. See
cut under echinopscdium. — 2. Less exactly, like
or likened to a pluteus in anyway; echino-
psBdic.
d (i"
A. Echinopaedium of Echinus fiulchellus, gastrula stage: a,
mouth ; b, intestine ; c, anus. B. Fully developed echinopaedium or
pluteus of the same ; a\ mouth ; b. stomach and intestine ; c, anus ;
d, d, processes of body containing prolongations of internal skeleton.
C. Echinopaedium of an echinid advanced so far that spines, pedicels,
and pedicellariae are visible.
painien's-easel larva, from its shape, and was originally
described as a distinct genus by Mtiller in 1846. Compare
cuts under Bipimiaria and echim^sedium.
FlutO (plo'to), n. [L., < Gr. Wioiirav, poet, also
H^vreiic, Pluto, orig. epithet of Hades, the un-
derworld (as a source of grain, etc.), < v>M}Tog,
wealth : see Plutus.] In Bom. myth. , the lord of
the infernal regions, son of Saturn and brother
of Jupiter and Neptune. He is represented as an el-
derly man with a dignified but severe aspect, often holding
in his hand a two-pronged fork. He was generally called
by the Greeks Bodes, and by the Romans Oreus, Tartarus,
and Dii. His wife was Proserpine, daughter of Jupiter
and Ceres, whom he seized in the island of Sicily while
she was plucking flowers, and carried to the lower world.
See cut on following page.— PlutO monkey, Cercopithe-
cus plvto, of western Africa,
plutocracy (pl^-tok'ra-si), to. [< Gr. ttaowok/jo-
ria, an oligarchy of wealth, < jr^oiiTof, wealth,
-f- -Kpa-ia, < Kparetv, rule.] Government by the
wealthy class; the rule of wealth ; also, a class
ruling by virtue of its wealth. Also plutarchy.
plutocrat (pl8'to-krat), TO. [< Gr. wlom-oKpaT-,
base of TzhmroiipaTia, an oligarchy of wealth:
see plutocracy.] One who mles or sways a
plutocrat
Pluto, enthroned, with Proserpine. (From a vase>painting.)
commmiity or society by virtue of his wealth;
a person possessing power or influence solely
or mainly on account of his riches; a member
of a plutocracy.
We have had ploutocrafs who were patterns of every
virtue. Gladstone, Nineteenth Century.XXI. 17.
Theplutocrats and hureaucrats, the money-changers and
devourers of labour. Kingaley, Alton ijOc^e,xli. {Davies.)
plutocratic (plo-to-krat'ik), a. [< plutocrat +
-ic] Pertaining to or characteristic of a plu-
tocracy or a plutocrat: as, a,plutocraUc govern-
ment; plutocratic ideas.
plutoloeist (plij-tol'o-jist), «. i< plutolog-y +
-ist.'] One skilled in plutology, or the science
of wealth and its distribution.
As the plittoloffigts have explained, the means of happi-
ness are Immensely increased by that complex system of
mutual co-operation which has been gradually organized
among civilised men.
H. Sidgvnck, Methods of Ethics, p. 406.
plutology (pl§-tol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. ir^vrog, wealth,
+ -hryta, < Atyeiv, speak: see -ology.l The science
of wealth; the body of natural laws governing
the production and distribution of wealth; po-
litical economy.
Several authors have tried to introduce totally new names
[for political economy], such as ptwtology, cm-ematistics,
catallactics. Jemms, Fol. Econ. (2d ed.), Pref.
Plutonian (plij-to'ni-an), d. and n. [< L. Plvr-
tonms, < Gr. WMrr&vioc, of Pluto or the nether
world, < 'nioiiTav, Pluto : see Pluto.'] I. a. Of
or pertaining to Pluto ; Plutonic.
The night's Plvtanian shore. Poe, The Baven.
II. n. A Plutonist.
Plutonic (pie-ton'ik), a. [< L. Pluto(n-), < Gr.
HTMiiTuv, Pluto, + -ic] 1. Of or relating to
Pluto or the regions of fire; subterranean;
dark. — Z. Pertaining to or designating the sys-
tem of the Plutonists: as, the Plutonic theory.
— 3. In geol., formed deep below the surface.
Plutonic rocks are such igneous rocks as have been formed
under conditions of depth and pressure, and have cooled
slowly, so as to have acquired in general a distinctly crys
talline structure : the term Plutonic is opposed to vol
canic, the former designating rocks formed at some depth
beneath the surface, the latter rocks of igneous origin
but of superficial formation. As used by Lyell, the word
is nearly the equivalent of meta/morphic.
Oranite is thus a decidedly »2u<onic rock— that is, it has
consolidated at some depth beneath the surface, and in
this respect differs from the superficial volcanic rocks, such
as lava, which have flowed out above ground from vol-
canic orifices. A. Gteikie, Text-Book of Geology, II. ii. g 7
Plutonic tbeoiy, the geological theoiy that the present
aspect and condition of the earth's crust are mainly due
to igneous action.
Several modern writers, without denying the truth of
the PlutmUe or metamorphic theory, still contend that
the crystalline and non-fossiliferous formations, whether
stratified or unstratified, such as gneiss and granite, are
essentially ancient as a class of rocks.
jbyOl, Prln. of Geol. (llth ed.), 1. 129.
Plutonism (plo'to-nizm), n. [< Pluton4st +
-ism."] The doctrines of the Plutonists.
Plutonist (pl6'to-nist), TO. [< Plutonic + -ist.]
One who adopts' the Plutonic theory.
Plntus (plo'tus), TO. [L., < Gr. TDjAtoq, the god
of riches, a personification of nlovrog, riches,
wealth; prob. from the root of irUa^, fuU, L.
plus, more, etc. : see jpZw*.] In classical myth., a
personification of wealth, described as a son of
lasion and Demeter, and intimately associated
with Eirene or Peace, who is often represented
in art grouped with the infant Plutus. Zeus is
said to have blinded him, in order that he might not
bestow his favors exclusively on good men, but should
distribute his gifts without regard to merit.
pluvial (plij'vi-al), a. and to. [I. a. = V. pluvial
= Pr. Sp. Pg. pluvial = It. piuviale, < L. pluvia-
lis, of or pertaining to rain, <pluma, rain, <^)^
4572
»itts, rainy: seepZttwoas. TL.n.i'W. pluvial {Bp.
capa pluvial), imh.pluvialis, etc., a rain-cloak:
seel.] I. a. 1. R^/iny; humid; relating to rain;
also, very rainy; characterized by great or ex-
tensive rainfall.— 2. In geol., depending on or
arising from the action of rain.
The particular kind of denudation effected by means of
rain is called j)2u«{a2 denudation.
Hwdey, Physiography, p. ISl.
H, TO. Decles., a cope: so called from its use in
outdoor processions, etc., as a protection from
the weather.
PlUTiales (pl8-vi-a'lez), TO. pi. [NL., pi. of L.
plwmaUs, pertaining to rain : see pluvial.'] The
plovers and plover-like birds : synonymous with
CharadriomorphsB.
pluviaUform (plo-vi-al'i-f6rm), a. [< lih.plu-
vialiformis, < Plvmales, q. v., + L. forma, form.]
Plover-like ; pluvialine ; charadriomorphic.
Pluvialiformes (pie-vi-al-i-fdr'mez), n. pi.
[NL., pi. ot plu/oiaUformis : see pluviaUform.]
The sehizognathous water-birds, an extensive
series of wading and swimming birds more or
less related to the plovers, oorrespondiig to the
CharadriomorphsB and Ceeomarphse of Huxley,
or the orders Limicolx, Longipennes, and Pygo-
podes.
pluvialine (pl8'vi-a-lin), a. [< Phivial-es +
-i»ei.] In ornith., of or pertainingto a plover;
resembling or related to the plovers; charad-
riomorphic: siS, pluviaUne ohavaAteis; apluvia-
Une genus of birds.
pluviameter (pl6-vi-am'e-t6r), TO. Same as plu-
viometer.
pluvlametrical (plo'vi-a-mefri-kal), a. Same
Pluvianellus (pl6"vi-a-nerus), to. [NL. (Hom-
bron and Jacquinot))" dim. of Plimarms: see
Pluviawus.] A genus of small wading birds re-
Fluviometer. a, vertical section.
pluviometric (pl5'vi-o-met'rik), a. [< phm-
ometer + -ic] Made by means of a pluviom-
eter: as, i)?MW(w««Wc observations.
pluvlometrical {pl5"vi-o-met'ri-kal), a. [< plu-
viometric + -al.'] Same aa phwiometric.
pluTrtometrically (pl8"vi-o-met'ri-kal-i), adv.
In a pluviometric manner; by means of pluvi-
ometry; by the use of the pluviometer.
pluviometry (pl8-vi-om'et-ri), TO. [< L. pluvia,
rain, + Gr. -/lerpia, < fierpov, measure.] The
measurement of the amount of precipitation
of rain or snow ; the use of the pluviometer. '
pluvioscope (plS'vi-o-skop), to. [< L. pluvia,
rain, + Gr. OKOirelvj view.] A rain-gage; a
pluviometer.
The results are here tabulated of the pluviometric ob-
servations taken at Paris during the years 1860-70 with
the pluvioscope invented by the author [M. Herv^ Han-
gon]. Nature, XXXV. 479.
Pluviose (pl6'vi-6s), TO. [P . < L. pluviosus,
full of rain, < pluvia, rain.] The fifth month of
the French revolutionary calendar, from Janu-
ary 20th to February 18th inclusive in the year
1794.
pluvious (pl6'vi-us), a. [< ME. pltM}yous= P.
2)luvieux = Pr. ploios = Sp.pluvioso = Fg.plu-
vioso, chuvoso = It. piovoso, X L. pluvi/as, rainy,
causing or bringing rain, < pluere, rain, im-
It, it rains.] Rainy ; pluvial.
Pluvzanettus soctabihs.
lated to the turnstones and surf-birds, with a
hind toe and very short tarsus, containing one
species, P. socidbiUs, from the southern regions
of South America.
Fluvianus (pl8-vi-a'nus), TO. [NL. (Vieillot,
1816), < L. pluvia, rain : see plu/vial.] A genus
Crocodile-bird {PiuviaHus segyptius).
of plovers, belonging to the subfamily Cursori-
inse; the crocodile-birds, p. legypUus, the only spe-
cies, inhabits northern Africa, and is among the birds sup-
posed to be the trochilus of Herodotus (the Hoplopterua
spin^sus being another). See trochilus, and cut under jijmr-
wirmed. Also called Cursorius, Hyas, Awmuiptila, and
ChUodromus.
pluviogra^h (pl8'vi-o-gffaf), n. [< L. phmia,
rain, + (Jr. ypd^etv, write.] A self-recording
rain-gage.
In Beckley's plmAogrwph a pencil, attached to a vessel
which sinks as it receives the rain, aescribes a curve on a
sheet of paper fixed round a rotating cylinder.
miiyc. BrU., XX 267.
pluviometer (pl6-vi-om'e-t6r), TO. [M&o pluvi-
ameter; < L. pluvia, rain, + Gr. ft^rpov, mea-
sure.] An instrument foi? collecting and mea-
suring the quantity of water that f euIs in rain,
snow, etc., at a particular place ; a rain-gage.
See cut in next column.
pers.
In places over colde
And pluvyous, olyves is to doon.
PaMadiue, Husbondrie (E. E. T. &.), p. 151.
The fungus parcels about the wicks of candles . . .
onl^ signifleth a moist and pluvious air about them, hin-
dering the avolation of the light and f avillous particles.
Sir T, Browne, Vulg. Err., v. 24.
ply (P^)> *• ; pret. and pp. plied, ppr. plying. ['
ME. pVyen, plien, bend, mold (as wax), < Ot
pUer, plder, ploier, fold, bend, plait, ply, B
pUer, also ployer, fold, bend, etc., = Pr.
pleiar, plegar = Sp. plegar = Pg. pregar = It.
piegare, told, bend, < L. flicare (pp. pUcatus
anijjUdltus), fold, lay or wind togetiber, double
up, = Gr. n-Ae/ce«v,.twine, twist, weave, tie, infold,
etc. ; akin to L. plectere, weave, whence ult.
plait, etc. : see pUtit. From L. plicare are ult.
xl.ply, apply, comply, imply, reply, etc., aiaoploy,
deploy, employ, etc., display, splay, eto., plicate,
complicate, explicate, implicate, supplicate, etc.,
explicit, implicit, etc., complex, compUee, ac-
complice, etc., simple, duplex, double, triple, quad-
ruple, etc., multiple, etc., supple, etc., pliable,
pUant, etc. ; from the related L.^tecte»-e, weave,
are ult. E. plait, pleat, plat^, plight^, pleach,
plasJi^, plexus, complexion, perplex, etc.] I.
trans. If. To bend; mold; shape.
Womman of manye scoles half a clerk is ;
But certeynly a yonge thyng may men gye,
Kight as men may warm wex with handesji^e.
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 186.
2f. To draw; work.
Then all his letters will be such ecstasies, such vows
and promises, which you must answer short and simply,
yet still pjj/ out of them your advantages.
Drydm, Sir Martin Mar-all, i. 2.
3. To use or employ diligently; keep on using
with diligence and uersistence ; apply one's self
steadily to ; keep busy with; toil at.
Who shall bear your part, «
And be in Fadua here Vmbentio's son,
Keep house and ply his book, welcome his friends,
Visit his countrymen and banquet them?
Shak., T. of the S., i. 1. 201.
tord George Gordon the left wing guided,
Who well the sword could ply.
Batae of Alfard (Child's Ballads, VII. 239).
The bold swain, who plies his oar,
May lightly row his bark to shore.
Scott, Kokeby, ii. 31.
So lustily did Van Poflenburgh ply the bottle that in
less than four short hours he made himself and his whole
garrison, who all sedulously emulated the deeds of their
chieftain, dead drunk. Ining, Knickerbocker, p. 381.
ply
4. To practise or perform with diligence and
persistence; pnrsne steadily: as, to ply one's
trade.
Tben, laying aside those their holy garments, they p2t«
their worke till the eaening. Purchiu, KIgrimage, p. 145.
The needle plie» its busy task. Cowper, Task, iv. ISO.
"When first"— (he so hegan)— "my trade I plied,
Good master Addle was the parish-guide."
Crabbe, Works, L 129.
Gambling is not permitted on the gronnds at Epsom,
but there were many gamblers on the grounds, and they
sought every occasion to ply their vocation.
T. C. Crawford, English Life, p. 19.
5. To attack or assail briskly, repeatedly, or
persistently.
They so warmly ^ied our divided fleets that whilst in
conflict the merchants sall'd away, and got sale into Hol-
land. Evelyn, Diary, March 12, 1672.
The hero stands above, and fiom afar
PKet him with darts and stones, and distant war.
Dryden, .£neid, vlii.
Again he [Apollo] took
The harnessed steeds, that still with horror shook.
And plies 'em with a lash, and whips 'em on.
And, as he whips, upbraids them with his son.
Addimn, tr. at Ovid's Metamorph., it
6. To address with importauity or persistent
soUeitation; urge, or keep on urging or solicit-
ing, as for a favor.
Replies the duke at morning and at night
Shak., M. ol V., iiL 2. 279.
A conrtier would not ply it so for a place.
' B. Jonetm, Volpone, iii, 4,
I have been always plying you to walk and read.
Swift, Journal to Stella, xxziv.
Sunderland was plied at once with promises and men-
aces. Macamay, Hist. Eng., vL
7. To offer with persistency or frequency;
press upon for acceptance ; continue to present
or supply: as, to ply one with drink, or with
flattery.
It you perceive that the nntravelled company about you
take this down well, ply them with more such stuff.
Dekker, Gull's Hornbook, p. 113.
With cup full ever jiKoI,
And hearts full never dried.
Chapman, The Blind Beggar of Alexandria (song).
They adore him, Vhcyply him with flowers, and hymns,
and incense, and flattery. That^ceraiy.
8t. To apply; devote with persistency or per-
severance.
N e ever cast his mind to covet prayse.
Or ply himself e to any honest trade.
Spender, F. Q., in. vU. 12.
9t. To exert ; acquit.
But it is worthy of memorie to see how the women of
ye towne did plie themselues with their weapons, making
a great massacre vpon our men.
Wetbe, Travels (ed. Arber), p. 23.
n. in^ans. If. To bend: yield; incline.
The gold of hem hath now so badde alayes
With bras that, though the coyne be fair at ye.
It wolde rather breate atwo than plye.
Chaucer,' Cleik'a Tale, 1. 1113.
To plie this waie or that waie to good or to bad, ye shall
hane as ye vse a child in his youth.
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 46.
As like a lion he could pace with pride.
Ply like a plant, and like a river slide.
Sir J. Daviee, Dancing.
2. To keep at work or in action; busy one's
self; work steadily ; be employed.
All IVAnlnay's company irfied for their fortifying with
palisadoes, and the friars as busy as any.
Winihrap, Hist. New England, II. 162.
Ere half these authors be read (which will soon be with
plyirig hard and dailyX they cannot choose but be mas-
ters of any ordinary prose. Milton.
In vain their airy Pinions ply.
Congrece, Pindaric Odes, ii.
And around the bows and along the side
The heavy hammers and mallets plied.
iMngfelloui, Building of the Ship.
8. To proceed in haste ; sally forth.
Thither he i)2ie».
Undaunted to meet there whatever power
Or spirit of the nethermost abyss
Might in that noise reside. MUton, P. L., ii. 954.
Adrlaen Block . . . plied forth to explore the vicinity.
Banenift, Hist. V. S., n. 33.
4. To go back and forth or backward and for-
ward over the same course ; especially, to run
or sail regularly along the same course, or be-
tween two fixed places or ports ; make more or
less regular trips: as, the boats tha^t ply on the
Hudson; the steamers that ply between New
York and Fall Eiver; the stage plied between
Concord and Boston : said botb of the vessels
or vehicles that make the trips and of those who
sail or run them.
And then they ply from th' eaues vnto the ground.
With mud-mixt Beed to wall their mansion round.
Silvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Handy-Crafts.
4573
Caesar, causing all Ms Boats and Shallops to be fill'd
with Souldiers, commanded to ply up and down continu-
ally with relief where tiiey saw need. Milton, Hist. Eng., ii.
Busy housewives plied backwards and forwards along
the lines, helping everything forward by the nimbleness
of their tongues. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 129.
5. Naut., to beat; tack; work to windward:
as, to ply northward.
That day we plyed downe as f arre as our Ladle of Hol-
land, and there came to an anker.
Hakluyt's Voyages, L 310.
The Currents at Cape La Vela do seldom shift, therefore
Ships that ply to Wind-ward to get about it do not ply
near the shore, but stand off to Sea.
Dampier, Voyages, II. iii. 101.
She was flying dead into the east, and every minute her
keel passed over as many fathoms of sea as would take
her hours ot plying to recover.
W. C. RusseU, Death Ship, zlL
6. To offer one's services for trips or jobs, as
boatmen, hackmen, carriers, etc.
He was farced tojiy in the streets, as a porter, for his
livelihood. Spectator.
There is at Edinburgh a society or corporation of errand-
boys called Cawdies, who ]^y in the streets at night with
paper lanterns, and are very serviceable in canying mes-
SmoOelt, Humphrey Clinker (J. Melford to Sir Watkin
[Phillips).
[It] will be readily pointed out by any one of the flfty in-
telligent fly-drivers who ply upon the pier.
Barhcan, Ingoldsby Legends, n. 139.
ply(pK),m. \<.ply,v.'i 1. A fold; a thickness:
often used in composition to designate the
number of thicknesses or twists of which any-
thing is made: as, three-j)Zy thread; ^bxee-ply
carpets.
I found myself at last on the diver's platform, twenty
pounds of l^id upon each foot, and my whole person swol-
len with j)2y mijiy of woollen underclothing.
R. L. Stevenson, Education of an Engineer.
2. Bent; turn; direction; bias.
Custom ismostperfectwhen it beginnefh in young years;
. . . late learners cannot so well take up tUeply.
Bacon, Custom and Education (ed. 1SS7X
He bent all the subordinate branches of their govern-
ment to the ply of his own favourite passion.
Goldsmitk, Seven Years' War, v.
Under Elizabeth the growing taste for theatrical repre-
sentations had begun gradually to displace It [the baiting
of animals, and especially of bulls and bears], and to give
a new ply and tone to the manners of the rich.
Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., Iv.
He [Hamilton] accepted the constitution as It was, and
did h& best to give It the ply which he desired by practi-
cal interpretation. Nintiieervth CeMwry, XXTII. 105.
Flyctolophiiise, Flyctolophus. See PUctolo-
pkus, etc.
plyer, n. Seoplier.
plyghtH, ^- and V. A Middle English form of
£lighfi, plight^, etc.
yght^t, plyghtet.
the preterit and past participle otplueJc^.
|2t, plyghtet. Middle English forms of
Plymoutli Bretluren. See brother.
Plymoutll cloakt. A staff; a cudgel. [Slang.]
['That lE^ a cane, a staff; whereof this is the occasion.
Many a man of good extraction, coming home &om tar
voyages, may chance to land here, and, being out of sorts,
is imable for the present time and place to recruit him-
self with clothes. Here (it not friendly provided) they make
the next wood their draper's shop, where a staff cut out
serves them for a covering. For we use, when we walk in
cuerpo, to carry a staff In our hands, but none when in a
cloak. Ray, Proverbs (1742X p. 238.]
Reserving still the embleme of a souldier (his sword) and
a Plimmiih doake, otherwise called a battoone.
Lenten's Characterisml, Char. 30. (Ifares.)
Shall I walk in a Plymouth doak (that 's to say) like a
rogue, in my hose and doublet, and a crab-tree cudgel in
my hand? DeMcer, Honest Wbore, ii.
Flyjnouthism (plim'uth-izm), n. [< Plymouth
+ -ism.l The doctrines of the Plymouth Breth-
ren. See Plymouth Brethren, under brother.
Flymoathist (pUm'uth-ist), n. [< Plymouth
+ -isf] An adherent of PlymoutMsm; one of
the Plymouth Brethren; a Plymouthite.
There are therefore at least flve offlctal divisions or sects
of Plymauthists. Encye. Brit., XIX. 239.
Plymouthite (plim'uth-It), n. [< Plymouth +
-ite^.2 One of the Plymouth Brethren.
Plymouth Kock. A large and serviceable va-
riety of the domestic hen, of American origin.
Both cock and hen have the plumage flnely and evenly
barred transversely throughout with blue-black on a
ground of pearl-gray. The legs and beak are clear-yel-
low, and the tail is very small. The normal variety has
an upright comb; but there are also pea-combed Ply-
mouttt Socks. White Plymouth Kocks have been Intro-
duced recently.
plytti plytet, «. Middle English forms otplightK
P. M. An abbreviation: (a) of post meridiem,
'after noon or midday' (also P. M., p. m.) : fre-
quently used as synonymous with afternoon or
evening; (6) ot postmaster; (c) ot peculiar meter.
pneumatic
pm. In dental formulee, an abbreviation of
premolar.
pneodynamics (ne'o-di-nam'iks), n. [Irreg. <
Gr. irmw, breathe, +' Siiva/uc, power : see dynam-
ics.'] The science of the mechanics of respira-
tion.
pneogaster (ne-o-gas't6r), n. [Irreg. < Gr. Trvdv,
breatlie, + yaarqp, the stomach.] The respi-
ratory tract ; the respiratory or branchial intes-
tine considered as a part of the general intes-
tinal system, being developed from the embryo
in connection therewith. It consists of air-pas-
sages in the widest sense, as lungs, windpipes,
etc., or their equivalents.
pneogastric (ne-o-gas'trik), a. [< pneogaster
+ -jc] Of or pertaining to the pneogaster.
pneograph (ne'o-graf), n. [Irreg. < Gr. tzvuv,
breathe, + yp&^iiv, write.] An instrument in-
vented by Dr. Mortimer Granville for testing
and indicating the duration, force, and con-
tinuity of expiration in diverse conditions of
the lungs, it consists of a delicately suspended and
counterpoised semi-disk of talc, which is moved by the
breath when held in front of the mouth. The disk car-
ries a needle, which makes a tracing on smoked paper
caused to move uniformly in relation with the needle.
The tracings indicate by their undulations the character
of the expiratory movement, from which the condition of
the lungs may be inferred.
pneometer (nf-om'e-tfer), n. [Irreg. < Gr. imelv,
breathe, + /iirpov, measure.] A spirometer.
pneometry (nf-om'et-ri), n. [Irreg. < Gr. wveiv,
breathe, + /lerpia, < /lirpov, measure.] Measure-
ment of inspired or expired air.
pneoscope (ne'o-skop), n. [Irreg. < Gr. jrvelv,
breathe, + aaowelv, view.] An instroment for
measuring the extent of movement of the tho-
rax.
pneuma (nu'ma.), n. [NL., < Gr. micv/ia, breath,
< TTvetv, blow, treathe. Ct. neume, neuma.] 1.
Breath; spirit; soul. — 3. A breathing, inearly
church Tnusus : (a) A form of ligature at the end of certain
plaiu-chant melodies, resembling the perielesis, but differ-
ing ^m it in being sung to an unmeaning syllable having
no connection with the text. Its use can be traced with
certainty to the fourth century, and it is still employed in
the services of the Soman Catholic Church, especially at
high mass, (b) Same as newme, 2.
pneumarthrosis (nu-mar-thro'sis), n. [NL.,
< Gr. irvev/ia,a,ir, + apBpaai^, a jointing: see
arthrosis.] The presence of air in the cavity of
a joint.
pneumathorax (nH-ma-tho'raks), n. An er-
roneous form otpneurnothorax.
pneiunatic (nu-mat'ik), a. and n. [= P, pneu-
maHgue = Bp. pneumdtico = Pg. It. pnewmatico,
< L. pneumaticus, < Gr. miev/iartKds, relating to
wind or air, < Tcvev/ia, wind, air, breath, spirit,
< m>«j;, blow, breathe.] I. a. 1. Of orpertain-
ing_ to air, or gases in general, or their prop-
erties; also, employing (compressed) air or
other gas as a motive power; as, pneumatic
experiments; a pneumatic engine. PneumaUe^
notes munerous instruments, machines, apparatus, etc.,
for experimenting on elastic fluids, or for working by-
means of the compression or exhaustion of air.
2. Consisting of or resembling air; having the
properties of an elastic fluid ; gaseous.
The pneumaiic substance being in some bodies the na-
tive spirit of the body. Baton.
3. Moved or played by means of air: as, a
pneumatic instrument of music. — 4. In zool. :
(a) Filled with air; fitted to receive or contain,
air; pneumatized, as the air-cells or the bones
of birds. (6) Of or pertaining to the respiratory
system of any animal. — Pneumatic action, in or-
ganrhmlding, an action in which the keys, stop-knobs, or
pedals merely make connections whereby tba desired
motions may be pneumatically effected. The pneumatic
principle involved is either that of a small bellows which
is inflated or emptied by the key or coupler, or that ot a
tube with pistons or valves at the ends which work sym-
pathetically.—Pneumatic bellows^ coupler, etc See
pneumaJHe acHvm, above.— Fneumanc cabinet, in med.,
an air-tight cabinet in which a patient is placed, so that
the atmospheric pressure on the surface ot the body may
be increased or diminished. — Pneumatic Caisson. See
caisson, 3 (c).— Pneumatic car, dock, conductor, drilL
See the nouns. — nieumatic despatcn, the transmission
ot articles from one point to anoth er by air-pressure through
a tube specially prepared for the purpose. Psactlcally
this is limited to the sending ot small articles, as letters,
telegraphic despatehes, etc., for short distances^ as be-
tween diflerent stations in a large city. They are Inclosed
in a suitable box, which is propelled by compressed air
through a tube from 2 to 3 inches in diameter ; the return
takes place by the atmospheric pressure, the air In the
tube being e£hansted at the first station.— Fneumatic-
despatch tube, a tube traversed by a car or carrier which
receives and dehvers letters or parcels at stations along a
route. Motion is caused by pressure of air, which Is either
forced into the tube from behind the car or exhausted in
front of it, or both simultaneously. Special devices have
been contrived for perfecting the construction of the
cars and tor arresting them at the points desired. The
Brisbane carrier is a hollow ball which rolls along the
interior ot the pneumatic tube.— Fnemnatic cUffer-
pneninatic
entiation, in Tned., the causing a patient to breathe air of
a different tension from that wliich surrounds his body.—
Pneumatic duct, in cmnp. anat. See dttctui pneumatieus,
under (JmcJimi.— Pneumatic elevator, excavator, gun,
etc. See the nouns.— Pneumatic jig, in mining, an air-
Jig ; a jig in which the separation is etlected by blasts of air
instead of an intermittent current of water. — Pneumatic
organ. See orparji.- Pneumatic parado:^ that pecu-
liar exhibition of atmospheric pressure which retains a
valve on its seat under a pressure of gas, allowing only
a fllm of gas to escape.- Rieumatic pen. See pen^.—
Pneumatic pMlosopbyt,the science of metaphysics or
psychology; pneumatology.— Pneumatic pbysicians,
a school of physicians, at the head of which was Athe-
nifius, who made health and disease to consist in the dif-
ferent proportions of a fancied spiritual principle, called
pneuma, &om those of the other elementary principles. —
Pneumatic pile, (a) A tube open at the lower or pene-
trating end, and closed from the air at the top, but com-
municating with a receiver from which air is exhausted.
The pressure of the air acts to force the pile downward,
and at the same time the silt within it is pressed upward
and discharged into the receiver. (6) A caisson within
which compressed ah excludes the water, permitting ne-
cessary operations to be carried on inside it— Pneumatic
spring, tube, etc. See the nouns.— Pneumatic trougb,
a form of trough used by the physicist or chemist in ex-
periments with gases. By its use the gas can be collected
in a bell-jar or other receptacle over a surface of water or
mercury.
II. n. 1. In organ-iuilding, one ot the vaevn-
bers of a pneumatic action, whether a bellows
or a tube. See pneumatic action, above. — 2.
Same as pneumatology, 2, where see quotation.
pneumatical (nu-mat'i-kal), a. and n. l<.pneu-
matic + -al.'] 1. a. Sanie as
This body then accompanying the soul he calls pneu-
nmUcal, that is (not spiritual in the Scripture sense, but)
spirituous, vaporous, or airy.
Cudwortfi, Intellectual System, p. 785.
Il.t n. A vaporous substance ; a gas. Bacon.
pneumatically (nu-mat'i-kal-i), adv. By means
of pneumatic force or of some pneumatic con-
trivance : as, pneumatically sunk caissons.
pneumaticity (nii-ma-tis'i-ti), n. [< pneumat-
ic + -ity.'] The state of being pneumatic, or
hollow and filled with air; capacity of being
inflated with air; inflation by air: applied to
air-passages of animals, the hollow bones of
birds, etc.
pneumatics (nu-mat'iks), «. [PI. of pneumatic :
see -ics.'] 1. That branch of physics which,
treats of the mechanical properties of gases, and
particularly of atmospheric aii'. Pneumatics treats
of the weight, pressure, equilibrium, elasticity, density,
condensation, rarefaction, resistance, motion, etc., of
gases ; it treats of them also considered as media of sound
(acoustics), and as vehicles of heat, moisture, etc. It also
comprises the description of those machines which depend
for their action chiefly on the pressure and elasticity of air,
as the various kinds of pumps, artificial fountains, etc.
2t. The doctrine of spiritual substances ; pneu-
matology.
pneumatize (nii'ma-tiz), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
pneumatieed, Ypi.pneumatising. [Kpneumatlic)
+ -ize.] To fill with air; render pneumatic, as
bones. Coues, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 135.
pneumatocyst (nii'ma-to-sist), n. [< Gr. ■Trveii-
fia{T-), air, -I- /ciiiTTif," bladder: see cyst.'] 1.
The air-sac, float, or pneumatophore of an oce-
anic hydrozoan or siphonophorous hydromedu-
san; one of the several appendages of the stem
of these organisms, serving to buoy them in
the water. See cuts under Athorybia and Sy-
drozoa. When pneumatocysts are wanting, they may
be replaced by a general inflation of the stem, called then
a somatacysl.
2. In ornith., an air-sac or air-space; one of
the cavities in a bird's body filled with air.
Coues.
pneumatocystic (nu"ma-t6-sis'tik), a. l<pneu-
matocyst + -ic] Of or having the character of
a pneumatocyst, in any sense.
pneumatogram (nu'ma-to-gram), n. [< Gr.
irvev/iair-), breath, + ypafiiM, a writing: see
graTO^.] A tracing of respiratory movements.
pneumatographic (nu"ma-to-graf'ik), a. [<
pneumatograph-y + ic] Of or pertaining to
pnenmatography: as, a pneumatographic eom-
mxmication; a, pneumatographic meAbim.
pneumatograpny (nii-ma-tog'ra-fi), n. [< Gr.
TTvev/xalT-), wind (in def . 1, a spirit), + -ypa^ia, <
7pi^Etv, write.] 1. So-called spirit-writing, inde-
pendent of the hand of a medium or other mate-
rial instrument. Also called independent writ-
ing and direct writing. — 3. The observing and
descriptive stage of pneumatology (sense 3).
0. T. Mason, Smithsonian Report, 1881, p. 500.
pneumatological (nii"ma-t6-lo3'i-kal), a. [<
pneumatolog-y + -ic-al} Pertaining to pneu-
matology.
pneumatologist (n1i-ma-toro-jist), n. [< pneu-
matolog-y + -ist.'] One versed in pneumatology.
pneumatology (nu-ma-tol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. -JTvev-
im{T-), air, -I- -h>yia,< Aeyeiv, speak: see -ology.]
4574
If. The doctrine of or a treatise on the prop-
erties of elastic fluids; pneumatics. — 2. The
branch of philosophy which treats of the nature
and operations of mind or spirit, or a treatise
on it.
The terms Psychology and Pneumatology, or Pneumatic,
are not equivalent. The latter word was used for the doc-
trine of spirit in general, which was subdivided into three
branches, as it treated of the three orders of spiritual sub-
stances—God, Angels and Devils, and Man.
Sir W. Hamilton, Metaphysics, vi., foot-note.
3. The study of the beliefs, practices, and or-
ganizations of men with reference to a supposed
world of spirits ; spiritual philosophy.
Various terms have been suggested, as comparative
mythology, spiritology, pneumaiology, daimonology, &c,
0. T. Mason, Smithsonian Report, 1881, p. 600.
4. In fheol., the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
The fmeumatcHogy ai Ephesians resembles that of John,
as the christology ol Colossians resembles the christology
of John. Schaf, Hist. Clttist. Church, I. § 96.
Fneumatomachian (nu'''ma-to-ma'ki-an), n.
and a. [< Gr. ■Kvevfiarofiaxoi, hostile to the
Holy Spirit, < m>Ev/ia(T-), spirit, + iiaxeadai,
quarrel.] I. n. AJi adversary of the Holy
Ghost; one who denies the existence, person-
ality, or godhead of the Holy Spirit; specifi-
cally, one of a sect or party, or group or suc-
cession of parties and sects, in the fourth cen-
tury holding such doctrines. The Pneumatoma-
chians in general taught that the Holy Ghost is a creature,
a ministering spirit. Some combined this view with the
Arian view that God the Son is a creature, and a few
taught the extreme doctrine that the Spirit is the crea-
ture of a creature (the Son). Most of them, however, ac-
cepted the Homoiousian doctrine of the person of the Son,
and these were known as Macedonians or Maratfwnians,
and also as Semi-Arians — the Semi-Arians having as a
whole adopted these views. The views of the Pneuma-
tomachians were developed out of Arianism, after the
Nicene Council (A. D. 326), and flrst showed themselves
distinctly al^out 358. The heresy declined rapidly after
the Constantinopolitan Council of 381.
II. a. Pertaining to the Pneumatomachians.
pneumatometer (Ku-ma-tom'e-ter), n. [< Gr.
TTvev/ia^T-), air, breath," + fiirpov, measure.]
An instrument for measuring the quantity of
air inhaled into the lungs at a single inspira-
tion and given out at a single expiration; a
pulmometer; a spirometer. Also called jj«e«-
mometer, pnewmonometer.
pneumatometry (nti-ma-tom'et-ri), «. [As
pneumatometer + -!^3.] "The measurement of
the air inspired or expired, as with a pneuma-
tometer.
pneumatophonlc (nu"ma-to-fon'ik), a. [<
pneumatophon-y + -ic] Of' or pertaining to
pneumatophony. [Rare.]
pneumatopbony (nu'ma-to-fo-ni), n. [< Gr.
■nVEv/jtalr-), spirit, + ^ui^, voice.] So-called spirit-
speaking; the supposed production of articu-
late sounds, resembling the human voice or
speech, and conveying intelligence, by disem-
bodied spirits. [Rare.]
pneumatophore (nii'ma-to-for), n. [< Gr. TTVEv-
fia(T-), air, + -ip6poQ, < (^kpeiv = E. iear'i. Cf . LGr.
wvEv/iardijiopo;, borne by the wind, also inspired.]
A pneumatocyst, or a structure which supports
such a float ; especially, the proximal dilatation
of the coenosarc or hydrosome of the Physo-
phoridse. See outs under Athorybia and Hy-
drozoa.
pneumatophorous (nu-ma-tofo-ms), a. [<
pneumatophore + -ous."} In zooL, bearing a
pneumatocyst ; pertaining to a pneumatophore,
or having its character.
pneumatosic (nii-ma-to'sik), a. [< pneumato-
sis + -Jc] Affected with pneumatosis.
pneumatosis (nii-ma-to'sis), n. [NL., < Gr.
■Kvevfiaroai^, a blowing up, inflation, < irvev/^a-
Tovv, blow up, fill with wind, < 7rvev/ia{T-), wind :
see pneumatic.'] A morbid accumulation of gas
in any part of the body. See emphysema.
pneumatothorax (nii"ma-to-th6'raks),». Same
&s pneumothorax.
pneumectomy (nu-mek'to-mi), n. [For *pneu-
monectomy, < Gr. nveii/iav', lung, -I- eKTO/ir), exci-
sion.] Excision of a portion of a lung.
pneumo-. In the following compounds of Greek
irveii/jiav, lung, pneumo- is short for the proper
form pneumono-.
pneumoactinomycosis(nTi-mo-ak"ti-no-mi-k6'-
sis), n. [NL., < Gr. vvevfumi, lung, -I- KL. acti-
nomycosis.'] Actinomycosis of the lung.
Pneumobranchia (nu-mo-brang'ki-a), B. pi.
[NL., < Gr. irvei/mv, lung, -I- Ppayxia, gills.]
In Gray's classification (1840), same as Pneu-
mobranchiata, 3.
Fneumobrancbiata (nu-mo-brang-ki-a'ta), n.
pi. [NL., < Gr. Twevfiav, lung, + NL. bran-
ehiata.] 1. An order of gastropods, including
pneumological
those which breathe air in a closed chamber
lined with pulmonic vessels : applied by J. E.
Gray to the typical pulmonates or pulmonif ers,
and including most of the inoperculate land-
shells as well as the fresh-water forms related
to them.— 2. In Lamarck's classification (1819),
a section of gastropods, containing his family
Limacea. — 3. In Gray's classification (1821), a
subclass of Gasteropodophora, comprising all
terrestrial gastropods, and divided into Inoper-
culata and Operculata.
pneumocace (nii-mok'a-se), n. [< Gr. m/ei/ujii,
lung, -H KUK^, badness, i Kaicdg, bad.] Gangrene
of the lungs.
pneumocarcinoma (nii-mo-kar-si-no'ma), n.
[NL.,< Gr. nvEvfuM, lung, + L. carcinoma.] Car-
cinoma of the lungs.
pneumocele (nn'mo-sel), n. Same aspneumovo-
eele.
pneumoconiosis (nu-mo-ko-ni-o'sis), ft. Same
as pneumonoconiosis. Also pneumokoniosis.
pneumoderm (nu'mp-dferm), «. [< Gr. ttvcv/um,
lung, + Sipfia, skin.] A gymnosomatous ptero-
pod of the family Pnewmodermidse.
pneumoderma^ (nn-mo-der'ma), n.
nT£W|Ua, ail', + (JejO/uo, skin.] Sub-
cutaneous emphysema.
Fneumoderma^ (nu-mo-d6r'-
ma), n. [NL. (P6ron and Le-
sueur, 1810), < Gr. irvevfiuv, lung,
-I- dep/ia, skin.] A genus of gym-
nosomatous pteropods, typical
of the Pneumodermonidse, in
which processes of the integu-
ment perform the function of
gills.. Also called Pneumoder-
mis, Pneiimodermon, Pneumoder-
mum, Pneumonodermum.
Pneumodermatidae (nil " mo -
d6r-mat'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Pnewmoderma{t-)
+ -ddse.] Same as Pneumodermidx.
Pneumodermldse (nii-mo-d6r'mi-de), n. pi,
[NL., < Pneumoderma^ +'-idsB.] A family of
gymnosomatous pterojjods, typified by the ge-
nus Pneumoderma, having the head and mouth
tentaculate. They have a specialized branchial appa-
ratus consisting of at least a lateral gill on one (right) side
and generally a posterior gill, suckers on the ventral aide
of the protrusible anterior part of the buccal cavity, and
a jaw. Twelve or more species, of three genera, are
known. Also called Pneumadermtttidm, Pneumodermoni-
dee, Pneumionodermatidee.
PneumodermiS (nii-mo-der'mis), n. [NL.]
Same as Pneumoderma^'. Oken.
Pneumodermon (nft-mo-dfer'mon), n. [NL.
(Lamarck, 1819): see Pniumoderma^.] Same as
Pneumoderma^.
Pneumodermonidse (nu'''mo-der-mon'i-de), K.
pi. [NL., < Pneumodermon + -idee.] Same as
Pneumodermidse.
pneumoenteritis (nii-mo-en-te-ri'tis), n. [NL.,
< Gr. miEv/icyv, lung, -I- Wepov, intestine, -I- -itis.]
Hog-cholera; swine-plague. See cholera.
pneumogastric (nii-mo-gas'trik), a. and n. [<
Gr. in/EV/iuv, lung, + 'yaarr/p, stomach.] I. a.
Pertaining to the lungs and the stomach, or to
the functions of respiration and digestion : spe-
cifically, in anatomy, noting several nervous
structures. — Pneumogastric ganglion. Seeganglim.
—Pneumogastric lobule. Same asfloeeulm, 2.— Pneu-
mogastric plexus. See gastric plexm(wadLeri>lexm),aMA
Pneumoderma
•violaceum.
II. n. The pneumogastric nerve. See vagvs.
pneumogram (nii'mo-gram), n. [< Gt. micviiuv,
lung, -t- ypd/ipa, a writing : see gram^.] The tra-
cing yielded by the pneumograph.
pneumograpb (nu'mo-graf ), n. [< Gr. ■Kveii/juv,
lung, + ypcujiEiv, write.] In paihol., same as
stethograph.
pneumograpbic (nu-mo-graf'ik), a. [< pneur
mograph-y + -ic] De.seriptive of the lungs and
air-passages, or the organs of respiration.
pneumograpby (nu-mog'rg,-fl), n. [< Gr. mieii-
pav, lung, + -ypafm, < yp6(j>eiv, write.] 1. De-
scriptive pneumology ; a treatise on or descrip-
tion of the lungs and air-passages, or organs of
respiration. — 2. The recording of the move-
ments of respiration.
pneumobemotborax (nii-mo-hem-o-tho'raks),
n. [NL.,< (jrr. irvevpa, air, + al'/m, blood, + S6pa^,
chest.] The presence of gas and blood or bloody
serum in the pleural cavity.
pneumobydrotborax (nii-mo-hi-dro-tho'raks),
n. [NL., < Gr. Trvevua, air, -1- vSup (i'tfp-), water,
+ d&pa^, chest-.] The presence of gas and se-
rous liquid in the pleural cavity.
pneumological (nu-mo-loj'i-kal), a. [< pneit-
molog-^ -I- -ic-al.] Of or pertaining to pneumol-
ogy-
pneomology
pnenmology (nu-mol'o-ji), h. [< Gr. Trvev/uM,
lung, + -?x)yia,<.^^iv, spe&k: see -ology.'i The
sum of scientific knowledge concerning the
lungs and air-passages, or the organs and pro-
cesses of respiration.
pneumometer (nn-mom'e-t6r), n. Same as
pneumatometer.
piieuillOIIietry(nn-moin'et-ri),n. Same asjpnett-
matometry.
pnevunom^COSis (un'mo-nu-ko'sis), ». [NL.,
< Gr. TTvevfUjv, lung, +.'iiviaig, fungfus, + -osts.]
The presence of fungi in the lungs. Also jmeu-
monomycosis.
pnenmonalgla (nu-mo-nal'ji-a), ». [NL., <
Gr. iruevfujv, Iwa^, + aXyoc, pain'.] Pain in the
lungs.
pneumonatelectasis (nu-mo-nat-e-lek'ta-sis),
«. [NL.,< Gr. nvevfujv, lung,'+ NL. atelectasis.']
Atelectasis of the lungs.
pneumonedema (nu'mo-nf-de'ma), n. [< Gr.
■uvevpuM, lung, + ol&i/im, swelling".] Edema of
the lungs ; pulmonary edema.
pneumoilia (nu-mo'ni-^), n. [= F. pneumonie
= Sp. Pg. ptieumonia, < NL. pneumonia, < Gr.
irvev/umia, Attic also nXevuovia, a disease of the
lungs, < Tvvcv/iuv, Attic also ir^/iav, = li.pul-
mo(n-), a lung, < irveiv, breathe: see pneumat-
ic. Cf. pulmonary.] Inflammation of the tis-
sues of the lung, as distinct from inflammation
of the bronchial tubes (bronchitis) and from
inflammation of the serous covering of the
lungs (pleuritis). Also called pneumonitis. —
BUlonQ pneumonia, croupons pneamonia with icteras.
— Cataxrbal pneumonia, pneumoaia in which the ex-
ndate contains mncin and pu^ but does not coa€:ulate.
Also called bronchopnewmonia and lobular pneumonia. —
Central pneumonia, pneumonia of the central part of
a lung.— Cheesy pnenmonla, bronchopneumonia with
consolidation of more or less extensive areas of lung-tis-
sue, with degeneration resulting in the formation of cheese-
like masses of debris. Such cases are usually if not always
tuberculous, and are usually designated as phthisis. —
Chronic interstitial loholax pneamonia, a chronic
pneumonia with excessive increase of the interstitial con-
nective tissue. Such cases are often tuberculous in origin,
and are sometimes called flbroid phthisis. — Croupous
pnenmonlsu pneumonia in which the exudate coagu-
wae» from the contained fibrin. Also called jibriivms
pneuvwynia, or, from its distribution to one or more lobes in
t^eir entirety, l(^r pneurnonia. — ^DeSQUamatiye pneu-
monia, catarrhal pnenmonla in which the alveolar epi-
thelium is shed in considerable quantity.^ Intermitt^t
pneumonia, croupous pneumonia with frequent marlied
remissions of pyrexia, not pertaining to malarial poison-
ing.— Lohular pneumonia, a pneumonia which in its
distribution affects iAie areas belonging to small bronchi
scattered here and there, as distinct from lobar pneumonia,
in which entire lobes are affected. Also called catarrhal
pneumonia from the character of the exudate, and brotv-
ehopneumonia because it invades the lung-tissue from the
brouclii, which are primarily affected. — Pneumonia mi-
grans, a cronpous pneumonia which invades progres-
sively from day to day adjacent parts of the lungs. — ^-
phoid pneumonia, croupous pneumonia with exception-
ally severe general effects, exhibited in great prostration,
deiirinm, (^ tongue, enlarged spleen, often slight icterus,
and albuminuiia.
pneomonic (nu-mon'ik), a. and n. [< Gr. ttvct-
■ /loviKoc, pertaining to the Inngs, < TrvEVftav, lung :
see pneumonia. Cf. pulmonic.] I. a. 1. Per-
taining to the lungs; pulmonary. — 2. Pertain-
ing to pneumonia; affected with pneumonia;
piilmonitic : as, pneumonic patients.
IL n. Aremedyusedindiseases of the lungs.
pneumonitic (nu-mo-nit'lk), a. [< pneumonitis
+ -«!.] Pertaining to or of the nature of pneu-
monitis.
pneumonitis (nii-mo-ni'tis), n. [NL., < Gr.
mev/uiv, lung, + .iiis.] InBammation of the
lungs; pneumonia.
pnenmonocarcinoma (nH'mo-no-kar-si-no ' -
ma), 71. [< Gr. Kvev/iav, lung, 4- Nli. carcinoma,
carcinoma.] Carcinoma of the lungs.
pneninonocele (nu'mo-no-sel), n. [< Gr. TTvet-
/ujv, lung, + ici/hj, tumor.] Hernia of the lung,
as through an opening in the diaphragm.
Pnenmonochlamyda (nii*mo-n6-klam'i-da), re.
pi. [NL., < Gr. irvev/mv, lung,.-f- x^jj-vq (x^k'""-)}
a cloak, mantle.] A suborder of Gasteropoda,
having the paUial chamber converted into a
lung-sac, but no gills, as in the families Cyclo-
stomidee, Selicinidse, AcietUidse, etc.
pneumonochlamydate(nu''mo-no-klam'i-dat),
a. [< Pneumonochlamyda + -afei.] Belonging
to the Pneumonochlamyda.
pneumonocirrhosis (nii*mo-n6-si-r6'sis), n.
[NL., < Gr. ■nvevfiav, lung,'+ "Nli. cirrhosis.]
Cirrhosis of the lungs.
pnenmonoconiosis (nii''mo-n9-k6-ni-6'sis), re.
[NL., < Gr. TTvevfiov, lung, + kwic, dust, + -osis.]
Inflammatory disease of the lungs due to inhala-
tion of irritating particles.
Pnennionodemia(nii'mo-no-der'ma),re. [NL.]
Same as Pneumodemufi.
4575
pnenmonodynia (nn'mo-no-din'i-a), n. [NL.,
< Gr. TTveifiuv, lung, -I- bdimj, pain.] Pain in
the lungs.
pnenmonomelanosis (nu'mo-no-mel-a-no'sis),
n. [NL., < Gr. Trvevfiav, lung, + NL. nielanosis.]
Pulmonary melanosis, or anthracosis.
pnenmonometer (nii-mo-nom'e-ter), n. [< Gr.
■irvsvfun), lung, + /ih-pop, measure.] Same as
pneumatometer.
pnenmonophtllisis (nu'mo-nof-thi'sis), n.
[NL., < Gr. ■irvev/iuv, lung, 4- <pdiai<:, consump-
tion.] Pulmonary phthisis.
pneomonorrhagia (nii'mo-no-ra' ji-a), «. [NL. ,
< Gr. TTvevftuv, lung, + -payld, < prryvuvai, break,
burst.] Same as pneumorrhagia.
Meumony (nii'mo-ni), n. Same as pneumonia.
Pneiunootoka (nu-mo-ot'o-ka), re. pi. Same as
Pneumotoca.
pnenmootokous (nil-mo-ot'o-kus), a. Same as
pneumotocous.
pneumopericarditis (nu-mo-per'i-kar-di'tis),
re. [NIj.,<.pneumo{pericardium) + pericarditis.]
Pneumopericardium with pericarditis.
pneumopericardiuin (nu-mo-per-i-kar'di-um),
re. [NL., < Gr. jrvev/xa, air, + Tzcpiicdpdtmi, peri-
cardium: see pericardium.] The presence of
gas in the pericardial cavity.
pnenmophthisis (nu-mof-thi'sis), re. [NL., <
Gr. imni/uM, lung, -t- ^'un^, consumption: see
phfliisis.] Pulmonary phthisis.
pnenmopleuiitis (nii'mo-plo-ri'tis), re. [NL.,
< Gr. Trvfu/ujv, lung, + irTievpiTi^, pleuritis: see
pleuritis.] Inflammation of the lungs and the
pleura; pleuropneumonia.
pnemnopyothorax (nii-mo-pi-o-tho'raks), «.
[NL., < Gr. mievfia, air, + irvov, pus, + 6i>pa^, the
chest: see thorax.] The presence of gas and
pus in the pleural cavity. Also called pyo-
pneumothorax.
pneumorrhagia (nu-mo-ra'ji-a), re. [NL., < Gr.
irvevfujv, lung, + -payia, < ptfyvvvai, break.] Pul-
monary hemorrhage.— Difiuse pneumorrhagia, an
escape of blood into the substance of the Imig, with lacerap
tion. &\BocsiMeApul7ruynary apoplexy.
pneumoskeletal (nu-mo-skel'e-tal), a. [(.pneu-
moskelet-on -I- -al.] Of or pertaining to the
pneumoskeleton.
pneumoskeleton (nu-mo-skel'e-ton), re. [<
Gr. iTvevuuv, lung, + aneierdv, a dry body: see
skeleton.] An exoskeleton or hard tegumentary
structure developed in connection with a re-
spiratory or pulmonary organ . Thus, the shell of a
mollusk, being developed from the pallium or mantle,
which has a respiratory function, constitutes a pneumo-
skeleton. H. A. Nicltolsan.
pneumotborax (uu-mo-tho'raks), n. [NL., <
Gr. TTvev/m, air, -f Oapa^, the chest: see thorax.]
The presence of air in the pleural cavity. Also
])neumatothorax,
Pneumotoca (nu-mot'o-ka), re. pi. [NL. : see
pneumotocotts.] ' A division of Vertebrata, in-
cluding air-breathing oviparous vertebrates, as
birds and reptiles. Owen.
pneumotocous (nu-mot'o-kus), a. [< Gr. nvev-
uuv, lung, -I- ^ordiioQ, egg-laying : see ootocous.]
Breathing air and laying eggs, as a vertebrate ;
belonging to the Pneumotoca.
pneumotomy (nn-mot'o-mi), re. [< Gr. irvev/iav,
lung, -I- To/tr/, a cut, < Te/ivetv, rafielv, cut.] In
surg., incision into the lung, as for the evacua-
tion of an abscess.
pnenpome (nti'pom), n. [For *pneumonopome,
< Gr. ■wveifu.nf, lung, + iza/ia, lid.] An opercu-
late pulmonate gastropod.
pnigalion (ni-ga'U-on), n. [< Gr. irviydUuv,
the nightmare, cf . Jrvif, suffocation, < irvlyeiv,
choke.] In med., an incubus ; a nightmare.
Pnoepyga (no-e-pi'ga), n. [NL. (Hodgson,
1844), < Gr. immi, breath, + T^vyy, the rump.] A
genus of birds of wren-like character, having
booted tarsi, and very short tail-feathers hidden
by their coverts, commonly referred to the f am-
Flowering Plant of Ken-
tucky blue-grass (Ptia pra.
tenstsi. a, a spikelet ; 6.
the empty glumes; r, flow-
ering glume, palet, and
perfect flower.
Ptuifyga albtventer.
poach
ily Troglodytidse. There aie several species, all Asi-
atic, as P. squamata (or albiventer), P. pusula, and P. eav-
data. The genus had before been called Tesia by Hodg-
son, from the Nepalese name of some bird of tliis kind.
The latest authority refers the genns to the TimeUidx.
R. B. Sharpe, Cat Birds Brit JIus., VL SOL
Pnyx (niks), H. [Gr. ttvv^ (gen. fft/itvof), a place
of assembly(seedef.),< ttvkvo^, crowded, dose.]
A public place of assembly in ancient Athens,
where the people met for the discussion of
political affairs of the state ; also, a popular as-
sembly convened in this place.
pot, re. A Middle English form of pea^.
t. 0. -An abbreviation: (a) of post-office; (6)
{naut.) ot petty officer.
Poa (po'a), re. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1737), < Gr. v6a,
dial, iroia, ttoiti, grass, esp. as fodder, an herb or
plant.] A genus of grasses of tlie tribe Festucese
and subtribe Eufestucese, characterized by the
commonly two- to six-flowered spikelets in a lax
panicle, the smooth grain
free from the palets, and the
keeled and obtuse awnless
flowering glume with five
nerves converging at the
apex. There are 100, or according
to some over 200, species, widely
dispersed, few in the tropics, most
abundant in north temperate re-
gions. They are known in general
as meadow-grass or spear-grass.
Some are low annuals, as P. an-
nua, the low spear-grass, abun-
dant by American roadsides and
paths in parks, and blooming in
the south from midwinteronward.
The other American species are
perennials, with tufted stems, of-
ten tall, and soft leaves, flat or less
often convolute. The genns con-
tains several valuable hay- and
pasture-gi'asses, of which the most
important is P. pratensis, the
Kentucky blue-grass, June-grass,
etc. (See blue-grass and m^douj-
grass.) P. amabUis is cultivated
under the uamefoiK-pmw, P. trivi-
alis as bird-grass, etc., and P. cses-
pttosa as AuMralian grass. For
other species, eeebumch-grass, dag-
gers (under dagger^, fi\ fowl-grass
(under fovA^). June-grass, Over-
grass, teff, and wire-grass.
Peaces (p6-a'se-e), re. pi.
[NL. (R. 'Brown, 1814), <
Poa + -acex.] A series or division of the order
GraminesB, the grasses, distinguished from the
other similar division, Panicese, by the absence
of a joint to the pedicel beneath the glumes,
and by the presence of a stalk or empty glumes
or imperfect flowers above the fertile flowers.
It includes the larger part of the grasses, or about 200
genera (Poo being the type)^ in 7 tribes and 21 subtribes.
poach^ (poch), V. [Early mod. E. also poatch,
potch, poche, poch; according to Cotgrave, who
gives only the pp. jwcfee, < OP. packer, poucher,
thrust, poke (given by Cotgrave 'thrust or
dig out with the fingers '), F- pocher, hit (the
eye, so as to give one a black eye), also OF.
poclwr, blur (with iul^). ^ I^- pohen, poke,
thrust, = MD. pochen, thrust: see poJce^, of
which poach^ is thus ult. an assibilated form.
Some refer this OF. pocher, poucher, to pouce,
potilce, the thumb, < L. pollex (poUic-), the
thumb: see poUex.] I. trans. If. To poke;
thrust; push; put.
Pull out my heart : 0 ! poach not out mine eyes.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, il. The Decay.
His [Charlemagne's] horse, poching one of his legs into
some hollow ground, made way for the smoking water to
break out and gave occasion for the Emperor's building
that city [Aix]. Sir W. Temple, On the United Provinces, i.
2. To stab; pierce; spear: as, to ^oacft fish.
They vse also to poche them [fish] with an instrument
somewhat like tlie sammon-speare.
E. Carew, Survey of Cornwall, p. 31.
3. To tread; break up or render slushy by fre-
quent treading ; mark with footprints.
had poached into black
Scott.
The poaeh'd filth that floods the middle street.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
n. intrans. 1. To make a thrust in or as in
sword-play.
For where
I thought to crush him in an equal force.
True sword to sword, 111 patch \p(^he, folio 1623] at him
some way.
Or wrath or craft may get him. Shak., Cor., L la 15.
To speak truly of latter times, they [the Spaniards] have
rather poached and offered at a number of enterprises
than maintained any constantly. £acon, War with Spain.
2. To be penetrable, as soft muddy or marshy
ground; be damp and swampy.
Chalky and clay lands bum in hot weather, chap in
summer, and poach in winter. ifortimer. Husbandry.
The cattle of the villagers .
mud the verdant tuft
poacb
poach^ (pock), V. [Ponnerly also poch (and
pochel); appar. < OP. pocher, found in the
phrase '^ pocher le labeur eCautrm/, to poch into,
or incroaoh upon, another man's imployment,
practice in trade" (Cotgrave), where the exact
sense is undetermined: it might be translated
'to pocket another man's labor' (pocher, pocket,
<j)ocfee, a pocket, pouch: see pouch, poJce^); or
pocher may be idTentioal with pocJisr, thrust:
see poaeh^. Cf. OP. pocher, imitate, counter-
feit.] I. intrans. To intrude or encroach upon
another's preserves for the purpose of steaUng
game ; MU and carry off game in violation of
law.
His greatest; fault is he hunts too much in the purlieus ;
would he would leave ofi poaching !
Beau, ajid Fl., Philaster, iv. 1.
II. trans. To trespass upon, especially for the
purpose of killing and stealing game.
So shameless, so abandoned are their ways,
They poach Parnassus, and lay claim for praise.
Qarth, Claremont.
But he, triumphant spirit ! all things dared,
He poach'd the wood, and on the warren snared.
Crabbe, Works, I. 67.
poach^ (poch), V. t. [Early mod. E. alsopoatch,
potch, poche, pooh ; <..F. pocher, poach (eggs),
first appar. in the pp., ceuf poehi, a poached
egg, perhaps orig. an egg 'scooped out' (or
simply 'broken'), the verb being then a partic-
ular use of OF. pocher, thrust, poke, dig out with
the fingers: see poach'^. Gt. poctch"^, perhaps
of the same ult. origin.] To cook by breaking
the shell and dropping the contents whole into
boiling water: said of eggs.
Tho. Has drest his excellence such a dish of eggs
P.jun. Wh&t, potchedf
B. JoMon, Staple of News, iii. 1.
Is a man therefore bound in the morning to potcht eggs
and Tlnnegar? MUton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst.
poachardt, ». An obsolete form ot pochard.
poacher^ (pd'cher), n. [Kpoach^ + -erl.] 1.
One who poaches ; one who intrudes on the pre-
serves of another for the purpose of stealing
game; one who kills game unlawfully. — 2.
The sea-poacher, a fish. — 3. The widgeon,
Mareca americana: so called from its habit of
seizing the food for which other ducks have
dived. G. Trumbull. [Michigan.]
poacher^ (po'chfer), n. [< poach^ + -eri.] A
contrivance for poaching eggs.
poachiness (po'chi-nes), n. The state of being
poachy.
The values, because of the poackiiKSS, they keep for
grass. Mortimer, Husbandry.
poachy (po'chi), a. {(.poach^ + -i/i.] Wet and
soft; easily penetrated, as by the feet of cattle:
said of land.
But marsh lands lay not up till April, except your
marshes be very poachy. Mortimer, Husbandry.
Foacites (po-a-si'tez), n. [NL., < Gr. wda, grass,
-1- -c- (insignificant) + -ite2.] A generic name,
originated by Brongniart, under which have
been described a large number of leaves of
fossil plants supposed to belong to the Gra-
minese.
poad-milk (pod'milk), n. The first milk given
by cows after calving; beestings. Halliwell.
[Prov. Eng.]
poak^t, V. An obsolete spelling of poJce^.
poak^ (pok), ». [Also ^oafte; origin obscure.]
Waste arising from the preparation of skins,
composed of hair, lime, oil, etc. It is used as
manure.
pocan (po'kan), n. [See poJce^.'] The poke or
pokeweed, Phytolacca decandra.
pocardt, n. An obsolete form of pochard.
Bosca [It.], a bird called apoeard. Florio, 1598.
poccoon, »■ Ssiiae a,s puccoon.
pocbard (po'chard), n. [Also poker, and for-
merly poacharS, pocard; said to be a var. of
poacher. Cf . poacJier, 3.] A duck, FuUgula or
u&hyia ferina, belonging to the family AnaUdie
and sa!ota,rmXy FuMgulinse, more fully called the
red-headed or red-eyed pochard, also dunhird.
This duck is very common in Europe and many other parts
of the Old World, and a variety or very closely related
species, F. or ^. americana, is equally so in North Ameri-
ca, and known as the redhead. In the male the head is
puffy, and with the neck is rich chestnut-red with coppery
or bronzy reflections. The lower neck, foreparts of the body
above and below, and rump and tail-coverts are black.
The back is white, finely vermiculated with wavy or zig-
zag black lines. The bill is dull-blue with a black belt at
the end, and the feet are grayish-blue with dusky webs.
The eyes are orange. The female has the head dull-brown.
The length is from 20 to 23 inches, the extent of wings
about 33 inches. The pochard is a near relative of the
canvasback. The name is extended to some or all of the
4576
species of Fuiigula in a broad sense : as, the white-eyeil
pochard. See cuts under Nyroea and tcaup.
pocheH (poch), «. An obsolete form of poaehK
poche^t, M. A Middle English form of poke^,
pouch.
pochette (po-shef), ii. [P.] A small viohn:
see fcj<5.
pocki (pok), 11. [< ME. poVke, pi. poKkes, < AS.
poc (pocc-), a pustule, = MD. pocke, D. pok =
MLG. pocke, poche, LG. pokken, pi., = G. dial.
pfocke (G. pocke, < LG.), a pustule, Qs.pocken,
pi., smallpox; of. Gr&e\.pucaid, apimple, Iv.puc-
oid (?), a pustule,jJMcadfc, a swelling up; akin
to poke^, a bag. Hence pi. pocks, taken, esp. in
small pocks, as a singular, and spelled disguised-
ly pox."] 1. A pustule raised on the surface of
the body in an eruptive disease, as the small-
pox.
Otpokkea and of scabbe, and every sore,
Shal every sheep be hool that of this welle
IMnketh a draughte.
Chaucer, Prol. to Pardoner's Tale, L 72.
Z. A pox; an eruptive disease, as smallpox.
[Obsolete or vulgar.]
If God punish the world with an evil pock, they immedi-
ately paint a block and call it Job, to heal the disease.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc, 1860), p. 105.
Glad you got through the poch so well —it takes a sec-
ond time, some say. & Judd, Margaret, ii. 5.
As soon as ever the pock began to decay it took away my
eyes altogether.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 461.
pock^, M. A Scotch form of poke^.
pockarredt (pok'ard), a. [< pock^ + arj-i +
-ed2.] Pitted with the smallpox ; pock-pitted.
pock-broken (pok'bro'kn), a. Broken out or
marked with smallpox.
pocked (pokt), a. [< jjocfcl + -ed2.] Pitted;
marked with pustules, or pits left by them, or
with other small lesions, suggesting the appear-
ance of the skin during or after smallpox.
The posterior parts of both lungs yvere pocked with tu-
bercle in the softening stage. Larieet, No. 3435, p. 1314.
And of this tufty, flaggy ground, pocked with bogs and
boglets, one special nature is that it will not hold impres-
sions. £. D. Elachmore, Loma Doone, lix.
pocket (pok'et), n. [< ME. pocket, poTcet, < AP.
*pog'Me*(Norm. pouguet), OP. assibilated iJocZjet,
poucliet, m., also pochette (P. pochette), f., a
pocket, dim. of poque, OP. assibilated poche, a
poke, pocket: see poke^, pouch.2 1. A small
pouch or bag; specifically, a small pouch in-
serted in a garment for carrying money or
other small articles.
Cored pokets, sal peter, vitriole.
Chaucer, ProL to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 255.
He took a little horn out of \iS& pocket.
And he blew 't baith loud and schill.
LaAy Marjorie (Child's Ballads, II. 340).
A fellow that has but a groat in his pocket may have a
stomach capable of a ten-shilling ordinary. Congreve.
About 25 lbs. or 35 lbs. of ungummed silk are enclosed
in bags of coarse canvas, e&Uei pockets. Ure, Diet., 1. 392.
2. That which is carried in the pocket; money;
means ; financial resources.
Tor tho there were Fowls to be bought at every house
where I lay, yet my pocket would not reach them.
Dampier, Voyages, II. L 93.
Tliey [shippers] have been more cautious since, but have
more than once again glutted our markets, and been pun-
ished In pocket. (Quarterly Reo., CXLV. 315.
3. One of the small bags or nets at the comers
and sides of some billiard-tables.
At the commencement of the last century the billiard-
table was square, having only three pockets for the balls to
run in, situated on one of the sides.
Strvjtt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 396.
4. Any cavity or opening forming a receptacle :
as, a hi&ee-pocket, a post-^ocfce*, etc. — 5. In a
window fitted with sashes, the hole for a pul-
ley.— 6. In mining, an irregular cavity filled
with veinstone and ore ; a swelling of the lode
in an irregular manner, in which a more or less
isolated mass of ore occurs. A pockety lode is one
in which the ore is thus distributed, instead of being dis-
seminated somewhat uniformly tlirough the body of the
lode.
7. A glen or hollow among mountains. [U. S.]
In many of the pockets or glens in the sides of the hill
the trees grow to some little height.
T. Boosemt, Hunting Trips, p. 136.
8. A certain quantity of hops, wool, etc., equal
to about 168 pounds. — 9. In racing slang, a
position in a race where one contestant is
surrounded hj three or more others, so that,
owing to the impeding of Hs advance, he has
no chance to win. — 10. In zool. and anat.: (a)
A blind sac; a sac-shaped cafvity. (6) The ex-
ternal cheek-pouch of a rodent, as of the Gfe-
omyidse and Saccomyidse. See cuts under Ge-
omyidse and Perognathus. (c) The abdominal
pocket-dial
pouch of a marsupial, (d) The abdominal
cavity of a halibut or other fish. — 11. The trap
of a weir, in which the fish are retained or
caught. The fish pass from the little pound into the
pocket, which is a frame about 16 feet long and 10 feet
wide, with sides of netting and a board floor. The fldi are
left in the pocket by the receding tide, and are taken out
at low water. In a deep-water weir the fish are not left by
the tide, but must be lifted out with a seine or purse-net
See weir.— Fatch-pocket, a pocket made by sewing a
piece of stuff upon the outside ot a garment, forming one
side of the pocket, the other side being formed by the ma-
terial of the garment itself. The piece so sewed on is usu.
ally of the same material as the garment.— Pocket bor-
ough. See borough^.— Pocket veto, a mode of veto of a
bill by a president, governor, or other executive officer, em-
Sloyed at the end of a legislative session. If the President
oes not interpose the ordinary veto, a bill becomes law at
the expiration of ten days ; but if the bill was passed with-
in ten days of the adjournment of Congress, the President
may retain ("pocket") the bill, which is thus killed at the
end of the session without the interposition of a direct
veto, and without risking the chances of its passage over
the veto. [U. S.]— To be In pocket, to have gain or pro
fit- To be out of pocket, to expend or lose money: as,
to be out of pocket by a transaction.— To have or carry
In one's pocket, to have complete control ot
Dr. Proudie had interest with the government, and the
man carried, as it were. Dr. Proudie in his pocket.
TroUope, Barchester lowers.
To pick one's pocket, to pick pockets, to steal from
one% pocket; be in thenabitot stealing from the pockets
of others.
pocket (pok'et), V. t. [< pocket, n. Cf. F.
pocheter, carry in the pocket.] 1. To put in a
pocket or in one's pocket : as, io pocket a ball in
billiards ; to pocket a penknife.
On one occasion he pocketed venr complacently a gratu-
ity of fifty pistoles. Macavlay, Hist. Eng., viL
He locked the desk, pocketed all the property, and went.
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xxiz.
2. To appropriate to one's self or for one's own
use ; take possession of.
They [kings] seized the goods of traders, sold them, and
pocketed a large part of the proceeds.
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 463.
3. In racing slang, to surround in such a way
as to leave no room for getting out or in front:
as, he was pocketed at the beginning of the race.
— 4. To carry in or as in the pocket; specifi-
cally, of a president, governor, or other execu-
tive ofSoer, to prevent (a bill) from becoming
law by retaining it unsigned. See pocket veto,
under pocket, n. [CoUoq., U. S.] — 5. To ac-
cept meekly or without protest or resentment;
submit to tamely or without demand for re-
dress, apology, etc. : as, to pocket an insult.
If I calmly pocftef the abuse, I am laughed at.
Ooldsmith, Citizen of the World, m.
6. To conceal; give no indication of; sup-
press: as, to pocket one's pride. — 7. To con-
trol or have the control of, as if carried in one's
pocket: as, to pocfce* a borough.
They [the English] say they wiUpoeket our carrying trade
as wen as their own. Jefferson, Correspondence, II. 11.
He [the poor white of Virginia] was fond of his State
and its great men, and loyal to some one ot the blood ,
families who contended for the honor of pocketing the
borough in which he voted. Schouler, Hist. U. S., 1. 10.
8. In mech., placed in a case or pocket: as, a
pocketed valve. See valve To pocket up. («)
To put up in or as in a pocket ; bag.
Ill step but up and fetch two handkerchiefs
To pocket u^ some sweetmeats,
Middleton, Women Beware Women, iii. 1.
Letting Time pocket up the larger life.
Lowell, Voyage to Vinland.
(b\) To submit tamely to ; accept without protest or mur-
mur.
Patience hath trained me to pocket.up more heinous in-
dignities, and even to digest an age of iron.
G. Harvey, Four Letters, ii.
pocket-book (pok'et-buk), n. 1 . A book to be
carried in the pocket ; a note-book.
Nor let your Pocket-Book two Hands contain.
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love, iiL
3. A book worthy to be constantly used, small
enough to be carried in the pocket.
La Rochefoucauld ranks among the scanty number of
poeket-books to be read and re-read with ever new admira-
tion, instruction, and delight. Fncyc. Brit., XIV. 318.
3. A small book or pouch, usually of flexible
leather, divided into compartments, made for
carrying money or memoranda in the pocket.—
4. Pecuniary resources, especially of one per-
son. [In the last two senses usually without a
hyphen.]
pocket-clotbt (pok'et-kldth), ». Apocket-hand-
kerchief.
Cannot I wipe mine eyes with the tab pocket-doth, as If
X wept for all your abominations?
Tom Brown, Works, I. 3. (Bama.)
pocket-dial (pok'et-di*al), n. A portable sun-
dial of small size. See ring-dial.
pocket-drop
pocket-drop (pok'et-drop), n. Theat, a drop-
gcene made to be doubled ap so as to be taken
out of sight, where the roof above the stage is
low.
pocket-edition (pok'et-e-dish"on), n. A book
issued in a small size, as for convenience in
carrying in the pocket.
pocket-nap (pok'et-flap), « . _ A narrow piece of
cloth sewed above the opening of a pocket in a
garment, andhangingoveritlikeasmallflounce.
pocketful (pok'et-fm), n. [< pocket + -ful.']
Enough to till a pocket ; as much as a pocket
will hold.
pocket-gopher (pok'et-go^f^r), n. An Ameri-
can rodent quadruped of the family Geomyidse:
so called from the large pockets or external
cheek-pouches. Also pocket-rat. See cut un-
der -Geomyidae.
pcK^et-hammer (pok'et-ham'^^T), n. A hammer
adapted for carrying in the pocket; a geolo-
gists' hammer.
pocket-handkerchief (pok'et-hang'k6r-ehif),
n. A handkerchief intended to be carried in
the pocket.
pocketing-sleevetCpok'et-ing-slev), n. Alarge
and loose sleeve worn in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries.
Of the long pocketUjig-deevei in the time of E[lng Henry
the fourth, Kocclive, a master of that age, sung.
Camden, Remains, Apparell.
pocket-judgment (pok'et-juj"ment), «. For-
merly, in England, a recognizance given to se-
cure a private debt, as distinguished from a
recognizance taken as a public obligation. The
Statuw of Merchants, 13 Edward I., stat. S, authorized re-
cognizances to be taken tor the securing of debts in certain
cases, and allowed enforcement against property without
the formality of a suit. A recognizance so talcen was tech-
nically termed a statute merchant, and this, too, has been
called apocket-judgTiKHt.
pocket-knife (pok'et-nif ), n. A knife with one
or more blades which fold into the handle, suit-
able for carrying in the pocket; loosely, a pen-
knife.
pocket-lid (pok'et-Ud), n. A pocket-flap.
pocket-money (pok'et-mun*!), n. Money for
the pocket or for occasional or trivial expenses.
pocket-mouse (pok'et-mous), n. An American
rodent quadruped of the family Saccomyidse :
so called from its pockets or external cheek-
pouches. Various species are found in the ITuited
States, belonging to the genera Dipodomys and Perogna-
ihm. The larger kinds, which leap well, are also known
as kangaroo-mice and kangaroo-rats. See cuts under Dipo-
dOTnys and Perognathus.
pocket-net (pok'et-net), n. A flshing-net in
which the fish are cai^ht in certain special
compartments or pockets.
pocket-piece (pok'et-pes), n. A coin kept in
the pocket and not spent, generally a coin that
is not current.
pocket-pistol (pok'et-pis"tol), n. 1. A pistol
designed to be carried in the pocket. — 2. A
small liquor-flask, arranged with a screw-stop-
per, or in other ways safely closed, and often
fitted with a cup; a small traveling -flask.
[Slang.]
He . . . swigged hia pocket-pistol.
Naylor, Reynard the fox, p. 42. (fiavies.)
pocket-rat (pok'et-rat), n. Same as pocket-
gopher.
pocket-relay (pok'et-rf-la"), n. An instrument
which can be carried in the pocket to make tele-
graphic connection at any point on a line. It
is employed in case of accidents, etc., and hence
is often called a wreeking-instrument.
pocket-sheriff (pok'et-sher'if), n. A sheriff
appointed by the sole authority of the sover-
eign, and not one of the three nominated by
the exchequer. [Eng.]
pockety (pok'et-i), a. [(.pocket + -yi.] In
mining, noting a lode in which the ore occurs in
pockets, or small irregular bunches, instead of
being somewhat uniformly distributed through
the mass of the veinstone.
pock-firettent (pok'fret*n), a. Pock-marked;
marked with smallpox ; pitted with smallpox.
Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, VI. 137.
pock-house (pok'hous), n. A smallpox hospital.
[Prov. IT. S.]
A Pock House was established, . . . and a general beat-
ing up for patients was had throughout the region.
S. Judd, Margaret, ii. 5.
pockiness (pok'i-nes), n. The state of being
pocky.
pockmanky, pockmanty (pok-mang'ki, -man'-
ti), M. Sootcm corruptions of portmanteau.
pock-mark (pok'mark), n. A mark or scar made
by the smallpox ; a pock.
4577
pock-marked (pok'markt), a. Pitted or marked
with smallpox, or with pits resembling those of
smallpox; pock-pitted.
pock-pitted (pok'pifed), a. Pitted or marked
with smallpox.
pock-pitten (pok'pif'n), a. Same as pock-
pitted. Tennyson, Aylmer's Field. [Bare.]
pock-pudding (pok'pM'ing), n. A bag-pud-
ding : sometimes aj>plied to persons as a term
of opprobrium. [ Scotch.]
pockwood (pok'wud), n. The lignum-vitse,
Guaiacum officinale.
pocky (pok'i), a. l<pock^ + -J^i.] 1. Having
pocks or pustules; infected with an eruptive
distemper, but particularly with syphilis.
He might, forewamd, have left Wapoekie drabbes.
Wines' WhisOe (E. E. T. S.), p. 80.
2. Vile; rascally; mischievous; contemptible.
[Vulgar.]
That Pocky, Rotten, Lying, Cowardly, and most perfidi-
ous knave. Sir Hugh Caulverly, Knight.
Quoted in Axhton's Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne
[II. 268, Appendix.
FoCky Cloud. Same as 'ma/mmato-cumvlvx.
poco (po'ko), adv. [It., little, = Sp. poco = Pg.
pouco = P. peu, < L. paucus, few: see jiawci^.]
In music, a little; somewhat; rather: as, poco
adagio, somewhat slow.
pococurante (po^ko-kQ-ran'te), n. [< It. poco,
little, + curante, ppr. of curare, care : see cure,
v.'J A person characterized by want of care,
interest, attention, or the like; an apathetic,
careless, easy, inaccurate person.
Leave we my mother (truest of all the PococuraTites of
her sex ! ) careless about it, as about everything else in the
world which concerned her.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vL 20.
pococurantism (p6"k9-kQ-ran'tizm), n. [< po-
cocurante + -«s«j.] The character, disposition,
or habits of a pococurante; extreme indiffer-
ence, apathy, or carelessness ; inaccuracy.
The doom of Fate was, Be thou a Dandy ! Have thy ^e-
glasses, o])era-glasses, thy Long-Acre cabs with white-
breeched tiger, thy yawning impassivities, oococuraTittsmg.
Carlyle, Fast and Present, ii. 17.
pococurantist (p6*ko-k8-ran'tist), a. [< poco-
curante + -is*.] Careless; inaccurate.
pocokt, n. A Middle English variant of peacock.
pocosin, )'. See the quotation.
These swamps [of Virginia and North Carolina] are lo-
cally known tlu'ough the region where they occur as " dis-
mals" or ^*poco8ins."
J. D. Whitney, Encyc. Brit., XXTTT. S09.
pocularyt (pok'u-la-ri), TO. ; yl. pocularies (-riz).
[< Jj.poculum, agoblet: seepoculent.'] Adrink-
ing-cup.
Some brought forth . . . pocularies for drinkers, some
manuaries for handlers of relicks, some pedaries for pil-
grims. Latimer, Seiinons and Remains, I. 49. (Dames.)
poculentt (pok'u-lent), a. [< li.poculentus, drink-
able, <. poculum', a'goblet, cup, <'\/j9oinj>otore,
drink: see jJOtofoOTO.] Fit for drink.
Some of those herbs which are not esculent are, not-
withstanding, poeulent. Bacon, Kat. Hist., § 630.
poculiform (pok'u-li-f6rm), a. [= P. poeuli-
forme; < h.poeulum, e\i-p,+ forma, form.] Cup-
shaped; of the shape of a drinking-cup or gob-
let.
pod (pod), TO. [Prob. a var. of jjadS.] 1. la hot.,
a more or less elongated cylindrical or flattish
seed-vessel, as
of the pea,
bean, catalpa,
etc.; technical-
ly, a legume
or silicle, but
applied com-
monly to any
dry dehiscent
(mostly) sever-
al-seeded peri-
carp, whether
of one carpel
(follicle, leg-
ume) or of
several (cap-
sule). See cuts
imder Arachis,
balloon-vine, dreumseissile, Crudferse, divi-divi,
and Eriodendron. — 2. The straight channel or
groove in the body of certain forms of augers
and boring-bits.— 3. The pike when nearly ftill-
grown. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] — 4. A school
or shoal, as of fishes or whales ; a group or num-
ber, as of seals or walruses.
A pod of whales was seen in the offlng.
C. M. Scamvum, Marine Mammals, p. 36.
Different kinds of Fod.
t, legume of common vetch iyictasativa}i
2, follicle of peony ^Pseoniatifficinalis') : 3, sil-
iquaof bitter cress iCariiawiine Jttrsuta) ; 4,
silicle of field psnny-CTessiTklaspz at-vens^.
Podalyrieae
These groups of walrus on the ice are by the whalers
called pods. Fisheries qf U. S., V. IL 313.
To set aroimd a pod, to inclose a school of fish in a net
[New Eng.]
pod (pod), V. i. ; pret. and pp. podded, ppr. pod-
ding. [<pod,n.'i 1. To swell and assume the
appearance of a pod. — 2. To produce pods. —
3. To drive seals or walruses into a pod or
bunch for the purpose of clubbing them.
A singular lurid green light suddenly suffuses the eye
of the fur-seal at intervals when it is very much excited,
as the podding for the clubbers is in progress.
Fisheries of XJ. S., T. Ii. 366.
Podager (pod'a-jer), «. [NL. (Wagler, 1832),
< L. podager, < Gr. 7ro6a-yp6c, gouty: see poda-
gra.] An American genus of Caprimulgidse,
typical of the subfamily Podagerinse, having
long, strong, entirely naked tarsi, p. naeunda,
the only species, inhabits South America. It is 11 inches
long, fuscous, Termiculated and maculated wiUi black;
the throat, belly, and tip of the tail (in the male) are white ;
the primaries are black with a broad white bar.
Podagerinse (pod'a-je-ii'ne), «. pi. [NL., <
Podager + -inss.1 A subfamily of Caprimul-
gidse, typified by the genus Podager, having the
wings long and the bill glabrirostral, corre-
sponding to the CaprvmulginiB glabrirostres of
Selater, and composed of the genera Podager,
Lurocalis, and Chordeiles. The best-known example
is the common night-hawk, bull-bat, pisk, orpiramidig of
the United States. See cut under night-hawk.
podagerine (po-daj'e-rin), a. Belonging to the
Podagerinse.
podagra (po-dag'rg,), n. [In ME. podagre, < OF.
(and P.) podagre =. Sp. Pg. It. podagra = D.
Gr. Dseti. podagra = Sw. podager; Ch.podagra, <
Gr. iroSdypa, gout in the feet, < vovg (ttocJ-), foot,
+ aypa, a catching (cf . chiragra).] Gout in the
foot. See gout^, 3.
I cured him of the gout in his feet, and now he talks of
the chargeableness of medicine. . . . His podagra hath
become a chiragra; . . . the gout has got into his fingers,
and he cannot draw his puree. Scott, Abbot, xxvL
podagral (pod'a-gral), a. [< podagra + -al.]
Same a,s podagric.
podagric (po-dag'rik), a. [= It. podagrico ; <
L. podagrieus, gouty, < Gr. •Kodayprndg, gouty, <
irooaypa, gout in the feet : see podagra.] 1.
Pertaining to the gout; gouty. — 2. AfUeted
with the gout.
podagrical (po-dag'ri-kal), a. [< podagric +
-al.] Same as podagric.
I shall return to kiss your Hands, and your Feet also,
could I ease you of thatpoffaprtoiJ Fain which afflicts you.
HoweU, Letters, iv. 42.
A loadstone held in the hand of one that is podagrical
doth either cure or give great ease in the gout.
Sir T. Brmone, Tulg. Err., ii. 3.
Podagrion (po-dag'ri-on), n. [KL. (Spiuola,
1811), < Gr. Trodayp6g,' govity, < irodaypa, gout:
see podagra.] A notable genus of -chalcid
hymenopterous insects, having a very long ovi-
fiositor and enlarged and dentate hind thighs,
t is of cosmopolitan distribution, but mainly tropical, and
its species are invariably parasitic in the egg-cases of or-
thopterous insects of the family Mantidm.
podagrous (pod'a-grus), a. [= It. podagroso,
< L. podagrosus, gouty, < podagra, gout : see
podagra.] Same a,s podagric.
podalgia (po-dal'ji-a), n. [NL., < Gr. ■KoSalyla,
pain m the' feet, Cnovg (irod-), foot, + aXyoq,
pain.] Pain in the foot; especially, neuralgia
in the foot.
podalic (po-dal'ik), a. [Irreg. < Gr. ffoif {■JroS-),
= E. foot,'+ -al + -ic. Cf . pedal.] Pertaining
to the feet. — Podalic version, in obsfet., the operation
of turning the fetus within the uterus so as to bring down
the feet or some part of the lower extremities: distin-
guished from eepluUic version.
Podalyria (pod-a-lir'i-a), TO, [NL. (Lamarck,
1793), < L. Podalwitts, < Gr. Xlo6a7i£ipwg, in myth,
son of .^sculapius.] A genus of leguminous
shrubs, type of the tribe Podah/riese, charac-
terized by the broad obtuse keel-petals united
on the back, the turgid, ovoid, coriaceous pod,
simple short-petioled rigid leaves, and a calyx
remarkably indented at its broadly beU-shaped
base. The 17 species are natives of South Africa, and are
silvery-pubescent or villous shrubs, with alternate leaves,
awl-shaped stipules, and pink, purple, or blue axillary
flowers, usually only one or two together. P. sericea, the
African satin-bush, and several other species are culti-
vated for their flowers and silky leaves.
Podalyrieae (pod"a-li-ii'e-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Bentham, 1840), < "Podalyria + -ese.] A tribe
of leguminous plants, characterized by its
united sepals, papilionaceous petals, ten sepa-
rate stamens, and simple orradiately compound
leaves. The Sophorese, the only other papilionaceous
tribe with ten free stamens, is different in its pinnate leaves.
The Podalyriese include 26 genera, mainly Australian
shrubs, with unjointed pods, and usually simple leaves
not jointed to their short petiole. For the best-known
More-pork {Podargus cu-uicri).
Podalyries
genera, see Podaljfria (the type), BapHsia (the only genus
in the eastern United States), Piplanthm, PvUensm, Jack-
nmia, and Gon^holobiuTn.
podanencephalia (pod-an-en-se-fa'li-a), n.
[NL., < Gr. TTovf (to<5-), = B./ooi, + NL. "anen-
cephalia, q. v.] In teratoL, anencephalia with
a pedunculated head.
Podargidae (po-dar'ji-de), n. pi. [NL., < Po-
dargus + -j<Se.] A family of fissirostral piea-
rlan birds, typified by the genus Podargus, re-
lated to the Caprimulgidse, and usually included
in that family. They have very broad palatine bones
with posterolateral processes, rudimentary ba^lpterygoid
processes, no elseodochon or oil-gland, and a pair of pow-
der-down tracts, one on each side of the rump. These
birds are confined to the Oriental and Australian regions ;
some of them are known as firogmauOis, from the great
breadth and deep Assure of the beak. They are nocturnal
and insectivorous, and resemble goatsuckers and owls.
The genera are Podargui, Batrachostaitwi, and jEgotfieles.
Also Podwrginie as a subfamily of Caprimvlgidse.
podargine (po-dar'jin), a. Of or pertaining to
the PodaYgidse or PodarginsB.
podargue (po-darg'), ». A bird of the genus
Podargus.
Podargus (po-dar'gus), m. [NL. (Cuvier, 1829),
< G-r. trddap-yog, swift-footed, < jroif (Trod-), foot,
+ apydg, swift,
bright.] l.The
typical genus of
the f aimly Po-
dargidsB. There
are several species,
confined to the
Australian and Far
?uan regions, as
'. stri^dides, or P.
cuvien, known to
the colonists as
more-pork, from its
cry.
2. [l.o.'i A spe-
cies of this
genus; a po-
dargue.
podarthraKpo-
dar'thral), a,
[< podafthr-um
+ -o?.] In or-
nith., ioining
the toes to the shank; pertaining to the podar-
thrum : as, the podarthral joint or articulation.
podarttaritis (pod-ar-thri'tis), n. [NL., < Gr.
iroiig (vo6-), foot, + apBplng, joint-disease : see
arthritis.'] Inflammation of the joints of the
foot.
podarthrnm (po-dar'thrum), n. ; pi. podartlvra
(-thra). [NL., < Gr. izovq {iroS-), foot, + apBpov,
a joiiit.] In ormth., the foot-Joint; the meta-
tarsophalangeal articulation; the juncture of
the toes collectively with the metatarsus.
pod-auger (pod'4"g6r), n. See auger, 1.
FodaxiueSB (pod-ak-sin'f-e), n. pi. [NL. (Sac-
cardo), < Gr. iroiic (to<5-^,' foot, + L. axis, axle :
see aa;2.] A subfamily of gasteromycetous
fungi of the family Lyeoperdaceie.
Podaxonia (pod-ak-so'ni-a), n. pi. [NL.. < Gr.
TTotif (voS-), foot, + af (w, axis : see aa;2.] A phy-
lum of mollusooids, composed of three classes,
Sipuneuloidea, Brachiopoda, and Polyzoa, hav-
ing a secondary long axis of the body at right
angles with an original oro-anal long axis. It
corresponds nearly to Molluscoidea, except in
including the gephyreans.
podazonial (pod-ak-so'ni-al), a. [< Podaxonia
+ -al.'] Of or pertaining to the Podaxonia.
pod-Mt (pod'bit), n. A boring-tool used in a
brace. It is semi-cylindrical in shape, with a hollow
barrel, and a cutting Up projecting from the extremity of
the barreL
podder (pod'Sr), n. lipod + -eri.] 1 . A gath-
erer of pods. — 3. pi. Beans, peas, tares, vetches,
and other podded or leguminous plants in gen-
eral. [Prov. Eng. in both uses.]
poddy (pod'i), a. [< pod + -^i.] Round and
stout in the belly ; paunchy. HaUiwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
podelcoma (pod-el-ko'ma), n. [NL., < Gr.
novc (irod-), foot, -I- l7iKo>/ia, a sore.] A perforat-
ing ulcer of the foot.
podencephalus (pod-en-sef 'a-lus), n. ; pi. pod-
encephali (-li). [NL., < Gr. jfoif (izoS-), foot, +
iyKe<pa?iog, brain.] In teratol., an exencephalus
in ■which the brain is contained in a pedicel-
late sac.
poder (po-der'), n. [< Sp. poder, power: see
power.'] ' In Spanish- Amer. law, a power of at-
torney formally made before a notary pubUo ;
a procuration.
podest^ (p6-des-ta'), n. [It. (> F.podestat =
Pg. podestade), < L. potestas (potestat-), power.
4678
a magistrate: see potestate.] One of certain
magistrates in Italy, (o) A foreign magistrate, placed
by the emperor Frederick Barbarossa over various Italian
cities, (b) A chief magistrate in Italian towns and in me-
dieval republics, often clothed with nearly despotic power.
His functions were largely judicial.
The Venetians haue alwayes their Podesta, or Gouernour,
with his two Counsellours resident therein.
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 104.
(c) In many Italian cities, a subordinate municipal judge.
podestatet, n. [< F. podestat, < It. podestate,
podestA: see podestd, potestate.] Amagistrate:
same a.s potestate.
I haue sene of the greatest podestatas and grauest judges
and Presidentes of Parliament in Fraunce.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 308.
podesterate (po-des'te-rat), n. [Ab It. 2)odes-
teria,podestarid, magistracy {(.podestA, a magis-
trate : seepodestd), + -ate^.] The office, digni-
ty, or jurisdiction of a podestS,; the term of of-
fice of a podestS,.
In the next year, 1280, in the podesterate of Alberigo
Signoregi of Bologna, the palaces of the Incontri were
burnt and demolished by the fury of the people.
J. Adaims, Works, V. 230.
podetia, }i. VhiieaXoi^podetium.
podetiiform (po-de'sM-i-f6rm), a. [< NL. pode-
Uum + li. forma, form.] Of the shape of a po-
detium ; resembling a podetium. E. Tucherman,
Genera Lichenum, p. 232.
podetium (po-de'shi-um), n. ; pi. podetia (-a).
[NL., < Gr. TTOvs (ffod-), foot.] In hot., in certain
lichens, the shrubby or stalk-Hke outgrowth of
the thallus, bearing exposed hymenia; also, any
stalk-like elevation. See cuts under Cladonia.
podex (po'deks), 11.; pi. podiees (pod'i-sez).
[L.] In zool.: (a) The rump; the uropygium;
the anus or anal region. (6) In entom., the
pygidium.
pod-fern (pod'f6m), n. A singular aquatic
fern, Ceratopteris thalictroides, very variable in
form, found in the tropics of both hemispheres :
so called from the pod-like segments of the
fertile frond, which are everywhere covered
with sori. The stipes are inflated with large
air-cells.
pod-gaper (pod'ga"per), n. A bivalve moUusk
of the family Solenomyidse.
podgei (poj), n. [Perhaps tovplodge; cf . plocP-.]
A puddle ; a plash.
podge^ (poj), V. i.; pret. and pp. podged, ppr.
podging. [Perhaps for ^to^e; et.ploc^.] To
plod.
My dames will say I am a podging asse.
Historie of JXbirui and Bellama (1638). iNares.)
podgy (poj'i), a. Same a,s pudgy.
podia, n. Plm'al of podium.
podial (p6'di-al), a. [< podium + -al.] Of or
j)ertainiiig to the podium.
Podica (pod'i-kg,), n. [NL. (Lesson, 1831), < LL.
podicus, belonging to a foot, < Gr. -kovs (voS-),
foot.] The African genus of HeUornithidse,
African FEnfoot {Podica setugalensis).
the sunbirds or finf oots, containing several spe-
cies, as P. senegalensis and P. petersi. Also
called Podoa and Bhigelura.
podical (pod'i-kal), a. [< L. podex (podia-),
rump, + -al.] Of or pertaining to the podex;
uropygial; anal or p^ygidial, as with reference
to the terminal somite of the abdomen of an
insect — Podical plates, in entom., two or more small
pieces surrounding the opening of the intestinal canal:
when present, they are generally cbncealed by the last ex-
ternal abdominal segments. Anatomists have regarded
these plates as the rudiments of the eleventh abdominal
segment.
podje
Podiceps (pod'i-seps), n. The original and usual
form of Podicmes.
podiees, n. Plural aipodjex.
Podicipedidse (pod'''i-si-ped'i-de), ». pi. [NL.,
< Podidpes {-ped-) + 4dee.] A family of birds
of the order Pygopodes, typified by the genim
Podidpes; the grebes. The family has many pecu-
liarities, causing it to rank as a suborder called Podicim-
des, whose characters are the same as those of the family
They have no ambiens, temorocaudal, or accessoiy tendl-
nosus muscle, only one carotid, short xiphisternum, long
narrow pelvis, from fitted to nineteen cervical vertehrie,
a long cnemial process of the tibia and a very large patel-
la, no superorbital depression for a nasal gland, and a spe-
cial pyloric sac. Gseca are present, and the oll;glai)ff Ib
tufted. The feet are four-toed and lobate, not webbed-
the nails are flat and blunt ; the tail is rudimentary ; the
primaries are eleven in number ; the lores aie naked ; the
head is usually crested ; and the bill is of variable shape
The leading genera are Mehmophorm, Podidpes, Tacky-
baptes, and PodUymbus. ColymbideB is a synonym in one
of its senses. Also Podicipidx, Podicepidee, PodieipUidie.
See cuts under jEchnwphorus and greoe.
Podicipes (po-dis'i-pez), n. [NL., orig. Podi-
ceps as a specific name (Linnaeus, 1766), later
as a generic name (Latham, 1790), tr. E. an^
foot; < It. podex (podic-), rump, + pes ='E. foot.]
The typical genus of the family Podicipedidse.
It formerly contained all the grebes, but is now usually
restricted to those which have the bill moderately stout,
not longer than the head, and not hooked at the end, the
tarsus not longer than the middle toe and claw, the dimen-
sions over ten inches, and the head usually crested and
ruffed. There are numerous species, such as the crested
grebe, P. eristatus; the red-necked grebe, P. griaeigma;
the homed grebe, P. comutus; and the eared grebe, P.
amrUus. Also called Colymbus. Usually Podiceps, 3ee
cut under oreBe.
Podilymbus (pod-i-lim'bus), n. [NL. (Lesson,
1831), < Podileeps) + {Co)lymbus.] A genus
of Podicipedidse, containing American grebes
with a thick stout epignathous bill, and no
crests or raffs, the frontal feathers being mu-
cronate. p. podiceps is the commonest grebe of the
United States, commonly called the pied-billed dabcMA.
The genus is also called Eydroka and Nexiteles.
podismus (po-dis'mus), n. [NL., < Gr. ■n-odiam,
a measuring by feet (taken in sense of ' a bind-
ing of the feet')» (■ ^odi^eiv, measure by feet,
also bind the feet, < wovg (jrod-), foot.] Spasm
of the muscles of the foot.
Podisus (pod'i-sus), n. [NL. (Herrich-Schaf-
fer, 1853), < Gr. irov; (nod-), foot, + iaog, equal.]
A genus of pentatomid bugs, with over 30 spe-
cies, all American. They
are of medium size and usu-
ally light colors, predaceous
in habit, and provided with a
strong beak wherewith to im-
pale their prey. P. plaeidus
is a North American species,
notable as an enemy of the im-
ported currant-worm, N'ematus
ventricoms. P. spinosus is com-
mon and wide-spread; it at-
tacks many injurious larvee.
See also cut under soldier-bug.
podite (pod'it), n. [< Gr.
Trotif (noS-), foot, + -ite.]
A limb or leg of a crusta-
cean, especially when de-
veloped as an ambulatory
appendage, or leg fitted
for walking. See endopo-
dite, exopodite, epipodite; also hasipodite, coa>
opodite, daetylopodite, ischiopodite, meropodite, ,
propodite, and cuts under Podophthalmia.
These podites are usually seven-jointed.
Encyc. BrU., VL 636.
poditic (po-dit'ik), a. [< podite + -ic] Of or
pertaining to a podite.
poditti (po-dit'i), n. [Australian.] The Aus-
tralian saw-beaked kingfisher, Symaflavirostiis.
See cut under Syma.
podium (p6'di-um), n. ; pi. podia (-&). \h. (>
It. podio = P. podium), < podium (see def.), <
Gr. irddcov, a little foot, dim. of vroic (iroi-),
foot.: see pew'^.] 1. In arch., a continuous
pedestal; a stylobate; also, a raised platfoim
which surrounded the arena of the ancient
amphitheater, upon which sat persons of dis-
tinction, or a bench surrounding a room.— 2.
In zool. and anat, the foot; the pes: usually
applied in ornithology to the toes collectively,
without the shank of the foot.— 3. In conch.,
the foot of a mollusk. its parts are distinguished
as propodium, mesopodiwn, metapodiiwm, and epipoiium,
or fore, middle, hind, and side parts. See cuts under Om-
teropoda, Leptonidse, Myidae, and Pisidiidse.
4. In hot. : (a) A footstalk, stipe, or the like
[Earely used except in compounds.] (i) -A-
joint, intemode, or independent unit in the
growth of the axis of a plant.
podje (poj'e), n. [Native name.] The spec-
tral tarsier, Tarsius specWwin, of Borneo and
Celebes. See cut under Tarsius.
Podisus placidus.
, enlarged ; b, natural size.
pod-lover
pod-lover (pod'lnv'er), n. The nqctuid moth
DianthcMia capsophila: an IlngUsh collectors'
name, translating the specific term.
podobranchia (pod-o-hrang'ki-a), re.; yl.podo-
branehisB (-e). [NL., < Gr. novi' (iroS-), foot, +
Ppdyxw, ^Ua.'i A f oot-giU ; one of the respira-
tory organs of crustaceans which are attached
to the legs. Parts of a podobranchia are distinguished
as the base, gtem, expanded lamirui, and apical plume,
besides the proper branchial JUamenbi. Podobranchiie
are coxopoditic, or borne upon the coxopodites of the limbs
to which they are respectively attached, and of which they
are the modified epipodites. See cuts under Podophthal-
mia, especially Jf and N.
podobranchial (pod-o-brang'ki-al), a. l<podo-
iranehia + -al.^ Of or pertaining to a podo-
branchia.
podobranclliate (pod-o-brang'ki-at), a. [<
podobranchia + -ofei.] 'Having podobrauehise.
Podocarpese (pod-o-kar'pf-e), n.pl. [NL. (End-
licher, 1847), < Podocarpus + -ese.'] Same as
Taxoide'SB.
Podocarpus (pod-o-kar'pus), n. [NL. (L'H6-
ritier, 1817), so called in allusion to the thick
fleshy stalk -which supports the fruit (not so
in other conifers); < Gr. ttovc (iroS-), foot, +
KapjrSc, fruit.] A genus of coniferous trees of
the tribe Taxoideae, characterized by solitary or
twin pistillate flowers surrounded by a few
scales, bearing a somewhat stalked and pro-
jecting blade, which envelops the single adnate
and inverted ovule. In fruit this blade usually be-
comes fleshy, forming a pulpy covering to the hard shell-
like seed, which contains a thin embryo with two seed-
leaves only, in fleshy albumen. The stajninate flowers are
solitary or in clusters of from two to five, or in long catkins,
the stamens forming a long dense column covered with
sessile two-celled anthers in spiral rows. There are from
40 to 60 species, forming much the largest coniferous genus
except Pinvs. They are chiefly natives of the southern
hemisphere beyond the tropics, and also frequent in mon-
tane and eastern tropical Asia. They are evergreen trees,
with much diversity in foliage : the leaves are either scat-
tered, opposite, two-ranked, or crowded ; scale-like, linear,
or broad ; and veinless or with many flne parallel veins.
The fruit is a globular or ovoid drupe or nut, 1^ inches or
less in diameter, in some species edible, as P. andina, the
plnm-flr of Chili, with clusters of cherry-like fruits, and P.
spinuloga, the native plum or damson of Kew South Wales,
also called Mawarra pine and white pine. Several other
species are known as fir or pine among the colonists of
New Zealand, Australia, and Cape Colony. Compare fir
and pinei, and for individual species see kahikatea, matai,
and miro. Many species are among the most important
timber-trees of the southern hemisphere, as (besides the
preceding) P. Totara, the mahogany-pine ; P. cupressina,
the kaw-tabua, one of the chief timber-trees of Java ; and
the various yellow- woods of Cape Colony. ^Seeyellow-wood.)
Others are a source of valuable gums, as P. polystachya, the
wax-dammar of Singapore. Some are but bushes, others
reach a great height, as P. araara of Java (200 feet), and the
yacca-tree of the V\^est Indies (100 feet). Some botanists use
the name of the section Na^eia for the whole genus.
podocephalous (pod-o-sef'a-lus), a. [< Gr.
ffoiif (jToiS-), foot, + KE^aAr), head.] In hot., hav-
ing a head of flowers elevated on a long pe-
duncle : said of a plant.
Fodoces (po-do'sez), «. [NL. (Fischer, 1823),
< Gr. TzoduiaiQ, swift-footed, < nov^ (ttoiS-), foot,
+ a/rfif, swift.] A genus of oscine passerine
birdsofthe family Corvidse and subf aniUy Fregi-
4579
female (in mod. bot. pistil).] In hot., same as
PodoUan (po-do'U-an), a., [< It. Podolia (see
def.) -t- -ore.'] Of or pertaining to Podolia, a
district of western Bussia Podolian cattle, a
breed of cattle widely distributed throughout Italy, nsu-
allywith white or gray coat and enormous horns. — Po-
doliail marmot, the Spalax typhtus. Pennant.
podolo^ (po-dol'o-ji), n. [= F. podologie, <
Gr. TTovQ (jiTo&-), foot, + -?j>yia, < /Uycii', speak:
see -ology.'] A treatise on or a description of
the foot. Dunglison.
podometer (po-dom'e-tfer), re. [< Gr. noi( (ffoeJ-),
foot, -I- fiirpov, measure.] Same as pedome-
ter.
Podophthalma (pod-of-thal'ma), n. pi. [NL. :
see Podoplithalmia.'\ 1. Jn Crustacea, smne aa
Podophthalmia. Leach, 1815. — 2. In conch., a
division of rostrif erous gastropods, having eyes
at the ends of cylindrical peduncles which are
separated from and at the outer edges of the
long subulate tentacles. It includes the iam-
ily Ampullarudse. J. E.Cfray, 184:0. — 3. [Used
as a sing.] A genus of spiders, type of the
Podophthalmidx.
Podophthalmata (pod-of-thal'ma-ta), re. pi.
[NL., pi. of Podophthalma.'] Same as Podoph-
thalmia.
podopbthalmate (pod-of-thal'mat), a. [< Gr.
TTovg (to(5-), foot, + oifiBaX/iSe, eye, + -oiel.] Same
as podophthalmic.
podophthalmatous (pod-of-thal'ma-tus), a. [<
podophthalmate + -oms.] Same as podophthal-
mic.
Podophthalmia (pod-of-thal'mi-a), n.pl. [NL.,
< Gr. Tzovg (woS-), foot, -I- bipdalfiog, eye: see
ophthalmia.'] A division of malacostracous
Crustacea, having the eyes borne upon movable
eye-stalks or ophthalmites, and the eephalo-
Desert-chough [Podoces panderi).
linse, with short wings, characteristic of the des-
ert regions of central Asia ; the desert-choughs.
Four species are described — P.panderi, P. hen-
dersoni, P. hiddulphi, and P. humilis.
Podocoryne (pod"o-ko-ri'ne), re. [NL. (Sars,
1842), < Gr. iroic (""oiJ-j, foot, + Kopvvri, a club.]
The typical genus of Podocorynidse. P. carnea
is an example. Also Podocoryna.
Podocorynidse (pod"o-k9-rin'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Podocoryne + ■4dsB.] A family of gymnoblas-
tic hydromedusans, typified by the genus Podo-
pododynia (pod-o-din'i-a), n. [NL., < Gr. wove
(jrorf-), foot, + bSinnj, pain.] Pain in the foot;
podalgia.
podogyn (pod'o-jin), n. [< F. podogyne, < NL.
vodogyniwm, q! v.] Same as podogynmm.
podogynium (pod-6-jln'i-um), re.; yl. podo-
gynia (-a). [NL., < Gr. tzoi^ (iroS-), foot, + yw^,
Parts of the Crawfish t,Astacus fiuviatilis), with the nomenclature
of the appendages of the stalk -eyed crustaceans I^Fodofkthalmia j
and the higher crustaceans {Malacostraca ) in general.
A, mandible : o, its terminal joints, being the palpus of the mandi-
ble; S, first maxilla; C, second maxilla; cd, scaphognathite ; D,
first maxilliped ; E, second maxilliped ; F, third maxilliped. {B
right ; the others left.) In A to F, ab, endopodite ; c, exopodite ; d,
epipodite ; e. setaceous filaments of coxopodite. l^, cross-section of
half a thoracic somite : a, the somite ; b, the coxopodite ; c, basipo-
dite ; d, ischiopodite ; h, branchifeious epipodite ; f, ^, branchi£e ; e,
filiform appendage. N, a branchiferous epipodite, enlarged: a, its
point of attachment ; d, basal enlargement ; r, c, branchial filaments;
a, terminal lobes.
thorax forming a carapace; the stalk-eyed crus-
taceans: distinguished from Edriopntlialmia.
The group is divisible into two orders, StoTnatopoda and
J)ecapoda, the latter containing the most familiar crusta-
ceans, as prawns, shrimps, crawfish, lobsters, and crabs.
See also cuts under Astacidse, Astaeue, Copepoda, eopepod-
atage, endopodUe, lobster, prawn, and stalk-eyed.
podophthalmiau (pod-of-thal'mi-an), a. and re.
I. a. Same as podophthalmic.
II. n. A member of the Podophthalmia.
podophthalmic (pod-of-thal'mik), a. [< Gr.
•Koiig (iro(5-), foot, + bijidaXfidc, eye (see ophthal-
mia), + -ic] Stalk-eyed, as a crustacean; be-
longing to the Podophthalmia.
Podophthalmidae (pod-of-thal'mi-de), re. pi.
[NL. (Cambridge, 1877), < Podophthalma +
-idse.] A family of spiders, allied to the Lyeo-
sidee and Agalenidse, and having the eyes placed
in four rows, the legs long and slender, and the
abdomen long and cylindrical: typified by the
genus Podophthalma. It is represented in the
southern United States by the genus Tetra-
gonophthalma.
podophthalmite (pod-of-thal'mit), n. [< Gr.
noiig (■foS-), foot, -I- E. ophthalmite.] The distal
or terminal joint of the movable two-jointed
Podostemon
ophthalmite or peduncle of the eye of a stalk-
eyed crustacean, the other being the basioph-
tlialmite. See cut under stalk-eyed.
podophthalmitic (pod'of-thal-mifik), a. [<
podophthalmite -I- -ic] Of or pertaining to a
podophthalmite.
podophthalmous (pod-of-thal'mus), a. [<pod-
ophtJuilm-ic + -ous.] Same as podophtlialmic.
podophyllic (pod-o-fil'ik), a. [< podophylUn
+ -ic.] Pertaining to or derived from podo-
phyllin.
podophyllin (pod-o-fil'in), re. [= F. podophyU
line; i Podophyllum + -in^.] A resin obtained
from the rootstalk of Podophyllum peltatmn.
It is used in medicine as a purgative, and seems to have
the power of stimulating the secretion of bile.
podophyllous (pod-o-fil'us), a. [= F. podo-
phylleux, < Gr. -irovg (iroS-), foot,-!- i^vV/mv, a leaf.]
In entom., having the feet or locomotive organs
compressed into the form of leaves.
Podophyllum (pod-o-fil'um), n. [NL. (LinnsB-
us, 1737), so called in allusion to the 5- to 7-
parted leaf, thought to resemble the foot of
some animal; < Gr. irovg (ttoiS-), foot, + (fmTi^
?Mv, leaf.] A genus of polypetalous plants of
the order Berheridese and tribe Berbereae, char-
acterized by having the ovules in many rows,
the flower with six sepals, from six to nine pet-
als, as many or twice as many stamens, and a
large peltate stigma crowning the ovary, which
becomes in fruit a berry. There are 2 species, one
being P. peltatum, the May-apple or wild mandrake of
NorUi America, the other a Himalayan species. They are
singular herbs, with thick and prolonged poisonons creep-
ing rootstocks, from which lise long-stalked orbicular pel-
tate and deeply lobed leaves, known among children as
wm^ellas, from their resemblance both when folded and
when expanded; also called duck^s-/oot. The flowering
stem, unlike the other, bears two leaves, peltate near the
edge, and between them a single large flat white flower.
The leaves are poisonous, but the sweetish yellow egg-
shaped fruit is sometimes eaten. See May-apple, 1, maTi-
drake, 2, hog-apple, and podophyllin.
podopter (po-dop'ter), re. [< Gr. wavg (ttoS-),
foot, + iTTep6v, wing, = E. feather.] A mem-
ber of the Podoptera.
podoscaph (pod'o-skaf), re. [< Gr. wtivQ (Trod-),
foot,-!- mdifog, a ship: see scaph-us.] A hollow
apparatus, like a small boat, attached one to
each foot, and serving to support the body erect
on the water.
Podosomata (pod-o-so'ma-ta), n.pl. [NL.,
neut. pi. of podosomatus : see podosomatoiis.]
In Leach's system^ an order of aporobranchiate
Arachnida, constituted by the single family
podosomatOUS (pod-a-som'a-tus), a. [< NL.
podosomatuSj < Gr. Trovg (ttoiJ-), foot, + aa/m{T-),
body.] Having the legs of conspicuous size in
comparison with the body; specifically, of or
pertaining to the Podosomata.
podosperm (pod'o-sperm), n. [= F.podosperme,
< Gr. Tzovg (irod-), foot, -I- airep/ia, seed: see
sperm.] In bot., same asfunicle, 4.
podospermium (pod-o-sper'mi-um), re. [NL. :
see podosperm.] In bot., same asfunicle, 4.
Podosphsera (pod-o-sfg'ra), «. [NL. (Kunze),
< Gr. noiig (woS-), foot, + aipa'ipa, a ball.] A
genus of pyrenomycetous fungi of the family
Erysiphese. The appendages are free from the mycelium,
and dichotomously branched at the end. The perithecium
contains but a single ascus. P. Oxyacanihse is the cherry-
blight.
Podostemaceae (pod"9-ste-ma'se-e),m.j)J. [NL.
(Lindley, 1835), < Podostemon -i- -aceie.] A pe-
enliar order of apetalous plants of little-known
affinity, characterized by the ovary of two or
three cells, with numerous ovules in each cell,
and by the aquatic habit, with creeping or ex-
panded disks in place of roots, united to stones
under water, from which arise stems with small
leaves like mosses, or fronds resembling algse.
The flowers are minute, with one, two, few, or many sta-
mens, one ovary and two or three styles, a three- or five-
cleft perianth, or in its place a row of little scales, and the
fruit a small capsule. There are about 116 species, belong-
ing to 4 tribes and 23 genera, of which Podostemon is the
type. They are small plants of rapid rivers and brooks,
growing firmly attached to stones underwater, natives of
the tropics, mainly in America, Africa, and Asia.
Podostemon (pod-o-ste'mon), re. [NL. (Mi-
ehaux, 1803), so called in allusion to the eleva-
tion of the two stamens on a stalk supporting
the ovary; < Gr. wovg (wod-), foot, + ar^/ioiv,
warp (stamen).] A genus of aquatic plants,
type of the order Podostemacem and tribe -Em-
podostemeas, characterized by the two stamens
with filaments united more than half their
length, the two awl-shaped and entire stigmas,
and an equally two-valved, oval, obtuse pod
with two cells and eight ribs. There are about 20
species, natives of North America, Brazil, Madagascar,
Fodostemon
and the East Indies, with one, the type species, P. eera-
zophyttut, the threadfoot or river-weed, extending into the
northern United States. They have erect or branching
stems, growing fast to stones, or in some the plant forma
a lichen-like crusty sending up short branches only. Their
usual aspect is much that of a filamentous or membranous
seaweed.
Podostomata (pod-o-sto'ma-ta), n. pi. [NL.,
neut. pi. ot*podostomaius : see podostomaious.]
A class of Arthropoda, composed of the orders
Trilobita and Merostomata (the latter contain-
ing the Xyphosura, Symiphosura, and Eurypte-
rida) : so called from the foot-like or ambula-
tory character of the mouth-parts. They are
an ancient generalized type, represented at the
present day by the king-crabs only.
podostomatous (pod-o-stom'a-tus), a. [< NL.
*podostomatus, < Gr. 'irovg (ffo'iJ-), foot, + ardiia,
mouth.] Having foot-like mouth-parts; be-
longing to the Podostomata.
podotheca (pod-o-the'kS.), n.; pi. podothecse
(-se). [NL., < (Jr. iroiif {'n-oS-), foot, + drjioj,
sheath.] 1 . In ornith. , the covering of the foot,
in so far as it is bare of feathers; the tarsal
envelop and the sheaths of the toes. — 2. In
entom., a leg-case, or that part of the integu-
ment of a pupa covering a leg.
podotheca! (pod-o-the'kal), a. [< podotheca +
-al.'] Sheathing or investing the foot; of or per-
taining to a podotheca.
podotrochilitis (pod-6-tr6-ki-li'tis), n. [NL., <
Gr. TToiif (irod-), foot, -f- TfmxMa, piUley, t -itis.']
An inflammatory disease of the fore foot in the
horse, involving the synovial sheath between
the sesamoid or navicular bone of the third pha-
lanx (or hoof) and the flexor perforans playing
over it : commonly called navicular disease. It
is a frequent cause of lameness.
Podoura, podouran, etc. See Fodura, etc.
pod-pepper (pod'pep"6r), n. See Capsicum.
pod-sheU (pod'shel), n. A bivalve moUusk of
the family Pharidse.
pod-shrimp (pod'shrimp), n. An entomostra-
cous crustacean whose carapace is hinged or
valvular, and thus capable of inclosing the legs
as in a pod. The existing pod-shrimps are all small,
but the type is an old one, formerly represented by large
entomostracans. It is illustrated in the cuts under Esthe-
riidx and LiTniietii.
The once gmnt po3r8hri7n^ of Silurian times.
Encye. Brit., VI. 663.
pod-thistle (pod'this"l), n. The stemless this-
tle, Cnicus (Carduus) acauHs.
The people at Braokley . . . always spoke of the stem-
Jess thistle as the pod-thisUe.
Academy, Jan. 11, 1890, p. 30.
Podura, Podoura (p6-dii'ra, p6-d8'ra), «. [NL.
(Linnseus, 1748), < Gr. nolg (iroS-), foot, + oipa,
tail.] 1 . A Linnean genus of apterous insects,
corresponding to the modem order Thysanura,
used by later naturalists with various restric-
tions, and now typical of the family Poduridse.
They have but one tarsal' claw. Some forms are found on
standing water, others on the snow. They are known as
springtaUs and snow-fleas. See cut under springtail.
2. [I. c] A species of this genus; a poduran.
poduran, podouran (po-dfi'ran, po-do'ran), a.
and n. [t Podura + -an.'] t, a. Same aspo-
durous.
II. n. A member of the genus Podura or the
family Poduridx.
Podurellaet, Podourellat (pod-u-rel'e, pod-g-
veVe),n.pl. [NL., dim. of PodJtra.] In early
systems of classifloation, as Leach's and La-
treille's, a group of thysanvirous insects, typi-
fied by the genus Podura, inexactly correspond-
ing to the modern order or suborder CoUem-
hola.
Poduridse, Podouridse (po-dii'ri-de, po-do'ri-
de), n.pl. [NL. (Burmeister, 1838), < Podura +
-idee.] A family of thysanuious insects of the
order Collembola, typified by the genus Podura,
to which various limits have been assigned, it
was formerly nearly equivalent to Collemhola, but is now
restricted to forms with the body cylindrical and the ap-
pendage of the fourth abdominal segment developed into
a saltatory apparatus. The mouth-parts are very rudimen-
tary. The respiration is tracheal, though the podurans are
supposed also to breathe directly through the integument.
They are found almost everywhere in damp places. There
are several genera besides Podura, as Anura, Achoreutes,
Tomocenis, Orchesella, and Lepidoeyrtua. See snow-flea,
and cut under springtaU.
podurous (p6-du'rus), a. [< Gr. mv; {■Kod-), foot,
+ oiipd, tail.] Belonging or pertaining to the
genus Podura in any sense.
pod-ware (pod' war), n. Pulse growing inpods
or cods. Seepodder,2. HalUwell. [Prov.Eng.]
podyperidrosis (pod-i-per-i-dro'sis), n. [NL.,
< Gr. TTovq (wod-), foot, + iTrip, over, beyond,_ +
:6puai(, perspiration : see hidrosis.'] Excessive
sweating of the feet.
4580
poei, n. See jpo/. , „ , j i
poe2(p6'e),». lAlsopue; aNewZealandname.J
The poe-bird, originally caUed theiJoe hee-eater.
Latham, 1782. „ , ^ . j, -, mt,
poe-bird (po'e-berd), Ji. [< poe^ + birdi.] The
poe, tui, or parson-bird, Prosthemadera emcm-
nata or novfe-zealandix, a meliphagine bird of
New Zealand and Auckland, it is about as iM-ge
as a blackbird, iridescent-black in color, with a pateh of
long curly white plumes on each side of the neck, and a
white band on the wings. It is valued both by the natives
(or its plumage, which contributes to the ornamentation ol
the feather mantles worn by them, and also as a cage-bird,
from the fineness of its song and its powers of mimicry.
See cut under parsanMrd.
pcecile (pe'si-le), n. [< Gr. ■Koudi.r/, sa. arda, a
porch adorned with fresco-paintings, f em. of ffo(-
KDuog, many-colored, mottled, pied, variegated,
various, manifold; akin to !•. pingere {yf pic),
paint : see picture, paint.] A stoa or porch on
the agora of ancient Athens : so called from the
paintings of historical and religious subjects
with which its walls were adorned. See stoa.
poecilite (pe'si-Ut), ». Same as hornite. Also
poikilite.
poecilitic (pe-si-lit'ik), a. and n. [Also poiki-
liUc, and incorrectly psedlitie; < Gr. woidMg,
many-colored, mottled, + -it4c.] A name sug-
gested by Conybeare as an equivalent for New
Bed Sandstone, in allusion to its variegated col-
or, the rocks of which this group is made up con-
sisting chiefly of red, yellow, and variegated
sandstones, conglomerates, and marls, with oc-
casional beds of limestone. See sandstone, Per-
mian, ajuANew Ped Sandstone (under sandstone).
poeciloC3rte (pe'sil-o-sit), n. [< Gr. notKl?ix>(,
many-colored, + kvtoq, a hollow.] A red blood-
corpuscle of abnormal shape.
poecilocytosis (pe"si-lo-si-t6'sis), n. [NL., as
pcedlocyte + -osis.] The presence of poeoilo-
cytes in the blood.
pcecilonym (pe'si-lo-nim), n. [< Gr. irocd/iog,
various, manifold, + dvv/ia, 6vo/ia, a name : see
onym.] One of two or more names for the same
thing; a synonym. Wilder; Leidy.
poecilonymic (pe-si-lo-nim'ik), a. [< pcecilony-
m-y + -ie.] Characterized by or pertaining to
poecUonymy.
An unusually complete combination of poecHonymic
ambiguities. Buck's Handbook Med. Sd,, p. 62S.
poecilonymy (pe-si-lon'i-mi), n. [< pcecilonym
+ -y^.] The use of several different names for
the same thing ; application of different terms
indifferently to a thing ; varied or varjdng no-
menclature. The Nation, July 18, 1889.
PCBCilopoda (pe-si-lop'o-da), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
noLKihog, many-colored, manifold, -1- iroif (to(5-)=
E./oo<.] In LatreiUe's system of classification,
the second order of his Entomostraca, divided
into two families, Xiphosura and Siphonostoma.
It was a highly artificial group, including Immdus with
numerous parasitic crustaceans, flsh-lice, etc., as Argul'us,
Caligus, etc. Divested of these and restricted to the Xi-
phosura, the term is synonymous with Merost&mata in one
sense. See Merostomata.
poecilopodons (pe-si-lop'o-dus), a. Of or per-
taining to the Pcedlopoda.
poecilothermic (pe"si-lo-ther'mik), a. [< Gr.
noiKiAoc, various, + Stpiai, heat.] Varying in
bodily temperature with that of the surround-
ing medium, as is particularly the case with
cold-blooded animals. Also poikilothermic.
[Rare.]
Most of the lower animals are poikUothermie, or, as they
have less appropriately been called, cold-blooded.
daia, ZoSl. (trans.), I. 74.
poem (po'em), n. [< OF. poeme, F. poeme = Sp.
Pg. Vi.poema, < Xi.poema, < Gr. noivfut, anything
made or done, a poem, < irotelv, make. Of. poet.]
1. A written composition in metrical form; a
composition characterized by its aJrangement
in verses or measures, whether in blank verse
or in rime : as, a lyric poem; a pastoral poem.
The first and most necessarie poynt that euer I founde
meete to be considered in making of a delectable j»>e»i£ is
this, to grounde it upon some fine inuention.
Gascoigne, Notes on Eng. Verse, § 1 (Steele Glas, etc., ed.
[Arber).
A poem is not alone any work or composition of the poets
in many or few verses; but even one alone verse some-
times makes a perfect po^m. B. Jonson, Discoveries.
A. poem, round and perfect as a star.
Alex. Smith, A Life Drama, ii.
There is no heroic poem, in the world but is at bottom a
biography, the life of a man. Carlyle, Sir Walter Scott.
It is not metres, but a metre-making argument^ that
makes a poem. Emerson, The Poet.
2. A written composition which, though not in
verse, is characterized by imaginative and po-
etic beauty in either the thought or the lan-
guage : as, a prose poem.
poet
poematic (p6-e-mat'ik), a. [< Gr. votJifxtTCKdu
poetical, < iroij/^a, a poem: see^oem.] Eelat-
ing to a poem ; poetical. Coleridge.
pcenology, «■ See penology.
Foephaga (po-ef'a-gS,), n. pi. [NL. (Owen,
1839), neut. pi. otpoephagus: &ee poephagous.]
A division of Marsupialia, including the kanga-
roos and others which feed on grass and herb-
age ; the herbivorous marsupials.
poepnagOUS (po-ef 'a-gus), a. [< 'Hh.poeplagus,
< Gr. izoTifayoi, grass-eating, < irda, grass, + ^o-
■yelv, eat.] Eating grass; feeding on herbage;
phytophagous or herbivorous; specifically, be-
longing to the Poephaga.
PoephagUS (po-ef 'a-gus), n. [NL. (J. E. Gray,
1846), CGr. iro^^^ia^of, grass-eating: seepoepha-
gous.] A genus of Bovidae, of the subfamily Bo-
vines'; the yaks. The common yak is P. grunm-
ens. See cut under ya'k.
Foephila (po-ef 'i-ia), n. [NL. (J. Gould, 1842),
< Gr. Tzda, grass, + '^iXdv, love.] An Australian
genus of PloceidsB, of the subfamily Spermes-
tinsB. There are several species, as P. ocmJi-
cauda, P. pmsonata, P. dncta, P. leucoHs, and
P. gonedise.
poeplef , n. A Middle English spelling of ^eopte.
poesy (p6'e-si), n. [Formerly also posy (q. v.) ;
< ME. poesie,poyse = D. poezy,poezie = G. poe-
sie (formerly also poesei, poesey) = Sw. Dan,
poesi, < 'F.poisie = OSp.poesi, Sp.poesia = Pg.
ft. poesia, t. L. poesis, poesy, poetry, < Gr. rn'o;-
atg, a making, creation, poesy, poetry, < ■kouIv,
make. Ct. poemHj poet.] 1. The art of poetlt
composition ; skill in making poems.
Poesie therefore is an arte of imitation, for so Aristotle
termeth it in his word Mimesis — that is to say, a represent-
ing, counterfetting, or figuring ^oorth.
Sir P. Sidney, Apol. for Foetrle.
Poesy is a part of learning in measure of words for the
most part restrained, but in all other points extremely li-
censed. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 141.
A poem ... is the work of the poet, the end and fruit
of his labour and study. Poesy is his skill or craft of mak-
ing, the very fiction itself, the reason or form of the work.
Bi Jonson, Discoveries.
2. Poetry ; metrical composition.
By the many formes otPoesie the many moodes and pangs
of louers throughly to be discouered.
Pwttenham, Arte of Eng. Foesie, p. 36.
Simonides said that picture was a dumb poesie, «aA poe-
sie a speaking picture. Holland, tr. of Plutarch, p. 806.
Music and poesy used to quicken you.
Shak., T. of the S., i. 1. 36.
I am satisfied if it cause delight ; tor delight is the chief,
if not the only, end of poesy; instruction can be admitted
but in the second place ; for poesy only instructs as it de-
lights. Dryden, Def. of Essay on Dram. Poesy.
The lofty energies of thought,
The fire of poesy.
Whittier, The Female Martyr.
St. A poem.
Some few ages after came the poet Geflery Chaucer, who,
writing his poesies in English, is of some called the first
illuminator of the Engljsh tongue.
Verstegan, Best, of Decayed Intelligence, vli.
4t. A motto or sentimental conceit engraved
on a ring or other trinket. See posy.
A hoope of Gold, a paltry Bing
That she did glue me, whose Poesie was
For all the world like Cutlers Poetry
Vpon a knife ; Loue mee, and leaue mee not.
SAo*. , M. of V. (folio 1623X v.
Nay, and I have poesies for rings too, and riddles that
they dream not of. B. Jongan, Cynthia's Bevels, ii. 1.
poet (po'et), n. [< ME. poete, < OF. poel£, F.
poHe = Sp. Pg. It. poeta = D. poeet = G. Sw.
Dan. poet, < L. poeta, < Gr. notrfriic, a maker,
poet, < n-ojav, make. Ct. poem, poesy.] 1. One
who composes or indites a poem; an author of
metrical compositions.
A poet is a maker, as the word signifies ; and he who can-
not make, that is Invent, hath his name for nothing.
Dryden.
Search'd every tree, and pry'd on every fiower,
If anywhere by chance I might espy
The rural poet of the melody.
Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 1. 126.
2. One skilled in the art of making poetry, or
of metrical composition; one distinguished by
the possession of poetic faculties or suscepti-
bilities ; one endowed with the gift and power
of imaginative invention and creation attended
by corresponding eloquence of expression, com-
monly but not necessarily in a metrical form.
Semblably they that make verses, expressynge therbj
none other lernynge, but the crafto of versiflenge, be not
of auncient writers nameA poetes, but only called yereify-
ers. Sir T. Elyot, The Govemour, 1. 18-
I begin now, elevated by my Subject, to write with the
Emotion and Fury of a Poet, yet the Integrity of an His-
torian. Wyeherley, Love in a Wood, Dec.
poet
The poet represents the things as they are impressed on
his mind by the hand of the Creator.
Landor, Chesterfleld and Chatham.
The poet is the man whose emotions, intenser than those
of other men, naturally find a vent for ttiemselves in some
form of harmonious words, whether this be the form of
metre or of balanced and musical prose. '
J. C. Shairp, Poetic Interpretation of Nature, L
Poet laureate. See Jaurcate.— Poet's cassia. SeeOgj/ri*
poetaster (p6'et-as-ter), n. [= OP. poetastre
= Sp. It. poetastro, < NIj. "poetaster, < L. poeta,
a poet (see poet), + dim. -aste)-."] A petty poet ;
a feeble rimester, or a writer of indifferent
verses.
He [Voltaire] was well acquainted with all the petty van-
ities and affectations of the poetagter.
Mamiilay, Frederic the Great.
He makes no demand on our charity in favor of some
poetaster for whom he may have imbibed a strange affec-
tion. Whipple, Ess. and Itev., I. 32.
poetastiy (p6'et-as-tri), n. {(.poetaster + -j3.]
The rimed effusions of a poetaster; paltry
verses.
poetess (p6'et-es), n. [= F. poetesse = Sp. po-
etisa = Pg. poetiza = It. poetessa, < ML.poeUssa,
fern, of L. poeta, a poet: see poet and -e«s.] A
woman who is a poet.
poethood(p6'et-hud), H. [< jweJ + -7ioo(i.] The
state or quality of being a poet ; the inherent
qualifications or the conditions that constitute
a poet. S. Lanier, The English Novel, p. 47.
poetic (po-et'ik), a. [= P. poeHgue = Sp. jjo-
etieo = Pg. It. poetico (ef . D. G. poetisch = Sw.
Dan. poetisk), < Jj. poetmcs, < Gr. noairuidg, cre-
ative, poetic, < TTOieiv, make (> noiTirfjg, poet) :
see poet.1 1. Of or pertaining to poetry ; of the
nature of or expressed in poetry; possessing the
qualities or the charm of poetry : as, a poetic
composition ; poetic style.
In our own day such poetie descriptions of ITature hare
burst the bonds of metre altogether, and filled many a
splendid page ot poetic or imaginative prose.
J. C. SImirp, Poetic Inteipretation of Nature, viiL
2. Of or pertaining to a poet or poets ; charac-
teristic of or befitting a poet : as, poetic genius ;
poetic feeling; poetic license.
Then farewell hopes o" laurel boughs,
To garland xay poetic brows !
BurnSf To James Smith.
He [Faraday] was always in the temper of the poet, and,
like the poet, he continu^ly reached that point of emotion
which produces poetic creation. Stopford Brooke, Faraday.
3. Endowed with the feeling or faculty of. a
poet; having the susceptibility, sensibility, or
expression of a poet ; like a poet : as, a poetic
youth; a, poetic ta,ee.
What warm, poelie heart but inly bleeds.
And execrates man's savage, ruthless deeds !
Bums, Brigs of Ayr.
4. Celebrated, or worthy to be celebrated, in
poetry: as, a, poetic scene.
When you are on the east coast of Sicily you are in the
most jwettc locality of the classic world.
C. D. Warjiei; Koundabout Journey, p. 104.
Mere trade l)ecamei»oeiic while dealing with the spices
of Arabia, the sillts of Damascus, the woven stuffs of
Persia, the pearls of Ceylon.
C. JS. Norton, Church-building in Middle Ages, p. 41.
5. Of or pertaining to making or shaping, espe-
cially to artistic invention and arrangement.
[Eecent.]
Poeiie philosophy is a form of knowledge having refer-
ence to the shaping of material, or to the technically cor-
rect and aHistic creation of works of art.
Ueberweg, Hist. Philos. (trans.), I.
Poetic Justice, an ideal distribution of rewards and pun-
ishments such as is common in poetry and works of fiction,
but seldom exists In real life.
And so it came to pass that quite unintentionally, and
yet by a sort of poeUe jiistice, Eodrigue's letter to Bose, as
hers to him, was written by a thii'd person.
The Century, XXXVII. 584.
Toetic license, a privilege or liberty taken by a poet in
using words, phrases, or matters of fact in order to pro-
duce a desired effect.
poetical (po-et'i-kal), a. [< poetic + -al.'] Same
as poetic.
Poetical expression includes sound as well as meaning.
"Music," says Dryden, "is inarticulate poetry."
Johnson, Pope.
poetically (po-et'i-kal-i), adv. In a poetical
sense or manner; according to the laws of po-
etry.
The critics have concluded that it is not necessary the
manners of the hero should be vutuons. They are poeti-
cally good if they are of a piece. Dryden, jEneid, Ded.
poetics (p6-et'iks), 11. [PI. of poetic : see 4cs.
Cf. F.poeiique = Sp. Pg. It. poetica, f., poetics.]
That branch of criticism which treats of the
nature and laws of poetry.
POeticule (po-et'i-kiU), n. [< L. poeta, a poet, +
dim. term. -cMto.] A petty poet; a poetaster.
288
4581
A study which sets before us in fascinating relief the
professional poeticule of a period in which as yet clubs,
coteries, and newspapers were not.
A. C. Simnmme, Nineteenth Century, XXI. 97.
poetization (po'et-i-za'shon), n. [< poetize +
-ation.'] Composition in verse ; the act of ren-
dering in the form of poetry. Also spelled jjo-
etisation.
The great movement for the poetization of lAtin prose
which was begun by Sallust ran its course till it culminated
in the monstrous style of Fronto. Eneye. Brit., XX. 1^.
poetize (p6'et-iz), v. ; pret. and pp. poetized, ppr.
poetizing. [< P. poitiser — Sp. Pg. poetizar =
It. poetizzare, poetezzare, < MLi. poetizare, poeti-
sare, compose poetry, < It. poeta, a poet: Bee poet
and ■4ze.'] I, intrans. To compose poetry ; write
as a poet.
I versify the truth, not poetize. Donne.
n. trans. To make poetic; cause to conform
to poetic standards; express in a poetie form.
What Ovid A\A\mtpoetize, experience doth moralise, our
manners actually pei-form. Kev. T. Ada/im, Works, I. 212.
Viigil has, upon many occasions, poetized ... a whole
sentence by means of the same word.
GoldsmUli, Poetry Distinguished from other Writing.
Instead of the sublime and beautiful, the near, the low,
the common, was explored and poetized.
Emerson, Misc., p. 93.
Also spelled ^oeWse.
poet-musician (p6"et-mii-zish'an), «. One
in whom the gifts and skill of the poet and the
musician are united; a bard.
poetresst (po'et-res), n. [< GF.poetei-esse, as if
< ML. *poetrissa for L. poetris, poetria, a poet,
< Gr. ■KoiifTpia, f em. of ■Koajriig, a poet : see poet,
Cf . poetess.'] Same as poetess.
Most peerless poetress.
The true Pandora of all heavenly graces. Spenser.
poetry (p6'et-ri), «. [< ME. poetrye, poetrie, <
OF. poetrie, poeterie, poterie, poetrerie = Olt.
poetria, < ML. poetria, poetry (cf . L. poetria,
< Gr. iroifirpia, a poetess), (. L. poeta, a poet :
see poet and -ry.] 1. That one of the fine arts
which addresses itself to the feelings and the
imagination by the instrumentality of musical
and moving words; the art which has for its
object the exciting of intellectual pleasure by
means ofvivid,imaginative, passionate, and in-
spiriting language, usually though not neces-
sarily arranged in the form of measured verse
or numbers.
"By poetry we mean the art of employing words in such
a manner as to produce an illusion on the imagination, the
art of doing by means of words what the painter does by
means of colours. Maeavlay, Milton.
Poetry is itself a thing of God ;
He made his prophets poets ; and the more
We feel of poesie do we become
Like God in love and power— undei'-makers.
Bailey, FestUs, Proem.
The grand power of Poetry is its interpretative power,
by which I mean . . . the power of so dealing with things
as to awaken in us a wonderfully full, new, and intimate
sense of them, and of our relations with them.
M. Arnold, Maurice de Gu^rin.'
We shall hardly make our definition of poetry, consid-
ered as an imitative ari^ too extended if we say that it is
a speaking art of which the business is to represent by
means of verbal signs arranged witli musical regularity
everything for which verbal signs have been invented.
Encyc. Brit., IX. 207.
2. An imaginative, artistic, and metrical col-
location of words so marshaled and attuned as
to excite or control the imagination and the
emotions; the language of the imagination or
emotions metrically expressed, in a wide sense
poetry comprises whatever embodies the products of the
Imagination and fancy, and appeals to these powers in
others, as well as to the finer emotions, the sense of ideal
beauty, and the like. In this sense we speak of the poetry
of motion.
The essence of poetry is invention : such Invention as,
1)y producing something unexpected, surprises and de-
lights. Johnson, Waller.
Poetry is not the proper antithesis to prose, but to
science. Poetry is opposed to science, and prose to metre.
. . . The proper and immediate object of science is the
acquirement or communication of truth ; the proper im-
mediate object of poetry is the communication of imme-
diate pleasure. Coleridge.
No literary expression can, properly speaking, be called
poetry that is not in a certain deep sense emotional what-
ever may be its subject matter, concrete in its method and
its diction, rhythmical in movement, and artistic in form.
Encyc. Brit., XIX 257.
3. Composition in verse ; a metrical composi-
tion; verse; poems: as, heroic jjoefry; lyric or
dxa,ma,tia poetry ; a collection ot poetry.
Oon seyde that Omere made lyes
Feynifige in his poetries.
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1, 1477.
And this young birlde here, . . . will his . . . poOries
help him here? Seott, Kob Koy, xxiil.
Arcadic, lyric, etc., poetry. See the adjectives.
Fogonorhynchus
poetship (po'et-ship), m. {< poet + -ship.'] The
state of being a poet ; poethood.
poet-sucker (po'et-suk^er), n. A suckling poet j
an immature or precocious poet. [Low.]
What says my poet-sucker?
He 's chewing his muse's cud, I do see by him.
B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1.
pogamoggan (pog-a-mog'an), n. [Amer. Ind.]
A weapon used by some Iribes of North Amer-
ican Indians, consisting of a rounded stone in-
closed in a net of woven fibers ending in a
strong braid, by which it can be whirled. Com-
pare slung-shot.
pogge (pog), ». A cottoid fish, the armed bull-
head, Agonus catapliractus.
Pogge iA£^tus catafhractus').
poggyi (pog'i), re. ; pi. poggies (-i^. [Also pog-
gie.J A small arctic whale, yielding only about
20 or 25 barrels of oil, supposed to be the young
of the bow-head whale, Balsena im/sticetus. C.
M. Scammon, Marine Mammals, p. 60. See cut
under wliale.
poggy2 (pog'i), M. Sa.me a,s porgy.
poghaden (pog-ha'dn), n. [Amer. Ind.] The
menhaden. Also pauliagen.
pogie, n. Same a.s pogy.
Fogonia^ (po-go'ni-a), re. [NL. (Jnssieu, 1789),
so called in allusion to the frequently fringed
lip; < Gr. nuryuiviag, bearded,
< irityav, beard.] A genus of
terrestrial orchids of the tribe
Neottiex and subtribe Are-
thusese, characterized by the
distinct and usually erect
sepals, the long wingless col-
umn, and the undivided or
three-lobed lip. There are over
30 species, widely dispersed over the
world, of which 5 occur in the United
States. The typical species (includ-
ing the most comnjon American,
P. ophioglo^oides, sometimes called
snaktfs-mmith orchis) grow in bogs,
especially in the neighborhood of
peat, and produce a tuberous root,
and a slender stem bearing a single
handsome and fragrant pale-rose
nodding flower, a single leaf, and a
single bract; others have two or
three leaves, and few or many flow-
ers ; a few bear a single flower sur-
mounting a whorl of leaves ; and
many of the Old World species pro-
duce flrst a one-sided raceme of
nodding flowers and later a single
broad or roundish leaf. P. pendula
is the three-birds orchis of the
United States, named from the form
ot the fruit.
pogonia^, ». Plural of pogo-
Fogonias (po-go'ni-as), n. _, . ~ . .
i-tLtt /T ^^^ T° -innew J r\ Flowenng Plant and
[NL. (Laeepede, 1802), < Gr. Leaf of snake's-mouth
Trwytw/of, bearded, < •Khywi, ^Sj^iSf""'" °^"*"
beard.] 1. In ichth., a genus
of seisenoids, having numerous barbels on the
lower jaw (whence the name) ; the drimas or
drumfish, as P. chromis. See cut under druni^-,
11 (a). — 2. In ornith., same as Fogonorhynchus.
lUiger, 1811.
pogoniasis (po-go-ni'a-sis), re. [NL., < Gr.
wQyav, beard (cf . nayuviag, bearded), + -iasis.]
Excessive growth of beard, especially in a wo-
man.
pogoniate (po-go'ni-at), a. [< Gr. ■Koyavidr^c,
bearded, < ir^'yuv; beard.] 1. In «o67., bearded
or barbate. — 2. In ornith., webbed, as a fea-
ther; having webs or pogonia; vexillate.
pogonium (po-go'ni-um), re. ; pi. pogonia (-a).
[NL., < Gr. li-ayaviov, dim. of izCyyuv, a beard.]
In ornith., the web, vane, or vexiUum of a fea-
ther.
Pogonorhynchinae (po-go'no-ring-M'ne), re. pi.
[ifL. , < Fogonorhynchus + -inee.] A subfamily
of Megalsemidse (or Capitonidse), typified by the
genus Fogonorhynchus, and containing the Afri-
can barbets.
Fogonorhynchus (po-g6-no-ring'kus), re. [NL.
(Van der Hoeven, 1835), < Gr. ■wutyav, beard, +
piiyxog, snout.] A genus of African barbets,
typical of the subfamily Pogonorhynchinie, hav-
ing a large sidcate and dentate beak which is
strongly pogoniate. P. dvbius Is glossy-black, Mood-
red, ana white. P. hirsutus (or fjavipmutiata) is a barbet
of the Gaboon, forming the type of the subgenus Triclto-
Isema. See cut on following ijage.
Pogonorkynchus kirsutus.
Fogostemon
Fogostemon(pd-
go-ste'mon), ».
[NL. (Desfon-
taines, 1815), so
called in allu-
sion to the long
hairs often
clothing the
filaments; < Gi.
iriiyuv, heard, +
crri/iov, warp
(stamen).] A
genus of gamo-
petalous plants
of the mint
family, order
Labiatse, and
tribe Satureinese,
type of the subtribe Pogostemoneie, and charac-
terized by the four perfect stamens, which are
protruding, distant, straight, and little unequal,
and by the terminal roundish one-celled an-
thers, five-toothed calyx, four-cleft corolla with
one lobe spreading, and the flowers close-
crowded in large verticillasters, in an inter-
rupted spike or panicle. There are about 32 species,
natives of the East Indies, the Malay archipelago, and
Japan. They are herbs or shrubby plants, with opposite
leaves, and the numerous small flowers are whitish and
purple, or of other colors. See patchouli for the principal
species.
pogue (pog), n. [< Ir. Gael, pog = W. poe, a
kiss.] A kiss. [Irish.]
1 axed her for a pogue,
The black-eyed saucy rogue.
For a single little pogue.
An' she scornful turned away !
TTie Century, XXXVin. 892.
pogy (po'gi), n.; Tpl.pogies (-giz). [Also «05'<ir2/,
poggie, pogie, porgy, etc.'] 1. The menhaden,
Brevoortia tyrannus. [New England.] — 2. A
kind of small fishing-boat used in the Bay of
Fandy and along the New England coast. Per-
ky.
pogy-catcher (p6'gi-kaeh"er), «. A sailing ves-
sel or steamer employed in the capture of men-
haden.
pogy-gnll (po'gi-gul), n. A sea-gull found at
Cape Cod, Massachusetts (where so called),
perhaps Lartis argentatv^.
poh (po), interj. Same as pooh.
pohutukawa (po-h8-ta-ka wa), »i. [Maori: see
the quotation.] " A conspicuous tree, Metroside-
ros tomentosa, growing on rocky coasts in New
Zealand. It has leathery shining leaves, and is very
handsome in blossom. Its bark yields a brown dye, and
its hard strong reddish wood is suitable for the frames of
ships, agricultural implements, etc.
Here every headland is crowned with magnificent po-
Aufu/ra-wo-trees, literally rendered the 'brine-sprinkled,'
. . . known to the settlers as the Christmas tree, when
boughs of its glossy green and scarlet are used in church
decoration as a substitute for the holly-berries of Old Eng-
land.
Constance F. Gordon Cummiir^y The Century, XXVII. 920.
poi (po'i), n. [Hawaiian.] An article of food
of the Sandwich Islanders, prepared from the
root of the taro, Colooasia anUquorum. After
being mixed with water, the taro-root is beaten with a
pestle till it becomes an adhesive mass like dough ; it is
then fermented, and in three or four days is ht for use.
Also poe. 0. W. Stoddard, South Sea Idyls, p. 135.
.Poi is generally eaten from a bowl placed between two
people, by dipping thi'ee fingers into it, giving them a
twirl round, and then sucking them.
Lady Bramey, Voyage of Sunbeam, II. xvi.
poignancy (poi 'nan -si), n. [< poignan{t) +
-cy.] 1. The power of stimulating the organs
of taste; piquancy. — 2. Point; sharpness;
keenness; power of irritation; asperity: as,
the poignancy of wit or sarcasm. — 3. Pain-
fulness; keenness; bitterness: as, the poi-
gnancy of grief.
poignant (poi'nant), a. [Early mod. 'E.poynant,
< ME. poynant, "<. OP. (and F.) poignant (= Sp.
Pg. pungente = It. pungente, pugnente, < L. pun-
gen(t-)s, ppr. of pungere, prick: see pungent,
and of. point.'] If. Sharp to the taste; biting;
piquant; pungent.
Wo was his cook, but if his sauce were
Pcrynawit and sharp, and redy al his gere.
Chaucer, Gen. ProL to C. T., 1. 352.
No poigjiajit sauce she knew, nor costly treat ;
Her hunger gave a relish to her meat.
Dryden, Cock and Fox, 1. 21.
2t. Pointed; keen; sharp.
His poynant speare, that many made to bleed.
" -ir, F. Q., I. TlL 19.
3. Keen; bitter; satirical; hence, telling;
striking.
4582
Always replying to the sarcastic remarks of his wife with
complacency and jrotj)man( good humour.
Sir T. Mare, Family of Sir T. More, Int. to Utopia, p. xiv.
Example, whether for emulation or avoidance, is never
so poignant as when presented to us in a striking person-
ality. Lowell, Books and Libraries.
4. Severe; piercing; very painful or acute:
as, poignant pain or grief.
Our recent calamity . . . had humbled my wife's pride,
and blunted it by more poignant afHictions.
Goldsmith, Vicar, xxii.
=Syn. 3 and 4. Piquant, etc. (see pungent), sharp, pene-
trating, intense, biting, acrid, caustic.
poignantly (poi'nant-li), adh. In a poignant,
stimulating, piercing, or irritating manner;
with keenness or point.
poignard, )!. [P.] Same as poniard.
poignet (poin), n. [< P. poing, fist: seepoing.^
Pist; hand.
The witnesses which the faction kept in poigne (like
false dice, high and low Fullhams), to be played forth
upon njots and to make discoveries as there was occa-
sion, were now chapfallen.
Soger North, Examen, p. 108. (Dames.)
poimenics (poi-men'iks), n. [< Gr. woi/i'^v, a
shepherd, L6r. a pastor: see -scs.] Pastoral
theology. See pastoral.
poinadot) »• Same SiS poniard.
My Peece I must alter to a Poynado, and my Pike to a
Pi ck &.d B V 9,T1 1
Heywood, Eoyal King (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 70).
poinardt, n. An obsolete form oi poniard.
Poinciana (poin-si-a'na), n. [NL. (Tournef ort,
1700), named after Poind, a governor-general
of the West Indies in the middle of the 17th cen-
tury, who wrote on the natural history of the
Antilles.] .A. genus of leguminous plants of the
suborder Csesalpiniese and tribe EuciesalpiniesB,
characterized by the five valvate calyx-lobes,
five nearly equal orbicular petals, ten distinct
declined stamens, and hard flat two-valved
many-seeded pods. The 3 species are natives of warm
regions in eastern Africa, the Mascarene Islands, and west-
ern India, but have long been introduced into the West
Indies and other tropical countries. They are handsome
trees with bipinnate leaves and showy orange or scarlet
flowers. P. regia, with crimson flowers, is known as royal
peacock-flower, flame-acacia, and gold mohur-tree. P.
pulcherriina, with red and yellow flowers, is the Barbados-
pride, flower-pride, or flower-fence. P. Gillieeii is the
crimson thread-flower. They are also sometimes called
fla/m^oyants. Seejlamboyant.
poind (poind), V. t. 1. A dialectal (Scotch) form
of pind oipound^. — 2. To seize ; distrain ; seize
and sell under warrant, as a debtor's goods.
[Scotch.]
He slew my knight, and poin'd his gear.
Lament of the Border Widow (Child's Ballads, III. 87).
poinder (poin'der), n. A dialectal form of
pinder.
poinding (poin'ding), n. [Verbal n. oipoind, v.]
In Scotcli law, a process by which a creditor may
enforce his demand by seizure of movable prop-
erty. It is carried into effect either by sale and payment
of the proceeds to the creditor, or by appraisal of the goods
and their delivery to the creditor on account. Personal
poinding cannot be prosecuted, except against a tenant for
rent, until the debtor has been charged to pay or perform
and the day^ allowed therefor have expired. The right of a
private creditor to reach things in action and some other
movables, such as money and ornaments on the person,
has been questioned. Peal poinding, or poi^iding of the
ground, is the remedy of one who is enforcing a lien or
burden on land, as distinguished from a personal obliga-
tion to seize movables found on the land, other than
those of strangers, and other than those of a tenant In ex-
cess of rent actually due from him.
poinette, ». Seepoynet.
poing (pwan),re. [P., the fist, = Bp.pufio = Fg.
punho = It. pugno, < L. pugnus, fist.] In her.,
a fist or closed hand used as a bearing.
Poinsettia (poin-set'i-a), n. [NL. (Graham,
1836), named after Joel R. Poinsett, American
minister to Mexico, who discovered the plant
there in 1828.] 1. A former genus of Ameri-
can apetalous plants of the order Euphorbiacew
and tribe Euphorbiese, now included as a section
of the vast genus Euphorbia. — 2. [I. c] The
Euphorbia (Poinsettia) pulcherrima, a plant
much cultivated in conservatories. It Is con-
spicuous for the lai'ge scarlet floral leaves surrounding its
crowded yellowish cymes of small flowers, and is much
used for decoration, especially in churches. Also called
Christmas-JUmer or EasterJImmr, in England lobster-flower
and Mexican flame-leaf, and in Mexleo flora depasqua.
pointi (point), n. and a. [< ME. point, poynt,
pointe, poynte; < (a) OF. point, poinct, puint, P.
point, m., a point, dot, full stop, period, speck,
hole, stitch, point of time, moment, difficulty,
etc., = S'p.punto = Pg.ponto = It. punto, m., =
OPries. punt, pont = D.punt = MLG. punte, LG.
punt, piltit=MK(jr.punct,pwn.i,p^nete,punte, G.
punkt = laeLpunktr = Sw. Daii.punJct, a point,
< h.punctum, a point, puncture, spot on dice.
point
small part or weight, moment, point in space
etc., prop, a hole punched in, neut. oipnnctm
pp. ofpttJifl'ere, prick, pierce, punch: seej)«ncfti'
pungent (cf. L. punctus (punctur), a prielcing'
stinging, also a point, < pungere, prick, punch)'
(6) < OP. pointe, poincte, puinte, P. pointe, t.',
a point, bodkin, small sword, place, etc., also
sharpness, pungency, etc., = Sp. punta = Pg.
ponta = It. punta, f., < ML. puncta, t., a point
etc., fern, of L. punctus, pp. of pungere, prick'
pierce, punch : see above.] I, n. 1. The sharp
end of something, as of a thorn, pin, needle,
knife, sword, etc.
With the egge of the knyfe youre trenchere vp be ye
reysande
As nyghe the poynt as ye may.
SaheesBook (E. E. T. S,), p. 138.
Eight torky arrows from this hand have fled,
And eight bold heroes by tbeix pmnts lie dead.
Pope, Iliad, viiL 362.
This barbed the point of P.'s hatred.
Dickens, Great Expectations, IL 217.
2. That which tapers to or has a sharp end; a
tapering thing with a sharp apex, (at) A sword.
Why, I will learn you, by the true judgment of the eye,
hand, and foot, to control any eaemy's point in the world.
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, i. 4.
(h) In etching, an engraving-tool consisting of a metallic
point, a sewing-needle or a medium embroidery-needle,
or a rat-tail file ground to an evenly rounded tapering
point, not too sharp if intended for use on an etiching.
ground, but much more trenchant if it is to be employed
in dry-point on the bare copper.
There were also many fragments of boxwood, on which
were designs of exquisite beauty, drawn with thepoilit.
C. T. Newton, Art and Archseol., p. 879.
(c) In printing, a projecting pin on a press for marking
the register by perforating the paper, (d) A small dia-
mond or fragment of a diamond used for cutting glass.
(e) A punch used by stone-masons to form naiTow ridges
in the face of a stone which is to be afterward dressed
down. (/) A wedge-shaped chisel tor nigging ashler, (j)
A triangular piece of zinc for holding glass in the Bash oe-
fore the putty is put in. (h) pi. In rail., the switches oi
movable guiding-rails at junctions or stations. [Eng.]
For horse traction fixed poi/nts of chilled cast-iron or
steel are sufficient, as the driver can turn his horses and
direct the car on to either line of rails.
Encye. Brit., XXIII, 507.
(i) A branch of a deer's antler. See anUer.
He was a fine buck of eight paints.
T. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips.
(j) In hackgawmon, one of the narrow tapering spaces
on which the men are placed, (k) pi. Spurs or stout nee-
dles suitably fastened in a flat board, on which printed
fleets are placed by passing the needles through the
point-holes ; this is done to insure the exact cutting of
printed sheets that have uneven margins. Knight, Book-
binding.
3. A salient or projecting part; a part of an
object projecting abruptly from it, as a peak
or promontory from the land or coast.
And the sayde yle Cirigo is directely ayenat the poj/ni of
Capo Maleo in Morrea.
Sir R. Guylfarde, Pylgrymage, p. 13.
The splintered painU of the crag are seen.
With water howling and vexed between.
Whitlier, Mogg Megone.
4. A salient feature or physical peeidiarity;
especially, a feature which determines the ex-
cellence of an animal; characteristic; trait.
So remarkable was their resemblance [two horses] in
points, action, and color that . . . even the grooms came
out to see. J. W. Palmer, After his Kind, p. 226.
5. The salient feature of a story, discourse,
epigram, or remark ; that part or feature of a
saying, etc., which gives it application; the
directly effective part; hence, the possession
of sucji a feature ; force or expression general-
ly: as, he failed to see the point of the joke;
his action gave point to his words.
Every author has away of his own in bringing his jimnte
to bear. Stenie, Tristram Shandy, i. 9.
Both her [Madame de Lieven's] letters and her conver-
sation are full of poird, OreviUe, Memoirs, Feb. 8, 1819.
An epigram now is a short satire closing with a point of
■wit. /. Disraeli, Amen, of Lit., H. 362.
6. The precise question or matter in dispute or
under consideration ; the principal thing to he
attended to ; the main difficulty to be met or oh-
viated: as, these are side issues — let us come
to the point.
He maintained, which was in fact the point at issue,
that the opinions held at that day by the Quakers were
the same that the Ranters had held long ago.
Sttuthey, Bunyan, p. 42.
" You haven't told me about the Greek yet," says Charles
Wall, clinging to the point.
W. M. Baiter, New Timothy, p. 115.
7. An indivisible part of an argument, nar-
rative, or account; a particular; a detail; an
item. See at all points and in point of, below.
Where she no point had of difliame no dais.
Ram. ofPartenay, 1. S392.
point
Bat fcr y am a lewed man, parannter y migte
Passeii par aventure & in som poynt erren.
Piers Ploummn's Crede (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 846.
Told liim every poynt how he was slayn.
Chatuxr, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 202.
Bat in what particular points the oracle wa^ in faith I
Itnow not Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, L
You are now beyond all our fears, and have nothing to
take heed on your self but fair ladies. A pretty point of
security, and such a one as all Germany cannot afford.
iSir John SueUing, Letters (1648)i p. 86.
8. Particular end, aim, purpose, or concern;
object desired : as, to gain one's point.
The constant design of both these oratora, in all their
speeches, was, to drive some one particular ^oin^.
Sw^, To a Young Clergyman.
Our Swain,
A very hero till his point was gained.
Proved all unable to support Uie weight
Of prosperous fortune.
Wordsieorth, Excursion, vi
I suppose the point of the exhibition lay in hearing the
notes of love and jealousy warbled with the lisp of child-
hood ; and in very bad taste that point was.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xL
The rain always made a point of setting in just as he had
some out-door work to do. Irving, Rip Van Winkle.
9t. Case; condition; situation; state; plight.
He departed that Ryvere In 360 smale Kyveres, because
that he had sworn that he scholde putte the Ryvere in
eache poyrU that a Woman myghte wel passe there with-
outen castynge of hire Clothes.
MandevUle, Travels, p. 41.
He was a lord ful fat and' in good poynt.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 136.
And over yere thai wol been in goode pointe,
Withouten scorf or scalle in cors or jointe.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 154.
Amaunt be-thonght hym that he myght 6ome neuer in
better iMj/nt to conquere his Castell that he so longe hadde
loste, and sente after peple. M^in (E. E. T. 8.X ii. 3S0.
lOf. A deed or feat; an exploit.
Yf thow durst, par ma fay,
A poynt of armys undyrtake,
Thow broke her wille fore ay.
Torrent of Portugal, p. 36. {Baaiwett.)
11. A mark made by the end of a sharp in-
strument, such as a pin, needle, pen, etc.; a
dot or other sign to mark separation, to mea-
sure from, etc. Specifically— (a) A mark of punctua-
tion ; a character used to mark the divisions of composi-
tion, or the pauses to be observed in reading or speaking,
as the comma (,), the semicolon (;), the colon (:), and espe-
cially the period or full stop (.).
There abruptly it did end,
Without t\ji)l point, or other Cesure right.
Spervtefr, F. Q., It. x. 68.
Who shall teach the propriety and nature of points and
accents of letters? , Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 168.
But thy Name all the Letters make ;
Whate er 'tis writ, 1 find That there,
like Points and Comma's ev'ry where.
Cowley, The Mistress, The Thiet
Hence — (6) A stop ; a conclusion ; a period.
And ther a pount; for ended is my tale.
Chaucer, Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 469.
(c) A diacritical mark, indicating a vowel, or other modi-
fication of sound : especially in Hebrew, Arabic, etc. (d)
A dot used in writing numbei's — (1) inserted after the
units' place to show where the decim£us begin (specifically
called a deeimal point) ; or (2) placed over a repeating de-
cimal, or over the first and last figures of a circulating de-
cunal : thus, | = .84 ; SJ = 1.256t ; or (3) used to separate a
series of figiires representing a number Into periods of a
certain number of figures each, (e) In musical notation, a
dot affixed to a note, either after it^ to increase its time-
value (see dot}, or above or below it, as a sign of a staccato
effect (see staccato), if) A speck or spot ; a jot ; a trace ;
hence, figuratively, a very small quantity.
The! cowde not in hym espi no poynte of covetise.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 106.
12. An object having position but not exten-
sion, (a) A place having spatial position but no size;
the uninterrupted common limit of four three-dimensional
4 POINIV
5 Point.
We sometimes speak of space, or do suppose a, point in
it^ at such a distance from any part of the universe. Locke.
All rays proceeding from a point pass through a single
point after reflexion, because they undergo a change in
their direction greater In proportion as the point of the
mirror struck is distant from the principal axis.
Lom/mel, Light (trans.), p. 42.
(fi) In astron., a certain place marked in the heavens, or
distinguished for its importance in astronomical calcula*
tions : as, vertical points (the zenith and the nadir) ; equi-
noctial ^nte; solstitial jointe. (c) In persp., any defini-
tive position with reference to the perspective plane : as,
point of sight ; vanishing-^omt. (d) That which has posi-
tion in tune, but no definite continuance ; an instant of
time.
And a-noon as he was comen his felowes recouered that
were in pointe to leve place. Merlin (B. E. T. S.), ill. 459.
The period of his [Henry V.'s] accession is described as
a point of time at which his character underwent some
Bort of change. Stubbs, Const Hist, § 645.
13. Precise limit or degree; especially, the
precise degree of temperature : as, the boiling-
point of water.
4583
Oh, furious desire, how like a whirlwind
Thou bnrriest me beyond mine honour's point !
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Malta, 1 1.
They [the Jesuits] appear to have discovered the precise
point to which intellectual culture can be carried without
risk of intellectual emancipation.
Macaiday, Hist Eng., vt
14. A small unit of measurement, (a) A linear
nnlt, the tenth part of a geometrical line, the twelfth part
of a French line. (&) In typog., a
type-founding unit of measure ; m
the United States about one seven-
ty-second of an inch. It regulates
the bodies and defines numerically
different sizes of types. The body
of pica, for Instance, Is 12 points
in size, and the new designation
for pica is 12 jKtint. The French
(Didot) point is larger. Twelve
points French are nearly equal to
thirteen points American. The
point system was introduced in
1737 by Foumier the younger, a
type-founderof Paris. As made by
him, this point was not a regular
fraction of any legally prescribed
measure. Frangois-Ambroise Di-
dot readjusted this point as a
fraction of the standard royal foot,
in which form It was gradually
accepted by the printing-trades of
France and Germany. The Ameri-
can point was adopted by the
United States Type-Founders' As-
sociation in 1883, and made of
smaller size, to prevent a too
marked disturbance of the sizes
then In regular use. Theoldnames
of types and their relation to each other are shown by
the number of points assigned to each size In the follow-
ing table:
FoiDts. Name of Type.
3 Excelsior
3^... Brilliant
4 — Semi-brevier
4^.. .Diamond
5 Pearl
5J... Agate
6 — Nonpareil
7 Minion
8 Brevier
9 Bourgeois
10 Long primer
11.... Small pica
12.... Pica
Points. Name of Type.
14 English
16 Two-line brevier
18 Great primer
20 Paragon
22 Two-line small pica
24 Two-line pica
28 Two-line English
32 Four-line brevier
36. . . . Three-line pica
40 Double paragon
44 Four-line small pica
48 — Four-line pica.
(c) Naut., an angular unit, one eighth of a right angle, or
llj", being the angle between adjacent points of the com-
pass (see compass, n., 7): as, to bring the ship up half a
I find the compass of their doctrine took In two and
thirty points. Surift, Tale of a Tub, viil.
15. A unit of fluctuation of price per share or
other standard of reference on the exchanges,
etc. In stock transactions in the United States a point
Is SI (or In Great Britain £1); in coffee and cotton it is
the hundredth part of a cent, and in oil, grain, pork, etc.,
one cent : as, Erie preferred has declined five points; cof-
fee has gone up WO poims.
In the afternoon there had been one of the usual flurries
in the " street" Zenith and Nadir preferred had gone off
tiaee points. The Century, XXXVIII. 209.
16. A unit of count in a game (compare def.
19) ; hence, an advantage in any struggle : as, I
have gained a point.
Charles's impudence and bad character are gresA points
in my favour. Sheridan, School for Scandal, iv. 2.
1 7. Injnquet, the number of cards in the longest
suit of a hand: as, what is yonv point? Six. —
18. In tece-waftme/, needle-point lace: as, Alen-
con point; Dresden point; a collar of point.
See cut under lace. Used in the plural, the term de-
notes lace, especially fine lace in general : as, a christen-
ing-robe trimmed with French poinJts; especially so used
in the eighteenth century. In such phrases as ' ^ he Is well In
jointe"— that is, well supplied with lace. Point is also
used freely in English in connection with the decorative
arts (as a tapestry of Beauvais point), referring to some
peculiar kind of work, and Is even applied to bobbin-
lace and the like. It also denotes vaguely a pattern or
a feature of a pattern in works of embroidery and the
like, usually in connection with the stitch or the peculiar
method of work which produces it. Thus, devteUe, point
d'Angleterre, means literally lace, English style of work,
but the phrase English point is more often used for it
causing great confusion with the proper bense of needle-
point lace. See lace.
We shall all ha' bride-laces
Or points. B. Janson, Tale of a Tub, i. 2.
19. A lace with tags at the end.
Such laces, about eight Inches long, con-
sisting often of three differently colored
strands of yam twisted together and hav-
ing their ends wi-apped with iron, were
used in the middle ages to fasten the
clothes together, but gave place to but-
tons in the seventeenth century. They
were also made of silk or leather. They
or their tags were much used as small
stakes in gaming, as forfeits, counters, points in Costume,
and gratuities —uses explaining many
allusions In old writers, especially the flguratlve use of
the word for a smaU value, or a thing of small value.
point
AI in a kirtel of a lyght waget,
Ful faire and thikke been the poyntes set.
Chaucer, MiUer's Tale, 1. 136.
I pray yow bryng hom poynis and lasys of silk for you
and me. Paston Letters, II. 358.
He made his pen of the aglet of a point that he plucked
from his hose. Latimer, 4th Sermon bef . Edw. VI., 1549.
In matters not worth a blewe poijic* ... we will spare
for no cost Udall, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 8.
Bull large of limbe and every joint
He was, and cared not for God or man SipoitU.
Spenser, F. Q., I. ii 12,
20. A fastening resembling a tagged lacing.
(a) A short narrow strip of leather sewed to any part of
harness to form a buckling-strap. (b) Naiit., a short piece
of rope or sennit used In reefing sails. See reefing-point.
21. In fencing, a stab or puncture with the
point of a sword ; a blow with the button of the
foU when properly directed : as, he can give me
three points in ten (i. e., he can make ten hits
or points on me while I make seven on him). —
22. In her.: (a) One of the nine recognized
positions on the shield which denote the local-
B
D
t
The Nine Points of the Shield.
A, dexter chief point; B, chief point; c, sinister chief point; D,
honor point; E,fesse-point; F.nombril; G, base or flank point ; H.,
dexter base point ; I, sinister base point
ity of figures or charges. (6) The middle part
of either the chief or the base as distinguished
from the dexter and sinister cantons, (c) A
bearing which occupies the base of the es-
cutcheon. It Is usually considered as a pile reversed—
that is, rising from the base and reaching to the upper
edge of the escutcheon ; but It is very often of less height,
reaching only to the fesse-point or to the nombrll, and
sometimes is merely the base itself bounded by a hori-
zontal line separating it from the rest of the field. Plain
point Is especially treated In the way last mentioned.
The bearing Is very rare in English armory, and hence
some writers treat it as synonymous with base, and
others as synonymous with pUe reversed. It is also cus-
tomary to represent the sides of the sharply angled point
as concavely curved, while those of the pile are straight.
(d) A division of the field barwise: thus, three
points gules, argent, and azure, means that the
field is divided into three horizontal stripes, of
which the uppermost is red, the middle one
silver, etc. — 23t. Ordinance; law; act.
The comyns of this present veld aflermen and enacte alle
the poyntes of this yeld, for the grete ease, pease, profltg,
and tranquillte of the Cyte.
English Cfilds (B. E. T. S.), p. 404.
24t- A slur; an indignity.
But the triet men of Troy traltur hym cald.
And monypoinUes on hym put for his pure shame.
That disseruet full duly the dethe for to haue.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7900.
25. The action or attitude of a dog in pointing
game: as, he comes to a. jyoint well.
In the pointer and setter, the fit almost always occurs
just after a paint, the excitement of which appears to act
upon the brain. Logs of Great Brit, and America, p. 349.
26. In games: (a) In cricket, a fielder who stands
at a short distance to the right of the batsman,
and slightly in front of him. See diagram
under cricket^. (6) In lacrosse, a player who
stands a short distance in front of the goal,
and whose duty is to prevent the ball from
passing through the goal, (c) pi. In base-ball,
the position occupied by the pitcher. — 27. A
thing to be pointed at, or the mere act of
pointing; especially, a flitch of bacon or the
like, wmch is not eaten, but only pointed at
as a pretense for seasoning: as, to dine on
potatoes and point (that is, on nothing but po-
tatoes): a jocular expression in vogue in Ire-
land.
Their universal sustenance is the root named potato,
. . . generally without condiment or relish of any kind,
save an unknown condiment named point.
Carlyle, Sartor Resartus.
28t. A particular signal given, as by the blast '
of a trumpet or the beat of a drum; hence, a
note ; a call.
On a sudden we were alarmed with the noise of a drum,
and immediately entered my little godson to give me a
poi-nt of wax. Steele, latler, 'Ko. 9h.
The trumpets and kettledrums of the cavalry were next
heard to perform the beautiful and wild point of war, ap-
propriated as a signal for that piece of nocturnal duly.
Scott, Waverley, xlvi.
29. In music, the entrance of a voice or an in-
strument with an important theme or motive.
—Accidental point. See o«*fen«<ri.— Acting point. In
physics, the exact point at which any Impulse is given. —
point
Alen^on point. See Alenton lace, under lace. — Alveolax
point. See alveolar, and cut under craniomefr!/.— Ap-
parent double point. See osparent.— Archimedean
point, the initiEU recognition of one's own existence as
given in consciousness : so called because this was sup-
posed to supply the necessary point or fulcrum of indu-
bitable fact on which to raise the structure of philosophy.
—Armed at all points. See armed.— At all points
(formerly ofallpotntsX in every particular; completely.
The thirde was Monevall, that was a noble knyght and
nchely armed of alle poijites. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 562.
Young Eustace is a gentleman at all points,
And his behaviour attable and courtly.
Fletcher (and another), Elder Brother, iii. 1.
At or in (the) point, on the point; ready; about (to):
sometimes used with on or upon.
My son in point is for to lete
The holy lawes of oure Alkaron.
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 233.
And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die ; and
what profit shall this birthright do to me? Gen. xxv. 32.
I knock'd and, bidden, enter'd ; found her there
.4(jj)min«tomove. reranj/son, Princess, iii.
At (or on) the point of, in the act of ; very near to : as,
on the point of leaving ; at the point qf death.
Shah Alum had Invested Fatna, and was ore tMpaini of
proceeding to storm. Macavlay, Lord Clive.
Auricular point. See aurieular, and cut under cran^
om«e»v— Base point, in her. See def. 22 (a).— Bone-
point, a name given to some rich varieties of rose point-
lace— it is said because of its appearance as if richly
sculptured in ivory or bone. See 6oree-toce.— BreaWng-
POint, in engineering, mechanics, etc., the degree of stoain
under which a structure or part will give way.— Cardinal
point, (a) One of the four points of the horizon, due
north, south, east, and west. (b)lnastrol. See cardinal, (c)
, In optics, six points on the axis of a lens or system of lenses,
I including (1) two focal poi-ntSj which are the foci for paral-
f lei rays ; (2) two Twdal points, so situated that an incident
ray through one emei^es in a parallel direction through the
other ; (3) two principal points — those points on the axis
through which the so-called principal planes pass : these
planes are parallel to the axis, and so situated that the line
joining the points in which an incident ray meets the first
and the corresponding emergent ray meets the second is
parallel lo the axis ; under certain conditions the principal
points may coincide with the nodal points. — Conical, con-
jugate, consecutive, corresponding, etc., points. See
the adjectives.— Critical point. See critical.— Cut over
point, in fencing. See cut, n. — Cut point, cut work or
cut-and-drawn work, a phrase adapted from the French
point coujpd.— Dead-point, in mech. See dead-center.-
Decimal, diacritical, diagonal, doable point. See the
adjectives.— English point. See JEnglish point-lace (a),
under Joce.— Equinoctial points. See eguinoctiaZ.-
Fixed point, in mech., a center around which any part
moves.— From point to point, from one particular to
another.
He can al devyse
Fro pHnt to point, nat o word wol he faille.
Chaucer, Monk's Tale, 1. 472.
Frontal points. Same as antise.— Genoa, point, a kind
of bobbin-made guipure, especially that which has a
r^seau instead of detached and irregular brides for its
ground.— Heads and points. See Aead.— Imaginary
point. See imo^narj;.— Indented in point. See ire-
oented.- Index of a point. See index.— In good pointt
[OF. en hon poind: see emhanpoint\, in good case or con-
dition. See def. 9.— In point, (ot) See at point. (6) Ap-
plicable ; apposite ; appropriate ; exactly fitting the case.
When history, and particularly the history of our own
countiy, furnishes anything like a case in point, ... he
will take advantage of it. Sheridan, The Critic, ii. 1.
In point Of, as regards ; with respect or regard to.
If 1 transgress in point of manners, afford me
Your best construction.
£. Jormm, Devil is an Ass, iii. 1.
Providence had created the inhabitants of the peninsula
of India under many disadvantages in paint of climate.
Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. 371.
In point of fact, as a matter of fact; in fact.
Inpaint offaA, he expired about half -past four that same
afternoon. R. H. J). Barham, Memoir of K. H. Barham
[(Ingoldsby Legends, I. 116).
Irish point. See irfeAi.—Jugal point. See craniome-
tn«.— Cimiting points. See Jimft.- Lubber's point.
Same as IvJbier-line.- Lunistitial points. See lunistitial.
— Malar point. See crnmometrj/.- Mental, metoptic,
multiple, nasal, navel point. Seethe quaiifyingwords.
— Needle-point, needle-made lace: a phrase especially
applied to Alengon and Argentan laces, as being formerly
the only important French laces and the only fashionable
ones not made with the bobbins. See under lace. — Neu-
tralization point. See neutralization, 1. — Neutral
points, points on the commutator of a dynamo upon which
the collecting brushes rest : generally the extremities of a
diameter at right angles to the resultant lines of force. —
Nodal points. See mdaJ.- Objective, occipital, ori-
ginal, parabolic point. See the adjectives.- Pamful
points, points painful on pressure, occurring in many
cases of neuralgia in the course of any aifected nen'e:
described by VallSix In 1841.— Petit polut. Same as
««)!«■«(»(<!*.— Pinch points. SeeptncA.— Point4,brides.
(a) The ground of lace when made of brides or bars. (6)
Lace having a bride ground, as opposed to that having
a rSseau ground.— Point appliqu^. See appliqud.—
Point k, r^seau, lace which has a net ground worked
together with the pattern, as is the case with Mechlin.
—Point at infinity. See infinity, 3.— Point d'Alen-
con. Same as Alenton lace (which see, under lace).
— Point d'Angleterre. See English point-lace (a), \m-
der 2(t<x.— Point d'appul. See oopMi.- Point d' Ar-
gentan. Same as Argentan lace (which see, under lac^.
— Point de gaze, a very fine needle-made ground for
lace, generally identified with the finest Brussels lace
when wholly made with the needle.- Point de raccroc.
4584
a method of fastening together the different pieces of lace
as in Brussels and Bayeux laces : it is not sewing, but a
fresh row ot meshes imitating in part the ground of the
lace.— Point d'esprit, in lace-making: (a) Origmally, a
small oval figure occurring in various kinds of guipure,
and usually consisting of three short lengths of cord or
parchment laid side by side and covered with the thread ;
such ovals were arranged in various patterns, but espe-
cially in rosettes, (b) A much smaller solid or mat sur-
face, square or oblong, used to diversify the net ground of
certain laces.— Point de Valenciennes. Same as Va-
lenciennes lace (which see, under lace).— Point de velln.
Same as vellum ^oJn«.— Point diamond. See dmmend.
— Point duchesse. Same as duchesse lace (which see, un-
der iace).— Point for point, in detail; precisely ; exactly.
This sergeaunt cam unto his lord ageyn,
And ot Grisildes wordes and hir chere
He tolde him point for point.
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 62L
Point impaled, in her., a point divided vertically or pale-
wise, the two parts of different tinctures.— Point of al-
teration or duplication, in medieval musicat natation,
a dot placed after and properly above the first of two short
notes in perfect rhythm as a sign that the second note
after it is long.— Poiut of attack, that part of a defend-
ed position which is chosen for the main assault or onset;
in siege operations, that part of the defenses which must
be reduced in order to force the garrison to surrender.
Up to that time I had felt by no means certain that
Crump's landing might not be the point qf attack.
tj. S. Qrant, Personal Memoirs, I. 336.
Point Of coincidence. See ednddencc—'SoinXi of con-
trary flexure, a point on a plane curve at which a tan-
gent moving along the curve ceases to turn in one direction
and- begins to tm-n in the opposite way.— Point Of day,
dawn ; daybreak, [Obsolete or poeticsd.]
So shall I sey to alle the princes that thei be redy at
the poynte of day for to ride. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 686.
Point of dispersion, in optics, that point from which the
rays begin to diverge, commonly called the virtual focus.
— Point of distance. See distance.— Point of division
or imperfection, in medieval musical flotation, a dot
placed between two short notes to indicate a rhythmic
division like that marked by the modern bar. — Point of
election. See election. — Point Of fall, in gun., the point
first struck by the projectile. Tidball, Manual of Artil*
lery.— Point of fusion Of metals. See/im'™.- Point
of honor, (a) See honor, (b) In her., a point in the es-
cutcheon immediately above the center : also called the
heart — Point of horse, in mining, the spot where a
vein, as of ore, is divided by a mass of rock into one or
more branches. — Point of incidence, in optics, that point
on a surface upon which a ray of light falls.— Point of
law, a specific legal principle or rule. The term is gen-
erally used to indicate a discriminating application, or the
precise effect on a given state of facts, of the appropriate
legal principle or provision.— Point of magnetic indif-
ference. See inagnetic. — Point Of order, in deliherative
bodies, a question raised as to whether proceedings are in
conformity with parliamentary law and with the special
rules ot the particular body itself.— Point Of osculation.
See o8«rfatiore.— Point Of perfection, in medieval musical
notation, a dot placed after a long note in triple or per-
fect rhythm to prevent its being made duple or imperfect
by position.— Point Of reflection, in optics, the point
from which a ray is reflected.— Point Of refraction, in
optics, that point in the refracting surface where the re-
fraction takes place.— Point Of regard, the point at
which the eye is directly looking. Its image falls in the
middleof the maculaluteaot the retina.—Polnt Of sight.
Same as point of vision.
Therefore, as in perspective, so in tragedy, there must
be SL point of sight in which all the lines terminate, other-
wise the eye wanders, and the work is false.
Dryden, Grounds of Criticism in Tragedy.
Point of view, a position from which one looks, or from
which a picture is supposed to be taken ; hence, the state of
mind, or predisposition, which consciously or unconscious-
ly modifies the consideration of any subject. — Point of
vision, the position from which anything is observed, or is
represented as being observed ; the position of the eye of
the observer. Also called point of sight, point of view, cen-
ter of^ projection, center of vision, etc. — Point plat, in Zace-
making. (a) Flowers or sprigs of bobbin-work, as opposed
to needle-point work. See plat3, - , 2. (S) Application-
lace in which such pillow-made flowers are applied to a
net ^round. See applicatioii^lace and Brussels lace (both
und Jace).— Points and pins, an old game similar to
skittles.- Points Of support, in arch., those points or
sm'faces on the plan of the piers, walls, columns, etc., upon
which an edifice rests, or in which the various pressures
are collected and met.— Points of the compass. See
compass, re., 7.— Polnt-to-point, in a straight line ; across
country.
To test a good hunter there is nothing like a four-mile
point-tn-point steeplechase. Edinburgh Rev. , CLXVI. 409.
Porlstic points. See poristic.— 'PoweT of points, in
elect., the effect of fine points in promoting electrical dis-
charge. The density (electrical) at any point of a charged
body is inversely as the radius of curvature, and is, there-
fore, relatively great at the extremity of a fine point. When
it reaches a certain limit, the electricity escapes easily,
and charged bodies may thus be silently dischai'ged.-
Principal points, in optics, of a lens or a combination
of lenses, the two points on the optical axis which possess
the property (among others) that the line drawn from the
first principal point to any point in the object is parallel
to the line drawn from the second principal point to the
corresponding point in the image. The angle subtended
by the object at the first principal point, therefore, equals
that subtended by the image at the second. Gauss first
discovered these points, and introduced the term Haupt-
punkt, of which principal point is the translation.— Rose-
poiut, in lace-mMking, the peculiar style identified with
Venetian needle-point lace of the early part of the seven-
teenth century. The patteni is rather large, with beau-
tifully designed conventional flowers, and is especially dis-
tinguished by the decided relief which is given to it, so that
it is often said to resemble carved ivory. The pattern is
point
so distributed that there is but little space for the ground
to occupy, and this ground is composed of large brides or
bars decorated with picots.- Spanish point, galloons
and passements of silk, sUk and gold, silver, and Uie like
which were in demand during the latter part ot the seven-
teenthand in theeighteenth century. Muchofitwasmade
In the Spanish Netherlands, and much also in Genoa.—
Spinal point. See craniometry.— SutmSiBaX, supra-
auricular, supraclavicular, etc., point. See the ad-
jectives, and cut under cranwnwft^.-Supranasal point
Same as ophryon.— Supraorbital point. Same as oph-
ryon.—Tbe Five Articles and the Five Points, see
artwle.— To back a point, in sporting, to come to a point
on observing that action in another dog : said of pointers
and setters.— To be at a pointt, to be determined or re-
solved.
Be al a point with yourselves, as the disciples of Christ
which had forsaken themselves, to follow not your will
but God's will.
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc, 1853), II. 120.
To blow heads and points. See head.— To cast a
point of traverse. See casti.— To come to points*,
to fight with swords.
They would have come to points immediately, had not
the gentlemen interposed.
SmoUett, Sir L. Greaves, iii. (Davies.)
To control the point. See control.— To give points to.
(a) To give odds to ; have the advantage of.
Any average Eton boy could give points to his Holiness
in the matter of Latin verses. The American, 1883, VI. 333.
(6) To give a valuable or advantageous hint, indication, or
piece of information to : as, he can give us points on that
subject. [Slang.]— To make a point, (a) To rise in the
air with a peculiar motion over the spot Where quarry ia
concealed : said of a hawk, (b) To make a particular de-
sired impression ; "score."— To make a point Of, to be
resolved to (do something) and do it accordingly; insist
upon : as, to met,ke a point of rising early. — TO polntt, in
every detail ; completely.
A f aithlesse Sarazin, all armde to point.
Spenser, F. Q., I. ii. 12.
Hast thou, spirit
Feriorm'd to point the tempest that 1 bade thee?
Shak., Tempest, i. 2. 194.
To stand upon points, to be punctilious ; be ovemice or
over-scrupulous.
This fellow doth not stand upon points.
Shak., M. N. D., v. 1. 118.
To strain a point, to exceed the reasonable limit; make
an exception or concession, as of a rale in business, or a
position in an argument. — !nressed point, a lace made of
human hair.— Trltactlc, quadritactic, quinquetactic,
sextactlc, etc., point, a point where two plane curves
have three, four, five, six, etc., consecutive points in com-
mon.— Vellum point, lace worked on a pattern drawn
on parchment, to correspond with which the main lines
of the threads are laid ; hence, needle-point lace of almost
any sort.— Venice point. Same as rose-point: indicating
both the lace itself and the method of working it.— Vowel
points, in the Hebrew and other Eastern alphabets, cer-
tain marks placed above or below the consonants, or at-
tached to them, as in the Ethiopic, representing the vocal
sounds or vowels which precede or follow the consonant
sounds. *
II, a. Made with the needle: said of lace.
Compare' needle-point.
The principal point (i. e., strictly, needle-made) laces are
the ancient laces of Italy, Spain, and Poriugal, and the
more modern lace of France, called point d'Alen?on.
Industrial Arts (S. K. Handbook), p. 261.
pointi (point), V. [< ME. pointen, poynten, <
OF. (and F. ) pointer, poynter, aXso poinUer = Pr.
ponchar = Sp. puntar, also puntuar = Pg. pon-
tuar z= It. puntare, point, = D. pvnten, point,
sharpen, punteren, stipple, point, dot, = MLG.
punten, appoint, settle, fix, = G.punkten, piirik-
ten (also punktieren, punetieren = Sw. punktera
= Dan. punktere, < ¥.), point, punctuate, stip-
ple, dot, < Mil. pumctare, also punetuare, prick,
punch, point, mark, < L. punctwm, neut., pvne-
tus, m., a point : see points, «.] I, trans. If. To
prick with a pointed instrument ; pierce.
Af tirward they prile and poynten
The folk right to the bare boon.
Rom. of the Rote, 1. 1058.
2. To supply or adorn with points. See point,
n., 19.
And pointed on the shoulders for the nonce^
As new come from the Belgian garrisons.
Bp. HaU, Sathes.
3. To mark with characters for the purpose of
separating the members of a sentence and in-
dicating the pauses ; punctuate : as, to point a
written composition. — 4. To direct toward an
object; aim: as, to point a gun; to point the
finger of scorn at one.
The girl recognized her own portrait without the slight-
est embarrassment, and merely painted her pencil at her
master. H. W- Preston, Year in Eden, viii.
5. To direct the observation or attention of.
Whosoever should be guided through his battles by
Minerva, and pointed to every scene of them, would see
nothing but subjects of surprise. Pope.
6. To indicate; show; make manifest: often
with out.
But 0 vaine Judgement, and conditions vaine.
The which the prisoner points unto the free !
Spenser, F. Q., IV, xii. IL
point
An. What will you do, Fhilaster, with yourself?
PhU. Why, that which all the gods have pointed out for
me. Beau, and Fl., Philaster, i. 2.
And will ye be sae kind, fair may.
As come out and point my way ?
The Broom qf Cawdenlmowa (Child's Ballads, IV. 46).
What a generous ambition has this man pointed to us l
Steele, latler. No. 261.
7. To indicate the purpose or point of.
If he means this ironically, it may be truer than he
thinks. He points it, however, by no deviation from his
Btnughcforward manner of speech. Dickens.
p. To give in detail ; recount the particulars of.
Of what wight that stant in swich disjoynte.
His wordes alle or every look to poynte.
Chaucer, Troilus, lii. 497.
9. In masonry, to fill the joints of (brickwork or
stonework) with mortar, and smooth them with
the point of a trowel : as, to point a wall : often
with up.
Point all their chinky lodgings round with mud.
Addison, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, iv.
10. To give a point to ; sharpen; forge, grind,
file, or cut to a point : as, to point a dart or a pin ;
also, to taper, as a rope (see below). Hence —
11. Figuratively, to give point, piquancy, or
vivacity to ; add to the force or expression of.
There is a kind of drama in the forming of a story, and
the manner of conducting and poirding it is the same as
in an epigram. Steele, Guardian, No. 42,
Beauty with early bloom supplies
Her daughter's cheek, and points her eyes. Qay.
He left the name at which the world grew pale
To point a moral or adorn a tale.
Johnson, Vanity of Human Wishes, 1. 222.
With joys she'd griefs, had troubles in her course,
But not one grief w& pointed by remorse.
Crabbe, Works, I. 93.
To point a rope, to taper a rope at the end, as by taking
out a few of its yarns, and with these working a mat over
it, forneatness, and for convenience in reeving through a
block. — To point a sail, to rig points through the eye-
let-holes of the reefs in the sail. [Bare.]— To point tJie
leaders, in foar-in-hand driUng, to give the leaders an
intimation with the reins that they are to turn a comer.
—To point the yards of a vessel, to brace the yards up
sharp : often done when steaming, to expose less surface
to the wind.
II. intrans. 1. To indicate direction or di-
rect attention with or as with the finger.
They are portentous things
TJnto the climate that tUey point upon.
Shak.,3. C, i. 3.32.
This fable seems to paint at the secrets of nature.
Bacon, Physical Fables, vii., Expl.
Their neighbors scorn them, Strangers jioj/nt at them,
Dekker, Seven Deadly Sins, p, 15.
Thus having sumarily ^o^nted at things web Mr. Brewster
(I thinke) hath more largly write of to M'. Sobinson, I
leave you to the Lords protection.
Omhman, quoted in Bradford's Plymouth Plantation, p. 38.
2. To lead or direct the eye or the mind in some
specified direction: with to: as, everything
points to his guilt; to point with pride to one's
record.
None of these names can be recognised, but they pofnt
to an age wlien foreign kings, possibly of the Punjab, ruled
this country by satraps.
J. Fergusson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 151.
How latin, together with Greek, the Celtic, the Ten-
tonic, and Slavonic languages, together likewise with the
ancient dialects of India and Persia, points back to an
earlier language, the Mother, if we so may call it, of the
whole Indo-European or Aryan family of speech.
MacmMlan's Mag., I. 35.
Everything painted to a struggle that night or early next
morning. ComhUl Mag., Oct., 1888.
3. To indicate the presence of game by stand-
ing in a stiff position, with the muzzle directed
toward the game. See pointer, 1 (e). — 4. To
show positively by any means.
To point at what time the balance of power was most
equally held between the lords and commons at Rome
would perhaps admit a controversy.
Swift, Contests and Dissensions in Athens and Bome, iii.
5. In surg., to come to a point or head : said of
an abscess when it approaches the surface and
is about to burst. — 6. In printing, to make
point-holes in the operation of printing, or to
attach printed sheets on previously made point-
. holes; in bookbinding, to put printed sheets on
pointing-needles. — 7. Naut., to sail close to
windward : said of a yacht.
point^t (point), V. t. [By apheresis from ap-
point.^ To appoint.
First to his Gate he pointed a strong gard.
Spenser, Miother Hub. Tale, 1. 1116.
Go ! bid the banns &nd point the bridal day.
£p. Hall, Satires, IV. L 124.
Has the dvike pointed him to be his orator ?
Shirley, Love's Cruelty, ii. 2.
pointable (poin'ta-bl), a. [< point + -able.'\
Capable of being pointed, or pointed out.
45 S. 5
Yon know, quoth I, that in Ellas' time, both in Israel
and elsewhere, God's church was not pointable; and there-
fore cried lie out that he was left alone.
J. Bradford, Works (Parker Soc), I. 562. (Davies.)
pointal (poin'tal), n. [< F. pointal, strut, gir-
der, prop, OF. pointal, pointel, apoint, = Sp.jjum-
to?, a prop, stanchion, < ML. as if "punctale (?),
<.1i.punctum,T^oint: seei point. Qt.pointel.'] 1.
A king-post. Imp. Diet. — 2. Same as poititel,
2. — 3. Same a,spointel, 3.
point-blank (point 'blangk'), n. [< P. point
blane, white spot: point, point; blane, white:
see i)0j»<i and 6te»fc.] 1. A direct shot; a shot
with direct aim ; a point-blank shot.
Against a gun more than as long and as heavy again,
and charged with as much powder again, she carried the
same bullet as strong to the mark, and nearer and above
the mark at a. point blank than tbeir's.
Pepys, Diaiy, IV. 156.
2. The second point (that is, that furthest from
the piece) at which the line of sight intersects
the trajectory of a projectile.
When the natural line of sight is horizontal, the point
where the projectile first strikes the horizontal plane on
which the gun stands is the point-blank, and the distance
to the point-blank is the point-blank range.
IT. S. Army Tactics.
poiilt-blank (ponit'blangk'), adv. [An ellipsis
ot at point-blank.'] Directly; straight; with-
out deviation or circumlocution.
This boy will carry a letter twenty mile as easy as a can-
non will shoot point-blank twelve score.
Shak., M. W. of W., iii. 2. 34.
There is no defending of the Fact ; for the Law is point-
blank against it.
N. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 408.
Pointblank, directly, as, an arrow is shot to the point-
blank or white mark. Johnson.
Point-blaTUtipositivement, directement [F.]^ Kecta ad sco-
pum, directis verbis [L,]. Bailey.
Philip has contradicted bim point-blank, until Mr. Hob-
day turned quite red. Thackeray, Philip, xxii.
point-blank (point'blangk'), a. [<. point-blank,
n. and adv.] 1. In gun., having a horizontal
direction: a,s, a, point-blank shot, in poini^blank
shooting the ball is supposed to move directly toward the
object without describing an appreciable curve.
3. Direct ; plain ; explicit ; express : as, a point-
blank denial, — Foint-blank zange, the distance to
which a shot is reckoned to range straight^ without appre-
ciably drooping from the force of gravity.
The difference between the proper method of shooting
at short, that is point blaric, range, and that of shooting at
the great distances used in the York Kound, is radical.
M. and W. Thompson, Archery, p. L
point-circle (point'ser'kl), n. A point consid-
ered as an infinitesimal ou'cle.
point-coordinate (point'ko-6r''di-nat), n. One
of a system of coordinates of points.
point-deincet, point-deviset (point'de-vis'), n.
[< ME. point devys: see point tmd device. No
OF. form of the term appears.] Used only in
the following phrase — At point-device, exactly;
particularly; carefully; nicely.
Whan that the flrste cok hath crowe anon,
tip rist this joly lovere Absolon,
And him arraieth gay, at poynt denys.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, L 503.
Hym self armyd atte poynte-devise.
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), L 3307.
So noble he was of stature,
So falre, so joly, and so fetys.
With lymes wrought at poynt devys,
Dely ver, smert, and ot grete mygh^
Ne sawe thou uevere man so lyght.
Bom. of the Rose, 1. 830.
point-devicet (point'de-vis'), ad's- [By ellip-
sis from at point device^ Same as at point-de-
vice (which see, ■a.nA.eT: point-device, n.).
The wenche she was full proper nyce,
Amonge all other she bare great ^ric^
For sche coude tricke it point device,
But f ewe like her in that countree.
T!ie Miller of AWngUm. {HaUiweU.)
point-de'Tice (point de-vis' ), o. [< point-device,
adv.] Precise; nice; finical; scrupulously neat.
[Obsolete or archaic]
Then your hose should be nngartered, your bonnet un-
handed, your sleeve unbuttoned, your shoe untied, and
every thing about you demonstrating a careless desolation.
But you are no such man ; you are rather jKiint-deirfce in
your accoutrements, as loving yourself, than seeming the
lover of any other. iS*o*., As you Like it, iii. 2. 401.
Men's behaviour should be like their apparel, not too
strait OT paint device, but free for exercise or motion.
Bacon, Ceremonies and Kespecta (ed. 1887).
Otto looked so gay, and walked so airily, he was so well-
dressed and bruAed and frizzled, so poirit-de-vice, and of
such a sovereign elegance.
E. L. Stevenson, Prince Otto, ii. 1.
pointe (F. pron. pwant), n. [F. : see point^.] A
triangular scarf ; a half -shawl folded in a point :
usually of lace or other fine and delicate fabric.
pointed
points (pwaii-ta'), a. [F., pp. oipointei; point,
prick: see pointK] In her., leafed: said of a
flower or plant.
pointed (poin'ted), a. [< points + -ed2.] 1.
Sharp; having a sharp point : as, a,pointed voek.
The various-colour'd scarf, the shield he rears.
The shining helmet, and Qie pointed spears.
Pope, niad, x. 8S.
2. Aimed at or expressly intended for some
particular person; directly applicable or ap-
plied; emphasized: as, a jjoimted remark.
Only ten days ago had he elated her by his pointed re-
gard. Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, xxix.
This is a comprehensive, brief, pointed, and easily un-
derstood exposition of the whole subject.
Science, XII. 229.
3. Epigrammatical; abounding in conceits or
lively turns; piquant; sharp.
His moral pleases, not hia pointed wit.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, n. L 76.
They cast about them their pointed antitheses, and often
subsided into a clink of similar syllables, and the clinch
of an ambiguous word. /. D'lsraeli, Amen, of Lit., II. 362.
Pointed arch, an arch bounded by two arcs each less
than 90% The arch of this form is characteristic of Euro-
pean medieval architecture from the middle of the twelfth
century, though examples of its use occur earlier. Its
logical and consistent use was devised and perfected in
France. The pointed arch of much Oriental architecture
is an Independent development, which never led to the
logical conclusions and constructive methods of the
French pointed architecture. See Pointed style, below.
Gothic ai'chitecture differs from Eomanesque far more
fundamentally than by the use of pointed arches in place
of round arches, or by the substitution of one decorative
system for another.
C. ff. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 7.
Pointed ashler. See ashler, 3.— Pointed box, in mining,
a box in the form of an inverted pyramid, forming one of
a series of three or four, and used for dressing ore accord-
ing to the method devised by Von Kittinger. Also called
a V-vat, and frequently by the German name Spitzkasten
(that is, 'point-box').— Pointed cross, in her., a cross
having every one of its four arms pointed abruptly, or
with a blunt point, differing from the cross fitch6 of all
four, which is like a tour-pointed star.— Pointed style,
in arch., a general phrase under which are included all
the different varieties of advanced medieval architecture,
generally called Gothic, from the common application of
the pointed arch and vault in the twelfth century until the
general diffusion of Renaissance architecture toward the
beginning of the sixteenth century. This style, as fully
developed by the middle of the thirteenth century, exhib-
Pointed Style.— Typical scheme of a fuUy developed French cathe-
dral of the 13th century. (From VioUet-le-Duc's " Diet de I'Archi-
tecture.")
its great flexibility and adaptability to all purposes, and
is thoroughly in accord with the conditions imposed upon
the architect by northern climates, which demand, among
other things, spacious and well-lighted interiors for public
tneetings, and high-pitched roofs which can shed rain
rapidly and upon which heavy masses of snow cannot
lodge. While the pointed arch and vault are the most
obvious characteristics of this style, they are in fact mere-
ly necessary details of it. It is fundamentally a system
of construction in stone in which a skeleton framework
of ribs and props forms the essential organic part of the
building. AH uie weights and strains are collected in a
relatively small number of points, where the loads are sup-
pointed
ported by vertical props or piei's, while the lateral pres-
suresj are counterbalanced by buttresses and flying-but-
tresses. Upon the ribs rest shells of masonry constituting
thn vaults or ceiling, and between those of the props which
fall in the exterior boundary of the building thin Inclosing
walls are carried up, which walls may be, and in the most
perfect examples often are, almost entirely done away
with, giving place to light-transmitting screens of colored
glass supported by a slender secondary framework of stone
and metal. The use of the pointed arch and vault has the
advantage over that of the earlier semicircular forms that
the pressures outward are less strong and more easily
counteracted ; and good examples of the style are as care-
fully studied, and founded upon principles as scientific
and proportions as subtle, as the best Greek work. See
medieval arckUecture, under medieval, for an outline of
the history of the style, and Decorated, Flamiboyant, Per-
paMeular, and Tudor for the characteristics of some of
its varieties. See also early English architecture, under
early.
pointedly (poin'ted-li), adv. In a pointed man-
ner, (a) With point or force ; with lively turns of
thought or expression.
He often wrote too pointedly for his subject. Dryden.
(6) AVith direct assertion ; with expUcitaess ; with direct
reference to a subject.
pointedness (poin'ted-nes), n. 1. The state or
quality of being pointed; sharpness.
High, full of rock, mountain, and pointedness.
B. Jonson, Discoveries.
2. Epigrammatioal smartness or keenness.
In this [you] excel him [Horace], that you add pointed-
ness of thought. Dryden, Ded. of tr. of Juvenal.
pointel (poln'tel), n. [< ME. poyntel, < OF.
pointel, P. jiointeau, a point, priek, = Sp. puntel,
a glass-blowers' pipe, < ML. *xnmctellum, LL.
XmnctiUum, a little point, dim. of L. punctum,
a point: seejjoraA. Gt. ponUl, ponty, eta., &nA.
pointal.'\ 1. A point or sharp instrument ; es-
pecially, such an instrument used in writing ; in
the middle ages, a style used with ivory tablets
or for writing on a soft surface, as of wax.
His felawe hadde a stafe tipped with horn,
A peyre of tables al of yvory.
And a poyntel polysshed f etisly.
And wroot the names alwey as he stood
Of aUe folk that gaf hym any good.
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 34.
Take a scharp poyntel, or a pricke of yren, and peerse
into the wex that hongith in the mouth of the glas agens
the erthe. Book of Quinte Essence (ed. Furnivall), p. 5.
2. Any sharp-pointed thing resembling a pen-
cil, as the pistil of a plant. Also pointal.
It [the basilisk] is not halfe a foot long, and hath three
poinlels{Gtsl&a saith) on the head, or, after Solinus, strakes
like a Mitre. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 560.
A breathless ring was formed about
That sudden flower ; get round at any risk
The gold-rough poinffiZ, silver-blazing disk
O' the lily ! Browning, Sordello.
3. A pavement formed of materials of a loz-
enge shape, or of squares set diagonally. Imp.
Diet. Also pointal.
pointelingt, adv. See pointling.
point-equation (point 'e-kwa'shon), n. An
equation in point-oo6rdinates.
pointer (poin'ter), ». [<j>omil + -erl. Cf. F.
pointeur, < WL.punctator, <.punetare,-poin.t; ef.
Sp. puntero = Pg. ponteiro, < ML. as if *punc-
tonws, < L. |?M»ctom, point : seepoint^.2 1. One
who or that which points. Specifically— (a) One of
the hands of a clock or watch ; the index-hand of a circu-
lar barometer, anemometer, or the like. (6) A long taper-
ing stick used by teachers or lecturers in pointing out
places on a map, or words, figures, diagrams, etc., on a
blackboard, (c) One of a breed of sporting-dogs. A point-
er is a modified hound, of medium size, differing from the
setter in being close-haired. When game is scented the
pointer stands stiffly, with the muzzle raised and stretched
toward the game, the tail straight out behind, and usually
one fore foot raised. Most setters are now trained to this
same action, instead of to drop before game as formerly.
Pointers are usually liver-colored, or liver and white, but
many retain the tan marks of the foxhound, and some are
black. They are used chiefly for hunting birds, and make
excellent retrievers.
The pointer is known to have come originally from Spain.
The Century, XXXI. 122.
(d) pi. With the definite article, the two stars of the con-
stellation Ursa Major which guide the eye of the observer
to the pole-star.
2. A light pole with a black ball on the end
of it, used at the masthead of a whaler when
the boats are down. Macy. — 3. Naut., one of
the pieces of timber fixed fore-and-aft, and
diagonally inside of a vessel's run or quarter,
to connect the stem-frame with the after-body.
See counter^, 4. Also called snake-piece. — 4. A
pointed tool ; especially, one used for cutting,
graving, boring, and the like: a term common
to many trades: as, a stone-cutters' jpoJMier/ a
silversmiths' ^oJ«<ej-. — 5. A tool used by brick-
layers for clearing out the old mortar in point-
ing brickwork. — 6. The lever of a railroad-
switch. — 7. In printing, the woi'kman who ad-
justs sheets by means of the point-holes on a
4586
press. — 8. A hint; an indication; a point; an
item of information which may be used with
advantage : as, pointers in a race or a game.
[Slang.]
pointer-dog (poin't6r-dog), n. Same aspmntei;
1(c).
point-finder (point'fin"d6r), n. In jjersj)., an
instrument employed for determining the van-
ishing-point in making projections.
point-hole (point'hol), n. In prinUng, one of
the needle-holes made in the margins of paper
when printed on the first side or in the first
color. If the sheet is fitted by means of these point-
holes when printing on the second side or in the second
color, the second impression will be in the same position,
or in exact register.
-pointic. An adjectival suffix used in mathe-
matical language. An m-pointic contact is a
contact consisting in two curves having m con-
secutive points in common.
pointilM (F. pron. pwan-te-lya'), a. [F., pp.
of pointiller, dot, stipple, < pointe, point, dot :
see j;oJn<l.] Seeitounced work, under jjowiccdJi.
pointing (poin'ting), n. [Verbal n. of points,
«.] 1. The art of indicating the divisions of a
writing; punctuation. — 2. The marks or points
made, or the system of marks employed, in
punctuation. — 3. The act of removing mortar
from between the joints of a stone or brick wall,
and replacing it with new mortar; also, the
material with which the joints are refilled. — 4.
In sculp., the operation of marking off into reg-
ular spaces by points the surface of a plaster
or clay model, preliminary to reproducing it in
marble, as well as the reproduction of these
points on the marble block. The distances between
the points being easily measurable, accuracy is insured.
Both the Greeks and the Romans pointed the marble
blocks out of which their sculptures were to be cut.
Pointing-marks are visible on a head of Alcibiades in the
louvre, and at Kome on the colossal statues in the Qui-
rinal and the Discobolus in the Vatican.
5. In milling, the first treatment of grain in the
high-milling process. It consists in rubbing off the
points of the grain, clipping the brush, and removing the
germ-end, and is performed either by a machine similar
to a smut-mill or by millstones set at an appropriate dis-
tance apart.
6. In chanting, the act, process, or result of
indicating exactly how the words shall be
adapted to the music, or of making such an
adaptation, since the same melody may be used with
many different texts, and the same melody and text may
be variously adapted to each other, pointing becomes an
Intricate art, if both rhetorical and musical propriety is
to be maintained. No method of pointing is yet recog-
nized as standard, and the differences between different
editors are considerable.
7. The conical sottish projection, of a light-
yellow color, observable in an abscess when
nearly ripe. Thomas, Med. Diet. — 8. Naut,
the operation of tapering the end of a rope and
covering the tapered portion with the yams
that have not been removed for tapering. —
Cross pointing, a peculiar kind of braiding made by
using the outer yarns of a rope after it has been tapered.
The yams are twisted up into nettles ; every alternate one
Is turned up and the intermediate one down ; an upper
nettle is brought down to the right of its corresponding
lower one and the lower one is laid up, all round the rope ;
then what are now the upper nettles are brought down to
the left of the lower ones, and so on. — Flat-joint point-
ing, the operation of filling the joints of masonry evenly
with mortar, and of marking them with a trowel. — Tuck-
jolnt pointing, the operation of finishing the joints of
masonry with fine mortar, left projecting slightly, and
formed to pai'allel edges ; tuck-pointing.
pointinglyt (poin'ting-li), adv. Pointedly;
perspicuously. B. Jonson, Volpone, Ded.
pointing:-maclline (poin'ting-ma-shen"), n. 1 .
A machine for cutting something (as a picket,
a peg, a match, etc.) to a point. — 2. A ma-
chine for finishing the ends of pins, nails, etc.
— 3. A machine or, more properly, an apparatus
used by sculptors in the production of stone or
marble copies of clay models, to locate accu-
rately any point in the copy of the modeled
figure. It consists of a round standard a, and three
round cross-bars 6, c, d, made adjustable by means of
the sliding-crosses and set-screws J, I, m. On 6 are two
adjustable stocks i, j, with steel points, and at % is a
third point rigidly attached to d. In the clay model, or
more usually, in a plaster cast of it, are fixed small metal
socket-plates 8, t, r, each with a small countersink or
socket. To these three points the standard is adjusted,
the axis of the standard being, when applied to s, t, r,
always coincident with the intersection of two fixed
planes. To the stone to be cut three socket-plates s", t, r'
are fixed in such positions that the points will exactly
fit their countersinks. The cross-bar c being adjustable
vertically on the standard, its axis may be made to coin-
cide with any third plane of projection cutting at right
angles the two fixed vertical planes intersecting in the
axis of the standard. On c is another cross-bar c, with an
adjustable universal-motion sliding-cross n, and to e is also
attached at p a socket holding a bar / that also carries at
q a friction-spring holder for the pointer g, the sliding
poise
motion of which in the holder is limited by the stop o.
Suppose the instrument to be set on the socket-plates, and
the pointer g arranged to just touch the tip of the cat's
Pointing-machine.
tail in the model. It is then applied to the stone, and if
it does not simultaneously touch the bottoms of all the
sockets when the point of g touches the stone, the latter
is cut carefully away till g, t, and r all bed home in their
sockets and tht> point of g just touches the bottom of
the cut. Other points in the surface are located siinUarly
as guides for the cutting, and intermediate points are lo.
cated as the cutting proceeds. The instrument is also
used to test the accuracy of the work as it progresses, and
remarkable fidelity in the copy is attainable by its use.
4. A machine for preparing printed sheets for
cutting.
pointing-stock (poin'ting-stok), n. An object
of scandal or scorn. Compare laugliing-stoeh.
I, his forlorn duchess.
Was made a wonder and a pointing-stock
To every idle rascal follower.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., n. i. 46.
point-lace (point'las), n. See laoe.
pointless (point'les), a. [< point + -less.'] 1.
Having no point; terminating squarely or in
a rounded end.
After the procession folowed therle of Northumberlande
with a poinctless sword naked. Hall, Rich. 111., an, 2,
An arrow with a poinMess head will fly further than a
pointed one. M. and W. Thompson, Archery, p. 34.
3. Without point or force: as, a, pointless joke.
O'er the protracted feast the suitors sit, -
And aim to wound the prince with poinUess wit.
Fenton, in Pope's Odyssey, xx,
3. In iot., same as muticous.
pointleted (point'let-ed), a. [< point + -let +
-e(J2.] In iot., having a small distinct point;
apieulate.
pointlingt, adv. lAlso pointeling; ME. poynte-
lynge; < point + -ling^.] With the point di-
rected forward.
He myght wel see a spere grete and longe that came
streyghte upon hym poyntelynge.
Morte d' Arthur, ii. 165. (JTares.)
pointmentt, «. [By apheresis for appointment]
Appointment ; arrangement.
Two kynges mo were in his poyntement.
With the nowmber of knyghtes accordeng.
Oenerydes(E. E. T. S.), 1. 2178.
To this poyntm^nt euery man was agreed, and on the
Monday in the inornyng Sir Johan Bouchyer and his com-
pany came to the house.
Bemers, tr. of Froissart's Chron., II. xix.
He taside poymtmerU to come to my house this daye.
Udall, Flowers, fol. 43.
point-pair (point'par), n. A degenerate conic
consisting of two coincident straight lines con-
nected by two points. It may also be considered as
two points, the line between them being a bitangent. The
two conceptions are equally legitimate.
point-paper (point'pa'per), n. Pricked paper
used for copying or transferring designs. E.
H. Knight
pointrel (poin'trel), n. [Cf . pointel.] A grav-
ing-tool. E. H. Knight.
pointsman (points 'man), n.; pi. pointsmen
(-men). A man who has charge of the points
or switches on a railway ; a switchman. [Eng.]
Hast thou ne'er seen rough pointsmen spy
Some simple English phrase— "With care"
Or "This side uppermost"— and ciy
Like children *' No ? No more have I.
C. S. Calverley, Thoughts at a Railway Station.
point-sphere (point'sfer), n. A point consid-
ered as an infinitesimal sphere.
point-tool (point'tol), n. In turning, a flat tool
having a V- shaped point.
pointy (poin'ti), a. [< point + -f-.] Well-
put; pithy; full of point. [Slang.]
poise (poiz), V. ; pret. and pp. poised, ppr. pois-
ing. [Formerly also poise, peise, pme, peie,
pease, peaze, paise, paize, payse; < ME. poisen,
paysen, < OF. poiser, peiser, F.
poise
peso- = Sp. Pg. pesar, pensar = It. pesare, pen-
sare, weigh, poise (cf. OP. and F.penser = Sp.
Pg. pensar = It. pensare, think, consider), < L.
pensare, weigh, counterbalance, compeDsate,
etc., also weigh, ponder, consider, freq. ofjjen-
rfere, pp. jjenstts, weigh: seependent. Gt.poise,
71.] I. trans. 1. To weigh; ascertain by weigh-
ing or balancing; figuratively, to weigh; pon-
der; consider.
Ac the poande that she payed by polled a quarteroun more
Than myne owne auncere who-so weyged treuthe.
Piers Ploumum (B), t. 218.
Payge euery thyng In sowre lust aduertence.
Political PoevM, etc. (ed. FurnivaUX P- *6.
And poise the cause in justice' equal scales,
Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause prevails.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., li. 1. 204.
Much more lett 's pei2 and ponder
Th' Almighties Works, and at his Wisedom wonder,
Sylvester, tr. of Dn Bartas's Weeks, i. 2.
2. To counterbalance ; be of equal weight with.
Your good opinion shall in weight jxnse me
Against a thousand ill.
Fletcher (and another), Love's Cure, iL 2.
Thou continent of wealth, whose want of store,
For that it could not peize th' unequal scale
Of avarice, giv'st matter to my moan !
Middleton, Family of Love, il 4.
Be it the weightiest and most lich affair
That ever was included lu youi' breast,
My faith shall jioise it.
B. Jomon, Case is Altered, i. 2.
3. To balance; make of equal weight; hold or
place in equilibrium : as, to poise the scales of
a balance.
Moderatly exercise your body with some labour, or play-
eng at the tennys, or castyng abowle, or paysynff weygbtes
or plommettes of leede in your handes, or some other
thyng, to open your poores, & to augment natorall heate.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 247.
The just skale of even, poized thoughts.
Marston, What you Will, ProL
The world, who of itself is peised well.
Made to run even upon even ground.
Shak., K. John, iL 1. 575.
Chaos wild
Eeign'd where these heavens now roll, where earth now
rests
Upon her centre poised. MUton, P. L,, v. 579.
The falcon, poised on soaring wing.
Watches tlie wild-duck by the spring.
Scott, Bbkeby, iii. 1.
He became conscious of a soul beautifully j^oised upon
itself, nothing doubting, nothing desiring, clothed in
peace. B. L. Stevenson, Will o' the Mill.
4t. To hold suspended or in suspense; delay.
1 speak too long ; but 'tis to peize the time^
To eke it and to draw it out in length.
Shak., M. of V., iii. 2. 22.
5. To weigh or press down; force.
Chawmbyrs with chymnes, and many cheef e inns ;
Paysede and pelid downe playsterede walles.
Uorte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), L 3043.
II. intrans. To be balanced or suspended;
hence, figuratively, to hang in suspense.
Breathless racers whose hopes poise upon the last few
steps. Keats.
And everywhere
The slender, graceful spars
Poixe aloft in the air.
Longfellow, Building of the Ship.
poise (poiz), n. [Formerly also poize, peise,
peize, paiee; < ME. poyse, peis, (a) < OF. pois,
peis, m., F. poids (the d introduced during the
sixteenth century on account of a supposed
derivation from L. pmidm, weight) = Pr. pens,
pes = Sp. Pg. It. peso, m., a weight; (5) < OF.
poise, peise, f., weight, balance ; < L. pensum,
anything weighed, prop. neut. of pensris, pp.
ot pendere, weigh: see poise, u.] 1. Weight;
ponderosity; gravity.
Full heanie is the poise ot Princes ire.
Pvttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 110.
Some others were in such sort bound vnto pillers with
their faces turned to the wall, hauing no stale vnder their
feet, and were violentUe weighed down with the peise of
then' bodies. Foxe, Martyrs, The Ten First Persecutions.
When I have suit, . . .
It shall be full ot poise and difficult weight.
And fearful to be granted. Shak. , Othello, iiL 3. 82.
A stone uf such ttpaise
That one of this time's strongest men, with both hands,
could not raise. Chapman, Iliad, xii.
2. A weight; especially, the weight or mass of
metal used in weighing with steelyards to bal-
ance the substance weighed.
They make many smaule diamundes, whiche ... are
soulde by &payse or weight which they caule Mangiar.
R. Eden, tr. of Antonio Pigafetta (First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 265).
Laboryuge \vith poyses made of leadde or other metaU.
Sir T. Myot, The Governour, i. 16.
3. A thing suspended or attached as a counter-
weight; hence, that which counterbalances; a
counterpoise.
4587
Men of au unbounded imagination often want the poise
of judgment Dryden.
4. A state of balance ; equipoise; equilibrium;
hence, equanimity.
The particles tliat formed the earth must convene from
all quarters toward the middle, which would make the
whole compound to rest in & poise. Bentley, Sermons.
It is indeed hard for the weak and unsteady hearts of
men to carry themselves in such a poise between both as
not to make the shunning of one inconvenience the fall-
ing into another. South, Sermons, XI. vii.
Bat what was most remarkable, and, perhaps, showed a
more than common poise in the young man, was the fact
that, amid all these personal vicissitudes, he had never
lost his identity. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xiL
5. The condition of balancing or hovering;
suspended motion.
Like water-reeds the poise
Of her soft body, dainty thin.
D. 6. Bossetti, Staff and Scrip.
The tender poise of pausing feet.
A. C. Smnbume, Life of Blake.
poiseless (poiz'les), a. [Formerly also peiz-
less; < poise + -less.'] Without weight; light.
poiser (poi'zer), n. [Formerly a.lso peizer, pay-
ser; < poise + -eri.] 1. One who poises or
weighs ; a weigher.
The officers deputed to manage the coynage are porters
to beare the tynne, peizers to weigh it, a steward, comp-
troller, and receiver to keepe the account.
Carew, Survey of Cornwall, foL 14.
2. That which poises or balances ; specifically,
in entom., the halter or balancer of a dipterous
insect or a male coccid. See cut under halter.
poison (poi'zn), n. [< ME. poisoun, poyson, poy-
sone, puyson, puisun, a potion, poison, < QiF. poi-
son, jpM»so», potion, poison, F. poison, poison, =
Pr. poizo = Sp. poeion, potion (ponzoita, poison,
= Vg.peconha, poison), =It.pozione, potion,< L.
^oi40(M-), drink, adraught,apoisonous draught,
a potion, < potare, drink: see potion, of which
poison is but an older foi-m.] If. A drink;
a draught; a potion.
And nailede hym [Christ] with thre nayles naked on the
rode,
And with a pole poyson putten to bus lippes.
And beden hym diynke, bus deth to lette, and hus dayes
lengthen. Piers Ploioman (C), xxi 52.
2. Any substance which, introduced into the
living organism directly, tends to destroy the
life or impair the health of that organism.
Hereby was signified that, as glasse by nature holdeth
no poyson, so a faythful counsellor holdeth no treason.
Norton and Sackville, Feirex and Porrex, iL
Tobacco, coffee, alcohol, hashish, prussic acid, strych-
nine, are weak dilutions ; the surest poison is time.
Emerson, Old Age.
3. Hence, that which taints or destroys moral
purity or health or comfort: as, the poison of
evil example.
Plato also, that diuine Philosopher, hath many Godly
medicines agaynst the poyson of vayne pleasure.
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 77.
Why linger We? see, see your Lover's gone;
Perhaps to fetch more poison for your heart
J. Beaumont, Psyche, iL 115.
Aerial poison. Same as miasma.— Arrow-poiSOn, the
juice of various plants used by savages in Africa, South
America, Java, etc., for anointing arrows to render them
deadly. The plants so used include several euphorbias,
two species of Stryehnos, the manchineel, and the poison-
bulb. See especially CTirari.— Poison of Fahomas or
Fhonias, an exceedingly violent poison obtained from the
seeds of Stroplianthus hispidus, an apocyiiaceous plant of
the Gaboon, where it is used as an arrow-poison, under the
name of inAe, onaye, or onage.
poison (poi'zn), V. t. [< ME. poisonen, poysnyn, <
OF. poisonner = Sp. ponzofiar (cf . Pg. pegonhen-
tar), poison; from the noun.] 1. To infect
with poison ; put poison into or upon ; add poi-
son to : as, to poison an arrow.
This even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of onrpoison'd chalice
To our own lips. Shak., Macbeth, i. 7. 11.
The tmisoned weed is much in shape like our English luy.
Capt. John Smith, Works, II. 113.
None knew, till guilt created fear.
What darts oipoison'd arrows were.
Boscomm^m, tr. of Horace's Odes, L 22.
2. To administer poison to; attack, injure, or
kill by poison.
He was so discouraged that he poisoned himself and died.
2 Mac. X. 13.
How easy 'twere for any man we trust
To poison one of us in such a bowl.
Beau, and Fl, Maid's Tragedy, iv. 2.
3. To taint; mar; impair; vitiate; corrupt.
My rest
Was poison'd with th' extremes of grief and fear.
(tumles. Emblems, iv. 11.
Constantino with his mischevous donations poyson'd Sil-
vester and the whole Church. Milton, Eikonoklastes, xvii.
poisonsome
poisonable (poi'zn-a-bl), a. [(.poison + -able.1
If. Capable of poisoning ; venomous.
Tainted with Arianism and Pelagianism, as of old. or
Anabaptism and Libertinism, or such like poisonaMe here-
sies, as of late.
Tooker, Fabrick ot the Church (1604), p. 54. (hatham.)
2. Capable of being poisoned.
poison-ash (poi'zn-ash), n. Same as poison-
sumac.
poison-bag (poi'zn-bag), n. Same as poison-
sac.
poison-bay (poi'zn-ba), n. An evergreen shrub,
Illicium Floridanum, whose leaves are reputed
poisonous.
poison-berry (poi'zn-ber^i), n. Any one of the
various species of Cestrum; also, the boragi-
naceous shrub Bourreria succulenta. [West
Indies.]
poison-bulb (poi'zn-bulb), n. The South Af-
rican herb Buphane (Hsemanthus) toxicaria of
the AmaryUidese, whose coated bulb is said to
furnish the Kafirs an arrow-poison.
poison-cup (poi'zn-kup), n. A name given to
certain old glass beakers, tankards, etc., from
the belief that poison poured into them would
break them and thus be detected.
poison-dogwood (poi'zn-dog^wud), n. Same
as poison-sumac.
poison-elder (poi'zn-el"der), n. Same as poi-
smi-sumac.
poisoner (poi'zn-er), 5?. One who poisons or
corrupts, or that which poisons or corrupts.
poison-fang (poi'zn-fang), n. One of the supe-
rior maxillary teeth of certain serpents, as the
viper and rattlesnake, having a channel in it
through which the poisonous fluid is conveyed
into the wound when they bite ; a venom-fang.
The fang ordinaiily lies recumbent, but when the serpent
bites it is erected and the poison-gland is at the same time
compressed and emptied of its secretion, which is injected
through the hollow fang into the wound. See cut under
Cfrotaliis.
poisonfult (poi'zn-ful), a. [< poison + -ful]
Poisonous; full of poison.
The spider, apoison/vU vermine, yet climes to the roof
of the king's palace. WhUe, Sermons (1665), p. 53.
poison-gland (poi'zn-gland), n. A gland which
secretes poison, as in a venomous serpent. See
cuts under cfteKcero, and Symenoptera.
poison-hemlock (poi'zn-hem"lok), n. Same as
hemlock, 1.
poisonief, a. Same aspoisony.
poison-i'^ (poi'zn-i^'vi), re. A shrub-vine of
NorthAmerica, Rhus Toxicodendron, sometimes
low and erect, but commonly a climber on trees,
rocks, fences, etc. it poisons many persons either by
contact or by its effluvium, causing a severe cutaneous
eruption with intense smarting and itching. It is popu-
larly distinguished as three-leafed ivy from the innocuous
Virginia creeper, Ampelopsis quinqu^olia, the iive-leaf ed
ivy, their leaves having respectively three and five leaf-
lets. It is often confounded with the common clematis (Cle-
matis Virffiniatut), but the trifoliate leaves of that plant
are opposite, not alternate as in the poison-ivy. See poi-
sonroak.
poison-nut (poi'zn-nut), n. 1. The nux vomica.
— 2. The fruit of Ceriera Tanghin, and doubt-
less of C. Odollam.
poison-oak (poi'zn-ok), n. The poison-ivy, or
properly its low form ; also, the kindred plant of
Pacific North America, Ehits diversiloba, which
is similarly poisonous and not high-climbing.
The latter is also called yeara.
poison-organ (poi'%n-&r'gan), n. Any part or
organ capable of inflicting a poisoned wound ;
an organic apparatus for poisoning.
poisonous (poi'zn-us), a. [Formerly also poi-
snous, poysnous (=STp. ponzofioso); a,s poison +
-ous.'] Having the properties of a poison ; con-
taining poison ; venomous ; hence, corrupting,
vitiating, or impairing.
0 sovereign mistress of true melancholy,
Ihe poisoiwus damp of night disponge upon me.
Shak., A. andC, iv. 9. 13.
Serpents & poymous toads, as in their bowere.
Doe closely lurke vnder the sweetest flowers.
Times' WhisOe (E. E. T. S.), p. 23.
poisonously (poi'zn-us-li), adv. In a poisonous
manner ; with fatal or injurious effects.
poisonousness (poi'zn-us-nes), ». The charac-
ter of being poisonous.
poison-pea (poi'zn-pe), n. See Swainsona.
poison-plant (poi'zn-plant), re. (a) One of vai-
rious species of Gastroloiium. (6) The Swain-
son pea. See Swainsona. (c) A bird's-foot tre-
foil, Lotus australis. [AU Australian.]
poison-sac (poi'zn-sak),Ji. A sac or pouch con-
taining or secreting poison ; a poison-gland.
poisonsomet (poi'zn-sum), a. [< poison +
-some.] Poisonous. Holland.
poison-sumac
poison-sumac (poi'zn-slio''mak), n A small
handsome tree, Bhtis venenata, of swamp-bor-
ders in eastern North America, it is even more
poisonous by contact or vicinity than the poison-ivy. Its
leaves have from seven to thirteen leaflets, and, like those
ol the other samacs, become brilliantly red in the antumn.
In this condition it is often unwittingly gathered for orna-
ment. It is distinguishable from the others by its smooth
leaves, entire leaflets, axis not winged between the leaflets,
and white fruit. Also called poison- or suiamp-dogwood,
poiion-elder, poiam-asJi.
poison-tooth (poi'zn-toth), n. Same as poison-
fang or venom-fang.
poison-tower (poi'zn-tou"6r), n. In the pro-
duction of arsenic, as practised in Saxony and
Silesia, one of the chambers in which the fumes
of arsenic and sulphur are condensed.
poison-tree (poi'zn-tre), n. Any tree of poison-
ous character, especially species of Bhus; also
Croton Ferreaiixii, a small Australian tree.
poison-vine (poi'zu-^n), n. 1. The poison-
ivy. — 3. The milk-vine, Periploca Greeca.
poisonwood (poi'zn-wud), n. 1. A small poi-
sonous tree, Minis Metopiwm, of the West In-
dies and southern Florida, whose bark yields
upon incision a gum with emetic, purgative,
and diuretic properties. Also called burnwood,
eoralsumae, mountain manchineel,hog-pliim, etc.
— 2. A small euphorbiaoeous tree, SehasUania
lueida, of the same habitat, its wood,.which is hard
and close-grained, dark-brown streaked with yellow, is
manufactured into canes, and is also valued tor fuel.
poisonyt, a. [< poison + -y^.'\ Poisonous.
Eunomus, who at the first had sowne
His poieony seeds.
Sylvetter, tr. of Du Bartas's Triumph of Faith, ii. 48.
poisuret (poi'zur), »■ l<. poise + -ure.'] Weight;
poise.
Nor is this forc'd,
But the mere quality SLnApoisure of goodness.
Fletcher, Wit without Money, i. 1.
poitrel (poi'trel), n. {Formerly also peitrel,
peytrel, petrel, etc., < ME. peytrel, peitrel, pay-
trelle, payetrelle, < OF.
poitraL poietral, poie-
trail, F. poitrail = Sp.
petrol, pretal = Pg. pei-
toral = It. pettorale, <
L. pectorale, a breast-
palate, neut. of peetora-
fe,*of the breast: see
pectoral.'] A piece of
armor that protected
the breast of a horse.
The use of the poitrel
lingered long after the
other parts of the bards
had been abandoned.
Curious hameys, as in
sadeles, in crouperes, pey-
trela and bridles covered with
precious clothing, and liche barres and plates of gold and
of silver. Ckamier, Parson's Tale.
Kispetrell and reins were embroidered with feathers.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, in.
poitrine (poi'trin), «. [< OF.poictrine, a breast-
plate, the breast, also peitrine, petrine, F. poi-
trine,the breast, = Sp.])etrina,preUna, a girdle,
= Pg.petrina = It. pettorina,petturina, a breast-
girdle, < L. as if *pectorina, < pectus (pector-),
breast: see ^ectoroZ.] 1. The breastplate of a
knight. — 3. Same a,spoitrel.
poivrette (pwo-vref), n. [F., <poivre, pepper:
see pepper.] Same as pepperette.
poizeti »• and re. An obsolete form oi poise.
pokal (po-kal')) n. [= Sw. Dan. pokal, < G.
pokal, < f". bocal, a drinking-vessel : seebocal.]
A drinking-ves-
sel of ornamen-
tal character,
large andshowy:
a vessel shaped
like a drinking-
vessel: a term
recently borrow-
ed from the Ger-
man, and ap-
plied especially
to vessels of sil-
ver and of en-
ameled glass of
German make.
pokei (pok), v.;
pret. and pp.
poked, vvr^ok-
ing. [CMETpo-
ken, pouken,
pukken = 1). po-
fe»=MLG.LG.
Poken, poke, = PokalofRock-ctystal.
Poitrel, 15th century.
4588
Walloon jjogiwr, knock: cf. Ti.pook, Mhd.pok,
LG. pofce, a dagger; Sw. j)dfc, a stick; prob. of
Celtic origin: Gael. jj«c, push, Iv.poo, a blow,
kick, = Corn, poc, a shove. Hence the as-
sibUatedformjjoacfei.] I. trans. 1. To thrust
or push against; prod, especially with some-
thing long or pointed; prod and stir up: as,
to poke a person in the ribs.
He heldethe swerde in his honde all naked, and griped
his shelde, and come to hym that yet lay on the grene, and
putte the noynte of his swerde on his shelde and be-gan to
pauke hym. Berlin (E. E. T. S.), 11. S67.
The impressions . . . which a man receives from poking
objects with-the end of his walking-stick.
B. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol. (2d ed.), § 79.
. The crowning human virtue in a man is to let his wife
poke the Are. C D. Warner, Backlog Studies, p. 4.
2. To push gently; jog.
And Pandare wep as he to water wolde.
And BOied ever his nece newe and newe.
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 116.
3. To thrust or push.
The end of the jib-boom seemed about to poie itself into
the second story window of a red-brick building.
ScrUmer's Mag., IV. 611.
4. To force as if by thrusting; urge; incite.
"jus," quod Pieres the plowman, and ptiltked hem alle to
gode. Piers Plowman (BX v. 643.
You must still be poking me, against my will, to things?
£. Jonson, Poetaster, it 1.
5. To put a poke on : as, to poke an ox or a pig.
Seepoke\ «., 3. [U. .S.] — 6t. To set the plaits
of (a ruff).
My poor innocent Openwork came In as I was poHnff
my ruff. Xidctteton and Dekker, Boating Girl, iv. 2.
Tq poke fun, to joke ; make fun. tColloq.]— To poke
fUn at, to ridicule ; make a butt of. [CoUog.]
II. intrans. 1. To stoop or bend forward in
walking. — 2. To grope; search; feel or push
one's way in or as in the dark; also, to move to
and fro; dawdle.
Hang Homer and Virgil ; their Meaning to seek
A man must h&vepok'd into Latin and Greek.
Prior, Down-Hall, st, 3.
Full licence to poke about among what there is to poke
about in the shattered castle.
S. A, Freeman^ Venice, p. 342.
pokel (pok), n. [< poke\ v.] 1. A gentle
thrust or push, especially with something long
or pointed; a prod; a dig.
"But," concluded Uncle Jack, with a sly look, and giv-
ing me a poke in the ribs, "I've had to do with mines be-
fore now, and know what they are."
Bvlwer, Caxtons, xvii. 1.
3. A poke-bonnet.
Governesses don't wear ornaments. You had better get
me a grey frieze livery and a straw poke, such as my aunt's
charity children wear. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xxiv.
3. A sort of collar or ox-bow from the lower
part of which a short pole projects, placed about
the neck of a cow or steer in order to prevent it
from jumping fences. [U.S.] — 4. A lazy per-
son ; a dawdler. [TJ. S.]
They're only worn by some olA-taatdoneA pokes.
Lowell, Fitz Adam's Story.
poke^ (pok), n. [< ME. poke, also iiieg.palke
= MD. poke (> OP. poque, pouque, assibilated
poclie, powclie, > ME. pouche, 'E, pouch), a bag, =
taei.poki, abag; prob. of Celtic origin, ilv.poc,
Gael, jjoca, a bag. Cf . AB.poka, poliha, a purse,
etc. tlenee nit. pocket, p^lGker. Cf. the doublet
pouch. No connection with AS. pung, a bag,
= Icel. imiigr, a pouch, purse, z=Goth.. puggs, a
bag.] 1. A pocket; a pouch; abag; a sack.
"Trewely, frere,"quath y tho, "to tellen the the sothe,
Ther is no peny in my pmke to payen for my mete."
Piers Plowman's Crede (E. E. T. S.), 1. 399.
And in the floor, with nose and mouth to-broke,
They walwe as doon two pigges in a, poke.
Chameer, B,eeve's Tale, 1. 368.
And then he drew a dial from his poke.
Shak., As you Like it^ ii. 7. 20.
2f. A large, wide, bag-like sleeve formerly in
vogue. Same as poke-sleeve.
An hool cloith of scarlet may not make a gowne.
The pote.of purchase hangen to the erthe.
ilfS. Dighy 41, f. 7. (HaUiwell.)
3. A bag or bladder filled with air and used by
fishermen as a buoy.
When tba pokes are used, the ofiicer gives the order to
"Blowup! Blowup!" andaman with soundlnngs grasps
one of these membranous pouches and inflates it. . . . It
is then attached to the whale, and, being of a white color,
may be readily seen at quite a distance from the ship.
Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 270.
4. The stomach or swimming-bladder of a fish.
— 5. A cock, as of hay. [Prov. Ehg.]
I pray thee mow, and°do not go
Until the hay 's in pokes.
Ballad of the Mower, quoted In N. and Q., 7tli ser., VI.
[287.
poker-painting
6. A customary unit of weight for wool, 20
hundredweight.— A pig in a poke, a pig in a bag.
poke3,(p6k), re. [Also pocan; appai. Amer.
Ind.] Same aspokeweed or garget— sjirai^ei.
leafed poke. See Phytolacca.— Indian poke, theAmer-
ican, false, or white hellebore, Veratrum viride.
poke'* (pok), n. The small green heron more
fully called shitepoke. [U. S.]
poke^t. n. Scrofula.
AubanuB Bohemus referres that struma or poke of the
Bavarians and Styrians to the nature of their waters.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 71. (bavies.)
poke-bag (pok'bag), re. [So called in allusion
to the shape of the nest ; < poke^ + bag.] The
bottletit: same as feather-poke, [Local, Eng.]
pokeberry (pok'ber'i), re. ; pi. pokeberries (-iz).
The fruit of the pokeweed.
poke-bonnet (p6k'bon"et), n. A bonnet hav-
ing a projecting front of a nearly conical form,
worn about the beginning of the nineteenth
century and later.
His mamma . . . came fawning in with her old poke-
honnet. Thackeray, Level the Widower, vi.
poke-dialt (^ok'di'al), re. A poeket-dial; spe-
cifically, a ring-dial.
poke-milk'Weed (p6k'milk''''wed), re. An Amer-
ican plant, Asclepias phytolaccoides, with some
resemblance to pokeweed.
poke-net (pok'net), re. A pole-net.
poker^ (po'kfer), re. [Kpoke^ + -eri.] 1. One
who or that which pokes, (a) An iron or steel bur
or rod used in poking or stirring a fire.
If the poker be out of the way, or broken, stir the Ore
with the tongs.
Swift, Advice to Servants, General Birections.
(bi) A small stick or iron used for setting the plaits of
ruifs; a poking-stick.
Now your Puritans poker is not so huge, but somewhat
longer ; a long slender poking-sticke is the all in all with
your Suflolke Furitane.
Heywood, It you Know not Me (Works, ed. Pearson, 1. 268).
(c) An iron instrument used for driving hoops on masts.
It has a flat foot at one end and a round knob at the
other.— Bed-not-poker. Same as flame-flmcer.
poker^ (pa'kfer), re. [Cf . Sw. pocker, Dan. pok-
ker, the devil, deuce, and see puck. Cf . hodge-
poker.] Any frightful object; a bugbear.
[CoUoq.]— Old Foker, the deviL [Slang.]
The very leaves on the horse-chesnuts are little snotty-
nosed things that cry and are afraid of the north wind,
and cling to thejbough as if Old Pokerwte coming totajie
them away. Walpole, Lettera, iv. 359.
poker^ (p6'k6r), n. [Origin obscure ; perhaps
a particular use,, as orig. applied, of poker^ or
poker^, but, as with some other names of card-
games (e. g. euchre), the origin is without lit-
erary record.] A game of cards played by two
or more persons with a full pack of fifty-two
cards, which rank as in whist. After each player
has deposited an ante or preliminary bet in the pool, liands
of five cards are dealt. Any player not satisfled can demand
in place of from one to flve cards in his hand as many ne\r
ones from the undealt pait of the pack ; the eldest hand
must then deposit an additional bet in the pool or with-
draw from the game, the second hand having then the
privilege of betting higher, or calling (that is, merely
equaling the bet and demanding a show of hands), or
retiring, and so on all around. If all the players but one
retire, that one takes the pool ; if a player calls the bet,
those who follow him may bet the same amount, and the
highest hand wins the pool. The hands rank as foUoivB,
beginning with the Jowest : (1) the highest card in any
hand; (2) one pair ; (3) two pairs ; (4) three of the same de-
nomination ; (6) a "straight^'— a sequence of flve cards not
of the same suit (som^mes omitted); (fi) a flush— fl^e
cards of the same suit not in sequence ; (7) a full— three
cards of the same denomination and a pair; (8) four cards
of the same denomination ; and (9) a straight ilush— a se-
quence of flve cards of the same suit. "There are varieties of
the game known as whisky-poker, straight poker, etc. [C S. 1
poker* (po'kfer), n. [Cf. 2J0chard.] One of
various kinds of wild ducks, especially the
pochard. [Local, Eng.]
pokerishi (p6'k6r-ish), a. [< pofcej-l + -isV^-lt
Like a poker; stiff. [Colloq.]'
Maud Elliott, the most reserved and difHdent girl of
her acquaintance— "stifl and pokerish," Ella called her.
The Century, XXXVL 35.
pokerish^ (po'ker-ish), a. [< poke}-^ + -wW.]
Frightful; causing fear, especially to children;
uncanny: as, a pokerish -place. [Colloq.]
There is something jjoicrisA about a deserted dwelling,
even in broad daylight. Lowell, Fireside Travels, p. 144-
pokerishly (p6'k6r-ish-li), adv. Like a poker;
stifly. [Colloq.]
"I'm afraid I'm inteiTupting a pleasant tete-a-tete?"
says the old lady, pokerishly.
S. Broughton, Cometh up as a Flower, xxxvi.
poke-root (pok'rSt), re. The Indian poke (see
under jjofceS), or Its root; also, the root of the
pokeweed.
poker-painting (po'kfer-panning), re. The pro-
cess or act of producing poker-pictures.
poker-picture
poker-picture (po'ker-pik'tur), n. An imita-
tion of a sepia drawing, executed by singeing
the surface of wood with a heated poker.
poke-sleevet (pok'slev), n. A loose sleeve hav-
ing a part hanging below the arm like a bag.
IK)ke-^ick (pok'stik), ». A stick rounded at
the end, used by some tribes of American In-
dians to aid them in gorging food at a feast.
pokeweed (pok'wed), n. A plant of the genus
Phytolacca, especially P. decandra of eastern
North America. This is a strong-growing branching
berb^ bearing racemes of white flowers and deep-poiple
juicy berries, their coloring principle too evanescent for
use. The young shoots are boiled like asparagus, aiid the
berries and root, especially the latter, are emetic, purga-
tive, and somewhat narcotic, officinal in the United States.
Also called poke^ seoke^ garget^ inkberry-weed, and pigeon^
ierry. Obscure names are coaJcum and pocan.
poklllg (po'king), p. a. [Ppr. of poke\ c]
Drudginig; servile. [Colloq.]
Some poking profession or emplOTment in some office of
drudgery. Gray, Works, IL xxxvi.
poking-stickf (po'Mng-stik), n. An instrument
formerly used to adjust the plaits of ruffs.
Fins and paM;i9-<{tcix of steel. SAai., W. T., iv. 4. 22&
The homing-bnsk and silken bridelaces are in good re-
quest with the pai-son's wife ; your huge poHrig-sticke, and
fVench periwig, with chambermaids and waiting gentle-
women.
Heywood, If yon Enow not Me (Works, ed. Pearson, 1. 258).
poky (po'ki), a. [< jpoArei + -yi.] 1. Slow;
dull; stupid: said of persons. — 2. Confined;
cramped; musty; stuffy: said of places. — 3.
Poor; shabby. [Colloq. in all uses.]
The ladies were in their pokiest old bead-gear and most
dingy gowns when they perceived the carriage approach-
ing. Thackeray f Newcomes, Ivii.
Folabian (po-la'bi-an), a. and n. [< Poldb, one
of a tribe dwelling ' on the Elbe ' (< Bohem. po,
near, on, -I- Lobe, L. Albis, G. Elbe, the Elbe),
-I- -ian.'] I. a. Of or pertaining to the Polabs
or to their lan^age.
n. n. A Slavic language, allied to Polish or to
Czech, formerly spoken in northern Germany.
Polabish (po-la'bish), a. and n. [= G. Po-
labisch; as Polab(ian) + -tsfti.] Same as Po-
labian.
polacca^ (po-lak'a), n. [Also polacre, polaque
(< P.), and polaere; < It. polaeca, a vessel so
called.] A vessel with two or three masts, used
on the Mediterranean. The masts are usually
of one piece.
polaeca^ (p6-lak'a), n. [It. polaeca, f em. of Po-
laceo,, ^Sf^sii: see Polack.^ In music, same as
voicmaise. — AUa-poIacca, in the style of a polonaise.
Folack (po'lak), n. [< D. Polak = G. Sw. Po-
lack = Dan. Polak = Sp. Pg. Polaco = It. Po-
lacco, Polish, a Pole, < Pol. Polak = Buss. Po-
lyaku, a Pole : see Pole^.'] A Pole ; a Polander.
His nephew's levies . . . appear'd
To be a preparation 'gainst the Polaek.
Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 63.
These vsed to make sudden inrodes vpon the Polacta.
Purchai, Pilgrimage, p. 421.
polacre (po-la'kfer), n. 1. Same a,s polaeca^. —
2. A mast of one piece, without tops.
polant, n. Same as poulaine.
Poland bill. See WiiS.
Polander (p6'lan-d6r), n. [< Poland (see def.)
+ -eri. The name Poland is an aceom. (simu-
lating land) of "Polen, < D. G. Sw. Dan. Polen
= P. Pologne = Sp. Pg. It. Polonia, ML. Po-
lonia, Poland: seePofeS.] a Pole, or native of
Poland.
The Grand Council of the Polanders.
Milton, Letters of State, Feb. 6, 1650.
Poland manna.
Polanisia (pol-
a-nis'i-a), n.
[NL. (Bafl-
nesque, 1824),
80 called in al-
lusion to the
many difEer-
ences between
the stamens
and those of
the related ge-
nus Cleome; ir-
reg.<Gr.iroAiif,
many, -t- dvarof,
unequal, dis-
similar, < av-
priv. + laog,
equal.] A ge-
nus of polypet-
alous plants of
the order Cop-
Same as manna-seeds.
Flowering Branch of Polanisia viscosa.
a.aflower; ^,apod; <-,aseed; ^, the rhi-
zome and roots.
4589
parideie and tribe Cleomex, distinguished by its
short receptacle, four entire petals, eight or
more free stamens, and numerous reniform
seeds in a long two-valvgd pod. There are 15 spe-
cies, all tropical or subtropical, wim on^ P. gravedens, ex-
tending north to Vermont. They are annual herbs, com-
monly glandular and of a strong peculiar odor, bearing
palmate or undivided leaves, and small flowers in ter-
minal clusters, which are porpUsh, greenish, etc Sev-
eral species with white, pink, or yellow flowers are occa-
sionally cultivated.
polaque (po-lak'), n. Same as polaeca^.
polar (po'l'ar), a. and n. [= F. polaire = Sp.
Pg. polar = It. polare, < NL. polaris, < L. polvs,
pole: seepole% n.] I. a. 1. Of or pertaining
to a pole or the poles of a sphere, (o) Of or per-
taining to either extremity of the axis round which the
earth, or any other sphere, revolves. (6) Pertaining to the
points in which the axis of the earth meets the sphere of
the heavens.
2. Proceeding, issuing from, or found in the
regions near the poles of the earth or of the
heavens: as, the ^oZar ocean ; a, polar \teax.
Two potar winds, blowing adverse
tJpou the Crooian sea. UiUon, P. L., x. 289.
3. Pertaining to a magnetic pole or poles;
pertaining to the points of a body at which its
attractive or repulsive energy is concentrated.
— 4. In anat, having poles in any way distin-
guished, as a cell' said especially of ovum-cells
and nerve-cells. There may be one, two, or several
poles, when the cell is distingu^ed as unipolar, bip<Aar,
or mulUpolaT.
5. In higher geom., reciprocal to a pole ; of the
nature of a polar. See n. — Polar angle, the an-
gle at a pole formed by two meridian&— Polar asls,
that axis of an astronomical instrument as an equato-
rial, which is parallel to the earth's axis. — Polar bands.
Same as Noah's ark, 3.— Polar bear. See hear^, 1, and
cut Muier Plantiffrada. — Polar cells, in Dicyemida, cells
of the cortical layer which invest the head-end of the
body : distinguished from parapolar cells, further back. —
Polar Circles, two small circles of the earth parallel to
the equator, the one north and the other south, distant
23° 28' from the pole. The north polar circle is called the
aarclic cirde, and the south polar circle the antarctic eirde.
The distance of each from its own pole is equal to the
obliquity of the ecliptic, and the spaces within the two
circles are called the frigid zones. — Polar Clock, an opti-
cal apparatus wheieby the hour of the day is found by
means of the polarization of Ught. — Polar coordinates.
See coSrdinate.— Polar curve with respect to a line, the
locus in tangential coordinates corresponding to the polar
curve with respect to apoint.— Polar developable. See
tteoelopaUe.— Polar dlaL See duz2.— Polar distance, the
distance of a point on a sphere from one of the poles of
the sphere. — Polar equation, an equation in polar coor-
dinates.— Polar forces, in physics, forces that are devel-
oped and act in pairs, with opposite tendencies, as in mag-
netism, electricity, etc.— Polar formation. See forma-
Hon. — Polar globule, in the maturation of the ovnm, a
small globnle, composed of a part of the germinal vesicle
together with a small amotmt of the viteUns, which is ex-
truded into the perivitelline space. Also called pdar ves-
icle, extrusion^gUbule. — Polar hare. See hare^, L— Po-
lar lights, the aurora borealis or australis Polar line,
the last of the polar curves with respect to a point. — Po-
lar line of a skew curve. See 2in«2.— Polar map-
projection. See projection. — Polar multiplication.
See multiplication.— Volax nucleus, in hot., the fourth
nucleus in each group at the two extremities of the em-
bryo-sac, which move toward the middle of the embryo-
sac and there coaJesce to form the secondary nucleus of
the embryo-sac. Gocftrf.— Polar opposite of a point
with respect to two conies in a plan^ the point of inter-
section of the polars of the flrst point with respect to
the two conies.— Polar j^anto^aph. See pantograph.
— Polar plane of a point with respect to a conicoid
or quadric surface, the plane of tangency with the coni-
coid of a cone having its vertex at the point— Polar pro-
jection, a map-projection in which the earth's pole is
Usen as the center of projection : generally, either the
gnomical or the equal-distance projection is chosen. — Po-
lar reciprocal See redproeiZ. — Polar star, the pole-
star. Tennyson. — Polar Siurface, in solid geometry, a locus
in all respects analogous to the polar curve of plane geom-
etry.— Polar triangle, in spherical trigonometry, a spheri-
cal triangle formed from an) triangle by the intersections
of the great circles having the vertices of the first triangl e
for their poles.— Polar vesicle. Same as polar glolnde.
—Polar Whale. Seewhale.=S,jn.2. Polar, Arctic That
which is pc^r belongs to or is connected with the north
or south pole ; that which is ardic belongs to a limited
region about the north pole. See definitions of ardic and
antardie.
n. n. A plane curve whose point-equation
is derived from that of another plane curve
(with respect to which it is said to be a polar)
by operating one or more times (according as
it is first, second, etc., polar) with the symbol
a;'.d/da;-J-3/'.d/dy-t-2'.d/d0, where x', y', z'
are the trilinear eoSrdinates of a fixed point (of
which the curve is said to be a polar). The flrst
polar of a point with respect
to a curve is a curve of the next
lower order, cutting the primi-
tive curve at all the points of
tangency of tangents to the
primitive from the fixed point,
as well as at all the nodes of
the primitive, and tangent to
the primitive at every cusp o(
the latter. Thus, the polar of a
point with respect to a conic is Nodal cubic with its conic
simply the straight line joining polar.
polariscopist
the points of tangency of tangents from that point to the
conic. The harmonic mean of the distances from the
fixed point, measured along any given radius of the inter-
sections of any polar of that point, is the same as that of
the distances of the intersections of the primitive curve ;
and the same is equally true of products of pairs or trip-
lets or any number of inteisectioos. In a generalized
sense, mathematicians speak of a polar of a curve wltb
respect to another curve: if the tangential equation of
the first curve is (a, ii, c, . . .¥«, % vif, and the point-
equation of the second cnrve is (A, I^ C; . . .if x, y, if,
where m > «, then the polar of the first with respect to the
second is
(a, 6, c, . . . Jd/dai d/dy, d/dz/CA, B, C, . . . Jz, y, if.
But if « > fn, the polar of the second curve with respect to
the first is
(A, B, C . . .Jd dM, d.'dr, il&wf (a,b,c.. .Ju, r, wf.
polar-bilocular (p6'lar-bi-lok'u-lar), a. In bot.,
having two cells or loculi, as certain spores.
polaric (po-lar'ik), a. [< polar + -»c.] Polar.
[Bare.]
polarilyt (po'lar-i-U), adv. In a polary manner ;
with respect to polarity.
If an iron be touched before, it varietb not in this man-
ner ; for then it admits not this magnetical impression, as
being already informed by the loadstone, and polartty de-
termined by its preaction. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iL 2.
polarimeter (p6-la-rim'e-t6r), n. [= F. polari-
m&tre; < NIi. polaris, polar, + Gr. iiirpov, mea-
sure.] A polariscope ; more specifically, an in-
strument for measuring the amount of polar-
ized light in the light received from a given
source, or for measuring the angular rotation
of the plane of polarization. See plioto-pola-
rimeter, polaristrobometer, and saccharimeter.
polarimetry (po-la-rim'et-ri), n. [< NL. pola-
ris, polar, + Gr. -lierpia, < ftcrpElv, measure.] The
art or process of measuring or analyzing the po-
larization of light.
Polaris (po-la'ris), n. [Nil., < L. polvs, pole:
see polar, poleK"] The pole-stai;,
polarisable, polarisation. See polarizahle, po-
larization.
polariscope (po-lar'i-skop), n. [== P. polari-
scope; irreg. < idj. polaris, polar, + Gr. aiumtiv,
view.] An optical instrument, various forms
of which have been contrived, for exhibiting
the polarization of Ught, or for examining sub-
stances in polarized light. The essential parts of
the instrument are the polarizing and analyzing plates or
prisma and these are formed either from natural crystals
or of a series of reflecting surfaces, as of glass, artiflcially
joined together.
(See polarization.^
A polariscope em-
ploying parallel
light, and designed
to find the extinc-
tion-directions —
that i^ planes of
light-vibration —
in a crystal section,
is called a stauro-
scope. One using
converging ligh^
and employed in
examining the in-
terference figures,
as of uniaxial and
biaxial crystals, is
sometimes called
a conaecape. The
tourmalin tongs,
consisting of two
transparent plates
of tourmalin, cut
parallel to the axis,
f"''»»™-",ir= and mounted in
xS^t" circular pieces of
cork held in a kind
of wire pincers, form the simplest
kind of polariscope for viewing
axial interference figures. The
more complex and convenient
forms have polarizing prisms of
Iceland spar mounted in a verti-
cal stand resembling that of a
microscope, with a movable stage,
coarse adjustment^ and other ar- polariscope for ConTeising
rangements. When the polari- Light (After Fuess.)
scope is essentially a microscope ^, upright support; B,
with Niool prisms and attach- loweradjustableanu carry-
ments for viewing cr^l-see- ^f^^^^^^^l^Sj^
tions in polarized Ilgllt» it is USU- adjustment, carryirg tube
ally called a polari3tUi<m-W>icrO- -with analyzer q, also (^
g&ype or polarizing microscope, jective system o. and eye-
The«ccAarto«terandthei»far. feU,-^«,-^,"^VaS
istrobometer are special forms oi ^ and lenses e, ^ m parai-
polariscope designed to measure lelraysupontheconveiging
the angular rotation of the plane
of polarization of an optically
active substance, as a sugar solu-
tion, quartz, etc Seeroto<M»n,and
rotatwru jwwer (under rotatory).
polariscopic (po-lar-i- .^ ._.^ .
skop'ik), a. [< polariscope C^Jr^*^^^"" adjusted
+ -4C.] PertMning to a po- ■^^*^** *•
lariscope; ascertained "by the polariscope.
polariscopist (po-lar'i-sko-pist), n, [< polari-
scope + -is*.] One who is expert in the use of
the polariseope.
rays upon the conveiging
system n/ it, support for
object tinder examination,
Tevolving wiUi the collar /,
havine a graduated arcle
at i, also index and vernier
at A- ^.quartz wedge for
detemtination of character
of double refraction ;
polariscopy
polariscopy (po-lar'i-sko-pi), n. [NL. polaris,
polar, + Gr. ckoituv, view.] That branch of
optics which deals with polarized light and the
use of the polariscope.
polarise, polariser. See polarize, polarizer.
polaristic (p6-la-ris'tik), a. li polar + -ist-ic.^
Pertaining to or exhibiting poles; having a
I)olar arrangement or disposition. [Rare.]
polaristrobometer (p6"lar-i-stro-bom'e-ter), n.
[< NL. polaris, polar, + Gr. (rr/}o/3of, a whirling
around, + /lirpov, measure.] A form of pola-
rimeter or sacoharimeter devised by Wild. Ita
special feature la the use of a double calcite interference-
plate, which produces, in monochromatic light, a set of
parallel black lin es or fringes, which disappear in a certain
relative position of the polarizer and analyzer ; this gives
a delicate means of fixing the plane of polarization as ro-
tated by the sugar solution under examination. See sac-
charvmeter.
polarity (po-lar'i-ti), n. [= F. polaritS = Sp.
imlaridad = Pg. "polaridade = It. polarit&,(. NL.
''polarita(t^)s,<. polaris, polar: see polar.'] 1.
The having two opposite poles; variation in
certain physical properties, so that in one di-
rection they are the opposite of what they are
in the opposite direction: thus, a magnet has
polarity. Usually, as in electrified or magnetized bod-
ies, these are properties of attraction or repulsion, or the
power of taking a certain direction : as, fiie polarity of
the magnet or magnetic needle. (See magnet.) A sub-
stance is said to possess maffnetic polarity when it pos-
sesses poles, as shown by the fact that it attracts one pole
of a magnetic needle and repels the other.
A magnetical property which some caXl polarity.
Boyle, Works, III. 309.
2. The being attracted to one pole and repelled
from the other ; attraction of opposites : literal
or figurative: as, electricity has polarity.
It seemed Clifford's nature to be a Sybarite. It was per-
ceptible even there, in the dark old parlor, in the inevi-
table polarity with which his eyes were attracted towards
the quivering play of sunbeams through the shadowy fo-
liage. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, vii.
3. The having of an axis with reference to
which certain physical properties are deter-
mined.— 4. The having, as a ray, variation of
properties in reference to different inclinations
to a plane through the ray; polarization. [This
use of the word is objectionable.]
polarizable (po'lar-i-za-bl), a. [< polarize +
-able.} Capable of beingpolarized. Also spelled
pola^-isable.
polarization (p6"lar-i-za'shon), n. [= F. po-
larisation = It. polarizzazione ; as polarize +
-ation.'] 1. The state, or the act producing the
state, of having, as a ray, different properties
on its different sides, so that opposite sides are
alike, but the maximum difference is between
two sides at right angles to each other. This
is the case with polarized light. — 2. Less prop-
•erly, the acquisition of polarity, in any sense.
Also spelled polarisation.
Angle of polarization, circulax polarization. See
polarization of KffAt— Electrolytic polarization, in
elecL: (a) The process of depositing a film of gas upon
the plate in a voltaic cell, or upon the electrodes in Elec-
trolysis. (6) The condition thus produced. Thus, in
the electrolysis of water polarization of the electrodes
takes place, the one becoming coated with a film of oxy-
gen, the other with a film of hydrogen gas. The phrase
is most frequently used to describe the process by which
the negative plate in a voltaic cell becomes coated with
hydrogen, with the result of giving rise to a reverse
electromotive force, and thus of weakening the current.
On the methods of preventing this, see cell, 8. — Ellip-
tic polarization. See polarization of J^M.— Plane
of polarization, the plane which includes the incident
ray and the ray which is reflected (or refracted) and po-
larized.—Polarization of a dielectric, or dielectric
polarization, a phrase introduced by Faraday to describe
the condition of a non-conductor or dielectric, as he con-
ceived it, when in a state of strain under the action of two
adjacent charges of positive and negative electricitjr, as,
for example, in the condenser.— Polarization of liglt,
jSi change produced in light by reflection from or trans-
mission through certain media by which the transverse
vibrations of the ether (see light^) are limited to a single
plane, while in a ray of ordinaiy light these vibrations
take place indifferently in any plane about the line of
propagation. Polarization may be effected (1) by reflection
from a sm'f ace of glass, water, or similar substance, and
it is most complete if the angle of incidence has a certain
value, depending upon the substance, called the artgle of
polarization (for glass 54^°), the tangent of this angle be-
ing equal to the refractive index of the given substance
(Brewster's law); (2) by transmission through a series of
transparent plates of glass placed in parallel position at
the proper angle to the incident ray ; and (3) by double
refraction in any transparent anisotropic crystal (see re-
fraction). In the last case the two rays into which the
Incident ray is separated upon refraction are polarized in
planes at right angles to each other, as, for example, in
transparent calcite (Iceland spar), in which this double
refraction is most marked. A prism of Iceland spar may
he prepared in such a way that one of the two refract-
ed rays suffers total reflection and is extinguished ; the
other ray, which passes through, is polarized, its vibra-
tions taking place in the direction of the shorter diagonal
of the cross-section. Such a prism is called a Nicol prigm,
4590
or simply a nicd. If two such prisms are placed in the
path of a beam of ordinary light, it will pass through
them if their positions are parallel; if, however, the nic-
ols are crossed -that is, have their shorter diagonals,
or, in other words, their vibration-planes, at right an-
gles to each other— the light which passes through the
first prism (called the polarizer) wUl be extinguished by
the second (called the analyzer). Two sections of a crys-
tal of tourmalin, another doubly retracting substance, cut
parallel to the vertical axis, will act in the same way as
the nicols, transmitting the light if placed parallel, ai'rest-
ing it if placed with axes at right angles to each other.
In the tourmalin one of the rays is almost entirely ab-
sorbed by the crystal, and that which passes through is
Solarized with its vibrations parallel to the axis. In ad-
ition to the above linear plane polarization of a light-ray,
there is also what is called circular and elliptical polariza-
tion, in which the vibrations of the ether-particles take
place in circles and ellipses. This property, belonging to
certain substances, as quartz, cinnabar, and solution of
sugar, has the effect of rotating the plane of polarization
of the light transmitted through them to the right (right-
handed) or to the left (left-handed). A light-ray passing
through a transparent medium in a strong magnetic field,
or refiected from the pole of a powerful electromagnet, also
suffers a rotation of the plane of polarization. See rota-
tion, and rotatory power, under rotatory.
polarization-microscope (p6 " lar - i - za ' shon -
mi"kro-sk6p), n. An instrument consisting es-
sentially of a microscope and a polariscope com-
bined. See microscope.
polarize (p6'lar-iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. polar-
ized, ppr. polarizing. [= P . polariser = Sp. po-
larizar z=It. polarizzare ; as polar + -ize.'] 1.
To develop polarization in, as in a ray of light
which is acted upon by certain media and sur-
faces; give polarity to. See polarizaUon.
If sound's sweet influence polarize thy brain.
And thoughts turn crystals in the fluid strain.
0. W. Holmes, A Rhymed Lesson.
2. la elect., to coat with a film of gas, as the
negative plate in a voltaic cell.
Also spelled polarise.
Polarizing angle. Same as angle of polarization, for
which see polarization of light, under polarization. — Po-
larizing microscope. See polariscope.
polarized (po'lar-izd), ^. a. 1. Having polari-
zation ; affected by polarization : as, polarized
light ; polarized radiant heat. — 3. In eleet., hav-
ing the surface covered with a film of gas, as
the negative plate of a simple voltaic cell (with
hydrogen) after a brief use.
Also spelled polarised.
Polarized rings. See interference figures, under inter-
ference, 5.
polarizer (po<lar-i-z6r), n. In optics, that part
of a polariscope by which light is polarized:
distinguished from analyzer. Also spelled po-
polar-plant (po'lar-plant), n. Same as com-
pass-plant. [Rare.]
polaryt (p6'la-ri), a. [< NL. polaris: see po-
lar.] Tending to a pole; turning toward a
pole.
All which acquire a magnetical polary condition, and,
being suspended, convert then- lower extream unto the
North ; with the same attracting the Southern point of the
needle. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., ii. 2.
polatouche (pol-a-tosh'), ». [P.] The small
flying-squirrel of Europe and Asia, a species of
the genus Sdvropterus. Also palatouche.
polaynef , n. Same as poulai)ie.
poldavisf, n. Same as poledavy.
polder (pol'der), n. [D.] A boggy or marshy
soil ; a morass ; specifically, a tract of marshy
land in the Netherlands, Flanders, and northern
Germany, which has been reclaimed and brought
under cultivation.
polder-land (j)61'd6r-land), m. In the Nether-
lands and adjoining regions, marshy land which
has been reclaimed and brought under cultiva-
tion.
Thus the privileges of the Abbey of St. Pien'e of Ghent
of about the year 880 mention the existence of a partner-
ship of fifty members for the working of some polder-land.
W. K. SuUivan, Introd. to O'Curry s Anc. Irish, p. ccxii.
poldernt, poldront, n. Obsolete forms otpaul-
dron,
poldwayt, n. Same as poledam/. Weale.
polei (pol), n. [< ME. pole, < AS. pal, a pole, =
OPries. pal, pel = D. paal = MLG. pal = OHG.
phal, MHG. phal, pfal, G. pfaM = leel. pall =
Sw. j)(J2e = Dan. peel, a pale, post, stake, = OP.
pal (> ME. pal, pale, E. pale^), F. pal = Sp. palo
= Pg. poo, pau = It. palo, a stake, stick, < L.
pdlus, a stake, pale, prop, stay : see pale^, from
the same L. source, derived through OP.] 1.
A long, slender, tapering piece of wood, such as
the trunk of a tree of any size, from which the
branches have been cut; a<piece of wood (or
metal) of much greater length than thickness,
especially when more or less rounded and ta-
pering.
pole
In the euenyng they entred with a thousand Spaniards
& other, & slewe one citizen & set his hed on a poUe &
caused it to be borne afore them. '
Baa, Hen. VIIL, an. 19.
Vines that grow not so low as in France, but vpon high
poles or railes. Caryat, Crudities, 1. 95.
Specifically — (o) A rod used in measuring, (ft) In a two-
horse vehicle, a long tapering piece of wood, forming the
shaft or tongue, carrying the neck-yoke or the pole-straps
and sometimes the whiflletrees, by means of^which the
carriage is drawn, (c) A fishing-rod. (d) A bean-pole or
hop-pole, (e) A ship's maat.
2. A perch or rod, a measure of length contain-
ing l&i feet or 5i yards ; also, a measure of sur-
face, a square pole denoting 5^ X 5^ yards, or
30J square yards.
In dyuers odur placis in this lande they mete grounde
hypdlis, gaddis, and roddis ; som be of xviij foote, som o{
XX. fote^ and som xxt fote in leugith.
Arrwld's Chnm., p. 173.
3. A flatfish, Pleuronectes or Glyptocephahs cy-
noglossus, also called pole-dab. [Local, Eng.]
— 4. That part of the sperm-whale's lower jaw
which holds the teeth. See pan^, IS.—sarber'B
pole. See barber. — Setting pole, a pole with which a
boat is pushed through the water.— To set a pole. See
set — Under bare poles. See&arei.
polel (pol), V. ; pret. and pp. poled, ppi. poling.
[<.pole^,n.] t. trans. 1. To furnish with poles
for support: as, to pole beans. — 2. To bear or
convey on poles. — 3. To impel by means of a
pole, as a boat; push forward by the use of
poles. — 4. In copper-refining, to stir with a pole.
II. intrans. To use a pole ; push or impel a
boat with a pole.
From the beach we poled to the little pier, where sat
the Bey in person to perform a final examination ol our
passports. £. F. Burton, El-Medinah, p. 120.
pole^ (pol), n. [< ME. pol = D. pool = G. Sw.
B&n.jjol, < OF. pol, F.p6le= Sp. Pg. U.polo,
< L.^jjoto, < Gr. irdTioQ, a pivot, hinge, axis, pole,
< ■KeAetv, TzeleaBat, be in motion ; prob. of like root
with KkleaBat, urge on, KiXT^iv, drive on, L. -eel-
lere in percellere, urge on, impel, strike, beat
down, etc.] 1. One of the two points in which
the axis of the earth produced cuts the celes-
tial sphere; the fixed point about which (on
account of the revolution of the earth) the stars
appear to revolve. These points are called
the ijoles of the icorld, or the celestial poles.
She shook her throne that shook the starry pole.
Pope, Iliad, viiL 241.
2. Either of the two points on the earth's sur-
face in which it is cut by the axis of rotation.
That one which is on the left when one faces in the direc.
tion of the earth's motion is the north pole, the other the
sovthpole.
3. In general, apointonasphere equally distant
from every part of the circumference of a great
circle of the sphere. Every great circle has two such
poles, which lie in a line passing through the center of
the sphere and perpendicular to the plane of the great
circle— that is, in an axis of the sphere. Thus, the zenith
and nadir (on the celestial sphere) are the poles of the
horizon. So the poles of the ecliptic are two points on the
surface of the celestial sphere equally distant (90*) from
every part of the ecliptic.
Hence — 4. In any more or less spherical body,
one of two opposite points of the surface in any
way distinguished ; or, when there is a marked
equator, one of the two points most remote
from it: as, in botany, the poles of certain
spores or sporidia. — 5. The star which is near-
est the pole of the earth; the pole-star.— 6.
The firmament ; the sky.
The God that made both sky, air, earth, and heaven,
Which they beheld, the moon's resplendent globe,
And starry poJe. JlMton, P. L., iv. 724.
7. One of the points of a body at which its at-
tractive or repulsive energy is concentrated, as
the free ends of a magnet, one called the north,
the other the south pole, which attract more
strongly than any other part. See magnet.—
8. In math.: (a) A point from which a pencil of
lines radiates : as, the pole — that is, the origin
—of polar ooSrdinates. (6) A point to which a
given line is polar, (c) A curve related to a
line as a polar is to a point, -except that tan-
gential are substituted for point coordinates;
the result of operating upon the equation of a
curve with the symbol (w'.d/dit + v'.Altv +
w' .AjAw), where u', v', w' are the coordinates
of the line of which the resulting curve is pole
relative to the primitive curve. See polar, n.
—Altitude or elevation of the pole. See allStude.—
Analogous pole, that end of a pyro-eleotric crystal, as
tourmalin, at which positive electricity is developed with
a rise, and negative electricity with a fall, in tempera-
ture. See pyro-electi'icity.— Ajxtilogons pole, that end
of a pyro electric crystal, as tourmalin, at which nega-
tive electricity is developed with a rise, and positive
with a fall, in temperature. See pyro-eteetrieity.— Avi-
tral, blue, boreal, chlorous pole. See the adjectives.
—Consecutive poles, cbnBequent poles. See mii
pole
-»««.— Galactic poles. See ffoJacMc— Magnetic pole.
<<i) One of the points on the earth's surface where the
dipping-needle stands vertical. The term has also some-
times been improperly applied to the points o( maximum
magnetic intensity, of which there are two in each hemi-
sphere, neither of them near the pole of dip. (6) In a
magnetic body, either of the two points about which
two opposite magnetic forces are generally most intense.
A line joining these points Is called the magnetic axis,
and generally a magnet may be considered as if the
magnetic forces were concentrated at the extremity of
this line. When a magnetic body Is freely suspended,
the magnetic axis assumes a direction parallel with the
Inies of force of the magnetic field in which it is. On
the surface of the earth this direction is in a vertical
plane approximately north and south, and that end of
the magnet which points to the north is generally called
the jwwiA pole or the north-seeking pole. The fact that
the real magnetism of this pole is opposite in character
to that of the north pole of the earth gives rise to some
confusion in the nomenclature of the poles. Some phy-
sicists have used the epithets marked and unmarked to
<lesignate the north-seeking and south-seeking poles re-
spectively. The words austral and boreal are also used.
A magnet may have more than two poleSj or points of
maximum magnetic intensity, and in fact it may be as-
sumed that all parts of a magnet are in a state of po-
larity, the actual poles of the magnet being the result of
all polarization.— Multiple pole. Same a.smMltipalar.—
jPole of a glass, in optics, the thickest part of a convex
Jens, or the thinnest part of a concave lens ; the center of
Its sui'face. Button. — Pole of a line with reference to a
■conic, the point of intersection of the tangents to the conic
having their points of contact at the intersections of the
<!onic with the line.— Pole Of a plane with reference to
a conicoidj the vertex of the cone tangent to the conicoid
on the plane.— Pole of revolution. When a globe or
sphere revolves about one of its diameters as an axis, each
extremity of such diameter is called a pole of rffooltttimi.
— Pole of verticity, the earth's magnetic pole, at which
a freely suspended magnetic needle assumes a vertical
position.— Poles Of a voltaic pile or battery, the p] ates
at the extremities of a voltaic battery, or the wires which
join them, the end which is chemically passive being
called iiiepo^ive pole, and that which is chemically active
the negative pole. See battery, cell, electrode. — Poles Of
maximum cold. See temperature.— Ked pole, the bo-
real pole.— Strength of pole, the force exerted between
a magnetic pole and a unit pole at a unit distance. — The
marked pole of a magnet. See marked.~To depress
the pole. See depress.— Unit pole, a magnetic pole be-
tween which and another of equal strength, separated from
it by a unit's distance, a unit's force is exerted.
Poles (pol), n. [= G. Pole = D. Pool, a Pole
(Polen, Poland) ; < Pol. Polak, a Pole (see Po-
lack); cf. Polsko, Poland, PolsM, Polish.] A
native or an inhabitant of Poland, a former
kingdom of Europe, divided, since the latter
part of the eighteenth century, between Russia,
Prussia, and Austria.
pole*t, »»■ An obsolete spelling of ^oo^i.
poleSj, n. and v. An obsolete spelling otpolP-.
poleax, poUax (pol'aks), «. [Also polleaxe;
oommoTiij j]oleax, as if < jjoZel + ax^, but prop.
pollax, < ME. pollax, < MLG. polexe, a poleax,
Xpol, poll, head, + exe = E. ax^: seepoll^ and
ax^.'] 1. Formerly, a weapon or tool consi&'ting
of an ax-head on a long handle, and often com-
bined with a hook at the end, or a blade like a
pick on the side opposite the blade of the ax;
later, more loosely, a battle-ax.
The Pentioners with ther poleaxes on each side of her
Maiestie. Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 22.
2. (a) A weapon used in the navy by boarders
and also to cut away rigging, etc. It is a hatchet
with a short handle at the end of which is a
strong hook. (6) An ax for slaughtering cattle.
pole-bean (pol'ben), n. Any one of the twin-
ing varieties of the common garden bean, re-
quiring the support of a pole. See bean^, 2.
pole-burn (pol'b6rn), v. i. To discolor and lose
flavor by overheating, as tobacco when hung
too closely on poles in the first stage, of the
curing process.
pole-brackets (p61'brak'''ets), ■/(. jil. Brackets
placed upon poles for supporting telegraph-
wires.
polecat (pol'kat), n. [Early mod. E. also pole-
caUe,j}olcat; < ME.poleat,pollcat,pulltat,^vo\>.
orig. *poleeat or *poulecat, < *pole, *poule, a hen,
chicken (< OF. "pole, poule, F. poule, a hen, a
chicken), -I- cat. The polecat is well known as
Fitch or Polecat {Putoruts /(ettdus).
4591
a chicken-thief. The word *pole, *poule, a hen,
chicken, is not elsewhere found in ME. (except
as in the derivatives poult, poultry, pullet, piil-
len, etc.)j and the first elemeij.t ot polecat has
been variously identified with (a) Pole^ or Pol-
ish; (&) OF. pulent, stinking; or (c) ME. pol,
E. pool, in the assumed sense of 'hole' or 'bur-
row.'] 1. The fitchew or foulmart, Putorius
foBtldus of Etirope, of a dark-brown color, with
a copiouia fine pelage much used in furriery and
for making artists' brushes. See fltch^. — 2.
One of several other quadrupeds, mostly of the
family Mustelidm, which have a strong offen-
sive smell. Specifically — (a) Any American skunk, es-
pecially the common one, Mephitis tnephitica. See skunk.
(6) The African zoril, ZorlUa striata or Z. capensis. (c) A
kind of paradoxure.
polecat-weed (pol'kat-wed), n. The skunk-
cabbage, Symplocarpus fwUdus.
pole-chain (pol'chan), n. A chain on the front
end of a carriage-pole. It is connected with
the collar or the breast-chains of the harness.
E. S. Knight.
pole-changer (p6rchan'''36r), n. A device by.
means of which the direction of the current in
an electric circuit may conveniently be re-
versed. Also called pole-changing key OT switch.
pole-cllptt (pol'klipt), a. Entwined or em-
braced by means of supporting poles : said of
a vineyard. Bee clip'^.
Thy pole-dipt vineyard. Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 68.
pole-crab (pol'krab), n. A double loop attached
to the metallic cap or pole-tip on the end of the
pole of a vehicle. The loops receive the breast-straps
of the harness. When pole-chains are used, hey are at-
tached to rings added to the pole-crab.
pole-dab (pol'dab), n. Same a,s pole\ 3. [Lo-
cal, Eng.]
poledavyt (p61'da-vi), «. [Also poledavie, polU
davy, pouldavies,poldu>ay, etc. ; origin obscure.
, Cf. oulderrwss.'\ A coarse linen; hence, any
coarse ware. Nares; Halliwell.
Tour deligence, knaves, or I shall oanvase your poleda-
vyes; deafen not a gallant with your anon, anon, sir, to
make him stop his eares at an over-reckoning.
The Bride, sig. C. iii. (HalliweU.)
You must be content with homely Pdlldame Ware from
me, for you must not expect from us Country-folks such
Urbanities and quaint Invention that you, who are daily
conversant with the Wits of the Courts and of the Inns of
Court, abound withal. EouieU, Letters, I. ii. 10.
pole-evilt, «. An obsolete form of poll-evil.
pole-hammer (pol'ham'er), n. A martel-de-
fer with a long handle. See Lucerne hammer,
under hammerK
In the fourteenth century the war hammer was in gen-
eral use, and was often of considerable weight. The foot
soldiers had it fixed on a long pole, whence the name Pole-
kamm&r, given to it in Sngland.
W. E. SvZlivan, Introd. to O'Curry's Ano. Irish, p. cccclix.
pole-head (pol'hed), n. [For *pollhead (?) ; <
poVX + head. Cf . tadpole^ A tadpole. Halli-
well. [Prov. Eng.]
pole-hook (pol'huk), n. 1. A hook on the end
of a carriage-tongue. — 2. Same as hoat-hook.
E. H. Knight.
pole-horse (p61'h6rs), n. A shaft-horse as dis-
tinguished ftom a leader ; a wheeler.
pole-lathe (pol'laTH), n. Same as center-
lathe, 2.
poleless (pol'les), a. [<^o^el + -less.'\ With-
out: a pole.
Horses that draw a,pole-lesse chariot.
Sir R. Stapleton, tr. of J^uvenal, x. 166.
polemarch (pol'e-mark), n. [= F. polemarque
= Pg. polemaroo, < Gr. nol^/mpxog, one who leads
a war, polemarch, < ■rr62,Efwg, war, + apxeiv, be
first.] A title of several officials in ancient
Greek states. At Athens the polemarch was the third
archon, who was as late as Marathon the titular military
commander-in-chief, and was later a civil magistrate hav-
ing under his especial care all strangers and temporary
sojourners in the city, and all children of parents who
had lost their lives in the service of their country.
pole-mast (pol'mast), n. Naut., a mast com-
posed of a single piece or tree, in contradis-
tinction to one built up of several pieces.
polemic (p6-lem'ik), a. and». [= F. poUmique
= Sp. poUmico = Pg. It. polemico, polemic (F.
polemiques = Sp. polemica = Pg. It. polemiea,
n., polemics), < Gr. m7^jUK6Q, warlike, < ■!r6ls/w(,
war.] I. a. Of or pertaining to controversy;
controversial; disputative: as, a, polemic essaj
or treatise ; polemic divinity or theology ; po-
lemic writers.
The nullity of this distinction has been solidly shewn
by most of our polemick writers of the Protestant church.
South, Sermons.
II, «. 1. A disputant; one who carries on a
controversy; a controversialist; one who writes
polenta
in support of an opinion or a system in opposi-
tion to another.
Each staunch polemic, stubborn as a rock.
Pojje, Dunciad, Iv. 195.
2. A controversy; a controversial argument.
It is well that, in our polemic against metaphysics, there
should be no room left for ambiguity or misconception.
J. Fiske, Cosmic Fhilos., I. 128.
Prof. Huxley, in his polemic against Herbert Spencer,
states quite rightly that the most perfect zoological be-
ings present that subordination pushed to the extreme de-
gree. Contemporary Bev., L. 433.
polemical (50-lem'i-kal), a. [(.polemic + -al.J
Of or pertaining to polemics or controversy ;
controversial; polemic: as, ^oZe»(icanogie.
The former [error in doctrine] I must leave to the con-
viction of those polemicaU discourses which have been so
learnedly written of the several points at difference.
Bp. Ball, Christ. Moderation, ii. § 1.
polemically (po-lem'i-kal-i), adv. In a polem-
ical manner; controversially; disputatively ;
in polemic discourse or argument; in the man-
ner of polemics.
polemicist (po-lem'i-sist), 11. [(.polemic + -ist]
One given to controversy; a polemic. [Rare.]
polemics (po-lem'iks), n. [PI. ot polemic: see
-«es.] The art or practice of disputation ; con-
troversy; specifically, that branch of theology
which is concerned with the history or conduct
of ecclesiastical controversy: the word more
particularly denotes offensive as distinguished
from defensive controversy : opposed to irenics.
polemist (pol'e-mist), n. [= F. %yoUmiste ; < Gr.
TTo'Ae/^iaT^g, a combatant, < noleiiit^uv, fight, <
■7r6?ie/iog, war.] A controversialist ; a, polemic.
[Rare.]
other political polemists of his kind.
The Century, XXXV. 201.
Polemoniace8B(pol-e-m6-m-a'sf-e), n.pl. [NL.
(Ventenat, 1794), < Polemonimm + -acese.'] The
phlox family, an order of gamopetalous plants,
the type of the cohort Polemoniales. it is char-
acterized by the five stamens inserted on the corolla-tube
alternate to its five equal and convolute lobes, the three-
cleft thread-like style, the superior three-celled ovary,
with two or more ovules in each cell, and a capsular fruit.
There are about 150 species, belonging to 8 genera, of which
Pol&monium, Phlox, Gilia, Cobsea, and Cantua yield many
handsome species in cultivation. They are chiefly na-
tives of western North America, with others in the Andes,
and a few in Europe and temperate parts of Asia, mostly
herbs, of mild and innocent properties, with ornamental
and bright-colored flowers. See cuts under Cobsea and Ja-
cob's-ladder.
polemoniaceons (pol-e-mo-ni-a'shius), a. Of
or pertaining to the Polemoniaceee.
Polemoniales (pol-e-mo-ni-a'lez), n.pl. [NL.
(Bentham and Hooker, 1876), < Polemonium,
q. v.] A cohort of gamopetalous plants, char-
acterized by a regular corolla with five lobes
and five alternate stamens^ as in the related co-
hort Gentianales, from which it is distinguish-
ed by its alternate leaves. Itinclndes 6 orders, the
Sfdanacese, Convolvulacese, Boraginese, Bydrophyllacese,
and Polemoniaceee, in part distinguished i-espectively by
rank odor, twining habit, fruit of four nutlets, pods with
two cells, and pods with three cells.
Polemonium (pol-e-mo'ni-um), n. [NL.
(Tournefort, 1700) (cf. L. j9oZemo»ia, valerian),
< Gr. Tro7i£jiC>viav, valerian (?), said by Pliny
to be from ndAEiiog, war, because the cause of
war between two kings; by others, to be so
named from the philosopher Polemon of Ath-
ens, or from King Polemon of Pontus.] A ge-
nus of plants, the type of the order Polemoni-
acese, characterized by its declined stamens,
pilose filament-bases, braetless calyx, deeply
three-valved capsule, and from two to twelve
ovules in each cell. There are 8 or 9 species, natives
of Europe, Asia, North America, Mexico, and Chili. They
are delicate plants with pinnate leaves and tei-minal cymes
of ornamental blue, violet, or white flowers, commonly
broadly bell shaped. P. ceendeum is known as JacoVs-
ladder, also Greek valerian, and sometimes in England as
makebate or charity. P. reptans is locally known as abscess-
root, and improperly as forget-me-not.
polemoscope (pol'e-mo-skop), n. [= p. pold-
moscope = Sp. Pg. polemoscopio, < Gr. ■Br6?i^/jos,
war, + nKonelv, view.] A perspective glass fit-
ted with a mirror set at an angle, designed for
viewing objects that do not lie directly before
the eye : so named from its possible use in war-
fare to observe the motions of the enemy from
behind defenses. Operarglasses also are sometimes
constructed in this way, to admit of seeing persons ob-
liquely without apparently directing the glass at them.
polemyt (pol'e-mi), ». [< Gr. if6?ie/zog, war.]
War; warfare; hence, contention ; resistance.
Sir E. Bering.
pole-net (pol'net), «. A net attached to a pole
for fishing; a shrimping-net ; a poke-net.
polenta (po-len'ta), n. [= F. polente, polenta
= Sp. Pg. It. polenta, "a meate vsed in Italie,
polenta
made of barlie or chesnut flowre soked in water,
and then fride in oyle or butter" (Florio, 1598),
" barley-gi'otes, a meate much used in Italie"
(Florio, 1611 ), now generally applied to porridge
of maize,< li. polenta, polenium, peeled barley;
of . Gr. jrdX^, the finest meal.] 1. In Italy: (a)
A porridge made of Indian meal (maize-meal),
the principal food of the poorer people through-
out large sections of the country. The meal ia
yellow and not very fine, with a sharp granulated charac-
ter. The porridge is made very stiff, and usually poured
out while hot into a flat pan about half an inch deep. It
is cut with a string when partly cool.
A kind of meal called poJento made of Indian corn, which
is very nourishing and agreeable. Smollett, Travels, xx.
(ft) A porridge made of chestnut-meal, much
used in autumn. — 2. In France, a porridge
made of. barley-meal, not common except in
the south.
pole-pad (pol'pad), n. In artillery, a stuffed
leather pad fixed on the end of the pole of a
field-carriage to preserve the horses from in-
pole-piece (pol'pes), n. A mass of iron form-
ing the end of an electromagnet, by means of
which the lines of magnetic force are concen-
trated and directed, in dynamos the pole-pieces
are shaped so as to inclose the surface in which the arma-
ture revolves.
pole-plate (pol'plat), n. In building, a small
wall-plate resting on the ends of the tie-beams
of a roof, and supporting the lower ends of the
common rafters.
pole-prop (pol'prop), n. In artillery, a short
rod or bar fastened under the pole of a gun-
carriage, to support it when the horses are un-
hitched.
pole-rack (pol'rak), n. In tanning, dyeing, and
other industries, a rack which supports the
poles on which articles are suspended or laid
for drying, draining, etc.
pole-rush (pol'rush), n. The bulrush, Sdrpus
lacustris. Also pool-rusli. [Prov. Eng.]
pole-sling (pol'sUng), «. A pole, about twenty-
five feet long, from which are suspended a lea-
ther seat and a board for the feet, carried by
two or more bearers: used for traveling in
Dahomey. N. A. Rev., CXLV. 361.
pole-staff (pdl'staf ), TO. The pole of a net.
pole-star (pol'star), to. l. The star Polaris, of
the second magnitude, situated near the north
pole of the heavens, it sei-ved in former times, and
still serves among primitive peoples, as a guide in navi-
gation. It is now about li° from the pole, very nearly in
a line with the two stars in the Dipper (a and j3) which
form the further edge of the bowl. About 6,000 years ago
the pole-star was a Draconis, and in about 12,000 it will
be a Lyrse.
It is wel knowen (moste noble prince) that the starre
which we caule the pole starre, or northe starre (cauled
of the Italians Tramontana), is not the very poynte of the
pole Artyke vppon the whiche the axes or extremities of
heauens are turned abowte.
R, Eden, tr. of Peter Martyr (First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. 90).
2. Hence, that which serves as a guide or direc-
tor; a lodestar. — 3. In 6 JoZ., a polar star ; one
of the two stellate figures which may be borne
upon the poles of the fusiform nucleus-spindle
in the process of karyokinesis.
pole-strap (pdl'strap), to. a heavy strap for
connecting a carriage-pole with the collar of a
horse ; a pole-piece. See cut imder harness.
poletet, TO. A Middle English form ot pullet.
pole-tip (pol'tip), TO. A cylindrical cap fixed on
the front end of the pole of a vehicle.
pole-torpedo (pol'tSr-pe'do), to. A torpedo pro-
jected on the end of a pole, and operated from
a boat or vessel: usually called spar-torpedo.
pole-vault (pol'v^lt), TO. A vault, generally
over a horizontal bar, performed with the aid
of a pole.
pole-vaulting (pol'vaif'ing), to. The act or
practice of vaulting with the aid of a pole.
pol-evilf, TO. An obsolete spelling oipoU-evil.
poleward, polewards (pol'ward, -wardz), adv.
[< pole''^ + -ward, -wards.'] Toward the pole
(eimer north or south).
The waters at the equator, and near the equator, would
produce steam of greater elasticity, rarity, and tempera-
ture than that which occupies the regions further pdle-
warda. WheweU.
polewig (pol'wig), TO. A fish, the spotted goby,
Gobius minutus, which inhabits British and
neighboring shores. It is of a transparent golden-
gray color, with a multitude of tiny black dots upon the
back, and generally marked with dark blotches upon the
sides and a black spot on the dorsal fln. Also called polly-
hait. [Prov. Eng.]
poleyif, n. An obsolete form otpoly.
• ^2 (po'li), a. [For *polly,_< poin + -yl.]
Without horns; polled. [Eng.]
4592
If it had been any other beast which knocked me down
but that jjoJej/ heifer, I should have been hurt.
U. EingOey, Geoflry Hamlyn, xxix. (Damee.)
poleynt, to. See poulaine. , „ -^ .
polhode (pol'hod), TO. [Irreg. formed (by Poin-
sot, in 1852) < Gr. itoM, axis, pole, + odof, way,
path.] A non-plane curve, the locus of the
point of contact with an ellipsoid of a plane tan-
gent at once to that surface and to a concentric
. sphere Associate of the polhode, the locus of the
pSint of contact of a plane with an ellipsoid rollmg upon
it and having a fixed center; herpolhode.
Polian (p6'li-an), a. [< Poll (see def .) + -oto.]
Described by or named from the Neapolitan
naturalist Poli (1746-1825).— polian vesicles, cse-
cal diverticula of the circular vessel of the ambulacral
system of Echinodermata. They are of the nature of ar-
rested or abortive niadreporic canals which have blmd
ends, and therefore do not place the cavity of the ambu-
lacral system in communication with the perivisceral cav-
ity of the animal. See cuts under Holothmioidea, Echi-
noidea, and Synapta.
polianite (pol'i-an-it), to. [Named in allusion
to its gray color, < Gr. iroXiof, gray, + -an- +
-ife2.] Anhydrous manganese dioxid (MnOg),
a mineral of a light steel-gray color and hard-
ness nearly equal to that of quartz. It crystal-
lizes in tetragonal forms, and is isomorphons with rutUe
(Ti02), cassiterite (SnOai and zu;oon (ZrOoSi02). It has
often been confounded with the commoner mineral pyro-
lusite.
polianthea (pol-i-an'the-a), to. [NL., < Gr. Tro-
/lif, many, + avdog, flower.] A commonplace-
book containing many flowers of eloquence, etc.
Your reverence, to eke out your sermonings, shall need
repair to postils or poliantlieas.
Milton, On Def. ot Humb. Eemonst., Postscript.
Folianthes (pol-i-an'thez), TO. [Also Polyan-
thes; NL. (Linnjeus, 1737), from the pure-white
flowers ; = Sp. poliantes, s Gr. 'KoXi6g, white, +
dvflof, flower.] A genus of ornamental plants
of the order Amaryllidese and tribe Agavese,
characterized by the long undivided raceme
bearing twin flowers with a prominent and in-
curved tube dilated upward into thick, spread-
ing lobes, by the conical ovary within the base
of the perianth, and by the short, erect, tuber-
ous rootstock. There are 3 species, natives ot Mexico
and Central America. They produce a tall unbranched
wand-like stem, with a tuft of linear leaves at its base, and
many showy fragrant white flowers clothing the upper por-
tion. P. tuberosa is the tuberose.
police (po-les'), «. [< F. police = Sp.poUcia =
Pg. policia = It. polizia, pulizia = D. policie,
politie = MLG. policie, polici, pollicie = G. poli-
eei, polieei = Sw. Dan. poKii, civil government,
police; < L. politia, the state, < Gr. iroXiTeia,
citizenship, government, the state, < Tro^ir^/f, a
citizen, < ffoAff, a city. Ct. policy'^, polity.'] 1.
Public order; the regulation of a country or
district with reference to the maintenance of
order; more specifically, the power of each
state, when exercised (either directly by its
legislature or through its municipalities) for
the suppression or regulation of whatever is
injurious to the peace, health, morality, gen-
eral intelligence, and thrift of the community,
and its internal safety, in its most common accep-
tation, the police signifies the administration of the muni-
cipal laws and regulations of a city or incorporated town
or borough by a corps of administrative or executive offi-
cers, with the necessary magistrates for the immediate
use of force in compelling obedience and punishing vio-
lation of the laws, as distinguished from judicial remedies
by action, etc. The primary object of the police system
is the prevention of crime and the pursuit of offenders ;
but it is also subservient to other purposes, such as the
suppression of mendicancy, the preservation of order, the
removal of obstructions and nuisances, and the enforcing
of those local and general laws which relate to the public
health, order, safety, and comfort.
But here are no idle young Fellows and Wenches beg-
ging about the Streets, as with you in London, to the Dis-
grace of all Order, and, as the French call it, Police.
Burt, Letters from the North of Scotland (1720), quoted in
[N. and Q., 7th ser., IV. 346.
Eome was the centre of a high police, which radiated to
Farthia eastwards, to Britain westwards, but not of a high
civilization. Be Quincey, Philos. ot Roman Hist.
Where Church and State are habitually associated, it is
natural that minds even of a high order should uncon-
sciously come to regard religion as only a subtler mode of
police. Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 77.
2. An organized civil force for maintaining or-
der, preventing and detecting crime, and en-
forcing the laws ; the body of men by whom the
municipal laws and regulations of a city, incor-
porated town or borough, or rural district are
enforced, a police force may be either open or secret.
An open police is a body of officers dressed in uniform,
and known to everybody; a secret police consists of offi-
cers whom it may be difficult or impossible to distinguish
from ordinary citizens, the dress and manners of whom
they may think it expedient to assume, in order that they
may the more easily detect crimes, or prevent the com-
policial
mission of such as require any previous combination or
arrangement. See detectioe, comtaMe.
Time out of mind the military department lias had a
name ; so has that of justice; the power which occupies
itself in preventing mischief, not till lately, and that but
a loose one, the police.
Bentham, Introd. to Morals and Legislation, xvi. 17, note 2.
3. In the United States army, the act or process
of policing (see police, v., 2): a kind of fatigue
duty: as, to go on police; to dopolice — coaunls-
siouers of police. See commismoreer.— Military po-
lice, (a) An organized body employed within an array to
maintain civil order, as distinct from military discipline.
(6) A civil police having a military organization. Such
are the French gendarmerie, the sbirri of Italy, and the
Irish constabulary.— Mounted police, a body of police
who serve on horseback.— Police board, in several of the
United States, a board constituted by the justices of the
county for the control of county police, pubUc buildings,
roads, bridges, terries, county funds, lunatics, paupers, va-
grants, etc. Mur/ree, Justices' Practice.— Police burgh.
See fiMJV/A.- Police captain, in some of the larger cities
ot the United States, as in New York, a subordinate offi-
cer in the police force having general charge of the mem-
bers of the force serving in his precinct, and special pow-
ers of search and entry for purposes of search.— PollCft
commissioner, (a) See commissioner, (b) In Scotland,
one of a body elected by the ratepayers to manage police
affairs in burghs.— Police constable, a member of a
police force; a policeman. Abbreviated P. C— Police
court, a court for the trial ot offenders brought up on
charges preferred by the police.— Police Inspector, a
superintendent or superior officer of police^ or of a subor-
dinate depajtment therein.— Police Jury, the designa-
tion in Louisiana of the local authority in each parisli
(corresponding nearly to the board of supervisors of each
county in many other States), invested with the exercise of
ordinary police powers within the limits of the parieh,
such as prescribing regulations for ways, fences, cattle,
taverns, drains, quarantine, support of the poor, etc.—
Police magistrate, a judge who presides at a police
court.— PoUce office. Same as police station Police
officer, a policeman ; a police constable. — Police pov-
er, in conMitutional law, in a comprehensive sense, tlie
whole system of internal regulation ot a state, by whicli
the state seeks not only to preserve the public order
and to prevent offenses against the state, but alBO to es-
tablish for the intercourse of citizens with citizens those
rules of good manners and good neighborhood which are
calculated to prevent a conflict of rights and to insui-e to
each the uninterrupted enjoyment of his own so far as Is
reasonably consistent with a like enjoyment ot rights by
others. (Cooley.) Definitions of the police jjower must be
taken subject to the condition that the State cannot, in its
exercise, for any purpose whatever, encroach upon the
powers ot the general government, or rights granted or
secured by the supreme law of the land. (Supreme Court
of U. S.) The question as to what are the proper limits
of the police power in the United States is a judicial one,
depending in each case upon the relation of the act la
question to the situation of the people and the condition
ot the federal legislation. In a long and fiuctuating line
of decisions it has been held to include quarantine laws,
fire and building laws, laws tor draining marshes, licens-
ing slaughter-houses, excluding paupers and immigrants,
caring for the poor, regulating highways, bridges, car-
riers, peddlers, etc., within the limits ot the State (so far
as not interfering with interstate commerce or an equality
of freedom), laws prohibiting and abating nuisances, pro-
hibiting lotteries, the sale ot adulterated and simulated
food-products, and the manufacture and sale of intoxicat-
ing liquors, but not, however, the sale in the original
package of articles of interstate commerce, nor discrimi-
nating against sales by persons from without the State as
compared with those within it.- Police rate, a tax levied
lor the purposes of the police. [Brit.] — Police sergeant,
a petty officer of police.— Police station, the station or
headquarters of the police force in a municipality or dis-
trict thereof, usually, if not always, containing a lock-up
lor the temporary detention of accused or suspected per-
sons, and accommodations for officers and magistrate.
Also police office. — Prefect of police. See prefeet.
police (po-les'), «;. *. ; pret. and pp.^oKced, ppr.
policing.' _[< police, to.] 1. To watch, guard,
or maintain order in ; protect or control by
means of a body of policemen: as, to^oKcc a
district; to jpoh'cetheinland waters of aoountry.
Princes ... are as it were inforced to . . . entcnd to
the right pollidng of their states, and haue not one houre
to bestow vpon any other ciuill or delectable Art
Pvttenkam, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 36.
From the wilds she came
To policed cities and protected plains.
Thornton, Liberty, iv.
2. To clean up; clear out; put in order: as,
to police the parade-ground. [U. S.]
policeman (po-les 'man), to.; pi. policemen
(-men). 1. One of the ordinary police, whose
duty it usually is to patrol a certain beat for a
fixed period, for the protection of property and
for the arrest of offenders, and to see that the
peace is kept.— 2. In entom., a soldier-ant.
Pascoe. — 3. In coal-mining, a wood or iron
guard around or covering the mouth of a pit,
or placed at mid-workings. — 4. A kind of swab,
used for cleaning vials, etc., made by slipping
a piece of rubber tubing over the end of a glass
rod.
police-nippers (po-les'nip'^ferz), to. pi. Hand-
cuffs or foot-shackles. Compare nipper\ 5 (i)-
[Slang.]
pobcial (p6-lish'al), a. [= Tg. policial ; ipoliee
+ -al.] Of or peiftaining to the police. [Hare.]
policial
It thus happened that he foand himself the cynosure
of the policuU eyes. Poe, Tales, I. 215.
policiant, »• [Early mod. E., -written poUtien;
< OF. poUoien, a public man, a statesman, <
polieie, police, government, policy : see police,
policy^.'] An oflScer of state. Puttenham, Arte
of Eng. Poesie, p. 122.
policluiic (pol-i-Klin'ik), n. [z= G. poliklinik; as
Gr. ff(JA(c, city, + E. clinic. Sometimes written
polyclinic (= F.polycUnique), as if 'a clinic for
many': as Gr. irolijc, many, + E. clinic.} A
general city hospital or dispensary.
policy^ (pol'i-si), n. [Early mod. E. siisopoUcie,
pollide; < WK.poUcie, < OF. polieie, < L. po-
litia, < Gr. TroXiTeia, polity: see police, polity.']
If. Polity; administration; public 'business.
In alle governaunce and polieye.
Chaucer, Pardoner's Tale, 1. 138.
2. Object or course of conduct, or the principle
or body of principles to be observed in conduct ;
specifically, the system of measures or the line
or conduct which a ruler, minister, government,
or party adopts and pursues as best for the in-
terests of the country, as regards its foreign or
its domestic affairs : as, a spirited foreign poli-
cy; the commercial poMci/ of the United States ;
ajJoMc)/ of peace; -puWio policy.
As he is a Spirit, vnseen he sees
The plots of Princes, and their Policies.
Sylvester, tr. of Da Bartas's Weeks, i. 1.
This was the Serpents polieie at first, Balaams polieie af-
ter, Babels jpoiicj; now. Purehas, Pilgrimage, p. 38.
The legislation and policy of Mary were directed to up-
root everything that Edward VI. had originated.
Stubhs, Medieval and Uodern Hist., p. 322.
• 3. Prudence or wisdom in action, whether pub-
lic or private ; especially, worldly wisdom : as,
honesty is the \>eiit policy.
That maner of iniurie whiche is done with frande and
deceyte is at this present tyme so communely practised
that, if it be but a little, it is called polieie.
Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, iii. 4.
In these days 'tis connted poUicie
To vse dissimulation.
Times^ Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 94.
It is my Policy^ at this time to thank you most heartily
for your late copious Letter, to draw on a second.
Howell, Letters, I. ii. 9.
The politic nature of vice must be opposed by policy.
Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., i. 18.
4. In Scotland, the pleasure-grounds around a
nobleman's or gentleman's country house, (in
this use its primary sense is 'the place or tract within
which one has authority to administer affairs.']
My father is just as fond of his policy and his gardens ;
but it 's too little for a policy, and it 's more than a garden.
Mrs. Oliphant, Joyce, xvii.
Policy of pourboire. See pourboire.—'PoUcy of the
law. See Icml. = Sjn. 2 and 3. Policy, Polity, address,
shrewdness. Polity is now confined to the constitution
or structure of a government. It may be used of civil
government, but is more often used of ecclesiastical gov-
ernment: as, Hooker's "Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity";
Congregational or Presbyterian polity. Policy has the
sense of the management of public affairs : as, a certain
bequest is pronounced Invalid by the courts as being con-
trary to public j>o2i(^. Polity has neither a narrower nor
a lower sense ; policy has both. The narrower sense of
policy is system of management, especially wise manage-
ment; the lower sense is cunning or worldly wisdom.
The Pope's poZicy was to have two Italian interests which
could be set against one another, at the pleasure of the
Roman See, which thus secured its own safety and influ-
ence. Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, § 44.
Protestantism may be described as that kind of religious
pdity which is based upon the conception of individual
responsibility tor opinion. J. Fiske, Evolutionist, p. 266.
Public poUcy. SeepuMie.
policyit(pol'i-si),w. *. [= Pg. jjoKciar; <poliey^,
w.] To reduce to order; regulate by laws;
police.
It is a just cause of war for another nation, that is civil
ovpolieied to subdue them. Bacon, Holy War.
Towards the policying and perpetuating of this your new
Republic, there must be some special Rules for regulating
of Marriage. Howell, Letters, iv. 7.
policy^ (pol'i-si), n. ; pi. policies (-siz). [< F.
police, a bill, policy, = Sp. pdliea, a written or-
der, policy, = Pg. apolice, policy, = It. polizza,
a note, bill, ticket, lottery-ticket, policy, = Sw.
pallet, a ticket, < ML. politicum, poletum, pole-
ticum, polecticum, polegium, prop, polypiychum
{hli.polyptycha, pi. ), a register, < Gr. Tro^iwrvxov,
neut. of TroXvTTTvxoQ, with many folds or leaves, <.
TTo/liif, many, + Trrtif (j^tvx-), fold, leaf, < izTva-
ffEw, fold. Ct. diptych, eta.] 1. A written con-
tract by which a person, company, or party en-
gages to pay a certain sum on certain contin-
gencies, as in the case of fire or shipwreck, in
the event of death, etc., on the condition of
receiving a fixed sum or percentage on the
amount of the risk, or certain periodical pay-
ments. See insurance.
4593
A policy of insurance is a contract between A. and B.
that, upon A.'s paying a premium equivalent to the hazard
run, B. will indemnify or insure him against a particular
event Blackstone, Com., II. xxx.
3. A ticket or warrant for money in the pub-
lie funds. [Eng.] — 3. A form of gambling in
which bets are made on numbers to be drawn
by lottery. [U. S.]— Endowment policy. See e»i-
dowment. — Open policy, a policy of insurance in which
the value of the ship or goods insured is not fixed, but left
to be ascertained in case of loss ; or in which the subject
of insurance is not limited, so that other things may be
added from time to time.— Time policy, a policy of in-
surance in which the limits of the risk as regards time are
clearly specified. — Valued policy. See the quotation.
A valued policy is one in which a value has been set
upon the property or interest insured, and inserted in the
policy, the value thus agreed upon being in the nature
of liquidated damages, and so saves any further proof of
damages. Angell, on Ins., § 5.
Wagering policy, or wager policy, a pretended insur-
ance founded on an ideal risk, where the insured haa no
Interest in the thing insured, and can therefore sustain
no loss by the happening of any of the misfortunes in-
sured against. Such insurances were often expressed by
the words " interest or no interest." Notwithstanding the
general principle that insurance is acontract of indemnity,
such policies came in England to be held as legal contracts
at common law ; and the gambling thus legalized became
BO prevalent and injurious that wager policies, as above
defined, were prohibited by statute 19 Geo. III., c. 37, and
are generally invalid in the United States.
Wager Policies are such as are " founded upon a mere
hope and expectation, and without some interest," and
"are objectionable as a species of gaming."
Angell, on Ins., § 65, p. 96.
policy-book (pol'i-si-buk), n. In an insurance-
ofBce, a book in which the policies issued are
entered or recorded.
policy-holder (pol'i-si-h6Fd6r), n. One who
holds a policy or contract of insurance.
policy-snop (pol'i-si-shop), n. A place for gam-
bling by betting on the drawing of certain num-
bers in a lottery. [U. S.]
policy-slip (pol'i-si-slip), n. The ticket given
on a stake of money at a policy-shop. [U. S.]
poliencephalitis (pol-'i-en-sef-a-li'tis), n.
[NL., < Gr. iroX((i?, gray, + kyK^falog, the brain, +
-itis.'] Inflammation of the gray matter of the
brain : applied to inflammation of the nuclei of
origin of cranial nerves, and also to inflamma-
tion of the cortex. Also xiolioencepbalitis poll-
encephalitis inferior. Same as progressive bvlbar pa-
ralysis. See iiaraiysig.— Poliencephalitis superior.
&&meSLS ophthalmoplegia progressiva. See ophthalmoplegia.
poligar (pori-gar), n. [Also polligar, polygar,
etc. ; < Canarese pSlegara, Telugu palegddu,
Marathi pdlegdr, Tamil pdlaiyakdran, a petty
chieftain.] Originally, a subordinate feudal
chief, generally of predatory habits, occupying
tracts more or less wild in the presidency of
Madras, India, or a follower of such a chieftain ;
now, nearly the same as zemindar. Yule ana
Burnell.
poling (po'ling), TO. [Verbaln. of^oZei, v.] 1.
The act of using a pole for any purpose. — 3.
A process used in toughening copper, it con-
sists in plunging a long pole of green wood (birch is pre-
feiTed) into the fused metal on the floor of the refining
furnace. This process reduces the oxid which the re-
fined metal still holds, and brings the copper to what is
called "tough pitch," or to the highest attainable degree
of malleability. A somewhat similar process, known by
the same name, is employed in the refining of tin.
3. In hort., the operation of scattering worm-
casts on garden-walks with poles. — 4. The
boards (collectively) used to line the inside of
a tunnel dui-ing its construction, to prevent
the falling of the earth or other loose material.
— 5. Cramming for examination; hard study.
[College slang, U. S.]
polioencephalitis (pol'l-o-en-sef-a-li'tis), n.
Same as poliencephalitis.
poliomyelepathy (pol'i-o-mi-e-lep'a-thi), n.
[NL., < Gr. TToAidf, gray, + /ivel6g, marrow, +
-TcaSia, < waBeiv, 2d aor. of niaxeiv, suffer: see
pathos.] Disease of the gray matter of the
spinal cord.
poliomyelitis (pol"i-o-mi-e-li'tis), n. [NL., <
Gr. noMdQ, giaj, + /ivsMg, marrow, + -itis.]
Iiiflammation of the gray matter of the spinal
cord Anterior poliomyelitis, inflammation of the
anterior horns of the gray matter of the spinal cord. In
children called infantile paralysis.
Polioptila (pol-i-op'ti-la), n. [NL. (Solater,
1854), < Gr. irohdQ, gray, + irTihrn, wing, = E.
feather.] An isolated genus of oscine passer-
ine birds, typical of the subfamily Polioptilinx ;
the American gnatcatehers: so called from
the hoary edgings of the wings, p. eseruleals the
blue-gray gnatcatcher, a very common small migratory
insectivorous bird of eastern parts of the United States
and Canada. P. plumbea inhabits the southwestern United
States. P. mdanwa and about ten others are found in
warmer parts of America. Also called Cvlicivora. See
cut under gnatcatcher.
polish
Folioptilinse (pol-i-op-ti-li'ne), n. pi. [NL.
(Solater, 1862), < Polioptila + 4nse.] A sub-
family of birds, represented by the genus Po-
lioptila, formerly referred to the ParidsB, now
associated with the sylviine Passeres. The bill
is muscicapine, with well-developed rictal bristles and ex-
posed nostrils ; the tarsi are scutellate ; the toes are short ;
the primaries are ten, the first of which is spurious ; the
wings are rounded ; and the tail is graduated. The size
is very small, and the coloration is bluish-gray above, white
below, the tail black, with white lateral feathers.
poliorcetics (pol"i-6r-se'tiks), n. [= F.polior-
ceiique, < Gr. 'iTo?uopK^tK6g, concerning besieg-
ing, < iroliopKTiT^f, taker of cities, < KofutpKuv,
besiege, < n-iS^lff, city, 4- ep/cof, fence, inelosufe.]
The art or science of besieging towns. De Quin-
cey. [Rare.]
poliosis (pol-i-6'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. iroMaatg, a
making or becoming gray, < tto'Aiovv, make gray,
TToAfof, gray.] Inpathol., same as canities.
polipragmatickt, a. An obsolete form ot poly-
pragmatic. ^
polish^ (pol'ish), V. [< ME. polisehen, pollischen,
polyshen, polschen, pullisehen, puUschen, pul-
schen = 'D.polijsten, < OP. (and F. )poliss-, stem of
certain parts oipolir (> MLG. jJoHeren = MHG.
polieren, pollieren, bollieren, pulieren, palieren,
pallieren, ballieren, G. polieren = Sw. polera
= Dan. polere) = Sp. pulir, OSp. polir = Pg.
polir = It. polire, pulire, < L. polire, polish,
make smooth. Cf. polite.] I. trans. 1. To
make smooth and glossy, as a surface of mar-
ble, wood, etc., whether by rubbing or by coat-
ing with varnish, etc., or in both ways. Polish-
ing is often done with the object of bringing out the
color and markings of the material, as of colored marble,
agate, jasper, etc., and richly veined wood.
Bryght ypullished youre table knyve, semely in syjt to
sene;
And thy spones fayre y-wasche; ye wote welle what y
meenne. Bahees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 120.
The whiteness and smoothness of the excellent parget-
ing was a thing I much observed, being almost as even
and polished as if it had been ot marble.
Evelyn, Diary, Rome, Nov. 10, 1644.
3. Figuratively, to render smooth, regular, uni-
form, etc.; remove roughness, inelegance, etc.,
from; especially, to make elegant and polite.
Rules will help, if they be laboured and polished by prac-
tice. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii, 247.
Such elegant entertainments as these would polish the
town into judgment in their gratiflcations.
Steele, Spectator, No. 370.
3. To beat; chastise; punish. [Slang.]— To pol-
ish off, to finish off quickly, as a dinner, a contest, oi; an
adversary, etc. [Slang.]
I fell them [the Sepoys] in against the wall, and told
some Sikhs who were handy to polish them off. This they
did immediately, shooting and bayoneting them.
W. H. Sussell, Diary In India, II. 296.
=S^. 1. To burnish, furbish, brighten, rub up.— 2, To
civilize.
II. intrans. 1. To become smooth; receive
a gloss; take a smooth and glossy surface.
A kind of steel . . . which would polish almost as white
and bright as silver. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 849.
2. Figuratively, to become smooth, regular,
uniform, elegant, or polite,
polish! (pol'ish), TO. l<. polish^, v.] 1. Smooth-
ness of surface, produced either by friction or
by the application of some varnish, or by both
means combined. Polish denotes a higher degree of
smoothness than gloss, and often a smoothness produced
by the application ot some liquid, as distinguished from
that produced by friction alone.
Another prism of clearer glass and better polish seemed
free from veins. Newton, Opticks.
It never seems to have occurred to Waller that it is the
substance of what you polish, and not the polish itself,
that insures duration. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 396.
2. A substance used to give smoothness or to
help in giving smoothness to any surface. See
French polish, varnish-polish, etc., below. — 3.
Smoothness; regularity; elegance; refinement;
especially, elegance of style or manners.
What are these wondrous civilizing arts,
This RomMi polish, and this smooth behaviour?
Addison, Cato, L 4.
As for external polish, or mere courtesy of manner, he
never possessed more than a tolerably educated bear.
Hawthorne, Blithedale Romance, iv.
Black polish, the highest polish of iron or steel or other
non-precious metal.— French polish, (a) A glossy sur-
face produced by shellac dissolved in alcohol or similar
liquid, applied with abundant friction. (6) A liquid ap-
plication prepared by dissolving gum-shellac in alcohol,
or an imitation ot this. It is applied with a sponge or
rag, and the surface is then i-ubbed very thoroughly, the
operation being usually repeated two or three times.—
Shoe-polish, a liquid or pasty compound which, when
applied to the surface of leather and rubbed with a brush,
imparts to the leather a black and polished surface.-
Stove-polish, plumbago, or a composition of which plum-
bago is a considerable ingredient, which, when applied
with benzin or a similar liquid; or with water, and brushed
polish
with a broom or a Btove-brush, impartB a black and pol-
ished surface to iron plates.— Vamisll-poUBll, polish pro-
duced by a coat of vamtsh which covei-s the solid sub-
stance with a transparent coat, as distinguished from
French polUht which is supposed to fill the pores only and
to bring the surface to uniform smoothness.— Wax-pol-
ish. (a) A glossy surface produced by the application of
a paste composed of wax and some liquid in which it is
dissolved or partly dissolved. It requires hard and con-
stant rubbing, and frequent renewal. (6) The paste by
which such a polish is produced.
Polish^ (po'lish), a. and n. [< Polc^ + -Ml.
Cf. D. Foolsch, G. Polnisch, Sw. Dan. Polslc,
Pol. Polski, Polish.] I. a. Pertaining to Poland,
a country of Europe, or to its inhabitants. —
Polish berry, Parphyrophora polonica, a bark-louse or
scale-insect very similar to the kermes-beny, furnishing a
kind of cochineal used as a red dyestuft in parts of Bussia,
Turkey, and Armenia. — Polisll Checkers or draughts.
See checker^, 3.— Polish manna. Same as manna-aeede.
II. n. 1. The language of the Poles, it is a
Slavic language belonging to the western division, near-
ly allied to Bohemian (Czech), and is spoken by about
1(^000,000 persons in western Bussia, eastern Prussia, and
eastern Austria.
2. Same as Polish checkers.
Can you play at draughts, polish, or chess?
Brooke, Fool of Quality.
3. A highly ornamental breed of the domestic
hen, characterized especially by the large glob-
ular crest, and in most varieties having also
a full mun or beard. Among the principal varieties
are the white, the silver-, gold-, and buS-laced, and the
white-crested black Polish, the last presenting an espe-
cially striking appearance from the contrast of their large
white crests and glossy-black body-plumage.
polishable (pol'ish-a-bl), a. l<polish^ + -able.']
Capable of taking a'polish : thus, marble is pol-
ishable, arxA maybe defined as a, polishable erys-
talline limestone.
polished (pol'isM), jj. a. 1. Made smooth by
polishing, (a) Smooth ; perfectly even : as, polished
g late-glass, (b) Made smooth and lustrous by friction or
y covering with polish or varnish. See cut under con-
glomerate.
Fro that Temple, towardes the Southe, right nyghe, is
the Temple of Salomon, that is righte fair and wel pol-
lisscht. MandeiMle, Travels, p. 88.
Gentleman in white pantaloons, polished boots, and Ber-
lins. Forster, Dickens, II. 259.
2. Having naturally a smooth, lustrous surface,
like that produced by polishing; specifically,
in entom., smooth and shining, but without
metallic luster.
Bright polish'd amb6r precious from its size.
Or forms the fairest fancy could devise.
Crabbe, Works, 1. 110.
3, Brought by training or elaboration to a con-
dition void of roughness, irregularity, imper-
fections, or inelegances ; carefully elaborated ;
especially, elegant; refined; polite.
The Babylonians were a people the most polished after
the Egyptians. Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. 428.
The frivolous work ot polished idleness.
Sir J. Mackintosh, Works, I. 235.
Those large and catholic types of human nature which
are familiarly recognisable in e\evy polished community.
Bvlwer, Misc. Prose Works, 1. 121.
His [Shaftesbury's] cold and monotonous though ex-
quisitely polished dissei'tatious have fallen into general
neglect^ and find few readers and exercise no Influence.
Lecky, Rationalism, 1. 190.
4t. Purified; absolved.
I halde the pdlysed of that plygt, & pared as clene
As thou hade; neuer forfeted, sythen thou wats fyrst
borne.
Sir Oawayve and the Green Knight (E. K T. S.), 1. 2393.
polisher (pol'ish-er), n. One who or that which
polishes. Speoiflcally— (a) A workman whose occupa^
tion is the polishing of wood, marble, or other substances.
The skill of the polisTier fetches out the colours.
Addison, Spectator, No. 215.
(ft) In bookbinding, a steel tool of rounded form, used for
rubbing and polishing leather on book-covers.
polishtng-hed (pol'ish-ing-bed), n. A machine
for smoothing and polishing the sm-faee of
stone by the attrition of rubbers. These, for plane
surfaces, are wooden blocks covered with felt, and are
charged with emery in the first stages of the operation
and with putty-powder for finishing. Rubbers for mold-
ings are formed of old bagging cut into strips, folded, and
nidled to blocks in such a way as to present edges or folds
of the cloth to enter into the hollows of the moldings.
polishing-cask (pol'ish-ing-kask), n. A tum-
bling- or rolling-barrel in which li^ht articles
of metal are placed with some pohshing-pow-
der, and cleaned and burnished by attrition
against one another. A similar apparatus is
used for polishing grained gunpowder.
polishing-disk (pol'ish-ing-disk), «. In dentis-
try, one of a number of small instruments of
diaerent shapes and sizes for polishing the sur-
faces of teeth, dentures, or fillings; a small
poUshin g-wheel. They are rotated by means of a drill-
stock, and used with a flue polishing-powder. Disks of
sandpaper or emery-paper are also used.
yf'VT^^vF
1. A..»VSIVX-^
Laundry Polishing- iron
a, polishiner iron , 6, pol-
ishing-surface.
4594
polishing-hammer (porish-ing-ham"6r), n. A
hammer with a polished face, for the fine dress-
ing of metal plates. Com-
pare planishing-hammei:
polishing-iron (pol'ish-ing-
i"em), n. 1. A burnishing-
tool for polishing the covers
of books.— 2. A laundry-
iron for polishing shirt-
fronts, collars, cuffs, and oth-
er starched pieces. It some-
times has a convex face.
polishing-jack (pol'ish-ing-
jak), n. A polishing-maohine
armed with a lignum-vitre
slicker, for polishing leather
when considerable pressure
is required. E. H. Knight.
polismng-machine (pol'ish-ing-ma-shen''), ».
A machine which operates a rubbing-surface
for bringing to a polish the surfaces of mate-
rials or articles to which a polish is desired to
be given, as in polishing metals, stone, glass,
wood, horn, or articles made from these or
other materials. The rubbing may be reciproqatory
or rotary ; or it may be irregular, as where small articles
are polished by the tumbling process, in a rotating cylin-
der containing abrasive or smoothing substances. Spe-
ciflcally— (a) A machine for grinding and polishing plate-
glass. In one form of glass-polishing machine, the plate
is supported on a bed which has a slow reciprocating
motion, and the polishing is effected by rubbers carried
in a frame moved by a reciprocating arm. The rubbing-
surfaces are of felt. Moist sand and afterward different
grades of emery are used for grinding. The polishing-
powder is Venetian pink, and is used with water. The
final polish is given by hand with tripoli, crocus, or dry
putty-powder. (6) In stone-working, a polishing-bed. (c)
In agri. and milling, a machine for removing by tritura-
tion the inner cuticle of rice or barley ; a whitening-ma-
chine, (d) In cottanjman'uf., a machine for smoothing or
bmnishing cotton threads by brushing after the sizing.
(e) In wood-working, a machine for smoothing wood sur-
faces, employing an emery-wheel, or a wheel armed with
sand-paper or emery-paper.
poUshing-mill (pol'ish-ing-mil), n. A lap of
metal (lead, iron, or copper), leather, list, or
wood used by lapidaries in polishing gems.
Thus we have the slitting-mill, the roughing-mill, the
smoothing-mill, and the polishing-rmU, all generally of
metal. Byrhe, Artisan's Handbook, p. 197.
polishing-paste (pol'ish-ing-past), ii. Polish of
any kind made in the form of a paste.
polishing-powder (porish-ing-pou'dfer), n. 1.
Any piuverized material used to impart a
smooth surface by abrasive or wearing action,
as corundum, emery, Venetian pink, crocus,
tri|)oli, putty-powder, or oxid of tin for glass-
polishing ; whiting for cleaning and polishing
mirrors and window-glass; corundum, emery,
and the dust of diamonds, sapphires, and rubies
for lapidaries' work ; coi-undum, emery, pum-
ice-stone, rottenstone, chalk, rouge, and whit-
ing for metals; and pumice-stone for wood.
Powders which, like plumbago and its various compounds,
adhere to other surfaces to form a superimposed polished
surface are generally osil^ polishes, as stove-polish.
Specifically — 2. Same &s plate-powdei-.
polishings (pol'ish-ingz), n. pi. The fine par-
ticles removed from a surface by polishing;
particularly, the dust produced in poushing ar-
ticles made from precious metals, which is
saved, and reduced again to concrete form;
also, particularly; the dust produced in cutting
hard precious stones, which is saved, and used
for arming tools in lapidary work.
polishing-slate (pol'ish-ing-slat), ». 1. A slate,
usually gray or yellow, composed of microscopic
infusoria, found in the coal-measures of Bohe-
mia and in Auvergne in Prance, and used for
polishing glass, marble, and metals. — 2. Akind
of whetstone used for sharpening or polishing
the edges of tools after grinding on a revolving
grindstone.
polishing-snake (pol'ish-ing-snak), n. A kind
of serpentine quarried near the river Ayr in
Scotland, and formerly used for polishing the
surfaces of lithographic stones.
polishing-stone (pol'ish-ing-ston), n. Same as
polishing-slate — Blue polishlng-stone, a dark slate
of uniform density, used by jewelers, clock-makers, silver-
smiths, etc.— Gray pollsblng-stone, a slate similar In
character to the blue, but paler and of coarser texture.
See hon^stone and hone'^.
polishing-tin (pol'ish-ing-tin), n. A thin plate
of tinned iron, usually the full size of the leaf,
placed between the cover and first leaf and be-
tween the cover and last leaf of a book, to pre-
vent the progress of dampness in anewly pasted-
up book, and to keep the linings smooth.
polishing-wheel (pol'ish-ing-hwel), m. 1. A
wheel armed with some kind of abrasive mate-
rial, as sandpaper, emery, corundum, etc., and
polite
usedforsmoothingroughsurfaoes.^2. Awheel
having itsperimeter covered with leather, felt
cotton, or other soft smoothing material, for
bringing partly polished surfaces to a fine de-
gree of polish. See emery-wheel, buff-wheel, etc
polishment (pol'ish-ment), n. [< OP. ^joijssd
ment; as polish •¥ -ment. Cf . F. poliment = Sp,
pulimento = Pg. poUmento = It. pulimento.] i.
The act of polishing. — 2. The condition of be-
ing polished.
In the mind nothing of true celestial and virtuous ten-
dency could be, or abide, without the polishmeta of art and
the labour of searching after it.
Waterhome, Apology for Learning (1653), p. 6. (Latham.y
[Eare in both senses.]
polish-powder (pol'ish-pou'dSr), ». Same as
polishing-powdffi:
polissoir (F. pron. po-le-swor'), n. [P., (.polir,
polish: s&e polish'^^ In (?Zflws-j»on«/., an imple-
ment, consisting of a smooth block of wood
with a rod of iron for a handle, used for flat-
tening sheet-glass while hot on the polishing-
stone. Also called flattener.
The flattener now applies another instrument, a poiti.
sair, or rod of iron furnished at the end with a block of
wood. Olass-mabing, p. 129.
Polistes (po-lis'tez), n. [NL. (LatreUle, 1804),
< Gr. jroXiBT^c, founder of a city, < iroXU^etv, hiuld
a city, < irSTiic, a city: Bee police.'] A genus of
social wasps of the family Vespidse, containing
long-bodied black species with subpeduncnlate
abdomen and wings folding in repose. They have
the abdomen subsessile or subpetiolate, long, and f ueitorm.
Polistes rubigiftosus. a, wasp J b, nest
and the metathorax as long as broad, and oblique above;
the basal uervure joins the subcostal at the base of th&
stigma. It is a large genus of variable species, which baild
combs or a series of paper cells in sheltered placeC chieHy
on rafters, without a complete covering. P. gaSAem is a
common European species. P. rvbigirumitisi common in
North America.
polite (po-lif ),a [= P. poli = Sp. pvMdo = Pg.
poUdo= It. pulito,polito, < li.politus, polished,
polite, pp. of polire, polish: see polish^.'] It.
Polished; smooth; lustrous; bright.
Where there is a perf eyte raayster prepared in tyme, . . .
the brightnes of . . . science appereth polite and clere.
Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, lit 23.
Polite bodies, as looking-glasses.
Cudwarth, Intellectual System, p. 731.
2. Polished, refined, or elegant in speech, man-
ner^ or behavior; well-bred; courteous; com-
plaisant; obliging: said of persons or their
speech or behavior, etc.: as, jjoKte society; he
was very polite.
The court of Turin is reckoned the most splendid and
poliie of any in Italy ; but by reason of its being in mourn-
ings I could not see It in its magniflcence.
Addison, Remarks on Italy (ed. Bohn), 1. 507.
He is just polite enough to be able to be very unman-
nerly with a great deal of good breeding.
Colvmn, Jealous Wife, h,
3. Polished or refined in style, or employing
such a style : now rarely applied to persons : as,
polite learning; polite literature (that is, belles-
lettres).
Some of the finest treatises of the most polite latin and
Greek writers are in dialogue, as many very valuable pieces
of French, Italian, and English appear in the same drcBS.
Addison, Ancient Medals, 11.
He [Cicero] had . . . gone through the studies of hu-
manity and the politer letters with the poet Archias.
JUidcUeton, Cicejo (ed. 1766), 1. 86.
The study of polite literature is generally supposed to
Include all the liberal arts. Goldsmith, Origin of Poetry.
=Syii. 2. CivU, Polite, Courteous, Urbane, Cvmplaiiaii,
gracious, affable, courtly, gentlemanly, ladylike. Ciml,
litenOly, applies to one who fulfils the duty of a citi-
polite
zen ; It may mean simply not rude, or obserrant of the
external courtesies of intercourse, or quick to do and say
gratifying and complimentary things. Polile applies to
one who shows a polished civility, who has a higher train-
ing in ease and gracefulness of manners; politeness is a
deeper, more comprehensive, more delicate, and perhaps
more genuine thing than civility. PolUe, though much
abused, is becoming the standard word for the beaiing
of a refined and kind person toward others. Courtemis, lit-
erally, expresses that style of politeness which belongs to
courts : a ctmrteous man is one who is gracefully respect-
ful in his address and manner— one who exhibits a union of
digni&ed complaisance and kindness. The word applies
to tdl sincere kindness and attention. Urbane, literally
city-like, expresses a sort of politeness which is not only
sincere and kind, but peculiarly suave and agreeable. Com-
plaisant applies to one who pleases by being pleased, or
obliges and is polite by yielding personal preferences ; it
may represent mere fawning, but generally does not. See
fferUeel.
A man of sober life,
Fond of his friend, and civU to his wife.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. li. 189.
A polUe country esquire shall make you as many bows
in half an hour as would serve a courtier for a week.
Addison, Spectator, No. 119.
Like a very queen herself she bore
Among the guests, and courteous was to all.
Wuliam Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 803.
So I the world abused — in fact, to me
Urbane and civU as a world could be.
Crabbe, Works, Tin. 169.
He was a man of extremely convptaisani presence, and
suffered no lady to go by without a compliment to her
complexion, her blonde hair, or her beautiful eyes, which-
ever it might be. Howells, Venetian Life, xx.
politet (po-lif), V. t. [< L. politus, pp. otpoUre,
polish: see j)oJisfti, «.] To polish ; refine.
Those exercises . . . which pdUe men's spirits, and
which abate the uneasiness of life.
Bay, Works of Creation, i.
politely (po-lit'li), adv. If. Smoothly; with a
-polished surface.
The goodly Walks politely paved were
With Alabaster. J. Beaumotvt, Psyche, iL 195.
2. In a polite manner ; with elegance of man-
ners; courteously.
politeness (po-lit'nes), n. 1. The character of
being polite ;' smoothness ; polish; finish; ele-
gance.
Here was the famous Dan. Heinsius, whom I so long'd
to see, as well as the Elzivirian printing house and shop,
renown'd for the politeness of the character and editions
of what he has publish'd through Europe.
Mvelyn, Diary, Aug. 28, 1641.
Nay, persons of quality of the softer sex, and such of
them as have spent their timein well-bred company, shew
us that this plain, natural way, without any study or
knowledge of grammar, can carry them to a great degree
of elegance and politeness in the language.
Locke, Education, § 168.
2. Good breeding; polish or elegance of mind
or manners ; refinement ; culture ; ease and
grace of behavior or address; eourteousness ;
complaisance; obliging attentions.
All the men of wit and politeness were immediately up
in arms through indignation. Swift, Tale of a Tub, Apol.
A foreigner is veiy apt to conceive an idea of the igno-
rance OT politeness of a nation from the turn of their pub-
lic monuments and inscriptions.
Addison, Thoughts in Westminster Abbey.
Forgetting politeness in his sullen rage, Malone pushed
into the parlour before Miss Keeldar.
Charlotte BrontS, Shirley, xv.
Politeness has been well defined as benevolence in small
things. Macaulay, Samuel Johnson.
=S3m. 2. Courtesy, civility, urbanity, suavity, courtli-
ness. See polite.
politesse (pol-i-tes'), «• [< F. poUtesse = Pg.
polidez, < It. pulitezza, politeness, < pulito, po-
lite: see polite.^ Politeness.
I insisted upon presenting him with a single sous,mere-
ly for his politesse. Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. 37.
politic (pol'i-tik), a. and n. [I. a. Formerly
also politick, politique ; < F. politique = Sp. po-
litico = Pg. it. politico (cf. D. Gr. poUtisch = Sw.
Dan. poUtisk), < L. poUtieus, < Gr. woTiinKoc, of
or pertaining to citizens or the state, civic,
civil, < iroX'iTK, a citizen, < noXic, a, city: see po-
lice, policy^ polity. II. n. < P. politique = Sp.
politico = Pg. It. politico, < ML. poUticus, m., <
Gr. TTo/Urotof, a politician, statesman ; from the
adj. As an abstract noun (in E. in pi. politics),
P. politique = Sp. poUtica = Pg. It. politica =
D.poUtiek = G. Sw. Dan. politik, < L. politica,
< Gr. irohriKri, the science of politics, neut. pi.
■Ko'AtTiKa, political affairs, politics ; fem. or neut.
pi. of ToAtn/ciif, adj., pertaining to the state: see
above.] I. a. If. Of or pertaining to politics,
or the science of government; having to do
with politics.
I will be proud, I will read politic authors.
Shak., T. N., U. 6. 174.
2t. Of or pertaining to civil as distinguished
from religious or military affairs; civil; politi-
cal.
4595
When the Orater shall practize his schollers In the ex-
ercize thereof, he shall chiefly do y' in Orations made in
English, both politique and militare.
Sir H. Gilbert, Queene Elyzabethes Achademy(B. E. T. S.,
[extra ser.. III. i. 2).
He made Heligion conform to his politick interests.
Milton, fteformation in Eng., IL
Hence — Sf. Of or pertaining to officers of
state; official; state.
I hope
We shall be call'd to be examiners,
yf ear politic gowns garded with copper lace,
Making great faces full of fear and office.
Beau, and Fl., Woman-Hater, iii. 2.
4. That constitutes the state; consisting of
citizens : as, the body politic (that is, the whole
body of the people as constituting a state).
We, . . . the loyal subjects of . . . King James, . . .
do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the pres-
ence of God and one another, covenant and combine our-
selves together into a civil body politick.
Covenant of Plymouth Colony, in New England's Memo-
[rial, p. 37.
5. Existingby and for the state; popular; con-
stitutional.
The politic royalty of England, distinguished from the
government of absolute kingdoms by the fact that it ia
rooted in the desire and institution of the nation, has its
work set in the task of defence against foreign foes in the
maintenance of internal peace. Stvt)bs, Const. Hist., § 365.
6. In keeping with policy; wise; prudent;
fit; proper; expedient: applied to actions,
measures, etc.
This land was famously enrich'd
With polUic grave counsel.
Shak., Eich. III., ii. 3. 20.
It would be politic to use them with ceremony.
Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 5.
Pillage and devastation are seldom politic, even when
they are supposed to be just.
Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, § 130.
7. Characterized by worldly wisdom or crafti-
ness; subtle; crafty; scheming; cunning; art-
ful: applied to persons or their devices: as, a
politic prince.
I have flattered a lady ; I have been politic with my
friend, smooth with mine enemy.
.Shak., As you Like it, v. 4. 46.
Carthaginian Hanniball, that stout
And politieke captaine.
Time^ Whistte (E. E. T. S.), p. 100.
It is not quite clear that Xenophon was honest in his
credulity ; his fanaticism was in some degree politic.
Macaulay, History.
Body politic. See def. 4 and body. =Syn. 6 and 7. Dis-
creet, wary, judicious, shrewd, wily. Politicdl goes with
politics and the older meaning of polity ; politic chiefly
with the lower meaning of policy. See polu^i.
Il.t n. A politician.
Every sect of them hath a diverse posture, or cringe, by
themselves, which cannot but move derision in worldlings
and depraved politics, who are apt to contemn holy things.
Bacon, Unity in Religion (ed. 1887).
political (p6-lit'i-kal), a. and n. [= Pg. politi-
cal; a.s politic + -ai'.] I. a. 1. Kelating or per-
taining topolitics,or the science of government;
treating of polity or government: as, political
authors.
The malice of politicdl writers, who will not suffer the
bestand brightest of characters . . . totake a single right
step for the honour or interest of the nation.
Junius, Letters, iii.
2. Possessing adefinite polity or system of gov-
ernment ; administering a definite polity.
The next assertion is that, in every independent jwiifferf
community, that is, in every independent community nei-
ther in a state of nature on the one hand nor a state of
anarchy on the other, the power of using or directing the
irresistible force stored up in the society resides in some
person or combination of persons who belong to the so-
ciety themselves. ^ .^ ^.
Maine, Early Hist, of Institutions, p. 368.
3. Eelatingto or concerned in public policy and
the management of the affairs of the state or
nation ; of or pertaining to civil government, or
the enactment of laws and the administration
of civil affairs: ss, political action; political
rights; & political systeva.; political ^B,T:iies; a
political officer.
The distinct nationalities that composed the empire
[Eome], gratified by perfect municipal and by perfect in-
tellectual freedom, had lost aU care for political freedom.
Leeky, Europ. Morals, I. 310.
Within any territory which appears on the map as a
Soman province there was a wide difference of political
conditions ; all that appears geographically as the province
was not in the provincial condition.
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 321.
4f. Politic; sagacious; prudent; artful; skil-
ful.
I cannot beget a project with all my political brain yet.
B. Jonsan, Bartholomew Fair, ilL 1.
Orthodox ECbool in political economy, that school
of economists which follows the doctrines laid down by
politician
Adam Smith, Kicardo, J. S. Mill, and their disciples.—
Political arithmetic. See arithmetic. — Political as-
sessments. See assessment.— Political economist, one
who is versed in political economy ; a teacher or writer on
economic subjects; an economist. — Political economy,
the science of the laws and conditions which reguLite the
production, distribution, and consumption of all products,
necessary, useful, or agreeable to man, that have an ex-
changeable value ; the science of the material welfare of
human beings, particularly in modern society, considered
with reference to labor, and the production, distribution,
and accumulation of wealth. It includes a knowledge of
the conditions which affect the existence and prosperity of
useful industry, and the laws or generalizations which are
deduced from an observation of the relations between
the industrial and commercial methods of a people and
their prosperity and physical well-being. The principal
topics discussed in political economy are — (1) labor (in-
cluding the distinction between productive and unpro-
ductive labor), wages, increase of population (or the Mal-
thusian doctrine), production on a large or on a small
scale, strikes, etc.; (2) capital, including interest, risk,
wages of superintendence, credit, etc.; (3) rent; (4) money,
or the circulating medium of exchange ; (5) competition
and governmental interference with the natural course of
trade ; (6) value, including price, coSt of production, and
the relative demand and supply ; (7) international trade,
including the questions of &ee trade and protection ; (8)
the influence of government upon economic relations ; and
(9) the progress of civilization. — Political geography.
See geography. — Political law, that part of jurispru-
dence which relates to the organization and polity of
states, and their relations to each other and to their citizens
and subjects.— Political liberty, power, etc. See the
nouns. — Political science, the science of politics, in-
cluding the consideration of the form of government, of
the principles that should underlie it, of the extent to
which it should intervene in public and private affairs,
of the laws it establishes considered in relation to their
effects on the community and the individual, of the inter-
course of citizen with citizen as members of a state or
political community, etc.— Political verse, in medievaZ
and modem Greek poetry, a verse composed without re-
gard to quantity and always having an accent on the next
to the last syllable. The name is especially given to a
verse of fifteen syllables, an accentual iambic tetrameter
catalectic. Lord Byron has compared with this measure
the English line,
"A captain bold of Halifax, who lived in country quarters."
This is the favorite meter in modem Greek poetry. Po-
litieal in this connection means 'common,' 'usual,' ' ordi-
nary.'=Syn. See politic.
II. n. 1. A political officer or agent, as dis- '
tinguished from military, commercial, and dip-
lomatic officers or agents ; specifically, in India,
an officer of the British government who deals
with native states or tribes and directs their
political affairs. — 2. A political offender or
prisoner.
As the politicals in this part of the fortress are all per-
sons who have not yet been tried, the [Russian] Govern-
ment regards it as extremely important that they shall
not have an opportunity to secretly consult one another.
G. Kennan, The Centuiy, XXXV. 528.
politicalism (po-lit'i-kal-izm), 11. [< political-
+ -ism.'] Political zeal or partisanship.
politically (po-lit'i-kal-i), adu. 1. In a politi-
cal manner; with relation to the government
of a nation or state; as regards politics. — 2t.
In a /politic manner; artfully; with address;
politicly.
The Turks ^oZi(icaZ?y mingled certain Janizaries, harque-
busiers, with their horsemen. KnoUes, Hist. Turks.
politicaster (po-lit'i-kas-ter), M. [= Sp. It. po-
liticastro; aspolitic,n., + -aster.'] A petty poli-
tician; a pretender to political knowledge or
influence.
We may infallibly assure our selvs that it will as wel
agree with Monarchy, though all the Tribe of Aphorismers
and Politieasters would perswade us there be secret and
mysterious reasons against it.
Milton, Reformation In Eng., ii.
politician (pol-i-tish'an), ». and a. [Formerly
also polititian, polititien ; < IP.politicien, a poli-
tician; as j)oMf8c+-iam.] 1. n. 1. One who is
versed in the science of government and the art
of governing ; one who is skilled in politics.
The first polilitiens, deuising all expedient meanes for
th' establishment of Common wealth, to hold and containe
the people in order and duety.
Puttenha/m, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 5.
He is the greater and deeper politician that can make
other men the instruments of his will and ends.
Boom, Advancement of Learning, it 169.
2. One who occupies himself with politics ; one
who devotes himself to public affairs or to the-
promotion of the interests of a political party;
one who is practically interested in politics ; in
a bad sense, one who concerns himself witb
public affairs not from patriotism or public
spirit, but for his own profit or that of his-
friends, or of a clique or party.
This is the masterpiece of a modem politician, how to-
qualify and mould the sufferance and subjection of the-
people to the length of that foot that is to tread on their
necks ; how rapine may serve itself with the fair and hon-
ourable pretences of public good ; how the puny law may-
be brought under the wardship and control of lust ani
will : in which attempt if they fall short, then must a su-
politician
perflcial colour of reputation by all means, direct or indi-
rect, be gotten to wash oyer the unsightly bruise of hon-
our. MUton, Reformation in Eng., ii.
A polilician, where factions run high, is interested not
for the whole people, but for his own section of it.
Macavlay, Hallam's Const. Hist
A sincere Utilitarian, therefore, is likely to be an eager
politician. H. Sidgwick, Methods of Ethics, p. 469.
St. A politic or crafty person; a petty and gen-
erally an unscrupulous schemer; a trickster.
The Diuell . . . was noted ... to be a greedie pursuer
of newes, and so famous a politician in purchasing that
Hel, which at the beginning was but an obscure village,
is now become a huge oitie, whervnto all countreys are
tributarie. Nashe, Pierce Penilease, p. 9.
The politician, whose very essence lies in this, that he
is a person ready to do any thing that he apprehends for
his advantage, must first of all be sure to put himself into
a state of liberty as free and lai'ge as his principles, and so
to provide elbow-room enough for his conscience to lay
about it, and have its tree play in.
South, Sermons (17S7), I. 324.
Fot-llOUBe politician, a politician of low aims and mo-
tives ; a professional politician, ignorant, irresponsible, and
often venal : so called from the favorite resorts of such
men. =:Syn. 1 and 2. This word has degenerated so as gen-
erally to imply that the person busies himself with parti-
zanship, low arts, and petty management, leaving the
enlightened and high-minded service of the state to the
atategman. A man, however, would not properly be called
a statesman unless he were also of eminent ability in pub-
lic affairs.
The Eastern politicians never do anything without the
opinion of the astrologers on the fortunate moment. . . .
Statesmen of a more judicious prescience look for the for-
tunate moment too ; but they seek It, not in the conjunc-
tions and oppositions of planets, but in the conjunctions
and oppositions of men and things.
Burke, To a Member of the Nat. Assembly, 1791.
II. a. It. Politic; using artifice.
Your ill-meaning ^oltticutn lords. Milton, S. A., 1. 1196.
2. Of or pertaining to politicians or their meth-
ods. [Rare.]
A turbulent, discoloured, and often unsavory sea of po-
litical or rather politician quasi-social life.
Areh. Forbes, Souvenirs of some Continents, p. 166.
politicise, v. i. See politicise.
politicist (po-lit'i-sist), n. [< politic + -is*.]
A student or observer of politics; one who
writes upon subjects relating to politics.
[Bare.]
politicize (po-lit'i-siz), v. i. ; pret. and pp. po-
liticized, ppr. politicizing. [< politic + -ize.'i
To occupy one's self with polities; discuss po-
litical questions. Also spelled politicise.
But while I am politteising, I forget to tell you half the
purport of my letter. Walpole, To Mann (1768). (Dames.)
Politicising sophists threaten to be a perfect curse to
India. Contemporary Rev., LII. 711.
politicly (pol'i-tik-li), adv. In a politic manner;
artfully; cunningly.
politicot, »»■ [< Sp. politico = It. politico, a poli-
tician: seepolitie, ».] Apolitician; hence, one
whose conduct is guided by considerations of
policy rather than principle.
He is counted cunning, a meere politico, a time-server,
an hypocrite.
Bp. Oauden, Tears of the Church, p. 266. (Dailies.)
poUtics (pol'i-tiks), n. [Early mod. 'E.politicTcs,
polytylces ; pi. oipoliUo (see -ics).'] 1. The sci-
ence or practice of government; the regula-
tion and government of a nation or state for
the preservation of its safety, peace, and pros-
perity. Politics, in its widest extent, is both the science
and trie art of government, or the science whose subject
is the regulation of man in all his relations as the member
of a state, and the application of this science. In other
words, it is the theory and practice of obtaining the ends
of civil society as perfectly as possible. The subjects
■which political science comprises have been arranged un-
der the following heads: (I) natural law; (2) abstract
politics — that is, the object or end of a state, and the re-
lations between it and individual citizens; (3) political
economy ; (4) the science of police, or municipal regula-
tion ; (6) practical politics, or the conduct of the (mmedi-
jite public affairs of a state ; (6) history of politics ; (7)
history of the political systems of foreign states ; (8) sta-
tistics ; (9) positive law relating to state affairs, commonly
called constitutional law ; (10) practical law of nations ; (11)
diplomacy ; (12) the technical science of politics, or an ac-
quaintance with the forms and style of public business in
different countries.
Hence the stress which Utilitarians are apt to lay on
social and political activity of all kinds, and the tendency
which Utilitarian ethics have always shewn to pass over
into polities. H. Sidgwick, Methods of Ethics, p. 459.
Machiavelli . . . founded the science of politics for the
modern world by concentrating thought upon its funda^
mental principles. Encyo. Brit, XV. 160.
2. In a narrower and more usual sense, the art
or vocation of guiding or influencing the policy
of a government through the organization of a
party among its citizens — including, therefore,
not only the ethics of government, but more
especially, and often to the exclusion of ethical
principles, the art of influencing public opinion,
attracting and marshaling voters, and obtain-
4590
ing and distributing public patronage, so far as
the possession of ofBces may depend upon the
political opinions or political services of indi-
viduals; hence, in an evil sense, the schemes
and intrigues of political parties, or of cliques
or individual politicians: as, the newspapers
were full of politics.
When we say that two men are talking politics, we often
mean that they are wrangling about some mere partyques-
jjQu F. tv. lioocrtson,
I always hated politics in the ordinary sense of the word,
and I am not likely to grow fonder of them.
Loieell, BIglow Papers, 2d ser., Int.
3. Political opinions; party connection or pref-
erence.
Politics, like religion, are matters of faith on which rea-
son says as little as possible. Froude, Sketches, p. 85.
politienti «• See polidan.
Folitig.ue (pol-i-tek'), «. [< F. politique: seepol-
itie.'} In French hist., a member of a party,
formed soon after the massacre of St. Bar-
tholomew (1572), which aimed at the reconcili-
ation of the Huguenots and the Catholics.
At Court three great parties were contending for power
in the King's name — the Guises, the Keformers, and the
Politigues. Quarterly Rev., CXLVI. 21.
The middle party, the Politiqaes ot Europe— the Eng-
lish, that is, and the Germans — sent help to Henry, by
means of which he was able to hold his own in the north-
west and south-west tluoughout 1691.
" \Brit.,lS..5ai.
po
?1
polititioust. "'• [For *politieiotis, < politic +
-J02W.] Politic: crafty.
The polititious Walker
By an intreague did quail them again.
Undaunted Londonderry (Child's Ballads, VII. 249).
poUtizet (pol'i-tiz), V. [< polit-y + -ize.'] I,
intrans. 1. To play the politician; act in a
politic manner.
Let us not, for f eare of a scarecrow, or else through ha-
tred to be retorm'd, stand hankering and politiiing when
God with spread hands testifies to us.
Milton, Hetormation in Eng., ii.
II. trans. To educate in politics or in polity ;
make a politician or politicians of. [Eare.]
Its inhabitants [the state's] must be politized, for they
[according to Eeuerbach], all of them, constitute the polls.
Roe, Contemporary Socialism, p. 116.
polituret (pol'i-tur), «. [= D. politoer, polituur
= G. Da,n. poliiur = Sw.poHtur, polilyr, < OF.
politure = Pg. polidura = It. politura, pulitura,
< L. politura, a polishing, < polire, polish : see
polisk^.^ Polish; the gloss given by polishing.
The walls are brick, plaster'd over w^^i such a composi-
tion as for strength and politure resembles white marble.
Evelyn, Diary, Feb. 7, 1646.
polity (pori-ti), n. [< P. politic, policie, etc., <
li.poUtia, < (Jr. troXiTela, polity, policy, the state :
seejjo?JC2/i, the same word in anotherform.] 1.
Government; form, system, or method of gov-
ernment: as, ervi\. polity ; ecclesiastical poM/^.
To our purpose therefore the name of Church- PoKtj/ will
better serve, because it containeth both government and
also whatsoever besides belongeth to the ordering of the
Church in public. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, ill. 1.
They alledge 1. That the Church government must be
conformable to the civill politic.
Milton, Keformation in Eng., ii.
S. Any body of persons forming a community
governed according to a recognized system of
government. — 3t. Policy; art; management;
scheme.
It waB no polity of court,
Albe the place were charmed,
To let in earnest, or In sport.
So many Loves In, armed.
B. Jonson, Masque of Beauty.
=Syn. 1. SeepoZicyl.
poUtzerize (pol'it-s6r-iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
politzerized, ppr. politzen^ng. [Named after'
Adam PoUtzer, of Vienna.] To inflate the
Eustachian tube and tympanum of, by blowing
into the anterior nares while the way down the
pharynx is closed by the patient's swallowing
at the instant of inflation. Also spelled polit-
polivet, ™. A Middle English form ot pulley.
polk^t, V. A Middle English form otpoJce^.
polk^, TO. [Cf.jJooJi.] A pool. [Oldandprov.
Eng.]
polk^ (polk), 1). i. [< P. poTker, dance the pol-
ka, < polka, polka: see polka.'] To dance a
polka. [Colloq.]
Gwendolen says she will not waltz ovpolk.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xl.
polka (pol'ka), n. [< P. polka = Q. polka, a
polka, so called with ref . to the half-step preva-
lent in it, < Bohem. pulka, half; of. Pol. pol,
half, Russ. polovina, a half.] 1 . A lively round
dance which originated in Bohemia about 1830,
poll
and was soon after introduced into Austria
Prance, and England, where it immediately at-
tained a remarkable popularity.— 2. Music for
such a dance or in its rhythm, which is duple,
and marked by a capricious accent on the sec-
ond beat, frequently followed by a rest._Poi]«
mazurka, a mbdiffcation of the maziuka to the move-
ment of a polka.
polka-dot (pol'ka-dot), n. In textile fabrics, a
pattern of round dots or spots, especially in
printed stuffs for women's wear.
polka-gauze (pol'ka-gaz), n. Gauze intowhieh
are woven spots or dots of more solid texture.
polka-jacket (pol'ka-jak'et), «. A knitted
jacket worn by women.
polU (pol), n. [Formerly also pole, pol; So.
}0w; < MB. poll, pol, head, list (AP. poll, list),
MI>.polle,pol, also bol, the head, = LGr.polle,
the head, top of a tree, bulb, = Sw. dial. pttU,
the head, = Dan. pula, crown (of a hat) ; ac-
cording to some, a variant or connection of
iowl^, etc. ; according to Skeat, the same, by the
occasional interchange of initial p and k, as
loel. kollr, top, shaven crown, =OSw. kuU, kulle,
crown of the head, Sw. kriUe, crown, top, peak;
cf . Ir. coll, head, neck, = W. col, peak, top, sum-
mit: of. kilP: Hence polP-, v., pollard, etc.;
in comp. catchpoll, etc.] 1. The head, or the
rounded back part of the head, of a person; also,
by extension, the head of an animal.
And preyen for the, pol bipU.
Piers Plowman (B), xi. 67.
His beard was afl white as snow.
All flaxen was \aipoll.
Shttk., Hamlet, iv. 6. 196.
Have you a catalogue
Of all the voices that we have procured
Set down by the poll f Shak., Cor., iii. 8. 9.
You shall sometimes see a man begin the offer ot a sala-
tation, and observe a forbidding air, or escaping eye, in
the person he is going to salute, and stop short in thejioH
of his neck. Steele Spectator, No. 259.
Hence — 2. A person, an individual enumer-
ated in a list. — 3. An enumeration or register
of heads or persons, as for the imposition of a
poll-tax, or the list or roll of those who have
voted at an election. — 4. The voting or regis-
tering of votes at an election, or the place where
the votes are taken : in the United States used
chiefly in the plural : as, to go to the poll; the
polls will close at four. — 5. A poll-tax.
According to the different numbers which from time to
time shall be found in each jurisdiction upon a true and
just account, the service of men and all charges of the
war be borne by the poll [that is, by a tax of so much per
head]. Winthrop, Hist. New England, n. 128.
When, therefore, in 1379, an immediate sum of money
was required for "instant operations" on the continent,
recourse was again had to a poll.
S. Dowell, Taxes in England, m. 6.
6. The broad end or butt of a hammer.
Jake began pounding on it [the door] with the poU of an
ax. E. Eggleston, The Graysons, XZT.
7. The chub or oheven, Leuciseus eephalM.
Also called pollard.— At the head of the poll, in
Great Britain, having the highest number of votes in ab
election : as, the Qladstonian candidate was at the head (ff
the j)i>21.— Challenge to the polls. See challe»ge,9,—
Hours of Poll Act. See Elections Act, under electum.
polU (pol), V. [< poll^, n. Cf . kilfi; «., etym.]
1. trans. 1. To remove the top or head of;
hence, to cut oflE the tops of; lop; clip; also,
to cut off the hair of; also, to cut, as hair;
shear; cut closely; mow; also, to remove the
horns of, as cattle : as, to poll tares, hair, wool,
or grass.
So was it here in England till her Maiestiea most noUe
father, for diners good respects, caused his owne head and
all his Courtiers to be polled, and his beard to be cut short
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 239.
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their
locks to grow long; they shall only »oB their heads.
Ezek. xliv. 20.
Ev'ry man that wore long hair
Should po22 him out of hand.
Queen Eleanor's Pall (Child's Ballads, vn. 294>
So may thy woods, oft poll'd, yet ever wear
A green and (when she list) a golden hair,
Donne, Letters, To Mr. J. P.
Since this polling and shaving world crept up, locks were
locked up, and hair fell to decay.
Dekker, Gull's Hornbook, p. 88.
2. In law, to cut even without indenting, as a
deed executed by one party. See deed poll, un-
der deed.
A deed made by one party only Is not indented, bnt
pMed or shaved quite even, and therefore called a deea-
poll, or a single deed. Blackstone, Com., n. xi-
3. To rob; plunder; despoil, as by excessive
taxation. [In this sense associated with, ajid
perhaps suggested by, the synonymous i'iJf'']
poll
Kelther can justice yield herfrdlt with sweetness among
the briars and brambles of catching and pMhig clerks and
ministers. Bacon, Judicature (ed. 1887X
Great man in ofBce may securely rob whole provinces,
undo thousands, pUl and poll.
Burton, Anat. ol MeL, To the Header, p. 41.
4. To enumerate one by one ; enroll in a list
or register, as for the purpose of levying a poll-
tax. — 5. To pay, as a personal tax.
The man thai polled but twelve pence for his head.
Dryden, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, ill. 268.
6. To canvass or ascertain the opinion of.
I believe you might have polled the North, and had a
response, three to one: "Let the Union go to pieces,
rather than yield one inch."
W. PhiUips, Speeches, etc., p. 379.
7. To receive at the polls : as, A polled only
50 votes; also, to cast at the polls: as, a large
vote W3.S polled. — 8. To vote at the polls; bring
to the polls.
And piM for points of faith his trusty vote.
Tiekell, From a Lady to a Gentleman at Avignon.
The Greenbackers in 1880 polled 307,740 votes in the
whole country. The Nation, July 31, 1884, p. 81.
II. intrans. To vote at a poll; record a vote,
as an elector.
I should think it no honour to be returned to Parliament
by persons who, thinking me destitute of the requisite
qu^ficatlons, had yet been wrought upon by cajolery
and importunity to poU for me in despite of their better
judgment. JUaca/uZay, in Trevelyan, 1. 251.
poll2 (pol), n. [Abbr. of Polly (for Molly), a fa-
miliar form of Mary and a common name of
parrots.] A parrot: also ealled^io^^pajro* and
poUy.
poll* (pol), n. [So called as being one of ' the
many,' Gr. ol iroUoi, the many, pi. of iro^vg,
much, maiiy; see feel^.'] A student at Cam-
bridge University in England who merely takes
a degree, but receives no honors ; one who is
not a candidate for honors The poll, such stu-
dents collectively.— Captain of the poll. See captain.
FoUachius (po-la'M-ns), n. [NL. (Nilsson;
Bonaparte, 1846), < E. pollack.'] Inichth., a ge-
nus of gadoid fishes closely resembling Gadtis
proper, but having the lower jaw protrusive,
with a rudimentary or obsolete barbel, and the
teeth of the upper jaw subequal. it contams the
tmci pollack and the green pollack, or coalUsh, of the North
Atlantic, both sometimes called green-cod, and P. ehalco-
gmmrrmt of the North Pacific. See cut under eocUfish.
pollack, pollock (pol'ak, -ok), n. [Cf. D. G.
pollack (< B.); < Gael, pollag, a whiting, = Ir.
pullog, a pollack.] A fish of the genus FoUa-
chius. The true pollack, of European waters oniyi is P.
poUacMus or P. lypus, also called green-cod, greenjiair, green-
ling, latthe, laits, leeat, leet, leets, lythe, lob, skeet, and whit-
ing-pollack. The green pollack of Atlantic waters, both Eu-
ropean and American, is a closely related species, P. virens
or P. carbonarius, called coa2^8A(and by many other names)
in England. Both these fishes are greenish-brown above,
with the sides and the belly silvery, the lateral line pale,
and the tins mostly pale ; but the true pollack has a much
more projecting under jaw, the snout twice as long as the
eye, the vent more in advance (being below the anterior
half of the first dorsal fin), and the first anal fin much
longer. The pollack of Pacific waters, P. ehalcogrammus,
is more decidedly different. Like the cod, hake, and had-
dock, the pollacks are among the important food-fishes of
the family Qadidse.
poll-adz (pol'adz), n. An adz with a striking-
face on the head or poll, opposite the bit. M.
5. Knight.
pollagef (po'laj), n. lipolU + -age.'] A poll-
tax ;Tienoe, extortion.
It is unknowne to any man what minde Paul, the Bishop
of Borne, beareth to us for deliuering of our realme from
his greuous bondage and pollage. Foxe, Martyrs, p. 990.
poUam (pol'am), m. [Hind. (?).] Aflef; a dis-
trict held by a poligar. [Hindustan.]
poUan (pol'an), n. [= Sc. powan; ot. pollack.]
The so-calle'ii fresh-water herring of Ireland, a
variety of whitefish technically known as Core-
gonuspollan, found in the various loughs. The
corresponding variety of the Scotch lochs is
called jjoMJon. and vetidace. See Coregonus and
pollarchy (pol'ar-ki), n. [<_Gr. no?[,vg, many
(pi. 04 TToTjUoi, the many), + apxv, rule.] The
rule of the many ; government by the mob or
masses. [Rare.]
A contest . . . between those representing oligarchical
principles and the poUarchy.
W. H. Russell, My Diary, North and South, II. 340. (Davies. )
pollard (pol'ard), n. [<polU + -ard. In def. 2,
< ME. pollard, AF. pollard.] 1. A tree cut
hack nearly to the trunk, and thus caused to
form a dense head of spreading branches, which
are in turn cut for basket-making and fagot-
wood. Willows and poplars especially are so
treated. — 2. A clipped coin. The term was applied
especially to the counterfeits of the English silver penny
4597
imported into England by foreign merchants in the reign
of Edward I.
He then retourned into England, and so vnto London,
where, by the aduyce of some of his counsayle, he sodeyn-
ly dampned certayne coynes of money, called poUardes,
crocardes, and rosaries, and caused theym to be bronghte
vnto newe coynage to his great aduantage.
Fabyan, Chron., IT., an. 1350.
3. A polled animal, as a stag or an ox without
horns. — 4. Same a,spolU, 7. — 5. A coarse pro-
duct of wheat.
The coarsest of bran, vsuallie called gurgeons, oi pollard.
Harrison, Uescrip. of Eng., IL 6.
pollard (pol'ard), «. f. l<. pollard, n.] To make
a pollard of ;*eonvert (a tree) into a pollard by
cutting ofE the head.
Elm and oak, frequently pollarded and cut, . . . increases
the bulk and circumference. Evelyn, Sylva, III. ii.
poUax, pollaxet, m. Seepoleax.
poll-book (pol'buk), n. A register of persons
entitled to vote at an election.
poU-clbrk (p61'kl6rk), n. A clerk appointed to
assist the presiding officer at an election, in
British elections that officer may do by poll-clerks any
act which he may do at a polling-station, except to arrest,
ejects or exclude a person. In South Australia and Queens-
land the duties of a poll-clerk are to have charge of the
ballots and furnish them to voters, as required of the bal-
lot-clerk in New York and Massachusetts.
polled (pold), p. a. [Pp. of poZ^i, v.] 1. De-
prived of the poll ; lopped, as a tree having the
top cut off. — 2. Cropped; clipped; also, bald;
shaven.
These polled locks of mine, . . . while they were long,
were the ornament of my sex. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, ii.
The potted bachelor. Beau, and Fl.
3. Having no horns or antlers : noting a stag or
other deer that has cast its antlers, or a hornless
breed of cattle, or an animal that has lost its
horns or whose horns have been removed : as, a
polled cow. Also called, in Scotland, dodded.
The Drumlanrig and Ardrossan herds are extinct. These
herds were horned, the latter having latterly \ieeoiae polled
on the introduction ot polled bulls from Hamilton.
Amer. Naturalist, XXII. 789.
pollen (pol'en), n. [= P. poUen = Sp. pdlen =
Pg. pollen = It. polline, < NL. pollen {pollin-),
pollen, < L. pollen (poTlin-), also
pollis (poUin-), fine flour, mill-
dust, also fine dust of other
things; cf. Gr. Trd?^!/, the finest
meal.] A fine yellowish dust or
powder produced in the anther of
a flower (whence it is discharged
when mature), which when mag-
nified is found to consist of sep-
arate grains of definite size and
shape ; the male or fecundat-
ing element in flowering plants :
the homologue of the microspore
in cryptogams. The individual
grains are usually single-celled and of
a globular or oval form, but they may
occasionally be composed of two or sev-
eral cells, curiously irregular in shape.
They are often beautifully orna-
mented with spines, angles, lines, etc.,
and while they are very uniform in the .^pBK
same species they often differ widely in Q^D
different species or families. Pollen- ^
grains are usually formed in fours by GrainsofPollenof
the division of the contents of mother- '■^I'^.TclZriLm
cells into two parts and these again into iniybia, (o Hibis-
two parts. Each grain has two coats, the cus Moscheuios.
iimer of which is called the inHne and I"" Passiflora <■«-
the outer the «^n«. Seepollen-tuie. ^„"^"^^fJS. '^"
pollen (pol'en), v. t. \ipollen, n.]
'To cover or dust with pollen ; supply with pol-
len. TennySon, Voyage of Maeldune.
poUenarious (pol-e-na'ri-us), a. [Prop. *pol-
linarious; < pollen (NL. pollen, pollin-) + -ari-
ous.] Consisting of pollen or meal.
pollenarium (pol-e-na'ri-um), ». An erroneous
form tor polUnarium. Hoffman.
poUenation (pol-e-na'shon), n. Same aspol-
lenigation.
Experiments to show, by eToaa-poUeruUions, the relation
between gonotropic irritability and appropriate nutrition
upon the growth and direction of pollen-tubes.
" Amer. Naturalist, XXIV. 369.
poUen-brusll (pol' en-brush), n. The corbicu-
lum of a bee. See cut under eorbiculum.
pollen-catarrh (pol'en-ka-tar"), «. Same as
pollen-cell (pol'en-sel), n. In lot., a cell or
chamber of an anther in which pollen is devel-
oped.
pollen-chamber (pol'en-cham"ber), n. In gym-
nosperms, the cavity at- the apex of the ovule
in which the pollen-grains lie after polleniza-
tion. It is beneath the integuments. Also
called polUnic chamber.
poUez
pollen-fever (pol'en-fe*ver), n. Same as hay-
fever.
poUengert (pol'en-jer), n. [< *pollager, < polT^
+ -age (af. pollage) + -eri. Ct.pollard; and for
the form, d. porringer, etc.] 1 . A pollard tree.
See quotation under husband, n., 5. — 2. Brush-
wood. Tusser, Husbandry, January.
pollen-grain (pol' en-gran), ». Seej>oHe«.
polleniferous (pol-e-nlf 'e-rus), a. [< NL. pol-
len (pollin-), pollen, -t- L. fei-re = E. 6eari.]
An erroneous form of polliniferous.
poUenization (poKen-i-za'shon), n. [ipollen-
ize + -ation.] The act or process of supplying
or impregnating with pollen.
poUenize (pol'en-iz), v. t.; pret. and YP-Pollen-
ized, ppr. pollenizing. [< pollen + Aze.] To
supply with pollen ; impregnate with pollen.
pollen-mass (pol'en-mas), n. In bot., same as
pollinium.
The sterility of the flowers, when protected from the
access of insects, depends solely on the poUen-masses not
coming into contact with the stigma.
Darwin, FertiL of Orchids by Insects, p. 29.
pollen-paste (pol' en-past), n. Pollen mixed
with a little honey, as it is stored by bees for
the sustenance of their young. Kneaded with
more honey and with a secretion from the mouth
of the insects, it becomes bee-bread.
pollen-plate (pol'en-plat), n. In entom., a flat
or hollowed surface fringed with stiff hairs,
used as a receptacle for pollen. These plates are
found on the inner sides of the tiblse and tarsi, or on the
sides of the mel^thorax, of various species of bees. Those
on the legs are called corbicula. See cut under corbieulu'm.
pollen-sac (pol'en-sak), n. The sac in which
the pollen is produced ; the anther-cell : the ho-
mologue of the microsporangium in cryptogams.
pollen-spore (pol'en-spor), ». Same a,s pollen-
grain. See pollen.
poUent (pol'ent), a. [< L. pollen(t-)s, ppr. of
pollere, be strong.] Powerful; prevailing.
We had no arms or merely lawful ones.
An unimportant sword and blunderbuss,
Against a foe pdUent in potency.
Browning, Eing and Book, II. 100.
pollen-tube (pol' en-tub), «. In bot., the tube
through which the fecundating element is con-
veyed to the ovule, when a pollen-grain is deposited
upon a fitting stigma, at a time when the stigmatic secre-
tion is sufficiently abundant, it increases somewhat in size,
and soon a tube (sometimes more than one) is thrust forth
and passes immediately into the loose tissue of the stig-
matic surface. The tube consists of a protrusion of the
intine. During its descent the pollen-tube is slender, of
about the same caliber throughout, and has extremely
thin walls. It extends through the conducting tissue of
the style, being nourished by the nutrient matter secreted
from the cells of that tissue, until it at last reaches the
pavity of the ovary and penetrates the micropyle of the
ovule.
poller (p6'16r), n. [Formerly aXso powler; <.polU
+ -erl.] One who polls, (a) One who shaves per-
son^ or cuts their hair; a barber; a hair-dresser. [£are.]
a. 1 know him not; is he a deaft barber?
G. O yea; why, he is mistress Lamia's jpowfer.
Promos and Cassandra, v. 4. {Nares.y
(6) One who lops or polls trees, (ct) A pillager; a plun-
derer; one who fleeces by exaction.
The potter and exacter of fees.
Bacon, Judicature (ed. 1887).
(d) One who registers voters ; also, one who casts a vote at
the polls.
poUetf (pol'et), n. [For *paulet, for epaulet,
q. v.] Same a,s pollette.
poUettet (pol'et), n. [For *paulette, for epau-
lette, < F. epaulette, an epaulet, dim. of epaule,
the shoulder: see epaulet.] The pauldron or
epaulet worn with the suits of armor of the six-
teenth, century.
poll-evil (pol'e'M), n. A swelling or aposteme
on a horse's head, or on the nape of the neck
between the ears. Formerly also pole-evil.
pollex (pol'eks), n. ; pi. pollices (-i-sez). [L.,
the thumb, the great toe, perhaps < pollere, be
strong: see poUent.] 1. In anat., the inner-
most digit of the hand or foot, when there are
five; the thumb or the great toe, especially the
thumb, the great toe being usually distinguished
aa pollex pedis, ov hallux. — 2. In sool.: (a) The
innermost digit of the fore limb only, when
there are five ; the digit that corresponds to the
human thumb. (6) The thumb of a bird; the
short digit bearing the alula or bastard wing,
regarded as homologous with either the human
thumb or the forefinger — Abductor longus pol-
licls. Same as extensor ossis metacarpi pojiiog.— Adduc-
tor poinds pedis. See adductor.— 'EstBDBOi brevls
or i^nor pollicis. Same as exterisor prind intemodii
poUicis.—Esteasoi OBsis metacarpi pollicis. See ex-
tensor.—Extensor pollicis longus or major. Same as
extensor seeundi intemodii potticls. — Extensor prlmi
intemodii pollicis. See exUnsor.—'Est&aaox pro-
poUez
prlus polllcis. See «x(en<or.— Extensor secundl in-
temodli polllcis. See extensor. — Flexor longus pol-
lids. See/i«a»r.— PoUex pedis, the hallux.
pollical (pol'i-kal), a. [< L. follex (pollic-),
thumb, + -al.'i Of or pertaining to the pol-
lex : as, the poUical museles— First pollical ex-
tensor. Same as extensor ostis metacarpi poUids. See
extensor.— Second polUcal extensor. Same as extensor
prim intemodii pouicis. See extensor.— Third pollical
extensor. Same as extensor secuTidi intemodn pollicis.
See exteTisor.
Pollicata (pol-i-ka'ta), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi. of
pollicatus: see pollicate.'] In Illiger's elassifi-
eation (1811), the second order of mammals, con-
taining those with apposable thumbs, consist-
ing chiefiy of the quadrumanous quadrupeds,
but including also most of the marsupials.
pollicate (pol'i-kat), a. [< NL. polUcatns, < L.
pollex (pollic-), the thumb: seepollex.'] Having
thumbs; specifically, of or pertaining to the
Pollicata.
pollices, n. Plural of pollex.
pollicieti ™. An obsolete form otpoUcy^.
pollicitation (po-lis-i-ta'shgn), n. [= F.polli-
(^tation = Sp. poUmtacion = Pg. pollicitagao =
It. pollicitazione ; < li. polUmtatio{n-), a prom-
ising, < poUicitari, promise, < polliceri, hold
forth, promise, <.por-, forth,-!- liceri, bid for, of-
fer.] 1. A promise; a voluntary engagement;
also, a paper containing such an engagement.
It seems he granted this following poUicitation or prom-
ise. Herbert, Hist Keign Hen. VIII., p, 220. (Latham,.)
2. In dvil law, a promise without mutuality; a
promise not yet accepted by the person to whom
it is made. As a general rule, such a promise could be
revoked at any time before it was accepted, but a vow
made iu favor of a public or religious object was irrevoca-
ble from the moment it was made. This principle has
been reaffirmed by the canon law. In some cases the
promiser could be released from the effect of his vow by
paying a fifth part of his property.
poUigar, n. See poligar.
pollinar (pol'i-nSr), a. [< LL. pollinaris (L.
polUnarius), belonging to fine flour, < L. pollen
(yoHtre-), fine flour (NL. pollen): see pollen.'] In
hot., covered with a very fine dust resembling
pollen.
poUinarium (pol-i-na'ri-um), n. [NL., (.pollen
(pollin-), pollen (see pollen), + -arium.] In
iot. : (a) In phanerogams, same as pollinium,
(b) In cryptogams, same as cystidium.
pollinate (pol'i-nat), v. *.; pret. and pp. polli-
nated, ppr. pollinating. [< L, pollen (pollin-),
fine flour (NL. pollen), + -aie*.] In bat., to
convey pollen to the stigma of ; poUenize. See
pollination.
pollinated (pol'i-na-ted), a. [(.pollinate + -ed^.]
In hot., supplied with pollen : said of anthers.
pollination (pol-i-na'shgn), n. [= P. pollina-
tion; as pollinate + -ion.'] 1. In hot., the suj)-
plying of pollen to the part of the female organ
prepared to receive it, preliminary to fertiliza-
tion. See pollen-tube.
BypoUinaUon is meant the conveyance of the pollen
from the anthers to the stigma of Angiosperms or to the
nucleus of Gymnosperms. Sachs, Botany (trans.), p. 429.
2. The fertilization of plants by the agency of
insects that carry pollen from one flower to an-
other.
polUnctor (po-lingk'tor), n. [L., < pollingere,
pp. polUncius, wash anS prepare a corpse for the
funeral pile,] One who prepares materials for
embalming the dead.
The Egyptians had these several persons belonging to
and employed in embalming, each performing a distinct
and separate office : viz., a designer or painter, a dissector
or anatomist, a poUinctor or apothecary, an embalmer or
surgeon, and a physician or priest.
Greenhill, Art of Embalming, p. 177. (Latham.)
polling-booth (po'ling-both), n. See booth.
poUing-pencet, n. Same as poll-tax.
polling-place (po'ling-plas), n. Aplace in which
votes are taken and recorded at an election.
polling-slieriff(p6'ling-sher"if ), n. In Scotland,
the presiding officer at a polling-place.
polling-station (p6'ling-sta"shon), n. Same as
polling-place.
pollinia, n. Plviral oi pollinium.
pollinic (po-lin'ik), a. [< pollen (pollin-) +
-ic] Of or pertaining to pollen, or concerned
with its conveyance from anther to stigma. E.
Bentley, Botany, p. 765.— poIlinic chamber. Same
as poUertrchamber.
polliniferous (pol-i-nif'e-rus), a. [= F. polh-
nif^-e = Pg. pollinifero', < NL. pollen (pollin-),
pollen, + Z.Jerre = E. bear\] 1. Producing
or containing pollen.— 2. Bearing pollen: ap-
plied in zoology to the brushes, plates, etc., by
which insects gather or transport pollen.
poUinigerous (pol-i-nij'e-rus), a. [< NL. poZ-
len, pollen, -I- L. gerere, carry.] 1. Fitted for
4598
ooUecting and carrying pollen ; polliniferous.—
2. Collecting and carrying pollen: a term ap-
plied to bees which collect pollen for the sus-
tenance of their young.
pollinium (po-lin'i-um), n.; pi. poUima (-h).
[NL., (pollen (pollin-), pollen: seepolkn.] in
bot., an agglutinated mass or body of pollen-
grains, composed of all the grams of an anther-
cell. A poUuiium is especially characteristic of the fam-
iUes Asdepiaaaeex and Orchidese, and is an adaptation for
cross-fertilization by insect aid. Also caUed poUen-mass,
polHrMrium. -_ ,
pollinivorous (pol-i-niv'o-i-us), a. [< NL. pol-
len (pollin-), pollen, -I- L. vorare, devour, eat.J
Feeding upon pollen, as an insect.
pollinodial (pol-i-no'di-al), a. [< pollinodi-um
+ -al] In bot., characteristic of, produced by,
or resembling a poUinodium. Encyc. Brit., XX.
426. , „. ^.
pollinodium (pol-i-no'di-um), n.; ipl. polhnodia
(-a). [NL., < pollen (pollin-), pollen, + Gr.
eiSof, form.] In bot., the male sexual organ in
Ascomycetes, which, either directly or by means
of an outgrowth, conjugates with the o5gonium,
or female sexual organ.
A second branch (termed the poUinodiwm) is formed in
the immediate neighbourhood of the first.
Hwcley and Martin, Elementary Biology, p. 420.
pollinoid (pol'i-noid), n. [< l^.poUen (pollin-),
pollen, -I- Gr. eUoq, form.] In bot., the non-
motile male organ in the Floridese iulA Ascomy-
cetes: the same, or nearly the same, as pollino-
dium.
pollinose (pol'i-nos), a. [< N'L. pollen (polling-),
pollen, -1- -ose.] In entom., covered (as if with
pollen) with a loose or light powdery substance,
often of a yellow color.
polUwog, poUiwig (pol'i-wog, -wig), n. [Also
pollywog, pollywig; early mod. E. polewigge; (
ME. polwygle, later porwigle; appar. < poll^ +
ivig(gle).] A tadpole.
Tadpoles, polewtgges, yongue frogs. Florio, p. 212.
Dame, what alls your ducks to die?
Eatiug o' pottywigs, eating o' poUywigs.
Whiter's Specimen (1794X p. 19. (.HaUiwea.)
poll-mad (pol'mad), a. [< polP- + mad^.]
Wron^ in the head; crazy; mad or eager to
the point of mental derangement. [Prov. Eng.]
pollman (pol'man), n. ; pi. pollmen (-men). [<
poll^ + man.] "A student at Cambridge Uni-
versity, England, who is a candidate for the or-
dinary degree and not for honors.
It is related of some Cambridge pollman that he was
once so ill-advised as to desert a private tutor ... in or-
der to become the pupil of the eminent "Shilleto."
Academy, March 2, 1889.
poU-moneyt (pol'mun'i), n. Same as poll-tax.
pollock, n. See pollack.
poll-pick (pol'pik), n. A form of pick in com-
mon use by miners in various parts of Great
Britain. The form us^d in Cornwall has a stem or arm
about 12 inches long from the end of the eye, and a stump
which forms the poll or head. The face of the poll is
steeled like a sledge to form a peen, so that it can be used
for striking a blow.
poll-silvert (pol'siVvSr), ». Same as poll-tax.
poll-suffrage (pol'sufraj), n. Universal man-
hood suffrage.
poll-tax (pol'taks), n. A tax levied at so much
per head of the adult male pojjulation ; a cap-
itation-tax : formerly common in England, and
still levied in some of the United States, as
well as in a few of the countries of continental
Europe. Formerly also called poll-money, poll-
ing-pence, aTid poll-silver.
pollucite (pol'u-sit), n. [< L. Pollux (Polluc-),
Pollux, -I- -ffe2.'] SaTne as pollux, 3.
pollute (po-luf), "• t. ; pret. and pp. polluted,
ppr. polluting. [< L. pollutus, pp. of polluere
(> Pg. polluir = F. polluer), soil, defile, as with
blood, slime, etc., hence defile morally, pollute,
prob. orig. wash or smear over ; ef . proluvies,
an overflow, inundation, < pol-, por-, forth, ■¥
luere,wash.] 1. To make foul or unclean; ren-
der impure; defile; soil; taint.
In those wide wounds thro' which his spirit fled,
Shall flies and worms obsaen^ pollute the dead?
Pope, Iliad, xix. 30.
2. To corrupt or defile in a moral sense ; de-
stroy the perfection or purity of; impair; pro-
fane.
That I hadde pcHvt and defowled my conscience with
sacrilege. Chaueer, Boethius, i. prose 4.
Power, like a desolating pestilence,
Pollutes whate'er it lynches.
Sh^ley, Queen Mab, ill.
3. Specifically, to render legally or ceremo-
nially unclean, so as to be unfit for sacred ser-
vices or uses.
polonaise
Neither shall ye pottvte the holy things of the childreo
of Israel, lest ye die. Num. xviil ss.
4. To violate sexually; debauch or dishonor.
=Syn. 1 and 2. Defile, Corrupt, etc. (see toint), deprave,
degrade, debase.— 4. To ravish,
pollute (po-luf)) «■• [Formerly alsopolute; = F.
poUu = Sp. poluto = Pg. It. poUuto, < h. pollu-
tus, pp. of polluere, defile: see pollute, v.] Pol-
luted; defiled. [Rare,]
And on her naked shame.
Pollute with sinful blame,
The saintly veil of maiden white to throw.
MOton, Nativity, 1. 4i.
poUutedly (po-lu'ted-li), adv. With pollution,
poUutedness "(po-lu'ted-nes), n. The state of
being polluted ; defilement.
polluter (po-lu'ter), w, l(pollute-h-er'>:] One
who pollutes or profanes; a defiler, I)ryden,
JEneid, xi.
poUutingly (po-lti'ting-li), adv. In a polluting
manner; with pollution or defilement.
pollution (po-lii'shon), n. [= F. pollution
= Pr. polludo = Sp. polucion = Pg.pollufSo
= It. pollugione, < LL. pollutio(n-), defilement,
< L. pollute, pp. pollutus, defile : see pollute,
v.] 1. The act of polluting; also, the state
of being polluted; defiilement; imcleanness;
impurity.
Their strife pollution brings
Upon the temple. Milton, P, L., xil 866.
2. Specifically, legal or ceremonial imclean-
ness, disqualifying a person for sacred services
or for intercourse with others, or rendering any-
thing unfit for sacred use. — 3. The emission of
semen at any other time than during coition;
more frequently called se?/'-i)oMMiJo» — Noctnnial
pollution, the emission of semen during sleep, usnslly
accompanied by erotic dreams. =Syn. 1. Vitiatiop, oomip.
tion, foulness (see taint, v.), violation, debauching.
Pollux (pol'uks), n. [NL., < L. Pollux (Pol-
luc-), also Polluces, Pollux, one of the Gemini or
Twins, < Gr. UokvdevicTic, Pollux.] 1. An or-
ange star of magnitude 1.2 (/3 Geminorum) in
the head of the following twin. — 2. In meteor.
See Castor and Pollux, 2. — 3. [Z. c] A rare
mineral found with castor (petalite) in the isl-
and of Elba, Italy, it occurs in isometric cryatals
and massive ; it is colorless and has a vitreous luster, and
is essentially a silicate of aluminium and caesium.
poUy (pol'i), n. Same as poW^.
poUybait (pol'i-bat), n. Same aspolewig.
pollywog, pollywig, n. See polUwog.
polmentt, «• [ME. , < OF. polment, pulment, < L.
pulmentum, anything eaten with bread, a sauce,
condiment, relish.] A kind of pottage.
Messeg of mylke he merkke3 bytwene,
Sythen potage & polmenJt in plater honest;
As sewer in a god assyse he serued hem fayre,
Wyth sadde semblannt & swete of such as he hade.
Alliterative Poems (ed. MorrisX ii. 68&
polo^ (po'16), n. [E. Ind.] A game Qf ball
resembling hockey, played on horseback. It
is of Eastern origin, and is played in India,
whence it has been introduced into Europe and
America.
polo^ (po'lo), n. A Spanish gipsy dance which
originated in Andalusia, and closely resembles
certain Eastern dances in its wild contortions of
the body. The song to which it is danced is low and
melancholy, with startling pauses, and is sung in unison
with a rhythmic clapping of hands. The words, cauea
coplas, are general^ of a jocose character without refrains.
Also called oie.
polonaise (p6-lo-naz'), ». [< F. Polonais, m.,
the Polish lan^age, polonaise, t, a polonaise
(dress), polonaise (music), prop, adj., Polish, <
Pologne (ML. Polonia), Poland: seePole^.] 1.
Alight open gown looped up at the sides, show-
ing the front of an elaborate petticoat, and
longer behind, worn toward the close of the
eighteenth century; also, a similar but plainer
gown, not so much drawn back, and draped
more simply, worn at the present time.— 2. A
kind of overcoat, short and usually faced and
bordered with fur, worn by men who affected a
semi-military dress during the first quarter of
the nineteenth century. — 3. A Polish dance,
consisting mainly of a march or promenade of
the dancers in procession. — 4. Music for such
a promenade, or in its peculiar rhythm, •whicli
is triple and stately, with a characteristic divi-
sion of the first beat of the measures, and a
capricious ending of the phrases on the last
beat. The origin of the form is uncertain. It was first
described by Mattheson in 1739, and it has since been
frequently used by various instrumental composers, n
received the most elaborate and original treatment from
Chopin, many of whose flnest works are in this form, w*
rhythm of the bolero is very similar to tliat of the pom-
naise. Also called polacca.
Folonese
Folonese (p6-lo-nes' or -nez' ), n. [< P. Polonais,
the Polish language : see polonaise. 1 1. The Po-
lish language. — 2. [Z. c] Same as j)oZomoise, 1.
Folonian (po-16'ni-an), a. and n. [< ML. Po-
/oMia (OP. PoZonJe),"Poland, + -iaw.] I. a. Of
or pertaining to Poland or the Poles ; Polish.
The hardness and fortitude of the Polonian Army.
Milton, Letters of State, May 22, 1674.
II. n. A Pole. Milton, Declaration for Elec-
tion of John III.
Polonize (po'lo-niz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. Polo-
nized, ppr. Polmizing. [< ML. Polonia, Poland,
■¥ -!>e.] To render Polish in character or sym-
pathies. Contemporary Rev., XLIX. 286.
polony (p6-16'ni), n. ; pi. polonies (-niz). [Prob.
coiTupted from Bologna (sausage).] A kind of
high-dried sausage made of partly cooked pork.
They were addicted to polonies; they did not disguise
their love for Banbiuy cakes ; they made bets in ginger-
beer. Thackeray^ Newcomes, xviii.
polos (po'los), n. [< Gr. Tro/lof , a pivot, the vault
of heaven, etc.] In Gr. archseol., a tall cylin-
drical cap or head-dress, usually worn with a
veil depending at the back and side, it is a usual
attribute of the more powerful Oriental female deities, and
is frequently worn by some Greek goddesses, as Perse-
phone, particularly by such as have Oriental affiliations.
It is often very similar to the modius. See cut under mo-
diug.
Europa sometimes holds a sceptre surmounted by abird,
and wears upon her head a polos, showing that she was re-
garded at Gortyna in the light of a powerful goddess.
B. V. Head, Historia Numorum, p. 394.
polront, polrondt, n. Obsolete variants otpaul-
dron.
polrose, polroze (pol'roz), «. [Cornish.] In
mines, the pit underneath a water-wheel. Also
written 2)oZro0. [Cornwall, Eng.]
polska (pol'ska), n. [Sw., < Polsh, Polish: see
Polish^.] 1. A Swedish dance resembling
somewhat a Scotch reel. — 2. Music for such a
dance, or in its rhythm, which is triple, and
moderate in movement. It is usually in the
minor mode,
polti (polt), m. [Prob. a var. of jjaK,^eKi. Cf.
h.puitare, beat, Sw. bulta, beat.] A thump or
blow.
If he know'd I'd got you the knife, he'd go nigh to give
me a good ^o2£ of the head.
Miss Bumey, Cecilia, ii. 9. (Dames.)
polt^ti «• An obsolete spellbig ot poult.
polt-foot, n. and a. See poult-foot.
poltronti poltronryt, n. Obsolete forms of
poltroon, poltroonery.
poltroon (pol-tron'), 11. and a. [Formerly pol-
tron; < F.poltron, a coward, dastard, knave, ras-
cal, also a sluggard, = Sp. poltron = Pg. pol-
trao, a coward, < It. poltrone (ML. pultroin-),
a coward), ipoltro, lazy, cowardly, as a nouii a
sluggard, coward, cf . poltrare, poltrire, lie in
bed, be idle, < poltro, bed, couch, < OKQ.pol-
star, iolstar, MHGr. G-. bolster, a pillow, cush-
ion, bolster, quilt, = E. bolster: see bolster.'] I.
n. A lazy, idle fellow; a sluggard; a fellow
without spirit or courage ; a dastard ; a coward.
E. Hen. Be patient, gentle Earl of Westmoreland.
Clif. Sitieaceii tot poltroons. Sftoft.,3Hen.VI.,i. 1.62.
Out, you poltroon!— yoM ha'n't the valour of a grass-
hopper. Sheridan, The Eivals, iv. 1.
=Syn. Craven, Dastard, etc. See coward.
Il.t a. Base; cowardly; contemptible.
He is like to he mistaken who makes choice of a covet-
ous man for a friend, or relieth upon the reed of narrow
and poltroon friendship.
Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., i. § 36.
poltroonery (pol-tron'e-ri), n. [Pormerlypoi-
tronry; < F. poltronnerie (= Bp. poltroneria =
Pg. a.poltroneria), cowardice, < jJoZfron, a cow-
ard: see poltroon.'] The character or nature
of a poltroon; cowardice; baseness of mind;
want of spirit.
You believed rather the tales you heard of our ^oKroon-
ery, and impotence of body and mind.
B. Franklin, Autobiography, p. 294.
poltroonlsh (pol-tron'ish), a.' [i poltroon ■¥
-is/ji.] Resembling a poltroon; cowardly.
polverin, polverine (pol've-rin), n. [< It.pol-
verino (= Sp. polvorin = Fg'.'polverino),<.polvere,
dust, < L. pulvis {pulver^, dust, powder: see
powder^.] The calcined ashes of a plant, prob-
ably Salsola Kali, of the nature of pot- and
pearl-ashes, brought from the Levant and Sy-
ria, and used in the manufacture of glass.
poly (po'li), n. [Pormerly also poley; = Sp.
Pg. li.polio, < L. polium, polion, < Gr. ■k67uoiv, an
aromatic plant having glaucous leaves, perhaps
Teucrium Polium, < iroTiidg, gray, white, akin to
vcMq or ire^Ug, dusky, L. pullus, dusky, and E.
fallow\ etc.: see faUow^.] A species of ger-
4599
mander, Teucrium Polium, an aromatic herb of
southern Europe. The name is also used for
some other plants of the genus Teucrium Poly-
mountain. Same as pol]f: also, a British plant, Cabi-
mintha Adnos.
poly-. [L., etc., poly-, < Gr. iroX-u-, combining
form of TTokv^, dial. vovXvg, rro'iOJiq, many, much,
neut. ■Ko'kv, as adv. much, very, many times, of-
ten, long, etc. ; = Goth. fXu = AS. fela, E. obs.
feel, much : see /eeZ^.] An element in many
compounds of Greek origin or formation, mean-
ing 'many' or 'much.' It is equivalent to muJti- of
Latin origin. It is sometimes, but rarely, used in compo-
sition with a word of non-Greek origin, as in polygrooved,
polypage.
polyacanthid (poFi-a-kan'thid), a. [< polya-
canth-ous + -id^.'] Having pluriserial adam-
bulacral spines, as a starfish: correlated with
monacanthid and diplacanthid.
polyacantllOUS (pol"i-a-kan'thus), o. [< Gr.
KoAvaKavdog, having many thorns, usecl only as
the name of a kind of thorn, < itoTimq, many, -1-
amvda, thorn, spine.] In bot., having many
thorns or spines. Thomas, Med. Diet.
polyaconstic (pol"i-a-kos'tik), a. and n. [=
Sp. policustico, < Gr."iro7i.vQ, many, + aKovariKSg,
of or pertaining to hearing: see acoustic.] I.
a. Multiplying or magnifying sound.
II. n. An instrument for midtiplying or
magnifying sounds.
polyacoustics (poFi-a-kos'tiks), n. [PI. oi poly-
acoustic (see -ies").] The art or science of mul-
tiplying sounds.
polyact (pol"i-akt), a. [< Gr. nolvq, many, -I-
aicrif (d/cnv-), ray.] Having numerous rays:
specifically said of sponge-spicules of the stel-
late kind.
polyactinal (pol-i-ak'ti-nal), a. [< Gr. irolvg,
many, -I- aKTtg {(iktiv-), a ray, + -al.] Many-
rayed; multiradiate ; in sponges, polyact.
polyad (pol'i-ad), n. [< Gr. iroXig, many, +
term, -ag {-ad-) as in rpiag (rpiaS-), triad: see
-ad^."] In chem., an element whose valence or
quantivalence is greater than two, as a triad,
tetrad, hexad, etc.
polyadelph (pol'i-a-deK), n. [< Gr. 7rohidSe^<l>oc,
having many brothers, < TroZiif,
many, -I- ddf/^rff, brother.] Li
bot., a plant having its stamens
united in three or more bodies
or bundles by the filaments.
Polyadelphia (pol"i-ardel'fi-a),
n. pi. [NL. : see polyadelph.']
In bot, the eighteenth class of
the Linnean system, in which
the stamens are united by their Poiyadeiph.
filaments into three or more sets or brother-
hoods.
polyadelpMan (pol"i-a-del'fl-an), a. [< Polya-
delphia + -an.] Same a.s polyadelphous.
polyadelphite (pol"i-a-del'fit), n. [< Gr. volv-
d6e?i^o(, having many brothers (see polyadelph),
+ -ite'^.] A massive brownish-yellow variety
of iron garnet occurring in the zinc-mines in
Sussex county. New Jersey.
polyadelphous (pol'i-a-del'f us), a. [= P. poly-
adelphe = Fg. polyadelpho = It. poliadelfo, < Gr.
■iroTivddeTuipog, having many brothers : see polya-
delph.] In bot, having the stamens united in
three or more bundles or parcels, as in some
species of Hypericum. Also polyadelpMan.
polyadenia (poFi-a-de'ni-a), n. [NL., < Gr. n-o-
?ivg, many, + aS^, gland : see adenia.] Pseudo-
leucemia.
polyadenitis (pol-i-adre-ni'tis), n. [NL., < Gr.
woMig, many, + a6^, gland, + -itis. Cf. adeni-
tis.] Inflammation of numerous glands.
polyadenopathy (pol-i-ad-e-nop'a-thi), n. [<
Gr. Tro%vg, many,+ aS^, gland, + wddog, disease.
Cf . adenopathy.] Disease of numerous glands.
polyadenous (pol-i-ad'e-nus), a. [< Gr. woMjg,
many, + d6^, gland.] In bot, bearing many
glands. Thomas, Med. Diet.
polysemia, n. See polyhemia.
polysesthesia, polyesthesia (pol"i-es-the'si-a),
n. [NL., < Gr. irolvg, many, + alaBiimg, sensa-
tion.] The production, by the stimulation of a
single point on the sMn, of a sensation as if two
or more points were stimulated: observed in
tabes dorsualis. Also polyeesthesis, poly esthesis.
polyaesthetic, a. See polyesthetic.
Polyalthia (pol-i-al'thi-a), n. [NL. (Blume,
1828), so called with ref . to its supposed healing
properties; < Gr. TroXvaW^g, healing many dis-
eases, < iroM?, many, + cMahsiv, heal (> dTSfjeig,
wholesome).] A genus of polypetalous shrubs
or trees of the order Anonacese and tribe Uno-
nese, characterized by six thick, flat, ovate or
polyarchy
narrow petals, and numerous carpels each with
only one or two ovules. The 40 species are natives
of tropical Asia, tropical and southern Amca, and Austral-
asia. They bear obliquely feather -veined alternate leaves,
and solitary or clustered flowers, followed by globose or
oblong one-seeded stalked berries. See iruislrtree, 2.
polyandria (pol-i-an'dri-a),m. [NL. : see poly-
andry.] 1. Same as polyandry. — 2. [ca}).]
[Used as a plural.] In bot., according to the
Linnean system, a class of hermaphrodite flow-
ering plants having more than twenty hypogy-
nous stamens of equal length, free from each
other and from the pistils.
polyandrian (pol-i-an'dri-an), a. {(.polyandry
+ -an.] Same as polyandrous.
polyandric (pol-i-an'drik), a. [= F. polyan-
drique = Pg. polyandrico; as xwlyandr-y + -ic]
Relating to or characterized by polyandry.
Mso polyandrous. Westminster Rev., April, 1868,
p. 410.
polyandrion (pol-i-an'dri-on), «.; ^gl. polyandria
(-a). [< Gr. iroXvdvSpiov, a place where many
assemble, neut. of iroXvavSpiog, with many men,
< iroXvg, many, + dvijp (dvSp-), man.] In Gr.
antiq. and archseol., a monument or a buiial
inclosure provided by the state for a number of
men, usually for those of its citizens who had.
fallen in a battle. The famous "Lion of Chser&nea"
which stood within the burial inclosure of the Thebana.
who died in the battle with Philip of Macedon, 338 B. c,
was a monument of this class; and this was itself a close=
copy throughout of that recently excavated at Thespiee,
which is believed to have commemorated the Thespians
who fell at Plataia, 479 B. c.
polyandrious (pol-i-an'dri-us), a. In bot., same
as polyandrous.
polyandrist (pol-i-an'drist), n. [< polyandr-y
+ -ist.] One who practises polyandry.
polyandrous (pol-i-an'drus), a. [< (Jr. iroXvav-
6pog, with many men, LGr. with many husbands,
< TTolvg, many, + dv^p (dvSp-), man, male (in
mod. bot. stamen).] 1 . In 6ot. : (a) Belonging to
the Linnean class Polyandria. (6) Having the
stamens indefinitely numerous, at least more
than ten. — 2. In zool., having several male
mates; polygamous, as a female animal. — 3.
In sociology, same as polyandric.
polyandry (pol-i-an'dri), n. [= P. polyandrie
= Sp. poliandria = Pg. polyandria = fi. poli-
andria, < LG. no7uavSpia, taken in sense of ' a
condition of having many husbands' (in bot.
stamens), found in sense of ' a condition of hav-
ing many men, populousness,' < iroXiavSpog, hav-
ing many men : see polyandrous.] The state of
having more husbands than one at the same
time ; plurality of husbands. Polyandry is believed
to have had its origin in unfertile regions, in an endeavor
to check the undue pressure of population on the means
of subsistence. It formerly prevailed to some extent in
Europe, and is now observed in Tibeti Ceylon, parts of
India, among certain tribes in America and the islands
of the Pacific, etc. It is sometimes limited to the mar-
riage of the woman to two or more brothers.
In the one type, called by M*Lennan Nair polyandry,
the woman remains with her own kin, but entertains at
will such suitors as she pleases.
W. R. Smith, Kinship and Marriage, p. 122.
polyangular (pol-i-ang'gu-lar), a. [< Gr. Tro'Xvg,
many, + L. angulus, an angle: see angular.']
Having m0,ny angles.
polyantheaf, n. Same a.a polianthea.
Polyanthes (pol-i-an'thez), n. See Polianthes.
polyanthous (pol-i-an'thus), a. [< NL. polyan-
thus, < (Jr. TTOAiiavBog, also noXvavB^g, much-blos-
soming, having many flowers, < noXvg, many, +
ovSof, a flower.] Bearingmanyflowers. Thomas,
Med. Diet.
polyanthus, polyanthos (pol-i-an'thus, -thos),
n. [NL., < Gr. noXvavBog, having many flowers :
see poh/anthous.] A garden variety of Primula
veris, most nearly allied to the variety elatior,
the oxlip, whose flowers are umbeled on a
common peduncle several inches high, it is an
old garden favorite, which has passed through countless
subvarjfeties. Florists require that a good polyanthus
should possess a strong scape, a well-filled truss, a corolla
with a short tube, a bright-yellow eye, and a deep, rich
brown-crimson limb, bordered with a well-defined yellow
edging. See iirimrose.— Polyantlius Narclasus. See
Narcissus.
polyarchist (pol'i-ar-kist), n. [(.polyarchy +
■4st.] One who favors polyarchy.
Plato . . . was no polyarchist, but a monarchist, an as-
sertor of one supreme God.
Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 403.
polyarchy (pol'i-ar-ki), n. [= p. polyarchie =
Sp. poliarquia = Pg. polyarchia = a.poliarchia,
< Gr. woXvapxi-a, the government of many, <
iroXvg, many, + dpxeiv, rule.] A government
by many, whether by a privileged class (aris-
tocracy) or by the people at large (democracy) ;
any government by several rulers.
polyarchy
Yet he [Aristotle] absolutely denied iroXunoipwiiii', and
iroAuapx^ai/, a polyarchy or mundane aristocracy: that
is, a miutiplicity of tli-st principles and independent del-
ties. Cudworth, Intellectual System, II. 83.
polyarsenite (pol-i-ar'se-nit), n. [< Gr. mUc,
many, + E. arsen(ic) + -iteK'] In mineral.,
same as sarkinite.
polyarthritis (pol'i-ar-thri'tis), «. [NL., < Gr.
iroAiic, many, + NL. arthritis, q. v.] Arthritis
involving a number of joints.
polyarthrous (pol-i-ar'thrus), a. [< Gr. jroAi'if,
many, + apdpov, a joint.] Having many joints
or jointed parts; multiarticulate.
polyarticular (pol"i-ar-tik'u-lar), a. [< Gr.
7ro'Av(, many, + L. articttfet?, a joint : see articu-
lar.'] Pertaining to a number of joints: as,
polyarticular rheumatism.
polyatomic (pol"i-a-tom'ik), a. [= P. polya-
tormque; < Gr. ■troliig, many, + aro/iov, atom:
see atom, atomic.'] In chem., noting elements
or radicals which have an equivalency .greater
than two ; also, noting compounds having three
or more hydroxyl groups, in which hydrogen is
easily replaceable by other elements or i-adi-
cals without otherwise changing the structure
of the original compound: thus, glycerol is a
poiy atomic alcohol.
polyautography (poFi-a-tog'ra-fi), n. [< Gr.
nolvi, many, + aiird;, self, + -yptufila, < ypa^Etv,
write. Cf autography.] The act of multiply-
ing copies of one's own handwriting or of man-
usexipts, as by printing from stone : a form of
lithography.
polyaxial (pol-i-ak'si-al), a. [< Gr. nolvg, many,
+ li. axis, axis, + -ioi!.] Having several axes.
polyaxou (pol-i-ak'son), a. and n. [NL., < Gr.
TTo/lic, many, + a^uv, axis.] I. a. Having sev-.
eral or many (more than six) axes of growth,
as a sponge-spieule ; polyaxial, as the form of
spicule known as a sterraster.
II, n. A polyaxial sponge-spieule.
polybasic (pol-i-ba'sik), a. [= F.polybasique;
< Gr. iTolvg, many, H- ^datg, base: see base^,
basic] In chem., capable of combining with
more than two univalent bases: a,s, jmlybasic
acids or radicals.
polybasicity (j}ol"i-ba-sis'i-ti), ». l<. polybasic
+ -ity.] The character or property of being
polybasic.
polybasite (po-lib'a-sit), it. [= 'F.pohjbasite;
< Gr. 7ro/li£, niany, "+ ^daig, base, + -ite^.] An
iron-black ore of silver, consisting of silver,
sulphur, and antimony, with some copper and
arsenic.
Polybia (p6-lib'i-a), n. [NL. (St. Far^ean, 1836),
< Gr. voXv^tog, with much life, < no?.vg, much, +
/3(0f, life.] A genus of hymenopterous insects
of the family Vespidse, or wasps, resembling
Polistes closely, but differing in the shape of
the abdomen. The species are all Central or South
American except P. fiavitar^is^ which is found in Califor-
nia. P. palTtmrum is the palm-wasp, so called because it
makes its nests on palms.
Polyborinae (pol"i-bo-ri'ne), n. pi. [NL., <
Polyborus + -inse.] A subfamily of Falconidse,
typified by the genus Polyborus, and including
the genera Phalcobsenus, Senex, Milvago, Ibyc-
ter, and Daptrius; the caracaras, or American
vulture-hawks. There is a coracoclavicular articula-
tion, a centric nasal tubercle, an anterior palatal keel, and
a superorbital shield, in which respects the Polyborinse re-
semble falcons ; but the external aspect is rather that of
vultures The bill is toothless, and the sternum is single-
notched See cuts under caracara and Ibycter.
polyborine (pol'i-bo-rin), a. Of or pertaining
to the Polyborinie.
Polyborus (po-lib'o-rus), n. [NL. (Vieillot,
1816), < Gr. 7r&/li//3d/90f, much-devouring, < vo?Lig,
much, + l3opd(, gluttonous.] The typical ge-
nus of the subfamily Polyborinse ; the caracaras
proper. There are several species, of temperate and
tropical America, as P. cherimy, P. auduboni, and P. Ill'
tosus. See out under caracara. *
polybrachia (pol-i-bra'ki-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
iroAvi, many , -I- L. brachium, properly bracchium,
the arm: see brachium.] In teratol., the pres-
ence of supernumerary arms.
polybrachus (po-lib'ra-kus), n. ; pi. polylrachi
(-ki). [NL. : see polybrachia.] In teratol., a
monster with supernumerary arms.
polybranch (pol'i-brangk), a. and n. [< Gr.
woAvc, many, -t- Ppiyxi-a, giUs.] I. a. Having
many gills or numerous branchiee, as a moUusk
or crustacean ; of or pertaining to the Polybraii-
chia or Polybranchiata. Also polybranehiate.
II. n. A polybranch mollusk or crustacean.
Folybranchia (pol-i-brang'ki-a), n. pi. [NL. :
see polybranch.] 1. In J. E. Gray's classifica-
tion (1821), one of two orders (the other being
4600
Pi/gobranchia) of nudibranchiate gastropods,
having lamellar or plumose gills on the upper
surface of the mantle, and containing the fami-
lies Tritoniadse, Seyllieidx, and Tethyadee.— 2.
In later systems, a suborder or superf amily com-
prising the same foi-ms, but subdivided among
numerous families: same as Polybranchiata, 1.
polybranchian (pol-i-brang'ki-an), a. and m.
Same as polybranch.
Polybranchiata (pol-i-brang-ki-a'ta), n. pi.
[NL. : &ee polybranehiate.'] 1. A suborder or su-
perfamily of nudibranchiate gastropods, char-
acterized by the development of dorsal gill-like
appendages variously distributed, but never
disposed in a rosette round the anus, it com-
prised numerous species, classlAed by modern malacolo-
gists among 12 to 16 families. Also called Polybranchia.
2. In De Blainville's classification (1825), one
of five orders of his second section of Para-
cephalophora monoica symmetrica, composed of
the two families Tetracerata and Diceraia.
polybranehiate (pol-i-brang'ki-at), a. [< NL.
polybranchiatus, < Gr. mXvc, many, + Ppayxia,
gills.] Same as polybranch.
polycarpellary (pol-i-kar'pe-la-ri), a. [< Gr.
■KOAiiQ, many, + NL. carpellum, carpel: see car-
pel, carpellary.] In bot., composed of two or
many carpels. Compare monocarpellary.
polycarpic (pol-i-kar'pik), a. [< i)olycarp-ous
+ -ic.] In bot., producing fruit many times
or indefinitely: applied by De Candolle to per-
ennial herbs. Compare monocarpous (a).
Polycarpon (pol-i-kar'pon), «. [NL. (Linnffius,
1737), so called in allusion to the many little
fruits (cf. L. polycarpon, < Gr. ■KoXvKapirov, a
plant, a kind of cratsegus), < TroXixapnoq, with
much fruit, fruitful: see xwlycaipous.] A ge-
nus of diffuse polypetalous herbs of the order
Caryophyllese, type of the tribe Polycarpeee, and
characterized by the five keeled and entire se-
pals, the five small entire hyaline petals, the
three to five stamens, and the one-celled ovary
with many ovules, crowned with a short three-
cleft style, and becoming a small three-valved
capsule. There are 6 species, generally diffused through-
out temperate and warmer regions. They are slender an-
nuals, bearing opposite ovate or oblong flat leaves, dry
and thin bracts and stipules, and very numerous densely
compacted little whitish flowers in much-branched cymes.
From the great quantity of its seed, the European species,
P. tetraphyUum, is called allseed.
polycarpous (pol-i-kar'pus), a. [< Gr. jro/ld-
mpiro;, with much fruit, fruitful, < nolvi; many,
-I- Kapivdg, fruit.] In bot., having a gynoecium
composed of two or more distinct ovaries or
carpels. Compare monocarpous, and cuts un-
der carpel and gynobase.
polycellular (pol-i-sel'u-lar), a. [< Gr. •KoKvq,
many, -I- NL. cellula, a cell: see cellular.] In
bot., containing or composed of many cells.
polycentric (pol-i-sen'trik), a. [< Gr. ■Kolig,
many, + Kh/rpov, point: see center^.] Having
several centers or nucleal points.
But a complexity is introduced as soon as the sap-vacu-
oles appear, in many cases making the cell not monocen-
tric \tut polycentric.
H. Marshall 'Ward, Nature, XXXV. 301.
Polycentridse (pol-i-sen'tri-de), «. pi. [NL.,
< Polycentrus + -idle.] A family of acanthop-
terygian fishes, typified by the genus Polycen-
trus. They have a symmetrical compressed body with-
out lateral line, compressed head with very projectile
jaws, a long dorsal and anal fln with many spines, and per-
fect ventrals. The family contains a few South American
fresh-water fishes, somewhat related to the centrarchoids
of North America. In Gunther's classification it was re-
ferred to the Acardhopterygii perdformes.
Polycentrus (pol-i-sen'trus), n. [NL. (Miiller
and Troschel, 1848), < Gr. noAvq, many, -I- Kh-
rpov, point: see center'^.] The typical genus of
Polycentridse : so called from the many spines,
especially of the anal fln.
polycephalistt (pol-i-sef 'a-list), n. [< Gr. mlv-
Kifa^g, having many heads (Bee poly cephalous),
+ -ist.] One who has or acknowledges many
heads or superiors. Bp. Gauden, Tears of the
Church, p. 541. (Davies.)
polycephalous (pol-i-sef 'a-lus), a. [< Gr. noT^v-
/te^aXof, having many heads, many-headed, <
TToXiig, many, -I- (ce0o^^, head.] In bot., bearing
or consisting of many heads.
Polycera (po-lis'e-ra), n. [NL., < Gr. TTolmepuc,
many-horned, < iroXvg, many, + icipag, horn.]
Poiycera qtuiitritineata. (Line shows natural size.)
polychromatic
The typical genus of Polyceiidx. a true repre-
sentative species is P. qvadrUineaia of Europe. P. Jes.
som is a beautiful sea-slug of a pale flesh-color marked
with green and yellow, found in the North Atlantic oceau
referred by some to a distinct genus Polio. '
Polyceridae (pol-i-ser'i-de), n.])l. [NL., < Poiy.
cent -i- -idle.] A family of phanerobrauchiate
doridoid gastropods having a simple pharyngeal
bulb, typified by the genus Polycera. The bran.
chiee are not retractile, the labial armature is variable, and
the radula is naiTOW. The species are numerous, and liave
been grouped by some under three or more subfamilies
elevated by others to family rank. '
Polychaeta (pol-i-ke'ta), «. j;i. [NL., neut. pi.
ot polychietus : see polycbeetous.] An order or
other group of ohtetopodous annelids, having
the body segmented, the false feet or parapodia
with many chsetSB, setse, or bristles (whence the
name), and the headtentaculate; thepolyohsB-
tous worms. It is a very large group, of numerous fam.
ilies, including a majority of the annelids, as all the sed-
entary or tubicolous and the eiTant marine worms. It Is
contrasted with the order Oligochxla. See cuts under an-
trum, Polynoe, Protvla, cerebral, esophageal, prseslaimm,
and pyr/idium.
polychste (pol'i-ket), a. Same as polychietom.
polychaetous (pol-i-ke'tus), a. [< IHL.polyehs-
tus, < Gr. wohixairm, with much hair, < mMf,
manjr, + x^^'''1j long hair, ipane: see chseta.]
Having numerous chsetse, setse, or bristles of
the parapodia, as an annelid ; belonging to the
Polychseta. See cut under elytrum.
Forms of Po22/cA/)>fotisAnnelidan larvsewhich are called
Telotrocha. Hmcley, Anat. Invert., p. 164.
polyciioeranyt, »• An erroneous form otpoly-
ccerany.
polycholia (pol-i-ko'li-a), «. Excessive secre-
tion of bile.
polychord (pol'i-k6rd), a. and n. [= Pg. poly-
chordo ; < Gr. ■KokhxopSog, many-stringed, < m'/wg,
many, -I- xop''^V, string, chord.] I. a. Having
many chords or strings.
II. n. A musical instrument invented by F.
Hillmer in 1799, but never generally used. It
was shaped like a bass viol with a movable fingerboard,
and had ten gut strings. It was played either with a bow,
or by the fingers, like a lute.
polychorion (pol-i-ko'ri-on), n. [< Gr. TToXif,
many, + x^P'-""! membrane.] In bot., a poly-
carpous fruit, like that of Banunculus. Treasury
of Botany.
polychorionic (pol-i-ko-ri-on'ik), a. [< 2>oly-
chorion -h -ic] Having the character of a
polychorion.
polychotomous (pol-i-kot'o-mus), a. [< poly-
chotom-y + -ous.] Divided into more than two
groups or series ; made or done on the principle
of polychotomy, as a classification.
polychotomy (pol-i-kot'o-mi), n. [< Gr. mlv-
Xpog, nokvxdoq, manifold, + -rojiia, Cri/ivciv, to-
flelv, cut.] ia zool., division of a given group
of animals into more than two other groups or
series: correlated with dic/jotoTOW. Amen. Nat.,
XXI. 915.
polychrestt (pol'i-krest), n. [= F. polychreste,
= Pg. polycresto,< Gr. wo'khxp'naTOQ, very useful,
< noXvg, much, -1- xpi'^rdg, useful, < xpv'^^'^h ^^^ '■
see chrestomathy.] A medicine that serves for
many uses, or that cures many diseases Poly-
cbrest salt, in old chem., potassic sulphate; also, sodio-
potassic tartrate.
polychrestic (pol-i-kres'tik), a. [< poh/chrest-y
+ -ic] Admitting of use in various ways, as a
drug, or in various connections (as in naming
different things), as a word^
polychresty (pol'i-kres-ti), n. [< Gr. Tro^vxpvu-
Tia, great usefulness, < TroTivxpflordg, very use-
ful: see polychrest.] The character of being
polychrestic; the use of polychrestic words.
BucTc's Handbook of Med. Sciences, VIII. 518.
polychroic (pol-i-kro'ik), a. Same aspleochroie.
Optical properties of the polychroic aureolas present in
certain minerals, by M. A. Michel Mvy.
Nature, XII. 216.
polychroism (pol'i-kro-izm), n. [= P. poly-
chroisme; <.Gv.iroXixpoog, many-colored, <iro/liic,
many, -I- xpota, color.] Same aspleochroism,
polychroite (pol-i-kro'it), n. [= P. polychroite,
< Gr. KoTiAixpooc, many-colored (seepolyehroisfii),
+ -ite^.] The coloring matter of saffron: so
named in consequence of the variety of colors
which it exhibits when acted upon by various
reagents.
polychromatic (pol"i-kro-mat'ik), a. [< Gr-
voh)xpi>iJiaTog, many-colored {see polyehrmne),^
-ic. Ct. chromaUc] 1. Many-colored: as, ^tfiy-
chromatic light. — 2. In mineral., exhibiting a
play of colors — Polychromatic add. Seepdychn-
mic aeid, under poJj/cAromtc.— Polychromatic prooeM,
a carbon photographic process invented by Vldal, analo-
gous to chromolithography in method and object pe
first step is to make from the subject as many negative*
polychromatic
as there are colors to be represented, each of these being
appropriated lor a particular tint, while all parts other-
vise tinted in the original are masked on the negative with
an opaque pigment. Gelatin pictures of the required tints
are then prepared from the negatives, and superimposed
in turn by a system of registration over a print of the
whole subject previously made with a neutral ground,
thus completing the polychromatic picture. This process
gives strikingly naturalistic results in the reproduction
of goldsmiths' work, enamels, mosaics, etc.
polychrome (pori-krom), a. and n. [= F. poly-
chrome; < Gr. TToTAxpi^iio^, also iro^vxpiii/M-og,
many-colored, < iro^v;, many, + XP<^I^ (xP^/^<^T-)t
color : see chrome.'] I, a. Having or tinted with
several or many colors ; executed in the manner
of polyohromy : as, polychrome sculpture ; poly-
chrome architecture.
A large panorama of Pergamon, . . . exhibited in con-
jnnctioQ with afuU-size plastic restoration and poly ehrtmie
reconstruction of the eastern front of the Olympian tem-
ple. Tenth Report of the Archied. ImtUiite of America,
[1888-9, p. 65.
Folycbrome printing, the art or process of printing in
several colors at the same time.
n. n. A fluorescent substance (C21H24O13),
forming prismatic crystals, odorless, with a bit-
ter taste and slight acid reaction, it is obtained
from the bark of the horse-chestnut and from quassia-
wood, etc. A solution of polychrome appears colorless by
transmitted light, but blue by reflected light. Acids de-
stroy the fluorescence of the liquid; alkalis increase it.
polychromic (pol-i-kro'mik), a. [ipolyclirome
+ -jc] Same as polychromatic Polycliromlo
acid (also called aloetic acM), an acid produced by the ac-
tion of nitric acid upon aloes.
polychromy (pol'i-kro-mi), n. [= P. polychro-
mie, < Gr. as if *iro2,vxpt->tua, < Tro'M>xpuiwQ, many-
colored: s%6 polychrome.] Decoration or exe-
cution in many colors ; specifically, the practice
of coloring more or less completely statues and
the exteriors and interiors of buildings. This
practice dates from the highest antiquity, and reached its
greatest artistic perfection in Greece, where it was consis-
tently applied to all sculpture and architecture. In archaic
examples the coloring was the most complete and strong,
and in the case of sculpture was to a great extent conven-
tional— men's flesh, for instance, being colored deep-brown
or red, and women's white or yellowish. In the architec-
ture of the best time, while surfaces of considerable extent
were still brilliantly colored, as in red or blue, the chief
part of many features, as of columns, was left in the natu-
ral color of the marble, or perhaps merely slightly tinted,
and discreetly set oft with meanders or other ornaments
in gilding or strong color. Throughout Europe, during the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, architectural polychromy
was employed with admirable effect.
PolychrUS (pol'i-krus), n. [NL: (Cuvier, 1817), <
Gr. TToAiif , many, + a'P"C) color of the skin, com-
plexion.] 1 . A leading genus of lizards of the
tawVy Ignanidse, having smooth scales, a small
dewlap, no dorsal crest, and the squarish head
covered with numerous plates : so called from
its versicoloration. P. marmoratas inhabits
Central America and portions of South Ameri-
ca.— 2. [I. c] A member of this genus : as, the
maihled. poh/clivus.
polycladous (pol-i-kla'dus), a. [<Gr. iro^vKhi-
(5of, with many boughs and branches, < Trolig,
many, -I- iMSog, a young slip or shoot.] In hot.,
much-branched.
polyclady (pol'i-kla-di), n. [< Gr. iro^vichz-
Sog, with many
boughs and
branches: see
polycladous.'] In
tot, the produc-
tion of a num-
ber of branches
where there is
normally but one.
See plica, 2.
Polycletan (pol-
i-kle'tan), a. ' [<
L. Polyeletus, Po-
lyditus, < Gr. IIo-
XvK?ieiTog, Poly-
eletus (see def.),
+ -an.] Pertain-
ing to the great
Greek scvdptor
Polyeletus of Ar-
gosand8icyon,a
contemporary
and emulator of
Phidias, to the
school of art in-
spired by him, or
to the sculptural
canon of per-
fect human pro-
portions which
he established
«(«! "'"IIP 0- poiyjij^n s;.i,o„l of Sculpture.— Amazon,
'^'WJ. in the Museum or Berlin.
4G01
polyclinic, ". Bee policlinic.
polycoccous (pol-i-kok'us), a. [NL., < Gr. no7Ji(,
many, + kokkoc, berry: see coccus.] In bot.,
having several cocci: said of a dry pericarp
whose lobes separate at maturity.
Polycoelia^ (pol-i-se'U-a), n. [NL., fem. sing.,
< Gr. no^vg, many, + KoOua, cavity : see cwlia.]
A genus of fossil rugose corals of the family
Stauridse, from the Permian formation.
PolycoeUa^ (pol-i-se'li-a), n.pl. [NL., < Gr. tto-
Xug, many, -I- Kot?ua, cavity.] Animals whose en-
cephalocoele is segmented into several coelise,
as all skulled vertebrates. They have the neuron
partly preaxial, the axon vertebrated, and the beaii with
more than a single cavity. WUder, Amer. Nat, X.XL 914.
polycoelian (pol-i-se'li-an), a. [< Polycoelia^ +
-an.] Having several coeliSB; of or pertaining
to the Polyccelia.
polycoeranyt (pol-i-se'ra-ni), n. [Also polyca-
ranie; < Gr. (Ionic) iroXvnoipaviri, rule of many,
< iroXvg, many, + noipavog, a ruler.] A govern-
ment by many rulers, lords, or princes. [Rare.]
The world would be a pfAychxerany or aristocracy of
Gods. Cuiworth, Intellectual System, p. 411.
polyconic (pol-i-kon'ik), a. [= 'F.polyconique,
< Gr. iroXig, many, -I- Kovog, a cone: see cone,
come.] Pertaining to or based upon many
cones — Polyconic map-projection. See projection.
polycoria (pol-i-ko'ri-a), n. [Nil., < Gr.woXvg,
many, + Kdpt;, the pupil of the eye.] The pres-
ence of more than one pupil in an eye.
Polycotylea (pol-i-kot-i-le'a), n.pl. [NL.,< Gr.
TTo'/Lvg, many, 4- Korii/b?, a vessel, cup : see cotyle,
2.] A section of oetopod cephalopods charac-
terized by two or three rows of suckers on each
arm, comprising the Oetopodidse, Tremoctopodi-
dse, and Argonautidse : contrasted with Mono-
polycotyledon(pol-i-kot-i-le'don), «. [NL., <
Gr. no^vg, many, + Korv%Ti6Cyv, cavity : see coty-
ledon.] A plant whose embryo has a whorl of
more than two cotyledons or seed-leaves. This
is normally the case with the pines and most Ctmifetse.
It is true in appearance in a few aberrant dicotyledons,'
as the genus AmaMckia of the Boraginese, whose cotyle-
dons are two-parted, and one species of Lepidium, whose
cotyledons are three-parted. See cut under cotyledon.
polycotyledonary (pol-i-kot-i-le'don-a^rl), a.
[< polycotyledon + -ary'>.] In sool., having
many cotyledons, or tufts of fetal villi, as the
chorion or placeilta of a mammaL
polycotyledonous (pol-i-kot-i-le'dpn-us), a.
[<.])olycotyledon + -oils.] Possessing more than
two cotyledons, as an embryo; producing an
embryo with more than two cotyledons, as a
plant.
polycotyledony (pol-i-kot-i-le'don-i), n. [<
polycotyledon + -2/^.] In 60*., an aberrant in-
crease in the number of cotyledons, as in Cola
acuminata, where they vary from two to five.
polycracy (po-lik'ra^si), n. [< Gr. iroWf, many,
-t- -icpaHa, < Kparciv, inile.] Government by many
rulers; polyarchy.
polycrase (pol'i-kraz), n. [< Gr. iroXvg, many,
-I- Kpamg, a mixing: see crasis.] A rare titano-
niobate of uranium, the metals of the yttrium
group, and other bases: it is found in Norway,
and also in North Carolina.
polycrotic (pol-i-krot'ik), a. [< Gr. iro?.vg, many,
-I- Kp&Tog, a rattling noise, beat, clash : see di-
crotic] ' Having several beats; having several
secondary waves : said of some pulses.
Polyctenes (p6-lik'te-nez), n. [NL. ''West-
wood; Giglioli,' 1864), < Gr. iro^g, many, + icrsig
(KTev-), a comb.] A genus of true lice, typical
of the family Polyetenidse. The head is armed be-
neath with rows of long flat spines, whence the name. The
species are parasites of bats in Jamaica and China, and
doubtless elsewhere. This remarkable form has been of
disputed location, being by some referred to the pupip-
arous dipterous insects. ,. , , , ,--_ .
Polyetenidse (pol-ik-ten'i-de;, n. pi. [NL., <
Polyctenes + -idle.] A family of true lice, or
Hemiptera parasitica, represented by the genus
Polyctenes. Westwood, 1874.
polycyclic (pol-i-sik'lik), a. [< Gr. no/iyiiviAog,
with many circles, < n-oAiif, many, + Kmh)g, a
ring, circle.] Having many rounds, turns, or
whorls, as a shell. ' „ -,
polycystic (pol-i-sis'lik), a. [< Gr. iroAvg, many,
-I- Kiiang, a bag: see cyst.] Having many cysts
or sacs, as a tumor.
Polycystida (pol-i-sis'ti-da), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
noXvg, many, + Kiang, bag (see cyst), + -^da.]
A family of NasseUaria. The skeleton Is an irregular
fenestrated shell, composed of several unequal chambers,
piled usually irregularly (rarely in definite order varying
from that of the Cj/«*i<feo) round a primary capitnlum (de-
rivable from the twin shell of the Sphyroida), with or with-
out spicules.
polyergic
polycystidan (pol-i-sis'ti-dan), a. and n. I. a.
Of or pertaining to the Polycystida.
H. n. A member of the Polycystida.
Poljrcystina (pol"'i-sis-ti'na), «. pi. [NL., < Gr.
TToAvg, many, -I- miang, bag (see cyst), + -ina^.]
Ehrenberg's name (given by him in the form
PolycisUna) of all those radiolarians which
were known to him: loosely synonymous with
Badiolaria.
polycystine (pol-i-sis'tin), a. and n. I. a. Of
or pertaining to the Polycystina: now noting
one of the divisions of Badiolaria.
H. n. A member of the Polycystina.
polycjrthemia (poFi-si-the'mi-a), H. [NL. po-
lycythsemia, < Gr. woMig, many, + tciirog, a hollow
(cell), + al/ia, blood.] Excess of red corpuscles
in the blood.
Polycyttaria (por'i-si-ta'ri-a), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. woMig, many, + KVTrapog, a cell, < Kvrog, a
hoUow.] A family or other group of Badiolaria,
containing compound or colonial forms having
many central capsules connected by extracap-
sular protoplasm; the polycyttarian radiola-
rians. The capsules are multinuclear, multiplying by
fission, and the skeleton is spherical and fenestrated or
composed of loose spicules, or absent. Leading forms
are CoUo^hSBra, Sphserozoum, and CoUozoum. Also called
CoUozoa.
polycyttarian (poFi-si-ta'ri-an), a. and n. [<
(Jr. TToXvg, many, -I- Hvrrapog, a cell, -t- -Jan.] I.
a. Having several central capsules; pluricap-
sular, as a radiolarian ; of or pertaining to the
Polyeyttaria.
n. n. A member of the Polycyttaria.
polydactyl, polydactyle (pol-i-dak'til), a. and
n. [< Gr. TroAuda/cTO/lof, many-toed, < TroTivg, many,
-I- daKTvTiog, a finger, a toe: see dactyl.] I. a.
Having many digits, whether fingers or toes;
exhibiting or characterized by polydactylism.
n. n. A polydactyl animal.
polydactylism (pol-i-dak'ti-lizm), n. [= F.
polydaetyUsme ; as polydactyl + -ism.] The
condition of having many
digits — that is, more than
the normal number of fin-
gers or toes; the state of
being polydactyl.
polydactylous (pol-i-dak'-
ti-Ius), a. Same as poly-
dactyl.
Polydactyly (pol-i-dak'ti-
li), n. [< polydactyl + -j3.]
Same as polydactylism.
polydelphous (pol-i-del'-
fus), a. An improper form
■ of polyadelphous.
polydunensional (pol"i-di- . , ,
men'shon-al), a. [< Gr. Polydactyhsm of Hand.
TTo^vg, ni'any, + E. dimension + -al.] Of more
than three dimensions. Mature, XXX. 24.
polydipsia (pol-i-dip'si--a), n. [NL., < Gr. as if
*iroh)Ofil/ia, great thirst, < ■!ro7iv6iij)U)g, very thirsty,
iro^viiijiog, making very thirsty, < voXvg, much,
-H <5ii/)a, thirst.] In ^a**oJ., excessive thirst. It
is usually accompanied by hydruria.
polydromic (pol-i-drom'ik), a. Same as poly-
tropic.
polydyinite(po-lid'i-mit),«. A sulphidof nickel,
occurring in isometric octahedrons and in mas-
sive forms, of a light-gray color and brilliant
metallic luster. A ferriferous variety from On-
tario carries a small amount of platinum.
polyedral, polyedron, etc. Same as polyhedral,
etc.
polyembryonate (pol-i-em'bri-a-nat), a. [As
polyembryonr^ + -ofel.] In hot., pertaining to
polyembryony; consisting of or having several
embryos.
polyembryonic (pol-i-em-bri-on'ik), a. [As
polyemiryowjy + -ic] Same as polyembryonate.
polyembryony (pol-i-em'bri-o-ni), n. [< Gr.
•KoMig, many, -f- sfippvav, an embiyo : see embryo.]
In bot., the production or existence of two or
more embryos in one seed — a phenomenon oc-
curring, sometimes regularly and sometimes ab-
normally, in the development of the ovules of
flowering plants, in angiospermous plants several
germinal masses usually occur in the unfertilized embiyo-
sac, but in most cases only one of these Is impregnated,
and, although occasionally more than one commence the
course of developraenli as in the Orchideee, generally all
but one become subsequently obliterated. In the orange,
however, this is not the case, and its ripe seeds ai'e met
with containing more than one embryo.
polyemia, n. See polyhemia.
polyergic (pol-i-er'jik), a. [< Gr. noTivepryog,
much-workuig, < voMg, much, -I- Ipryov, work.]
Acting, or endowed with the power of acting,
in many ways.
Polyergus
PolyergUS (pol-i-fer'gus), ». [NL. (Latreille,
,1802), < Gr. TToXiepyof, muoh-working, < TroJif,
much, + epyov, work.] A genus of Formici-
dse, having the mandibles almost cylindrieal,
curved, very narrow, and acute at the tip, ocelli
present, and the mngs of the female with only
one discoidal cell ; the Amazon-ants. Two species
are foand in the United States, but most are tropical or
subtropical. P. ry^escene is a slave-making ant which
has lost the building instinct and shows no care for its
young, and in which the mandibles have lost their teeth
— all OS a result of their entire dependence upon slaves.
polyesthesia, n. See polysesthesia.
polyesthesis (pol"i-es-the'sis), n. Same as
polysesthesia.
polyesthetic, polyaesthetic (pol"i-es-thet'ik),
a. [< polysesthesia {-thet-) + -ie (cf. estlietic).^
Of or pertaining to polysesthesia.
polyetnnic (pol-i-eth'nik), a. [< Gr. iroXvs,
many, + e&vo(, a nation, people.] Inhabited by
or containing many races or nationalities.
polyfoil (pol'i-foil), re. and a. [< Gr. iroTiVC,
many, + E. foil^. Cf . imiUifoil and polyphyl-
lotis.'] I. n. In arch., an opening or ornament
consisting of several combined foliations ; spe-
cifically, a combination of more than five foils ;
a multifoil.
II. a. Consisting or composed of, or deco-
Polyfoil Window.— Hereford Cathedral, England ; 13th century.
rated with, more than five foils or foliations :
as, a, polyfoil arch Polsrfoil arch an arch the head
of which is divided Into a number of foils or foliations.
4602
are small herbs or sometimes shrubby plants, usually
with alternate leaves, and terminal spikes of small or
shoivy flowers of red, yellow, green, white, and other col-
ors. Several cultivated purple-flowered species from the
Cape of Good Hope are evergreen shrubs reaching 9 leet in
height. P. lutea of the southern United States is known
locally as baehelorYbuUom. P. pcmcifolia, another hand-
some species, is the fringed polygala or flowering wmter-
green of the United States ; this and P. polygama of the
Atlantic States are remarkable for their two kinds of
flowers, having crimson or purple open flowers above
ground, and also abundant white or green unexpanding
but fertile subterranean flowers on slender white Bran-
ches. The root of P. Senega is a stimulating expecto-
rant and diuretic, and in large doses cathartic and emetic.
It is called sen«(7a in medicine. (See senega-root.) P-t"g-
nioides is the chinchin of Chili, a powerful diuretic, and P.
venenom, the katu- tutum of Java, is poisonous to the touch.
Many species are claimed as remedies against snake-bites,
as P: sanguinea and P. purpurea, common reddish-flow-
ered plants of the United States, and others in the West
Indies, Cape Colony, and the Himalayas. Tor P. vulgans,
also sometimes called proeession-flmiier or passion-flower,
see tnUkwart, cross-flower, gang-flower, and rogaUorirflower.
2. [I. c.] A plant of this genus.
Polygalaceae (pol"i-ga-la'se-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Lindley, 1835), < Polygala + -aeese.^ Same as
Polygaleie.
polygalaceous (pol"i-ga-la'shius), a. [< Poly-
galacese + -ous.} Of or pertaining to the Foly-
galese.
Polygalese (pol-i-ga'le-e), n.pl. [NL. (Jussieu,
1809), < Polygala + -ea;.] An order of poly-
petalous plants, unlike the others in the cohort
Polygalinm in its irregular flowers, and char-
acterized by its three or five petals, usually
eight monadelphous stamens, straight embryo
in fleshy albumen, and five sepals, of which
the two inner are larger, wing-like, and peta-
loid. The fruit is either a capsule or a dry or fleshy in-
dehiscent fruit. The order is without close affinity, but
often shows in its keeled flowers a superficial resemblance
to the Leguminosss or bean family. It includes about 470
species, widely dispersed throughout temperate and warm
climates, belonging to 15 genera, of which Polygala is the
type. They are herbs or undershrubs, rarely becoming
small trees, erect or sometimes twining or climbing, with
usually entire alternate leaves, and solitary, spiked, or
racemed flowers.
Polygalinse (pol"i-ga-li'ne), n.pl. [NL. (Ben-
tham and Hooker, 1862), < Polygala + -j««.]
A cohort of polypetalous plants of the series
Thalamiflorse, characterized by an ovary of two
cells or carpels, many horizontal ovules or a
single pendulous one, fleshy albumfen, and ab-
sence of stipules. It Includes 3 orders, of which the
Piitosporum and Trenuzndra families are small groups of
Australian shrubs, while the Polygala family (the type) is
of nearly universal distribution.
polygaline (po-lig'a-lin), n. [= F. polygaline;
as Polygala + -ine^.] A substance obtained
from Polygala Senega, apparently identical
with saponin. Also called polygalic acid and
Polyfoil Arch.— Main Portal of Lichfield Cathedral, England.
Such arches occur especially in medieval architecture later
than the time of highest perfection.
Polygala (po-lig'a-la),». [NL. (Malpighi, 1675),
< Jj. polygala, < Gr. ■aokhya'Aov, milkwort, < Tro/luf,
much, + yaXa, milk.] 1. A genus of herba-
ceous plants, the milkworts, type of the order
Polygalese, characterized by the great enlarge-
ment of the two petaloid inner sepals of its ir-
regular calyx, and by its eight anthers, its two-
celled compressed roundish capsule, and its
three small petals united into a tube, and often
augmented by a lobed crest at the top. There
are about 260 species, natives of temperate and warm
regions, widely prevalent except in Australia. They
polygam (pol'i-gam), ». [< Polygam-ia.'] A
plant of the Linnean class Polygamia.
Polygamia (pol-i-ga'mi-a), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
■KoAiiya/wg, polygamous: see polygamous.'} In
the Linnean system of classification, a class of
plants bearing both hermaphrodite flowers and
those with the sexes separated, the different
flowers being scattered either on the same
plant or on two or three distinct individuals.
polygamian (pol-i-ga'mi-an), a. [< Polygamia
+ -«)».] Belonging or relating to the Polygamia;
producing hermaphrodite flowers, and also male
or female flowers, or both.
polygamist (po-lig'a-™is*)> »»• [= Pg- polyga-
mista; as polygam^ + ■dst.'] A person who
practises polygamy, or who maintains its pro-
priety.
polygamize (po-lig'a-miz), v. i. ; pret. and pp.
polygamized, ppr. ^olygatnieing. [< polygam-y
+ -ire.] To practise polygamy. Sylvester, tr.
of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Handy-Crafts.
polygamodioecious (po-lig"a-m6-di-e'shus), a.
[<LGr. woXiiya/iog, polygamous, + NL. dimcius,
dicBcious.] Same as dioedously polygamous.
See polygamous, 3.
polygamous (po-lig'a-mus), a. [= F. polygame
= Bip. poUgamo = Vg.polygamo = It. poligamo,
polygamous, a polygamist; < LGr. ■troXvyaftog,
often-married, polygamous, < Gr. irolvg, many,
-t- yd/^og, marriage.] 1. Relating to or charac-
terized by polygamy: as, polygamous marriage
(a union including more than one spouse of
either sex, sanctioned in respect to plurality
of wives by the law of some countries, but not
recognized as marriage by the law of Christian
states). — 3. In zool., mating with more than one
individual of the opposite sex ; polyandrous or
polygynous, especially the latter, which is more
ftrequent among animals than the former. — 3.
In hot., bearing both unisexual and bisexual or
hermaphroditic flowers in the same species.
polygenous
According to the tendency to become either monoiciouB or
dioecious, they are called mmwedovdy or dUeeuyuiiy polyg.
amoits respectively. In the case of mosses having both
barren and fertile Inflorescences (flowers) variously dis-
posed on the same plant, polygamous is also used for
polygamian,
polygamy (po-lig'a-mi), n. [Formerly j)o%a-
mie, poligamy, < P. poligamie, now polygamie,
= Sp. poligamia = Pg. polygamia = It. poliga-
mia, < LGt. nolvryaiiia, polygamy, < 7ro%a^of,
polygamous: see polygamous.'] 1. Marriage
with more than one spouse ; the having of a
plurality of wives or husbands at the same
time. In Christian countries, when a man has more
wives than one, or a woman more husbands than one,
at the same time, he or she is punishable for polyg.
amy; but if there was a separate marriage with each
the flrst marriage would be valid notwithstanding the
subsequent ones, and the later ones would be void. The
offense of contracting the subsequent marriage is now
termed Ugamy. But polygamy in the form of polygyny is
allowed in some countries, especially among Mohamme-
dans, and was held a matter of faith and duty by the Mor-
mons. Compare polyandry.
2. In zool., the practice or habit of having more
than one mate of the opposite sex; polyandry
or polygyny. In mammals, polygamy is the rule with
pinniped and various other carnivorous quadrapeds, with
the hoofed quadrupeds in general, and in many other
groups, especially In its polygynous form. In the class
of birds, where monogamy is the rule, polygamy is con.
spicuous in the rasorial or gallinaceous order, and is ei-
ceptionally witnessed in some members of the monoga-
mous orders, as in the cowbirds and cuckoos among passe.
line and picarian birds.
polygar (pol'i-gar), n. Seepoligar.
polygarcny (pol'i-gar-ki), «. [='F.poUgarehie
(fiotgra,Ye) = 8Tp.poligarqma = 'P%.polygareUa;
an erroneous form (appar. simulating oligar-
chy, etc.) for polyarchy: see polyarcluy.] An
erroneous form of polyarchy.
polygastrian (pol-i-gas'tri-an), a. and «. [<
polygastria + -an.'] Same as polygastric.
polygastric (pol-i-gas'tiik), a. and n. [< 6r.
7ro'A.vg, many, + yaariip (yaarp-), stomach.] I,
a. Having or appearing to have many stomachs,
as an animalcule ; speciflcally, of or pertaining
to the Polygastrica.
II, n. A polygastric animalcule.
Polygastrica (pol-i-gas'tri-ka), n.pl. [NL.:
see polygastric] Ehrenberg's name (1830) of
those animalcules the appearance of whose
movable f ood-vaouoles led him to suppose they
hadmany proper digestive cavities or stomachs.
The term had special application to ciliate infusorians,
of which it is now a disused synonym, and less exactly of
JvfusoHa at large.
polygastrulation (pol-i-gas-trg-la'shon), V.
[< Gr. iToJiig, many, -1- E. gastrulation.] Multi-
ple gastrulation.
polygenesis (pol-i-jen'e-sis), n. [< Gr. ■aolvg,
many, + yiveatg, origin: see genesis.] In liol,
generation or origination from several separate
and independent germs ; the doctrine that or-
ganisms took rise from cells or embryos Of dif-
ferent kinds. It is akin, as a biological theory, to the
notion of special creations, and in its application to man
is commonly called jjo^^^en^.
polygenetic(pol"i-J6-net'ik), a. l< polygenesis,
a,itei genetic] 1. Formed by several different
causes, in several different ways, or of several
different parts.
A composite or polygeTietic range or chain, made up of
two or more monogenetlc ranges combined.
Amer. Jour. Sd., 3d ser., V. 429.
2. Pertaining to or characterized by polygen-
esis.
polygenic (pol-i-jen'ik), a. [< polygen-ous +
-ic] Saxae &s jjolygenous, 1. Fallows.
polygenism (po-lij'e-nizm), n. [< polygen-ms
+ 4sm.] Same as polygeny.
polygeuist (po-lij'e-nist), n. and a. [< poly-
gen-ous + -isi.] I, n. An adherent of or be-
liever in polygeny; a special-creationist; par-
ticularly, one who advocates the view that the
human race consists of several distinct zo8-
logical races or species.
The granting of the Polygenist premises does not, in the
slightest degree, necessitate the Polygenist conclusion.
Huxley, Critiques and Addresses, p. 163.
II, a. Same a^ polygenous.
polygenistic (pol"i-je-nis'tik), a. [< polygeuist
+ -ic] Having independent origins, as the
races of man or the domestic animals ; of orper-
taining to polygeny.
polygenous (po-lij'e-nus), a. [< LGr. ijohiynvi,
of many kinds or families, < Gr. noTuig, many,
+ yevog, kind: see genus, -genous.] 1. Contain-
ing or consisting of many different sorts or
kinds of things; heterogeneous; composite:
as, a, polygenous mountain (one made up of dif-
ferent strata of rooks). — 2. Of or pertaining to
polygeny.
polygeny
polygeny (po-lij'e-ni), n. [< LGr. iroh/yev^g, of
many kinds or families: see polygenous' and
-geny.'\ In anthropol., the multiple genesis of
man; the supposed independent origin of the
human races, as opposed to monogenism, or the
theoiy of unity of genesis.
polyglossary (pol-i-glos'a-ri), n. ; pi. polyglos-
saries (-riz). [< Gr. izoMig, many, + ML. glos-
Mn'Mfli, glossary: see glossary.] A glossary or
dictionary in several languages. Gent. Mag.
polyglot, polyglott (pol'i-glot), a. and n. [=
F. polyglotte = Sp. poligloto = Pg. polyglotto
= It. poliglotto, < ML. polyglottxis, < Gr. irolv-
y?MTTog, jToAiiy^CTTOf, many-tongued, speaking
many languages, < no7\.vg, many, + y/lwrTo, yASir-
aa, tongue, language.] I. a. Using or contain-
ing many languages; many-languaged: as, a
pohiglot lexicon or Bible.
II. ». 1. A book containing in parallel col-
umns versions of the same text in several dif-
ferent languages. The most important polyglots are
editions of the Bible in which the original Hebrew and
Greelc texts are given along with the chief versions in other
langaages. The chief polyglots are — the London polyglot
published in 1657), giving versions in whole or in part in
Hebrew, Oreek, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, Etbiopic, Latin,
etc. ; the Complutensian polyglot (see Cmnjiliaensiari) ; and
the Antwerp and Paris polyglots. A recent collection is
Bagster's polyglot.
2. One who understands or uses many lan-
guages.
A Polyglot, or good Linguist^ may be also termed a use-
ful learned Man, especially if versed in School- Languages.
Howell, Letters, iii. 8.
polyglottic (pol-i-glot'ik), a. [(.polyglot + -jc]
Same as polyglottous.
polyglottous (pol-i-glot'us), a. [< Gr. noliryTM/r-
Tof, speaking many languages: seepolyglot, a.]
Speaking many languages.
While working as a Missiona^ among the Polyglottous
tribes of America. Max Mimer, Sci. of Lang., p. 139.
polygon (pol'i-gon), m. {SoTmsuXj polygone; =
F. polygone = Sp. poUgono = Pg. polygono = It.
poligono, a polygon, polygonai,<.'L'L.polygonum,
< Gr. TcoAvyuvov, a polygon, neut. of noXvyavog,
having many angles, < noMiQ, many, + yovla,
comer, angle.] In geom., a closed figure form-
ed by the intersections of a number of straight
lines, each with two others ; especially, a plane
figure of this sort; a figure with numerous an-
fles — Acceleration-polygon, Same as deceleration-
iagram (a) (which see, under diagram). — Closed poly-
gon, a plane polygon inclosing an area : opposed to open
polygon, which is only a part of a plane polygon. — Com-
plete polygon, a plane figure connecting every one of a
number of angular vertices with every one of the others.
— Concave polygon. Same as reentering polygon. —
-Conjugate polygon of n sides, two sets of n lines,
acb cutting all thelines of the other set upon one curve
tiane rectilinear
opposed to concave poly-
each cutting
of the «th order.— Convex
figure without reentrant angles .. . _
.^on.— Displacement-polygon. Same as displaeement-
diagram (a) (which see, under diagram). — Funicular
polygon, originally an open polygon representing a series
of connected ties, but extended to a closed polygon repre-
senting a series of virtual ties and struts. — Gauche poly-
gon. SeestoMcAe.— Inacriptible polygon, a polygon with
all its vertices lying on one circle. — Polygon of forces,
a diagram used in graphical statics, depending on a theo-
rem of the same name due to Leibnitz ; a polygon each side
of which representsiin magnitude and directior one of the
component forces acting on a material point : if then the
polygon is closed, it represents forces in equilibrium. See
diagram under forced, 8.— Reentering polygon, a poly-
gon containing one or more reentrant angles. — Regular
polygon, a polygon all whose sides and angles are equal :
it is further generally understood that the perimeter wraps
around the interior only once.— Similar polygon. See
mmHar.— Skew polygon, a non-plane polygon.— Spher-
ical polygon, a polygon whose vertices lie on a sphere ;
also, a similar figure formed by arcs of great circles on a
sphere.— Stelnerlan polygon, a polygon in the Steiner-
ian sense— that is, a figure composed of a number of ver-
tices with connecting lines.— Stellated polygon, a poly-
gon which wraps its interior more than once.
Folygonaceae (pol"i-go-na,'se-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Lindley, 1836), < Polygonum '+ -acese.l A very
distinct order of apetalous plants of the series
Curvenibryese,. it is characterized by a colored or green-
ish calyx with four, flve^ or six imbricated segments, an
ovary with one cell and one orthotropous ovule, two or
three styles or style-branches, from six to nine perigynous
stamens, and stipules with each pair united into a cylindri-
cal sheath (ocrea), or at least leaving, on falling away, a
scarforming a complete ring around the stem. It includes
about 750 species, belonging to 6 tribes and 30 genera,
varying in habit according to disteibution, the numerous
herbaceous species being mainly in temperate or montane
regions, represented by shrubs in western Asia and the
Mediterranean, and by trees in tropical America. They
bear alternate and usually entire leaves, generally with
dilated and clasping petiole-base. The fruit is a small
seed-Uke nut, three-angled or compressed, and inclosed
by the withering, persistent flower. Many of the species
are weedy plants, especially in the large genera Rumex
(dock), Eriogonum, and Polygonum (the type). The most
useful genera are Fagopyrum (buckwheat) and Rheum
(rhubarb). See also Oxyria, Coccoloba, Kcemgia.
polygonaceous (pol'l-go-na'shius), a. In iot,
like or belonging to the Polygonacex.
4603
polygonal (po-lig'a-nal), a. [= P. Pg. polygo-
nal; as polygon + -al.'\ Having the form of a
polygon ; having many angles Polygonal num-
bers, in arUK, the successive sums from unity up of a
series of numbers in arithmetical progression beginning
with 1. When the common difference
of the series is 1, the sums of the terms
give the triangular numbers; when
the common difference is 2, the sums
give the square numbers ; when it is
3, the sums give the penUtgonal num-
bers, and so on. {Seefigurate num-
ber, under figurate.) niese numbers
are understood to be called polygonal
numbers from possessing the property
that the same number of points may be arranged accord-
ing to a certain rule in the form of that polygonal figure
to which it belongs. In the cut, 5, 12, and 22 points are
shown arranged in pentagonal forms, 5, 12, and 22 being
pentagonal numbers.
polygonate (po-lig'o-nat), a. [< Gr. ■Kokvg, many,
-I- yfurn (yovor-), knee, joint: see knee.'] Many-
jointed: said of some plants and animals.
Thomas, Med. Diet.
Polygonateae (pol"i-go-na'te-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Bentham and Hooker, 1883), < Polygonatum +
-ese.] A tribe of liliaceous plants, typified by
the genus Polygonatvmi, the Solomon's-seal. it
is characterized by a herbaceous lea^ stem, nearly or quite
unbranched, an infiorescence of axillary flowers or a ra-
ceme, rarely a panicle, anthers introrsely dehiscent, the
fruit a berry, and anatropous ovules. It includes 7 genera
and about 42 species. See Polyg&naium, SmjUadna, Mai-
antfiem/um, Streptopus.
Polygonatum (pol-i-gon'a-tum), n. [NL.
(Toumefort, 1700), < L. polygonatum, C Gr.
■KoTiAxySvarov, Solomon's-sear(so called from the
many-jointed rootstocks), < noMig, many, + y6w
(yovoT-), knee.] A genus of liliaceous plants,
the Solomon's-seal, type of the tribe Polygo-
natese. it is characterized by the nodding cylindrical
flowers, having six short litUe-spreading lobes, and placed
one or two or rarely more together at an axil, and by
the undivided style and small stigma. There are 23 spe-
cies, widely scattered through all north temperate re-
gions. They bear a single erect leafy stom from a horizon-
tal thickened deep-buried or creeping rootstock, which
is terminated by the upturned bud for the stem of the
following year, and is marked by the circular scars of
previous similar stems. These sesd-like imi>ressions gave
the rootstock great fame for magic powers in the middle
ages, as able to seal up and heal all wounds, having been
stamped with the seal of Solomon, or of the Virgin Mary,
whence the popular names Solomon's-seal and Our-Lady's-
seal, the former of which is still in use, (See Solomon's-
seal and lady's-seal.) From its bell-like flowers, resem-
bling a string of tintinnabula, by the monks ascribed to
King David, the common English species, P. muitiflorwm,
has derived the name David's-harp; also, from its upward
series of leaves, ladder-to-heaven, and, from resemblances
to other plants lily-of-tlie-mountain lead/raxinell.
POlygoneutic (pol"i-go-nii'tik), a. [< Gr. ?ro/liv
yovsladai, multiply, < 5ro/l(if, many, -t- ydvog, off-
spring.] In entom., many-brooded; having sev-
eral broods during a single year.
polygoneutism (pol"i-go-nu'tizm), «. [< poly-
goneut-ie + -ism.] The state or character of
being polygoneutio.
polygonometric (pol-i-gon-o-mefrii), a. [<
polygonometr-y + -ic] Pertaining to polygo-
nometry.
polygonometry (pol"i-go-nom'et-ri), n. [= F.
polygonometrie, < Gr. vokvyavog, many-angled
(see polygon) , + -/lerpta, < fitrpelv, measure.] An
extension of trigonometry to polygons; the
doctrine of polygons, as trigonometry is the
doctrine of triangles.
Polygonopoda (pol"i-go-nop'o-da), n.pl. [NL.,
< (jr. sroXwyuvof, many-angled, -i- Troiif (jrod-) =
E. foot.] The sea-spiders : a synonym of Podo-
somata and Pycnogonida.
polygonoscope (pol'i-gon-o-skop), n. [< Gr.
TroAvyavog, many-angled, + CKtmeiv, view.] An
instrument of the nature of the kaleidoscope,
used to produce a great variety of geometrical
patterns by the reflections from two mirrors
supported in a case and connected by an ad-
justable hinge; specifically, a compact form of
carpet-exhibitor for the multiple reproduction
of a pattern.
polygOnOUS (po-llg'o-nus), a, [< Gr. irolvycMog,
having many angles': see polygon.] Polygonal.
Polygonum (p6-lig'o-num), n. [NL. (Toume-
fort, 1700), < L. polygonum, < Gr. iro^vyovov,
knot-grass, polygeny: see , polygon.] A large
genus of plants, type of the order Polygonacex
and tribe Eupolygonese. it is characterized by a stem
with swollen joints and conspicuous stipular sheaths,
flowers with eight or six stamens, two or three styles,
and a flve-parted and commonly colored perianth, re-
maining with little change around the black and shining
or opaque hard tteee-angled or compressed nutlet^ which
is of nearly the same length as the sepals. The species
are variously estimated at 160 to 300, widely distributed,
and some of them nearly or quite cosmopolitan. They are
most abundant in the northernhemisphere, but also extend
into arctic, alpine, and tropical regions. Although of poly-
morphous habit, they are easily distinguished by the swol-
polygroore
len joints sheathed with the united stipules. (See cut un-
der node. ) Nearly all are herbs, a few shrubby at the base.
Some are tall and erect, as P. orieniale, the prince's-feather
(also CBHed ragged-sa-Uor); a very few are floating, some
erect and aquatic, and others climbing or trailing, as P.
scandens, now esteemed for baskets in greenhouses, and
P. vaccinifoHum, the rock-knotweed, from the Himalayas,
used for ornamental rockeries. The majority are, how-
ever, spreading weedy plants, especially in the section
Avicularia, a group of about 60 species with wiry and
short or prostrate stems, typified by P. ameulare (see knot-
grass, doorweed, and bird's-tares), also known by many other
names, as aUseed, armstrortg, beggar-weed, cow-grass, crab-
weed, goose-grass, iron-grass, knotwort, ninety-knot, pink-
weed, sparrow-tongue, swine's-grass, etc. Another section,
also of about 50 species, Persicaria, with erect but weak
and juicy stems, is typified by the abundant weed P. Per-
sicaria, the lady's-thumb, also called, from the peach-leaf
shape of the leaves, persicary and peachwmi, from their
dark central spot, heart's-ease and spotted knotweed, and,
from the jointed stem, crab's-daw and redshanks. Sev-
eral related species are known as smar^eed, especial-
ly P. Hydropiper, also called In England redknees, cider-
age, lake-weed, ete., and for which see also water-pep-
per, culrage, and arse-smart. A related and handsome-
flowered species of American river-margins, introduced
into cultivation as a source of tannin, is P. wmpMbivm,
the willow-grass or water-persicaria. The general name
knatweed is a book-name for many of the species. Many
are mild astringents, others strongly diuretic and acid ;
the most important in medicine is P. Bistorta (see bistort,
snakeweed, adder's-wort, astrology, and dragonuiort), also
known in England as redlegs, iwice-writhen, Easter-ledges,
ete. P. Fagopyrum of many authors, the cultivated buck-
wheat, is now separated (see Fagopyrum). P. tinctorium
is the Chinese indigo-plant, cultivated in France and Bel-
gium, as also in Japan, as a source of a blue dye, a substi-
tute for indigo. The leaves of P. hispidvm are used in
South America as a substitute for tobacco. For the climb-
ing weed P. Convolvulus, also called cornbind, bearbine,
climbing bucJcwheat, and black bindweed, see ivy-bindweed.
For other species, see serpe7U-gras8,joiniweed, false buck-
wheat (under buekwheat), tear-thumb (and cut of leaf under
Itastate), and scratch-grass. See also cut under oerea.
polygony (po-lig'o-ni), n. [= OF. polygone (P.
polygormin) = Sp. jjo%(wio = Pg. polygono = It.
poligono; < L. polygonos, polygonon, polygoni-
mn, < Gr. izoTMymov, knot-grass, < nokvg, many,
+ ydvv, knee, joint, = E. knee.] A plant of the
genus Polygonum; specifically, the Polygonum
avioulare, or knot-'grass.
Polygordlidse (pol"i-g6r-di'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Polygordius + ■4dse.] A family of worms, typi-
fied by the genus Polygordius, of a low and
generalized type of structure.
Polygordius (pol-i-g6r'di-us),M. [NL. (Schnei-
der, 1866), < Gr. Tco^vg, many, -I- Tdpdwg, Gordius
(with ref. to the Gordian knot): see Gordian,
Gordius.] The typical genus of the family
Polygordiidse, referred to the annelids as type
of a group, ArchianneUda. P. purpureus and P.
luteus are two species, the former hermaphro-
ditic, the latter dioecious.
polygram (pol'i-gram), n. [= Pg. polygramo =
It. poligramma, < Gr. iroTJrypafifiog, marked with
many stripes, < ■KoXvg, many, + ypa/iu^, a stroka,
line, ypd/i/za, a mark, line, etc., \ ypaipew, write.]
A figure consisting of many lines.
polygrammatic (pol"i-gra-mat'ik), a. [Kspoly-
gram + -atic^ (cf. grammuUe).] Pertaining or re-
lating to polygrams — Polygraaunatlc telegrapb,
a form of semaphore invented by Captain Fasley in 1804.
polygraph (pol'i-graf), n. [= F.polygraphe =
Pg. jyolygraplio = It. poligrafo, < Gr. irohiypai^og,
writing much, < ■Kokvg, much, H- ypd<peiv, write,]
1. An instrulnent for multiplying copies of a
writing; a gelatin copying-pad. — 2. An author
of many works. — 3. A collection of different
works written either by one or by different au-
thors ; a book containing articles or treatises on
different subjects.
polygraphia (pol-i-graf'ik), a. [= P. poly-
grapjiiqiie = Pg. polygrajihico ; as polygraph +
-ic.] 1 . Pertaining to multiplication of copies
of a writing: as, apolygraphicmstimnent. — 2.
Done with a polygraph: as, & polygraphia copy
or writing — ^Polygraphic paper. Seepaper.
polygrapnical (pol-i-graf'i-kal), a. [< poly-
graphic -(- -al.] Same as polygraphia.
polygraphy (po-lig'ra-fi), n. [= F.polygraphie
= Sp. poligrafia = fg. polygraphia = ft. poli-^
grafia, < LGr. ■Kokvypa^ia, a writing much, < Gr.
TToXbg, much, + ypaipEiv, write.] 1. Volumi-
nous writing.
Ko less admirable his [Dr, WiUet's] industry, appearing
in his Synopses, Comments, and Commentaries, insomuch
that one, considering his polygraphy, said merrily that he
must write while he slept.
Fuller, Worthies, Cambridgeshire.
3. The art of writing in various ciphers, and
also of deciphering such writings.
polygroOTre (pol'i-grSv), v. t.; pret. and pp.
polygrooved, ppr. polygrooving. [< Gr. noAvg,
many, + E. groove.] To make many grooves
in.
[The guns] are similar in construction, and will both be
polygrooved in the rifling. Times (London).
polygyn
polygyn (pol'i-jin), ». [< Polygyn-ia.'\ In lot,
a plant of the order Polygynia.
polygynia^ (pol-i-jin'i-a), n. [NL.] Same as
polygyny.
In certain cantons of Media, according to Strabo, poly-
guniawBs authorised by express law, wliicb ordained every
inhabitant to maintain at least seven wives.
M'Lennan, Primitive Marriage (ed. 1866), viil.
Polygynia^ (pol-i-jin'i-a), n.pl. [NL., < Gr. TTO-
Xi'f, many, + yvvii, female (in mod. bot. pistil).]
One of the orders in the fifth, sixth, twelfth,
and thirteenth classes of the Linnean system,
comprehending those plants which have flow-
ers with moi'e than twelve styles or stigmas.
polygynian (pol-i-jin'i-an), a. [< polygynia^ +
-an.] Same as polygynbtts.
polygynic (pol-i-jin'ik), a. l< polygyn-ous +
-jc] Same a.a polygynous.
polygynious (pol-i-jin'i-us), a. Same as
nous.
polygynist (po-lij'i-nist), n. [< polygyn-y +
-isf] Onewni'
lio or that which practises polygy-
ate of polygyny.
polygjmoecial (por'i-ji-ne'shal), a. [< Gr.
ny ; an advocate of polygyny.
polygjmoecial (pol"i-ji-ne'sl ,„ ^. ,_
TToIif, many, + NL. gynoecium + -al.'] In bot..
formed by the united pistils of many flowers:
said of multiple fruits.
polygynous (po-lij'i-nus), a. [= F. polygyne;
as polygyn + -ous.'] 1. In hot., having many
styles; belonging to the order Polygynia. — 2.
Polygamous, as a male; having more than one
femsJe as wife or mate.
Few, perhaps, would stigmatize a legal polygynous con-
nexion as impure, however they might disapprove of the
law and of the state of society in which such a law was
established. H. Sidgwick, Methods of Ethics, p. 337.
polygyny (po-lij'i-ni), n. [< 'Slj.polygynia,<. Gr.
*'KoXvyvvia, the condition of having many wives,
< '!ro7jiiryvvriQ, iTo7^viyi}vatoQ, having many wives, s
woKvi, many, + yvvij, woman, wife.] Marriage
or cohabitation of one man with more than one
woman at the same time; polygamy as prac-
tised by the male. Polygyny is more frequent than
polyandry, being the usual case of polygamy as practised
by man and the lower animals.
polygyral (pol-i-ji'ral), a. [< Gr. ■aoMryvpoQ,
with many windings, <. no?,vc, many, + yvpoc, a
circle, ring: see gyre.'\ Having many whorla
or gyres, as a univalve shell. IF. G. Binney.
polyhsemia, n. See ijolyhemia.
polyhalite (pol-i-hal'it), n. [< Gr. iro2.vg, many,
+ alg (d/*.-), salt, + -He^.J A mineral or salt
occurring in masses of a fibrous structure, of a
brick-red eolqr, being tinged with iron, it is a
hydrous sulphate of calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
It is found at Ischl in Austria, and also at Berchtesgaden
in Bavaria.
polyhedra, n. Plural ot polyhedron.
polyhedral (pol-i-he'dral), a. [< polyhedron
+ -al."] Having many faces, as a solid body;
of or pertaining to a polyhedron. Also2Mlyhe-
dric, polyhedrons, polyedral, polyedrous Poly-
hedral function, an algebraic function which remains
unchanged when the variable undergoes any of those
transformations which would carry a polyhedron, stereo-
graphically projected upon the plane of an imaginary
quantity, into a congi'uent position.
polyliedric (pol-i-he'drik), a. [= F. polyi-
drique; as polylwdr-on + -ic] Same as poly-
hedral.
polyhedrical (pol-i-he'dri-kal), a. [< polyhe-
dric + -al.2 Same as polyhedric. [Eare.]
polyhedrometric (pol-i-he-dro-met'rik), a. [<
polyliedrometr-y + -ic] Pertaining to polyhe-
drometiy.
polyhedfometfy (pol"i-he-di'om'et-ri), n. [<
pmyhedron + Gr. perpia, < /ierpelv, measure.]
The system of theorems concerning the num-
bers of faces, edges, and summits of polyhe-
dra, the numbers of edges belonging to the
different faces and summits, and other allied
matters. The name is ill formed to express
this idea.
polyhedron (pol-i-he'dron), n. ; pi. polyhedra,
polyhedrons (-dra, -dronz). [Also polyedron;
= F. polyidre = "Sp. poUhedro = Pg. polyedro
= It. poUedro,(. Gr. TzoXve-dpov, neut. of no7iveSpoq,
with many bases, < tzoTi.vq, many, + iSpa, seat,
base.] 1. In geom., a solid bounded by plane
faces. — 3. In optics, a multiplying glass or lens
consisting of several plane surfaces disposed in
a convex form, through each of which an ob-
ject is seen; a polyscope. — 3. lnbot.,iTa.Hydro-
dietyon or water-net, one of the special angu-
lar cells with hom-like processes formed by
the swarm-cells produced in the zygospore,
within each of which a new coenobium is de-
veloped. Goehel — Conjugate polyhedra, two poly-
hedra each having a summit for eveiy face of the other. —
Soubljr reversible polyhedron, a polyhedi-on which ex-
4604
hlbits, in the faces touching the base, a series repeated
twice. So in a treUy reversible polyhedron, etc., the series is
repeated thrice, etc.— Generator of a polyhedron. See
srenerator.—BegiUar polyhedron, apolyhedron that has
all its summits alike in all respects and composed of pmne
angles of the same magnitude : sometimes understood as
excluding the stellated polyhedra. See cut under octa-
7iedron.— Semi-iegalax polyhedron, a polyhedron all
the summits of which are alike, while the plane angles
which compose the summits are not all alike.— Stellated
polyhedron, a polyhedron that inwraps its center more
than once.
polyhedrons (pol-i-he'drus), a. [= F. poly-
idre = Sp.poliedro = Fg. polyedro = It. potte-
dro, < Gr. TToXbedpog, with many bases: seepoty-
hedron.} Same as polyhedral.
polyhemia, polyhsemia (pol-i-he'mi-a), n.
[NL., < Gr. ■n-ohjac/ila, fullness of blood, < iroMf,
much, + ni/in, blood.] Excess of blood; plethora.
Also polyemia, polysnnia.
polyhistor (pol-i-his'tgr), n. [< L. polyhistor
(as a title of the grammarian Cornelius Alex-
ander), < Gr. irof.viarap, very learned, < iroTivg,
much, -1- larup, usrup, knowing: see history, "]
A person of great learning; one who is versed
in various departments of study.
I haue much read of admirable things of them [storks]
in MiftaaiVae polyhiOor. Coryat, Crudities, I. 38, sig. E.
Polyhymnia (pol-i-him'ni-a), n. [L., also Po-
lymnia ( > F. Polymnie), < Gr. Ilo7i.v/j.vta, one of the
Muses, < TToXvc, many, + v/j,voc, a hymn.] In Gr.
antiq., the Muse of the sublime hymn, and of
the faculty of learning and remembering: ac-
cording to some poets, inventor of the lyre,
and considered during the final centuries of the
Roman empire as the patroness of mimes and
pantomimes. In art she is usually represent-
ed as in a meditative attitude, voluminously
draped, and without any attribute.
polyLemma (pol-i-lem'a), n. [< Gr. TToXdf , many,
+ X^nim, a proposition',' assumption : see dilem-
ma.'] A dilemma with sevei'al alternatives : op-
posed to dilemma in the narrow sense.
polylepidous (pol-i-lep'i-dus), a. [< Gr. noTAig,
many, + y^mg (^md-), a scale.] In bot., hav-
ing many scales.
polylithic (pol-i-lith'ik), a. [< Gr. ■!ro7M7Ju6oi,
of many stones, < iTo7^hg, many, 4- 7d6og, stone.]
Consisting of many stones ; built up of several
blocks, as a shaft or column : opposed to mono-
lithic.
polylogyt (po-lil'o-ji), n. [= It. polilogia, < Gr.
ivo7.v7ioyia, loquacity, talkativeness, < 7ro/Ui?,o)'Of,
much-talking, talkative, < •koMic, much, + 7Iyuv,
speak: see -ology."] Talkativeness; garrulity.
Many words (battology or polylogy) are signs of a fool.
Granger, On Ecclesiastes (1621), p. 115. (Latham.)
polyloqtuentt (po-lil'o-kwent), a. [< Gr. wo7.vg,
much, + L. loquen(t-)s, ppr. of loqui, speak.]
Talking much; talkative.
polymagnet (pol'i-mag-netj, n. [< Gr. ?roXi>r,
many, t 'R. magnet.'] An instrument consist-
ing of two or more electi-omagnets so arranged
that the resultant field of force maybe varied
in many ways. Such an apparatus devised by Tyndall,
to be used in exhibiting diamagnetic and other similar
phenomena, consists of two electromagnets standing ver-
tically, with adjustable pole-pieces of soft iron, and be-
tween them a helix of copper wire. The diamagnetic sub-
stance — for example, a bar of bismuth — is supported hori-
zontally in the direction passing through the axis of the
helix.
polymastia (pol-i-mas'ti-a),«. [NL.,< Gr. jto^Iwc,
many, + fiaardg, breast.] The presence of su-
pernumerary breasts or nipples.
Polymastiga (pol-i-mas'ti-ga), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. TToPti'if, many, -t- /iAan^ '(/lacTiy-), a whip.]
Infusorians with six, ten, or many nagella, of
whatever other character. The genera included by
Siesing (1866) under this head were CUoraater, Spondylo-
morumf Phacdomoruis, and Lophomonaa.
polymastigate (pol-i-mas'ti-gat), a. [< Gr.
waive, many, + /laarc^ (/laany-), a whip, + -ate^.]
Having more than four flagella, as an infuso-
rian; pluriflagellate.
polymastigous (pol-i-mas'ti-gus), a. [< Gr. wo-
Tivg, many, + /jaan^ (/laariy-), a whip, + -ons.]
Same as polymastigate.
Polymastodon (pol-i-mas'to-don), n. [NL., <
Gr. TTo^iif, many, + /laardg, teat, + hdovc (oSovr-)
=11. tooth: see Mastodon.] 1, Agenusof Amer-
ican Mesozoio mammals from the Puerco beds,
having numerous tubercles on the molars, typ-
ical of the family Polymastodontidee. — 2. [I. c]
A member of this genus.
polymastodont (pol-i-mas'to-dont), a. and n.
[< Gr. iro7J)(, many, + /lacTtig, breast, + oMg
(6(!ovr-) = E. tooth.] I. a. Having many molar
tubercles ; of or pertaining to the Polymastodon-
II, n. A polymastodon.
polymerization
Polymastodontidse (pol-i-mas-to-don'ti-de), )(.
pi. • [NL., < Polymastodon(t-) + 4dsB.] Afam-
ily of extinct North American Eocene marsupial
mammals, represented by the genus Polymasto-
don. They had molars with numerous tubercles arranged
in three imperfect or two longitudinal rows. They were
of small size.
polymath (pol'i-math), n. [= F. polymatlie =
Sp. poUmato, < Gr. irohi/wd^g, having learned
much, knowing much, < TroAiif, much, + uavfld-
veiv, lioBelv, learn,] A person of various learn-
ing. Also 2>olymathist.
polymathic (pol-i-math'ik), a. [= P. polyma-
thique = Pg. polymathico; as polymath-y + -jc]
Pertaining to or characterized by polyinathy.
polymathist (po-lim'a-thist), «. [< polywath-y
-h -ist.] Same &s jiolymath.
Those Polytnathists that stand poring all Day in a Cor-
ner upon a Moth-eaten Author. EomU, Letters, iii. 8,
polymathy (po-lim'a-thi), n. [= F.polymatUe
= Sp. polimatia = Pg. polymathia, < Gr. no)^-
fiadia, much learning, <5roX«//aft^f, having learned
much : see polymath. ] The knowledge of many
arts and sciences; acquaintance with many
branches of learning, or with various subjects.
That high and excellent learning which men, for the
large extent of it, call pdlynucthy.
Harllib, tr. of Comenius's Keformation of Schools (1642),
[p. 63. (Latham.)
polymatype (pol'i-ma-tip), n. [Irreg. < Gr. m-
IvQ, many, + Timoq, type.] A now disused sys-
tem of type-making by which 150 or 200 types
were cast at one operation twice a minute.
polymazia (pol-i-ma'zi-a), «. [NL., < Gr. ttoMj,
many, + p-ai^dg, breast.] Poljrmastia.
polymechanyt (pol-i-mek'a-m), n. [< Gr. ■KoT.v-
fitixavia, the having many resom-ees, inventive-
ness, < 'Ko7.vii.rjxavog, having many resources, in-'
ventive, < iroXif, many, + iirixav^, contrivance,
means: see macliine, mechanic] Practical in-
vention.
In actual experiments and polymechany, nothing too
profound ; a superficial slightness may seem fine for sheets,
but prooveth good for nothing.
&. Harvey, Four Letters, iv.
polymelia (pol-i-me'li-a), n. [NL.] Same as
2)olymely.
poljrmelian (pol-i-me'H-an), a. [< polymeUj +
-ian.] In teratol., having supernumerary mem-
bers.
polymelins (pol-i-me'li-us), n.; pi. pohjmelii
(-i). [NL., < Gr. To/i.ti//EA^f, with many limbs:
see polymely.] In teratol., a monster with su-
pernumerary members.
po^mely (pol'i-me-li), n. [< NL. jw^meKa,
< Gr. ■KoAviie74Q, with many limbs or members, <
■KoTJ}^, many, + fii7ix>Q, a limb.] In teratol., mon-
strosity by redundancy of parts, or the appear-
ance of supernumerary members, as extra digits
and the like.
polymer (pol'i-mer), n. [<. polymer-ous.J In
chem., a compound which is polymeric with
some other compound; a polymeride.
We speak of ' ' polymeric " bodies when the several for-
mute are intennultiplesof the same primitive group (e. g.,
ethylene, 2 x CH2, and butylene, 4 x CHo, are polymers
to one another). Encye. Brtt., XVIIL 287.
polymeria (pol-i-me'ri-a), n. [NL., < Gr. TroMf,
many, + fiipog, a part.]" In teratol., the posses-
sion of many parts.
polsrmeric (pol-i-mer'ik), a. [< polymer-ovs +
■4c.] In ehem., pertaining to or characterized
by polymerism: as, butyric acid (C4H8O2) and
aldehyde (C2H4O) Sive polymeric.
polymeride (p6-lim'e-rid or -rid), n. [< nolyvi-
er-ous + -ide^.] In chem., a compound that
exhibits the properties of polymerism with
reference to some other compound.
polymerism (po-lim'e-rizm), n. [= F. pohjmS-
risme; as polyhier-ous + -ism.] 1. In chem.,
that property of certain compounds by virtue
of which they differ in their molecular weights
and in their chemical properties,though formed
from the same elements, combined in the same
proportion. Thus, the molecular weights of butyric
acid (C4H8O2) and aldehyde (C2H4O) are 88 and 44 respec-
tively and t;heir chemical properties are wholly unlike, but
both contain the same elements — carbon, hydrogen, and
oxygen— combined in the same proportion. Seeisomcr-
imi, metamerism.
2. Multiplicity of parts ; presence of many parts
in one whole.
polymerization (pol-i-mer-i-za'shon), n. [ipo-
lymerize -(- -ationT] The apparent fusion or
union of two or more molecules of a compound,
forming a more complex molecule with a aigher
atomic weight and somewhat different physical
and chemical properties. Also spelled poly-
merisation.
polymerization
In the quenched globule we may possibly encounter a
polrnierization of the molecular structure of the annealed
globule. Amer. Jmir. ScL, 3d ser., XXXII. 182.
polymerize (po-lim'e-riz), v. t. and «.; pret.
and pp. polymerized, ppr. polymerizing. [< po-
lymer-ous + -ize.'] To combine or cause to com-
bine so as to form polymerides. Also spelled
polymerise.
Prof. Armstrong found hydrocarbons . . . which are
readily polymerised by sulphuric acid.
Jour. Franklin Inst., CXXI. 172.
Polymerosomata (pol-i-mer-o-s6'ma-ta), n.pl.
[NL., neut. pi. oi polymerosomatiis": see poly-
merosoviaUma.'] In Leach's system of classifi-
cation, an order of pulmonate Arachnida, sy-
nonymous with Latreille's Pedipalpi, containing
the scorpions and their allies, as the Tliely- ^
phonidse and Phrynidse: so called from the nu- Polymorph! (pol-i-m6r'fi), n. pi.
merous flexible segments of the body, and con-
trasted with Dimerosomata, Monomerosomata,
and Podosomata.
polymerosomatous (pol-i-mer-o-som'a-tus), a.
l<.Nh. jjolymerosomatus, < Gr. no/.vg, many, +
/lepof, part, -I- aiipia, body.] Having the body
segmented into many joints, as a scorpion; of
or pertaining to the Polymerosomata.
polymerous (po-lim'e-rus), a. [= F.polymh-e;
< Gr. irohjfieptic, consisting of many parts, < ^ ^ ^ „ ^
ffo/.ii?, many, + /xipog, part.] 1. Composed of Polymorphina (pol"i-m6r-fi'na), n. [NL,
many parts ; specifically, in bat., having numer- (D'Orbigny), < Gr. wo^ltif, many, + liop^, form,
ous members in each series or circle. Gray. — + -ina.'] The typical genus of Polymorplii-
2. Of or pertaining to polymerism. ninse.
polymetameric (pol-i-met-a-mer'ik), fls. [<Gr. Polymorphininae (pol-i-m6r-fi-ni'ne), n. pi.
iroAvg, many, + E. metamere: see metameric.l {.^T^-i ^ Polymmphina + -inse.'] A subfamily of
4605
lobed, or entire leaves, generally appendaged at the peti-
ole-base with a cup-like membrane, whence their name
leOifffup.
polymnite (pol'im-mt), n. [For *polymniite, <
Gr. TTolvfiVLOQ, full of moss (< -koKvq, much, +
liviov, moss), + -ife2.] A. stone marked with
dendrites and black lines, and so disposed as
to represent rivers, marshes, and ponds.
polymorph (pol'i-m6rf ), n. [< Gr. Tro7.vQ, many,
+ iiopipfi, form.] 1. In cliem., a substance which
crystallizes in two or more forms distinct from
each other. See dimorphism and trimorphism. —
2. In iiol., an organism exhibiting or charac-
terized by polymorphism ; an individual mem-
ber of a species or other group which differs
from other members of the same group to.0,n
unusual degree.
?olymorphl (pol-i-m6r'fi), n. pi. [NL., pi. of
polymorphus: see polymorphous.'] One of the
six main divisions of Braconidse, a family of
hymenopterous parasites, including those sub-
families in which the clypeus fits closely to the
mandibles and the second submarginal cell of
the fore wings is large, quadrangular, or want-
ing. It includes 12 subfamilies and many gen-
era.
polymorphic (pol-i-m6r'fik), a. [< polyn
ph-ovs + -ic] Same as polymorphous.
polymetochia (pol*i-me-t6'ki-a), n.
TToAvg, many, + jieTOXv, a participle
Of or pertaining to several metameres; lying
upon or extending over more than two meta-
meres, as a muscle innervated by different spi-
nal nerves. Nature, XXXIX. 151.
polymeter (po-lim'e-t^r), n. [< Gr. vo^vc, many,
-t- /lirpov, measure.] 1. Ail instrument for
measuring angles. — 2. An apparatus for test-
ing the distance between the rails of a railway
line, and detecting inequalities of elevation.
E. H. Knight.
[NL.,<Gr.
_ I.] Use of
many participles or participial clauses in com-
position : opposed to oUgometochia.
polymicroscope (pol-i-mi'kro-skop), n. [< Gr.
iro?iuf, many, + E. microscope.] A microscope
arranged on the principle of the revolving stere -
oseope. The objects to be examined are mounted on
plates fastened to a band, and may be presented in suc-
cession to the focus of the instrument. •
polmignite (pol-i^mig'nit), n. [Irreg. < Gr.
irolvc, much, -P /uyvuvai, mix, -I- -ite^.'] A rare
mineral which occurs in small prismatic crys-
tals of a black color and submetallic luster, it
is found at Frederiksvaern in N^orway, and has received
its name from the variety of its constituents — consisting
of titanic and niobic acids, zlrconia, thoria, lime, yttria,
and oxids of iron, cerium, and manganese.
polymiteti «■ [_ME.polimite,<OF.polimite, ML.
polymitm, polimitus, < Gr. rro?^v/iiToc, consisting
of many_ threads, woven of many (different) polymorphous (pof-i-mdr'fus), a. [='P. poly-
morphe^Pg. polymorpho=:lt.2}olimorfo,^Nh.
Lagenidse, typified by the genus Polymorphina,
having the cells of the test arranged spirally
or irregularly around the long axis, or (rarely)
biserial and alternate.
polymorphism (pol-i-m6r'fizm), n. [= ¥.poly-
morphisme; a,sxiolymorph-ous + -ism.'] 1. The
property of being polymorphous, or capaljle of
existing in different forms ; specifically, in crys-
tal., the property of crystallizing in two or more
fundamental forms: thus, carbon crystallizes
in isometric forms in the diamond, and in hex-
agonal forms in graphite. When the substance as-
sumes two forms it is said to be dimorphic, or to present
the phenomenon of dimorphism; when three, it is said to
be trimorphic.
2. In .2067., difference of form, structure, or
type ; existence in, or exhibition by, a group of
animals, as a species, genus, family, or order,
of different types of structure ; heterogeneous-
ness.
A considerable number of what have been classed as
varieties are really cases ol polymorphism.
A. iJ. Wallace, J^at. Select., p. 145.
New complications of. structure among the Hydrome-
dussB ai'e summed up under the head of polym^orphism.
The differentiation of hydriform and medusiform persona
is a case of dimorphism ; a further distribution of func-
tions, with corresponding modification of form, gives us
polymorphism. Encye. BrU.j XII. 554.
3. In hot., the eomprisal of numerous definite
or indefinite subtypes under a given type.
polynia
Poljrmyodit (por'i-mi-6'di), ,t. pi. [NL,. < Gr
TToZi/c, many, + //if, muscle, -I- ^idy, song.] In
Johannes Muller's system of classification
(1847), a tribe of birds of an order Insessores,
including singing birds whose lower larynx is
provided with the fuU number (five pairs) of
song-museles : thus distinguished from the
tribes Ti-acheophome and Picarii of the same
author. The term is nearly equivalent to Os-
cines or Acromyodi of later authors.
polymyodian (pol"i-mi-6'di-an), a. Same as
polymyoid.
polymyoid (pol'i-mi-oid), a. [< Gr. mlig, many,
+ fcvg, muscle, + iftSr;, song. Cf . Polymyodi.] In
ornith., having several distinct intrinsic mus-
cles of the syrinx: opposed to oligomyoid. The
word is nearly synonymous with acromyodian, but is of
less exact dgnification. The group of birds it denotes is
that of the Osdnes or singing birds..
polymyositis (pol-i-mi-o-si'tis), n. [NL., < Gr.
TTolvc, many, + /iif (/iv6c), muscle, + -itis: see
myositis.] Inflammation of a number of mus-
cles.
Polymyxia, n. See Polymixia.
polyneme (pol'i-nem), n. [< NL. polynemiis,
q. v.] A fish of the genus Polynemiis.
Polynemidae (pol-i-nem'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Polynemus + -idse.] A family of aeanthopte-
rygian fishes, typified by the genus Polynemus.
They have a subfusiform shape, wiui a blunt snout, sub-
abdominal ventrals with a spine and five rays, two dorsals
separated by a considerable interval, anal with one or two
spines, forked caudal, and pectorals with an entire upper
part and several free elongated filiform rays below. Nu-
merous species occur in tropical seas, some of much im-
portance, as the mango-fish of India, P. paradisem.
polynemiform (pol-i-nem'i-f6rm), a. [< NL.
Polynemus + L. forma, form.] Having the form
of a polyneme ; belonging to the Polynemidse.
polynemoid (pol-i-ne'moid), a. and re. I. a. Be-
longing or relating to the Polynemidse; poly-
nemiform.
II. n. A polynemiform fish; a polyneme.
Po^emus(pol-i-ne'mus),)!. [NL. (Gronovius,
1754), < Gr. 7ro?it)£-, many, + vfi/m, thread: see
nematoid.] The typical genus of the family
Polynemidse, with the lower pectoral rays sepa-
threads,< ffoMf, many, + iiitoq, thread.]
colored
Many-
Of songe Josephe the cote poHmitej
Wrou3te by the power of alle the Trinite. .
Lydgate, MS. Soc. Antig. 134, f. 13. (HaUiweU.)
Polymixia (pol-i-mik'si-a,), n. [NL. (Ijowe,
1836), < Gr. TToXv/ii^ia, promiscuous mingling, <
TTo/liif, many, H- /ilgic, mixing, mingling.] The
typical genus of the family Polymixiidse : so
called as formerly supposed to indicate a mix-
ture or combination of several diverse forms.
There are three species, P. nobUis of Madeira, P. lojiiei of
Cuba, and P. japonica. Also Polymyxia.
Polymixiidse (pol"i-mik-si'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Polymixia + -idse.] A family of acanthop-
tery^an fishes, typified by the genus Polymixia,
having an oblong compressed body, blunt head
with a pair of barbels on the chin, long dorsal
fin with three or four spines, and ventrals with
a spine and six or seven rays. It contains three
polymorphus, < Gr. iroMi/wpipog, multiform, mani-
fold, < ffoWf, many, +/iopip?j,iorm.'] 1. Having
or exhibiting many forms; characterized by
polymorphism ; not isomorphous or monomor-
phous.
X . . . find it difficult to form any judgment of any au-
thor so "many-sided " (to borrow a German expression) —
polymmpluyus as Herder. De Quincey, Herder.
2. Specifically, in 0067.: (a) Undergoing a series
of marked changes during development, as
most insects. (6) Varying much in appear-
ance, form, or structure in the same species or
group. — 3. In bot., same as 2 (&). — 4. In mtisic,
noting a contrapuntal composition, as a canon
or a fugue, in which the themes are or may be
treated in various ways, as by augmentation,
diminution, inversion, etc.
Also polymorphic.
a spine and six or seven rays. It contains three polymof phy (pol'i-m6r-fi), n. [= F. polymor-
speeies, inhabiting rather deep water of both "pUe; <XGr. •Kolv/wp^ia, manifoldness, < Gr.
the Atlantic and the Pacific. TroAuuopSof, manifold: s&e polymorphous.] Same
Polymniai (po-lim'ni-a), n. See Polyhymnia, gg polymorphism.
Polymnia^ (po-lim'ni-a), re. [NL. (Linnseus, poly-mountain (p6-li-moun'tan), to. ^ee poly.
1753), < Gr. no?iv/ivm, Polyhymnia, one of the polymyaria (pol"i-mi-a'ri-a), 'n.pl. [NL., < Gr.
Muses: see Polyhymnia.] A genus of compo- „oXvg, many, + fiVQ, muscle, + "aria.] One of
site plants of the tribe Helianthoidese and sub- three principal divisions of the Nematoidea,
tribe Melampodiese. it is characterized by ample containing those threadworms in which the
leaves, either opposite or alternate above, and corymbose muggieg of the body-wall are divided into many
flower-headswith broad involucres, the outer row of bracts i""»''ic= "'•'""' ""J ™„„„ ™„„„i„ „„ii/
often large, leaf-like, and spreading, the ray-flowers in a senes, each made up ot many muscle-cells.
single row or lacking altogether, and smooth, thick, and See Meromyaria, Holomyana.
nearly cylindrical ohovoid achenes, without awns. The nnlvmvarian (pol'i-mi-a'ri-an), a. and n. I.
12 species are natives of America, and are found from Cana- *^ Vi* „_T,Q-fQi^iTii»+n the P'nhimunrin
da to Buenos Ayres. They are perennial herbs, shrubs, or «• Of or perta,ining XOV^QTMymyana.
trees, often viscid, with yellow flowers, and large angled, II. n. A polymyanan worm.
Polynemus flebeius,
rated as numerous long slender filaments
(whence the name). P.plebeius is a very com-
mon Indian species.
Polynesian (pol-i-ne'§ian), a. and n. [= F.
polynisien = Pg. polynesiano ; < NL. Polynesia
(see def . ), < Grr. jroXig, many, + vijaog, island.]
I. a. 1. [I. c] Full of islands, as an archipel-
ago.— 2. Specifically, of or pertaining to Poly-
nesia— Pol3mesian region, Polynesia, or the Pacific
islands, zoogeographically considered. It is sometimes
regarded as a division of a very comprehensive Australian
region , and is then known more precisely as the Polynesian
»i^egion. It consists of all the Pacific islands excepting
those that pertain zoologically to the Papuan or Austro-
malayan group and to New Zealand. Wallace, who de-
fined this region, divides it into Polynesia proper and the
Hawaiian Islands, the former being then considered under
the four subdivisions of the Ladrone and Caroline Islands,
New Caledonia and the New Hebrides, the Fiji, Tonga, and
Samoa Islands, and the Society and Marquesas Islands.
II. n. A native or an inhabitant of Polynesia,
a division of Oceania east of Australia and
Malaysia, or, in the more modem and restrict-
ed sense, a division of Oceania east of Micro-
nesia and Melanesia.
polyneuritis (pol"i-nn-ri'tis), n. [NL^ < Gr.
TToAv;, many, + veiipov, nerve, + -itis. Of. neu-
ritis.] Neuritis affecting a number of nerves;
multiple neuritis.
polynia (po-lin'i-a), n. [Euss. ^oZttinj^a, an
open place in the midst of ice.] An open
or unfrozen place in the midst of the ice of a
river or lake or in the ocean: a word used in
English only by navigators in arctic seas. '^
some writers it was formerly used with the meaning of ah
pol3mia
open or unfrozen (theoretical) sea at the north pole, ap-
parently from the (erroneous) idea that polynia is con-
nected with poieS.
In such places as Bobeson and Kennedy Channels and
Bellot's Straits . . . p<iyniai or water-pools are met with
on rare occasions throughout the winter.
Sana, Voyage to the Polar Sea, I. 23i.
PolynoS (po-lln'o-e), n. [NL. (Savigny), < Gr.
ffoAvf, much, many, 4- vhiv, swim,] A genus of
marine errant annelids of
the family Aphroditidse:
a name used in different
senses, (o) Applied by Sa-
vigny and most authors to such
species as the British P. squa-
inata, an inch or two long, with
large ovate and renitorm cili-
ated scales imbricated in a dou-
ble row of 12 along the whole
length of the worm, and the
body of equal width at both
ends. This worm Is Aphro-
dite squamcUa of Linnseus, also
known as hepidonotws smtamo-
tus. Q>) After Oersted, 1842,
applied to worms resembling
{a\ but with not less than 70
segments covered forward with
small scales in pairs, naked be-
hind, as P. scolopendrina of the
British Islands.
polynome (pol'i-nom), n.
[= F.polyjicnne = 'Pg.poly-
nomo,Ti.,polynomio, adj.,
= It. polinomio; < Gr.
■troTAc, many,+ L. nomen,
name.] A polynomial.
polynomial (pol-i-no'mi-
al), a. and n. [(. polynome Pobimisquamma, from
■+-JoZ. Ct.Unomial.-\ I. "^"''■w''^°,''- * „
4 ^ J . . J ■*■ A.prestomial tentacle; *, *',
a. 1, UOntaming many superior and inferior presto-
iiQ-mpG f\v ^-o^•mc O T„ mial cirrus ; ^, <:', notopodial
names Ol teims.-— ^. lU and neuropodlal cirmsi t, e,
eOOl. and OOt., specifically, elyCa ; /. space between the
...^4-j^n. n ^^nj-tt^j «* «^ posteriorelytra:^,j',set3eana
noting a method of no- Smbnaeoftheeiytra,.
menclatm-e in which the
technical names of species are not confined
to two terms, the generic and the specific, as
they are in the binomial system of nomencla-
ture : as, a polynomial name ; a xwlynomial sys-
tem of nomenclature : contrasted with binomial
and mononomial.
Also multinomial, plurinominal.
f olynomial theorem, the theorem tor raising a polyno-
mial to any power.
II. n. 1. A technical name consisting of
more than two terms; apolyonym. — 2. An al-
gebraical expression consisting of two or nlore
terms united by addition : as,
ax + by + e:3 — exy — fxz + gyz.
Also multinomial. ,
Appell's polynomial, a form
^,13! = ao«" + (")«ia'"-l + (2)<»2*"~2 4- ... H- Ox.
Homogeneous polynomial, a polynomial in which all
the terms are of the same degree in the variables.
polynomialisiU (pol-i-no'mi-al-izm), n. \<.poly-
nomial + -ism.'] Polynomial nomenclature ; the
method or practice of using polynomials.
poljrnomialist (pol-i-no'mi-al-ist), n. [(.poly-
nomial + -ist.] In goal, a,nd'bot., one who uses
polynomials, or a polynomial system of nomen-
clature, as the pre-Linnean writers usually did.
polynuclear (pol-i-nu'kle-ar), a. [< Gr. TroXvg,
many, -t- NL. nucleus; see nuclear.'] Having
several nuclei, as a cell.
Polyodon (ijo-li'o-don), n. [Nli., < Gr. iroXvg,
many, + bSov\ (bdovr-) = E. tooth.] 1. In ichth.,
a genus of selachostomous fishes, named by
Lac6p6de in 1798, the type of the family Poly-
odonUdse, having many teeth crowded in band-
like masses during the youth of its members,
these teeth being lost at maturity. P. spatula is
an example. Also called Spatidaria, See cuts
woAbt paddle-fish. — 2. laconch., agenusof pul-
monate gastropods. Desmarest.
polyodont (pol'i-o-dont), a. and n. [< Gr. ffoXiif,
many, -t- o6o'vc (oSovr-) = E. tooth.] I. a. Hav-
ing many teeth ; multidentate ; specifically, of
or pertaining to the Polyodontidse.
II. n. In ichth., a member of the Polyodon-
4606
uar-), eye, < V ott, see : see optic] Many-eyed ;
having many eyes or eye-like organs.
Polyommatus (pol-i-om'a-tus), n. [NL. (i-a-
treiUe), < Gr. voXvd/i/iaToc, many-eyed: aeepoly-
ommatous.] 1. In e»to»M., agenusof butterflies
of the family Lycsenidee, having many ocelli on
the wings (whence the name). There are many
species, known as blues, as P. alexis, the com-
mon blue, and P. argiolus, the azure blue.— 2.
A genus of worms. Quatrefages, 1850.
polyonomous (pol-i-on'o-mus), a. Same as
polymiymous.
polyonomy (pol-i-on'o-mi), n. Same as poly-
polyonym (pol'i-6-nim), n. [< polymiym^ous.]
A name consisting of several (specifically, more
than three) terms; a polynomial name in zool-
ogy: correlated with mononym, dionym, and tri-
polypharmacy
page plate, a stereotype-plate including the matter ol
several pages.
polypantograph (pol-i-pan'to-graf), «. [< Gr,
■nolvi, many, + 'El. pantograph.'] A form of pan-
tograph by which a number of identical designs
may be produced simultaneously from a single
pattern.
polyparia (pol-i-pa'ri-a), ».; t^\. polyparise (-e).
[Nli.: seepolypary.] The stock of the ^«<Ao.
eoa and related polyps; a polypary.
polyparian (pol-i-pa'ri-an), a. l<polypar-y +
4an.] Of or pertaining to a polypary.
polyparium (pol-i-pa'n-um), n.; p\. polyparia
(-a). [NL.: seepolypary.] Saxae aBjiolyjiary.
pol'yparous (po-lip'a-''is), a, [< Gfr. otWj,
many, + 'L.parere, produce. Cf. mulUparous.]
Same a.a polytocous, 1.
Polyodontidae (poVi-o-don'ti-de), n.pl. [NL.,
< PoVyodon{t-) + -idd.] A family of selachos-
tomous ganoid fishes, typified by the genus Po-
lyodon, includiug the paddle-fishes of the Mis-
sissippi basin and related forms of China and
Japan. The body Is naked, or rough with minute stel-
late ossifications ; the snout is much produced ; the very
wide mouth contains many minute teeth, in youth at least ;
the nostrils aie double ; and the dorsal and anal fins are
near the heterocercal fin. Also called SpaMarUdx.
polyommatous (pol-i-om'a-tus), a. [< Gr. izoXv-
6/i/iaTo;, many-eyed, < ttoAvq, many, + b/i/ia {ofi-
polyonymal (pol-i-on'i-mal), a. [< polyonym
+ -al.] Of or pertaining to a polyonym; poly-
nomial.
polyonymic (pol"i-o-nim'ik), a. [< polyonym^
+ -ic] Consisting of more than two terms, as
a name in anatomy or zoSlogy; polyonymal;
polynomial. Suck's Sandhooh of Med. Sdeiuses,
VIII. 516.
polyonymist (pol-i-on'i-mist), n. [< polyonym
+ -ist.] Same a,s ]>olynomialist.
polyonymous (pol-i-on'i-mus), a. [< Gr. irdh)-
6vv/wg, having many names, { iro7i,vc, many, -I-
6vvfm, name.] Having many names or titles ;
many-titled.
polyonymy (pol-i-on'i-mi),7i. lAlso polyonomy;
= F. polyoiwmie, < Gr. noAvumiua, a multitude
of names, < iro?.vavv/J.o^, having many names :
see polyonymous.] 1. Variety or multiplicity
of names for the same object. Specifically —
2. Imool., sarae as polynomialism.
Polyophthalmns (pol"i-of-tharmus), n. [NL.,
< Gr. TToUi, many, -1- btpBaTijidq, eye.] A genus
of remarkable polychastous annelids, having
a pair of visual organs on every somite of the
body, besides the usual cephalic eyes.
polyopia, polyopy (pol-i-o'pi-a, pol'i-oipi), n.
[NL., < Gr. iro/lif, many,-)- ti^, face.] The ap-
pearance as of two or more objects when there
is but one ; multiple vision.
polyoptrum, polyoptron (pol-i-op'trum, -tron),
n. ; pi. polyoptra (-tra). [= P. polyopt)-e = It.
poliottro; iii'L. polyoptrum, polyoptron, < Gr.
TTolvg, many, + vott, see: see optic.] A glass
through which objects appear multiplied but
diminished, it consists of a lens one side of which is
plane, while in the other are ground several spherical con-
cavities, every one of which becomes a plano-concave lens,
through which an object appears diminished.
polyopy, m. See polyo2)ia.
polyorama (pol"i-o-ra'ma), n. l=F.j)olyorama,
< 'Nh. polyorama,'< Gr. iro/liic, many, -i- bpa/ia,
view, sight, < dpav, see.] 1. A view of many
objects. — 2. An optical apparatus presenting
many views. See panm-ama.
polyorganic (pol"i-6r-gan'ik), a. [< Gr. iroTwi,
many, + 6/)7aiioi', organ: see organic] Having
several diversified or differentiated organs.
In the natural world some beings are monorganic, oth-
ers are polyorganic. Science, IX. 634.
polyp, polype (pol'ip), n. [= P. polype (also
pompe : seepoulp) = Sp. polipo = Pg. polypo =
It. polipo = D. p>otyP! poliep = G. Sw. Dan. po-
lyp, < 'C. polypus, a polyp, a polypus in the nose,
< Gr. TTOMiTTovQ, a polyp, a polypus in the nose,
prop, adj., many-footed, < noTivc, many, + novg
= E. foot] In zool., an animal with many feet
or foot-like processes. Specifically— (ot) An octopus,
or eight-rayed cephalopod : an old usage, often in thetorm
polypus, still found in povlp ovpoulpe. (&) Some Isopod
crustacean, as a wood-louse, slater, sow-bug, or pill-bug.
See Oniecidai. (c) Since the middle of the eighteenth cen-
tury : (1) A hydroid or hydrozoao ; an actinoid or actino-
zoau; some ccelenterate or hollow animal, soft or hard, fixed
or free, of variable or no determinate form: as, an actina-
rian, alcyonarian, tnbularian, sertularian, campanularian,
or pennatularian polyp; a coralligenous polyp; a medusi-
lorm polyp; a ctenophoian polyp. In this sense the word is
coextensive withCosJmfejo.though not applicable to all the
members thereof. See cuts under Plumma/ria, Coi'ynida,
and Obelia. (2) A polyzoan or bryozoan; especially, an
aggregate or colonial one, as a sea-mat, like or likened to a
polyp In the preceding sense. (3) Some echiuodei'm, as a
sea-lily, stone-lily, crinoid, or encrinits. (4) Some other
animal, as a rotifer, an iufusorian, or a sponge : a loose or
mistaken usage, (d) One of the individuals, persons, or
zoSids of a compound, colonial, or aggregatie polyp, the
whole of which is a polypidom or polypaiy, or a polyzoary ;
a polypide or polypite, as of a hydrozoan, actlnozoan, or
polyzoan : a common present usage, especially with refer-
ence to hydriforms. See cut under CoraUigena.—AsciA-
ian polJTlSt, the polyzoans or bryozoaus ; the moss-ani-
malcules.—Funnel-like polyps. See funnd^ike.
pol3rpage (pol'i-paj), a. [< Gr. mUg, many, +
E. jfage^.] Containing several pages.— Poly-
Anthozoa and related polyps; a polyp-stock,
polypidom, or polyparia ; the homy or chitinous
outer covering or envelop with which many of
the Hydrozoa are furnished. The term is also not
uncommonly applied to the very similar structures pro-
duced by the Polyzoa; but for these polyzoary is used by
those who desire to keep polypary for vae AeHmzoa aiid
Hydrozoa. The polypary-producing polypides aie propa-
gated by budding, and live together in groups or colonies
BO associated that each group forms a compound animal,
whose united coverings form a compound polypary or
polypidom, which is their common home, and is at tile
same time the central stem or stock sustaining the whole.
Every individual polyp thus lives in its own proper cavity
in the common polypary, from which it protrudes its body
and into which it retracts it at pleasure. Kiaopdypiarivm.
polyp-colony (pol'ip-koFo-ni), n. A colony of
polyps; a compound or aggregate polyp.
polype, ». Bee polyp.
polypean (po-lip'f-an), a. and n. [< polyp +
-e-an.] I, a'. Of or' pertaining to a polyp or
polypus in any sense.
II. n. A polyp; any polyp-like organism.
Polypedetes (poPi-pe-de'tez), n. [NL., < 6r,
TTo/liif, many, + vedtiriis, one fettered, a prison-
er.] The typical genus of the family Polype-
detidse, containing numerous species, chiefly
Oriental, p. maculahis is a common Indian tree-toad.
P. egmes is called the spurred tree-toad. Also, erroneously,
Polypedates, Folypedotes.
Polypedetidse (por'i-pe-det'i-de), ».jj«. [NL.,
< Polypedetes + -idee,] A family of anurous
salient batrachians, typified by the genus Poly-
pedetes, containing the so-called glandless tree-
toads. Itis an ill-characterized group; the species whicli
have been referred to it belong mostly to the Sanidie.
Also PolypedatidsB.
Polypetalae (pol-i-pet'a-le), m.jjZ. [NL. (Tourne-
fort, 1694), fem. pi. oi *polypet(dus: see pohj-
petalou^,] A division or group of dicotyledo-
nous plants, characterized by distinct or sepa-
rate petals, forming a circle inside the calyx,
as in the single rose, or several circles, as in the
water-lily, magnolia, and cactus, it includes 82
orders, classed in 15 cohorts, and grouped in the 3 series
Thalamifloree, Discijlora, and Calydjlora, with the sta-
mens inserted respectively on the receptacle, disk, or calyx,
and having the buttercup, maple, and 1*086 as examples.
See dicotyledon. Also called JDialypetalee.
polypetalous (pol-i-pet'a-lus), a. [= F. poly-
petale = Bp.- polipitalo = Pg. polypetalo = It.
poU^etalo;<. NL. 'polypetalvs, < Gr.' woMf , many,
-1- iri-aTuov, leaf (NL. petal).] In bot., having
two or more separate petals: as, a polypetalovs
corolla. Also apopetalous, dialypetalous, chori-
petalous. See cut under corolla.
polyphagia (pol-i-fa'ji-a), n. [NL. : see poly-
phagy.] 1. In med., excessive desii-e of eat-
ing; voracity. Dunglison. — 2. In eool., same
as jMlypliagy.
polypnagic (pol-i-faj'ik), a. [< volyphag-y +
-ic] Exhibiting or characterized by polypha-
sy; polyphagous.
polypnagOUS (p6-lif 'a-gus), a. [= P. polyphage
= It. polifago (< li" polyphagus, a glutton), <
Gr. iroXv^ayog, eating too much, <. ttM^, much,
+ ipayfiv, eat.] Eating many different kinds of
food; almost pamphagous or omnivorous; not
monophagous.
Its [a ecale-iusect's] polyphagous habit, or the ease with
which it accommodates itself to so great a variety of plants.
C. V. Eiley, V. S. Entom. Bull., No. 16, 1887, p. 12.
po^phagy (po-lif'a-Ji)*«- \='P. polyphagia; <
NL. polyphagia, < 'Gr. rrohx^yla, excess in eat-
ing, X TTOAD^ayof, eating too much : seepolyplio^
gou^.] The habit or practice of subsisting on
many different kinds of food; polyphagous
regimen. Also polyplmgia.
polypharmacy (pol-i-f ar'ma-si), n. [= P. pok-
pharmade, < Gr. n-oAu^dp/iaraf, having to do
with many drugs, < TroXif, many, + ^apiiaim), a
drug: seepharmacon,phannacy.] The prescrih-
polypharmacy
ing of too many medicines, especially in one
prescription. Br. J. Brown, Spare Hours.
polyphase (pol'i-faz), a. [< Gr. no?ih(, many,
+ E. ^liase^, M.] In elect., having components
of various phase.
polyphemet (pol'i-fem), n. [< polyphemus.']
One of a group of snail-shells, such as Halia
nriam-us.
folyphemidse (pol-i-fem'i-de), «. pi. [NL., <
Polypliemws + -idse.'] A family o£ cladocerous
or daphniaoeous crustaceans, typified by the
genus Polypliemiis.
polyphemous (pol-i-fe'mus), a. [< L. Poly-
pheinus, < Gr. tlokvpnio^, a one-eyed Cyclops :
B6% polypliemus.'] One-eyed; monoculous; Cy-
clopean.
polyphemus (pol-i-fe'mus), n. [NL., < L. Poly-
phemus, < Gr. Ilo?£^?i/ios, a Cyclops so named,
< KoXvip^iJo;, many-voiced, also famous, < ko-
Xvg, many, + (p^fiv, voice, fame : see /amei.] 1 .
An animal which has only one eye, whether
naturally or abnormally; a eyclops. — 2. The
specific name of the king-cjrab, Limulus poly-
pliemiis.— 3. [eap.'] In Crustacea, the typical
genus of the family Polyphemidse : so called
from the large solitary and apparently single
eye formed by the coalescence of a pair of
eyes. P. staynonim is an example. — 4. Any
member of the ta/anYy Folypliemidse. — 5. Inie-
pidoptera, the technical specific and (abso-
lutely) the vernacular name of one of the larg-
est American silkworms or silkworm-moths,
TeleU polyphemiis. The oaterpUlar feeds on many dif-
ferent native trees, as oak, walnut, hickory, willow, elm,
maple, poplar, etc., and is of a clear apple-green color with
Polyphemus-moth, with ri^ht wings removed. ( One half natural sizeO
yellow lateral lines. The cocoon is oval and usually wrap-
ped in a leaf, sometimes falling to the ground, but often
hanging on the tree all winter. The moth is normally
single-hrooded in the northern United States, but double-
brooded in the southern. The silk can be reeled, but with
considerable difficulty, and is lustrous and strong. The
moth has a wing-spread of five or six inches, and is of a
buff color, with a large eye-spot on each hind wing.
polyphloesboean (pol"i-fles-be'an), a. [< Gr.
iro/lir^?.o«r/3of (gen. ■Kolv^7^oinlioi6), loud-roaring,
frequent in Homer as an epithet of d&hiaaa, the
sea; < 7ro?i.t/f, much, + 0?ioZcr/3of, i-oar, noise.]
Loud-roaring.
Two men are walking by the polyphitsgboean ocean.
0. W. Holmes, Autocrat, iv.
polyphobia (pol-i-fo'bi-a), ». [NL.,< Gr. iro-
Mf, many, -1- -^o/J/a, < tfe^eoBai, fear.] Morbid
fear of many things: nearly equivalent to jia/i-
toplioiia.
polyphone (pol'i-fon), n. [< Gr. Ti-o/liif, many, -f-
(fiuv^, voice, sound: see phone'':'] A written
sign capable of being read in more than one
way, or standing for two or more phonetic signs.
The different phonetic values of the polyplumee.
Bneyc. Brit, XI. 801.
polyphonla (pol-i-fo'ni-a), n. [NL. : see poly-
pliony.} Same as polypliony.
polyphonian (pol-i-fo'ni-an), a. [< polypho-
n-ous + -ian.'] Many-voiced; polyphonic.
I love the air; her dainty sweets refresh
My drooping soul, and to new sweets invite me ;
Her shrill mouth'd choir sustain me with their flesh.
And with their Polyphonian notes delight me.
Quarles, Emblems, v. 6.
polyphonic (pol-i-fon'ik), a. [= P. polypJio-
Hiqtte = Pg. polypJionieo ; as polyplion-ous +
-ic.'] 1. Capable of being read or pronounced
in more than one way : said of a written char-
acter.
The particular value to be assigned to each of the poly-
phonw chai'acters. Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet^ I. 46.
2. Consisting of or having many voices or
sounds.
The barking crow possesses the most remarkable poly-
plumic powers. It can shriek, laugh, yell, shout, whistle,
scream, and bark. Saturday Sen., XXV. 469.
3. In music: (a) Noting a method of composi-
tion or a work in which two or more voice-parts
4G07
are simultaneously combined without losing
their independent character, but with harmo-
nious effect; contrapuntal: opposed on one
side to monadic, monoplionic, and homopliovic,
and on another to harmonic : as, a fugue is a
polyphonic form of composition. (6) Noting
an instrument which is capable of producing
more than one tone at a time, as an organ or a
harp.
JUso jwlyphonous.
polyphonism (pol'i-fo-nizm), ». [= Pg. poly-
plionismo; s,s poVyphon-ovs +-ism.'\ 1. Multi-
plicity of sounds, as in the reverberations of
an echo.
I have chosen to single out the passages which relate
to the polypAonigms, or repercussions of the rocks and cav-
erns, and other phonocamptic . . . objects below in the
mount. Derham, Physico-Theology, i. 3.
2. In music, the use of polyphony, or the state
of being polyphonic in structure.'
polyphonist (pol'i-f o-nist), n. [< polyphon-y +
-is*.] 1. One who professes the art of multi-
plying sounds, or who makes a variety of sounds ;
an imitator of a variety of sounds; a ventrilo-
quist.— 2. One who understands or uses poly-
phony; a contrapuntist.
polyphonium (pol-i-fo'ni-um), n. [NL., < Gr.
7roZi;()>uwa, variety of tones: see polyphony.] In
music, a polyphonic composition.
polyphonous (pol'i-f 6-nus), a. [= 'F. polyphone,
< Gfr. woMifiavog, having many tones, \ Tro/Wif,
many, -f- ^av^, sound, voice, tone : see phone^.]
Same a,s polyphonic.
polyphony (pol'i-fo-ni, oftener po-lif'6-ni), «.
[= F. polyphonic = Pg. ])olyphonia, < Nli. X7oly-
phonia, < Gr. iro^mpovia, variety of tones, < jroXv-
^uvof, having many tones: see polyphonous.']
1. The capability of being pronounced in va-
rious ways characterizing some written char-
acters.
It will be seen how great an element of ambiguity was
introduced by the polypltmiy which arose from the adaptar
tion of a Turanian syllabary to a Semitic language.
Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, I. 46.
2. In music, the act, process, art, or result of
simultaneously combining two or more voice-
parts so that they shall maintain their indi-
viduality and independent interest, and yet
shall harmonize with each other; counterpoint.
It is opposed to vwnody, monopkony, and homophony, in
which a single voice-part is raised into decided promi-
nence, and to harmony (in one of its senses), in which the
attention is centered upon the successive chords as such
rather than upon the voice-parts that constitute them.
See countapoira2, 3.
polyphore (pol'i-f or), n. [= 'F.polypliore, < Gr.
■KoAv^6poQ, bearing much, < nrokv^, much, -I- ^k-
pew = E. hear^.] In hot., a fleshy receptacle
with numerous ovaries, as that of a strawberry.
polyphotal (pol'i-fo-tal), a. [< polyphote +
-al.'] S&me aa polyphote.
polyphote (pol'i-fot), a. [< Gr. voMg, many,
-I- ^ac (^UT-), light.] An epithet applied to
electric arc-lamps which ai-e so constructed-
that more than one may be used on the same
electric circuit. Monophote lamps require a
separate circuit for each lamp.
polyphyletic (pol"i-fi-let'ik), a. [< Gr. iroXv^,
many, + ^v?4, tribe: see ])hyle, phyletic] 1.
Pertaining to or derived from several phyla ;
having several difEerent lines of descent : as, a
polyphyletic origin. — 2. Of or pertaining to the
doctrine or theory that animals are not mono-
phyletic, but are severallyand specially created,
or at least derived from many different sources.
polyphylline (pol-i-fil'in), a. [< polyphyll-ous
+ -ijiei.] In hot., same as polyphyllous.
polyphyllous (pol-i-fil'us), a. [= F.polyphylle
= Pg. polypMllo = It. poUfillo, < NL. polyphyllus,
< Gr. iroMi^XkiQ, with many leaves, < ttoTAq,
many, + <I>0?.?mv, leaf.] In hot, many-leafed:
as, a, polynhyllous calyx or perianth.
polypnyify (pol'i-fil-i), n. [< NL. *polyphyllia,
<. pohjphyllus, many-leafed: see polyphyllous.]
In hot., an increase in the number of members
or organs in a whorl, as when a normally pen-
tamerous calyx has six or more sepals, as is
occasionally the case in the plum. Foliage,
leaves, and all the parts of the flowers may be
so affected.
polyphyodont (pol-i-fi'o-dont), a. and n. [<
Gr. Tzohj^i, manifold (< ttoMic, many, + (pvsiv,
produce), + oSovc (6(5ovr-) z= E. tooth.] I, a.
Having several sets of teeth, as a fish: opposed
to monophyodont and diphyodont.
II.«». A polyphyodont animal.
Polypi (pol'i-pi), n. pi. [NL., pi. of L. polypus,
a polyp : see polyp.] 1 . The polyps as a class or
other high group of low invertebrate animals,
polyplacid
of which the nearest modern synonym is Cm-
lentera or Ccelenterata. Specifically— (ot) In Cnvier's
system of classification, Polypi were the fourth class of
his Badiata, divided into three orders — Cctmosi, includ-
ing Actinia and Lucernaria; Gelatinosi,inc\yiA\T\g Hydra
and the Polyzoa; and Coralli/eri, or the corals at large,
with Pennatvla, Alcyonium, and also the sponges. (6)
In Leuckart's system (1848), they were one of two classes
of Coeleittera, distinguished from Acdlephse, and divided
into two orders, Anthoma and Cylicozoa. (c) In JVIilne-
Edwards's system (186B), an alternative name of his Coral-
laria, orthe third classof his Badiaria, distinguished from
echinoderms and acalephs. Also Polypiaria, Polypifera,
Polypiphera.
2. [I.e.] "Pluval ot polypus.
Polypiaria (pol"i-pi-a'ri-a), re. pi. [NL., < L.
j)oJj(2Jj(S, a polyp : see polyp.] Baxae a,s Polypi.
polypiarian (pol"i-pi-a'ri-an), a. and n. [<
Polypiaria + -an.] I. a. Of or pertaining to
the Polypiaria; polypiferous; eoelenterate.
II. re. A member of the Polypiaria.
polypiarium (pol"i-pi-a'ri-um), «.; pi. poly-
piaria (-a). [NL. . see polypary.] Same as
polypary".
polypide (pol'i-pid), re. [< polyp + -ide'^.] An
individual zooid of a poly zoarium, or compound
polyzoan; the individual organism contained
in one of the cells or cups of the ectocyst of a
polyzoarium, just as an individual of a com-
pomid coralligenous actinozoan is contained in
a cup of the polypidom. The polypide of a polyzoan
thus corresponds to the polypite of a eoelenterate. See
polypary, and outs under Plumatella and Polyzoa.
polypidom (pol'i-pi-dum), re. [< Gr. Troiinrovc, a
polyp, + dd/iog, house.] An aggregate of poly-
pitesorpolypides; a compound polypary, orthe
dermal system of a colony of ihdividual actino-
zoans, hydrozoans, or polyzoans; a polyp-stock,
or the stem of a colony of zoophytes, contain-
ing the cells of the individual polypites or poly-
pides which fabricate it. Thus, a piece of coral is
the polypidom of an actinozoan or hydrozoan ; a sea- mat is
the polyptdom, (more exactly, the polyzoary) of a polyzoan.
See cuts under Coralligena and Polyzoa.
polypier (pol'i-per), n. and a. [< F.polypier, <
^Li. 2>olypiarium: see polypary.] I. re. 1. A
polyj) in sense (d) ; a polypite or polypide ; one
individual, or a single cell, of a compound
polyp. — 2. A polypidom, polypary, or polyp-
stock; a compound or aggregate polyp ; a poly-
zoarium.
Sometimes each polyp has a distinct polypier, but in
general it is the common portion of a mass of aggregated
polypi which presents the characters peculiar to these
bodies, and thus these form aggregated polypiers, the vol-
ume of which may become very considerable, altliough
each of its constituent parts has dimensions which are
very small. MUne-ESaards, Manual of Zoology, § 619.
II. a. Composed of the stony material of
somepolypidoms; coral-like: as,^joZj(p!er beads.
Catalogue Boian Collection, 1887.
polypiety (pol-i-pi'e-ti), re. [< Gr. jro/liif, many,
+ '&. piety.] Belief in or reverence for any-
thing and everything; tolerance of all kinds of
piety or belief. [Eare.]
Polypiety is the greatest impiety in the world. To say
that men ought to have liberty of conscience is impious
ignorance. N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 5.
polypifer (pol'i-pi-f6r), re. [< li. polypus, polyp,
+ ferre = Gr. ^epeiv = E. 6earl.] A polyp or
polyp-stock; a member of the Polypifera.
Polypifera (pol-i-pif'e-ra), n. pi.' [NL.: see
polypifer.] Same as "Potypi,
polypiferous (pol-i-pif 'e-ms), a. [< L. polypus,
polyp, -I- ferre = E. iear^.] Bearing polyps ;
producing polypites : as, the polypiferous sur-
face of a coral. Also polypiparous, polypigerous.
polypiform (pol'i-pi-f6rm), a. [< L. polypus,
polyp, + forma, form.] 1 . Having the form,
structure, or character of a polyp; polypomor-
phic. — 2. Having the form or appearance of a
polypus.
polypigerous (pol-i-pij'e-rus), a. [< Ij.pohjpus,
polyp, -I- gerere, carry.] Same aspolypifei-ovs.
polypiparous (pol-i-pip'a-rus), a. [< L. 2ioly-
ptis, polyp, + parere, produce.] Same aspoly-
piferous.
polypite (pol'i-pit), re. [= F. polypite; aspolyp
+ -ite^.] 1. The fundamental element in the
structure of a polyp, as a hydrozoan or an ac-
tinozoan ; an individual zo5id of a compound
polyp; one of the individuals or persons which
together fabricate and constitute a polyp-stock
or polypary ; a hydranth. The term is sometimes
extended to the corresponding elements of a polyzoarium,
or compound polyzoan, but these are more strictly called
pdypides. See cut under Atturrybia.
2. A fossil polyp.
polyplacid (pol'i-plas-id), a. [< Gr. mMig,
many, + 7!-XaKovg, a flat cake: see ^;Ja(;e»!f.]
Having more than one madreporic plate, as a
starfish; not monoplacid. Abbreviated jj.
Folyplacophora
Polyplacopliora (pol"i-pla-kof'6-ra), n. pi.
[NL. (J. E. Gray, 1821), ueut. pi. di polypla-
cophorus : see x>olyplacophm-ous.'] An order of
isoplem'ous gastropods, exhibiting bilateral
symmetry and metameric segmentation. The
dorsal shell Is in eight successive pieces, sometimes em-
bedded in shell-sacs ; there are numerous gill-combs and
olfactory tracts, or ctenidia and osphradia ; pau'ed genital
A. Chiton wossnesseitskii, one of the Potyptacc^kora,
same, dissected ; c, mouth ; g, the nervous Tin? ; ao. aorta ;
tride ; c'. an auricle ; br. lert branchia ; od, oviducts.
B. the
c, ven-
ducts distinct from the paired nephridia ; and there is a
well-developed odontophore with numerous lingual teeth
on the radula. The order is conterminous with the f ami^
ChUomise in a broad sense. In J. E. Gray's classifica-
tion (1821) It was one of 9 orders of cryptobranchiate
gastropods. The original form was Pdtypfaxiphorci. In
Gray's system of the moUusks it was considered as a sub-
order of heteroglossate scutibranchiate gastropods, and
defined as having the gills in two lamellar series on each
side of the hinder part of the under side of the mantle-
edge, and the shell formed of eight imbricate valves.
polyplacophoran (pol''''i-pla-kof' o-ran), a. and
n. Same as polyplacophore.
polyplacophore (pol-i-plak'o-for), a. and n.
[< Nil. polyplacoplwrus : BeepolyplaeopJiorous.']
I. a. Bearing many plates, as a chiton ; of or
pertaining to the Polyplacopliora.
II. n. A member of the Polyplacophora ; a
chiton, or ooat-of-mail shell.
pobrplacophorous (pol"i-pla-kof'o-rus), a. [<
NL. poh/placopliorus, < Gr. iroMg, many, + irM^
(ff/la/c-), a tablet, plate, + (pepnv = E. 6earl.]
Same as polyplacophore.
polyplastic (pol-i-plas'tik), a. [< Gr. ■Ko7Ag,
many, + 5r>la(Tn(C(5f, plastic: ssiQ plasUc."] Hav-
ing or assuming many forms.
Folyplaxiphora (pol"i-plak-sif'o-ra), n. pi.
Same as Polyplacophora. De BlainmUe, 1825,
etc.
polyplectron, polyplectrum (pol-i-plek'tron,
-trum), n. [= F. polyplectron; < Gr. irolvg, many,
+ iryjKxpov, plectrum: see plectrum.'] 1. PI.
polyplectra (-trS). An obsolete variety of harp-
sichord or spinet. — 2. [cap."] [NL. (Temminck,
1815).] A magnificent genus of Phasianidse, of
the subf anaily Pavoninee, having the tarsi with
Peacoclc-pheasant {Polyplectron dica/caratjtm).
two or more spurs, and the plumage more or
less oeellated, as in the peacock; the peacock-
pheasants. The best-known species is P. hicalcaratum
or chinquis; others are P. germani, helenee-, scjdeirmachi,
and tMietanum. More dillerent than these are the Napo-
leon pheasant of the Moluccas, P. emphanum (or napole-
onis), and the Sumatran P. cAalcurum. Also called Siplec-
tropus, Dipledron, Diplectrwm.
Folyplectroninse (pol-i-plek-tro-ni'ne), n. pi.
[NL., < Polyplectron, 2, + 4nse.'\ Same as Par
polyplectrum, m. Bee polyplectron.
polypnoea (pol-ip-ne'a), n. [NL., < Gr. Tro^if,
many, + vvoid, Tzvori, breathing, < irvelv, breathe.]
Increased frequency of respiration.
polypod (pol'i-pod), a. and n. [< Or. ■KoTAirovt;,
many-footed, KtvoMjq, many, + Trodf (n-0(5-) = B.
foot. Ct. polyp.'] I. a. Having many legs, feet,
arms, or rays, (a) in Crastacea, more than decapod;
having more than ten and fewer than fifty legs. Compare
aimpTupod, impod. (p) In MoUiaca, more than octopod;
decapod or decacerous ; of or pertaining to the Polypodu.
4608
(c) In Annelida, having indefinitely many foot-stumps or
parapodia; of or pertaining to the Polypoda. (a) In en-
tom. : (1) myriapod; of or pertaining to the Polypoda. (2)
Many-footed, as the larvse of certain hexapods.
II. n. 1. A member of the Polypoda, in any
sense.— 2. Same as polypody.
Also polypode.
Poljrpoaa (po-lip'o-da), n.^il. [NL., neut. pi.
ot polypus: see polypod.] 1. In Kirby's sys-
tem (1826), a class of insects corresponding to
the modern class Myriapoda- — 2. In Annelida,
a large division of worms which are polypod,
divided into Nereidina and Serpulina: distin-
guished from Apoda. Macleay, 1840. [Little
used.] — 3. An order of cephalopods represent-
ed by the nautiloids. See Nautilidse, [Little
used.]
polypode (pol'i-pod), n. [= F. polypode: see
polypod.] Same 3,s polypod.
Polypodiacese (pol-i-p6-di-a'se-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Robert Brown, 1810), < Polypodium + -aceee.]
A natural order of ferns, named from the genus
Polypodium. This order includes the largest number
of genera and species, and may be regarded as the typi-
cal order of ferns. They are usually herbaceous plants,
with a permanent stem, which remains buiied or rooted
beneath the soil, or creeps over the stems of trees, or forms
a scarcely moving point of growth around which new
fronds are annually produced in a circle, or it rises into
the air in the form of a simple stem bearing a tuft of fronds
at its apex, and sometimes attaining the height of 40 feet
or more, as in the tree-ferns. The sporangia are collected
in dots, lines, or variously shaped clusters on the back or
margins of the frond or its divisions, and are provided
with an incomplete vertical annulus so that they dehisce
transversely. It embraces the tribes Polypodiex^ Cfram-
matidese. Pteridete, Bleckneie^ Aspleniex, Aepidiese, Wood-
eUae, Dicksoniex, etc. See cuts under Nothootsena and
Onodea.
polypodiaceous (pol-i-p6-di-a'shius), a. [< Po-
lypoMacex + -ous.] Of or pertaining to the
PoVypodiacese.
Pol3rpodiese (pol'''i-pp-di'e-e), n. pi. [NL., <
Polypodium + -ese.] ' A tribe of ferns of the
order Polypodiacese, embracing the genus Poly-
podium. The sori are on the back of the frond, on the
veins, or at the ends of the veins, in roundish clusters, and
without indusium ot any kind.
Polypodium (pol-i-po'di-um), n. [NL., < L.
polyxyodium, a kind of fern : see polypody.]
The largest and most widely distributed ge-
nus of ferns, typi-
cal of the suborder
Polypodiacese and
tribe Polypodiese.
The fronds are very va-
rious in outline, with
the sori round, naked,
dorsal, in one or more
rows on each side of the
midrib, or u'regularly
scattered. About 400
species are known, of
which only 9 are found
in North America, P.
mtlgare, which occurs
also in the Old World,
being the most com-
mon. 8eep<iypody.
polypody (pol'i-po-
di), n. [< ME. po-
lypodye = P. j^oly-
pode= Sp.poUpodio
= Pg. polypodio =
It. polipodio, < L.
polypodium, < Gr.
TToTiVirodlOV.a.'kindoi „""« <?»»P'e«« P'^"' "f Polypody
j.^ „^ „„n„.3 •AT, {Polypodium vutgrare). «, pinnule
tern, so called with with sori; «, a sporangium.
ref. to the branch-
ing rootstoek, < TroA^Trot)?, many-footed; see
polypode'^, ^olyp.] A fern of the genus Poly-
podium, chiefly P. vulgare, the common poly-
pody, growing commonly on rocks : in En^and
locally called adder's-fem, wall- or wood-fern,
polypody of the oak or of the wall, etc. The
hoary polypody is P. ineanum, a smaller species abound-
ing in tropical America and reaching north to Ohio, hav-
ing the fronds grayish-scurfy beneath, growing on trees
and roofs, also on rocks. Also polypod, polypode.
Take the stinking oil drawn out of pdmody of the oak
by a retort, mixed with turpentine and nive-honey, and
anoint your bait therewith.
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 128.
Polypogon (pol-i-p6'gon), «. [NL. (Desfon-
taines, 1798), so called in allusion to the many
long awns; < Gr. iroXif, much, + ir&yum, beard.]
A genus of grasses of the tribe Agrostidese and
subtribe Euagrostese. it is characterized by the nsn-
ally dense and spike-like inflorescence, the one-flowered
spikelets with the pedicel not prolonged beyond the flow-
er, and the three-awned glumes, the flowering glume
much the smaller, and bearing its awn below the apex.
There are about 10 species, widely distributed over tem-
perate and subtropical regions, mainly annuals with de-
cumbent stems and fiat leaves. Hiey bear cylindrical
spikes almost concealed by their abundant awns, or spi-
cate panicles, which are larger and irregular. See beard-
grass.
poljrpragmatic
polypoid (pol'i-poid), a. [< Gr. voUttovq, polyp
-1- £«5of , form.] Kesembling a polyp or polypus'
polyijiform or polypomorpnic. '
polypoidal (pol-i-poi'dal), a. i< polypoid .\.
-al.'i Resembling a polypus.
Polypomedusse (pol"i-po-me-du'se), n, pi.
[NL., < L. polypus, polyp, -1- 15: L. Medusa: see
Medusa, 2.J A group of epithelarian Cmlm-
tera, consisting of the hydrozoans and actino-
zoans, thus together distinguished from the
ctenophorans by the possession of enidoblasts.
According to the presence or absence of phacellie, tlie
Polyptymedusse are divided into PhaceUotx and AphaceUiB
the former consisting of the Scyphomeduase and AcHiii-
aria, the latter of the Hydromedusse alone. The polypo.
medusans are simply the coelenterates divested ot the
ctenophorans.
poljrpomedusan (pol"i-po-mf-du'san), o.aud n.
I. a. Pertaining to the Polypomedusee, or hav-
ing their characters.
II. n. A member of the Polypomedusse.
Polypomorpha (pol"i-p6-m6r'fa), n.pl. [NL., <
Gr. ■KokimovQ, polyp, + iiop^, form.] Polyps
or polypiform coelenterates, a prime group or
grade of Eydrozoa : used when the ctenophores
are included in that class, the two divisions
then being Polypomorpha and Cter.ophwa.
polypomorpMc (por'i-^o-m6r'fik), a. [< Gr.
■Kohnrovg, polyp, + fiop^, form, + -ic] Having-
the form or character of a polyp ; polypoid ; poly-
piform ; of or pertaining to the Polypomorpha.
Polypora (po-lip'o-ra), n. [NL. (McCoy, 1844),
< Gr. iro/lii7ro/)Of, with many passages or pores:
see jjolyporous.] A genus of coralligenous hy-
drozoans or Hydrocorallinse, belonging to the
family Stylasteridse.
Polyporiacese (pol i-p6-ri-a'se-e), n. pi. [NL.,
< Polyporus + -acese.] An order of hymeno-
myeetous fungi, typified by the genus Polypo-
rus.
polyporite (po-lip'o-rit), ». {(.iMlyporus + -ite^.j
In gfeoZ., a fungus-like organism resembling Po-
lyporus versicolor.
polyporoid (po-lip'o-roid), a. [< Polyporus +
-oid.] In &of., similar to, characteristic of, or
belonging to the genus Polyporus.
polyporous (po-lip'o-rus), a. [< Gr. voUmpog,
with many pores, < iro/lti?, many, + irdpo;, a pas-
sage, pore: see pore^.] Having many pores;
cribrate; ethmoid; foraminulate.
Polyporus (po-lip'o-rus), n. [NL. (Fries, 1836-
1838),<Gr.7ro?*f,many,-l-7ropof,apassage,pore.l
A very large, widely dis-
tributed genus of hyme-
nomycetous fungi, typi-
cal of the order Polypori-
acese, having the hyme-
nium lining long, narrow,
round, or angular tubes.
They are very familiar objects,
forming little shelves or brack-
ets attached to dead or decaying
wood, some being very small,
others several or many inches
in circumference. P. offlcinalis
Is the white or purging agaric,
or laAh-agaric, used internally
to check sweate, sometimes as a
purgative and emetic, and exter-
nally as a styptic. See agaric
and amadou.
polypose (pol'i-pos), a.
[< L. pohjposus : see poly-
pous.] Same a& polypous.
Arbuthnot, Aliments, vi.
polypostem (pol'i-po-
stem), n. Same as 2>olyp-
stem.
poljrpostylar (pol"i-p6-
sti'lar), a. l< polypostyte + -arS.] Pertaining
to a polypostyle, or having its character.
polypostyle (pol'i-po-stil), «. [< Gr. ?ro?.ti7roDC,
many-footed (seepoiyp), + arvTuig, a pillar: see
style^.] A reduced or imperfect nutritive zooid
of a hydroid hydrozoan, without mouth or ten-
tacles ; a daetylozoBid.
polypotome (pol'i-po-tom), n. [< Gr. jroWTnwf,
polypus, + -TOfiog, ^ rifivEiv, ra/ielv, cut.] An
instrument for excising a polypus.
polypous (pol'i-pus), a. [= F. polypeux = ST?-
poliposo =Pg.i)olyposo=lt.polipo8o, < h.po%-
posus, having polypus in the nose, < jwlypus,
polypus: see i)olyims.] Of the nature of a poly-
pus ; having many feet or roots, like a polypus.
polypragmatic (poKi-prag-mat'ik), a. and n.
{Formerly jwlwragmatick; < Gr. iroXim-piyiiaToc,
having many things to do, meddlesome, inquisi-
tivCj <, woXig, many, + Trpayfia, a thing to do,
affair, pi. Trpdy/iara, business; see pragmatic.]
I. a. Overbusy or meddlesome; forward; offi-
cious. [Rare.]
Polyporus Hgntus. o,
longitudinal section, sliowing
the tubular pores; £, trans-
verse section through a part
of one of the pores, show-
ing the basidia and the hy-
phse.
polypragmatic
n. «• A meddlesome or officious person.
Jesuitedpolipragmaticke. Burton. (Dmiea.)
polypragmatical (poFi-prag-mat'i-kal), a.
pull/pragmatic + -alA Same as volumaamt
4609
ter, roll, neut. of ito2.v7mixo;, with many leaves
or folds, <.ffoX{if, many, + nriif (Trrvx-) or t^tvxv,
r^ fold. Cf. policy^, from the same source.] A
i polyjyrdgmatic combination of panels or frames, more than
His [the busybody's] actions are paypragmatieal his *'^'^'f ® J? numbe^ for receiving paintings on one
feet peripatetical. Erasmus pictures him to the life • *"^ both sides of every leaf. Compare diptych
"He knows what every merchant got in his voyage, wliat and triptych. Mashell, Russian Art, S. K. M.
ploU are at Rome, what stratagems with the Turk, &c." Handbook
1 ^,+ . ,. '''"'■,^-^fr«'^°"'^'^-^«2-Polyptychidon (pol-ip-tik'6-don), ». [NL.
polypragmaty (pol-i-prag'ma-ti), «. iKspoly. (Owen), < Gr. 7ro&rt<A^f, with many folds (see
pragmat-ic + -ys.2 The state of being over- polyptych),+ 6Sovi(b6<nn:) = -E.tooth.l A genus
engaged m business or affairs. [Bare.] of cretaceous plesiosaurians: same as Jksilo-
polypragmon (pol-i-prag'mon), «. [Formerly saurus.
potipragvwn,polipragman; < OF. poUpi-agmon, pohn)US (pol'i-pus), n. ; pi. polypi (-pi). [NL.,
< Gr. TTOAmpay/iav, a busybody, < ■n-olyg, much, < i. polypus (pi. ■'■ '^- -^ a^. , v i- /, . l . .
many, + irpay/ui, affair, wpdaaeiv, act.] A busy-
body; an officious person.
polypragmonistt (pol-i-prag'mo-nist), n. [<
polypragmon + -istTi Same a,s polypragmon.
Dry tobacco with my [hornbook's] leaves, you good diy-
braXaed polypragmonists. Deleker, Gull's Hornbook.
Polyprion (pol-i-pri'on), p [NL. (Cuvier, 1817),
< Gr. TToXvg, many, + ■k/jiuv, a saw.] A genus
of seraanoid fishes; the stone-basses. The ansa
_ . polypi), < Gr. iro/Mirovg (pi. TroAfr-
wodeg, poet, or dial. 7zo?.imoi), a polypus: see
polyp.'] 1. In2od7.: (a) Apoulporcuttle. (6)
A polyp, in any sense, (c) [cap.'] (1) A genus of
cuttles. '"^ ' " ' ~ ' ■ ■
any
brane,
tinctly pedunculated. The term is most fre-
quently applied to benign growths Pol3T>us-
fOTCeps, a forceps for grasping and teai'ing off polypi.
polystigmous
as an insect or a crustacean, is j)oZyso»jiMc. Hvx-
ley, Anat. Invert., p. 220.
polyspastt (pol'i-spast), n. [= Bp, polispdstos
= It. poUspasto, < L. x^olyspaston, < Gr. ffoAfc-
airacTov, a hoisting-tackle with many pulleys,
neut. of TToWo-TraffTOf, drawn by many cords, <
TToTivg, many, -1- oTrdv, draw: see spasm.] 1.
A machine consisting of a combination of pul-
leys, used for raising heavyweights : a tenu for-
merly used by writers on mechanics. — 2. An
apparatus of the same character formerly used
in surgery to reduce dislocations.
polysperm (pol'i-sperm), n. [< Gr. woUamp/iof,
with many seeds : see polyspermous.] A tree
whose fruit contains many seeds.
AH of them easily raised of the kernels and roots, which
may be got out of theic poly^aerme.
Evelyn, Sylva, IL UL § 1. (Latham.)
polysper-
splnes ai'e strong, the dorsal spines serrated, the branohi- polyxhizal (pol-i-ri'zal), a. [< Gr. mXiippiioc,
with many roots : see polymigous.] Same as
polyrhizotis.
polyrhizous (pol-i-n'zus), a. [Prop. *polyr-
rJdzoiis; = F. jjolyrrhize; < L. polyrrhizos, <
Gr. iro?ivppi(og, with many roots, < iroAvQ, many,
+ pi'fo, root.] In hot., possessing numerous
rootlets independently of those by which the
ostegals seven, and the teeth all villiform ; the tail is not
forked, and there is a rough ridge on the operculum. P.
cemium is a large Hsh, 6 feet long, of the coasts of south-
ern Europe and Africa, sometimes known as the etane-bass,
wreck-fish, and cemier, and P. oxygeneios is an inhabitant
of the temperate Pacific.
polyprism (pol'i-prizm), n. [< Gr. noUg, many,
H- irplapa, a prism: see prism.] A compound
prism formed of several prisms of different
Sp. jjo-
lispefmo = Pg. polyspermo = it. polispemw, <
Gr. Tvolvairepfiog, with many seeds, < iroTivg, many,
+ anipiia, seed: see sperm.] Containing many
seeds: as, a, polyspermous capsule or beiTy.
polyspermy (pol'i-sp6r-mi), n. [< Gr. TToAtif,
many, + awep/xa, seed.] Impregnation of an
ovum by more than one spermatozoon.
polyspire (pol'i-spir), ■;;. [< Gr. 'I^o/^ig, many, -I-
cwelpa, coil.] In gool., a structure resulting
from continued spiral growth through several
revolutions. Encyc. Brit., XXII. 417.
- i. • 1 1. i i!ii. - , , attachment is effected. , . r , ,. - ... ,
materials, but of the same angle, connected at polysarcia (pol-i-sar'si-a), n. [NL., < Gr. nolv- Polysporangium (pol'i-spo-ran'ji-um), n.; pi.
their ends, and used to show the mieonal vr- ^^^^i fleshiness, < izoAihapKog, fleshy: see poly- Polysporangta (-a). [NL., < Gr. woTivg, many,
sarcous.] 1. Excess of flesh.— 2. In 6o«., an ex- + J^}^- si)orangtum.] In 6oJ., a sporangium con-
cess of sap, giving rise to unnatural or abnormal *3,ming many spores,
growth. Thomas, Med. Diet Polysarcia adl-
posa, obesity.— Polysarcia cordis, obese heart.
their ends, and used to show the unequal re-
fracting power of different media.
polyprismatic (pol"i-priz-mat'ik), a. [= It.
poliprismMtico, < Gr. noTJjg, many, + Trpia/m, a
yiism: see i)rism, prismatic] lu mineral., h&y- ^ , .^. _™.„ .
ing crystals presenting numerous prisms in a polysarcous (pol-i-sar'kus), aV [< Gr. ■iro?.vaap
single form. '■ .«.-.... ..
polyprotodont (pol-i-pro'to-dont), a. and n.
[< Gr. TToAiif, many, + wpCiToc, first, + iidovg obese,
(bdovT-) = E. tooth.] I. a. Having several polyscelia (pol-i-se'li-a), n. [NL., < Gr. wo/ivg,
front teeth: noting the insectivorous or car- many, -f- o/cEAof, the leg.] In teratol., a mon-
nivorous dentition of marsupials, in which the ster having many legs.
incisors are small, several, and much alike, and polyschematic (poFi-ske-mat'ik), a. Same as
the canines large and specialized : contrasted poljischsiiMtist.
polys^ore (pol'i-spor), n. [< Gr. ■Kokvg, many,
+ aiTopog, seed : see spoi-e.] In hot., a compound
spore ; in certain algse, a compound spore com-
with diprotodont
II. m. A polyprotodont marsupial.
Polyprotodontia (pol-i-pro-to-don'shi-a), n. pi.
[NL., neut. pi.: see polyprotodont.] The car-
nivorous or polyprotodont marsupials, a prime
division of Marsupialia, having more than two
incisors (at least in the lower jaw) and special-
ized canines.
polyp-stem (pol'ip-stem), n. A polyp-stock;
the stem of a polypidom, common to several
polypites. Also polypostem.
polyp-stock (pol'iij-stok), 11. The stock of a
polyp ; a polypary or polypidom.
Folypteridae (pol-ip-ter'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Polyp terus + -idse.] A family of erossoptery-
gian ganoid fishes, typified by the genus Polyp-
terus; thebiohirs. They have lozenge-shaped ganoid
Kog, having much flesh, fleshy, < irolvg, much, + posed of several or many spores or cells.
adpS (aapK-), flesh.] Affected with polysarcia; Polysporea (pol-i-spo're-a), n. pi. [NL., < Gr
nokug, many, -I- cirdpog, seed, + -ea.] An ordinal
name of those coecidiid sporozoans whose cyst-
contents are converted intoagreatmany spores,
as in the genus Klossia. Aimi Schneider.
polysporean (pol-i-sp6're-an), a. and n. I, a.
Polysporous ; of or pertaining to the Polysporea.
II. n. A member of the order Polysporea.
polyspored (pol'i-spord), a. [< polyspore +
-ed^.] In hot., containing or producing many
spores, as the asci of certain lichens, which
polyschematist (pol-i-ske'ma-tist), a. [< LGr.
TTohiaxviJ-O'TiaTog, multiform, <'(jr. 7ro?iiif, many, -I-
oxv/MTi(etti, assume form, < ax^/ia(T-), foi-m: see
scheme.] Characterized by or existing in many
forms or fashions; specifically, in anc. ])ros.,
admitting as substitutes feet not metrically
equivalent, or containing such feet.
polyscope (pol'j-skop), n. [= ¥. polyscope = Sp.
contain from twenty to one hundred instead of
eight, the usual number.
polysporic (pol-i-spor'ik), a. [< polyspor-otis
+ -ic.] In hot., same 3,s polysporous.
scales, fins without fulcra, a series Of dorsal spines, to polvSSnalOUS (pol-i-sep'a-lus), a
which an articulated flnlet is attached, anal situated close ^ " '^ . -.t, ^^^ , ^ ■■ , '-■'
to the caudal fin, the vent near the end of the tail, the
abdominal part of the vertebral column much longer than
the caudal portion, and no pseudobranchise.
polypteroid (po-lip'te-roid), a. and n. I. a. Re-
sembling or related to the fin-fishes ; belonging
to the Polypteroidei.
II. n. A member of the Polypteroidei.
Polypteroidei (po-lip-te-roi'df-i), «. jj/. [< NL.
Polypterus, q.v.,'-(- Gr" eldog, form.] A subor-
der of ganoid fishes, represented by the Polyp-
teridas and some related families.
Polypterus (po-lip'te-rus), u. [NL. (Geoffrey,
1802), < Gr. 'wo?MiTTEpog, many-winged, < izo'Avg,
poliscdpio = 'Bg. polyscopo, polyscoph, < Gr. pplysporous (pol-i-spo'i-us), a. \=,¥. poly spore,
mXvg, many, + ckottcIv, view. Cf. Gr. 7ro;iii- < trr. mlwairopog, with many seeds or crops, <
(TKoTTof, far-seeing.] 1. In qpiics, a lens plane foA^f, many, -^ owopof, seed: see sj)0)-e.] Pro-
on one side and convex on the other, but hav- "Jucing many spores. Specifically— (a) In hot., same
ing the convex side formed of several plane sur- ^.Pfym^'i- W I" aw., P.olysporean.
fates or facets, so that an object seen through POlystachous (po-lis ta-kus), a. [< Gr. mXvg,
it appears multiplied.- 2. In surg., an instru- ™^"y' +. ''^X^g, an ear of com, a spike.] In
meut for illuminating the cavities of the body J">J-' ^^^"^8 ™^"y SP'^??' . ,
by means of an electric light. polystaurium (jol-i-sta'n-um), m. [NL.:
polystauron.]
many, -I- NL. sepalum, se;
the sepals separate from
calyx.
Folysiphonia (pol'''i-si-f6'ni-a), n. [NL. (Gre-
ville): see polysijyitonous.] A very large, wide-
ly distributed, and extremely variable genus
of red algSB. The fronds are filamentous or subcom-
pressed, distichonsly or irregularly branching, formed uf
,-lus), a. [< Gr. 7ro?;i,g, i' "i'*'""™"- J i=ame as su
:pal.] In hot., having Polystauron (pol-i-st&'ror
each other: said of I "^°/' + 'I™"'""'' » ^tak^,
Same as stauracin,
on), 11. [< Gr. TTO/liJf,
pale, cross.] Same
as stauracin.
polystemonous (pol-i-stem'o-nus), a. [< Gr.
woAvg, many, + trr^/iuv, warp' (stamen).] Hav-
ing many stamens ; having stamens more than
double the number of sepals and petals : said
of flowers. Encyc. Brit., IV. 135
many, + ^n-Eodf, feather, wing.] The typical °-i»»".«i'«-<'»»». '"y"'^' 7;'' !l","r' "-•""•• „
genus of Polyptind^, remarkable for the num- »?.ly«^P'^°"?"?/PtJn0;^p'ii;,, \^
her of the doisal spines bearing rays behind. H' S^^^' + ?1"I' ^ *"?'iv,l!f f&^±}.
spines bearing rays
It contains the biehir.
polyptoton (pol-ip-to'ton), n. [L. (> F. polyp-
tote), < Gr. 'iroXmruTov, neut. ot noTivnTorog, with
many cases, < iroXbg, many, + n-ruro?, verbal adj.
of iri-KTciv, fall (> TTTomg, a case).] In rhet, a
figure consisting in the use of different cases or
inflections of the same word, or of words of the
same immediate derivation, in the same context.
One of the most celebrated examples is the distich,
Mors mortis morti mortem nisi morte tulisset,
^ternie vita; janua clausa foret
(Unless the death of Death had brought deaXh to death by
[his] death, the door of eternal life would have been closed.)
polyptych (pol'ip-tik), n. [= F. polyjjtiqtie, <
ML. polyptychum, a register, roll, < Gr. iroXiir-
Tvxoi), a writing folded into many leaves, a regis-
a monosiphonous axis and several siphons, and either pOlyStlCnOTlS (po-IlS tl-kus), a. [< Gr. woAvg,
_.,-.^ .-!,, »j..i , . : 1 „. * .-.■.. J many, -I- (Tri;foc, row, line.] In waf. /wsi., ar-
ranged in numerous rows or ranks; multifari-
ous. Compare monostichous and distichous.
Polysticta (pol-i-stik'ta), re. [NL. (T. C. Eyton,
1836), < Gr. wo/iiioTiKTog, much-spotted, < noTivg,
many, + ariKTog, verbal adj. of ori^siv, prick,
spot.] 1. A genus of ducks related to the ei-
ders, but having the bill not gibbous, without
frontal processes, and not feathered to the nos-
trils, and its tomial edge dilated and leathery.
There is only one species, P. stelleri or dispar, known as
SteUer's eider, a beautiful duck of cii'cumpolar distribu-
tion. The male is chiefly white, black, and chestnut-brown,
tinged with sea-^'een on the head. Also caUed Macropus,
Stdleria, and Eniconetta or HenjiconeUa.
2. In entom., a genus of coleopterous insects.
Hope, 1840.
polystigm (pol'i-stim), n. [< Gr. irolvg, many, +
cTiyp-a, point, mark.] A figure composed of a
number of points.
naked or with a cortical layer of irregular cells, furnished
with numerous tufts of hyaline, monosiphonous, dichoto-
mous filaments. The tetraspores are in one, rarely two,
rows, in slightly altered upper branches ; cystocarps ovate-
globose or urceolate ; spores piriform, on short pedicles.
See doxughrbalXs, niggerhair, lobster-claws.
Gr. iro-
In hot.:
(a) Having several or many siphons: said of
certain algas. Compare monosiphonous, and see
siphon, (b) Resembling, belonging to, or char-
acteristic of the genus Folysiphonia.
poiysomatic (pol "i-so-mat'ik) ,a. [< Gr. 7roXva6-
uarog, with many bodies, < tioXvg, many, + aopa,
body.] Consisting of an aggregation of smaller
^ains: used by some Uthologists to note a
grain or chondrus of this character.
polysomitic (pol^i-so-mifik), a. [< Gr. vokvg,
+ B. somite +' -ic] Consisting of a num-
many,
ber of primitively distinct somites which have
united or become grouped into a segment or polystigmoilS (pol-i-stig'mus), a. [< Gr. mU
region of the body in any way distinguished many, + ariy/M, mark: see stigma.] In hot..
from another part of the body : thus, the head, having many carpels, every one bearing a stig-
or thorax, or abdomen of an arthropod, such ma : said of a flower.
Folystoma
Folystoma (po-lis'to-ma), n. [NL., < Gr. 7ro;iii-
jTOfio^, having many mouths, \noXvc, many, +
oTo/ia, mouth.] Same as Polystomum.
Polystomata (pol-i-sto'ma-ta), n.pl. [NL.,
neut. pi. oi polysiomatus:"see polystomatous.^
1. The sponges or Porifera, as metazoio organ-
isms eontrasted with all other Metazoa, or Mono-
stomata: so called from their many mouths or
oseula. — 2. In SavOle Kent's system of classi-
fication, one of four sections of Protogoa, con-
sisting of the suctorial or tentaeuliferous ani-
malcules, or the aoinetiform inf usorians,having
many tentacular organs, each of which serves
as a tubular sucking-mouth: contrasted with
Eustomata, Discostomata, and Pantostomata,
The group is oftener called TentaciiUfera.
polystomatous (pol-i-stom'a-tus), a. [< NL.
polystomatus (cf. Gr. iroTivaTo/iog), < Gr. woTivs,
many, + ard/ia, mouth.] Having many mouths
or apertures for the ingestion of food ; specifi-
cally, of or pertaining to the Polystomata.
polystome (pol'i-stom), n. [= F. polystome, <
Gr. noKvoToiio^, having many mouths, < izolvg,
many, -I- aro/ia, mouth.] An animal with many
mouths, (ffl) A member of the Polystomata, in either
sense^ as a Bponge or an acinetiform inf usorian. (b) A tre-
matoid of the suborder Polystomea; a polyatome-nuke.
Folystomea (pol-i-sto'me-a), «. pi. [NL., <
Gr. TroKvaTofio^, having many mouths : see poly-
stome.'] A suborder of Trematoidea, containing
trematoid worms with two small lateral suckers
on the head and several posterior suckers, with
which a pair of large chitinous books are often
found. Some species are elongated, and present a kind
of segmentation. They are for the most part ectopara-
sitic. The term is contrasted with Distomea.
Polystomes (pol-i-sto'mf-e), n. pi. Same as
Polystomea.
polystome-fluke (pori-st6m-fl6k),9i. A fluke or
trematoid of the family Polysiomidas.
polystomia, n. Plural of polystomium.
Polystomidae (pol-i-stom'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Polystomum + -idai.'] A family of polystoma-
tous Trematoidea, typified by the genus Polysto-
mum, having several posterior suckers, usually
paired and disposed in two lateral rows, and re-
inforced by an armatm-e of chitinous hooks.
polystomium (pol-i-sto'mi-um), n. ; pi. polysto-
mia (-a). [NL. : see jjolystome.] One of the
numerous fine pores at the ends of the ramifi-
cations of the oral arms in some acalephs, re-
placing the original mouth, which has become
closed by the gradual union of the arms.
Polystomum (po-lis'to-mum), n. [NL. : see
polystome. ] The typical genus of Polystomidse,
having an oral but no lateral sucker on t^ie an-
terior end, four eyes, and at the posterior end
six suckers, two median hooks, and sixteen
small hooks. The species are parasitic, as P. iivlegar-
rvmuvti in the bladder of frogs, and P. oceUatum in the
pharynx of turtles: A fluke formerly called P. mngui-
nicola, now Hexat^yridium venarumf is found in venous
blood. Also PolyBtoma.
polystyle (pol'i-stil), a. [= F. polystyle = It.
polistilo, < Gr. TroMaTvh);, with many columns, <
TTO/li/f, many,-)- ffrSAoc, a column: see style^.] In
arch., having, characterized by, or supported
by many columns ; surrounded by several rows
of columns, as some Moorish or Arabic courts.
polystylous (pol-i-sti'lus), a. [< Gr. ■jro^ivBTv^,
with many columns, < Tronic, many, + aTvh)C,
column (style). Ci. polystyle.'] In 60*., bearing
many styles. Gray.
polysyllabic (pol"i-si-lab'ik), a. [= F.poly-
syllaUque; as polysyUah-le + -ic] Of or per-
taining to a polysyllable J consisting of many
syllables, specifically of more than three.
polysyllabical (poFl-si-lab'i-kal), a. i< poly-
syllabic + -al.] Same aspolysyllaUc.
polysyllabicism (pol"i-Bi-rab'i-sizm), «. [< poly-
syllabic + -ism.] Polysyllabic character; the
quality of having or of being composed of many
(specifically more than three) syllables.
polysyllabism (pol-i-sU'a-bizm), m. [< poly-
syllab-le + -ism.] Same as polysyllabicism.
polysyllable (pol-i-sil'a-bl), n. [= F.polysyl-
labe = Sp. polisilabo = Pg. polysylkibo = It.
polisillabo, a, polysyllable, < Gr. 7To2.vaiMa0oc,
polysyllabic, < Gr. iroUc, many, + m>2^m, syl-
lable : see syllable.] A word of several sylla-
bles; usually, a word of four or more syllables,
words of one syllable being called monosyllables,
cdose of two dissyllables, and those of three tri-
syllables.
polysyllogism (pol-i-sil'o-jizm), n. [< Gr.
i:o%vg, many,-!- avX^yiafidc, syllo^sm: see syllo-
gism.] A combination of syllogisms ; a chain of
reasoning.— Manifest polysyllogism. See manifest.
4610
polysyllogistic (pol-i-sil-o-jis'tik), a. lipoly-
syllog-ism + -isUc (cf . syllogistic).] Consisting
of a chain of syllogisms.
polysymmetrical (pol"i-si-met'ri-kal), a. [As
polysymmet)-y + -ie-al] Divisible into exactly
similar halves b v more than one plane, as is the
case with all regular flowers. Actinomorphous
is a synonym.
polysymmetrically (pol"i-si-met'ri-kal-i), adv.
In a polysymmetrical manner; in accordance
with polysymmetry.
polysymmetry (pol-i-sim'et-ri), n. [< Gr. TToM;,
many, -t- av/i/in-pia, symmetry: see symmetry.]
Susceptibility of division into like halves by
more than one plane ; the state of being poly-
symmetrical.
polysyndeton (pol-i-sin'de-ton), n. [NL., =
F. polysyndite = Sp. polisindeton = Vg. polysyn-
deton, < NL. polysyndeton, < Gr. *TroAvi!vvSETov,
prop. neut. of *woAvaMcTog, joined in various
ways,< TTO^iif, many,+ aMerog, bound together:
see asyndeton.] In rlwt., a fi^re consisting in
the use of a number of conjunctions in close
succession; introduction of all the members
of a series of coordinate words or clauses with
conjunctions : opposed to asyndeton. Asyndeton
produces an accelerated, polysyndeton a retarded move-
ment in the sentence. Asyndeton gives an effect of accu-
mulation and energy, polysyndeton demands special and
deliberate attention to each separate word and clause in-
troduced. £om. viii. 35, 38, 89 is an example.
polysynthesis (pol-i-sin'the-sis), ». [NL., <
Gr. TToAvg, many, + ciivdeatg, composition: see
synthesis.] Composition of many elements; spe-
cifically, in philol., composition from an abnor-
mal number and variety of elements.
polysynthetic (por'i-sin-thet'ik), a. [= P.
polysyutMtique, < Gr. irohiavvBero;, mueh-com-
pounded, < volvg, much, + aiivderoQ, compound-
ed: see syntJieUc] 1. In ^/wtoZ., compounded
of a number and variety of elements beyond
the usual norm; exhibiting excessive intricacy
of synthetic structure, as by the incorporation
of objective and adverbial elements in the verb
forms; inoapsulated: as, a. polysynthetic word;
characterized by such compounds: as, a poly-
synthetic language : first applied by Du Ponceau
to the class of languages spoken by the Indian
tribes of America. Also ineorporaiive and (rare-
ly) megasynthetic. — 2. In mineral., compounded
of a number of thin lamellse in twinning posi-
tion to each other, or characterized by this Kind
of structure: a,s,a,i)olysyHtheUetwia. See twin.
Felspar, very fresh and clear, sometimes with distinct
polygynthetio twin lines. Salun, XXX. 12,
polysynthetical (pol"i-sin-thet'i-kal), a. [<
polysynthetic + -al.] Same b,s polysynthetic.
polysjmthetically • (pol"i-sin-thet'i-kal-i), adv.
In a polysynthetic manner; by polysynthesis.
polysyntheticism (pol"i-sin-thet'i-sizm), n. [<
polysynthetic + -ism.] The character of being
polysynthetic.
polysynthetism (pol-i-sin'the-tizm), n. [ipoly-
synthet-ic + -ism.] Polysynthetic structure;
polysyntheticism.
If we cannot prove the American languages related ex-
cept by the characteristic of pofo«!/»tA«to».
Whitney, Life and Growth of Lang., p. 268.
polyteclmic (pol-i-tek'nik), a. and n, [= P.
polytechnique = Sp. polit6cnico = Pg. polytech-
nico = It. poUtechnico, < Gr. noTi.vTexi'oc, skilled
in many arts, < itoXiQ, many, + rixi"!, art: see
technic] I. a. Concerning or comprehending
many arts : noting specifically educational in-
stitutions in which instruction is given in many
arts, more particularly with reference to their
practical application.
II. n. 1. An exhibition of objects belonging
to the industrial arts and manufactures. — 2.
An educational institution, especially for in-
struction in technical subjects. A immber of
such institutions are in successful operation in
London.
polytechnical (pol-i-tek'ni-kal), a. [ipolvtech-
nic + -al.] 1. Qatae SIS polyiechnic. — 2. Prac-
tising many arts.
The trade guilds of the great polytechnical cities of In-
dia are not, however, always exactly coincident with the
sectarian or ethnical caste of a particular class of artisans.
Sir George C. 31. Birdwood, Indian Arts, 1. 188.
polyteclinics (pol-i-tek'niks), n. [PI. of poly-
technic (see -ics).] The science of the mechan-
ical arts.
polyterpene (pol-i-ter'pen), n. [< poly(meric)
+ terpene.] In chem., any one of a class of
substances polymeric with the terpenes, The
class includes, amongother substances, caoutchouc, gutta-
percha, balata, dammar-resin, and the fossil resins fich-
tellte, hartite, etc. See polymeric and terpene.
polytocous
Polythalamacea (pol-i-thal-a-ma'se-a), n. pi,
[NL., < Gr. TzoT^vQ, many, + ddla/wc, chamber, +
-acea.] An order of cephalopods whose shell
is polythalamous, as the ammonites, belem-
nites, nautili, and related forms.
polytnalamaceous (pol-i-thal-a-ma'shius), a.
Same as polythalamous, 2: said of the Polyftia-
lamaeea.
Folythalamia (poVi-tha-la'mi-a), n. pi. [nl.,
< Gr. TToAiif, many, + Bdla/wg, chamber.] A di-
vision of reticulate amoebiform protozoans,
whose test is many-chambered or polythala-
mian : opposed to Monothalamia. The name ig
less exactly used as a synonym of Foraminifera.
polythalamian (pol"i-tha-la'mi-an), a. l<Poly-
thalamia + -an.] Many-chambered; multiloo-
ular; having many compartments: especially,
noting Foraminifera of such character, in dis-
tinction from monothalamian. See cut under
Foraminifera.
polythalamic (pol-i-thal'a-mik), a. [< Poiy.
thalamia -^ -ic.J Having many chamberlets,
as a foraminifer; thalamophorous; of or per-
taining to the Polythalamia,
polythalamous (pol-i-thalVmus), a. [= P.
polythalame, < Gr. ■koMjc, many, + diM/ioi,
chamber.] 1. In emtom., having several or many
chambers : applied to the nests of insects, and
to galls, when they contain many cells or com-
partments, each destined for or inhabited by a
single larva. — 2. In conch., having many com-
partments; multilocular.
polythecial (pol-i-the'si-al), a, [^^ poh/thedum
+ -al.] Forming a polytliecium; pertaining to
a compound zoothecium; eompositely zoothe-
cial.
poljrthecium (pol-i-the'si-um), n. ; pi. polyfhe-
cia (-a). [NL., < Gr. iroMg, many, + Sriioi, a box,]
A compound or aggregate zoSthecium, consist-
ing of several conjoined loricee, found in vari-
ous inf usorians. W. S. Kent, Infusoria, p. 329,
polytheism (pol'i-the-izm), n. [= F. polytM-
isme = Sp. politeismo = Pg. politheismo = It.
politeismo, < NL. *polytheisvius, < Gr, TroMideo;,
of or belonging to many gods (66^a voUieo;,
polytheism): see polytheous, and cf. theism.]
Belief in more ^ods than one ; the doctrine of a
plurality of divine beings superior to man, and
having part in the government of the world.
The first author of polythasm, Orpheus, did plainly as-
sert one supreme Goo. ^MinyfieeU
polytheist (pol'i-the-ist), n. [= F, polytliMste
= &p.poUteista = 'Ps.politlieista = It. poUteista,
< NL. *polytheista, < Gr. mXiiBmg, of or belong-
ing to many gods: see polytheism and flieist.]
One who believes in or maintains polytheism,
or the doctrine of a plurality of gods.
The emperor [Hadrian] indeed himself, though a pdy-
theist, was very little of an idolater till the conquest by the
Arabs. S. Sharpe, Hist. Egypt, xr. S 21.
polytheistic (pol"i-the-is'tik), a. [= It. po^
teistico; as polytheist 4- -ic] 1. Pertaining to,
of the natm-e of, or characterized by polythe-
ism : as, polytheistic belief or worship.
In aMpotytheistio religion^ among savages, as well as in
the ear& ages of heathen antiquity, it is the irregular
events of nature only that are ascribed to the agency and
power of the gods. Adam Smith, Hist. Astron., iii.
2. Believing in a plurality of gods : as, a poly-
theistic writer.
poljrtheistical (pol'-'i-the-is'ti-kal), a. [< poly-
theistic + -al.] Of a polytheistic chaiacter.
polytheistically (poFi-the-is'ti-kal-i), adat. In,
the manner of a polytheist or of" polytheism;
as regards polytheism.
polytneize Kpol'i-the-iz), v. i.; pret. and pp.
polytheized, -ppr.polytheimig. [=F.polyth^ser;
as polythe4sm + 4ze.] To adhere to, advocate,
or inculcate the doctrine of polytheism 5 believe-
in a plurality of gods. Milman.
polytneoust, a. [< Gr. ToXiSsog, of or belonging
to many gods, < noXvg, many, + de6g, god: see
theism. Ct. atlieous.] Characterized by poly-
theism; polytheistical.
Heav'n most abhor'd Polytheous piety.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, xxL 68.
polsrthoret, «. [Origin obscure.] See the quo-
tation.
I went to that famous physitian Sir Fr. Prujean, whO'
shew'd me bis laboratorie. ... He plaied to me likewise
on the polythore, an instrument having something of the
harp, lute, theorbo, &o. It was a sweete instrument, by
none known in England, or describ'd by any author, nor
ua'd but by this skilfuU and learned doctor.
Evelyn, Diaiy, Aug. 9, 1661.
pol^OCOUS (po-lit'6-kus), a. [< Gtr, iroTiVrdKog,.
bringing f orth'many young ones, < iroXif, manyr
+ -TOKog, < TiKTuv, TSKslv, bring forth.] 1. Pro-
polytocous
dneing many or several at a birth ; multiparous.
Aisopolytokous,polyparous. — 2. In hot, fruiting
year after year, as perennials : a term proposed
by Gray in place of De Candolle's j)o2^carp(««s.
polytomous (po-lit'o-mus), a. f< Gr. lioXvg,
many, + refiveiv, ra/ielv, cut.] 1. In hot, sub-
divided into many distinct subordinate parts,
which, however, not being jointed to the pet-
iole, are not true leaflets: said of leaves. — 2.
Dividing once or repeatedly into sets of three
or more branches: opposed to dichotomous.
polytomy (po-lit'o-mi), n. [< polytom-ous +
■jyS.] Division into more than two parts: distin-
guished from dichototny.
polytope (pol'i-top), n. [< Gr. noTiiig, many, +
TOTTof, a place.] A form in n-dimensional geom-
etry corresponding to a polygon or polyhedron.
PowtrichaceaB (pol"i-tri-ka'se-e), n. pi. [NL.,
< Polytrichum + -acese.'] Same as Polytricheee.
Tolytricheae (pol-i-trik'e-e), n.pl. [NL., < Po-
lytrichum+-ese.'\ A tribe of acrocarpous brya-
ceous mosses, typified by the genus Polytrichum.
It embraces plmits that are very variable in size and ap-
pearance, of woody or strong texture. The capsule is long-
pedicellate, erect or cernuous, and cylindrical or angular,
provided with a cucullate calyptra, which may be naked,
spinulose, or hairy, and with a peristome of 32, 64, or raie-
ly 16 teeth.
polytricIlOUS (po-lit'ri-kus), a. [< Gr. ■Ko7\.vTpi-
X<K, having much hair, < izoTiiig, many, + flp/f
{rpix-), a hair.] Very hairy; densely or uni-
formly ciliate, as an embryo or an animalcule.
FqlytrichlUll (po-lit'ri-kum), n. [NL. (Dille-
nius, 1719), < Gr. iroTiirpixoc, having much hair:
Beepolytrichous.'i Agenus of tall snowymosses,
type of the tribe PolytrichesB. They grow in wide,
large tufts from creeping shoots. The stems are erect,
woody, and triangular ; the leaves are rigid and coriaceous,
linear-lanceolate, sheathing below, and spreading above.
The capsule is from four- to six-sided, oblong or ovate, and
long-pediceled with a cuculllform calyptra, which is cov-
ered with long haira forming a dense ma^ whence the name
ot haircap-moss. The peristome is single, of 61 teeth. The
genus is widely distributed in north temperate and arctic
countries, there being 6 species and several varieties in
North America. See bear's-bedt silver heather (under hea-
ther), goldUockSj 6, haircap-mosSj golden maide7ihair(\mdeT
ma%denhair)j and cut under paraphygia.
polytroch (pol'i-trok), n. [< Polytrocha.'] A
polytroehal or polytroehous organism.
rolytrocha (po-lit'ro-ka), ». pi. [NL. (Ehren-
berg), < Gr. voMg, many, + rpoxic, a wheel.]
A division of natant Hotifera or wheel-animal-
cules, in which the wheel or swimming-organ
has several lobes surrounding the anterior end
of the body.
polytroehal (po-lit'ro-kal), a. [< Polytrocha +
-al.'] 1. Having seve'ralclliate zones, or girdles
of eUia, as an embryo worm : correlated with
mesotroehal, telotrochal. — 2. luBoUfera, of or
pertaining to the Polytrocha.
polytroehous (po-lit'ro-kus), a. [< Gr. iroTiig,
many, + Tpo%6i, a wheel.] Same as polytroehal.
polytropie (pol-i-trop'ik), a. [< Gr. no?i,vg, many,
+ rpcTTctv, turn.] Turning several times round
apole.— Pol3rtropiofimction. See/unction.
polytsrpage (pol'i-ti-paj), n. [= F. ijolytypage;
aspolytype + -age.'] A peculiar mode of stereo-
typing, by which facsimiles of wood-engravings,
etc., are produced in metal, from which impres-
sions are taken as from types. Seepolytype.
polytype (pol'1-lap), n. and a. [= F. polytype;
< Gr. irokiig, many, + tvjtoc, type : see type,'] I.
n. A east orfacsimile of an engraving, matterin
type, etc., produced by pressing a woodcut or
other plate into semi-fluid metal. An intaglio ma-
trix is the result ; and from this matrix, in a similar way,
a p^ytype in relief is obtained.
ll. a. Pertaining to polytypage ; produced by
polytypage.
poljrtype (pol'i-lip), v. t. ; pret. and pp. polytyped,
ppr. polytyping. [< polytype, ».] To reproduce
by polytypage: as, to polytype an engraving.
polytypic (pol-i-tip'ik), a. [< Gr. izoXhg, many,
+ Twrof, type : see ijrpjc. Ct. polytype.] Same
&a polytypical.
A new species may be one that has been formed by mono- '
typic transformation, the old form disappearing with the
production of the new, or it may he one that has arisen
thiougii polytypic transformation.
Amer. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., XXXIX. 22.
polytypieal (pol-i-tip'i-kal), a. Having several
or many types ; represented by numerous forms :
opposed to monotypical: as, a polytypieal family
of animals.
polyuresisCpol'i-u-re'sis), n. ■ [NL., < Gr. iroAtrf,
many, -I- ovpniaig, urination, < ovpelv, urinate, \
oipov, urine: see urine.] Same a.s polyuria.
polyuria (pol-i-U'ri-a), ». [NL., < Gr. iroAif,
much, -I- ovpov, urine.] The passing of an ex-
cessive quantity of urine, especially of normal
urine.
4611
polyuric (pol-i-u'rik), a. and n. [< polyuria +
-ic] I. a. Of, pertaining to, or affected with
polyuria.
II. n. One affected with polyuria.
polyvoltine (pol-i-vol'tin), n. [< Gr. tto?.!^,
many, + It. volta, turn, time, + -ine^.] A silk-
worm which yields more than one crop of eo-
coonsayear: usually applied onlyto those races
which have more than four yearly generations.
For the protection of the mulberry-trees, the raising of
polypoltines, or worms that hatch several broods a year, is
forbidden in many countries. Pop. Set. Mo., XXXVL 500.
polyzoaH (pol-i-z6'a), n.; pi. polyzose (-e).
[NL. : see polyzoon.] "The original name of one
of the animals afterward grouped as Polyzoa
and Bryozoa; a kind of polyzoan or bryozoan.
On PdLyzoay a new animal, an inhabitant of some zo-
ophytes. J. Vavghan Thompson, Zool. Eesearches(1830).
Polyzoa^ (pol-i-z6'a), n. pi. [NL., pi. of poly-
zoiin, q. v.] 1. A" class of moUuscoid inver-
tebrated animals; the moss-animalcules, sea-
mosses, or sea-mats. They are invariabljr compound,
forming aggregated or colonial organisms originating by
germination from a single parent polyzoon, and inhabit a
polyzoary or polyzoarium comparable to the polypary or
polypidom of a compound hydrozoan. (See polypary.)
The Individual or person of such a stock is called a p<Ay-
pide, and differs from the polyplte of a coelenterate in
having a complete and distinct alimentary canal sus-
pended freely in a body-cavity or cfeloma, and in many
otherrespects. There are definiteoral and anal apertures,
not communicating'directly with the perivisceral cavity.
The mouth is within an oral disk or lophophore support-
ing a circlet of ciliated tentacles, the lophophore being
comparable to the wheel-organ of rotifers. The intestine
is bent on itself toward the oral end of the body, bringing
the anus near the mouth, either within or without the
circlet of lophophoral tentacles, whence the terms ento-
proctous and ect^octmts. There is a well-defined nervous
system, the nerve-ganglion being situated in the reenter-
ing angle of the alimentary canal, between the mouth
and the anus. The respiratory system is represented by
the ciliated tentacles exsertile from the body-sac. There
is no heart. The
Polyzoa are her-
maphrodite, and
the sexual or-
gans are con-
tained within
the body-walls.
Besides the true
sexual reproduc-
tion, and propa-
gation by bud-
ding or gemma-
tion,they exhibit
in many cases a
process of dis-
continuous gem-
mation. These
creatures are
chiefly marine,
arid are found
incrusting sub-
merged stones, shells, wood, seaweed, and other objects ;
but some inhabit fresh water. There is great diversity in
size, form, and outward aspect. Some resemble conils,
or polyps of various kinds, and all were confounded with
vailous ccelen terates under the name of corallines. Though
quite definite as a class, the systematic position of tbe
Polyzoa has been much disputed. Besides having been
classed as radiates, zoophytes, and polyps, they have been
regarded (a) as worms, and approximated to the Bot^eraj
being sometimes associated with the rotifers as a class of
Vermes; (6) as worms, and approximated to the Gephyrea;
(c) as moUuscoids, and associated with the brachiopods as
a division apart called Malaeoscolices; (d) as molluscolds,
and associated with brachiopods and tunicates in a division
MoUuscoidea; (e) or as moUusks, classed with brachiopods
and lamellibranchs in a group called lApocephala. Thsii
proper position is near or with the brachiopods. The di-
vision of the Polyzoa into orders, etc., is not less disputed.
Regarded as related to the siphunculoid gephyrean worms,
the Polyzoa have been considered to form a third section,
called Eupolyzoa, or Polyzoa proper, of such organisms (the
other two being Pterobranchia and Vermiformia), and tiien
divided into two subclasses — ^ctoprocto, with anus external
to the circlet of tentacles, and Endoprocta, with anus inter-
nal to the tentacles— the former consisting of two orders,
Phylact^sBmata and- Gymnolxmata. Again, the Polyzoa
proper have been directly divided into (a) Oymrwlaemata,
consisting of the Chilostomata, Cydostomata, and Ctenosto-
mata, without an epistome, and (6) PhylacMsemata, with
an epistome, these latter being commonly called the fresh-
water polyzoans. The families and genera are numerous,
and date back to the Silurian. A member of the class was
named a polyzoa by J. Vaughan Thompson in 1830 ; in 1831
Ehrenberg named the class Bryozoa, and the two names
have since continued in alternative usage.
3. In Protozoa, the polyzoan radiolarians: an-
other name of the Polycyttaria or Collozoa.
polyzoal (pol-i-z6'al), a. [< polyzoa + -al.]
Same a,s polyzoan.
polyzoan (pol-i-zo'an), a. and n. [< polyzoa +
-an.] I. a. Consisting of many zooids, poly-
pides, or persons in one compound or colonial
aggregate ; specifically, pertaining to the Poly-
zoa, ov having their characters ; bryozoan.
II. n. 1. A member of the Po^soa; a poly-
zoon.— 2. An individual element of a com-
pound polyzoon ; a polypide.
polyzoarial (poI"i-zo-a'ri-al), a. [< polyzoari-
um + -al.] 1 . Of or pertaining to a polyzoary.
Fomacentridse
— 2. Relating to polyzoans or the Polyzoa.
Encyc. Brit., XTK. 431.
polyzoariuiu (poKi-zo-a'ri-um), n. ; pi. polyco-
aria (-§,). [NL. : see'polyzoary.] A compound
polyzoan ; the common stock of a set of poly-
zoan polyptdes, the result of repeated gemma-
tion from a single embryo. Every individual zooid
of the aggregation is a polypide ; the common stock con-
sists of an ectocyst and an endocyst, the former furnish-
ing the special cells or cups in which each polypide is con-
tained. See cuts under Polyzoa, PlumateUa, and vS>racu-
lum.
polyzoary (pol-i-z6'a-ri), n.; -pi. polyzoaries
(-riz). \<.^fh.polyzoafium,<.polysoon + -arium.]
The polypary or polypidom of a polyzoan; a
colony of polypides ; a compound or aggregate
polyzoan; a polyzoal coenoecium.
polyzoic (pol-i-z6'ik), a. [< Gr. ■Ko7^vC,aog, named
from many animals, < n-oXfif, many, + t'i'oy, an
animal. Uf . polyzoon.] Filled with imaginary
animals and other beings, as primitive religious
conceptions ; zoolatrous. Encyc. Brit. , XX. 367.
[Bare.]
polyzonal (pol-i-z6'nal), a. [< Gr. iroAiif, many,
-J- i&vT/, belt: see zone.] Composed of many
zones or belts: used by Sir D. Brewster to note
burning-lenses composed of pieces united in
rings. Lenses of a large size are constructed on this
principle for lighthouses, as they can be obtained freer
from defects, and have but slight spherical aberration.
Folyzoniids (poFi-zo-nl'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Polyzonittm + ■4dsB.] A family of chUog-
nath or diplopod Myriapoda, typified by the ge-
nus Polyzonium : eahedSiphonophoridse by New-
port and Siphonizantia or Sugentia by Brandt.
Also Polyzonidse.
Polyzonium (pol-i-z6'ni-um), n. [NL. (Brandt,
1834), < Gr. m\vg, many, + l^imj, belt.] The
polyzooid (pol-i-z6'oid), a. [< Gr. iro'Xvc, many,
A Portion of the Polyzoarium of PlumateUa
repeiix, one of the Polyzoa, with several poly-
pides protruding from the cells of the ectocyst.
typical genus of Polyzoniidse.
, olyzooid (po" " "' '" '_'
+ B. zooidT] Consisting of many zooids.
The polyzooid nature of these [sponge-stocks] is made
apparent by the presence of many osciUa.
Clatts, Zoology (trans.X p. 210.
polyzoon (pol-i-z6'on), m. ; pi. polyzoa (-a).
[NL., also polyzoum; < Gr. woTivg, many, -I- f^Sw,
animal. C5f. Gr. TroAwf^f, named from many
animals.] A member of the class Polyzoa; a
polyzoan.
polyzoum (pol-i-z6'um), II.; pi. polyzoa (-a).
[NL.] Same as polyzoon.
poma (po'ma), «. ; ■pl.pomata (p6'ma-ta). [NL.,
< Gr. ira/ia, "lid, cover.] The so-eafled occipital
opercidum of a monkey's brain, which overlaps
parts in front of itself and thus forms a super-
gyre over the pomatic or external occipital fis-
sure. BucTc's Handbook of Med. Sciences, VIII.
161.
Pomaeanthus (p6-ma-kan'thus), n. [NL. (La-
c6p6de, 1802), < Gr. iraua, a lid, cover, + axav-
da, a thorn.] A genus of chietodont fishes in
which the preoperculum has a strong spine at
its angle. They are numerous in tropical seas, and many
of them are brilliantly colored. P. cuiaris is a West In-
dian fish, occasional on the south Atlantic coast of the
United States, called angel-fish and isabelUe. See angel-
Jah,i.
pomace (pmn'as), n. [Formerly also pummace,
pomice; < OF.' as if *pomace, < ML. pomacium,
cider, < L. pomum, an apple, etc. : see pome.
Ct.pomage and pomade^.] 1. The substance
of apples or of similar fruit crushed by grind-
ing.— 2. Fish-scrap or refuse of fishes from
which the oil has been extracted, it is dried
by exposure to the sun and ground up into fish-guano.
Pomace is very extensively manufactured from the men-
haden. Crude pomace is called chum.
3. The cake left after expressing castor-oil
from the beans.
Pomacese (po-ma'se-e), n. pi. [NL. (Jussieu,
1789), fem. pi. of pomaceus : see pomaceotis.]
Same as Pomex.
Pomacentridse (p6-ma-sen'tri-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Pomacentrus -f 4d£e.] A family of pharyn-
gognathous fishes, typified by the genus Poma-
One of the PomacentridtE. CoW'pilot ( Glyfhidcdon saxatili^
Fomacentridse
centrus, with pseudobranchise, ctenoid scales,
3^ gUls, and from 5 to 7 branchiostegals ; the
coral-fishes. They are fishes of tropical seas, like the
chntodonts, feeding on animals and vegetable organisms
on coral reefs. There are about 15 genera and 160 species.
The principal genera are P&macentrus and Glyphmodon;
seven species of the former and two of the latter, among
them G. 8axat^2^8, reach the coast of the United States or its
vicinity. Also called CtemilabridiB and Objphidodonlida,
pomacentroid (po-ma-sen'troid), a. and re. I.
a. Resembling, related to, or belonging to the
family Fomacentridse.
H. n, A fish of the family Pomacentridie.
Pomacentnis (po-ma-sen'trus), n. [NL. (La-
e^pfede, 1802), prop. Pomatocentrus, < Gr. ira/xa,
lid, + Khrpov, center.] The typical gemis of
Pomacentndse, having incisiform teeth fixed in
one series. Numerous species inhabit troplcEd seas, a
few reaching southern waters of the United States. These
Poinacetilrtts brevirostris,
fishes are collectively known by the book-name of dmiuA-
selles. P. leucosHctus is West Indian and Floridian. P.
brevirostris is a Cuban species. P. ruHGUvdwn is the well-
known garibaldi of the California coast, sometimes placed
in another genus, Hypiypopa, having the opercle and teeth
entire. Also Pomahjcenirus.
pojuaceous^ (po-ma'shlus), a. [< HHi.vomaceus,
of or pertaining to apples, etc., < L. pomv,m,
a fruit (as an apple, peach, plum, etc.): see
pome.'] 1. Of, pertaining to, or consisting of
apples.
Autumn paints
Ausonian hills with grapes : whilst English plains
Blush with poviaceoua harvests, breathing sweets.
J, PhilipSf Cider, ii.
3. Having the character of a pome ; belonging
to the Pomem.
pomaceous^ (po-ma'shius), a. [< pomace +
-OMs.] Consisting of or resembling pomace.
Pomadasys (po-mad'a-sis), n. [NL. (Lac6p&de,
1802), < (Jr. fcajia, lid, cover, + dauvg, hairy.] A
genus of hsemulouid fishes, better known under
the later name of Pristipoma. p. damdsoni is the
sargo of California, a typical memtaerof the genus, having
the second anal spinelonger than the third. P.fvlmma-
culatus (usually called OrthapHMs chrympUrm) is the hog-
fish or sailor's-choice, afood-fishof some importance from
New York southward. Several other fishes of the United
States have been ascribed to this genus.
pomadeH, »• [ME., < OF. *pomade, vernacu-
larly pomee, pommee, pomeye, f., also pomat,
vernacularly ])ome, pomm£, pomey, m., < ML.
pomata, f ., a drink made from apples, cider, < L.
^omM?)!, apple: see ^oijje. Cf. pomaceJ] Cider.
May no pyement ne pomade ne presiouse drynkes
Moyste me to the fulle ne my thurst slake,
Til the vendage valle in the vale of losaphat.
Piers Plowman (C\ xxi. 412.
pomade^ (po-mad'), n, [Formerly also xjomado
(after It.) (also pomatum, q. v.), = D. G. po-
made, pommade = Sw. pomada = Dan. pomade ;
< ¥. pommade (= Sp. Pg. pomada),<. It. pomata,
pomada, an ointment, < ML. *pomata, pomatum,
an ointment (said to be so called because orig.
made with apples),< L.^jomwrn, apple : seepome.]
1. A fat satui-ated with the odorous principles
of flowers by enfleurage. — 3. An ointment, es-
pecially a perfumed ointment used for the scalp
and in dressing the hair. Also pomatum.
pomade^ (po-mad' ),v.t.; pret. and y^^. pomaded,
ppr. pomading, [i pomade^, n.'] To anoint with
pomade.
A powdered and pomaded woman like Mrs. Sara. Crock-
ford. Mrs. OlipharU, Poor Gentleman, xliv.
Pomaderris (p6-ma-der'is), n. [NL. (La Billar-
difere, 1804), in allusion to the loose covering of
the fruit formed by the calyx-tube ; < Gr. nafia,
a lid or cover, + ieppic, a skin.] A genus of
polypetalous shrubs of the order Rhamness and
tribe of the same name, characterized by a cap-
sule free at the apex, deciduous bracts, and pet-
als, if present, five, shorter than the filaments,
and surpassed by the oblong anthers. The ovary
is coherent with the calyx-tube, and encircled at the base
of the calyx-lobes by a slight disk. There are 22 species,
natives of Australia and New Zealand. They are erect
branching shrubs, hoary with star-shaped haii-s on the
young branches, and on the under surface of the alternate
revolute leaves, which are either nanow or broad and
flat. The abundant flowers ai'e arranged in oblong pani-
cles or corymbs, and are whitish- or yellowish-brown.
4612
P. avetala and P. lanigera are small evergreen trees of
Australia, there known as haza, the former sharing with
AlpkOonia ejxelsa the name of cooper' s-wood. P. eUiplwa
is the kumerahou of New Zealand, with crisped and fra-
grant yellow flowers, and P. ma/dM is the tauhinu, both
shrubs with white branches. Several other species are
cultivated for theii' flowers in Australia.
pomado^t, «■ Same as pomade''^.
pomado^, »• Seepommado.
pomaget. »• [OF. pomage, F. pommage (ML.
pomagium), cider, < pome, pomme, apple: see
pome.'] Same as pomace.
Where of late dales they used much pomage, or cider,
for want of barley, now that lacke is more commonly sup-
plied with oates. ,„ 71- 17 \
Lombards Perambvlalion (1696), p. 10. (HaMiweU.)
pomalology (po-ma-lol'o-ji), n. Same a.spomol-
ogy, 1.
pomander (p6 -man ' d6r), n. [Corrupted from
earlier pome'ambre, < OF. pomme d'ambre, a
ball of amber: see pome, de^, amber^.] 1. A
perfume-ball, or a mixture of perfumes, for-
merly carried in the pocket or suspended from
the neck or the girdle, especially as an amulet,
or to prevent infection in time of plague.
Your only way to make a good pommider is this. Take
an ounce of the purest garden mould, cleans'd and steeped
seven days in change of motherless rose-water; then take
the best labdanum, benjoin, both storaxes, ambergris,
civit, and musk. Incorporate them together and work
them into what form you please. This, if your breath be
not too valiant, will make you smell as sweet as my lady's
dog. A. Brevier (?), Lingua, Iv. 3.
He . . . walks all day hanged in pomander chains for
penance. B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, ii. 1.
3. A hoUow ball or round box used for carry-
ing about the person the ball above described,
and sometimes pierced with small openings to
allow the perfume to escape.
I have sold all my trumpery ; not a counterfeit stone,
not a ribbon, glass, pomander, brooch, table-book, ballad,
knife, tape, glove, slioe-tie, bracelet, horn-ring, to keep
my pack from fasting. Shdk., W. T., iv. 4. 609.
He himself carried aporrumder of silver in the shape qf
an apple, stuffed with spices, which sent out a curious
faint perfume through small holes.
J. H. Shorthouse, John Inglesant, xxxiii.
pomander-ball (po-man'dfer-bai), n. Same as
pomander.
Pomard (po-mar'), m. [F. :seedef.] A, good
red Burgundy wine produced near the village
of Pomard, in the department of C6te-d'0r,
France. The wine from the whole district that
comes up to a certain degree of excellence is
included under this name.
pomarine (pom'a-rin), a. [< NL. pomarinus,
ivveg. fov 2}omatdrhinus : see 2>omatorhine.] In
ornith., pomatorhine : only applied to thepoma-
rine jager or skua-gull, Stercoraiitis pomarinus
or jiomutorMnus.
pomata, n. Plural of poma.
Fomatiacea (po-ma-ti-a'se-a), ». pi. Same as
Pomatiidse.
Pomatias (po-ma'ti-as), 91. [NL.,
< Gr. Tm/iariag, an operculated
shell, < na/M, a lid, cover.] A
genus of operculated land-shells,
typical of the family Pomatmdse.
pomatic (p9-mat'ik), a. [< po-
ma{t-) + -ic] Bertaining to the
poma; caused by the overlapping
of the poma, as an apparent fis-
sure of the monkey's brain ; oper-
cular. Buck's Handbook of Med.
Sciences, Vni. 161.
Pomatiidse (p6-ma-ti'i-de), n. pi,
matias + -idse.] A family of terrestrial tsenio-
glossate gastropods, typified by the genus Po-
matias. The animal has a characteristic lingual den-
tition, the central tooth being narrow, the lateral and
internal marginal unicuspid, and the external mai'ginal
very_ small ; the shell is tui-reted, and the operculum inul-
tispiral. The species are inhabitants of the European
zoological region.
Pomatobranchiata (po'-'ma-to-brang-ki-a'ta),
n. pi. [NL., < Gr. ttu^uo (ttu^ot-), lid, oover,"+
Ppayxta, gills.] A division of opisthobranchi-
ate gastropods, corresponding to Monopleuro-
branchiata.
pomatobrancMate (p6'''ma-to-brang'ki-at), a.
Of or pertaining to the Pomatobranchiata.
Pomatocentrus (p6"ma-t6-sen'trus), n, [NL.]
Same as Pomacentrus. "
Pomatomidse (p6-ma-tom'i-de), n.pl. [NL., <
Pomatomus + -idse.']' A family of fishes closely
related to the Carangidse, represented by the
genus Pomatomus. The form is compressed and fusi-
form, the scales aie moderate, the lateral line is gradually
curved and not plated behind, and the jaws are aiwed
with small compressed incisorial teeth.
Pomatomus (po-mat'o-mus), n. [NL. (Lac6-
p6de, 1812), prop. * Po^}mtotomus, so called from
Pomatias obscu-
rus. ( Line shows
natural size.)
[NL., < Po-
pomegranate
the emarginate opercle ; < Gr. na/ia (nufmr-), lid,
cover, + re/ivuv, ra/ielv, cut.] 1. A genus of
carangoid fishes, the type of the famify Poma.
tomides, containing only the well-known blue-
fish, greenfish, or skipjack, P. saltatrix. ihia
fish was called by Linnseus ffiuteroateut saUtdrix, and by
Cuvier Temnodon saltator. It is common in nearly ail
wai'm and some temperate seas, attains a length of from
2 to 3 feet, and is highly valued as a food-fish, besides
being prized for sporting. It is extremely voracious and
destructive to other fishes. See cut under Uuefish.
2. Among Eui-opean ichthyologists, a genus of
peroiform fishes, distinguished by its veiy large
eyes, and represented by a single species, now
known as Telescqps telescopium, inhabiting the
deep vyater of the Mediterranean and neigh-
boring Atlantic.
pomatorhine (po-mat'o-rin), a. [< NL. pomato-
rMn'US,'piOT^.''pomatorrhinus,<.Gi.va/ia{nu/iaT-),
Ud, cover, + pi'f (liiv-), nose.] In ormth., hav-
ing the nostrils overlaid with a lid-like opercu-
lum or false cere.
pomatum (po-ma'tum), n, [NL. : see^c»»ade2.]
Same a.s pomade^, 2.
A collection of receipts to make pastes for the hands,
pomatums, lip-salves, white pots, etc. TaUer, So. 245.
pomatum (po-ma'tum), V. t. [< pomatum, «.]
To apply pomatum to, as the hair.
Their hair, untortured by the abominations of art, was
Bcrapnlojislj pomatumed back from theirforeheadswltha
candle. Iroing, Knickerbocker, p. 172.
pombe (pom'be), re. [African.] A kind of beer
made throughout central and eastern Africa.
pome (pom), n. [< 'ME.2}ome,<0'F.pome,pomme,
an apple, ball, etc., F. j}omme, an apple, = Sp.
porno, fruit, apple, scent-bottle, nosegay, jjoma,
apple, perfume-box, = Pg. jmmo, fruit, apple,
= It. porno, apple, ball, pommel, etc., < L. jjo-
mum, fruit, as an apple, pear, peSlch, cherry,
fig, date, nut, grape, truffle, etc., in ML. esp.
an apple ; also a fruit-tree (pomus, a fruit-tree}.]
1. An apple; a fruit of the apple kind; specifi-
cally, in bot., a fleshy fruit composed of the
thickened walls of the adnate calyx embracing
one or more carpels, as the apple, pear, etc.
Oxe dounge about her rootes yf that me trete,
The pomes sadde and brawny wol it gete.
PaUadius, Husboudrle (K. E. T. S.), p. 87.
St. A ball or globe ; the kingly globe, mound,
or ball of dominion.
Dressid one me a diademe, that dighte was fulle taire,
And syne prof res me a pomeplgbte f uUeof faire stonys, , . .
In sygne that I sothely was soverayne in erthe.
JIforte Arthure (E. B. T. S.), 1. 3356.
3. In the Western Church, in medieval times, a
small globe of silver or other metal filled with
hot water and placed on the altar during mass
in cold weather, so that the priest might keep
his fingers from becoming numb, and thus avoid
danger of accident to the elements.
pomet (poni), V. i. [< F. pomnier, grow round,
< jjomme, apple : see pome.] To grow to a head,
or form a head in growing.
Gauly-flowers over-spreading to jwn^ and head (before
they have quite perfected their heads) should be quite
eradicated. Evelyn, Ealendarium, Aug.
Pomese (p6'me-e), n.pl. [NL. (Lindley, 1835),
< L. jyomum, fruit, + -ese.] A tribe or suborder
of rosaceous plants, the apple family, charac-
terized by the one to five carpels, each with two
ovules, the fruit a pome, and crowned with the
calyx-lobes, or in some becoming a drupe by
the hardening of the inner layer, it includes over
200 speciesof 14 genera, nativesof the northern hemisphere,
chiefly in temperate regions. They are small trees, mainly
with hard, compact, and durable wood, but of very irregu-
lar and twisted grain. They are among the most valuable
fruit-bearing trees, and are most ornamental in flower, as
the apple, pear, quince, medlar, service-beny, hawthorn,
thoni-apple, shad-bush, and loquat See Pyrus, CrcUagvs,
and Photinia for the principal genera ; also Cotoneaster.
pomeambret, n. Same a,s pomander.
pomecitron (pom'sit-ron), n. [< OF. pome, ap-
ple (see pome), + citron, a citron, pomecitron:
see pome and citron.] 1. A citron.— '2. A va-
riety of apple.
There 's a fine little barrel of pome^eUrom
Would have serv'd me this seven year.
Middleton (and others). The Widow, v. L
pomegarnett, n. A Middle English form of
pomegranate.
pomegranate (pom'- or pum'gran-at), ». [For-
merly also pomegranet; < M.'E. pomegarnet, pom-
garnet, pomgarnat, pomegarnade, 2)omgarnad,j
OF. pome grenate,pome de grenate, pun de gram,
pomme de grenade = It. pomogranato, < ML.
pomum granatum, in L. malum granatum, po'^*"
granate, lit. apple with many seeds (also called
in L. malum Punicum, Punic apple) : 'L.pomnvi,
pomegranate
Iruit, apple (see pome) ; granatum, neat, otgra-
natus, with many seeds (granatum, > F. grenade
= Sp. granada, pomegranate), < granvm, seed,
.grain: seefl'rowl,s're»«Mte,grar»€<l.] 1. Thefruit
of the tree Punica Granatum. it is of the size of an
orange, has six rounded angles, and bears at the summit
the remains of the calyx-lobes. It has a hard rind filled
Branch of Pomegranate {Puntca Granatum) with Flowers.
■at the fruit ; i, the fruit, transverse section ; c, flower, longitudinal
section, the petals removed. *
with numerous seeds, eaoh inclosed in a layer of pulp of
reddish color and pleasant subacid taste (the edible part
-of the fruit). It affords a cooling drink, and in Persia
a wine is derived from it, as in Mexico an ardent spirit.
The rind contains a large amount of tannin, and has been
employed in tanning and as an astringent medicine. The
pomegranate is outwardly of a beautiful orange color
^shaded with red.
There were, and that wot I lul wel,
Otpame-gametlys a ful gret del.
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 1356.
They brought of the pomegramOes and of the figs.
Num. xlii. 28.
2. The tree, Punica Gra/natum, ■which produces
"the fruit pomegranate. A native of western Asia to
northwestern India, it is now widely cultivated and nat-
uralized in subtropical regions. It is a deciduous tree, 15
or 20 feet high, with numerous slender branches, some of
them armed with thorns, the leaves lance-shaped or ob-
long. It is a line ornamental plant, the flowers scarlet,
laige, and sometimes doubled. The latter are used in
medicine like the fruit-rind, under the name of hcdugtities,
and they also aSord a red dye. The bark supplies the
color of yellow morocco leather, and that of the root is an
efficient tseniacide, this property residing in an alkaloid,
pelletieriue, contained in it. It also yields punicotannic
acid and mannit. The pomegranate has been known as a
fruit-tree from the earliest times ; it was common in Italy
in the third century B. c, wa£ familiar to the Hebrews, and
its fruit was copied on Egyptian and Assyrian monuments,
and later on the pillars of Solomon's temple. It thrives in
the southern United States, and can be grown with mod-
erate protection even in the climate of New York.
An orchard ot pomegraruUea, with pleasant fruits.
Cant. iv. 13.
3. In Queensland, a small tree, Capparis nobi-
lis, with some resemblance to the pomegranate.
—Pomegranate pattern, a pattern much used in rich
stuffs of European make in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, the chief motive in the design of which Is a
fruit-like figure supposed to imitate a pomegranate.
jomegranate-tree (pom'gran-at-tre), n. [< MB.
pomgarnat-tree.'] Same suB pomegranate, 2.
In Aprille and in Marche in tempur lande
Pomgamattree is sette, in hoote and drie.
PaUadius, Uusbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 115.
pomeis, ». [OF., <.pome, F. pomms, an apple.]
In h,er., a roundel vert: so called because con-
sidered the representation of an apple.
pomelt, ». An obsolete form ot pommel.
pomeleet, a. See pomeVy.
pomelo, pummelo (pom'-, pum'e-16), n. [Also
pumelo: see pompelmoiis.'] A variety of the
shaddock, smaller than the shaddock proper,
but much larger than an orange; the grape-
fruit. Also called forUdden-frmt. Compare
pompelmous.
jomelyt, a. [MB., also pomelee, < OF.pomele,
F. pommele (= It. pomeUato), dappled, <pomme,
apple : see pome.'] Spotted like an apple ; dap-
ple.
This reeve sat upon a ful good stot,
That was A\pomdy gray and highte Scot.
Clumcer, Gen. ProL to 0. T., 1. 616.
Pomeranian (pom-e-ra'ni-an), a. and«. [< Pom^-
erania (see def.) -P -an.J "I. a. Pertaining to
Pomerania, a former duchy, and now a province
of northern Prussia Pomeranian bream, a flsh,
Abramit buggenhagl, supposed to be a hybrid between the
common bream, A. brajna, and the roach, Leuciscwt rvtHus,
—Pomeranian dog, a variety of dog, about 14 inches
high, having a sharp nose, pricked ears, bushy tail curled
over the back, and a long thick silky coat of a white,
«reamy, or black color ; a Spitz dog.
II. n. A native or an inhabitant of Pomera-
nia.
290
4613
pomeria, n. Plural otpom^um.
pomeridian (p6-me-ri(r i-an), a. [= Pg. pome-
ridianus,<. L.pomer»diaM«s, postmeridian: see
postmeridian."] 1. Postmeridian.
I thank God . . . that I can pray to him every Day of
the Week in a several Language, and upon Sunday in sev-
en, which in Oraisons of my own I punctually perform in
my private pomeridian devotions.
HoweU, Letters, I. vt 32.
2. In entom., flying in the afternoon, as a lepi-
dopterous insect. — 3. In hot., blossoming, etc.,
in the afternoon.
Pomeridianat (po-me-rid-i-a'na), n. pi. [NL.
(Stephen, 1829), neut. pi. of C pomsridianus,
postmeridian: see pomeridian, postmeridian.]
In entom., a group of lepidopterous insects
which are pomeridian, corresponding to the
families Hepialidse, Bomhyddse, Notodontidse,
and ArcUidse combined.
pomerium (po-me'ri-um), n.; -pi. pomeria (-a).
[L., < post, behind, -I- mwrus, wall.] In Mmn.
antiq., an open space prescribed to be left free
from buildiugs within and without the walls of
a tovra, marked off by stone pillars, and con-
secrated by a religious ceremony.
pomeroy (pom'roi), «. [< OF. pome roy, king-
apple (cf . pomeroye, apple marmalade) : pome,
CVi.pomwm, apple (^eepome); roy,<. L. rex, king
(see roy).] The kmg-apple.
Hauing gathered a handfull of roses, and plucking off
an apple called a Pome-roie, bee returned.
Breton, Strange Fortunes of Two Princes, p. 19. (Davies.)
pomeroyalt (pom-roi'al), n. [< OF. pome royal,
royal apple : pome, < L. pomum, fruit ; royal, <
L. regalis, royal : see royal.] Same as pomeroy.
pometiet, pomettiet, a. Obsolete forms of
pommetty.
pomewatert (p6m'w&"t6r), n. \A\so pomwater;
< ME.pomewater; < pome + water.] A kind of
apple.
Kipe as the pomewaier, who now hangeth like a jewel in
the ear of caelo, the sky, the welkin, the heaven.
ShaJc., L. L. L., iv. 2. 4
The captain loving you so dearly, ay, like the jjmnewater
of his eye, and you to be so uncomfortable : fie, fie 1
UidcOetani^, The Puritan, i. 4.
pomey (po'mi), n. [< F.pomm^, pp. otpommer,
grow round: see pome, v.] In her., the figure
of an apple or a roundel, always of a green
color.
pomfret (pom'fret), n. [Appar. corrupted from
the equiv.Pg.pombo or pampo.] 1. In the East
Indies, a flsh of the genus Stromateoides, distin-
guished from the other stromateoids by the re-
stricted lateral branchial apertures. The white
pomfret is & sinensis, having no distinct free spines be-
pommetty
in some countries under the general name of
Chianti.
pommado (po-ma'do), n. [Also pomado, pom-
mada; < P. 'pommade, a trick in vaulting, <
pomme in the sense of pommeau, pommel : see
pommel.] An exercise of vaulting on a horse
by laying one hand over the pommel of the
saddle, and without the aid of stirrups.
How many great horse he hath rid that morning, or
how oft he hath done the whole or half the pnmmado in
a seven-night before. S. Jonson, Cynthia's Hevels, ii. 1
Fonunado reversa, the act or method of vaulting off a
horse by resting the hand on the pommel.
pommaget, n. Same aspomage tor pomace.
pomme-Dlanche (pom-blonsh'), n. [P., whit&
apple: see pome a,Jid. blank.] aeePsoralea.
pomme-de-prairie (pom-de-pra-re'), n. [F.,
meadow apple: see pome, de'^, anAprairie.] See
Psoralea.
ponun^e (po-ma'), a. [< F. pomm4, pommie,
pp. of jjommer, grow round: seepmney.] Same
pommel (pum'el), n. [_Mso pummel; early mod.
E. a^sopomel; < 'iSSi.pomel,\.OF.pomel, pommel,
a ball, knob, pommel, F. pommeau, pommel,
dim. of pome, pomme, apple, ball : see pome.]
1 . A knob or ball, or anything of similar shape.
Especially — (a) The rounded termination of the handle
or grip of a swoi-d, dagger, martel-de-f er, or the like, serv-
ing to keep the hand from slipping, and for striking a
heavy blow at an adversary who is too close for the sweep
of the weapon. The pommel in medieval weapons was
often highly ornamented, and was a favorite place for the
armorial healings of the owner. These bearings, when en-
graved at the point opposite the junction with the blade,
were sometimes used in affixing the owner's seal. See cut
under hilt.
Gawein lepte to hym, and smote hym so with the poTnell
of his swerde on the temple that he fill to the erthe vp-
right. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ilL 457.
Too other to offer his swerd, the pomeU and the Crosse
foreward. Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), L 35.
(6) The protuberant part of a saddle-bow.
■ He came within the target of the gentleman who rode
against him, and, taking him with incredible force before
him on the pummel of his saddle, he in that manner rid
the tournament over. Steele, Spectator, No. 109.
(ct) The top (ot the head).
His hors for feere gan to tume, . . .
And . , . pighte him on Vkepomel of his heed.
Chtmcer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1831.
(d) A round knob on the frame of a chair, (e) A ball-
shaped ornament used as a flnial to the conical or dome-
shaped roof of a turret, pavilion, etc.
And aboven the chief Tour of the Palays ben 2 rounde
PomMes of Gold ; and in everyche of hem ben 2 Carboncles
grete and large, that schynen f ulle brighte upon the nyght.
MandeoUle, Travels, p. 275.
Two wreaths to cover the two pommels of the chapiters
which were on the top of the pillars. 2 Chron. iv. 12.
(/) In a ceremonial mace, the lower or butt end ; in the
case of a crowned mace, the end opposite the crown.
2. A piece of hard wood, grooved like a crimp-
ing-board, and attached to the hand by means of
a strap, used in giving a granular appearance
to leather and in making it supple. — 3. The
bat used in the game of nur-and-spell.
pommel (pum'el), v. t. ; pret. and pp. pommeled
or pommelled, ppr. pommeling or pommelling.
lAlsopummel; early mod. E. alsopomel; (.pom-
mel, n.] To beat as with a pommel or with
something thick or bulky; beat, as with the
bmjise.
White Pomfret f.Stromateoities sinensis).
fore the dorsal and anal fins, and the caudal lobes sub-
equal. It is highly esteemed for its flesh. The gray
pomfret is 5. einereus, which has free truncated spines
before the dorsal and anal fins, and the lower caudal lobe
much longer than the upper; young specimens are called
3. Loosely, any fish of the family Stromateidse.
— 3. A bramoid fish, Brama rayi, Kay's sea-
bream or hen-fish.
pomgarnatt, pomgarnatet, n. Middle English
forms ot pomegranate.
pomlcet, »• Same as pomace.
pomtferOUS (po-mif 'e-rus), a. [= P. pomifire
= Sp.pomifero = Pg. It. pomifero; < li.pomifer,
fruit-bearing, < pomum, fruit, + ferre = E.
fteorl.] Pome-bearing: noting all plants which
produce pomes or any of the larger fruits, as
cucumbers, pumpkins, etc., in distinction from
the baccif erous plants, which yield berries and
other small fruits.
pomiform(po'mi-f6rm), a. [^ili. pomum, apple,
+ forma, form.] Having the form of a pome
or apple.
Pomino (p6-me'n6), re. [It., <j)o»»o, apple: see
pome.] A'red wine of Tuscany, dry and of good
flavor. It is one of several wines that are sold
Ye duke by pure strength tooke hym about the necke,
tmipomeled so aboute the hed that the blond yssued out
of his nose. Hall, Hen. VUL, an. 6.
I was pumjneled to a mummy by the boys, showed up by
the ushers, etc. Observer, So. 95.
pommels (pom-e-la'), a. [P. : seepomely.] In
her., same a.s pommetty (a).
pommeled, pommelled (pum'eld), a. [< pom-
mel + -ed*.] In her., having a rounded knob
which terminates in a second smaller one:
differing from hottony in that the lobes are of
different sizes, the final one being much the
smaller.
pommeler (pum'eWr), «. One who or that
which pommels.
pommeliont. n. The cascabel or knob at the
rear end of a cannon: the common term in
early artillery, as of the sixteenth century.
pommetty (pom'e-ti), a. [Also pommettS,
t F. pommetti, pommetUe, orna-
mented with baobs (= It. po-
metto), < pommette, a knob, dun.
otpomme, apple, ball : see pome.]
In her.: (a) Terminating in
a small roundel or knob: said
especially of a cross. Also
' ' (6) Double pommeled
pommetty
— that is, ending in two knobs or lobes side by
side. — Fesse ponunetty. Same as /esse bottony (wbich
see, nuder/esse).
pommeture (pom'e-tur), n. [< F. pommeture,
<pommette,-povoniettj: see pommetiy.'] In/»er.,
the fact of being pommetty.
nommy (pom'i), o. In her., same a,s pommetty.
Fomolobus (po-mol'o-bus), n. [NL. (Eafi-
uesque, 1820), <C Gr. irij/ia, lid, cover, + Xo/3of,
lobe.] A genus of olupeoid fishes, or a subge-
nus of Clupea, differing from the typical her-
rings in having no vomerine teeth. The type is
P. ehrysocMorU, the Ohio shad ; besides this species the
genus contains most of the American herrings wbich have
usually been placed in Clupea. P. mediocrie is the tailor-
herring, or fall herring; P. vematiii is the alewite, or
branch herring; P. astimlie is the glut-hen'ing or blue-
back.
pomological (p6-mo-loj'i-kal), o. [Cf. F. po-
mologigue; as pomolog-y +"-ic-al.'] Of or per-
taining to pomology.
pomologist (po-mol'o-jist), n. [< pomolog-y +
-isJ.] One wlio is versed in pomology; a culti-
vator of fruit-trees.
pomology (po-mol'o-ji), n. [= F.pomologie =
It. pom^logid; < li.'pomum, fruit, 4- Gr. -Aoryla,
< Tiiyeiv, speak: see -ology.'] 1. That depart-
ment of knowledge which deals with fruits ; that
branch of gardening which embraces the cul-
tivation of fruit-trees or fruit-bearing shrubs.
Also pomalology. — 2. A treatise on fi-uits con-
sidered as esciuents. Gray.
Pomona (po-mo'na), n. [L., < pomum, fruit:
see pome.'] In Rom. myth., the goddess who fos-
tered fruit-trees and promoted their culture. —
Pomona green. Same as apple-green.
pomonal (p6-m6'nal), n. [(Pomona + -al."] A
place sacred to Pomona. Encyc. Brit., XIX. 443.
Pomotis (po-mo'tis), n. [NL. (Rafinesque,
1819), < Gr. TTu/io, a lid, cover, -1- oJf (&■-), ear.]
An extensive genus of small American centrar-
choid fishes, having the operculum prolonged
backward into an ear-like flap ; the sunfishes-:
synonymous with Lepomis. Various fishes which
have been included in Pomotis are also referred to Eu-
pomotis, Apomotis, Bryttus, etc. The genus has also com-
prised some forms not now included in Lepomis. They
are popularlj^ known as smifighes, pond-perches, tobacco-
boxeSy pumpkin-seeds, breams, and by vaiious more special
names. Also Ponujiotis.
Pomoxys (po-mok'sis), n. [NL. (Eafinesque,
1818, in the form Ponioaws), < Gr. Trujt/a, lid, cover,
+ oftif, sharp.] In ichth., a genus of Amer-
ican centrarohoid fishes, having long slender
gill-rakers, the dorsal scarcely longer than the
anal fin and obliquely opposite it, the spinous
dorsal with five to eight spines and shorter
than its soft part, and the anal spines six or
seven, it contains two familiar fishes, P. annularis, the
crappie, newlight, or campbellita. and P. eparoides, the
bai'-fish, or calico-, grass-, or strawberry-bass, both of fresh
waters of the United States, and valuable as food-flshes.
See cut under crappie.
pomp (pomp), «. [< ME. pompe, < OF. (and
F.) pompe = Sp. Pg. It. pompa = D. pomp =
LG. pump = G. pomp, obs. pump = Sw. Dan.
pomp, < L. j>ompa, a procession, pomp, < Gr.
■Ko/jbiT^, a sending, a solemn procession, pomp,
< TT^^n-ew, send. Gt. jiump^.'] 1 . A procession
distinguished by splendor or magnificence; a
pageant ; an ostentatious show or display.
In olden dayes, good kings and worthy dukes . . .
Contented were with pompes of little pryce.
And set their thoughtes on regal gouernement.
Oascoiffne, Steele Glas (ed. Arher), p. 58.
The king hereof vseth great pride and solemnitie ; his
pompes and triumphes are in maner incredible.
R. Eden, tr. of Sebastian Munster (First Books on
[America, ed. Arber, p. U).
With goddess-like demeanour forth she went.
Not unattended ; for on her, as queen,
A pomp of winniiig Graces waited still.
jmton, P. I., Tiii. 61.
2. Display; ostentation; parade; splendor;
magnificence.
Pomp and circumstance of glorious war.
Shak., Othello, UI. 3. 366.
They did promise . . . that I should renounce . . . the
pomps and vanity of this wicked world.
Book of Common Prayer, Catechism.
Yet, because he [the Son of God] came not with thepotnp
and splendour which they expected, they despise his Per-
son, revile his Doctrine, persecute his Followers, and con-
trive his rain. StUlingJleet, Sermons, I. vi.
Where the Verse is not built upon Rhymes, there Pomp
of Sound, and Energy of Expression, are indispensably
necessary to support the Stile.
Addison, Spectator, No. 285.
Give me health and a day, and I will make ihepomp of
emperors ridiculous. Emerson, Misc., p. 22.
=Syn. 2. State, ostentation, grandeur, pride, display,
show, flourish. Seeptrmpous.
pompt (pomp), V. i. [= Pg. pompear = It. pom-
pare; (. LL. pompare, make or do with pomp.
4614
< L. pompa, pomp: see pomp, ».] To exhibit
pomp or magnificence; make a pompous dis-
play: with indefinite Ji.
What is the cause you pomp it so, I ask?
And all men echo, you have made a masque.
B. Jonson, Expost. with Inigo Jones.
pompadour (pom'pa-dor), )(. [Na,med after
Marquise de Pompadour, influential at the
French court in the middle of the 18th een-
tui-y.] A head-dress worn by women about
the middle of the eighteenth century; also, a
mode of dressing the hair by rolling it off the
forehead over a cushion, later in use — Pompa-
dour parasol, a form of parasol used by women about
1860, having a folding handle, and generally covered with
mou'e antique, or other heavy silk.— Pompadour pat-
tern, a pattern lor silk in which some small design of
leaves and flowers, with the colors pink and blue inter-
mingled, and frequently heightened with gold, is used.
Hiere are many modifications of this style.
pompal (pom'pal), a. [< LL. 2'ompalis, pom-
pous, showy, CL. pompa, pomp: see pomp.']
Proud; pompous.
Dionysian MmoaJ processions.
C. 0. MiiUer, Manual of Archieol. (trans.), § 336.
pompano (pom-pa'no), n. [Sp. pampano, ap-
pliea to the fish Stromateus fiatola.'] 1. A oa-
rangoid fish of the West Indies and South At-
lantic and Gulf States, Trachynotus caroUnus,
attaining a length of about 18 inches, and highly
esteemed for food, it is of an oblong rhomboid figure,
with blunt snout, the spinous dorsal fin atrophied and rep-
Common Pompano ( Trachynotus caroliHus).
resented by free spines, and the soft dorsal and anal fins
falciform. The color is uniformly bluish above, without
dark bands or black on the vertical fins, and silvery or
golden on the sides. The name extends to other members
of the same genus, as the ovate, round, or short pompano,
T. ovaius, of tropical seas (and north as far as Virginia),
having the vertical fins laigely black ; and the glaucous
or long-finned pompano, T. gla/ueus, of tropical seas (and
north as far as Virginia and Lower California), having dark
vertical bands on the body.
2. In Califoi-nia, a fish, Stromateus similMmus,
abundant in summer along the coast, and highly
esteemed for food . it is quite different from the fore-
going, and is closely related to the harvest-flsh, and to the
butter-flsh or dollar-fish. It has an ovate body rounded in
front, the dorsal and anal fins not falciform^ and no series
of pores along the sides of the back. It is about a foot
long, bluish above and bright-silvery below, with punc-
tulate flns, and the dorsal and anal fins edged with dusk.
3. Along the western coast of Florida, a ger-
roid fish, Gerres olisthostoma. it has an oblong
form with a high rounded back, rather large and very
Irish Pompano [Gerres oUstkostoma),
smooth scales, and a nearly double dorsal, the anterior part
of which has nine spines. It is specifically known as the
Irish pompano.
pompano-shell (pom-pa'no-shel), n. A wedge-
shell of the genus Donax: so called because it
is eaten by the pompano. See cut under Z)o»aj;.
[Florida.]
pompatict (pom-pat'ik), a. [< LL. potnpaUcus,
pompous, <pompatus, pp. of pompare, do any-
thing with , pomp : see pomp, ».] Pompous;
splendid ; ostentatious.
Pompatic, foolish, proud, perverse, wicked, profane
words. BorroMi, Pope's Supremacy.
Pompeian (pom-pe'an), a. [< L. Pompeianus,
belonging to Pompeii, < Pompeii (see def.).]
Of or pertaining to Pompeii, a city of Italy,
which with Herculaneum and other towns was
overwhelmed by an emption of Mount Vesuvius
in the year 79, and of which the ruins have
been in part laid bare by excavations begun
in 1755. Hence, in art and decoration, noting the style
of wall-painting in both fresco and plain colors which was
usual among the Bomans at the beginning of the Chris-
pomposity
tian era, and was first made familiar by the excavation! at
Pompeii.— Pompeian red, ared color similar to that found
on the walls of many houses in Pompeii. It is an oxid-of-
iron color such as would be produced by a light Indian
red without too much purple tone, or by a dark Venetian
red.
pompelmous, pompelmoose (pom'pel-nius,
-m6s), n. lMsopampelmoes,pampelmoose,poin.
pelmoes,po)upoieon; aisopompelo, pomelo, pum-
melo, pumelo; jjrob. of E. liid. origin.] T]je
shaddock, especially in its larger forms. Com-
pare j>oj«e/o.
pompelo (pom'pe-16), n. Same as pompelmous.
pompeonti »• Same as pumpion.
pomperkint, n. [Appar. a drink made from
apples (el. pomace, pomade^), ult. < OF. pome,
apple" seepmue.] See tTie quotation.
The Bixt sort of Brittish drinkes is Pmnperkin, a drlnke
whose originall was from Pomeranea (a Province in Ger-
many), as some writers relate. Some derive it from tho
Pomponli(a NobleEoman family). However Autliorsdiffer
about it, it is not much materiall ; most certaine it is Uiat
it is maide of Apples, as the name of it imports ; being
nothing but the Apples bruised and beaten to mash, with
water put to them, which is a drinke of so weake a con-
dition that it is no where acceptable but among the Bus-
ticks and Plebeyaus. John Taylor, Drinke and Welcome,
[all Drinkes, and all Waters.
pompett, pumpett (pum'pet), n. [< OF. pom-
pette, pompete, a tuft, topknot, pompon; "pom-
peite cHimprimeur, a printer's pumpet-ball"
(Cotgrave); dim. of pompe, pomp: seepo)»«.]
In printing, an elastic ball formerly used to mk
the types.
Pompey's pillar. See pillar.
pompholyx (pom'fd-liks), 11. [L. (> F. pomnho-
lix, pompholyx), < (5rr. irojiAolv^, a bubble, slag,
< wofi(l>6g, a blister.] 1, The white oxid whicli
sublimes during the combustion of zinc: for-
merly called flowers of zinc. It rises and ad-
heres to the dome of the furnace and the covers
of the crucibles. — 2. In med., an eruption of
deep-seated vesicles suggesting sago-grains,
occurring principally on the palms of the hands
and the soles of the feet. Also called chiropotit-
pholyx and dysidrosis. — 3. [cap.'] [NL.] In
zool., a generic name variously used, (o) Age.
nus of i-otif ers of the family Brachimadie. (b) A genus of
nioUusks of the famUy Ltmnteida. (c) A genus of hy.
menopterous insects of the family Tentfiredinidx, having
wingless males. Freymvih, 1870. (d) A genus of orthop.
terous insects of the family Acridida. StSl, 1873.
Pompilidae (pom-pil'i-de), n. i>l. [NL. (Leach,
1819), < Pompilus + -idae.] A family of acule-
ate hymenopterous insects, typified by the ge-
nus Pompilus. It is alarge and important group, whose
members are commonly called sand-wayis. They are slen-
der, usually black, with oval abdomen on a short petiole.
Most of them burrow in sandy places and provision their
nests with insects of various kinds which they have stung
to death. Ten genera are represented in North America.
The members of one genus, Ceropales, appear to be in-
quilinous.
?ompilliont, n. Same sspymlion.
'ompilus (pom'pi-lus), n. [NL., < L. pomplus,
< Gr. iro/xTriTMc, a fish which follows ships, <
wofmri, conduct, escort, procession : see pomp.]
1. In ichth,, a genus of stromateoid fishes:
same as Centrolophus. — S. In conch., a genus of
octopod cephalopods. Schneider, 1784. — 3. In
entom., the typical genus of Pompilidse, founded
by Fabricius m 1798. These sand-wasps have strongly
spinose legs, and the submedian cell of the fore whigs as
long as the median cell on the externomedian nervure,
Over 200 species are known ; one of the most notable Is
P. formoms, the so-called teranftdo-iafer of the south-
western parts of the United States:
pompion, n. Same as pumpion.
pompiref (pom'pir), n. [Irreg. < L. i)om«»(,
fruit, apple, + pirwm, pear.] A kind of apple ;
a sort of pearmain. Ainsworth.
pompoleon (pom-p6'le-qn)> n. Same as j)0»i-
pompom (pom'pom), «. [From the sound of the
discnarge.] A one-pounder automatic Maxim
gun. [Colloq.J
pompon^ti n. See pumpion.
pompon^ (pom'pon; F. pron. p6fi-p6n'), »>;
[Also pompoon; < F. pompon, an ornament. <
pompe, splendor: see^omjj.] An ornamental
tuft of feathers, silk, etc., for a bonnet or hat;
a toijknot; specifically (milit.), a ball of col-
ored wool worn on the front of a shako.
Marian drew forth one of those extended pieces of black
pointed wire with which, in the days of toupees and yow-
poons, our foremothers were wont to secure their fly-"'*?
and head-gear. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, 1. 128.
pomposity (pom-pos'j-ti), n. [= It. pompositi ;
< 'MJj. j}ompositaCt-)8,'< LL. pom2)OSUS, pompons:
see pompous.] Pompous conduct or charac-
ter; pompousness; ostentation. = Syn.P'>mj""*
■ness may be used in a good sense j pmnposvty always ex-
presses something objectionable. See pomp and pomp-
pomposo
pomposo (pom-po'so), a. [It.: see pompous.']
In mitsic, dignified ; grand: noting a passage or
movement to be rendered in a grand and dig-
nified style.
pompons (pom'pns), a. [= D. pompeus = Gt.
pompos, pompos = Sw. Dan. pompos, < P. pom-
peiix = op. Pg. It.pomposo, < LL. pomposus,
stately, pompons, < li.pompa, pomp : setipomp.]
1. Full of or characterized by pomp or showy
display; ostentatiously grand, dignified, or mag-
nificent; splendid; stately: as, a, pompous tvi-
umph ; a pompous procession.
I will mske relation of those pomptnu ceremonies that
were pabliquely solemnized.
Coryat, Cmdities, I. 36, aig. D.
Bat nothing is here so %tfymp<rus as doable red and stript
stocks ; which they multiply with care ; and their Fains
are jastly Rewarded. lAgter, Joamey to Paris, p. 194.
2. Exhibiting self-importance or an exagger-
ated sense of dignity; ostentatiously digmfied
or self-important; lofty: as, a, pompous style;
pompous in manners.
We reprove a sinning brother, bnt do it with a pompous
spirit ; we separate from scandal, and do it with ^ory and
a gandy heart. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835^ I. 679.
The pompous vanity of the old school-mistress . . . an-
noyed her. Thackeray, Vani^ Fair, il
=Syn. 1. Superbk grand, angnst, lofty, dignified.— 2.
Uagisterial, swelling, inflated, bombastic, grajidiloqnent,
pretentions. That which gives pompous its distinctive
character among these words and the words used in de-
fining it is the idea of the display of magnificence for the
sake of enhancing, properly or Improperly, the dignity,
etc., of the person or thing most concerned. A pompous
procession gives dignity to a person thus welcomed to a
city; a pompous deportment or manner of speech arises
from the feeling of one's own importance and the effort
to seem what one thinks himself to be. Pompous is used
in a good sense now only when applied to pabUc ceremo-
nies or celebrations or the ways of courts.
pompously (pom'pus-li), adv. In a pompons
manner; with great parade or display; mag-
nificently; splendidly; ostentatiously; loftily.
pomponsness (pom'pus-nes), n. The character
of being pompous; also, pompous conduct;
magnificence; splendor; great display or show;
ostentatiousness.
In verse he [Sryden] had a pomp which, excellent in
itseU, became jxnnpotwness in his imitators.
LoweU, Among my Book^ 1st ser., p. 76.
=8yil. See pompous.
pomster, v. i. [Origin obscure.] To doctor or
play the quack with salves and slops ; apply a
medicament to a wound or contusion, or ad-
minister medicine internally. HalliweU. [Prov.
Eng.]
pomum (po'mum), n. [L., an apple: see pome.']
1. An apple. — 3. In anat., the apple of the
throat ; Adam's apple, more fully called pomum
Adami. See Adam. — 3. Same aa calefactory.
pomwatert, n. Same a.a pomewater.
ponceau^ (pon-s6'), n. [< 'W. ponceau, < L. as if
'puniceUus, dim. otpumceris,red, <puimus, red,
prop. Punic, i. e. Phenician: see Punic.'] 1.
In hot, a corn-poppy. — 2. Corn-poppy color;
a flame-color. — 3. In dyeing, the name for va-
rious coal-tar colors of different red shades.
ponceau^ (pon-s6'), n. [F., a culvert, dim. of
pont, < L. pon{ t-)s, a bridge : see pons.] In en-
gin., a small bridge or culvert.
poncelet(pons'let),M. [Named after J.V.Pwice-
let, a Fi-ench mathematician (1788-1867).] A
unit of rate of expenditure of energy, equivalent
to 100 Mlogrammetei's per second.
poncert, n. See pouncer^.
poncho (pon'cho), n. [< Sp. (S. Amer.) poncJio,
a poncho; cf. Sp. poneJio, lazy, indolent.] 1.
A sort of cloak or loose garment worn by the
South American Indians, and also by many of
the Spanish inhabitants of South America and
Mexico. It resembles a narrow blanket with a slit in the
middle for the head to pass thiough, so that it hangs down
before and behind, leaving the arms free. Garments sim-
ilar to the above in general shape are made and used else-
where^ especially by sportsmen as rain-cloaks.
2. A trade-name for camlet or strong worsted.
pondi (pond), n. [< ME. pond, ponde, poonde,
a pond: another use and form oit pound, an in-
closure : see pound?.] A body of water, nat-
ural or artificial, of less extent than a lake : as,
a mUl-pmid.
Make choice of such a place for your pond that it may
be refieshed with a little rill, or with I'ain water, i-anning
or falling into it. /. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 199.
jMg pond. See pasture, 4.— Great pond, in the fishery
laws of Massachusetts, a pond exceeding 20 acres in area,
as diatingniahed from a snuiU pond, or one of not more than
20 acres.— Sale-BOnd. a fish-pond used only for fish ready
tobesold.
pondi (pond), V. [< pond\ n.] I. trans. To
dam or pen up; make into a pond by dam-
ming ; collect m a pond by stopping the cur-
rent of a river.
4615
Another fiood-gate . . . ponds the whole river, so as to
throw the waste water over a strong stone weir into its
uatoral channeL
D^ce, Tour thro' Great Britain, L 379. (Dairies.)
U. intrans. To form pools or ponds ; coUect
in the manner of water in a pond.
The nse of taming the paper upside down is to neutral-
ise the increase of darkness towards the bottom of the
squares, which would otherwise take place from the pond,
ing of the colour. RusHn, Mements of Drawing.
pond^t, n. A Middle English form otpound^.
pond^t (pond), «. t. [Abbr. ot ponder.'] To
ponder.
O my li^e Lord, the God of my Life,
neaseth you pond [in later editions, ponder] your Suppli-
ants Plaint.
Spenser, Shep. CaL, February (ed. 1750X L 15L
pondage^ (pon'daj), n. [< pond^ + -age.] In
the construction of dams for mills, reservoirs,
etc., the amount of water (usually estimated in
feet for mill purposes, and in gallons for water-
works) that can be restrained from overflow by
the dam. it is the content of the irregular concavity
below a horizontal plane on a level with the upper edge
of the dam.
The stream was surveyed, . . . and . . . demonstrated
the practicability of pondage far beyond the necessities of
city supply. Sanitary Engineer, XIII. 80.
Easins having limited pondage or available storage of
rainfall. J. T. Fanning, Water-Supply Engineering, § 47.
pondage^ti «• Same a,% poundage^.
pond-apple (pond'ap'l), n. A small tree, Anona
laurif^ia, of the West Indies and southern
Florida ; also, its scarcely edible fruit, which is
from half a foot to a foot long.
pond-carp (pond'karp), n. The common carp,
Cyprmus earpio, as bred in ponds : distinguished
from river-carp. It is fleshierthan the latter, but
not so well-flavored. See cut under eatp.
pond-dogwood (pond'dog^wud), n. The but-
ton-bush, a North American shrub of wet
places. See hutton-bush.
ponder (pon'der), V. [= P. ponderer = Sp. Pg.
ponderar=\t.ponderare, K'L.ponderare, wei^,
ponder, ML. also load, < pondus (ponder-),
weight. < pendere, weigh: see pendent and
poimdi.] 1. trans. If. To weigh.
An innocent with a nocent, a man ungylty with a gylty,
waapondered in an eqall balaunce.
HdH, Hen. IV., foL 14 (a).
2. To weigh carefully in the mind; consider
carefully; think about; reflect upon.
Let vs heare, and as well as wee can ponder, whatobiec-
tions may bee made against this Arte.
Sir P. Sidney, ApoL for Poetrie.
Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her
heart. Luke iL 19.
Tell me, that I may ponder it when gone.
Jf. Arnold, Balder Dead.
=Syn. 2. To consider, reflect upon, ete. See list under
contemplate.
II. intrans. To think;' muse; reflect; delib-
erate: with on or over: as, to ponder over what
one has heard.
This tempest will not give me leave to ponder
On things would hnrt me more.
Shak., Lear, ill 4. 24.
The forest sases pondered, and at length
Concluded in a body to escort her
Up to her Other's home of pride and strength.
WkiMer, Bridal of Pennacook, v.
pondert (pon'der), «. [(.ponder, v.] Something
to ponder on. [Rare.]
He laughed a little, and soon after took his leave, not
without one little flight to give me for a ponder.
Ume. VArUay, Diary, IV. 27. (Oavies.)
ponderability (pon*der-a^bil'i-ti), n. [=P.j)o»-
dei-abilite = It. ponderafilita ; as ponderable +
-ity (see -Wlity).] The property of being pon-
derable ; the property of having weight.
ponderable (pon'der-a-bl), a. and n. [= P.
ponderable = Sp. ponderable = Pg. ponderavel
= It. ponderabile, < LL. ponderabUis, that can
be weighed, < L. ponderare, weigh : seejponder.]
I, a. Capable of being weighed ; having weight.
If the bite of an asp will kill within an hour, yet the im-
pression scarce visible, and the poison communicated not
ponderable; we cannot as impossible reject this way of
desbnction. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iii. 27.
Immense as is the difference in density between ether
and ponderable matter, the waves of the one can set the
atoms of the other in motion.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., I. 30.
n. n. A substance that has weight.
ponderableness (pon'der-a-bl-nes), n. Ponder-
ability.
ponderal (pon'der-al), a. [= Y.ponderal = Sp.
ponderal, < LL. *ponderaUs (in neut. ponde-
rale, the public scales), < L. pondus (ponder--),
weight: see ponder and pouiidX.] Estimated
or ascertained by weight, as distinguished from
numeral or monetary. [Bare.]
ponderous
Thus did the money drachma in process of time de-
crease ; but all the while we may suppose the ponderal
drachma to have remained the same.
Arbuthnot, Auc. Coins.
ponderance (pon'der-ans), n. [< L. ponde-
ra H (<-)», ppr. oi ponderare, weigh: see ponder.]
Weight; gravity. [Rare.]
ponderate (pon'der-at), ». ; pret. and pp. pon-
derated, ppr. ponderating. [< L. ponderatus,
pp. of ponderare, weigh, ponder: see ponder.]
I.t trans. To ponder; consider. Wright.
n. intrans. To weigh; have weight or pon-
derosity— Panderating sinker, an anglers' sinker
made in two sections of lead like truncated cones, fitting
closely together and held &st by means of a brass screw.
ponderation (pon-de-ra'shon), n. [< OP._pon-
deration, F. ponderation = Sp. pondera^Mm =
Pg. porideraqao = It. ponderazione, < L. pon-
deratio(n-), a weighing, < ponderare, pp. pon-
deratus, weigh: see ponder.] If. The act of
weighing.
while we perspiro we absorb the outward air, and the
quantity of perspired matter, found by pondenj^ion, is
only the difference between that and the air imbibed.
ArbuthnoL
2. Weight. [Rare.]
It is not the ponderation ot personal evidence for or
against a word that should accredit or discredit it.
F. Haa, Mod. Eng., p. 35.
3t. Something that has weight; a considera-
tion.
Now, because his heart told him how light those proofs
were, he lays in the scales with them certaine grave pon-
derations, which, all put together, will prove almost as
weighty as the feather he wrote withaU.
Bp. HaU, Honour of Married Clergy, ilL 13.
ponderer (pon'der-er), n. [< ponder + -er^.]
One who ponders or reflects ; one who weighs
in his mind.
ponderingly (pon'der-ing-li), adv. In a pon-
dering manner; with consideration or delibera-
tion. Hammond, Works, IV. 497.
ponderling (pon'der-ling), n. [< ponder +
-Ung^.] A thing of little weight. [Bare.]
She hashed her jmniferZin^ against her bosom, and stood
aloof watehing, whilst another woman brought her child
to scale. C. Beade, Cloister and Hearth, xxxvi.
pondenuent (pon'der-ment), It. [< ponder +
-ment.] The act of pondering. [Rare.]
In deep and serions panderment
I wateh'd the motions of his next intent,
Byrom, Ecbbery of the Cambridge Coach.
ponderomotive (pon^der-o-mo'tiv), a. [Irreg.
< L. pondus (ponder-), weight, + ML. moUvus,
motive : see motive.] Tending to produce mo-
tion in a body; specifically, in elect., noting
the electrodynamic force excited between two
adjacent conductors carrying currents, in dis-
tinction from electromotive force.
ponderoset (pon'der-os), a. [< li.ponderosug,
of great weight: see ponderous.] aaime as pon-
derous.
A gi-and alliance with the Emperor and Spain brought
down ^ponderose army out of Germany.
Roger North, Examen, p. 470. (Davies.)
ponderosity (pon-de-ros'i-ti), n. [< F. ponde-
rosite = Sp. ponderosiddd = It. ponderositd, <
ML. ponderosita(t-)s, weightiness, ponderous-
ness, < li. ponderosus, weighty, ponderous: see
ponderous.] 1. Weightiness; heaviness; pon-
derous character or quality; gravity: literally
and figuratively.
And th' Earle of Surrey with Syr Thomas Wyat, the most
excellent makers of their time, more peradnenture respect,
ing the fitnesse and ponderosiHe of their wordes then the
true cadence or simphonie, were very licencious in this
point. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 145.
All the mynes which yow shall fynde, . . . after that at
the fyrste syght they haue shewed them seines to bee mynes
of metals, yow owght to consyder of what ponderositie of
weyght they are.
B. Eden, tr. of Vannuccio Biringuccio (First Books on
[America, ed. Arber, p. 358).
Gold is remarkable for its admirable ductility and j«m-
derosUy. Bay, Works of Creation, p. 98.
2. A weight; something heavy, literally or fig-
uratively; heavy matter.
Learned Ducange denies this fact, which the Verman-
dois genealogists maintain; these contests spoi-t amidst
the ponderosities of archaeology.
Sir F. Palgrave, Hist Eng. and Normandy, II. 197.
ponderous (pon'der-us), a. [< F. pondereux =
Sp. Pg. It. ponderoso, < 'L. ponderosus, of great
weight, weighty, heavy, < pondus (jwnder-),
weight: seepondei;poimd^.] l.Havingweight;
weighty; heavy; especially, very heavy; hence,
elTimsy or unwieldy by reason of weight: used
both literally and figm-atively.
The sepulchre . . .
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws.
Shak., Hamlet, i. 4. 50.
ponderous
Pressed with the ponderous blow,
Down sinks the ship within the abyss below.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., x.
In oases doubttull it is dangeions
T* admitte light Counoells ; lor, lor want ol weight,
Twil malce the case to be more ponderous
The whilst such Councells prove Aereous.
DavieSt Microcosmos, p. 50.
0, the temptation ! To make ol Ws ponderous sorrow a
security ! To sink, with its leaden weight upon him, and
never rise again I Hawthorne, Seven Oables, zri.
2t. Weighty; important; momentous.
Your more ponderous and settled project
May suffer alteration. Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 636.
3t. Disposed to ponder; thinking; thoughtful.
[Eare.J
The next perplexed Question, with pious and ponderous
men, will be— What should bee done for the healing of
these comfortlesse exulcerations?
N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 3.
Ponderous spar, heavy-spar, or baiytes. See barite.
=Syn. 1. Massive, Burly, etc. See bulki).
ponderously (pon'd6r-us-li); adv. In a ponder-
ous manner; with great weight.
ponderousness (pon'd6r-us-nes), n. Ponder-
ous character or quality; ponderosity; weight.
Such downy feathers as these will never make up the
pondffro^uxness of a mill-stone,
Jer. Taylor (7), Artif. Handsomeness, p. 126. (ZatAom.)
pond-fish (pond'fish), n. One of various fishes
found in ponds, (a) The pond-carp. (6) A pond-
perch; a sunflsh of the ^enus Pomotis or Lepomis, many
species of which abound in the TTnited States.
pondfoldt (pond'fold), n. An obsolete variant
ot pinfold.
pond-nen (pond'hen), n. The American coot.
See Fulica. [Massachusetts.]
pond-lily (pond'liFi), n, 1. A plant of the
aquatic genus NymjphaBa (Niiphar); a coarse
plant with yellow globular flowers, and large
shining leaves floating or erect (more fully,
yellow pond-lily ; also yellow water-lily); spatter-
dock. N. Ivtea is the common European plant ; JV. ad-
vena, the common species of eastern North America. The
yellow pond-lily ol Oregon, etc., is N.polysepala, the larg-
est species of the genus, with flowers sometimes 6 inches
across, and having large nutritious seeds largely gathered
by the Indians. See NymphmO-, 1.
2. A plant of the American species of Castalia
(Nymphssa), the white pond-lily, more properly
called water-lily. See Nymphasa^, 2.
pond-mullet (pond'muFet), n. A cyprinodont
fish, Fundulits bermudse. [Bermudas.]
pond-mussel (pond'mus"l), n. A fresh-water
mussel, as a unio or an anodon. A very com-
mon species is the swan-mussel, Anodonta cyg-
neus. See cut under Anodonta.
pond-perch (pond'p6reh), n. A sunfish; any
fish of the genus PomoUs or Lepomis.
pond-pickerel (pond'pik"e-rel), n. See picJc-
erel.
pond-pine (pond'pin), n. Seepine^.
pond-scum (pond skum), n. Ahj free-fioating
fresh-water alga that forms a scum on water;
specifically, one of the order Zygnemacese.
pond-shrimp (pond'shrimp), m. A phyllopod
crustacean of the family BranchvpoSidse. See
out -andev fairy-shrimp.
pond-snail (pond'snal), n. A gastropod of the
family lAmnieidsB, and especially of the genus
Limniea, as L. stagnalis. These have spiral turreted
shells. Members of Aneylus and related genera are simi-
lar pond-snails. Those whose shells are a flat or discoid
spiral belong to Planorits and related genera. The left-
handed or sinistral pond-snails are of a different family,
Physidse. Members of a third family, Paludinidm, are
also called pond-STmils. See the technical names, and cuts
under Lvmnaea, Lvmnaeidx, PaZudina, Physa, and Planor-
bis. Also called w/ud-snau.
pond-spice (pond'spis), n.
tranthera) geniculata,
of pine-barren ponds
from "Virginia to
Florida, it has small yel-
low flowers in clustered
umbels appearing before
the coriaceous leaves, glo-
bose red drupes, and re-
markably zigzag branches.
pond-turtle (pond'-
t^r'tl), n. A common
name in the United
States of the Emydi-
dsB, most of which are
also called terrapins,
and some of them rrmd-
turtles.
pondweed(pond'wed),
n. An aquatic herb
of the genus Potamo-
. geton, found in nume-
rous species in both Fniit-beanng Plant of Pond-
. . \_ _ weed {Potamo^eton natatis). a,
hemispheres. P.ntUans a flower.
A shrub, Litsea (Te-
4616
Is a species found floating or wholly immersed to ponds
and ditches in most parts of the world.— Cape Pond-
weed, a desirable aquarium plant from the Cape of Good
Hope, Aponogeton distaohyon of the Naiadaceee. It puts
forth fragrant flowers with pure-white bracts in the midst
of bright-green floating leaves. Compare Ouvirandra.—
Choke-pondweed, a fresh-water plant, Elodea (Ana-
charts) CarMdensis (A. Alsinastrum), introduced into Eu-
rope from North America, and in both continents so
thriving as often to obstruct canal navigation. [Eng.]—
Homed pondweed, a slender submerged plantj Zan-
niehellia palustris, widely distributed over the world : so
called from the beaked nutlets of the fruit.— Tassel
pondweed. Same as dUc?i-gra£S.
pone^ (pon)) n. [Formerly also paime; < Amer.
Ind. oppone (see first quot.).] 1. Combread;
in the southwestern United States, any bread
made of Indian corn, especially coarse kinds
used by the negroes and poorer whites, com-
monly called corn-pone; also, finer bread, made
with milk and eggs, in flat cakes about an inch
thick, very light and delicate. Bee johnny-cake,
hoe-cake.
The bread in gentlemen's houses is generally made of
wheat, but some rather choose the pone, which is the bread
made of Indian meal, . . . not so called from the Latin
panis, but from the Indian name oppone.
Beverley, Virginia, iv. H 72.
3. A loaf or cake of such bread.
Holding apcme of com bread in one hand, the half ot a
roasted chicken in the other.
W. Baker, New Timothy, p. 74.
[Southern United States in both uses.]
pone^ (po'ne), n. [< L. pone, impv. of ponere,
place: see ponent.'] In old Eng, law: (a) A.
writ whereby an action depending in an in-
ferior court might be removed into the Court
of Common Pleas. (J) A writ whereby the
sheriff was commanded to take seouritj; of a
person for his appearance upon an assigned
day.
pone' (po'ne), n. [< L. pone, impv. of ponere,
place: see^owen*. Ct.pone^.'\ In the game of
vingt-et-un, the player to the left of the dealer ;
the eldest hand.
ponent (po'nent), a. [< OF. ponent = Bp.poni-
ente = Pg. It. ponente, < ML. ponen(t-)s, the
west, the place of the setting sun, < L. jso-
nen{t-)s, ppr. of ponere, set, put, lay down, in-
trans. poet, fall, abate (of winds) ; prob. contr.
of *posnere, *posinere, let down, < po-, forward,
down, -I- sinere, let: see site.] 1. Western.
[Bare.]
Forth rush the Levant and the Ponemt winds,
Eurus and Zephyr. Milton, F. L., x. 704.
3. [cop.] A division of the Paleozoic strata in
Pennsylvania, according to the nomenclature
suggested by H. D. Rogers : it corresponds to
the Catskill group of the New York survey, form-
ing one of the divisions of the Upper Devonian.
ponente (po-nen'te), n. [It. : see ponent.'] In
Italy, the west; the region in the west: as, the
Riviera di Ponente; hence, the west wind.
Fonera (po-ne'ra), n. [NL. (Latreille, 1804),
< Gr. nov^'pdg, bad, useless, < ■kovsIv, be in dis-
tress.] An important genus of ants, typical of
the family Poneridee, distributed throughout
the tropics, p. ferruginea is a Mexican species. The
females and workers are armed with spines; the abdo-
men is elongated, with its first segment comparatively
large and often cubical
Foneridse (po-ner'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Ponera
+ -idee.] One of the five families into which
the true ants or Meterogyna are now divided.
They have the abdominal petiole single-jointed, the abdo-
men proper constricted between the first and second seg-
ments, and the mandibles inserted close together. Four
genera are represented in the United States.
ponerology (pon-e-rol'a-ji), n. [< Grr. mvtipd;,
bad, -t- -koyla, < ^yeiv, speak: see -ology.] In
theol., the doctrine of wickedness.
Fongamia (pon-ga'mi-a), n. [NL. (Ventenat,
1803), < E. Ind. pongam.'] A genus of legumi-
nous trees of the tribe Dalbergiese and subtribe
Lonchocarpese, characterized by its short, thick,
smooth, compressed, and wingless pod, by the
union of the ten stamens above into a tube, and
by the partial adherence of the wing-petals to
the keel. The only species, P. glabra, is a native of the
tropics from India and China to Australia and the Fiji
Islands. It bears smooth pinnate leaves, and white or
yellow flowers in racemes, ornamental In cultivation under
glass. The seeds yield kurnng- or poonga-oiL
pongee (pon-je'), ». [Said to be a corruption
of Chinese pUn-ki, 'own loom,' or of pun-chih,
'own weaving' (as if 'home-made'); but all
silks woven in China are stamped with one or
other of these phrases, along with the name of
the house selling them. According to another
suggestion, a corruption pf Chinese pim-shih,
'native (or wild) silk.'] A soft, unbleached
washing sUk resembling the tasar silk of In-
dia, woven in China, chiefiy in the province of
Pontederia
Shantung, from cocoons of a wild silkworm (At.
tacus pernyi) which feeds on a sorub-oak. The
finer kinds, bleached, dyed, or figured after
importation, are known m the trade as China
silks.
pongo (pong'gfl), n. [= F. pongo (NL. Pongo) ;
from a native name in Borneo.] 1. A large
anthropoid ape of Borneo, Simia (or Pitliecm)
wurmbi, not known to be distinct from the
ordinary orang-utan, Simia satyrus. — 2. [can.]
[NL.] A genus of apes, including the gonlia
{P. gorilla) and the chimpanzee (P. troglodytes).
Lacipide. [Little usedj
poniard (pon'yard), n. [An altered form of
eaxliev poiniard, poinard (also corruptly poino-
do, poinadoe) = MD. poniaerd, D. ponjaard, < F.
poignard, a poniard, < poimg, fist, < L. pugnui,
fist: Bee pugnacious. CLSp.puflal=:fg.pwihal
— It.pugnale, a poniard, of the same ult. origin.]
Poniard, entirely of steel, Z7th century.
A stabbing-weapon ; a dagger: applied to any
such weapon, without reference to shape or
make.
Those bloody brothers, Hastings and the rest,
Sheath'd their sharp poniards in his manly breast.
Drayton, Miseries of Queen Margaret
poniard (pon'yard), V. t. [= F. poignarder;
from the noun.] To stab with or as with a,
poniard.
But may be it is your ladyship's pleasure that this youUit
esquire shall poniard the servants, as well as switch ann
baton them. SoM, Abbot, It.
ponibilityt (po-ni-bil'i-ti), «. [< h. ponere,
place {see ponent), + -ibiUiy.'] The capability
of being placed. Barrow. [Rare.]
pons (ponz), ». ; pi. jjowtes (pon'tez). [L. (>It.
ponte = Sp. puente = Pg. poniss = F. pont = W.
pont), a bridge: see path.] In anat., a part
which connects two parts, as if brid^ng the
interval between them. Except in phrases, it de«ii-
nates the ventral part of the epencephalon, of vhlw
the cerebellum constitutes the remaining dorsal part
The ventral part of the pons is formed by the heavy
masses of transverse fibers coming from the middle pedun-
cles of the cerebellum. Also called 2>(m« Vardii«aipmt
cerebeUi.- Brachium pontlB. See ArocAium.— Pons
asinorum. [L., 'bridge of asses,' F. pont awe d«ei,
'bridge for asses.' The Latin expression was applied
early in the sixteenth century to a diagram Bhowlag
how to find middle terms to arguments, and "common-
ly called the pons asinorum on account of its apparent
difficulty" ; OF. pont a/ux asnes de logicque (Rabelais), "the
conversion of propositions" (Cotgrave); hence, "e'eAU
pont aux asnes (applicable when such as are ignorant ol
the true reason or cause of things impute them to witch-
craft, fortune, etc.), a shift, evasion, help at a pinch, tor s
dunce" (Cotgrave), in mod. use equiv. to "everybody
knows that," "it is a trite thing." The original allusion
seems to have been to the diSlculty of getting asses to
cross a bridge ; hence, to the difiiculty of getting student!
to apprehend what is in fact simple enough if attempted.]
A name given to the fifth proposition of the first book of Eu-
clid, which sets forth that, if a triangle has two of its sides
equal, the angl^ opposite to these sides are also equal
This proposition affords a difficulty to the learner, because
it is the first one involving any mathematical puzzle. The
name is also carelessly given to the Pythagorean propo-
sition (Euc. I. 47). — Pons hepatls, a prolongation, of-
ten present, of the substance of the left lobe of the liver,
uniting it with the square lobe across the umbilical As-
sure.- Pons Taxlni, the posterior perforated space at the
base of the brain; a depressed gray tract between the di-
verging crura cerebri and behind the corpora albicantla.—
Pons Varolii, or pons cerebelll. See def.
Pontaca (pon'tak), n. [From Pontacq, in the
Basses-Pyr6n6es, France, where it is made.] A
white wine from southern France, similar to
Barsae in flavor.
pontage (pon'taj), n. [< OF. pontage = Sp.po"-
taje,pontazgo = lt. pontaggio, < ML. pontaticum
(also, after OF., potitagium), bridge-toll, < L-
pon(t-)s, bridge : see pons."] A toll or tax for
the privilege of using a bridge, or a tax for the
maintenance and. repair of bridges.
The citizens of Hereford fined, in the second year of
Henry III., in a hundred marks and two palfreys, . . •
that they might be quit throughout England of toll and
lastage, of passage, pontage, and stallage, and of leve, ana
danegeld, and gaywitev and all other customs and eiac-
tions. S. Douiell, Taxes In England, L 26.
pontal (pon'tal), a. [< L. pon(t-)s, a bridge,
+ -al.] Same a.8 pontile.
Fontederia (pon-te-de'ri-a), n. [NL. (Linnsus,
1737), named alter Gixiho'Pontedera, 1688-1757,
professor of botany at Padua, author of acom-
pend of botany, etc.] A genus of monocotyle-
donous aquatic plants, type of the order Po«l«-
deriaceee, characterized by the funnel-shaped
and two-lipped corolla, six stamens, versatile
Fontederia
anthers, and compound ovary witb one cell and
one ovule. There are but 7 or 8 species, all American,
growing in shallow water, with rootstocks creeping in the
mad or floating, and covered by long sheaths. The long
stout leafstalks rise erect often 2 feet above the water, each
bearing a shigle arrow-shaped, lanceolate, or roundish leaf,
with many fine parallel curving veins. The flowers rise a
little higher, forming a dense cylindrical spike, blueor pur-
ple, or i-arely white, and remarkable for theh* tiimorphous
stamens, having three lengths of filaments, and three
reciprocally different lengths of styles, present in different
flowers, facilitating cross-fertilization. P. cordata, which
is found throughout nearly the whole length of America, is
known in the northern United States as pCekerel-weed, and
in the southern as vjampee. Several former species are now
separated as the genus Eie?Uu>mia, as E. taurea, the water-
plantain of Jamaica, and E. crasH^, the bladder-stalked
pickerel-weed or garaalote of Gmana, cultivated (under
the name Pontederia) in tanks under glass as a singular
bladder-bearing and floating plant.
Pontederiacese (pon-te-de-ri-a'se-e), n. pi.
[NL. (Achilla Eichard', 1828), < Pontederia +
-acexJ] An order of monoeotyledonous plants
of the series Coronariese. it is characterized by a
perianth of three petals and three similar sepals, all united
below into a tube and forming unequal lobes above, by a
superior ovary of three complete or imperfect carpels, form-
ing a dry fruity and by a straight cylindrical embryo ex-
tending through the center of copious farinaceous albu-
men. It includes 35 species, in 5 genera, of which PoTi-
tederia and Heieranthera are the chief, natives of warm
northern and extratropical southern regions, extending to
Canada, China, and Japan, but lacking in Europe. They
are aquatics, erect or floating in fresh water from root-
stocks which lie horizontally in the mud, or which extend
as runuers floating on the water.
pontee (pon-te'), n. Same as pontil.
pontes, It. Plural otpons.
Pontic! (pon'tik), a. [= P. ponUque = Pg. It.
ponUco, < L. Ponticus, < Gr. lUn/rtKds, Pontic,
< TldvToc, the Black Sea, a particular use (also
applied to the .^gean and to the whole Medi-
terranean) of TniiToc, the sea, esp. the open
sea.] Of or pertaining to the Pontus, Euxine,
or Black Sea, or the regions near it.
Like to the Pontic sea,
Whose Icy current and compulsive coarse
Ne'er feels retiring ebb. Shale., Othello, iii. 3. 4S2.
pontic^ (pon'tik), a. [< 'h.pon{t-)s + -ic] Of
or pertaining to the pons of the brain.
Thirteen of the eases occurred between the ages of ten
and twenty-nine^ the only case over forty behig one of
pantie abscess. Ziancet, Na 3475, p. 739.
pontifex (pon'ti-feks), n. ; pi. pontifices (pon-
tif'i-sez). [h.: see pontiff.'] 1. In Eom.antiq.,
a member of the principal college of priests
who was not assigned to the service of any par-
ticular god, but performed general functions of
the state religion. The cmef of the pontifices
was styled ^OMiJ^ar maximus, and was ex officio
the highest religious authority in the statu. —
2. Eccles., a bishop; specifically, the Popd.
Well has the name ot pontifex been given
Unto the Church's head, as the chief builder
And architect of the invisible bridge
That leads from Earth to Heaven.
Lonsfellow, Golden Legend, v.
pontiff (pon'tif ), n. [< P. pontife, OP. pontif
= Sp. pontiflce = Pg. It. pontifiee, a pontiff, <
L. vontifex, pontufex (-fie-), a high priest, pon-
tifex {see pontifex'), UL. ecel. a bishop, ML. NL.
the Pope, lit. (and so used in ML.) 'bridge-
maker, Dridge-builder' (prob. orig. so called as
having charge of the making or maintenance of
a bridge — it is said, of the Sublician bridge built
over the Tiber by Ancus Marcius), < pon{t-)s,
bridge, + facer e, make: see /act] 1. In Bom.
antiq., a chief piiest: same a.s pontifex, 1.
The reverence which the people showed for the em-
perors was due to the fact that they all, from Augustus
to Theodosius, were sovereign Pontiffs.
Faitktofthe World, p. 205.
The supreme Dflnti^ was in the religion of the state what
the father was in the religion of the family. His dwelling
was in the regia close to the altar of Vesta, the sacred
hearth of the state. Eneyc. Brit., XIX. 455.
2. A Jewish high priest. — 8. jEcctes., a bishop;
especially, the Bishop of Eoine, as the head of
the church; the Pope. Also called the supreme
pontiff.
To secure the papal recognition he empowered the
bishops of Durham and St. David's to perform that " filial
and catholic obedience which was of old due and accus-
tomed to be paid by the kings of England to the Soman
ponHfi." Slubhs, Const. Hist., § 361.
ppntific (pon-tif'ik), a. [Irreg. aceom. to ad-
jectives in -fie; = Sp. Pg. It. poiitifieio, < L.
ponUfieius, of or belonging to a pontiff, pontifi-
<al, < pontifex (-fie-), pontiff: see pontifex.'j
1. Of or pertaining to the pontifices of ancient
Rome.
The Poraiflek College witb their AngniB and Hamins
taught them [the Bomans] in Religion and Law.
MUton, Areopagitica, p. 8.
2. Of or pertaining to a pope ; papal.
4617
Nor yet surceas'd with John's disastrous fate
PonHJic fury '. Skenttone, Euined Abbey.
pontifical^ (pon-tif 'i-kal), a. and n. [< P. j»on-
tifical = Sp. Pg. pontifical = It. pontificale, < L.
pontificalis, of or belonging to a pontiff, ML.
of or belonging to a bishop or the Pope (as a
noun pontifical, neut., a book of offices, ponti-
ficalia, neut. pi., pontifical vestments), < jjonti-
f ex (-fie-), -pontiS: see pontiff.] I, a. 1. Of, be-
longing to, or befitting a pontiff or high priest.
Thus did I keep my person fresh and new ;
My presence, like a robe ponUfictU,
Ne'er seen but wonder'd at.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iiL 2. 56.
2. Of or pertaining to a bishop. — 3. Of or per-
taining to the Pope of Eome; papal; popish.
Than she came to the Pope's palays in Auignon, and
there alighted and went to see the Pope, who sat in con-
systory in a chayre pontyficaU.
Bemers, tr. of Froissart's Cliron., n. civ.
Guibert the Antipope, who, by the aid of the Imperial
arms, . . . had filled Home with every kind of violence,
crime, and bloodshed, invaded the pmOifieat throne, and
driven forth the rightful Pope.
MUman, Latin Christianity, III. 208.
Pontifical choir, the choir of the Sistine Chapel in Borne.
— Pontifical indiction. See indietion, 3.— Pontifical
mass, a mass celebrated by a bishop wearing his insignia.
n. n. 1. In liturgies, an office-book of the
Western Chiu'ch, containing the forms for the
sacraments and other rites and ceremonies
which can be performed only by a bishop (es-
" pecially those for ordination, confirmation, and
consecration of churches), the changes in the
rubrics necessary when a bishop officiates,
benedictions, and other forms, some of which
can be used by priests who have received spe-
cial commission from the bishop. Pontiflcalswere
probably first introduced in the eighth centui7. In the
Anglican Church since the Beformation the office of con-
firmation is contained in the Book of Common Prayer, to
which the ordinal also is united. In the Greek Church
the offices for confirmation and ordination are included in
the Euchologion.
2. pi. The insignia of a pontiff; the dress, orna-
ments, etc., of a bishop or pope, or, more loose-
ly, those of a priest. See pontificalia.
Bobed in tTaeix porMfteala,
England's ancient prelates stood.
WhUtier, Curse of the Charter-Breakers.
St. A kind of ouch in use in the sixteenth cen-
tury. Fairliolt.
pontifical^t (pon-tif'i-kal), a. [< L. pontifex
(-fie-), lit. sense, as in Mh., 'bridge-builder':
seeponUff. Gt. ponUficat^.'] Of or pertaining
to bridge-building. [Bare.]
Now had they brought the work by wondrous art
Pwntijicdl, a ridge of pendent rock,
Over the vex'd abyss. Milton, F. L., x. 313L
pontificalia (pon-tif-i-ka'li-a), n. pi. [ML. : see
ponUficaP-.] The insignia of a bishop, in the
western Church these are me pastoral staff, miter, ring,
pectoral cross, cathedra or diocesan throne^ episcopal
vestments, gloves, and sandals. In the Greek Church
they are the pateressa, encolpion, throne, and special
vestments with omophorion, polysiaurion or aaccos, and
epigonation.
pontificaUtyf (pon-tif-i-kal'ji-ti), n. [< OP. pon-
tifiealiti; stspontifimP- + -»%.] 1. The state,
dignity, and government of the Pope ; the pa-
pacy.
Charles the fifth, emperor, who was accounted one of the
Pope'sbest sons, yet proceeded in matters temporal towards
Pope Clement with strange rigour, never regarding the
pmtifiedlitu, but kept him prisoner thirteen months in a
pestilent prison. Baxan,, Charge against William Talbot.
When the poiAifiaAilty was first set up in Borne, all na-
tions from East fo West did worship the Pope no other-
wise than of old the Csssars.
{TsAer, Judgment on the See of Borne, p. 20.
2. pi. Same as pontifiMtP-, 2.
He himself [the Bishop of Paris] was that day in his
sumptuous Pontiflcalities, wearing religions ornaments of
great price. Caryat, Crudities, I. 37, sig. D.
pontifically (pon-tif 'i-kal-i), adv. In a pontifi-
cal manner ; specifically, after the manner of a
bishop; officially as bishop.— To assist pontifi-
cally, to be present officially as bishop without being cele-
brant or officiant. In the Anglican Church the bishop
when present at the enciiorist pronounces the absolution
and -gives the beuediction.
After sermon yo Bishop (Dr. Wren) gave us the blessing
very pontifieaUy. Evdyn, Diary, Feb. 10, 1661.
pontificate (pon-tif'i-kat), n. [< P. pontificat
= Sp. Pg. pontifi^ado = It. pont^eato, < li.pon-
UfUsatus, the office of a pontiff, <. pontifex (-fie-),
pontiff: see pontiff.] 1. The office or dignity
of a pontiff, high priest, or pope.
He turned hermit in the view of being advanced to the
ponUflcate. Addison.
2. The time during which a pontifical office is
held by any given incumbent.
pontonier
After the pontificate of Clement V. the hold of the papncy
on the nation was relaxing.
Stvbbs, Medieval and Modem Hist, p. 306.
pontificate (pon-tif'i-kat), c. j. ; pret. and pp.
pontificated, ppr. pontificating. [< ilL. poniifi-
catus, pp. of poutifieare, perform a pontifl's
duties, <L.^oniJfea:(-^c-), pontiff: see pontiff.]
To act officially as pontiff or bishop; especial-
ly, to say pontifical mass.
The golden reed is used to this day by the Pope when-
ever he solemnly pontifieates.
Book, Church of our Fathers, i. 167.
pontifiee (pon'ti-fis), n. [< lj.pon{t-)s, a bridge,
+ -ficium, < facere, make. Of. ML. ponttfex
(-fie-), a bridge-builder: see pontiff.] Bridge-
work; the structure or edifice of a bridge; a
bridge. [Bare.]
At the brink of Chaos, near the foot
Of this new, wondrous ,pon/(/ic£,
MiUan, P. L., z. 348.
pontifices, n. Plural otponUfex.
pontificialf (pon-ti-fish'al), a. [< li. fonUficius
(see pontifie) + -al.] Of or pertaining to a
pontiff; pontifical; hence, papal; popish.
I have my puritan news, my protestant news, and my
porMficial news. B. Jonson, World in the Moon.
pontificianf (pon-ti-fish'an), a. and n. [< L.
ponUfieius, of or belonging to a pontiff (see
pontific), 4- -an.] I, a. Of or pertaining to
the Pope ; pontificial.
The ponUfidan laws. Bp. Hall, Peace-maker, ii. § 2.
II. n. An adherent of the Pope or of the
papacy.
In some of our hands they [the keys of heaven] are suf-
fered to rust for want of use, in others (as the PontifieiaTts)
the wai'ds are altered, so as they can neither open nor
shut. Bp. HaU, Bighteous Mammon.
That in the Public Office or Liturgy of the Church of
England is nothing but what is consonant to the faith, the
pamHfickms grant. Eselyn, Tme Religion, II. 353.
pontil(pon'til),n. [^Wsopuntel(,a,iidpontee,pun-
tee, ponty, punty); < P. pontil, dim. of point, a
point: see point. Ct. pointel.] An iron rod
used in glass-making for handling, and espe-
cially for I'evolving rapidly, the soft glass in
the process of formation, especially in the mak-
ing of crown-glass.
pontile (pon'til), a. [< LL. pontilis, belonging
to a bridge, < L. pon(t-)s, a bridge.] Of or
pertaining to the pons of the brain. Also jjom-
tal, pontine.
pontinal (pon'ti-nal), a. and n. [< L. pon(t-)s,
a bridge.] I. a. Bridging; forming a bridge
over a gap, as among cranial bones.
II. n. A bone of the skull of some fishes ; a
modified bone of the infra-orbital chain of bones
bridging the interval between the second sub-
orbital and the preoperculum, as in the Daety-
lopteroidea. Gill, Amer. Nat. (1888), p. 358.
Pontine^ (pon'tin), a. [Also Pomptine; = P.
pontins (pi.) = It. pontine (pi.), < L. Pontinus,
PompUnus, an appellation given to a district
in Latium near Pometia, and particularly used
of extensive marshes there; appar. a var. of
Pometinus, of or belonging to Pometia, < Pome-
tia, an old town of the Volscians.] Of or re-
lating to an extensive marshy district south-
east of Bome, called the Pontine Marslies.
pontine^ (pon'tin), a. [< L. pon(t-)s, bridge,
-I- -ine'-.] Same as pontile.
Pontile (sometimes, incorrectly, zxmM?ie or pontal).
BxuXs Bandbook of Med. Sdenees, vm. 524.
Pont r£v§que cheese. See cheese^.
pontlevis (pont-lev'is), n. [< F.ponflevis, a draw-
bridge, the rearing of a horse, < pont (< L.
pon(t-)s), bridge, + levis, OF. leveHs, levadis =
Pr. levadis = Sp. leiiadizo =: Pg. levadigo, that
maybe raised or drawn up, < L. as if *levaticitis,
< levare, raise: -see levy^. Cf. It. levatojo, a
drawbridge.] 1. A drawbridge.
Yonder 's a plum-tree, with a crevice
An owl would build in, were he hut sage,
For a lap of moss, like a fine ponUevu
In a castle of the middle age.
Joins to a lip of gum pure amber.
Browning, Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis.
2. In the manage, the resistance of a horse by
rearing repeatedly so as to be in danger of
falling over.
Pontocaspian (pon-to-kas'pi-an), a. [< PonUe
+ Caspian.] Relating to t£e regions which
drain into the Caspian and Black seas.
The water-shed of the Pontocosptan area.
HwHey, Crayfldi, vi
pontont, n. An obsolete form ot pontoon.
pontonier (pon-to-ner'), n. [Also pontonnier;
= lt. pontoniere, kV. pontonnier, <, ponton, &poT\-
toon: see pontoon.] A soldier who has charge
Pontoons in place for Fontoon-bridgfe.
balks for supporting the roadway ; b, road-
way complete.
pontonier
of pontoons ; also, one who constructs pontoon-
bridges.
pontoon (pon-ton'), n. [Formerly ponton; <
F. ponton = Sp. ponton = Pg. pontSo = It. pon-
tone, < LL. ponto(n-), a pontoon, lt.ponto(n-), a
kind of Gallio transport, a punt, < pon{t-)s, a
bridge: see pons, path. Ct.punt^.'] 1. Inmilit.
engin., a flat-bottomed boat, or any light frame-
work or floating structure, used in the construc-
tion of a temporary bridge over a river. One
form of pontoon
is a hollow cylin-
der of tin-plate,
with hemispher-
ical ends, divid-
ed by several
longitudinal and
transverse par-
titions to act as
braces and to
prevent sinking
If pierced by a
shot or accidentally. Another is in the form of a decked
canoe, consisting of a timber frame covered with sheet-
copper, and formed in two distinct parts, which are locked
together for use and dislocated tor transportation, and
also divided into air-tight chambers.
2. Naut., a lighter; a low flat vessel resem-
bling a barge, furnished with cranes, capstans,
and other machinery, used in careening ships,
chiefly in the Mediterranean. Admiral Smyth.
— 3. In hydraul. engin. : (a) A water-tight struc-
ture or frame placed beneath a submerged ves-
sel and then filled with air to assist in refloating
the vessel. (6) A water-tight structure which
is sunk by filling with water and raised by pump-
ing it out, used to close a sluiceway or entrance
to a dock. Also spelled ^oreioj!. — 4. In anat., a
loop or knuckle of the small intestine : so called
from the way it appears to float in the abdomi-
nal cavity. See the quotation under mesentery.
— 5. In brewing, one of the cleansing-rounds
or cleansing-squares used for clarifying ale.
pontoon-bridge (pon-ton'brij), «. A platform
or roadway supported upon pontoons.
Fontoon-bridge at Coblentz on the Rhine.
pontoon-train (pon-ton'tran), n. Mint, the
carriages or wagons and materials carried with
an army to construct bridges.
pontopnldian (pon-to-fid'i-an), n. [< Gr. irov-
Tof, the sea, + b^iSiov, dim. of 60«f, a snake.]
A sea-serpent.
Fontopona (pon-to-po'ri-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
ir&i>Tog, the sea, +" Triipof," passage, pore: see
pore^."] A genus of delphinoid odontocete ce-
taceans. It contains a small estuarine American dol-
phin, P. blainvillei, about 5 feet long, with a developed
4618
bridge used in sieges for surprising a fort or
outwork that has but a narrow moat. It is com-
posed of two small bridges IsJd one above the other, and
io contrived that, by the aid of cords and puUeys, the
upper one may be pushed forward tUl it reaches the des-
tined point. . . . . , ci
ponty (pon'ti), n. ; pi. ponties (-tiz). Same as
ponty-'sticker (pon'ti-stik"6r), n. In glass-mak-
ing, a workman who affixes a quantity of blown
glass to the ponty or pontil.
pony (po'ni), n.; pi. ponies (-niz). [Formerly
&\so poney,poti>ney; prob. < OF.poulenet, a colt;
at poul-eniel, pouUnel, a colt, dim. otpoulain, a
colt: see pullen. The word is thus ult. con-
nected with Gr. 7ru;Wf, a foal: see foal. The
Gael, ponaidh, as well as Ir. poni, a pony, F.
poney, a pony, are from E.] 1. A very small
horse; specifically, a horse less than 13 hands
in height. The Shetland breed of ponies are stoutly
built, active and hardy, with very full mane and tail, and
of gentle, docile disposition. In western parts of the
United States all the small hardy horses {mustangs or
broncos) used by the Indians are called ponies.
I have bought two more ponies, so we are strong in
pigmy auadrupeds.
Sydney Smith, To Mrs. Holland, June 3, 1835.
A pony must be less than 52 inches (13 hands) from the
ground to the top of the withers. . . . Ponies, as a rule,
will do far more work than a full-sized horse.
JETKyc. Brit., XII. 191.
3. The sum of £25. [English sporting slang.]
He is equally well amused whether the play is high or
low, but the stake he prefers is fives and ponies.
Greville, Memoirs, Aug. 15, 1818.
3. A translation of a Greek or Latin author
used unfairly in the preparation of lessons;
hence, any book so used: same as horse^, 9.
[School and college slang.] — 4. A very small
drinking-glass. (a) A glass holding about a mouthful
of spirits, as brandy. (2>) A glass holding about a gill of
beer.
5. The quantity (of liquor) contained in such
a glass. — 6. A small raft of logs. [Delaware.]
— 7. In the West Indies, a small tree, Tecoma
serratifolia. [Pony is used in composition to denote
something small of its kind, as pony-smo, pmiy^enMne,
etc.]— Jerusalem pony, an ass. [Slang.]=Syn. 1. Pony,
Colt, FiUy. A pony is a small horse, especially of a small
breed, as a Shetland pony ; a colt is a young horse, and
distinctively a male ; afiUy is a young mare.
pony (po'ni), V. t. ; pret. and pp. ponied, ppr.
ponying. [< pony, «.] To use a pony in trans-
lating: as, to pony a piece of Latin. [School
and college slang.]
pony-engine (p6'ni-en"jin), n. On a railroad,
a small drill-engine, or a yard-engine used at
stations for moving cars and making up trains.
pony-saw (p6'ni-s&), n. A small gang-saw used
for sawing timber into boards.
pony-truck (po'ni-truk), n. A two-wheeled lead-
ing truck used in some forms of locomotives.
P, 0. O. An abbreviation ot post-office order, a
money-order issued by the post-office.
pooa, puya^ (p5'a, po'ya), n. [E. Ind.] An
urticaceous plant, Maoutia (Baehmeria) Puya,
of northern India, its stem is 6 or 8 feet high, and
yields a fiber similar to ramie (that of Bcehmeria nivea).
Aiso pooah.
pood (pod), n. [Formerly also pode (= "F.poude
= G. pud) ; < Russ. pudu.'\ A Russian weight,
equal to 40 Russian pounds, or 36 pounds avoir-
dupois.
Pontoporia blainvillei.
dorsal fin, long slender Jaws with from 200 to 240 teeth,
about 40 vertebrae, the sternum of two pieces, the ribs 10
in number, of which 4 join the sternum, and the blow-hole
transverse and cresoentic. This genus connects the Pla-
tanistidiB or fluviatile dolphins with the Delphinidae or
true marine dolphins, poraoises, grampuses, etc. Also
called Sterudelphis. Also Pontoporus.
Fontoporiinse (pon-to-p6-ri-i'ne), n. pi. [NL.,
< Pontoporia + -inas.J A subfamily of Delphi-
nidse, represented by the genus Pontoporia.
There is an evident external neck ; the frontal area is ex-
panded and little depressed ; the postorbital process of
the frontal bone and the zygomatic process of the squa-
mosal project outward ; and the maxillary is crested, with
a free margin over the orbital region.
pont-volant (pont-vo-lanf), n. [< F. pont vo-
lant: pont, bridge (see jpons); volant, flying:
see voUnf] Milit., a flying-bridge ; a kind of
I haue bought .
of tried tallowe.
, for 77. robles f oure hundred podes
Hakluyt's Voyages, L 302.
poodle (po'dl), n. [= Sw. Dan. pudel = D. poe-
del(-]tond), < LG. pudel, G. pudel, pudel-hund,
a poodle, poodle-dog; prob. < Ui. pndelri, pud-
deto, waddle ; cf.G.j)«^foi, splash. Ct.pvMle'^.']
One of a breed of usually undersized fancy or
toy dogs, with long curly hair. They are intelli-
gent and affectionate, and are much used as pets. There
are many varieties, one of which is the French barbet.
Poodles are said, perhaps without sufficient reason, to be
especially liable to rabies.
Focecetes (p6-e-se'tez), n. [NL. (Baird, 1858, iu
the form Poocxtes), < Gr. ir6a, grass, -I- olKijT^g,
an inhabitant.] A genus of North American
fringilline birds, having the inner secondaries
lengthened, the tail long and emarginate, with
white lateral feathers, the wing pointed, with
bay on the bend, and the whole plumage streak-
ed. The only species, P. gramineus, is the well-known
grassfinch, bay-winged bunting, or vesper-bird, one of the
commonest sparrows oj the United States, migratory,
granivorous, a sweet songster, and nesting on the ground.
See cut under grassfinch.
pooh (po or pu), interj. [Also poh, and formerly
puh,pough, pow; cf. Icel. pH, pooh; of. pugh,
pho, phoo, phy, fie\ etc.] ' An exclamation of
dislike, scorn, or contempt.
Povgh ! pr'ythee never trouble thy Head with such Fancies.
Prior, The Thief and the Cordelier.
pool
pooh-pooh (p6'p6), interj. [Reduplication of
pooh.'] An exclamation indicating contemnt
—The pooli-pooh theory of language, lee languimi
pooh-pooh (p6'po), V. t. l<pooh, pooh, a re^
peated form otpooh, interj.} To turn aside from
with a "Pooh"; express dislike, scorn, or con-
tempt for; sneer at.
George pooh-poohed the wine and bullied the waiten
royally. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxvi.
Surely if we could recall that early bitterness . . . ve
should not pooh-pooh the griefs of our children.
George Eliot, Mill on the Hoas 1 7.
pookoo (p6'k6), n. [African.] A kind of kob
or water-antelope of Africa, Kobus vardoni.
See kob.
pooll (pol), n. [< ME. pool, pole, pol, < AS.
£61 = OFries. pol = D. poel = MLG. fol,
G. p6l,pohl, pul = MHG. phuol, pfuol, G.
pfuhl = iSel. jjoKr = Sw. D&n.pol, pool; prob.
of Celtic origin: < Ir. poU, pull, a hole, pit, also
roire, dirt, = Gael, poll, a hole, pit, bog, pond,
pool, also mire, mud, = W. pwll = Corn, pol
= Manx jjo^M, a pool, puddle, = Bret, poull, a
pool; cf. h.pdt'us (pdlud-), a marsh, = Gr. mi-
}i6g, mud: see palus. Cf. pill^, from the same
source.] 1. A small body of standing water;
a small pond.
At last I left them
I' the filthy mantled pool beyond your cell.
Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 182.
2. A part of a small stream where the bed sud-
denly deepens and broadens, forming a rela-
tively still, deep, and wide stretch of water.
Such pools as be large and have most gravel, and shal-
lows where fish may sport themselves, do afford fish of the
purest taste. I. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 199;
The sleepy ^ooZ above the dam,
The^orbeneath it never still.
Tennyson, Miller's Baughter.
3. (a) In Pennsylvania, on some of the rivers
of the mining regions, a stretch of water lying
between two river-dams. Hence — (6) The
country adjacent to such pools.
During a strike last fall on one of the pods of the Monon-
gahela river, a body of miners from one of the other poob
came up in a steamboat with a brass band and paraded
around the mines, while a committee urged the men who
had remained at work despite the strike to come out and
join them. N. A. Hev., CXLIIL 276.
4. A measure of work in slating, or covering
houses with slate, equal to 168 square feet in
all, or to 84 square feet on each side of th«
roof. Hallimell. [Prov. Eng.] — 5. In decora-
tine a/rt, a rounded depression, small and sboi't
in comparison with its width. Compare fluting.
—Pool flshway. See;!«AMra!/.— Salmon-poolii, eddies
where the salmon collect. Formerly, in some parts of
New England, these pools or eddies were numbered, and
the fishermen living near the streams had certain righti
in them. Mass. Bep., 1866, p. 32.
pool^ (p61), m. [Formerly jjOttZe; <F.j)OMte,pool,
stakes (= Sp. poTla, pool, stakes, = Pg. jjoifto,
a mark or counter in certain games), lit. 'the
hen '(the stakes being regarded as eggs to be
gained from the hen), a particular use of F.
poule (= Sp. polla = Pg. polha, a hen), < ML,
puUa, f ., hen,< L. jmZiics, m., a chicken, a young
animal: seei)ttHet. The same element occurs
prob. in polecat.} 1. The stakes in certain
games of cards, billiards, etc. — 2. A game
played on a billiard-table with six pockets by
two or more persons, (o) in the United Stat*!, a
game played with fifteen balls, each ball numbered and
counting from one to fifteen. The object of each pls^er
is to pocket the balls, the number on each ball being
g laced to his credit. Also called pyranM pool. (6) In
reat Britain, a game in which each player is provided
with a differently colored or numbered ball, with which, •
playing on the others in a fixed order, he endeavors to
pocket as many of them as possible.
3. In horse-racing, hall-games, etc., the combi-
nation of a number of persons, each staking a
sum of money on the success of a horse in »
race, a contestant in a game, etc., the money
to be divided among the successful betters ac-
cording to the amount put in by each; also, the
money so staked. — 4. In rifle-shooting, firing
for prizes on the principle that every competi-
tor pays a certain sum for every shot, and the
proceeds after a certain deduction are divided
among the successful competitors. — 5. A set
of players, as at the game of quadrille or comet;
also, one of the counters used in such games.
What say you to a j»m2e at comet at my house?
Southeme. (Lathm.)
She had also asked htai twice to dine at Kosings, and
had sent for him only the Saturday before, to make up
her j>oo2 of quadrille in the evening.
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, nv.
Quadrille pools are the fishes or other counters used in
playing the old-fashioned game of quadrille. . ,„
Jf. ondQ.,7thser.,I.4n-
pool
6. A combination intended bjr concert of ac-
tion to make or control changes in market rates.
More specitteally — (o) A Joint adventure by several owners
of a specifled atock or other security temporarily subject-
ing all their holdings to the same control tor the purposes
of a speculative operation, in which any sacrifice of the
shares contributed by one, and any profit on the shares
contributed by another, shall be shared by all alilce. (6)
A combination of the interests of several otherwise com-
peting parties, such as rival transportation lines, in which
all talce conmion ground as I'egai-ds the public, and distrib-
ute the profits of the business among themselves eyually
or according to special agreement. In this sense pooling
is a system of reconciling conflicting interests, and of o1?
viating I'uinous competition, by which the several compet-
ing parties or companies throw their revenue into one com-
mon fund, which is then divided or redistributed among
the members of the pool on a basis of percentages or pro-
portions previously agi'eed upon or determined by arbitra*
tion.— Blind POOL a pool or combination the purpose of
which Is known only to the organizers, to whom the other
members of the pool leave the entire management of the
transaction. See def. 6 (a).— Kn-pool, a game played on
a billiard-table with tliree balls, and five small pins, num-
bered from one to five. The object of each player is, with
the pins he upsets and a number assigned specially to him-
self, to score 81 points.
pooP(p61),v. [<pooZ2,».] 1, trans. Toputinto
one common fund or stock for the pnrpose of
dividing or redistributing in certain propor-
tions; make into a common fund: as, to pool
interests.
The common method of accomplishing this [dividing the
trafilc between competing lines] is to pool the receipts and
to redistribute them on percentages based upon experience
and decided by an arbitrator. Pop. Sci. Mo., XXVIII. 687.
TojPOOl Issues. See isstie.
n. mtrans. To form a pool; make common
cause in some matter.
Most of the class who may be called railroad professors
favor "moling under regulation."
The Nalim, XLVII. Hi.
pool^t, »• A Middle English form of poleK
pool-ball (pol'bai), 11. One of the ivory balls
used in the game of pool.
pooler (p8'16r), n. An instrument for stirring
a tan-vat.
pool-room (pBl'rBm), 11. A room in which pools
on races, etc., are sold.
pool-rush, n. See pole-rush.
pool-seller (pbl'seH^r), n. One who sells
pools on any event, as a horse-race, boat-race,
election, etc..
pool-snipe (pBl'snip), n. The redshank, TotemMS
calidris : so called from its haunts. [En^.]
pool-ticket (p8rtik"et), n. A ticket entitling
the holder to a share in the proceeds of a pool.
See pool^, n.
poon (pon), n. See poorMiioocl.
poonahUte (p8'na-lit), n. [< Poonah (see def.)
-I- Gr. Xido^, stone'.^ A variety of scolecite from
Poonah in India.
poena- wood (p8'na-wud), n. Same as poon-
wood.
poonay-oil, poon-oil (po'na-oil, pon'oil), n. A
thick dark-green oil of strong scent and bitter
taste, derived from the seeds of Calophyllvm
Inophyllum in India, used in lamps and medici-
nally. Also oaUHed jwonseed-oil and Iceena-oil.
poondet, «• A Middle English form otpond^-.
poondy-oil (pon'di-oil), n. A yellowish con-
crete oil derived from the seeds of Myristioa
Malabarica in India, used as an application to
ulcers and otherwise.
poonga-oil (pong'ga-oU), n. A fixed oil derived
from the seeds ot Fongamia glabra in India,
there used as an inferior lamp-oil alone or in
mixture, and as a medicinal stimulant.
poongi, n. Same a,s pungi.
poongy, poonghee (pong'gi, -ge), n. [< Burm.
p'hun-gyi, 'great glory.'] In Burma, a Bud-
dhist priest or monk.
The yellow-draped and meditative poonghee, barefooted
and with shaven cro\vn, attended by a boy.
J. W. Palmer, Up and Down the Irrawaddi, p. 190.
poon-oil, n. See poonay-oil.
poonseed-oil (pon'sed-oil), n. Same aspoonay-
oil.
poon-spar (pon'spar), n. A spar made of poon-
wood.
poon-WOOd (pSn'wud), n. [< E. Ind. (Malay)
poon + B. wood.] The commercial name for
several East Indian woods suitable for various
uses, but particularly for making spars, for
which they are specially fitted by a straight
growth, light weight, and good degree of stiff-
ness. They amear to be derived mainly from species ot
" ' ■ 'T«m— a Burmanni, C. tomentomm, C. Inophyl-
4619
_ The wanes did ryse so high and thicke, breaking some-
time vpon the puppes of the shippes, and sometimes vp on
the side, that the shypmen began to vale the sailes.
J. Brende, tr. of Qubitus Cui-tius, tol. 263.
The barge she sat in like a bui'nish'd throne
Burn'd on the water; the poop was beaten gold.
Shak., A. and C, IL 2. 197.
2. A deck above the ordinary deck in the after-
lum, and for the region of Penang the doubtful 0. angua-
tifolium being assigned as soui'oes. Alsopoona-wood.
poopi (pop), n. [Formerly also poup, poupe,
puppe, < OP. poupe, pouppe, F. poupe = A*. Sp.
Pg. popa = It. poppa, < h.puppis, the stem of a
smp,] 1. The stern or aftermost part of a ship.
Ship of War with High Poop, 17th centuxy.
most part of a ship.— Break of the poop. Seebreak.
— In poopt [OP. en pouppe], astern.
The windes blow flrmely for certaine times, with the
which they goe to Pegu with the winde in poope.
Hakluyt'e Voyages, II. 237.
poopi(p6p),«. *. [Formerly also jjoitpe; Kpoopi,
n.] 1. NoMt., to break heavily over the stern
or quarter of (a ship) ; drive in the stern of.
He was pooped ivlth a sea that almost sent him to the
bottom. SmdOett, Sir L. Greaves, zvii.
2. To trick; cheat; cozen. [Prov. Eng.]
But there ich vis&powpte indeed.
Bp. Stm, Gammer Gurton's Needle, ii. 1.
poop3 (p8p), 11. [< P. povpee, in arch., poppy,
poppy-head: see poppy'^.'] In arch., a poppy-
head.
poop3 (p6p), V. i. [< D. poepen, break wind;
imitative; of. pop^, and ME. poupen, blow a
horn.] To break wind. [Vulgar.]
poop^ (p8p), n. [< D. poep, a breaking of wind,
from the verb.] An act of breaking wind.
[Vulgar.]
poop-cabin (p6p'kab'''in), n. A cabin under
the poop-deck. See deck, 2.
Every part ot the ship was ah-eady occupied. Another
order soon came for the construction of a poop-cabiji.
W. CoUan, Deck and Port, p. 14.
poop-lantern (p8p'lan"tern), n. A lantern car-
ried at night on the taffrail to denote a flag-
ship, or to sei've as a signal.
poor (por), a. [< MSi. pour, poure,poi-e,pover,po-
vere,povre, < OP. powe,poure, povere, F.pauvre
= Sp. Pg.pobre = It. povero, < h. pauper, poor:
seex'cmpei:'] 1. Possessing little; destitute of
wealth: opposed to j-jc/s; as, a.poorman; apoor
community.
Ther made the loud full povere, the folk ded thei slo.
Rob. of Brunne, p. 7.
Pare of possesaioun in purse and in coflre.
Piere Plowman (B), xiii. 301.
He, being rich, shall be bom ot apoor Maid.
HoweU, Letters, iv. 43.
You may think I do not deserve to be rich ; but I hope
you will likewise observe I can ill afford to be^Kjor.
Steele, Tatler, No. 124.
2. Lacking means to proom-e the comforts of
life; indigent; needy; necessitous; specifical-
ly, m law, so destitute or impoverished as to
be dependent upon charity, or upon the poor-
rates; pauper.
In good felth yet had I lever
Than to covelte in such a weye
To ben for ever till I deie
As pov&r as Job and loveless.
Gower, Cont. Amant., n. 211.
In prison thou Shalt find me poor and broken.
Fletcher, Eeggai's' Bush, lii. 2.
What poor attend my charity to-day, wench?
Fletcher, Pilgrim, i. 1.
He [Linnseus] was so poor as to be obliged to mend his
shoes with folded paper, and often to beg his meals of his
friends. J. P. Clarke, Self-Culture, p. 41.
I have observed, the more public provisions are made
tor thepoar, the less they provide tor themselves.
FranMin.
3. Deficient in or destitute of desirable or es-
sential qualities ; lacking those qualities which
render a thing valuable, desirable, suitable, or
sufficient for its pui-pose; inferior; bad: as,
poor bread ; poor health; cattle mpoor condi-
tion.
The Brian flora is comparatively poor, and its types are
in the main similar to those of the Carboniferous.
Dawson, Geol. Hist, of Plants, p. 264.
In particular— (a) Of little consequence ; tiifling ; .insig-
nificant; paltry: as, a poor excuse.
That I have wronged no man will be a poor plea or
apology at the last day. Caiamy, Sei-mons.
Poor is the contentment that can be found in virtue
and religion, if it stretch no fai'ther than to the end of
this lifer Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. xi., Pref.
(6) Mean ; shabby : as, a poor outfit ; poor surroundiuRS.
poorful
On the Noi'th side, a large square Piazza, encompassed
with Pillars, and on the East some poor remains of a great
Church. MaundreU, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 59.
As shines the moon through clouded skies
She in her poor attire was seen.
Tennysim, The Beggar Maid.
(c) Lean ; meager ; emaciated : as, poor cattle.
Thin and poor as a late chicken. S. Judd, Margaret, 1. 1.
(d) Lacking in fertility ; barren ; exhausted : as, poor land.
■ Part of the distance lay over poor country, covered with
ti-tree^ box, and ironbark saplings.
A. C. Brant, Bush Life in Queensland, I. i6.
(e) Lacking in spirit or vigor ; feeble ; impotent.
I have very poor and unhappy brains for drinking.
Shak., Othello, il. 3. 35.
His spirit is but poor that can be kept
From death for want of weapons.
Beau, and Fl., Maid's Tragedy, v. 4.
Art thou so poor to blench at what thou hast done?
Is conscience a comrade tor an old soldier?
Fletcher (find another). False One, iv. 8.
(/) Destitute ot merit or worth ; barren ; jejune : as, a
poor discourse ; upoar essay.
4. Unfortunate; to be pitied or regretted: much
used colloquially as a vague epithet indicative
of sympathy or pity for one who is sick, feeble,
or unhappy, or of regret for one who is dead.
And In gret reverence and charitee
Hii'e olde poure fader tostred she.
\ Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 876.
Poor Jack, farewell I
I could have better spared a better man.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., v. 4. 103.
Poor little pretty, fluttering Thing,
Must we no longer live together?
Prior, Imit. of Hadrian's Address to his SonL
Poor things ! as the case stands with them even now, you
might take the heart out of their bodies, and they never
find it out, they are sae begrutten. Scott, Monastery, viii.
Get out, and don't come slandering, and backbiting, and
bullying that poor devil of a boy any more.
Thackeray, Philip, xxi.
My poor dear ! What has made thy heart so sore as to
come and cry a-this-ons? Dickens, Lizzie Leigh, iii.
5. Miserable; wretched: used in contempt.
The sufferings of those poor bigotted creatures, the mar- .
tyrs, made mighty impressions upon men.
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. ilL
As a murderer, he was a poor creature ; as an artist in
gold, he was inimitable. De Quincey, Secret Societies, i.
6. Humble; slight; insignificant: used modest-
ly in speaking of things pertaining to one's self.
And for mine own poor part.
Look you, 111 go pray. Shak. , Hamlet^ i. 5. 131.
The estate which I should leave behind me ot any esti-
mation is my poor fame in the memory ot my friends.
Donne, Letters, xiv.
I had carried my poor pitcher to that well often enough,
I thought, and was resolved never again to risk its fracture.
Lowell, Address in behalf of International Copyright,
[Nov. 28, 1887.
Guardians of the poor. See guardian. — Overseers of
the poor. See overseer. — Poor Clares. See Clarisse. —
Poor debtor. See debtor.— foor in spirit, spiritually
humble. Mat. v. 3.— Poor Knight of Windsor. Same
as Windsor Knight (which see, under knight). — Poor law.
See iawl.— Poor majl's herb, in England, the hedge-
hyssop, Gratiola offidnaiis.—'Poai man's parmacet:^,in
England, the shepherd's-purse, Capsella Bursa-pastffris. —
Poor man's pepper. Seepejj^ier.-Poorman's plaster.
SeepZoster.-Poor man's treacle, in England, the onion,
Anium Cepa.— Poor man's weather-glaSB. Same as
pimperruZ, 4.— Poor Priests. Seepriest.- Poor Robin,
an almanac : said to be so called from a series of alm^
nacs brought out by Kobert Herrick in the seventeenth
centm?.
I was informed she discern'd by the beat of the pulse a
Feast from a Feria, without the help ot poor Robin.
GemUeman Instructed, p. 120. (Davies.)
Poor's box, a box tor receiving contributions for the poor ;
a poor-box.
She draws her mouth till it positively resembles the
aperture of apoofs box, and all her words appear to slide
out edgewise. ■ Sheridan, School for Scandal, ii. 2.
The policeman took me off to Clerkenwell, but the ma-
gistrates, instead of sending me to prison, gave me 2s. out
of the poor's-box.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 88.
poorblindt, »• An obsolete form of purblind.
poor-box (por'boks), n. A box for receiving
contributions of money for the poor, usually
set at the entrance of a church,
pooren (pBr'n), «. t. [<^oor + -e»l.] To make
poor; impoverish. [Bare or provincial.]
A foolish wife and a back doorpooreJi a man.
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), L 69, marginal
[note.
poor-farm (por'farm), n. A farm maintained
at public expense for the housing and support
of paupers.
poorfu' (por'f u), a. A Scotch form of powerful,
poorfult (por'f ul), a. [< ME. *pm-ef%l, porful;
< poor + -fill.'] Poor ; mean ; shabby,
lesu, swete sone dere !
On porftd bed list thou here ;
And that me greueth sore ;
For thi cradel is ase a bere.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall)^ p. 226.
poorhead
4620
poorheadt.n. \ME.pouereliede;<poor + -head.'] poostet, »; A variant otpoust.
Poverty. ' ' ^ ^
Thezothemildeloaethpouert^ . . . vortheguodesthet
bjetb in gaoie poutrehede.
AyenMte df Irmit (E. B. T. S.), p. 138.
poorhouse (por'hous), n. An establishment
in which persons receiving public charity are
lodged and oared for; an almshouse.
poor-Jolmt (pSr'jon), n. The hake when salted
and dried.
'Tis well thoa art not flsh ; it thou hadst, then hadat
been poor John. Shale, R. and J., i. 1. 37.
And then, it you scape with life, and take a faggot-boat
and a bottle of usquebaugh, come home, poor man, like a
type of Ihames-stieet, stinking of pitch and poor-John.
Beau, and Fl., Scornful Lady, ii. 3.
Poor John was haik when salted and dried. It was
always beaten before it was cooked.
Shirley, Maid's Berenge, iii. 2, note.
poor-lights (piJr'Uts), n. pi. Mccles., lights or
candles provided for the burial ceremonies of
the poor. Bock, Church of our Fathers, ii. 472,
note.
poorliness (pSr'li-nes), n. The state of being
poorly; ill health. Mrs. Gore.
poorly (pSr'li), a. [< poor + -?^l.] Somewhat
ill; indisposed; not in health; unweU. [Col-
loq.l
Sympathetic inquiries about the state of her health,
which was always " only tol'able, " or " rather poorly. "
The AUantic, XVm. 84.
poorly (pOr'li), a^. [< ME. pmireliche; < poor
+ -ly^.^ In a poor manner or condition, (a)
In Indigence or want of the conveniences and comforts of
lite: as, tolivejioorlj/.
^ov pourelicfie yfostred up was she.
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 167.
(6) With little or no success ; insufficiently ; defectively :
as poorly constructed ; poorly adapted to the purpose.
You meaner beauties of the night,
Thai poorly satistie our eies.
Sir B. Wotton, On liis Mistress, the Queen of Bohemia.
(o) Humbly; without spirit; ignobly.
The duke of Juliers, his cosyn, of his owne free wyll was
come to see hym, and to put himselfe poorely without any
reseraacyon vnto his obeysaunce and commaundement.
Bemers, tr. of Froisaart's Chron., II. xciii.
Dare you do iU, s.ndpoorly then shrink under it?
Were I the Duke Molina, I would fight now.
Fletcher, Bule a Wife, v. 5.
poor-man-of-mutton (pbr'man-ov-mut'n), n.
Cold mutton broiled; especially,' the remains
of a shoulder of mutton broiled. [Scotch.]
poormaster (p5r'ma,s'''ter), n. A parish or
county oflcer who superintends the relief and
maintenance of paupers, or such other persons
as are dependent on public aid or support.
The Agent of the United States to the Sioux Indians
was to act a£ a sort of natiomH poor-master, and deal out
rations. Amer. Miss., XXXIX. 8.
poorness (pSr'nes), «. The state, condition, or
quality of being poor, in any of the senses of
the word; poverty; meanness.
When I mocTi poorness, then heaven make me poor.
B. Jonson, Case is Altered, iiL 1.
Landaff, . . . for the jxmrTiem thereof, lay Eishopless tor
three years after the death of Bishop Kitchin.
Ftdler, Worthies, Wales, III. 495.
There is over and above a peculiar poorness and vileness
in this action. South, Sermons, IX. v.
Ovid and Lucan have many Poornesses of Expression
upon this account. Addison, Spectator, ISo, 285.
poor-rate (por'rat), n. An assessment or tax
imposed by law for the relief or support of the
poor.
poor-spirited (p6r'spir*i-ted), a. Of a poor or
tame spirit; cowardly.
Mr. Tulliver would never have asked anything from so
poor-spirited a fellow for himself.
George Eliot, Mill on the Moss, UL 1.
poor-spiritedness (per'spir"'i-ted.nes), n.
Tameness or baseness of spirit; cowardice.
That meanness and poor-spiritedness that accompanies
guilt. South, Sermons.
poortith (por'tith), n. [A var. of poverty. ^
Poverty. [Scotch.]
poor-will (pSr'wil), n. [Imitative; cf. wMp-
poormll.] A bird of the genus PlialsenopUlus,
as P. nuttalli : so called from its characteristic
dissyllabic note. Nuttall's poor-will is a common bird
in most parts of the western United States, where it
mainly replaces the whippoorwill. See Fhalanoptilus.
At nightfall the poor-wills begin to utter their boding
call from the wooded ravines back in the hills ; not " wliip-
poorwiU," as in the East, but with two syllables only.
T. Boosevelt, The Century, ZXXV. 664.
Poospiza (p6-p-spi'za), m. [NL. (Cabanis, 1847),
< Gr. nda, grass, + cnrilia, a finch.] A genus of
South American fringilline birds. The United
States black-chinned and Bell's buntings, long called re-
spectively P. Mineata and P. belli, are now placed in the
genus Amphispiza. See cat under sage-sparrow.
popi (pop), v.; pret. and pp. popped, ppr. pop-
ping. [Imitative ; cf . Gr. noKTrv^ecv, pop, smack,
whistle or chirp with the lips compressed; cf.
also poop^.] I. intrans. 1. To make a quick
sudden explosive report.
Neesing and popping or smacking with the mouthe.
Touchstone of Complexions, p. 124. (Erusyc. Oust.)
They convinced him that any of his men could . . . pop
away at him with a gun. The Century, Xl. 219.
2. To appear or issue forth with a quick sudden
motion; come suddenly into view; also, to dis-
appear suddenly.
He that hath ... , .
Pam'd in between the election and my hopes.
Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 65.
I startled at his popping upon me unexpectedly.
Addison.
So, diving in a bottomless sea, they [the Boman Church]
pop sometimes above water to take breath.
Donjie, Sermons, iv.
Others have a trick of popping up and down every mo-
ment from their paper to the audience, like an idle school-
boy. -SMiift.
When company comes, you are not to pop out and stare,
and then run in again, like frightened rabbits in a warren.
Qoldemith, She Stoops to Conquer, ii.
3. To propose marriage.— popiring widgeon, one
of various ducks which dive with celerity; a diving duck,
or ducker; a merganser. [Local, Eng.] — To pop OfT, to
disappear or depart suddenly ; die.
The Gineral he was thick-set and short-necked, and
drank pretty free, and was one o' the sort that might jwp
off any time. H. B. SUrwe, Oldtown, p. 37.
II. trans. 1. To cause to make a sudden ex-
plosive report.
And all round the glad church lie old bottles
With gunpowder stopped,
Which will be, when the Image re-enters,
Beligiously popped.
Browning, Englishman in Italy.
2. To thrust forward, or offer suddenly or
abruptly; put or thrust suddenly: with in,
into, out, or upon.
My daughter Nell ehallpop a posset vpon thee, when thou
goest to bed.
Heywood, 1 Edw. IV. (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, 1. 47).
These our Prelates, who are the true Successors of those
that popt them into the other world.
MUtan, On Det. of Humb. Kemonst.
Eat your porridge now, little ones. Charlotte, pop a bit
of butter in Carrick's porridge. Thouskeray, Philip, xvi.
While some of the small try popped ovt their heads to
have a look. W. Black, House-boat, viii
3. To thrust aside or put off abruptly or unex-
pectedly.
That Is my brother's plea and none of mine ;
The which if he can prove, a' pops me out
At least from fair five hundred pound a year.
Shak., E. John, L 1. 6S.
And doyou »op me off with this slight answer?
Fletcher {and another), Koble Gentleman, L L
4. To put suddenly : as, to pop the question.
See phrase below.
Plagued with his doubts andyour own diffidences; afraid
he would now, and now, and now, pop out the question
which he had not the courage to put.
Bieharaxm, Grandison, vi. 103.
5. To pawn, or pledge with a pawnbroker.
[Slang.]— To pop com, to parch or roast a particular
variety of maize until it pops or bursts open. [U. S.1 —
To pop the oiuestion, to propose unexpectedly the im-
portant question (or its equivalent) " will you marry me ?"
hence, without implication of unexpectedness, to make an
offer of marriage. [CoUoq.]
Growing faint at this sudden proposal to wed,
As though his abruptness, in popping the question
So soon after dinner, disturb'd her digestion.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 39.
popl (pop), «. [<^o^l, i>.] 1. A smart explo-
sive sound or small report like that made in
drawing a cork from a bottle.
I cannot beai' people to keep their minds bottled up for
the sake of letting them oft with o.pap.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xxxix.
2. An effervescent beverage: so called from
. the sound made by the expulsion of the cork:
as, ginger-pop.
With lobsters and whitebait, and other swatemeats,
And wine, and nagus, and imperial i»>2>.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 277.
Home-made i»H) that will not foam,
And home-made dishes that drive one from home.
Hood, Miss Kilmansegg, Her Misery.
3. A pistol. [Slang or thieves' cant.]
A pair of pops, silver-mounted. . . . I took them loaded
from the captain. SnuMett,, Soderick Random, viii.
popi (pop), adv. [An elliptical use of pop\ v.
and M.] Suddenly; abruptly; with unexpected
entrance or exit.
Into that bush
Pop goes his pate, and all his face is comb'd over.
FleUher, Pilgrim, iii. 2.
popedom
There were three or four bidders, I cannot tell whether
But they never could come two upon me together; '
For as soon as one spoke, then immediately poji
I advanc'd something more, fear the hammer should dton
Byrom, To Henry Wright, Eaq)
pop^t (pop), V. t. [< ME. poppen, strike; ori-
gm obscure.] 1. To strike. Caft. ^wp., p. 286.
— 2. To smear (the face) with white lead or
other cosmetics; powder (the face).
Fetys she was and smale to se.
No wyntred browes hedde she,
mepo^ed hir, tor it nedede noughts
To wyndre hir, or to peynte hir ouglit
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 1019.
The aungelle ansuered, for whanne she was on luye she
plucked, popped and peinted her visage torto plese the
sighte of the worlde. . . . Alas whi take women none hede
of the gret loue that God bathe yeue hem to make hem
after hys figure? and whi poptthe they, and paiutithe and
pluckethe her visage otherwise than Ood hathe ordeined?
Book qf the Enight of La Torn Landry, p. 68.
pop2t(pop),«. [ME.j)opi)e/<j)op2,j;.] A stroke.
Catn. Aug., p. 286.
pop3 (pop), n. [Origin obscure.] The red-
winged thrush, J}u/rdiis iliacus. C, Swainson,
[Local, Eng.]
pop* (pop), n, A contraction ot popular: as, the
Mondaj pops (popular concerts). [Low.]
pop-corn (pop'k6m'), n. 1 . One of several va-
rieties of Indian com suitable for "popping."
They have small ears and kernels, the latter white, yel-
low, or red, sharp-pointed or not. Pop-corn abounds in
oil, the expansion ot which under heat causes an explo-
sion, in which the contents of the kernel become puffed
' out, nearly hiding the 8eed-coat> and assuming a puie-
white color.
2. Corn thus prepared; popped com.
pop-dock (pop'dok), n. The foxglove, DigitaUg
purpurea : so called from its large coarse leaves,
and the use made of the corolla by children
after inflating it. Also pop-glove, pops, poppy.
[Prov. Eng.]
popei (pop), «. [< ME. pope, pape, < AS. papa,
pope, = D. paap, priest, pope, pope, pope (of the
Greek Church), = Icel. papi, a pope, priest, =
&w.p&fve = T)aD..pave, pope, also with terminal
-s (perhaps due to the OF. nom. papes), OFries.
pmes,pavi8,paus = D.paus = OhQt.pavos, MLG.
paves,pawes, latev pawest,pauwst, pope,=OHG.
babes, MHG. babes, babest, babst, G.papst, priest,
pope, = OF. pape, also in nom. papes, P. pape =
Sp. Pg. Vi.papa, pope. < LL. «apa, a bishop, ML.
pope: seej)opa2.] 1. The Bishop of Eome as
head of the Boman Catholic Church and hie-
rarchy. The title pope (litln papa or papas, Greek
TraTras, TTairirajs), literally 'papa* or 'father,' was given in
the early church, both in the East and West, to bishops
in general, and has from the middle of the third centuiv
to the present day been an especial title of the patriarch
of Alexandria. In the Western Church it began to be re-
stricted to the Bishop ot Home In the sixth century, and
in 1073 the assumption of the title by any other bishop
was formally forbidden. In the Eastern Church the same
word (with a different accentuation, irawa?) 1)ecanie a fa^
miliar title of ordinary priests, and is commonly so used
at the present day. According to Roman Catholic teach-
ing, the Pope is not only bishop, metropolitan, and patri-
arch, but, as incumbent ot the Boman see, is successor of
St. Peter, and as such vicar of Christ and visible head ot
the whole church, and supreme pastor and teacher of all
Christians. From his decision there is no appeal; and
when he spealcs ex cathedra — that is, in discharge of his
office and by virtue of his supreme'apostolic authority—
his teaching regarding faith and morals is to be accepted
as infallible. (Seeinfallibaity.l.) Even in very early times
the Bishop of Bome addressed oflier churches in a tone of
authority. The first great asserter of the privileges of the
Boman see was Leo I. (440-461); and the medieval papac}-
reached its climax of spiritual and temporal power under
Gregory VH. (1073-86).
2. The patriarch of Alexandria.-— 3. A priest
in the Greek or Russian Church. — 4. The head.
of any church or ecclesiastical system.
And in that Yle dwellethe the Pope of hfre Lawe, that,
they clepen Lobassy. UandeoiUe, Travels, p. 308.
Adoration of the Pope. See adoration. -Pope's crown,
in her., same as tiara.- Pope's Blze, a size so named as a
trade-term. See the quotation.
A year or two ago I bought a merino vest. On the bill
I noticed P. S. after it, and by enquljy I elicited that P. S.
aiooA ioT pop^s size, and th&t pope's size meant short and
stout. a; and Q., 7th ser., VII. 225.
pope2 (pop), m. ,^__ _ .
cf.2)07)e2,E.diaLwiM)<)peformawj»,etc.] 1. The
[Of various uncertain ongin;
blaektail, a fish : same as ruff^. [Local, Eng.]
—2. Thehnimneh, Pyrrhulamlgaris. [Dorset-
shire, Eng.]— 3. The red-backed shrike, Lanivs
collwio. [Hants, Eng.] — 4 . ThepufBn, Frater-
cula arcUca. Montagu. [Local, Eng.]— 5. The
painted finch, or nonpareil. See cut under Pas-
sen?) a. [Louisiana.]
popedom (pop'dum), n. [< ME. popedom, <
AS. pandora (= D. pausdom = yOjOcpavesiom
= MHG. babestuom, G. papstthum = Sw.v&fie-
dome = Dani. pavedimme), <.pdpa, pope, + dam,
jurisdiction : see -(torn.] The offtce or dignity or
popedom
pope ; sJso, the temporal or spiritual jurisdic-
tiou of a pope.
All that world of wealth 1 have drawn together
For mine own ends; indeed, to gain the^iopedom,
And fee my friends in Rome.
Shak., Hen. Vin., UL 2. 212.
The next default was in the Bishops, who, though they
had lenounc't the Pope, they still hugg'd the Popedame.
Milton, Reformation in Eiig., i.
The Crusades, too, had now made the Western world
tributary to the Popedom. MUman, Latin Christianity, L 9.
pope-holyt, a. [}IE. popeholy, poope-boly ; ap-
par. an aecom., as if < popei + holy, of OP.
pajjetard, hypoeritioal.] Hypocritleal. [In the
. iu'st quol^tion it is used as a noun, as a quasi-
proper name.]
Another thing was don there write
That semede lyk an ipocrite.
And it was clepid Poope-holy [OF. papelardie],
Rom. of the Rose, L 415.
Was none suche as hym-self ne none so pope-holy.
Piers Plowman (B), xiiL 284.
There be pope-holy, which, following a righteousness
et their own feigning, resist the righteousness of Ood in
Christ.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More^ etc. (Parker Soc, 1850), p. 36.
popehood (pop'lmd), n. [<2)opei + -hood.'i The
condition of being pope ; papal character or dig-
nity.
To all Popes and Pope's Advocates . . . the answer of
the world is : Once for all your Popehood has become un-
true. Carlyle.
pope-Joan (pop'jon'), n. [Prom Pope Joan, a fe-
male pope who, according to tradition, reigned
in the middle of the 9th century, now generally
regarded as a fictitious personage . ] A game of
cards played by any number of persons with a
pack from which the eightof diamonds has been
removed, on a board divided into eight compart-
ments for holding the bets, which are won by
the player who turns up or plays certain cards.
popekin (pop'kin), n. [< pope^ + •kin.'] A
little pope ; a term of contempt.
popelereti n. Seejjopfer^.
popeling(p6p'ling),js. [ipope^ + -Zingrl.] Alittle
or insignificant pope ; one who apes the Pope.
After these losses came other troubles vpon him, with
other asgreat or more great enemies (that is, with the Pope
andhisjwpeiiiis's). ^oze. Martyrs, I. 282.
popelott, n. [ME. ; perhaps < OF. papillot, a
butterfly; dim. of jjope*; see puppet.'] A but-
terfly (T).
In al this world, to seken up and doun,
Ther nas no man so wys that koude thenche
So gay ?Lpopel(d£, or swich a wenche.
ChaiuxT, Miller's Tale, 1. 68.
popery (p6'pe-ri), n. [< iMpe^ + -ery.'] The
doctrines, customs, ceremonies, and polity as-
sociated with the ofBee and person of the Pope,
or with the Roman Catholic Church, of which
he is the supreme head; papacy: used in op-
probrium.
The name oi popery is more odious than vei7 paganism
amongst divers of the more simple sort.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iv. 4.
That prime and leading article of all popery, the Pope's
supremacy. SauOi, Sermons, YL L
pope's-eye (pops'i) ,n. A large lymphatic gland,
or cluster of such glands, in the leg of an ox or
a sheep, surrounded with fat. It is regarded
as a delicacy.
You should have the hot new milk, and the pope's-eye
from the mutton. R. D. Blackmore, Loma Doone, L
pope's-head (pops'hed), n. 1. A large round
brush with a long handle, for dusting ceilings,
cornices, etc. [Local.]
Bloom. Ton're no witch indeed if you don't see a cob-
web as long as my arm. Sun, run, child, for the pope's
head.
House. Pope's head, ma'am?
Bloom. Ay, the pope's head, which youll find under the
stairs. Miss Bdgeumrth, hose and Law, i. 5. (Dames.)
2. See Melocactics.
popeship (pop'ship), n. [= D. jpausschap ; as
pope^ -F ship.] The office or dignity of pope ;
popehood.
Popeship, spiritual Fatherhood of God's Church, is that
a vain semblance, of cloth and parchment? It is an aw-
ful fact. Carlyle.
pope's-nose (pops'noz), n. The fleshy part of
the tail of a bird; the part on which the tail-
feathers are borne ; the coccyx and its cover-
ings. Also called parson^ s-nose. See cut under
elseodoclwn. [CoUoq.]
popetf, n. A Middle English form of puppet.
Chaucer.
popetryt, n. SeejJuppetry.
pop-eyed (pop'id), a. Having pop-eyes. [U. S.]
pop-eyes (pop'iz), ». pi. Pull, bulging, or promi-
nent eyes. [D. 8.]
4G21
His hair stood np in front, he had wide popeyet, and
long ears, and a rabbit-like aspect.
M. N. Mwrfree, Great Smoky Mountains.
pop-gun (pop'gun), )(. A small gun or tube
with a piston or rammer for shooting pellets,
which makes a pop by the expansion of com-
pressed air when the pellet is expelled.
You liked pop-guns when you were schoolboys, and rifles
and Armstrongs are only the same things better made.
Ruikin, Crown of Wild Olive, p. 71.
popifyf (p6'pi-fi), )'. «. [< popei- + ^i-fy.] To
make a papist of.
As if all were well so they be not Popified, though they
have departed from the Church in which they were bap-
tized. Bp. Haeket, Abp. Williams, L 121. (fiavies.)
popiliont(P9-pil'yon),». lAlsopompUUon; ME.
popiUoii, < Dp. populeon, < populier, popUer, P.
peuplier, poplar: see poplar.] A pomatum or
ointment prepared from black-poplar buds.
To cure the frenesye and woodnes, or ellis at the leeste
to swage it, takeagreetquantiteof jiopiZuni, and thebeste
vynegre that ge may haue.
Book qjr Quinte Essence (ed. Farnivall), p. 22.
popint, "• A Middle English form of pojapin.
popingayt, «. An obsolete form ot popinjay.
popinjay (pop'in-ja), «. [Formerly also popin-
gay ; < ME. popinjay, popyvjay, popingay, popyn-
gay, papinjay, itapingay, papyngay, pop^ay,
papejay = D.papegaai = MLG. papagoie, pape-
goie, L&. papegoje = MHG. j)apegan, G. papagei
= Sw. papegoja = Dan. papegoje, < OF. pape-
jaye,papegai (F. papegai,papegaut), alsojiape-
gau, papegant = Pr. papagai = Sp. papagayo =
Pg. papagaio = It. papagallo, < ML. papagallus,
< NGr. TrajraydXAof, a parrot; altered by popular
etym. (simulating OP. gat, geai, E. jay, a bright
garrulous bird, comparable in these respects
to the parrot, or L. galliis, a cock ; the first part
being perhaps taken as also imitative : cf. Bav.
pappel, a parrot, < pdppeln, chatter) < M(Jr.
iraTrayag, a parrot; perhaps of Eastern origin;
but the Ar. babagha, Pers. bapga, a parrot, are
appar. borrowed from the Sp. word. C!f . Malay
6o^are, a parrot.] 1. A parrot.
Bryddeg on semej.
As papiayeg paynted pernyng bitwene.
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), I. 611.
Certeyn men . . . that kepen Bryddes, as Ostrycches,
Gerfacouns, Sparehaukes, . . . Papyngayeswel Bpekynge,
and Briddes syngynge. Mandeville, Travels, p. 238.
The popynjay f ul of delicasye.
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 359.
Yawag popinjays learn quickly to speak.
Ascham.,
Likewise there liepi^niayes very great and gentle, and
some of them haue their foreheads yellow, and this sort
do quickly leame to speak, and speak much.
HaklwyVs Voyages,TU. 700.
2. A woodpecker; especially, the green wood-
pecker of Eu- ,,
rope, Gecinus
viridis.
The daughters of
Pterins, who were
turned into popin-
jays or woodpeck-
ers.
PeflcAa7n,0nDraw-
[ing. (XiolAam.)
3. Thefigureof
a parrot or oth-
er bird used as a
mark for arch-
ery or firearms.
For this purpose,
it was usually hung
to the top of a pole
BO as to swing in
the wind.
When the mus-
ters had been made
and duly reported, the young men, as was usual, were to
mix in various sports, of which the chief was to shoot at
the popinjay, an ancient game formerly practised with
archery, but at this period with firearms. This was the
figure of a bird, decked with party-colored feathers, so as
to resemble a piopinjay or parrot. It was suspended to a
pole, and served for a mark at which the competitors dis-
charged their fusees and carabines in rotation, at the dis-
tance of sixty or seventy paces. He whose ball brought
down the mark held the proud title of Captain of the
Popinjav for the remainder of the day.
^ ■' Scott, Old Mortality, L
4. In her,, a parrot used as a bearing: always,
unless otherwise mentioned in the blazon, rep-
resented green, with red legs and beak. — 5. A
coxcomb; a fop.
To be so pester'd with a popinjay.
Shdk., 1 Hen. IV., L 3. 50.
A number of ttxese popinjays there are.
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, ii. 2.
popish (po'pish), a. [<iJopei + -isli^.] Of or
pertaining to the Pope or the Boman Catholic
■i+i.
Popinjay, or Green Woodpecker {Gecinus
viridis).
poplax-kitten
Church: used in opprobrium: a,s, popish doc-
trines or practices ; popish forms and ceremo-
nies.
Yet, for I know thou art religious.
And hast a thing within thee called conscience.
With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies.
Which 1 have seen thee careful to observe.
Therefore I urge thy oath. Shak., Tit And., v. 1. 76.
Popish Methodists. Same as Dialectic Methodists (which
see, under jl/c(Aorfis«).— Popish plot. See ploti. =Syn.
See papal.
popishly (p6'pish-li), adv. To or toward po-
pery; as regards popery: used in opprobrium :
as, to be popishly inclined.
Owen's unkle, who was a papist, or at least popishly af-
fected (from whom he expected legacies), dash'd his name
out from his last will and testament.
Wood, Athense Oxon., L
popit, n. In mach., same a,s po2)pet.
popj03?ing (pop'joi-ing), ». [Verbal n. of *pop-
joy, appar. an aecom. dial, form of *popinjay,v.,
<. popinjay, n.,Z.] Idle pastime; sport.
Benjy had carried off our hero to the canal in defiance
of Charity, and between them, after a whole afternoon's
po^oying, they had caught three or four small coarse fish
and a perch.
Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days, L IL (Davies.)
poplar (pop'lar), n. [Early mod. E. poplei-; <
M!E. popler, poplere, poptdere = D. 2>opulier,
popelier, < OP. xioplier, j)eupUer, P. peuplier, a
poplar-tree, poplar, < i^euple, poplar, < L. popu-
lus, poplar: see popple^, Pomdv.s.] 1. A tree
of the genus Pojndus; also, the wood of the tree.
The poplars are trees of i-apid growth, mostly of moderate
size, producing varieties of light 8oftwood,usefnl for many
purposes requiring lightness and modei-ate strength ; in
America the wood is largely converted into pulp for paper-
making. Various species are planted for shade and or-
nament. The aspens and cottonwoods are true poplars,
though less called by that name. See asp^, aspen, &ad cot-
tmamad.
2. A tree of some other genus in some way re-
sembling a poplar — Balsam-poplar, Populus bal-
samifera, the tacamahack. Also called (especially the vari-
ety candicans) balm of Gilead.— Black Italian poplar,
a name in England of the balm-of-Gilead tree, which
abounds in Italy, but its origin is not well known. —
Black poplar, Populus nigra, a native of central and
southern Europe and temperate Asia, planted as a forest-
tree elsewhere in Europe. Its wood is used for flooring,
joiners' and coopei's'work, and in the making of gunpow-
der, charcoal, etc, and its buds in the prepaiation of an
ointment. See ointment of popiar-^bvjds, under ointment.
— Carolina poplar. Same as fiecHoce-jwpZar. — Downy
poplar, PopvLus heterophyUa, the river- or swamp-cotton-
wood, a moderate-sized tree of no great value, found in bot-
tom-land swamps from Connecticut to Louisiana and Ar-
kansas.— Gray poplar, a variety or hybrid of the white
poplar, its wood esteemed best of European poplars. — Lom-
bardy poplar, a epecieB,Populu8pyranudalis{P. d&atata,
Ait.)i or probably a remarkable variety of the black poplar,
of Oriental origin. Its fastigiate habit gives it a striking
columnar or spire-shaped outline, on account of which
it is planted to some extent. It is said that in America
only male-flowered individuals are known.— Necklace-
poplar, the common Cottonwood, Popidus motalijera,
translating the speciflc name: so called on account of
its raceme of pods, which resembles a string of beads.
It is a large tree, sometimes 150 feet high, found from
Vermont to Texas and the base of the Kocky Mountains,
bordering all sti'eams of the great plains. Its light soft
wood is used for packing-cases, fence-boards, and fuel, and
largely for paper-pulp. Also CartAina poplar.— <Hnt-
ment of poplar-buds. See ointment.— Ontario pop-
lar. Same as &a28a7n-jw;)2ar.— Poplars of Yamimt,
buttermilk. [Cant] (Davies.)
Here 's pannum and lap, and good poplars of Tarrum.
Brome, Jovial Crew, ii.
Queensland poplar, Homalanthus populifdius, one of
the Euphorbiacese, a large shrub with poplar-like leaves,
found in Australia and the Pacific islands.— Silver or
silver-leaf poplar. Same as white poptor.— Trembling
poplar, the European aspen. See aspl and pqpulin.—
TulU>-poplar. Same as yeBow poplar. — Weeping pop-
lar, the variety pendula of Poptdus grandideraata, the
large-toothed aspen. Both species and variety are used
ornamentally.— White poplar, Popidus alba, native in
Europe and middle Asia, notable for the silvery-white un-
der surface of its wavy-tJoothed leaves, and often planted,
but highly objectionable on lawns, on account of suckers
from the roots. Also csXleAsUixrpoplar.tilver-leaif poplar,
white asp, and otefe.— Yellow poplar, the tulip-tree or
white-wood. See lAriodendron.
poplar-birch (pop'lar-berch), n. A European
tree, Betula alba. See birch, 1.
poplar-borer (pop'lar-b6r*^6r), n. A longicom
beetle, Saperda catcarata, the larva of which
bores the trunks of various poplars.
poplar-dagger (pop'lai'-dag*er), n. A bomby-
cid moth, Acronycta populi, whose larva feeds
on poplar-leaves. See cut under dagger^, 4.
poplared (pop'lard), o. [<x>oplar + -edi.] Cov-
ered with or containing poplars.
poplar-girdler (pop'^r-g^r^dlfer), n. A longi-
com beetle, Saperda concolor, whose larva
girdles the trunks of poplar-saplings.
poplar-gray (pop'lar-gra), n. A British moth,
Acronycta megacephala.
poplar-kitten (pop'lar-kit'n), n. A British
puss-moth, Cerura bifida.
poplar-lutestring
poplax-lutestring (pop'15,r-lut*'string), n. A
British moth, Cymatophora or.
poplar-spinner (pop'15,r-spin"6r), ». A geo-
metrid moth, Biston ursaria, whose larva defo-
liates poplars in the United States.
poplar-tree (pop'lar-tre), n. Same as poplar.
popleti n. Squirrel-fui. FairhoU.
popler^t, »• An obsolete form ot poplar.
popler^ti "• [ME., alsopopelere, a bird ; glossed
by ML. populus.} A sea-gull. Malliwell. [in
the quotation, the name m parentheses is that of the
shoveler duck.]
Popelere, byrd (or sohovelerd, inlra), Populut.
Prompt. Pmv., p. 408.
4622
heads of a lathe. Also popit. See cut imder
lathe-head.— 6. A puppet-valve.— 6. Small bits
of wood upon a boat's gunwale, to support the
rowlocks and washstrake.
poppet-head (pop'et-hed), n. 1. The adjust-
able head of a lathe which supports the back
or dead-center.— 2. In mining, the pulley-frame
or head-gear over a shaft, supporting, the pul-
leys over which the ropes used in winding
or hoisting pass. Also called pulley-frame,
shaft-tachle, head-gear, Uadstocks, asiA pit-head
fra/me.
poppet-valve (pop'et-valv), n. Same as pwpjjef-
valve.
poples (pop'lez), M. ; pi. iJopMte (-li-tez). [L-] poppied (pop'id), as. \<poppy¥ -ed^.'\ 1. Pro-
Tne ham, or back of the knee; the popliteal duoing or covered or grown over with poppies;
"■fi- mingled with poppies: as, jjopped fields; "»op-
pied aorn," Keats, Endymion, i.— 3. Eesulting
from or produced by the use of poppy-juioe or
opium; ustless.
The end of all— the poppied sleep. SmrAwrm, nicet
poppynge; verbal
J, ^ , ^ ^ - The act of smearing
the face with white lead (ceruse).
Theaungellesaideitwasbutlitellemerualle though this
lady, for her jJOKpinje and pelntynge, suffre this payne.
KnigU itf La Tour Landry (B. E. T. S.), p. 68.
space,
poplexyt, n. An aphetie form of apoplexy.
Poplexie shente not hire heed.
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 21.
poplin (pop'lin), n. [= Sp.populina, popelens,
< F. popeline, formerly j)opeZi»e, poplin; origin poppingt, n. [ME. po.
obscure.] A fabric having a silk warp and a ^"f pop2 ^. • see pojpK]
weft of wool heavier than the silk, which gives -' ~ ' ■ ' * ' ■ ■ ' ^
it a corded surface somewhat resembling that of
rep. It may be watered, brocaded, or plain. —
Double popIM, poplin in which both the silk warp and
woolweft ai'e very heavy, the heavy wool weft making the . , ,. , _ . t ™- ? «*
corded appearance very prominent and the woven stuff popping-creaSO (pop mg-kres), n. In cnclcet.
much stiffer and heavier than single poplin. — Irish ^op- See crease^, 2.
lln, a light variety of poplin, someUmes also called mrasrte nonDlcl (pop'l), V. i. ; pret. and pp. poppled, ppr.
ijopjin, made m Dublm, and celebrated lor its uniformly iT'ifif'-Y. ^r tf^^t i^ „ ^I^':.±-i^-f ^ ! -^Si.
fine quality.— Terry poplta, a very durable fabric in P
which, by throwing up to the surface alternate threads
of the silk warp, an appearance somewhat resemblmg
Terry velvet is obtained.
poplitseus, popliteus (pop-li-te'us),^.; pl.jpop-
litsd, poplitei (-i). [NL., < L. poptes (poplii-),
the ham of the knee, the hock,] A flat trian-
gular muscle at the back of the knee-joint, cov-
ered by the gastrocnemius, it arises from the outer
populace
2. One of several plants belonmng to other
genera of the Papaveraceee. — 3. The foxglove.
— 4. In arcA., same as poppy-head— -Big^j^
pjr. See def. 1.— California prapy. See Sselmlioltda
—Corn-poppy. See def. 1.— Held-poppy. Same ai
compoppy.—aaxAen poppy, speciflcaUy, the opium.
poppy.— Horn-poppy, or botned poppy, a small m,
side plant of the poppy family, Olaucmm luteum, with
clasping leaves and solitary jrellow flowers: so named
from the long carved horn-like seed-pods. Also cso-
poppy.— LoDe-hea.dBA poppy. See def. 1.— Mexican
poppy. See prickly ix>KP2/.— Oriental poppy. Sea
def. 1.— Poppy trash. See trash.— TlUmy poppy
Argemone Ifemoana, the Mexican poppy, now widely SB
fused, often a weed. The pods and leaves are prickly
the latter blotched with white ; the flowers are yellow, a
variety being white. Its seeds are regarded as cathartic
and yield a useful oil. See yoRpj/-"*^-— Red poppy. See
def. 1.— Sea-poppy, or seaside poppy. Same as toni-
poppy.— Spatling or frothy poppy, an old name of £i-
tene injlata : so called on account of the spittle-like froth
produced upon it by the juncture of an insect— Tres-
poppy, Dendromecon rigidum, of California, remarkable
as a shrub in the almost wholly herbaceous order Pops.
veraceee, 6 or 8 feet high, with bright-yellow flowers from
1 to 3 inches broad.— Welsh poppy. See Meamopga.—
White poppy. See def. l.
poppy-bee (pop'i-be), n. An upholsterer-bee,
Anthocopa papaveris, which furnishes its nest
with the petals of poppies. See cut under up-
holsterer-bee.
poppycock (pop'i-kok), n. [Appar. < pop^ in
dun. form, -I- cocfcl, in vague addition of eon-
tempt.] Trivialtalk; nonsense; stufEandrub-
bish. rU. S. vulgarism.]
, i. ; pret. and pp. p^iea ppr poppy-l^-ead (pop'i-hed), n. A carved finial in
- ,- '?'°'- ^l^^f"^- o* J"'-P'-J ^^- ^° ™ecorative woodwork and other ornamental
rush; foam; bubble.
And on the stany's owt thar hamys [he] dang,
Quhil brayn and eyn and blnde al poplit owt
Gavin Douglas, tr. of Virgil, I. 167.
His brains came poppling out like water.
Cotton, Burlesque upon Burlesque, p. 226. (Davies.)
2. To bob or move up and down: said of a float-
ing object,
side of the external femoral condyle, and is Inserted into Donple^ (pop'l), n. [< popple'^, V.'} A ripple.
^n^lt'<^-^^^l<popli^^^^^^^^
Ut or pertaining to the ham, or back of the jj^jj^io = ^q.. popeltpapeLQ.poppeipap-
2>el = Sw. Dan. poppel = OF. *pople, pewple,
pouple, pouble, pible = Sp. pobo, cTiopo = Pg.
ehoupo, chopo = It. pioppo, pioppa, < "L.popu-
Im, a poplar ; perhaps for *palpul'us, K^palp in
palpitare, tremble.] Same as poplar. [Prov.
Bug. and U. S.]
knee.— External popliteal nerve. Same BBperoneal
»ienie(whiohsee, under jieroneoJ).— Popliteal aneurism,
aneurism of the popliteal artery. — Popliteal artery, the
continuation of the femoral artery in the popliteal space,
after passing through the foramen in the adductor mag-
nus. It divides, below the popliteal muscle, into the an-
terior and posterior tibial arteries.— Popliteal aspect,
the posterior aspect of the leg.— Poplltesul bursse, bursie
beneath the heads of the gastrocnemius muscles, and popple^ (pop'l), n. The com-oockle,
„„.«„„„*,,.„ <„*,,. — „..„,.„.,. „«. GiSiago. [Prov. Eng.]
ig with the knee-joint.— Popliteal glands, four or _____'', ■■-,.> „ . _T "»,„»,«„•„„ / «„\ r/ MTT
llmphatic glands surrounding the popliteal artery. POPPy (POP i)j »•; P'- popp^es( -iz). [< MJi
ipliteal ligament, the posterior ligament of the popy, < AS. popig, papig = F. pamot, JNorm.
. . . ^ _, „ „ ____..»__. papi = 'Pv. paver, papaver = Sp. o6a6o?,eom-
poppy, amapola, poppy, corn-poppy, = Pg. jjo-
poula = It. papavero, < L. papaver, poppy. The
Gr. word was foiicuw; cf. meconium. The L. pa-
paver suffered considerable change in passing
into vernacular use in later languages. With
poppy in the architectural sense, cf . P. poupSe
in same sense (whence E. poop^), appar. an ex-
tended use of poup6e, the bunch of flax on a
distaff, hence a distaff, also a crown-graft, par-
ticular uses oipoupie, a doll, rag-baby : see pup-
pet."] 1. Aplantof the genus Popoiier. The pop-
ples are showy herbs,
sometimes others, in the popliteal space, often commuui
eating with the knee-joint.'
five lymphat'
—Popliteal , .
knee-]oint>— Popliteal line. See Jiii«2.— Popliteal
nerve, the larger division of the great sciatic, passing
down the middle of the popliteal space to the lower bor-
der of the popliteus muscle, where it becomes the poste-
rior tibial. It gives off muscular and articular branches
and the external saphenous nerve. Also called intermd
popliteal itenw.— Popliteal notch, plane, etc. See the
nouns.— Popliteal re^on. Same as popliteaZ gpace.—
Popliteal space a lozenge-shaped space at the back of
the knee, bounded above by the hamstring-muscles, below
by the inner and outer heads of the gastrocnemius; the
bam. Also called popliteal infermi.- Popliteal surface,
the surface of the femur between the supracondylar lines.
— Popliteal tendons, the tendons of the muscles form-
ing the boundaries of the popliteal space ; the hamstrings.
— Popliteal vein, the vein accompanying the popliteal ar-
tery, formed from the venae comites of the tibial arteries,
and continued as the femoral vein,
poplites, n. Plural oipoples.
popliteilB,'»' See papUtsBUS.
poplitic (pop-lit'ik), a. 1= OF. popUUque, n.,
< L. poples (poplit-), the ham of the knee.] Of
or pertaining to the poples; popliteal.
popper^ (pop'6r), n. [< pop^ + -«»-l.] 1. A
utensil for popping com; a corn-popper. It is
made of wire gauze with a cover and a long
wooden handle. [U. S.]— 3. Anything that
pops or makes a popping sound, as a fire-
cracker or pistol.
And all round the glad church lie old bottles
With gunpowder stopped.
Which will be, when the Image re-enters.
Religiously popped.
And at night from the crest of Calvano
Great bonfires will hang.
On the plain will the trumpets join chorus.
And more poppers bang.
Browning, Englishman in Italy.
popper^t (pop'er), n. [ME., < (?) pop^, strike,
-f- -eri.] A dagger.
' A loly poppere baar he in his pouche.
Chaucer, Eeeve's Tale, 1. 11.
poppet (pop'et), «. [Ava,T. of puppef] It. A
puppet. London Gazette, Feb. IS^ 1705. — 2. A
term of endearment. See puppet. — 3. A shore
or piece of timber placedT between a vessel's
bottom and the bilgeways, at the foremost and
a,ftermost parts, to support her in launching.
See cut under launcMng-ways. — 4. One of the
Poppy-head.— Choir-stalls of Lincohi Cathedral, England.
work, on a smaller scale than architectural orna-
ment in stone ; especially, such a finial at the
top of the end of a bench or a pew.
poppy-mallow (pop'i-maFo), n. Any plant of
the genus Callirrlioe, of the mallow family: so
named from the poppy-bke flowers. Various spe-
cies are beautiful in cultivation, among them C. tnwHi-
crata, the purple poppy -mallow, with stems spreaamg on
the ground,
importance as 'the poppy-oil (pop'i-oil), m. 1 . A fixed oil expressed
source of opium and from the seeds of the opium-poppy. The pure oil
is of a golden-yellow color and an agreeable flavor. It
serves as a food and an illuminating oil, and is used in
soap-making. The finer qualities of that produced m
France are used to adulterate olive-oil, very extenslyely
in grinding artists' colors, and as a medium in painting.
2. A limpid light-yellow oil obtained, chiefly in
India, from the seeds of the Mexican or pricUy
poppy. It saponifies readily, bums well, «
recommended for lubricating, and credited wiOi
medicinal properties.^3. An oil, little utilized,
obtained from the seeds of the homed poppy.
petSsandsee'dsvary poppy-seed (pop'i-sed), n. The seed of the
in color. The varie- poppy, chiefly of the opium-poppy.— Poppy-seed
ty chiefly cultivated oil. Same asj)OKpj/-o«. •" " "
fJ^y^L^^^tlrZ pops (P°P«). »•, 8am« asi,c^-docfc. [Prov EngJ
white seeds, that in pop-shop (pop'shop), n. A pawnbroker's shop.
■ ■ "• ■ '"Slang.]
[< F. populace, Of.
in the New World
cultivated chiefly in
gardens, and wild or
cultivated in the Old.
The opium-poppy,
P. somnifemm, is of
yielding, in its
seeds, a valuable oil.
(See poppy-oU and
ma/ui-seed.) Its cap-
sules afford also a
syrup or extract used
as a sedative, and in
hot decoction serve
as an anodyne appli-
cation. The opium-
poppy is a glaucous
plant, with wavy
clasping leaves. The
Poppy {Pafaver somniftrum).
a, the upper part of the stem with the
flower :_ *, the lower part of the plant ; c.
^^ ' '—'-^ nil. I..; accuo, biiau iii .. _ _
Minor purple [Slang.]
petals and dark seeds ; they are called respectively wfdte populace (pop'u-las) M
anAUack poppy. The common red poppy, corn-poppy, or novulai — 9,-n nnmilnrhn mrnvMeo — 'Ps.pom-
com-rose is P. Rhceas, abounding in central and southern /^"i"""* — OP- popuiacno, popUMZO — fS-_^ J^^
Europe and western Asia. The petals are deep-red or scar-
let with a dark eye, or when doubled varying in color. The
long-headed poppy, P. dubiwm, has smaller flowers of a
lighter red, the capsule elonga^d. The Oriental poppy,
P. orientate, has a very large deep-red flower on a tall pe-
duncle, and is the most showy species.
Nowe popy seede in grounde is goode to throwe.
PaUadius, Husbondne (E. E. T. S.), p. 81.
iaga, populacho, < It. popolacdo, popolaeso, the
common people, the populace, with a depreoiar
five suffix -accio (see -ace), < popolo, people, <
L. populus, people : see people."] The common
people; the vulgar; the multitude, compre-
hending all persons not distinguished by ranK,
education, office, or profession.
populace
The jxmdace hooted and shouted all day before the
gates of the royal residence.
Uacaulay, Nugent's Hampden.
= Syn. Populate, Mob, BaJMe, crowd, masses. Populace
Is used to represent the lower classes, the body of those
without wealth, education, or recognized position ; it is,
however, much less opprobrious than irwb or rabble. Mob
is a very strong word for a tumultuous or even riotous as-
sembly, moved to or toward lawlessness by discontent or
some similar exciting cause. Rabble is a contemptuous
word for the very lowest classes, considered as confused
or without sufflcient strength or unity of feeling to make
them especially dangerous.
That vast portion, lastly, of the working class which, raw
and lialf-developed, has long lain half-hidden amidst its
poverty and squalor, and is now issuing &om its hiding-
place to assert an Englishman's heaven-bom privilege of
doing as he likes, and is beginning to perplex us by march-
ing when it likes, meeting where it likes, bawling what it
likes, breaking what it likes— to this vast residuum we
may with great propriety give the name of Popidace.
M. Arnold, Culture and Anarchy, iii
A nwb is at first an irregular, then a regular army ; but
in every stage of its progress the mere blind instrument
of its leaders. Ames, Works, II. 228.
Follow'd with a rabble that rejoice
To see my tears and hear my deep-fet groans.
ShaJc., 2 Hen. VI., iL 4. 32.
populacyt (pop'u-la-si), n. [< populace, irreg.
conformed to nouns in -aq/.'] The populace or
common people ; the rabble. Decay of Christian
Piety.
popular (pop'u-lar), a. [= D.populair = G. po-
pular, popular = 8w. popular = Dan.populaer,
< 'F.populaire= Sp.Vg.popular = It.populare,
popolare, < L. popularis, of the people, belong-
ing to the people, of the same people or country
(as a noun, a fellow-countryman), agreeable to
the people, popular, attached or devoted to
the people, democratic, etc., < popvXus, the peo-
ple: see people.'\ 1. Of or pertaining to the
people; constituted by or depending on the
people, especially the common people: as, the
popular voice ; popular elections ; popular gov-
ernment.
Antinous, by my shame observe
What a close witchcraft jiqpuZar applause is.
Beau, and Fl,, Laws of Candy, v. 1.
2. Suitable to or intended for common people ;
easy to be comprehended ; not technical or ab-
struse; plain; familiar: as, a jjqpater treatise
ou astronomy.
Homilies are plain 2.nA. popvlar instructions.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity.
"Piers Ploughman" is the best example I know of what
is called popmar poetry — of compositions, that is, which
contain all the simpler elements of poetry, but still in solu-
tion, not crystallized around any thread of artistic pm'pose.
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 263.
3. Enjoying the favor of the people ; pleasing
to people in general: as, a popular preacher;
a, popular war or peace.
In their sermons they were apt to enlarge on the state
of thepresent time, and to preach against the sins of princes
and courts, a topic that naturally makes men popular.
Bp. Burnet.
An author may make himself very popular, however,
and even justly so, by appealing to the passion of the mo-
ment, without having anything in him that shall outlast
the public whim which he satisfies.
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 117.
4t. Desirous of obtaining the favor of the peo-
ple; courting the vulgar; of demagogic pro-
clivities.
Divers were of opinion that he [Caiua Gracchus] was
more popular and desirous of the common people's good
will and favour then his brother had been before him.
Bat indeed he was clean contrary.
North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 690. (Trenck)
5. Prevailing among the people; epidemic.
Johnson. [Bare.]
The world 's a, popular disease, that reigns
Within the froward heart and frantic brains
Of poor distemper'd mortals.
Quarles, Emblems, L 8.
■6t. Plebeian; vulgar.
Discuss unto me ; art thou ofilcer?
Or art thou base, common, Anipopular?
Shak., Hen. V., iv. 1. 3&
7. Conceited. [Vulgar, U. S.]
Papular! conceited. . . . "Pop'lar as a hen with one
chicken." Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser.. Int.
Popular action, in law, an action for a penalty given by
statute to the person who sues for the same. — Popular
sovereignly, in V. S. hiu., the theory that the right to
decide whether slavery should exist in a territoiy rested
with the people of that territory, and not with Congress.
It was advocated especially by Democrats during the
period 1847-61, and its leading champion was Douglas.
H was often termed "squatter sovereignty," with which
it was neaily identical. = Syn. 3. Favorite, cunent, pre-
vailing.
popularisation, popularise, etc. See populari-
sation, etc.
popularity (pop-u-lar'i-ti). n. [= p. popularite
= Sp. popularidad = Pg- popularidade = It.
popolariUl = D. populariteit = Sw. Dan. popu-
4623
laritet, < L. popularita(t-)s, a being of the same
country, also a courting of popular favor,
popular bearing, < popularis, of the people : see
poi>ular.^ 1. Popular character or quality;
favor in the eyes of the people ; acceptance or
acceptability among the people ; the fact of be-
ing favored by or of having the approbation of
the people: as, the popularity of a measure;
the popularity of a public oflcer; the populari-
ty of a book or of a preacher.
The best temper of minds desii'eth good name and true
honour ; the lighter, popularity and applause ; the more
depraved, subjection and tyraimy. Baean.
2t. That which catches public favor; anything
suited to the vulgar fancy; a piece of claptrap.
Popularities . . . which sway the ordinary judgement.
Bacon,
3t. A desire to obtain favor with the people; a
currying of favor with the people.
Harold, lifted up in mind, and forgetting now his former
shows of popularUy, defrauded his soldiers their due and
well-deserved share of the spoils. MUton, Hist. Eng., vt
4t. Vulgarity; commonness.
This gallant, labouring to avoid popularity, falls into a
habit of affectation ten ttiousand times hatef uler than the
former. B. Jonson.
popularization (pop*u-lar-i-za'shon), n. [=
i. popularisation; Cptyputarize + -ation.'] The
act of making popular; adaptation to popular
needs or capacities: as, the popularisation of
science. Also spelled popularisation.
popularize (pop u-lar-iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
popularised, -p-pv.' pbpuUirieing. [= F. popii-
lariser = Sp. ijopularigar = Pg. popularisar; as
popular + -fee.] To make popular; treat in a
popular manner, or so as to be generally intel-
ligible to common people ; spread among the
people. Also speMeA. popularise.
The popularizing of religious teaching. MUman.
popularizer (pop'u-lar-i-z6r), n. One who pop-
ularizes, or treats scientific or abstruse subjects
in a popular manner. Also spelled j;optttomcr.
Athenseuni.
popularly (pop'u-lar-li), adv. 1. In a popular
manner; so as to please the populace.
Wily then should I, encouraging the bad.
Turn rebel and ivmmpvlarly mad?
Dryden, Abs. and Achit., i. 336.
2. Among the people at large; currently; com-
monly; prevalently.
popularness (pop'u-lar-nes), n. The state of
Deing popular; popularity.
Meretricious popularness in literature. Coleridge.
populate (pop'u-lat),«;.; pret. andpp. populated,
ppr. populating. [< ML. populatus, pp. of po-
pulare (> It. popolare), people, populate, < L.
populus, people: see people, n., and at. people,
V. Cf. L. populari, populare, devastate, lay
waste: see d^opulate.'] I, trans. To furnish
with inhabitants, either by natural increase or
by immigration or colonization ; people.
H. intrans. To breed; propagate; increase
in number.
Great shoals of people which go on to populate.
Bacon, Vicissitudes of Things.
populate (pop'u-lat), a. [= lt.popolato,popu-
lato; < ML. populatus, pp. of populare, popu-
late: see populate, ».] Populated; populous.
The countrie of Caldea, the situation whereof is vnder
the fourth Climate, the Kegion after the floud first inhab-
ited and jw|m2ate.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 376.
A prince . . . in the prime of his years, owner of the en-
tire isle of Britain, enjoying Ireland po^milate and quiet.
Bacon, Notes of a Speech on Spain.
population (pop-u-la'shon), n. [= F. popula-
tion = Sp. populaicion, p'obladon = Pg. popula-
cSo = It.popolazione, < ML.popiHatioin-), popu-
lation (LL. a people, mtdtitude), < populare, pp.
populatus, -people: see pojmlate.'] 1. The act
or process of populating or peopling: as, the
v&pid population of the country still continues.
The first radical impact of the principle of population,
working in harmony with the repellent forces of savagery,
tends to the speediest possible diffusion of population
throughout the most accessible parts of the habitable
world. Amer. Anthropologist, 1. 17.
2. The whole number of people or inhabitants
in a country, county, city, or other locality:
as, the population has increased 20,000 in four
years; also, a part of the inhabitants in any
way distinguished from the rest: as, the Qer-
ina.n population of New York.
A country may have a great population and yet not be
populous. Tooke.
In countries of the highest civilization which has yet
been reached, armed with the resources of the best gov-
ernment, purest justice, truest morality, soundest econ-
Fopulus
omy, and most fruitful science attained by men, we find
the greatest density of population, because the limits of
population revolve more and more within the sphere of
man's material, mental, and moral freedom.
Ainer. Anthrf^mlogist, 1. 11.
3. The state of a locality with regard to the
number of its inhabitants; populousness.
Neither is the jxnwJatton to be reckoned only by number,
for a smaller number, that spend more and earn less, do
wear out an estate sooner than a greater number that live
low and gather more. Bacon, Seditions and Troubles.
populator (pop'u-la-tgr), n. [= It.popolatore,
< ML. populator, one who peoples, < jiopulare,
pp. populatus : see people and populate. 2 One
who or that which populates or peoples.
populicide (pop'u-li-sid), n. [=F. populicide;
< L. popultis, people, + cxdere, kill.] Slaugh-
ter of me people. JEclectic Rev. [Rare.]
populin (pop'u-lin), n. [= F. populine; < L.
populus, poplar, + -m2.] a erystatlizable sub-
stance (CooHgaOg) found in the bark, root, and
leaves or the aspen, Populus Tremula, along
with saUcin. It forms delicate white needles,
which have a sweet taste like that of licorice.
populiuate (pop'u-lin-at), V. t. [< populin +
-ote2.] To impregnate with populin, as lard,
to prevent a tendency to rancidity. TJ. S. Dis-
pensatory, p. 1489.
Populist (pop'ii-list), a. and n. I. a. Of or per-
taining to the if'eople's party, a political organi-
zation established in the United States in 1891,
having for its chief objects expansion of the cur-
rency, state control of railways, and the placing
of restrictions upon the ownership of land.
II. n. A member of the People's party.
populosityt (pop-u-los'i-ti), n. [= F. populo-
site, < LL. populosita{t-')s, < L. ]i>opulosu8, popu-
lous: see populous.'] Populousness.
The length of men's lives conduced unto the populostty
of their kind. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vi 6.
populous (pop'u-lus), a. [< P. x>opuleux = Sp.
Pg. populoso = it. populoso, popoloso, < L. popu-
losus, full of people, populous, < populus, peo-
ple: see people.] 1. Full of people; contain-
ing many inhabitants in proportion to the ex-
tent of the country.
You will flnde it a populous towne, and well inhabited.
CoryaZ, Crudities, 1. 9.
Tliey passed not farre frome an other llande which the
captyues sayde to bee verye peapvlous, and replenyshed
with all thynges necessarie for the life of man.
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. 69).
2t. Numerous; multitudinous.
Yt was shewed hym that Kynge Rycharde was at hande
wyth a stronge powre and & populous armye.
Hall, £ich. III., fol. 29, a., quoted in Wright's Bible
[Wordbook.
The dust
Should have ascended to the roof of heaven,
Baised by jowc populous troops.
Shak., A. and C, iii. 6. 50.
Sf. Pleasingor aceeptabletothepeople; popular.
He I plead for
Has power to make your beauty pmndous.
Webster, Appius and Virginia, iL 1.
4t. Suited to the populace ; coarse; vulgar.
It should have been some fine confection,
That might have given the broth some dainty taste ;
This powder was too gross and popedom.
Ardenqf Feversham, i. 3.
populously (pop'u-lus-li), adv. In a populous
manner; with many inhabitants in proportion
to the extent of the country.
populousness (pop'u-lus-nes), n. The state of
being populous, or of having many inhabitants
in proportion to extent of territory.
Populus (pop'u-lus), m. [NL.(Toumefort,1700),
< li. populus, 'poplar: see popple^, xmplar.'] A
genus of dicotyledonous trees of the order Sali-
einesB, including the poplar and aspen, having
dioBcions flowers in catkins without floral en-
velops, anddistinguished from /Sato, the willow,
by the numerous ovules, obliquely lengthened
and cup-shaped disks, broad and toothed bracts,
loosely flowered and generally pendulous cat-
kins, and broad leaves. The 18 species are all natives
of the northern hemisphere. They are trees with angled
or sometimes cylindrical branches, scaly resinous buds
coated externally with varnish before opening, and catkins
appealing before the leaves, which are alternate and slen-
der-petioled, feather-veined and three-nerved, sometimes
entire and triangulai', often toothed or lobed. Most spe-
cies present a very chai'acteristic appearance when in flow-
er, from the long drooping catkins and their red anthers
ana white-fringed scales. The fertile catkins dischaige
innumerable seeds, each enveloped in white cottony down,
which fill the air about the trees m May, and collect in
small dilf ts like snow ; hence the ti&me' cottonwood, which
is in use for several American species. P. Tremwla of Eu-
rope and P. tremuloides of America, the aspens, are re-
markable for the tremulous motion of their leaves, due to
the vertical flattening of their leafstalks (see cut undet
Populus
petiole). See gruakiiig asp (under axp^\ aspen, avid wives'
tongues (under avid), and corKcine. For other epecies, see
po3[Aar, the general name of the genus.
popweed (pop'wed), n. The common bladder-
wort. See Utricularia.
I stuck awhile with my toe-balls on the slippery links ot
the pop-weed, and the world was green and gliddery, and
1 durst not look behind me.
iJ. D. Btackmore, Lorna Doone, vii.
poquauhock, n. [Said to be Algonkin, a fuller
form of quahaug.'] The round hard clam, or qua-
haug, Ventis mercenaria. Also poquanhock. See
sequantiock.
por-. [L. por-: see pro-.'] A prefix of Latin
origin, ultimately a form otpro-. It occurs in
portend, portent, etc.
poraillet) )2- [ME.,<OP.^(«;roiMe,poorpeople, <
povre,-pooi: seepoor.] The poor; poorpeople.
For the parisch prest and the pardonere parten the siluer,
That the poraiue of the parisch shold haue 3if thei nere.
PierB Plowman (B), ProL, L 82.
It ia not honest, it may not avaunce,
For to delen with no swlcb. poraille.
Chomeer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 247.
Al be It the parayU and needy people drewe vnto hym,
& were parteners of y' ille. Fdoyan, Chron., I., an. 1560.
poral (po'ral), a. [(.pore^ + -al.'] Of or per-
taining to the pores of the body.
Giving only of our waste ; ... by form of perspiration,
radiation, if you like ; unconscious j»>ra2 bountifulness.
0. Meredith, The Egoist, idv.
porbeagle (p6r'be"gl), n. [Said to be for *porc-
beagle, < P. pore, hog, + E. beagle (applied to
several sharks). Cf . porpoise.] Any shark of
the family Lamnidse, and especially of the ge-
nus Lamna ; a kind of tope or mackerel-shark.
The name orlginallj^ applied to L. cornuftico, a British spe-
cies occurring also in the North Atlantic at large, and also
known as the Beaumaris shark. It is a large fierce shark,
of a gray color. Species of Isurus are mackerel-sharks to
which the name also applies, as /. glaucus or /. oxyrhyn-
chus of the Atlantic. See cut under mackerel-shark.
porcate (p6r'kat), a. [< L. as if *porcatus, <
porca, a, ridge between two furrows : see fur-
row.] Bidged; formed in ridges; specifically,
in entom., marked by longitudinal deep furrows
separated from one another by narrow ridges.
porcated (p6r'ka-ted), a. [i porcate + -eaX.]
Same as 2>orcate.
porcelain^ (pdrs'lan or pors'lan), n. and a.
[Formerly also porceUan, porcelane, also irreg.
purslaine, purslane, purslen (by confusion with
purslane^, which was also written porcelain) ;
= D. porselein = (J. porzellan, porcellan = Dan.
' porcellsen = Sw.porslin, < OF.porcellaine,pource-
taine, porchelaine, porcelaine, porcelain, china,
chinaware, also the purple-fish, the Venus-
shell, P. porcelaine, porcelain, china, cowry,
sea-snail, = Sp. porcelana = Pg. porcellana,
porcelana, porcelain, < It. porcellana, porcelain
(so called because its finely polished surface
was compared with that of the Venus-shell),
also the purple-fish, the Veuus-shell, so called
because the curved shape of the upper surface
resembles the curve of a pig's back, < porcetla,
a little pig, a pig, dim. otporco, m., porca, f., a
hog, pig: see pork.] I. n. A ceramic ware hav-
ing a translucent body, and when glazed (see
biscuit, 3) a translucent glaze also, it is of various
kinds : (a) Hard-paste (or natural) porcelain, of which the
principal material is a peculiar clay commonly known as
kaolin, with which is combined some silicious material (in
China, petuntse ; atSfevres and elsewhere in Europe, white
sand, and sometimes chalk, or roasted and ground flintsX
The glaze is of simUar composition, the silicious ingredient
being sometimes rock-crystal ground to powder. (A) Soft-
paste (or artificial) porcelain, of which the composition
varies; it was originally an attempted imitation of the
hard porcelain brought from China and Japan. Sand, ni-
ter, soda (or other alkaline substance), gypsum, salt, and
other ingredients enter into it, and, in order to make
it plastic, glue or some similar material Is added. The
glaze is hard, and the ware is not exposed to the great
heat of the hard-porcelain furnace, (c) Hybrid or mixed
porcelain, which is also a compound produced in attempt-
ed imitation of Oriental porcelain, but contains a certain
amount of a kaolinic clay. Ot these three varieties, Chi-
nese and Japanese porcelain, the porcelain of Dresden,
Vienna, and Sevres (since about 1770), and in England that
of Bristol, Plymouth, and Lowestoft are ot the first ; St.
Cloud, S6vreB (before 1770), and most English wares are of
the second; andthemedieval Italian wares, with some Eng-
lish ones and perhaps some modern ones of the European
continent^ belong to the third ; but the distinction between
the second and third is often hard to fix or ascertain. —
Alcora porcelain, a rich porcelain having a metallic lus-
ter not unlike that of majolica, made at Alcora in Spain,
toward the end of the eighteenth century. The mark is
an A in gold-colored luster.— Amstel porcelain, porce-
lain made near Amsterdam in the Netherlands, first at a
factory called Old Amstel from 1782 to 1807, and then at
the factory of New Amstel for two or three years only.
The ware of both is marked Amstel in full, or with an A,
and is ot great excellence of manufacture, rarely in decora,
tive pieces, but in table-services of great variety, and dec-
orated in a simple way, especially with small paintings of
birds. — Arlta porcelain, the more exact nameoftheflne
Japanese porcSain commonly known as Old Japan, Hizen
4624
porcelain, and Imari porcelain, the greater part of which
was made at the town pf Arita. See Hizen parcelatn.—
EerUn porcelain, porcelain made at Berlin, Prussia, es-
pecially a hard-paste porcelain made at the royal factory
(founded by a private person in 1750, and bought by Fred-
erick the Great thirteen years later). This waie has been
made down to the present day. The mark has usually
been a scepter in blue under the glaze, to which has been
added K. P. M., for Kdnigl. Porzellan Manufaktur; but
the recent productions are marked with a circular seal
having the above German words in full around the rim
and the royal eagle in the middle. The uses to which this
ware is put are extremely varied, and decoration of every
sort has been tried in it, and generally with success. Litho-
phane belongs to it, as well as a curious manufacture
called porcelain-lace, which is added to decorative figures,
and is produced by soaking lace or a similar fabric in the
Sorcelain-slip, and then firing, by which the threads are
estroyed and the pattern left in thin filaments of porce-
lain.—Bone porcelain. See 6on«i.— Bow porcelain, a
soft-paste porcelain made at Stratford-le-Bow, near Lon-
don, generally decorated by figures in relief and in painting
of the simplest character. It is the earliest English porce-
lain. A frequent decoration is what is called the hawthorn
Sattern (thorny branches covered with blossoms, frequent-
' in slight relief). A frequent mark of Bow china is a
bent bow with an arrow on the string.- Brandenburg
porcelain, porcelain made at a factory near Branden-
burg between 1713 and 1719. The founder of the factory
appears to have been a workman from Meissen. — Bris-
tol porcelain, porcelain made at Bristol in England,
especially a ware made in the eighteenth century from
the Cornwall china-stone, and dttected by a potter named
Champion, who bought out Cookworthy's interest. See
Cookworlhy porcelain.— BuAweiS porcelain, a hard-
paste porcelain made at Budweis in Bohemia in mod-
ern times.— BuTBlem porcelain, a name given to some ,
of the finer wares made at the first Wedgwood factory
In Burslem. They are not strictly porcelain in any sense,
but are described by Wedgwood, in catalogues, etc.( as
"fine porcelain bisque" and the like, whence probably
the term came to be used.— Caen porcelain, porcelain
made at Caen in Normandy, especially a hard-paste ware
made during the early years of the French revolution,
and commonly marked with the Wrd Caen in full. It is
extremely rare, the manufacture having lasted but a few
years.— Capodlmonte porcelain, porcelain made at Ca-
podimonte, a suburb of Naples, especially that of the royal
factory, which was continued through the greater part of
the eighteenth century. The most celebrated variety is
that which is decorated with figures in high relief, not very
finely moneled, but decorative in their disposition, and
then touched with red applied in the pointing manner to
the less prominent parts of the relief, as if with the inten-
tion of giving a flesh-like warmth to the shadows. — Cast
porcelain, a semi-transparent or milky- white glass made
of silica and cryolite with oxid of zinc. Also called milk,
glass, fusible porcelain, cryolite glass, and hot-cast porcelain.
— Cbantllly porcelain, porcelain made at Chantilly, near
Paris. Especially— (a) A soft-paste porcelain made under
the patronage of the iS'ince de Cond^ from 1725, the mark
of which was a hunting-horn in blue under the glaze. The
glaze of this porcelain was made opaque by tin, so as to be
practically a thin coat of enamel. A design consisting of
small detached flowers painted in blue became very popu-
lar, and was known as the Chantilly sprig pattern. (6) A
hard-paste porcelain made in the early part of the nine-
teenth century, (c) See Petit porcelain. — Chelsea porce-
lain, a porcelain made at Chelsea in England, especially
a soft-paste porcelain made from 1735, the most admired
of the old English porcelains. — Chemical porcelain a
fine porcelain nearly completely vitrified, so as to be
almost an opaque glass, made at the works of Granger &
Co. at Worcester, England, about 1860. — Cookworthy
porcelain, porcelain made at Plymouth, England, from
about J755, by W. Cookworthy, who discovered the Cornish
clay (see mn((->to>ie(i>)) independently of Challers. This
was the most important of the Plymouth porcelain manu-
factures.—Copenhagen porcelain, porcelain made at
Copenhagen. Especially— (a) Ahard-pasteporcelainmade
from 1760 for a few years, and from 1772, soon after which
time it was taken up by the government The well-known
mark is three waving or rippling lines supposed to repre-
sent the waves of the sea. (!>) A modern porcelain, of
which the variety best known is unglazed works of art,
such as statuettes and groups. Thorwaldsen's works, es-
pecially, have been copied in this ware. — Crown Derby
porcelain, a variety ot Derby porcelain, bearing a royal
crown as a distinguishing mark. In some cases a D
only is crowned, sometimes the monogram D. K., or D
with a St. Andrew's cross, this mark being sometimes
in red, sometimes in violet, and sometimes impressed. —
Derby crown porcelain, a modern porcelain made at
Derby in imitation of the old Crown Derby ware and also
from new designs. The mark adopted by the company is
a cipher ot D. D. surmounted byacrown. — Derby porce-
lain, porcelain made at Derby in England, especially a
soft-paste porcelain made from 1751. The ware is very
translucent., and some ot the colors are of unusual bril-
liancy, especially the blue. One of the specialties of the
Derby fabric is the unglazed biscuit-ware, of which fig-
ures and groups were made for the decoration of the
table ; this is unmatched by any recent wares, the Parian
being generally inferior to it. An old mark ot Derby ware
is a D and the name of the potter Bloor, with the word
Derby, and a crown has been used since 1880.— Dresden
porcelain, a hard-paste porcelain made at the royal fac-
tory of Meissen, near Dresden in Saxony, beginning with
the year 1707. This was the first hard-paste porcelain
made in Europe, and the manufacture has continued to
the present day, including pieces for decoration, for uses
ot every kind and decoration of every variety, both in re-
lief and in color and gold. The small figures and groups,
brilliantly painted, and especially those in which shepherds
and shepherdesses are represented, have been especially
popular tor many years. A common name tor the old
Dresden porcelain is wkvx Saxe. The best-known mark of
this factory is two swords crossed, but a number of Orien^l
marks are roughly imitated on certain pieces. Pieces that
are sent out fi'om the royal factory white can be known
by a cut or scratch through the two swords which form
the mark ; such pieces, if decorated, have been decorated
outside. Compare Sivres porceZatn,- Egg-shell porce-
porcelain
lain. See e^9-8AeS.— Egyptian porcelain. See,^im.
(uin.- Embossed porcelain, porcelain the decoration
ot which is in slight relief. Especially— (a) When the re-
lief is obtained by the decoration itself, as in jxite surpu.it
\b) Less properly, when the decoration is produced by cast^
ing or pressing the whole surface before the color is an-
plied.— False porcelain, a name given by the first makers
of hard-paste porcelain in England to the aitiflcial or soft-
paste porcelain.— Frit porcelain. See/r«.— Pugit,!.
porcelain. Same as cast porcelain.— Hizen porcelain,
porcelain made in Japan, in the province of Hizen, and
often known as Imari porcelain, from the name of the sen.
port whence it is exported. The ware specially known as
Bizen or Imari is decorated with blue under the glaze, and
with red and sometimes green and gold upon the glaze
the green forming translucent enamels in slight relief . This
ware was brought to Europe by the Dutch duilng tlie
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and was knotrn as
Old Japan, until the recent investigation tato the history
of Japanese ceramics. Compare Arita porcelain.—'&A-
oast porcelain. See caa iwrcrfatn.— Hybrid porce-
lain. See At/ArzU- Imari porcelain, Japanese porce-
lain exported from the seaport of Imari, in the province of
Hizen. See Hizen porceJom.- Imperial yellow porce-
lain. See imperial.— traia. porcelain, a name given to
a hard white ware, with blue decoration in the Chineae
style, which has many of the characteristics of porcelain.
See Kashee ware, under uioreS.- Klyomldzu porcelain,
a variety of Japanese porcelain thebody of wrach is 3
to be artificial, composed of clay mixed with powdered aill.
clous stone and having peculiarities also in the compo-
sition of the glaze.— Eouan-Ei porcelain, a name given
to certain vasesot Chinese porcelain of blue decoration, and
marked with one or other of certain well-known emblems
of the Chinese magistracy, such as the pearl (considered
the emblem of talent or ability), the sacred ax, the sonorous
stone, and agroupot writing-materials.— Umogea porce-
lain, porcelain made at Limoges, in the department of
Haute- Vienne. France. Especially — (a) A soft-paste porce-
lain made from 1773. (ft) A hard-paste porcelain made
from 1779 to the present day. The kaolin was obtained from
St Yrieix in the neighborhood, and the ware was eape-
cisdly brilliant and translucent as long as this alone was
used. The modem porcelain includes much of the moat
important ceramic production of modern France.— Lowe-
stoft porcelain, a porcelain made at Lowestoft in Suf-
folk, from 1757 to 1804, especially a hard-paste porcelain
made after 1776 : one of the most admired wares of Eng-
lish manufacture. The pieces were usually for table-ser-
vices, and are remarkable for rich borders in which fes-
toons are a common detaiL^ Lun^Vllle Porcelain, a soft-
paste porcelain made at Lun^ville in France, especially
famous for the statuettes and groups in biscuit, ot wbich
the chief makerwas Paul Louis CyflS^. The paste ot these
seems to have been gradually improved by Cyfll^ or others
from the original ierre-de-Lorraine, and the improvedpaste
was called pdte-de-marbre. The name Cyffl6 is commonl;
marked on these pieces.— Mandarin porcelain. See
mandarin.— May-flower porcelain. See May-flower.—
Medici porcelain, a translucent ceramic ware produced
in or near Florence, undertheMedicean grand duke8,in the
sixteenth century. Pieces of this ware are ot great rarity.
The mark is sometimes the balls (palloni) of the JUedicI,
and sometimes a rude picture of the dome of the Cathedral
ot Florence.— Meissen-Saxony porcelain, the name
more properly given to the Dresden porcelain.— Nanldn
porcelain. Same as Wue china (which see, under clam).
— Natural soft-paste porcelain, a name given by M.
Brogniard, chief of the Sevres works for many yeai^ to
those soft-paste porcelains which have clay for their
basis, and therefore are properly ceramic wares.- Parian
porcelain. See PaWan.- Petit porcelain, porcelain
made from 1834 at Paris by a potter named Jacob Petit,
and of late years at Chantilly. This ware is of remarkable
excellence, and the pieces of original design are important
in the development of ceramic decoration ; but the greater
number of the present products are imitations of Dresden
and other celebrated wares.— Porcelain Jasper. See
jasper, 2.— E^aumur's porcelain, an artificial or hybrid
production of the eminent scientist K^aumur, diifering
from all porcelains properly so called, and not strictly
a soft-paste porcelain, but rather a glass that has been
exposed to a long-continued heat, which makes it opaque
and ot a milky white. This substance is called by the
Germans milch-glass. The discovery had no important
results.— Rose porcelain, Chinese porcelain in the dec-
oration ot which large surfaces of brilliant red enamel
are used. Plates and dishes ot which the outside is cov-
ered with this enamel are called rose-back plales, etc. The
rose porcelain is to be distinguished from the porcelain of
the so-called rose family, oi famUle rose.- EoyalWorces-
ter porcelain. See Worcester porceZato.—SevreB porce-
lain, porcelain made at Sfevres, near Paris. Especially
—(a) A soft-paste porcelain made from 1740, in which
year the manufacture was removed from Vincennes. The
celebrated colors bleu du roi, bleu turquoise, rose Pompa-
dour (more commonly called rose du Barry), and others,
were introduced for the soft-paste ware ; and the dec-
oration in gold raised in slight relief above the glaze, the
addition of jewels, and the style of the pamtlngs in medal-
lions, all have their origin in this soft-paste ware, which
was the only ware made at Sfevres before 1769^ although
the true hard porcelain had already been made at Meissen
sixty years before. (See Dresden porcelain.) The soft-
paste porcelain, now greatly in demand as a rarity, has
one advantage over the hard-paste- in the slight absorp-
tion of the color by the paste, giving a pleasant softness
of effect (6) A hard-paste porcelain made from 1769, In
consequence of the discovery of deposits of kaolin in
France. This manufacture has reached greater merit of
late years than before the revolution ; in size and perfec-
tion the pieces surpass anything produced elsewhcr^
and the painting shows unpandleled skill and mastery el
the material, whatever may be thought of Its appropri-
ateness and good taste as decoration. The mark under
the kings of the old regime was always the royal cipher
L L. front to front, crossing above and below, and witn-
in the space so inclosed a letter denoting the year ol
manufacture, j double alphabet beginning in 1778, AA,
etc. Under the republic, the word Sfevres, and E. F. for
H^publique Fran^aise, were used ; under ttie emphe, M.
Imple. de Sfevres, sometimes with the imperial eagle, was
used. The restored kings used a cipher of LL and one
porcelain
of CC ; Louis Philippe, a cipher L. P., and often the name
of the palace for which the ware was made. The 1848 re-
public restored the R.F. ; and the second empire, a crowned
N, with S for Sevres, and the date, as 56, 57. But since
about 1830 all pieces are marked before decorating with
the letter S, and a date in green included in a cartouche,
and, when the piece is sold undecorated, this mark is cut
through by a touch to a grinding-wheeL— Solon porce-
lain, porcelain made either at Paris or at the national fac-
tory at Sevres, and decorated by a potter named Solon ;
especially, those pieces decorated in low relief by layers or
coats of kaolinlc slip applied one upon another, producing
a bas-relief more or less translucent, according as the
application is less or more thick.— Swansea porcelain,
porcelain made at Swansea from about 1814 till 1820, when
the factory was removed to Coalport But little porcelain
was made, as the factory waa devoted chiefly to delf and
what was called opaque china; but the quality of it was
excellent, and it is ranked by some as the most perfect
porcelain ever produced in England. The word Swansea,
sometimes combined with a tddent or with two tridents
crossed, and sometimes with the name of the director for
the time being, is used as a mark. — Tender pprcelain,
a ceramic ware in which the composition of hard-paste
or natural porcelain is imitated. The clay of which it is
made is an imperfect kaolin — that is to say, it contains
too much of other substances in combination with the feld-
spar to furnish a natural porcelain.— Worcester porce-
Ulin, a soft-paste porcelain made at Worcester in England,
from 1761, by an association called the Worcester Porce-
lain Company. Transfer printing was used in this ware
at a very early time, and the association also produced a
blue and white ware imitated from the Chinese, and made
up in decorative pieces. A peculiar mottled quality of
the blue, produced by the running of the color in firing,
was especially admired. The manufacture is still con-
tinued by a joint-stock company. The epithet "Eoyal,"
often prefixed to the name " Worcester Porcelain," dates
from 1788, when George III., on the occasion of a visit to
the factory, conferred this appellation upon It. The paste
was a very artificial composition, having little or no clay
in it. The old Worcester porcelain seems to have had no
mark peculiarly its own, but used a crescent^ or some one
of several " seal-marks " copied from Chinese porcelain,
or a group of characters imitating Chinese but without
signification. But from about 1828 the mark of Chamber-
lain & Co., and later a combination of W. W. W. W. T/ith a
date ui the middle, have been used by the chief factory.
II. a. Of the nature of or consisting of porce-
lain: a,s, jiorcelain adornments Porcelain mo-
saic, a name given to tile-work in which the separate tiles
are of unifoi'm or nearly uniform color and composed of
porcelain or fine pottery such as white stoneware.
pOTCelain^t, w. An obsolete form of purslane.
porcelain-cement (p6rs'lan-se-ment*), n. A ce-
ment, variously constituted, for mending china-
ware or glassware.
porcelain-clay (p6rs'lan-kla), n. Kaolin.
porcelain-color (p6rs'lan-kul"or), n. A pig-
ment used for painting on porcelain. Such pig-
ments are either colored glasses reduced to powder, which,
wlien fired or subjected to the action of neat, fuse upon
the surface of the biscuit) or fluxes combined with me-
tallic colors, usually oxids.
porcelain-crab (pdrs'lan-krab), n. A crab of
the genus Porcellana: so called from its shell,
which is smooth and polished, as if made of
porcelain, several species are found on British coasts,
the most interesting being the broad-clawed porcelain-
crab, P. platycheles, taking its name from its singular flat
broad claws, each of which is almost as large as the whole
body. See Porcellana, 1.
porcelain-gilding (p6rs'lan-gil"ding), n. A
gold pigment .used in decorating porcelain, it
IS a magma of gold, quicksilver, and flux, thinned with oil
and turpentine. When fired, the volatile ingredients are
sublimed, and the black magma assumes a dead-gold sur-
face, which must be burnished to acquire the bright me-
tallic appearance. Other compounds give a bright me-
tallic surface from simple firing, but this is leas durable
than the burnished gold.
porcelainised, a. See porcelainigecl.
porcelainist (p6rs'lan-ist), n. l< porcelain^ +
-is<.] 1. A student or collector of porcelain;
also, an authority on porcelains. — 2. A deco-
rator of porcelain.
porcelainite (p6rs'lan-it), n. [< porcelain^ +
-ite'^.] A trade-name of certain kinds of fine
white stoneware, jasper-ware, etc.
porcelainized (p6rs'lan-izd), a. [< porcelain^-
+ -ize + -6^2.] Baked like potters' clay; spe-
cifically, in geol., hardened and altered, by eon-
tact or other metamorphism, so as to resemble
in texture porcelain or earthenware: said of
clays, shales, and other stratified rook. Also
spelled porcelainised.
porcelain-jasper (p6rs'lan-jas"p6r), «. See
jasper, 2.
porcelain-lace (p6rs'la,n-las), n. See Berlin
porcelain, \mdev porcelain^.
porcelain-oven (p6rs'lan-uv"n), n. The firing-
kiln used in baking porcelain. Each oven is heated
by a number of fireplaces arranged radially around its
base, with flues converging to a central opening in the
floor, through which the heated gases enter the oven.
Other flues pass from the fireplaces (or mouths, as they are
technically called) up in the sides of the ovens, and open
mto the interior about four feet above the floor. The
oven is conoidal in form, and has an opening at its apex
for the escape of gases and vapor. A number of these
ovens or kilns are clustered about a central furnace called
anoiK^.
4625
porcelain-paper (i)6rs'lan-pa"per), n. A glazed
French paper, plain, gilt, painted, or figured.
porcelanaceous (p6r"se-la-na'shius), a. [<
porcelain^ {porcellan) + -aceoits.l Same as
porcelanous.
porcelane (p6r'se-lan), n. [< Sp. poreelana
= Pg. porcellana, poreelana, < It. porcellana,
Venus-shell, porcelain : see porcelain^.'] The
money-eowry, Cypreea moneta.
The cowry shells, which, under one name or another—
chamgos, zimbis, bouges, porcelanes, etc. — have long been
used in the East Indies as small money.
Jevons, Money and the Mechanism of Exchange, p. 24.
porcelane, porcellane (p6r'se-lan), a. [<
porcelain^ (porcellan).'\ Same as porcelanous.
porcelaneous (p6r-se-la'ne-us), a. l< porcelain^
(porcellan) + -eous."] Saine a,s porcelanous.
porcelanian, porcellanian (p6r-se-la'ni-an),
a. [i porcelain^ (2)orcellan) + -ian.J Porcela-
nous ; specifically, noting the porcelain-crabs.
porcelanite, porcellanite (p6r'se-la-nit), n.
[= F. porcellanite = Pg. porcelanite = It. por-
eellanite; as porcelain^ (poreellan) + -iie^j
Clay metamorphosed into a rock resembling
porcelain or earthenware in texture and ap-
pearance.
porcelanous, porcellanons (p6r'se-la-nus), a.
[< porcelain^ (poreellan) + -ous.2 1. Pertain-
ing to or of the nature of porcelain. — 3. Be-
sembling porcelain in structure or appearance ;
hard, smooth, and opaque-white, as the shell
of a moUusk or the, carapace of a crustacean.
Among f oraminif ers, a type of test is distinguished as pm--
celanous from hyaline or vUreoue; and the three-layered
type of moUusk-shell, each layer composed of plates set
on edge. Is caUei porcelanous.
porcellant, »• and a. An obsolete form ot porce-
lain^.
Porcellana (p6r-se-la'na), n. [NL., < It.poreel-
lana, porcelain: see porcelain^.'} 1. The typi-
cal genus of Porcellanidse, founded by Lamarck
in 1801. P. platycheles and P. longicomis are
two European species of porcelain-crabs. — 2.
A genus of porcelanous foraminifers.
porcellanaceous (p6r"se-la-na' shins), a. [<
porcelain^ (poreellan) + -aceous.'i Same as
porcelanous.
porcellane, a. See porcelane.
porcellaneous (p6r-se-la'ne-us), a. [< porce-
lain^ (poreellan) + -eous.'i Same &s porcelanous.
porcellanian, a. See porcelanian.
Porcellanidse (por-se-ldn'i-de), n.pl. [NL., <
Porcellana + ^dee.'] 1. A family of short-tailed
ten-footed crustaceans, typified by the genus
Porcellana, so called from the smoothness and
hardness of the shell; the porcelain-crabs. The
antennas are very long, and the ohelse of great
size. — 2. Inco»c/i.,afamily of gastropods: com-
monly called MarginellidsB.
porcellanite, n. See porcelanite.
porcellanons, a. See porcelanoits.
porch (porch), n. [< ME. porehe, < OF. porche,
F. porehe (also portique) = Pr. porge, porgue =
Sp. pirtico, also (after F.) porche, a covered
walk, = Pg. It. portico, porch, < L. porticus,
porch, colonnade, gallery, < porta, door, gate;
see port^. ] 1 . In arch. , an exterior appendage
porcupine
to a building, forming a covered approach or
vestibule to a doorway ; a covered way or en-
trance, whether inclosed or uninclosed. Many
church and cathedral porches are magnificent in propor-
tions and decoration. See also cut under caryatid.
Into a chVLTCh-porch then they went.
To stand out of the ralne and wet.
Dutchess of Suffolk's Calamity (Child's Ballads, VII. 303).
To tlte porch, belike with jasmine bound
Or woodbine wreaths.
Wordsworth, Descriptive Sketches.
2. A covered walk, or portico ; a stoa.
And in a. porche, bilt of square stones
Full mightily enarched enuiron.
Where the domes and pies [pleasl of the town
Were executed, and lawes of the king.
Lydgate, Story of Thebes, IL
Hepair to Pompey's j7orM, where you shall find us.
Shak.,J. C.,i. 3. 147.
3. A veranda. [Local, U. S.] — 4. Figurative-
ly, the beginning or entrance.
Cet No age was spared, no sex.
Cat. Nay, no degree.
Cet. Not infants in the porch of life were free.
B. Jonson, Catiline, 1. 1,
Solomon's Forch, a porch connected with and forming
a part of Herod's Temple at Jerusalem, minutely described
by Josephus.— The Forch, the Stoa Poecile, one of the pub-
lic porticos on the agora of ancient Athens, whither the
Stoic philosopher Zeno resorted with his disciples. It was
called the Painted Porch, from the pictures of Polygnotus
and other eminent painters with which it was adorned.
Hence, tAe Porch ia equivalent to the school of the Stoics.
porcine (pdr'sin), a. [= F. porcine = Sp. Pg.
It. porcino, < L. poreinus, of a hog, < porcus,
hog: seeporlc.'] 1. In «o67., resembling or re-
lated to swine; suilline: as, jjoraree characters
or afflnities. — 2. Swinish; hoggish; piggish:
applied to persons in derision or contempt.
His large porciite cheeks, round, twinkling eyes, and
thumbs habitually twirling, expressed a concentrated ef-
fort not to get into trouble. George Eliot, Felix Holt, xx.
porcupigf (p6r'ku-pig), n. Same a.s porcupine.
You would have thought him for to be
Some Egyptian porcupiy.
Dragon of WanUey, 1. 84. (Percy's Beliques.)
porcupiket, n. Same a,s porcupine. Holyoke.
porcupine (p6r'ku-pin), n. [< ME. porkepyn,
also, then or later, reduced to porhpen, porpyn,
porpin, porpint, porJcpoint, porpoint, perpoint,
porpoynte (simulating point), whence porpen-
tine, purpentine ; < OF. ^)orc espin,2}orch espin,
also pore d'espine, P. porte-espine (simulating
porter, carry, as if 'carry-spine') (OF. also
porc-espic, porc-espi, F. porc-^ie (whence obs.
"E. porkespiek, also porcupike, simulating pifeei,
a,nd 2)orcupig, simulating jm(;1) = Fv. porc-espi:
simulating OP. espie, spike) = Sp. puerco
espin = Pg. porco espinho = It. porco spina
(also porco spinoso, < ML. porcus spinosus), a
porcupine, lit. 'spine-hog,' < Jj.poreus, a hog,
-I- spina, ML. also spinus, a spine, thorn : see
pork and spiiie. Of. equiv. D. stekePvarken,
stekeUwijn, G. staehelschweiu, 'thorn-hog'; Sw.
pinsvin = Dan. pindsvin, 'pin-hog.'] 1. A
nystricomorphie rodent quadruped of the fam-
ily Systrieidee, of which there are several gen-
. era and many species, representing two sub-
families, the Hystricinse or Old World porcu-
pines, which are all terrestrial and fossorial
animals, and the Sphingurinse or New World
porcupines, more or less arboreal, and in some
cases having a prehensile tail. The spines or quills
with which these animals are beset reach their highest
development in species of Hystrix proper, as H. cnstata^
Porch. — South door of Gloucester Cathedral, England.
European Porcupine (Nysirtx crtsiata).
the common porcupine of southern Europe and northern
Africa. Such quills may be a foot long; they are pret-
tily variegated in color, and much used for penholders.
Brush-tailed porcupines constitute the genus Atherura,
and Inhabit the Malay region and Africa. The only N orth
American porcupines belong to the genus EretMzon, of
which there are 2 species, the common eastern E. dorsa-
tus, and the western yellow-haired E. epixanthus; In both
the spines are only an inch or two long, and mostly hid-
den in long hair. They are of large size, reaching 2i feet
in length, andof ungainly form and ugly visage, with an ex-
tremely stout and clumsy body, and broad, flat, blunt tail.
One or the other species is found from the northern limit
of trees through the greater part of the United States.
porcupine
The spines grow mostly on the rump and back of the broad
flat tail ; they are quite loosely attached, and when the
animal slaps with its tail (its usual mode of defense) some
quills may be flirted to a distance. Something lilce this,
no doubt, gives rise to the popular notion that the porcu*
Unon, or Canada Porcupine {^Ertthizon dorsatus).
pine "shoots" its quills at an enemy. These small quills
are strikingly like the spines of the pricldy-pear (OpunUa)
in size and shape, and like them are minutely barbed at
the end, so that they stick in the flesh of one who receives
a blow from the tail. They are much used by the Indians
for trimming buckskin gaiTnents and ornamenting moc-
casins. Other American tree-porcupines constitute the
genera Sphingurus and Chxtomya; they are of smaller
size and arboreal habits, and range from southern Mexico
through a great part of Soutli America. See Hystriddee^
Syetnx; sdso cut under preh^nsUe-taUed.
2. (a) An apparatus for heckling flax. (6) A cy-
lindrical heckle for worsted yarn. E. H. Knight.
— Porcupine ant-eater, a monotreme of the family
EcMdnidx or ToGhygloasidx, having spines or quills in the
pelage resembling those of the porcupine. Mchidna or
Tachyglosgus hystrie is the best-known species, Inhabiting
Australia. There are several others. See cut under ^cAid-
nid£e.
porcupinet (p&r'ku-piu), v. t. {<. porawpine, w.]
To cause to stand up like a porcupine's quills.
[Rare.]
Thus did the cooks on Billy Bamus stare,
Whose frightful presence^orcuz)£7te(2 each hair.
Wmcot (Peter Pindar), The lousiad, ir.
porcupine-crab (p6r'ku-pin-krab), n. A kind
of crab, Lithodes hystrix, inhabiting Japan, hav-
ing the carapace and limbs spiny.
porcupine-disease (pdr'ku-pin-di-zez'"), n.
Same as hystricismiis.
porcupine-fish (p6r'ku-pm-flsh), n. A diodon-
toid fish, as Diodon hystrix, whose skin is stud-
ded with prickles ; a sea-poreuplne. The vari-
ous species inhabit tropical seas. See Diodon-
Udse, and cuts under Diodon and swell-fish.
porcupine-grass (pdr'ku-mn-gras), n. A grass,
Stipa spartea, found from Illiuois and Michigan
northwestward: so named from the long, strong
awns of its flowering glume.
porcupine-WOOd(p6r'ku-pin-wud),». The outer
wood of the cocoanut-palm, which is very hard
and durable, and when cut horizontally dis-
plays beautiful markings resembling those of
porcupine-spines .
pore^ (por), V. i. ; pret. and pp. pored, pp^. por-
ing. [Early mod. B. also poar; < ME. poren,
pouren, prob. < Sw. dial, pora, pura, p&ra, work
slowly and gradually, do anything slowly, Sw.
purra, turn out; cf. D.porren,voke, stir, move,
endeavor, attempt, = MLG. LGr.^ttJTe» = Dan.
purre, poke, stir; perhaps of Celtic origin: cf.
Gael. Ir. purr, push, thrust, drive, urge. Prob.
in part confused with peer, ME. piren, puren,
look: aeepeer'^.'] To gaze earnestly or steadily;
look with close and steady attention or applica-
tion; read or examine anything with steady
perseverance : generally followed by on, upon,
or over.
What [why] sholde he studie and make hymselven wood
Upon a book in cloystre alwey top<mref
CJumeer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 185.
Painfully to pore upon a book
To seek the light of truth. ShiUc., L. L. L., i. 1. 74.
Many of the Pilgrims, by poariw on hot bricks, do vol-
untarily perish theu- sights. Sandys, Travailes, p. 97.
pore^ (por), n. [< F. pore = Ft. pars = Sp. Pg.
It. poro = D. porie = G. pore = Sw. por = Dan.
pore, < L. porus, a pore, < Gr. jtiS/mc, a pore, ford,
passage, way, means, pore, fiber of the nerves,
etc., < V 7re/j in TTEpdi/, pass : see f(we\ ford.'\ 1.
A small opening or orifice ; a hole, aperture, or
perforation; a foramen; an opening in general:
as, the pores of a sponge. The term is especially used
for a minute perforation, invisible to the naked eye, in
a membrane, through which fluids may pass. Such are
the pores of the skin, formed by the ducts of the sweat-
glands.
The sweate came gushing out of euery pore.
Chapman, Odyssey, xi.
4626
And gathering virtue in a' eve'Ti'""- ™.i,,„„„
Lowell, Under the wiUows.
2. One of the small interstices between the
particles or molecules of the matter of which a
body is composed. The compressibility of matter, its
expansion and contraction with changes of temperature,
and other considerations lead to the conclusion that even
the densest bodies are porous — that is, that the molecules
forming them are not in actual contact, but separated by
spaces which, though extremely minute, may have a mag-
nitude considerable as compaied with their own size.
Which Atoms are still hovering up and down, and never
rest till they meet with some Poresproportionable and cog-
nate to their Kgures, where they acquiesce.
Howell, Letters, iv. 60.
3. In lot., a small aperture or hole, as that at
the apex of the anthers in certain Ericacex; in
Pyrenomycetes, same as ostiole; in Symenomy-
cetes, same as tubultis. See out under anther.
—Abdominal, branchial, calydne pore. See the
adjectives.— Cortical pore, in oot, same as lentteel.—
Crural or femoral porea. See crura2.— MetaBtemal
pores. See m^asternai.
pore^t, V. An obsolete form otpour''-.
pore*, a. An obsolete or dialectal form of poor.
poreblindt, a. An obsolete form ot purblind.
porencephalia (po-ren-se-fa'li-a), n. [NL.,
< Gr. Trdpog, pore, + kynti^hii, brain.] The
presence of a defect in the cerebral hemi-
sphere such that a depression or hollow, which
may lead into the ventricle, is formed. It is
congenital, or from early life, and may be
caused by inflammation, embolus, or hemor-
rhage.
porencephalic (po-ren-se-f al'ik or po-ren-sef 'a-
lik), a. [< porencephal-y + -ic] Of or pertain-
ing to or of the nature of porencephaly; poren-
oephalous.
porencephalous (p6-ren-sef 'a-lus), a. \Xporen-
cephal-y + -ous.'\ Pertaining to, of the nature
of, or characterized by porencephalia.
porencephaly (po-ren-sef 'a-li), n. [< NL. po-
rencephalia.'] Same a,s porencephalia.
poretti n. Seeporret.
porfilf, V. and n. Seepurfle.
porgy (p6r'gi), n. ; pLjMrgies (-giz). [Alsopor-
gie, poggy, poggie, paughie; said to be corrupt-
ed from NL._pagrr««; s6&Pagrus.'\ One of sev-
eral different fishes, (a) A flsh of the genus Sparm
in a I'estricted sense, or of the genus Pagrus; specifi-
cally, S^mrus pagrus or Pagrus vulgaris, supposed to be
Porgy (Spartts fagrus^.
the pagrus of the ancients, inhabiting the Mediterranean
and Atlantic waters, of a silvery color, with the back rosy,
(b) A fish of the related genus Steiiotomus. S. a/rgyrops
is the well-known porgy, scup, or scuppaug, found from
Cape Cod to Florida. See seup. (c) An ephippioid flsh,
Cltatodipieirus faber, the angel-fish. See cut under Cft»-
todiptertts. (d) One of several viviparous perches, or em-
' biotocoids, as DUrema jaclcsom or Damalichthys ajrgyroso-
mus(0Tvacca). [California.] (e) A clupeoidflsli, the men-
haden, Brevoortia tyrannus : by confusion with a different
word, pogy. [Local, U.S.] (/)Thetoadflsh, CMomi/ceeres
gemnetricue. [Florida.] (jr) With a qualifying word, one
of several other flshes. See phrases below.— Flannel-
mouthed porgy, OrthoprisUs chrysopterus.—QoAi-'heaA
gorgy, Ccuttmus megacephaZue. [Bermudas.]- Ehom-
oidal porgy, Lagodon rA<mt2iouZes.— Sheep's-head por-
gy, C(UamwLS orhitarius. [Bermuda£.] — Spanish porgy.
(a) The rhomboidal porgy. [Bermudas.] (6) A scaroid
flsh, Scarus radians. — Thxee-talled POrgy, ttie moonfish,
Chietodipterus or Parephippuifaher.
pori, n. Plural ot porus.
porifer (po'ri-fer), n. [< NL. porifer, having
pores : see poriferotis.] That which has poi'es,
as a sponge ; a member of the Porifera.
Forifera (po-rif'e-ra), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi. of
porifer, q. v.] 'l." The sponges as a prime
division of ooelenterates, or superclass of Cas-
lentera, having a system of pores or inourrent
and exourrent openings, but no stinging-or-
Hypothetical Section of Port/era iSfiongt'lla).
a, superficial layer ; b. inhalent apertures ; c, ciliated or flaeellated
chambers, liued with a layer of spon^e-cells, which are the individual
animalcules (closely resembling choanoflagellate infusorians), all the
rest of the structure being the nbrous skeleton which they produce in
common ; d, an osculum, or exhalent aperture ; e, deeper substance of
the sponge.
gans : contrasted with Nematophora, and more
f uUy called Coelentera porifera. it is a name of
sponges when these are regarded as ccelenterates, to dis-
tinguish them from the true ccelenterates, then dllei
Nenrntophm-a. A usual division of Porifera is into Cafet
gpongiiB or Megamastictora, the chalk-sponges ; and Sai.
eospongue or lUicroTnaMictora, all other sponges ; but pear-
ly every writer on sponges has his own classification. ' See
Spongise, and cntamider sponge scad SpongUla. Also called
Poriferata.
2. Same as Foraminifera.
poriferal (po-rif'e-ral), a. \<porifer-ous + -a!.]
Poriferous, as a sponge ; of or pertaining to the
Porifera or Spongiee.
poriferan (po-rif' e-ran), n. and a. i<porifer-mis
-t- -an.'] I, n. A porifer; a sponge.
II. o. Sameasjpon/eroM*.- PortferaatheoiT
that theory which considers the tracheae or tubes of some
animsJs as having a common origin with the incunent
tubes of the Porifera or sponges.
poriferous (po-rif'e-rus), a. [< NL. porifer,
having pores, < L. porus, pore, + ferre = E.
bear'^.] Provided with pores; specifically, of
or pertaining to the Porifera; poriferal; distin-
gtushed from osculiferous.
poriform (p6'ri-f6rm), a. [< L. porus, a pore,
+ forma, form.] Having the character or form
of a pore.
porime (po'rim), n. Same as ^omm.
porism (po'rizm), n. [ME. porysme, < OF. (and
F.) porisme = Bp.porisma = It. porisma, porii-
mate, porismato ; < Gr. 7r6piafta(T-), a corollary,
< TTOpiieiv, bring about, procure, deduce,< wdpo;,
a way, passage: see pore^, ».] A form of
mathematical proposition among the Greeks,
concerning the nature of which there continues
to be much dispute. The corollaries to Euclid's ele-
ments— that is, extra xiropositions, inserted by commenta-
tors and readily deducible from his theorems— are called
by this name. But the word had a more general meaning^
which Chasles defines as follows : A porism is an incom-
plete theorem expressing a relation between things variable
according to a common law, the statement being left incom.
plete in regard to some magnitude which would be stated
in the theorem properly so called. For example, to say that
there is witiiin every triangle a point every line ttirough
which has for the sum of its distances from the two ver-
tices which lie on one side of it its distance from the third
vertex, is a porism in substance. But the porism was f o^
ther distinguished by a peculiar mode of enunciationi
namely, that which in modem language is made to be con-
stant, is called in the porism "given." The definition of
Playfair, which has had great currency, is as follows: A
porism is a proposition afilrming the possibility of finding
such conditions as will render a certain problem indeter-
minate, or capable of innumerable solutions. This is the
sense in which the word would ordinarily be understood
to-day. Other widely different definitions have been given.
Eyht as thyse geometryens, whan they have shewyd hjr
proposiciouns, ben wont to bryngen in thinges that they
clepen porysmes, or declaraciouns of forseyde thinges.
Chaucer, Boethius, ilL prose 10,
=Syn. See inference.
porismatic (po-ris-mat'ik), a. [< Gr. wdpia-
l^a{T-), a porism, + -ic.] Of or pertaining to a
porism. [As used by modern mathematicians,
it usually refers to Playf air's sense of porism.
See porism.]
porismatical (p6-ris-mat'i-kal), a. [< poris-
matic + -al.] Same a,s porismatic.
poristic (po-ris'tik), a. [= F. porisOque =Pg.
porisUca =:lt. poristico; < Gr. iropianKos, able to
bring about or procure, < iropV^uv, bring about,
procure : see^owm.] Reducing a determinate
problem to an indeterminate one — Poristic
points, a set of points of the number which usually BufSce
to determine a curve of a given order, but so situated that
an indefinite number of such curves can be drawn throngn
them.
poristical (po-ris'ti-kal), a. [< poristio + -ol-i
Same as poristic.
porite (po'rit), n. [< NL. Porites.] A coral of
the family Poritidie.
Porites (po-ri'tez), ». [NL., < L. porus, a pore :
see pore^l] 1. The
typical genus of
the family PoriUdse,
established by La-
marck.— 2. A genus
of millepores. Also
Heliolites. Lonsdale,
1849.
Poritidse (p6-rit'i-
de), n. pi. [fTL., <
Porites + 4dx.] A
family of perforate
sclerodermatous cor-
als, typified by the
genus Porites. The corallum is composed of reticulsted
Bclerenchyme, with well-developed septa in the form M
stylate processes which unite in a kind of latticewont
The walls are reticulate, not distinct from the scleren-
chyme, and there are few dissepiments and no tabula.
pork (pork), n. [< ME. jporfc, poork,vorc, < OP.
(and F.) pore = Sp. puerco = Pg. It. porco, »
hog, pork, < L. porcus (= Gr. (Italio T) »r(ip«f )i
Porites clavaria.
pork
a swine, ho^, pig (pwca, i., or pornts femina,
a, sow), = Lith. parsztis = W. porch = Ir. ore
(with reg.loss of initial j)) = AS.fearh, E./ar-
roic, apig: seefarrmvT-.} i, A swine; hog; pig;
porker.
Poveralle and pastorelles passede one aftyre,
With porkes to pastore at the price gates.
Morte ArOmre (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3122.
2. The flesh of swine, used as meat.
Then for ten days did I diet him
Only with burnt jwrJr, sir, and gammons of bacon.
FleUsher (and anotAer), Love's Core, ill. 2.
3t. A stupid, obstinate, or ignorant person ; a
pig-headed fellow.
I mean not to dispute philosophy, with this pork, who
never read any. MUton, Colasterion.
Hess pork, the best quality or grade of pork : so called
originally because in the navy the best pork was supplied
to the officers' mess.
pork-butcher (p6rk'l)ueh"er), n. One who kills
pigs.
pork-chop (pork' chop'), n. A slice from the
ribs of a pig.
pork-eater (p6rk'e''t6r), n. One who feeds on
swine's flesh.
If we grow all to be pork-taten, we shall not shortly
have a rasher on the coals for money.
Stuik., M. of v., lii 6. 27.
porker (por'ker), n. [< porTc + -er^ ; perhaps
orig. for porket.'] A hog; a pig; especially,
one fatted for killing.
Straight to the lodgments of his herd he run.
Where the fat porkers slept beneath the sun.
Pope, Odyssey, xiv. 86.
porkespickt, n. Same a.a porcupine.
He gaue for his deuice the porketpick with this posie,
prea et loign, both fan*e and neare.
PuUenham, Arte of Eng. Foesie, p. 118.
porket (por'ket), n. [< OF. parquet, pmxliet,
pmirchet (= It. porelietto), dim. otporo, a hog:
see pork."] A young hog.
We now are Gergeaites, that would rather lose Christ
than our porkets.
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc, 1863), 11. 64.
porkling (pork'ling), n. [< pork + -itngrl.] A
young pig.
Through plenty <>' acorns the porktings to fat.
Turner, October's Husbandry, st 34.
porknellt, n. [ME., < pork + double dim.
-n-e(.] A little pig; also, a gross, fat person.
Foliddrius, VbeporkneU, and bis pere Machaon,
Suet with the xvij, sad men & noble.
Destruction of Troy (E. B. T. S.), L 63«&
pork-pie (pork'pi'), «• A pie made of pastry
and minced pork Pork-pie bat, the popular name
of a hat resembling a deep meat-pie, worn by both men
and women about 1860, distinguished by a brim which
turned up around the crown, leaving but a narrow space
between the crown and itself, the crown being low and
the brim sloping slightly outward.
pork-pit (pork'pit), n. That part of the floor
of a produce-exchange in which dealers in pork
congregate and transact their business.
pork-porkt (pork'pork), v. i. [Imitative. Of.
more-pork.'i To utter the cry of the raven;
sound like the cry of a raven.
From the mountains nigh.
The rav'ns begin with their pork-porking cry.
Svlnester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Schisme.
pork-sausage (pork'sS.'^saj ),n. A sausage made
of minced pork with various seasoning or fla-
voring ingredients.
porkwood (p6rk'wud), n. The pigeonwood,
beefwood, or corkwood, Pisonia obtusata.
porky (por'M), a. \< pork + -yi.] 1. Pork-
like: as, a porky odor permeated the whole
place. — 2. Pat; plump.
pomial (pdr'ni-al), a. [< Gr. vofmia, prostitu-
tion, a prostitute, -I- -aZ.] Lawlessly passion-
ate; meretricious.
To the "pomial fire " of the Elizabethan period had suc-
ceeded an age of patient research and cool criticism.
The American, VL 41.
pomocracy (p6r-nok'ra-8i), n. [< Gr. irdprvii, a
prostitute (prob. oiig.' ' a bought female cap-
tive,' < irepvdvai (irepviifa), send or export for
sale, sell, esp. of captives who were transport-
ed and sold: akin to L. pretium, price: see
price), + -Kparia, < Kpareiv, rule.] The rule of
prostitutes; dominating influence of courte-
zans— The Pomocracy, a party which controlled the
government of Bome and the elections to the papacy
throughout the flrat half of the tenth century ; the rule
or government of this party : so cidled from the para-
mount influence of three women of noble family but
profligate lives, Theodora and her daughters Theodora
and Marozia (Mary).
pomogra^k (p6r'n6-graf), n. [< LGr. iropvo-
W<5^f,wntin^ of prostitutes: seepoi-nography.'i
An obscene picture or writing.
4627
pomographer (p6r-nog'rar-ffer), n. [< pomog-
raplt-y + -ei:] One who writes of prostitutes
or obscene subjects.
The literary offences of French pornograpliers and co-
prologistB. Fortnightty Rev., N. S., Xl.Tll. 745.
pornographic (p6r-no-graf'ik), a. [< pornog-
raplt^ + -ic] Of, pertaining to, or of the na-
ture of pornography; describing or descriptive
of prostitutes ; having to do with pomographs.
pornography (p6r-nog'ra-fi), n. [= F. porno-
graphie ;JjGt. as if *iropvoypaipia, < Tropvoypdipoi,
writing of prostitutes, painting prostitutes, <
Gr. ir6pv7i, a prostitute, + ypa^siv, write.] A de-
scription of or treatise on prostitutes or pros-
titution; hence, obscene writing.
porodinic (po-ro-din'ik), a. [< Gr. iropoq, a pore,
-i- inilQ, the pangs of labor.] Keproducing or
bringing forth by means of a special pore or
opening of the body, through which the genital
products are extruded: distinguished from
schisodinic. Two porodinic methods are dis-
tinguished as neplirodinic and idiodinic. Encyc.
Brit., XVI. 682.
porophyllous (p6-ro-fil'us), a. [< Gr. n6po(,
pore, + <j)v?2ov, leaf.] Having leaves sprinkled
with transparent points. Tliomas, Med. Diet.
Porosa (po-ro'sa), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi. of jioro-
siis : see poj'ose"] Perforate or porose corals :
distinguished from Aporosa or Ejiorosa. Perfo-
rata is a synonym.
porose (po'ros), a. [< 'Nli.porosus, full of pores :
see jjorojts.] 1. Containing pores; porous; per-
forate. Specifically — (a) Of corals, perforate: distin-
guished from aporote or eporose. (6) (8 the sculpture of
insects, dotted or pitted as it full of little holes. The ely-
tra of species of Apion, for example, are porose.
2. In hot., pierced with small holes or pores.
porosis (po-ro'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. napuaic, the
process by which the extremities of fractured
bones are reunited, < vapovv, cause a callus to
form, unite (fractured bones) by a callus, < ttu-
poc, a node on the bones.] Formation of callus,
as in the knitting together of broken bones.
porosity (po-ros'i-ti), n. [= F. porosity = Sp.
porosidad = Pg. porosidade = It. porositd, < NL.
*porosita{t-)s,Xporostcs, -poTaas: see porous.'] 1.
The state or quality of being porose, porous, or
pervious; perforation.
The fifteenth [cause] is the porosity or impoiosity be-
twixt the tangible parts, and the greatness or smallness
of the pores. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 846.
All matter is porous or possesses porosity. Hydrogen
gas leaks through white-hot iron under pressure; cold
water can be pressed through iron ... or through lead.
DarUett, Frin. of Physics, p. 194.
2. A poi'e or perforation.
The nerves with their invmble porosities.
Dr. H. More, Immortal of Soul, it 8.
porotype (po'ro-tip), n. [< Gr. mpog, a pore, -I-
TtiTTof, impression.] A print produced by ex-
posing another print or a writing, placed on the
sm-face of chemically prepared paper, to a gas
which permeates those parts of the thing to
be copied which are not rendered impervious
by the i^k, and thus acts upon the chemical
surface in the same way that light acts upon
the sensitized film of paper exposed under a
photographic negative.
porous (po'rus), a. [= D. porevs = G. Sw. Dan.
poros = OF. poreux, F. poreux = Pr. poros =
Sp. Pg. It. poroso, < NL. porosus, porous, < L.
por«s, pore: seepore^.'] Having pores; porose;
pervious by means of minute interstices.
Through veins
Ot porous earth, with kindly thirst up drawn,
Eose a fresh fountain. Milton, P. L., iv. 228.
According to what is here presented, what is most dense
and least porous will be most coherent and least discern-
ible. GlanviUe, Vanity of Dogmatizing, v.
A sponge is porous, having small spaces between the
solid parts.
Tlieodore Parker, Ten Sermons, Justice andherConscience.
Porous cup, a vessel of unglazed earthenware used in a
voltaic cell to separate the two liquids employed. See
ceK, 8.— Porous plaster. See plaster.
porously (p6'rus-li), adv. By means of pores;
in a porous manner; perviously ; interstitially.
porousness (po'rus-nes), M. 1. Porosity.
Some fish have no mouths, but are nourished and take
breath by thei>orous7ie«8 of their gills.
I. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 73.
2. The pores or porous parts of anything.
[Rare.]
They will forcibly get into the porousness of it, and pass
between part and part. Sir E. Digby, Nature of Bodies.
porpaiset, n. An obsolete form ot porpoise.
porpentinet, n. Same a.a po^-cupine.
porpesset, «• An obsolete form oi porpoise.
porpezite (p6r'pez-it), n. [iPorpez (see def.)
-I- -Jte2.] A variety of native gold containing a
porphyiitic
small percentage of palladium. That first de-
scribed was from Porpez in Brazil.
porphiret, "• An obsolete variant ot pmpliyry,
?orphuriet, n. An obsolete variant of porphyry.
'orphyra (p6r'fi-ra), n. [NL. (Agardh), < Gr.
irop^upa, purple : seepoiphyry.] A small genus
of florideous algte, giving name to the suborder
Porphyrese. The fronds are gelatinous, tnembranaceous,
and composed of a single layer of brownish-red cells bear-
ing the spores on the margin of the froi.d, eight in num-
ber, arising from a single mother-cell. P. UKiniata, the
laver, is the best-known and most widely distributed spe-
cies. It has fronds from 3 to 18 inches in length, of a
livid-purple color. See laver^, 1, and marine sauce (under
maritie).
porphyraceoUS (p6r-fi-ra'shius), a [< por-
pliyr-y + -aceous.'] Same as iwiphyritic.
porphyref (pdr'fir), n. An obsolete form of
porphyry.
Consider the red and white colours in porphyre; hinder
light but f rt>m striking on it^ its colours vanish, and pro-
duce no such ideas in us ; but upon the return of light it
produces these appearances again. Locke.
Forphyrese (p6r-fir'e-e), v. pi. [NL., < Porphy-
ra + -em.] A small suborder of florideous algse,
typified by the genus Poiphyra, and character-
ized by having brownish-purple fronds, which
are composed of cells embedded in a gelatinous
network, and arranged in filaments or in mem-
branes formed of a single layer of cells. The
spores, of which there are eight, formed by a division of
each motherKsell, are arranged by fours in two layers ; the
antheix>zoids are spherical, colorless, and formed by the
division of a mother-cell into 32 or 64 parts.
Porphyrio (p6r-fir'i-6), n. [NL. (Brisson, 1760),
< li. 2}orphyrio(n-) (> It. porfirione = Sp. ijorfi-
rion=Pg.porfiricU>z=F.porpliyrion),<. Gr. irop(^
p'ujv, the purple gallinule (Potpliyrio vetenim), <
vop^vpa,pvarple: see jympliyi-y.'] 1. A genus of
BaUidsB, representing a subfamily Porphyrio-
ninse; the porphyries, sultans, hyacinths, or hy-
aeinthine gaUinules. These birds are closely related
to the common gallinules or water-hens, but are generally
of larger size, with stouter bill and longer legs, and more
stately carriage; the plumage is ver>'rich and elegant;
with intense blue, pm-ple, and other striking tints. There
are about 12 species, inhabiting warm temperate and tropi-
cal countries of both hemispheres. They live in marshes,
like other rallif orm or paludicole birds of the same family,
and their habits are similar. P. veterum is the form ot
Black-backed Sultan {Porfhyrio mtlanotus'),
southern Europe and northern Africa; P. smaragnotusia
African, P. meSmotus Australian. The purple gallinule of
America is P. marlinicus, often placed in a separate genus
lonomis. See gaUinvle.
2. [I.e.] A bird of this genus; a sultan; a
purple ^llinule.
Fo^iyrioninae (por-fir^i-o-m'ne), n.pl. [NL.,
< Foiphyrio(n-) + -inse.] ' A subfamily of pa-
ludicole or rallif orm wading birds of the family
MalUdsB, represented by the genus Porphyrio,
having the bill stouts with the base of the cul-
men mounting on the forehead as a frontal
shield, the legs long and strong, and the toes
margined; the purple gallinules, usually re-
tained in GaUinulinx.
porphyrionine (p6r-fir'i-6-nin), a. [< NL.
Porphynoninx, q. v.] Belonging to the Por-
pkyrioninse.
porphyrisation, porphyrise. See pmphyriza-
tion, porphyrize.
porphyrite (p3r'fi-rit), n. [< L. porphyrites:
see prnphp-y.] The name given to those por-
phyries in which the ground-mass consists
chiefly of a triclinic feldspar, together with
either augite or hornblende, or, in some cases,
ofbiotite: in this ground-mass larger crystals
of the same species are porphyritically devel-
oped. The porphyrites are classed by some authors as
diorite- or diabase-porphyrites : in the former the gi-ound-
mass contains hornblende ; in the latter, augite in con-
nection with the plagioclase. With these occur certain
accessory minerals, such as magnetite, titaniferons iron,
etc. Various names are given to these rocks, in accor-
dance with the nature of the minerals porphyritically de-
veloped in the ground-mass, as hornblende porphyria,
micsL porphyrite, aagiUs porphyrite, etc
porphyritic (p6r-fi-rit'ik), a. [= F. pmphyri-
tique = It. porfiritico, < L. porphyrites : see par-
porphyritic
_ . . '] Containing or resembling porphyry;
coiaposed of a compact homogeneous rook in
which distinct crys-
tals or grains of feld-
spar or some other
minerals are embed-
ded: as, porphyritic
granite. Also por-
pli>jraeeous,ajidi some-
times, incorrectly,
pornkyroid.
porphyritical (p6r-fi-
rit'i-kal), a. [? j)or-
pliyriiic + -alA Same „ ^ .„ c^ ^
as porphyritic. """■"■'"'"= "'"''"''•
porphsrritically (p6r-fi-rit'i-kal-i), adv. In a
porphyritic manner; as in poi^hyry.
They [crystals of black hornblende] are porphyrUieaUy
scattered through the gray ground-mass.
Artwr. Jour. Sra., 3d ser., XXXI. 40.
porphvrization (p6r"fi-ri-za'shon), n. [= F.
porphyrisation = Pg. porphyrisagSo ; as por-
phyrize + -ation.'] 1. The act of porphyrizing,
or the state of being porphyrized. — 2. The
process of grinding a substance with a muller
on a slab of porphyry or other hard stone.
It Is much used in the preparation of colors, and takes
its name from the especial suitability of porphyry, from
its hardness, as a bed for grinding upon.
Also spelled. 2)orphyrisaUon.
po];pliyrize (p6r'fi-riz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. por-
phyrized, ppr. porphyrizing, [= F.porphyri-
ser = Pg. porphyrisar ; < porphyr^y + -ize. Cf.
Gr. irop^upifEiv, be purplish.] 1. To cause to
resemble porphyry. — 2. To grind with a muller
upon a slab of porphyry, as painters' colors.
Also spelled porplii/rise.
porphyrogeniti, ». Plural of porphyrogenitv.s,
porphyrogenetic (p6r"fi-ro-je-nBt'ik),a. [ipor-
phyr-y + Gr. yevvriTiK^g, productive : see genet-
ic.'] Producing or generating porphyry.
porphjrrogenitism (p6r"fi-ro-jen'i-tizm), n. [<
porphyrogenitus + -ism.] That principle of
succession in royal families, especially in the
families of the Byzantine emperors, in accor-
dance with which a younger son, if born in the
purple — that is, after the succession of his pa-
rents to the throne — was preferred to an older
son who was not.
Henry the porphyrogenitus, though a younger son rela-
tively to Otho, who was the eldest son of royal blood, first-
born after the accession of Duke Henry to the throne of
Charlemagne, the first-born of Henry, King of Germany.
. . . The doctrine of porphyrogenitism, congenial to pop-
ular sentiment, and not without some foundation in prin-
ciple, prevailed influentially and widely in many countries
and uirough many ages.
Sir F. Palgrave, Hist. Eng. and Normandy, II. 210.
porphyrogenitus (p6r"fi-ro-jen'i-tus), ».; pi.
porphyrogeniti (-ti). [ML. (> It. porfirogenito
= Pg. porphyrogenito = F.porphyrog4nite, a.);
adapted (with L. genittis) < LGr. irop^paryhvriTog,
born in the purple, < Gr. irop^pa, purple (see
purple), + yswr/Tos, begotten, < yevvalv, beget :
see genetic] A title given, especially in the
Byzantine empire, to those sons of a sovereign
who are bom after his accession to the throne.
See porphyrogenitism.
porpnyroid. (p6r'fi-roid), n. [< Gr. iropiiiipa,
purple, -1- eloog, form.] A sedimentary rock,
originally (in some cases at least) a clay slate,
or quartzite, which has been altered by dynamic
metamorphism or by some other metamorphic
agency so as to take on a slaty and more or less
perfectly developed porphyritic structm-e. The
occurrence of this slaty structure is accompanied by the
development of some micaceous mineral, usually sericite
or paragonite. Bocks to which the name porphyroid has
been applied, and in regard to the exact nature and origin
of which lithologists are not entirely in agreement, have
been described from Saxony, the Ardennes, Westphalia,
Nevada, etc.
Porphyropliora (p6r-fi-rof'o-ra), n. [NL., < Gr.
TTop^vpa, purple, ■+• ^^peiv ='E. oeari.] A genus
of Coceidse or scale-insects. P. polonim, formerly
Coccus polomeus, the Polish berry, is a scale long known
as yielding a kind of red dye. Compare Margarodee.
porphyry (p6r'fl-ri), n. [Formerly alaoporphi-
rie (and porphire, porphyre); < ME. porphurie,
porfurie = D. porfier, porphier = G. porphyr =
8w. Dan. porfijr, < OF. porpliyre, F. porphyre
= Pr. porflre = Sp. p&rfiro, p6rfldo = Pg. por-
phyro, porfido = It. porfiro, porfido, porphy-
ry; in form as if < Gr. jr6p(j>vpoe, purple, but in
sense depending on L. porphyrites, < Gr. jrop0u-
pi'n?c (sc . Aidog) , porphyry, prop, adj . , like purple,
< 7ro/9^6/)a, puiT)le : see purple.] 1. The English
form of the Latin word porphyrites, used by
the Bomans to designate a certain rock having
a dark-crimson ground through which are scat-
tered small crystals of feldspar, in Pliny's time
4628
this rock, which was quarried in Egypt, was used exten-
sively for architectural and ornamental purposes, and es-
pecially for the base or lower part of busts of which the
upper part was made of bronze or marble. Later on, a
similar stone appears to have been procured froni nearer
localities, as from the island of Sardinia. To the Italians
it became known as porfldo rosso antieo. Other rocks hav-
ing a similar structure, commonly called porphynUc, were
used in Italy, and designated, in accordance with the pre-
dominating color, as porfido nero, porfido mrde, etc. In
modern times the term porphyry has come to be used as
the name of any rock consisting of a very flnegiained or
microcrystalline ground-mass through which are dissemi-
nated distinctly recognizable crystals of some mineral ;
but the populai- use ot the word is frequently extended so
as to include rocks which are dark-colored, fine-grained,
and very hard, and which do not appear to belong either
to the maibles or granites, and this is done even when the
porphyritic structure is not at all or only very indistinct-
ly marked. The varieties of porphyry are numerous, and
their nomenclature by no means definitely established.
The most generally accepted are the following: quartz-
porphyry, of which the ground-mass consists of an inti-
mate or cryptocrystalline admixture. of orthoclase and
quartz, in which distinct crystals or large grains of quartz
are developed ; feldspar, felsitic or felstom porphyry, hav-
ing a similar base with porphyritioaUy inclosed crystals of
feldspar, which is commonly orthoclase ; but similar ci-ys-
tals of this mineral are not infrequently found occurring
with the quartz in quartz porphyry, so that no very dis-
tinct line can be drawn separating the two varieties men-
tioned. These porphyries are of most frequent occurrence
in the Paleozoic rocks, but they are also found in abun-
dance in other Pre-tertiary formations, presenting the
characters of a truly eruptive materiaL See porphyrite,
and cut uaier porphyritic.
Now, far from noise, he oreepeth covertly
Into a Caue of kindly Porphyry.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, iL, Eden.
Within the which [labyrinth] a number of columns and
statues there be, all otporphyrit or red marble.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xxxvi. 13.
And pedestals with antique imagery
Emboss'd, and pillars huge ol porphyry.
West, Abuse of Travelling.
Sf. A slab of porphyry, used in alchemy.
Our grounden litarge eek on the porphurie,
Chaucer, Prol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, L 222.
3. In zooL, a porphyry-moth — Augitlc porphy-
ry. See (iMffitic.— Red porphyry. SeepMleware.
porphyry-moth (p6r'fi-ri-mdth), n. A pyralid
moth, Botys porphyralis, found throughout Eu-
rope: an English collectors' name.
porphyry-shell (p6r'fi-ri-shel), n. A shell of
the genus Murex. Prom members of this genus
was formerly obtained a liquor that produced
the Tyrian purple.
porpicef , ». An obsolete form of porpoise.
porpin (pSr'pin), H. [Bee porcupine,] If. An
obsolete form of porcupine. — 2. A hedgehog.
Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
porpintt, porpointt, n. Obsolete forms otpor-
porridge
mined, occurs on the New England coast.— Sktuili-sor
poise, a porpoise streaked with white, as LagmrnhgnOm
oblimiidens of the Pacific coast of North America, L. lea.
coplevrue (or acMia), or L. perspieaiatm of the eaitem
coast. See cut under Lagenorhyru!hui.~Svaasi-^talB
porpoise, a species of HyperoSdan. [Cape Cod.]
porpoise-oil (p6r'pus-oil), n. A fine oil ob-
tained from the porpoise and other small ce-
taceans, especially from the head, used as a,
lubricant for watches, sewing-machines, etc,
Also called clock-oil.
porporino (p6r-po-re'n6), n. [It., purple color,
< porpora, purple: see purple.] An alloy of
qiucksilver, tin, and sulphur, constituting a
yellow powder, used by artists in the middle
ages in place of gold.
porpus (pdr'pus), re. An obsolete or dialectal
spelling ot porpoise,
porraceous (po-ra'shius), a. [= F. porraci, po.
rac6= Sp. Pg. poi-aceo = It. porraceeo, < h.por-
raceus, like leeks, leek-green, <porrwm, a leek:
see porret.] Kesembling the leek in color;
greenish.
If the lesser intestines be wounded, he will be troubled
with paradmx vomitings. Wiseman, Surgery, vi. v,
porraget, '*• An obsolete form ol porridge.
porrayt, M. Seeporrey.
porrect (po-rekf), i>- *• [< L. porrectus, pp.
of porrigere, stretch out before oneself, reaM
out, extend, < pm--, forth, + regere, stretch, di-
rect: see regent, rectoi:] To thrust out horizon-
tally.
An elongated proboscis capable of being porrecUd in
front of the head.
porpoise (pdr'pus), n. [Formerly also porpess,
porpus, porposs, porpass, porpas, porpesse, por-
pese, porpaise, porpice, purpose, purpesse, porc-
pisce; < ME.porpeys,purpeys, <..^.porpeis,pur-
peis, OF. porpeis, porpeys, porpais, porpaiz, por-
■paix, porpois, pourpais, pourpois, F. dial, pour-
peis (ML. porpeeia) (= Pg. peixe porco = Olt.
pesceporeo, in transposed order), lit. 'hog-fish,'
< L. porcus, a hog, +piscis = B. fish : see pork
and flsh^. Of. It. Sp. puerco marino = It. porco
marino, porpoise, lit. 'sea-hog': see pork and
marine.] A small toothed cetacean of the family
Delphinidse and subfamily Delphininse, and espe-
cially of the genus Phocsma, of which there are
several species, the best-known being P. col'^-
Common Porpoise iPhvceena commifMii).
munis, which attains a length of about 5 feet and
has a blunt head not produced into a long beak,
and a thick body tapering toward the tail, it is
common in the North Atlantic, and usually goes in herds
or shoals. It feeds almost enth;e!y on fish. A fine oil is
prepared from its blubber, and the skin is made into leather ;
the flesh is eatable. Several genera and numerous species
of small cetaceans share the uMae porpmse, among them the
dolphin. See Delphinus, Lagenorhynchus, and Tursiops.
Wallowing porpice sport and lord it in the flood.
Drayton^
Then I drag a bloated corpus,
Swell'd with a dropsy like aporpm.
Swift, From a Physician to his Mistress.
With such accoutrements, with such a form,
Much like & porpoise just before a storm.
Churchill, Independence.
Porpoise sperm-whale. See spefrm-whale.—'BSsTa.t-
whale porpoise, Leuayrhamphia oorealis of the Pacific
coast of North America. A similar species, not deter-
porrect (po-rekf), «• [< L- porrectus, pp. : see
the verb.] Extended forward; stretched forth
horizontally; antrorse; prorsal.
porrectate (po-rek'tat), a. Same a.s porreot.
porrection. (po-rek'shon), n. [=F.porreetion;
< L. porrectioin-), a stteiehvag,<. porrigere, pp.
^o?Tectj«, stretchout: see porrect,] The act ot
holding in outstretched hands to deliver; de-
livery.
Varied groups of bowing and saluting figures, appeming
and retiring, falling and rising, before the altars, . . . car*
Tied gradually forward the expression of forms and the jior-
reetion of symbols, in devices so intricate as to require the
frequent consultation of the directing volumes of the Pon-
tificals, lest anything should be omitted or performed
amiss. JR. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., xvii,
porrett (por'et), n. [< ME. poret, porette, <
OP. poret, porret, purret, m., P. dial, pourret,
m., a leek, OP. also porette, porete, F. por-
rette, pourete, purete, £ (= Sp. porreta = It.
porretta), a leek; cf. OF. porreau, F.vorrem,
poireau, a leek; dim. of OP. *porre (?) = Sp.
puerro = Pg. It. porro, a leek, CL.porrum, also
porrus, a leek, orig. *porsum = Gr. Tpaami, a
leek. From the same source a.ve porridge, por-
ringer, puree, etc.] A leek or small onion; a
scallion.
Ac I haue percil and porettes and many koleplantes,
And eke a cow and a kalf . Piers Plowman (B), vl 288.
porreyt, n. [ME., also porray, porree, porre,
purre, poree, also perrey, perraye, < OP. pari,
porray, porrey, m. , leek, a pottage of leeks, also
OF. poree, porree, puree, leek, also pot-herhs,
pulse, etc., pottage, pottage made of beets or of
other herbs, P. puree, soup of peas, beans, etc.,
= It. porrata, leek-pottage (Florio), < ML. por-
rata, also corruptly porreta, porreeta, broth
made with leeks, < L. porrum, porrus, a leak:
see porret. Hence porridge, porringer,] Por-
ridge; pottage.
porridge (por'ij), n, [Formerly also pmredge,
porrage; So. parritch, etc. ; with aeeom. suJBx
-idge, -age (due to confusion with pottage), <
ME. porrey, porray, etc. , porridge, pottage : see
porre^.] 1. A food made by boiling vegeta-
bles m water, with or without meat; broth;
soilp; pottage.
King. You shall fast a week with bran and water.
Cost. 1 had rather pray a month with mutton and por-
ridge. . Shak,, L. L. L., !■ 1- »
A very extraordinary miscellaneous sermon, in which
there are some good moral and religious sentimenta anij
not ill mixed up with a sort of porridge of various political
opinions and reflections. Bwke, Eev. in France.
2. A food made by slowly stirring a meal or
flour of oats, dried pease, or wheat-floni, or
other grain, into water or milk while hoUing
till a thickened mass is formed. The «tog»l«
form porridge (like broth, Irale, soup, etc.) is often used,
especially in Scotland, as a plural.
The halesome parrUch, chief o' Scotia's food.
Bums, Cottar's Saturday NigM-
"They're gnde parritch enough," said Mrs. Wilson, "ij
ye wad but tak time to sup them. I made them myBeu-.
ScoU, Old Mortality, n
Nettle porridge. See netOei.
and pp. pon-idged,
intrans.
porridge
porridge (por'ij), v. ; pret
ppr. porndging. [< porridge, n.
To take the form of porridge,
Let my son Henry provide such peas as will porridffe
well, or else none. Wintkrop, Hist. New England, I. 435.
n. trans. To provide with porridge.
porriginous (po-rij'i-niis), a. Of, pertaining
to, or of the nature of porrigo ; affected with
porrigo.
porrigo (po-ri'go), n. [L. (> It.porrigine = F.
porrigo), seurf, dandruff.] A vague name for
a number of diseases of the scalp, especially
tinea favosa, tinea tonsurans, and eczema.
porringer (por'in-jer), n. [Formerly jjorrerajrer,
with mserted n (as in messenger, passenger,
etc.), < porridge + -eri. Partly confused with
or suggested by pottenger, < pottage. Cf . por-
4629
as the Hanse towns, Liibeck, Hambnrg, and Bremen, nn-
til 1888), or part of a harbor (such as the island made for
the purpose ou the Elbe wheu those cities suiTendered
their privileges as free portsX where goods are allowed to
be landed free of all duty, on condition that they be not
carried thence into the country without payment of duty,
the object being to facilitate traffic by reshipment to other
coautries. — Port admiral, the admiral commanding at
a naval port.— Port charges, in cam., charges to which
a ship or its cargo is liable in a harbor, as wharfage, etc
Also called port dues.— Port Of call, a port at which ves-
sels are in the habit of touching for repairs, stores, coal,
etc. — Port of entry, a port where a custom-house is
maintained for the entry of goods Port Of recruit
(navt.), a recruiting-station. — Port warden. See warden.
portH (port), V. t. [< port\ «.] To carry or
bring into port.
So hoist we
The sails, that must these vessels ^ort even where
The heavenly limiter pleases.
,_ ..^ „ ^ Fletcher (and another). Two Noble KinBTaeafV.!.
MLGr. parte = OHG. porta, phorta, Mmi. parte,
iorte, pliorte, Gr.pforte = Icel. Sw. DajL.port =
OF. porte, P. porte = Sp. puerta, OSp. porta =
Pg. It. porta, a gate, entrance, = W. porth, a
gate, gateway, = Ir. port, a, door, < L. porta, a
city gate, a gate, door, entrance; aMn to par-
tus, a harbor, orig. 'entrance'; with formative
-to,< -s/ por, go, =E./arei : see jjorti. a.port^.
Hence ult. jjorfej-l, and in comp. jJortcMffis, etc.]
1. Agate; an entrance; a portal; specifically,
the gate of a town or fortress.
than a plate or saucer, nsnally having upright
sides, a nearly flat bottom, and one or two ears.
The Charity Meat, which charitable disposed Persons
send in every Thursday, whereon Earthen Dishes, Parrin-
gen, Pans, Wooden Spoons, and Cabbage Nets are StiiTlng
about against Dinner Time.
Quoted in Ashion'e Social Life in Keign of Queen Anne,
[II. 244.
And often after snnset, sir.
When it is light and fair,
I take my little porringer.
And eat my supper there.
Wordsworth, We are Seven.
2t. A head-dress shaped like a porrlngep: so
called in jest. ,
A haberdasher's wife of small wit . . . rail'd upon me,
till her piaWdi porringer fell off her head.
Shak., Hen. Vm., ». 4. 60.
Porro's operation, Sep operation.
porrum (por'um), n. [NL., < L. porrum, a
leek, scallion: see porret.'i The bulb of Al-
Uum Porrum, the leek, sometimes used in medi-
cine.
porry (por'i), n. [Origin obscure.] In weav-
ing, the length of the warp-threads stretched*
out between the heddles or harness and the
warp-beam.
porset, n. and v. A Middle English form of
purse.
porselynt, n. An obsolete form of porcelain^.
porti (port), n. [< ME. port,poart, < AS. port,
a port, harbor, also a town, city, = MHGr. Gr.
port = OF. and F, port = Pr. port = Sp. puerto
= Pg. It. porta, a port, harbor, = "W. porth =
Gael. It. j;ort, a port, ferry, < h. partus {portu-),
a harbor, haven, fig. a place of refuge, LL. also
a warehouse, OL. also anouse ; orig. ' entrance ' ;
akin to porta, a city gate, a gate, door (see^)or<2) ;
with formative -tu, < y/ por, go (cf . Gr. vSpog, a
way), = E. /are; see /arei. Ct.portS. Hence
vlt. poi'i^.'\ 1. A bay, cove, inlet, or recess of
the sea, or of a lake or the mouth of a river,
where vessels can be protected from storms ; a
harbor or haven, whether natural or artificial.
And for the more surer defence yt they shuld not efte
lande in Kent, prouysyon was made to def ende the hanena
fiBiportys vpon the sees syde. Fabyan, Chron., an. 1460.
And beyonde Grece, oner a branche of the see, is Asya,
wherin almoste at thentre standynge Troia, with the
ohyef parte the yle of Tenedos.
Sir S. Guyliforde, Pylgrymage, p. 13.
From isles of Greece
The princes orgulous, their high blood chafed.
Have to the port of Athens sent their ships.
Shak., T. and C, ProL
So, let the port» be guarded;
As I have set them down.
keep yonr duties,
Shak., Cor., L 7. 1.
The mind of man hath two ports, the one always fre-
quented by the entrance of manifold vanities, the other
desolate and overgrown with grass, by which enter our
charitable thoughts and divine contemplations.
Raleigh (Arber's Eng. Gamer, 1. 199).
Each order, age, and sex amazed at other.
And at the ports all thronging out.
B. Jonson, Catiline, liL 4.
Towards the streete, at a back gate, the port is so hand-
somely cloath'd with ivy as much pleas'd me.
Evelyn, Diary, Nov. 28, 1644.
2. An opening in the side of a ship; specifi-
cally, an embrasure in the side of a ship of war,
through which cannon ai-e pointed; a port-hole ;
also, the covering or shutter of such an opening.
Ports in merchant ships are square openings in the sides,
bow, or stem of the vessel for loading and discharging
cargo or ballast. See cut under lumber-part.
3. In lier., the door or gate of a castle, used as
a bearing. — 4. An apertm-e for the passage of
steam, air, water, etc. In steam-engines theports are
two passages leading from the steam-chest to the inside
of the cylinder, by means of which the steam enters and re-
turns above and below the piston : the former is called the
steam- or ind'uetian^port, the latter the exhaitst- or ediui-
iion-port. See cut un^er piston.
5. In harness, a curved piece of metal used
as a mouthpiece in some forms of bit. Such a
bit is called a, port-bit. — 6. In armor, the socket
or bucket in which the butt of the lance was
set when held upright: it was secured to the
saddle orstirrup — Half-port. Same as port-iid (which
see, under 2u2).— Port-pendant, a rope spliced through a
ringbolt on the outside of the lid of a lower-deck port,
and used to trice up the lid by means of the tackle in-
board.— Port-sash, a half -port fitted with glass for light-
ing a cabin. — Port-Sill, in a ship, a timber forming the
frame for a port, and called, according to its position,
upper, side, or lower port-sill. — Port-tackleman, one of
the members of a gun's crew whose duty it is to trice up
or swing aside the covering of the port to admit of the free
training of the gun.— Rudder-port, the aperture in a
ship's counter through which the rudder-head passes.—
To plate a port. See pjoie.
Farotog his letter with like fustian, calling his own port^ (port),'?;. *. [Oor*2, M.] To furnish with
.port_of refuge *",= ",„^^„ „iV^c ^ ^ '
court our most happy and shining port, a
for the world. Sandys, Travailes, p. 37.
2. A place where there is a constant resort of
vessels forthe purpose of loading and unload-
ing; specifically, in Zow, a place where persons ^3 / - (.X ^ r^p norto- -Sd norta-
andmerchandise^areaUo^wed^to^p^^^^^^^^^^
out of the realm and i
are stationed for the purpose of inspecting or
appraising imported goods. In this sense a
port may exist on the frontier, where the foreign
commimication is by land.
The King has the prerogative of appointing ports and
Iiavens, or such places only for persons and merchandize
to pass into and out of the realm as he in his wisdom sees
proper. Slackstone, Com., I. viL
Under the fierce competition of rival companies, the
vast shipping business of the Port of London stimulated
the accumulation along the river side of a mass of labour
underpaid, irregularly employed, [and] immensely over-
stocked. Sineteenth Century, XXVI. 729.
|aTons of tbeCJnqne Ports. Seeftaron.— BostonPort
Jill. SeeWB3._(>lnque Ports. Seectiwue.— Close port.
See doiei.— Establishment of the port. See establish-
""" -PWe port, a port where importations are not sub-
doors or gates,
We took the seven-fold ported Thebes when yet we had not
there
So great helps as our fathers had. Chapman, Iliad, iv.
r =
con-
vey, fig. convey, import, betoken ; akin toporta,
gate, portits, harbor, < V por, go, = E./arei;
see pori^, port^, fare^. Hence ult. (< L. par-
tare) in comp. comport, deport, di^ort (and
sport), export, import, purport, report, support,
transport, etc., important, ete.,partass, porter^,
etc.] If. To bear; cany; convey.
Lady L. Her love and zeal transport her.
Cam. I am glad
That anything conld port her hence.
B. Jonson, Magnetick Lady, !. 1.
They [fresh-water coalfish] are easily porteiZ by boat into
other shires. Fuller, Worthies, Shropshire, III. 63.
porta
The angelic squadron bright
Turn'd fiery red, sharpening in mooned horns
Their phalanx, and began to hem him round
With ported spears. MiUon, P. L., iv. 980.
ports (port), «. [< 'iSE.port,poort, < OP. port,
P. part= Sp. Vs. porte = It.porto, carriage, de-
meanor; from the verb: seejjoriS, v.] 1. Bear-
ing; carriage; demeanor; air; mien: as, the
port of a gentleman.
Of his port as meke as Is a mayde.
Chaucer, Gen. ProL to C. T., L 69.
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume theportof Mars. Shak., Hen. V., L (cho.)i
Mark well his port.' his flgureiind his face
Nor speak him vulgar, nor of vulgar race.
Pope, Iliad, xiv. 553.
The consciousness of a train of great days and victories
behind. . . . That is it which throws thunder into Chat-
ham's voice, and dignity into Washington's port.
Emerson, Essays, 1st ser., p. 52.
King Arthur, like a modem gentleman
Of stateliest port. Tennyson, Morte d'Arthnr.
2f. State; style; establishment; retinue.
What time as, most Gracious Prince, your Highness,
this last year past, took that your most honourable and
victorious journey into France, accompanied with such a
port of the Nobility and Yeomanry of England as neither
hath been like known by experience, nor yet read of in
history. Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. 1864X p. L
Sir, when we lie in garrison, 'tis necessary
We keep a handsome port, for the king's honour.
Fletcher, Eule a Wife^ iv. 3.
Many millions of reuenue doe besides accrew vnto his
[the king's] coffers ; yet his Port and Magnificence is not
so great as of many other Princes.
Purehas, Pilgrimage, p. 477.
=Syn. 1. Deportment, address.
port* (port), V. [Origin uncertain.] I. trans.
Naut., to turn or shift to the left or larboard
side of a ship: as, to part the helm (tha,t is, to
shift the tiller over to the port or left side).
The William had her steme post broken, that the rud-
der did hang clean besides the steme, so that she could in
no wise port her helm. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 448.
II. intrans. Naut., to turn or shift to the left
or larboard, as a ship,
port* (port), K. [Seei)or<*, v.] .Waw*., the lar-
board or left side of a ship (when one is look-
ing forward): as, "the ship heels to ^ort";
"hard a port." The left side of the ship is now called
port in preference to the old larboard, to prevent confusion
with starboard in orders, from resemblance of sound.
IT. S. Navy Depaitment, Washington, Feb. 18, 1846.
It having been repeatedly represented to the Depart-
ment that confusion arises from the use of the words
"larboard" and "starboard' in consequence of their simi-
larity of sound, the word *^port " is hereafter to be substi-
tuted for ' ' larboard. " George Banero/t, Sec. of the Navy.
The whalemen are the only class of seamen who have
not adopted the term port Instead of larboard, except in
working ship. The larboard boat was this boat to their
great-grandfathers, and it is so with the present generation.
More especially is this the case in the Atlantic and South
Pacific fleets; but recently the term port-boat has come
into use in the Arctic fleet. Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 243.
ports (port), n. [= F. porta; abbr. of port
wine, prop. Port wine, Part being an English
form of Pg. Oporto or Porto (orig. a porta, ' the
port' or 'harbor'), a city in Portugal, whence
the wine was orig. shipped: a, the, < L. ille,
that; porta, < L. partus, harbor: see j)oril.] A
wine of Portugal, named from Oporto (see
above). The name is usually given to a very dark-red
or purplish wine, but it is sometimes pale. The wine
usually sold under the name of port is partly artificial,
prepared or "doctored '' by blending, etc. Wine of abso-
lutely pure growth is seldom to be got under the name.
This wine is a favorite for imitation by blending and
sweetening, etc., in American wines, both east and west,
which are sold as American pori.
In England part is adulterated with the red Spanish
wine of Tarragona, which is a true wine, but procurable
at half the cost of the cheapest port.
Eneyc. Brit., XVII. 795.
In fact, when people spoke of wine in these days, they
generally meant port. They boughtportbythehogshead,
had it bottled, and laid down. They talked about their
cellars solemnly ; they brought forth bottles which had
been laid down in the days when George the Third was
king : they were great on body, bouquet, and beeswing ;
they told stories about wonderful port which they had
been privileged to drink ; they looked forward to a dinner
chiefly on account of the port which followed it ; real en-
joyment only began when the cloth was removed, the
ladies were gone, and the solemn passage of the decanter
had commenced. W. Besant, Fifty Yeais Ago, p. 166.
port^ (port), n. [< Gael. Ir. part, a tune.] Mar-
tial music adapted to the bagpipes.
The pipe's shrill port aroused each dan.
,S'coa,L.ofL. M.,v. 14.
&*S "S' *"** " customs duty on landing. Hence the the body in front, in execution of the military
tomhaabejnsom.etuneausedofthelikepnvilegeenjoyed eommand "Port arms," or, as now given, "Arms
2. To carry in military fashion; carry (a wea- Port. An abbreviation of Portugal and Portu-
pon, as a lifle) with both hands in a slanting
direction upward and toward the left, crossing
^ a class of merchants, or in respect to particular classes
01 goods. Free part is specifically applied to a port (such
part."
porta (por'ta), n. ; pi. portx (-te). [KL., < L.
porta, a gate, door: see port^."] In anat.: (a)
The entrance or great transverse fissure of the
liver : especially in the term vena partse, the
porta
portal vein (which see, under portal^). See
cut under liver. (6) The foramen of Monro;
especially, the lateral orifice of the Y-shaped
foramen which opens communication between
each of the lateral ventricles of the brain and
the third ventricle — Porta hepatis, the transverse
fissure of the liver.— Porta lienis, the hilum of the
spleen.— Porta pulmonis, the hilum of the lung, an
elongate elliptical recess where the branchus, vessels,
etc., enter or emerge from the lung. — Porta renls, the
notch or hilum of the kiduey.
portability (por-ta-bil'i-ti), n. [= F. portabi-
liU; < portable +'41y (see -bility).'] The state
of being portable ; fitness to be carried ; porta-
bleness.
By unscrewing the pillar, the whole is made to pack into
a small flat case, the extreme por£a&i2t^ of which is a great
recommendation. W. B. Carpenter, Micros., § 43.
portable (p6r'ta-bl), a. [= P. portable = It.
portabile, <liL."portabiUs, that maybe carried,
< L. portare, carry: see port^.'] 1. Capable of
being carried in the hand or about the person ;
capable of being carried or transported from
place to place ; easily carried or conveyed.
In Wales where there are portable boats . . . made of
leather. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., ii. 3.
They [poems] are caskets which inclose within a small
compass the wealth of the language — its family jewels,
which ai'e thus transmitted in a portable form to posterity.
Jrmng, Sketch-Book, p. 170.
2t. Supportable; tolerable.
How light and portable my pain seems now 1
Shak., Lear, iii. 6. 115.
3t. Capable of carrying or transporting.
If you find gieat plentie of tymber on the shore side, or
vponanyportaWeriuer, you were best tocutdowneot the
same the Arst winter to be seasoned for ships, barkes,
boates, and houses. HaTduyt's Voyages, III. 46.
4t. Accessible (?).
Bad his designes beene to have perswaded men to a mine
of gold ; ... or some new Invention to passe to the South
Sea ; or some strange plot to invade some strange Monas<
teiy or some portable Countrie, . . . what multitudes of
both people and mony would contend to be first imploied !
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II, 264.
Casella's portable anemometer. See anemometer.—
Portable boiler and furnace, a furnace mounted on
wheels, used to heat tar or other materisd, as for paving
or roofing.— Portable dial. See diirf.- Portable gas,
gas furnished to consumers in portable reservoirs which
serve to supply small holders or tanks at the place of
consumption.
portableness (por'ta-bl-nes), ». The charac-
ter of being portable ; portability. '
portacef, ». Same as portass.
ports, H. Plural oipwta.
portage^ (por'taj), n. [< P. portage = Sp. por-
tye, portazgo = Pg. portagem = Jt.portaggio, <
ML.^orfa<«cam, also, after Eom.,jJorto(?««m, car-
riage, portage, < li.portare, carry : seeporiS.] 1 .
The act of carrying ; carriage; transportation.
Fine hundred pounds here haue they sent by me,
For the easier ^orta^^, all in angel gold.
Heywood, 1 Edw. IV. (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, 1. 89).
If the hundred-weight were of gold or jewels, a weaker
person would think it no trouble to bear that burden, if
it were the reward of hia portage.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 248.
2. That which is carried or transported ; cargo;
freight; baggage.
The Muses bacely begge or bibbe,
Or both, and must, for why?
They flude as bad bestoe as is
Tbeir portage beggerly.
Warner, Albion's England, v. 27.
These two gallions are laden for the king, neither doe
they carle any particular mans goods, sauing the portage
of the Mariners and souldiers. Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 228.
3t. Tonnage ; burden of a vessel.
Their shippe, ships, barke, pinnesses, and all other ves-
sels, of whatsoeuer portage, Dulke, quantitie, or qualitie
they may be. BaHuyt's Voyages, I. 271.
4. The price paid for cai'riage; freight-charges.
— 5. A break in a chain of water-communica-
tion over which goods, boats, etc., have to be
carried, as from one lake, river, or canal to an-
other, or along the banks of rivers round water-
falls, rapids, or the like; a carry.
A rumor was spread through the intrenched camp . . .
that a chosen detachment of fifteen hundred men was to
depart^ with the dawn, for William Henry, the post at the
northern extremity of the portage.
J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, i.
Expeditions of the gravest magnitude have not infre-
quently depended for their success upon the passage of
brief portages from stream to stream, or from sea to sea.
Harper's Mag., LXXVL 374.
portage^t (por'taj), n. \<porf^, n., + -age. Cf.
OP. portage, a fee for admission paid at a gate.]
An opening ; a port or port-hole.
Let it pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon. Shak., Hen. V., iii. 1. 10.
Portage group. See group^.
4630
portali (por'tal), «. [< OF. portal, F. pm-tail =
Sp. Pg. pm-tai'= D.portaal = Gr. Sw. Dan. portal,
< ML. portale, entrance, vestibule, portal, neut.
of portalis, pertaining to a gate (see portal^),
< h. porta, a gate, door: see jJor«2.] 1. A door
or gate ; an entrance or opening for passage ;
Portal.— West front of Peterborough Cathedral, England,
specifically, the entire architectural treatment
of the entrance and its surroundings of a great
or splendid building, as a cathedral.
The portall postes and threshold vp are throwen and
doores of halles. Phaer, JEneid, ii.
King Richard doth himself appear, «
As doth the blushing discontented sun
From out the fiery portal of the east.
Shale, Rich. II., iii. 3. 64.
The lips that open to this fruit's a porta;
To let in death, and make immortal mortal.
Quarles, Emblems, i. 1.
She . . . gazed through the dusty side-lights of the por-
tal at the young, blooming, and very cheerful face which
presented itself for admittance into the gloomy old man-
sion. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, iv.
On the gi'ound-story of the central compartment [of a
transept] there is a great portal, while the aisle ends usu-
ally have windows instead of doors.
C. H. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 102.
2t. A square corner of a room separated from
the rest by a wainscot, and forming a short pas-
sage or vestibule.
portall (por'tal), a. [< ML.portaMs, pertaining
to a gate (as a noun, a porter), < L. porta, a gate.
Cf. portaP-, n.] In anat.: (a) Pertaining to
the hepatic porta, or great transverse fissure of
the liver. (6) Pertaining to the vena portse, or
portal vein.— Accessory portal veins, a number of
small veins which collect blood from the areolar tissue
and peritoneal folds around the liver, and discharge into
branches of the portal vein. — Portal canals, tubular
passages in the substance of the liver, invested by the
capsule of Glisson, and containing each a branch of the
portal vein, hepatic artery, and hepatic duct. — Portal
circulation, the passage of venous blood from the capil-
laries of one organ to those of another before reaching the
heart. There are two such circulations, through the liver
and through the kidneys, distinguished as hepatoportdl
and reniportal. Only the former occurs in man, whence the
specific use of the phrase in reference to this only. In this
form of portal circulation, the venous blood from the cap-
illaries of the stomach, spleen, and intestine or chylopoietlc
viscera collectively is gathered by the gastric, splenic, and
mesenteric veins Into a common venous channel, the vena
portse or portal vein, which conducts it into the liver. See
reniportal, and cuts under embryo and liver. — Portal
fissure. See /is«Mr(!.— Portal system, the portal vein
with its tributaries and its distributing branches.
With a dose of cleansing calomel
Unload the portal system (that sounds well !).
0. W. Holmes, Rip Van Winkle, M. D.
Portal vein, a lar^e, short trunk receiving the blood
from the chylopoietlc viscera, formed from the union of
the splenic and supeiior mesenteric veins. It enters the
transverse fissure of the liver, where it divides into a right
and a left branch, which again subdivide to be distributed
to the substance of the liver. Also called vena porta or
portarum.
portaPt, ". Same as portass.
portamento (por-ta-men'to), n. [It. (> Pg. por-
tamento), carriage, < ML. portamentum, carry-
ing, carriage, action, < L. portare, carry: see
port^.'i In music for the voice or an instru-
ment of the viol family, a gradual change or
gliding from one pitch or tone to another with-
out break or perceptible step. It is similar to a
legato in the first particular, but diSerent from it in the
second. As an effect, it is valuable when judiciously in-
port-crayon
troduoed, but readily passes into a vulgar mannetisnL
The term is sometimes loosely applied to legato eflecteon
keyed instruments.
Trills, graces, andagoodjjortoBiento or direction of volt.
Delia Voile, tr. in Burney's Hist Music, IV. JJ
portancet (por'tans), «. [< port3 ■{■ -anee.]
Carriage; port; demeanor; air; mien.
A woman of great worth,
And by her Bta.teiy portance borne of heavenly birth.
Spenser, J. q,,ii. Hi. 21
Through what a grace
And goodly countenance the rascal sneaks'
What a grave portanee .' TomMi (I), Albumaaar, iv. 2,
portant (por'tant), a. [< F.portant, ppr. of
porter, carry: see port^.^ In her., same as
portate.— Cross double portant. Same as mss dnbu
(which see, under crosSl).
Fort Artliiir plum. Seeplmi^.
portasst (por'tas), n. [Early mod. E. alsojjor-
tasse, portase, portace, portus, portesse, portise
portat, portuas, portuous,portuis, perfuse, pmi
tens, portos, porthose, < ME. portas, portos, port-
hos, portus, portous, poortos, porthons, prop.
porthors, < OP. porte-hors (ML. portiforimi),
a breviary, < porter, oany (see ports), + /j^^j^
fors, outside, out, < L. /oris, out of doorS,
abroad, < /ores, doors: see door.'] A breviary;
a prayer-book. Also called portuary.
On my porthors I make an oath.
Chaucer, Shlpman's Tale, 1. 130.
An old priest always read in his portass mumpBimun
domine for sumpsimus. Camden.
Almost nothing remaineth in them simple and viicor-
rupt, aS in the usuall portus woont to be read for daille set-
ulce is manifest and euident to.be seene.
Foxe, Martyrs, p. 85.
The friar ready with his portaee there.
To wed them both. Greene, Friar Bacon.
I^ot only clerks, but some lay folks, and those of high
degree, used to carry about with them a portom, out of
which their daily wont was to read matins and even-song.
Sock, Church of our Fathers, IIL ii. 143.
portate (por'tat), a. [< L. ijortatm, pp. of ^or-
tore, carry: see jjortS.] Inker.,
in a position as if being carried.
See cross portate, under eross^.
Also portant.
portatile (por'ta-til), a. [= Sp.
portdtil = Pg. portatil, < ML. por-
tatilis, portable, movable (said of
bishops without a charge), < L. cross portate.
portare, carry: seeportK'] Portable Portatile
altar, a portable altar.
portative (por'ta-tiv), a. [< ME. portaUf,<0¥.
(and P. ) portatif= It.portatwo, < L. *portatlmi,
< portare, pp. portatus, carry : see poi'fi.} 1,
Portable; easily carried.
As whanne hit hadde of the f olde flesch and blod ytak&
Tho was it portatyf and pershaunt as the poynt of a nelae.
Piers Plomium (0), it IM.
As fer forth . . . as may be shewyd in so smal an instal-
ment portat^ aboute. Chaucer, Astrolabe, Prol
Its weight and size seem to have oiiglnateAa distinc-
tion between portable and stationary organs, which began
early, and was perpetuated in the terms frequently used of
"Poi-taUve" and "Positive." Grove's Diet. Music, H. 575.
2. Of or pertaining to carrying orthepowerof
carrying: as, a "portative mevaoiy," EncycBrit.,
VIII. 780 — Portative force of a magnet. Seemiw-
net.— Portative organ. See organs, and compare regal.
Fortax (por'taks), n. [NL. (Hamilton Smith,
1827), < Gr. ndpra^, equiv. to mpne, a calf.] A
genus of Bovidse, containing only the nilgau,
Portax pictus. This is an Indian antelope, another of
whose names is Boselaphus tragocamelus, and which is also
known as blue cow (a translation of its native name) and
blue antelope (a name properly belonging to the Alncan
blanwbok). See cut under nilgau.
port-bar (port'bar), «. Naut. : (o) A strong bar
of oak used to secure the ports in a gale, by
bracing the closed port on the inside. 0>) A
boom formed of spars or trees lashed together,
and moored across the entrance of a port to
prevent entrance or egress, (c) Same as bar\
4 (a).
port-bit (port 'bit), n. In harness, any tot
having a port, or curved mouthpiece. S. B.
Knight.
port-cannonst (port'kan'ouz), n. pi. In c*"-
tume, ornamental appendages worn at the
knees. Sfee camion, 7.
He walks in his port-eanrwns like one that stalks in long
grass. 5. Butler, Genuine Remains, II. 83. (Nans.)
port-caustic (port'kas'tik), u. A small cm,
usually cylindrical, used for carrying a caus-
tic substance in the pocket, or for applying the
caustic.
portcluset, n. An obsolete form olporteuUs.
port-crayon, porte-crayon (port'kra'on), »•
[< P. porte-crayon, < porter, carry, + cwyo",
pencil: see port^ and wayon.'] A holder tor
port-crayon
chalk, charcoal, crayon, or the like, used in
drawing. It is nsoally a kind of tube of metal, split at
Pott-crayon.
one or both ends, and tending to spring open there, bat
held fast by rings which slide upon it, so that the drawing-
material is nipped and held firmly,
portcullis (port-kul'is), Ji. [Early mod. E. also
partoilMze, porcullis, purculteise, percullis, per-
collis, percollice, percollois, etc.; < ME. po7-tcul-
lise, portcoUse, poort colyce, parte colyse, < OF.
pm'U coleice, parte cmilisse, parte coUce, a slid-
ing gate, portcullis, < parte (< L. porta, door)
+ coleiee, eauUsse, adj. (also as a noun, eau-
lisse, a sliding gate, portcullis, F. coulisse, a
groove), fern, of colets, coulis, F. caulis, sliding,
< ML. *colatieitis, < colatus, pp. of colare, flow,
< L. colarej strain: see colander, cullis^, cullis^,
etc.] 1. In fort, a strong grating of timber or
iron, somewhat resembling a harrow, made to
slide in vertical grooves in the jambs of the en-
trance-gate of a fortified place, to protect the
gate in case of assault. The vertical bars were made
either of iron or of wood pointed with iron at the bottom,
in order to demolish whatever the portcullis might fall
upon. There was usually a series of portcullises in the
same gateway. They were probably of Italian origin, and
not older than the twelfth century.
In to the town were but two entrees, and at eche entre
two porteeolyses and stronge yates covered with Iren nailed,
that ^et with two leves well and strongly barred.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 254.
Ererich hadde, wlthoute fable,
A. porte-colys defensable. Ram. oftheRo8e,\. 4168.
Full up portcvUize .'down draw-brigg !
My nephews are at hand.
Avid Maidand (Child's Ballads, VI. 226).
Where be those rosy cheeks that lately scom'd
The malice of injurious fates?
Ah ! where 's that TpeaxlporteuUis that adom'd
Those dainty two-leav'd gates?
QvMrles, Emblems, ii. 9.
Battering all the wall over the pereuttia.
J. Randolph, Honour Advanced, p. 3. (Dmies.)
If I had you out once,
I would be at charge of a,perffulMs tor you.
Fletcher, Wit without Money, iv. 5.
2. In her. : (a) Same
as lattice, 3. (6) The
representation of a
portcullis : a rare
bearing, but familiar
in English art of
the fifteenth century
fromits adoption as a
bad^e by the Tudors
and in the city arms
of Westminster. — 3 .
One of the pursui-
vants of the English
College of Heralds:
so called from his
distinctive badge. —
4t. A coin struck in
the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, with a
portcullis stamped
on the reverse, port-
cullis money consisted of
crowns, half-crowns, shil-
lingB, and sixpences (reg-
ulated according to the
weight of the Spanish
piaster or dollar and its
divisions), and was struck
for the use of the East
India Company (whence Reverse.
™^!f^'''° "'"*'* '"^^ Portcullis Shilling.-British Museum.
"X^ney). ( Size of tSe original. )
4C31
I had not so much as the least portcullis of coin before.
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, iii. 1,
portcullis (port-kul'is), V. t. [< portcullis, ».]
To arm or furnish with a portcuUis; hence, to
bar; obstruct.
Within my month you have engaol'd my tongue.
Doubly porteullvfd with my teeth and lips.
Shak., Kich. II., L 3. 167.
And all those towns great Longshanks left his son.
Now lost, which once he fortunately won,
Within their strong port-eulli^d ports shall lie.
And from their walls his sieges shall defy.
DrayUm, Mortimer to Queen Isabel.
port de voix (por Ah vwo). [F., compass of
the voice : port, bearing, carriage ; de, of ; voix,
voice : see jjoriS, ». , de^, voice. '\ In harpsichord
rmisie, an embellishment consisting of an appog-
giatura and a single or double pined.
Porte (port), m. [< F. Porte (= Sp. Pg. It. Pm--
ta), short for Sublime Parte ( > E. Sublime Porte),
lit. lofty gate (see sublime and jjort^), tr. Turk.
babi 'aliy(£abi Alt), the chief office of the Otto-
man government, so called from the gate of the
palace at which justice was administered, lit.
^highgate': 6o6, gate; 'a%, high.] The Otto-
man court; the government of the Turkish em-
pire.
porte-acid (port'as'id), n. An instrument for
holding a drop or more of acid for local applica-
tion.
porteaiguille (port'a-gwei'), «■ [F., < parter,
carry, + aiguille, needle : see aiguille.'] In surg.,
same as needle-holder.
porte-bonheur (port'bo-ner'), n. [F. , < parter,
carry, + bonlieur, good luck.] A charm, an amu-
let, or a trinket carried after the fashion of an
amulet, suspended to a bracelet or other article
of personal adornment.
porte-cochere (p6rt'k6-shar')> n. [< F.porteco-
chSre : parte, gate ; cocMre, < coche, coach : see
coach.] A carriage-entrance in a building; a
gate and passage for carriages leading through
a building, as a town-house or hotel, from the
street to an interior court.
Philip was at the Hdtel des Bains at a very early hour
next morning, and there he saw the general, with a woe-
worn face, leaning on his stick, and looking at ills luggage,
as it lay piled in the porte-cocn&re of the hotel.
Thackeray, Philip, xvi.
The great, wide porte-eoch^e in front, and the little back
gate on the street in the rear.
JVew Priiweton Rev., IV. 363.
porte-crayon, n. See port-crayon.
portedt (por'ted), a. [< jjoj-<2 -f -ed^.] Hav-
ing gates.
These bright keys
Designing power to ope the ported skies.
B. JoTison, Masque of Hymen.
porte-drapeau (p6rt'dra-p6'), n. [F., <parter,
carry, + drapeau, standard, banner, flag.] An
appliance for raising and displaying a flag.
Port Egmont hen. See heni.
porteguet, «• See partugv^.
port-electric (p6rt'e-lek"trik), a. [< F. porter,
carry, + E. electric.] Carrying by electricity:
noting a proposed system for the rapid trans-
mission of mail-packages, etc., the principal fea-
ture of which consists in drawing a ear through
a series of coils that are momentarily energized
as the car approaches.
porte-lumi^re (port'lil-miar"), n. [F., (.porter,
carry, + lumiere, a light.] An apparatus con-
sisting of a plane mirror so mounted and fitted
with adjusting screws that the user can easily
control the direction of the reflected rays. It is
much employed in physical experimentation as a substi-
tute for the more elaborate and expensive heliostat.
porte-monnaie (port'mo-na'), n. [F., < porter,
carry, + jHOfOTflfe, money: see money.] Apoeket-
book ; especially, a small book or leather pouch
with clasps, for holding money.
portenauncet, »• Same as purtenance.
portend (por-tend'), V. t. [= It. porten,dere ; <
L. portendere, point out, indicate, foretell, an
archaic collateral form, belonging to religious
language, of protendere, stretch forth, < pro,
forth, + tendere, stretch.] It. To stretch forth ;
protend.
Thy fate was next, 0 Phsestus ! doom'd to feel
The great Idomeneus' portended steel.
Pope, Iliad, v. S8. (Riekardmn.')
2. To betoken; presage; signify in advance;
foreshow.
Their [the Longobardes'l comming into Italy . . . was
pmicnded by divers fearfuU prodigies.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 109.
Theh' mouths
With hideous orifice gaped on us wide,
Portending hollow truce. Milton, P. L., vi. 578.
=Syn. 2. To forebode, augur, presage, threaten, fore-
shadow. See omeTi.
porterage
portent (por-tenf or por'tent), n. [< OF. por-
tatte = Sp. Pg. Ii. portento, i Ti. portentum, a
sign, token, omen, portent, prop. neut. otpor-
ferei!«, pp. otpai-tendere, portend: see poi-tend.]
That which portends or foretokens ; a sign or
token ; an omen, generally of ill, or of some-
thing to be feared.
My loss by dire portents the god foretold. Dry den.
=Syn. ^gn. Presage, etc. See omen, unA foretell, v. t.
portentiont (por-ten'shon), n. [< Jj. portendere,
pp. porteii tus, point out, portend : see portend.]
The act of portending or foreshowing; a por-
tent.
Why, although the red comets do carry the portent-ions
of Mars, the biightly white should not be of the influence
of Jupiter or Venus, . . . is not absurd to doubt
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err.,VL 14.
portentivet (por-ten'tiv), a. [< portent + -he.]
Portentous. Brame.
portentous (por-ten'tus), a. [< OP. portenteux
= Sp. Pg. It. partentosa, < L. portentosus, mon-
strous, portentous, < portentum, a portent : see
portent.] 1. Of the nature of a portent; omi-
nous ; foreshowing ill.
This portenUmi figure
Comes armed through our watch, so like the king
That was. Shak., Hamlet, i. 1. 109.
All is deep silence, like the fearful calm
That slumbers in tiie storm's portentous pause.
Shelley, Queen Mab, iv.
3. Monstrous; prodigious; wonderful.
On the banke of this ryuer there is a towne of such por-
tentous byggenes as I dare not speake.
R. Eden, tr. of Peter Martyr (First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. 194).
Let us see whether we can discover in any part of their
schemes the portentous ability which may justify these
bold undertakers in the superiority which they assume
over mankind. Burke, Rev. in France.
The neck was thrice encircled by a white muslin cravat
tied in a portentous bow with drooping ends.
Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XLII. 290.
portentously (por-ten'tus-li), adv. In a porten-
tous manner; ominously; monstrously; won-
derfully.
porter 1 (por'ter), n. [< ME. porter, portere,
2>ortour, < OF. (and F.) portier = Sp. portero
= Pg. parteira = It. portiere, < LL. partarius, a
doorkeeper, < "L. porta, a door, gate: seejjort^.]
One who has the charge of a door or gate ; a
doorkeeper or gate-keeper.
Com forth, I wol unto the gate go,
Thise^ortowrs ben unkonnynge evermo.
Chaucer, Troilus, v. 1139.
Bar but your Gate, and let your Porter cry
Here 's no Admittance.
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love.
Porter's lodge, a room or cottage near an entrance door
or gate for the use of the keeper,
porter^ (por'ter), n. [< ME. portaur, portowre,
< OP. (and F.)porteur = Sp. Pg. partador = It.
portatm-e, < ML. portator (of. LL. fem. porta-
trix), a caiTier,< li.portare, pp. j)orta<tt«, carry:
see 2^art^.] 1. One who bears or carries; a
bearer; a carrier; specifically, a person who
carries burdens, etc., or runs errands for hire :
as, a railway or ioakportsr.
Simon of Cyreue is forced to be the porter of Thy cross.
Bp. Hall, Contemplations, V. 343.
On the Fourth of July, at five o'clock in the morning,
the porters called the sleepers out of their berths at Wick-
ford Junction. C. V. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 84.
2. A law officer who carries a white or silver
rod before the justices in eyre. [Eng.] — 3.
Eceles., same as ostiary. — 4. That which is used
in bearing, supporting, or carrying, (ot) A lever.
Withnls. (B) A bar of iron attached to a heavy forging, by
which it is guided beneath the hammer or into the furnace,
being suspended by chains from a crane above; also, a
bar from whose end an article is forged. E. H. Knight
(c) In agri., a light two- or three-wheeled carriage used in
steam-plowing to hold up from the ground the wire rope
by which the plows are drawn, (d) In weaving, a teim used
in Scotland to denote twenty splits or dents In the reed,
inplainwork. In England called a 6eer.— Porter's knot.
See knot^.
porter^ (por'ter), n. [Short toT porter-beer (> F.
porter-Were) or *porters' beer: said to have been
a favorite beverage of the London porters (see
porter^), but perhaps so called in allusion to its
strength and substance. There is no evidence
that London porters, as distinguished from Lon-
don cabmen or London artisans, favored this
sort of beer.] A dark-brown malt liquor, of
English origin. It is made either wholly or partially
of liigh-dried malt, which gives color and imparts a spe-
cial flavor to the liquor. Top-feimentation in large tuns,
lasting from 48 to 60 hours, is followed by after-fermenta-
tion in smaller casks or transport-barrels, lasting several
days. The after-fermentation clarifies tJie liquor, from
which the air is then excluded by bunging the casks.—
Fettled porter. SeefetOe.
porterage! (p6r'ter-aj), n. [< porter^ + -age.]
The business or duties of a porter or doorkeeper.
porterage
porterage^ (p6r't6r-aj), n. [< porter^, q. v., +
-age/] 1. Carrying ; carriage ; transportation ;
porters' work.
My mother used to take me with her to help with the
porterage of her purchases. Academy, No. 878, p. 142.
A great deal of the porterage of Lisbon is done hy women
and girls, who also do most of the unloading of the light-
ers on the quays. Harper's Mag., LXJCVII. 868.
2. The cost of carrying; money charged for
porters' services.
Perpetually grumbling at the expense of postage and
porterage. FortnighUy Rev., N. S., XLIII. 355.
porteress, portress (por'tfer-es, -tres), n. [For-
merly also jjorieresse; <. porter^ + -ess.'i Afe-
' male porter or keeper of a gate.
porter-house (por'ter-hous), n. A house at
which porter, ale, and other malt liquors are re-
tailed ; an ale-house ; also, such a house at which
steaks, chops, etc., are served up; a chop-house.
— Portsr-house steak, a beefstealc consisting of a choice
cut of the beef between the sirloin and the tenderloin, the
latter being the under cut : it is supposed to derive its name
from a well-known porter-house in New York, where this
particular cut of the meat was first introduced. [XJ. S,]
porterly (p6r't6r-li), a. [< porter^ + -%i.]
Like a porter; hence, coarse; vulgar. [Rare.]
The porterly language of swearing and obscenity.
Dr. Bray, Essay on Knowledge (1697), Pref. (^Latliam.)
portesset, n. Same as portass.
port-face (port'fas), n. The flat surface in the
steam-chest of a steam-engine which includes
the openings into the ports of the engine-cyl-
inder, and upon which a slide-valve works.
See vaive-seat and sUde^alve.
port-fire (port'fir), n. [<^jor<3, v.,+ ohj. fire; tr.
F. porte-feu.'] A kind of slow-match or match-
cord formerly used to discharge artillery. —
Fort-flre clipper, nippers tor cutting off the ends of
port-fires. B. H. Knight.
port-flange (port'flanj), n. A wooden or me-
tallic batten fitted on a ship's side over a port
to keep out water.
portfolio (port-fo'lio), n. [< Sp.poi-tafoUo = It.
portafoglio = 'P.portefeuiUe, a case for carrying
papers, etc.; < L.jjortore, carry, -h/oKam, a leaf:
see j)0j-*3 and /oKo.] 1. A movable receptacle
for detached papers or prints, usually in the
form of a complete book-cover with a flexi-
ble back, and fastened with strings or clasps.
E. H. Knight.
I sat down', and turned over two large jioj^oJios of politi-
cal caricatures. MacoMlay, in Trevelyan, I. 209.
2. Figuratively, the office of a minister of state :
as, he holds the portfolio of education (that is,
he has charge of the documents, etc., connected
with that department); he has received theport-
folio of the home department.
portglavet, portglaivet (port'glav), n. [< F.
porte-glaive, < porter, carry, + glavoe, sword:
see port^ and glave.'] 1 . An attendant or re-
tainer armed with a glave. Hence — 2. A sub-
ordinate officer of the law, whose badge of of-
fice was the glave. Compare halberdier, 2.
portgravet (port'grav), n. [Also portgreve; <
ME. 'portgreve (not found) ; cf. AS. portgerefa
(> E. portreeve) = Icel. portgreifi, a portreeve :
see portreeve and graved.'] Same as portreeve.
His Ordinances were chiefly for the Meridian of London ;
for where before his Time the City was governed by Part-
grams, this King [Richard I. ] granted them to be governed
by two Sheriffs and a Mayor. Baker, Chronicles, p. 66.
port-hole (povt'hol), n. 1. An aperture in a
ship's side, especially one of the apertures
through which the guns are protruded and fired.
— 2. The opening to the steam-passages into
or from a cylinder, or to the exhaust-passage.
See porf^, 4.
port-nook (port'huk), n. One of the hooks in
the side of a ship to which the hinges of a port-
lid are hooked.
porthorsf , «. Same as portass.
portico (p6r'ti-k6), re. ; pi. porticos or porticoes
(-ko^). [< It.portico = Sp.pdrtico = Vg. portico
= F. portique, < h.porticus, a porch, portico : see
porch."] In arch., a structure consisting essen-
tially of a roof supported on at least one side
by columns, sometimes detached, as a shady
walk, or place of assemblage, but generally, in
modern usage, a porch or an open vestibule
at the entrance of a building; a colonnade.
Porticos are called tetrasi^fle, hexastyle, octastyle, deca^
style, etc., according as they have four, six, eight, ten, or
more columns in front ; in classical examples they are
also distinguished as prostyle or in antis, according as
they project before the building or are inclosed between its
side walls prolonged Fhllosopliera of the Portico,
the Stoics. See The Parch (under porch), and cuts under
octastyle and parUheon.
porticoed (por'ti-kod), a. [_< portico + -ed^.l
Having a portico or porticos.
4632
porticust (por'ti-kus), n. [L.: see portico,
porch.} A portico. [Bare.]
Till the whole tree become a portfcM*,
Or arched arbor. B. Jonson, Neptune s Triumph.
portiere (por-tiar'), "• [F., a door-curtain, <
porte, door: seeport^, ii.] A curtain hung at
a doorway, or entrance to a room, either with
the door or to replace it, to intercept the view
or currents of air, etc., when the door is opened,
or for mere decoration.
portiforium (p6r-ti-f6'ri-um), n. ; pi. portiforia
(-a). [ML.: see portass.} In the medieval
cliurch in England, an office-book containing
the offices for the canonical hours. It was also
known as the tremary, and answered to the Roman Cath-
olic breviary. The name assumed many forms in popular
use, such as porlfory, portuary, porthors, partaus, portuis,
etc. See portass.
portify (p6r'ti-fi), v. t. ; pret. and pp. portified,
ppr. porUfying. [< porto + -i-fy; in allusion to
the saying, "Claret would be port if it could."]
To give (one's self) more value or importance
than belongs to one. [Humorous and rare.]
I grant you that in this scheme of life there does enter
ever so little hypocrisy ; that this claret is loaded, as it were ;
but yoiir desire to portify yourself is amiable, is pardon-
able, is perliaps honourable.
Thackeray, Koundabout Papers, Small-Beer Chron.
portiguet, n. Same as portugue.
tortingalt, Portingallt(por'ting-gal),a. and n.
Obsolete forms of Pm'tugal.
portio (por'shi-6), n. ; pi. portiones (p6r-shi-6'-
nez). (L.: see portion.} In o»a<., a part, por-
tion, or branch.— Portio aryvocalis, short muscular
fibers attached in front to the vocal cord, and behind to
the vocal process of the arytenoid.— PortlO axillaris,
the second part of the axillary artery ; the part behind the
pectoralis minor.— PortlO brachialis, the third pai-t of
the axillary arteiy ; the pai't below the pectoralis minor.
— Portio cervlcalis, the third division of the subclavian
artery.— Portio dura of the seventb nerve of Willis,
the facial nerve.— Portio Inter duram et mollem of
Wrlsberg, the pars intermedia Wrisbergii.— PortlO In-
termedia, (a) Same as pars intermedia (which see, under
pars). (6) The middle part of the cervix uteri, which is
vaginal behind and supravaginal in front.— Portio major
trigemlnl, the sensitive root of the trifacial.— Portio
minor trigemlnl, the motor root of the trif aoiaL— Por-
tio mollis of the seventh nerve of Willis, the auditory
nerve. — Portio muscularls, the second division of the
subclavian artery.- PortlO pectoralis, the first division
of the subclavian artery.— Portio suprava^inalls, the
supravaginal division of the cervix uteri.— PortlO tho-
racica, the first part of the axillary artery ; the part above
the pectoralis minor. — Portio vaginalis, that part of the
cervix uteri which is free within the vagina.
portion (por'shon), n. [< ME. por<»oun,porcion,
poreyone = D. "portie = Or. 8w. Dan. portion, <
OF. portion, porcion, F. portion = Sp. porcion
= Pg. porgSo = It. porsione, < L. portio(ii-), a
share, part, portion, relation, proportion, aMn
to par{t-)s,^axt: see part. Ct. proportion.} 1.
A part of a whble, whether separated from it,
or considered by itself though not actually sepa-
rated.
These are parts of his ways: but how little & portion is
heard of him ? Job xxvL 14.
Some o^ev portions of Scripture were read, upon emer-
gent occasions. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 183^, II. 256.
2. A part assigned or contributed; a share; an
allowance or allotment; hence, a helping at
table.
Andjif . . . henehathnouatofhisowenetohelpehym-
self withe, that the bretheren helpe hym, eche man to a
pordoun, what his wille be, in wey of charite, sauynge his
estaat. English Oilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 9.
The priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and
did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them.
Gen. xlvii. 22.
They . . . carry certaine dayes provision of victuals
about with them. Nor is it a cumber ; it being no more
than a small portion of rice and a little sugar and bony.
Sandys, Travalles, p. 88.
3. Lot; fate; destiny.
The lord of that servant . . . shall cut him asunder,
and appoint him hi& portion with the hypocrites.
Mat. xxiv. 61.
If length of days be thy portion, make it not thy expec-
tation. Sir T. Browm, Christ. Mor., lii. 30.
This tradition tells us further that he had afterwards a
sight of those dismal habitations which are the portion of
m men after death. Addison, Tale of Marraton.
4 . The part of an estate given to a child or heir,
or descending to him by law, or to be distributed
to him in the settlement of the estate. — 5. A
wife's fortune ; a dowry.
I give my daughter to him, and will make
Bei portion equal his. Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 897.
Thy beauty is partion, my joy and my dear.
Catskin's Garland (Child's Ballads, VIII. 178).
0, come to me— rich only thus— in loveliness.— Bring no
partion to me but thy love. Sheridan, The Rivals, iii. 8.
FaJcidian portion. See P'ate'duin.— Marriage por-
tion, a share of the patrimonial estate or other substan-
tial gift of property made by a parent, or one acting in the
place of a parent, to a bride upon her marriage, usually
portmanteau
intended as a permanent provision. =Syn. 2. Share, Diti-
sion, etc. See part.
portion (por'shon), v.t. [= F. portionner, por-
tion; from the noun. Cf. apportion, propor-
tion, V.} 1. To divide or distribute into por-
tions or shares; parcel; allot in shares.
Where my Ulysses and his race might reign.
And portwn to bis tribes the wide domain.
Fenton, in Pope's Odyssey, iv. 288.
3. To endow with a portion or an inheritance.
Him portion'd maids, apprenticed orphans bless'd
The young who labour, and the old who rest. '
Pope, Moral Essays, iii. 267.
portionable (p6r'shon-a-bl), a. [ME. poreiona-
Ue; as portion + -able. Cf. proporUonabU.]
Proportional. Chancer, Boethius, iii. meter 9,
portioner (p6r'shon-6r), n. [< ME. *porUonere,
< OP. portionnier = Pg. porcionario, < ML. por-
Uonarius, a portioner, < L. portio{n-), a portion:
see portion.} 1 . One who divides or assigns in
shares. — 2. In Scots law: (a) The proprietor
of a small feu or portion of land. (6) The sub-
tenant of a feu; an under-feuar. — 3, Eecles., a
person in part possession of a benefice which is
occupied by more than one incumbent at a time.
— Heirs porbloners, two or more females who succeed
jointly to a heritable estate in default of heirs male.
portiones, «. Plural ot portio.
portionist (por'shon-ist), n. [= OF. porOoniste
= Sp. Pg. porcionista; as portion + -ist.} 1.
EccUs., same as portioner, 3. — 2. In Merton
College, Oxford, same 6.S postmaster, 3.
portionless (por'shon-les), a. [<portion+ -less.]
Having no portion or share ; specifically, having
no dowry: as, a, portionless iiiBid.
Port Jackson fig. See fig^, 1.
Portland arrowroot. See arrowroot ajiiAntm.
Portland beds. See Portland stone, under stone.
Portland cement. See cement.
Portlandian (port-lan'di-an), n. [< Portland
(Isle of Portland), a peninsula of Dorset, Eng-
land, + -ian.} Same as Portland beds. See
Portland stone, under stone.
Portland moth. A British noctuid moth, Agro-
tisj)rxcox.
Portland powder, sago, screw, stone, tern,
vase. See powder, sago, etc.
port-lanyard (port 'lan" yard), n. See lan-
yard, 1.
portlast (port'last), n. [< port^, v., + las&.}
The gunwale of a ship. Also called jportoise.
port-lid (port'lid), n. See lid.
port-lifter (port'lif "ter), n. A contrivance for
raising and lowering heavy ports in ships.
portliness (port'li-nes), n. The charactei or
state of being portly in manner, appearance,
or person ; dignified bearing or stately propor-
tions.
Such pride is praise ; wiohportlinesse is honor.
Spenser, Sonnets, v.
portly (port'li), o. [<i)or<3 -J- -?j(i.] 1. State-
ly or dignified in mien; of noble appeai'ance
and carriage.
Portly his person was, and much increast
Through his Heroicke grace and honorable gest
Spenser,W.(i.,in.n.U.
Rudely thou wrongest my deare harts desire.
In finding fault with her too portly pride.
denser, Sonnets, V.
My sister is a goodly, portly lady,
A woman of a presence.
Fletcher, Wit without Money, i. 2.
What though she want
A portion to maintain a partly greatness?
Ford, Lover's Melancholy, i. 3.
2. Stout; somewhat large and unwieldy in
person.
It was the portly and, had it possessed the advantage ol
a little more height, would have been the stately figure
of B man considerably in the decline of life.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, viu.
3t. Swelling.
Where your argosies with portly sail . . .
Do overpeer the petty traffickers.
5to*.,M.ofV.,i.l.9.
portman (port'man), n. ; pi. portmen (-men).
[AS. portman, a 'townsman, citizen, < port, a
port, town, city, -I- man, man.] Ail inhabitant
or burgess of a port-town, or of one of the
Cinque Ports. Imp. Diet.
portman-mote (port'man-mot), n. See port-
mote.
portmanteau (port-man 'to), n. [Fomeriy
also portmanteaw,portmantue,portmanttui {also
portmantle, accom. to mantle) ; = Sp. Pg. i""''
tamanteo, < P. portemanteoM (= It. ■portammr
tello), < porter, carry, -I- manteau, cloak, man-
tle: see poriS and mowWe, moxfeau.] 1. A case
used in journeying for containing clothing: ori-
ginally adapted to the saddle of a horseman,
portmanteau
and therefore nearly cylindrical and of flexi-
ble make.
There are old leather portmcmteaua, like stranded por-
poises, their mouths gaping in gaunt hunger for the food
with which they used to be gorged to repletion.
0. W. Holmes, Poet at the Breakfast Table, i.
2. A trunk, especially a leather trunk of small
size. — 3. A hook or bracket on which to hang
a garment, especially one which holds a coat
or cloak securely for brushing,
port-mantickt, n. A corrupt form oi portman-
teau.
He would linger no longer, and play at cards in King
Philip's palace, till the messenger with the port-mantick
came from Bome.
Bp. Hacket, Abp. Williams, L 160. (Davies.)
portmantlet (port-man'tl), n. [An accom. form
of P. portemanteau : Beeportmanteau.2 A port-
manteau.
And out of the sheriffs portmantte
He told three hundred pound.
Rohin Hood and the Butcher (Child's Ballads, Y. 38).
portmantuat, n. Same as portmanteau.
Fol, Where be the masking-suits ?
Maw. In your lordship's portmantua.
Middleton, Mad World, ii. 2.
Tour cunningest thieves . . . use to cut off the port-
mantua from behind, without staying to dive into the pock-
ets of the owner. Suiift, To a Young Poet.
port-mote (port'mot), n. [AS. *port-gem6t (not
found), <port, a town, + gemot, meeting: see
port^ and mote^, mootK'] In early Ertg. hist.,
a court or moot composed of the portmen or
burghers of a port-town, corresponding to the
leet of other places. Also ca.\\ed portman-mote.
These legal ports were undoubtedly at first assigned by
the crown ; since to each of them a court of portmote is In-
cident, the jurisdiction of which must flow from the royal
authority. Blacketone, Com., I. vii.
portoirt, »• [< OF.portoir, m., a bearing branch
(Bc.devigne, of a vine),ipoi-ter, bear: seeports."]
One who or that which bears ; hence, one who
or that which produces.
Branches which wexeportoirs and bear grapes the year
before. ■ Holland. {Uncyc. Diet.)
portoisef (por'tiz), «. [Appar. for *portoire, <
Of . portoire, t., a bearer, support, as a barrow,
basket, etc., the span o£ the door of a coach,
etc., (.porter, bear, carry: see jjoris. Cf. port-
last.'] The gunwale of a ship : in the phrase a
portoise, said of yard-arms resting on the gun-
wale.
Port Orford cedar. See Chamsecyparis, and
ginger-pine (under jjjiiei).
portost, portoost, portousf, n. Middle Bng-
hsh forms otportass.
portourt, n. A Middle English form of porter^.
port-panet (port'pan), n. [< OF. porte-pain, <
porter, carry, + pain, bread: see port^ and
pain^.l A cloth in which bread was carried
in order that it might not be touched by the
hands.
port-piecet (port'pes), n. [< OF. porte-piece, a
part of armor, also (as in F.porte^ice) a shoe-
maker's awl ; < porter, carry, + piece, piece : see
port^ and piece.] A kind of cannon used in the
sixteenth century, mentioned as employed on
board ship.
portrait (por'trat), n. [Formerly aXso pourtrait,
pourtraict, portraet (= D. portret — G. portrdt
= 8w. portrdt = Dan. portrset) ; < OP. portrait,
pourtrait, portraiet, pourtraict, F. portrait, <
ML. protraetus, a portrait, prop, an image, por-
trait, plan, pp. of protrahere (> OF. portraire,
etc.), depict, portray: see^or*ra^.] 1. A draw-
ing, representation, delineation, or picture of
a person or a thing ; specifically, a picture of
a person, drawn from life ; especially, a picture
or representation of the face; a likeness, whe-
ther executed in oil or water-color, in crayon,
on steel, by photography, in marble, etc., but
particularly in oil : as, a painter of portraits.
The sayde Besson left, in witnesse of his ezcellencie in
that Art, a booke in prynt, conteyning the fourmes or
partractesot syxtie enginsof marueylouB strange and pro-
fytable deuice, for diuers commodious and necessary vses.
S. Eden, Ifirst Books on America (ed. Arber, p. xlvii.).
Even in portraits the grace, and we may add the like-
ness, consists more in tSiing the general air than in ob-
serving the exact similitude of every feature.
Sir J. Reynolds, Discourses, iv.
2. A vivid description or delineation in words.
But, if Jonson has been accused of having servilely giv-
en portraits— and we have just seen in what an extraor-
dinary way they are portraits — his learning has also been
alleged as something more objectionable in the dramatic
art; and we have often heard something of the pedantry
of Jonson. I. D'Israeli, Amen, of Lit., II. 246.
Berlin portraits, in photog. See gray, v., S.— Compos-
ite portrait. See campome photograph, under compos-
ite.
4633
portraitt (por'trat), V. t. [Also pourtraict; <
portrait, n.] To portray; draw.
I labour to pourtraict in Arthure, before he was king,
the image of a brave knight.
Spenser, F. Q., To the Reader.
A Painter should more beueflte her to portraite a most
sweet face, wrytiug Canidia vpon it, then to paint Canidia
as she was. Sir P. Sidney, ApoL for Poetrie.
portraitist (por'tra-tist), n. [= P. portraitiste ;
a,sportrait+ -isf.] A maker of portraits; apor-
trait-painter; one who devotes his attention
particularly to portraits, as a photographer.
A young French artist, who is among the " really good"
as & portraUist. Contemporary Rev., LIV. 86.
portrait-lens (por'trat-lenz), n. One of a class
of double or triple photographic lenses espe-
cially adapted for taking portraits.
Petzval designed the portrait-lens [in photography], in
which two achromatic lenses, placed at a certain distance
apart, combine to form the image.
Lord Rayleigh, Encyc. Brit, XVII. 805.
portrait-painter (por'trat-pan'ter), n. One
whose occupation is the painting of portraits.
portrait-stone (por'trat-ston), n. In gem-cut-
ting, a lask, or flat diamond, occasionally with
several rows of small facets around the edge,
used to cover miniatures or small portraits.
portraiture (por'tra-tur), n. [Formerly also
portrature, pourtraiture ; < ME portreiture,por-
treture, portratowre, < OF. pour traicture, F. por-
traiture, < OF. pourtraire, F. portraire, portray:
see portrait.] 1 . A representation or picture ;
a painted resemblance ; a likeness or portrait.
We will imitate the olde paynters in Greece, who, draw-
ing in theyr Tables the portrature of Jupiter, were euery
houre mending it, bur durst neuer finish it.
I^/ly, Euphues and his England, p. 257.
There is an exquisite pourtraiture of a great horse made
of white stone. Coryat, Crudities, 1. 35, sig. D.
2. Likenesses or portraits collectively.
Hhe portreUure that was upon the wal
Withinne the temple of mighty Mars the reede.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1110.
Unclasp me, Stranger, and unfold
With trembling care my leaves of gold,
Bich in Gothic portraiture.
iJo^ers, Voyage of Columbus(inscribed on the original MS.).
3. The art of making portraits ; the art or prac-
tice of portraying or depicting, whether in pic-
tures or in words ; the art of the portraitist.
Portraiture, which, taken in its widest sense, includes
all representation not only of human beings, but also of
visible objects in nature.
C. T. Newtmi, Art and Archseol., p. 26.
portraituret (por'tra-tur), v. t. [< portraiture,
n.] To paint; portray. Shaftesbury.
portray (por-tra'), v. [Formerly also pourtray ;
< ME. portrayen, portreyen, pourtraien, pur-
trayen, purtreyen, < OP. portraire, pourtraire
{■pTpv. portrapant),F. portraire = It. protraere,
protrarre, ( ML. protrahere, paint, depict, a
later use of L. protrahere, draw forth, reveal,
extend, protract, <pro, forth, + trahere, draw:
see tracts, trait. Cf. protract] I, trans. 1. To
depict; reproduce the lineaments of; draw or
paint to the life.
I haue him portreide an paynted in mi hert withinne,
That he sittus in mi sigt me thinkes euermore.
WiUiam of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), 1. 446.
Take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and ponrtray
upon it the city, even Jerusalem. Ezek. iv. 1.
2. To depict or describe vividly in words ; de-
scribe graphically or vividly.
Ther was nothinge that she loved so moche, ffor he was
so like the kynge Ban as he hadde be portreyed.
Merlin (B. E. T. S.), iii. 676.
Scott portrayed with equal strength and success every
figure in his crowded company. Emerson, Walter Scott
3f. To adorn with pictures or portraits.
Portreid it was with briddes freshly,
Thys fair pauilon rich was in seing.
Rt>m. ofPartenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1003.
Bigid spears and helmets throng'd, and shields
Various, with boastful argument j)ortraj/'d.
Milton, P. L., vi. 84.
=Syn. 1 and 2. To delineate, sketch, represent
Il.t intrans. To paint.
fle. coude songes make and wel endite,
Juste and eek dauncS and wel purtreye and write.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 96.
portrayal (por-tra'al), n. [< portray + -al.]
The act of portraying; delineation; represen-
tation.
portrayer (por-tra'er), n. [< ME.portrayer, por-
treyour, < OF. portraior,pourtrayeur, a painter,
< portraire, portray: see portray.] One who
portrays; a paint^r; one who paints, draws, or
describes to the life.
Ne portreyour ne kervere of ymages.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, I 1041.
portugue
Kemembre my brotheris ston, ... It is told me that
the man at Sent Bridis is no klenly portrayer; therfor 1
wold fayn it myth be portrayed be sum odir man and he
to grave it up. Paston Letters, HI. 26b.
A poet ... is the faithful portrayer of Nature, whose
features are always the same, and always interesting.
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 169.
portreeve (port'rev), n. [< ME. portreve (ML.
jwrtireve, portgrevius), < AS. i>ortgeref a, a port-
reeve, < port, a port, town, + gerefa, reeve : see
port^ and reeve.] The chief magistrate of a
port or maritime town; in early Eng. hist., the
representative or appointee of the crown hav-
ing authority over a mercantile town. The ap-
pointment was made with especial reference to the good
order of a crowded commercial population, and the col-
lection of royal revenues there, the functions of this offi-
cer having a general correspondence to those of a shir-
gerefa (sheriff) in a county. Formerly also partffrave.
The chief magistrate of London in these times is always
called the Port-Reeve.
E. A. Freeman, Korman Conquest^ III. 491.
portreiset, «• Same as portass. Ascham, The
Scholemaster, p. 7.
portress, n. See porteress.
portreyt, "■ An obsolete form ot portray.
port-rope (port'rop), n. A rope or tackle for
hauling up and suspending the ports or covers
of port-holes. AlBoport-taclcle anAport-lanyard.
port-rule (port'rol), n. An instrument, or a
system of mechanism, which carries, moves, or
regulates the motion of a rule in a machine.
port-sale (port'sal), n. [< ^ort^ + sale.] A
public sale of goods to the highest bidder; an
auction.
I have repaired and rigged the ship of knowledge, . . ,
that she may safely pass about and through all parts o^
this noble realm, and there make port sail of her wished
wares. Harman, Caveat for Cursetors, p. iv
When Sylla had taken the citie of Some, he made port
saZe of the goods of them whom he had put to death.
Worth, ti-. of Plutarch, p. 466.
port-sill (port'sil), n. In ship-building, a piece of
timber let in horizontally between two frames,
to form the upper or lower side of a port.
port-stopper (p6rt'stop"er), n. A heavy piece
of iron, rotating on a vertical axis, serving to
close a port in a turret-ship.
port-tackle (port'tak^l), n. Same a.sport-rope.
port-town (port'toun), n. A town having a port,
or situated near a port.
portuaryt (por'ty-a-ri), n. Same as portass.
Portugal (por'tu-gal), a. and n. [Formerly
also Portingal, IPoriingall (cf. OP. PorUngalois,
Sp. Portugalese, ML. Portugalensis, Portu-
guese); .< Pg. Sp. Portugal (ML. Portugalia),
Portugal, orig. (ML.) Portus Cale, 'the port
Cal,' the fuller name of the city now called
Oporto ('the port'), transferred to the kingdom
itself: ii. portus, port; Cale, the city so called,
now Oporto.] I. a. Pertaining to Portugal;
Portuguese — Portugal crakeherry, laurel, etc. See
the nouns.
II,t n. A native or an inhabitant of Portu-
gal ; a Portuguese.
The Spaniards and Parlugales in Barbaric, in the Indies,
and elsewhere haue
ordinarie confeder-
acie an d traflike with
the Moores.
Hakluyfs Voyages,
[IL, Ded.
portuguef, por-
tegue+,». [Also
portague, por-
tigue; <OF.por-
tugaise (also^jor-
tugalle, portuga-
loise), a Portu-
guese coin so
called (see def.);
fem. of por-
tugais, Portu-
guese: see Por-
tuguese.] A gold
coin of Portugal,
current in the
sixteenth centu-
ry, and weighing
about 540 grains,
worth about
$22.50 United
States money.
An egge is eaten
at one sup, and a
portague lost at one
cast.
Lyly, Midas, ii. 2.
For the compound-
ing of my wordes, Revene.
therein I imitate portugueof JolmIII.,iffli-s7.— Briiu
rich men, who, hay- Museum. (Sizeof theoriginaL)
portugue
ing store ol white single money together, convert a num-
bei of those small little sentes into great peeoes of gold,
such as double pistoles and portugues.
Nashe, quoted in Int. to Pierce Fenilesse, p. xxx.
Face. No gold about thee?
Drug. Yes, 1 have a partague I have kept this half-year.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, i, 1.
And forthwith he drew out of his pocket aportegui, the
which you shall receive enclosed herein.
Sir T. More, To His Daughter (Utopia, Int., p. xxiv.).
Portuguese (p6r-tu-ges' or -gez'), a. and n. [=
D. Portugees = G. Portuguise = Sw. Portugis
= Dan. Portugiser, n. (of. D. portugeesch = G.
portugiesisch = Sw. I)a.Ti. portugisisk, a.) (< E.
OT P.); < F. Portugais = Sp. PortugvAs = Pg.
Portuguez = It. Portoghese, Portuguese; with
omission of the final element -al (retained in
OP. Portugalois, Portingalois = Sp. Portugalese,
ML. Portugalensis),< Portugal (ML. Portugalia),
Portugal: see Portugal.'] I. a. Of or pertain-
ing to Portugal, a kingdom of Europe, situated
west of Spain. Abbreviated Pg., Port Portu-
guese cut. See ftrS^idji*.— Portuguese man-of-war.
See man-<^-war, and cut under Physalia.
II. n. 1. An inhabitant of Portugal; as a
collective plural, the people of Portugal. — 2.
The language of Portugal. It is one of the Ro-
mance group of languages, and is nearly allied
to Spanish.
fortuist, portuiset, "• Same as portass.
ortulaca (por-tu-la'ka, often -lak'a), «. [NL.
(Touruefort, 1700), < L. portulaca^' also porci-
iaca, purslane: see purslane^.'] 1. A genus of
polypetalous plants, type of the order Portu-
lacese. it is characterized by a one-celled ovary, with
many ovule^ half-coherent with the calyx, and surround-
ed at its middle by the two calyx-lobes, four to six petals,
and eight or many stamens — all others in the order hav-
ing the ovary free. There aj-e about 20 species, natives of
Ihetropios, especially in America, and one, P. oleracea,ttie
purslane, a weed widely scattered througnout temperate
regions. All are fleshy herbs, prostrate or ascending, with
thick juicy and often cylindrical leaves, mainly alternate,
and bearing terminal flowers, yellow, red, or pui^ple, often
very bright and showy. Many species are in cultivation,
under the name portvlaca, P. grandijlora bearing also the
name of eun-plant, the flowers expanding in bright sun-
shine.
2. [(. c] A plant of this genus.
Fortulacaceae (p6r'tu-la-ka'se-e), n.pl. [NL.
(Lindley, 1835), < Portulaca + -acese.'] Same
as Portulaceee.
Portulacaria (p6r''tu-la-ka'ri-a), n. [NL. (N.
J. von Jaequin, 1786), < Portulaca + -aria.'] A
genus of plants of the order Portulaceee, having
two short sepals, four or five longer petals, and
from four to seven stamens, unlike any other
member of its family in its single ovule, and also
in its winged fruit. The only species, P. AJra, is a
smooth South African shrub, with fleshy and obovate op-
posite leaves, and small rose-colored flowers clustered in
the upper axils, or forming a leafy panicle, followed by
three-winged capsules which do not split open when ripe.
It is the spek-boom of the Cape colonists, and affords in
many places the principal food of the elephant, besides
giving by its pale-green foliage a characteristic aspect to
the country. Also called purdarie-tree.
Portulacese (p6r-tu-la'se-e), n.pl. [NL. (A. L.
de Jussieu, 1789), K Portulaca + -ese.] A small
order of polypetalous plants of the cohort Ca-
ryophyllinse and series Thalamiflorse, character-
ized by a one-celled ovary with a free central
placenta, and by the usual presence of searious
stipules, two sepals, five petals, and either nu-
merous or less than five stamens. It includes 18
genera and about 145 species, natives mainly of America,
with a few in all continents. Nearly half of the species are
contained in the tropical genus Calandrivia, being fleshy-
leafed herbsofAmericaor Australia: of the others, Portu-
laca (the type) and Claytonia (containing the well-known
spring-beauty of the United States) are the chief. They
are usually smooth succulent herb^ with entire and often
fleshy or even pulpy leaves, either alternate or opposite,
and commonly with very bright ephemeral flowers.
portunian (p6r-tfl'ni-au), a. and n. [< Portunus
+ -Jian.] I. a. Of or' pertaining to the genus
Portunus or the family Portunidse.
II. n. A crab of the family Portunidse, as the
common blue edible crab of the United States,
Callinectes hastatu^. See cut uniev paddle-crah.
Portunidse (por-tu'ni-de), n.pl. [NL., < Por-
tunus + -idee.] A family of short-tailed ten-
footed crustaceans, typified by the genus Por-
tumis, containing many crabs, some of whose
legs are fitted for swimming, known a,s paddle-
crabs, shuttle-crabs, and swimming-crabs. See
cuts undev paddle-crab and Platyonyclms.
Portunus (por-tu'nus), n. [NL. (Pabrioius,
1798), < L. Portunus, the protecting god of har-
bors, <^o»-<«s, a harbor: seeport^.] The typical
genus of the family Portunidse.
portuoust, n. Same as portass.
porturaturet, jporture^t, n. Corrupt forms of
portrai ture. Udall, tr. of Apophthegms of Eras-
mus, pp. 208 and 99.
4634
portureif (por'Jur), n. i<port^ + -ure.] Car-
riage; behavior." BalUwell.
porture^t, »■ See porturatwe.
port-wayH (port'wa), n. [< port^ + way.] A
paved highway.
The Part-way, or High paved street named Bath-gate.
HoUand, tr. of Camden, p. 667. {Dames.)
port-way2 (port'wa), n. l<port^ + way.] One
of the steam-passages connecting the steam-
chest of a steam-engine with the interior of the
steam-cylinder. Also oaWei pwt.
port-wine (port'win'), »• Same asportB.
porus (po'rus), n. ; pi. pori (-li). In anat. and
eool., a pore: used in a few phrases: as, porus
excretorius, an excretory pore ; porrts ^aculatori-
us, an ejaeulatory pore — Porus opticus. Same as
i^iic disk. See optic.
porwigglet (p6r'wig-l), n. [A var. of polliwig.]
A tadpole.
That which the ancients called gyrinus, we aporwigle
or tadpole. /Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., ill. 13.
poryt (por'i), a. [< pore^ + -y'^.] Porous or
porose.
The stones hereof are so light and pory that they will
not sink when thrown into the water.
Sandys, Travailes, p. 217.
porzana (por-za'na), n. [NL.] 1. An old
name of the smallwater-rail or crake of Eu-
rope, and now a specific name of the same. See
i>rtygometra,2, and Crex. — 2. [cap.] An exten-
sive genus of rails of the iam.i\y BalUdee, founded
by Vieillot in 1816, having a short stout bill ; the
crakes. The species are numerous and of almost world-
wide distribution. The common crake or short-billed
Sora Rail {Poreitna Carolina).
water-rail of Europe iaPorzana porzana or P. maruetfa. In
the United States the best-known species is P. Carolina,
the Carolina crake or rail, also called sora, soree, and orto-
lan. The small yellow crake or rail of North America is
P. noveboracensis. The little black crake or rail of America
is P. jamaicensis.
pos(poz), a. An abbreviation of jjo«8<M)e. Also
poe. [Slang.]
She shall dress me and flatter me, for I will be flattered,
that 's pos. Addison, The Drummer, iii.
posada (p6-sa'da), n. [Sp., <posar, lodge, rest,
<. ML, jyansare, put, lodge: aeepose^, n.] An
inn. Southey,
posaune (po-zou'ne), n. [(J., also bosune, basune,
husune, busme(= D. bazum=: Sw. Dan. basun),
< OF. buisine = It. iuccina, < L. buccina, prop.
bucina, a trumpet: see buccina.] The German
name of the trombone.
poseif (poz), n. [< ME. ^ose, < AS. geposu, pose,
catarrh, < W.pas, a cough. Cf . wheeze.'^ A cold
in the head ; catarrh.
He yexeth, and he speketh thurgh the nose.
As he were on the quakke or on the pose.
Chaucer, Reeve's Tale, 1. 232.
Distillations called rewmes oi poses.
Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, iii. 22.
Now haue we manic chimnies, and yet our tenderlings
complaine of rheuraes, catarhs, and poses.
Quoted in Forewords to Manners and Meals(E. E. T. S.\
[XXXII. Ixiv.
pose^ (poz), V. ; prot. and pp. posed, ppr. jws-
ing. [< ME. poser, < OF. poser, P. poser, put,
place, lay, settle, lodge, etc., refl.se poser, put
oneself in a particular attitude, = Sp. »osar,
pausar = Pg. pausar, poisar.pousar = It. po-
sare, pausare, put, place, < ML. pausare, cease,
cause to rest, place, < L. pausare, cease, <
pausa, pause, < Gr. ■Kavai^, pause : see pause, n.
This verb, OF. poser, etc., acquired the sense
of L. ponere, -pp. positus, put, place, etc., and
came to be practically identified with it in use,
taking all its compounds, whence E. appose,
compose, depose, dispose, propose (and purpose),
repose, suppose, etc., which verbs coexist in E.,
in some cases, with forms from the L. ponere,
as compound^, depone, expone (and eiepmmd)
impone, propone (and propound), etc., with de-
rived forms like opponent, component, deponent
etc., apposition, composition, deposition, etc.]
1. trans. If. To put; place; set.
But XXXti tooteepoae
Iche order of from other ; croppe and tail
To save in setting hem is thyne advail.
Palladius, Husbondrie (B. E. T. S.), p. 78.
2f. To put by way of supposition or hypothe-
sis; suppose.
I pose I hadde synned so and shulde now deye
And now am sory, that so the seint spirit agulte, '
Conf esse me, and crye his grace god that ti made.
Piers Ploimimn (B), rvii. 293.
I pose that thow lovedest hire bifom.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, L SOi
Yet pose I that it myght amended be.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.X p. 11.
3. To lay down as a proposition; state; posit,
[Recent.]
It is difilcult to leave Correggio without at least poiitu
the question of the difference between moralised and
merely sensual art.
J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 280.
M. Janet, with perhaps pardonable patriotism, poses the
new psychology as of French origin, but it is really con-
nected with the past by many roots. Science, XI, 256.
4. To place in suitable or becoming position
or posture; cause to assume a suitable or effec-
tive attitude : as, to pose a person for a portrait.
It was no unusual thing to see the living models poted
in his [Gainsborough'sJ painting-room.
Geo. M. Broek-Amdld, Gainsborough, p. 56.
5. To bear; conduct. [Rare.]
Mr. Avery was a cheerful, busy, manly man, who nweK
himself among men as a companion and fellow-cimen,
whose word on any subject was to go only so far as itsoWn
weight and momentum should carry it.
H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 441.
Interchangeably posed, in her. See interchangeatly.
II. intrans. It. To make a supposition; put
the case. — 2. To assume a particular attitude
or r61e ; endeavor to appear or be regarded (as
something else) ; attitudinize, literally or fig-
uratively: as, to pose as a model; to jjose as a
martyr.
He . . . posed before her as a hero of the most sublime
kind. Thackeray, Shabby Genteel Story, vi
These solemn attendants simply j}ose(2, and never moved.
T. C. Crawford, English Life, p. 36.
pose^ (poz), n. [< F. pose, standing, attitude,
posture, pose, < poser, put, refl. put oneself in an
attitude: seepose'^,v.] 1. Attitude or position,
whether taken naturally or assumed for effect:
as, the pose of an actor ; especially, the attitude
in which any character is represented artisti-
cally; the position, whether of the whole per-
son or of an individual member of the body:
as, the pose of a statue ; the pose of the head.
In physiology the pose of a muscle is the latent period
between the stimulation of a muscle-flber and its con-
traction.
2. A deposit ; a secret hoard. [Scotch.]
laying by a little pose, even out of such earnings, to
help them in their old age.
Nodes Amlrodanse, April, 1832.
=Syn. 1. PogiUon, Attitude, etc. See posture.
pose3(p6z), V. t; pret. andpp. jjosef?, ppr. posing.
[Formerly also pose; < ME. posen, by apheresis
from apposen, aposen, a corruption of oposyn,
opposen : see oppose. Th& method of examina-
tion in the schools being by argument, to ex-
amine was to oppose. Hence puzzle.] It- To
put questions to; interrogate closely; ques-
tion; examine.
If any man rebuke them with that, they persecute Mm
immediately, and pose him in their false doctrine, and
make him an heretic.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc, 1850), p. 104.
She . . . posed him, and sifted him, to try whether lie
were the very Duke of York or no.
Bacm, Hist. Henry Vll., p. m
2. To puzzle, nonplus, or embarrass by a diffi-
cult question.
I still am pos'd about the case,
But wiser you shall judge.
J, Beaumont, Psyche, L 110.
A thing which would have pos'd Adam to name.
DOMJW, Satires (ed. 1819).
A sucking babe might ha.ye posed him.
LaTKi), South-Sea House.
pos6 (p6-za'), a. [P., pp. of poser, place: see
pose^.] In feer., standing still, with all the feet
on the ground; statant: said of a lion, horse,
or other animal used as a bearing.
posedt(p6zd),p.a. i< pose^ + -ed?.] Balanced;
sedate : opposed to flighty.
An old settled person of a most weed, staid, and gia'^
behaviour. Urguhart, tr. of Rabelais, iii. 19. iDames.)
Foseideon
Foseideon (po-^'df-on), n. [Gr. XIoaet6e6v : see
def .] The sixth month of the ancient Athenian
year, corresponding to the latter half of our De-
cember and the first half of January.
Poseidon (po-si'don), n. [< Gr. UoaeiSav : see
def.] 1. In' Gr. myth., one of the chief Olym-
pians, brother of Zeus, and supreme lord of the
sea, sometimes looked upon as a benignant pro-
moter of calm and prosperous navigation, but
more often as a terrible god of storm. His con-
sort was the Nereid Amphitrite, and his attendant train
Poseidon overwhetmingf the giant Folybotes, for whom Ge or Gaia
(on the left) makes intercession. (From a Greek red-flf^red vase of
the 4th century B. C.)
was composed of Nereids, Tritons, and sea-monsters of
every form. In art he is a majestic figure, closely ap-
proaching Zeus in type. His most constant attributes are
the trident and the dolphin, with the horse, which he was
reputed to have created during his contest with Athena
for supremacy in Attica. The original E^man or Italic
Neptune became assimilated to him.
2. In soiil.: (as) A genus of worms. (5) A genus
of hemipterous insects of the family Scuteller-
idx. Snellen, 1863. (c) A genus of crustaceans.
Foseidonian (p6-si-d6'ni-an), a. [< Gr. Ilocre^-
iaviog, of Poseidon (< Jloaeiioiv, Poseidon), +
-an.'] Of or pertaining to Poseidon.
Poseidon, the great and swarthy race-god of the South,
is readily enough conceived of as coming into conflict with
Zeus, when immigrants arriving in the country bring with
them a Foseidonian woi^hip.
Gladstone, Contemporary Kev., LI. 766.
poser (po'z6r), n. [<j)oseS -I- -eri.] 1. One who
poses or puts questions ; one who questions or
interrogates closely; an examiner,
let his questions not be troublesome, for that is fit for
a poser. Bacon, Discourse (ed. 1887).
The university [of Cambridge] . . . appointed Doctor
Cranmer (afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury) to be the
jHWgr-general of all candidates in Divinity.
JWJer, Worthies, Norfolk, II. 462.
2. A question that poses or puzzles; a puzzling
or difficult question or matter.
'What do you think women are good for?" "That 's a
foser." C. v. Warner, Backlog Studies, p. 161.
posied (po'zid), a. [< posy + -e(J2.] Inseribed
with a posy or motto.
Some by a strip of woven hair.
In posied lockets bribe the fair.
Gay, To a Young lady, with some Lampreys.
posit (poz'it), V. t. [< L. positus, pp. oiponere,
place: see posJWore.] 1. To dispose, range, or
place in relation to other objects.
That the principle that sets on work these organs and
worketh by them is nothing else but the modification of
matter. Or the natural motion thereof, thus or thus poeited
or disposed, is most apparently false.
Sir M. Hale, Orig. of Mankind, p. 49.
2. To lay down as a position or principle ; as-
sume as real or conceded; present as a fact;
a£firm.
In positing pure or absolute existence as a mental datum,
immediate, intuitive, and above proof, he mistakes the
tact. Sir W. Hamilton.
When it is said that the ego pogits itself, the meaning is
that the ego becomes a fact of consciousness, which it can
only become through the antithesis of the non-ego.
Chambers's Eneye.
position (po-zish'on), n. [< F. position = Sp.
posidon = Pg. posigSo = It. posizione, < L. po-
sitio{n-), a putting, position, < ponere, pp. posi-
tus, put, place: see portent Of. apposition,
composition, deposition, and the similar verbs
appose, compose, depose, etc.: see pose^.] 1.
The aggregate of spatial relations of a body or
figure, considered as rigid, to other such bodies
orflgures ; the definition of the place of a thing ;
situation.
We have different prospects of the same thing accord-
ing to our different potUians to it. Locke.
4635
The absolute position of the parties has been altered ;
the relative position remains unchanged.
Macavlay, War of the Succession in Spain.
Position, Wren said, is essential to the perfecting of
beauty; — aflne building is lost in adark lane; astatue
should stand in the air. Emerson, Woman.
The exertional miracles were those of exorcism, which
occupied a vei'y singular jw^ition in the early Church.
Leeky, Enrop. Morals, I. 404.
Hence — 2. Status or standing; social rank or
condition : &b, aoaialposition ; a,nx&jiof position.
Such changes as gave women not merely an advisory
but an authoritative position on this and similar boards.
N. A. Reo., CXXXIX. 409.
3. The act of positing or asserting ; also, the as-
sertion itself ; affirmation; principle laid down.
From Gods word I'me sure you never tooke
Such damnable positions.
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. S.),p. 12.
In order to be a truly eloquent or persuasive speaker,
nothing is more necessary than to be a virtuous man. This
was a favourite position among the ancient rhetoricians.
H. Blair, Rhetoric, xxxiv.
4. A place occupied or to be occupied, (n)
tinU., the ground occupied by a body of troops prepara^
tory to making or receiving an attack. (&) An office ; a
post ; a situation : as, a position in a bank, (c) In musie :
(1) The disposition of the tones of a triad or other chord
with reference to the lowest voice-part— the ^r«t, original,
or fundamental position having the root of the chord in
that part, the second position having the next or second
tone of the chord there, etc., and all positions -except the
first being also called inverted positions or inversions. (2)
-The disposition of the tones of a triad or other chord with
reference to their nearness to each other, dose position
having the tones so near together that an outer voice-p^
cannot be'^transposed so as to fall between two middle
parts, and open or dispersed position being the reverse of
this. See open and close harmony, under harmony, 2 (tZ).
(3) In viol-playing, same as shift.
5. Posture or manner of standing, sitting, or
lying ; attitude : as, an uneasy position.
Miss Eyre, draw your chair still a little farther forward ;
you are yet too far back ; I can not see you without dis-
turbing \ny position in this comfortable chair, which I have
no mind to do. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xiv.
6. Place; proper or appropriate place: as, his
lance was in position; specifically (milit.),the
proper place to make or receive an attack.
As I expected, the enemy was found in position on the
Big Black. U. S. Grant, Personal Memoirs, I. 523.
7. In aritJi., the act of assuming an approximate
value for an unknown quantity, and thence de-
termining that quantity by means of the data
of a given question, a value of the unknown quan-
tity is posited or assumed, and then, by means of the given
connection between the unknown and a known quantity,
from the assumed value of the unknown a value of the
known is calculated. A new value of the unknown is then
assumed, so as to make the error less. In the rule of sin^
pie position, only one assumption is made at the outset,
and this is correcte<i by the rule of three. In the far su-
perior rule of double position, two values are assumed, and
the corrected value of the unknown is ascertained by the
solution of a linear equation. Also called the nde of sup-
position, rule of false, and rule of trial and error.
8. In logic, the laying down of aproposition, gen-
erally an arbitrary supposition ; also, the propo-
sition itself. Thus, in the school disputations, the op-
ponent would say : " Pono that a man says that he is lying."
Then this act, as well as the proposition so advanced, is a
position.
9. In anc. pros., the situation of a vowel be-
fore two or more consonants or a double con-
sonant, tending to retard utterance and conse-
quently to lengthen the syllable; such com-
bination of consonants, or the prosodic effect
produced by it. a short vowel so situated is said to
be in position, the syllable to be long by position, and
the consonants to make position. A mute with succeed-
ing liquid does not always make position, and the situa^
tion of a short vowel before such a combination, or the
combination itself, is known as weale position.
10. In ohstet., the relation between the body of
the fetus and the pelvis of the mother in any
given presentation . There are in vertex presentations
four positions, named according to the direction of the oc-
ciput which the fetal head may occupy: (1) first or left
oceipUocatylmd position, in which the occiput paints to
the left foramen ovale— the most frequent position; (2)
second or right oceipitocotyloid position, in which the occi-
put points to the right foramen ovale ; (3) third or right
sacro-iUac position, in which the occiput points to the right
sacro-iliac synchondrosis ; (4) fourth or left ocdpito-sacro-
iliac potion, in which the occiput points to the left sacro-
iliac synchondrosis. See presentation^, 6.— Absolutepo-
sition, apparent position. See the adjectives.— Angle
of position, in astron., the angle which the line joining
two neighboring celestial objects makes with the hour-
circle passing through that one of the two which is re-
garded as the principal one, and is taken as the point of
reference. The angle is reckoned from the north point
through the east, counter-clockwise, completely around
the circumference.— Center of position, the same as the
center of gravity and center of inertia : but when a body
is viewed as composed of physical points, and the center
of gravity is considered in relation to their positions,
geometers designate that point the center of position. —
Contrariety of position. See-contrariety.— Eastward.
position See eastward.— Eaeigy Of position. See
energy, 7.— Geographical position. See geographical.—
Geometry of position. See geometry.— Grms of posi-
tion See ff«)ii.— Inverted position. See def. 4 (c) a).
positive
—Long by position. See Joi^i.— Mean position. Se«
means.— Original position, in musio, that disposition of
the tones of a triad or chord in which the root is at the
bottom : opposed to iiiversion or inverted position. — Posi-
tion angle. See angles. =Syn. 1. Station, spot, locality,
post.— 3. Thesis, assertion, doctrine.— 5. Attitude, Pose,
etc. See posture.
position (po-zish'on), V. t. lipositimi, n.] To
place with relation to other objects; set in a
definite place.
They are alwayspositioned so that they stand upon a solid
angle with the "basal plane." Encyc. Brit., XVI. 348.
positional (po-zish'on-al), a. [(.position + -o?.]
Of or pertaining to position ; relating to or de-
pending on position.
A strange conceit, ascribing unto plants positioruU opera-
tions, and after the manner of the loadstone.
Sir T. Braume, Vulg. Err., ii. 7.
position-finder (po-zish'on-fin"d6r), n. An ar-
rangement of apparatus whereby a gunner may
point a cannon to the exact position of an ob-
ject not visible to him. in the form now used in the
United States army, the region within range is accurately
mapped and laid out in squares, and the elevation corre-
sponding to each square is tabulated. Two telescopes at
distant stations are electrically connected with movable
bars which are so arranged over the map that the direc-
tion of each corresponds to that of its controlling tele-
scope. When both telescopes are directed to the object
the two bars cross each other over the square in which
the object is, and thus the gunner, knowing the horizontal
position and the range, can accurately direct his fire.
Compare range-finder.
position-micrometer (po-zish'on-mi-krom'e-
ter), n. A micrometer for measuring angles
of position (see angle of position, under posi-
tion), which are read upon a graduated circle.
It has a single thread, or a pair of parallel threads, which
can be revolved around the common focus of the object-
glass and eye-glass in a plane perpendicular to the axis of
the telescope.
positive (poz'i-tiv), a. and n. [< ME. positif (=
D. positief = G. Sw. Dan. positiv), < OF. (and
F.) positif = Sp. Pg. It.positivo, < h.posiUvus,
settled by arbitrary appointment or agreement,
positive, (.positus, -pp. ot ponere, put: see^osj-
iion.] I. a. 1. Laid down as a proposition;
affirmed; stated; express: as, a posiiiue decla-
ration.— 2. Of an affirmative nature; possess-
ing definite characters of its own ; of a kind to
excite sensation or be otherwise directly ex-
perienced; not negative. Thus, light is posi-
tive, darkness negative; man is posiUve, non-
man negative.
To him, as to his uncle, the exercise of the mind in dis-
cussion was a positive pleasure. Macavlay.
The force of what seems a positive desire for an object is
in many cases derived from a negative desire or aversion
to some correlative pain.
J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 681.
3. Arbitrarily laid down ; determined by dec-
laration, enactment, or convention, and not
by nature : opposed to natural. Thus, the phe-
nomenon of onomatopoeia shows that words are in some
degree natural, and not altogether positive; so, positive
law, positive theology. [This sense, the or^nal one in
latin, is a translation of Greek ffeo-et.]
4. Imperative ; laid down as a command to be
followed without question or discretion: as,
positive orders.
In laws, that which is natural bindeth universally; that
which is positive, not so. . . . Although no laws but posi-
tive are mutable, yet all are not mutable which be positive.
Hooker.
5. Unquestionable; indubitable; certain; hence,
experiential.
'Tis positive against all exceptions, lords.
That our superfluous lackeys . . . were enow
To purge this field of such a hilding foe.
Shak., lien. V., iv. 2. 25.
The unity and identity of structure in an organism in
which a law of action maybe inferred form the condition
oi positive science.
E. Mvlford, The Nation, The Foundation of Civil Order, i.
6. Confident; fully assured.
I am sometimes doubting when I might be positive.
Bymer.
7. Over-confident in opinion and assertion;
dogmatic.
Some positive persisting fops we know.
That, It once wrong, will needs be always so.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 668.
Where men of judgment creep and feel their way.
The positive pronounce without dismay.
Cowper, Conversation.
8t. Actually or really officiating or discharging
the duties of an office.
I was, according to the Grand Signior his commande-
meni^ very courteously interteined by Peter, his positiue
prince. Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 289.
9. Not reversed, (o) Greater than zero ; not mea-
sured in a reversed direction : signifying the absence of
such reversal. (6) In photog., representing lights by
lights and shades by shades, and not the reverse, (c) Be-
ing that one of two opposite kinds which is arbitrarily
considered as first : as, positive electricity. In all these
senses opposed to negative.
positive
10. Not comparative. Especially, in gram., signify-
ing a quality without an inflection to indicate comparison
as to tlie intensity of that quality.— Positive allega-
tion, in laWy an allegation made without reserve, as dis-
tinguished from an Edlegation made on information and
belief or argumentatively.— Positive attribute, an at-
tribute whose real nature is analogous to the form of a
positive term.— Positive colors. See coJor.— Positive
crystal. Seer^ra<«onandAemi%edrt»m.— Positive de-
gree, in gram., the simple value of an adjective or ad-
verb, without comparison or relation to increase or dimi-
nution ; used by antithesis to comparative and superlative
degree: see comparison^ 5. — Positive discrepancy, the
relation between the testimony of two witnesses one of
whom explicitly affirms what the other explicitly denies.—
Positive distinction, a distinction which distinguishes
two real existences : opposed to negative distinction, which
distinguishes an existence from a non-existence. — Posi-
tive electricity, ens, entity, evidence, eyepiece. See
the nouns.- Positive Judgment, in logic, an affirmative
proposition.— Positive law, in the phUosophy of juris-
prudence and legislation, the body of laws prescribed or
controlling human conduct, as distinguished from laws
so called which are merely generalizations of what has
been observed to take place ; law set as a rule to which
Itself requires conformity. Some have included divine
law, others only human law ; judicial as well as statutory
law is included.— Positive misprision, motion, organ.
See the nouns.— Positive pbUosophy, a philosophical
wstem founded by Auguste Comte (1798-1857). Its main
doctrines are as follows. All speculative thought passes
through three stages — the theological, the metaphysical,
the positive. The theological stage is that in wnich liv-
ing beings with free will are supposed to account for
phenomena ; the metaphysical is that in which unveriflable
abstractions are resorted to; the positive is that which
contents itself with general descriptions of phenomena.
The sciences are either abstract or concrete. The ab-
stract discover regularities, the concrete show in what
manner these regularities are applicable to special cases.
The abstract sciences are (1) mathematics, (2) astronomy,
(3) physics, (4) chemistry, (5) biology, (6) sociology. They
must be studied in this order, since each after the first
rests on the preceding. Especially, sociology must be
founded on biology. The development of civilization
has taken place according to certain laws or regularities.
The civilized community is a true organism — a Great
Being — to which individuals are related somewhat as
cells to an animal organism. This Great Being should
be an object of worship; and this worship should be
systematized after the model of the medieval church. —
Positive pleasure or pain, a state of pleasure or pain
exceeding the neutral point; a pleasure or pain which is
such irrespective of comparison with other states. — Posi-
tive pole of a voltaic pile or battery. See jpofe2 and
electricity.— Positive precision. See precision.— Posi-
tive prescription. See prescrCplion, 3 (a).— Positive
proof, direct proof deducing the conclusion as a particu-
lar case of some general rule, without the use of the re-
ductio ad absurdum, etc.— Positive (quantity, in alg., an
afSrmative or additive quantity, which character is indi-
cated by the sign -l- (plus) prefixed to the quantity, called
in consequence the posUive sign. Po^ive is here used in
contradistinction to ne^cttrae.— Positive term, a term
not in form affected with the negative sign.— Positive
whole, a whole which has parts : opposed to a negative
whole, or something called a whole as being indivisible.
II. n. 1. That which settles by absolute ap-
pointment.
Positives . . . while under precept cannot be slighted
without slighting morals also.
Waterland, Scripture Vindicated, iii. 37.
S. That which is capable of being affirmed;
reality.
Bating ^«i(iDe< by their privatives.
South, Sermons, I. ii.
3. In gram., the positive degree. — 4. In pho-
tog., a picture in which the lights and shades
are rendered as they are in nature : opposed to
negative. Positives are usually obtained by
printing from negatives. See negative aniplw-
tography. — 5. Same b.s positive organ — Alabas-
trine positive. See alaboMrine.
positively (poz'i-tiv-li), adv. In a positive man-
ner, (a) Absolutely; by itself; independently of any-
thing else ; not comparatively.
The good or evil which is removed may be esteemed
good or evil comparatively, and not positively or simply.
Bacon.
(J) Not negatively ; really ; in its own nature ; directly ;
Inherently : thus, a thing is positively good when it pro-
duces happiness by its own qualities or operation : it is
negatively good when it prevents an evil or does not pro-
duce it. (c) Certainly; indubitably; decidedly.
Give me some breath, some little pause, my lord,
Before 1 positively speak herein.
Shak., Rich. III., iv. 2. 25.
So, Maria, you see your lover pursues you ; positively you
sha'n't escape. Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 1.
Id) Directly ; explicitly : as, the witness testified positively
to the fact, (e) Peremptorily; In positive terms; ex-
pressly.
I would ask . . . whether the whole tenor of the divine
law does not positively require humility and meekness?
Bp. Sprat.
The Queen found it expedient to issue an older positive-
ly forbidding the torturing of state-prisoners on any pre-
tence whatever. Macatday, Lord Bacon.
C/) With full confidence or assurance : as, I cannot speak
positively in regard to the fact, (g) By positive electri-
city ; as, positively electrified. See electricity.
positiveness (poz'i-tiv-nes), n. The state of
being positive; actualness; reality of exis-
4636
tence; not mere negation; undoubting assur-
ance; full confidence ; peremptoriness.
positivism (poz'i-tiv-izm), n. [= F.positwisme;
as positive + -ism.'] 1. Actual or absolute
knowledge.
The metaphysicians can never rest till they have taken
their watch to pieces and have arrived at a happy posUiv-
ism as to its structure.
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 160.
2. leap."] The Positive philosophy (which see,
vaideT positive).
Positivist (poz'i-tiv-ist), ». [=:y.posiimnste;
as positive + -dsf] One who maintains the doc-
trines of the Positive philosophy.
positivistic (poz"i-ti-vis'tik), a. [< Positivist +
-ic] Of or pertaining to the Positivists or
Positivism.
positivity (pcz-i-tiv'i-ti), n. [= P. positiviti;
a.s positive + -ity.'] t'ositiveness in any sense.
There is a time, as Solomon . . . teaches us, when a
fool should be answered according to his folly, lest he be
wise in his own conceit, and lest others too easily yield
up their faith and reason to his imperious dictates. Cou-
rage and positivity are never more necessary than on such
an occasion. Wattx, Improvement of Mind, i. 9.
The property which renders a structure capable of un-
dergoing excitatory change is expressed by relative posi-
tivity, the condition of discharge by relative negativity.
kaiwre, XXXVIII. 141.
positort (poz'i-tor), n. [< L. positor, one who
lays, a builder, ifounder, < ponere, -py.positus,
put, lay: see posit.'} A depositor. Makluyt's
Voyages, II. 249.
posituret (poz'i-tiir), n. [< OF. ]iositure = Sp.
Pg. It. positura, Vh.positura, position, posture,
< ponere, pp. positus, put, place: see posit, and
cf . posture.} Posture.
First he prayed, and then sung certain Psalmes, . . ..
resembling the Turks in the positure of their bodies and
often prostrations. Sandys, TravaUes, p. 96.
posnet (pos'net), n. [Early mod. E. also post-
net, posenet ; < ME. posnett, posnette, postnet, <
OP. pocenet, a little basin. The W. posned, a
porringer, a roun^body, is appar. from B.] A
small basin or fSbrringer; also, a small vessel
of fanciful form.
The cunning man biddeth set on a posnet, or some pan
with nayles, and seeth them, and the witch shal come in
while they be in seething, and within a fewe daies after
her face will be all bescratched with the nayles.
Oifford, Dialogue on Witches (1603). (HaUiwell.)
Then skellets, pans, and posnets put on.
To make them porridge without mutton.
Coltorts Works (1734), p. 17. (Hattiwell.)
A silver posnet to butter eggs. Steele, latler, Ko. 245.
posologic (pos-0-loj'ik), ffl. [= F.posologique;
< posohg-y + -ic.] Of or pertaining to posology.
posological (pos-0-loj'i-kal), a. l^ posologic +
-al.'] Same as posologic. '
posology (po-sol'o-ji), TO. [='P.posologie; < 6r.
Ttdaoq, now much, + -'koyla, < 7£ystv, speak : see
-ology.'] The doctrine of quantity, (a) A name
suggested by Eentham for the science of quantity. (6)
That part of medical science which is concerned with the
doses or quantities in which medicines ought to be ad-
ministered.
poss, V. An obsolete or dialectal form otp%ish.
posse (pos'e), n. [< ML. posse, power, a noun
use of the 'L. int. posse, be able: Beepotentscnd
power.'] 1. Possibihty. a thing is said to be in
posse when it may possibly be (in familiar language, often
a softened denial of existence ; In pliilosophical language,
ready to be, in germ) ; in esse, when it actually is.
Those are but glorious dreams, and only yield him
A happiness in posse, not in esse.
Fletcher (and another). Elder Brother, i. 1.
3. A sheriff's posse comitatus (see below) ; in
general, a body or squad of men.
It was high noon, and the posse had been In saddle since
dawn.
M. N. Xurfree, Prophet of Great Smoky Moantains, p. 20.
comitatus, the power of the county ; in law, the
bodjr of men which the sheriff is empowered t» call into
service to aid and support him in the execution of the law,
as in case of rescue, riot, forcible entry and occupation,
etc. It includes all male persons above the age of fifteen.
In Great Britain peers and clergymen are excluded by stat-
ute. The word comitatus is often omitted, and posse alone
is used in the same sense (see def. 2).
possedet, v.t. [< OF. posseder, possess : see pos-
sess.] To possess.
None other persone may . . . possede it or clayme It.
Sir T. Elyot, The Govemour, iii. 8.
possess Cpg-zes'), v. t. [< ME. possessen, < OF.
possesser, possess, < L. possessits, yy. of possi-
dere (> It. possedere, possidere = Sp. poseer =
'Pg. possmr = Pr. possedir, possider = F, posse-
der), have and hold, be master of, possess, per-
haps orig. 'remain near,' ipo-, *post-, akin to
pro-, before, -I- sedere, sit, dwell: see sit. Of.
obsess, assessor, siege, etc.] 1. To own; have
as a belonging, property, characteristic, or at-
tribute.
possess
So shall you share all that he doth possess.
By having him. Shak. , E. and J., 1. 3. 93^
These possess wealth as sick men possess fever&
Which trulier may be said to possess them.
B. Jornon, Volpono, v. 8.
St. Peter's can not have the magical power over us that
the red and gold covers of our first picture-book poweMoi
Eimrson, Domestic Lite!
2. To seize; take possession of; make one's
self master of.
let us go up at once and possess It ; for we are well able
to overcome it. Hum. xiii 30
Eemember
First to possess his books.
Shak., Tempesti iii. 2. 100.
The English marched toward the river Eske, intending
to possess a hill called Under-Eske. Sir J. Hayward.
3. To put in possession; make master or
owner, whether by force or legally: with 0/ be-
fore the thing, a,nd now generally used in the
passive or reflexively : as, to possess on^s self
0/ another's secret; to be or Bt&nd possessed of
a certain manor.
Sithe god hathe chose the to be his kny;)^
And posseside the in thi right,
Thoue him honour with al thi myght.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 4.
The plate, coin, revenues, and moveables,
"Whereof our uncle Gaunt did etanAposses^d.
Shak., Rich. IL, ii. 1. 162.
We here possess
Thy son qf all thy state.
JB. Jornon, Volpone, v. 8.
Five hundred pound a yeaie 's bequeath'd to yon,
Of which I here possesse you : all is yours.
Heywood, Fair Maid of the West (Worki,
[ed. Pearson, 1874, IL 805).
Our debates possessed n)e so fully 0/ the subject that I
wrote and printed an anonymous pamphlet on it.
JFranklin, Autobiography, p. 118.
4.' To have and hold; occupy in person; hence,
to inhabit.
Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again
in this land. Jer. xxxii. 15.
They report a faire Bluer and at least 30. habitations
doth possesse this Country.
Capt. John Smith, Works, II. 194,
5. To occupy; keep; maintain; entertain: most-
ly with a reflexive reference.
In your patience possess ye [ye shall win, revised vereion}
your souls. Luke xxi. 19,
Then we [anglers] sit on cowslip-banks, hear the bird»
sing, and possess ourselves in as much quietness as these
silent silver streams, which we now see glide so quietly
by us. /. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 109.
It is 'necessary to an easy and happy life to possess our
minds in such a manner as to be always well satisfied with
our own reflections. Steele, Tatler, No. 251.
6. To imbue; impress: with with before the
thing.
It is of unspeakable advantage to possess our minds uiih
an habitual good intention. Addison.
Hence ... it is laid down by Holt that to possess the
people mth an ill opinion of the government— that is, of
the ministry — IsalibeL EoBtm.
7. To take possession of ; fascinate; enthrall;
affect or influence so intensely or thoroughly
as to dominate or overpower: with with before
the thing that fills or dominates.
A poets brayne, possest with layes of loue.
Gaseoigne, Steele Glas (ed, Arber), p, 66.
Sin of sell-love possesseth all mine eye
And all my soul and all my every part.
Shak., Sonnets, Ixii.
I have been touched, yea, and possessed with an extreme
wonder at those your virtues.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i, 2,
This [fancy] so possessed him and so shook his mind that
he dared not stand at the door longer, but fled for fear the
tower should come down upon him.
Sowthey, Banyan, p. 16.
8. To have complete power or mastery over;
dominate ; control, as an evil spirit, influence,
or passion : generally in the passive, with hy,
of, or with.
They also which saw it told them by what means he that
was possessed of the devils was healed. Luke vill. 36.
Unless you be possess'd v/ith devilish spirits.
You cannot but forbear to murder me,
Shak., 2 Hen. VL, iv, 7, 80.
' One of those fanatic infidels possessed by the devil who
are sometimes permitted to predict the truth to their fol-
lowers. Jning, Granada, p. 28.
Of. To put in possession of information; in-
form; tell; acquaint; persuade; convince.
Possess us, possess us ; tell us something of him.
SAffl*.,T.N.,U.S.l«.
The merchants ate possess'd
You've been a pirate.
Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, I- 1
I see it don with some artifice and labour, to possess the
people that they might amend thir present condition Dy
his or hy his Sons restorement.
MUton, Eikonoklastes, xCTii.
\Miether they were English or no, it may be doubted •
yet they believe they were, for the French have bo pos-
setsed them. N. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 57.
lOt. To attain ; achieve ; aeeomplisli.
Where they In secret connsell close conspird.
How to effect so hard an enterprize^
And to possesse the purpose they desird.
Spenser, ¥. Q., ni. iii. 51.
=Syn. Erne, Possess, Hold, Own, Occupy. Have Is the
most general of these words ; it may apply to a tempo-
■■ary or to a permanent possession of a thing, to the hav-
ing ol that which is one's own or another's : as, to have
good judgment ; to hxive another's letter by mistake; Pos-
sess generally applies to that which is external to the pos-
sessor, or, if not external, is viewed as something to be
used : as, to possess a library ; if we say a man possesses
hands, we mean that he has them to work with ; to pos-
sess reason Is to have it with the thought of what can be
done with it. To hold is to have in one's hands to control,
not necessarily as one's own : as, to hold a fan or a dog
for a lady; to.AoU a title-deed; to hcM the stakes for a
contest To own is to have a good and legal title to ; one
may own that which he does not hold or occupy and can-
not get into his possession, as a missing umbrella or a stolen
horse. Occupy is chiefly physical : as, to occupy a house;
one may occupy that which he does not own, as a chair,
room, office, position.
Let me have the land
'Which stretches away upon either hand.
WhiUier, Mogg Megone, i.
Frederic was succeeded by his son, Frederic William,
a prince who must be allowed to have possessed some tal-
ents for administration. Macavlay, Frederic the Great.
Holding Corioli in the name of Eome. Sluik., Cor., i. 6. 37.
Habitually savages individually own their weapons and
implements, their decorations, their dresses.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., § 292.
Palaces which ought to be occupied by better men.
Macaviay, Hist. Eng., zrL
possessed (po-zesf), p. a. Controlled by some
evil spirit or influence ; demented; mad.
He 's coming, madam ; butin very strange manner. He
is, sure, posseted, madam. Shafc., T. N., iii. 4. 9.
Con. The man is mad !
Corb. What's that?
Corv, He is possesst B, Jonson, Yolpone, v. 6.
possession (po-zesh'on), n. [< ME. possession,
possessyone, possessioun, < OP. (aniF.) posses-
sion = Sp. posesion = Pg. possessao = It. pos-
sessione, possessio, < L. possessio{n-), a seizing,
possession, < possessus, pp. of possidere, pos-
sess: see possess.] 1. The act of possessing, or
the state of heing possessed; the having, hold-
ing, or detaining of property in one's power or
control; the state of owning or controlling;
actual seizing or occupancy, either rightful or
wrongful. One man may have the possession
of a thing, and another may have the right of
property in it.
Ministering light prepared, they set and rise ;
Lest total darkness should by night regain
Her oli possession, and extingui^ life
In nature and all things. MUton, F. L., iv. 666.
It is ill going to law for an estate with him who is in
possession of it^ and enjoys the present profits, to feed his
cause. Bryden, Ded. of Third Misc.
You see in their countenances they are at home, and in
q^vdet possession of their present instant as it passes.
Steele, Spectator, Mo. 49.
If the possession be severed from the property, if A.
has the jus proprietatis, and B. by some unlawful means
has gained possession of the lands, this is an injury to A.
Thus . . . B. . . ^ hath only ... a bare or naked posses-
sion. Blackstone, Com., III. x.
If . . . mere possession could confer sovereignl^r, they
had that possession, and were entitled to that sovereignty.
Story, Discourse, Sept 18, 1828.
2. In law, the physical control which belongs
of right to unqualified ownership ; the having
a thing in such manner as to exclude the con-
trol of other persons ; that detention of or do-
minion over a thing by one person which pre-
cludes others from the adverse physical occu-
pancy of or dominion over it. in modem law the
legal conception of possession is intermediate between the
conception of right and that of physical occupancy, and
shares something of the qualities of both ; but there is great
diiference of view as to the precise signification and the
resulting proprieties of use. In general, all are agreed that
a master has possession of a thing which belongs to him
but is in the hand of his servant^ however far away ; but a
lender has not possession of a chattel in the hand of the
borrower. In respect to real estate, the landlord was for-
4637
the possession, he could not in defense to the action (in-
terdict) brought by the possessor plead title, but he
had to resort to a separate action in order to assert his
right. It was not necessary in order to make this protec-
tion that the possession should be in good faith, but good
faith was necessary in order to make possession lipen into
title by prescription. In some modern systems of law, for
example the French code, possession acquired in good
faith gives an ownership of chattels.
3. The thing possessed; in the plural, goods,
land, or rights owned; belongings: as, your
friendship is one of my Tiehest possessions; the
French possessions.
The house of Jacob shall possess th^ possessions.
Obadiah 17.
When the young man heard that saying, he went away
sorrowful ; for he had great possessions. Mat. xix. 22.
Neither your letters nor silence needs excuse ; your
friendship is to me an ahundant possession, though you re-
member me but twice in a year. Donne, Letters, xli.
Hence — 4. Property; wealth.
Py on possesgioun
But if a man be vertnous withal.
Chaucer, Prol. to Franklin's Tale, 1. 14.
5. In international law, a country or territory
held by right of conquest. Bouvier. — 6. Per-
suasion; conviction.
I have a strong possession that with this five hundred
I shaU win five thousand. Cibber, Provoked Husband, i.
Whoever labours under any of thQ^&possessioas is as un-
fit for conversation as a madman in Bedlam.
Swift, Conversation.
7. The state of being under the control of evil
spirits or of madness; madness; lunacy: as.
I knew he was not in his perfect wits. . , .
How long hath tbis possession held the man?
Shak., C. of E., v. 1. 44.
There are some sins so rooted, so rivetted in men, so
incorporated, so consubstantiated in the soul, by habitual
custom, as that those sins have contracted the nature of
ancient possessions. ^onne. Sermons, xiv.
Forms of madness which were for ages supposed to re-
sult from possession are treated successfully in our hospi-
tals. Lecky, Europ. Morals, I. 375.
Actual possession, sometimes called natural possession,
occupancy to the actual exclusion of possession by any
others, except such as hold as the servants of the possessor
or as representing him, and so hold without any right to
detain as against him. Thus, a man is in actuai possession ot
his house when he leaves it in charge of his wife or servant,
but not when he leaves it in charge of a tenant having a
right to retain it.— Adverse possession. See adverse.
— Chose In possession. See cAoses.— Constructive
possession, possession in law, sometimes called civil or
juridical possession, a possession through the occupancy of
others, or that possession which is imputed by the law to
one who has title to a thing of which no one is in actual
possession, as for instance wild and unoccupied land. See
seisin.— Delivety of juridical possession. See delivery.
— Demoniacal possession. See denundacal.—'Ea^oi. in
possession, the authority granted by a court to the pre-
sumptive heirs of an absentee, who has not been heard of
for a certain period of years, te take possession of his prop-
erty.—Estate in possession, technically, an estate so
created as to vest in the owner thereof a present right of
present enjoyment: referring not to the fact of the thing
owned being in the owner's possession, which may or may
not be the case, but to the fact that the right of present
possession is an estate or title in theowner, as distinguished
from an exfpectavt estate. — In possession, said of aperson
in actual possession of a thing, or a thing in the actual
possession of a person, as distinguished from mere owner-
ship. Thus, when a testator gives all his possessions or
everything which he may possess at death, he gives not
only the things of which he may he in possession, but also
his property of which others may be in possession. When
used of an estate, it designates such an estate or interest
as gives a right of possession, as distinguished from an ex-
pectant estate. Thus, a gift to one person to take eif ect
after the death of another is said to vest in possession when
the death occurs irrespective of actual taking possession. —
Juridical possession. See constructive possession, a\iove,
and delivery.— Nailed possession, mere possession with-
out color of right. — Natural possession. Same as aMual
possession To give possession, to put into another's
control or occupancy. — To take possession, to enter
upon or to take under control or occupancy.
The Lord of Love went by
To take possession of his fioweiy throne.
WUliam Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 221.
TJillty of possession. See estate in joint tenancy, un-
der estofe.- Vacant possession, a phrase used occasion-
ally of lands not in me possession of any person. — Writ
of possession, in law, a process directing a sheriff to
put a person in peaceable possession of property recov-
ered in ejectment. =Syil. 1. Ownership, occupation, ten-
ure, control. See possess.
' l,n.']
merly said to have possession, and the tenant was not said ^ uouuui oco j,u.„„^.
t« possess at liave possession,biit only to be in possession. „„Ji„__;„_'j./T>r>'Voc!li'mi^ « t
The distinction is now more commofily expressed by say- pOSSeSSlOnf (po-zesh gn;, v. t.
ing that the tenant has actual possession (pedis possessio), i o invest witn property,
although the legal possession may be in the landlord. The
servant's or tenant's possession is legal in the sense of be-
ing lawful, but is not the legal possession in the sense in
Sundry more gentlemen this little hundred possesseth
and possessioneth* Carew.
11K luwiui, uui IS not tne legal possession in uie sense ui . i /_ „„i,/ „^^ r -ci »,...,
Which that term is used in contrast to mere physical occii- pOSSBSSlOnal (po-zesh on-al), u. [= F.posses-
— ■■• ... - .. _ . . sionnel = Sp. posesional; a,s possession + -al.2
Same as possessive. Imp. Diet.
pancy without any right of ownership. Possesion is some-
times said to involve tbe intent to exclude others, but a
man may have possession without such intent, as where _ '„_-__• -!,„__ /-Tm-yftsVoTi-n-m"* n T<
hehasgivenatkng away, and it has not been removed : PpSSeSSlOnary (pj)-zesn pn-^^-nj, ^ a. i<.
ML.
or even without the" consciousness of possessing, as where *possesswnarius, (. L. possessio{n-), possession :
a thing is forgotten or supposed to be lost In Eoman see possession.'] Eelating to or implying pos-
law, possession required not only physical control, but - ggSSlon Imp. Diet.
WBO the animus domini. When these two elements con- „„__._ .■-_i/„„_pK|,'nTi-Ar^ n V< "UV. rtni.
curred. there existed a right which was protected against P°SSeSS10nert (po-zesh on-er; M. L^ JVUi. pos-
- . If hedistarbed sesswner, < OF. possesswnaire = Sp.
-^80 the animus domini.
curred, there existed a ri„„
everybody, including the rightful owner.
posset
nero, < ML. *possessUmarius: seepossessionary.l
1. One who owns or has actual possession of a
thing, or power over it ; a possessor.
They were a kind of people who, having been of old free-
men and possessioners, the Lacedtemonians had conquered
them. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia. L
This term, "the Possessioners," was a popular circulat-
ing coinage struck In the mint of our reformer [Robert
Crowley], and probably included much more than meets
oui' ear. Every land-owner, every proprietor, was a Pos-
sessioner. I. If Israeli, Amen, of Lit, I. 378.
2. A member of a religious order endowed with
lands, etc., as distinguished from those orders
whose members lived entirely by alms ; a mem-
ber of one of the orders possessing lands and
revenues ; a beneficed clergyman.
Ne ther it nedeth nat for to be geve.
As to possessioners^ that mowen lyv^
Thanked be God, m wele and habnndaunce.
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, L 14^
Thise possessioneres preche. Piers Plourman (B), v. 144.
possessive (po-zes'iv), a. and n. [< P. posses-
sif= Bp.posesivo = Pg. It. possessivo, < L. pos-
sessivtis, possessive (in gram.), < possessus, pp.
ol possidere, possess: see possess.] I. a. Per-
taining to or denoting possession ; expressing
possession: as in a lady's dress, their house, a
mere notion of John's.
What mean these liv'ries and possessive keys ?
Wliat mean these bargains, and these needless sales ?
Quarles, Emblems, v. 9.
Possessive case, in gram., the genitive case, or the case
of nouns, pronouns, ete., which expresses possession and
other kintu'ed and derived relations.
The supposition that the apostrophe 's as a mark of the
possessive ease is a segment of his, a question wliich has
been lately revived, is here denied.
A. Hume, Orthographle (B. E. T. S.), p. 37.
Possessive pronoun, a derivative adjective formed from
a personal pronoun, and denoting possession or property,
as in my book your hand.
II. n. 1. A pronoun or other word denoting
possession. — 3. The possessive case.
Their and theirs are the possessives likewise of they,
when they is the plural of it, and are therefore applied to
things. Johnson, English Grammar.
possessively (pg-zes'iv-li), adv. In a manner
denoting possession.
possessor (pg-zes'qr), n. [FoTmeTlypossessour;
< P. possesseur = Sp. posesor = Pg. possessor =
It. possessore, < L. possessor, possessor, < pos-
sidere, pp. possessus, possess: see possess. ] One
who possesses; one who has or enjoys anything;
one who owns; one who holds, occupies, or con-
trols any species of property, real or personal.
Whereby great riches, gathered manie a day.
She in short space did often bring to nought.
And theii possessours often did dismay.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. L 29.
And yet he lived as chearfnlly and contentedly, by the
faith he had in God's goodness, as if he had been possessor
of the whole world. Sharp, Works, V. iv.
Biches are the instruments of serving the purposes of
heaven or hell, according to the disposition of the posses-
sor. Steele, Spectator, No. 466.
Bona-fide possessor. See bona fide. =Sjil Owner, pro-
prietor, holder, master, lord.
possessory (pg-zes'o-ri), a. [< P. possessoire =
Sp. posesorio = Pg. It. possessorio, < LL. posses-
soriiis, possessory, < L. possessor, a possessor:
see possessor.] 1. Pertaining to possession.
A possessory feeling in the heart Chalmers.
But it will be based upon fear, and, among lower ani-
mals, inherited habit, rather than upon any sense of pos-
sessory right. Westminster Rev., CXXVI. 134.
2. Having possession : as, a jjossessor^ lord.
Absolute equality among nations is established, and their
commercial rights are to be held the same as those of the
possessory government JIT. A. Bev., CXLII. 125.
3. In law, arising from possession: as, a pos-
sessory interest.
The motive of the guardian must not be tainted by a
selfish greed to get the land which the ward held by pos-
sessory right N. A. Rev., CXLIII. 438.
Possessory action, an action to determine the right of
possession, as distinguished from one to determine the
title to the thin^. SeepetHory.
If a possessory action be brought within six months
after the avoidance, the patron shall (notwithstanding
such usurpation and institution) recover that very pres-
entation which gives back to him the seisin of the ad-
vowson. £tacisfem«,Com,,in. xvi.
Possessory judgment, in Scots law, a judgment which
entitles a person who has been in uninterrupted posses-
sion for seven years to continue his possession until the
question of right shall be decided at law.
Either touching possessory judgments of ecclesiastical
livings, or concerning nominations thereunto.
Hooker, Eccjes. Polity, viiL 6.
posset '(pos'et), n. [< ME. posset, possett, pos-
syt (cf. F.2)osset, possette, < E. ?) ; perhaps < Ir.
pusoid, a posset; ei.yf. posel, curdled milk, a
posset, < posiaw, gather, heap. The L. posca,
posset
a drink of mingled vinegar and water, is prob.
not concerned.] A drink composed oi hot milk
curdled by some infusion, as wine or other
liquor, formerly much iu favor both as a luxury
and as medicine.
1 have diugg'd theii possets.
That death and nature do contend about them,
Whether they live or die. Shak., Macbeth, ii. 2. 6.
After supper to dancing and singing till about twelve
at night ; and then we had a good saclt possett for them,
and an excellent cake. Pepys, Diaiy, Jan. 6, 1667.
Having had several violent fits of an ague, recourse was
had to. . . drinking carduuspo8se«, then going to bed and
sweating. Evelyn, Diary, Feb. 7, 1682.
Posset is an excellent mixture of hot ale, milk, sugar,
spices, and sippets or dice of bread or oat cake, almost if
not quite universal for supper on Christmas-eve.
L. Jevntt, Ceramic Art of Gr. Britain (first ed.), 1. 108.
possett (pos'et), V. t. [< posset, m.] To curdle;
coagulate. [Bare.]
And with a sudden vigour it doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk.
The thin and wholesome blood.
Shak., Hamlet, i. 6. 68.
posset-ale (pos'et-al), n. Posset made with ale,
used in medicine in the seventeenth century.
posset-cup (pos'et-kup), n. A large bowl or
Posset-cup.
porringer, often having a cover, used for con-
taining posset.
posset-pot (pos ' et-pot), ». Same as posset-cwp.
possettf, n. A Middle English form ot posset.
posshet, V. A Middle English form otpush.
Fossibilist (pos'i-bil-ist), 71. [< F. possibiliste
= Sp. Positrilista; as L. possibilis, possible, +
-ist."] 1. A member of a Spanish political party
which aims at the establishment of a republic
by constitutional means.
Thus Castelar and his followers constitute what is called
the PossiMlist party, which, although numbering few par-
tisans among the people, yet comprises several distin-
guished and upright individuals.
FoHnigMy Ren., XXXIX. 115.
3. A member of a modern socialistio faction
in Prance.
possibility (pos-i-bil'i-ti), «. ; pi. possibilities
(-tiz). [< ME. possiUutee, possyiiUte, < OP.
possibilite, P. possibility = Sp. posibiUdad =
Pg. possibilidaae = It. possibilitd, < LL. possi-
bUita(t-)s, possibility, < li. possibilis, possible:
see possible.'] 1. The mod« of that which is
possible; the fact of being possible.
^here is no let but that, as often as those books are read,
and need so requireth, the stile of their differences may
expressly be mentioned to bar even ^XpossibUUyot error.
Hooker.
It is pleasant to see great works in their seminal state,
pregnant with latent possi^ities of excellence. Johnson.
He looked so virtuous that he might commit any crime
and no one would believe in the poseiMity of his guilt.
Lady Holland, Sydney Smith, vi.
2. A thing possible ; that which may take place
or come into being.
Consider him antecedently to his creation, while yet he
lay in the barren womb of nothing, and only in the num-
ber of possiMliiies, and consequently could have nothing
to recommend him to Christ's affection. South.
Never country had such a fortune, as men call fortune,
as this, in its geography, its history, and in its majestic
Emerson, Fortune of the Bepublic.
3. Specifically, in law, a chance or expectation;
an uncertain thing which may or may not hap-
pen. It is near or ordinary, as where an estate is limited
to one after the death of another; or rejnote or extranrdi-
nary, as where it is limited to a man provided he shall be
married to a certain woman, and then that she shall die,
and he be married to another. Wharton.— hoelcal pos-
sibility. See logical.— VeTmaJient possibility. See
permanent.— VhyBical possibility, compatibility with
the laws of nature.— Possibility of issue extinct, a
term, formerly of some Importance in the law of real prop-
erty, used to designate the effect of the age of a woman un-
der a gift conditioned on having issue. The highest au-
thorities in medical jurisprudence sustain the proposition
that a woman beyond the age of fifty-five has, in ^he lejral
sense, no possibility of issue. Extinction of possibility may
be inferred at an earlier age, varying with the evidence as
to the length of married life and the condition of health.—
ftactical possibility, capability of being realized by
4638
means within the power of the persons considered.— Real
possibility, indeterminateness in things as to the future
happening or non-happening of something which lies with-
in the power of a free agent.
possible (pos'i-bl), a. [< ME. possible, possy-
bylle, < OF. (and P.) possible = Sp. posible =
Pg. possivel = It. possibile, possevole, < L, pos-
sibilis, possible, < posse, be able: see power.]
That may be ; not known not to be true ; not
known not to be true in some hypothetical state
of information. The only kind of object which in strict
propriety of language can be called possible is the truth of
a proposition ; and when a kind of thing is said to bepos-
sible, this is to be regarded as an elliptical expression,
meaning that it is of such a general description that we
do not know it does not exist. So an event or act is said
to be posgible, meaning that one would not know that it
would not come to pass. But it is incorrect to UBeposHble
meaning practicable ; possible is what may be, not wl^it
can be. A proposition is logicaZly possible, if it would not
be known not to be true by a person who should know
nothing but the principles of logic and the meanings of
words ; physbcally possible, if it would not be known not
to be true by one who should know all the laws of nature,
but none of the particular facts ; practimlly possible, if
it were not known not to be about to be accomplished to
one who should know what was in the power of the persons
concerned, but not their dispositions, etc.
Desire things ^xissiMe,
Thou foolish young man ; nourish not a hope
Will hale thy heart out. Fletcher, Mad Lover, ii. 2.
I take it those things are to be held possible which may
be done by some person, though not by every one.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 118.
In such an age, it is possible some great genius may arise;
to equal any of the ancients ; abating only for the lan-
guage. Dryden, Orig. and Prog, of Satue.
Is itpos^le that, when the necessities of life are sup-
plied, a man would flatter to be rich !
Steele, Tatler, No. 251.
The marvellous is so fascinating that nine persons in
ten, if once persuaded that a thing is possible, are eager to
believe it probable, and at last cunning in convincing
themselves that it is proven.
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 144.
Possible intellect. See intellect, l.=Sya. Possible, Prac-
ticable. See practicable.
possibly (pos'i-bli), adv. 1 . In a possible man-
ner; by any power, moral or physical, really
existing; by possibility. — 2. Perhaps; per-
chance.
possum (pos'um), n. {Formerly also possoune,
possowne, etc. ; by apheresis from opossum.]
Same as opossum. [CoUoq.]
Amongst the Beasts in Virginia there are two kinds most
strange One of them is the Female Posstmme, which hath
a bag under her belly, out of which she will let forth her
young ones, and take them in again at her pleasure.
S. Clarke, Four Plantations in America (XSIO), p. 14.
To play possum, to act possum, to feign ; dissemble :
in allusion to the habit of the opossum, which feigns
death on the approach or attack of an enemy, and may
allow itself ito be tormented to death without showing a
sign of life.
possum (pos'um), V. i. l<. possum, n.] To play
possum; feign death. [CoUoq.]
When disturbed they [certain beetles] drop to the ground
. . . a£ter poesumin^ awhae.
Insect Life, Jan., 1889, p. 220.
possum-oak (pos'um-6k), n. Same as water-
oak. _
posti (post), n. [< ME. post, < AS. post, a post,
stake, = OPries. post = D. MLG. post, post (of
a door), = OHG. pfosto, MHG. pfoste, Q. pfoste
= Sw. Dan. post, a post, = OF. poste, poust
(dim. posteau, P. poteau) = Sp. Pg. poste, < L.
postis, a post, door-post (ML. a post, beam,
rod, pole), also a door; prob. < postus, contr.
of positw, pp. of ponere, put, set : see posit,
position. Cf. post^.] 1. A piece of timber,
metal (solid or built up), or other solid sub-
stance, of considerable size, set upright, and in-
tended as a support to a weight or structure
resting upon it, or as a firm point of attach-
ment for something: as, the posts of a door or
of a gate ; a king-posi, queen-pos*, truss-jjos*,
bed^o«<; iron posts supporting the floor of a
building; a hitching-jjos*, etc.
. And Samson . . . took the doors of the gate of the city,
and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and alL
Judges xvi. 3.
Through the glass the clothes-line posts
Looked in like tall and sheeted ghosts.
Whittier, Snow-Bound.
Specifically— (of) A piece of timber set in any position;
a beam.
Vse all possible diligence in well vpholdynge and forty-
fyinge the cane with arches of waules trauersed with
stronge pastes of tymber alter the manerof framed beames,
susteyned with grose and strongepyles made of good and
stronge tymber of oke or other great trees.
Ji. Eden, tr. of Biringuocio's Pyrotechnia (First Books on
[America, ed. Arber, p. 359).
(6t) An upright piece of timber upon which proclama-
tions were fixed ; also, an upright piece of timber used for
keeping a score when marked with chalk or notches.
post
I from my mistress come to you in post ;
If I return, I shall be post indeed.
For she will score your fault upon my pate.
Ehak., C. ofE., 1. a et
(ct) A staff. ' °*
A post in hand he bare of mighty pyne, and therewithall
He felt his way, and led his sheepe. Phaer, jEneid, iii.
(d) In violin-making. See sound-post
2. Jn coal-mining : (a) A pillar or wall of eoal
left to support the roof of the mine, (b) Fine-
grained sandstone, such as often occurs form-
ing a part of the coal-measures. — 3. The stem-
post of a vessel.
The queene's majestie commanded her bargemen to
row round her, and viewed her from post to stemme.
Observations of Sir £. Hawkins, p. 11. (.Latham.)
' 4t. Figuratively, a prop ; a support.
I thenke, . . .' sith Love of his godenesse
Hath the converted oute of wikkydnesse.
That thou shalt ben the beste post, I leeve.
Of alle his lay, and moost his foes to greve.
Chamcer. Troilus. 1. 1000,
5. lapaper-manuf., a pile of 144 sheets of hand-
made paper fresh from the mold, arranged
alternately with pieces of felt, ready to be
placed in the screw-press ; a felt-post. When
the felts are removed, the pile of paper sheets
ia termed, a, white post. — 6. [<^os<l,i;.,4.] The
state of being posted as rejected in a college ex-
amination in the University of Cambridge, Eng-
land.— Arm-post, in furniture-making, a small upright
member supporting the arm of a sofa, or of an arm-chair, at
the end furthest from the back.— Deaf as a post. See
deaf. — False post, a piece of timber fixed on the after part
of the stern-post of a vessel, to make good a deficiency in
it.— From pillar to post. SeepStor.- Knlghtofthe
POStt. .See kmght.— Middle post, in carp., a kingpost.
—Pendent post. See pendent.— PbenlZ post, a trade-
name for a wrought-iron column or post formed of rolled
plates riveted together at the edges : largely used in the
elevated railways of New York.— Post and paling, a
close wooden fence, constructed of posts fixed in the
ground and having pales nailed between them.— Post
and pane, post and petrail. phrases noting a system of
constniction consisting of timber framings flUed in with
panels of brick or lath and plaster.— Post and raHJng,
a kind of open wooden fence for the protection of young
quickset hedges, consisting mainly of posts and rails.—
Post and stall. Same as pillar and breast (which see,
under pillar). — Principal post. See principat.—Siii
post, in arch., one of a pair of truss-posts set each at the
^ same distance from the middle of the truss, as a support to
the principal rafters and to suspend the tie-beam below.
Two or three pairs of side posts ai-e sometimes used in
roofs of extended span : such posts are called primary and
secondary side posts. — To kiss the postt. See kiss.
posti (post), V. t. l<post\ n.] 1. To fix to a
post; nail or otherwise fasten up in a public
place, as a notice or an advertisement : as. to
post a bill ; to post a notice.
The attempts of which sort of man I can liken to nothing
so properly as to those pretences to infallible cures which
we daily see posted in every corner of the streets.
South, Sermons, HI. vl
2. To bring before the public notice by means
of a placard fastened up in some public place;
placard: as, to ^os< one for nomination: hence,
to expose to reproach by overt declaration;
brand; stigmatize: as. to post a man as a cow-
ard.
On pain of beingposted to your sorrow.
Fail not at four to meet me. BranviUe,
3. To raise to the rank of post-captain; make
a post-captain of. [Great Britain.]
Whispers were afioat which came to the ears of the
Admiralty, and prevented him from being posted.
Marryat, Peter Simple, Iv. (Davlei.)
4. Specifically, in the University of Cambridge,
England, to placard as rejected in a college ex-
amination.
Should a man be posted twice in succession, he is gener-
ally recommended to try the air of some small college, or
devote his energies to some other walk of lite.
C. A. Bristed. English University, p, 100.
5. To placard with handbills; fix notices upon.
He had the whole printed in great black letters on a
staring broadsheet, and he caused the walls to be posted
with it. Vickens. Hard Times, iii. 4.
=Syn. To placard, advertise, announce, blaM abroad,
post^ (post), «. 1(a) < P. ;)oste, m.. a post, star
tion, guard-house, employment, situation, mili-
tary post, naval station. = Pg. posto = It. posto,
station, post (> D. post = 6. posten = Sw.
Dan. post), < ML. *postus, m., a station. (J)
< P. poste, f., a post (establishment for post-
horses), post (manner of traveling), stage, post-
house, post-office, post-boy, mail-carrier, mail,
also a military post, = Sp. Pg. It. posta (> D.
G. Sw. Dan. post), post, post-ofSce. mail, etc.,
< ML. posta, f ., a station, a fixed place on a road,
< L. postus, contr. of positvs. pp. of ponere, put,
?lace, set, fix : seeposit, position, and cf . posf^^]
. A fixed point or place : the place where some
person or thing is stationed or fixed : a station
or position occupied : as. a, post of observation!
post
a sentry at hispost; speeifieally, the place where
a body of troops is stationed ; a military station.
The waters rise everywhere upon the surface of the earth ;
which new post when they had once seized on they would
never quit. T. Burnet, Theory o( the Earth.
The squadrons among which Kegulus rode showed the
greatest activity in retreating before the French, and were
dislodged from one post and another which they occupied
with perfect alacrity on their part.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxxii.
Uncle Venner, who had studied the world at street-cor-
ners, and at other posts equally well adapted for just ob-
servation, was as ready to give out his wisdom as a town-
pump to give water. Bau;t?unme, Seven Gables, x.
2. The occupants, collectively, of a military
station; a garrison. — 3. Hence, a subdivision
of the organization of veteran soldiers and
sailors called the Grand Army of the Beptiblic
(which see, under republic). — 4. An office or
employment; a position of service, trust, or
•emolument ; an appointment ; a position.
When vice prevails, and impious men bear away.
The post of honour is a private station.
Addison, Cato, iv. 4.
TTnpaid, untrammelled, with a sweet disdain
Eef using jposts men grovel to attain.
Lowell, To G. W. Curtis.
5. One of a series of fixed stations, as on a given
route or line of travel.
Thence with all convenient speed to Borne, . . .
With memorandum boolc for eirry town
And ev'ry jroef. Cowper, Progress of Error, 1. 374.
And there thro' twenty jjogfe of telegraph
They flash'd a saucy message to and fro
Between the mimic stations.
Tennyson, Princess, Prol.
6. One who travels through fixed stations on
a given route, to carry messages, letters, pa-
pers, etc. ; a postman ; hence, in general, a mes-
senger.
What good news hast thou brought me, gentle poO,?
Beau, and Fl., Coxcomb, iv. 6.
He was also dispatching a Post lately for Spain ; and the
Post having received his Packet, and l;issed his Hands, he
called him back. Howell, Letters, 1. iii. 3.
7t. A post-horse.
I have speeded hither with the very extremest inch of
possibility ; I have foundered nine score and odd posts.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 3. 40;
8. An established system for the conveyance
of letters, especially a governmental system ;
the mail ; the transmission of all the letters
conveyed for the public at one time from one
place to another; also, a post-office.
He chides the tardiness of ev'ryiiost,
Pants to be told of battles won or lost.
Cowper, Betirement, 1. 475.
9t. Haste; speed. Compare ^os*-Aaste.
As Ferardo went in^^, so hee retourned in haSt.
Lyly, Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 82.
The mayor towards Guildhall hies him in all post.
Shak., Rich. III., iii. 6. 73.
10. A size of writing-paper varying in dimen-
sions from 22J X 17i inches to 19 X 15J inches,
and in weight from 25 to 7 pounds per ream : so
called because its original water-mark was a
postman's horn. E. H. Knight. — llf. An old
game of cards, in which the hands consisted
of three cards, that one being the best which
contained the highest pair royal, or, if none
contained a pair royal, the highest pair.
Nares. Also called post and pair, and pinh.
—Advance posts, positions in fronf of an army, occu-
pied by detachments of troops for the purpose of keeping a
watch upon the enemy's movements, to learn his position
and strength, and, in case of an advance, to hold him in
check until the main body is prepared for his attack. — Par-
cels post. See pared.— Penny post, a post or postal es-
tablishment which conveys letters, etc., for a penny. The
original penny post was set up in London about 1680 by
William Dockwra and Robert Murray, for the conveyance
to all parts of the city of London and suburbs of letters,
and packets weigliing less than a pound, for the sum of one
penny each. In course of time, this and all other posts
throughout the country having been assumed by the gov-
ernment, a uniform rate of one penny per half-ounce for
all places within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland was ordained by Parliament, August 17th,
1839, to take effect January 10th, 1840. This rate continued
till 1871, when the minimum weight was increased to one
ounce, which is now carried for one penny— there being
reduced rates for larger weights. In 1898 a penny post, at
the rate of one penny pev half ounce, was established Ije-
tweeii Great Britain and many of her colonies.— Post
adjutant. See adjutant.— Vosb and pairt. See det. 11.
At Post and Paire, or Slam, Tom T^uck would play
This Cliristmas, but his want wherwith says nay.
Eerriek, tfpou Tuck.
Postfolio. See/o!M),4.— Postfond. See/«?wil.— Post
surgeon. See surgeon.
post^ (post), V. [= D. poateren = G. postieren
= Sw. postera = Dan. posters, < P. poster = Sp.
a-postar, wager, = Pg. postar = It. posture, sta-
tion, post ; from the noun : see posi^, m.] I.
trans. 1. Testation; place.
4639
I had posted myself at his door the whole morning.
Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, xxx.
To discharge cannon against an army in which a king is
known to be posted is to approach pretty near to regicide.
Macaiday.
2. To place in the post-office ; transmit by post.
Mrs. Fairfax had just written a letter which was wait-
ing to be posted; so I put on my bonnet and cloak and
volunteered to carry it to Hay.
Charlotte Brants, Jane Eyre, xii.
3. To send or convey by or as by means of
post-horses.
The swiftest harts have posted you by land ;
And winds of all the corners kiss'd your saUs,
To make your vessel nimble.
Shak., Cymbeline, iL 4. 27.
4. In bookkeeping, to carry (accounts or items)
from the journal to the ledger; make the requi-
site entries in, as a ledger, for showing a true
state of affairs: often followed by up. — ^^5. To
supply with information up to date ; put in pos-
session of needed intelligence; inform; com-
municate facts to : as, to be posted in history.
[CoUoq.]— To post Offt, to put off carelessly; thrust
aside.
Thinking that of intention to delude him, they posted
the matter off so often. Eakluyt's Voyages, I. 247.
I have not stopp'd mine ears to their demands.
Nor Boeted o^ their suits with slow delays.
Shak., 3 Hen. VL, iv. 8. 40.
=Sjm. 1. To set, put, establish.
n. intrans. 1. To travel with post-horses;
hence, to travel rapidly; travel with speed;
hasten away.
Thou must post to Nottingham,
As fast as thou can dree.
RMn Hood and Queen KatAerine (Child's Ballads, V. 313).
Riding as fast as our horses could trot (for we had fresh
horses Edmost thrise or f oure times a day), we posted from
morning till night. Halcluyt's Voyages, 1. 65.
Thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest.
Milton, Sonnets, xlv.
2. In the manege, to rise and sink on the sad-
dle in accordance with the motion of the horse,
especially when trotting. Imp. Diet.
post^ (post), adv. [An elliptical use of pos1^, ».]
With post-horses ; as a post; by post; hence,
with speed; hastily: as, to ride jjosi/ to jour-
ney _posi.
I am a knight that took my journey ^08f
JsTorthward from London.
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, iii. 4.
Send him post on errands
A thousand miles. B. Jonsrni, Devil is an Ass, 1. 2.
A journey of seventy miles to be taken post by you, at
your age, alone, unattended !
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, xxviii.
Post alonef , quite alone. Davies.
Her self left also she deemed
Post aloan, and soaly from woonted coompanye singled.
Stanihurst, ^neid, iv. 492.
To talk pOBtt, to speak hastily.
'Twere no good manners to speak hastily to a gentle-
woman, to talk post (as they say) to his mistress.
Shirley, Love in a Maze, i. 1.
post^ (post), a. l<post^,adv.'i Hasty; hurried.
What should this fellow be, i' the name of Heaven,
That comes with such poet business?
Beau, and Fl., Coxcomb, iv. 6.
post^t (post),^. a. [For posted, pp. oipost^, v.
Of. F. aposter, place for a bad purpose (= Sp.
Pg. apostar, post, = It. apostare, lie in ambush),
< a (< L. ad, to) + poster, station : see^osi^^ ^.]
Suborned; hired to d6 what is wrong.
These men, in blacking the lives and actions of the re-
formers, . . . partly suborned other post men to write
their legends.
Sir E. Sandys, State of Religion, sig. I. 2 b. (Latham.)
post*t, n. Seepoust.
posts (post), adv. a,ni prep. [L., post, adv., be-
hind, back, backward, after, afterward; ^rep.,
behind, after.] ALatin adverb and preposition,
meaning 'behind,' 'after,' 'afterward,' 'since,'
etc. It occurs in many Latin phrases sometimes used in
English, and is also very common as a prefix. See post-.-
Post hoc. ergo propter hoc, after this, therefore on ac-
count of this ; B follows A, therefore it is the effect of A :
the formula of a fallacy noticed especially by the Arabian
physicians, into which there was in medicine a particular
tendency to fall, on account of the old objections to mak-
ing experiments.
post-. [L. jjos«-,preflx,pos*, adv. and ^rep. , after,
etc. : seepost^.'] A prefix of Latin origin, mean-
ing 'behind' or 'after.' it occurs in some com-
pounds of Latin formation, and is freely used as an Eng-
lish prefix: opposed to ante- and to pre-. See ante- and
pre-.
postabdomen (p6st-9,b-d6'men), n. [NL., < L.
jMSt, behind, + abdomen, abdomen.] A pos-
terior abdominal part of the body in any way
distinguished, as in an insect or a crustacean;
postaxial
in mollusks, the postanal part or region of the
body ; in ascidians, the prolongation of the ab-
domen beyond the alimentary canal. The tail
of a scorpion, or the telson of a king-crab, is a
postabdomen. See cut under Pedipalpi.
postabdominal (post-ab-dom'i-nal), a. [< post-
qbdomen {-min-) + -al (cf . abdrnnmaV),'] Form-
ing or formed by a postabdomen; situated be-
hind the abdomen proper; pertaining to the
postabdomen.
postablet (p6s'ta-bl), a. iipost^, v., + -able.']
Capable of being posted or carried. [Eare.]
postacetabular (p6st-as-e-tab'u-lar), a. [< L.
post, behind, + acetabulum, the socket of the
hip-bone : see acetabular, acetabulum, 2.] Situ-
ated behind the acetabnlum or cotyloid cavity
of the hip-bone.
post-act (post'akt), n. An after-act; an act
done after a particular time.
post-adjutant (post-aj'B-tant), n. See adju-
tant.
postage (pos'taj), w. [<post^,n., +-age.'] If.
The act of posting or going by post ; hence,
passage; journey.
The transient and skin-deep pleasures that we fondly
smack after in this postage of lite in this world.
Felthwm, Resolves, p. 277.
2. The rate or charge levied on letters or other
articles conveyed by post.
" Never mind the postage, but write every day, you dear
darling ! " Thackeray, Vanity Fair, i.
Postage currency. See currency.
postage-stamp (pos'taj-stamp), n. An official
mark or stamp, either affixed to or embossed on
letters, etc., sent through the mails, as evidence
of the prepayment of postage. Also called
post-stamp. See stamp.
postal (pos'tal), a. and n. [< P. postal = Pg.
postal =.lt. postale; as post^, n., + -al.] I.
a. Eelating to the post or mails; belonging
or pertaining to a mail service : as, postal ar-
rangements ; postal regulations ; postal service.
— Postal car, a railroad-car especially designed for carry-
ing mail.— Postal card, a stamped official blank provid-
ed by postal authorities for the writing and mailing of
short messages at alessrate of postage than that required
for ordinary letters. Called post-cards in the United King-
dom.—Postal note, in the postal system of the Unified
States, a note which, on the payment of a small fee, is
issued by a postmaster at one office, requiring the postmas-
ter of any other money-order office to pay to the bearer a
designated sum, less than five dollars, which the purchaser
or remitter has deposited at the issuing office. The issuing
of these notes has been abandoned. Also called post-
note.— Vostai order, in the United Kingdom, a note
or order, similar to the postal note of the United States,
but differing from this in being issued only for a fixed
amount, which is printed on the order.— Postal tube, a
tubular case, made of strawboard or millboard, used for
the transmission through the mails of any article requir-
ing to be rolled np.— Universal Postal Union, the sin-
gle territory and admmlstration for purposes of interna-
tional postal communication formed by the countries and
colonies which have become pai'ties to the postal conven-
tion of Bern in 1874, extended by later conventions, and in-
cluding most civilized countries.
II. n. A postal card or postal order. [Colloq.]
postament (pos'ta-ment), n. [== G. Sw. Dan.
postament,<Nli.postamentum, postament, < L.
postis, post : see post^.] A foot or pedestal,
as for an ornamental vase; also, a mounting
for a bas-relief, large cameo, or the like, show-
ing moldings in a sort of frame around the
principal piece. [Eare.]
postanal (post-a'nal), a. [< L. post, behind,
-I- anus, anns : see anal.] Situated behind the
anus.
post-angel (p6st'an'''jel), n. An angelic messen-
ger. [Eare.]
Let a post-angel start with thee.
And thou the goal of earth Shalt reach as soon as he.
Cowley, Hymn to Light.
post-apostolic (p6st-ap-os-tol'ik), a. [< L.
post, after, + LL. apostolus, apostle : see apos-
tolic] Subsequent to the era of the apostles.
postarytenoid (p6st-ar-i-te'noid), a. and n. [<
L. post, behind, + E. arytenoid.] I. a. Situ-
ated behind the arytenoid; of or pertaining to
the postarytenoideus.
IL n. The postarytenoideus.
postarjHenoideus (p6st-ar"'i-te-noi'de-us), n. ;
pi. postarytenoidei (-i). [NL. : see postaryte-
noid.] The posterior crico-arytenoid muscle.
postauditory (post-a'di-to-ri), a. [< L. post,
behind, -I- E. auditory.] In anat., situated be-
hind the auditory nerve or chamber : opposed
to preauditory — Postauditory processes, in ichth.,
processes situated behind the auditory chamber. See cut
under Squatina.
postaxial (p6st-ak'si-al), a. [< h.post, behind, -1-
axis, axis: see axial,] Of or pertaining to, or sit-
uated upon, that side of the axis of either fore
postaxial
or hind liml) of a vertebrate which is posterior
when the limb is extended at a right angle to
the long axis of the body : opposed to preaxial.
post-bag (post'bag), n. Abag for carrying mail-
matter ; a mail-bag.
post-bill (post'bil), n. 1. Same as lank post-
hill (which see, under billS). — 3. A way-bill
of the letters despatched from a post-office.
[Great Britain.]
post-bird (p6st'b§rd) , n. The spotted flycatch-
er, Musdcapa grisola : so caUed from its habit
of perching on posts.
post-book (post'buk), n. Abook containing the
regulations of a post-service.
1 pulled out the postbook, and began to read with great
vociferation the article which orders that the travellerwho
comes first shall be first served.
Smollett, Travels (ed. 1768), 1. 137.
post-box^ (post'boks), n. In mack., a shafting-
box attached to a post instead of to a hanging
or standing pedestal.
post-box^ (post'boks), n. A mail-box.
postboy (post'boi), n. A boy who rides post;
a boy or man who carries mail; the driver of a
post-chaise ; a postilion.
postbrachial (p6st-bra'ki-al), a. [< L. post,
after, + hraehium, upper arm: see hracliial.'\
In human anat, situated upon the back of the
braehium, or upper arm : specifically applied to
a group of muscles represented by the divi-
sions of the triceps. Coues, 1887.
postbranchial (p6st-brang'ki-al), a. [< L.
post, behind, + oranchise, gills: see branchial.']
Placed behind the gills ; posterior to any one
gill: opposed to prebranchial. Micros. Sci.,
XXIX. 179.
post-butt (post'but), n. A block of stone or
wood sunk in the ground as a support for a
fence-post.
post-calcaneal (p6st-kal-ka'ne-al), a. [< L.
.post, behind, + NL. calcaneum"+ -al.] Situ-
ated behind the calcaueum: noting a lobe of
the interfemoral membrane of the Chiropiera.
post-canonical (post-ka-nou'i-kal), a. Of later
date than the canon ; written after the close of
the canon of Scripture.
post-captain (p6st'kap"tan), n. See captain,
1 (6).
post-card (post'kard), n. Same as postal card
(which see, VloA&c postal). [Great Britain.]
post-carocnef, n. A post-chaise.
And, being to travel, he sticks not to lay
'Bi&post-carocheB still upon his way.
Drayton, Moon-Calf.
postcava (post-ka'va), n. ; pi. postcavse (-ve).
The inferior vena cava ; the caval vein which
is. below in man, and behind or posterior in
other animals : opposed to prxcava.
postcaval (post-ka'val), a. and n. I. a. Of or
pertaining to or constituting the postcava.
II. n. The postcava, or postcaval vein.
post-cedar (p6st'se"dar), n. See incense-cedar.
postcephalic (p6st-se-fal'ik or post-sef'a-lik),
a. [<L. 2>os<, behind, + Gr. /ce^a/i.^, head: see
cephalic.'] Situated behind the head; more
specifically, in myriapods, situated behind the
cephalic segment: as, a, postcephalic segment
of the body^.
postcerviciplex (p6st^s6r'vi-si-pleks), n. [< L.
post, behind, + cervix {cervic-), neck, + NL.
plextts, q. V. : see cerviciplex.] The posterior
cervical plexus (which see, under plexus).
Coues.
post-chaise (post'shaz), n. A chaise or car-
riage let for hire for conveying travelers from
one station to another.
A heroine in a hack post-chaise is such a blow upon sen-
timent as no attempt at grandeur or pathos can withstand.
Jane Austen, Morthanger Abbey, xxix.
4640
posterior
and interclavicle, is variously homologized by post-drill (post'dril), n. A drill supported on i
different writers. standard; a lever-drill or pillar-drill. E.h
postclavicular (post-kla-vik'u-lar), a. \<.post- Knight.
clavicle, after clavicular.'] Of or pertaining to post-driver (p6st'drl"v6r), «. Abird,the6take-
the postclavicle. driver.
postclitellian (post-kli-tel'i-an), a. [< L.j>os*, postet.M. ^epoust.
behind, + NL. clitellum, q. v., + -ian.] Having postea (p6s'te-a), n. [So called from the first
the ducts of the testes opening behind, and not word in the orig. (Latin) form of the return-
before or in, the clitellum, as certain earth- ^~ '' ------ -^— "' , . - ■
worms.
post-coach (post'koch), n. Same as post-chaise.
postcommunicant (p6st-kg-mii'ni-kant), a. [<
L. post, behind, + coMrnunican(t-)s, ppr. of
co»!m«nicare, communicate : see crnnrmmicant.]
namely, L. postea, after this, < post, after +
ea, abl. fem. of is, fem. ea, this.] In law, entry
upon the record of a court, stating the proceed-
ings at the trial. The name was derived from th»
usual becinning of the entry, which signified that issue
having been joined, afterward {postea) the cause came on
for trial, etc.
Communicating behind: said of the posterior pogtej/ „. Seejjos/Zel.
communicating artery of the circle of Wilhs, at postembryonic (p6st-em-bri-on'ik), a. r< I
+>,o 1,0=0 „f +>,<. >,.o,„ g^fj. ^ jjj^_ embrymi, embryo: see m-
the base of the brain
post-communion (post-kg-mfi'nyon), n. and a.
I. re. 1. The part of thelitnr^or euoharistic
office which succeeds the act of communion. —
3. A collect or prayer, or one of several pray-
ers, said after communion,
bryonic] Subsequent to the embryonic stage
or state of any animal; postnatal.
IhepoM-e/mbrymde development, when the larva is free-
swimming and can procure its own food.
C. Clttus, Zoology, p. 116.
II. a. In liturgies, succeeding or following post-entry (post-en'tri), n. 1. In com., anad-
the act of communion; also, used after com- ^ition to the manifest of a vessel of an item or
munion: as, a ^os<-commMftw» collect; the post-
communion veil.
postcostal (post-kos'tal), a. [< L. post, behind,
+ co«toKs, costal: see costal.] Placed next be-
hind the costal nervure or vein of the wing, as a
nervure of some insects' wings Fostcostal cel-
lules or areolets, a name given by some of the older au-
thors to one or more cells in the costal area exterior to the
stigma : they are now generally known as the marginal or
radial cells. — Fostcostal vein or nervure, the second
main longitudinal vein immediately behind the costal
vein : it is generally called the subcostal vein or euHtus.
postcoxal (post-kok'sal), a. [< 'L.post, behind,
-I- NL. coxa, q. v., +"-al.] fii entom., situated
behind the eoxse, or coxal cavities.
postcruciate (p6st-kr6'shi-at), a. [< L. post,
behiild, H- NL. cruciatu^, cross-shaped, also tor-
mented : see cruciate^, 2.] Posterior to the cru-
ciate fissure of the cerebrum. Alien, and Neurol.
(trans.), VI. 9.
postcubital (post-kii'bi-tal), a. [< Xi.post, be-
hind, -t- cubitus, forearm : see cubital.] Situated
upon the back of the forearm: specifically not-
ing a group or set of cubital muscles. Coues.
postdate (post'dat). n. [= P. postdate = Pg.
posdata; as 2)ost- + date^.] A date put on a
document later than the actual date on which
it was written.
postdate (post-daf), v. t. ; pret. and pp. post-
dated, ypr. postdating. [= 'P.postdater = Pg.
posdatar; tvom. the-novm: see postdate, n.] 1.
To affix a later date to than the real one : as,
to postdate a contract (that is, to date it as if,
for instance, it were made six months later than
the actual date). — 3. To date afterward ; give
a previous date to. South. [Rare.]
post-day (post'da), n. A day on which the post
or mail arrives or departs.
items of merchandise found on the vessel, and
not enumerated on the manifest at the time of
the entry of the vessel at the custom-house.—
3. In bookkeeping, a subsequent or additional
entry.
posterl (pos'tfer), n. [< post^, v., + -«rl.] 1.
One who posts bills ; a bill-poster. — 3. Abroad-
side or placard intended for pasting or nailing
upon a post or wall in some public place; an
advertisement.
Before the Great Fire the space for foot.passengen in
London was defended by rails and posts ; the latter servel
for theatrical placards and general announcements, wliich
were therefore ailed posters or posting-bills.
Brewer, Diet Phrase and Fable.
The official poster at the door [of Kotre Dame] asserts
that the great oell in the tower is the largest in the world.
~ ■ " LXXIX94.
poster^ (pos'ter), ». l< 2)ost% v., + -erK] 1.
One who posts^ or travels as post; one who
travels expeditiously.
The weird sisters, hand in hand.
Posters of the sea and land.
Thus do go about, about.
Shak., Macbeth, i. 3. 33.
2. A post-horse.
Two travellers . . . were slowly dragged by a pair ot
jaded posters along the commons.
Bvlwer, Night and Morning, ii. 10.
poste restante (post res-ttat'). [F-, < posts,
post-office, + restante, remaining, left, fem. of
restant, ppr. of rester, remain : see post^ and res-
tant.] In Prance and other countries of En-
rope and America, a department in a post-ofBee
where letters specially addressed are kept till
the owners call for them, it is intended particular-
ly for the convenience of persons passing througli a coun-
try or town where they have no fixed residence.
postdiastolic (post-di-a-stol'ik), a. [< Jj.post, posterial (pos-te'ri-al), a. [For *posterioral, <
behind, + Gr. diaaToTJj', dilatation: see diastol-
ic] After the diastole : said inf elicitously of a
cardiac murmur occurring at the beginning of
the diastole.
postdicrotic (post-di-krot'ik), a. [< L. post.
posterior + -al.] Of or relating to the poste-
rior or posteriors ; posterior.
No license of fashion can allow a man of delicate taste to
adopt the posterial luxuriance of a Hottentot.
Carlyle, Sartor Kesartus (ed. 1831), p. 163.
behind, -I- E. dicrotic, a. v.] Coming after the' posterior (pos-te'ri-or), a. and n. [Formerly
dicrotic wave: said of a secondary wave indi- ' ■ • . -«. " — ■- ■ ■ '
cated in the sphygmograms of some pulses.
postdiluvial (p6st-di-lu'vi-al), a. [< 'L.post,
after, -(- diluvium, deluge : see diluvial.] Exist-
ing or occurring after the deluge.
:ft:^= "SS^Ug^lSSfl^T a' -^ " '^"-^'^ *-^*^ ^-« "•^ anteriour body g^eth
Same as postdiluvial.
also posteriour; < OP. posterieur, P. post^rieut
= Sp. 'Pg. posterior =It.posteriore,<'L.posteri-
or, compar. otposterus, coming after, following,
next, next in order, time, or place, later, latter,
hinder, < ^os*, after: seepost^.] I. a. 1. La-
post-chaise (post'shaz), v. i.
To travel by post-chaise.
[< post-chaise, n.]
Thackeray, New-
comes, XV.
post-chariot (p6st'char"i-pt), n. A post-chaise.
Thackeray, English Humorists, Steele.
postclassic (post-klas'ik), a. [< L. post, after,
+ classieuSfOlassie: aee classic] Bsime&s post-
classical.
postclassical (post-kias'i-kal), a. [_As post-
classic + -al.] Occurring or "existing after the
times of those Greek and Latin writers who
take rank as classical, and previous to the liter-
ature classified as medieval : as, the postclassical
poets.
postclavicle (p6st-klav'i-kl), n. [< L. post, be-
hind, -I- NL. clavicula, clavicle : see clavicle. ] In
ichth., a posterior element of the scapular arch
of some fishes, which, like the supraclavicle
But this was very obscurely discovered as yet, as some-
times by dreams and visions, till the postdiluvian and more
prophetic days. Evelyn, True Eeligion, II. 16.
n. n. One who has lived since the deluge.
Methusalem mightbe halt an hour in telling what o'clock
it was ; but as for mb post-diluvians, we ought to do every-
thing in haste. Steele, Tatler, No. 264.
post-disseizin (;post-dis-se'zin), n. In law, a sub-
sequent disseizin; also, a writ that lay for him
who, having recovered lands or tenements by
force of novel disseizin, v^as again disseized by
the former disseizor. Wharton.
post-disseizor (post-dis-se'zor), n. A person
who disseizes another of laiids which he had
before recovered of the same person.
postdorsulum (p6st-d6r'su4um), w.; pi. post-
dorsula (-la). [NL.,< L. post, behind, -I- NL.
dorsulum, q. v.] In entom., the metascutum, or
scutum of the metathorax. '
wajr as fast as the po^erimir cometh on, it maketh no
noise, be the motion never so great or swift.
£acon, Nat. Hist., §115.
2. Especially, later or subsequent in time; op-
posed to prior.
Hesiod was posterior to Homer. W. Broome.
No care was taken to have this matter remedied by the
explanatory articles posterior to the report Addism.
What is posterior in the order of things does not act
from itself, but from something prior to it
Swedenborg, Christian Psychol, (tr. by Gorman), p. 64.
3. Situated behind; hinder: opposed to areterioc.
In most cases, in anatomy and zoology, posterior is said of
parts lying behind the head, or fore end of the body; m
man, also of parts lying behind the front of the body : in
the former case synonymous with caudal, in the latter
with dvrsal. See cuts under bivalve and Dramsem.
4. In bot., situated on the side nearest the
axis; superior: said of the parts of an axillary
flower. Compare anterior Posterior area of
the medulla, a somewhat oval area seen in transverse
sections of the lower part of the oblongata on each side, at
the posterior part, bounded in front by bundles of nerve-
posterior
TOot flbere of the spinal accessory.— Posterior commu-
jiicatlng artery of the brain, a branch connectiug the
internal carotid with the posterior cerebral artery, and
forming part of the circle of Willis ; the postcommnnicant
artery.— Posterior ethmoidal cauaL See ethmoidal.—
Posterior extremity, the leg of man, or the hind leg of
any animaL— Posterior line, or posterior basal line, a
more or less angulated and curved line crossing the an-
terior wing about midway between the base and the center,
found in many moths.— Posterior margin, in eonch.,
that side of the bosses of acephalous bivalTes which con-
tains the ligament.— Posterior margin of the wing, in
^nUrni., generally the edge of the wing opposed to the costa
or front border ; but in those Lepidoptera and Hymenop-
iera which hare the borders of the wings naturally divided
into three parts posterior margin is often understood to
mean the outer one, or that between the apex and the inner
angle, the latter being also called the poeteirior angle.—
Posterior mediastinum, nares, etc. See media^inum,
■naris, etc.— Posterior palpi, in erUiom., those palpi that
.are on the labium ; the labial palpi. — Posterior sulcus
of Rell, a deep groove between the island of Beil and the
upper suilace of the temporosphenoidal lobe.
II. n. 1. The hinder part; in the plural, the
hinder parts of the body of man or any animal.
When [matters] . . . are resolved upon, I believe then
nothing is so advantageous as Speed, ... for Expedition
is the Life of Action, otherwise Time may shew hia bald
occiput, and shake his Posteriors at them in Derision.
BoweU, Letters, ii. 17.
2i.pl. The latter part. [A whimsical use.]
Sir, it is the king's most sweet pleasure and affection to
congratulate the princess at her pavilion in the posteriors
at this day, which the rude multitude call the afternoon.
Shak., L. I/. L., v. 1. 94.
posterioristic (pos-te"ri-o-ris'tik), a. [< poste-
rior + -istic.'i Pertaining to the two books of
the Posterior Analytics of Aristotle. There are
some discrepancies between the doctrine of the Prior and
that of the Posterior Analytics, and these are distinguished
as the priorislie and the postmoristie doctrines. — Foste-
rioristlc universal, a proposition de omui according to
the definition given in Anal. Post. I. cap. 4, where the term
is limited to true propositions: opposed to prioristic uni-
versal, a proposition de omni according to the definition
given in An^. Prior. I. cap. 1, according to which a false
proposition may be said de omni.
posteriority (pos-te-ri-or'i-ti), n. [= P. poste-
riority = Sp. posterioriclad'= Pg. posterioriclade,
< NL. posteriorita{t-)s, < Ij. posterior, posterior:
see posterior.^ The state of being later or sub-
sequent: opposed to jjr«or*<^.
A priority unA posteriority of dignity as well as order.
Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 598.
posteriorly (pos-t§'ri-or-li), adv. In a posterior
manner; subsequently; behind; specifically,
in zool., toward or near the posterior or caudal
end of an animal; eaudad; in human awat, to-
ward the back; dorsad: as, a line directed pos-
teriorly; organs situa,ted posteriorly.
posterity (pos-ter'i-ti), n. [Formerly also pos-
teritie; < 'B.post&riie = Sp. posteridad = Pg. pos-
teridade = It. posieritA, < L. posterita(t-)s, pos-
terity, < posterus, coming after, in pi. as noun,
posteri, coming generations, posterity: see pos-
terior.} 1. Descendants collectively; the race
that proceeds from a progenitor.
Yet it was said
It [the crown] should not stand in thy posterity.
Shak., Macbeth, lii. 1. i.
From whom a Race of ]tf onarchs shall descend,
And whose Posterity shall know no End.
Congreve, Hymn to Venus.
2. Succeeding generations collectively.
Methinks the truth should live from age to age.
As 'twere retail'd to all posterity.
Shak., Rich. III., iii. 1. 77.
My lords, how much your country owes you both.
The due reward of your desertf ul glories,
Must to posterity remain.
Beau, and FL, Laws of Candy, i. 2.
What has posterity done for us.
That we, lest they their rights should lose.
Should tiust our necks to gripe of noose?
J. Trmrdndl, McFingal, ii. 124. (Sartlett.)
8. Posteriority. [Eare.]
There is no difference of time with him [God] ; it is dan-
gerous to dispute of priority or posterity in nature.
Baxter, Saints' Rest, i. 8.
=Syn. 1. Issue, Progeny, etc. See offspring.
postern (pos'tem), n. [< ME. posterne, postyrn,
postorne, postrene, < OF. posterne, posterle, P.
poterne = Pr. posterlla = Sp. Pg. poterna = It.
postierla, < LL. posterula (also, after OP., pos-
terna), a small back door, aback way, dim. (sc.
janua, door, or via, way),< L. posterus, hinder:
asie posterior.} 1. A back door or gate; a pri-
vate entrance ; henee, any small door or gate.
See cats under castle and barbican.
Thanne Anasor remembered that ther was
A postrene yssuyng owt of the Citee,
And thederward they drewe to haue entree.
Generydes(E. E. T. 8.), L 2569.
Go on, good Eglamour,
Out at the postern by the abbey-wall.
Shak., T. G. of V., v. 1. 9.
4641
I love to enter pleasure by a postern,
Kot the broad popular gate that gulps the mob.
LoweU, Under the Willows.
2. In fort., a covered passage closed by a gate,
usually in the angle of the flank of a bastion,
or in that of the curtain, or near the orillion,
descending into the diteh.
postern-door (pos'tem-dor), n. A postern.
The conscious priest, who was suborn'd before.
Stood ready posted at the postern door.
Dryden, Sig. and Guis., 1. 152.
postern-gate (pos'tem-gat), n. [< ME. pos-
terne gate; <. postern + gate'^.y A postern.
Weren passed priueli the paleys hi ApoOeme gale.
William of PiOeme (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2870.
posterolateral (pos'''te-r6-lat'e-ral), a. [< L.
posters, hinder, -1- to'ieraKs, lateral: seetoter-
al.} Posterior and lateral ; placed at the pos-
terior end of a lateral margin or surface : as,
posterolateral angles Posterolateral groove, the
groove along the spinal cord where the posterior roots
issue. Also called sulem lateralis dorsalis.
posteroparietal (pos"te-ro-pa-ri'e-tal), a. [<
L. posterus, hinder, + 'Sh'.pa/rietalis, parietal.]
Situated in a posterior part of the parietal
lobe of the brain Posteroparietal lobule. Same
as superior parietal lobule. See parietal lotmle.
posterosuperior (pos'te-ro-su-pe'ri-or), a. [<
L. posterus, hinder, -I- superior, superior.] Pos-
terior and superior; placed baekwardly on top
of something — Posterosuperior lobe of the cere-
bellum. See lobe.
posterotemporal (pos"te-ro-tem'p9-ral), a. [<
L. posterus, hinder, -I- fHi. temporalis, tempo-
ral.] Posterior and temporal: noting a bone
of the scapular arch of most fishes, behind the
post-temporal, between this and the proseapu-
la. Gill. Also called scapula and supraclavicle.
posteroterminal (pos'te-ro-ter'nii-nal), a. [<
Id.posterus, hinder,+ NC t'erminalis, terminal.]
Situated at the hind end; ending something
behind.
posteroventral (pos'''te-ro-ven'tral), a. [< L.
posterus, hinder, -1- venter, stomach: see ven-
tral.} Posterior and ventral; placed baclf-
wardly on the ventral aspect of something.
postesophageal, postoesophageal (p6st-e-so-
faj'e-al), a. [< X. post, behind, -I- NL. cesopha-
gus,'t1ie gullet: see esophageal.} 1. Situated
behind (dorsad of) the gullet. — 3. Situated be-
hind (eaudad of) the esophageal ring or gan-
glion of the nervous system of an invertebrate.
See cuts under leech^ and stomatogastric.
post-exilian (p6st-eg-zil'i-an), a. [< li. post,
after, -I- exiUum, exile: see exile^.} Subse-
quent to the Babylonian captivity of the Jews;
belonging to or characteristic of times subse-
quent to the exile of the Jews (about 586 to
537 B. c).
post-exilic (p6st-eg-zil'ik), a. Same as post-
exilian. I
post-exist (post-eg-zisf), V. i. [< L. post, af-
ter, + existere, exist: see exist.} To exist af-
terward; live subsequently. [Rare.]
Anaxagoras could not but acknowledge that all souls
and lives did pre- and post-exist by themselves, as well as
those corporeal forms and qualities, in his similar atoms.
Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 37.
post-existence (p6st-eg-zis'tens), n. Subse-
quent or future existence.
As he [Simonides] has exposed the vicious part of women
from the doctrine of pre-existence, some of the ancient
philosophers have . . . satirized the vicious part of the
human species in general from a notion of the soal'a post-
existence. Addison, Spectator, No. 211.
post-existent (p6st-eg-zis'tent), a. Existent
or living after or subsequently.
As for the conceit of Anaxagoras, of prse and post-exis-
tent atoms endued with all those several forms and quali-
ties of bodies ingenerably and incorruptibly, it was nothuig
but an adulteration of the genuine atomical philosophy.
Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 35.
postfact (p5st-f akt'), a. and n. [L. post /actus,
done after (ML. post factum, after the deed,
after): post, after; f actus, done: see/ac*.] I.
a. Relating to a fact that occurs after another.
II. n. A fact that occurs after another.
postfactor (post-fak'tor), n. [< L. post, after,
-I- factor, doer: see factor.} The latter factor
of two combined by non-commutative multi-
plication.
postfebrile (post-fe'bril), a. [< li.post, after,
-H febris, fever: see febrile.} Occurring after
a fever: as, postfebrile insanity.
postfeinoral (post-fem'o-ral), a. [< L. post,
behind, +/«mMr, thigh: see femoral.} Situated
on the back of the thigh: specifically noting a
group of muscles.
postgraduate
postfermentt (p6st-f6r'ment), n. [< L. post,
behind, -I- ferre, bear, -I- ^ent (in imitation of
preferment).} Removal to an inferior office:
the opposite ot preferment. [Rare.]
That his translation was a Post^fermerd, seeing the Arch-
bishoprick of Saint Andrews was subjected in that age
unto York. FvUer, Worthies, Durham, I. 329. (Davits.)
postfine (post'fin), n. In Eng. law, a fine due to
the king by prerogative. Also called the Icing's
silver (which see, under silver). See alienation-
office.
postfix (post-fiks'), V. t. Impost- + fix, V.} To
add or annex (a letter, syllable, or word) to the
end of a word.
postfix (post'fiks), n. [< postfix, V.} In gram.,
a letter, syllable, or word added to the end of
a word ; a sufBx.
postfixal (post'fik-sal), a. [< postfix + -al.}
Having the character of a postfix, or charac-
terized by postfixes; suffixal.
The postfixal languages of Central Asia.
Jour. Anthrop. Inst., XVII. 170.
post-free (post'f re), a. Deliverable by the post-
office without charge.
postfrenum (post-fre'num), n. [NL., <L.^os*,
behind, + frenum, a bridle, curb, bit : see fre-
num.} In entom., a part of the upper surface
of the metathorax in a beetle, lying next to the
abdomen, and often connected at the sides with
the bases of the lower or membranous wings,
preventing them from being pushed too far for-
ward. Kirby.
postfrontal (post-fron'tal), a. andra. [<L. pos*,
behind, -H /ro»( <-)s,fore'bead: s^e frontal.} I.
a. 1. Situated behind the forehead: a.s,aj post-
frontal bone. — 3. Posterior with respect to
certain gyres of the frontal lobe of the cere-
brum.— Postfrontal process, in many quadrupeds and
birds, a process of bone upon the upper and posterior
part of the brim of the orbital cavity ; a postorbital pro-
cess, sometimes a distinct bone. See further under po^-
orbital, 1.
II. n. A bone of the skull of sundry verte-
brates, situated at the back part of the brim of.
the orbit of the eye. It is not recognized as a
distinct bone in animals above bitds. See cut
under Ichthyosauria.
postfurca (post-fer'ka), «. ; t^\. postfurcse {-se).
[NL.,< ii.post, behind, -t- furca, a fork: see
furca.} In entom. , the posterior forked or dou-
ble apodeme which projects from the sternal
wall into the cavity of a thoracic somite.
postfurcal (post-fer'kal), a. [< postfurca +
-al.} In entom., of or pertaining to or constitut-
ing a postfurca: as, a, postfurcal a-podejne.
postgeniculatum (p6st-je-nik-u-la'tum), n. ;
pi. postgeniculata (-ta). [NL. (Wilder), < L.
post, after, + NL. geHiculatum.} The internal
geniculate body of the brain, an elevation at
the side of the dienoephalon, between the optic
tract and the eimbia. Wilder and Gage.
postgenital (post-jen'i-tal), a. [< L. post, be-
hind, + genitalis, genital: see genital.} In en-
tom., situated behind the genital orifice Post-
genital segments, segments of the abdomen following
uie eighth : in the perfect insect they are concealed under
the other rings.
post-geniture (post-jen'i-tOr), n. [< li. post, af-
ter, + genitura, begetting: see geniture.} The
state or position of a child bom after another in
the same family: used specifically of the sec-
ond bom of twms.
Naturally a king, though fatally prevented by the harm-
less chance ot post-geniZure. Sir T. Browne
post-glacial (post-gla'shial), a. [< h.post, af-
ter, -I- B. glacial.} In geol. See Post-tertiary.
postglenoid (post-gle'noid), a. and n. [< L.
post, behind, + Gr. ylTivoeitS^i, like a ball-and-
socket joint: see glenoid.} I. a. Situated be-
hind the glenoid fossa for the articulation of
the lower jaw. Compare preglenoid.
II. n. The postglenoid process of the squa-
mosal bone.
postglenoidal (post-glf-noi'dal), a. [< post-
glenoid + -al.} Same as postglenoid.
The squamosal [of the rhinoceros] sends down an im-
mense post-glenoidal process. Bvidey, Anat. Vert., p. 308.
postgraduate (p6st-grad'u-at), a. and n. [< L.
post, after, + ML. graduatus, pp. of graduare,
confer a degree upon: see graduate.} I. a.
Belonging or relating to or prosecuting a course
of study pursued after graduation: as, post-
graduate lectures; a postgraduate course of
study; a, postgraduate stniejit. [U.S.]
The " graduate " (sometimes even called ppstgraducUe)
work of our candidates for the Ph. D. degree is carried on
either in Europe or in the United States.
Cltttsieal Rev., IV. 53.
postgraduate
II. 1!. A graduate ; one studying after grad-
uation. [U. S.]
[An objeetionable form in both uses.]
post-hackney (p6st'hak''ni), «. A post-horse.
Teach post-hackneys to leap hedges.
Sir H, Wotton, Kemains.
post-haste (post-hasf), n. Haste or speed like
that of a post or courier in traveling.
Norfolk and myself.
In haste, post-haste^ are come to join with you.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., ii. 1. 139.
I have continually been the man and the mean that
have most plainly dehorted her from such posthaste.
LordSackoille.quoteAm Motley's Hist. Netherlands, II. 250.
post-haste (post-hasf), adv. With the haste of
a post; with speed or urgent expedition: as, he
traveled post-haste.
Old .Tohn of Gaunt is grievous sick, my lord,
Suddenly taken; and hath sent post hasU
To entreat your majesty to visit him.
Shak., Rich. II., i. i. 55.
To see him die, across the waste
His son and heir doth ride post-haste,
But he'll be dead before.
Tennyson, Death of the Old Year.
Travelling post-haste, Bismarck arrived in Berlin on tlie
19th September. Lowe, Bismarck, I. 283.
post-haste (post-hasf), fls. Expeditious; speedy;
immediate.
The duke does greet you, general.
And he requires your haste-poirt-Aastd appearance,
Even on the instant. Shak., Othello, i. 2. 37.
(The edition of 1623 reads "haste, post-haste."\
Write from us to him ; post-post-Aoste dispatch.
Shak., Othello, i. 3. 46.
[The edition of 1623 reads " post, post-haste."]
posthetomist (pos-thef o-mist), n. [= F. pos-
fhitomiste; <. postlietom-y + -ist.\ One who per-
forms the operation of posthetomy or circum-
cision.
posthetomy (pos-thef a-mi), n. [< Gr. maSri,
penis, prepuce, -t- -ro/ica, < re/iveiv, ra/ielv, cut.]
Circumcision.
posthioplastic (pos'thi-o-plas'tik), a. [< Gr.
irdaBij, penis, prepuce, -I- '!r?MaTdQ, verbal, adj.
of jrUauEiv, mold : see plastic.'] Pertaining to
the plastic surgery of the prepuce.
post-hippocampal (post -hip -o-kam' pal), a.
[< L. post, behind, -I- NL. hippocampus.] Situ-
ated behind the hippocampus: specifically in
Owen's name, post-hippocampal fissure, of the
calcarine fissure or sulcus.
posthitis (pos-thi'tis), n. [NL., < Gr. ■KdaBri,
penis, prepuce, -I- -itis."] Inflammation of the
prepuce.
post-holder (posf h61"d6r), n. One who holds
a post or place under government ; a civil of-
ficial at a foreign or colonial station.
Serah and Larat, both islets of the Timorlaut group,
where the Government had just then placed Postholders
(civil officials of subordinate rank) charged with initia-
tory work of these new colonies.
H. O. Forbes, Eastern Archipelago, p. 289.
post-hole (posf hoi), n. A hole cut in the
f round to receive the end of a fence-post. —
OBt-hole auger. See auger, 2.— Post-hole borer, a
post-hole auger. — Fost-hole digger, a pair of pointed
segmental spades so jointed together as to cut in the
ground, by rotation, a cylindrical hole for a fence-post.
post-horn (posf h6m), n. A postman's horn ;
a horn blown by the driver or guard of a mail-
coach, and at present used on four-in-hands
for pleasure driving, it is a straight tube of brass or
copper, from two to four feet long, the bore gradually en-
larging downward, with a small, shallow, cupped mouth-
piece. Its pitch varies with its length. It is occasional-
ly used as a musical instrument by exceptional players.
But let eternal infamy pursue
The wretch, to nought but his ambition true.
Who, for the sake of tilling with one blast
The posthoms of all Europe, lays her waste.
Cowper, Table Talk, 1. 32.
post-horse (posf hdrs), 11. A horse kept or
hired for forwarding post-riders or travelers
with speed from one station to another.
I, from the orient to the drooping west,
Making the wind ray post-horse, still unfold
The acts commenced on this ball of earth.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., Ind., L 4.
post-house (posf hous), n. 1. Ahousewhere,
relays of post-horses are kept for the conve-
nience of travelers.
We repos'd this night at Pipemo, in the post-house with-
out the towne. Evelyn, Diary, Jan. 26, 1645.
Fosthmtses were at convenient stages all over the king-
dom, and the postmaster was bound to provide horses for
all comets, either to ride or drive.
J. Ashlon, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, II. 169.
2t. A post-office.
I found yours of the first of February in the Post-hmise,
as I casually had other Business there, else it had miscar-
ried. Howell, Letters, iv. 36.
4642
I will now put an end to my letter, and give it into the
posthmse myself. Surift, .lournal to Stella, xxxvi.
posthumet, postumet, a. [< F. posthume, post-
humous : see posthumous.] Posthumous.
Oh ! if my soul could see their posthumf. spite.
Should it not joy and triumph in the sight ?
Bp, Hall, Satires, iv., Int.
Pliny observeth that posthume children, born after the
death of their father, . . . prove very happy in success.
FvUer, Worthies, Cumberland, I. 846.
posthnineral (post-hii'me-ral), a. [< L. post,
behind, + humertis, shoulder: see humeral.]
In entom., lying behind the humeri or antero-
lateral angles of the thorax or elytra: as, a
posthnmeral sinus.
posthumous (pos'tu-mus), a. and re. [Prop.
postumoHs; = F. posthume = Sp.ptistumo = Pg.
posthumo = It. postumo, < L. postwmiis, last, ap-
plied esp. to the youngest children or to one born
after the father's death ("qui post patris mor-
tem natus est"); also written, erroneously, ijost-
humus, simulating a derivation from post hu-
nmm, lit. ' after the ground,' but forced into the
sense of ' after the father has been put into the
ground,' i. e. inhumed, buried; prop, superl. of
jjosfenis, coming after: seejwsterior.] I. a. 1.
Bom after the death of the father: as, a. posthu-
mous son,
I was a, posthumous child. My father's eyes had closed
upon the light of this world six months when mine opened
on it. Dickens, David Copper&eld, i.
2. Appearing or existing after the death or
cessation of that to which its origin is due;
especially, of books, published after the death
of the author: as, posthumous works.
The sufficiency of Christian immortality frastratea all
earthly glory, and the quality of either state after death
makes a folly oi posthuTtious memory.
Sir T. Brovme, Urn-burial, v.
The desire of posthumous fame and the dread of posthu-
vnaus reproach and execration are feelings from the influ-
ence of which scarcely any man is perfectly free,
Macaulay, Mill on Government.
II, 11. A posthumous child. [Kare.]
My brother Thomas was a posthumous, as being born
some weeks after his father's death.
Lord Herbert of Clierbury, life (ed. Howells), p. 32.
posthumously (pos'tu-mus-li), adv. After one's
death ; especially, aJter an author's death.
The third [edition], however, appeared no^Aumou^J/.
Science, III. 390.
postict (pos'tik), a. [< li.jjosticus, hinder, back,
posterior, < jjosJ, after: see ^)os<6.] Posterior
or hinder.
The postick and backward position of the feminine parts
in quadrupedes. Sir T. Browne, Vulg, Err., iii. 17.
postiche (pos-tesh'), a. [< F. postiche = Sp.
postigo = Pg. postigo, < It. posticdo, super-
added, for apposticcio, appositiccio, < L. appo-
situs, pp. of apponere, superadd, put beside, <
ad, to, + ponere, place : see position. Cf. appo-
site.] Superadded; done after the work is fin-
ished: noting a superadded ornament of sculp-
ture or architecture, especially when inappro-
priate or in false taste. A\so postiqixe.
posticous (pos-ti'kus), a. [< L. posticus, hinder,
back: see jjos/ic] In 7>o/., hinder; back, (a) in
an inflorescence, posterior ; toward the axis. (6) Extrorse :
said of an adnate anther, the stamen being regarded as
facing the axis.
posticum (pos-ti'kum), n. [L. (> It. postico =
Sp. Pg. po.s%o), abackdoor; prop. neut. ot pos-
ticus, hinder, back, posterior: see postic] 1.
A back door; a postern. — 2. The term used by
Vitruvius, and adopted from him in English,
for the open vestibule of an ancient temple in
the rear of the cella, corresponding to the pro-
naos at the front of the temple, in Greek archi-
tecture the proper name for this feature is opisthodomos.
It has also been called epiTiaos. See cut under opisthodo-
mos, and compare aiUicum.
3. Eccles., a reredos.
postil (pos'til), V. [Also postle, and formerly
postill; < ME. postille, < OF. (and P.) pastille =*
Sp. postila = Pr. Pg. It. x>ostilla = D. postil =
G. postille = Sw. postilla = Dan. postille, < ML.
posHlla, a marginal note in a Bible, a gloss in
addition, < L. post ilia: post, after; JHrt,neut.pl.
of ille, that.] 1. A note or comment on some
passage of Scripture, written in the margin of
a Bible, and so called because it followed the
text; any explanatory remark or comment on
the text of the Bible; hence, any marginal
note.
The said Langton also rasiAQpostllsypon the whole bible.
.^ Foxe, Martyrs, p. 248.
This was the main Substance of his Majesty's late let-
ter ; yet there was a PoM, added, that, in a case a Rupture
happen 'twixt the two Crowns, the Earl should not come
instantly and abruptly away. HaweU, Letters, I. iii. 12.
postle
That which is the main point in their Sei-mons .nflectlne
the comments and iwgtiZs of J'riers and Jesuits, butscom
ing and slighting the reformed writers.
MilUm, Apology forSmectymnuu!.
2. A series of comments, specifically on Scrip,
ture; a commentary, or written exposition.--.
3. A sermon or homily; specifically, a homily
following and treating of the liturgical gosper
also, a collection of such homilies. '
But in the homes the old prayer-books and the old
Lutheran postils were still gladly and Ireguently used.
Bwliotheca Sacra, XIV. ise.
postilf (pos'til), V. IMsopostel; < OF. posUller
= Sp. posUlar = Pg. postillar = It. iyostilhre, <
ML. postillare, write a postil: see postil, «.]
I. intrans. To write or deliver a postil.
To posteU vpon a kyry. Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 1. 755,
II. trans. To explain or illustrate by a pos-
til.
I doe remember to haue scene long since a book of ac
compt of Empson's that . . . was in GomepltLces pogt^ktt
in the margent with the King's hand.
Bacon, Hist Hen. VII., p. 211.
postiler, postiller (pos'til-fer), n. [<posm +
-eri.] One who writes or delivers a postil.
Shew yourselves skilful workmen, such as have been
brought up not only in morals of the heathen, aubtUties
of schoolmen, sentences and conceits of po«fi;2ei-«,. , .but
in the wholesome word of faith. S. Ward, Seimons, p. 38.
It hath been observed by many holy writers, commonly
delivered by postUlers and commentators. Sir T. Sroum.
postilion (pos-til'yon), H. [Formerly also mos-
tillion, postilion, < f'. postilion (= Sp. posmon
= Pg. postilhao = It. postiglione), a postilion,
< poste, post: see post^, «.] If. A post-boy;
one who rides a post-horse; a guide or fore-
runner.
Albeit you be upon an Island, and I now upon the Con-
tinent (tho' the lowest part of Europe), yet those swift
Postilions, my Thoughts, find you out daily and bring yon
unto me. Howell, Letters, I. i. 8.
3. One who rides the near horse of the leaders
when four or more horses are used in a carriage
or post-chaise, or who rides the near horse
when one pair only is used and there is no driver
on the box.
The coachman, however, did not drive all six, one of
the leaders being always ridden by a, postilion.
J. Ashton, Social Life in Beign of Queen Anne, IL 173.
3. Same a,s postilion-hasque.
postilion-basque (pos-til'yon-bask), ». A
woman's basque having its skirt cut at the
back into short square tabs or coat-tails, after
the fashion of a postilion's coat.
postilion-belt (pos-til'yon-belt), «. A leather
belt with a large buckle, worn by ladies about
1860.
postilioness (pos-til'yon-es), n. [< postilion -H
-ess.] A female postilion. [Bare.]
At Vik, where we found the same simple and honeit
race of people, we parted with the postUlioruss and with
our host of Kettbo. B. Taylor, Northern Travels, p. 423.
postilizet (pos'til-iz), v. t. [< postil + -iie.]
Same &s postil.
Postitizing the whole doctrine of Duns Scotus.
ITooif, AthensB Oion., L 9.
postulate (pos'til-at), v. ; pret. and pp. postu-
lated, ppr. postulating. [< ML. postillatus, pp.
of posttBare, postil, write postils; S66 postil, v.]
I, intrans. To write or deliver a postil.
II, irams. To explain or illustrate by a postil.
postillation (pos-ti-la'shon), n. [= Sp. »os(«-
lacion, < Mh. postiUatio(n-), postillation, <i)os-
tillare, -pp. ijostillatus, postulate: see2>ostillate.]
The act of writing or delivering a postil, or of
explaining or illustrating by a postil.
postillator (pos'ti-la-tor), n. [= Sp.postiMor
= Pg. postillador = It'.' postillatore, < ML. lios-
tillator, < postillare, pp. posHllntxts, postillate:
see postulate.] One who writes or delivers »
postil, or explains or illustrates by a postil.
postiller, n. See piostiler.
postillion, n. See postilion.
ppstimet, n. An obsolete form of apostem.
posting-house (pos'ting-hous), «., A house or
hotel where post-horses are kept.
posting-inn (p6s'ting-in), n. Same, as i)os(iwj-
Uuse. Harper's Mag., LXXIX. 628.
postique (pos-tek'), a. Same as postiche.
postischial (p6st-is'ki-al), a. [< L. post, be-
hind, -t- NL. ischium: "see ischial.] Situated
behind the ischium.
post-jack (posf jak), n. An implement for lift-
ing posts out of the ground. It is a form of crow-
bar pivoted in a base-piece, and having a claw which seizes
the post. E. H. Knight.
postleif, «. [ME., aXsopostel; by apheresis from
apostle.] An apostle ; a preacher.
postle
SaSreth m; poeUe* in pays and in pees gange.
Piers Plomnan (Bi xvi. 159.
postle^t '*• See postil.
postle-spoont, n. Same as apostle-spoon.
postlimmar^, postliminiary (post-lim'i-na-ri,
poBt-li-min'i-a-ri), a. [< postliminy + -dry.']
PeTtaining to or involving the right of post-
liminy.
We follow Heffter . . . principally in onr brief repre-
sentation of tbe rights and obligation of a state restored
in Vais poMimirMry way.
Wodltey, Inteod. to Inter. Law, § 247.
postliminiart (p6st-li-min'i-ar), a. Same as
postUminary.
It may be said that tt is possible the sonl may be rap't
from this terrestrial body, and carried to remote and dis-
tant places, frmn whence she may make a posUimiTtiar re-
turn. HaUyweU, Melamproncea (1681), p. 70.
postliminiary, a. See postUminary.
postliminioub (post-li-min'i-ns), a. [<postlist-
iny + -ous.'i Same a,s postlimmary.
postliminium (p6st-li-min'i-um), n. [L.: see
postliminy.] Same a,s postliminy.
postliminy (p6st-lim'i-ni), n. [= Sp. Pg. It.
postliminio, < L. postliminium, < post, after, +
Umen {limin-), threshold : see limit.] 1 . laMom.
antiq., the return of a person who had been ban-
ished, or taken prisoner by an enemy, to his old
condition and former privileges. — 2. In inter-
national law, that right by virtue of which per-
sons and things taken by an enemy in war are
restored to their former status when coming
again under the power of the nation to which
they belonged.
Prisoners of war in a nentral port, escaping on shore
from tbe vessel where they are confined, . , . cannot be
recaptared, since they enjoy the benefit of the right of
pomiminy. WodUey, Introd. to Inter. Law, § 145.
post-line (post'lin), n. A railway constructed
upon posts, usually of wrought iron, which sup-
port stringers and cross-ties upon which the
rails are laid and fastened; an elevated railway.
postlude (post'lud), n. [< L. post, after, -I- Vw-
dus, play, < ludere, play.] In music, an organ-
piece at the end of a church service ; a conclud-
ing voluntary: correlated -vrith. prelude and in-
terlude.
postman^ (post'man), ». [^(. post^ + man.] A
barrister in the Court of Exchequer in England,
now merged in High Court of Justice, who had
preeedSnee in motions : so called from the place
where he sat. The postman was one of tbe two most
experienced barristers in the court, the other being called
the tvbnuin.
In tbe courts of exchequer, two of the most experienced
barristers, called the post-^man and the tab-man (from the
places in which they sit), have also a precedence in mo-
tions. Blackgtone, Com., III. ill, note.
postman^ (post'man), n.; pi. postmen (-men).
l< post^ + man.] "if. A post; a messenger; a
courier ; one who rides post.
The Post-Man was in the Faolt that yon have had no
Letters from me.
N. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, 1. 117.
2. A mail-carrier.
The postman coming along, and knowing her well
enough, stopped and gave her the letter he had for her.
W. Black, In Far Lochaber, xiz.
General postman. See general.
postmark (post'mark), n. The mark or stamp
of a post-office placed on a letter, paper, card,
or package sent through the mail ; an official
stamp on a letter, etc., giving the place and date
of sending or the place and date of receipt.
postmark (post'mark), v. t. [ipostmarlc, n.] To
affix the stamp or mark of the post-office to, as
letters, etc.
postmaster (p6st'mas"ter) ,n. [= D. postmees-
ter = Gr. postmeister = 8w. postmdstare = Dan.
postmester; as posi^ + master^.] 1. The offi-
cial who has charge of a post-station and pro-
vides post-horses, etc.
After the first stage, she had been indebted to \JhQ post-
masters for tbe names of the places which were then to
conduct her to it, bo great had been her ignorance of her
route. Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, xiv.
S. The official who has the superintendence and
general direction of a post-office, of the receipt
and despatch of mails, etc. in the United States
postmasters are classed with reference to their salaries :
all those receiving S1,000 or over annually are appointed
by the President ; all who receive under that sum are ap-
pointed by the Postmaster-General. Abbreviated P. M.
All those that will send letters to the most parts of the
habitable worid, or to any part of our King of Great Brit-
ain's Dominions —let them repair to the General Post Mas-
ter Thomas Withering, at his house in Sherburne Lane.
John Taylor (Arber's Eng. Gainer, I. 246).
3. In Merton College, Oxford, a scholar who is
supported on the foundation. Also called jpor-
Uonist.
4643
postmasi^T-general (p6st'mas''ter-jen'e-ral),
». The chief executive head of the postal and
telegraphic systems of Great Britain, or of the
postal system of the United States, in Great
Britain the postmaster-general is often a member of the
cabinet ; he exercises authority over all the departments
of the postal system, including money-orders, savings-
bank, insurances, and annuities. The postmaster-general
of the United States has been a member of the cabinet
since tbe administration of Andrew Jackson.
postmaster-generalship (p6st'mas*t6r-jen'e-
ral-ship), n. [< postmaster -I- general + -ship'.]
Tie office of a postmaster-general.
postmastership (posfmas^ter-ship), n. [<
postmaster -¥ -ship.] The office of a postmas-
ter; also, the time during which a postmaster
holds office.
postmedian (p6st-me'di-an), a. [< L. post, be-
hind, + medianus, middle : see median^.] Situ-
ated behind the middle transverse plane of the
body.
postmediastinal (post-me-dl-as'ti-nal), a. [<
postmediastin-mm + -al.] Situated in or per-
taining to the postmediastinum : as, postmedi-
astinal arteries; i^& postmediastinal space.
postmediastinum (p6st-me-di-as'ti-num), n.
[< L. post, behind, + NL. mediastinum, q. v.]
The posterior mediastinum or mediastinal
space.
postmeridian (post-me-rid'i-an), a. and n.
[Also pomeridian, q. v.'; = F'.' postmeridien =
Sp. Pg. postmeridiano, Pg. also pomeridiano =
It. pom^idiano, < L. postmeridianus, pomeridi-
anus, belonging to the afternoon, <.jpost, after,
+ meridies, noon: see meridian.] It a. Occur-
ring after the sun has passed the meridian ; of
or pertaining to the afternoon.
Over-hasty digestion ... is thu inconvenience of post-
meridian sleep. Bacon, Nat Hist., § 57.
TL.n. 1. The afternoon.
'Twas post-meridian half-past four
By signal I from Nancy parted. C. DdKLin.
2. In the nomenclature suggested by H. D.
Rogers for the Paleozoic rocks of Pennsylvania,
the equivalent of the Corniferous and Cauda-
galli divisions of the New York survey, or that
part of the Devonian series which lies between
the Oriskany sandstone and the Hamilton
group.
post meridiem (post me-rid'i-em). [L. ; see
postmeridian.] After midday: applied to the
time between noon and midnight. Eegularly
abbreviated P. M., p. m., or p. m.
postmeridional (p6st-me-rid'i-gn-al), a. [<
postmeridian, after meridional.] Same as post-
meridian.
"After our postmeridional refection,*' rejoined Hyper-
tatus, "we will regale with a supernumerary compotation
of convivial ale." Campbell, Lexiphanes, p. 9.
post-mill (post'mil), n. A form of windmUl
so constructed that the whole fabric rests on a
vertical axis, and can be turned by means of a
lever according as the direction of the wind
varies. It thus differs from the smock-mill, of which
the cap (including the gudgeon and pivot-bearings rest-
ing upon it) turns.
postmillenarian (post-mU-e-na'ri-an), n. [<
L. post, after, + NL. millennium, miliennium:
see millenarian.] A believer in the doctrine of
postmillennialism.
postmillenarianism (p6st-mil-e-na'ri-an-izm),
n, [(.postmillenarian + -ism.] Same as post-
millennialism.
postnuUennial (p6st-mi-len'i-al), a. [< L.
post, after, + NL. millennium, millennium: see
millennial.] Relating to what may occur in the
period following the millennium. Princeton
Ben., March, 1879, p. 425.
postmillennialism (post-mi-len'i-al-izm), n. [<
postmilUnnial + -4sm.] The doctrine that the
second eonting of Christ will follow the millen-
nium.
postmillennialist (post-mi-len'i-al-ist), n. [<
postmillennial + -ist.] Same a.s postmillenarian.
Princeton Bev., March 1879, p. 419.
postminimus (post-min'i-mus), n. ; -pX. postmini-
mi (-mi). [NL., < L. post, after, -f- minimus
(sc. digitals), the little finger: see minimum.]
An additional little finger or little toe of some
mammals, on the ulnar or fibular side of the
hand or foot, opposite to the prepollex or pre-
hallux. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1889, p. 260.
postmistress (p6st'mis"tres), n. [< post^ +
mistress.] A woman who has charge of mails
or of a post-office.
post-money (p6st'mun'''i), n. The charge made
for the use of post-horses; cost of posting or
traveling post.
post-oak
We were charged additional po^-money for the circuits
we were obliged to make to keep our runners on the snow.
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 192.
post-morning (post'mor^ning), n. The morn-
ing of a post-day. Sterne, Tristram Shandy,
vi. 22.
post-mortem (p6st-m6r'tem), a. and n. [< L.
post mortem, after death: post, after; mortem,
ace. of mors, death: see mort^.] I. a. Subse-
quent to death : as, a post-mortem examination
of the body; post-mortem changes.
It rGawain Douglas's poetry] is a mere bill of parcels, a
post-mortem inventory of nature, where imagination is not
merely not called for, but would be out of place.
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., 131.
H. n. A post-mortem examination; an ex-
amination of the body after death ; an autopsy.
Also post-obit. /
post-mortuary (p6st-m6r'tu-a-ri), a. [< L.
post, after, -1- mortuarius, of the deaiid: see mor-
tuary.] Occurring after death; post-mortem;
posthumous.
postmultiply (p6st-mnl'ti-pli), r. t. ; pret. and
-pp.postmultiplied, ppr. postmultiplying. To mul-
tiply into a postf actor, by which the direct ob-
ject is said to be posimultiplied.
postnarial (post-na'ri-al), a. [< postnares +
-ial.] Ot or pertaining to the postnares.
postnaris (post-na'ris), n. ; pi. postnares (-rez).
[NL. (Wilder), < L. post, behind, + naris, a
nostril.] One of the posterior nares or ehoanee ;
either one of the paired openings of the nasal
chamber into the pharynx. Wilder and Gage,
Anat. Tech., p. 513.
postnasal (post-na'zal), a. [(.postnasus -f- -al.]
Posterior, with reference to the nose, nostrils,
or nasal passages : as, the postnasal spine of the
palate-bone.
postnasus (post-na'sns), n. [NL,, < L. post,
behind, 4- nasus = E. nose^.] A division of
the elypeus of many insects, including the
upper part with extensions down the sides:
now commonly called supraclypeus. Kirhy and
Spence.
postnatal (post-na'tal), a. [< L. post, after,
+ natus, bom: see'nataP-.] Subsequent to
birth: as, a. postnatal disease.
postnatef (post'nat), a. [< Mil, postnatus,
bom after, younger (> OP. puisne, > E. puny^),
< L. post, after, -t- natus, bom: see natal. Cf.
puisne, puny^.] Subsequent to birth or occur-
rence ; appearing or occurring later.
Of these fpretended prophecies] some were postnate,
cunningly made after the thing came to pass.
PvUer, Cb. Hist, VL iv. i
The graces and gifts of the Spirit are postnate, and are
additions to art and nature.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 269.
postnatus (post-na'tus), n. ; pi. postnati (-ti).
[ML.: see postnate.] In law: (a) The second
son. (6) One bom after a particular event:
as, one bom in the United States after the Dec-
laration of Independence (1776) is a, postnatus;
a, postnatus in Scotland is one bom in that coun-
try after the accession (1603) of James VT. to
the English throne as James I. Compare ante-
nati — Case of the postnati. See Calvin's case, under
case^.
post-Nicene (p6st-ni*sen), a. [< L. post, after,
+ Nicsenus, Nioene: see Nicene.] After the
first general council held at Nice, A. d. 325 : as,
post-Nicene Christianity. See Nicene Post-
Nicene fathers. See fathers of the church, under father.
post-night (pdst'nit), n. The evening of a post-
day.
It being post-night, I wrote to my Lord to give him no-
tice that aU things are weU. Pepys, Diary, 1. 103.
post-note^ (post'not), n. [< post^ -i- note^.]
Same as postal note. See postal.
post-note^ (post'not), n. [< L. post, after
(see posiP), + E. note^.] A note issued by a
bank, payable at some future time, and not on
demand.
post-nuptial (post-nup'shal), a. [< L. post,
after, -t- ««;><»«, nuptials: see nuptial.] Being
or happening after marriage: as, a, post-nuptial
settlement on a wife.
post-oak (post'ok), n. An oak-tree, Quercus
ohtnsikiba. it grows in sandy or barren soils through-
out a great part of the eastern half of the United States
and especially in Texas. It grows to a height of 70 feet;
the wood is hard, close-grained, and very durable in con-
tact vnih the soil, and is largely used, especially in the
southwest, for fencing, railroad-ties, fuel, etc. Also called
iron-oak and rough or hox white oak.
All the way from Hoppleton merely post-ooi and sands.
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 61.
Swamp post-oak, a tree, Quercus lyrata, of deep river-
swamps in the southern United States, especially in the
valley of the Bed Kiverand adjacent regions, but extend-
post-oak
Ing northward into Maryland. It has a height of from 70
to 90 feet, and its hard, strong, and tough wood has the
same uses as white oak. See oai, 1. Also called overoup-
oak and water white oak.
post-obit (post-o'bit), n. [< L. post, after, -f-
obitus, death : see oMt.] 1 . A bond given for the
purpose of securing to a lender a sum of money
on the death of some specified individual from
whom the borrower has expectations: some-
times used attributively : as, a post-obit bond.
Such loans are not only made at usurious rates of interest,
but usually the borrower has to pay a much larger sum
than he has received, in consideration of the risk that he
may die before the person from whom he has expectations.
If, however, there is in the proportions a gross inadequacy
amounting to fraud, a court of equity will interfere.
Now I propose, Mr. Premium, if it 's agreeable to you, a
poet-obit on Sir Oliver's life.
Sheridan, School for Scandal, iii. 8.
2. Same as post-mortem.
postoblongata (p6st-ob-long-ga'ta), n. [NL. , <
L. post, behind, + NL. oblongata, q. v.] The
oblongata proper, lying behind the pons.
postocular (post-ok'u-lar), a. [< L. post, he-
hind, -I- ocMto, the eye : "see ocMter.] 1. Lying
behind the eye (on the siu-face of the body of
any animal) ; running back from the eye, as a
streak of color; postorbital.
Parallel curved white superciliary and postoeiitar stripes.
Sporteman'a Oazetteer, p. 209.
2. In entom., situated behind or beneath the
compound eyes Postocular lobes, anterior projec-
tions of the lower sides of the prothorax, impinging on
the eyes when the head is retracted.
postoesophageal, a. See postesophageal.
post-ofSioe (post'of "is), n. 1 . An office or place
where letters are received for transmission to
various destinations, and from which letters are
delivered that have been received from places
at home and abroad. Abbreviated P. O.
If you are sent to the poat-office with a letter in a cold
xainy night, step to the ale-house and take a pot.
Swift, Directions to Servants (Footman).
2. A department of the government charged
with the conveyance of letters, etc. , by post. —
iieneral post-Offlce, the principal post-office in a large
city or town.— Post-offlce annuity and Insurance, in
Great Britain, a system whereby the postmaster-general
is empowered to insure lives between the ages of fourteen
and sixty-five for not leas than £5 nor more than £100, and
also to grant annuities of not more than £100. — Post-of-
flce box, one of a aeries of pigeonholes into which the
mail for a person or flrnr, or for a particular destination.
Is distributed in a post-offtce or postal car. Such boxes in
apost-office are generally numbered, and either have glass
hacks, to display their contents from the outside, or are
provided with locking doors at the back, to which the
lessee of the box holds the key, and are then called lock-
boxes. [U. S.)— Post-ofBoe car. See mail-car.— Votsb-
ofBce Department, that branch of a government which
supervises the business of the post : in Great Britain the
telegraph-lines are also under its management. See de-
ijortjjient.— Post-offlce order. See money-order.— VotX-
offlce savings-bank, in the British postal system, a bank
connected with a local post-office where deposits not ex-
ceeding £30 in any year are received to an amount not
exceeding £150, on government security, at a rate of in-
terest of ii per cent, per annum. — Railway I)OSt-offlce,
a railroad-car, or part of a railroad-car, in which the dis-
tribution of mail-matter is made: in England styled a
traveling pogt-oj^ce.
postolivary (p6st-ol'i-va-ri), a. [< NL. post-
oUvaris, < L. post, behind, + NL. oUvaris, L.
olivarius, olivary: see olivary.'] Posterior to
the oliva, or olivary body — Postolivary sulcus.
Same as suIcmb postoKvarig (which see, under eidmu).
postomosterual (post-o-mo-stfer'nal), a. [<
postomostern-um + -a?.] Pertaining to the post-
omosternum.
postomostemuin (p6st-o-mo-ster'num), n. ; pi.
postomostema (-na). [NL.,' < L. post, behind,
-I- NL. omosternum, q. v.] A posterior omo-
stemum.
post-operative (post-op'e-ra-tiv), a. [< L.
post, after, + E. operat(ion) + -ive.2 Occur-
ring after an operation, as an examination
made after a surgical operation.
postoral (post-o'ral), a. [< L. post, behind, -1-
os (or-), the mouth': see oral.'] Situated behind
the mouth : specifically applied to certain of the
visceral arches and clefts of the vertebrate em-
bryo.—postoral arches, visceral arches posterior to the
mouth. Also called pharyngeal arcAes.- Postoral seg-
ments, in arthropods, those primary or theoretical seg-
ments which are situated behind the mouth, as distin-
guished from the preoral segments, which are morphologi-
cally anterior to the month, but are turned back to form
the front or top of the head. The postoral cephalic seg-
ments of insects aie the mandibular, first maxillary, and
second maxiUary or labial, each corresponding to the ap-
pendages from which they are named, and which answer
to the ambulatory limbs of the thoracic segments ; in spi-
ders the labial segment is transferred to the thorax, the
anterior pair of legs in that group being the homologues
■of the labium of insects. The postoral segments are close-
ly united with one another and with the preoral segments,
so that it is very difficult to trace them ; probably the ge-
nse, occiput, gula, and cervical sclerites represent them in
the head of the perfect insect.
4644
[<L.
postorbital (p6st-6r'bi-tal)^ a. and n. [
post, behind, -t- orbita, orbit: see orbitai.] I,
a. 1. In anat. and zool.: (a) Situated on the
hinder part of the bony brim of the orbit of
the eye. Since the frontal bone usually circumscribes
more than half of this orbit, a postorbital process is usu-
ally also a postfrontal process. This process, when formed
of the frontal bone, varies much in size and shape, and
may be present or absent in the skulls of animals closely
related, therefore furnishing a useful zoblogical character.
Compare, for example, the large hooked postorbital pro-
cess of the skull of the hare, figured under Lepondse, with
the absence of such a formation in the skull of another
rodent, the beaver, flgured under CaMor. In man the
corresponding formation is known as the external angvlar
process of the frontal bone. (6) Bounding the orbit
behind, as a separate bone of sundo' reptiles.
See the noun, (c) Ljdng backward (eaudad)
of the orbit of the eye, on the surface of the
body; postocular: as, the postorbital part of the
head. Eruyyc. Brit., XII. 636.-2. In entom., ly-
ing behind the compound eyes of an insect.
II. n. In herpet., a separate bone which in
some reptiles forms a posterior part of the or-
bit of the eye. Such a bone may come in behind an-
other regarded as a postfrontal (see cut under Ichthyo-
sauria\ and is then unequivocal ; but when only one bone,
apart from the frontal, bounds the orbit in any part of
its posterior half, it may be regarded as either a postfron-
tal or a postorbital.
post-paid (post'pad), a. Having the postage
prepaid: as, s, post-paid letter.
postpalatal (post-pal 'a-tal), a. and n. [< L.
fost, behind, + palatum, palate : see palatal.]
, a. Situated behind the palate orpalate-bones.
II. n. A postpalatal bone ; a postpalatine.
postpalatine (post-pal'a-tin), n. [< li.post, be-
.hind, + palatum, -palate: Bee palatine^.] One of
the so-called pterygoid bones of certain reptiles,
as the crocodile.
postparietal (post-pa-n'e-tal), a. and n. [< L.
j50s«, behind, + paries {pariet-),-waM: eee parie-
tal.] I. a. In herpet., situated behind the pa-
rietal plates of a serpent's head.
II. n. A postparietal plate.
post-partum (post-par'tum), a. [< L. postpar-
tum, after birth: post, after; partum, aoc. of
partus, birth, < parere, bear, bring forth.] Tak-
ing place after the birth of a child : as, post-
partum hemorrhage.
postpectoral (post-pek'to-ral), a. [< postpectus
(-pector-) + -al.] Of or pertaining to the post-
pectus— Postpectoral legs, in entom., the third pair,
or hind legs.
postpectus (post-pek'tus), n. [NL., < L. post,
behind, + ]^ectus, hreast: see pectus.] 1. In
zoiil., the hind-breast, or hinder part of the
breast. — 2. In entom,, a region corresponding
to the metathorax.
postpeduncular (p6st-pe-dung'ku-lar), a. [<
postpeduncul-us 4- -ar^.] Of or pertaining to
the postpedunculus.
postpedunculus (post-pf-dung'ku-lus), n. ; pi.
postpeduneuli (-li). [NL. (Wilder), < Xi.post, be-
hind, + LL. pedunculus, a peduncle or pedicel:
see peduncle.] The inferior peduncle of the
cerebellum.
postpetiole (p6st-pet'i-61), n. [< L. post, he-
hind, -I- jjetwfas, a petiole : Bee petiole.] men-
torn., that part of a petiolate abdomen imme-
diately behind the petiole or narrow basal sec-
tion: generally the second segment is under-
stood, especially if it is somewhat narrower
than the succeeding segments.
postpharyngeal (post-fa-rin'jf-al), a. [< L.
post, behind,-!- NL.p/jan/na;, pharynx: seepha-
ryngeal.] Behind the pharynx; retropharyn-
geal ; situated in the posterior pharyngeal wall :
as, a postpharyngeal abscess.
postpituitary (p6st-pit'u-i-ta-ri), a. lili.post,
behind, + 'E. pituitary.] Situated behind the
pituitary fossa.
Post-pliocene (post-pli'o-sen), a. ahd n. [z= F.
post-pliochne ; as L. post, after, -1- E. pliocene.]
In geol., same as Post-tertiary.
post-pocket (p6st'pok"et), n. In a railway
stock-car, etc., an iron casting attached to the
outside of the sill to receive and hold a post.
postponable (p6st-pd'na-bl), a. [< postpone
4- -able.] Admitting of postponement or de-
lay.
postpone (p6st-p6n'), V. t. ; pret. and pp. post-
poned, ppi. postponing. [= Sp.posponer = Pg.
pospor = It. posporre, < L. postponere, put
after, < post, after, -t- ponere, put: see poHtion.
Of. pos^ose.] 1. To put off; defer to a future
or later time ; delay.
I viill postpone common and evenr-day topics.
Peter Martyr, quoted in Bradford's Works (Parker Soc,
[1868), II. 403.
postpredicament
His prayV preferr'd to saints that cannot aid ;
His praise postpon'd, and never to be paid.
Cowper, Truth, L 8«.
2. To set below (something else) in value or im-
portance ; rate as less important or inferior.
All other considerations should give way and be post-
poned to this. Locke, Education.
So shall each youth, assisted by our eyes, . . .
To headless Phoebe his fair bride postpone.
Honour a Syrian prince above his own.
Pope, Dunciad, iv. S67.
But the philosopher, not less than the poet, postpones
the apparent order and relations of things to the empire
of thought. Emerson, Nature.
=Syn, 1. To adjourn, procrastinate, stave off.
postponement (post-pon'ment), n. [= it. pos-
ponimento; as postpone + -ment.] 1. The act
of postponing, or deferring to a future time;
temporary delay.
Persons and events may stand for a time between you
and justice, but it is only a postponement. You must pay
at last your own debt. Emerson, CJompensation.
2. The act of placing after or below in im-
portance or esteem; a subordinating.
The opportunities for ttint postponement of self to other)
which constitutes altruism as ordinarily conceived must,
In several ways, be more and more Ihnited as the highest
state is approached. H. Spencer, Data of Ethics, $ 96,
postponencet (post-po'nens), n. [< L. post-
ponen{t-)s, ppr. of postponere : see pos^one.]
Same as postponemsnt, 2.
Noting preference, oi postponenee.
Johnson, in def. of Of.
postponer (post-po'ner), n. [<.postpone + -eri.]
One who postpones ; one who delays or puts off.
postpontile (post-pon'til), a. [< L. post, he-
hind, + pon{t-)s, bridge: see ijontile.] Situated
behind the pons Varolii : opposed to prepontik :
as, the postpontile recess, more commonly called
foramen cxcum.
postposet (p6st-p6z')i «• *• [< F. postposer, <
li. post, aitev, -f F. poser, put: seepos^.] 1.
To place after (something else).
We utter our wil be verbes signifying the form of our
wil, or postposing the supposit [subject].
A. Hume, Orthographie (E. E. T. S.),p. 31.
2. To postpone ; put off. Fuller. (Imp. Diet.)
postpositt (post-poz'it), V. t. [< L. postpositus,
■pTp. of postponere: seepostpone.] To postpone;
treat or regard as of inferior value. .
Often, in our love to her, our love to God is swallowed
and postpo^led. Feltham, On St. Luke, 328. iLatham.)
postposition (p6st-pg-zish'gn), n. [< F. post-
position = Fg. posposigSo = It. posposizione ; <
Li. postpositus, pp. ot postponere, put after: see
postpone.] 1. The act of postposing or placing
after; the state of being put behind.
Nor is the post-position of the nominative case to the
verb against the use ot the tongue.
J. Mode, Daniel's Weeks, p. 86.
For purely intellectual writing, then, it seems that the
French usage of postposition [of the adjective] is the beat.
Amer. Jmir. PhOol., VL 347.
3. In gram., a word or particle placed after or
at the end of a word : opposed to preposition.
[Bare.]
In almost all the native languages of Asia, what we call
prepositions follow their noun; often, like the article and
reflective pronoun, coalescing with it, so as to form, or
simulate, an inflection. The inconvenience of such aterm
as preposition is now manifest ; nor is it much remedied
when we allow ourselves to lise the contradictory phrase
postpositive preposition. What is really wanted ia a
general name for that part of speech under which prepo-
sition MidpostpoBUion may stand as co-ordinate terms.
Latham, Diet, II. 568.
postpositional (post-po-zish'on-al), a. \<.pmt-
posttion + -al.] Pertaining to a postposition.
postpositive (post-poz'i-tiv), a. [< F.postposh
tif = It. posposiiivo, < L. postpositus, pp. ot post-
ponere, place after: see postpone and positive.]
Placed after something else; suffixed; append-
ed: as, a postpositive ■word.
We find here the postpositive article which constitutes
so notable a feature of the Scandinavian languages.
Th£ Nation, XL VIII. 391.
postprandial (p6st-pran'di-al), a. [< L. pos*,
after, +prandiv,m,&iTmeT: seepi-andial.] Hap-
pening, uttered, done, etc., after dinner: as,
a postprandial speech.
I was much cheered by the announcement of this Carl-
ton Club ; the very name seemed to have been chosen wiln
an eye to the drooping condition of postprandial business.
Noetes Ambrosianie, Sept., 18S2.
postpredicament (p6st-pre-dik' a^ment), n. [<
MUpostpraedicamentum (Abelarfl), < h.post, al-
ter, ■+ ML. prasdicamentum, predicament: see
predicament.] One of the five subjects treated
by Aristotle at the end of his book on the cate-
gories or predicaments, namely the explana-
postpredicament
tions concerning the conceptions of 'opposite,'
'before,' 'at once,' 'motion,' and 'to have.''
post-pridie (post-prid'i-e), n. [L., < post, after,
+ pridie, day before.] In the Mozarabic liturgy,
a variable prayer said immediately after the
words of institution, it seema originally to have
regularly contaiued the great oblation and epicleBis, as Is
apparent in a number of extant examples. In the Galil-
ean office it is called the collect {coUectio) post Mysterium
or post Secreta. The present Mozarabic title, literally
' after the Pridie ' (day beloreX seems to refer to the insti-
tution in its Koman and Galilean form, beginning "Who
(or, "For he) on the day before he suffered," rather than
the Mozarabic " Our Lord ... in the night in which he
was betrayed."
postpubic (post-pa' bik), a. [< postpuUs, after
pubic.'] Of or pertaining to the postpubis.
postpubis (post-pii'bis), n. ; -pl.postpubes (-bez).
[NL., < h. post, behind, + NL. pubis, q. v.]
The postacetabular part of the pubio bone:
said especially of the so-called pubis of birds
and some other Sauropsida, as dinosaurs, it is
very well developed in birds, in which class the prepubis
or pubis proper is small, and forma only a part of the pec-
tineal process, or is quite rudimentary. See cuts under
epipleura and saerarium,
post-pyramidal (p6st-pi-ram'i-dal), a. [< L.
post, after, -I- pyramis {-midr), pyramid: see
pyramidal.} 1 . Occurring or existing since the
Egyptian pyra.mids were built. B. A. Proctor.
— 2. In anat.j pertaining to the funiculus gra-
cilis, formerly sometimes eallei posterior pyra-
mid— Foatpyramidal nucleus, the nucleus funiculi
gracilis. See/unicuZufi.
post-redemption (post-rf-demp'shon), a. K L.
post, after, -f- redemptio{n-), redemption.] Sub-
sequent to redemption: used of reissues of
United States government notes after their
return to the Treasury in payment of dues to
the government, or redemption in coin. The act
of Congress of May 31st, 1S78, forbade the Treasury to can-
cel unmutilated notes which had been received back, and
required them to be reissued and kept in circulation, and
such reissues were called post-redew^tion issues.
post-remote (post-re-mof), a. More remote
in subsequent time or order. Darwin. {Imp.
Diet.)
postrMnal (post-ri'nal), a. [< L. post, behind,
4- Gr. /6i'f (/&iv-), nose : see rMnal.] Posterior and
rhinal : applied by Wilder to a fissure of the
brain called by Owen basirkinal.
post-rider (p6st'ri"d6r), n. One who rides post ;
a mounted mail-carrier.
post-road (post'rod), n. 1 . A road on which are
stations where relays of post-horses q3,n be ob-
tained.— 2. In the United States, any road,
way, or street, including water-routes, over
which the United States maU is carried.
postrolandic (p6st-ro-lan'dik), a. [< L. post,
after, -t- E. Solandic.'] Situated behind the
Rolandio or central fissure of the cerebrum.
postrorse (pos-tr6rs'), a. [< NL. *postrorsus,
irreg. < L. post, back, + versiis, turned (in imi-
tation of introrse, retrorse, antrorse).'] Turned
back; directed backward; retrorse: the oppo-
site of antrorse.
postsacral (post-sa'kral), a. [< li.post, behind,
-I- NL. sacrum : see sacral.'] Situated behind
the sacrum ; succeeding the sacral vertebrse, as
the caudal or coccygeal vertebrss; urosacral.
postscalene (post-ska'len), a. [< NL. postsca-
lenus.] Pertaining to the scalenus posticus, or
postscalenus. Coues.
postscalenus (post-ska-le'nus), n. ; pi. posfsca-
leni (-ni). [NL., < li.post, behind, + NL. scale-
nus, q. v.] The posterior scalene muscle of
the neck; the scalenus posticus. Coues. See
cut under m/uscle.
postscapular (post-skap'u-lar), a. [< L. post,
behind, + NL. scapula,' \£e shoulder-blade:
see scapular.] Situated behind or below the
spine of the scapula or shoulder-b]^de ; infra-
spinous, with reference to the scapula : the op-
posite oiprescapular: as, ihs postscapular fossa
(the infraspinous fossa).
postscapularis (p6st-skap-u-la'ris), n.; pi.
postscapulares (-vez). [NL.: 'see postscapular.]
A muscle of the postscapular or infraspinous as-
pect of the scapula ; the infraspinatus. Coues.
postscenium (p6st-se'ni-um), n. [L., sisopost-
sciBnium, poscxnium, postcenium, poscenium (>
It. postscenio = F. postscMum,), (.post, after, be-
hind, + scena, scsena, stage : see scene. ] In arch. ,
the back part of the stage of a theater, behind
the scenes.
ppstschwartzian (p6st-schwart'si-an), n. [<
L. post, after, + E. Schwartgian.] In math., a
form obtained by operating on the Schwartzian
with the generator for mixed i-eciprocants.
POStscrlbe (post-skrlb'), v. t. ; pret. and pp.^os*-
seribed, ppr. postscribing. [< L. postscribere,
292
4645
write after, < post, after, + scribere, write : see
scribe.] To write after ; append to.
And the second is but a consequent of the first, post-
scribed with that word of inference "Now then," &e..
Bom. Til. 25. Sev. T. Adams, Worka, L 325.
postscript (post'skript), n. [= F. postscript,
postscriptum = 'Pg. postscripto = It. poscritto,
po8critta,<. TilSli. postscriptum, apostscript, neut.
of li.postscriptus, pp. otpostscrti^ere, write after,
< post, after, + scribere, write.] An addition
made to a written or printed composition as
an afterthought, or to state something that has
been omitted, (o) A supplement or appendix, as to a
book or newspaper.
In the early days of the reign both these papers had
manuscript poetseripts, or supplements, when any fresh
news arrived that was not in their last edition.
J. AsMon, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, IL 68.
(p) More commonly, a paragraph added to a letter which
has already been concluded and signed by the writer.
Laer. Know you the hand?
King. 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked !"
And, in apostscript here, he says "alone."
Stmk., Hamlet, Iv. 7. 54.
Then came Apostscript dash'd across the rest.
Tennyson, Princess, v.
Abbreviated P. S.
postscriptal (post'skrip-tal), a. [< postscript
+ -al.] Of or relating to' a postscript; of the
nature of a postscript.
The postscriptal speech which he had to deliver slxyears
after, in 1794, in answer to the pleas of Hastings's counsel.
Mrs. Olipkaid, Sheridan, p. 142.
postscripted (post'skrip-ted), a. l<postscript +
-ed^.] Having a postscript ; written afterward.
J. Quincy Adams. (Imp. Diet.) [Bare.]
postscutel (post-skn'tel), n. In entom., same as
postsoutellum.
postscutellar (post-sku'te-lar), a. [< postseur-
tell-um + -ar^.] In entom., situated behind the
scutellum ; of or pertaining to the postscutellum.
postsoutellum (post-sku-tel'um), n. ; pi. post-
scutella (-a). [NL., < Ij. post, behind, + NL.
soutellum,"q. v.] In entom.ythe fourth and last
of the solerites into which the pronotum, meso-
notum, and metanotum of insects are severally
typically divisible, situated behind the scutel-
lum.
postsphenoid (post-sfe'noid), n. [< Jj.post, be-
hind, + E. sphenoid.] The posterior part of the
compound sphenoid bone, including the basi-
sphenoid, alisphenoids, and pterygoids, sepa-
rable in infancy. ■
postsphenoidal (post-sff-noi'dal), a. [(.post-
sphenoid + -al.] Pertaining to the postsphe-
noid: as, the postsphenoidal parts or elements
of the sphenoid bone.
post-stamp (post'stamp), n. Same a,8 postage-
stamp. [Great Britain.]
postsylvian (p6st-sil'vi-an), a. [< L. post, be-
hind, + E. Sylvian.] Situated behind the Syl-
vian fissure of the brain.
post-systolic (post-sis-tol'ik), a. [< L. post, af-
ter, -t- NL. systole.] In physiol., following the
systole.
post-temporal (post-tem'po-ral), a. and n. [<
L. post, after, + tempu^ (iemp'or-), temple: see
temporal^.] I, a. Situated behind the tempo-
ral region of the skull.
II. n. In ichth., a bone of the scapular arch
of some fishes by means of which that arch is
attached to the back part of the skull, it may
form an integral part of the skuU. Also called guprasca-
pida and supradavicte. See first cut under teleost.
post terminum (post ter'mi-num). [L. : post,
after; terminum, ace. of terminus, a, teim, limit:
see term.] In law, after the term.
Post-tertiary (p6st-ter'shi-a-ri), a. and n. The
most recent division of the geological series,
including all that is later than that which can
properly be denominated Tertiary : frequently
called Quaternary. The line of division between the
Tertiary and the Quaternary is, in many regions, one
which eannot be sharply drawn, and geologists differ es-
sentially In regard to the nomenclature of the groups more
or less vaguely designated by the terms Post-tertiary,
Pleistocme, Quaternary, recent, and diluvial, as well as
to the meaning and limitation of the term glacial, all
these being subdivisions in use as designating more or
less of the deposits later than the Tertiary. In general it
is stated in the tejct-books that none of the Post-tertiary
species are extinct ; but this applies only to the moUusks :
deposits containing extinct forms of the higher animals,
and probably also of plants, are by many geologists unhes-
itatingly called Posi^tertiary. In the region where geol-
ogy has been longest cultivated (northwestern Europe) ice
has played an Important part m Post^ tertiary times ; hence,
a classification of deposits of this age is largely Influenced
by this circumstance, and a parallelism of the more re-
cent deposits of glaciated and non-glaciated regions— the
latter comprising much the larger part of the earth s sur-
face—is greatly increased In difficulty. See Quaternary
and Pleistocene.
postulate
post-tibial (post-tib'i-al), a. [< L. post, after,
-I- tibia, tibia.] Situated upon the back of the
lower leg; sural: as, a post-tibial muscle; the
post-tibial nerve.
post-time (post'tlm), n. The time for the arri-
val of a postman, or for the despatch of letters
by mail.
I was detained till BSteiV post-time.
Macavlay, In Trevelyan, II. 147.
post-tonic (post-ton 'ik), a. [< L. post, after,
-t- Gr. TovoQ, tone: see tonic] Following the
accent or accented syllable.
In French the first of the two poglrtonic vowels of a Latin
proparoxytone always disappears. Eruyc. Brit, , YTY 869.
post-town (post'toun), n. 1. A town on a post-
route, where relays of post-horses can be ob-
tained.— 2. A town in which a post-ofB.ce is
established.
post-trader (p6st'tra''''d6r), n. A trader at a
military post: the ofGlcial designation of a sut-
ler. [U. S.]
post-tympanic (post-tim-pan'ik), a. and n. [<
li.post, after, H- E. tympanic] I. a. Situated
behind the tympanic boiie, or external auditory
meatus.— Fost-tympanic bone, a small ossicle which
lies over the squamosal and opisthotlc bones of the bear and
probably some other carnivores. H. AUen, 1886. — PoBt-
tympanlc l>rocess, a formation of the united squamosal
and opisthotlc bones In some carnivores.
II. n. The post-tympanic bone. Huxley,
Anat. Vert., p. 308.
postulant (pos'tu-lant), n. [< "P. postulant =
Pg. It. postulante', an applicant, candidate, prop,
adj., < L. postulan(t-)s, ppr. of postulare, de-
mand : see postulate, n.] One who or that which
postulates, demands, or asks; specifically, a
candidate for membership in a religious order
during the period preparatory to his admission
into the novitiate ; in the American Episcopal
Chxirch, an applicant for admission to eandi-
dateship for the ministry, not yet received as
candidate.
As some words, instinctively avoided, are constantly
falling into desuetude, so others, often answering to calls
too subtile for analysis, are constantly presenting tbem-
selvea as postulants for recognition.
F. HaU, Mod. Eng., p. 98.
postulata, n. Plural ot postulatum.
postulate (pos'tu-lat), v.; pret. and yp. postu-
lated, ppr. postulating. [< L. postulatus, pp. of
postulare (> Olt. postulare = Sp. Pg. Pr. postu-
lar = F. postuler), ask, demand, require, sum-
mon, prosecute, impeach, etc., also require or
need; perhaps, as a freq. form, < poscere (pp.
*posctus, *posius), ask, demand, perhaps orig.
*porscere, akin toprocare, ask, demand, procMS,
a wooer, and precari, pray : see procaeious and
pray^.] I. trans. 1. To invite; solicit; re-
quire by entreaty. See def . 3.
A great alliance was projected among many Protestant
Princes to disturb Cardinal Furstemberg In the possession
of Cologne, to which he was poMlaied by the majority of
the chapter. Bp. Burnet, Hist. Own Time, an. 1688.
2. To assume without proof ; lay down as some-
thing which has to be assumed, although it can-
not be proved ; take for granted.
We conclude, therefore, that Being, intelligent^ con-
scious Being, is implied a,ai postulated In thinking.
J. D. MmeH.
Symmetry and aimplicity, before they were discovered
by the observer, were postulated by the philosopher.
Max Miiller, Sci. of Lang., 1st ser., p. 29.
3. In eccles. law, to ask legitimate ecclesiastical
authorityto admit (anominee) by dispensation,
when a canonical impediment is supposed to
exist. Lee, Glossary.
II. intrans. To make postulates or demands ;
urge a suit.
The excellent Doctor had not even yet discovered that
the King's commissioners were delighted with his postu-
lates ; and that to have kept them postulating thus live
months in succession . . . was one of the most decisive
triumphs ever achieved by Spanish diplomacy.
Motley, Hist. Netherlands, II. 397.
postulate (pos'tu-lat), n. [= F.postulat = Sp.
Pg. postulado = It. postulaio, < L. postulatum, a
demand, prop. neut. ot postulatus, pp. of postu-
lare, dejnanA: see postulate, v.] 1. A petition;
a suit; solicitation.
With the honest pride of a protocol-maker, he added,
" o\rc postulates do teouble the King's commissioners very
much, and do bring them to despair."
Motley, Hist. Netherlands, II. 397.
2. A proposition proposed for acceptance with-
out proof; something taken for granted; an
assumption. Thus, the postulates of Euclid were as
follows : (1) that a straight line may be drawn between
any two points ; (2) that any terminated straight line may
be produced indefinitely ; (3) that about any point as a
center a circle with any radius may be described ; (4) that
all right angles are equal ; (5) that if two straight lines
postulate
lying in a plane are met by another line, making the sum
of the internal angles on one side less than two right
angles, then those straight lines will meet^ if sufficiently
produced, on the side on which the sum of the angles is
less than two right angles. See axumi.
'Tis ApostvlaU to me that Methusalem was the longest
lived of all the children of Adam.
Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, i. 22.
When you assume a premise without demonstrating it,
though it be really demonstrable, this, if the learner is fa-
vorable and willing to grant it, is an assumption or hypotli-
esis valid relatively to him alone, but not valid absolutely ; if
he is reluctant or adverse, it is a pontiUate, which you claim
whether he is satisfied or not. Ctrote, Aristotle, viL
3. A self-evident practical proposition, to the
effect that something is possible : opposed to an
axiom, as a self-evident proposition that some-
thing is impossible. The fourth and fifth of Euclid's
postulates (see def. 2) being converted into axioms in the
modem editions, and his proved propositions being distin-
guished into theorems and problems, this new conception
of a postulate naturally arose.
Before the injunction — Do this, there necessarily comes
the poitxdate — It can be done. H. Spencer, Social Statics.
4. A condition for the accomplishment of any-
thing.
The earnestness with which peace is insisted on as a
postulate of civic well-being shows what the experience
had been out of which Dante had constructed his theory.
Lowell, Among ray Books, 2d ser., p. 29.
postulatet (pos'tu-lat), a. [< li.postulatus, pp. ;
see postulate, ».] ' Postulated ; assumed.
And if she [Nature] ever gave that boon
To man, I'll prove that X have one :
I mean, by postulate illation [that is, begging the question].
5. BvUer, Hudibras, II. i. 763.
postulation (pos-tu-la'shon), n. [< F. postu-
lation = Sp. postuiddon == Pg. postulagSo = It.
postulazione, < L. postulatio(n-), a demanding,
Kpostulare, demand: see postulate, v.'] 1. Sup-
plication; prayer. [Eare.]
Presenting YaspogtuLaticms at the throne of God.
Bp. Pearson, Expos, of Creed. (ZatAom.)
2. The act of postulating, or assuming without
proof; supposition; assumption.
I must have a second postulation, that must have an in-
gredient to elicit my assent, namely, the veracity of him
that reports and relates it.
Sir M. Hale, Orig. of Mankind, p. 129.
3. In eccles. law, the presentation or election
to any office of one who is in some way dis-
qualified for the appointment.
By this means the cardinal's postvlation was defective,
since he had not two-thirds [of the voices].
Bp. Burnet, Hist. Own Tim^ an. 1688.
Nicolas IV. ordered that all postvZoHoTis, that is, elec-
tions of persons disqualified, including translations, should
be personally sued out at Rome.
Stubbs, Const. Hist, § 383, note.
postulatory (pos'Ju-la-to-ri), a. [= Pg. It.pos-
tulatorio, < L. pos'tul'atorius, < postulator, one
who demands or claims, < postulate, demand:
see postulate, v."] 1. Supplicatory. [Rare.]
He easily recovers the courage to turn that deprecatory
prayer into ?^ postulatory one.
Cla/reiiion, Tracts, 392. (LaCAom.)
2. Postulating; assuming without proof. John-
son.— 3. Assumed without proof. SirT.Browne,
Vulg. Err., ii. 6.
postulatum (pos-tu-la'tum), n.; pi. postulata
(-ta). [L. : see postulate, ».] A postulate.
posiumbonal (post-um'bo-nal), a. [< L. post,
behind, -1- NL. um1>o(n-), limbo : see umbo.'] In
coneh., situated behind the umbo. See Pholas.
postumeit, »• [ME.: see apostem.] Sameasiwi-
postume. Chaucer, Boethius, iii. prose 4.
postume^t, a. See posthume.
postural (pos'tu-ral), a. [(.posture + -al."] Per-
taining or relating to posture : as, the postural
treatment of a fractured limb. Dumglison.
posture (pos'tur), n. [Formerly also positure
■ (< L.) ; < F. posture = Sp. postura, positura =
Pg.postura = It. postura, positura, < Li.positura,
position, posture : see positure.] 1. Position;
situation; condition ; state : as, the posture of
public affairs.
This growing posture of affairs is fed by the natural de-
pravity. Bacon, Political Fables, viii., Expl.
Concerning the Posture of l^hings here, we are still in-
volved in a doud of Confusion, 'specially touching Church
Matters. Howell, Letters, iv. 44.
They do speak very sorrowfully of the posture of the
times. Pepys, Diary, III. 166.
Everybody clamored around the governor, imploringhim
to put the city in a complete ^osturd of defence.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 223.
2. The disposition of the several parts of any-
thing with respect to one another, or with re-
spect to a particular purpose ; esjjeeially, posi-
tion of the body as a whole, or of its members ;
attitude; pose.
Some strange commotion
Is in his brain ; he bites his lip and starts ;
4646
Stops on a sudden ; . . . in most strange iKWfMre*
We have seen him set himself. ...
Shak., Heri. VIII., iii. 2. 118.
The statues of the Sibyls are very finely wrought, each
of them in a different air and posture, as are likewise those
oJ the prophets underneath them. , „ , , - ,„„
Addison, Remarks on Italy (ed. Bohn), I. 409.
3t. Disposition; attitude of mind.
A good Christian . . . must always be in a travelling
posture, and so taste sensual pleasures as one that is about
to leave them. " Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. xi.
=Syn. 2, Position, Posture, Attitude, Pose. These words
agree in expressing the manner of standing, sitting, lying,
etc. The first three may be used in a figurative sense:
as, my position on that question is this; his attitude was
one of hostility to the measure. Position is the most gen-
eral word, and is applicable to persons or things. Posture
is generally natural, and may be awkward. Attitude is gen-
erally studied for the sake of looking graceful ; hence it is
sometimes affected, the practice of it being then called at-
titudiniang. An attitude is often taken intentionally lor
the pui'pose of imitation or exemplification ; generally at-
titude is more artistic than posture. Posture is generally
used of the whole body ; attUude has more liberty in refer-
ring to the parts of the body, especially thehead ; but posi-
tion is more common in such cases. Pose is now confined
to artistic positions, taken generally for effect, of part or
the whole of a body or representation of a body, as a statue
or a picture.
The absolute position of the parties has been altered ;
the relative position remains unchanged.
Uacaiday, War of the Succession in Spain.
I have seen the goats on Mount Pentelicus scatter at
the approach of a stranger, climb to the sharp points of
projecting rocks, and attitudinize in the most self-con-
scious manner, striking at once those picturesque postures
against the sky with which Oriental pictures have ma4e
us . . . familiar. C. D. Warner, In the Wilderness, iv.
It is the business of a painter in his choice of attitudea
to foresee the effect and harmony of the lights and shad-
ows with the colours which are to enter into the whole.
Dryden, tr. of Dufresnoy's Art of Painting, § 4.
Placed, . . . with the instinct of a finished artist, in the
best light and most effective pose.
Lathrop, Spanish Vistas, p. 108.
posture (pos'tur), v.; pret. and pp. postured,
pT^i. posturing." [<. posture, n,] I, trans. 1. To
place; set.
As pointed Diamonds, being set.
Cast greater Lustre out of Jet,
Those Pieces we esteem'd most rare
Which in Night-shadows postut^d are.
Howell, Letters, I. v. 22.
2. To place in a particular attitude; dispose
for a particular purpose.
He was raw with posturing himself according to the di-
rection of the chirurgeons. Brook.
II, intrans. 1. To dispose the body in a par-
ticular posture or attitude; put one's self in an
artificial posture; specifically, to contort one's
self.
What is meant by posturing is the distortion of the
limbs, such as doing the splits, and putting your leg over
your head, and pulling it down your back, . . . and such
like business.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, III. 98.
2. To assume an artificial position of the mind
or character ; change the natural mental atti-
tude; hence, to be affected; display affectation.
Not proud humilities of sense
And posturing of penitence.
But love's unforced obedience.
Whitlier, The Meeting.
She had forced her intelligence to posture before her
will, as the exigencies of herplace required.
0. W. Holmes, Elsie Venner, viii.
They are so affected ! . . . You would say that they
posture before the whole universe.
K Schuyler, tr. of Turg^nieff's Fathers and Sons, z.
posture-maker (pos'tur-mEfk^r), n. A con-
tortionist ; an acrobat."
I would fain ask any of the present mismanagers — why
should not rope-dancers, vaulters. tumblers, ladderwalk-
ers, a,nd posturerrtakers appear again on our stage?
Steele, Spectator, No. 258.
posture-making (pos'jur-ma"king), n. The
art or practice of posturing, or malting contor-
tions of the body.
Your comedy and mine will have been played then, and
we shall be removed, 0 how far, from the trumpets, and
the shouting, and the posture-maHngl
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Ixi.
posture-mastert (pos'tur-mas''''t6r), n. Same as
posture-maher.
Posture masters, as the acrobats were then called,
abounded, and one of the chief among them was Higgins,
. . . who could dislocate and deform himself at pleasure.
J. Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, I. 280.
posturer (pos'tfti--er), n. [< posture + -eri.]
A posture-maker; an acrobat.
posturist (pos'Jur-ist), n. [< postwre + -ist.]
Same as posturer.
post-utenne (post-fi'te-rin), a. [< L. post, be-
hind, + uterus, uterus": see uterine.] Situated
behind the uterus ; retro-uterine.
postvenet (post-ven'), v. t. [< IL.post, after, -"r
venire, come.] To come after.
pot
postventionalt (p6st-ven'shou-al), a. [< L.post
after, + venUo{ri-), a coming, < venire, come:
see postvene.] Coming after.
A poaoeniional change of the moon, i. e, a change that
happens after some great movable feast, planetaiy aspect
appearance of a comet, etc. E. Phulips,
postvermis (p6st-v6r'mis), n. ; pi. postoermes
(-mez). [NL., < L. jpost, behind, + NL. vermis
q. v.] The vermis inferior of the cerebellum'
postvidet (post-vid'), v. i. [< L. 2}ost, after, +
videre, see.] To take measures too late: op-
posed to provide.
" When the daughter is stolen, shut Peppergate ; " , . ,
when men instead of preventing postmde against danger^
Fuller, Worthies Chester, I. 20a (Daufes.)
post-wagon (post 'wag "on), n, A wagon for
posting; a stage-wagon; a diligence.
We took our leave of those friends that had accompanied
us thither, and began our journey in the common pott,
wagon to Osnabrug, where we came the fourth day foUow-
ing in the evening.
Penn, Travels in Holland, etc. (Works, HI. 394).
postward (post' ward), adv. [< post'^^ + ivard.]
Toward the post.
post-warrantt (p6st'wor"ant), n. An ofSeial
warrant for accommodation for one traveling
by post; a passport.
For better Assurance of Lodging where I pass, in regard
of the Plague, I have aPost- Warrant as far as Saint David's :
which is far enough, you will say, for the King hath no
Ground further on this Island. Howell, Letters, I. iv. 28.
post-windlass (p6st'wind'''las), «. A winding-
machine worked by brakes or handspikes which
have a reciprocating movement. E. H. Knight.
postzygapopbysial (p6st-zl*gap-o-fiz'i-al), a.
[i postzygapophysis + -al.'] Posterior or inferior
and zygapopnysial or serving for articulation,
as a process of a vertebra; pertaining to a post-
zygapophysis, or having its character.
postzygapophysis (p6st-zi-ga-pof'i-sis), n.;pl.
postzygapophyses (-sez). [NL., < L. post, after,
-I- NL. zygapophysis.] In anat. and sool, an
inferior or posterior zygapophysis; in man, an
inferior oblique or articular process of a verte-
bra: apposed to prezygapophysis. See cuts un-
der lumbar, vertebra, dorsal, and endoskeletm.
posy (po'zi), ».; pi. posies (-ziz). [Contr. of
poesy, q. v.] 1. A verse of poetry attached to
or inscribed on a ring, knife, or other object;
hence, in general, a motto; an epigram; a le-
gend; a short inscription.
And the tente was replenyshed and decked with this
posie: After busy labor commeth victorious rest
Hall, Hen. V., an. 7.
We call them (short epigrams] Posies, and do paint them
now a dayes vpon the backe sides of our fruite trenchers
of wood, or vse them as deuises in rings and armes and
about such courtly purposes.
PuUenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie^ p. 47.
A hoop of gold, a paltry ring
That she did give me, whose posy was
For all the world like cutler's poetry.
Upon a knife, " Love me, and leave me not"
Shak., M. of V., v. L 14&
2. A bunch of flowers, or a single flower; a
nosegay; a bouquet. [Perhaps so called from
the custom of sending verses with flowers as
gifts.]
And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies.
Marlowe, Passionate Shepherd to his love.
Nature pick'd several fiowers from her choice banks,
And bound 'em up in thee^ sending thee forth
A posy for the bosom of a queen.
Fletcher (and another), Queen of Corhith, ill 1.
Y' are the mal&en posies,
And so grac't
To be plac't
'Fore damask roses. Herrick, To Violets,
A girl came with violet 2>08<e8, and two
Gentle eyes, like her violets, freshened with dew.
P. Locker, Mr. Plaoid's IThtation.
posy-ring ipo'zi-ring), n. A ring insorihed
with a posy or short poetical motto. In some
cases the posy consists of a single word formed by the in-
itial letters of stones set around the ring. Also called
cha-nson.
poti (pot), n. [< ME. pot, potte, < AB. pott =
OFries. pot = D. pot = MLG. pot, put, LG. pot
O&.pott) = Icel. j?o**r = Sw. potta='Daii.iJotie
(cf. P. pot = 'PT.poi = Sp. Pg. pote, a pot, <
Teut.), a pot; of Celtic origin: < li.pota,imite
= Qa.e\.poit = 'W. pot =: "Bret. pod, apot; prob.
orig. a drinking-vessel; cf. Ir.potaim, I drink,
L. potare, drink : see potation. ] 1 . A vessel of
earth, iron, brass, or other metal, usually of cir-
cular section and in shape rather deep than
broad, employed for domestic and other pur-
poses, (a) A vessel used in cooking, generally made of
metal.
As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the langh-
tor of the fooL EccL vii. 6.
A little pot, and soon hot Shak., T. of the S., iv. 1 8.
pot
Ifi) An earthen vessel, often for holding something distinc-
tively specified ; a Jar or jug : as, a flower-po( ; a cream-pot,
Tot he caused of all klndes of serpentes to be pot into
earthen pots, the whiche in the middes of jthe battell were
cast into the enemyes shippes.
Chiding, tr. of Justine^ foL 131.
In the Uonastery of blake monkys callyd Seynt Nicho-
las De Elio tber lyes the body of Seynt Nicholas, as they
sey, also oon of the PottiU that ower lord tumyd watlr in
to wyne. Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travel!, p. 10.
Doe we not commonly see that in painted potteg is hid-
den the deadlyestpoyson? If!/2i/, Eopbues, p. 53.
At an open window of a room in the second story, hang-
ing over some pots of beaatif ul and delicate flowers, . , .
was the figure of a young lady.
Hawlhome, Seven Gables, xiii.
In order to lighten the weight of the solid plaster, earth-
en poU have been placed between the joists and the spaces
filled np with the mortar [practice in Paris in respect of
floors with iron joists]. Eneye. Brit., IT. 455.
2. A drinking-vessel ; a vessel containing a
specified quantity of liquor, usually a quart or
a pint; a mug.
Fill me a thousand pote, and froth 'em, froth 'em !
Fletclter, Pilgrim, iii. 7.
No carved cross-bones, the types of Death,
Shall show thee past to Heaven :
But carved cross-pipes, and, underneath,
A pint-jw^ neatly graven. "
Tennyson, Will Waterproof.
3. The contents of a pot ; that which is cooked
in a pot ; speoifleally, the quantity contained
in a drinking-pot, generally a quart (in Guern-
sey and Jersey, about 2 quarts). Apot of butter
was by statutes of Charles n. made 14 pounds.
He ma^eth the deep to boil like apot. Job zlL 31.
Let's each man drink a pot for his morning's draught,
and lay down his two shillings.
I. WttUon, Complete Angler, p. 181.
They will wait until you slip into a neighbouring ale-
house to take a pot with a friend.
Siv^, Directions to Servants, iv.
4. Stoneware : a trade-term.
A street seller who accompanied me called them mere-
ly pots (the trade termX but they were all pot ornaments.
Among them were great store of shepherdesses, of grey-
hounds, , . . andsomejH>te which seem to be either shep-
herds 0( musicians.
Hayhew, London Labour and London Poor, 1. 333.
5. In sugar-manuf., an earthen mold used in
refining; also, a perforated cask in which su-
gar is placed for drainage of the molasses. —
6. lu f winding, a, QsmeiMiB. — .7. In glass-manuf.,
the crucible in which the frit is melted. Those
used for glass of fine quality, such as flint-
glass, are closed to guard against impurities.
— 8. The metal or earthenware top of a chim-
ney; a chimney-pot. — 9. A size of writing-
paper whose original water-mark is said to
have been a pot. The smallest sheets measure
15J X 12i inches. Also spelled ^ott. — 10. In
fisMng: {a) The circular inclosed part of a
pound-net, otherwise called the howl, pound,
or crib. (6) A hollow vessel for trapping fish ;
a lobstor-pot. — 11. In card^laying: (a) The
aggregate stakes, generally placed together in
the center of the table ; the pool. (6) In faro,
the name given to the six-, seven-, and eight-
spots in the lay-out. — 12. A large sum of
money. [Betting slang.]
The horse you have backed with a heavy pof.
Laxr, Davenport Dunn (ed. Tauchnltz), L 191. (Hoppe.)
13t. A simple form of steel cap, sometimes
plain, like the skull-cap, sometimes having a
brim. — 14. lapyrotechny, the head of a rocket,
containing the decorations Double pot. See
<2<'<'^.— Glass-melting pot. See glass. — Little pott.
See iittfe.— Pot Of money. See money. — To boll the
pot. Same as to keep the pot hailing (a).
No fav'ring patrons have I got.
But just enough to boU the pot.
W. Combe, Dr. Syntax^ L 23. (Dames.)
To go to (the) pot, to be destroyed, ruined, or wasted ;
come to destmction : possibly in allusion to the sending
of old metal to the melting-pot.
Then goeth a part of little flock to pot, and the rest scat-
ter.
Tyniale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc. , 1850), p. 110.
Your mandate I got^
You may all ;o to pat.
OolismUh, £eply to Invitation to Dinner at Dr. Baker's.
The number of common soldiers slain not amounting to
fewer than seven hundred. . . . But where so many offi-
cers went to the pot, how could fewer soldiers suffer?
Court and Times of Charles I. , I. 285.
To keep the pot boiling, (o) To provide the necessa-
ries of lite. ,
Whatsoever Eltching found It, it was made poor enoagh
before he left it ; so poor that it is hardly able to fteep the
pot boiling for a pai'son's dinner.
Heylin, Hist. Eeformation, p. 212. (Davies.)
Q>) To "keep things going "; keep up a brisk and contin-
ued round of activity.
"Keep the pot a bUin', sir," said Sam ; and down went
Wardle again, and then Mr. Pickwick, and then Sam, and
4647
then Mr. Winkle, and then Mr. Bob Sawyer, and then the
fat boy, and then Mr. Snodgrass, following closely upon
each oUier's heels. Dickens, Pickwick, xzz.
To maJke the pot with two earst , to set the arms akimbo.
Davies.
Thou sett'st thy tippet wondrous high,
And rant'st, there is no coming nigh ;
See what a goodly port she bears,
Making the pot wUh the two ears.
Cotton, Burlesque upon Burlesque, p. 236.
poti (pot), V. ; jpret. and pp. potted, ppr. potting.
[< pofi^, K.] I. trans. 1. To put into pots. —
2. To preserve in pots, usually in the form of
paste and often with high seasoning: a,s, potted
meats or lobster.
I was invited to excellent English potted venison at Mr.
Hobbson's, a worthy merchant.
Evdyn, Diary, March 22, 1646.
Meat will also keep fresh tor a considerable period when
surrounded with oil, or fat of any kind, so purified as not
to turn rancid of itself especially if the meat be previous-
ly boiled. This process is called potting.
Ure, Diet, m. 673.
3. To stew : cook in a pot as a stew : as, to pot
pigeons. — 4. To plant or set in pots : as, to pot
plants.
Pot them [Indian tuberoses] in natural (not forc'd) earth.
Evdyn, Calendarium Hortense, ApriL
5. To put in casks for draining : as, to pot sugar
by taMng it from the cooler and placing it in
hogsheads with perforated heads, from which
the molasses percolates. — 6. To shoot; bring
down by shooting ; bag : as, to pot a, rabbit, a
turkey, or an enemy ; hence, to catch ; secure :
as, to pot an heiress. [Slang.]
'Che arrow fiew, the string twanged, bat Martin had
been in a hurry to pot her, and lost her by an Inch.
C. Beade, Cloister and Hearth, viii.
It being the desire of puntsmen to pot as many birds
as possible by one shot, . . . punt-guns are not required
to shoot close, the main object being a large killing circle.
W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 531.
7t. To cap. See to cap verses, under cap\ v.
The boies of divers schooles did cap or potte verses, and
contend of the principles of grammar.
SUme, Survey (1599)^ p. 53. (Latham.)
8. To manufacture, as pottery or porcelain;
especially, to shape and fire, as a preliminary
to the decoration.— Potted meats, viands parboiled
and seasoned and put up in the form of paste covered with
oil or fat in small porcelain pots, or in hermetically sealed
tin cans or glass jars.
II. inirans. 1. To drink; tipple.
Cos. "Fore God, an excellent song [a drinking-song].
logo. 1 learned it In England : where, Indeed, th^ are
most potent In pottiTi^. Shak., Othello, ii. 3. 79.
The increase In drinking — that unfailing criterion, alas !
of Increase in means in the lower classes in England — car-
ried your English In potency ot potting above even "your
Dane, your German, and your swag-bellied Hollander."
S. DaweU, Taxes in England, I. 200.
2. To shoot at an enemy or at game ; especial-
ly, to shoot to kill.
The jovial knot of fellows near the stove had been pot-
ting all night from the rifle-pit.
Lever, Davenport Dunn (ed. Tauchnltz), UL 292. (Happe.)
pot^ (pot), n. [A var. ot put^ tov pif^; Xiut
prob. in part associated with j>oii.] A pit ; a
hole; especially, a deep hole scooped out by the
eddies of a river.
The deepest pot in a' the linn
They fand Erl Kichard in.
Earl Biehard (Child's Ballads, III. 7).
Pot and gallows. See pU and gallows, under piti.
pot^ (pot), V. t. ; pret. and pp. potted, ppr. pot-
ting. [Origin imeertain; perhaps a slang use
of ^0*1.] To deceive. HaUiweU.
potable (po'ta-bl), a. and n. 1<F. potable = Sp.
potable = Pg. potavel = It. potdbile, < L. pota-
bilis, drinkable, <potare, drmk: see potation.']
I. a. 1. Drinkable; suitable for drinking.
Dig a pit upon the sea shore, somewhat above the high-
water mark, and sink It as deep as the low water mark;
and as the tide cometh in it will fill with water fresh and
potable. Bacon, Nat. Hist.
They [the Chinese] bore the Trunk with an Awger, and
there Issueth out sweet potable Liquor.
HoweU, Letters, II. 54.
The product of these vineyards [of England] may have
proved potdft/e, in peculiarly favourable seasons, if mixed
with honey. S. DoweU, Taxes in England, TV. 75.
Hence — 2. Liquid; flowing.
Therefore, thou best of gold art worst of gold ;
Other, less fine In carat, is more precious.
Preserving life In medicine potable.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 6. 163.
What wonder then If fields and regions here
Breathe forth elixir pure, and rivers run
Potable gold. Milton, P. L., iiL 608.
I. n. Anything that is drinkable; a drink.
The damask'd meads,
TTnforc'd, display ten thoqsand painted fiowers
Useful in potables. J. Philips, Cider, I.
potamological
potableness (p6'ta-bl-nes), n. The quality of
being potable or drinkable.
potaget, n. An obsolete form ot pottage.
potagert, «. An obsolete form otpottinger.
PotamesB (po-ta'me-e), n. pi. [NTj. (Jussien,
1828), < Gr. irora/xdc, river, -I- -ex.'] A tribe of
monocotyledonous water-plants of the order
Naiadacese, by some botanists erected into a
separate order, characterized by an ovary with
four carpels having one half-coiled ovule in
each containing a curved embryo, it includes 2
genera, PotamogebmlOie type) and Buppia, the latter an
inhabitant of salt and the other of fresh waters through-
out the world. See cut under pOTuftiweif.
potamic (po-tam'ik), a. [< (Jr. vora/idg, a river
{see potation), + -ic.] Pertaining to, connected
with, or dependent on rivers. [Rare.]
The commercial situation of the trading towns of North
Germany, admirable so long as the trade of the world v/aa
chiefly potamic or thalassic in character, lost nearly all its
value when at the opening of the sixteenth century com-
merce became oceanic.
The Academy, Oct. 26, 1889, p. 265.
Fotamobildae (pot'''ar-m5-bi'i-de), n.pl. [NL.,
< Gr. TTora/iig, river, -t- ^iog, life, + ■44se.] Hux-
ley's name (1878) of a family of fluviatUe craw-
fishes, confined to the northern hemisphere and
represented only by the genera Astacms and
Cambarvs, the other genera of Astacidse in a
usual sense forming a contrasted family Paras-
taddse.
Potamochoenis (pot*a-mo-ke'ms), re. [NL.,<
Gr. Tzora/iSc, river, -f-";foZpof, hog.] An Afri-
can genus Suidse or swine, containing such
Red River-hog {Potamochxrus penicillatus).
species as P.penidUatas, of a reddish color with
tufted ears; the river-hogs. Also called Cha-
Potamogale (pot-a-mog'a-le), n. [NL. (Du
Chaillu, 1860), < Gr.VoTO^dfy river, + yaT^, contr.
of ya?ihi, a weasel.] The typical genus of the
family PotamogalidsB; the otter-shrews. The
tibia and fibula are ankylosed, the muzzle is broad and
flat with valvular nostnls, the limbs are short, the feet
are not webbed, and the long cylindrold body is continued
into the thick vertically flattened tail, which constitutes
a powerful swimming-organ. The dental formula is 3 in-
cisors, 1 canine, 3 premolars, and 3 molars in each half-
jaw. P. velox, the only species known, is a large animal
(tor this order), being about 2 feet long, of which the tail
IS about halt, dark-brown above and whitish below, of
aquatic habits, and in general resembling a small otter,
whence the name otter-shrew.
Potamogalidsefpot'a-mo-gal'i-de), n.pl. [NL.,
< Potamogale + -ddk.] A family of aquatic
mammals of the order InsecUvora, of equatorial
Africa, containing tlie genus Potamogale; the
otter-shrews.
Potamogeton (pot*a-mo-je'ton), n. [NL.
(Toumefort, 1700), 'i L.' potamogeton, < Gr.
irora/ioyeiTuv, pondweed, < irora/idc, river, -I- yei-
Tov, neighbor, inhabitant.] A genus of fresh-
water plants known as pondweeds, the type of
the tribe Potamex in the order Naiadacese. it is
distinguished from the allied genus Buppia by the sessile
nutlets and also by the presence of a calyx ; and is further
characterized by its numerical plan in fours, each flower
having four roundish sepals, four stamens, four styles, and
four distinct ovaries producing tour small rounded drupes
or nutlets, each with a thick, rigid, or spongy pericarp, and
a single seed containing an annular or spirally coiled em-
bryo. There are over 50 species, scattered throughout the
world, growing In still rivers, ponds, and lakes, with one
ortwo in brackish waters, ^ee pondweed.) A few species
have acquired other luunes m local use, a£, in England, P.
dengues, the frog's lettuce or water-caltrops, and P. Tiatans,
the tench-weed ordeil's-spoons, and in Am erlcaP.ompZiA*-
lim, the cornstalk-weed. (See heterophyllous, 1.) A large
number of aquatic plants, supposed to belong to the ge-
nus Potamogeton, have been described under that name by
paleobotanists ; they come from various regions, and from
several divisions ot the Tertiary.
potamography (pot-a-mog'ra-fi), n. [= p. jjo-
tamographie = It. potamografia; < Gr. Trorafid^,
river, + -ypaj^ia, Cypcupeiv, write.] A descrip-
tion of rivers.
potamological (pot"a-mo-loj'i-kal), a. l<poia-
molog-y + -io-al.] Of or pertaining to potamol-
ogy: as, a, potamological taXAs.
potamology
. ' (pot-a-mol'o-ji), n. [< Gt. Trora/tdc,
river, + ^yia, < yUyetv, "say : see -ology.] The
science or scientific study of rivers; also, atrea-
tise on rivers.
potance (po'taas), ». See potence.
potargot (po-ta,r'go), n. Same as botargo.
There 's a fishmonger's boy with caviare, sir,
Anchovies, and potargo, to make you drink.
Fletcher (and another), Elder Brother, ili. 3.
potash (pot'ash), m. {_= D. potasch = G. pott-
asche =zaw. poUaska = D&n.potaske; as poti
+ ashX. The F.potasse = Sp.potasa = Pg. It.
potassa, with NL. potassa, are &om G. or E.]
A substance obtained by leaching ■wood-ashes,
evaporating the solution obtained, and cal-
cining the residuum; one of the fixed alkalis;
the so-called vegetable alkali; more or less
impure or crude potassium carbonate, or car-
bonate of potash as formerly generally (and
stiU very frequently) designated; any combi-
nation of which potassium forms the base, whe-
ther contaiaing oxygen or not. Potash-salts play
a most important part in vegetable life, existing in all
plants in various proportions, and in various combinations
with both inorganic and organic acids. When plants are
burned, the inorganic constituents remain behind in the
ashes, and it is by the lixiviation or leaching of these ashes
that potash was first obtained, a process with which the
Greeks and Eomans were acquainted, although they were
unable clearly to distinguish potash from soda, calling
them both by the same name (yirpov^ nitrum). The name
potash is of comparatively modem origin, and is derived
from the fact that the potassiferous solution from wood-
ashes was boiled down or concentrated in pots. It was
not until about the middle of the eighteenth century that
the two alkalis, soda and potash, were clearly distinguish-
ed from each other ; but they were considered to be sim-
ple substances until after the beginning of the nineteenth
century, when their metallic bases were separated from
them by Davy (1807- 8). Up to comparatively recent times
the potash compounds used in the arts — and they are nu-
merous and of great importance— were chieily obtained
in the form of crude potash after the method indicated
as having given origin to the name of this alkali, and this
method is still in use, although much less important than
it formerly was. Saltpeter, or the nitrate of potash, had
been long known, and obtained in a very different way. (See
mltpeter. ) Since the beginning of the present century pot-
ash has been obtained in considerable quantity from the
refuse of beet-root used in the manufacture of sugar, and
from sheep's wool. It has also been got (in the form of
the chlorid)from sea- water; but the most important source
of supply is the region near Stassf urt in Prussia, where two
minerals containing potassic compounds (carnallite, a
double chlorid of potassium and magnesium, and cGenite,
containing sulphates of potash and maj^esia with chlorid
of magnesium) are found in abundance, and mined on a
large scale. From these naturally occurring potassiferous
compounds all the various salts of potash used in the arts
are manufactured, and it is by using the potash-salts ob-
tained at Stassfurt that the Chili saltpeter (nitrate of
snda) is converted into common saltpeter or niter (nitrate
of potash), a substance important as the principal ingre-
dient in the manufacture of gunpowder. — Caustic POt-
asb. Seemustu!.— Fish and potasll-salts. Seefishi.
— Lump-potasll, the trade-name for a crude potash con-
taining about 6 per cent, of water.— Potash alum. See
alum. — Fotasll feldspar. See orthoclase, microdine, feld-
frpor.- Potash kettle country. - ■ •••
Potash lye, the strong aqueous solution of caustic pot-
ash or of potassium carbonate. — Potash mica. See mma-
covitBt 2, mica^. — Potash-water, an aerated bevei-age con-
sisting of carbonic-acid water to which is added potas-
sium bicarbonate.
potass (po-tas'), «. [< F. potasse, < NL. potassa :
Bee potassa.'] Same a,8 potash.
potassa (po-tas'a), m. [Nli.: see^oto/j.] Pot-
ash.
potassamide, potassiamide (pot-as-am'id, po-
tas-i-am'id), n. [< NL. potassium + B. amae.]
An olive-green compound (KNHg) formed by
heating potassium in ammonia gas.
potassic^ (po-tas'ik), a. [= F. potassique; as
potassium 4- ■4c.'] Eelating to potassium; con-
taining potassium as an ingredient.
potassic^ (p6-tas'ik), a. [< potassa + •4c.']
Consisting oi or related to potash.
potassiferous (pot-a-sif'e-rus), a. [< 'NL. potas-
sa, potash, -I- L. ferre =S. bear^.] Containing
or yielding potash or potassie salts.
potassium (po-tas'i-um), n. [= F. potassium
= 8p. potasio '= 'Pg.potassiOjpotassium = It. po-
tassio; < NL. potassium, < potassa, potash: see
potassa.] Chemical symbol, K (for kalium);
atomic weight, 39.14. The metallic base of the
alkali potash, a substance not occurring un-
combined in nature, but in various combina-
tions widely diffused and of the highest impor-
tance. See potash. Potassium is silvery-white, and
has a decided metallic luster. Its specific gravity is 0. 875,
and it is the lightest of all the metals with the exception
of lithium. At the freezing-point of water it is brittle
and has a crystalline fracture ; at the ordinary tempera-
ture it is soft and may easily be cut with the knife. It
was first obtained by Davy, in 1807, by the electrolysis of
potash ; but its preparation in the large way is effected
by the ignition of a mixture of charcoal and potassium
carbonal^ in a mercury bottle or iron tube coated with
clay. In perfectly pure and dry air it undergoes no
change ; but in ordinary air it soon becomes coated with
4648
a film of potassium hydrate and carbonate. Its affinity
for water is so great that when brought mto contact wltn
it immediate decomposiUon is effected, and sufficient
heat evolved to set on fire the liberated hydrogen, which
burns with the characteristic violet flame of potassmm.
Next to ciBSium and rubidium it is the most electroposi-
tive element. It is a most powerful reducing agent, and
hence has been largely employed for separating other
metals from their various combinations ; but at the pres-
ent time sodium, being cheaper, is more generally em-
ployed for that purpose. Among the most important salts
of potassium are the chlorid or muriate, KCl, mined at
Stassfurt, Germany, and used as a fertilizer as well as the
starting-point for the manufacture of other potash-salts ;
potassium chlorate, KClOs, which is used in the arts as an
oxidizing agent and in the manufacture of explosives;
potassium nitrate, KNO3, niter or saltpeter, made at pre^
ent by the double decomposition of sodium nitrate and
potassium chlorid, which is used in medicine and pyro-
techny, but chiefly in the manufacture of gunpowder;
potassium carbonate, KgCOg, which, under the commer-
cial names of potash and peaa-lash, is largely used in the
manufacture of soap and glass, and as a basis for making
other potash-salts; potassium cyanide, KCN, a violent
poison, used in photography and as a reducing agent ; and
potassium bichromate, K2Cr207, red chromate of potash,
much used in dyeing and calico-printing.- Carbovlnate
of potassium, more properly ethyl-potassium carbonate,
C2H5K.CO3, a white crystalline ether obtained by the ac-
tion of carlion dioxid upon perfectly dry potassium hydrate
in absolute alcohol.— Cobaltlcyanlde of potassium.
See cobaUicyanide.—'Pota.SBi.van bitartrate. Same as
cream of tartar (which see, under crcaml).—Potassium-
Cblorate battery, an electric battery in which depolari-
zation is produced by means of potassium chlorate with
sulphuric acid.— Potassium cyanide, feirocyauide,
myronate, etc. See cyanide, etc.
potateti a. [< h.potatus, i)p. otpotare, drink:
see potation.] In alchemy, liquefied, as a metal ;
potable.
Eight, nine, ten days hence
He [Mercury] will be silver poSate, then three days
Before he citronize. B. Jonson, Alchemist, iiL 2.
potation (p6-ta'shgn), n. [< OF. potation, po-
tacion = (5Sp. poiadon = It. potagione, potazi-
one, < L. potaUo{n-), a drinking, < potare, pp.
potatus, drink (= Ji.potmm, I drink); eLpottcs,
drunken (= Gr. nong, drunk : see below), po-
tus (potur), a drinking, potio(n-). a drinking,
drinkj <.-\/ po^= Gr. -i/ tto in irortf, drunk, for
drinking (neut. ttotSv, what is drunk, drink),
ir(i™f, a dnnking, prob. Koraudg, river, stream,
•j/ m in Trtvsiv, drink, = Skt. ypd, drink. From
the same (L.) source are ult. potable, potion, poi-
son, compotation, and (from Gr.) symposium, etc.]
1. The act of drinking; drinking.
Upon the account of these words so expounded by some
of the fathers concerning oral manducation and potaUan,
they believe themselves bound by the same necessity to
give the eucharist to infants as to give them baptism.
Jer. Taylor, On the Real Presence, iii. 3.
2. A drinking-bout ; a drinking-party; a com-
potation ; especially, an annual entertainment
formerly given by schoolmasters to their pupils.
See potation-pewny.
The Count and other nobles from the same country
[Holland) were too apt to indulge in those mighty pota-
tiorts which were rather characteristic of their nation and
the age. Motley, Hist. Netherlands, II. 188.
Statutes of Hartlebury, Worcestershire, "the seventh
year of our Sovereign taSy Queen Elizabeth " ; " The said
Schoolmaster shall and may have, use, and take the profits
of all such cock-fights and potaUong as are commonly
used in Schools, and such other gifts as shall be freely
given them, . . , over and besides their wages, until their
salary and stipend shall be augmented " (vol. ii. p. 759).
y. and Q., 7th ser., IX. 90.
3. A drink ; a draught.
Soderigo,
Whom love hath turn'd almost the wrong side out>
To Desdemona hath to-night caroused
Potations pottle-deep.' STiak., Othello, ii. 3. 56.
4. A Uquor drunk ; a drink; a beverage.
If I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle 1
would teach them should be, to forswear thin potations
and to addict themselves to sack.
Shale., 2 Hen. IV., iv. S. 135.
potation-penny (po-ta'shon-pen'''i), n. Money
paid by the scholars or their friends to the mas-
ter of a school to enable him to give an enter-
tainment (usually in Lent) to the scholars on
quitting school. In some counties of England
this is still continued, and is called "the (Sink-
ing." 'Wharton, Hist. Manchester Grammar
School, p. 25.
Under the head of Manchester School, Carlisle gives a
copy of an indenture of feoffment by Hugh Bexwyke and
Johnne Bexwyke, on AprU 1, 1624, containing ordinances,
oneofwhiohis:"Item,thateveryschoolmaster . . . shall
teach freely . . . without any money or other rewards
taken therefore, as Cock-penny, Victor-penny, Potation
penny, or any other whatsoever It be " (vol. i. p. 677).
N. and Q., 7th ser., IX. 90.
potato (po-ta'to), n. ; pi, potatoes (-toz). [Early
mod. E. also potatoe, pottatoe, potatus, potades
(quasi NL. ) ; also batatas^ Gc.potate, sweet po-
tato, = Dan. potet, potetes = Sw. potat, potates,
potatis, white potato .(< E.) ; = ¥.patate, sweet
potato (of. pomme de terre, ' earth-apple,' white
potato
potato), < ^.jjototo, white potato, batata, sweet
potato, =r Pg. batata, sweet potato (NL. lata-
tas), < Haytian batata, sweet potato.] If. The
sweet potato. See below. [This was the original
application of the name, and it is in this sense that the
word is generally to be understood when used by English
writers down to the middle of the seventeenth century.)
This Plant (which is called of some Sisorum Peruvi-
anum, or Skyrrets of Peru) is generally of us called f oto-
tus or Potato's. It hath long rough flexible branches trail,
ing upon the ground, like unto those of Pompions, where-
upon are set greene three cornered leaves very like thosa
of the Wilde Cucumber. . . . Clusius calleth it Batata
Camotes, Amotes, and Ignames: in English, Potatoes, Pota-
tus, and Potades. Oerarde, Herball (1636)^ Of Potatn's.
Candied potatoes are Athenians' meat.
Marstan, Scourge of Villanie, iii.
2. One of the esculent tubers of the common
plant Solanum tuberosum, or the plant itself,
The potato is a native of the Andes, particularly in Chili
and Peru, but in the variant boreale it reaches north to
New Mexico. It was probably first introduced into Europe
from the region of Quito by the Spaniards, about the mid-
dle of the sixteenth century. In 1586 it was brought to
England from Virginia, where, however, it was probably
derived from a Spanish source. Its progress in Europe
was slow, its culture, even in Ireland, not becoming gen-
eral till the middle of the eighteenth century ; but It is
now a staple food in most temperate climates, I'he fruit
of the potato-plant is a worthless green berry; its usefal
product is the underground tubers, which in the wild
plant are small, but are much enlarged under cultiva-
tion. These tubers, which are of a roundish or oblong
shape, sometimes flatfish, are set with "eyes," really the
axils of rudimentary leaves, containing ordinarily several
buds, and it is by means of these that the plant is usu-
ally propagated. The food-value of the potato lies most-
ly in starch, of which it contains from 15 to 20 or 25 per
cent. It is deflcient in albuminoids and phosphatoa.
Besides their ordinary food-use, potatoes are a source ol
manufactured starch ; and spirits are now distilled from
them to a considerable extent, chiefly in Germany. Tbi
tops (in America called vines, in England halms, m Scot^
land ehaws) contain, together with the imii, a poisonous
alkaloid, solanin, absent in the tubers except when ex-
posed to the sun. The varieties of the potato are numer.
ous. The crop Is often seriously injured by the potato-
beetle and the potato-rot. To distinguish it from the
yellow sweet porato, this plant is sometimes called vMe
potato ac (from its being one of the chief food-staples in
Ireland) Irish potato.
Virginian Potato hath many hollow flexible branches
trailing upon the ground, three square, uneven, knotted
or kneed in sundry places at certaine distances: from the
which knots cometh forth one great leaf made of divers
leaves. . . . Because it hath not only the shape and pro-
portion of Potato's, but also the pleasant taste and vertnes
of the same, we may call it in English Potatoes of America
or Virginia.
Qerarde, Herball (1636), Of Potatoes of Viiginia.
' They dygge also owte of the ground certeyne rootes
growynge of theim selues, whiche they caule Batatas.
. . . The skyn is sumwhat towgher than eyther of nauies
or mussheroms, and of earthy coloure : But the inner
meate thereof is verye whyte.
Peter Mairtiyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p, 131).
Canada potato, the Jerusalem artichoke.— Chat potii-
toes. See chtttK—CzW potato, Psoralea esculenta: so
called as used by the Cree Indians.— Hog's potato, In
California, the death-camass, Zygadenus venenosus, vhose
tubers are said to be eaten eagerly by hogs.— Indian po-
tato, (a) The groundnut or wild bean, Apios tuierosa : so
called on account of its small edible tubers, (b) The lilia-
ceous genus Calochttrtus : so called from its bulb or corm.-
Irish potato. See def . 2.— Native potato, of New South
Wales, Mairsdenia viridiflara ; of Tasmania, aastroiia ma-
nundes, an orchid with a rootstalk thickened into a tuber.
— Oil Of potatoes, an amylic alcohol obtained from spir-
its made m)m potatoes. It is somewhat oily in appearance,
has a strong smell, at first pleasant hut afterward nau-
seous, and a very acrid taste.— Potato starch a fecula
obtained from the potato, and also called EngUsh arrow-
roo*.— Seaside potato, Ipomaa iadba (I. Pes-caprx), t
twining and creeping plant of tropical shores in both
hemispheres, said to reach a length sometimes of 100 feet
—Small potatoes, something petty or insignificant or
contemptible. [Slang, U. S.]
All our American poets are but smaUpotatoes compared
with Bryant. Quoted in De Vere's Americanisms.
I took to attendin' Baptist meethi', because the Pres-
byterian minister here is such muUl potatoes that 'twan't
edifying to sit under his preachin'.
Mrs. Whitcher, Widow Bedott Papers, p. 188,
Spanish potato, the sweet potato.— Sweet potato, (a)
A plant of the convolvulus family, Ipomeea Batatas, or one
of its spindle-shaped fleshy esculent roots. The plant Is
a creeping, rarely twining, vine, with variously heart-
shape^ halberd-shaped, or triangular (somethies cut-
lohed) leaves, and a blossom like that of the common
morning-glory, but less open, and rose-purple with a white
border. Its value lies in the roots, which are richer In
starch, and still more in sugar, than the common potato.
Their use is very much that of the latter, but in Mexico
they are said to be regarded as a sweetmeat^ and In Spain
they are made into a preserve. They are red, yellow, or
white in different varieties,, and range hi weight from
that of the common potato up to many pounds. A va-
riety in the southern United States is called yam. The
sweet potato appears to have originated in tropical Amer-
ica, but is referred by some to the East Indies, or to both
hemispheres. It is widely cultivated in warm climate^
and is successfully grown in the United States as far
north as New Jersey and Illinois, and even Michigan. (O)
In Bengal, the yam.— Telinga potato, Amorphopimvs
caTBjjan'irfattM, an araceousplantmuch cultivated in India
for its esculent tubers.— 'WMte potato. See def. 2.—
potato
4649
WIM potato, in Jamaica, IponueafaMgiala, a tnber-beai^
ing plant, unlike the sweet potato in its climbing habit
potato-beetle(po-ta,'t6-be'tl),n. Aehrysomelid
beetle, the notorious Doryphora decemlxneata,
which up to 1855 or 1856 lived in the Rocky-
Mountain region, feedingnponthewildSoiaHMm
rostratum, but which, as the cultivated potato
reached its habitat, increased enormously and potatory (p6'ta-to-ri),
began to spread to the east, in 1874 it reached the "• lii-iL. poiatorius,
Atlantic coast at several points, and it lias since been a pest
in almost the entire coontiy. It has several times made
its way to Eiu-ope, but has been stamped ont Both larva
and beetle feed npon the leaves ot the potato, and the
pupa is formed in the earth at the foot of the plant. There
are three generations annnally, and the perfect beetles
hibernate. The most common and effective remedy is
Paris gieen. See cut under beetle^.
potato-bing (po-ta'to-bing), n. A heap of po-
tatoes. [Scotch.]
lying these spots the tissue will be found to be dark-col-
ored to a considerable depth. The flesh in the center of
the tuber may remain for
some time healthy and nor-
mal, bnt in the end it also
decays, with either dry or
wet rot. See PhytophUwra
and miZdew.
fht (p9-ta't6-blit), ». See nofeito-ro*. _-4.„4.„ „„„' , - .-,
ie(^-ta't6-b6'gf),». A scarecrow. P^*tJ2;^'^P i^t, .'
5. aid Scotch.] to-skop), n. A hand-
PataXo^rings are snugged up frae skaith
Of coming Winter's biting frosty breath.
Burm, Brigs of Ayr.
potato-blight (po-ta'to-blit), »
potato-bogli '-■■-'■ ' — '
[Prov. Eng.
potato-bread (po-ta' to-bfed), n. A bread made
of potatoes which have been boUed, pressed till
they are dry, beaten up, kneaded with wheat-
flour, aniseed, and yeast, and then baked.
potato-bng (po-ta'to-bug), n. Same as potato-
beetle.
potato-digger (po-ta'to-dig'fer), n. An imple-
belonging to drinking,
< L. potator, a drinker,
< potare, pp. potatm,
dnnk: see potation.1
Potable ; drinkable.
[Rare.]
I attempted the soup, and
. . . helped myself to the
potatory food with a slow
dignity that must have per-
fectly won the heart of the
solemn waiter.
Btiwer, Pelham, :
screen in the form of a
grated shovel for tak-
ing up potatoes which
have been dug by a po-
tato-digger. The soil
Potato-iot {Phytefhthora in-
yiestans).
Transreise Section of Leaf of
Potato (Saianum tuberosutrii,
showing the hyphs ramifying
among the cells, and a brandi or
conidiopbore bearing a single
sifts through the grat- conidium. which has issued frnm
ing-bars, which detain iS^^^.^'^^llt^
, T,T— ■ 1 '-' j'i -^i the tubers. natmal size, showing the dark
ment, resembhng a plow, used to remove pota- _^_i!:" _?.lj4. / -4.-/4.- spots caused by the
t^fis from the a?onid- L™» „f «,«» ™„,.l=„f= pOtatO-SpiTlt (po-ta to- conidium.
spir^it), n. An alcohol
toes from the ground. Some of these implements
simply leave the potatoes on the surface, others screen
the earth from the tnbers, and other more complicated
machines remove the potatoes from the soil, divest them
of adherent earth, and deposit l^em in a receptacle.
potato-disease (po-ta'to-di-zez"), n. See po-
tato-rot.
potato-eel (po-ta'to-el), n. A small threadworm
ornematoid, of the iajmij AnguiUiiMdae, infest-
ing the potato.
potato-fern (po-ta'to-fem), n. A New Zealand pot-bellie*^ (pot'beFid), a
tera, Marattiafraxinea. its rootstock is a rounded, nent belly; abdominous,
hard, fleshy mass, as large as the head, roasted and eaten
distilled from potatoes: it is made chiefly in
Germany — Potato-spliit oU. See oC.
potato-sugar (po-ta'to-shtg'ar), n. A sugar
obtained from potatoes,
potato-vine (po-ta'to-vin), n. The potato-plant,
especially the' part above ground. [U. S.] —
Wild potato-vine. See Ipomxa and maa-o/-the.earth.
pot-barlejir (pofbaj^U), re. See barley^.
Having a promi-
by the natives, who call it jxira.
potato-fingert (po-ta'to-fing'ger), n. A long
thick finger, like a sweet potato: used in a
loose, contemptuous sense. It is otherwise ex-
plained as 'a provocative.' [Rare.]
How the devil Luxury, with his fat rump and potato-
fngtr, tickles these together ! Shak., T. and C, v. 2. 56.
potato-flmgus (po-ta't6-fung''gus), B. Seej>o-
tato-rot.
potato-grant (po-ta'to-grant), n.
land for growing vegetables, formerly'granted
by the owner to each of his slaves. Bartlett.
[West Indies.]
potato-hook (po-ta'to-huk), n. A hand-tool
with bent fork-like tines, used for digging pota-
toes from the ground.
potato-mold (po-ta'to-mold), n. Same as po-
tato-rot.
potato-murrain (po-ta 'to-mur'an), n. The po-
tato-rot.
potato-oat (po-ta't6-6t), ». A variety of the
common oat. ' See oat, 1 (a)
He appears to be near forty ; a litUeiwt-ie2Z{«Z and thlck-
ahouldered, otherwise no bad figure.
Gray^ To Mason. (J/oViain.)
pot-belly (pot'bel'i), re. 1. A protuberant
' belly. — 3. A person having a protuberant
belly.
He will find himself a forked straddling animal, and a
pot-belly. Arbidhnot and Pope,
3. The lake-tront, Salvelinits {CrisUvomer) na-
, 4. , 4! maycush. [Lake Huron.]
,^J*™^fni pot-boiler (pot'boi'ler), re. 1. A work of art or
.!• -D- on-an a literature produced merely "to keep the pot
boiling " — that is, for the sake of providing the
necessaries of life.
His [Raff's] very fertility is a misfortune; . . . writing
pot-boilers has injured the development of a delicatofeel-
Ing for what is lofty and refined.
Grone's Diet. Music, in. 65.
Murillo executed a few portraits about the time he was
painting pot-borers for sale at fairs and to sea-captains.
The American, XTV. .301.
2. A housekeeper. Compare pot-waller, pot-
walloper. HaUiweU. [Prov. Eng.]
potato-oil (p6-ta't6-oU), re. Same as oU ofpo- pot-boiling (pot'boiling), re. The practice of
See Egyp-
producing pot-boilers; working for a living
rather than for love of art.
Most earnestly is it to be hoped that a writer who has
the faculty displayed in this book will not, like so many
of his contemporaries, dissipate it in pot-boiling on a colos-
sal scal& The Academy, July 20, 1889, p. 34.
pot-boy (pot'boi), n. A boy or young man who
has the charge of beer-pots, (a) An attendant on
a bar; a young man who assists the barmaid in serving
customers with porter, ale, or beer. (&) One who carries
beer or ale in pots to customers, or for sale to passers-by.
[Eng.]
I could get a pot-boy's place again, bnt I'm not so strong
as I were, and it 's slavi^ work in the place I could get.
... — ,, - ^ -J- J,- .^a^Aew, London Labour and London Poor, n. 17.
Uitore,<. L.potator, a drinker, Cpptore, pp.i>o«o- pot-cake (pot'kak), u. A light Norfolk dum-
<i«, dnnk: see i>otefton.] A drinker. ^^i^ HalUwell.
Bamabee^ the Ulnstrious potator, saw there the moat un- pot-CClt (pot'selt), n. A celt having the hollow
becoming sight that he met with in all his travels. or opening comparatively large. This form of
S<m««», The Doctor, xuv. (Dam^.) eelt was long thought to be an ax-head, but is
potato^rot (po-ta'to-rot), n. A very destruc- now regarded as a ferrule. See amgarn.
tive disease of the potato, caused by a para- potch^ (poch), v. i. A variant otpoach^.
^tic tangus, Pliytoplithora infestans. it seems to potch^t (poch), ?-. f. An obsolete form of ^ooc/jS.
have been introduced from South America, about the year notch^ (pooh), v. t. Jn paper-manuf., to perform
18«),andsincethattimehasbeenthecauseofveryserions *;;:„„",„'■£;,,;„'/ -^ ■■■''■ ^
losses, sometimes involving almost the entire crop. The ~
tatoes (which see, undeT potato)
potato-onion (p6-ta'to-un'yon), re.
tian onion, under onion.
potato-pen (po-ta'to-pen), re. Naut., a wooden
compartment or iien on deck, built with a view
to thorough ventilation, for keeping potatoes
and other vegetables during a voyage.
potato-planter (po-ta'to-plan'ter), n. An im-
plement for planting seed-potatoes and cover-
ing them with soil, a planting-share plows a furrow,
into which the potatoes are dropi>»l by an automatic de-
vice, and a following covering-snare turns the soil over
them.
potator (po-ta 'tor), re. [= OF.potateur = lt.po-
Mngos attacks the stem and leaves as well as the tnbers,
and when confined to the leaves and stem is usually called
potato-blight. On the leaves it first appears as pale-yel-
lowish spots, which soon turn brown and finally black, in-
mcating the total destruction of the tissues. On the tu-
trers the parasite attains a considerable growth within the
tissues before there is any external manifestation of its
presence. Alter a time depressed spots appear, and the
8km covering these dies and becomes discolored. Under-
gas-bleaching upon (paper-stock) in a potch-
ing-engine. The bleaching reagent is chlorin dissolved
in water, or chlorin generated in the mass by the action of
dilute sulphuric acid upon a solution ot common salt, or
a solution of salt and chlorid of manganese, called bleach-
ing-liquid. The stock is placed in a machine constructed
much like a breaking- or washing-engine, and called a
potcMng-CTigine. The acid is very slowly dropped into
the bleaching-liquid when the chlorin is to be generated
in the mass, and, after the liberated chlorin has performed
potenc6e
its work, the stuff is discharged into stone or earthen-
ware chests having zinc strainers at the bottom, where
the bleaching-liquid is drained off. When a solution of
chlorin in water is used, it is added in proper quantity
to the stock after washing, and the latter, after sufficient
treatment; is drained as above described. See bleaching
and gas-bleaching-
pot-cheese (pot'ches), «. See cheese^.
potcher (poch'er), «. Same as potcliing-engine.
From this main tank the solution ispumped to the bleach-
ing mill, . . . and is there discharged into jwtcAers which
contain the paper bulk to be bleached.
Elect. Sev. (Amer.), XHL xxiv. 2.
potcher-engine (poch'^r-en'jin), «. Injjoper-
manuf., a machine for saturating washed rags
thoroughly with a bleaching-solutiou of chlorid
of lime. Also called j7ofc7tin9-mac7it)ie.
potching (poeh'ing), re. [Verbal n. otpotclfi,
r.] In jjoper-nianu/., gas-bleaching. SeejjofcftS.
potching-engine (poch'ing-en'Jiu), «. Inpaper-
manuf., a machine in which both washing and
gas-bleaehing are performed, it resembles in gen-
eral construction a breaking- or washing-engine. In it
the rags are first washed. The washer is then lifted ou<;
and the bleaching-liquid iniaY>duced. The process there-
after proceeds as described under potch?. Also called
potcher.
potching-machine (poeh'ing-ma-shen'), n.
Same as potcher-engine.
pot-claw (pot'kia), n. A hook hnng in an open
chimney to support a pot or kettle. See tram-
mel.
pot-clep (pot'klep), )}. Same as pot-claw.
pot-companion (pot'kom-pan'yon), re. A com-
rade in drinking ; a boon companion : applied
generally to habitual topers.
One pot companion and his fashion
I will describe, and make relation
Of what my seLfe have scene.
Times' WMsOe (E. K T. S.X p. 69.
For fuddling they shall make the best pot-companion in
Switzerland knock under the table.
Sir R. L'EArange, tr. of Quevedo. {LaOiam.)
pote (pot), v. ; pret. and pp. poted, ppr. poUng.
[< ME. poten, < AS. poUan, push, thrust, as an
ox with its horns; ef. Sw. p&ta, poke ; D. freq.
poteren, pevteren, dig, poke, pry into, search;
of Celtic origin ; ef , W. pwiio = Corn, poot =
Grael. put, poke, put : see put^, a var. of pote,
and^otter2,afreq.form.] I. trans. ' . To push;
kick. Balliwell. [North.Eng.]—2t. To plait.
Seejjoftei, 6.
He keepes a'startcht gate, weares a formall ruffe,
A nosegay, set face, and a poted cnffe.
Heywood, Troia Britannica (1609), p. 89. (HaSiuKS.)
II. intrans. To creep about listlessly or mood-
ily; poke.
potecaryt (pot'e-ka-ri), n. An obsolete aphetic
form of apothecary,
poteen (po-ten'), n. lMsopotteen,potlieen; < Ir.
poitin, a small pot, dim. otpoite, a pot, pota, a
pot, a vessel: see pot, potation.'] "Whisky made
in Ireland, especially that which is illicitly dis-
tilled, sometimes very strong.
poteline (pot'e-lin), re. [< Potel, the name of
its inventor, + -j»c2.] a mixture of gelatin;
glycerin, and tannin in variable proportions,
according to its intended application, in which
also may be incorporated zinc sulphate or
barium sulphate, it may or may not be tinted by
vegetable coloring matters. It is plastic or liquid when
heated, according to the degree of heat, and hard enongh
at ordinary temperatures to be bored, turned, filed, or pol-
ished. It has various adaptations. In a liquid state it is
used for sealing bottles, and meats can be preserved by
coating them with it.
potellf, re. An obsolete form ot pottle.
potelot (pot'e-lot), n. [< F. potelot, < D. pot-
lood (> also G, pottloth), black-lead, < pot, pot,
+ load, lead.] Snlphid of molybdenum.
potence (po'tens), n, [Also, in some uses, po-
tance; < OF," potence, power, a crutch, P. po-
tence, a crutch, gibbet, etc., = Sp. Pg. potencia
= It. potenza, power, < L. potentia, power, ML.
also a crutch, < poten(t-)s, powerful: see po-
tenty 1. Power; potency.
Fve seen the oppressor's cruel smile
Amid his hapless victim's spoil,
And for thy potence vainly wish'd,
To crush the villain in the dust.
Bums, Lines Written on a Bank Note.
2. Inher,: (a) Abearingof the shape of a capi-
tal T — that is, a cross tau. (6) The termina-
tion of an ordinary or other bearing when of that
form. — 3. In watch-making, the counter-bridge
to the main cock or bridge on the top plate of a
watch, holding the jeweling for the balance-
staff, cylinder, or verge,
potencee (p6-ten-sa'), a. [< OF. potence, (.po-
tence, a. cross : see potence.] In Tier., terminat-
ing in a potence — that is, in the figure of a cross
tau. Also, rarely, enhende.
potence-flle
potence-file (po'tens-fil), n. A small hand-file
with flat and parallel sides. E. H. Knight.
potency (po'ten-si), n. ; pi. potencies (-siz). [As
potence (see -cy).] 1 . The quality of being po-
tent; power; inherent strength, (a) Physical,
mental, or moral power or influence.
Heavenly [Father], that admonisheth us of hia poteney
and ability, that is ruler over all things.
LaUmer, First Sermon on the Lord's Prayer.
When we will tempt the frailty ot our powers,
Presuming on their changeful potency.
Shak., T. and C, iv. 4. 99.
'Tis always Springtime here ; such is the grace
And poterwy ot her who has the bliss
To make it still Elysium where she is.
J. Cook, Green's Tu Quoque.
Her spirit resembled, in its poterwyy a minute quantity
of ottar of rose in one of Hepzibah's huge, iron-bound
trunks, diffusing its fragrance through . . . whatever else
was treasured there. Hawthnme, Seven Gables, ix.
(6) Potentiality ; capability of development.
Books are not absolutely dead things, but doe contain
a poterteie of life in them to be as active as that soule was
whose progeny they are. Milton, Areopagitica.
By an intellectual necessity I cross the boundary of the
experimental evidence, and discern in that Matter which
we, in our ignorance of its latent powers, and notwithstand-
ing our professed reverence for its Creator, have hitherto
covered with opprobrium, the promise and potency of all
terrestrial Life. Tyndall, Belfast Address, 1874, p. 75.
(c) EfBcacy; capability of producing given results: as, the
potency of a medicine.
Use almost can change the Btamp of nature,
And either master the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous jwtetu!;/.
Shak., Hamlet, iii. 4. 170. (Fumess.)
(d) Specifically, in homeopathy, the power of a drag as in-
dueedby attenuation. Two scales of dilution or attenuation
are employed, known as the cente^mai and the decimal, the
former being the one advocated by Hahnemann, and the lat-
ter of more recent introduction. In the decimal scale, one
drop of the mother tinctui'e is added to nine of the diluent,
which is usually alcohol, with certain manipulations, and
from thisflrst decimal solution or potency one drop is taken,
to form, with nine others of the diluent, the second deci-
mal solution. This process is repeated till the required
solution or potency Is reached. Drugs of high potency
are those of which the dilution has been frequently re-
peated, and the medicinal substance corre^ondingly at-
tenuated ; drugs of low potency, on the other hand, are
those in aless diluted, more concentrated condition. The
thirtieth (centesimal) potency was the highestrecommend-
ed by Hahnemann.
2 . Power dependent on external circumstances ;
material strength or force ; authority.
Bead
The cardinal's malice and his potency
Together. Shak., Hen. VIII., i. 1. 105.
Afterwards, there coming a company of Indians into
these parts, that were driven out of their country by the
potency of the Peguots, they solicited them to go thither.
N. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 171.
3. Influence; power; sovereignty.
Strange thunders from the potency of song.
Keats, Sleep and Poetry.
Whose mighty jMfencie* of verse
Move through the plastic universe.
The Academy, June 15, 1889, p. 407.
4t. Same as potence, 2 — ObjectlTe potency. See
oft^ecMiw.— Potency of two circles, in math., the square
of the distance between their centers less the sum of the
squares of their radii.
potent (po'tent), a. and n. [1. a. < OF. *potent
= Sp. Pg. It. potente, < L. poten(t-)s, powerful,
strong, potent, ppr. of posse (ind. possum), he
able, ipotis, able, powerful, orig. a lord, mas-
ter, = 6r. *n&Tig, later irdmc, husband, orig. mas-
ter, lord, = Skt. pati, master, lord, = Lith. pa-
tis, lord. The same element occurs also in des-
pot, host^, q. V. n. n. < ME. potent, potente,
a crutch, equiv. to potence, a crutch : see po-
tence.2 1. a. 1. Powerful ; possessed of inher-
ent strength, (a) Powerful in a physical sense ; ef-
fective; efficacious.
Moses once more his potent rod extends.
Milton, P. L., xii. 211.
A beautiful crimson flower, the most gorgeous and beau-
tiful, surely, that ever grew ; so rich it looked, so full of
potent Juice. BawOun"ne, Septimius Felton, p. 119.
(p) Powerful in a moral sense ; having great influence ;
cogfent; prevailing; convincing: as, potent arguments;
potent interest
I do believe,
Induced bj potent circumstances, that
You are mine enemy. Shak., Hen. VIII., ii. 4. 76.
Eise, madam ; those sweet tears are potent speakers.
Fletcher, Wife for a Month, v. 3.
We may well think there waa no small Conflict in King
Edward's Mind between the two great commanders, Love
and Honour, which of them should be most potent.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 205.
Such a majesty
As drew of old the people after him . . .
IspoterU still on me in his decline.
M. Arnold, Empedocles on Etna.
2. Having great authority, control, or domiu-
ion.
The Jews imagining that their Messiah should be a po-
tent monarch upon earth. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, vii. 15.
4650
Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors.
Shak., (Jthello,
3. 76.
Potent Counter-
potent.
3. In her., divided or included by a line or lines
forming a series of potents: as, a fesse potent.
[In this sense originally poten*^.]— Cross potent.
See erosa^. =Syn. 1 and 2. Puissant, cogent, influential.
II. H. If. A prince; a potentate.
Cry "havock"! kings; back to the stained field,
You equal iJotente, flery kindled spiMts!
SAafc.K. John, ii. 1.368.
2t. A crutch ; a walking-staff.
Fro the bench he droof awey the cat.
And leyde adoun his potente and his hat.
Chamer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 68.
A pyk is in tTa&i, potent to punge a-doun the wikkede,
That wayten eny wikkednesse.
Piers Plowman (A), ix. 88.
3. In her.: (a) A figure resembling the head of
a crutch, and consisting of a parallelogram laid
horizontally on the top of a small square. (6)
A fur made up of patches or figures. There are
four varieties. Oi these, the first is the most common, and
is generally called potent; the second is generally called
eaanter-potent ; and the others are varie-
ties which different authors describe by
the above names, or by the term potent
counter-potent, which is applied to one
or the other indifferently.
4. In watch-making, a journal
plate or bearing. E. H. Knight.
potentacyt (p6'ten-ta-si), n.
r< potenta{te) + -c^.] Sover-
eignty.
That observation of Socrates, that long before his time
the lioman episcopacy had advanced itself beyond the
priesthood into apotentacy. Barrow, Works, VII. 371.
potentate (po'ten-tat), «. [< F.potentat = Sp.
Pg. potentado = It. poientato, a potentate, <
LL. potentatus, might, power, political power,
ML. a potentate, prince, < L. poten(t-)s, pow-
erful: see potent.'] 1. Aperson who possesses
power or sway; a prince; sovereign; monarch;
ruler.
The blessed and only PoterOate, the King of kings, and
Lord of lords. 1 Tim. vi. 15.
Kings and mightiest jioten<<i!tes must die.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iii. 2. 136.
Sf. A power; state; sovereignty.
Carthage grew so great a Potentate, that at first was but .
incirculed in the throngs of a Bulls skinne, as to fight with
Rome for the Empire of the world.
Quoted in Copt. John Smith'e'Woika,
[I. 242.
potent^ (p6-ten-ta'), «• Impo-
tent, n., 3.] Same as patent-
ed.
potented (po'ten-ted), a. [<
potent, »i. , 3, + -ed!^.'] In her.,
having the outer edge stepped
or battlemented in the form of
potents.
potential (po-ten'shal), a. and ;
eial, < OF.p'otential,'potenUel, F.potenUef= Pr.
Sp. Pg. potencial = It. poteneiale, < LL. *poten-
Ualis, of power (in adv. potenUaliter), < L. po-
tentia, power: see potence.'] I. a. If. Potent;
powerfvd; mighty.
0 most potential love! vow, bond, nor space,
In thee hath neither sting, knot, nor confine,
For thou art all, and all things else are thine.
Shak., Lover's Complaint, L 264.
2. Possible, as opposed to actual ; capable of
beiug or becoming; capable of coming into full
being or manifestation.
Potential merit stands for actual.
Where only opportunity doth want,
Not will, nor power.
B. Joneon, Cynthia's Bevels, v. 8.
Nor doth It [ice] only submit unto an actual heat^ but
not endure ttie potential calidity of many vraters.
Sir T. Brmme, Vulg. Err., ii. i.
Alfenus was a cobbler, even when not at work ; that is,
he was a odtibler potential ; whereas, when busy in bis
booth, he was a cobbler actual.
Sir W. Hamilton, Metaphysics, viL
We cannot form any idea of ?i potential existence of the
universe as distinguished from its actual existence.
H. Speruxr, First Principles, p. 32.
3. In physics, existing in a positional form, not
as motion: especially in the phrase potential
energy. — 4, In gram., expressing power or pos-
sibility: a,s,^e potential mb&e; potentialiorms.
—Potential being. See being.— Potential cautery.
See caiOery, 1.— Potential composition, in metapfi., the
union of two things related as power and act— Potential
dlfTerence. Same as difference of potentials (which see,
under difference). — Potential energy. See energy, 7. —
Potential essence, in metaph., the essence of something
that does not actually exist— Potential existence, ex-
istence in an undeveloped state ^ preparedness such that
on an appropriate occasion the subject will come into ex-
istence—Potential function. See /wnciion.— Poten-
tial group. See OT-OMpi.- Potential mode, in gram., a
name sometimes given to verb-forms or verb-phrases that
Argent, a Fesse Po-
tented Purpure.
[< ME. poten-
potentiality
express power, possibility, or liberty of action or of be-
ing: as, I may go; he can write.— 'Potential part (a)
A species as contained under a genus. (6) See phrase
under jxtrt.— Potential Whole, a genus as containing
species under it.
Because universal contains not subjected species's and
individuals in act, that is actually, but power, it Is come
to pass that this whole is called potential.
Bwgersdicim, tr. by a Gentleman, 1, xiv. 9,
II. n. 1. Any thing that may be possible ; a
possibility. — 3. In dynamics :■ (a) The sum of
the products of all the ^airs of masses of a
system, each product divided by the distance
between the pair. The conception is due to Lagrange
the name to Green (1828) and independently to Gauss
(1840). The potential is so called because its product by
one constant differs only by another constant from the to-
tal vis viva of the system. In case there is but one attracting
point, the potential is the sum of the masses, each divided
by its distance from the point (6) More generally,
the line-integral of the attractions of a con-
servative system from a fixed configuration to
its actual configuration; the work that would
be done by a system of attracting and repelling
masses (obeying the law of energy) in moving
from situations infinitely remote from one an-
other (or from any other fixed situations) to
their actual situation, in this sense, the potential la
the negative of the potential energy, to a constant pr^.
But some writers limit the use of the word to the case
in which the bodies in (« 4- l)-dimensional space attract
one another inversely as the 8th power of the distance,
(c) In electrostatics, at any point near or within
an electrified body, the quantity of work ne-
cessary to bring a unit of positive electricity
from an infinite distance to that point, the
given distribution of electricity remaining un-
altered. See eguipotential. (a) A scalar quan-
tity distributed through space in such a way
that its slope represents a given vector quan-
tity distributed through space.— DUTbreilce of
potentials. See differenee.—Zoeaxiaimle potential,
the potential for a force varying inversely as tnediBtana&
It is proportional to the logarithm of the distance^ and u
important in reference to the theory of functions.— Uas-
netlc potential, at any point in a magnetic field, the
quantlqr of work expended in bringing a positive unit
magnetic pole from a given distance to l£at point— KOT-
tonian potential. See Newtowian.— Potential differ-
ence. Same as difference of potentials (which see, un-
der d{fference).—Potential Of dilatation, the function
whose partial differential coefficients are the components
of a dilatation.— Velocity potential, a scalar quantity
such that the velocity ot a mass of fluid in irrotational
motion is everywhere equal to the slope of this quantity
— that is to say, coincides in direction and in amount
with the most rapid change of the value of the ^tential
with the space. See slope. — Zero potential, in ekcL,
strictly, the potential of a point infinitely distant from
all electrified bodies; practically, the potential of the
earth, this being taken as an arbitrary zero, analogouB
to the sea-level in measuring altitudes. A body wnlch
is positively electrified is said to be at a higher poten-
tial, one negatively electrified at a lower, than the as-
sumed zero of the earth. Potential in electricity Is anal,
ogous to tenuperature ; and, as heat tends to pass from a
point at a higher to one at a lower temperature, so elec-
tricity tends to move from a higher to a lower potential.
Two bodies, then, one or both of which are electrified, If
brought into metallic connection with each other, will
assume the same potential, which will be determined by
their original potential and their capacity. (Seeonxicitv.)
The time necessary for this equalization of potential will
depend on the resistance of the connecting conductor.
Thus, an electrified body connected with the earth loses
its electricity — that is, takes the zero potential ot the
latter — the capacity of the earth being indefinitely great
If the difference of potentials between two connected
bodies is kept up in any way — by the expenditure of me-
chanical work as in turning a Holtz machine, or of chemi-
cal energy as in a voltaic battery— there results an elec-
tric current. Hence, in e2«c(roitinct«», the difference of
potential determines the electromotive force of the elec-
tric current, being analogous to the difference of level be-
tween two reservoirs of water, which determines the pres-
sure causing the flow.
potentiality (po-ten-shi-al'i-ti), ».; pLjiotoit'-
alities (-tiz). [<C P. potentiality = Sp.potend-
alidad = It. potemialitA, < 'lSL.*potenUalita(t-)»,
<*pofe»fe'a?Js, potential: see potential.'] 1. The
state of being potential; mere being without
actualization; the state of being capable o£
development into actuality: as, to exist in po-
tentiality: opposed to emtetec%.— 2. A potential
state, quality, or relation; the inherent capa-
bility of developing some actual state or qual-
ity ; possibility of development in some particu-
lar direction ; capability; possibility.
For space and time, ilwe abstract from their special de-
termination by objects, are mere potentMrfitfesorpossiDUl-
ties of relations. E. Caird, Philos. of Kant P- 2«-
Budimentary organs sometimes retain their j)oten(iflii(i/.'
this occasionally occurs with the mammae of male mam-
mals, for they have been known to become well de^""?™'
and to secrete milk. Darwin, Origin of Species, p. 406.
An old-fashioned American rustic home ; not a peasant-
home— far above that in reflnement and potentialUiet—
but equally simple,frugal, and devout
M. C. Stedman, Poets of America, p. IW-
In using the notion of self-development we must care-
fully exclude the apparent implication that we are beings
potentiality
with perfectly definite potentialUiea, which we have only
the alternatives of developing or not developing.
H. Sidgunck, Methods of Ethics, p. 170.
3. A potential being; a being, or capacity for
existence, not yet actualized, but ■which may
be developed into actuality.
The self -creation of snch a potential nnlTerse would in-
volve over again the difficulties here stated— would im-
ply behind this potential universe a more remote potenti-
tUUy. B, Spencer, First Principles, p. 33.
The seed is the potentiality of the plant.
Etwyc. Bra., II. 522.
potentialize (po-ten'shal-iz), v. t. and i. ; pret.
and pp. potentidlized, ■ppc.potenUalizing. [<.po-
tential + 4ze.'] To convert into or assume a
potential or positional form : said of energy.
The problem proposed is to find an expression for the
distribution of potentia2izef2 energy throughout the passive
mass. Amer, J<mr. Sei., 3d ser., XXXI. 119.
With a given metal, there is large potentializinp in the
first stages of strain, and large dissipation in the final
Nature, XL. 562.
potentially (p6-ten'shal-i), adv. If. Power-
fully; potently; efficaciously.
Ijideed the wordes of holy scripture doe worke their ef-
f ectes pcftenUdUie and thorowly by the mightie operation
of the spirit of God. Foxe, Martyrs, p. 12§6| an. 1549.
2. In a potential manner or state ; in an unde-
veloped or unrealized manner or state ; possi-
bly; latently.
Anaximander's infinite was nothing else but an infinite
chaos of matter, in which were either actually or poten-
HaUy contained all manner of qualities.
Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 128.
Blackness is produced upon the blade of a knife that has
cut aoiu' apples, if the juice, though both actually and po-
tentiaUy cold, be not quickly -wiped off.
Boyle, On Colours.
The apple siieaiyUee potentially in the blossom, as that
may he traced also in the ripened fruit.
LoweU, Study Windows, p. 121.
potentiary (po-ten'shi-a-ri), «. ; pi. potentiaries
(-riz). [< MJ. *potentidrius, < li. potenUa, ■pow-
er: Beepotenee. Gt. plenipotentiary. "i Aperson
invested with or assuming power; one having
authority or influence.
The last great potentiary had arrived who was to take
part in the family congress. Thaekeray, ITewcomes, xxx.
potentiate (po-ten'shi-at), V, t. ; pret. and pp.
potentiated, ppr. potentiating, [< L. as if *po-
tentiatus, < potenUa, power: see potence."] To
give power to.
Substantiated and wicceasively potentu^dhy an espe.
cial divine grace. Coleridge.
The power of the steam-engine derives its force and ef-
fect, its working capacity, from the appliances by which
it a potentiated— i. e., from road-beds, roUing-stook, etc.,
in railroads, and from fly-wheels, cog-wheels, spindles,
etc., in manufactories. Anur. Anthropologic, I. 20.
potentiation (po-ten-shi-a'shon), n. [< poten-
tiate + ■don.'] 'The state or quality of being
made potent ; capaeitation for certain ends.
Estunating the increased jwteiiiiatfan [of steam-engines]
at the average of forty-seven times, we shall have, from
railroads alone, a working capacity equal to that of 5,293,-
250,000 living horses or of 31,407,760,000 laboring men.
Ameir. Anthropologiat, L 20.
Potentilla (p6-ten-til'a), n. [NL. (Linnseus,
1737), so called in allusion to the repute of some
species in medieval medicine; < Jj. poten{t-)s,
potent: see potent.'] 1. A large genus of rosa-
ceous plants, type of the tnbe-Potentilleee, char-
4651
four or five bracts below the calyx, and many
stamens in a single row. Thenumberof specieshas
been estimated at from 160 to 260, most common in temper-
ate and cold northern regions, only two being as yet known
south of the equator. They are herbs or undershrubs, with
mainly alternate pinnate or palmate leaves, adnate stip-
ules, and ususdly white or yellow, often clustered, flowers.
Several species are frequently called vrUd strawberry, as P.
Canadenm in the Atlantic States and P. Fragariastrum in
England, but, while they are often very much like the true
strawberry, Pragaria, in habit, the latter is always differ-
ent.in its fleshy receptacle. (See dnquefoU and fivefinger.)
Many brilliant-flowered species are occasional in cultiva-
tion, under the name jwtnUtUa. P. on«mna is called in
England goose-tanny, wild taruy, goose-grass, and sUverweed.
For P. TormentUla, the most in repute in medicine, also
known as sepifoU, see tormentU and bloodroot, 1.
2. [I. c] A plant of this genus.
Fotentillese (po-ten-til'e-e), n. pi. [NL. (Ben-
tham and Hooker, 186^), < PotenUUa + -ess.]
A tribe of dicotyledonous plants of the order
BosacecB, characterized by a superior ovary,
four or sometimes numerous caroels, each with
a single ovule, and the four or five calyx-lobes
provided with alternate bracts. It includes 14
genera of herbs and shrubs, mainly of the north temperate
zone, of which PoterttiUa is the type, and the strawberry,
Fragaria, the best-known. See also Geum and Dryas.
potentiometer (po-ten-shi-om'e-ter), n. [< L.
potentia, power, -t- Gr. iiirpov, measure.] An in-
strument used for measuring the difEerence of
electrical potential between two points. There
are many forms of the instrument, as the conditions un-
der which it is used diif er widely.
The potentiom^er employed its own working battery,
mirror galvanometer, and Clark standard cell.
Electric Rev. (Eng.), XXT. 642.
potentize (po'ten-tiz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. po-
tentieed, ppr. potenUzing. [? potent + -ize.]
In homeopathy, to induce power in, as drugs, by
attenuation. Bee potency, 1 (d).
In the most characteristic feature of Hahnemann's prac-
tice—"the jwtentfeins," "dynamizing," of medicinal sub-
stances— he appears to have been original.
Encye. Brit., Xn. 12r.
potently (po'tent-li), a<?». 1. In a potent man-
ner; with potency; powerfully; with great en-
ergy or force.
You Qxe potently opposed, and with a malice
Of as great size. Shalk., Hen. VIII., v. 1. 134.
What is there in thee, Moon ! that thou shouldst move
My heart so potently} Keats, Endymion, iiL
2. Hence, extremely; emphatically.
From my own experience I begin to doubt most jmfent-
ly of the authenticity of many of Homer's stories.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 388.
potentness (po'tent-nes), ». The state orproj)-
erty of being potent ; powerfulness ; strength;
potency.
Pbteries (pot-e-ri'e-e), n. pi. pOJ. (Bentham
and Hooker, 1865), '< Poterivm + -ex.] A tribe
of rosaceous plants, characterized by an infe-
rior ovary with one ovule, and fruit of one,
two, or three dry achmes inclosed within the
calyx-tube, it contains 11 genera, mainljr of temperate
regions, both herbs and shrubs, generally without petals,
producing a dry fruit resembling a rose-hip in structure,
and having the flve-lobed calyx provided with alternate
braotlets. See Poteriwm (the type) and agrimmp.
Poteriiun (p6-te'ri-um), m. [NL. (Linnaeus,
1737), so called in allusion to the former use
of the loaves of P. Sanguisorha, which have a
Flowering Plant of CinquefoU {Poientilta Canadensis').
acterized by the numerous pistils on the dry re-
ceptacle, styles not lengthened after flowering,
Flowering Plant of Canadian Burnet {Poteriutn Canadense).
a, male flower, seen from the side ; *, female flower, seen from above-
potgun
cucumber-like flavor, in preparing a medicinal
drink called cool-tankard, q. v.; < Ij. poterimn , <.
Gr. Trorijpunt, a drinking-cup, < norijp, a drinMng-
cup, < V ?ro- (in Trordf, verbal adj.), drink: see
potation.] A genus of rosaceous plants, type
of the tribe Poteriess, characterized by pinnate
leaves, absence of bractlets and petals, imbri-
cated calyx, and herbaceous habit ; the bumets.
There are about 20 species, natives of north temperate and
warm regions. They are l«ify perennial herbs, erect from a
decumbent base, rarely becoming spiny shrubs. The pin-
nate leaves are alternate, with long sheathing petioles and
toothed and stalked leaflets. The small perfect or po-
lygamodioecious flowers are borne in dense heads or spikes
on long peduncles, and are green, purplish, pink, or white,
conspicuous chiefly for the several or numerous slender
stamens. The former genus Sanguisorba is here included.
P. Sanguisorba is the common burnet. A tall American
species, P. Canadense, with white flowers in cylindrical
spikes, appearing late in summer, is the wild or Canadian
burnet. See bumets, 2.
potemert, n. Same aspautener^.
He plucked out of his potemer.
And longer wold not dwell ;
He pulled forth a pretty mantle,
Betweene two nut>shells.
TTie Boy and the ManOe (Child's Ballads, L 8).
potestas (po-tes'tas), n. [L., power: see po-
testate.] m Bom. antiq., personal sovereignty
or dominion of a man over persons dependent
on him; the authority which the head of a
household possessed over wife, descendants,
and slaves, as distinguished from official au-
thority, called imperium; more specifically,
such personal authority over children and de-
scendants as members of the household (pa-
tria potestas, which see) and over slaves (do-
minica potestas, also called dominium), as dis-
tinguished from authority over a wife, called
manus. The conception of potestas is substantially that
of the patriarchal authority- consisting of the aggregate
of the powers of punishment even to death, of control,
and of disposal — which in early times the chief of the
household has generally been allowed to exercise, the
ground of this authority being connected with the fact
that retributive justice dealt rather with the family than
with individuals, and held the chief responsible for of-
fenses committed by members of the household, and did
not interfere with him in his discijjline. Hence, potestas
was often used as the equivalent of ^ or right, those who
were subject to it being said to be alieni juris, or under
the right of another, and those who were not subject to
it 8ui juris, or living in their own right.
potestatet (po'tes-tat), n. [< ME. potestat, < OF.
potestat = Sp. potestad = Pg. potestade = It.
potesta, potestate,potestade, dominion, ^ode«<a,
a magistrate, < E. potesta(t-)s, power, a su-
preme monarch, < potis, powerful : see potent.
Cf . the doublets podesta and poust.] A poten-
tate; a ruler.
Whilom ther was an irons potestat.
• Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, I. 309.
Still hee stood apotesttite at sea.
Marstan, What you Will, L 1.
potestative (p6'tes-ta-tiv), a. [= F. potestatif
= Sp. Pg. potestativo} < LL. potestativus, denot-
ing power, < L. potesta(t-)s, power: see potes-
tate.] Authoritative; befitting a ruler or po-
tentate. [Bare.]
So I might contemplate him [Christ] in a judiciary
posture, in a potestative, a sovereign posture, sitting, and
consider him as able, as willing to relieve me.
Donne, Sermons, xi.
Potestative condition. See conditional obligation, un-
der conditional.
pot-eye (pot'i), n. 1. In a spinning-frame, the
glass or metal guide-eye through which the
yam passes from the rollers to the flyer. — 2.
In bleaching, a glass or earthenware ringthrough
which the moist cloth is passed, in order to
guide it and prevent its coming in contact with
other objects.
pot-fish (pot'fish), n. [= D.potvissh = G. pott-
fisch=Sw.pottlisk; a,spot^+fish^.] Thesperm-
whale, Physeter TnacrocepMlus.
pot-fisher (pot'flsh*er), m. 1. Same asi>o^/i»/t-
erman. — 2. Same a,s pot-hunter.
pot-fisherman (pot'flsh"er-man), n. One who
flshes while floating on the surface of the water,
supported by an earthen pot. The vessel not only
buoys up the fisherman, but serves as a receptacle for the
fish caught This method is much practised in some Asi-
otic n.vd'Ba
potful (pot'fvd), n. [< ME. potful; < pot^ +
-fill.] The contents of a pot; as much as a
pot can hold.
Honger was nat hardy on hem for to loke.
For a potfxd of potage that Peersses vryf made.
Piers Plowman (CX Ix. 182.
potgunt (pot'gun), m. 1. A popgun.
Bryng with thee mypatgunne, hangyng by the wall.
Udall, Roister Doister, iv. 7.
They are but as the potguns of boys.
Bp. Eon, Honour of Married Clergy, p. 148.
potgim
2. A short wide cannon for firing salutes; a
mortar : so called f ronj its resemblance to a pot
in shape.
They haue ... a great many of morter pieces ovpot-
. guns, out of which pieces they shoote wild Are.
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 316.
pot-gutted (pot'gut^ed), a. Pot-bellied. Graves,
Spiritual Quixote, iv. 8.
pot-hanger (pofhang^fir), n. Same &s pothook.
pot-hanglet (pot'hang"gl), n. Same as pot-
hook.
Item, a fryeng panne and a peyre of pot-hangles sold to
the seyd Scudamour.
Inventory (^ Ooodt, 30 Hen. VIII. (If ares.)
pot-hat (pot'hat), n. Same as chimneypot hat
(which see, under hat^).
pothead (pot'hed), n. A stupid fellow.
She was too good for a poor pot-Mad like me.
Kingstey, Westward Ho, xv. (DatfCes.)
pothecaryt, n. An obsolete aphetie form of
apothecary.
potheen (po-then'), n. Same as poteen,
pot-hellion (pot'hel'ion) , n. A large pie made
of beef, porS, potatoes, and onions baked in a
pan. [Gloucester, Massachusetts.]
pot-helmet (pofhePmet), n. In a general
sense, any defensive head-covering which has
little opening, and covers the head completely,
like the great heaume of the twelfth and thix'-
teenth centuries. Compare pot^, 13.
pother (poTH'^r), n. lAlBopudder; origin un-
certain. The sense 'a suffocating cloud' seems
to rest on the assumption that pother stands
for powder (dial, pouther, etc.). Cf. pothery.']
A tumult; disturbance; confusion; bustle;
fl.utter.
Let the great gods,
That keep this dveadlvl pother o'er our heads,
Find out their enemies now. Shak., Lear, iii. 2. 60.
And suddenly unties the poke.
Which out of it sent such a smoke
• As ready was them all to choke,
So grievous was the pother.
^aj/£(m,<Nymphidia, st. 82.
Lucretius keeps a mighty Pother
With Cnpid, and his fancy'd Mother.
Prior, Alma, i.
The Pother that is made about Precedence.
Steele, Grief A-la-Mode, i. 1.
pother (poTH'6r),w. [See pother, n.'] Lintrans.
To make a pother or bustle ; make a stir.
II. trans. To harass and perplex; bother;
puzzle; tease. Locke. (Imp. Diet.)
pot-herb (pot'ferb), n. Any herb prepared for
use by boiling in a pot; particularly, one of
which the tops or the whole plant is boiled.
A gentleman, «
Well read, deeply learned, ana thoroughly
Grounded in the hidden knowledge of all sallads
AnA potherbs whatsoever.
Beaii. and Fl., Woman-Hater, i. 3.
Black pot-herb, in old use, the Smymium Oltisatrum
(see cUexanders), in distinction from the corn-salad. Vale,
rianella olitoria, the white pot-herb. — Fot-herb butter-
fly, Pieris oleracea, an American congener of the imported
Vot-heib ButtRrQy {Pt'erisoleracea). a, larva; d, pupa.
cabbage-butterfly, P. rapse. The wings ; re white, the
body is black, and the larva is pale-green.
pothery (poTH'er-i), a. [< pother + -yi.] Hot ;
close ; muggy. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
pothicar (poth'i-kar), n. An aphetio form of
apothecary. iScott" Abbot. [Scotch.]
Potholdeae (poth-o-id'e-e), n. pi. [NL. (A.
Engler, 1879), < Foihos +' -idex.'] A subfamily
of monocotyledonous plants, of the order Ara-
cese, characterized by the netted-veined or lat-
eral-veined two-ranked or spiral leaves, by the
flowers usually having both stamens and pistils
and anatropous ovules, and by the absence of
laticiferous vessels and intercellular hairs, it
includes in 6 tribes about 16 genera, of which Pothos (the
type), Avihurium, and Cvlcasia are in cultivation for their
handsome leaves. See CaZla, 1, Acorus, OrorUium, and
Symploearpua for important genera native in the United
States.
4652
pot-hole (pot'hol), n. A cavity more or less
nearly cylindrical in form, and from a few inches
to several feet in depth and diameter, made by
an eddying current of water, which causes a
stone or a collection of detrital material to re-
volve and thus wear away the rock with which
it is in contact. Such pot-holes are common, especially
in and near the beds of streams running over bai'e rocks,
and under glaciers, in regions of present or past glacia-
tion, or in any locality where there is, or was formerly, a
rapid current of water. A group of pot-holes, some of
which are of great size, is one of the curiosities of Lucerne
in Switzerland (the " Glacier Garden "), where they appear
to have been made at the time of the former greater exten-
sion of the glaciers in the Alpine range : also called giants'
kettles. The large conical or more rarely pot-shaped cavi-
ties formed by water in the chalk and other limestone
rocks of England and the United States are called, besides
pot-holes, by various names, as swallow-holes, sinJc-holes,
butter-tvhs, water-sinks, and pots. See swallow-hole.
pothook (pot'huk), n. 1. A hook, secured in
a chimney in any manner (as upon a crane),
for supporting a pot over a fire.
The great black crane . . . swung over it, with its mul-
tiplicity of pat-hmks and trammels.
H.B. Stowe, Oiatown, p. 62.
2. A short bar or rod of iron, usually curved,
and with a hook at the end, used to lift hot pots,
irons, or stove-lids from a stove. — 3. A letter,
character, or curve shaped like a pothook (def .
1); an elementary character consisting of a
stroke terminating in a curve, practised upon
by children in learning to write; hence, any
irregular, straggling written character.
Also pot-hanger.
FothookB and hangers. See hanger.
Pothos (po'thos), n. [NL. (Linnaeus. 1737),
< potha, a native name in Ceylon.] A genus
of plants, of the order Aracese, type of the
tribe Pothoidese, characterized by an ovary with
three cells, each with one ovule, a large embryo
without albumen, and a spathe enlarging after
flowering, it includes about 29 species, natives of Asia,
the Pacific islands, Australia, and Madagascar. They are
shrubby climbers, fastening themselves by rooting branch-
es below and more spreading above. When grown under
glass, they often adhere, perfectly flat, to damp vertical
wooden surfaces, forming a sinuous upward line with the
leaves facing the horizon. The leaves are two- ranked, ob-
. lique, and usually ovate or narrower, sometimes replaced
by a broad leaf -like petiole (phyllodium). The small green
reflexed spathe is ovate or shell-shaped, and contains a
short or roundish spadix, sometimes twisted or bent, bear-
ing small close or scattered flowers above, each with a
six-parted perianth.
pot-house (pot'hous), m. An ale-house; a liquor-
saloon — Fot-house politician. See politician.
pot-hunter (pot'hun"ter), n. One who hunts
or fishes for profit, regardless of close seasons,
the waste of game, or the pleasure to be de-
rived from the pursmt. Sportsman's Gazetteer.
Poachers and pot-huniers are encouraged [in Kumania],
that they may keep the tables of their friends in office
well supplied with game. Wj^ W. Greener, The Gun, p. 670.
pot-hunting (pot'hun"ting), n. The act or
practice of hunting for the sake of profit, re-
gardless of the regulations or conventionalities
of the sport.
The Chinese have an original and effective manner of
pot-hunting after Wild-fowL
W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 575.
poticaryt, m. An aphetio form of apothecary.
potiche (F. pron. po-tesh'), n. [P., <pot, pot:
see jjofl.] A vase or jar of
rounded form and short neck,
with or without a cover. The
shape usually denoted by this term
approaches more or less that of an in-
verted truncated cone below, finished
above in a hemispheroidal form, and
with a cylindrical neck.
potichomania (pot'''i-ko-ma'm-
a), ». [Alsopotichomdnie.^'E'.
potidhomanie ; < P. poUche, a
kind of pot (see potiche), + L.
mania, madness.] Cheap deco-
ration, consisting in coating a
glass vessel with paintings on
paper or linen, the interstices
being filled with opaque paint,
or varnish.
potin (P. pron. po-tan' ),n. [P. , < OP. potin, po-
tain, potein, potiin, a mixed metal (see def.), <
pot, -pot: see pot\n. Ct.putty.'] Amixed met-
al, consisting of copper, zinc, lead, and tin, of
which certain coins of ancient Gaul were com-
posed. The term is sometimes, though incorrectly, ap-
plied by numismatists to some ancient coins(for example,
those of Alexandria) of mixed metal into the composition
of which some silver enters : such coins should be called
billon.
potinger, n . See pottinger.
poting-Stickf, n. {<.poting, ppr. oi pote, v., +
stick^ Same as poking-stick.
Potiche.
potomania
Fins, points, and laces,
Potingsticks for young wiues, for young wenches glaues.
Ware of all sorts, which I bore at my back. ^^ ^
Heywood, li yon Know not Me (Works, ed. Fearson 1874
II. 286). '
potion (po'shon), n. [< ME. pocion, < OP. po.
don, potion {adso poison, > 'E. poison), F. potion
= Sp. pocion = Pg. pogclo = It. pomone, < L. po-
tio(n-), a drink; cf. potns, drunken, potare
drink: see potation. Ct. poison, a, Aonhlet ot
potable.'] A drink; a draught; especially a
liquid medicine. '
. Would you haue one potion ministered to the bnmiDe
Feuer and to the cold Palsey ? . Lyly, Bnphues, p. 4&
Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane,
Drink off this potion. Sliak., Hamlet, v. a 837.
potiont (po'shon), «. *. l<potion,v. Ct.poieon,
v.] To drug.
Lord Roger Mortimer, . . . hauing corrupted his keep-
ers, or (as some others write) hauing potioTied them with
a sleepy drinke, escaped out of the Tower of London.
Speed, Hist. Great Britain, ix. IL (Daviea.)
pot-knight (pot'nit), n. A drunken fellow.
Halliwell.
pot-lace (pot'las), n. See lace.
potlatch (pot'lach), n. [Also potlache; < Aier.
Ind. (Nootka) potlatsh, pdhtlatsh, a gift; as a
verb, give.] 1. Among some American In-
dians, a gift.
They [Klickatat Indians] . . . expressed the friendliest
sentiments, perhaps with a view to a liberal potkUck of
trinkets. Theodore Winthrcp, Canoe and Saddle, iv.
2. An Indian feast, often lasting several days,
given to the tribe by a member who aspires to
the position of chief, and whose reputation is
estimated by the number and value of the gifts
distributed at the feast.
It may also, very probably, happen that delay arises be-
cause the man about to give the potlatch has not obtained
the requisite number of blankets.
Pop. Sci. Mo., XXX. 860.
On his retnrn he again called the people together and
held a hig potlatch, giving the Indians what appeared to
them at that time great curiosities.
Amer. AntiquaHan, XIL 75.
pot-lead (pot'led), n. Black-lead or graphite:
as, a pot-lead crucible. [The word is now used chiefly
of graphite in stove-polish applied to the hulls of racing,
yachts below the water-line to diminish the friction of the
water by giving a smooth suilace.]
pot-lead (pot'led), v. t. [< pot-lead, ».] To
coat with pot-lead: as, to pot-lead a yacht.
pot-leecht (pot 'lech), n. One who sueks at
the pot; hence, one who drinks to excess; a
drunkard.
This vali&nt pot-leach, that upon his knees
Has drunke a thousand pottles up-se-freese.
John Taylor, Works (1680). (JITora.)
pot-lid (pot'lid), TO. 1. The lid or cover of a pot.
— 2. A concretion ooonrring in various sand-
stones and shales, especially those of different
parts of the Jurassic series. [In this sense
properly potlid.] — Fot-lid valve. See valve.
pot-liquor (pot'Uk'er), n. The liquor in which
meat has been boiled; thin broth.
Mr. Geoflry ordered her to come daily to his mother's
kitchen, where, together with her broth or pot-lijuor, he
contrived to slip something more substantial into Dor-
othy's pipkin. Graves, Spiritual Quixote, i. 9. (Daviet.)
pot-luck (pot'luk' ), n. "What may chance to be
in the pot, in provision for a meal; hence, a
meal at which no special preparation has been
made for guests.
He never contradicted Mrs. Hacklt — a woman whose
pot-luck was always to be relied on.
George Eliot, Amos Barton, i. (Daviet.)
To talse pot-luck, to accept an impromptu invitation to
a meal ; partake of a meal in which no special preparation
has been made for guests.
Do, pray, stop and dine—
You will take om pot-ltiek — and we've decentish wine.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, L 294.
pot-man (pot'man), n. 1. A pot-companion.
Eddisbury carried it by the juniors and pot-men, he be-
ing one himself. I4fe qf A. Wood, p. ise. (Latkam.)
2. Same as pot-hoy.
The potman thrust the last brawling drunkards into the
street. Diekems, Uncommercial Traveller, xiii. (Danes.)
pot-marigold (pot'mar'i-gold), n. See Caletir
dula^.
pot-metal (pofmefal), n. 1. An alloy of cop-
per and lead, formerly used for making faucets
and various large vessels employed in the arts.
— 2. Same a.s pot-metal glass (which see, under
glass).— S. A kind of cast-iron suitable lor
making hollow ware.
pot-miser (pot'nu'zSr), «. See miserK
poto, n. See potto.
potomania (po-to-ma'ni-a), n. [NL., < L- po-
tus, drinking (see potation), + mania, < Gr.
/mvia, madness : see mania.] Dipsomania.
potometer
potometer (po-tom'e-t6r), n. [< Gr. ttotov,
drink, + idrpov, measure.] Aa instrument for
measuring the amount of water absorbed by a
transpiring plant in a given time. F. Darwin.
potoo (po-ti5 ), n. [Jamaican; imitative.] A
caprimulgine bird, NyeUbius jamaioensis,
pot-paper (pot'pa*p6r), n. An old brand of pa-
per bearing the figure of a pot as a water-mark.
See jf 0*1, »., 9. •
pot-pie (pot'pi), n. 1. A pie made by lining
the inner surface of a pot or pan with" pastry
and filling it with meat, as beef, mutton, fowl,
etc., seasoning it, and then baking. — 2. A dish
of stewed meat with pieces of steamed pastry
or dumplings served in it; a fricassee of meat
with dumphngs. [U. S.]
pot-piecet (pot'pes), n. Same as potgun, 2.
pot-plant (pot'plant), n. 1. Any plant grown
in a pot. — 2. The pot-tree, or monkey-pot tree.
See Leeythis and pot-tree.
pot-plate (pot 'plat), TO. A plate of Chiuese
porcelain, or of some fine European faience, in
Fot-plate of Chinese blue and white porcelain.
the decoration of which appears a vase, basket,
or the like, of broad rounded form, usually very
conventional,
potpourri (p6-p8-re'), TO. [Formerly also pot
porrid (Cotgrave) ; < F. pot-pourri, < pot, pot, H-
pourri, pp. oipourrir, < li.putrere, rot: see ji«-
V. Cf
Potpourri-jar.
Jf. equiv. oUa podrida.'] 1. A dish of
different kinds of meat and vegetables cooked
together; a stew. Hence — 2. A miscellane-
ous collection ; a medley. Speciflcally — (a) A mix-
tore of the dried petals of rose-Ieares or other flowers
vlth spices and perfumes. It is usually kept in jai's for
its fragrance, (i) An incense for
burning, made of a mixture of
gams, seeds, and the like, recipes
for which were highly valued,
especially in the eighteenth cen-
tury, (c) Same as potpourri- jar.
(d) Same as medley, (e) A lit-
erary composition consisting of
parts put together without unity
or bond of connection. — Pot-
J)Ourrl-Jar, a covered jar or vase
or holding potpourri. (See det.
2(a).) £ich jars of the enameled
pottery of the eighteenth century
having covers are often called by
this name.
potrack (pot-rak'), v. i.
[Imitative.] To ery as a
guinea-fowl. [Bare.]
That the dusting of chickens, cackling of geese, and the
potracHj^ of Guinea-hens have not given rise to an elab-
orate series of weather proverbs is, I think, surprising.
Pop. Sci. Mo., XXVIII. 640.
pot-roast (pot'rost), ■«. Meat (generally beef)
cooked in a pot with a little water, and allowed
to become brown as if roasted. [Local, U. S.]
pot-setting[ (pot'set'lng), to. In glass-manuf.,
the operation of placing in their proper posi-
tion m the fumade pots which have previously
been annealed at a red heat.
potshard, n. Same as potsherd.
potsharef, n. Same as potsherd.
potsheent, TO. Sameas_pofee»i. Miss Edgeworth,
Absentee, x.
potshell (pot'shel), n. A potsherd. Harper's
Mag., LXXIX. 248.
potsherd (pot'sherd), to. [Also potshard; < pot^
+ sherd.'] A piece or fragment of an earthen-
ware pot; any broken fragment or piece of
earthenware.
And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself witEal.
Job ii. 8.
In upper Egypt, it is true, the potsherd, the ostrakon,
takes the place of the papyrus.
Amer. Jour. PhUpl., Till. 608.
pot-shop (pot'shop), TO. A small pnbUc house.
poTrsnop
[Slang.^
4653
Mr. Ben Allen and Mr. Bob Sawyer betook themselves
to a sequestered pot-shop on the remotest confines of the
Borough. Didceang, Pickwick, lU.
pot-shotl (pot'shot), TO. 1 . A shot taken for the
purpose of filling the pot, little heed being paid
to skill in shooting or to the preservation of the
appearance of the animal.
Shooting flying was not an ordinary accomplishment : It
was just coming in, and most people took pfA shots, and
would not risk shooting at a bird on the wing.
J. Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, I. 313.
2. Hence, a shot carefully aimed.
In consequence of the sepoys stealing through the thick
brushwood and dense woods, and taking po£ sTiots at their
sentries and pickets.
IT. H. Riasea, Diary in India, II. 327.
pot-shot^t (pot'shot), a. Drunk ; fuddled with
drink.
And being mad perhaps, and hotpot-shot,
A crazed crowne or broken pate hath got.
John Taylor, Works (1630). (.ITares.)
pot-sickt (pot'sik), a. Intoxicated ; tipsy. Flo-
rio, p. 68.
pot-stick (pot'stik), TO. [Early mod. E. pot-
styeke, < ME,, potstyh ; <pof^ + stick.l A stick
for stirring porridge, etc.
The next had in her hand a sword, another a club, aa-
otlaetApot-sliche.
Quoted in Cagt. John Smith's Works, 1. 195.
pot-still (pot'stil), 11. A still to which heat
is applied directly as to a pot, in contradis-
tinction to one heated by a steam-jacket. See
sUll.
potstone (pot'ston), to. 1. A concretion or
mass of flint, of a pear-shaped form, and hav-
ing a central cavity passing through the longer
axis. These concretions occur in the chalk, singly or in
vertical rows like columns, at irregular distances from
each other, but usually from 20 to 30 feet apart. They
were formerly particularl;^ conspicuous near Horstead,
about six miles from Norwich, England, in a quarry, now
closed, where they were mostly pear-shaped, and about 3
feet in height and 1 foot in diameter. Their origin is not
easi^ explained.
2. Same as soapstone or steatite.
pot-suret (pot'shor), a. Full of confidence
through drink; cock-sure.
When these rough gods beheld him thus secure.
And arm'd against them like a man pot-sure,
They stint vain storms ; and so Monstrifera
(So bight the ship) touch'd about Morida.
Legend, of Captain Jtmes (1659). (Ho^iweZ^)
pottf, TO. An obsolete spelling of j30<i.
pottage (pot'aj), TO. [< ME. potage, < OP. po-
tage, pottage, F. potage (= Sp. potaje = Pg. po-
tagem =It.potaggio, pottaggio), porridge, soup,
^ pot, -pot: see pot^.] 1. A dish consisting of
meat boiled to softness in water, usually with
vegetables; meat-broth; soup.
Though a man be f alle in jalous rage.
Let maken with this water his potage.
And never shal he more his wyf mistriste.
Chaucer, Prol. to Pardoner's Tale, 1. 82.
Blow not thy Pottage nor Brinke,
For It is not commendable,
Baiees Book (B. E. T. S.), p. 79.
Jacob sod pottage; and Esau came from the field, and he
was faint. Gen. xxv. 29.
2. Oatmeal or other porridge.
Thei have not, in many places, nouther Pesen ne Eenes,
ne non other Potages, but the Brothe of the Flessche.
MandemUe, Travels, p. 250.
pottage-waret, TO. [ME. potageware; <. pottage
+ ware^.'] Pottage-herbs; pulse.
Tflowe potageware in askes mynge & kepe
In oilbarelles or salt tubbes doone.
Palladius, Husbondrie (B. E. T. S.), p. 160.
pottaint (pot'an), to. [< OF. potadn, pot-metal :
seej)otin.] ^ama as pot-nietal, 1.
potteen, to. Seejpofeero.
pottenger, «. See pottinger.
potterr(pot'er), n. [= D. potter, a hoarder, =
MhGt. potter, hia. pottjer = Or. potter, potter; <
OF.poUer, F. potier, a potter, < pot, pot: see
pofl.l 1. One whos.e occupation is the making
of pots or earthenware vessels of any kind.
We are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the
work of thy hand. Isa. Mv. 8.
2. One who peddles earthenware or crockery.
[Prov. Eng.]
Bough potters seemed they, trading soberly,
With paniered asses driven from door to door.
Wordsworth, Guilt and Sorrow, xlvi.
3. One who pots meats, vegetables, etc.-'4. A
fresh-water clemmyoid turtle, Deirochelys ser-
rata, of the United States. — 5. The slider, or
red-bellied terrapin, PseuderM/s rugosa. See
slider, [Local, IT. S.] —Potters' clay, (a) A clay
used for ordinary earthenware, and of some shade of brown,
red, or yellow after burning. (6) In a larger sense, any earth
used in the ceramic art, including kaolin, a so-called blue
pottery
clay which is of a grayish color and when flred is white, and
a black clay so called, which also results in a white bisonit.
— Potter's field, a piece of ground reserved as a burial-
place for strangers and the friendless poor. The name is
derived from its use in the following passage :
And they took counsel, and bought with them [thirty
pieces of silver] the potter's field, to Dury strangers in.
Mat. xxviL 7.
Potters' lathe. Same as potter^ wAeeJ.— Potters' ore,
one of the many miners' terms for galena : lead ore in
lumps and sufficiently free from gangue to be used by
potters for glazing their ware. — Potters' wheel, an imple-
mentusedin shaping earthenware vessels of rounded form ,
serving to give the mass of clay a rotary motion while
the potter manipulates it. The primitive form is a smaU
round table set on a pivot, and free to revolve; it is
turned by the hand at intervals. An improved form has a
lower shelf or toot-piece connected with Uie table, so that
Potters' Wheel.
a, partly molded clay ; b, guidine measure : c. revolving wheel,
screwed on shaft d, whicn is propelled by horizontally moving treadle-
apparatus^, and steadied by fly-wheel A, pivoted on block £•,* e, box
for containing balls of clay, water-vessel, sponge, tools, etc.
the potter can give it continuous motion by the action of
his foot. The wheel is also used in applying rings of
color, by revolving the vessel while the brush is firmly
held stationary and in contact with it.
potter^ (pot'6r), V. [Also putter, dial. (Sc.)jpoM-
ter, pudder; cf . D. poteren, peuteren, poke, pry,
search ; freq. of pote, and secondarily of pufi-,
push: see pote, put^."] I. intrans. 1. To be
busy in doing little, or what is of little or no
practical value; busy one's self over trifles;
trifle; work with little energy or purpose.
[CoEoq.]
His servants stayed with him till they were so old and
pottering he had to hire other folks to do their work.
George Eliot, Adam Bede, xvit
Lord John Bussell's Government jioefereff with the diffi-
culty rather than encountered it.
J. McCarthy, Hist. Own Times, xvii.
2. To hobble; walk slowly and with difficulty;
move slowly; loiter.
Past the old church and down the footpath pottered the
old man and the child, hand-in-hand.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 2.
I . . . jioitereiZ about Beaune rather vaguely for the rest
of my hour. H. James, Jr., Little Tour, p. 262.
3. To walk upon or leap from piece to piece of
floatingiee. Bartlett. [Local, tf.S.]— To potter
about, to wander idly to and fro ; move about in a pur-
poseless and ineffectual manner.
II. traris. To poke; push; disturb. [CoUoq.]
potterer (pot'er-er), TO. One who or that which
potters ; one who moves slowly or loiters.
Potterton hen. See lien^.
potter-wasp (pot'er-wosp), to. a wasp of one
of the genera Odynerus, Eumenes, etc., which
builds mud cells in any convenient cylindrical
Potter-wasp {Odynerus ficKnpes^.
a, mass of tempered clay used by wasp to close the nest in a wooden
spool; If, one ceU of the nest; c, the wasp.
cavity, such as a hollow reed, an accidentally '
folded paper, or the hole in a spool. O. flavipes
and M. fraterna are good examples.
pottery (pot'&r-i), to. ; pi. potteries (-iz). [< F.
poterie (=¥i.potaria), pottery, Kpot, a pot: see
pottery
jpofi.] 1, The ware or vessels made by pot-
ters ; baked earthenware, glazed or imglazed.
— 2. A place where earthen vessels are made.
— 3. The business of a potter; the manufac-
ture of earthenware Abruzzi pottery, a name
given to the decorative potteries made in the provinces
of Abruzzi in Italy. The traditions of the majolica dec-
oration lingered long in this region, although gradually
modified. The most important of these wares are known
by the name of Castelti pottery.— Amsiel pottery, a
common name for the decorative enameled pottery of
Amsterdam, perhaps from the river Amstel, on which
many of the furnaces were situated, hut also hy confusion
with Amxtel porcelain. — Anatolian potteiy. See Anor
toiian.— Apullan pottery. See ^ptiJuin.— Assyrian
pottery, the pottery found in the ruins of Ass^lan an-
tiqulty. Its most important forms are — (a) architectural
tiles and bricks, which are frequently decorated with en-
amel of the most brilliant colors, and arranged to form
simple or elaborate designs, and sometimes painted with
engobes, the bricks of each of these two kinds being fre-
quently molded in relief; (&) cylinders, prisms, and so-
called barrels, all intended to receive inscriptions which
are impressed upon them ; (c) flat tablets or tiles inscribed
in the same way, and stored together in immense col-
lections, forming libraries or collections of records, ac-
cording to their subjects; (d) vessels for various uses —
not generally rich in decoration, and for the most part of
plain unglazed clay. — Awata pottery. Same as Awata
'ware. See ware. — BendigO pottery, pottery made by the
Bendigo Pottery Company at Epsom, near Sandhurst^ in
Victoria, Australia. It has a coarse body ; but the surface
Is modeled in relief with flowers, etc., in a partial imitation
of majolica.— Bizen pottery, pottery made in the Japan-
ese province of Bizen ; especially, a fine and hard pottery,
unglazed or having a slight vitrmcation of the surf ace the
nature of which is uncertain. It is of several colors, most
commonly a grayish-white. Figures and grotesques are
made of this ware, generally well modeled and spirited. —
Brouasa potteiy, pottery with a coarse and soft brown
paste and white enamel, made at Broussa or Brusa in Asia
Minor. It is generally decorated in a style similarto the
Persian or Khodian ware, and is used especially for wall-
tiles. — Burslem pottery, pottery made at Burslem in
Staffordshire, of which there are many varieties, made by
many different potters from the seventeenth century to
the present day. The name is sometimes used for the early
work of the Wedgwoods, especially that made by Thomas
and John Wedgwood from about 1740 to 1770, and also
the earliest work of Josiah Wedgwood, before his removal
to the Etruria works.— Cambllan pottery. See Com-
irian. — Castelll pottery. See ilftn<2»° pottery.— Celtic
pottery, pottery found In northern Europe in burial-
places and occasionally among ruins, evidently pre-Ko-
man in character, and supposed to belong to times before
the Roman domination in Gaul, Britain, and elsewhere.
Among the most common forms are large jars used as cin-
eraryurns; bututensilsof manykindsarealsofound. This
pottery is usually, soft, fragile, and gray or black in color. —
Chartreuse pottery. See CAartreuse.— Cognac pot-
tery, a decorative enameled pottery made at Cognac in
Fi'ance at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It
seems to have been generally similar to the pott^ of
Nevers.— Corean, Gorinthian, Cypriote, etc., pot-
tery. See the adjectives. — Damascus pottery, en-
ameled pottery decorated with conventional flowers,
scrolls, etc., made in various parts of the Levant, and
known otherwise as Bhodian, Anatolian, Lindus, and
Persian. An attempt has been made to discriminate be-
tween these, and to class as Damascus only the finer pieces
having a very even surface and more subdued coloring.
— Dresden pottery, a name given to the fine pottery
made by BBttger before his discovery of porcelain. See
Bottger ware, under ware^.— Etruscan, Etrusco-Cam-
panian, German pottery. See the adjectives.— Faenza
pottery, a variety of the Italian enameled and decorated
pottery Known s&majotiea, made at the town of Faenza in
the province of Ravenna in Italy. In this place decoi-ated
pottery was made at a very early epoch ; in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries several important establishments
existed there, 4nd the amount of work done was very great.
A distinguishing mark of the arabesque decoration of
Faenza is the dark-blue ground, upon which the scrolls
are often in yellow or orange. Faenza ware is generally
decorated at the back, especially with an imbricated pat.
tern, or still more simply with concentric circles — Hard
pottery, a name given to all manufactures of baked clay
which are not translucent and are hard enough not to be
scratched by an iron point. [This definition includes
stoneware, which, however, is by some writers separated
from pottenr to constitute a third class, between pottery
and porcelain. See stoneware.] —Inlaid pottery, a name
given to the few varieties of decorated pottery in which
the design is produced by cut-out patterns either Incised
In the surface of the paste or cut through the enamel to
the paste beneath, which patterns are then filled up with
clay of a different color. The earthenware tiles of the
European middle ages, inlaid in red, yellow, and black,
are an Instance of this. The most remarkable is the Oiron
ware. See cut under 6t&ero». — IIezlcan,Ill00ri8ll, none-
such pottery. See the qualifying words.— Nuremherg
pottery, pottery made at Nuremberg in Bavaria, a town
which has i^ways been a center of the potters' art. The
most celebrated maker was Xeit Hirschvogel, who was
working in 1470, and after him his son Augustin, until
1660. The most important works of these and other pot-
ters of then' time are tiles or panels with figures in relief,
hand-modeled in fine clay, hard and thickly enameled,
and colored dark-green, yellow, or brown.- Pallssy pot-
tery, (a) Decorative pottery made by Bernard Palissy
in the sixteenth century, and from his molds or his de-
signs after his death. Palissy's works were first at Saintea,
near La Kochelle, and afterward at Paris, where the
greater part of his finest productions were completed.
The pottery by which he is best known has a hard paste
and a rich glaze, decorated in many colors of great rich-
ness and depth. Some of his dishes, cups, and other
pieces are pierced through, leaving an openwork pat
tern ; some are decorated with marbled and jaspered
surfaces, with moldings or marks in slight relief ; and
others are covered with lizards, serpents, flsb, etc., mod-
4654
eled directly from life, and painted in close Imitation of
nature. (6) Imitations of the true Palissy ware, made by
modern manufacturers, and often extremely successful,
so as to be deceptive.- Peasant pottery. See peasant.
— Persian potteiy, pottery made in Persia of several
kinds, including an extremely hard and semi-transluoent
sort, which is probably an artificial porcelain. The ware
commonly known as Persian is (a) a coarse brown paste
with a white enamel, upon which flowers, scrolls, etc.,
are painted in vivid colors, and covered with a sUicious
glaze, and (6) a ware of similar composition with figures m
relief and similarly decorated. Each of these two sorts
has sometimes a copper luster, and it is not uncommon
for pieces otherwise alike to difler in having more or less
luster, so that it seems that the luster is not in^l cases
an important object with the decorator. Ehodian, Da-
mascus, and Anatolian wares are often classed as Persian.
— Quimper pottery, pottery made at Quunper, in the
department of Finistere, France, especiaUy enameled
faience made from 1660 and throughout the eighteenth
century. The style of decoration is usually very similar
to that of either Nevers or Rouen, according to the time.
— RhOdian pottery, pottery made in the Isle of Rhodes.
This pottery IS similar in decoration to Persian and Da-
mascus ware, but is distinguished from it by a somewhat
bolder decoration and more brilliant colors, and by the
more frequent use of enamel color put on so thickly as to
remain in slight relief. In material and character, this
ware is similar to the Persian. Also called Lindus pot-
tery, from the town of Lindus, now called Undo, a sea-
port of the isle.— Boman pottery, pottory made in the
city of Rome since the tenth century; especially— (a) a
variety of Italian majolica marked as being made in Rome,
of which but few pieces are known to exist ; and (6) a white-
glazed earthenware, of which the factory was established
by Volpato the engraver, about 1790, and was continued
by his sons and others. Figures and groups were made of
this ware. The color of the pieces varies from pure white
through different shades of buff to a sort of stone-color.—
Eouen pottery, pottery made at Rouen in Normandy,
especially that made during the seventeenth century and
later : an enameled faience of excellent make and fine fin-
ish, and decorated generally in excellent taste, according
to the style of the day. The chief varieties, considered
with regard to the decoration, are — (a) that ornamented
with scrolls and arabesques of grayish blue on a bluish-
white ground, the ground thickly covered with the orna-
ment, which is generally disposed with great skill, so as to
be effective both near at hand and at a distance ; (b) that
painted in full color with bouquets and single flowers, and
ihore rarely with figure-subjects in medallions, the ground
of this variety being generally of a purer white ; and (c) that
in which the two preceding styles are mingled, the dark-
blue scrolls alternating with bouquets and festoons in
color, and the ground of the enamel bluish. There are also
exceptional varieties, as that closely Imitating Chinese
painting on porcelain, and that in which carefully made
white enameled pieces are decorated only by a coat of
arms, or a device or emblem in imitation of an effective
Italian style.— Sough-cast pottery, a pottery whose sur-
face is roughened by being dusted, before being fired, with
pottery either in small fragments or pounded fine, or with
small bits of dry clay. In most cases the vessel is dipped
in thin slip before being fired.- Semi-porcelaln pot-
tery, a name given to pottery of a fine body made at the
Royiu China Works at Worcester about 1850 : an excellent
ware for table-services and the like, hard, very perfectly
vitrifled, and white throughout the paste.— Sevres pot-
tery, pottery made at Sfevres near Paris — either (a) at the
National Porcelain Factory, which at different epochs has
produced a limited number of pieces of enameled faience,
or (6) at private factories, of which there have been a num-
ber at different times since about 1776. Compare Sivres
porcelain, under porcelain^.— SicOiSOl pottery, a name
given to certain varieties of lustered ware akin to the His-
pano-Moresque, and with decoration frequently resem-
bling Damascus pottery. The names Sicvio-Arttbian and
Sieiao-Moresmte have been given to the above, and some
attempt has been made to distinguish between these two
alleged varieties. The pieces offered for sale in the towns
of Sicily are roughly decorated in a style similar to that
of the Italian peninsula.— Soft pottery, common pottery
which is not hard-baked. The test is that it can be easily
scratched with an iron point. All common flower-pots
are of soft pottery ; but there are many kinds of pottery
much softer, some of which can be cut with a knife. —
Unglazed potteir, earthenware made by modeling the
vessel in clay, and firing it without the addition of a glaze.
Ordinary flower-pots, terra-cotta, and common bricks are
instances of unglazed pottery. — Upcburch pottery, a
name given to the ancient pottery found in the Upchurch
marshes in Kent, and also to that found elsewhere which
appears to have come from that region. In a district flve
or six miles long many ancient kilns and immense quanti-
ties of this pottery have been found. The ware is gray
orblack, more rarely brownish-red, generally thin, and weU
made. It is undoubtedly of the Roman period. — Varages
pottery, pottery made at Varages, in the department of
Var, France, beginning about 1730. It Is an enameled
faience whose decoration imitates that of other factories,
especially that of Moustiers. There were many potters
engaged in this manufacture, whose work it la not possi-
ble to distinguish. (See thrown-ware.)
pottery-bark tree. See lAcania.
pottery-tissue (pot'to-i-tish^o), n. In ceram.,
a thin paper used in transfer-printings for tak-
ing the impression of the engraved plate and
transferring it to the biscuit. See transfer-
printing.
potteiy-tree (pot'6r-i-tre), n. 1. See earaipi.
— 2. Same s,s pottery-baric tree.
pottery-ware (pot'6r-i-war), «. Same as pot-
tery, 1.
Fottia (pot'i-a), n. [NL. (Ehrhart), after J. P.
Pott, a German botanist.] A genus of brya-
ceous mosses, the type of the tribe Pottlese.
They are small annual or biennial plants, growing on new-
■ ly exposed soil, with entire obovate-oblong or obovate-
pottle-bodied
lanceolate leaves, an erect obovate- or oval-oblong capsule
with cucuUif orm calyptra, and peristome either absent or
composed of sixteen flat teeth. There are 9 North Amer.
loan species.
Fottiese (po-ti'e-e), w. pi. [NL., < Pottia + -es.l
A small tribe of bryaceous mosses, taking its
name from the genus Pottia.
potting (pot'ing), n. [Verbal n. of pofl, v.]
1. In liort, the transfer of plants from beds or
benches to flower-pots, or from one pot to an-
other.— 2. The operation of putting up cooked
and seasoned meats in pots, where they are pre-
served by the action of the salt, spices, etc., with
which they are prepared, and by the exclusion
of air.— 3. In sugar-manuf., the act or operation
of transferring raw sugar from the crystallizing-
pans to perforated casks. Ure, Diet., IH, 942.—
4. In sulphurio-aoid manuf., the placing of pots
containing either potassium nitrate or sodium
nitrate and sulphuric acid in the kilns used for
the manufacture of sulphuric acid from sul-
phurous acid obtained from the combustion of
sulphur in air. The decomposition of the nitrate by
the sulphuric acid supplies nitric acid, by which the buI-
phurous acid is oxidized into sulphuric acid,initrogen be-
ing set free in the process. See sulphurie acid, under «il.
phwric.
potting-cask(pot'ing-kask),». In«%ar-maim/.,
a cask vat used for draining molasses from im-
perfectly crystallized sugar, it has holes in tbe
bottom. Into each of which is inserted an end of a cruabed
stalk oi! sugar-cane, which is long enough to reach to tbe
top of the sugar. The molasses drains off through the po.
rous channels which these stalks afford, leaving the pro-
duct much drier and more perfectly crystallized.
pottinger, pottenger (pot'in-j6r, -en-jAr), n.
[Also (in def . 2) poUnger, potenger; with in-
serted n as in passenger, messenger, etc., for
*pottager, < ME. potager, a pottage-maker, <
jjotog'e, pottage: see pottage. Ct. porringer.]
1. A pottage-maker; a cook. [Obsolete or
archaic]
I liaue be cook in here kychene and the couent serued
Meny monthes with hem and with moiikes bothe.
Ich was the prioresse potager.
Piers Plowman (CX.vii. 232.
Before that time . . . the wafers, flamms, and pastry-
meat will scarce have had the just degree of fire wbicb
learned potMngers prescribe as fittest for the body.
Scott, Monastery, xrl
2t. A porringer.
Her treasure was . . . only thynges necessary to bee
vsed, as cheyars, stooles, settels, dyskes, potingers, pottee,
pannes, basons, treyes, and suche other howsholde stufie
and instrumentes.
Peter Hartyr (tr. in Eden's First BooliB on America,
[ed, Arber, p. 85).
A potenger, or a little dish with eares.
£are«, 1680. (EaMimtt.)
potting-house (pot'ing-hous), n. A house in
which plants are potted.
potting-stick (pot'ing-stik), n. A flat stick
with a blunt end, used by gardeners, in potting
plants, for compacting the earth in the space
between the roots or ball of the plant and the
sides of the pot.
pottle (pot'l), «. [< ME. potel, < OF. potel, a
little pot, dim. of pot, pot : see pofi-.] 1. A
liquid measure of two quarts ; the contents of
such a measure; hence, a measure of wine or
other beverage ; any large tankard ; a pot.
00 brew me SipotUe of sack finely.
Shak., M. W. of W., 111. 6. «a
He calls for a pottle of Rhenish wine^
And dranke a health to his qneene.
Sobin Hood and Qveen Katherine (Child's Ballads, V. 8U).
Certain Canes as bigge as a mans legge, which between
the knots contained a jiottie of water, extracted froi" *'
dewes. Purchm, Pilgrimage, p. 877.
Put them [ant-files] into a glass that will hold a quart or
a-potUe. I. WcUton, Complete Angler, p. 18*.
2. A dish made by Connecticut flshermen by
frying pork in the bottom of a kettle, then add-
ing water, and stewing in the water pieces of
fresh fish. Muddle, made by Cape Ann fisher-
men, is the same dish with the addition of
crackers. — 3. A small wicker basket or vessel
for holding fruit.
Strawberry poUes are often half cabbage leaves, a te»
tempting strawberries being displayed on the top of tne
potUe. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, L 63.
4. A children's game. [Prov. Eng.]
1 have OS little inclination to write verses as to play •'
pottle or whip a top. .„„.
Sovthey, To Rev. H. Hill, Oct. U, 1822-
pottle-bellied (pot'l-beFid), a. Same as pt-
bellied.
pottle-bodied (pot'l-bod^'id), a. Same as pt-
A Bomething-potUe-bodied boy.
That knuckled at the taw. .
Tennyson, Will Waterproot
pottle-bottle
pottle-bottlet, »• A bottle holding two quarts,
or a pottle.
Item, j payre of potteU boteUys of one sorte.
Item, j. notberpoteU boOett. Pmtcm Letters, I. 488.
pottle-deep (pot'1-dep), a. As deep as the pot-
tle ; to the bottom of the pottle.
Now, my sick fool Roderigo,
Whom love hath turn'd almost the wrong side out.
To Desdemona hath to-night caroased
Potations jM)We-(foep. S?Mk., Othello, ii. 3. 66.
pottle-draught (pot'l-draft), n. The drinMng
of a pottle of liquor at one draught; hence, a
deep draught. [Prov. Eng.]
pottle-pott (pot'1-pot), n. A vessel holding two
quarts; also, the contents of such a vessel.
Great rattels swellyng bygger than the belly of apoUaZe
poL W. PcUten , quoted in N. and Q. , 7th aer., VI. 217.
Shot. By the mass, you'll crack a quart together, ha !
will you not, Master Bardolph?
Bard. Yea, sir, in ApoUle-pot.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., v. 3. 68.
potto (pot'6), n. lAlsopoto; African (?).] 1.
A small West African lemuroid quadruped,
Perodicticus potto. See Perodieticus. — 2. The
kinkajou, Cercoleptes caudivolimlus. See cut
under kinlcajou. [A misnomer.]
pot-tree (pot'tre), n. The monkey-pot tree:
both names are from the large woody seed-
vessels furnished with lids. See Lecythis.
Pott's curvature, disease, fracture. See cur-
vature, etc.
Fottsville conglomerate. See millstone-grit.
pottu (pot'u), n. The circular caste-mark worn
on the forehead of a Brahman.
The right line alone, ovpotbi, the mystic circle, describes
the sublime simplicU? of his soul's aspiration.
J. W. PaZmer, The New and the Old, p. 263.
potulentt (poj'u-lent), a. [= It. potulmto, <
h.potulentus, drinkable, drunken,<^o<Ms, drunk-
en: see potation.'] 1. Nearly drunk; rather
tipsy. Bailey. — 2. Fit to drink; drinkable.
Johnson.
pot-'raliant (pofval'^yant), a. Courageous
through drink ; fighftdg-'drunk.
"Perhaps we had better retire," whispered Mr. Pick-
wick. "Never, sir," rejoined Vott, pot-valiant in a double
sense, "never." Dickens, Pickwick, 11.
pot-Taliantrjr (pot' vaFyant-ri), re. The courage
excited by drink; Dutch'eourage.
The old man is still mercurial ; but his pot-valiantry is
gone ; cold water is his only fog-breaker.
S. Judd, Margaret, iii.
pot-verdugot (pot'v6r''d^-g6), n. [Verdugo for
vertigo.'] Giddiness produced by hard drinking.
Have you got the pot-verdugof
Beau, and Fl., Scornful Lady, it 1.
pot-wabbler (pofwoVlfer), re. Same as pot-
walloper. HalUwell.
pot-waller (pot'woFer), n. Same stspot-wal-
U>per.
pot-wallinert, pot-wallonert, »• Same as i)o<-
walloper.
Theelectlon of members here [Taunton] is by those whom
they call po(-u>aa<m«r« — that is to say, every inhabitant,
whether ncusekeeper or lodger, who diresses his own vic-
tuals ; to make out which, several inmates or lodgers will,
some little time before the election, bring out their pots,
and make fires in the street, and boil victuals in the sight
of their neighbours, that their votes may not be called in
question.
De Foe, Tour thro' Great Britain, II. 18. (flaxiei.)
pot-walloper (pot'woFgp-fer), n. [< pot + wal-
loper. CI. pot-waller, pot-walUner, stnd pot-boil-
er, 2.] One who boUs a pot. Specifically— (o) One
who prepares his own food ; a housekeeper or a lodger who
prepares his own f ood ; in particular, a parliamentary voter
ui some English boroughs before the passing of the Eef orm
Bill of 1832. Every male inhabitant, whether housetaeper
or lodger, who had resided six months in the borough, and
had not been chargeable to any township as a pauper for
twelve months, was entitled to vote.
Allmanner of Utilitarians, Eadicals, refractory PotoaJ-
ioperi, and so forth. Carlyle, Sartor Eesarfcus, p. 198.
(*) A cook aboard ship; a pot-wrestler. [Slang.] (c) A
scullion. BarOett. [tf.S.]
pot-walloping (pofwol^op-ing), ». The sound
made by a pot in boiling!
The trumpet that once announced from afar the lau-
relled mail . , . has now given way for ever to the pot-
mUlopings of the boiler. De Qmneey, Eng. Mail Coach.
pot-walloping (pot'wol''''op-ing), a. Boiling a
pot: apphed to boroughs in which, before the
Beform Act of 1832, pot-wallopers were enti-
tled to vote. Eruyyc. Diet.
A pot-walloping borough like Taunton.
Soufhey, Letters, IV. 39.
pot-wheel (pot'hwel), n. A bucket-wheel for
raising water; anoria.
potwork (pot'werk), «. A small establishment
for the making of pottery, or one for the pro-
4655
duction of the commoner wares only. Jewitt,
n. i.
pot-works (pot' werks), m.^i. sioAsing. A manu-
factory of fish-oil ; an oil-factory.
pot-wrestler (pofrest'ler), n. 1. The cook
on a whale-ship. [Slang.] — 2. A kitchen-maid.
[Slang, U. S.]
poucel> re. Ai. obsolete or dialectal form of
pouce^ (pons), re. [Appar. a reduced form of
pounce^ {at. powsoned for pounsoned). Hence
povAnj.] 1. Dust. See the quotation.
The name under which the flax dust is known among
the workers is ' 'paiux, " and those suffering from its effects
are said to be " poucey," a word coming directly from the
French. Lancet, No. 3423, p. 668.
2. Nastiness. HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
pouch (pouch), re. [< ME. pouche, var. otpoche,
< OF.poohe, a pouch, pocket: aeepoke^.] 1. A
bag or sack of any sort; especially, a poke or
pocket, or something answering the same pur-
pose, as the bag carried at the girdle in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and serving
as a purse to carry small articles.
A joly poppere baar he in hiB pouche.
Chaucer, Keeve's Tale, 1. 11.
Tester I'll have in pouch, when thou shalt lack.
ShaJe., M. W. of W., L 3. 96.
A dirk fell out of William's jpcnwR,
And gave John a deadly wound.
The Twa Brothers (Child's Ballads, II. 3B3).
Mony a time he wad slip in to see me wi' a brace o' wild
deukes in his pouch. Scott, Antiquaiy, xv.
2. A mail-pouch. See mail-hag.
At 3 o'clock A. M. the European mails closed, and the
pouches put on board the Aller carried the usual copies
for the foreign circulation. T?ie Ceniury, XXXVIII. 606.
3. In zool., a dilated or sac-Hke part, capable of
containing something, (o) A sac-like dilatation of
the cheeks, commonly called cheek-poftich. See cheek.^pouch,
and cuts under Qevmys and FeirognaAhws. (&) The gular
sac of totipalmate or steganopodous birds, as pelicans. See
cut under pelican, (c) The marsupium of marsupial mam-
mals. See margupium. (d) The gill-sac or marsupium of
a marsipobranchiate, as a lamprey or hag. See cut under
}>askel,Vi. (e) A brood-pouch, of whatever character. See
broodrvouch, and cuts under Nototrema and Pipa. (J) The
scent-bag of various animals, as the musk, the clve^ and
the beaver.
4. In hot., a siliele; also, some other purse-
like vessel, as the sac at the base of some
petals. — 5. Ina>ia<.,a CESoum, especially when
dilated or saccular, or some similar sac or re-
cess. See cut under lamprey. — 6. A bag for shot
or bullets; hence, after the introduction of car-
tridges, a cartridge-box. — 7. A small bulkhead
or partition in a ship's hold to prevent grain or
other loose cargo from shifting Anal.brancMal,
copulatory, gular poucll. Seetheadjeotives.— Fabri-
Clan pouch. See bursa FabricU, under !>«rsa.— Laryn-
geal pouch, a membranous sac, conical in form, placed
between the superior vocal cord and the inner surface of
the thyroid cartilage. Also called saccule of the larynx. —
Leaden poucll, an ampulla of the kind used for pilgrims'
signs.— Needham'S pouch or sac, an enlargement or
csGcal diverticulum of the seminal duct of a cephalopod,
forming a hollow muscular organ serving as a receptacle
for the seminal ropes or spermatophores which are formed
in the glandular parts of the same duct. — Pilgrim's
pouch. Seej>^^m.—Fouch gestation. SeegestatUm.
— EeotO-uterine pouch. Same as reetmiaginmpowih.—
Rectovaginal pouch, the pouch formed by the perito-
neum between the rectum behind and the vagina and
uterus in front. Also called pouch of Dtmgto.— Recto-
vesical pouch, the peritonefd pouch between the rectum
and the Uadder, bounded laterally by the semilunar folds.
— Veslco-uterine pouch, the peritoneal pouch between
the bladder and the uterus.
pouch (pouch), ». [ipoiioh, re.] I. trans. 1. To
pocket; put into a pouch or pocket; inclose as
in a pouch or sack.
Gome, bring your B&int pouch'd in his leathern shrine.
Quarles, Emblems, i. 9.
They [letters] have next to be powihed. For this pur-
pose a large semicircular table is provided with a range
of large sized pigeon holes whose floors are inclined down-
ward in the rear. These are marked with the names of
railroads, cities, etc. The packages of letters are thrown
dexterously into the proper compartments.
Sci. Amer., N. S., LXIL 56.
3. To swallow, as a bird or fish. Norris.
The common heron hath . . . a long neck . . . to reach
prey, a wide extensive throat to pouch it.
Derhami, Physico-Theology, I. 364.
3. To pocket; submit quietly to.
I will pouch up no such affront. SaM.
4. To fill the pockets of; provide with money.
He had been loaded with kindness, . . . and, finally, had
been pouched in a manner worthy of a Marquess and of a
grandfather. Disradi, Coningsby, i. 11.
5. To purse up.
He pauebed his mouth, and reared himself up, and
swelled
Kichardson, Sir Charles Grandison, V. 58. ^Dairies.)
II. intrans. To form a pouch; bag.
pouffe
Pouchings and uregularities of the bladder.
Lancet, No. 3476, p. 818.
pouch-bone (pouch'bon), n. A marsupial bone ;
one of the ossa marsupialia of marsupials and
monotremes.
pouched (poucht), a. l< pouch, + -ed^.] Hav-
ing a pouch.— Pouched animals, the marsupials.-
Pouched ant-eaters, the marsupials of the family Myr-
mecobiidse.—ToVLChea badgers, the marsupials of the
family Peramelidx.—'PoVLChei dog. See do^.- Pouch-
ed frog. Same as pouchrtoad. See cut under Nototrema.
— Pouched lion, a large extinct carnivorous marsupial
of Australia. See Thylacoleo. — Pouched marmot, a
spermophile ; a ground-squirrel of the subfamily Spemw-
phUinsB, having cheek-pouches. See cut under Spermo-
pftifiw.— Pouched mouse, a rodent of the family Sacco-
myidse ; a pocket-mouse, having external cheek -pouches.
See cut under Pero^naiAiM. —Pouched rat, some rat-like
animal with cheek-pouches. Speciflcally— (o) An animal
of the family GAomj/%(2<9s, including the two genera 6eom|/8
and Thmnomys, to which belong the gophers proper, car
mass-rats, or sand-rats of North America ; one of thepocket-
gophers, having external cheek-pouches. See cuts under
Geomyidse and camass-rat. (6) One of the African ham-
sters of the genus Cricetom^s. — Pouched stork. Same
as adjutant-bird.— ToxiCilBd Weasel, a marsupial of the
genus Phatcogale.
pouchet-box (pou'chet-boks), a. Same as
pounce-hox.
pouch-gill (pouch'gil), re. 1. One of the Mar-
sipobranchii; a lamprey or hag, having the gills
in a pouch. — 2. The so-called basket of the
marsipobranchiates. Haeekel. See cut under
haslcet, 10.
pouch-gilled (pouch'gild), a. Having the gills
in a pouch ; marsipobranchiate, as a lamprey or
hag.
pouch-hook (pouch'huk), re. A hook used for
suspending mail-bags while assorting the
mails. Car-Builder's Diet.
pouchless (pouch'les), a. [< pouch + -less.]
Having no pouch.
The opossum was absolutely forced to acquire a certain
amount of Yankee smartness, or else to be improved off
the face of the earth by the keen competition of the pouch-
less mammals. - Pop. Sd. Mo., XXXIII. 687.
pouch-maker (pouch'ma'''ker), re. One whose
business is the making of pouches or bags.
York Plays, Index, p. Ixxvii.
pouch-mouse (pouch'mous), re. One of the
smaller pocket-gophers, Thomomys talpoides.
[Manitoba.]
pouch-moutht (pouoh'mouth), n. and a. I. re.
A mouth with pursed or protruded lips. Ash.
II, a. Same as pouch-mouflied.
(Players, I mean), theaterians, pouch^nwvih stage-walk-
ers. Dekker, Satiromastix.
pouch-mouthedt (pouch'moutht), a. Blubber-
Upped. Ainsworth.
pouch-toad (pouch'tod), n. A toad of the genus
Nototrema, as N. marsupiatum, which hatches
its eggs and carries its tadpoles in a hole in its
back. Also called pouched frog. See cut un-
der Nototrema.
poucy (pou'si), o. [<pojM!e2 -I- -^1.] 1. Dirty;
untidy. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. See quotation un-
der poMce^^ 1.
poudret, re. A Middle English form of powder.
poudri (po-dra'), a. [P., pp. otpoudrer, pow-
der: see powder, v.] In feer., same as seme.
poudre-marchantf. n. [ME^ also pouder mar-
chantfpoudre marchaunt; < OF. povdre (seepow-
der) + mardhant,marchand, "well traded, much
used, very common" (Cotgrave) : see merchant.]
A kind of flavoring powder used in the middle
A cook they hadde with hem for the nones.
To boylle chyknes with the mary bones,
k-ai poudre-marchaunit tart and galingale.
Chaucer, Gen. ProL to C. T., L 381.
poudrette (po-dref), re. [P., dim. of poudre,
powder: see powdir.] A manure prepared
from night-soil dried and mixed with charcoal,
gypsum, etc.
Speculators have not traced a suflicient distinction be-
tween the liquid manure of the sewers and the poudrette
or diy manure.
JUayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 464.
pouer^t, (t. An obsolete form of poor.
pouer^t, n. An obsolete form otpower^.
pouertt, n. An obsolete form of poverty.
pouf (pbf ), re. [P. : see puff.] A plaited piece
of gauie worn in the hair, forming part of a
head-dress of the second half of the eighteenth
century; hence, a head-dress in which such
pieces of gauze, and the like, were used, and
to which were sometimes added very elaborate
ornaments, as figures of men and animals, or
even a ship or a windmill.
pouffe (pof), re. [P.: see puff.] Anything
rounded and soft. Especially— (a) In dretgmaMng,
material gathered up so as to nroduce a sort of knot or
pouffe
bunch for decoratiTe effect, (h) In upholetery, a cushion,
or ottoman, made very soft with springs and stuffing.—
Double-poufTe ottoman. See oUmnan^.
pougonie, pougonnd (p6-go-ne', -na'), n. The
Indian palm-oat or palm-marten, a kmd of par-
adoxure, Paradoxurus typns.
poilkeHi »• An obsolete form otpudk.
pouke^t, ». Beepowk.
poukenelt, n. [Also powJcenel, powke-needle ;
said to be so called in allusion to the long
beaks of the seed-vessels; < pouke, older form
of puck, + needle."] The plant Venus's-comb,
Seandix Pecten-Veneris.
poulaine (p8-lan'), n. lAlsopoulain; ME. po-
layne,polayn,polan,poleyn, < 0¥. poulaine, poul-
laine, ''souUers d, poulaine, old fashioned shoes,
held on the feet by latehets running overthwart
the instup, ■which otherwise were all open ; also,
those that had a fashion of long hooks sticking
out at the end of their toes" (Cotgrave). Cf .
Sp. Pg. polaina, usually in ipl.polainas, gaiters,
spatterdashes, from the P.] A long, pointed
Foulaines, close of 14th century,
^, slipper; ^, Jambe and solleret with poulaine; C, riding-boot; /?,
sole of clog for wearing witn either A or C
shoe worn in the fourteenth century. See
cracow.
The half-hoots or shoes distinguished as poulainea con-
tinued to he long and very sharply pointed.
Erwyc. Brit., VI. 469.
Poulaine de varlet, a poulaine with shorter projecting
toe, such being the only ones allowed to working people
and domestics, not merely for convenience or utility, out
by express ormnauces.
poulcet, «• A Middle English form otpuUe^.
pouldavist, n. Same a,8 poledavy.
poulderf, v. An obsolete form ot powder.
pouldredt, a. An obsolete form ot powdered.
pouldron, n. A variant otpauldron.
poule (pSi), ». [P. : seej)ooZ2, m.] 1. In. card-
playing. Seepool^. — 2. One of the movements
of a quadrille.
pouleinet, n. A Middle English form of pullen.
poulet (p6-la'), m. [F., smote: see pullef] A
' note ; a familiar note.
Miss Tristram's poviet ended thus : " Nota bene,
We meet lor croquet in the Aldobrandini."
Locker, Mr. Flacid's Flirtation.
poulp, ponlpe (pSlp), n. [< F. poulpe, < L. poly-
pus: see polypus.] A cuttlefish or octopus.
See polyp (a).
The description of the poulpe or devil-flsh, by Victor
Hugo, in "The Toilers of the Sea," with which so many
readers have recently become familiar, is quite as fab-
ulous and unreal as any of the earlier accounts, and
even more bizarre. His description represents no real
animal whatever. He has attributed to the creature hab-
its and anatomical structures that belong in part to the
polyps and in part to the poulpe (Octopus), and which ap-
pear to liave been derived largely from the several descrip-
tions of these totally distinct groups of animals contained
in some cyclopedia- VeniU.
poult (polt), n. [Early mod. E. alsopowlt (and
polt: see poulPfoot); also dial, pout, powt;
< ME. pulte, a contr. of polete, a pullet, fowl :
see pullet. Cf. poulter, poultry.] The young
or chick of the domestic fowl, turkey, pheasant,
guinea-fowl, and similar birds.
I' th' camp
You do not feed on pheasant ^trnZte.
Chapman, Revenge for Honour, i. 1.
The third [dish] contained a turkey-powi on a marma-
lade of berengena. Smollett, tr. of Gil Bias, ix. 4.
A turkey j»)u2f larded with bacon and spice.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, 1. 169.
poult (polt), V. t. [< poult, ».] To kill poultry.
Halliwell.
poult-de-soie (p8-d6-swo'), n. A heavy corded
silk material used for dresses.
What 's become of ,
her husband?
4656
poultert (pol'ter), u. [Early mod. B. also powl-
ter,pulUr; < ME., pulter, < OF. pouletter, pole-
tier, pulletter, a dealer in fowls, < poulet, a
pullet, fowl : see poult, pullet.] Same as poul-
terer (and the earlier form).
His eyes are set,
like a dead hare's hung in apou.Uer't shop !
B. Jomon, Volpone, v. ^.
The costermongers fruite vs.
The pmdters send vs in fowl,
And butchers meate without controul.
Heywood, 1 Edw. IV. (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, 1. 11).
Foulters' measuret, a kind of verse combining lines of
twelve and fourteen syllables. See the quotations.
The commonest sort of verse which we vse now adayes
(viz. the long verse of twelue and fourtene Billables) I
know not certainly howe to name it, vnlesse I should say
that it doth consist of Pouiter's rmamre, which giueth
xii. for one dozen and xiiij. for another.
Gascoigne, Steele Glas, etc. (ed. Arber), p. 39.
The first or the first couple hauing twelue Billables, the
other fourteene, which versifyers call powltera measure,
because so they tallle their wares by dozens.
W. Webie, Discourse of Eng. Poetrie, p. 62. (Dasies.)
poulterer (p61't6r-6r), n. [< poulter + -er^;
the suffix being needlessly added as in fruiterer,
upholsterer, etc.] 1. One whose business is the
sale of poultry, and often also of hares, game,
etc., for the table.
Yesterday the lords past the bill for the preservation
of the game. In which is a clause that if any poulterer,
after the 1st of May next, sells hare, pheasant, partridge
&c., [he] shall forfeit U. for every offence, unless he has a
certificate from the lord of the manner that they were not
taken by poachers. LuttreU, Diary, March 15, 1707.
2t. Formerly, inEngland, an officer of the king's
household who had supervision of the poultry.
poult-foot (polt'fut), n. and a. [Formerly also
powlt-foot, aanaao-ily polt-foot; lit. 'chicken-
foot' ; (.poult, polt^, + foot] I. n. A club-foot.
TenuB was content to take the blalce Smith with his
powlt/oote. IJyIy, Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 97.
She hath a crooked backe, he a polte-foote.
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 98.
II. a. Club-footed.
Venus, and the polt-foot stinkard
B. JoTwon, 'Poetaster, iv. 7-
The rough construction and the pollfoot metre, lame
sense and limping verse. Smiriburm, Shakespeare, p. 185.
S Obsolete or archaic in both uses.]
t-footedt (polt'fuf'ed), a. [< poult-foot +
'-edK] Club-footed.
I will stand close up anywhere to escape this polt-footed
philosopher, old Smug here of Lemnos, and his smolnr
family. B, Jonson, Mercury Vindicated.
poultice (pol'tis), n. [Early mod. E. also pulUs,
pultesse; < OF. as if *pultice, < ML. *pulticium,
poultice (cf . OF. pulte = It. polta, poultice, It.
also poiaglia, formerly also pultiglia, pap, por-
ridge, formerly also poultice), < L. pul(t-)s,
thick pap, porridge: see pulse^.] A soft and
usually warm mass of meal, bread, herbs, or the
like, used as an emollient application to sores,
inflamed parts of the body, etc.'; a cataplasm.
Is this the poulHee for my aching bones?
Shak., K. and J., ii. 5. 65.
PulUses made of green herbs.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 380.
Treating it [a stiff Joint] . . . with poultices of marsh-
mallows, . . . bonus HenricuB, white lilies, and fenugreek.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vii. 21.
And silence like a poultice comes
To heal the blows of sound.
0. W. Holmes, Organ-grinder.
poultice (pol'tis), V. t.; pret. a.-a6. -pp. poulticed,
ppr. poulticing. [< poultice, n.] To cover with
a poultice; apply poultices to.
Back into the friendly shadows of the mountain the
young man carried his poulticed ear and picturesque scars.
TJie Century, XXXVI. 904.
poultice-boot (pol'tis-bot), n. A large boot
with soft leather sides and a heavy sole-leather
bottom, used for applying a poultice to a horse's
leg. E. H. Knight.
poultice-shoe (pol'tis-shS), n. Same aspoultice-
ioot. Enoyc. Brit, XXIV. 202.
poultry (pol'tri), n. [Early mod. E. also puU
trie; < ME. pultrie, pultrye, < OF. pouleterie,
poulleterie, pouletrie, polletrie, fowls collective-
ly, poultry, < poulet, a pullet, fowl: see poult,
puuet.] 1. Domestic fowls collectively; those
birds which are ordinarily kept in a state of do-
mestication for their flesh, eggs, or feathers, as
the domestic hen, turkeys, guinea-fowl, geese,
and ducks. Pigeons are not ordinarily included in the
term, nor are pheasants or other birds which are kept in
preserves for sporting purposes.
His lordes scheep, his neeL . . . and his pultrie.
Chmmr, Gen. ProL to C. T., 1. 698.
It is ryght lykely that within a shorte space of yeares
our familiar pultrie shal be as scarce as be now partriche
and fesannt. SirT. Elyot, The Govemour, i. 18.
pounce
2. A number of specimens of the eommon lien
as distinguished from ducks, geese, etc dm'
ticularly, chickens dressed formarket. '
The fat cook — or probably it might be the housekeenc.
—stood at the side-door, bargaining lor some tutkevs anrt
poultry, which a countiy-man had brought lor sale. ■
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xiit
poultry-farm (pol'tri-farm), n. A place where
poultry are reared and kept; an extensive
establishment for the breedme and fattening
of poultry and the commercial production of
poultry-feeder (p61'tri-fe"d6r), «. l. A hopper
for grain the contracted open bottom of wnich
extends below the rim of a feeding-trough for
fowls, and allows fresh grain to descend into
the trough as fast as it is emptied by the fowls,
— 2. An 6pinette, or gavage apparatus.
poultry-house (pol'tri-hous), n. A building in
which poultry are sheltered or reared; a hen-
house or chicken-house.
poultry-yard (pol'tri-yard), n. A yard or in-
closure for poultry, including usually the build-
ings and appliances commonly connected with
such a yard.
pounlf, n. An obsolete form of pound^.
poun^t, »• An obsolete variant of jpoM)«2. Chau-
cer.
pounageti »• An obsolete form ot pannage,
pounce^ (pouns)ji|. ; pret. and pp. pounced, ppr.
pouncing. [< ME. pounsen, a var. of punAen,
punch, pierce (see punch); in part prob. an
abbr. of pounsonen, punch: see poumon>; v.]
I. trans. 1. To punch; prick; perforate; make
holes in ; specifically, to ornament by perforat-
ing or cutting; ornament with holes, especially
eyelet-holes.
A shorte coate garded and pounced alter the galU&rde
lashion. Sir T. Elyot, The Govemour, 11. 8.
They make holes in their laces, and, loorthwith sprinke-
lynge a ponder theron, they moiste the pounced place
with a certeyne blacke or redde iuise.
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America, el
[Arber, p. 182).
The women with an Iron pounce and race their||odie>,
legs, thighes, and armes,in curious knots and portntures
of fowles, fishes, beasts, and rub a painting into tfftame,
which will neuer out. Purehae, Pilgrimag^£ 768,
2t. To cut, as glass or metal ; ornament by cut-
ting.
Item, i], ewers, gili^jjourued with fioures and brannobes,
weiyng xxxix. unces. Patton Letien, 1. 468.
Pumonare, . . , to ^loMjice, or work pouncing work,
JPlorie.
A pounced decanter would be what we now term a cat
decanter. HalllmU.
3. To seize with the pounces; strike suddenly
with the claws or talons.
As if an eagle flew aloft, and then—
Stoop'd from its highest pitch to pounce a wren.
CoMjier, Table Talk, L B58.
4. In hat-making, to raise a nap on (a felt hat),
Seepouncing-machine.
it. intrans. To fall on and seize with the
pounces or talons; dart or dash upon, like a
bird of prey upon its victim ; seize suddenly;
used with on or upon.
The eagle pounces on the lamb. Scott, Kokeby, ill. 1.
Eagles such as Brandon do not sail down from the
clouds in order to pouruie upon small flies, and soar air-
wards again, contented with such an ignoble booty.
Thackeray, Shabby Genteel Story, it.
Crime being meant^ not done, you punish stAl
The means to crime you haply Bounce upon.
Though circumstance have balked you of their end.
Brmming, Ring and Book, II, 98,
pouncel (pouns), n. [< pounce\ v. ; in paj*
prob. an abbr. otpounson^: see pounsorO-. Cf,
puneh^,n.] If. A punch or puncheon; a stamp.
A pounce to print the money with. „ .
F«W(,Dict,p.l47. (Sm.)
2i. A sharp-pointed graver.— St. Cloth pounced,
or workedTwith eyelet-holes.
One spendeth his patrimony upon BOMjices and outs.
Book of Homilies, Against Excess ol Apparel, u.
4. A claw or talon of a bird of prey; the claw
or paw of any animal.
He did fly her home
To mine own window ; but I think I aouseo him,
And ravished her away out of hisj)OMn««».
B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, iv. a
We saw an eagle in close pursuit of a hawk that bad «
great flsh in his pounces. Beverley, Virginia, ii. H *
A lion may be judg'd by these two claws ol hi»g»«^,
Bp. Hacket, Abp. Williams, i. 71. (Di"»>i
pounce^ (pouns), n. [< F. ponce = Sp. i'f'M®
= P^. pomes = It. pomice, < L. pumex {pumw-h
pumice: see pumice.] 1. A substance, such »»
powdered sepia-bone or powdered sandaracn,
pounce
used to prevent blotting in rewriting over era-
gnres, and in medicine as an antacid; also, a
similar powder used in tie preparation of
parchment or writing-paper.
It [Bandaraoh] Is used as a varnish, dissolved In spirits
of wine, and tbe powder is used, under the name of pounce,
to give writing-paper a surface after erasure.
McCvUoch, Diet. Commerce, p. 1210.
2. A powder (especially, the gum of the juni-
per-tree reduced to a finely pulverized state, or
finely powdered pipe-clay darkened by char-
coal) inclosed in a bag of some open stuff, and
passed over holes pricked in a design to trans-
fer the lines to a paper underneath. This Isind
of pounce is used by embroiderers to transfer their pat-
terns to their stuffs ; also by fresco-painters, and some-
times by engravers.
3t. A powder used as a medicine or cosmetic.
Of the flesh thereof is made pounces for sicke men, to
refresh and restore them.
Benvenuio, Passengers' Dialogues. (Nares.)
pounce^ (pouns), v. t. ; pret. and pp. pounced,
T^T^v. pouncing, [ipounee^, n.1 1. To sprinkle
or rub with pounce; powder. — 2. To trace by
rubbing pounce through holes pricked in the
outline of a pattern: as, to pounce a design.
See pouncing^. — 3. To imprint or copy a de-
sign upon by means of pounce. See pouncing'^.
— 4. ii hat-making, to grind or finish (felt hats)
by dressing them with sandpaper.
Pauneing is a term for rubbing down the outside of a
hat with a piece of pumice stone, sand paper, or emery
paper. </. Thomson, Hat-making, p. 48.
pounce-bag (pouns'bag), n. A bag of unsized
muslin filled with pulverized charcoal, black or
red chalk, black-lead, or pounce of any other
kind, used to transfer a design from one surface
to another by dusting through holes pierced
along the lines of the design to be reproduced.
pounce-box (potms'boks), n. A small box with
a perforated lid, used for sprinkling pounce on
paper, or for holding perfume for smelling. The
term was retained in use for the powder-box used on the
writing-table, whether holding pounce or black sand, un-
til the general disappearance in England and America of
the object Itself when supplanted by blotting-paper, about
the middle of the nineteenth century. Also pouncet-box,
pounced^ (pounst), a. [< ME.pounsed; pp. of
pounce\v.'] 1. Ornamented with holes or in-
dentations upon the surface, or with cut-work;
perforated.
Poumed [var. poumoned] and dagged clothyng.
Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
Gilt bowls pounced and pierced, HoUnehed,
2. Powdered; mealy.
Where rich carnations, pinks with purple eyes, , . .
Tulips tall-stemm'd, and pounced auriculas rise.
Cratie, Works, I. 41.
Pounced work, ornament made by means of a small
pointed punch and a hammer. The punch was some-
times shaped at the end into a circle, triangle, or other
form, which every blow marked upon the metal. This was
a common style of decoration in the fourteenth century,
sometimes alone, and sometimes used for the borders of
enameled or embossed articles, as is seen in tbe sepulchral
statues of Richard II. and bis queen at Westminster.
pounced^ (pounst), a. [< pounce\ n., 3,+ -ed2.]
Furnished with pounces or talons.
Some haggard Hawk, who had her eyry nigh,
"WeUpoune^d to fasten, and well wing'd to fly.
Dryden, Hind and Panther, iiL 1117.
High from the summit of a craggy cliff
The royal eagle draws his vigorous young
Strong pounced. TAonMon, Spring.
pounce-paper (pouns'pa'''p6r), n. A kind of
traeiug-paper used in pouncing.
luuncer^ (poun'sfer), n. In the medieval church
in England, a gold or silver thumb-stall placed
upon the thumb of a bishop's right hand after
it had been dipped in chrism or holy oil, used
out of reverence for the hallowed oils and in
order to avoid soiling his vestments until he
had washed his hands. .Also poncer, ponser,
ponsir, thumb-stall.
pouncer^t, n. Same as pounce^, 2.
BiUino, a kind of poumxr that gravers vse. Florio, 1611.
pouncet-box (poun'set-boks), n. Same as
pounce-box.
He was perfumed like a milliner,
And 'twixt his finger and his thumb be held
A pouncet-box, which ever and anon
He gave his nose. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., i. 3. 38.
pounce-tree (pouns'tre), n. The arar-tree, Cal-
Utris ^uadrivalvis.
ponncmgi (poun'sing), ». [Verbal n. ot pounce^,
«■] 1. The act of punching holes in or per-
forating anything for ornament : same as pink-
ing.— 2. Any design or ornamental effect pro-
duced by holes.
pouncing^ (poun'sing), n. [< ME. pounsyng;
verbal n. oi pounce^, «.] 1. The operation of
4657
transferring the outline of a design from one
surface to another, as from a cartoon to a wall
or from a sheet of paper to a canvas or a piece
of mnsUnj by perforating the surface on which
the drawing has been made with small holes
along the outlines, then laying it on the surface
intended to receive the transfer and dusting
over it with a pounce-bag, thus leaving a dotted
repetition of the design. This may be fixed
with a soft lead-pencil or a reed pen. — 2. A
pattern so produced. — St. Same a,s pounce^, 3.
What can you do now.
With all your paintings and your pouncings, lady?
Beau, and Fl., Enight of Malta, ii. 1.
pouncing-machine (i)Oun'sing-ma-shen"), n.
In hat-making, a machine for raising a nap upon
felt hats by a grinding action. The hat-body is ro-
tated against a revolving cylinder of sandpaper, which
shaves off loose fibers and gives the proper sunace.
pound^ (pound), n. [< ME. pound, pownd, ptind,
< AS. pund, a pound (weight), a pound (money),
a pint, = OS. punt = OFries. pund, pond = D.
pond = MLGr. punt = OHG. phunt, MHG. phunt,
pfunt, G. pfund = Icel. Sw. Da.n. pund = Goth.
pund, a pound, < L. pondo, a pound, short for
pondo libra, a pound by weight: Zifira, pound
(see libra) ; pondo, by weight, heteroclitical abl.
oipondus (ponder-), a weight, the weight of a
pound, weight, heaviness, <.pendere, weigh, j)e»-
dere, hang : see pendent. Cf . ponder, ponderous,
etc. Pound, as used in comp. in designating
the sizes of nails, has suffered alteration to
penny: see penny. ^ 1. A fundamental unit of
weight or mass. In the English system, both in the
more antiquated form retained in the United States and
under the improvements established by the British gov-
ernment, two pounds are used— the pound avoirdupois (di-
vided into 16 ounces) for all ordinary commodities, and
the troy pound (divided into 12 ounces) for bullion, and
in the United States for a few other purposes. But, while
troy ounces and their subdivisions are often used, the
pound itself is hardly employed. In Great Britain and its
colonies the legal original standard weight since 18S6 has
been the imperial pound avoirdupois, wliich is a cylindri-
cal mass of platinum, having a groove round it near the
top, and marked P. S. 1844 lib The letters P. S. stand for
"Parliamentary Standard." The so-called "commercial
pound" is only an ideal brass pound to be weighed in air.
The troy pound in Great Britain is defined as 5,760 grains
of which the avoirdupois pound contains 7,000. From
1824 to 1856 the only legal original standard weight in
Great Britain was a troy pound constructed in 1758 and
denominated the imperial standard troy pound ; and the
avoirdupois pound was defined as 7,000 grains of which
the troy pound contained 5,760. The present imperial
pound avoirdupois probably does not differ by zijt grain
from the previous avoirdupois pound. Before 1824 the
legal standards had been certain weighty both troy and
avoirdupois, constructed under Queen Elizabeth in 1588.
These standards had not been very accurately constructed,
and became worn by continual use; but it is probable
that the avoirdupois poundihad been equal to 7,002 of our
present grains, of which the troy pound may have con-
tained 5,759. The two pounds were not supposed to be
commensurable. The Elizabethan avoirdupois pound re-
mains, in theory, the legal avoirdupois pound in the Unit-
ed States ; but of late years the practice has been to copy
the British imperial pound avoirdupois. Congress has
made a certain pound-weight kept in Philadelphia tbe
troy pound of the United States; but this is a hollow
weight (and therefore of an inferior character, and such
as no European nation would be content to take for a
prototypeX and consequently Its buoyancy is uncertain,
and its mass cannot be ascertained with great accui-acy.*
Practically, the British troy pound is copied. The pound
avoirdupois was made a standard by Edward in., accord-
ing to ofilcial evidence. From his 56-pound weight Eliza-
beth's standards were copied, although standards had
been made in 1497, direct copies from which still exist.
The troy pound was the pound of the city of Troyes, where
a great annual fair was held. In 1497 it was made the legal
weight in England for gold and silver, and it was generally
used for other costly things, such as silk. The old books
say it was used for bread ; but Kelly, writing before the
abolition of the assize of bread, says the pound used for
that purpose was one of 7,600 grains, which he calls "the
old commercial weight of England." The monetary pound
which the troy pound displaced had been used from Saxon
times. It was equai to 5,400 or 6,420 of our present grains,
and was divided into 12 ounces or 20 shillings. Contem-
poraneously with it there existed a merchants' pound con-
taining 15 of the same ounces, making 6,775 grains. The
avoirdupois and troy pounds are respectively about 453.6
and 373.26 grams. Other pounds have been in use in Eng-
land. An act of 12 Charles II. legalizes the Venetian
pound for weighing Venetian gold. This pound was a
variation of the ancient Eoman pound. The pound of
Jersey and Guernsey was the French poids de marc. The
Scottish Troyes or tron pound varied at different times,
but latterly it was about 492 grams, being identical with
the Dutch pound. Local pounds of 17, 18, 21, 22, and
24 ounces were in use until recently. Before the metric
system many hundreds of different pounds were in use in
Europe, mostly divided into 16 ounces, but many into 12
ounces. The principal types were as follows. (1) Polish
pounds, of values clustering about 405 grams, contain-
ing 16 ounces of about 25 grams each, from the old War-
saw pound of 378.8 grams to the old Cracow pound of
405.9 grams. The latest Polish pound was 406.604 grams.
(2) The pounds of High Languedoc and the "table-weight"
pounds of Provence, of values clustering about 410 grams,
from the pound of Salon of 378. 6 to that of Embrun of 43B.0
grams Some of the table pounds, as that of Ain (438.3
grams) were divided into 14 ounces; so the chocolate
pound
pound of Vienna had 28 loth, weighing 490 grams. Also,
certain silk-pounds were divided into 15 ounces ; but these
were of greater weight. This was the case with the ordi-
nary pound of Geneva of 458.9 grams, which was equid to
the silk-pound of Lyons. The silk-pound of Patras in the
Morea had also 15 ounces, but its value amounted to 480
grams. The 15-ounce merchants' pound of England of 437
grams had ounces of the same value as the old 12-ounce
moneyers' pound of the Saxons. (3) Baltic pounds, of val-
ues clustering about 422 grams (making the ounce about
26^ grams), from the Russian pound of 409.6174 grams to
the Dantzic pound of 435.5 grams. The Swedish pound
was 426.04 grams. (4) The Italian pounds, of values clus-
tering about 326 grams (having 12 ounces of about 27 grams
each), the great majority between 300 and 350 grams. The
following are examples :
Grams.
Venice, light pound 301.29
Sicily 319.06
Naples, silk-pound 320.70
Milan, light pound 327.02
Rome 339.16
Tuscany 339.68
Piedmont 368.88
Ragusa, in Dalmatia 374.07
Venice, heavy pound 477.12
These pounds would seem to be mostly modifications of
the ancient Roman pound, the value of which was, accord-
ing to the extant standards, 325,8 grams, but according to
the "coins 327.4 grams. There were, however, anciently
other widely different pounds in Italy, from which some
of the modem Italian pounds may have been derived.
Many of the Italian cities had light and heavy pounds, the
latter belonging to the class of pounds about 490 grams,
or being still larger and containing more than 16 ounces,
(5) Light-weight pounds, having ounces of about 29
grams. These include Spanish and Portuguese pounds,
mostly ranging from 458,6 to 460.5 grams, Netherlands
pounds, ranging mostly from 463 to 470 grams, and Ger-
man light-weight pounds, ranging mostly from 467 to
468.5 grams. The Saxon moneyers' pound comes into this
category, being 350 grams, or 467 grams for 16 ounces. The
avoirdupois pound of 453.6 grams is either a very light
Spanish pound or a very heavy Provencal pound. The
German pounds are divided not into 16 ounces but into
32 loth. Some of the Spanish pounds contain only 12
ounces, the ounce retaining the same value. The follow-
ing are examples :
Grams.
Portugal T 469,00
Spain 460.14
Li^ge 467.09
Antwerp 470.17
Saxony 467.15
Prussia 467.7110
Wiirtemberg 467.76
Frankfort 467.88
(6) The German 12-ounce medicinal pounds, of values
clustering about 358 grams (the ounce about 30), and most-
ly between 367 and 360. The Nuremberg pound, 357.864
grams, had much currency in different parts of Germany.
(7) The heavy-weight pounds of France and Germany, of
values clustering about490 grams (making the ounce about
30} grams), being mostly included between 488J and 498J
grams. But there were a few half-heavy pounds between
the heavy and the light, having ounces of 29| grams.
There were also a few extra-heavy, having ounces of 31J
gi-ams. The following are German examples :
Grams,
Nuremberg, goldsmiths' (half-heavy). 477.138
Hamburg 484,12
Cassel 484,24
Lubeck 484,72
Hanover 489.57
Dutch troy 492.16772
Bremen 498,50
Denmark 499.26
Nuremberg, commer, (extra-heavy). .510,22
But the most important pound of this class was the French
mark-weight pound, of 489.60585 grams. This unit was so
called because it had double the mass of a certain nest of
weights, called a mark, which had been preserved in the
Paris mint with scrupulous care from time immemoriaL
There is evidence that Charlemagne, under whom Western
medieval coinage commenced, used a 12-ounce pound, the
livre esterlin, whose ounces agreed with those of the Paris
mark. It is said that Haroun al Raschid sent a standard
pound to Charlemagne, and it has commonly been inferred
that the liw'e esterlin was conformed to that, especially
as Queipo found an authentic rotl of the same weight,
Rotls, however, are of almost all weights, and there is no
sufficient evidence of what one Haroun would have sent;
besides, the fact that he sent a weight to Charlemagne af-
fords no reason for thinldng that Charlemagne would
adopt it. We know that Dagoberti 160 years before, had
kept a standard of weight in his palace, and it is quite
likely that Charlemagne continued the use of that. In-
deed, he had neither motive nor power to change the
customary weight, such changes being effected only by
changes in the course of commerce or by the hands of
strong governments. (8) The South German pounds, of
values clustering about 660 grams (making the ounce about
353 gramsX from that of Fiume, in Croatia, of 668.7 to that
of Munster of 676.4 grams. The Bavarian and Vienna com-
mercial pounds were, by law, 560 grams. Besides the
pounds above mentioned, there were some containing
more than 16 ounces. The heavy pounds of Valencia (524.4
grams), Zurich (528.6),- and Geneva (650,6) had 18 ounces.
There is said to have been a heavy pound (576 giams) in
the Swiss canton of Sobaflhausen, having 20 ounces. T^he
commercial pound of the Asturias, equal to 690.1 grams,
seems to have been divided into 24 ounces. The heavy
pound of Milan of 763,13 grams had 28 ounces, that of
Bergamo (815.2 grams) 30 ounces, and the meat-pound of
Valencia (1069 gram^ 36 ounces. See maris, minal, rod.
2. A money of account, oonsistic^ of 20 shil-
lings, or 240 pence, originally equivalent to a
pound weight of silver (or of the alloy used).
It is usually discriminated from the pound weight by the
epithet stming. The pound Scots was equal to a twelfth
pound
only of the pound sterling ; it also was divided into 20
shlUingB, the shilling being worth only an English penny.
In the currency of ttie American colonies the pound had
diHerent values: In Kew England and Virginia it was
equal at the time of the devolution to 16s. sterling, or
t3.33J ; in New York and North Carolina, to lis. Sd. ster-
ling, or $2.50; in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
and Maryland, to 12s., or $2.66|; in Georgia, to 188., or
$4.00. These units of value did not at once disappear
from local use on the adoption of the decimal system of
coinage by the United States.
St. A balance.
Mongst them al no change hath yet beene found ;
But, if thou now shouldst weigh them new in pound.
We are not sure they would so long remaiue.
Speruer, F. Q., V. ii. 36.
Flve-povind Act, Ten-pound Act, statutes of the colony
of New York (1769, 1789) giving to justices of the peace
and other local magistrates jurisdiction of civil cases in-
volving not more than the sums named. — Found for
pound, in equal measure or proportions: applied in
cookery, especially in preserving, to ingredients which
are taken in equal weights.— Ten-POUnd Act. See Five-
pound Act, above.— Turkish pound. See lira^, 2.
poundi (poTind), «). t. [<.pound\n. Cf. pondK']
It. To weigh. Levins. — 2. To wager a pound
on. [Slang.]
"Don't be out of temper, my dear," urged the Jew, sub-
missively. "I liave never forgot yoii. Bill, never once."
"No! I'll pound it that you han't," replied Sikes, with
a bitter grin. Diekem, Oliver Twist, xxxix.
pound^ (pound), 11. [< ME. *pound, pond, < AS.
*pund, an inelosure, only in the derived *pyn-
dan, shut up, dam, in verbal noun pynding, a
dam, and comp. forpyndan, turn away (shut
out), gepyndan, shut up, impound : see pind,
finder^, and cf. pondX, a doublet of pound^.']
. An inelosure, maintained by authority, for
confining cattle or other beasts when taken
trespassing, or going at large in violation of
law ; a pinfold. Pounds were also used for the
deposit of goods seized by distress.
Pro. You are astray, 'twere best pound you.
Speed. Nay, sir, less than a pound shall serve me for
carrying your letter.
Pro. You mistake: I mean thewownd — a pinfold.
Shak., T. G. of V., i. 1. 113.
Some captured creature in & pound,
Whose artless wonder quite precludes distress.
Browning, Sordello.
There is no more ancient institution in the country than
the Village Pound. It is far older than the King's Bench,
and probably older than the kingdom.
' lUaine, Early Hist, of Institutions, p. 263.
2t. A pond. — 3. In a eanal, the level portion
between two looks. — 4. A pound-net; also,
either one, inner or outer, of the compartments
of such a net, or the inelosure of a gang of nets
in which the fish are finally entrapped. See
cut under pound-net.
We concluded the day by accompanying the fisherman
and a neighbor as they went to "lift" theii pounde.
New York Evening Post, Aug. 28, 1886.
Big pound, one of the compartments of a weir where
the fish, directed by the leader, first enter the weir ; the
largest part of the weir, inclosed by a row of stakes.—
Hob's pound. See lu)b^.— Inner pound, the first inelo-
sure of a pound-net, at the extremity of the run, shaped
like an obtuse arrow-head, the entrance being between
the two barbs or hooks.— Little pound, a compartment
of a weir into which the fish pass from the big pound.-
Outer pound, the inelosure of a pound-net connecting
with the inner pound.— Pound overt, an open pound —
that Is, one not roofed, or perhaps one accessible to the
owner of goods or cattle — as distinguished from a pound
covert or do8e.
A pound (parens, which signifies any enclosure) is either
pound-overt, that is, open overhead ; or pound-covert, that
is, close. Blaekstone, Com., III. i.
Bound pound, one of the divisions of the deep-water
weir, through which the fish pass, between the pasture and
the fish-pound.— To go to poimd, to go to prison ; be im-
prisoned. [Slang.]
pound^ (pound), V. t. [< pound^, v. Cf. im-
pound. The older verb is i)md, q. v.] l.To
shut up in a pound; impound; confine as in a
pound ; hence, to imprison ; confine.
We'll break our walls,
Bather than they shall pound us up.
Shak., Cor., i. 4. 17.
' In a lone rustic hall for ever pounded,
With dogs, cats, rats, and squalling brats surrounded.
Colman, Epil. to Sheridan's School for Scandal.
2. Figuratively, to keep within narrow limits ;
cramp ; restrain.
This was the civil and natural habit of that prince ;
and more might be said if I were not pounded within an
epistle. Sir H. Wotton, Rellquise, p. 246.
He is balked or pounded at every step, always trying
back, but never by any chance hitting oft the right road
to his object. Lever, Davenport Dunn, III. 164. (Hoppe.)
3. To form into pounds, bins, or compartments.
In the hair-seal fishery, on the coast of Newfoundland,
the vessel's hold is pounded o/' into bins only a little larger
than the skins. Fisheries of U. S., V. iL 426.
pounds (poimd), v. [Early mod. E. poun, pown;
< ME. pounen, < AS. punian (once), gepunian
4658
(rare), pound. Ctpun^.'l I. fe-ans. l.To beat;
strike as with a heavy instrument and with re-
peated blows; pommel.
On the left the Mediterranean was pounding the sand
and the clam-shells, for the wind had been blowing some
days from the south, and a good surf was on.
C. D. Warner, Roundabout Journey, p. 60.
2t. To inflict; strike: as, toj)OM»(Jblows.
An hundred knights had him enclosed round, . . .
All which at once huge strokes on him did pound,
In hope to take Mm prisoner.
Spemer, F. Q., IV. iv. 31.
3. To pulverize ; break into fine pieces by strik-
ing with a heavy instrument; crush; reduce to
powder.
Which (after) Hi' Indians parch, and pun, and knead.
And thereof mwe them a most holesom bread.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 3.
Oh, brauely said, Ned Spicing ! the honestest lad that
euer»o«»id spice in a mortar. - ,„,
Heywood, 1 Edw. IV. (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, 1. 10).
I care not, though, like Anacharsis, I were pounded to
death in a mortar. WebOer, White Devil, v. 1.
II. intrans. 1. To strike repeated blows;
hammer continuously.
I found all our grnis pounding at the Martinlfere.
W. H. Sussell, Diary In India, xviil.
2. To walk with heavy steps; plod laboriously
or heavily.
What you don't know about cross-country riding in these
parts that horse does, ... for he 's pounded up and down
across this Territory for the last five years.
The Century, XSXVII. 900.
pounds (pound), ». [ipound^jV.'i A blow; a
forcible thrust given to an object, thus gener-
ally occasioning a noise or report; also, the
sound thus produced.
poundage^ (poun'daj), n. [Also pondage; <
ME. 'poundage (= ML. pondagium) ; < pound\
n., + -age.^ 1. A certain sum or rate per
pound sterling; a tax, duty, or deduction of
so much per pound ; specifically, in Eng. hist,
a duty of 12d. in the pound on exported or im-
ported merchandise. See tonnage and pound-
age (under tonnage), and subsidy.
Poundage, ... an allowance or abatement of twelve
Pence in the Pound, upon the receipt of a Summ of
Money; Also a Duty granted to the Queen of 12 Pence
for every 20 Shillings Value of all Goods exported or im-
ported, except such as pay Tunnage, Bullion, and a few
others. E. PhiBips, 1706.
There were considerable additions made to it last year:
the ruins of a priory, which, however, make a tenant's
house, that pays me tolerable poundage.
Shenslone, Letters, Ixxi.
Poundage was a duty imposed ad valorem^ at the rate
of 12d. in the pound, on aU other merchandise whatsoever.
Blackstone, Com., I. viii.
2. In law, an allowance to a sheriff or similar
officer, computed by a percentage on the value
of property seized by him or the amount of
the judgment or process satisfied, as a compen-
sation for bis service.
Poundage also signifies a fee paid to an ofiicer of a
court for his services, e. g. to a sheriff's ofiicer, who is
entitled by 28 Eliz. c. 4 to a poundage of a shilling in the
pound on an execution up to £100, and sixpence in the
pound above that sum. Encyc. Brit., XXIII. 443.
3. In salt-^ianuf., the number of pounds of salt
contained in one cubic foot of brine.
poundage^ (poun'daj), v. t.; pret. and pp.
poundaged, ppr. poimdaging. [< pou/ndage^,
».] To assess or rate by poundage ; collect as
poundage.
The custom-house of certain Publicans that have the
tunaging and the poundaging of all free spok'n truth.
Milton, Areopagitica.
poundage^ (poun'daj), n. [< ^ound^ + -age.']
1. The conflnemfint of cattle in a pound. — 2.
A charge levied upon the owners of impounded
cattle, both as a fine for trespass and to defray
the cost of caring for the animals.
Poundage, . . . the fee paid to the pounder of cattle.
E. PhiUips, 1706.
Molly I've known ever since she was dropt; she has
brought in the strays, and many is the poundage she has
saved Uncle Ket. S. Judd, Margaret, ii. 5.
poundal (poun'dal), n. l<pound^ -f- -al.'] A
name proposed by Prof. James Thomson for the
British kinetic unit of force — the force which,
acting for one second upon a mass of one
pound, gives it a velocity of one foot per second :
g poundals (g being the acceleration of gravity
at a given place) are equal to the action of
gravity upon (that is, to the weight of) one
pound ; one poundal = 13,825 dynes.
pound-boat (pound'bot), n. Afishing-boat used
on Lake Erie, it is a flat-tJbttomed, wide-beamed type,
very simply constructed from rough boards, usually 40 feet
in length, with a large center-board, carrying two very tall
spars, and a wide spread of canvas. It Is fast before the
poundrel
wind, and very roomy, and is used in tranaportlne fish
from the nets to the warehouses and freezing-housel.
pound-breach (pound'brech), n. [ME. pund.
hreche; ipouncP- + breach.] The forcible re-
covery, by the owner, of impounded chattels.
The taking them [chattels] back by force is looked umn
as an atrocious injury, and denominated a rescous tor
which the distrainor has a remedy in damages, either bv
writ of rescous, in case they were going to the pound or
by writ [of] . . . poundArreaeh, in case they were aetuallv
impounded. Blackstone, Com., in. jx
pound-cake (poimd'kak)^ n. A rich sweet cake
so named because its principal ingredients are
measured by the pound.
pounderl (poun'dfer), n. 1 . A thing or person
weighing a specified number of pounds: only
in composition, with a numeral ; speeifloally, o(
artillery, a ^n that discharges a missile of the
specified weight: thus, a Grounder \i a cannon
firing baUs weighing each 64 pounds.
There was the story of DoSue Martling, a large blue-
bearded Dutchman, who had nearly taken a British frigate
with an old iron nme-paunder from a mud breastwork, only
that his gun burst at the sixth discharge.
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 442.
2. A person who promises or pays a 1 _
number of pounds sterling. Before the passing ot
the Beform Act of 1867 the term tfin-poundersyi2& applied
in Great Britain to those paying the lowest amount of
yearly rent (£10) entitling them to vote in parliamenteij
elections in cities and boroughs.
3t. A kind of pear, supposed to weigh a pound.
Alcinoiis' orchard various apples bears;
Unlike are bergamots and pounder pears.
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Oeoigice, ii.
pounder^ (poun'd6r),». \<. poun^ + -er'^. Cf.
pinder.] A pound-keeper.
pounder^ (poun'dfer), n. [< pound^ + -e»'i.] 1.
One who pounds. — 2. An instrument for pound-
ing, (a) A pestle, (b) The beater of a fulling-mill.
poundfoldt (pound'fold), n. An obsolete form
of pinfold.
Fro the poukes poundfalde no maynprise may ous fecche.
Piers Plowman (C), xk. Hi,
pound-foolish (pound'fSl'ish), a. Neglecting
the care of large sums or concerns in attending
to little ones: used only in the phrase penny-
wise and pound-foolish. See penny-wise.
pounding (poun'ding), n. In coining, the pro-
cess of testing repeatedly, the weight of a given
number of blanks punched from a sheet of gold
or silver.
pounding-barrel (poun'ding-bar"el),». A bar-
rel to hold clothes which are pounded in hot
water with a heavy pestle or pounder to clean
them. H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 340.
pounding-machine (poim'ding-ma-shen*), «.
A stamping-mill; specifically, a powder-mill.'
E. H. Knight.
pound-keeper (pound'ke'pfer), n. One who has
the care of a pound.
poundman (pound 'man), n.; T^powdmai
(-men). A fisherman" employed in weir- or
pound-fishing; a pound-fisherman.
poundmaster (pound'mAs'''t6r), n. A pound-
keeper.
poundmealti adv. [ME. poundmele; (.pouniP
+ -meal as in drcfpmeal, piecemeal, etc.] By
the pound.
Pardoners . . . saf pardun for pons ooundmsfo abouto
Piers Plowman (A), li. 198.
pound-net (pound'net), ». In fislmg, a Und
of weir; a wall-net with wings (c, e in the
cut), a leader (a), and a
pocket, bowl, or pound (b).
The leader is an npright net which
is extended in a straight line to the
shore to guide the fish into the mouth
of an outer netted inelosure called
the heart A contracted opening at
the extremity of the heart admits the
fish into another inelosure called the
bowl or pound, with a bottom of net-
ting, where they remain until re-
moved for market. The fish, in coast-
ing along the shor& keep neai- the
land, and, meeting the wing of the
pound, follow the obstruction to its
outer extremity, in order to get
around it, and thus enter the trap,
from which there is no escape. The
wings are in many cases a thousand
yards in length.
pound-rate (pound'rat), n. A
rate or payment at a certain
proportion per pound.
Houses in London pay an annual
pound-rate in the name of tithes by
virtue of an arbitration or decree con-
firmed by act of parliament.
Toller (ed. 1808), Law of Tithes, L 151.
poundreUt (poun'drel), n. [ME., appar.
pound^.] A weight, of unknown amount.
potmdrel
All that falsen or vse false measures ... or false
wlghtes, poundes or poundreUes, or false ellen yerdes,
wetyngly other than the lawe of Qie lond woll.
J. Myrc, Instruotions for Parish Priests (E. E. T. S.X p. 22,
ponndrel^t (poun'drel), n. [Appar. a particu-
lar nse otpoundreV- (?).] The head.
So nimhly flew away these scoandrels,
Olad they had'scap'd, and saT'd their poundreli.
Cotton, Works (ed. 1734), p. 14. {HaUiwett.)
pound-scoop (pound' sk6p), n. A. seoop-net
used in taking fish out of a pound,
pound-weigllt (pound 'wat), ». A piece of
metal used in weighing to determine how much
makes a pound.
No man can by words only give another an adequate
idea of a foot-rule, or apouna-weight.
Blackstone, Com., I. vii.
potmdwort (pound'wfert), n. Same as Seixu-
les' allheal (which see, under Hercules).
poansedt, a. See potmcecP-.
pounson^t, n. A Middle English form of puri'
eheon.
ponnson^t, i). [ME. pounsonen (in verbal n. and
pp.); < poMnsorsi, m. Ct. pounce^, v.'] Same as
pounce\ 1.
ponnson^ (poun'son), n. In coal-mines, a
dense, soft clay underlying the coal-seam. Also
called under-elay, seat, pavement, floor, or thill
in different mining districts in England.
pounsonedt, a. [ME.: seeiwwtjworai, «.] Same
a,s ponncecP; 1.
Powraoned [var. pmoMonyd, pmimstmed, also poutised]
and dagged clothyng. . Chavjcer, Parson's Tale.
pounsoningf, ». [ME., verbal n. otpounsori^,
».] Punching.
So muche poujisonifnge [var. pmcTisenynffe, ptyumaonyTige,
also pounsyngj of chisel to maken holes.
Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
Foupart's ligament. See ligament.
ponpeH,"-'- [ME.; cf. ^qpi,j)oqp3.] To make
a sudden sound or blast with a horn ; blow.
Of bras they broughten beemes, and of box.
Of horn, of boon, in which they blew and pmopede.
Chmieer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 579.
poupe^t, »• [^ OP. *poupe, < L. pupa, a doll,
puppet: BBBpupa.'] A puppet. Palsgrave.
ponpetont (p6'pe-ton), n. [< OF. "poupeton,
dim. of^empeJte, apuppet: seepuppet.'] 1. A
little baby; a puppet; a doll. Palsgrave. — 2.
A stew consisting of either meat or fish, or of
both ; a ragout.
Pmpetim, ... a Mess made in a Stew-pan, as it were a
fie, with thin slices of Bacon laid underneath.
E. PMUips, 1706.
ponr^ (por), V. [Early mod. E. also poure,
powre, power; < ME. pouren, powren, poweren,
poren, pour; perhaps < W.,bwrw, cast, throw,
rain (bwrw gwlaw, ' east rain,' rain, hwrw dagrau,
shed tears, bwrw eira, 'cEtst snow,' snow); ef.
Gael, purr, push, thrust, drive, urge. Cf . D.
forren = 'LGi.purren,stiv. seej>orei.] \. trans.
. To cause to flow or stream, as a liquid or
granular substance, either out of a vessel or
into one ; discharge in a stream : as, to pour
out wine; to pour in salt or sand.
Peny-ale and podyng-ale hue pmirede to-geders.
Pierg Plowman (C), vii. 226.
It is a figure in rhetoric that drink, being poured out of
a cup into a glass, by filling the one doth empty the other.
Shak., As you Like it, v. 1. 46.
Orontes is a Kiuer which arlseth in Ccelesyria, and . . .
in taepourreth himself e into the lappe of Neptune.
Pwrehat, Pilgrimage, p. 83.
Mean while, Syneidesispimr'd this loud Cry
In Psyche's ear. J. Beaumont, Psyche, il. 113.
The soft-eyed well-girt maidens poured
The joy of life from out the jars long stored
Deep in the earth.
William Marri», Earthly Paradise, I. 293.
2. To cause to flow or fall in a succession of
streams or drops ; rain.
There was jwured downe a great deale of water.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 3.
This day will pour down.
If I conjecture aught, no drizzling shower.
But rattling storm of arrows barb'd with fire.
MUtan, P. 1., vl. 544.
3. To send forth as in a stream; discharge;
emit; send forth in profusion or as in a flood,
as words.
And Daniel likewyse, cap. 9., vowereOi forth his herte
before God. Joye, Expos, of Daniel iv.
They poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon
mem. Isa. xxri. 16.
Now will I shortly j»«r out my fury upon thee.
Ezek. Tit 8.
How London doth jxmr out her citizens 1
Shale., Hen. V., v., ProL, \. 24.
A multitude, like which the populous north
Pom'd never from her frozen loins, to pass
Khene or the Danaw. MOUm, P. L., L 352.
4659
Here nature all her sweets profusely pours.
And paints th' enamell'd ground with various fiowers.
Gay, The Fan, i.
Tun'd at length to some immortal song.
It sounds Jehovah's name, and pours his praise along.
Cooper, Conversation, 1. 908.
Over the waving grass- fields of June, the bobolink, tipsy
with joy, pours his bubbling laughter.
G. S. Merriam, S. Bowles, L 14.
Hence — 4. To shed; expend: aa,to pour ont
one's blood.
Four sprightly coursers with a deadly groan
Pour forth their lives, and on the pyre are thrown.
Pope, Hiad, xxiii. 209.
The Babylonian, Assyrian, Medean, Persian monarchies
must have poured out seas of blood in their destruction.
Burke, Vind. of Nat. Society.
To pour oU on the Are. See fire.— To pour water on
the hands. See hamd.
II. intrans. 1. To flow; issue forth in a
stream : as, the water poured over the roeks.
Through the fair scene roll slow the ling'ring streams.
Then foaming pour along, and rush into the Thames.
Pope, Windsor Forest, 1. 218.
The torrent brooks of hallow'd Israel
From craggy hollows jiourfn^r, late and soon,
Sound all night long, in falling thro' the delL
Tennyson, Fair Women.
2. To fall, as a torrent of rain; rain hard.
In such a night
To shut me out ! Four on ; I will endure.
Shak., Lear, iii. 4. 18.
May he who gives the rain \jopour . . .
Protect thee frae the driving shower !
Bums, On the Birth of a Posthumous Child.
3. To rush on as in a stream; come forth in
great numbers.
A nation of barbarians pours down on a rich and un war-
like empire. Maeavlay, Gladstone on Church and State.
Koll of cannon and clash of arms.
And England pourirtff on her foes.
Tennyson, Death of Wellington.
The slaves poured into the Boman provinces of the East
in nearly the same character in which the Teutons poured
into the Koman provinces of the West.
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 481.
4. To spread; become difEused.
The universal calm of southern seas poured from the
bosom of the ship over the quiet, decaying old northern
port. G. W. Curtis, Prue and I, p. 67.
pour^ (por), n. [< pour^, i).] 1. Continuous
motion as of a stream; flow.
The author's striking experiment of comparing solar ra-
diation directly with the pour of molten slieel from a Bes-
semer converter. Science, XI. 143.
2. A heavy fall of rain ; a downpour.
He mounted his horse, and rode home ten miles in a
pour of rain. Miss Ferrier, Destiny, xx. {Davies.)
ponr^t, V. i. A Middle English form otpore^.
pour^t, n. A Middle English form otpower^.
pour*i, a. A Middle English form otpoor.
pourboire (p6r-bwor'), ». [P., < pour, for, +
boire, drink,< L. bibere, drink: see wftl.] Drink-
money; adouceur; a "tip."— Policy of pourboire,
in international political transactions, the practice of giv-
ing equivalents or returns for particular courses of govern-
ment action.
In 1866 — for the policy of pmirhoire was known then,
although the name had not, I think, been invented — Italy
asked at Paris whether she was to join Austria or Prussia
in the war, as both of them had made to her the same
promise, that Venice was to be the price of her alliance.
FortnaghOy Rev., N. S., XXI. 2.
pourcliacef, v. t. A Middle English form of
purchase.
pouxchast, n. A Middle English form of pur-
pTlfTSfi
pouret. A Middle English form of pour^, poor,
pore^.
pourer (p6r'6r), n. One who or that which
pours.
pourfillf, V. t. An obsolete form otpurfle.
pourget, V. An obsolete form ot purge.
poune (pS'ri), m. [<i>ottri + dim. -je.] 1. A
small quantity of any liquid. — 2. A vessel for
holding beer or other liquids, with a spout for
pouring; a pitcher, as distinguished from a mug;
a decanter; a cream-jug. Jamieson. [Scotch.]
ponring-gate (por'ing-gat), M. In founding. See
gate^, 5 (a).
pouri'winklet) »• An obsolete form ot periwin-
kle. Palsgrave.
pourlicht, ado. An obsolete form ot poorly.
pourlieut, ». -An obsolete form ot purlieu.
pourparler (p6r-par'la), n. [P., a conference,
parley, < OP. pourparler, porparler, purparler,
confer, parley, < pour- (< L. pro-), before, +
parler, speak: see parle, v.] A preliminary
conference of a more or less informal nature ;
a consultation preliminary to subsequent nego-
tiation.
pousse-caf€
A young man and maid, who were blushing over tenta-
tive pourparlers on a life-companionship, sat beneath the
comer cupboard. T. Hardy, The Three Strangers.
pourpartyt, w. Seepurparty.
pourpoint (por'point), n. [< F. pourpohit (OP.
pourpoint, purpoint, > ME. purpeynte) = Pr. per-
pong, perpoing^erponh = Sp. perpunte = Pg.
perpoente, < ME. perpunctum, a quilted gar-
ment, prop. neut. pp. of LL. perpungere, pierce
through, \ L. per, through, + pungere, pierce :
see pungent, point^.'] 1 . A stuffed and quilted
garment, as a military coat of fence, stuffed
like the gambeson.
The knight wears a studded pourpoirU.
J. Hewitt, Ancient Armour, II. 23.
2. A close-fitting garment worn by men in the
fourteenth century and
later, as distinguished
from the doublet, which
superseded it. Repre-
sentations of it show a
smoothly drawn garment,
without wrinkles or folds.
Item, j. coveryng of whyte
lynen clothe. Item, j. pur-
poynt.
Paston Letters, I. 482
The slashed velvets, the
mfls, the jeweled pwnoints
ot the courtiers around.
Green, Short History of the
[English People, p. 389.
pourpoint (por'point),
V. t. [< pourpoint, m.]
To stuff and quilt, as a
coat of fence.
The Jack of Defence . . .
appears to have been of four „ . ^ ^ „ ..
iJ^.i« . ,•♦ „..,., « »..ji^A.4 «..„4- . Pourpoint, 3. — From a contem-
kinds: it was a quilted coat; poraryengrkvingof Heray II. ot
or it was pourpointed of lea- France.
tber and canvas in many
folds ; or it was formed of mail ; or ot small plates like
the brigandine armour.
J. Heuritt, Ancient Armour, IL 131.
pourpointerie (F. pron. p6r-pwan-te-re'), n.
[P.] Quilted work.
The hood is sometimes shewn as made ot a cloth-like
material (cloth, leather, or pourpointerie).
J. Heuritt, Ancient Armour, L 237.
pourpointing (por'poin-ting), n. [Verbal n. of
pourpoint, v.] Stuffing and quilting, especially
of garments of fence, as the gambeson ; quilted
work. Compare gamboised.
pourpointwiset, «<?"• [< pourpoint + ■mse.']
By quilting ; as if quilted.
Item, j cover of white clothe, fyne and well-wrought,
purpeynte isyse. Paston Letters, I. 478.
pourpret, «■ A Middle English form ot purple.
pourpresture, n. See purpresture.
pouiridi^ (po-re-di-a'), n. [P.,< pourrir, rot, <
putrere, rot: see putrid.'] A comprehensive
term for certain diseases of the roots of the
cultivated vine, caused by several fungi, such
as Agarieus melleus, Dematophora necatrix, D.
glomerata, Vibrissea hypogsea, etc., and fre-
quently very destructive to the vineyards of
southern Europe. The only really efficacious
remedy is to remove and bum all roots show
ing traces of the disease.
poursuivantt, »• An obsolete form of pursui-
vant.
pourtraictt, v. t. Same as portrait.
pourtraiet, v. A Middle English form of por-
tray.
pourtraiourt, »• A Middle English form otpor-
trayer.
pOTUrtraituret, "■ An obsolete form ot portrait-
ure.
ponrtrayt, v. An obsolete form ot portray.
pourvey, ». See purvey.
pourveyance, n. See purveyance.
poust, »■ A Middle English form of pulse'^.
Chaucer.
ponse, pouss (pons), v. and n. A dialectal
(Scotch) form ot push.
What tho' at times, when I grow crouse,
I gi'e their wames a random pouse.
Bums, To a Tailor.
pousht, n. An obsolete form otpush.
pousset, n. An obsolete form of pulsed.
pousse-cafS (p6s'ka-fa'), n. [P.,<^o«sse»-,push,
-1- cafe, coffee.] A drink served after coffee at
dinner, composed of several cordials (gener-
ally two parts of maraschino and one each of
chartreuse, absinthe, vermouth, and benedic-
tine, with a film of brandy), forming successive
layers in the glass. The name is often given
to any cordial taken after coffee.
poassette
poussette (p8-set'), v. i. ; pret. and pp. pous-
setted, ppr. poussetUng. [< P. poussette, push-
pin, < jjojtsser, push : see jj»(s7i.] To swing round
in couples, as in a country-dance.
Came wet-shot alder from the wave ;
Came yews, a dismal coterie ;
Each pluck'd his one loot from the grave,
Poutsetting with a sloe-tree.
Tennyson, Amphion.
poussie (po'si), H. A Scotch form otpussy.
poustt, poustiet, n. [< ME. pouste, powste, post,
paste, also poustee,< OF. poeste, poest, poestre,
£odeste, poesU, pousti, poestet, podestet, etc., <
.potesta(J-)s,pow6v: seepotestate.^ 1. Power;
might.
And so I wille my post proue,
By creatoris of kyndis clene.
York Plays, p. 9.
Eiohesse h&thpouete. Ram. of the Rose, I. 6484.
The est he put in my powite,
And the north at my will to be.
Holy Rood (ed. Morris), p. 63.
With al thi myght and ttdpooste
Thou schalt him serue, and othir noone.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (K. E. T. S.X p. 43.
2. Violence ; violent attack.
Thow hast hen warned of te
Withpoustees of pestilences, with pouerte and with angres.
Piers Plmmum (B), xii. 11.
In poustt, In one's power ; hence, possible.
Yef it were in paste, he wolde it not haue do for all the
reme of grete Breteigne, for sore he dredde oure lorde.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 610.
poll sto (p6 sto). [Gr. TTovara: tcov, where; aru,
1st pers. sing, second aor. sulbj. of lardvat, set,
place, stand: see stand."] A place to stand; a
basis of operations, either physical or meta-
physical. According to Diogenes Laertius, Archimedes
said, "Give me where I may stand (ttoO (t™), and with a
lever I could move the world."
She perhaps might reap the applause of Greatj
Who learns the one pou sto whence after-hands
May move the world. Tennyson, Itlncess, iiL
pouti (pout), n. [< ME. *poute, < AS. *pute, in
oomp. sele-pute, eel-pout (see eel-pout); of. MD.
puyt, D.puit, a frog; MD.pudde, an eel-pout;
ulterior origin unknown.] One of several fishes
which have swollen or inflated parts, (o) An eel-
pout. (6) The biborblens, Gadvs luseus; the whiting-cod :
more fully called whiting-povi. (c) In the United States,
4660
pont^ (pout), m. [<pout^,v.'] 1. A protrusion
of the Ups as in pouting; hence, a fit of sullen-
ness or displeasure : as, she has the pouts.
Sideway his face reposed
On one white arm, and tenderly unclosed,-
By tenderest pressure, a taint damask mouth
To slumbery pout. Keats, Endymion, ii.
2. A pouter pigeon. See pouter'^, 2.
pout* (pout), n. [A reduction or poult. The
LG. and Gr.pute are proh. < E.] 1. A young
fowl or bird: same as poult. [Prov. Eng. and
Scotch.]
Fasanello [It.], a phesant^mrf.
Florio, p. 181. {HalliweU.)
As soon 's the cloakin' [brooding] time is by.
An' the wee^oMte begin to cry.
Bums, Epistle to John Hankine.
2. Figuratively, a young girl; a sweetheart.
[Scotch.]
The Squire, returning, mist his ponOe,
And was in unco rage, ye needna doubt.
Rosses Helenore, p. 93. (Jamieson.)
pout^ (pout or pot), V. i. [< pout^, re.] To go
gunning for young grouse or partridges. Imp.
Diet.
pout* (pout), ». [Pioh. <. *pout iov pote, v.] In
coal-rmmng, a tool used for knocking out tim-
bers in the workings. [North. Eng.]
poutassou (p6-tas'o), re. A name of the Mi-
cromesistius (or Gadus) poutassou, a fish of the
family Gadidse.
pouter ^- (pou'tfer), re. [< pout^ + -eri.] 1.
One who or that which pouts. Specifically —
2. A long-legged breed of domestic pigeons,
named from their characteristic habit of pout-
Horn-poul (.4
a kind of catfish, Ajmunts ctUus, and others of this genus ;
a horn-pout,
pouti (pout), V. i. [< pouf^, re.] To fish or
spear for pouts.
pout^ (pout), V. [< ME.pouten; perhaps < W.
pwdu, be sullen, pout. Cf . P. bouder, pout (see
boudoir). Cf. also P. dial, pot, pout, potte, lip
{faire la potte, 'make a lip,' pout), = Pr. pot,
Up, mod. Pr. kiss. The relations of these forms
are undetermined.] I. intrans. 1 . To thrust out
the lips, as in displeasure or suUenness ; hence,
to look sullen.
Be not gapynge nor ganynge, ne with thy mouth to powt.
Bailees jBoo*(E. E. T. S.), p. 135.
Thou i»m<'>e upon thy fortune and thy love.
Slialc., B. and J., iii. 3. 144.
Pouting is generally accompanied by frowning, and
sometimes by the utterance of a booing and whooing noise.
Darwin, Egress, of Emotions, p. 232.
2. To swell out; be plump and prominent: as,
pouting lips; pouting clusters of grapes.
Her mouth ! 'twas Egypt's mouth of old,
Fush'd out axkd pouting full and bold.
Joaqiiin Miller, Ship in the Desert.
8. To puff out or swell up the breast, as a pi-
geon. See pouter'^, 2.
II. trans. To thrust out; protrude.
Her lips are sever'd as to speak :
His own are pouted to a kiss.
Tennyson, Day-Dream, Sleeping Palace.
English Pouter.
ing, or puffing up the breast, sometimes to sur-
prising size and almost globular shape. They
occur in many different color- varieties. Pygmy pouters
have the same form and habit, but are of very small size,
like the bantams among chickens.
3. Same a,a pout^ (6).
Small haddocks and rock pouters — cheap, common flsh
— are often . . . sold at a high price tor whiting.
Lancet, ISo. 8465, p. 1024.
pouter^ (pou't6r or po'tSr), re. [<j)om«S + -ej-l.]
A sportsman whose game is poults or young
grouse. Imp. Diet.
pouting^ (pou'ting), re. [Verbal n. otpout^, v.]
The act or art of taking pouts (the fish).
pouting^ (pou'ting), re. [Verbal n. of pout^, «.]
The act of protruding the lips petulantly; a
pout.
Never look coy, lady ;
These are no gifts to be put off with poutings.
Fleteher, Humorous Lieutenant, ill. 2.
pouting* (pou'ting or pb'ting), re. [Verbal n.
of pout^, v.] The act or art of taking pouts
(the bird).
poutingly (pou'ting-li), adv. In a pouting or
sullen manner.
"I suppose I hesitate without grounds." Gwendolen
spoke va.t\ieT ponblngly, and her uncle grew suspicious.
Qearge Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xiii.
pout-net (pout'net), re. Same &% plout-net.
povert, a. An obsolete variant otpoor.
poverisht, "• t. [By apheresis for impoverish.']
To impoverish ; make poor.
No violent showr
Poverisht the Land, which frankly did produce
All fruitfuU vapours for delight and vse.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., Eden.
poverty-weed
povertet, »■ A Middle English form of poverty.
poverty (pov'er-ti), re. [< ME. povertee, poverte,
< OF. poverte, povrete,povreteit,pourete,pauvre-
te, F. pauvreti = Pr. paupretat, paubretat, paure-
tat = OCat. pobretat = OS]?, vobredad (cf. Sp.
Pg. pobreza) = It. povertet; < L. pauperta(t-)ti,
poverty, < pauper, poor : see poor a,na. pauper.]
1. The state or condition of being poor; need
or scarcity of means of subsistence; needy
circumstances; indigence; penury.
For pacyence is payn ioT pouerte hym-selue.
And sobrete swete drynke and good leche in sykenesse.
P^s PUmrnan (B), xlv. 313.
Glad poverte is an honest thypg, certeyn.
Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, L 327.
The destruction of the poor iittieii poverty. Prov. %. 16.
It is still her [Fortune's] use
To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,
To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow
An age ol poverty. Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 271.
A carpenter thy father known, thyself
Bred up in pover^ and straits at home.
Milton, P. R., ii. 415.
2. The quality of being poor; a lack of neces-
sary or desirable elements, constituents, or
qualities, (a) Lack of fertility or productiveness : as,
the poverty of the soil. (6) Lack of ideas or of skill ; lack
of intellectual or artistic merit : as, the poverty of a ser-
mon or a picture, (c) Lack of adequate means or instru-
mentality : as, poverty of language.
When Lucretius complains of our poverty in language,
he means only in terms of art and science.
Landor, Imaginary Conversations (Tibullus and Messala).
(d) Lack of richness of tone ; thinness (of sound).
The peculiar quality of tone commonly termed poverty,
as opposed to richness, arises from the upper partials he.
ing comparatively too strong for the prime tone.
Helmholiz, Sensations of Tone (trans.), i. 6.
3. Dearth; scantiness; small allowance.
In places glade and warme if vyne abounde
In leef, and have of fruite hut povertee,
Now kitte hem short and thai wol be feconde.
PaUadius, Hnsbondrie (E. E. T. 3.), p. 219.
4t. Poor things ; objects or productions of lit-
tle value.
Alack, what j)Oi)cr«!/ my Muse brings forth!
Shak., Sonnets, ciiL
5t. The poor; poor people collectively. Com-
pare <Ae quality, used for persons of quality.
I have diners tymes taken a waye from them their ly-
cences, of both sortes, wyth such money as they haue
gathered, and haue confiscated the same to the pouerty
nigh adioyninge to me,
Harman, Caveat for Cursetors (1687).
There is no people in the world, as I suppose, that liue
so miserably as do the pouerty in those parts.
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 323.
=Syn. 1. Poverty, Want, Indigence, Pemiry, Destitution,
Pauperism, Need, neediness, necessitousness, privation,
beggary. Poverty is a strong word, stronger than being
poor; want is still stronger, indicating that one has not
even the necessaries of lite ; indigence is often stronger
than want, implying especially, also, the lack of those
things to which one has been used and that befit one's
station ; permry is poverty that is severe to abjectness ;
destitution is the state of having absolutely nothing ; pau-
perism is a poverty by which one is thrown upon public
charity for support ; need is a general word, definite only
in suggesting the necessity for immediate relief. None
of these words is limited to the lack of property, although
that is naturally a prominent fact under each.
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the
hands to sleep : so shaU thy poverty come as one that tra^
velleth, and thy want as an armed man. Prov. vi. 10, 11.
Want can quench the eye's bright grace.
Scott, MaRnion, i. 28.
The luxury of one class is counterbalanced by the indi-
genee of another. Thoreau, Walden, p. 38.
Chill penury repressed their noble rage,
And froze uie genial current of the souL
dray. Elegy, st IS.
Pity and need
Make all flesh kin. . . .
My strength is waned now that my nsed is most.
Bdv4n Arnold, Light of Asia, vi. 73, 118.
2 and 3. Meagemess, jejuneness.
poverty-grass (pov'6r-ti-gr&s), re. A low
branching grass, Aristida dichotoma, common
eastward and southward in the United States:
so named as inhabiting poor soils. The name
is sometimes extended to the genus.
poverty-plant (pov'6r-ti-plant), re. A cista-
ceous plant, Hudsonia tomentosa, a little heath-
like shrub of sandy shores. [New Jersey.]
poverty-stricken, poverty-struck (pov'6r-ti-
strik"n, -struk), a. Eeduced to a state of pov-
erty; suffering from the effects of poverty;
needy; indigent.
Poverty-stricken, hunger-pinched, and tempest-tortured,
It [the pine] maintains its proud dignity, grows strong by
endurance, and symmetrical by patient s&uggle.
H. Macmillan, quoted in Word-hunter's Noto-book, iv.
poverty-weed (pov'^r-ti-wed), n. The purple
cow-wheat, Melampyrum arvense, a deleterious
poverty-weed
fraiii-flel4 weed with showy red and yellow
owers. [Isle of Wight.]
povey (puv'i), n. The white owl, or barn-owl.
C. Swainson. [Glouoestershire, Eng.j
powi (pou), n. A Scotch form of pollK
But now your brow is beld, John,
Your looks are like the snaw ;
But blessings on your frosty pmjo,
John Anderson, my jo.
Bums, John Anderson.
pow^t (pou), interj. A variant ol pooh.
Vir. The gods grant them true 1
Vol. True I pow, wow. Shak., Cor., 11. L 157.
powan, n. Same as pollan. [Scotch.]
powder (pou'dfir), ». [Early mod. E. also
pouder, poulder; < ME. powder, powdyr,powdur,
ponder, poudre.dTxst, powder (= D.poeder, hair-
powder, = MLQ-. pitder, pudel, powder, = Gt.pu-
der = S w. piider = Dan. pudder, hair-powder), <
OF. poudre,poldre,puldre, pouldre, F.poudre =
B-p.pohJO,pSJmora = Pg.po, polvora = It. poke,
polvere = u.pulver = MUQi.pulver = MHG. put-
ver, bulver, G. pulver = Sw. Dan. puher, pow-
der, < L. pulvis {pulver-), ML. also pvMer, dust,
powdery cf pollen, fine flour (see^oitew). From
L. puhns are also ult. E. pulverige, pulverulent,
etc.] 1. Fine, minute, loose, uneompaeted par-
ticles, such as result from pounding or grinding
a solid substance ; dust.
On his face than fell he downe,
Andkest jxwder opon his croune.
Holy Rood (ed. Morris), p. 66.
The poudre in which myn herte ybrend shal tume,
That preye I the thow tak, and it conserve
In a vesselle that men clepeth an urne.
Chaucer, Troilus, T. 309.
Thertore, whan the! wil schryven hem, thel taken Fyre,
and sette it besyde hem, and casten therin Pmidre of
I^ank enoens. Itandemlle, Travels, p. 120.
They [the Indians] haue amongst them Physicians or
Fi'iests, whose dead bodies they burne with great solemni-
tie, and mtJa&pmLder of the bones, which the kinsmen a
yeare after drink. Pwrehm, KIgrimage, p. 774.
2. A preparation or composition, in the form of
dust or minute loose particles, applied in vari-
ous ways, as in the toilet, etc.: as, hair-powder;
f&ee-powder.
The flsche in a dische clenly that ye lay
With vineger and powdur ther vppon, thus is vsed ay.
Babees Book(,K, B. I. S.), p. 159.
3. A composition of saltpeter, sulphur, and
charcoal, mixed and granulated: more particu-
larly designated guripowder (which see).
These violent delights have violent ends.
And in tbeir triumph die, like fire anA powder.
Shak., K. and J., IL 6. 10.
Like their great Marquis, they could not
The smell ot powder bide.
Marquis qf HunUey's Belreat (Child's Ballads, VII. 272).
4. Seasoning, either of salt or of spices. — 5.
A medical remedy, or a dose of some medical
remedy, in the form of powder, or minute loose
or uneompaeted particles : as, he has to take
three powders every hour.— Antacid powder, com-
pound powder of rhubarb.— Antlmonial powder, oxid
of antimony and precipitated calcium phosphate. Also
called James's powder.— Axomatle powder, cinnamon,
ginger, and cai'damom. with or without nutmeg. — Brass-
powder. See lirassi.- Compound chalk powder, pre-
pared chalk, acacia, and sugar.— Compound efferves-
cing powder, a compound ot two ingredients (35 grains
of tar&ric acid and a mixture of 40 grains of sodium bi-
carbonate with 120 grains of potassium and sodium tar-
trate) dissolved separately and the solutions mixed im-
mediately before use. Also called Seidlitz powder. —
Compound licorice powder, senna, glycyrrhiza, and
sugar, with or without fennel and washed sulphur.- Com-
pound powder of catechu, catechu, kino, rhatany-bark,
cinnamon-bark, and nutmeg.— Compound powder of
morpblne, morphine, camphor, glycyiThiza, and precipi-
tated calcium carbonate. Also called Tidly's powder.—
Compound powder of opium, opium, black pepper, gin-
ger, caraway-frulti and tragacanth.— Compound pow-
der of rhubarb, rhubarb, magnesia, and ginger. — Com-
pound powder of tragacantb, tragacanth, gum acacia,
starch, and sugar.— Ciubical powder. Same as cube-
pmeder.-CyajiiOje powder. See cj/ani'de.- Detonat-
ing powders. See detonaUng.— Dover's powder, the
more common name for powder of ipecac and opium.
As originally prepared by the English physician Thomas
Dover (died 1742), it was composed of potassium nitrate
and sulphate, each 4 parts, opium, ipecac, and licorice-
root, each 1 part.— Effervescing powder. Same as soda
poMKier.— Flour of powder, see yiowr.— Fulminating
powders. Same as detonating powders.— Goa, powder.
[So called from the Portuguese colony of Ooa m India,
where the substance, imported from Bahia in Brazil, ap-
pears to have been introduced about the year miiZ.] A
powder found in the longitudinal canals and interspaces of
the wood of Andira araroba, a tree growing in Brazil and
the East Indies. Its coior varies from ocher to chocolate-
brown. It has a bitter taste, and is used sometimes m
medicine in the treatment of skin-diseases. It consists
chiefly of ohrysarobin, and is used for the preparation of
chrysophanic acid. Also called chryaardlnn.— Jamea B
powder, a celebrated nostrum of Dr. James, an English
physician (died 1776), composed of calcium phosphate and
antimony oxid. The phrase is often used lor antinwmal
powder.— Jesuits' powder. See Jesutt-Snox s pow-
293
4661
der, chlorinated lime. — Mealed powder, powder pul-
verized by treatment with alcohol Also called meal-
powder. E. H. £nipAt.— MlcarPOWder. See ndca^
Molded powder, a gunpowder whose grains are foimed
in a mol(£— Oilstone-powder. See oilstone.- Portland
powder, gentian-root, aristolochia-root, germander,
ground-pine, and lesser centaury.— Fowder of Algaroth,
the powder precipitated from the aqueous solution of the
tercnlorid of antimony by an excess of water. It is chiefly
composed ol the oxychlorid.— Powder of aloes and ca-
nella, socotrlne aloes and canella. Also called hmra-picra.
—Powder of ipecac and opium, ipecac 1 part, opium 1
pai't, and sugar of milk (or potassium sulphate) S parts : a
powder widely used as an anodyne diaphoretic under the
more common name of Dover's powder. — Powder of iron,
reduced iron.— Powder Of projection. See projection.—
Powder of sympathy. Same as sympathetic powder. —
Prismatic powder, a gunpowder adapted for heavy can-
non. The grains are nexajronal prisms, with six cylindrical
holes pierced pai'allel to the axis and symmetrically dis-
posed around it. In putting up the cartridges, the prisms
are arranged so that the oriflces are continuous through-
out the length.— Seidlitz powder. Same as compound
effervescing powder.— Smokeless powder. See gunpow-
der.—SoAb. powder, sodium bicarbonate 30 grains, tar-
taricacid 25 grains.— Styptic powder, alum, gum acacia,
andcolophony,or argil, tragacanth, and colophony. — Sym-
pathetic powder, a powder "said to have the faculty, if
applied to the blood-stained garments ol a wounded per-
son, to cure his injuries, even though be were at a great
distance at the time. A friar, returning from the East,
brought the recipe to Europe somewhat before the middle
of the seventeenth century" (0. W. Holmes, Med. Essays,
&8). — Talcum powder, powdered soapstone ; used as a
cd application for inflamed and chafed sui-faces. — Ten-
nant's powder, chlorinated lime.— To fluff powdert.
See /luff'^.—T\sliy*8 powder. Same as compound- pow-
der qf morphine: so named from Dr. William Tully, an
American physician, who originated it.— Vlemia pow-
der, potassa and lime.— VlgO's powder, red oxid of
mercury. — Violet powder, a toilet-powder made ol pul-
verized starch scented with so-called violet extract.
powder (pou'der), v. [Early mod. E. also pou-
der, poulder, pouldre; < 'M.'E. powderen, imudren
(z= D. poederen, powder, = MLG. puderen, sea-
son, spice, = G.pudei'n = Sw. pudra = Dan. pu-
dre, powder), < OF. poudrer, pouldrer,poldrer, F.
poudrer = Sp. polvorear, < ML. puherare, pow-
der, < L. pulois (pulver-), powder: 8eepowder,n.']
1. trans. If. To reduce to powder; pulverize;
triturate ; pound, grind, or rub to fine particles.
And, were not hevenly grace that did him blesse.
He had beene povldred all as thin as flowrew
Spenser, F. Q., I. vil. 12.
2. To sprinkle with powder, dust, ashes, etc.;
specifically, to put powder upon: as, to powder
the hair or the face.
Thou sal make sorow in goddes sight;
Fall to erth and powder the.
Holy Rood (ed. Morris), p. 65.
II the said Ambassador were here among us, he would
think our modem Gallants were also mad, . . . because
they ash and powder their Fericraniums all the Year long.
Howell, Letters, iv. 5.
He came back late, laid by cloak, staff, and hat.
Powdered so thick with snow it made us laugh.
Browning, £.ing and Book, II. 15.
3. To sprinkle with salt, spices, or other season-
ing; hence, to com; pickle.
Seththe sche brou^t hom in baste
^loveryR poudryd in paste.
Sir Degrevant, 1. 1402.
If thou embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to pow-
der me and eat me too to-morrow.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., v. 4. 112.
One amongst the rest did kill bis wife, powdered her,
and had eaten part of her before it was knowne.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 12.
4. To sprinkle as with powder; stud; orna-
ment with a small pattern, continually re-
peated.
No patchwork quilt, all seams and scars.
But velvet, powdered with golden stars.
Hood, Miss Kilmansegg, Her Dream.
5. To whiten by some application of white ma-
terial in the form of a powder : thus, lace which
has grown yellow is powdered by being placed
in a packet of white lead and beaten. — 6. To
scatter; place here and there as if sprinkled
like powder: as, to powder violets on a silk
ground.
Gilofre, gyngure, & gromylyonn,
& pyonys powdered ay betwene.
Alliteraiive Poems (ed; Morris), L 44.
II. intrans. 1. To fall to dust; be reduced
to powder. — 2. To apply powder to the hair or
face ; use powder in the toilet.
The Deacon . . . went to the barber's, where the bi-
weekly operation of shaving 2ii\i.powdering was performed.
S. Judd, Margaret, ii. 8.
3. To attack violently; make a great stir.
Whilst two companions were disputing it at sword's
point, down comes a Taite powdering vpon them, and gob-
bets up both. Sir R. L' Estrange.
He had done wonders before, but now he began to pow-
der away like a raving giant. Dickens.
powder-blower (pou' d6r-bl6'''6r), ». 1. Asur-
fical instrument for throwing powder upon a
iseased part.— 3. A small bellows, or com-
powder-flask
pressible bulb, with a long and slender nozle,
used for blowing insect-powder into crevices,
or among aphides, etc., which infest green-
house-plants ; an insect-gun.
powder-box (pou'd6r-boks), n. A box in which
powder is kept. Especially— (a) Abox lor toilet-pow-
der, large enough to contain a puS.
Betty, bring the powderbox to your lady ; it gives one a
clean look (tho' your complexion does not want it) to en-
liven it. Steele, Lying Lover, iii L
(b) A box for powder or sand used on the writing-table,
generally rather small and with a coverpierced wiih holes.
Compare pouTice-box.
powder-cart (pou'd6r-kart), n. A two-wheeled
covered cart that carries powder and shot for
artillery.
powder-chamber (pou'der-cham"b6r), M. See
chamber, 5 (6) (2).
powder-chest (pou'dfer-chest), n. A small box
or case charged with powder, old nails, etc.,
formerly secured over the side of a ship and
discharged at an enemy attempting to board.
powder-division (pou'der-di-vizh on), n. On
a man-of-war, a division of the crew detailed
to supply ammunition during action.
powder-down (pou'dfer-doun), n. In ornith.,
certain down-feathers or plumulse, technically
calledpulviplumeSj'whieh grow indefinitely, and
continually break down at their ends into a kind
of powdery or scurfy exf oUation. Such plum\iles are
not lound on most birds ; they occur in various repi esen
tatives of the raptorial, psittacine, and gallinaceous tribes,
and especially in the heron tribe and some other wailing
birds, where they lorm matted masses ol peculiar texture
and appearance, called powder-down tracts or patches.
These traots are definite in number and situation in the
several kinds olbii'ds on which they occur. Thu6,in thetiue
herons, there are three pairs, one on the lower ba* k over
each hip, one on each side of the lower belly under each hip,
and one on each side of the breast along the track of the
lui-cula. Bitterns have two pairs (none under the hips) ;
boatbills have one extra pair over the shoulder-blades.
powdered (pou'd^rd), a. 1. Having the appear-
ance of powder, or of a surface covered with
fine powder: as, a, powdered glaze in porcelain;
in zool., marked as if powdered or dusted over:
as, the powdered quaker, Tseniocampa gracilis, a
moth; the powdered wainscot, Simyra venosa, a
moth. — 2. Ornamented with a small pattern, as
a fiower or the like, continually repeated. This
sort ol design differs Irom diaper in not covering the sur-
face so completely, and in showing the pattern isolated
with background between.
3. Li her., same as semi. — 4. Burnt in smok-
ing, as a herring — Powdered gold, aventurin.
powder-flag (pou'der-flag), n. A plain red flag
hoisted at the fore, to denote that the vessel
is taking in or discharging powder. Preble,
Hist. Flag, p. 676.
powder-flask (pou'd6r-fl&sk), n. A flask in
which gunpowder is carried. The powder-fiask was
developed from the earlier powder-horn. It was made of
metal, of a size convenient for handling and carrying about
the person, in shape usually something like a flattened
Florence flask, and fitted with a special device foi measur-
ing and cutting off a charge of powder to be dropped into
the f owling-arm. The powder-flask has nearly disappeared
with the disuse of the old-fashioned muzzle-loading shot-
gun and the invention of special contrivances for loading
shells or cartridges.
Powder-horns.
X, of stag's horn, 17th or I8th century; 8, ol cow's honk
powder-gun
powder-gun (pou'dfer-gun), b. An instrument
for diffusing insect-powder.
powder-horn (pou'd6r-h6m), n. A powder-
flask made of horn, usually the horn of an ox
or cow, the larger end fitted with a wooden or
metal bottom, and the small end with a mov-
able stopper or some special device for mea-
suring out a charge of powder, whenever gun-
powder has been used lor loading apart from cartridges
and the like, powder-horns have been common. See cut
on preceding page.
The father bonght a powder-horn, and an almanac, and
a comb-case; the mother a great Iruztower, and a fat
amber necklace. Congrem, Old Batchelor, iv. 8.
powder-hose (pou'der-hoz), «. A tube of strong
linen filled with a combustible compound, used
for firing mines; a fuse.
powderiness (pou'd6r-i-nes), n. The state or
property of being powdery, or of being divided
into minute particles; resemblance to powder;
pulverulence.
powdering (pou'd6r-ing), n. [Verbal n. of
powdm; u.] 1. pi. Small pieces of fur pow-
dered or sprinkled on other furs, in resemblance
to the spots on ermine; also, bands of ermine.
Powderings have been worn on the capes of the robes of
English peers as part of the insignia of rank ; and the de-
sign has been often reproduced in heraldic bearings.
A dukes daughter is borne a Marchionesse, and shall
weare as many Poudringes as a Marchionesse.
Booke qfPrecederux(E. B. T. S., extra ser.),L 14.
2. Decoration by means of numerous small
figures, usually the same figure often repeated.
See powdered, 2.
powdering-gown (pou'd6r-ing-goun), ». A
loose gown formerly worn by men and women
to protect their clothes when having the hair
powdered ; a dressing-gown.
I will sit in my library, in my night-cap and p&wderiiig-
gown, and give as much trouble as I can.
Jaiie Aiteten, Fride and Prejudice, xv.
powdering-mill (pou'dSr-ing-mil), n. A grind-
ing- or prnveriziug-mill, as for ore, snufi, etc.
powdering-tub (pou'der-ing-tub), M. 1. A tub
or vessel in which meat is corned or salted. —
2. A heated tub in which an infected lecher
was cured by sweating.
From the poujdering-tub of infamy
Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressid's kind,
DoU Tearsheet. Shak., Hen. V., iL 1. 79.
powder-magazine (pou'der-mag-a-zen'), n. 1.
A place where powder is stored',' as a bomb-
proof building in fortified places, etc. — 2. A
specially constructed place on board a man-
of-war for the storage and issue of explosives.
See magazine, 1.
powder-man (pou'd6r-man), ». 1. On a man-
of-war, a member of a gun's crew detailed to
fetch powder for the gun. — 3. A man in charge
of explosives in an operation of any nature re-
quiring their use.
In driving the heading, each of the three shifts is made
up of a boss, 4 drill men, 4 helpers on drills, 1 poiodervnan,,
1 car man, and 2 laborers. SeC. Amer,, N. S., LIV. 85.
powder-mill (pou'dfer-mil), n. A mUl in which
gunpowder is made.
powder-mine (pon'dfer-min), n. An excavation
filled with gunpowder for the purpose of blast-
ing rocks, or for blowing up an enemy's works
in war.
powder-monkey (pou'd6r-mung'''ki), n. A boy
employed on ships to carry powder from the
magazine to the guns. [Obsolete or colloquial.]
One poet feigns that the town is a sea, the playhouse a
ship, the manager the captain, the players sailors, and the
orai^e-girls powder-^trwnMes.
Sir J. Hawkim, Johnson (ed. 1787), p. 195.
powder-paper (pou'd6r-pai"p6r), «. A substi-
tute for gunpowder, consisting of paper impreg-
nated with a mixture of potassium chlorate, ni-
trate, prussiate, andchromate, powdered wood-
charcoal, and a little starch, it is stronger than
gunpowder, produces less smoke and less recoil, and is not
so much affected by humidity.
powder-plott (pou'der-plot), n. See gunpowder
plot, under gunpowder.
powder-post (pou'der-post), n. Wood decayed
to powder, or eaten by a worm which leaves its
holes fuU of powder, pjoeal, TJ. S.]
The grubs of the law have gnawed into us, and we are
uHpouider-post. S. Judd, Margaret, ii. 7.
powder-prover (pou'dfer-pro'ver), n. A device
or apparatus for testing the efSciency of gun-
powder; a ballistic pendulum; an eprouvette.
powder-puff (pou'der-puf), n. 1. A soft fea-
-.thery ball, as of swansdown, by which powder
is applied to the skin. — 2. Same aspluff, 2.
4t>62
powder-room (pou'der-rom), n. The room in
a ship in which gunpowder is kept. See maga-
zine, 1.
powder-scuttle (pou'der-skufl), n. A small
opening in a ship's deck for passing powder
from the magazine for the service of the
guns.
powder-shoot (pou'der-shot), n. A canvas tube
for conveying empty powder-boxes from the
gun-deck of a ship to a lower deck.
powder-traitort {pou'd6r-tra"tor), n. A con-
spirator in a gunpowder plot.
When he has brought his design to perfection, and dis-
posed of all his materials, he lays his train, like a powder-
traitor, and gets out of the way, while he blows up all those
that trusted him. BiiSer, Kemains, II. 453.
powder-treasont (pou'd6r-tre'''zn), ». Conspir-
acy involving the use of gunpowder; a gun-
powder plot.
Powdertreaion surpasses all the barbarities of the Hea^
thens. Bacon, Works (ed. 1766), III., Index.
How near were we going in '88, and in the powder-trea-
son r Ben. S. Ward, Sermons and Treatises, p. 90.
powdery (pou'der-i), a. \_< powder + -;/'>■. 1 1.
In the form of powder ; resembling powder in
the fineness of its particles ; pulverulent.
Her feet disperse the powdery snow
That rises up like smoke.
Wordsworth, Lucy Grey, ii. 85.
The niched snow -bed sprays down
Its powdery fall. M. Arnold, Switzerland, iL
The bee.
All dusty as a miller, takes his toll
Oi powdery gold, and grumbles.
Lowell, Under the Willows.
2. Sprinkled or covered with powder ; specifi-
cally,in Joi. and^oo?., covered with a fine bloom
or meal resembling powder; powdered; fari-
nose.
News is often dispersed as thoughtlessly and effectively
as that pollen which the bees carry off ^having no idea how
powdery they are). George Eliot, Middlemarch, II. 191.
Delicate golden auriculas vfithpowdery leaves and stems.
J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 291.
3. Friable; easily reduced to powder.
A brown powdry spar which holds iron is found amongst
the iron ore. Woodward, On Fossils.
Powdery grape-mildew. See grape^mUdew.
powdike (pou'dik), n. A dike made in a marsh
or fen for carrying off its waters. 'Malliwell.
[Prov. Eng.]
By statute of 22 Hen. Yin. c. 11, perversely and mali-
ciously to cut down or destroy the powdike in the fens of
Noifolk and Ely is felony. Blackstone, Com., IV. xvii.
powet, n. and v. An obsolete form otpaw'^.
poweri (pou'6r), n. [< ME. poer,pouer, power,
< OF. poer, poeir, poueir, pooir, povoir, F. pott-
voir = Pr. Sp. Pg. poder = It. potere, power,
prop, inf., be able, < ML. "potere, for L. posse,
be able: see potent.'^ 1. In general, such an
absence of external restriction and limitation
that it depends only upon the inward deter-
mination of the subject whether or not it wiU
act.
Knowledge itself is a power whereby he [God] knoweth.
Bacon, Of Heresies.
2. An endowment of .a voluntary being where-
by it becomes possible for that being to do or
effect something. The power is said to belong to the
being exercising it, and to be a power to act or of acting
in a specified way. The person or thing affected by the
action is said to be under the power of the subject, which
is said to have power over or upon that object.
Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same
lump to make one vess^ unto honour and another unto
dishonour? Bom. ix. 21.
And brought thee out of the land of Egypt with his
vcasYAy power, Deut. iv. 86.
The devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape.
Shdk., Hamlet, ii. 2.
I know my soul Tas.t\i. power to know all things.
Yet is she blind and ignorant in all.
Sir J, Dames, Immortal, of Soul, Int.
Not heaven upon the past has sower.
I>ryden, Imit. of Horace, III. xxiz.
3. A property of an inanimate thing or agency,
especially a property of modifying other things.
Not that nepenthe which the wife of Thone
In Egypt gave to Jovebom Helena
Is of such potcer to stir up joy as this.
Milton, Ck>muB, 1. 675.
The spot he loved has lost the power to please.
Cowper, Betirement.
Or alum styptics with contracting power.
Pope, B. of the L., ii. 131.
4. TTsed absolutely, with specification of the
effect: (a) The property whereby anything ful-
fils its proper functions well or strongly: as, a
power
medicine of great power. (6) A gift or talent
for influencing others.
Her beauty, grace, and power
Wrought as a charm upon them.
Tennyson, Guinevere.
5. The ability or right to command or control ;
dominion; authority; the right of governing.
AH power is given imto me in heaven and in earth.
Mat. xxviii. IS.
There are some things which are issues of an absolute
power, some are expresses of supreme dominion some are-
actions of a judge. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 24.
All empire is no more than power in trust.
Dryden, Abs. and Achit., i. 411.
Who never sold the truth to serve the hour,
Nor palter'd with Eternal God for power.
Tennyson, Death of Wellington.
Power means nothing more than the extent to which a
man can make his individual will prevail against the wills
of other men, so as to control them.
J, Bryce, American Commonwealth, I. 213.
6t. The domain within which authority or gov-
ernment is exercised; jurisdiction.
No brewestere out of fraunchyse, ne may brewe w'-ynne
the power of the Citee. English Guds (E. E. T. S.), p. 356.
7. Inlaw: (a) Legal capacity: as, the power
to contract; the power of testation, or making
a will. (6) Legal authority conferred, and en-
abling one to do what otherwise he could not
do ; the dominion which one person may exer-
cise over the property of another: as, the pow-
er of an agent, which is his delegated authority
to act in the name or on behalf of his principal.
In Koman law, power (potestas), in its largest sense, was
held to comprise the control of the head of the household
over slaves, children, descendants, and wife. In its more
limited sense, it was used for the control over children and
descendants, the power over the wife being distinguished
by the name Tnamts.
He had assumed no powers to which he was not entitled
by his services and peculiar situation.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 19.
Henry was a prince who had only to learn the extent of
his powers in order to attempt to exercise them.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. '253.
(c) In the law of conveyancing, an authority to
do some act in relation to the title to lands or
the creation of estates therein or to charges
thereon, either conferred by the owner on an-
other or reserved to himself when granting the
lands or some interest therein; usually a, pow-
er of appointment, which is the conferring on a
person of the power of disposing of an interest
in lands, quite Irrespective of the fact whether
or not he has any interest in the land itself.
Digby. if the donee of the power has no interest in the
land, the power is said to be collateral, as distinguished
from a power appendant or appurtermnt, as it is called
when the interest he may dispose of must be carved out
of or reduce his own interest ; and from a power in gross,
as it is called when the interest he may appoint wiU not
take effect until his own interest has terminated : as, a
power to a tenant for life to appoint the estate after his
death among his children. A. general power is one that may
be exercised in favor of any one whatever, even the donee
himself ; a special or particular power can be exercised
only in favor of a person or some of a class of persons
specified in the document creating the power, or for speci-
fied purposes: as, a power to seu, to exchange, to lease,
and the like.
8. A written statement of legal authority ; a
document guaranteeing legal authority.
When I said I was empowered, etc., he desired to see
my powers. Swift, Letter, Oct. 10, 1710.
9t. Pecuniary ability; wealth.
Eche brother other auster th' ben of the fraternite, jif
he be ot power, he schal geue somewhat in maintenance
of the brethernede, what hym lyketh.
English Oilds (E. E. T. S.)k p. 4.
10. A large quantity: a great number. [Col-
loq.]
1 am providing &power of pretty things for her against
I see her next. Mickardson, Pamela, II. 389. (Davies.)
They ate apower, and they drank bottle after bottle.
Harper's Mag., LXXIX. 49.
11. (a) [Tr. otMh. potestas.'] An active fac-
ulty of the mind whose exercise is dependent,
on the will.
When ootcer is applied to the soul, it is used in a larger
signification than faculty ; for by it we designate the ca-
pacities that are acquired, as well as those that are origi-
nal. Porter, Human Intellect, § 36.
(6) [Tr. of L. potentia.'] A capacity for acting
or suffering in any determinate way.
There are nations in the East so enslaved by custom that
they seem to have lost all jiowerof change except the capa-
bility of being destroyed. W. K. Clifford, Lectures, 1. 105.
12. In Aristotelian metaph., the state of being
of that which does not yet exist, but is in germ,
ready to exist, the general conditions of its ex
istence being fulfilled; the general principle of
existence.
We say in power, as in the wood a statue, and in the
whole a part, because it may be brought out; and a theo-
power
rem not yet discovered, but capable of discoTery, which Is
*1ea™™i'y- • • • For as a person building is to a buflder,
and the thing waking to the thing sleeping, and the see-
ing to lum who has his eyes shut thongh he has sight, and
that which is severed from matter to matter, and work
done to material nnworked, so is act to pmoer.
ArigtoOe, Metaphysics, viii. 6.
13. In mecft., that -with which work can be done.
(a) Energy, whether kinetic or potential (as of a head of
water or a steam-engineX considered as a commodity to be
bought and sold in definite quantities. Hence (since this
is usually provided in the kinetic form)— (S) Kinetic en-
ergy.
If the power with which a system is moving at any in-
stant be denoted by T, its expression becomes T = i mv.
B. Peirce, Anal ileclianics, p. 307.
(c) The mechanical advantage of a machine. (<J) A sim-
ple machine, (e) Mechanical energy as distinguished from
naud-labor.
14._ In ariih. and real alg., the result of multi-
plying a quantity into itself a specified number
of times. The first power of a quantity is the quantity
itself ; the nth power, where n is any positive int^er, is the
continued product of the quantity taken » times— that is,
the quantity composed of » factors each equal to the quan-
tity. A negative jiower, where n is a negative integer, is
the reciprocal of Uie corresponding positive power : thus,
1
X — « = — .
X"
A fractional power isthatrootofthepoweroftheq'iantity
denoted by the numerator of the fraction which is denoted
by the denominator : thus, ai- is the »«i" root of x>". (See
exponeML) In imaginary algebra the definition of a power
is extended.
15. In geom., the square of the distance of a
point from the point of tangeney to a given cir-
cle of a line through that point. This quantity
is said to be the power of the point with respect
to the circle. — 16. A spiritual being in general.
Specifically l^.\ in the celestial hierarchy, the sixth order
of angels, ranking last in the second triad. The word
translates the 'E^ouirtai {PoUttatei) of Epli. L 21 and CoL
L 16. See hierarchy.
Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers.
MUton.
The lord of spirits and the prince ot powers.
2 Mac. iii. 24.
17. A person in authority or exercising great
influence in his conmiunity.
Tou have, by fortune and his highness' favours.
Gone slightly o'er low steps and now are mounted
Where powers are your retainers.
Shak., Hen. THI., ii. 4. 113.
Are all teachers? Are all powers? 1 Cor. lii. 29.
A power is passing from the earth. Wordsworth.
18. A government; a governing body.
There is no power but of God; the^Kwera thatbe are
ordained of God. Bom. xiii. 1.
.19. That which has power; specifically, an
army or navy ; a military or naval force ; a host.
Than com Merlin to Arthur, and bad hym sende for all
bis power in all haste with-oute taryinge.
Merlm (E. E. T. Sy), iii. 566.
K. Rich. What says Lord Stanley, will he bring his power f
Mess. My lord, he doth deny to come.
K. Bieh. Off with his son George's head !
SAo*., Rich. III., V. 3. 344.
20. A token of subjection to power; in the New
Testament, a covering for the head ; a veil.
For this cause ought the woman to have power [a "sign
of authority," revised version) on her head because of the
angels. 1 Cor. zL 10.
21. In optics, the degree to which an optical
instrument, as a telescope or microscope, mag-
nifies the apparent linear or superficial dimen-
sions of an object. See magnify. — 22. The
eyepiece of a telescope or the objective of a mi-
croscope,— AhBOlnte power, unlimited power; power
uncontrolled by law.— Abutting power. See a&!<«.— Ac-
cumulation of power. Seeaccum2/2iztu>n.—A£tive pow-
er. Seeacttoe.— Agonistic power, power in strife.— Ani-
mal power. See animal. — Animate power, a faculty
of the soul or mind.— Appetitive power, a faculty of de-
siTing.— Apprehensive power, faculty of cognition.—
Artificial power, an art considered as a power. — Aug-
mentative power, the ^ower of growth.— Balance of
power. See Joiance.— Civil power. Same as poUMeal
jwwer.— Cognoscltlve power. Same as apprehensive
ptmer.— Commanding, directing, and executive pow-
ers, three faculties of the mind, in the psychology of
Aquinas, of which the first determines what shall be done,
the last does it, and the second secures the correspondence
of the action with the intention. — Gommensiirable in
power, in math. See commenxuraMe.— Connate power,
a faculty possessed from birth, not developed by educa-
tion.— Corporeal power, the virtue of an inanimate sub-
stance or thing.— (Jreative power, the power of creating.
—Doctrine of enumerated powers, of implied pow-
ers. See enumerale, imply.— Emissive, entitative, ex-
istent power. See the adjectives. — Essential pow-
er, power in an essence to receive actual existence. —
Existential power, power in a thing that actually exists
to do or become something.— FJree power, a faculty which
the mind is free to exercise or not.— (Seneratlve power,
the faculty ot propagating the kind.— Habitual power,
power resulting from custom.— High power. See ob-
jective, »., 3.— Impassive power, the power of resisting
aforce tending to produce a change.— Inanimate power,
a power not belonging to the soul. — Incommensurable
4663
in power. See ineommengurabU. — In power, in control
of the administiative and executive functions of a govern-
ment ; a phrase noting the position of ministers or politi-
cal parties when a majority vote or some other infiuence
has given them the ascendancy.
In power a servant^ out of power a friend.
Lord Mdconibe, quoted in Pope's EpiL to Satires, ii. 161.
He [Pitt] had often declared that, while he was in pmoer,
England should never make a peace of Utrecht
ilacavlay, Frederic the Great.
Irrational power, as defined by the advocates of the
freedom of the will, a power which is determined to one or
another of two opposites, so that it either can act but can-
not refrain, or can refrain but cannot act. — Judicial, jus-
ticiary, legislative, locomotive power. See the ad-
jectives. — Logical power, logical possibility; the not in-
volving any contramction.— Low power. See objective,
n.. 3. — Magnetic rotatory power. See magnetic. —
Medldnal power, the power of healing.— Ministerial
powers. See ministerial. — Mixed power, a power of
changing the subject of the power itself ; a power at once
active and passive: Tnixed act is used in an analogous
sense.— Motive power. See mottw.— Natural power,
(a) Power to produce a natural motion. (&) Power within
nature, not supernatural. Also called physical poioer. —
Nutritive power, power of assimilating nutnment. —
Obediential power, the power of a person, an animal, or
a tiling to do that which is beyond his or its natural powers,
in consequence of miraculous interposition. — Objective
power. See objective. — Occult power, an occult virtue
or property of a natural thing. See oceuU. — Passive
power. See jjiMsf Be.— Perspective power, the faculty
of supersensuous cognition. — Physical power. Same as
natural power. — Police power. See police. — Political
power, power of governing; influence in the govern-
ment—Power of attorney. See uttoraeyz.- Power
of contradiction, the power in an individual of being
determined to one or the other of two contradictory
predicates. The corresponding power in a genus to be
detormined to one or the other of two species is not
called by this name.— Power of life and death, author-
ity to inflict or to remit capital punishment. — Power Of
points. See poinfi-. — Power of sale, a clause inserted in
securities for debt, conferring on the creditor a power to
sell the subject of the security if the debt is not paid as
specified ; also,'in wills, conferring on the executor author-
i^ to convert property into money. — Power Of the keys.
See keyK— Power to license. See license. — Practical
Slower, the power of doing something; the power conferred
y a practical science. — Pure power, force which wants
all form ; the state of first matter.— Satlonal power, a
faculty connected with the reason, as that part of the soul
which distinguishes man from the beasts. — Keal power,
a power of doing, or suffering, or becoming : opjiosed to
logical power. — Beceptlve power. Same as mbjectim
power. — Resolving power. See o6/ectice,n., 3.— Rhetor-
ical power, the power of eloquence. — Rotatory power.
See rotatory. — Sensitive power, the capacity of sensa-
tion.— Signatory power. See «^7iaiori/.— Sovereign
power, the supreme power in a state. — Subjective pow-
er, the capability of a subject of receiving contradictory
predicates, or of being determined in different ways : usu-
ally confounded with passive power.— Tho powers, the
treat powers of Europe, in medem diplomacy, phrases
esignating the principal nations of Europe. The great
powers long recognized were Great Britain, France, Aus-
tria, Prussia, and Bussia. Later Prussia was replaced by
the new German Empu-e, Italy was recognized, and in 1887
Spain was admitted to the European concert — Transmu-
tatlve power, the power of producing a change in an ob-
ject—Treaty-maMng power. See <rea«j/.— Violent
power, the power of producing violent motion. — Vital
power, the power of living. = Syn. Power, Strengthj Force.
Power and strength may be active or inactive ; farce is ac-
tive. Strength is rather an inward capability ; force an
outward; power may be either: we speak of strength of
character, power of habit, force of will ; strength of tim-
ber, power of a steam-engine, force of a projectile.
power ^t, a. An obsolete form oi poor.
power^f, V. 'An obsolete form otpouri.
powerablet (pou'er-a-bl), a. [_<power^ + -able.]
Endowed with power; powerful.
That you may see how powerable time is in altering
tongs as all things else. Ca/mden, Remains, Languages.
poweration (pou-e-ra'shon), n. [< power^ +
-ation.^ A great quantity. Malliwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
power-capstan (pou'er-kap'stan), n. See cap-
stan.
powered (pou'erd), a. [< power + -e^.] Hav-
ing power (of a specified kind or degree) : used
especially in composition: as, high-powered or
low-powered rifies or guns. The measure of a gun's
power is its muzzle-velocity, or the velocity with which
the projectile leaves the muzzle. This in modem guns is
about 2,000 feet per second, but there is no exact dividing-
line between guns of high power and those of low power.
powerful (pou'er-ful), a. \i power + -ful.']
1. Exerting great force or power; able to pro-
duce great physical effects; strong; efficient:
as, ajKwer/M? engine; a. powerfuHAo-w; a, pow-
erful medicine.
The cedar . . .
Whose top-branch overpeer'd Jove's spreading tree,
And kept low shrubs from vnater'spoioerfvl wind.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., v. 2. 15.
When first that sun too powerful beams displays.
It draws up vapours which obscure its rays.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 470.
2. Having great authority ; puissant; potent;
mighty: as, a, powerful n.a.t\on.
The Lords of Ross, Beaumond, and Willoughby,
With all their powerful friends, are fled to him.
Shak., Bich. II., ii. 2. 65.
powsowdy
He that had seen Pericles lead the Athenians which
way he listed haply would have said he had been their
prince ; and yet he was but a powerfuU and eloquent man
in a Democracy. Milton, Prelatical Episcopacy.
3. Characterized by great intellectual power.
In his tm-n, he knew to prize
Lord Marmion'spowei/uZ mind, and wise.
Scott, Uarmion, iv. 13.
4. Having great influence or moral power ;
cogent; efficacious.
God makes sometimes a plain and simple man's good
life a& powerful as the most eloquent sermon.
Donne, Sermons, \ .
What had I
To oppose against such powerful arguments ?
MiUon, S. A., I. 862.
5. Great; numerous; numerically large. Com-
pare power^, 10. [Colloq.]
This piano was sort o' fiddle like — only bigger— and
with a powerful heap of wire strings.
Carlton, New Purchase, II. 8. (Bartlett.)
=Syn. Puissant, forcible, cogent, influential; vigorous,
robust, sturdy.
powerful (pou'6r-ful), adv. [< powerful, a.]
yevy: a.8, powerful goodi; powerful-weaLi.. [Lo-
cal, U. S.]
powerfully (pou'er-fid-i), adv. In a powerful
manner; with great force or energy; potently;
strongly.
All which, sir, thongh I most powerfully and potently
believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down.
Shak., Hamlet^ ii. 2. 203.
powerfulness (pou'er-ful-nes), n. The charac-
ter of being powerful; force; power; might;
potency; efficacy.
The powerfulness of Christ's birth consists in this, that
he is made of God. Donne, Sermons, iii.
power-liammer (pou'er-ham^er), n. A ham-
mer actuated by machinery,
power-house (pou'er-hous), n. In water-works,
and other works in which machinery is driven
by power from steam, electric, or other prime
motors, a building especially provided to eon-
tain the prime motor or motors from which
power is conveyed to the driven machinery by
a main shaft and gearing, or by a belt or cable,
power-lathe (pou'6r-la9PH), n. A lathe in which
the live head-stock mandrel is driven by steam,
water, or other power, independently of the
■ operator. The transmission of power from line-shafting
and counter-shafts to lathes is usually performed by pul-
ley-and-belt mechanism, variable speed being secured by
con&>pulleys.
powerless (pou'er-les), a. [< power + -less.]
Lacking power; weak; impotent; unable to
produce any effect.
I give you welcome with Si powerless hand.
But with a heart full of unstained love.
Sliak., K. John, ii. 1. IS.
With no win.
Powerless and blind, must he some fate fulfil,
Nor knowing what he is doing any more.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, L 403.
powerlessly (pou'er-les-li), adv. In a power-
less manner; without power; weakly.
powerlessness (pou'er-les-nes), 11. The state
or character of being powerless; absence or
lack of power.
power-loom (pou'er-lom), TO. A loom worked
by water, steam, or some other mechanical
power.
power-machine (pou'er-ma-shen''), n. A ma-
chine actuated by a mechanical force, as dis-
tinguished from one worked by hand.
power-press (pou'er-pres), n. A printing-press
worked by steam, gas, or other mechanical
agency, as distinguished from a hand-press.
powitch (pou'ieh), n. [Chinook Indian.] The
Oregon crab-apple, Pyrus rivularis, a small tree
often forming dense thickets, the wood very
. hard, and the fruit eaten by the Indians.
powke-needlet (pouk'ne'dl), « . Same aspouke-
nel.
powldront, n. An obsolete form otpauldron.
powlert, »■ An obsolete form ot poller.
pownagef, n. An obsolete form ot pannage.
powney (pou'ni), n. A Scotch form of pony.
powst, powse^t. Obsolete forms of pulse\
powse^t, n. An obsolete form otpulse^.
powsonedt, a. Seepounson.
powsoningt, n. See pounsoning.
powsowdy (pou-sou'di), TO. [Also powsowdie;
a,YpSbi.<.pow^,^=polP;+ sodden.] Ajiy mixture
of incongruous sorts of food. Specifically — (o)
Sheep's-head broth. (6) Porridge, (c) A Yorkshire pud-
ding, (si) A mixed drink. See the quotation. [Prov.
Eng. or Scotch in all uses.]
The principal charm of the "gathering" [in Westmore-
^land] was not assuredly diminished to the men by the an-
'ticipation of excellent ale, . . . and possibly of stin'more
excellent pow-sowdy (a combination of ale, spirits, and
spices). De Quincey, Autobiog. Sketches, II. 109. (Davies. )
powste
powstet, n. See poust.
powting-clotllt, ». A kerchief for the head or
neck.
A croasB-cloath, as tliey tearme it, a i
■ "U.?* '"^y tearme it, a powting-ctoth, pla-
Pila- FiUdb, Diet. (ed. 1608^ p. 276. \Nara.)
powwow (pou'wou), m. [Formerly also paw-
wow, pawwaw; Amer. Ind.] 1. As applied to
the North American aborigines: (o) A priest:
a conjurer.
Wlien all other means fail to recover their sick, they
Bend for their Pawaw or Prieat, who^ sitting down by
them, expects a Fee, and works accordingly, calling some-
times on one God, sometimes on another, beating his
naked breast till he sweat and be almost out of breath.
Hist., Qeog., etc., Diet., ed. Collier, 2d ed. (1701), s. v.
[New York,
let them come if they like, be it sagamore, sachem, or
pow-waw. LonafeUttw, Miles Standish, i.
Many a church member saw I, walking behind the mu-
sic, that has danced in the same measure with me when
somebody was fiddler, and, it might be, an Indian pow-
wow or a Lapland wizard changing hands with us I
Hawthorne, Scarlet Letter, xxli.
(6) A conjuration performed for the cure of dis-
eases, (c) A dance, feast, or other public cele-
bration preliminary to a grand hunt, a council,,
a war expedition, or some similar undertaking.
Hence — 2, Any uproarious meeting or confer-
ence ; a meeting where there is more noise than
deliberation. [Colloq., U. S.J
powwow (pou'wou), V. i. [< powwow, re.] 1.
As applied to the North American aborigines,
to perform a ceremony with conjurations for
the cure of diseases and for other purposes.
And if any shall hereafter Powwow, both he that shall
Powwow, & he that shall procure him to Powwow, shall
pay 20s. apeece.
T. Shepard, Clear Sunshine of the Gospel, p. 6.
The Angekok of the tribe (of Esquimaux] . . . prescribes
ovpow-wows in sickness and.over wounds.
Kane, Arctic Explorations, xliii.
Hence — 2. To hold a consultation; deliberate
over events. [Colloq., U. S.]
We would go to the cave and pow-wow over what we had
done. S. L. Clemens, Hucldeberry Finn, iii.
The young bucks, having had insufficient rations, are
now out hunting for game. When they can, they will come
in aai pow-wow with Generals Sheridan and Miles.
New York Herald.
3. To hold any nois;^ meeting. [Colloq., TJ. 8.]
pox (poks), n. [An irreg. spelling and adapta-
tion of pocks, pi. of pock: seepocfcl.] A disease
characterized by eruptive pocks or pustules
upon the body. As used by the writers of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, the word generally means
smallpox, but also, and especially in later use, the French
pox, or syphilis. See chicken-pox, smaUpux, sypMlis.
In al the Ilandes of this Archipelagus rayneth the dis-
ease of saynt lob (whiche wee caule the f renchepoxe; more
then in any other place in the worlde.
JR. Edet}, tr. of Antonio Figafetta (Hirst Books on America,
[ed. Ai'ber, p. 260).
A number here [in Egypt] be afflicted with sore eyes,
either by the reflecting neat, the salt dust of the soyle, or
4664
I will have a regiment to myself that 's poz.
Thackeray, Catharine.
pozet, V. An obsolete form of poseS.
pozzo (pot'so), n.j pi. pozzi (-se). [It., a well,
ili.puteus, a well: see^iJl.] In Venice, one
of the curbs or heads of the cisterns which are
filled with water from the neighboring main-
land; a well-curb: a common abbreviation of
vera di pozzo.
pozzuolana (pot"s§-o-la'na), n. [It., alsojoo^-
zolana, < Pozzuoli: see d'ef.] A material of
volcanic origin, first found at Pozzuoli, near
Naples, and afterward in many other localities,
and of great importance in the manufacture of
hydraulic cement, it is a volcanic ash, generally
somewhat pulverulent, of various colors, and of different
qualities in different localities. It closely resembles in
origin and quality the so-called trass of Germany and the
Netherlands. These substances consist chiefly of silicate
of alumina with a small percentage of the alkalis, oxids
of iron, etc. For making cement the pozzuolana is pul-
verized and mixed with lime and sand. The use of this
material was well known to the Bomans, and the prepa-
ration of hydraulic cement is described in detail by Vitru-
vius. Also pozzolana, puzzolana, pitzzuolana, puzzolUe,
excessive venery
among them.
for the pocks is uncredible frequent
Sandys, Travailes, p. 86.
A pox on, a pox of , a plague on : a mild imprecation much
used by the oli dramatists.
Jios. O that your face were not so full of O's I
Eath. A pox of that jesti Shak., L. L. L., v. 2. 46.
I must needs flght yet; for I find it concerns me.
A pox on 't 1 I must flght.
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, il. S.
poxt fpoks), V. t. [<pox, n.] To communicate
the pox OT venerea] disease to. Pope, Imit. of
Horace, II. i. 84.
pox-stone (poks'ston), re. A very hard stone
of a gray color found in some of the Stafford-
shire mines. Halliwell.
poy (poi), re. [Also puy; by apheresis f rom OF.
apd, appoi, F. appui, support, prop : see appvi
and pei^.] 1. A prop or support. — 2. A rope-
dancers' pole. Johnson. — 3. A pole to impel
or steer a boat. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
poy-bird (poi'b6rd), ■». Same aspoe-bird. Wor-
cester.
poynadot, re. See poinado.
poynauntt, a. An obsolete form ot poignant.
poyndt, V. t. An oTjsolete form of poind.
poynet (poi'net), n. 1. A bodkin or punch. —
2. An aglet or tag.
Also poinette.
poyntt, poyntet, »• and .v. Obsolete forms of
poinfl.
pojratellt, re. An obsolete form otpointel.
poyntementt, re. A variant of ;)oin teen*.
poyou (po/6), re. [Native name.] The six-
banded armadillo, Dasyptts sexeinctus, or D.
encouhert. See armadillo, 1.
poyset, re. An obsolete form ot poise.
poz (poz), a. Same as ^os.
pozzuolanic (pofs^-o-lan'ik), a. Consisting of
or resembling pozzuolana.
pp. An abbreviation (a) of pages (as p. for
page); (6) otpastpartieipleovperfectparticiple;
(c) otpianissimo.
P. P. 07 An abbreviation of the French phrase
pour prendre congi, *to take leave': written
upon a visiting-card to indicate that the bearer
or sender is making a farewell call or other-
wise bidding farewell to the recipient of the
card. Sometimes English T. T. L., to take leave,
is used instead.
ppr. An abbreviation at present parUdple.
pr. An abbreviation ot pronoun.
Pr. An abbreviation of Provengal.
praam (pram), ». See pram^.
practict (prak'tik), a. and n. [I. a. Also prac-
tiek; < OF. praeUe,pracUq, usuaMj pratiq, pra-
tique, F. praUgue = Pr. pracUc = Sp. ^jrrfjwco
= Pg. It. pratieo (of. D. prakUsch = G. practisch,
praktisoh=Sw. Dan. prakUsk), < Uj. practices,
active, < Gr. irpaKTCKdc, of or pertaining to ac-
tion, concemedwith action or business, active,
practical, < npicauv (■\^npay-), do. Ct.pragmat-
ic, praxis, etc., from the same source, and see
prat, 2>raiy, pretty. 11. re. 1. Also practick,
praetique, pratic, prattic, pratiqve, < ME.
pracUke, praetique, prakUke, < OF. praetique,
pratique, prattique, F. pratique = Pr. practica
= Sp. prdcUca = Pg. It. pratica = D. prak-
tijk = (j. praotik, prakUk = Sw. praktik, < ML.
practica, practical or familiar knowledge, ex-
ecution, accomplishment, intrigue, practice, <
Gr. npaKTudj, practical knowledge, fem. of vpan-
Tuc6;, practical: see I. Cf. ])racUce and pror
tiflue.'] I. a. 1. Concemedwith action; prac-
tical, as distinguished from theoretical.
The art and praeHc part of life
Must be the mistress to this tbeoric.
SAo*.,Hen.V.,L1.61.
Discipline is the practick work of preaching directed and
apply'd as is most requisite to particular duty.
UiUon, Church-Government, L I.
2. Skilled; skilful; practised.
Right procticie was Sir Priamond in flght.
And throughly skild in use of shield and speare.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. liL 7.
See if I hit not all their prctciic obseiTance, with which
they lime twigs to catch their fantastic lady-birds.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, v. 2.
II. re. 1. Practice, as opposed to theory;
practical experience.
practical
Spareth for no man,
And teohe us yonge men of youre praktike.
Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 187.
Poison thyself, thou foul empoisonerl
Of thine own pracHque drink the theory I
Middtelon and £owley. Fair Quarrel, iiL 2.
2. One concerned with action or practice, as
opposed to one concerned with theory. See
the quotation.
These Essenes were again divided into Praelicks and
Theoricks. The flrst spent their time in Handy-Crafts,
the latter only in Meditation. The Practicks had Dinner
and Supper ; the Theoricks, only Supper.
Bist., Qeog., etc., Diet., ed. Collier, 2d ed. (1701), s. v.
[Essenes.
practicability (prak"ti-ka-bil'i-ti), re. [< prac-
ticable + ■4ty (see -biliti/).] The state or charac-
ter of being practicable ; feasibility; capacity
for being practised.
They all attend the worship of the kirk, as often as a
visit from their minister or the practicability of travelling
gives them opportunity. Johnson, Jour, to Western Isles.
This third method brings the attempt within the degree
ot praeHeaMHty by a single person.
Mason, Supplement to Johnson's Diet., p. vi.
practicable (prak'ti-ka-bl), a. [< F.praticahle
= Sp. practicable = Pg. praticavel = a. praUca-
bile = G. Sw. Dan. praktikabel, < ML. *practiea-
bilis, < pracOeare, execute, practise : see i)rac-
tise.'] 1. Capable of being performed or ef-
fected; performable; possible in point of exe-
cution.
It is sufficient to denominate the way practicable ; for
we esteem that to be such which in the trial oftener suc-
ceeds than misses. Dryden, Essay on Dram. Poesy.
In seeking the causes of change which worked through
Solon, and also made practicable the reorganization he in-
itiated, we shall And them to lie in the direct and indirect
influences of trade. H. Spencer, Prin. of SocioL, § 488.
The rule for us, in whatever case, is one : to make the
beat practicable use ot the best available means for think-
ing truly and acting rightly.
Gladstone, Might of £igh(^ p. 185.
2. Capable of being practised.
An heroick poem should be more like a glass of nature,
flguring a more practicable virtue to us than was done by
the ancients. ~ Dryden.
3. Capable of being used: as, a practicable
road; a, practicable breach.
We descended the hill to the north, by a very easy way,
practicable by camels.
Pococke, Description of the East, I. 36.
Nemours, flnding it impossible to force the works in this
quarter, rode along their f ron t in search of some jn-oftica-
Ue passage. PrescoU, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 12.
4. In tlieat., capable of real use. in distinction
from something merely simulated: as, a prac-
ticable door, bridge, or window. — 5. Suitable
for practice, fulfilment, or execution; hence,
desirable ; advantageous.
Naturally, people did not tell each other all they felt
and thought about young Grandcourt's advent; on no sub-
ject is this openness found prudentially practicable.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, ix.
=Syn. 1. Practical, Practicable lies Impracticable). Pos-
sible, Practicable. Possible notes that which may or might
be performed if the necessary powers or means can or
could be obtained ; pracUcable is limited to things which
may be performed by the means that one possesses or can
obtain.
practicableness (prak'ti-ka-bl-nes), n. The
character of being practicaible ; practicability.
practicably (prak'ti-ka-bli), adv. In a practi-
cable manner; with action or performance.
practical (prak'ti-kal), a. [< practic + -aZ.]
1. Relating or pertaining to action, practice, or
use : opposed to theoretical, speculative, or ideal,
(a) Engaged in practice or action ; concerned with mate-
rial rather than ideal considerations.
Nothing can be conceived more whimsical than the con-
ferences which took place between the first literni-y man
and the first practical man of the age. . . . The great
poet would talk of nothing but treaties and guaiartees,
and the great king of nothing but metaphors and rhymes.
JUacaiday, Frederic the Great.
(J) Educated by practice or experience: as, a practical
gardener, (o) Derived from experience: as, practical
skill ; practical knowledge, id) Used, or such as may ad-
vantageously be used, in practice; capable of being used
or turned to account ; contributing to one's material ad-
vantage ; possessing utility.
Time and experience may forme him to a more pra'<tical
way than that he is in of University lectures and erudi-
Uo°- Evelyn, Diary, March 6, 1B73.
Little Phoebe was one of those persons who possess, as
tneir exclusive patrunony, the gift of practical arrange-
ment. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, v.
(e) Exemplified in practice.
The moral code, while it expanded in theoretical catfio-
licity, had contracted hi practical application.
Lecky, Euiop. Morals. I. 809.
(/) Spent in practice ; devoted to action or material Dur-
Buits. *^
The idea of a future life is one which we ourselves read
into the Bible : the idea which we find there, pervading
practical
'i?'™ «"' to last, is one which belongs altogether to
pr<uauxa life. J. B. Sedey, Nat Keligion, p. 16&
4665
2. In effect and result; to aU intents and pur-
poses; equivalent to (something) in force oHn- „ _, , , _, ^ ^.,
nuence; virtual: as, a victory may be a vraeti- • frequent or customary performance; habit
cai defeat. ■> ^ a nKncA? micfnm
Loose principles, and bad jTrocficea, and extravagant de-
sires natnrally dispose men to endeavour changes and al-
terations, in hopes ot bettering themselves by ttiem.
StMingfieet^ Sermons, II. iv.
That imagined
heaven.
'otherwise" wUch is our vradHaA
George Eliot, MIddlemarch, II. 49.
We are not to be ^iltyof that procKcoJ atheism which,
seeing no guidance for human affairs but its own limited
foresight endeavours itself to play the god, and decide
what will be good for mankind, and what bad.
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 518.
The great advantage of our pracUctd republic over your
avowed republic . . . is the power of changing the actual
ruler at any moment, while you must keep the chief ma-
gistrate once chosen till the end of a fixed term.
-B. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 390.
Practical agriculture, arithmetic, chemistry, cog-
utlon, geometry, etc. See the nouns.— Practicja eon-
gction, a conviction relating to morals or practice.—
Practical joke, a jest carried into action ; a trick played
upon a person, to annoy hun and amuse the performers
and others.— Practical Judgment, the judgment that
something can or ought to be done.— Practical knoTr-
ledge, knowledge the end of which is action.— Practical
location, in the law o/ real property, the actual location
or establishment (of a boundary-line) with the continued
acquiescence of the adjoining owners.- Practical logic
logic as an art teaching how to reason well.— Practical
metapl^siCB, the theory of the nature of dute and the
*"" o' living.- Practical meteorology, philosophy,
possibility, power, etc. See the nouns.— Practicai
proposition, the statement of the solution of a problem.
-Practical reason, the thinking will ; the wlU deter-
mining itself according to general laws ; that which gives
imperative laws of freedom.- Practical sentiments,
sentiments accompanying the conative powers. = Syn. 1.
PractCctU, Practicable. See impracticable.
practicalist (prak'ti-kal-ist), n. [< practical
+ -ist.} One who derives his knowledge tram.
or relies upon experience or practice ; an em-
piric. [Bare.]
practicality (prak-ti-kal'i-ti), n. [(.pracUcal
+ -ity.^ The character of being practical, or
concerned with material considerations; prac-
ticalness.
The fair Susan, stirring up her indolententhusiasm into
practically, was very successful in finding Spanish lessons,
and the like, for these distressed men.
Carlyle, Sterling, x. (Daviei.)
practicaUze (prak'ti-kal-iz), V. t.\ pret. and pp.
practicalized, ppr. pra'cticalising. [< pracUcal
+ -Jse.] To make practical ; convert into ac-
tual work or use. [Rare.]
While he [my father] saved me from the demoralizing
effects of school life, he made no effort to iirovide me with
any sufficient substitute for its practicaiizing influences.
J. S. MM, Autobiography, p. 37.
practically (prak'ti-kal-i), adv. 1. In a prac-
tical manner; from a "practical point of view;
by actual experience ; not merely theoretically:
as, to be practically acquainted with a business.
If ot childhood alone, but the young man till thirty, never
feels practically that he is mortal. Lamb, New Years Eve.
Differences of definition are logically unimportant ; but
practict^y they sometimes produce the most momentous
effects. Maeaulay, Mittord's Hist. Greece.
2. lu effect; actually, so far as results and re-
lations are concerHcd ; as a matter of fact.
Eventually, the head executive agent [in Florence], nom-
inally re-elected from time to time, but practically per-
manent, became, in the pei£on of Cosmo de' Medici, the
founder of an inherited leadership.
• B. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., § 488.
Formally, the Imperial powerwasbestowedby a special
grant of the Senate ; practically, it was the prize of any
Boman that could grasp it.
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 337.
practicalness (prak'ti-kal-nes), n. Practicality.
practice, «. See practise.
practice (prak'tis), n. [Formerly also practise;
< MB. *practise, prattise ; i practice, practise, v.;
a later noun taking the place of the earlier noun
practic. The spelling jjracWce (with c instead
of s) is appar. in conformity with jjracSc, prac-
Ucal, etc.] 1. Action; exercise; performance;
the process of accomplishing or canning out ;
performance or execution as opposed to spec-
ulation or theory.
It was with difficulty that he [Archimedes] was induced
to stoop from speculation to practice.
Maeaulay, Lord Bacon.
We study Ethics, as Aristotle says, for the sake of Prac-
tice: and in practice we are concerned with particulars.
S. Sidgwick, Methods of Ethics, p. 19L
The world oi practice depends on man in quite a differ-
ent sense from that in which nature, or the world of expe-
rience, does so. T. B. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, 1 87.
2. An action; act; proceeding; doing: in the
plural, generally in a bad sense.
Heauens make our presence and our practises
Pleasant and belpfull to him.
Shak., Hamlet (folio 1623), u. 2.
usage; custom.
When I was a Student as you are^ my Practice was to
borrow rather than buy some sort of Books.
BoiceU, Letters, iL 21.
He [a Maronite priest] prepared a supper for us, and we
lay on the top of the house, which is a very common prac-
tice in this country during the summer season.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. L 99.
4. The regular pursuit of some employment or
business ; the exercise of a profession ; hence,
the business of a practitioner: as, to dispose of
one's practice; a physician in lucrative prac-
tice.
Some lawyers are already said to be called upon either
to bring certificates of their communicating, or to pay
their fines and give over their practice.
Court and Times of Charles I., I. 69.
His predecessor in this career had "bettered " himself
... by seeking the practice of some large town.
Trollope, Doctor Thome.
5. Exercise for instruction or discipline ; train-
ing; drill: as, jiracWce makes perfect.
Proceed in practice with my younger daughter ;
She 's apt to learn and thankful for good turns.
Shak., T. of the S., ii. 1. 165.
Practice is the exercise of ah art, or the application of a
science, in life, which application is itself an art, for it is
not every one who is able to apply all he knows.
Sir W. BamUton, Metaph., x.
6. The state of being used; customary use ; ac-
tual application.
!Reduc*d to practice, his beloved rule
Would only prove him a consummate fool.
Cowper, Conversation, L 139.
7. Skill acquired through use; experience;
dexterity.
This disease is beyond my practice
Shak., Macbeth, v. 1. 65.
What practice, howsoe'er expert, . . .
Hath power to give thee as thou wert?
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Ixxv.
8. Artifice; treachery; a plot; a stratagem.
And in this first yere also this realme was troubled with
ciuile sedition, and the craftie practises of the Frenchmen.
Grmfton, Hen. IV., an. 1.
His vows were but mere couriship ; all his service
But practice how to entrap a credulous lady.
Fletcher (and another). Queen of Corinth, i. 2.
About this time were Practices plotted against Queen
Elizabeth in behalf of the Queen of Scots, chiefly by Fran-
cis Throgmortou, eldest Son of John Throgmorton, Justice
of Chester. Baker, Chronicles, p. 362.
But Vivien . . . clung to him and hugg'd him close
And call'd him dear protector in her &igbt.
Nor yet forgot hev practice in her fright^
But wrought upon his mood and hugg'd him close.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
9. In arith., a rule for expeditiously solving
questions in proportion, or rather for abridging
the operation of multiplying quantities ex-
pressed in different denominations, as when it
is required to find the value of a number of
articles at so many pounds, shillings, and pence
each. — 10. The form and manner of conduct-
ing legal proceedings, whether at law, or in
equity, or in criminal procedure, according to
the principles of law and the rules of the court ;
those legal rules which direct the course of pro-
ceeding to bring parties into court, and the
course of the court after they are brought in.
Jiishop. Pleadin.g is generally considered as another
branch of the law, because it involves questions of sub-
stantive right.— Corrupt and Illegal Practices Pre-
vention Act. See corrupt.— lii. practice (or out of prac-
tice), (a) In (or not in) the actual periormance or exercise
(of some function or o6cupation) : as, a physician who is in
practice. (6) Hence, in possession of (or lacking) that skill
or facility which comes from the continuous exercise of
bodily or mental power.— Practice Act, a name under
which are known statutes of several of the United States,
regulating procedure of the courts in civil cases. — Prac-
tice cases, practice reports, cases or reports of cases de-
cided on questions of practice, as distinguished from those
decided on the merits of controversies. — Privateer prac-
tice. Same as primteerignu—lo brea^ of a habit or
practice. See break.— 1o put in practice, to apply
practically ; execute ; carry out.
Their conceits are [not] the fittest things to bee pvt in
practice, or their own countenances [to] maintaine Plan-
tations. Capt. John Smith, Works, II. 242.
=Syn. 3. Babit, Usage, etc. See custom — 5. Practice,
Experience. Practice is sometimes erroneously used for
ea^erience, which is a much broader word. Practice is the
repetition of an act : as, to become a skilledmarksman by
practice. Experience is, by derivation, a going clear
through, and may mean action, but much oftener views
the person as acted upon, taught, disciplined, by what be-
falls him,
practiced, practicer. See practised, practiser.
Our maOices haue hitherto beene but assayes, and are practice-sMp (prak'tis-ship), n. A ship used
m to^^^nded Capt. John Smith. Works, 1. 69. for the training of boys and young seamen.
still
practise
Sailing cutters cluster about a long wharf that reaches
deep water, amd holds in safe moorings the practice-ship
Constellation and the school-ship Santee.
Harper's Mag., T.XXVIL 168.
practician (prak-tish'an), n. [< OF. pracHcien,
praUcien, F.praUeien'ja. practiser, practitioner,
as adj. practising, practical; a,spraetic + -ian.'\
If. A practitioner.
He was ane right Courticiane,
An in the Law ane praeticiane.
Sir D. Lyndsay, Squyer Meldrum (E. B. T. S.X L 153&
2. One who practises or performs, iu distinc-
tion from one who theorizes or speculates.
They . . . must shun, on one hand, the blind pride of
the fanatic theorist^ and, on the other, the no less blind
pride of the libertine j}racttcuzn.
Ovizot, Hist. Civilization (trans., ed. Appleton, 1872), I. 84.
practickt, a. and n. See practic.
practicst (prak'tiks), n. [PI. of practic.Ji The
name formerly given to the reported decisions
of the Court of Session in Scotland with refer-
ence to their authority in fixing and proving
the practice and consuetudinary rules of law.
They are now termed decisions. Also pracUques.
The latter spoke disparagingly of Sir James Balfour's
"practiques." Quarterly Sev., CXLVL 60.
practisantt (prak'ti-zant), n. [< OF. praeti-
sant, ppr. of practiser", practise : see practise,
«.] One who practises or acts; an agent; es-
pecially, an agent in treachery ; a confederate.
Here enter'd Pucelle and her practisants.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iiL 2. 20.
practise, practice (prak'tis), v. ; pret. and pp.
practised, practiced, ppr. practising, practicing.
[< ME. pracUsen, pratUsen (= D. prdktiseren =
Sw. prakUsera = Dan. prdkUsere), < OP. prac-
tiser, praUser (ML. pracUzare), for the usual
practiquer, pratiquer, P. praUguer = Pr. prati-
car = Sp^racUcar = Pg. praticar = It. prati-
eare, < ML. practicare, praUcare, do, perform,
execute, propose, practise, exercise, be conver-
sant with, contrive, conspire, etc., < practica,
fractical affairs, business, etc. : see pracUe.']
, trans. 1. To put into action or practice; ex-
ecute ; perform ; enact.
I laugh to see your ladyship so fond
To think that you have aught but Talbot's shadow
Whereon topra^eUse your severity.
Shak., 1 Hen.VI., iL 3. 47.
And (strange to tell !) he pradi^d what he preach'd.
Armstrong, Art ot Preserving Health iv.
SepracUsed every pass and ward.
To thrust, to strike, to feint, to guard.
Scott, L. of the L., v. 15.
Things learned on earth we ahaU practise in heaven.
Browning, Old Pictures in Florence.
2. To do or perform frequently or habitually;
make a practice of; observe or follow usually:
as, to pracfise the Christian virtues; topractise
deception.
The lawe of god is litel studied, . . . lesse kept &
taught ; but the olde testament for wynnyng of tyflies &
oflryngis is samwhat practised.
WyOtf, Office of Curates (E. E. T. S.), xxv.
I have pardon'd.
And pardon'd, and by that have made her fit
To practise new sins, not repent the old.
Beau, and PL, King and no King, L 1.
Why the Essence, as an orthodox Jewish sect^ should
have practised any secrecy, Josephus would have found it
hard to say. De Quineey, Essenes, i.
3f. To make use of; frequent.
The couirt he practised, not the courtier's art.
Dryden, Abs. and- Achit., i. 825.
After having^ao£ise(2theParisCoachesf or fourmonths,
I once rid in the easiest Chariot of my Lord's, which came
from England. Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 12.
4. To exercise or pursue as a profession, art,
or occupation : as, to practise law.
2 Fish. Canst thou catch any fishes, then?
Per. I never practised it. SMk., Pericles, ii. 1. 71.
The art of architecture continues to be practised with
considerable success in parts of India remote from Euro-
pean influence. J. Fergusson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 35.
5. To exercise one's self in, with the object of
acquiring skill or experience ; study or learn by
repeated performance : as, to practise a piece
of music.
Perhaps the ladies will condescend to hear a march and
chorus, which some recruits are practising against his
majesty comes to the camp. Sheridan (?), The Camp, it 3.
I wish I had ever practised a love scene — I doubt I
shall make a poor figure. Sheridan, The Duenna, iL 2.
6. To cause to practise ; teach by practice or
exercise; train; drill.
But practise him a little in men, and brash him ore with
goodcompanie, and hee shaU out ballance those glisterers
as much as a solid substance do's a feather, or Gold Gold-
lace.
Bp. Earle, Mioro.cosmographie, A Downe-right SchoUer.
practise
Whoso is to rule over his passions in maturity must be
practised in ruling over his passious during youth.
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 206.
So soon as knowledge of this kind has been attained, the
captain practises his company in all the phases of war.
Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XLIII. 24.
7. To scheme; plot; contrive craftily or treach-
erously.
My uncle practises more harm to me.
Shak., K. John, iv. 1. 20.
What do you read ? Is it yet worth your care.
If not your fear, what you and practised there?
B. Jcmson, Catiline, v. 4.
8t. To influence ; entice ; tamper with ; TDribe.
The Switzers, being practised under hand by a great
summe of money, ... did mutinously demand their pay.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 110.
To practise the city into an address to the queen. Sv}ift.
9t. To make; construct; build.
A door or window so called [Venetian] from being much
practised at Venice, by Palladio and others.
Pope, Moral Essays, iv. 36, note.
I copied an inscription set up at the end of a great road,
which was practised through an Immense solid rock by
bursting it asunder with gunpowder.
Walpole, To Eichard West, Nov. 11, 1739.
II. intrans. 1. To perform certain acts re-
peatedly or usually; exercise, train, or drUl
one's self: as, to practise upon the piano; to
practise with the rifle. — 2. To form a habit of
action ; act or do habitually ; hence, to behave ;
conduct one's self.
I send you here a bullock which I did find amongst my
bulls, that you may see how closely in time past the for-
eign prelates did practise about their prey.
Bp. Latimer, Sermons and Remains (Parker Soc), II. 378.
Verily, a man knows no more rightly than he practises.
Mev. S. Ward, Sermons and Treatises, p. 170.
3. To exercise a profession; follow a vocation.
E'en Kadclifle's doctors travel first to rrance,
Nor dare to practise till they've learned to dance.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, U. 1. 184.
4. To experiment.
I am little inclined to practise on others, and as little
that others should proMse on me. Sir W. Temple, Misc.
5. To negotiate secretly; have a secret un-
derstanding.
Opechankanough the last yearehadpracfisef! with aEing
on the Easteme shore to furnish him with a kind of poi-
son which onely growes in his Country, to poison vs.
Quoted in Capt John Smith's Works, II. 71.
One Mr. William Vassall had practised with such as were
not members of our churches to take some course, . . .
that the distinctions which were maintained here, both in
civil and church estate, might be taken away.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 319.
Syph. But what 's this messenger?
Sem, I've practised with him.
And found a means to let the victor know
That Syphax and Sempronius are his friends.
Addison, Cato, ii. 6.
6. To use schemes or stratagems; conspire;
plot.
I was hated by some lewde Gunners, who, envying that
I should haue the Title to be Master Gunner in Fraunce,
practised against me, and gaue me poyson in drinke that
night. E. Webhe, Travels (ed. Arber), p. 35.
If he do not mightily grace himself on thee, he will
practise against thee by poison.
Shak., As you Like it, i. 1. 156.
To whom he shows his uncle's discontent,
And of his secret dangerous practising.
Daniel, Civil Wars, i.
You have practised on her,
Perplext her, made her half forget herself.
Swerve from her duty to herself and us.
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field.
practised, practiced (prak'tist), p. a. Skilled
through practice; expert; proficient; experi-
enced.
The transportation of the company was committed to
Captaine Christopher Newport, a Maiiiaei v/e\l practised
for the Westerne parts of America.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, 1. 160.
A scholar and a practiced coqtroversialist.
Macavlay, Hist. Eng., vi.
We know that it requires a practised and well-educated
eye to distinguish between the capitals of the Pantheon
of Agrippa and those last executed at Baalbec or Palmyra.
J. Fergusson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 177.
= Syn. Experienced, versed, accomplished, proficient.
practiser, practicer (prak'ti-s6r), ». [Early
mod. E. also practyser,pratiser; < ME. practi-
sour, praktisour, < OF. *pracUsour, < practiser,
j)rofeer, practise : see practise.'] 1. One who
practises or performs, or carries out in action
or conduct.
A champion roughe, and practyser
Of vertue straite and sounde.
Drant, tr. of Horace's Epistles to Maecenas.
If we pass to the professors and practicers of an higher
philosophy, ttie Apostles and primitive Christians, who
ever so overflowed with spiritual joy as they did ?
Soiith, Sermons, IV. xl
4666
I therefore apprehend and do attach thee
For an abuser of the world, a practiser
Of arts inhibited and out of warrant.
Shak., Othello, i. 2. 78.
2. One who exercises a profession; a practi-
tioner.
And did him assaye his surgerye on hem that syke were.
Til he was yai&t practisoure if any peril telle.
Piers Plowman (B), xvi. 107.
He was a verray parflt praktisour.
Chaucer, Gen. ProL to C. T., 1. 422.
3. One who uses schemes or stratagem; one
who plots; a conspirator.
It is true that Buckingham and Suffolk were thepractis-
ers and contrivers of the duke's death.
Raleigh, Hist. World, Pref., p. xi.
Virgil, Horace, and the rest
Of those great master-spirits did not want
Detractors then, or practicers against them.
B. Jonson, Apol. to Poetaster.
practisourt, »• A Middle English form of prac-
tiser.
practitioner (prak-tish'on-fer), n. [Formerly
pracUcioner for *practioianer, < practician +
-erl (the suffix unnecessarily added, as in musi-
C(0)ter,etc.).] 1. Apractiser; one who acquires
knowledge from actual practice ; one who has
practical experience.
He that would be a pi-actitioner in those affaires I hope
will allow them not only needfuU but expedient.
Capt. John Smith, Works, II. 252.
Believe an old practitioner, whoever out of malice to a
fellow seiTant carries a tale to his master shall be ruin-
ed by a general confederacy against him.
Swift, Directions to Servants in General.
3. One who is engaged in the actual practice
or exercise of any art or profession, as law or
medicine.
There are several Fictions still exercising powerful in-
fluence on English jurisprudence which could not be dis-
carded without a severe shock to the ideas, and consider-
able change in the language, of English practitioners.
Maine, Ancient Law, p. 27.
The surgeon who has not sufficient courage to propose
a useful operation, and sufficient skill to perform it, is as
open to censure as the reckless practitioner yfho is swayed
by the unworthy lure of notoriety.
J. M. Cariwchan, Operative Surgery, Pref., p. iii.
3t. One who uses schemes or artifices ; a plot-
ter; a conspirator.
There are some papistical practiHmiers among you.
Alp. Whitgift.
General practitioner, one who practises both medicine
and surgery. Formerly in England the general practi-
tioner, also called surgeon apothecary or apothecary, was
the ordinary family medical attendant, supplying drugs
as well as advice to his patients. He was licensed to prac-
tise by the Apothecaries Company (incorporated 1617X and
was in rank below the physician or surgeon. This dis-
tinction is now passing away, and the word general prac-
titioner may be applied, as in the United States, to a phy-
sician who practises also surgery and obstetrics. See
It was clear that lydgate, by not dispensing drugs, in-
tended to cast Impumtions on his equals, and also to ob-
scure the limit between his own rank as a general praeti-
iioner and that of the physicians who, in the interests of
the profession, felt bound to maintain its various grades.
George Eliot, Middlemarch, ii. 18.
practivet, a. [A variant, with accom. suffix
■4ve (as iu active), otpracUc: see practic.'] Ac-
tive; actual.
practivelyt, adv. Actively; actually.
Then true religion might be sayd
With vs in primitiue ;
The preachers and the people both
Then practively did thriue.
Warner, Albion's England, viii. 39.
prad (prad), n. [< D. paard, a horse : see pal-
frey.] A horse. Tufts, Glossary of Thieves'
Jargon, 1798. [Thieves' cant.]
It would never do to go to the wars on a rickety prad.
Barham,, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 93.
prad-llolder(prad'h61"der),n. A bridle. Tufts,
Glossary of Thieves' Jargon, 1798. [Thieves'
cant.]
prse-. See pre-.
praeanal, prseauditory, etc. 8eepreanal, etc.
praecava, precava (pre-ka'vii), «. [NL., < L.
prie, before, + (vena) cava.] The vena cava
superior of man and the corresponding vein of
other animals; the anterior oaval vein.
prsecaval, a. and n. See precaval.
prsecinctio (pre-singk'ti-6), n. ; -pi. prsecincUones
(pre-singk-ti-o'nez). [L.: seeprecinction.] In
the ancient Roman theater, a passage mnning
parallel to the seats : equivalent to diazoma in
the Greek theater. See cut under diazoma.
praecipe, «. Ssee precipe.
Prsecocest (pre'ko-sez), n. pi. [NL., pi. of L.
prsecox, praeooquis, prxcoquus, premature, pre-
cocious: see ])recoce.] Precocial birds; in some
systems, as Bonaparte's, a prime division of the
class Aves, including those birds whose young
praemunire
are able to run about and feed themselves as
soon as they are hatched: opposed to Altrices,
and synonymous with Grallatores in one sense.
Gallinaceous birds, all the wading birds except the herons
and their allies, and the duck tribe are Prsecoces. Also
called Dasypades and PtUopsedes. Also Precoces.
praecocial, a. Seeprecodal.
praecognitum (pre-kog'ni-tum), n. ; pi. preecog-
nita (-ta). [NL.," < L. prsecognitus, pp. otprse-
cognoscere, foreknow, foresee: see precogni-
tion.] Something a knowledge of which pre-
cedes or must precede the understanding of
something else.
praeconize, praecoracoid, etc. See preeonize,
etc.
praecordia, precordia (pre-kdr'di-a), ». [= It.
precordio, C L. prsecordia; neut. pi., the midriff,
the stomach, also the breast or heart, < prx,
before, + cor(d-), the heart.] Same a.s precor-
dial region (which see, -anAer precordial).
praecornu (pre-k6r'nii), «.; p\. prxcornua (-nu-
a). [NL. (Wilder), < L. prse, before, + cornu
= E. horn.] The anterior horn of the lateral
ventricle of the brain; the forward part of the
cerebral procoelia.
prsecuneal, a. Bee precuneal.
praecuneus, precuneus (prf-ku'ng-us), n. ; pi.
prsecunei, precunei (-i). [< L. prx, before, -1-
euneus, wedge : see cuneus.] The quadrate lob-
ule, on the median surface of the cerebral hemi-
sphere, just in front of the cuneus. Its anterior
boundary is marked by the upturned end of the
callosomarginal sulcus. See cuts under cere-
bral and corpus. '
praedelineation, n. See predelineation.
praedial, a. Bee predial.
Fraedones (pre-do'nez), n.pl. [NL. (LatreiUe,
1807), < L. priedo, one that makes booty, <
jjj-ff^o, booty, prey: seeprey^.] A subsection
of aculeate hymenopterous insects, proposed
by LatreiUe and adopted by Westwood, in-
cluding the families Crabronidse, Larridae, Bem-
beeidx, Spliegidse, ScoUidse, Muiillidse, Formicidse
(in the broad sense), and VespidsB. In Hartig's
arrangement, now in vogue, the Prsedones would corre-
spond to the three series Heterogyna, Fossores, and Diplop-
terygia.
praeesophageal, a. Bee preesophageal.
praefatlO (pre-f a'shi-6), n. [ML. , < L. prsefatio,
preface: see preface.] In the celebration of
high mass in the Roman Catholic Church, a
prayer which immediately precedes the Sanc-
tus. On ferial days it is recited; on Sundays
and festival days it is sung.
praefect, praefloration, etc. See prefect, etc.
praelabrum (pre -la 'brum), M. ; pi. prselabra
(-bra). [NL., < L. prie, before, + latrrum, lip.]
In entom., the clypeus or epistoma.
praelect, praelection, etc. Bee prelect, etc.
praemazilla (pre-mak-sil'a), n.; -pi. prxmaxillse
(-e). Same &s premaxilldry.
praemaxillary, a. and n. See premaxillary.
praemetial (prf-me'shi-al), a. [< li.praemetium,
the offering of the first fruits measured out
beforehand for Ceres, < prx, before; + metiri,
measure : see mete^.] Of or pertaining to the
first fruits.
If we should not, therefore) freely offer to your Majesty
some prxmetial handfuls of that crop whereof you may
challenge the whole harvest, how could we be but shame-
lessly unthankful? Bp. Hall, Ded. to E. James. (Davies.)
praemolar, a. and n. Bee premolar.
praemonisilt, v. An obsolete form of premonish.
Fraemonstratensian, a. and n. See Premon-
Fraemunientes (pre-ma-ni-en'tez), n. [< ML.
prsemunientes, pi. oiprxmunien(t-)s, ppr. otprse-
munire, torTi. prasmonere, forewarn, admonish:
see prsemmiire.] In Eng. law, the summons
addressed to the bishops or archbishops ad-
monishing them to cause the ecclesiastics to
convene whose attendance was required in Par-
liament : so called from the characteristic word
used in the introduction of the writ.— prjemu-
nlentes writ. Same as Priemunientes.
As the part of the writ described as the Prsemunientes
Writ was not disused, and the Clergy are still summoned
to attend Convocation by what may be termed the Parlia-
mentary foim, it is contended that Convocation must owe
its origin to the time when that form was first adopted.
Quarterly Rev., CXLVl. 140.
praemunire, premunire (pre-mu-ni're), n. [So
called from the first word of the vn-it, which
began "Prsenmniri facias . . . ," etc., 'cause A.
B. to be forewarned that he appear before us,'
etc.; prsemuniri being pass, of ML. prsemunire,
a corruption (by confusion with L. prsemunire,
fortify, protect: see premunition) of L. preemo-
nere, forewarn, admonish : see premonish.] 1.
In Eng. law, a species of writ, or the offense
prsmunlre
for wMch it is granted, or the penalty incurred.
Originally the offense contemplateS was fee introduc-
tion of a loreign power into the kingdom. Whenever
t il'Zin^t" P^""" by any act inclra a pr^uMr%
iui T£^?* '" V^^ri^ *''»' ^« *''«™by incuis the pen!
ti%f,^f?^ ""' °l **'° ''?'*"' protection, of having'^hls
lands and tenements, goods and chattels, forfeited td the
crown, and his body remain in prison diring the sover-
fi^th» pleasure. This penalty attached in former times
to the offenses of asserting the jurisdiction of the Pope,
especially by impleading other subjects in foreign eoclesil
asticalcooi'ts, and denying the sovereign's supremacy. By
later statutes acts of a very miscellaneous nature have
been rendered liable to the penalties of praemunire, as re-
fusing to take the oaths ot allegiance and supremacy.
He (Henry VIII.] saw that the PramMnire made him
absolutely master of the clergy, and, as absolute master,
the primary owner of all Church property.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 264.
St. A serious or awkward position ; a predica-
ment.
If the law finds you with two wives at once,
There 's a shrewd premunire.
Middleton, Maisinger, and Rtmley, Old Law, v.
Prsemimlre case, or the case of prsemunlre, the name
by which reference is frequently made to the conviction
and attainder of Robert Lalor, priest, indicted in 1606 (Sir
John Davis, Ireland, Hep., 83 b: 2 How. St. Ir., 634) for
having exercised the ofBce of vicar-general of Dublin, etc
by appointment of the Pope, in violation of the Statute of
Prsemunlre (16 Eioh. II., c. 6).-Statute of Prsemunlre.
(o) An English statuteor ordinance of 1353, imposingout-
lawry, forfeiture, and imprisonment on those who should
sue in foreign courts for matters cognizable in England,
and thereafter not appear, when summoned, to answer
for their contempt. (6) Another English statute, of 1392,
designed to check thejpower of the Pope in England, by
punishing those who procured from the papal authority
any process against the king, or his crown or realm.
prsemunire, premunire (pre-niu-ni're),K. *. [<
prxmunire, ».] To Taring within the penalties
of a praemunire.
Tor you must know that Horn desir'd
To have good Bonner prxmunired.
T. Ward, England's Eeformation, p. 166.
prsemunitory, a. See premunitory.
prsenarial (prf-na'ri-al), a. [< prxnaris + -a?.]
Pertaining to the prsenares.
prsenaris (pre-na'ris), n. ; pi. prsenares (-rez).
[NL. (Wilder), < li.pres, before, + naris, a nos-
tril: see Mans.] The anterior nostril; the an-
terior opening of the nasal chamber; the nos-
tril of ordinai-y language : distinguished from
postnaris.
prsenomen, prenomen (pre-no'men), n.; pi.
prasnomina, prenomina (pre-nom'i-na). [< L.
prsenomen, a first or personal name, '<; prie, be-
fore,-H nomen, name: see Jioiwen.] 1. Among
the ancient Romans, a name prefixed to the
family name, answeringto the modern Christian
or personal name, as Gains, Lucius, Marcus, etc.
The Roman child received its prxnomen with a lustra-
tion at about the same age [one week].
E. B. Tylor, Prim. Culture, II. 397.
2. In aool., the generic name, or name of the ge-
nus to which a species belongs, which invari-
ably precedes the specific or trivial name in the
binomial system of nomenclature. Thus, Felis
is the praenomen in the term Felis leo, which is
the technical name of the lion.
praenominal, a. See prenominal.
praeoesophageal, praeopercular, etc. Seepre-
esopliageal, etc.
praeoperculum, preoperculum (pre-o-p6r'ku-
lum), n.; pi. prseopercula, preopercula (-la).
[NL., < li.prse, before, -1- operculum, q. v.] 1. In
bot., the fore lid or operculum in mosses. — 2. In
ichth. , one of the four principal opercular bones.
See operculum (&) (5), and cut under teleost.
praepelvisternum, prepelvistemum (pre-pel-
vi-ster'num), n. ; pi. prxpelvisterna, prepelvi-
sterna (-na). [NL., < L. prse, before, + pelvi-
sternum,'] An anterior pelvisternum.
prseperforatus (pre-per-fo-ra'tus), n. ; pi. pree-
perforati (-ti). [NL., < L. prse, before, + per-
/ora«MS,. perforate: see perforate, a.'] The an-
terior perforated space at the base of the brain;
the precribrum.
prsescutellum (pre-sku-tel'um), n. [NL., < L.
pree, before, + NL. sciitellum, q. v.] In entom,,
a rarely differentiated sclerite between the
mesosoutum and the mesoscutellum.
prsescntum (pre-skii'tum), n. ; pl.prssseuta (-ta).
[NL., < L. prse', before, + scutum, a shield: see
scutum.'] The first or anterior one of the four
solerites or pieces of hard integument into
which the pronotum, mesonotum, and metano-
tum of insects are severally divisible ; the fore-
most piece of the tergum of each one of the three
thoracic segments, situated in advance of the
piece called the scutum.
praeseminal, a. See preseminal.
Praesepe (pre-se'pe), n. [L., also prsesepes, prse-
sepis, prsesepium, an inclosure, fold, pen, stall.
Anterior Extremity of PolynoS, a polyclise-
tous annelid i,B, from above ; C. from below):
a, praestomial tentacle ; b, b' . superior and in-
ferior prsestomial cirri; c, d, notopodial and
neuropodial cirri ; e, peduncle of lirst ely-
tron ; I, prsestoniium ; m, parapodium of peri-
stomium.
An obsolete spelling of
4667
manger, crib, <prsesepire, fence in front, ipi'se,
before, -I- s^ire, fence : see sejUum.] A loose
cluster of stars, appearing as a nebula to the
naked eye, in the breast of the Crab ; e Cancri.
prsesepiiun (prf-se'pi-um), n. ; -pX. pi'sesepia (-a).
[NL.,< li.2)rses'epium,priessBpium, manger, crib:
see Praesepe.'] A representation of the nativity
of Christ when treated deeorati vely, as in wood-
carving or the like, it commonly contains at least
two separate views or subjects — the babe lying in the
manger and adored by the mother, and the adoration by
the shepherds.
prsesternum, presternum (prf-ster'num), n.
[NL.,<L.j3)-», before, H- NL. sternum, q. v.] 1.
The fore part of the sternum; the part of any
sternum which corresponds to the manubrium
of the human breast-bone; the part immedi-
ately preceding the mesostemum or gladio-
lus. See cut under MiesosfernMm. — 2. In entom.,
same as prosternum.
prsestomial, a. See prestomial.
prsestomium (prf-sto'mi-um), n.; pi. prsesto-
?«io(-a). [NL.,
< L. "prse, be-
fore, -I- 6r.
ard/m, mouth.]
In Annelida, a
distinct cepha-
lic segment
of the higher
polychsetous
worms, bear-
ing the eyes
and tentacles.
Also prestomi-
um. See also
cut under Po-
lynoe.
prsetert, a. and
n. See preter.
praeter-. See
preter-.
prseterhuman,
a. See preter-
human.
praeteritt, a. and
preterit.
praeterition, n. See preterition.
praetexta (pre-teks'ta), n. ; pi. 2>rsetextsB (-te).
[L., fern, of prsetextus, pp. of prxtexere, weave
in front, edge, border: see pretex, pretext.] In
ancient Rome : (a) A white toga or wrap with a
broad purple border, worn by children of both
sexes. It was laid aside by young men upon becoming
entitled to assume the toga virilis, not before completion
of their fourteenth year. Girls wore it till their marriage.
(6) A white toga with a broad border of pui-ple,
worn as their official dress by higher magistrates
and priests, and upon certain ceremonial occa-
sions, as the discharge of vows or the celebration
of religious rites, by those citizens who were
chiefly concerned. Compare clavus.
The prastexta, on the other hand, with its purple bor-
der, could only be worn along with a white tunic under it
with a purple stripe (clavus). Encye. Brit., VI. 466.
praetor, ^raetympanic, etc. Seejiretor, etc.
pragmatic (prag-mat'ik), a. and u. [< F.prag-
matique = Sp. pragmdtico = Pg. ' pragmatico =
It. prammatico, pragmatico (cf . D. Gr. pragma-
tisch = Sw. Dan. pragmatislc), adj., pragmatic
(as a noun, masc, in def . 1 ; fem. ¥.pi-agmatique
= Sp. pragmdtica, n., = Pg. jiragmatica, n., =
It. jirammaUca, pragmatica, in def. 3) ; < LL.
pragmaticus, relating to civil affairs (pragmati-
ca sanctio orjussio or annotatio or consUtuUo, a
pragmatic sanction, i. e. an imperial decree re-
lating to the affairs of a community, ML. simply
pragmatica, a decree) ; in L., as a noun, a per-
son versed in the law who furnished arguments
and points to advocates and orators, a kind of
attorney; < Or. irpay/iarcKdc, active, versed in
affairs, etc., < ■Kpay/ia (> LL. pragma), a thing
done, a fact^ pi. Trpdy/iara, affairs, state affairs,
public busilless, etc., < irpaaasiv (■/ wpay), do:
see practic, practice, etc.] I. a. 1. Relating to
civil affairs ; relating or pertaining to the affairs
of a community. See pragmatic sanction, be-
low.— 2. Same as pragmatical, in any sense.
Nor can your Palace be a dwelling-place
For Safety, whilst jwffg'maiic Logos or
Sly Chaiis revel in your princely Grace,
J. Beaumovi, Psyche, v. 153.
I love to hit
These ^afirma^MJ young men at their own weapons.
B. Jomon, Devil is an Ass, i. 3.
3. In the Kantian pMlos , practical in a particu-
lar way — namely, having reference to happi-
ness— Pragmatic method, pragmatic treatment,
the treatment of historical phenomena with special refer-
pragmatize
ence to their causes, antecedent conditions, and results.
Also yraflrmoWsire.— Pragmatic sanction, a term first
applied to certain decrees of the Byzantine emperors,
regulating the interests of their subject provinces and
towns ; then to a system of limitations set to the spiritual
power of the Pope in European countries : as, for instance,
the Erench pragmatic sanction of 1268, and that of 1438.
Lastly, it became the name for an arrangement or family
compact, made by different potentates, regarding succes-
sion to sovereignty — the most noted being the instrument
by which the emperor Charles VI., being without male is-
sue, endeavored to secure the succession to his female de-
scendants, settling his dominions on his daughter Maria
Theresa.
II. n. If. A man of business; one who is
versed or active in affairs.
He 's my attorney and solicitor too; a One pragmatic.
B. JoTison.
2t. A busybody ; a meddlesome person.
Such pragmatCclis . . . labour impertinently.
Bp. Gayden, Tears of the Church, p. 502. [Davies.)
Keep to your problems of ten groats ; these matters are
not foT praginaticks and folkmooters to babble in.
MUton, Prose Works, I. 336.
3. A decree or ordinance issued by the head of
a state.
A pragmatic was issued, September 18th, 1496, prescrib-
ing &e weapons and the seasons for a regular training of
the militia. Pretcott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 26, note.
pragmatica (prag-mat'i-ka), n. [ML. : seejyrag-
matic.] Sajne as jjragmaiic, n., d.
Royal pragmaticas began to take the place of constitu-
tional laws. Encyc. Brit., IX 811.
pragmatical (prag-mat'i-kal), a. and n. [iprag-
matie + -al.] I. a. If. Versed in affairs ; skilled
in business ; engaged in business pursuits.
Pragnwt.ical men may not go away with an opinion that
learning is like a lark, that can mount, and sing, and please
herself, and no'thing else.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 323.
2. Active; diligent; busy.
I received instructions how to behave in town, with di-
rections to masters and books to take in search of the an-
tiquities, churches, collections, etc. Accordingly, the next
day, Nov. 6th, I began to be very pragnmtical.
Evelyn, Diary, Nov. 4, 1644.
3. Pertaining to business or to material inter-
ests; hence, material; commonplace.
Low pragmatical earthly views of the gospel. Hare.
"In One Town," though a little jjrajrmaftorf and mattet
of fact, is not uninteresting. Athenseum, No. 3068, p. 203.
4t. Practical; authoritative.
Can a man thus imployd find himselfe discontented or
dishonour'd for want of admittance to have a pragmaticail
voyce at Sessions and Jayle deliveries?
MUton, On Def. ot Humb. Remonst.
5. Unduly busy over the affairs of others ; med-
dlesome; interfering; officious.
The fellow gi-ew so pragmMicaZ that he took on him the
management of my whole family. Arhvihnot.
6. Characterized by officiousness ; performed
or delivered by an officious person ; intrusive.
It is like you to give a pragjnatical opinion without be-
ing acquainted with any of the circumstances of the case.
Charlotte Bronte, The Professor.
Suddenly an unknown individual, in plain clothes and
with a pragmMical demeanor, interrupted the discourse
by giving a fiat contradiction to some of the doctrines ad-
vanced. Motley, Dutch Republic, I. 544.
7. Busy over trifles; self-impoi-tant ; busy.
You cannot imagine what airs all the little pragrnatical
fellows about us have given themselves since the reading
of those papers. Addison, The Tall Club.
Il.t n. A ijrof essional opinion or decision.
The eloquent persuasions and pragmatical^ of Mr. Sec-
retary Windwood.
Bacon, To the Kingi 1617, July 25, Works, XIII. 232.
pragmatically (prag-mat'i-kal-i), adv. In a
pragmatic manner.
Over busy, or pragmatically curious.
Barrow, Sermons, I. 697.
pragmaticalness (prag-mat'i-kal-nes), n. The
character of being pragmatical, in any sense ;
especially, meddlesomeness ; oflficiousness; ex-
cessive zeal.
pragmatism (prag'ma-tizm), m. [<. pragmat{ic)
+ -ism.] 1. Pragmatical character or conduct;
officiousness; busy impertinence.
Mrs. Dollop, the spirited landlady of the Tankard in
Slaughter Lane, . . . had often to resist the shallow prag-
matism of customers disposed to think that their reports
from the outer world were of equal force with what had
"come up " in her mind. George Eliot, Middlemarch, Ixxi.
2. In 'hist, same as pragmatic method. See
pragmatic, a.
pragmatist (prag'ma-tist), n. [< pragmatiic)
+ -isi.] One who is impertinently busy or
meddling.
We may s&yolpra^rnatists that their eyes look all ways
but inward. Bp. Reynolds, Ttie Passions, xvi.
pragmatize (prag'ma-tiz), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
pragmatiged, ypv. pragmatizing, [<. pragviat(ic't
pragmatize
+ -fee.] Tomake real or material ; attribute a
practical objective existence to (some product
of imagination or fancy).
The merest shadowy lanoy or broken-down metaphor,
when once it gains a sense ol reality, may begin to be
Bpolten of as an actual event. . . . One of the miraculous
passages in the life of Mohammed himself is traced plau-
sibly by Sprenger to such a praffmatiaed metaphor.
.B. B. Tylor, Prim. Culture, I. 407.
pragmatizer (prag'ma-ti-z6r), n. [< pragma-
tize + -eri.] One who pi-agmatizes, or attributes
objective existence to what is subjective, ima-
ginary, or fanciful.
The pragmatizer is a stupid creature; nothing is too
beautiful or too sacred to be made dull and vulgar by his
to«oh. B. B. Tylar, Prim. Culture, I. 368.
prahme, n. See^rami..
prahu (pra'ho), n. Same as proa.
We . . . decided to alter our course for Malacca, where
we arrived at half-past nine ; the Doctor at once went on
shore in a native prahu.
Lady Brassey, Voyage of Sunbeam, II. xxiv.
praierf, n. An early modem English spelling
otprayer\
Frairial (pra'ri-al), n. [F., < prairie, a mea-
dow: see prairie.'\ The ninth month in the
French revolutionary calendar. In the year
1794 it began May 20th and ended June 18th.
prairie (pra'ri), n. [< F. prairie = 'Pi.pradaria
= Sp. pradera, praderia = Pg. praderia = It.
prateria, a meadow, < ML. prataria, meadow-
land, prop. fem. of pratarius, adj., < L. pra-
twm, a meadow. Cf . prayere, prayelW] A. mea-
dow; level grassy land: a word frequently
used by Hennepin and other French writers in
describing the country adjacent to the Missis-
sippi river, and now in common use, designating
the level or slightly undulating treeless areas
which cover a large part of Illinois, Wiscon-
sin, Iowa, Minnesota, and other States further
south. The prairies are never by the inhabitants of the
prairie regions called plaiiuSy as are the treeless regions
further west They are characterized by a highly fertile
soil, often ol great thickness, and they often occur where
the rainfall is even considerably larger than on parts of
the adjacent forest-covered regions. The cause of the ab-
sence of trees upon them cannot, therefore, be deficiency
of moisture ; in all probability it is the physical character
of the soil, and especially its extreme fineness, which ren-
ders it more suitable for the growth of the grasses than
for that of arboreal vegetation. In the extreme north-
western region of the United States, especially in Mon-
tana, certain level treeless areas surrounded by the moun-
tains are now by some called prairies: some of these had
been previously denominated holes. Further south in the
Bocky Mountains they are known as parks, or sometimes
as basins. See holel, 6, and plaint.
The prairie alluded to was one of those small natural
meadows, or pastures, that are to be found in Michigan,
and may have contained four or five thousand acres of
open land. Cooper, Oak Openings, 1.
These are the gardens of the Desert, these
The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful,
For which the speech of England has no name,
The Prairies. Bryant, The Prairies.
In general, however, the term prairie is used to desig-
nate tracts of land nearly or quite destitute of forests, or
over which the trees are, as a general rule, limited to the
"bluffs " — the more or less precipitous slopes which sep-
arate the upland, or prairie proper, from the river bottom.
J. D. Whitney, Encyc. Brit., XXIII. 811.
Prairie State, the state of Illinois.— Trembling or
shaking prairie. See under tre/mble.
prairie-jQligator (pra'ri-al i-ga-tor), n. An in-
sect of the family Phasmidse; one of the walk-
ing-sticks, usually the thick-thighed walking-
stick, Diapheromera femorata. [Local, U. S.]
prairie-apple ^pra'ri-ap*l), n. Same asprairie-
turnip.
prairie-bean (pra'ri-ben), n. See teari^-, 2.
prairie-bird (pra'ri-bferd), n. Same as prairie-
hen.
prairie-bitters (pra'ri-biferz), n. pi. See
hitters.
prairie-brant (pra'ri-brant), n. Same as har-
lequin brant (which see, under harlequin).
prairie-burdock (pra'ri-b6r"dok), n. See lur-
dock.
prairie-chicken (pra'ri-chik'''en), n. Same as
prairie-hen pralrie-ohloken of the Northwest,
the sharp-tailed grouse, pintail, or sprigtail, Pediaeeetes
phasianeUm eolumbianus. See cut under Pediaeeetes.
prairie-clover (pra'ri-kl6"v6r), n. See Peta-
lostemon.
prairie-cocktail (pra'ri-kok"tal), n. A raw
egg, peppered and salted, and drunk in vinegar
or spirits. Also ealledprairie-oyster. [Western
XT S 1
prairied (pra'rid), a. [< prairie + -ed^.'\
Abounding in prairies; skirted by prairies.
And he whose grave is holy by our calm
And prairied Sangamon. _
From his gaunt hand shaU drop the martyr s palm.
To greet thee with " Well done ! "
Whittier, Freedom in Brazil
4668
prairie-dock (pra'ri-dok), n. Same as prairie
burdock (which see, under burdoek).
prairie-dog (pra'ri-dog), ». A seiuromorphic
rodent quadruped of the family Sciuridse, sub-
family SpermophilinsB, and genus Cynomys, of
which there are two species, C. ludovicianus
and 0. eolumbianus, the former living east and
the latter west of the Kocky Mountains: so
called from their habitat and from their cry,
which is like the barking of a dog. These animals
are generally but irregularly distributed in the prairie
Prairie-dogs {CyKcmzys Itidfrvicianus),
regions of the Western States and Territories, from the
British nearly to the Mexican boundary of the United
States ; they are gregarious, and many thousands together
populate some places called prairie-dog towns or villages,
where they dig deep burrows, the entrance ol each of which
is surmounted by a mound of earth thrown up in making
the excavation. (See second cut under owl.) Some of the
larger towns include many hundred acres. Prairie-dogs
are about a loot long, ol very stout, squat, paunchy form,
with low ears, a very short tail, and long strong lore claws ;
they are of a uniform reddish-gray or fawn color, paler un-
derneath. They subsist entirely on vegetable food. Also
called prairie.^mar7not and wistonwish.
prairie-falcon (pra'ri-fS,*kn), n. See falcon.
prairie-fly (pra'ri-fli), n. One of various spe-
cies of flies of the family Tabanidse which attack
cattle. [Western U. S.]
prairie-fox (pra'ri-foks), n. The kit, or swift
fox, Vulpes velox, inhabiting the prairies of
North America. See cut under kit.
prairie-goose (pra'ri-gos), ». Same as Hutch-
ins's goose (which see, under goose). [Texas.]
prairie-grass (pra'ri-gras), n. 1. Any grass
growing on prairies. — 2. Specifically, in Aus-
tralia, the grass Bromus (Ceratochloa) unioloi-
des, once called there Californian prairie-grass,
though not found in California. See rescue-
grass.
prairie-hawk (pra'ri-h&k), n. The American
sparrow-hawk, Faleo sparverius, which abounds
on the prairies as elsewhere in North America,
and has the habit of hovering on wing like the
European kestrel or windhover.
The prairie-hawlc that, poised on high,
Flaps his broad wings, yet moves not.
Bryant, The Prairies.
prairie-hen (pra'ri-hen), «. (a) The pinnated
grouse, Cupidonia or Tymparmchus cupido, a
gallinaceous bird of North America belonging
to the family Tetraonidse; or (&) the sharp-tailed
f rouse, Pedioecetes phasiatieUus eolumbianus.
ee cuts under Cupidonia and Pedioecetes. The
range of these two different birds, though somewhat
overlapping, especially of late years, is complementary.
The true prairie-hen or pinnated grouse belongs proper-
ly to the fertile prairies of the United States, especially
Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, the eastern hall of Minnesota,
South Dakota (especially eastward), middle and eastern
Kansas and Nebraska, Arkansas, and eastern Texas— a
variety {paUidi£in£ta) occurring in western Texas. It also
still lingers in some localities in the Middle States and
New England; but with the settlement of the country
it has followed the railroads, as these have been pushed
westward and northwestward, to the Rooky Mountains
and lar up the Missouri river. The sharp-tailed gronse,
the prairie-hen or -chicken ol the Northwest, locally called
whitebelly, is a bird of more arid regions, resembling the
sage-grouse in this respect, and its eastward range has con-
tracted with the extension of tlie pinnated grouse west-
ward. It is found in suitable country of the central pla-
teau to the Sierra Nevadas of California and the Cascade
ranges of Oregon and Washington, and northward in much
of British America, where it occurs in its typical form,
Pedicecetes phasianeUm, as distinguished from the United
States variety called columManus.
prairie-marmot (pra'ri-mar"mot), ». The prai-
rie-dog.
prairie-mole (pra'ri-mol), n. The silvery shrew-
mole, Scalops aquaticus argentaius, a varietjr of
the common mole of the United States occurring
on the prairies.
prairie-oyster (prS'i-i-ois'tfer), ». Same asprai-
rie-cocktail.
prairie-pigeon (pra'ri-pij'on), n. 1. The
American golden plover, Charadrius dominicus.
Also called prairie-plover and prairie-snipe. —
2. Bartram's sandpiper, Bartramia longicauda.
This bird abounds on the fertile alluvial prau'ies from
Indiana and Illinois to the Dakotas, but not on the arid
plains frnther west.
prairie-plover (pra'ri-pluv'fir), n. Same as
prairie-pigeon, 1.
praise
prairie-plow (pra'ri-plou), n. A large plow
with wheels in front, a broad sharp share, and
a long mold-board, used for paring the sod and
for turning a broad, shallow furrow.
prairie-rattler (pra'ri-rat"16r), n. A prairie-
prairie-rattlesnake (pra'ri-rat*l-snak), n. One
of several different rattlesnakes inhabiting the
prairies, as the massasauga, Sistruruscatenatus,
and especially Crotalus confluentus, the_ most
common and widely distributed rattler in the
West.
prairie-rose (pra'ri-roz), n. A wild rose, Bosa
setigera, of the interior united States, the only
American climbing I'ose. The flowers are large, in
fiat corymbs, and ol a deep rose-oolor when first expanded.
This is the original ol the queen-ol-the-prairi^ Baltimore-
belle, and other double roses. Also called Michigan rose.
See cut under rose.
prairie-schooner (pra'ri -skS^Sr), n. The
white-tilted wagon used by emigrants in freight-
ing on the prairies and great plains before the
construction of transcontinental railroads.
[Slang, U. S.]
prairie-snipe (pra'ri-snip), n. Same a,sprairie-
pigeon, 1.
prairie-SQ^uirrel (pra'ri-skwur'el), n. A sper-
mophile or ground-squirrel of North America f
a seiuromorphic rodent quadruped of the sub-
family SpermophilinsB and genus Spermophilus,
numerous species of which inhabit the prairies
of western North America. These anunals are com-
monly knpwn as gophers, from their buiTowing in the
ground, but they have little resemblance to the myomor>
phic rodents of the family Geomyidse to which the name
gopher properly applies. Tliey vary much in size, color,
and general appearance, some having the stout form,
short tall, and low ears of the prairie-dog, as S. richardsoni;
others have longer tail and ears, a slenderer form, and are
very prettily spotted or striped, or both, as & tridecem-
lineatus; in some the tail is so long and bushy that they
resemble true arboreal squirrels, as S. JranHini. Some
are numerous enough in cultivated regions to threaten
agriculture seriously. They form a characteristic feature
of the mammalian fauna in the whole prairie region. Se&
cut under Spermophilus.
prairie-turnip (pra'ri-t6r''nip), n. The tuber-
bearing plant Psoralea eseulenta.
prairie-warbler (pra'ri-war'blfer), n. A small
insectivorous migratory bird of the eastern
parts of the United States, Dendrceca discolor^
Prairie-warbler (Detidyeeca discoior).
belonging to the family SyMcolidse or Mniotil-
tidee. it is H inches long, olive-yellow above and bright-
yellow below varied with black spots, with a patch of
brick-red spots on the middle of the back and white-
blotches on the lateral tail-feathers. It does not occur in
the prairie regions proper of the West.
prairie-wolf (pra'ri-wult), n. A small woU,
Canis latrans, characteristic of the prairie re-
fions of western North America. See cut un-
er coyote.
praisablet (pra'za-bl), a. [< ME. praysable,
preisable; < ^iraise + -able."] Praiseworthy.
Which bene so chiualrous in your doing.
And which for to do is preisable thyng.
Bom. qfPartenay (E. E. T. S.), L 1911.
praisabljri (pra'zar-bli), adv. In a praisable man-
ner; praise worthily; admirably.
Then doth our tung natnrallie and praisaNie vtter her
meaning, when she bouroweth no conteifeitness of other
tunges. Aseham, The Stholemaster, p. 6.
praise (praz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. praised, ppr.
praising. [< ME. praisen, pray sen, preisen,
preysen,<.OF.praisier,proisier,prisier,¥.priser
= P^.jprezar = It. pregiare, pi-ezzare, value,
prize, CLL. pretiare, value, prize: see prize'^,
oi which praise is a doublet.] 1. To express
approbation or admiration of ; laud; applaud;
eulogize; commend.
Whan the Citezins herdc Gawein thus speke. thei hym.
comended and preysed moche, and seide he myght not
laile to be a worthy man ; and thei hym loved bertely
above aUe thynge, and preised the grete gent llenesse that
thei hym f ounden. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), IL 202.
praise 4669
»//.■»«» uuiBBives in otner men. Goodness the pen, heaven paper is :
o _ ... •'^^' J^^»y O" Cnticism, 1. 456. The ink immoital fame doth fend.
<S. lo extol ingratitude and devotion for bless- Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, U.
ings received^ especiaUy, to offer grateful horn- praiseless ' (praz'les), a. [< praise +
age to; worship; glorify.
■]
Without praise; undeserving of praise; with-
out merit.
If . . . speech, next to reason, bee the greatest gyft be-
stowed vpon mortalitie, that cannot be praiaeUste which
dooth most pollish that blessing of speech.
Sir P. Sidney, Apol. for Poetrie (Arber rep., IT. 60).
"ps.^vil.8 praise-meeting (praz'me"ting), n. In the
Praise God for the meny year. ' United States, a religious service of congre-
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., v. 8. 19. gational worship in which singing is a con-
Sf. To appraise; set a price upon; value. spicuous feature.
Many follj worsehipen tho Bestes, whan thei meeten Praisementf (praz'ment), n. [< ME. prayes-
™™ii^?h *f A'"™h®i,'°^J?lll§™L™'''"?,*°.* 'o'' *« soiJe 'ment; < praise + -ment. Ct. appraisement.'] Ap-
i,r^;?i,^T°Xl'''^P® and »rej/«e suohe an holy Lend, that
M?nf?ttJ°j'?;*fTS*v^y'^"""^e''« *e whiche every
Man is saved, but it be his owne defaute.
Mandeoaie, Travels, p. 3.
Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness,
and for his wonderful worlds to the children of men !
smelle that thei han ; and tho Sliynnes thei preyam more
than thoughe thei were Plate of fyn Gold.
Mandeville, Travels, p. 217.
That no seriaunt take. . . for ther fees, when the goodes
bepreised, but liij. d. English Oilds (E. E. T. 8.), p. 391.
And let them that shall praise the moveable goods to be
praisement; valuation.
Also I will that my chalice, w* my ij. crewetts and pax
of silaer, before the praysement or division made of my
foresaid moveables, . . . remayn styll to her.
Fabyan, Chron., I., Pref., viL
delivered unto the"c;edrtSTke"grdTeTt^t°2h^do Praiser (pra'zfer), n. [< ME. preiser; < praise
set a reasonable price upon them. + -er^.J 1. One who j
Statute of XereTtards, 11 Edw. I., st. I. (1283), tr. in
[Statutes of the Bealm, L 53 (1810).
= Syn. 1 and 2. Praise, Applaud, Extol, laud, eulogize, cele-
brate exalt, bless. Praise is the general word ; it is posi-
tive, but of vaiying degrees of strength. We praise, ap-
plaud, and extol by words written or spoken ; we may ap-
plaud also by clapping the hands or by other physical
demonstrations of approbation. To extol is to praise very
highly, generally at some length. See eulogy.
He praised her taste, and she commended his under-
standing : an age could not have made them better ac-
quainted. Goldsmith, Vicar, v.
Rome approves my act ;
Applauds the blow which costs me life, but keeps
My honour spotless. Browning, Ring and Book, II. 287.
The young minister had in private extolled Hastings as
a great, a wonderful man, who had the highest claims on
the government. _ -
praises, commends, or
extols; a eulogist.
Thou Shalt rather drede and flee fro the swete wordes of
flateringe yrefeeres than fro the egre wordes of thy freend
that seith thee sothes. Chaucer, Tale of Melibeus.
We men and praisers of men should remember that, if
we have such excellencies, it is reason to think them ex-
cellent creatures of whom we are. &> P. Sidney.
2t. An appraiser.
He . . . talked himselfwith the praisers, and madethem
set high prises upon every thing that was to be sold.
Iforth, tr. of Plutarch, p. 649. {Davies.)
praiseworthf, a. Praiseworthy.
Whose praise-worth vertures, if in verse I now should take
in hand
For to comprize. Holland, tr. of Camden, p. 290. (Davies.)
IfMoidoy^ Wamen HasUngs! praiseworthilj; (praz'w6r'''5Hi-li), adv. In a
praise (praz), n. [< ME. prayse, preis, preys, ™ai™er deserving of praise,
praise ; from the verb.] 1. The expression of ^^' name was Envie, knowen well thereby,
SS?r™r?ni^"«":;ol''^"'r' ^°'"" "^l^r' T^^e.^^'^^il'^^rpr^^s.^^y^' ■"'
meritorious performance, or pleasing quality; Spenser F Q V xii 31
»n^'»thfL°l^^SiT%'"^^*'r "^.f'^'^'ration for praiseworthiness (praz'w6r"THi-nes)','m.* The
something excellent or beautiful; laudation; ^character of being praiseworthy,
applause. — ^ — ■* .-..,.
0, flatter me ; for love delights in praises.
Shak., T. G. of V., ii. 4. 148.
Their»raise
Was to the poet money, wine, and bays.
B. Jonion, Epicoene, Prol.
If their words have any meaning at all, by praise they
must mean the exercise or testimony of some sorts of es-
teem, respect, and honourable regard.
Edwards, On the Will, iiL 1.
Compliment is a name for the more familiar forms of
praise. A. Bain, Emotions and Will, p. 109.
praiseworthy (praz^fer^sni), a. [< praise +
worthy. 1 Deserving of praise ; laudable; com-
mendable.
Thou hast taught us to admire onely that which is good,
and to count that onely praiseworthy which is grounded
upon thy divine Precepts.
Milton, On Def. of Hnmb. Remonst.
In surrendering her western territory. North Carolina
^ov&A praiseworthy generosity.
J. Fiske, Critical Period of Amer. Hist, v.
praitheet. An obsolete variant ot prithee.
2t. The expression of any opinion, whether in Prakrit (pra'krit), n. [Q'kt.prdlcrita, that which
commendation or otherwise; hence, fame; repu-
tation.
Laus, Anglice, good preys; vel vituperum, Anglice, bad
preys. MS. Bib. Beg. (HaUiweU.)
Your praise is come too swiftly home before you.
Know you not, master, to some kind of men
Their graces serve them but as enemies?
Shdk., As you Like it, ii. 3. 9.
3. The expression of love and gratitude for
benefits received ; devotion with thanksgiving;
especially, a tribute of grateful homage to God,
is natural, not accomplished, vulgar, < prakriti,
nature.] The collective name of those dialects
which succeed the Sanskrit in the historical
development of the language of India. They
assumed a literary position first in the Sanskrit dramas,
where female characters and the lower male characters
are introduced as speaking Prakrit instead of the Sanskrit
used by kings, noblemen, and priests.
The inscriptions ot A soka are written in three local Pali
or Prakrit dialects, evidently derived by long continued
detrition from the Sanskrit of the Vedas.
Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, II. 296.
My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me Prakritic (pra-krit'ik), a. [< Prakrit + -ic]
thy statutes. Ps. oxix. 171. Belonging or pertaining to Prakrit, or to one of
In devotion spend my latter days, the dialects constituting Prakrit.
To sin's rebuke and my Creator's prows. _ ^he next stage of Indian language, to which the in-
bimic., 6 aea. Vl., iv. «. 44. scriptions just referred to belong, is called the PrakriOe.
Prayer causeth the first Shower of Rain, but Praise W. D. Whitney, Life and Growth of Lang., p. 187.
brings down the second. Eowell, Letters, ii. 67. praline (pra'len), n. [P.] A confection made
4. A ground or reason for praise. by stirring almonds (or other kernels of nuts)
You have the honey still, but these the gall ; in boiling sugar and water till they are brown
So to be valiant is no praise at alL and will crackle between the teeth; also, in
SAaJ;., T. and C, ii. 2. 145. - ■ - „ . , , , ..'.»..
A restless crowd^ . . .
Whose highest praise is that they live in vain.
Cowper, Retirement, 1. 23.
Louisiana, a ilat cake made by stirring the
kernels of nuts (generally pecan-nuts) in sugar.
Also, corruptly, prawUng.
5. A subject for praise ; a person . or
worthy to be praised.
He is thy praise, and he is thy God. Deut. x. 21.
Praise at parting, praise in departing, proverbial
phrases current among the old writers to express good
wishes at parting.
Now praise at thy parting.
Tom Tyler, etc. (1698). (Nares.)
Pros. [Aside.] Praise in departing.
Fran. They vanlsh'd strangely.
SAa*., Tempest, iii. 3. 39.
Prick and pralset. See prM!*. = Syn. 1. Encomium,
honor, panegyric, plaudit, acclaim. See praise, v., and
evlogy.
praiseful (praz'ful), a. [< praise + -ful.']
Abounding in praise ; worthy of praise ; laud-
able.
l-hi^L prami (pram), n. [Also praam, prame, prahme;
< F. pfame = MD. prame, D. praam = MLG.
pram, liQr. praam = G. prahm, prahme = Icel.
pramr = 8w. pr&m = Dan. pramj of Slavic
origin: OBulg. pramU.'] 1. A flat-bottomed
boat or lighter, used in the Netherlands and
the Baltic ports for loading and unloading
merchant vessels.
A round us lay the foreign steamers, mostly English, each
with its crowd of boats and prarm. These pratns are huge
barges roofed over, and resemble for all the world game-
pies or old-fashioned monitors.
Bae, Land of the North Wind (1875), p. 158. (jDatiies.)
He steers the leading prame into the bay.
B. D. Blaelemme, Springhaven, xxxviii.
2. Milit., a similar barge or lighter mounted
with guns, and used as a floating battery.
prank
One of the praams mounted ten guns and the other
eight Marryat, Peter Simple, III. xvi.
pram^ (pram), II. [Contr. of *peram, abbr. of
perambulator.'] A perambulator. [Vulgar.]
I am told that it is now common amongst the lower
classes to call perambulators p'roTiis.
Jf. and Q., 6th ser., VL 426.
prance (prans), v. i. ; pret. and pp. pranced,
ppr. prancing. [< ME. prancen, prauncen,
prance, lit. show off; an assibilated form of
prank. Cf. G. dial. (Bav.) prangezen, prangs-
sen, assume airs, Svriss spranzen, strut.] 1. To
make a show in walking; move proudly, lift-
ing the feet with a rearing or capering motion :
used of horses in high mettle.
Upon the first setting out^ my Steed falls a prancing;
you would have said he was a Horse of Mettle ; he was
plump, and in good Case.
N. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 413,
As the proud horse, with costly trappings gay.
Exulting prances to the bloody fray.
Falconer, Shipwreck, ii.
2. To ride with a rearing or capering motion ;
ride gaily, proudly, or insolently.
I see
The insulting tyrant prancing o'er the field.
Addison, Cato, i. 1-
Anon to meet us lightly proTJced
Three captains out. Tennyson, Princess, v.
3. To walk, strut, or caper in an elated, proud,
or conceited manner.
Trimm'd like a younker prancing to his love.
Shak., S Hen. VI., ii. 1. 24.
"Tis so, those two that there deride him.
And with such graces prance beside him
In pomp, infallibly declare
Themselves the sheriffs ; he the Mayor.
D'Urfey, Colin's Walk, ii.
Rawdon . . . pranced off to engage the lodgings with
all the impetuosity of love. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xvi.
prancer (pran'ser), n. [< prance + -eri.] A
prancing horse.
Then came the captaine or governor of the castle of St.
Angelo upon a brave prancer.
Evelyn, Diary, Nov. 22, 1644.
And fieeter now she skimm'd the plains
Than she whose elfln prancer springs
By night to eery warblings.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Guinevere.
prancing (pr^n'sing), n. [Verbal n. of prance,
v.] The rearing or capering action of a horse.
Thrace feels thro' all her realms their furious course.
Shook by the prancin^s of the thund'ring horse.
Pitt, ,^neid, xii.
prancing (pran'sing), p. a. [Ppr. of prance, v.]
Rearing; bounding; capering; riding with gal-
lant show.
Now rule thy praTicin^ steeds, lac'd charioteer.
6aiy, Trivia, it 628.
prancingly (pran'sing-li), adj). In a prancing
manner.
prancomef, n. [For *prankvm (cf. prinkum-
prankum), a Latinized form of j>ro»fc.] Some-
thing odd or strange.
Gog's hart, I durst have laid my cap to a crown,
Ch' would learn of somepraTzcorne as soon as ich cham t»
town. Bp. Still, Gammer Gorton's Needle.
prandial (pran'di-al), a. [< L. prandium, a
breakfast or an early dinner or luncheon, usu-
ally taken at noon.] Eelating or pertaining to
a dinner or other meal : as, prandial prepara-
tions.
pranet) »• An obsolete form of prawn. Pals-
grave.
PrangOS (prang'gos), n. [NL. (Lindley, 1824),
from an E. Ind. name.] 1 . A genus of umbellif-
erous plants of the tribe Seselinese and subtribe
Cachrydese. it is characterized by a very broadly ex-
cavated seed, the primary ridges of the fruit some or alS
of them expanded into wing^ and a tall smooth stem,
sometimes woolly at the base. There are about 40 species,,
natives of the Mediterranean region and of Asia. They
are perennial herbs, with pinnate or pinnately decom-
pound leaves, compound many-rayed umbels of yellow
flowers, numerous bracts and bractlets, and smooth oblong
fruit containing many oil-tubes. P. pabularia, the pran-
gos of Cashmere, is called hay-plant.
2. [I. c] A plant of this genus.
Praniza (pra-ni'za), n. [NL. (Leach), irreg. <
Gr. irpfrjvil^eiv, throw headlong, < npavfjg, Dor. for
■KprfOTig, with the face dovniward.] A supposed
genus of isopods, founded on the female form
of the genus Anceus.
prank (prangk), V. [< ME. pranken, prank, ar-
range one's dress, = MD. proncken, pronken,
D. pronken, make a show, arrange one's dress
(pronckeprinken, glitter in a fine dress) ; in rela-
tion withprink, and with MLG. pnmken = MHG.
brunken, G. prunken = Sw. prunka = Dan.
prunke, make a show, prank, and with MLG.
prangen = MHG. prangen, brangen, G. prangen
= Icel. pranga = Sw. pr&nga, pranga = Dan.
prank
prange, make a show, G. dXaX.prangezen,prangs-
scn, assume airs, and further connected with
brank, etc., and W. prangcio, prank, and with
D. and MLG. pracht, OHG. URG.praht, Iraki,
G. pracht, Icel. prakt, Sw. jwafct, Dan. pragt,
pomp, splendor. Cf. pmnce.] I. trans. 1. To
decorate; adorn; deck; especially, to deck out
in a showy manner.
To prancke your selues in a lookinge Glasse.
Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 433.
Circled with childi'en, pranking up a girl.
And putting jewels in her little ears.
Middleton, Chaste Maid, iiL 3.
False rules jM-OTift'd in reason's garh.
Milton, Comus, L 759,
Some prank up their bodies, and have their minds full
of execrable vices. Burton, Anat of Mel., p. 35.
When \ioletB pranked the turi with blue.
Holmes, Poems, Old- Year Song.
2t. To adjust; set in order.
Some frounce their curled heare in courtly guise ;
Some prancke their rultes. Spemer, r. Q., I. Iv. 14.
II. intrans. 1. To present a showy or gaudy
appearance ; make a l)rilliant show.
It was on a Wednesday that the pranMng army of high-
mettled warriors issued forth from the ancient gates of
Antiquera. Irving, Granada, p. 87.
White houses prank where once were huts.
M. Arnold, Obermann Once More.
2t. To he crafty or subtle. Palsgrave.
prank (prangk), n. and a. [< prank, v."] I. n.
A playful or mischievous act; a trick played
sometimes in malice, but more commonly in
sport ; an escapade ; a gambol.
His pranks have been too broad to bear with.
Shak., Hamlet, iii. 4. 2.
Both old and young commended the maid
That such a witty prank had play'd.
Friar in the Well (ChUd's Ballads, VIIL 125).
His dog, . . . with many a frisk
Wide-scamp'ring, snatches up the drifted snow. . . .
Heedless of all his pranks, the sturdy churl
Moves right toward the mark. Cowper, Task, v. 52.
=^n. Whim, etc. (see/rcai2), antic, vagary.
Il.f a. Frolicsome; mischievous.
If I do not seem pranker now than I did in those days,
I'll be hang'd, A. Brewer (?), Lingua, iv. 7.
pranker (prang'ker), M. [<j)rarefc+ -ej-1.] One
who pranks, or dresses ostentatiously; a person
fond of show or ostentation.
If she be a noted reveller, a gadder, a singer, 2, pranker
op dancer, then take heed of her.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 539.
prankingly (prang'king-li), adv. In a pranking
manner; showily; ostentatiously.
prankish (prang'kish), a. [< prank + -isfei.]
Mischievous; frolicsome; full of pranks.
prankle^ (prang'kl), v. i.; pret. and. pp. pran-
kled, ppr. prankUng. [Freq. ot prank, «.] To
prance. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
prankle^ (prang'kl), n. [Prob. a reduction of
periwinkle^, aceom. toprawn (tonaeTlyprane).'}
A prawn. HalliweU. [Prov. Eng.]
pranksome (prangk'sum), a. [iprank + -some.l
Prankish; mischievous; frolicsome.
Ah, but he drove a pranksome quill !
With quips he wove a spell.
Harper's Mag., LXXLX. 972.
prase (praz), n. [< P. prase, leek-green, < Gr.
irpdaov, a leek: see prason.'] A oryptocrystal-
line variety of quartz, of a leek-green color. See
prasine (pras'in), a. [< OP. prasin, tern, pra-
sine, < L. prasinus, < Gr. npacivog, leek-green, <
irpdaov, leek: aee prason.'] 1. Of a light-green
color, inclining to yellow. — 2. In her., same as
vert. Also prasin.
prasinous (pras'i-nus), a. [< prasine + -ous.']
Sa,me a,s prasine.
prasoid (pra'soid), a. [< Gr. ■KpaaoetSii^, like a
leek, < irpaaov, leek, + eiSog, form.] Resem-
bling prase.
prasont (pra'son), n. [< Gr. irp&aov, leek, =
Ij.porrum, leek: see porret.'] A leek; also, a
seaweed of leek-green color.
pratif (prat), n. [< M'E.prat, < AS. prset,priett,
a trick, craft: see pretty.'] A trick.
prat2 (prat), n. [Origin obscure.] The but-
tock. [Slang.]
Fiddle, Patrico, and let me sing.
First set me down here on both my prats.
Brffme, Jovial Crew, ii.
pratal (pra'tal), a. [< L. pratum, a meadow.]
In hot; growmg in meadows. Compare pascwaZ.
prate (prat), ».; pret. and pp. jjroteti, ppr. j)ra<-
ing. [< ME. praten, < MD. D. praten = MLG.
LG. praten = Icel. Sw. prata = 'Da.n.prate, talk,
prate. Henee freq. prattle.] I. intrans. To
4670
talk idly or boastfully; be loquacious; chatter;
babble.
To speake or prate, or vse much talke, ingenders many
lyes. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 94.
Quoth bold Robin Hood, "Thou dost jjrote like an ass."
Mobin Hood and Little John (Child's Ballads, V. 218).
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very atones ^ate of my whereabouts.
Shak., Macbeth, iL 1. 58.
II. trans. To utter foolishly; chatter.
He that prates his secrets.
His heart stands a' th* side.
Tmmeur, Eevenger's Tragedy, iii. 6.
He j»*ates Latin
An it were a parrot, or a play-boy.
B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1.
prate (prat), n. 1= D. praat = Sw. Dan. prat,
talk; from the verb.] Idle or childish talk;
prattle; unmeaning loquacity; twaddle.
If I talk to him, with his innocent pirate
He will awake my mercy which lies dead.
Shak., K. John, iv. 1. 26.
Will the child kill me with her foolish yratef
Tennyson, Guinevere.
=Syn. See prattle.
prate-apacet (prat'a-pas"), n. A prater; a talk-
ative person; a chatterbox. [Rare.]
Prince of passions, prate-apaces, and pickl'd lovers,
Heywood, Love's Mistress, ii. 1.
pratefulf (prat'ful), a. Inclined to prate; lo-
quacious ; idly talkative.
The French character seems to me much altered ; . • .
the people are more circumspect, less prat^id.
Taylor of Norwich, 1802 (Memoir, I. 208). (Daines.)
prater (pra'ter), ». l<.prttte + -er^.] One who
prates; an idle talker; a loquacious person;
one who speaks much to little purpose ; a bab-
bler.
What 1 a speaker is but a prater.
Shak., Hen. V., v. 2. 166.
A Yorkshire girl herself, she hated to hear Yorkshire
abused by such a pitiful ijrafer.
Cha/rlotle Bronte, Shirley, vi.
pratict, 11. See pratiqtie.
praticien (F. pron. pra-te-si-aii'), n. [F. : see
practician.] In French law, a person appointed
by the court to examine into a question of ac-
count and to report ; an expert referee.
Fraticola (pra-tik'o-la), n. [NL., < L. pratum,
a meadow, -t- cohere, inhabit.] 1. In ornith.,
same as Fratincola. Kaup, 1819. — 2. In conch.,
a genus of land-snails or Helicidas. Strebel, 1879.
pratilyt, adv. An obsolete form otprettily.
Fratincola (pra-ting'ko-la), «. [NL.: see pra-
tincole.] 1 . In ornith.', a genus of chats or saxi-
coline birds ; the whinchats, such as P. ruiicola
and P. ruhetra of Europe. Also called Prati-
cola, Fruticicola, ami Bwbetra. — 2. II. e.] Same
a,B praUncole.
pratincole (prat'ing-kol), n. [< TiUj.pratincola,
< L. pratum, a meadow, + incola, an inhabit-
ant: see ineolant.] A glareole, as Glareola
praUncola; any bird of the family Glareolidie.
See cut under Glareola.
prating (pra'ting), p. a. Chattering; talking
idly ; loquacious.
prating (pra'ting), n. [Verbal n. of prate, v.]
Idle or boastful talk.=Syn. Chatter,etc. SeepratUe.
pratingly (pra'ting-li), adv. In a prating man-
ner; with much idle talk; with loquacity.
pratique, pratic (prat'ek, -ik), n. [Formerly
also prattic, pratUck, etc.; in later use con-
formed to the F., pratique, prattique, < F. pra-
tique, yTaatiee: see practic] 1. fii corn., inter-
course ; the communication between a ship and
the port in which she arrives ; henee, a license
or permission to hold intercourse and trade
with the inhabitants of a place, especially after
quarantine, or certificate of non-infeetiveness.
We remain yet aboard, and must be content to be so,
to make up the month before we have pratic — that is, be-
fore any be permitted to go ashore and negotiate, in re-
gard we touched at some infected Places.
Howell, Letters, I. i. 26.
At first, indeed, Prattick-waa allow'd, though only to two
or three of our Seamen out of every Ship, who had the
Favour to go ashoar. Milton, Letters of State, May, 1658.
Almost as soon as we bad anchored, the quarantine of-
ficer came on board and gave ua pratique.
E. Sartarius, In the Soudan, p. 93.
2t, Experience; practice.
One (either of Venice or Padoa) hath written unto a cer-
tain Florentine, of great pratOA with strangers, to enquire
after me amongst the Dutch nation.
Sirff. Wottan, Eeliquise, p. 663.
How could any one of English education and pratlique
swallow such a low rabble suggestion? Much more mon-
strous is it to imagine readers ao irapoaable upon to credit
it upon any one'a bare relation.
iJo^eriFortAjExamen, p. 306. {Dames.)
prattict, n. An obsolete variant oi pratique.
prawn
prattle (prat'l), v.; pret. and -p^. prattled, ppr.
prattling. [Freq. and dim. of prate.] I. intrans.
To talk artlessly and childishly; talk freely and
idly, Uke a child; chatter; be loquacious; prate.
The office of the woman is to spin and pratOe, and the
office of the man is to holde his peace and fight.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 161.
Now we prattle
Of handsome gentlemen, in my opinion
Malfato is a very pretty fellow.
Ford, lady'a I'rial, L 2.
II, trans. 1. To force or effect by talking;
bring or lead by prattling.
Tongue, I must put you into a butter-woman's mouth,
and buy myaelf another of Bajazet's mule, if you prattle me
into these perils. Shak., All's Wefl, iv. 1, 46.
2. To utter in a babbling or childish manner.
Frequent in park with lady at his aide.
Ambling and prattling scandal as he goes.
Cowper, Task, ii. 382.
prattle (prat'l), n. [< prattle, v.] Artless or
childish talk; hence, puerile loquacity; twad-
dle.
Mere prattle, without practice.
Is all his soldiership. Shak., Othello, i. 1. 26.
= Syn. Prattle, Prating, Chat, Chatter, Babble, TaUle, Gos-
sip, Gabble, Palaver, Twaddle, Gibberish, Jargon, Balder,
dash. Rigmarole. Prattle is generally harmless, if not pleas-
ant, as theprattle ot a child, or of a simple-minded person ;
prating now generally suggests the idea otboaating or talk-
ing above one's knowledge ; chat is easy conversation upon
light and agreeable subjects, as social chat beside an open
fire ; ckaXter is incessant or abundant talk, seeming rather
fooliah and sounding pretty much alike ; babble or babbling
is talk that is foolish to inaneness, as that of the drun-
kard (Prov. xxiii. 29) ; tattle is talk upon subjects that are
petty, and especially such as breed scandal ; gossip is the
small talk of the neighborhood, especially upon personal
matters, perhaps dealingwith scandal; ^aD&2eisacontemp-
tuous word, putting the talk upon the level of the sounds
made by geese; palaver implies that the talk is either
longer than is necessary, or wordy, or meant to deceive by
fiattery and plausibility ; twaddle is mere silliness in talk ;
gibberish is mere sounds strung together without sense ;
jargon Is talk that is unintelligible by the mingling of
sounda or by the lack of meaning ; balderdash is noisy
nonsense ; rigmarole is talk that has the form of sense, but
is really incoherent^ confused, or nonsensical.
prattle-baskett (prat'l-bas"ket), n. A prattle-
box.
But if she be illauor'd, blind and old,
A prattle-basket, or an idle slut.
Breton, Mother's Bleasing, st. 74. (Davies.)
prattlebox (prat'l-boks), n. A chatterbox; a
prattler.
. made a short pause to recover
Peter WilTcins, I. iL
prattlement (prat'1-ment), )(. l< prattle +
-ment.] Prattle.
The childish prattlement of pastoral composition.
Cowper, Letter to Unwin, Oct. 31, 1779.
prattler (prat'lfer), ■«. [< prattle + -eri.] One
who prattles ; a puerile or trifling talker.
Poor jwattZer, how thou talk'st 1
Sluik., Macbeth, iv. 2. 64.
praty^ti «■ An obsolete form ot pretty.
praty2 (pra'ti), n. A dialectal (Irish) corruption
ot potato.
prau, n. Same as proa. H. 0. Forbes, Eastern
Archipelago, p. 126.
praunceti v. i. An obsolete form ot prance.
pravileget,». [<L.j»-aDMS,bad,-l- lex (leg-), law;
formed in contrast with privilege.] A bad law.
[Rare.]
And whatsoeuer colour of right, in Exemptions, Cus-
tomes, Priuiledges, and prauileges . . .
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 133.
pravity (prav'i-ti), n. ; pi. pravities (-tiz), [=
OF. pravitS = Sp, pravedad = Pg. pravidade =
It. pravitcl, < li.pravitas, crookedness, badness,
deformity, ipravus, crooked, bad. Cf. deprave,
depravity.] Evil or corrupt state ; moral per-
verseness; depravity; wickedness; depraved
action.
As these proBito have corrupted him [the devil], we
must hate him. Rev. T. Adams, Works, II. 41.
Give me leave first to make an inquisition after this an-
tichristian pravity. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), II. 94.
prawling (pr&'ling), «. An accommodated form
ot praline. Workshop Receipts, 2d ser., p. 159,
prawn (prto), n. [Early mod. E, also praun,
prane; < ME, prane, a prawn; perhaps trans-
posed from an imrecorded OF, *parne, "perne, a
prawn (?), = Sp.perna, a flat shell-fish, = Olt.
perna, " a nakre or narre-fish" (Plorio), cf . dim.
parnocchie, pi,, "shrimps or prawne fishes"
(Florio),< 'L. perna, a sea-mussel, so called from
its shape, <perna (> OF.peme), ham.] A long-
tailed ten-footed crustacean, Palsemon serratus,
abundant on the shores of Great Britain, resem-
bling the shrimp, but having a long serrate ros-
trum ; hence, any species of the family Palee-
monidee. The common prawn is 3 or 4 inches long, and
The old prattlebox ,
breath.
prawn
fs marketed in vast numbers. Ailione the sneclea knrvwn
«s prawns in the United States, and Slbl?f S £o^d!^
Prawn ( Paleenunt serraius).
J'alamonetes mlgaria, Palinurm inUrmptm (the Califor-
nian sea-crawflsh), and the shrimp (Peneus bragaiengis) of
the southern United States, .ajsop's prawn is a member
CI the genus Hippolyte.
Praxean (prak'sf-an), n. [< Praxeas (see def.)
+ -are.] A follower of Praxeas, a Patripassian
leader belonging to the close of the second and
the beginning of the third century. See Mo-
narchian and Patripassian.
Praxeanist (prak'sf-an-ist), n. [< Praxean +
-ist.'] Same as Praxean.
praxinoscope (prak'si-no-skop), n. [Irreg. <
Gr. irpa^tg, a doing, + UKoirelv, view.] An instru-
ment allied to the phenakistoseope and zoe-
trope, and giving like effects. Pictures represent-
ing a cycle of positions of a moving object as a running
horse oi a dancer, are arranged in due order on the inside
surfaces of a polygonal box in the center of which is also
placed a polygonal prism having one side facing each pic-
ture in the cycle. On each face of the prism is aflSxed a
flat mirror. The box with its contained pictures and mir-
rors is rotated horizontally. The eye, fixed upon the
central arrangement of mirrors, then sees the object ap-
parently performing its natural movements.
praxis (prak'sis), n. [< NL. praxis, < Gr.
Trpafif, a doing, action, practice, condition, <
7r/3a(Tcre«v,ma;ke, do: aeepraeUc.'] 1. Use; prac-
tice; especially, .practice or discipline for a
specific purpose, as the acquisition of a spe-
cific art.
An impious treatise of the elements and praxis of necro-
mancy. Coventry, Philemon to Hydaspes, ill.
There are few sciences more intrinsically valuable than
mathematics. . . . They are the noblest ^oirfe of logiok,
or universal reasoning. J. Harris, Hermes, Pref.
2. An example or a collection of examples for
practice ; a representative specimen ; a model.
A praxis or example of grammatical resolution.
Bp. Lowth, Introd. to Eng. Gram. (ed. 1763), p. 185.
The pleadings of the Ancients were praxCses of the art
■of oratorical persuasion. Gillies, tr. of Aristotle, 11. 348.
3. [cap.'] [NL.] In eool. : (a) A genus of lepi-
dopterous insects of the tstrnily ^octuidse, erect-
ed for two handsome Australian species. Giie-
nee,18o2. (6) Agenusof moUusks. AdamsA.858.
Praxiteleau (praks-it-e-le'an), a. [< L. Praxi-
teles, < Gr. npa^triTiti^, Praxiteles (see def.), -I-
-ea».] Of or pertaining to Praxiteles, of the
fourth century B. c, one of the greatest of an-
cient Greek sculptors ; executed by or charac-
teristic of Praxiteles or his school. The art of
Praxiteles was more luxurious than that of his predeces-
sors ; his types were sympathetic, abounding in pathos,
and his expression of sentiment and character very subtly
rendered. An original work by him has been recovered
in the Hermes and infant Dionysus at Olympia (see cut un-
der Greek). See also cut under Aphrodite.
pray^ (pra), v. [< MB. prayen, preyen, preien,
<.(jE.preier, praier, proier,preer, prier, F.prier
= Pr. preyar, pregar = It. pregare, pray, < L.
precari, ML. also precare, ask, beg, entreat, be-
seech, pray, supplicate ; cf . prex (prec-), usu-
ally in pi. preces, a prayer, proeare, ask, de-
mand, procus, a wooer ; cf. Skt. ■\/ praehh, ask:
see frain^, and cf . postulate. Hence ult. (from
li. precari) B. prayer^, precarious, precaiiue, dep-
recate, imprecate, etc.] I. intrans. 1. To ask
■earnestly; beg; entreat; supplicate, as for a
personal grace or favor.
The guilty rebel for remission prays.
Shale, Lucrece, 1. 7U.
Had you cried, or knelt, or pray'd to me,
I should not less have kill'd him.
Tennyson, Geraint.
2. In religious usage, to make devout petition
to God, or (in some forms of religion) to any
object of worship, as a saint or an angel; more
generally, to enter into spiritual communion
with God, usually through the medium of
speech. See prayer^.
It was moche more comf orte and gladnesae to vs to have
«uohe wether as we hadde longe desyred and pra/yde for.
Sir R. Quylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 74.
When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and, when thou
hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret,
and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee
openly. Mat. 71. 6.
4671
We do pray for mercy ;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. Shah., M. of V., iv. 1. 200.
Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Tennyson, Morte d Arthur.
I pray, usually, by ellipsis, pray, a common formula in-
troducing a question, invitation, suggestion, or request.
Compare prithee.
My father
Is hard at study ; pray now, rest yourself.
Shak., Tempest, iit 1. 20.
Pray, leave these frumps, sir, and receive this letter.
Beau, arid Fl., Scornful Lady, v. 1.
TL. trans. 1. To ask earnestly; beg; entreat;
supplicate; urge.
Pacience apposed hym fyrste and preyed hym he sholde
hem telle
To Conscience, what craf te b.& couthe an to what countree
he wolde. Piers Plowman (E), xiiL 222.
Call to remembrance (I prai thee) the vaine youthf ull
fantasie and ouertimelie death of fathers and thy breth-
ren. Eolinshed, Hist. Eng., an. 546.
We jM-oj/ you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
2 Cor. V. 20.
You are passing welcome.
And so I pray you all to think yourselves.
Shak., T. of the S., iL 1. 114.
She pray'd me not to judge their cause from her
That wrong'd it. Tennyson, Princess, vii.
2. In religious usage, to address a desire or
petition to (specifically to God) devoutly and
with reverence.
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you an-
other Comforter. John xiv. 16.
Qhwm.
All will be well.
Anne.
There is hope
Now, I pray God, amen !
ShaJc., Hen. Vin., ii. 3. 66.
She was ever praying the sweet heavens
To save her dear lord whole from any wound.
Tennyson, Geraint.
3. To offer up, as a prayer; utter in devotion.
I hane had no time to pray my houres, much lesse to
aunswere your leters missiue.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1677), p. 126.
Ill pray a thousand prayers for thy death,
No word to save thee. Shak., M. for M., iii. 1. 146.
4. To make entreaty or petition for; crave;
implore: as, the plaintiff prays judgment of
the court.
I know not how to pray your patience,
Shak., Much Ado, y. 1. 280.
He that will have the benefit of this act must pray a pro-
hibition before a sentence in the ecclesiastical court.
Ayliffe, Parergon.
An address was presented to the king, ^raj^Ti^ that Im-
pey might be summoned home to auswer for his misdeeds.
Maemday, Warren Hastings.
5. To effect, move, or bring by prayer or en-
treaty: followed by an adverb or a preposition
particularizing the meaning.
I pray you home to dinner with me.
Shak., M. for M., ii. 1. 292.
Occiduus is a pastor of renown ;
When he has pray'd and preach'd the Sabbath doum.
With wire and catgut he concludes the day.
Cowper, Progress of Error, 1. 125.
Praying souls out of purgatory, by masses said on their
behalf, became an ordinary office.
Miiman, Latin Christianity, xiv. 2.
To pray in aid, in law, to call in, as aid, one who has an
interest in the cause (see aid-prayer) ; hence, to become
an advocate for.
You shall find
A conqueror that will pray in aid for kindness.
Where he for grace is kneel'd to.
Shak., A. and C, v. 2. 27.
Without praying in aid of alchymists, there is a mani-
fest image of this in the ordinaiy course of nature.
Bacon, Friendship (ed. 1887).
=Syn. 1. To crave, implore, beseech, petition, importune,
See prayer^.
pray^t, »• and "• -Aji obsolete spelling oiprey^.
pray** (pra), v. i. A dialectal form otjiry.
praya^ (pn'a), n. [< Pg. praia, shore, beach,
bank.] In some cities of India, an embanked
road; a public walk or drive on a river-bank
or water-front; a bund.
A more practical scheme is the proposed building of
the whole river front of the city, the reclamation of a
considerable amount of frontage, and the construction of
a broad praya suitable for wheeled conveyances, and
lighted by electricity. The Engineer, LXIX. 65.
Praya^ (pra'a), n. [NL.] The typical genus
of Prayidse.
prayantt (pra'ant), a. [< OF. preiant, ppr. of
preier, pray: see pray'^.] Being in the mood
or attitude of prayer.
Fanatick Errour and Levity would seem an Euchite as
weU as an Eristick, Prayant as well as predicant.
Bp. Gawden, Tears of the Church, p. 93.
prayellt, n. [< OP. prayel, prael, pratel, < ML.
pratellum, < 'L.pratulwm, dim. of prafeTO, a mea-
dow. Ct. prayere, prairie.'] A little meadow.
HaMwell.
prayer
prayeri (prar), n. [< ME. prayer, prayere,
praer, preyer, preyre, preyere, preiere, < OP,
preiere, preere, proiere, priere, F. priere = It.
pregaria, < 'Mli.precaria, a supplication, pray-
er, prop. fem. ox 'L. precarius, obtained by en-
treaty or favor, hence depending on favor,
doubtful, transient, < precari, entreat, suppli-
cate: see pray^, and cf. precarious^ 1. The
act of beseeching, entreating, or supplicating ;
supplication; entreaty; petition; suit.
That ys to seye sothliche je sholde rather deye
Than eny dedliche synne do for drede other ioT preyere.
Piers Pltmman (C), viiL 210.
He sought to have that by pi'actice which he could not
\>j prayer. Sir P. Sidney, kroa&Sa^xi.
Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers.
Shak., M. N. D., iii. 2. 250.
2. In religious usage, a devout petition to an
object of worship, as Godj or a saint or an angel;
an orison : confined in Protestant usage to such
petitions addressed to God; more generally,
any spiritual communion with God, including
confession, petition, adoration, praise, and
thanksgiving. See dulia.
When thou comes to tho chirche dore,
Take the haly water stondand on flore ;
Eede or synge or hyd prayeris
To crist, for alle thy crysten f erys.
Bdbees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 304.
What is prayer but an ascent of the mind towards God ?
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, II. xx.
Prayer is the soul's sincere desire.
Uttered or unexpressed.
J. Montgomery, Hymn.
Thrice blest whose lives are faithful prayers.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, xxxii.
3. The practice of praying, or of communing
with God.
He is famed for mildness, peace, end prayer.
Shak., 3 Hen. VL, ii. 1. 156.
It hath been well said oi prayer, that ^ayer will either
make a man leave off sinning, or sin wiU make him leave
oS prayer. Paley, Sermons, i.
So keep I fair thro' faith and prayer
A virgin heart in work and wiU.
Tennyson, Sir Galahad.
4. The form of words used in praying ; a for-
mula of worship: as, the Lord's Prayer.
He . . . made those two excellent jyrayers, which were
published after his death. Bp. Fell, Hammond, p. 212.
Not a bell was rung, not a prayer was read.
Tennyson, Maud, xxvii-
5. A form of religious service ; a religious ob-
servance, either public or private, consisting
mainly of prayer to God; a liturgy: often in
the plural: as, the service of morning ^mj/er;
iaiToilj prayers.
She went from opera, park, assembly, play.
To morning walks, and prayers three hours a-day.
Pope, To Miss Blount, ii
Prayers and calling-over seemed twice as short as usual.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Itugby, i. 8.
6. That part of a memorial or petition to a
public body, or of a bill of complaint in equity,
which specifies the thing desired to be done or
granted, as distinct from the recital of facts or
reasons for the grant Apbstleship of prayer. See
aposUeship.—'Boo'k of Common Prayer, the book con-
taining the appointed forms for public worship and for
the words and acts used in the rites and ceremonies of the
Church of England, or a similar book authorized by one of
the other branches of the Anglican Church: briefly and
popularly known as the Prayer-book. After the publica-
tion in English of the Litany in 1544, and of the parts of the
communion office relating to the communion of the people
in 1548, the First Book of Common Prayer was issued in
1549, the second year of Edward VI. Almost the whole
book is taken from the medieval liturgical books, espe-
cially the missal, portiforium (breviary), and manual ac-
cording to the Use of Sarum (see use), but with omissions,
condensations, and the addition of a number of addresses
to the people. English was substituted for Latin, all the
offices were united in one book, and a uniform use was es-
tablished for the whole Church of England. Successive re-
visions were made in 1562, 1569, and 1662, The greatest
changes were those introduced in the Second Prayer-book
of Edward VI. (1552), especially in the communion office
(see corrmmnion) and at confirmation and buriaL This book
never came into actual use, but was in the main followed
in the revision under Elizabeth in 1559 and in the present
English book as issued in 1662, after the restoration of
Charles II,, but with material modifications, especially in
1662, returning toward the standard of 1549. The Prayer-
book authorized in 1637 for use in Scotland, and dilf ering
from the English book mainly in the communion office,
met with serious opposition at the time, but came into
use afterward in the Scotch Episcopal Church, The Amer-
ican Prayer-book, authorized in 1789, differs from the
English mainly in the omission of the Athanasian Creed
and of the form of private absolution in the visitation of
the sick, the restoration of the great oblation and invoca-
tion to their primitive places in the prayer of consecration
(see conseeration), and the later addition of the offices of
consecration of churches and institution of ministers.
In 1880 a new revision was begun, resulting chiefly in a
return to the English book in several points : this re-
vision was completed in 1892. The Psalter, Ordinal, and
Thirty-nine Articles are always bound with the Book
of Common Prayer, and usually considered parts of it.
prayer
though technically speaking they are distinct from it.
— Commendatory, common. Lord's, passiTe, etc.,
prayer. See the qualifying words.— Hours of prayer.
Same as earumiccU hours (which see, under earumiau).—
House of prayer. See house of Ood, under hmseU—
Prayer of humble access. See aceees.— The long
grayer, in non-llturglcal churches, the chief prayer of
le serrice. It is usually offered just before the sermon,
or before the hymn preparatory to the sermon. Also called
msJorai prayer.— To lead in prayer. Seefeo(fi.=syn.
Prayer, Petition, Request, Entreaty, Supplication, Suit, Ap-
peal, invocation, orison. Prayer is always addressed to
God, but a prayer may be addressed to a sovereign, legis-
lative body, court, or the like, always to a person or body
recognized as having authority in some way, and asking
for something especially important. A petiMon may be a
single point in aprayer: thus, the Lord's Prayer contains
one address, three loyal desires, four petitions, and a clos-
ing ascription. A petition may also be a formal and public
request or prayer, but still generally covering only a single
thing desired. Aequest is the most general and least forci-
ble of these words, indicating nothing as to the degree of
formality of the act or as to the rank of the persons con-
cerned. An ejttreaty is aowgent, perhaps tender, request,
generally from and to a person. A supplieati<m is still
more urgent, the request being made with passion, and
humbly, as to a superior. The word entrecOy is not often
followed by the mention of that which is desired, but may
be : as, entreaty for aid. A suit is a petition or an entreaty
prolonged for any reason : hence we speak of a lover's suit
or a suit at law. An appeal is an urgent request, of the
nature of a call or demand. See askl.
Whence can comfort spring,
When prayer is of no avail?
Wordsworth, Force of Prayer.
This one prayer yet remains, might I be beard.
No long petition, speedy death.
The close of all my miseries, and the balm.
Milton, S. A., 1. 660.
I will marry her, sir, at your request.
Shak., M. W. 6f W., i. 1. 263.
Yet not with brawling opposition she.
But manifold entreaties, many a tear, . . ,
Besought him. Tennyson, Enoch Arden.
I have attempted one by one the lords, . . .
With supplieaMon prone and father's tears.
To accept of ransom for my son their prisoner.
Milton, S. A., 1. 1469.
They make great sute to serue her.
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 77.
Meanwhile must be an earnest motion
Made to the queen, to call back her appeal
She intends unto his holiness.
Shak., Hen. VUL, IL 4. 234.
prayer^ (pra'6r), n. [< ME. prayere, < OF.
preieur, l^.prieur, < li. precator, one who prays,
Cjjrecari, pray: see^royl, «.] One who prays;
a suppliant ; a petitioner.
prayer-bead (prar'bed), n. A seed of the plant
Indian lieoriee, Abrus preeatoriva.
prayer-book (prar'buk), m. l. A book of forms
for public or private devotion, consisting chiefly
or solely of forms for prayers. See Booh of
Common Prayer, under prayer^. — 2. Naut., a
small stone used in scrubbing the deck and
other woodwork of a vessel: so called from its
shape and size. Compare holystone.
Smaller hand-stones, which the sailors call prayer-books,
are used to scrub in among the crevices and naiTow places,
where the large holystone will not go.
JR. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 208.
prayer-carpet (prar'kar"pet), n. A prayer-rug.
The rich use a prayer-carpet (called segga'deh) about
the size of our hearth-rugs.
H. W. Lane, Modem Egyptians, I. 81.
prayer-cure (prar'kiJr), n. The cure of disease
by means of prayer.
prayeret, »• [ME., < 0¥. praiere, praere, proi-
ere, a meadow, < ML. prataria, a meadow: see
prairie, and cf. prayell.'] A meadow.
A castel the comlockest that euer knygt aste,
Pyched on a prayere, a park al aboute.
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 768.
prayerful (prar'fid), a. l<prayer'>- + -fiil.'] 1.
Praying much ; devout.
They melt, retract^ reform, and are watchful smiprayer-
fid to prevent similar miscarriages in future.
Jay, Sermons, p. 70. (Latham.)
2. Devotional; given to prayer; occupied with
prayer: as, a prayerful STpivit.
He had sunk back in his chair, . . . and was pursuing
a sort ol prayerful meditation.
George Eliot, Felix Holt, xzxviii.
prayerfully (prar'ful-i), adv. In a prayerful
manner; with prayer.
prayerfulness (prar'ful-nes), n. The state of
being prayerful.
prayerless (prar'les), a. [< prayer\ + -less.']
Without prayer; not having the habit of pray-
er: as, a prayerless family ; also, not having the
blessing or protection of prayer.
Let a servant or child go prayerless to their work, and
few regard it ; but they will not go without meat, or drink,
or clothes. Baxoer, Self-denial, iv.
Never on prayerless bed
To lay thme unblest head.
Margaret Mercer, Exhortation to Prayer.
4672
prayerlessly (prar'les-li), adv. In a prayerless
manner ; without prayer.
prayerlessness (prar'les-nes), n. The state of
being prayerless ; total or habitual neglect of
prayer.
prayer-meeting (prar'me^ting), n. A meeting
for prayer; especially, a service devoted to
prayer, sacred song, and other religious exer-
cises, in which laymen take part.
Hence the importance he justly attaches to his accurate
family worship, morning and night; to his exact atten-
dance on the Wednesday night prayer-meeting, which he
prizes as a sort of Sabbath hour In the centre of the week.
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 160.
prayer-mill (prar'mil), n. Same as praying-
ivheel.
prayer-monger (prar'mung'''g6r), n. One who
offers prayers. [Contemptuous.]
I have led
Some ca.mel-'kneed prayer-monger tlu-ough the cave,
Sauthey, Thalaba, v. 84.
prayer-rug (prar'rug), n. A rug or small car-
pet intended to be spread on the floor of a
mosque, the roof of a nouse, or the ground by
a Moslem when engaged in his devotions. He
stands on it, with his face turned toward Mecca, and pros-
trates himself, touching the carpet with his forehead from
time to time. In many of the prayer-rugs of Persia and
Arabia the place to receive the forehead in prostration is
indicated in the pattern at one end of the carpet. Com-
pare doorshek.
prayer-stick (prar'stik), n. A decorated stick
used by the Zuni Indians in their religious
ceremonies.
It was nearly hidden by symbolic slats and prayer-sUoks
most elaborately plumed. The Century, XXVI. 29.
prayer-thong (prar'th6ng), ». Same as pliy-
lactery (a). [Eare.]
Phylactery (4>vXaKTijpiov) is the name given in the New
Testament to the . . , (teflllln) or prayer-thongs of the
Jews. Eneye. Brit.,'XlS..'l.
prayer-wheel (prar'hwel), n. Same a.s praying-
wheel.
Frayidse (pra'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Praya +
■idx.] A family of oceanic hydrozoans of the
order Calycophora, typified by the genus Praya.
It is related to Diphyidse, and often merged in
that family.
praying (pra'ing), n. [Verbal n. of pray^, v.]
A service of prayer.
That purgatory: salutes worshippinge, masses, andpray-
inges for the dead, with such like, were mooste deuelyshe
inuencions. Bp. Bale, English Votaries, ii.
praying-desk (pra'ing-desk), n. A piece of fur-
niture affording a desk to support books for
prayer and worship and a platform on which
to kneel; especially_, such an article forming
a piece of furniture in a private house, as in a
bedroom or an oratory. Also called prie-dieu.
A man and his wife are kneeling at an old-fashioned
praying-desk, and the woman clasps a little sicldy-looking
child in her arms, and all three are praying as earnestly
as their simple hearts will let them.
Thackeray, Men and Pictures.
praying-insect (pra'ing-in'''sekt), n. A gresso-
rial and raptorial orthopterous insect of the
family Mantidse: so calfed from the peculiar
attitude and position of the fore legs, which
are raised and held as in the act of prayer.
See cut under ManUs.
prayingly (pra'ing-li), adv. In a praying man-
ner; with devout supplication.
It is indeed the same ability to speak atBrmatively, or
doctrinally, and only by changing the mood to speak jpraj/-
ingly. Milton, Apblogy for Smectymnuus.
praying-machine (pra'ing-ma-shen"), n. See
praying-wheel.
praying-mantis (pra'ing-man"tis), n. A pray-
ing-insect. See cut under Mantis.
praying-wheel (pra'ing-hwel), n. A revolving
apparatus used for prayer, (a) Among the Bud-
dhists of Tibet and other parts of the East, a wheel or cylin-
der, varying in size, used as a mechanical aid to prayer.
One variety contains the Buddhist canon; to another
written prayers are attached, and upon being set in mo-
tion each revolution of the wheel or cylinder counts as an
uttered prayer. Sometimes the wheel is fixed in the bed
of a stream, and kept in motion by the current, thus pray-
ing night and day for the person who has placed it there.
See cut in next column, (6) In western Europe, a wheel
set with bells and fastened to the ceiling of certain medie-
val chapels. This contrivance was used as a means of divi-
nation, being set in motion during high mass or on feast-
days, when its position on coming to rest was supposed
to denote a favorable or an unfavorable response to the
prayer of the applicant. Also called wheel of fortune.
IVe praying-wheel exists in old chapels in Brittany as a
religious toy, formerly used with rites half magical under
the sanction of the local clergy.
The Century, XXXYII. 371.
prayset, v. t. An obsolete form ot praise.
pre-. [In L. form also jpr«-; = P. pr^ = Sp. Pg.
It. pre-, < L, prsB- (ML. usually pre-), prefix,
preach
Fraying-wheel in the Buddhist Temple at Asalcusa, Tolcio, Japan.
pree, adv., before, in front, prep., before, in
front of, in advance of: in comparison, with,
on account of, etc.; OL. *prai, akin to Skt.
pra-, before, etc. : see pro- and fore-l. This
prefix occurs disguised or absorbed in preach,
premium, prey^, pi-ison, prized, etc., and as
pro- in provand, provender, provost, etc.] A
prefix in words of Latin origin, meaning 'be-
fore,' in place, time, or rank. By reason of its
great frequency in compounds of Latin origin or forma-
tion, it has been used and felt as an English formative,
whether with words of Latin or Greek origin, as in pre-
act, prehistoric etc., or with other words, as in preraphael-
ite, preadamite, etc., though rarely with native English,
verbs, as in pre-look. In zoology ore- (or pro-) is a frequent
prefix, used almost at will, indicating precedence, whe-
ther in time or place ; it is quite synonymous with ante-.
and to some extent with pro- or proto-, and is opposed
to post- or meta- in any sense. In recent technical terms
it is often in the Latin form prx-, such words, whether
Latin or English in termination, having pre- or prx- al-
most indiiferently. Strictly, in all such words having a
Latin termination the prefix should be pne-; in words
fully Englished, the form pre- is to be used. It is some-
times interchanged witli pro-.
preaccusation (pre-ak-u-za'shon), n. [< pre-
+ accusation.] Previous accusation.
preacet, n. An obsolete form otpressK
preacetabular (pre-as-e-tab'u-lar), a. [< L.
pras, before, -I- L. acetabulum, the socket of the
hip-bone: see acetabular.] Situated in front
of the acetabulum or cotyloid cavity of the hip-
bone : as, the preacetabular area of the ilitun.
preach (prech/, v. [< 'i/iE.prechen,<. OF. precher,
prechier, precher, preecher, preescher, preeschiery
F. pricher = Pr. prediear, prezicar = Sp. pre-
dicar = Pg. pregar = It. predieare = AS.predi-
oian = OS. predieon = D. prediken = MLG. pre-
diken, predigen = OHGr. predigon, bredigon,
MHG-. bredigen, G. predigen = Icel. predika =
Sw.predika = 'DajTit.prsedike,prselce,yTea.eh, < L.
prsedicare, declare in public, publish, proclaim,
LL. and ML. preach, < pree, before, + dicare,
declare, proclaim, < dicere, say, tell: see diction,
and cf. predicate.] I. intrans. 1. To make a
public announcement; especially, to pronounce
a public discourse upon a religious subject, or
from a text of Scripture ; deliver a sermon.
But prechelh nat, as freres doon in lente.
To make us for our olde synnes wepe.
Chaucer, Proh to Clerk's Tale, 1. 12.
Now, good Conscience, and thou wolt preche.
Goo stele an abite, & bicome a frere.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T, S.), p. 67.
How oft, when Paul has serv'd us with a text.
Has Epictetus, Plato, Tully, preaeh'dl
Coujper, Task, ii. 540.
2_, To give earnest advice, especially on reli-
gious or moral subjects ; also, to give advice
obtrusively on religious or moral matters.
His form and cause conioin'd, preaching to stones.
Would make them capable. Shak., Hamlet, ill. 4. 126.
Old Father Time deputes me here before ye.
Not for to preach, but tell his simple story.
Bums, ProL Spoken at the Theatre, Dumfries.
If it had been an unnamed species,' surely it ought to
have been called Diabolicus, for it is a fit toad to preach
in the ear of Eve. Darwin, Voyage of Beagle, I. 124.
Preaching Mars, a name sometimes given to the Domin-
icans, on account of the stress which they laid upon
preaching.
II. trans. 1. To proclaim as a herald; de-
clare; make known; publish.
The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto
the meek. isa. Ixi. 1.
A world that seems
To toll the death-beU of its own decease.
And by the voice of all its elements
To preach the gen'ral doom. Cowper, Task, ii. 5S.
preach
A heated pulpiteer,
Votpreaehirw simple Christ to simple men
Annoanced the coming doom.
Tennyson, Sea Dreama.
2. To inculcate (especially religious or moral
truth or right conduct) in public or private dis-
course.
I have preached righteousness in the great congreea-
tion. Ps. xirQ.
ITngraoious wretch,
Fit for the mountains and the barbarous cares
Where manners ne'er were preach'dl '
Shak., T. N., iv. 1. 63.
.Now as for spelling, I have alwaja preaehed the extrem-
est doctrine of liberty of spelling. At the utmost, I have
only aslced to be allowed T» indulge my own fancies and
to allow other people to indulge theirs.
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 41.
3. To deliver, as a public religious discourse ;
pronounce, as a sermon.
A lytylle thens, 28 Pas, is a Chapelle, and there ta is the
Ston on the whiche oure Lord sat whan he preohede the
8 Blessynges. MandeviUe, Travels, p. 96.
4. To affect by preaching, in a manner indi-
cated by the context: as, to preach one into a
penitent or a rebellious mood.— To preach a fu-
neral, to pronounce a public funeral discourse. [CoUoq.]
We are almost at the end of books : these paper-works
are now preaching their own/«7ierate.
Goad, Preface to Dell's Works, (flames.)
To preach down, (o) To decry; oppose in public dis-
course.
Last week came one to the county town.
To preach our poor little army dawn.
And play the game of the despot kings.
Tennyson, Maud, x,
(6) To silence or suppress by preaching : as, to preach
dawn unbelief.— To preach the cross, to proclaim the
death of Christ as the ground of salvation.- To preach
up, to discourse in favor of.
Can they preach up equality of birth? Bryden.
preach (preoh), n. [< OF. preche, F. prSclw, a
preaching; from the verb.] A sermon; a re-
ligious discourse. [Colloq.]
According to this forme of theirs, ^ must stand tor a
rule; No sermon, no seruice. Which ouersight occa-
sioned tlie French spitefully to terme religion in that sort
exercised a meie preach. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 28.
A word of his is as much as a whole preach of anybody's
else. He says a word now and then, and it hits.
Mrs. Whitney, Leslie Goldtbwaite, v.
Itreacher (pre'chSr), n. [< ME. preeher, prech-
our, < OF. precheor, preckeur, P. j)rSeheur = Pr.
predieaire, prezieaire = Sp. predicador = Pg.
pregador = It. predicaiore (of. AS. predicere,
b. prediker = MLG. prediker, predeger = OHG-.
predigdri, bredigdri, MHG. hredigsere, G. prediger
= Icel. predikari, with diff. sufSx), a preacher, <
L. preedieator, one who declares in public, a pro-
elaimer, LL. and ML. a preacher, < prsedieare,
declare, preach: see preach.'] 1. One who
preaches; one who discourses publicly, espe-
cially on religious subjects ; specifically, a cler-
gyman.
There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose.
The viMstge preacher's modest mansion rose.
Goldsmith, Des. ViL, L 140.
2. One who inculcates or asseverates anything
with earnestness.
They are our outward consciences.
And preachers to us all. Shak., Hen. v., iv. 1. 9.
We have him still a perpetual Preacher of his own ver-
tues. Milton, Eikonoidastes, xii.
FWars preachers. See BomtJiwan.- Lay preacher, a
layman, or one not ordained to the ministry, who preaches.
—Local preacher. SeeJocoi.-The Preacher. See&-
4673
Missionaries . . . rarely make rapid way unless their
preachingstaiX in with the prepossessions of the multitude
of shallow thinkers. Biidey, Pop. Sci. Mo., XZXVI. 761.
preaching-cross (pre'ching-kr6s), n. A cross,
sometimes simple, sometimes architecturally
elaborate, connected with a small chapel.
preacher-in-the-pulpit (pre ' cher-in-the-pul'-
pit), n. The showy orchis, Orchis spectaUlis.
[Pennsylvania.]
preachership (pre'chfer-ship), n. [< preacher
+ -ship.] The office of a preacher.
preachify (pre'ehi-fi), v. i. ; pret. and pp. preach-
ified, ppr. preachifi/ing. [< preach + ■d-fy.'] To
preach in a tedious or obtrusive way; give
prolonged, tiresome moral advice. [Colloq.]
"Sliut up your sarmons, Pitt, when Miss Crawley comes
down," said his father; "she has written to say that she
won't stand the preacUfying." Thackeray, Vanity Fair, x.
preaching (pre'ching), n. [< ME. prechynge;
verbal n. ot preach, v.] 1. The act or practice
of delivering public discourses, particularly
upon moral or religious subjects ; the art of de-
livering sermons.
If preaching decay, ignorance and brutfehness wUl enter
again. Latimer, 2d Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1660.
2. That which is preached, asermon; doctrine;
theory.
H is »re(i«Mnfl was a striking contrast to theelegant Ad-
disonian essays of Parson Lothrop. Il was a vehement
address to our intelligent and reasoning powers - an ad-
. dress made telling by a back force of burning eKthusiaam.
U. B. Stowe, Oldtoviu, p. iil.
Preachmg -cross at Inveraray, Argyllshire, Scotland.
erected on a highway or in an open place, to
mark a point where monks and others could as-
semble the people for reUgious services. See
cross'^.
preachmanf (prech'man). ».; pi. preachmen
(-men). IK. preach + man.] Apreacher. How-
ell, Letters, ii. 33. [Contemptuous.]
preachment (prech'ment), n. [< OF. preche-
ment, prescliement, prei'chement, preaching, dis-
course, < ML. prsedicamentum, preaching, dis-.
course, declaration, < L. prsedieare, declare,
LL. and ML. preach: see preach, andof. pre-
dicament.] Asermon; a lecture upon moral or
religious subjects ; hence, in contempt, any dis-
course affectedly solemn, or full of obtrusive or
tedious advice.
No doubt, such lessons they will teach the rest
As by their preachments they will profit much.
Marlowe, Edward II.
Was 't you that revell'd in our parliament.
And made di preachment of your high descent?
Shak., 3 Hen. VL, L 4. 72.
The sum of her iniquities is recounted by Knox in his
preachment to the citizens of Edinburgh.
Stedman, Vict. Poets, p. 407.
preachy (pre'chi), a. [< preach + -y^.] In-
clined to preach or give long-winded moral ad-
vice ; o£ a tedious moralizing tendency. [Col-
loq.]
She has the art of makhig her typical good women real
and attractive, while she never makes them prudish or
preachy. The Academy, Oct. 19, 1889, p. 260.
preacquaint (pre-a-kwanf), v. t. [< jjre- -I- ac-
quaint. ] To acquaint beforehand ; inform pre-
viously.
You have been pre-acquainted with her birth^ education,
and qualities. B. Jansan, Eplcoene, it 3.
Vllpre-aeqwdnt her, that she mayn't be frightened.
Steele, Grief A-la-Mode, iv. 1.
preacqnaintance (pre-arkwan'tans), n. \<.pre-
+ acquaintance.] Previous acquaintance or
knowledge.
preact (pre-akt')> "■ *• [< :?»■«- + «c*.] To act
beforehand; perform previously; rehearse.
Those which, though acted after evening service, must
needs be preaeled by the fancy ... all the day before.
FvUer. {Waaler.)
preamble
2. One who holds that there were men in ex-
istence upon the earth before Adam.
II, a. 1. Existing or being prior to Adam.
Some feign that he is Enoch ; others dream
He viS pre- Adamite, and has survived
Cycles of generation and of ruin. SheUey, Hellas.
The Ginn are said to be of prieadamvte origin, an inter-
mediate class of beings between angels and men.
E, W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, L 283.
2. Pertaining to the preadamites ; relating to
the period of the world's history prior to the
time of Adam : as, the preadamite theory.
preadamitic (pre-ad-a-mit'ik), a. [< preadam-
ite + -ic.] Same as preadamite.
preadamitical (pre-ad-a-mit'i-kal), a. Same
as preadamitic.
Upon what memorials do you ground the story of yom
prie-adandtical transactions?
Gentleman Instrueted, p. 414. (Davies.)
preadaptation (pre-ad-ap-ta'shon), n. [< pre-
+ adaptation.] Previous adaptation; previous
adjustment or conformation to some particular
end.
The movements ["instinctive" appetites] are only more
definite than those simply expressive of pain because of
inherited pre-adaptation, on which account^ of course,
they are called '•instinctive."
J. Ward, Enoyc. Brit, XX. 73.
preadjustment (pre-a-just'ment), n. [< pre- +
adjtistment.] Previous adjustment or aiTange-
ment. J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 90.
preadministration (pre-ad-min-is-tra'shgn),
n. [< pre- + administration.] Previous "ad-
ministration. Bp. Pearson, Expos, of Creed, x.
preadmission (pre-ad-mish'on), n. [< pre- +
admission.] Previous admission.
An effect of lead is to cause preadmission— thai is to say,
admission before the end of the back stroke — which, to-
gether with the compression of steam left in the cylinder
when the exhaust port closes, produces the mechanical
effect of "cushioning." Erusye. Brit., XXII. 501.
preadmonish (pre-ad-mon'ish), v. t. [< jj^- +
admonish.] To admonish previously.
These things thus preadmonished, let us enquire what
the undoubted meaning is of our Saviour's words.
MUton, Judgement of M. Bucer on Divorce^ xxx.
preadmonition (pre-ad-mo-nish'on), n. [<pre-
+. admonition.] Previous warning or admoni-
tion.
The t&tal preadmanUion of oaks bearing strange leaves.
preaction (pre-ak'shon), n. [< pre- + action.]
Previous or antecedent action. Sir T. Browne,
Vulg. Err., ii. 2.
preadf, v. Seeprede.
preadamic (pre-a-dam'ik), a. [< pre- + Adam-
ic] Existing prior to Adam ; preadamite.
preadamite (pre-ad'a-mit), n. and a. [< NL.
prseadaniita, < L. pree, before, -I- LL. Adam,
Adam: see Adamite.] I. n. 1. One who lived
before Adam; an inhabitant of the earth be-
fore the date assigned to Adam.
He is of great antiquity, perhaps before the creation, at
least a prseadamite ; for Lucifer was the first of his family.
BvUer, Remains (ed. 1759), II. 408.
In the preadamite she [Naturel bred valor only, by-and-
by she gets on to man, and adds tenderness, and thus
raises virtue piecemeal.
Emerson, N. A. Rev., CXXVI. 406.
The black races, then, ai'e preadamitet, and there is no
objection to allowing all the time requisite for their di-
vergence from some common stock.
"* Pop, Sci. Mo., Xia. 499.
preadvertise (pre-ad'ver-tiz), V. t.; pret. and
pi). preadverUsed, ppr. preadverUsing. l<pre- +
advertise.] To advertise or inform beforehand;
preacquaint.
Adam, heing pre-advertised by the vision, was presently
able to pronounce, This is now bone of my bone, and flesh
of my flesh. Dr. B. More, Bet. of Lit Cabbala, iL
presestival, a. See preestival.
pre-albuminuric (pre-al-bii-mi-nii'rik), a. Pre-
ceding the occurrence of albuminuria: as, the
prealbuminuric stage of Bright's disease.
preallablyt, adv. [Tr. OF. prealdblement, pre-
viously ; < *preallable (< OP. prealable, former,
forerunning, first, < pre-, before, + alter, go)
-1- -ly^.] Previously. [Bare.]
No swan dieth until preaUably he have sung.
Urqahart, tr. of Babelais, ill. 21. (Davies.)
preamble (pre'am-bl), v. ; pret. and pp. pre-
ambled, ppr. preambling. [= Pg. preambular
= It. preambolare, < LL. preeambulare, walk be-
fore, ? L. pree, before, + ambulare, walk, pro-
ceed: aee pre- and amble.] I. intrans. 1. To
go before ; precede ; serve as a preamble.
Ere a foot furder we must bee content to heare a pre-
ambling boast of your valour.
Milton, On Def . of Humb, Bemonst.
2. To make a preamble; preface one's remarks
or actions; prelude.
So we seemed to take leave one of another ; my Lord of
me, desiring me that 1 would write to him, . . which,
put together with what he preamjbled with yesterday,
makes me think that my Lord do truly esteem me stllL
Pepys, Diary, II. 148.
II. trans. If. To walk over previously; tread
beforehand.
Fifthly [I will] take a through view of those who have
preambled this by path. N. Ward, Simple Cobler p. 17.
2. To preface ; introduce with preliminary re-
marks.
Some ynO-preamtle a tale impertinently.
Feltham, Besolves, i. 93.
preamble (pre'am-bl), n. [< ME. preamble, <
OF. "preamble, preambule, F. preambule = Sp.
predmbulo = Pg. preambulo = It. preambuto,
preambolo, < ML. prseambula, preeambulum, a
preamble, preface, fem. or neut. of LL. prie-
ambuhis, walking before, going before, < prsp-
aw&Mtore, walk bef ore : see preamble, v.] 1. A
preamble
preliminary statement; an introductory para-
graph or division of a discourse or writing ; a
preface; prologue; prelude.
This is a \ong preamble of a tale.
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Batli's Tale, 1. 831.
After this fabulous prearriUe, they proceeded to handle
the matter of fact with logical precision.
MoUey, Hist Netherlands, II. 228.
Specifically— 2. The introductory paii; of a
statute or resolution, which states or indicates
the reasons and intent of what follows. = S3m.
Preface, Praogue, etc. See irUrodwiUim.
preambular (pre-am'bu-lar), a. [< L. prseam-
hulus, going before, + '-ar'^.'] Same a-spream-
bulary.
preambulary (pre -am'bii-la-ri), a. [< LL. prie-
ambulus, walking before (see preamble), + -ary.]
Having the character of a preamble ; serving as
a prelude ; introductory.
I must begin with the fulfilling of your Desire in a pre-
ambulary Way, for the Subject admits it.
Sowell, Letters, ii. 8.
These three evangelical resuscitations are so manyiwc-
anibviary proofs of the last and general resurrection.
Bp. Pearson, Expos, of Creed, xi.
This famous revenue stands, at this hour, on all the de-
bate, as a description of revenue not as yet known in all
the comprehensive (but too comprehensive !) vocabulary
of finance — a, preamwvlary tax.
Burke, American Taxation.
preambulatef (prf-am'bu-lat), v. i. [< LL.
prseambulatus, pp.' of prseambulare, walk or go
before : see preamble, v.l To walk or go before.
Mistress, will it pleaae you to prernnlndateP
Chapman, Humorous Day's Mirth.
When fierce destruction follows to hell gate,
Pride doth most commonly preaunJbvlaie.
Jordan, Poems, §§ 3 b. {L(Uha/m.)
preambulationt (pre-am-bu-la'shon), n. [< ME.
preambulacioun, < LL. *prseambulatio(n-),<.prss-
ambulare, walk before : see preamble, preambu-
toie.] 1. The act of walking or going before. —
2. Apreamble: a sense given to the word in the
following quotation in consequence of the pre-
vious use ot preamble.
What spekestow oi preamJbvlaeUmnf
What? amble, or trotte, or pees, or go sit doun !
Thou lettest om' disport in this man ere.
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 837.
preambulatoryf (pre-am'bu-la-to-ri), a. [<.pre-
ambulate + -ory. Cff. a/mbulaiory.'] Going be-
fore; preceding; previous.
Simon Magus had preaintmlatory impieties ; he was cove-
tous and ambitious long before he offered to buy the Holy
Ghost. Jeir. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 865.
preambuloust (pre-am'bu-lus), a. [< LL. prx-
a»i6Mfc.s, going before : see preamble.'] Pream-
bulary; introductory.
He . . . undermineth the base of religion, and de*
stroyeth the T^imciple preambulous unto all belief.
Sir T. Broome, Vulg. Err., i. 10.
preambulum (prf-am'bu-lum), n. In music,
same a,s prelude, i.
preanal, prseanal (pre-a'nal), a. [< li.prx, be-
fore, -H anus, anus : see anal."] Placed in front
of the anus : as, the preanal pores of a lizard. —
FresmaL gastroatege. See gastroslege.—'BidSoaal seg-
ment, the antepenultimate segment ot the abdomen, or
the section immediately anterior to the anal segment.
It is often hidden in the perfect insect, or appears only
as a small piece on the end of the dorsal su^ace, called
the preanal OT gupra-anal pla^ or la/mvim.
preantepenultiiuate (pre-an"te-pe-nul'ti-mat) ,
a. [< pre- + antepenultimate.'i Preceding the
antepenultimate; being the fourth from the
last: as, a, preantmenultimate syllable.
pre-aortic (pre-a-5r'tik), a. [< L. prie, before,
+ NL. aorta: see aortic.'] Situated in front
of or before the aorta.
preappoint (pre-a-poinf), V. t. [< pre- + ap-
point.] To appoint previously. Sir E. Creasy,
Eng. Const., p. 195.
preappointment (pre-a-point'ment), ». [< pre-
+ appointment.] Previous appointment.
preapprehension (pre-ap-rf-hen'shon), n. [<
pre- + apprehension.] AJn apprehension or
opinion formed before examination.
A conceit not to be made out by ordinary inspection, or
any other eyes then such as, regarding the clouds, behold
them in shapes conformable to pre-apprehensiom.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., li. 6.
prearmt (pre-arm'), v. t. [< pre- + arm^.] To
forearm. Mev. T. Adams, Works, n. 478.
prearrange (pre-a-ranj'), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
prearranged, ppr. prearrangtng. i<.pre- + ar-
range.] To arrange previously.
prearrangement (pre-gr-ranj'ment), n. [< pre-
arrange + -ment.] Previous arrangement.
preaset, ij- An obsolete form otpress'^.
preaspectiont (pre-as-pek'shon), n. [< pre- +
aspeetion.] A seeing beforehand; previous view.
4674
To believe . . . [pygmies] should be in the stature of a
foot or span requires the preaspection of such a one as Phi-
letas the poet, in Athenreus, who was fain to fasten lead
unto his feet, lest the wind should blow him away.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iv. 11.
preaudience (prf-a'di-ens), «. [< ML.prseaudi-
entia, < L. priedudire, tear beforehand, < prx,
before, + audire, hear: see audient, audience.]
Eight of previous audience ; precedence or rank
at the English bar among Serjeants and barris-
ters ; the right to be heard before another. The
preaudience of the English bar is as follows : (1) The
queen's attorney-general ; (2) the queen's solicitor-gene-
ral ; (8) the queen's advocate-general ; (4) the queen's pre-
mier Serjeant; (6) the queen's ancient Serjeant, or the
eldest among the queen's Serjeants; (6) the queen's Ser-
jeants; (7) the queen's counsel; (8) serjeants-at-law; (9)the
recorder of London ; (10) advocates of the civil law ; (11)
barristers. Imp. Diet
A custom has of late years prevailed of granting letters-
patent of precedence to such barristers as the crown
thinks proper to honour with that mark of distinction,
whereby they are entitled to such rank and preavdience as
are assigned in their respective patents.
MaelesUme, Com., III. iii.
preauditory, praauditory (pre-ft'di-to-ri), a.
[(.pre- + auditory.] In anat, situated in front
of the auditory nerve : opposed to postauditory.
preaxal (pre-ak'sal), a. [< L. prx, before, +
axis, axis, + -aZ.] Placed in advance of the
axon; prechordal.
preaxial (pre-ak'si-al), a. [< li.prie, before, +
axis, axis, + -al. Cf . axial.] Of, pertaining to,
or situated upon that side of the axis of either
fore or hind limb of a vertebrate which is an-
terior when the limb is extended at a right an-
gle with the long axis of the body : the oppo-
site otpostaxial.
prebacillary (pre-bas'i-la-ri), a. [< pre- +
bacillary.] Prior to invasion by bacilli: as, a
prebacillary stage.
prebalancer (pre-bal'an-ser), n. [= P. pr^-
balancier; < j)re- + balancer: see balancer, 4.]
One of the prehalteres of an insect. Bee pre-
halter.
prebasal (pre-ba'sal), a. [< pre- + base^ : see
basal.] Placed in front of a base or basal part :
as, the prebasal plate of a myriapod.
prebasilar (pre-bas'i-lar), a. [(.pre- + basilar.]
Placed in front of a basilar part.
prebend (preb'end), n. [< ME. prebende = P.
prebende = Pr. prebenda, prevenda = Sp. Pg. It.
prebenda, < WL. prxbenda, f., a portion of food
and drink supplied (a pittance), also an eccle-
siastical living, a prebend; cf. L. prxbenda,
neut. pi., things to be offered or supplied; fern,
sing, or neut. pi. gerundive of Li. prasbere, hold
forth, proffer, offer, furnish, grant, contr. of
prashibere, hold forth, proffer, etc., < prie, be-
fore, H- habere, have, hold: see habit. Ct.prov-
and, provend, provender, doublets of prebend.
From the same L. verb are prob. also \ilt.pledye,
plevim.] 1. In canon law, a stated income de-
rived from some fixed source ; hence, especially,
a stipend allotted from the revenues of a cathe-
dral or collegiate church for the performance
of certain duties by a person hence called a
prebendary. Originally a prebend was the portion of
food, clothing, or money allowed to a monk or cleric, in-
dependent of a benefice. When in the eleventh century
canons ceased to live in common, each canon received a
share of the cathedral revenues, called a prebend, and some
of their number a prebendal residence. A prebend may
be held by a layman.
Many noblemen and gentlemen's sons had prebenda
given them on this pretence, that they intended to fit
themselves by study for entering into orders ; but they
kept them, and never advanced in their studies.
Lordi Joumxdn, quoted in K. W. Dixon's Hist. Church of
[Eng., xxi., note.
To each [canon] was assigned ... a decent provision,
called a prebend, for the support of himself and his house-
hold. Roek, Church of our Fathers, iL 83.
2t. A prebendary.
To make Amends for the suppressing of so many Mon-
asteries, the King instituted certain new Bishopricks, . . .
and assigned certain Canons and Prebe»d» to each of them.
Baiter, Clmmicles, p. 286.
3. A prebendaryship.
Another writes to desire that I would prevail on the
Archbishop of Dublin to give him the best prebend of St.
Patrick's. Svrift, Letter, Sept. SO, 1736.
Deaneries and prebends may become void, like a bishop-
ric, by death, by deprivation, or by resignation to either
the king or the bishop. Blackstone, Com., L xi.
prebendal (preb'en-dal), a. [< OF. prebendal,
< ML. prsebendalis, i prxbenda, a prebend: see
prebend.] Of or pertaining to a prebend or a
prebendary.— Prebendal stall, the seat of the preb-
endary in a church.
prebendary (preb'en-da-ri), «.; ^\. prebendaries
(-riz). [< MS. prebendary = V. pribendier =
Fg.prebendeiro = It. prebendario,CMli. prseben-
darius, a prebendary, < prsebenda, a prebend:
precariously
see prebend.] 1. One who holds a prebend. A
clerical prebendaiy is necessarily a canon. At present in
the Church of England all resident prebendaries are by
law styled ean(ms,h\it the holders of disendowed preben-
dal stallB are still known za prebendaries.
One Dr. Lark, a Prebendary of St. Stmhen'a.
Baker, (Jhronicles, p. 273.
That ease be mine, which, after all his cares.
The pious, ve&ceivV prebendary shares.
GraMe, Works, II. 21.
2. A prebendaryship.
First, whereas the hope of honour maketh a souldier in
England, byshopricks, deanries, jrrebendaries, and other
priuate dignities animate our diuines to such excellence.
Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 26.
prebendaryship (preb'en-da-ri-ship), n. [<
prebendary + -ship.] The office of a preben-
dary. See prebend.
prebendate (preb'en-dat), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
prebendated, ppr. prebendating. [< ML. prai-
bendatus, pp. ot prsebendari, receive a prebend,
<j)r»6ew(^a, a prebend: see prebend.] To make
a prebendary of; raise to the rank of preben-
dary.
He falleth into commendation of Stephen Langton his
cardinall, declaryng howe learned he was in the liberall
artes, and in diuinitie, insomuch as he was prebendated
at Paris. Ghrafton, K. John, an. 11.
prebendryt, «• [< prebend + ^y.] A prebend.
Cotgrave.
prebendsbip (preb 'end- ship), m. [<. prebend
+ -ship.] A prebendaryship. Foxe, Martyrs,
p. 216, an. 1190.
prebracMal (pre-bra'ki-al), a. and n. [< L.
prse, before, + 6j'oc/(mm,"upper arm: see bra-
chial.] I. a. In human anat., situated upon the
front of the brachium, or upper arm: specifi-
cally noting a group of muscles composed of
the biceps, coracobrachialis, and anticobrachi-
alis. Coues and Shute, 1887.
II. n. A vein of the wing of some insects,
between the cubitus and the postbrachial.
prebranchial, prabranchial (pre-brang'ki-al),
a. Placed in advance of the gills.
l^he prebranchial zone, which separates the branchial
sac behind from the branchial siphon in front.
Mneyc. Brit., XXIIL 611.
prebuccal (pre-buk'al), a. [< li.prse, before, +
bucca, cheek: see buccal.] Placed in front of
the mouth or buccal cavity; preoral; prosto-
noial.
precant (pre'kant), n. [< L. precan{t-)s, ppr.
otprecari,-pia.y:seepray^. Ct.prayant.] One
who prays. Coleridge. {Imp. Diet.)
precardiac (pre-kar'di-ak), a. [< L. prie, be-
fore, + Gt. Kapdia, heart: see cardiac.] Situ-
ated in front of the heart — that is, cephalad of
thQ heart. Compare precordial.
precaria, ». Plural of precarium.
precarious (pre-ka'ri-us), a. [= P. pricaire =
Sp. Pg. It. precario, < li.precajrius, pertaining to
entreaty or petition, obtained by entreaty or by
mere favor, depending on favor, (.precari, pray :
seepray'^.] 1. Dependent on the will or plea-
sure of another; liable to be lost or withdrawn
at the will of another; hence, uncertain; in-
secure.
This little happiness is so very precarious that it wholly
depends on the will ot others. Addison.
Men of real sense and understanding prefer a prudent
mediocrity to a precarious popularity.
Ooldsndth, English Clergy.
To be young is surely the best, if the most precarious,
gift of life. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 379.
2. Specifically, in law, of uncertain tenure;
revocable at the wiU of the owner or creator :
as, a, precarious right or loan.
His holding was, in the language of the Roman lawyers,
precarious — that is, upon his request to the owner, and
with that owner's leave.
W. E. Beam, Aryan Household, p. 425.
3t. Dependent only upon the will of the owner
or originator; hence, arbitrary; unfounded.
That the fabrick of the bodj; is out of the concurse of
atomes is a mere precarious opinion.
Dr. H. More, Immortal of Soul, ii. 10.
4. Dependent upon chance ; of doubtful issue ;
uncertain as to result.
Both succeeded in establishing themselves on the throne
after the most precarious vicissitudes.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 16.
Hence — 5. Dangerous; hazardous; exposed
to positive peril, risk of misunderstanding, or
other hazard. [Eecent and objectionable.]
It would be precarious to say that every course of
thought has an ideally best order. *
J. F. Genung, Ehetoric, p. 262.
precariously (prf-ka'ri-us-li), adv. In a pre-
carious manner; Sependently; hence, with risk
precariously
of detriment, alteration, failnre, total loss, or
removal.
precariousness (prf-ka'ri-us-nes), re. The state
or character of being preearions ; uncertainty;
dependence on the wiU or pleasure of others,
or on unknown events : as, the precarioumess
of life or health.
precarium (pre-ka'ri-um), re. ; phprecaria (-a).
[L., neut. otprecarius, obtained by entreaty:
see precarious.;] In Bom. and ScoU law, a loan
or grant revocable at the discretion of the lender
or grantor.
Very early in Roman legal history we come upon ten-
ancy-at-wil], under the name of precarium, which o£ itseU
showed that there must have been large estates capable
of subdivision. Encye. Brit., XT/Z 260.
precariiilaginons (pre-kar-ti-laj'i-nns), a. [<
pre- + cartilage: see cartilaginous.'] Prior to
the formation of cartilage, as a stage or state of
an embryo.
precaryt (prek'a-ri), re. [< ML.precaria, also
precarium, a precary (see def.), fem. (sc. ehar-
ta) or neut. of precarius, depending on favor:
see precarious. Cf. precarium.] A charter or
grant, also known as precarious or precatori-
0U8 letters, by which a person obtained from a
church or monastery the use for an annual rent
of an estate previously donated by him to the
church or monastery. Hist., Geog., etc., Diet.,
2d ed.j ed. Collier (1701), s. sr. precary.
precationf (pre-ka'shon), re. [Early mod. B.
precacion, < OF. preeation, precacion, F. prSca-
Uon = Vg.precaqSo = It. precazione, < li.preca-
tio(nr-), a praying, a form of prayer, (.precari,
fTp.preeatus,-pitty: seepray'^.] The aotof pray-
ing; supplication; entreaty; hence, a prayer ;
an invocation.
Beside our daily praiers and continual precaci&ns to
God and his saintes for prosperus successe to ensue in your
merciall exployte and royall passage.
' Ho«,Hen.V.,f. 5. (HaaiwM.)
precative (prek'a-tiv), a. [< li. precativus,
prayed for, obtained by entreaty, < precari, pp.
precatus,-pTa,j: seepray'^.] Suppliant; beseech-
ing; expressing an entreaty or a desire: as, the
precative mode.
This is not to be called an imperative sentence, . . .
but rather, if I may use the word, 'tis a sentence precative
or optative. Harris, Hermes, L 2.
precatoriousf, a. [< L. precatorivs, pertaining
to entreaty or petition: see precatory.] Same
a,a precatory, ^ee precary.
precatory (prek'a-to-ri), a. [< L. precatorius,
pertaining to entifeaty or petition, (.precari, pp.
precatus, pray : seepray^.] Relating to prayer ;
being in the form of a prayer or supjflication.
Perfect models ^precatory eloquence.
Sir J. EawHm, Johnson, p. 270.
Trecatory words, in law, expressions in a will praying
or recommending that a thing be done. Such words do
not raise a trust nor bind the person to whom they are
addressed, unless properly capable of an imperative con-
struction, when they are sometimes deemed to establish
what is called a. precatory trust.
precaudal (pre-ka'dal), a. [< pre- + caudal.]
Situated in advanee'of the caudal or coccygeal
series of vertebrae : as, a precaudal vertebra.
precansation (pre-kSr-za'shgn), n. [< pre- +
causation.] Foreordination.
As if God were not able to malce a faculty which can de-
termine its own compai'ative act to this rather than to that,
by his sustentation, and universal precausation and con-
course, without the said predetermining premotion.
Boater, Life of Faith, ii. 9.
precaution (pre-ka'shon), n. [< OF. precaution,
F. precaution = Sp. precaudon = Pg. precaugdio
= It. precauzione, < LL. prxcautiolrir-), pre-
caution, < Ii. prsecavere, pp. prseeautus, guard
against beforehand, < prsB, before, + eavere,
be on one's guard: see cauUon.] 1. Previous
caution; prudent foresight; care previously
employed to prevent mischief or secure good
results.
She like a new disease, unknown to men.
Creeps, ao precaution, used, among the crowd.
Tennyson, Guinevere.
2. A measure taken beforehand; an act of
foresight, designed to ward off possible evil or
to secure good results.
The same notion of predestination makes them [the
Turks] use no precautions against the plague ; but they
even go and help to bury the bodies of those that die
of it. Poeocke, Description of the East, 1. 181.
precaution (pre-ka'shon), v. t. [< precaution,
re.] To caution beforehand; warn.
To precauUon posterity against the like errours.
^ Sryden, Vind. of Duke of Guise.
nrecautional (pre-k4'shon-al), a. [< precau-
tion + -al.] Of tke nature of precaution ; pre-
ventive of mischief ; precautionary. [Kare.]
4675
Wherefore this first flliall fear is but virtuous and pre.
cauticnan. W. Montague, Devoute Essays, L vL 3.
precautionary(pre-ka'shon-a-ri), a. and n. [<
^ecaution + -ary.] I. a. 1.' Advising precau-
tion; containing or expressing precaution.
S^ollecting the precavtioruiry letter she had written
me on the subject, I felt that I wished Hiss Marshall at
Jericho. T. Hook, Gilbert Gomey, I. iv. (.Latham.)
2. Taking precautions; characterized by pre-
vious caution : as, precautionary measures.
n.t re. A precaution; a preliminary measure
taken for prudential reasons.
Thou seest, Belf ord, by the above precautioTiaries, that
1 forget nothing.
Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, IV. 49. (Dames.)
precautious (pre-k&'shus), a. [< preeauU{on)
+ -ous. CL cautious.] Usin^ precaution; dis-
playing previous care or caution; provident.
It was not the mode of the Court in those days to be very
penetrant, preeavtious, or watchful
Soger North, Examen, p. 93. (Davies.)
precautiously (prf-ka'shus-li), adv. With pre-
caution.
precava, n. See prsecava.
precaval, prsecaval (pre-ka'val), a. and re. [<
prsecava + -al.] I. a. Anterior or (in man)
superior, as a caval vein: distinguished from
postcaval.
II. re. The precaval vein, or prsecava.
precet, v. An obsolete variant otpressK
preceaaneoust (pre-se-da'ne-us) , a. [(.precede
+ -aneous.] Going before in time; preceding;
antecedent; anterior.
Faith is in Holy Scripture represented in nature ^ece-
daneovx to God's benevolence.
Barrow, Sermons, IL iv. (Latheum.)
precede (pre-sed'), v.; pret. and pp. preceded,
■g^T. preceding. [< OF. preeeder, F. preceder =
Rt. Sp. Pg. preceder = it. precedere, < L. prse-
cedere, go before, precede, surpass, excel, <
prsB, before, -1- cedere, go, move, walk: see
cede.] I. trans. 1. To go before in place; walk
in front of ; advance before ; hence, specifically,
to go before in rank or importance ; take pre-
cedence of.
Such a reason of precedence St. Cyprian giveth in an-
other case, because (saith he) Rome for its magnitude ought
to precede Carthage. Barrow, The Pope's Supremacy.
Eoom for my lord ! three jockeys in his train ;
Six huntsmen with a shout precede his chair.
Pope, Dnnciad, ii. 193.
2. To go before in the order of time; occur or
take place before; exist before.
Imagination ever precedetk voluntary motion.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, iL 206.
Both families lived together in all that harmony which
generally ^ecef2^ an expected alliance.
GoldsmUh, Vicar, ii
3. To put something before; preface; intro-
duce as by a preface or prelude.
It has been usual to precede hostilities by a public de-
claration communicated to the enemy.
Chancellor Kent, Com. (7th ed.^ L 61.
II. intrans. 1. To go before in place; walk
in front; specifically, to take precedence; have
superior authority; hence, to prevail.
Then heaven and earth renew'd shall be made pure
To sanctity that shall receive no stain :
Till then, the curse pronounced on both precedes.
MUtan, P. L., X. 640.
2. To come first in the order of time ; occur or
exist previously.
Of Bix preceding ancestors, that gem,
Conferr'd by testament to the sequent issue.
Hath it been owed and worn.
Shak., All's Well, v. 3. 196.
An antecedent proposition may be separated from its
consequent by other propositions ; but apreceding propo-
sition is closely followed by another.
Crabb, Eng. Synonymes, p. 85.
precedence (pre-se'dens), re. [< OF. precedence,
F. precedence = Sp. I'g. precedenda = It. pre-
cedenza, < ML. prsecedentia, precedence, < L.
prsseederi{t-)s, ppr. of prxcedere, go before : see
precedent] 1. The act of going before; spe-
cifically, the right of preceding others in pub-
lic or private ceremonies; the right to a more
honorable place in public processions or assem-
blies, or in the formalities of social life; so-
cial superiority; advantage in rank. In many
countries precedence is a matter of strict regu-
lation. See order of precedence, below.
For me now.
That hitherto have kept the first, to know
A second place, or yield the \e9&t precedence
To any other, 's death.
Beau, and Fl., Thierry and Theodoret, ii 1.
2. Prior place; superior position; position in-
dicative of superior rank.
precedented
Precedence
None sure will claim in heli
MUlon, P. L., ii 38.
That form, the labour of almighty skill,
Fram'd for the service of a free-bom will,
AsRevta precedence, and bespeaks control.
Coioper, Tirocinium, L 9.
3. Previous occurrence, or existence before;
priority in time.— 4f. That which goes before ;
a preceding act or speech.
Mess. But yet, madam
Cleo. I do not like "But yet" ; it does allay
The gooi precedence. Shak., A. and C, ii 5. 51.
Order of precedence, the whole body of rules which fix
gradation of rank, especially with regard to the right of
certain officials and persons of rank to a prescribed place in
any ceremony. In Great Britain precedence is formed by
statute, patent, or usage, but the chief regulations regard-
ing the order of precedence were settled by Parliament in
the reign of Henry vni. Some of the leading rules are
thus summarized &om Burke : precedence is conferred by
men's rank ; men of official rank who have higher person-
al precedence are placed according to that precedence ;
peers and peeresses rank in the order of England, Scotland,
Great Britain, Ireland, United Ejngdom and Ireland, ac-
cording to the dates of patents ; younger sons of persons
of higher rank come after eldest sons of persons of next
lower rank ; daughters of peers, baronets, etc., rank after
the wives of their eldest brothers; wives and children of
great officers of state have no consequent precedence ; a
lady having precedence by birth retains her precedence
although married to a commoner; baronets rank accord-
ing to dates of their patents; ambassadors rank after
members of royal families, ministers and envoys after
dukes.— Patent of precedence, a grant from the crown
to such barristers as it thinks proper to honor with that
mark of distinction, whereby they are entitled to such
rank and preaudience as are assigned in their respective
patents.— Personal precedence, precedence in right of
birth or family, as distinguished from that which is con-
ferred by official position. — To take precedence of, to
come before, as snperior in rank or importance ; have a
prior claim to attention or respect =S3m. 1. Preeminence,
etc. See priority.
precedency (pre-se'den-si), re. [As precedence
(see -cy).] Same as precedence.
Me thinkes the Preeedende which God gave this Hand,
to be the first Restorer of buried Truth, should have beene
followed with more happy successe, and sooner attain'd
Perfection. Jfi2to», Reformation in Eng., i
precedent (prf-se'dent as an adj., pres'e-dent
as a noun), a.'and re. [< OF. precedent, f'. pre-
cedent = Sp. Pg. It. precedente, < L. prsece-
den(t-)s, ppr. of prascedere, go before : see pi-e-
cede.] I. a. (prf-se'dent). Preceding; going
before in the order of time; antecedent; an-
terior; previous; former.
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of jovti precedent lord. Shak., Hamlet, iii. 4. 98.
Cordus, a writing fellow, they have got
To gather notes of the precedent times.
And make them into Annals.
B. Jonson, Sejanus, ii. 2.
Precedent condition, or condition precedent. See
condftum, 8 (d). =Syn. Seepremous.
H. n. (pres'e-dent). 1. A preceding action or •
circumstance which may serve as a pattern or
example in subsequent eases; an antecedent
instance which creates a rule for following
cases ; a model instance.
Set it down to thyself as well to create good precedents
as to follow them. Bacon, Great Place.
The Precedent may dangerous prove, and wrack
Thy ttirone and kingdom, if thy People read
Highest Rebellion's Lesson in their Head.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, iii 157.
2. Specifically, in law: (a) A judicial decision,
interlocutory or final, which serves as a rule for
future determinations in similar or analogous
cases. (6) A form of proceeding or of an in-
strument followed or deemed worthy to be fol-
lowed as a pattern in similar or analogous eases.
He hath lately found out, among the old Records of the
Tower, some Precedents for raising a Tax called 8 hip-
Money. Howell, Letters, I. vi. 11.
3. A custom, habit, or rule established; previ-
ous example or usage.
The unconquered powers
01 precedent and custom interpose
Between a king and virtue.
Shelley, Queen Mab, iii.
Precedent is only another name for embodied experience,
and . . . counts for even more in the guidance of com-
munities of men than in that of the individual life.
LaweU, Study Windows, p. 164.
4t. A presage; sign; indication.
With this she seizeth on his sweating palm,
TheprecedeM of pith and livelihood.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 26.
5f . An original, as the original draft of a writ-
ing.
My Lord Melun, let this be copied out.
And keep it safe for our remembrance :
Return the precedent to these lords again.
Sfto«:.,K. John.v. 2. 3.
=Syn. 1. Pattern, Model, etc. See example.
precedented (pres'f-den-ted), a, [< precedent
+ -ed^.] Authorized by precedent; in accor-
dance with precedent or established custom.
precedented
4G76
Sard. Who brought this same, sirrah?
Hind. Many, sir, one of the justice's men ; he says 'tis
a. precept, and all their hands be at it.
B. Jonaon, Every Man out of his Humour, i. 1,
He opposed a hill which . . . was right and wise in
principle, and was precedented in the best times.
Burie, Works, VII. 240.
precedential (pres-e-den'shal), a. [< precedent
+ ■4-al.'\ Of the nature of a precedent: suita- Precept of clare constat, in Scots law. See dare eon-
Wb tnr Imifoti/^v. . f«ii„„„/i „ J "'^"a- staJt.— 'PreoeBi of sasine, the order of a superior to his
me tor imitation ; followed as a precedent. bailie toSveinfef talent of certain lands t5 his vassal.
I have read that, by act of parliament, it [the church]
was settled on the city to maintain and repair, and hope
their practice hath proved precedential to other places in
the same nature.
Fvner, Worthies, Gloucestershire, I. 649.
precedently (pre-se'dent-li), adv. Beforehand;
antecedently.
precelt (pre-sel'), v. [< OF. preceller, < L. jjrie-
celhre, surpass, excel, <jjr«, before, + -cellere,
as in excellere, surpass : see excel.'] I. trans. To
excel; surpass.
A princely grafle which as far precels her which he hath
lighted upon as a damasic rose doth the conslip.
Howell, Vooall Forrest, p. 132.
Thou Shalt be Janus ; hard 'tis to precel
Thy father ; it thou equal 'st him, 'tis well. ,
Owen's Epigrams. {Nares.)
II. intraiis. To excel others; display unusual
superiority.
For it is conueniente that he whiohe preeelleth in honor
should also preeelle in vertues. J. Udatl, On Timothy, iii.
precellencet (pre-sel'ens), n. [< precellen(t)
+ -ce.] Same as _preceHe»cy.
precellencyt (pre-sel'en-si), n. [As precellence
(see -c^).] Excellence; superiority.
As you have the preceUenei/ of the women of the world
for beauty and feature, so assume the honour to give, and
not take Law from any, in matter of attire.
S. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 29.
Nor thought I it fit to rhetorioate in proposing the great precsptive (pre-sep'tiv), a.
variety of things, and precelleney of one above another. ~ «,«.«««».fc..^ — t+ »n
Dr. H. More, Antidote against Atheism, Pref.
precellentt (pre-sel'ent), a. [< OF. precellent
= Sp.precelente, < 'L.'j}rsBceUen{t-)s, ppr. otprse-
ceKere, excel: seeprecel.2 Excellent; surpass-
ing; conspicuously superior.
Even so the rectitude of reason in the precellent know-
ledge of the truth is one puissance.
Holland, tr. of Plutarch, p. 653.
precentor (pre-sen'tor), n. [< LL. ^irsecentor, a
leader in music, <jpjvEane)-e, sing or play before,
< prse, before, + canere, sing: see cant^, chant.]
give inteftment
e.=S3'n. 1. Sogma, Tenet, etc. (see doctrine);
Ride, etc. (see principle) ; Axiom, Mamm, etc, (see apho-
rism), instruction, law.
preceptt, «■ *. {_< precept, n.2 1. To teach; lead
by precept.
I do not find but it may well become a man to precept
himself into tlie practice of virtue. Feltham, Besolves.
2. To order by rule ; ordain.
The two commended rules by him [Aristotle] set down,
whereby the axioms of sciences are precepted to be made
convertible, ... are the same thing, in speculation and
affirmation, which we now observe.
Bacon, Works (ed. Montagu), I. 284.
preceptialt (prf-sep'shal), a. [Irreg. < precept
+ -i-al.] Consisting of precepts; instructive.
[Rare.]
Men
Can counsel, and speak comfort to that grief
Which they themselves not feel ; but, tasting it.
Their counsel turns to passion, which before
Would give preceptial medicine to rage.
Shak., Much Ado, v. 1. 24.
preceptiont (pre-sep'shon), re. [< OF. precep-
tion, < L. prieceptio{n-), a taking or receiving be-
forehand, an injunction, < prsecipere, pp. prse-
ceptm, take or receive beforehand, admonish,
teach : see precept.'] A precept ; an injunction.
Their Leo calls these words [let him be the husband of
one wife] a,precepti(m; 1 did not.
Bp. Hall, Honour of Married Clergy, § zviiL
[< OF. preeeptif
= Sp. Pg. prec'eptivo = It. precettmo, < L. prse-
ceptivus, didactic, pertaining to a precept, <
prsecipere, pp. prseceptus, take or receive be-
forehand, admonish, teach : see jjrecepi.] Giv-
ing or containing precepts or rules of conduct;
instructive ; admonitory.
Not expounding, but obeying the preceptive words of
their Lord. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 116.
For it is the same thing which is denominated the law
(of Moses, or of Christ) from the preceptive part, and a
covenant from the terms, or sanction, especially the pro-
missory part. Boater, Divine Appointment of the Lord's
[Day, v.. Postscript
A leader or director of a church choir or oongre- preceptor (pre-sep'tpr), n. [= F.pr4cepteur =
. Sp.Fg. preceptor :rr'tt.' precettore, (.li. prascep-
tor, an anticipator, a teacher, < prsecipere, pp.
praeceptus, take or receive beforehand, teach:
see precept.'] 1. A teacher; an instructor; a
tutor.
Folly is soon leam'd ;
And under such preceptors who can fail !
Cowper, Task, ii. 284.
2. The head of a preoeptory of the Knights
Templars.
This establishment of the Templars was seated amidst
fair meadows and pastures, which the devotion of the f or-
xa&c preceptor had bestowed upon their order.
Scott, Ivanhoe, xxxv.
preceptorial (pre-sep-to'ri-al), a. [< preceptor
+ -ia/.] Pertaining or belonging to a precep-
tor: as, ^receptonai functions,
gatiou in singing. Specifically, the leader or manager
of the choir or musical services in a cathedral, or in a
monastic or collegiate chui'ch ; in the Church of England,
an official, often ranking next to the dean, who has chaige
of the choir, of the musical service, and often of other
matters ; a musical director. The precentor's place in the
choir-stalls is on the left of the altar ; hence mat side is
called cantoris, 'the precentor's.'
The Spirit of Christ is the precentor, or rector chori, the
master of the choir. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 637.
In 1204, when the see of Winchester was vacant^ the
chapter was divided between the dean of Salisbury and
the precentor of Lincoln. Slubbs, Const. Hist, I 382.
precentorship (ptf-seu'tor-ship), «. [< precen-
tor + ship.] The ofiBce'or duties of a precen-
tor ; the condition of being a precentor.
precentral (pre-sen'tral), a. [< NL. prsecen-
tralis, < L. prx, before,' + centrum, center
central.] In anat. : (a) Situated in front of the preceptory (prf-sep'to-ri), a. and n. [< ML.
— ■ "■ - - - - . prseeeptorius, preceptory (fern, prseceptoria, a
preceptory), < L. prseceptor, a preceptor: see
preceptor.] I.t a. Giving precepts; preceptive.
Eev. I. Adams, Works, III., Memoir, p. 1.
II. ».; v^.preeeptories (-riz). A subordinate
religious house where instruction was given.
Preceptories were establishments of the Knights Tem-
plars, the superiors of which were called preceptors, or
knights preceptors. All the preceptories of a province were
subject to a provincial superior, three of whom held rank
above all the rest, viz., those of Jerusalem, Tripolis, and
Antioch.
central sulcus or Eolandio fissure of the brain.
(6) Placed in front of a vertebral centrum. —
Frecentral convolution, the anterior central or ascend-
ing frontal convolution.— Frecentral sulcus, a sulcus
of the frontal lobe, parallel with the fissure ol Bolando,
and limiting the anterior central convolution in front
Also called vertical sulons.
precept (pre'sept), n. [< OF precept, precipt,
F. pr4eepte = Sp. precepto = Pg. preceito = It.
precetto, < L. prseceptum, a rule, injunction,
doctrine, maxim, precept, neut. of prasceptus,
pp. of prsecipere, take or seize beforehand, ad-
monish, advise, give rules to, instruct, teach,
< prae, before, -f- eapere, take : see capable. Cf.
precipe.] 1. A commandment or direction
given as a rule of action ; teaching ; instruc-
tion; especially, an injunction as to moral
■conduct ; a rule of conduct ; a maxim.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept;
line upon line, line upon line ; here a little, and there a ...
little. Isa. xxviii. 10. precerebellar (pre-ser-e-bel'ar), a.
Thy learned precepts
Shall call me back and set my foothigs straight
Pard, Broken Heart i. 3.
The establishments of the order [Templars], which bore
the name of preceptories, to the number of twenty-three,
were at first seized by the King and other lords, bnt after-
wards, by a bull from the Pope and an Act of Parliament,
transferred to the rival order of the Hospitallers.
R. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., v.
preceptress (pre-sep'tres), n. [< preceptor +
-ess. Ct. OF. imceptrice.] A female preceptor
or teacher. Cowper, Task, iii. 505.
..-_■ (pre-ser-e-bel'ar), a. [< L. prie,
before, + cerebellum, cerebellum: see cerebel-
lar.] Anterior or superior with respect to the
cerebellum: noting the superior cerebellar ar-
■2. Inlaw: (a) A command or mandate in writ- tery.
ing issued by a court or judge, as for bringing precerebral (pre-ser'f-bral), a. [< 'L.pras, be-
a person, record, or other matter before him, or tore, + cerebrum, brain: "see cerebral.] Ante-
f or the collection of costs, etc., or for summon- rior with respect to the cerebrum: noting the
ing jurors, etc. (b) In English law, a command anterior cerebral artery,
or mandate in writing issued pursuant to law by preces (pre'sez), n. pi. [ML., pi. of L. prex
an administrative officer: as, a sheriff's jjrecep* (prec-), a prayer: see ^w-a^l.] The alternate
for a municipal election. petitions, such as the versicles and suffrages,
precinct
which pass conjointly between the clergyman
and the congregation in liturgical churches;
specifically, in the English choral service, those
versicles (with the Gloria Patri) which immedi-
ately precede the Psalms, beginning " O Lord,
open thou our lips."
The occasional presence of preces, a series of short in-
tercessions resembling the Greek Ektene, or deacon's lit-
any. . Eneye. Brit., XIV. 707.
precession (pre-sesh'on), w. [< ME. precession,
< OF. precession, F. "precession = Sra-wecesion
= Pg. precessfio = It. precessione, < ML. prie-
cessio(n-), a ^;oing before. n,dvance, < L. preece-
dere, pp. prsec^sstis, go before: see precede.]
1. The act of going before or of moving for-
ward; advance.
iij women 1 met with precessixni,
I askyd hem whedir that thei were bone.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furriivall)^ p. 208.
2t. Precedence.
The legates of Pope Leo did take in dudgeon this prefer-
ment of DioBCorus, and would not sit down in the synod,
because the precession was not given to their Holy See.
Barrow, The Pope's Supremacy, p. 197.
3. In philol,, a weakening of a vowel due to a
change of accent ; a change from a full strong
vowel to a thinner one : opposed to progression.
March, Anglo-Saxon Gram., p. 26.— Lunisolar
precession. See 2uni8o2itr.— Precession of the equi-
noxes, in astron., a slow retrograde motion of the equi-
noctial points, viz. from east to west or contrary to the
order of the signs. The equinoctial points do not re-
tain the same position in the heavens, but have a slow
retrograde motion, at the rate of about 60. "24 in a year,
or abouta degree in 71.66 years, the equator moving on the
ecliptic while the ecliptic retains its position nearly un-
changed among the stars. This phenomenon is caused by
the combined action of the sun and moon on the mass of
matter accumulated about the earth's equator, and is called
the precession of the equinoxes because itmakes the equi-
noxes succeed each other in less time than they would
otherwise do. In consequence of the precession of the
equinoxes, the longitudes of the heavenly bodies are con-
tinually increasing, the latitudes remaining unclianged.
The right ascensions and declinations are, of course,
both changing. The precession of the equinoxes was dis-
covered by Hipparchus more than a century before the
Christian era. The equinoctial points will make an entire
revolution in about 25,800 years.
precessional (pre-sesh'ou-al), o. [(.precession '
+ -al.] Pertaining to or resulting from the
precession of the equinoxes: as, precessional
force.
precessort (prf-ses'or), n. [= It. precessore, <
L. praecessor, a predecessor, a superior, < prae-
cedere, pp. praeeessus, go before : see precede.]
A predecessor.
Fordham was herein more court-like and civil to this
Eudo than Thomas Arundel, his Precessour, Bishop of Ely.
Fuller, Hist. Camb., ill. 62. (Davies.)
prechet, "• A Middle English form of. xneach.
prechordal (pre-k6r'dal), a. [< L. prae, before,
+ cliorda,<. Gr. xop^V, chord: see chordal.] 1.
Situated in front of the notochord: applied to
those parts of the brain which are anterior
to the end of the chorda dorsalis : correlated
with epichordal and parachordal. — 2. Prior in
time to the existence of the Chordata or chor-
date animals ; before the evolution of a noto-
chord in animals. [Rare.]
In what we may call prse-chardal times.
Encyc. Brit., XXIV. 187.
prechoroid (pre-ko'roid), a. [< pre- + choroid.]
Situated before the choroid Prechoroid artery
the anterior choroid artery. '
prechristian (pre-kris'tian), a. [< pre- +
Christian.] Relating to or existent or occur-
ring in times prior to the Christian era: as, the
prechristian system ; prechristian speculations.
Princeton Eev., July, 1879, pp. 148, 149.
prechristianic (pre-kris-Ji-an'ik), a. [< pre-
+ Christian + -ic] Same as prechristian.
Encyc. Brit., XV. 89.
precinct (pre'singt), n. [= Pg. It. precinto,
< ML. prsecinctum, circuit, boundary line, < L.
prascinctus, a girding, < praecingere, pp. prae-
cinctus, gird, gird about, < prs, 'before, -I- cin-
gere, surround, gird : see cincture.] 1. The ex-
terior line or boundary encompassing a place ;
bound; limit; boundary line.
I think never man could boast It without the precincts
of paradise but he that came to gain us a better Eden
then we lost GlanvUle, Vanity of Dogmatizing, xiL
2. An inclosed or bounded space ; aninclosure
or a space definitely marked off by boundaries;
a peribolus.
God made a winde to passe in Commission, and, as a
common vmpire to end their vnnaturall strife, forcing
the Waters into their ancient precincts aboue and beneath
the Firmament Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 41.
She made the House of the Seven Gables like a home to
him, and the garden a familiar precinct.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xii.
precinct
I like the silent church, before the service begins, bet-
to- than any preaching. How far off, how cool, how
chaste the persons look, begirt each one with a mecinct
or sanctuary ! Emerimi, Self-iSlance;
You retain a single broad Image of the vast gray edlfloo
(a cathedral J, with its towers, its tone of color, and its stilL
green prearuA. H. Jwrna, Jr., Xrans. Sketches, p. sS
3. A district within certain boundaries and
under certain iurisdiotion; a minor temtorial
or jurisdictional division: as, a police jorecinc*;
in several of the United States, the principal
subdivision of the county, corresponding gen-
erally to the township in other States. These
subdivisions in Nebraska and Oregon are called nreancte.
In California, Colorado, Florida, lUinois, Mississippi, and
Nevada they are called OeMon precincts. The counties
of Texas are each divided into four commissUmers' pre-
cmcte, also into from four to eight j««(ice«' preciruite, and
into from four to eleven election preeCnets. Some of the
counties of Kentucky are divided into voting prednctg.
In colonial Massachusetts a precinct was a part set off
from a town and made independent of it in respect to
some matters of local administration, but not in respect
to choosing a representative to the General Court.
As easily may you get the soldan's crown
As any prizes out of rajprecinet.
Marlmce, Tamburlalne the Great, I., i. 2.
I am the king's vicegerent by my place ;
HlB right lieutenant in mine own prednct.
Beau, and Ft., Love's Cure, lit 1.
The extent of the old Hans was from Nerve In Livonia
to the Ilhine, and contained 62 great mercantile Towns,
which were divided into four Pfvcinetg.
HoweB, Letters, I, vi. 3.
4. A region; a tract. [A loose use.]
The vessel, . . . now slowly pushed by the wind against
the turbid current, now warping along the fragrant pre-
cincts of orange or magnolia groves or fields of sugar-
cane ... Q.W. CaMe, The Grandisshnes, p. 13.
precinction (prf-singk'shon), n. [< L. prse-
cinetio(n-), < praecingere, gird about : see pre-
cinct.'] Same ajS prsecmcUo.
preciosity (presh-i-os 'j-ti), n. [< ME.preeyosite,
< OF. predosite, P. prieiosiU = Sp. preeiosiAad
= Pg. premosidade = It. preeiositA, < L. preU-
osita(t-)s, costliness, ML. also a costly thing, <
jBretosMS, valuable, precious: seeprecious.'] If.
Costliness; value; great worth; preciousness.
Among y° which ye black» crosse of Scotlande Is spe-
cyaUy namyd, a relyke accomptyd of great ^ec^os^.
Fabyan, Chron., IL, an. 1327.
2t. Anything of great price or value.
The index or forefinger was too naked whereto to com-
mit tTieiv preHtxiMes. Sir T. Broume, Yulg. Err., Iv. 4.
Barbarians seem to exceed them in the curiosity of their
application of these preeio^ies.
Dr. H. More, Divine Dialogues.
3. The quality of being ovemice ; fastidious-
ness; excessive refinement. Satwrday Rev.,
No. 1474.
precious (presh'us), a. [Early mod. E. also
pretious; < ME. precious, precyous, precius, <
OF.precios, precieus, predeiix, valuable, costly,
precious, beloved, also affected, finical, F.prS-
eieux= Sp. Pg. precioso = It, preeio80,<. li.pre-
tiosus, of great value, costly, dear, precious, <
jweiiam, value, price: see i>r»ce.] 1. Of great
price ; costly; having a high money-value.
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous.
Wears yet a. precious \eiw A in his head.
Shak., As yqu Like it, ii. 1. 14.
To leave a little snuffe
Is petty treason, and such preUovs stuffe
Must not be throwne away.
Time^ Wkistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 60.
A gold-adomed pillared temple round.
Whose widls were hung with rich and precious things,
Worthy to be the ransom of great kings.
William Morris, Earthly Faradise, I. 258.
2. Of great worth; held in high esteem; in-
trinsically valuable.
But she stode som what bynethe^ byfore her dere sone,
lace to face, at the tyme of iiii precyous dethe.
Sir B. Qwylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 27.
Health is precious because sickness doth breed that pain
which disableth action. Booker, Eccles. Polity, v. 76.
By thy preooiu Death and Burial; . . .
Good Lord, deliver us.
Booh of Common Prayer, Litany.
O, what SI precious book the one would be
Mat taught observers what they're not to see !
0. W. Holmes, A Rhymed Lesson.
3. Worthless; good-for-nothing. [Ironical.]
Your worship is apre<j««M ass! B.Jonson, \o\pone,i.l.
Oh, you're apreeCousmanl two days in town,
And never see your old friend !
Fletcher, Mad Lover, ui. 3.
Sir Oliver S. Well, Sir Peter, I have seen both my
nephews in the manner we proposed.
Sir Peter T. A precious couple they are \
Sheridan, School for Scandal, v. 2.
4. Considerable; great. [CoUoq.]
It 's hard enough to see one's way, a precious sight harder
than I thought last night ^ „ ,, „ „
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Bugby, ii. 7.
294
4677
5. Particular ; scrupulous ; fastidious ; over-
nice.
In Bwlch estaat as God hath cleped us,
1 wol perserer, 1 nam nat precius.
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 148.
FreciouB blood, the blood shed by Christ on the cross :
it gives name to various orders, cOQfraternities, and relics
in the Eomau Catholic Church, and to the Feast of the Most
Precious Blood on the first Sunday in July.— Precious
metals, gold and silver : so called on account of their
value. Platinum is also sometimes included with the pre-
cious metals ; it is more valuable than silver, aisd has been
used in coinage. Mercury also has been by some called
one of the precious- meta^ lu general, precious means
valuable enough to be used as a standard of value and
abundant enough for coinage. Only gold and silver
have these requisites.— Precious Stone, a stone distin-
guished for its beauty and rarity, and prized for use in
ornamentation, especially in jewelry ; a gem ; a jewel.
Beauty of color, hardness, and rarity are the essential
qualities which entitle a mineral to be called precious.
Strictly speaking, the only precious stones are the diamond,
ruby, sapphire, and emerald, though the term is often
extended to the opal, notwithstanding its lack of hard-
ness, and to the pearl, which is not a mineral, hut strictly
an animal product.
Geo. F, Kura, Gems and Predxms Stones of North America,
[p. 310.
To be precious of, to prize ; value highly. Compare
choice qf, under choice, 3. [Local, New Eng.]
We set everything by that little bird, Bartholomew ! . . .
He understands now that we're precious of it.
Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney, The Other Girls, vii.
=S3m, 1 and 2. Costly, etc. See valuaUe,
precious (presh'us), ad». [(.precious, a.] Very;
exceedingly; extremely. [CoUoq.]
For I had brought Lizzie something dear, and a precious
heavy book it was. B. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, xxvii.
Precious glad he is to be rid of us girls I know.
Harper's Mag., LXXVX 294.
preciously (presh'us-U), adv. [< ME. precious-
ly; <. precious + -ly^.2 1. In a costly manner;
at a great price or expense.
It nys but wast to burye hem predoudy.
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Talei, L 600.
Some preciously by shattered porcelain fall,
And some by aromatic splinters die.
Bryden, Annus Mirabilis, st. 29.
2. Valuably; in a manner productive of worth;
to good purpose.
The time 'twixt six and now
Must by us both be spent most prMyusly.
Shak., Tempest, L 2. 241.
3. Verymuch; exceedingly; extremely. [Col-
loq.] — 4. Fastidiously; serupuloualy'; with ex-
treme care in matters of detaU.
If, on the other hand, yon fall short of this point [the
limit to imitation of details], your art of painting from
nature is not yet quite perfectly vnApreciomly imitative.
A G. Hamerton, Thoughts about Art^ it
preciousness (presh'us-nes), n. l. The char-
acter of being precious; valuableness; worth;
costliness. — 2. Anything of great price or
value; a valuable article, object, or part of
a thing.
The enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs
[marginal note : the preciousness of lambs]. Ps. xxxvii. 20.
3. Fastidiousness; excessive refinement; scru-
pulous attention to detail, particularly in art.
As on the one hand their works have none of the majesty
of imagination, so on the other they lack the preciousness
of genuine imitation.
p. G. Hamerton, Thoughts about Art, ii.
precipe, praecipe (pres'i-pe), n. [< ME. pre-
d,pe, presipe, presepe, pricipe; < L. prsecipe, im-
perative oi prsecipere, take or seize beforehand,
admonish: see precept.'] 1. In law: (a) A writ
commanding somethingto be done, or requir-
ing a reason for neglecting it.
For a wrytte called Pricipe. A wrytte which is called
p'cipe from hensforth shall not be made to any man of
ani freeholde wherthurgh a free man lese his courte.
Arnold's Chron. (1602), ed. 1811, p. 219.
(6) A note of instructions delivered by a plain-
tiff or his solicitor to the oflcer of the court to
procurea writ of summons. — 2t. A precept; an
order.
Clense wele our eghne, and standis on bakke^
For here es comene a preaMW, swykke menne to take.
MS. Uncdtn A. i. 17, f. 14a (Halliwea.)
precipice (pres'i-pis), n. [< OP. precipice, P.
precipice = Sp. Pg. precipicio = It. jyrecipizio,
a precipice, < L. praecipiUum, a falling down
headlong, an abrupt descent, a steep place, <
praec^s (prsecipit-), headforemost, headlong, <
jjr«, before, + caput, head: see eapitaU. Cf.
prempitate.] It. A headlong fall; an abrupt
descent.
Stay me in my precipice to ruin.
MasAnger, The Picture, iv. 4.
His [Job's] fall is with a precipice, from a sublime pin-
nacle of honour to a deep puddle of penury.
Ren. T. Adams, Works, III. 293.
precipitate
2. A bank or eUff extremely steep, or even
perpendicular or overhanging ; a headlong de-
clivity.
The sulphurous hail
Shot after us in storm, o'erblown, hath laid
The fiery surge, that from the precipice
Of heaven received us falling. MUton, P. L., L 173.
3. The brink of a steep declivity; hence, a
dangerous place ; a critical position; a perilous
location.
My fortunes standing in this precipice,
'Tis counsel that I want, and honest aids.
B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, Iv. 3.
But surely it cannot be safe for any man still to walk
upon & precipice, to stand upon an indivisible point, and
to be always upon the very border of destruction.
South, Sermons, VI. xt
They are at present in a frenzy, and will not be recov-
ered from it till they shall liave leaped the precipice they
are now so boldly advancing to.
Jefferson, Correspondence, IL 2.
precipient (prf-sip'i-ent), a. [< L. prsedpi-
c»(<-5«, ppr. ot' prxcipere, admonish, instruct:
see precept.] Commanding; directing.
precipitabiUty (pre-sip*i-ta-bil'i-ti), n. [< pre-
cipitahle + -ily (see -Hlity).] The quality or
state of being precipitable.
precipitable (prf-sip'i-ta-bl), a. \<. predpit-ate
+ -able.] Capable of Ijeing precipitated or
thrown down, as a substance in solution.
precipitance (prf-sip'i-tans), m. [=H,. precipi-
tama,<. Ti. prsedpitanMa,' a, falling headlong, <
prsecipitari{t-)s, falling headlong: see precipi-
tant.] The quality of being precipitant; rash
haste; headlong hurry.
Thither they
Hasted with gl2jdi precipitance.
Mttton, P. L., vii 291.
Bashness and precipitance of judgment.
Watts, Logic, IL 4, § S.
precipitancy (prf-sip'i-tan-si), n. [As precipi-
tance (see -cy).] Precipitance ; impatience to
reach a conclusion or result; overhaste in in-
ference or action.
When the precipOancy of a man's wishes hurries on his
ideas ninety times faster than the vehicle he rides in —
wo be to truth ! Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vii. 8.
As a revising tribunal the Upper House has continually
counteracted the evils of predpitaTicy, impatience, and
ill-digested legislation, to which a numerous assembly,
representing or delegated by larger constituent bodies,
is necessarily and continually prone.
Quarterly Bev., CLXII. 255-
=Syn. Bashness, temerity, hastiness.
precipitant (prf-sip'i-tant), a. and n. [< OF.
precipitant, P. pridpitdnt = Sp. Pg. It. predpi-
tante, < 'L.prsedpi1xm{t-)s, ppr. of prsecwitare,
cast down headlong: see predpitate.] I, a. 1.
Falling headlong; headlong.
From pole to pole
He views in breadth ; and, without longer pause.
Downright into the world's first region throws
His flight predpttaitt. MUton, P. L., iii 663.
Take care
Thy muddy beverage to serene, and drive
PredpHarU the baser, lopy lees.
J. Philips, Cider, il
2. Bushing hastily onward.
But soon recovering speed he ran, he flew
Predpitant. Addison, .^neid, ilL
3. Eashly hasty; precipitate; characterized
by rapid movement or progress ; impatient to
reach a conclusion.
There may be some such decays as are predpitant as to
Jer. Taylor (?), Artif. Handsomeness, p. 73. (Latham.)
The stormy bluster of men more audacious and predpi-
tant then of solid and deep reach.
MUton, Beformation in Eng., ii.
These fits being not so ordinaiy as our naturall sleep,
these dreams the precipitant and unskilf nil are forward to
conceit to be representations extraordinary and supemat-
uraL Dr. H. More, Enthusiasm, § 27.
n. n. In chem., an agent which, when added
to a solution, separates something dissolved
and causes it to precipitate, or fall to the bot-
tom in a concrete state.
precipitantly (pre-sip'i-tant-li), ad». In a pre-
cipitant manner'; precipitately; rashly; with
ill-advised haste.
Men predpUarMy quit their new undertakings.
Bacon, Physical Fables, ii., EzpL
How much less will he hear when we cry hereafter, who,
once deliver'd by hin are returning precipitenfiy, II
he withhold us not, back to the captivity from whence he
freed us ! MUton, Free Commonwealth.
precipitantness (pre-sip'i-tant-nes), n. The
quality of being precipitant.
precipitate (prf-sip'i-tat), «.; pret. and pp.
predpitated, ppr. predpitating. [<.. L. prsedpi-
tatus, pp. of praedpitare (> It. preemitare = Sp.
Pg. predpitar = F. pridpiter'), cast down head-
precipitate
long, < prcBceps (prxcipit-), head foremost, head-
long, < prse, before, + caput, head : see capitaP-.
Gf.jyreclpice.'] I. trmis. X. To oast down head-
long; fling from a precipice or height; hurl
downward.
Few men have frowned first upon Fortune, and precipi-
tated themaelves from the top of her wheel, before they
felt at least the declination of it Dryden, Amboyna, Bed.
He trembles to think that a single touch might buiy him
under a crag precipitated from above. Eustace, Italy, I. i.
2. To cause to fall as a sediment to the bottom
of a vessel ; reduce from a state of solution to
a solid form, as by means of a reagent or chemi-
cal force. — 3. To drive forcibly ; cause to has-
ten onward.
Hence, then, and evil go with thee along, . . .
Ere . . . some more sudden vengeance, wing'd from God,
Predpitaie thee with augmented pain.
Milton, P. L., vL 280.
4. To hasten ; bring hastily to pass ; hurry up :
as, to precipitate a flight.
But they allow him [the Son of God] not the liberty of a
fair tryal ; they hasten and precipitate the sentence, that
they might do so the execution.
StiUinfffieet, Sermons, I. vi.
Hostilities had been precipitated by the impolitic con-
duct of Navarre. Preicott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 23.
5. To hasten intemperately or rashly; hence,
to spoil; ruin.
That they like vertuous fathers have regard thereunto,
and not to sulf er the pope's holiness, if he would thus wil-
fully, without reason or discretion, to precipitate himself
and the said see. Bp. Burnet, Records, I. ii. 22.
We sat whole nights drinking strong liquors without
eating a hit; which disposed us to sloth, enflamed our
bodies, aaA precipitated or prevented digestion.
Su^, Gulliver's Travels, iv. 6.
Precipitated calomel, calomel obtained by jfrecipita^
tion from a solution of corrosive sublimate by a stream of
sulphurous acid.— Precipitated carbonate of calcium
or lime, a white, minutely crystalline powder prepared
by precipitation from a solution of calcium chlorid by so-
dium carbonate : used in medicine as an astringent and
antacid.— Precipitated carbonate of Iron, a reddish-
brown powder prepared by precipitation from an iron
sulphate solution by sodium carbonate. In composition
it is a hydrated ferric oxid containing a little ferrous
cai'bonate. Also called sesguioxid of iron, red oxid of iron,
aperitive saffron of Jfars.- Precipitated carbonate of
Zinc^ a white, impalpable, odorless, and tasteless powder
obtamed from a solution of zinc sulphate by precipitating
with sodium carbonate. — Precipitated extract pf bark.
Same as cAinoiifiiie.- Precipitated QXld Of mercury,
yellow oxid of mercury.— Precipitated Phospbate of
calcium or lime, normal calcium orthopnosphate, a Ane
white amorphous powder prepared by precipitation from
a hydrochloric acid solution of bone-ash by ammonia. Also
called bone-phosphate.— ViecivltSiteA sulpbate of iron,
a pale bluish-green crystalline powder precipitated by al-
cohol from an aqueous solution of ferrous sulphate.— Pre-
cipitated gulpMd of antimony, sulphurate of antimo-
ny.-r Precipitated SUlpbur, a fine yellowish-white odor-
less an^orphous powder prepared by heating a mixture of
sublimed sulphur, lime, and water, and treating the re-
sulting solution with hydrochloric acid.
II. intrans. 1. To fall headlong.
Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air.
So many fathom down precipitating,
Thou'dst shiver'd like an egg. Shak., Lear, iv. 6. 50.
2. To make haste; hurry; proceed without de-
liberation.
Neither did the rebels spoil the country, neither on the
other side did their forces increase, which might hasten
him to precipitate and assail them. Bacon,
3. In chem., to separate from a solution as a
precipitate.
precipitate (pre-sip'i-tat), a. and n. [< li.prse-
cjpitotjffi, pp.: see the verb.] I. a. 1. Hurled
headlong; plunging or rushing down, as by a
steep descent ; headlong.
Precipitate the furious Torrent flows. Prior, Solomon, iL
Disparting towers.
Tumbling all precipitate down dash'd,
Battling around, loud thundering to the moon.
J. Dyer, Euins of Rome.
2. Steep ; precipitous.
No cliff or rock is so precipitate
But down it eyes can lead the blind a way.
Lord Brooke, Tragedy of Alaham. (Latham.)
3. Hasty; acting without due deliberation;
rash.
Rules to be observed in choosing of a wife, . . . not"to
be too rash B.ad precipitate in his election.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 687.
I fear I have already been too precipitate. I tremblefor
the consequences. Colman, Jealous Wife, ii.
4. Hastily brought to pass; speedy; hurried;
sudden.
His downfall too will not be more precipttMe than awk-
ward. Poe, Prose Tales, I. 280.
The danger of apredpitate abandonment of Virginia con-
tinued to be imminent. Bancroft, Hist. U. S., I. 100.
= Syn. 3 and 4. Preeipitmis now always expresses the
physical attribute of a headlong steepness ; precipitate the
moral quality of being very hasty or overhasty. Other
uses are obso^lete or figurative.
4678
II. n. In cftew., any substance which, having
been dissolved in a fluid, falls to the bottom of
the vessel on the addition of some other sub-
stance capable of producing decomposition of
the compound. The term is generally applied when the
separation takes place in aflocculentorpulverulent form,
in opposition to cryslallization, which implies a like sep-
aration in an angular form. But chemists call a mass of
crystals a precipitate, when they subside so suddenly that
their proper crystalline shape cannot be distinguished by
the naked eye. Substances which fall or settle down, as
eai'thy matter in water, are called sedimtents, the operat-
ing cause being mechanical and not chemical.— Floccu-
lent precipitate. See flocculent. -Precipitate per se,
red precipitate.— Ked precipitate, red oxid of mercu-
ry.—Sweet precipitate, mercurous chlorid or oalo-
mel.— White precipitate, mercurammonium chlorid,
NH2HgCl. Also called hydrargyrum ammoniatum, or
aTnmoniated mercury.
precipitately (pre-sip'i-tat-li), adv. In a pre-
cipitate manner; with sudden descent; head-
long; hastily; without due deliberation; with
a sudden subsiding motion.
Ill-counsell'd force by its own native weight precipitately
falls. Francis, tr. of Horace's Odes, iii. i.
Briven to that state of mind in which we are more ready
to act precipitately than to reason right.
Goldsmith, Vicar, xviii.
Not so brave Arnall ; with a weight of skull.
Furious he dives, precipitately dull.
Pope, Dunciad, ii. 816.
precipitateness (pre-sip'i-tat-nes), n. The state
or character of being precipitate; precipita-
tion; hastiness.
precipitation (prf-sip-i-ta'shon), n. [= OP.
precipitation, F. precipitation = Sp. precipita-
cion = Pg. predpitacSo = It. predpitazione, <
L.^r'«cipjta*fe(«-),af ailing headlong, headlong
haste, <. prssmpitare, pp. preecipitattis, oast down
headlong: see precipitate.'] 1. The act of cast-
ing down from a height, or the state of being
flung or hurled downward.
We . . . banish him our city,
In peril of precipitation
From off the rock Taipeian, never more
To enter our Rome gates. Shak., Cor., iii. 3. 102.
2. Eapid motion; a hm-rying or rushing on-
ward.
That could never happen from anjr other cause than the
hurry, prei^pitaHon, and rapid motion of the water, re-
turning, at the end of the deluge, towards the sea.
Woodward, Nat. Hist.
Facing along Cheapside with my accustomed preeipita-
tlart, when I walk westward. Lamb, Ohimney-Sweepers.
3. Haste ; hurry ; unwise or rash rapidity.
Precipitation in our works makes us unlike to God.
Heady fool, art thou wiser than thy Maker?
Rev. T. Adams, Works, III. 119.
We were forced to eat with great precipitation, having
received advice of General Carpenter's mai'ch as we were
at dinner. Addison, Freeholder, No. 3.
Precipitation, . . . incited by the pride of intellectual
superiority, is very fatal to great designs.
Johnson, Rambler, No. 43,
4. In chem. , the process by which any substance
is made to separate from another or others in
solution, and fall to the bottom. — 5. Moisture
from the atmosphere deposited on the earth's
surface, including dew, mist, rain, frost, snow,
sleet, hail, etc.
It [visibility] is no doubt, to some extent, the effect of
previous rains, the precipitation having washed the atmo-
sphere of its dust.
Bev. W. C. Ley, in Modern Meteorology, p. 128.
Precipitation process, in the smelting of lead. See pro-
cess. =Sya. 1. See list under precipitancy. Precipitancy is
always a quality; precipitation is primarily an act, but
may be a quality.
precipitative (prf-sip'i-ta-tiv), a. [(.precipitate
+ -ive.] Pertaining to precipitation ; tending
to precipitate.
The precipitative tendencies of tidal action may exceed
those resulting from resistances encountered in planetary
space. Winchell, World-Life, p. 491.
precipitator (pre-sip'i-ta-tor), n. [= It. pre-
cipitatore, < L. prsecipitator, one who over-
throws, < prsecipitatus, pp. of prsedpitare, oast
down headlong: see predpitate,"] 1. One who
precipitates; especially, one who urges on with
undue haste ; one who rashly brings to pass.
Zelots, . . . aaitprov'd, [werelthehast'nersandprecipi-
tafors of the destruction of that kingdom.
Hammond, Works, IV. 690.
2. That which brings about the precipitation
or downfall of atmospheric moisture.
For the slopes of elevations towards the sea are great
predpitatars of rain. The American, XI. 166.
3. That which causes or favors chemical jsre-
cipitation ; an apparatus for inducing precipi-
tation. Specifically, a tank in which carbonates held in
solution by free carbonic acid in water are precipitated
by caustic lime, which neutralizes the free carbonic acid
and permits the carbonates to fall to the bottom. This
precise
method of purifying water is used by dyers, and also in
fitting hard water for use in steam-boilers.
The mother-liquor is conducted through the pipe for
mother-water to the precipitators, which are constructed
of 2 in. tongued and grooved timber, lined with sheetlead.
Workshop Beceipts, 2d ser., p. 360.
precipitio'USt (pres-i-pish'us), a. [< L. precipi-
tium, a precipice (see precipice), + -ous. Of.
jiredpitons.'] Precipitous.
I perswaded him fairly ... to keep them from any such
predpUimis and impertinent rupture as might preclude
all meditation of accord. SirH. Wotton, Reliquiffi, p. 288.
The descent was precipitious : so that, save by ragged
steps, and those not a little dangerous, [there] was no rid-
ing down. Sir T. Herbert, Travels, p. 162. (Latham.}
precipitiouslyt (pres-i-pish'us-li), adv. Pre-
cipitously.
Headlong riot preeiiddously will on, wherever strong
desire shall drive, or flattering lust allure.
Decay of Christian Piety, p. 174.
precipitous (pre-sip'i-tus), a. [< OF. 2>reeipi-
teux, F . pridpiteux = Sp. Pg. It. predpitoso ; as
L. prseceps (-dpit-), head foremost, headlong
(see precipice), + -ous. Cf. predpitious."] 1.
Headlong ; descending rapidly, or rushing on-
ward.
The sweep
Of some precipitovx rivulet to the wave.
Tennyson, Enoch Arden.
2. Steep; like a precipice; consisting of preci-
pices: as, jprecipitojw cliffs.
Tangled swamps and deep precipitous dells.
Shelley, Alastor.
3f. Hasty; rash; precipitate.
She [Nature] useth to act by due and orderly gradations^
and takes no precipitous lea^s from one extream to another.
Glanmlle, Fre-existence of Souls, xiii.
Thus framed for ill, he loosed our triple hold
(Advice unsafe, precipitous, and bold).
Dryden, The Medal, 1. 66.
4t. Hastily appearing or passing; sudden.
How precious the time is, how precipitous the occasion,
how many things to be done in their just season.
Evelyn., Calendarium Hortense, Int.
=Syn. X and 2. See precipitate, a.
precipitously (pre-sip'i-tus-li), adv. 1. In at
precipitous manner; with sudden descent; in
violent haste.
Till the victim hear within and yearn to hurry precipi-
Like the leaf in a roaring whirlwind, like the smoke in a
hurricane whirl'd. Tennyson, Boadioea.
2t. Hastily; with precipitation; precipitately.
Some . . . precipitously conclude they [chameleons] eat
not any at all. Sir T. Broume, Vulg. Err., iii. 21.
precipitousness (pre-sip'i-tus-nes), «. 1. The
state or quality of being precipitous or steep ;
steepness. — 2. Hastiness; precipitation; rash
haste.
As simplicity ordinarily signifies sencelessness, precipi-
Umsness,m Trismegistus defines it, iidmai eUo;, a species
of madness in one place, and th (teflij, a kind of drunken-
ness in another, a wild irrational acting.
Hammond, Works, IV. iii.
precis (pra-se'), n. [F., an abstract, < L. pras-
dsum, a piece cut off (ML. also an abstract ?),
neut. otprsecisus, cutoff: see precise.'] 1. A
concise statement ; a summary; an abstract.
Any gentlemen, who are willing to co-operate are re-
quested to send in their names, and in return they will be
supplied with a precis of the case.
Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XL. 45.
Contrast the newspaper pri^cfe of some important nego-
tiation and the Blue Book— there is the difference at a
glance. Contemporary Rev., XLIZ. 669.
2. The act or process of drawing up a precis
or abstract.
precise (pre-sis'), «■ [< ME. "precis (in adv.*p>-e-
cisly, pereysly), < OF. preds, m., precise, 1., F.
pr^ds = S;p. Pg. It. predso, cut off, definite,
precise, strict, < L. prsecisus, cut short, short-
ened, brief, pp. of prxcidere, cut off in front,
cut short, abridge, <prse, before, + csBdere, cut.
Gt.condse.] 1. Dennite; exact; neither more
nor less than ; just, with no error.
I know not well what they are : hut precise villains they
are, that I am sure of. Shfik., M. for M., ii. 1, 54.
What special hinderers the Apostle means, we shall
have precise occasion in some future passages to demon*
strate. iRev. T. Adams, Works, II. 336.
End all dispute, and fix the year precise
When British bards begin to immortalise.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. i. 58.
2. Exactly stated, defined, marked off, or mea-
sured, etc. ; strictly expressed, stated, etc.
John Villani has given us an ample and precise account
of the state of Florence in the early part of the fourteenth
century. Hacaulay, Machiavelli.
Not a Christian thought exists which must go outside
of the English tongue for a clear, precise, forcible utter-
ance. A. Phelps, English Style, p. 65i
precise
The distinct is that which is so precise and different
from all other objects as to comprehend in itself onlv
what IS clear. VeOch, Introd. to Descartes's Method, p. It.
3. Being just what it purports or is aUeged to
be, and not something else ; particular.
Abs. Well, sir, and what did you say'
Fag. 0, I lied, sir— I forget the precise lie : but you
may depend on 't he got no truth from me.
Sheridan, The Rivals, iL 1.
4. Containing or committing no error: as, a
l>recise measurement; measuring or reckoning
with extreme exactness, so as to reduce the er-
rors in an unusual degree : as, a. precise instru-
ment or operator. — 5. Exact in conduct or re-
quirements; strict; punctilious; express; for-
mal; over-exact or over-scrupulous; prim; pre-
cisian; also, conformed to over-scrapulous re-
quirements.
He was eyer yrecise in promise-keeping.
Sliak., M. for M., i. 2. 76.
The Venetians are extraordinarily precise herein, inso-
much that a man cannot be receiued into Venice without
a bill of health. Caryat, Crudities, I. 74.
I think the purest and prectsest reformers ... of reli-
gion can hardly order this matter better than God hath
done. ife». T. Adams, Works, II. 361.
They would tell me I was too precise, and that I denied
myself of things, for their sakes, in which they saw no
evil. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 122.
Grave without dulness, learned without pride ;
Exact, yet mit precise; though meek, keen-ey'd.
C&ioper, Conversation, 1. 610.
The extravagance of the Independent preachers in the
camp, the precise garb, the severe countenance, the petty
scruples, the affected accent, . . . which marked tha Pu-
ritans. Macaiday, Hist. Eng.
6t. Speeiflcally, Puritan; puritanical.
A sort of sober, sonryy, precise neighbours.
That scarce have smiled twice since the king came in.
B. Jansan, Alchemist, i. 1.
My flue precise artisan, that shuns a tavern as the devil
doth a cross, is as often drunk as the rankest. His lan-
guage doth not savour of the pot ; he swears not, but "in-
deed 1 " But trust him, and he will cozen you to yourface.
Sei). T. Adams, Works, II. 445.
7. In logic, containing nothing superfluous.
The definition should be^ecise : that is, contain nothing
unessential, nothing supednons.
Sir W. ELarmlton, Logic, xxiv.
= Syn. 1. Accurate, Correct, Exact, etc. (see accurate), dis-
tinct, express. — 5. Stiff, ceremonious,
preciset (prf-sis' ), adv. [< pre&se, a.] Precise-
ly; exactly!
Sum follow so precyse
A learned man that oftentymes
They imitate his vyce.
Dra^it, tr. of Horace's Epistles to Msecenas.
precisely (pre-sis'li), adv. [< ME. *precisly,
percysly; <. precise + -Jy^."] 1. In a precise or
exact manner; accurately; definitely; exact-
ly; just.
We declare, that is to weten, that all and euery Alder-
man of yo forsayd cite eueiy yere for euermore in ye f este
of Saynt Gregory yo Pope, from ye office of aldyrmanry
vtterly and percysly to cessen and therof holych to be re-
meuyd. Charter of London, in Arnold's Chron., p. 37.
Many cases happen, in which a man cannot precisely de-
termine where it is that his lawful liberty ends, and where
it is that it begins to be extravagant and excessive.
Sharp, Works, I. vii.
It is precisely these impulses and emotions ivhich are so
hard to control that give dignity and worth to life.
J. R. Seeley, Nat. Eeligion, p. 141.
2. With strict conformity to rule ; punctilious-
ly; nicely; with over-scrupulous exactness in
ceremony or behavior.
Some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on the event.
Shak., Hamleti Iv. 4. 41.
preciseness (pre-sis'nes), n. The character of
being precise ; exactness ; precision ; particu-
larity; punctiliousness; scrupulousness; prim-
ness; squeamishness.
But they thlnke this precisenes in reformation of ap-
parell not to be so materiall, or greatly pertinent.
Spenser, State of Ireland.
Is all your strict preciseness come to this?
Shak. , 1 Hen. VI., v. 4. 67.
Among their pri'cisencss was a qualm at baptism; the
water was to be taken from a basin, and not from a fount.
Disraeli, Quarrels of Authors, p. 362, note.
precisian (pre-sizh'an), a. and n. [= F. pre-
nisien; a,s precise -f -ian."] I, a. 1. Precise;
punctiliously or ostentatiously observant of
rules or doctrines. — 2. Characteristic of pre-
cisians; puritanical.
If a man be a Herod within and a .Tohn without, a wicked
politician in a ruff of precisian set, God can distinguish
him. Sev. T. Adams, Works, n. 465.
n. n. One who adheres punctiliously to cer-
tain rules or observances ; especially, one who
is precise in matters of religion: often used
4679
depreciatingly with reference to the English
Puritans of the seventeenth century.
Eypocriticall precisians.
By vulgar phrase entitled Puritanes. -
Times' WhisUe (E. E. T. S.), p. 10.
These men (for all the world) like our Precisians be,
Who for some Cross or Saint they in the window see
Will pluck down all the Church.
Drayton, Polyolbion, vi. 801.
Mai'ried he was, and to as bitter a precisian as ever eat
flesh in Lent. Scott, Kenilworth, ii.
He is no precisian in attire.
B. L. Stevenson, Inland Voyage, EpiL
precisianism (pre-sizh' an-izm) ,n. [< precisian
+ -isro.] The quality or state of being a pre-
cisian; the doctrine or conduct of precisians.
It is precisianism to alter that
With austere judgment ttiat is given by nature.
B. J&nson, Case is Altered, 11 3.
precisianist (prf-sizh'an-ist), n. [< precisian
+ -ist.'] One wio adheres strictly to any doc-
trine, practice, or rule of conduct; a precisian.
Of course there are yet some precisianisis that will not
have It so ; but the school is practically dead and buried.
N. and Q., 6th ser., XI. 362.
precision (pre-sizh'on), n. [= P. precision =
Sp. jjrecMJom = Pg.'preeisSo = It. preeisione, <
L. prcecisio(n-), a cutting off, a cut, ML. preci-
sion, < jjr«ci(ie»'e, T^p. prsBCisus, cut off: see pre-
cise.] 1. The quality or state of bein^ precise,
exact, or definite as to form or meaning; dis-
tinctness; accuracy.
What Lord Bacon blames in the schoolmen of his time
is this, that they reasoned syllogistically on words which
had not been defined with precision.
Maeavlay, Utilitarian Theory of Government.
We deprive ourselves of that remarkable and almost
mysterious precision which is given to words when they
are habitually used in discussions which are to issue di-
rectly in acts. Maine, Village Communities, p. 345.
2. In logic : (a) Freedom from inessential ele-
ments.
In the extensive quantity of distinctness absence of
superfluity is called precision. Completeness and precision
together constitute adequacy.
Kant, Introd. to Logic (tr. by Abbott), viii.
There is a sin committed against logical purity or pre-
cision in assuming into the declaration qualities such as
do not determiuately designate what is defined.
Sir W. RamilUm, Logic, xxir.
(6) The separation from anything of extrinsic
elements, [in this sense, probably introduced into
Latin by ^cotMB, precision appears to be the abstract noun
corresponding to the verb prescind, and is occasionally
spelled prescisimi.'i — Arms Of precision. See arm^. —
Instrument of precision, an instrument suited for
measurement of tJie highest degree of refinement and
. precision, as a circle for measuring angles to a second of
an arc, or a comparator for measuring lengths to a micron.
— Mental precision, separation in the mind. — Nega-
tive precision, the representation of one without the
representation of the other. — Positive precision, the
representation of one thing as separated from another
thing. — Beal precision, the separation of one thing
from another in fact.=Syil. 1. Propriety, etc. {see purity),
nicety, correctness, truth. See accurate.
precisionist (pre-sizh'gn-ist), n. [< premsion
+ -ist.'] Same ks precisianist.
Were Si\ogic&\precisionist speaking, and speaking calmly
and of aforethought, this would be of force.
N. and Q., 7th ser., VIIL 162.
precisionize (pre-sizh'on-iz), v. t; pret. and
pp. precisionised', ppr. precisionizing. [< preci-
sion + -ise.'] To render precise; give precision
to ; state with precision or accuracy.
What a pity the same man does not . . . precisionize
other questions of political morals !
Sir e. C. Levris, Letters (1847), p. 143. (Davies.)
precisive (prf-si'siv), a. [= Sp. It. predsivo, <
precise + 4ve.] 1. Cutting off; amputative;
eradicative.
At other times our church moderates her censure, . . .
using a medicinal censure before a precisive; a less to
prevent a greater excommunication.
T. Pvller, Moderation of Church of Eng., p. 369.
2. Pertaining to or resulting from the mental
precision of one object from another — Precisive
abstraction. See the quotation, and abstraction.
Precisive abstraction is when we consider those things
apart which cannot really exist apart, as when we consider
mode without considering its substance and subject.
Watts, Logic, I. vi. § 9.
preclaret, preclairt (prf-klar'), a. [= Sp. Pg.
It. preclaro, < Jj.prmclarus, very bright or clear,
splendid, noble, excellent, < prse, before, + cla-
rus, shining, brilliant: see clear.'] Illustrious;
renowned.
Consider Weill thow bene hot officiar,
And vassal to that King incomparabill,
Preis thow to pleis that puissant prince preclair.
Sir D. Lyn&y, Works (1592), p. 194. (Jamieson.)
preclassical (pre-klas'i-kal), a. [< pre- + clas-
sicdO-.'] Existing or occurring before classical
times; prior to the classical.
precocious
He [Thoreau] seeks, at all risks, for perversity of thought,
and revives the age of concetti while he fancies himself
going back to a preclassical nature.
LoweU, Study Windows, p. 202.
preclitellian (pre-kli-tel'i-an), a. [< L. prse,
before, + NL. clitellum, q. v!] Having the ducts
of the testes opening before and not behind or
in the clitellum, as certain earthworms. Com-
pare postclitellian.
precloacal (pre-klo-a'kal), a. [< L. ;»■«, before,
-I- NL. cloaca: see cloaca, 3.] Of or pertaining
to the front of the cloaca; situated in the fore
part of the cloaca — Precloacal cartilage, precloa-
cal ossicle, the os cloacae.
preclude (pre-klod'), v. t. ; pret. and pp. pre-
cluded,- ppr. precluding. [= OF. preclure = It.
prechidere, < L. prmcludere, shut up or off, <
prse, before, + chidere, shut, close: see closed.
Of. conclude, exclude, include,ete.'\ If. To close;
stop up ; shut ; prevent access to.
Preclude your ears not against humble and honest pe-
titioners.
WaterTunise, Apol. for Learning, p. 187. (Latham.)
2. Toshutout; hinder by excluding; prevent;
impede.
Though the desires of his mind be granted, yet this pre-
cludes not the access of new desires to his mind.
iJeo. T. Adams, Works, II. 143.
To preclude the ambassadors of the neutral from egress
and ingress into enemy's territory is unfriendly, although
the enemy's envoys to the neutral may be seized except
on neutrEd soil or ships.
Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, § 164.
3. To prevent by anticipative action; renderin-
effeetual or unsuccessful ; hinder the action of.
Shall I preclude my future by taking a high seat, and
kindly adapting my conversation to the shape of heads?
Emerson, Experience.
Smille spoke against a system of precipitancy which
would preclude deliberation on questions of the highest
consequence. Bancroft, Hist. Const., IL 245.
=Syn. To prevent^ bar, debar, prohibit,
preclusion (pre -klo'zhqn), n. [< L. prseclu^
sio{n-), a shutting up, iprseclusus, pp. of prse-
eludere, shut up or off: see preclude.'] The act
of precluding, or the state of being precluded,
in any sense of that word.
It Is St. Augustine's preclusion of all star-predictions
out of this place. Sev. T. Adams, Works, I. 9.
preclusive (pre-ki5'siv), a. [< L. prseclusus,
pp. ot prseclttdere, shut up or off (see preclude),
+ -ive.] Tending to preclude; shutting out;
preventive : generally followed by of.
Every act [of France] bespoke an intention preclusive of
accommodation.
' Burke, Parliamentary Register, xxxlv. 482.
preclusively (pre-klo'siv-li), adv. In a preclu-
sive manner; preventively.
precocet (pre-kos')) a. [ia lit. sense, ME. pre-
cox, irreg, < L. ; in second sense, < OF.preccce,
F. precoce = Sp. precos = Pg. It. precoce, < L.
praecox (-coc-), prsecoquis, prsecoqmis, ripe be-
fore time, early ripe, premature, < prsecoqnere,
ripen beforehand, ripen fully, also boil before-
hand, < prse, before, + coquere, cook, boil: see
cook^. Cf. apricocic, apricot, from the same
ult. source.] 1. Early ripe. [Eare.]
In places passyng colde it is moost sure
Precox [figs] to plannte^ her fruyte thai soone enhance
Er shoures come.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 124.
2. Precocious.
An intellectus universalis, beyond all that we reade of
Plcus Mirandula, and" other precoce witts, and yet withall
a very humble child. Evelyn, Diary, July 6, 1679.
precocenesst (pre-kos 'nes), n. [Also precose-
ness; (.precoce +' -ness.] Precocity.
As to this extraordinary precose?i«ss, the like is reported
of a certain walnut-tree, as well as of the famous white-
thorn of Glastonbury. Evelyn, Sylva.
precocial, prsecocial (pre-ko'shial), a. [< Prie-
coces + -4al.'] Of or pertaining to the Prsecoces ;
having the characters of the Priecoces: opposed
to altricial.
precocious (pre-ko'shus),'a. [As precoce +
-ious.'i 1. Eipe before the natural time.
Many precocious trees, and such as have their spring in
the winter, may be found in most parts of Europe.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., ii. 6.
2. Eipe in understanding at an early period;
prematurely developed; forward: as, a, preco-
cious child; precocious faculties. — 3. Indica-
tive of precocity; characteristic of early ma-
turity; anticipative of greater age; premature.
'Tis superfiuous to live unto gray hairs when in a pre-
cocious temper we anticipate the virtues of them.
Sir T. Broume, To a Friend.
In the Italian States, as in many natui-al bodies, un-
timely decrepitude was the penalty of precocious matu-
rity. JMaeavlay, Machiavelli.
precocious
4. In hot., appearing before the leaves: said
of flowers.
precociously (pre-ko'shus-li), adv. In a preco-
cious manner; with premature ripeness or for-
wardness.
A man that 's fond preeoeUnuiy of stirring
Must be a spoon.
Hood, Morning Meditations.
precociousness (pre-ko'shus-nes), n. Same as
precocity (pre-kos'i-ti), ». [= F.prScodtS=: Sp.
precosidad = Pg. precocidade = It. precocitd, <
L. as if *prsBcocita(t-)s, < preBcox, early ripe:
see precoce, 2)reCocioiis.'] The state or charac-
ter of being precocious; premature growth or
development; early ripeness, especially of the
mental powers.
Some . . . imputing the cause of it [his fall] to a pre-
cocity of spirit and valour in him.
HoweU, Vocall Forrest, p. 77.
To the usual precocity of the girl, she added that early
experience of struggle . . . which is the lot of every ima-
ginative and passionate nature.
Oeorge Eliot, Mill on the Floss, iv. 2.
Ihe term precocity, as applied hy biologists to individu-
als, explains a similar phenomenon as applied to societies.
Claude Bernard tells us that the force of development is
greatest in the Inferior animals, and that this precocity is
an evidence of inferiority, and excludes longevity.
Science, III. 339.
precoetaneanf (pre-ko-f-ta'ne-an), n. [< pre-
+ coetanean.'] One contemporary with, yet old-
er than, another. [Bare.]
Indeed I read of Petrarch (the pre-coetanean of our Chau-
cer) that he was crowned with a laurel In the Capitol by
the senate of Some, an. 1341.
Fuller, General Worthies, Ix.
precogitate (pre-koj'i-tat), V. t. ; pret. and pp.
precogitated, ppr. precogitaUng. [< L. prsecogi-
tatus, pp. ot priecogitare (>lt. precogitare), pon-
der or consider in advance, < pree, before, 4-
cogitare, think, consider: see cogitate.'] To con-
sider or contrive beforehand. [Bare.]
precogitation (pre-koj-i-ta'shon), 11. [= It. pre-
cogitazione, < JuL. prsBCogitatio'(n-), forethought,
< L. praeeogitare, think upon beforehand : see
precogitate.] Previous thought or considera-
tion.
precognition (pre-kog-nish'on), n. [= Sp. jjre-
cognicion = It. precognizione, < LL. prseeogm-
Uo{n-), foreknowledge, < li. priecognoseere, fore-
know: see precognosce SkTid cognition.'] 1. Pre-
vious knowledge or cognition ; antecedent ex-
amination.
When it is said our "righteousness must exceed that of
the scribes and Pharisees," let us first take notice, by way
at precognitian, that it must at least be so much.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 18SB), II. 5.
2. A preliminary examination; specifically,
in Scots law, a preliminary examination of a
witness or of one likely to know something
about a case, or the evidence taken down; es-
pecially, an examination of witnesses to a crim-
inal act, before a judge, justice of the peace,
or sherifE, by a procurator-fiscal, in order to
know whether there is ground of trial, and to
enable him to set forth the facts in the libel.
The ambassador, when he arrived at Sennaar, found it,
in the first place, necessary to make a proces verbal, or
what we call a precognition, in which the names of the
authors, and substance of these reports, were mentioned.
Bruce, Source of the Nile, II. 603.
precognosce (pre-kog-nos'), «;. *.; pret. and pp.
precognoseed, ppr. precognoscing. [= Sp. pre-
conocer = It. preconoscere, < L. prseeognoscere,
foreknow, < pree, before, + cognoscere, become
or be acquainted with, know: see cognosce.]
In Scots law, to take the precognition of: as, to
precognosce witnesses, ^ee precognition.
precoUection (pre-ko-lek'shgn), n. [< pre- +
collection.] A collection previously made. Itnp.
Diet.
pre-Columbian (pre-ko-lum'bi-an), a. [< pre-
+ Columbian.] Prior to the time of Christopher
Columbus; occurring or existing before the
discovery of America by Columbus : as, a pre-
Columbian discovery of America.
Drawn wire, the manufacture of which it is not pre-
tended the pre-Columbian native Imew.
JPcfp. Sd. Mo., XX XT. 621.
precompose (pre-kom-poz'), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
precomposed, ypt" precomposing. [< pre- +
compose."] To compose beforehand.
In the latter part of his life he did not pre-compose his
cursory sermons ; but, having adjusted the heads, and
sketched out some particulars, trusted for success to his
extemporary powers. Joknmn, Watts.
preconceit (pre-kon-sef), n. [ipre- + conceit.]
An opinion formed"beforehand; a preconceived
notion.
4680
A thing in reason impossible, which notwithstanding
through their misf ashioned preconceit appeared unto them
no less certain than if nature had written it in the very
foreheads of all the creatures. Hooker,
preconceitedt (pre-kon-se'ted), a. [< pre- +
conceited.] Preconceived.
Faire blossomes, which of fairer frultes did boast.
Were blasted in the flowers.
With eye-exacted showers.
Whose sweet supposed sowers
Oi preconceited pleasures grieu'd me most.
Stirling, Aurora, ix.
preconceive (pre-kgn-sev'), V. t. ; pret. and pp.
preconceived, ppr. preconceiving. [<pre- -I- con-
ceive.] To form a conception, notion, or idea
of, in advance of actual knowledge.
In a dead plain the way seemeth the longer, because the
eye hatii preconceived it shorter than the truth. Bacon.
We do not form our opinions from it [fiction] ; but we
try it by our preconceived opinions. Macaulay, History.
preconception (pre-kon-sep'shgn), n. [< pi-e-
+ conception.] A conception or opinion formed
in advance of experience or actual knowledge ;
also, the influence of previous belief or states
of mind in modifying the conceptions formed
under the partial influence of experience.
Custom with most m en prevails more than truth ; accord-
ing to the notions and preconceptions which it hath form-
ed in our minds we shape the discourse of reason itself.
HakeiniU, Apology, !. 1, § 6.
preconcert (pre-kgn-s&rt'), D. t. [(.pre- + con-
cert, v.] To concert or arrange beforehand;
constitute in advance.
Toro, ... by a preconcerted agreement^ was delivered
Into his hands by the Governor of the City.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., L 6.
preconcert (pre-kon's6rt), n. [<.pre- ■¥ concert,
n.] Previous arrangement; preconcerted ac-
tion or agreement.
Much time may be required before a compact, organized
majority can be thus formed ; but formed it wiU be in
time, even without preconcert or design, by the sure work-
ings of that principle or constitution of our nature in which
government itself originates. Calhown, Works, 1. 16.
preconcertedly (pre-kon-s6r'ted-li), adv. In a
preconcerted manner; "by preconcert.
preconcertedness (pre-kgn-ser'ted-nes), n.
The state of being preconcerted.
preconcertion (pre-kgn-ser'shgn), n. [< pre-
+ concertion.] The "act of pifeconoerting, or
concerting beforehand. DwigJit. {Imp. Diet.)
precondemn (pre-kgn-dem'), V. t. [Cpre- +
condemn.] To condemn beforehand.
They will quite reject and preccendemne them ere they
have once examined them.
Prynne, Histrio-Mastix, Ep. Ded., p. 8.
precondemnation (pre-kon-dem-na'shgn), n.
[< pre- + condemnation.] The act of condemn-
ing, or the state of being condemned, before-
hand.
precondition (pre-kgn-dish'gn), n. [< pre- +
condition.] An antecedent condition ; a con-
dition requisite in advance ; a prerequisite.
Up to 1763 he [Eant] had still maintained that the idea
of God Is the precondiiian of all thought and being.
E. Caird, Philos. of Kant, p. 166.
preconform (pre-kon-f6rm'), V. t. and i. [< pre-
conform.] To conform in anticipation. De
- '^•
preconformity (pre-kgn-f6r'mi-ti), n. [<. pre-
+ conformity.] Antecedent conformity. Cole-
ridge.
preconizatet (prf-kon'i-zat), v. t. [< ML. prse-
conizatus, pp. of preeconizare, proclaim: see
preconize.] To proclaim; summon by procla-
mation.
The queen . . . incontinently departed out of the court ;
wherefore she was thrice ^econnisnte, and called eft-soons
to return and appear.
Bp. Burnet, Itecords, ii. No. 28. The King's letter,
[June, 1529.
preconization (pre-kon-i-za'shgn), n. [= F.
prSconisation = Sp. preconizamon = Pg. pre-
conizagSo = It. preconizzazione, < ML. prxconi-
zatio(n-), < prseeonizare, pp. prxconizatus, pro-
claim : see preconize.] If. A public proclama-
tion or summons.
The time was when the minister, in a solemn preconi-
zation, called you either then to speak, or for ever after
to hold your peace.
Bp. Hall, Cases of Conscience (Additional), lii.
2. Specifically, in the Bom. Cath. Ch., the pub-
lic confirmation by the Pope of the decision of
the College of Cardinals to appoint a given
ecclesiastic to a specified church dignity. This
preconization is an essential part of an appointment to any
ot the higher ecclesiastical dignities, is the first public an-
nouncement of it, and is made in the presence ot the Col-
lege of Cardinals. The buU of preconization Is the official
letter of the Pope to an appointee announcing his pre-
conization.
precordial
preconize, prseconize (pre'kg-nlz), v. t. ; pret.
and -py.preconizedjprseconized, Tp-pr.preconizing,
prxconizing. [= Y.priconiser = Bp.preconizar
= Pg. preeonisar = It. preconizzare, <'Mh. prse-
eonizare, proclaim, < L. preeco(n-), a crier, ner-
ald.] 1. To summon publicly; call upon as
by a public crier.
The clergy are prsecanized, or summoned by name, to
appear before the metropolitan or his commissary.
ETtcyc. Brit., VI. 329.
2. Specifically, in the Bom. Cath. Ch., to con-
firm publicly or ofScially_, as an ecclesiastical
appointment : a prerogative of the Pope. See
preconization, 2.
precong.uer (pre-kong'k6r), v. t. [< pre- +
conqwr.] To conquer beforehand.
This kingdom . . . thejh&A precmmuered in their hopes.
Fuller, Worthies, Cornwall, I. 304.
preconscious (pre-kon'shus), a. [ipre- + con-
scious."] Pertaining to or involving a state an-
terior to consciousness.
preconsent (pre-kgn-senf), n. [<pre- + con-
sent.] A previous' consent. Southey.
preconsign (pre-kgn-sin'), i). i. [< pre- + con-
sign.] If. To consign beforehand; serve as
a consignation or token of.
Therefore St. Cyril calls baptism ..." the antitype of
the passions of Christ." It does preconsign the death of
Christ, and does the infancy ot the work of grace.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), 1. 118.
2. To make over in advance; make a previous
consignment of: as, to preconsign one's prop-
erty to another.
preconsolidated (pre-kgn-sol'i-da-ted), a. [<
pre- + consolidated.] Consolidated beforehand.
preconstitute (pre-kon'sti-tut), v. t. ; pret. and
pp. preconsUtuted, ppr. preconstituUng. [<pre-
-I- consUtute. Cf. F. prSconstituer.] To con-
stitute or establish beforehand.
precontemporaneous (pre-kgn-tem-po-ra'nf-
us), a. [Cpre- + contemporaneous.] trior to
what is contemporaneous; antecedent; pre-
vious. [Bare.]
In discussing thej»-econtempor(in«<m8 history of the sub-
ject, he defined the following epochs. Science, III. 67.
precontract (pre-kon'trakt, formerly also pre-
kgn-trakt'), n. [< pre- + contract] A pre-
vious contract or engagement; especially, a
previous betrothal or contract of marriage'.
Gentle daughter, fear you not at all.
He is your husband on a pre-contract.
Shak., M. for M., iv. 1. 72.
Peter Gomera, thou hast lost thy wife ;
HeathpleoAs a precontract.
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Malta, i 3.
precontract (pre-kgn-trakf ),v. [< precontract,
n.] I. trans. To contract beforehand ; bind or
make over by a previous contract ; particiUarly,
to betroth before something else.
This Lepida had been pre-contraeted unto Metellua
Scipio; but afterwards, the precontract being broken,
he forsook her. North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 639.
II. intrans. To form a previous contract;
come to a previous arrangement or agree-
ment.
precontrive (pre-kgn-triv'), v. t. and ».; pret.
and pp. precontrived, ppr. precontriving. [<
pre- + contrive.] To contrive or plan before-
hand.
Thus, for instance, when the mind had the wiU to raise
the arm, to the head, the body was so precontrived as to
raise at that very moment the part required.
Warburton, On Pope's Essay on Man, iii. 295.
precoracoid, praecoracoid (pre-kor'a-koid), a.,
and». l< pre- + eoracoid.] I. a. Situated in
front of the coracoid bone or cartilage ; per-
taining to the precoracoid. Also precoracoi-
dal.
II. n. Apreeoracoidalbone or cartilage of the
shoulder-girdle or pectoral arch of the lower
vertebrates. See coracoid.
That region of the primitively cartilaginous pectoral
arch . . . which lies on the ventral side I of the glenoid
cavity] may present not only a coracoid, but a precoracmd
and an epicoracoid. Huxley, Anat. Vert., p. 35.
precoracoidal (pre-kor-a-koi'dal), a. l< precor-
acoid + -al.] Same as precoracoid.
precordia, m. See pracordia.
precordial, prsecordial (pre-k6r'di-al), a. and
n. [= F. prScordial, < 'ML.m-secordhlis, neut.
^l.praecordialia, pr8BCordia,<Li j)racordJa, prte-
cordia: see prsecordia.] I. a. Situated in front
of the heart ; pertaining to the prsecordia pre-
cordial region, the region of the hearty or the front of
the chest over the heart; also, the epigastric region.
I am come to speak ot the preeeordiall region of the
oodle. HoUand, tr. of Pliny, xxx. 5.
II. n. pi. The precordial parts. [Bare.]
precordial
Wheraa conlde is wantlnge, the naturaU heate is not
drraen frome the owtewarde partes into the inwaide partes
andvreem'diais, whereby digestion is much strengthened.
it £den, tr. of Peter Martyr (First Books on America,
Ced. Arber, p. 118).
precorneal, praecorneal (pre-kdr ne-al), a.
[< L. prae, before, + NL. cornea, eome'a.3 Sit-
uated on the front of the cornea of the eye.
precosenesst, »• See precoceness.
precourse (pre-kors'), v. t. ; pret. and pp. pre-
coursed, ppr. preeoursing. [< pre- + course, v.
Ci. preciirse.^ To go before as a herald or pre-
cursor; herald the approach of; announce;
prognosticate. [Rare.]
The sea had strangely flattened; the weighty swells
which had preamreed the growth of the storm had run
away down the eastern waters.
W. C. Russell, Death Ship, xL
precritical (pre-krit'i-kal), a. [< pre- + criti-
cal.'] Previous to the development of Kant's
critical philosophy and to the publication of
his " Critique of the Pure Reason."
The statement of the question carries one inevitably to
the preeriticai philosophies, to Cartesianism.
MiTid, XII. 124.
The preeriticai period of Kant's development.
Mieye. Brit., TTfTT. 847.
precular (prek'u-lar), n. [< L. preeari, pray:
seejjrayl. Cf.ML.j>recMte,chaplet.] A prayer-
man; a beadsman; one bound to pray periodi-
cally for the founder or founders of the religious
benefaction which he enjoys.
precuneal, prsecuneal (pre-ku'nf-al), a. [<
L. prx, before, + ewneus, wedge:' see ouneus
waA.prxmmeus.'] Situated in front of the cuneus
of the brain: specifically noting the quadrate
lobule, or prsecuneus.
precuneus, n. Bee prxeunetis.
precurrent (pre-kur'ent), a. [< L. prsecur-
ren{t-)s, ppr. of prsecurrere, run before, < prse,
before, + currere, run : see current^.] Running
forward ; specifically, in eool., extending oepha-
lad; antrorse : the opposite of recurrent.
precurrerf (pre -kfer'er), n. [< L. prsecurrere, run
before (see precttrrent), + E. -erl.] A precur-
sor; a forerunner.
Thou shrieking harbinger,
FoTd precurrer of the fiend.
Shak., Phoenix and Turtle, L 6.
precurset (pre-kers'), «. [< L. prsecursus, a
coming or going before, < prsec/urrere, run be-
fore : see precurrent, and cf . course'^.'] A fore-
running; a heralding; prognostication.
Even the like precwne of fierce events.
As harbingers preceding still the fates, . . .
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen.
Shak., Hamlet, L 1. 121.
precursor, n. See precursor.
procursive (pre-ker'siv), a. [< precurse + -ive.]
Preceding as a herald ; prognostioative ; pre-
dictive.
But soon a deep precursive sound moaned hollow.
Coleridge, Destiny of Nations.
precursor (prf-k6r'sor), ra. lAlso precurser; =
F. prieurseur ■= Sp.'Pg. precursor = It. preeur-
sore,. < L. preecursor, a forerunner, < prsecur-
rere, run before : see precurrent.'] A forerun-
ner; also, that which precedes an event and
indicates its approach.
Jove'alightnings, the precursors
O' the dreadful thunder-claps.
SAaft., Tempest, i. 2. 201.
=Syil. Predecessor, herald, omen, sign.
precursory (prf-ker'so-ri), a. and n. [< 'L.pras-
CMr«onMs, precursory, i preecursor, a forerunner :
see precursor.] I. a. Preceding as a herald;
forerunning; introductory; indicative of some-
thing to follow.
We shaU perceive more plainly the cosmopolite's fear-
ful ladgment if we take a precursory view oi the parable s
former passages. Hev. T. Adams, Works, II. 123.
Nations in a state of decay lose their idiom, which loss
is always orecMrsory to that of freedom.
Landor, Demosthenes and Eubulides.
n.f n. Apreciu'sor; an introduction.
Virtue is the way to truth ; purity of affections a ne-
ceBBtaj precursory io depth otiinowledge.
Hammond, Works, IV. 668.
predable (pred'a-bl), a. [< OP. 'predable (taken
in active sense), < ML. prseddbilis, in passive
sense, that can be seized as prey, < L. prsedari,
seize as prey: seeprede,prey^, v.] In fcer.,prey-
ing or carnivorous; raptorial: said of a bird.
predacean (pre-da'sf-an), n. Upredace-ous
+ -dn.] A carnivorous animal. Kiroy. {Imp.
Diet.) ^ ^^
predaceous (pre-da'shius), a. [= It. predaae,
< L. as if *prsedax, given to preying, < prseda.
4681
prey: see^)'e^2.] Living by prey ; disposed to
prey or plunder; predatory.
predalt (pre'dal), a. [< L. prseda, booty, spoil
(see prey^), -fr -al.'] Plundering; pillagmg;
predatory.
So England next the lastful Dane snrvey'd ;
Allur'd, tbepredal raven took his flight.
Her coasts at first attempting to invade.
And violate her sweets with rude delight.
S. Boyte, The Olive, i.
predate (pre-daf), v. t. ; pret. and t^t?. predated,
ppr. predating, [(.pre- + date\] 1. To ante-
date; date before the actual time: as, to pre-
date a bond. — 2. To possess an earlier date
than; precede in date.
The Bonnington, or Lawday, oak is not a boundary tree,
bat it predates the times of the Tudors.
N. and Q., 7th ser., VII. 480.
predation (pre-da'shon), n. [< L. prsedaUo(n-),
a plundering, '< prsedari, pp. prsedatas, plunder :
see prey^, v.] The act of plundering or pillag-
ing; robbery; predatory incursion.
For thei were charged with greate sommea of money to
the kyng, and now this sodain visitacion or predaium
cleane shaued them. EaU, Hen. IV., an. 17.
Fredatores (pred-a-to'rez), n. pi. [NIj., < L.
prsedator, a plunderer, < praedari, pp. prsedatus,
plunder: seeprey^, v.] Swainson's name of a
tribe of coleopterous insects, containing such
as are predatory or adephagous and prey on
other insects, including the families Cicinde-
lidsB, Carabidse, Dytiseidse, Silphidx, and Sta-
phylinidsB.
preaatorily (pred'a-to-ri-li), adv. In a preda-
tory manner; with" pillaging or plundering.
predatoriness (pred'a-to-ri-nes), n. The char-
acter of being predatory; inclination to prey
or plunder.
predatoriousf (pred-a-to'ri-us), a. [< L. prse-
datorius, plundering: see predatory.] Preda-
tory.
They become predatorious and adulterous, consumption-
aiy and culinary, false and base fires,
Bp. Qaudem,, Tears of the Church, p. 321. {flames.)
predatory (pred'a-to-ri), a. [= It. predatono,
< L. prsedatorius, rapacious, plundering, prseda-
tor, a plunderer, (prsedari, plunder: see jjre^^^
v.] 1. Plundering; pillaging; living by rapine
or preying.
Though the country was infested \fj predaiory bands, a
Protestant gentleman could scarcely obtain permission to
keep a brace of pistols. Macavlay, Hist. Eng., vi.
The human race, though a gregarious race, has ever
been, and still is, a predatory lace.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., § SIO.
2. Characterized by rapine; spent in plunder-
ing; devoted to pillaging.
The position was already a very important one, for—
according to the prciiatojy system of warfare of the day—
it was an excellent starting-point for those maranding ex-
peditions. Motley, Hist. Netherlands, II. 363.
Human beings are cruel to one another in proportion as
their habits are predatory.
B. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 449.
3. In Bool., habitually preying upon other ani-
mals; carnivorous or insectivorous, as a mam-
mal; rapacious or raptorial, as a bird; adepha-
gous, as an insect. — 4t. Hungry ; ravenous.
The evils that come of exercise are . . . that it maketh
the spirits more hot aai predatory.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 299.
predet, n. [< L. prseda, booty, plunder: see
prey^, n.] Spoil ; booty; plunder; pUlage.
The gentleman, being nettled that his kinsman would
seeme to rescue the prede of his deadlie f o, brake out in
these cholerike words. Stanihurst, Descrip. of Ireland, iv.
predet, v. t. [Also pread,preid; < 'L. prsedari,
plunder: see prey'^, v.] To plunder; pillage;
rob.
When the subjects were preided, you would be content
to winke at their misery, so that your mouth were stopt
with briberie. Stanihurst, Descrip. of Ireland, vl.
predecayf (pre-df-ka'), «• [< we- + decay.]
Previous decay.
For (what we must confess unto relations of antiquity)
some pre-deeay [of oracles] is observable from that [pas-
sage] of Cicero, urged by Baronius.
Sir T. Browne, Vnlg. Err., vii. 12.
predecease (pre-df-ses'), /(. [,= F.prMScis; <
L. prse, before, + decessus, departure.] De-
cease before another.
predecease (pre-df-ses'), v. t.; pret. andpp.^re-
deceased, ppr. predeceasing. [< predecease, n.]
To die before; precede in dying.
If children predecease progenitors.
We are their offspring, and thCT none of ours.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1766.
The first is the only Stuart period on which a faint mark
is left by Henry, Prince of Wales, v/bo predeceased his fa-
ther in 1612. Edinburgh Sen., CLXIV. 496.
predesign
predecess (pre-de-ses'), «. <• l<. predecessor,
taken as * predecess + -or.] To precede ; be the
predecessor of. [Rare.]
Lord John SaekyHOe predecessed me here.
Walpole, Letters, n. 87.
predecessive (pre-df-ses'iv), a. [< L. j)ra, be-
fore, -I- decessus, pp. of decedere, depart, with-
draw (see decease), + -t»c.] Going before ; pre-
ceding; previous.
Our noble and wise prince has hit the law
That all ma predecessive students
Have miss'd, unto their shame.
Middleton, Massinger, and Bowleg, Old Law, L 1^
predecessor (pre-de-ses'or), n. [< OP. prede-
cesseur, P. jirSdicesseur = 8p. predeeesor = Pg.
predecessor =z\t.predecessore, < tiL.prsedecessm;
one who has gone before, < L. prse, b|efore, -I-
decessor, a retiring o£Scer, < decedere, pp. de-
cessus, go away, depart: see decease. Cf. ante-
cessor and successor.] One who goes before or
precedes another, (o) One who precedes another ii»,
a given state, position, or office ; a previous occupant of a-
position or office.
What know wee further of him [Leontins, Bishop of
Magnesia] but that he might be as factious and false a-
Bishop as Leontins of Antioch, that was ahunderdyeares>
Tiia predecessor? Jf^ton, Prelatical Episcopacy.
(M) An ancestor ; a forefather.
Ross. Where is Duncan's body?
Maxd. Carried to Colmekill,
The sacred storehouse of bis predecessors.
And guardian of their bones.
Shak., Macbeth, iL 4. 34.
predeclare (pre-de-klar'), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
predeclared, ppr. predeclaring. {(pre- + de-
clare.] To declare beforehand; predict; fore-
tell.
Though I write fifty odd, I do not carry
An ahmanack in my bones to pre-declare
What weather we shall have.
Massiiiger, Guardian, i. I.
prededication (pre-ded-i-ka'shon), n. \(pre-
+ dedication.] A prior dedication ; a dedica-
tion made beforehand or previously. Webster's
Bict.
predefine (pre-de-fin'), v. t. ; pret. and pp. pre-
defined, pp». pr'edefi,ning. [< OF. predejinir =
Sp. Pg. predefinir = It. predefinire, ( ML. *prse-
definire, predetermine, < li.prse, before, + defi-
nire, define : see define.] To define or limit be-
forehand ; set a limit to previously ; predeter-
mine.
Daniel understood that the number of years which God
had, in his word to Jeremiah the prophet, predefined for
the continuance of the captivity of the Jews and the deso-
lation of Jerusalem, viz. seventy years, were now near to
their expiration. Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, Daniel, ix. 2.
predefinition (pre-def-i-nish'on), n. [Early
mod. 'E.prediffynycion; = Sp. predefinicion = Pg.
predefinigao = It. predefinizione, ( ML. *prsedefi-
niUo(n-), ( *prsed^nire, predetermine : seepre-
define.] Definition in advance ; predetermina-
tion.
Vntyl such tyme as the complete nomber of theyr con-
staunt fellowes and faithful bretheme . . . shoulde be
fulfylled and whoUye accomplyshed accordynge to the
eternal predyffynycum of God. Bp. Bale, Image, i.
«
predeliberation (pre-de-lib-e-ra'shon), n. [<
pre- + deliberation.] Deliberation beforehand.
Boget.
predelineation (pre-de-lin-e-a'shon), n. [(pre-
+ delineation.] 1. Previous delineation. — 3.
The theory or doctrine of the animalculists of
the last century, who considered the whole body
of an individual to be preformed in a sperma-
tozoon, and the figure to be predeUneated in
the head and other parts of the sperm-cells.
Leeuwenhoek, Hartsoeker, and Spallanzani were the
chief defenders of this theory ol predetineaHon.
Haeckel, Evol. of Man (trans.), I. 37.
predella (prf-del'a), n. [It. (ML. prsedella), a
stool, footstool, confessional.] Same aagradino.
predentary (pre-den'ta-ri), a. [< L. prse, be-
fore, -I- LL. SentoriMS, dentary: see dentary.']
Situated in advance of the dentary element or
bone of the lower jaw, as a bone of some rep-
tiles. Nature, XL. 325.
predentate (pre-den'tat), a. [< L. prse, before,
-H rfeJiJatMS, toothed: see dentate.] In Cetacea,
having teeth in the fore part of the upper jaw
only. Dewliurst^ 1834. [Rare.]
predesert (pre-de-zert')) n. [< pre- + deserf^.]
Previous merit or desert.
Some good offices we do to friends, others, to strangers,
but those are the noblest that we do without predesert.
Sir R. %'Mstrange, tr. of Seneca's Morals, iL (I>aVK«.)
predesign (pre-de-zin'), V. t. [< LL. prsede-
sjgrmare, designate before,< L.pr«, before, + d«~
signare, designate, design : see pre- and design.
predesign
»'.] To design or purpose beforehand; prede-
termine.
In artificial things we see many motions very orderly
performed, and with a manifest tendency to partioulM
and predesigned ends. Boyle, Free Inquiry.
predesignate (pre-des'lg-nat), v. t. ; pret. and
pp. predesignated, ppr. predesignaUng. [< LL.
prxdesignatus, pp. of prsedesigiiare, designate
before : see predesign.'] To determine upon in
advance, as to settle upon the characters for
which a collection is to be sampled in advance
of the examination of the sample.
predesignate (pre-des'ig-nat), a. [< lAj.prie-
designatus, pp. of prsedesignare, predesignate :
see predesign.'] In logic : (o) Having the quan-
tification of the subject distinctly expressed :
said of a proposition. Sir W. Hamilton. (6)
Designated in advance. Thus, it is a condition of
valid induction that the characters for which a collection
IB sampled should be designated or determined in ad-
vance ; and if this is done, these characters are medeeia-
nate.
predesignation (pre-des-ig-na'shon), n. l<pre-
designate + ■ion.'] In logic : (a) A'sign, symbol,
or word expressing logical quantity.
He thinks that, in universal negation, the logicians em-
ploy tlie predesignation "all."
Sir W. Hamilton, Discussions, App. II., Logical (B).
(6) The act of predesignating.
Suppose we were to draw our inferences without the
predesignation of the character [for which the class had
been sampled]; then we might in every case find some
recondite character in which those instances would all
agree. C. S. Peiree, Theory of Probable Inference, viii.
predesignatory (pre-des'ig-na-to-ri), a. [<
predesignate + -ory.] In logic, marking the
logical quantity of a proposition.
Here the predesignatory words for universally affirma-
tive and universally negative quantity are not the same.
Sir W. Hamilton, Discussions, App. II., Logical (B).
predestinariau (pre-des-ti-na'ri-an), a. and n.
[(.predestine + -arian.] I. a. l.'Believing in
the doctrine of predestination. — 3. Of or per-
taining to predestination.
II. n. One who believes in the doctrine of
predestination. .
Why does the predesHnarian so adventurously climb
into heaven, to ransack the celestial Archives, read God's
hidden decrees, when with less labour he may secure an
authentic transcript within himself?
Decay of Christian Piety.
predestinarianism (pre-des-ti-na'ri-an-izm), n.
[< predesHnarian + 4shi,] The system or doc-
trines of the jH-edestinarians.
Predestinarianism was in the first instance little more
than a development of the doctrine of exclusive salvation.
Leclcy, Eationalism, I. 885.
predestinaryf (pre-des'ti-na-ri), a. [(.predestine
+ -ary.] Predestinarian. ' Heylin, Hist. Pres-
byterians, p. 21. (Davies.)
predestinate (pre-des'ti-nat), v. t.; pret. and
pp. predestinated, ppr. predestinaUng. [< L.
prsedestinatus, pp. of prsedesUnare, determine
beforehand: S6& predestine.'] To predetermine
or foreordain ; appoint or ordain beforehand by
an unchangeable pm-pose.
Whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son. Bom. viii. 29.
By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory,
some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting
life, and others foreordained to everlasting death. These
angels and men, thus predestinated and foreordained, are
particuiaily and unchangeably designed ; and their num-
ber is so certain and definite that it cannot be either in-
creased or diminished. West. Conf. of Faith, ill 3, 4.
= Syn. Predestinate, Foreordain, Predestine, decree, fore-
doom. Predestinate and foreordain are exact words, ap-
plying only to the acts of God ; predestine is used some-
what more freely.
predestinate (pre-des'ti-nat), a. and n. [< ME.
predestinat, < L'. prsedestinatus, pp. : see the
verb.] I. a. Predestinated; foreordained;
fated.
Of hevenes kyng thou aH predestinat
To hele our soules of her seek estat
Chaucer, Mother of God, 1. 69.
Some gentleman or other shall 'scape a predesHnate
scratched face. Shak., Much Ado, i. 1. 136.
The great good wizard, well beloved and well
Pre&inate of heaven.
SiBinlmme, Tristram of Lyonesse, vt
II. n. One who is predestinated or foreor-
dained to a particular end.
We are taught to believe . . . that the promises are not
the rewards of obedience, but graces perfeining only to a
few predestinates. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1^5), II. 13.
predestination (pre-des-ti-na'shon), n. [< F.
predestination = Sp. predestinadon = Pg. pre-
destinagSo =It. predesUnazione, < LL. preedesH-
«a<Jo(M-), a determining beforehand, < prsedes-
4682
Unare, determine beforehand: see predestinate.]
The act of predestinating, or the state of being
predestinated ; fate ; specifically, in theol., the
decree or purpose of God, by which he has from
eternity immutably determined whatever comes
to pass; in a more restricted sense, the decree
by which men are destined to everlasting hap-
piness or misery; in the most restricted sense,
predestination to eternal life, or election (the
correlative doctrine that God has predestined
some to everlasting death is termed reirroba-
. Hon), Bee predestinate, v. t.
Predestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of God,
whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid)
he hath constantly decreed by His counsel, secret to us, to
deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hatli
chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by
Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour.
Thirty-nine Articles qf the Episcopal Church, Art xvii.
As a predestination over-ruled
Their will, disposed by absolute decree
Or high foreknowledge. Jfi7to», P. L., iii. 114.
Influenced by their belief in predestinati/m, the men dis-
play, in times of distressing uncertainty, an exemplary pa-
tience. E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. 369.
= Syn. Foreordination, predetermination.
predestinative (pre-des'ti-na-tiv), a. [= It.
predestinativo; a,s predestinate + -^e.] Deter-
mining beforehand; foreordaining. Coleridge.
predestinator (pre-des'ti-na-tor), n. [< P. pr4-
destinateur; as predestinate -1- -ori.] 1. One
who predestinates or foreordains. — 2. One who
believes in predestination; a predestinarian.
Let all Predestinaiors me produce.
Who struggle with Eternal Bonds in vain.
Cowley, The Mistress, My Fate.
predestine (pre-des'tin), V. *.; pret. and pp. pre-
destined, ppr. predestining. [< P. pridestiner =
Sp. Pg. predestinar = It. predestinare, < L.jpras-
destinare, determine beforehand, < prx, before-
hand, -I- desUnare, determine : see destine.] To
decree beforehand; predetermine; foreordain;
predestinate.
At length he spoke, and, as the scheme was laid,
Doom'd to the slaughter my predestin'd head.
Pitt, .lEneid, ii.
==Syil. See predestinate.
predestinyt (pre-des'ti-ni), n. [KE.predesteyne;
as pre- + destiny. Cf. predestine.] Predesti-
nation.
Syn God seth every thynge, out of doutaance, . . ,
As they shul comen hy predesteyne.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 966.
predeterminable (pre-de-ter'mi-na-bl), a. [<
predetermine + -able.] Capable of being pre-
determined. Coleridge. {Imp. Diet.)
predeterminate (pre-de-t6r'mi-nat), a. [< LL.
prsedeterminatus, pp. oi priedeterminare, deter-
mine beforehand: see predetermine.] Deter-
mined beforehand : as, the predeterminate coun-
sel of God.
We cannot break through the bounds of God's provi-
dence and predderminate purpose in the guidance of
events.
Bp. Richardson, Obs. on the Old Testament, p. 313.
predetermination (pre-de-t6r-mi-na'shon), n.
[=:F.pr^d4terminaUon=STp.predeterminacion=
Pg. predeterminafSo = It. predeterminazione, <
'LSj.*frsedeterminatio(n-), < prsedeterminare, de-
termine beforehand: see predeterminate.] 1.
The act of predetermining; preordination;
previous determination to a given course or
end.
This predetermination of God's own will is so far from
being the determining of ouis that it is distinctly the con-
trary. Hanmwnd, Fundamentals.
3. The state of being previously determined ;
a state wherein each act or event is dependent
upon antecedent conditions.
Our weary glance, as it strays over the outside of phse-
nomena, meets nothing else than the whirl of impersonal
substances, the blind conflict of unconscious forces, the
drear necessity of inevitable predetermination.
Lotze, Microcosmus (trans.), I. 1.
predetermine (pre-de-ter'min), v.; pret. and
-£ip. predetermined, ^^t. predetermining. [= P.
prediterminer = Sp. Pg. predeterminar = It. pre-
determinare, < LL. prsedeterminare, determine
beforehand, < L. prse, before, + determinare,
Umit, determine: see determine.] I. trans. 1.
To determine beforehand; settle in purpose or
counsel.
If God fore sees events, hemusthave^efZe^ermiTted them.
SirM. Hale.
The moment I cast my eyes upon him, I vi^ predeter-
mined not to give him a single sous.
Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. 8.
2. To destine by previous decree.
So great was the love of God to mankind, that he pi'e-
pared joys infinite and never ceasing for man before he
had created him ; but he did not predetermine him to any
evil. Jer. Taylor, Sermons, I. ix.
predicable
II. intrans. To make a determination before-
hand.
predeterminism (pre-de-t6r'mi-nizm), n. [<
predetei'mine + -ism.] Same as determinism.
Worcester.
predevote (pre-df-vof), a. [<pre- + devote, a.]
Predestinate ; foreordained.
The next Peter Bell was he
Predevote, like you and me,
To good or evil as may come.
Shelley, Peter BeU the Third, ProL
predevourt (pre-de-vour'), «. t. [< pre- + de-
vour.] To consume beforehand ; exhaust pre-
maturely. Fuller, Worthies, II. 572.
predial (pre'di-al), a. and n. [Also prsedial (af-
ter L.) ; < OF. predial, F. pridial = Sp. 'Pg.pre-
dial = tt.prediale, a., < ML, prsedialis, < L. prse-
dium, a farm, an estate, for *prsehedium, <prse-
hendere, prehendere, seize, take: see prehend.
Ct. prseda,'booty: seeprey^.] I, a. 1. Consist-
ing of land or farms; real; landed.
By the civil law their predial estates are liable to fiscal
payments and taxes. Ayllffe, Parergon.
1 owing service as
[<.pr
Just preceding the diastwe of the
2. Attached to farms or land;
tenanting land.
The substitution of foreign-bom predial slaves and dis-
banded soldiers, from every part of the ancient known
world, tor the native and aboriginal inhabitants of the soil
[of Italy]. e. P. Marsh, Hist. Eng. Lang. , p. 37.
3. Consequent upon tenanting fanns or land;
growing or issuing from farms or land: as, pre-
dial tithes.
Tithes . . . are defined to be the tenth part of the in-
crease yearly arising and renewing from the profits of
lands ; . . . the first species being usually called predial,
as of com, grass, hops, and wood. Blackstane, Com., II. iii.
If there are reasons for thinking that some free village
societies fell during the process [of feudalization] into the
predial condition of villenage — whatever that Condition
may really have implied — a compensating process began
at some unknown date, under which the base tenant made
a steady approach to the level of the freeholder.
Maine, Village Communities, p. 141.
In France predial servitude existed down to the very
days of the Revolution. Westminster Rev., CXXVIII. 954.
The delinquent loseth all his right whatsoever, prsedial,
personal, and of privilege.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 108.
Predial or real services, in the law of servitudes, such
services as one estate owes unto another estate : as, be-
cause I am the owner of such a ground, 1 have the right
of a way through the ground of another person. Washburn.
— Predial servitudes, in Scots law, real servitudes affect-
ing heritage.— Predial tithes, tithes of the produce of
land, as corn, grass, hops, and wood.
II. n. A predial laborer or slave; one who
owes service as a tenant of land.
These conditions were that the prmuials should owe
three fourths of the profits of their labor to their masters
for six years, and the non-praedials for four years.
Emerson, Address, W. I. Emancipation.
prediastolic (pre-di-a-stol'ik), a. [< pre- + di-
astolic]
heart.
predicability (pred"i-ka-bil'i-ti), n. [= P. pr^
dicabilit^ = Fg.predicaiilidaSe ; aspredicable +
■ity (see -bility).] The quality of being predica-
ble; capacity for being affirmed of or attrib-
uted to something.
predicable (pred'i-ka-bl), a. and n. [= P. pri-
dicable = Sp. predicable = Pg. predieavel = It.
predicabile, that may be affirmed, < ML. prsedi-
eabilis, predicable (neut. prsedicabile (Petrus
Hispanus), a predicable) (in L. prsedicabilis,
praiseworthy), < L. prsedicare, declare, pro-
claim: see 2>redicate.'f I. a. Capable of being
predicated or affirmed; assertable.
Of man, of life, of happiness, certain primordial truths
are predicable which necessarily underlie all right con-
duct. H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 608.
II. n. A logical term considered as capable
of being universally predicated o£ another;
usually, one of the five words, or five kinds of
predicates, according to the Aristotelian logic,
namely genus, species, difference, property,
and accident. Thus, Petrus Hispanus says (in Latin,
but it is equally trae in English) : " Predicable taken prop-
erly is the same as universal, only they differ in this, that
predicable is defined by 'is said of ' while universal is de-
fined by 'is in.' For predicable is what is born apt to be
said of many, and universal is what is born apt to be in
many."
Thei be called predieables, because some one thing is
spoken of another. And thei are (as a man would sale)
markes or notes of woordes that are spoken of many, shew-
yng how and by what maner the same woordes are attrib-
uted to others. Wilson, Rule of Reason.
It any one takes the trouble to enumerate the Prediea-
bles, which he may easily derive from a good Ontology
(e. g., Baumgarten's), and to airange them in classes un-
der the Categories, ... he will . . . produce a purely
analytic section of Metaphysic, which wUl not contain a
single synthetic proposition.
E. Caird, Philos. of Kant, p. 309.
predicable
Tredicablea of the pure underBtanding, in the Ean-
Uan terminology, pure but derivative concepts of tlie un-
derstanding.
predicament (pre-dik'a-ment), ». [< OP. pre-
dicament, also prediquement, P. predicament =
Sp. Pg. It. predicamento,< lAi. prasdicamentum,
that which is predicated, a predicament, cate-
gory, ML. also a preaching, discourse, < L.
prsedieare, declare, proclaim, predicate: see
predicate. Cf. preachment, from the same ult.
source.] 1. That which is predicated; specifi-
cally, in the Aristotelian philos., one of the ten
categories. See category, 1.
A predicament is nothing elles in Englishe but a shewyng
or rehearsyngwhat wordes male be truely ioyned together,
or els a settyng foorth of the nature of euery thing, and
also shewyng what male be truely spoken and what not.
Wilion, Eule of Keason.
2. A definite class, state, or condition.
Wee should apparauntly perceiue that we, beyng called
reasonable creatures, and in that predica/ment compared
and ioyned wyth angelles, bee more worthy to be nuncu-
pate and demed persones vnreasonable.
HeUl, Edw. IV., an. 23.
If you have gained such a Place among the choicest
Friends of mine, I hope you will put me somewhere
amongst yours, though I but fetch up the Bfar, being con-
tented to be the inflrma [sic] species, the lowest in the
JPredicmnent of your Friends. Howell, Letters, L i. 13.
Thou know'st it must be now thy only bent
To keep in compass of thy predicament.
Then quick about thy purposed business come.
MUton, Vacation Exercise, 1. 56.
3. A dangerous or trying situation; an unpleas-
ant position.
The offender's life lies in the mercy
Of the duke only, 'gainst all other voice.
In which predicament, I say, thou stand'st.
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 867.
God help good fellows when they cannot help themselves 1
slender relief in the predicament of privations and feigned
habits. 6. Harvey, Four Letters.
=Syn. 3. Position, plight, case.
preaicamental (prf-dlk-a-men'tal), a. [= Sp.
■ 1?, < IVIL. prsedicamentalis (John
4083
The property represented by these notes must eventual-
ly pay all the loans predicated upon it.
Barper'e Mag., LXXX. 464.
predicate (pred'i-kat), a. and n. [= F. predi-
cat = Sp. Pg. predicado = It. predicato = D.
predikaat = Gr. pradicat, prddikat = Sw. Dan.
predikat, < L. prsedicatiis, pp., declared (neut.
predictive
te, declare: see predicate.'] Predicating; af-
firming; asserting; expressing affirmation or
predication: as, a^edico<i«e term.— predicative
proposition, in logic, same as categoriealpropogitum. See
eaiegorieal, 2.
predicatively (pred'i-ka-tiv-li), adv. In the
manner of a predicate ; like a predicate.
IAj. prxdicatum, a predicate): see the verb.] predicatory fpred'i-ka-to-ri), a. [=Sp. predi-
I. a. Predicated; belonging to a predicate; catono, a pulpit, = It! predicotorio, < LL. ^re-
constituting a part of what is predicated or dicatoriiis, only in sense of 'praising,' 'lauda-
asserted of anything ; made, through the in- tory,' < L. prsedicatoTj one who declares or pro-
strumentality of a verb, to qualify its subject, claims, one who praises, LL. also a preacher,
or sometimes its direct object: thus, in the
following sentences the italicized words are
predicate: he is an invalid; he is ill; it made
him ill; they elected him captain.
II. ». 1. That which is predicated or said
of a subject in a proposition; in gram., the word
or words in a proposition which express what
is affirmed or denied of the subject; that part
of the sentence which is not the subject,
proposition.
<. prsedieare, -pp. preedicatus, declare, proclaim:
see predicate.] If. Pertaining to preaching;
"involving preaching.
Callings must be duly observed, whether in the school^
in a meer grammatical way, or in the church, in a predi-
catory. Bp. HaU, Cases of Conscience, ili. 10.
2. Affirmative; of the nature of a predicate:
. as, a predicatory statement.
°^^ predicrotic (pre-di-krot'ik), a. [< pre- + di-
crotic.'] Preceding the dicrotic Predicrotic
For predicatee — qualities — are not mere patterns on the wave, the wave next before the dicrotic wave. Sometimes
web of a subject; mey are the threads of that web. called ^r«« tidal warn.
6. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, II. iii. § 25. predict (pre-dikf ), V. t. [< L. prasdictus, p;
3. A class name; a title by which a person or " " ' ■. ~ ^ -
thing may be known, in virtue of belonging to
of Salisbury), < LL. prsedicamewt/wm, predica-
ment: see predicament.] Of or pertaining to
predicaments.
Old Cybele, the first in all
This human predieamenJtdl scale.
J. HaU, Poems (1646), p. 23.
Predicamental quantity, quantity properly so called ;
quantity in the sense in which it is one of the ten predic-
aments or categories : opposed to intei^xlve quantity. —
Predicamental relates, things named by relative terms,
so that one has to be connoted in order completely to
name the other: opposed to transcendental relates, which
are so by their mode of being.
predicant (pred'i-kant), a. and n. [< OF. predi-
cant, F. predicant"= Sp. It. predicante, < L.
praBdican(t-)s, ppr. of prsedieare, declare, pro-
claim, LL. and ML. also preach: see predicate.]
1. a. 1. Predicating or affirming. — 2. Preach-
ing.
In spite of every opposition from the predieavt friars
and university of Cologne, the barbarous school-books were
superseded. <Str TT. Hamilton.
II. n. 1. One who affirms anything. — 2.
One who preaches; specifically, a preaching
friar ; a black friar.
In this are not the people partakers neither, but only
their predicants and their schoolmen. *
Hooker, Discourse of Justification, Habak. i. 4.
A Dutch iwedico/it, holding precisely the same theologi-
cal tenets [as a Scotch Presbyterian], will after morning
service spend his Sunday afternoon in the Bosch at the
Hague, listening to what his Scottish co-religionist would
call godless music. Nineteenth Century, XXVI. 819.
predicate (pred'i-kat), v. t. ; pret.and pp. predi-
cated, ppr. predicating. [< L. priedicatus, pp.
of prsedieare, declare, publish, proclaim, also
praise, extol, LL. and ML. also preach, < prse,
before, + dicare, declare, proclaim, < dicere,
say, tell: see diction. Gt. preach, from the same
L. verb.] 1. To declare; assert; affirm; spe-
cifically, to affirm as an attribute or quality of
something; attribute as a property or charac-
teristic.
It is metaphoricaUy predicated of God that he is a con-
suming fire. Sir T. Bromw, Vulg. Err., v. 22.
It would have required . . . more elevation of soul than
oould fairly be predicated of any individual for Elizabeth
in 1587 to pardon Mary. „.,„.,., a tt -mn
Motley, Hist. IS^etherlands, II. 190.
You cannot predicate rights where you cannot predicate
duties. Fortnightly Bev., N. S., XLIII. 75.
2. To assert, as a proposition or argument,
upon given grounds or data; found; hence, to
base, as an action, upon certain grounds or
security: as, to predicate &loii,n.. [U. S.J
His moroseness, his party spirit, and his personal vin-
dictlveness ase Oi predicated upon the Inferno, and upon
a misapprehension or careless reading even of that.
LmoeU, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 46.
a class.
The noble author, head, I am given to understand, un-
der the predicate of Aghrim, of the eldest branch of the
once princely house of Imaney.
N. and Q., 7th ser., IV. 64.
Adverbial predicate, a word (adjective) that divides its
qualifying force between a verb and its subject, or has the
value partly of an adverb and partly of a predicate : as,
he stands firm; they came running. — First predicate
[prmdicatum prim,o], a specific character belonging to the
whole species, but not to the genus. — Objective predi-
cate, a noun or an adjective made through a verb to quali- J. i. / - j'l i./\
tj the object of the verb : as, she caUed him Iter deliverer; predlCtt (pre-OUlt ), n.
they found them sZeepJKj. Sometimes, less properly, called ■'^-i-' — *«-„+„ii,- — «.
factitive object.— Quantification of the predicate. See
quantification.
predication (pred-i-ka'shgn), n. [< ME. pre-
dicamoun, < OF. predication, P. prSdicaUon =
Pr. predicatio = Sp. predicacion = It. predica-
gione, < L. prsedicatio(n-), a declaration, a proc-
lamation, publication, < prsedieare, pp. prsedi-
caiMS, proclaim, declare: see j)»-edifcaie.] _ If. predictable (pre-dik'ta-bl), a. l< predict +
""' -able.] Capable of being predicted or foretold;
admitting of prediction, or determination in
-'P-
ot prsedicer'e, say beforehand, premise, foretell,
predict Q It. predire = Pg.predizer = Sp.pre-
decir = 'F.prMre, foretell), < prse, before, + di-
cere, say, tell : see diction.] To foretell ; proph-
esy; declare before the event happens; prog-
nosticate; also, to declare before the fact is
known by direct experience.
All things hitherto have happened accordingly to the
very time that I predicted them.
Dryden, To his Sons, Sept. 3, 1697.
=S3m. Prophesy, Presage, etc. (see /oreteH), foreshow, di-
vine.
. ,^ . . , [< L. prsedictum, a pre-
diction, foretelling, neut. of prsedicttis, pp. of
prsedicere, foretell: see predipt, v.] A pre-
diction.
Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
Pointing to each his thunder, rain, and wind.
Or say with princes if it shall go well.
By oft predict that I in heaven find.
Shak. , Sonnets, xiv.
The act of proclaiming publicly or preaching;
hence, a sermon ; a religious discourse.
If ye lakke cure predicaeioun,
Thanne goth the world al to destruccioun.
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 401.
The day before were made many predicaiioTis and ser-
mons, and the last was in the church of S. lobn Baptist.
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 78.
advance.
At any particular place the direction of the [magnetic]
needle is continually changing, these changes being, like
the changes in the temperature of the air, in part regular
and predictable, and partly lawless, so far as we can see.
C. A. Young, The Sun, p. 154.
In the wonted ^'^^^l^l^^^^^-^l^-^^^^^; prediction (pre-dik'shon), «, [< OF. prediction.
on to tell us that _ .
to restore the Laws and Liberties of his people,
MUton, Eikonoklastes, xix.
2. The act of predicating or affirming one a saymg beforehand, premising, also a foretell-
thing of another; formation or expression of ing, prediction, < prsedicere, pp. prxdictus, say
"P. pridiction = Sp. predicdon = Pg. predicqao
= It. predieione, prediction, < L. prsedictio(n-).
judgment; affirmation; assertion.
The most generally received notion of jffedication , . .
is tliat it consists in referring something to a class, i. e.
either placing an individual under a class or placing one
class under another class. J. S. Mill, logic, I. v.
In the Sophist Plato solved the problem, and gave an ex-
planation of the nature of predication which, making al-
lowances for the difference of Greek and English idiom,
is substantially the same as that given in Mill's logic.
Amer. Jour. PhUol., IX. 290.
Accidental predication, the predication of an accident
not contained in the essence.— Denominative predica/-
tion, the relation of the abstract name of a quality to the
name of the subject in which it is said to inhere : opposed
to urdvocal predication, by which the concrete is predi-
cated instead of the abstract ; also, the predication of any-
thing of the nature of an accident of a subject.— Direct
predication. See direct.— Essential predication, the
predication concerning a subject of anything contained
in its essence.- Formal predication, a predication by
which it is asserted that what is denoted by the subject
is denoted by the predicate.— Indirect predication.
See direct predication.— Material predication, a predi-
cation in which the predicate is said to follow from or be
otherwise related to the subject ; in other words, a pred-
ication in which there is a material copula.— Predica- . , _ _
tion de omni,the application of a predicate to the whole nredictional (pre-dlk'shon-al), a. [(.prediction
breadth qf. a subject.-K:edication in quid or m^^^ +^1] Oi the "nature of prediction; predic-
befbfe, foretell: see predict.] The act of pre-
dicting or foretelling; a prophecy; declaration
concerning future events.
I am thinking, brother, of a prediction I read this other
day, what should follow these eclipses.
Sitofr.,Lear,i. 2. 152.
Let me not rashly call in doubt
Divine prediction; what if all foretold
Had been fulflll'd but through mine own default.
Whom have I to complain of but myself?
MUton, S. A.,L44.
=Syn. Prediction, Prophecy, Divination, Prognoslicatien,
augury, vaticination, soothsaying. Prophecy is the high-
est of these words, ordinarily expressing an inspired fore-
telling of future events, and only figuratively expressing
anything else. It is the only one of them that expresses
the power as well as the act : as, the gift of prophecy.
PredicHim may or may not be an inspired act ; it is most
commonly used of the foretelling of events in accordance
with knowledge gained through scientific investigations
or practical experience, and is thus the most general of
these words. Divination is the act of an augur or an im-
postor. Prognostieatwn is the interpretation of signs with
reference to the future, especially as to the course of dis-
auod quid, a predication answering a possible question
"What is it ?" ; a predication of a species or genus. -Pred-
ication in eo quod quale or in quale qjiid, predica^
tion of the specific difference which distinguishes the sub-
ject from other things of the same genus.— Predication
in quale, the predication of an inessential predicate.- , ... , -, ■, -,. ^.
Signate predication, a predication in which the usual predictive (pre-dik'tiv), a. [< L. prxdictimus,
copula is replaced by some phrase referring to the terms %!«,.o<-oiHr,^ ( nnvMnjire. rm. nraadictus. foretell:
and not to the things signified, as when we say Man w de-
fined as a rational animal, Man belongs to the Jamdyof
tive ; prophetic ; indicative of later events.
The contests betwixt scholars and scholars . . . were
observed predictianal, as if their anunosities were the in-
dex of the volume of the land. Fuller, Worthies, III 8.
Primates, To die is a property o/man.— Univocal predi-
cation. See denmninaMve predication. — Usual predica-
tion [prsedicatio exercita], a predication in which the cop-
ula refers directly to the things or qualities signified by
the subject and predicate. „ „ „.
predicative (pred'i-ka-tiv), a. [= P. prHica-
*8f = Sp. Pg. It. predicaUvo, < 'L'L.prsedicativws,
declaring, asserting, < 'L.prsedicare,pp.prsedica-
foretelling, <. prsedicere^ pp. prsedictus, foretell:
see predict.] Prophetic; indicative of some-
thing future.
She slowly rose,
With bitter smile predicJitie ot my woes.
Crdbbe, Works, VH. 34.
The statements of Scripture which relate to judgment
and heaven and hell are predietixe^ and therefore have the
characteristics of prophetic teaching.
Progressive Orthadoay, p. 69,
predictively
predictively (pre-dik'tiv-li), adv. By way of
prediction ; prophetically.
predictor (pre-dik'tor), n. [< ML. predictor,
one who foretells, < L. preedicere, foretell: see
predict.'] One -who predicts or foretells ; one
■who prophesies.
I thank my better stars I am alive to confront this false
and audacious predictor. Steift, Bickerstaff Detected.
predictory (pre-dik'to-ri), a. [<predict+ -ory.']
Prophetic; predictive: 8,s, predictory informa-
tion. J. Hervey, Meditations, II. 63.
predigastric (pre-di-gas'trik), a. and n. I. a.
Of or pertaining to the predigastricus.
II. n. The predigastricus.
predigastricus (pre-di-gas'tri-kus), m.; pi. pre-
digastrid (-a). [NL., < L. prse, before, + NL.
digastricus, q. v.] The anterior belly of the di-
gastaicus, regarded as a distinct muscle. Coues.
predigest (pre-di-jest'),?;. *. l<pre- + digest.'}
To digest more or less completely by artificial
means before introduction into the body.
predigestion (pre-di-jes'chon), n. [<.pre- + di-
gestion.} 1. ftemature or overhasty digestion.
Affected dispatch . . . is like that which the physicians
call predigestum, or hasty digestion, which is sure to fill
the body full of crudities. Bacon, Dispatch (ed. 1887).
2. Previous digestion; artificial digestion, as
of food by peptonization; digestion before eat-
ing.
predilatator (pre-dil'a-ta-tor), n. ; pi. predila-
tatores (pre-diFa-ta-to'rez)'." [< pre- + dilata-
tor.} The anterior dilatator muscle of the nos-
tril. Comes.
predilect (pre-di-lekf), v.t. [< ML. praedilectus,
pp. ot praediligere, love before, prefer, < L. prse,
before, + diligere, love : see dilection, diUgent.}
To prefer; favor; choose.
Heav'n to iia prediUeted children grante
The middle space 'twixt opulence and wants.
W. Ha/rte, Eulogius.
predilection (pre-di-lek'shon), «. [= P. predi-
lection = Sp. predileccion = Pg. predilecgSo =
It. predUezione, < ML. *prsedileetio{nr-), prefer-
ence, <. prsediligere, prefer: see predilect, dilec-
tion.} A prepossession of the mind in favor of
something; a preference.
For his sake 1 have a predUeclion for the whole corps of
veterans. Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. 66.
Temple had never sat in the English Parliament, and
therefore regarded it with none of the predilection which
men naturally feel for a body to which they belong.
Macaiday, Sir William Temple.
^SyiL Lilting, Attachment, etc. (seeJowl), partiality, in-
clination (toward), preference.
prediscover (pre-dis-kuv'er), V. t. [< pre- -1-
diseover.} To discover beforehand; foresee.
These holy men did prudently prediscover that diifer-
ences in jadgements would unavoidably happen in the
Chnich. JW2er,Ch. Hist., IX. i. 62. (^Davies.)
prediscovery (pre-dis-kuv'6r-i), n. ; pi. predis-
coveries (-iz). [< pre- + discovery.} A prior
discovery.
It was a question between us and the court of Spain,
touching the pre-ditcovery and consequently the right of
dominion over certain islands in the South Seas.
Sir J. Hawkins, Johnson, p. 464.
predisponency (pre-dis-p6'nen-si), n. [< pre-
disponen{t) -I- -cy.} The state of being pre-
disposed; predisposition. Imp. Diet.
predisponent (pre-dis-po'nent), a. and n. [=
Pg. It. predi^onente ; as pre- + disponent.} I.
a. Predisposing; creating an inclination or dis-
position toward something.
These graces and favours ... are given to men irregu-
larly, and without any order ot predisponent causes.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), 1. 142.
II, n. That which predisposes ; a predispos-
ing cause.
predispose (pre-dis-poz'), ». ; ^let. and -pp. pre-
disposed, ppr. predisposing. [< F. prMisposer;
as pre- + dispose. Cf. Sp. predisponer = Pg.
predispdr — It. pridisporre, predispose.] I.
trans. To incline beforehand ; affect by a pre-
vious disposition or inclination ; adapt before-
hand; render susceptible or liable, either men-
tally or physically: as, to predispose the body
to disease ; to predispose the mind to anger.
Unless nature be predisposed to friendship by its own
propensity, no arts of obligation shall be able to abate the
secret hatreds of some persons towards others. South,
n. intrans. To create a previous disposition
or inclination ; cause a tendency in a particu-
lar direction.
It is . . . quite certain that the use of impure water of
any kind predisposes to cholera.
Huxley and Yaumaws, Physiol., § 418.
predisposing (pre-dis-po'zing),^). a. _ \<. predis-
pose + -in^.} Inclining or disposing before-
hand ; making liable or susceptible.
4684
Apredftpodins cause may . . . be defined to be anything
whatever which has had such a previous influence upon
the body as to have rendered it unusually susceptible to
the exciting causes of the particular disease.
Sir T. Waiton, Leots. on Physic, vi.
predisposition (pre-dis-po-zish'gn), «. [= P.
pr4dispositton = Sp. predisposicion = Pg. pre-
disposigSo = It. predisposizione ; as pre- + dis-
position. Cf. L. prsedispositus, prepared be-
forehand.] 1. The state of being previously
disposed in a particular direction; previous
tendency or inclination; mental or physical
liability or susceptibility, as to a particular
mode of thought or action.
The strong predisposition of Montaigne was to regard
witchcraft as the result of natural causes.
Lecky, Rationalism, 1. 114.
The Indians showed'S far greater natural predisposition
for disf urnishing the outside of other people's heads than
for furnishing the insides of their own.
Lowell, Oration, Harvard, Nov. 8, 1886.
2. Specifically, in med., a condition of body in
which a slight exciting cause may produce dis-
ease.
predispositional (pre-dis-p6-zish'on-al), a. [<
predisposition + -al.} Of the nature of or char-
acterized by predisposition ; belonging to or re-
sulting from previous inclination or tendency.
Multitudes of Christian conversions ... are only the
restored activity and more fully developed results of some
predisposittonatBt&te.
H. Bushnell, Christian Nurture, p. 247.
predominance (pre -dom'i-nans), n. [= F. pre-
dominance =STp. Pg. predomimineia, < ML.*pras-
dominantia, < preBdominan(t-)s, predominant :
see predominant.} 1. The quality of being
predominant; prevalence over others; superi-
oritjr in power, authority, or influence ; domi-
nation; preponderance.
He who values Libei'ty confines
His zeal for her predominamie within
No narrow bounds. Cowper, Task, \. 394.
2. In astrol., the superior Influence of a planet ;
ascendancy.
We make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and
the stars ; as if we were . . . knaves, thieves, and treach-
ers by spherical predomtnaTice. Shak., Lear, i. 2. 134.
You're much inclln'd to melancholy, and that tells me
The sullen SatmTi h&A predominance
At your nativity. Fletcher, Sea Voyage, iil. 1.
= Syn. 1. Preeminence, etc. (see priority), mastery.
predominancy (prf-dom'i-nan-si), n. [As pre-
dominance (see -cy).} Same as predominance.
The predominaTicy of custom is everywhere visible.
Bacon, Custom and Education (ed. 1887).
predominant (pre-dom'i-nant), a. [= F. predo-
minant = Sp. Pg.' It. predominante, < ML. prie-
<?OJ»i»fl!m(*-)s, ppr. of^«B(iommare, predominate:
Bee predominate.} 1. Predominating; ruling;
controlling; exerting power, authority, or in-
fluence; superior; ascendant.
His next precept is concerning our civil Liberties, which
by his sole voice and predorrdjiant will must be circum-
scrib'd. Milton, Eikonoklastes, xxvii.
Alike in the European island and in the American con-
tinent, the English setUers were predominant in a world
of tlieir own. K A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 81.
2. In her., occupying the whole field, to the ex-
clusion of all bearings, as any tincture: thus,
or predominant signifies a shield entirely gold,
with no bearings of any description. [Rare.]
— Fredondnant branch, a branch containing more than
half the knots of a geometrical tree.— Predominant
nerve, in bot., the principal or main nerve, as in the
leaves of mosses. = Syn. 1. FrenaUing, Riding, etc. (see
prevalent), supreme, overruling, reigning, controlling,
dominant sovereign.
predominantly (pre-dom'i-nant-li), adv. In a
predominant manner; vrith superior strength
or influence.
predominate (pre-dom'i-nat), v.; pret. and pp.
predominated, ppr. predominating. [< ML. pr^-
dominatm, pp. of preedominare (> It. predomi-
nare = Sp. Pg. predormnar = P. prddondner),
predominate, iTj. prse, before, + dominari, rule,
dominate: see dominate.} I, intrans. To have
or exert controlling power; surpass in authority
or influence; be superior; preponderate.
Master Brook, thou shalt know I iiiW predominate over
the peasant. Shak., M. W. of W., ii. 2. 294.
Men who are called in question for their opinions may
be expected to under or over state them at such times, ac-
cording as caution or temerity may predominute in their
dispositions. Southey, Bunyan, p. 47.
=^n. To prevail, preponderate.
II, trans. To overrule; master; prevail over.
Allure him, bum him up ;
Let your close fire predomitrnte his smoke.
Shak., T. of A., iv. 3. 142.
predominate (pre-dom'i-nat), a. [< ML. prsB-
dominatus, pp. : seethe verb.] Predominant;
ruling.
preeminence
They furiously rage, are tormented, and torn in pieces
by tbeii predominate affections.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 565.
predominatingly (pre-dom'i-na-ting-li), adv.
Predominantly.
predomination (pre-dom-i-na'shon), n. [= Sp.
predominacion = Pg. predomiimgtto = It. j»'e-
domiiMzione, < ML. *prsedominatio(n-), < prie-
({ominare, predominate : see predominate.} The
act of predominating; ascendancy; superior
power or influence ; prevalence.
You would not trust to the predomination of right,
whicli, you believe, is in your opinions.
Johnson, in BosweU (ed. 1791), II. 453.
predominet, v. i. [< OP. predominer, < ML.
pi'sedominare, predominate : see ^jredominate.}
To predominate.
So th' Element in Vfine predomining,
It hot, and cold, and moist, and dry doth bring.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas'a Weeks, i. 21.
predone (pre-dun'), a. [<pre- -^ done.} Over-
done ; fordone ; worn out ; exhausted. [Bare.]
I am as one desperate and predone with various kinds of
work at once. Eingsley, Life, II. 99. (Dames.)
predoom (pre-dom'), v. t. [<.pre- + doorn^, v.}
1. To doom or pass sentence upon beforehand ;
condemn beforehand.
Some read the King's face, some the Queen's, and all
Had marvel what the maid might be, but most
Predoom'd her as unworthy.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
Shall man, predoojned,
Cling to his sinking straw of consciousness?
S. Buchanan, N. A. Bev., CXL. 462.
2. To predestinate ; foreordain.
The indwelling angel-guide, that oft
. . . shapes oat Man's course
To Hie predoomed adventure.
Coleridge, Destiny of Nations.
predorsal (pre-ddr'sal), a. [= P. prSdorsal; <
L. prse, before, -f- dorsum, back: see dorsal.}
Situated in advance of the thoracic or dorsal
region of the spine; cervical, as a vertebra.
predourt, »• [< OF. predeur, vernacularly preeor,
etc., < Tj. prsedator, a plimderer, <.prsedari, plun-
der: see prey^, prede, v., and cf. preyert} A
plunderer; a pillager.
The Barle with his band made hot-foot after, and, dog-
ging still the tracke of thepredours, he came to the place
where the dart was hurled.
Stanihurst, Descrip. of Ireland, Iv.
predyt (pre'di), a. [Also preedy, pready; ori-
gin obscure.] ^TaM*., ready. E. Phillips.
pree (pre), ti. t. [Also prie; a reduction of
prieve.} To prove; test; try; especially, to
prove by tasting; taste. [Scotch.]
According to De Qulncey, "there was no one who had
any talent, real or fancied, for thumping or being thump-
ed, but he had experienced some preeing of his merits
from Mr. Wilson." Atlantic Honthly, LVIII. 468.
To pree one's mouth, to kiss one.
Bab, stowlins, prie'd her bonnie mou
Fu' cozie in the neuk for 't^
Unseen that night. Bums, Halloween.
preeft, n. An obsolete variant of proof.
preelect (pre-e-lekf), v. t. [< pre- + elect.}
To choose or elect beforehand.
God . . . had chosen and preelected her before the
worldes to be the mother of the Lorde.
Foxe, Book of Martyrs, p. 733, an. 1609.
preelection (pre-f-lek'shon), n. [< ML. prse-
electio(n-), < prseeligere, prseelegere, choose be-
fore, < li.prse, before, + eligere, elegere, choose :
see elect.} The act of choosing beforehand;
an anticipative choice or election.
We shall satisfie his majesty with a preelection, and
yours shall have my first nomination.
Sir H. Wotton, Beliquise, p. 366.
To whatsoever degree of sobriety or austerity thy suf-
fering condition did enforce thee, . . . do it now also by a
pro-election. Jer. Taylor, Works, II. xi.
preembody (pre-em-bod'i), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
preembodied, ppr. preembodying. [< pre- + em-
body.} To embody previously; give form to
beforehand. T. Hill, True Order of Studies,
p. 157.
preeminence (pre-em'i-nens), n. [Early mod.
E. aXso prelwminence; < O'F. preeminence, F. pre-
eminence = Sp. Pg. preeminencia = It. preemi-
nenzia, preeminenza, preminenza, < LL. praeemi-
nenUa,<praeeminen(t-)s, preeminent: see jM-e-
eminent.} 1. The state or character of being
preeminent; superiority; surpassing eminence;
distinction; precedence.
And if your soneraygne call you
With him to dyne or sup,
Gine him preheminence to begin,
Of meate and eake of Cup.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 74.
preeminence
Of these pleasures that the body mlniatereth, they eive
the pre-eminence to health. *
Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Robinson), ii. 7.
Fathers In the ancient world did declare the pre-emi-
nence of priority in birth by doubUng the worldly portions
of their first-born. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 81.
He held It one of the prettiest attitudes of the feminine
mind to adore a man's preeminence without too precise a
knowledge of what it consisted in.
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xxvii.
2t. A prerogative; a privilege; aright; a power.
They of [the] Church where y Body shalbe buried must
have the preeminence to goe nearest the Corse within their
]uri[8jdiction.
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 32.
All these preeminences no gentleman did inioy, but only
such as were Citizens of Some.
Ouevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 17.
I do invest you jointly with my power,
Pre-eminence, and all the large effects
That troop with majesty. Shak., Lear, i. 1. 133.
=Syil._L Precedence, etc. See priority.
preeminency (prf-em'i-nen-si), n. [Aspreemi-
nenee (see -c^).] Same as preeminence.
preeminent (prf-em'i-nent), a. [< OF. preemi-
nent, F. prominent = Sp. Pg.preeminente = It.
preminente, < LL. prieeminen{U)s, eminent be-
fore others, ppr. otprseeminere, project forward,
sui-pass, be preeminent, < 'h.prie, before, + emi-
»ere, project, be eminent: see eminent.'] 1. Em-
inent above others; superior to or surpassing
others; distinguished; remarkable; conspicu-
ous, generally for a commendable quality or
action.
Tell, if ye saw, how 1 came thus, how here?
Not of myself ; by some great Maker then.
In goodness and in t^vgv pre-eminent.
Milton, P. L., viil. 279.
2. Superlative; extreme.
He possessed, as we have said, in a pre-eminent degree,
the power of reasoning in verse. Macavlay, Dryden.
preeminently (prf-em'i-nent-li), adv. In a pre-
eminent manner; with superiority or distinc-
tion above others; to a preeminent degree;
especially: &s, preeminently^Sae.
preemploy (pre-em-plol'), v. t. [< pre- + em-
ploy.] To employ previously or before others.
That false villain
Whom I employ'd W!i:a pre-employ'd by him.
Shak., W. T., li. 1. 49.
preempt (pre-empt'), V. [< preempt-ion, pre-
empt-or.l I.' trans. To secure, as land, by pre-
emption; establish a claim to; appropriate.
[U. S.]
Prospectors from adjoining camps thronged the settle-
ment ; the hillside for a mile on either side of Johnson's
claim was staked out and preempted.
Bret Harte, Tales of the Argonauts, p. 39.
II. intrans. To take up land by preemption.
[U. S.]
As in our own western States, an unscrupulous "colo-
nist" can often preempt in several places at the same
time. Science, VI. 318.
preemptible (pre-emp'ti-bl), a. [< preempt +
-ible.'] Open to preemption; capable of being
preempted.
Pre-empUble land recedes farther into the West.
N. A. Bev., CXLII. 64.
preemption (prf-emp'shqn), m. [= V.preemp-
Uon, < ML. prse'empUo(n-), a buying before, < L.
prx, before, + emptio(n-), a buying: see emp-
tion.] 1 . The act of purchasing before others ;
also, the right of purchasing before others, as
the right of a settler to a preference in the op-
portunity to buy land on or near which he has
settled, or of an owner of the upland to buy
lands under water in front of his shore, and, in
England, the privilege once enjoyed by the
king of buying provisions for his household at
an appraisal, or in preference to others.
TheprofltableprerogativeofpuiTeyanceandpre-empKon
. . . was a right enjoyed by the crown of buying up pro-
visions and other necessaries, by the intervention of the
king's purveyors, for the use of his royal household, at an
appraised valuation, in preference to all others, and even
without consent of the owner. Blackstaiie, Com., I. viii.
The jwe-empfe'on system was established, though at first
the pre-empt&n claimant was stigmatized as a trespasser,
and repulsed as a criminal. „. . . „ •, ,««
T. B. Benton, Thirty Years, 1. 102.
2. Specifically, in international law. See the
quotation.
The harshness of the doctrine of occasional contraband
brought into favor the rule of preemption, which was a
sort of compromise between the belligerents (if masters
of the sea) and the neutrals. The former claimed that
SBCh articles may he confiscated, the latter that they
should go tree. Now, as the belligerent often wanted
these articles, and at least could hurt his enemy by fore-
stalling them, it came nearest to suiting botli parties if,
when flieywere intercepted on the ocean, the neutral was
compensated by the payment of the market price and of
a fair profit. Wooliey, Intiod. to Inter. Law, § 182.
4C85
Clause of preemption, in SeoU law, a clause sometimes
inserted in a feu-right, stipulating that if the vassal shall
be inclined to sell the lands he shall give the superior the
first offer, or that the superior shall have the lands at a
certain price fixed in the clause.— Preemption Laws,
United States statutes of 1830, 1832, 1833 (4 Stat. 420, 608,
663), 1838, 1840, and 1841 (S Stat. 2,'il, 382, 453, consolidated
in Rev. Stat. §§ 22B7-88), which provide for vesting the
title to parts of the public lands — not more than 160 acres
to one person — in such settlers as inhabit and improve the
same, upon payment of a nominal price.
preemptive (pre-emp'tiv), a. [< preempt +
Ave.] Pertaining to or of the nature of preSmp-
tion; preempting.
preemptor (prf-emp'tor), n. [< LL. praeemp-
tor, one who buys before others, < L. prse, be-
fore, + emptor, a buyer: see empUon.'] One
who preempts; especially, one who takes up
land with the privilege of preemption.
preen^ (pren), n. [Also dial, prin ; < ME. pren,
< AS. predn, a pin, brooch, clasp, bodkin (also
in comp. ear-predn, ear-ring, feax-pre6n, hair-
pin, mentel-pre6n, cloak-pin), = Icel. prjmn, a
pin, knitting-needle, = Dan. preen, a bodkin,
point of a graving-tool, = D. priem = MLGr. pren,
prene, LG. preem, a pin, spike, awl, = MHG.
pfrieme, G. pfriem, an awl; cf. ML. dim. pre-
mula, an awl, appar. from the Tout.; ult. ori-
gin unknown.] 1. A pin. [Scotch.]
I thynk six pattryng is not worth twa^e»i>.
Sir D. J/yndmy, Monarchie.
My memory's no worth s. preen.
Bwnw, lo William Simpson, Postscript.
2t. A bodkin; a brooch.
Othre ydeles brogt fro sichem,
Gol prenes and ringes with hem,
Biep he is dalf under an ooc.
Benesis and Exodus (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1872.
3. A forked instrument used by clothiers in
dressing cloth.
preeni (pren), v. t. [< ME.prenen; < preen^, m.]
To pin ; fasten. [Obsolete or Scotch.]
Hem lacked a leader the ludes to araie,
Hur Prince in the forme yvese-wasprened to the erih.
Alisaunder of Macedoine (E. E. T. S.), L 420.
preen^ (pren), v. t. [A variant of prune"^, 4.]
1. To prune or trim, as a tree. Balliwell.
[Prov. Eng.] — 2. To trim, dress, or fix with the
beak, as a bird its plumage ; plume. This habit is
characteristic of birds, especially of water-fowl, the fea-
thers being oiled with the unctuous substance of the rump-
gland, as well as set in order. See elseodachan.
preengage (pre-en-gaj'), v. t. ; pret. and pp. pre-
engaged, ppr. preengaging. [< pre- + engage.]
1. To engage by previous promise or agree-
ment.
To Cipseus by his friends his suit he moved, . . .
But he yfoa pre-engaged by former ties.
Dryden, Cym. and Iph., L 246.
2. To engage or attach by previous influence ;
preoccupy; predispose: as, to preengage one's
attention.
The Lacedemonians, says Xenophon, . . . during war,
put up their petitions very early in the morning, in order
to be beforeliand with their enemies, and, by being the
first solicitors, preengage the gods in their favour.
Hume, Nat. Hist, of Religion, iv.
preengagement (pre-en-gaj'ment), TO. [< pre-
+ engagement.] 1. Prior engagement or agree-
ment; a contract previously made.
Where neither . . . duty nor obedience to a lawful au-
thority, nor the bond of an \ivi\d\3iile pre-ingagement, call
you to the bar. Bp. HaU, Cases of Conscience, ii. 7.
2. A previous attachment; predisposition.
Had God but left it to mere reason, without this neces-
sary pre-engagement of our natures, it would have been
a matter of more doubt and difBculty than it is, whether
this life should be loved and desired.
Baxter, Dying Thoughts.
My pre-engagements to other themes were not unknown
to those for whom I was to write. ■>...,.
preerect (pre-e-rekf), V. t. [< ^re- + erect]
To erect beforehand; preestabhsh. Prynne,
Treachery and Disloyalty, i. 91.
preest, v. A Middle English form oijnessX
preesophageal, prseesophageal (pre-e-so-faj'-
e-al), a. [< L. prm, before, -f- NL. oesophagus,
esophagus.] 1. Situated in front of the gullet.
2. Anterior with reference to the eircumeso-
phageal nerve-collar of an invertebrate.
Also precesophageal, prseoesophageal.
preestablish (pre-es-tab'lish), V. t. l<pre- +
establish.] To establish beforehand; ordain or
settle previously.
They elected him for their King with unanimous con-
sent, and, calling him unto them, showed him the lawes
they had pre-established.
Prynne, Treachery and Disloyalty, p. 77, App.
Freestablished harmony. See harmony.
preestablishment (pre-es-tab'Ush-ment), to.
The act of preestablishing, or the state of being
preestablished ; settlement beforehand.
preface
preestival, presestival (pre-es'ti-val), a. [<
pre- + estival : see estival.] Occurring betore
midsummer: as, the preestival plumage of a
bird.
preetemity (pre-e-ter'ni-ti), n. [< pre- + eter-
nity.] Infinite previous dm'ation; time with-
out a beginning.
He seemetfa, with Ocellus, to maintain the world's pre-
etemity. Cvdworth, Intellectual System, p. 393,
preevet, n. An obsolete form of proof.
preevet, "• An obsolete form of i)ro»e.
preevolutionist (pre-ev-o-lii'shon-ist), a. [<
pre- + evolution + -ist.] Existing or occurring
before the theory of evolution became current.
[Rare.]
Even this code of morals, Hartmann thinks, is a remnant
of the false, pre-evohMonist individualism.
W. B. Sarley, Ethics of Naturalism, p. 170.
preexamination (pre-eg-zam-i-na'shgn), «.
l<.pre- + examination.] Previous examination.
One of the inquisitors . . . would by no means proceed
any farther without a pre-examination of the aforesaid
Giovan Battista. Sir H. Wotton, Reliquise, p. 309.
preexamine (pre-eg-zam'in), V. t.; pret. and
pp. preexamined, ppr. preexamining. [< pre-
+ examine.] To examine beforehand.
preexilic (pre-eg-zil'ik), a. [< pre- + exile +
-ic] Existing, done, etc., before the exile:
said chiefly of certain Biblical writings sup-
posed to have been written before the Jewish
exile (about 586-537 B.C.).
Why must the 1st Book [of the Psalms], containing none
hMt pre-exUic songs, date from the period after the exile?
Amer. Jour. Philol., I. 369.
The law in question [of the Nazarite vow] is not pre-
exUic, and is plainly directed to the regulation of a known
usage. Encyc. Brit., XVII. 303.
preexist (pre-eg-zist'),®. i. [= F. pr^exister
= Sp. Vg.xJreexistir = It. preesistere ; as jjre- +
exist.] 1 . To exist before something else ; have
a prior existence.
Art preexi^ in Nature, and Nature is reproduced in
Art. LongfeUow, Hyperion, iii. 5.
The new motion given to the parts of a moving equilib-
rium by a disturbing force must ... be of such kind
and amount that it cannot be dissipated before the pre-
existing motions. H. Spencer, l^'irst Principles, § 176.
2. To exist in a previous state.
If thy pre-existiTig soul
Was form'd at first with myriads more,
It did through all the mighty poets roll.
Dryden, Ode to Mrs. Anne Eilligrew, 1. 29.
preexistence (pre-eg-zis'tens), TO. [= F. pre-
existence = Sp. Pg. preexistencia = It. preesis-
tenza; as pre-existeri(t) + -ce.] 1. Existence
previous to something else.
Wisdom declares her antiquity and pre-existence to all
the works of this earth. T. Burnet, Theory of the Earth.
2. Existence in a previous state; existence of
the soul before its union with the body, or be-
fore the body is formed. Belief in it was a
doctrine of the Pythagorean school, of Plato,
and of other philosophers.
preexistencist (pre-eg-zis'ten-sist), TO. [< pre-
existence + .dst.] One who tielieves in the doc-
trine of preexistence. Chambers's Encyc. See
preexistence, 2.
preexistencyt (pre-eg-zis'ten-si), to. Same as
preexistence.
preexistent (pre-eg-zis'tent), a. [= F. preex-
istent = Sp. Pg. preexistente = It. preesistente ;
a,s 2>re- + existent.] Existing beforehand; pre-
ceding.
What mortal knows his pre-existent state?
Pope, Dunciad, iii. 48-
preexistimation (pre-eg-zis-ti-ma'shon), n.
[< pre- + exisUmation.] Previous esteem.
Let not mere acquests in minor parts of learning gain
tihy pre-existimaUffn. Sir T. Brovme, Christ. Mor., ii. 4.
preexpectation (pre-eks-pek-ta'shon), n. [<
pre- + expectation.] Previous expectation.
Smart.
pref. An abbreviation (a) of preface; (b) of
pr^x.
preface (pref 'as), w. [< OF. preface, F. preface
= Sp. prefado = Pg. prefado = It. prefazio,
< ML. *prsefaUum, for LL. prsefatum, what is
said beforehand, a preface (cf . Sp. prefaeion =
Pg. prefa^&o — It. prefaeione, a preface, < L.
prsefatio(n-), a saying beforehand, a formula of
words, a preface, introduction), < priefatus, pp.
of preefari, say beforehand, premise, < prm, be-
fore, + fari, say, speak: see fate.] 1. A state-
ment or series of statements introducing a dis-
course, book, or other composition ; a series of
preliminary remarks, either written or spoken;
a prelude. A pr^ace is generally shorter than an intro-
duction, which contains matter kindred in subject, and
additional or leading up to what follows ; while a preface
preface
Is usually confined to particulars relating to the origin,
history, scope, or aim of the work to which it is prefixed.
I thoughte it good to spealte somewhat hereof, trusting
yat the pleasaunt contemplacion of the thing it selte shal
make the length of this preface lease tedious.
R. Eden, First Books on America, Ep. to Eeader
[(ed. Arber, p. 9).
Tush, my good lord, this superficial tale
Is but apr^aee of lier wort% praise.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., v. 6. 11.
How prologues intopr^oces decay,
And these to notes are f ritter'd quite away.
Pope, Dnnciad, i. 277.
2. [cajj. or I. c] In liturgies, the introductory
section of the anaphora; the solemn eucharistic
thanksgiving and ascription of glory introdu-
cing the canon. The Preface is found of the same type
in all liturgies. It begins with the Sursum Corda, gen-
erally preceded in eaily and Oriental forms by the apos-
tolic (2 Cor. xiii. 14) or a similar benediction. After an
exhortation to give thanks (Response : "It is meet and
right . . ."), the Preface in the narrower sense begins
with the affirmation (contestation) "It is very [truly] meet,
etc., to give thanks . . ." The reason for thankfulness
IS given in the central division of the form. This in early
and Oriental liturgies is invariable, and still retains much
of its original character of an extended ascription of glory
to God and rehearsal of his dealings with man from the
Creation and Fall onward. In Western liturgies a num-
ber of proper Prefaces is provided, vailing according to
the day or season. Probably these were originally sec-
tions of the primitive Preface or of the earlier part of the
Canon, selected as appropriate to the season or modeled
on such sections. The Preface terminates with the Sanc-
tus. Also, in Gallican uses, contestation, Nation, immola-
tion.
The preface Is one of the most ancient, as it is one of
the most universal, rites of the Church.
J. M. Settle, Eastern Church, i. 464.
3. A title; an introductory or explanatory
epithet.
I say he is not worthy
The name of man, or any honest jn-e/oce.
That dares report or credit such a slander
Fletcher (and, another). Love's Pilgrimage, v. 6.
preface (pref'as), v.; pret. and -pv. prefaced,
T^T^v. prefacing! [< preface, «.] I. trans. 1.
To give a preface to ; introduce by preliminary
written or spoken remarks, or by an action sig-
nificant of what is to follow.
He call'd his friend, and prefaced with a sigh
A lover's message. ' Crabbe, Works, II. 29.
Dinner, and frequently breaUast, is prefaced with a
smorg&s (butter-goose), consisting of anchovies, pickled
herrings, cheese, and brandy.
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 201.
2. To say as a preface ; write or utter in view
or explanation of what is to follow.
Before I enter upon the particular parts of her charac-
ter, it is necessary to prefa^x that she is the only child of
a decrepit father, whose life is bound up in hers.
Steele, Spectator No. 449.
3. To front ; face ; cover. [Rare.]
I love to wear clothes that are flush,
Not prefacing old rags with plush. Cleaveland.
II. intrans. To give a preface; speak, write,
or do something preliminary to later action.
Our blessed Saviour, having prefac'd concerning pru-
dence, adds to the Integrity of the precept, and for the
conduct of our religion, that we be simple as well as pru-
dent, innocent as well as wary.
Jer. Taylor, Sermons, II. xxiii.
prefacer (pref'as-6r), n. [< preface + -ei-i.]
One who prefaces; the writer of a preface.
The public will scarce be influenced in their judgment
by an obscure prefacer.
Goldsmith, Pref. to Memoirs of a Protestant.
prefactor (pre-fak'tgr), n. The first or opera-
tive factor in a product of two factors.
prefatorial (pref-a-to'ri-al), a. [< prefatory +
-«/.] Prefatory ; "introductory.
Much pre^fatoriat matter also may arise, before we begin
the discourse. OUpin, Sermons, Pref.
prefatorily (pref'a-to-ri-li), adv. By way of
preface.
prefatory (pref a-to-ri), a. [< L. prsefatus, pp.
of prsefari, say beforehand, premise (see pref-
ace), + -oj'y.] Belonging to a pref ace ; serving
as or resembling a preface ; introductory.
Then, after somewhat more of prefatory matter, follow,
in quick succession, the poems themselves.
Ticknpr, Span. Lit., I. 72.
=8301. Introductory, preliminary, precursory, prepara-
tory. See introduction.
prefect (pre'fekt), TO. [Also iJrssfeet; ='F.prefet
= Sp. prefecto =z Pg. prefecto, prefeito = It. pre-
fetfo, < L. prxfectus, an overseer, president,
director, chief, prefect, prop, adj., prsefectus,
set over, pp. of prseficere, set over, place in
authority over, <prse, before, above, + facere,
do, make: see/acf.] 1. Agovemor, command-
er, chief magistrate, or superintendent. Specifi-
cally— (o) A name common to several officers, military
and civil, in ancient Rome, who held particular com-
mands or had charge of certain departments. Thus, the
prefect or warden of tlie city at first exercised within the
4680
city the powers of the king or consuls during their absence;
after 487 B. 0., as a permanent elective magistrate, he was
empowered to maintain peace and order in the city. After
246 B.O., when the first pratoTMrSanra was appointed, the
importance of the prefect's office vanished ; but its judicial
functions were much enlarged by Augustus. Under Con-
stantine the prefects were direct representatives of the
emperor's person, civil governors of provinces or of chief
cities. The title of prefect was also given to the com-
mander of the fleet and to thecommanderof the pretorians,
or troops who guarded the emperor's person, as well as to
several other chief officials and magistrates. (6) The chief
administrative official of a department of France ; a prS-
f et. The office dates from the year 1800 ; the prefect is ap-
pointed by the head of the state, and is the intermediary
between the department and the central government ; he
is charged with the execution of the laws, with the super-
intendence of the police and of the administration, with
the appointment of many minor officers, etc. He is as-
sisted by the council of prefecture and the general coun-
cil, (c) In China, a name given by foreigners to a chih-fu,
or head of a department. See chih-fu.
2t. A director.
The psalm, thus composed by David, was committed to
the pr^ect of his musick.
Hammond, Works, IV. 69. (Latha/m.)
3t. Tutelary divinity ; presiding deity.
Venus ... is praefect of marriage.
' B. Janson, Hue and Cry of Cupid.
Prefect of police, in France, the head of the police ad-
ministration or prefecture of police, exercising especial
authority in Paris and the region about Paris,
prefectoral (prf-fek'to-ral), a. [< prefect +
-or -f- -ai.] Belonging or pertaining to a pre-
fect; exercised by a prefect: as, j?re/isctoraZ au-
thority.
A few days since a company made propositions to the
prefectoral administration with regard to the left bank of
the Seine. Electric Rev. (Eng.), XXIV. 35.
It is proposed also to reduce the number of prefectoral
councils [in France] from eighty-six to twenty-six.
Contemporary Rev., LII. 436.
prefectorial (pre-fek-to'ri-al), a. \< prefect +
-or + -«a?.] Same as prefectoral.
prefectship (pre'fekt-ship), n. [< prefect +
-sW.] Same sa prefecture.
prefectural (prf-fek'tu-ral), o. [< prefecture
+ -al.l Pertaining or belonging to a prefec-
ture. Encyc. Brit., XXIV. 722.
prefecturate (prf-fek'Ju-rat), ». [Irreg. <. pre-
fecture + -ofei.]' A prefecture. [Rare.]
The rumors that arose as to a prefectural being offered
him [Edmond About] proved unfounded.
Jtfen of the Third Republic, p. 282.
prefecture (pre'fek-tur), n. [Also prsefecture;
= F, prefecture = Sp. prefectura = Pg. prefei-
tura = It. pref ettura, < L. prxfectura, the office
of a prefect, < prsefectus, a prefect: see pre-
fect.J 1. The ofB.ce or jurisdiction of a pre-
fect, chief magistrate, commander, or viceroy.
The army or its commanders becoming odious to the
people, he [Cromwell] had sacrificed them to the hope of
popularity, by abolishing the civil prefectures of the ma-
jor-generals. Hallam, Hist. Eng., II. 255.
2. The district under the government of a pre-
fect.
The arrangement of prsefecturea and dioceses, the crum-
bling into little bits of the older provinces, is practically
the work of Diocletian. The Academy, Jan. 25, 1890, p. 67.
3. The official residence of a prefect. — 4. A
term often used by foreigners in and writers
on China as equivalent to fu, an administra-
tive division consisting of several districts
called liien or chow. See /«.— Council of prefec-
ture, a tribunal in each department of France, which is
nominated by the executive and assists the prefect in his
administration.
prefer (pre-f6r'), V. t. ; pret. and y^. preferred,
ppr. preferring. [< ME. preferren, C OP. pre-
ferer, F.preferer = Sp. Pg. preferir = It. pre-
ferire, < L. prssferre, place or set before, <pree,
before, -i-ferre, bear, place, = E. 6ea»i. Cf. con-
fer, infer, refer, etc.] 1. To bring or set be-
fore; present; proffer; offer.
He spake, and to her hand preferred the bowl. Pope.
2. To offer for consideration or decision ; set
forth ; present in a conventional or formal man-
ner, as a suit, prayer, or accusation.
To Mistress Dobson he preferred his suit ;
There proved his service, there addressed his vows.
Crabbe, Works, I. 75.
Accusation was formally i)re/crred, and retribution most
signal was looked for. hamb, Christ's Hospital.
Each pre/er< his separate claim.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, cii.
3t. To bring into notice or favor; recommend.
My father hauing some natural affection to me, when
I was but xij yeares olde, did prefer me to the seruioe of
Captaine Jenkenson. E. Webbe, Travels (ed. Arber), p. 17.
You are most bound to the king,
Who lets go by no vantages that may
Prefer you to his daughter.
Shak., Cymbeline, ii. 3. 61.
She is a princess I prefer thee to.
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, ii. 1.
preference
You would not prefer her to my acceptance, in the
weighty consequence of marriage.
B. Jonson, Epiooene, ii. 3.
I preferred Mr. Philips (nephew of Milton) to the service
of my Lord Chamberlaine. Evelyn, Diai-y, Sept. 18, 1677.
4. To bring forward or advance in dignity or
office; raise; exalt.
For to conne it is an excellent thyng.
And cause of many mannys preferring.
Ram. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), Int., L 105.
Whom I would I abased, and preferred whom I thought
good. Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 9.
What, those that were our fellow pages but now, so soon
preferred to be yeomen of the bottles I
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, ii. 1.
It is not honesty, learning, worth, wisdom, that jTr^ers
men. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 377.
5. To set before other things in estimation;
hold in greater liking or esteem ; choose ; in-
cline more toward.
The care of the sowle and sowles matters are to X>e pre-
ferred before the care of the body.
Spenser, State of Ireland.
He ipr^crrs his love of Truth before his love of the Peo-
ple. Milton, Eikonoklastes, xi.
The husband, if he can conveniently so arrange, gener-
ally prefers that his mother should reside with him and
his wife. E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. 219.
6. Specifically, in law, to give a preference to.
See preference, 2.
There are certain debts in England, Scotland, and the
United States which are said to be privileged — that is, such
debts as the executor may pay before all others — for ex-
ample, funeral expenses or servants' wages. In English
law the term preferred rather than " privileged" is gen-
erally applied to such debts. Encyc. Brit., XIX. 764.
7t. To outrank; be reckoned preferable to.
I graunte it wel, I have noon euvie
Though maydenhede preferre bigamye.
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale,L 96.
Preferred creditor. See creditor.— Preferred stock,
preference shares (which see, under preference). =Syn, 6.
Elect, Select, etc. See choose.
preferability (pref"6r-a-biri-ti), n. [< prefer-
able + -ity (see -bility)'.^ Tie state or quality
of being preferable. J. S. Mill,
preferable (pref 'er-a-bl), a. and n. [= P. jire-
f6rahle (of. Sp. preferihle = Pg. preferivel =
It. XireferiWle); as pref er + -able.'} I, a. 1.
Worthy to be preferred ; more desirable.
Almost evei^ man in our nation is a politician, and hath
a scheme of his own which he thinks pr^erable to that of
any other person. Addison, Freeholder, No. 48.
Sound sense, in my opinion, is preferable to bodiless, in-
comprehensible vagaries.
Landor, Chesterfield and Chatham.
2t. Preferring; exhibiting pref erence ; arising
from choice.
They will have it that I have a preferable regard for Mr.
Lovelace. Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, I. 171.
II. n. Something which is to be preferred ;
any object or course of action which is more
desirable than others.
preferableness (pref '6r-a-bl-nes), n. The char-
acter or state of being preferable.
My purpose is not to measure or weigh the pr^erdble-
nesse of severall vocations.
W. Montague, Devoute Essays, I. a. 7.
preferably (pref '6r-a-bli), adv. In or by pref-
erence; by choice of one thing rather than an-
other; in a manner exhibiting preference.
To follow my own welfare preferably to those I love is
indeed a new thing to me. Pope, To Mrs. B.
preference (pref '6r-ens), n. [= p. prif^enoe
= Sp. Pg. preferencid = It. preferema, < ML.
prseferentia, preference, < L. ]yrseferen{t-)s, ppr.
of prseferre, place or set before : see prefer.']
1. The act of preferring or choosing one thing
rather than another, or the state of being pre-
ferred or chosen ; estimation of one thing above
another; choice.
Where then the preference shall we place.
Or how do justice in this case ?
Covjper, Epistle to Robert Lloyd.
Jews had by that time earned the reputation, in Roman
literature, of being credulous by preference amongst the
children of earth. De Quincey, Secret Societies, U.
That perfect state of mind at which we must aim, and
which the Holy Spirit impai-ts, is a deliberate preference
of God's service to everything else, adeterminediesolution
to give up all for Him.
J. H. Newman, Parochial Sermons, i. 180.
Whatever be the variety in the sources of pleasure,
whatever be the moral or conventional estimate of their
worthiness, if a given state of consciousness is pleasant
we seek to retain it, it painful to be rid of it; we prefer
greater pleasure before less, less pain before greater This
is, in fact, the whole meaning of preference as a psycho-
logical term. J. Ward, Encyc. Brit., XX. 71.
2. Specifically, in law, the payment or right to
have payment of one debt or class of debtsmade
by a debtor or out of his estate, in full, before
any of the assets are applied to unpreferred
preference
debts: as, the debtor's assignment gave a pref-
erence to demands for borrowed money; the
state has apre/erewcefortaxes.— 3. The object
of choice ; a person, thing, or course of action
chosen preferably to others.— 4. In the game
of boston, one- of the two suits of the color of
the card turned up, just after the first deal,
rue suit turned up is fb.e first preference, and the other of
the same color the second preference. These suits are
more properly called heUe and petile; but they ai'e caJled
tltZ^H!^ heoauBe, of two players making equal oflers,
that one has the first preference who offers in belle, and
giat one the second preference who oflers in petite.—
Frauauleut preference, in havkmplcy, a transfer of
money or other subject of value to a creditor, with the in-
tention, on the part of the debtor, of preventing the ope-
ration of the law of bankruptcy in the distribution of his
effects for the equal benefit of all his creditors.— Prefer-
ence sbares or preference stock, in ^nonce, shares or
stock on which dividends are payable before those on the
original shares or common stock. In the United States
called jM-e/m-ed stoc*.— To have the preference, to be
preferred. = S3m. Precedence, etc. (see priorUy); Choice,
-fiJccfeoji, etc. fteeoi)(M»j); selection.
preferential (pref-e-ren'shal), a. lipreferenee
(ML. prsBferentia) + -iaZ.]' Characterized by
or having preference ; such as to be preferred.
The King was allowed a preferential claim on the pub-
lic revenue, to the amount of £10,000.
Slubbs, Const. Hist., § 323.
With the revival of Catholic feeling in the seventeenth
century, and the continued cultus of the Blessed Virgin
in this and the eighteenth, the faster plays recovered
their preferential position.
A. W. Ward, Eng. Dram. Lit., I. 27.
Retention in prose of words confined to eai'lier epic
poetry . . . must not be tortured into conclusive evidence
as to the place of origin of any portion of the Homeric
text ; It indicates rather the vigorous preferential uses of
the Hellenic dialects. Arrier. Jour. PhUol., VIII. 467.
preferentially (pref-e-ren'shal-i), adv. Bypref-
erence ; in a manner exhibiting pi-eference or
choice; preferably.
The same person . . . will, more likely than not, elect
**i8 in preparation " preferentially to " is being prepared."
F. HaM, Mod. Eng., p. 351.
preferment (pre-fer'ment), n. [= It. iweferi-
mento; &s prefer + -ment.'] 1. The act of pre-
ferring or esteeming more highly, or the state
of being preferred; choice; preference; ad-
vancement; promotion.
For your preferment resorte
To such as may you vauntage.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 86.
To get preferment who doth now intend.
He by a golden ladder must ascend.
Times^ Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 47.
Nor is your firm resolve unknown to me,
In the priiferment of the eldest sister.
Shah, T. of the S., ii. 1. 94.
Some trim fellows will not stick to maintain a brave
paradox : that the opinion and semblance of things neither
ever was, nor is now, inferior to the very things them-
selves, but in pr^errrient and reputation many times su-
perior. 6. Harvey, Four Letters.
They that enter into the Ministry for preferment are
like Judas that lookt after the Bag.
/ Selden, Table-Talk, p. 30.
Many Frenchmen, and even Italians, of whom nothing
else is known, were enriched with English preferment.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 129.
2. A superior place or offtce, especially in the
church.
I have a very small fortune, no preferment, nor any
friends who are likely to give me any.
Sydney Smith, in Lady Holland, iv.
He was liable to be suspended from his office, to be
ejected from it, to be pronounced incapable of holding
any pr^erm^nt in future. Macamlay, Hist. Eng., vi.
preferrer . (pre-f er'6r), n. l< prefer + -eri.]
1. One who prefers or sets forth an entreaty,
a charge, an exhortation, or the like.
This admonition finding small entertainment, the au-
thors or chief preferrers thereof being imprisoned, out
Cometh the second admonition.
Bp. Bancroft, Dangerous Proceedings, iii. 2. (Latham.)
St. One who advances or promotes; afurtherer.
Doctor Stephens, secretary, and D. Foxe, almosiner,
were the ohiefe furtherers, preferrers, and defenders on
the kings behalf e of the said cause.
Foxe, Martyrs, p. 1688, an. 1556.
prefidentt (pref'i-dent), a. [< \i. prsefMn{t-)s,
trusting too much, taken in lit. sense 'trusting
before' (hence prematurely), < prse, before, -I-
Jlden{U)s, ppr. of fidere, trust: see faifh. Cf.
confident.'] Trusting previously; overtrustful.
Baxter. [Eare.]
prefigurate (pre-flg'u-rat), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
preflgurated, ppr. prefigurating. [< LL. prsefi-
guratus, pp. of prsefigurare, prefigure: s&e pre-
figure.'] To show by antecedent representa-
tion ; prefigure. [Bare.]
When from thy native soil love had thee driven
(Thy safe return prefigurating), a heaven
Of faltering hopes did in my fancy move.
W Drwmmand, Death of Sir W. Alexander.
4687
prefiguration (pre-fig-u-ra'shon), n. [< LL.
preeJiguratio(n-), a figuring beforehand: see
prefigurate.] The act of prefiguring, or the
state of being prefigured; antecedent repre-
sentation by similitude.
Most of the famous passages of providence (especially
the signal afflictions of eminent persons representing our
Saviour) do seem to have been prefigurations of or pre-
ludes to his passion. Barrow, Works, II. xxvii.
prefigurative (pre-fig'u-ra-tiv), a. [< prefigu-
rate + -«j)e.] stowing hj previous figures,
types, or similitude.
All the sacrifices of old instituted by God we may . . .
affirm to have been chiefly preparatory unto, and prefig-
urative of, this most true and perfect sacrifice.
Barrow, Sermons, II. xxvii.
prefigure (prf-fig'ur), v. t. ; pret. and pp. pre-
figured, ppr. 'prefiguring. [= F. prefigurer =
Sp. Pg. prefigurar = It. prefigurare, < LL. prse-
figurare, figure beforehand, < L. prie, before, +
figurare, form, fashion : see figure, v.] To rep-
resent beforehand; show by previous types or
figures; foreshow; presage.
By an oblation of the blood of beasts was prefigured the
blood of that Lamb which should expiate all our sins.
Bev. T. Adams, Works, II. 3.
At her call, a waking dream
Prefigured to his sense the Egyptian Lady.
Wordsworth, The Egyptian Maid.
prefigurement (pre-fig'ur-ment) ,n. [= It. pre-
figuramento ; as prefigure -(- -ment.] The act
of prefiguring ; antecedent representation; pre-
sage; prognostication.
The two young women who constituted at Marmion his
whole prefigurement of a social circle must^ in such a local-
ity as that, be taking a regular holiday.
H. James, Jr., The Century, XXXI. 91.
prefinelf (pre-fin'), v. t. [< OF. i)reflnir, F.pr^-
finir = Sp. tg.jirefinir = It. x>refinire, < L. prse-
finire, determine or fix beforehand, < prse, be-
fore,+^TO#e, finish, determine: see finish. Cf.
define, eto.] To limit or define beforehand; as-
sign beforehand as a limit.
He, in his immoderate AesiveB,prefiiied unto himself three
years, which the great monarchs of Kome could not per-
form in so many hundreds. EnoUes, Hist. Turks.
preflne^t (pre'fin), n. [< pre- + fineK] See
alienationnoffice.
prefinitet (pref 'i-nit), a. [< L. prsefinitus, pp.
ot prsefinire, determine or fix beforehand: see
prefine^.] Previously limited or defined ; fixed
beforehand : used with the force of a participle.
I thinke them no trewe Chrystian men that do not re-
ioyce . . . for the deliuerie of these owrebrootheme, . , .
accordynge to the time prefinite by hym who . . . hath
suffered the greate serpente of the sea Leuiathan to haue
suche dominion in the Ocean.
R. Eden, First Books on America (ed. Arber), p. 50.
prefinitiont (pref-i-nish'on), n. [= Sp. prefini^
cion = It. jfirefinigione, ^ LL. prsefiniUo{n-), a
determining or fixing beforehand, < L. prse-
finire, pp. prsefinitus, determine or fix before-
hand: seeprefine^.] Prior definition or limita-
tion.
God hath encompassed all the kingdoms of the earth
with a threefold restraint : to wit, a limitation of their
powers; a circumscription of their bounds ; s.nA&prefini.
tion of their periods. Fotherby, Atheomastix, p. 270.
prefix (pre-fiks'), v. t. [< OP. prefixer, P. pr4-
fixer = Sp. prefijar = Pg. prefixar, < ML. *prse-
fixare, < L. prsefixus, pp. otprsefigere (> It. pre-
figgere, prefix), set up in front, fix on the end
of, prefix, < pree, before, in front, + fidere, fix,
attach: see^a;.] 1. To fix or put before; place
in front; put at the beginning.
I do now publish my Essays. . . . I thought it therefore
agreeable to my affection and obligation to your Grace to
prefix your name before them. Bacon, Essays, Ded.
2t. To fix beforehand; set or appoint in ad-
vance ; settle beforehand.
And now he hath to her prefixt a day.
Spenser, F. Q., V. xi. 40.
The hour draws on
Prefix'd by Angelo. Shak., M. for M., iv. 3. 83.
Or wert thou of the golden-winged host,
Who, having clad thyself in human weed.
To earth from thy prefixed seat didst post?
MUton, Death of a Fair Infant, 1. 69.
Aganst the prefixed time, the women & children, with y"
goods, were sent to y^ place in a small barke,
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 13.
I would prefix some certain boundary between them.
Sir M. Hale, Hist. Com. Law of Eng.
prefix (pre'fiks), n. [= P. prefixe = Sp. prefijo
= Pg. prefixo = It. prefisso, < NL. prsefixum, a
prefix, neut. of L. prsefixus, pp. of prsefigere,
prefix: &eepvefix, v.] 1. A word or syllable,
or a number of syllables, rarely more than
two, and usually one (sometimes reduced to a
single consonant not forming a syllable), affixed
prefract
to the beginning of a word, to qualify its mean-
ing or direct its application : opposed to sulfix
ox postfix, a like addition at the end of a woird.
A prefix proper is an inseparable element, never used
alone, as pre- in prefix, con- in conjure, in- in inactive, un-
in unseen, etc. ; but prepositions and primitive adverbs
used in composition are usually accounted prefixes as
fore- in foresail, down in dmmfaVl, in in income, etc. By
a looser use such recurring elements as equi-, midti; iso-,
month, poly-, etc., in compounds of Latin or Greek origin
or formation, are called prefixes, though they are properly
independent words in the original language. There is no
hard and fast line between a prefix and the initial ele-
ment of a compound.
2. The act of prefixing ; prefixion.
The prefix of the definite article,
Roby, Latin Grammar, I. xviii.
Prefix language, a language which (like those of South
Africa) makes its forms mainly by the use of prefixed
rather than of suffixed elements.
prefixal (pre'fik-sal), a. [< prefix + -al.] Of
the nature of a prefix; characterized by pre-
fixes.
The prefixal languages of Africa.
Jour. 'Anthrop. Inst., XVIL 170.
prefixation (pre-fik-sa'shon), ». [< prefix +
-ation.] Theuseof prefixes; prefixion. [Rare.]
Sy prefixati<m and sufflxation a considerable number of
tenses and modes are formed in the verb,
Amer. Antiquarian, XII. 121.
prefixion (pre-fik'shon), n. [< prefix + ■4on.]
The act of prefixing.
prefixture (prf-fiks'tm-), n. [< prefix + -ture,
aXteT fixture.] Same asjjjre^raon. J.A.H.Mur
ray, 8th Ann. Address to Philol. Assoc, p. 41.
prefioration (pre-flo-ra'shon), n. [Also prse-
floration; = F. pr&floraiso'n, < L. jyrse, before,
+ *fioratio(n-), <fiorare, blossom, flower, < flo/
(^or-), a flower, a bloom: see flower.] labot.,.
estivation.
prefoliation (p;re-f 6-li-a'shon), n. [< li.prse, be-
fore, -I- *foliatio(n-), <foUdre,yut forth leaves,
</oKttJ»,leaf: see foliation.] In 6oi., vernation.
prefoolt (pre-fol'), V. t. [< pre- + fool] To
fool beforehand ; anticipate in foolery.
I'll tell you a better project, wherein no courtier has
prefooVd you. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1.
preforceps (pre-f6r'seps), n.pl. [NL., < h.pi-ie,
before, + forceps, q. v.] Certain anterior fibers
of the corpus callosum which curve forward
into the frontal lobe of the cerebrum, and are
likened to a pair of forceps in front of the cal-
losum.
preform (pre-f6rm'), V. t. [= P. preformer = It.
preformare, < L. prseformare, form beforehand,
prepare, < prse, before, + formare, shape, fash-
ion: see/on».] 1. To form beforehand; exe-
cute or create previously.
Why all these things change from their ordinance
Their natures and prefmrned faculties
To monstrous quality. Shak., J. C, i 3. 67.
2. In hiol., to determine beforehand the shape
or form of; furnish the mold or model of
(something afterward to take shape) : as, bone
preformed in cartilage; the fetal skeleton j)re-
forms that of the adult.
preformation (pre-f6r-ma'shon), n. [= P. pr^
formation = It. preformaziorie, < L. *prsBforma-
tio(n-),<. prseformare, form beforehand: seepre-
form.] Antecedent formation ; shaping in ad-
vance.—Theory of preformation, a doctrine respect,
ing generation or reproduction, prevalent down to and
during the eighteenth century, according to which every
individual is fully and completely preformed in the germ,
the development of which consists in the growth and
unfolding of preexisting pari;s — that is to say, the perfect
individual has always been there, and simply grows from
microscopic to visible proportions, without developing any
new parts. See injcasement.
preformationist (pre-f6r-ma'shon-ist), ». [<
preformation + 4st.] A believer in the doctrine
of preformation. Encyc, Brit., XXIV. 815.
preformative (pre-f6r'ma-tiv), a. and n. [< L.
prseformatus, pp. of prseformare, form or mold
beforehand (see preform), + -ive.] I. a. Perm-
ing beforehand; pursuing a course of prefor-
mation ; containing the essential germs of later
development.
Fm-thermore, the apostolic Christianity is preformative,
and contains the living germs of all the following periods,
personages, and tendencies.
Schaff, Hist. Christ. Church, I. § 21.
II. n. Jnphilol., a formative letter or sylla-
ble at the beginning of a word ; a prefix,
prefractt (pre-fraktO, a. [< L. prsefractus, bro-
ken off, abrupt, stem, pp. of praefringere, break
off before, < p-a?, before, -(-/rangiere, break: see
fraction.] Obstinate; inflexible; refractory.
Thou . . . wast so prefract and stout in religion.
J. Bradford, Works (Parker Soc), I. 474.
Yet still he staxiAs pref raet and insolent.
Chapman, Byron's Tragedy, iv. 1.
prefirontal
prefrontal (pre-fron'tal), o. and n. [Also prie-
frontal; < L.^r«, before, +/j'o»(«-)s, forehead:
see frontal.;] I. a. Of or pertaining to the fore
part of the forehead, or to the part of the skull
in whioh is the bone called the prefrontal.
n. n. A bone of the anterior region of the
skull of sundry vertebrates, being a lateral eth-
moidal or ante-orbital ossification, most dis-
tinct in vertebrates below birds.
prefulgency (pre-ful'jen-si), n. [< *preful.
gen{t) (= OF. prefulgent, < h. prxfulgen,{t-)s,
ppr. of prasfulgere, shine greatly, < prx, before,
+ fulgere, flash, gleam: see fulgent) + -c^.]
Superior brightness or effulgency; surpassing
glory. [Rare.] s, i, f s
H . . . by the prefidgemsy of his excellent worth and
merit ... St. Peter had the irpuireta or first place.
Barrcw, On the Pope's Supremacy.
pregaget (pre-gaj'), v. t. [< pre- + gage\'\ To
preengage ; pledge beforehand.
The members of the Councell of Trent, both Bishops
and Abbots, were by osXbjfregaged to the Pope to defend
and maintain his authority against all the world.
Fvller, Ch. Hist., IX. i. 42.
pregeminal (pre-jem'i-nal), a. [< L. prx, be-
fore, + geniinus, twin, + -al.'\ Pertaining to
the anterior pair of the corpora quadrigemina
of the brain.
pregeniculate, prsegeniculate (pre-je-nik'u-
lat), a. Pertaining to the pregeniculum.
pregeniculatum, prsegeniculatum (pre-jf-nik-
u-la'tum), «. ; rf. pregeniculata, preegeniculata
(-ta). [NL.] Same a,a pregeniculum.
pregeniculum (pre-jf-nik'u-lmn), n. ; pi. pre-
genimla (-la). [NL., < Jj. prae, before, + geni-
eulum, dim. of genu, a knee.] The external
corpus genieulatum (which see, under corpus).
pregenital (pre-jen'i-tal), a. [< L. prie, before,
+ genitalis, belongjing to generation: see geni-
tal.'] _ In entom., situated before the external
opening of the oviduct, sting, or male intro-
mittent organ — Fregenital segment, the eighth
primary abdominal ring, or the one immediately before
the genital opening ; in tlie perfect insect it may be partly
or entirely bidden under oOier rings.
preglacial (pre-gla'shial), a. [(.pre- + glacial.]
In geol., prior to the glacial or boulder-drift
period.
preglenoid (pre-gle'noid)^ a. and n. [< pre- +
glenoid.] I. a. Situated m advance or in front
of the glenoid fossa of either the scapula or the
temporal bone : as, a, preglenoid process.
11. ». A preglenoid formation in some ani-
mals, as badgers, both pre- and postglenoid processes of
the temporal bone are so highly dereloped that the lower
jaw is locked in its socket^ and cannot be disarticulated
even in the dry skull.
preglenoidal (pre-glf-noi'dal), a. [< preglenoid
+ -al.] Same as preglenoid.
pregnable (preg'na-bl ). a. [With unorig. g (as
also in impregnable), < OF. (and F.) prenable,
that may be taken, < prendre, < L. prendere,
seize, take: SBe:prender,prehend.] 1. Capable
of being taken or won by force; expugnable.
Then y° marshall caused y towne to be auewed, to see
if it vrece pregnane or not.
Bemers, tr. of Froissart's Chron., II. 51.
2. Capable of being moved, impressed, or con-
vinced. [Rare.]
pregnance (preg'nans), n. [== It.pregnanza; as
pregnan{t) + -ce.] " Same as pregnancy.
pregnancy (preg'nan-si), n. [As pregnance
(see -cy).] 1. The state of being pregnant;
the state of a female who has conceived or is
with child; gestation; fetation. — 2. Fruitful-
ness; fertility; fecundity; productiveness.
I'amons for the judgment of Paris, and pregnancy in
fountains, from whence descend four rivers.
Sandys, Travailes, p. 17.
3. Fullness, as of important contents ; signifi-
cance; suggestiveness.
The Diversions of the fallen Angels, with the particular
Account of their Place of Habitation, are described with
great pfegnaney of Thought. Addison, Spectator, So. 309.
4t. Readiness of wit; shrewdness.
Pregnancy is made a tapster, and bath his quick wit
wasted in giving reckonings. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., i. 2. 192.
La-P. Do you think I am a dunce?
Lav. Not a dunce, captain ; but you might give me
leave to misdoubt that pregnancy in a soldier which is
proper and hereditary to a courtier.
Beav„ and Fl., Honest Man's Fortune, ii. 2.
He wants but three of fourscore, yet of a wonderful
vigour and pregnancy. Penn, Travels in Holland, etc.
5t. A promising youth; a quick-witted person.
This was the fashion in his reign, to select yearly one or
moe of the most promising pregnmuAes out of both uni-
versities, and to breed them beyond the seas on the king's
exhibitions unto them. FuLler, Ch. Hist., VI. 340.
Extra-uterine pregnancy, gestation taking place in the
abdomen outside the uterus. — Fallopian pregnancy.
4688
See PaHlo/plan Flea of pregnancy, in criminal law, a
plea to take advantage of the rule that, when a pregnant
woman is capitelly convicted, the execution of her sen-
tence must be delayed until after the birth of the child.
— Tubal pregnancy. Same as Fallopian pregnancy.
pregnant (preg'nant), a. and n. [In def . 8, ME.
preignant, < OF. preignant, pregnant, ■piegnajit,
pithy, ready, capable, etc.; F. pregnant = It.
pregnante, pregnant, < L. preegnan(t-)s, 'with
child, pregnant, full, in form ppr. of a verb
*prsegnare, < prie, before, + *gnare, bear, pp.
gnatus,natus, horn: seenataP-. InsomeShak-
sperian uses pregnant has been referred to OF.
prenant, ppr. of prendre, take (ef. pregnable, <
OF. prenable) ; but all uses seem to be deriva-
ble from ^reg'Mamt as above.] I. a. 1. Being
with young ; big with child ; gravid : as, a preg-
nant woman.
My womb.
Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown.
Mttton, P. L., ii. 779.
2. Impregnated; filled; big: generally folio wed
by with.
These in their dark nativity the deep
Shall yield us, pregrmni with infernal flame.
Matrni, P. L., vL 483.
Such the bard's prophetic words.
Pregnant with celestial fire.
C<ywper, Boadicea,
Her eyes were pregnant with some tale
Of love and fear.
Wittiam Morris, Earthly Paradise, L 422.
3. Heavily laden ; freighted.
The elves present, to quench his thirst,
A pure seed-pearle of infant dew
Brought and besweetened in a blew
knipregnant violet. Herrick, Oberon's Feast.
Whom the wing'd harpy, swift Podarge, bore.
By zephyr pregnant on the breezy shore.
Pope, Iliad, zvi. 185.
4. Full of meaning; giving food for thought ;
suggestive; significant; destined to develop
important thought.
I fear no such thing of you, I have had such p'egna-nt
Proofs of your Ingenuity, and noble Inclinations to Vir-
tue and Honour. HoweU, Letters, I. iii. 2.
Histoiy yet points to the pregnant though brief text of
Tacitus. Stoiry, Discourse, Aug. 31, 1826.
He left home the next morning in that watchful state of
mind which turns the most ordinary course of things into
pregnant coincidences.
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, v. 5.
5. Full of promise; of unusual capacity, abil-
ity, or wit; shrewd; witty; ingenious; expert.
The nature of our people.
Our city's institutions, and the terms
For common justice, you're as pregnant in
As art and practice hath enriched any
That we remember. Sha3c., M. for M., 1. 1. 12.
The famous Ptolemy . . . ouUedout a select number of
hlspregnanteslyow\gSo\Aea ... to go to Greece, Italy,
Carthage, and other Itegions ... to observe the Govern-
ment. HoweU, Forreine Travell, p. 72.
I went to Eton. . . . The school-master assur'd me there
had not been for 20 yeares a laore pregnant youth in that
place than my grandson. Evelyn, Diary, April 23, 1696.
No one can read Goethe's recollections of his boyhood
without feeling how, for example, the pageants of the em-
pire which he witnessed at Frankfort helped to call out
his pregnant sense of organic continuity.
B. Bosanquet, Mind, XIII. 368.
6. Characterized by readiness of wit; keen;
apt; clever.
Bow pregnant sometimes his replies arel a happiness
that often madness hits on. Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 212.
If thou dost, [learned reader,] thy capacity is more preg-
nant then mine. Coryat, Crudities, I. 267.
7t. Ready; disposed; prompt; susceptible.
6lou. Now, good sir, what are you?
Edg. A most poor man, made f^me to fortune's blows ;
Who, by the art of known and teeling sorrows.
Am pregrumt to good pity. Shak., Lear, iv. 6. 227.
8t. Convincing; easily seen; clear; evident;
probable in the highest degree.
This was hym a preignant argument,
That she was forth out of the world agon.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 1179.
Were 't not that we stand up against them all,
Tweie pregnant they should square between themselves.
Shak., A. and C, IL 1. 46.
9. In toi7«c, requiring an explanation ; exponible.
— Negative pregnant, in law. See negative, n.— Preg-
nant construction, in rheL, a construction in which
more is implied than is said, as in "the beasts trembled
forth (that is, came forth trembling) from their dens." —
Pregnant negative, a negative proposition affected by a
reduplicative, exceptive, or other expression requiring
special treatment in logic : thus, "no man, qua man, ever
sleeps " is a pregnant negative.
II. n. One who is pregnant, or witji child.
Dunglison.
pregnantly (preg'nant-li), adv. In a pregnant
manner.
pregnantness (preg'nant-nes), n. Same as
pregnancy. Bailey, YlH.
prehension
pregravatet (pre'gra-vat), v. t. [< L. prxgra-
vatus, pp. of prsegravare, oppress with weight,
<,pree, before, + gra/uare, load, burden, < gravis,
heavy: see graveS,] To weigh heavily upon;
bear down ; depress.
The clog that the body brings with it cannot but pre-
gravate and trouble the soul in all her performances.
Bp. Hall, Invisible World, ii. 1.
pregravitatet (pre-grav'i-tat), v. i. [< pre- +
gravitate.] To descend by gravity; sink.
Water does gravitate in water as well as out of It^ though
indeed it does not pragravitate because it is counter-
ballanced by an equal weight of collateral water, which
keeps it from descending. Boyle, Free Inquiry, § 6.
pregUStation (pre-gus-ta'shgn), n. [< OF. pre-
gustation = It. pregustaeione, < L. as if *prsB-
gustatio(n-),<preegustare,-pp.prsegustatus,tastB
beforehand, < prse, before, + gustare, taste : see
gustK] The act of tasting beforehand; fore-
taste; anticipation.
In the actual exercise of prayer, by which she so often
anticipated heaven hy pregusUmon.
Dr. Walker, Character of Lady Wai-wick, p. 117. (,Latham. >
prehallux (pre-hal'uks), n. ; pi. prehalluces (-u-
sez). [NL. prsehallux, < L. prse, before, + Nt.
hattux, q. v.] A kind of cartilaginous spur or
calcar on the inner side of the foot of some
batrachians, next to the hallux, commonly seg-
mented in several pieces, it is inconstant in occur-
rence, and when present varies much in size, shape, and
number of pieces. Its homology is not clear : it has been
variously considered as a tarsal element, as a sixth digit,
and as a supernumerary element of the foot.
That the prehaUvx takes on certain of the essential re-
lationships of a digit is beyond dispute. That it really
represents one is another question.
Proe. ZoSl. Soe. London, 1888, p. 160.
prehalter (pre-hal'tfer), ».; -pi. prehalteres (-ez).
[< L. prae, before, + halter, q. v.] A small mem-
branous scale behind the base of each wing and
before the halter of dipterous insects; a pre-
balancer. Also called tegula.
pre-hemiplegic(pre-hem-i-plej'ik), a. [ipre- H-
hemiplegia + -ic] Occurring previous to a hem-
iplegic attack — Pre-liemlpleglc chorea, choreic
movements occurring previous to cerebral hemorrhage.
prehendt (pre-hend'), v. t. [< L. prekendere,
eontr. prendere, lay hold of, grasp, seize, take;
prob. orig. *prashendere, < prse, before, + -hen-
dere (■\/ hed) = 6r. xavSdveiv ( yxofJ), seize, = E.
get: see get^. Hence ult. apprehend, compre-
hend, deprehend, reprehend, etc., prender, pre-
hensile, prehension, etc., priee^, prison, etc.] To
seize; take; apprehend.
They were greatly blamed tbB.t preJiended hym and co-
mitted hym.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), Pref., p. xv.
Is not that rebel Oliver, that traitor to my year,
Prehended yetl
Middleton (and anotii£r\ Mayor of Queenborough, v. 1.
prehensible (pre-hen'si-bl), a. [= F. prShen-
sible, < L. preliensus, pp. of prehendere, pren-
(iej'e, lay hold of, seize: see iwehend.] Capable
of bein^ prehended, seized, or laid hold of.
prehensile (pre-hen'sil), a. [= P. prShensile,
< L. prehensus, pp. ot prehendere, lay hold of,
seize: seeprehend.] Seizing or grasping; tak-
Prehensile-tailed Porcupine {ChKtomys subspiftosus).
ing and holding; adapted for prehension; es-
pecially, fitted for grasping or holding by fold-
ing, wrapping, or curving around the object
prehended: as, the prehensile tail of a monkey
or an opossum. Also preliensory. See cut
above, and cuts at Cebinse, marmose, mush-cavy,
opossum, and spider-monkey.
In the Hippooampidae the caudal fln disappears, and the
tail becomes a prehensile organ, by the aid of which the
species lead a sedentary life.
E. D. Cope, Origin of the Fittest, p. 328.
prehension (pre-hen'shon), n. [= P. prdJien-
sion, < L. prehensio(n-), prensio(n-), a seiz-
prehension
ing, < preliendere, prendere, pp. prehensns, lay
Jiold of, take: eeeprehend. Ct prison, a dou-
blet of prehension J 1 . The act of prehendins.
seizing, or taking hold.
In a creature ol low type the touch of food excites ore-
Mrmon. b. Spencer, Data of Ethics, § 41.
Tlie trophi seire merely for the prehension of prey, and
not for mastication. Darwin, Cirripe^, p. 40.
2. Apprehension ; mental grasp.
In these experiments the span of prehension is measured
ty the number of letters and numerals that can be cor-
rectly repeated after twice hearing, the interval between
them m the dictation being about one-half a second.
Amer. Jour. Psychol, 1. 193.
prehensor (pre-hen'sor), n. [= p. prShenseur,
< NL. *prehensor, one who seizes, < Ii.prehendere,
prendere, pp. prehensus, lay hold of, seize, take :
aeeprehend.'i One who or that which prehends
or lays hold of. [Bare.]
What was wanted is — a word that should signify to lay
hold of. . . . Prehensor . . . does what is wanted, clear
of everything that is not wanted.
Bentham, Equity Dispatch Court Bill, i., § 7, 1, note.
prehensorium (pre-hen-so'ri-um), n. [NL.,
iLeut.ot*prehensoriiis: aee prehensory.'] Inen-
tovi., a part or parts adapted for seizing or
clasping: specifically applied to the posterior
legs when the bases are very distant, the femora
<jonverging, and the tibiee diverging and oppos-
able, so that each leg forms an inward an-
gle, generally armed with spines, as in certain
Araclmida, etc.
prehensory (pre-hen'so-ri), a. •[< NL. *prehen-
sorius, serving to seize, < L. prehensotj one who
seizes: see jwe/jewsor .J Sajae as prekenMle.
prehistoric (pre-his-tor'ik), a. [= F. prihis-
torique; as i>re- + historic.'} Existing in or
relating to time antecedent to the beginning
of recorded history: ss, prehistoric races; the
prehistoric period of a country.
prehistorical (pre-his-tor'i-kal), a. [< pre- +
historical.'] Same as preMstmic.
prehistorics (pre-his-tor'iks), n. [PI. of pre-
historic (see -ics).'] The sum of knowledge re-
lating to prehistoric times ; knowledge which
has been gained or recovered of epochs ante-
rior to recorded history. [Rare.]
Chinese prehistorics have not as yet been sufficiently
studied to decide which metal was the first to be wrought
in that distant realm. Science, IV. 21.
prehistory (pre-his'to-ri), n. [(.pre- + history. ]
History prior to recorded history.
In some districts of America history and preMstary lie
far apart. Pop. Sci. Mo., XXXIV. 686.
But the question of the original home of the Aryan na-
tions is hardly the most important one connected with
theii pre-history. New Princeton Bev., V. 2.
prehnite (pren'it), v. [Named after Col. Prehn,
who discovered the mineral at the Cape* of
Good Hope in the latter part of the eighteenth
century.] A mineral, usually of a pale-green
color and vitreous luster, commonly occurring
in botryoidal or globular forms with crystalline
surface, it is a hydrous silicate of aluminium and cal-
cium, allied to the zeolites, and is found with them in
veins and geodes, most frequently in rocks of the basaltic
type. Also called edelite.
prehuman (pre-hU'man), a. l<pre- + human.}
Occurring or existing before the appearance
of man upon the earth; pertaining to times
antecedent to human existence.
The forms which, on the theory of "development,"
must have connected the human root-stock with the pre-
human root. £. Proctor, Nature Studies, p. 80.
preieret, «• An obsolete spelling oi prayer^.
pr eif t, n. Same as prief for proof.
Preignac (pra-nyak'), n. [< Preignac : see def .]
A white wine of Bordeaux, unusually free from
sweetness, but strong, and keeping for a long
time. It is produced in the commune of Prei-
gnac, department of Gironde, France.
pre-incarnate (pre-in-kar'nat), a. [< pre- +
incarnate.'] Previous to incarnation: said chief-
ly of Christ as existing before his assumption
of human nature.
The Pre-incarnate Son was in the Form— theprimal, es-
sential Form— of God ; the Incarnate Son appeared in the
fleure— the assumed, incidental figure— of a man.
6. D. Boardman, Creative Week, p. 304.
preindesignate (pre-in-des'ig-nat), a. [<pre-
+ in-S priv. + designate.] In logic, not having
the quantity of the subject definitely expressed.
Propositions have either, as propositions, then' quanHty,
determinate or indeterminate, marked out by averbal sign,
or they have not ; such quantity being involved in every
actual thought: they may be called m the one case (a)
Predesignate : in the other (b) Preindesignate. _ .
Sir W. Hamittan, Lectures on Logic, xiii.
preindicate (pre-in'di-kat), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
preindicated, ppr. preindicaUng. [<jwe- + wi-
4689
dieate.] To indicate beforehand; foreshow;
prognosticate.
For how many centuries were the laws of electricity
preindicated by the single fact that a piece of amber,
when rubbed, would attract light bodies !
Proc. Soc. Psych. Seseareh, I. 62.
preinstruct (pre-in-stnikt'), i). t, [< pre- + in-
struct] To instruct or direct beforehand.
As if Plato had been preinstructed by men of the same
spirit with the Apostle.
Dr. H. JHore, Def. of Moral Cabbala.
preintimation (pre-in-ti-ma'shon), n. [< pre-
+ intimation.] Previous intimation; a sugges-
tion beforehand.
preisef, v. and n. An obsolete spelling ot praise.
prejacentt (pre-ja'sent),a. l<Ij. pre^acen(t-)s,
ppr. oiprs^acere, lie before, < prae, before, +
jacere, lie: aeejacent.] Constituting a prem-
ise, especially of a logical conversion. [So Ham-
ilton, following Scheibler. But Paulus Venetus uses the
Latin word in a different sense.]
prejink(pre-jingk'), a. [Also pet jinJc; appar. a
loose variation of prink, simulating j)re- or per-
+ jinlc^.] Trim ; finically dressed out; prinked.
[Scotch.]
Mrs. Fenton, seeing the exposure that prejini: Miss Peggy
had made of herself, laughed for some time as if she was
by herself. Oatt, The Provost, p. 203.
prejudge (pre-juj'), v. t.; pret. and pp. pre-
judged, ppr. prejudging. [< F.pr^uger = Sp.
prejuzgar = Bg. pre^vdicar = 'tt. pregiudicare,
X li.preejudicare, judge or decide beforehand, <
prsB, before, + judicare, judge : see judge, v.]
1 . To judge beforehand ; decide in advance of
thorough investigation; condemn unheard or
in anticipation.
The expedition of Alexander into Asia ... at first was
prejudged as a vast and impossible enterprise.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i. 64.
And prays youll not prejudge his play for ill
Because you mark it not, and sit not still,
B. Jornrnn, Staple of News, ProL
2t. To anticipate in giving judgment; pass
sentence before.
By this time suppose sentence given, Grnxf/bas^eyudg-
ing all the sanhedrim ; for he first declared Jesus to have
spoken blasphemy, and the fact to be notorious, and then
asked their votes. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1885), I. 322.
3t. To prejudice; impair; overrule.
The saying of the father may no way prejudge the bish-
ops' authority, but it excludes the assistance of laymen
from their consistories.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836X n. 247.
prejudgment, prejudgement (pre-juj'ment),
n. [< 'F.pr6jugement; zsprejudge + -merit.] The
act of prejudging; judgment before full know-
ledge or examination of the case ; decision or
condemnation in advance.
It is not free and impartial inquiry that we deprecate,
it is hasty and tarogaat prejudgement.
Bp. W. Knox, Two Sermons, p. 39.
I was not inclined to call your words raving. I listen
that I may know, withovLtprejudgment.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xl.
prejudicacyt (pre-j5'di-ka-si), n. [< prejudi-
'ca{te) + -cy.] Prejudice; prepossession.
But rather receive it from mine own eye, not dazzled
with any affection, prejudicacy, or mist of education.
Blount, Voyage to the Levant, P- 8- (LatTtam.)
prejudical (pre-jo'di-kal), a. [Irreg. < li.pree-
judicare, judge or decide beforehand (see pre-
judicate), + -ah] Pertaining to the determi-
nation of some matter not previously decided:
as, a prejudical inquiry.
prejudicantt (pre-jo'di-kant), a. [< L. prs^u-
diean{t-)s, ppr. ot prs^udicare, judge or decide
beforehand: a6e27r^udicate.] Prejudging; pre-
judicative.
If we view him well, and hear him with not too hasty
and prejudicant ears, we shall find no such terror in hun.
Milton, Tetrachordon.
prejudicate (pre-j6'di-kat), V. ; pret. and pp.
prejudieated, ppr. prejudicating. [< L. prseju-
dicatus, pp. otprxjudicare, judge or decide be-
forehand: seeprejudge.] I. trans. If. To pre-
judge; judge overhastily; condemn upon in-
sufficient information ; misjudge.
To mejydicate his determination is but a doubt of good-
ness m him who is nothing but goodness.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iv.
Our dearest friend
Prejudicaies the business, and would seem
To have us make denial. Shah., All's Well, L 2. 8.
Sir, you too much prejudicate my thoughts ;
I must give due respect to men of honour.
Shirley, The Brothers, ii. 1.
Being ambitious to outdo the Earle of Sandwich, whom
he hsd prejudieated as deficient in courage.
Evelyn, Diary, June 6, 1666.
2t. To prejudice ; injure ; impair.
prejudice
Item, no particular person to hinder or preivdicate the
common stocke of the company, in sale orpreferment of
his own proper wares. HaMuylfs Voyages, I. 228.
II. intrans. To form overhasty judgments ;
pass judgment prematurely; give condemna-
tion in advance of due examination.
I thinke, in aminde not preiudiced with a preivdicat-
ing humor, bee will be found in exceUencie fruitefull.
Sir P. Sidney, ApoL for Poetrie.
prejndicatef (pre-jo'di-kat), a. [= It. pregiu-
dicato; < L. jpre^udicatus, pp.: see the verb.]
1. Formed before due examination; prema-
turely conceived or entertained: as, a, prejudi-
cate opinion.
When I say men of letters, I would be understood to
mean them who have contracted too great a familiarity
with books, who are too much wedded to the prejudicate
opinions of the Doctors.
J. Digby, tr. ot De Wicquef ort, the Embassador (ed. 1750),
[p. 60.
It is the rhetoric of Satan, and may pervert a loose or
prejudicate belief. Sir T. Browne, Rehgio Medici, i. 20.
2. Prejudiced; biased.
Your link'd ears so loud
Sing with prejudicate winds, that nought is heard
Of all poor prisoners urge 'gainst your award.
Chapman, Byron's Tragedy, v. 1.
He that shall discourse Euclid's Elements to a swine
. . . will as much prevail upon his assembly as St. Peter
and St. Paul could do . . . upon the indisposed Greek,
and prejudicate Jews.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 760.
prejudicatelyt (pre-jb'di-kat-li), adv. In a pre-
judicate manner; with prejudice.
We are not too prejudicately to censure what has been
produced for the proofs of their antiquity.
Evelyn, Sylva, p. 604. (LatMm.)
prejudication (pre-j6-di-ka'shon), n. [< ML.
prsejudicatio{n-), prejudice, damage (not found
in lit. sense 'a judging beforehand'), < li.pree-
judicare, judge beforehand: see prejudicate.]
1. The act of prejudicating; prejudgment; a
hasty or premature judgment.
Prejudications, having the force of a necessity, had
blinded generation after generation of students,
De Quincey, Herodotus.
2. In Bom. law: (a) A preceding judgment,
sentence, or decision ; a precedent. (6) A pre-
liminary inquiry and determination about some-
thing that belonged to the matter in dispute.
prejudicative (pre-jo'di-ka-tiv), a. [< preju-
dicate + -ive.] Forming an opinion or judg-
ment without due examination; based on an
opinion so formed.
A thing as ill beseeming philosophers as hasty prejudi-
eaUve sentence political judges.
Dr. H. More, Infinity of Worlds, Pref ,
prejudice (prej'8-dis), n. [Early mod. E. also
prejudice; < ME. pr^udice, pr^udyse, < OF.
pr^udice, also pr^uise, a prejudgment, preju-
dice, F. pr^udice = Pr.pr^udid=zPg.pr^uizo
= Sp. jorejuicio, percuieio = It. pregiudizio, pre-
judice, <L.^ri^MdJcJMTO, a preceding judgment,
sentence, or decision, a precedent, a judicial
examination before trial, damage, harm, pre-
judice, < prse, before, + judicium, a judgment,
a judicial sentence, <. judex, a judge: aee judge.
Cf . pr^udge.] 1 . An opinion or decision formed
without due examination of the facts or argu-
ments which are necessary to a just and im-
partial determination; a prejudgment; also, a
state of mind which forms or induces prejudg-
ment; bias or leaning, favorable or unfavor-
able ; prepossession : when used absolutely,
generally with an unfavorable meaning: as, a
man of many pr^udices; we should clear our
minds ot prejudice.
Nought mote hinder his quicke prejudize.
He had a sharpe foresight and working wit
That never idle was, ne once would rest a whit.
F. Q., a 9, 49.
They who have already formed their judgment may
justly stand suspected ot prejudice.
Dryden, Grig, and Prog, of Satire.
There is a prejudice in favour of the way of life to which
a man has been educated. Steele, Spectator, No. 644.
Prejudice is the child of ignorance.
Sumner, Hon. John Pickering.
2. Injury, as resulting from unfavorable pre-
judgment; detriment; hurt; damage.
Yis is here entent to make non ordinaunce in prejudice
ne lettyng of ye comoun lawe.
English Gilds (E. E. T, S,), p. 23.
My vengeance
Aim'd never at thy prejudice.
Ford, Broken Heart, v. 2.
In this cause no man's weakness is &nj prejudice; it has
a thousand sons ; if one man cannot speak, ten others can.
Emerson, Address, W. L Emancipation.
Legitimate prejudice. Seefe^m«te.— Without pre-
jualce, in law, without damage, namely to one's rights ;
prejudice
without detracting from one's rights or previous claims :
a plirase used of 0Tert\jre8 and communications between
the parties to a controversy, importing that, should the ne-
gotiation fail, nothing that has passed shall be taken ad-
vantage of thereafter. Thus, should the defendant offer,
without pre/udice to pay half the claim, the plaintiff can-
not consider such offer as an admission of his having a
right to some payment. =Syn. 2. Harm, detriment, disad-
vantage.
prejudice (prej'§-dis), v. t. ; pret. and pp. jjr^V
diced, ppr. jyrejudicing. [< prejudice, ».] 1.
To implant a prejudice in the mind of; bias;
give an unfair bent to.
Who itiaSX prejudice thy all-governing will?
Milton, On Def. of HumU Eemonst.
It is an Irreparable injustice we are guilty of towards
one another, when we are prejudiced by the looks and fea-
tures of those whom we do not know. Spedatar, No. 87.
2. To create a prejudice against; injure by-
prejudice; hurt, impair, or damage in any
way.
In those parts wherein I have erred, I am sure I have
not prejudiced the i-ight by litigious arguments.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 380.
From the beginning of January untill the midst of June,
the egs being then most fit for that purpose, neither are
they prejudiced by thunder. Sandys, Xravailes, p. 98.
The power would be transferred from him that abused
it to them that were prejudiced and injured by the abuse
ol it. Milton, Ans. to Salmasius.
Respect so far the holy laws of this fellowship as not
to prejudice its perfect flower by your impatience for its
opening. Bmerson, Essays, 1st ser., p. 193.
=Syn. 1. To prepossess, warp.
prejudicial (prej-ij-dish'al), a. [< ME. p}-e;«-
dieialljiirpudiciall, < OF. 'prejtidicial,prejudiciel,
F.pr^udlciel = Sp. 'Pg.pr^udicial = It.pregiu-
diziale, harmful, < LL. prs^udieialis, belonging
to a previous judgment or examination, < L.
prsejudidum, a previous judgment or examina-
tion: seeprejiidice.^ 1. Pertaining to prejudice
or prejudgment; prejudiced; biased.
'Tis a sad irreverence, without due consideration, to
look upon the actions of princes with aprejudieiai eye.
4690
Sneer not at what prelacy holds the most pertinaciously
of her doctrines.
Landar, William Penn and Lord Peterborough.
3. The order or rank of prelates; the body of
prelates taken collectively.
Against the dale assigned, came the said archbishops,
bishops, abbats, and other of the prelaeie, both fai- and
neere throughout all England.
Foxe, Martyrs, p. 241, an. 1220.
prelalt (pre'lal), a. [< L. prelum, a press, a
wine-press, (."premere, press, bear down upon:
seej)res.si.] Pertaining to printing; typograph-
ical: as, "prelal faults," Fuller. {Imp. Diet.)
prelate (prel'at), n. [< ME. prelate, prelat^
OF. prelat, Fiprelat= Sp. Pg. It. prelato = t>.
prelaat = MLG. prelate = MHGr. prelate, prelat,
G. pralat = Sw. prelat = Dan. preelat, < ML.
preelatus, a prelate, prop, adj., 'set over,' < L.
prselatus, pp. otprseferre, place or set before or
above : see jjrefer. J An ecclesiastic of a higher
order, having direct and not delegated authority
over other ecclesiastics. Prelates include patriarchs,
metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, and in the Koman
Catholic Church also the heads of religious houses and cer-
tain other dignitaries.
A prioure that is a prelate of any churche Cathedralle
Above abbot or prioure with-in the diocise sitte he shalle.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 193.
A prelate is that man, whosoever he be, that hath a flock
to be taught of him. Latimer, Sermon of the Plough.
Hear him but reason in divinity, . . .
You would desire the Idng were made a, prelate.
~- I., Hen. v., i. 1. 40.
2. Causing prejudice or injury; hurtful; detri-
mental ; disadvantage ous .
Provided alway that all theis articlis ne noone of them
be noe wise derogatory, prijudiekdl, ne contrary vnto the
liberties and customys of the said Cite, and the comyn
wele of the same, English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 337.
The seate where the Syrens sit and chaunt their preiUr
diciall melodic.
Oreene, Never too Late (Works, ed. Dyce, Int., p. xvii.).
Men of this temper are unserviceable and prejudicial
in life. Bacon, Physical Fables, ii., Expl.
I must . . . dontinnetothink those luxuries jTre.yudunaZ
to states by which so many vices are introduced.
Goldsmith, Des. Vil., Ded.
=Syil. 2. Deleterious, damaging.
prejudicialt, v.t. [< prejudicial, a.] To preju-
dice; injure; harm.
Take heed ; the business,
If you defer, tasy prejudicial you
More than you think for.
B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1.
prejudicially (prej-ij-dish'al-i), adv. In a
prejudicial manner; injuriously; disadvanta-
geousl^.
prejudicialness (prej-g-dish'al-nes), n. The
state of being prejudicial; injuriousness.
prejudizef, ". An obsolete spelling of prejudice.
pretext, n. and v. An obsolete form ot^iriek.
preke^ (prek), ». A cuttlefish, the squid: same
as calamary, 1.
preknowledge (pre-nol'ej), n. [< pre- + Iciww-
ledge.] Prior knowledge; foreknowledge. Cole-
ridge. (Imp. Diet.)
pre-Eoranic (pre-ko-ran'ik), a. l<.pre- + Ko-
ran + -Jc] Prior to the Koran.
An ancient title of the Deity among the pre-Koranio
Arabs. Cooper, Archaic Diet, p. 3U.
prelacy (prel'a-si), n. ; -pi. prelacies (-siz). [Ear-
ly mod. E. pretacie,prelasie; < OF. prelacie,<. ML.
preelatia, the office or dignity of a prelate, < j)ras-
latus, a prelate: see prelate.'} 1. The dignity
or office of a prelate.
Lycomedes after enioyed that Prelacie, with foure Schce-
ni of land added thereto. Purchaa, Pilgrimage, p. 321.
Prelacies may be termed the greater benefices.
Ayliffe, Parergon.
Yet showed his meek and thoughtful eye
But little pride of prelacy. Scott, Marmion, vi. 11.
2. The system of church government by prel-
ates, as distinguished from one in which all
the clergy are on an equality.
Prelacy, . . . the ligament which tieth and oonnecteth
the limbs of this body politic each to other, hath, instead
of deserved honour, all extremity of disgrace.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, vii. 18.
How many there are who call themselves Protestants
who put prelacy and popeiy together as terms convertible !
Swift.
prelatet (prel'at), v. i. [< prelate, ra.] To act
as a prelate; perform the duties of a prelate.
Ye that be prelates, look well to your ofHce ; for right
prelaHng is busy laboring, and not lording.
Latimer, Sermon of the Plough.
prelateityt (prel-a-te'i-ti), n. [<. prelate +
-e-ity.'] ftrelacy; the tfieory or system of ec-
clesiastical government by prelates.
Whether Prelaty or Prelateity in abstiact notion be this
or that, it sufSces me that I find it.
Milton, Church-Government, ii. 1.
prelatelyt, a. [< prelate + -Ji/i.] Of a prel-
ate; prelatical.
Their copes, perrours, and chasubles, when they be in
their prelatdy pompous sacrifices.
Bp. Bale, Select Works, p. B26. (Davies.')
prelateship (prel'at- ship), n. [< jirelate +
-ship."] The office or dignity of a prelate. Foxe,
Martyrs, p. 280, an. 1118.
prelatess (prel'at-es), m. [i prelate + -ess.} 1.
A female prelate.
The adversary . • ■ raps up without pity the sage and
rheumatick old prdatets with all her young Corinthian
Laity to inquire for such a one.
MUton, Apology for Smectymnuus.
2. The wife of a prelate. [Humorous.]
'*! cannot tell you how dreadfully indecent her conduct
was." "Was it? said the delighted countess. **Insuffer-
able," said the prelatess.
Trollops, Barchester Towers, xxxvii.
prelatiar (pre-la'shal), a. [< ML. preelatia,
prelaay (see prelacy)j + -al.} Prelatical; epis-
copal. [Rare.]
Servants came in bearing a large and magnificent port^
folio ; it was of morocco and of prelatial purple.
Disraeh, Lothair, xviii. (Dames.)
prelatic (pre-lat'ik), a. [< prelate + -ic] Of
or pertaining to prelacy or prelates; supporting
prelacy.
Many on the Prdatick side, like the Church of Sardls,
have a name to live, and yet are dead.
Milton, Church-Govemmenfj 1. 6.
prelatical (pre-lat'i-kal), a. [< prelatic + -al.}
Same stB prelatic.
We charge the Prelatical Clergy with Popery to make
them odious. SOden, Table-Talk, p. 88.
We hold it [the Presbyterial government] no more to
be the hedge and bulwark of religion than the Popish or
Prelatical courts, or the Spanish Inquisition.
Milton, Articles of Peace with the Irish.
The prelatical party, which had endeavored again and
again to colonize the coast, had tried only to fail.
Bancroft, Hist. U. S., I. 267.
prelatically (prf-lat'i-kal-i), adv. As a prelate ;
with reference to prelacy.
prelationt (pre-la'shgn), n. [< MB. prelacion, <
OF. prelationj prelacion, F. prilation = Sp. j)re-
ladon = 'Pg.prelagSo = ti.pi-elazione, < JJL.pree-
latio{n-), a preferring, apreference, < 'L.prsela-
ttis, pp. otprseferre, prefer: see prelate, prefer.}
1. The act of preferring or setting one thing
above another; exaltation.
A direct preference or^rfatfon, a preferring sin before
grace. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), L 667.
2. The state of being preferred or exalted
above others ; preeminence ; preferment.
Let, therefore, our life be moderate, our desires reason-
able, our hopes little, our ends none in eminency and_pre-
latum above others. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), 1. 104.
prelection
prelatisht (prel'at-ish), a. l< prelate + -is/fi.]
Prelatical.
In any congregation of this island that hath not been
altogether famished or wholly perverted -with prdatish
leaven, there will not want divers plain and solid men.
MUton, Apology for Smectymnuus, § vili.
prelatism (prel'at-izm), rt. l< prelate + -ism.}
1. Prelacy; episcopacy.
What doe wee suffer mis-shaped and enormous Prelat-
isme, as we do, thus to blanch and varnish her deformi-
ties with the faire colours, as before of Martyrdome, so
now of Episcopacle? MUton, Keformatlon in Eng., i.
2. The belief in and advocacy of episcopacy:
usually in an invidious sense.
The Councels themselves were foully corrupted with
ungodly Prdatisme. MUton, Prelatical Episcopacy.
prelatist (prel'at-ist), n. [< prelate + -ist.}
An advocate of prelacy, or of the government
of the church by bishops ; an episcopalian.
Even the Grotlan prelatic would wipe their mouths
and speak me fairer if I could turn to them.
Baxter, Treatise of Self-denial, Pref.
The island now known as East Boston was occupied by
Samuel Maverick, . . . Taim^Q)! & prelatist.
Bancroft, Hist. V. S., I. 266.
prelatize (prel'at-iz), v. ; pret. and pp. prelat-
ised, ppr. prelaUzing. [< prelate + -ize.} I.t
intraiis. To become prelatical; ujjhold or en-
courage prelacy; encourage or be imbued with
episcopal doctrines and practices.
But being they are churchmen, we may rather suspect
them for some prelaUzing Spirits, that admire our bishop-
ricks, not eplscopSlcy. Milton, Keformatlon in Eng., ii.
As for Cyprians time, the cause was farre unlike ; he in-
deed succeeded into an Episcopacy that began then to
" ' " MUtmi, On Def. of Humb. Eemonst,
II. trans. To bring under the influence and
power of prelacy; influence toward prelacy.
Pretatixing the church of Scotland. Palfrey.
prelatryt (prel'at-ri), ». [< prelate + -ry.}
Prelacy.
The painted battlements and gaudy rottenness of prel-
atry . . . want but one puff of the king's to blow them
down like a pasteboard house built of courtcards.
MUton, Keformatlon in Eng., ii.
prelature (prel'a-tur), re. [< OP. prelature, F.
pr4lature = Pr. Sp. Pg.prelatura = It. jrrelatura
= Gc.prdlatur = Sw.prelatwr,< ML. prselatura,
the office of a prelate, < prselatus, a prelate : see
prelate.} 1. The state, dimity, or office of a
prelate ; also, the period during which the func-
tions of a prelate are exercised.
Lycia ... is chiefly celebrated for the holy Bishop S.
Nicolas, whose praise is in all churches, though the time
of hi& prelature is somewhat uncertain.
J. M. Neale, Eastern Church, L 40.
2. Prelacy; the order of prelates.
Theyoungerbranchesof thegreatprincelyfamilies . . .
by no means disdained the lofty titles, the dignity, the
splendid and wealthy palaces of the Prelature.
MUman, Latin Christianity, xlv. 1.
prelatyt (prel'a-ti), n. [< OF. prelatie, prelacie,
< ML. jjrstefeaj prelacy: see j;reZacy.] 1. Prel-
acy; episcopacy.
It was not the prevention of schisme, but it was schisme
it selfe, and the hatefnll thirst of Lording in the Church,
that first bestow'd a being upon Prelaty.
Mimn, Church-Government, 1. 6.
2. A prelatical office. [Rare.]
Laborious teaching Is the most honourable Prelaty that
one Minister can have above another in the GospeU.
MUton, Church-Government, 1. 3.
prelect (pre-lekf), V. [Also preelect; < L. jirx-
leetus, pp. of prselegere, read (anything) to or
before (others), lecture upon, < prrn, before, +
legere, read: see lection, legend.} I. trans. To
read publicly, as a lecture.
II. intrans. To read a lecture or discourse
in public ; hence, to discourse publicly ; lecture.
I should seem not to have taken warning by the con-
tempt which fell on that conceited Greek who had the
vanity to prelect upon the military art before the con-
querors of Asia. HorOey, Works, III. xxxix.
Spitting was shown to be a very difficult act, and pub-
licly prelected upon about the same time, in the sani e great
capital. De Quincey, Conversation.
prelection (pre-lek'shon), n. [Also praslection ;
< L. prselectio(n-), a reading aloud to (others),
Kprmlegere, -pp. prielectvs, read aloud: see pre-
lect.} A lecture ; a public discourse ; a serinon.
You remember my \sat prelection of the division of the
earth into parts real and iinaginary ?
Shirley, Witty Fair One, ii. 1.
An English ambassador, at the court of Philip II. 's
viceroy, could indulge himself in Imagmary prelections on
,V?o I °"'' '° *^® last days of July, of the yeai'of our Lord
1™= • Motley, Hist. Netherlands, IL 403.
The counteraction of these enors by the prelections of
godly and experienced ministers.
Hist. Anc. Merchants' Lecture.
prelector
prelector (prf-lek'tgr), n. [Also prelector; <
4691
L vratlerfnr 'mift w%"<^'^"oo;i>"T" -S'?""'""'X' ' "" mise, preface, <pr«, before, + jMtfere, play: see
»rStf ^ead «W. » aloud to others, ludicrous. Cf. allude, collude, elude, iUide. The
SeTof'di8e™«^ « nw ^'■''*''*-i. V ^ E. verbisinpartfroiiithenoin: see^reZ«tde,n.]
in auniver^tv ' ^^"'*"'^''' Particularly I. trans. 1. ^To preface; prepare the way for;
n„.i,«T7 „i- u .'.^j. . introduce as by a prelude; foreshadow.
s..^n„?® ???''<??■ °'STy^™«'=*«n' was published by
Spenoe, at that tune PraeOor of Poetry at OxfordT
Johnsim, Pope.
3. Same as/aifeer, 12. Dickens, Diet. Oxf. and
Camb.
preliationt (pre-U-a'shon), n. [< LL. owZJo-
too(w-), fighting, < L. prceliari, join battle, fight,
<proeUum,praelium, battle, fight.] Strife; con-
tention. '
„fY>fJ^7*fw"f***'''l^"""'!°' ^''^ foolish Inhabitants
of the earth to insurrections, to warr aad pronation
Howell, Parly of Beasts, p. 33. "
The literary change from alliteration to rhyme was
mainly coeval with the Reformation ; preluded by Chau-
cer a century and a half before.
E. Wadham, Eng. Versification, p. 12.
Here might be urged the necessity for preluding the
study of moral science by the study of biological science.
B. Spencer, Data of Ethics, § 38.
Dan Chaucer, the first warbler, whose sweet breath
Preluded those melodious bursts that fill
The spacious times of great Elizabeth
WiUi sounds tliat echo still. Tennyson, Fair Women.
Specifically, in rmtsio, to play a prelude to;
,.^ai<Uo+;^« / - 1- v-/ 1. V V „ (.Davtes.) introduce by a musical prelude.'
preubatlOU (pre-h-ba'shon), n. [= F. preliha-
timi = Pg, prelibasa!o,< lJL.t>reemaMo(n-f, a tast-
ing or taking away beforehand, < li.preelibatus,
pp. of preelibare, taste beforehand, foretaste, <
prsB, before, + libare, take a little from, taste:
see libate, libation.} 1. The act of tasting be-
forehand or by anticipation; a foretaste.
In the first chapter of Genesis is also a prelibaUon of
those illustrious truths which are more fully and cironm-
stantiaUy delivered in the second and third.
Dr. H. More, Bet. of Moral Cabbala, iv., App.
Prelibations, as of some heavenly vintage, were inhaled
bythe Viigils of the day lookmg forward in the spu4t of . j, ^. .
prophetic raptui-e. De Quincey, Philos. of Eom. Hist, troduotion ; give a preface to later action ; es-
And I — my harp would prelude woe —
I cannot all command the strings ;
The glory of the sum of things
Will flash across the chords and go.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, IxxxviiL
3. To serve as a prelude to; precede as a musi-
cal prelude.
Beneath the slsy's triumphal arch
This music sounded like a march.
And with its chorus seemed to be
Preluding some great tragedy.
Longfellow, Occultation of Orion.
1. To perform a prelude orin-
2. A previous libation; an offering made be- genially, in rmisic, to play a prelude, or intro-
forehand, as if in libation.
The holy Jesus was circumcised, and shed the first fruits
of his blood, offering them to God, like the prelibatum of
a sacrifice. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 51.
There is Paradise that fears
No forfeiture, and of Its fruits he sends
Iiarge prelibaUon oft to saints below.
Cowper, Task, v. 674.
preliminarily (pre-Iim'i-na-ri-li), adv. In a
preliminary maimer; as a' preliminary; pre-
viously.
preliminary (pre-lim'i-na-ri), a. and n. [= F.
prSUminaire = Sp. Pg. preliminar = It. pre-
liminare, < ML. *preeliminaris (in adv. pree-
Uminariter), < L. jjras, before, + limen (Jimin-),
ductory passage or movement, before beginning
a principal composition.
So Love, preluding, plays at first with Hearts,
And after wounds with deeper piercing Darts.
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love, iii.
She Immediately rose and went to the piano — a some-
what worn instrument that seemed to get the better of
its infirmities under the firm touch of her small fingers as
she preluded. George Bitot, Daniel Dcronda, xxxii.
2_. To serve as a prelude or introduction ; espe-
cially, to constitute a musical prelude.
Sabbath of months ! henceforth in him be blest,
. And prelude to the realm's perpetual rest 1
Dryden, Britannia Eediviva, 1. 187.
Preluding light, were strains of music heard.
Scott, Vision of Don Roderick, The Vision, st. 33.
a threshold^^see lirnit.'} I. a. R?eeeding and prelude (pre'lud or prel'ud), n. [Formerly
,„™ ,™ ^ o„™„ ,«™ ™™„ , J. *. ,- gX%o preludium {(.Mil.); (.OF. prelude, 'F. pr4-
lude = Sp. Pg. It. preludio, < ML. *prseVadvum,
a playing or performing beforehand, < L. prse-
ludere, play beforehand by way of practice or
trial, premise, preface : see prelude, v. "] 1. An
introductory performance: a preliminary to an
action, event, or work of broader scope and
higher importance ; a preface ; presage ; fore-
shadowing.
A strange accident befell him, perchance not so worthy
of memory for itself as for that it seemeth to have been
a kind oiprelttde to his final period.
Sir H. Wotton, Reliquiee, p. 228.
Maybe wildest dreams
Are but the needful preludes of the truth.
Tennyson, Princess, Conclusion.
2. In music, a prefatory or introductory piece,
section, or movement, either extended and more
or less independent, as in many elaborate
fugues, in suites and sonatas, in oratorios and
operas, or brief and strictly connected with
what is to follow, as in various shorter works
and at the opening of church services and be-
fore hymns. The organ prelude to a church
service is often called a voluntary. Compare
intrada, introduction, overture, vorspiel, etc.
The title of Prelude has never been associated with any
particular form in music, but is equally applicable to a
phrase of a few bars or an extended composition in strict
or free style. drove's Diet. Music, III. 28.
=Syn. 1. Preface, etc. (see introduction), preliminary. —
2. See overture, i.
. l<.pre-
one who
plays a prelude.
Invention, science, and execution Rousseau requires in
a good preluder. W. Mason, Church Musick, p. 60.
leading up to something more important; in
troductory; preparatory; prefatory.
I shall premise some preliminary considerations to pre-
pare the way of holiness. Jer. Taylor, Works, III. ill.
Swedish customs already appeared, in aprelimina/ry de-
canter of lemon-colored brandy, a thimbleful of which was
taken with a piece of bread and sausage, before the soup
appeared. B. Taylor, northern Travel, p. 14.
Preliminary Injunctton. See ad interim injunetimt,
under i»i«Bc(io».— Preliminary judgment. See judg-
ment. =Syn. Preliminjary, Preparatory, Introductory, pro-
emial. Hie first three agree in differing from the words
compared under premmis, in that they imply a necessary
connection between that which precedes and that which
follows, the latter being the essential thing. That which
is preliminary literally brings one to the threshold of a
discourse, contract, or the like ; that which is preparatory
prepares one, as to consider a proposition, subject, etc. ;
that which is introductorybvlags one inside the matter in
question ; as, a truce preliminary to a treaty ; a disposition
of troops preparatory to an attack ; remarks iniroductary
to the statement of one's theme.
II. n.; pi. preliminaries (-riz). Something
which introduces or leads up to following mat-
ter or events; an introductory or preparatory
statement, measure, action, etc. ; a preface ; a
prelude.
A serpent, which, as a prcfMBinarj/ to fascination, is said
to fill the air with his peculiar odor.
Hav!thaime, Seven Gables, viii.
On entering the abbey, she [Anne Boleyn] was led to the
coronation chair, where she sat while the train fell into
their places, and thtprdimirMriesot the ceremonial were
despatched. Frmide, Sketches, p. 179.
of speech; antecedent to the, development of ^^'^^ +__!';„• L """^ ^'"' preluaes,
language.
The first is the prelingual state, in which impressions
of outward objects exist in the mind as inarticulate, voice- ,,.,, -,-,■,.,< rx j j /-m-r
less concepts. J. Owen, Evenings with Sceptics, II. 364. preludial (pre-lu di-al), a. [< prelude (ML.
Theoretical admirers of the prelingual period are, possi- *preeludium) + -i-al.'] _ Pertaining to a prelude ;
blv, scattered here and there to this day. serving to introduce ; introductory. Edinburgh
' 7?. ffffii?, Mod.Ene.,p.334. ^gj,_
prelookt, «• «• [,< pre- + look^.] To look for- preludious (pre-lu'di-us), a. [,< prelude (ML.
ward. [Rare.] *prseludium) + -ous.} Of the nature of a pre-
It was the Lord that brake the bloody compackts of those lude; introductory. [Bare.]
That preloked on with yre, to slaughter me and myne. ryjjg gfg^g gf Adam wnspreludious to and typical of the
Surrey, Psalm Iv. ^jj^g „( Christ.
prelude (pre-Wd' or prel'iid), v. ; pret. and pp. Dr. B. More, Phil. Writings, Gen. Pref., p. XXV.
preluded, ppr. preluding. [< OF. preluder, F. preludiumt(pre-lu'di-um), «. [< ML. *prselu-
prSluder = lt. preludere,yie\ToAe {iamasia) {et dium: see prelude."] An introduction; prefa-
Sp.Pg.»reZMd««r, prelude (in music); from the tory action or state ; a prelude; a presage,
noun), < L. prxludere, play beforehand by way xhis is a abort preludium to a challenge.
of practice or rehearsal, sing beforehand, pre- Beam, and m.. Captain, v. i.
premeditate
Scared with some terrible apparition, ... a presage
a.ni preludium of hell approaching, they cry out that they
are damned. Beo. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 69.
prelumbar (pre-lum'bar), a. [< li.prse, be-
fore, -1- lumbus, loin: see lumbar^.'] In anai.,
in front of the loins or of the lumbar vertebrae.
prelusion (pre-lu'zhon), n. A prelude. [Kare.]
prelusive (prf-lii'siv), a. [< L. prselusus, pp.
ot pi'seludere, play beforehand (see prelude), +
■dve."] Serving as a prelude ; introductory ; in-
dicative of the future ; premonitory.
This monarchy, before it was to settle in your majesty
and your generations, . . . had these prdusive changes
and varieties. Baeon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 132.
Her foot pressed the strand,
With ate^ prdmive to a long array
Of woes and degradations.
Wordsworth, Mary Queen of Scots.
prelusively (prf-lii'Siv-li), adv. Same &spre-
lusorily.
prelusorily (pre-lu'so-ri-li), adv. By way of ii^-
troduotion or prelude ; pref atorUy ; previously.
prelusory (pre-lu' so-ri), a. [< L. prselusus, pp.
of prseludere, play beforehand (see prelude), +
-ory.'] Introductory; prelusive.
But the truth is, these are but the irpoirDvuat or mua-
fiax'ai, the prelumry lighter brandishings of these swords.
Ba/m/mond, Works, IV. 470.
premandibular (pre-man-dib'u-lar), a. [< L.
pras, before, + NL. mandibula, mandible: see
mandibular.] Situated in advance of the lower
jaw, as a bone of some reptiles ; predentary.
premaniacal (pre-ma-ni'a-kal), a. [< L. prie,
before, + mania, madness (see mania), + -ac-al.
Of. maniacaW] Previous to insanity, or to an
attack of mania.
The prejnaniacal semblance of mental brilliancy.
Maudsley, Body and Will, p. 297.
premature (pre-ma-tiir'), a. [= Sp. Pg. It.
prematura (at. F. prematurS, < L. as if *prie-
inaturatus),(. 'L.prsematurus, early ripe, as fruit ;
hence very early, too early, untimely (said of
actions, events, seasons, etc.), in ML. also very
ripe in judgment, < prse, before, + maturus^
ripe, mature: see mature.] Arriving too early
at maturity; mature or ripe before the propei
time ; hence, coming into existence or occurring
too soon; too early; untimely; overhasty.
The report of our misfortunes might be malicious oi
premature. Goldsmith, Vicar, iii.
Bashfulness and apathy are a tough husk, in which a
delicate organization is protected from premature ripen-
ing. Mmerson, Friendship.
Premature labor. _ See Idbor^.
prematurely (pre-ma-tur'li), adv. In a prema-
ture manner; before the proper time; too early;
overhastily.
prematureness (pre-ma-tiir'nes), n. Prema-
turity.
prematurity (pre-ma-tii'ri-ti), n. [= F. pre-
maturity = Pg. premdturidade ; &a premature -I-
-ity.] The state of being premature, or too
early in development.
It was the bewilderment andpremaiwrjty of the same in-
stinct which restlessly impelled them to materialize the
ideas of the Greek phUosophers, and to render them prac.
tical by superstitious uses. Coleridge, The Friend, ii. 10.
premaxilla (pre-mak-sil'a), n.; pi. premaxillse
(-e). [NL.prsemaMlla, < ii.prse, before, + max-
illa, jaw-bone: see maxilla.] The intermaxil-
lary or premaxillary bone. See intermaxillary.
premaxillary (pre-mak'si-la-ri), a. and».; pi.
premaxillaries (-liz). [Also prmmaxillary ; < L.
prse, before, + maxilla, jaw-bone : see maxil-
lary.] I. a. Situated in front of or at the fore
part of the maxilla; intermaxillary; pertain-
ing to the premaxilla.
II. n. The premaxillary bone; the intermax-
illary.
premaxillomaxillary (pre -mak- sil - 6 -mak' si -
la-ri), a. Same as maxillopremaxillary. Huxley.
pfemet, a. A Middle English form ot prime.
premediate (pre-me'di-at), v. t.; pret. and pp.
premediated, ppr. premediaUng. [< pre- + me-
diate.] To advocate, as a cause. Halliwell.
[Bare.]
premeditate (pre-med'i-tat), vy, pret. and pp.
premeditatedj'ppv. premeditating, [ili.prsemedi-
tatus, pp. of prxmeditari'{'> It. premeditare =
Sp. Pg. premeditar = F. primSditer), consider
or think beforehand, (.prse, before, + meditari,
consider, meditate : see meditate.] I. tran^. To
meditate beforehand; think about and con-
trive previously ; precogitate.
Here, pale with fear, he doth premeditate
The dangers of his loathsome enterprise.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 18S-
An express premeditated design to take away his life. •
Blackstone, Com., IV. iv. 196.
premeditate
II. intrant. To meditate beforehand ; delib-
erate upon future action.
They [the apostles] stadied lor no tongue, they spake
with all ; of themselves they were rude, and knew not so
much as how to premeditate; the Spirit gave them speech
and eloquent utterance. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iii. 8.
Take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, nei-
ther do ye premeditate. Mark xiii. 11.
premeditatef (prf-med'i-tat), a. [< L. preemedi-
taftts, pp.: see the verb.] 1. Contrived by pre-
vious thought ; premeditated.
Whatsoever a man shall have occasion to speak of, if he
will take the pains, he may have it in eCfect premeditate,
and handled " in thesi."
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 219.
2. Using premeditation ; disposed to premedi-
tate.
A premeditate and resolute mind lightly shaketh off the
heaviest crosses of malice. O. Harvey, Four Letters.
premeditatedly (pre-med'i-ta-ted-li), adv. Pre-
meditately ; deliberately.
Least of all could she da-repr^neditatedly a vague future
in which the only certain condition was indignity.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xllv.
premeditatedness (pre-med'l-ta-ted-nes), n.
The state or character of being premeditated,
or planned beforehand.
premeditately (prf-med'i-tat-li), adv. "With
premeditation; after previous deliberation ; in-
tentionally.
He that premeditately cozens one does not cozen all, but
only because he cannot. Feltham, Besolves, ii. 62.
Accordingly, in all the number of laws passed with re-
gard to the plantations, the words which distinguish rev-
enue laws specifically as such were, I thinktpremeditately
avoided. Burke, American Taxation.
premeditation (prf-med-i-ta'shon), n. [< OP.
premeditation, P. primMitation = Sp. premedi-
tacion = Pg. premeditagSo = It. premeditazione,
< Jj. preemeditatio{n-),a, consideringbeforehand,
< prsemeditari, pp. prsemeditat'us, consider be-
forehand: see jyremeditate.'] 1. The act of
premeditating; previous deliberation; fore-
thought ; preeogitation.
Ye haue nowe hard what premeditations be expedient
Ijefore that a man take on him the gouernance of a pub-
lyke weale. Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, ii. 1.
He [Pitt] spoke without jTrem^dita^n; but his speech
-followed the course of his o^vn thoughts, and not the
course of the previous discussion. Macavlay, William Pitt.
2. Previous contrivance or design formed: as,
thB premeditation of a crime. In law, premeditor
tionis by some authorities understood to mean previous
deliberation, by others onlyprevious intent, however sud-
den, and however quickly put into execution.
premeditative (pre-med'i-ta-tiv), a. [< pre-
meditate + -iBe.'\ tlsing premeditation: char-
acterized by premeditation ; showing thought
for the future.
Every fli'St thing accordingly shows some premeditative
token of every last.
Biishnell, Nature and the Supemat., p. 202.
premenstrual (pre-men'strS-al), a. [< L. pree,
before, + meiistrua, menstrua, + -al.'] Preced-
ing menstruation.
premeridian (pre-me-rid'i-an), a. [< L. prse,
before, + meridies,m.idia,y: see meridian.'] Im-
mediately before midday; specifically [cap.],
in geol., according to Professor H. D. Rogers's
nomenclature of the Paleozoic rooks, noting
that part of the series which lies between the
Meridian and the Soalent. It corresponds to
part of the Lower Helderberg of the New York
Sui'vey.
premeritt (prf-mer'it), v. t. [< jjre- + merit."]
To merit or deserve beforehand.
They did not forgive Sir John Hotham, who had so much
premerited of them. Eilcon BasUike.
premial (pre'mi-al), a. [< liL. priemialis, used
as a reward, < h'.'prsmiium, a reward: see pre-
mium.] Same siS premiant.
premiant (pre'mi-ant), a. [< L. prsemian{t-)s,
ppr. of prsemiari, stipulate for a reward : see jJre-
miate.] Serving to reward. Baxter. (Webster.)
premiate (pre'mi-at), v. t. ; pret. and pp. pre-
miated, Tppv. premiating. [< h. prsemiatiis, -pp.
ot prsemiari, stipulate for a reward, < priemium,
a reward: see premium.] To reward with a
premium: as, a,premiatedess&y. [Bare.]
The ten premiated designs have been photographed.
Perm. Monthly, Sept., 1873, p. 598.
premiqest (prem'i-sez), n. pi. [< P. premices,
pi., = Sp.primida = Pg. primi(nas, pi., = It.
primizia, < L. primitiee, primicise, first-fruits, <
primus, fitrst: see prime.] First-fruits. Also
spelled premice.
A charger, or laree platter, was yearly filled with all
sorts of fruits, which were offered to the gods at their fes-
•tivals as the prenUcei or first gatherings.
Dryden, Orig. and Prog, of Satire.
4692
premier (pre'mi-6r), a. and n. [< F. premier,
first, chief, as a noun a chief, leader, < L. pri-
marius, of the first rank, < primus, first : see
primary.] 1. a. 1. First in importance ; chief.
[Rare.]
The Spaniard challengeth the premier place, in regard
ot his dominions. Camden, Eemains.
Surely Canterbury, as the metropolitical city, and the
seat of the primate of aU England, ought to contain the
vernier parish church. if. and Q., 7th ser., II. 168.
2. First in time ; earliest in appearance or oc-
currence ; specifically, in the English peerage,
first in the order of precedence, which is now
the order of date of creation.
Henry Beauchamp, son of Kichard and Isabel, was at
the age of nineteen created premier Earl of England, and
three days after he was made Duke of Warwick, . . J a
senseless jumble [i. e., these creations and adjustments of
precedence which followed], soon liquidated by a more
egregious act of folly, the king [Henry VI. ] with his own
hand creating the young Duke of Warwick King of the
Isle of Wight. Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting, I. ii
The first opera of which we have any record is a trans-
lation of "Arsinoe," an Italian opera written by Stanzani
of Bologna, for the theatre of that town, in 1677, and here
is the premier advertisement of opera in England.
J. AMon, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, II. 28.
H. n. The first minister of state ; the prime
or premier minister.
stand forth and tell yon Premier youth [Pitt]
The honest, open, naked truth.
Bums, Prayer to the Scotch Kepresentatives.
A shout rose again, ... a shout
More joyful than the city raar that hails
Premier or king ! Tennyson, Princess, Conclusion.
premier (pre'mi-er), V. i. [< premier, n.] To
govern as premier; serve as prime minister.
[Rare.]
Nae sage North now, nor sager Sackville,
To watch and premier o'er the pack vile.
Bume, Address of Beelzebub.
premiere (pre-miar'), a. and n. [F., fem. of
premier, first: see premier.] I, a. First or fore-
most or chief, as said of women.
Five new premiere dancers, headed by Mile. Lile from
the Berlin Opera House, will arrive in the city the present
week. M-mic and Dra/ma, XI. vii. 7.
Premiere danseuse, the principal gr leading female
dancer in a ballet.
II. n. A woman who has a leading part to
perform. Specifically— (a) In theatrical repreeentationg,
a leading lady ; the principal actress, (ft) In dandng, a
premiere danseuse. (e) In dresmuMng, a forewoman.
premiership (pre'mi-er-ship), n. \< premier +
-ship.] The state or dignity of being first or
foremost; especially, the dignity or office of a
prime minister.
On returning to England he [Wellesley] made one last
bid for Vke premiership. The Academy, No. 900, p. 66.
premillenarian (pre-mil-e-na'ri-an), a. and n.
[< L. prx, before, + NL. millennium, millenni-
um, -1- -arian. Cf. millenarian^ I. a, \. Of of
pertaining to premillemiialism. — 2. Same as
The rejection of the pre-miUenarian advent has never
been understood as required by our ordination vows.
Princeton Bev., March, 1879, p. 419.
II, n. A believer in the doctrine of premU-
lennialism.
premillenarianism (pre-mil-e-na'ri-an-izm), n.
Same as premillennialism. Andover'Mev., VII.
201.
premillennial (pre-mi-len'i-al), o. [< L. prie,
before, + NL. millennium, millennium, + -al.
Cf . millennial.] Preceding the millennium ; ex-
isting or occurring before the millennium.
The dogma of the Pre-Uillennial Advent of Christ.
Princeton Bee., March, 1879, p. 415.
premillennialism (pre-mi-len'i-al-izm), n. [<
premillennial + -ism.] The doctrine that the
second coming of Christ will precede the mil-
lennium. See millennium, millenarianism.
premillennialist (pre-mi-len'i-al-ist), n. [< pre-
millennial + -ist] A premillenarian. Biblio-
theca Sacra, XLV. 252.
premiot, n. [< Sp. Pg. It. premio, premium:
see premium.] A premium.
It is just as if the ensurers brought in a catalogue of
ensured ships lost, taking no notice of ships arrived and
premios. Boger North, Examen, p. 490. (Davies.)
premisal (pre-mi'zal), n. [< premise + -al.]
The act of premising; also, a prefatory state-
ment; a premise. [Rare.]
And here, by way of premisal, it must be in a lawful and
warrantable way. (MverweU, Mount Ebal, 90. (Latham.)
premise, premiss (prem'is), n. [More prop.
premiss, out premise is the more common spell-
ing; < ME. premisse (in pi. premissis), < OP.
premisse, F. premisse, usually in pi. pr&misses,
premises (in logic), = Sp. premisa = Pg. fre-
premium
missa = It. premes?a, < ML. preemissa, sc. pro-
positio or conditio, a premise, lit. 'a proposition
or condition set forth beforehand,' fem. of L.
prsemissus, pp. ot preemittere, send before, put
or set before or in advance : see premit.] 1. A
judgment causing another judgment; a propo-
sition belief in which leads to the belief in
another proposition called a conclusion ; a
proposition from which, with or without others,
something is inferred or concluded.
Passion violently snatches at the conclusion, but is in-
considerate and incurious concerning the premises.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 89.
He goes on building many faire and pious conclusions
upon false and wicked premises, which deceave the com-
mon Reader not well discerning the antipathy of such con-
nexions. Milton, Eikonoklastes, ii.
2t. A condition set forth ; a supposition.
Iff forsoththe said maister, wardens, and theere succes-
sours the premissis, as of there parti expressed and de-
clared, hoolrt and trewly fulfill, . . . then the said writ-
yng obligatorie of xxti.li. shalbe hadd for nought.
English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 326.
Here is my hand; the premises observed.
Thy will by my performance shall be served.
Shak., All's WeU, iL 1. 204.
The doctor happly may persuade. Go to ;
'Shalt give his worship a new damask suit
TJpon the premisses. B. Jons&n, Alchemist, ii. 1.
3. pi. In law, what has been stated before or
above (in a document) ; the aforesaid, (o) That
part of the beginning of a deed or conveyance where the
names of the parties, their additions, and the considera-
tion and moving cause of the instrument are stated. (6) '
More commonly, that part of a deed or conveyance where
the subject-matter of the grant is stated or described in
full, afterward referred to collectively as the premises.
Hence — 4. pi. The subject of a conveyance;
lands and houses or tenements; a house or
building and the outhouses and places belong-
ing to it.
During this period the family mansion had been con-
signed to the charge of a kinsman, who was allowed to
make it his home for the time being, in consideration of
keeping the premises in thorough repair.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xiii.
In the premises, in relation to a subject which has been
mentioned : as, he had no authority in thepremises. — Ma-
JorpremlBe. Seema.;or, 6.— MJnorpremlse. Seemirwr.
premise (pff-miz'), v.; pret. and pp. premised,
ppT. premising. [< L. priemissus, pp. preemittere,
send before or forward: see premit. For the
form, cf. premise, n., demise.] I. trans. 1. To
set forth or make known beforehand, as intro-
ductory to the main subject; offer previously,
as something to explain or aid in understand-
ing what follows ; lay down as an antecedent
proposition.
Foure only be of two times, and eight of three times,
the rest compounds of the premised two sorts.
Pvttenham, Arte of Eng. Foesie, p. 92.
I shall premise some preliminary considerations.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), II. 20.
Let jne premise, twelve months have fiown away.
Swiftly or sadly, since the happy day.
Crabte, Works, VH. 202.
2t. To send before the time.
O let the vile world end.
And the premised flames of the last day
Enit earth and heaven together I
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., v. 2. 41.
II, intrans. To state premises; preface an
argument or other discourse with premises.
I vaMzt premise with three circumstances. Svyift.
premiss, n. See premise.
premitt (pre-mif), v. t. [= OP. premetre, pre-
mettre = It. premettere, send forward, < L. prie-
mittere, send forward, send in advance, de-
spatch, < prae, before, -I- mittere, send : see mis-
sion. Cf. admit, commit, demit, etc. Hence (<
L. preemittere) ult. E. premise, re., premise, v.,
etc.] To premise.
He doth, in this and the next verse, premit a general
doctrine thereunto.
Hutcheson, On John, p. 299. (Jamieson.)
premium (pre'mi-um), n. [Early mod. E. pre-
mye (q. v.), < OF. premie = Sp. Pg. It. premio,
reward, premium ; < li.prsemium, profit derived
from booty, booty, game, prey ; in general (the
usual sense), profit, advantage, and in particu-
lar, reward, recompense; contr. of *preeimium, <
pree, before, + emere, take, buy : see emption,
etc.] 1. A reward; a recompense given for a
particular action or line of conduct . Specifically —
la) Aprize to be won by competition, (ft) A bonus ; an extra
sum paid as an incentive ; anything given as an induce-
ment, (c) A fee paid for the privilege of being taught a
trade or profession.
2. That which is given for the loan of money;
interest.
Men never fail to bring in their money upon a land-tax
when the iM-ejntMm or Interest allowed them is suited to
the hazard they run. Addison, Freeholder, No. 20.
premium
3. ti insurance, the amount paid or agreed to be
paid in one sum or periodically to insurers as the
consideration for a contract of insurance. See
insurance, 2.-4. In banking and currenq/, the
difference by which the value of one metallic
currency exceeds that of another of the same
denomination, or by which a metallic curren-
cy exceeds a paper cui-reney of the same de-
nomination in the same country; agio: the
opposite of discount, or disagio, which is the
amount by which the value of one currency
has depreciated when compared with another.
Thus, during the civU war in the TJnited States, when
«125 in paper currency was demanded for $100 in gold,
the gold dollar was said to be at a premium ol 25, as com-
pared with paper, but it might more correctly be said that
paper was at a diaamnt of 20 per cent, as compared with
gold.
5. In stock-broking, etc., the percentage of dif-
ference by which the market price of shares,
stocks, bonds, etc., exceeds their face-value or
the sum originally paid for them: thus, when
stock originally issued at |100 per share sells
at |140 per share, it is said to be at a premium
of 40 per cent — At a premium, above par; at a high-
er price than the original cost or normal value ; hence,
difficult to obtain ; rare and valuable.— Premium note,
a note given in place of payment of tlie whole or a part of
an insurance premium.
Premna (prem'ua), n. [NL. (Linnseus, 1767),
so called in allusion to the short stem or low
tree-trunk'; < Gr. irpijivov, a stump.] A genus
of gamopetalous shrubs and trees of the order
Verbenacese and tribe Viticeee. it is characterized
by the four didynamous stamens included within the short,
«mall, and nearly equally f our-lobed corolla, and by the sin-
gle four-celled drupe. There are about 42 species, natives
of warm i-egions of the Old World. They bear opposite en-
tire or toothed leaves and rather loose cymes of white or
bluish flowers, in panicles or corymbs, or condensed into
an elongated pyramidal inflorescence. P. Taitetisis of the
Fiji Islands, etc., there called yaro, affords wood for build-
ing, and its bark enters into the drug touga. See Mad-
ache-tree and tonga,
premolar (pre-mo'lar), a. and n. [Also jprie-
molar; < li.prse, before, + molaris, molar: see
molari^.'] I. a. Anterior in position, and prior
in time, to a molar, as a tooth; situated in ad-
vance of molars; deciduous, as a molar; per-
taining in any way to premolars : as, a, premolar
tooth; ;>remo&ir dentition; the premolar paxtot
a maxillary bone.
II. m. A milk-molar; a molar of the decidu-
ous dentition ; a tooth which in the permanent
•dentition replaces a milk-molar. Such teeth oc-
'Cur as a rule in mammals which have a diphyodont denti-
tion. All the molars or grinders of the first set are techni-
■csJly premolars, and all those which succeed and replace
them in the second set are also premolars, whatever their
:size, form, or number. They are usually smaller than true
molars, and also less complicated in structure ; but such
distinctions do not hold in every case. Premolars are de-
veloped in an anterior pai-tof the maxillaiy bone, and, when
they coexist with true molars, ai'e always situated in f rontof
the latter. The first, foremost, or most anterior premolar
is often specialized, and is then known as the canine. Ex-
cepting this tooth, the typical though not the most fre-
quent number of premolai's is three above and below on
each side ; there are rarely more than three, oftenest two,
as in man ; sometimes one or none, as in rodents. The
two premolars of man are commonly called bicuspids. In
dental formulae the symbol of premolar is pm or p. The
2 2
premolar formula of man is pm. -.
■premonarcliical (pre-mo-nar'ki-kal), a. [< i)re-
+ monarchical.'] Prior to monarchy; before
adopting the monarchical form of government.
Premonarehieal Israel is represented as a hierooraoy, and
Samuel as its head. Encyc. Brit., XIII. 403.
premonish (pre-mon'ish), V. [Formerly also
prmmonish; < li. prsmionitus, pp. of premionere
(> Pg.premunir), forward, <j)ra, before, +mo-
nere, remind, advise, warn: see mordsh. Cf.
preemunire.] I. trans. To forewarn; caution
beforehand; notify previously.
Man cannot brook poor friends. This inconstant char-
ity is hateful, as our English phrase pre;reonisAe«ft; "Love
me little, and love me long." „ „„
Rev. T. Adams, Works, II. 418.
We enter'd by the drawbridg, which has an invention
to let one fall, if not praenumished.
Evelyn, Diary, May 2, 1644.
Ii; intrans. To give warning or advice be-
forehand; forebode.
Tour lordship doth very seasonably premonisft.
Chapman and Shirley, Admiral of France, v.
My love is viituous ; were it otherwise,
I should elect) as yoa premonish, youth
And prodigal blood. Shirley, Love Tricks, ii. 2.
premonishment (pre-mon'ish-ment), «. [< pre-
monish. + -ment.'i The act of premomshing;
previous warning or admonition ; previous in-
formation. [Rare.]
After these premonishments, I will come to the compar-
titton itself. * H. Wotton, BehquiBB, l 40.
295
4693
premonition (pre-mo-nish'gn), n. [< OF. pre-
monition, premonicio'n — It. premonizione, < JJL.
prsBmonitio(n-), a forewarning, < L. prsemonere,
forewarn: see premonish.'] Theactof premon-
ishing or forewarning ; hence, a previous warn-
ing or notification of subsequent events; pre-
vious information.
Such as haue not prenumilion hereof, and consideration
of the causes all edged, would pei'aduenture reproue and
disgrace euery £omance or short historicall ditty, for that
they be not written in long meeters or verses.
Putlenltam, Ayte of Eng. Poesie, p. 34.
God hath sent all his servants, the prophets, and so done
all that is uecessaiy for premonition. Donne, Sermons, vi.
premonitive (prf-mon'i-tiv), a. [< L. prsemoni-
tus, pp. ot preemo'nere, forewarn (see^rremonish),
+ -ive.'] Premonitory. Imp. Diet.
premonitor (prf-mon'i-tor), n. [< 'Lli.prxmoni-
tor, aforewarner,<L.2>ris»io»ere,forewam: see
premonish.'] One who forewarns; a premoni-
toiy messenger or token.
Some such like nnconth premcmUiors , . . God sends
purposely to awaken our security.
Bp. HaU, Soliloquies, Ixxiz.
premonitorily (prf-mon'i-to-ri-li), adv. By way
of premonition.
premonitory (prf-mon'i-to-ri), a. [= P. pre-
monitoire, <XiL. p'riemonitorius, that gives previ-
ous warning {see premonitor), < 'L. pi-semonere,
forewarn : see xyremonish.'] Giving premonition ;
serving to warn or notify beforehand.
In premonitory judgements God will take good words
and sincere intents ; but in peremptory, nothing but reall
performances. N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 46.
All the signs and silences
Prem/mitmy of earthquake.
Brouming, King and Book, 1. 192.
Premonstrant (pre-mon'strant), n. [An ac-
eom. form (as if < L. prsemonstran(t-)s, ppr. of
prsemon^trare, show beforehand, guide: seejire-
monstrate) of P. PrSmmitres, pi. (cf. Sp. Pre-
monstratense, Premostratense = Pg. Premonstra-
tense = It. Premostratese (?), < ML. Prsemonstra-
tensis, a Premonstrant), < Prdmontre, nearLaon,
in Prance, where the order was founded (see
def.). The name Premontr^ is variously ex-
plained as orig. ^ire montr4, < L. pratum mon-
stratum, a meadow pointed out (sc. to the
founder in a dream) ; or pr^ montre, pointed
out close at hand {pres, near, close at hand);
or < Jj.priemonstratvSjT^oiatedi out beforehand:
see jTremonstrate.] A member of a Roman
Catholic religious order comprising monks and
nuns, founded by St. Norbert at Pr6montr6
near Laon, in France, 1119. The order was once
very fiourishing, but now numbers only a few houses,
principally in the Austrian empire. The Premonstrants
were also called Norbertines, and in England White Cavjons
(from their garb). Also Premonstraiensian.
premonstratet (prf-mon'strat), v. t. [< L. prx-
monstratus, pp. oi prsemonstrare (> It. premo-
strare), show beforehand, guide: see Premon-
strant.] To foreshow; represent beforehand.
This [text, Luke xii. 20] is the covetous man's scripture ;
and both (like an unflattering glass) presents his present
condition, what he is, and (like a fatal book) premonstrates
his future state, what he shall be.
See. T. Adams, Works, II. 123.
Premonstratensian (pre-mon-stra-ten'si-an),
a. and n. [Also Prxirionstrateniian ; < ItlL.
Premonstratensis, a Premonstrant : see Premon--
strant.'] 1. a. Of or relating to the Premon-
strants : as, the Premonstratensian order.
The Prxtrumxtralensian Priory of Langdon.
Jt. W. Dixon, Hist Church of Eng., y.
II. n. Same as Premonstrant.
A procession of monks, Carmelites, Benedictines, Pre-
mAnistrateneians. ■ The American, VIIL 249.
premonstrationt (pre-mon-stra'shon), n. [=
It. premostrazione, < LL. prxmo^istratio{'>v-), a
showing beforehand: see premonstrate.] The
act of ijremonstrating or foreshowing; indica-
tion or revelation of future events.
If such demonstration was made for the beginning, then
the like premA>nstration is to be looked for in the fulfilling.
Shelford, Learned Discourses, p. 323.
premonstratort (pre-mon'stra-tor), n. [< L.
prmmonstrator, one who points out beforehand,
a guide: see premonstrate.'] One who or that
which premonstrates, or shows beforehand.
Imp. Diet.
premorse (pre-m6rs'), «• [< L- preemorstts, pp.
of prsemordere, bite in front or at the end, <
pree, before, + mordere, bite : see mordant.] 1.
Bitten off. — 2. In bot. and entom., having the
apex irregularly truncate, as if bitten or broken :
as, apremorse leaf or root; premorse elytra; etc.
Premosaic (pre-mo-za'ik), a. [ipre- + Mosaic.']
Previous to the time of Moses; relating to times
prenatal
previous to the life and writings of Moses : as,
Premosaic history.
promotion (pre-mo'shon), n. [< F.premotion =
Sp. preinocion = Pg. premogSo, < ML. *prsemo-
<Jo(»-), < li. prsemovere, Tpp. praemotus, move be-
forehand: see premove.] Previous motion or
excitement to action.
It f oUoweth . . . that no words or writings are of cer-
tain truth upon any account of God's inspiration or premo-
Hon, because God not only can, but doth, cause all the un-
truths that ai'e spoken or written in the world : therefore
no faith in-God's revelation hath any sure foundation, . . .
and so all religion is dashed out at a stroke.
Baxter, Divine life, L 19.
Many Jesuit writers of note differ from Molina in almost
all, save the one essential point of making tlie human will
"a faculty thai^ even when all conditions of activity are
present, is free either to act as it chooses or not to act at
all." But this thesis is nothing more than the mere de-
nial of "physical premotoi." Hind, XII. 266.
premove (pre-mov'), v. t. ; pret. and pp. pre-
moved, pyr.premoving. [< lAj.prsemovere, move
beforehand, stir up, K'L.jtrse, before, + movere,
move : see move.] To incite or excite ; effect by
premotion.
It followeth that we have no certainty when God pre.
maveth an apostle or prophet to ^eak true, and when to
speak falsely. Baxter, Divine Life, i. 19,
premultiply (pre-mul'ti-pli), V. t; pret. and
pp. pi-emultiplied, ppr. premultiplyin^. [< jyre-
+ multiply.] To multiply by an operative fac-
tor written before the factor operated on.
premunire, n. and v. See prsemunire.
premunitel(pre-mu-nit'), «. *. [< 'L. prieniuni-
tus, pp. ot prxmuriire, prsemcenire (> It. premu-
nire = P. primunir), fortify or defend in front,
< prse, before, + munire, vicenire, defend with a
wall, fortify: seemunition.] To fortify before-
hand ; guard or make secure in advance.
For the better removing of the exception, which might
minister any scruple, &c., I thought good to premunUe
the succeeding treatise- with this preface.
Fotlierby, Alheomastix, Pref. (Latharn.)
premunition (pre-mu-nish'on), n. [= P. in-e-
muiiition, < L. j)reemunitio{n-), a fortifying or
strengthening beforehand, < prsemunire, pp.
pireemunitus, fortify or defend in front or in ad-
vance: seeirremunite.] The act of fortifying
or guarding beforehand; a measure taken in
advance to secure immunity from peril or ob-
jection.
Ko : let me tell thee, prevision is the best prevention,
and premonition the best premunition.
Rev. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 53.
premunitory (pre-mii'ni-to-ri), a. [Also prm-
munitory; \ prernmdte + -ory.] Belonging or
relating to a prsemunire.
The clergy were summoned by Hie premurvUory clause.
Hody, Hist, of (invocation, p. 402. (Lgtham.)
premyet, n. [< L. preeminm, reward, recom-
pense: see jyremium.] A gift.
The cytie of London through his mere grannt and premye
Was first privyleged to have both mayer and shryve^
Where before hys tyme it had but baylyves onlye.
Bale, Eynge Johan, p. 85. (HalliweU.)
Prenanthes (pre-nan'thez), n. [NL. (Vail-
lant, 1737), so called in allusion to the nodding
flower-heads ; < Gr. irprpr/g, with the face down-
ward, + avBoQ, flower.] A genus of composite
plants of the tribe Cichoriacese and subtribe
LaetllcesB. it is chaiacterized by nearly cylindrical or
slightly compressed three- to five-angled achenes without
beaks or ribs, and loosely panicled, nodding heads of ligu-
late flowers, with a peculiar cylindrical and slender involu-
cre, having a few short bracts at its base, and mainly com-
posed of from five to fourteen long and equal soft bracts
in a single row, unchanged after blossoming. There are
20 species, natives of southern Europe, the Canary Islands,
the East Indies, Japan, and North America. They are
smooth and erect herbs, often tall and wand-like, or climb-
ing (in a Himalayan species), with commonly whitish or
yellowish fiowers and copious pappus— a few American
species being exceptional in their rough hairy inflores-
cence, or erect flowers. The leaves are alternate, and
often of very peculiar shapes — aiTow- or halberd-shaped,
lyrate, or irregularly lobed, sometimes with gi'eat variation
on the same plant. Three closely connected American spe-
cies, P. alba, P. serpentaria, and P. altisHma, are variously
called white lettuce, lion's-foot, rattlesnake-root, and gall-of-
the-earth— one, P. serpentaria, being locally reputed a
cure for rattlesnake-bites. See cancer-weed, and cut under
ratUesnake-root.
prenasal (pre-na'zal), a. [< L. ^rx, before, +
nasus, nose: see nasal.] Anterior with refer-
ence to the nose, nostrils, or nasal passages :
as, the prenasal spine of the maxillary bone ; a
prenasal or rostral cartilage.
prenatal (pre-na'tal), a. [< pre- + nataU.']
Previous to birth ; of or pertaining to existence
pl■e^'ious to birth.
Plato assumed a prenatal, Malebranche a present intui-
tion of the divine Being, as the source of the pure notions
and principles of the understanding.
E. Caird, Phflos. of Kant, p. 185.
prenatally
prenatally (pre-na'tal-i), adv. Before birth.
prender (pren'der), n. [< OF. prendre, a, tak-
ing (inf. used as noun), prop, take, < L. pren-
dere, prehendere, take, seize : see prehend, u.]
In law, the power or right of taking a thing be-
fore it is offered.
prenet, n. and v. An obsolete form otpreen\
prenomen, n. See 2'rsenomen.
prenominal, praenominal (pre-nom'i-nal), a.
[< prmiomen {-nomin-) + -ai.] ' Of or pertain-
ing to the praenomen; generic, as a name of an
animal which precedes its specific name.
They deceived in the name of horse-radish, horse-mint,
bull-rush, and many more ; conceiving therein some pre-
naminal consideration. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., ii. 7.
prenominatet (pre-nom'i-nat), t;. t. [<Jj.pree-
nominatus, pp. of preenominare, give a prseno-
men to, also name in advance, < prae, before,
+ nominare, name: see nominate.'] To name
beforehand; foretell.
Think'st thou to catch my life so pleasantly
As Uiprenominate in nice conjecture
Where thou wilt hit me dead?
Shak., T. and C, iv. 5. 250.
prenominatet (pre-nom'i-nat), a. [< L. prse-
nominatus, pp.: see the verb.] Forenamed;
foretold; aforesaid.
Having ever seen in the prenomiruUe crimes
The youth you breathe of guilty, be assured
He closes with you in tliis consequence.
Shak., Hamlet, iL 1. 43.
prenominationf (pre-nom-i-na'shon), H. [< L.
as if *prsmominaUo(n-), < pnenoiimnare, name
in the first place or in advance, etc.: %eepre-
nominate.'] The state or privilege of being
named before others.
Moreover, if we concede that the animals of one element
might bear the names of those in the other, yet in strict
reason the wateiy productions should have the prenomi-
nation. Sir T. Braume, Vulg. Err., iii. 24.
prenominical, prsenominical (pre-no-min'i-
kal),a. [<prsenorn,eri{.m>mm-) + -io-al.'\ Same
&& prenominal.
preuostict, n. An obsolete form of prognostic.
Gower.
prenotet (pre-nof), v. t. [< Jj.prienotare, mark
or note before or beforehand, < prx, before,
4- nota/re, mark, designate : see note^, v.] To
note beforehand ; designate or mention previ-
ously.
And this blind ignorance of that age, thus aboue pre-
noted, was the cause whie these kings builded so manie
monasteries vpon zealous superstition.
Foxe, Martyrs, p. 120, an. 764.
prenotion (pre-no'shon), n. [= 'F.prinotion
= Sp . prenocioii = Pg. "prenogSo = It. prenozione,
< L. praenotio{n-), a previous notion, < prsenos-
cere, pp. prsenotus, learn or know beforehand,
< prx, before, + noseere, come to know: see
feraowi.] Preconception;. anticipation; a gen-
eralization from slight experience.
She had some prenotion or anticipation of them.
Bp. Berkeley, Siris, § 314.
prensationt (pren-sa'shgn), TO. [< L. prensa-
Uo(,n-), a soliciting, < prensatus, preliensatus,
pp. of prensare, prehensare, seize, lay hold of,
freq. of prendere, preliendere, pp. prensus, pre-
hensiis, grasp, catch, take : see prehend.'} The
act of grasping; seizure.
That commonly by smbUioas preneatione, by slmoniacal
corruptions, by political bandyings, by popular factions,
by all kiuds of sinister ways, men crept into the place,
doth appear by those many dismal schisms which gave
the church many pretended heads, but not one certain
one. Barrow, The Pope's Supremacy.
Prensiculantia (pren-sik-u-lan'shi-a), TO. pi.
[NL., neut. pi. of *prensiculan(t-)s, ppr. of an as-
sumed verb *pretisieulare, nibble, dim. or freq.,
< 'L.prendere, pp. prensus, take, seize : see pren-
der, prize^.'i In Dliger's classification of mam-
mals (1811), the fourth order, containing the ro-
dents, and corresponding to the Glires or Boden-
tia of other authors, it was divided into 8 families,
none constituted as in modem systems, the relationships
of the rodents having been little understood at that time.
prent (prent), v. and to. An obsolete or dia-
lectal (Scotch) form ot print.
prentice (pren'tis),»j. [< 'MIE.prmUs; byapher-
esis from apprentice.'] An apprentice.
Alkynnes crafty men crauen mede for here^«n«&;
Marchauntz and mede mote nede go togtderes.
Piers Plovrman (B), iii. 224.
I was bound prentice to a barber once,
But ran away i' the second year.
Middleton (and others). The Widow, iv. 2.
To put to prentice, to send to prentice, to apprentice ;
bind to an apprenticeship.
SirBoger's kindness extends to their children's children ;
and this very morning he sent his coachman's grandson to
prentice. Steele, Spectator, No. 107.
4694
prenticebood (pren'tis-hud), n. [Formerly also
prentisehood; (."ME.prentisJiood; < prentice +
hood.] Apprenticeship.
This jolly prentys with his maister bood,
Til he were ny out of his prenMshood.
Chmwer, Cook's Tale, 1. 36.
I serv'd no prenUaehood to any Eod.
J. Beaummt, Psyche, iL 43.
prentice-of-lawt (pren'tis-ov-ia'), n. A barris-
ter. See apprentice, 3. HalliweU.
prenticeship (pren'tis-Ship), m. [Formerly also
prentiship; < prentice + -ship.] Apprentice-
ship.
While he [Moses] past his sacred Prentiship
(In Wilderness) of th' Hebrews Shepheardship.
CC..I — .^j,^ jy of p„ Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Lawe.
prentist, «. An obsolete spelling ot prentice.
prentisaget (pren'ti-saj), to. [< prentis, pren-
tice, + -age.] Apprenticeage; apprenticeship.
He was a gentleman to whom Amphialus that day had
given armour and horse to try his valour, having never
before been in any combat worthy remembrance. " Ah,"
said Fhalantus, in a rage, " and must I be the exercise of
joar prentisagef" Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iii.
prenunciationt (pre-nun-§i-a'shon), to. [< LL.
prienuntiaUo{n-), a, prediction, < L. prsenun-
tiare, pp. prsenvmUatus, annoimce beforehand,
foretell, < pi'ie, before, + nunUare, announce,
< mmtius, one who brings news, a messenger:
see nuncio.] The act of telling before. Bailey.
prenuncioust (prf-nun'shus), a. [< L. prssnun-
tius, prsemmcitts, that foretells or forebodes, <
pree, before, + nuntius, one who brings news, a
messenger: seeprenunmation.] Announcing be-
forehand; presaging. Blount.
prenziet, a. A dubious word in the following
passage, probably an original error, some con-
jecture it to be an error for ^fcnceZie(jn*inceZy)or for jwiest-
lie (priesUy). Others conjecture Scotch primxie, prim, de-
mure ; but the existence of this word in Shakspere's time
is not established, nor is it explained how Shakspere should
come to use a colloquial Scotch diminutive term in this
one place.
Claud. The prenzie Angela]
Isab. O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'st body to invest and cover
In premie guards I Shale., M. tor M, iii. 1. 94.
preoblige (pre-o-bUj');''- *•; pret. and pp. ^re-
obliged, ppr. pr'eohliging. [< pre- + oMige.] To
bind by a previous obligation.
Nor was he pre-obliged by any kindness or benefit from
us. TiUotson. (Latham.)
preobtain (pre-ob-tan'), V. t. and i. Hjyre- +
obtain.] To obtain beforehand. Smart.
preoccipital (pre-ok-sip'i-tal), a. [< jyre- + oc-
cipital.] Placed in front of or in the anterior
portion of the occipital lobe of the brain : as,
the preoccipital fovea (a slight depression de-
marcating, in part, the occipital from the tem-
poral lobe) — Preoccipital fissure or notch, a notch
on the lower external surface of the cerebrum, marking the
separation of the occipital and sphenotemporal lobes.
preoccupancy (pre-ok'u-pau-si), n. [< 2^re- +
occupancy.] 1. ihe act of taking possession
before another; preoccupation: as, the preoc-
cupancy of unoccupied land.
■ The pre-occuparKy of the soil [prairies] by herbaceous
vegetation, preventing or retarding the effective germina-
tion of the seeds of trees. Science, III. 442.
2. The right of taking possession before others :
as, to have the preoccupancy of land by right of
discovery.
preoccupant (pre-ok'u-pant), TO. [< L. prseoc-
cupan{t-)s, ppr. of prseo'ccupare, seize or oc-
cupy beforehand: see preoccupate.] One who
preoccupies; a prior occupant.
preoccupatet (pre-ok'u-pat), v. t. [< li.prseoc-
cupaius, pp. ot pr'eeocciipare, seize or occupy be-
forehand: see preoccupy.] To take possession
of before others ; preoccupy ; seize in advance.
Many worthy offices and places of high regarde in that
vocation [the law] are now pre-occapated and usurped by
ungentle and base stocke.
Feme, Blazon of Gentrie (ed. 1586), p. 93.
I have propounded my opinions naked and unarmed,
not seeldng to preoccupate the liberty of men's judgments
by confutations. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii.
preoccupation (pre-ok-u-pa'shon), n. [= P.
preoccupation = Sp. preocupacion = Pg. preoc-
cupaqSo = It. preoceupazione, < L. praeoccupa-
tio(n-), a seizing beforehand, an anticipation,
< prseoBcupdre, pp. preeoccupatus, seize or oc-
cupy beforehand: see preoccn2}ate.] 1. The act
of preoccupying, or seizing beforehand; pos-
session gained in advance.
More than three hundred men made a sndden break
for the narrow gateway, struggled, fought, and crowded
through it, and then burst into the kameras, in order to
secure by preoccupation- places on the sleeping-platforms.
The Century, XXXVII. 40.
2t. The act of anticipating ; anticipation.
preoral
To provide so tenderly by preoccupation as no spider
may suck poison out of a rose.
Proceedings againxt Garnet. (Latham.)
As if, by way of preoccupation, he should have said: well,
here you see your commission, this is your duty. South.
3. The state of being preoccupied; prior en-
grossment or absorption.
Preoeeupaiion of mind is unfavourable to attention.
J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol,, p. 88.
preoccupied (pre-ok'u-pid), p. a. [ipreoccupy.]
1. Occupied previously; engrossed; hence, lost
in thought; meditative; abstracted.
It is the beautiful preoccupied type ot face which we
find in his pictures that our modem Pre-Raphaelites re-
produce, with their own modifications.
H. James, Jr., Trans. Sketches, p. 277.
2. In eool. and bot., already used as a name for
a genus, species, etc., and therefore, by the laws
of priority, rejected for any other genus, spe-
cies, etc., to which it has been applied. =SyiL 1.
Inattentive, Abstracted, etc. See absent,
preoccupy (pre-ok'u-pi),®. *. ; pret. and-pp. pre-
occupied, ppr. preoccupying. [= F. prioecuper
= Sp. preoeupar = Pg. preoccupar = It. preoc-
cupare, < L. prseoccuj)are, seize or occupy be-
forehand, iprse, before, + oocupare, seize, take
possession of : see occMpy.] 1. To occupy be-
fore others ; take possession of or appropriate
for use in advance of others.
The tailor's wife . . . was wont to be preoccupied in all
his customers' best clothes. B. Jomon, New Inn, Arg.
In the same publication the author . . . shows that the
prior name, . . . being Aonbly preoceupied in insects, must
give way to Acroculia. Seiemse, III. 825.
2. To fill beforehand; cause to be occupied
previously.
If field with com ye tail preoccupy,
Darnel for wheat and thistle beards tor grain . . .
"Will grow apace in combination prompt.
Brauming, King and Book, II. 166.
3. To occupy or engage the attention of be-
forehand; engross in advance of others; pre-
possess; preengage.
Your minds,
Pre-^ccupied with what you rather must do
Than what you should, made you against the grain
To voice him consuL Shak., Cor., ii. 3. 240.
preocular (pre-ok'u-lar), a. and n. [< L. prse,
before, + oculus, eyeV see ocular.] I. a. Situ-
ated before the eye: specifically applied in
herpetology to certain plates of the head Pre-
ocular antennae, antennae inserted on the genee, close to
the anterior borders of the eyes, as in many Coleoptera.
II. n. A preocular plate.
preoesopbageal, a. See preesophageal.
preominatet (pre-om'i-nat), v. t. [< pre- + om-
inate.] Tolseanomenof ; betoken; foreshow;
portend.
Because many Karens were scene when Alexander en-
tered Babylon, they were thought to ^reomiTiate his death.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., v. 2.
preomosternal (pre-6-mo-st6r'nal), a. [< pre-
omosternum + -al.1 Pertaining to the preomo-
stemum.
preomosternum (pre-6-m6-st6r'num), n.; pi.
preomosterna (-na). [NL., < L. prse, before, +
NL. omosternum,"q. v.] An anterior omoster-
num.
preopercle (pre-o-p6r'kl), n. [iprxopercuVum.]
The prseoperculiim.
preopercular, prsopercular (pre-o-per'ka-
lar), a. [i preeopercul(um) + -ar^.] ' In ichtJi.,
pertaining to or connected with the prseoper-
culum. See opercular.
preoperculum, to. See preeoperculum.
preopinion (pre-o-pin'yon), TO. [< pre- H- opin-
ion.] Opinion previously formed; preposses-
sion.
The practice of diet doth hold no certain course nOr
solid rule of selection or confinement; some In an indis-
tinct voracity eating almost any, others out ot a timorous
preopinion refraining very many.
SSr T. Browne, Vulg. Err., v. 21.
preoptic (pre-op'tik), a. [ipre- + optic] An-
terior with respect to optic lobes ; pregeminal :
specifically noting the anterior pair of the optic
lobes or corpora quadrigemina of the brain.
preoption (pre-op'shon), n. [<pre- + option.]
The right of "first choice.
Agamemnon, as general, had the preoption of what part
of the booty he pleased.
Stackhame, Hist. Bible, 1. 723. (Latham.)
preoral (pre-6'ral), a. [< L. prss, before, + os
{or-), the montfi: see oral] Situated in front
of or before the mouth. Specifically noting— (a>
One of the viscersil arches of the vertebrate embryo, in dis-
tinction from the several postoral arches, (b) A fringe of
cilia in front of the mouth ot certain intusorians, as the
Ctej/fricftidai.— Preoral segments. In the arthropods or
articulated animals, hypothetical primitive rings, sup-
posed to be anterior to those bearing the organs of th©
preoral
month and to be folded back, thus forming the top of the
bead : opposed to pastoral tegmenlt. From these segments
are developed the eyes, ocelli, antenns, and antennules,
which are therefore called preoral organs. Ophilons differ
as to the number of preoral segments; some writers be-
lieve that as many as four can be traced in insect^ dis-
tinguishing them as the antennary, ophtluUmic, seeimd
oceUary, and first ooeUary segments, the last-named the
most anterior, morphologically, of all.
preorally (pre-d'ral-i), adv. In advance of the
mouth.
There Is reason to believe that these thirteen apparent
ganglia really represent twenty pairs of primitive ganglia,
one pair for each somite, the three anterior pairs having
coalesced preorally to form the brain.
Biixley and Martin, Elementary Biology, p. 184.
preordain (pre-dr-dan'), v. t. [= F. priordon-
mr = Bp.i)reordinar=Pg.preordenar = lt.pre-
ordmare, < hli.preeordinare, order beforehand, <
li.pree, before, + ordinare, order: see ordain.2
To ordain or decree beforehand ; predetermine.
May be this misery
Was pre-ordainde for thy felicity.
Times' WhisUe (E. E. T. S.), p. 101.
If God preordained a Saviour for man before he had
either made man or man marred himself, . . . then sure-
ly he meant that nothing should separate us from his eter-
nal love in that Saviour. Jteo. T. Adams, Works, III. 5.
preorder (pre-6r'd6r), V. t. l<pre- + order.']
To order or arrange beforehand; prearrange;
foreordain.
The free acts of an indifferent are, morally and ration-
ally, as worthless as thepreordered passion of a determined
wllL Sir W. Hamaton.
preordinance (prf-6r'di-nans), n. [< pre- +
ordiiuince, Cf. 1j. preordinate.] An ordinance
or rule previously established.
These coachings and these lowly courtesies
Might fire the blood of ordinary men,
And turn pre-ordinanee and first decree
Into the law of children. Shak., 3. C, iii. 1. 38.
preordinatef (pre-6r'di-nat), a. [< IJj.preeor-
dinatus, pp. of prxordinare, order beforehand :
see ordinate.] Foreordained; predetermined:
used with the force of a participle.
Am I of that vertue that I may resiste agayne celestiall
in&\ience preordinate by prouidence diulne?
Sir T. Elyot, The Govemour, ii. 12.
preordination (pre-6r-di-na'shon), n. [= F.
preordination = Sp. preordinacibn = Pg. preor-
denacSo = It. preordinaeione; as pre- + ordina-
tion.] The act of preordaining ; predetermina-
tion; foreordination.
The world did from everlasting hang in his [God's] fore-
knowledge 2iXii preardinaiion.
Sev. T. Admus, Works, m. 165.
prep (prep), n. [Short for preparatory.] A
student who is taking a preparatory course of
study ; especially, one who is preparing for col-
lege. [College slang, U. S.]
prep. An abbreviation otprepo^tion.
Frepalseozoic, a. See Prepaleozoic.
prepalatal (pre-pal'a-tal), a. [< li.prss, before,
+ palatum, palate, 4- -oZ.] In anat., placed in
front of the palate : as, the prepalatal aperture.
prepalatine (pre-pal'a-tin), a. Same as pre-
palatal.
Prepaleozoic, Frepalseozoic (pre-paflf-o-zo'-
ik), a. [< pre- + Taleozoic] Previous to the
Paleozoic period.
preparable (prep'a-ra-bl), a. [= P. pripara,-
hie; a.s prepare -i- -able.] Capable of being
prepared.
If there be any such medicine prepanMe by art.
Boyle, i^ee Inquiry, S 7.
prepairancet (pre-par'ans), n. [< prepare +
-ance.] Preparation.
I founde great tumnltes among the people, and prepar-
orace for warres in Scotland. ,, ..
Eden, tr. of Peter Martyr. (Latham.)
preparatet, a. [< ME. preparat, < L. preepara-
tus, pp. ot prseparare, prepare: see prepare.]
Prepared.
Sal tartr^ alkaly, and sal preparat.
Clumeer, Prol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 267.
Take that blood . . . and braie it with the .10. part of
comen salt preparate to medicyns of men.
Boole 0/ QuirUessence (ed. Fumivall), p. 11.
preparation (prep-a-ra'shon), n. [< OP. prepa-
ration, P. pr^arati'on = Sp. preparaeion = Pg.
preparacSo = It. preparazione, < L. prxpara-
Uo(n-), a making ready, < prseparare, pp. i>r3e-
paratus, make ready beforehand: see prepare.]
1. The act of preparing or making ready; quali-
fication for a particular use, service, or appli-
cation; adaptation to an end; training; equip-
ment.
Be yare in thy pr^aration, 'o-^ t^y assailant .s quick.
Skilfnl, and deadly. ShaK., i.. is., m. t. mo.
It is in and by freedom only, that adequate iM-eporotion
nr fuller freedom can be made. __. . . ,,
for fuller freedom can
OtadOone, Might of Bight, p. 206.
4695
2. Formation; composition; manufacture: as,
the preparation of gunpowder; the pj-eparation
of glycerin. — 3. A measure or means taken'
beforehand to secure a certain result; a pre-
paratory proceeding or circumstance.
Defences, musters, preparations.
Should be maintain'd, assembled, and collected.
As were a war in expectation.
SAai.,Hen. v., U.4. 18.
In the midst of these warlike preparatCons, however,
they received the chilling news that the colony of Massa-
chusetts refused to back them in this righteous war.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 304.
And the best yreparotioreforallfe of hard work, of trial,
and difficulty, is to have a happy chQdhood and youth to
look back to. J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, Int., p. 21.
4. The state of being prepared or in readiness ;
preparedness.
Stand therefore, having . . . your feet shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace. Eph. vt 16.
I wonder at the glory of this kingdom.
And the most bounteous ^«2Hzra£io7i,
Still as I pass, they court me with.
Fletcher (and another), False One, iii. 4.
5t. That which is equipped or fitted out.
The Turkish prMmratum makes for Bhodes.
S/Mi.,OtheUo,L3. 14.
6t. That which results from mental or moral
training; qualification; accomplishment.
The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer
of the tongue, is from the Lord. Prov. xvi. 1.
You ai-e a gentleman of excellent breeding, . . . gener-
ally allowed foryour many war-like, court^like,andlearned
preparations. Shak., M. W. of W., ii. 2. 237.
7. That which is prepared, manufactured, or
compounded: as, a chemical preparation; a
preparation of oU and wax.
I wish the chymists had been more sparing who magnify
theii preparations. Sir T. Browne.
Free nations, for the sake of doing mischief to others,
. . . have consented that a certain pr^aration of grain
shall be interdicted in their families.
Lar>dor, Kosciusko and Poniatowski.
8. In anat., an animal body or any part of it
prepared for anatomical purposes, or preserved
to display parts already dissected. Preparations
are roughly divided into dry and wet. A wet preparation
is immersed in a preservative fluid, usually alcohol, often
glycerin, sometimes chlorid of zinc. Dry preparations are
of more varied character : a skeleton is a familiar exam-
ple. Microscopic preparations are usually thin slices or
sections permanently mounted on slides. All preparations
are i^ecimens, but a specimen may be a natum object
upon which no work has been done, while preparation
implies some special steps taken for display or preserva-
tion, or both. Models in wax and papier-mach6 are often
called preparations.
9. In counterpoint and strict musical compo-
sition generally: (a) that treatment of the
voice-parts whereby a dissonance in any chord
is introduced as a consonance in the preced-
ing chord, and simply held over into the dis-
sonant chord by its own voice-part, while the
others move; (6) a consonant tone in any
voice-part which is thus about to become a
dissonance, in early counterpoint no dissonances
were permitted; later, they were admitted as suspen-
sions (see suspension) — that is, consonances held over into
chords with which they are at fli-st dissonant ; next, they
were allowed whenever thus prepared Or foreshadowed,
whether resolved as suspensions or not. In free writing,
dissonances are often abruptly introduced without pre-
vious sounding. Preparation is opposed to percussion,
which is the actual sounding of the dissonance as such,
and to resdwtum, which is the final merging of the dis-
sonance into a consonant chord.
10. The day before the sabbath or any other
Jewish feast-day. Also called day of the prepa-
ration (Mat. xxvii. 62). Compare j>arasce»e.
It was the preparaHan, that is, the day before the Sab-
bath. Mark xv. 42.
And it was the preparaHon ot the passover, and about
the sixth hour. John xix. 14.
11. Eccles., devotions or prayers used by the
celebrant or officiant, assistants, choristers,
etc., before the eucharistic or other offices,
preparative (pre-par'a-tiv), a. and n. [< ME.
*preparatif, prep'eratif, < OF. (and P.) prepa-
ratif = Sp. Pg. It. preparativo; < ML. *prsepa-
ratmms, serving to prepare, < L. prseparare, pre-
pare: ^ee prepare.] I. a. Serving or tending
to prepare or make ready; preparatory.
The work of reformation cannot be finished in a day,
nor even begun before the preparaJtiw steps have been
taken. Goldsmith, Kational Concord.
Wbhler's synthetical method for preparative purposes
usually assumes the following form.
' JSiiCj^c. Bra.,XXIV. 11.
Preparative meeting, in the Society of Friends: (a) a
business meeting, or meeting for discipline, held before
the monthly meeting, to which it is subordinate ; (6) the
organization which holds the meeting. Each monthly
meeting has usually two or more preparative meetings
connected with it.
prepare
H, «. That which is preparatory; something
that prepares or paves the way ; a preparatory
measure or act.
Nyghte rlotours that wil no waryn spare,
Wythe-outen licens or eny liberte,
Tyl sodyn perel bryng hem yn the snare,
kpreperat^ t\i&t they shal neuer the.
I^dgate, Order of Fools, in Booke of Precedence
[(E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 83.
We . . . yet^ after all these spirituall preparatives and
purgations, have our earthly apprehensions so clamm'd
and f urr'd with the old levin.
Milton, On Del of Huuib. Keraonst.
By all means they [the Jews] were resolv'd to endure a
siege, and, as a preparative for that, they burnt up almost ^
all the stores of provision which were among them.
StiUingJUet, Sermons, I. viii.
Their conversation is a kind oi preparative for sleep.
SteeJe, Tatler, No. 132.
preparatively (prf-par'a-tiv-li), adv. In a pre-
parative manner; by way of preparation.
It is preparatively necessary to many useful things in
this Uf e, as to make a man a good physician.
Sir M. Hale.
preparator (pre-par'a-tor), n. [= P. prepara-
teur= ItpreparatorejK. iXj.prseparator, one who
makes ready, < L. prseparare, pp. prseparatus,
prepare : see prepare.] One who prepares or
makes ready; a preparer; specifically, one who
prepares anatomical subjects or specimens of
natural history for study or exhibition ; a pro-
sector; a taxidermist.
The progress of the work upon the cast of the fin-back
whale has been alluded to in connection with the work of
the preparaXars. Smithsonian Beport, 1881, p. 103.
While, however, the use of the photograph for outlines
diminishes the labor of the artist about one-half, it in-
creases that of the preparator. Science, III. 443.
preparatorily (pre-par'a-to-ri-li), adv. Prepar-
atively.
When we get the chromosphere agitated preparatorily
to one of these tremendous outbursts — one of these metal-
lic prominences, as they are called — the lines which we see
are different from those in the table which I have given.
Nature, XXXIII. 640.
preparatory (pre-par'a-to-ri), a. and n. [< ML.
*prieparatorius (in neut. prseparatorium, as a
noun, apparatus), < L. prseparare, prepare: see
prepare.] I. a. 1. Preparing or serving to pre-
pare the way for something to follow; antece-
dent; preparative; introductory: as, to adopt
preparatory measures.
Kains were but preparatory; the violence of the deluge
depended upon the disruption of the great abyss.
T. BumeL
The Old Testament system was preparatory and pro-
phetic. C. Hodge, On Bom. v. 14.
We were drinking coffee, preparatory to our leaving
Metrahenny and beginning our voyage in earnest.
Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. 67.
Alter & preparatory hem'. . . . the poetess began.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, L 34.
The work most needed is not as yet pure criticism, but
art-teaching as preparatory to it.
P. O. Hamerton, Thoughts about Art, xL
2. In course of preparation ; receiving prepara-
tive instruction or training : as, a preparatory
student.— Preparatory Committee, in the Scottish
Parliament, a committee of members which prepared legis-
lation for the full body, or perhaps legislated in its place,
in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Subsequently
called Lords of the .^rttcfea.— Preparatory lecture or
service, in some chnrches, a week-day service prepara-
tory to the communion. =SyiL 1. Introductory, etc. (see
preliminary), prefatory.
n. n.; pi. preparatories (-riz). A prepara-
tive. [Eare.]
All this amazing majesty and formidable preparatories
are for the passing of an eternal sentence upon us accord-
ing to what we have done in the body.
Jer. Taylor, Works, I. ill
prepare (pre-par'), v. ; pret. and pp. prepared,
ppr. preparing. [< OF. preparer, P. pr&parer
= Sp. Pg. preparar = It. preparare, < L. jjr«-
parare, make ready beforehand, prepare, < prse,
before, + parare, make ready: see 2}<^'>'b^-1
1, trans. 1. To set in order or readiness for a
particular end ; make ready ; provide ; adapt by
alteration or arrangement.
In fell motion.
With hia prepared sword, he charges home
My unprovided body. Shak., Lear, IL 1. 63.
Do you know who dwells above, sir,
And what they have prepar'd for men turn'd devils?
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant^ iv. 6.
Who would haue desired a better aduantage then such
an aduertisement, to haue prepared the Fort for such an
assault? Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, IL 90.
We ascended this first part of the hills, and stopped at
a tent of Arabs, it being veiy hot weather ; heretheypre-
pared for us eggs, and also sower milk.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. L 76.
2. To bring into a particular mental state with
reference to the future ; fit by notification or
prepare
instruction for any definite action or direction
of thought: as, to prepare a person for bad
news ; to prepare a boy for college.
\ Go you to Juliet ere you go to bed,
( Prepare her, wife, against this wedding-day.
j Shak., E. and J., iii. 4. 32.
The Baptizing ot Children with us does only prepare a
Child, against he comes to be a man, to understand what
Christianity means. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 19.
The servant retired, found a priest, confessed himself,
came back, and told his lord that he was now prepared to
die. Watpole, Letters, II. 189.
Still prepared,
It seemed, to meet the worst his worn heart feared.
WUliam Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 314.
3. To equip; fit out; provide with necessary
means.
Why, then, the champions are prepared, and stay
for nothing but his majesty's approach.
Shak., Uich. II., i. 3. 5.
4. To provide or procure for future use; hence,
to make; form; compound; manufacture.
When the spirits are low, and nature sunk, the Muse,
with sprightly and harmonious notes, gives an unexpect-
ed turn with a grain of poetry : which I prepare without
the use of mercury. Steele, Tatler, No. 47.
He prepared a circular letter to he sent to the different
parts of the country. PrescoU, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 17.
Although the Chinese prepare their ink from the kernel
of some amygdalaceous fruit, yet, by the aid of our pres-
ent chemical apjiliances, we are able to produce a compo-
sition In no way interior to the best China ink.
IXre, Met., IV. 436.
5. In music: (a) To lead up to by causing a
dissonance to appear first as a consonance : as,
the discord was carefully prepared. See prep-
aration, 9. (6) To lead into (a tone or embel-
lishment) by an appoggiatura or other prefatory
tone or tones — Prepared trill, a trill preceded by a
turn or other embellishment.
II. intrans. 1. To make everything ready;
put things in order beforehand.
Boyet, prepare; I will away to-night.
Shak., L. L. It., v. 2. 737.
3. To make one's self ready; equip one's self
mentally or materially for future action.
Prepare to meet thy God, 0 IsraeL Amos Iv. 12.
And now his voice, accordant to the string,
Prepares our monarch's victories to sing.
Gdldsmilh, Captivity, il. 69.
prepare (pre-par'), ». l< prepare, v."] Prepa-
ration. [Obsolete or teclmical.]
Go levy men, and make prepare for war.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iv. 1. 131.
As prepares for steam-colours, all the antimonial com-
pounds hitherto tried have shown themselves inferior to
tin. W. Crookes, Dyeing and Calico-printing, p. 542.
preparedly (pre-par' ed-li), adv. With suitable
preparation.
The queen . . . desires instruction,
That she preparedly may frame herself
To the way she 's forced to.
Shak., A. and C, v. 1. 65.
preparedness (pve-par'ed-nes), n. The state of
bemg prepared; readiness: a,s, preparedness tor
action or service.
Besides actually doing a thing, we know what it is to be
in an attitude or disposition oi preparedTiess to act.
A, Bain, Emotions and Will, p. 651.
preparement (pre-pSr'ment), ». [= Sp.prepa-
ramento, prepardmiento '= It. preparamento, <
ML. preeparamentum, preparation, < L. preepa-
rare, make ready beforehand: see prepare.']
Preparation. [Rare.]
The soldier that dares not flght affords the enemy too
much advantage for his preparement. Feltham, Kesolves.
preparer (pre-par'er), n. [< prepare + -erl.J
One who prepares.
They [teachers] will be led to require of the preparers of
school-books a more conscientious performance of their
tasks. £. L. Youinans, in Grove's Corr. of Forces, p. viii.
preparoccipital (pre-par-ok-sip'i-tal), a. [<
pre- + paroccipital.'] Lying anteriorly in the
paroceipital gyre of the brain: applied to a fis-
sure.
prepatellar (pre-pat'e-lar), a. [< L. prse, be-
fore, + patella, patella.] Situated in front of
or over the patella Prepatellar bursa, a subcuta-
neous bursa situated over the patella and upper part of
the ligamentum patellae.
prepay (pre-pa'), v. t. ; pret. and pp. prepaid,
ppr. prepaying. [< pre- + pay'^.'] 1. To pay
beforehand, as for an article before getting
possession of it, or for service before it has been
rendered : as, to prepay a subscription ; to pre-
pay postage or freight.— 2. To pay the charge
upon in advance : as, to prepay a letter or a tele-
gram ; to prepay an express parcel.
prepayment (pre-pa'ment), n. [< pre- + pay-
ment."] The act of paying beforehand ; payment
in advance, as of postage or rent.
4696
prepeduncle (pre-pf-dung'kl), n. [< NL. prse-
pedunculus, < L. prsB, before, + pedunculus, pe-
duncle: see peduncle.] The superior peduncle
of the cerebellum.
prepeduncular (pre-pe-dung'ku-lar), a. l< pre-
peduncle (NL. prsepeauneulus) + -ar^.] Per-
taining to the prepeduncle.
prepedunculate (pre-pe-dung'ku-lat), a. [<
• prepeduncle (Nh.prsepedunculiis) + -ate'-.] Per-
taining to the prepeduncle.
prepelvisternal (pre-pel-vi-stfer'nal), a. l<prse-
pelvisternum + -al.] Pertaining to the preepel-
vistemum.
prepelvisternum, n. See prsepeMstemum.
prepenset (prf-pens'), v. [Formerly also pre-
pence ; < '^E.' prepensen, < OP. prepenser = It.
prepensare, < ML. *prsepensare, think of before-
hand,< li.pras, \)eioTe, + pensare, think, consid-
er, deliberate : see poise.] I. trans. 1. To con-
sider beforehand; think upon in advance.
All these thinges prepensed, . . . gathered together se-
rioueely, and . . . iustely pondred.
Sir T. Elyot, The Govemour, i. 25.
And ever in your noble hart prepense
That all the sorrow in the world is lesse
Then vertues might and values confidence.
Spenser, F. Q., III. xi. 14.
Certain penalties may and ought to be prescribed to
capital crimes, although they may admit vaiiable degrees
of guilt : as in case of murder upon prepensed malice.
Wirvthrop, Hist New England, II. 252.
2. To plan or devise beforehand; contrive pre-
viously.
The seid Duke of Suffolk, . . . prepensing t\a.tyo\ir&eM
grete enemeye and adversarie Charles schuld conquerr
and getebepower and myght your seid realme, . . . coun-
celled . . . your heighnesse to enlarge and deliver out of
prison the same Duke of Orliauuce. Paston Letters, 1. 100.
1 would not have the king to pardon a voluntary mur-
der, a. prepensed murder.
Latimer, 5th Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1549.
II. intrans. Toreflect ormeditate beforehand.
To thlnke, consydre, and prepence.
Sir T. Elyot, The Govemour, iii. 24.
prepense (pre-pens'), a. [With loss (in pro-
nunciation) of the orig. accented final vowel
(as in costive and other instances), < OF. pre-
pense, < ML. *preepertsatus, pp. of *preepensare,
think of beforehand: see prepense, v.] Consid-
ered and planned beforehand; premeditated;
purposed; intentional: generally in the phrase
malice prepense (formerly also prepensed malice).
From that period whatever resolution they took was de-
liberate and. prepense. Junims, letters, xxxix.
The fashion of their eloquence is more deliberate and
more prepense. SwiTibume, Study of Shakespeare, p. 69.
Malice prepense. See maliee.
prepensely (prf-pens'li), adv. Premeditately ;
deliberately; piirposely; intentionally.
Shakespeare '. . . has set himself as if prepensely and
on purpose to brutalise the type ot Achilles and spiritual-
ise the type of Ulysses.
Smribume, Study of Shakespeare, p. 201.
prepensive (pre-pen'siv), a. [iprepense + -ii>e.]
Same as prepense.
The carrying the penknife drawn into the room with
you . . . seems to imply malice pregaemdve, as we call it
In the law. Fielding, Amelia, i. 10.
preperception (pre-p6r-sep'shon), n. [< pre-
+ perception.] A previous perception.
Just as perceptions are modified "by pre-perc^timis, and
the action of a stimulus is completed by the reaction of
the Organism.
6. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, IL xi. § 28.
prepigmental (pre-pig'men-tal), o. \_<pre- +
pigmental.] Situated within the pigmented
layer of the eye, as in some cuttlefishes.
prepituitary (pre-pit'u-i-ta-ri), a. [< pre- +
pituitary.] Situated in front of the pituitary
fossa.
preplacental (pre-pla-sen'tal), a. [< pre- +
placental.] Prior to the formation of a placen-
ta; previous to the establishment of placental
connection between the fetus and the parent.
Amer. Naturalist, XXIII. 926.
prepoUence (pre-pol'ens), n. [< prepoUenif)
+ -ce.] Prevalence ; predominance ; superi-
ority in power or influence. [Rare.]
The prepMmee ot evil in the world. WarUm.
prepollency (prf-pol'en-si), ». [As prepoUence
(see-cy).] Same as prepoUence. [Kare.]
Sometimes, in a more refined and highly philosophick
sense, Osiris is the whole active force of the universe,
considered as having a prepoUemsy of good in its effects.
Coventry, Philemon to Hydaspes, iii.
prepoUent (pre-pol'ent), a. [< L. praipol-
len(t-)s, ppr. ot'prs^otlere, surpass in power, be
highly distinguished, < prse, before, -I- pollere,
be powerful: see pollent.] Having superior
power or influence ; predominant. [Rare.]
preponderate
If the benefits are prepoOent, ... a rational, prudent,
and moderate mind should be content to bear tne disad-
vantages. Bp. HurMngfori, To Lord Somers.
prepoUex (pre-pol'eks), n.; pi. prepollices (-i-
sez). [NL. priepollex, < L. pras, before, + pol-
tea;,-the thumb: seepollex.] A supernumerary
bone or cartilage of the fore foot of some ani-
mals, corresponding to the prehallux of the hind
foot. See prehallux.
Prof. Bardeleben has discovered traces of a prepoUex
and a prehallux in certain Keptilia.
Amer. Naturalist, XXIIL 921.
preponderf (pre-pon'd6r), v. t. [= Sp. Fg.pre-
ponderar = It. preponderare, < L. prseponde-
rare, be of greater weight, outweigh, be of
more influence, < prse, before, beyond, + pon-
derare, -weigh: see ponder.] To outweigh; pre-
ponderate.
Though pillars by channeling be beseemingly ingrossed
to our sight, yet they are truly weakened in fliemselves,
and therefore ought perchance in sound reason not to be
t)ie more slender, but the more corpulent, unless appar-
encea preponder truths. Sir H. Wotton, jaeliquiee, p. 27.
preponderance (pre-pon'd6r-ans), n. [= P.
preponderance = Sp. Pg. preponderanda = It.
preponderant, < L. prseponaeran(t-)s, ppr. of
preponderare, outweigh: see preponderant] 1.
The state or quality of preponderating or out-
weighing; superiority in weight: as, prepon-
derance of metal. — 2. Superiority in force, in-
fluence, quantity, or number; predominance.
He did not find . . . that any other foreign powers than
our own allies were likely to obtain a considerable pre-
ponderance in the scale. Burke, Army Estimates.
In his speeches we are struck more by the general
mental power they display than by the preponderance of
any particular faculty. Whipple, Ess. and Bev., I. 185.
There was a preponderance of women, as is apt to be the
case in such resorts.
C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 7.
3. In gun., the excess of weight of that part of
a gun which is to the rear of the trunnions over
that in front of them, it is measured by the force,
expressed in pounds, which must be applied under the rear
end of the base-ring or neck of the cascabel in order to
balance the gun exactly with the axis of the bore horizon-
tal, when supported freely on knife-edges placed under
the trunnions.
preponderancy (pre-pon'd6r-an-si), n. ZAspre-
ponderance (see -cy).] Saxae a,si)reponderance.
A preponderant of those circnmstances-which have a
tendency to move the inclination.
Edwards, On the Will, lit 7.
preponderant (pre-pon'dfer-ant), a. [= F. pre-
ponderant = Sp. Pg. It. xireponderante, < L.
prseponderan{t-)s, ppr. of prxponderare, out-
weigh: see preponder, preponderate.] Out-
weighing; preponderating; superior in weight,
force, efficiency, or influence ; predominant ;
prevalent.
The preponderant scale must determine. Reid.
The power of the House of Commons in the state had
become so decidedly preponderant that no sovereign . . .
could have imitated the example of James.
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii.
Ibe preponderant benefits of law.
Bushnell, Moral Uses of Dark Things, p. 54.
No thoughtful person can have failed to observe, in any
throng, the preponderant look of unrest and dissatisfaction
in the human eye. E. S. Phelps, Beyond the Gates, p. 119.
preponderantly (pre-pon'd6r-ant-li), adv. In
a preponderant manner or degree ; so as to pre-
ponderate or outweigh.
preponderate (pre-pon'der-at), v.; pret. and
pp. l)»-eporederated,"ppr. preponderating. [< L.
preerponderatus, pp. ot prseponderare, outweigh:
see preponder.] I. trans. 1. To outweigh; sur-
pass in weight, force, efficiency, or influence.
An inconsiderable weight, by vertue of its distance from
the centre of the ballance, will preponderate much greater
magnitudes. Olanville, Vanity of Dogmatizing, xv.
The triviallest thing, when a passion is cast into the
scale with it, preponderates substantial blessings.
Government of the Tongue.
2f. To cause to lean or incline in a particular
direction; dispose; induce to a particular
course of action or frame of mind.
The desire to spare Christian blood preponderates him
for peace. Fuller.
3t. To ponder or mentally weigh beforehand.
How many things do they preponderate? how many at
once comprehend? Shaftesbury, Moralists, ii. § 4.
II. intrans. 1. To exceed in weight; hence,
to incline or droop, as the scale of a balance.
That is no just balance wherein the heaviest side will
not preponderate. Bp. Wilkrns.
I will assert nothing but what shall be reasonable, though
not demonstrable, and ia.r preponderating to whatever shall
be alledged to the contrary.
Dr. H. More, Immoi-tal. of Soul, iiL 1.
preponderate
, .Royalty, nobility, and state
Are such a deai prepondemUng weight,
That endless bliBs (how strange soe'lr it seem)
In counterpoise flies up and kicks the beam.
Cowper, Truth, 1. 854.
2. To have superior power, influenee, force, or
efficiency; predominate; prevail.
„„?i°7° *"JH^ ^fJ? "^^y *°'^ *"'"'■ o' tlie final vote, no one
could predict, with any certainty, which side would pre.
ponderate. D. Webster, Speech at Pittsburg, July, 1833.
preponderatingly (pr§-pon'der-a-ting-li), adv.
Preponderantly.
The book is preponderatingly full of herself.
W. It. Greg, Misc. Ess., Ist ser., p. 178.
preponderation (pr^-pon-de-ra'shon), n. [< L.
praeponderatioi,!!-), an outweighing, < preepoii-
derare, pp. prmpondemtus, outweigh : see pre-
ponder, preponderate.'] 1. The act or state of
preponderating or outweighing; preponderance.
It is a, preponderation of circumstantial arguments that
must determine our actions in a thousand occurrences.
Watte, logic, ii. 6, § 3.
Choice and preference can no more be in a state of in-
difference than motion can be in a state of rest, or than
the preponderation of the scale of a balance can be in a
state of equilibrium. Edwards, On the Will, ii. 7.
2t. The act of pondering or mentally weighing
beforehand.
preponderous (prf-pon'der-us), a. [< iirepon-
der + -Otis. Cf. ponderous."] Preponderant;
exceeding in quantity or amount: as, the jjre-
ponderous constituents of a chemical solution.
prepontile (pre-pon'til), a. [< L. prae, hefore,
+ pon{t-)s, bridge: see pontile.] Situated in
front of the pons Varolii: as, the prepontile
recess: opposed to postpontile. See cut under
Irain.
preportt (pre-porf), V. t. [< L. prseportare,
carry before, < prse, before, + porta/re, carry :
seejjortS.] To presage ; forebode.
Pyraustse gaudes gaudium : your inconstant joy pre-
ports annoy. Withals, Diet. (ed. 1634), p. 575. (JViwes.)
prepose (pre-poz'), v. t. ; pret. and T^y.preposed,
ppr. proposing. [< OP. preposer, P. proposer,
place before ; as pre- + pose^. Cf . L. prsepo-
nere, pp. praspositus, set before: see preposi-
tion.] To place before or in front of some-
thing else ; prefix.
It is a word often read pr^osed before other words.
Bedmell, Arabic Trudgman (1515); p. 90. {Latham.)
I did deem it most convenient to prepose mine epistle,
only to beseech you to account of the poems as toys.
W. Percy, Sonnets (1694), Pref. {LatMm.)
preposition (prep-o-zish'on), n. [< ME. prepo-
sicion, < OP. preposition',' ¥. prSjJosition = Sp.
preposicion = Pg. preposigao = It. preposizione,
< L. prxpositioifii-), a placing before, in gram,
(translating Gr. Trpddemg) a preposition, < pree-
ponere, -p^. prs^ositus, set before, place first, <
prse, before, + ponere, set, place : see position.
Ct.prepose.] 1 (pre-p6-zish'gn). The act of pro-
posing, or placing before or in front of some-
thing else. [Rare.]
Mr. Herbert Spencer, in his ISssay on the Philosophy of
Style, contrasting the English preposition with the French
postposition of the adjective, prefers the English usage.
Amer. Jour. PhUol., VI. 346.
2. In gram., something proposed; a prefixed
element; a prefix; one of a body of elements
(by origin, words of direction, having an ad-
verbial character) in our family of languages
often used as prefixes to verbs and verbal de-
rivatives; especially, an indeclinable part of
speech regularly placed before and governing
a noun in an oblique ease (or a member of
the sentence having a substantive value), and
showing its relation to a verb, or an adjective,
or another noun, as in, of, from, to, hy, etc. Ab-
breviated^j-ep. — 3t. Aproposition; exposition;
discourse.
He made alonge preposicion and oration concernynge ye
allegiance which he exortyd his lordes to owe & here to
hym for ye terme of his lyfe. Fabyan, Chron., I. cxxxiii.
The said Sir John Bushe, in all his prepositions to the
king, did not onely attribute to him worldly honours but
diuine names. Grafton, Rich. II., an. 21.
Prayse made before a great man, or preposition, ha-
rengue. Palsgrave. (HaUiwell.)
prepositional (prep-o-zish'on-al), a. [= P.
prepositionnel ; aa preposition + -al.] Pertain-
ing to or having the nature or function of a
preposition : as, tlas prepositional use of a word.
—Prepositional phrase, a phrase consisting of a noun
with governing preposition, and Having adjectival or ad-
verbial value : as, a house of wood; he spoke with haste.
prepositionally (prep-o-zish'on-al-i), adv. In
a prepositional manner: as, "concerning" is a
participle used prepositionally.
prepositive (pre-poz'i-tiv), a. and n. [= P. pri-
positif = Pg. It. preposiUvo, < LL. prxposiUvus,
4697
that is set before, < L. prseponere, T^^.prsepositus,
set before, prefer: see ^repo«j*>o«.] I. a. Put
before; prefixed: as, a ^"■eposifc'Jje particle.
These prepositive conjunctions, once separated from the
others, soon gave birth to another subdivision.
Home Tooke, Diversions of Purley, I. ix.
II. n. A word or particle put before another
word.
Grammarians were not ashamed to have a class of post-
positive prepositives.
Home Tooke, Diversions of Purley, I. ix.
prepositor, prsepositor (prf-poz'i-tor), n. [<
ML. praspositor, < L. prseponere, pp. prsepositus,
sfet or place before : see preposition.] A scholar
appointed to oversee or superintend other schol-
ars, or hold them in discipline ; a monitor. Also
prepostor, praepostor.
While at Winchester, he [Sydney Smith] had been one
year Preepositor of the College, and another Prseposttar
of the Hall. Lady Holland, Sydney Smith, i.
prepositure (pre-poz'i-tui-), n. [= Sp. Pg. It.
prepositura, < LL. praeposiiura, the office of an
overseer, < li. pra^onere, pp. praspositus, set or
place before or over : see preposition. ] The
office or place of a provost; sit provostship.
The king gave him the prepositure of Wells, with the
prebend annexed. Bp. Lowth, Wykeham, § 1.
. The .possessiQQS .conveyed jire described as -messuages
and tenements in Carke and Howlker within the preposi-
ture and manor of Cartmell.
Quoted in Baines's Hist. Lancashire, II. 679.
prepossess (pre-pg-zes'), v. t. [ipre- + possess.]
1. To preoccupy, as grounder land; take pre-
vious possession of.
Wisedome, which being given alike to all Ages, cannot
be prepossest by the Ancients.
Milton, Kefonnation in Eng., i.
Permitting others of a later Extraction to prepossess that
Place in Your Esteem. Congreve, Way of the World, Ded.
2. To preoccupy the mind or heart of ; imbue
beforehand with some opinion or estimate;
bias ; prejudice : as, his appearance and man-
ners stTongly prepossessed them in his favor.
Prepossess is more frequently used in a good sense than
prejudice, and the participial adjective preposses^ng has
always a good sense.
Master Montague is preparing to go to Paris as a Mes-
senger of Honour, to prepossess the King and Council there
with the Truth of Things. Hawett, Letters, I. iv. 26.
They were so prepossest with this matter, and affected
with ye same, as they commited M'". Alden to prison.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 318.
Let not prejudice prepossess you.
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 31.
To confess a truth, he has not prepossessed me in his fa-
vour. Goldxmith, Vicar, v.
prepossessing (pre-po-zes'ing), p. a. Predis-
posing the mind to favor; making a favorable
impression; pleasing; attractive: as, a prepos-
sessing address.
A young man of prepossessing appearance and gentle-
manly deportment. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, 1. 190.
=Syn. Attractive, taking, winning.
prepossessingly (pre-po-zes'ing-li), adv. In a
prepossessing manner; in such a way as to
produce a favorable impression.
prepossession (pre-po-zesh'on), n. [< jjre- +
possession.] 1. The act of taking possession
beforehand; preoccupation; prior possession.
God hath taken care to anticipate and prevent every
man to give piety the prepossession, before other competi-
tors should be able to pretend to him ; and so to engage
him in holiness first, and then in bliss.
Hatrmwnd, Fundamentals.
2. The state of being prepossessed ; predispo-
sition; prejudice, usually of a favorable na-
ture; hence, liking; favorable opinion.
They that were the hearers and spectators of what our
Saviour said and did had mighty and inveterate prepos-
sessions to struggle with. Sharp, Works, It vi.
Such a hovering faith as this, which refuses to settle
upon any determinatioh, is absolutely necessary in a mind
that is careful to avoid errors and prepossessions.
Addison, Spectator, No. 117.
When you acknowledge her Merit, and own your Pre-
possession for another, at once, you gratify my Fondness,
and cure my Jealousy. Steele, Conscious Lovers, ii. 1.
So long has general improvement to contend with the
force of habit and the passion oi prepossession.
I. JD' Israeli, Amen, of Lit., I. 148.
=Syn. 2. Bias, bent.
prepossessor (pre-po-zes'or), n. [<pre- + pos-
sessor.] One who prepossesses ; one who pos-
sesses before another.
They signify only a bare prepossessor, one that possessed
the land before the present possessor. Brady, Glossary.
preposter (pre-pos't6r), n. Same a,s prepostor.
See prepositor.
Intrusting more or less of the discipline to an aristoc-
racy of the scholars themselves, whether under the name
of prefects, monitors, oi preposters.
Blackwood's Mag., I. 75.
prepotent
preposteratet (pre-pos'te-rat), v. t. [< prepos-
ter-ous + -ate^.] To invert; pervert; make
preposterous.
I never saw thinge done by you which preposterated or
perverted the good judgmentthat all the world esteemeth
to shine in you. Palaceo/Pleasure,II.,S.7.)}. (Nares.)
preposterous (pre-pos'te-ms), a. [= Sp. pre-
postero = Pg. It. prepostero, < L. praepostertis,
with the hinder part before, reversed, inverted,
perverted, < prae, before, -I- posterus, coming
after: see posterity.] If. Having that last
which ought to be first ; reversed in order or
arrangement; inverted.
Tehaue another manner of disordered speach, when ye
misplace your words or clauses and set that before which
should be behind, & 6 conuerso ; we call it, in English pro-
ueibe, the cart before the horse ; the Greeks call it Histe-
ron proteron ; we name it the Preposterous.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 141.
How backward ! How prepost'rous is the motion
Of our ungain devotion ! Qtmrles, Emblems, i. 13.
Gold and silver are heavy metals, and sink down in the
balance ; yet, by a preposterous inversion, they lift the
heart of man upwards. Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 62.
2. Contrary to nature, reason, or common
sense ; irrational ; glaringly absurd ; nonsensi-
cal.
"Good Gloucester" and "good devil" were alike.
And both preposterous. ShaJc., 3 Hen. VI., v. 6. 5.
Great precisians of mean conditions and very illiterate,
most part by a preposterous zeal, fasting, meditation, mel-
ancholy, are brought into those gi-oss errors and, incon-
veniences. Burton, Anat. of MeL, p. 627.
If a man cannot see a church, it is preposterous to take
his opinion about its altar-piece or painted window.
Hwdey, Man's Place in Nature, p. 119.
3. Foolish; ridiculous; stupid; absurd.
Preposterous ass, that never read so far
To know the cause why music was ordain'd !
Shak., T. of the S., iii. 1. 9.
Man is the only preposterous creature alive who pursues
the shadow of pleasure without temptation.
Golc^mith, Richard Nash.
=Syn. 2 and 3. SiUy, Foolish, etc. (see absurd), monstrous,
crazy, mad, wild, ludicrous. See foolish.
preposterously (prf-pos'te-rus-li), adv. if. In
an inverted order or position; with the hind
part foremost ; with the bottom upward.
He gron'd, tumbl'd to the earth, and stay'd
A mightie v/bUe preposterously. Chapman, Iliad, v.
2. Irrationally; absurdly; stupidly.
The abbot [was] preposterously put to death, with two
innocent vertuous monks with him.
Letter from Monks of Glastonbury (Bp. Burnet's Records,
[II. ii. 365).
Wonder and doubt come wrongly into play,
Preposterously, at cross purposes.
Browning, An Epistle.
preposterousness (pre-pos'te-ms-nes), n. The
state or character of being preposterous ; wrong
order or method; unreasonableness; absurdity.
Preposterousness she counted it to wear
Her purse upon her back.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, xviii.
prepostor (pre-pos'tor), n. Same as prepositor.
The master mounted into the high desk by the door, and
one of the prsepostors of the week stood by him on the
steps. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 5.
prepotence (pre-po'tens), n. [< OF. prepotence,
P. prepotence = Sp. Pg. prepoteneia = It. pre-
potenza, < LL. praepotentia, superior power, <
L. prsepoten{t-)s, very powerful: see prepo-
tent.] Same &% prepotency. Landor.
prepotency (pre-p6'ten-si), n. [As prepotence
(see-e2/).] The' state "or quality of beingprepo-
tent; superior power, influence, or efficiency;
predominance ; prevalence.
If there were a determinate ^wepofejM:.!/ in the right, . . .
we might expect the same in other animals, whose parts
are also differenced by dextrality.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iv. 5.
Scarcely any result from my experiments has surprised
me so much as this of tbe prepotency ot pollen from a dis-
tinct individual over each plant's own pollen.
Darwin, Cross and Self Fertilisation, p. 397.
prepotent (pre-po'tent), a. [< OF. prepotent
= Sp. Pg. It. p'repotente, < L. priepoten(t-)s, ppr.
of praeposse, be very powerful, < prae, iDefore,
-I- posse, be powerful: s&q potent.] . 1. Preemi-
nent in power, influence, force, or efficiency;
prevailing ; predominant.
Here is no grace so prepotent but it may be disobeyed.
Plaifere, Appendix to the Gospel, xiv.
If the influence of heauen be the mo^t prepotent cause of
this eflecte, then it seemeth to me that it shuld woorke
immediatly.
R. Eden, tr. of Biringuccio (First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. 364).
No dragon does there need for thee
With quintessential sting to work alarms.
Prepotent guardian of thy fruitage fine.
Thou vegetable porcupine !
Southey, Gooseberry-pie.
prepotent
When one parent alone displays some newly-aoquired
and generally inheritable character, and the offspring do
not inherit it, the cause may lie in the other parent having
the power ol prepotent transmission.
Darwin, Var. of Animals and Plants, xiii.
2. HigHy endued with potentiality or potential
power.
It ia by the operation of an Insoluble mystery that life is
evolved, species differentiated, and mind unfolded from
ihe\i prepotent elements in the immeasurable past.
TyndaU.
prepotential (pre-p6-ten'shal), a. and n. [<
pre- + potential, df. prepotent.'s I. a. Same
as prepotent.
What a contrast between those days, when the " discre-
tionary powers of a diplomatist " were duly recognised, and
our times of " telegraphic ambassadors " and a prepateniial
" clerkery" I The Academy, Nov. 24, 1888, p. 329.
II. «. A quantity similar to a potential and
only differing therefrom in belonging to a force
varying inversely as a power of the distance
whose index is not one less than the number of
dimensions of the space considered.
prepractiset (pre-prak'tis), v. t. [< pre- +prac-
ftse.] To practise beforehand.
Making it necessary for others what voluntarily they had
prepradised themselves. Fidler, Ch. Hist, XI. iii. U.
preprint (pre'print), »i. l< pre- + print.'] That
wmch is printed in advance ; an early issue, as
of a paper that is to be published in a journal
or as one of a series. [Eare.]
To issue these papers independently in a series of pre-
prints. The Academy, June 1, 1889, p. 386.
preproperationt (pre-prop-e-ra'shgn), n. [< LL.
as if *prasproperatio(n-), <. prseproperare, hasten
greatly, < L. jjrasprqperMS, very hasty: see^we-
properous.] Excessive haste ; precipitancy; a
rash measure.
I feare the importunity of some impatient^ and subtle-
ty of some malevolent mindes, will put both Parliament
and Assembly upon aojae preproperaM(ms.
N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 41.
preproperoust (pre-prop'e-rus), a. [< L. prse-
properus, very hasty, <.pree, before, + properus,
quick, speedy, hasty : see properate.] Over-
hasty; precipitate. Webster.
preprovide (pre-pro-vid'), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
pr^provided, ppr. p'reproviding. [<.pre- + pro-
vide.] To provide beforehand.
Before livings were actually void, he provisionally pre-
prmnded incumbents for them.
Fuller, Ch. Hist, HI. ix. 26.
prepubic (pre-pii'bik), a. [< L. prse, before, +
pmis, pubis.] In zool. and anat, situated in
front of, or on the fore part of, the pubis ; of or
pertaining to a prepubis.— PrepuWc angle, the
bend in the urethra of the pendent penis in front of the
pubis. — Frepublc bone, the preacetabular part of the
pubic bone of birds and reptiles. See cut under pteroda^
*8/'. —Prepubic process, in Avee, the pubis proper, or pre-
pubis.
A large spatulate bone [in PteroclAictylvs] articulates with
each pubis near the symphysis, and seems to bean exagge-
ration of the pre-pubie process Qt Lacertilia and Chelonia.
Huxley, Anat. Vert., p. 231.
prepubis (pre-pii'bis), n.; pi. prepubes (-bez).
[NL. prsepubis, < li.prse, before, +j)m6js, pubis.]
The front section or preacetabular part of the
pubic bone, being the pubis proper of birds and
reptiles, well developed in dinosaurs, small or
rudimentary in birds. It is to the bone in birds that
the word is usually applied, the same bone being called the
pubis when well developed, as in dinosaurs.
prepuce (pre'piis), n. [< F. prepuce = Sp. Pg.
prepueio = It. prepuzio, < L. prs^utium, the
foreskin, < prse, before, + *putiwm, perhaps con-
nected with Gr. irdaBiov, TrSad?!, penis.] The fold
of skin over the glans penis; the foreskin. —
Prepuce of the clitOllB,the folds of the nymphse encir-
cling the glans of the cllroris.
prepunctual (prf-pungk'tu-al), a. [< pre- +
punctual.] 1. More than punctual ; excessive-
ly prompt in action or movement. — 2. Acting
or occurring before a specified point of time.
prepunctuallty (pre-pungk-tu-al'i-ti), n. [<
pre- -i- punetuaUty.] Antieipative punctuality,
as the habit of keeping an engagement some-
what before the time appointed; excessive punc-
tuality.
In Mr. Arthur Helps' . . . "In Memoriam" in this
month's "Macmillan," speaking of Charles Dickens's more
than punctuality, he has happily described the quality by
so characteristic a term, prepunctualUy, that the word
must henceforth assume a recognized place in our lan-
guage, jr. and Q., 4th ser., VI. 25.
preputial (prf-pii'shal), a. [Also prseputial; =
F. pr&putial, '< L. prkpuUum, the foreskin (see
prepuce), + -al.] Of or pertaining to the pre-
puce: as, prepuUal folds of skin; preputial fol-
licles or secretions.
4698
The Musk Deer . . . is small and hornless, and the male
has canine teeth in the upper jaw. The musk is contained
in & prseputial bag. W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 597.
Preputial crypts, folllcleE, or glands, small lenticular
sebaceous glands situated upon the corona glandis and cer-
vix of the penis, secreting the smegma. Also called glands
of Tyson and odoriferous glands. The corresponding struc-
tures of some animals are highly developed, and yield com-
mercial products, as musk and castoreum.
preputium, prseputium (prf-pu'shi-um), n.; pi.
prepuUa,priepuUa{-Sb). {h. prseputium: seepre-
puce.] The prepuce or foreskin.
In most mammals the penis is inclosed in a sheath of
integument, the preputiuTn. Huxley, Anat, Vert,, p, 99.
Frenum prseputil See frenum.
prepyloric (pre-pi-lor'ik), a. [< L. prse, before,
+ 1^1j. pylorus: seepyloric] Situated in front
of the pylorus.— Prepyloric OBBlcle, in the stomach
of the crawfish. See the quotation.
With this [urocardiaol process is articulated, posteriorly,
a broad prepyloric ossicle, which , . . articulates with the
anterior edge of the pyloric ossicle, thus forming a kind of
elastic diagonal brace between the urocardiac process and
the pyloric ossicle, Huxley, Anat, Invert., p. 277.
Freraphaelism (pre-raf'a-el-izm), n. [= F.
W^aphadlisme ; as pre- + Raphael + 4sm.]
Same as PrerapliaeliUsm.
Freraphaelite (pre-raf'a-el-it), a. and n. [=
F. prirapliaAlite ; as pre- + Baphael (It. Baf-
faele), Eaphael (see def. ot Preraphaelitism), +
■dte^.] I. a. Pertaining to or characteristic of
Preraphaelitism: as, Prerap/ioeKte theories; the
Freraphaelite school of painting.
Every Pre-Raiphaelite landscape background is painted
to the last touch, in the open air, from the thing itself,
Rvskin, Lects, on Architecture and Painting, iv.
The Pre-Raphaelite movement is understood to have
combined two very distinct aims : first, the intellectual
elevation of art by the choice of noble and original sub-
jects, and, secondly, its technical advancement by a new
and minute analysis of nature.
P. G. Hamerton, Thoughts about Art, xiii,
II. n. One who practises or favors Preraph-
aelitism in art or poetry.
The principal ground on which the Pre-Saphaelites have
been attacked is the charge that they wish to bring us back
to a time of darkness and ignorance, when the principles
of drawing, and of art in general, were compar.atively un-
known, RusHn, Lects. on Architecture and Painting, iv,
Freraphaelitish (pre-raf 'a-el-i-tish), a. [(.Pre-
raphaelite + -ish'^.] Inclining toward or influ-
enced by Preraphaelitism ; modeled upon Pre-
raphaelite principles. London Art Jour., No.
56, p. 222.
Preraphaelitism (pre-raf'a-el-i-tizm), n. [=
F. pr^raphadlitisme; as Preraphaelite + -ism.]
The style of painting in vogue from the time
of Giotto (died 1336) to that of Raphael (a cele-
brated Italian painter, 1483-1520) ; specifically,
a modem revival of this style. The essential char-
acteristic of the revived style is rigid adherence to natural
form and effect, and consequent rejection of all effort to
elevate or heighten the effect artificially, by modifications,
whether in drawing, arrangement, or coloring, based on
conventional rules. The name is also given to the applica-
tion of similar principles in poetical composition, shown in
attention to minute details,
PreRaphaelitism has but one principle, that of absolute
uncompromising truth in all that it does, obtained by
working everything, down to the most minute detail, from
nature, and from nature only.
Ruskin, Lects, on Architecture and Painting, iv.
If Preraphaelitism is to be judged by its chief exi)onents,
it will be seen to be primarily a protest, and not in itself
a fixed creed. W. Sha/rp, D, G, liossetti, p. 61.
The father and mother of modern Pre-Raphaelitism were
modern literary thought and modem scientific investiga-
tion of the facts of nature.
P. G. Hamerton, Thoughts about Ait, xiiL
prerectal (pre-rek'tal), a. [< L. prse, before,
-1- NL. rectum -I- -at'.} Placed in front of the
rectum.
preregnantt (prf-reg'nant), n. [< pre- + reg-
nant^ One who reigns before another; a pre-
decessor in power.
Edward, king 'BuxoM'a preregnanl.
Of the same changes foretold.
Warner, Albion's England, v, 22,
preremote (pre-rf-mof), a. i<pre- -i- remote.]
More remote in previous time or prior order.
Dr. E. Darwin. {Imp. Diet.)
prerenal (pre-re'nal), a. [< L. prse, before, -I-
ren, kidney: see renal.] Situated in advance
of the kidney.
prereptt, v. t. [< li.prsereptvs, ^p. otprseripere,
snatch away before another, seize beforehand,
forestall, anticipate, < prse, before, + rapere,
snatch: see snatch.] To forestall in seizing.
In vayne wept Esau af tir Jacob had prerept him his blyss-
inge. Joye, Expos, of Daniel v,
prerequire (pre-re-kwir'), v. t.; pret. and pp.
prerequired, ^yr.' preregmring. [(.pre- + re-
quire.] To reqtiire beforehand.
prerogative
Some things are pre-reguired of us, to make us capable
of the comfortable performance of so holy and heavenly a
duty. Bp. Hall, Devout Soul, iv. § 1,
The primitive church would admit no man to the supe-
rior orders of the clergy unless, among other prerequired
dispositions, they could say all David's psalter by heart,
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), IL 116.
prerequisite (pre-rek'wi-zit), a. and n. [< pre-
-i- requisite.] T. a. Previously required; ne-
cessary as a condition of something following.
He only that hath the prere^isite qualifications shall
have the crown, Baxter, Saints' Itest, i. 3.
II. n. A condition required beforehand; a
preliminary necessity.
This is but a pre-requisite ta the main thing here re-
quired, . , . knowledge being but a step to this turret of
happiness. Rev. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 164,
How much more justly may I challenge that privilege
to do it with the same prerequisites, from the best and most
judicious of Latin writers, Dryden, To Sir E, Howard.
We have just found that the pre-requisite to individual
life is in a double sense the pre-requiSite to social life.
H. Spencer, Man vs. State, p, 102.
preresolve (pre-re-zolv'), v. *.: pret. and pp.
preresolved, jpTpr.preresolBing. [(pre- + resolve.]
To resolve beforehand.
I will debaire mine eares, mine eyes from all the rest,
because I detest their lewdnesse ; no man goes thus pre-
resolved to a play, Prynne, Histrio-Mastix, II. iv. 2,
I am confident you are herein preresolved as I wish.
Sir K Bering, Speeches, p. 143. (Latham,.)
preretina, prseretina (pre-ret'i-na), n. ; pl.jjre-
retinse, prseretinse (-ne). [NL. prseretina, \ L.
prse, before, -I- NL. retina, retina.] The thin
stratum of columnar nucleated cells continued
forward from the ora serrata of the retina as
far as the tips of the ciliary processes, where
it gives place to the uveal pigment. Also called
pars ciliaris retinse.
preretinal (pre-ret'i-nal), a. [(preretina -I- -al.]
Of or pertaining to the preretina.
prerevolutionary (pre-rev-6-lu'shon-a-ri), a.
[(pre--t- revolution + -ary. Cf. revdiuMonary.]
Prior to a revolution; specifically, prior to the
American revolution.
prerima (pre-ri'ma), n. [NL. prserima, ( L.
prse, before, -H riiiia, a cleft, fissure : see rima.]
An extension of the rima in advance of the
porta in some animals, as dipnoans.
The rima (prerimui) extends cephalad from the porta [in
Cmaiiodws]. BacKs Handbook qfMed. Sciences, VIII. 140.
prerimal (pre-ri'mal), a. [(. prerima -^■ -al.]
Of or pertaining to "the prerima.
prerogative (prf-rog'a-tiv), a. and n. [I. a. (
L. prse^ogaUvu^s, that is asked before, < prsero-
gatus, pp. of prserogare, ask before (another),
(prae, before, + rojrare, ask: seerogaUon. II.
n. = F. pr6rogaMve = Sp. Pg. It. prerogativa,
< L. prserogatwa, f. (ML. also prserogativum,
neut.), a previous choice or election, a sure
sign or token, preference, privilege, preroga-
tive; orig. centuria prserogativa, the tribe or
century that was asked first for its opinion (ac-
cording to lot, in the Roman vote by comitia);
fern, olprserogatimus, that is asked before : see
above.] I. a. If. Called upon to vote first;
having the right to vote first.
This foredome and choise of the prerogative centurie all
the rest followed after, and by their suffrages conflrme,
HoUand, tr. of Llvy, p. 601.
2t. Entitled to precedence ; superior.
The affirmative hath the prerogative illation, and bar-
bara engrosseth the powerful demonstration.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg, Err,, i, 7,
3. Pertaining to, characteristic of, or held by
prerogative or privileged right.
Why should we
Tax the prerogative pleasures of our prince,
Whom he shall grace, or where bestow his favours?
BeoAji. and Fl. (?), Faithful Friends, i, 1.
The abbot of Tavistock . . , was in the fifth year of
Henry Vin. made a spiritual lord of parliament by letters
patent. This is said to have been a unique exercise of
prerogative power. Stvlbbs, Const. Hist, § 430.
Prerogative court, in Eng. law, an ecclesiastical court
established for the trial of all testamentary cases where
the deceased possessed at death goods above the value of
five pounds in each of two or more dioceses, and conse-
quently where the diocesan courts could not possess ju-
risdiction. Such a court existed both in the province of
Canterbury and in that of Armagh. This jurisdiction was
transferred in 1857 to the court of probate.
The Prerogative Court and the consistory courts lived
on the testaikentary and matrimonial jurisdiction.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist, p. 324.
Prerogative writs, in law, process for the commence-
ment of certain special or extraordinary proceedings, viz,
procedendo, mandamius, prohibition, quo warranto, habeas
corpus, certiora/ri.
II. n. If. The right of voting first; preea
dence in voting.
prerogative
It hapned that the centurie of the vouneer sort wm
drawn out first by lot, aud had the V^o^£'ld ^
their voices nominated T. Octacilius and m" ^milius Ri
giUos for consuls. HdUand, tr. of Llvy, p. 613.
2. A peculiar privUege; a characteristic right
inhering in one's nature ; 9, special property or
quality. i r j
Of ttie bresyle and mirohalane trees, with other innn-
mevMeprerogatims and benefltes whiche nature hath
plentifully puen to this blessed Hand, we haue spoken
suffyciently in owr decades.
PeUnr Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America, ed.
[Ai'ber, p. 199X
She's free as you or I am, and may have.
By Oxak prerogative, a liberal choice
In the bestowing of her love.
Beau, and Fl., Captain, 11 2.
Man, whose prerogative it is to be in a great degree a
creature of his own making. Burke, Kev. in rrance.
Our fair one, in the playful exercise
Of her prerogative — the right divine
Of youth and beauty — bade us versify
The legend. WhUUer, Bridal of Pennaoook.
3. Specifically, a privilege inherent in one's
office or position; an ofacial right; an exclusive
or sovereign privilege, in theory subject to no
restriction or interference, but practically often
limited by other similar rights or prerogatives ;
more specifically still, the royal prerogative.
As if those gifts had bin only his peculiar and FrerogO'
live, Intail'd upon him with his fortune to be a King.
MUton, Eikonoklastes, L
The king hath a prerogative to coin money without con-
sent of parliament; but he cannot compel the subject to
take that money, except it be sterling gold or silver, be-
cause herein he is limited by law.
Sw^t, To the People of Ireland, iv.
A constitution where the prince is clothed with a pre-
rogative that enables him to do all the good he hath a
mind to. Bp. Atterlmry, Sermons, I. vii.
Rutherford says, prerogative simply means a power or
will which is discretional^ and above and uncontrolled by
any other will ; the teim is frequently used to express the
uncontrolled will of the sovereign power in the State. It
is applied not only to the king but also to the legislative
and judicial branches of a government, as, "the royal j^re-
rogatives," the " prerogaUeet of pailiament," the "preroga-
tives of iaie court,** etc.
Halleck, International Law (new ed.), 1. 125.
4t. Precedence; superiority in power, rank, or
quality.
Then give me leave to have in'&ivgative,
ShaJc, T. of the S., iii. 1. 6.
Within is a country that may haue the prerogaUue over
the most pleasant places knowne, for large and pleasant
navigable Rivers. Capt. John Smith, Works, 1. 114.
5. In New Jersey, a court held by the chancel-
lor sitting as ordinary in probate and similar
causes. — Royal prerogative, that special preeminence
which a sovereign has over all other persons, and out of
the course of the common law, by right of regal dignity.
In Great Britain the royal prerogative includes the right
of sending and receiving ambassadors, of making treaties,
and (theoretically) of making war and concluding peace,
of summoning Parliament, and of refusing assent to a
bill, with many other political, judicial, ecclesiastical, etc.,
privileges. The royal prerogative is usually exercised by
delegation, and only in a few cases (as the conferring of
honors) in person. =Syn. 2 and 3. Irmnumty, etc. See
privilege.
prerogative (pre-rog'a-tiv), v. t.; pret. and pp.
prerogatived, ppr. prerogaUving. {<. prerogative,
».] To endow with a prerogative.
Yeit, 'tis the plague of great ones ;
PrerogaMved are they less than the base.
Shak., Othello, iii. 3, 274.
prerogatively (prf-rog'a-tiv-li), adv. By ex-
clusive or peculiar'privilege. Imp. Diet,
prest, «. and V. A Middle English form of
pressX
pres. An abbreviation (a) oi present; (6) [cap.]
of President.
presa (pra'za), n. [It., a taking: see prizeK^
In a musical canon, a mark to indicate the point
at which the successive voice-parts are to take
up the theme ; a lead. It has various shapes,
as Si +7 JS. etc.
presacral (pre-sa'kral), a. [< L. prse, before,
+ NL. sacrum: see sacral.'] Preceding the
sacrum in the spinal column ; situated in front
of the sacral vertebrae, as a vertebra ; lumbar.
The lumbar region contains the iwe-socrosZ group of ver-
tebrae, which have only short ribs. . ^ ,^
Gegenbaur, Comp. Anat. (trans.), p. 434.
presage (pre-saj')> «•; P^et- and pp. presaged,
ppr. presaging. [< OP. presagier = 8p. Pg. 2»'e-
sagiar (< ML.*priesagiare, < Ii.prsesagium, a pres-
age) = It. presagire, < Jj. prsesagire, feel or per-
ceive beforehand, presage, foreshow (also LL.
prxsagare, < h.praesagus, foreshowing, presag-
ing), <prx, before, + sagire, feel : see sagacious.]
I, trans. 1. To foreshow or foretoken; signify
beforehand, as by an omen or prognostic; give
warning of.
4699
The o*erflowing Nilns premgeth famine.
Shak., A and C, L 2. 49.
Hippocrates wisely considered di'earas as they presaged
alterations in the body. Sir T. Browne, To a Friend.
A sound in aicpresag'd approaching rain,
And beasts to covert scud across the plain.
PameU, The Hermit.
The sharp heat-lightnings of her face
Presaging ill to him whom Fate
Condemned to share her love or hate.
Whittier, Snow-Eound.
2. To have a presentiment or prophetic im-
pression of; forebode.
My vdiaipreaagelh happy gain and conquest
Shak., 3 Hen. YL, v. 1. 71.
"Dishonour !" then my soul is cleft with fear ;
I h&U presage my miseiy ; say on.
Ford, Love's Sacrifice, iiL 3.
With heavy hesLVia presaging nothing good.
WiUiam Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 22.
3. To foretell; predict; calculate beforehand.
I see that come to pass which I presaged in the begin-
ing. B. Janxsm, Cynthia's Revels, v. 3.
nmg,
Hear
What I presage with understanding clear.
Helper and Ford, Sun's Darling, v. 1.
Lands he could measure, terms and tides ^«8i^&
Goldsmith, Des. ViL, L 209.
4f. To point out.
Then seek this path that I to thee presage.
Which after all to heaven shall thee send.
denser, F. Q., I. x. 61.
=Syn. 3. Predict, Prophesy, etc. See foreUiU.
II. intrans. To have a presentiment of the
future ; have foreknowledge.
What power of mind,
^oieBeeing OT presaging, . , . could have fear'd
How such united force of gods, how such
As stood like these, could ever know repulse ?
MUton, P. L., L 627.
That by certain signs we msiy presage
Of heats and rains, and wind's impetuous rage.
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, i. 463.
presage (pres'aj or pre'saj; formerly also pre-
saj'), n. [< OP. presage, W. presage = Sp. Pg.
It. presagio, < L. prsesagium, a presentiment, a
prognostic, < priesagire, feel or perceive before-
hand: see presage, v.] 1. Something which
foreshows, portends, or gives warning of a fu-
ture event; a prognostic; an omen.
Meteors, prodigies and signs.
Abortives, presages, and tongues of heaven.
Plainly denouncing vengeance upon John.
Shak., E. John, IiL 4. 158.
He had before him the sad presage of his ill success.
Milton, Eikonoklastes, v.
They [violent storms] give certain Presages of their be-
ing at hand several hours before they come.
Dampier, Voyages, II. iiL 60.
2. A foreboding; a presentiment; afeelingthat
something is to happen; a prophetic impres-
sion.
The sad augurs mock their own presage.
Shak., Sonnets, cviL
She will call
That three-days-long presagef ul gloom of yours
"No presage,'\i\}.t the same mistrustful mood
That makes you seem less noble than yourself.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
3. Foreknowledge; prescience.
If there be aught of presage in the mind.
This day will be remarkable in my life.
Mittan, S. A., L 1387.
Many a famous man and woman, town
And landskip, have I heard of, after seen
The dwarfs oi presage. Tennyson, Princess, iv.
4. Prophetic significance or import.
This dreadful Conflict is of dh-e Presage;
Begone, and fly from Jove's impending Rage.
Congreoe, Semele^ L 1.
=SyTl. 1. I^gn, Augmy, etc. See omen and /oreteU.
presageful (pres'aj-ful or pre-saj'ful), a. [<
presage, n.,+ -fut] 1. Pull of presage ; pro-
phetic; ominous.
It comes to us like the first sounding of a presageful note
of doom, repeated more than once before the final calamity.
F. Dowden, Shelley, I. 227.
3. Prophetic ; foreknowing.
Ev'n such a wave, but not so pleasurable,
Dark in the glass of some presageful mood.
Had I for three days seen, ready to fall.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
Johnson had not that fine sensitiveness to the political
atmosphere which made Burke presage.ful of coming tem-
pest. Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 353.
presagement (pre-saj'ment), n. [< presage, v.,
+ -ment.] 1. A foreboding; omen; presage.
I have spent some enquiry whether he had any ominous
wesagement before his end.
Sir B. Wotton, Eeliquiffi, p. 234.
2. A foretelling ; prediction.
presager (pre-sa'j6r), n. [< presage, v.,+ -ej-i.]
One who presages or foretells ; a prophet.
presbjrterated
O, let my books be then the eloquence
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast.
Shak,, Sonnets, zziiL
presagiet) n. [< L. prsesagium, a presage : see
presage, n.] Same a.s presage.
Thinke thou this is a presagie of God's f earce wrath to thee,
If that thou cleave not to his woord, and eke repentant be.
Stubbes, Two Examples (1581). (Ifares.)
presagioust, a. [< presage (L. prsesagium) +
-ous.] Ominous; presageful.
Some supernatural cause sent me strange visions, which
being confirmed with presagiotis chances, I had gone to
Delphos. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iL
presanctif^ (pre-sangk'ti-fi), v. t.; pret. and pp.
presanctified, ppr. presanctifying. [< pre- +
sanctify.] To consecrate beforehand.— Liturgy
or Mass of the Presanctified. See liturgy.
presandef^w. A Middle English form ot present^.
presartonal (pre-sar-to'ri-al), a. [< L. prse,
before, + sartor, a tailor: see sartorial.] Be-
fore the age of tailoring; previous to the use of
fashioned garments.
Bran had its prophets, and the presartoridl simplicity of
Adam its martyrs, tailored impromptu from the tar-pot of
incensed neighbors, and sent forth to illustrate the "fea^
thered Mercury '* as defined by Webster and Worcester.
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 193.
presbyope (pres'bi-6p), «. [< J'JIj. presbyopia.]
One who is affected with presbyopia; one who
is long-sighted; a presbyte.
presbyopia (pres-bi-6'm-a), n. [NL., < Gr. irpia-
^vf, old, + u-^, eye.] Diminished power of ac-
commodation for near objects, incident to ad-
vancing years, and due to progressive loss of
elasticity in the crystalline lens.
presbyopic (pres-bi-op'ik), a. [< presbyopia +
-ic] Pertaining to presbyopia; affected with
presbyopia; old-sighted.
presbyopy (pres'bi-o-pi), n. [< NL. presbyopia.]
Same as presbyopia.
Presbypithecus (pres*bi-pi-the'kus), n. [NL.,
< Gr. irpkap-oi, old, + mdj/KoQ, an ape.] A syno-
nym of Semnopitheeus. Xrouessart, 1879.
presbyte (pres'bit), n. [= P. presbyte = Sp.
presbita, presbete = Pg. presbyta = It. presbita,
presbite, < Gr. izpeapirrrig, an old man, Cvpta^vi,
old. Cf. presbyter.] A person affected with
presbyopia.
presbyter (pres'bi-t^r), n. [= P. jyresbyt^e =
Sp. presbitero = Pg. presbytero = t). presbyter,
< LL. presbyter, an elder, esp. an elder or pres-
byter in the church, < Gr. npea^vTepog, an elder,
prop, adj., older, compar. of npia^vg, old. Cf.
priest, derived through AS., and prester^, de-
rived through OP., from the same ult. source.]
1. An elder; a priest; specifically, in hierar-
chic churches, a minister of the second order,
between the bishop and the deacon.
They that speak ingeniously of Bishops and Presbyters
say that a Bishop is a great Presbyter, and, during the
time of his being Bishop, above a Presbyter.
Selden, Table-Talk, p. 27.
Epyscopacy, as it is taken for an Order in the Church
above a Presbyter, or, as wee commonly name him, the
Minister of a Congregation, is either of Divine constitu-
tion or of humane. MUton, Prelatical Episcopacy.
New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ large.
MUton, New Forcers of Conscience, 1. 20.
2t. [cap.] A Presbyterian. [Rare.]
And presbyters have their jackpuddings too. S. Butler.
3. In zool., a monkey of the genus Presbytes.
presbyteral (pres-bit'er-al), a. [= P. presby-
teral = Sp. presbiteral = It. presbiterale, per-
taining to the priesthood; as presbyter + -at.]
Relating to a presbyter or presbytery; presby-
terial.
There is no indication that he [IgnatiuBl is upholding
the episcopal against any other form of Church govern-
ment, as, for instance, the presbyteral.
Bp. Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, I. 396.
It. is quite probable that the members of the presbyteral
college distributed the various duties of their office among
themselves according to their respective talents, tastes,
experience, and convenience.
Sehaff, Hist. Christ Church, I. § 61.
presbyterate (pres-bit'er-at), ». [= Sp. pres-
biterado, presUtm-ato = Pg. jyresbyterado, pres-
byterato = It. presbiterato, < LL. presbyteratus,
the office of a presbyter, < presbyter, a presby-
ter: see presbytei:] 1. The office or station of
a presbyter.
The presbyterate, as a distinct order from the ordinary
oface of apostleship, is not ol Divine institution.
Jer. Taylor,.'Woiks (ed. 1835), II. 158.
2. A presbytery.
Meetings of the bishop and the presbyterate of every dio-
cese, the oldest and simplest form of ecclesiastical organi-
sation. B. W. Dixon, Hist Church of Eng., xix.
presbyterated (pres-bit'er-a-ted), a. [< pres-
byterate + -e(J2.] Organized with a govern-
ment by elders or presbyters.
presbyterated
He assBrts that a preshyleratM society of the faithful
hath within itself a compleat power of self-refoiTOation,
or, if you will, of self-preservation, and may within itself
manage its own choices of officers and censures of delin-
quents. C. Mather, Mag. Chris., v. 2.
presbyteress (pres'bi-ter-es), ». [< ML. pres-
hijterigsa,presUtmssa, fern, of h. presbyter, pres-
byter: see j>res6!/«e»- and -es«.] 1. In the eaj%
cliiirch, one of the elder women in the order
of widows, presiding among these, and having
authority to teach.— 2. In the early clmrch,
and in the medieval clmrch, a priest's wife,
especially one living apart from her husband;
a priest's widow; later, a priest's concubine.
Marianus sayth she was a presbyteresse, or a priestes
leman. Bp. Bale, English Votaries, L
presbyteria, )i. Plural ot presbyterium.
presbyterial (pres-bi-te'ri-al), a. [< presbytery
(ML. presbyterium) + -a?.] " Of or pertaining to
presbyters or a presbytery; pertaining to gov-
ernment by presbyteries.
They have laboured ... to advance the new fancied
sceptre of lay presbylerud power.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, vi. 1.
About the manner and order of this government, whe-
ther it ouglit to be Presbyterian or Prelatioall, snch end-
lesse question, or rather uproars, is arisen in this land.
MUton, Church-Government, Pref.
presbyterially (pres-bi-te'ri-al-i), adv. After
the manner of a presbytery ; according to Pres-
byterianismi.
Presbyterian (pres-bi-te'ri-an), a. and n. [= F.
j>resbyterien = ^Tp.lt. presbiieriano = Pg.jwes-
bytm-iano = G. Dan. p>resbyterian-er = Sw. pres-
hyterian, < NL. presbytei-ianus, pertaining to a
presbytery or to presbyters, < ML. presbyterium,
a presbytery, LL. presbyter, a presbyter: see
presbytery, presbytei:'] I. a. Of or pertaining
to ecclesiastical government by elders or by
presbyteries. The word is specially used to note the
various religious bodies which adopt the Presbyterian
foi*m of church government (see Preshytervinism), and
hold a more or less modified form of Calvinism. Among
the leading Presbyterian churches are the following : (1)
The established Church of Scotland, formed in 1580 under
the leadership of Knox ; it prepared the First BooV of Dis-
cipline in 1560, the .Second Book of Discipline in 1581, and
was formally established by the government in 1592. It
was temporarily replaced by episcopacy during the period
1661-89. Later events were secessions leading to the for-
mation of various bodies in the eighteenth century (.Seces-
sion Church in 17S3, Relief Church in 1761) and of the Free
Church in 1843. See Conerumter, 2. (2) The Presbyterian
Church in the United States. Its first pi'esbytery was
founded in 1705. After a temporary disruption, the first
General Assembly met in 1789. In 1838 the church split
on theology and the antislavery question. (See New
School and Old School, etc., below.) The two wmgs were
reunited in 1870. It numbers about 1,000,000 members.
(3) The Presbyterian Church in the United States (South-
ern^, This body seceded from the Old School Presliy-
terian Church in 1861 on the establishment uf the Con-
federacy, and during the period 1861-5 it had the title
of General Assembly of the Confederate States of Amer-
ica. It numbers about 200,000 members. Other bodiee^
besides the Free Church of Scotland (see free), and those
mentioned below, are theHeformed Presbyterian Churches
in the United States, the Welsh Presbyterian Church, the
Presbyterian Churches of England, Canada, Ireland, etc.
—Cumberland Presbyterian Church, a Presbyterian
body which seceded from the Presbyterian Church in the
United States, and was developed from the Cumberland
presbytery in Kentucky and Tennessee in 1810. It num-
bers about 180,000 members.— New School Presbyte-
rian Church, that wing of the Presbyterian Church in
the United States which in 1838 separated from the other
branch. It held pronounced views against slavery, and was
regarded as less conservative in theology. — Old School
Presbyterian Church, that wing of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States which held more conservative
views regarding slavery and Calvinism. TheSouthem Pres-
byterian Church seceded from it in 1861, and the remainder
united with the Wew School Presbyterians in 1870.— Re-
formed Presbyterian Church. See Cameronian, n., 1,
and Covenanter, 2.— United Preshj^erian Church, (o)
A Scottish church formed by the union of the United Se-
cession Church and the Kelief Cliurch (see above) in 1847.
It numbers over 180.000 members, (p) A church- in the
United States formed in 1858 by the coalition of various
bodies. It numbers over 100,000 members.
II, n. One who holds to the system of Pres-
byterianism ; a member of any of the Presby-
terian churches.
Presbyterianism (pres-bi-te'ri-an-izm), n. [=
P. jiresbyt^iairisme = Sp. presbiterianismo =
Pg. presbyterianismo ; as Presbyterian + -ism.2
The system of church government by elders or
by presbyteries. The essential features of church
government in Presbyterianism are — the equality of the
clergy, the identification of the apostolic presbyter with
the bishop, the division of elders into teaching elders (or
ministers) and ruling or lay elders, the government of each
local church by its session, composed of pastor and ruling
elders, and the subordination of sessions to a presbytery,
of presbyteries to a synod, and of synods to a general assem-
bly. In the Dutch Reformed Church, which adopte Presby-
terianism, the bodies corresponding to session, presbyteiy,
synod, and general assembly are consistory, classis, synod,
and general synod. This system of church government is
opposed to episcopacy on one side and to congregational-
ism and independency on the other. It was developed in
the sixteenth centujy by Calviii and other reformers, and
4700
was adopted in Geneva and by the reformers in France,
Scotland, etc. It supplanted episcopacy for a short time
in England, in the period of the Civil War and Common-
wealth. I'l-esbyterianism is the predominating form of
church government in .Scotland, and prevails extensively
in the Netherlands, in the United .States, and in Ireland
and other parts of the British empire.
Presbyterianize (pres-bi-te'ri-an-iz), v. t.;
pret. and pp. Presbyterianized, ppr. Presbyteri-
anizing. [< Presbytenan + -ize.] To render
Presbyterian.
The Massachusetts churches . . . have always resisted
the efforts . . . to presbyterianize them.
Andover Mev., VII. 636.
Presbyterianly (pres-bi-te'ri-an-li), adv. After
the manner of Presbyterians."
This person, tho' presbyterianly affected, yet he had the
king's ear as much as any other person.
Wood, Athente Oxon., II.
Presbsrterismt (pres'bi-t6r-izm), n. [(.presby-
ter + -I'sm.] Same as Presbyterianism.
It looks not at all like Popery that Presbyterium was dis-
dained by the king ; his father had taught him that it was
a sect so perfidious that he found more faith among the.
Highlanders. Bp. Hacket, Abp. Williams, ii. 197. {Davies.)
presbyterium (pres-bi-te'ri-um), n. ; vl.presby-
teria (-a). [NL. (ML.), < Gr. Trpcapv-ipiov, a
council" of elders : see presbytery.] Same as
^pgesbytery, 5.
presbytership (pres'bi-t6r-ship), w. [(.presbyter
+ -ship.'] The office or rank of a presbyter.
presbytery (pres'bi-ter-i), 11.; pi. presbyteries
(-iz). [= ¥.presbytbre = Sp^presbiterio = Pg.
presbyterio = It. presbiterio, a presbytery, par-
sonage, < Mil. presbyterium, a council of elders,
part of a church in which the elders sit, the
function of a presbyter or priest, etc., < Gr.
■KpecpvTepiov, a body of elders, < irpeapv-epoc,
TTpia^vg, an elder: see presbyter.'] 1. A body of
presbyters or elders in the Christian church;
the body or class of presbyters taken collec-
tively.
Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given
thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the
' ■ 1 Tim. iv. 14.
Strictly speaking, any body of elders is a Presbytery.
JSr. A. Eev., CXLII. 561.
2. In churches holding the Presbyterian form
of government, a judicatory which ranks next
above the session and below the synod, in the
Presbyterian Church of the United States its composition
and powers are thus defined in its Form of Government :
" A presbytery consists of all ministers, and one ruling elder
from each congregation, within a certain district. , . . The
Presbytery has power to receive and issue appeals from
church-sessions, and references brought befoi'e them in an
orderly manner ; to examine and license candidates for
the holy ministry; to ordain, install, remove, and judge
ministers; to examine and approve or censure the records
of church-sessions; to resolve questions of doctrine or
discipline seriously and reasonably proposed ; to condemn
erroneous opinions which injure the purity or peace of
the church; to visit particular churches, for the pur-
pose of inquiring into their state and redressing the evils
that may have arisen in them ; to unite or divide congre-
gations, at the request of the people, or to form and re-
ceive new congregations ; and, in general, to order what-
ever pertains to the spiritual welfare ot the churches un-
der their care. ''
3. The ecclesiastical district or division under
the jurisdiction of a presbyter. — 4. [cap.] The
Presbyterian polity.
The question between Episcopacy and Presbytery.
Craik, Hist. Eng. Lit., II. 60.
5. In arch., the part of the church appropriated
to the clergy; m the early church, and in the
Greek Church, the space between the altar and
apse, or the whole sanctuary; afterward, the
space near the altar, or the sedilia; in later
Choir and Presbytery of (J loucester Cathedrtil, England, looking east.
medieval and modem use, the space in a cathe-
dral or large church (often raised) between the
choir and the altar; less strictly, the 'choir or
chancel. Alsopresbyterium. See (uagram under
cathedral.
prescind
The enclosure of the choir was kept low, so as not to
hide the view of the raised presbytery, or to prevent the
congregation from witnessing the more sacred- mysteries
of the faith which were there performed by the higher
order of clergy. J. Fergusson, Hist. Aich., I. 407.
6. A clergyman's house; a parsonage. [Ro-
man Catholic use.]
Presbsrtes (pres-bi'tez), n. [NL., < Gr. izpca-
jiv-7/g, an old man: see presbyte.] A genus of
semnopithecine or sacred monkeys: synony-
mous with Semnopithecus.
prescapula, praescapula (pre-skap'u-la), «. ; pi.
prescapulx, prseseapulse (-le). [NL. praescapu-
la, < L. pi-ie, before, + scajmla, shoulder-blade :
see scapular.] That part of the scapula which
is anterior to (cephalad of) its spine or median
axis: opposed to i^ostscapula. In man the pre-
scapula corresponds to the supraspinatus fossa.
prescapular (pre-skap'u-lar), a. and n. [< NL.
prseseapularis, < preescapiila : see prescapula.]
I. a. Situated in front of the long axis of the
shoulder-blade ; noting a section of the scapula
or shoulder-blade in advance of the spine ; su-
praspinous, with reference to the scapula: the
opposite ot p)ostscapnlar : as, t\ie pi'escapular
fossa. See cut under omosternum.
II. n. The prescapularis or supraspinatus
muscle.
prescapularis -(pre-ska,p-u-la'ris), n.; pi. pre-
scapulares{-ve2,). [^li. prseseapularis : see pre-
scapular.] The muscle of the prescapular or su-
praspinous aspect of the scapula; the supraspi-
natus. Coues.
prescenet (pre'sen), ». [< L. pra^efore, +
scena, scene.] A preliminary sc6^; a pro-
logue; an induction.
Prof an'd with mischiefs, the Pre-Sesene of Hell
To cursed Creatures that 'gainst Heav'n rebell.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 6.
prescience (pre'shiens), ». [< ME. prescience,
< OF. prescience, I'', prescience = Sp. Pg. jjwe-
sciencia = It.prescienza, < LL. prsescientia, fore-
knowledge, < h. prsescien(t-)s, ppr. of priescire,
know beforehand : see jn-eseient.] Foreknow-
ledge; previous knowledge; knowledge of
events before they take place ; foresight.
And certes, if I hadde 2Jre8cience
Your wil to know er ye your lust me tolde,
I wolde it doon withouten necligence.
Chaiieer, Clerk's Tale, I. 603.
By my presdetiee
I find my zenith doth depend upon
A most auspicious star.
Shak., Tempest, 1. 2. 180.
The most exact calculator has uo prescience that some-
what incalculable may not balk the very next moment.
Emerson, Essays, Ist ser., p. 244.
prescient (pre'shient), a. [< F. prescient = Pg.
It. presciente,(. Jj, prsescien(t-)s, ppr. otpreescire,
know beforehand, < jiree, before, + scire, know :
see scient.] Foreknowing; having knowledge
of events before they take place.
Governments rarely comprehend those prescient minds
which anticipate wants posterity cannot always supply.
/. D'lsraeli, Amen, of Lit., II. 289.
prescientialt (pre-shi-en'shal), a. [Also jwas-
sciential; < liL. prsescientia, vrescienee, + -al.]
Prescient; foreknowing. [Rare.]
Love 's of so quick a sight that he
Aforehand with his object is,
And into dark Futurity
With prieseientittl rays doth press.
Bewumont, Love's Eye-
prescientific (pre-si-en-tif'ik), a. [< pre- -i-
scientific] Existing before the scientific age ;
belonging or relating to times prior to the re-
duction of knowledge in general, oi- of some
special branch of it, to the form of science.
Even the intellects of men of science are haunted by
preseientijic survivals.
Littell's Living Age, March 1, 1884, p. 623.
Ill the prescientitic era of medicine, a brisk traffic took
place in these prehistoric bone deposits, as in the analo-
gous case of Egyptian mummies.
Sei. Amer., N. S., LIX. 247.
presciently (pre'shient-li), adv. In a prescient
manner; with prescience.
On this memorable day a philosophical politician might
have presciently marked the seed-plots of events which
not many years afterwards were apparent to all men.
/. D'Israeli, Curios, of Lit., IV. 380.
prescind (pre-sind'), «. [=OF.pirescinder=Sp.
Pg. i)rescindir = \t.]}rescindere,(. It. prsescindere,
cut off in front, < prse, before, + scindere, slit,
cleave: see scission.] I. trans. To separate
from other facts or ideas for special considera-
tion ; strip of extrinsic adjuncts, especially in
conception .
The result of Attention, by concentrating the mind upon
certam qualities, is ... to withdraw or abstract it from
all else. In technical language, we are said to prescind
the phsenomena which we excluBlvely consider. To pre-
prescind
Bcfnd to attend, and to abstract are merely different bat
correlative names for the same process ; and the first two
are nearly convertible. When we are said to msa-iuTa
quality, we are merely supposed to attend to th^'Sty
exclusively. sir W. Uamaum, Logic, viX
If force be considered as prescinded from gravity and
matter, and aa existing only in points, or ceSers, what
?^° »9 """"" *° *•"' ^" *''''™°' spiritual inocii,oreal
"""^ • Berkeley, Siris. § 226.
II, intrans. To withdraw the attention: usu-
ally with from.
Those things which Christianity, as it preseCnde fram
the interest of the republic, hath Introduced.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), II. 210.
Ill what I am about to write I presHnd entirely from aU
theological theories and religious symbols
ForlnigMly Bev., it. &, XUH. 72.
prescindent (pre-sin'dent), a. [< L. prxscin-
den(t-)s, ppr. of prsescindere, cut oft in front:
see prescind.] Prescinding; ahstraeting.
We may, for one single act, abstract from a reward
which nobody who knows the prescindent faculties of the
soul can deny. G. Cheyw, Philosophical Principles.
presciousf (pre'shi-us), a. [< L. prsescius, fore-
knowing, < preeseire, know beforehand: see
prescient.] Prescient; foreknowing; having
foreknowledge.
No prescious determination of our states to come.
Sir T. Browne, Eeligio Medici, i. 11.
Prescious of ills. Drydm, Mnevi, xi.
prescission (pre-sish'on), n. [< L. as if *prce-
seissio(n-), < prsBscindere, cut off: see prescind.
Ct scission.'] The act of prescinding. [Rare.]
prescribe (pre-sknb'), v. ; pret. and pp. pre-
scribed, ppr. prescribing. [= F. prescrire = Sp.
prescribir = Fg.prescreoer=It. prescrivere, < L.
prasseribere, write before, prefe in writing, <
prx, before, + scribere, write : see scribe.] I.
trans. If. To inscribe beforehand or in front.
Having heard your approbation of these in their pre-
sentment, I could not hut prescribe them with your name.
Chapman, Byron's Conspiracy and Tragedy, Ded.
2. To lay ^own beforehand, in writing or other-
wise, as a rule of action ; ordain ; appoint ; de-
fine authoritatively.
For her no other termes should ever tie
Then what prescribed were by lawes of chevalrie.
Spenser, F. Q., V. vii. 28.
Prescribe not us our duties. Shak., Lear, i. 1. 279.
They may call back the sun as soon, stay time.
Prescribe a law to death, as we endure this.
Fletcher, Loyal Subject, v. 4.
Philosophers prescribe us Rules that they themselves,
nor any Flesh and Blood, can observe.
Howell, Letters, I. vL 58.
Mankind in ways prescribed are found.
Like docks that follow on a beaten ground.
Crabbe, Works, IV. 55.
The necessities which Initiate government themselves
prescribe the actions of government.
B. Spencer, Data of Ethics, 1 19.
3. Specifically, to advise, appoint, or designate
as a remedy for disease.
Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be ruled by me ;
Let's purge this oholer without letting blood :
This we prescribe, though no physician.
Shak., Rich. II., i. 1. 154.
A druggist's assistant who . . . prescribes a sharp pur-
gative and kills the patient is found guilty of manslaugh- '
ter. H. Spencer, Man vs. State, p. 47.
4. In law, to render invalid through lapse of
time or negative prescription.
"Could yon not take up the action again?" said Mr.
Mowbray.
"Whew 1 it 's heen prescribed sax or seeven years syne."
Scott, St. Ronan's Well, viii.
=Syil. 2. To order, command, dictate, institute, establish.
II, intrans. 1. To set rules; lay down the
law; dictate.
The assuming an authority of dictating to others, and a
forwardness to prescribe to their opinions, is a constant
concomitant of this bias of our judgments.
Locke. (Johnson.)
3. To give medical directions; designate the
remedies to be used : as, to prescribe for a pa-
tient in a fever.
I will use the olive with my sword,
Make war breed peace, make peace stint war, make each
Prescribe to other as each other's leech.
5AaA:., T. of A., V. 4. 84.
3. In law : (a) To claim by prescription ; claim
a title to a thing by immemorial use and enjoy-
ment: with for: as, to prescribe for a right of
way, of common, or the like. (6) To become
extinguished or of no validity through lapse of
time, as a right, debt, obligation, and the like.
See prescription, 3,
Under J'ames VI. actions for servants' wages are to pre-
terite [applied to property when lost by the lapse of time]
in three years, after which the debt can only be proved by
writ or oath 6f the debtor (1579, c. 21).
Bibton-Tumer, Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 362.
4701
It [the action of spuilzie] must be brought within three
years in order to entitle the pursuer to violent profits,
otherwise it prescribes in forty years.
Encye. Brit., XXIIL 689.
prescriber (pre-skri'bfir), n. [< prescribe +
-eri,] One who prescribes; one who gives
rtdes or directions, especially in medical treat-
ment.
The phisicians of the bodyes haue practicioners and
poticaries that dooe minister theyr arte vnder them ; and
themselues are tAe prescribers and appoynters what it is
that muste bee geuen to the sycke.
J. Udall, On Luke, Pref.
God the prescriber of order.
Fotherby, Atheomastix, p. l68.
prescript (pre'skript, formerly also pre-
skript ), a. and n. [< OF. prescript, F. present
= Sp. Pg. prescripto = It. prescritto; < L. pi-se-
scriptiis, prescribed (neut. ])rsescriptum, some-
thing prescribed, a copy, a precept, order, rule),
pp. of jyrsescribere, prescribe : see prescribe.] I.
a. Prescribed ; set down beforehand as a rule ;
ordained or appointed beforehand. .
To the intent the prescript number of the citizens should
neither decrease nor above measure increase.
Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Robinson), ii. 5,
Baptism is given by the element of water, and that pre.
script form of words which the Church of Christ doth use.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iv. 1.
I must apologize this to the reader, that I do not con-
demn all prescript penalties, although the argument seem
to hold forth so much.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 267.
II. n. 1, That which is ^prescribed ; a regu-
lation; direction; instruction; rule; law.
They [Utopians] define virtue to be life ordered accord-
ing to the prescript of nature.
Sir T. Mare, Utopia (tr. by Robinson), iu 7.
Ne staid, till that he came with steep descent
Unto the place where his prescript did showe.
Spenser. Mother Hub. Tale, 1. 1261.
Do not exceed
The prescript of this scroll.
Shak., A. and C, iii. 8. 5.
^ The Jews, by the prescript of their law, were to be mer-
ciful to all their nation and confederates in religion.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), 1. 196.
St. Specifically, a medical direction; a pre-
scription.
It is not a potion I send, but a. prescript in paper, which
the foolish patient did eat up when he read in it written.
Take this. Bev. T. Adamis, Memoir, p. xlvii. (Works, III.).
prescriptibility (prf-skrip-ti-bil'i-ti), n. [<
prescripUble + -ity (see -bility).] "The quality
of being presoriptible. Story.
prescriptible (pre-skrip'ti-bl), a. [= F. pre-
scripUble = Sp. prescriptible = Pg. prescriptivel
= It. prescrittibile; a.s prescript + -ible.] Prop-
er to be prescribed; depending on or derived
from prescription.
If the matter were prescriptible.
Grafton, Hen. VIII., an. 34.
prescription (pre-skrlp'shon), n. [< F. pre-
scrmtion = Sp. prescripcion = Pg. prescrip^So
= u,. prescrizione, < Tu. prsescriptio{n-), a writing
before or in front, a title, preface, pretext, pre-
cept, order, rule, law, exception, demurrer,
ML. prescription, a prescriptive right, etc., <
prsescribere, T^Tp.prsescript'us, prescribe : seepre-
scribe.] 1. The act of prescribing or establish-
ing by rules; that which is prescribed; direc-
tion; prescript.
I am thankful to you ; and I'll go along
By your prescription. Shak., Hen. VIII., i. 1. 151.
Men who could not be brought off. from the prescrip-
tions of gentilism to the seeming impossibilities of Chris-
tianity. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 181.
3. In med., a statement, usually written, of the
medicines or remedies to be used by a patient,
and the manner of using them.
My reason, the physician to my love,
Angry that his prescriptions are not kept.
Hath left me. Shak., Sonnets, cxlvii.
3. In law, a personal use or possession suffi-
ciently long continued to secure to one or more
persons a title or right as against others; the
effect on rights of persons of the immemorial or
long-continued and uninterrupted enjoyment of
a thing, as a right of way or of common, by one
person or class or succession of persons rather
than by another or others : as, to acquire pos-
session of a thing by prescription. After uninter-
rupted enjoyment for thirty, and in many cases for twenty
years, a prima fade title arises by prescription to the thing
enjoyed.
Those honours, and that worship, he has held in the
Christian church by a prescription of fifteen, sixteen, or
seventeen hundred years. Waterland, Works, II. 202.
Can any length of acquiescence turn a wrong thing into
a right one ; any length of prescription turn an abuse into
a right? StiMs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 22.
presence
We are intolerant of everything that is not simple, un-
biassed by prescri:0on, liberal as the wind.
J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 297.
Hence, more specifically— (a) The acquisition of a right
or title by such enjoyment, called sometimes positive or
acquisitive prescription.
Somegentlemen doe hold that dignitie [nobility] bypre-
scription, not hauing other proof e then that theyaud their
ancestors were called Gentlemen time out of minde.
Segar, Honor, p. 227.
When thou beginnest to sue him, hewill ^lea.A prescrip-
tion: . . . Itismlne, it shall be mine, because it hath been
mine. Mev. T. Adams, Works, II. 41.
TheLucquese p\eaA prescription for hunting in one of
the Duke's forests that lies upon their frontiers.
Addison, Remarks on Italy (ed. Bohn), I. 493.
The institution called Usucapion or (in modern times)
Prescription, the acquisition of ownership by continuous
possession, lay at the root of the ancient Roman law,
whether of persons or of things.
Maine, Early Hist, of Institutions, p. 316.
(b) The loss of a right or title by suffering another to en-
joy it, or by neglecting to assert it: called sometimes nega-
tive prescription.
And unless ye get your thumb-nail on them [poachers>
in the very nick o' time, ye may dine on a dish m prescrip-
tion, and sup upon an absolvitor.
Scott, St. Ronan's Well, viii.
Barons by prescription. See baron, i.— Frescriptlon
Act (sometimes called Lord TerOerden's Act), an English,
statute (2 and 3 William IV., c. 71) by which uninter-
rupted enjoyment of an easement for twenty years (forty
at the most) under claim of right ^vas made a bar to ad-
Terse claims, in lieu of requiring reference to immemorial
usage.— Title l)y prescription, a title based solely on a
showing that the claimant and those under whom he
claims have iramemorially been in the habit of enjoying:
that which he claims.
prescription-glass (pre-skrip'shon-glas), n. 1.
A glass vessel with measures, as of a table-
spoonful, teaspoonful, etc., marked on it. — 3.
A spectacle-glass or lens made according to an
oculist's prescription.
The lens-grinding room ... is devoted almost exclu-
sively to making what are known aa prescription glasses.
Sci. Amer., N. S., LVIII. 259.
prescriptionist (pre-skrlp'shgn-ist), n. l<pre-
scription -I- -ist,] One who makes up or com-
pounds a medical prescription.
The apparentdeteriorationwasdueto the dishonesty of
the retail druggist or prescriptionist.
Sanitarian, XVIII. 427.
prescriptive (pre-skrip'tiv), a. [= F.prescrijHif
= It. prescrittivo, < LL. prsescriptivus, pertain-
ing to a prescript, < li. prssscriptus, pp. of jprse-
scnfiere, prescribe : see prescribe.] 1. Arising
from established usage or opinion ; customary.
Emigrations for conquest, for gold, for very restlessness-
of spirit— if they grow towards an imperial issue, have
all thusapr68(^j]2ii;e and recognized ingredientof heroism.
B. Choate, Addresses, p. 90.
They were prepared to strip the church of its power, and
royalty of its prescriptive sanctity.
Bancroft, Hist. U. S., I. 383.
3. Specifically, in law, pertaining to, resulting
from, or based upon prescription.
Yon tall Tower,
Whose cawing occupants with joy proclaim
Prescriptive title to the shattered pile.
Wordsworth, Sonnets, iii. 47.
It [the right of self -taxation] was in full exercise from
the early years of Edward I., and accordingly waa strong-
enough in prescriptive force to resist his attempts to in-
corporate the clergy as an estate of parliament.
Stums, Const. Hist., § 396.
prescutal (pre-sku'tal), a. [iprsescutum -1- -al.]
Of or pertaining to the prsescutum.
preset, v. and n. An obsolete variant otpress^-
preseancet (pre'sf-ans), n. [< OF. preseance, F.
preseance, precedleiiee, < ML. priesidentia, lit. a
sitting before, < L. praesidere, sit before: see
presidence. Cf. seance.] Privilege or priority
of place in sitting.
The ghests . . . may for their discreete judgement in
precedence and preseanee read a lesson to our ciuilest
gentry. B. Carew, Survey of CormraH, p. 71.
presee (pre-se'), v. t. ; pret. presaw, pp. preseen,
^Tpr. preseeing. lipre- + seeK] To foresee.
You should have employed some other in the journey,
which I had no reason to affect much, preseeing well
enough how thankless it would be.
Motley, Hist. Netherlands, I. 443, note 4.
preselect (pre-se-lekf), V. t. [(.pre- + select.]
To select beforehand.
presemilunar (pre-sem-i-lu'nar), a. [< pre- -I-
semilunar.] Anterior to the semilunar lobe of
the cerebellum — Presemilunar Icibe, the posterosu-
perior lobe of the cerebellum.
preseminal (pre-sem'i-nal), a. [(.pre- -h semi-
nal.] Prior to insemination or fecundation :
as, the preseminal state of an ovum. Also pree-
seminal.
presence (prez'ens), n. [< MB. presence, < OF.
presence, F. presence = B^. presencia = Pg. pre-
senga. = It. presenza, presensia,. < L. pr^eesentia.
presence
a iDeing before, in view, or at hand, present, <
prsesen{t-)s, being before or at hand: see^j-es-
eret.] 1. The state of being present; the state
of being in a certain place, and not in some
other place ; being, continuance, or stay in a
certain place : as, the presence of a planet in a
particular part of its orbit; specifically, the
state of being near the speaker or writer or in
some place upon which Ms thought is directed.
The fields appeared covered with people and Baskets, to
tempt TS on shore ; but nothing was to be had without his
presence. Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 218.
Thy absence hath been very long in my conceit, and thy
presence much desired.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 431.
The rich, . . . intent ^
On pleasure, haunt the capital, and thus
To all the violence of lawless hands
Resign the scenes their presence might protect.
Cowper, Task, iv. 692.
2. Companionship; attendance; company; so-
ciety.
In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of
his presence saved them. Isa. iSii 9.
To-night we hold a solemn supper, sir.
And I'll request your presence.
Shak.f Macbeth, iii. 1. 15.
It he see you himseUe, hiapresemx is the worst visitation ;
for If he cannot heale your sicknes, he will bee sure to
helpe it.
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Meere Dull Fhisitian.
Vhasbe's presence, and the contiguity of her Iresh life to
his blighted one, was usually all that he required.
Ha/wthome, Seven Gables, ix.
3. Immediate neighborhood or vicinity; close
proximity.
Full many a noble war-song had he sung
E'vn in the presence of an enemy's fleet.
TennysoTi, Guinevere.
4. The state of being face to face with a great
personage or with a superior.
The shepherd Dorus answered with such a trembling
voice . . . that it was some sport to the young ladies,
thinking it want of education which made him so discoun-
tenanced with unwonted jiresence. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia.
They rise to their husbands, and stand while they are
inpresemx. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 293.
5. An assembly, particularly of persons of
rank ; a noble company.
Being so old a man, it was likely that he knew most of
any man in that presence and company.
Latimer, Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1560.
Here is like to be a good presenae of Worthies.
Shak., L. L. L., v. 2. 536.
6. Personality ; the sum of the qualities of an
individual; personage.
Lord of tbypreseTice and no land beside.
Sha^., K. John, i. 1. 137.
Slowly passed that august Presence
Down the thronged and shouting street.
Whittier, The Sycamores.
7. Aspect; appearance; demeanor; mien; air.
Affable grace, speeche eloquent, and wise ;
Stately prsesenee, suche as becometh one
Whoeiseemesto rule realmes by her lookes alone.
Puttffnhard, Partheniades, viii.
Be, as thy presence is, gracious and kind.
Shak., Sonnets, x.
I ^m the neatllest-made gallant i' the company, and
have the best presence. B. Jonstm, Cynthia's Bevels, iv. 1.
Hay, nay, God wot, so thou wert nobly bom.
Thou hast a pleasant presence.
TennysoTi, Gareth and Lynette.
8. An apparition; a vision; a specter.
A deadly silence step by step increased.
Until it seemed a horrid presence there.
And not a man but felt the terror in his hair.
Keats, Lamia, ii.
The only other time he was conscious of a, presence was,
he told me, one day when, coming out of one of the rooms
on the upper lobby, he felt as if some person brushed
closely by him, but he saw nothing.
Proc Soc. Psych. Research, I. 111.
9. A presence-chamber.
Here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
This vault a feasting preserux full of light.
Shak., B. and J., v. 3. 86.
The next chamber within it, which is the Presence, is
very faire. Caryai, Crudities, I. 32.
The rest of yo apartments are rarely gilded and carv'd,
wth some good modern paintings. In the presence hang 3
huge branches of chrystal. Evelyn, Diary, Nov. 18, 1649.
Doctrine of the real presence, the doctrine that the
body and blood of Christ are present in the eucharist.
This view is held by the Boman Catholic and Greek
Churches, and in a modified form by the Anglican Church.
The Boman Catholic position is thus defined : "In the au-
gust sacrament of the holy Eucharist, after the consecra-
tion of the bread and wine, our lord Jesus Christ, true
God and man, is truly, really, and substantially contained
under the species of those sensible things." {Oanons and
Deereesofthe CouncU of Trent, Session XIII., Chap. I.) The
High-church view is thus stated; "That the Body and
Blood of Christ exist in those elements is as much the
belief of the English Church as of the Latin and Greek
Churches." (Blunt, Diet. Theol., p. 761.)
4702
A sacramental or a hyperphysical change no English
churchman who believes the Reai Presence as his Church
teaches could hesitate to accept. Pusey, Eirenicon, p. 33.
Doctrine of the virtual presence, the doctrine that
Christ is present in the eucharist in such a manner that
communicants receive the virtue or power and benefits of
his body and blood, but not his real body and blood them-
selves.—Hearing in presence. See hearing.— In pres-
ence of, in law, being bodily so near another, who is con-
scious of the fact, as to be within the means of observation.
If a person is sleeping, an act done in the same place is not
considered as done in his presence.— Presence of mind,
a calm, collected state of the mind, with its faculties
ready at command, enabling a person to speak or act with-
out disorder or embarrassment when taken by surprise ;
quickness in meeting the exigencies of sudden and trying
occasions.
The — the— tremor of my passion entirely takes away
my presence of mind. Sheridan, The Rivals, iv. 2.
As a soldier he [Charles I.] was feeble, dilatory, and mis-
erably wanting, not in personal courage, but in the pres-
ence of mind which his station required.
Macavlay, Hallam's Const. Hist.
At the twelfth round the latter champion was all abroad,
as the saying is, and had lost all presence of mind and
power of attack or defence. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, v.
To 1)6 In presence, to be present.
If thou be fair, ther folk hen in presence.
Shew thou thy visage and thyn apparaille.
Chamcer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 1151.
presence-chamber (prez'ens-eham'''ber),». The
room in which a great personage receives his
guests, or those entitled to come before him; a
hall of state.
The heaven of heavens, the presence chamber of God
himself, expects the presence of our bodies.
Vmne, Sermons, xii.
By the hands of these [silversmiths] ... he finished
hia presence-chamber in a manner truly admirable.
Bruce, Source of the Nile, II. 633.
presence-room (prez'ens-rom), ». Same as
presence-chamber.
That morning in the presence room I stood
With Cyril and with Florian, my two friends.
Tennyson, Princess, i.
presensation (pre-sen-sa'shon), ». [< pre- +
sensation.'] A sensation anticipatory of a fu-
ture sensation; a sensation due to imagining
an object which is expected to produce a simi-
lar sensation through the channels of external
sense. [Bare.]
That plenitude of happiness that has been reserved for
future times, the presage and presentation of it, has in all
ages been a very great joy and triumph to all holy men
and prophets. Dr. H, More, Def. of Moral Cabbala, ii.
presension (prf-sen'shon), n. [Also, erroneous-
ly, ^reseK<»o»;*< 'L.preesensio(n-), a foreboding,
(. prsesensus, pp. of prsesenUre, feel or perceive
beforehand: see ijresentienfi 1. A direct per-
ception of the future ; a presentiment.
Natural [divination] is, when the mind hath a presention
by an internal power, without the inducement of a sign.
Bacon, ^Advancement of Learning, ii. 203.
The hedgehog, whose presention of winds is so exact that
it stoppeth the north or southern hole of its nest.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iii. 10.
There is, saith Cicero, an ancient opinion . . . that
there is among men a certain divination, which the Greeks
call prophecy (or inspiration)— that is, a presension and
Imowledge of future things. Barrow, Works, II. ix.
3. -An anticipation; a presensation.
We shall find ourselves in a heaven upon earth, and
each act of virtue will be a presention and foretaste of the
joys of a celestial life. Scott, Christian Life, i. 4.
I have a prescenHon of a grand royal meaning which
some day will be revealed to me.
E. H. Sears, Fourth Gospel.
present! (prez'ent), a. and n. [< ME. present,
< OF. present, if. prisent = Sp. Pg. It. presente,
< L. prsBsen(t-)s, ppr. of prseesse, be before, in
view, or at hand, be present, < prie, before, -1-
esse, be : see essence, 6ei, and cf . absent.] I. a.
1. Being or abiding, as a person, in this or any
specified place ; being in view or immediately
at hand : opposed to absent.
These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present
with you. John xiv. 26.
So, either by thy picture or my love.
Thyself away art present still with me.
Shak., Sonnets, xlvii.
I will send word withynne a moneth day
Vnto your prince, where euer he hepreserU,
All vtterly the fyne of myn entente.
Generydes (E. B. T. S.), 1. 1767.
What could he advantage
Your fortune, were he present?
Shirley, Grateful Servant, i. 2.
The temple of the Greeks was the house of a present
deity, its cell his chamber, its statue his reality.
J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 217.
Present in this sense is often used in addressing a letter
which is to be delivered to some one either actually pres-
ent, or near at hand, as in the same neighborhood or town.
3. Now existing; being at this time; not past
or future : as, the present session of Congress.
present
We apprehend them by memory, whereas the present
time and tilings so swiftly passe away.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 31
We'll teach thee to forget, with present pleasures.
Thy late captivity.
Fletcher (and another ?), Prophetess, iv. 8.
The description also of Hermon, as a mountain of snow,
agrees with its present appearance, being always covered
with it. Pococke, Description of the Easti II. i. 74.
If we compare the present state of France with the state
in which she was forty years ago, how vast a change for
the better has taken place 1 Macavlay, Mirabeau.
3. Being now in mind, (a) Under consideration.
I will not be negligent to put you always in remem-
brance of these things, though ye know them, and ne es-
tablished in tlie presenJt truth. 2 Pet. i. 12.
The much greater part of them are not brought up so
well, or accustomed to so much religion, as in the present
instance. Law.
(p) Actually in consciousness.
They are never present in mind at what passes in dis-
course. Swift, On Conversation.
I call that clear which is present and manifest to the
mind giving attention to it, just as we are said clearly to
see objects when, being present to the eye looking on, the^
stimulate it with sufficient force, and it is disposed to re-
gard them.
Quoted in Veiteh's Int. to Descartes's Methods, p. Iv.
4. Prompt or ready at need.
He oft finds present helpe who does his grief e impart.
Spender, F. Q., II. i. 46.
Vouchsafe t' afford . . .
Some present speed to come and visit me.
SMk., Lucrece, 1. 1307.
God is our refuge and strength, a yery present help in
trouble. Ps. xlvi. 1.
Nor could I hope, in any place but there.
To find a god so present to my prayer.
Dryaen, tr. of Virgil's Eclogues, L 69.
Present money. See money.— Present tense, in gram. ,
the tense of a verb which expresses action or being in the
present time^ as Latin scribo, English I write, or do write,
or am, writing. Abbreviated ^eg.
II. n. 1 . Present time ; time now passing.
And madness, thou hast forged at last
A night-long Present of the Past
In which we went thro' summer France.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Ixxi.
2. Present business ; an affair in hand.
Shall I be charged no further than this present t
Must all determine here? Shak., Cor., iii. 3. 42.
3t. The money or other property a person has
on hand.
I'll make division of my present with you ;
Hold, there 's half my coffer. Shak., T. N., ill 4. 380.
4. pi. In law, a term used in a deed of convey-
ance, a lease, letter of attorney, or other docu-
ment, to express the document itself; this
present writing: as in the phrase "Know all
men by these presents" (that is, by this very
document, by the words here set down) ; hence,
any writ or writing. [In this sense it is rarely
used in the singular.]
Be it open and knowen apertiliche vn-to gow, be theis
presentes, that we fulliche vndirstondend the lettres sent
fro sour Channcrye vn-to vs.
English Oilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 48.
Kin^. What present hast thou there ? . . .
Jaq. I beseech your grace, let this letter be read.
Shak., L. L. L., iv. 3. 189.
Romulus, after his death (as they report, or feign), sent
a present to the Romans, that above all they should intend
arms, and then they should prove the greatest empire of
the world.
Bacon, True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates (ed. 1887).
5. In gram., the present tense.— At present, at
this time; now.
Which not at present having time to do.
Pope, Epil. to Satires, IL 156.
He is at present with his regiment.
Sheridan, The Rivals, i. 2.
These figures are of course between ourselves at present.
Forster, Dickens, Ix.
Historical present (tense). See historical, 4.
On other points Hug disagrees with Hoffmann, especially
with the latter's statement that the historical present was
to the Romans simply a preterit.
Amer. Jour. Philol., X. 111.
That present, elliptically for that present time; the time
being; then.
The wounds that this frost gave the commonwealth
were for that present scarce felt.
The Great Frost (Arber's Eng. Gamer, I. 91).
The present, an elliptical expression for the present time.
Men that set their hearts only upon the present.
Sir R. L Estrange.
This present, elliptically for this present time; now.
We know your f eare, and are in an agonie at this present
lest you should lose that superfluity of riches and honour
which your party usurp.
Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst.
present^t (prez'ent), adv. [ME., < present^, a.]
At once; immediately; presently.
Let me dye present in this place.
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 42a
present
present^ (pre-zenf), V. [< ME.^}-esenfe», < OF
presenter, F. presenter = Sp. presentar = Pg
preseniear = It. presentare, < L. jM-«se»tom
place before, show (lit. make present), exhibit,
present, ML. also give, < prsesen(t-)s, ppr. of
frseesse, be at hand : see presenP-.'] I trmis.
. To bring or introduce into the presence of
some one, especially of a superior; recommend
for acquaintance; make known:.as,toi)j-esenf
an envoy to the king; with a reflexive pro-
noun, to come into the presence of any one.
Now there was a day when the sons ol God came to vre-
■gen* «ft«m»ei!«s before the Lord. Job i. 6.
Let 's present him to the duke, like a Boman conqueror.
SJiak., As yon Like it, iv. 2. 3.
Ma'am, I'm an enthusiastic admirer of DaireU. Yon say
he is a connection of yours ? Present me to him.
Bvlwer, What will he Do with it?
5. To show ; exhibit ; demonstrate ; reveal.
She went In peril!, of each noyse aff eard,
And of each shade that did it aelfe present.
Spenser, F. Q., III. vu. 19.
Justly to your grave ears III present
How I did thrive in this fair lady's love.
Shale., Othello, i. 3. 124.
An exceedingly rich needle worke, interlaced very curi-
ously with abundance of gold and silver, that presents a
very goodly picture of Moyses. Cmryat, Crudities, I. 116.
It is a degree towards the life of angels when we enjoy
oonversation wherein there is nothing presented but in its
excellence. Steele, Spectator, No. 100.
3. To bring or lay before one for acceptance;
offer as a gift, generally with formality; make
an offer or expression of; hence, to bestow;
give : as, to present a ring or a book to a friend ;
to present one's compliments.
Now goo, Sygrem, as fast as ye may spede.
To Auferius to present hym this stede.
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), L 2394.
I pray preseint my most humble Service to my good Lady.
Sowell, Letters, I. v. 13,
Eight jousts had been, and still
Had Lancelot won the diamond of the year.
With purpose to present them to the Queen
When all were won. Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
4. To approach with a gift or offering ; give a
present to ; bestow a gift upon.
The Kyngdom of Cathay marchethe toward the West
unto the Kyngdom of Tharse ; the whiche was on of the
Einges that cam to presente our Lord in Betheleem.
MandeviUe, Travels, p. 255.
As matching to his youth and vanity,
I did present him with the Paris balls.
Shak., Hen. V., ii. 4. 131.
The skill is to be generous and seem not to know it of
yourself, 'tis done with so much ease ; but a liberal block-
bead presente his mistress as he'd give an alms.
Steele, Lying Lover, L 1.
6. To hand over ceremoniously; give in charge
or possession, as for use or service.
So ladies in romance assist their knight,
PresenJt the spear, and arm him for the fight.
Pope, B. of the L., iiL 130.
6. Eccles., to offer or recommend to the bishop
or ordinaiy as a candidate for institution. See
presentation^, 5.
4703
Persons who dredge or fish for oysters, not being tree of
the fishery, are called cable-hangers [at Rochester], and
SX& prese-nted and punished by the court.
Defoe, Tour through Great Britain, 1. 150.
11. To direct; point; level; aim, as a weapon
or firearm: as, to present a loaded pistol.
According to Virgil, the Boman youth presented their
lances towards their opponents in a menacing position.
Strutt, Sports and PasUmes, p. 199.
12f. To represent; personate; act.
You, constable, are topresent the prince's own person.
Shak., Much Ado, ill. 3. 79.
By sitting on the stage, you may, with small cost, . . .
at any time know what particulai' part any of the infants
present. Dekker, Gull's Hornbook, p. 141.
To present armB(mfl!*.), to bring the piece to a perpen-
dicular position in front of the body, as in saluting a supe-
rior officer. =Syil. 3. Bestow, Grant, etc. See^uei.
II. intrans. To make a presentation, particu-
larly to an ecclesiastical ofS.ee.
If . . . the true patron once waives this privilege of do-
nation, and presents to the bishop, and his clerk is admit-
ted and instituted, the advowson is now become forever
presentative. Blackstone, Com., II. iiL
present^ (prez'ent), n. [< ME. present, <■ OF.
present, F. pr^'ent=8y. Pg. It.presente, a gift,
present ; from the verb.] 1 . A thing presented
or given ; a gift.
So thanne ben thepresentes of grettere plesance to him,
and more benygnely he wil resceyven hem, than though
he were presented with an 100 or 200.
Mandemlle, Travels, p. 228.
And for thei were so high astates and men of gretepuys-
saunce, he made hem riche presentes, and yaf hem grete
yeftes and riche. Merlin (B. E. T. S.), 1. 108.
His dog, . . . to-morrow, by his master's command, he
must carry for a present to his lady.
Shak., T. G. of V., iv. 2. 80.
He told me I could not go to the pasha without making
considerable ^eseTite of cloth, both to him and his Eiaia.
Pocoeke, Description of the East, II. i. 127.
I can make no msxvist^e present:
Little can I give my wife.
Tennyson, Lord of Burleigh.
2 (pre-zenf). [An elliptical use of the verb.]
Milit,, the position from which a rifle or musket
is fired.
" Who are you ? " said she, with the musket ready for the
present. Marryat, Privateersman, xvii.
=SyiL 1. Present, Gift, Donation, Gratuity, Largess, Grant.
The difference between present and g^ is felt in the fact
that one may be willing to accept as & present that which
he would not be willing to accept as a gift: a gift is to
help the one receiving it ; a present does him honor, or ex-
presses friendly feeling toward him. A present is there-
fore ordinarily to an individual ; but in law gift is used,
to the exclusion of present, as including all transfers of
property without consideration and for the benefit of the
donee. A donation is of considerable value, and generally
made to some public institution : as, a donation ol hooks
to a public library. Gratuity emphasizes the fact that the
receiver has no legal claim to the gift; it is a gift to an in-
ferior, as a fee to a servant, and generally a small sum :
&a, a self-respecting man will not expect a gratuity for
every little service. Largess is an old word, representing
a gift from a superior, especially one high in authority,
generally shared by a considerable number. A grant is
rarely the act of a private individual, but rather of a sov-
ereign, legislature, or corporation : as, a grant of land to
a company.
Any clerk may hepresented t» a parsonage or vicarage: presenteMUty (pre-zen-ta-bU'i-ti), n [< pre-
that is, the patron to whom the advowson of the church sentaole + -ity (see -oiMy).^ The state or qual-
belongs may offer his clerk to the bishop of the diocese ity of being presentable.
to be instituted. Blackstone, Com., L xl. ^^^.^^ perversely wore their old boots, which had long
7. To nominate for support at a public school passed the season ol presewtaMity.
or other institution. ^"P- Sci. Mo., xxxm. 447.
L's governor (so we called the patron who presented us presentable (pre-zen'ta-bl), a, [< present^ +
to the foundation) lived in a manner under his paternal ..able.'\ 1. Capable of being presented ; quali-
roof. Lamb, Christ's Hospital Eive-and-Thirty Years Ago.
8t. To proffer; offer openly.
He . . . pj-esenfeii battle to the French navy, whiqh they
refused. Sir J. Hayward.
9. To lay before a judge, magistrate, or gov-
erning body for action or consideration ; sub-
mit, as a petition, remonstrance, etc., for de-
cision or settlement to the proper authorities.
That one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account. Milton, Sonnets, xiv.
10. To accuse to the authorities; bringacharge
against before those having authority to act
fled or suitable for presentation, (a) Beady or
suitable for introduction toothers or into society; hence,
in proper trim ; fit to be seen.
Mrs. Lovell was informed that the baronet had been ad-
dressing his son, who was fresh from Paris, and not, in his
own modest opinion, presentable before a lady.
G. Meredith, Bhoda Fleming, zxxii.
(6) Capable of being offered for perception or understand-
ing ; capable of being made known : as, an idea, present-
able only in language.
If a key fits a lock, or a glove a hand, the relation of the
things to one another is presentable to the perceptions.
E. Spencer, Nineteenth Century, XIX. 760.
(c) Suitable for being offered as a gift.
2. Eccles. : (a) Capable of being presented to a
church living : as, a presentable clerk. (&) Ca-
upon it; lay before a courtof Judicature as an ^^^ of^;cfi^i^^h^;;;;;Xtion of a^c erk:
object of inquiry; give notice of officially, as l^^tf^xrehes presentaMe," Ayliffe, Parergon.
By the dissolution of religious houses, all appropriations
for a crime or offense
You would present her at the leet,
Because she brought stone jugs and no seal'd quarts.
Shak., T. of the S., Ind., ii.
Eomanus keeps his monthly residence
At church, although against his conscience ;
He would refraine (because he doth abhor it)
But that he feares to he presented for it
Times- \rhiMe (E. E. T. S.), p. 102.
had been presentable like other churches, if the statute of
dissolution had not given them to the king.
Spelman, On Tythes, xxix. 2.
presental (prf-zen'tal), «. [< present^ -^ -a?.]
^a,me as presentment. [Rare.]
As illustrations of the author's presental of different sides
of a subject, we give two extracts.
Chicago Advance, Jan. 14, 1869.
Being presentedfoT this, and enjoined to suffer the child
to be baptised, he still refusing, and disturbmg the church, presentaneOUSt (prez-en-ta'ne-us), a. [< Jj.prm-
he was again brought to^the court, ^^^^^^j^^^^j^^^g se«to»e««, momentary, that Operates quickly,
presentation
< j)rajse»i(t-)«, present: see present^.'] Quick;
prompt to act or take effect: as, " a presenta-
neous poison," Harvey.
presentaryt, a. [ME., < L. prxsentarius, that
is at hand, ready, < preesen(t-)s, present: see
present^.2 Present.
This like infynyt moveynge of temporel thinges folweth
this presentary estat of lyf unmoevable.
Chaucer, Boetbins, v. prose 6.
presentation^ (prez-en-ta'shon), n. [< OF.
presentation, F. presentation = Sp. presentacion
= Pg.presentagSo = It. presentagione, < liL.prse-
sentatio(n-), a placing before, an exhibition, <
L. prsesentare, -pp.prsesentatus, place before, ex-
hibit: seepi-esent'^,v.'] 1. The act, especially
the ceremonious act, of presenting a gift, prize,
trophy, donation, or the like : as, the presenta-
tion of a medal to a fireman; i^e presentation
of a stand of colors to a regiment; the presen-
tation of an organ to a church. — 2. The act of
presenting or offering as for recognition, ac-
ceptance, etc.
Prayers are sometimes i. presentation of mere desires.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity.
After Representation of his letters of credence, it is then
the duty of a minister, if accredited to a sovereign, to ask
toT presentation to the Queen or Empress.
E. Schuyler, Amer. Diplomacy, p. 138.
3. That which is presented; a gift; an offer-
ing. [Eare.]
Aloft on the waters, the height or top of an olive tree
did shew itself, whereof the dove brought a presentation
to the good old man.
Time's Storehouse, p. 154. (Latha/m.)
4. A representation; exhibition; appearance;
show; semblance.
I call'd thee then poor shadow, painted queen ;
ThA presentation of but what I was.
Shak., Bich. ni., iv. 4. 84.
These presentation of fighting on the stage are neces-
sary to produce the effects of an heroick play. Dryden.
5. (o) In eccles. law, a patron's act of offering
to a bishop, presbytery, or other properly con-
stituted authority a candidate for induction
into a benefice. &ee patronage, 3.
It differs from nomination in this, that, while presenta-
tion signifies offering a clerk to the bishop for institution,
nomination signifies offering a clerk to the patron in or-
der that he may be presented. Hook.
Hence — (6) The nomination by one ecclesias-
tical authority of a candidate to be appointed
by another. In the Protestant Episcopal Church
the right of presentation to the bishop is lodged
in the vestry or other parish authorities, (c)
The right of presenting a clergyman.
If the bishop . . . admits the patron's presentation, the
clerk so admitted is next to be instituted by him.
Blackstone, Con^, I. xi.
6. In obstet., the appearance of a particular
part of the fetus at the superior pelvic strait
during labor. The most frequent form is vertex pres-
entation, or presentation of the upper and back part of
the fetal head. For each presentation there are several
positions. See position, IQ.
7. A cognitive modification of consciousness ;
an idea ; a representation. This use of the word has
recently been introduced to translate the German vorstel-
Z«»^, the term used by Wolff to translate the Latin reprse-
sentatio. None of these words has ever been scientifically
defined, and they are used, like their synonym idea, with
vague variations of meaning. Of these, the following ap-
pear to be types : (a) An idea in general; any mental ob-
ject subject to attention and association. Kant divides
presentations (vorstellungen) in this sense into unconscious
presentations and perceptions, the latter into sensations
and cognitions, the latter again into intuitions and con-
cepts, and the latter into empirical and pure concepts.
All that variety of mental facts which we speak of as
sensations, perceptions, images, intuitions, concepts, no-
tions, have two characteristics in common : (1) they admit
of being more or less attended to, and (2) can be repro-
duced and associated together. It is here proposed to
use the term presentation to connote such a mental fact,
and as the best English equivalent for what Locke meant
by idea and what Kant and Herbart called a Vorstellung.
J. Ward, Bncyc. Brit., XX. 41.
(6) A figurate conception ; a product of the imagination.
The teTUi presentation [German vorsteUun^g], which Hegel
employs to name these "picture-thoughts" or '*figurate
conceptions," corresponds to the facts of their nature. A
presentation is one of two things; either a particular thing
taken under general aspects, or a universal narrowed down
to a particular thing. Thus, as it has been seen, a general
name expresses a universal relation or attribute, but con-
fines it to a particular object or class.
Wallace, Prolegomena to Hegel's Logic, xii.
(c) A direct percept ; a presentative cognition.
The percept involves the immediate assurance of the
presence of the whole object Hence, psychologists spe^
of percepts in their totality as presentations.
Sully, Psychology, vi.
8. The process of formation of a presentation
in sense 7 — Bond of presentation, in Scots law. See
6ondi.— Feast of the Presentation, (a) Of the Virgin
Mary, a festival in the Boman Catholic and Greek churches
presentation
celebrated on November 2l8t. Also Itodia. (6) Of Christ
tn the Temple, a festival celebrated on February 2d, in
tlie Greek:, Eoman Catholic, Anglican, and some other
churches, commonly called the Feast c^the Purification:
same as Ca>M«em(w.— Order of tlie Presentation of tlie
Virgin Uary, a Roman Catholic religious order of nuns,
founded in Ireland in 1777. Keligious instruction to poor
girls is a specialty of the order.
presentation^t, "• [Irreg. < h. praesenUre, per-
ceive beforehand (see presenUent), + -ation.
The proper term is jjresension.] A direct per-
ception of something in the f utiire ; presension.
In sundry animals we deny not a kind of natural me-
teorology, or innate presentation both of wind and weather.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err.
presentationism (prez-en-ta'shon-izm), n. [<
presentatioiO- + -ism.'] The doctrine that per-
ception is an immediate cognition.
presentationist (prez-en-ta'shon-ist), n. [<
presentation^ + -ist.'] An adherent of the doc-
trine of presentationism.
presentative (pre-zen'ta-tiv), a. [< ML. as if
*praBsentaUvus, < "h. prsesentatus, pp. of prsesen-
tare, place before, exhibit: see present^j] 1.
In eccles. law: (o) Having the right of presen-
tation: as,advowsons arejjrese»itoii»e,oollative,
or donative.
An advowson pregentative is where the patron hath a
right of presentation to the bishop or ordinary.
Blackstone, Com., II. iii.
(6) Admitting the presentation of a clerk: as,
a, presentative ■paraona.ge. — 2. Inmetaph.: (a)
Consisting of or pertaining to immediate, prox-
imate, or intuitive apprehension or cognition :
opposed to r^resentative.
A tiling known in itself is the (sole) presentative or intui-
tive object of knowledge, or the (sole) object of a presenta-
tive or intuitive knowledge. Sir W. Hamilton.
(b) Cognitive ; pertaining to knowledge.
presentee (pre-zen-te' ), n. [< present^ + -eel.]
One who is presented to a benefice.
It is often very hard on the bishops to be obliged to in-
stitute the presentees of such men, . . . but the remedy is
in their own hands, and the responsibility of its non-em-
ployment lies with themselves.
The Churchman, LIV. 462.
presenter (pre-zen'tfer), n. [< present^, v., +
-erl.] 1 . One' who presents or offers for accep-
tance ; a giver.
Such due fear
As fits presenters of great works to Ceesar.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1.
llie thing was .acceptable, but not thepresenter.
Sir R. L' Estrange.
2t. An exhibitor; an actor.
Seat ye ;
Are the presenters ready ?
Ford, Perkin Warbeck, iii. 2.
presential (pre-zen'shal), a. [< OF. preseneial
= It. presenziale, < Mt. prsesentialis, < L. pree-
sentia, presence (see presence), -1- -aZ.] Having
or implying actual presence; pi-esent.
God, who was never visible to mortal eye, was pleased
to make himself presentUd by substitution of his name.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), 1. 164.
To this grand vision, which the chosen three
Were eall'd before they tasted death to see,
Was added proof to the astonish'd ear,
That made presential Deity appear.
Byram, On Dr. Middleton's Exam, of Lord Bp. of London's
[Disc.
What associating league to the imagination can there
be between the seers and the seers not of a presential
miracle ? Lamb, Barrenness of the Imaginative Faculty.
presentiality (pre-zen-sM-al'j-ti), n. [< OF.
preseneialite = It. presenzialiih, < ML. prseserir-
tiaUta(U)s, < prsesentialis, presential: see pre-
senUaW] The state or quality of being presen-
tial; presentness; presence.
A good is not barely to be measured by its immediate
presentiality. South, Sermons, Yin. vi.
As if they knew not that terms of priority, and presenti-
ality, and posteriority have not that significancy in or
about eternity as they have with us.
Baxter, Divine Life, i. 5.
presentially (pre-zen'shal-i), adv. In a presen-
tial manner; by actuar presence ; in person;
with the notion of presence.
It had been revealed to Simeon (whose words these are)
that be should see Christ before he died ; and actually and
re^y, suljstantially, essentially, bodily, presentially, per-
sonally he does see him. Donne, Sermons, iv.
But he reigns in this place rather preseniially by his
grace ; where his sceptre is a sceptre of righteousness, and
his throne man's heart. Eev. T. Adami, Works, II. 72.
presentialness (prf-zen'shal-nes), n. The state
of being immediately present to consciousness.
If the presentialness of the object be necessary to the act
of vision, the object perceived cannot possibly be external
to us. A. Collier, Clavls Universalis, I. i. § 2.
presentiatet (prf-zen'shi-at), v. t. [< L. prie-
sentia, presence ' (see presence), + -ate2.] To
make present or actual.
4704
The phancy may be so cleer and strong as io presentiate
upon one theatre all that ever it took notice of in time
past. N. Grew, Cosmologia Sacra, iii. 4.
presentient (pre-sen'shient), a. [< L. prsesen-
tien{t-)s, ppr. ot prassentire, feel or perceive be-
forehand, < prsB, before, -I- sentire, feel: see
sentient.'] Perceiving beforehand; having a
prophetic sense or impression.
presentifict (prez-en-tif'ik), a. [< ti. prie-
sen{t-)s, present, + -iicus, making (see -^c).]
Making present.
Adam had a sense of the divine presence; . . . notwith-
standing that he found no want of any covering to hide
himself from that presentifick sense of him.
Dr. U. More, Def. of Philosophic Cabbala, ii.
presentificalt (prez-en-tif'i-kal), a. [<presen-
tific + -al.] Same &s preseniific.
presentificlyt (prez-en-tif'ik-li), a<?». In a
presentifle manner; in such a manner as to
make present.
The whole evolution of times and ages ... is collected-
ly and presentifickly represented to God at once, as if all
things and actions were at this very instant really pres-
ent and existent before him. Dr. S. More.
presentiment (pre-sen'ti-ment), m. [(.F.pres-
sentiment = 8p. presentimiento = It. presenti-
mento, < L. preesentire, feel or perceive before-
hand: see preseiitient.] 1. A direct, though
vague, perception of a future event, or a feel-
ing which seems to be such a perception.
A presentiment of what is to be hereafter.
BuUer, Analogy of Religion, i. 6.
Magic, and all that is ascribed to it, is a deep presenO.
Tnent of the powers of science. Emerson, History.
Specifically — 2. An antecedent feeling or im-
pression that some misfortune or calamity is
about to happen; anticipation of impending
evil; foreboding.
A vague presentiment of impending doom . . .
Haunted him day and night.
Longfellow, Wayside Inn, Torquemada.
presentimental (pre-sen-ti-men'tal), o. [ipre-
seiitiment + -al.] iftelating to or in the nature
of a presentiment: as, a.]}resenUmental anxiety.
presentiont (pre-sen'shgn), n. A bad spelling
presentive (pre-zen'tiv), a. and ». [< presents
+ -ive.] I, a. 1. Causing to be presented di-
rectly to the mind, as a notion ; presentative :
contradistinguished from representative and
symbolical. — 2. In gram., noting a class of
words which present a definite conception of
an object to the mind; not symbolic. J. Marie,
Philology of the Eng. Tongue.
II. ». A presentive word.
presentiveness (pre-zen'tiv-nes), n. [<j>re-
sentive + -ness.] The state or property of being
presentive ; the capability of a word to present
a definite notion or conception of an object to
the mind.
The word shall offers a good example of the movement
from presentiveness to symbolism. When it flourished as
a presentive word, it signified to owe.
J. Earle, Philology of the Eng. Tongue.
presently (prez'ent-li), aci®. If. In presence;
personally; actually.
The glory of his Godhead is to be present and to fill all
places at once essentially, presently, with his almighty
power.
Tyndale, Ans, to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc, 1860),
[p. 232.
I have a business
Which much concerns you, ^esen% concerns you.
Beau. andFl., Knight of Malta, ii- 1.
2t. At present; now; at the time spoken of.
A childe will chose a sweeting because it is presentlie
faire and pleasant, Ascham, The Scholemaster, p, 36.
The Irishmen and Scots fauoured not the race of the
kings that presentlie reigned.
HoUnshed, K. John, an, 1212.
When God had created man, he was presently the owner
ot him. Baxter, Treatise of Self-Uenial, i. 1.
3. Immediately; by and by; in a little time ;
soon.
I will serve process, presently and strongly.
Upon your brother, and Octavio,
Jacintha, and the boy.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, iii. 1.
Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall
see how it will go with me. Phil. ii. 23.
Presently after my arrival I was brought with the rest
of my company to the Deputy Governor of the towne.
Coryat, Crudities, I, 2.
I'm master of this house, which 111 sell presently;
I'll clap up bills this evening.
MidcCletan, Chaste Maid, iii. 3.
presentment (prf-zent'ment), n. [< OF. pre-
sentement, presentment, act of presenting, pre-
sentment, < presenter, present : see present^.]
1. The act of presenting, or the state of being
presented; presentation.
preservation
To be his book-patron, with the appendant form of a cere-
monious presentment, wil ever ap^eare among the judi-
cious to be but an insulse and frigid aifectation.
Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus,
She was an honored guest at tiie presentment of a bur-
lesque masque. Bancroft, Hist. U. S., 1. 116.
2. Anything presented or exhibited; appear-
ance; likeness; representation.
The counterfeit »rese»imc>i< of two brothers.
Shak., Hamlet, iii, 4, 65.
Thus I hurl
My dazzling spells into the spungy air,
Of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion,
And give it false presentments.
Milton, Comus, 1. 166.
Oxford dropped the canon law decree altogether ; Cam-
bridge, by adopting a more general form, retained a shad-
owy presentmwnt of the double honour.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist, p, 329.
3. In law : (a) A statement by a grand jury of
an offense from their own luiowledge or obser-
vation, without any bill of indictment laid be-
fore them : as, the presentment of a nuisance, a
libel, or the like, on which the prosecuting offi-
cer must afterward frame an indictment, before
the party presented can be put to answer it. In
a more general sense, presentment comprehends
inquisitions of office and indictments.
As before, so after the Union, tithe-proctors with their
remorseless exactions, and grand juries with road-jobbing
presentments, came to shear the already shorn, and reduce
their victims from misery to despair.
E. Dowden, SheUey, I. 237.
In each of these baronies sessions — called presentment
sessions — are held, where all presentments are introduced^
to be submitted afterwards at the assizes to the grand jury.
Fortnightly Bev., N. S., XL, 106.
, (6) The formal information to the lord, by the
tenants of a manor, of anything done out of
court, (c) The presenting of a bill of exchange
to the drawee for acceptance, or of a bill to the
acceptor, or of a note to the maker, forpayment.
— 4. Eccles., a formal complaint made by the
authorities of a parish to the bishop or arch-
deacon at his visitation.
The Church-wardens should meet twice a yeere, to haue
all the presentments made perfect against the Assises,
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 157.
Presentment of Engllshry. See Englishry.
presentness (prez'ent-nes), n. [< p>-esent^ +
-ness.] Same as presence.
Goring had a much better understanding, ... a much
keener courage, and presentness of mind in danger.
Clarendon, Great ^Rebellion, viii.
presentoir (prez-en-twor'), n. [< ¥.pr6sentoir,
a form of cup, < presenter, present : see pre-
sent^.] 1. A utensil upon which things are
Presentoir of Japanese L-acquer-ware, with Bowl.
laid to be handed to the recipient; a tray or
waiter ; a salver. The name is also given to a Japa-
nese stand, usually of lacquered wood, upon which a bowl
is supported.
2. A cup-holder having three or more branches
to support and inclose the cup, and often a ring-,
handle to carry the whole.
present-perfect (prez'ent-p6r"fekt), n. In
gram., the perfect tense. Academy, Nov. 23,
1887, p. 343. [Rare.]
preservability (pre-zfer-va-bil'i-ti), n. [< pre-
servalle + -ity (see -Ulity)'.] The property of be-
ing preservable ; capability of being preserved.
Securing safety, palatability, convenience, andpreserv-
oMlity of drugs that had previously been administered in
the form of huge boluses. Lancet, No. 8426, p. 36 of adv'ts.
preservable (pre-z6r'va-bl), a. [< preserve +
-able.] Capable of being preserved.
preservation (prez-6r-va'shon), n, [< OF.^e-
servation, F. preservation = Sp, preservadon
preservation
= Pg. preservaqao = It. preservasione, < ML.
*praBservaiio(n-), < prseservare, pp. prseservatus,
keep, preserve, LL. observe beforehand: see
preserve.'] 1. The aet of preserving, or keeping
safe or sound ; the act of keeping from injury or
decay: as, thepreser«a*jo»of life or of property.
n-t 1, r. V -J „ ^^"^ y^' enlarge that man.
Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey, in their dear care
And tender preservatum of our person.
Would have him punish'd. Shak., Hen. V., ii. 2. 59.
Do not attempt to be more amusing and agreeable than
IS consistent with the presenatvm of reelect.
Sydney Smith, in Lady Holland, vi.
2. The state of being preserved from injury or
decajr; escape from destruction or danger: as,
a building in good preservation.
Give us particulars of thy presenmtum.
Shak., Tempest, v. 1. 135.
Ev'ry senseless thing, by nature's light,
Doth presermtion seek, destruction shun.
Sir J. Daviet, Immortal, of Soul, xxx.
3. A means of security or escape.
It hapned. Master Argent had put his Bandileir of pow.
der in his hat, which next God wfta all their preseracMam.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 93.
Peace Preservation Acts. See peace.
preservative (prf-zer'va-tiv), a. and n. [< OF.
preservatif. F. prSservaiif z= 8p. Pg. It. preser-
vaUvo, < ML. *prasservatwits, < prseservare, pp.
prseservatus, preserve : seepreserve.] I. a. Pre-
serving; tending to keep safe, sound, or free
from decay: as, the preservative quality of salt.
As above directed, the predervaUve bath contains about
eight grains of nitrate of silver to the ounce.
Lea, Photography, p. 350.
It will b^ however, evident that a preservative society
has a very uphill task. It has to war against the preju-
dices of the sexton and the immitis sapientia Grimtnorpe.
Nineteenth Century, XSH. 240.
II. m. That which preserves; anything which
tends to keep safe and sound, or free from in-
jury, corruption, or decay; a preventive of
damage, decomposition, or waste.
Lyke as the pbisitiong call those diseases most peryllous
against whom is founden no preseruatiue.
Sir T. Elyot, The Govemour, iii. 4.
Their [Druids'] druttenfuss, i. e., a pentagonal figure
. . . which in Germany they reckon for a preservaUve
against hobgoblins.
Selden, Illustrations of Drayton's Folyolbion, ix. 417.
A. heart in heaven will be a most excellent preservative
against temptations. Baxter, Saints' Rest, iv. 3.
This ceremony of the sprinkling of salt is considered a
preservative, for the child and mother, from the evil eye.
K W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, II. 276.
This facile adaptation was at once the symptom of per-
fect health and its heat preservative.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, ix.
preservatory (pre-zer'va-to-ri), a. and n. [<
ML. *prseservatoritis (el. prseservator, a pre-
server), < prseservare, pp. prssservatas, pre-
serve: see preserve.'] I. a. Tending to preserve;
preservative.
The indeavours must be no other tbenpresertatory, how-
ever It pleaseth God to order the events.
Bp. Hall, Cases of Conscience, ii. 3.
II. «. ; Tpl. preservaiories (-riz). If. A pre-
servative.
How many masters have some stately houses had, in the
age of a small cottage, that hath, as it were, lived and
died with her old master, both dropping down together !
Such vain preservatories of us are our inheritances, even
once removed.
WhUlock, Manners of the English, p. 410. (^Latham.)
2. An apparatus for preserving substances for
food, or a building where the process of pre-
serving food-products is carried on.
By all their hollow sides is made within a very large
preservatory, cistern, or basin, fit to contain a pretty quan-
tity of water. J>r. Sloane, in Kay's Works of Creation, p. 2.
preserve(pre-zerv')> "• ; pret. and pp. preserved,
ppr. preserving. [< OF. pre.ierver, F. preser-
ver = Sp. Pg. preservar = It. preservare, keep,
i'L'L.prseservare, observe beforehand, ML. keep,
preserve, <'L.pree, before, + servare, save, pre-
serve, protect. Cf . conserve, reserve.] I. trans.
1 . To keep safe or free from harm ; defend from
injury or destruction; save.
God did send me before you to preserve life. Gen. xlv. 5.
Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man ; preserve me
from the violent man. Fs. cxl. 1.
To preserve my sovereign from his foe,
Sav but the worO, and I will be his priest.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iu. 1. 271.
jWid could they have preserved the Magazine of Tobacco
onl?^ besides other Things in that Town, something might
have been had to countervail the Charge of the Voyage.
HmveU, Letters, L i. 4.
Preserve me from the thing I dread and hate,
A duel in the form of a debate. .. , q.
Camper, Conversation, 1. 83.
4705
2. To maintain; secure permanence to ; keep
in existence or alive; make lasting: as, io pre-
serve one's good looks.
To worship God aright, and know his works
Ifot hid ; nor those things last which might preserve
Freedom and peace to men. MUton, P. L., xi. 579.
The spectacle had allured Reynolds from that easel
which has preserved to us the thoughtful foreheads of so
many writers and statesmen, and the sweet smiles of so
many noble matrons. Macavlay, Warren Hastings.
To such a name
Preserve a broad approach of fame,
And ever-echoing avenues of song.
Tennyson, Death of Wellington, v.
3. To keep possession of ; retain.
Preserve your worth, and 111 preserve my money.
Beau, and Fl., Thierry and Tbeodoret, v. 1.
Only perchance some melancholy Stream
And some indignant Hills old names preserve.
When laws, and creeds, and people all are lostl
Wordsworth, Eccles. Sonnets, L 12.
He can never preserve through a single paragraph either
the calmness of a philosopher or the meekness of a Chris-
tian. Macavlay, Sadler's Eef. Refuted.
4. To prepare in such a manner as to resist
decomposition or fermentation ; prevent from
spoiling by the use of preservative substances,
with or without the agency of heat: as, to^re-
serve meats or fruit; to preserve an anatomical
specimen.
I ha' some quinces brought from our house i' th' country
to preserve; when shall we have any good sugar come
over? Dekker and WeWier, Northward Ho, ii. 1,
Delectable dishes of preserved plums, and peaches, and
pears, and quinces. Irmng, Sketch-Book, p. 440.
5. To maintain and reserve for personal or
special use in hunting or fishing, (a) To raise,
provide for, and protect, as game, for use at certain seasons
or by certain persons, as in hunting or fishing : as, to pre-
serve quail ; to preserve salmon. (&) To reserve and adapt
to the protection and propagation of game designed for
special use, as in hunting or fishing: sls, preserved covers;
a preserved stream. =Syn. 1 and 2. Protect, Defend, etc.
(see keep), secure, shield, conserve, spare.
II. intrans. 1. To prepare decomposable sub-
stances, as meats or fruits, for preservation;
make preserves.
Hast thou not leam'd me how
To make perfumes? distil? preserve!
Shak., Cymbeline, 1. 5. 13.
2. To raise and protect game for special use,
as in hunting or fishing.
Squire Thornhill . . . had taken the liberty to ask per-
mission to shoot over Mr. Leslie's land, since Mr. Leslie
did not preserve. Bvlwer, My Novel, viii. 5.
preserve (pre-zerv'),OT. [<j)reserye, «.] If. That
which preserves or saves.
Fetch balsamo, the kind preserve of life.
Greene and Lodge, Looking Glass for Lond. and Eng.
Specifically — 2. pi. A kind of spectacles with
colored glasses to protect the eyes from too
strong light.
Preserves are used to conceal deformities or to protect
the eyes in the many conditions where they cannot tolerate
bright light. . . . They are made of bluish, "smoked," or
almost black coloured glass, and are of very various
shapes, aecordingto the amount of obscuration necessary.
Encyc. Brit., XXII. 372.
3. That which is preserved, or prepared for
keeping; especially, fruit, meats, etc., suitably
seasoned and cooked to prevent fermentation
or spoiling.
At this Treat I eat of a Preserve or Wet Sweetmeat,
made of Orange Flowers, incomparable; and the Lady
obliged me with the manner of making it.
Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 199.
A female Dodson, when in "strange houses," always
ate dry bread with her tea, and declined any sort of pre-
serves, having no confidence in the butter, and thinking
that the preserves had probably begun to ferment from
want of due sugar and boiling.
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, i. 6.
4. A place where game is preserved; a place
set apart for the protection and propagation of
game intended for hunting or fishing. — 5t. A
thing preserved.
Wonderful indeed are the preserves of time, which open-
eth unto us mummies from crypts and pyramids.
Sir T. Browne, Mummies.
preserve-jar (pre-z6rv'jar), n. A jar made to
contain preserved meats, fruits, etc., so con-
trived that it may be tightly closed, to exclude
the air and prevent evaporation.
preserver (pre-zer'v6r), n. 1 . A person or thing
that preserves ; one who or that which saves or
guards from injury, destruction, or waste; a
savior; a preservative.
What shall I do unto thee, O thoa preserver of men?
.Tob vil. 20.
Camillo,
Preserver of my father, now of me.
The medicine of our house, how shall we do?
Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 697.
president
" Tannin," says Poitevin, "is then a sensitizer, and mast
be considered as such, and not as a. preserver."
^ver SunbeaTn, p. 354.
2. One who makes preserves, as of fruit, etc.
— 3. One who preserves game for sport.
preses (pre'sez), n. [< L. prseses, one who pre-
sides or guards, < prsesidere, sit before or in
front of: aee preside.] One who presides over
the deliberations of an organized society or the
like; a president; the chairman of a meeting.
[Scotch.]
preshow (pre-sho'), v. t. [<pre- + show.] To
show beforehand; foreshow. Moget. [Rare.]
preside (pre-zid'), «-. i. ; pret. and pp. presided,
ppr. presiding. [< OF. presider, F.presider = Sp.
Pg. presidir = It. presedere, presiedere, preside
over, govern, < 'L. prsesidere, guard, protect, de-
fend, have the care or management of, superin-
tend, direct, also lit. (LL. ) sit before or in front
of, < prse, before, + sedere, sit: see sedentary,
etc., sit.] 1. To be set over others; have the
place of authority, as a chairman or director;
direct and control, as a chief officer: usually
denoting temporary superintendence and direc-
tion: a,a, to preside over a, soeietj; to preside at
a public meeting.
It is farther to be noted that, in these solemn assemblies
for the churches service, there is no one presides among
them, after the manner of the assemblies of other people.
Penn, Rise and ftogress of Quakers, iv.
Here comes the neighbouring justice, pleased to guide
His little club, and in the chair preside.
Crabbe, Works, 1. 175.
Man novr presides
In power, where once he trembled in his weakness.
Wordsworth, Sonnets, iii. 41.
I was glad to see my lord presiding at the democratical
College. Sydney Smith, To the Countess Grey.
2. To exercise superintendence and direction ;
have a guiding or controlling influence : as, the
tatea preside over man's destiny.
The Holy Ghost, though it presided over the minds and
pens of the apostles so far as to preserve them from error,
yet doth not seem to have dictated to them what they
were to say, word by word. Bp. Atlerbury, Sermons, II. ix.
Who conquer'd nature should preside o'er wit.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 652.
Those medicinal agents which possess the power of di-
rectly influencing the nervous mechanisms which preside
over motion. Buck's Handbook of Med. Sciences, V. 27.
Presiding elder. See dderi, 5 (c).— Presiding judge.
presidence (prez'i-dens), n. [< F.pr4sidence =
Pr. Sp. Pg. presidencia = It. presidenza, < ML.
prsesidentia,<. 'L.prassiden(t-)s, ppr. otprsesidere,
preside: see preside. Gt.preseanee.] Same as
presidency. [Rare.]
The venerable pastor had come down
From his high pulpit, and assumed the seat
Oi presidence. J. G. Holland, Eathrina, ii.
presidency (prez'i-den-si), n. [As presidence
(see-c^).]. 1. Superintendence and direction;
controlling and directing influence, as of a pres-
ident.
The primitive church, expressing the calling and offices
of a bishop, did it in terms of presidency and authority.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), II. 203.
For what account can be given of the determination of
the growth and magnitude of plants from mechanical prin-
ciples, of matter mov'd without the presidency and guid-
ance of some superiour agent? J?ai/,Worksof Creation, i.
2. The office of president: as, the presidency
of a college or a railroad corporation; specifi-
cally [cap.], the office of President of the
United States.
He [Grant] came to the Presidency a simple soldier, with-
out many political ideas, or anything that could be called
a political philosophy. The Nation, Sept. 7, 1882, p. 194.
3. The term during which a president holds
office : as, the presidency of Lincoln, of Thiers,
etc. — 4. In British India, a chief administra-
tive division. In the early history of British India
there were three presidencies — Bengal, Bombay, and Ma-
dras ; the last two are ruled by governors, and hence are
sometimes called governorships; the former presidency
of Bengal is now divided intb several administrative ter-
ritories, including the lieutenant-governorships of Bengal
(or Lower Bengal), the Northwestern Provinces, etc. In
the seventeenth century the chief of an important fac-
tory in India was popularly styled president, and in that
sense the word is used in letters patent of the East India
Company in 1661.— First Presidency, among the Mor-
mons, a board of presiding officers, consisting of the head
of the hierarchy. with two counselors.
The second great power in the [Mormon] Cbilrch, next
to the Prophet, is the First Presidency. This is composed
of the Prophet and his two counsellors. The three toge-
ther, known as the F^rst. Presidency or simply the Presi-
dency, etc. Fifteen Years anumg the Mormons, p. 151.
president! (prez'i-dent), a. and n. [< JJiJE. presi-
dent (n. ), < OF. president, F. president = Pr. pre-
sident = Sp. Pg. It. presidente (= D. G. Sw. pre-
sident = Dan. prsesident, n.), < li. prsesiden{t-)s,
president
presiding, as a noun a director, ruler, presi-
dent, ppr. oipriesidere, direct, preside: seepre-
side.'] I, a. Presiding; directing; gvtiding; oc-
cupying the chief place or first rank. [Obsolete
or archaic]
Quid petitur saoria nisi tantum fama poetls, which, al.
though it be oftentimea Imprisoned In ladyes cask[et]8,
and the president booke of such as cannot see without
another man's spectacles, yet at length it breakes foorth
in spight of his keepers.
JToiAe, quoted in Int. to Pierce Penllesse, p. xxiii.
The prime and preademt zealot of the earth.
JUiddleUm, Game at Chess, ii. 2.
Whence hast thou then thy truth,
But from him, or his angels president
In every provmce? MUton, P. B., L 447.
They [Israel] would be left in the same condition with
other Gentile nations, who must therefore be supposed
to be under the immediate conduct otpreHderU angels.
J. Scott, Christian Life, IL 7.
II. n. If. One who presides; one who super-
intends and directs the proceedings of others;
a ruler; a ruling spirit.
Commannde as Bomaines, and we shall obei as Hebrues ;
leue vs a president that is mercifull, and all our realme
shal be obedient. Golden Book, xi.
A charge we bear i' the war.
And, as the president of my kingdom, will
Appear there for a man.
Skalc., A. and C, lii. 7. 18.
Thou wonder of all princes, president, and glory.
JUiddleton, The Phoenix, i. 1.
Happy is Kome, of all earth's other states.
To have so true and great apresident
For her inferior spirits to imitate
As CsBsar is. B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1.
2. An officer elected or appointed to preside
over and control the proceedings of others,
(o) The presiding officer of an assembly : as, the president
of a convention.
For which delibered was by parlemente.
For Antenor to yelden out Cryseyde,
And it pronounced by the president.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 213.
Daughter to that good earL once President
Of England's council and her treasury.
MUton, Sonnets, v.
(6) The chief officer of a corporation, company, or society ;
as, the president of a railway company, or of a bank.
They elected the Prcs^eTite (originally called Aldermen,
afterwards Masters and Wardens) and other officials.
JEnglish GUds (E. E. T. S.), Int., p. cxxv.
(c) The governing officer of a college or university, (d)
The highest officer of state in a modern republic. The
President of the United States is chosen once in four
years by presidential electors, who are elected by tfie peo-
ple of the several States, the electors in every State being
equal in number to the senators and representatives of
the State in Congress. The action of the electors is a
mere formality, as they always vote for the nominees of
the national conventions of their party. The President is
commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United
States, and of the militia of the several States when called
into the service of the United States. He is authorized
to grant reprieves and pardons for violation of United
States laws (except in cases of impeachmentX to make trea-
ties with the conouirenoe of two thirds of the Senate, to
recommend legislation, and to see that the laws are faith-
fully executed. His powers of appointment to office are
partly provided for in the Constitution and partly statu-
torr; his chief appointments (requiring confirmation by
the Senate) are — cabinet officers and heads of bureaus
or subdivisions, diplomatic and consular agents, federal
judges, officers of territories, ^M>stmasters of the first, sec-
ond, and third classes, and the principal officers of the
army and navy. His salary is $50,000 a year. PreddeM
was the title of the chief executive magistrate in ^ew
Hampshire from 1784 to 1792 (President of Counca, 1776-
84), in Pennsylvania from 1776 to 1790, in Delaware from
1776 to 1792, and in South Carolina from 1776 to 1778.
Subsequently these titles were exchanged for that of gov-
emor. The President of the French republic is elected
for seven years by the Senate and Chamber of Deputies
united in National Assembly. The President of the Swiss
Confederation is elected for one year by the Federal As-
sembly, from among the members of the Federal CounciL
Abbreviated Pres.
3. A title given to the head of the Mormon
hierarchy. He acts in conference with two counselors.
It is his duty "to preside over the whole Church, and to
be a Seer, a Kevelator, a Translator, and a Prophet" (Mor-
mon Catechixm, p. 17).
4. A protector; a tutelary power; a patron.
[Rare.]
Just Apollo, president of verse. WaZler, At Pens-Hurst.
5. A kind of damask of silk, or silk and wool,
used for upholstery — lord President. See lord.
—Lord President of the Council, a cabinet officer of
Great Britain, who must be a member of the House of
Lords. He presides over the department of the privy coun-
cil, and has special supervision of education ; he also pre-
pares minutes on matters which do not come to any other
department, and has superintendence of the public health,
quarantine, etc.— President's freshman. See freshman.
— Prince President. See prince.
president^t, ». An erroneous spelling ot prece-
dent.
Presently obteyning two such auncient and famous
champions, ... by whose presidents, directions, and con-
ductions I was forthwith deliuered of all perplexities.
E. BeUowes, Pref. to tr. of Guevara's Letters (1577), it
4706
This president will much condemn
Your grace another day.
True Tale qf RoMn Hood (Child's Ballads, V. 366).
presidentess (prez'i-dent-es), n. \<. president^
+ -ess."] A female president.
I became by that means the presidentess of the dinner
and tea-table. Mme. lyArblay, Diary, III. 171.
The day on which I was there [at the Moravian estab-
lishment at Ebersdorf ] was Sunday, and I . . . was intro-
duced to the well-bred, accomplished presidentess, Frau-
lein Gerstendort. Henry Crabb Sobinson, Diary, L 69.
presidential (prez-i-den'shal), a. [= F. pr^si-
dentiel, < ML; *prxsidenUaUs, pertaining to pres-
idence (prsesidentialis magna curia, a supreme
council), iprsesidentia, presidenoe, presidency:
see presidence. Presidential means prop, 're-
lating to presidenoe or presidency'; for 'relat-
ing to a president,' the prop, form would be
*presidental (= P. prdsidental = Pg. presiden-
tal).'] 1. Pertaining to presidency; having
presidency; presiding.
This institution of these Presidentiall Courts was, at first,
a very profitable ordinance, and much eased the people.
Heylin, FullKelation of Two Journeys, etc. (1656), p. 134.
Spoken [Jer. li. 9], as some ot the learned ancients sup-
pose, by ihepresideniial angels. QlanviUe, Discourses, iv.
2. Pertaining to a president, or relating to a
presidency: as, the presidential chair; a, presi-
dential term.
The presidential fever, that typical disease which has
proved fatal to the true glory of so many statesmen of the
United States, permeated the very marrow of his bones.
H. von Hoist, John C. Calhoun (trans.), p. 57.
They [the Democrats] will at the same time have before
their eyes an unusually good chance of success at the next
Presidential election. The Nation, Nov. 16, 1882, p. 416.
Presidential electors. See elector. — Presidential
postmaster, in the United States, a postmaster appoint-
ed by the President. See postnuisttr, 2.
presidentship (prez'i-dent-ship), n. [< presi-
dent^ + -sMp.l 1. The office and dignity of
president; presidency.
I wishe the newe prouision that his Maiestie hath be-
stowed vppon your honour for the Presidentship of this
royall audience of Granado may be fortunate.
Gveva/ra, Letters (tr. by HeUowes, 1577), p. 101.
In France the re-election of M. Gr6vy to the Pre^dent-
ship has come and gone.
Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XXXIX. 288.
2. The term for which a president holds his
office.
presider Cpre-zi'd6r), n. [< preside + -ej-l.]
One who presides.
presidial (pre-sid'i-al), a. [< OF. presidial, F.
pr4sidial = S"p. Pg. presidial, < Mli.'prsesidialis,
pertaining to a garrison, < L. prsesidium, de-
fense, protection, a garrison, guard, post, for-
tification, < preesidere, keep guard: see preside.
Cf. liL.prsesidaUs,praesidialis, belonging to the
governor of a province, gubernatorial, (presses
XprsESid-), chief, governor: see preses."] 1. Of
or pertaining to a garrison; having a garrison.
There are three Presidial Castles in this City.
HoweU, Letters, I. i. 39.
2. Pertaining or belonging to a presidio.
A second class of pueblos, called, in the legal phrase of
California's later days, ' 'Presidial Pueblos, "had originated
in the settlement ot the presidios.
The Century, XXVI. 203.
presidiary (pre-sid'i-a-ri), a. and n. [= Sp.
Pg. presidiario', a criminal condemned to hard
labor or banishment in a garrison ; < L. prsesi-
diarius, that serves for defense or protection,
< prsesidium, defense, protection, guard: see
presid^.l I. a. Same &s presidial.
The presidiary souldiers . . . are all Spaniards.
Coryat, Crudities, 1. 126.
The Protestants being so numerous, and having near
upon tttty presidiary walled Towns in their Hands for Can-
tion, they have Power to disturb France when they please.
HoweU, Letters, I. iL 25.
II. n. ; pi. presidiaries (-riz). A guard.
Not one of those heavenly presidiaries stnick a stroke
for the prophet. Bp. Hall, Cont.,x]x. 9, (Davies.)
presidio (pre-sid'i-6), n. [Sp., < L. prsesidium,
a garrison, guard, post, fort : see presidial.'] 1 .
A seat of government; especially, a place of
military authority ; a military post : used in the
southwestern United States.
He referred me to the Mission and Presidio of San Ysabel,
that had sent out the relief party, for further information.
Bret Harte, Gabriel Conroy, xi.
2. A place of deportation for criminals ; a peni-
tentiary.
The bulk of the prison population in Spain is still sent
to presidios, or convict establishments, where general as-
sociation both in the prison and at labour is the rule.
Encye. BrOg, XIX. 763.
presidyt, «. [< It. presidio, a fort, < L. prsesi-
dium, a. tort: see presidial."] A fortress.
press
The French king hath ordained that seignour Renzlo
shall be in a presidie, between the army of Naples and the
citie of Eome. Foxe, Martyrs, p. 905, an. 1627.
presignification (pre-sig"ni-fi-ka'shon), «. [<
LL. prsesignificaHo(n-), a showing beforehand,
< L. prsesignificare, pp. prsesignifieatus, fore-
show: see presignify.] The act of signifying
or showing beforehand. [Kare.]
There, indeed, having scarce happened any considerable
revolution in state or action in war whereof we do not
find mentioned in history some presignificatvm or predic-
tion. Barrow, Works, II. ix.
presignify (pre-sig'ni-Q), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
presignified, ppr. presignifying. [< L. prsesig-
nificare, foreshow, <j)r«p, before, 4- significare,
signify: see signify.] To signify or intimate
beforehand. [Bare.]
Origen draws from this a mystical sense, and under-
stands these two combatants to be within us ; as if it had
presignijied what Paul aflirmeth, Gal. v. 17 : The flesh lust-
eth agamst the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.
Sev. T. .4*M)M, Works, I. 21.
preslyf, adv. See pressly.
prespnenoid (pre-sfe'noid), a. and n. [Kpre- +
sphenoid.] I, a. Situated in advance of the basi-
sphenoid; forming an anterior median part of
a compound sphenoid bone ; pertaining to the
prespnenoid.
IL n. In anat., a bone of the skull of verte-
brates, situated before the basisphenoid, in the
mid-line of the base of the skull, commonly
blended with the basisphenoid and other sphe-
noidal elements. According to Owen, it is the centrum
of the frontal cranial vertebra or prosencephalic cranial
segment. According to others, who disregard the skull
as representing vertebrse, it is the centrum or basis of the
third from behind or frontal cranial segment, other parts
of which are the orbitosphenoids and frontal bones. In
man it is represented by the anterior part of the body of
the sphenoid bone, bearing the lesser wings of the sphe-
noid, or processes of Ingrassias. At birth it is already
ankylosed with the orbitosphenoids, yet totally distinct
from both basi- and alisphenoids. See cuts under Crota-
lus, Lepidosiren, Python, sphenoid, and Struthionidx.
presphenoidal (pre-sff-noi'dal), a. iipresphe-
noid + -al.] Same 3,s prespnenoid.
prespinal (pre-spi'nal), a. [< L. prse, before,
-I- spina, spine.] lii anat., situated in front
(ventrad) of the spine ; prevertebral.
pressi (pres), V. ; pret. and pp- pressed, some-
times prest, ppr. pressing. [Early mod . E. also
prease, preace; < ME. pressen, presen, precer, <
OF.presser, F. presser = Sp. prensar, a-prensar
= Pg. a-pressar = lt. pressare, press, = D. pres-
sen =z OHG. presson, iresson, 5lH(jr. (j. pressen =
Sw. prdssa = Dan. presse, < L. pressare, press,
freq. of premere, pp. pressus, press, hold fast,
cover, crowd, compress, contract, etc. (ina great
variety of uses) ; no cognate forms found. From
L. premere are also ult. oppress, compress, de-
press, express, impress, oppress, repress, suppress,
eta.,print, imprint, etc., imprimatur, reprimand,
sprain, etc., with numerous derivatives.] I,
trans. 1. To exert weight or force against; bear
down upon ; act upon with weight or force ;
weigh heavily upon.
Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and
running over, shall men give into your bosom.
Luke vi. 38.
Vile earth, to earth resign ; end motion here ;
And thou and Romeo ^es« one heavy bier.
Shak., R. and J., lii. 2. 60.
The law which condemned a prisoner who refused to
plead on a capital charge to be laid naked on his back in
a dark room, while weights of stone or iron were placed
on his breast till he was slowly pressed to death, was en-
forced in England in 1721 and in 1735, and in Ireland as
late as 1740. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., iii.
2. To compress; squeeze: as, to press fruit for
the purpose of extracting the juice.
I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup.
Gen. xl. 11.
Thy monarchs . . . only in distress
Found thee a goodly sponge for Pow'r to press.
Couiper, Expostulation, 1. 581.
3. To clasp; hold in an embrace.
She took her son, and press'd
Th' illustrious infant to her fragrant breast.
iffyden, Iliad, vi. 173.
Partakers of thy sad decline.
Thy hands their little force resign ;
Yet, gently ^cgs'd, press gently mine.
Coicper, To Mary.
4. To reduce to a particular shape or form by
pressure: as, to press cloth with an iron; to
press a hat.— 5. To drive or thrust by pressure ;
force in a certain direction : as, to press a crowd
back. $
The yoke of the Established Church was pressed down on
the people till they would bear it no longer.
Macaulay, Burleigh.
Baby fingers, waxen touches, press me from the mother's
DTeast. Tennyson, Looksley Hall.
press
6t. To weigh upon; oppress; trouble.
- A great and potent nobUity . . . putteth life and spirit
into the people, but presgeth their fwtmie.
Bacon, Nobility (ed. 1887).
. He mmewb&t preise
Thy irreligious minde.
Timen' WhisOe (E. B. T. S.), p. 6.
He tnms from us ;
Alas, he weeps too ! something presses him
He wcnld reveal, but dare not.— Sir, be comforted.
Fletcher, Pilgrim, i. 2.
7. To constrain or force to a certain end or re-
sult; urge strongly; impel.
Why should he stay, whom love doth press to go 7
Shak., M. N. D., Hi. 2. 184.
The two gentlemen who conducted me to the island
were pressed by their private affairs to return in three
oays. Sicift, Gulliver's Travels, iiL 8.
8. To hasten; bring to pass or execute has-
tily.
The posts that rode upon moles and camels went out,
being hastened and pressed on by the king's command-
ment- Esther vui. 14.
Tou have Excess of Gallantry, Sir Bowland, and press
Things to a Conclusion with a most prevailing Vehe-
mence. Congreve, Way of the World, iv. 12.
Tressilian and his attendants pressed their route with
all dispatch. Scott, Kenilworth, xiil.
9. To urge ; beseech ; entreat.
Yon press me far, and therefore I will yield.
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 425.
God heard their prayers, wherein they earnestly jn-essed
him for the honor of his great name.
Wirahrop, Hist. New England, 11. 35.
And Lancelot ever prest upon the maid
That she should ask some goodly gift of him
For her own self or hers.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
10. To seek earnestly ; make request for; so-
licit.
It hath been earnestly pressed to have her go to Virginia
for Mr. Maverick and his corn.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 465.
Take heed what you press.
For beyond all Kedress,
Should I grant what you wish, I shall harm ye.
Congreve, Semele, iii. 4,
11. To thrust upon others ; enforce; impose.
Not to tolerate things meerly indifferent to weak con-
sciences argues a conscience too strong; pressed unifor-
mity in these causes much disunity.
N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 6.
Look at the Judge now ! Be is apparently conscious of
having erred, in too energetically pressing his deeds of
loving-kindness on persons unable to appreciate them.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, viii.
He will not press the Statutes of XTses and Wills if they
will agree that he shall forbid the payment of annates.
Stiibbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 256.
12. To inculcate; impress upon the mind;
urge as a doctrine, truth, fact, or rule of con-
duct.
That which they pressed was not notion, but experi-
ence ; not formality, but godliness.
Penn, Kiae and Progress of Quakers, ii.
[This] question did draw forth my heart to preach and
presse the promise of pardon to all that were weaiy and
sick of sinne.
T. Shepard, Clear Sunshine of the Gospel, p. 36.
13. To lay stress upon; attach special impor-
tance to ; emphasize.
If we read bat a very little, we naturally want to press
it all ; if we read a great deal, we are willing not to press
the whole of what we read, and we learn what ought to
be pressed and what not.
M. Arnold, Literature and Dogma, Pref.
14. To throng; fill with a crowd or press.
Where now the throng,
That pres^d the beach, and, hasty to depart,
Look'd to the sea for safety ! Cawper, Task, ii. 118.
15t. To print.
The discourse upon this conference . . . staid long be-
fore it could endure to be ^n-essed. .
Lcmd, in Heylin, p. 121. (Dames.)
Pressed brick, fuel, glass, loop, pU, etc. See the
nouns.— Pressing to death. See peine forte et dure, mi-
derpeine^, and quotation from Lecky, under def. 1 above.
—To press sail. Same as to crowd saU (which see, un-
der crowdl).
II. intrans. 1. To exert pressure or weight;
specifically, to bear heavily.
Sometimes they swell and move,
Pressing up against the land,
With motions of the outer sea.
Tennyson, Eleanore.
A solid presses downwards only, but a fluid presses equal-
ly in all directions, upwards as well as downwards.
Bwdeg, Physiography, p. 88.
2. To strain or strive eagerly; advance with
eagerness or energetic efforts; hasten.
Thanne thouxt y to frayne the first of this foure ordirs.
And presede to the prechoures to proven here -tnUe
Piers Plowman's Crede (E. E. T. S.), 1. 154.
4707
Whan DorHas and Maglans thus hadde eche other ouer-
throwen, hothe partees jn-essetf to the rescu.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 244.
The invader j^esses on to the fight.
Baam, Political Fables, ix., ExpL
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calliiig
of Ood in CliriBt Jesus. Phil. iii. 14.
How on the faltering footsteps of decay
Youth presses. Bryant, Forest Hymn.
3. To crowd ; throng.
Many mazed considerings did throng
And pressed in with this caution.
Shak., Hen-Vm., IL 4. 186.
They press in from all the provinces,
And fill the hive. Tennyson, Princess, il
4. To advance with force; encroach.
On superior powers
Were we to press, inferior might on ours.
Pope, Essay on Man, i. 242.
5. To approach unseasonably or importunate-
ly; obtrude one's self.
Amonge the genteles gode & hende,
Prece thou not vp to hyj for no thyng.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 13.
Pardon me, madam, that so boldly
I press into your chamber.
Dekker and Webster, Sir Thomas Wyatt.
We need not fear to press into the farthest recesses of
Christian antiquity, under any notion that we are prying
into forbidden secrets. De Quincey, Essenes, i,
6t. To importune.
This your seruant preaseth with snche diligence for this
letter that 1 shall be forced to auuswere more at large
than I can, and much lesse than I would.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 36.
7. To exert pressure, as by influence or moral
force.
When arguments press equally in matters indifferent,
the safest method is to give up ourselves to neither.
Addison.
To press upon, to act urgently or persistently upon ; in-
vade ; attack at close quarters.
Patroclus presses upon Hector too boldly, and by oblig-
ing him to fight discovers it was not the ^e Achilles.
P(^e.
press^ (pres), n. [Early mod. E. also presse,
prese, prease, preace; < ME. presse, prese, pres,
prees, a throng, < OF. presse, a crowd, throng,
etc., "P. presse, a crowd, throng, urgency, a press
(machine), a printing-press, the press (print-
ing), etc., = Pr. Pg. It.pressa = Sp. ^rensa =
OH(jr, pressa, MH&. G. presse = Sw. ]}rass =
Dan.presse (after F.), press, etc. ; < WL.pressa,
pressing (violence), fem. of L. pressus, pp. of
premere, press: see press^, vJ] 1. The act of
urging or pushing forward; a crowding or
thronging.
In their throng and press to that last hold.
Sha^., K. John, v. 7. 19.
On that superior height
Who sits is disencumbered from the press
(^ near obsfxuctions. Wordsworth.
2. A crowd; throng; multitude.
With mykull prese of pepull of prouynce abonte.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), L 2868.
Greet prees at market maketh deere ware.
Chaucer, ProL to Wife of Bath's Tale, L 622.
Cxs. Who is it in the press that calls on me? . . .
Cos. Fellow, come from the throng ; look upon Csesar.
Shak., J. C, 1. 2. 16.
When didst thou thrust amid the mingled preace.
Content to bide the war aloof in peace?
Dryden, Iliad, L 338.
That large-moulded man.
His visage all agrin as at a wake,
Made at me thro" the press.
Tennyson, Princess, v.
3f. Abundance; plenty.
Pas to that prouyns, prese to the londe,
And make puruiaunce plentie, while prese lastis.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), L 6183.
4t. Pressure; the exertionof force; compulsion.
Without press or compelling any man, beating up his
drums, [he] levied so sufficient an army that with it he con-
quered all Spain. , . , , „
Eng. Stratagem (Arber s Eng. Gamer, I. 608).
5. A critical situation ; a position of danger or
embarrassment; the state of being beset.
In harde presse whan I was stedde.
Of my paynes ge hadde pitee. '
York Plays, p. 508.
6. Urgency; urgent demands of affairs: as,
press ot business. — 7. An instrument or ma-
chine by which anything is subjected to pres-
sure (especially if the pressure is great), as by
the use of hand-levers, the screw, hydraulic
agency, or steam-power. The object of the press
may be to compress something into smaller compass, as
a hay-press or cotton-press ; to crush something and ex-
tract its juices, in which case it is named from the liquid
produced, as a cider-press or wine-press ; or to take a copy
of something, with or without the use of a pigment^ as a
printing-press, a copying-press, or a seal-press.
press
Which wine houses doe serve for pressing of their
grapes, and the making of their wine, having all things
necessary therein for that purpose, as their wine presses.
Coryat, Crudities, L 82.
8. In the Jaequard loom, the mechanism which
actuates the cylinder or prism and its cards
to press back th^ needles or wires which are
not to act, so as to disengage them from the
lifting-bar. — 9. Specifically, a machine for
printing; a printing-press; hence, collective-
ly, the agencies employed in producing printed
matter. Some writers limit the use of the word press, as
defining a printing-apparatus, to the hand printing-press,
moved by hand- power, and call any form of printing-press
moved by steam or otherwise, not by hand -power, a print-
ing-machine. See printing-press.
He will print them, out of doubt ; for he cares not what
he puts into the press. Shak., M. W. of W., IL 1. 80.
Lord Dorset is nobody's favourite but yours and Mr.
Prior's, who has lately dedicated his book of poems to him,
which is all the press has furnished us of any value since
you went. Su}ift, Letter to Hunter, Jan. 12, 1708.
10. The art of printing; hence, those who are
engaged in printing or publishing.
The liberty of the press is indeed essential to the nature
of a free state ; but this consists in laying no previous re-
straints upon publications, and not in freedom from cen-
sure for criminal matter when published.
Blackstone, Com., IV. xL
11. That which is printed; the sum total of
printed literature : specifically applied to news-
papers and other periodical publications.
The press, an instrument neglected by the prosecutors,
was used by Hastings and his friends with great effect.
Macaulay, Warren Hastings.
The press is destined, more than any other agency, to
melt and mold the jarring and contending nations of the
world into that one great brotherhood.
S. Bowles, in Merriam's Bowles, I. 99.
12. An upright case or cupboard in which
clothes, books,
china, or other
articles are
kept ; specifical-
ly, in Ubraries,
a bookcase, or
a set of book-
shelves.
His presse ycovered
with a faldyng
reed.
Chaucer, Miller's
[Tale, 1. 26.
Large oaken press-
es fiUed with shelves
of the same wood
surrounded the
room. Scott, Kenil-
[worth, iv.
13. In photog.,
same as print-
ing-frame— At press, during or in the process of print-
ing.
If the names were dropped at press, he could restore any
speech in Shakespeare to the proper speaker.
R. ZT. Stevenson, Some Gentlemen in Fiction.
Autographic press, a small portable press for printing
autographs from a lithographic stone or from an engraved
plate.— Bramall press, Bramah's press, the hydraulic
press, so caUed from its inventor, Mr. Bramah. See hy-
draulic.— Cam-press, a press in which the rotation of
a cam communicates action to the punch or shear, as dis-
tinct from a screw-, lever-, or p^uLulum^press. — Card-
press, (a) A small screw-pr ess, used for keeping playing-
cards fiat when not in use. (&) A printing-press used for
printing cards. — Cenaorslllp Of the press. See censor-
ship.— Centripetal press. See centripetal.— Compound
press, a press in which the material is partially compress-
ed by a light rapid movement, and the process completed
by a more powerful and slower pressure.- Correction of
the press, corrector of the press. See correction, cor-
rector.— Dry press, in printing, a press for smoothing
printed sheets. — Hat-tip press, a small hand-press used
for printing the labels on the crown or inner lining of
hats.— Hunter's press, a pressworked by Hunter's screw
(whichsee, under screw). [Not now in use.] — Hydraulic
orhydrostatlc press. See%<2ravZie.— InpreBB,inthe
press, in process of being printed.— Knee-joint press,
a toggle-press.— Liberty of the press. See liberty.—
Lithographic press. See lithograpMc. — LylngHpress,
a small portable press of wood, used by bookbinders, in
which pressure is given at the ends of two stout square
blocks by two large wood-screws. When a cutting knife
is attached, it is called a Mnders' plow and press.— Wi-
nerva Press. See Jfine»Ta.— Napkin press, a screw-
press by means of which napkins are pressed flat after
being dampened. Such a press is sometimes combined
with a decorative piece of furniture, etc. — Open-hack
press, a press or pnnching-machine the standards of
which are set apart so that the work to be punched can
pass freely from front to rear through the opening.— Pen-
dulum press. See pen*iZ«m— Platen press. Seeptoten.
— Plow and press, in bookbivM-ng, same as cutting-
press, 2.— Press-law, a law in restraint of the liberty
of the press; a law regulating or repressing the right
of printing and publishing.— Press Of sail (Tujat), as
much sail as the state of the wind, etc., will permit. —
Kevolvlng press, a form of baling-press in which the
rotation of the box actuates the followers by means of a
screw or screws working in stationary nuts. — Rolling-
cam press, a press actuated by a roUer which revolves
Press of Walnut-wood. (German,
rsth century.)
press
^etween cam-wheels rising and falling between guides.—
Bomng-pressare press, a press in whicli tlie follower
Is depressed by the pressure of a roller at the end of a
pivoted exteuBion-bar, which Is caused by levers to trav-
erse to and fro.-- SewtaE-presa, a wooden frame in which
books are sewed and prepared for binding. Worlcshm Re-
ceipt, Bookbmding, 4th ser.— Standing-press a heavy
press firmly attached to floor and celling, used by printers
and bookbinders: so called to distinguish itfrom BortoSte
presses, such as are used by bookbinders.— Stanhope
fress, a form of printing-press invented by the Earl of
tanhope.— StrildnB-up press, a press used, in making
cups or pots, to strike up the metal or raise it from the in-
tenor.— TO correct the press, to correct proofs.
Herecomes . . . theproofofmyEastlndiaspeechfrom
Hansard ; so I must put my letter aside and correct tJie press.
Macaiday, in Trevelyan, I. v.
Type^revolVing press. See cylinder-press.
■ (pres), V. [A verb due to confusion of
4708
press-mark
presser-bar (pres'6r-bai), n. Same aepresser, pressing-roller (pres'lng-ro^lfir), n. Inpaper-
3 (a). making, a roller of iron, or of iron oovered ■with
presser-flyer (pres'6r-fla"er), n. In spinning: brass, which squeezes out the water from the
(a) In a bobbin-frame, a flyer having a spring- pulp or the felt. In England called press-roll.
arm or -finger (called presser) which presses See paper-making machine.
against the bobbin to regulate the tension in pression (prQsh'on), n. [< P. pressUm = Sp.
■ '■ ' tasitisspun. (6) A bob- presion = Fg. pressao =:lt. pressione, ih. pres-
winding on the yarn
bin-frame on which presser-flyers are used,
presser-foot (pres'6r-fut), n. In a sewing-ma'
press- in press-gang, press'money, erroneously
used for "prest-gang, prest-money, etc., with
press^, force, etc. So impress, and P. presser,
in like sense.] I. trans. To force into service,
especially into military or naval service ; im-
press.
To the Tower, about shipping of some more pressed men.
Pepys, Diai-y, II. 410.
There are a couple of impudent fellows at an inn in Hol-
born who have affronted me, and you would oblige me in-
finitely by pressing them into his majesty's service.
Colman, Jealous Wife, iii.
She is rather an arbitrary writer too — for here are a
great many poor words pressed into the service of this note
that would get their habeas corpus from any court in Cliris-
tendom. Sheridan, The Rivals, il. 2.
II. intrans. To act as a press-gang; force
persons into military or naval service.
The legality of pressing is so fully established that it
will not now admit of a doubt in any court of justice.
Christian, Note on Blackstone's Com., I. xiii.
press2(pres),n. [<jjress2,t).] An order or com-
mission to impress men into public service, par-
ticularly into the anny or navy.
I have misused the king's press damnably. I have got,
in exchange of a hundred and fifty soldiers, three hundred
and odd pounds. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iv. 2. 13.
They shrink like seamen when a press comes out.
Dryden, Wild Gallant, Epil. (1667), 1. 22.
press-agent (pres'a'jent), 11. A man employed
to attend to newspaper advertising, and supply
editors with news of changes of program, cast,
etc. [Theatrical slang.]
press-beam (pres'bem), n. A compression-
beam.
press-bed (pres'bed), re. A bed inclosed in solid
woodwork like a cupboard, or made to fold or
turn up so as to be put in a cupboard.
I was to sleep in a little press-bed in Dr. Johnson's room.
Boswell, Tour to the Hebrides, p. 85.
press-blanket (pres'blang'ket), n. A flannel,
cloth, or felt used on a printing-press to equal-
ize the impression.
press-blocks (pres'bloks), n. pi. Clumps of
wood used in a standing-press to fill up the space
not occupied by paper or books.
press-boards (pres'bordz), «. pi. In printing,
smooth and neatly jointed boards of wood be-
tween which printed sheets are pressed in the
standing-press.
press-boy (pres'boi), n. Same as machine-boy.
press-cake (pres'kak), n. In gimpowder-marmf.,
incorporated cake, or mill-cake, ready for gran-
ulation. E. 3. Knight.
presser (pres'6r), n. [< ME. pressour; < OF.
23r«s«eMj-, < pre««e»', press : a&epress^.'] 1. One
who or that which presses. Especially— (a) One
who presses garments for the purpose of renovating them,
or who presses cloth after dyeing.
I give the profits to dyers and pressers. Swyft.
(6) On- who works a press of any kind.
But who in England cares about the singing in these
fishing towns — singing which is only wilder and weirder
than that of the cotton pressers of Louisiana?
Harpen's Mag., LXXVII. 950.
(«) In ceram., the workman who molds the handles, ears,
and decorative reliefs to be applied to a pottery vessel be-
fore firing.
2. One who inculcates or enforces with argu-
ment or importunity.
A common practlser and presser of the late illegal inno-
vations.
J. White, First Century of Malignant Priests (1623), p. 48.
[(Latham.)
3. In mach. : (a) In a knitting-machine, a bar
which forces the barb of the needle into the
groove of the shank to free the loop of yam.
(6) In a sewing-machine, the presser-foot which
holds the fabric under the needle. See cut
under presser-foot. (c) A form of ironing-ma-
chine, (d) In spinning, the pressure-roller of a
drawing-frame, or the spring-finger of a bobbin-
frame. E. H. Knight.
a, Presser-foot, whfch is attached by thumb-screw b, passin? through
slot e, and screwing into bar d. This is represented raised to allow
the insertion of cloth under the inclined forward part of the foot. The
bar and the foot are then lowered, pressing the cloth firmly upon the
oscillating feed at e;yis the needle, which carries thread h tliiough
slot in foot and perforation g" in throat-plate.
chine, a foot-plate by which the fabric is pressed
against the face of the feed.
presser-frame (pres'er-fram), n. In spinning,
a frame furnished with presser-flyers. E. H.
Knight.
press-fatt (pres'fat), n. A vat belonging to an
olive- or wine-press, used for the collection of
the oil or wine.
When one came to the prestfat for to draw out fifty ves-
sels out of the press, there were but twenty. Hag. IL 16.
press-gang (pres'gang), m. [< press^, prest, +
gang/] A detachment under the command of
an ofScer empowered to impress men into the
public service, especially the naval service.
Last week a Lieutenant came hither with a Press Gang,
and had so good Success that he soon Glean'd up a con-
siderable number.
Quoted in Ashton*s Social Life in Keign of Queen Anne,
[II. 208.
Men were kidnapped, literally disappeared, and nothing
was ever heard of them again. The street of a busy town
was not safe from such press-gang captures.
Mrs. QaskeU, Sylvia's Lovers, i.
press-gang (pres'gang), V. i. \<. press-gang, re.]
To act as a press-gang. [Rare.]
Therell be no more press-gmming here a while.
Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, vii.
press-girthing (pres'g6r"thing), n. The belt of
leather which moves the bed of a hand-press to
and from impression.
sio(n-), a pressing, pressure, < premere, pp.
pressus, yiesa: see press^. 2 1. The act of press-
ing; pressure.
Are not all my hypotheses erroneous In which light is
supposed to consist in pression or motion propagated
through a fluid medium? Whewdl.
2. In Cartesian philos., an endeavor to move.
pressiroster (pres-i-ros'ter), n. [See Pressi-
rostres.] A member of the Pressirostres.
pressirostral (pres-i-ros'tral), a. [< NL. Pres-
sirostres + -aZ.] 1. Pertaining to the Pressi-
rostres.— 2. Having a compressed bill shaped
more or less like that of a plover.
Pressirostres (pres-i-ros'trez), n.pl. [NL., <
L. pressus, pp. of pre-
mere, press, compress,
+ rostrum, a beak: see
rostrum.'] In Cuvier's
system of classification,
a group of Grallse, includ-
ing the bustards, plovers,
and some others, among
them the cariama: so
called from the compres-
sion or contraction of the
bill of some of its mem-
bers. It corresponds in the
main to the Charadrtomarphse
of later writers, or that large
group of wading birds known
as the plover-snipe group.
pressitantt (pres'i-tant),
a. [< ML. as if *pr'essitan{t-)s, ppr. of *pressi-
tare, freq. of li.pressare, press down : seepress^,
v.] Exerting pressure ; gravitating; heavy.
Neither the celestial matter of the vortices, nor the air,
nor water &ie pressitant in their proper place.
Dr. H. More.
pressivet (pres'iv), a. [ipress^ -I- 4ve.'] 1.
Pressing; requiring immediate attention and
despatch. — 2. Oppressive.
How did he make silver to be in Jerusalem as stones,
if the exactions were so pressive f
Bp. Hall, Cont., xviiL 1. (LatTiam.)
press-ketcht (pres'kech), '«. A ketch or small
vessel used for patrolling harbors and for press-
ing seamen.
Irish Letters of the 28th past say they continue to beat
up for Soldiers at Dublin, where abundance list themselves,
and that some Press-Ketches in that Harbour have pressed
400 Seamen within a few Days, and that a great many are
voluntarily come in.
Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Eeign of Queen Anne,
[II. 208.
Bills of Pressirostres.
:. Lapwing ( Vanellus cris-
tatus). 2. Golden plover
i_Charadrtus detninictis). 3.
Turnstone l^Strefisitas inter-
fres).
pressing (pres'ing), re. [Verbal n. of pressi, i;.] press-key (pres'ke), n. A small turn-screw
1. The act of one who presses; pressure. — used by book-sewers to tighten the cords of a
2. What is expressed or squeezed out; what sewing-press.
comes from a substance under pressure, as oil, presslyt (pres'li), adv. [Appar. < *press, a. (<
juice, etc. h. pressus, pp., pressed), + -ly^. Ctpressness."]
pressing (pres'ing), jp. a. Requiring instant at- Closely; compactly; concisely; succinctly.
tention or action ; urgent.
An annuity for life of four thousand pounds was settled
on Hastings ; and, in order to enable him to meet pressing
demands, he was to receive ten years annuity in advance.
Macaulay, Warren Hastings.
A pressing emergency reauired instant remedy.
eqi
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 125.
Though he may pursue his task presly and coherently,
yet, because of the small importance of the matter de-
bated of, his discourse must needs be both very tedious
and not very profitable.
Parker, Platonicke Philosophic (2d ed., 1667), p. 39.
No man ever spake more neatly, more pressly, more
weightily B. Jonson, Works (ed. Giflford), p. 749.
pressing-bag (pres'ing-bag), re. A bag of horse- pressman^ (pres'man), re.; pi. pressmen (-men).
hair to contain flaxseed from which oil is to be ■"' ^^ "" ' ' '^ ■ ■
expressed, or to hold stearic acid under pres-
sure, and for similar uses.
pressing-board (pres'ing-bord), re. 1. One of
the glazed millboards used by printers to put
between printed sheets as resists to the im-
pression these sheets receive in a standing-
press. — 2. One of the smoothljr jointed boards
of pine or cherry used in standing-presses. — 3.
An ironing-board.
pressing-iron (pres'lng-i^Sm), re. A flat-iron
or smoothing»-iron.
Your pressing-iron will make no perfect courtier.
Go stitch at liome, and cozen your poor neighbours.
Fletcher and Rowley, Maid in the Mill, iii. 2.
pressingly (pres'ing-li), adv. In a pressing
manner; with force or urgency ; closely.
pressingness (pres'ing-nes), re. Pressure; ur-
gency.
TMs consideration alone might apply itself with press-
ingness upon us. R. Allestree, Sermons, xviil. (Latham.)
[< press^ + man.] " 1., One who is engaged in
pressing; specifically, one who attends to a
wine-press.
One only path to all, by which the pressemen came
In time of vintage. Chapman, Iliad, 'jcvlil.
2. One who operates or has charge of a print-
ing-press ; specifically, a printer who does press-
work ; one who runs a hand-press, or who man-
ages a press or presses run by steam or other
power.
Watts, after some weeks, desiring to have me in the
composing-room, I left the pressmen.
Wranklin, Antobiog., p. 147.
3. Itx journalism, sometimes, a man employed
on the press; a writer or reporter for a news-
paper.
pressman^ (pres'man), re.; pi. pressmen (-men).
[< press"^ + man.] 1 . One of a press-gang who
aids in forcing men into military or naval ser-
vice.—2. A man impressed into the public
service, as the army or navy.
pressing-plate (pres'ing-plat), re. In an oil- press-mark (pres'mark), n. [< press^ n V2 +
press, one of the follower-boards which are al- moirk^.] In libraries, a mark put upon a v!ol-
ume, generally by label or a writing upon a
temated with bags of the material to be pressed.
press-mark
fly-leaf, indicating its location in the library.
Thus, the press-mark "A, 8, 10," means "press A, sheU 8,
tenth volume in order on the shelf." There are manv sys-
tems of press-marking.
press-mark (pres'mark), V. t. and i. To place
a pvess-mark on ; also, to use press-marks.
press-master (pres'niis"t6r), n. The officer in
command of a press-gang.
i,_'*5\°°' our sailors paid and encouraged to that degree
that there is hardly any need ol press-masters t
Tom Brown, Works, IV. 128. (Davies.)
press-money (pres'mun"i), ». Same as I'rest-
money.
This kiss shall be as good as press-mmiey, to bind me to
your service. Shirley, Maid's Revenge, ii. 1.
pressnesst (pres'nes), n. [< "press, a. (see press-
ly),+ -ness.2 The state of being pressed; close-
ness; compression; condensation of thought or
language; terseness.
An excellent critic of our own commends Boileau's close-
ness, or, as he calls it, pressness.
Young, Love of Fame, Pref.
pressourf, ». An obsolete form of jjresser. Piers
Plowman (A), v. 127.
press-pack (pres'pak), v. t. To compress by a
hydraulic or other press : as, io press-pack bales
of soft goods.
press-pile (pres'pil), n. A pile or keneh of fish.
[Canada.]
The flsh are put in a, press-pile, in which they remain a
week or more to sweat. Perley,
press-pin (pres'pin), n. In lookbinding, a bar
of iron used as a lever for standing-presses.
[Eng.]
press-plate (pres'plat), n- One of a number of
thin plates of sheet-iron which are placed be-
tween press-boards in a standing-press.
press-printing (pres'priu"ting), n. In eeram.,
a variety of transfer-printing.
There are two distinct methods of printing in use for
china and earthenware ; one is transferred on the bisque,
and is the method by which the ordinary printed ware is
produced, and the other is transferred on the gla^e. The
first is called press-prirMng and the latter bat^printing.
Ure, Diet., HI. 62a
press-proof (pres'prof), n. The last proof ex-
amined before printed matter goes to press ; the
press-revise ; a careful pi'oof taken on the press,
as distinguished from an ordinaiy rough proof.
press-room (pres'rom), n- 1. An apartment
in which presses for any pui"pose are kept. —
2 In printing, a roomi where printing-presses
are worked, as distinguished from a composing-
room, etc.
press-stone (pres'ston), n. The bed of a print-
ing-press. E. B- Knight.
pressurage (presh'ur-aj), n. [(.'P.pressurage;
as pressure + -age.^ 1. The juice of the grape
extracted by the press. Imp. Diet. — 2. A fee
paid to the owner of a wine-press for its use.
/»»;>. Diet.
Iiressural (presh'u-ral), a. [< pressure + -al.']
Of the nature of mechanical pressure.
pressure (presh'ur), n. [< OF. pressure = Sp.
presura = It. pressura, < L. pressura, a press-
ing, a burden, (^premere, pp. pressus, press: see
press'^.l 1. The act of pressing; the exertion
of force by pressing ; the state of being pressed.
In my thoughts with scarce a sigh
I take the pressure of thine hand.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, cxix.
2. In m^ch. : (a) An equilibrated force.
Experience . . . showed that the pressures of a vault
cannot be concentrated upon any single point, but only
upon a line which extends over a considerable portion of
the pier from the springing point upwards.
C. H. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 81.
(6) A force per unit area exerted over the sur-
face of a body or part of a body, and toward the
interior of the body, a force exerted upon a surface is
necessarily equilibrated ; otherwise, since the surface has
no mass, it would produce infinite velocity until equilib-
rium ensued. A pressure can produce no motion, because
it is a state of equilibrium ; but a continuous variation of
pressure in a given direction will tend to produce motion
toward the places of less pressure. Thus, if a cylinder of
liquid in a tube is under greater pressure per square mch
at one end than at the other, there will be a tendency to
motion toward the end where the pressure is less, (c)
Stress in general, being either thnist, pull, or
shearing stress. For axis of pi-essure, conju-
gate pressure, and other phrases where pressure
means stress, see the latter word.
Boyle discovered a law about the dependence of the
pressure of a gas upon its volume, which showed that if
you squeeze a gas into a smaUer place it will press so
much the more as the space has been dimmisned.
W. K. Clifford, Lectures, I. 180.
TJnitorm presTOn!, . . . such as the atmospheric, and, in
a less degi'ee, that of our bodily parts and of our clothes,
produces no distinct consciousness.
J. Stdly, Sensation and Intuition, p. 60.
296
4709
3. The action of moral force | exertion of au-
thority or influence; compulsion; a constrain-
ing influence or impulse.
The objections . . . are . . . rather like the intemper-
ate talk of an angry child than pressures of reason or prob-
ability. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835X II. 266.
The convocation, which under the influence of Arch-
bishop Bourchier was more amenable to royal pressure,
was made to bestow a tenth in the following April.
Stubbs, Const. Hist, § 359.
The Preacher's contemporary, too, Malachi, felt the pres-
sure oi the same circumstances, had the same occasions of
despondency. Jf. Arnold, Literature and Dogma, iL
4. Weight upon the mind; burdensomeness;
oppressiveness; also, burden; oppression.
Companions in grief sometimes diminish
And make the pressure easy.
Fletcher and Shirley, Night- Walker, iv. 6.
My own and ray people's pressures are grievous.
Ei^on BasilUce.
The rulers augmented at the same time those public
burdens the pressure of which is generally the immediate
cause of revolutions. Macaulay, Mirabeau.
Days of difficulty and pressure. Tennyson, Enoch Ai-den.
5. Urgency ; demand on one's time or energies ;
need for prompt or decisive action: as, the pres-
sure of business.
Writing hastily and nuiei pressure, his language is fre-
quently involved and careless.
A. Ddbion,.Int. to Steele, p. xlvi.
6. Impression; stamp; character impressed.
I'll wipe away . . ,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past.
Shak., Hamlet, i. 6. 100.
AbBolute pressure. See oisoiiiee.— Absolute steam
pressure, the total pressure computed from the zero of
an absolute vacuum : distinguished from relative pressure,
or from pressure indicated in pounds, kilograms, or other
measure of weightabovetheordinary atmospheric pressure
at the sea-leveL Ordinary steam-gages indicate pressure
above that of the atmosphere. To the pressure so indi-
cated the pressure of the atmosphere must be added to
obtain the absolute steam pressure. — AtmOBpheriC pres-
sure. See atmospAere, 2.— Center of pressure, (o) In
physics, that point of a body at which the wliole amount
of pressure may be applied with the same eif ect it would
produce if distributed. (6).Speciflcally,in%i/dn)<.,thatpoint
of a plane, or of the side of a vessel containing a liquid, to
which if a force were applied equal to the total pressure
and in the opposite direction, it would exactly balance the
total pressure.— High pressure, (a) Formerly, a phrase
noting all steam-engines working at pressures materially
higher than atmospheric pressure, but now merely a rela-
tive term. ^e^Q low pressure. (6) Figuratively, a high de-
gree of mental tension.
Miss Squeers . . . was . . . taken with one or two
chokes and catchinga of breath, indicative of feelings at a
high pressure. Dickens, Nicholas Kickleby, zii.
Intensity of a pressure. See intensity.— ijom pres-
sure, In steam-engines, a phrase noting a motor using
steam at a comparatively small pressure. The precise
signification of the term is undetermined, but the stan-
dard of pressure is steadily rising, so that engines that
were formerly considered high-pressure are now looked
upon as low-pressure engines. The phrase formerly im-
plied the presence of a condenser and pressure of not
more than six pounds above atmospheric pressure, but it
now has reference solely to the pressure, and describes
that only relatively. — Pressure myelitis, myelitis due to
compression of the spinal cord, as by a tumor.— Pressure
of atmosphere. See atmosphere, 2.
pressure-bar (yresh'ur-bar), n. In a planing-
machine, a device for holding down lumber to
be planed. E. H. Knight.
pressure-blo'wer (presh'ur-bl6"er) , n. Ablower
in which a blast is produced by the direct pres-
sure of pistons upon a definite and confined
quantity of air, in contradistinction to the fan-
hlower, which produces a blast by centrifugal
action.
pressure-figure (presh'ur-fig'''ur), n. In min-
eral., a figure produced' in a section of some
minerals by the pressure of a rather sharp
point: thus, upon a sheet of mica the pressure-
figure has the form of a six-rayed star, which is
diagonal in position to the more easily obtained
percilssion-ngure — that is, its rays are normal
to edges of the prism and elinopinacoid.
pressure-filter (presh'iir-fil"ter), n. A filter in
which the liquid to be Altered is forced through
filtering material by pressure greater than that
of its own weight in the filter. Positive increase
of the difference between the pressure on the liquid sur-
face and against the discharge outlet is.effected either by
forcing air into an inclosed space over the liquid, by increas-
ing the head through use of a standpipe, or by decreasing
the atmospheric pressure upon the discharge outlet
pressiire-forging (presh'ui'-for^jing), n. A
method of shaping metal in dies in a forging-
press by means of great pressure, usually hy-
draulic ; hydi'aulic forging.
pressure-gage (presh'ur-ga]), TO. 1. An appa-
ratus or attachment for indicating the pressure
of steam in a boiler.— 2. In gun., an instru-
ment used to determine the pressure of pow-
der-gas per square unit of area in the bore or
chamber of a gun. The gas acts upon one end of a
prest
piston, whose opposite extremity is armed with a pyrami-
dal or circular cutter, as in the Hodman gage ; a conical
cavity with a continuous spiral thread on its interior sur-
face, as in the Woodbridge pressm'e-gage ; or an anvil-head
to compress a copper cylinder, as in the English "crush-
Pressure-gage.
a, piston ; i, housing ; 6, screw-plug which closes the housing ; /.
gaslcet ; f, recess for engagement of wrench with the plug ; d, guide
for cutting- or indenting-tool if/, c, register, a disk of copper, the in-
dentation in which after discharge indicates the highest pressure at-
tained in the gun during the combustion of the explosive ; e, smalt
copper cup or gas-check, which, while it transmits the pressure to the
piston, prevents gas from entering the housing ; /i, groove for attach-
mg the cartridge.
er" gage. With the two cutter-gages, the lengths of the
indentations in the soft copper disks are measured and
compared with cuts of the same length made in the test-
ing-machine by the same cutters. From the tests in the
machine, a table of lengths of cuts, witii the pressures re-
quired to produce them, is made up. Hence, measuring
the iudentation in the disk taken from the pressure-gage^
and turning to this table, the pressure exerted by the pow-
der in the bore of the gun will be found opposite the mea-
sured length. The disks used in the pressure-gage and in
the testing-machine should be taken from the same bar
of copper, in order to secure a uniform density. In the
"crusher" gage, the diminution in length of the copper
cylinder is measured, and the pressure found by the test-
ing-maehine to produce an equal reduction in length of
a cylinder from the same copper is assumed to be that
exerted upon the bore of the gun. Pressure-gages may
be placed either in a cavity in the walls of a gun or in the
base of the cartridge-bag carrying the charge of powder.
pressure-note (presh'ur-not), n. In mnsic, a note
with a short crescendo upon it, as ^, indicat-
ing a tone which is to be pressed into loudness
as soon as sounded.
pressure-register (presh'ur-rej''is-ter), n. An
instrument which indicates and records the
fluctuations of pressm-e of a fluid body, par-
ticularly an elastic fluid, as air, steam, or illu-
minating-gas. See recording steam-gage, under
steam-gage.
pressure-screw (presh'ur-skro), n. In ord-
nance, a screw used to field parts in position
by pressure. It is the analogue of the set-screw
in general mechanism. See set-screw.
pressure-spot (presh'ui'-spot), n. One of nu-
merous minute spots or areas on the surface
of the body, in which it appears from experi-
mentation that the proper sensations of pres-
sure reside, this sensation not being excitable
in the intervening spaces.
The finest point, when it touches a pressure-spot, pro-
duces a sensation of pressure, and not one of being
pricked, G. T. Ladd, Physiol. Psychology, p. 410.
press'work (pres'werk), «. 1. The working or
management of a printing-press; also, any other
work of a press-room relating to ink or impres-
sion on a press: in opposition to composition,
or that branch of printing which is confined to
preparing types for the press. — 2. In joinery,
cabinet-work of a number of successive veneers
crossing grain, and united by glue, heat, and
pressure. E. H. Knight.
press-yeast (pres'yest), n. See yeeifSt.
prest^ (prest). An occasional preterit and past
participle otpress^.
prest^t (prest), V. t. [< OP. prester, F. prMer,
lend, ascribe, attribute, give rise to, afford, =
Pr. Sp. Pg. jwestor = It. prestare, < li. jnsestare,
stand before, be surety for, execute, fulfil, dis-
charge, < prx, before, + stare, stand : see state.
Of. rest^."] To furnish; pay out; put out as a
loan; lend.
To have prested and lent money to Kynge Henry for
the arrayenge and settynge forth of a new armye against
hym. HoiJ, Edw. IV., an. 10.
"I myself have prested," wrote the Earl to Eurghley,
"above 30002. among our men here since I came, and yet
what need they be in ... all the world doth see."
Mottey, Hist. Netherlands, I. 623.
prest^ (prest), n. [< OF. ijrest, F. prSt (= Pr.
prest = It. presto), a loan, < OP. prester, lend :
see prest^, ».] It. A loan of money ; hence, a
loan in general ; also, ready money.
The summe of expenses, as well of wages & prests as
for the expenses of the kings houses.
Hakluyt's Voyages, 1. 121.
prest
2. Formerly, a duty in money paid by the
sheriff on Ms account in the exchequer, or for
money left or remaining in his hands. Cowell.
— To give In prestt, to give as prest-money ; hence, to
pay, give, or lend (money) in advance.
He sent thyder three somers [baggage-horses] laden wt
nobles of Castel and floreyns, to gyue inpreat to knyghtes
and squyera, for he knewe well otherwyse he sholde not
haue them come out of theyr honses.
Bemers, tr. of FroisBart's Chron., n. Ixiv.
prestSf (prest), a. [< MB. prest, prest, < OF.
prest, F. pr^t = Pr. prest = Sp. Pg. It. presto,
ready, < ML. praestus, ready, < L. prsesto, adv.,
at hand, ready, present, here, <prse, before, +
store, stand. Ct.prestK'\ 1. Beady; prompt;
quick.
He is thepr«8te8« payer that pore men knoweth.
Piers Plowman (BX v. 558.
I am pretl to f ette hym when yow liste.
Chaucer, Troilus, iii 917.
Oursed Cionyza hafh
The pregnant Instrument of wrath
Prest for this blow.
ShaTc., Pericles, It., ProL, 1. 46.
Well, well. 111 meet ye anon, then tell you more, boys;
However, stand prepar'd, prest for our journey.
Fletcher. Wildgoose Chase, v. 2.
2. At hand ; near.
Set me whereas the sunne doth parch the greene,
Or where his beames do not dlssolue the yce :
In temperate heate where he is felt and scene,
In presence pregt of people mad or wise.
PiMenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 186.
Berdys ther sange on bowhes nrest.
RoUn Hood and the Potter (Child s Ballads, V. 29).
3. Bold; valiant.
Pansanlas a pris King none preeter ifounde.
Alisaunder of Macedome (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1218.
4. Neat; comely; proper.
More people, more handsome and prest.
Where find ye?
prest^t (prest), adv. [ME., <prest», a.] Quick-
ly ; promptly ; immediately.
Princes of this palys pregt vndo the gates,
For here, cometh with coroune the kynge of alle glorie.
Piera Plowman (C), xxi. 274.
prest*t, n. A Middle English form ot priest.
prestable (pres'ta-bl), a. [< presto + -able.l
Payable; capable of beingmade good. [Scotch.]
prestant (pres'tant), ». [< 1,. prsestanij:-)s, ppr.
of prsestare, stand before : see prest^, «.] The
open diapason of a pipe-organ.
prestationf (pres-ta'shon), A. [< F. prestation
= Sip. prestadon = Fg" prestagSo = It. presta-
zione, \ li. jprsBSiatio{n-), a warranty, a payment
of something due, < prsestare, pp. prsestatus, be
surety for: see prest^.] A presting or pay-
ment of money: sometimes used for purvey-
ance. Cowell.
Those grants he clogged with heavy feudal services and
payments ot prestations which no one dared refuse.
Bvssell, Hist. Modem Europe, I. 200.
presterl (pres'tfer), re. [< ME. prester, < OF.
prestre, F.jor^ire, priest: Bee priest, presbyter.']
A priest: often used in old writers as the title
of a supposed Christian king and priest (Prester
John) of a medieval kingdom. The belief in the
existence of such a ruler in some undetermined part of
Asia appeared in the twelfth century. From the four-
teenth century the seat of the supposed Prester John was
placed in Abyssinia, and this belief was held down to the
close of the middle ages.
In the East syde of Afrike, beneth the redde sea, dwell-
eth the greate and myghtye Emperour and Cnrystlan
kynge Prester lohan, well Imowen to the Portugales in
theyr vyages to Calicut.
S. Eden (First Books on America, ed. Arber, p. 374).
More than twenty years later, when the first book on
Abyssinia was composed — that of Alvarez — the title con-
stantly, and as a matter of course designating the king of
Aliyssdnia is "Prester John," or simply "the Presto."
Eneyc Brit., XIX. 718.
prester^t (pres'tSr), n. [< Gt. ■KpjiaHjp, a meteor,
a lightning-flash, < wpvdetv, blow up, blow up
into flamej A meteor.
presternal (pre-ster'nal), a. [<prsesternum'^r
-al.] 1. Of or pertaining to the prsBsternum:
as, presternal bone; presternal region. — 3. In
eiitom., same as prosternal.—;pTeateTnal muscle.
Same as stemalis.
presternum, ». See prsestemwm.
prestezza (pres-tet'sa), n. [It., quickness, <
presto, quick : see jirestS and presto.] In music,
quickness of movement or execution ; rapidity.
prestidigital (pres-ti-dij'i-tal), a. [< presti-
digit(atwn) + -al (after digital).] Engaged in
prestidi^tation; suited or qualified for leger-
demain. [Bare.]
The first his honest hard-working hand — the second his
three-flngered Jack, his preiUdigital hand.
C. Reade, Never too Late to Mend, vi.
4710
prestidigitation (pres-ti-dij-i-ta'shon), n. [< F.
prestidigitation, an altered form (as if ' dexter-
ous fingering,' < L. praesto, at hand, ready, +
digitus, a finger, + -ation) of presUgiation : see
prestigiation.] Legerdemain; sleight of hand;
prestigiation ; the performance of feats requir-
ing dexterity and skill, particularly of the fin-
gers : hence, juggling in general.
prestidigitator (pres-ti-dij'i-ta-tor), n. [< F.
prestidigitateur ; < prestidigitat(ion) + -or^.]
One who practises prestidigitation; a presti-
giator; a juggler.
prestige (pres-tezh' or pres'tij), n. [< F. pres-
tige = Sp. Pg. presHgio = It. prestigio, prestigia,
illusion, fascination, enchantment, prestige, <
h. prsestigium, a delusion, an illusion; ot.prse-
sUgise, deception, jugglers' tricks, < prsestin-
guere, obscure, extinguish, < prse, before, +
stinguere, e'K.tmgaish: see distinguish, eta.] If.
Illusion; juggling triek; fascination; charm;
imposture.
The sophisms of infidelity and the presKges of impos-
ture. Warburton, Works, IX. v.
2. An illusion as to one's personal merit or
importance, particidarly a flattering illusion ;
hence, a reputation for excellence, imjjortanoe,
or authority ; weight or influence arising from
reputation.
Mr. Quincy had the moral firmness which enabled him
to decline a duel without any loss of personal prestige.
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 106.
Unless a man can get the prestige and income of a Don,
and write donnish books, it 's hardly worth while for him
to make a Greek and Latin machine of himself.
George Miot, Daniel Deronda, xvi.
prestigiate (pres-tij'i-at), v. t. [< li.preesUgia-
tus, pp. otpriestigiare, deoeiveby juggling tricks,
< preestigise, deceptions, jugglers' feats: see
prestige.] To deceive as by an illusion or jug-
glers' trick. [Bare.]
The wisest way, when all is said, is with all humility
and feare to take Christ as himselfe hath revealed him-
selfe in his Gospel, and not as the Devill presents him to
prestigiated phausies. N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 18.
prestigiation (pres-tij-i-a'shon), n. [< F. *pres-
tigiation (later prestidigitation: see prestidigi-
tation), < L. praestigiare, pp. prsestigiatus, de-
ceive by juggling tricks : see prestigiate.] The
playing of legerdemain tricks ; a trick of leger-
demain; juggling; sleight of hand. [Bare.]
What a multitude of examples are there in good authen-
tic authors of divers kinds of fascinations, incantations,
prestigiations I Howell, Letters, iii. 23.
prestigiator (pres-tij'i-a-tor), re. [< ¥.presti^
giateur (Cotgrave), < li. prkstigiator, a juggler,
an impostor, < prsesUgiare, deceive by jugging
tricks: see prestigiate. Ci. prestidigitator.] A
juggler; a cheat.
This cunning prestigiator [the devil] took the advantage
of so high a place to set oS his representations the more
lively. Dr. H. More, Mysteiy of Godliness (1660), p. 105.
prestigiatoryt (pres-tij'i-a-to-ri), a. {< presti-
giate + -ory.] Juggling; consisting of tricks
or impostures.
We have an art call'd prmsHmatmy,
That deals with spirits, and mtelllgences
Of meaner ofiice and condition.
T. TomMs (?), Albumazar, t 7.
prestinousf (pres-tij'us), a. [< F. prestigieux
= Sp. Pg. It. prestigioso, < HL. prsesHgiosus, full
of deceitful tricks, delusive, < L.prffis%i«, jug-
glers'tricks, illusions : seepresUge.] 1. Prac-
tising legerdemain ; juggling; deluding.
But^ of all the preternatural things which befel these
people, there were none more unaccountable than those
wherein the prestigiovs dsemons would ever now and then
cover the most corporeal things in the world with a fas-
cinating mist of Invisibility. C Mather, Mag. Chris., ii, 13.
2. Performed by prestidigitation; illusory; de-
ceptive.
Who only sweld thee with vain-glorious pride,
Devising strange jfresligious tricks beside^
Only to draw me from thee.
Beywood, Dialogues (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 180).
prestimony (pres'ti-mo-ni), n. [= F.presUmo-
nie = Sp. P^. prestimonio, < ML. prssstimonium,
an appropriated fund, < L. priestare, warrant,
discharge: see prest^.] In canon law, a fund
for the support of a priest, appropriated by the
founder, but not erected into any title or bene-
fice, and not subject to the Pope or the ordi-
nary, the patron being the collator. Imp. Diet.
prestissimo (pres-tis'i-mo), adv. [It., superl.
ot presto, q. v.] In music, very quickly; in the
most rapid tempo.
prestlyt (prest'li), adv. [< ME. prestVy, preste-
ly, prestliche, pristly ; <prestS + -ly^.] 1. Hast-
ily; quickly; promptly; eagerly.
presume
PreetUi with al that puple to Palerne thel went.
WiUiamqfPaleme (B. E. T. S.), 1. 6309.
Then [he] leues the lede^ and of londe paste
To Pelleus prisUy.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1048.
2. Earnestly; firmly.
Madame, mourne se namore ; je mow wel seie
That the prince of heuen gou hath prestli in mynde,
<& socor sendeth sou soue.
WUUam of Palerne (E. E. T. S.X I. 2926.
Now full pristly I pray to my prise goddes
That I may see thee come sounde to this sale enys.
And me comford of thy coursse, kepe I no more.
Destruction qf Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 872.
Therfore pristly I yow praye
That ye will of youre talkyng blyn.
Thotnas qf Ersmdowne (Child's Ballads, I. 97).
prest-money (presfmun'^i), n. Money paid to
men when they enlist in the British service:
so called because it binds those who receive it
to be prest or ready at all times appointed.
Also ^ress-TOoree^. Imp. Diet.
presto (pres'to), adv. [< It. presto, quick,
quickly: see prest^.] 1. Quickly; immediate-
ly; in haste.
Oni. Well, you'll come?
Jun. Presto. B. Jonson, Case is Altered, i. 1.
2. In music, quick; in rapid tempo.
presto (pres'to), re. [< presto, adv.] In mitsic,
a passage in quick tempo.
prestomial (pre-sto'mi-al), a. [Also prsesto-
mial; < prmstomium + -al.] Of or pertaining
to the prsBstomium.
prestomium, «. Qee prsestomium.
prestriction (pre-strik'shgn), n. [< LL. prie-
strictioin-), a binding fast, < L. prsestringere,
pp. preestrictus, bind fast, tie up, also bUnd,
obscure, < prse, before, -f- stringere, draw or tie
tight: see stringent.] Blinding; blindness.
'Tis fear'd you have Balaams disease, a pearle in your
eye. Mammons Preestriction.
Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst.
prestudy (pre-stud'i), v. t. ; pret. and pp. pre-
studied, ppr. prestudying. [< pre- + study.]
To study beforehand.
He . , . never broached what he had new brewed, but
g reached what he had pre-studied some competent time
efore. FuUer, Worthies, Cambridge, I. 240.
presultor (pre-sul'tor), n. [< JAu. prsesultor, one
who dances before" others, < L. *prsBSilire (a
false reading forproMiJre), leap or dance before,
<prse, before, + salire, leap, bound: see salient.]
A leader or diirector of a dance. [Bare.]
The Coryphteus of the world, or the precentor and pre-
srultor of it. Oudwortli, Intellectual System, p. 897.
presumable (pre-zti'ma-bl), a. [< presume +
-able.] Capable of being presumed or taken
for granted; such as may be supposed to be
true or entitled to belief without examination
or direct evidence, or on probable evidence.
It is now the presumable duty, imposed by law upon the
Clergy, of themselves to alter their practice.
Gladstone, Gleanings of Past Years, I. 90.
presumably (pre-zti'ma-bli), adv. As may be
presumedor reasonably supposed; by or accord-
ing to presumption; by legitimate inference
from facts or circumstances.
presume (pre-zum'), v. ; pret. and T^-p. presumed,
ppr. presuming. [< M'E. presumen,< OF. pre-
sumer, P. prfyumer = Pr. Sp. Pg. presumir = It.
presumere, < L. prassumere, take before or be-
forehand, take to oneself, anticipate, take for
granted, presume, < prse, before, -f- sumere,
take: see assume, and cf. consume, resume.]
1. trans. 1. To take upon one's self; under-
take; venture; dare: generally with an infini-
tive as object.
He or they that presmmen to doo the contrarie, as often
fyme as they be founden in defaute, to paye xx. s.
English GUds (E. B. T. S.), p. 383.
Desjth, I feel, presumeth
To change this life of mine Into a new.
Thomas Stukely (Child's Ballads, VIL 312).
Bold deed thou h^&t presumed, adventurous Eve.
MUton, P. L., ix. 921.
As soon as the sermon is finished, nobody presumes to
stir till Sir Roger is gone out of the church.
Addison, Sir Koger at Church.
There was a time when I would have chastened your
msolence, tor presuming thus to appear before me.
Goldsmith, Vicar, xxiv.
2. To believe or accept upon probable evi-
dence; infer as probable; take for granted.
Presume not that I am the thing I was.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., v. 6. 60.
Master Foxe mentioneth, in his Book of Martyrs, that
one in the street crying "Fire, fire," the whole assembly
m St. Mary s, in Oxford, at one Mallaiys recantation, me-
earned it to be in the church.
Rev. T. Adams, Works, in. 50k
presume
Yet, sir, I premme you would not wish me to quit the
«nny' Sheridan, The Rivals, IL 1.
The business of farming . . . is assessed in respect of a
premmed profit. S. Dawdl, Taxes in England, III. 122.
=Syn. 2. Surmise, Guess, etc. (see conjecture), think con-
sider.
II. intrans. 1. To be venturesome; espe-
cially, to venture beyond the limits of ordinary
license or propriety; act or speak overboldly.
Neither boldness can make us presume as long as we are
kept under with the sense of our own wretchedness.
Hooker, Ecoles. Polity, v. 47.
I found not what methought I wanted still ;
And to the heavenly Vision thus presumed.
MUton, P. L., viii. 356.
2. To press forward presumptuously; be led
by presumption; make one's way overconfi-
dently into an unwarranted place or position.
Presume thou not to hye, I rid,
Least it turn thee to blame.
Bdbees Book (E. B. T. S.), p. 91.
Up-led by thee,
Into the heaven of heavens I have preswmedf
An earthly guest. UHUm, P. L., vii. 18.
To presume oft. Same as to presume upon.
They [the Waymoores] haue long haire, are without
Townes or houses, and care not where iUeyGoiaQ, presum-
ing of their swiftnesse. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 840.
To presume upon or on, to rely upon as a reason for
boldness ; hence, -to act overboldly or arrogantly on the
strength of, or on the supposition of.
Do not presume too much upon my love.
Shak., J. C, iv. 3. 63.
She, . . . presuming on the hire of her treason, deserted
her Husband. Milton, Hist. Eng., iL
presumedly (pre-zu'med-li), adv. By presump-
tion ; as one may suppose ; presumably.
The matter was considerably simplified by the fact that
these societies, presumedly from patriotic motives, send
the persons they assist only to the Dominion of Canada.
Laneet, No. 3412, p. 144.
presumer (pre-zu'mer), n, [< presume + -eri.]
One who presumes; an arrogant or presump-
tuous person.
presuming (pre-zu'miag), p. a. Acting pre-
sumptuously; hence, overbold; forward; pre-
sumptuous.
presumingly (pre-zli'ming-li), adv. With pre-
sumption; overcbnfldeutly ; arrogantly.
presumptt (prf-zumpf), v. t. [< tj.presumpttis,
pp. of presumere, take beforehand: see pre-
sume.'] To take inconsiderately or rashly.
The vow beynge presumpted, dyssembled, and f ayned.
Bp. Bale, Apology, fol. 10.
presumption (prf-zump'shon), «. [< OF. pre-
somption, F. presomption = Sp. presuncion = Pg;
presumpgao = It. presunzione, < L. prsesump-
tio{n-), a taking beforehand, an anticipation,
(.priesumere, -pp. prsesumptus, presume: seepr«-
sume.~i 1. The act of presuming, or taking
upon one's self more than good sense and pro-
priety warrant; excessive boldness or over-
confidence in thought or conduct; presump-
tuousness; assurance; arrogance.
I could say much more of the king's majesty without
flattery, did I not fear the imputation of presumption.
Raleigh, Hist. World, Pref., p. 19.
We cannot tell what is a Judgment of God ; 'tis presump-
tion to take upon us to know. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 68.
If ye think ye may with a pious presumption strive to
goe beyond God in mercy, I shall not be one now that
would dissuade ye. Milton, Church-Government, ii., Con.
2. The act of presuming or probably inferring;
hypothetical or inductive inference.
Most of those that believe a God and a judgment to come,
and yet continue in sin, do it upon this presumption, that
one time or other they shall leave their sins, and change
the course of then: lives before they go out of this world.
Stillingfleet, Sermons, II. m.
3. Thatt which is presumed; that which is
supposed to be true upon grounds of proba-
bility.
When we see any part or organ developed in a remark-
able degree or manner in any species, the Uir presumption
is that it is of high importance to that species.
Darwin, Origin of Species, p. 153.
4. A ground for presuming or believing; evi-
dence or probability, as tending to establish an
opinion.
There will always be a strong presumption against the
sincerity of a conversion by which the convert is directly
a gainer. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vu.
The mere possibility of an event furnishes no presump-
«io«, not even the slightest, of its realization.
Mivart, Nature and Thought, p. 113.
5. In law, an inference as to the existence of
one fact from the existence of some other fact,
founded upon a previous experience of their
connection, or dictated by the policy of the lay-
Presumptions are generally inferences i° accordance with
the common experience of mankind and the established
principles of logic ; bat, as they differ in cogency or con-
4711
vincing power, the term is used variously as signifying
different de^ees of certainty in the inference, (a) An
inference which a jury, or a judge Bitting in the place of a
jury, may without error draw from a given state of facts,
but is not bound to draw from them : called by way of dis-
tinction a presumption of fact. (6) An inference which, in
absence of evidence to the contrary, the law draws, and a
jury or judge cannot without error refuse to apply : called
by way of distinction a legal jrresumption or a presumption
of law; more specifically, a rebuUahle legal presumption.
(c) An inference which the law, usually for reasons of pub-
lic policy, draws from a given state of facts, and refuses to
allow evidence to countervail the inference: called a con.
elusive presumption or an irrebvJbtable presumption. (See
conclvsive.) Ilius an infant under 7 is conclusively pre-
sumed incapable of criminal intent, and the law will not
allow evidence to be received that he was precociously
capable of it. An infant between 7 and 14 (by statute
now in N w York 12) is presumptively incapable of such
intent, but this, though a presumption of law which can-
not be disregarded in the absence of evidence, may be re-
butted by evidence of actual capacity. An infant over
that age shown to be untaught and dull of comprehension
might be inferred to be without such capacity, but this
inference (unless the evidence was clear) would be only a
presumption of fact, which the jury alone could draw, and
the court could not control.— FtailOEOpMcal or logical
presumption. SeepAi!osopA«!(rf.=Syn.l. Pride, Arro-
gance, Presumption, etc. (see arrogance), assurance, ef-
frontery, forwardness, ^ee presumptuousness. — 2. Sur-
mise. Conjecture, etc. See inference. — 4. Likelihood, prob-
ability.
presumptive (prf-zump ' tiv) , a. [< P . presomp-
tif= Qp.presuntivo = Pg. presumptivo = It.pre-
sunti/Bo, < LL. *preesumptivus (in adv. prsesump-
tive, boldly, presumptuously), < L. prmsumere,
pp. prsesumptits, presume: see presume.] 1.
Based on presumption or probability; proba-
ble; grounded on probable evidence; proving
circumstantially, not directly.
A strong presumptive proof that his interpretation of
Scripture is not the true one. Waterlarid, Works, I. 321.
2t. Unreasonably confident; presumptuous;
arrogant.
There being two opinions repugnant to each other, it
may not be presumptive or sceptical to doubt of both.
Sir T. Brovme.
Heir presumptive. SeeftCTr.— Presumptive evidence.
Seeewde/wje.— Sjm. 1. ^^q presumptuous.
presumptively (pre-zump ' tiv-li) , adv . In a pre-
sumptive manner ;' by presumption or supposi-
tion grounded on probability; by previous sup-
position; presumably.
presumptuous (prf-zump'tu-us), a. [< ME.
presumpfuotis (in adv.), < OF. presumpoieus,
preswmptieus, presompcieus, etc., F. presomp-
tuewx = Sp. presuntuoso = Pg. presumptuoso =
It. presuntuoso, < LL. prxsumptiosus, prsesump-
tosus, full of boldness, < L. preesumptio{n-),
boldness, presumption: see presumpfhn.] Go-
ing beyond the limits of propriety or good sense
in thought or conduct; exhibiting or marked
by presumption; overbold; presuming; arro-
gant.
'Tis not thy southern power . . .
Which makes thee thus presumptuous and proud.
Shak., S Hen. VI., i. 1. 157.
Presumptuous man, see to what desperate end
Thy treachery hath brought thee !
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, ill. 4.
Rash author, 'tis a vain presumptwyus crime
To undertake the sacred art of rhyme.
Dryden and Soames, tr. of Boileau's Art of Poetry, i. 1.
=Syn. Forward, venturesome, foolhardy. Presumptive
&ni presumptuous have no meanings in common. See
arrogarwe.
presumptuously (pre-zump'tu-us-li), adv. [<
ME. presumptuowsly } < presumptuous + -ly^.]
In a presumptuous manner; with rash confi-
dence; overboldly; arrogantly.
Thou woldest konne that I can and carpen hit after,
Presumptu&wsly, parauenture a-pose so manye.
That hit mysthe turne me to tene and Theologie bothe.
Piers Plourman (A), xii. 8.
But I
God's counsel have not kept, his holy secret
Presumptuously have publish'd.
UHUm, S. A., 1. 498.
preSUmptUOUSness (pre-zump'tu-us-nes), n.
The state or character of being presumptuous
or rashly confident; groundless confidence ; ar-
rogance; irreverent boldness or forwardness.
= Syn Presumptuousness differs from presumption only in
being simply a quality, while presumption may be either
a quality or the conduct exhibiting the quality.
presupposal (pre-su-po'zal), n. [< pre- + sup-
posal] Supposal formed beforehand ; presup-
position.
If oar presupposall be true, . . . the Poet is of all other
the most auncient Orator.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 163.
presuppose (pre-su-p6z'), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
presupposed, ppr. presupposing. [< OF. pre-
supposer, F. presupposer; as pre- + suppose.
C£ Sp. presuponer = Pg. presupp&r = It. pre-
supporre.] 1. To suppose beforehand; take
pretend
for granted in advance of actual knowledge or
experience.
Whatsoeuer the Philosopher sayth shoulde be doone, bee
glueth a perfect picture of it in some one by whom bee pre-
supposeth it was done. Sir P. Sidney, ApoL for Poetrie.
Men of corrupted minds presuppose that honesty grow-
eth out of simplicity of manners.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii 282.
2. To assume beforehand; require or imply as
an antecedent condition ; necessitate the prior
assumption of.
For a remembrance presupposeth the thyng to be absent,;
and therefore, if this be a remembraunce of hym, then can
he not here be present. Fryth, Works, p. 121.
Those who attempt to reason us out of our follies begin
at the wrong end, since the attempt naturally presupposes
us capable of reason. Ooldsmith, English Clergy.
Nutrition presupposes obtainment of food ; food cannot
be got without powers of prehension, and, usually, of lo-
comotion. H. Spencer, Man vs. State, p. 95.
presupposition (pre-sup-o-zish'on), n. [< F.
presupposition = Sp. presuposicion = Pg. pre-
s^tpposigSo = It. presupposizione; as pre- + sup-
position. Ct. presuppose.] 1. Supposition in
advance of experience or knowledge ; surmise ;
conjecture.
There were many great conjectures and presuppoaUons,
and many long circumstances to bring it to conclusion.
North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 383.
2. Postulation as of an antecedent condition ;
hence, that which is postulated as a necessary
antecedent condition; a prerequisite.
Satan will be an adversary, man will be proud : a neces-
sity upon presupposition of Satan's malice, and man's
wickedness. Sev. T. Adams, Works, II. 394.
Self-directing agencj; is the presupposition of ethical
science, and separates it by a sharp line from Physics.
New Princeton Bev., I. 183.
presuppositibnless (pre-sup-o-zish'on-les), a.
[< presupposition + -less.] Without or inde-
pendent of presuppositions.
It has already been seen how the theory of knowledge,
when it passed out of Kant's hands, and tried to make it-
self (a) complete and (6) pre-suppoeitionless, became for
Hegel a logic that was in reality a metaphysic.
Encyc. Brit,XYIII. 795.
presurmise (pre-ser-miz'), n. [< pre- + sur-
mise.] A surmise previously formed.
It was your presurmise
That, in the dole of blows, your son might drop.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., i. 1. 168.
presylvian (pre-sil'vi-an), a. [ipre- + Sylvian.]
Anterior, as a "part of the Sylvian fissure: ap-
plied to the ascending branch of this fissure.
See postsyhiian,
presymphysial (pre-sim-fiz'i-al), a. [< L. prse,
before, + NL. symphysis, symphysis : see sym-
physial.] Situated in advance of the symphy-
sis menti. Geol. Jour., XLIV. 146.
presystole (pre-sis'to-le), re. [< L. prse, before,
+ NL. systole, systole.] The interval imme-
diately prior to the systole.
A study of the sphincters of the cardiac and other veins,
with remarks on their hermetic occlusion during the pre-
systole state. Nature, XXX. 460.
presystolic (pre-sis-tol'ik), a. [< presystole +
-ic.] Preceding the systole Presystolic mur-
mur, a murmur at the close of diastole, immediately pre-
ceding systole.
pret. An abbreviation oi preterit.
preteacht (pre-tech'), v. t. [<^r«- + teach.] To
teach in advance. [Rare.]
He takes the oaths of allegiance and supremacy which
he is2^£etaught to evade, or think null.
Amherst, Terrce Filius, No. 3.
pretence, n. See pretense.
pretend (pre-tend'), V. [< ME.pretenden, < OF.
pretendre, P. pr4tendre = Sp. Pg. pretender =
It. pretendere, < L. prsBtendere, stretch forth or
forward, spread before, hold out, put forward
as an excuse, allege, pretend, < prae, before, -I-
tendere, stretch: see tend.] I. trans. If. To
hold out before one or in front; stretch for-
ward ; hence, to put before one for action, con-
sideration, or acceptance ; offer; present.
But Pastorella, wofull wretched Elle,
Was by the Captaine all this while defended,
Who, minding more her safety than himselfe.
His target alwayes over her pretended.
Spenser, F. Q., VI. xi. 19.
All stood with their pretended spears prepar'd.
With broad steel heads the brandish'd weapons glar'd.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Meleager and Atalanta, 1. 104.
I had not thought (courteous reader) to have pretended
thus conspicuously in thy sight this rude and indigested
chaos of conceites, the abortive issue of my vnfertile
brame. Time«' ff'Aistte(E. E. T. S.), p. 110.
To that wench
I pretend honest love, and she deserves it.
Middleton and Rowley, Changeling, iv. 2.
pretend
From these Mahometan Sanctuaries, our Guide pretend-
ed to carry ub to a Christian Caiurch, about two f urlones
out of Town on the South side.
MaundreU, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 16.
2. To put forward as a statement or an asser-
tion; especially, to allege or declare falsely or
with intent to deceive.
I examined every thing without any one to accompany
me but my own servant, whicli they pretended was very
dangerous. Pococfe, Description of fee East, XL iL 110.
Then I preteruled to be a musician ; marry, I could not
shew mine instrument, and that bred a discord.
B. Jonson, Love Bestored.
In the vicinity of what was called the Lady Dudley's
chamber, the domestics pretended to hear groans and
screams, and other supernatural noises.
Scottj Kenilwortl], zli.
His eulogists, unhappily, could not pi-eten^ that his mor-
als had escaped unt^nted from the wide-spread conta-
gion of that age. MacavJay, Hist. Eng., vi.
3. To put forward as a reason or excuse; use
as a pretext; allege as a ground or reason;
hence, to put forward a false appearance of;
simtdate; counterfeit; feign.
The queen, sir, very oft importuned me
To temper poisons (or her, still pretending
The satisfaction of her Imowledge only
In killing creatures vile, as cats and dogs.
Shale, Cymbeline, v. 6. 260.
Generally to pretend Conscience against Law is danger-
ous. JSelden, Table-Talk, p. 39.
Lest that too heavenly form, pretended
To hellish falsehood, snare them 1
Milton, P. L., X. 872.
This let him know.
Lest, wilfully transgressing, he pretend
SurprisaL Mdton, P. L., v. 244.
No knave but boldly will pretend
The requisites that form a friend.
Cmnper, Friendship, st. 8,
4. To lajr claim to; assert as a right or posses-
sion; claim.
Why shall we fight, if you pretend no title?
Shak., 3 Hen. VL, iv. 7. 57.
The gentry pretend to have their victuals dressed and
served up as nicely as if they were in London.
Beeerley, Virginia, iv. % 70.
5. To aspire to; attempt; undertake. [Obso-
lete or archaic]
And those two bretliren Gyauntes did defend
The walles so stoutly with their sturdie mayne^
That never entraunce any dnmt pretend.
' Spemer, F. Q., II. xL 16.
1 will not pretend so much as to mention that chart on
which is drawn the appearance of our blessed Lord after
his resturection. Steele, Spectator, No. 226.
Dost thou dare pretend to punish me
For not descrying sunshine at midnight?
BraunUng, Eing and Book, II. 222.
6t. To intend; design; plan; plot.
Marriage being the most holy conjunction that falls to
mankind, . . . i&e had not only broken it, but broken it
with death, and the vaoRt pretended death that might be.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, v.
Beward not hospitality
With such black payment as thou iisjst pretended.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 676.
Harm not this young forrester ;
Noe ill doth he pretend.
BoMn Hood and the Tanner's Daughter (Child's Ballads,
[V. 337).
Get you and pray the gods
For success and return ; omit not any thing
In the pretended celebration.
Fletcher (and another). Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1.
7t. To presage ; portend ; forebode.
It plesith hem to dwelle in derk, and in blak, orrible,
stynkynge placis, in heuynesse, wreche, and malencoly,
and in tho thingis iit&tpretende the condicioun of helle.
Book of Quinte Essence (ed. Furnivall), p. 19.
Doth this churlish superscription
Pretend some alteration in good will?
Shak., 1 Hen. VL, iv. 1. 64.
n. intrans. 1. To stretch or reach forward;
aim ; aspire : often with to.
For to what fyn he wolde anon pretende,
UluA knowe I wel, and forthi yet I seye,
So lef this sorwe, or platly he wol dye.
ChoMcer, Troilus, iv. 922.
I am content to go forward a little more in the mad-
ness of missing rather than not pretend; and rather wear
out than rust. Donne, Letters, xxxvL
2. To lay claim; assert a right of ownership
or possession : generally followed by to.
A fellow ttis-t pretends only to learning, buys titles, and
nothing else of books in him ! B. Jonson, Epicoene, i. 1.
Men of those noble breedings you pretend to
Should scorn to lie, or get their food with falsehood.
Fletcher (and another). Sea Voyage, iv. 1.
The Book which I have to Answer pretends to reason,
not to Autorities and quotations.
Milton, Eikonoklastes, v.
Merit Is a claim, and may pretend just^ to favour.
Steele, Lying Lover, i. 1.
3. To make pretense ; make believe ; counter-
feit or feign.
4712
pretendant, pretendent (pre-ten'dant, -dent),
n. [< 'W.pritendant^ Sp. pretendiente = Pg. It.
pretendente, < L. prsstenden{t-)s, ppr. of priR-
tendere, pretend: see pretend.'} Apretender; a
claimant.
Neither the Confederation nor the duchies, nor all the
pretendents to the succession, had acceded to the treaty.
WooUey, Introd. to Inter. Law, App. iL, p. 428.
pretendedly (prf-ten'ded-li), adv. By or with
pretense; by false representation; ostensibly.
An action . . . that came speciously andiwetendedij/ out
out of a Church. Hamimond, Works, IV. 693. (Latham.)
He was also raising Forces in London, pr^endedXy to
serve the Portugal!, but with intent to seise the Tower.
Milton, Eikonoklastes, x.
pretendencet (prf-ten'dens), n. [< ML. prse-
tendentia, pretense, claim, < L. prsetendenlt-)s,
claiming: seepretendant.2 Pretension; claim.
Be it enough that Ood and men do scorn
Their projects, censures, vain pretendences.
Daniel, To the King's Majesty.
pretendent, ». See pretendant.
pretender (pre-ten'der), n. 1. One who pre-
tends, or makes a false show, as of learning or
of legal right.
The King
Pronounced a dismal sentence, meaning by it
To ke6p the list low and pretenders back.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
2. One who pretends, or puts forward a claim;
a claimant; an aspirant.
You must know I am a pretender to the angle, and,
doubtless, a Trout affords the most pleasure to the angler
of any sort of fish whatever.
Cotton, in Walton's Angler, ii. 224.
There are no distinguisliing qualities among men to
which there are not false pretenders.
Steele, Tatler, No. 211.
3. Specifically, a claimant to a throne. In Brit-
ish history there have been several pretenders, especially
"the Pretender," James Edward Stuart, son of James IL,
who in 1715 made an unsuccessful attempt to gain the
English throne and supplant the reigning Hanoverian
dynasty; another unsuccessful attempt was made in his
behalf in 1745-6 by liis son Charles Edward (often called
"the Young Pretender").
God bless the king, I mean the faith's defender;
God bless — no harm in blessing — the Pretender;
But who pretender is, or who is king —
God bless us all ! — that 's quite another thing.
Byrom, 'ro an OflBcer in the Army.
pretendersMp (pre-ten'der-ship), n. [< pre-
tender + -sMp."] The claim, character, or po-
sition of a pretender.
I am at a loss how to dispose of the Dauphine, if he hap-
pen to be king of France before the pretendersMp to Brit-
ain falls to his share. Sv>ift, Public Spirit of the Whigs.
pretendingly (prf-ten'ding-li), adv. In a pre-
tending manner ; pretentiously.
I have a particular reason for looking a little pretend-
ingly at present. Jeremy CoUier, Pride.
pretense, pretence (pre-tens'), n. [< AP. *pi-c-
tense,preten88e,yieteTise,<,'UXi.prxtensa, fern, of
prsetensus, for L. preetentus, pp. of prsetendere,
pretend: see pretend.] If. An intention; a
design ; a purpose.
Put of your clothes in winter by the Are side, and cause
your bed to bee heated with a warming panne, vnless your
pretence bee to harden your members, and to apply your
selfe vnto militarie discipline.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 253.
I have perceived a most faint neglect of late ; which I
have rather blamed as mine own jealous curiosity than as
a very pretence and purpose of unkindness.
Shak,, Lear, L 4. 75.
To Please, this Time, has been his sole Pretence.
Congreae, Way of the World, ProL
2. The act of pretending, or putting forward
something to conceal the true state of affairs,
and thus to deceive ; hence, the representation
of that which does not exist ; simulation ; feign-
ing; a false or hypocritical show ; a sham.
He'll hll this land with arms,
And make pretence of wrong that I have done him.
Shak., Pericles, L 2. 91.
Open violence
May bee avoided ; but false taiv-pretense
Is hardly 'scaped with much ieopardy.
Sylvester, tr. of Dn Bartas's Triumph of Faith, JL 32.
All zeal tor a reform that gives offence
To peace and charity is mere jTr^n^.
Cmoper, Charity, L 634.
3. That under cover of which an actual design
or meaning is concealed; a pretext.
Charles the emperor,
TJnder 2»'etence to see the queen his aunt —
For 'twas indeed his colour, but he came
To whisper Wolsey— here makes visitation.
Shak., Hen. VIIL, i. 1. 177.
We told them that we came for a Trade with the Span-
lards at Manila, and should be glad if they would carry a
Letter to some Merchant there, which they promised to do.
But this was only a pretence of ours, to get out of them
what intelligence we could as to their Shipping, Strength,
and the like. Dampier, Voyages, I. 383.
pretension
4. Pretension; aspiration; the putting forth of
a claim, particularly to merit, dignity, or per-
sonal worth; pretentiousness.
Likewise, if I should disclose my pretence in lone, I would
eyther make a strange discourse of some Intollerable pas-
sion, or finde occasion to pleade by the example of some
historie. Qasooigne, Steele Glas, etc. (ed. Arber), p. 82.
It has always been my endeavour to distinguish between
realities and appearances, and separate true merit from
the pretence to it. Addison, Sir Timothy little.
You think him humble — God accounts him proud;
High in demand, though lowly in preteruie.
Cowper, Truth, L 98.
Mourn for the man of amplest influence.
Yet clearest of ambitious crime.
Our greatest yet with \QaiA pretenae.
Tennyson, Death of Wellington, iv.
5. A claim; a right asserted, with or without
foundation.
In the same time king Edward the iij., him selfe quar>
tering the Armes of England and France, did discouer his
pretence and clayme to the Crowne of Fraunce.
PtMenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 9.
Heard the complaints of the Jamaica merchants against
the Spaniards for hindering them from cutting logwood
on the main land, where they have no pretence.
Eoelyn, Diary, April 19, 1672.
There breathes no being but has some pretence
To that fine instinct called poetic sense.
0. W. Holmes, 'Poetry.
Eacutcheon of pretense. See escutcheon. — False pre-
tense, a false representation as to a matter of facf^ made
in order to induce another to part with property, and with
intent to cheat : commonly in the plural.— Shield Of pre-
tense, an inescutcheon borne to assert the owner's preten-
sions to an estate; an escutcheon of pretense. — Statute
Of false pretenses. See statute. = Syn. 2. Pretense, Pre-
text, Pretension, mask, color, excuse, simulation, afleiita-
tion, cant, claptrap, subterfuge, evasion. A pretense is the
holding forth of that which is false : as, his grief, admira-
tion of a picture, piety, was all a pretense; selfish or ulte-
rior purposes may be connected with the matter, but not
necessarily so : as, to obtain money under false pretenses.
A pretext has something else in view, and makes it seem
right or natural, or hides it out of sight ; the man whose
friendship is mere pretense will trump up some pretext to
escape from each claim upon him for help. That which
is used as a pretext may or may not exist. A pretension is
a claim advanced or asserted, or a holding out of an ap-
pearance : as, preten^ns to wealth, learning, respectabil-
ity. Pretensions generally go beyond fact or right, but
not necessarily. Pretense and pretext of course ordinarily
express that which is wrong; they may be lightly used of
that which is proper.
Sincerity is impossible, unless it pervade the whole be-
ing, and the pretence of it saps the very foundation of
character. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 399.
France and England, without seeking for any decent
pretext, declared war against Holland.
Macaulay, Sir William Temple.
Without any considerablepreteJi^wme to literature in my-
self, I have aspired to the love of letters.
Burke, To a Noble Lord.
pretensed (pre-tensf), a. [< L. prsetensm, pp.
ot praetendere, pretend (see pretense), + -ed^.]
It. Intended; designed.
They can never be clerely extirpate or digged out of
their rotten hartes, but that they wille with hande and
fote, toothe and nayle, f ui'ther if they can their pretensed
enterprice. Hall, Henry VII., f. 6. (HalliwOl.)
Whervpon Cesar, forasmuche as he made so great ac-
compt of the Heduans, determyned by some meanes or
other to brydle Dumnorix and to fear him from his pre.,
tensed purpose. Golding, tr. of Cajsar, f ol. 112.
2. Pretended; feigned.
Protestants have had in England tlioii pretensed synods
and convocations.
Stapleton, Fortress of the Faith, fol. 140. (Latham.)
As for the sequestration of his fruits, he [Gardiner] pro-
tested that it was a pretensed decree, if indeed it existed.
R. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., xviiL
Pretensed right, in law, the right or title to land set up
by one who is out of possession against the person in
possession.
pretensedlyt(pre-ten'sed-li), adv. Pretendedly;
ostensibly.
The Parliament saw year after year their own statute of
repeal traversed by these royal ot pretensedly royal edicts.
S. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., xv.
pretenseless (pre-tens'les), a. [< pretense +
-less.'] Destitute of pretense or pretension.
What Rebellions, and those the basest, and most pre-
tensdesse, have they not been chief e in?
MUton, Reformation in Eng., ii.
pretension (pre-ten'shon), n. [Formerly also
pretention; <0'F. pretention, 'F. pretentions Sp.
pretemsion = Pg. pretenqSo = It. pretensione, <
ML. prsBtenUo{nr.), < L. praetendere, pp. pr«-
tentus ot prsetensus, ■pTetend: see pretend.] 1.
The act of putting forth a claim (specifically, a
false one), particularly to merit, dignity, or im-
portance ; pretentiousness.
Good without noise, without preten^on great.
Pope, Epitaph on K. Digby,
Legates and delegates with pow'rs from hell.
Though heav'nly in pretensim, fleeo'd thee well.
Cowper, Expostulation, 1. 615k
pretension
Another house
Ot less pretenHon did he buy betimes.
The villa, meantfor jaunts and jollity.
Browning, Ring and Bool£, I. 57.
2. Hence, a claim ; an alleged or assumed right,
not necessarily false.
The courtier, the trader, and the scholar should all have
an eqaapretemion to the denomination of a gentleman.
Steele, Tatler, No. 207.
Let us from this moment give up all pretenMont to gen-
'"•ty- Goldsmith, Vicar, iii.
Mind, I give up all my claim — I make no pretensims to
anything in the world. Sheridan, The Rivals, v. 3.
St. A false representation; a pretext; a sham.
This was but an invention and pretension given out by
the Spaniards. Bacon, War with Spain.
He BO much abborr'd artifice and cunning that he had
prejudice to all concealments and ptetensions.
Bp. Fai, Hammond, p. 130.
4. An assertion ; a proposition.
Miss Bird . . . declares all the viands ot Japan to be
uneatable — a staggering pretension.
M. L. Stevenson, The Toreigner at Home.
Arms of pretension, in her. See arm», 7 (c).= Syn. 1
and 2. Pretext, etc. See pretenee.
pietentativet (prf-ten'ta-tiv), a. [< L. preeten-
tatus, pp. ot prsetentare, 'try beforehand, < j)r«,
before, + ientare, try: see tempt.'] Malting
previous trial ; attempting to tiy or test before-
hand.
This is but an exploratory and pretentative purpose be-
tween us ; about the form whereof, and the matter, we
shall consult tomorrow. Sir H. Wotton, Reliquiae, p. 507.
pretentiont, n. An obsolete form ot pretension.
pretentious (pre-ten'shus), a. [< V.pritentieux,
(.pretention, pretension: see pretension.] 1.
Pretended; imfounded; false.
On the other hand, Mr. Chappell now says that Mallet,
after Thomson's death, "put m a pretentious clulm [to be
the author of "Rule Britannia"), against all evidence."
N. and Q., 7th ser., II. 132.
2. Full of pretension, or claims to greater ex-
cellence or importance than the truth warrants ;
attempting to pass for more than the actual
worth or importance ; making an exaggerated
outward show.
No pretentious work, from so great a pen, has less of the
spirit of grace and comeliness.
B. C. Stedman, Vict. Poets, p. 336.
Most of the contributors to those yearly volumes, which
took up such pretentious positions on the centre table,
have shrunk into entire oblivion.
0. W. Holmes, A Mortal Antipathy, p. 7.
Pretentious poverty
At its wits* end to keep appearance up.
Browning, Ring and Book, 1. 67.
pretentiously (pre-ten'shus-li), adv. In a pre-
tentious manner.
pretentiousness (pre-ten'shus-nes), n. The
quality of being pretentious; undue assump-
tion of excellence, importance, or dignity.
pretert, praetert (pre'ter), a. and n. [ipreter-,
prefix.] I. a. Past.
1 had a crotchet in my head here to have given the
raines to my pen, . . . and commented and paralogized
on their condition in the present and in th& preter tense.
Sathe, Lenten Stufle (Harl. Misc., VL 153).
II. n. The past ; past time.
To come, when Micah wrote this, and in the future ; but
come, when St. Matthew cited it, and in the preeter—
" When Jesus was born at Bethlehem." But future and
priBter both are in time, so this His birth in time.
Bp. Andrews, Sermons, I. 162. (Pavies.)
preter-, iMso prseter-; < li. praeter-, prefix,
prseter, adv. and prep., past, by, beyond, be-
fore, < pree, before, + demonstr. suffix -ter.] A
prefix of Latin origin, meaning 'beyond,' 'over,'
or 'by' in space or time, 'more than' in quan-
tity or degree.
pretercanine (pre-t6r-ka-nin'), a. \<preter- +
canine.'] More than canine. [Rare.]
A great dog . . . passed me, however, quietly enough ;
not staying to look up, with strange pretercanine eyes, in
my face, as I half expected it would. ^ „
Charlotte Brontg, Jane Eyre, xu.
preterhuman (pre-ter-hu'man), a. [< preter-,
+ human.] More than human; beyond what
is human. Also preeterhuman.
All are essentially anthropomorphic, and cannot be re-
garded as supernatural or superhuman beings, but only
preterhuman. The Academy, Jan. 2S, 1888, p. 55.
preterient (pre-te'ri-ent), a. [< h.praeterien(P)s,
ppr. ot prseterire, go by, go past: see preterit.]
Going before; preceding; previous.
He told them his soul had passed through several ante-
cedent forms, . . . with the faculty of rememberiug all
the actions of its prseterient states. Observer, No. 9.
preter-imperfect (pre"ter-im-per'fekt), n. In
gram., a tense expressing time not pertectly
past; the past imperfect: generally called sim-
ply imperfect. [Little used.]
4713
preterist (pret'e-rlst), n. and a. [< preter- +
-ist.] I. n. 1. One whose chief interest is in
the past; one who has regard principally to the
past. — 2. In theol., one who believes that the
prophecies of the Apocalypse have already been
nearly or entirely fulfilled.
II, a. Relating to the preterists or their
views.
preterit, preterit€f (pret'e-rit), a. and n. [Also
sovaetixiies praeterite; < 'iSlE. preterit, < OF.pre-
teritjF. preterit = Vv. preterit — Sp. preterito =
Pg. It. preterito, < L. prxteritus, gone by, past,
past and gone (neut. preeteritum, sc. tempus, in
gram, the past or preterit tense), pp. of prse-
terire, go by, go past, < prseter, before, beyond,
+ ire, go.] I. a. 1. Bygone; past.
Alle the inlynyt spaces of tymes preteritz and futures.
Clmucer, Boethius, v. prose 6.
The prseterUe and present dignity comprised in being
a "widow well left" . . . made a flattering and concilia-
tory view of the future.
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, i. 12.
Without leaving your elbow-chair, you shall go back
with me thirty years, which will bring you among things
and persons as thoroughly preterite as Romulus or Numa.
LowM, Fireside Travels, p. 15.
2. In gram., expressing past time; past: ap-
plied especially to the tense which expresses
past action or existence simply, without fur-
ther implication as to continuousness, etc.:
as, wrote is the preterit tense of write.
II. n. It. Time past; the past.
She wepeth the tyme that she hath wasted,
Compleyning of the preterit
And the present that not abit.
Rom. of the Rose, L 6011.
2. In gram., the tense which signifies past
time, or which expresses action or being as
simply past or finished. Abbreviated j>re*.
preteriteness, «. Qee vreteritness.
preteritial (pret-e-rish'al), a. [< preterit +
-ial.] In Mol., having been active, but no long-
er being so: as, preteritial force — applied in
biology to what is termed latent force or equi-
librated energy.
pretention (pret-e-rish'on), n. [Also prseteri-
tiori; = F. pr^teri'tion =:'Pr. Sp. preteridon =
Fg. preterigao = It. preterizione, < LL. prseteri-
Uo{n-), a passing over, an omission, < prseterire,
pp. prseteritus, go by, go past : see preterit.] 1 .
The act of passing over or by, or the state of
being passed over or by.
He [Calvin] only held that God's purpose was indeed to
deny grace to some, by way of preterition, or rather non-
election. Evelyn, True Religion, II. 252.
The Israelites were never to eat the paschal lamb but
they were recalled to the memory of that saving preteri-
tion of the angel. Bp. HaU.
Specifically — 2. In CalvinisMc theol., the doc-
trine that God, having, elected to everlasting
life such as should be saved, passed over the
others. — 3. In rhet., a figure by which a speak-
er, in pretending to pass over anything, makes
a summary mention of it:, as, "I will not say
he is valiant, he is learned, he is just." Also
pretermission. — 4. In law, the passing over by
a testator of one of his heirs otherwise entitled
to a portion.
A reform effected by Justinian by his 116th Novel ought
not to pass unnoticed ; for it rendered superfluous all the
old rules about disherison and preeterUion of a testator's
children. Mneyc. Brit., XX. 714.
preteritive (pre-ter'i-tiv), a. [<preterit+ -i/oe.]
In gram., expressing past time; also, limited
to past tenses.
preteritness (pret'e-rit-nes), n. The state of
being past or bygone. Also preteriteness.
■ We cannot conceive a preeteriteness (if I may say so) still
backwards in infinitum that never was present, as we can
an endless futurity that never will be present.
Bentley, Sermons, vi.
A valley in the moon could scarce have been lonelier,
oonld'scarce have suggested more strongly the feeling of
preteriteness and extinction.
Lowell, Fireside Travels, p. 206.
preteritopresential (pre - ter"i - to - pre - zen '-
shal), a. [< NL. prseteritoprsesen(t-)s, preterit-
present (< li.^ieteritus, preterit, + prsesen(t-)s,
present), + -ial] Same as preterit-present.
Whitney, Life and Growth of Lang., p. 93.
preterit-present (pret'e-rit-prez'ent), a. and n.
I. a. Combining preterit form with present
meaning: said of certain Germanic verbs, as
may, can.
II. n. A verb combining preterit form with.
present meaning.
preterlapsed (pre-tfer-lapsf), a. [< L. prseter-
lapms, pp. otprxterlaU, glide or flow by, < prx-
ter, by, + lain, glide, flow, lapse : see lapse.]
Preterit; past; bygone. [Rare.]
preternaturalism
We look with a superstitious reverence upon the ac-
counts of preterlapsed ages.
Glanville, Vanity of Dogmatizing, xv.
preterlegal (pre-ter-le'gal), a. l< preter- + le-
gal.] Exceeding the limits of law; not legal.
[Rare.]
I expected some evil customs preterlegal^ and abuses
personal, had been to be removed. Eikon Basilike.
preterminablet, a. [ME. preterm ynable ; ap-
par. taken as equiv. to interminable; < L. prse,
before, -f- LL. *terminabilis, terminable: see
terminable.] Eternal.
Thou quytes vchon as hys desserte.
Thou hyge kyng aj pretermyndble.
Alliteratioe Poems (ed. Morris), i. 595.
pretermission (pre-ter-mish'gn), n. [= 'F. pre-
termission = Sp. pretermision = Pg. pretermis-
sdlo = It. pretermissione, < L. prsetermissio(n-),
an omission, a passing over, (.prsetermittere, pp.
prsetermissus, let pass, neglect: see pretermit.]
1. The act of passing by ; an omission.
A tovilpretennission in the Author of this, whether Story
or Fable: himself wearie, as seems, of his own tedious
Tale. MUton, Hist. Eng., i.
3. In rhet., same as preterition, 3.
pretermit (pre-ter-mif), V. t.; pret. and pp.
pretermitted, ppr. pretermitting. [< OF . preter-
metre, pretermettre = Sp. inetermiUr = Pg. pre-
termitUr = It. pretermettere, < L. prsetermittere,
pp. prsetermissus, pass by, let pass, neglect, <
prseter, before, beyond, -i- mittere, send, let go :
see mission.] It. To let pass; permit to go by
unused or not turned to account.
The Mariners, seeing a fit gale of winde for their pur-
pose, wished Capnio to make nodelayes,least(if they pre-
termitted this good Weather) they might stay long ere they
had such a faire Winde. Greene, Fandosto.
Such an one as keeps the watch of his God, and preter-
mits no day without the forementioned duties, shall sel-
dom or never fall into any foul slough.
Rev. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 29.
2. To omit; leave unnoticed or unmentioned;
disregard; overlook.
I pretermyt also the ryche apparell of thepryncesse, the
straunge f asshion of the Spanyshe nacion, the beautie of
the Englishe ladyes. HeM, Hen. VII., 1. 53. (.HaUivxU.)
I haue not thought good to pretermitte that which
chaunced to .fohannes Solysius, who, to searche the South
syde of the supposed continent, departed with three
shlppes from porte Joppa.
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. 181).
The birth of a New Year Is of an interest too wide to be
pretermitted by king or cobbler. Lamb, New Year's Eve.
3. To leave undone; neglect to do, make, or
perform.
We ai-e infinitely averse from it [prayer], . . . weary of
its length, glad of an occasion to pretermit our offices.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 87.
4. To render ineffectual. [Rare.]
To pretermit the vigour and firmness of Phillippe le Bel,
. . . Giovanni Buonacorsi of Lucca published, under the
reign of Louis XII. , a proposition that the pope was above
the king in temporals.
Landar, Eing James I. and Isaac Casaubon.
pretermitter (pre-ter-mit'er), n. One who pre-
termits.
[The poet] is himselfe partelye contented to be con-
trowled by the stoick Damasip, as a sluggarde, and preter-
miter of duetif nil occasions.
Drarit, tr. of Horace's Satires, iL 3, Prol.
preternatural (pre-ter-naj'u-ral), a. [= OP.
preternaturel = Sp. Pg. pret'eniatural = It. pre-
ternaturale; as preter- ■¥ natural.] Being be-
yond what is natural, or different from what is
natural; extraordinary; being out of the regu-
lar or natural course of things: distinguished
from supernatural, being above nature, and un-
natural, beiug contrary to nature.
Any preternatural immutatipns in the elements, any
strange concussations of the earth.
Bp. HaU, Invisible World, i. § i.
Mr. Pickering was a widower— a fact which seemed to
produce in him a sort of preternatural concentration of
parental dignity. H. James, Jr., Pass. Pilgrim, p. 191.
=Syn. Miraculous, etc. See supernatural.
preternaturalism (pre-ter-nat'u-ral-izm), n. [<
preternatural + -ism.] 1 . The tendency, habit,
or system of ascribing preternatural qualities
or powers to things which may be only natural ;
belief in the preternatural.
Camille's head, one of the clearest in France, has got it-
self . . . saturated through every fibre with pretemMu-
ralism of suspicion. Carlyle, French Rev., III. iii. 8.
2. Preternatural existence or existences.
Words cannot express the love and sorrow of my old
memories, chiefly out of boyhood, as they occasionally rise
upon me, and I have now no voice for them at all. One's
heart becomes a grun Hades, peopled only with silent
preternaturalism. Carlyle, in Froude, II. 19.
preternaturality
pretematurality (pre-tfer-nat-u-ral'i-ti), «.
[(.preternatural + -ity.'] Preternatui-alness.
[Rare.] .
There is such an intricate mixture of naturality and iire-
temalurality in age.
J. Smith, Portrait of Old Age, p. 133. (Latham.)
preternaturally (pre-ter-nat'fl-ral-i), adv. In
a preternatui-al manner; in"a manner beyond
or aside from the common order of nature.
preteruaturalness (pre-ter-nat'u-ral-nes), «.
The state or character of being'preternatural ;
a. state or manner different from the common
order of nature.
preternotorious (pre"ter-no-t6'ri-us), a. l<pre-
ter- + notorious.^ Very notorious. [Rare.]
This professed cheating rogue was my master, andl con-
fess myself a more preterrwtorious rogue than himself, in
so long keeping his villanons counsel.
Fletcher (and another). Fair Maid of the Inn, iv. 2.
preternuptial (pre-ter-nup'shal), a. \<preter-
+ nuptial.'] Beyond what is permitted by the
nuptial or marriage tie; hence, euphemisti-
cally, adulterous.
Nay, poor woman, she by and by, we find, takes up with
jweteniup(i<rf persons. Carij/Ze, Misc., IV. 97. (Domes.)
preterperfect (pre-ter-per'fekt), a. and n. [<
preter- + jjer/eci.] In gram., past-perfect ; per-
fect.
The same natural aversion to loquacity has of late made
a considerable alteration in our language, by closing in
one syllable the termination of our preter^perfect tense,
as di'own'd, walk'd, for drowned, walked.
Addison, Spectator.
preter-pluperfect (pre"t6r-plo'per-f ekt), a. and
n. [< L. jwasier, beyond, -f-jiltis, more, + per-
feotiis, perfect.] In gram., past-pluperfect;
pluperfect.
preterplurality (pre"t6r-pl5-ral'i-ti), n. [< pre-
ter- + plurality. ] Extraordinary number.
It is not easily credible what may be said of the pre-
terpluratities of taylors in London.
N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 31.
pretervection (pre-t6r-vek'shon), n. [<L.jj»'a-
tervectio(n-), a riding or passing by, < preeter-
vehi, pp. pirxtervectns, be borne past, pass by,
< prseter, beyond, past, + vehere, carry, bear,
pass, vehi, drive, ride : see vehicle.'] The act of
carrying past or beyond.
The pretervection of the body to some place. Potter.
pretext (pre-teks'), «• t. [< L. pirietexere, weave
in front, fringe, edge, border, place before, al-
lege as an excuse, pretend, Cpree, before, +
tea;ej-e, weave : see text.] 1. To frame; devise.
Knox. — 2. To cloak; conceal.
Ambition's pride
(Too ottpretexed with our country s good).
T. Edwardt, Sonnets, i.
3. To pretend ; allege.
Leste their lasshnes (as thei pretex it) shuld conflrme
the enimies of the gospell. Joye, Expos, of Daniel xii.
pretext (pre'tekst or (formerly only)pre-tekst'),
n. [< F.prMexte = Sp. Pg.pretexto = tt.pretes-
to, < L. preetextum, an ornament, etc., wrought
in front, a pretense, neut. of prsetextus, pp. of
prsetexere, weave before, fringe or border, al-
lege : see pretex.] That which is assumed as a
cloak or means of concealment ; something un-
der cover of which a true purpose is hidden ; an
ostensible reason, motive, or occasion; a pre-
tense.
I know it ;
And my preteiO, to strike «t him admits
A good construction. Shak., Cor., v. 6. 20.
It either assumes the pretext of some virtue, or openly
despises infamy. Boom, Fable of Dionysius.
In almost all the little commonwealths of antiquity,
liberty was used as a pretext for measures directed against
everything which makes liberty valuable.
Macmday, History.
=Syn. Pretension, etc. See^ete»i«e.
pretexts (pre-teksf), i>. t. [< pretext, n.] To
use as a pretext, or cloak or covering; assume
as a means of concealment.
Such these are, who, under the abomination of luxury—
nicely termed kindness— import the pretexted gloss of
beauty's name. Ford, Honour Triumphant, iii.
pretexta, n. See prxtexta.
pretexture (prf-teks'tur), n. l<pretext + -ure.]
A means of concealment; cloak; disguise; pre-
text.
Now we have studied both texture of words and pre-
textures of manners to shroud dishonesty.
Bev. T. Adams, Works, II. «6.
prethoughtful (pre -that 'ful), a. [< pre- +
thoughtful] Forethoughtful; prudent; consid-
erate.
Prethoughtfvl of every chance. Bvlwer.
pretibial' (pre-tib'i-al), a. [< L. prx, before,
+ tibia, tibia : see tibial.] Situated upon the
4714
front of the lower part of the leg: as, a pre-
tibial muscle.
pretiosity t, n. An obsolete spelling ot preciosity.
pretioust, «• An obsolete spelling ot precious.
pretium affectionis (pre'shi-um a-fek-shi-o'-
nis). [L. : pretium, price {seeprice); affectionis,
gen. of affectio(n-), frame of mind, state of feel-
ing, affection: see affection.] The value put
upon a thing by the fancy of the owner, or by
the regard in which he holds it, as distinguish-
ed from market or salable value.
pretonic (pre-ton'ik), a. [< L. prse, before, +
Gr. Tovoi, accent: see tonic] Preceding the
accent. Amer. Jour. Philol., V. 499.
pretor, praetor (pre'tor), m. [= F.preteur =
Pr. Sp. Pg. pretor = It. pretoi-e, < L. prastor, a
leader, chief, head, president, governor, gen-
eral, commander, pretor; orig. *preeitor, one
who goes before, < prieire, go before, lead the
way, < prse, before, + ire, go.] 1. In Rom.
hist., a title which originally designated the
consuls as the leaders of the armies of the
state. Later (from about 367 B. C.) one and from about
242 B. 0. two pretors were appointed as colleagues to the
consuls, and specifically as judicial officers, one of whom
(prsBtor urbanus) tried causes between Roman citizens, and
the other (prsetor peregrinus) causes between strangers,
or between strangers and citizens. After the discharge of
his judicial functions a pretor had often the administra-
tion of a province, with the title of propretor, or some-
times proconsul. When the dominions of Borne were
extended beyond Italy, the number of pretorships was
increased, and finally, under the empire, became eighteen,
or even more. The preetor urbanus was the fli'St in rank,
and was specifically the Pretor.
Hence — 2. A magistrate; a mayor. Dryden.
Pretoria, n. Plural otpretorium.
Pretoria!, prsetorial (prf-to'ri-al), a. [= OF.
2}retorial = Sp. Pg. pretorial, < L. prsetorius,
pertaining to a pretor (< prsetor, a pretor, a
leader: seejjretor), -1- -oZ.] Sameaspretonan.
—Pretorial courtt, in the colony of Maryland, a court
erected for the trial of capital crimes, and consisting of the
lord proprietor, or his lieutenant-general, and the counciL
pretorian, praetorian (pre-to'ri-an), a. and n.
[= F. pretorien = Sp. Pg. It. pretoriano, < LL.
prsetoriamis, pertaining to a pretor, of preto-
rial rank, also of or belonging to the pretorium
or imperial body-guard, < L. prsetor, a pretor,
prsetorium, the imperial body-guard: see pre-
tor, pretorium.] I. o. 1. Of or pertaining to a
pretor; exercised by a pretor; judicial: as, pre-
torian authority ; also, of or pertaining to a
pretorium. — 2. Of or belonging to the body-
guard of a Roman emperor Pretorian gate, that
one of the four gates in a Roman camp which was nearest
the enemy, or directly in front of the general's tent. See
plan under camp^ (at reference-letter o). — Pretorian'
guard, one of a body of troops originally formed by the
emperor Augustus to protect his person and his power,
and maintained by successive Roman emperors down to
Constantine : so called as practically continuing the or-
ganization and functions of the preetoria cohars, or select
troops which attended the person of the pretor or the gen-
eral of the republic. These troops were under a spe-
cial organization, and had special privileges of rank and
pay, raising them above the ordinary soldiery. They soon
acquired a dangerous power, and for a considerable time
raised and deposed emperors at their pleasure.— Preto-
rian pact. See2;act.—Fretorian testament. Seetesto-
ment.
II, n. A soldier of the pretorian guard.
pretorianism (prf-to'ri-an-izm), n. [< jjretonam
-1- -ism.] Venal 'military despotism.
Slavery, pretorianism, corruption of morals, and aver-
sion to matrimony, decay of civic as also of military virtue.
Pop. Sci. Mo., July, 1878, p. 268.
pretorium (prf-to'ri-um), n. ; pi. pretoria (-a).
[L. prsetorium (> Grr. npaiTuptov), a general's
tent, a council of war, the official residence of
a governor, a palace, the imperial body-guard,
the pretorian guard, < prsetor, a general, gov-
ernor, pretor: see pretor. Of. pretory.] 1.
That part of a Roman camp in whioh the gen-
eral's tent stood. See plan under camp^. — 2.
The official residence of a provincial governor
among the ancient Romans ; a hall of justice ;
a palace.
The soldiers led him away into the hall, called Prseto-
rium. Mark xv. 16.
pretorsMp (pre'tor-shlp), n. [^pretor + -ship.]
The office or dignity of a pretor.
pretorturet (pre-t6r'tur), V. t. [< pre- + tor-
ture.] To tortm-e be%rehand.
Remarkable was their cruelty in pretorturing of many
whom afterwards they put to death.
Fvtter, Ch. Hist., VIII.' ii. 27. (Davies.)
pretoryt, n. [MB., also pretorie, < OF. pretorie,
pretoire, F. pretoire, pretorian guard, = Sp.
Pg. It. pretorio, < L. prsetorium, pretorium: see
pretorium.] 1 . Same as pretorium, 2.
Pilate up ros, and forth he jede
Outof thej)reto»T/.
Cursor Mundi. (HaUiwell.)
pretty
2. The pretorian guard.
I took stryl ageins the provost of thepretorie for comnne
profit. Chaucer, Boethius, i prose 4.
prettify (prit'i-fi), v. t. ; pret. and pp. prettified,
ppr. prettifying. [< pretty + -fy.] To make
pretty; embellish; especially, to make pretty
in a petty, finical way, as by the excessive or
fanciful use of ornament.
Sightly without being prettified. W. M. RossetU.
He [Millet] would not stoop to alter facts and "prettify
types " for all the cdtics in France.
Mneteenth Century, XXIV. 431.
prettily (prlt'l-li), adv. [< ME. pratih/, praty-
lych; < pretty -I- -ly^.] It. In a cunning man-
ner; cunningly; cleverly.
A bok hym is browt
Naylyd on a brede of tre.
That men callyt an abece,
Pratylych I-wrout.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnlvall), p. 244.
2t. Excellently; well.
The profit of reading is singular, ui that It serveth for
a preparative unto sermons ; it helpeth prettily towards
the nourishment of faith which sermons have once engen-
dered. Hooker, Dccles. Polity, v. 22.
3. In a pretty or pleasing manner ; with neat-
ness and taste ; pleasingly; gracefully.
Still she entreats, and prettily entreats.
For to a pretty ear she tunes her tale.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, L 73.
And here, below it, is the cipher too you spoke of ; and
'tisprettUy contrived. Cotton, in Walton's Angler, iL 238.
prettiness (prit'i-nes), n. [Formevly also preti-
nesse; < pretty + -ness.] 1. Pleasantness;
agreeableness.
Thought and affliction, passion, hell Itself,
She turns to favour and to prettiness.
Shak., Hamlet, iv. 6. 189.
He was all life, all prettinesse, far from morose, sullen,
or childish in any thing he said or did.
Fvelyn, Diary, Jan. 27, 1658.
2. The state or quality of being jjretty, or pleas-
ing to the esthetic sense ; especially, the effect
of beauty in its slighter, more delicate, and more
evanescent forms; the charm of grace, harmo-
ny, delicacy, or neatness, as presented to the
sight or the hearing ; diminutive or dainty beau-
ty : as, the prettiness of a picture or a tune ; the
prettiness of a gesture, a dimple, or a lisp.
Majesty and stateliness, as in the lion, the horse, the
-eagle, and cock; . . . grave awfulness, as in your best
bred mastiffs ; or elegancy and prettiness, as in your lesser
dogs and most sorts of birds, all which are several modes
of beauty. Dr. H. More, Antidote against Atheism, iL 9.
There [the squirrel] whisks his brush.
And perks his ears, and stamps, and cries aloud.
With all the prettiness of feigned alarm.
Cowptir, Task, vL 319.
There is much small art which has beauty, or at least
that lower form of it which we call pretiirwss; yet the best
art is both true and beautiful.
P. 0. Bamerton, Thoughts about Art, xviiL
3. Neatness and taste bestowed on small ob-
jects; hence, often, petty elegance; affected
niceness; finicalness; foppishness.
A style . . . without sententious pretension or anti-
thetic^ prettiness. Jejrey.
4. That which is pretty ; a pretty thing or per-
son : generally in a depreciative sense, as sug-
gesting pettiness.
A great aSecter of wits and such pretinessea; and his
company is costly to him, tor he seldom ha's it but in-
uited. Bp. Barle, Mlcro-cosmographle, A Weake Man.
Suburban villas, Belgrave teraaces, and other such preHi-
nesses,
HaiMhome, Passages from Eng. Note Books, II. 306.
The painter . . . was forced by the fervour of his pa-
trons, and his own desire for money, to perpetuate pious
pretHnessea long after he had ceased to Jeel them.
J. A, Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 76.
pretty (prit'i), a. [Early mod. E. also prettie,
pretie; dial, alsopratl^; <'MLE.pre1y,2)reU,pra-
ty,prati, clever, cunning, pretty, elegant, < AS.
prsettig, also, with loss of r,psetig,petig, crafty,
wily, astute (glossed by L. callidus, astutus, sa-
gax, gnarus, versipellis), = leol. prettugr, tricky,
deceitful; associated with the noun, ME. prat,
< AS. prset, prsett, craft, art, wile (glossed by L.
astu, ars), =Icel.pre<*r,atrick (pi-etta, v., trick),
= Norw. pretta, a trick {pretta, v. , trick) ; cf . W.
praith, an act, deed. Com. prat, an act, deed,
cunning trick; prob. < 'ML. practicus, skilled,
cunning (glossed by peritus), < Gr. irpaKriKdg,
skilled, versed in affairs: seepraetic. The noun,
AS. prset, may be due to the adj., or, like the
W. and Com. words, it may be < ML. practica,
practice: seepi-actice. For the sense of 'cun-
ning,' or ' sharp practice,' ct. practice in like as-
sociation. For the development of pretty from
'cunning' or 'skilled' to 'cunning' or 'ti'icky'
and thence to ' neat, fine, small, and beautiful,'
pretty
cf . the histories of cunning, fine, neat. There
IS an nnconsoious sympathy with neat trickery,
or a secret admiration of it, that imparts to
words denoting it a quality of commendation :
the epithets cunning, shrewd, clever, sJiarp, smart,
keen, cute, etc., though they may insinuate dis-
honesty, are likely to be received with a secret
complacency by those to whom they are ap-
plied.] 1. Crafty; cunning: clever; shrewd;
keen. [Obsolete or archaic]
i^j 1' Bjeat P'Me that so prettie a fellow had not ooou-
ptea his braynes in studies of more consequence.
Puttentmm, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 25a
Meldrltch, Intending to make his passage perforce, was
advised of ayrettj/ stratagem by the English Smith.
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 26.
Aboute some 3. or i. years before this time ther came
over one Captalne Wolastone (a man otpretU parts).
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 235.
Egad! ma'am, he has & pretty wit, and is a. pretty ^oet
"O- Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 1.
St. Strong and bold; warlike; accomplished in
arms.
Euen before in the frunt of that faire yle
Was a prouynse of prise, &praty men in.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), L 10816.
Did you ever see a prettier man
Than this Trumpeter of Fyvie?
■ Andrew Lammie (Child's Ballads, II. 192).
There is risen a rumour . . . that we would have broken
the prison with such violence as, if master bailiffs liad
not played the pretty men, we should have made a scape.
Bp. Ridley, in Bradford's Letters (Parker Soc, 1853), II. 83.
He even mentioned the exact number of recruits who
had joined Waverley's troop from his uncle's estate, and
observed they were pretty men— meaning not handsome,
but stout warlike fellows. Scott, Waverley.
3. Comely; handsome; good-looking; hence,
in later use, pleasing to the esthetic sense;
attractive thi'ough grace, elegance, neatness,
harmony of parts, or delicacy of outline or col-
oring; having delicate beauty; pleasing the eye
or ear rather than impressing the mind: as, a
pretty tace; a j;re*iy cottage ; a j)re% picture.
In this use the word implies a certain slightness, limita.
tion, or lack of power, and hence is easily made deprecia^
tive in cases where these attributes are out of place.
To cui-te he came a pratye yong seruaunt.
Generydee (E. E. X. S.), 1. g02.
So doth the earth seeme to dance, in little Hillocks and
pretie Tallies, diuersifying the soile.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 615.
That which is little can be but pretty, and by claiming
dignity becomes ridiculous. Johnson.
Beauties in vain their j»°e(t^ eyes may roll ;
Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
Pope, E. of the L.
Can any wife he prettier than an after dinner fancy, idle
and yet vivid, can paint for you?
D. G. Mitchell, Eeveries of a Bachelor, i.
It will be a sulBcient word to the wise to say that it is
& pretty book, and that it ends with a death.
The Academy, No. 891, p. S74.
Hence — 4. Affectedly neat or fastidious about
one's personal appearance ; finical; foppish.
I don't design you to personate a real Man, you are only
to be a pretty Gentleman. Steele, Tender Husband, i. 1.
The pretty gentleman must have his airs.
Steele, Guardian, No. 38.
5. Pleasing in general; pleasing to the mind;
interesting; entertaining; gratifying.
Birds . . . that at sun-rising filled the wood with such
a variety of notes as made the prettiest confusion imagin-
able. Addison, Ancient Medals, lii.
Tispretty to observe how the King Disciplines this great
City by small instances of Obedience.
Lister, Joui'ney to Paris, p. 16.
It was pretty to see how easily the membranous cap of
the rostellnm [in Epipaetis Palmtris] came off.
Darwin, Fertil. of Orchids by Insects, p. 97.
6. Excellent; good; fine; nice: said loosely,
like fine and nice, of almost any object or action
as a general term of commendation, and also,
like fine and nice, often used ironically, espe-
cially in exclamatory sentences.
Some speech may be whan it is spoken very vndecent,
and yet the same, hauing afterward somewhat added to it,
may become ©reft/ and decent.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 230.
A pretty chandelier for a Christian Bishop to be chaining
to the roof and lighting up for the glory of heathenism !
De Qmncey, Secret Societies, i.
I had a pretty dinner for them : viz., a brace of stewed
carps, six roasted chickens, and a jowk of ^Imon, hot,
for^he first course. Pepys, Diary, I. 267.
The quarrel is a very pretty quarrel as it stands ; we
should only spoil it by trying to explain it. .
"u J F J ■> si^ridun. The Eivals, iv. 3.
In the convent his news made a pretty to do.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 316.
Yes. W8 have a pretty artiflery of tools now in our social
arrangements : we ride four times as fast as our fathOTS
did: travel, grind, weave, forge, plant, till, and excavate
better '" ' Emerson, Works and Days.
4715
7. Good or sufficient; moderately large in
quantity, number, extent, duration, etc. ; con-
siderable.
There were a pretty many of us upon the shore of Calais,
who were carried thence in a chaloupe to a large ship.
jy^ Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, p. 360.
A pretty while these pretty creatures stand.
Like ivory conduits coral cisterns filling.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1233.
It is a pretty way distant from the town.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 6.
They . . . call upon me to help them with tooles faster
then I can get them, though I have now bought pretty
store. T. Shepard, Clear Sunshine of the Gospel, p. 42.
8. A term of endearment, supplying the place
of a diminutive.
Piteous plainlags of the pretty babes.
Shak., C. of E., i. 1. 73.
This pretty, puny, weakly little one.
Tennyson, Enoch Arden.
=Syn. 3. Bandsome, Fair, etc. See ieauti/vl.
pretty (prit'i), «(?■». [(.pretty, a., 7. "] Moderate-
ly; reasonably; tolerably: expressing a degree
less than very: as, a farm pretty well stocked;
pretty good lodgings ; I am pretty sure of the
fact.
You aie pretty near the business, for the bottom of ail
is for want of a change in their niind and will.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 208.
We aa,t pretty late over our punch.
Addison, Tory Foxhunter.
I think your tricks are pretty well known.
Sheridan (?), The Camp, i. 1.
Pretty much, very nearly ; in considerable degree.
The gallants of these times pretty Tnuch resembled the
bloods of ours. Goldsmith, Keverie at Boar's-Head Tavern.
The trade to India . . . carried on pretty much in the
same manner as it had been before the days of Alexander.
Brace, Source of the Nile, I. 468.
pretty-grass (prit'i-gras), n. [Tr. NL. Calo-
chortiis.~\ A plant of the genus Caloeltortus.
These plants are grass-like below, but have large and
beautiful fiowers. Also called butter/ly^weed, mariposa-
lily, and wild tulip.
prettyism (prit'i-izm), n. [< pretty + 4sm.1
Affected prettiness of manner, style, or the like.
Edinburgh Bev. (Imp. Diet.)
prettypretty (prit'i-prif'i), n. ; pi. prettypret-
ties (-IZ). [(.pretty + pretty.'] A knickknack.
[Colloq.]
My mother . . . had contrived to keep a certain num-
ber of pr^typretties which were dear to her heart. They
were not much ; . . . some china and a little glass, a few
books, and a veiy moderate supply of household silver.
TrdUope, Autobiog., p. 21.
pretty-spoken (prit'i-sp6''''kn), a. Spoken or
speaking prettily.
pretympanic (pre-tim-pan'ik), a. and n. [< Ii.
prie, before, + NL. tympanum.'] I, a. 1. In
anat, placed in advance of the tympanum of
the ear: as, a, pretympanic nerve.
A smaller pretympanic, which may represent the chorda
tympani, and a larger post-tympanic or hyoid nerve.
Huxley and Martin, Elementaiy Biology, p. 29.
2. In ichth., anterior with reference to the
tympanic pedicle or suspensorium of the man-
dible ; anterior among a set of bones compos-
ing this pedicle: correlated with «pi-, meso-,
and hypotympanic.
II. n. The pretympanic bone or cartilage of
the suspensorium of the lower jaw of fishes,
now generally called metapterygoid, under
which name it is shown in the cut under pala-
toquadrate.
pretypify (pre-tip'i-fi), v. *.; pret. and pp. pre-
typified, T^yv. pretypify ing. [(jpre- + typify.]
To typify what is to come after m course of evo-
lution, as an archetype ; prefigure, forecast, or
foreshadow.
Thus the session of the Messias was pretypifled.
Bp. Pearson, Expos, of Creed, vL (Laiham.)
Paramoecium and its allies would thus appear to pretyp-
ify the Turbellarians. W. S. Kent, Man. Infos., p. 103.
pretzel (pret'sel), n. [< Gr. pretzel, var. of hret-
zel, formerly Jyrezel, dial, brestell, bretzen, brdt-
zet, < MHGr. brezel, prezel, brezUe, < OHGr. iriz-
ziUa, brezitella, preziteUa, also brezita, precita
(MHGr. brsezte, breze), a pretzel; cf. It. braccia-
tello, bracciello, a kind of cake or roll ; appar.
(with some variations of form) < ML. bracellus,
also brachiolum, a kind of cake or roll, lit. ' an
armlet' (OP. hraeel); see bracelet.] A small
brittle biscuit, usually baked in the form of a
knot, and salted on the outside; a cracknel.
The German beer-houses, with their baskets of pretzel,
are more frequent as weapproachthecommercial quarters.
Harper's Mag., LXXVni. 692.
prevail (pre-val' ), «. [Early mod. E. prevayle^
< "ME. prevdilen,(. OP. pi-evaler,prevaloir, P. pre-
valoir = OSp. prevaler = It. prevalere (cf. Sp.
prevalence
Pg. prevalecer), prevail, < L. prssvalere, be very
able or more able, be superior, prevail, < prse,
before, + valere, be able or powerful : see val-
id.] I. inti-ans. 1. To be superior in strength;
hence, to have or gaiu the advantage, as in a
contest or matching of strength ; be victorious ;
triumph; have the upper hand: often followed
by over or against.
It came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that
Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek
prevaUed. Ex. xvii. 11.
Meldritch, seeing there was no possibiliti long to pre-
usile, ioyned his small troopes in one body.
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 28.
The disquiets of my mind prevailed over my weariness,
and kept me awake. Swift, Gulliver's Travels, iii. 1.
3. To have or exert superior influence ; have a
controlling or overmastering authority; be pre-
dominant.
Barbarous climes, where y\o\&jice prevails.
And strength is lord of all. Coteper, Task, L 604-
Will he [man] not see, through all he miscalls accident,
that Law prevails tor ever and ever ?
Emerson, Domestic Life.
3. To operate efEectually; be effective; suo-
ceedj especially in persuading, inducing, or con-
vincing.
If then
My words preuuHde when they were wickednesse.
How much more now when they are just and good !
Toumeur, Revenger's Tragedy, iv. 4.
For when a world of men
Conld not prevail with all their oratory.
Yet hath a woman's kindness over-ruled.
Shak., 1 Hen., VI., ii. 2. 49.
If AigameataprevaHe not with such a one, force is well
us'd. Milton, Eikonoklastes, vi.
4. To be in force ; extend with power or effect ;
hence, to be prevalent or cuiTcnt.
It is plain from all history that two abominable prac-
tices, the one the eating of men, the other of sacrificing
them to the devil, prevailed all over Africa.
Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. S93.
The Canarese alphabet prevails on the plateau of My-
sore, in the western districts of the Nizam territory, and
to a small extent in the Canara district on the Malabar
coast. Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, n. 355.
The morning comes ; and thickening fogs prevail.
Hanging like curtains all the horizon round.
Jones Very, Poems, p. 99.
5t. To be currently received or believed; be
established.
The second shock having happened exactly a month
after the former, it prevails that there will be a third.
Walpale, Letters, IL 201.
6t. To avail; be of value or service.
What he shuld do he told hym euery thing.
That myght only to his wurchippe prenaUe.
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1040.
For speech it selfe is artificiall and made by man, and
the more pleasing it is the more it preuaileth to such pur-
pose as it is intended for.
Pvttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 5.
II.t trans. To avail: used reflexively.
Prevail yourself cd what occasion gives.
Dryden, Abs. and Achit., L 461-
prevailing(pre-va'ling),j>. a. 1. Predominant;
having superior influence or efficiency; con-
trolling; moving.
The nightingale sings with more prevailing passion in
Greece that we first heard her from the thickets of a Eu-
ripidean chorus. Lowell, Oration, Harvard, Nov. 8, 1886.
2. Prevalent; current; general; common.
Nothing sheds such light on the superstitions of an age
as the prevailing interpretation and treatment of disease.
0. W. Holmes, Med. Essays, p. 314.
= Syn. 1. Predominant, Ruling, etc (fieeprevaleni), domi-
nant, preponderating.— 2. Beceived, established, ordi-
nary, usual,
prevailingly (prf-va'ling-li), adv. l. With su-
perior power or influence ; so as to prevail. —
3. Prevalently; currently; generally; for the
most part.
prevailment (pre-val'ment), n. [< prevail +
-ment.] Prevailing influence; efficacy; ruling
power. [Kare.]
Knacks, trifies, nosegays, sweetmeats, messengers
Of strong prevaUmeni in unharden'd youth.
Shak., M. N. D., i. 1. 35-
prevalence (prev'a-lens), n. [< OP. prevalence,
'F. prevalence = It. prevalenza,( lili.prxvalenUa,
superior force, < li. prsevalen(t-)s, very strong:
see jirevalent.] The state or quality of being
prevalent, (o) Superior strength. Influence, or efficacy ;
predominance.
The absolute tyranny of the human will over a noble
and poweriul beast develops the instinct of personal j>rei>a-
lence and dominion. 0. W. Holmes, Elsie Venner, xi.
Words and sense
Fail through the tune's imperious jpretntfenc^
Surinburne, Two Dreams.
prevalence
(b) General occurrence, practice, or reception ; extensive
existence or use : as, the prevalence of a custom or of a
disease.
prevalency (prev'a-len-si), n. [As prevalence
(see -c^).] Same a.s prevalence.
It is not necessary to the prevaleneu of the prayer that
the spirit actually accompany every clause or word.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1885), I. 231.
prevalent (prev Vlent), a. [= Sp. prevalente
= Pg. prevalecenie = It. prevalente, < L. preeva-
len{t-)s, very strong, superior in power, preva-
lent, ppr. of prseoalere, be very able or more
able: see prevail.'] X. Of such a character as
to prevail; superior in power or might; con-
trolling; ruling.
Brennus told the Itoman Embassadors that prevalent
arms were as good as any title. Raleigh.
Piety was so prevalent an Ingredient in her constitution
[that] . . . she no sooner became intimately acquainted,
but she would endeavour to improve them, by insinuating
something of religious. Evelyn, Diary, March 10, 1685.
The tribunes and people, having now subdned all com-
petitors, began the last game of a prevalent populace.
Swift, Nobles and Commons, ill.
The prevalent wish to be better constitutes the being
better. T. H. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, § 110.
a. Influential; possessed of moral weight or
authority.
Thus, my Lord, to perform your Commands, which are
very prevalent with me^ have I couched In this Letter what
I could of the Condition of the Jews.
Howell, Letters, L vL 14.
The King, highly displeas'd, and instigated perhaps by
her who was prevalent with him, not long after sent Dun-
stan into Banishment. JHUton, Hist. Eng., v.
What art bo prevalent, what proof so strong.
That will convince bun his attempt is wrong?
CnAbe, Works, I. 154.
3. Effective; efficacious; productive of results,
particularly of results desired.
A kind of Rue is here, . . . not onely a preservative
against infection, bat . . . prevalent against hurtf uU spir-
its. Sandys, Travailes, p. 98.
4. Wide-spread; current; of wide extent, oc-
currence, practice, or acceptance: as, apreva-
lentheliet; a, prevalent enstoia.
His mind had not escaped the prevalent error of the
primitive church, the belief, namely, that the second com-
ing of Christ would shortly occur. Bmeraon, Misc., p. 20.
=Syn. 1 and 2. Prevalent Prevailing, Predominant, Sid-
ing. Rilling In this connection refers to moral ascendancy :
as, a ruling fashion set by a reigning belle. Prevalent and
prevailing are sometimes tile same, and in two senses,
that of exceeding in strength, as the prevalent (or jive-
vailing) opinion was against action, ana that of existing
widely, as scarlet fever is a prevalent (or prevailing) dis-
temper. The habitual is more liJ^ely to be expressed by
prevalent; the present or actuaL sometimes me tempo-
rary, by ^eziaiZinp: as, the jTreuaian^ fashion. The words
are weaker and less exact than ruling ; predominant is the
strongest of all. Predominant implies activity, and actual
or figurative effort after leaderanlp on the part of that
which is predominated over: as, a predowinxiM faction;
a predomammvt opinion is one that seems to pat down all
others.— 4. Common, Prevalent, etc. See eommum.
prevalently (prev'a-lent-li), adv. 1. Prevail-
ingly; powerfully; with predominance or su-
periority.— 2. Currently; generally.
prevalyt, odv. A Middle English form ot privily.
prevaricate (prf-var'i-kat), ».; pret.andpp.^re-
varicated, t^^^v. prevaricating. [< li. prsevariea-
tus, pp. of prssvaricari, LL. also in active form
prseoaricare (> It. prevaricare = Pg. Sp. preva-
ricar = OF. prevarier, prevariquer, F.^reoari-
qtter), walk crookedly, collude, prevaneate, as
an advocate, LL. also transgress, ML., in gen-
eral, use deceit or concealment, etc., < L. pras,
before, + varicare, straddle, < variais, with feet
spread apart, < varus, bent inward, arwry : see
varicose. Cf. divaricate.'] I. intrans. If. To
deviate; swerve from the normal or proper
course; stray.
When these circnmstants shall bat live to see
The time that I prevaricate from thee.
Herrick, Welcome to Sack.
How widely they differ and prevaricate from the whole-
some precepts and doctrine delivered from those Holy
Oracles. Evelyn, True Keligion, H. 306.
2. To swerve from the truth; act or speak eva-
sively; quibble.
I would think better of himself than that he would wil-
fully prevaricate. StiUingJIeet.
Prevaricate as often as you can defend the prevarication,
being close pressed ; bat, my dear Canning, . . . never He.
Landor, Mr. Pitt and Mr. Canning.
St. Inlaw: (a) To undertake a thing falsely and
deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or de-
stroying the object which it is professed to pro-
mote. (&) To betray the cause of a client, and
by collusion assist his opponent.
Il.t trans. 1. To pervert; cause to deviate
from the normal or proper path, application, or
m^eanlng.
4716
If we consider only them [schismatics], better had it
been for the English nation that it [the Bible] had stiU
remained in the original Greek and Hebrew, or at least in
the honest Latin of St. Jerome, than that several texts In
it should have been prevaricated to the destruction of that
government which put it into so ungrateful hands.
Drydm, B«llgio Laid, Pref.
2. To transgress ; violate.
Men dare not prevaricate their duty, though they be
tempted strongly. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 669.
prevarication (prf-var-i-ka'shon), «. [= p.
prevarication =8p'.prevaricacion = 'Bg.prevari-
cagSo = It. prevarieazione, < li.prsevaricatio(n-),
a stepping out of the line (of duty or propriety),
violation of duty, prevarication, < prseuaricari,
■pp. prsevaricatus, walk crookedly, prevaricate:
see prevaricate.] 1. The act of prevaricating
or deviating, especially from truth, honesty, or
plain-dealing; evasion of truth or duty; quib-
bling or shuffling in words or conduct.
Th' august tribunal of the sldes^
Where no prevarication shall avail.
Where eloquence and artifice shall fail.
Cowper, Betirementt 1. 657.
Ibe prevarication and white lies which a mind thatkeeps
itself ambitiously pure is . . . uneasy under. , . are worn
as lightly as mere trimmings when once the actions have
become a lie. George Eliot, Silas Mamer, zill.
Sf. Transgression; violation: as, the prevari-
cation of a law.
In our prevarications, and easy betrayings, and surren-
dering of ourselves to the enemy of his [God's] kingdom,
Satan, we are his enemies. Donne, Sermons, vii.
The prevarications of the natural law have also their
portion of a special punishment, besides the scourge
of an unquiet spirit.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), L lOt Pref.
But on holi-dayes men every where runne to the ale-
house, to playes, to enterludes, and dances, to the very de-
rision of God's name, and the prevarication of the day.
Prynne, Histrio-Mastiz, I., vL 12.
3. A secret abuse in the exercise of a public
office or commission. — 4t. In law: (o) The con-
duet of an advocate who betrayed the cause of
his client, and by collusion assisted his oppo-
nent. (6) The undertaking of a thing falsely,
with intent to defeat the object which it was
professed to promote, ^c) The wilful conceal-
ment or misrepresentation of truth by giving
evasive and equivocating evidence. =syn. X.
Equivocation, Shift, etc. See evasiaa.
prevaricator (pre-var'l-ka-tor), n. [== P. pr4-
varicateur= Pr. Sp. Pg. prei'arieador = It. pre-
varicatore, < L. prsevaricator, one who violates
his duty: see prevaricate.] 1. One who pre-
varicates; a shuffler; a qulbbler.
This ^tty prevaricator of America, the zanie of Colum-
bus (for so he must be till his worlds end), having rambl'd
over the huge topography of his own vain thoughts, no
mai-vell if he brought us home nothing but a meer tan-
kard drollery. MUton, Apology for Smectymnuus.
2t. One who acts with unfaithfulness and want
of probity; one who abuses a trust.
The law which Is promulged »gainst prevaricators.
Prynne, Treachery and Disloyalty, p. 160, App.
The Civilians define a prevaricator to be one that betrays
his cause to the adversaiy and turns on the criminal's side,
whom he ought to prosecute.
Kenn^t, Eom. Antiquities, II. ill. IS.
3. Formerly, at the University of Cambridge,
England, the opponent of the moeptor at com-
mencement. He delivered a prefatory oration,
freely satirizing prominent individuals.
Was spent in hearing several exercises in the scholes,
and after dinner y« Proctor opened yf Act at St. Marie's
(according to custome), and y^ Prevarieators their drolery.
Evelyn, Diary, July 8, 1664.
prevayt, o. A Middle English form of privy.
prevent, »• and v. A Middle English form of
proof, prove.
prevent, a. A Middle English form of prim/.
prevelacheti »• A Middle English form of priv-
preveleyt, adv. A Middle English form ol priv-
ily.
prevenancy (prev'e-nan-si), n. [< P. pr^e-
nance, obliging thoughthilness, iprSvenant, ppr.
otprivenir, anticipate, < L. ^rareewire, precede,
come beforehand: seeprevene.] Complaisance;
prepossessing disposition or appearance; oblig-
ing manner. [Rare.]
La Fleur's prevenaney (for there was a passport In his
very loolss) soon set every servant In the kitchen at ease
with him.
Sterne, Sentimental Journey, The Letter, Amiens.
prevene (pre-ven'), v. [= F. privenir = Pr. Sp.
Pg. prevenir = It. prevenire, precede, arrive be-
fore,<L.j))-«j;e)m-e,comebefore, anticipate, pre-
vent, < x)r«, before, -I- venire, come.] I. trans.
1. To come or go before ; precede. [Rare. |
preventable
Till our poor race has passed the tortuous years
That lie preverUng the millennium.
J.G. Holland, Eathrina, 11
2f. To hinder; prevent.
n.f intrans. To hinder; prevent.
If thy indulgent care
Had not preven'd, among unbody'd shades
I now had wandered. J. Philips, Cider, it
provenience (pre-ve'nlens), n. [< prevenien(fj
+ -ce. Cf . pi'evenaney!] The act of anticipat-
ing or going before ; anticipation.
prevenient (prf-ve'ment), a. [Also prseve-
nient;<.Ii.prs^mien(t-)slppT.otprcBvenire,covae
before, anticipate : see i)re«ej»e.] 1. Going be-
fore ; precedent ; anticipatlve of later events.
The Articles that Hooper used on this occasion resem-
bled so closely in parts the great formulary of the faith
with whicli, as we have seen, Cranmer was engaged, that
tliey may be called a prevenient issue of some of the Forty-
two Articles of Edward.
S. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., xx.
2. Preventive; hindering; restraining — Preve-
nient grace. See grace.
From the mercy-seat above
Prevenient grace descending had removed
The stony from their hearts. MUton, P. L., zL 3.
prevent (pre-venf), V. [< L. prssventus, pp. of
prsevenire, come before, anticipate, prevent:
see prevene.] I. trans. 1. To go before; be
earlier than; anticipate; forestall. [Obsolete
or archaic]
I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried; I
hoped in thy word. Ps. cxix. 147.
In this di'ought . . . the Lord prevented our prayers in
sending us rain soon after, and before the day of humilia-
tion came. Winthrop, Hist. ISew England, II. 264.
Lord, we pray thee that thy grace may always prevent
and follow us. Book of Common Prayer, Collect for 17tb
[Sunday after Trinity.
Sweet Child, I hop'd to have prevented thee
In seeing Kachel tl^ deceased Mother :
But surely long behind I will not be.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, L 139l
From the towers, preventing day.
With Wilfrid took his early way.
Scott, Rokeby, iL 4.
2t. To take previous measures against; hence,
to frustrate; disappoint; evade; escape.
ni teach them to prevent wild Alcibiades' wrath.
Shak., T. of A., v. 1. 206.
Give my love fame faster than Time wastes life ;
So thou prevent'st his scythe and crooked knife.
Shak., Sonnets, u.
Not too loud ; the traitor
May hear, and by escape i)reBen* our justice.
Shirley, The Traitor, L £
3. To hinder from action by the opposition
of obstacles; impede; restrain; check; pre-
clude: generally followed by /ro»».
I do at this hour joy o'er myself,
Prevented from, a damned enterprise.
Shak., Hen. V., 11. 2. 164
The natural affections which men have tor their childrea
often prevent them from entering upon any grand, nobler
or meritorious enterprize tor the poblic good.
Bacon, Physical Fables, ilL, ExpL
4. To keep from existing or occurring; render
impossible.
Mountains divide me from bira ! some kind hand
Prevent our fearful meeting !
Fletelier, Double Marriage, v. S.
The Eternal, to prevent such horrid fray.
Hung forth in heaven his golden scales.
MUton, P. L., iv. 996.
As charity covers, so mo&eety preventeth, a multitude ot
sins. Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., L 36.
=&m. 3. To preclude, bar, debar.
II. intrans. It. To come beforehand; come
before others, or before the Usual time.
Strawberries watered now and then (as once in three
days) with water wherein hath been steeped sheep's dung
or pigeon's dung will preveM and come early.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 403.
2. To interpose a hindrance, especially an in-
surmountable obstacle ; interpose an effectual
check; hinder.
The climber-upward . . .
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend. So Ctesar may.
Then, lest he may, prevent. Shak., J. C, iL 1. 28.
preventability (pre-ven-ta-bU'i-ti), n. [< pre-
ventable + -ity (see' -Ulity)'.] "The state of be-
ing preventable; the possibility of prevention.
As this conviction [of the commnnlcabilityof consump-
tion through ai-tlcles of food or by personal contact] in-
creases, the belief in the preventaiUity of the disease will
increase. The Sanitarian, XIV. 266.
preventable (prf-ven'ta-bl), a. [< prevent +
-able.] That can be prevented or hindered;
capable of being prevented.
The ignorance of the end is far more preventable, consid-
ering the helps we have to know It, than of the means.
Bp. Reynolds, Works, p. 771. (.Latham.)
preventative
preventative (prf-ven'ta-tiv), n. rtrreg. and
unprop, < prevent + ^Uve. Cf . preventitiveA
bame as preventive.
The powdered root [ol deadly nightshade] haa been given
in doses of ten or more grains every other night, as a
■ preventative after the bite of a. mad d(i.
IHlHngton, View of Derbyshire (ed. 1789), I. 356.
preventer (prf-ven'ter), re. If. One who goes
before or takes the lead.
T,.'?llfwJ^?iJ^*°jS® assailant, and the preventer, and
had the fruit of his diligence and celerity.
Bacon, War with Spain.
2. One who prevents; ahinderer; that which
hinders; apreventive. SpeoifieaUy— 3, Naut.,
an additional rope, chain, bolt, or spar em-
ployed to support any other when the latter
suffers an unusual strain.
prevention (pre-ven'shon), n. [< OF. prevent
Uon, F. privetiUon = ^'.'prevention = ^. nre-
vencion = Pg. preveng&o = It. prevenmone, < LL.
prseventio{n-), a going before, an anticipating,
< li.preevenire, yp. prseventus, come before: see
prevent.'] If. The act of going before; the
state of preceding or being earlier; hence, an
antecedent period of time.
The greater the distance the greater the prevention, as
m thunder, where the lightning preoedeth the crack a
good space. Bacon.
2t. The act of anticipating or forestalling; an
anticipation ; provision made in advance.
All other delights are the pleasures of beasts, or the
sports of children ; these are the antepasts and preven-
tions of the full feasts and overflowings of eternity.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 49.
God's preventions, cultivating our nature, and fitting us
with capacities of his high donatives. Hammond.
3. Precaution; a precautionary measure; a
preventive.
Achievements, plots, orders, preven^ons,
Excitements to the field, or speech for truce^
Success or loss, what is or is not, serves
As stuff for these two to make paradoxes. ^
Shak., T. and C, i. 3. 181.
Not to procure health, but for safe preveiUion
Against a growing sickness. Ford, Lady's Trial, i. 1.
4. The act of hindering or rendering impossi-
ble by previous measures ; effectual hindrance ;
restraint, as from an intended action ; also, that
which prevents; an obstacle; an obstruction or
impediment.
Gasca, be sudden, for we fear preventCon.-
Shale., J. C, iiL 1. 19.
Others, to make surer prevenUon against their sight of
heaven, have rolled the whole earth betwixt that and their
eyes. Rev. T. Adams, Works, II. 386.
I'orth stepping opposite, half-way he met
His daring foe, at this prevention more
Incensed. JUUton, F. Xi., vL 129.
5t. Jurisdiction.
Your sayd Grace, by verteu off your legantine preroga-
tive and prevention, conferr to hys chapleyn, Mr. Wilson,
the vicarege of Thackstedd.
State Papers, i. 311. (HaUiwell.)
6f. Prejudice; prepossession.
In reading what I have written, let them bring no par-
ticular gusto, or any prevention of mind, and that whatso-
ever judgment they make, it may be purely their own.
Dry den, (Imp. Diet.)
Corrupt and niegal Practices Prevention Act. See
corrupt.
preventionalf (pre-ven'shon-al), a. [< preven-
tion + -al.] Tending to prevent; preventive.
Bailey.
preventitivet (pre-ven'ti-tiv), re. Same as pre-
ventive. Gregoryj Economy of Nature. (La-
tham.)
preventive (pre-ven'tiv), a. and n. [= P. pri-
V€ntif= Sp. Pg. It. prevenUvo, preventive, < L.
prsBvenire, pp. prieventus, come before : see
prevent."] I. a. Serving to prevent or hinder ;
tuarding against or warding off something, as
isease, injustice, loss, etc.
There be multitude of Examples how preventive Wars
have been practised from all Times.
BotveU, Letters, I. vi. 18.
Preventive cautions are easier and safer then reprehen-
sive corrosives. Baxter, Life of Faith, i. 3.
Preventive service. See eoast-giiard.
II. n. If. That which goes before; an an-
ticipation.
A certain anticipation of the gods, which he calls a pro-
lepsis, a certain preventive, or foreconceived information
of a thing in the mind. J. Howe, Works, I. 22.
2. That which prevents ; that which constitutes
an effectual check or insurmountable obstacle.
As every event is naturally allied to its cause, so by par-
ity of reason it is opposed to its preventive.
Harris, Hermes, IL 2. (Latham.)
3. Specifically, something taken, used, or done
beforehand to ward off disease.
4717
He would persuade me, no doubt, that a squadron of
horse on the low grounds is a preventive of agues, and a
body of ai'chers on the hills a specific for a fever.
Landar, Kichard L and the Abbot of Boxley.
Also preventative.
preventively (pre-veu'tiv-U), adv. In a pre-
ventive manner; "by way of prevention; m a
manner that tends to hinder.
It [the vicinage] is prevenMvdy the aasertor of its own
rights, or remecQally tbeir avenger.
Burke, A Segicide Peace, L
preventiveness (pre-ven'tiv-nes), re. The qual-
ity of being preventive; capability of prevent-
ing or hindering.
prevermis (pre-vSr'mis), re. ; pi. preoermes
(-mez). [NL. prsevemiis, < L. prse, before, +
NL. vermis.] The anterior and prominent part
of the vermis of the cerebellum, commonly
called vermis superior: distinguished from the
postvermis.
prevertebral (pre-v&r'tf-bral), a. [Also pree-
vertebral; < L. prse, befbre,"+ vertebra, verte-
bra.] 1. Situated in front of or before the
vertebree. — 2. Developing or appearing before
the vertebrsB — Prevertebral fascia, a layer of fascia
derived from the under surface of the cervical fascia, form-
ing a sheath over the prevertebral muscles, and behind
the carotid vessels, esophagus, and pharynx.— Preverte-
bral muscles, muscles which lie upon the front of the
spinal column of mati ; especially, a group of such mus-
cles in the neck, consisting of the longus colli, the rectus
capitis anticus major and minor, and the three scalenL —
Prevertebral plexuses. See plexus.
prevesical (pre-ves'i-kal) , a. [< L. pree, before,
+ vesica, bladder.] Situated in front of or be-
fore the bladder.
preview (pre-vii'), v. t. [< pre- + view. Cf.
F.2)revu, pp. of pr^oir, < Jj. prsmdere, foresee.]
To see beforehand. [Rare.]
Preview, but not prevent —
No mortall can — the miseries of life.
Marston, What you Will, v. 1,
previous (pre'vius), a. [= Sp. Pg. It. previa,
< L. preevius, going before, < 2)rse, before, +
via, way, road.] Going before in time ; being
or occurring before something else; earlier;
antecedent; prior.
The arrival of these chieftains must have been some
years previous. Haigh, Anglo-Saxon Sagas, p. 81.
Previous question. See question.— Vxevlons to. (a)
Being or occurring before ; antecedent to, in any sense.
Something there is more needful than expense,
And Bomething previous even to taste ^ 'tis sense.
Pope, Moral Essays, iv. 42.
(6) Previously to ; heloTe (previous being used adverbially,
and with the preposition to equivalent to a simple prepo-
sition, btfore). Compare prior to, in a like loose use.
Previous to his embarkation Charles addressed a letter
to his son. PreseoU, Philip II., i. 2.
=Syn. Previous, Preceding, Precedent, Anterior, Prior,
Former, Foregoimg, Antecedent. All these words have lost
their original application to space, and now apply only to
that which goes before in time, except anterior, which may
apply also to space, as the anterior part of the brain, and
preceding, which as a participle still primarily applies to
space, but as an adjective generally expresses order in
time. Preceding means immediately before ; the others
may mean the same. Precedent often applies to that
which has to go before in order to the existence or validity
of that which follows : as, a condition precedent. Prior
often means superior by being earlier : as, a prim- claim.
Anterior is oplposed to posterior, prior to subsequent or sm6-
ordinate,/ormer to latter, foregoing to foUmiring, antece-
dent to suiseyuent. See preliminary.
previously (pre'vius-U), adv. In time pre-
ceding; antecedently; beforehand: often fol-
lowed by to.
In April . . . [Thoreau] went to live with Mr. Emerson,
but had been on intimate terms with him previouslyw
that time. 0. W. Holmes, Emerson, v.
=Syn. Formerly, Previo/mly. See/ormerly.
previousness (pre'vius-nes), n. Previous oc-
currence ; antecedence ; priority in time.
previse (prf-viz'), v. t.; -pTet.axLd -pp. prevised,
ppr. prevising. [< 'L.jjresvistis, pp. of preevi-
dere (> It. previdere = Pg. Sp. prever = Pr. pre-
vezir = OP. preveoir, P. privoir), foresee, < prx,
before, + videre, see : see vision. Cf . advise,
revise.] 1. To foresee. — 2. To cause to fore-
see ; forewarn ; advise beforehand.
Mr. Pelham, it will be remembered, has prevised the
reader that Lord Vincent was somewhat addicted to par-
adox. Bulwer, Pelham, xv., note.
prevision (prf-vizh'on), re. [< F. provision =
Pr. previsio, prevision = Sp. prevision = Pg. pre-
visSo = It. previsione, < L. prsevidere, pp. prse-
visus, foresee : see previse.] 1 . The act of fore-
seeing; foresight; foreknowledge; prescience.
Prevision is the best prevention.
Mev. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 52.
On examination we see that the prevision might have
been erroneous, and was not knowledge until experiment
had verified it.
O. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, n. 186.
prey
2. A specific act of foresight or prescience.
Stella was quite right in tier previsions. She saw from
the very first what was going to happen.
Thackeray, English Humorists, Swift.
=Syn. See inference.
prevoyant (pre-voi'ant), a. [< F. prevoyant,
ppr. of prevoir, foresee, < L. prsevidere, fore-
see: see previse.] Foreseeing. [Bare.]
But Nature, prevoyant, tingled into Us heart an inar-
ticulate thrill of prophecy. Mrs, Oliphant.
prewt, »• Same asj3ro«;2.
prewarn (pre-wam'), v. t. and i. [< pre- +
warn.] To warn beforehand; give previous
notice; forewarn.
Comets prewam, whose havoc in vast field
Unearthed skulls proclaim.
Fletcher (and another). Two Noble £insmen, v. 1.
prex (preks), n. [A modified abbr. of presi-
dent.] The president of a college. [U. S. col-
lege cant.]
prexy (prek'si), re. [Dim. of prex.] Same as
prex. [U. S. college cant.]
preyit, v. An obsolete form otpray^.
ytes^ (pra), n. [Early mod. E. also pran); < ME.
preye,praye, < OF.^me, praie, proie, F. irroie =
Pr. preda = OSp. preda = It. preda, prey, < L.
preeda, property taken in war, spoil, booty,
plunder, also an animal taken in the chase,
prey, game ; prob. contr. from *prseheda,<. "prx-
Jiendere,prehendere, aontv. prendere, seize upon,
take, < prse, before, + *hendere (y lied) = Gr.
XavSdvciv {■y/ ;to(5-), take, = E. get: see prehend
andg'efl. Ct.prede, an obs. doublet dt prey^,
and predatory, depredate, prise^, etc., from the
same ult. source.] 1. Goods taken by robbery
or pillage; spoil; booty; plunder.
So the! entred in to the londe, and toke m&njpmyes, and
brent townes and vilages, and distroyed all the contreea.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iL 162.
The rascal people, thirsting after prey.
Join with the traitor, and they jointly swear
To spoil the city and your royal court,
SMk, 2 Hen. VI., Iv. 4. 61.
2. That which is seized by any carnivorous ani-
mal to be devoured; quarry, as of a raptorial
bird.
The Sparhauk and other Eoules of Kaveyne, whan thei
fleen aftre here praye, and take it before men of Armes,
it is a gode Signe ; and zif he fayle of takynge his praye,
it is an evylle sygne. MandeviUe, Travels, p. 166.
The old lion perisheth for lack of prey. Job iv. 11.
Stag, dog, and all, which from or towai'ds flies.
Is paid with life or prey, or doing dies.
Donne, The Calm.
Hence — 3. That which is given into the power
of another or others ; a victim.
It may be men have now found out that God hath pro-
posed the Christian clergy as a prey for all men freely to
seize upon. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, VII. 24.'
I banish her my bed and company,
And give her as a prey to law and shame.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., ii. 1. 198.
The great men, giv'n to gluttony and dissolute life, made
&prey of the common people. Milton, Hist. Eng., vi.
Both pined amidst their royal state, a prey to incurable
despondency. Prescott, Fend, andlsa., iL 16.
4. The act of preying or seizing upon anything.
(a) Plundering; pillage; robbery; depredation.
To forage the countrey adioyning, and to liue vpon the
spoyle of them that wotdd not receine their new doctrine,
which they in many troupes, and with many preyes, accord-
ingly performed. Purclias, Pilgrimage, p. 389.
When his Soldiers had gotten great Spoils, and made
Prey upon the innocent Countrey People, he commanded
them to restore it all back again. Baker, Chronicles, p. 11.
The whole little wood where I sit is a world of plunder
scad prey. Tcnnj/son, Maud, iv.
(&) The act of seizing in order to devour; seizure, as by a
carnivorous animal of its victim.
Yet dared not his victor to withstand,
But trembled like a lambe fled from the^a^.
Spenser, F. Q., IIL vii. 36.
Kethought a serpent eat my heart away.
And you sat smiling at his cruel prey.
Shak., M. N. D., ii. 2. 160.
Animal or beast of prey, a carnivorous, predatory, or
rapacious animal; one that feeds on the fiesh of otjier
animals. — Bird of prey. See bird^ and Baptores.
Vulture, kite,
Eaven, and gorcrow, all my birds of prey.
B. Jonson, Volpone, L 1.
=Syn. 1. Booty, eta. (seep£Uage).—i. Eavin.
prey^ (pra)i '»• [Early mod. E. also pray, preie;
< 'KEi. preyen, prdyen, < OF. preier, preer, proier
= It. predare,< L. prsedari, take booty, plunder,
pillage, catch or take animals as game or prey,
< j;r«(?«, prey: seeprey^,n. Ct. prede, an obs.
doublet oiprey.] I. intrans. 1 . -To take booty;
commit robbery or pillage; seize spoils: gen-
erally with on or upon.
They pray continually to their saint, the common-
wealth—or rather, not pray to her, but prey on her.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 1. 90.
prey
A succession of ferocious invaders descended through
the western passes, to prey on the defenceless wealth of
Hindostan. MamiHay, Lord Clive.
2. To seize and devour an animal as prey:
generally followed by on or upon.
Good morrow, masters ; put your torches out ;
The wolves have prey'd ; and look, the gentle day . . .
Dapples the drowsy east with spots of grey.
Shak., Much Ado, v. 3. 25.
■Tis
The royal disposition of that beast [the lioness]
To prey on nothing that doth seem a£ dead.
Shak., As you Like it, iv. S. 118.
3. To exert vrasting or destroying power or in-
fluence; bring injury, decay, or destruction:
generally followed by on or upon.
Language is too faint to show
His rage of love ; it preys upon his life ;
He pines, he sickens, he despairs, lie dies.
Addisorif Cato, iiL 2.
Some [critics] o» the leaves of ancient authors prey.
Nor time nor moths e'er spoil'd so much as they.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 112.
Keep his mind from preying on itself.
JU. Arnold^ Empedocles on Etna.
H.f fy-ans. To I'avage ; pillage ; make prey of.
Amongst the rest the which they then did pray^
They spoyld old Melibee of all he had.
Spenser, F. Q., VI. x. 40.
The said Justice preied the countrey TirconnelL
Holland, tr. of Camden, IL 156. (Davies.)
preyer (pra'6r), n. [Early mod. E. also preier;
< ]ME. preiour (?), < OF. preeor, preiour, < L.
prsedator, a plunderer, < jjrffidari, plunder:
see xyrey'^. Cf . doublet predbur.'\ One who or
that which preys; a plunderer; a waster; a
devourer.
For, by hir owne procurement and intisings, she became
and would needs be a preie vnto the^eier.
Hdlinahed, Conquest of Ireland, L
preyfult (pra'ful), a. [iprey^ + -ful.'\ 1. Prone
to prey; savage.
The preyful brood of savage beasts.
Chapman, tr. of Homer's Hymns to Venus, L 116.
2. Having much prey; killing much game.
[Burlesque.]
The preyful princess pierced and prick'd a pretty pleas-
ing pricket. Shak., L. L. L., iv. 2. 58.
preynet, »• An obsolete form otpreeri^.
preyset, v. and «. An obsolete variant of
praise.
prezygapophysial (pre-zi''gap-o-flz'i-al), a. [<
prezygapophysis + -oi.] Articulating anteri-
orly, as a vertebral process; having the char-
acter of or pertaining to a prezygapophysis.
prezygapopnysis (pre-zi-ga-pof'i-sis), «.; pi.
wezygapopliyses (-sez). \Nli. prsezygapojjliysis ;
< L. 2)rse, before, -I- NL. zygapopJiysis, q. v.] An
anterior or superior zygapophysis ; in man, a
superior oblique or articular process of a verte-
bra : opposed to postzygapophysis. See zyga-
pophysis, and cuts under dorsal, lumbar, sacrum,
xenarthral^ vei-tebra, and hypapopliysis.
Priacanthldae (pn-a-kan'thi-de), n. pi. [Nil.,
< Priacanthus + -idee.} A family of acanthop-
terygian fishes, represented by the genus Pria-
canthus alone, with about 20 species of tropical
seas, known as bigeyes. They are of small size
and carnivorous habits. See cut under Pria-
eanthus.
Priacanthina (pri"a-kan-thi'na), n. pi. [NL.,
< Priacanthus + -vncfi.l The PriacanthMsB as
the fourth group of Percidse. Giinther.
priacanthine (pri-a-kan'thin), a. and n. [< Pri-
acanthus + -ine.2 I. a. Pertaining to the Pria-
canthina or Priacanthidse, or having their char-
acters.
II, n. A priacanthine fish; any member of
the Priacanthidse.
Priacanthus (pri-a-kan'thus), n. [NL. (Cuvier,
1817), so called from the serrated fin-spines;
< Gr. irpiav, a saw, + axavda, spine.] In ichfh.,
the representative genus of Priacanthidss. p.
4718
prialt (pri'al), n. A corruption of pair royal
(which seej under ^airi).
But the annus mirabilis of his [Alexander the Great's]
public lite, the most effective and productive year through-
out his oriental anabasis, was the year 333 before Christ
Here we have another prial, a prial of threes, for the locus
of Alexander. Oe Quincey, Style, lil.
frian (pri'an), m. Same as ^j'yan.
'riapean fpri-a-pe'an), a. and n. [< L. Pria-
peius, PriapemlpeTtkining to Priapus (neut.pl.
Priapeia, a collection of poems on Priapus), <
Gr. Upidmtog, < UpiaKoc, Priapus : see PnopjiS.]
I. a. 1. Of or pertaining to Priapus. — 2. Inane.
pros., noting a certain verse or meter. See the
noun. — 3. [Z. c] Having a priapism.
II. n. In anc. pros., a logaoedic meter con-
sisting of a cataleetic Glyconio and a Phere-
cratean. it assumes the following forms :
The name was given by ancient writers to the second and
third of these forms, but especially to the second with ini-
tial spondee in each colon. This was regarded by many as
a variation of a dactylic hexameter with a spondee in the
first, fourth, and sixth places, a dieeresis being made after
the third foot and the preceding syllable lengthened : thus.
■I-
Biffeye {Priacanthus tnacrcfikthalmus),
imzcrophthalmw, the bigeye of the West Indies, occa-
sional on the coast of the United States, is a characteristic
example. P. alius is found on the New England coast.
See Satyric.
Friapic (pri-ap'ik), a. [< Priapus + -»&] Of
or relating to Priapus, or to the cult and myths
concerning him ; phallic.
The ithyphallic Hermes, represented after the fashion
of the Priapic figures in paintings on the walls of caves
among the Bushmen. Mncyc. BrU., XVII. 153.
priapism (pn'a-pizm), n. [= F. priapisme =
Sp. Pg. It. pridpismo, < L. priapismus, < Gr. jrpta-
inauoq, priapism, lewdness, < nptaml^eiv, be lewd,
<njK'ajrof, Priapus: see Priapus. "] Morbidly per-
sistent erection and rigidity of the penis.
Priapus (pri-a'pus), n. [= P. Priape, < L. Pri-
apus,< Gr. Uplairog, Priapus: see def.] 1. The
male generative power or function personified
as a deity: originally an epithet or cognomen of
Bacchus, then a personification of the phaUus.
At Lampsacus, too, on the Hellespont, he [Bacchus] was
venerated under a symbolical form adapted to a similar
office [that of procreation], though with a title of a dif-
ferent signification, Priapus. . . . The Greeks, aa usual,
changed the personified attribute into a distinct deity
called Priapus.
£. P. Knight, Anc. Art and Myth. (1876), pp. 10, 12.
2. [I. c] A symbol or representation of the
male generative organ; a phallus. — 3. [I. c]
The male genitals ; the virile organ in the state
of erection.
pricasourt, «• [ME., also prickasour; origin
obscure. Cf . prick, ride.] A hard rider.
A monk ther was, a fair for the maistrie.
An oat-rydere, that loved venerye ; . . .
Therfore he was 2.pricaxour aright;
Oreyhoundes he hadde as swif te as fowel in flight.
Of prikyng and of huntyng for the hare
Was al bis lust, for no cost wolde he spare.
Chaucer, Gen. ProL to C. T., 1. 165-189.
price (piis), n. [< ME. price, pryee, prig, prys,
price, prize, value, excellence, = 'D.prijs = MHG.
pris, Gr, preis, praise, glory, price, reward, etc.,
< OF. pris, preis, P. prix, price, value, reward,
prize, etc., = Pr. pretz = Sp.precio =Pg.preco
= It. preszo, price, value, X L. preti/wm, worth,
price, money spent, wages, I'eward ; prob. akin
to Gr. TTEpvdvat, sell; Skt. ^ana for *2)o»'mffl, wages,
j)rice. Hence ult. ('ilj.preUum)'E.praise,prize^,
precious, appraise, apprize^, appreciate, depre-
date, etc.] 1. Worth; value; estimation; ex-
cellence.
Thei sette no prys bono richesse^ but only of a precyous
Ston that is amonges hem, that is of 60 coloures.
MandevUle, Travels, p. 196.
And how that freris folwed folke that was riche.
And folke that was pore at litel prys thei sette.
Piers Plaumum (B\ xiii. 8.
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her pruse is far
above rubies. Prov. xxxL 10.
I have ever loved the life removed.
And held in idle price to haunt assemblies.
Shak., M. for M., L 3. 9.
0 s^are my youth, and for the breath I owe
Large gifts of prtee my father shall bestow.
Pope, Iliad, x. 460.
2. The sum or amount of money, or its equiv-
alent, which a seller asks or obtains for his
goods in market; the exchangeable value of
a commodity; the equivalent in money for
which something is bought or sold, or offered
for sale; hence, figuratively, that which must
be given or done in order to obtain a thing.
Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without
price. Isa. Iv. 1.
pricement
Poor fellow, never ioyed since the priee of oats rose ; it
was the death of him. Shak., I Hen. IV., ii. 1. 14.
What then ? is the reward of virtue bread ?
That vice may merit ; 'tis the price ot toil ;
The knave deserves it when he tills the soiL
Pope, Essay on Man, iv. 16L
The most accurate modem writers . . . have employed
Price to express the value of a thing in relation to money ;
the guanti^ of money tor which it will exchange.
J. S. Mia, PoL Econ., IIL i. § 2.
The price of a given article [in market] is the approxi-
mate mathematical expression of the rates, in terms of
money, at which exchanges of the article for money were
actually made at or about a given hour on a given day.
Emsyc. BrU., XXIL 465.
3f. Esteem; high or highest reputation.
Ffor proude men in price haue playnly no f ryndes.
But euery mon with enuy ertis bom skathe.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 484a
The river Ladon ... of all the rivers of Greece had the
price for excellent pureness and sweetness.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iL
4t. Prize ; award. ,
Sche seyde, Y have welle sped
That soche a lorde hath me wedd,
That beryth the pryee in prees.
MS. Cantab. Ft. iL 38, f. 82. (Balliwett.)
A prlcet, to approval ; weU.
lob was a paynym and plesede God a prys.
Piers Plowman (CX xv. 194, note.
At Easter pricet. See lasted.— Famine prices. See
famine.— Flars' prices. See fiar, 2. — Makiiig a price,
in stock-broking, a jobber's quotation of prices to a broker
for buying and selling iu the same security. — Blarket
price. See marM.— Natural, normal, or average
price, in polit. econ., the price which prevails iu open mar-
ket on the average for any length of time ; the average of
the market price for some length of time. See value. —
Price of money, in com., the price of credit ; the rate ot
discount at wmch capital may be lent or borrowed. —
Without price, beyond or above price; priceless.
A robe
Of a«m\tau}tOuiwt price, that more exprest
Than hid her, clung about her lissom limbs.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
=Syn. 2. Price, Charge, Cost, Expense, Worth, Valve. For
a given article these may all come to the same amount,
but they are very likely to differ. The price of a shawl
may be ten dollars, and that is then the dealer's charge
for it, but he may finally make his price o'r charge nine
dollars, and that will be the cost of it, or the expense of it
to the buyer. Its worth or value may be What it will sell
for, or what it ought to sell for, or what one would be wiU-
ing to pay for it rather than go without it, the last being
the highest sense.
price (pris), V. t. ; pret. and pp. priced, ppr.
pricing. [In mod. use price is directly from
the noun ; in older use it is a var. of the verb
2)riee, < ME. prisen, < OF. priser, value, esteem,
etc. : see prized and j»-aise.] If. To pay the
price of.
The man that made Sansfoy to fall
Shall with his owne blood price that he hath spilt.
Spemer,^. Q., I. v. 26.
2. To put a price on; estimate the value of. —
3. To ask the price of. [CoUoq.]
It you priced such a one in a drawing-room here.
And was ask'd fifty pounds, you'd not s^ it was dear.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 261.
price-current (pris'kur"'ent), n. [A sort of
singular designating the" printed paper, from
prices current, the proper title of such a list
itself.] In com., a regularly published list of
the prices at which merchandise has been sold
for a day or other fixed period. See price-list.
priced (prist), a. 1 . Having a (specified) price :
used in composition: as, hign-jjnced; low-
pi-iced. — 3. Marked with the price or prices:
as, a priced catalogue of machinery.
priceite (pri'sit), «. [Named after Thomas
Price, of San Francisco, Cal.] A hydrous bo-
rate of calcium, of a compact chalky appear-
ance, often in rounded nodules, found in Ore-
gon. Pandermite is similar to it, and both
minerals are closely related to colemanite.
priceless (pris'les), a. [< price + -less.^ 1.
Too valuable to be priced; beyond price; in-
valuable.
What priceless wealth the heavens had him lent
In the possession ot his beauteous mate.
Shale., Lucrece, 1. 17.
2. Without value ; worthless or unsalable. Bp.
Barlow. (Imp. Die*. )=syn. 1. Inestimable.
pricelessness (pris'les-nes), n. The property
or characteristic of being above price.
Ihe pricelessness of water in a land where no rain falls
during six months. The Century, XXVL 804.
price-Ust (pris'list), n. A list of the prices at
which stocks, bonds, and other property and
merchandise are offered for sale; a price-cur-
rent.
pricementt (pris'ment), «. [Var. ot prizement
for apprizement.'] Valuation; appraisal. [Rare.]
prlcement
♦„?^ ■S'''' "^^nues did amount to 871. 3». 3d., according
to the imeemerU at the suppression.
Weemr. {Mason's Suppl. to Johnson's Diet.)
pricer (pri's6r), n. A person whose duty it is
to regulate the prices of a market. Halliwell.
pnce-tag (pris'tag), n. A tag or ticket on
which the price of an article to which it is
attached is marked.
Accordingly they attached "etiquettes," or piice-taas.
to theu' articles. Chavtauquan, VIII. 4^
prick (prik), n. [< liSS..priTc,vryk,prikTce, prike,
preke, a point, a sting, < AS. prica, pricu, a
shai-p point, usually a minute mark, point, dot,
a very small portion, prick, = MD. prick, B.
prik, a prick, puncture, = MLG. pi-icke, U&.
prik, a point, prick, spear, prickle, = Q.pricke,
prick = Icel. prik = Dan. prik = Sw. prick, a
priek, dot, mark (ef . deriv. (partly dim. ) prickle);
perhaps akin (with loss of orig. initial s) to Ir.
sprichar, a sting, Skt. prishant, speckled, also a
dot, and so to E. sprinkle: see sprinkle. The
OSp. priego, Pg. prego, a nail, are from the
Teut.] 1. A slender pointed instrument or
other thing capable of puncturing; something
sharp-pointed, (a) A thorn; spine; prickle.
Kynde of Whales, called Ealene, . . . haue rough backes
full of sharpe prickes.
X. Eden, tr. of Sebastian Munster (First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 22).
Hedgehogs which
Lie tumbling in my barefoot way, and mount
Their pricks at my footfall. Shdk. , Tempest^ iL 2. 12.
The odoriferous & fragrant rose . . .
For fence itself e with priekes doth round enclose.
Time^ WMMe (K E. T. S.), p. 128.
(b) A skewer.
Comns, . . . the tree of the wood whereof butchers
make their pricks. NomenelaUn:
Bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices.
Strike in their numb'd and mortified bare arms
Pins^ woodei^tj)mX», nails, sprigs of rosemary.
Shah., Lear, ii. 3. 16.
I know no use for them so meet
As to be pudding-jnrcfts.
R<Mn Hood and the Beggar (Child's Ballads, V. 101).
(c) A goad. (Obsolete or pror.Eng.] (d) The penis. [Low.]
(fi) A kind of eel-spear. [Eng.]
The prick is constructed of four btoad serrated blades or
tines spread out like a fan, and the eel becomes wedged
between them.
Day, Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland, II. 246.
(/) Same as pricket, 1.
Paid to Thomas Hope for Pricks that the Tappers ftapers]
stand on, vliij d. Quoted in Lee's Glossary,
2. A point; dot; small mark. Specifically— (ot)
A mark used in writing or printing, as a vowel-point or a
comma.
Almost euery letter with his pricke or circumflexe signi-
fleth a whole word. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 394.
Martinins aflSrmeth That these Masorites inuented the
priekes wherewith the Hebrew is now read, to supply the
lacke of vowels. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 179.
(6) In archery, the point in the center of a target at which
aim is taken ; the white ; also, the target itself, or, in the
plural, a pair of targets, one at the top and the other at
the bottom of the range.
And therfore every man judged as he thought, and
named a sickness that he knew, shothing not nere the
prieki, nor understanding the nature of the disease.
HaU, Hen. V., f. 50. (HaUiweU.)
A pair of winding pricks, . . . things that hinder a man
which looketh at his mark to shoot straight.
Ascham, Tozopbilns, p. 161.
Off the marke he welde not f ayle.
He cleff ed the preke on thre.
SoKn Hood and the Potter (Child's Ballads, V. 27).
let the mark have a prick in 't, to mete &t, if it may be.
ShaJc., L. L. L., iv. 1. 134.
(ct) A mark on a dial noting the hour; hence, a point of
time.
Now Phaethon hath tumbled from his car,
And made an evening at the noontide prick.
Shdk., 3 Hen. VI., L 4. 34.
(fl\) A mark denoting degree ; pitch ; point.
There is no man koude brynge hire to thatpriSte.
Chancer, Man of Law's Tale, L 931.
Now ginnes that goodly frame of Temperaunce
Fayrely to rise, and her adorned hed
1o pricke ot highest prayse to advaunce.
Spenser, ¥. Q., II. xu. 1.
<et) A mathematical point.
Arithmetic, geometry, and musicke do proceed
From one, a pricke, from divers sounds.
Warner, Albion's England, xiii. (Nares.)
(/t) In music, a note or point : so caUed from the dot or
mark that formed its head. . .
3. The act or process of puncturing or prick-
ing.
Gentlewomen that live honestly by the prick of their
needles. -S*"*-. Hen. V., il 1. 36.
4. A puncture, (a) A minute wound, such as is made
by a needle, thorn, or sting.
There were never any asps discovered in the place of her
death . . only, it was said, two small and almost in-
sensible pricks were found upon her aim.
J, ^^^ BroiOTie, Vulg. Err., V. 12.
4719
(S) The print of the foot of a hare or deer on the ground.
lc)pl. In tanninp, an appearance as of minute punctures
in hides soaked in water until decomposition begins.
In . , . soaking the hides in clean water, pricks, pitted,
frieze, and black spots originate^
C T. Davis, Leather, p. 238.
5. Figuratively, that which pierces, stings,
goads, or incites the mind.
O werst of all wikk^
Of conscience whom no prikke
Hale store, lo what thou hast do !
Oower, Conf. Amant, v.
My conscience first received a tenderness.
Scruple, and prick, on certain speeches utter'd
By the Bishop of Bayonne.
Shak., Hen. VTIL, iL 4. 171.
This life is brief, and troubles die with it ;
"Where were ^e prick to soar up homeward else?
Brttuming, Eing and Book, 1. 178.
6. A small roll: as, a pivik of spun-yam; a
prick of tobacco Prick and pralset, the praise
of excellence or success.
Are you so ignorant in the rules of courtship, to think
any one man to bear all the prick and praise !
Uiddletaa, Family of Love, il. 4.
To kick against the pricks, to kick against the goads
(said of plowing oxen); hence, to make ineffectual resis-
tance to superior force.
It is "hsxA lor ihea to kick against the pricks. Actsix.5.
prick (prik), V. [< ME. pricken, prikken, prykien
(pret. prikkede, pryghte), < AS. prician, priccan
= D. prikken = T^HiQ. pricken, JjGr.pi'icken, prik-
ken, preken = Gr. pricken = Icel. prika = Dan.
prikke = Sw. pricka (cf. D. prikkelen = LG.
prickeln,prikkeln,prokeln = G.prickeln), priek;
from the noun.] I. trans. 1. To pierce with a
sharp point ; puncture ; woxmd.
With her beek hirselven . . . a\iepryghic.
Chmicer, Squire's Tale, L 4ia
I would your cambric were sensible as your finger, that
you might leave pricking it for pity. Shak., Cor., L 3. 96.
A spear
Prick'd sharply his own cuirass.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
2. To fix or insert by the point: as, to jmck a
knife into a board. — 3. To transfix or impale.
And the flirst good stroke John Steward stroke.
Child Maurice head he did cleeve.
And he pricked it on his swords poynt.
Went singing there beside.
Chade Maurice (Child's Ballads, n. 317).
4. To fasten by means of a pin or other pointed
instrument; stick.
An old hat and 'the humour of forty fancies' pricked
in 'tfor a feather. Shak., T. of the S., iii. 2. 70.
5. To pick out with or as with a needle.
A round little worm
PricKd from the lazy finger of a maid.
Shak., £. and J., i. 4. 66.
6. To spur, as a horse ; hence, to stimulate to
action; goad; incite; impel.
My duty pricks me on to utter that
Which else no worldly good should draw from me.
Shak., T. G. of V., iii 1. 8.
Even as a Peacock, prickt with loues desire
To woo his Mistress, strowting stately by her.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, L 4.
Well, keep all things so in thy mind that they may be
as a goad in thy sides, to prick thee forward in the way
thou must go. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 108.
7. To affect with sharp pain; sting, as with
remorse or sorrow.
O thing biseke I yow and wame also.
That ye ne prikke with no tormentinge
This tendre mayden, as ye han doon mo.
Chawser, Clerk's Tale, 1. 983.
When they heard this they were pricked in their heart.
Acts ii. 37.
8. To cause to point upward; erect: said chiefly
of the ears, and primarily of the pointed ears
of certain animals, as the horse : generally with
up: hence, to prick up the ears, to listen with
eager attention, or evince eager attention.
Then I beat my tabor.
At which, like unback'd colts, tYiey pricVd their ears.
Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 176.
The volunteers pricked up their ears.
Battle of TranerU-Muir (Child's Ballads, VII. 169).
All ears were prick'd at once, all tongues were loosed.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
9t. To stick upon by way of decoration ; stick
full, as of flowers or feathers; hence, to dec-
orate; adorn; prink.
I pricke a cuppe or suche lyke thynge full of floures, je
enfleure. Palsgrave. (Halliwell.)
I would they [women] would (aa they have much prick-
ing), when they put on their cap, I would they would have
this meditation : "I am now putting on my power upon
my head. " If they had this thought in their minds, they
would not make so much pricking up of themselves as
they do now a days.
Latimer, Sermons and Bemains (Parker Soc. ed.), I. 253.
HDavies.)
prickant
She [Nature] prick'd thee out for women's pleasnre.
Sliak'., Sonnets, xx.
10. To place a point, dot, or similar mark upon ;
mark, (at) To Jot or set down in dots or marlu, as mu-
sic or words. See counterpoints (etymology) and pricks&ng.
All that poites haue pricket of hi's prise dedis,
I haue no tome for to teUe ne tary no lengur.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.i L 306.
A faire rul'd singing b'ooke ; the word
Perfect, if it were prickt.
Marston, Antonio and Mellida, P., v. L
He . . . did sing the whole from the words without any
musique prickt, and played all along upon a harpsicon
most admirably, and the composition most excellent.
Pepys, Diary, III. 61.
(p) To designate by a mark or dot; hence, to choose or
select. Compare pricking for sheriffs, Mnder pricking.
Oct Your brother too must die ; consent you, Lepidus?
Lep, I do consent.
OcL Prick him down, Antony. . . .
Ant. He shall not live; look, with a spot I damn him.
Shale., J. C, iv. 1. 3.
Your husband, gentlewoman ! why, he never was a soldier.
Ay, but a lady got him prickt for a captain.
Dekker and Webster, Northward Ho, v. 1,
11. To mark or trace by puncturing.
Has she a Bodkin and a Card?
Shell prick her Mind.
Prior, An English Padlock.
When, playing with thy vesture's tissu'd fiower^ . . .
I prick'd them into paper with a pin.
Coipper, My Mother's Picture.
12. To trace or track by the marks or foot-
steps, as a hare.
Prick ye the fearful hare through cross-ways, sheep-
walks. Fletcher, Beggai's' Bush, ilL 4.
Send forth your woodmen then into the walks,
Or let them prick her footing hence.
B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. 2.
13. Naut., to run a middle seam through the
cloth of (a sail) — Pricking-up coat, in ImUding, the
first coating of plaster upon lath.
The first or pricking-up coat is of coarse stuff put on
with a trowel to form a key behind the laths.
Workshop Receipts, 1st ser., p. 122.
Prick the garter. Same as fast a7ui loose (a) (which see,
under /a^l). — To prick a cartridge, to pierce a hole
leading into the chamber of the cartridge which contains
the charge, in order to provide for the priming a cleai:
passage to the powder. — To prick out, in gardening, to
plant outk as seedlings from a greenhouse to an open bor-
der.
Shallow . . . wooden boxes . . . are very useful for
seed-sowing, for pricking out seedlings, or for planting
cuttings. Eneyc. Brit., XII. 240.
To prick the ship off, to mark the ship's position in
latitude and longitude on a chart.— To prick up, in
plastering, to plaster with the first of three coats.
The wall is first pricked up with a coat ot lime and hair.
Workshop Receipts, 1st ser., p. 122.
II. intrans. If. To aim, as at a point or mark.
The devil hath pricked at this mark, to frustrate the
cross of Chiist. Latimer, Sermon of the Plough.
Let Christ be your scope and mark to prick at ; let him
be your pattern to work by.
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc., 1853), n. 80.
2. To give a sensation as of being pricked or
punctured with a sharp point; also, to have
such a sensation.
Have you no convulsions, pricking aches, sir?
Middleton (and others). The Widow, iv. 2.
When the blood creeps, and the nerves prick
And tingle. Tennyson, In Memoriam, 1.
S. To spur on; ride rapidly; post; speed.
He prikketh thurgh a fair forest
Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 1. 43.
A gentle knight -waa pricking on the plaine.
Spenser, P. Q., I. L 1.
Still at the %alio'p pricked the knight;
His merry-men foUow'd as they might.
Scott, L. of the L., v. 18.
4. To point upward; stand erect.
The spires
Priced with incredible pinnacles into heaven.
Tennyson, Holy GraiL
5. To dress one's seK for show ; prink. Latimer.
— 6. To germinate. Salliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
If beer which no longer jpricis is pumped into another
barrel without stirring up the sediment, it will again pricfc
in the new barrel, a proof that it ferments more vigorously.
Tltausing, Beer (trans.), p. 672.
7. To become acid or som'. wine is said to be
pricked when it is very slightly soured, as when the bot-
tles have been kept in too warm a place.
It [salmon] is generally bought for Is. a kit, a little bit
pricked; but if good, the price is from 12«. to 18».
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 68.
Prick at the loop. Same as fast and {oose (a) (which see,
under /<H«l).— To prick up, to freshen, as the wind,
prickantt (prik'ant), a. _ [< ME., prickand ; old
ypi.ot prick, v."] Pricking, (o) Pointing upward.
Without his door doth hang
A copper basin on a prickant spear.
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, iii. 2.
prickant
(b) Spurring on ; traTeling ; errant.
What knight is that, squire? aslc him it he keep
The passage bound by love of lady fair,
Or else hut prickant.
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, ii. 5.
prick-eared (prik'erd), o. Having pointed ears.
[This epithet was commonly applied by the English Cava-
liers to the Puritans, because, their hair being cut close all
around, their ears stood out prominently.]
Pish for thee, Iceland dog ! thou prick-ear'd cur of Ice-
land » Shak. , Hen. V. , ii. 1. 44.
pricked (prikt),j5. a. 1. In cerom., ornamented
with small indentations made by the end of a
slender rod, or, for economy of time, with a sort
of eomb of from three to six teeth. The depres-
sions, arranged In lines, zigzags, etc., and alternating with
continuous lines drawn by a point, form often the sole dec-
oration of simple pottery.
2. Same as jngwe.
pricker (prik'6r), n. [< ME. priker, preker; <
prick + -eri.] 1. That which pricks; a sharp-
Sointed instrument; a prickle. Specifically— (o)
saddlers' implement, usually a bifurcated tool for mark-
ing equidistant holes for stitching. (6) A needle used
by draftsmen for marking points or measurements on
drawing-paper, also for pricking through important points
of a drawing, in order to locate such points on an under-
laid sheet, (fi) A Blender iron rod, usually provided with
a cross-handle at the top, used to sound the depths of
bogs, or in searching tor timber embedded in soft muck.
((J) A spur or climbing-iron, either strapped to the boot or
to the wrist, or grasped in the hand, for aid in climbing
trees, telegraph-poles, flagstafls, etc
He had iron prickers to the hands and feet to aid In
climbing lofty trees. AnnaU of PhU. and Penn., II. 20.
(e) A small tool, resembling in form and use a fld or mar-
linespike, with a wooden handle, used by sail-makers. (/)
A pierciAg implement used in a macliine for manufac-
turing card-foundations, (g) A priming-needle of pointed
copper wire, used in blasting. It is inserted in the charge
of powder centrally with reference to the drilled hole, and
the tamping is packed aroand it. On its withdrawal a
hole is lef t^ into which flue powder is poured, and a fuse is
then connected with the top of the hole. (A) In gun., a
sharp wire introduced through the touch-hole of a gun to
pierce the cartridge, thus opening a communication be-
tween the powder in the cartridge and the priming-powder
when the gun is primed. (*) An implement for extracting
primers from spent central-iU'e cartridges for small-arm&
when the cases are to be reloaded. 0') A long iron rod
with a sharp point, a kind of pointed crowbar, used in
some of the English coal-mines for bringing down the
coal from overhead, and lor some other purposes.
3. One who pricks. Specifically— (o) A light horse-
man.
Seud prekers to the price touue, and plaunte there my
segge.
Bot if thay profre me the pece be processe of tyme.
Jforte AHhwre (E. E. T. S.), 1. 365.
This sort of spur [consisting of only one point, but of an
enormous length and thickness] was worn by a body of
light horsemen in the leign of Henry VIII., thence called
priekere. Archxdogia, VIII. 113.
Northumbrian prickers, wild and rude.
Seott, Marmion, v. 17.
(&) One who tested whether women were witches by stick-
ing pins into them; a witch-finder. Imp.
Did.
3. In iehth., the basWng-shark.
pricket (prik'et), n. [< ME.
priket, pryket; K prick + -ef] 1.
A sharp iron point upon which
a candle may be stuck; hence, a
candlestick, either separate or
one of several connected toge-
ther. Also prick.
Item, ij prikettys of silver.
Invent. itfSir John FasUHfs Goods, Pas-
[ton Letters, I. 470.
Hence — 2. A wax taper.
To carry to the chaundrie all the re-
maine of . . . torches, . . . prieketig,
wholly and intirely.
Quoted ill Babees Book (E. B. T. S.), ii. 108.
iiij. d. for ij. prykettesat wax barnyng to the same obett
[funeral service]. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.X p. 826.
3. A buck in his second year: probably so
called from his horns. See spike.
I wont to raunge amydde the mazie thickette, . . .
And joyed oft to chace the trembling Pricket.
Spenser, Shop. CaL, December.
I said the deer was not a haud credo ; 'twas a pricket
Shak., L. L. L., iv. 2. 22.
4. The wall-pepper or biting stonecrop, Se-
dum acre. [Eng.]— Pricket's sister, the female of
the tallow-deer in its second year. W. W. Greener, The
Gun, p. 608.
pricking (prik'ing), n. [Verbal n. ot prick, ».]
1. The act of piercing with a sharp point; a
stinging or tingling sensation.
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
iSAafc, Macbeth, iv. 1. 44.
Specifically, in farriery : (a) The act of driving a nail into
a horse's foot with the result of causing lameness. (6) The
making of an incision at the root of a horse's tail to cause
him to caiTy it higher. See nickl, v. t.
2t. Musical notation.
Pricket.
(From Viollet
le - Buc's "Diet.
du Mobilier fran-
5ais.")
4720
Even in 1697 that learned theorist and composer, Thomas
Morley, speaking of the notation found in ancient written
music, said : "That order of pricking is gone out of vse
now, so that wee vse the blacke voides as they vsed their
black fuUes, and the blacke f ulles as they vsed the redde
fulles." York Plays, p. 524.
3t. The prick or mark left by the foot of an
animal, as a hare or deer ; also, the act of track-
ing an animal by such marks.
Those [hounds] which cannot disoeme the footings or
prickings of the hare, yet will they runne speedily when
they see her.
Topsell, Four-footed Beasts (1607), p. 1B2. (Haatwett.)
4. The condition of becoming sour, as wine.
Hoioell. — 5. pi. The slips of evergreens with
which the churches are decorated fiom Christ-
mas eve to the eve of Candlemas day. HalU-
well. [Prov. Eng.]— Pricking for sheriffs, the
ceremony of selecting one of three persons for each county
in England and Wales to serve as sheriff for the ensuing
year. The ceremony is so called from the circumstance
that the appointment is made by marking the name with
the prick of a point See the quotation.
The Lord Lieutenant prepares a list of persons qualified
to serve, and returns three names, which are read out in
the Court of Queen's Bench upon the inonow of All Souls'
Day, when the excuses of such as do not wish to serve are
heard, and^ if deemed sufiicient, the objector is discharged.
The list is then sent to the Sovereign, who, without look-
ing at it, strikes a bodkin amongst the names, and he
whose name is pierced is elected. This is called pricking
for sheriffs. A. Fonblanque, Jr., How we are Governed, ix.
Pricking up, in building, the first coating of plaster upon
the lath.
pricking-note (prik'ing-not), n. A document
delivered by a shipper of goods authorizing the
receiving of them on board: so called from a
practice of pricking holes in the paper corre-
sponding with the number of packages counted
into the ship.
pricking-wfieel (prik'ing-hwel), k. A tool used
by saddlers to travel over the leather and mark
the number of stitches to the inch ; a stitch-
wheel.
prickle (prik'l), n. [< ME.prikel, prikil (part-
ly with loss of terminal s), < AS. pricele, pricle,
pricel, also pricels (= D.prikkel = MLG. prekel,
LGr. prickel, prikkel, prekkel = Gr. prickel), a
sharp point, iprica, pricu, a point: Bee prick.']
1. A little prick; a small sharp point; in bot.,
a, small sharp-pointed conical process growing
from the bark only^ as in the rose and black-
beiTy, and thus distinguished from the spine or
thorn, which is usually a modified branch or
leaf growing from the wood of the plant.
The sweetest Hose hath Ma prickell.
Lyly, Euphues, Anat of Witj p. 33.
The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it
MiUon, Comus, L 631.
2. A sharp-pointed process or projection, as
from the skin of an animal; a spine. — 3. The
sensation of being pricked or stung. [Colloq.]
AH o' me thet wuzn't sore an* aettdin' prickles thru me
Was jist the leg I parted with in lickin' Montezumy.
Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser., L
4. A kind of basket : still used in some trades.
See the second quotation.
Well done, my pretty ones, rain roses still, .
Until the last be dropt ; then hence, and fill
Your tra^&nt pricHes for a second shower.
B. Jonson, Pan's Anniversary.
The prickle is a brown willow basket in which walnuts
are imported into this country from the Continent : they
are about thirty inches deep, and in bulk rather larger
than a gallon measure.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, L 27.
5. A sieve of filberts, containing about half of
a hundredweight. Simmonds.
prickle (prik'l), v.y pret. and pp. prickled, ppr.
^trickling. [= LG. priekeln, prikkeln, prokeln
= Gr. priekeln, prick: see prickle, n., prick.'] I.
trans. 1. To prick or puncture slightly; pierce
with fine sharp points. — 2. To cause a pricking
sensation in: said of the skin.
I. . .
Felt a hprror over me creep.
Prickle my skin and catch my breath.
Tennyson, Maud, zlv. 4.
3. To cover with pricks or points ; dot.
Evening shadowed ; the violet deepened and prickled it-
self with stars. Harpers Mag., LXXVL 763.
II. intrans. To be prickly.
The fragrant Eglantine did spred
His prickling annes, entrayld with roses red.
Spenser, F. Q., II. v. 29.
prickleback (prik'1-bak), n. The stickleback.
Also mickle-fish and pricklyback.
prickle-cell (prik'1-sel), n. One of the rounded
or polyhedral cells, marked on their surface
with numerous ridges, fm-rows, or minute
spines, which form the stratum spinosum of
the epidermis.
prick-shaft
prickled (prik'ld), R. l< prickle + -eiP.] Fur-
nished with prickles.
The Bncifcd perch in every hollow creek
Hard by the bank and sandy shore is fed.
J. Dennys (Arber's Eng. Gamer, 1. 186).
prickle-fish (prik'1-flsh), «. Same as prickle-
back.
prickle-layer (prik'l-la'''6r), n. The lowest stra-
tum of the epidermis ; the stratum spinosum,
next below the stratum granulosum. It is form-
ed of prickle-eells, the lowest layer being pris-
matic, and resting on the corium.
prickle-yellow (prik'l-yeFo), n. See prickhj
yelloivwood, under yellowwood.
prickliness (prik'li-nes), n. The state of being
prickly, or having many prickles.
pricklouse (prik'lous), n. ; v^.pricklice (-lis). [<
prick, v., + obj. louse.] A tailor: so called in
contempt. Also prick-tlie-loiise.
A taylour and his wife quarrelling, the woman in con-
tempt cidled her husband pricklouse. Sir S. L'Fstrange.
prick-lugged (prik'lugd), a. Having erect ears ;
prick-eared. Hallimell.
prickly (prik'li), a. [< prickle + -y'^.] 1. Pull of
sharp points or prickles ; armed with prickles :
as, api-ickly shrub.
The common, over-grown with fern, and rough
'With prickly gorae. Cowper, Task, i 627.
2. Pricking or stinging; noting the sensation
ofbeingpricked or stung PricMycatt. Seecuti,
8.— Prickly comfrey. See comfrey.— Prickly glass-
wort. See glasswort and Wpicort.- Prickly heat, let-
tuce, licorice, etc. See the nouns.
prickly-ash (prik'li-ash'), n. A shrub or small
tree, Xanthoxylum Americanum, with ash-like
leaves, and branches armed with strongpriokles.
Its bark is an active stimulant, used in a fluid extract as
a diaphoretic in chronic rheumatism, and populai'ly as a
masticatory to cure toothache. Hence called toothache-
tree, as is also the species X. Clava-Bercvlis (also called
prickly-ash), which grows further south, and probably has
similar properties.
pricklyback, (prik'li-bak), ». l. Same as
prickleback. — 2. The edible crab, Callinectes
liastatus, when the new shell is only partially
hardened; a shedder. [Long Island.]
prickly-broom (prik'li-brom'), ». The furze,
Vlex Ewropieiis.
prickly-cedar (prik'li-se'dar), n. A juniper of
southern Europe, Jvmperv^ Oxycedi-us.
prickly-grass (prik'li-gras), n. Any grass of
the old genus Eclwnochloa, now referred to Pa-
prickly-pear (prik'li-par'), m. 1. The fruit of
cacti of the genus Opuntia, a pear-shaped or
ovoid berry, in many cases juicy and edible,
armed with prickles or nearly smooth. — 2. Any
plant of this genus, primarily 0. vulgaris (or
0. Bafinesquii, which is not always distin-
guished from it). See Opuntia. These are native
in barren ground on the eastern coast of the United
States, the latter also in the upper Mississippi valley, the
most northern species. With other members of the ge-
nus, they bear edible berries or pears. Some species sup-
port the cochineal- insect. (See cochineal.) Various spe-
cies are available as uninflammable hedge-plants. O.
Tuna, 0. vulgaris, 0. Ficus-Indica, and others are cul-
tivated and more or less naturalized around the Mediter-
ranean, etc., and their fruit is largely gathered for the
market Also called Indian fig.
prickly^Ole (prik'li-pol'), n. A West Indian
palm, Bactris Plumeriana: so called from its
slender trunks, which are ringed with long
black prickles at intervals of half an inch.
The stems grow in tufts, and are sometimes 40 feet high.
The wood is said to be elastic, and suitable for bows and
rammers.
prickly-spined (prik'li-spind), a. Acanthop-
terygious, as a fish or its fins.
prickly-withe (prik'li-with'), n. A cactaceous
plant, Cereus triangularis, found in Mexico and
Jamaica. It has climbingandrooting branches,
which are three-cornered and armed with
prickles.
prickmadamt, n. An old name of three species
of stonecrop — Sedum acre, S. album, and S. re-
flexum.
prick-me-dainty, prick-ma-dainty (prik'me-,
prik'ma-dan'ti), a. and n. I. a. Characterized
by finical language or manners; finical; over-
precise. [Scotch.]
" Nane of your deil's play-books for me," said she ; "it 's
an ill warld since sic prick>my-dainty doings came in
fashion." Scott, St Eonan's Well, xii.
II. n. A finical, affected person. [Scotch.]
prick-post (prik'post), n. In arch., same as
qneen-post.
prick-punch (prik'punch), n. Same as center-
jmneh.
prick-shaftt (prik'shaft), n. An arrow used in
shooting at a prick or target.
prick-shaft
Who with her heUish courage, stout and hot,
Abides the brunt oJ many a priekehaft shot
John Taylor, Works (1630). (JVorai.)
I am sorry you are so bad an Archer, ... to shoote at
Buts when you shou'd use priek-shafts; short shootmK
will loose ye the game. Bowley, Match at JndnighrilT
prickshot (prik'shot), ». A bowshot: the space
between an ai-cher and the mark, bavies.
The tents, as I noted them, were divided into four sev-
eral orders and rewes [rows] lying east and west and a
pnckshot asunder. Patten (Arbor's Eng. Garner, UI. 99).
pric^ongt (prik'sdng), «. [< priclc + songA
1. Written music as distinguished from that
which IS extemporaneous.
He fights as you sing pricfeonfl-, keeps time, distance, and
proportion ; rests me his minim rest, one, two, and the
third in your bosom. Shak., E. and J., it i. 21.
I can aiag prickaong, lady, at first sight.
Chapman, Bussy D'Ambois, i 1.
2. A descant or counterpoint as distinguished
from a cantus firmus; contrapuntal music in
general.
But yetj as I would have this sort of music decay among
scholars, even so do I wish, from the bottom of my heart
that the laudable custom of England to teach children
theu' plain song and prick-sons were not so decayed
throughout all the realm as it is.
Aicham, Toxopliilus (ed. 1864), p. 29.
On the early morrow, Dirige, followed by two Masses,
•J 'i. ?? second . . . accompanied by the organ, and
chanted in j)rici;-«ni^, or, as we would call it, florid music.
Sock, Church of our Fathers, ii. 60S.
prick-spur (prik'spfer), n.
prick-tne-garter
(prik'THg-gar'ter), n.
Same as yast and loose
(which see, under
fasti).
prick-the-louse (prik'-
THg-lous'), n. Same
as pricklouse. ,
Gae mind your seam, ye
priek-the-lou8e !
Bums, To a Tailor.
prick-timber (prik'- _., ,,, ^
tim'bSr), ». The spin- '^=K.sp„«ofth»i3thcentnry.
die-tree, Euonynms Hurcpseus; also, the Euro-
pean dogwood, Corrnis sangumea ; so called be-
cause their stems are used to make skewers,
goads, etc. Also jmckwood.
prick-wandt (prik'wond), n. A wand set up
for a mark to shoot arrows at. Peroy. (Halli-
weU.)
prick-wheel (prik'hwel), n. A rolling-stamp
with sharp points which prick a row of dots or
holes. It is used for marking out patterns, and
is therefore also called a pattern-wheel.
prickwood (prik'wnd), n. Same as pricJc-tim-
ier.
prickyf (prik'i), a. [< prick + -^i.] Prickly.
more-
A goad-spur.
A prickle stalke it hath of the owne ; . .
ouer it is like a thorne.
HoUand, tr. of Pliny, xix. 3.
pridei(prid), n. [ME.pride,pryde,prude,pruide,
pruyde, prute, < AS. pryte (= Icel. prydhi =
I>a,n.pryd, ornament), pride, <jj>'Mi,jjr^<, proud:
see^oM^.] 1. The state or condition of being
proud, or a feeling of elation or exaltation on
account of what one is or has or is connected
with, in any sense, (o) inordinate self-esteem ; an
unreasonable estimate of one's own superiority, which
manifests itself in lofty airs, reserve^ and often in con-
tempt of others.
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit
before a falL Prov. xvt 18.
You sign your place and calling, in full seeming,
With meekness and humility ; but your heart
Is cramm'd with arrogancy, spleen, and 2>ride.
ShaJc., Hen. TIIL, IL 4. UOi
Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves ; vanity
to what we would have others think of us.
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, L v.
(6) A becoming and dignified sense of what is due to one's
personsdity, character, or position ; firm self-respect.
He left his guests, and to his cottage turned,
And as he entered for a moment yearned
For the lost splendors of the days of old, . . .
And felt liow bitter is the sting oi pride.
By want embittered and intensified.
LangfeUaui, Wayside Inn, Student's Tale.
Gray's pride was not, as it sometimes is, allied to van-
ity; it was personal ratlier than social, it I may attempt
a distinction which I feel but can hardly define.
LoweU, New Princeton Rev., 1. 166.
(c) A reasonable feeling of elation or exultation in view
of one's doings, achievements, or possessions, or those of
a person or persons intimately connected with one.
Thus to relieve the wretched was laa pride,
And e'en his failings leaned to virtue's side.
Goldsmith, Des. Vil., 1. 163.
I felt a pride
In gaining riches for my destined bride.
" " Crabbe, Works, IV. 89.
4721
We all take a pride in sharing the epidemic economy of
the time. O. W. Holmes, Old Vol. of Life, p. 1.
Taking pride in her,
She look'd so sweet, he Idss'd lier tenderly.
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field.
2. Haughty or arrogant bearing or conduct;
overbearing treatment of others; insolent ex-
ultation; vainglorying.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the
Father. l John ii. 16.
Pride in their port, defiance in their eye,
I see the lords of humankind pass by.
GoldsmUh, Traveller, L 327.
3. Exuberance of animal spirits; warmth of
temperament; mettle.
The colt that 's back'd and burden'd being young
Loseth his pride and never waxeth strong.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 4201
His heart was warm, his pride was up.
Sweet Willie kentna fear.
Willie and May Margaret (Child's Ballads, II. 172).
Hence — 4. Lust; sexual desire; especially,
the excitement of the sexual appetite in a fe-
male animal.
As salt as wolves in pride. Shak., OtheUo, iiL S. 404.
6t. Wantonness ; extravagance ; excess ; hence,
impertinence; impudence.
He hath it when he cannot use it.
And leaves it to be master'd by his young;
Who In their pride do presently abuse it.
Shak., Lucrece, I. 864.
6. That which is or may be a cause of pride ;
that of which men are proud. («) Any person, body
of persons, or object possessed wliich causes others to de-
light or glory.
A bold peaaautry, their country's jM-ide,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied.
OoldsmUh, Des. ViL, 1. 56.
See yon pale stripling ! when a boy,
A mother's i»*wZe, a father's joy !
ScaU, Kokeby, iiL 15.
(5) Highest pitch ; elevation ; loftiness ; the best or most
admired part of a thing ; the height ; full force, extent, or
quantity.
Now we have seen the pride of Nature's work.
We'll take our leave. Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, v. 3.
A falcon, towering in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd.
Shak., Macbeth, ii. 4. 12. pride-of-India (pnd'ov-in'di-a),
Now may it please your Ijignesse to leaue your discon- mental tree, Melia Azedarach."
tented passions, and take this mornings i>n(2e to hunt the ,,-j j„ „* t «^ J«v. /r.^A'^,, ^..■..';i-..^\ «
Bore. CAoyman, Blind Begger of Alexandria(Works, P"de-Of-London (pnd ov-lun dun), n.
[1873), 1. 17. as London-pride, 2.
We are puppets, Man in his pride, and Beauty fair in her pride-Of-OhiO (prid'ov-o-hi'6), n. An elegant
flower. Tennyson, Maud, iv. 6. plant, the shooting-star, Dodecatheon Meadia.
A line roe at tliis season [December] makes better veni- Pride's Purge, ^ee purge.
son than either red or fallow deer; but when not in the pridian (prid'i-an), a. Xi Ii. vridia/nus, < mrius,
before (seejjnor), -f dies, day: see dial.^ Per-
priest
II. intrans. To be proud; exult; glory: some-
times with indefinite it.
Those who jjrfde in being scholars. Jwiji.
Neither were the vain gloiles content to pride it upon
success. ffp. Hoctct, Abp. Williams, n. 203. (Damei.)
I regretted he was no more ; lie would so much have
prided and rejoiced in showing his place.
Mme. D'Arblay, Diary, V. 30. (Davies.)
pride'-^ (prid), n. [Origin uncertain.] A kind
of lamprey; especially, the mud-lamprey. See
Ammoemies and lamprey. Also sand-pride and
pride of tJie Jsis. [Local, Eng.]
Lnmbrici are littell f yshes taken in small ry vers, whiche
are lyke to lampurnes, but they be muche lesse, and some-
what yeolowe, and are caUed in Wilshyre ^jride*.
Elyotes Dictionarie (fol., lond., 1669). {Halliwell.)
We call it a lamperon ; Plot calls it the pride of the Isis.
HUl, Hist, of Animals, p. 295.
Pride-gavel, a tax or tribute paid in certain places for
the privilege of flshing for lampreys,
prideful (jJrid'ful), o. l<. xmde^ + -ful.'] Full
of pride; insolent; scornful.
Then, thus indignant he accosts the foe
(While high disdain sat pride/vl on his brow).
P. Whitehead, The Gymnasiad, iiL
Then, in wrath.
Depart, he cried, perverse tmAprid^fvl nymph.
W. Richardson.
pridefuUy (prid'f ul-i), adv. Li a prideful man-
ner; scornfully.
pridefulness (prid'ful-nes), n. The state or
condition of being prideful; seomfulness; also,
vanity.
A white kirtle the wench wears — to hide the dust of the
mill, no doubt— and a blue hood, thatmightweelbespai'ed,
loi pride/idness. Scott, Monastery, viiL
prideless (prid'les), o. [<_p>-idei -I- -fes«.] Free
from pride.
Discreet and prydeles, ay honurable.
Chancer, Clerk's Tale, L 874.
pride-of-Barbados (prid'ov-bar-ba'doz), n. A
shrub: same as^owe}--/eMce.
pride-of-China (pnd'ov-chi'na), h. Same as
pride-of-India. See Melia.
pride-of-Columbia (prid'ov-ko-lum'bi-a), «.
An ornamental plant. Phlox speeiosa, of west-
ern North America.
An oma-
Same
prid£ of their grease their flesh is so much carrion.
W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 513.
(c) Decoration; ornament; beauty displayed; specifically,
in her., a term applicable to the peacock, turkey-cock^
and other birds which spread their tails in a circular
form, and drop their wings: as, a peacock in hi& pride.
Whose loftie trees, yclad with sommerspn'iie.
Did spred so broad that heavens light did hide.
^i^nser, F. Q., L L 7.
The purple jmde
Which on thy [the violet's] soft cheek for complexion
dwells. Shak., Sonnets, xcix.
Be his this sword . . .
Whose ivoiy sheath, inwrought with evxioMs pride.
Adds graceful terror to the wearer's side.
Pope, Odyssey, viiL 439.
(fZ) Splendid show ; ostentation.
The madams too.
Not used to toil, did almost sweat to bear
Hie pride upon them. Shak., Hen. VIIL, i. 1. 25.
In this array, the war of either side
Through Aliens pass'd with military pride.
Dryden, Pal. and Arc, iiL 102.
7f. A company or group (of lions).
When beasts went together in companies, there was
said to be a ^ife of lions.
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 80.
8. Lameness; impediment. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eng.] =Syn. 1. Pride, Egotism, Vamty, etc. (see egalism\
self-exaltation, selt-sufflciency, vaingloiy.— 2. Pride, Ar-
rogance, Presumption, etc. (see arrogance), lordliness, hau-
teur.— 6. Ornament, glory, splendor.
pridei (prid), v.; pret. and pp. prided, ppr.
priding. [= Icel. prydha = ^w. pryda = Dan.
pryde, adorn, ornament; from the noun.] I.
trans. 1. To indulge in pride, elation, or self-
esteem ; value (one's self) : used reflexively.
In the production whereof Prometheus liad strangely
and insnflerab^ prided himsey.
Bacon, Physical Fables, iL
Many a man, instead of learning humility in practice,
confesses himself a poor sinner, and next prides himself
upon the confession.
J. H. Newman, Parochial Sermons, L 28.
2. To spread, as a bird its tail-feathers.
Prideth her feathers, superhit pennis.
Hoole, Visible World, p. 26.
taining or relating to the previous day; of yes-
terday.
Thrice a week at least does Gann breakfast in bed —
sure sign ot pridian intoxication.
Zliackeray, Shabby Genteel Story, IL
pridingly (pri'ding-li), adv. With pride; in
pride of heart.
Ke pridingly doth set himself before all others.
Barrow, Pope's Supremacy.
pridy (pri'di), o. [<j;jndei -I- -yi.] Proud. Hal-
liwell. [Prov. Eng.]
priest, V. i. An obsolete form of pry'^.
prie^, V. t. Seepree.
priest, n. [Cf. j»'j«)et] A shrub, the common
privet, lAgustrum vulgare.
prie-dieu (pre-die'), n. [P., < prier, pray, -f-
dieu, God.] 1. Same 3,s praying-desTc.
A great bedstead of carved oak, black with age, . . .
fianked by a gcimy prie-dieu and a wardrobe equally ven-
erable. The Century, XXXVI. 239.
2. In entom., a praying-mantis.
prieft (pref), n. An obsolete form ot proof.
prier (pri'er), n. One who pries ; one who in-
quires narrowly; one who searches or scruti-
nizes. Also spelled jj)-i/er.
The moderation of the king ... set the monks, the
constant pryers into futurity, upon prophecying ^hat the
reign of this prince was to be equal in length to that of his
father Vasous the Great.
Bruce, Source of the Nile, n. B77.
priest (prest), n. [< ME. preest, prest, priest,
preost,pi-uest,<AB.pre6st=OSi.prestre,priester
= OPries. prestere = D. priester = MLG. prester
= OHG. priestar, MHG. G. priester = Icel. 2))-estr
= Sw. 2'rest = Dan. pr!est=0'F. prestre (> ME.
prester, q. v.), P. prStre = Sp. preste = OPg..
preste = It. prete, a priest, \ LL. preshyter, a
presbyter, elder: see presl)yter.'\ 1. One who
is duly authorized to be a minister of sacred
things ; one whose stated duty it is to perfoi'm,
on behalf of the community, certain public reli-
gious acts, particularly religious sacrifices.
priest
And the priest shall make an atonement for them, and
it shall be forgiven them. Lev. iv. 20.
On a seate of the same Chariot, a little more eleuate,
sate Eunomla, the Virgine Priest of the Goddesse Honor.
Chapman, Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn.
Prayers which in this golden censer, mix'd
With incense, I tby priest before thee bring.
MiltoTi, P. L., xi. 25.
To what green altar, 0 mysterious priest,
Leadst thou that heifer lowing at the skies?
Keats, Grecian Um.
2. One who is ordained to the pastoral or sacer-
dotal office; a presbyter; an elder, in Wyclif
the word priest is used where in Tyndale and the author-
ized version the word elder is used ; for example, " For this
cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldesi; reforme the
things that are wanting, and shouldest ordaine priestes
[presbyters, irpw/SuTepous ; authorized version emsrs] by
cities as I also appointed thee" (Titus L 6).
3. Specifically, in hierarchical chm-ches, the
second in rank in the clerical orders, between
bishop and deacon. Etymologically, the word priest
is a derivative or modification of the word presbyter. As,
however, the office of the presbyterate has been regai'ded
in the Christian church from primitive or early times as
a sacerdotal office in so far as it confers power to celebrate
the eucharist and to confer absolution, and as no church
officer below a presbyter can exercise these functions, and
all above a presbyter continue to exercise them in virtue
of their ordination as presbyters, the title ot presbyter and
that of sacerdos or tepeus (sacrificing priest) soon came to
be regarded as synonymous, and either one or the other
of these titles to be preferred in popular use in different
languages, to the exclusion of its synoijym. The title of
priest (lepetis, sacerdos) was in the early church given by
preeminence to the bishop (specifically the Mgh priest) as
ordinary celebrant of the eucharist in cities and the foun-
tain of sacerdotal authority. The Roman Catholic Church
teaches that it is the office of a priest "to offer, bless, rule,
preach, and baptize." These same offices are assigned to
priests in the Orthodox Greek and other Oriental churches
and in the Anglican Church. In the church last named
the form of ordination gives authority to forgive or retain
Bins and be a dispenser of the word and sacraments, and
only priests (including bishops as in priest's orders) can
give benediction, pronounce absolution, and consecrate
the eucharist.
And xxvij Day of August, Decessyd Syr Thomas Toppe,
a prest of the west couutre.
TorUngton, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 58.
It is evident unto all men, diligently reading Holy
Scripture and ancient Authors, that from the Apostles'
time there have been these orders of Ministers in Christ's
Church— Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.
Book ({/ Cojmnon Prayer, Preface to .the Ordinal,
4. A breed of domestic pigeons, in four differ-
ent color-varieties, black, blue, red, and yellow.
— 5. A mark composed of two coueentrio cir-
cles, used as a private stamp, a brand for cat-
tle, and the like in England Cardinal priest.
See cardinal, n., 1.— Chantry piiest, a priest employed
to say mass in a chantry for the soul of the founder or
other person, or for some specified intention. See chantry.
—Higll priest, a chief priest. Specifically— (a) The chief
ecclesiastical officerin the ancient Jewish church. He ex-
ercised certain judicial and quasi-political functions, as
well as functions of a purely sacerdotal character ; but his
power varied at different periods of Jewish history. He
alone entered the Holy of Holies in the temple ; he was
the arbiter in all religious matters, and to him lay the final
appeal in all controversies. In later times he was the head
of the Sanhedrim, and next in rank to the sovereign.
The priests went always into the fii-st tabernacle. . . .
But into the second went the high priest alone once every
year. Heb. ix. 7.
(b) In the early Christian church, a bishop, (c) A mem-
Der of an order in the Mormon Church ranking among the
higher orders. See Jfonwins.— Massing priestt. See
nuusi.— Parish, penitentiary, etc., priest. See the ad-
jectives.—Penitential priest. Same as penitentiary, 1
and 2. — Poor Priests, an order of itinerant preaching
clergy, founded by John Wyclif. They preached in dif-
ferent parts of England, in most places without ecclesias-
tical authority. They wore blue or russet gowns, went
barefoot, and were dependent on the hospitality of their
hearers for food and lodging. According to some author-
ities, laymen also were admitted among these preachers.
The order was suppressed in 1381 or 1382, not long after
its foundation. It had, however, succeeded in dissemi-
nating Wycliffite teachings widely throughout England.
Also Poor Preachers, Simple Prieste.— Priest's bonnet,
in fort. See bonnet d pretre, under &onii«t.— Seminary
priest. See seminary.— The priest, the celebrant of the
eucharist, especially as distinguished from his assistants
(deacon,
Tninister.
4722
on temporal or material interest ; the arts prac-
tised by selfish and ambitious priests to gain
wealth and power, or to impose on the credu-
lity of others.
From priestcraft happily set free,
Lo ! every finiah'd son returns to thee.
Pope, Dunciad, iv. 499.
Specimens of the priestcraft by which the greater part
of Christendom had been fooled.
Macaiilay, Hist. Eng., vi.
priestcrafty (prest'kraf'ti), a. [< priestcraft
+ -2/1.] Relating to or characterized by priest-
craft. Worcester. [Rare.]
priesteryt (pres't6r-i), n. [< priest + -ery.']
Priests collectively; the priesthood: in con-
tempt. Milton.
priestess (pres'tes), n. [< priest + -ess.2 1.
A woman who officiates in sacred rites.
She, as priestess, knows the rites
Wherein the God of earth delights.
Swift, Stella's Birthday, 1722.
2t. The wife or concubine of a priest.
priest-fish (prest'fish), n. [Tr. P. pSche-prStre.']
The black i-ockfish of California, Sehastichthys
mystinus or melanops. It is of a slaty-black color.
\>»
ispi - .
(deacon, subdeacon, etc.). = Syn. Clergyman, ete. See
Tninister.
priest (prest), «). [<. priest, n,."] I. trans. To or-
dain to the priesthood; make a priest of.
IL intrans. To hold the office or exercise the
functions of a priest. [Rare.]
Honour God, and the bishop as high-priest, bearing the
image of God according to his ruling, and of Christ accord-
ing to his priesting. UUton, Prelatical Episcopacy.
priest-cap (prest 'kap), n. In fort., an out-
work with two salient and three reentering
angles.
Paine attacked with great vigor at what proved to be
the strongest point of the whole work, the priest-cap near
the Jackson road.
R. B. Irwin, in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,
[ttL 595.
priestcraft (prest'kraft), 11. [< priest + craft.']
Priestly policy or system of management based
Priest-fish {Sebasitchthys mystinus).
paler below, and attains a length of a foot or more. . It is
the most abundant scorpsenoid fish about San Francisco,
and is found from Fuget Sound to San Diego.
priesthood (prest'hud), m. [< MB. preesthood,
presthod, < AS. predsthad, < predst, priest, -I-
ftad, condition: see priest and -7ioo(J.] 1, The
office or ohai'acter of a priest.
Chaplain, away ! thy vriesthxiod saves thy life.
Shttk., 3 Hen. VI., i. 8. 3.
2. The order of men set apart for sacred offices ;
priests collectively.
priest-ill (prest'il), n. The ague. SalUwell.
[Prov. Eng.]
priestlike (prest'lik), o. l< priest + like.'] Re-
sembling a priest, or that which belongs to
priests; sacerdotal.
A priesUike habit of crimson and purple.
B. Jonson, Masque of Beauty.
The moving waters at their priestiike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores.
Keats, Last Sonnet.
priestliness (prest'li-nes), «. The quality of
being priestly; the appearance and manner of
a priest.
priestly (prest'li), a. [ < ME. prestly (= D. priest-
erlijlc = MLG. presterliTc, prestlik = OHGr. pres-
tarlih, MHG. priesterlich, Gr. priesterlich = Icel.
prestligr = Sw. presterlig = Dan. prsesteKg; <
priest + -ly^.] 1. Of or pertaining to a priest
or priests; sacerdotal: as, the pnes% office.
The priestly brotherhood, devout, sincere.
Cowper, Expostulation, 1. 438.
With . . . that fine piece of priestly needle-work she
looked like some pious lay-member of a sisterhood.
H. Jofmes, Jr., Pass. PUgrim, p. 297.
2. Befitting a priest: as, priestly sobriety and
purity of life.
Hie thee, whiles I say
A priestly farewell to her.
ShjO:., Pericles, iii. 1. 70.
priest-monk (prest'mungk), n. In the early
church and in the Greek Church, a monk who is
a priest ; a hieromonaeh.
priestrid (prest'rid), a. Same as priestridden.
Bome — not the toothless beldame of modem days, but
the avenging divinity of priest-rid monarchs.
Motley, Hist. Ketherlands, n. 841.
priestridden (presfrid^), a. [< priest + rid-
den.] Managed or governed by priests; en-
tirely swayed by priests.
That pusillanimity and manless subjugation which by
many in our age scornfully is cslledpriesbnddenness, as I
may so say : their term being priestridden when they ex-
press a man addicted to the clergy.
Waterhome, Apol. for Learning (1653), p. 82. (LatTiam.)
priestriddenness (prest' rid "n-nes), n. The
state of being priestridden. See the quotation
rnxder 2>riestridden. [Rare.]
priest's-crown (prests'kroun), n. The common
dandelion: so called from its bald receptacle
after the achenia are blown away, with allusion
to the priestly tonsm-e. [Prov. Eng.]
prighte
Prestes croume that flyeth about in somer, barbedien.
Palsgrave. (fiaUuceS)
prievet (prev), v. An obsolete form of prove,
prigi (prig), v.; pret. and pp. prigged, ppv. prig-
ging. [Origin obscure. Cf. OF. brigver, steal
purses on the highway, also solicit, canvas, in-
trigue, quarrel: see brigue, brigand.] I, trans.
1. To filch or steal. [Slang.]
Higgen hath prigg'd the prancers in his days,
And sold good penny-worths.
Fletcher, Beggar's Bush, v. 2.
They can't find the ring !
And the Abbot declared that, " when nobody twleg'd it.
Some rascal or other had popp'd in and prigg'd it I '
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 211.
2. To cheapen; haggle about. [North. Eng.
and Scotch.]
II, intrans. To plead hard; haggle. [Scotch.]
Men wha grew vriae priggin' owre hops an' raisins.
Bums, Brigs of Ayr.
prigi (prig), TO. ICtprig'^fV.] A thief. [Slang.]
Out upon him ! prig, for my life, prig; he haunts wake^
fairs, and bear-baitings. Shak., W. T., iv. 3. 108.
All sorts of villains, knaves, prigs, &e., are essential
parts of the equipage of life. Ve Quincey.
prig2 (prig), n. [Origin unknown; perhaps a
later application oij>rig^ in the general sense,
among ' ' the profession," of ' a smart fellow.']
1. A conceited, narrow-minded, pragmatical
person; a dull, precise person.
Though swoln with vanity and pride.
You're but one driv'ler multiplied,
A prig — that proves himself by starts
As many dolts as there are arts.
Smart, Fables, i.
One of those conceited prigs who value nature only as
it feeds and exhibits them. Emerson, Clubs.
A prig is a fellow who is always making you a present
of his opinions, Qeorge Eliot, Middlemarch, xL
2. A coxcomb; a dandy. [Now prov. Eng.]
A cane is part of the dress of a prig, and always worn
upon a button, for fear he should be thought to have an
occasion for it. Steele, Tatler, No. 77.
prigS (prig), V. t.; pret. and pp. prigged, ppr.
pirigging. [Cf. pricJc in like sense.] To dress
up; adorn; prink. Compare jjnc/c, 9.
He's no more use than yer prigged-up creepers [vines].
S. Judd, Margaret, i. 4.
prig^t (prig)) v. t. and i.; pret. and t^^^. prigged,
ppr. prigging. [Cf. prielc in like sense.] To
ride. DeTcker, Lanthorne and Candle-light, sig.
C ii. (HalUwell.) [Old cant.]
prigS (prig), n. [Origin obscure. Cf. i)ig^.]
1. A small pitcher. Hallimell. [Prov. Eng.] —
2. A small brass skillet. HalUwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
prigger (prig'er), n. A thief. [Slang.]
He is commonly a stealer of Horses, which they terme
a Priggar of PauUreys. Fraternity if Vagabonds (1661).
priggeryl (prig'6r-i), n. [< prig'i- + -ery.]
Thieving. [Slang.]
He said he was sorry to see any of his gang guilty of a
breach of honour ; that without honour priggery was at
an end. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, ilL 6.
priggery2 (prig'6r-i), »». [< ^mg^ + -ery.] The
qualities of a prig; conceit; priggism.
priggish! (prig'ish), a. [< jtrigi- + -is7tl.] Dis-
honest; thievish. [Slang.]
Every prig is a slave. His own priggish desires . . .
betray him to the tyranny of others.
Fielding, Jonathan Wild, iv. S.
priggish^ (prig'ish), a. l< prig^ -i- -ishh] Con-
ceited; coxcombical; affected.
Trim sounds so very short and priggish— that my Name
EJhould be a MonosyUable ! Steele, Grief A-la-Mode, iv. 1.
All but the very ignorant or the very priggish admit that
the folk-lore of the people can teach us several things
that are not to be learned in any other manner.
JV. and Q., 7th ser., II. 438.
priggishly (;prig'ish-li), adv. In a priggish man-
ner; conceitedly; pertly.
priggishness (i)rig'ish-nes), n. The state or
character of being priggish.
There is a deficiency, a littleness, a priggishness, a sort of
vulgarity, observable about even the highest f^rpe of moral
goodness attainable without it [a reverential spirit].
H. N. Oxenham, Short Studies, p. 150.
priggisml (prig'izm), n. [< jmgrl -f -ism.] The
condition, habits, or actions of a prig or thief :
roguery. [Slang.]
How unhappy is the state of priggism ! how impossible
for human prudence to foresee and guard against every
circumvention ! Fielding, Jonathan Wild, ii. 4.
priggism^ (prig'izm), n. [iprig^ + -ism.] The
manners of a prig.
Your great Mechanics' Institutes end in intellectual
priggism. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Eugby, L 2.
prightet. An obsolete preterit of jjncfc. Chav^
cer.
prigman
'^f?^*?^' ^ l^^opi-idgeman; <prig^ + man.-]
A thief. Halhwell.
A Prygman goeth with a Btyoke in hvs liand like an
Sitf P^S^.^^ '^H.^^^.^^^. of the Eogeman : or elsl
4723
It may be reasonable to allow St. Peter a primacy of
order, such a one as the ringleader hath in a dance, as the
primipilai' centurion had in the legion.
Barrow, Works, VII, 70.
The king in the [early German] monarchic states does
n^i?°-S ''' <'*'3^"8 *liem to the Alehouse, whych thev '"*'^ ™°''^ ''>*'' lepresent the unity of race ; he has a pri-
call the JJowsyng In, & ther syt playing at cardes and dice '"""'V "' honour but not of power.
W that is spent which they haue so lylched. ' 5(i«66«, Const. Hist, § 19.
Fraternity of ragaionds (1661), quoted in Ribton Tumer-fl 2
[Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 593.
A pridgerrum from him pryuilie Ms money did purloyne
Drant, tr. of Horace, To Julius Florus.
priket, n. A Middle English form of prick.
prilet, s'. See prim.
prillH (pril),j). i. [Perhaps a var. of pirl, purl :
The rank, dignity, or office of an archbishop
or other primate.
Let us gran t that perpetuity of the primacy in the chnrch
was established in Peter, I would gladly learn why the seat
of tba primacy should be rather at Home than elsewhere.
J. Bractford, Letters (Parker Soc, 1853), II. 144.
If any man say that it is not by the institution of our
,-,,,71 mi, J "^ 1-, yjj.^vMvj jju/ib. ii ttiijr mail ssay Luau ii> is not oy wie insLituLion oi our
see puri'-. ine words spelled »nK are soantly Lord Christ himself that St. Peter has perpetual successors
represented in literary use, and are more or less
confused with one another.] To flow with a
murmuring sound ; purl.
An alabaster image of Diana, a woman for the most part
naked, and water conveyed from the Thames prUUng from
11 6P I18iK6Q DrcSiBt.
in his primacy over the Universal Church, or that the Ro-
man Pontiff is not by Divine right the successor of Peter
in that same primacy, let him be anathema.
DrOift of Dogmatical Decree submitted by Piiii IX. to the
[Vatican Council, July 18, 1870.
Making laws and ordinances
Against the Holy Father's primacy,
Tennyson, Queen Maiy, iii. 3.
Whalley, Note to B. Jonson's Cynthia's Kevels, i. 1,
prilli (pril), »t. [< ME. jmlle, a whirligig; of. prima facie (pri'ma fa'shi-e). [L.: prima,
pnm,v.] 1. A child's whirligig.— 2. Asmall abl. of j»mi(s, first;" /acie, abl. of /acies, form,
stream of water. Hallitoell. [Prov. Eng.] shape, appearance :. see jjrijree and /acel] At
Each siluerprtJi gliding on golden sand. ^^^st view or appearance. See at prime face,
Davies, Microcosmos, p. 12. (Davies.) under prime, a Prima facie case, in law: (a) A
prill^t, V. t. [}ILE.prillen,prilen, -pierce; origin J?^?..^^;^'! "established by sufficient evidence, and can
obscure.] To pierce.
be overthrown only by rebutting evidence adduced by the
other side, (i) A case consisting of evidence sufficient to
go to the jury : that is to say, one which raises a presump-
tion of fact, and hence will justify a verdict, though It
may not require one.— Prima facie evidence, in law,
evidence which establishes a prima facie case. See evi-
dence.
[Origin obscure.] 1. Asmall primage (pri'maj), «. l<¥. primage; && prime
[Cornwall,_Eng.]— 2. In TOi>t- + -age.] 1. A' small sum of money formerly
paid over and above the freight to the master
of a ship for his care of the goods : now charged
with the freight and retained by the ship-owner.
Also called iiat-money.
Primage is a small customary payment to the master
for his care and trouble.
Bateman, Commercial Law, § 824.
2. The amount of water carried over in steam
from a steam-boiler by foaming, lifting, and
atomizing of the water. See priming, it is esti-
mated, in relation to the amount of water evaporated or
to 'the time of evaporation, usually as a percentage of
the entire weight of water passed through the boiler: as,
a primage of three per cent.
Af tirward they prile [var. ,prill) and pointen
The folk right to the bare boon.
Rom. (if the Hose, 1. 1058.
prilF (pril), n. Same as brill.
prill* (pril), n.
bit or quantity, _ . „^
ing, the better parts of ore from which inferior
pieces have been separated ; a nugget of virgin
metal. — 3. A button or globule of metal ob-
tained by assaying a specimen of ore in the
cupel — Prill ore, solid ore ; large pieces and grains of
solid dressed ore. £. Hunt. [Cornwall, Eng.]
prills (pril), «. j. [Origin obscure.] 1. Toturn
sour. Salliwell. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. To get
tipsy. [Prov. Eng.]
prillon, prillion (pril'yon), n. [Cf. prill^.J Tin
extracted from the slag of a furnace.
prim^ (prim), a. and n. [Not found in ME. use ;
appar. < OF. prim, m., prime, f., also jjnme, m
and f., first, also thin, slender, small, sharp, jj^^l (pri'mal), a. l<Ul,.primaUs,vnma.vj.
prime: see prime. The sense seems to have
been affected by that of E. pririk. Cf . primp.]
I. a. Neat; formal; stifly precise; affectedly
nice; demure.
This hates the filthy creature, that the prim.
Young, Love of Fame, iii.
You could never laugh at her prim little curls, or her
pink bows again, if you saw her as I have done.
Mrs. Qaskell, Cranford, ii.
The prim box path. Looker, A Garden Idyll.
II. n. A neat, pretty girl. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
prim^ (prim), v.; pret. and pp. primmed, ppr.
primmirtg. [< prirn^, n.] I. trans. To deck
with great nicety; form or dispose with af-
fected preeiseness ; prink ; make prim.
When she was primmed out, down she came to him.
< L. primus, first: see prime.] 1. Primary;
first in time, order, or importance; original;
primitive.
It hath the pri'mal^ eldest curse upon 't,
A brother's murder. Shah., Hamlet, iii. 3. 37.
Step after step . . .
Have I climb'd back into the primal church.
Tennyson, Queen Mary, i. 2.
No great school ever yet existed which had not tor
primm aim the representation of some natural fact as
truly as passible. Raskin.
2. [cap.] In geot, the earliest of H. D. Rogers's
divisions of the Paleozoic series of Pennsyl-
vania, equivalent to the Potsdam sandstone
of the New York Survey. — 3. In nat. hist,
specifically, of or pertaining to the kingdom
Primalia. =Syn. 1. Prime, etc. See primary.
Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, II. Let. 23. Primalia (pri-ma'li-a), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi.
Mark also the Abb6 Maury; his broad, bold face, mouth
accurately primmed. Carlyle, French Eev., I. iv. 4.
II. intrans. To make one's self prim or pre-
cise. [Rare.]
Tell dear Kitty not to prim up as if we had never met
before. Mme. D'Arllay, Diary, ii. 108. {Davies.)
prim^ (prim), n. [Perhaps < OF. prim, first,
also thin, etc.: see pirimK] The fry of the
smelt. [Prov. Eng.]
prim^ (prim), ». [Gi.primpriritan'dLprivet.] The
privet. See lAgustrum.
An abbreviation ot primary.
of ML. primalis, primal : see primal.] A third
and the lowest kingdom of organized beings,
containing those which are neither true plants
nor true animals: contrasted with Vegetdbilia
and An/lmalia. See Protista, Protophyta, Pro-
tozoa. The group has been defined and named
as in the quotation.
A great group of organized beings of more simple struc-
ture than either vegetables or animals, which we regard
as eminently and demonstrably a primary division or king-
dom, and apply to it the name Primalia.
T. B. Wimn and J. Cassin, Proo. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila.,
[May, 1863, p. 116.
[< primal + -ity.]
Baxter.
pnm.
prima (pre'ma), a. [It., fem. ot primo, first: primality (pri-mal'i-ti), n.
see prime.] First — Prima Iraffa, the first female rpjjg g^jj^g ^f being primal.
singer in a comic opera.— Prima donnajflrst My), tlje __,-_,-_ja,i diri.ma'ri-a), m. : pi. vrimarise f-e)
S^^tJTgh't^?S^oX*o"rsr/5^™S^(trp^l^»
sing from notes a composition the performer has never be- primary.] A primary, or primary remex, of a
fore seen or heard).— Prima volta, in mime, first time, Tji^^jg y^^a : generally in the plural.
denotes that the measure or measures over which it is p_!„__:n2 Cti^-ma'ri-a^ n r)l FKL neut nl
Placed are to be played the iirst time a section is played, i'rimaria^ (pri ma ii a), k. pi. \_au.,^eTn,. pi,
and wh"n it is repeated are to be omitted, and those of L.j)m»anM«, primary: see primary.] Asyn-
ouym of Primates, 2. E. Blyth.
primarian (pri-ma'ri-an), n. [iprimary + -ian.]
A pupil in a primary school.
marked seeonda volta are to be played instead. The ab-
breviations I" volta, Ila volta are often used in modern
music as merely I and II, the volta being omitted.
primacy (pri'ma-si), n. [< OF. primacie, pri-
matie, alsoprimace, F. primatie = S]?.primacia
= 'Ps. It. primagia,< ML. primatia, the Aigaity .,,-,- •,^^ „ r/ „^ j. .7 n
of a primate, < hi.! primas (primat-), principal, primaried (pri ma-rid), a. [,<^mary + -ed]
chief ML. L primate: see primate.] 1. The In ormth., having primaries (of the kind or to
condition of beingprime orflrst in order, power, the number specified by a qualifying term): as,
Sportance. long-primarzed; nme-pr^mar^ed.
As
tion.
important for a primarian to develop a keen percep-
Bdueation, III. 637.
primary
primarily (pri'ma-ri-li), adv. In the first or
most important place; originally; in the first
intention.
In fevers, where the heart primarily suSereth, we apply
medicines unto the wrist.
Sir T. Browne, Tulg. Err., iv. 4.
primariness (pn'ma-ri-nes), n. The state of
being primary, or first in time, act, or intention.
That which is peculiar must be taken from the primari-
ness and secondariness of this perception. ^Torris.
primary (pri'ma-ri), a. and n. [= P. primaire
= Sp. Pg. It. 2^rimario, < L. primarius, of the
first, of the first rank, chief, principal, excel-
lent, <_pnm«s, first: see^nme. Cf^j-jmeri and
premier, from the same source.] 17 o. 1 . First
or highest in rank, dignity, or importanc e ; chief ;
principal.
As the six primary planets revolve about him, so the
secondary ones are moved about them. Beniley.
The care of their children is the primary occupation of
the ladies of Egypt. E. W. Lane, Modem Egyptians, I. 238.
The primary use of knowledge is for such guidance of
conduct under all circumstances as shall make living com-
plete. H. Spencer, Pop. Sci. Mo., XXII. 368.
The primary circuit or coil is the coil of comparatively
thick wire which is connected with a battery and circuit-
breaker. T. D. Lockwood, Elect., Mag., andTeleg., p. 82.
2. First in order of being, of thought, or of
time; original; primitive; first.
The Church of Christ in its primary institution.
Bp. Pearson.
The three great and primary elements of all our know-
ledge are, firstly; the idea of our own individual existence,
or of finite mind in general ; secondly, the idea of nature ;
and, thirdly, the idea of the absolute and eternal, as mani-
fested in the pure conceptions of our impersonal reason.
J. D. Morell, Hist. Mod. PhUos. (2d ed.), I. 63.
3. First or lowest in order of growth or devel-
opment; elementary; preparatory.
Education comprehends not merely the elementary
branches of what on the Continent is called primary in-
struction. Brougham.
I am conscious is to me the first — the beginning alike
of knowledge and being ; and I can go no higher in the
way oi primary direct act.
Veitah, Int. to Descartes's Method, p. liii.
Military cooperation is that primary kind of coopera-
tion which prepares the way for other kinds.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., § 451.
The seeing of colors is undoubtedly a far more simple
^xii primary act than the seeing of colored objects as sit^
uated in relation to each other in objective space.
G. T. Ladd, Physiol. Psychology, p. 463.
4. First in use or intention ; radical ; original :
as, the primary sense of a word. — 5. In ornitli.,
of the first rank or order among the flight-fea-
thers or remiges of the wing ; situated upon the
manus or pinion-bone, as a feather: correlated
with secondary and tertiary or tertial. See II.
— 6. In geol., lowest in the sequence of geolo-
gical formations : said of rocks. It includes rocks
previously denojQma.ted primitive, and, as generally used,
the two terms are nearly or quite synonymous. See primi-
tive and Paleozoic.
The strict propriety of the term primitive, as applied to
granite and to the granitiform and associated rocks, thus
became questionable, and the term primary was very gen-
erally substituted, as simply expressing the fact that the
crystelline rocks, as a mass, were older than the secon-
dary, or those which are unequivocally of a mechanical
origin and contain organic remains.
Sir C. Lyell, Prin. of Geol. (4th ed., 1836), in. 340.
Primary accent, in music, the accent with which a mea-
sure begins : its place is indicated in written music by
a bar. — Primary assembly, in politics, an assembly in
which all the citizens have a right to be present and
to speak, as distinguished from representative parlia-
ments. Imp. Diet. — Primary axis, in bot., the main
stalk in a cluster of flowers. — Primary coil, in elect.
See iTiduction. — Primary colors, in optics. See color. —
Primary conveyances, in law, original conveyances, con-
sisting of feoffments, grants, gifts, leases, exchanges, par-
titions, etc., as distinguished from mesne conveyances. —
Primary coverts. See covert, 6.— Primary current,
deviation, dial. See the nouns.— Primary elections,
elections, in primary assemblies of a section of a party,
of nominees, delegates, or members of political commit-
tees.—Primary evidence, factor, linkage, motion.
See the nouns.— Primary meeting, in XT. S. politics,
same as II., 4.— Primary nerve or nerves, the one or
several principal veins or ribs of a leaf, from which the
secondary anastomosing veins proceed. See nervation. —
Plimary node, in bot., the first node that is developed in
a plant.— Primary nimiber, a complex integer congru-
ent to unity to the modulus 2 (1 + i), where i" = —1; or,
more generally, one of a class of complex integers such
that no one is equal to the product of another by a unit
factor, but such that all the other integers of the sys-
tem can be produced from these by multiplying them by
unit factors— Primary olfactory pits, two simple de-
pressions which appear on the lower surface of the wall
of the anterior cerebral vesicle before other parts of the
face have yet been formed, and which later become the
nasal fosses. Also caUed tuxsed pits.— 'Primary planets.
See planet, 1.— Primaiv prime. See prime.- Primary
qualities of bodies. See quality.— fiimary quills, in
amith,, the largest feathers of the wings of a bird ; pri-
maries.—Primary root, In bot., the commonly single
root which develops from the embryo itself, and in many
plants persists as a tap-root: contrasted with secondary
primary
rw^, which spring from other and later-developed parts
oltne plant, commonly nodes of the stem or branches.—
mmajT tense, time. See the nouns. =Syn. Primary,
Pnwe, Primitive, PrieHne, Primevai, Primordial, Primal,
leading. AU the italicized words go bacli by derivation
to the Idea of being or going before. Primary and prime
mean first in time, and now especially first in order of
importance : as, & primary class, definition, consideration,
planet; ynm* mover, importance, idea (see definition of
prime). Primitive means belonging to the beginning
or origin, original, hence old-fashioned, having an old-
Jashioned simplicity: as, a primitive word, the primitive
church, primitive purity, manners, unconventionality,
!^iv -r™*'"* is essentially the same as primitive, ex-
cept that It is never uncomplimentary ; it is still more
closely synonymous with original. Primeval means of
the first or earliest ages, and nothing else. Primwdial
and pnmaZ are much the least common of these words;
pnmal is poetic for prime or primitive; primordial per-
tains to that which is the first, but has or has had a his-
tory or development: ae, primordial \oc\s; "^primordial
leaf is that which is immediately developecl from the
cotyledon ; in history or physiology we speak of the pri-
mmdial condition of man, and in metaphysics of the 'pri-
mordial facts of an intelligent nature ' (Sir W. HamUton) "
iC.J. Smith, Synonyms Discriminated, p. 597). See original.
II. n.; Tpl. primaries (-viz). 1. That which
stands first or highest in rank or importance,
as opposed to secondary; that to which some-
thing else is subordinate.
The converters were hanked on a wooden framework
at a distance of some 30 yards from the dynamo, and their
primaries were permanently secui'ed to the dynamo cir-
cuit. Mlect. Sev. (Amer.), XVI. vi. 9.
2. InorMJiA., one of the remiges, flight-feathers,
orlar^e quills which are situated upon thema-
nus, pinion-bone, or distal segment of the wing.
Such leathers are commonly the largest or longest and
strongest of the remiges, and some of them almost always
enter into the formation of the point of the wing. They
are collectively distinguished from the succeeding se^
situated upon the forearm or cubit and known as secon-
daries. The primaries are enumerated from without in-
ward, or toward the body, the first primary being the outer-
most remex. In most birds they are 10 in number; in
many oscine passerine birds there are only 9 ; a few birds
have 11. See cuts under bird, covert, and emarginate.
3. In entom,, one of the anterior or fore wings :
used especially in descriptions of the Lepido}}-
tera. See cut under Cirrophanus.
The primaries below are fulvous, with a single wavy
brownline. Saunders.
4. In 17. S. politics, a meeting of voters belong-
ing to the same political party in a ward, town-
ship, or other election district, held for the pur-
pose of nominating candidates for ofSce, choos-
ing delegates to a convention, etc. Theoretically
every voter belonging to the party in a district has a right
to attend the primary and vote, but in cities and large
places only registered voters who have answered certain
test questions relating to party adherence have that privi-
lege. Compare caucus.
If the [election] district is not subdivided, its meeting is
called a Primary. Bryce, Amer. Commonwealth, n, 62.
5. A planet in relation to its satellite or satel-
lites: as, the earth is the ^rimar^ of the moon.
— Iiateral primaries, in bot. See iwrvaMoru
primate (pri'mat), n. [< ME. primate, < OF.pri-
mat, F. primat = Pr. primat = Sp. Pg. prima-
do,primaz = lt.primate,<. TiL.primas (primat-),
of the first, chief, excellent, ML. as a noun, a
primate,< L. primus, first: see prime.'] If. The
first or chief person.
He [Daniel] schal be prymate & prynce of pure clergye
[learning], . . .
And of my reme the rychest to ryde wyth myselnen.
AUiteratlve Poems (ed. JlarriB), iL 1570.
2. A bishop of a see ranking as first in a prov-
ince or provinces," a metropolitan as presiding
in his province, or one of several metropolitans
as presiding over others. The tiHe of primate did
not come into ordinary nse till the ninth century, after
which it was given to metropolitans of certain sees as
special representatives of the Pope. The term primate
(TrpioTcvui') has never been in regular use in the Greek
Churcli. The title of exareh comes nearest to it. In the
Roman Catholic Church a primate is a bishop or an arch-
bishop to whom Is delegated a certain jurisdiction as vicar
of the Pope over the bishops of his province, or to whose
see such authority has formerly been delegated. In the
Church of England the Arohbishm) of Canterbury has the
title Primate of all England, while the Archbishop of
York is Primate of England. In the Church of Ireland
the Archbishop of Armagh is Primate of all Ireland, and
the Archbishop of Dublin Primate of Ireland.
It [Lyons] is the seat of an Archbishop, who is the Pri-
mate and Metropolitan of France.
Coryat, Crudities, L 59.
Bishops in the chief est mother church es were termed pri-
mates, and at the length, by way of excellency, patriarchs.
Booker, Eccles. Polity, viL 8.
In modern times those bishops only are properly called
primates to whose see the dignity of vicar of the Holy See
was formerly annexed. . . . Changed circumstances . . .
have made the jurisdiction of primates almost a thing of
the past. Jiom. Cath. Diet., p. 693.
3. In zool., a member of the order Primates; a
primatial orprimatic mammal, as man.
iramates (pri-ma'tez), n. pi. [NL., pi. of LL.
primas (primat-), of the first or chief: aeepri-
4724
mate.'] If. The first Linnean order of Mamma-
lia, composed of the four genera Homo, Simia,
Lemur, and Vespertilio, or man, monkeys, le-
murs, and bats.— 2. Now, the first or highest
order of Mammalia, including man, monkeys,
and lemurs. The brain has a relatively large cerebrum,
overlapping much or all of the cerebellum and of the ol-
factory lobes, with usually a highly convoluted surface ;
there is a well-defined calcarine sulcus, and a hippocam-
pus minor in the postcornu ; the corpus callosum extends
backward to the vertical of the hippocampal sulcus, and
develops In front a well-marked recurved rostrum. The
perlotic and tympanic bones are normally joined to the
squamosal. The pelvis and the posterior limbs are well de-
veloped, and the legs are exserted almost entirely beyond
the common integument of the trunk. The first or inner
digit of the foot, the great toe, is enlarged, provided with
a nail (not a claw), and usually apposable to the other
digits. Clavicles are present and perfect There are teeth
of three kinds, all enameled, and the molars have mostly
two or tliree roots. The placenta is discoid and deciduate.
The Primates correspond to the Bimana and Quadrumana
together. They are divisible into two suborders, the An-
thropotdea and Prosimise, the former represented by the
families HondrMae Simiidse, Cynoptthecidsi, Cebidie, and
Mididse, or man and all kinds of monkeys— the Proslmise,
or lemm's and lemuroid animals, constituting the families
LemMridm.Tarsiidse, and Daubentaniidie. Also Primaria.
primatesnip (pri'mat-shi^), n. [< primate +
-ship.] The office or dignity of primate.
primatial (pri-ma'shal), a. [(.primate + -i-al.]
1. Of or pertaining" to a primate. Also pri-
rnaUcal.
Henry of Winchester pleaded hard at Itome that the
ancient capital should be raised to primatial rank.
E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, V. 212.
2. Of or pertaining to the mammalian order
Primates.
primatic (pri-mat'ik), o. \<. primMe ■¥ -ic] Of
or pertaining to the mammalian ordev Primutes;
primatial : as, primatio characters. Huxley,
primatical (pri-mat'i-kal), a. [< primatic +
-al.] Si3,vci% ss primaUat, 1.
The original and growth of raetropolitical, »rsnutiteZ,
and patriarchal jurisdiction. Barrow, Pope's Supremacy.
prima-Vista (pre'ma-vis'ta), a. [It., < prima,
fern, of prima, flrstj + vista, view, sight : see
vista.] Same aaprimero.
The game at cards called primero ov primOrVisUi.
Florio, p. 400. (HaUiweU.)
prime (prim), a. and n. [I. a. < OF. prime, prim
= Pr. prim = Sp. Pg. It. primo, < L. primus,
first, superl, (cf . prior, compar., lormer, prior),
for "proimus, < pro, forth, forward : see pro-. Cf .
AS. /or»ja, first: s&e former^, n. n. <.¥. prime,
< L. prima, so. hora, the first hour, fern, of jjn-
mus, first: see above.] I. a. 1. First in order
of time; primitive; original: as, the prime cost.
The most replenished sweet work of nature
That from the prime creation e'er she framed.
Shak., Eich. III., iv. 3. 19.
Those [words] which are derivative from others, with
ttieii prime, certaine, and natural signification.
Evelyn, To Sir Peter Wyche.
The mountains gemmed with morning dew.
In tbe prime hour of sweetest scents and airs.
Wordsworth, Excursion, vi
While the prime swallow dips his wing.
Tennyson, Edwin Morris.
2. First in rank, degree, or importance ; prin-
cipal; chief: as, prime minister.
This invites
The prime men of the city to frequent
AU places he resorts to.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, 1 1.
Nor can I think that God, Creator wise.
Though threatening, will in earnest so destroy
Us his prime creatures, dignified so high.
maton, P. L., ix. 940.
Earnestly meting out the Lydian proconsular Asia, to
make good the prime metropolis of Ephesus.
Milton, Church-Government, i., Pret.
They said all the prime People were against a War.
Sfecte, Grief A-la-Mod^ iv. 1.
The prime ntensil of the African savage is a gourd.
Sirs. W. Baker, Heart of Africa, p. 233.
3. Of the first excellence, value, or importance ;
first-rate; capital: as, prime wheat; prime
quality; a. prime joint of meat.
The last may prove the prime part of his life, and those
his best days which he lived nearest heaven.
Sir T. Browne, Clirist. Mor., iii. 22.
Your thorough French Courtier, whenever the fit he 's in,
Thinks it 's prime fun to astonish a citizen.
Barham,, Ingoldsby IiCgends, iL 8.
A flask of cider from his father's vats.
Prime, which I knew. Tennyson, Audley Court.
4. Relating to the period or the condition of
early manhood and vigor; being in the best
or most vigorous time of life. See prime, n., 3.
His starry helm unbuclded showed him prime
In manhood, where youth ended.
MiUon, P. t., xi. 245.
Since your garden is blasted, your vinedage ended, . . .
yow: prime tyme finished, your youth passed, your oldag«
prime
come, it were much more conueniente to take order for
amendement of old sinnes.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 237.
5t. Ready; eager; bold.
As prime as goats. SMk., Othello, iii. 3. 408.
6t, Fierce; strong.
Ther was no man yn hethyn londe
Myght sytte a dynte of hys honde,
Tile traytour was so preme.
Ms. Cantab. Vt. ii. 3?, t 89. {BaUiwdl)
7. In math., indivisible without a remainder,
except by unity ; incapable of being separated
into simpler factors. Two integers are said to he prime
together, or relatively prime, when they have no common
divisor except 1. (Thus, 1 alone of all numbers is prime
to itself, and in the theory of numbers it must be so re-
garded.) One integer is said to be prime to a second with
respect to a third when it does not contain the second with
respect to the third. (Hee contain, 8.) One matrix is said to
be prime to another when their determinants are relative-
ly prime.— At prime facet, at first view ; prima facie.
This accident so pitous was to here.
And ek so like a soth atpryme/ace.
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 919.
Prime and ultimate ratios. See ratio.— Prime cir-
culator, conductor, factor. See the nouns.— Prime
figure, in geom., a figure which cannot be separated
into any figures more simple than itself, as a triangle
or a pyramid.— Prime mattert. Same as first matter
(which see, under matter).— VlixOB meridian. See me-
ridian, and longititde, 2. — Prime mess, tlie second quality
of pickled or salt pork, consisting of the hams, shoulders,
and sides of the hog. — Prime minister, the leading
minister of a government; the chief of the cabinet or
ministry: commonly used with reference to countries
which enjoy a representative government The prime
minister may bold one of various important portfolios,
as that of foreign affairs, of war, of the interior, etc. ; the
British prime minister is usually First Lord of the Trea-
sury. (Also caSlei premier.) The oflice does not exist in
the United States, although the Secretary of State is some-
times affectedly styled premier. — Prime mover, (a) The
initial force which puts a machine in motion. (6) A ma-
chine which receives and modifies force as supplied by
some natural source, as a water-wheel or a steam-engine.
—Prime number, in arith., a number not divisible with-
out remainder by any number except itself and unity :
such are 1, 2. 3, 6, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47,
53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97, 101, 103, 107, 109, 113, etc.
See law iif reciprocity of prime numbers, under Zawl. Also
called incompmle number. — Prime relation, a relation
not composite.— Prime vertical, in axtron., a celestial
great circle passing through the east and west points and
the zenitli.— Prime vertical dial, a dial projected on
the plane of the prime vertical circle, or on one parallel
to it; a north-and-soath dial. — Prime vertical transit-
instrument, a transit-instrument the telescope of which
revolves in the plane of the prime vertical, used for ob-
serving the transit of stars over this circle. =Syn. 1. Pris-
tine, etc. See prima/ry. — 2 and 8. Chief, principal, best.
II. n. 1 . The first period ; the earliest stage or
beginning; specifically, spring.
Whan comen was the tyme
Of Averil, whan clothed is the mede
With newe greene, of lusty Veer the prime.
Chaucer, Troilus, 1. X67.
And brought him presents, flowers if it vieie prime.
Or mellow fruit if it were harvest time.
Spenser, Astrophel, L 47.
We see how quickly sundry arts mechanical were found
out, in the very prime of the world.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, i. 10.
Awake : the morning shines, and the fresh field
Calls us : we lose the prime. MUton, P. L., v. 21.
Thee with the welcome Snowdrop I compare ;
Tliat child of winter, prompting thoughts that climb
From desolation toward the genial ^nte.
Wordsworth, Sonnets, iii. 17.
2. The first hour or period of the day. specifl.
cally— (o) The first hour; the first twelfth of the time be-
tween sunrise and sunset (6) In the early church, the
Itoman Catholic Church, the Greek Church, and in Angli-
can religious houses, etc., and in private devotion, one of
the seven canonical hours ; an ofilce said, or originally in-
tended to be said, at the first hour after sunrise. Prime
follows next after matins and lauds. The psalms of the
Greek office of prime (ri ttpiott), sc. Spa) are those already
used in the fifth century (Psalms v., xc, ci.); in the West-
em Church they are Psalms xxii.-xxvi., llv., cxviii., cxix.
1-32 (with varying distribution according to the day and
use). Among the principal features of the office are the
hymn Jam lude orto siclere (Now that the daylight fills
the sky), the Athanasian Creed, Little Chapter, Lord's
Prater, Creed, Preces, Confession, Absolution, and Collects.
He made him to ben dely vered out of Presoun, and com-
manded that Psalm to ben seyd every day at Pryme.
JUandeuUle, Travels, p. 145.
Longe erat er pryme rong of any belle.
Chaucer, Pardoner's "Tale, L 20a
From prime to vespers will I chant thy praise.
Tennyson, Pelleas and Ettaire.
(c) In a more extended sense, from the fact that the lesser
canonical hours followed at intervals of three hours, the
first quarter of the time between sunrise and sunset, end-
ing half-way between sunrise and midday.
The night has yielded to the mom.
And far the hours of prime are worn.
Scott, Rokeby, vl 28.
3. The spring of life; youth; full health,
strength, or beauty ; hence, the highest or most
perfect state or most fiourishing condition^of
anything.
prime
And will she yet debase her eyes on me,
That cropp'd the golden prime of this sweet prince?
Shah., Rich. Ill, 1. 2. 248.
Ceres in her pri,7ne,
Tet Tirgin of Proserpina from Jove.
UUton, P. L., ix. 395.
The thyme it is wither'd, and the rne Is ia prime.
Farmer's Old Wife (Child's Ballads, VIII. 257).
It was in the golden jrrime
01 good Haroun Alraschid.
Tennyson, Arabian lights.
Past my prime of life, and out of health.
Brmvning, Eing and Book, I, 202.
4. The best part; that which is best in qual-
ity; that which is of prime or high quality or
grade, as fish, oysters, etc. ; often, in the plural,
a, prime grade or quality.
Give no more to ev'ry guest
Than he 's able to digest :
Give hhn always of the prime.
And hut little at a time. ,
Sieift, Verses on a Lady.
5. In fencing: (a) The first of eight parries
or guards against thrusts in sword-play, after-
ward retained in exercise with the foils ; the
first guard a swordsman surprised by an at-
tack could make, while drawing his weapon
from the scabbard near his left thigh, it was
followed by parries in seconde, tierce, quarte, up to octave,
according as thrusts followed at the openings in the de-
fense made by such guards. In prime guard thi point
remains low, the hand higher than the eyes, as in draw-
ing the sword, and the knuckles are upwaid. It is the.
■ordinaiy position of the German student "on guard,"
when fencing with the schlager. Hence — (6) Some-
times, the first and simplest thrust (and parry)
which can be made after two fencers have
■crossed foils and are " on guard" with the left
sides of their foils touching: used thus for the
direct thrust. This is by some writers called mod-
em prime, while the true prime is called aTunent or old
prime. In both old and Tnodem prime the word prime is
used to uidicate the thrust as well as the parry or guard ;
but this comes from suppression of "in": thus, prime
thrust, for thrust in pHm^e. Prime, seconde, etc., repre-
sent .numbered sections of an ideal chart covering such
parts of a swordsman's trunk as are visible to his oppo-
nent, each of which sections is supposed to be guarded by
the parry thus numbered. Hence the meaning of a " thrust
in prime," etc.
6. In chem., a number employed, in conformity
with the doctrine of definite proportions, to ex-
press the ratios in which bodies enter into com-
bination. Primes duly arranged in a table constitute
a scale of chemical equivalents. They also express the
iratios of atomic weights.
7. A prime number; an integer number not
divisible without remainder by any number ex-
cept itself and unity.— 8t. (a) The game of
priujero.
To check at chesse, to heave at maw, ... or set their
restatj)ri7n«. 6. rMr6«-ii3fe, On Hawking. (Nares.)
<6) A term used in the playing of this game. —
9. In mtiBio : (a) A tone on the same degree of
the scale or staff with a given tone. (6) The
interval between any tone and a tone on the
same degree with it. (c) The simultaneous
combination of two tones on the same degree.
(d) In a scale, the first tone ; the tonic or key-
note. The typical interval of the prime ia the unison,
acoustically represented by the ratio 1 : 1; such a prime
is called perfect or major. A prime in which one tone is
a half -step above the other is called augmented or super-
fluous. The perfect prime is the most perfect of all con-
sonances—so perfect, indeed, that in its ideal form it is
•better described as a unison than as a consonance. In
harmony, the parallel motion of two voices in perfect
primes is forbidden, except when a strictly melodic effect
is desired : such primes are called eonseeiUive. Compare
consecutive fifth and consecutive oOave, under comeciMve.
10. One of the fractions into which a unit is
immediately divided; a minute, it is generally
Jl« but sometimes ft. Hence, an accent as the symbol of
such a fraction : thus b', in algebra, is read "b prime.
11. The footsteps of a deer. Halliwell — HigH
prime t, probably the close of prime— that is, 9 A. M.
See def. 2 (c).
Att hye pryme Peers let the plouh stonde.
And ouer-seyh hem hym-self ho so best wrouhte.
Piers Plowman (C), ix. 119.
Then to Westmynster gate I presently went,
■WhenthesonnwasatA!/srft«i»^/7Me.
I/ydgate, London lickpeny (M:S. Harl., 367).
Ideal prime, an ideal number that is prime. See ideaZ.
— Primary prime, a complex prime number of the form
ab—1 such that it of the two coeiHcients one is odd
while the other is even then the number is congruent
to unity ou the modulus 2 (1 - i) (this definition includes
1 — j as a primary prime, but some authors consider this
as not of the class, because it is not a primary numben;
more generally, a complex prime nnmber which is at the
same time a primaiy number.— Prime of the moon, the
new moon when it first appears after the change.
Drime (prim), V. ; pret. and pp. imined,vv^.
priming. [< prime, a.] I. intram. If. To be
as at first; be renewed.
Night's bashful empress, though she often wane,
Aa oft repeats her darkness, primes again.
" Quarles, Emblems, m. 1.
297
4725
2. To insert a primer or priming-powder into
the vent of a gun before firing. — 3. In the
steam-engine, to carry over hot water with the
steam from the boiler into the cylinder: as,
the engine primes. See primage, 2.
n. trans. 1. To perform the prime or first
operation upon or with ; prepare. Specifically—
(a) To put into a condition for being flred ; supply with
powder for communicating fire to a charge : said of a gun,
mine, etc.
We new primed all our Guns, and provided ourselves
for an Eneiny. Dampier, Voyages, L 18.
Now, ere you sleep.
See that your poUsh'd arms be prim'd with care.
Cavoper, Task, iv. 567.
(5) To cover with a ground or first color or coat in paint-
ing or plastering.
One of their faces has not the priming colour laid on
yet. B. Jonson, Epiccene, IL 4.
(c) To put in a fit state to act or endure ; make ready ; es-
pecially, to instruct or prepare (a person) beforehand in
what he is to say or do ; "post" : as, to prime a person
with a speech ; to prime a witness.
Being always primed with politesse
For men of their appearance and address.
Cowper, Progress ol Error, 1. 387.
2. To trim or prune. [Obsolete or provincial.]
Showers, hails, snows, frosts, and two-edg'd winds that
prime
The maiden blossoms : I provoke yon all.
And dare expose this body to your sharpness.
Beazi, and A, Coxcomb, iv. 2.
He has true fervor and dramatic insight, and all he
needs is to prime down extravagances and modify excesses
in voice and expression. The American, VII. 350.
Center-primed cartridge. See center-fre cartridge, un-
der cartridge. — To prime a match. See matchK — To
prime a pump, to pour water down the tube of a pump,
with the view of saturating the sucker, in order to cause
it to swell, and thus act effectively in bringing up water.
primed (primd),j;. a. 1. Intoxicated. [Slang.]
— 2. Spotted from disease. HaUiweU. [Pro v.
Eng.]
primely (prim'li), adv. It. At first; original-
ly; primarily; in the first place, degree, or rank.
The creed hath in it all articles . . . primely and uni-
versally necessaiy. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 307.
Samson, being chief magistrate of the children of Israel,
might destroy the Philistines, who were their enemies ;
and this was the thing primely, nay solely, mtended by
him, and not the taking away his own life.
South, Sermons, V. vilL
2. In a prime manner or degree; especially;
also, excellently: as, venison jjrimeZy cooked.
Though the natural law be always the same, yet some
parts of it axe primely necessary, others by supposition and
accident. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), L 8, Pref .
primeness (prim'nes), n. The state or quality
of being prime or first; supreme excellence.
primer^ (as adj., pri'mer; as n., prim'6r), a.
and n. [Formerly also jyrimmer; < ME. jmmer,
prymer, n., < OP. irrimer, primier, premier, P.
premier = Sp. primero = Pg. primeiro = It.
primiero, first (ef . later P. primaire = Sp. Pg.
It. pi-imario, first, elementary), < L. primaritts,
of the first, primary : see primary. Cf . premier,
doublet of ^Hiweri.] I.t a. Pirst; original; pri-
mary.
God had not depriv'd that primer season
The sacred lamp and light of learned B.eason.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., Eden.
As when the primer church her councils pleas'd to call.
Great Britain's bishops there were not the least of aU.
Drayton, Polyolbion, viii. 337.
He who from lusts vile bondage would he freed.
Its primer flames to suffocate must heed.
History of Joseph, 1691. {Halliwell.)
Primer iine, in old Eng. law, a payment to the crown
(usually computed at one tenth of the annual value of the
land) exacted from a plaintiff who commenced a suit for
the recovery of lands known as a, fine. Seeflnei, »., 3.
II, n. A first book; a small elementary book
of instruction.
This litel child his litel book leminge.
As he sat in the scole at bis prymer.
Chaucer, Prioress's Tale, 1. 72.
The New England Primer, which for a century and a
half was in these parts the first book in religion and
morals, as well as in learning and in literature.
N. and Q., 7th ser., IX. 64.
The New-England Primer, Improved for the more easy
attaining the true reading of English.
New England Primer (ed. 1777), Title.
Specifically (eedes.), in England, both before and after the
Keformation, a book of private devotions, especially one
authorized by the church and partially or wholly in the
vernacular, containing devotions lor the hours, the Creed,
the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, certain psalms,
instruction as to elements of Christian knowledge, etc.
Primers are extant dating from the fourteenth century
and earlier. A reformed primer waa set forth under Heniy
VIII. in 1645, and continued in use with alterations till
1!)75. A new series ol primers began in 1553, and unau-
thorized primers were also olten issued. Books of devo-
tion closely resembling the old primers in contents and
character are extensively used among Anglicans at the
present day.
primetime
It was no mere political feeling . . . that retained in
the Primer down to the Reformation the prayers of the
king [Henry VL] who had perished for the sins of his
fathers and of the nation. Stubbs, Const. Bist., $ 341.
Another prayer to her is not only in the manual, but
in the priTn^ or office of the blessed Virgin. StiUingfteeL
Great primer, a printing-type, 18 points in size (see
pointX, n., 14).— Long primer, a size of printing-type
about 7^ lines to the inch, intermediate between small
pica (larger) and bourgeois (smaller). It is known as 10
point in the new system of sizes.
Tliis is Long Primer type.
Two-line great primer, a size of printing-type about
26 lines to the loo^ equal to 36 points in the new system
of sizes.
primer^ (pri*m6r), n. [< prime, v., + -eri.] 1.
One who or that which primes. Specifically— (a) A
tube, cap, wafer, or other device, containhig a compound
which may be exploded by percussion, friction, or other
means, used for firing a charge of powder, (b) A utensil,
formerly in use, for containing a small fixed amount of
Primer and Key for Wheel-lock.
a, barrel of primer; 5, spring stopper; c, key fitted to the end of the
pivot of the axle of the wneet (see ■wheel-lock). The primer is fitted
to the key to increase the leverage of the latter.
powder, and introducing it into the pan of a gun : some-
times combined with the spanner or key of the wheel-lock,
as in the illustration.
2t. A small powder-horn containing fine pow-
der used for priming Friction-primer. Same as
frieHomrtvbe.
primero (pri-me'ro), n. [< Sp. primero, first:
see jjn'jn&ci.] An old game of cards, it is not
known precisely how the game was played. Each player
seems to have held four cards ; a flush was the best hand,
and SL prime, or one in which all four cards were of differ-
ent suits, the next best.
I . . . left him at primero
With the Duke ol Suffolk.
Shah., Hen. VHI., v. 1. 7.
Primero is reckoned among the most ancient games of
cards known to have been played in England.
StruU, Sports and Pastimes, p. 433.
primerolet, n. [ME., also prtmemlle, pryme-
rolle; < OP. primeroJe, primrose, also privet; a
quasi-dim. of iwimtile, primrose, = Sp. primula
= 6. pi-imel, < ML. primula, the primrose, also
primula veris {OF. primule de ver, primevere, P.
jyrimevere. It. for de jmmavera), 'the first lit-
tle flower of spring' ; f em. of L. primiihis, dim.
ot ^irimius, txat: see prime. Ct. primrose.'] A
primrose.
The honysoucle, the f roisshe prymeroUys,
Ther levys splaye at Phebus up-iysyng.
Lydgate's TestamenL
She was a primerole, a piggesnye.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, L 82.
primer-pouch (pri'mer-pouch), n. Milit., a,
leathern case for carrying primers, which forms
a part of an artillery equipment.
primer-seizin (pri'mer-se'zin), n. Pormerly, in
English law, the payment due to the crown
from a tenant who held in capite, if the heir
succeeded by descent when of full age. Such a
payment was one year's profits of the land if in possession,
and half a year's profits if in reversion. It was abolished
by 12 Car. II.
On the transmission ol lay property in land, by the op-
eration of the doctrine ol wills and uses, the king lost his
reliefs and primer seisms.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 280.
prime-staff (prim'staf), n. Same as clog-alma-
nac.
primett (prim'et), n. [ApT^aT.iprim, prime\
+ -et. Cf.])rim])rint, primrose, privet.'} 1. The
primrose. — 2. The privet.
primetempst, «• PVTE., < OP. prim temps, P.
printemps, spring, < 'L.primum, neut. otprimus,
first, + tempus, time.] Spring.
Prytne temps luUe ol liostes white.
And May devoid ol al delite.
Bom. of the Boss, 1. 4747.
primetidet (prim'tid), n. [ME.] 1. The time
of prime.
Horn . . . cam to the kinge
At his uprisinge ; . . .
^l^t at prime tide
Hi gunnen ut ride.
Eing Horn (E. E. T. S.), 1. 849.
2. Spring.
.primetimet (prim'tim), «. [ME.] Same as
pi'imetide, 2.
Certainely yf you had been taken as the flonre for the
herbe, if you had ben cut greene fro the tree, yf you had
ben giaffed in primetiine. Golden Booh, xL.
primeval
primeval (pri-me'val), a. [< primev-ous + -al."]
Of or belonging to the first ages; original; pri-
mal; primitive.
Remote from the polite, they still retained the primeval
simplicity of mitoDei'S. GoldsmUh, Vicar, iv.
From Chaos and primeval Dai-kness came
Light. EeaU, Hyperion. (,Latha7n.)
This is the forest primeval. Longfettow, Evangeline.
=_Syn, Primitive, etc. See primary.
primevally (pri-me'val-i), adv. In a primeval
manner ; in the earliest times.
primevous (pri-me'vus), a. [< L. pnmsewis, in
the first or earliest period of life, < primus,
first, + xvum, time, age: see prime and age.']
Primeval.
primi, n. Plural of primus.
Frimianist (prim'i-an-ist), «. [< Primianiis (see
def.) + -ist.~\ One of the followers of Primi-
anus, who became Donatist bishop of Carthage,
A. D. 392. An opposite party among the Dona-
tists were called Maximianists.
primigenal (pri-mij'e-nal), a. [Also erroneous-
ly j)nmofl'e«ia J; < primigen-um + -a?.] Pertain-
ing to the Regwum primigenum. Bogg, 1830.
primigenial (pri-mi-je'ni-al), a. [< L. primige-
niits, first of its kind, primitive (see primigeni-
ous), + -al.'] 1. First-born; original; primary.
Also primogenial.
They recover themselves again to their condition of pri-
migenial innocence. GlanviUe, Fre-existence of Souls, xiv.
2. Specifically applied to several animals of a
primitive or early type after their Mnd, or to
such a primitive type: as, the primigenial ele-
phant {Eleplias primigenitts).
The primigenial elephant and rhinoceros.
Owen, Anat., § 360.
primigenious (pri-mi-Je'ni-us), a. [< L. primi-
genius, first produced, primitive, < primus, first,
+ genere, gignere, beget, + -al.] First formed
or generated ; original.
Kutimeyer believes that these niatas cattle belong to
the primigenioug type.
Darwin, Var. of Animals and Plants, iii.
primigenous (pri-mij'e-nus), a. [< L. primige-
num, first produced, primitive, < primus, first, +
genere, gignere, beget, produce.] Same as pri-
migenious.
Primigenum (pri-mij'e-num), 11. [NL., neut.
of L. primigenus, first produced, primitive, ori-
ginal: see primigenious.] Hogg's name (1830)
of a kingdom of nature, more fully called Beg-
num primigenum, the primigenal kingdom, com-
posed of the same author's Protoctista, and
corresponding to the Primalia of Wilson and
Cassin, or the Protista of Haeckel.
primlgravida (pri-mi-grav'i-da), n. ; pi. primi-
gravidse (-de). [NL., < Jj.primus, first, -t- gravi-
dus, pregnant : see gravid.] A woman pregnant
for the first time.
priminary, »i. Seeimminery.
primine (pri'min), «. [< L. primus, first (see
prime), + -ine'^.] In lot., the outer integument
of an ovule when two are present, contrasted
with the inner, or secundine. But since the inner
coat appears firsts this has by some authors been called
primine, and the outer seeumdine. See omde, 2.
priminery, priminary (pri-min'e-ri, -a-ri), n.;
pi. primineries, priminaries (-riz). A difficulty ;
predicament. [Prov. Eng. and U. S.]
priming (pri'mlng), n. [Verbal n. of prime,
v.] 1. In gun. and blasting, the act of applying
the powder, percussion-eap, or other material
used^to ignite the charge; hence, the powder
or cap itself.
The one that escaped informed us that his and his com-
panions" guns would not go off, the priming being wet
with the rain. FranMin, Autobiog., p. 233.
2. Figuratively, anything as small relatively
to something else as the gun-priming is rela-
tively to the charge : as, his crop isn't a priming
to mine. [Western U. S.] — 3. InpainUng, the
first layer of paint, size, or other material given
to any surface as a ground, it may be of oU-color,
and is then non-absorbent, or of chalk or plaster muced
with animal glue, and is then absorbent.
4. In steam-engines: (a) Hot water carried
along by the steam from the boiler into the
cylinder. (6) The carrying of such water from
the boiler into the cylinder — Priinins of the
tides. See lagging of the tides, under lagging.
priming-horn (pri'ming-hom), n. A miner's
or quarryman's powder-horn.
priming-iron (pri'ming-i"6rn), n. In gun., a
pointed wire used ttrough the vent of a cannon
to prick the cartridge when it is home, and
after discharge to extinguish any ignited par-
ticles. [Eng.] In the United States service
called priming-wire.
4726
priming-machine (pri'ming-ma-shen*), n. A
machine for putting fulminate into percussion-
caps.
priming-powder (pri'ming-pou"der),». 1. Det-
onating powder.— 2. The train of powder con-
necting a fuse with a charge.
priming-tube (pri'ming-tiib), n. In gun., same
as friction-tube.
priming-wire (pri'ming-wrr), n. Bee priming-
iron.
priminvariant (prim-in-va'ri-ant), n. A fun-
damental asyzygetio invariant.
primipara (pri-mip'a-ra), n. ; pi. primiparee
(-re). [L. : see prinilparous.] A woman who
bears a child for the first time : correlated with
nullipara, multipara.
primiparity (pri-mi-par'j-ti), n. [< primipara
+ -ity.] The state of being a primipara.
primiparous (pri-mip'a-rus), a. [< L. primi-
para, one that has brought forth for .the first
tim e, < primus, first, + parere, bring forth, bear. ]
Bearing a child for the first time.
primipilar (pri-mi-pi'lar), a. [< 'L.primipilaris,
pertaining to the first" manijjle of the triarii, <
frimipilits, the chief centm-ion of the triarii,
primus, first, + pilum, the body of the tria-
rii, <pilum, a heavy javelin: seepile^.] Per-
taining to the first maniple of the body of vet-
erans (triarii) which formed a regular part of a
Eomau legion.
It may be reasonable to allow St. Peter a primacy of
order, such a ope as the ringleader hath in a dance, as the
primipilar centurion had in the legion.
Barrow, Works, Vn. 70.
primitise (pri-mish'i-e), n.pl. [L. (> P. pr^i-
ces, > E. premices), tlie first things of their
Mud, first-fruits, <primus, first : seeprime.] 1 .
The first-fruits of any production of the earth ;
specifically (eccles.), the first-fruits of an ec-
clesiastical benefice, payable to the Pope, the
church, or other ecclesiastical authority: same
as annats. See annat, 1. — 2. In obstet., the
waters discharged before the extrusion of the
fetus.
primitial (pri-mish'al), a. [< primitise + -aX.]
If. Being of the first production | primitive;
original. — 2. Pertaining to the primitise.
primitive (prim'i-tiv), a. and n. [< P. primi-
Ufz= Sp. Pg. It. primitivo, < L. primiUvus, first
or earliest of its kind, (.primus, first: aeeprime.]
1. a. 1. Pertaining to the beginning or origin;
original ; especially, having something else of
the same kind derived from it, but not itself
derived from anything of the same kind; first:
as, Qxe primitive church; fhe primitive speech.
Sur. Did Adam write, sir, in High Dutch?
Maim. He did ;
Which proves it was the jjrwnitive tongue.
B. Jcnmm, Alchemist, li. 1.
Thin^ translated into another Tongue lose of their
primitive Vigour and Strength, Howell, Letters, iL 47.
The power of thy grace is not past away with the primi-
tive times, as fond and faithlesse men imagine.
MUton, On Def. of Humb. Kemonst.
The settlers [in America] were driven to cast oil many
of the Improvements or corruptions, as we may choose to
call them, which had overshadowed the elder institutions
of the mother-country, and largely to fall back on the^jWrn-
Hive form of those institutions.
S. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 178.
2. Characterized by the simplicity of old times ;
old-fashioned; plain or rude: as, a, primitive
style of dress.
I should starve at tTaeiv primitive banquet.
Lanib, Imperfect Sympathies.
3. In gram. , noting a word as related to another
that is derived from it; noting that word from
which a derivative is made, whether itself de-
monstrably derivative or not. — 4. In biol. : (a)
rudimentary; inceptive; primordial; begin-
ning to take form or acquire recognizable
existence: applicable to any part, organ, or
structure in the first or a very early stage of
its formation : as, the primitive cerebral vesi-
cles (the rudiment of the brain, out of which
the whole brain is to be formed). See out
at protovertebra. (fi) Primary or first of its
kind; temporary and soon to disappear: op-
posed to definitive : as, the primitive aorta. — 5.
In bot., noting specific types, in opposition to
forms resulting from hybridization. Senslow.
— 6. Ingeol., of the earliest or supposed earliest
formation : in the early history of geology noting
. the older crystalline rooks of which the age and
stratigraphieal relations were uncertain, and
the fossils (where these had once been present)
either entirely obliterated or rendered so indis-
tinct by metamorphism of the strata in which
primitively
they were embedded that their determination
was a matter of doubt. Many of the rocks formerly
emei primitive are now known to he more or less thor-
oughly metamorphosed Paleozoic strata, and in the pr(^
gress of geological mvestigation they have been referred
to their place in the series of stratified formations. Other
so-called primitive rooks belong to the azoic or archsean se-
ries (as this latter term was and still is used by Dana)— mat
is they unmistakably underlie unconformably the oldest
known f ossilif erous strata. These azoic rocks are made up
In part of eruptive masses, and in part of highly metamor-
phosed sedimentary deposits which, so far as can be deter-
mined from existing evidence, were deposited before the
appearance of life on the earth. As there is much primitive
rook of which the geological age has not as yet been fixed,
it has been found convenient to designate this simply as
crystalline or metamorphie; such rocks are, however, often
called archsean; but this cannot be properly done until
their infra-Silurian position has been established by obser-
vation.
These remarkable formations [granite, granitic schist,
rooilng-slate, etc.] have been called primitive, from then:
haviflgbeen supposed to constitute the most ancient min-
eral productions of the globe, and from a notion that they
originated before the earth was inhabited by living beings,
and while yet the planet was in a nascent state.
Sir C. LyM, Prin. of GeoL (4th ed., 1836), III. 336.
Primitive aorta. See aorto.— Primitive axes of co-
ordinates, that system of axes to which the points of a
magnitude are first referred with reference to a second set,
to which they are afterward referred.— Primitive carot-
id aftery, the common carotid artery.— Primitive cere-
bral cleft. See c«e/«l.— Primitive chord, in musie, a
chord in its original position — that is, with its ixwt in the
lowest voice-part Primitive Circle, in the stereographic
projection of the sphere, the circle on the plane of which
the projection is made.— Primitive colors, in painting,
red, yellow, and blue : so called because it was erroneously
believed that from mixtures of these all other colore could
be obtained. In regard to mixtures of pigments, this very
rudely approximates to the truth ; in regard to true mix-
tures of colors, it is strikingly false. See cdor. — Primi-
tive contravariant, dislocation, eiination. See the
nouns.— Primitive curve, surface, etc., tliat from which
another is derived.— Primitive fathers. See fathers (if
the church, under father.— Primitive flbrlllSB, the ex-
tremely fine filaments of which the axis-cylinder of a
uerve-flber is composed. Also called nerve-fibrils, granu-
lar fbras.—Vlimitive fire. See yire.— Primitive form,
in the theory of numbers, a foi-m which is not equivalent
to another form with smaller coefficients. Thus, the form
x2 — ixy + 2y2,
by means of the transformation
«= t-Sy,
» = 2f - 6,
(the determinant of which is unity), is shown to be equiva-
lent to
and this latter is evidentlyprimitive. — Primitive groove,
the first furrow which appears along the midline of the
back of a vertebrate embryo, in the site of the future
cerebrospinal axis. It is the very eai'liest characteristic
mark or formation of a vertebrate, caused by a sinking
in of a line of cells of the ectoblast, and a rising up of other
cells of the same blastodermic layer to form right and left
ridges or lips of the groove, which lips soon grow together
and thus convert the groove into a tube, within which
the cerebrospinal axis is developed. Also called primi-
tive furrow, streak, and trace.— Primitive group. See
orimpi.- primitive Methodist Connection, a Wes-
leyan denomination founded in 1810 by Hugh BomTie.
In doctrine it is in substantial accord with other Metho-
dist churches ; in polity it is substantially Presbyterian.
It is found principally in England, the British colonies,
and the United States, and numbers alxiut 200,000 mem-
bers.—Primitive Nth root of unity, an imaginai^
root of unity which is not a ixjot of unity of a lower or-
der than jr.— Primitive plane, in spherical projection,
the plane upon which the projections are made, generally
coinciding with some principal circle of the sphere. —
Primitive radU. Same as propmtionuiJ, radii (which see,
under radsw).- Primitive root of a prime number p,
a number whose pth power diminished by unity is me
lowest power of it divisible by p.— Primitive root of the
binomial congruence appertaining to the exponent
m, a immber which satisfies the congruence x I (mod p)
and no similar congruence of lower degree.- Primitive
sheath, the membranous sheath of neurokeratin lying in
meduUated nerve-fibers outside of the white substance
of Schwann. Also called sheath of Schwann, and tmuri-
lemm.a. = Syn, 1 and 2. Pristine, etc. See primary.
II. n. 1, An original or primary word; a
word from which another is derived: opposed
to derivative. — 2t. An early Christian.
The zeal of the present age is stark cold, if compared
to the fervours of the apostles and other holy primitives.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. ISSb), I. 685.
3. In muth., a geometrical or algebraic form
from which another is derived, especially an
algebraic expression of which another is the
derivative ; an equation which satisfies a dif-
ferential equation, or equation of differences, of
which it is said to be the primitive (if it has the
requisite number of arbitrary constants to form
the solution of the differential equation, it is
called the complete primitive : see complete) ; a
curve of which another is the polar or recipro-
cal, etc.
primitively (prim'i-tiv-U), adv. 1. Originally;
at first.
Tithers themselves have contributed to their own con-
futation by confessing that the Church liv'd primitively
on Alms. MUton, Touching Hirelings,
primitively
Solemnities rad ceremonies priimtivdy enjoined were
afterwards omitted, the occasion ceasing. Sir T. Brmme.
2. Primarily; not derivatively.— 3. Accorduig
to the oiiginal rule op oldest practice ; in the
ancient op antique style.
The best, ttie pnrest, and moatpHmitivay ordered cbarch
in the world. Smith, Sermons, VI. 117.
primitiveness (prim'i-tiv-nes), «. The state of
bein^ primitive op original; antiquity; con-
formity to antiquity.
primitiyity (prim-i-tiv'i-ti), n. l< primitive +
-ift/.] The character of being primitive : thus,
in mathematics we speak of wie primitivity of a
form.
Oh I I can tell you, the age of G eorge the Second is likely
to he celebrated for moteprimUinUy than the disinterest-
edness of Mr. Deard. Walpdle, To Mann, Aug. 8, 1759.
primityt (prim'i-ti), n. [< L. primus, first, +
-ity.~\ The state of being original or first ; primi-
tiveness.
This pHmOy God reqoirea to be attributed to himself.
Bp. Pearson, Expos, of Creed, t
primly (prim'li), adv. In a prim or precise
manner ; with primness.
primness (prim'nes), n. The state or condition
of being prim op for-
mal; affected niceness
or preciseness.
The stiff unalterable
primness ot his long cravat.
Gentleman's Mag., 1745.
Primnoa (prim'no-a),
n, [NL. (Lamarck,
1812).] The typical
genus of Primnoidse.
primnoidCprim'no-id),
n. A polyp of the'fam-
ily Primnoidse.
Frimnoidae (prim-no'-
i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Primnoa + -idee.'] A
family of gorgonia-
ceous aleyonarian pol-
yps, typified by the ge-
nus Primnoa.
primo (pre'mo). [It.,
< L. primtis, first : see
prime.'] In music, a
first or principal part,
as in duets or' trios. —
Tempo primo, at the first or original tempo or pace :
used after a passage in some other tempo th^ the &8t.
prlmogenialf (pri-mo-ie'ni-al), a. An errone-
ous form of jwimijreJwoZ.
The primogenial light which at first was diffused over
the face ot the anfashion'd chaos.
Glanville, Vanity of Dogmatizing, L
D'oon stands eternal here ; here may thy sight
Drink in the rays of primogenial light
Watts, Paradise.
primogenital (pri-mo-jen'i-tal), a. [< Li.pri-
mogenita, the rights of the first-bom (see pri-
mogeniture), + -al. Cf. LL. 'primogenitalis, ori-
ginal.] Primogenitary.
Those garments Eebecca put on Jacob, his sacerdotal
vestment; but It was still the primogenital right, till a
family separated. Evelyn, True Religion, n. 21.
Genesis, as a fundamental factor in evolution, may be
more intelligently considered under some of its subordi-
nate phases, as heredity, physiological selection, sexual
selection, primogenital selection, sexual differentiation,
including philoprogeneity, hybridity, etc.
Sdenee, XII. 124.
primogenitary (pri-mo-jen'i-ta-ri), a. [< L.
primogenita, the rights of the first-bom {see pri-
mogeniture), + -ary.] Of op belonging to pri-
mogeniture, or the rights of the first-bom.
They do not explicitly condemn a limited monarchy,
but evidently adopt his scheme of primogenitary right,
which is perhaps almost incompatible with it. HaUam.
primogenitive (pri-mo-jen'i-tiv), a. and n. [<
L. primogenita, the rights of the first-bom (see
prvmogev,iture),A- Ave.] I. a. Kelating to pri-
m^eniture.
n.f n. Primogeniture; right of pnmogem-
ture.
The mrimogembive and due ot birth.
Shak., T. and C, i. S. 106.
primogenitor (pri-m6-jen'i-tor), n. [= Pg.pr^
mogejiitor = It.primogenitore, primogemtor (cf .
ML. primogenitor, first-born), < h. primus, first,
+ genitor, a parent, a father, < genere, gignere,
beget, bring forth.] A forefather; an ancestor.
It your primogenitors be not belied, the general smuteh
you have was once of a deeper black, when they came
from Mauritania into Spain. t. r. i *.
Gayton, Notes on Don Quixote.
OniprinwffeitUars passed their days among trees.
Fenneylvania School Jour., XXXII. 382.
Primnoa reseda,
(One sixteenth natural size.)
4727
primogeniture (pri-mo-jen'i-Jflr), n. [= F.
primog&nitare = Pr. Sp. Pg. It. primogenitwra,
< Mil. primogenitura, primogemture, < It. pri-
mogenita, the rights of the first-born, birthright,
neut. pi. of nrimogenitus, first-bom, < primo,
first, in the first place (abl. neut. of primus,
first), + genitus, pp. of gignere, bring forth : see
geniture.2 1. The state of being the first-born
among children of the same parents; seniority
by birth.
Aristodemus . . . died leaving twin sons, Eorysthenes
and Frocles ; their mother refusing to determine which
had the right of primogeniture. It was agreed that both
should succeed to the crown with equal authority.
J. Adams, Works, IV. 549.
2. Descent to the eldest son; the principle or
right by which (under the Norman law intro-
duced into England) the oldest son of a family
succeeds to the father's real estate in prefer-
ence to, and to the absolute exclusion of, the
younger sons and daughters. The ancient customs
of gavelkind and borongh-Engliah form exceptions to the
general rule of law as to primogeniture. (I^ee gaoelHnd
and bcrough-English.) In the modified form of the law
of primogeniture now existing in England, the law, if left
to operate, carries the land of a person dying to male
heirs singly, in succession preferring the eldest, but to
female heirs equally in common, and carries personalty
to wife and children with no preference for the eldest son.
He was the first-bom of the Almighty, and so, by the
title ot primogeniture, heir of all things.
South, Sermons, IV. x.
The abolition of primogeniture, and equal partition of
Inheritances, removed the feudal and unnatural distinc-
tions which made one member of every family rich and
all the rest poor, substituting equal partition, the best of
all agrarian laws. Jefferson, Autobiog., p. 40.
Primogeniture, as we know it in our law, liad rather a
political than a civil origin, and comes from the authority
of the feudal lord and probably from that of the tribd
chief ; but here and there on the Continent there are traces
of it as a civil institution, and in such cases the succession
of the eldest son does not exclude provision for the younger
sous by what are called appanages.
Maine, Early Law and Custom, p. 261.
Representative primogeniture, the rule of feudal in-
heritance by which the issue of a deceased child were re-
garded as standing in the place of that child, subject to
the same preference of males over females among them,
and of elder over younger males among them, as obtained
among children inheriting directly: so that, if an elder
son died leaving sons and daughters, the eldest of the sons
would take what his father, if living, would have taken.
primogemtureship (pri-mo-jen'i-tur-ship), n.
[< primogeniture + -ship.] ' The state or right
of a first-born son.
By the aristocratical law Gt primogemtureship in a family
of six children, five are exposed. Aristocracy has never
but one child. Burke, Appeal to the Old Whigs.
primordia, n. Plural oi primordium.
primordial (pri-m6r'di-al), a. and n. [< ME.
prymordiall (n.), < OP. "(also ¥.) primordial =
Pr. Sp. Pg. primordial = It. primordiaJe, < ML.
primordialisXIjL. pi'imordialis, OTip.Tia\,tha,t is
first of all, < L. primordium, pi. primordia, ori-
gin, beginnings: aeeprimordium.] I, a. 1. First
in order; earliest; original; primitive; exist-
ing from the beginning.
The primordial state of our first parents.
Bp. Bull, Works, HI. 1102. (Latham.)
I have sometimes thought that the States in our system
may be compared to the prim.ordial particles of matter,
. . . whose natural condition is to repel each other, or, at
least, to exist in their own independent identity.
B. Choate, Addresses, p. 401.
I should infer from analogy that probably all the organic
beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended
from some onQ primordial form, into which life was first
breathed. Darmn, Origin of Species, p. 420.
2. In a»a<., primitive; formative; in a rudimen-
tary or embryonic state: opposed to definitive, or
final, completed, or perfected: as, the primor-
dial skull of man is partly membranous, partly
cartilaginous.
Three pairs of segmental organs, which have only a tem-
porary existence and have been regarded as primordial
kidneys, are developed at the posterior end of the body.
Huxley, Anat Invert., p. 192.
3. In hot., first formed : applied to the first true
leaves formed by a young plant, also to the
first fruit produced on a raceme or spike. — 4.
In geol., containing the earliest traces of life.
Of all the results of geological and paleontological inves-
tigation during the past half-century, there is no one so
remarkable as the revelation of the existence of the so-
called primordial fauna. It is now clearly established
that there was a time when life was represented by a few
forms, which were essentially the same all over the globe.
What has long been known to be true for Europe and Amer-
ica has been recently supplemented, for Asia, by the in-
vestigations of Eichthof en in China, where the peculiari»>
mordial fauna seems to be largely developed, bearing, as
Professor Dames remarks, " an astonishing resemblance
to that of North America and Scandinavia."
WlMney and Wadeworth, The Azoic System, p. 546.
Frimordlal cell, in hot., a cell of the simplest character,
one which does not possess a cell-wall.— Primordial utri-
primrose
cle,in hot., the layer of somewhat denser protoplasm which
lines the inner suriace of the wall of a vacuolated cell. —
Primordial zone, the name given by Barrande to certain
strata in Bohemia which there contain the lowest fauna,
pretty nearly the equivalent of the Potsdam sandstone of
the New York Survey, and of the Cambrian of North Wales.
In these various regions, as well as in other parte of the
globe, as in China and the Cordilleras, the fauna of the
primordial zone is strikingly similar, consisting largely of
trilobites and brachiopods, certain genera of which appear
to have had a world-wide distribution. =Syn. 1. Prime,
ete. See priTtuiry.
II. n. A first principle or element.
The primordials of the world are not mechanical, but
spermatical and vital. Or. H. More, Divine Dialogues.
Primordialidae (pri-m6r-di-al'i-de), n.pl. [NL.,
< liL. primordialis, primordial, -I- -idee.] A fam-
ily of goniatites, having smooth whorls with
simple sutures and large divided ventral lobes.
Hyatt, Proc. Best. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1883, p. 315.
primordialism (pri-m6r'di-al-izm), m. [< pri-
mordial + -ism.] Continuance or observance
of primitive ceremonies or the like.
Yet another indication ot primordialismm&yhe named.
This species of control [ceremonial observance] establishes
itself anew with every fresh relation among individuals.
H. Spencer, Prin. of SocioL, § 343.
primordiality (pri-m6r-di-al'i-ti), n. [< pri-
mordial + -ity.] The character of being pri-
mordial, and therefore not derived from any-
thing else.
primordially (pri-m6r'di-al-i), adv. Under the
first order of things ; at the beginning.
primordiate (pri-m6r'di-at), a. [< L .primordius,
original, + -ate^.] Original ; existing from the
first.
Not every thing chymists will call salt, sulphur, or
spirit, that needs always be tuprimordiate and ingenerable
body. Boyle.
primordium (pri-m6r'di-um), n. ; pi. primordia
(-a). [L., commonly in pi. primordia, the be-
giimings,< jjrimits, first, + ordiri, begin. Cf . ex-
ordium.] X. Beginning; commencement; or\-
gin. ' Quarterly Bev. {Worcester.) — 2. labot.,
the ultimate beginning of any structure.
primosity (prim-os'j-ti), ». [Irreg. < prirn^ +
-osity, as in pomposity, etc.] Primness ; pru-
dery. [Eare.]
I should really like to know what excuse Lord A
could offer for his primosity to us, when he was riding with
such a Jezebel as Lady
Memoirs qf Lady Hester Stanhope, xi.
primovant (pri-mo'vant), n. In anc. astron.,
that sphere which was supposed to carry the
fixed stars in their daily motions to which all
the other orbs were attached. See primum mo-
bile.
The motion of the priTnovant (or first equinoctial mo-
tion). Dee, Mathematical! Prseface (1570).
primp (primp), V. [A form of prink, imitating
prim.] I. trans. To dress or deck (one's self)
in a formal and affected manner.
II. intrans. To be formal or affected. [Prov.
Bng. and Scotch.]
primprintf (prim'print), n. [Also primeprint,
primprivet; < prim, prime, + primet.] Same as
primet.
That great bushy planl^ usually termed privet, or ^m-
print. TopseU, Eistorie of Serpents, p. 103. (HaUiw^.)
primprivett, n. Same as primprint. Minsheu
(misprinted prunprivet).
primrose (prim'roz), n. and a. [< ME. prim^e-
rose, prymerose, < OP. primerose, primrose (ac-
cording to Godefroy, same as passerose, holly-
hock), as if < li. prima rosa, 'first rose,' but ac-
tually a substitution for OP. primerole, a prim-
rose: see primerole. Cf. tubm-ose, which also
simulates a connection with rose^.] I. n. 1.
A plant of the genus Primula; especially, a va-
riety of PrimuM veris, in which the fiowers ap-
pear as if on separate peduncles, the short com-
mon stalk being hidden beneath the base of the
leaves. Several of the best-known species and varieties,
however, have independent names, as auricula, cowslip,
oxlip, And polyanthus. See cut under PnmuZa. See also
the phrases below.
Thou seydest a gerd sohulde sprynge
Oute of the rote of lentiU lesse,
And schulde floure with florisschyng,
With primeroses greet plent.
Holy Bood (E. E. T. S.), p. 212.
The primrose placing first, because that in the spring
It is the first appears, then only flourishing.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xv. 149.
A primrose by a river*s brim
A yellow primrose was to him.
And it was nothing more.
Wordxworth, Peter Bell, i.
2. One of a few other plants with some resem-
blance to the primrose. See the phrases below.
— Sf. Thefirstorearliestflower; aspringfiower-
pninrose
With painted words tho gan this proude weede [the
brier], . , ,
Was I not planted of thine owne hand,
To be the primrose of all the land ;
With flowring blossomes to furnish the prime?
Spenser, Shep CaL, February.
4t. Kgm-atively,tliefirst or choicest; theflower.
Two noble Primerosea of Nobilitie.
AsalMm, The Scholemaster, p. 66.
She is the pride and primrose of the rest.
Made by the Maker seUe to be admired.
Spenser, Colin Clout, 1. 660.
5. In her., a quatrefoil used as a bearing. — 6.
A pale and somewhat greenish-yellow color. —
7. A coal-tar color used in dyeing, being the
potassium ethyl salt of tetrabrom-fluorescein.
It is mostly used in silk-dyeing, producing pink-
ish-yellow shades Bird's-eye primrose. Primula
farinom, a pretty plant with silvery leaves in small ro-
settes, the flower-stalks 3 to 12 inches high, bearing com-
pact umbels of lilac-purple yellow-eyed flowers. It is wild
northward in both hemispheres. — Cape primrose, a plant
of the genuBfifirep(ocar2?w5.— Chinese primrose, JVimirfa
Sinensis, ^i^xaMisa house-plants — EveDJng primrose. See
fflwDfAero.— Fairy primrose, Pnimtrfa minima, a species
native in the mountains of southern Europe, only an inch
or so high, but with flowers nearly an inch broad. — Hima-
layan primrose, Pnmula Sikkimensis, abounding in wet
places of the Himalayas at liigh altitudes, also cultivated.
It is the tallest described species, the scape often 2 feet
high, the corollas of the numerous sweet-scented flowers
funnel-shaped, with the limb concave.— Japanese prim-
rose. Primula Japonica, one of the handsomest species,
the flowers unfolding in successive whorls on the tall
scape.— nUstaasinnie primrose. Primula Mitlassinica,
of northern North America, named from a Canadian lake :
a low, pretty plant, tfie flowers from one to eight, flesh-
colored.— Night primrose. Same as evening primrose.
— Peerless primrose, the primrose-peerless. — Scotch
primrose, a variety of the bird's-eye primrose, PHmula
farinosaf var. ScoUca.
11. a. 1. Of or belonging to a jjrimrose; spe-
cifically, resembling a primrose in color; pale-
yellow.
He had a buff waistcoat with coral buttons, a light coat>
lavender trousers, white jean boots, and primrose kid
gloves. ff. .4. &«Za, Dutch Pictures. (Latham.)
2. Abounding with primroses ; flowery; gay.
Himself tbe primrose path of dalliance treads.
Shak., Hamlet, i. 3. 50.
Primrose League. See leagueT^.
primrosed (prim'rozd), a. [iimmrose + -ed2.]
Covered or adorned with primroses.
Not one of your broad, level, dusty, glaring causeways,
but a zig-zag, up-and-down jjrimroseS by-road.
Savage, ££uben Medlicott^ L 1. (Davies.)
primrose-peerless (prim'r6z-per"les), «. A
plant, Narcissus hiflorus.
primrose-willow (prim'roz-wiFo), 10. See Jus-
primsie (prim'si), a. [< prim + -sie, equiv, to
-^1.] Prim; demure; precise. [Scotch.]
Primsie Mallle. Bums, Halloween.
Primula (prim'u-la), ti. . [NL. (Malpighi, 1675),
< ML. primula, primrose (so called in allusion
to its early blooming), fern, of li.primulus, first,
dim. of primus, first: see prime. Cf. jmme-
role, primrose.'] 1. A genus of gamopetalous
plants, the primroses, type of the order Primu-
lacese and the tribe Primulese, characterized by
a conspicuous salver-shaped corolla, with five
opposite stamens borne on its long tube, and
by a roundish five-valved and one-celled cap-
sule, containing many peltate seeds. There are
about 130 species, mainly mountain-dwellers of Europe
Flowering Plant of Primula Sinensis.
and Asia, with 5 in the United States, 1 in extreme South
America, and 1 In the mountains of Java. They are beau-
tiful low-growing plants, vnih perennial rootstoclrs. The
4728
leaves are all i-adical, obovate orroundisli, entire or tooth-
ed, and form a spreading tuft. The flowers are dimor-
phous, some having a short style and stamens borne high
up on the tube, others opposite in both respects. They
are white, pink, purole, or yellow in color, grouped in
bracted umbels — in the true pilmrose, however, appearing
as if on separate stalks. The common P. veris of Europe
and northern Asia, elsewhere in gardens, with yellow or
straw-colored flowers in eaily spring, has three varieties,
often regarded as species,corresponding to the namesprtm-
rose (P. vulgaris), cowslip or pagle (P. veris), and oxlip (P.
datiar). It is, however, generally believed that P. elatior
is a good species, indigenous, though inire, in England,
called Bardfleld oxlip; and, according to Darwin, P. md-
garis and P. veris are also distinct, while the common ox-
lip is a hybrid between them. (See the above common
Daiaes,SLndlierb-peter(St.-Petei's-wort),lady-key,peUymul-
ten (under muUen), and palsywort.) Numerous other spe-
cies are beautiful and more or less cultivated. See auricu-
la, hosiers, beards-ear, dusty-mUler, French cowslip (under
cowslip), polyanthus, and primrose.
2. II. c] Any plant of the genus Primula.
Frimulacese (prim-u-la'se-e), n.pl. [NXi. (Ven-
tenat, 1799), < Priniula H- -aceas.] A very dis-
tinct order of gamopetalous herbs of the cohort
Primulales, characterized by its five stamens
opposite to the five lobes of the regular corolla,
and the capsular ovary containing two or more
ovules, a single style, and an undivided stigma ;
the primrose family, it includes about 316 species,
classed under 4 tribes and 25 genera, natives of temper-
ate regions and mainly alpine, rare in the southern hemi-
sphere. They are herbs, growing usually from a peren-
nial rootstock ; the few that occur in the tropics become
there annuals, an inversion of the usual effect of the trop-
ics. They bear undivided or rarely lobed leaves, either
all radic^, or alternate, opposite, or whorled ; and com-
monly racemed, umbeled, or long-stalked flowers. Very
many of the most-prized flowers of cultivation belong to
this family, as the primrose, cowslip, polyanthus, auricu-
la, cyclamen, and soldanelle. For the best-known genera,
see Prifmula (the type), Lysimachia, Cyelarnen, Trientalis,
Glaux, Coris, Samalus, SoldaneUa, Bodecatheon, and Hot-
tonia^
primulaceous (prim-u-la'shius), u. Of or re-
sembling the PrimuldcesB.
Primulales (prim-u-la'lez), n. pi. [NL. (Liud-
ley, 1833), < Primula, q. v.] A cohort of gamo-
petalous plants of the series Seteromerse, dis-
tinguished by a one-celled ovary with a central
and basal placenta, and stamens opposite the
regular eorolla-lobes. it includes 3 orders, of which
the Myrsinese, mainly tropical trees, and the Primulaceee,
herbs of temperate regions, are alike in their simple style
and stigma, whereas the Plumiaginea are mainly maritime
herbs, with five styles.
Primuleae (pri-mfl'lf-e), n. pi. [NL. (Endlich-
er, 1836), < Primula + -e».] A tribe of plants
of the order Primulaeese, characterized by the
regular imbricated corolla-lobes, stamens on
the corolla, superior ovary, and half-anatropous
ovules. It includes 12 genera, of which Pri-
mula is the type.
primulin (prim'u-lin), n. [< NL. Primula +
-irfl.] A crystallizable substance obtained
from the root of the cowslip.
primum frigidum (pri'mum frij'i-dum), [L. :
primum, neut. oi primus, first; frigidum, neut.
ot frigidtis, cold: see prime and frigid.] Pure
cold: an elementary substance, according to
the doctrine of Parmenides.
The flrst means of producing cold is that which nature
presenteth us withal : namely, the expiring of cold out of
the inward parts of the earth in winter, when the sun hath
no power to overcome it, the earth being (as hath been
noted by some) primum frigidum.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., i. 69.
The dispute which is the primum frigidum is very well
known among naturalists; some contendingfor the earth,
others for water, others for the air, and some of the mod-
erns for nitre, but all seeming to agree that there Is some
body or other that is of its own nature supremely cold,
and by participation of which all other bodies obtain that
guality. But, for my part, I think that before men had so
otly disputed which is the primum frigidum they would
have done well to inquire whether there be any such thing
or no. Boyle, Experimental History of Cold, title xvii.
primum mobile (pri'mum mob'i-le). [L.: pri-
mum, neut. of primus, first; mobile, neut. of
mohilis, movable: see prime and mobile^.'] In
the Ptolemaic system of astronomy, the tenth
or outermost of the revolving spheres of the uni-
verse, which was supposed to revolve from east
to west in twenty-four hours, and to carry the
others along with it in its motion ; hence, any
great or first source of motion.
The motions of the greatest persons In a government
ought to be as the motions of the planets under primum
rrwbUe, . . . carried swiftly by the highest motion, and
softly in their own motion.
Bacon, Seditions and Troubles.
A star does not move more obediently from east to west
than Bacon obeys, and appropriates as his own, the mo-
tion of hia primum mobUe, the King.
E. A. Abbott, Bacon, p. 249.
primus (pri'mus), n.; pi. primi (-mi), [L., first:
see prime.] The first m dignity among the
bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church. He
is chosen by the other bishops, presides at all their meet-
pnnce
ings, and has certain other privileges, but possesses no
metropolitan authority.
primus inter pares (pri'mus in't6r pa'rez),
[L.; jwimtts, first; inter, a,mong; pares, pi. of
par, equal: see prime, inter^, and pair^T] A
Latin phrase, meaning ' first among equals.'
primyt (pri'mi), a. l< prime + -y^.] Early;
blooming. [Bare.]
A violet in the youth otpHmy nature.
Shak., Hamlet, L 3. 7.
prin^ (prin), n. and v. A dialectal form of
2)reen^.
Wha will prin my sma' middle,
Wi' the short prin and the lang?
Sweet WiUie and Fair Maiery (Cliild's Ballads, 11. 334).
prin^t (prin), a, [< OF.prin, var. otprim, thin,
slender: seeprim^."] Slender; thin.
Hee looks as gaunt and^prtn as he that spent
A tedious twelveyears m an eager Lent.
Fleteher, Poems, p. 140. (UaUiweU.)
prince (prins), n. [< ME. prince^rynce = D.
prins = MltGt. prince, prinse = MHGr. prime, G.
vring=: Sw. Dan. prins, < OF. (and F.) prince =
et.princep, prince, prinsi = Sp. Pg. It. jjnncipe,
a prince ; < Jj.princeps (-dp-), a first or chief
person, a chie^ superior, leader, ruler, sover-
eign, prince, prop, adj., first in time or order, <
primus, prime, first, + capere, take, choose : see
capable.] 1. A sovereign; a king; by exten-
sion, a royal personage of either sex.
As this noble Prince is endued with mercie, pacience,
and moderation, so is she adourned with singuler beautie
and chastitie. Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 454.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince.
Shak., T. of the S., v. 2. 165.
" No one thingi" sighed Walsingham, "doth more prog-
nosticate an alteration of this estate than that a prince
of her Majesty's judgment should neglect . . . the stop-
ping of do dangerous a gap."
Motley, Hist. Netherlands, II. 329.
Some of the Mercian Kings were very powerful Princes.
E. A. Freeman, Old Eng. Hist., p. 39.
2. The title of the ruler of a principality: as,
the Prince of Waldeek; the former Princes of
Orange. Few such principsdities now exist in Europe;
they are either si^iall in extent (as Montenegro and Mo-
nacoX or in certain relations subordinate in name or real-
ity to a suzerain (as Bulgaria), or to a central government
(as Lippe, Waldeek, and the other priucipahties of the
German empire^
3. A title of nobility in certain countries on
the continent, superior to duke: as, Prince
Bismarck; Prince of Cond6. There are, however,
many exceptions in the relative standing of particular
titles, owing to the fact that many princely designations
are little more than courtesy titles, or to the circumstance
that some princely titles are historically and intrinsically
of comparatively small im portance, while some ducal titles,
on the contrary, are of the highest, sometimes even of sov-
ereign dignity. Prince is the translation ot the chief
Kussian title of nobility (Jmyaz).
4. A courtesy title given to non-regnant mem-
bers of royal families, and often confined to
the younger sons of the sovereign: as. Prince
Arthur (of Great Britain); Prince Henry (of
Prussia); the eldest sons are usually called
prince with a territorial title (as Prince of
Wales, in Great Britain; Prince of Naples, in
Italy), crown prince (Greece), prince imperial
(Austria, Germany, etc.), prince royal (Den-
mark, Sweden, etc.), or duke with a territorial
title (as Duke of Sparta, in Greece; Duke of
Brabant, in Belgium).
The empress and young princee of the blood of both
sexes. Swift, Gulliver's Travels, i. 2.
Until he is created a peer, by the title of duke or other
rank in the peerage, a member of the reigning family —
even the sovereign's own younger son — though styled
prince and royal highness, is in law but a commoner.
N. and Q., 7th ser., IV. 229.
5. A courtesy title given in some relations to
dukes, marquises, and earls in Great Britain.
See the quotation.
He [an earl, also a marquis] bears also the title, upon
some occasions, of Most Noble and Puissant Prince.
Burke, Peerage, Int., p. Ixxi.
6. One who is preeminent in his class or pro-
fession: as, a merchant prince; a prince of
good fellows.
Hit semed as he mygt
Be prynce with-outen pere.
In f elde ther f elle men fygt
Sir Qawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 878.
Asclepius amongst the ./Egines, Demosthenes amongst
the Athenians, jSschines amongst the Rhodians, Cicero
amongst the Romanes, were not only skilfull in Orations,
but Princes of all other Oratours.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1677), p. 46.
These mentioned by their names were princes in their
families. i chron. Iv. 38.
Brave Troilus ! the prince of chivalry !
Shak., T. and C, L 2. 249.
To use the words ot the prince of learning hereupon, only
in shallow and small boats they glide over the face of the
Vhgillan sea. Peacham, Poetry.
prince
Cbristmas prince. See CAristmac— Grand prince or
great prince, (a) A title oi various rulers or princes in
EuBsia. See grand duke (6), under grand, (b) A title of
the emperor of Austria (as Grand Prince of Transylvania).
— Merchant prince. See mercAont.— Prince bishop
formerly, a ruler who was at once the bisliop of a diocese
(or other spiritual ruler) and a sovereign prince; espe-
cially, such a prince and prelate of the German empire:
also, In Montenegro, the chief ruler, or vladika, wlio was
at the same time the head of the national church.
The eldest of these tliree persons was no other than
Massalski, the Pnnee-bishop of Wilna in Lithuania.
Edinburgh Rev., CXLY. 2.
Rince consort. See coiworti.— prince Elector, one of
the electors of the former German empire.— Itince im-
perial, the eldest son of an emperor.— Rlnoe of Peace
the Messiah ; Christ. '
For unto us a child is bom: . . . and his name shall be
called . . . The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The
Pnnce qf Peace. Isa. ix. 6.
Prince of the Captivity, the title assumed by the head
of the Mesopotamian community of the Jews subsequent
to the destruction of Jerusalem.
Those [Jews] of the East were ruled by the Prince of the
CapUmty, who had his seat at Bagdad, which they called
Babylon ; and those of the West under the Patriarch of
the West, who had his seat at Tiberias. The Prince of the
Captivity was a secular ruler, and pretended to be a de-
scendant of the royal house of David ; the Patriarch of the
West was an ecclesiastical ruler, of the sacerdotal tribe of
levL The first Prince of the Captivity that we hear of was
Huna, about the year 220. N. and Q., 7th ser., II. 176.
Prince of the senate. See princeps mnatus, under pririr
c«p».— Prince of this world, in Serip., Satan.
Now shall the prince of this world be cast out
John xii. 31.
Prince of Wales, in England, a title given to the eldest
son of the sovereign and heir apparent to the throne. The
title is created in every case, and not hereditary. Ed-
ward II. was the first to hold it. — Prince of Wales's fea-
thers. See /eneAej-.— Prince President, a title given to
Prince Louis Napoleon whilehtwaspresidentoftheFrench
republic, 1848-52.— Prince royal the eldest son of a king
or queen; the heir apparent— Prince Rupert's drop.
Same as detonating Inuh (which see, under aetmuMng). —
Prince's metal, mixture, etc. See metal, etc.— The
prince of darkness. See etarl-ness.^Syn. 1-4. Primx,
King, Sovereign, Monarch, Emperor. Prince has a narrow
and a broad meaning. It may indicate a son of the iov-
ereign, or the grade of prescriptive rank next to that of the
sovereign, or it may be a general word for Icing, etc., as of-
ten in Shakspere. A country not large enough to be ruled
by a Hng may be ruled hy a prince, as some of the states of
G'ennany, and Montenegro. Sovereign is an impressive but
somewhat general term, being applicable to a king or an
emperor, and expressing a iiigh degree of power and digni-
ty. Monarch expresses the fact of ruling alone, and there-
fore is generally, though not necessarily, applied to one
ruling autocratically and with splendid state, with similar
figurative use. Emperoris sometimes aftected, as a grander
word tliau Hng and seems to express more of absolute
rale, hut there have been kings of all degrees of abso-
lutism and grandeur. Historically, emperor is especially
associated mth military command.
prince (prins), v. i.; pvet. aud pp. princed, ppr.
princing. [< pjwce, «.] To play the prince ;
put on a stately arrogance : with a complemen-
tary it.
Nature prompts them
In simple and low things to prince it much
Beyond the trick of others.
Shak., Cymbeline, iii. 3. 85.
princeage (prin'saj;, J«. l<imnce+-age.2 The
body of princes. ' [Bare.] Imp. Diet.
princedom (prins'dum), n. [< jn-ince + -dom.']
1. The rank, estate, or jurisdiction of a prince.
Next Archigald, who for his proud disdayne
Deposed was from princedome soverayne.
" , F. Q., n. X. 44.
After that God against him war proclaim'd.
And Satan princedmn of the earth had claim'd.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., Eden.
2. Same a,s principality, o.
Under thee, as head supreme,
Thrones, princedoms, powers, dominions, I reduce.
Milton, P. L., iii. 320.
princehood (prins'hud), n. l<2)rince + -hood.^
The quality or rank of a prince.
Promysyng and behightyng by the faith of hys body
and worde of his princehode. Baa, Hen. VI. , an. 4.
A Prince might feel that he must maintain the principle
which underlies his i)rinceAood. ,„,„„.
New York Send-weekly Tribune, Nov. 16, 1886.
Princeite (prin'sit), n. [< Prince (see def.) +
-ite^.2 A follower of Henry James Prince, who
founded an association called Agapemone. See
Agapeitione. , , . t «
princekin 'prins'kin), n. [<i>n»ce +-m.] A
young orlittle prince ; a petty or mferiorprince.
The princeMns of private life, who are flattered and wor-
shipped. Thackeray, Newcomes, Im.
princeless (prins'les), a. [< irrince + -less.']
Without a prince.
This country is Pr{'»^'eUiis -lmeaa,_^ot As no^y^
natives. Fuller, Worthies, III. 38.
princelet (prins'let), n. l<prince + -let.} Same
as prineekin.
Germim priiuxleta might sell their country piecemeal to
FreS or Russian. ^in4,.foj/, Alton focke, xxxii.
4729
princelike (prins'lik), a. [< prince + like^.']
Befitting a prince ; like a prince.
I euer set my fotestepps tre,
Prineelike, where none had gone.
Drant, tr. of Horace's Ep., To Maecenas.
The wrongs he did me
Were notbmg prince-like.
Shak., Cymbeline, v. 6. 293.
princeliness (prins'li-nes), n. The quality of
being princely.
princeling (prins'ling), n. [<. prince + -ling'^.']
Same a,s prineekin.
The struggle in his own counti7 has entirely deprived
him of revenues as great as any forfeited by then' Italian
princelii^s. Disraeli, Lothair, xlix. (Davies.)
princely (prins'li), a, [= D. prinselijk = G.
prinzlick = 'Da.n.prindselig; a,s imnce + -ly}.']
1 . Pertaining or belonging to a prince ; having
the rank of a prince ; regal.
In Tarquin's likeness I did entertain thee. . . .
Thou wrong'st his honour, wouud'st his princely name.
Sliak., Lucrece, 1. 699.
Princely dignities.
And powers that erst in heaven sat on thrones.
Milton, P. Ii., 1. 359.
2. Resembling a prince; prineelike; having
the appearance or manner of one high-bom;
stately; magnanimous; noble.
He is as full of valour as of kindness ;
Princely in both. Shak., Hen. V., iv. S. 16.
What sovereign was ever more princely in pardoning in-
juries, in conquering enemies, in extending the dominions
and the renown of his people ?
Macaulay, Conversation between Cowley and Milton.
She gazed upon the man
Otprineely bearing, tho' in bonds.
Tennyson, Pelleas and Ettarre.
3. Befitting a prince; munificent; magnificent;
regal: as, ajMwceiygift; a jjmceiy banquet; a
princely fortune.
There also my Lord did condole the Death of the late
Queen, that Duke's Grandmother, aud he received very
princely Entertainment. Howell, Letters, I. vL 5.
=Syn, 2, August, imperial. — 3. Bounteous.
princely (prins'li), adv. [< princely, o.] In a
princelike manner; royally.
Doth it not show vilely in me to desire small beer? . . .
Belike then iny appetite was not princely got.
5Aa*., 2 Hen. IV., it 2. 12.
princeps (prin'seps), a. and n. [L., first, chief,
prince: see pi-ince.] I. a. First; original;
hence, specifically, earliest printed; belonging
to the first edition.
"Siie princeps copy, clad in blue and gold.
J. Ferriar, Bibliomania, 1. 6.
II. n.; pi. principes (prin'si-pez). 1. One
who is first or chief; a chief; speeiflcally, in
early Tent, hist., a chief judicial officer or leader
in a pagus or other division. Attached to him
was a body of attendants called the cmnitatus.
Over each of their local divisions or pagi, at their own
pleasure and on a plan which in their eyes was a prudent
one, a single princeps or chieftain presided.
Stvlibs, Const Hist, § 22.
2. That which is first, foremost, original, or
principal; especially, the first or original edi-
tion of a book: short for princeps edition, or
editio pnnceps.—S. [cap.] [NL.] In entom., a
genus of lepidopterous insects. HSbner, 1806.
— Princeps cervicis, a large branch of the occipital ar-
tery descending the n eck to supply the trapezius, and anas-
tomosing with the superflcialis colli, vertebral, and supe-
rior intercostal arteries.— Princeps pollicis, a branch
of the radial, at the beginning of the deep palmar arch,
supplying the integument of the palmar surface of the
thumb.— Princeps senatus, in ancient Rome, the sen-
ator first called in the roll of senators. He was usually of
consular and censorian dignity.
prince's-feather (prin'sez-feTH"er), n. 1. A
plant, Amarantns liypoclioiidriacus. it is a showy
garden annual from tropical America, sometimes 6 feet
tall, bearing thick crowded spikes of small red flowers,
the uppermost spike much longer and iiiteiTupted. The
name sometimes extends to other species of the genus.
Also Prinee-of-Wales's-feather.
a. AtaUer garden annual, Polygonum orientate,
in England called tall persicaria, bearing slen-
der spikes on curving branches. Also called
ragged-sailor.
prince's-pine (prin'sez-pin), u. See pine^.
princess (priu'ses), «. [< ME. xwincesse = D.
prinses = G. xwinzesse, prinzess — Sw. prinsessa
= Dan. prinsesse, < OF. (and ¥.) princesse (=
Fr. r>riHcessa = Sp. princesa = Pg. princeza =
It. principessa), < ML. *prinoipissa, princess
(found only as an abstract noun, principality,
principate), fern, of L. p>rinceps, prince: see
prince.'] 1. A female sovereign; a woman of
princely rank.
How doth the city sit solitary, ... she that was great
among the nations, and & princess among the provinces !
Lam. i. 1.
So excellent a princess as the present queen. Swift.
principal
2. The daughter of a sovereign; a female mem-
ber of a royal family : in tms sense a title of
courtesy. Compare jinnee, 4.
I'll tell you who they were, this female pair.
Lest they should seem priruiesses in disguise.
Byron, Don Juan, iL 124.
Their Majesties, the Prince of Wales, and the three eli-
est princesses went to tlie Chapel Hoyal.
Thackeray, Four Georges, George the Second.
3. The consort of a prince: as, the Princess of
Wales.
Duke Victor (the hereditary prince] was fifty years of
age, and l;iis princess . . . was scarce thi'ee-and-twenty.
Thackeray, Barry Lyndon, x.
Such apparel as might well beseem
His [Gevaint's] princess, or indeed the stately Queen.
Tennyson, Geraint.
4. A size of roofing-slate 24 inches long by 14
inches wide. Compare duchess, 2 Princess
royal, the eldest daughter of a king or queen.
princesse (prin-ses'), a. [< F. xrrincesse, prin-
cess: see: princess.] In dressmafciKg', noting the
form and style of a long gown for women, made
in one continuous piece without drapery, and
fitting closely — Demt-prlncesse, a gown of which a
part only, as the back, is in one piece from top to bottom.
princessly (prin'ses-li), a. [< princess -1- -ly^.]
Prineess-like ; having the air or the pretensions
of a princess. Byron. [Rare.]
The busy old tarpaulin nncle I make but my ambassa-
dor to Queen Annabella Howe, to engage her (for example-
sake to Xxev princessly daughter) to join in their cause.'
Bicliardson, Clarissa Harlowe, 1. 186. {Davies.)
princewood (prins'wud), n. A light-veined
brown West Indian wood, the product Of Cor-
dia gerascanthoides and Hamelia ventricdsa, —
the latter also called Spanish elm.
princified (prin'si-fid), a. [< prince + -i-fy +
-ed^.] Imitating a prince ; ridiculously cdgni-
fied.
The English girls . . . laughed at the princified airs
which she gave herself from a very early age.
Thackeray, Virginians, \.
principal (prin'si-pal), a. and n. [< ME. jjnn-
cipal, prynsijyall, < 0F. (and F.) principal = Sp.
Pg. ])rineipal = It. principale, < L. principalis,
first, original, ehiet,<. princeps (-dp-), first,chief :
see prin.ce.] I, a. 1. Chief; highest in rank,
authority, value, or importance; most considera-
ble; main; first: as, the principal officers of a
government; the j;»7mcJ2Ja/ points in an argu-
ment ; the principal products of a country.
It is to large to vse at masse, but they use it in adhorn-
ynge the aulter at pryncypaU tymes.
Sir R. Guylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 7.
Wisdom is Vne principal thing; therefore get wisdom.
Prov. iv, 7.
The principal men of the army meeting one evening at
the tent of Sextus Tarquinius. Shak., Lucrece, Arg.
Chaiucter is but one, though a principal, source of in-
terest among several that are employed by the drama and
the iioveL J. Sully, Sensation and Intuition, p. 298.
2t. Of or pertaining to a prince ; princely.
He, ... by the great goodwill our Prince bears him,
may soon obtain the use of his name and credit, which
hath a. principal sway, not only in his own Arcadia, but in
all these countries of Peloponnesus.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i.
Center of principal curvature. See cenferi.— Princi-
pal axis, in conic sections, the axis which passes through
the two foci; in the parabola, the diameter passing thi'ough
the focus.— Principal brace. See irocei.- Principal
cells. See ceJJ.- Principal challenge. See challenge,
9. — Principal chord, a chord to a surface perpendicu-
lar to the plane through the middle points of all pai-allel
chords.— principal close, in music, same as perfect ca-
dence (which see, under codence).— Principal end. See
eTMf.— Principal Factory Act. See Factory Acts, -andeT
/actorj/.— Principal focus. See /oca*, 1.— Principal
form, function, kins-at-arms, part. See the nouns.
—Principal points. See jjoinii.— Principal post, the
corner-post of a timber- framed house.— Principal prop-
osition, a self-evident and undemonstrable maxim of
proof.— Principal rafter. See ro/ter.— Principal ray,
that ray which passes perpendicularly from the spectator's
eye to the perspective plane or picture. — Principal
screw of Inertia. See tTifrtfa.- Principal section, in
optics, anyplane passing through the optical axis of a crys-
tal.—Principal subject or theme, in mmic, one of the
chief subjects of a movement iu sonata form, as opposed
to a subordinate theme.— Principal tangent conic. See
eontic.- Principal value of a function, the one real
value. Thus, the logarithm of a real quantity is a real
quantity plus N times an imaginary quantity, and the
value given by putting N = 0 is the principiu value.—
The principal axes of inertia, of stress. See axisi-.
=Syu. 1. Leading, great, capital, cardinal, supreme.
II. n. 1. A chief or head; one who takes a
leading part; one primarily concerned in an
action, and not an auxiliary, accessory, assis-
tant, or agent: as, the 2)rincipals in a duel.
Seconds in factions do many times, when the faction
subdivideth, jiioye principals. Bacon, Faction.
It is devised that the Duke of Gloucester as Principal,
and other Lords that crossed the King's Courses, should
be invited to a Supper in Loudon, and there be murthered.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 142,
principal
We engaged in this war &a prCncip(Us,-whea we ought to
have acted only as auxiliaries.
Swift, Conduct of the Allies.
I thought you might be the young principal of a first-
rate firm. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xzxiii.
2. A governor or presiding officer; cue who is
chief in authority. Specifically, the head of an insti-
tution of learning : a title used (a) in colleges or universi-
ties in Scotland, Canada, and otherparts of the British em-
pire ; (6) in certain colleges (Brasenose, Jesus, etc.) and
hails at Oxford ; (c) in the public and in many private
secondary schools in the United States; (d) in certain
higher institutions of learning in the British empire.
3. In law : (a) A person who, being sui juris,
and competent to do an act on his own account,
employs another person to do it; the person
from whom an agent's authority is derived.
Compare master^ 2.
The agent simply undertakes to execute a commission
in the market ; in that market he acts as though he were
the principal. Mneteenth Century, XXVI. 846.
(6) A personf or whom another becomes surety;
one who is liable for a debt in the first instance,
(c) In testamentary and administration law,
the corpus or capital of the estate, in contradis-
tinction to the income. Thus, under a gift of the in-
come of stock to A for lite, and on A's death the stock to
B, it is often a contested question whether a stock divi-
dend, as distinguished from a money dividend, is income
or priimpal. (d) In criminal law, the actor in the
commission of a crime ; a person concerned in
the commission of a crime, whether he directly
commits the act constituting the offense or in-
stigates or aids and abets in its commission.
A principal in the first degree is the absolute perpetrator
of the act which constitutes the crime, whether he does it
with his own hand or by the hand of an innocent third
person, the third person being ignorant of the character
of the act perpetrated. A priiuApal in the sec&iid degree is
a person who, without actually participating in the act
itself, is present, aiding and encouraging the person who
commits the act. See aecessory.
And before the coroner of Coventre, up on the sygth of
the bodyes, ther ben endited, as prymipall for the deth of
Bichard Stafford, Syr Robert Harcourt and the ij. men
that ben dede. Fasten Letters, L 74.
By the Common Lawe, the accessoryes cannot be pro-
ceeded agaynst till the prineipall receave his tryall.
Spenser, State of Ireland.
4. In com., money bearing interest; a capi-
tal sum lent on interest, due as a debt or used
as a fund: so called in distinction to interest or
profits.
Shall I not have barely my pvintApaX?
Shak., M. of V., Iv. 1. 342.
5. In oi'gan-iuilding, a stop of the open diapa-
son group, usually giving tones an octave above
the pitch of the digitals used, like the octave.
Such a stop is commonly the one in which the tempera-
ment is first set in tuning, and from which other stops are
tuned. In Germany the open diapason is called the 2^71.
cipai, and the octave is called the octave principal.
6. A musical instrument used in old orchestral
music, especially that of Handel — a variety
' of trumpet, probably having a larger tube than
the ordinary tromba. — 7. In miisic: (a) The
subject of a fugue : opposed to answer. (&) A
soloist or other leading performer. — 8. Same
as prind,pal rafter. See rafter.
Our lodgings . . . shook as the earth did quake;
The very principals did seem to rend.
And all- to topple. Shak., Pericles, iii. 2. 16.
Thiity principals, made of great masts, being forty feet
in length apiece, standing upright.
Stow (Arbor's Eng. Oamer, I. 477).
9. In the fine arts, the chief motive in a work
of art, to which the rest are to be subordinate;
also, an original painting or other work of art.
Another pretty piece of painting I saw, on which there
was a great wager laid by young Finkney and me whether
It was a principal or a copy. Pepys, Diary, May 19, 1660.
10. One of the turrets or pinnacles of wax-
work and tapers with which the posts and cen-
ter of a hearse were formerly crowned. Oxford
Glossary.
From these uprights [of a hearse of lights], technically
called principals, as well as from the ribs which spanned
the top and kept the whole together, sprouted out hun-
dreds of gilt metal branches for wax tapers. '
Bock, Church of our Fathers, iL 496.
lit. An important personal belonging; an
heirloom.
And also that my best horse shall be mj principal [to be
led at the funeral), without any armour or man armed, ac-
cording to the custom of mean people.
Test. Vetiist., p. 76. (Hattiwdl.)
In the district of Arehenfield, near the Welsh border, the
house and lands were divided between the sons on their
father's death, but certain principals passed to the eldest
as heirlooms, such as the best table and bed.
Erusye. Brit., XIX. 733.
12t. In ornith., one of the primaries.
A bird whose principals be scarce grown out.
Spenser, Epist to Maister Harvey.
4730
principality (prin-si-pal'i-ti), n. ; pi. principal-
ities (-tiz). [< ME. pririmpalite, < OP. princi-
pality, also prineipautS, r. principauti = Sp.
principalidad = Pg. prindpalidade = It. prind-
palitd,, < h. principalita(t-)s, the first place, pre-
eminence, (.principalis, fijrst, chief: seeprinoi-
pal.2 1+. The state or condition of being prin-
cipal or superior ; priority or privilege ; prerog-
ative; predominance; preeminence.
In hevyn thow hast a prindpalite
Off worship and honowre.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 145.
Charge him to go with her thro* all the courts of Greece,
and with the challenge now made to give her beauty the
principality over all other. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i.
Moistenesse in aire houldes principality.
And heat is secundarie quality.
TimesT Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 117.
If any mystery, rite, or sacrament be effective of any
spiritual blessings, then this is much more, as having the
prerogative and illustrious principality above everything
else. Jer. Taylor, Worthy Communicant, i. § 3.
2. The authority of a prince ; sovereignty; su-
preme power.
Nothing was given to King Henry . . . but only the bare
name of a king ; for all other absolute power otprineip(^-
itye he had In himself e before derived from many former
kings. ' Spenser, State of Ireland.
The Bishops of Rome and Alexandria, who bejrond their
Priestly bounds now long agoe had stept into principality.
MUton, Reformation in Eng., ii.
3. The territory of a prince, or the country
which gives title to a prince : as, the princi-
pality of Wales ; the principality of Montene-
gro.
The priticipality is composed of two countries, Neucha-
tel and Valengin. J. Adams, Works, IV. 374.
The isle of Elba is given him [Napoleon] as hie princi-
polity, ■with an annual revenue of two million francs,
chargeable to France.
Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, App. iL, p. 410.
The Danubian Principalities took their destiny into
their own hands. Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XXXIX. 148.
4. A prince ; one invested with sovereignty.
Let her be & principality
Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth.
Shak., T. G. of V., ii 4. 152.
5. pi. An order of angels. It was the seventh
order in the celestial hierarchy of Dionysius.
See hierarchy.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, agiinst-gowera, ... against spiritual wick-
edness in high places. Eph. vi. 12.
In the assembly next upstood
Kisroch, ot principalities the prime.
MUton, P. L., vi. 447.
Danubian principalities. See DanvMan.
principally (prin'si-pal-i), adv. In the princi-
pal or chief place ; above all ; chiefly : as, he
was principally concerned about this.
Whereof the Aquseduct made by the Emperour Valen-
tinian, and retaining his name, ioth principally challeng
remembrance. Sandys, Travailes, p. 26.
Thejr wholly mistake the nature of criticism who think
Its business is principally to find fault. Ihryden.
principalness (prin'si-pal-nes), n. The state
of being principal or chief.
principalsMp (prin'si-pal-ship), n. [< princi-
pal + -sfejp.] The position or ofice of a prin-
cipal.
pnncipate (prin'si-pat), n. [= OF. principe,
prineie, F. principat = Pr. prindpat = Sp. Pg.
principado = It.prindpato, < L. prirmpatus, the
first place, preeminence, < princeps (,-cip-), first,
chief: see prince.'] 1. The first or supreme
place; primacy.
They proudely denye that the Romano churche obteyn-
eth the principate and preeminent autoritie of all other.
£. Eden, tr. of Paolo Giovlo (First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. 315).
Of these words the sense is plain and obviouSj that it be
understood that under two metaphors the pnnc^ate of
the whole church was promised.
Sorrow, Pope's Supremacy. (Lathaan.)
2. A principality.
All monarchies and best knowen Common weales or
principates.
Sir E. OUbert, Queen Elizabethes Achademy (E. E. T. S.),
[extra ser.. Till, i 3.
The Liukiu[{.e.,Loochoo Islands] . . . constituted until
lately a aepaxate printdpate or Han.
J. J. Rein, Japan, p. 7.
3+. Same as principality, 5.
Which are called of Saint Tauie prindpatea and powers,
lordes of the world. Foxe, Martyrs, p. 1609, an. 1656.
principes, n. Plural ot princeps.
principia (prin-sip'i-a), n.pl. [L., pi. otprin-
dpium, a beginning : see principle.'] First prin-
ciples; elements. Theword is moatused as the con-
tracted title of the "Philosophiss Naturalis Principia Ma-
thematica" of Kewton; it is also used in the titles of ele-
mentary books, as "Principia Latina," etc.
principle
principial (prin-sip'i-al), a. [< L. prindpialis,
that is from the beginning, < principium, a be-
ginning: &%% prindple.] Elementary; initial.
Bacon.
principiant (prin-sip'i-ant), a. and n. [< LL.
principian{t-)s, ppr. oi principiare, begin to
speak, begin, < Xi.prindpium, beginning: see
principle.] I, a. Kelating to principles or be-
ginnings.
Certain and known idolatry, or anjr other sort of practi-
cal impiety with its prinoipianl, doctrine, may be punished
corporally. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1S36X II. 376.
II. n. A beginner ; a tyro.
Do you think that I have not wit to distinguish a j>ri»-
rijnant in vice from a graduate?
Shirley, Grateful Servant, iii. 4.
principiate (prin-sip'i-at), v. t.; pret. and pp.
prindpiated, ppr. principiating. [< liL.prind-
piatus, pp. otprindpiare, begin to speak, begin,
< prindpium, beginning: see principle.] To
begin; set in motion; initiate.
It imports the things or effects prindpiated or effected
by the Intelligent active principle.
Sir M. Hale, Orig. of Mankind.
principiatef (prin-sip'i-at), a. [< lih.prindpi-
afes, pp.: see the verb.] Primitive; original.
Our eyes, that see other things, see not themselves ; and
those jn^nciptoto foundations of knowledge are themselves
unknown. ' QlanvUle, Vanity of Dogmatizing, iv.
principiation (prin-sip-i-a'shon), n. [< princip-
iate -t- -ion.] Analysis; reduction to constit-
uent or elemental parts.
The separating of any metal into his original, or materia
prima, or element, or call them what you will ; which work
we vrill call principiaUon. Bacon, Physiological Remains.
principium (prin-sip'i-um), n.; pi. prindpia
(-a). [L., beginning: see prindple.] One of
four solemn argumentations formerly held by
every sententiary bachelor in theology, one
upon each of the four books of Peter Lom-
bard's "Sentences."
principle (prin'si-pl), n. [With unorig. I (as
also in. parUdple, syllable), < OP. (and P.) _pnn-
dpe = Sp. Pg. It. prindpio, < L. prindpium, a
beginning, <. princeps {-dp-), first: see prince.]
If. Beginning; commencement.
He gan to bume in rage, and friese in f eare.
Doubting sad endiOt principle unsound.
Spenser, F. Q., V. xi. 2.
2. Cause, in the widest sense ; that by which
anything is in any way ultimately determined,
or regulated.
The Stoics could not but think that the ^eryprindpU
would wear out all the rest, and at last make an end of the
world. Sir T. Browne, To a Friend.
What deep joy fills the mind of the philosopher when,
throughout apparently inextricable confusion, he can trace
some great Principle that governs all events, and that they
all show forth. Channing, Perfect Life, p. 109.
Without entering on the various meanings of the term
Principle, which Aristotle defines, in general, that from
whence anything exists, is produced, or is known, it is suf-
ficient to say that it is always used for that on which some-
thing else depends ; and thus both for an original law and
for an original element. In the former case it is a regula-
tive, in the latter a constitutive, princi^.
Sir W. Hamilton, Reid, Note A, § 5, Supplementary
[Dissertations.
It is only by a very careful observation . . . that we are
able from the singular and concrete operations to enunci-
ate precisely the general law which is the expression ot
the regulative principle. McCosh, Locke's Theory, p. 6.
3._ An original faculty or endowment of the
mind: as, me prindple of observation and com-
parison.
Under this title are comprehended all those active prin-
ciples whose direct and ultimate object is the communica>
tlon either of enjoyment or of suffering to any of our fel-
low-creatures. D. Stewart, Moral Powers, I. 3, g 1.
Active impulse comes under the dominion of the princi-
ple of habit. J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 685.
4. A truth which is evident and general; a truth
comprehending many subordinate truths ; a law
on which others are f oimded, or from which oth-
ers are derived: as, fhe prindples of morality,
of equity, of government, etc. In mathematical
physics a prindple commonly means a very
widely useful theorem.
How doth Aristotle Aetne principles? In this manner:
principles be true propositions, having credit of them-
selves, and need no other proofs.
BlundeviUe, Logic (1619), vi. 18.
Doctrines . . . laid down for foundations of any science
. . . [HTB] caUei principles.
Locke, Human Understanding, IV. xii. 1.
When a man attempts to combat the BrincspJeof utility,
it is with reasons drawn, without his Being aware of it,
from that very principle itself.
Bentham, Introd. to Morals and Legislation, i 13.
Many traces of this ancient theory [regarding the Eng-
lish common law as existing somewnere in the form of a
symmetrical body of express rules, adjusted to definite
principles] remain in the language of our judgments and
forensic arguments, and among them we may perhaps
principle
S}*f f2^? ^'"enlar use of the word prirudpU in the sense
of a legal proposition elicited from tfie precedents by com-
parison and induction. '
Maine, Village Communities, p. 335.
5. That which is professed op accepted as a
law of action or a rale of conduct; one of the
fundamental doctrines or tenets of a system*
as, the jirinciples of the Stoics or of the Epi-
cureans ; hence, a right rule of conduct ; in gen-
eral, equity; uprightness: as, a man of prin-
ciple.
If I had a thousand sons, the first humane pnnciple I
would teach them should be to forswear thin potations.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 3. 133.
They dissolved themselves and turned Seekers, keeping
that one principle. That every one should have liberty to
worship God according to the light of their own con-
sciences. N. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 154.
In all governments truly republican, men are nothing
— pnnciBk is everything.
D. Webster, Speech at Salem, Mass., Aug. 7, 1834.
The party whose principlea afforded him [James II.] no
guarantee would be attached to him by interest The
party whose Interests he attacked would be restrained
from Insunection \iis principle. Macaiday, Hist. Eng., viL
The man of principle — iha.t Is, the man who, without
any flourish of tnimpets, titles of lordship, or train of
guards, without any notice of his action abroad, expect-
ing none, takes in solitude the right step uniformly, on
his private choice, and disdaining consequences— does
not yield, in my imagination, to any man.
Emeraan, War.
6. In cliem.: (a) A component part; an ele-
ment: as, the aonatitnent principles of bodies.
(&) A substance on the presence of which cer-
tain qualities, common to a number of bodies,
depend. See proxiviate principles, vnder prox-
imate.
Confinement to a single alimentary principle, or to any
one class of them alone, is sure to be followed by disease.
Huxley and Yaitmans, FhysioL, § 429.
7. "iss. patent law, a law of nature, or a general
property of matter, a rule of abstract science.
George Tidknor Curtis, a principle is not patentable,
although a process for utilizing a principle may be. Com-
pare process.
It is very difficult to distinguish it [the specification of
the hot-blast furnace for thi-owing hot air into a furnace in-
stead of coal, thereby increasing the intensitj^ of tlie heat]
from the specification of a patent for a princi'^, and this
at first created in the minds of the com't much difficulty ;
but, after full consideration, we think that the plaintiff
does not merely claim a principle, but a machine embody-
ing a principle, and a very valuable one. We think the
case must be considered as if, the principle being well
known, the plaintiff had first invented a mode of applying
it by a mechanical apparatus to furnaces, and his inven-
tion then consists in this — by interposing a receptacle for
heated air between the blowing apparatus and the fur-
nace. Baron Parke, 8 Meeson & W., 306.
A principle of human nature, a law of action in human
beings ; a constitutional propensity common to the human
species. — Archimedean principle. See Archimedean. —
Bitter principles, commutative principle, constitu-
tive prmciples. See the adjectives. — Camot's princi-
ple, a higlily important principle of the theory of heat —
namely, that the work done by an engine is proportional
to the amount of heat used multiplied into the fall of tem-
perature of that heat in the action of the engine. In the
mechanical theoiy of heat, this principle is transfoimed
into the second law of thermodynamics. It was discov-
ered in 1824 by Sadi Caniot (1796-1832), son of the great
war-minister Camot.— D'AIembert's principle, an im-
portant principle of mechanics, to the effect that the
forces impressed upon a mechanical system may be re-
solved into forces balancing one another perpendicular to
the motions of the particles and of forces whose direct
effects would be to make the particles move as they do
move.— Declination of principles. See declination.—
SiriChlet's (or Diricbletlan) principle, a certain im-
portant proposition concerning Uie equation
^ iy' ~ '
Distributive principle. See distrOiuMve.-'DSv^ex'B
principle, in aeotistice, the phenomenon that, when a
aound-bo(^ is rapidly approaching the ear, the pitch of the
sound is i-aised, because more sound-waves reach the ear
per second, and conversely if the sounding body recedes.
This principle is also applied in optics, and the rapidity
of relative approach or recession of the earth and some of
the fixed stars has been deduced from lt> by the change
inthecharacterof the light(as to wave-length), as shown by
the spectroscope.- Extractive principle. Same as ex-
tract,*.—First principle, one of the most general prin-
ciples, not deducible from others.- Fruitful principle.
SeeyVBif/uZ.— General principle. Seeyejjerai.— Helm-
boltz's principle, the proposition (enunciated by Helm-
holtz a German physicist, born 1821) that if any source of
light or of sound situated at any point will by the intei'ven-
tlon of any system of reflectors or lenses produce any given
intensity of illumination or of sound at any second point,
then the same source being placed atthe second pointwould
produce the same intensity of radiation at the first point.—
Heterogeneous principle,lieteronymous principles,
immanent principle. See the adjectives --Huygens s
principle the proposition (enunciated by Christian Huy^
eens in 1678) that any disturbance due to waves many part
5f amediura at any instant is that due to the superposi-
tion of all the disturbances reaching it at that instant
from the neighboring paits of the medium.— Hypostatic
nrincinle a chemical element.— Material pnnciple.
sSem«terii«.-Organic principles. Same Bsproiamate
principles (which see, under proximate).— Vrmaple Of
4731
areas, in dyjia/m., the proposition that, if all the external
forces acting upon a moving system are directed toward
an axis, the rotatidn-area for that axis will be described
with a uniform motion.— Principle of causality. See law
o/caiimtion, under causation.— mneiple of certainty,
of coincidence. See certainty, coincidence.— Principle
of conservation of number, in geom., the proposition
that, if there is a finite number of flgnres of a given gen-
eral description subject to certain conditions, then this
number remains, if finite, of the same value, however the
general description be specialized. For example^ if we
wish to know how many lines can cut four given lines, we
take four special lines, say two cutting one another and
two others cutting one another. Then there ai-e evident-
ly just two lines — namely the one through the two points
of intersection and the one common to the planes of the
two pairs — which cut all the four lines ; and consequently
the same will be true in all cases where the number re-
mains finite. — nrhiciple of contradiction. See contra-
dicfioTi.- Principle of correspondence, in geom., the
principle that^ if the points on a line have an m to n cor-
respondence with one another, there are 7n + n points
which correspond to themselves. There is also an extension
to the plane.— Principle Of duality, of homogeneity,
of identity. See duality, etc.— Pnnciple of least ac-
tion, of least constraint. See action, constraiTit.— Prin-
ciple of Slniilitude, in dyruan., proposition 32 of section
7 of the Second Book of Newton's ^'Principla," namely
that, if two systems are geometrically similar, and have
their corresponding masses proportional, and begin to
move in the same way, in proportional times, they will
continue to move in the same way, provided the forces ai'e
proportional to the masses and the linear dimensions, and
ai'e inversely as the squares of the times. — Principle Of
suf^cient reason. Beereasm Prlncipleofthearlth-
metical mean, the proposition that the mean of differ-
ent results of direct observation of a quantity is the best
way of combining them.— Principle Of the composition
of rotations. See rotation Pnnciple of the mclined
plane, in mech., same as principle of the parallelogram
of farces (which see, under /orcel).— Principle Of the
last multiplier, a certain principle used in the solu-
tion of dynamical equations. — Principle of the lever,
in m£ch., same as Archimedean principle (a) (which see,
under^rcAinudean).— Principle of the parallelogram
of forces. See /oi-cei.- Principle of translation, in
nMitk.^ the theorem that all the invariantive properties
of a ternary form can be represented by the vanishing
of invariants and the identical vanishing of covariants,
contravariants, or mixed forms.- Principle Of Virtual
velocities. See velocay.—'ReAuotive, regulative, etc.,
principle. See the adjectives.— Short-haul princi-
ple, the principle that the charge for carrying freight
should not be higher for a shorter than for a longer
distance. See lor^ haul, under long^. — The currency
principle. See currency.— Ttis principle of excluded
middle or third. See muZdZe.- Transcendental prin-
ciple. See transcemdental.= SyiL 5. Principle, liule.
Precept. "There are no two words in the English lan-
guage used so confusedly one for the other as the words
rule and principle. . . . You can make a rule; you cannot
make a pruiciple; you can lay down a rtde; you cannot,
properly speaking, lay down a principle. It is laid down
for you. You can establish a rule; you cannot, properly
speaking, establish a priiveiple. You can only declare it.
Rules are within your power, principles are not. Yet the
mass of mankind use the words as if they had exactly simi-
lar meanings, and choose one or the other as may best
suit the rhythm of the sentence." (Helps.) A principle
lies back oi both rides and precepts; it is a general truth,
needing interpretation and application to particular cases.
From a principle we may deduce rules that we lay impera-
tively upon ourselves or upon others who are under our
authority, and precepts that we lay upon those who look
to us for instruction. It is v.prin£iple that "the Sabbath
was made for man"; details as to the observance of the
Sabbath vi'ould be not pnneiples, but rules, maxims, or
precepts. See aphotixm.
Christianity is a spirit, not a law ; it is a set of princi-
jies, not a set of rules. . . . Christianity consists of prin-
ciples, but the applicalion of those prindjales is left to
every man's individual conscience.
F. W. Sdbertson, Sermons, Marri^e and Celibacy.
Nations pay little regard to rules and maxims calculated
in their veiy nature to iim counter to the necessities of
society. A. Hamilton, The Federalist, No. 25.
Teachers best
Of moral prudence, with delight received
In brief sententious ^ecepts, while they treat
Of fate, and chance, and change in human life.
MUton, P. R., iv. 264.
principle (prin'si-pl), v. t. ; pret. and T^p. prin-
cipled, ppr. prin&pling. [< principle, m.] To
establish or fix in certain principles ; impress
with any tenet or belief, whether good or ill:
used chiefly in the past participle.
Well did thir Disciples manifest themselves to bee no
better principl'd then thir Teachers. MUton, Hist. Eng. , iii.
A parliament so principled will sink
All antient schools of empire in disgrace.
Young, On Public Affairs.
We replied, we hoped he would distinguish and make a
difference between the guilty and the innocent, and be-
tween those who were principled for fighting and those
who were principled against itj which we were, and had
been always known to be so.
T. Mlwood, life (ed. Howells), p. 263.
princockt (pring'kok), «. [Also princox, prime-
cock, etc. ; < prim, prime, + cock'^.'] A coxcomb ;
a conceited person.
Your proud university pnncox thinkes he is a man of
such merit the world cannot sufficiently endow him with
preferment. Reiumefrom Parnassus, iii. 2.
A caualier of the first feather, a princockes, ... all to
be f renchified in his souldiour's suto.
Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 52.
print
And thou, yong Princox, Puppet as thou art,
Shalt play no longer thy proud Kingling's Fart
Vpon so rich a stoge.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, iL, The Decay.
princod (prin'kod), «. [<'prinl -I- codX.'] A
pincushion ; figuratively, a short thick-set wo-
man. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
princumf (pring'kiim), n. [An arbitrary var.
of prink, simulating a L. form. Cf. prinkum-
prankum.'] A scruple ; a nice or affected no-
tion.
My behaviour may not yoke
With the mceprincums of that folk.
VUrfey, Colin's Walk, i. iDames.)
prine (prin), m. [Cf. pn»i.] Same a,s pick^, 5.
pjringlet (pring'gl), n. A small silver coin, of
about the value of a penny, formerly current
in Scotland and in the northern parts of Eng-
land. Halliwell.
Fringlea (pring'gle-a), n. [NL. (J. D. Hooker,
1847), named after 'Sir John Pringle (1707-82), a
British physician and natural philosopher.] A
genus of plants of the order Cruciferse and tribe
Alyssinex, characterized by its fruit, an oblong
one-celled siliele, containing very many cordate
seeds with their outer coat prolonged into a
short beak, and by its growth from a thick root-
stock with ample and compactly imbricated
leaves. The only species, P. anOsayrbuHca, is a cabbage-
like plant of Eerguelen L^d, valuable as a preventive of
scurvy. The thick round rootstock lies on the ground for
3 or 4 feet, and bears a single large ball of leaves which
are loose and green outside, and form a dense white mass
within. The flower-stalk grows out from below the head
of leaves, and reaches 2 or 3 feet in height. An essential
oil pervading the plant gives it a taste resembling a com-
bination of mustard and cress.
Frinia (pi-in'i-a), ». [NL. (Horsfield, 1820), <
Javanese prinya, a native name.] A genus of
grass-warblers or Cisticolse, having a graduated
tail of only ten rectrices and a long stout bill.
The numerous species range through the Ethiopian and
Indian regions. P. famUiaris of Java and Sumatra is the
type. Also called Daseocharis and Drymoipus.
prLttkl (pringk), v. i. [< ME. *prinken,preyn-
ken; origin obscure.] To look; gaze. [Prov.
Eng.]
Thanne Conscience curteisliche a contenaunce he made,
AaApreynte vpon Pacience to preie me to be stille.
Piers Plowman (B), xiii. 112.
prink^ (pringk), v. [A weaker form ot prank, to
which it is related as clink to clank, etc. : see
prank. Cf. prick, v., in like sense.] I. intrans.
1. To prank; dress for show; adoiii one's self.
Or womans wH (perhappes)
Enflamde hir haughtie harte
To get more grace by crummes of cost,
Audprincke it out hir parte.
Oascaigne, f hilomene (ed. Arber), p. 93.
They who prinh, and pamper the Body, and neglect the
Soul are like one who, having a Nightingale in his House,
is more fond of the Wicker Cage than of the Bird.
Howell, Letters, iv. 21.
Hold a good wager she was every day longer prinking
in the glass than you was. Jane Collier.
2. To strut; put on pompous airs; be preten-
tious or forward. [Prov. Eng.]
II. trans. To deck; adorn; dress ostenta-
tiously or fantastically.
She prijiyd hersell and prinn'd hersell.
By the ae light of the moon.
The Young Tamlane (Child's Ballads, 1. 118).
To gather kingcups in the yellow mead.
And prinjc their hair with daisies.
Cowper, Task, vi 303.
Ay, prune thy feathers, and prink thyself gay.
Scott, Monastery, xxiv.
It is ... a most perilous seduction for a popular poet
like Bums to prink the unadorned simplicity of his plough-
man's Muse with the glittering spangles and curious lace-
work of a highly polished literary slyle.
Frqf. Blackie, Lang, and Lit. of Scottish Highlands, iiL
printer (pring'ker), n. One who prinks; one
who dresses with much care.
prinkle (pring'kl), v.i.; pret. andpp. ^mjfcied,
ppr. prinkling. [Appar. a nasalized form of
prickle.'] To tingle or prickle. [Scotch.]
My blude ran prinklin' through my veins, . . .
As I beheld my dear, O.
Hogg, Mountain Bai'd, p. 200. (Jamiesoti.)
prinkle (pring'kl), m. The coalfish. [Local,
Eng.]
pri&um-prankum (pi-ing'kum-prang'kum),
n. [A redupl. otprink^ ov prank, simulating a
L. form. Cf . pi-incum.'] A kind of dance.
What dance?
No wanton jig, I hope ; no dance is lawful
But PrinkumrPrankum !
Randolph, Muses Looking-glass, v. 1. {Davnes.)
prinpriddle (prin'prid*l), n. The long-tailed
titmouse, Acfredida rosea. [Cornwall, Eng.]
print (print), V. [< ME. *printen,prenten, preen-
ten, print (= T>. prentev, imprint, = MLGr.pren-
print it
ten, print, write, =Sw. prenta, wi-ite German
letters, = Dan. ^-ente, print), byapheresis from
emprinten, enpriiiten, impress, imprint: see Jnj-
print, V. Cf . late OF. printer, press. See print,
M.] I. traits. 1. To press upon or into (some-
thing); impress; imprint.
In that Bocbe is prerOed the torme of his Body.
UfandevUle, Travels, p. 62.
Think, when we ^Ik of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs 1" the receiving eaith.
Shak., Hen. V., L, Prol., 1. 27.
The murdred face lies printed in the mud.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Handy-Crafts.
And print on thy soft cheek a parent's kiss.
Byron, Childe Harold, iii. 116.
And hill and wood and field did print
The same sweet forms in either mind.
Tennyemi, In Memoriam, Ixxix.
2. To mark by pressing something upon; leave
an imprint upon; as, to print butter.
On his fiery steed betimes he rode,
That scarcely prints the turf on which he trod.
Dryden, Pal. and Arc, ii. 16.
And little footsteps lightly prii}i the ground.
Gray, Elegy (omitted stanza).
Where olives overhead
Print the blue sky with twig and leaf.
Browning, Old Pictures in Florence.
3. To make or form by pressure or impression
of any kind; fashion or shape out by stamping,
indentation, or delineation in general. [Obso-
lete or archaic in many applications.]
That god coueiteth nat the ooygne that Crist hym-self
Piers Plowman (C), xvii. 80.
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your fiesh, . . . nor
print any marks upon you. Lev. xix. 28.
Heaven guide thy pen to print thy sorrows plain.
Shak., Tit. And., iv. 1. 76.
Do not study
To print more wounds (for that were tyranny)
Upon a heart that is pierc'd through already.
Beau, and PI., Knight of Malta, iii. 2.
Specifically — 4. To stamp by direct pressure,
as from the face of types, plates, or blocks cov-
ered with ink or pigments; impress with trans-
ferred characters or delineations by the exer-
tion of force, as with a press or some other me-
chanical agency: as, to print a ream of paper;
to print calico ; to print pottery.
" Ye-ye-yes," sobbed the little boy, rubbing his face very
liard with the Beggar's Petition in printed calico [a figured
cotton handkerchief]. Dickens, ^Nicholas Nickleby, iv.
But as for the cook, and as for that clever and willing
lass, Maggie — well, I've bought each o' them a printed
cotton gown. W. Black. In Far Lochaber, viii.
5. To copy by pressure ; take an impression or
impressions from or of. as, to print a form of
type; to print an engraved plate or block; to
print a pattern onpaper, or on calico or some
other fabric. — 6. To make a copy or copies of
by impression ; produce by or issue from the
press; put into print, as for publication: as, to
print a book or a newspaper, an essay or a ser-
mon; to pnn< a pictm-e.
In books, not authors, curious is my Lord ; . . .
These Aldus printed, those l)u Sncil has bound.
Pope, Moral Essays, iv. 136.
I . . . sought a Poet, ixiosted near the skies, . . .
Said nothing like his works was evev printed.
Bums, Address spoken by Miss Fontenelle on her Benefit
[Night.
7. To cause to be printed ; obtain the printing
or publication of; publish.
Some said, "John, print it,''others said, "Not bo."
Some said, " It might do good, 'othei-s said, "No."
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, Apology.
A chiel's amang ye takin' notes,
An', faith, hell prent it.
Burns, Captain Grose's Peregrinations.
Sf. To form letters ; write.
The hijest lessoun that man may lere . . .
Is playnli printed in Foulis booke.
Hymns to Virgin (1430) (B. E. T. S.), p. 114.
loo ! sir, this is a periuiye
To prente vndir penne. York Plays, p. 222.
9. To form by imitation of printed characters ;
write in the style of print : as, the child has
leai-ned to print the letters of the alphabet.—
10. To record, describe, or characterize in
print as.
My safest way were to print myself a coward, with a
discovery how I came by my credit, and clap it upon every
post. Beau, and Fl., King and No King, iii. 2.
Men . • .
Must now be named and printed Hereticks.
Milton, Forcers of Conscience.
11. Inphotog.: (o) To make a positive picture
from (a negative) by contact. (J) To produce,
as a positive from a negative, by_ transmitted
light, as by the agency of a lens in an enlarg-
ing-camera Printed carpet. See carpe*.— Printed
chma, printed crockery, porcelain or glazed pottery
4732
decorated with transfer-printing.— Printed goods, cali-
coes figured by printing from blocks or rollers.— Printed
ware, a term applied to porcelain, queen's-ware, etc. , deco-
rated with printed designs.
II. intrans. 1. To use or practise the art of
taking impressions in a press. — 2. To produce
books or any form of printed work by means of
a press: specifically, to publish books or writ-
ings.
Like lee or Budgell, I will rhyme and print.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. 1. 100.
3. To form imitations of printed characters;
write in the style of print: as, the child can
print, but has not learned to write yet.
print (print), n. [< ME. *print, prynt, printe,
prente, preente, preynte (=1110. pi-itit, D. prent,
print = MLG. prente = Dan. prent), < OP.
preinte, prainte, impression, print, by apheresis
from empreinte, impression, print: see irnprint,
n. Cf. print, «>.] 1. A mark made by impres-
sion ; any line, character, figure, or indentation
made by the pressure of one body or thing on an-
other; hence, figuratively, a mark, vestige, or
impression of any kind ; a stamp.
Your yeen hathe sette the prynt which that I f eele
Withynne myne herte.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 69.
Except I Shan . . . put my finger into the jirint of the
nails, ... I will not believe. John xx. 26.
As when a seal in wax impression makes,
Tiiie print therein, but not itself, it leaves.
Sir J. Davies, Immortal, of Soul, xiiL
Sooner or later I too may passively take the print
Of the golden age. Tennyson, Maud, i.
2. Printed matter for reading; the state of be-
ing printed; character or style of printing, or
size of the printed letters: as, to put a work
intoj>n»<; clear or blurred jjnnt.
Item, a Boke in preente off the Pleye off the [Chess].
Paston Letters, III. 300.
The small Geneva print referred to, we apprehend, was
the type used in the common copies of the Geneva trans-
lation of the Bible. Craik.
A literary man — with a wooden leg — and all print is
open to bim. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, 1. v.
There has been established such an intimate association
between truth and print upon paper that much of the rev-
erence given to the one gathers round the other.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., § 389.
Sf. An imprint; an edition.
When these two pryntes (there were of them botlie
aboute v. thousand bokis printed) were al soulde more
then a twelue moneth agoo [i. e., before February, 1534]
Tindjale] was pricked forthe to take the testament in
hande to print it and correcke it.
George Joy, Apology to Tyndale (1685). (Arber.)
4. A printed publication, more especially a
newspaper or other periodical. ,
What I have known
Shall be as public as & print.
Beau, and PI., Philaster, iL 4.
The prints, about three days after, were filled with the
same teims. Addison,
5. A printed picture or design; an impression
from engraved wood or metal taken in ink or
other colored medium upon paper or any other
suitable material.
That Bible, bought by sixpence weekly saved.
Has choicest, prints by famous hands engraved.
Crabbe, Works, L 38.
Conrad ab Uflenbach, a learned German, recreated his
mind, after severe studies, with a collection of prints of
eminent persons, methodically arranged.
/. D'Israeli, Curios, of Lit., I. 91.
6. Printed calico; a piece or length of cotton
cloth stamped with designs: as, striped, black,
colored, or figured jjriMte. — 7. (a) An- impres-
sion of something having comparatively slight
relief, such as to reproduce in reverse all the
parts of the original. Hence, by extension —
(6) A cast or impression from such a first im-
pression, which reproduces exactly the original.
— 8. A pattern or device produced by stamping,
as upon the surface of a piece of plate ; hence,
apparently by extension, the boss at the bot-
tom of mazers and other vessels of the middle
ages or later times, upon which are engraved or
otherwise represented the arms of the owner
or donor, or some other device. — 9. Something
bearing a figure or design to be impressed by
stamping; a figured stamp : as, a butter-pm*.
Specifically— (o) A mold for coin. BaUiwell. (b) in iron-
working, a swage ; a mold sunk in metal from which an
impression is taken.
10. Inpliotog., a positive picture made from a
negative.— Cotton prints. See cottoni.— In print.
((t)In a printed foim ; issued from the press; published;
also, in a printed and published work.
I love a ballad in print o' life, for then we are sure they
are true. Shak., W. T., Iv. 4. 264.
Margaret Fuller, less attractive in print than in conver-
sation, did her pait as a contributor as well as editor.
0. W. Hdmes, Emerson, v.
printing
(6) In stock : said of a book of which copies can be had of
the publisher. Compare out <tf print, (ct) In a formal
method; with exactness; in a precise and perfect man-
ner; to perfection.
P. jun. Fits my ruff well?
Lin. In print.
B. Jonson, Staple of News, i. 1.
He must speak in print, walk in prUa, eat and drink in
print. Burton, Auat. of MeL , p. 639. (.Latham.)
Jeypore print, a square of cotton cloth printed with an
elaborate design in colors from small separate blocks.
These squares are used as hangings and also for garments ;
they are of different sizes, sometimes as much asSor 9feet
square.— Mezzotint print, in photog. See mezmtint.—
Out Ot pitot, no longer in stock : said of a book of which
copies can no longer be supplied by Its publisher.— Solar
print. See solar.
print (print), a. [< print, ».] Clear and bright.
Salliwell. [Prov. Bug.]
print-broker (print'bro'kfer), n. A broker in
printed goods or figured calico. [Local, Eng.]
These are the print-brokers, who sell "gown-pieces" to
the hawkers or street-traders.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 414.
print-cloth (print'kl6th), n. Cotton cloth woven
and finished suitably for printing.
Cloth of the kind called print-doth, . . . which when
printed becomes calico. Pop. Sd. Mo., XXVIII. 480.
print-cutter (print'kut"er), n. A plain or a me-
chanical knife, such as a small knife-edged
wheel mounted in a handle, for cutting photo-
graphic prints to shape and size. The prints
are usually cut on a piece of glass, by means of
a rule or a caliber of glass of the required size.
printer (prin'tSr), n. 1. One who prints, im-
presses, or stamps by impression; a person
whose business it is to produce copies or
superficial transfers of anything by pressure,
as in a press or the like, or by the agency of
light on a sensitized surface, as in photography:
usually distinguished, when not speeiflo (def.
2), by an adjunct: as, a lithographic printer;
a plate-printer ; a, c&Ueo-printer. — 2. A person
who practises or carries on the business of
typographical printing; one who understands
the mechanical process of producing .printed
matter for reading; specifically, as used of
workmen, a compositor, or one who manipu-
lates the types. — 3. One who sells what he
prints or procures the printing of; hence, a
publisher of books or of a periodical. The early
printers were generally also publishers, producing works
on their own account ; i^nd the word printer long retained
this extended meaning. Thus, most of the letters of Junius
were addressed "To the Printer ot the Public Advertiser"
— the printer, Woodfall, being its proprietor, editor, and
publisher. [Now nearly obsolete.]
Learning hath gained most by those books by which the
printers have lost. Fuller, Books.
4. A telegraphic instrument which makes rec-
ords in printed characters ; a telegraphic print-
ing instrument.
Edison's various devices in his old stock printer have
formed the basis of all later variations on that sort of in-
strument. Harper's Mag., LXXX. 432.
Mechanical printer, a type-writer.— Motor printer.
See motor. — Printers BiUe a Bible printed prior tO'
1702, mentioned by Cotton Mather as containing the
word printers in place of princes in Ps. cxix. 161 : " Print-
ers have persecuted me without a cause." — Printer's
devil. See deaU.— Printer's flower, an ornamental de-
sign at the end of a printed book ; a tail-piece.— Printer's
imprint. Seeimprint, 2.— Printers' ink. See printing-
ink.— TliD.tei'B mark, an engraved device, sometime*
a monogiam or a rebus, used by printers as a trade-mark.
— Printers' ream, or printing ream, the ordinary
ream of 480 sheets, to which 14 quires are added as an al-
lowance for waste in printing, making 616 sheets : some-
times, but improperly, called a perfect ream,. [Eng.] —
Printers' roller. See inliing-roller. — Printers' vamlsh,.
a varnish made of nut- or llnseed-oil, black reshi, and dry
brown soap.— Putllo printer, an ofllcial of the United
States government who has cnaige of the government
printing-ofBce at Washington. =Syn. Compositor, Printer.
Before the introduction of poweivpresses both pressmen
and compositors were called printers; but these classes
are now nearly always distitict, and the tei-m printer more
especially, but less appropriately, designates the latter.
pnntery (prin't6r-i), «. ; pi. printei-ies (-iz).
[ifirint + -ery.'] 1. An establishment for the
printing of calico or the like. — 2. A printing-
ofBce. [Bare.]
print-field (print'feld), n. A print-works; an
establishment for printing and bleaching cali-
coes.
print-holder (print'h61"dfer), n. 1. A small
frame, standing like an easel by means of a sup-
port at the back, used to hold a photograph or an
engraving.— 2. In photog., any device for hold-
ing a print flat, or m a desired position.
printing (prin'ting), n. [Verbal n. of print, «.}
1 . In general, the art or process of making copies
or superficial transfers by impression; the re-
production of designs, characters, etc., on an
impressible surface by means of an ink or a pig'
4733
than a hand-press ; a power-press (properly so
called, although with some of the smaller foi-ms
manual power may be used). See printing-
press. Many such machines have been invented. Plafc
en-macliines are provided with flat beds for the types,
which are impressed by flat platens. Favorite styles of
platen.machiues for book-work are the Adams press of
America and the Napier press of England ; for job-work,
the Gordon press of America and the Cropper press of
lingland. Cylinder-machines are provided with flat slid-
ing bed-plates for the type-forms, which at intervals are
impressedby a rotating cylinder. (Seecyliiider-press.) Ro-
taiy machines are provided with cylinders on the curved
surface of which the types or plates are fixed, and which
are impressed by another rotating cylinder. In some
styles of rotary press the central cylinder containing the
tjrpe is impressed by two or more impression-cylinders,
which make a corresponding number of impressions at
eveiy rotation, Allfomisofplaten- and cylinder-machines
receive, by hand-feeding, cut sheets of paper which are
delivered printed usually on one side only, and not folded.
Some forms of cylinder-machines are provided with two
cylinders for printing a sheet on both sides or in two
colors. Web-machines (so called because they use paper
in a web-roll, which may be two or more miles long) are
provided wiOi cylinders on the curved surface of which
the plates are fastened, and which are impressed by
other cylinders on both sides. All of these machines
are complex, and have an apparatus for cutting and fold-
ing sheets and pasting in supplementary single or double
printing
ment (generally oily) applied to the solid sur-
face on which they are engraved or otherwise
^S^^^'m, ^,''i',s.S"»e is used specifically in typography
of the actual taking of impressions by the operation of
JZ^'f^f • '" ?*^^ "'*^' ".*' generally accompanied by
J^Sh.i,.''"^^"* term; and in typography itself dUIerent
methods are discriminated, as type, letteiiress, or stereo-
type pniiting, color-prniting, etc. Type or stereotype
printing is done from a surface in high relief: litho-
graphic printing, from the surface of a flat stone : copper-
plate printing, from inked lines engraved below the sur-
face of a flat plate of copper or steel. The art of printing
with ink from blocks of wood was practised in China at
an early undetermined date. Silk and linen fabrics were
printed from engraved hand-stamps in Europe in the
twelfth century ; playing-cards and prints of images were
impressed on paper in the beginning of the fourteenth
century. Cahoo-pnnting, oilcloth-printing, and carnet-
pnnting are also distinct arts, each requiring speciaUv
made inks and machinery. Printing for the blin<f in let.
ters embossed m relief, is the only form of printing done
without ink. **
2. The art or process of producing printed mat-
ter for reading (including illustrations, etc.) by
composition and imposition of types, and their
subjection when inked to pressure upon pa-
per in a printing-press; the typographic art:
typography in the fullest sense. Although docu-
ments of a much earlier date exist, which show strong
evidence of having been printed in some manner au^ogous
to the modern practice, the history of printing properly
begins with the first use of movable molded types, and is
accredited to Gutenberg, with the aid of Schoefler and
Fust, of Mainz in Germany, in which city appeared the
first book with an authenticated (written) date, 1456.
Gutenberg's invention, however, is disputed in favor of
his contemporary Coster, of Haarlem in Holland, from
whom the former is said to have derived the process.
Improvements have since been made in the speed of
type-making and in the methods of type-setting, but
, there has been no radical change in their theory or pro-
cess. The simple screw hand-press first used for print-
ing from types received no considerable improvement
before 1800. Since that date many inventions have been
made in printing-machinery, and the collateral arts of
stereotyping and electrotyping have been developed.
Machines that print from 6,000 to 60,000 copies an hour
are to be found in many large cities. The earliest Italian
copperplate-print is by Maso Finiguerra, a goldsmith of
Florence (1452). Lithography was invented by Aloys
Senetelder, of Munich, about 1796; he made prints in
1798, and received a patent in 1800. Typography, also
known as letterpress printing, obtains its greatest advan-
tage from the mobility of its types of metal, which can be
repeatedly used in endless combinations. Type-printing
machinery permits the use, along with types, of engrav-
ings on wood, or of stCTCotype or electrotype plates. In
all other kinds of printing, the use of an engraved de-
sign in a new combination is not practicable ; it can be
used only in its first state. Printing comprises two dis-
tinct trades — composilion, or the art of arranging types,
and presswork, or the art of getting impressionsfrom com-
posed types. See compositor, pressmavX, and printer, 2.
S. In pliotog., the act or art of obtaining a
positive photographic pictui-e from a negative,
or a picture in which the lights and shades are
true to nature from one in which they are re-
versed. When based upon the properties of a
salt of silver, such printing is called silver-
printing, and similarly with other salts. — 4.
In ceram., the art of decorating pottery by
means of transfers, either by paper printed
with mineral colors or by sheets of gelatin
printed in oil. By the first plan, the paper is pressed,
printed side down, on the ware to make the transfer, and
afterward removed by softening in water. By the other
plan, the gelatin film or bat simply transfers the oil to
the ware, when it can bfe removed and used again, the oil-
print being then dusted with mineral colors.
5. Advertising-bills, posters, dodgers, window-
bills, and the like. [Theat. slang.] —Anastatic
printing. See anastatic.— Axti&cial or artistic print-
mg. See artificial.— Bureau of Engraving and Print-
ing. See bureau,— CliromatiC printing. See chro-
nuttfc- Lithographic printing. See lithography.—
Logographlc printing, printing with types bearing
whole words or syllables. See logography.—'Sa.iOXaX
printing, the taking of an impression from an etched
plate as it comes from the bath, for the purpose of show-
ing its exact state. See also nature-printing.— Voiy-
clurome printing, ^gq polychrome. — Solar printing, „„„,^, .™„„,
ia photog., the process or operation of printing or enlarg- nT.j»,f,i-nff . ofB^ce
ing from a negative by the use of the solar camera. See ^(tZ^JlTif^^^fa
copying camera, xmdiet camera. . (pi"i ''"ig-oJ-
printing-body (prin'ting-bod"i), ». A piece of J?); »*• An ot-
ceramiS ware ready for printing. fice where typographic printing is done
printing-frame (prin'ting-fram), «. Inphotog., printing-paper (prm'tmg-pa"per), n. Seepa-
a quadrangular frame in which sensitized pa- P^/- , ■ ,^- x » ,.
per is placid beneath a negative held firmly in printing-press (pnn'tmg-pres), n. A machine
position and exposed to the direct rays of light, for taking impressions from an inked surface
printing-type
Hand-press.
it. frame; b, bed, containing a four-pa^e form, c; d, platen; e,
bar that moves compound lever; f, compound lever; e, platen-springs;
A. one of two ribs on which the bed slides on its way to the platen ; j,
rounce, with handle, attached to girths that pull the bed to and fron*
the platen ; k. tympan, with its drawer ; /, frislceL
are those in which impression is given by compound
levers, and the descent and return of the platen are con-
trolled by coiled springs instead of the screw. "
m-^
rt, roll of paper ; b, shaft of first plate-cylinder , _ ,
impression-cylinder; d. shaft of second prmting-cylinder; e, shaft
of second plate-cylinder ; /, perforated steam-pipe for steaming the
paper as it unwinds ; ff. ink-distributing rollers ; h, inkii^-roUers for
first plate-cylinder ; t', first ink-fountain ; z", second ink -fountain ; ,/,
leaves, and are largely used for printing daily newspapers.
Their performance varies, according to the size of the
sheet and other conditions, from 5,000 to 70,000 copies
an hour. Nicholson of England received a patent fSr a
cylinder printing-machine in 1790, but his invention was
never perfected.
Koenig and Bauer
in 1811 did the
first practical work
on their machine,
which in 1814 was
used to print the
London "Times."
Early forms of
cylinder-machines
have been largely
improved by Na-
pier of London and
Hoe of New York.
The ' web-machine
was introduced in
1863, and has re-
ceived many im-
provements from
Applegath of Lon-
don, Marinoni of
Paris, Hoe of New
York, and others.
— Cradle print-
ing - machine.
See oraMe.
Web-machine,
shaft of first ink-distributing rollers for second plate-cylinder
' Stop-cylinder Machine,
a, bed and side frames ; b, driving-pulley ; c, impression-cylinder ; d, feed-table ; e,
delivery-cylinder; f, bed on which the form of type is laid; g, inking-roUers ; A, ink-
fountam ; i, ink-table ; k, distributing-rollers ; /, wheel-and-axle movement which moves
the sliding bed : m. the fly, working on a rocking shaft, which takes the paper from the
delivery-cylinder and lays it on the delivery-board ; «, delivery-board ; o. steps on which
the feeder stands ; p, guides against which the sheets of paper are fed : q, grippers in
impression-cylinder which take the sheets; r, two cams which bring the impression-
cylinder to a stop after each impression; s. cam which operates the fly.
Also oaXled pressure-frame and press.
printing-house (prin'ting-hous), n. A house
or office where letterpress printing is done.
printing-ink (prin'ting-ingk), n. Ink used in
typographical printing. Its composition, gen-
erally speaking, is linseed-oil boiled to a var-
nish, with coloring matter added to it.
printing-machine (prin'ting-ma-shen"), a. An
apparatusforprintingwithtypesortypographic
forms, more elaborate than a hand-press; a
printing-press adapted for operation at greater
speed, and commonly with larger areas of type,
upon paper. A press that prints from stone is always
specified as a lithographic press ; a press that prints
from etched or engraved copperplates, as a copperplate-
press. Pressesfortypographioprinting are broadly divided
into three classes — hand-presses, job-presses, and power-
presses. Those of the last class are treated under prmtmi?-
mocAiTie. Theearlyhand-presswaslargelyotwood. Astone ... i , » - .j-s
was provided as a bed for the form of types, and iron for printing-telegraph (prm'tmg-tel"6-graf), w
minor pieces only. Impression was made by the direct ac- ^^y f ox^m of automatic self-recording telegraph
tion of a screw on the platen or pressing surface, which Y-, «4-;„i,or'' of a stock-renortinff tele^raTih
covered only one halt ot the bed-plate of stone. The first as the ticker oi a SIOCK reponing leiegrapn
notable improvement was that of Stanhope of England, See telegraph.
... "6. web of paper,
printed on botli sides, on its way to'the first cutting-cylinder; /, cut-
ting-cylinder ; tn, insetting-apparatus ; 71, folding-apparatus ; 0,0',
denvering.cylinder5 with transverse cutters; p.f'. tables on which
the cut and printed sheets are delivered.
of various forms have been devised for special kinds of
printing, as in different colors at the same time. The
prevalent style of job-presses, for the printing of cards
and small sheets, has the type secured to a bed-plate
which stands vertically, and the platen swings to and
from it on a rocking
shafts or is brought
to it by means of a
side-lever. They are
often worked by a
treadle, and hence
are also called trea-
die-presses. Their
prototype is theGor-
don press, invented
by Geoi*ge P. Gordon
in i860.— Chro-
matic prinldng-
press. SeecAromat-
ic. — Copperplate
printing-press, a
roller-press used in
printingfrom plates
engraved or etched
insuukenlines. Th&
originalform, still in
use, was invented in
1545. It consists of a
bed moving on roll-
ers and supporting
the plate which is to
beprinted from. The-
requisite pressure is
obtained by means
of a roller above the
bed, having a vertical adjustment by means of screws at-
tached to its journal-boxes. The bed is rolled forward
to bring the plate and the sheet upon which the drawing
is to be transferred beneath the pri.ssing-roll. The pres-
sure is adjusted bymeans of the screws, and the roll turned
by a lever-arm attached to its axis, causing the-plate and
its bed to roll forward beneath it, so as to subject the whole
surface of the plate and the sheet which covers it to its.
action, — Multicolor printing-press, a chromatic print-
ing-press for printing simultaneously in bands or stiipea
of diilerent colors: distinguished from a chromolitho-
graphic press, which prints in overlaid colors by successive
operations.
who in 1798 made a hand-press entirely of iron, with a „„•„+,•„_ t-myo fnriTi 'tins'-iatil n
platen that fully covered the bed-plate. Many improve- pnnting-type (pnn ling rap;, n.
ments have followed. The hand-presses now preferred type. Bee type.
Letterpress-
printing-wheel
printing-wheel (prin'ting-hwel), n. A wheel
having letters or figures on its periphery, used
in paging- or numbering-maehines, or in ticket-
printing machines.
printless (print'les), a. {iprint + -less.J Without
a print, (a) Receiving or bearing no print or impression.
Lighting on tlie privtless verdure.
Keatgf Lamia, L
Free as air, o'er printless sands we march.
Wordswortht Excursion, iv.
(&) Making no print or impression.
Thus I set my prirttlees leet
O'er the cowslip's velvet head.
Milton, Comus, L 897.
With golden undulations such as greet
Ibe printless summer-aandals of the moon.
Lowell, Bon Voyage I
print-room (print'rom), n. An apartment con-
taining a eoUeetion of prints or engravings.
print-seller (print'sel"6r), n. One who sells
prints or engravings.
Any printseUers who have folios of old drawings or fac-
similes of them. Jtusldn, Elem. of Drawing, IL
print-shop (print'shop), n. A shop where prints
or engravings are sold.
I picked up in a priitt-shop the other day some superb
views of the suburbs of Chowringhee.
Maeaulai/, in Trevelyan, L 309.
print-works (print'w6rks), n. sing, and pi. Ap
establishment where macliiue- or block-print-
ing is carried on ; a place for printing calicoes
or paper-hangings.
There were for many years extensive CBlico priTtt-works
at Primrose, but these are now converted into paper-mills.
Bai'n£s, Hist. Lanca^ire, II. 21.
Priodon (pri'o-don), n. [NL.] Same as Pri-
onodon.
Priodontes (pri-o-don'tez), n. [NL.] Same as
Prionodon.
Prion (pri'on), n. [NL. (Lac6p6de. 1800-1),
< Grr. nplciv, a saw, < irpkiv, saw.] A genus of
Proceliarildse, having the bill expanded and
strongly beset along the cutting edges with
lamellsB like the teeth of a saw; the saw-billed
petrels. P. vittata is a blue-and-white petrel
inhabiting southern seas. Also PachypUla.
Prionese (pri-6'ne-e), n. pi. [NL., < Prion 4-
-e».] A section' of Proeellariinse established
by Coues in 1866, having the bill lamellate, and
containing the genera Prion, Pseudoprion, and
Halobxna; the saw-billed petrels.
Prionidse (pri-on'i-de), n. pi. [NL. (Leach,
1819), < NL. Prion + -idse.'] A family of longi-
com beetles, typified by the genus Prionus, re-
lated to the Ceramhyeidie, having the sides of
the prothorax sharply delineated and often ser-
rate or spinous.
Prionidus (pri-o-ni'dus), n. [NL. (Uhler, 1886),
< Gr. Tzpiuv, a saw, -I- dJof, form.] A genus of
reduvioid bugs, re-
placing Prionotus of
Laporte, 1833, which
is preoccupied in ich-
thyology. It includes
many strange tropical and
semi-tropical forms, as P.
eristatua, the wheel-bug,
useful in destroying wil-
low-slugs and many other
noxious insects.
Prionins (pri-o-ni'-
jie),n.pl. [NL.,<Pri-
on + -ime.'] The Pri-
onidse as a subfamily
of Ceramhyeidie, dis-
tinguished by the
margined prothorax
and the connate la-
brum. The species are
of large size and of brown
or black color, and some
of them are the longest
beetles known. Theystrid-
ulate by nibbing the hind femora against the edge of the
elytra. Prianus iminicomis is a common North American
species. Orthosoma eylindricwm is also a striking exam-
ple of this group. It is found in the West Indies and all
through North America, feeding in the larva state in de-
caying stumps of oalc, walnut, pine, and hemloclc.
Prionites (pri-o-m'tez), n. [< NL., < Gr. wpiofv,
a saw : see Prion.'] In ornith., a genus of mot-
mots: same as Momotus. Illiger, 1811.
PrionitidsB (pri-6-nit'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Pri-
onites + -idse.y Same as MomoUdse. Bona-
parte, 1849.
Kionitinae (pii''6-ni-ti'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Pri-
onites + -insB.'] 'Same as MomoUnse, 1. Caha-
nis, 1847.
Prioniturus (pri*6-ni-tii'rus), n. [NL. (Wag-
ler, 1830), < Prionites + Gr. mpd, tail.] A ge-
nus of Psittacidse, having the central reetrices
4734
spatulate, as in the motmots of the genus Pri-
onites (or Momotus), whence the name; the
racket-tailed parrakeets. Several species in-
prloress
habit North America, P. lalieollis and P. imbricomis being
among the commonest of the latter. The larvae of both of
these feed upon the roots of the grape. P. coriarim is
European. P. breoiecmis is destructive to orchard and
Orthosoma cytindricum, one of
X\ie Prioninas. (Natural size.)
Racket-tailed Parralceet (^Prioniturtts discurus).
habit Celebes and the Philippines, as P.pla-
turus, P. discwus, and P. spatuliger.
Frionium (pri-6'ni-um)_, n. [NL. (E. Meyer,
1832), so called in allusion to the sharply saw-
toothed leaves ; < Gr. Trp'um, a saw.] A genus
of monocotyledonous plants of the order Junca-
cese and tribe Eujuncese. it is distinguished from
Junius, the rushes, which it closely resembles in struc-
ture, by the three-celled ovary with a few seeds in the
lower half of each cell, the large club-sliai)ed embryo, and
the three separate styles. The only species, P. Palmita,
is a native of South Africa, known as palmet or palmiet,
aadpalmite. SeepalmUe.
Frionodesmacea (pri"o-no-des-ma'se-a), n. pi.
[NL., < Gr. npiuvia, saw, -t- dsa/iac, band, liga-
ture.] An order or group of bivalve shells
with the hinge primitively transversely pli-
cated or prionodont. It includes the Nueula-
eea, Arcacea, Trigoniacea,Naiadacea, and JlfoBO-
myaria.
Prionodon (pri-on'o-don), n. [NL., < Gr. npuMi,
a saw, + boovg (bdovr-) = E. tooth.] In zool.,
a generic name variously used, (a) In mammdl. :
(1) The emended form of PniAon or Priodontes, a ge-
nus of giant armadillos of South America, the only spe-
cies of which is the kabalassou, P. gigas. (2) A genus of
Malayan viverrine quadrupeds of the subfamily Priono-
d&ntinae, containing such aij P. gratis, which is white
with broad black crossbands ; the linsangs. This genus
was founded by Horsfleld in 1823. See cut under delim-
dung, (b) In iehth., a genus of sharks or subgenus of
Carcharias or Cairchannus. MiUler and Henle, 1841.
prionodont (pri-on'o-dont), a. and n. [< Gr.
nplav, a saw, -I- bSovQ {odorvr-) = E. toofh.] I.
a. Having teeth set uke a saw; having ser-
rated teeth. Specifically— (a) Having very numerous
teeth, 20 or 25 above and below on each side, as an arma-
dillo of the genus Prionodon. (b) Having the tubercular
molars reduced to one on each side above and below, as a
civet-cat of the genus Prumodon. (c) In coTich^, trans-
versely plicated, as the hinge of the Prionodegmacea.
II. n. 1. An armadillo of the subfamily Pn-
onodontinse. — 3. A linsang of the subfamily
Prionodonti/nsB.
Prionodontinse (pri-on"o-don-ti'ne), n. pi.
[NL., < Prionodon (-odoni-) + -inse.] 1. A sub-
family of Viverridse, named from the genus Prio-
nodon of Horsfield, having the body slender and
elongate, and the tubercular molars reduced to
one above and below on each side ; the linsangs.
— 2. A South American subfamily of Dasypodi-
dx, having from 20 to 25 teeth above and below
on each side, a greater number than in any other
land-animal; the kabalassous, grand tatous, or
giant armadillos. It is named from the genus
Prionodon (emended from Priodon or Priodontes
of F. Cuvier).
prionodontine (pri-on-6-don'tin), a. and n. [<
prionodont + -ine^.] Same &% prionodont.
Plionnrus (pri-o-nii'rus), n. [NL. (Ehrenberg,
1829), < Gr. np'iMv, a saw, + avpa, tail.] 1. A
genus of scorpions : same as Androctonus of the
same author and date. — 3. In. ichth., a genus
of Teuthididx.
Prionus (pri'o-nus), n. [NL. (Geoffrey, 1762), <
Gr. Trpj'uv, a saw.] A genus of large longicom
beetles, of the broad-bodied series of Ceramhy-
ddee, typical of the family Prionidx, having the
antennsB imbricated or pectinated in the male.
It is wide-spread and has about 30 species, of which 9 in-
PriMtts imbricomis, male. (Natural size,)
other trees in North America. P. cervieomis is a South
American staghorn beetle, whose larvee are eaten by the
natives. See also cut under Phytophaga.
prior (pri'or), a. [< L. prior (neut. priiis),tov-
mer, earlier, previous (pi. priores, forefathers,
ancestors, the ancients), superior, better, used
as the comparative of primus, first: see^nme,
and cf . pristine."] 1 . Preceding, as in the order
of time, of thought, of ori^n, of dignity, or of
importance ; in law, senior in point of time : as,
a, prior and a junior incumbrance.
Sche seyde thou semyste a man of honour.
And therfore thou sohalt be pryowre.
MS. Cantab. Ff. ii. 38, f. 110. (BaUiwell.)
The thought is always prim to the fact ; all the facts of
history preexist in the mind as laws. Emerson, History.
3. Previous: used adverbially, followed by to,
l^Q previous. See previous, a.
At the close of the Kepubllcan era, and prior to the re-
construction of society under the Bmperors, skepticism
had widely spread.
O. P. Fisher, Begin, of Christianity, p. 133.
Whatlpropose to do ismerely to consideralittle Burke's
\ite prior to his obtaining a seat in Parliament.
Contemporary Rev., L. 28.
Prior Analytics of Aristotle. See analytics, l.=Syn.
Seeiwevitnw.
prior (pri'or), n. [< ME. priour,preyour = D.
prioor = MLG. prior, prier = MHG. prwr, G.
prior = Sw. Dan. prior, < OP. jiriour, prieur, F.
prieur = Sp. Pg. prior = It. priore, < ML. prior,
a prior, lit. superior, < L. prior, former, supe-
rior: see prior, a.] A superior officer; a su-
perior. Specifically — (a) Eccles. , an ofiicial in the monas-
tic orders next in dignity and rank to an abbot. Before
the thirteenth century he seems to have been called i»'otnu(
(propositus) ov prelate (prselatus), and prior seems to have
meant any superior or senior. If in an abbey, and an as-
sistant of the abbot, he is called a clausircU prior; if the
superior of a priory— that is, of a monastery of lower
. than abbatial rank— he is called a conventical or conven-
tual prior. The superiors of the houses of regular canons
were always called priors, and the commandants of the
priories of the military orders of St. John of Jerusalem,
of Malta, aud of the Templars were called grand priors.
See hegumen.
The prior of Durham, modest as the name might sound,
was a greater personage than most abbots.
Rom. Cath. Diet.
(6) Formerly, in Italy, a chief magistrate, as in the medie-
val republic of Florence.
The Priors of the [Florentine] Arts.
C. E. Norton, Church-building in Middle Ages, p. 193.
In 1300 we'flnd him [Dante] elected one of the j>rtor« of
the city. LoweU, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 10.
=Syil. Abbot, Prior._ See def. (a).
priorate (pri'or-at), n. [= P. prieuri = Sp.
priorato = Fg. priorado, priorato = It. priorato
= D. prioraat = G. Sw. Dan. priorat, < ML.
priorattis, the office of a prior, \ prior, a prior:
see prior, re.] 1. The rank, office, or dignity of
prior, in any sense of that word.
Dante entered on his ofiice as one of the priors of the
city ; and in that priorate, he himself declared, all the ills
and calamities of his after-years had their occasion and
beginning.
C. E. Norton, Church-building in Middle Ages, p. 194.
2. The period during which a prior holds office ;
priorship.
An eulogy on Walkelin, bishop of Winchester, and a Nor-
man, who built great part of his stately cathedral, as it
now stands, and was bishop there during Godfrey's prior-
ate. T. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, Dis., ii.
prioress (pri'or-es), «. [< ME. prioresse = D.
pi-im'es, < OF. prioresse = Pg. prioreea = MLG.
priorisse, priorsche, priersche, < ML. priorissa,
a prioress, fem. of prior, prior: see prior, «.]
A female prior, having charge of a religious
house; a woman who is the coadjutor of and
next in rank to an abbess.
prioress
Yon shrouded figure, as I guess,
By her proud mien and flowing dress,
Is Tynemouth's haughty Priarets.
Scott, Marmion, ii. 19.
pnoristic (pri-g-ris'tik), a. [< prior + -istic.']
Of or belonging to the Prior Analytics of Aris-
totle. See posterioristic.
priority (pri-or'i-ti), n. [< P. p^-ioriU = Sp.
pnondad = Vs.prioridade = It. prioritci,, < ML.
pnoHta{i-)s, < U. prim; former: see jmor, a.]
1. The state of being prior or antecedent, or
of preceding something else : as, priority of
birth: oy^os&A. to posteriority.
As there is order and »rion'«j/ In matter, so is there in
time. Baotm, Advancement of Learning, ii. 345.
2. Precedence in place or rank; the having of
certain rights before another.
ToUow Cominius ; we must follow you ;
Bight worthy joMprianty. Skak., Cor., i. 1. 251.
After bis [Austin's] decease there should be equalitie of
honour betwixt London and Yorke, without all distinction
otpriarUie. Foa», Martyrs, p. 166, an. 1070.
It was our Saviour's will that these, our four fishermen,
should have SiXtriority of nomination.
I. Waltm, Complete Angler, p. 48.
Under these the scholars and pupils had their places or
formes, with titles and ^on*w according to their profi-
ciency. Evelyn, Diary, Oct. 6, 1641.
8. In law, a precedence or preference, as when
one debt is paid in priority to others, or when
an execution is said to lose its priority by the
neglect of the party to enforce it. — 4. Apri-
ority. = Syn. PruyrUy, Antecedence, Precedence, Preemi-
nemx, Predonvmance, Preference, Superiority, Supremacy.
Priority is the state or fact of coming first in order of
time ; what little use it has beyond this meaning is only
a figurative extension. Antecedence is strictly priority,
without any proper figurative use. Precedence may mean
priority, but generally means the right to go or come
first, the privilege of going before another; as, the ques-
tion of precedence among sovereigns or ambassadors
makes great trouble, because ttie dignity of the nations
represented is supposed to be at stake. PreSminenee
is, figuratively, height by nature above all others, gen-
erally in some one respect : as, the preeminence of Shak-
spere as a dramatist. Predormnance is superior and
dominating power or influence; as, the predominance of a
certain faction ; figuratively, the predominance of light or
shade or a particular color in a certain picture. Prtiference
is the putting forward of a person or thing by choice, on the
ground of worthiness, or on account of the taste, fancy, or
arbitrary will of the one preferring ; as, to give the prefer,
ence to Milton over Dante. Superiority may refer to na-
ture or to given or achieved position over others ; it differs
from supremacy as the comparative dillers from the su-
perlative degree : as, the sujfericrity of the appearance of
certain troops ; the superiority of the dairy-pi'oducts of a
certain region; superiority to one's circumstances; su-
premaey on the land and supremacy on the sea do not al-
ways go together. Seepremous.
priorly (pri'or-li), adVi [< prior, a., + -ly^.']
Antecedently.
Whether priorly to that sera it had ever been inhabited,
or lain till then In its chaotic state, is a question which it
would be rash to decide. Geddes, tr. of Bible, I., Pref .
priorsMp (pri'or-ship), «. \i<prior, n., + -ship."]
The office of prior; a priorate.
The archbishop, pronoked the more by thatj deposed him
from the priorsJdp. Foxe, Martyrs, p. 214, an. 1190.
priory (pii'or-i), n. ; pi. iiriories (-iz). [< ME.
priorie, < dF.priorie, prioree, prieuree (= It.
prioria), f., a priory (ef. Wli.prioria, the oflce
of a prior, a priory), a later form for OP. priore,
prieure, < ML. prioratus, the oflee of a prior, <
prior, a prior: see prior, n., and ot. priorate.'\
A religious house next in dignity below an ab-
bey, and often, but not necessanly, dependent
upon an abbey. Its superior is called a prior
ov prioress.
Our abbeys and ovi priories shall pay
This expedition's charge.
Shak., K. John, L 1. 48.
Allen priory, a cell or smsdl religious house dependent
upon a large monastery in another country.
And [the parliament] showed no reluctance to confiscate
the prbperty of the alim, priories which Henry had restored
in the previous year. Stuibs, Const. Hist of Eng., § 306.
pripri (pre 'pre), n. [S. Amer.] In French
Guiana, a marshy belt occuiTing immediately
behind the mangrove or submerged belt of the
coast. It can easily be drained and made into
good meadow-land.
prist n. A Middle English form of pnce. Chaucer.
prisa'ge (pn'zaj), n. [< OF. prisage, prizing,
rating, valuing, < priser, estimate; in def. 2,
rather < OF. prise, a taking: see jjn^ei.J If.
A prizing; rating; valuing. Cotgrave.— 2. In
early Eng. and French law, a seizure or asserted
right of seizure by way of exaction or requisi-
tion for the use of the crown. More specifically—
(a) A right which once belonged to the English crown, of
taking ftvo tuns of wine from every ship importing twenty
tuns or more. This by charter of Edward I. was commuted
into a duty of two shillings for every tun imported by
merchant strangers, and called hvOerage, because paid to
4735
the king's butler. (&) The share of merchandise taken as
lawful prize at sea which belongs to the crown — usually
one tenth.
prisalt (pri'zal), ». [,Msoprizall; by abbr. from
reprisal.'] A taking; a capture.
They complain of two ships taken on the coast of Portu-
gal. . . . They of Zeland did send unto HoUti to let them
know of these prisals.
Sir P. Sidney, quoted in Motley's Hist. Netherlands,
[UI. 174, note.
priscau (pris'kan), «. [< L. priscus, primitive,
+ -an.'] Primitive. [Rare.]
We seem to hear in the songs and dances of the savage
Indians the echoes of our own priscan histoiy.
Smitlieonian Beport, 1881, p. 506.
Friscian (prish'ian), n. [So called from Pris-
cian (LL. Priscidnus), a Latin grammarian
(about A. D. 500).] A grammarian. Compare
the phrase to breah Priscian's head, under break.
But thus it is when petty Pristnans
Will needs step up to be censorians.
Marston, Satires, iv. 104.
PriscilUanism (pri-sil'yan-izm), n. [< Priscil-
lian-ist + -ism.] The doctrines of the Priscil-
lianists.
Friscillianist (pri-sil'yan-ist), n. [< Prisdl-
lian ovPrisdlla (see defs.) + ■ist.'] 1. One of
a sect, followers of R-iscillian, a Spanish here-
tic of the fourth century. The sect, which origi-
nated in Spain, held various Gnostic and Manichean doc-
trines. The Fnscillianists considered it allowable to con-
ceal their tenets by dissimulation ; they were accused of
gross immorality, and were severely persecuted by the
emperor Maximus.
3. A name given to the Montanists (see Mon-
tanist), from their alleged prophetess Priscilla.
priseH, n. and v. An obsolete form otprise'^.
prise^t, a. [ME., also pryse, pris, < OP. pris,
taken, received, accepted, etc. (used in various
adj. senses), pp. ot prendre, take, receive, ac-
cept: see^mei,jpTOei, m. and*.] Choice; ex-
cellent; noble.
I bid that ye buske, and no bode make ;
Pas into Payone there prise knightes dwellis.
Doughty of dede, derfe men in Armys.
DeOmMm of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2568.
So dide wele thoo prise knyghtes in her companye, and
also the knyghtes of the rounde table, that ne ought not
to be for-yeten. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 220.
I haue a^Jm presant, to plese with thi hei-t.
WUliam of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), 1. 411.
prise^tf *"• and «. A variant oij)nze^,
prise^, n. and v. ^ee prized.
priseheadt, n. [ME. prishede; < prise^, a., +
-head.] Excellence; worthiness.
Tbeprishede of Parys was praisit so mekyll.
With ferly of his f airaes, & his f re buernes.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2907.
prisert, n. An obsolete form otprizer.
prism (prizm), n. [= F. prisme = Sp. Pg. It.
prisma = D. Gr. Sw. Dan. prisma, < LL.jpnsma,
a prism (in geom.), < Q-r. vpUsiia, a prism (in
geom.), lit. something sawed (as a block of
wood), also sawdust, Cnpkw, rcpU^eiv, saw.] 1.
In geom., a solid whose bases or ends
are any similar, equal, and parallel
plane polygons, and whose sides are
parallelograms. Prisms are triangular,
square, pentagonal, etc., according as the fig-
ures of their ends are triangles, squares, pen-
tagons, etc.
When the mirroris entirely inlaid with large
pieces of Marble, some of which are found
to rise above the others, or to be detached
from them, they are forced down again with
a quadrangular wooden prism.
MarMe-Worier, § 152.
Specifically — 2. An optical instrument con-
sisting of a transparent medium so arranged
that the surfaces which
receive and transmit
light form an angle with
each other: usually of a
triangular form with well-
polished sides, wWch
meet in three parallel
lines, and made of glass,
rock-salt, or quartz, or a
liquid, as carbon disul-
phid, contained in a pris-
matic receptacle formed
of plates of glass, a ray
ot ught falling upon one of
the sides of a prism is refracted
(see refraction) or bent from
its original direction at an an-
gle depending upon its own
wave-length, the angle of inci-
dence, the angle of the prism,
and the material of which the
prism is made. This angle of
deviation, as it is called, has a
definite minimum (minimum deviation) value when the
angle of Incidence is equal to the angle of emergence.
K^
Triangular
Prism,
prismatic
The angle of deviation increases as the ^vave-Iength of
the light-ray diminishes ; consequently, if a pencil of white
light falls upon the prism, the different I'ays are sepai'ated
or dispersed, and a spectrum is the result. (See spec-
trum.) Prisms are hence used in spectrum analysis to
decompose light, so that the rays of which it is made up
may be examined.
The beams that thro' the Oriel shine
Make prisms in every carven glass.
Tennyson, Day-Dream, The Sleeping Palace.
3. In crystal., a form consisting of planes, usu-
ally four, six, eight, or twelve, which are par-
allel to the vertical axis, if the planes intersect the
lateral axes at the assumed unit distances for the given
species, it is called a unit prism; othei-wise it maybe de-
scribed, according to the position of the planes, as a moc-
roprism, brachyprism, orthoprisnif or diTu^rism. In the
triclinic system the form includes two planes only, and
it is hence called a kemiprism. In the teti^agonal system
the unit prism is sometimes called Aprotoprism, or prism
of the first order, and the diametral prism, whose planes
are pai'allel to a lateral axis, a deuteroprihnf or prism of
the second order ; these ufLmes are also used in an analo-
gous manner in the hexagonal system.
4. In canals, a part of the water-space in a
straight section of a canal, considered as a par-
allelepiped.— 5. Jnweavingj same a,s pattern-box
(h), — Achromatic prism, a prism through which an in-
cident beam of light is refracted into a new direction with-
out color. It consists of a combination of two piisms, made
of two different transparent substances of unequal dis-
persive powers, as flint-glass and crown-glass. — Amici's
prism, in microscopyf a form of illuminator consisting of a
prism having one plane and two lenticular surfaces, so that
it serves at once to concentrate the rays and to reflect them
obliquely upon the object. It is supported upon an adjust-
able stand.— Bisulphid prism. See bisvlphid.—'Diam.-
etral prism. See diametral plaines, under diametrc^. —
Diatom prism, a prism used as an attachment to a mi-
croscope to give the oblique illumination favorable for
observing very fine lines or markings, as those on the shells
of diatoms. — Double -image prism, in ^Ucs, a prism of
Iceland spar which yields two images of like intensity, but
polarized in planes at light angles to each other.— Equi-
lateral prism, a prism having equal sides, used as an at-
tachment to a microscope to illuminate the object. It
acts on the principle of total reflection. — Erecting prism,
a prism placed between the two lenses of the eyepiece,
and serving to erect the inverted image of a compound
microscope.— Natchet's prism, (a) „
In microscopy^ an erecting prism.
(6) A form of illuminator consisting of
a prism with two convex surfaces, by
which the light is brought to a focus
upon the object. — Nlcol prisma or
nieoli a prism of Iceland spar (calcite),
used when polarized lightis required :
named from its inventor, AVilliam
Nicol, of Edinburgh, who fii'st de-
scribed it in 1828. The common formis
constructed from an oblong cleavage
piece, first by grinding two new faces
at the ends (s&pp') inclined about 68°
to the vertical edges, and then cement-
ing the halves together by Canada bal-
sam in the line AB. The ordinary ray
now suffers total reflection at e, and is
absorbed by the blackened sides at g,
while the extraordinary ray, polarized
with vibrations parallel to the shorter
diagonal of the cross-section, emerges
at e. Modified forms of the prism, ac-
complishing the same end, have been
devised in recent years (often called
nicUs also), which are much shorter,
and hence have the advantages of giv-
ing a larger field in the microscope
and less loss of light by absorption,
together with an importaut saving of
the material; one of theseistheBazu-
movsky prism.— Prism battery, a
Leclanch^ battery in which a pair of
compressed prisms, containing all the
materials commonly used in the po-
rous cup, is employed in place of the
latter.— Reversing prism, a small
obtuse-angled isosceles prism (;} in the
cut) of flint-glass, placed between the
eye-lensof a positive eyepiece e and the eye, with its longest
side paridlel to the optical axis of the eyepiece. It inverts
the image viewed through
the eyepiece and when it
is made to rotate around
the optical axis the image
also appears to turn, so that
any line in it can be made
vertical or horizontal at
pleasure. This enables the
observer to avoid, or to
eliminate, certain errors of
v*
Vertical and Trans*
verse Sections of a
Nicol Prism.
^p't direction of ter-
minal face of prism ;
AB, direction of sur-
face by which the
parts are cemented
together; bcg^, path
of ordinary ray ;
bele/, path of ex-
traordinary ray ; w\
direction of vibration
plane in shorter dia-
gonal of transverse
section (//' bein^
longer diagonal, ci.
above).
Reversing Prism.
The prism can be rotated on the
optical axis i/.
Glass Prism upon Adjustable
Stand.
measurement which depend upon the ai>parent position of
the object.— Eight-angle prism, a prism attached to a
microscope-stand to throw ught upon an object. It is so
made that it can rotate on a horizontal or vertical axis, so
as to throw light as requu^d.— Wenham prism, in a hi-
noculax microscope, a quadrilateral prism used to refract
part of the light-rays from the object up the second tube
to its eyepiece.
prismatic (priz-mat'ik), a, [= F. pris-maUque =
Sp. xyrismdtico = Pg. It. prismatico, < Gr. Trpia-
fia{r-), a prism: see^pmw.] 1. Of or pertain-
ing to a prism ; having the form of a prism.
False eloquence, like the pfismotic glass,
Its gaudy colours spreads on every place.
Pope, Essay on Criticum, 1. 311.
2. Separated or distributed by, or as if by, a
transparent prism ; formed by a prism ; varied
entire]
360'
Prismatic Compass.
a, floating card beginning
the N. point and numbered
1y around the circle,
o, vertical si?ht-vane
witn central vertical wire rf,'
c, prisin. On applying the
eye at ^, and causing the
wire d to bisect any object,
the division on the card co-
inciding with the wire and
reflected to the eye will show
the angle formed with the
meridian by the object
sighted.
befalls the body of
prismatic
in color: as, a prisnMtic spectrum: m-ismatic
colors.
He talks of light and tlie primmtio hues.
Couiper, Charity, L 391.
Prismatic cleavage, cleavage parallel to the planes of a
P"?P-— Prismatic colors, the colors into which ordinary
white light is decomposed by a
prism, from the red to the violet
See color and spectrunu—'Piis-
matlccompass, a compass held
in the hand when used, and so
arranged that by means of a
gvism the graduations can
e read off at the same time
that the object sighted is seen
through the sight-vane. It is
used for taldng bearings in
sketching ground for military
purposes, and for fllling in the
interior details of rough sur-
veys.—Prismatic crystal, a
crystal having a prismatic form.
— Prismatic planes, in crys-
tal., planes parallel to the ver-
tical axis of the crystal. — Pris-
matic powder. Seepovider.
prismatical (prlz-mat'i-
kal), a. [< prismatic +
-al.] Same aspHsmatic.
prismatically (priz-maf-
i-kal-i), adv. In the form
or manner of a prism; by
means of a prism.
What addition or decrement ... __
the glass by being primuUicaUy figured?
Boyle, Works, 1. 666.
prismatoid (priz'ma-toid), «. [< Gr. Kpia/ia(T-),
a prism, + etSoc, form.] A solid having two
pai-allel polygonal bases con-
nected by triangular faces, if a
and C are the areas of the bases of a pris-
matoid, and B that of the section half-
way between them, then, h being the
altitude, August's formula tor the solid
contents is i A (A -f- 4B -H C).
prismatoidal (priz-ma-toi'dal),
a. In the form of or connected
with a prismatoid,
prismenchymat (piz-meng'ki- Msmatoid.
ma), n. [< Gr. npiBfia, a prism, + NIi. {par)en-
cUyma.'] In hot., cellular tissue in which the
cells are of a prismatic form.
prismoid (priz'moid), n. [< Gr. wpco/ia, prism,
+ elSog, form.] A body that approaches to the
form of a prism ; a prismatoid.
prismoidal (priz-moi'dal), a. [< prismoid +
-al.'] 1. Having or relating to the form of a
prismoid. — 2. In entom., noting long bodies
when they have more than four faces : as, pris-
moidal joints of the antennae. Kirhy pris-
moldal formula, a formula based on the consideration
of a solid as composed of prismoids.
prism-train (prizm'tran), 11. A series of prisms
used with the spectroscope to give increased
dispersion. See spectroscope.
Instruments [spectroscopes] in which the priem-train is
replaced by a diffraction-grating are still more powerful.
C. A. Yamna, The Sun, p. 191.
prismy (priz'mi), a. [<j)nsm -I- -(/!.] Pertain-
ing to or like a prism; prismatic in color.
The mighty ministers
Unfurled their j?rMmy wings,
Shelley, Demon of the World.
The priffmy hues in thin spray showers.
Whittier, Tent on the Beach.
prison (priz'n), n. [< ME. prison, prisoun,
prisun, pryson, prysoun, prysun, preson, late
AS. prisurij < OP. prison, prisoun, prisun, a
prison, a prisoner, 'P. prison, a prison, imprison-
ment, = Pr. x^^so = Sp. prision = Pg. jmsHo
= It. prigione, a prison (ML. reflex prisio(ii-),
captivity, prison), < L. prensio{n-), a taking,
seizing, arresting, contr. otprehensio(n-) (found
only in the sense of a machine for raising or
screwing up anything, a jaekscrew), </jre/te»-
dere, prendere, take, seize : see prehend, and of.
prehension (a doublet of prison) and prized,
etc.] 1. A place of confinement or involun-
tary restraint; especially, a public building
for the confinement or safe custody of criminals
and others committed by process of law ; a jail.
The jailor . , . thrust them into the inner prinm, and
made their feet fast in the stocks. Acts xvL 24.
Each heart would quit its prtson in the breast.
And flow in free communion with the rest.
Cowper, Charity, L 610.
3t. A prisoner.
Mi lord the king was ther caugt in kene stoure,
& Kour sone also, and are prisfms bothe.
Watiam ofPalenm (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4215.
■'Consummatum est," quod Cryst, and comsedfortoswowe
Pitonsliche and pale as aprUoun that deyeth.
Piers Plowman (B), xviil. 69.
Fleet Prison. See feet's.— Keeper of the Queen's pris-
on. See marshal .0/ the King's Bench, under marshal. —
4736
Limits of a prison, prison bounds, Jail liberties (which
see, under ^au).— Prison-breach or -breaking, in law, a
breaking and going out of prison by one lawfully confined
therein. (.Bishop.) Breaking into a prison to set a pris-
oner at laige is commonly called rescue.— Prison rustic
ashler. SeeosAiCT',3.— Rules of a prison. Seerafe.—
State prison, (o) A jail for politick offenders only. (6)
A public prison or penitentiary. [U. S.] — To break
prison. See to break jail, under breaJc.—TO go out Of
prison by baston. See boston, 3.
prison (priz'n), V. t. [< WE. prisonen ; (.pris-
on, ».] To shut up in a prison ; restrain from
liberty; imprison, literally or figuratively.
Sir. William Crispyn with the duke was led,
Togidder jirtsoned. Rcb. of Brunne, p. 101.
Her tears began to turn their tide.
Being prison'd in her eye like pearls in glass.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 980.
He groped ; I arrested his wandering hand, and prisoned
it in both mine. Charlotte Brmte, Jane Eyre, xxxvii.
prison-bars (priz'n-barz), n. pi. 1. The bars
or grates of a prison ; hence, whatever confines
or restrains.
Even through the body's jwigwt-fcarff.
His soul possessed the sun and stars.
D. Q. Mossetti, Dante at Verona.
2. Same as prisoner^ base (which see, under
prison-base (priz'n-bas), n. Same as prisoners'
base (which see, under prisoner),
prisoner (priz'ner), H. [< ME. prisoner, pris-
wner, prysoner, < AP.prisuner, OP. prisonier, P.
prisonmer (= Sp. pirisionero = Fg, prisioneiro),
a prisoner, < prison, prison: see prison."] If.
One who keeps a prison ; a jailer.
He bad [Joseph] ben sperd fast dun,
And holden herde in prisun.
An litel stund, quhile lie was ther,
So gau liim luuen the prisoner.
Genesis and Exodia (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2042.
2. One who is confined in a prison by legal ar-
rest or warrant.
She leteth passe prisoneres and payeth for hem otte.
And gyueth the gailers golde.
Piers Plowman (B), ili. 136.
The High Priest and the Elders with their eloquent
Tertullus were forced to return as they came, and leave
St. Paul under the name of a Prisoner, but enjoying the
conveniencies of liberty. StiUirigfleet, Sermons, 11. i.
3. A person vnder arrest or in custody of the
law, whether in prison or not : as, a prisoner at
the bar of a court.
The juiy, passing on the prisoner's life.
Shale, M. lor M., ii. 1. 19.
4. A captive ; one taken by an enemy in war.
He yielded on my word ;
' And, as raj prisoner, I restore his sword.
Dryden, Indian Emperor, ilL 4.
5. One who or that which is deprived of liberty
or kept in restraint.
Most souls, 'tis true, but peep out once an age,
Dull, sullen prisoners in the body's cage.
Pope, To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady.
If the person sent to relieve his confederate [in prison-
ers' base] be touclied by an antagonist before he reaches
him, he also becomes ^misoner, and stands in equal need
of deliverance. StnM, Sports and Pastimes, p. 146.
Prisoners' bars. Same as prisojiers^ base. — Prisoners'
base, a children's game in which one player strives to
touch the others as they nin from one goal or base to an-
other : when one player is thus touched, he too stands
between the bases and tries to touch the rest, and so on
till all are caught. There are many other ways of playing
the game. Also called prisoner^ bars, prison-base, and
jirfeoM-Sara.— Prlsoner's-bolt, in her., same as shaelde-
6oJ(.— State prisoner, one confined for a political of-
fense. =Syn. Prisoner, Captive. &eecaptim.
prison-fever (priz'n-fe'v^r), n. Typhus fever
(which see, under /CTej-i). Also n&WeA jail-fever.
prison-house (priz'n-hous), n. Ahouse in which
prisoners are kept ; a jail ; a place of confine-
ment.
I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-hoitse.
Shak., Hamlet, I 6. 14.
That I may fetch thee
, From forth this loathsome j>ngon-Aoz««0.
MiUon, a. A., 1. 922.
prisonment(priz'n-ment),n. l<.prison + -ment.2
Confinement in a prison ; imprisonment.
Item, the presonmeni of John Porter of Blykelyng.
Paston Letters, 1. 189.
'Tis prisonment enough to be a maid ;
But to be inew'd up too, that case is hard,
Niddleton, More Dissemblers besides Women, it 3.
prison-ship (priz'n-ship), m. A ship fitted up
for receiving and detaining prisoners.
They saw themselves melting away like slaves in a
prison-ship. Preseott, Ferd. and Isa., ii 14,
prison-van (priz'n-van), n. A close carriage
for conveying prisoners.
pristav (pris tav), 71. [< Russ. piristavu.'] In
Kussia, an overseer, police official, commis-
sioner, commissary, or inspector.
Fritchardia
He was styled the grand pristaw, or great commissionei ,
and was universally known amongst the Tartar tribes by
this title. De Quincey, Flight of a Tartar Tribe.
I have in my possession the original report of a Bussian
police pristav, written upon aprlnted foim.
Oeorge Eennan, The Century, XXXVII. 893.
Pristidffi (pris'ti-de), n. pi. [NL., < Pristis +
-idee.] Afamily of selachians or plagiostomous
fishes, typified by the genus Pmfe, riaving the
snout enormously prolonged into & flattened
beak, armed with a row of saw-like teeth on
each side ; the saw-fishes, (a) In Gray's system the
Pristidse included the Pristwphorida. (b) In Giinther's
system, a family of Batoidei, including only the saw-fishes
proper. They chiefly inhabit tiopical seas. See cuts un-
der Pristis and saw-Jish. '
pristinatef (pris'ti-nat), a. [_< pristine + -afel.]
Original; pristine.
But as it [health] hath recovered the pristinate strength,
which thing only in all the fight it coveted, shall it incon-
tinent be astonished? Sir T. Mare, Utopia (trans.), ii. 7.
I thynke, yea and doubt not, but your line shalbe again
restored to the prisHnaie estate and degree.
HaU, Bich. III., f. 13. (HaUiwett.)
Beside the only name of Christ, and externall contempt
of theirjiristitutte idolatrye, he taught them nothing at all.
Eolinehed, Chron., I., B. 3, col. 2, b. (Nares.)
pristine (pris'tin), a. [PovmeTlyprisUn; < OP.
pristin = Bp.pristino = Pg. li.pristino,<. J-i.pris-
Unus, early, original, primitive, also just past
(of yesterday); akin to priscus, former, ancient,
antique, and topinor, former: see prior, prime.']
Of or belonging to a primitive or early state or
period ; original ; primitive : as, pristine inno-
cence; tihe pristine manners of a people.
Find her disease.
And purge it to a sound and pristine health.
Shak., Macbeth, v. 3. 52.
Adam's self, if now he liv'd anew.
Could scant vnwinde the knotty snarled clew
Of double doubts and questions intricate
That Schools dispute about this pristin state.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas s Weeks, ii., Eden.
After all their labour, [they] at last return to their pm-
tine ignorance. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, zzxvii.
=Syn. Primitive, etc. See primary.
Pristiophoridse (pris"ti-o-for'i-de), n.pl. [NL.,
< Pristiophorus + -idsB.] ' A family of plagiosto-
mous fishes, typified by the genus Pristiophorus.
They are anarthrous sharks, having the snout much pro-
duced and armed with lateral saw-like teeth. They thus
resemble the true saw-fishes, but have lateral branchial
apertures like other sharks, and do not attain such size.
The species are confined to tropical Pacific waters.
Pristiophorus (pris-ti-of '6-rus), n. [NL., < Gr.
irpiar^g, a saw, -I- ^epeiv = E. bear^.1 The typical
Pristiophorus cirratus.
genus of Pristiophoridse, including such forms
as P. cirratus. Miiller and Henle, 1837.
Fristis (pris' tis), n. [NL., < Gr. ■Kplartg, a large
fish of the whale kind, formerly supposed to be
a saw-fish, < wpteiv, saw.] The only genus of
Pristidse, having the form elongate, with the
Sword of Pristis pec/tnaius.
snout prolonged into a toothed sword, iiie Euro-
pean sawfish is known as P. aiitigiwrum. The common
American species is P. pectinatus, whose weapon (figured
above) is about three feet long. See also cut under saw-
ftah.
pritch (prich), n. [An assibilated form of
prick, ».] 1. Any sharp-pointed instrument.
Halliwell.—2\. Pique ; offense taken.
The least word uttered awry, the least conceit taken, or
prtteh, ... is enough to make suits, and they will be re-
venged. D. Rogers, Naaman the Syrian, p. 270.
pritch (prich), V. t. [An assibilated form of
prich, v.] To pierce or make holes in. Balli-
well. [Prov. Bug.]
Pritchardia (pri-ehar'di-a), n. [NL. (Seeman
and Wendland, 1862), named after W. T. PritcJi-
ard, British consul in Piji.] A genus of palms
of the tribe Coryphex, remarkable among palms
for its persistent corolla-tube, t'om which the
lobes fall away, it Is characterized by the valvate
Pritchardia
coroUa-lobea and three-angled or three-lobed ovary atten-
of the Fnendly and the Hawaiian Islands. They ire mod-
erate-sized or low palms, the trunk clad above with the
sheathing bases ol the leaves, and ringed below with their
annular scars. They bear large terminal rounded OTtZ
shaped leaves, often whitened below with a mealy dust,
cut into shallow and slender two-lobed segments, bearinS
?r?^!fr^ "^ »l "V'.^t margins. Their flowers ari
rather large, with a bell-shaped three-toothed calyx, and
a tubular corolla bearing three thick, rigid, ovate lobes.
The flowers are scattered on the stiff ascending branch-
lets of along-stalked spadix, inclosed in a large, thick and
coriaceous spathe, which is tybular below and dusted
over with silvery particles. In the Hawaiian Islands the
leaves of P. Gaudvchatuiii afford fans and hats, and its
fruit-kernels, called hawane, are eaten unripe. The leaves
of P. Pacifica m the Tijis are four feet long by three wide,
and make fans and umbrellas, their use being conflned to
the chiefs. Some authors have proposed to unite with
this genus the American palm Waskmgtonia.
pritchel (prieh'el), n. [An assibilated form of
pricUe. Ci.pritch.'] 1. In /ame?-?^, a punch
employed for making or enlarging the nail-
holes in a horseshoe, or for temporary insertion
into a nail-hole to form a means of handling
the shoe. E. B. Knight— 2. An iron share
fixed to a thick staff, used for making holes in
the ground. EalliweU. [Prov. Eng.]
prithee (priTH'e). [Formerly also prythee,
pree-thee; a weakened form of (i) pt-ay thee.']
A corruption otpray thee; I pray thee.
My soules deer Soule, take in good part (I pree-thee)
This pretty Present that I gladly glue thee.
Sylvester, ti-. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Handy-Crafts.
I prithee let me go ;
I shall do best without thee ; I am well.
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, iv. 3.
Prithee, be forgiven, and I prithee forgive me too.
Fletcher, Pilgrim, v. 6.
My Love, my Life, said I, explain
This Change of Humour ; pry'thee tell ;
That fallmg Tear— what does it mean?
Prior, The Garland, st. 6.
prittlet (prit'l), V. t. [A weakened form of
prattle, as va prittle-prattle.] To chatter.
Awe man, you priMe and prattle nothing but leasings
and untruths.
Heywood, Boyal King (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 9).
prittle-prattle (prit'l-prafl), n. [A varied
reduplication ot prattle.] Empty or idle talk;
trifling loquacity. [Colloq.]
CianfrogTia Tit.], gibrish, pedlars french, roguish lan-
guage, fustian toong, pritUe prattle. Plorio.
It is plain prittle-prattle, and ought to be valued no more
than the shadow of an ass.
Atp. JBramhaM, Church of Eng. Defended (1659), p. 46.
[{LatJia/m.)
prius (pri'us), n. [< L. prius, neut. of prior,
being before, prior: see jmor.] That which
necessarily goes before ; a precondition.
priv. An abbreviation of privative.
Priva (pri'va), u. [NL. (Adanson, 1763) ; ori-
gin unknown.] A genus of ei-ect hei-bs of the
order Verbenacese and tribe Verbenese. it is char-
acterized by a fruit of two nutlets, each two-celled and two-
seeded, a long spike with small bracts and intemipted at
the base, and an enlarged fruiting-calyx tightly includ-
ing the fruit within its closed apex. The 9 species are na-
tives of warm regions of both hemispheres. They bear
opposite toothed leaves, slender spikes terminal or long-
staked in the axils, and small and somewhat two-lipped
flowers which have five lobes and four short didynamous
stamens. P. echinata of Brazil, the West Indies, south-
ern Florida, etc. , is called styptic- or velvet-bur, its fruiting-
calyx being bristly with small hooked hairs. P. Ieevi4 of
Chili and the Argentine Hepublic yields small edible
tubers.
privacy (pri'va-si or priv'a-si), n. ; -pi. privacies
(-siz). [< j>rwa(<e) + -cy.J 1. A state of being
private, or in i-etirement from the company or
from the knowledge or observation of others ;
seclusion.
In the closet, where privacy and silence befriend our
inquiries. Bp. Atterlmry, Sermons, I. x.
The housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous jjriuacj/ of storm.
Emerson, The Snow-Storri.
3. A place of seclusion from company or ob-
servation; retreat; solitude; retirement.
Her sabred privacies all open lie. Eawg.
St. Joint knowledge ; privity. Bee privity.
You see Frog is religiously true to his bargain, scorns
to hearken to any composition without your privacy.
Arbuthnot, Hist. John Bull.
4t. Taciturnity. Ainsioorth.— 5. Secrecy; con-
cealment of what is said or done.
Of this my privaey
I have strong reasons.
Shak., T. and C, iii. 3. 190.
There was no affectation of privaey in what they [Christ
and his apostles] said or did ; their doctrines were preach-
ed and their miracles wrought, in broad day-light, and in
the face of the world ! Bp. Atterlmry, Sermons, II. i.
6. A private or personal matter, circumstance,
or relation.
4737
What concemes it us to hear a Husband divulge his
Household .j^'^'uac^, extolling to others the vertues of his
Wife? Milton, Eikonoklastes, vii.
In all my Acquaintance and utmost Privacies with her.
Steele, Conscious Lovers, i. 2.
privadot (pri-va'do), «. {8p., = E. private: see
private.] 1. A private or intimate friend; a
court favorite.
The modern languages give unto such persons the name
of favourites, or privadoes. Bacon, Friendship (ed. 1887X
The Duke of Lerma was the greatest Privado, the great-
est Favourite, that ever was in Spain since Don Alvaro
de Luna. Howell, Letters, I. iii. 11.
Lat. May I desire one favour?
y. Book. What can I deny thee, my piivado?
Steele, Lying Lover, iL 1.
2. A private soldier or inferior (non-commis-
sioned) officer.
Lantz privadoes, who are Corporals' Lieutenants.
Bat^s in British Army (Arber's Eng. Gamer, I. 463).
privant (pri'vant), a. [< L. 2)rivan(t-)s, ppr. of ■
^j-wa)-e, deprive : see private.] Noting priva-
tive opposites. See privative.
privat-docent (pre-vat'do-tsenf), n. [G., < L.
privatus, private, -I- doeen(t-)s, ppr. of docere,
teach: see inHvate a-nd. docent.] In the imiver-
sities of Germany and some other countries of
Europe, a teacher of the third rank: unlike
professors, he has no part in the government of
the university, and receives no compensation
from the university, but is remunerated by fees.
private (pri'vat), a. and n. [= F. j^rive = Sp.
Pg. privado ='lt. privato = D. privaat= G. Sw.
Dan. privat, private, < L. privatus, apart from
what is public, pertaining to an individual, pri-
vate, pp. otprivare, separate, deprive, release,
<.priviis, single, every, one's own, private, yrob.
for orig. *praivtts, < prai, older form of prie, be-
fore : see pre-. Cf . privy. Hence also ult. de-
prive.] I. a. X. Peculiar to, belonging to, or
concerning an individual only ; respecting par-
ticular individuals ; personal.
Why should tYiQ private pleasure of some one
Become the public plague of many moe?
Shak., Lnorece, 1. 1478.
When was public virtue to be found.
Where ^ua(e was not? Qowper, Task, v. 503.
That he [Buckingham] should think more about those
who were bound to him by private ties than about the
public interest . . . was perfectly natural.
Macaulay, Lord Bacon.
This [the peace policy] is not to be carried by public
opinion, but by private opinion, hy private conviction, by
private, dear, and earnest love. Emerson, War.
Theexpression . . . sounded moreharshly as pronounced,
in a public lecture than as read in ji private letter.
0. W. Holmes, Emerson, v.
2. Kept or removed from public view; not
known; not open; not accessible to people in
general; secret.
O unfelt sore ! crest- wounding, private scarl
Shak., Lucrece, I. 828.
The poor slave that lies private has his liberty
As amply as his master in that tomb.
Fletcher, Wife for a Month, ii. 2.
Keason . . . then retires
Into her private cell, when nature rests.
Milton, P. L., V. 109.
The Eais gave the captain of the port a private hint to
take care what they did, for they might lose their lives.
Bruce, Source of the Kile, I. 249,
3. Not holding public office or employment;
not having a public or official character: as, a
private citizen; private life; private schools.
"Prayers made for the use of the 'idiotse' or private
persons," as the word is, contradistinguished from the rul-
ers of the church. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 282.
Christ and his Apostles, being to civil affairs bnt privat
men, contended not with Magistrates.
Milton, Eikonoklastes, xiii.
Any private person . . . that is present when a felony
is committed is bound by the law to arrest the felon.
Elaekstone, Com., IV. xxl
4. Noting a common soldier, or one of the or-
dinary rank and file.
I cannot put him to a private soldier that is the leader
of so many thousands. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iii. 2. 17V.
5. Being in privaey; retired from company;
secluded.
Away from light steals home my heavy son,
And private in his chamber pens himself.
Shak., R. and J., i. 1. 144.
Csesar is private now ; you may not enter.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. i.
I came home to be private a little, not at all affecting
the life and hurry of Court. Evelyn, Diary, Jan. 18, 1662.
Sir, we are^^riyate with our women here.
Tennyson, Queen Mary, v. 6.
6t. Privy; informed of what is not generally
known.
private
She knew them [her sister's council of state] adverse to
her religion , . . and private to her troubles and imprison-
ment. Sir B. Naunton, Fragmenta Itegalia.
7. Keeping privacy or confidence ; secretive :
reticent.
Tou know I am private as your secret wishes.
Heady to fling my soul upon your service.
Fletcher, Wife tor a Month, I 1.
Let these persons march here [with] a charge to be pri-
vate and silent in the business till they see it effected.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 470.
8t. Intimate; confidential.
If Dauid, beeing a king, a Prophet, a Sainct, and with
God so^uotejlinderstoode not what to present unto God,
. . . what shall we doe ?
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1677), p. 2.
What makes the Jew and Lodowick so private?
Marlowe, Jew of Malta, ii. 2.
9. Particular; individual; special: opposed to
general.
No prophecy of the scripture Is of any ^oote interpre-
tation. 2 Pet. L 20.
Who cries out on pride.
That can therein tax any private party? . . .
Who can come in and say that I mean her.
When such a one as she such is her neighbour?
Slidk., As you Like it, ii, 7. 71.
Private acts, bills, or statutes, those acts, etc., which
concern private interests — that is, the interests of particu-
lar persons — as distinguished from measures of public
policy in which the community is interested. See 6i7Z3. —
Private attorney. See attomeyi, 2.— Private bank.
See6a»t2, 4.— Private baptism. See tepttsm.— Private
carrier. See carrier^, 2.— Private chapel, a chapel at-
tached to a private residence.— Private corporations,
corporations created for private as distinguished from
purelypublic purposes. Such corporations are not, in con-
templation of law, public merely because it may have been
supposed by the legislature that their establishmen t would
promote, either directly or consequentially, the public in-
terest. (^DUlon.) Thus, a railroad company is a pn'watecor-
poration, although it takes property for public use. See
cmrporation. — private detective. See detective. — Pri-
vate international law. See international.— Private
lud^nent, in thed., the judgment of an individunl as to
doctrine or interpretation of Scripture, in contradistinc-
tion to the judgment of the church. — Private law, that
branch of the law which deals with the rights and duties
of persons considered in their private or individual ca-
pacity, as distinguished from the rights and duties which
are possessed by and incumbent on persons or bodies of
persons considered as filling public positions or oflices, or
which have relation to the whole political community, or
to its magistrates and officers. Eenelm Edward Digby,
Hist, of Law of Heal Prop., p. 256.— Private legislation,
legislation affecting the interests of particular persons, as
distinguished from measures of public policy in which
the community is interested. — Private mass. See
jnassi.— Private nuisance. See nuisance, 5.— Private
parts, the organs of sex. — Private person, one not hav-
ing or not for the time being acting in a public official
capacity.— Private property, private rights, the prop-
ei*ty and rights of persons, natural or artificial, in their
individual, personal, or private capacity, as distinguished
from the rights of the state or public vested in a body
politic or a public ofiKcer or board as such and for public
use. Thus, if a city owns a building which it leases for
obtaining a revenue, the property and its rights in respect
thereto are deemed the private property of the city, as dis-
tinguished from parks, etc., and buildings in municipal use.
— Private rights of way, or private ways, rights which
belong to a particular inaividual only, or to a body of in-
dividuals exclusively, either for the purpose of passing
generally or for the purpose of passing from a particular
tenement of which they are possessed. Goddard.— Pri-
vate trusts, those trusts in the maintenance of which the
public have no interest.
Private Trusts are those wherein the beneficial interest
is vested absolutely in one or more individuals, who are,
or within a certain time may be, definitely ascertained,
and to whom, therefore, collectively, unless under some
legal disability, it is competent to control, modify, or de-
termine the trust. Bi^ham, Principles of Equity, § 68.
Private war, a war carried on by individuals, without the
authority or sanction of the state of which they are sub-
jects. IfaBec*.- Private wrong, a civil injury; an in-
fringement or privation of some civil right which belongs
to a person considered in his private capacity. =Syn. 2,
Latent, Covert, etc. (see secret), retired,. secluded, isolated,
sequestered.
II. n. If. A person not in public life or office.
And what have kings t\\zt privates haye not too.
Save ceremony? Shak., Hen. V., iv. 1. 265.
2, A common soldier; one of the rank and file
of an army. — 3t, A secret message ; private in-
timation.
Pern. Who brought that letter from the cardinal?
Sal. The Count Melun, a noble lord of France;
Whose private with me of the Dauphin's love
Is much more general than these lines import.
Shak., K. John, iv. 3. 16.
4t. Personal interest or use ; particular busi-
ness.
My lords, this strikes at every Soman's private.
B. Jomon, Sejanus, iiL 1,
Our President . . . ingrossing to his private Oatmeale,
Sacke, Oyle, Aquavitse, Beefe, Egges, or what not.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 154.
5f. Privacy; retirement.
Gooff!
let me enjoy my private.
Shak., T. N., 1H. 4. lOO
private
In OUT private towards God being as holy and devout
as if we prayed in public.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1886), I. 888.
6. pi. The private ]parts of the body.— 7. In
some colleges, a pnvate admonition in pri-
vate, privately ; In secret ; not publicly.
They do desire some speech with you in private.
B. Jonstm, Catiline, iv. 5.
The private, private llEe of individuals, or what relates
to pnvate life : opposed to and suggested by the phrase
thepuMic. [Rare.]
I long to see yoa a history painter. You have already
done enough for the private; do something for the public.
Pope, To Jervas, Nov. 29, 1716.
privatet (pri'vat), v. t. [< L. privatus, pp. otpri-
vare, strip, deprive : see^mafe, a. Ct.prive.']
To deprive.
They woulde not onelye lese their worldely substannce,
but also be piT/vated of their lives and worldly felycytle,
rather then to suflre Kynge Rycharde, that tyraunt, leuger
to rule and reygne over them.
HaU, Rich, in., f. 17. (HaUiwell.)
privateer (pri-va-ter'), M. l< private + -eer.'] 1.
An armed vessel owned and ofl&eered by private
persons, but acting under a commission from
the state usually called letters of marque. It
answers to a compimy on land raised and commanded by
private persons, but acting under regulations emanating
from the supreme authority, rather than to one raised and
acting without license, which would resemble a privateer
without commission. (irooZsej/,Introd. to Inter. Law, § 121.)
He is at no charge fora fleet farther than providing i>ri-
vaieers, wherewith his subjects carry on a piratical war at
their own expense. Sivift, Conduct of the Allies.
2. The commander of, or a man serving on board
of, a privateer.
Meeting with divers Disappointments, and being out of
hopes to obtain a Trade in these Seas, his Men forced him
to entertain a Company of Privateers which he met with
near Nicoya. Dampier, Voyages, 1. 137.
privateer (pri-va-ter'), v. i. [< privateer, «.]
To cruise in a privateer for the purpose of
seizing an enemy's ships or annoying his com-
merce. Privateering was abolished by the treaty of Paris
of 1866, and this article has been assented to by nearly all
civilized nations; the most prominent exception is the
United States.
In 1797 the United States passed a law to prevent citi-
zens of the United States from privateering against nations
in amity with or against citizens of the United States.
fier, Amer. Diplomacy, p. S88.
privateering (pn-va-ter'ing), n. [Verbal n.
of privateer, ».] Tlie act or practice of cruis-
ing in a privateer for hostile purposes.
Many have felt it to be desirable that privateering should
be placed under the ban of international law, and the feel-
ing is on the increase, in our age of humanity, that the
system ought to come to an end.
Wooltey, Introd. to Inter. Law, § 122,
privateerism (pri-va-ter'izm), ». [<. privateer
+ -ism.] Naut., disorderly conduct, or any-
thing out of man-of-war rules. Also called
privateer practice. Admiral Smyth. [Rare.]
privateersman (pri-va,-terz'man),m. ; Tpl.priva-
teersmen (-men). [< privateer's, poss. of priva-
teer, + man.'] An officer or seaman of a priva-
teer.
Marquis Santa Cruz, lord high admiral of Spain, . . .
looked on, mortified and amazed, but offering no combat^
while the Plymouth jjriiaiteermmm [Drake] swept the har-
bour of the great monarch of the world.
MoUey, Hist. Netherlands, II. 283.
privately (pii'vat-li), adm. 1. In a private or
secret manner; not openly or publicly.
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives the disciples
came nnUiiam privately. Mat. zxiv. 3.
2. In a manner affecting an individual; per-
sonally: as, he is not privately benefited,
privateness (pn'vat-nes), ». 1. Secrecy; pri-
vacy.
Knew theye how guiltless and how free I were from
prying into privateness.
Margtan, End of Scourge of Villanle, To him that hath
[perused me.
2. Ketirement; seclusion from company or
society.
A man's nature is best perceived in privateneeg, for there
is no aflfeotation. Bacon, Nature in Men (ed. 1887).
3. The state of an individual in the rank of a
common citizen, or not invested with office.
Men cannot retire when they would, neither will they
when it were reason, but are impatient of privateneai, even
in age and sickness, which require the shadow.
Bacon, Great Place (ed. 1887).
privation (pri-va'shon), n. [< ME. privaoion, <
OF. (and F.) privation = &p.privacion ='Pg.^i-
vagao = It. privazione, < L. privatio(n-), a taking
away, < privare, pp. privatum, deprive : see ^H-
vate.] 1. The state of being deprived; particu-
larly, deprivation or absence of what is neces-
sary for comfort ; destitution ; want.
4738
Pains of privation are the pains that may result from the
thought of not possessing in the time present any of the
several kinds of pleasures.
Bentham, Introd. to Morals and Legislation, v. 17.
Maggie's sense of loneliness and utter privaMon of Joy
had deepened with the brightness of advancing spring.
Oeorge Eliot, Mill on the Floss, iv. 3.
2. The act of removing something possessed;
the removal or destruction of any thing or any
property; deprivation.
Kyng Richard had bene in greato ieopardie either of pri-
uaeion of his realme, or losse of his life, or both.
Ha22, Rich. III., an. 3.
3. In logic, a particular kind of negation con-
sisting in the absence from a subject of a
habit which ought to be, might be, or generally
is in that subject or others like it.
Privation sometimes signifies the absence of the form
which may be introduced upon the subject ; so the priva-
tion of the soul may be said to be in the seed, of heat in
cold water ; soraetunes the absence of the form which
ought to be in the subject. That is a physical privation,
and is numbered among the principles of generation ; this
is a logical. Burgersdicius, tr. by a Gentleman, i. 22.
Whether this comparative specifying foundation be a
privation or a mode is a philosophical controversy.
Baxter, Divine Life, i. 10.
4. The act of degrading from rank or office.
If part of the people or estate be somewhat in the elec-
tion, yon cannot make them nulls or cyphers in the pri-
vation or translation. Bacon.
5. Technically, in the Bom. Cath. Ch., the sus-
pension of an ecclesiastic from his office, sti-
pend, ecclesiastical functions, or jurisdiction.
—Logical privation. See logical.=S7n. 1. Need, pen-
ury, poverty, necessity, distress.
privative (priv'a-tiv), a. and n. [= F.priva-
tif= Sp. Pg. lt.'privativo,< JJh. privatwus, de-
noting privation, negative, < li.privare, pp. jjn-
vatus, deprive: seejyrivate, v.] I. a. 1. Caus-
ing privation or destitution.
We may add that negative or privative will, also, where-
by he withholdeth his graces from some.
Booker, Eccles. Polity, v., App. 1.
2. Depending on or consisting in privation in
the logical sense.
The very privative blessings, the blessings of immunity,
safeguard, liberty, and integrity, which we all enjoy, de-
serve the thanksgiving of a whole life.
Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, ii. 6.
Descartes is driven by the necessary logic of his thought
to conceive all limits and differences as purely privative
— t e. as mere absence or defect of existence.
M. Caird, Philos. of Kant, p. 42.
3. Ingram.: (o) Changing the sense of a word
from positive to negative: as, a jjma^jce prefix;
a- or av- privative. (6) Predicating negation : as,
Siprivaivve word.— priva,tive connotatlve term, an
adjective noting some privation, as "blind." — Privative
jurisdiction. In Scots law, a court is said to have priva-
tive jurisdiction in a particular class of causes when it is
the only court entitled to adjudicate in such causes. Imp.
jDict— Privative nothing. See noWiin^.— Privative
opposltes, a habit and its privation.— Privative propo-
sition, a proposition declaring a privation.
II. n. 1. That which depends on, or of which
the essence is, the absence of something else,
as silence, which exists by the absence of sound.
Blackness and darkness are indeed but privatives, and
therefore have little or no activity.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 873.
2. In gram.: (a) A prefix to a word which
changes its signification and gives it a contrary
sense, as un- in unwise, in- in inhuman, an- in
anarchy, a- in achromatic. (V) A word which
not only predicates negation of a quality in an
object, but also involves the notion that the
absent quality is naturally inherent in it, and
is absent through loss or some other privative
cause.
privatively (priv'a-tiv-li), o(fe. 1. In a priva-
tive manner ; in t£e manner or with the force
of a privative. — 2f . By the absence of some-
thing; negatively. [Rare.]
The duty of the new covenant is set down first priva-
tively. Hwnmumd.
privativeness (priv'a-tiv-nes), n. The condi-
tion of being privative. [Rare.]
privet, V. t. [< ME. priven, < OP. priver = Sp.
Pg. privar = It. privare, < L. prima/re, separate,
deprive : see primate, v. Cf . depri/oe.l To de-
prive.
Temple devout, ther God hath his woninge,
Fro which these misbileved prived [var. deprteed] been.
ChoMeer, A. B. C, 1. 146.
For what can be said worse of slope, if it, priving you of
all pleasures, do not suffer you to feele any thing at all?
Barker, Fearful Fancies, P 1 b. (Naret.)
priveet, privet, «• Middle English forms of
privy.
privet (priv''et), ». [Formerly also jjrfeie; ap-
par. a corruption of jjnwse*. Gt. prie^.] 1. A
privilege
shrub, lAgustrum vulgare, of the northern Old
World, planted and somewhat naturalized in
North America; the common or garden privet.
The name extends also to the other members of
the genus. — 2. In the southern United States,
a small oleaceous tree of wet grounds. For-
estiera acuminata. — Barren privet, the alaternns.
See JJftamraus.- California privet, the Japanese privet,
sometimes misnamed Ligustrum Califonucmn, — Egyp-
tian privet. See Lawsonia. — Japanese privet, Li-
gvxlrum Japonieum (including L. ovalif(Mum).—m,0&S
privet, the jasmine box. See Phillyrea.
priveteet, »• -A. Middle English spelling of
piivity.
privet-hawkmotll (priv'et-hS,k"m6th), n. A
sphinx, Sphinx ligustri, so called from its ovi-
positing on privet, on which its larva feeds.
privlet, n. An obsolete form of ^n«e*.
The borders round about are set with prime sweet
Breton, Daffodils and Primroses, p. 3. (Datnes.)
privilege (priv'i-lej), ». [Formerly also privi-
ledge; < ME. privilege, prevelaclte, < OP. privi-
lege, P. privilege '= Sp. Pg. It. privilegio, _< L.
privilegium, an ordinance in favor of an indi-
vidual, prerogative, < privus, one's own, pri-
vate, peculiar, + lex, law: see private and le-
gal.'] 1. An ordinance in favor of an individual.
Be ye our help and our proteocioun,
Syn for meiyt of your virginitee
The privilege of his deleccioun
In yow conformed God upon a tree
Hanging. Cha/ucer, Mother of God, 1. 122.
Privilege, in Roman jurisprudence, means the exemp-
tion of one individual from the operation of a law.
Mackintosh, Study of the Law of Nature, p. 60, note.
2. A right, immunity, benefit, or advantage
enjoyed by a person or body of persons beyond
the common advantages of other individuals ;
the enjoyment of some desirable right, or an
exemption from some evil or burden ; a private
or personal favor enjoyed ; a peculiar advan-
tage.
As under privilege of age to brag
What I have done being young.
Shaic., Much Ado, v. 1. 60.
It hath been an accustom'd liberiy
To spend this day in mu'th, and they will choose
Bather their Soules then privUedges loose.
Time^ Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 20.
Pastures, wood-lots, mill-sites, with the privUegea,
Rights, and appurtenances which make up
A Yankee Paradise. WhUUer, Bridal of Pennacook.
Specifically — (a) In the Rom,. Cath. Ch., an exemption ot
license granted by the Pope. It differs from a ai^ensa-
tion and from a grace in that it never refers to a single act,
but presupposes and legalizes many acts done in pursu-
ance of it, and confers on its possessor immunity in regard
to every act so privileged. (6) Special immunity or advan-
tage granted to persons in authority or in office, as the free-
dom of speech, freedom from arrest, etc., enjoyed by mem-
bers of Parliamentor of Congress. Compare breach of priv-
ilege, below.
The Parliament-men are as great Princes as any in the
World, when whatsoever they please is Priviledge of Par-
liament. Selden, Table-Talk, p. SI.
3t. An advantage yielded; superiority.
Compassion of the king commands me stoop,
Or I would see his heart out, ere the priest
Should ever get tlmt privilege of me.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 121.
4. In law : (a) A special and exclusive right
conferred by law on particular personsor classes
of persons, and ordinarily in derogation of the
common right. Such grants were often sought to be
justified on grounds of public utility, but were, to a greater
or less extent, really intended to benefit the privileged
person or persons.
If the printer haue any great dealings with thee, he were
best get a priuHedge betimes, ad imprimendum solum, for-
bidding all other to sell waste paper but himselfe.
Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 46.
Our King, in lieu of Money, among other Acts of Grace,
gave them a Privilege to pay but 1 per Cent.
Howell, Letters, I. vi. 3.
(6) The law, rule, or grant conferring such a
right, (c) In the civil law, a lien or priority of
right of payment, such as the artisans' privilege,
corresponding to the common-law lien of a
bailee or the lien un^er mechanics' lien-laws,
Carriers' privilege, inn-keepers' privilege, etc.
In this sense the word is more appropriately applicable
to a preference secured by law, and not to one granted
by special agreement, (d) In some of the United
States, the right of a licensee in a vocation
which is forbidden except to licensees, (e) In
modem times (since all have become generally
equal before the law), one of the more sacred
and vital rights common to all citizens : as, the
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus ; the priv-
ileges of a citizen of the United States.— 5.
A speculative contract covering a "put" or
a "call," or both a put and a call (that is, a
"straddle"). See cain, n., 15, pufi, «., 6, and
straddle, n — Breach of privilege, violation of the
privilege
S?dSrL?thfqLSn"* ^y "^-"-^ »' legislative
Breaches of privOege may be summarized as disobe-
^t^rt^-t^^V^T " ™1*' "' tl'e !•»»««• Indignities of-
f ered to its character or proceedings, assaults, insults, or
hbels upon members, or interference with officers ofthe
House in discharge of their duty, or tampering with wit-
nesses. Sir T. Erskme May, Encyc. Brit., XVIH. 811.
Consgrvator of tbe apostolic privileges. See cmusena-
tor.— Exclusive privilege. See KtcJusiue.— Mixed priv-
ilege, a privilege granted to classesol persons.— Personal
privilege, a privilege primarily and directly granted to
some person, regarded as an individual.— Question of
privilege, iaparliaTmntary law, a question arising upon
the privileges or rights of an assembly or of a member of
an assembly. It takes precedence of all questions except a
motion to adjourn.— Eeal privilege, a privilege granted
to some thing (building, place, or benefice), although in-
directly extended to the persons by whom the thing is
owned or enjoyed.- Writ of privilege, a writ to deliver
a pnvileged person from custody when arrested in a civil
Bnit.=Syn. 2. Privilege, Prerogative, Exemption, Im-
munity, Franchise. Privilege is a right to do or a right
to be excused or spared from doing or bearing, this right
being possessed by one or more, but not by all. Privi-
lege is also more loosely used for any special advantage:
as, the privilege of intimacy wifli people of noble charac-
ter. Prerogative is a right of precedence, an exclusive
privilege, an official right, a right indefeasible on account
of one's character or position : as, the Stuart Icings were
continually asserting the royal prerogative, but Parliament
resisted any infringement upon its privileges. (See defi-
nition of prerogaiive.) An exemption is an exception or
excuse from what would otherwise be required: as, ex-
emption from military service, or from submitting to exam-
ination ;_ figuratively, exemption from care, from disease.
Tmmuni^ is the same as ex&m/^vm, except that exemp-
tion more often expresses the act of authority, and immu-
nity expresses more of the idea of safety : as, immunity
from harm. A franchise is a sort of freedom ; the word
has very exact senses, covering certain privileges, exemp-
tions, or immAinities,
privilege (priv'l-lej), v. t.; pret. and -pp. privi-
leged, ppr. privileging. [Formerly also privi-
ledge; < OF. privelegir, F. priviUgier = Sp. Pg.
privilegiar = It. privilegiare^ _< TiSli. privilegiare,
privilege, approve, < L. primlegium, privilege :
see privilege, n.'\ 1. To grant some privilege
to ; bestow some pai'ticular right or exemption
on; invest with a peculiar right or immunity;
exempt from censure or danger: as, to privilege
diplomatic representatives from arrest; the
privileged classes.
Your Dignity does not PrivHedge you to do me an In-
jury. Selden, Table-Talk, p. U.
Ther. Peace, fool ! I have not done.
AchH. He is Si privileged msin. Proceed, Thersites.
Shak., T. and C, ii. 3. 61.
This freedom from the oppressive superiority of upriv-
Ueged order was peculiar to England.
HdUam, Middle Ages, viii. 3.
Gentilhomme in France was the name of a well-defined
aai privileged class. JS. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 307.
2. To exempt in any way; free : with/rom.
He took this place for sanctuary,
And it i\i?Si privilege \xim from yonr hands.
Shak., C. of E., v. 1. 95.
It was not a Jewish ephod, it is not a Romish cowl, that
caaiprivUege an evil-doer /rom punishment.
Rev. T. Adams, Works, II. 289.
3. To authorize ; license.
Wilt thou be glass wherein it shall discern
Authority for sin, warrant for blame,
To privilege dishonoui- in thy name?
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 621.
A poet's or a painter's licence is a poor security to priv-
Uege debt or defamation. G. Barvey, Four Letters.
Privileged altar, communication, debt. See the
nouns. — Privileged deeds, in Scots law, holograph deeds,
which are exempted from the statute that requires other
deeds to be signed before witnesses.— Privileged sum-
monses, in Scots law, a class of summonses in which, from
the nature of the cause of action, the ordinaiy inducise
are shortened.— Privileged villeiaage. See villeinage.
privily (priv'i-li), adv. [< ME. privily, prevely,
prevaly, etc. ; < privy + -ly^.'] In a privy man-
ner; privately; secretly.
Sir, a kynge ought not to go so prevely, but to haue his
meyne a-boute hym. Merlin (B. E. T. S.), i. 51.
There shall be false teachers among you, who privily
shall bring in damnable heresies. 2 Pet. ii. 1.
privity (priv'i-ti), n. ; pi. privities (-tiz). [<
MB. prvoitee, 'privetee, privete, pryvete, etc., <
OP. privete, < ML. *privita{t-)s, privacy, < L.
privus, one's own, private: see private.^ If.
Privacy; secrecy; confidence.
Ther shaltow fynde
A thyng that I have hyd in primtee.
Cliamer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 443.
I will to you, in privity, discover the drift of my pur-
pose. Spenser, State of Ireland.
hi. Private life; privacy; seclusion.
Then Pirrus with pyne put hym to serche ,
Of Polexena the pert^ in priuete holdyn.
That was cause of the cumbranse of his kynd fadur.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 12078.
For all his dayes he drownes in priviHe,
Yet has full large to live and spend at llbertie.
Spenser, F. Q., III. ix. 8.
4739
Sf. Intimate relation ; intimacy.
With the praise of armes and chevalrie
The prize of beautie still hath joyned heene ;
And that for reasons speciall »riBf(ie,
For either doth on other much relie.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. v. 1.
4t. That which is to be kept privy or private;
a secret; a private matter.
Blamed hymself for he
Hadde told to me so greet a primtee.
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 542.
To signify unto your grace, besides our common letters,
also with these my private letters the privities of my heart
and conscience in that matter,
Bp. Bidley, in Bradford's Works (Parker Soc, 1863), II. 370.
5. Private knowledge; joint knowledge with
another of a private concern, which is often
supposed to imply consent or concurrence.
I had heard of his intending to steal a marriage without
the privity of us his intimate friends and acquaintance.
Steele, Spectator, Mo. 133.
This marriage . . . brought upon Garcilasso, in conse-
quence of liK privity, the displeasure of the Emperor.
Tieknor, Span. Lit., I. 448.
6t. pi. The private parts. Ahp. Abbot. — 7. In
lam: (a) That relation between different inter-
ests of several persons in the same lands which
arises under feudal tenures. All the various estates,
less than a fee simple absolute, were regarded as so many
parts of entire title, and the persons among whom such par-
tial interests were distributed were said to stand in priv-
ity or in privity of estate to each other. If the interests
belonging to one of such persons devolved either by
act of law, as in the case of his death intestate, or by act
of the parties, as in the case of a conveyance, upon a third
gersoD, that person was thereby brought into privity with
im and the others. In the foi-mer case he was said to he
privy in law, in the latter case privy in deed, each of these
being only species of privies in estate. Upon the same
principle, whenever sevei-al lesser estateswere carved out
of a larger, as by grant of a qualified interest or life estate
leaving a remainder or reversion in the grantor, the pai*-
ties were termed primes. (J) More loosely, since
the abrogation of tenure, any joint, separate,
or successive interest affecting the same realty
is deemed to constitute a privity between the
parties in interest. Thus, if B inherits land from A,
there isprivityof estate between them, and if C inherits the
same land from B, the privity extends to him, so that B
and C may be both bound in respect to the land by whatever
bound A. (c) In the law of obligations, the mu-
tual relationships between contractor and con-
traetee, and either of them'and a third person
claiming under the contract, which result from
the existence of the contract. Thus, if A gives his
note to B, and B separately gives his note to C, there is
privity of contract between A and B, and also between B
and C, but none between A and C. But if A gives his note
to B, and B indorses it over to C, there is privity of con-
tract among all. (d) In the law of contracts and
torts, the legal relation consequent on joint or
common knowledge and concurrence, particu-
larly in respect to a breach of contract, a tort, or
a wrong — Privity of tenure, the relation subsisting
between a lord and his immediate tenant.
privy (priv'i), a. and n. [< ME. privy, privee,
wive, privei, pryve, prevy, preve, < OF. prive,
F.privS = Sp. Pg. It. privado, private, < L. pri-
vatus, apart from the public, private : see ^n-
«)ofe, a., of which jjri»^ is a doublet.] I. a. 1.
Private ; pertaining to some person exclusively ;
assigned to private uses; not public: as, the
privy purse.
The other half
Comes to the privy coffer of the state.
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 364.
2. Secret; not seen openly; not made known
in public.
A counsail sail I tel to the.
The whilk I will you hildpriiU.
Holy Mood (B. E. T. S.), p. 92.
This drudge, or diviner, . . . told me what j?rauy marks
I had about me. Shak., C. of E., iii. 2. 146.
The Seas breaking their sandie harres, and breaking vp
by secret vnderminings the priuie pores and passages in
the earth. Purehas, Pilgrimage, p. 40.
Place and occasion are two privy thieves.
B. Jcmson, Cynthia's Eevels, v. 3.
3. Private; appropriated to retirement; se-
questered; retired.
If your Lordship shall commaund to chastise or to whip
any page or seruant, prouide that it be done in a place
priuie and secrete.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 161.
It is the sword of the great men that are slain, which
entereth into their privy chambers. Ezek. xxi. 14.
4. Privately knowing; admitted to the parti-
cipation with another in knowledge of a secret
transaction: generally with to.
And couth remeve from the seid French kynge the prevy-
est man of heis Councell yf he wold.
Paston Letters, I. 104.
His wife also being privy to it. Acts v. 2.
Myself am one made privy to the plot.
Shak., T. G. of V., iii. 1. 12.
prize
Our mortal eyes
Pierce not the secrets of your heart ; the gods
Are only prioj/ to them. Ford, Broken Heart, lit 1.
This sudden change was much observed by some, who
were privy that Mr. Wilson had professed as much before.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, L 282.
5t. Intimate; familiar; on confidential terms ;
well known.
And two knyghtes that hen moste privy with hym, that
noon ne knoweth so moche of his counseile.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), I 76.
Gentlemen ushers of the privy chamber, four f unc-
tionaiies in the lord chamberlain's department of the
royal household in Great Britain, who attend various cer-
emonies of court.— Privy chamber, in Great Britain, a
private apartment in a royal residence.- Privy coat, a
light coat or defense of mail concealed under the ordinary
dress.— Privy counclL See ctmnciJ.-Privy councilor,
a member of the privy council. Abbreviated P. C—
Privy purse, seal, etc. See the noun6.—Privy verdict,
a verdict given to the judge out of court. =Syn. "L Indi-
vidual, special, personal, peculiar, particular, — 4. Cogni-
zant (of), acquainted (with).
n. n.; pi. privies (-iz). 1. In too, one stand-
ing in a relation of privity to another. See
privity, 7. (a) A partaker ; a person having a joint or
common knowledge, right, or responsibility. More spe-
cifically— (fc) One bound by an obligation irrespective of
his being a party to it ; one bound or entitled in respect to
an estate irrespective of his having been a party to the
transaction by which it was created. Tlie term privy is
properly used in distinction from party; but privies to a-
contract is used to mean the parties themselves. Siimson.
2t. A secret friend. — 3. A necessary.
privy-fly (priv'i-fli), n. A fly of the family
Anthomyidm, Romalomyia scalaris, whose larva
is usually found in human excrement. It is
probably indigenous in Europe, though also
found in North America. See cut under Homa-
lomyia.
prix (pre), n. [P. : see price.'} A premium ;
a prize ; specifically, the stakes or cup in a
French horse-race or other sporting event:
used by English writers in such phrases as
grand prix and prix de Rome (in French nation-
al competitions in the fine arts).
prizable (pri'za-bl), a. [iprize'^ + -able.'] Val-
uable ; worthy of being prized. Also spelled
prizeable.
The courage of the tongue
Is truly, like the courage of the hand.
Discreetly used, 9.prizeaMe possession.
Sir H. Taylor, St. Clement's Eve, i. 1.
prizaget, n. See prisage.
prizallt, n. See prisal.
prize^ (priz), n. and a. [Formerly also prise ;
< ME. prise, < OF. prise, a taking, capture, a
seizure, a thing seized, a prize, booty, also hold,
purchase (= It. presa), < P. prise, < pris, pp. of
prendre, take, capture, < L. prendere, prehen-
dere, take, seize : seeprehend. Ct. prized, pris-
on, eta., apprise, comprise, enteiprise, purprise,
.reprisal, surprise, etc. Prized and prize'^ have
been in some senses more or less confused.]
1. n. 1. Atakingorcapture, as of the property
of an enemy in war.
His leg, through his late luckelesse j>ri8e.
Was crackt in twaine. Spenser, F. Q., VI. viii. 26.
2. In hunting, the note of the horn blown at the
capture or death of the game.
Syr Eglamour hase done to dede
A grete herte, and tane the hede ;
The pryese he blewe f ulle schille.
MS. Lincoln A. L 17, f. 140. (HaMiwdl.)
Aim'd well, the Chieftain's lance has flown ;
Struggling in blood the savage lies ;
His roar is sunk in hollow groan —
Sound, merry huntsman ! sound the pryse !
Scott, Cadyow Castle.
3. That which is taken from an enemy in war ;
any species of goods or property seized by force
as spoil or plunder; that which is taken in com-
bat, particularly a ship with the property taken
in it. The law as to prizes is regulated by the general
law of nations. Prizes taken in war are condemned (that
is, sentence is passed that the thing captured is lawful
prize) by the proper judicature in the courts of thd captors,
called prize-courts.
And when the saisnes were thus disconfited and fiedde,
the kynge Vrien and his peple gedered vp that was lefte
therof . . . grete richesse, . . . the richest prae that euer
was sein. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 240.
I have made, mother,
A fortunate voyage, and brought home rich prize
In a few hours. Fletcher, Spanish Curate, i. 2.
The distinction between a prize and booty consists in
this, that the former is taken at sea and the latter on land.
Bouvier.
4. In early Eng. laxo, a seizure or the asserted
right of seizure of money or chattels by way of
exaction or requisition for the use of the crown ;
more specifically, a toll of that nature exact-
ed on merchandise in a commercial town. —
5. That which is obtained or offered as the re-
prize
ward of exertion or contest: as, & prize for Latin
verses.
Ill never wrestle for the prize more.
Shak., As you Like it, 1. 1. 168.
At eveiy Bhot the prize he got^
For he was hoth sure and dead.
Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow (Child's Ballads, V, 386).
You love
The metaphysics 1 read and earn oai prize,
A golden brooch. Tennyson, Princess, Hi.
6. That which is won in a lottery, or in any
similar way.
The word lottery . . . may be applied to any process ot
determining prtees by lot. Eneyc Brit., XV. 11.
7. A possession or acquisition which is prized;
any gain or advantage ; privilege.
It is war's prize to take all vantages.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., i. 4. 59.
The lock, obtain'd with guilt, and kept.with pain.
In every place is sought, but sought in vain ;
With such a prize no mortal must be blest.
Pope, K. of the L., v. HI.
fif. A contest for a reward ; a competition.
Like one of two contending in a prize.
Shak., M. of V., iii. 2. U2.
And now, as it were, a Prize began to be played between
the two Swords, the Spiritual and the Temporal.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 73.
Maritime prize, a prize taken by capture on the high
seas.— To play prizest, to fight publicly for a prize ;
hence, figuratively, to contend only for show.
He is my brother that^aw the prizes.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Bevels, y. 2.
By their endless disputes and wranglings about words
and terms of art, they [the philosophers] made the people
suspect they did lantplay prizes before them. .
StUlingJket, Sermons, IL iii.
II. a. 1, Worthy of a prize ; that has gained
a prize.
A lord of iat prize oxen and of sheep.
Tennysort, Princess, .Conclusion.
3. Given or awarded as a prize : as, a prize
cup.
prize! (priz), V. t.; pret. and p^. prized, ppr.
prizing. [<.prize'^,n,'} If. To risk or venture.
Davies.
Thou 'rt worthy of the title ot a squire.
That durst, for proof of thy affection.
And for thy mistress' favour, prize thy blood.
Greene, Friar Bacon, p. 176.
S. To make a prize of; capture; seize.
In the British House of Commons it was explained that
the David J. Adams was prized for concealing her name
and her sailing-port. The American, XII. 67.
prize^ (priz), V. t. ; pret. and pp. prized, ppr.
prizing. [< ME. prysen, < OF. (and F.) priser,
set a price or value on, esteem, value, < pris,
price, < Ti.pretium, price, value: see^nce. Cf.
praise, appraise, apprize^."] 1. To set or esti-
mate the value of; rate.
Having so swift and excellent a wit
As she ia prized to have.
Shtlc., Much Ado, iii. 1. 90.
2. To value highly; regard as of great worth;
esteem.
Whoe'er excels in what we prize
Appears a hero in our eyes.
Swift, Cadenus and Vanessa, 1. 738.
<3old is called gold, and dross called dross, i' the Book;
Gold you let lie, and dross pick up and prize!
Brmoning, Ring and Book, n. 254.
3. To favor or ease (an affected Umb), as a
horse. Balliwell. [Prov. Eng.] = Syn. 1. To ap-
praise.— 2. Valve, Esteem, ete. See appreciate.
prizest (priz); «• [< prized, v. Cf . price, ».]
Estimation; valuation; appraisement.
Ceesar 's no merchant, to make prize with you
Of things that merchants sold.
Shak., A. and C, v. 2. 183.
prized (priz), n. [Also prise; < F. prise, a hold,
grasp, purchase: aeeprize^.^ 1. The hold of a
lever; purchase. — 2. A lever. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
prizes (prizi, v. t. ; pret. and pp. prized, ppr.
prizing. [Also prise; < prized, n. Hence^ Dy
confusion, J9ry2.] To force or press, especially
force open by means of a lever, as a door, etc.
Taking a marlingspike hitch over a marling-spike, and
with the point prizing it against the rope until the service
is taut. Imee, Seamanship, p. 48.
When I gently prised up the anther-case at its base or
on one side, the pollinium was ejected.
Darwin, Fertll. of Orchids by Insects, p. 216.
prizeable, a. See prizahle,
prize-bolt (priz'bolt), re. A projection on a gun-
carriage for a handspike to hold by in raising
the breech. [Eng.]
prize-court (priz'Eort), re. A court whose func-
tion it is to adjudicate on captures made at sea.
prize-fight (priz'fit), re. A pugilistic encounter
or boxing-match for a prize or wager.
4740
prize-fighter (priz'fi''t6r), re. One who fights
another with his fists for a wager or reward ;
a professional pugilist or boxer.
prize-fighting (priz'fi"ting), re. Fighting, es-
pecially boxing, in public for a reward or stake.
It prevails in Great Britain, the United States, and in the
British possessions ; in most of its forms and in most lo-
calities it is illegal. Prize-fighting is conducted generally
under one of two codes of rules— the London prize-ring
rules and the Marquis of Queensberry rules. The fight-
ing is either with bare knuckles or with light gloves.
prizelesst (priz'les), a. [< prized + -less. Cf.
priceless.'] Inestimable; priceless.
Oh, mediocrity,
Thouprfeeicffl jewel only mean men have.
But cannot value.
Fletcher {and another). Queen of Corinth, ill. 1.
prize-list (priz'list), ». 1. A detailed list of
the winners in any competition for prizes, as
a school examination or a flower-show. — 2.
Naut., a return of all the persons on board en-
titled to receive prize-money at the time a cap-
ture is made.
prizeman (priz'man), re. ; pi. prizemen (-men),
[(.prized + man.]" The wiimer of a prize.
prize-master (priz'mas"t6r), re. A person put
in command of a ship that has been made a
prize.
prize-money (priz'mun'i), re. Money paid to
the captors of a ship or place where booty has
been obtained, in certain jjroportions accord-
ing to rank, the money divided being realized
from the sale of the prize or booty.
prizer (pri'zfer), ». [Formerly also priser; <
prized, v., + -eri.] 1. One who estimates or
determines the value of a thing ; an appraiser.
But value dwells not in particular will ;
It holds his estimate and dignity
As well wherein 'tis precious of itself
As in the prizer. Shak., T. and C, ii. 2. 56.
2. One who competes for a prize, as a prize-
fighter, a wrestler, etc.
Why would you be so fond to overcome
The bonny priser of the humorous duke?
StMk., As you Like it, ii. 3. 8.
Appeareth no man yet to answer the prizer f
B. Jonson, Cynthia s Kevels, v. 2.
As if a cloud enveloped him while fought
Under its shade grim prizers, thought with thought
At dead-lock. Browning, Sordello.
prize-ring (priz'ring), «. A ring or inclosed
place for prize-fighting; also, sometimes, the
practice itself. The ring has now become an area eight
yards square, inclosed by poles and ropes. It probably de-
rived its name from the fact that the combatants originally
fought in a ring formed by the onlookers.
It was lately remarked . . . that we take our point of
honour from the prize-ring; but we do worse — we take
our point of honour from beasts.
E. Spencer, Study of Sociol., p. 188.
p. r. n. An abbreviation of the Latin phrase
pro re nata, as occasion may require.
pro (pro), [h.pro, before, in front of, for, etc. :
see pro-.] A Latin preposition occurring in sev-
eral phrases used in English — pro and con., for
Latin (Sew Latin) pro et eon. , abbreviation of pro et contra,
for and against; hence, as a quasi-uoun, in plural pros and
cons, the arguments or reasons for and against a propo-
sition or opinion ; and (rarely) as a verb, to weigh or con-
sider impartially.
Grand and famous scholars often
Have argu'd^iro and con, and left it doubtful.
Ford, Fancies, iii. 3.
A man in soliloquy reasons with himself, and pro's and
con's, and weighs all his designs,
dongreve. Double Dealer, Ep. Ded.
My father's resolution of putting me into breeches . . .
had . . . been pro'd and eon'd, and judicially talked over
betwixt him and my mother, about a month before.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vi. 16.
They do not decide large questions by casting up two
columns otpros and com, and striking a balance.
Nat. Rev.
pro-. [1. F. Sp. Pg. It. pro-, < L. pro- {pro- or
j3»'(J-),prefix,jpTO, adv. and prep., before, m front
of, in favor of, for the benefit of, in place of,
for, in proportion, in conformity with, etc., =
Gr. irpd, before, for, etc., Trpo- prefix, = Skt. jyra,
before ; cf . L. por-, pa-, collateral forms ; Gr.
npd^, before, forth, from, etc. (see pros-) ; akin
to E. /or-l, fore-'^, q. v. 2. F., etc., pro-, < L.
pro-, < Gr. irpo- prefix, before, etc., like the cog-
nate L. pro- : see above.] A prefix of Latin or
(rreek origin, meaning 'before,' 'in front,' 'fore,'
'forth,' 'forward.' In some words, as procon-
sul, propreBtor\ pronoun, etc., it is properly the
preposition (L. pro, for, instead of).
proa (pro'a), re. lAlso prau, prahu, and formerly
proe, proii, a.\Bo praw (asM.ala.j); <. M&la.j prdu,
a proa (a general term for all vessels between a
canoe and a square-rigged vessel).] A kind of
Malay vessel remarkable for swiftness, former-
proarthrous
ly much used by pirates in the Eastern Archi-
pelago. Proas are found chiefly within the region of the
trade-winds, to which by their construction they are pe-
culiarly adapted ; for, being formed with stem and st'-m
equally sharp, they never require to be turned round in
order to change their course, but sail equally well in either
Froa, with Outrigger.
direction. The lee side Is flat and in a straight line from
stem to stern, and acts as a lee-board or center-board ; but
the weather side is rounded as in other vessels. This
shape, with their small breadth, would render them very
liable to heel over, were it not for the outrigger, which is
used on either side or on both. The proa is fastened toge-
ther with coir yams, is extremely light, and carries an
enormous triangular sail. AlSo called fiying proa.
They [the Dutch] have Proes ot a particular neatness
and curiosity. We call them Half-moon Proes, tor they
turn up so much at each end from the water that they
much resemble a Half-moon with the Horns upwards.
Dampi&r, Voyages, II. i. 5.
I s^ied, where she pointed, the reedy booms and buoyant
out-riggers of freebootingproofi lurking in cunning coves.
J. W. Palmer, Up and Down the Irrawaddi, p. 29.
proachf (proch), v.i. [Early mod. "E.pi-och;
< OF. prochier, come near: see approach.] To
approach.
Ffriday, the v Day of ffebruarii, proched nye the Cyte of
Cortew. Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 61.
proal (pro'al), a. [< Gr. wpd, before, + -al.] Di-
rected or moved forward, as the lower jaw in
the act of chewing: as, the proal mode of mas-
tication, in which the food is acted on as the
lower jaw pushes forward: opposed to palinal.
See propalinal. E. D. Cope.
pro-amnion (pro-am'ni-on), re. [< Gr. irpd, be-
fore, + E. amnion.] The primitive amnion of
some animals, succeeded by the definitive am-
nion in a later stage of the embryo.
pro-amniotic (pro-am-ni-ot'ik), a. Of or per-
taining to the pro-amnion; characterized by or
provided with a pro-amnion.
Long after the true amnion has been quite completed
the head gradually emerges from thiz pro-a/mniotic pit.
Micros. Sci., N. S., XXX. iu. 290.
proanaphoral (pro-an-af'o-ral), a. [< Gr. irp6,
before, -I- dva^opd, anaphora: see anupliora,3.i
Eccles., in liturgies, preceding the anaphora
(which see): applied to so much of the eucha-
ristic office as precedes the Sursum Corda.
In every Liturgical family there is one Liturgy (or at
most two) which supplies the former or proanaphoral
portion to all the others.
J. M. Neale, Eastern Church, i. 319.
pro and con. Seejw-o.
proangiosperm (pr6-an'ji-o-sp6rm), re. [< Gr.
t:p6, before, -I- E. angiosperm.] An archaic or
ancestral angiosperm; the ancestral form or
forms from 'vrtiich the modem angiosperms are
supposed to have been developed. They may be
known only in the fossil state, or may be manifested by
rudiments of once functional organs or parts in living
angiosperms.
The ancestral pro-angiosperms are supposed to have
borne leaves such as are found diminished or marked in
so many of their existing descendants.
Nature, XXXIII. 389.
proangiospermic (pro-an'ji-o-spfer'mik), a. [<
proangiosperm + -»c.] Inbot., pertaining to or
resembling a proangiosperm.
Plants in their pro-angiospermic stage.
Natvre, XXXin. 889.
Proarthri (pro-ar'thri), n. pi. [NL., < Gr. irp6,
before, + apBpov, joint.] One of four subor-
ders of existing Squali, or sharks, represented
only by the Eeterodontidx, having the palato-
quadrate apparatus articulated by an exten-
sive surface with the preorbital region of the
skull: eoirelated with Opistharthri, Anartliri,
and BMnx. T. Gill.
proarthrous (pro-ar'thrus), a. In ichth., per-
taining to the Proarthri, or having their char-
acters.
proatlas
proatlas (pro-at'las), n. [NL., < -L.pro, before,
+ NL. atlas : see atlas, 3.] A rudimentary ver-
tebra which in some animals precedes the atlas
proper. Encye. Brit.,XX.4il. [Kare.l
proaulion (pro-4'li-on), n. [< Gr. ■KpoaiTiim,, a
court, a vestibule, < wp6, before, + av^, a court,
a halL a chamber: see aula.^ In the early
e^uToh and in the Greek Church, the porch of a
?hJ^«f'.,i° ?"*^ churches the proauUon Is a porch at
the west end of a church, open on three sides an^ ol the
same width as the narthex, into which it opens.
V^e ProOAdimi, or porch, is sometimes a lean-to
against the west end of the narthex, but of tener it forms
with the narthex one lean-to against the west end of the
^'"^- J- M. Neale, Eastern Church, 1. 215.
probabiliorism (prob-a-bil'i-or-izm), n. [< NL
*probabiUorisrmis, < f . probabUior, compar. of
probdbiUs, probable: see probable.'] In Rom.
Cath. tJieol., the doctrine that it is lawful to act
in a certain manner only when there is a more
probable opinion in favor of such action than
against it, so that when there are two equally
probable opinions, one for and the other against
liberty of action, it is not lawful to accept the
former opinion and follow one's inclinations.
See probabilism, probdbilist.
probabiliorist (prob-a-bil'i-or-ist), n. [< NL.
*probabiUorista, < li." probdhilior, compar. of
probabilis, probable : see probable.'] One who
holds to the doctrine of probabiliorism.
ProbabUioristg, who hold that the law is always to be
obeyed unless an opinion clearly very probable (proba^
bilior) is opposed to it. Bneye. Brit., XIV. 636.
probabilis causa (pro-bab'i-lis k4'za). [L.:
see probable and cause.'] A probable'cause. —
Frobabilis causa lltigandi, in Scots lam, plausible
ground of action or defense.
probabilism (prob'a-bil-izm), n. [= F. proba-
bilisme = Sp. Pg. It. jn'obabilismo = G. proba-
bilismus, < NL. probabilismus, < L. probabilis,
probable: see probable.] In Bom. Cath. theol.,
the doctrine that when there are two probable
opinions, each resting on apparent reason, one
in favor of and the other opposed to one's in-
clinations, it is lawful to follow the probable
opinion which favors one's inclination. See
probabiliorism, probabilist.
The worWng of the principle known as ProhaMUmi.
The meaning of this principle ... is simply this : when
a doubt arises as to the binding force of some divine or
human precept in any given case, it is permissible to
abandon the opinion in favour of obedience to the law —
technically known as "safe" (tuta) opinion — for that
which favours non-compliance, provided thislaxer opinion
be "probable." And by "probable" is meant any judg-
ment or opinion based on some reasonable grounds, though
with some doubt that the opposite view is perhaps the
true one (Gury, TheoL Mor., I. n. SI).
Eiwyc. Brit., XIV. 636.
probabilist (prob'a-bil-ist), ». [= F. probabi-
Uste = Sp. Pg. It. 'probabilista = G. probabilist,
< NL. probabilista,^ 'L. probabilis, probable: see
probable.] 1. One who holds the doctrine of
probabilism. — 2. One who maintains that cer-
tainty is impossible, and that probability alone
is to govern faith and j)ractice.
probability (prob-a-bil'i-ti), re. ; ■pi. probabilities
(-tiz). [= F. proiabilii^ = Sp. probabiUdad =
Pg. probabilidade = It. probahilitd,, < L. proba-
, bUita(t-)s, probability, credibility, < probabilis,
probable, credible: seeprobable.] 1. The state
or character of being probable ; likelihood; ap-
pearance of truth; Siat state of a case or ques-
tion of fact which results from superior evi-
dence or preponderation of argument on one
side, inclining the mind.to receive that as the
truth, but leaving some room for doubt.
Thus, first traditions were a proof alone,
Could we be certain such they were, so known ;
But, since some flaws in long descent may he.
They make not truth, Xmt probability.
Dryden, Keligio Laici, 1. 345.
Probability is nothuig but the appearance of such an
agreement or disagreement^ by the intervention of proofs
whose connection is not constant^ . . . but is or appears
for the most part to be so. . . . In which case the founda-
tion of his assent is ttxe probajbility of the thing, the proof
being such as for the most part carries truth with it. . . .
So that that which causes his assent to this proposition is
the wonted veracity of the speaker in other cases.
Loake, Human Understanding, IV. xv. § 1.
2. Quantitatively, that character of an argu-
ment or proposition of doubtful truth which
consists in the frequency with which like
propositions or arguments are found true
in the course of experience. Thus, if a die be
tlirown, the probability that it will turn up ace is the fre-
quency with which an ace would be turned up in an in-
definitely long succession of throws. It is conceivable
that there should be no definite probability: thus, the
proportion of aces might so fiuctuaie that their frequency
in the long run would be represented by a diverging se-
ries Yet even so, there would be approximate probabil-
298
4741
ities for short periods of time. All the essential features
of probability are exhibited in the case of putting into a
bag some black beans and some white ones, then shaking
them well, and finally drawing out one or several at ran-
dom. The beans must first be shaken up, so as to assimi-
late or generalize the contents of the bag ; and a similar
result must be attained in any case in which probabil-
ity is to have any real significance. Next, a sample of the
beans must be drawn out at random — that i& so as not to
be voluntarily subjected to any general conditions addi-
tional to those of the course of experience of which they
form a part. Thus, out-of-the-way ones or uppermost
ones muat not be particularly chosen. This random choice
may be effected by machinery, if desired. If, now, a great
number of single beans are so taken out and replaced suc-
cessively, the following phenomenon wlU be found ap-
proximately true, or, if not, a prolongation of the series
of drawings will render it so : namely, that if the whole
series be separated into parts of two fixed numbers of
drawings, say into series of 100 and of 10,000 alternately,
then the average proportion of white beans among tie
sets of 100 will be nearly the same as the average propor-
tion among the sets of 10,000. This is the fundamen-
tal proposition of the theory of probabilities— we might
say of logic— since the security of all real inference rests
upon it. The greater the frequency with which a specific
event occurs in the long run, the stronger is the expec-
tation that it will occur in a particular case. Hence, prob-
ability has been defined as the degree of belief which
ought to be accorded to a problematical judgment; but
this eonceptvtdistio prohaMlity, as it is termed, is strictly
not probability, but a sense of probability. Probability
may be measured in different ways. The conceptualistic
measure is the degree of confidence to \f hich a reason is
entitled ; it is used in the mental process of balancing rea-
sons pro and con. The conceptualistic measure is the
logarithm of another measure called the 0(2d9— that is,
the ratio of the number of favorable to the number of un-
favorable cases. But the measure which is most easily
guarded against the fallacies whicli beset the calculation
of probabilities is the ratio of the number of favorable
cases to the whole number of equally possible cases, or
the ratio of the number of occurrences of the event to the
total number of occasions in the course of experience.
This ratio is called tieprobabUily or chance of the event.
Thus, the probability that a die will turn up ace is }. Prob-
ability 2xro represents impossibility; probability unity,
certainty. The fundamental rules for the calculation of
probabilities are two, as follows : Rvle I. The probabil-
ity^ that one or the other of two mutually exclusive propo-
sitions is true is the sum of the probabilities that one and
the other are true. Thus, if i is the probability tliat a die
wlU turn up ace, and ^ is the probability that it will turn up
an even number, then, since it cannot turn up at once an
ace and an even number, the probability that one or other
will be turned up Is i -(- J = J. It follows thatif j) Is the
probability that any event will happen, 1 — p is the proba-
bility that it will not happen. Rvle II. The probability
of an event multiplied by the probability, if that event
happens,^ that another will happen, gives as product the
probability that both will happen. Thus, if a die Is so
thrown that the probability of its not being found is J, then
the probability of its being found ace up is J x i = A- H
the probabill^ that a certain man will reach the age of
forty is j>, and the probability, when he is forty, that he
will then reach sixty is q, then the probability now that
he will reach sixty Isyg. If two events A and B are such
that the probability of A is the same whether B does or
does not happen, then, also, the probability of B Is the
same whether A does or does not happen, and the events
are said to be independent. The probability of the concur-
rence of two independent events Is the product of their
separate probabilities. The probability that a general
event, whose probability ou each one of n occasions is p,
should occur just k times among these n occasions, is
equal to the term containing p6 In the development of
(p -t- 3)*, where q = '\.~p. Thus, suppose the event is the
appearance of head when a coin Is tossed up, so that p =
g = 4, and the coin be tossed up six times. Then the pxob-
abilities of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 6 heads respectively are ^, 4s,
Ji> I?. Jl. !% A- The mask probable value of i is that
whole number next less than (n + l)p, unless this be itself
a whole number, when it is equally probable. "When the
number of trials is large, the probabilities of the differ-
ent numbers of occurrences of the given event are pro-
portional to areas included between the so-called proba-
bility curve, its asymptote, and ordinates at successive dis-
tances equal to l/yznpq. This probability curve, whose
equation is y = o—^tr—"' (where o is the circumference
for unit diameter, and o- is the Napierian base), is repre-
sented in the figure, where the approximate straightness
Probability Curve.
of the slope will be remarked. If it is desired to ascertain
the probability of the occurrence from i, to k, times in-
clusive in n trials of an event whose probable occurrence
at each trial is p, the approximate value is the area includ-
ed between the probability curv^ the asymptote, and the
two ordinates, for which
k^-(n + l)p
V'2i
Inpg
andx
k, + l — (n + l)p
Vinpq
probably
Twice the quadratures of the areas are given in treatises
on probabilities as tables of the theta function of proba-
bilities. The chief practical application of probablli^ is
to insurance ; and Its only sigiuficance lies in an assur-
ance as to the average result in the long run. The theory
of probability is to be regarded as the logic of the physi-
calsciences.
3. Anything that has the appearance of reality
or truth.
Both the rocks and the earth are so splendent to behold
that better iudgements then ours might haue beene per-
swaded they contained more Viitn prohabUitiea.
Quoted in CopS. John Smith's Works, 1. 115.
4. A statement of what is likely to happen;
a forecast: applied in the plural by Cleveland
Abbe to his daily weather-predictions in Cin-
cinnati in 1869, and subsequently adopted by
General Myer to designate the official weather-
forecasts of the United States Signal Service.
The same term had been similarly used by
Leverrier in Paris since 1859.
The whole system [of meteorological predictions] is ex-
cellently organized and very extensive ; the official publi-
cations embrace t\ieprobalnlitie& and the so-called weather-
maps. Pop. SH. Mo., XXIX. 546.
Antecedent probability. See antecedent. — Balance
of probabilities. See iioJance.- Calculus of proba-
bility, a branch of mathematics teaching how to calcu-
late probabilities by general methods. — Curve Of proba-
bility. See above.— Inverse probability, the proba-
bility of a hypothesis as deduced from the comparison of
its consequences with observation. ThuE^ the following
Is a familiar problem of inverse probability : Suppose a
bag contains a series of tickets numbered consecutively
from 1 up. Suppose a ticket is drawn at random, and its
number is 13, what is the most probable number of tickets
in the bag? The best opinion concerning Inverse proba-
bility seems to be that it Is altogether fallacious, unless
the antecedent probability of the hypothesis Is known.
Some writers hold that the probability of a proposition
about which we are completely ignorant Is i; others hold
that it is indeterminate. — Local probability'. See local.
—Old Probabilities. See Od.
probable (prob'a-bl), a. and n. [< F. probable
= Sp. probable = Pg. provdvel = It. probabile,
< L. probabilis, that may be proved, credible, <
jproftare, test, examine: see ^»"o6e,^ot!e.] I. a.
If. Capable of being proved; provable.
It is doubtlessly ^o&o&Ze that women are nature's pride,
virtue's ornaments. Ford, Honour Triumphant.
It ought to he a total fast from all things during the
solemnity, unless a probable neceBBity intervene.
Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, iv. 5.
No man ... is properly a heretic . . . but he who
maintains traditions or opinions not probaMe by scripture.
MUton, Civil Power.
2. Having more evidence for than against,
or evidence which inclines the mind to belief,
but leaves some room for doubt ; likely.
I do not say that the principles of religion are merely
probable, I have before asserted them to be morally cer-
tain. Bp. WUkins.
That is accounted probable which has better arguments
producible for it than can be brought against It. South.
I made up a story as short and probable as I could, but
concealed the greatest part.
Sioifl, Gulliver's Travels, lii. 11.
Chaucer . . . makesit possible, and even j7ro&a&2d, that
his motley characters should meet on a common footing.
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 284.
3. Rendering something likely, or showing it
to be likely: as, ^ro6o6Ze evidence ; a, probable
presumption. Blackstone. — 4t. Plausible; spe-
cious; colorable.
Make this haste as your own good proceeding,
Strengthen'd with what apology you think
May make it probable need.
Shak., All's Well, ii. 4. 62.
Probable cause. See catzw.— Probable error, in as-
tron. and physies. When the value of any quantity or ele-
ment has been determined by means of a number of inde-
pendent observations every one liable to a small amount of
accidental error, the determination will also be liable to
some uncertain^, and the probable error is the quantify
which is such that there is the same probability of the
difference between the determination and the true abso-
lute value of the thing to be determined exceeding or
falling short of it. But It Is to he remarked that, as so
defined, the constant error belonging to all observations
of the given series Is not included in the probable error. —
Probable evidence, evidence distinguished from demon-
strative evidence in that it admits of degrees, and of all
variety of them, from the highest moral certainty to the
very lowest presumption.— Probable inference. See
infereruie. — Probable proposition. See proposition.
=Syn. 2. Presumable, credible, reasonable.
II. n. A probable opini6n ; an opinion rest-
ing upon good but not sufS.cient grounds.
The casuists' doctrine of probables, in virtue of which a
man may lie probabiliter obligatus and probabUiter deob-
llgatus at the same time.
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 264.
probably (prob'a-bli), adv. 1. With probabil-
ity; in a probable manner; in all likelihood;
with the appearance of truth or reality; likely:
as, the story is probably true; the account is
probably correct.
Distinguish betwixt what may possibly and what will
probably be done. Sur R. L'Estrange.
probably
2t. Plausibly; with verisimilitude.
Those that held religion was the difFerence of man from
heasts have spoken probably.
Sir T. Browne, Beligio Medici, t 20.
Call this a Mede, and that a Parthian youth ;
tsik prdbaUy ; no matter for the truth.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love, 1. 260.
probalt (pro'bal), a. [< LL.jpro&o, proof, + -aZ.]
Probable.
This advice is free I give, and honest,
Probed to thinking, and indeed the course
To win the Moor again. Shak., Othello, ii. 3. 344.
probalityt (pro-bal'i-ti), n. [Appar. (.probal +
-ity; but prob. an error tor probability. '\ Prob-
ability.
[After describing a far-fetched derivation for the name
BrigaiUes.] But if such a conjecture may take place,
others might with as great jn-otoii^ derive them from the
Brigantes of Britaine.
BoUand, tr. of Camden, II. 84. (Domes.)
probang (pro'bang), n. In surg., a long and
slender elastic rod of whalebone, with a piece
of sponge attached to one end, or other similar
instrument, for introduction into the esopha-
gus or larynx, as for the application of reme-
dies or the removal of foreign bodies.
probate (prd'bat), a. and n. [< 1i.probalMS, pp.
of probare, test, examine, judge of: see probe,
prove."] I. a. If. Proved; approved.
The veray true & probate assercyons of hystoryal men
touchynge and concemynge thantyquytes of thonourable
monastery of oure lady in Glastenburye.
Joseph o/Arimathie (E. E. T. S.), p. 27.
2. Eelating to the proof or establishment of
wills and testaments: as, proftaie duties Pro-
bate Act, an English statute, also called the Court of
Probate Act, 1867 (20 and 21 Vict., c. 77), abolishing the
jurisdiction of ecclesiastical and other courts in matters
of probate of wills and administration, and vesting it in a
new Court of Probate, whose authority was increased by
the Confirmation and Probate Act, 1858 (21 and 22 Vict.,
c. 66), and the Court of Probate Act, 1868 (id. , c. 95).— Pro-
bate courts, the general name given in American law to
courts having jurisdiction of probate and administration.
Often more specifically called orphans' courts^ surrogated
courts, etc. — Probate judge. See judge.
II. n. It. Proof.
Macrobius, that did treate
Of Scipion's dreme what was the treu probate.
Skelton, Garland of Laurel, 1. 368.
2. In law, official proof of a will, (a) The deter-
mination of the court before which a will is propounded
that the paper is the last will and testament of the de-
ceased, and its admission thereupon to record as such. It
determines or implies that the instrument is genuine, and
regular in form and execution, and that the testator was
competent to make a will, bat not usually that the pro-
visions of the will are valid. (6) A copy of the will so
proved, authenticated by the court, usually under its seal,
and with a certificate that it has been proved, etc. —
Probate in common form, a summary probate granted
in some jurisdictions on production of the will with an
affidavit, when there is no contest : as distinguished from
probate in solemn form, or by litigation on issues or op-
portunity for contest,
probate-duty (pr6'bat-dii"ti), n. A tax on
property passing by will.
probation (pro-ba'shon), n. [< F. probation =
Pr. proazo, pr'obatio = Sp. probaciort = Pg. pro-
•vagSo = It. probazione, < L. probatio{n-), a try-
ing, inspection, examination, < probare, pp.
probatvs, test, examine: see probate, probe,
prove."] 1 . The act of proving ; proof.
And what he with his oath
And all prebation will make up full clear.
Shak., M. for M., v. 1. 167.
He that must eat an hour before his time gives proba-
tion of his intemperance or his weakness.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 36.
2. Any proceeding designed to ascertain truth,
character, qualifications, or the like; trial; ex-
amination.
Let us buy our entrance to this guild [friendship] by a
long probaMon. JEhnerson, Friendship,
life iB probaMon, and this earth no goal.
But starting-point of man.
Browning, Bing and Book, II. 211.
Specifically — (a) Eecles., the trial of a candidate for church
membership, holy orders, or other ecclesiastical position
and functions, preparatory to his final admission thereto,
(b) In tbeol., moral trial; a state of life affording an oppor-
tunity to test moral character.
3. Any period of triskl. Specifically— (a) In religious
houses, the period (or the trial of a novice before he or
she takes the vows of the monastic order.
I, in probaiion of a sisterhood.
Was sent to by my brother.
SAoft., M. for M.,Y. 1.72.
She . . . may be a nun without j)ro5a(Mm.
BeuM. and Ft, Philaster, iL 20.
(ft) In the Meth. Epis. Ch., a period, usually six months,
at the end of which a candidate for admission to the
church determines whether he will unite with the church,
and the church decides whether he should be admitted
to membership.— The doctaine Of future proba^
tion, the doctrine that the gospel will be preached in
anotter life, either (o) to all who die unregenerate, or (6)
4742
to those to whom it was never preached, or who never ai^
prehended it, in this life, particulaily to the heathen and
to those dying in infancy. In this latter and more com-
mon form it is entertained by members of various Prot-
estant denominations. This doctrine is distinguishable
from the doctrine of purgatory, or future disciplinary suf-
ferings for the faithful, supposed to be necessary for their
purification, and from the various forms of universalism,
which holds that in a future probation all men will sooner
or later accept the gospel.
probational (pro-ba'shon-al), a. [< probation
+ -al] Serving for trial or probation.
Their afBiotions are not penal, but medicinal, or probor
timed. Bp. Richardson, Obs. on the Old Testament^ p. 278.
probationary (pro-ba'shpn-a-ri), a. [< proba-
tion + -aryT] Pertaining to probation; em-
bracing or serving for trial or probation.
Like Eden's dread probationary tree,
Knowledge of good and evil is from Thee.
Cowper, Progress of Error, 1. 468.
That the present life is a sufficient period of probation-
ary existence to the Righteous will be readily acknow-
ledged by all men. Timothy Dtnghl, Sermons, clxiii.
probationer (pro-ba'shon-6r), n. [< probation
+ -eri.] One who is oii probation or trial; one
who is placed so that he may give proof of cer-
tain qualifications for a place or state.
Every day gain to their college some new probationffr.
B. Jonson, Epicoene, i. 1.
While yet a young probatUmer
And candidate for heaven.
Dryden, To the Memory of Mrs. Anne Killigrew, 1. 21.
Specifically — (a) A novice.
A stripling divine or two of those newly-fledged proba-
tioners that usually come scouting from the university, and
lie here no lame legers to pop into the Bethesda of some
knight's chaplainsbip. MiZton, Colasterion.
Green probationers in mischief. Lamb, Old Actors.
(6) In the Presbyterian churches in Scotland, one who has
been licensed to preach, but who has not been ordained
or does not hold a pastoral charge.
How do they expect a probationer to become a capable
teacher if they never give him the chance of a pulpit?
W. Black, In Far Lochaber, viiL
(e) In the Meth. Epis. Ch., a candidate for membership re-
ceived for a specified period on trial before final admission.
probationership (pro-ba'shon-6r-ship), n. [<
probationer + -ship.] The condition or state
of being a probationer.
He has afforded us the twilight of probability, suitable
to that state of mediocrity and probatMnersMp. Locke.
probationism (pro-ba'shon-izm), n. [(.proba-
tion + -ism.] views or "beliefs as to human
probation in relation to the future state. Reli-
gious Herald, July 15, 1886.
probationist (pro-ba'shgn-ist), n. [< proba-
tion + -ist.] A probationer.
What portion of the probationists uniting with the M. E.
church become full members?
The Congregationalist, May 14, 1885.
probationship (pro-ba'shon-ship), n. [< pro-
bation -I- -ship.] A state of probation; novi-
tiate; probation. [Bare.]
Before the end of these ladies' probationsh^ani matric-
ulation, his majesty charged the cathedral doctors to dis-
miss them out of the university.
TrandaUon qf Bocealini (1626), p. 202. (Latham.)
probative (pro'ba-tiv), a. [< probate + -ive.]
1. Serving to test or prove.
Some are only probative, and designed to try and stir up
those virtues which before lay dormant in the soul.
South, Sermons, IV. ix.
2. Pertaining to proof or demonstration: as,
the probative force of evidence.
probator (pro-ba'tor), n. [< Jj. probator, exam-
iner, approver, < probare, test, examine, prove :
see probate, prove.] 1. An examiner. — 2t. In
law, one who turns king's (queen's) evidence ;
an approver.
probatory (pro'ba-to-ri), a. and n. [< ML.
*probatorius, adi.'(neut. probatorium, a house
for novices), < Ij.proba/re, Tpji.probatus, test, ex-
amine, prove ; see j^^obate.] I. a. 1 . Serving
for trial; being a proof or test.
Job's afflictions were no vindicatory punishments, but
probatory chastisements to make trial of his graces.
^ft^. BramhaU,
2. Pertaining to or serving for proof.
His other heap of arguments are assertory, not probatmy.
Jer. Taylor (I), Artif. Handsomeness, p. 126.
II. ».; pi. probatories (-riz). A house for
novices.
In the same yeere Christian, Bishop of Lismore, . . . and
Pope EugeniuB, a venerable man, with whom he was in
the Probatorie at Clarevall, who also ordained him to be
the Legate in Ireland, . . . departed to Christ.
Holland, tr. of Camden, II. 161. (.Dames.)
probatum est (pro-ba'tum est). [L. : probatum,
neut. of probatus, pp. of probare, test, exam-
ine; est, 3d pers. slug. pros. ind. of esse, be.]
It has been tried or proved : often appended to
recipes or prescriptions.
problem
Take, . . . if your point be rest.
Lettuce and cowslip wine ; Probatum est.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, n. L 18.
probe (prob), V. t. ; pret. and pp. probed, ppr.
probing. [< L. probare, test, examine, prove, <
probus, good: seeprove, an olderform from the
same L. verb. The verb probe is partly from
the noun.] 1. To examine with or as with a
probe; explore, as a wound or other cavity,
especially of the body: often used of searching
for some extraneous object in a part or organ
by means of an instrument thrust into it.
Yet durst she not too deeply profte the wound.
Dryden,Hind and Panther, iii.
Thither too the woodcock led her brood, to probe the
mud for worms. Thoreau, Walden, p. 246.
2. Figuratively, to search to the bottom; scru-
tinize ; examine thoroughly into.
The late discussions in parliament, and the growing
disposition to probe the legality of all acts of the crown,
rendered the merchants more discontented than ever.
HaUa/m,
Why do I seek to probe my fellow's sin ?
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 170.
3. To prick, as a sealed can, so as to allow the
compressed air or gas within to escape.
probe (prob), n. [< LL. proba, a proof, <.probare,
test, examine, prove : see probe, v., a,ndproof, n.
Of. Sp. tienta, a surgeon's probe, < tentar, try,
test: see tempt.] 1. A proof; atrial; a test.
We who believe life's bases rest
Beyond the probe of chemic test. Lowell.
2t. A printer's proof.
The thanksgiving for the queen's majesty's preservation
I have inserted into the collect, which was apter place in
my opinion than in the psalm ; ye shall see in the probe
of the print, and after judge.
Abp. Grinddl, Bemains, p. 268. (Davies.)
3. In surg., a slender flexible rod of silver or
other substance for examining the conditions
of a wound or other cavity, or the direction of
a sinus.— N^laton's probe, a probe tipped with un-
glazed porcelain, used in feeling for bullets. The lead, if
touched, leaves a mark upon the porcelain.
probe-pointed (prob'poin"ted), a. Having a
blunt end, like that of a probe; not sharp-point-
ed: as, probe-pointed scissors; sb probe-pointed
bistoury.
probe-scissors (pr6b'siz"prz), n.pl. Scissors
used to open wounds, the tilade of which, to ad-
mit of being thrust into the orifice, has a button
at the end.
probing-awl (pro'bing-ai), n. A steel prod or
awl, used to pierce the brain in killing fish for
the table.
probity (prob'i-ti), n. [< P. probity = Sp. probi-
dad = Pg. probidade = It. probitd,, < L. probi-
ta(t-)s, uprightness, honesty, < probus, good, ex-
cellent, honest : see jyrobe, prove.] Tried vir-
tue or integrity; strict honesty; virtue; sin-
cerity; high principle.
So near approach we their celestial kind
By justice, truth, and probity of mind. Pope.
A minister [Walpole] . . . who had seen so much per-
fidy and meanness that he had become sceptical as to the
existence of probity. MacwuLay, Lord Holland.
Let the reign of the good Stuyvesant show . . . how
frankness, probity, and high-souled courage will command
respect, and secure honor, even where success is unat-
tainable. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 469.
=Syn. Integrity, Uprightness, etc. (see honesty), worth,
trustworthiness, trustiness, incorruptibility.
problem (prob'lem), rt. [< MB. probZeme, < OP.
probleme, P. probldme = Sp. Pg. It. problema =
ii.probleem, problema = (5. Sw. Dan. problem,
< L. problema, < Gr. izpdplriiia, a question pro-
posed for solution, < izpoSaJOtEiv, throw or lay
before, < Trpd, before, + ^alleiv, throw, put: see
ball^, ballista, etc., and cf . emblem.] 1. A ques-
tion proposed for decision or discussion ; a mat-
ter for examination; any question involving
doubtjUneertaintyj or difficidty; also, a ques-
tion with a discussion of it.
Although in general one understood colours, yet were
It not an easy problem to resolve why grass is green.
Sir T. Brovme.
The Conclusion is the Problem (problema)i question
(qutestio, qutesitio), which was originally asked, stated now
as a decision. The Problem is usually omitted in the ex-
pression of a syllogism, but is one of its essential parts.
Sir W. Hamilton, Logic, xv.
Few researches can be conducted in any one line of in-
quiry without sooner or later abutting on some metaphysi-
cal jjroftiem, were it only that of Force, Matter, or Cause
G. H. Lewes, Probs. of life and Mind, I. i 1 8.
Specifically — 2. In peowi., a proposition requir-
ing some operation to be performed or construc-
tion to be executed, as to bisect a line, and the
like. It differs from a theorem in that the latter re-
quires something to be proved, a relation or identity to bfr
shown or established. The Greek word is used in this
sense by Pappus, in the third century after Christ
problem
^hJ°?1P^^®^'*^'^^™i*ies,apublic disputation.
r™?,?^"*®^^'^°''l8"'- See (t&roJide.— JUhazen'B prob-
lem, the problem from two given points in the plafie of a
given circle to draw lines intersecting on the o&cumfer-
ence and making equal angles with the tangent at the
point of intersection.- ApoUoniuB'a problem, the prob.
lem to draw a cuyle tangent to three given cirolea in a
plane. This celebrated problem was proposed, accord-
ing to Pappus, by ApoUonius in his work on contacts.—
BUBScnop'B problems, the following problems : (1) to
cut a square into eight pieces which wUl fit together to
maSe two squares, one twice as large as the other: (2) to
out a regular hexagon into five parts which will make a
square ; (3) to cut a regular pentagon Into seven parts
which will make a square.— Characteristic problem.
Bee eliaractenstui.—Chees problem, a given position of
chess pieces in which it is required that one side mate
the other (or sometimes compel the other to give mate) in
a stipulated number of moves.— Comparative prob-
lem, a question in regard to the degree of any quali-
fy possessed by any subject.- Crown, Delian, deter-
minate problem. See the qualifying words.— Fer-
mat's problem, given two media separated by a plane
and the velocities of light in them, to find the path of
quickest transmission between two given points.- Flor-
entine, goniometrical, imperial, indeterminate, in-
verse problem. See the adjectives. — Gergonne's prob-
lem, the problem to cut a cube so that the section shall
enter at a diagonal of one face and emerge at the non-
parallel diagonal of the opposite face, making the surface
of section the smallest possible.— Huygens's problem, a
problem proposed by Christian Huygens in 1669, to this
efleot : a given number of perfectly elastic spheres lie in
one straight line ; the masses of the first and last are
known; the first strikes the second with a given velocity;
what must the masses of the intermediate ones be to make
the velocity imparted to the last a maximum? This was
solved by Huygens for three bodies, by Lagrange in 1759
for five, and by Picart In 1874 completely.— Isoperimet-
rical problem, a problem relating to a maximum or
minimum condition to be fulfilled by the form of a func-
tion : so called because the earliest problems of this kind
were of isoperimetiy in the narrower sense. — Kepler's
problem, the problem from a given point on the diam-
eter of a semicircle to draw a line dividing the area in a
given proportion; to solve the equation a = x — bsinsc;
to find the position of a planet at a given time from its
elements. This problem, of capital Importance, was pro-
posed by Kepler in 1609. — L'Huilier'B problems, the
following problems : (1) to out a given triangular prism
so that the plane section shall be equal to a given triangle ;
(2) on a given triangle as base to erect an oblique prism
so that the perpendicular section shall be similar to a
given triangle. — Limited problem, in Tnath., a problem
&at has but one solution, or some determinate number
of solutions. — Linear, local, notional problem. See
the adjectives. — Malfatti'S problem, a problem of ele-
mentary geometry, mentioned by Pappus about 300, but
first solved by Gianfranoesco Malfatti (1731-1807) in 1788 :
namely, to inscribe in a given triangle three circles, each
touching two sides of the triangle, and all tangent to one
another. The best construction was given by Steiner in
1826.— Mechanical solution of a problem. See me-
ehameal. — ^Nonius's problem, the problem to find the
day of shortest twilight for a given latitude.— Pap-
pus's problem, in a given circle to inscribe a triangle
whose sides produced shall contain three given points.
— Fell's problem, the problem to solve the equation
ai2 — A3/2= ±B.— Fetersburg problem, a celebrated
problem in probabilities, to determine how much ought
to be paid for the assurance of being paid $2'«, where m is
the number of times that a coin will be tossed up without
coming up head : so called because mentioned by Daniel
Bernoulli in the Memoirs of the St. Petersburg Academy,
but already treated by Nicolas Bernoulli the first in 1713.
— Pfaff's problem, the problem to transform an expres-
sion Xi da!i + Xa ax2 + . . . into another of similar
form wfth a given number of tei-ms, and to determine the
smallest possible number of terms.— Fothenot's prob-
lem, to find a point from which two given segments are
seen under given angles.— Froblem of duration Of
play, to find the probability that one player will ruin
another within a given number of bets, and the probable
number of beta before he is ruined.— Problem of
squaring the circle. See squaring.— VroVisva. of the
couriers. See courier.— Problem of the duplication.
See dwpKeaMm Froblem of the inscription of the
heptagon, the impossible problem to inscribe a regu-
lar heptagon in a circle with a rule and compass.—
Froblem of the school-girls, the problem to show
how fifteen school-girls might walk out in ranks of three
eveiy day for a week, without any one walking a second
time in the same rank with any other.— Problem of thJee
bodies, the problem to determine the motions of tliree
mutually gravitating particles.— Sursolid problem, in
mMh., A problem which cannot be resolved but by curves
of a higher kind than the conic sections.— Vlviani'B
problem, to pierce a hemispherical dome with four equal
windows so uiat the rest of the surface shall be quad-
rable.
problematic (prob-le-mat'ik), a. [= F. pro-
bUmaMqtw = Sp. prohlemdtico = Pg. It. protle-
matico, < L. prohlematieus, < Qr. irpo^^Ti/iaTiKdg,
pertaining to a problem, < wpdpiv/ia^T-), a prob-
lem : see problem.'] 1 . Of the nature of a prob-
lem; questionable; uncertain; unsettled; dis-
putable ; doubtful.
The probability of foreign rivalry was not believed in, or
was treated as at least distant and prMematus.
W. B. dreg. Misc. Essays, 1st ser., p. 3.
2. In logic,' oi the nature of a question, pos-
sible or doubtful.
I caU a concept problematic if it is not self-contradic-
tory, andif, as limiting other concepts, it is oonneotod with
other kinds of knowledge, while its objective reality can-
not be known in any way. . . The concept of a no'ime.
non is problematical-that is, the representation of a thing
of which we can neither say that it is possible nor that it
is impossible, because we have no conception of any kind
4743
of intuition but that of our senses, or of any kind of con-
cepts but of OUT categories, neither of them being appli-
cable to any extrasensuous object.
Karit, Critique of Pure Keason (tr. by Muller), iii.
Problematic proposition. See propoifUion.
problematical (prob-le-mat'i-kal), a. [< prob-
lematic + -al.'] Same as problematic.
Wagers are laid in the city about our success, which is
yet, as the French call it, prMemaiical.
Johnson, to Mrs. Thrale, Nov. 1, 1777.
problematically (prob-le-mat'i-kal-i), adv. [<
problematical + -ly'^.'] In a problematic man-
ner: doubtfully; dubiously; uncertainly.
problematist (prob'lem-a-tist), n. [< Gfr. ■Kp6-
p'hl/ia{T-), a problem, +"4st.'i One who pro-
poses problems. [Kara.]
This letiineA problematist.
Evelyn, To Dr. Beale> Aug. 27, 1688.
problematize (prob'lem-a-tiz), V. i.; pret. and
pp. problematized, ppr. problematising. [< Gr.
■Kp6fi\ijim(j-'), a problem, + ^«e.] To propose
problems.
Tip. ^esc^im prdblemMize.
Pru, Bless us, what's that?
Tip. Or syllogize, elenchize. B. Jonsan, New Inn, IL 2.
pro bono publico (pro bo'no pub'li-ko). [L. :
pro, for; bono, abl. of bonum, good; publico,
abl. ot publicus, public: see^jro, bona, public.']
For the public good.
Froboscidse (pro-bos'i-de), n. pi. pOJ., for
*Probos(yididee,<Grr. npopoaidg (-/c«J-), proboscis,
-I- ■4dsc.'] The family of the elephants: now-
called ElephanUdw.
proboscidal (pro-bos'i-dal), a. [< L. proboscis
{-dd-), < Gr. npofioaKli {-ki6-), proboscis, + -al.']
Same as proboscidiform.
A proboscidal prolongation of the oral organs. Shuckard.
proboscidate (pro-bos'i-dat), a. [< 'L. proboscis
(-cid-),<. Grr. wpojS'oaKlg (-rad-), proboscis, + -afel.]
Having a proboscis; proboscidean Probosci-
date insect, an insect having a proboscidate mouth. —
Proboscidate mouth, in entom., a hausteltate mouth ; a
mouth in which the organs are modified to form a probos-
cis, as in most flies. See cut under lumsejly.
proboscide (pro-bos'id), n. [< P. proboscide,
< L. proboscis,' proboscis: see proboscis.] In
her., the trunk of an elephant used as a bear-
ing or part of a bearing.
Proboscidea (pro-bo-sid'e-a), n.pl. [NL. (Illi-
ger, 1811), < L. proboscis X-'cid-), < Grr. irpo^oadg
(-Md-), proboscis: see probosms.'] 1. An order
of Mammalia having a long flexible proboscis
or trunk, it now contains only the elephants and
their allies, as the mammoths and mastodons. The legs
are mostly exserted beyond the common integument of
the trunk, and all their joints are extensible in a right
line. Tlie teeth are enameled; the incisors are — in the
living elephants two above and none below, in some ex-
tinct Frobosaidaa none above and two below, or two
above and below, any of which may be developed into
long tusks curving out of the moutii. The feet are all
five-toed, so far as is known, incased in broad shallow
hoofs, one to each digit, and the palmar and plantar
surfaces ai'e padded. The carpal bones are broad and
short, in two separate, not interlocking, rows ; the scaphoid
and lunar are separate from each other ; the cuneiform is
broad, extended inward, and attached to the ulna; the
unciform is directly in front of the cuneiform, and the
magnum in front of the lunar ; in the hind foot the as-
tragalus articulates in front only with the navicular. The
placenta is deciduate, zonary. The Proboscidea belong to
the higher or educabilian series of placental mammals.
Their nearest living relatives are the Eyracoidea. There
are 2 ismilies—Eleplmntidse, containing the elephants,
mammoths, and mastodons, and Binotherildse, the dino-
theres, the latter all extinct, the former now represented
by on^ 2 living species. See cuts under THnotherLum,
eleplumt, ElepfMTiUnse, and MastodovUnse.
2. A class of corticate protozoans, also called
Rkyndhoflagellata, represented by the noctilu-
oans. E. B. Larikester.
proboscidean (pro-bo-sid'e-an), a. and to. [<
L. proboscis (-ddr), < Gr. irpopoads (-ki6-), pro-
boscis, + -e-an.] 1. a. 1. Having a proboscis
or trunk; proboscidate or proboscidif erous ;
belonging to the mammalian order Probo-
scidea.— 2. Of or pertaining to a proboscis: as,
"the proboscidean sheath of the Nemertines,"
En(yc. Brit., XXIV. 184.
Also probosddial, proboscoid.
Proboscidean flukes, the trematoids of the family Te-
probouleutic
proboscidian (pro-bo-sid'i-an), a. and n. [<
L. proboscis (-cid-), < Gr. w'popoaidc (-/ad-), pro-
boscis, + -ia*.] Same a,s proboscidean.
Froboscidifera (pro-bos-i-dif 'e-ra), k-j)?. [NL.,
neut. pi. ot proboscidif er : see'probosddif erous.]
A division of pectinibranchiate gastropods with
a small head, a proboscis retractile under the
base of the tentacles, and variable teeth on a
long cartilaginous lingual ribbon, it includes a
large number of carnivorous gastropods, among the best-
known of which are the Muriddss and the Buceinidse,
Contrasted with Rostrifera.
proboscidiferous Cpro-bos-i-dif'e-rus), a. [<
NL. probosddif&r, s L. proboscis {-cid-), probos-
cis, + ferre = E. bear'^.] 1. Having a probos-
cis.— 2. In conch., pertaining to the Probosd-
difera.
proboscidiform (pro-bos'i-di-f6rm), a. [< L.
proboscis (-dd-), proboscis, -I- forma, form.]
Proboscis-like . Also proboscidal, frobosdform,
probosdformed.
probosciform (pro-bos'i-f6rm), o. [(.'L.pro-
bosds, proboscis, -I- forma, form.] Same as pro-
bosddiform. Encyo. Diet.
probosciformed (pro-bos'i-f6rmd), a. [< pro-
bosdform -h -ed^.] Same as proboscidiform.
The surface of theprobosd/ormed mouth, facing the first
pa?r of cirri, has a deep central longitudinal fold,
Darwin, Cirripedla, p. 176.
Probosciger (pro-bos 'i-j6r), n. [NL. (Kuhl,
1820), < L. probosds, proboscis, + perere, carry.]
A genus of black cockatoos : synonymous with
Microglossa.
proboscigerous (pro-bo-si j 'g-rus), a. [< L. pro-
boscis, proboscis, -I- gerere, carry.] Having a
proboscis; proboscidiferous.
proboscis (pro-bos'is), n.; pi. probosddes (-i-
dez). [= F.hrobosdde = Sp. probdsdde = Pg.
probosds = It. probosdde, proboscis, < L. pro-
boscis, < Gr. TTpopoaidg (^mS-), the trunk or pro-
boscis of an elephant, the proboscis of a fly,
an arm of a cuttlefish, < irpd, before, -1- pdoKstv,
feed, graze.] 1. An elephant's trunk; hence,
a long flexible snout, as the tapir's, or the
nose of the proboscis-monkey. See cut under
Nasalis.
The unwieldy elephant.
To make them mirth, used all his might, and wreathed
His lithe proboscis. Milton, P. L., iv. 347.
2. Any proboscidiform part or organ; anything
that sticks out in front of an animal like an ele-
phant's trunk. See cut under Cystophorinse. (a)
The human nose, especially when very large. tHumorous.)
(&) In entom. : (1) The rostrum or beak of a rhynchoph-
orous beetle, or snout-beetle. (2) The long coiled haus-
tellate organ of lepidopterous insects; an antlia. See cut
under haustellum. (3) The sucking-mouth of a fly, a cylin-
drical membranous or fleshy organ terminating in a dilated
portion which is applied to the substance to be sucked up.
(^&Q prommscis, and cut under home-Jly.) (4) The extensi-
ble mouth-organs of a bee, consisting of the labium and
lingua with their various divisions, and the maxillse, united
at Uieir bases with the labium, (c) In Vermes, a diversi-
form buccal, oral, or pharyngeal organ of many worms,
as errant annelids, gephyreans, turbellarians, and nemer-
teans. In the last the proboscis is a tubular invaglnated
eversible organ opening in the anterior part of the body
above the mouth, formed by a differentiation of the in-
tegument; it is variable in details of structure: it may
be divided, colled, glandulous, and furnished with stylets,
a retractor muscle, etc. (For various probosddes of this
kind, see cuts under Aeanthocephala, Baianoglossus, Ces-
toides. Nereis, Proctucha, Bhabdocaela, and Rhynchoccela.')
(d) In conch., the tongue of certain gastropods, such as
shell-snails, when it is so long as to be capable of being
protruded for some distance from the mouth, in which
case it is used for boring the shells of other testaceans,
and for destroying by suction the soft parts of the in-
habitant : distinguished from rostrum, (e) In polyps, the
central polypite of a medusan. (/) In gregarines, the
epimerite.
proboscis-monkey (pro-bos'is-mung"ki), n. A
• semnopithecine ape, Nasalis larvatus; a ka-
hau : so called from the elongated and flexible
snout, which resembles the human nose in size
and shape. See cut under Nasalis.
proboscis-rat (pro-bos'is-rat), n. Same as ele-
ii. n. A mammal of the order Proboscidea ;
an eiephantid or dinotheriid.
Also probosddian.
proboscideous (pro-bo-sid'e-us), o. [< L. pro-
bosds (-cid-), < Gr. Trpo^oaKig (-Kid-), proboscis,
-i- -ecus.] 'in. bot., having a hardT terminal
horn, as the fruit of Martynia. Treasury of
proboscides, n. Latin plural of probosds.
proboscidial (pro-bo-sid'i-al), a. [< L. probos-
ds (-dd-), < Gr. wpopomic (-lad-), proboscis, +
•ial.] Same as probosddean.
proboscoid (prp-bos'koid), a. [< Gr. irpopoadc,
proboscis, + elSoc, form.] Same as proboscidr
can.
probouleutic (pr6-b5-lii'tik), a. [< Gr. irpo/Soi-
IsvaLQ (-/le»r-), previous deliberation (cf. MGr.
■Kpapovlmrriig, one who deliberates before), <
irpopovMiew, contrive before, < vp6, before, +
^ovisieiv, take counsel, deliberate : see boule^.]
Concerned with the preparation of measures
for action: noting speciflcally the Senate, or
Council of Five Hundred, in the ancient Athe-
nian constitution.
A misapprehension as to the powers of theKoman Senate,
which is represented as being a probouleiMc body, like
that of Athens, which prepared business for the Assembly.
W. F. Allen, Penn. Monthly, Feb., 1879, p. 124.
procacious
procacious (pro-ka'shus), a. [= OP, procace =
It. procace, < L. procax (,-ac-), forward, bold,
shameless, impudent, < procare, ask, demand,
akin to precari, pray : see pray^J] Pert ; petu-
lant; saucy.
I confesa these [personal comeliDess and beauty] are
commonly but the temptations of women and procacious
youth. Baxter, Self-Denial, xliv.
Now abating a procaeiaus youth, now heartening a shy
homely one. Dr. J, Brown, Spare Houre^ 3d ser., p. 297.
procacity (pro-kas'i-ti), n. [= OF. procadte =
Sp. procaciddd = I*g. procacidade = It. proca-
citit, < L. proeaeita{fi)s, forwardness, impu-
dence, < procax (,-ac-), forward, bold: see proca-
cious.'] Impudence; petulance.
In vaine are all your knaveries,
Delights, deceipts, procaciHes.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 641.
procambiy. (pro-kam'bi-al), a. [< procambiifm
+ -al.] In oo't., pertaining to or resembling
the procambium.
A procambiai bundle being first formed.
Mneye. Brit., IV. 106.
procambium (pro-kam'bi-um), n. [NL., < L.
pro, before, + NL. cambium: see cambium^.]
In bot., a long-celled initial strand of a vascular
bundle; a similar or homogeneous formative
cell of a bundle. Compare cambium^.
This mass [of elongated cells] is termed the proeamMum
of the flbro-rascular bundle. Eneyo. Brit., IV. 93.
procardium (pro-kar'di-um), n. ; pi. proeardia
(-a). [NL., < Gfr. npd, before, + Kopdia = E.
lie'art.'] The pit of tiie stomach; the scrobiou-
lus cordis.
procarp (pro'karp), ». [< NL. proearpivm, <
6r. irpd, before, + napirdg, a fruit.] In 6o(., in
certain algse and fuiigi, a unicellular or pluri-
eellular female sexual organ, which consists of
a filamentous receptive part called the tricho-
gyne and a dilated part called the carpogonium.
The protoplasm is not rounded off to form an ofisphere,
but is excited by fertilization to a process of growth which
results in a sporocarp.
In the FloridecB it is the procarpium (procarp), which
consists of a single cell or a small cell-group.
Ve Bary, Fungi (trans.), p. 121.
procarpium (pro-kar'pi-um), n. ; pi. procarpia
(-a), [^li.: see procarpj] Same as jirocarp.
procatalectic (pro-kat-a-lek'tik), a. [< Gr. n-pd,
before, -t- KaraAriiiTiKS;, leaving off: see cataleciic.
Cf . vpoKaralriysiv, leave off beforehand. ] In anc,
pros., catalectie at the beginning ; wanting the
arsis (metrically unaccented partj of the first
foot. Thus, the following colon in an iambic
period is procatalectic: .£■ ^ -e y.^ .e. s.., .e. (for
^ .£ w -£ w .£ w -i).
procatarctict (pro-ka-tark'tik), a. [< Gr. vpo-
KarapKTiKds, beginningbef orehand, being the im-
mediate cause, < ■upoKaTo.fixeiv, begin first, < irpd,
before, + narapxetv, begin upon, < nard, upon,
+ &px^tv, be first, begin.] Being the immedi-
ate causes ii med., noting a cause which im-
mediately kindles a disease into action when
there exists a predisposition to it. The proca-
tarctie cause is often denominated the exciting
cause. See efflcient cause, under efficient.
procatarcticalf (pro-ka-tark'ti-kal), a. [< pro-
eatarctic + -a?.] Same a,s procdiarcUc.
The proeatamtical and proegumenal causes are of great
use in physick ; for the physicians reduce almost all dis-
eases to three causes : procatareUedi, proegumenal, and sy-
nectical or containing. Tbeproeatarctical is with them the
external and evident cause. . . . For example : The pro-
cataretical cause of the fever is either cold or the as&in-
gent bathes. Bmrg&rsdieivs, tr. by a Gentleman, L 17.
procatarxlst (pro-ka-tark'sis), n. [< Gr. Trpoxd-
rapSts, a first beginning, < vpoKaT&pxeiv, be^
first: see procatarctic.'] In med., the Mndlmg
of a disease into action by a procatarctic cause,
when a predisposition exists; also, the proca-
tarctic cause of a disease.
procatliedral(pr6-ka-the'dral),M. [<L.j)ro,for,
+ ML. cathedralis, a cathedral: see cathedral.]
A church used temporarily as a cathedral.
procedef, v. i. An obsolete spelling ot proceed.
procedendo (pro-sf-den'do), n. [L., abl. sing,
gerundive ot]jroce'dere, go forward, proceed : see
proceed.] In law, a writ which formerly issued
out of the English Court of Chancery in the exer-
cise of its common-law jurisdiction, when judges
of any subordinate court wrongfully delayed the
parties, and would not give judgment either on
the one side or on the other. It commanded the
Judges to proceed to give judgment, without specifying
any particular judgment to be given. A writ of proce-
dendo also lay where an action had been removed from
an inferior to a superior court, and It appeared to the su-
perior court that it was removed on insufficient gronnds.
procedure (pro-se'dur), n. [< OP. procedure,
F. prueeduie = It' proeedura, < li. proeedere.
4744
go forward^ proceed: see proceed.] If. The act
of proceeding or moving forward ; progress.
He overcame the difficulty in defiance of all such pre-
tences as were made even from religion itself to obstruct
the better procedure of real and material religion.
Jer. Taylor, Works, IIL vli.
3. Manner of proceeding or acting; a course
or mode of action ; conduct.
Those more complex intellectualTn'oceiZurM which acute
thinkers have ever employed.
B. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol.
He would learn if they
Ck>nnive at Fym's procedure!
Browming, Strafford.
3. A step taken; an act performed; a proceed-
ing.— 4t. That which proceedsfromsomething;
product.
No known substance but earth, and the procedures of
earth, as tile and stone. Bacon,
5. The modes, collectively, of conducting busi-
ness, especially deliberative business; specifi-
cally, in law, the modes of conduct of litigation
and judicial business, as distinguished from
that branch of the law which gives or defines
rights. It includes practice, pleading, and evi-
dence.
By itself indeed the lately revealed Irish law would carry
us a very little way. Its great peculiarity is the extraor-
dinary prominence it gives to Procedwre.
Maine, Early Law and Custom, p. 374.
Civil procedure ... is chiefly intended to realize and
enforce the legalized interests or "rights" of individuals.
Pdm. Sei. Quarterly, II. 123.
Common-lawproceduze acts. See common — New or
reformed procedure. See equity, 2(&).=Syn. 2. Pro-
ceeding, Operation, etc. See process.
proceed (pro-sed'), v. i. [Early mod. E. also
procede; < ME. proceden, < OP. proceder, P.
£ rodder = Sp. Pg. proceder = It. proeedere, <
. procedure, go forth, go forward, advance,
come forth, issue, go on, result, proceed, < pro,
forth, + cedere, go: see cede.] 1. To move,
pass, or go forward or onward; continue or re-
new motion or progress ; advance ; go on, lit-
erally or figuratively: as, to proceed on one's
journey; the vessel touched at Queenstown, and
then proceeded on her voyage.
Come, cite them, Crites, first, and then proceed.
B. Jtmson, Cynthia's Bevels, T. 3.
Hadst thou . . . proceeded
The sweet degrees that this brief world affords.
Shak., T. of A., Iv. 3. 262.
Proceeding the space of a flight-shoot, they flmde another
Arch, like vnto the first. Purchas, Pllg^mage, p. 269.
I shaU . . . proceed to more complex ideas.
Locke, Human Understanding, II. xviii. 2.
Having already mentioned those Speeches which are
assigned to the Persons in this Poem, 1 proceed to the De-
scription which the Poet gives us ot KaphaeL
Addison, Spectator, No. 327.
2. To issue or come, as from an origin, source,
or fountain; go forth: with from.
Excnse me that I am so free with you ; what I write
proceeds from the clear Current of a pure Affection.
Howell, Letters, I. T. 11.
From the death of the old the new proceeds.
WhitHer, The Preacher.
3. To carry on some series of actions ; set one's
self at work and go on in a certain way and for
some particular purpose ; act according to some
method.
If you promise vs peace, we will beleene you ; it you
proceed in revenge we will abandon the Country.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 226.
From them I will not hide
My judgments, how with mankind I proceed.
MiUon,V. L.,xl.69.
He that proceeds on other principles in his inquiry into
any sciences posts himself in a party. iMske.
But how severely with themselves proceed
The men who write such verse as we can read t
Pope, Imlt. of Hor., IL IL 167.
4t. To be transacted or carried on; be done;
pass; go on.
He win, after his sour fashion, tell you
What hath proceeded worthy note to-day.
£%ai:.,J. G.,L2.180.
5. To begin and carry on a legal action; take
any step in the course of procedure : as, to pro-
ceed against an offender. — 6. To come into
effect or action. [Bare.]
This rule only proceeds and takes place when a person
cannot of common law condemn another by his sentence.
Ayliffe, Parergon.
7. To take an academic degree: now used only
in the universities of Great Britain and Ireland.
" To proceed master " is an abbreviated form of
*' to proceed to the degree of master."
Ignorance in stQtB . . .
With parrot tongue perform'd the scholar's part,
Proceeding soon a graduated dunce.
Cowper, Task, il. 739.
proceleusmatic
The oldest [surviving graduate] proceeded Bachelor of
Arts the very Commencement at which Dr. Stiles wns
elected to the Presidency.
Woolsey, Discourse, Yale ColL, Aug. 14, 1860, p. 38.
^College Words.)
=Syn. 2. To arise, emanate, flow, accrue, result, be de-
rived.
proceed (pro'sed), n. [Early mod. E. alsopro-
cede; < proceed, v.] The amount proceeding
or accruing from some possession or transac-
tion ; especially, the sum derived from the sale
of goods: now used only in the plural: as, the
consignee was directed to sell the goods for-
warded and invest the proceeds in coffee.
The only Procede (that I may use the mercantile Term)
you can expect is Thanks, and this Way shall not be want-
mg to malce you rich Betums. Howell, Letters, I. L 29.
Net proceeds. See net^.— Proceeds of a cargo, in gen-
eral, the return or substituted cargo, acquired Dy sale or
exchange ot the goods originally shipped. Dow v. Hope
Ins. Co., 1 Hall, 166.
proceeder (pr6-se'd6r), n. 1. One who pro-
ceeds or goes forward; one who makes a pro-
gress.
Let him not set himself too great nor too small tasks ;
for the first will make him dejected by often tailing, and
the second will make him a small proceeder, though by
often prevailing. Bacon, Nature in Men (ed. 1887).
Specifically — 2. One who takes an academic
degree.
A little before the Reformation, the greatest part of the
proceeders in divinity at Oxford were monks and Begular
canons.
Tanner, quoted in Forewords to Babees Book, p. xxxvL
proceeding (pro-se'ding), n, [Verbal n. otpro-
ceed, v.] 1. A going forward; a procession;
the act of one who proceeds; especially, a
measure or step taken ; a doing; a transaction:
as, an illegal proceeding; a cautious proceed-
ing; a violent proceeding, in the plural the term
is specifically applied to suits and judicial actions of al]
kinds involving nghte of persons or of propei'ty, as well
as to the course of steps or measures in the prosecution
of actions at law : as, to institute proceedings against a
person.
The proceeding was thus ordered : viz.. First the City
Marshal, to follow in the rear of His Majesty's Life Guards.
England's Joy (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 29).
The clerk . . . should keep a record of the proceedings.
Robert, Bules ot Order, § 61.
We have learned some of us to approve, and more per-
haps to acquiesce in, proceedings which our fathers looked
on as in the last degree unrighteous and intolerable.
StvXbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 3.
2t. Advancement.
Hy dear dear love
To yaar proceeding bids me tell you this.
Shah., J. C, ii. 2. 103.
3. pi. A record or account of the transactions
of a society : as, the Proceedings of the Amer-
ican Philological Association. The proceedings of
this and other societies differ from the tranaa^stions, in that
the proceedings are the record ot all the business done,
with mere abstracts of the papers read, while the <ran«ae-
tions consist of the papers themselves.— Collateral pro-
ceeding. See oo22a(era2.— Dispossess procee(Uilgs. See
dfepossess.— Proceeding via executlva, in dm! law, ex-
ecutory process (which see, under executory). — Special
proceedillg, a judicial proceeding other than an action,
as a writ of mandamus, a petition to appoint a trustee,
etc. — Stajr of proceedings. See stay. — Summary pro-
ceedings, in law, certain legal remedies authorized by stat-
ute to be taken without the formal bringing ot an action by
process and pleading— an affidavit laid before a magistrate
under warrant issued thereon being usually substituted ;
more specifically, such proceedings taken £a dispossess a
tenant for non-payment of rent, or for holding over, etc. —
Supplementary proceedings, sometimes called sup-
plemental proceedings, proceedings supplementary to
judgment and execution for theentorcementthereof, when
the execution remains unsatisfied. Courts of equity have
given such a remedy by bill compelling examination of a
debtor under oath, and by injunction against disposing of
his assets ; and the codes ot procedure have added as an
alternative remedy, at the option ot the creditor, a supple-
mentary proceeding, either entitled in the original cause
or a special proceeding issuing out of It, by which, on affi-
davit, an order is granted compelling the debtor, or a
third person holding his assets or indebted to him, to ap-
pear for examination, and forbidding disposal of assets
meanwhile ; and. If assets are discovered, a receiver can
be appointed. =Syn. 1. Procedure, Operotton, etc. (seepro-
cess), measure, performance, step.
proceleusmatic (pros"e-lus-mat'ik), a. and n.
K LL. proceleusmaticus, < Gr. irpoKeTievc/mTijiSg
(sc. voOg), a foot consisting of four short sylla-
blesj lit. 'pertaining to incitement,'< *wpoidAev(j-
l^a, < irpoKsleveiv, arouse to action beforehand,
incite before, < irpd, before, + KeTxveiv, order, <
keIIslv, urge, drive on, incite.] I. a. X. In-
citing; animating; encouraging.
The ancient proceleimnaUcTc song, by which the rowers
of Gallies were animated, may be supposed to have been
of this kind. Johnson, Jour, to Western Isles, p. 140.
2. In prog., consisting, as a metrical foot, of
four short syllables; of or pertaining to feet so
constituted.
proceleusmatic
II. n. In ancpros., a foot consisting of four
short times or syllables. The proceleusmatic
.0* "^ J,^ "^) is tetrasemic and isorrhythmic.
Procellana (pros-e-la'ri-a), n. [NL., < L. pro-
cella, a storm, a hurricane : see procellous.J A
Lmnean genus of Procellariidee, or petrels, for-
merly conterminous with the family, later
variously restricted, now usually confined to
the very small black-and-white species known
as Mother Carey's chickens, as P. pelagica, the
stormy petrel : in this restricted sense synony-
mous with ThalassiAroma of Vigors. See out
under peireZ.
procellarian (pros-e-la'ri-an), a. and n. [<
Proeellaria + -an.'] I. o. 'Df or pertaining to
the genus Proeellaria, in any sense ; resembling
or related to a petrel ; belonging to the family
Procellariidx.
II. n. A member of the genus Proeellaria or
family Proeellariidse ; a petrel of any kind.
Procellariidae (pros"e-la-ri'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Proeellaria + -idse.'] 'A family of oceanic or
pelagic natatorial birds, named from the ge-
nus Proeellaria, belonging to the order Longi-
pennes and suborder IRibinares, having tubular
nostrils, epignathous bill with discontinuous
homy oovermg, and webbed feet with very
small, elevated, functionless or rudimentary
hallux, if any; the petrels. The Proeettariidie are
birds of the high seas, of unsarpassed volitorial powers,
of all birds the most nearly independent of land. They
abound on all seas. There are probably about 90 species,
of numerous modem genera, divisible into three subfam-
ilies— Diomedeinss, albatrosses ; Procellariinse ; and Halo-
drominse, sea-runners; to which is to be added Oceani-
Unas, if the so-called Oeeanitidse are referred back to this
family. Also Procellariadx, ProceUaridee.
Procellariinse (pros-e-la-ri-i'ne), n. pi. [NL.,
< Proeellaria + -Mia?.] The largest and leading
subfamily of Proeellariidse; this family, divested
of the albatrosses and sea-runners ; the petrels
proper. They are characterized by the union of the nos-
trils in one double-barreled tube lying horizontally on the
base of the culmen, and the presence of a hallux, however
minute. There are five groups of species— the fulmars ;
the petrels of the genus (Eelrelata and its relatives ; the
stormy petrels ; the shearwaters or hagdens ; and the saw-
billed petrels. The genus Oeeanites and three others, usu-
ally ranged with the stormy petrels, are sometimes de-
tached as type of a family Oceanitidx. Also Procellarinse.
See cuts under Daption, fiUmar, hagden, (Estrelatat petrel,
and shearwater.
procellas (pro-sel'as), n. [Ori^n unknown.]
In glass-blowing, a Jaw-tool for pinching in the
neck of a bottle, or giving to it some peculiar
shape, as it is revolved on the extremity of the
pontU. Also called pueellas. E. M. Knight.
procelloust (pro-sel'us), a. [= OF.procelleux =
Bp. proceloso^'Pg.lt.proeellosOjili.procellosus,
tempestuous, boisterous, < proeella, a storm, a
hurricane (by which things are prostrated), <
proeelUre, throw down, prostrate, < pro, for-
ward, + *cellere, drive, urge: see excel, celerity. J
Stormy. Bailey, 1731.
procephalic (pro-se-fal'ik or pro-sef'a-lik), a.
[< (Jr. Kp6, before, + lat^ayi, head.] 1. Of or
pertaining to the fore part of the head. — 2. In
Crustacea, specifically noting certain lobes or
processes which form an anterior part of the
wall of the head. See the quotation.
Two flat calcified plates, which appear to lie in the in-
terior of the head (though they are really situated in its
front and upper wall) on each side of the base of the ros-
trum, and are called the procephalie processes.
Buxley, Crayfish, p. 160.
3. In arw. pros., same as macrocephalic — Pro-
cephalic lobe, one of a pair of rounded expansions, de-
veloped on the anterior end of the ventral aroect of the
embryo of arthropods, which becomes one side and part
of the front of the head.
The neural face of the embryo is fashioned first, and
its anterior end terminates in two rounded expansions—
the procephalie lobes. Huxley, Anat. Invert, p. 219.
proceptionf (pro-sep'shon), n. [< L. as if *pro-
cepUo{n-), < pro, before, + capere, pp. captus
(in comp. -ceptus), take : see capable. Of. con-
cepUon, inception, perception, etc.] The act of
taking or seizing something beforehand; pre-
occupation. [Bare.]
Having so little power to offend others that I have none
to preserve what is mine own from tbelr proeeption.
^ Eikon BaeUike.
proceret (pro-ser'), a- [= Sp. prdeer, procero =
Pg. It. procero,< L. procerus, high, taU, long, <
pro, for, before, + y/cer- as in ereare, create: see
weate.] High; taU; lofty. Also procerous.
Such lignous and woody plants as me hard of substance,
procere of stature. Evayn, Sylva, Int., § in.
procerebral (pro-ser'f-bral), o. [< procere-
br-um + -««.] Pertaining to the fore-bram or
procerebriim ; prosencephalic.
4745
procerebnun (pro-ser'e-bmm), n. [NL., < L.
pro, before, + cerebrum, the brain.] The fore-
brain, comprising the cerebral hemispheres,
corpora striata, and olfactory lobes; the pros-
encephalon.
proceres (pros'e-rez), n.pl. [L., pi. of procer,
larely promts, a'chief, noble, magnate; ci. pro-
cents, high.: see procere, a.] 1. The nobles or
magnates of a country.
In 1328 it was with the counsel and consent of the prel-
ates oaA proceres, earls, barons, and commons, that Edward
resigned bis claims on Scotland.
Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 294.
2. leap."] [NL.] In Sundevall's system, an or-
der of birds: same as the Proceri of Uliger.
Proceri (pro-se'ri), n.pl. [NL., pi. of li. proce-
rus, high : see procere.] In ornith., in IlTiger's
system of classification, a group of birds, the
same as BaUteeot Merrem, embracing the stru-
thious birds, or ostriches and their allies: so
called from their procere or tall stature.
Procerida (pro-ser'i-de), «. pi. [NL., < Proce-
rus + -idee.] A family of coleopterous insects,
named by Laporte in 1834 from the genus Pro-
cerus, and now merged with the Carabidee.
procerite (pros'e-rit), n. [< Gr. irpd, before, +
Kcpac, horn, + ^fe2.] in Crustacea, the long
many-jointed filament which terminates the
antenna or feeler of many species, as lobsters
and crawfish, it constitutes nearly the whole length*
of the organ in such cases, the several other named joints
of the feeler being short and close to the base. It is the
last one of a series of joints named coxocerite, baticerUe,
scaphocerite, ischiocerite, merocerlte, ea/rpocerite, and pro-
cervte, and is an excellent illustration of an organ with so
many joints (technically mii/ointe) that they are not taken
into separate morphological consideration. See cuts un-
der antennas, Astacus, lobster, and Palinnirus.
proceritic (pros-e-rit'ik), a. [iprocerite + -ic]
Pertaining to the procerite of a crustacean.
procerity (pro-ser'i-ti), ». [< OF. procerite, P.
vroc4irit6 = Bv.proceridad= Pg. proceridade =
It. proceritd,, < L. proceritas, height, tallness, <
procerus, high, tall: see procere.] Tallness;
loftiness.
They were giants for their cruelty and covetous oppres-
sion, and not in stature ot procerity of body.
Latxmer, Sermon bef. Bdw. VI., 1650.
Experiments In consort touching thej»'o<!eri<!/,andlow-
ness, and aitiflciall dwarfing ot trees.
Baem,, Nat. Hist., § 532, note.
His insufferable jirocerftj/ of stature, and uncorrespond-
ing dwarflshness of observation.
Lamb, Popular Fallacies, xiil.
procerous (pro-se'rus), a. [< li.procerus, high,
tall: see procere.] If. Qa.TnB &s procere.
The compasse about the wall of this new mount is five
hundreth toot, . . . andtheproceroiustatureof it, so em-
bailing and girdling in this mount, twentie foot and sixe
inches. Nashe, Lenten StuSe (HarL Misc., VI. 153).
2. Tall, as a bird; belonging to the Proceres
or Proceri.
Procerus (pros'e-rus), n. [NL. (Megerle, 1821),
< Gr. irpd, before, + Kepaq, horn.] 1. A genus
of beetles, giving name to the family Proceridse,
containing a number of east European and west
Asiatia species, found on forest-covered moim-
tain-slopes. These beetles resemble Carabus,
but differ in having the anterior tarsi simple in
both sexes. — 2. [i. c; t^\. proceri (-li).] A py-
ramidal muscle on the bridge of the nose, more
fully aaW-ei procerus nasi &uA.pyramidalis nasi.
Procervulus (pr6-s6r'vu-lus), n. [NL. (Gaudry,
1878), < L. pro,''betoie', + NL. cervulm, q. v.]
A Miocene genus of Cervidse.
process (pros'es), n. [Early mod. E. alsoproces,
processe; < ME. proeesse, proces, proses, < OP.
proces, P. proems = Sp. ^roceso ■= Pg. It. pro-
cesso,< Li. processus, a going forward, progress,
an appearance, an attack, a projection, lapse
of time, < procedere, pp. processus, go forward,
advance, proceed: see proceed.] _ 1. A proceed-
ing or moving forward; progressive movement;
gradual advance ; continuous proceeding.
So multeply je sail
Ay f lirth in fayre proeesse.
York Plays, p. 13.
That there is somewhat higher than either of these two
no other proof doth need than the very process ot man's
desire. Hooker.
The whole vast sweep of our surrounding prospect lay
answering in a myriad fleeting shades the cloudy process
of the tremendous sky. H. James, Jr. , Pass. Pilgrim, p. 41.
2. Course; lapse; a passing or elapsing; pas-
sage, as of time.
And therfor we muste abide, and wirke he proeesse ot
tyme. Hampole, Prose Treatises (B. E. T. S.), p. 20.
By proces, as ye knowen everichoon,
Men may so longe graven in a stoon
Til some figure therinne emprented be.
Chmuxr, Frankhn's Tale, 1. 101.
process
Swich fire by processe shal of kynde colden.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. Hi.
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turn'd
Tu process of the seasons have 1 seen.
Shak., Sonnets, civ.
The thoughts of men are widen'd with the process ot the
suns. Tennysfm, Locksley HalL
3. Manner of proceeding or happening; way
in which something goes on ; course or order
of events.
ifow I pas will to Pirrus by proses agayne.
VestrueKon of Troy (E. B. T. S.)i L 13870.
Commend me to your honourable wife ;
Tell her the process ot Antonio's end.
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 274.
Our parts that are the spectators, or should hear a com-
edy, are to await the process and events of things.
B. Jonson, Magnetick Lady, iv. ^.
Satumian Juno now with double care
Attends the taXai. process of the war.
Dryden, ^neid, vii.
4. An action, operation, or method of treatment
applied to something ; a series of actions or ex-
periments: as, a chemical ^jrocess; a manufac-
turing process/ mental process.
When the result or effect is produced by chemical action,
or by the application of some element or power of nature,
or of one substance to another, such modes, methods, or
operations are called processes.
Piper V. Brovm, 3 Fish. Fat. Cas., 176.
Cable-car lines are in process of construction.
Appleton's Ann. Cyc, 1886, p. 184.
5. Series of motions or changes going on, as in
growth, decay, etc. : as, the process of vegeta-
tion ; the process of decomposition.
He who knows the properties, the changes, and the pro-
cesses of matter mu&t, of necessity, understand the effects.
Bacon, Physical Fables, viL, ExpL
To him was given
Fud many a glimpse . • . oi 'Na.tvie'a processes
Upon the exalted hills.
Wordsworth, On the Side ot the Mountain ot Black Comb.
6. Inlaw: (a) The summons, mandate, or com-
mand by which a defendant or a thing is brought
before the court for litigation : so called as be-
ing the primarjT part of the proceedings, by
wMch the rest is directed. Formerly the superior
common-law courts of England, in the case of personal
actions, differed greatly in their modes ot process ; but
since the passing ot the Process Uniformity Act personal
actions in general, except replevin, are begun in the same
way in all the English courts— namely, by a writ of sum-
mons. In chancery the ordinary process was a writ of sub-
poena. The mode common in probate and ecclesiastical
courts is by a citation or summons. In criminal cases, if
the accused is not already in custody, the process is usu-
ally a writ or warrant.
The Abbot of S. Isidor is of my acquaintance and my
great friend, . . . and now ot late there hath beene pro-
cesse against him to appear in this your audience.
Ouevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 202.
I'll get out process, and attach 'em all.
Middleton (and others), The Widow, IL 1.
The next step for carrying on the suit, after suing out
the original, is called the process ; being the means of com-
pelling the defendant to appear in court.
Blaekstone, Com., III. xix.
They [the bishops] regarded the processes against here-
tics as the most distressing part of their office.
S. W. Diaeon, Hist. Church of Eng., ill.
(6) The whole course of proceedings in a cause,
real or personal, civil or criminal, from the
original writ to the end of the suit. Hence
— 7t. A relation; narrative; story; detailed
account.
But hennes forth I wol my proces holde
To speke of aventures and of batailles.
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, I. 660.
To teche chyldep curtasy is myne entent,
And thus forth my proces I purpos to be-gynne.
Booke of Precedence (B. B. T. S., extra ser.), L 66.
In brief, to set the needless process by.
How I persuaded, how I pray'd, and kneel'd.
How he retell'd me, and how I replied.
Shak., M. tor M., r. 1. 92.
8t. Proclamation.
When Pelleus his proses hade publishit on highe^
And all soburly said with a sad wille,
Jason was Joly of his Juste wordes,
That in presens of the pepuU tho prolers were made.
And mony stythe of astate stonding aboute.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 247.
9. In anat. and eool., a processus; an out-
growth or outgrowing part; a protuberance;
a prominence ; a projection : used in the widest
sense, specific application being made by some
qualifying term: as, eoracoid process.
A third comes out with the important discovery of some
new process in the skeleton of a mole.
Goldsmith, Citizen ot the World, Ixxxix.
10. In 6o*.,aprojeetionfrom a surface; specifi-
cally, in mosses, one of the principal divisions
or segments of the inner peristome. — 1 1 . Same
asplioto-process: commonly used attributively:
process
&s, process hXooks, process outs, process pictures,
etc.
The bare floor was clean, and the walls were hung with
cheap prints of the Icind known as process pictures.
The Standard, VII. 12.
Abating process. Seealiate.— Abuse of process. See
o6«se.— Accessory process. Same as anapophysis.—
Acromial or acromion process. See acromion Ac-
tinic process. See ootinic.— Alax processes, two small
wing-uke processes proceeding from the crista galli in
front against the frontal bone, and partially including the
foramen cseoum.— Albumin process,.in photog. See ai-
Immtn.— Allnasal, alveolar, angular processes. See
the adj ectives. — Ammonia ore process. See ammonia.
—Anconeus process. Same as olecranon. — Annular, an-
teorbital, auditory, autographic process. See the ad-
jectives.—Articularprocess of tbe lower jaw. Seear-
tieular.— Augustin's process, a method of extracting sil-
ver from the ground chloridized ores of that metal, by the
use of a solution of common salt. The silver cWorid, formed
in the chloridizing roasting, is soluble in the saline solu-
tion, a doable eWorld of silver and sodium being formed.
From this solution the silver is precipitated by means of
copper.— Barffs process, a method of protecting the sur-
face of iron from rust by forming upon it a thin film of
magnetic oxid. It is done by subjecting it at a red heat
to the action of superheated steam. — Basic process. See
inuic.— Basilar process. See ixmlar.- Basipterygoid
processes. Seebasipterygoid.—Beet process, in photog.
See iieerl.- Bessemer process, a method, invented by
Bessemer, of decarburizing cast-iron. It is of great im-
portance, since by this process steel can now be made
much more cheaply than was formerly possible. See steeZ.
— Bethell process, a process for preserving wood, con-
sisting in its impregnation with tar, oil of tar, and carbolic
acid : this mixture is commercially known as gallatin, and
is obtained by the distillation of coal. — Bird's-liead pro-
cess, one of the avicularia of a polyzoan, which are shaped
and have a snapping motion like the beak of a bird.— Bitu-
men process, in photog. See Wtvmen. — Boucberie's
process, the injection of a solution of sulphate of copper
into the pores of wood. — Bumettizing process, the in-
troduction of zinc chlorid into the pores of wood. — Capit-
ular, carbon, Carlnthian process. See the qualifying
words. — Cazo process [Sp. cam, a pan], in metal., the
treatment of silver ores in the moist way, with the aid of
heat, which iii the patio process is not used. See patio
vroiiess.- Chenot process, a process, invented by the
French metallurgist Ghenot, for producing cast-steel.
Wrought-iron in the form of a metallic sponge is first ob-
tained directly from the ore by cementation with charcoal.
This iron is then carburized by being impregnated with
some liquid substance rich in carbon, then torrllled, and
finally melted in crucibles, as in the ordinary method of
manufacturing cast-steel. — Gblorination, chlorin, cili-
ary, clay, cllnoid, cocbleariform process. See the
qualifying words. — Collodion process, in photog. See
coKodJoK.— Condyloid process. Same as articular pro-
cess of the lower jaw.— CoiaooiA, coronoid, costal pro-
cess. See the adjectives.— Cordurl^'S process, a meth-
od of dezincification, by the use of superheated steam,
of lead from which the silver has been separated by the
Pavir-e Kvncess.— Creosoting process, the application of
creosote to wood (especially telegraph-poles) for its preser-
vation.-Direct process. See bloomers/.—Jtry process,
fit) In photog., the use of dry plates or films ; specifically,
the use of gelatinobromide emulsions as a sensitive coat-
ing for plates or films which are used in a dry state. See
photography, (b) In fish-cidture, a process of fecundating
spawn, invented by V. P. Vrasski. It differs from the moist
process by requiring two vessels, one for the spawn, which
is placed in it without water, and the other for the milt,
to which water is added to moisten the eggs. By the dry
process, scarcely one per cent, of the eggs escape f ecunda^
tion, while in th6 moist method ten or twelve j)er cent, of
the spawn may be lost (c) In assaying. See assaying.—
Due process of law. See duel.— Ecliart'E process, a
method of preserving meats, game, fish, etc., by means of
a solution of 1,240 parts sfdt, 10 parts saltpeter, and 25
parts salicylic acid in 8,725 parts of clean water, applied
under a pressure of 180 to 200 pounds per square inch. —
Ensiform process. Same as -inetast^mum,. — Etlimoidal
Srocess, a small projection on the posterior superior bor-
er of the turbinate bone for articulation with the unci-
nate process of the ethmoid.— Executory process. See
ea;ee«tor!/.— Falciform process. Same as falx cerebri
(which see, under/airt).— Fallacy of an illicit process.
See faUaey. — Final process, the writ of execution used
to carry the Judgment Into effect.— Floccular process,
the flocculus.— Foreign Process Acts. See foreign —
Fox-Talbot process. Same as Fox-type, 1.— Frontona-
sal, galvanoplastic, gelatin, geniculate, Ingrassian
process. See the qualifying words.— Hamular process,
(a) Of the lacrymal bone, a hook-like projection at the
lower extremity, curving forward in the lacrymal notch
of the maxilla. (6) Of the sphenoid, the inferior hook-like
extremity of the internal pterygoid plate, under which the
tendon of the tensor palati plays.— Hellotype process.
See heliotypy.—lnteicoxal, jugal. Jugular process.
See the adjectives.— Irou-reduction process, a method
of smelting lead in which metallic iron is employed as an
accessory agent of desulphurization, or else some oxidized
compound of iron, which during the process will yield me-
tallic iron. This process has been extensively experiment-
ed with at Taniowitz in Silesia, and in the Harz, and there
abandoned. It has also been tried in other localities, and
is (or was recently) in use to some extent in Japan. Also
called precipitation process, a translation of the German
name for it (niederschlagarbeit).— Jugular process, in
man, a thickened part of the occipital bone to the back
and outer side of the jugular fossa, articulating with the
mastoid part of the temporal. — Eienogenetic process.
See 4e>ioffe»i««i(J.— Kyanlzing process. See kyanizinff.—
Lacrsmial process, a small projection on the upper an-
terior border of the turbinate bone for articulation with
the lacrymal bone.— Le Blanc process. See soda.— Len-
idcular process. See incm (a). — Long process of tbe
malleus, a slender process received in the Glaserian fis-
sure. Also called processus gracilis, longus. tenuis, folia-
nus, anterior, and tertius. See cut under hyaid. — IVIalar
process, a thick triangular projection of the maxilla for
articulation with the malar bone.— Maitimillary, mas-
4746
told, mesne process. See the adjectives.— Martin pro-
cess. See steeJ.-Maxillary process, (a) of the palate-
bone, a tongue-shaped projection on the anterior border of
the vertical plate, overlapping the orifice of the antrum of
Highmore in the articulated skull. (6) Of the turbinate
bone, a flattened plate descending from the attached mar-
gin, forming, when articulated, a part of the inner wall of
the antrum below the entrance.- Monteitb'S process,
the discharging of color from mordanted cotton cloth by
the direct application of chlorin. — Morpbine or mor-
pbia process. See i7iorpAin«.—Nasal process, (a) The
slender tapering process on the anterior superior part of
the maxilla, articulating with the frontal above, (ft) Same
as lacrymal process, (c) Same as nasal spine (which see,
under TMMoi).— Nutant process. See nutant.— Oblique
processes of tbe vertebrss. See oftZijue.— Obliter-
ate, odontoid, orbital process. See the adjectives.--
Olivary process. Same as olivary eminence (which
see, under oiioarj/).- Orbicular process. See incm {a).
—Palatal or palatine process, any marked outgrowth
of a palate-bone, especially the flat horizontal plate of
that bone which meets its fellow in mid-line, the pair
together forming the hinder part of the haid palate or
bony roof of the mouth.— PElUngenetic process. See
palingenetic.— 'BaxamaaltxACi process, in man, an obtuse
projection of the under surface of the jugular process,
at the insertion of the rectus capitis lateralis muscle,
corresponding to a prominent process present in many
mammals, especially the ungulates and rodents. Also
esUeA paracmdyloid process. — Farkes process, a meth-
od of separating silver from lead by fusion with metal-
lic zinc. When a molten mixture of these two metals
is allowed to cool, the zinc separates and solidifles first,
forming a crust on the other metal. If the lead contains
silver, this is concentrated in the solidified crust of zinc,
from which it may afterward be separated by distillation.
■—Parotic process. See parotic. — Patera process. See
T<m Patera process, below.— Patio process [Sp. patio,
an open space], in metal., a method of obtaining the sil-
ver from argentiferous ores by amalgamation, extensively
practised in Mexico and South America. It is suited for
ores in which the silver is present in the form of simple or
complex sulphids, without a large percentage of blende or
galena, or more than three or four per cent, of copper py-
rites. In this process the ore, ground by arrastres, is mixed
with common salt, roasted copper pyrites (called ma-
gistral), and quicksilver. The whole mass is thoroughly
mixed, usually by being trodden by mules, the result being
that the silver becomes amalgamated with the quicksilver,
and can then be easily separated. The mixing (as indicated
by the name) takes place on large level floors in theopen air.
— Fattinson process, in meial. , a method of desilverizing
lead, in generid use in ihe treatment of argentiferous lead,
and capable of being profitably employed even when the
precious metal is present in the lead in so small quantity
as two or three ounces to the ton of the baser metal. The
process depends on the fact that melted lead containing
silver solidifies gradually in cooling, small particles like
crystals separating from the liquid mass, which latter
is much richer in silver than the other part — the part
which solidifles or crystallizes first yielding up a large
part of its silver to that pait of the lead which remains
fluid. By several repetitions of the operation, the re-
maining lead becomes at last so enriched with silver that
this metal can be easily and profltably separated. The
process, which is one of great importance in the metal-
lurgic treatment of argentiferous galena, was the inven-
tion of Hugh Lee Pattinson cf Alston in Cumberland, and
was first applied on a scale of some magnitude in 1833.
Before this invention silver had always been separated
from lead (these two metals being almost always found as-
sociated together in nature) by cupellation, through which
process a proportion of silver less than about eight ounces
to the ton of lead could not be separated with proflt.
The process is sometimes called pattinsonization. — Pecti-
neal, phalangeal, photolitbograpbic process. See
the adjectives.— Pnotogelatin process, in photog., any
process in which gelatin plays an important part, as in the
ordinary gelatinobromide (fiy plates and films. — Plaster
process. Seeplaster. — Flattner's process, a method of
separating gold from pyrites by the employment of chlo-
rin gas, by which the gold is converted into a soluble
chlorid, which can then be washed out with water, and
precipitated by sulphureted hydrogen in the form of a
sulphuret, from which combination the precious metal
is easily obtained. See ehZorination. — Polychromatic,
postauditory, postfrontal, post-tympanic, prepu-
Dic process. See the adjectives.- Precipitation pro-
cess. Same as irortrreduetion process. — Process acts.
United States statutes of 1789 and 1792 (1 Stat. 93, 276), the
first requiring the writs, executions, and other jprooesses
of the United States courts in suits at law to conform to
those used In the supreme courts of the several States
where such courts were held, except as to their style
and teste. The*second, in effect, reenacted the first,
but allowed the courts or the Supreme Court of the
United States by rule to make such alterations or addi-
tions as might seem expedient, and^ regulated the fees
of court-oflicers, etc. — Process caption. See caption. —
Process of augmentation. See o«j7»i«n«afeo«.— Pro-
cess work, any form of relief-printing plate made by
photographic or etching processes, and not by cutting
with a graver. See photo-process.— VlOBtemal, ptery-
goid, etc., process. See the adjectives.— Pyrainidal
process. Same as tuberosUy of the palate-borte.—'RnB-
sell's process, a modification of the Von Patera pro-
cess for the separation of silver from its ores. The pe-
culiarity of the process depends on the fact that a so-
lution of thiosulphate of copper and soda has a power-
ful decomposing influence on the sulphureted, antimo-
niureted, and arseniureted combinations of silver. The
roasted ore is flrst lixiviated with sodium thiosulphate
to dissolve the silver chlorid, and afterward with copper
thiosulphate. This latter solvent Is called the "extra so-
lution, and by its use an additional amount of silver is
saved, which would otherwise have been lost in the tail-
ings.-Short process of malleus, a small conical emi-
nence at the root of the manubrium. Also called proces-
sus brevis, obtusus, externus, conoideus, or secun^us, or tu-
bercvluin mallei. — Siemens-Martin process. See steel.
— Siemens process. Seestee2.—SoIvay process. See
soda.— Sphenoidal process, the posterior of the two
processes surmounting the vertical plate of the palate-
procession
bone. It curves Inward and backward on the under snr-
faoe of the body of the sphenoid bone.— Spinous pro-
cess. See MrfnoiM.— Styloid process, (a) A conical
eminence at the upper exfremity of the fibula, (b) A short,
stout, pyramidal process projecting downward from the
outer part of the mstal extremity of the radius, (c) A short
cylindrical eminence at the inner and back part of the dis-
tal extremity of the ulna, (d) A long, slender, tapering
process projecting downward and forward from the outer
part of the under surface of the petrous portion of the tem-
poral bone : it is developed from independent centers of
ossification, corresponding to the tympauohyal and stylo-
hyal bones.— Supracondylar process, a small hook-like
process, with its point directed downward, not unfre-
quently found in front of the internal condylar ridge of
the humerus in man. It represents a part of the bone
inclosing a foramen in cainivorous animals — Thomas-
Gilchrist process. Same as ftosw process.— To obstruct
process. See oftsfruct.— Trustee process. See^aroisA-
ment, 2 (6).— Turbinate process, (o) Superior, a short
sharp margin of the ethmoid overhanging the superior
meatus, (ft) Inferior, the folded margin of the sphenoid
overhanging the middle meatus. Also called superior and
middle spongy ftoncs.— Uchatius process, a method of
making steel which has been tried in various places, but
is not in general use. It consists in decarburizing pig-iron
by fusing it with a material which will give up oxygen,
especially iron peroxid or roasted spathic ore. — Uncinate
process. See processus undnatus, under iJrocessiw.— Vag-
inal process, (a) of the sphenoid, a slightly raised edge
at the base of the internal plate of the pterygoid, articu-
lating with the everted margin of the vomer. (6) Of the
temporal, a fiattened plate of bone on the under surface
of the petrous portion, immediately back of the glenoid
fossa, and part^ surrounding the styloid process at its
base. — Vermiformprocess, the elevated median portion
or lobe between the hemispheres of the cerebellum — that
portion on the upper surface being known as the superior,
that on the under surface the inferior. — Von Patera
process, a method of separating silver from its ores, after a
chloridizing roasting, by means of a solution of hypophos-
phite of soda or lime, which takes up the chlorid of silver,
from which solution the metal can be precipitated by an al-
kaline sulphuret. — Washoe process, in TnctoJ. Seepan\
3.— Wet process, in pAotofl'.,thecolloaion process.— Zler-
VOgel'S process, the separation of silver from the sulphate
by lixiviation with hot water containing some sulphuric
acid. It is used in the treatment of argentiferous cop-
per mattes in which the silver has been transformed into
the sulphate by a peculiar kind of roasting. This pro-
cess is one of veiy limited application, as great skill is re-
quired for the management^ of the roasting, and but few
silverores can be profitably treated by the method. — Zygo-
matic process, a horizontal bar, directed forward from
the squamous part of the temporal bone, and articulat-
ing in front with the malar. Also called zygoma. =Syn.
Process, Proceeding, Procedure, Operation. In this connec-
tion process applies to a way of doing something by rule or
established method : as, the Bessemer process; the process
ofdrillingan artesian well; a legal process. Proceeding ex-
presses a complex action making a whole : as, it was a very
strange proceedin^r. Jefferson and Gushing, in their manu-
als of parliamentary procedure, use proceeding, perhaps as a
garticipial noun, where procedure, being more exact, would
e the better word. Procedure applies to a way of doing
things formally ; alegal proceeding is a thing done legally ;
a legal process is a legal form gone through for the attain-
ment of a definite purpose; legal procedure is the way of
doing things in the administration of law, as in the court-
room ; a legal procedure is a less desirable form of expres-
sion for a legal proceeding. Operation may be used for the
way in which a thing works or operates : as, the operation
of a nail-making machine ; it is rarely used thus of per-
sonal activity, except in a bad sense : as, the operations of
a gang of thieves. See act, v. i.
process (pros'es), V. t. [< process, «.] 1. To
proceed against by legal process ; summon in a
court of law.
He was at the quarter-sessions, processing his brother
for tin and tinpence, hay-money.
Miss Edgeworth, Ennui, viit
If a man processes a neighbour for debt, he is in danger
of being paid with a full ounce of lead.
Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XL. 430.
2. To reproduce, as a drawing, etc., 1)7 any me-
ohanieal process, especially by a photographic
process. See photo-process. [Recent.]
Of course all American readers saw at once that every
cut in Mr. Pyle's admirable book was ^processed — to use a
new verb invented to fit a new thing.
New York Evening Post, Jan. 28, 1884.
Both [books], we should say, are rather well illustrated.
Lady J 's with heliogravure portraits . . . and Capt.
B — ^'8 with copies (also processed in some way) of draw-
ings. Athenaum, No. 8251, p. 207.
processal (pros'es -al), a. [< process + -al.'i
Pertaining to or involving a process. [Rare.]
All Sorts of Damages, and processal Charges, come to
above two hunderd and fifty thousand Crowns.
Howell, Letters, I. iii. 8.
procession (pro-sesh'on), n. [< ME. processioun,
processiun = D. i^rocessie = Gr. Sw. Dan. pro-
cession, < OF. procession, P. procession = Sp.
procesion = Pg. procissSo, processSo = It. pro-
cessione, < "L. processio{n-), a marching forward,
an advance, LL. a religious procession, < pro-
cedere, pp. processus, move forward, advance,
proceed: see jjj-oceed Ct process.^ 1. Theaet
of proceeding or issuing forth or from anything.
The Greek churches deny the procession of the Holy
Ghost from the Son.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1885), II. 299.
In Qie procession of the soul from within outward, it en-
larges its circles ever, like . . . the light proceeding from
^1 orb. Emerson, Essays, 1st ser., p. 166.
procession
I JU°„^5^S"^i''*'' *^® W^'^*' '» ^'"'■y^ the Proceesim ol
fts Cause, the dynamical aspect of the statistical condi-
tions. 0. B. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, I. U. 87.
2. A succession of persons walking, or riding
on honiieback or in vehicles, in a formal march,
or moving with ceremonious solemnity.
Goth with f aire procewioun
To lerusalem thorwe the toun.
King Ham (E. E. T. 8.X p. 91.
All the priests and friars in my realm
Shall in proeeision sing her endless praise.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., L 6. 20.
The whole body, clothed in rich vestments, with candles
111 their hands, went in procesgian three times round the
noly sepulchre. Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 18.
Let the long, long procession go,
And let the sorrowing crowd about it grow.
Tennyson, Death of Wellington, iii.
3. An office, form of worship, hymn, litany, etc.,
said or sung by a number of persons advancing
with a measured and uniform movement pro-
cession o^ the Holy Ghost, in theol., the emanation or
proceeding of the Holy Ghost either from the Father (ain-
gle procession) or from the Father and the Son (dmible pro-
cession). See FUioque, and Nieene Creed (under Mcene).
— Procession week. Same as Sogation week (which see,
under rogation).— lo go processiont, to take part in a
procession of parishioner^ led by the parish priest or the
patron of the church, making the round of the parish, and
invoking blessings on the fruits, with thanksgiving.
Bury me
Under that holy-oke or gospel-tree.
Where, though thou see'st not, thou may'st think upon
Me when thou yeerly go'st procession.
Herriek, To Anthea.
procession (pro-sesh'on), V. [= It. proeessio-
nare, < ML. processionare, go in procession;
from the noun.] I, intrans. To go in proces-
sion.
There is eating, and drinking, and processioning, and
masquerading. Colman, Man and Wife, i. (Davies.)
Two weary hours of processioning about the town, and
the inevitable collation.
Josiah Quincy, Figures of the Past, p. 368.
II. trans. X. To treat or beset with proces-
sions. [Rare.]
When theyrfeastfulldayes come, they are . . . with no
small solemnitye mattensed, massed, candeled, lyghted,
processioned, censed, etc. Bp. £a^, English Votaries, i.
2. In some of the American colonies, to go
about in order to settle the boundaries of, as
land. The term is still used in North Carolina
and Tennessee. Compare to beat the bounds, un-
der houndX.
Once in every four years [in the Vii^inia colony] the
vestry, by order of the county court, divided the parish
into precincts, and appointed two persons in each pre-
cinct to procession the lands. These surveyors, assisted
by the neighbors, examined and renewed, by blazing trees
or by other ai'tiflcial devices, the old landmarks of the
fathers, and reported the result to the vestiy, who record-
ed the same iu the parish books.
Johns Hopkins Hist. Studies, IIL 64.
processional (pro-sesh'on-al), a. and n. [< ME.
processyonal (n.)', < OF'.' processional, F. proces-
sional = Sp. procesional = Pg. processional =
It. *proeessionale (in adv. processkmalmente),
< ML. *processionalis, in neut. processionale, a
processional (book), < L. processio{n-), proces-
sion: see procession."} I. a. Pertaining to a
procession; consisting in, having the move-
ment of, or used in a procession: as, a jjroces-
sional hymn Processional cross. See crossi.
II. n. 1. An office-book containing the offices
with their antiphons, hymns, rubrical direc-
tions, etc., for use in processional litanies and
other religious processions.
The ancient service books, ... the Antiphoners, Mis-
sals, Grailes, Processionals, ... in Latin or English, writ-
ten or printed. R. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Bug., xvi.
2. A hymn sung during a religious procession,
particularly during the entry of the clergy and
choir into the church before divine service.
processionalist (prp-sesh'on-al-ist), n. l<pro-
cessional + -ist.J One who walks in a proces-
sion; a processionist.
processionally (pro-sesh'on-al-i), adv. In the
manner of a procession; in solemn or formal
march.
Henry [T.] himself rode between long glittering rows
of clergy who had come processionally forth to bring him
into Rouen by its principal gate.
£ock. Church of our Fathers, III. i. 305.
processionary (pro-sesh'on-a-ri), a. and n. [<
ME. processionary, n.; = P. processionnaire =
Sp. procesionario = Pg. processionano, < ML.
processionarius, pertaining to a procession, < L.
processioCn-), procession : see procession.} I.
a. 1 Consisting in formal or solemn proces-
sion. Eooleer, Eocles. Polity, v. % 41.— 2. In
entom., specifically, forming and moving in a
procession: said of certain caterpiUars.-Pro-
opsalonarv oaternillar, the larva of the European bom-
^?ld S?«f CnSs5Jj|« processKynm, which &avels up
4747
and down the trunks of trees in single, double, or quad-
ruple file. The name is also extended to other larvse of
similar habit. See the quotation.
You will see one caterpillar come out and explore the
ground with care ; a second immediately follows, a third
following the second, and after these come two which
touch each other and the one that precedes them ; these
are followed by three ; then comes a row of four, then a
row of five, then a row of six, all these following with pre-
cision the movements of the leader. From this circum-
stance is derived their name of procetsumary caterpillar.
S. G. Goodrich, in H. J. Johnson's Hat. Hist.
II. n. Sa,jae a,s processioner, 2.
processioner (pro-sesh'on-6r), n. [< ME. pro-
cessyonare (def. 2'), < OF". processionaire, F. pro-
cessionnai/re, < ML. processionariiis, pertaining
to a procession, neut. processionarium, a proces-
sional (book): Be% processionary.} 1. One who
goes in a procession. [Rare.]
The processioners, seeing them running towards them,
and with them the troopers of the holy brotherhood with
their cross-bows, began to fear some evil accident.
Jarms, tr. of Don Quixote, I. iv. 25. (.Davies.)
2. A county officer in North Carolina and Ten-
nessee charged with the duty of surveying lands
at the request of an occupant claiming to be
owner.
procession-flower, n. See milkioort, l.
processioning (pro-sesh'gn-ing), n. [Verbal
n. of procession, v^ A survey and inspection
of boundaries periodically performed in some
of the American colonies by the local authori-
ties, for the purpose of ascertaining and per-
petuating correct boundaries of the various
landowners, it was analogous in part to the perambu-
lations practised in England (see perambvlaiian, 4), and
was superseded by the introduction of the practice of accu-
rate surveying and of recording. The term is still used of
some offictad surveys in North Carolina and Tennessee,
processionist (pro-sesh'gn-ist), n. _ [< proces-
sion + -ist.} One who takes part in a proces-
sion.
A few roughs may have thrown stones; and certainly
the processionists gave provocation, attacking and wreck-
ing the houses of Protestants, especially at the Broadway.
- I Rev., N. S., XL. 289.
processive (pro-ses'iv), a. [= F.^rocessif =
J-t. processivo, i, ML. *processimis (in adv. jjro-
cessive), < L. procedere, pp. processus, go for-
ward : see proceed, process.} Going forward ;
advancing. Coleridge.
process-server (pros'es-ser'''ver), n. One who
processes or summonses; a sheriff's officer; a
bailiff.
He hath been . . . & procesS'Server, a bailiff.
Shak., W. T., iv. 3. 102.
processual (pro-se§'u-al), a. [< L. processus,
process (see process), -f -al.'] In dvil law, re-
lating to legal process or proceedings: as, pro-
cessual agency (the peculiar agency of a oogni-
tor appointed in court by a party to act in his
place, or of a procurator appearing instead of
an absent party to take his place in the cause).
processum continuando (pro-ses'um kgn-tin-
u-an'do). [L. : processum, accus. sing, otpro-
cessus, process; contimMndo, abl. gerund, of con-
tinuare, continue : see continue.} In Bng. law,
a writ for the continuance of process after the
death of the chief justice or other justices in
the commission of oyer and terminer.
processus (pro-ses'us), n. ; -pi. processus. [NL.,
< li. processus', a process : seeprocess.} In anat.,
a process; an outgrowth; a part that proceeds
to or toward another part — Processus a cerebel-
lo ad cerehrum, the anterior peduncles of the cerebel-
lum. See jKduTtoe.— Processus a cerehello ad testes,
the anterior peduncles of the cerebellum. Seepedunde —
Processus ad medullam, the interior peduncles of the
cerebellum. See peduncle.— Processus ad pontem, the
middle peduncles of the cerebeUum. See pedunde.—'Pro-
cessus anonymus, an obtuse tubercular projection on
either side of the cerebral surface of the basilar process,
in front of the orifice of the precondylar foramen.— Pro-
cessus brevls, the short process of the malleus. Also
called processus eanoideus extemtis, obtusus, and seeundus.
Processus caudatus, the tail of the anthelix of the
ear. See second cut under earl.— Processus (^avatus,
the clava or superior enlargement of the funiculus graci-
lis.- Processus cocMeariformis, a thin lamina of bone
above the Eustachian canal in the petrous section of the
temporal bone, separating that canal from the canal for the
tensor tympani muscle. — Processus costarius. (o) The
ventral root of a cervical transverse process. (6) A trans-
verse process of a lumbar vertebra.— Processus cune-
atus the tuberculum cuneatum, or slight superior en-
largement of the funiculus cuneatus.— Processus e
oerehello ad cerebrum, the superior peduncle of the
cerebellum. See peduncle. — Processus e cerehello ad
medullam oWongatam, the inferior peduncle of the
cerebellum.- Processus e cerebello ad pontem, the
middle peduncle of the cerebellum.— Processus e cere-
bello ad testes, the superior peduncle of the cerebellum.
Processus falclformls, the falciform process of the
eye of a fish.- Processus folianus, gracilis, longus,
tenuis etc. See long process of the moMeus, under pro-
cess -Processus interjugularls, a process from the oc-
cipital bone uniting with the petrous part of the tem-
prochronism
poral, and dividing the jugular inclosure into two fo-
ramina, a large outer, and smaller inner one. — Processus
lenticulaiis, the lenticular process.— Processus mus-
CUlairlS,the projection at the external angle of the aryte-
noid cartilage, where the posterior and lateral crico-aryte-
noid muscles are inserted. — Processus reticularis, a
reticulated offset of gray matter near the middle of the
outer surface of the gray crescents of the spinal cord.
See figure under spuwl cord.— Processus undnatns,
the hooked process of a rib, as of a bird, which is articu-
lated with and projects backward from the rib, overlying
the next lib or several ribs ; an epipleura. See cut under
epipleura.
The vertebral pieces are distinguished by backwardly
direct processes {processus uncinati), which are applied to
the body of the succeeding rib.
Gegenbaur, Comp. Anat. (trans.), p. 440.
Processus vaginalis peritonei, a pouch of peritoneum
extending into the scrotum during the descent of the testi-
cle. Afterward the upper part becomes obliterated, leav-
ing the lower part as a closed sac, which is known as the
tunica vaginalis. — ^Processus VOCaliS, the horizontal pro-
jection at the anterior angle of the base of the arytenoid
cartilage, for the insertion of the true vocal cord.
proems verbal (pro-sa' ver-bal'). [P., a min-
ute, an authenticated statement in writing:
proems, a process; verbal, verbal: see verbal.}
In French law, a detailed authenticated account
of an official act or proceeding: a statement of
facts, especially in a criminal charge ; also, the
minutes drawn up by the secretary or other of-
ficer of the proceedings of an assembly.
prochein, a. fP. prochain, next, neighboring, <
'L.proxinms,nea,v: se>ei proximate.} Next; near-
est: used in the law phrase prochein amy (or
ami), the next friend, a person who undertakes
to assist an infant or minor in prosecuting his
or her rights. — Prochein avoidance, in law, a power
to present a minister to a church when it shall become
void.
prochilous (pro-kl'lus), a. [< Gr. irpdxei^^,
with prominent lips, < irp6, before, forward, -I-
;f£Z/lof, lip, snout.] Having protuberant or pro-
trusiie lips. Coues.
prochlonte (pro-klo'rit), n. [ipro- + chlorite.}
In mineral., a land of chlorite occurring in foli-
ated or granular masses of a green color : it con-
tains less silica and more iron than the allied
species chnochlore and ripidolite.
prochoanite (pro-ko'a-nit), a. and n. I. a.
Belonging to the FrocKoanites.
II. n. A cephalopod of the group Prochoanites.
Frochoanites (pro-ko-a-ni'tez), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. Trpd, before, -t- x'x^'^j a funnel: see choana,
choanite.} A group of holochoanoid nautiloid
cephalopods whose septal funnels are turned
forward: contrasted with Metaehoanites. Sy-
att, Proc. Bobt. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1883, p. 260.
prochondral (pro-kon'dral), a. [< Gr. irp6, be-
fore, + x^v^poC) cartilage : see chondral.} Prior
to the formation of cartilage ; about to become
cartilage.
procboos (pro'ko-os), n. ; ■pl.prochooi (-oi). [< Gr.
Tvpdxooi, TtpdxoiyQiseQ def. ), < irpoxslv, pour forth .]
In Gr. antiq., a
small vase of ele-
gant form, re-
sembling the
oinoehoe, but in
general more
slender, and with
a handle rising
higher above the
rim: used espe-
cially to pour wa-
ter on the hands
before meals
were served.
The holding the
prochus up high (ap-
ST}i')is often observed
in those who pour
out for a libation.
C. 0. waller, Manual
[of Archseol. (trans.),
[§298.
prochorion (pro-
ko'ri-on), n.; pi.
prochoria (-a).
[NL., < L. pro,
before, + NL. chorion, q. v.] The primitive
chorion; the outer envelop of an ovum: in
man and some other animals specially known
as the zona peUucida. it is the yolk-sac or vitelline
membrane, not entering into the formative changes which
go ou within it during the germination and maturation of
the ovum, but in the course of development becoming the
chorion proper, and forming the outermost of the mem-
branes which envelop the fetus.
prochorionic (pro-ko-ri-on'ik), a. [< prochorion
+ -ic.} Of or pertaining to the prochorion.
prochronism (pro'kron-izm), n. [= Pg. pro-
chronismo = Sp. It. procronismo; < Gr. Trp6-
xpovog, preceding in time, previous (< wpd, be-
Greek ProchoSs with black-figured deco-
ration.
prochronism
fore, + xP"voi, time), + -ism.'] An error in
chronology consisting in antedating something;
the dating of an event before the time when it
happened, or the representing of something as
existing before it really did.
Tbeprochronigms In these [Towneley] Mysteries are very
remarkable. ArchadogUt, XXVII. 262. (fiaviea.)
"Puffed with wonderful skill " he [Lord Maoaulay] in-
troduces with the half-apology "to use the modern
phrase"; and that though he had put the verb, and with-
out prochrcmmn,, into the mouth of Osborne, the book-
seller knocked down by Dr. Johnson.
F. Hda, Mod. Eng., p. 130.
procidence (pros'i-dens), n. [= F.procidence =
Sp. Pg. procidencia = It. proddenza, < L. proci-
dentia, a falling down or forward, < prod-
den{t-)s, ppr. ot proddere, fall forward or pros-
trate: see jprocidewi.] A falling down; in pa-
tliol., a prolapsus.
procident (pros'i-dent), a. [< L. proeiden(^t-)s,
ppr. of proddere, fall forward or prostrate, <
pro, forward, + cadere, fall: see cadent.] Fall-
ing or fallen; inpatliol., affected by prolapsus.
procidentia (pros-i-den'shi-a), n. [L. : see
procidence.'] In pathol., a, falling downward or
forward; prolapsus.- procidentia Iridls, prolapse
of the iris.— Procidentia recti, the descent of the upper
part of the rectum, in its whole thickness, or all its coats,
throughtheanus.-Procldentla Uteri, complete prolap-
sus of the uterus, with inversion of the vagina, and extru-
sion of the uterus through the vulva.
prociduous (pro-sid'u-us), a. [< L. prociduus,
fallen dovra, prostrate, < proddere, fall forward
or prostrate: see proddence. Cf. deddv/>ws.]
Falling from its proper place. Imp. Diet.
procinct (pro-singkt'). n. [= Sp. tii.prodnto, <
L. prodnctiis, preparation or readiness for bat-
tle, < prodruitus, pp. ot jyrodngere, gird up, pre-
pare, equip, <pro, before, + cingere, gird, encir-
cle: see dncture.] Preparation or readiness,
especially for battle. — in procinct or procincts [L.
inprocinctu], at hand ; ready : a Latinism.
He stood in proeinofg, ready with oil in his lamp, watch-
ing till his Lord should call.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), II. 141.
War he perceived, war inprodnct Milton, P. L., vi. 19.
proclaim (pro-klam'), V. t. [< ME. proclaymen,
< OF.proclamer, F. proclamer = Sp. Vg.procla-
mar = It. proclamare, < L. proolamare, call out,
(.pro, before, -t- clamare, call, cry: see cloAmX.]
1. To make known by public announcement;
promulgate; announce; publish.
The pardon that the legat hadde graunted and pro-
daymed thourgh all cristindom.
iferJin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 677.
He hath sent me to . . . procLaim liberty to the cap-
tives. Isa. Ixi. 1.
The countenance prodai/mg the heart and inclinations.
Sir T. Browm, Cluist. Mor., ii. 9.
The schoolhouse porch, the heavenward pointing spire,
Prodaim, in letters every eye can read.
Knowledge and Faith, the new world's simple creed.
Holmes, A Family Itecord.
2. To make announcement concerning; pub-
lish; advertise, as by herald or crier: said of
persons.
I heard myselt prodaim'd;
And by the happy hollow ot a tree
Escaped the hunt. Shah., Lear, ii. 3. 1.
Ton should have us'd us nobly,
And, for our doing well, as well prodaim'd us,
To the world's eye have shew'd and sainted us.
l^etcher. Loyal Subject, ii. 1.
3. To apply prohibition to by a proclamation.
— Proclounea olstrict, any county or other district in
Ireland in which the provisions of the Peace Preservation
Acts are for tlie time being in force by virtue of official
proclamation. = Syn. 1. Dedare, PvMish, Announce, Pro-
daim, etc. (see announce), blaze abroad, Irumpet, blazon.
proclaim (pro-klam'), n. [= Sp. Pg. It. pro-
clama, proclaim; from the verb.] A calling or
crying out; proclamation. [Rare.]
Hymns of festival^ . . .
Voices of aott prodaim, and silver stir
Of strings in hollow shells. Keats, Hyperion, L
proclaimant (pro-kla'mant), n. l< proclaim +
-ant.] A proclaimer.
I was spared the pain of being the first prodaimant of
her flight. E. Bronte, Wuthering Heights, xii.
proclaimer (pro-kla'mSr), n. One who pro-
claims or publishes; one who announces pr
makes publicly known.
proclamation (prok-lfr-ma'shon), re. [< F. pro-
clamation = Sp. proclamacion"= Pg. proclama-
g£U> = It. proclamazione, < LL. proclamatio{n-),
a calling or crying out, < L. proclamare, pp.
proclamatus, cry out: see proclaim.] 1. The
act of proclaiming, or making publicly known;
publication ; official or general notice given to
the public.
Sing Asa made a, proclamation throughout all Jndah.
1 Kl. XV. 22.
4748
2. That which is put forth by way of public no-
tice ; an official public anuoimcement or decla-
ration; a published ordinance.
The Prince and his Lordship of Eochester passed many
hours of this day composing Prodamationa and Addresses
to the Country, to the Scots, ... to the People of Lon-
don and England. Thackeray, Henry Esmond, iii. 11.
The deacon began to say to the minister, of a Sunday,
"I suppose it '8 about time for the Thanksgiving procla-
mation. S. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 387.
3. Open declaration; manifestation; putting
iu evidence, whether favorably or unfavorably.
Upon that day that the gentleman doth begin to hourde
vp money, from thence forth he putteth his fame [reputa-
tion] in proclamation.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by HeUowes, 1677), p. 153.
Yon love my son ; invention is ashamed.
Against Vbe proclamtttion of thy passion.
To say thou dost not Skak., All s Well, i. 3. 180.
4. In law : (a) A writ once issued to warn a de-
fendant in outlawry, or one failing to appear
in chancery. (6) In modern public law, usu-
ally, if not always, an executive act in writing
and duly authenticated, promulgating a com-
mand or prohibition which the executive has
discretionary power to issue, or a notification
of the executive iutent in reference to the exe-
cution of the laws, in early English history positive
laws were t» some extent made by proclamation^ which
were usually allowed the force of statutes. The opinion of
some that a proclamation usually ceased to operate on a de-
mise of the crown does not seem to be well founded. — Case
of proclamations, a noted case in English constitution-
al history, decided in 1610 (2 How. St. Tr. , 723, and 12 Coke,
74), upon questions submitted by the lord chancellor and
others, wherein it was held "that the king by his procla-
mation cannot create any offense which was not an offense
before"; "that the king hath no prerogative but that
which the law of the land allows him " ; and that, " if the
offense be not punishable in the star-chamber, the prohi-
bition of it by proclamation cannot make it punishable
there."— Emancipation proclamation. See emand-
jjBtiojt.— Fine with procUimatlons. See ;!nei.— Proc-
lamation Act, an English statute of 1539(31 Hen. VIII.,
0. 8), enacting that proclamations made by the king and
council which did not prejudice estates, offices, liberties,
etc., should be obeyed as if made by act of Parliament
and providing for the prosecution and punishment of
those who refused to observe such proclamations. — Proc-
lamation of a fine, at common law, the public notice
repeatedly to be given of a fine of lands. — Proclamation
Of neutrality. See neutrality.
proclamator (prok'la-ma-tor), n. [= F. pro-
clamateur = Pg. proclamador = It. proclama^
tore, < L. proclamator, a crier, < proclamatus,
pp. ot proclamare, cry out: see proclaim.] In
Eng. law, an officer of the Court of Common
Pleas.
procline(pro-klia'), «.i.; pret. and pp.^rocKMeti,
ppr. procliriing. [< Jj. proclinare, lean forward,
(pro, forward, -^ clinare, lean: see dine.] To
lean forward.
Inclining dials . . . were further distinguished as . . .
prodining when leaning forwards. Emyc. Brit., YII. 165.
proclitic (pro-Mit'ik), a. and re. [= F. procU-
tigue, < TSh.procliticus, < Gr. irpoicVivetv, lean for-
ward, < 7rp6, forward, + Mvecv, lean, bend: see
cUne. Cf. enclitic] I. a. In Gr. gram., depen-
dent in accent upon the following word : noting
certain monosyllabic words so closely attached
to the word following as to have no accent.
II. n. In Crr. gram., a monosyllabic word
which leans upon or is so closely attached to a
following word as to have no independent ac-
cent. The proclitics are certain forms of the article,
certain prepositions and conjunctions, and the negative
oil. Compare atonic.
proclivet (pro-kliv'), a. [< OF. procUf, va.,
proclime, t., ~ Sp. It. procUve, < L. proclivis,
procWvns, sloping downward, < pro, forward,
+ clivus, a declivity or slope: see cKvus, cli-
vom.] Inclined; prone; disposed; proclivous.
A woman la fraile, and prodive unto all evils.
Latimer, 1st Sermon bef. Edw. VI.
The world Imows a foolish fellow somewhat prodive and
B. Jonson, Case is Altered, 1. 2.
proclive (pro-kliv'), v.; -pvet.smA -pp. proclvved,
^T^T. proclimng. [i proclme, a.] X trans. To
incline ; make prone or disposed.
That ^MMt prodives us to any impiety.
Bjcv. T. Adams, Works, III. 190.
II. intrans. To be prone. SalHwell.
proclivity (pro-kliv'i-ti), re. [< F. proclivity
=:Sp.2)rocUvidad= It. proclivitct, <L. proclim-
ta(t-)s, a declivity, a propensity, < proclivus,
sloping, disposed to : see proclive.] 1. Inclina-
tion; propensity; proneness; tendency.
And still retain'd a natural prodivity to ruin.
Fletcher, Purple Island, i.
Mr. Adams' prodivity to grumble appears early.
T. Parker, Historic Americans, John. Adams, 1.
When we pass from vegetal organisms to unconscious
animal organisms, we see a like connexion between 2^0-
elivity and advantage. H. Spencer, Data of Ethics, § 32.
proconsul
2. Readiness ; facility of learning.
He had such a dexterous srocZimti/ that his teachers were
fain to restrain his forwardness. SJr H. Wotton.
" Ventilate "and "prodivity," after having been half -for-
gotten, have come again into brisk circulation ; and a com-
parison of the literature of the seventeenth, eighteenth,
and nineteenth centuries will show multitudes of words
common to the first and last ot these periods, but which
were little used in the second.
O. P. Marsh, Lects. on Eng. Lang., xii., note.
=Syn. 1. Bent, bias, predisposition, aptitude, turn (for).
proclivous (pro-kli'vus), a. [< h. proclivis, pro-
clious, sloping downward : see proclive.] In-
clined; slanting or inclined forward and up-
ward or downward: ss, proclivous teeth.
proclivousness (pro-kli'vns-nes), n. Inclina-
tion downward ; propensity. Bailey, 1727.
Frocne (prok'ne), re. Same as Progne.
Procnias (prok'ni-as), re. [NL. (Dliger, 1811),
< L. Frocne, Progne, < Gr. UpdKvt;, in myth.,
daughter of Pandion, transformed into a swal-
low. Ct. Progne.] A notable genus Of tanagers,
Pracmas tersa
type of the subfamily ProenJa<Jn«. P. tersa,
the only species, inhabits the Neotropical re-
gion. Also called Tersa and Tersina.
Frocniatinae (prok"ni-a-ti'ne), n.pl. [NL. (P.
L. Sclater), < Procnias (Procniat-) + -inse.]
A subfamily of oscine passerine birds of the
family Tanagridse, representing an aberrant
form with a short fissirostral bill, notched up-
per mandible, long wings, and moderate emar-
ginate tail, typified by l£e gemisProoiias: for-
merly referred to the Cotingidae.
procoeliai (pro-se'li-a), re.; ]^1. procmUie (-e).
[NL. (Wilder), < Gr. np6, before, + KoMa, a hol-
low: see coelia.] A proseneephalic ventricle;
either lateral ventricle of the brain.
Frocoelia^ (pro-se'Ii-a,), re. pi. [NL., < Gr. irp6,
before, -I- xolXog, hollow.] A suborder of Cro-
codilia; crocodiles withprocoslous vertebrte, as
distinguished from Jmphiccelia. AH the living
crocodiles, alligators, and gavials, and extinct ones down
to the Ch^k, are Prooodia. Also called Euerocodilia.
procoelian (pro-se'li-an), a. and re. [As pro-
coel-ous, procoetia^, + "-an.] I. a. 1. Hollowed
or cupped in front, as the centrum or body of a
vertebra: correlated with awpfeicosKaw, opistlw-
coelian, ani heteroccelian. — 2. Having procoelian
vertebrae, as a crocodile; belonging to the
ProcceUa. — 3. Hollowed by a ventricle, as the
prosencephalon; of or pertaining to the pro-
coelisB of the brain.
II. re. A member of the suborder Proewlia.
procoelous (pro-se'lus), a. [< Gr. vpd, before,
+ Koj/lof, hollow (cf . proccelia^).] Same as pro-
coelian. Huxley, Lay Sermons, p. 224.
pro confesso (pro kon-fes'o). [L. : pro, for, in
place of; confesso, abl. sing. neut. of confessus,
pp. of confiteri, confess : see confess.] In law,
held as confessed or admitted. For example, if a
defendant in chancery did not file an answer, the matter
contained in the bill was taken pro con/esso — 0\a.t is, as
though it had been confessed.
proconsul (pro-kon'sul). n. [= F. Sp. Pg. pro-
consul = It. proconsole, < L. proconsul, a procon-
sul, orig. as two words, pro consule, one who
acts in place of a consul: pro, for, in place of;
consule, abl. of consul, a consul : see consul.] In
ancient Rome, an officer who discharged the
duties and had, outside of Rome itself, most
of the authority of a consul, without holding
the office of consul. The proconsuls were almost in-
variably persons who had been consuls, so that the pro-
consulship was a continuation, in a modified torm, of the
consulship. They were appointed to conduct a war in or
proconsul
to admMBter the affairs of some province. Tlie duration
01 the otBce was one year.
Praetors, proeontids to their provinces
Hasting, or on return. In robes of state.
Maton,F. E.,lv. 63.
proconsular (pro-kon'gu-lar), a. [= P. procon-
siMire = Sp. Pg. proconsular = It. proconsolare,
< L. proconmlaris, pertaining to a proconsul, <
proconsul, a, yvoaonsul: see proconsul.'] 1. Of
or pertaining to a proconsul or his position or
authority: as, proconsular mXe.
Beyond the capital the proconendar power was vested in
hun [Augustus] without local limitations.
W. W. Capes, The Early Empfre, i.
The proeonmaar status of Achaia under Gallio.
Sehaff, Hist. Christ. Church, I. § 86,
2. Under the government of a proconsul: as,
a. proconsular province.
proconsulary (pro-kon'gu-la-ri), a. [< li.pro-
C0B««tom, proconsular: eee'procortsular,'] Pro-
consular.
Proeonsularie authority, election to he consul!, and
other steps to mount to the empire were procured.
Qrenewey, tr. Tacitus's Annales, xiii. B.
proconsulate (pro-kon'gu-lat), n. [== F.pro-
eonsulat = 8p. Pg. proconsulaao = It. proconsvr
lato, < li.proconsulattcs, the oflce of a proconsul,
<j>roco»»MZ, a proconsul: Bee proconsul.'] The
office of a proconsul, or the term of his office.
proconsulsnip (pro-kon'sul-ship), n. [< pro-
consul + -ship,'] Same a,a proconsulate.
R. fixes on 168 A. D. as the date of the proconsidship of
Claudius Maximus. Amer. Jour. PhUol., X. 106.
procrastinate (pro-kras'ti-nat), v.; pret. and
pp. procrastinated, ppr. procrastinating. [< L.
procrasUnatus, pp. ot proorasUnare, put off till
the morrow, < pro, for, + erasUnus, pertaining
to the morrow, < eras, to-morrow. Cf. crastina-
Uon, proerasUne.] 1. trans. To put off till an-
other day, or from day to day; delay; defer to
a future time.
Hopeless and helpless doth ^geon wend,
But to proercislinate his lifeless end.
Shak., C. of E., 1. 1. 169.
Gonsalvo still procrastinated his return on various pre-
texts. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 19.
=Syil. To postpone, adjourn, defer, retard, protract^ pro-
long.
II, intrans. To delay; be dilatory.
Iproerastinate more than I did twenty years ago.
Swift, To Pope.
procrastination (pro-kras-ti-na'shon), n. [<
OF. procrastination = Pg. proerastikagffo = It.
procrastinanione, < L. procrastinaUo(n-), a put-
ting off till the morrow, < proorasUnatus, pp. of
procrasUnare, put off till the morrow: see pro-
erasUnate.] The act or habit of procrastinat-
ing; a putting off to a future time; delay;
dilatoriness.
Proeraitinalion in temporals Is always dangerous, but in
spirituals It is often damnable. SoictJi, Sermons, XI. x.
Procrastination is the thief of time.
Young, Night Thoughts, 1. 393.
procrastinative (pro-kras'ti-na-tiv), a. [< pro-
crastinate + -4t)e.] ' Given to procrastination ;
dilatory.
I was too procrastinaiive and inert while you were still
In my neighborhood. The Critic, XI. 140.
procrastinator (pro-kras'ti-na-tor), n. [= Pg.
proorasUnador= li.procrastinatore; asprocras-
Unate + -ori.] One who procrastinates, or de-
fers the performance of anything to a future
time.
procrastinatory (pro-kras'ti-na-to-ri), a. [<
procrastinate + -ory.] Pertaining to orimply-
mg procrastination. Imp. Diet.
procrastinet (pro-kras'tin), v. t. [< O'P.procras-
tiner = Pg. procrastinar = It. procrasUnare, < L.
procrastinare, put off till the morrow: see pro-
crastinate.] To procrastinate.
Thinkyng that if that pardon were any lenger space pro-
crastened or prolonged that in the meane ceason, etc.
Hall, Hen. VII., an. 1.
procreant (pro'kre-ant), a. and n. [= Sp. It.
procreante, < Ij. procrean(t-)s, ppr. otprocreare,
bring forth, beget: see procreate.] 1, a. Pro-
creating; producing young; related to or con-
nected with reproduction.
No jutty, frieze,
Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird [the martlet]
Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle.
Shak., Macbeth, i. 6. 8.
But the loss of liberty is not the whole of what the pro-
creant bird suffers. Paley, Nat. Theol., xviu.
B.eT procreant vigils Nature keeps
Amid the unfathomable deeps.
Wordsworth, Vernal Ode.
Procreant cause. See comenant.
4749
II. n. One who or that which procreates or
generates.
Those Imperfect and putrid creatures that receive a
crawling life from two most unlike proereants, the Sun
and mudde. Milton, On Def. of Humb. Bemonst.
procreate (pro'kre-at), v. t. ; pret. and pp. pro-
created, ]^pt. procreating. [< L. procreatus, pp.
otprocreare (> It. proereare = Sp. Pg. proerear
= F. procrSer), bring forth, beget, < pro, be-
fore,-!- creare, produce, create: see create.'] To
beget; generate; engender; produce: as, to
procreate children.
He was lineally descended, and naturally procreated, of
the noble stocke and familie ot Lancaster.
ifoiJ.Edw. IV., an. 9.
Since the earth retains her fruitful power
To prcereate plants, the forest to restore.
Sir R. Blacknwre.
procreation (pro-kre-a'shqn), n. [< OF. pro-
creaUon, 'F. procreation = Sp. procreacJo» = Pg.
procreaifSto = lt.procreaeione,i'L.proereatio(,n-),
generation, < proereare, pp. procreatus, bring
forth, beget : see procreate.] The act of pro-
creating or begetting ; generation and produc-
tion of young.
'Tisonlie incident
To man to cause the bodies procreation;
The soule 's inf usde by heavenly operation.
Times' Whittle (B. E. T. S.), p. 7.
TTncleanness is an unlawful gratification of the appetite
ot procreation. South.
procreative (pro'kre-a-tiv), a. [< procreate +
-4ve,] Having.the power or function of procre-
ating; reproductive; generative; having the
power to beget.
The ordinary period of the human procreative faculty in
males is sixty-flve, in females forty-five. Sir M. Hale.
procreativeness (pro'kre-a-tiv-nes), ». l<.pro-
creatvoe + -ness.] The state or quality of being
procreative ; the power of generating.
These have the accurst privilege of propagating and not
expiring, and have reconciled the procreaUveness of cor-
poreal with the duration of incorporeal substances.
Decay of Christian Piety.
procreator (pro'krf-a-tor), n. [< OF. procrea-
teur, F, procr4ateur = 6p. Pg. procreador = It.
procreatore, < L. procreator, a begetter, a pro-
ducer, < proereare, pp. procreatus, bring forth,
generate : see procreate."] One who begets ; a
generator ; a father or sire.
He is vnkynd and vnnaturall that wil not cherishe hys
natural parentes sjaA proereators. Hail, Edw. IV., an. 8.
procreatrix (pro'kre-a-triks), n. [= F.procrSa-
trice, < L. procreatrix, f em. of procreator, pro-
creator: see procreator.] A mother. Cotgrave.
Frocris (prok'ris), n. [NL. (Fabricius, 1808),
< L. Frocris, < Gr. UpSxpig, a daughter of Brech-
theus.] In entom.: (a) A genus of zygaanid
moths, having the fore wings blue, the hind
brown, antennse siiblinear, in the male bipec-
tinate, palpi slender, wings maculate, and larvss
ovate, contracted, delicately pilose, it is wide-
spread, of 20 or 30 species, represented in Europe, Africa,
Austruia, and both Americas. P. a/merieana is very de-
proctoptoma
1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling Procrustes,
a robber of ancient Greece, who, according to
the tradition, tortured his victims by placing
them on a certain bed, and stretching them or
lopping off their legs to adapt the body to its
length: resemblingthismode of torture. Hence
— 2. Eeduoing by violence to strict conform-
ity to a measure or modelj producing uniform-
ity by deforming or injurious force or by mu-
tilation.
When a story or argument undergoes contortion or mu-
tilation, it is said to go through aprocrustean process.
Sir J. Davies.
He stretches his favorite characters on a Procrustean
bed, while he subordinates his plot and his episodes to
conflicting calculations. Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XL. 30.
procrusteanize (pro-krus'te-an-iz), V. t. ; pret.
and pp. procrusteanized, -pTprlprocrusteanizing.
[< Procrustean + Aze.] To stretch or contract
to a given or required extent or size.
Frocrustesian (pro-krus-te'si-an), a. [Irreg. <
Procrustes (see Procrustean) + '4an]. Same as
Procrustean. Quarterly Bev. (Imp. Diet.)
Froctacanthns (prok-ta-kan'thus), n. [NL.
(Macquart, 1838), < Gr. wpunrdc, the anus, +
drnvda, a thorn.] A genus of dipterous insects
of the family Asilidse. They are among those known
as rohher-flies and hawk-fies. P. mUberti is the Missouri
bee-killer. See cut under hawk-fiy.
proctagra (prok-tag'ra), n. [NL., < Gr. Trpanrdg,
the anus, + aypa, a taking ; ef . podagra.] Same
as proctalgia.
proctalgia (prok-tal'ji-a), n. [NL., < Gr. irpax-
rdg, the anus, -1- aXyof, pain.] Pain of the anus
or rectum.
proctatresia (prok-ta-tre'si-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
■KpoKTdQ, the anus, -I- arpj/Tog, not perforated:
see atresia.] The condition of having an im-
perforate anus.
proctert, «■ An obsolete form oi proctor.
proctitis (prok-ti'tis), n. [NL., < Gr. TzpuKTdg,
the anus, 4- 4Us.] Inflammation of the rectum
or anus.
proctocele (prok'to-sel), n. [< Gr. npuKrdg, the
anus, -I- K^yiv, a tumor.] In pathol., inversion
and prolapse of the rectum, from relaxation of
the sphincter.
proctocystotomy (prok"to-sis-tot'o-mi), n. [<
Gr. npaKTdg, the anus, + E! cystotomy.] Cystot-
omy performed through the rectum.
proctodseum (prok-to-de'um), n. ; ]pl. proctodsea
(-a). [NL., < Gr. n'paKrdq, the anus, + 6Saiog,
by the way, < i66c, way.] A posterior section
of the alimentary canal or digestive tract, being
so much of the whole intestine or enteric tube
as is formed at the aboral end by an ingrowth
of the ectoderm : correlated with stomodseum,
which is derived from the ectoderm at the oral
end — both being distinguished from enteron
proper, which is of endodermal origin. Also
proctodeum.
The anal opening forms at a late period by a very short
ingrowth or proctodseuTn, coinciding with the blind termi-
nation of the rectal peduncle. Encye. Brit., XVI. 662.
proctodeal (prok-to-de'al), a. [< proetodse-um
+ -al.] Pertaining to the proctodseum.
The terminal section of the intestine is formed by the
proctodxal invagination. Erutyc. Brit., XXIV, 680.
proctodeum, «. See proctodieum.
proctodynia (prok-to-din'i-a;, n. [NL., < Gr.
irpuKTog, the anus, + bSijvri, pain.] Proctalgia.
Froctonotidse (prok-to-not'i-de), n.pl. [NL., <
Proctonotus + 4d«.] ' A family of polybranchi-
ate nudibranchiates, typified by the genus Proc-
tonotus. They have a distinct mantle, non-retractile
rhinophoria, and dorsal papillae without cnidophorous
pouclies around the mantle and passing forward under
the head. The jaws are corneous, and the teeth of the
radula are multiserial.
Froctonotus (prok-to-no'tus), n. [NL., < Gr.
wpuKTdg, the anus, + varog, back.] A genus of
Larva of Procris americana feeding on grape-leaf.
structive to the grape in the United States, its larvae feed-
ing gregariously on the under side of the leaves, and often
entirely defoliating the vine. There are two annual gen-
erations, and the pups hibernate in tough oblong oval
cocoons spun in some sheltered spot or crevice. The best
remedy is underspraying with Paris green. P. statiee is
known as the/orester-mo«A. (6) A genus of butter-
flies. Serrich-ScMffer, 1864.
Frocrustean (pro-kms'te-an), a. i\ n. Pro-
crustes, < Gr. 'n.poKpovBTTig, Procrustes (see def.).]
Proctonotus mucroniftrus. (Line sliows natural size.)
nudibranchiates, typical of the family Proctono-
Udee. The species occur in the European seas.
proctoparalysis(prok"to-pa-ral'i-sis), n. [NL.,
< Gr. TrpcjjiTdg, the anus, -f vapdhjatg, paraly-
sis: see paralysis.] Paralysis of the sphincter
ani.
proctoptoma (prok-top-to'ma), n. [NL., < Gr.
TrpuKTog, the anus, + Trru/io, fall, < ttIwtuv, fall.]
Prolapse of the rectum.
proctor
proctor (prok'tor), n. [Early mod. E. also jm-oc-
ier, proctour; < ME. jprokture, proketour, proke-
iotcre, abbr. of OP. proourator, < L. procurator,
a manager, agent: see procurator. Cf. proxy,
contr. ot procuracy. '\ 1. One who is employed
to manage the affairs of another; a procurator.
Where the sayde mariage was hy writinges and instru-
mentea couenaunted, condiscended, and agreed, and affi-
ances made and taken by proeters and deputies on bothe
parties- HaU, Rich. III., an. 3.
The most clamorous for this pretended relormation are
either atheists or else doctors suborned by atheists.
Hooker.
2. Specifically, a person employed to manage
another's cause in a court of civil or ecclesi-
astical law, as in the court of admiralty or a
spiritual court. Proctors discharged duties similar to
those of solicitors and attorneys in other courts. The
term is also used in some American courts for practition-
ers performing functions in admiralty and in probate cor-
responding to those of attorneys at law.
"What is a proctor, Steerforth?" said I. "Why, he is
a sort of monkish attorney," replied Steerforth. "He is
to some faded courts held in Doctors* Commons — a lazy
old nook near St. Paul's Churchyard— what solicitors ai-e
to the courts of law and equity."
Lickem, David Copperfleld, xxiii.
During the whole of Stafford's primacy the pope filled
up the sees by provision, the council nominated their
candidates; at Borne VaaproctoTB of the parties contrived
a compromise. Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 386.
3. One of the representatives of the clergy in
the Convocations of the two provinces of Can-
terbury and York in the Church of England.
They are elected by the cathedral chapters and
the clergy of a diocese or an archdeaconry.
The clerical proctors . . , were originally summoned to
complete the representation of the spiritual estate, with
an especial view to the taxation of spiritual property ; and
in that summons they had standing-ground from which
they might have secured a permanent position in the
legislature. By adhering to their ecclesiastical organisa-
tion in the convocations they lost their opportunity, and,
almost as soon as it was offered them, forfeited their
chance ot becoming an active part ot parliament.
Stubbs, Const. Hist, 1 482.
4. An official in a university or college whose
function it is to see that good order is kept.
In the universities of Oxford and Cambridge the proctors
are two officers chosen from among the masters of arts.
It is the Proctors' duty to look after the business of the
TTuiversity, to be assessors of the Chancellor or Vice-
Chancellor in the causes heard in the University, to count
the votes in the Houses of Convocation and Con^egation,
. . . and to exact fines and other penalties tor breaches of
University discipline among Undergraduates.
Dickens, Diet. Oxford, p. 95.
We, unworthier, told
Ot college : he had climb'd across the spikes, . . .
And he had breath'd the Proctor's dogs.
Tennyson, liincess, Prol.
5. Akeeper of aspital-house; a liar. Hamian,
Caveat for Cursetors, p. 115. — 6f. One who col-
lected alms for lepers or others unable to beg in
person. [Cant.]
According to Kennett, beggars of any kind were called
proctors. The Eraternitye of Vacabondes, 1576, has the
following notice:— "Proctour is he that wil tary long,
and bring a lye, when his maister sendeth him on his
errand." HaUiwell.
Proctors' dogs, proctors' men, proctors' servants.
Same as bvUdog, 3.
proctor (prok'tor), v. t. {(.proctor, to.] 1. To
manage as an attorney or pleader.
I cannot ^octor my own cause so well
To make it clear.
Warburtan, On Shakspeare's Antony and Cleopatra.
VjMOiam.')
2t. To hector; swagger; bully. iSbrfty, quoted
in HaUiwell.
proctorage (prok'tor-aj), n, [(.proctor + -age.']
Management by a proctor or other agent ; hence,
management or superintendence in general.
As for the foe^ias jproctorage of money, with such an
eye as strooke Oehezi with Leprosy, and Simon Magus
with a curse, so does she [excommunication] looke.
Xilian, Beformatiou in Eng., ii.
proctorial (prok-to'ri-al), a. {ixnoctor + -»-«?.]
Relating or pertaining to a proctor, especially
a university proctor. [Eare.]
proctorical (prok-tor'i-kal), a. [< proctor +
-ic-al.'] Proctorial.
Every tutor, for the better discharging of his duty,
shall Imye proetarieal authority over his pupils.
Pridewws, Life, p. 231.
proctorize (prok'tor-iz), v. t.; pret. and pp.
proctorized, ppr. proctoriging. [< proctor +
-ize.] To summon before a proctor, as for rep-
rimand. [Eng. university slang.]
One don't like to go in while there 's any chance of a
real row, as you call it, and so gets proctorized in one^s old
age for one's patriotism.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, I. xii.
proctorrhagia (prok-to-ra'ji-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
TrpuKTdc, the anus, + -payla^ < pr/yvvvai,, break,
burst.] Hemorrhage from the anus.
4750
proctorrhea, proctorrhtea (prok-to-re'a), n.
[NL. proctorrhaea, < Qr. irpu)KT6(, the anus, +
})ola, a flowing, < l^e'iv, flow. ] A morbid discharge
from the anus.
proctorship (prok'tor-ship), n. [< proctor +
-ship."] The office 6i a proctor; management
or procuratorship ; specifically, the position of
the proctor of a university.
The proctorship for science, justly assumed for matters
within his province as a student, is rather hastily extend-
ed to matters which he himself declares to be beyond it.
Pop. Sci. Mo., XXVni. 616.
proctotomy (prok-tot'o-mi), n. [< Grr. vpoiadt,
the anus, + -ro/^ita, < re/iveiv, rajidv, cut.] In
surg., a cutting of the rectum, as in the divi-
sion of a strictere or for the cure of a fistula.
proctotrete (prok'to-tret), n. A lizard of the
genus Proetotretus.
Proctotretus (prok-to-tre'tus), n. [NL., < Gr.
■KpaKTd^, the anus, + rprrri^, periforated.] A ge-
nus of South American iguanoid lizards, as P.
multimaculatus, of southern South America.
Proctotrupes, etc. See Proototrypes, etc.
Proctotrypes (prok-to-tri'pez), n. [NL. (La-
treille, 1796, in the form Proctotrupes), < Gr. npoK-
t6c, the anus, + rpmrav, bore, pierce through.]
The typical genus of Proctotrypidx. They are
small black insect^ often with reddish abdomen, having
edentate mandibles and single-spurred fore tibise. About
50 species of this wide-spread genus have been described.
They are mainly parasitic upon the larv» of dipterous in-
sects which infest f ungL
ProctotrypidSB (i)rok-to-trip'i-de), n. pi. [NL.
(Stephens, 1829, in the form Proetotrnpidee), <
Proctotrypes + -»(?«.] A notable family of par-
asitic entomophagous hymenopterous insects,
typified by the genus Proctotrypes^ of minute
size and usually somber colors, having the hind
margin of the prothorax reaching the tegulse,
and the ovipositor issuing from the tip of the
abdomen. The group is very large and of universal dis-
tribution. Over 800 species of 120 genera are known
in Europe alone. The 11 subfamilies are Dryininse, Enibo.
Uminse, Betkylinse, Ceravhroninee, Proctatrypinae, Sceli-
oninse, Plaiygasterinx, Mynw/rinse, Diaprimse, BelyUnx,
and Helorinse. See cut under Plaiygaster.
Proctucha (prok-tu'ka), n.pl. [NL., neut. pi.
otproctuclms : see jjroctMcftottS.] One of two di-
visions of the Turbellaria (the
other being Aprocta), in which
there is an anal apertiu'e of the
alimentary cavity. They are the
rhynchocoelous turbellarians or ne-
mertean worms ; some of them differ
little from the aproctous rhabdocoe-
lous turbellarians, save in having an
anus ; but there is generally a frontal
proboscis without a buccal proboscis,
eyes and ciliated fossae on the head,
and sexual distinctness. See also
cuts under Bhynchncoela and Pitt-
dium.
proctuchous (prok-tu'kus), a.
[< Nil. proctuchus, < Gr. npoK-
rSg, the anus, + Ixeiv, have.]
Having an anus: said of the
Proctucha, in distinction from
the Ajyroeta.
procumbent (pro-kum'bent),
a. [< L. proeumben(t-)s, ppr.
of procumbere, fall forward or
prostrate, < pro, forward, +
*cumbere, cubare, lie : see cunt-
benf] 1. Lying down or on
ijie face ; prone.
Procumbent each obeyed.
Cowper. {Imp. Met.)
2. In bot., trailing; prostrate;
unable to support itself, and
therefore lying on the ground,
but without putting forth
roots: as, a procumbent stem.
procurable (pro-kur'a-bl), a.
[< procure + -able.'] T?liat may
be procured; obtainable: as, ^^
an article readily j(jroc«ira6te. ""'
It [syrup of violets] is a far more common and procura-
ble liquor. Soyle, Works, I. 744.
procuracy (prok'u-ra-si), n. [< 'ME.proeuracie,
< OF. *proeuracie',<. ML.procuraUa, procuracia,
a caring for, charge : eee procuration. Ci. proxy,
contr. ot procuracy.] 1. The office or service
of a procurator; the management of an affair
for another. — 2t. A proxy or procuration.
The seyd priour hath sent also to yow, and to Mayster
William Swan, whiche longe bathe be his procurator, a
procuracie for my person, and v. marcz of moneye onward.
Paston Liters, I. 21.
The legat assembled a synod of the clergle at London,
vpon the last of Julie, in the which he demanded procu-
Holinshed, Hen. III., an. 1239.
A Proctuchous Tur-
bellarian {.Tetrastgfn-
ma),
a, a, central nervous
eanglia; b, b, ciliated
fossas ; c, orifice for pro-
trusion of the frontal
proboscis; d, anterior
part of ttie proboscis;
e, posterior muscular
part of same, fixed to
the parietes at y; g,
intestine ; h, anus ; t,
water-vessels; k, rhyth-
mipallycontractileves-
procure
procuration (prok-u-ra'shon), n. [< ME. j)ro-
curacioun, < OF. (and 'F.)' procuration = Pr.
procuration = Sp. procuraoion = Pg. procura-
gao = It. procurazione, < L. procuraUo(n-) (ML.
also procuratia), a caring for, charge, adminis-
tration, procuration, < procurare, pp. procura-
tus, take eare of, manage, administer: see^ro-
cure,] If. Care; management.
Eke plauntes have this procuracloun
Unto thaire greet multipUcaoion ;
That first is doone the seede with moold & donnge
In skeppes [baskets] under lande to rere up yonge.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. 8.), p. 214.
2. The management of another's affairs; the
being intrusted with such management.
I take not upon me either their procuration or their pat-
ronage. Bp. Hall, Kemains, p. 370. {Laiham.)
It were well to be wished that persons of eminence
would cease to make themselves representatives of the
people of England without a letter of attorney, or any
other act ot procuration. £urfo, A Begicide Peace, iil. <
3. A document by which a person is empow-
ered to transact the affairs of another. See man-
date, 4 (&). — 4. Eccles. : (a) Formerly, provision
of the necessary expenses for visitation, due
from a church, monastery, or incumbent, etc.,
to the bishop or archdeacon upon his visitation.
(6) In modern usage, the sum of money paid to
a bishop or archdeacon as a commutation for
the above provision.— prociiratlon-fee, or procu-
ration-money, a sum of money taken by scriveners on
effecting loans of money.
procurator (prok'ii-ra-tor), n, [Early mod. B.
procuratour, < MlE. procti/rator, procuratour,
proJceratour, < OP. procurator, P. procurateur
= Sp. Pg. procurador = It. 2)rocuratore, < Jj.pro-
curator, a manager, agent, administrator, dep-
uty, steward, bailiff, < procurare, pp. procura-
tus, take care of, manage : see procure. Cf.
proctor, contr. oi procurator.] 1. The manager
of another's affairs ; one who acts for or instead
of another, and under his authority ; especially,
one who undertakes the care of any legal pro-
ceedings for another, and stands in his place ;
a proctor; an agent; in Scotland, one who rep-
resents a party in the inferior com-ts.
May I not axe a libel, sire somonour.
And answere ther by my procuratour
To swich thyng as men wole apposen me?
Chaucer, Friar's Tale, 1. 298.
The speaker of the commons, ... in addition to the
general superintendence of business and his authority as
procurator and prolocutor of the house, had also to main-
tain order. Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 436.
2. In Bom. 'hist., a financial agent or manager
in an imperial province, corresponding to the
questor in a senatorial province; also, an ad-
ministrator of the imperial fiseus, or treasury,
or one of certain other personal agents or rep-
resentatives of the emperor.
Pilate, . . . the fifth Roman ^ocurotor . . . of Judsea.
Samaria, and Idumsea. Bneyc. Brit, XIX. 89!
Procurator fiscal, in Scotland, a public prosecutor.
The public prosecutor for counties is the procurator-
fiscal, who takes the initiative in cases of suspected death.
Encye. Brit, XXI. 636.
procuratorial (proVu-ra-tc'ri-al), a. [< procu-
rator + -i-al.] Of or pertaining to aprocurator
or proctor; made or done by a proctor.
All procuratorial exceptions ought to be made before
contestation of suit, and not afterwards, as being dilatory
exceptions, if a proctor was then made and constituted.
Ayliffe, Parergon.
Frocuratoilal cycle, In English universities, a fixed ro-
tation in which proctors are selected from certain col-
leges and halls.
In the old procuratorial cycle, in the University Statutes,
it [Queen's College] is styled "Collegium Bcginense."
Jr. and Q., 7th ser., IIL 392.
procuratorship (prok'ti-ra-tor-ship), n. [(pro-
curator -J- -ship.] The office of a procurator.
The office which Pilate bore was the procuratorship of
JidiB- Bp. Pearson, Expos, of Creed, iv.
procuratory (prok'u-ra-to-ri), a. and «. [< LL.
procuratorius, pertaining to a manager or agent,
( L. procurator, a manager: see procurator.]
I. a. Pertaining to procuration.
II. n. The instrument by which any person
constitutes or appoints his procurator to repre-
sent him in any court or cause.
procure (pro-ktir'), v. ; pret. and pp. procured,
ppr. procuring. [< ME. proeuren, < OF. pro-
curer, P. procurer = Sp. "Pg. procurar = It. pro-
curare, < L. procurare, take care of, care for,
look after, manage, administer, be a procura-
tor, also make expiation, < pro, for, before, +
curare, eare for, look after, < cura, eare : see
citr«.] I. tram. If. To care for; give attention
to; look after.
procure
..,5?l.^.'^5"f'if " '' *° be procured . . . that the natural
t"lSt?h°e',fSfnS7u"bJ^L^"'*^ ^•'^ "^ '•'»"»' P™P-
Jocon, True Greatness ol Kingdoms.
2. To bring about by care and pains; efEeet:
contrive and effect; induce; cause: as'hepro-
cured a law to be passed.
„, ^/ traytor Antenor hade truly no cause
1 for to promr his payne, and his pale harme.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 11614
By all means possible they procure to have gold and sU-
ver among them in reproach and infamy. "»ui»u
Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Robinson), ii. 6.
Proceed, Solinus, ia procure my fall.
Shak., C. of E., i. 1. 1.
_ „ , ,. No sought relief
By all our studies can procure his peace.
B. Jonson, Sad^hepherd, L 2.
_, . 1 procured
That rumour to be spread.
Shirley, Grateful Servant, i. 2.
Subornation of perjury is the offence ot proeuHm an-
other to talse such a false oath as constitutes perjury in the
principal. Blackatme, Com., IV. x.
3. To obtain, as by request, loan, effort, labor,
orpurobase; get; gain; come into possession
of.
Procure vnto your self suche faithful! frendes as will
rather staie yow from fallinge.
Boot:e of Precedence (B. E. T. S., extra ser.), 1. 74.
You desired me lately to procure you Dr. Davies's Welsh
Grammar, to add to those many you have.
Howell, Letters, I. v. 26.
Go; for yourself jwoiHjrc renown; . . .
An' for your lawful King his crown.
Bums, Highland Laddie.
4f. To prevail with unto some end; lead; bring.
Is it my lady mother? . . .
What unaccnstom'd cause procures her hither?
Shak., K. and J., iii. 6. 68.
Yonder is a pleasant arbour, procure him thither.
Shirley, Love Triolss, iv. 2.
St. To solicit; urge earnestly.
The famous Briton prince and Faery Icnight . . .
Of the f aire Alma greatly were proeur'd
To make there lenger sojoume and abode.
Spenser, F. Q., III. i. 1.
= Syn. 2. To provide, furnish, secure, compass.— 3. 06-
iaifi, etc, ^e attain.
II. intrans. To pander ; pimp.
How doth my dear morsel, thy mistress? Procures she
still, ha? Shak., M. for M., iii. 2. 68.
procurement (pro-kiir'ment), n. [< OF. pro
4751
prodigality
French Uw, the public prosecutor (proctireur proddt, n. An obsolete form otprod.
du roi or ds la rgpubUque), corresponding in a prodder (prod'fir), n. One who prods,
general way to a district or county attorney in Prodenia (pro-de'ni-a), n. [NL. (Guen6e,
the United States,
Chudnofski . . . was put into a strait-jacket in the
same bastion in the spring of 1878 for insisting upon his
legal right to have pen and paper for the purpose of writ-
ing a letter of complaint to the Proeureur.
0. Eennan, The Century, XXXV. 527.
Proodreur g^n^ral, in French law, the public prosecu-
tor-in-chief, corresponding in a general way to the attor-
ney-general in American law, but having supervision over
the procureurs du roi or de la rdpuUique.
procursive (pro-k6r'siv), a. [< L. proeursm,
pp. of procurrere, run forth (< pro, forth, +
currere, run: see current^), + 4ve.'\ Eunning
forward.— Procursive epilepsy, epilepsy in which the
fits begin with or consist of a purposeless running forward.
procurvation (pr6-k6r-va'shon), n. [< L. pro-
curvare. pp. procwvatus, bend or curve for-
ward, ipro, forward, + eurvare, bend, curve :
see curve.l A bending forward.
Procyon (pro'si-on), n. [NL., < L. Procyon, <
Gr. UpoKiav, the name of a star, or of a constel-
lation, rising a little before the dog-star, < irp6,
before, -I- Kiiiw, dog: see hound.] 1. (a) An an-
cient constellation: Bs,-nie a,B Cartis Minor. See
1852).] A genus of no'etuid moths of the sub-
family Xyloj)hasinee,\ia,viagthe palpi ascending.
Spiderwort Owlet-moth iProdeitiaJiavimetita).
a, larva ; b, wings of moth.
the third joint long-conical, and the posterior
wings semi-hyaline, it is a wide-spread genus, with
some 30 species of Europe, southern Asia, the Malay archi-
pelago, Australia, and both Americas. P.Jlammedia is com-
mon in the United States ; its larva feeds, like a cutworm,
on various succulent vegetables. See also cut under cwlet-
tnoth.
Prodician (pro-dish'ian), n. [< L. Prodicus, <
Gr. IIporfiKof, Prodicus : see def .] A member
of a Gnostic sect founded by Prodicus in the
second century.
Canis. (6) The principal star of the constella- %'^*'^°Si^f /i,'""^:^-'^"™'^^)^ "; ^h , [^
tion Canis Minor, the eighth brightest in the ^f^"^^' 1^^")' < Prodtdomus + -*<?«.] -ffanulj
sighth brightest
heavens. — 2. In gool, the typical genus of the
family Procyonidie, and the only genus of the
subfamily P»-oc^oTO»«, founded by Storr in 1784,
containing the racoons. See cut under racoon.
Procyonidse (pro-si-on'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Procyon (see Procyon, 2) -I- ■4die.'] An Ameri-
can family of plantigrade carnivorous mam-
mals of the arotoid series of fissiped .Fer«, rep- „ J- -r -r -c ■,. o, T^ T.
resented by the genera Procyon and Nasua, Pjodlg+.a. [,= ¥. prodigue = STp. Pg.lt. prod^go,
respectively the types of its two subfamilies' \^\Prod^gus,l&vlBh,w&stetul,^pro&lga,],<prodi-
Proct/oninse and Nasuinse, or the racoons and
ooatis. The family was formerly defined with latitude
enough to include other prooyoniform animals, as the kin-
kajou and bassaris. It is now restricted to forms having
40 teeth, of which the last upper premolar and first lower
molar are tubercular, and the lower jaw moderate or
slender, with short symphysis, recurved coronoid process,
of spiders, closely allied to the Vrocteidse, and
standing between the superf amilies Metitelariss
and TubitelarisB. It contains 3 genera, among
them the North American genus Prodidomus.
Prodidomus (pro-did'o-mus), n. [NL. (Hentz,
1849).] A genu's of spiders, typical of the fam-
ily Prodidomidse, confined to North America.
The type-species was found in an old cellar.
gere, consume, squander, drive forth, < pro(d-),
before, forward, + agere, drive.] Same a,s prodi-
gal. [Rare.]
In a goodly Garden's alleys smooth,
Where prodig Nature sets abroad her booth
Of richest beauties.
. . - f—r-^---, -■- r -», Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., Eden.
and mandibular angle near the condyle. See outs under __„j{_„i /„„„j/- i\ j, r^ t t /-hit ^
coati and racoon. prodigal (prod'i-gal), a. and n. [< LL. (ML.)
prodigaUs, wasteful, < li.prodigus, wasteful : see
prodig.'] I. a. 1. Given to extravagant expen-
procyoniform (pro-si-on'i-f drm), a. [< Procyon
(see Procyon, 2) -I- L. forma, form.] Racoon-
like in structure and affinity ; belonging to or
resembling the Procyoniformia.
curement, < ML. procitramentum, procurement, Procyoniformia (pr6-si-on-i-f6r'mi-a), n. pi. ^^V
solicitation, < L. jirocMrare, procure : see wo- P^J^-'- seeprocyoniform.] A section of the arc- 9'"'
cure.] 1 . The act of bringing about, or causing
to be effected.
A second Baiazeth, who in his fathers life, hy procurement
of the Janissayres, and in the hope of their ayde, purposed
to vsurpe the State and Empyre to him selfe.
&uevara. Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 333.
They think it done
By her procurement to advance her son.
toid series of flssiped Feree, contrasted with the
ursiform and musteliform sections otArctoidea.
They have two true lower molars, the last upper molar
more or less transverse, the carotid canal not behind the
middle of the inner wall of the auditory bulla, and the
foramen lacerum posterius antrorse from the postero-in-
temal angle of the tympanic bone. There are i fami-
lies, JEluridas of the Old World, and the American Cereo-
lepUdse, Procyonidse, and Bassarididee.
Dryden, AuTengzebe, ii. 1. Procyoninse (pr6"si-o-ni'ne), n. pi. [NL., <
u..* «„j„ ...•„ A...A — u pf-ggygn + ^^^s.] Asubfamlly of Procyonidse,
represented by the genus Procyon alone, hav-
ingthe snout short in comparison with.Aras««»«,
and large mastoid processes and auditory bullae.
See cut under racoon.
procyonine (pro'si-o-nin), a. Racoon-like; of
or pertaining to the Procyonidse or Procyoni-
,wo..x„x vi.x^-^ „ ... ^. ..^^ „^„ ^. ..„ formia: as, the m-oeyonme type.
or obtains; that which brines on or causes to Prod (prod), n. [Formerly also prodd; perhaps
The king sends for the Count, but finds him dead, prob-
ably by the lojoL proeuremeni.
Ticknor, Span. Lit., 1. 160.
2. The act of procuring or obtaining; obtain-
ment.
Shalt not engage thee on a work so much
Impossible as procurement of her love.
Shirley, Bird in a Cage, i. 1.
procurer (pro-kur'6r), n. 1. One who procures
be done.
Be you rather a hearer and bearer away of other men's
talk than a beginner ovprocurer of speech.
Sir H. iSidney (Arber s Eng. Garner, I. 42).
IftheprocMrersof . . . [anew law] have betrayed aeon--
duct that confesses by-ends and private motives, the dis-
gust to tlie circumstances disposes us ... to an irrever-
ence of the law Itself. Ooldemith, The Bee, No. 7.
2t. One who uses means to bring anything
about, especially one who does so secretly and
corruptly.
You are to inquire of wilful and corrupt perjury in any
of the king's courts : and that as well of the actors as of
the procurers and suborners.
Bacon, Charge at Session of the Verge.
3. One who procures for another the gratifica-
tion of his lust; a pimp; a pander.
strumpets in their youth turn procurers in their age.
Smiih, Sermons, II. 188.
procuress (pro-kur'es), n. [< procure + -ess.]
A female pimp ; a bawd.
Hold thou the good : define it well :
For fear divine Philosophy
Should push beyond her mark, and be
Procuress to the Lords of Hell.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, liii.
proeureur (pr6-k1i-rer'), «• [I'- (> (*• proeureur
= ^uss. prolcuroru),< li. procurator, procurator :
see procurator and proctor. ] A procurator ; es-
pecially, in some comitries, an attorney; in
a var. of hrod, hrad.] 1. A pointed (often
blunt-pointed) weapon or instrument, as a goad
or an awl. — 2. A long wooden pin used to se-
cure thatch upon a roof. See the quotation.
A prod [used in thatching amongst North Lancashire
people] is a wooden pin pointed fine, and is used for put^
ting straight into the thatch. It may be a foot or fifteen
inches long, or even more. N. and Q., 6th ser., X. 193.
Sf. A crossbow used for throwing balls of metal
or stone. Compare sto»e-&o«). — 4. [(.prod, v.]
A prick or punch with a pointed or somewhat prodigalise v.
diture; expending money or other property
without necessity ; profuse; lavish; wasteful:
said of persons: as, & prodigal man; the prodi-
' son.
If I would be prodigal of my time and your patience
what might not I say? I. WtUton, Complete Angler, p. 30.
Free livers on a small scale, who are prodigal within the
compass of a guinea. Irving, The Stout Gentleman.
Your wild, wicked, witty prodigal son is to a spiritual
huntsman an attractive mark.
H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 492.
2. Profuse; lavish; wasteful: said of things:
as, a prodigal expenditure of money.
Or spendthrift's prodigal excess.
Cowper, In Memory of John Thornton
3. Very liberal; lavishly bountiful : as, nature
is prodigal of her gifts.
The chariest maid is prodigal enough
If she unmask her beauty to the moon.
Shak., Hamlet, i. 3. 36.
Realms of upland, prodigal in oil.
And hoary to the wind.
Tennyson, Palace of Art
4. Proud. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]=syn. Lav-
ish, Profuse, etc. See extraeagara.
ll. n. One who expends money extravagant-
ly or without necessity; one who is profuse or
lavish; a waster; a. spendthrift, with the defi-
nite article, the prodigal, the term, taken from the ordinary
chapter-heading, is used to designate the younger son in
Christ's parable, Luke xv. 11-32.
A bankrupt, & prodigal, who dare scarce show his head
on the Eialto. Shak., M. of V., iii. 1. 47.
blunt instrument; a poke.
If a child tittered at going under the confessional tent,
its mother gave it a lexr prod with admonishing hand.
The Century, XXXVII. 265.
prod (prod), V. t. ; pret. and pp. prodded, ppr.
prodding, [iprod, «.] To prick or punch with
a pointed instrument; goad; poke.
The lady has prodded little spirting holes in the damp
sand before her with her parasoL
Viekens, Our Mutual Friend, L 10.
Hungarian soldiers — who may have soon af terward^od-
ded their Danish fellow-beings all the more effectively for
tliat day's training. Howells, Venetian Life, xv.
prodatary (pr6-da'ta-ri), n. ; pi. prodataries
(-riz). [< NL. prodatarius, < L. pro, for, -t-
ML. datarius, a datary : see datary'^.] The title
borne by the officer who presides over the office
of the datary at Rome, when of the rank of a
cardinal.
See prodigalise.
prodigality (prod-i-gal'i-ti), n. [= F. prodiga-
lite = Pr. prodigalitat = Sp. prodigalidad = Pg.
prodigalidade = It. prodigalitd, < LL. prodigali-
ta(t-)s, wastefulness, < (ML.) prodigalis, waste-
ful, lavish: see prodigal.] 1. The quality of
being prodigal; extravagance in expenditure,
particularly of money; profusion; waste.
It is not always so obvious to distinguish between an
act of liberality and an act of prodigalUy. South.
If a man by notorious prodigality was in danger of
wasting his estate, lie was looked upon as non compos,
and committed to the care of curators or tutors by the
praetor. BlacksUme, Com., I. viii.
2. Excessive or profuse liberality.
A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman.
Framed in the prodigality of nature.
Shak., Kich. IIL, i
=Syn. 1. Wastefulness, lavishness, squandering.
travagaitt.
i. 2. 244.
See ex-
prodigalize
prodigalize (prod'i-gal-iz), v.; pret. and pp.
prodigalized, ppr. prodigalizing. [< OF, prodi-
galiser = "Pg. prodigalizar = It. prodigalizzare ;
aaprodigal + -fee.] I. trans. To spend or give
•with prodigality or profuseness ; lavish; prodi-
gate.
Kajor MaoBIarne; prodigaliees his offers of service In
every conceivable department of life,
Biilwer, Caxtons, xvli. 1. (Daviet.)
n. intrans. To be extravagant in expendi-
ture : with an indefinite it. Cotgrave.
Also speWei prodigalise.
prodigally (prod'i-gal-i), adv. [< prodigal +
-J«2.] In a prodigal'"manner. (a) With profusion
of expenses; extravagantly; lavlsbly; wastefully: as, an
estate prodigaily disdpated.
The next in place and punisliment are they
Who prodigally throw their souls away.
Dryden, ,X!neid, vL 687.
(6) With liberal abundance ; profusely.
The fields,
With ripening harvest prodigally fair.
In brightest sunshine bask.
Wordsvjorthf Sonnets, 11 13.
prodigate (prod'i-gat), v. t. ; pret. and -pip.prod-
igated, -pjpr. prodigating. [< ML. prodigatus, pp.
otprodigare {> St^. j^rodigar), consume, squan-
der, freq. of Ij.prodigere, consume, squander:
see prodigal."] To squander prodigally ; lavish.
His gold is prodigated in every direction which his fool-
ish menaces fail to frighten. Thackeray.
prodigencet (prod'i-jens), n. [< L. prodigentia,
extravagance, profusion, <.prodigen(t-)s,'pTpi. of
prodigere, consume, squander: see prodigal.]
Waste; profusion; prodigality.
There is no proportion in this remuneration ; this is not
houTityfitisprodigeruie. £p,Ha2Z, John Baptist Beheaded.
prodigious (pro-dij'us), a. [< P. prodigieux =
Sp. Pg. It. pro^igioso, < li. prodigiosiis, unnatu-
ral, strange, wonderful, ra&XYe\oMS,<. prodigium,
an omen, portent, monster: see prodigy.] If.
Having the character or partaMhg of the na-
ture of a prodigy; portentous.
Super. The Diuill ouer-take thee I
Amb. 0 fatall '.
Super. 0 prodigious to our blonds !
Toumeur, Revenger's Tragedy, ii. 6.
1 never see him but methinks his face
Is more prodigious than a fiery comet.
Beau, and Fl. (?), Faithful Friends, L 3.
Hang all the sky with yoMv prodigifms signs,
B. JonsoUj Sejanus, v. 6.
2. Wonderfully large ; very great in size, quaoi-
tity, or extent; monstrous; immense; huge;
enormous.
His head is like a huge spherical chamber, containing
A prodigious mass of soft brains.
Irving^ Knickerbocker, p. 157.
Instead of the redress of such injuries, they saw a new
and prodigitms tax laid on the realm by the legislature.
B. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., xv.
3. Very great in degree; excessive; extreme.
I had much discourse with my lord Winchelsea, a.pro-
tUgious talker. Evelyn, Diary, Aug. i, 1669.
For BO small a man, his strength was prodigious.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 77.
They tell me I'm a prodigious favourite, and that he
talks of leaving me every thing.
Sheridan, School for Scandal, iii. 8.
These optical splendours, together with the prodigious
enthusiasm of the people, composed a picture at once
scenical and affecting, theatrical and holy. De Quincey.
— Syn. Monstrous, marvelous, amazing, astonishing, as-
tounding, extraordinary,
prodigiously (pro-di3'us-li),od». Inaprodigious
manner, (ot) In the manner of a prodigy or portent;
ominously ; portentously.
And Hyaena's and Wolues, prodigiously entering their
Cities, seemed to howle their Funerall obsequies.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 157.
(6) Wonderfully ; astonishingly ; enormously : as, a num-
ber prodigiously great, (c) Excessively ; immensely ; ex-
tremely. [CoUoq.]
I am prodigiously pleased with this joint volume. Pope.
prodigiousness (pro-dij'us-nes), n. The state
or quality of being prodigious ; enormousness ;
the state of having qualities that excite wonder
or astonishment.
prodigy (prod'i-ji), n.; pi. prodigies J-m.
[Formerly alsoprodige; = F.prodige = Sp. Pg.
It. prodigio, < L. prodigium, a prophetic sign,
token, omen, portent, prob. for "prodicium, <
prodicere, say beforehand, foretell, < pro, be-
fore, + dicere, say: see diction. Otherwise <
prod-, older form of pro, before, + "agium, a
saying, as in adagium,^ a saying: see adage.]
1. Something extraordinary from which omens
are drawn ; a portent.
Think the easiest temptations a porpoise before a tem-
pest, smoke before flre, sign s and prodiges of a fearful con-
flict to come. Rev. T. Adams, Works, EC. 164.
4752
So many terrours, voices, prodigies.
May warn thee, as a sure foregoing sign.
Uatm, P. R., iv. 482.
2. A person or thing so extraordinary as to ex-
cite great wonder or astonishment.
The Churches are many and very fayre ; in one of them
lyes interr'd t\at prodigy ot learning, the noble and illus-
txions Joseph Scaliger. Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 19, 1641.
Ay, but her beauty will affect you— she is, though I say
it wio am her father, a very prodigy.
Shfndan, The Duenna, IL 1.
3. A monster; an animal or other production
out of the ordinary course of nature.
Most of mankind, through their own sluggishness, be-
come nature's prodigies, not her children, B. Jonson.
=Syn. 1. Sign, wonder, miracle.— 2, Marvel,
prooitiont (pro-dish'on), m. [< OP. (and F.)
prodiUon = ^-p. prodicion = Pg. prodigSu> =
It. prodieione, < L. prodiUo(n-), disooverv, be-
trayal, < prodere, bring forth, betray, i pro,
forth, + dare, give: see dafel. Of. treason,
which contains the same radical element.]
Treachery; treason.
Certes, it had bene better for thee not to haue accused
the king of this prodition. OrafUm, Hen, II., an, 18,
ProdiUon is the rankling tooth that follows her [ini-
quity's] ravishing kisses. Bev. T. Adams, Works, I. 222.
proditort (prod'i-tor), n. [< OP. proditeur =
Pg. proditor = It!" proditore, < L. proditor, a
traitor, < prodere, -pp. proditus, bring forth, be-
tray: see prodition. Cf. traitor, which contains
the same radical element.] A traitor.
Thou most aauTping proditor.
And not protector, of the king or realm.
Shak., 1 Hen, VI., L 8. 81.
proditorioust (prod-i-to'ri-us), a. [< ML. pro-
djtor»«s, traitorous: seeproditory.] 1. Treach-
erous; perfidious; traitorous.
Now, proditorious wretch ! what hast thou done.
To make this barbarous base assassinate? Daniel.
2. Apt to disclose or make known.
Those more solid and conclusive characters . . . which
oftentimes do start out of children when themselves least
think of it ; for, let me tell you, nature iB proditorioits.
iStr H. Wotton, Kellquise, p. 82.
proditoriouslyf (prod-i-to'ri-us-li), adv. In a
proditorious or perfidious manner; with treach-
ery.
proditoryt (prod'i-to-ri). a. [= F. proditoire =
Sp. Pg. It. proditor'io, (. ML. proditoriiLS, trai-
torous, < L. proditor, a traitor: see proditor.]
Treacherous ; perfidious.
If this were that touch of conscience which he bore
with greater regrett, then for any other sin committed in
his life, whether it were that prodUxffy Aid sent to B,ochel
and Keligion abroad, or that prodigality of shedding blood
at home, to a million of his Subjects lives not vfdu'd in
comparison ol one Strafford, we may consider yet at last
what true sense and feeling could be in that conscience.
Milton, Eikonoklaates, ii.
prodromal (prod'ro-mal), a. [< prodrome +
-al.] In pathol., preliminary; pertaining to
or of the nature of prodromata. Also prodro-
mous.
In most insanities a "period of incubation " is observed,
generally spoken of as ^e prodromal or initial period.
Enoyo. Brit., XIII. 103.
prodromata (pro-drom'a-ta), n.pl. [NL., <
Gr. irpddpo/mg, running before: see prodrotntts.]
Minor symptoms preceding the well-marked
outbreak of a disease ; prodromal symptoms.
The severity of the prodromata serves as a guide.
Quain, Med. Diet., p. 1390.
prodromatic (prod-ro-mat'ik), a. [< prodro-
mata + -ic] Of or pertaining to prodromata;
prodromal.
prodrome (pro'drom), n. [< Gr. mjoSpofi^, a
running forward: see prodromus.] If. A fore-
runner.
Sober morality, conscientiously kept to, is like the morn-
ing light reflected from the higher clouds, and a certain
prodrome of the Sun of Bighteousness itself.
Dr. H. Mare, cited in Ward's Life, p. 63, (Latham.)
2. Any prodromal symptom. — 3. A precursory
or preliminary treatise; a prodromus (which
see).
prodromic (pro-drom'ik), a. [< Gr. irpoSpo/imds,
ready to run forward, < wpdSpo/ioc, running for-
ward: see prodromom.] Precursory; pertain-
ing to pro(£:omata.
The eruption was fully out. It . . . closely resembled
the prodromic exanthem of variola.
Medical News, LIZ. 645.
prodrpmous (prod'ro-mus), a. l<OrT.jrp66po/ioc,
running forward, < npoipaiielv, run forward, \
Trp6, forward, + Spa/ielv, run.] Same as prod-
romal.
prodromus (prod'ro-mus), n.; pi. prodromi
(-mi). [< L. prodromus, < Gr. np6dpo/wc, nm-
produce
ning before : see prodromous.] Same as pro-
drome; especially, a preliminary treatise upon
a subject respeetmg which a subsequent more
elaborate work is intended. This was formerly a
very common name of minor treatises composed in Latin,
and survives, especially as English prodrome, for books of
this class. [This word seems to be used by Bacon for ' pro-
phecy, anticipation, to be afterward verified.' See the
quotation.]
Bacon ananged Us writings for the "Instauratio Mag-
na" into six divisions: ... 6. Tbe Prodromi; or, the An-
ticipations of the Second Philosophy — provisional antici-
pations, founded on experience, which the investigator
needs as starting-points in his research.
Henry Morley, First Sketch of Eng. Lit., viii. S 22.
prodromy (prod'ro-mi), m. [< Gr. npodpofi^, a
running forward:" see prodrome.] A sign of
something in the future ; a presage.
produce (pro-dtis'), v. ; pret. and pp. produced,
ppr. producing. l=F. 2)roduire = 'Pv.produire
= Sp. producir = Pg. produzir = It. producere,
< li. producere, lead forth or forward, bring for-
ward, drawer stretchout, extend, prolong, con-
duct, etc., bring forth, bear, etc., < pro, forth,
forward, + dueere, lead, bring: see duct] I.
trans. 1. To lead or place forward or in front.
[Rare.]
Bed. O, his leg was too mnch produeed.
Ana. And his hat was carried scurvily.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Eevels, v, 2.
2. To lengthen out ; extend; prolong.
In which great work, perhaps our stay will be
Beyond our will produced. B. Jonson, Sejanus, ill. 3.
An insect with the extremity of its abdomen produced
into a sharp point alights on the flower.
Darwin, Fertil. of Orchids by Insects, p. 169.
Straight lines exist which have the property that any
one of them may he produced both ways without limit.
Encyc. Brit., X. 377.
3. To bring forward ; bring or offer to view or
notice; exhibit.
I . . . am moreover suitor that I may
Produce his body to the market-place.
Shak., J. C.,iil. 1. 228.
He Is on fire to succour the oppressed, to produce the
merit of the one, and confront the impudence of the other.
Steele, TaUer, No. 242.
Where is no door, I hat prodtiee
My key to find it of no use.
Lowell, CredidimuB Jovem Regnare.
4. To bring forth; generate; bear; furnish;
yield.
All things in common nature should produce
Without sweat or endeavour.
5Aa&,, Tempest, ii. 1. 159.
Many plants are known which regularly produce at the
same time differently-constructed flowers.
Darwin, Origin of Species, p. 182.
The infelicitous wife who had produced nothing but
daughters. Oeorge Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xxxvi.
The Greeks had the very largest ideas upon the training
of man, and produced specimens of our kind with gifts
that have never been surpassed.
Gladstone, Might of Bight, p. 15.
5. To cause; efEeet; bring about.
The agitations and struggling motions of matter first
produced certain Imperfect and ill-joined compositions of
things. Bacon, Physical Fables, i., Expl.
Competition has proditced activity where monopoly
would have produced sluggishness. Macanilay, Hisfory.
It is not trial by jury that produces justice, bat it is the
sentiment of justice tiatproduces trial by jury.
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 289.
6. To make; bring into being or form: as, to
produce wares.
The jongleurs produced chansons de geste full of tales
of battle and combat. Encyc. Bra., XIX. 873.
7. To yield; make accrue: as, laonej produces
interest ; capital produces profit. = Syn. 3, To show,
—4. To breed, beget, engender, propagate.— 6. To afford,
impart, give, occasion, furnish, supply.
II. intrans. 1. To bring forth or yield appro-
priate offspring, products, or consequences : as,
this tree produces well. — 2. In polit. econ., to
create value ; make anything valuable ; bring
goodSj crops, manufactures, etc., into a state
in which they will command a price.
Capitalists will not go on permanently jiroductn^ at a
loss. J. S. Mia, PoL Econ., III. ill. § 1.
produce (prod'us), n. [< produce, v.] That
which is produced ; a product, of either natu-
ral growth, bodily yield, labor, or capital: as,
the produce of the soil, of the flock, of the fac-
tory, etc.
In an open country too, of which the principal produce
is corn, a well-inclosed piece of grass will frequently rent
higher than any corn-field in its neighbourhood.
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, L 11.
To give the pole the produce of the sun,
And knit th unsocial climates into one.
Cowper. Charity, 1. 126.
produce
The value of mining produce is determined generally in
tlie same way as that of agricultural produce. ''""""^^'* ™
Encye. Brit., XXIV. 51.
„„t „h^?*i J"jk ""^^ **' ®.*'^'! ■**' «" composed and dressed
out what IS the mere nataisH produce of the human heart
under certain Cttcumstances as to serve his DurooBea as
the counterfeit of the Truth ? •»"»"» purposes as
J. H. Newman, Parochial Sermons, i. 813.
Specifically- (a) The total yield or outcome: as, the »ro-
duee of the county lor the past year has been very large.
■* In. Staffof'Jshire, after their lands are marled, they sow
it with bOTley, allowing three bushels to an acre. Its com-
mon produce is thirty bushels. Mortimer, Husbandry.
(6) In com., agricultural products, as grain, lard, hops etc..
and other articles, as petroleum, which are bought and
sold with them on the same exchange, (c) In metcU.. the
assay percentage of copper ore. [This use of the word is
limited to Cornwall, England.]
The assays [of copper] are made by units and eighths per
cent., which result of percentage is called \iie produce.
PhiUips, Explorers' Companion, p. 395.
=S7n. Prodiict, etc. See production.
produce-broker (prod'us-br6"]i6r), n. A dealer
ia produce, as grain, groceries, or dyestuffs,
usually acting as agent or on commission.
produced (pro-dust'), p.-a. In eool., drawn out ;
elongated ; extended ; protrusive or protuber-
ant : as, the produced jaws of a garpike.
produce-exchange (prod'iis-eks-ohanj"),»». An
exchange where produce is bought and sold.
See produce (.&).
producementt (pro-diis'ment), n. [< produce
+ -ment.'] Production.
Which repulse only, given to the Prelats, . . . was the
producemxnl of . , . glorious effects and consequences in
the Church. Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus.
produce-merchant {prod'iis-m6r"chant), «.
Ssme as produce-brojcer.
producent (pro-dii'sent), n. [< 'L.producen{t-)s,
ppr. of producere, bring forth or forward: see
produce.^ One who or that which produces,
brings forth, exhibits, or effects.
These species are made a medium between body and
spirit, . . . and the supposition infers a creative euergie
in the object their producent, which allows not to creature
efficients. OlanvUle, Vanity of Dogmatizing, iv.
If an instrument be produced with a protestation in fa^
vour of the producent, and the adverse party does not con-
tradict, it shall be construed to the advantage of the j»-o-
ducent. Ayl^e, Parergon.
producer (pro-dii'ser), n. One who or that
which produces or generates: as, an agricul-
tural producer (farmer); a ga,s-producer (ap-
paratus) ; specifically, in poUt. econ., one who
causes any article to have an exchangeable
value : the opposite of consumer.
The divine will is absolute ; it is its own reason ; it is
both the producer and the ground of all its acts.
South, Sermons, VIII. x.
Sow wages and profits will be jn proportion to the sacri-
fices undergone wherever, and only as' far as, competition
prevails among producers. Caimes, Pol. Econ., I. iii. § 5.
The hands are the produeers, and the aim of the masters
was to regard tlie produeers as so many machines.
W. Besamt, Fifty Years Ago, p. 225.
producibility (pro-du-si-bil'i-ti)j »»• [< prodM-
Mble + -^ty (see -UUty).'] The capability of be-
ing produced.
There being nothing contained in the notion of substance
inconsistent with such a producibility .
Barrow, Works, n. xii.
producible (pro-dii'si-bl), a. [(.produce + -ible.']
1. Capable of being produced or brought into
view or notice, or of being exhibited.
Many warm expressions of the fathers are prodiicible in
this case. Decay of Christian Piety.
Certain sleeping accommodations producible from re-
cesses in the front and back counting-houses.
Charlotte Bronte, Shttley, iv.
3. Capable of being produced or brought into
being ; able to be generated or made.
Misoidet producible by the ravages of noxious animals,
such as beasts of prey, locusts.
BentMm, Introd. to Morals and Legislation, xvL 33, note.
producibleness (pro-du'si-bl-nee), n. [< pro-
ducible + -ness.^ The state or (Quality of being
producible.
That alone will suffice to destroy the universality and
intireness of their hypothesis, and besides give cause to
suspect that by further industry the producibleness of
other principles also may be discovered.
Boyle, Works, I. 661.
product (pro-dukt'), i>. t. [< h. productus, pp.
ot producere, lead forth, produce : aeeproduce.2
It. To bring forward; produce.
Seeing producted to his last examination before the said
bish. y XV day of January. Foxe, Martyrs, an. 1566.
Great plentie of fine amber, . . . which is producted hy
the working of the sea upon those coasts.
Holinshed, Descrip. of Bntam, x.
It seemes not meete, nor wholesome to my place.
To be producted (as, if I stay, I shall)
Against the Moore.
Shak., Othello (folio 1623X i. 1. 147.
4753
2. In entom., to draw out; lengthen Product-
ed pronotiun, a pronotum terminated behind in a long
process extending over the mesothorax, metathorax, and
part of the abdomen, as in certain grasshoppers.
product (prod'ukt), «. [= F. produit = Sp. Pg.
producto = It. prodotto, produtto = D. G. Sw.
Dan. produkt, product, < L. productum, neut.
otproductus, pp. of producere, lead forth, pro-
duce: see produce.'] That which is produced;
a production. (o)Athingwhichisproducedbynature,
as fruits or grain-crops ; what is yielded by the soil : as,
the agricultural jwodiiote of a country.
Fetch uncontrolled each labour of the sun,
And make the product of the world our own.
Addison, To the King.
See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings.
And heap'd with products of Sabean springs !
P<^e, Messiah, 1. 94.
(6) Offspring. [Kare.]
To whom thus Michael : These are the product
Of those ill-mated marriages thou saw'st.
Milton, P. L., xi. 683.
(c) That which is formed or produced by labor, usually by
physical labor.
The centres of this organization of trade were the cloth-
halls, to which the masters brought their products to
market. English Gilds (E. E. T. 8.), Int, p. clxxi.
Most of those books which have obtained great reputa-
tion in the world are the products of great and wise men.
Waits, Improvement of the Mind, i. 2.
Some of the richest land in England lies in the fen
country, and that landas as much the prodvet of engineer-
ing slull and prolonged labour as Portland Harbour or
Menai Bridge. Bae, Contemporary Socialism, p. 446.
(c2) Effect; result; something resulting as a consequence.
He, with all his capacities, and desires, and beliefs, is
not an accident, but s.produx:t of the time.
H, Spencer, Socifd Statics, p. 517.
(Show me]
What thy life last put heart and soul into ;
There shall I taste thy product.
Browning, King and Book, II. 178.
(fi) In vnaih., the result of multiplying one quantity or
expression by another. Thus, 72 is the produtl of 8
multiplied by 9; and Aylix is the prodiwt of y multi-
plied by the operator d/dx. The quantities multiplied
together are usually termed factors. Product results
from multiplication, as sum does from addition. (/) In
chem., a compound not previously existing in a body,
but formed during decomposition: as, tlie products of
destructive distillation: contradistinguished from eduet.
—Direct, genital, organic, etc., products. See the ad-
jectives.—Homogeneous product, a product of ab-
stract numbers or quantities of one land.— Product of
Inertia. See inertia.— ReaolverLt product^ the product
fw.fttt2.ffti3.fto'', where ft> is a fifth root of unity and fu> =
Xi -f ftjflSg + ""^3 + <^^*4 + '^'^^at tlie a^s being roots of a
quintic equation.— Skew product, the product ot the
tensors of two vectors into the sine of the angle between
them, and the whole multiplied by a unit vector perpen-
dicular to the two vectors and directed in the way in which
the revolution from the first factor to the second appears
counter-clockwise.
productibility (pro-duk-ti-bil'i-ti), n. [< pro-
ductible + -ity (see -bility).'] Capability of be-
ing produced. [Kare.]
No produce ever maintains a consistent rate of produc-
tibUity. SusHn, Unto This Last, p. 53, note.
productible (pro-duk'ti-bl), a. [< L. produe-
tus, pp. of producere, lead forth, produce (see
product), + -ible.] Capable of being produced;
producible. [Rare.]
productile (pro-duk'til), a. [< L. productilis,
that may be drawn out, < productus, pp. ot pro-
ducere, lead forth, draw out, product : see pro-
duce, product.^ Capable of being extended in
length.
production (pro-duk'shon), n. [< F. production
= Sp. produccion = Fg.'producgSo = It. ^irodu-
zione, < L. producUo(n-), a prolonging, length-
ening, (.producere, ■py. productus, lead forth, pro-
long, produce: see produce, product.] 1. The
act or process of producing, (a) The act of bring,
ing forward or adducing.
Public documents in general must be proved either by
the production of the original or by the official copies.
Bneyc. Brit., VIII. 742.
(5) The act of making or creating.
It can also be shown that the production of the two sorts
of flowers by the same plant has been effected by finely-
graduated steps. Darwin, Origin of Species, p. 182.
Certain it is that hate and destruction are just as ne-
cessary agents as love and production in nature.
Maudsley, Body and Will, xi. p. 239.
The component elements of production are labour and
capital, acting by natural forces upon raw material.
Eneye. Brit., XXIV. 48.
(c) In polit. econ., the creation of values; the producing
of articles having an exchangeable value.
Besides the primary and universal requisites of produc-
tion, labour and natural agents, there is another requisite,
. . . namely, a stock, previously accumulated, of the pro-
ducts of former labour. J. 5. Mill, Pol. Econ., I. iv. § 1.
2. That which is produced or made ; a product
of physical or mental labor; specifleally, a work
of literature or art.
proem
The Lion and the Leviathan are two of the noblest Pro-
ductions in this World of living Creatures.
Addison, Spectator, No. 339.
We have had our names prefixed at length to whole
volumes of mean productions. Svjift.
So one, whose story serves at least to show
Men loved their own productions long ago,
Woo'd an unfeeling statue for his wife.
Conaper, Progress of Error, 1. 527.
3. In zool. and anat., the act of drawing forth or
out ; the state of being produced (see produced,
p. a.); extension; protrusion: as, Vne produc-
tion of the pike's jaws. — 4. pi. In Scots law,
in judicial proceedings, written documents or
other things produced in process in support
of the action or defense Interdict for produc-
tion. See interdict, 2.=Syn. 1. Work, performance.—
1 and 2. Produce, Product, Production. Of these only
production may mean the act of producing. As standing
for the thing or things produced, produce applies now
almost exclusively to the raw products or yield of land:
as, to bring fresh produce to market. "Where Jonathan
Edwards spoke of regarding "all free actions as the pro-
duce of free choice, we should speak now of regarding
them as the p^odizcfs of free choice, or, better, as its ef-
fects. There is a lingering use of produce in such expres-
sions as "the^odijceof atax," but better now the prodiict,
or, still better, the proceeds. The word is always collective ;
Ve do not speak of a produce. Product and production, on
the other hand, are particular. Product is the most gen-
eral of the three words, but expresses the result of some
operation, generally, but not necessarily, physical : as, tlie
apple is especially an American product ; Great Britain ex-
ports chiefly manufactured prodttcts. Thus, the word may
apply to almost anything where emphasis is laid upon the
fact of its being produced by some cause, especially by
some cause that Is named ; but, apart &om tills, the word
is applied chiefly to things having a material value, cov-
ering produce, manufactures, etc. Production applies now
almost exclusively to the visible results of the operation of
mind or the handiwork of art, as a book, a poem, an oration,
a statue, a painting, a piece of needlework — the act or fact
of producing being only subordinate in mind. Product is
also a technical word of mathematics, but the others are
not-
productive (pro-duk'tiv), a. [= P. producUf =
Sp. Pg. produciivo = It. produttivo, < L. produc-
Uvus, serving to produce or prolong, <prodMcere,
y^. productus, lead forth, produce: see produce,
product.] 1. Serving to produce ; having the
power of producing: as, an &ge productive of
great men.
Produjstive in herb, plant, and nobler birth
Of creatures animate with gradual life.
MUUm, P. L., ix. 111.
Chaste as cold Cynthia's virgin light.
Productive as the Sun.
Pope, Choruses to Brutus, IL
Heav'n would sure grow weary of a world
Productive only of a race like ours.
Cowper, Task, ii. 584.
2. Fertile; producing abundant crops: as, a
productive soil.
Fruitful vales so productive of that grain. Swift.
3. In polit. econ., causing or tending to cause
an increase in the quantity or quality of things
of value; causing commodities to possess ex-
changeable value : as, prodxtctive labor.
The business of transporting merchandise or passengers
by land or by sea is as much ?. productive industry as the
raising ot wheat, the spinning of fibres, or the smelting
or forging of iron.
D. A. Wells, Our Merchant Marine, p. 35.
Productive imagination. See imagination, 1.= Syn. 1
and 2. Prolific, etc, See fruitful.
productively (pro-duk'tiv-li), adv. [(.produc-
tive + -ly^.] In a productive manner; by pro-
duction ; with abundant produce.
productiveness (pro-duk'tiv-nes), n. [< pro-
ductive + -ness.] The character of being pro-
ductive : as, the productiveness of land or labor.
productivity (pro-duk-tiv'i-ti), n. [< produ^
tive + My.] Thepower of producing; produc-
tiveness.
They have reinforced their own productivity by the cre-
ation of that marvellous machinery wliich differences this
age from any other age. Ihnerson, Eng. Traits, x.
Labourers who do not possess the average productivity
are turned off on tlie ground that they are unable to do a
minimum day's work.
Sac, Contemporary Socialism, p. 166.
productress (pro-duk'tres), n. [< *productor (<
LL. produetor, one who leads away, one who
produces, < L. prodttcere, pp. productus, lead
forth, produce : see produce, product) + -ess.]
A female who produces.
proegumenalt (pro-f-gu'me-nal), a. [< Gr. Trpo-
TiyoOfievoc, ppr. of irpor/yelcdai, go first, lead the
way, < np6, before, + ^yeiadai, lead: see hege-
mony.] In med., serving to predispose; pre-
disposing; preceding: as, a, jiroegumenal ca,use
of disease. See quotation under procatarctical.
proem (pro'em), m. [Formerly also ^jroeme ; <
ME. proeme, proeim, proheme, < OF. proeme,
proesme, P. pro&me = Sp. Pg. It. proemio, < L.
proogmium, < Gr. Trpooi/iiov, Attic (jipoi/itov, an
proem
opening, an introduction, < irp6, before, + ol/wg,
a path, road.] A preface; introduction; pre-
amble ; preliminary observations prefixed to a
book or writing.
In the vroheim off hya notabile boke.
Horn, qf Partenay (E. E. T. S.), Int., 1. 30.
So glozed the tempter, and his nroem tuned.
MUUm, P. L., ix. 649.
Thus much may serve by way ot proem;
Proceed we therefore to our poem.
Swift, Death of Dr. Swift
The proeme, or preamble, is often called in to help the
construction of au act of parliament,
Blackstone, Com., I., Int., it
proemt (pro'em), J!, i. [(.proem, 11.2 To preface.
[Rare.]
Moses might here very well proeme the repetition of the
covenant upbraiding reprehension.
South, Sermons, VIII. ilii,
proembryo (pr6-em'bri-6), n. [< Gr. irpd, be-
fore, + enPfwov, embryo : see embryo.'] mbot.:
(o) In Characem, the product of the develop-
ment and division of the oSspore, upon which
the characeous plant develops as a lateral bud.
(6) In Archegoniatse, the product of the devel-
opment and division of the oospore before the
differentiation of the embryo. Goebel. (c) In
phanerogams, same as suspensor.
proembryonic (pro-em-bri-ou'ik), a. [< pro-
emhryo{n-) + -ic] In hot., of or relating to the
proembryo. Vines, Physiol, of Plants, p. 599.
—Proembryonic branch, in the Characeie, a propaga^
tive body, with the structure of a proembryo, which
springs from a node of the stem.
proemial (pro-e'mi-al), a. [< proem + -ial."]
Having the character of a proem ; introductory ;
prefatory; preliminary.
This contempt of the world may be a piece of proemial
piety, an usher or Baptist to repentance.
Hammond, Works, IV. 492.
proemptosis (pro-emp-to'sis), n. [< Gr. as if
'itpoeimTuaig, < npoe/j-mineiv, fall or push in be-
fore, < irpd, before, + e/iiriTrTeLv, fall upon (> l/i-
nraaiQ, a falling upon), < h, in, upon, + mVreiv,
fall.] In chron., an anticipation, or occurrence
of a natural event sooner than the time given by
a rule ; especially, the falling of the new moon
earlier than the nineteen-year period would
make it, amounting to one day in 312^ years
according to Clavius and the constructors of
the Gregorian calendar (really 310 years), in
consequence of which a lunar correction is in-
troduced into the tables for calculating Easter ;
also, the effect of the precession of the equi-
noxes in making these come before the sun has
performed his cire\iit among the stars. See
metemptosis.
proSpimeral (pro-ep-i-me'ral), a. [< proepi-
mer-OH + -a?.] Of or pertaining to the proepi-
meron.
proSpimeron (pro-ep-i-me'ron), n. ; pi. proepi-
mera (-ra). [NL., < L. pro, before, + NL. epi-
meron, q. v.] The epimeron of the protho-
rax ; the epimeral sclerite of the propleuron.
proepisternal (pr6-ep-i-st6r'nal), a. [<.proepi-
sternum + -al.'] Of or pei-tainiiig to the pro6pi-
stemum.
proepisternum (pro-ep-i-stfer'num), n. ; pl.^ro-
episterna (-na). [NL., < L. pro, before, +
NL. episterrmm, q. v.] The prothoraoic epi-
stemum ; the episternal sclerite of the propleu-
ron.
proethnic (pro-eth'mk), a. [< Gr. irpd, before,
+ idvmdg, ethnic : see etimic.'] Prior to division
into separate races: said of an original pre-
historic stock, for example, Indo-European or
Aryan.
proeupolyzoon (pr6-u-pol-i-z6'on), n. [NL.,
< L. j^ro, before, + NL. Eupolyzoa, q. v.] The
hypothetical ancestral form of the Ewpolyzoa.
E. B. Lanhester. [Bare.]
profacet, interj. [< OP. prou face, prou fosse :
prou, profit (see prow^) ; face, faice, fosse, 3d
pers. sing. pres. subj. otfaire, do: see fact.']
Much good may it do you! an old exclamation
of welcome.
The cardlnall came In, booted and spurred, aU sodainly
amongst them — and bade them^nYj/'ace.
Stow, Chron., p. 628.
Sweet sir, sit. . . . Prqface I What you want in meat
well have in di-ink. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., v. 3. 80.
profanatet (prof 'a-nat), v. t. and i. [< Jj. prof a-
natus, pp. of profonore, consecrate, desecrate:
see pr(tfane.'] To profane.
And there, in a certaine chappell not hallowed, or rather
in aprophane cottage, hath in contempt of the keyes pre-
sumed of his owne rashnesse to celebrate, nay rather to
prophanate. Foxe, Martyrs, p. 430, an. 1391.
4754
profanation (prof-a-na'shon), n. [Formerly
8,lsopro2)hanaUon;(.'OF.profonation,prophana-
tion^. profanation = Sp. profanadon = Pg. pro-
fanaqao = lt. prof anazione,<.JJL. prof anottoln-),
profanation, < L. profonare, pp. profanotus,
desecrate, also consecrate: see profane.] 1.
The act of violating sacred things, or of treat-
ing them with contempt or irreverence ; dese-
cration: as, ihe profanaUon of the Lord's day;
the prof onation of a sanctuary.
Here I observed a great propha-noHon of the Lord's sup-
per. Coryai, Crudities, I. 3.
I held it no Profanation of this Sunday-evening ... to
employ some Hours to meditate onyou, and send you this
frienmy Salute. Bowell, Letters, I. v. 11.
2. The act of treating with too little reserve
or delicacy, or of making common.
'Tweve prqfanati(m of our Joys
To tell the laity our love.
Donne, Valediction Forbidding Mourning.
Distorted from its [poetry's] use and just design,
To make the pitiful possessor shine, . . .
Is profanation of the basest kind.
Cowper, Table-Talk, 1. 768.
=Syn. 1. Profanation, Desecration, Sacrilege, pollution.
The first three words express offenses, amounting almost
or quite to outrages, against the religious sentiment, in
connection with places, days, etc., taking oft their sacred
character. They are in the order of strength. Profana-
tion is perhaps most distinctly a matter of irreverence.
Sacrilege seems most directly an invasion of the rights of
God.
Oreat men may jest with saints ; 'tis wit in them.
But in the less, foulorq/'anotfon.
Shak., M. for M.. ii. 2. 128.
0 double eaerilege on things divine,
To rob the relic, and deface the shrine !
Dryden, To the Memory of Mrs. Anne Killigrew, 1. 160.
profanatory (pro-fan'a-to-ri), a. [(.profane +
-otory.] Profaning or'desecrating; destructive
to sacred character or nature ; apt to produce
irreverence, contempt, or the like.
Every one now had tasted the wassail-cup except Pauli-
na, whose pas de fde ou de fantaisie nobody thought of in-
terrupting to offer zoprofanatory a draught.
Charlotte Bronte, Villette, xxv.
profane (pro-fan'), a. [Formerly also j?rop7jfline/
< OF. profane, prophone, F. profane = Sp. Pg.
It. profano = D. prof ami = G. Sw. Dan. pro-
fan, < L. iftrofaniis, ML. also often proplianus,
not sacred, unholy, profane; of persons, not
initiated (whencBj in LL., ignorant, imleamed),
also wicked, impious; appar. orig. 'before, or
outside of, the temple,' (pro, before, -f fanwrn,
temple: see/aree^.] 1. Not sacred, or not de-
voted to sacred purposes; not possessing any
peculiar sanctity ; uneonsecrated ; secular : as,
a, profane place; ^>ro/a«e history (that is, his-
tory other than Biblical) ; profane authors.
In a certaine chappell not hallowed, or rather in a pro-
phane cottage. Foxe, Martyrs, p. 430, an. 1391.
Our holy lives must win a new world's crown,
Which our orof'ame hours here have stricken down.
Sftoi!;.,Ilioh.n., V. 1. 26.
There is met in your majesty a rare conjunction, as well
of divine and sacred literature as oi profane and human.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i. 6.
The seven Profane Sciences begin at the right hand as
you face the fresco, the seven Theological at the left.
The Century, XXXVn. 672.
2. Irreverent toward God or holy things; speak-
ing or spoken, acting or acted, in manifest or
implied contempt of sacred things; blasphe-
mous: as, profane language; profane swear-
ing.
Then was the Sacred Bible sought out of the dnsty cor-
ners wiieTe prophane Falsehood and Neglect had throwne
it. MUton, Reformation in Eng., i.
I din'd with yo Treas', where was ye Earle of Bochester,
& very prop?ia/ne wit. ^eZj/n, Diary, Nov. 24, 1670.
3. Not initiated into certain religious rites;
hence, of less dignity or standing; inferior;
common.
Hence, ye profane, I hate you all.
Both the great vulgar and the small.
Cowl^, tr. of Horace's Odes, lit 1.
"Far hence be souls prophane,"
The Sibyl cryed, "and from the grove abstain."
Dryden, .a;neid, vi. 368.
=Syn. 1. Temporal, unhallowed, unholy.— 2. Impious,
Atheistic, etc. (see irreligious) ; irreverent, sacrilegious.
profane (pro-fan'), v.; pret. and pp. jjro/oned,
■ppr.profaning. [Formerly also prop/sane; < F.
profaner = Sp. Pg. profanar = It. profanare, <
li-profamare, ML. also otten prophamire, dese-
crate, profane, also conseorate,<jpro/am4««, pro-
fane: Bee profane, a.] I. trans, 1. To treat as
if not sacred or deserving reverence ; violate,
as anything sacred; treat with irreverence,
impiety, or contempt; pollute; desecrate.
They profaned my holy name. Ezek. zxxvi. 20.
Wonder of nature, let it not profane thee
My rude hand touch thy beauty.
Plete?ier (and others). Bloody Brother, v. a
How by her patient Victor Death was slain.
And Earth jwopAffln'd, yet bless'd, with Deicide.
Prior, 1 am that I am, st. 8.
The temple and its holy liies prof aned.
Cowper, Expostulation, 1. 146.
2. To put to a wrong use ; employ basely or
unworthily.
I feel me much to blame.
So idly toprqfarte the precious time.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., IL 4. SOL
One word is too otten profaned
For me to profane it Shelley, To .
3t. To make known; make common; said of
something confined to an initiated few. [Rare.]
Wisdom is not profaned unto the world, and 'tis the
privilege of a few to be virtuous.
Sir T. Browne, Eeligio Medici, ii. i.
II, intrans. To speak or behave blasphemous-
ly or profanely.
They grew very troublesome to the better sort of people^
and furnished the looser with an occasion to profane.
Penn, Else and Progress of Quakers, L
profanely (pro-fan'li), adv. In a profane man-
ner; with irreverence to sacred things or names;
impiously; with abuse or contempt for anything
venerable: as, to apeak jirofanely of God or sa-
cred things.
profaneuess (pro-fan 'nes), n. The state or
character of being i)rofane ; irreverence toward
sacred things ; particularly, the use of language
which manifests or implies irreverence toward
God ; the taking of God's name in vain,
profaner (pro-fa'n6r), m. 1. One who profanes,
or who by words or actions treats sacred things
with irreverence ; a user of profane language.
There are a lighter ludicrous sort otprofanxrs, who use
Scripture to furnish out their jests.
Government of the Tongue.
2. A polluter ; a defiler.
Eebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steeL
Shak., K. and J., i. 1. 89.
profanismf, n. [Alao j^rophanisme; (profane +
■ism.] Profaneuess; profanity. [Bare.]
Bee it spoken without prophanisme.
Marston, What you Will, iv. 1.
profanity (pro-fan'i-ti), n. [< OF. profaniti,
prm>hanit4 = hp.pr'^amidad = 'Ps.profanidade
= '&. profarnta, ( liL. profanita(.t-)s, profane-
uess, < L. jjro/a»M«, profane : see jyrofane.] 1.
Profaneuess ; the quality of being profane. — 2.
That which is profane; profane language or
conduct.
In a revel of debauchery, amid the brisk interchange of
profanxty and folly, religion might appear a dumb, unso-
cial intruder. Buckminster. (Webster, 1848.)
=Syn. Bla^hemn, Profanity. Bee blasphemy.
profectt, 11. [< L. profectus, profit : see profit.]
Profit.
This shall CI truste) "be consecrated to Apollo and the
Muses, to theire no small profecte and your good contenta-
tion and pleasure.
Quoted In Babeee Book (E. E. T. S.), p. xxi.
profectionf (pro-f ek'shon), n. [< OF. prof ection,
< L. profecUo(n-), a setting forth, departure,
< proficisd, pp. profectus, set forth, proceed,
set out, depart, (pro, forth, forward, + facere,
make, do.] A setting forth ; departure.
The time of the yeere hasting the profection and depar.
ture of the Ambassador. Eakluyt's Voyages, I. 288.
profectitious (pro-f ek-tish'us), a. [< LL. pro-
fecUciics, profectiUus, that proceeds from some
one, < L. proficisei, pp. profectus, proceed: see
profection.] Proceeding forth, as from a father ;
derived from an ancestor or ancestors. [Bare.]
The threefold distinction of profecbitifms, adventitious,
and professional was ascertained.
Gibbon, Decline and Fall, VIII. xliv.
profecyet, »• A Middle English form otprophecy.
profert, v. and n. An obsolete form ot proffer.
profert (pr6'f6rt), n. [The first word of the
L. phrase j)ro/er* in curia, he produces in court :
profert, 3a pers. sing, otm-oferre, bring forward,
produce : see proffer.] In law, an exhibition of
a record or paper in open court. At common law,
a party who alleged a deed was generally obliged to make
profert of such deed — that is, to produce it in court simul-
taneously with the pleading in which itwaa alleged. Ac-
cording to present usage this profert consists of a formal
allegation that he shows the deed in courts it being, in fact,
retained in his own custody.
profess (pro-fes'), v. [< ME. professen (first
in pp. professed, after OF. profes, professed),
< OF. (and F.) professer = Sp. profesar = Pg.
professar = It. professare, ( ML. professare, pro-
fess, receive on profession, < L. professus, pp.
of proflteri, declare publicly, aclmowledge^
profess
profess, confess, <pro, forth, +fateri, confess.
Ct. confess.^ I. trans. 1. To declare openly;
make open declaration of; avow or actiow-
ledge; own freely; affirm.
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:
depart from me, ye that work IniquI^. Mat. vii. 23.
o*-.i i J. ■,. Isttsin
StiU to profess I love yon, still to vow
I shall do ever?
Beau, and Ft., Knight of Malta, v. 1.
. , ^ ■._ ,. Weprofess
Ourselves to he the slaves of chance.
Shak., W. T., Iv. 4. 650.
Many things which they did were hy the Apostles them-
aelvei prof est to be done only for the present.
Milton, Reformation in Eng., i
Eodolph wo^d not consecrate Thurstane unless he
would profess Obedience. Baker, Chronicles, p. 41.
2. To acknowledge or own publicly; also, to
lay claim openly to the character of.
„ ., . I first dlscover'd
Her bloody purposes, which she made good.
And openly pro/egg'd 'em.
Fletcher, Double Marriage, v. 2.
But Purbeck (aaprofes^d, a huntress and a nun)
The wide and wealthy sea, nor all his pow'r respects.
Drayton, Polyolbion, iL 92.
3. To affirm faith in or allegiance to: as, to
profess Christianity.
By the saint whom I prqfess, I will plead against it with
my lite. Shak., M. for M., Iv. 2. 192.
We sometimes find men loud in their admiration of
truths which they never profess.
J. H. Newman, Gram, of Assent, p. 159.
4. To make a show of; make protestations of;
make a pretense of; pretend.
The wretched man gan then avise too late
That love is not where most it is prqfest.
Spenser, F. Q., II. x. 31.
Wee protease to decide our controversies only by the
Scriptures. MUUm, On Def. of Humb. Eemonst.
5. To announce publicly one's skill in, as a sei-
ence or a profession; declare one's self versed
In: as, to jjro/ess surgery.
I thank him that he cuts me from my tale ;
Tor I profess not talking. Shak. , 1 Hen. IV., v. 2. 92.
The severall Schooles wherein the seven liberall sci-
ences are professed. Coryat, Crudities, I. 67.
Medicine is a science which hath been, as we have said,
move professed than laboured.
BacoTif Advancement of Learning, iL 193.
6. In the Mom. Cath. and Anglican churches, to
receive into a religious order by profession.
I prey yow wyt al my herte, and as I evere may do yow
service, that it lyke to your grace to graunte of your
charite, by yowr worthy lettres to the priour of TheteCord
in Norfolk, of the seyde ordre of Clunyci autorite and
power as your ministre and depute to professe in dwe
forme the seyd monkes of Eromholm unprof essed.
Paston Letters, I. 30.
Neither a slave nor a married person (without the con-
sent of the other spouse) . . . can be vsi3idly professed.
Eom. Cath. Diet., p. 699.
7. To present the appearance of. [Bare.]
Yet did her face and former parts professe
A faire young Mayden, full of comely glee.
Spenser, F. Q., VI. vi. 10.
=Syn. 1 and 2. To declare, allege, aver, avouch.— 4. To
lay claim to.
n. infy-ans. 1. To declare openly; make any
declaration or assertion. — 3. To enter into the
religious state by public declaration or profes-
sion.
They [Calamarians] cannot profess before they are twen-
ty-five years old ; and they may take the vow after that
age without probation.
Pocoeke, Description of the East, II. il. 4.
St. To declare or pretend friendship.
As he does conceive
He is dishonour'd by a man which ever
Profess'd to him, why, his revenges must
In that be made more bitter. .
Shah., W. T., i 2. 456.
professed (pro-fesf), P- «• [Pp- oi profess, «.]
Avowed; declared; pledged by profession; pro-
fessional: as, a professed woman-hater; a, pro-
fessed nun; a, prof essed Gook.
Use well our father;
To yo\tr professed bosoms I commit him.
' SAaft., Lear, i. 1. 275.
Mr. Simpkinson from Bath was a professed antiquary,
and one of the first water. , . ^ j » „„
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, X. 26.
The professed beauties, who are a people almost as in-
sufferable as Viae professed wits. Steefe, Spectator, No. 33.
Though not Professed but Plain, still her [the cook's]
waees should be a sufficient object to her.
■ Dickens, Edwin Drood, nai.
Monk (or nun) professed, one who by promise freely
mads and accepted has, alter a year of probation, been
received in and bound to a religious order.
Thare come the prior of the plas, sad professide mmnkes.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), L 4014.
4755
professedly (pro-fes'ed-li), adv. [< professed
+ -ly^.'] By profession; avowedly; by open
declaration or avowal.
profession (pro-fesh'on), n. [< ME. professioun,
professiun, < C>F. profession, F. profession = Sp.
profesion = Pg.profissdlo = It. professione, < L.
professio{n-), a public acknowledgment or ex-
pression, < profiteri, pp. pi-ofessus, declare pub-
licly: see profess.'] 1. The act of professing;
open declaration; public avowal or acknow-
ledgment of one's sentiments or belief.
Orant unto all those who are admitted into the fellow-
ship of Christ's Religion that they may avoid those things
that are contrary to their profession.
Book of Common Prayer, Collect for Third Sunday after
[Easter.
I hold it [christening] a good and gracious woorke^ for
the general! profession which they then take upon tnem
of the Cross and faythe of Christ.
Spenser, State of Ireland.
2. That which is professed; a declaration; a
representation or protestation ; pretense ; spe-
cifically, an open and formal avowal of Chris-
tian faith and purpose.
It is natural in absence to makeprofessions of an in-
violable constancy. Steele, Tatler, No. 104.
Perhaps, though by profession ghostly pure,
He too [the priest] may have his vice.
Cowper, Task, iv. 603.
What would he [Balaam] have given if words and feel-
ings might have passed for deeds ! See how religious he
was so far as profession goes !
J. H. Newman, Parochial Sermons, L 169.
3. The calling or occupation which one pro-
fesses to understand and to follow; vocation;
specifically, a vocation in which a professed
Imowled^e of some department of science or
learning is used by its practical application to
affairs of others, either in advising, guiding, or
teaching them, or in serving their interests or
welfare in the practice of an art founded on it.
Formerly theology, law, and medicine were specifically
known as the professions; bui^ as the applications of science
and learning are extended to other departments of affairs,
other vocations also receive the name. The word implies
professed attainments in special knowledge, as distin-
guished from mere skill ; a practical dealing with affairs,
as distinguished from mei'e study or investigation ; and an
application of such knowledge to uses for others as a
vocation, as distinguished from its pursuit for one's own
purposes. In professions strictly so called a preliminary
examination as to qualifications is usually demanded by
law or usage, and a license or other official authority
founded thereon required. In law the significance of
the word has been contested under statutes imposing
taxes on persons pursuing any "occupation, trade, or pro-
fession," and under statutes authorizing arrest in civil
actions for misconduct in a " professional employment " ;
and it has been, in the former use, held clearly to include
the vocation of an attorney, and upon the same principle
would doubtless include physicians, unless the mention
of trade, etc., in the same clause of the statute be ground
for interpreting the statute as relating only to business
vocations. Professional employment, in statutes allowing
arrest^ is regarded as not including a private agency like
that of a factor or a real-estate broker, which can be
taken up and laid down at pleasure.
Being mechanical, you ought not walk
Upon a labouring day without the sign
Of your profession. Speak, what trade art thou ?
Shak., J. C, i. 1. 5.
I hold every man a debtor to his prof ession.
Bacon, Maxims of the Law, Pref.
New professions have come into existence, and the old
professions are more esteemed. It was formerly a poor
and beggarly thing to belong to any other than the three
learned jjicj/essjoms. W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 262.
4. The collective body of persons engaged in a
calling: as, practices disgraceful to fhe profes-
sion; to beat the head of one's profession. — 5.
The act by which a novice enters into a reli-
gious order and takes its vows. In the Roman
Catholic Church he or she must be at least six-
teen years of age and must have completed a
year of probation.
He . . . yalt [yieldeth himself] into somme covente [con-
vent] . . .
If he there make his mansioun [abiding-place]
For to abide professiomi. Rom. of the Rose, 1. 4910.
A religious or regular ^o/«s«i(»i is "a promise freely
made and lawfully accepted, whereby a person of the full
age required, after the completion of a year of probation,
binds him- (or her-) self to a particular religious Institute
approved by the Church." Ram. Cath. Diet.
6t. Character; nature.
And shortte to sal— se the prof esslon
Of every vyne, and wherin thai myseheve
As counter it by goode discrecion.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 63.
=Syn. 3. Vocation, Business, etc. See occupation.
professional (pr6-fesh'on-aI),a. and». [< pro-
fession + -al] I. a. 1. Pertaining or appro-
priate to a profession or calling: as, profes-
sional studies ; professional skill.
With his qmckprofessional eye, he [an Italian organ-boy]
took note of the two faces watching him from the arched
window, and, opening his instrument, began to scatter its
melodies abroad. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xi.
professor
His brother.
Pale from long pulpit studies, . . , alternating between
A decent and professional gravity
And an irreverent mirthf lUness.
WhitUer, Bridal of Pennacook, Int.
2. Engaged in a profession; being such by pro-
fession.
Such marks of confidence must be very gratifying to a
professional man. Dickens, Pickwick, Iv.
The economic resistance to militant action, . . . leading
to . . . fixed money payments in place of personal ser-
vices, results in the growth of a revenue which serves to
pay prqfeseional soldiers.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Sooiol., § 620.
There has been a great upward movement of the pro-
fessional class. W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 262.
The modem schoolmaster should change his name, for
he has become a kind of standing OTprofessional parent.
J, R. Seeley, Nat. Keligion, p. 128.
3. Undertaken or engaged in for money or as
a means of subsistence : opposed to amateur :
said of sports and amusements : as, a profes-
sional base-ball match ; a professional perform-
ance of a play — Professional education. See eda-
cation, 1.
II. «. 1 . One who regularly pursues any pro-
fession or art. — 2. Specifically, a person who
makes his living by an art, game, or sport in
which amateurs are accustomed to engage for
amusement or recreation. The tei-m thus more
specifically designates professional musicians, actors, ball-
players, oarsmen, boxers, etc.
"Try . . . cricket, for instance. The players generally
beat the gentlemen, don't they?" "Yes; but they are
professionals." T, Bughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, I. xii.
professionalism (pro-fesh'on-al-izm), n. [<
professional + -ism .] ' The characteristics, ideas,
or methods of professional persons ; that which
savors of a professional, especially when so
marked as to become objectionable or offen-
sive: specifically used of athletic sports, etc.,
opposed to the methods or work of amateurs.
We need more manhood and less prttfessionalism^
H. W. Beecher, Yale Lectures on Preaching, 1st ser., p. 40.
Professionalism in cricket ... is divested of any ob-
noxious infiuences that may surround it in other amuse-
ments. Philadelphia Times, May 17, 1886.
professionalist (pro-fesh'on-al-ist), «. [<jjro-
fessional + -ist.'] One who practises or belongs
to some profession; a professional. [Bare.]
Imp. Diet.
professionality (pro-fesh-on-al'j-ti), n. [,<pro-
fessional -1- -ity.] The state or property of being
professional; adherence to professional stan-
dards. [Eare.]
There is one characteristic in which it is well for every
country to imitate France : that is, the honesty and pro-
fessiomility, if I may invent such a word, of its work.
The Century, XXXI. 399.
professionalize (pro-fesh'on-al-iz), v.; pret.
and pp. professionalized, ppr. professionalizing.
[< professional + -ize.] I. trans. To render
professional. [Rare.]
They belittle where they should mature, or else they jwo-
fessiorudize where they should humanize.
AndAmer Reo,, VII. 1.
II. intrans. To become professional ; behave
or proceed in a professional manner. [Rare.]
professionally (pro-fesh'gn-al-i), adv. [< pro-
fessional -^■ -hfl.'] In a professional manner;
by or in the way of one's profession or calling.
professor (pro-fes'or), n. [= F. professeur =
Sp. profesor == Pg. professor = It. professore =
D. Gr. Sw. Dan. professor, < L. professor, one
who makes instruction in any bra'nch his busi-
ness, a public teacher, < profiteri, pp. profes-
s««s, declare publicly: seeprofess.] 1. One who
professes; one who openly declares or makes
profession of specific belief or views, of adher-
ence to a certain course of action or way of
life, or of knowledge or skill in any particular
calling.
Q. Zaih. [to Wolsey]. Ye turn me into nothing : woe
upon ye
And all such tsiBe professors!
Shak., Hen. VIII., iiL 1. 115.
Whereas the more constant and devoted kind ot profes-
sors of any science ought to propound to themselves to
make some additions to their science, they convert their
labours to aspire to certain second prizes.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i. 58.
2. One who makes open profession of religious
faith and conversion, and attaches himself to
some religious denomination. This use, probably
originating among the English Puritans, is chiefly confined
to English and Scottish nonconformists and their descen-
dants.
Then the name of ^professor was odious.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, ii., House of Mnason.
A mere professor, though a decent one, looks on the Bi-
ble as a dull book, and peruseth It with such indifference
as you would read the title-deeds belonging to another
man's estate. « - ..
professor
"As he vraa a prqfexxor, he would drive a naQ for no man
on the Sabbath, or kirk-fast, unless it were in a case of ab-
solute necessity, for which he always charged sixpence
each shoe." . . . The hearer . . . wondered what college
this veterinary professor belonged to— not aware that the
word was used to denote any person who pretended to
uncommon sanctity of faith and manner.
Seott, Waverley, xxx.
I'm a profemnr, and I ain't ashamed of it, week-days nor
Sundays neither. S. 0. Jewett, Deephaven, p. 197.
3. A public teacher in a university, especial-
ly one to whom this title has been formally
granted . The title, now the highest that a teacher can
receive, appears to have originated in the Italian universi-
ties. In Oxford and Cambridge, the professors, and the
instruction which they convey by lectures, are only auxil-
iary instead of principal agents, the routine work of in-
struction being carried on by the tutors connected with
the several colleges. In the universities of Scotland and
Germany, on the other hand, the professors are at once the
governing body and principal functionaries for the pur-
poses of education. In American universities there is
generally a professor at the head of each department of
instruction, having often other professors and assistant
professors under him. The title is often given, also, to
teachers of special branches in secondary schools, and lo-
cally to principals of common schools (a use derived from
the French).
At the present moment we want a Prof emir of Later Ec-
clesiastical History, to take up the subject at the point at
which the department assigned to the Begins Pr<^essor
comes to an end. Stubbs, Uedievaland Modem Hist., p. 43.
4. In a loose use, any one who publicly teaches
or exercises an art or occupation for pay, as a
dancing-master, phrenologist, balloonist, jug-
gler, acrobat, boxer, etc.
There be ma^ie prof essors oi the science of defence, and
very skilful men in teaching the best and most offensive
and defensive use of verie many weapons.
The Third UrUvereUy qf England, quoted in Strutt's Sports
[and Pastimes, p. 355.
Ordinary professor, in German and some other Euro-
pean universities, an instructor of the highest grade, above
an extraordinary professor.— FrofeaBor emeritus. See
emerihM.- ProfesBor eztraordinaxy. See extraordi-
nary, a., 3.— EegiUB profeBBor. See regim.
professorate (pro-fes'or-at), n. [= D. profes-
soraat = Gr. Sw. Dan. professorat = P. profes-
sorat = Bp. profesorado = Vg. professorado, <
ML. *professoratiis, < L. professor, a professor :
see professor.^ 1 . The office or state of a pro-
fessor or public teacher. — 2. The period of time
dvQ-ing which a professor occupies his office.
The sainted Bishop of Kola, who had been a favorite
pupil of the poet during the prqfessorate of the latter at
Bordeaux. The AUarUic, LXV. 167.
3. A body of professors; the teaching staff of
professors in a college or a university.
A complex organization for the higher education, with
a regular pro/essorate. Encyc. Brit., XI. 6i.
professoress (pro-fes'or-es), n. [< professor +
-ess.'] A woman who" is a professor. [Bare.]
If I had children to educate, I would at ten or twelve
years of age have a professor, or prqfessoress, of whist for
tliem.
Thiu^ceray, Koundabout Papers, Aufour de mon Chapeau.
professorial (pro-fe-so'ri-al), a. [= F. profes-
sorial = It. professoriate, K L. professorius, per-
taining to a public teacher, < professor, a public
teacher: see professor.] Of or pertaining to a
professor: as, a. professorial ah&iv.
I . . . will claim it as ^profesBorial right to be allowed
to utter truisms. Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist, p. 72.
FrofeBBorial socialist, sociallBm, etc. Same as sodal-
ist, socialism, etc., qfthe chair- See socialist, socialism, etc.
professorialism (prd-fe-s6'ri-al-izm), n. [(.pro-
fessorial + -ism,] The charaetei" or prevailing
mode of thinking or acting of university or col-
lege professors. [Bare.]
professorially (pr6-fe-s6'ri-al-i), adm. In the
manner of a professor; as befits a professor.
professoriate (pro-fe-so'ri-at), n. An improper
form ot professorate.
The University [Oxford] will have to supply a large part
of the teaching power, now provided by the colleges, in
the shape of an increased professoriate or aab-professoriate.
Sttibbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 43.
professorship (pro-fes'or-sMp), n. [<professor
+ -ship.] The state or office of a professor or
public teacher, as of a college.
professory (pro-fes'o-ri), o. [= Pg.professorio,
< L. professorius, pertaining to a public teacher,
< professor, a pubUo teacher: see professor.]
Of or pertaining to professors ; professorial.
This dedicsting of foundations and donations toprqfes-
sory learning hafli . . . had a malign aspect.
Bacon,, Advancement of Leamlng, ii. 110.
profetlf, «• and V. A Middle English form of
profit.
profet^t, n. A Middle English form ot prophet.-
proffer (proffer), v. [< ME. proferen, profren, <
OF. proferer, F. proferer = Sp. Pg. profenr =
It. profferire, proferire, bring forward, produce,
allege, < L. proferre, bring forth, < pro, forth, + .
4756
/erre, bring, = E. 6eari. Ct. prolate.] I. trans.
If. To bring or put forward; hold forth.
The paume is the pith ot the honde, and prqfreth forth the
fyngres
To mynystre and to make. Piers Plowman (C), xx. 116.
2. To hold forth so that a person may take ;
offer for acceptance: as^ to proffer a gift; to
^ro^er sei-vices ; to jjro/er friendship.
Thanne come oon & stood f ul stille.
And his seruioe prqfride he.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 69.
Ye hous of Zachei, In the whiche our Sauyome proferde
hymself to be lodged. Sir E. Quylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 41.
B.e proffers his defence, in tones subdued.
Browning, Ring and Book, I. 36.
=Syn. 2. To tender, volunteer, propose.
II. »»*m)!S. To dodge. HalUwell. [Prov.Bng.]
proffer (prof'er), n. [< ME. profer, profur; <
proffer, v.] 1. An offer made; something pro-
posed for acceptance by another : as, proffers of
peace or friendship.
And yef the kynges profer myght not agre the lady, and
also hir frendes, thei hadde saf condite to retume to Tin-
tageL Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i 82.
She to Paris made
Proffer of royal power, ample rule.
Tennyson, (Enone.
2. In law, an offer or endeavor to proceed in an
action. — Sf. An essay; an attempt.
It is done with time, and by little and little, and with
many essays and proffers. Bacon.
Tare but a bad Fencer, for you never make a proffer
against another mans weaknesse.
Milton, On Def. ot Humb. Bemonst.
4. A rabbit-burrow, nalliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
The conies in making prefers and holes to breed in have
scraped them out of the ground in verie great abundance.
Eolinshed, Descrip. of England; iL 24.
=Syil. 1. Tender, proposal.
profferer (prof 'Ir-lr), n. One who proffers ; one
who offers anything for acceptance.
' Since maids, in modesty, say no to that
Which they would have t\i.e profferer construe ay.
Shatc., T. G. of V., L 2. 66.
proffett, »• A Middle English form ot profit.
proflciatt (pro-fish'i-at), n. [< OF. profidat, a
fee or benevolence (see def.), also congratula-
tion, < ML. profidum, tor proficuum, fee, emolu-
ment, profit, neut. otx^roficwus, profitable, < L.
pro/jcere, profit: see profit.] A fee or benevo-
lence bestowed on bishops, in the manner of a
welcome, immediately after their instalment.
Cotgrave.
[He] would have caused him to be burnt alive, had it not
been for Morgante, who for his proftdat and other small
fees gave him nine tuns of beer.
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, ii. 30. (Dames.)
proficience (pro-fish 'ens), ro. [= Pg. profi-
ciencia; as profieien(t) + -ce.] Same asprofi,-
ciency.
Let me endeavour an endless progress, or proficience in
both. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i. 13.
One Feckitt, at York, began the same business, and has
made good proficience.
Walpole, Anecdotes ot Painting, II. 1.
proficiency (pro-fish'en-si), n. [As proficience
(see-ey).] If.' Advancement; progress.
Though the Scriptures are read every day in our churches,
. . . yet we make but slow proficiency towards a true taste,
and a clear discernment^ of those high truths which are
contained in them. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, II. ii.
2. The state of being proficient ; the degree of
advancement attained in any branch of know-
ledge ; advance in the acquisition of any art, sci-
ence, or knowledge ; improvement : as, to attain
great profideney in Greek or in music.
Persons of riper years who flocked into the church dur-
ing the three ilrst centuries were obliged to pass through
instructions, and give account of their proficnerncy.
Addison.
All trainingisfounded on the principle that culture must
precede proficiency. H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 205.
=Syn. 2. Advance, etc. (see progress), skill.
proficient (pro-flsh'ent), a. and n. [= OF. pro-
ficient = Sp. Pg. It. profidente, < L .profiden( t-)s,
ppr. of proficere, go forward, adVanee, make
progress, succeed, be profitable or useful, <pro,
forth, forward, ■(-/acer'e,make, do: see/ac*. Of.
profit.] I. a. Well versed in any business, art,
science, or branch of learning; skilled; quali-
fied ; competent : as, a proficient architect.
Proficient in all craft and stealthiness.
Brouming, Ring and Book, 1. 132.
II. n. One who has made considerable ad-
vance in any business, art, science, or branch
of learning; an adept; an expert: as, a pro-
ficient in a trade or occupation.
I am so good ji proficient in one quarter of an hour that
I can drink with any tinker in his own language.
8hak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 19.
profiling-macMne
We are such considerable proficients in politics that we
can form rebellions within rebellions.
Walpole, Letters, II. 6.
proficiently (pro-fish'ent-li), «<?«;. [iprofident
+ -ly^.] In a proficient manner ; with profi-
ciency.
proficuous (pro-fik'ti-us), a. [= Sp. profieuo =
Pg. It. profieuo, < LL. proficuus, advantageous,
beneficial, < L. proficere, advance, go forward :
see proficient.] Profitable; advantageous; use-
ful. [Bare.]
It is very proficuous to take a good large dose. Harvey.
proficyt, V. A Middle English form of prophesy.
profile (pro 'f el or -fil), n. [Formerly also pro-
fil (= D. profit, profiel = G. Sw. Dan. profit),
< F. profit, a profile, < It.profito, a border, later
alsopi-offito, a side-face, profile, <pro-. < L. pro,
before, +fito, a, line, stroke, thread, < L. fitum,
a thread: see flle^. Ct. purfle, from the same
L. source.] 1. An outline or contour; specifi-
cally, the largest contour or outline of anything,
usually seen in or represented by a vertical lon-
gitudinal section or side view. For example,
nearly all the fishes, butterflies, etc., figured in
this dictionary are drawn in profile. Hence —
2. (a) The outline of the human face in a sec-
tion through the median line ; a side view ; the
side-face or half -face: as, a Gieek profile.
Till about the end of the third century, when there was
a general decay in all the arts of designing, 1 do not re-
member to have seen the head of a Roman emperor drawn
with a f uU face. They always appear in profll, to use a
French term of art Addison, Ancient Medals, iii.
I'll break your faces till you haven't uprofile between
you. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, vi.
(6) A representation of the face in side view :
as, profiles cut in black paper are called sil-
houettes.
Two profile heads in medal of William and Mary.
Wcdpole, Anecdotes of Painting, V. 171.
(c) In arch., the outline or contour of anything,
such as a building, a figure, a molding, as shown
by a section through it.
It is tme that the Profll or Draught of Cambalu, which
the Portuguese have at Lisbon in the Custom-House, dif-
fers from that of Peking, which the Hollanders brought
along with them. Hist., Geog., etc.. Diet., ed. Collier, 2d
[ed. (1701), s. v. Cambalu.
{d) In engin. and surv., a vertical section
through a work or a section of country, to show
the elevations and depressions.
AnarticleontheactualstatusofthePanamaCanal, . . .
accompanied by a progress jjro/fZe, showing the amount ol
work done and undone to January 1st of the present year.
Jour. Franklin Inst., CXXVI. 841.
(e) In fort. J a light wooden f ram e set up to guide
workmen in throwing up a parapet. (/) The
outline of a vertical section made through any
part of a fortification in a direction perpendicu-
lartoitsprincipal bounding lines. Mohan, (g)
In ceram., a thin plate, as of zinc, in which is
cut the outline of naif of an object. The mass of
clay being revolved on the potters' wheel and the profile
applied to it, the exterior form is given. = Syxi. 1. Contour,
etc. See outline.
profile (pro'fel or -fil), v. t.; pret. and pp.^ro-
filed,ppv. profiling. [< F. profiler, draw in out-
line, C^ro^i, an outline: see i^rofite, n.] 1. To
draw with a side view ; outline (any object or
objects) so as to show a section as if out perpen-
dicularly from top to bottom.
Had they [Gothic architects] carefully jn-o/M and orna-
mented the exterior ol the stone roofs . . .
J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., I. 450.
2. In mech. , to impart by means of a tool or tools
a definite prescribed form to (pieces of wood
or metal) by chiseling, milling, filing, or like
operations. — 3. 2^ea*.,to cut (the edge of wings
or set pieces) into irregular shapes to represent
trees, rocks, etet
profile-board (pro'fel-bord), n. A thin plate
or board having its edge so cut as to delineate
the outline of an object: used to prove the
models of the breech and other exterior parts
of a gun.
profile-cutter (pro'fel-kut'fer), 11. In wood-
working, a knife with an irregular or curved
cutting edge corresponding to the shape to
be out; in metal-working, a circular milling-
cutter.
profile-paper (pr6'fel-pa"p6r), TO. Paper ruled
with horizontal and vertical lines for conve-
nience in dravring profiles of engineering works.
profile-piece (pro'fel-pes), «. Theat., a strip of
scenery that has been profiled.
profiling-machine (pro'fel-ing-ma-shen"), n. A
form of milling-machine for cutting out small
parts of machinery, etc., from apattem or tem-
plet; an edging-machine. The cutter is guided by
profiling-macliine
the movement of a guide-pin around the edge or profile
ol the pattern. Such machines are largely used to make
the parte of such machinery as has to be turned out in large
quantity with interchangeable parts, as locomotives, fire-
arms, watches, etc.
profilist (pro'fel-ist or -fil-ist), n. l<. profile +
-isf] One who takes or makes profiles.
profilograph (pro-fil'o-graf), n. [< E. profile
+ Gr. ypa^etv, write.] An instrument used for
making an automatic record of the profile of
the ground over which it moves, it consiste of a
light four-wheeled vehicle so arranged that as it advances
a band of paper is moved mechanically over a table on top
of the machine a distance corresponding to the distance
traveled according to a prearranged scale of distances.
Beneath the machine is suspended a pendulum always
hanging vertically, and serving to actuate a pencil the
point of which rests on the paper and leaves a trace upon
it Any inequality of the surface causes the machine to
incline from the level, and produces a corresponding de-
viation from a straight line in the mark traced by the pen-
cil. The data obtained from these indications are suffi-
cient for reproduction to scale of the profile traversed.
profit (profit), n. [< ME. profit, profet, proffit,
proffet,prop}ieie='D.prom=Or.Bw.'Da,Ta..profii,
< OF. profit, P. profit = It. profitto, advantage,
profit, < Jj. profectus, advance, progress, gi-owth,
increase, profit, <proficere, T^p.profectm, go for-
ward, advance, make progress, be profitable or
useful: see proficient. Of .j)ro/ec<, directly from
the L. The Bp. provecho = Pg. proveito, profit,
is < JAi. provectus, advancement, < Jj. provehere,
pp. proveetus, carry forward, advance : seepro-
vection.'] If. Advancement; improvement.
My brother Jaques he keeps at school, and report speaks
goldenly of his profit. ShtUc. , As you Like it, i. 1. 7.
2. Any advantage; accession of good from
labor or exertion ; the acquisition of anything
valuable, corporeal or intellectual, temporal or
spiritual.
AH the grete of the grekes gedrit hym somyn
To a counsell to come for the comyn proffet.
Deetrwaion of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 9320.
Wisdom is good with an inheritance ; and by it there is
profit to them that see the sun. Eccl. vii. 11.
What neither yields us profit nor delight
Is like a nurse's lullaby at night.
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 241.
3. Specifically, the advantage or gain resulting
to the owner of capital from its employment
in any undertaking; the excess of the selling
price over the original cost of anything; ac-
quisition beyond expenditure ; pecuniary gain
in any action or occupation ; gain ; emolument :
in commerce commonly used in the plural. As
used in political economy, profit means what is left of
the product of industry after deducting the wages, the
price of raw materials, and the rent paid in the produc-
tion, and is considered as being composed of three parts —
interest, risk or insurance, and wages of superintendence.
Profits in the law of real property designate rights of taking
something off or out of the land, as, for instance, theright
of common, as distinguished from easements, such as ways
and access of air and light, which do not involve taking
anything from the land.
Me alle the prophete of the lond that the prince owed
[owned] . . .
Myxte not areche ... to pale the pore peple.
Richard the Redeless (ed. Skeat), iv. 10.
In Italy they make great profit of the spawn of Carps, by
selling it to the Jews, who make it into red caviare.
I. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 145.
The revenue derived from labour Is called wages ; that
derived from stock, by the person who manages or em-
ploys it, is c^led profit. .
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, i. 7.
The giosB profit from capital . . . must afford a sufficient
equivalent for abstinence, indemnity for risk, and remu-
neration for the labour and skill required for superinten-
dence. J. S. Mill, Pol. Econ., II. XV. § 1.
Action of mesne profits, trespass for mesne profits,
the action brought after successful ejectment, or the claim
made in an action of ejectment, to compel the disseizor to
account for and pay over the mesne profits.— Mesne prof-
its. See m««»«.— Net profits. See jicta.— Profit and
loss, the gain or loss arising from the buying or selling of
goods, or from other commercial transactions. In book-
keeping gains and losses are spoken of jointly as profit and
loss, but the former are placed on the creditor and the latter
on the debtor side in the accounts. Profit and loss is also
the name of a rule in arithmetic which teaches how to
calculate the gains or losses on mercantile transactions.
- Bate of profit, the proportion which the amount of
profit derived from an undertaking bears to the capital era-
ployed in it. =Syn. 2. Benefit, Utility, etc. (see advantage),
service, welfare, behalf, behoof, weal, good.— 3. Bmenve,
etc. (see ineome), return, avails.
profit (profit), V. [< MB. profiten, projyten,
proffeten, prophiten, < OF. profiter, F. profiUr,
profit; from the noun.] T. trans. To benefit;
advantage ; be of service to ; help on ; improve ;
advance.
If any man chyde thee with cause, be thou assured that
he doeth prqfytethee. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 106.
'Tis a great means of profiting yourself, to copy diligent-
ly excellent pieces and beautiful designs. Vryden.
II. mtrms. 1. To make improvement; im-
prove; grow better; make progress, mtallec-
299
4757
tually or morally : as, to profit by reading or
by experience.
My son profits nothing in the world at his book.
Shak., M. W. of W., iv. 1. 16.
No man profits by a sermon that hears with pain or
weariness. Donne, Sermons, v.
2. To gain in a material sense; become better
off or richer : as, to profit by trade or manxifac-
tures.
The Romans, though possessed of their ports, did not
profit much by trade. Arbuthnot, Ancient Coins.
An animal of a predatory kind, which has prey that can
be caught and killed without he\p, profits by living alone.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., % 603.
3. To be of use or advantage; bring good.
Biches profit not in the day of wrath. Erov. xi. 4.
What the world teaches profits to the world,
What the soul teaches profits to the soul.
LoweU, Parting of the Ways.
profitable (prof i-ta-bl), a. [< ME. profitable,
proffitable, propMtable, < OF. profitable, P. pro-
fitable (='^.profechable,profichable,profeitable
= It. profittabile, profittabole), advantageous, <
jjro^i, advantage : see profit.) Useful; advan-
tageous; yielding or bringing profit or gain;
gainful; lucrative: as, a, profitable trade; profit-
able business.
Yf we take this full tite, and tary no lengur,
£othe pepuU and pilage, and put [them] Into phip.
Hit is a profiUable pray of persons me thinke.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3166.
"Bi seint Poul!" quod Pers, "theos beoth prophUable
wordes !
This is a loueli lesson ; vr lord hit the for-selde ! "
Piers Plowman (A), viL 262.
A pound of man's flesh taken from a man
Is not so estimable, profitable neither.
As flesh of muttons, beets, or goats.
Shak., M. of V., i. 3. 167.
To tell you my dream . . . was pleasant to me, and
profitable to you. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 227.
=Syn. Remunerative, productive, beneficial.
profitableness (prof i-ta-bl-nes), n. [< profit-
able + -ness.'] The quality of being profitable ;
gainfulness; usefubiess; advantageousness:
as, the profitableness of trade.
profitably (profi-ta-bli), adv. [< profitable +
-ly^.) In aprofitable manner; with gain; gain-
fully; usefully; advantageously.
profitet, n. A Middle English form ot prophet.
profiter (prof i-tfer), n. One who profits.
A wonderful jjrq^ter by opportunities.
Nineteenth Century, XXIV. 473.
profitless (profit-les), a. [< profit + -less.']
Void of profit, gain, or advantage.
Profitless usurer, why dost thou use
So great a sum of sums, yet canst not live?
Shak., Soimets, iv.
profitlessly (prof it-les-li), adv. [< profitless +
-ly^.l In a profitless manner ; without profit.
profit-sharing (prof it-shar''''ing), n. The fact
or principle of the division of realized profits
between the capitalist, the employer, and the
employee, in addition to regular interest, salary,
and wages. N. P. Oilman, Profit Sharing, x.
profligacy (prof li-ga-si), n. \;< profliga(te) +
-cy.'] The character or condition of being prof-
ligate; a profligate or very vicious course of
life; abandoned conduct; shameless dissipa-
tion.
Hitherto it has been thought the highest pitoh of profii-
gacy to own instead of concealing crimes, and to take pride
in them instead of being ashamed of them.
Bolingbroke, Idea of a Patriot King.
The fatal consequences which must flow from proj^aey
and licentiousness.
Bp. Baminjgtan, Letter to his Clergy, 1789.
=Syn. Shamelessness. See aba'ndanei.
pronigatet (prof li-gat), v. t. [< L. profiAgatw,
pp. otprofligareO Sp. 'Pg.profligar), dash to the
groimd, overthrow, ruin, destroy, ipro, forth,
forward, + fligere, strike, dash: see blowK']
To drive away; disperse; discomfit; overcome.
In the which I doubt not but God will rather aid us,
yea, and fight for us, than see us vanquished and profit-
gated. Hall's Union (1648). (HaUiwell.)
Ton have not yet profiigated the Pope quite, till the
second and third . . . Part of your Book of his Suprem-
acy come out. MUton., Answer to Salmasins, viii. 194.
profligate (prof li-gat), a. and n. [< li. profit
gatus, overthrown, abandoned, wretched, vile,
pp. of profligare, overthrow, ruin: see profli-
gate, ■».] I. a. If. Overthrown; conquered;
defeated.
We once more, as conquerors.
Have both the fleld and honour won;
The foe is profligate, and run.
S. BvHer, Hudibras, I. lii. 728.
3. Buined in morals ; abandoned to vice ; lost
to principle, virtue, or decency; extremely vi-
cious ; shamelessly wicked.
profound
Made prostitute and profligate the muse,
Debased to each obscene and impious use. .
Dryden, To the Memory of Mrs. Anne Killigrew, 1. 68.
No absolutely profligate king could have got into the
miserable abyss in which we find Henry VIII. struggling
during the latter half of his reign.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 290.
=Syn. 2. Profligate, Abandoned, Reprobate, etc. Seeaban-
dOTied and wieked.
II. n. An abandoned person ; one who has
lost all regard for good principles, virtue, or de-
cency.
How could such a profligate as Antony, or a boy of eigh-
teen like Octavius, ever dare to dream of giving law to
such an empire? Swift.
profligately (prof li-gat-li), adv. [< profligate
+ -ly^.] In a profligate manner; without
principle or shame; iu a course of extreme
viciousness.
profligateness (prof li-gat-nes), n. [< profli-
gate + -ness.] The character of being profli-
gate; profligacy.
He was of opinion that, "if this country could be pre-
served from utter profligateness and ruin, it must be by
their [the clergy's] means." Bp. Pffiteous, Abp. Seeker.
profligationt (prof-li-ga'shon), n. [< lAj.profli- .
gaUo{n-), ruin, destructionJ'< T-i.profligare, over-
throw, ruin, destroy: see profligate, v.] De-
feat; rout.
The braying of Silenus's ass conduced much to the pr(^-
ligation of the giants.
Bacon, Wisdom of the Ancients, FreL
profluencet (prof l§-ens), n. [< L. jrrofluenUa,
a flowing forth, < p'rofluen(t-)s, flowing forth:
Bee profluent.'] The act or quality of being
profhient; a forward progress or course.
The profluenee or proceedings of their fortunes.
^r H. Wotton, Reliquiss, p. 164.
profluentt (prof lo-ent), a. [< L. profluen{t-)s,
ppr. of jsro/iMere, flow forth or along, <.pro, forth,
-I- fluere, flow : see fltient.'] Flowing forth or
forward.
Baptizing in the profivent stream.
Uaton, P. L., xiL 442.
pro forma (pro f 6r'ma). [L. : pro, for ; forma,
abl. ot forma, form.] " As a matter of form.
During his [Foote's] continuance in the Temple he was
seen there pro forma, . . . eating his way (via commons)
to the profession of the law.
W. Cooke, Memoirs of S. Foote, 1. 16.
Pro forma invoice, a statement in the form of an in-
voice which may be presented at the custom-house by an
owner or importer who cannot furnish an invoice, and if
duly verified is allowed as a substitute.
profound (pro-fotmd'), a. and m. [< ME. pro-
found, profuride, < OP prof ond, prof und, F. pro-
fond = Sp. Pg. profunda = It. profondo, < L.
profundus, deep, vast, < pro, forth, forward, -I-
fundus, bottom: see/MMdi.] I. a. 1. Deep; de-
scending or being far below the surface, or far
below the adjacent places ; having great depth.
The diches profunde.
Ram. ofPartenay (B. E. T. S.), L 1180.
All . . , ^e profound seas hide
In unknown fathoms. Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 601.
A gait prof mind as that Serbonian bog.
MUton, P. Ii., iL 692.
Specifically- (ffl) In aruit., deep-seated; not superficial:
specifically applied to several structures, as arteries and
muscles. See profunda. (6) In entom., strongly impress-
ed ; very deep and distinct : as, profound punctures, striae,
or indentations, (c) Coming from a great depth ; deep-
fetehed.
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk,
And end his being. Shak., Hamlet, ii. 1. 94.
(,d) Bending low; hence, lowly; humble; exhibiting or
expressing deep humility : as, a profound bow.
2. Intellectually deep ; entering deeply into
subjects ; not superficial or obvious ; deep in
-knowledge or skill ; penetrating.
A head for tTxmght profound and clear unmateh'd.
Bums, On William Smellie.
A sparrow .fluttering about the church is an antagonist
which the most profound theologian in Europe is wliolly
unable to overcome. Sydney Smith, in Lady Holland, iii.
3. Characterized by magnitude or intensity ;
deep-felt; intense; great.
I do love
My country's good with a respect more tender.
More holy and profound, than mine own life.
Shak., Cor., lii. 3. 113.
They treat themselves with most prof ound respect.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. ii. 164.
Themembersrose and uncovered their heads in pro/oujid
silence, and the King took his seat in the chair.
Mmxaday, Nugent's Hampden.
With a general sigh
At matrimony the pro/o«Mf mistake.
Browning, King and Book, 1. 130.
If God exists, no injustice can be so excessive, no error
can be so profound, as to fail in offering the deepest ado-
ration and greatest praise our minds can conceive or our
actions express. Mvart, Nature and Thought, p. 231.
profound
4. Beep-seated; thorough; complete.
Which of yonr hips has the moat prqfmmd sciatica?
Shak., M. lor M., i. 2. B9.
5. Deep in skill or contrivance. [Rare.]
The revolters axe profound to make slaughter.
Hos. V. 2.
6. Having hidden qualities; obscure; abstruse.
Upon the comer of the moon
There hangs a vaporous drop prof ound.
Shak., Macbetb, ilL 6. 24.
H. n. 1. A deep, immeasurable space; an
abyss.
Sinking from thought to thought, a vast profound !
Pope, Dunciad, i. 118.
From the curved horizon's bound
To the point of heaven's profound.
Shelley, Written among the Huganean Hills.
And we shout so adeep down creation's ^q/ymntf.
We are deaf to God's voice.
Jfre. Brouming, Hhapsody on Life's Progress.
2. The deep ; the sea ; the ocean : with the defi-
nite article.
Now I die absent, in the vast profound;
And me without myself the seas have drowned.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., xi. 423.
Between where Samos wide his forests spreads
And rocky Imbrus lifts its pointed heads,
Down plung'd the maid (the parted waves resound) ;
She plung'dC and instant shot the dark profound.
Pope, Iliad, xxiv. 106.
profoundt (pro-found'), V. [< OF.profonder,
sound the depths of, plunge into, penetrate, <
j>ro/o»(?, deep, profound: see wo/oMred, a.] I.
trails. 1. To cause to sink deeply; cause to
penetrate far down. — 2. To penetrate.
There is no danger Ui profound these m>[steries.
Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, i. 13.
H. intrans. To dive ; penetrate.
We cannot J))-o/omjm2 into the hidden things of nature.
- GlanvUle.
profoundly (pro-found'U), adv. In a profound
manner ; deeply ; with deep penetration ; with
deep knowledge or insight; thoroughly; ex-
tremely; very.
Why sighyou so prof oundly ? SRa*.,T.andC.,iv. 2. 83.
Domenichino was prof oundly skilled In all the parts of
painting. Dryden.
There are other forms of culture besides physical science;
and 1 should be profoundly sorry to see the fact forgotten.
HuaHey, Lay Sermons, p. 62.
profoundness (pro-f ound'nes), n. Depth ; pror
fundity.
Let any gentle apprehension that can distinguish learned
pains from unlearned drudgery ima^in what pleasure or
profoundnesse can be in this.
MUton, Church-Government, ii., Int.
Perhaps he required to take a deep, deep plunge into
the ocean of human life, and to sink down and be covered
by its profoundness. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xi.
profulgent (pro-ful'jent), a. [< L. pi-o, forth,
+ fulgen(t-)s, ppr. oifulgere, flash, shine: see
fulgent.'] Shining forth; effulgent.
Profvlgent in preciousnes, 0 Siiiope the quene.
The Sine Ladies Worthy, 1. 1.
profundi (pro-fund'), v. t. [< 'L.profundere, pour
forth, pour but, <. pro, forth, + fundere, pour:
aeefomid^. Ct.profuse.'] To lavish.
For the exchewing of great expences, whiche shuld be
profunded and consumed in the said interview.
State Papers, i. 251. {SdUiwell.)
profunda (pro-fun'da), ii. ; pi. profundse (-de).
[NL. (so. arteria), fern, of L. profundus, deep :
see profound.'] A deep-seated or profound
artery, as of the arm, neck, or leg : more fully
called arteria profunda Profunda artery, (a) In-
ferior of the arm, a small branch of the brachial, arising
about the middle of the arm, more fully called profunda
brachii inferior. (6) Superior of the arm, the largest branch
of the brachial, arising near its beginning, and winding
round the humerus in the musculospiral groove, more
fully called profunda braehii superior, (e) Of <te ditoris
or of the penis, the artew of the corpus cavernosum, a
branch of the pudic. (d) Of the thigh, the principal branch
of the femoral, arising below Poupart's ligament, and de-
scending deeply on the adductor magnus. It gives oU the
ciroamflex and perforating arteries. Also called profunda
femoris, deep femoral artery. — Profunda cer^cis, the
deep artery of the neck, a branch of the superior inter-
costal which anastomoses with the principal branch of the
occipital artery.
profundipaunar (pro-fun-di-pal'mar), a. [< L.
profundus, deep, + palma, the palm of the
' hand: see ^atear.] Deep or profound, as the
palmar flexor tendons ; pertaining to the deep-
seated flexor tendons of the palm. Coues.
profundiplantar (pro-fun-di-plan'tar), a. [<
L. profundus, deep, + planta, the sole of the
foot: see plantar.'] Deep or profound, as the
plantar tendons ; pertaining to the deep-seated
flexor tendons of the planta or sole.
The tendons oi profundiplantar mya.
Coues, The Auk, Jan., 1888, p. 105.
pr
To
4758
profunditudet (pro-fun'di-tiid), n. [< L. pro-
fundus, deep, + -iiude as in altitude, etc.] Pro-
fundity.
The body three dimensions doth Include,
And they are these, length, bredth. jwtifimdttMite.
Times' WhisUe (E. E. T. S.), p. 149.
'Tis reported of that prqfundituiie in the middle that it
is botomelesse. Evelyn, Diary, Feb. 7, 1645.
profundity (pro-fun'di-ti), n. [= OF. profon-
dite, profundite = Sp.'profundidad = Pg. ^ro-
fundidade=It.profonditA,<'Llj.profundita{t-)s,
depth, intensity, < 'L.profundus, deep, vast : see
profound.] 1. The character or condition of
being profound; depth, as of place, of know-
ledge, of science, of feeling, etc.
Seek not for profundity in shallowness, or fertility in a
wilderness. Sir T. Browne, Christ Mor., Hi. 11.
She had been trying to fathom the profundity and ap-
positeness of this concluding apothegm.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xi
2. That which is profound; depth; abyss.
He took the golden compasses, prepared ; . . .
One foot he centred, and the other turn'd
Round through the ya.Bt profundity obscure.
Milton, P. L., viL 229.
profuset (pro-fuz'), V. t. [< L. profusus, pp. of
orofundere, pour forth, pour out : seeprofund.]
"^o pour out; dispense liberally; lavish; squan-
der.
Thy helpe hath beene prqfused
Euer with most grace in consorts of traufulers distresst.
Cftapman.
If I had laid out that which I profused in luxury and
wantonness in acts of generosity or charity.
Steele, Spectator, No. 260.
profuse (pro-fus'), a. [= Sp. Pg. It. profuso, <
L. profusvJ, liberal, lavish, pp. of profundere,
pour forth: see profuse, v.] 1. Liberal to ex-
cess; extravagant; lavish; prodigal: as, pro-
fuse hospitality; profuse expenditure.
Profuse to many unworthy applicants, the. ministers
were niggardly to him [Temple] alone.
Macttulay, Sir William Temple.
He indulged in a profuse magnificence in his apparel,
equipage, and general style of living.
Prescott, Ferd. andlsa., ii. 2.
2. Abundant; exuberant; bountiful; copious:
as, pi-ofuse ornament ; profuse compliment.
Returning loaden with the shining Stores
Which lie profuse on either India's Shores.
Prior, Carmen Seculare (1700), st. 36.
That ye may garnish your profuse regales
With summer fruits brought forth by wintry suns.
Cowper, Task, iii. 551.
Flattering superlatives and expressions of devotion are
loss profuse here than abroad.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., § 398.
s=Syn. 1. Lavish, etc. See extravagant.
profusely (pro-fus'li), adv. In a profuse man-
ner; exuberantly; lavishly; prodigally; with
rich abundance.
Then spring the living herbs profusely wild.
Thomson, Spring, 1. 221.
profuseness (pro-fiis'nes), ». [< profuse +
-ness.] The state, quality, or habit of being
profuse; profusion; prodigality.
Be the sums never so vast we pay away, their being due,
in spight of their being great, makes the disbursement too
much an act of justice to be one oiprofuseness.
Boyle, Works, I. 255.
profuser (pro-fii'zer), n. One who pours out or
lavishes. [Bare.]
Fortune 's a blind profuser of her own ;
' Too much she gives to some, enough to none.
Herriok, Fortune.
profusion (pro-ffl'zhon), n. [< F. profusion =
Sp. profusion = Fg.'profusao = It. profusione,
< 'L. profus%o{n-), a pouring out, shedding, effu-
sion, prodigality, profusion, < profusus, pp. of
jpro/M»dere, pour forth: seeiprofv.se.] 1. Pro-
fuse or extravagant expenditure; prodigality;
lavishment; waste.
He was desirous to avoid not only profmum, but the
least effusion of Christian blood. Sir J. Hayward.
Upon these Profusions, a Consultation is had for new
Supplies, and no Way thought so fit as by Parliament.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 81.
Mary Magdalen having been reproved by Judas for spend-
ing ointment upon Jesus's feet, it being so unaccustomed
and large apr^usion.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 290.
They now found that, in enterprises like theirs, parsi-
mony is the yf orst profusion.
Maeavlay, HaUam's Const. Hist.
2. Abundance; lavish supply; superfluity.
To have famished out so many glorious palaces with
sucli aprofusian of pictures, statues, and the like orna-
ments. Addison, Remarks on Italy (ed. Bohn), I. 421.
Curls became her, and she possessed them in picturesque
profugum. ' Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, vi.
=Syil. 2. Ahundanee, Exuberance, etc. {seeplenty), lavish-
ness, superabundance.
progenitorial
profusivet (pro-fii'siv), a. [< profuse + 4ve.]
Profuse; lavisli; prodigal. Evelyn.
prog (prog), v.; pret. and ^^p.progged, ppr.iJj-og'-
ging. I'PoraieTly also proag,progw; avar. of
prolce: see pi-oJce, and ot. proiol.] I. trans. To
poke; prod. [Scotch.]
II. intrans. 1. To go prowling about, as for
pickings or plunder; prowl; filch; forage; es-
pecially, to go a-begging.
That man in the gown, in my opinion.
Looks like aproguing knave.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, Hi. 3.
Pandulf, an Italian and pope's legate, a perfect artist in
progging for money. Fuller.
Excommunication servs for nothing with them but to
prog and pandar for fees, or to display their pride and
sharpen their revenge. Milton, Reformation in Eng., ii.
You are the lion ; I have been endeavouring to prog for
you. Burke.
2. To search carelessly or aimlessly, as for
oysters, olamsj etc., along the shore in a ram-
bUag way. [U. S.]
prog (prog), M. l< prog, v.] 1. A pointed in-
strument for poMng or prodding.
The Cooks . . . prick it [mutton] on a prog of iron, and
hang it in a furnace. Sandys, Travailes, p. 21.
2. A poke ; a prod. [Scotch.]
But I was not so kittly as she thought, and could thole
her progs and jokes with the greatest pleasure and com-
posure. Gait, The Steam-Boat, p. 156. (Jamieson.)
3. Victuals got by begging; hence, victuals in
general; food. [Colloq.]
The Abbot also every Saturday was to visit their beds,
to see if they had not . . . purloyned some progge for
themselves. Fuller, Ch. Hist., V. 290. (Dames.)
You can junket together at nights upon your own prog,
when the rest of the house are a-bed.
Swift, Directions to Servants, ii.
Livin' on hard-tack an' ss\t prog.
The Century, XXXV. 621.
4. One who goes from place to place begging
for victuals. Imp. Diet.
progametange (pro-gam'e-tanj), n. [< NL.
progametangium.] Same a,s progametangitim.
progametangium (pr6-gam"e-tan-ji'um), ».; pi.
progametangia (-a). [NL., < L. pro, before,+
NL. gametangium.] In hot., an immature or
resting gametangium. as that which occurs in
the development of Protomyces macrosporus.
See gametangium.
progeneratef (pro-jen'e-rat), V. t. [< L. pro-
generatus, pp. otprogenerare (> It. progenerare) ,
beget, < pro, forth, + generare, beget, produce :
see generate.] To beget; propagate.
They were all progenerated colonies from a Scythian or
Tartar race. AreJiseologia (1773), II. 260. (Davies.)
What then, I pray thee, is there dead? . . . Surely not
he who is yet to progenerate a more numerous and far bet-
ter race. Landor, Imaginary Conversations.
progenerationt (pro-jen-e-ra'shon), n. [< LL.
progeneratio(n-), a begetting, < L. progenerare,
pp. progeneratus, beget : see progenerate.] The
act of begetting; propagation.
progenialt (pro-je'nial), a. [< L. progenies, de-
scent, progeny (see progeny), + -al.] Pertain-
ing to descent or lineage.
Whether[theintellectual Soul is] immediately produced,
without anyprogenial traduction or radiation.
Evelyn, True Religion, I. 159.
progenitiveness (pro-jen'i-tiv-nes), n. [Irreg.
< L. progenies, progeny, + -itive + -ness. Cf. ,
philoprogenitiveness.] Philoprogenitiveness, in
a modified biological sense. [Bare.]
There is another difficulty in the way of accepting meta-
physical peculiarity or progenitiveness as isolating species.
It is marked often strongly in races or varieties which no
one pretends to have had distinct origin.
E. D. Cope, Origin of the Fittest, p. ill.
progenitor (pro-jen'i-tor), n. [Early mod. E.
progenitour, < "OF. progeniteur = Sp. Pg. pro-
genitor = It. progenitore, < L. prpgenitor, the-
founder of a family, an ancestor, < progignere,
■pp. progenitus, beget, bring forth, <]}ro, forth,
4- gignere, beget, produce: see genitor.] An
ancestor in the direct line; a forefather; a pa-
rent.
If children pre-decease progenitors,
We are their offspring, and they none of ours.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1766.
Ah ! whither shall we go?
Down to the grave, down to those happy shades below.
Where all our brave progenitors are blest
With endless triumph and etemal rest.
Pamfret, A Prospect of Death.
By the term fresh stock I mean a non-related plant the
progenitors of which have been raised during some gener-
ations in another garden.
Darwin, Cross and Self Fertilisation, p. 267.
progenitorial (pro-jen-i-to'ri-al), a. \<.progen-
itor -I- -jaZ.] Pertaining to or constituting a
progenitor.
progenitorial
»hPJ!?^fh''™'™^-F°.'^''' "■'^ ^n"! ""like the species to
which the progenitorial germ belonged. j">->=" "'
The CongregcUionalist, Oct. 29, 1879.
progenitress (pro-jen'i-tres), n. [< progenitor
+ -ess. J A female progenitor or parent: an
ancestress.
Yet she was a worthy prosrenf trees of a long line of most
charmmg women novelists. The Century, XXVI. 291.
progenitrix (pro-jen'i-triks), n. Same as pro-
genitress.
progeniture (pro-jen'i-tur), n. [< P. prog&nU
ture = Sp. Pg. progenitura, < L. progenitus, pp.
of progtgnere, beget, bring forth : see progeni-
tor.'] A begetting or birth. [Rare.]
progenityt, »■ [Irreg. < progen-y + -ity.'] De-
scent; lineage; extraction. [Rare.]
Harrys of the old house of Lancaster ; and that progentty
do I loue. Heywood, 1 Edw. IV. (Works, I. 46).
progeny (proj'e-ni), n. [< ME. progenie, pro-
genye, < OF. progenie = Sp. Pg. progenie = It.
progenie, progenia, progeny, < L. progenies, de-
scent, lineage, race, offspring, f amUy, < progig-
nere, beget, bring forth: see progenitor. 1 It.
Descent; lineage; family; ancestry.
• All French and France exclaims on thee,
Doubting thy birth and lawful progeny.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iii. 3. 61.
Now show thy progeny ; if not to stand.
Cast thyself down ; safely, if Son of God.
Milton, P. R., iv. BB4.
2. Children ; offspring, whether of the human
kind or of the lower animals ; descendants.
Did ever joyful Mother see
So bright, so brave a Progeny?
Steele, Tender Husband (song).
"What idle progeny succeed
To chase the rolling circle's speed,
Or urge the flying ball?
Gray, Prospect of Eton College.
Around this fort a progeny of little Dutch-built houses,
with tiled roofs and weathercocks, soon sprang up, nes-
tling themselves under its walls for protection.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 132.
=Syn. 2. Is»ue, Posterity, etc. See offspring.
progermination (pro-jer-mi-na'shou), n. [< LL.
as if *progerminatio(,n-) ,<. 'h.progerminare, shoot
forth, germinate, Kpro, forth, + germinare, ger-
minate : see germinate.'] Origin ; birth ; issue.
Ignoble births which shame the stem
That gave progermination unto them.
Herrick, To Sir J^ohn Berkeley.
progger (prog'Sr), n. One who progs ; a ram-
bling or aimless searcher ; specifically, one who
progs for clams, oysters, etc., alongshore; a
pot-flsherman. [Eastern U. S.]
The class of men who get them [quahaugs] and the soft
clams mainly are a miserable set who help the oystermen
in winter and "go clamming" in summer. They are lo-
cally known as proggers. Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 604.
proglottic (pro-glot'ik), a. [< proglottis + -ic]
Of or pertaining to a proglottis. Also proglot-
tidean.
proglottid (pro-glot'id), n. [< proglottis ,(-«£?-).]
One of the detached sexually mature segments
of a tapeworm or taenia ; a proglottis.
In this way the Tsenia-chain is formed, the last meta-
meres of which (the so-called proglottids) break off at a
certain stage of development, and form more or less in-
dependent individuals.
Gegeniaur, Comp. Anat. (trans.), p. 129.
proglottidean (pro-glo-tid'f-an), a. [<proglot-
tid + -e-an.'] S&me a,s proglottic.
proglottis (pro-glot'is), n. ; pi. proglottides (-i-
dez). [NL., ? Gr. *7r- poy?itjTTig, ■n-poy/ioaak, the
point of the tongue, < irpd, before, + yTuiaaa,
tongue.] A detachable sexually mature seg-
ment of a cestoid worm ; one of the zooids of
the Scolecida, propagated by gemmation from a
scolex, which in their turn produce ova ; a pro-
glottid, or generative joint. The joints of a tape-
worm, for example, are proglottides. This is what makes
tapeworms such formidable parasites and so difficult to
eradicate. For they are continually budded oft from the
scolex or "head " (really the whole worm), to the num-
ber sometimes of hundreds, like successive links of a
chain; each such link or "joint" contains all the sexual
elements, and is thus capable itself of starting a new
series of the parasites in the eggs it produces. See cut
under Cestoidea.
Each segment [of a tapeworm] is eventually found to con-
tain a set of male and female organs. ... At the extreme
end of the body the segments become detached, and may
for some time retain an independent vitality. In this con-
dition each segment is termed a proglottis, and its uterus
is full of ova. Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 184.
prognathic (prog-nath'ik), a. [<prognath-ou8 +
-ic] Having protrusive jaws ; characterized by
or exhibiting prognathism. Also prognathous.
The relative large size of the jaws and lower parts of the
lace we see in the negro races, especially, as compiled
with our own, and to this type we give the name prognathic.
Pop. Set. mo., aIII. 432.
4759
prognathism (prog'na-thizm), n. [< progna-
th-ous + -ism.] The prognathic state or con-
dition ; the quality of being prognathic ; the
condition of having a small facial or a large
craniofacial angle. See orthognathoiis.
This [a large craniofacial angle] is the fundamental con-
dition of prognathism. Huxley, Anat. Vert., p. 420.
Alveolosubnasal prognathism. See alvedlombnaml.
prognathous (prog'na-thus), a. [< Gr. jrpd, be-
fore, forward, + yvaS'og, jaw, mouth.] Same as
prognathic : opposed to opisthognathous and or-
thognatlious.
The lower race had long snouty noses, prognathous
mouths, and retreating foreheads.
Harper's Mag., LXXVII. 299.
prognathy (prog'na-thl), n. Same as progna-
thism.
Frogne (prog'ne), n. [Also Procne; < L. Prog-
ne, Procne, < Gr. lIpdKvi;, in myth, the daughter
of Pandion, transformed into a swallow; hence
poet., in L., a swallow.] 1. [I. c] A swallow.
Dry den. — 2. An American genus of Hirundi-
nidse or swallows, containing several species of
large size, robust form, and dark coloration,
some of which are known as purple martins, as
Purple Martin iProffne sulfis).
P. siibis or P. purpurea, the very common and
familiar purple martin of the United States.
This bird is deep lustrous steel-blue, with black bill and
blackish wings, tail, and feet, about 7J inches long and 15^
in extent of wings. The female is greenish-brown glossed
with steel-blue, the under parts whitish shaded with gray.
It is a sociable loquacious bird, which breeds naturally
in holes of trees, and now, in populous districts, often in
boxes provided for its accommodation. The eggs are pure
white. It is migratory and insectivorous, like other swal-
lows. There are several other species in the warmer parts
of America.
prognosis (prog-no'sis), n. [= F. prognose =
It. prognosi, < L. prognosis, < Gr. npdyvomig, fore-
knowledge, forecast, < TfpoyijvuaKSiv, know be-
forehand, < jvp6, before, + yiyvaaKEiv, know,
perceive: see know^, gnosis.] 1. A foreknow-
ing of the course of events ; forecast.
An intimate knowledge of the domestic history of na-
tions is therefore absolutely necessary to the prognosis of
political events. Macavlay, History.
2. A forecast of the probable course and ter-
mination of a case of disease ; also, what is thus
forecast.
In a fever, great prostration, high temperature, and
rapid pulse. . . must lead to the formation of an unfavour-
able ijrofl'TCOsis. QMBiii, Med. Diet., p. 392.
prognostic (prog-nos'tik), a. and »- [I. a. < P.
prognosUgue = Pg. pronostico, prognostico, <
NL. *prognosticus, < Gr. wpoyvuaTiKo^, adj., < irpo-
yiyvaaiceiv, see or know beforehand: see prog-
nosis. II. n. First in E. as a noun, < ME. pro-
nostique, prenostilc, < OP. pronostique, prognos-
Ugue, m., P. prognostic, usually pronosUe, m.,
= Sp. prondstico = Pg. pronostico, prognostico
= It. pronostico, prognostico, < L. prognosticon,
prognosticum, < Gr. Trpoyvacnicdv, a token of the
future, a prognostic, neut. of npoyvuaTiKoq, adj. :
see above.] I. a. Foreshowing; indicating
something in the future by signs or symptoms :
as, tte prognostic indications of a disease.
It will become a gentleman to have some knowledge in
medicine, especially the diagnostic part, whereby he may
take timely notice of a disease, and by that means timely
prevent it, as also the prognostic part, whereby he may
judge of the symptoms either increasing or decreasing in
the disease, as also concerning the crisis or indication
thereof. io/diferJerto/CAerfrajT/, Life(ed.Howells),p.44.
II. n. 1. That which prognosticates or fore-
tells'; a sign by which a future event may be
known or foreshown ; an omen; a token.
The negardye in kepynge hyr rychesse
Prenostik is thou wolt hir towr asayle.
Chaucer, Fortune, 1. 64.
He saith for suche Aprenostike
Most of an hounde was to him like.
Gower, Conf. Amant., ii.
Therefore [I] believe that those many prodigies and omi-
nous prognostics which forerun the ruin s of states, prin ces,
and private persons are the charitable premonitions of
good angels. Sir T. Browne, Eeligio Medici, i. 31.
program
Careful observers may foretell the houf
(By sure prognostics) when to dread a shower.
Swijt, Descrip. of a City Shower.
2. A prediction; a foretelling.
Though your prognosUcks mn too fast.
They must be verified at last.
Smift, Death of Dr. Swift.
= Siya. Sign, Presage, eta. See omen, and /oreteK, ».i.
prognostict (prog-iios'tik), V. t. [< OF. prognos-
tiquer = Sp. pronosticar = Pg. pronosticar.
prognosticar = It. pronosticar, prognosticare, <
MIL. prognosticare, prognosticate: see prognos-
ticate.] To prognosticate.
When the sun shines waterishly and prognosticks rain,
Br. H. More, Immortal, of Soul, III. iii. 5,
I never dreamed that ministers should be compelled to
impugn ministers ; the adversaries have good sport be-
twixt themselves to prognostick the likelyhood.
Bp. Burnet, Hecords, II. iii.. No. 8, Parker's Answer.
prognosticable (prog-nos'ti-ka-bl), a. l<prog-
nostic(ate) -H -able.] Capable of being prog-
nosticated, foreknown, or foretold.
The causes of this inundation cannot indeed be regular,
and, therefore, their effects not prognosticaMe like eclipses.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vi. 8.
prognosticate (prog-nos'ti-kat), v.; pret. and
Tpp. prognosticated, ppr. prognosticating. [< ML.
prognosticatus, pp. of prognosticare, foretell,
prognosticate, < L. prognosticon, a prognostic :
see inognostic] I. trans. 1. To foretell by
means of present signs ; predict.
I neither will nor can prognosticate
To the young gaping heir his father's fate.
Dryden, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, iiil
Cassandra-like, prognosticating woe.
Longfellow, Birds of KUlingworth.
2. To foreshow or betoken; presage.
The other [top of Vesuvius] towards the South aspireth
more high, which When hid in clouds prognosticates raine
to the Neapolitans. Sandys, Travailes, p. 203.
The death of a monarch or prince of some corner of the
world, prognosticated Ijy an eclipse or comet.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 371.
=Syn. 1 and 2. Predict, Presage, etc. See foretell.— 2. To
betoken.
II. intrans. To judge or pronounce from
presage or foreknowledge.
If any man's father be sick, the son straight goes vnto
the sooth-saying or prognosticating priest, requesting him
to demand of his God whether his father shall reconer of
that or no. Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 58.
prognostication (prog-nos-ti-ka'shon), )(. [<
'ME. prenosticaciomi, < OP. (and F .Ypronostiea-
tion = Sp. pronosticacion = Pg. pronosticaqao
= It. pronosticazione, < ML. prognosticatio{n-),
< prognosticare, prognosticate : see prognosti-
cate,] 1. The act of prognosticating, foretell-
ing, or foreshowing future events by present
signs ; a presage ; a prediction.
Be the flyenge of Foules, thei wolde telle us the prenos-
tieaciouns of thinges that telle aftre.
MandevUle, Travels, p. 167.
In this Year, through Eooks of Prognostications fore-
shewing much Hurt to come by Waters and Floods, many
Persons withdrew themselves to high Grounds, for Fear
of drowning. Baker, Chronicles, p. 272.
The doctor's prognostication in reference to the weather
was speedily verified. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xlii.
2. That which foreshows or foretells ; a sign.
The whole inhabitants of Italy were wonderfully afraid,
and judged that it was some sign and prognostication of
some wonderfull thing to come.
North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 114.
If an oily palm be not a fruitful prognostication, I can-
not scratch mine ear. Shak., A. and C, i. 2. 54.
The meteors aif ord him progtwstications of the weather.
Bacon, Physical Fables, ii., Expl-
=Syn. 1. Prophecy, etc. ^ee prediction.
prognosticative (prog-nos'ti-ka-tiv), a. [< OP.
pronosticatif, < ML. prognosticativus, predic-
tive, <jwo(?nosi«caj-e, predict, prognosticate: see
prognosticate.] Having the character of a,
prognostic; predictive.
prognosticator (prog-nos'ti-ka-tor), n. [= Sp.
pronosticador = Pg. pronostieador, prognosti-
cador = It. pronosticatore, < ML. *prognostica-
tor, < prognosticare, prognosticate : see prognos-
ticate.] A foreknower or foreteller of future
events by present signs ; a soothsayer.
Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly
prognostieators, stand up, and save thee from these things
that shall come upon thee. Isa. xlvii. 13.
Trismegistus, the later Ptolemy, and the everlasting
prognosticator, old EiTa Pater.
Massinger, City Madam, ii. 2.
Progonochelys (prog-o-nok'e-lis), n. [NL., <
Gr. irpoyovog, born before, also a forefather, an-
cestor, + x^^vc, a tortoise.] A genus of fossil
turtles from the Triassie of Wtirtemberg, the
oldest known representative of the Chelonia.
program, programme (pro'gram), n. [For-
merly, a,s 'L'L., programma ; < F. programme =
program
8p. programa = Pg. It. programma = D. pro-
gramma = Gr. programm = Sw. Dan. program, <
Lli. iirogramma, a proclamation, edict, < Gr.
Trpdypaftfia, a written public notice, an edict, <
npoyp&peiv, write beforehand, < wpd, before, +
ypa(l>ew, write.] 1. A written or printed list
of the pieces or selections which constitute a
musical, theatrical, or other performance or
entertaiament, set down in the order of their
performance or exhibition. The titles, authors, and
performers of musical pieces are ordinarily given, often
with the addition of descriptive or explanatoiy remarks.
Scraps of regular Memoir, College-Exercises, Programs,
Professional Testimoniams.
Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, iL 3.
Hence — 2. The collection of such pieces or
selections. The several pieces are often called
numbers. — 3. A method of operation or line of
procedure prepared or announced beforehand;
an outline or abstract of something to be done
or carried out: as, the program of the new
administration; the program of a school or
university.
Well, here surely is an Evangel of Freedom, and real
Program of a new Era.
Carlyle, tatter Day Pamphlets, Model Prisons.
A series of impudent shams have been palmed off on
the country as aprograTnme for general reform.
Nineteenth Century, XXVI, 745.
The programme of the inaugui-al is already modified.
The Century, XXXV. 720.
4. A preface ; prolegomena ; a preliminary or
introductory statement or announcement.
He [Guilelmus Christ] admires greatly Hermann's pro-
$rani on *' Interpolations in Homer."
Am^. Jour. Pkilol., V. 504,
Program music. See music.
programma (pro-gram'a), n.;'-i^\. programmata
(-a-ta). [< iiL. programma, < Gr. izptypaniia, a
public notice : sae program.'] 1. A public no-
tice ; an edict.
A programma stuck up in every college hall, under the
vice-chancellor's hand, that no scholars abuse the soldiers.
I/ife qf A. Wood. {Latha/m.)
2. A preface ; prolegomena.
His [Dr. Bathurst's] programvma on preaching, instead
of a dry formal remonstrance, is an agreeable and lively
piece of writing.
T. Warton, Life of Bathurst, p. 218. (Latham.)
The peculiar features of the arrangement of his [Eutha-
lius's] text are prefaces, programmata, lists of quotations,
with reference to the authors, sacred and profane^ from
whom they come.
J. Mendel Harris, Amer. Jour. Fhilol., IV, 315.
programme, ». See program.
programmer (pro'gram-6r), n. One who makes
up a program : as, the official programmer of
the Jockey Club.
Progresista (pro-gre-sis'ta), n. [Sp., = E. pro-
gressist.'] Same as Progressist (a).
progress (prog' res), n. [< OF. progres, progrez,
F. progrhs = Sp. progreso = Pg. It. progresso =
G. progress, < L. progressus, an advance, < pro-
gredi, to^. progressus, go forward, advance, pro-
ceed, < pro, forth, before, + gradi, walk, go.
Cf. congress, ingress, egress, regress, etc.] 1.
A going onward ; a moving or proceeding for-
ward; advance: as, to make slow or rapid pro-
gress on a journey ; to hinder one's progress.
Thou by thy dial's shady stealth mayst know
Time's thievish progress to eternity.
Shak., Sonnets, Ixxvii.
Our progress waE often delay'd
By the nightingale warbling nigh.
Cowper, Catharina.
We trace his progress [that of one of Shakspere's charac-
ters] from the first dawning of unlawful ambition to the
cynical melancholy of his impenitent remorse.
JUacaulay, Dryden.
2. A passage from place to place; a journey;
wayfaring.
So forth they forth yfere make their progresse.
And march not past the mountenaunce of a shott
Till they aniv'd whereas their purpose they did plott.
Spenser, ¥. Q., Ill, xi. 20.
It was my fortune, with some others moe,
One summer day aprogresae for to goe
Into the countrie.
Ktucs' WhisOe (B. E. T. S.), p. 82.
Boss. My Penthea, miserable soul.
Was starved to death.
Cal. She 's happy ; she hath flnish'd
A long and painful progress. Ford, Broken Heart, v. 2.
In summer they leave them, beginning their progresse
in Aprill, with their wives, children, and slaves, in their
carted houses. Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 36.
Specifically — 3, A* journey or circuit of state:
as, a royal progress.
It was now the seventh year of Queen Elizabeth, when,
making a Progress, she went to see Cambridge.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 333.
4760
I . . . met the archbishop of .ffigina, . . . who was
making a progress to collect charity for his church.
Poeocke, Description of the East, II. ii. 160.
The lojal progresses were diligently carried on, when the
king [Cnut], with his following of counsellors and scribes,
administered justice and redressed wrong as Eadgar and
.iGlfred had done before him.
J. R. Green, Conq. of Eng., p. 409.
The king, . . spent the autumn in a royal process, the
object of which was to reconcile all parties.
Sttibbs, Const. Hist., § 348.
4. Advancement of any kind; growth; devel-
opment; improvement: as, the progress of a
negotiation; the progress of a plant; the pro-
gress of a patient toward recovery ; the progress
of a scholar in his studies ; the progress of the
arts and sciences.
Growth is progress; and all progress designs and tends
to the acquisition of something which the growing person
is not yet possessed of. South, Sermons, III. vi.
How swift and strange a progress the Gospel made at
and after its first setting out from Jerusalem !
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. iii.
Physiologically as well as morphologically, development
is a. progress from the general to the special.
Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 30.
A new stage of intellectual jjropress began with the Au-
gustan age, as it did with our own Elizabethan era.
Maine, Village Communities, p. 380.
Progress of titles, in Scots law, such a series of title-deeds
as constitute a valid feudal title to heritable property.
— State of progress [tr. of Gr. irpoKoir j}], a state which the
Stoical and other philosophies claim to confer of becom-
ing constantly wiser and better, without danger of relapse,
=S3ni. 1-4. Progress, Progression, Advance, Advancement,
and Propjdiencg agree in expressing the idea of a forward
movement, literally orfiguratively. Proficiency applies only
to a person ; thereat to a person or thing. Progress is a lively
word for continued improvement in any respect, or it may
mean simplyacourse, whethergood or evil : as,"TheEake'3
Progress {Hogarth). Progression is less common and not
general ; it emphasizes the act of moving. Progress and
advance are high words for the promotion of human know-
ledge, character, and general welfare. Advancemjerd is es-
sentially synonymous with advance, but is not so general ;
the word applies chiefly to things mental: as, "The Ad-
vancement of Learning " (Bacon) ; but we speak also of the
advancement of human welfare : here the word suggests
the help given by men, viewing it as external, and thus is
essentially synonymous with prom/)tion. Advance and
progress seem figurative when not physical. Proficiently
is the state resulting from having made progress in ac-
quiring either knowledge or skill : as, proficiency in Latin
or in music.
Human progress is gradual, by slow degrees, evil by de-
grees yielding to good, the spiritual succeeding the natu-
ral by almost imperceptible processes of amelioration.
0. B. Prothingham, George Kipley, p. 188.
This mode of progression requires some muscular exer-
tion. The Century, XXVI. 926.
It is only by perpetual aspiration after what has been
hitherto beyond our reach that advance is made.
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 506.
Tom had always possessed the honesty and fearless can-
dor that belonged to his idea of a gentleman, and had
never thought of questioning his father's proficiency in the
same virtues. J. Hawthorne, Dust, p. 187.
progress (pro-gres', formerly prog'res), v. [=
Sp. progresdr; < L. progressus, pp. otprogredi,
go forward, advance : see progress, n. The verb
IS in part from the noun.] I. intrans. 1. To
move forward or onward in space; proceed;
pass; go.
Let me wipe oil this honourable dew
That silverly doth progress on thy cheeks.
Shak., K. John, v. 2. 46.
Although the jpopular blast . . .
Hath rear'd thy name up to bestride a cloud.
On progress in the charfot of the sun.
Ford, Broken Heart, iii. 2.
We travel sea and soil, we pry, we prowl.
We progress and we prog from pole to pole.
<iuarles, Emblems, 11. 2.
Thou may'st to Court, and Progress to and fro ;
Oh, that thy captiv'd Master could do so.
Howell, Letters, I. vi. 60.
Like the hare, if the fore-leg is injured, deer cannot pro-
gress. The Century, XXXVI. 810.
2. To continue onward in course; proceed or
advance.
Alter the war haA progressed for some time.
Marshall, Washington.
As the great ship progresses towards completion.
Times (London), April 30, 1867.
3. To move toward something better; advance
on the line of development or improvement.
Prom the lowest to the highest creatures. Intelligence
progresses by acts of discrimination ; and it continues so
to progress among men, from the most ignorant to the
most cultured. H. Spencer, Man vs. State, p. 6.
The gi'owth of the concept progresses step by step with
the extension of the name to new objects.
J. Sully, Outlines of PsychoL, p. 346.
4. Specifically, in music, of a voice-part, to ad-
vance from one tone to another, or, of the har-
mony in general, from one chord to another.
=Syn. 1-3. To go or get on, ahead, forward, or along;
make haste,— 3. To make headway.
progressist
II, trans. If, To pass over or through; make
the tour or circuit of.
So, when my soul ha.A progress d ev'iy place
That love and dear affection could contrive,
I threw me on my couch. Quarlea, Emblems, iv. 12.
2, To cause to advance or pass ; push forward.
The heavier portion [of ore] is progressed across the ta-
ble, and passed into an ore bin. Ure, Diet., II. 131.
Urging that the bills ... be progressed as rapidly as
possible. New York Tribune, March 7, 1887.
progression (pro-gresh'on), n. [= F, progres-
sion '= Sp. progresion = Pg. progressSo = It.
progressione, < L, progressio{nr-), a going for-
ward, advancement, < progredi, pp, progress^,
go forward : see progress, n.] 1 , The act or state
of progressing, advancing, or moving forward;
a proceeding in a course ; advance : as, a slow
method ot progression.
The experimental sciences are generally in a state ot
progression. Macaulay, History.
If ature's great progression, from tlie formless to the form-
ed— from the inorganic to the organic.
Huxley^ Man's Place in Nature, p. 128.
There is sl progression — I cannot call it a progress — in
his work towai'd a more and more strictly prosaic level.
B. L. Stevenson, Thoreau, iii.
2, Lapse or process of time ; com-se; passage.
Evelyn. (Imp. Diet.) — 3. In math., a series of
quantities of which every one intermediate be-
tween the first and the last is a mean of some
constant kind between those which immediate-
ly precede and follow it. Arithmetical, geometrical,
harmonic, arithmetico-geometrical, and quadratic pro-
gressions are progressions depending on means so named.
4. InpMlol., the increase or strengthening of
a vowel under the accent. [Eare.] — 5. In mu-
sic : (a) The act, process, or result of advancing
from one tone to another (of a particular voice-
part), or from one chord to another (of the
harmony in general) ; motion. Progression in
either of these senses may be regular or irreg-
ular, correct or false. See motion, 14. (&) Same
as sequence.
To read chords and jfrogressioTis of chords by means of
letters is somewhat fatiguing.
The Academy, Sept. 29, 1888, p. 213.
ArithmetlcaI,conjunct, diatonic, harmonic progres-
sion. See the adjectives.— Geometrical progression,
a series of numbers each derived from the preceding by
multiplication by a constant factor, as 2, 6, 18, 54, 162, etc.
—Musical progression. Same aa harmonic progression.
— Progression of parts, in nrnsic, usually the progres-
sion of two or more voice-parts relatively to each other.
See motion. — Progression with n ratios, a series of
quantities whose ratios (of each to the preceding) pass
through a cycle of n values, as 2, 1, 3, IJ, 4J, 2J, 64, eta
=Syn. 1. Advancement, etc. See progress, n.
progressional (pro-gresh'on-al), a. [< progres-
sion + -al.] Pertaining' to" progression, ad-
vance, or improvement.
To tell him . . . that there is no further state to come,
unto which this aeemea progressional, andotherwise made
in vain. Sir T. Browne, Urn-burial, iv.
The "inventive powers of the human mind"— powers
which exemplify and embody the ^'progressUmal force " of
civilization. Amer. Anthropologist, I. 9.
progressionist (pro-gresh'on-ist), n. [< pro-
gression + -ist.] 1. One who believes in or ad-
vocates progress in society or politics.
The enforced opening of the country [Korea] . . . had
given rise to two new, all-embracing and all-engrossing,
antagonistic parties. These two pintles were named by
the Japanese the progressionists and the seclusionists.
The Atlantic, LVIII. 603.
2. One who maintains the doctrine that society
is in a state of progress toward perfection, and
that it will ultimately attain it. [Kare.] — 3.
One who holds that the existing species of
animals and plants were not originally created,
but were gradually developed from one simple
form.
Were the geological record complete, or did it, as both
Uniformitarians and Progressionists have habitually as-
sumed, give us traces of the earliest organic forms, the
evidence hence derived, for or against, would have had
more weight than any other evidence.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., § 140.
progressist (prog'res-ist), n. [= Sp. progre-
sista = It. progressista ; as progress + -dst.]
One who holds to a belief in progress ; a pro-
gressionist.
The most plausible objection raised against resistance
to conventions is grounded on its impolicy, considered
even from the progressist's point of view.
H. Speneer, Universal Progress, p. 98.
Specifically [cap.'\—(a) In mod. Span, hist, a member of
a political party holding advanced liberal views. The
Progressists and Moderados were the two parties into
which the Christinos (adherents of the queen regent Chris-
tina) separated about 1835. (6) A member of a liberal polit-
ical party hi Germany (Fortschrittspartei), formed in 1861.
From it *as formed, a few years later, the National Liberal
party. The remnant in 1884 united with the Liberal
Union to form the German Liberal party (Deutsch-Freisin-
nige).
progressist
The workmen's unions which had grown so rapidly In
Germany in the years following 1860, and which had first
been patronized by the Progreteigtmnty.
Muyc. Brit., XXII. 214.
progressive (pro-gres'iv), a. and n. [< F. pro-
gressif = Sp. progresivo = Pg. It. progressiva, <
L. progressus, pp. of progredi, go forward, ad-
vance: Bee progress.;\ I. a. 1. Going forward;
moving onward; advancing; making progress,
in any sense: as, progressive motion or course.
Their wandering course, now high, now low, then hid
Progremve, retrograde, or standing still. '
MUton, P. L., Tiii. 127.
At Orat progresgive as a stream, they [the sheep] seek
The middle tteld ; but, scatter'd by degrees.
Each to his choice, soon whiten all the land.
Cowper, Task, i. 292.
Science In its contemplation of the method of nature is
progressive, and continually changing its point of view.
Dawson, Nature and the Bible, p. 12.
The deification of the Emperors was a suitable climax
to the jwogr«s8ive degradation of the religion of Some.
0. P. Fisher, Beginnings of Christianity, p. 126.
2. Favoring progress ; using one's influence or
directing one's efforts in the line of advance-
ment or improvement: as, to be progressive in
one's ideas about education; a, progressive age.
— 3. Indicative of progress.
Ecker, for reasons which are not quite clear, considers
that unusual length [of the index-flnger] is a progresgive
character. Amer. Anthropologist, I. 71.
FrogresBlve bulbax paralysis. See parajj/sis.— Pro-
gressive euclire, metamorpboBis, metbod. See the
nouns.— Progressive Friends. See /rienij.— Progres-
sive locomotor ataxia. See aUaaa. — Progressive
muscular atrophy, a progressive atrophy of the volun-
tary muscles. Two entirely distinct forms are recognized
—(a) a neuropathic form, in which the myo-atrophy is the
result of the degeneration of ganglion-cells in the anterior
horns of the spinal cord (this form is related to amyo-
trophic lateral sclerosis and to bulbar paralysis); and (6)
a myopathic form, related to pseudohypertrophic paralysis.
—Progressive muscular sclerosis. Same as pseudo-
hypertrophic paralysis (yrhlch see, under irar(rf^ms).—Pro-
gressive Orthodoxy, that body of Christian doctrine
which is held by its supporters to preserve the essential
features of historic Christian theology, while modified to
meet the requirements of modern thought. The name
is especially applied to the views of the advanced wing
of theologians in the Congregational, Presbyterian, and
other American churches.— Progressive paralysis. See
paralysis.— tTO^reasive pernicious anemia. Same as
idiopathic anenwi (which see, under anemia).
II. n. Onewhois in favor of progress; one who
promotes or commends reforms or changes :
opposed to conservative.
Some ai'e conservatives, others progressives, still others
may be called radicals.
H. White, Pop. Sci. Mo., XXXVI. 499.
We are forced to take sides on i^ either as progressives
or conservatives. S. Thurber, in Education, III. 619.
progressively (pro-gres'iv-li), adv. In a pro-
gressive manner; by gradual or regular steps
or advances.
Lost and conf us'd, progressively they fade.
Not fall precipitate from light to shade.
v. Mason, tr. of Dufresnoy's Art of Painting, 1. 375.
What was the commerce that, progressively, laid the
foundation of all that immense grandeur of the east?
Bruee, Source of the Nile, I. 370.
progressiveness (pro-gres'iv-nes), n. The state
or character of being progressive ; a condition
of advance or improvement : as, iAi» progressive-
ness of science or of taste.
There is nothing in the nature of art to exempt it from
that character of progressiveness which belongs to science
and philosophy, and in general to all spheres of intellectual
activity. »^- Caird.
progressor (pro-gres'or), n. [< lili. progressor,
one who advances, < ii. progredi, p^^. progressus,
go forward, advance: see progress.'] 1. ()newho
goes or travels; one who makes a journey or
progress.
Being a great progressor through all the Eoman empire,
whenever he [Adrian] found any decays of bridges or high-
ways, or outs of rivers and sewers, ... or the like, he gave
substantial order for their repaii-.
Baeon, Offer of a Digest of laws.
2. One who makes progress or advances.
proguef , V. and n. An obsolete spelling of prog.
progjrmnasium (pro-jim-na'zl-um), 11. ; pi. pro-
gymnasia (-a). [< Gr. Trpd, before, + yvjivamov,
gymnasium'.' Cf . Gr. wpoyvfivaaia, previous ex-
ercise.] A kind of classical school in Germany
in which the higher classes are wanting; a
school preparatory to a gymnasium.
The classical schools proper [in Prussia] consist of Gym-
nasia and Progymnasla, the latter being simply gymnasia
wanting the higher classes. ^n^yc. Bnt., XX. 17.
progymnosperm (pro-jim'no-spei-m), «. [< Gr.
irpd, before, + E. gymnosperm.] An archaic or
ancestral gymnosperm ; the ancestral form from
which later gymnosperms are supposed to have
been developed. '
4761
progymnospennic(pr6-3im-no-sp6r'mik), a. [<
progymnosperm + -}c.] Of or relating to a pro-
gymnosperm.
In the remote past, before even the seasons were well
defined, the cambium layer may have existed in an irregu-
lar or fugitive manner in the pro-anglospermic as it did
in the pro-gymnospermic stem. Nature, XXXTII. 389.
prohemet, »• An obsolete form otpi-oem.
prohibit (pro-hib'it), v. t. [< L. proMMttts, pp.
ot prohibere\'> It. proibire= Pg. Sp. proMMr =
F. 2)rohiber), hold back, forbid, < pro, before, +
habere, have, hold: see habit. Cf. inhibit, ex-
hibit.] 1. To forbid; interdict by authority:
as, to m-ohibit a person from doing a thing; to
prohibit the doing of a thing.
So of degenerate and revolted spirits, the conversing
with them or the employment of them is prohibited.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 164.
To this day, in France, the exportation of corn is almost
always prohibited. Hume, Essays, ii. 5.
South Carolina has prohibited the importation of slaves
for three years ; which is a step towards a perpetual pro-
hibition. Jefferson, Correspondence, II. 161.
2. To hinder; debar; prevent; preclude.
And [the Britons], folowyng after wyth al the rest of
theyr power, prohibited our men to take land.
Golding, tr. of Csesar, fol. 99.
Soodenly a tempest of contrary wyndeprofttTftted theym
to take lande, and drone them backewarde to Cozumella.
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 192).
Gates of burning adamant,
BaiT'd over us, prohibit all egress.
MUtan, P. L., iL 437.
Prohibited degrees. See degree. = Syn. 1. Interdict, etc.
See forbid.
prohibiter (pr6-hib'i-t6r), n. [< prohibit +
-ej'i.] One who prohibits or forbids ; an inter-
dioter.
Cecilia . . . cast her eyes round in the church, with no
other view than that of seeing from what corner the pro-
hibiter would start. Miss Burney, Cecilia, ix. 8.
prohibition (pro-hi-bish'gn), n. [Early mod. E.
prohybycyon; < OF. (and'F.)pro/(J6«<Jo» = Sp.
prohibicion = Fg. prohibigclo = It. proibizione, <
u. prohibitio{n-), a hindering or forbidding, pro-
hibition, < prohibere, pp. prohibitus, hold back,
forbid: see prohibit.] 1. The act of prohibit-
ing, forbidding, or interdicting; an edict or a
decree to forbid or debar.
In Iherico also is yet shewed the place where ye blynde
man, notwithstondynge the prohybycyon, and rebukes of
the people, cryed incessauntly.
Sir R. Guylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 41.
God's commandments or ^oAifiition* were not the origi-
nals of good and evil.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i. 63.
He said the Prophet never forbade aquavitse, only the
drinking of wine ; and the prohOniion could not be in-
tended for Egypt, for there was no wine in it.
Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. 76.
She made a repelling gesture with her hand, and stood,
a perfect picture ot prohibibimi, at full length, in the dark
frame of the doorway. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, viil.
2. In a restricted sense, the interdiction by
law of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic
drinks, except for medicinal or sacramental
uses Prohibition of light, in aslrdl., the supposed
effect of two neighboring planets in annihilating the in-
fiuence of one between them. — Prohibition party, in
U. S. politics, a political party which aims to secure by
legislation the prohibition of the manufacture and sale
of alcoholic drinks, except for medicinal or sacramental
uses. Such measures have at times been supported by a
considerable section of one or the other of the two great
parties, and such legislation has been enacted by certain
States, as Maine, Kansas, and Iowa. The Prohibitionists
were organized as a distinct national party in 1869, and
since 1872 they have nominated candidates for the ofiQce
of President.— Training to Arms Prohibition Act, an
English statute of 1819 (60 Geo. III. and 1 Geo. IV., c. 1)
prohibiting meetings for the purpose of practising mili-
tary exercises.— Writ Of prohibition, (a) In law, a writ
issuing from a superior tribunal to prohibit or prevent an
inferior court or a suitor therein, or both, from proceed-
ing in a suit or matter, upon suggestion that such court
is proceeding or about to proceed beyond its jurisdiction
or in an illegal manner. (6) In Scots law, a technical
clause in a deed of entail prohibiting the heir from sell-
ing the estate, contracting debt, altering the order of suc-
cession, etc. = Syn. 1. Interdiction, inhibition, embargo.
See prohibit.
Frohihitionism (pro-hi-bish'on-izm), n. [< pro-
hibition + -ism.] The doctrine and methods of
the Prohibitionists.
In MaomiDan's for March Goldwin Smith has a timely
paper on "Prohibitionism in Canada and the United States. "
LOerary World, XX. 116.
prohibitionist (pro-hi-bish'on-ist), n. and a.
[< prohibition + -ist] I. n. One who is in fa-
vor of prohibition, especially the prohibition
by law of the manufacture and sale of alcohol-
ic drinks, except for medicinal or sacramental
uses; specifically [cap.], in U. S.politics,a,mem-
ber of the Prohibition party.
II. a. Favoring such prohibition.
project
If the growing prohibitionist party should ever get its
way in Victoria, the strange spectacle will be presented of
one of the chief wine-producing countries Ijeing under the
control of an electorate which is opposed to the manufac-
ture and sale of wine.
Sir C. W. DUke, Probs. of Greater Britain, ii. 1.
prohibitive (pro-hib'i-tiv), a. [= F. xrrohibitif
— Sp. Fg.m-oMbitivo = lt.proil>itivo; asprohibit
+ -ive.] Same as prohibitory.
The prohibitiue Commandement of stealing is of greater
force, and more bindeth. Purehas, Pilgrimage, p. 23.
The cab-rates ave prohibitive— move than half the peo-
ple who in England would use cabs must in America use
the horse-cars. M. Arnold, Civilization in the U. S., iv.
prohibitively (pro-hib'i-tiv-li), adv. In a pro-
hibitive manner; with prohibition; so as to pro-
hibit: as, pviees -were inohibitively high.
I waved mjTiixa& prohibitively.
Carlyle, in Fronde, Life in London, xxvilL
prohibitor (pro-Mb'i-tor), n. [= OF. prohibeur
= Pg. prohibidor = It. proibitore, < LL. prohibi-
tor, a withholder, < Jj. prohibei-e, prohibit: see
prohibit.] One who prohibits or interdicts.
A sharp and severe prohibitor.
Hooker, Works (ed. Appleton, 1877X H- ^3-
prohibitory (pro-hib'i-to-ri), a. [= Sp. Pg.^ro-
hibitorio,<.li. proMbitorius, restraining, prohib-
iting, < prohibere, pp. prohibitus, prohibit : see
prohibit.] Serving to pi-ohibit, forbid, or in-
terdict; implying prohibition: as, pi'ofdbitory
duties on imports.
A prohibition will lie on this statute, notwithstanding
the penalty annexed, because it has words prohibitory as
well as a penalty annexed. Ayliffe, Parergon.
Itis of the nature and essence of law to have penal sanc-
tions. Without them, all laws are vain, especially prO'
hibitory laws.
Warburton, Julian's Attempt to Bebnild the Temple, ii. 4.
In 1777, North repealed the customs duties on imported
materials for the making of glass, and laid duties profess-
edly ^oAi&^torj/ upon the importation of wroughtor manu-
factured glass. S. DowAl, Taxes in England, IV. 308.
proin, proiner. Obsolete or dialectal forms of
pro indiviso (pro in-di-vi's6). [L. : pro, for,
in manner of j indiviso, abl. sing. neut. of vn-
divisus, not divided or cleft, < in- priv. + di-
visus, pp. of dividere, separate, divide: see di-
vide.] In lato, a term applied to rights held by
two or more persons undivided, and otherwise
termed indivisible rights.
project (pro-jekf), V. [< OF.projecter, jirojeter,
¥.projeter\= Sp. proyectar = 'Pg. projector, pro-
ject, < liL. prqjectare, thrust forth, L. reproach,
accuse, freq. of L. projieere, proicere, pp. pro-
jectus, throw before, thrust out, < j^^o, forth,
before, + jacere, throw, east: seeJeJi. Cf. ab-
ject, d^ect, eject, inject, object, etc.] I. trans. 1.
To throw out or forth ; cast or shoot forward.
Before his feet her self e she did project
Spenser, F. Q., VI. i. 46.
The ascending villas on my side
Project long shadows o'er the crystal tide.
Pope, Windsor Forest, \. S7e.
A ball once projected will fly on to all eternity with un-
diminished velocity, unless something checks.
Macaulay, Utilitarian Theory of Government.
2. Tocast forward in the mind; scheme; con-
trive; devise; plan.
This end I never did project.
To hang upon a tree.
Mat^herson's Bant (Child's Ballads, VI. 266).
What sit we then projecting peace and war ?
MUtan, P. L., iL 329.
A world which has Alia for its contriver is much more
wisely formed than that which has been projected by Ma-
homet. Goldsmith, Asem.
3. In geom. : (o) To throw forward in rays or
straight lines, especially from a center; draw
such rays through every point of.
Toprojecttrora afixed point, S (the centre of projection),
a figure ABCD . . . abed, . . . composed of points and
straight lines, is to construct the straight lines or project-
ing rays SA, SB, SC, SD, . . . and the projecting planes
So, S6, Sc, Sd. . . . We thus obtain a new figure composed
of straight lines and planes which all pass through S.
Cremona, Projective Geometry, § 2.
(6) To throw forward (lines) from a center
through every point of the figure said to be
projected, and then cut these with a surface
upon which the figure is said to be projected,
(c) To delineate according to any system of
correspondence between the points of a figure
and the points of the surface on which the de-
lineation is made. — 4. To throw, as it were,
from the mind into the objective world; give
an objective or real seeming to (something
subjective).
Thoughts became things, and ideas were projected fi'om
her vivid fancy upon the empty air around her.
J. A. Synwnds, Italy and Greece, p. 58.
5. To set forth; set out. [Rare.]
project
I cannot jirq/ece mine own cause so well
To make it cleai', but do confess I have
Been laden with . . . Ii-ailties.
Shak., A. and C, v. 2. 121.
II. intrans. 1. To shoot forward; extend be-
yond something else;, jut; be prominent: as,
a oorniee or a promontory prefects. The rays
thrown forward in geometrical projection are
said to project in this sense.
The craggy Bock projects above the sky.
Prim, golomon, i.
As the boughs all temptingly project.
Burm, Address spoken by Miss Fontenelle.
St. To form a scheme or project. Fuller. — Sf.
In alchemy, to make projection — that is, to
throw philosopher's stone into a crucible of
melted metal, and thus convert the latter into
silver, gold, or the philosopher's stone.
My only care is
Where to get stuff enough now to project on.
B. Jorwon, Alchemist, ii. 1.
=Syn. 1. To protrude, bulge (out), stand out.
pro.iect (proj'ekt), 11. [< OF. project, projet, F.
projet = Sp. proyecto = Pg. projecto = It. pro-
getto, a project, purpose, (.'L.^rrojectum, a pro-
jection, jutty, something thrust out, neut. of
projectus, pp. of projieere,proicere, throw forth,
thrust out : see project, ».] That which is pro-
jected or devised; apian; a scheme; a design:
as, projects of happiness.
Atm. What say you to a masque?
Hed. Nothing better, if the project were new and rare.
B. Jomon, Cynthia's Revels, iv. 1.
Here this mad flckle Crew were upon new Projects again.
Dampier, Voyages, I. 507.
I have a project of publishing in the spring a pamphlet,
which I think of calling "Common-Sense for 1810."
Sydney Smith, To Lord Holland.
= Syn. Scheme, Design, etc. See plan.
projectile (pro-jek'til), a. and n. [< F.prqjee-
tile = Sp. proyectil = Pg. projecUl = lt.projet-
tile; as project + -ile.'] I, a. 1. Impelling,
throwing, driving, or shooting forward: as, a
projectile force.
The planets are constantly acted upon by two different
forces, viz. gravity or attraction, and the projectile force.
O. Cheyne, On Begimen, v.
2. Caused by impulse; impelled or driven for-
ward.
Good blood, and a due projectile motion or circulation,
are necessary to convert the aliment Into laudible animal
juices. Arlmthnot, Aliments, p. 35.
3. In zool., capable of being thrust forward or
protruded, as the jaws of a fish; protrusile.
II. m. 1. A body projected, or impelledforward
by force, particularly through the air. Thus, a
stone thrown from the hand or a sung, an arrow shot from
a bow, and a ball discharged from a cannon are projec-
tiles. The path of a proj ectile, or its traj eotory (neglecting
the effect of air-resistance); is a parabola.
The motion of a projeclUe — that is to say, of a body
thrown in any direction and falling under the influence of
gravity — was investigated by Galileo.
W. E. Clifford, lectures, II. 13.
2. Specifically, a missile intended to be pro-
jected from a cannon by the explosive force of
gunpowder or some similar agent. Projectiles
used in smooth-bore guns are usually spherical, though
sometimes oblong, as is the case in the Manby, Parrott,
and Lyle life-saving projectiles. Projectiles for rifled
guns are oblong, the cylindroconoidal form being gener-
ally adopted. It is essential for the range and accuracy
of such a projectile that it should pass through the air in
the direction of its longer axis, and the only certain method
of effecting this is to give it a rapid rotary motion al:)out
this axis. To this end the projectile must be so prepared
that it will engage and follow grooves in the bore of
the gun. This is done in several ways : (a) By the jUinge
sy^m, in which the projectile is provided with flanges,
studs, or buttons made of a soft metal, as copper, zinc, or
brass, which fit into the grooves of the bore. (6) By the
expansive method, often called the American system, in
which the projectile is fitted with an expanding device
made of sorter material, such as brass, copper, or papier-
mach^, which iswedged into the grooves by the explosive
force of the charge. This system requires more and shal-
lower grooves than the flange system. Both the preced-
ing methods are applicable to muzzle-loaders, (c) By the
compressive system, in which the projectile is sun'ounded
by a soft metal band or jacket, the diameter of which is
greater than that of the bore without the grooves, the
projectile being forced into and tlirough the rifled part
of the bore by the explosive force of the charge. The
bands in the bore cut grooves in the encircling bands,
which center and give rotation to the projectile. The ri-
fling is polygroove and shallow, sometimes narrowing
toward the muzzle. This system is in use in breech-load-
ing guns.— Annor-piercing projectile, a projectile
adapted, by its material and by special methods of harden-
ing its point, to pierce modem armor-plate. A great ad-
vance in power of penetration has been secured by placing
upon the point of the shell a soft metal cap which protects
it from being broken by the hardened surface of the plate.
— Amplitude of the range of a projectile.— See
ampHtwie.— Deviation Of a projectile.— See devia-
tion.—Roiizontal range of a projectile. See hori-
zoiOal.— Subcaliber projectile, a projectile made of
less diameter than that of the bore of the piece from
wliich it is filed, but having a cup or disk laige enough to
4762
fill the bore, allowing the ordinary windage ; or it may have
a cup or disk capable of being forced out to fill the bore
when the gun is discharged. A high initial velocity is ob-
tainable in subcaliber projectiles, for while their weight
and hence inertia are much less than those of the full-
sized shot, the area acted upon by the expanding gases is
the same.— Theory Of projectiles, that branch of me-
chanics which treats of the motion of bodies thrown or
driven by an impelling force from the surface of the earth,
and .iffected by gravity and the resistance of the air, as the
motion of a cannon- or rifle-ball, or of a jet of water, etc.
projecting (pro-jek'ting), p. a. Inventive ; en-
terprising. [Bare.]
projectingly (pro-jek'ting-li), adv. In the man-
ner of something that juts out or projects.
A . . . hat . . . proj^tingly and out of all proportion
cocked before. Annals of Phil, and Penn., I. 381.
projection (pro-jek'shon), «. [< F. projection
= Sp.proyecci6n=:'Pg.proJecfao = lt.2]rojezione,
< ii.projectio{n-), a throwing forward, a stretch-
ing out,<. projicere,proice7-e, -pp. projectvs, throw
forth: see project."] 1. The act of projecting,
throwing, or shooting forward: as, the prcrjec-
tion of a shadow upon a bright surface ; hence,
the act or process of throwing, as it were, some-
thing that is subjective into the objective world ;
the act of giving objective or seeming reality to
what is subjective : as, the projection of a sen-
sation of color into space as the quality of an
object (a colored thing). — 2. That image or
figure which results from the act of projecting
an idea or a sensation.
Soon or late to all our dwellings come the spectres of the
mind,
Doubts and fears and dread forebodings, in the darkness
undeflned ;
Bound us throng the grim projections of the heart and of
the brain. Whittier, Garrison of Cape Ann.
3. That which projects ; a part projecting or
jutting out, as of a building extending beyond
the surface of the wall ; a prominence.
The main peculiarity in the outside [of the amphithea-
ter at Pola] is to be found in four tower^like projections.
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 117.
4. The act of projecting, or scheming or plan-
ning: as, he undertook the projection of a new
enterprise.
Which, of a weak and rnggxcHy projection.
Doth, like a miser, spoil his coat with scanting
A little cloth. Shak., Hen. V., ii. 4. 46.
5. (a) In geom., the act or result of construct-
■ing rays or right lines through every point of
a figure, according to certain rules. These rays
are cal\e6iprojecU.ngrays. In central projection, often called
projection simply, the projecting rays all pass through one
point called the center of projection. In this way a point
is projected into a ray, a straight line into a plane. In
axUd projection, a plane, called a prqjecHng plane, is passed
through every point of the figure, all these planes con-
taining one line called the oaas (ff projection, (ft) The
act or result of constructing rays through ev-
ery point of a figure, all passing through one
point, and cutting these rays by a plane or
other surface, so as to form a section on that
surface which corresponds point for point with
the original figure, (c) In (Cartography, the act
or result of constructing a figure upon a plane
or other surface, which corresponds point by
point with a sphere, spheroid, or other figure ;
a map-projection (which see, below). — 6. The
mental operation in consequence of which ob-
jects of the imagination or retinal impressions
appear to be seen external to us.
What we call the field of view is naught else than the
external projection into space of retinal states.
Le Conte, Sight, p. 71.
7. In alchemy, the act of throwing anything
into a crucible or other vessel, especially the
throwing of a portion of philosopher's stone
upon a metal in fusion with the result of trans-
muting it; hence, the act or result of transmu-
tation of metals ; humorously, the crisis of any
process, especially of a culinary process.
The red ferment
Has done his office ; three hours hence prepare you
To see projection. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1.
At the same time a ring was shewed to the King, pre-
tended to be aprojection of mercury.
Evelyn, Diary, June 1, 1667.
It is indeed the great business of her life to watch the
skillet on the fire, to see it simmer with the due degree
of heat, and to snatch It off at the moment of projection.
Johnson, Bambler, No. 51.
Had he not had projection, think you? Saw you no in-
gots in the crucibles? Scott, Kenilworth, xll.
Center of projection. See def. 6 (a).— Central pro-
jection. See central and def. 6(a).— Cylindrical projec-
tion. See map-projection.— QaxiO'h.e projection. See
gaMche.—GeoneiTUs projection, a parallel perspective
projection equally inclined to the three principal axes of
the body to be represented, as a machine.— Homolo-
grapMc, horizontal, ima^^inary, isometric, loxo-
dromic projection. See the adjectives.- Globular
projection. See mapprojeetion.—Ka.p-vnoieeti.on, a
projection
system of continuous correspondence between the points
of a spherical or spheroidal surface and those of a plane,
this correspondence determining what points on a map
represent given points on the earth, and conversely. Of
the systems in use, only a small number are perspective
representations (or rather perversions of such represen-
tations), so that the word projection must here be under-
stood in a peculiar technical sense, not implying any sim-
ple geometrical relation between the sphere and the plane.
The theory of projections is in itself one of the most scien-
tific branches of applied mathematics ; it may, indeed, be
said to be simply the theory of functions viewed under
the strong perspecti ve of a practical standpoint. But only
certain parts of the subject, such as the theory of ortlio-
morphic projections, have as yet taken scientific shape.
No satisfactory classification of map-projections is known ;
but orthomorphic, equivalent, zenithal (including the per-
spective), meridional, and conical projections are some of
the main kinds. The following are the more important :
Airy's map-projection. See map-projection by bcUanee of
errors, — Albers^s map-projection, an equivalent map-projec-
tion in which the entire sphere appears as tlie space
bounded by two lines and by two arcs of circles having
their center at the intersection's of these lines, these two
arcs representing the infinitesimal parallels about the
poles. The other parallels are concentric arcs having the
same boundaries, and the meddiaus are straight lines
radiating from the center. This map-projection was in-
vented by H. C. Albers in 1805, and has been used for
the map of Europe by Beichard. — Apianvs's map-projec-
tion, a discontinuous map-projection in which the equator
is represented by a limited straight line, and one of the
meridians by a circle whose center bisects that line, while
its circumference bisects each half formed by the first bi-
section ; then, the semi-meridians toward the center are
represented by ares of circles cutting the equator orthog-
onally at equidistances, and bisecting the first circle at the
points most distant from the equator ; but the semi-me-
ridians more distant from the center are represented by
semicircles of the same radius as the full circle, and cut-
ting the equator orthogonally at the same distances as the
inner meridians ; and the parallels are represented by equi-
distant straight lines parallel to the equator. This map-
projection was much used in the sixteenth century, having
been introduced by Peter Bennewitz or Apianus in 1524.—
Arago's map-projection, a map-projection in which one of
the meridians is a circle, and the parallels are parallel
straight lines dividing the circumference of this circle into
equal arcs, while the other meridians are ellipses dividing
the parallels into equal parts. This projection was invent-
ed by the French astronomer Arago in 1834. —Arrowsmith's
map-projection. See globular map-projection (6). — Babi-
nets map-projection. See hemolographic mapprojecti&n.
—Benneioib^smapprojection. Same as Apianusfs map-pro-
jection.— Bonne's mapprojection, an equivalent map-pro-
jection in which all the parallels are represented by con-
centric and equidistant arcs of circles, and the central
meridian by a straight line, the central parallel being cut
orthogonally by all
meridians. The en-
tire .spheroid ap-
pears in a kidney
shape. This map-
projection was in-
vented l)y Ptolemy,
and described in
his geography, al-
thoughliis rules for
drawing it did not
contemplate a de-
gree of precision
which the geo-
graphical know-
ledge of his time
would not warrant,
sixteenth century.
Bonne's Projection,
It was extensively used during the
It bears the name of the French
geodesist Bonne, who improved the theory of it. It has
been employed in several of the government maps of Euro-
pean countries. Also called modified Ftamsteed's mappro-
jection. —Boole's map-projection. Same as Lagrange's map
projection.— Broken map-projection. Same sls discontinu-
ous map-projection.— Cassinf 8 map-projection, an equiva-
lent map-projection, the developmentofacylinder tangent
to the sphere along a meridian, upon which cylinder the
sphere has been orthogonally proj ected from the axis of the
cylinder. This projection was used for Cassini de Thuiy's
great map of France, of which the publication was begun
in 1745.— Central equivalent map-projection. Same as
isomeric map-projechon. It was proposed by J. H. LsLia-
hert.—Central map-projection, (a) Same as qnomoniemap-
projeetion. (b) Same as zenithal mapprojection.— Clarke's
map-projection, a perspective map-projection in which the
distance of the eye from the center of the sphere is 1.368
tames the radius. This projection was invented by the
English geodesist Colonel A. B. CHa,rke.—Collignon's map-
projection, (ffl) The quadrilateral map projection. (6) The
central equivalent projection,— Conform map-projection.
Same as ortkomxrrphie map-projection.— Conical map-projee-
iwn. (a) Properly, a map-projection the development of a
tangent or secant cone upon which the sphere is conceived
to have been projected by lines of projection pei-pendiou-
lar to its axis. (6) Any proj ection which may naturally be
regarded as the development of a projection upon a cone.
-Cylindrical map-projection, (a) A parallelogrammatic
or square map-projection. (6) A map-projection show-
ing the earth in repeated stnpes, as Mercator's. (c) A
perspective or central projection in which the center
IS at infinity.— DeiisZe's map-projection, the secant coni-
cal projection proposed by Mercator, and applied by J.
N. Delisle to the great map of "RaeaUL.— Discontinuous
mapprojection, a map-projection which follows one law
In one part, and another in another part. Also called
broken map-projection, irregular map-projection Mng-
lish mapprojection. Same as globular map-projedion (»).
—Emidtstant map-projection, a zenithal map-projection
m which the radius of each almucantar is equal to its
angular distance from the zenith. This map-projection
invented by the French mathematician Postel in the six-
teenth century, is frequently employed fdr star-maps,
etc.— Equivalent map-projection, a map-projection which
represents all equal surfaces on the spheroid by equal
areas on the map. Also called equal-surface mapprojee-
twru—EguimUent stereographic map-projection, an equiv-
projection
alent map-projection in whioli tlie parallels are renre-
aented by parallel straight lines at'iistMdes from the
This projeofion was proposed in 1862 bv M de Pr^netit
^fn a^'.Sl-* ""eridiO'ia map-projection in which the me-
ridians are equidistant ellipses, while theparallels arecircu-
lar MOS equallydmding the central and eitrememeridUns.
(6) A map-projection m which the meridians are as in (a),
^^iy parallels are straight lines as in the meridionfl
Sn^^T«.SK°^ ♦?.*"?'■ ^h^^^ map-projections were pro-
posed m 1B46 by the French geographer rournier.-Caiss's
map-projection. Same as Lagran{ie'smap-projection.—Gla-
remiuss map-mojeclmn, a discontinuous map-projection
differing from that of Apianus only in setting the paral-
lels at the same distances as in the meridional ortho-
graphic map-projection. It was invented by the Swiss
i^2x"^"^, ,"?° ^°"'' <"■ Glareanus, and published in
■1527.— Globular map-projection, (a) Any projection of a
heimsphere with curvilinear meridians and parallels. (6)
A meridional hemispherical map-projection in which the
equator IS a straight line, the semimeridlans are circular
arcs dividing the equator into equal parts, and the paral-
lels are circular arcs dividing the extreme and central me-
ridians into equal parts. Tills projection, invented in 1660
tiy the Italian Nicolosi, has been extensively employed
«ver since, (c) la Hu:e's map-proj ection. — Churmonic map-
projection, (a) A perspective mapprojection from the
center of the sphere. All great circles are represented by
straight lines. Hence, by extension — (6) Any map-pro-
4763
proportional to log tan i latitude. Tliis has the advantage
that the points of the compass preserve the same dlrec-
\ Tfl^
pSfT ^
w
m
/^Sr
\Z?-^
Gnomonic Projection.
jeotion representing all great circles by straight lines.
Such a projection can contain but one half of the sphere on
an infinite plane. This system is probably ancient. — Bard-
inff's mapprojection. Same as Lagrange's map-projection.
— HerschelB map-projection^ Same as Lagrange s map--
projection. — Homalographio (or homolographic) map-pro-
jection, an equivalent map-projection in which the meridi-
ans are ellipses meeting at the poles, and the parallels and
equator are paiallel straight lines : invented by the Ger-
man mathematician Mollweide lu 1805. It has been con-
alderablj; naei.— Intermediary map-projection, a zenithal
map-projection in which, 2 being the zenith distance of an
almucantar, r its radius on the map, and n a constant,
r = n tan z/n.
This projection was invented by A. Germain. — Irregu-
lar map-projection. Same as discontinuous mapprojec-
Hon. — Isocytindrie mup-projection, an equivalent map-pro-
jection the development of a cylinder upon which the
sphere has been orthogonally projected. It was invent-
ed by the German mathematical philosopher J. H. Lam-
bert.— Isomeric map-projection, lie zenithal equivalent
map-projection, invented by J. H. Iiambert, and the
best of the equivalent projections.— /gospAerieoi map-
projection. Same as isomeric map-projection. — Jaeg&r^g
•map-projection, a discontinuous projection in the shape
of an eight-pointed star. It was proposed by Jaeger
in 1865, and was modified by Petermann. — Jameis map-
projection, a perspective map-projection in which the cen-
ter of projection is distant from that of the sphere by 1.5
times the radius. It was invented by the Xnglish geodesist
Sir Henry James. — Lagrange's map-projeetion, an ortho-
Tuorphic map-projection in which tlie sphere is shown a
finite number of times on a finite number of sheets, but in
which all the north poles (or zeniths) coincide, as well as
all tlie south poles (or nadirs). The projection was in-
vented by J. H. Lambert, and has been called by many
names. It has been used in a government map of Russia.
—La Hire's map-projection, a perspective projection hav-
ing ttie center of projection at a distance from the center of
the sphere equal to 1.707 times the radius. This projec-
tion, proposed by the French geodesist La Hire in 1701, has
"been frequently used. —ii*(row'««i«p-^o;eeii{m, an ortho-
morphic proj ection in which the meridians are hyperbolas
and the parallels ellipses, all these conies being confocal.
This proj ection has two north and two south poles, all four
coincident at infinity, and shows the sphere twice on two
sheets, which are merely perversions of each other. It
has many remarkable properties. It was invented by the
Bohemian astronomer littrow in 18SS.—Lorgna's map-pro-
jection. Same as isomeric map-projection.— Map^ojection
hy balance of errors, that zenithal projection which maltes
the "misrepresentation "a minimum, as determined by
least squares. If r is the radius of an almucantar on the
charts z its zenith distance, and Z that of the limit of the
chart, which cannot exceed 126° 24' 53", then
r = cot ^z log sec Iz -t: tan iz cot^JZ log sec JZ.
Map-projection by development, a projection upon a devel-
opable surface which is then developed Into a plane.— Jlfer-
ealm's map-vrojeelion, an orthomorphic map-projection in
which the whole sphere is shown in equal repeating stripes.
The point at infinity represents the whole sphere, and the
zenith and nadir do not elsewhere appear. As ordinarily
used, the poles are taken as these points, when the merid-
ians appear as equidistant parallel lines, and the parallels
aa parallel lines cutting them at distances from the equator
VJ^i4A '^
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Mil Mill
Mercator's Projection.
tions all over the map. This projection, invented by the
Flemish cosraographer Mercator in 1550, Is the most use-
ful of all.— Meridional map-projection, a map-projection
which seems to be projected upon the plane of a meridian,
showing the poles at the extremities of a central meridian.
—Modified Flamste.ed'8 'map-projection. Same as Bonne's
map-projection.— MoUweide's map-prqjecdon. Same as Ao-
Tnolographic map-projection.— Murdoch's map-projection,
one of three conical map-projectionsin which thepartof the
cone of which the map is a reduced development is equal
to the spherical zone represented. These were invented
^y Patrick UnTdochin 17 6S.— Orthographic map-projection,
a perspective map-projection from an inftnitely distant
center.— Or(/iomor^Mc inap-projection, a map-projection
which preserves all angles— that is, the shapes of aU in-
finitesimal portions of the sphere. When one such map-
projection has been obtained, say the polar stereographic,
which is the simplest, all others may be derived from this
by a transformation of the plane. Let >• and 0 be the polar
coordinates of any point on the polar stereographic pro-
jection, let i denote the imaginary whose square is —1,
and let F denote any function having a dilferential co-
efficient. If, then, F (rcos0-\-rsine.-C) be put into the
form X + yi,x and y will be the rectangular coordinates
of the corresponding point on another orthomorphic pro-
jection. Also called con/orm, map-projection. — ParaUelo-
grammatic map-projection, a map-projection in which the
parallels are represented by equidistant straight lines, and
the meridians by equidistant straight lines perpendicidar
to the parallels. This is an ancient projection. Also called
rectangvZar map-projection.— Parent's inap-projection, one
of two perspective map-projections. In Parent's first
map-projection the center of projection is distant from
the center of the sphere 1.595 times the radius. In his
second this distance is 1.732. — Perfective map-projection,
a true projection of the sphere by straight lines from a
center of projection intersecting the plane of the map.
—Petermann's map-projection, a discontinuous map-pro-
jection -sliowiug the sphere in the form of an eight-
pointed stai'. It is used to decorate the title-page of
Stjeler's atlas. — Polar tnap-projection, a map-projection
showing one of the poles in the center. — Polyconic map-
projecUon, a map-projection in which the surface of the
earth is cut into an infinite number of zones parallel to
the equator; a central meridian is then developed into a
straight line, and then each zone is developed separately.
This projection, invented by Hassler, superintendent of
the United States Coast Survey, is used in all government
maps of the United States. — Quadrilateral map-projection,
a broken equivalent projection in which one meridian has
the form of a square, of which another meridian and the
equator are the diagonals. It was invented by Colli-
gnon. — Quincuncial map-projection, an orthomorphic pro-
K
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M-
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m
projector
noterous Tnap-projecUon, an equivalent projection which
represents the whole earth on the sector of a circle, the
pole being at the center and the parallels concentric cir-
cles. It was invented by J. H. Lamheit.— Stereographic
map-projeetion,the simplest of all projections, representing
the whole sphere once on on e infinite plane, the parts at in-
finity being considered as a point. All circles on the sphere
The World on a Quincuncial Projection.
jection of the earth into repeating squares, invented by C.
S. Peirce in 1876. — Rectangular map-projection. Same as
parailelogrammatie map-projection. — Ruysch's map-projec-
tion, a conical projection In which the cone cuts the equator
and has its vertex at one pole, and the sphere Is projected
upon the cone by lines perpendicular to the axis. It was in-
vented by Ruysch in IbW.— Sanson's map-projection. Same
as sinusoidal map-projection. — Schmidt's map-projection, a
meridional map-projection in which the meridians are rep-
resented by ellipses cut at equal distances by the parallels.
It was proposed by the physicist G. 6. Schmidt in 1801. —
SinusoUlaZ map-projection, an equivalent map proj ection
in which the parallels are equidistant straight lines to
which the central meridian is perpendicular. This pro-
jection (so called from the form of the meridians) was first
used by the French chartographer Sanson In 1850.— Square
map-projection, the projection of a map which the succes-
sive meridians and parallels cut up into squares.— S{«-
stereographic Projection of the World.
are represented circles, and the angles are preserved. The
stereographic projection of the sphere is a perspective
projection, a point on the surface being the center of pro-
jection ; but the stereographic map-projection of the sphe-
roid is not a perspective projection. The stereographic
projection was known to the ancients, and has always
been employed for special purposes.— TetOor's map-projec-
tion, a modification of the isocylindrical map, by J. C.
von Textor, 1808.— Transverse Tnap-projection, a meridional
map-projection. — Trapeziform map-projection, a map-pro-
jection in which the space between two meridians and two
parallels is represented by a trapezoid, the sides of which
are divided proportionally to determine other straight
linesrepresentingmeridians and parallels.- IFcni«r's»«aj)-
projectlon, that equivalent map-projection which has the
parallels concentric and equidistant arcs of circles, with
the north pole at the center. The whole sphere has a heart
shape. This was invented by Johann Werner, 1514. — Zen-
i(Aa?map-^q/ec(M)n,ainap-projection which is symmetrical
about a central point, the almucantars being represented
by concentric circles.— Mercator's projection. See
Mercator's chart (under chart) and Mercator's map-projec-
tion (above).— Natural projection, a perspective delin-
eation of a surface on a given plane. Stamumth. — Ob-
lioue projection, a cylindrical projection upon a plane
not at right angles to the sides of the cylinder. — Orthog-
onal projection, a projection by means of rays all per-
pendicular to the plane of projection. — Orthograpllic
projection. See under map-projection, above. — Paral-
lel projection, a perspective projection in which the
center is at inttnlty.— Plane of projection. Same as
perspective plane (which see, under perspective).- Vo'W-
der of projection, in alcfiemy, a powder added to
base metals in a molten state, and supposed to have
the power of transmuting them into gold or silver. —
Stereoscopic projection, a double perspective projec-
tion adapted to be viewed one part by one eye, the other
by the other.
projective (pro-jek'tiv), a. [< project + 4ve.']
1. Produced, by projection. — 2. In geom., re-
lating to incidences and coincidences ; not met-
rical: as, a. pTojective theorem or property. — 3.
Capable, as two plane figures, of being derived
from one another by a
number of projections
and sections. Thus, let
the plane pencil OABCD be
cut by the line AD in the
points A, B, C, D, and from
the center P let these points
be projected into the rays
AE, BF, CG, DH, andlet these
be cut by the line EH in
the points E,E,G/H. Then,
the range of points EPGH
is projective with the plane
pencil OABCD.— Projective geometry. See geometry.
projectivity (pro-jek-tiv'i-ti), n. H projective
■i- -«%.] The character 6i being projective, as
two plane figures.
projectmentt (pro-jekt'ment), n. [< project
+ -ment.'] Projection; design; eontrivance*
[Eare.]
She never doubted but that men that were never so dis-
honest in their projectments of each other's confusion
might agree in their allegiance to her.
Clarendon, Great Rebellion.
projector (pro-jek'tgr), n. [< NL. *pr()jeotor, <
L. projieere, proicere, pp. projectus, project : see
project.^ 1. One who forms projects; one who
forms a scheme or design ; a schemer.
Projective Points.
projector
FUz. B\itwh&t is a projector?
I would conceive.
Eng. Why, one, sir, that projects
Ways to enrich men, or to make them great
By suits, by marriages, by undertakings.
B. Jotieon, Devil is an Ass, 1. 3.
Well, Sir, how f adges the new Design ? have you not the
Luck of all your Brother Projectors, to deceive only your-
self at last? Wycherley, Country Wife, Jv. 1.
Sir Gilbert Heathcote^ who was one of the projectors of
the Bank of England. N. and Q., 7th ser., II. 102.
2. That whicli projects ; specifically, a para-
bolic mirror, or a lens or combination of lenses,
used for projecting a beam of light. The source
of light is usually arranged in relation io the projector so
that the beam is composed of rays nearly parfdlel.
The search-light ^o;'ec(or, which is hung in a cage over
the ship's bow. Engineer, LXVI. 313.
On May 4th there were placed in position two electric
projectors, which from the Eiffel Tower will throw their
powerful rays of light over Paris.
Electric Rev. (Eng.), XXIV. 540.
3. A camera for throwing an image on a screen
by means of electric, magnesium, oxyhydrogen,
or other suitable light. — 4. The square of the
area of a plane triangle divided by the contin-
ued product of the sides.
projectrix (pro-jek'triks), n. A curve derived
from another curve by composition of projec-
tions.
projecture (pro-jek'tur), n. [< F. projectnre =
Sp. proyeotura'= Fg.'projectura = It. projettura,
< It. projectura, something jutting out, (.proji-
cere, proicere, pp. jjrq/ecte, thrust forth or for-
ward: seeproject.2 A jutting or standing out
beyond the line or surface of something else;
projection.
projet (pro-zha'),»i. [P.: seeprcj/eci.] Scheme;
plan; design; speomoaWy, in internaUonal law,
the draft of a proposed treaty or convention.
proke (prok), v. t. ; pret. and pp. proked, ppr.
proking. \(. W. procio, poke, thrust, stab. Of.
prog &ndi prowl.'] To poke; stir; goad; urge.
[Now only prov. Eng.]
The queene ever at his elbowe to pricke and proke him
forward. Holland, tr. of Ammianua (1609). (No/res.)
prokecyet, n. A Middle English form of proxy.
Prompt. Parv., p. 414.
prokeuuenon (pro-ki'me-non), n. [< Gr. wpoKei-
fievov. neut. ppr. "of irp6Kei/iac, be placed before,
< TTjod, before, + keIjmi, lie, be placed.] In the
Gr. Ch., a short anthem preceding the epistle,
consisting of two verses, generally from the
psalms. There is also a prokeimenon at Sun-
day lauds and at vespers.
proker (pro'ker), n. That which prokes or
pokes ; particularly, a poker. [Prov. Eng.]
Before the antique Hall's turf fire
Was stretch'd the Porter, Con Maguire,
Who, at stout Usquebaugh's command,
Snor'd with his proker in his hand.
Colman, Poetical Vagaries, p. 46. (Da>^.)
The prokers are not half so hot, or so long.
By an inch or two, either in handle or prong.
Barham,, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 227.
prokeratourt, n. A Middle English form of
procurator. Prompt. Parv., p. 414.
proketO'vrret, n. A Middle English form ot proc-
tor. Prompt. Parv., p. 414.
proking-spitt (pro'king-spit), n. A sword used
for thrusting or poking; a rapier; a weapon.
[Humorous.]
Rping hote, puffes toward the pointed plaine
With a broad Scot, or proMng-spit of Spaine.
Bp. HaU, Satires, IV. Iv. 67.
prokket, v. t. and i. [ME.; cf. Dan. prakke
= Sw. pracka, go a-begging, = G-. prachen,
prachern, beg; perhaps < L. procare, procari,
ask. Ci. proke, prog. ^ To beg.
Prokkyn or 3tyfly~a8kyn, procor, procilo.
Prompt. Pan., p. 414.
prolabial (pro-la'bi-al), a. [^i^rolaUum + -al.']
Of or relating to the prolabia. Lancet, No.
3465, p. 182.
prolabium (pr6-la'bi-um),m.; -pi. prolabia (-&).
[NL., < Ij. pro, before, + Idbium^p: see labir-
um.1 One of the oral margins of the lips, form-
rag the red exposed part.
prolapse (pro-laps'), v. i.; pret. and pp. pro-
lapsed, ppr. prolapising. [< L. prolapsus, pp. of
prolabi, fall or slide forward, <.pro, before, +
labi, fall: see lapse.] To fall down or out:
chiefly a medical term. See prolapse, n.
prolapse (pro-laps'), «• [< L- prolapsus, a.tall-
ing,<j>rote6iJ pp. 2"'otoi'««»,fallor slide forward:
Bee prolapse, v.] In pathol., a falling down of
some part of the body, as the uterus or rectum,
from the position which it normally occupies.
prolapsion (pro-lap'shon), n. [< li. prolap-
sio{n-), a slipping or falling forward, < pro-
4764
labi, fall forward: see prolapse, «.] Prolapse.
[Bare.]
prolapsus (pro-lap'sus),?!.; -pi. prolapsus. [LL.:
see prolapse, n.] In pathol., vio\a.pse.
prolatet (pro*lat'), v. t, [< L. proUtus, pp. of
proferre, bring forward, carry out or forth, pro-
duce : see proffer.] To utter, especially in a
drawling maimer; lengthen in pronunciation
or sound.
The pressures of war have somewhat cowed their spirits,
as may be gathered from the accent of their words, which
they prolate in a whining querulous tone, as if still com-
plaining and crest-fallen. BouieU.
For the sake of what was deemed solemnity, every note
wasprolated into one uniform mode of intonation.
W. Mason, Eng. Church Musick, p. 261. (Latkaim.)
prolate (pro'lat), a. [< li.prolatus, brought for-
ward, pp. of proferre, bring forward, produce:
see prolate, v.] Lengthened along one direc-
tion. A prolate spheroid is produced by the
revolution of a semi-ellipse about its larger di-
ameter. See oftteie^— Prolate cycloid. Seeeydoid,!.
prolateness (pro'lat-nes), n. The condition or
character of being prolate.
prolationf (pro-la'shon), n. [< 'W&.prdUmoun,
< OF. (and F.) prolaMon = Sp. proladon = Pg.
prolagSo = It. prolazione, < L. prolatio(n-), a
bringing forward or putting forth, < prolatus,
pp. ot proferre, bring out or forth: see prolate.]
1. Bringing forth; utterance; pronunfeiation.
S is a most easy and gentle letter, and softly hisseth
against the teeth in the prolation.
B. Jonson, Eng. Grammar, i. 4.
2. Delivery; measure; tune.
With rethorice com forth musice, a damoisel of oure
hous, that syngeth now lyghter moedes or prolaciouns [var.
probasyons], now hevyer. Chaucer, Boethius, ii. prose 1.
3. The act of deferring; delay. — 4. In medi-
eval music, a method of subdividing the semi-
breve into minims — that is, rhythmical subdi-
vision. Two varieties were recognized — the greater or
perfect, which was triple, and the less or imperfect, which
was duple.
prolectationt, n. [< OF. prolectaMon = Sp.pro-
lectacion = It. prolettazione,<. L. as it*prolecta-
Uo(,tir-), < prolectare, allure, entice, freq. of pro-
licere, allure, entice, < ^ro, forth, -i- lacere,
allure: see allect.] Enticement; allurement.
Minsheu.
prolog (pro'leg), n. [< L. pro, for, + E. leg.]
In entom., a false leg; aproped; one of the ab-
dominal limbs or ambulatory processes of the
Lairva of Milkweed Butterfly (^:
plexippus).
larvsB of insects, usually fleshy and always dis-
tinct from the true thoracic legs. The ten poste-
rior legs of a caterpillar of ordinary form are prolegs.
Also called propieg. See also cut under Amara. — Coro-
nate prolegs. See edronate.
prolegate (pro-leg'at), ». [< L. prolegatus, the
substitute of a legate or lieutenant-governor,
< pro, for, + legatus, legate: see legate.] A
deputy legate.
prolegomenary (pro-le-gom'e-na-ri), a. \_< pro-
legomenon -H -ary.] Having the character of
prolegomena; preliminary; introductory; con-
taining prefixed explanations. Imp. Diet.
prolegomenon (pro-le-gom'e-non), n. ; pi. pro-
legomena (-na). [NL., < Gr. irpoXeydftsvov, neut.
of irpo^6/ievo^, ppr. pass, of irpoleyeiv, say
before, foretell, < np6, before, + Xiyeiv, tell,
speak: see legend. Logos.] A preliminary ob-
servation: chiefly used in the plural, and ap-
plied to an introductory discourse prefixed to
a book or treatise.
"'Tis a T^ittiy proUgomenon," quothi — and so read on.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vii. 36.
The mention of the Venetian scholia leads us at once to
the Homeric controversy ; for the immortal Prolegomena
of Wolf appeared a few years after Villoison's publication.
Encyc. Brit, Xn. 116.
prolegomenous (pro-le-gom'e-nus), a. [< pro-
legomen-on + -ous.] 1. Preliminary; intro-
ductory; prefatory.
The prolegomenous or introductory chapter.
Fielding, Tom Jones, viii. 1.
2. Given to making long exordiums or prefatory
remarks.
While the curt, pithy speaker misses the point entirely,
a wordy, prolegomenous babbler will often add three new
offences in the process of excusing one.
S. L. Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque, iv.
proletariate
prolepsis (pro-le^'sis), n. lih.prolepsis, < Gr.
irp6hj-^ig, an "anticipating, < npoAaupiveiv, take
beforehand, receive in advance, ( Trp6, before,
+ hifipivew, lafieiv, take, receive.] Anticipa-
tion, (a) In the Stoie pMos.. a common notion, axiom, or
instinctive belief which is not irresistible, and which may
be in conflict with the truth, (b) In the Epicurean philos. ,
a general conception based on sense-experience.
A certain anticipation of the gods, which he calls a pro-
lepsis, a certain preventive, or f oreconceived information
of a thing in the mind. J. Howe, Works, I. 22.
(c) In rhet. : (1) A name sometimes applied to the use of an
adjective (or a noun) as objective predicate (see predicate),
as if implying an anticipation of the result of the verb s
action. (2) A figure consisting in anticipation of an oppo-
nent's objections and arguments in order to preclude his
use of them, answer them in advance, or prepare the reader
to receive them unfavorably. This figure is most fre-
quently used in the exordium. Also c&Ued procatalepsis.
(d) An error in chronology, consisting in dating an event
before the actual time of its occurrence ; an anachronism.
Mr. Brrington, called Lord Errington in the dispatches,
by a prolepsis we suppose. iTAe American, VI. 87.
proleptic (pro-lep'tik), a. [< Gi. ■n-po^nriKdi,
anticipating, "< ■Kp67i,ri^i(, an anticipation : see
prolepsis.] 1. Pertainiag to prolepsis or an-
ticipation; anticipatory; antecedent.
Ear different and far nobler was the hard simplicity and
noble self-denial of the Baptist. It is by no idle fancy
that the medicsval painters represent him as emaciated by
aproleptio asceticism. Farrar, Life of Christ, viii.
Specifically — (a) In med. : (1) Anticipating the usual time :
noting a periodical disease whose paroxysm returns at an
earlier hour at every recurrence. (2) Prognostic, (&) lit
rhet., implying prolepsis.
2. Axiomatic; of the nature of prolepsis.
To lead him by induction through a series of proposi-
tions depending upon and orderly deduced from your first
proleptick principles. Parker, Platonic Philosophy.
proleptical (pro-lep'ti-kal), a. [< proleptic +
-al.] Same asproleptici'
So that our knowledge here is not after singular bodies,
or secondarily or derivatively from them ; but in order of
nature, before them, aadiproleptiml to them,
Cvduiffrth, Intellectual System, p. 732.
proleptically (pro-lep'ti-kal-i), adv. [(.prolep-
tical + -ly'^.] By prolepsis ; in a proleptic man-
ner; by way of anticipation.
The particle has also the power of indicating prolepti-
cally in the subordinate clause that the principal one will
spring from it, Amer. Jour. Philol., VI. 46.
proleptics (pro-lep'tiks), n. [PI. ot proleptic
(see 4cs).] The art or science of prognosticat-
ing in medicine. Imp. Diet.
proles (pro'lez), n. [L., offspring, progeny, <
pro, forth, forward, -I- -s/ al in alere, nourish
(see aliment), or olere, grow (see adolescent).]
Progeny; offspring.
proletaire (pro-le-tSr'), a. and n. [< P. proU-
taire: see proletary.] Same 3.s proletarian.
These ancestors of Roman prelates were poor dirty pro-
Zetaires, without distinction, without manners,
E. Penan, Hibbert Lectures, 1880 (tr. by C. Beard), ii.
The plant is the ideal proUtaire of the living world, the
worker who produces. Huxley, An. and Veg. Kingdoms,
proletairism (pro-le-tar'izm), ». [< proletaire
+ -ism.] Same &s proletarianism.
proletaneous (pro-le-ta'ne-us), a. [< L. prole-
taneus, equiv. to proleta'rius : see proletary.]
Having a numerous offspring. [Eare.]
proletarian (pro-le-ta'ri-an), a. and n. [< pro-
letary + -an.] I. a. Of" or belonging to the
lower classes ; hence, mean ; vile ; vulgar.
Low proletarian tything men.
5. Butter, Hudibras, I. i. 720.
II. n. A member of the poorest class of a
community; one who is without capital or reg-
ular employment.
We have considered the forcible creation of a class of
outlawed proletarians, the bloody discipline that turned
them into wage-labourers. Marx, Capital (trans.), xxix.
A proletarian is a person who is possessed of labour-
force, and of nothing else, Westminster Rev., CXXVI, 221.
Also proletaire.
proletarianism (pro-le-ta'ri-an-izm), n. [< pro-
letarian + -4sm.] The condition, or the politi-
cal influence, of the lower classes of the com-
munity. Also proletairism.
The bourgeoisie had played a most revolutionary part
in history. They had overturned feudalism, and now they
had created proletarianism, which would soon swamp
themselves. Rae, Contemp. Socialism, p. 129.
proletarianize (pro-le-ta'ri-an-iz.), v. t.; pret.
and pp. proletarianized, ppr. proletarianizing.
[< proletarian + -ize.] To make proletarian ;
reduce to a state of proletarianism.
The largesses pauperized siaA proletarianized the popu-
lace of the great city. Pop. Set. Mo., XXX. 293.
proletariat (pro-le-ta'ri-at), n. Same as pro-
letariate'^.
proletariate! (pro-le-ta'ri-at), a. [(.proletary
+ -afei. Cf . proletariate'^.] Of or pertaining'
proletariate
to the proletariate ; relating to the proletarians :
proletarian.
The very efforts of philanthropy at the improvement
of the protetorwte classes. !■""'"■<»"'
The Academy, June 29, 1889, p. 441.
proletariate^, proletariat (pro-le-ta'ri-at, -at),
n. [< F. proUtariat, the state or condition of a
proletary, < L.^roietorJws, a proletary: seeoro-
letary and -afe.] Proletarians collectively: a
body of proletarians ; the class of wage-workers
dependent for support on daily or casual em-
ployment; the lowest and poorest class in the
community.
The proletariat, as the agitators delighted to caU the
standing class of operatives; meaning, by this Koman
term for the lowest class in that republic, those who had
only hinds to work with and no laid-up capital.
Wooleey, Communism and Socialism, iv. § 1.
These [socialistic] doctrines had in the west [o£ Europe]
been bred among the prolelaHate, the large class of soci-
ety who had no property, no stable source of income, no
steady employment, and no sure hope for the morrow.
Roe, Contemp. SocMism, p. 268.
proletary (pro'le-ta-ri), a. and n. [= 'F.prole-
taire = Sp. Pg. It^ proletario, < L. proletarius,
according to a division of the state tradition-
ally ascribed to Servius Tullius, a citizen of
the lowest class, without property, and regard-
ed as useful to the state only as the parent
of children, < proles, offspring, progeny: see
proles.^ I. a. Of or belonging to the lowest
or poorest class of people ; pertaining to those
who are dependent on daily or casual employ-
ment for support ; proletarian.
II. n. ; pi. proletaries (-riz). A common per-
son ; one belonging to the lower orders.
Of 16,000 proleta/riee slain in a battel, scarce fifteen are re-
corded in history.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., To the Keader, p. 33.
prolicide (pro'li-sid), n. [< li-proleSj offspring,
+ -ddium, < caedere, kill.] The crime of de-
stroying one's offspring, either before or after
birth ; feticide or infanticide.
proliferate (pro-lif'e-rat), v.; pret. andpp.^ro-
Uferated, ppr. proliferating. [< L. proles, off-
spring,-l-/en'e=E. fiearij-t- -aie^.] X intrans,
1. To reproduce; grow by multiplication of ele-
mentary parts.
All the cells of the body^ possess a latent capacity which
enables them, under various stimuli, to proliferate and
form new tissue. Meetric Hev. (Eng.), XXIV. 498.
2. Specifically, in zool., to generate or repro-
duce by the act of proliferation ; bear genera-
tive persons or zooids, as distinguished from
nutritive persons, as is the usual process in the
hydroid polyps.
The annual stock is . . . composed of nutritive and pro-
l\ferating persons, the latter again bearing the buds or
generative persons. . . . The proliferating persons of a
colony present various degrees of degeneration.
Oegenbaur, Comp. Anat. (trans.), p. 95.
II. trans. To bear; form by reproduction.
The mesoblast is completed ventrally by the downgrowth
on each side of the mesoblastic plates. These proliferate
cells at their edge.
A. E. Shipley, Proc. Eoy. Soc, XXXIX. 246.
proliferation (pro-lif-e-ra'shon), n. [< prolifer-
ous + -ation.} i. lu'zodl., the origination and
development of generative zooids, as in the for-
mation of medusa-buds (planoblasts or hedrio-
blasts) by a polyp. See planoblast. — 3. In iot.,
same a.s proUfication — Entogastrio proliferation.
See entogaslric.
proliferative (pro-lif'e-ra-tiv), a. [(.proliferate
+ -ive.'] Keprociuctive ; ' budding or sprouting
into new similar forms.
Ulceration may be attended with proliferative vegeta-
tions which may occlude the air-passages.
Med. News, LIU. 507.
proliferous (pro-lif'e-rus), a. [= F. prolifk-e
= 8p. proUfero '= Pg. prolifero, < L. proles, off-
spring, progeny, + ferre = E. hear^.'] Bearing
offspring, (a) In bat., subject to or affected by prolifi-
cation. See proUHcation, 2. Also proliflc, proligerous. (0)
In zobl., proliferating; bearing generative persons; pro-
ducing medusarbuds, as a polyp.
The prolifercyus Polyps develop generative buds on their
walls. Claus, Zoology (trans.), p. 237.
Proliferous cyst, in pathol, a cyst producing highly or-
ganized and even vascular structures.
proliferously(pr6-lif'e-rus-li), adv. [(.prolifer-
ous + -fe/2.] In a proliferous manner.
I^onds originating proii/Ssrousij/ from other fronds some-
times, when mature, disconnect themselves from their
parents. B. Spencer, Prin. of Biol. , § 192.
prolific (pro-lif'ik), a. [< F. prolifique = Sp.
proUfico =■ Pg. It. proimco, < ML. *proUflcus,
producing offspring, < L. proles, offspring, +
facere, make, produce: see -fie. CI. prolify.^
1. Producing young or fruit, especially in abun-
4765
dance; fruitful; fertile; productive in general:
as, a jjroM^c female; aj)roJ(^tree;^rofo;^cseed.
The branches, sturdy to his utmost wish.
Prolific all, and harbingers of more.
Cowper, Task, iii, 531.
That in the capital, and in great manufacturing towns,
marriages are less prolific than in the open country, we
admit, and Mr. Malthus admits.
Maca^ay, Sadler's Kef. Kef uted.
2. Serving to give rise or origin; having the
quality of generating: as, a controversy j)roZi^c
of evil consequences; a,x)roUfic brain.
- With warm
Prolific humour softening all her globe.
Miltm, P. L., vii. 280.
The extant remains of the literary work of the period
are so g^eat that, if we suppose them to bear the ordinaiy
proportion to the lost works of the same age, they would
prove it to be enormously jwoJi/ic.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 150.
3. Same as proliferous (a).=Syn. 1 and 2. Prodm-
live, etc. See f rueful.
prolificacy (pro-lif'i-ka-si), n. [< prolific +
-aoy.^ Fruitfulness; great productiveness.
With plants like carrots, cabbages, and asparagus, which
are not valued for their prolificacy, selection can have
played only a subordinate part.
Darwin, Var. of Animals and Plants, xvi. 9.
prolificalf (pro-lif'i-kal), a. [(prolific + -aZ.]
Same a.s prolific.
Every dispute in religion grew prolifical, and in venti-
lating one question many new ones were started.
Decay of Christian Piety.
prolifically (pro-lif'i-kal-i), a^. [< prolifical
+ -ly^.^ In a prolific manner; fruitfully; with
great increase. Imp. Diet.
prolificate (pro-lif' i-kat), V. t. ; pret. and pp.
prolifUiated,'p^v. proUficating. [CML.prolifi-
catus, ' pp. of prolificare, beget : see prolify.']
To impregnate ; make prolific. Sir T. Browne.
prolification (pro-lif-i-ka'shon), n. [= OF.
(and P.) prolification = Pg. proUficagclo, <
ML. prolificatio(,n-), < prolificare, produce off-
spring: see prolificate, prolify .'\ 1. The gener-
ation of young animals or plants. — 2. In hot.,
the development of an organ or a shoot from an
organ which is itself normally ultimate, as a
shoot or new flower from the midst of a flower,
a frond from a frond, etc. Thus, a rose not unfre-
ciuently gives birth to a second from its center, a pear
bears a leafy shoot on its summit, and species of Juncnis
and Scvrpus emit small sprouts from their flower-heads.
This is often a case of morphological reversion, the axis
whose leaves were altered to make the flower resuming
its onward and foliating tendency. Also proliferatitm.
Compare proliferous.
Abundant nutrition will abbreviate the intervals be-
tween the successive prolifications; so that eventually,
while each frond is yet imperfectly formed, the rudiment
of Uie next will begin to show itself.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., § 194.
prolificness (pro-lif'ik-nes), n. [< prolific +
-»e«4-.] The character or state of being pro-
lific.
If there are classes of creatures that expend very little
for self-support in comparison with allied creatures, a
relatively extreme prolificness may be expected of them.
a. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., § 356.
prolified (pro'li-fid), a. [< prolify + -ed^.] Li
iot., developed proliferously. [Bare.]
This plant [the water-avens] is frequently found in a
prolified state, that is, with a branch or a second flower in
the center of the original one. Treasury of Bot., p. 630.
prolify (pro'li-fi), V. i. ; pret. and pp. prolified,
ppr. prolifying. [< OF. *prolifier = Pg. proli-
ficar, < ML. proUficare, produce offspring, be-
get (cf. *vroUficiis. producing offspring), < L.
proles, offspring, + facere, make, produce: see
-fy. (5f. prolific.} To bring forth offspring.
There remained in the heart of such some piece of ill-
temper unreformed, which in time prolified, and sent out
great and wasting sins.
Bp. Sanderson, Works, V. 338. (Davies.)
proligerous (pro-lij'e-rus), a. [< NL. prolige-
rus, *proUger, < L. proles, offspring, + gerere,
bear.] 1. Producing ptrogeny; bearing off-
spring; especially, germinating, as an ovum;
enteimg into the formation of an embryo. — 2.
Specifically, noting the film, pellicle, or mem-
brane of iniusions, as the supposed origin or
source of the infusorial animalcules which ap-
pear in such infusions. Seepseudovary, 2. — 3.
In iot., same as proliferous — Proligerous disk or
layer [NX. diseus proligerus], in embryol., the mass of cells
upon the outside of an ovum, derived from the inside of a
Graafian follicle, wrongly supposed to be germinative, or
to enter into the formation of an embryo. The real ger-
minative area of an ovum is of course within its ceU-
wall.
proliz (pro'liks or pro-liks'), «• [< P- prolixe
= Sp. prolijo = Pg. prolixo = It. prolisso, < L.
prolixus, stretched out, extended (as the hair,
neck, tail, trees, tunic, etc.), LL. also prolix in
prolocutorship
speech, comprehension ; also favorable, fortu-
nate, courteous, etc. ; prob. orig. ' overfiowing,'
< pro, forth, -I- Hixus, orig. pp. of ligui, flow ; cf .
elixus, thoroughly soaked, boiled; lix, lye: see
liquid. The second element cannot be laxus,
loose, wide : see tea;i.] If. Long ; extended.
She had also a most prolix beard, and moustachios.
Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 15, 1657.
With -wig prolix, down flowing to his waist.
Cowper, Tirocinium, L 361.
2t. Of long duration.
If the appellant appoints a term too prolix, the judge
may then assign a competent term. Aylige, Pareigon.
3. Long and wordy; extendingto a great length;
diffuse : as, a, prolix oration or sermon.
If they [philosophers] had consulted with nature, they
had made their doctrines less prolix and more profound.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 265.
He [Bunsen] is about to publish a book about ancient
and modem Kome, which, from what I hear, will be too
minute and prolix. GrevUle, Memoirs, April 9, 1830.
4. Indulging in lengthy discourse ; discussing
at great length ; tedious: as, ei prolix speaker
or writer.
We shall not be more prolix, but refer the substantial,
perfect, and assured handling hereof to your circumspec-
tions, fidelities, and diligences. Burnet, Kecords, 1. 11.
=SyiL 3. Long, lengthy, wordy, long-winded, spun out,
prolonged. — 4. Tu'esome, wearisome.
prolixioust (pro-lik'gius), a. [< prolix +
-i-OMs.] Dilatory; intended to delay or put off;
causing delay ; prolix.
Your Lordship commanded me to be large, and I take
licence to heproliadous, and shalbeperaduenture tedious.
HakluyVs Voyages, I. 217.
Lay by all nicety and prolixious blushes.
Shak., M. for M., ii. 4. 162.
prolixity (pro-lik'si-ti), n. [< ME. prolixifee, <
OP. prolixitej P. pfolixite = tv.prolixitat= Sp.
prolijidad = Pg. prolixidade = It. prolissitd, <
LL. proUxita(t-)s, great length or extension, <
L. prolixus, stretched out : see prolix.'] The
state of being prolix ; extension ; length, (a)
Length in a material sense. [Hare.]
Our fathers ... in their shaded walks
And long protracted bow'rs enjoyed at noon
The gloom and coolness of declining day.
Thanks to Benevolus — he spai-es me yet . . .
The obsolete prolixity of shiule.
Cowper, Task, 1. 265.
The monkey, meanwhile, with a thick tall curling out
into preposterous jjro^&ijy from beneath his tartans, took
his station at the Italian's feet.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xi.
(b) Lengthiness ; minute and superfluous detail ; tedious-
ness.
I might expatiate in a large description of the several
holy places which this Church (as a Cabinet) contains in
it. But this would be a superfluous prolixity, so many Pil-
grims having discharg'd this oiflce with so much exactness
already. MaundreU, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 68.
The minuteness of Zurita's investigations has laid him
open to the charge oi proHmUy.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., 11. 1, note.
prolixly (pro'liks-li or pro-liks'li), adv. [< j;>-o-
lix + -%2.] In a prolix manner ; at great length.
That we have in the former chapters hitherto extended
our discourse so prolixly, none ought to wonder.
Evelyn, True Keliglon, I. 253.
prolixness (pro'liks-nes or pro-liks'nes), n. [<
prolix + -ness.'] The character of being prolix ;
prolixity.
The prolixness, constraint, and monotony of modern lan-
guages. I
Adam Smith, On the Formation of Languages. (Latham.y
proUt, V. An obsolete form ot prowl.
proUert, n. An obsolete form of prowler.
prolocutor (pro-lok'u-tor or pro'lo-ku-tor), n.
[Formerly prolocutour ;"( OF. prolbcuteur, < L.
prolocutor, proloqvMtor, a pleader, an advocate,
< proloqui, speak out, utter, declare, < pro, for,
before, + loqui, pp. locutus, speak : see locution.]
1. One who speaks for another or for others.
[Bare.]
Olivia undertook to be out prolocutor, and delivered the
whole in a summary way. Goldsmith, Vicar, xi.
The silence of records cannot be held to prove that an
organised assembly like that of the commons could ever
have dispensed with a recognised prolocutor or foreman.
Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 435.
2. The speaker or chairman of the lower house
of the Convocation. {See convocation, 3.) He
is elected by the lower house, subject to the ap-
proval of the metropolitan.
As for the convocation, the queen thought fit to prorogue
it, though at the expence of Dr. Atterbury's displeasure,
who was designed theb: prolocutor.
Swift, Letter, Jan. 12, 1708-9.
prolocutorship (pro-lok'ii-tor-ship orpro'lo-ku-
tor-ship), n. [(prolocutor + -ship.] The oflce
or station of a prolocutor.
prolocutrix
prolocutrix (pvo-lok'u-triks or pro'lo-ku-triks),
n. [< L. 'prolocutrix, fern, ot prolociitor, an ad-
vocate: see prolocutor.'] A woman who speaks
for others.
Lady Coantesse, hath the Lords made you a charter, and
sent you (for that you are an eloquent speaker) to be their
axluocate and prolocutrix?
Daniel, Hist. Eng., p. 141. (Savies.)
prologize, v. i. See prologuize.
prologue, prolog (pro'log), m. [< ME. prologue,
prologe, < OF. prologue, F. prologue = Pr. pro-
logue, prologre = Sp. prdlogo = Pg. It. prologo,
< L. prologus, < Gr. 7rp6?Myog, a preface or in-
troduotion, < tt/mS, before, + ?-6yng, a saying or
speaking: see Logos.'] 1. The preface or in-
troduction to a discourse or performance ; spe-
cifically, a discourse or poem spoken before a
dramatic performance or play begins; hence,
that which precedes or leads up to any act or
■event.
Jerom in hise twei prologis on Matheu seith this.
Wyclif, Prolog (on Matthew).
Think'st thou that mirth and vain delights,
High feed, and shadow-short'ning nights, . . .
Are proper prologues to a crown ?
Quarles, Emblems, ii. 11.
How this vile "World is chang'd ! In former Days
Prologues were serious Speeches before Plays.
Congreve, Old Batchelor, Prol.
I'll read you the whole, from beginning to end, with the
prologue and epilogue, and allow time for the music be-
tween the acts. Sheridan, The Critic, i. 1.
2. The speaker of a prologue on the stage.
It is not the fashion to see the lady the epilogue ; but
it is no more unhandsome than to see the lord the prologm.
Shak., As you Like it, Epil.
The duke is entering ; set your faces right,
And bow like conntyy prologues,
Fletcher {and another), Noble Gentleman, iii. 2.
=Syn. 1. Preface, PreamMe, etc. See iTitroduction.
prologue (pro'log), V. t, ; pret. and pp.prologued,
ppr. proroguing. [< prologue, «.] To intro-
duce with a formal prologue or preface ; pref-
ace.
Thus he his special nothing ever prologues.
Shak., All's Well, ii. 1. 95.
prologuize, prologize (pro'log-iz), v. i. ; pret.
and pp. prologuized, prologized, ppr. mologuiz-
ing, prologising. [< prologue + -ize.] To de-
liver a prologue.
There may prologize the spirit of Philip, Herod's brother.
Milton, Plan of a Tragedy called Baptistes.
Artemis Prologuizes.
Browning, Dramatic Romances and Lyrics (subtitle).
prologuizer (pro'log-i-zer), H. [< xwologuize +
-eri.] One who makes or delivers a prologue.
[Rare.]
Till, decent sables on his back
(Your prologuisers all wear black),
The prologue comes ; and, if it 's mine.
It 's very good, and very fine.
Lloyd, To George Colman.
prolong (pro-16ng'), V. [< ME. prolongen (also
purlongenyji OP. {odA.'F.) prolonger = 'Pv.pro-
longuar = Sp. Pg. prolongar = It. prolongare,
prolungare, < LL. prolongare, lengthen, extend,
< L. jpro, forth, + longus, long: see lonpK Cf.
jwHotn, ult. from the same L. verb.] I. trans.
1. To lengthen in tim e ; extend the duration of ;
lengthen out.
I fly not death, nor would prolong
Life much. Milton, P. L., xi. 547.
And frequent cups ^iroton^ the rich repast.
Pope, R. of the L., iii. 112.
3. To put off to a future time; postpone.
This wedding-day
Perhaps is Ymtprolong'd; have patience and endure.
Shak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 266.
3. To extend in space or length: as, to prolong
a straight line.
On each side, the countless arches prolong themselves.
Ruskin.
=Sto. 1 and 3. To protract, extend, continue, draw out
II. intrans. To lengthen out ; extend. [Rare.]
This page, which from my reveries I feed,
Until it seems prolonging without end.
Byron, Childe Harold, iii. 109.
prolongable (pr6-16ng'a-bl), a. [< prolong +
-aUe.] Capable of being prolonged, extended,
or lengthened.
Had the rod been really indefinitely oroZrajaWe.
• Philosophical: Mag., XXVII. 14.
prolongatet (pro-16ng'gat), v. t. [< LL. prolon-
gatus, pp. of prolongare, lengthen, extend : see
prolong.] To prolong; lengthen.
His prolortgated nose
Should guard his grinning mouth from blows.
W. Combe, Dr. Syntax, iii. 2. (Dames.)
4766
prolongation (pro-16ng-ga'shon), n. i<¥.pro-
longaUon- ='Pr. prolongacio = Sp. prolongadon
= Pg. prolongagSo = It. prolongazione, prolun-
gazione, ML. *proloHgatio(n-), < hit. prolongare,
pp. prolongatus, lengthen, extend: see pro-
long.] 1. The act of prolonging, or lengthen-
ing in time or space: as, the prolongation of a
line.
Nourishment in living creatures is for the prolongation
of life. Bacon, Nat. Hist.
If we begin to die when we live, and long life be but a
prolongation of death, our life is a sad composition.
Sir T. Browne, Urn-burial, v.
2. A part prolonged ; an extension : as, the
prolongation of a mountain-range.
Two remai'kable processes ot prolmxgations of the bones
ot the leg. Paley, Nat. Theol.. viii.
Sofas resembling a prolongation of uneasy chairs.
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xvii.
3. Extension of time by delay or postponement.
This ambassage concerned only the prolongation of days
for payment of monies. Bacon, Hist. Hen. VII.
prolouge (pro-lonj'), 11. [< F.prolonge, a bind-
ing-rope, < prolonger, prolong: see prolong.]
Milit., a hempen rope composed of three
pieces joined by two open rings, and having
a hook at one end and a toggle at the other.
It is usually about nine yards long. It is used to draw
a gun-carriage without the limber in a retreat or ad-
vance through a narrow street or defile, or for tempera^
rily attaching the gun to the limbei' when it is not de-
sired to limber up. It is also employed in getting guns
across ditches, for righting overturned gun-carriages, and
for any other pm-pose in which such a rope can be made
useful. The prolonge can be shortened by looping it back,
and engaging either the terminal hook or
toggle in one of the intermediate rings.
When not in use, it is wound about and
caiTied on the prolonge-hooks on the trail
of the gun. See cut under gun-carriage.
— Frolonge-knot (naut.), a useful as well
as ornamental knot, sometimes called a
capstan-knot, formerly known by gunners
as a delay-knot.
prolonger (pr6-16ng'6r), n. One who or that
which prolongs, or lengthens in time or space.
O ! . . . Temperance I Thou Prolonger of Life !
W. Hay, Fugitive Pieces, 1. 106.
prolongment (pro-16ng'ment), n. [< prolong +
-men*.] The act of prolonging, or the state of
being prolonged ; prolongation.
Tho he himself may have been so weak as earnestly to
decline Death, and endeavour the utmost Prolongment of
his own un-eligible State.
Shaftesbury, Characteristics, II. 141.
prolusion (pro-lii'zhon), n. [= Sp. prolusion =
It. prolusionej <. 'L.prblusio{iv-), a prelude, (.pro-
ludere, pp. prolusu^, play or practise before-
hand, < pro, before, + ludere, play: see ludi-
crous.] 1. A prelude to a game, performance,
or entertainment; hence, a prelude, introduc-
tion, or preliminary in general.
The . . . noble soul must be vigilant, go continually
armed, and be ready to encounter every thought and
imagination of reluctant sense, and the first prolusions ot
the enemy. Evelyn, True Religion, I. 227.
But why such long prolusion and display,
Such turning and adjustment of the hai-p?
BrowniTig, Ti'anscendentalism.
2. An essay or preparatory exercise in which
the writer tries ms own strength, or throws out
some preliminary remarks on a subject which
he intends to treat more profoundly.
Ambition which hiight have devastated mankind with
Prolusions on the Pentateuch.
Lowell, Fireside Travels, p. 62.
As literai7 supports . . . came two remarkable ^roZu-
sions of Visconti before the Paris Academy.
Edinburgh Rm., CLXIV. 608.
promachos (prom ' a-
kos), n. [< (Jr. npSfia-
xo;, fighting in front or
as a champion; as a
noun, a defender, a
champion, a defending
deity; < irpS, before, +
/i&xeaBai, fight.] In Gr.
myth, and arehseol., a
deity who fights before
some person, army, or
state, as a protector or
guardian : said espe-
cially of Athene and
Apollo. In art and archss-
ology the type is distin-
guished by the attitude t>f
combal^ often with upraised
shield and the spear or
other weapon extended
threateningly.
Fromachus (prom'a-kus), n. [NL. (Loew,
1848), < Gr. irpdimxoQ, fighting in front: see
promaclu)s.] A genus of robber-flies or Asilidie,
Prtmtaclmsjitchi.
Prpmachos. — Athene the De-
fender. (Marble from Herculane-
um, in the Museo Nazionale, Na-
ples.)
FromeropidsB
having the ab-
domen longer
than the wings,
the body thin-
ly pilose, and
the wings with
three submar-
ginal cells. P.
fitclii is an en-
emy of the hon-
ey-bee in the
United States.
promammal
(pro-mam'al),
n. One of the
'Broniatnmalia.
Promammalia (pro-ma-ma'li-a), n.pl. [NL., <
L. pro, before, -I- NL. Mamni'alia, q. v.] The
unknown hypothetical ancestors of mammals;
a supposed primitive tj-pe of Mammalia, of
which the existing monotremes are the nearest
relatives or descendants. Compare Prototheiia.
The unknown extinct Primary Mammals, or Promam-
malia, . . . probably possessed a very highly developed
jaw. Haeckel, Hist. Great, (trans.), n. 236.
promammalian (pro-ma-ma'Iian), a. and n. I.
a. Pertaining to the Promamm'alia.
II. n. A promammal.
promanation (prom-a-na'shon), n. [< L. pro,
before, + mMiatio(ii-), a flowing, < manare, pp.
manatns, flow, drip.] The act of flowing forth ;
emanation.
Promanatitm ... of the rays of light.
Dr. H, Mare, Def. of Philosophical Cabbala, viii., App.
promenade (prom-e-nad'), ». [< v. promenade,
a walking, walk, airing, drive, a public walk,
(.promener, take out (animals), conduct, take
(one) out for a walk, ride, or drive, < Ulj.promi-
nare, drive forward, < pro, forward, -I- minare,
drive (animals): see mine^, mien.] 1. A walk
for pleasure or display, or for exercise. — 2. A
place for walking.
No unpleasant walk or promenade for the unconfined
portion of some solitary piisoner.
W. Montague, Devoute Essays, I. xix. 6.
Moored opposite Whitehall was a very large barge with
a saloon, and promenade on the top, called the Folly.
J. Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, II. 149.
Promenade concert, a musical entertainment in which
the audience promenades or dances during the music,
instead of remaining seated.
promenade (prom-e-nad'), V. i.; pret. and pp.
2iromenaded, ppr. promertading. [< promenade,
71.] To walk about or up and down for amuse-
ment, display, or exercise; also, recently, to
take exercise in carriage, saddle, or boat.
The poplars, in long order due,
With cypreBS promenaded.
Tennyson, Amphion.
The grandes dames, in their splendid toilets, prome.
naded in their gilded phaetons on the magnificent Avenue
of the Champs Elys^es.
E. B. Washburn^, Recollections of a Minister, I. 3.
promenader (prom-e-na'd6r), n. {(.promenade
+ -erl.] One who pi'omenades.
The Riva degli Schiavoni catches £he warm afternoon
sun in its whole extent, and is tlien thronged with prome-
naders of every class, condition, age, and sex.
Howells, Venetian Life, iii.
FromepMtis (pro-me-fi'tis), n. [NL. (Gaudry,
1861), < L. 2^ro, before, + MephiUs, q. v.] A
genus of musteline carnivorous quadrupeds
from the Upper Miocene.
promeritt (pro-mer'it), V. t. [< L. promeritus,
pp. ot i)romcr'ere, be deserving of, <jpro, for, +
merere, deserve, be worthy of: see merit.] 1.
To deserve ; procure by merit.
From him [Christ] then, and from him alone, must we
expect Salvation, acknowledging and confessing freely
there is nothing in ourselves which can effect or deserve
it from us, nothing in any other creature which can pro-
merit or procure it to us. Bp. Pearson, Expos, of Creed, ii.
2. To befriend; confer a favor on.
He loves not God : no, not whiles He promerita him with
His favours. Bp. Hall, Sennon on Jas. iv. 8.
promeritort (pro-mer'i-tor), n. [< promerit +
-oj-1.] One who deserves or merits, whether
good or evil.
Whatsoever mischiefs befall them or their posterity,
though many ages after the decease of the promeritors,
were inflicted upon them in revenge.
Christian Religion*8 Appeal. (Latham..)
promerope (prom'e-rop), m. Abird of the ge-
nus Promerops, in any sense.
Promeropidse (prom-e-rop'i-de), n.pl. [NL.,
< Promerops + -idle.] "A family of tenuirostral
insessorial birds, named by Vigors in 1825 from
the genus Promeroj)s: synonymous with Necta-
riniidsB, and still sometimes used in that sense,
as by G. R. Gray, 1869.
Promeropinae
Promeropinae (prom'e-ro-pi'ne), «. pi tnl
< Promerops + -insB.] A subfamilf of birds;
named from the germs Pr omer ops hyG. R. Gray
iB^littleLd" In AbooI"* heterogeneous elements, and
iBuiue usea. in 1869 Oray made it the second subfamilv
of Jfectonwid* containing Promerops, SojS Sc
thus embracing birds now referred totwo d flSnt'f^i:
hes, Mehphagidee and Nectariniidse. It was cS PrnJ,
««nn» by Cabanis, 1860. i>. was cauea iWo-
•^i^m®???.^ (Prom'e-rops) ». [NL. (Brisson,
1^60), < Gr. irp6, before, + ^ipo^,, a bird, the bee-
4767
Cape Promerops {Promerops
eater: see Merops.'\ 1. In or-
nith., a generic name variously
used, (a) Applied to many different
tenuirostral or slender-billed birds of
the passerine families Paradiseidai,
Melipha^se, and Nectariniida, and
of the picarian family Vjmpidse, as of
the genera Epmrnchits, Oinnyris, Irri-
aor, and others not specially related.
(6) Properly restricted to an African
genus of oscine passerine birds of the
family Meliphagidse and subfamily
Kettphaginse, having a slender curved
bill about twice as long as the head
and not bristled, unfeathered opercu-
lated nostrils, scutellate tarsi, and ex-
tremely long tail. The type is the
Cape promerops, P. cafer, of South
Africa ; there is a second species, P.
ffumeyi. Also called Fald-nellus, and
Ptilotunts or Ptilurus,
2. II. c] A species of the ge-
nus Promerops, in any sense; a promerope.
promesset, v. A Middle English form of prom-
ise.
promethea (pro-me'the-a), n. [NL. : see Pro-
meiheus.l In entom., same as prometheiis.
Prometliean (pro-me'thf-an), a. and n. [< L.
Prometheus, of or pertaining to Prometheus, <
Prometheus, < Gr. Xipofiridevc, Prometheus, lit.,
according to the usual explanation, 'Pore-
thinker' (brother to 'ETn/niaei^, Epimetheus,
'Afterthinker'), cf. TrpomBfiQ, forethinking,
provident, < vp6, before, -i- fiadelv, pres. /lavda-
vEiv, learn, find out (or, as commonly supposed,
/i^Sog, counsel, providence, iii/Seadat, intend, de-
vise, iiiJTiQ, counsel, all ult. < ■\/ lia, think). In
another view this is merely popular etymology,
the name being compared with Skt. pramantha,
a stick which by friction produces fire.] I, a.
1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling Prometheus
in Greek mythology, who showed men various
arts, including the use of fire, and by the will
of Zeus was chained to a rook and tortured by
a vulture.
These vultures in my breast
Gripe my Promethean heart both night and day.
QuarUs, Emblems, iv. M.
I know not where is that Protnethean heat
That can thy light relume. Shak., Othello, v. 2. 12.
Prmnethean Are
Is quite extinct in them ; yea, vse of sence
Hath within them noe place of residence.
TSmes' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 67.
2. [I. c] In entom., of or pertaining to the pro-
metheus; being or known as the prometheus:
as, a promethean silkworm.
II. n. [I. c] A small glass tube containing
sulphuric acid, and surrounded by an inflamma-
ble mixture which it ignited on being pressed :
formerly used for affording a ready light.
prometheus (pro-me'thus), n. [NL., < L. Pro-
methem, < Gr. Ilpo/x7!6evg, Prometheus : see Pro-
methean.'] 1. In entom.: (a) The popular name
and also the technical specific name of a large
silk-spinning moth, Attacus prometheus, or Telea
or Callosamia promethea. The male moth is of a dark
rich smoky or amber brown, the female of a lighter rusty
or reddish brown. In both sexes the wings are crossed by
a wavy whitish line near the middle, and have a wide clay-
' colored border. Near the tips of the fore wings there is
an eye-like spot within a bluish-white crescent, and in
the female there is an angular reddish- white spot, edged
with black, near the middle of each wing. The eggs are
laid in little clusters of five or six upon twigs in the spring.
The larva or worm is delicate bluish-white with a faint
pruinescence, with four black tubercles on the thorax. It
feeds on ash, sassafras, wild cherry, lilac, maple, plum,
poplar, birch, and other trees. The cocoon is oblong,
dense, gray, and remarkable for the long tough band of
silk which suspends it and which is securely wrapped
around the supporting twig. Also promethea, promethia.
Promethean Silkworm {Attactts promeiheus),
a, larva of third stage, natural size: *, head oflarvaoffourth stage,
enlarged ; f, side view of segment of larva of fourth stage, enlarged ;
d, full-grown larva, natural size.
(6) ieap.] A genus of moths. Hubner,l%2&. — ,
2. In ornith., the Blackburnian warbler, Den-
draeca hlackhurnise: so named by Coues from
the flame color of the breast.
prominence (prom'i-nens), ». [< OF. promi-
nence = Sp. Pg. prominencia = It. prominenza,
< Ij. prominentia, a projection, <. promvnen{t-)s,
ppr. of jprorainere, jut out: see prominent.] 1.
The property of being prominent; a standing
or jutting out from the surface of something ;
also, that which juts out ; protuberance: as, the
prominence of a joint ; the promvnenee of a rock
or cliff; Vae prominences of the face.
It shows the nose and eye-brows, with the several ^omj-
nences and fallings in of the features.
Addison, Ancient Medals, iii.
2. The state of being conspicuous; conspicu-
ousness; distinction; notoriety Canine, men-
tal, etc., prominence. See the adjectives. — Promi-
nence of Doyere. Same as eminence of Doykre (which
see, under eminence). — Solar prominence, one of the
great clouds of incandescent hydrogen seen during a to-
tal eclipse on the edge of the sun's disk, and at other
times observable with the spectroscope. =Syn. 1. Projec-
tion, bulge, process, eminence.
prominency (prom'i-nen-si), n. [As promi-
nence (see -ey).'] Same as prominence.
prominent (prom'i-nent), a. and n. [< OP.
prominent = Sp. Pg. It" prominente, < L. promi-
nen{t-)s, ppr. of prominere, project, jut out, <
pro, forth, + *m.inere, project, jut. Cf . eminent,
imminent.'] I. a. 1. Standing out beyond the
line or surface of something; jutting; protu-
berant; in high relief: as, a prominent figure
on a vase.
It compresses hard
The pronmient and most unsightly bones.
And binds the shoulders flat.
Conner, Task, il 588.
2. In entom.: (a) Eaised above the general sur-
face: as, j>»-o»!J»e»< eyes. (6) Projecting hori-
zontally: as, prominent angles of the prothorax.
The head of an insect is said fo be prominent when its
upper surface is horizontal and continuous with that of
the thorax.
3. Standing out so as to be easily seen ; most
visible or striking to the eye ; conspicuous: as,
the figure of a man is prominent in the picture.
The side of things which is most prominent when they
are looked at from European soil may not always be the
most prominent when they are looked at from American
soil. E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 8.
4. Standing out from among the multitude;
distinguished above others: as, a prominent
citizen. = Syn. 1. Projecting, bulging.— 4. Eminent,
leading.
II. n. It. A promontory.
(The winds asleepe)he freely poureB,tiU highest Promi-
Hill tops,' low meddowes, and the fields, that crowne with
most contents
The toiles of men, searports, and shores, are hid.
Chapman, Iliad, xiL
2. One of certain bombycid moths; a tooth-
back or pebble. The American red-humped promi-
nent is Notodonta conainna; the European coxcomb promi-
nent is if. camMina. See cut under Notodonta.
promise
prominently (prom'i-nent-li), adv. In a promi-
nent manner; so as to stand out beyond the
other parts; eminently; in a striking manner;
conspicuously.
promiscuity (pro-mis-kii'i-ti), n. [= F.promis-
cuite = Pg. promiscmdade = It. promiseuitA, <
L. promiscuus, mixed, not separated: see^ro-
miscuous.] 1. Promiscuousness; confusion; in-
discriminate mixture.
The God-abstractions of the modem polytheism are
nearly in as sad a state of perplexity and promiscuity as
were the more substantial deities of the Greeks.
Poe, Marginalia, Ixxv. (Davies.)
Lady Charlotte . . . was fond of flooding the domestic
hearth with all the people possessed of any sort of a name.
. . . Mr. Wynnstay loathed such ^omiscuiiy.
Mrs. Humphry Ward, Robert Elsmere, xyii.
2. Promiscuous sexual union, as among some
races of people.
Pr&miseuiiy may be called indeflnite polyandry joined
with indeflnite polygyny ; and one mode of advance is by
a diminution of the indeflniteness.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., § 297.
promiscuous (pro-mis'ku-us), a. [= OP. pro-
miscue = Sp. Pg. It. promiscuo, < Xi. promiscuus,
mixed, not separated, < pro, forth, + miscere,
mix: seemix^.] 1. Consisting of parts or indi-
viduals grouped together without order; min-
gled indiscriminately; confused.
Distinction in promiscuous Noise is drown'd.
Congreve, On the Taking of Namure.
In rushed at once a rude promisciious crowd.
Dryden, Pal. and Arc, iii. 661.
He went on contentedly enough, picking up a promiscu-
ous education chiefly from things that were not intended
for education at all. George Eliot, Mill on the Moss, i. 4.
2. Forming part of a mingled or confused crowd
or mass.
This, like the public inn, provides a treat
Where each promiscuous guest sits down to eat.
Orabbe, The Newspaper.
3. Distributed or applied without order or dis-
crimination; common; indiscriminate; not re-
stricted to one individual: as, promiscuous sex-
ual intercourse.
Heaps on heaps expire ;
Nations with nations mixed confusedly die,
And lost in one promjiscuotts carnage lie.
Addison, The Campaign.
4. Casual; accidental. [Prov. Eng.]
I walked in, gentlemen, just to say good mornin', and
went, in a permiscuous manner, up stairs, and into the
back room. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, xxxiv.
=Syil. 1. Promiscuous, Miscellaneous. Promiscuous em-
phasizes the complete lack of arrangement ; miscellaneous
the throwing together of different kinds. Hence we speak
of promiscuous, but not of miscellaneous, confusion ; of
vniscellaTieous, not promiscuous, articles in a magazine. A
work-bag contains a miscellaneous collection of things,
which should never be allowed to become promiscuous.
It is an argument of a loose and ungovemed mind to be
affected with the ^omiscMows approbation of tlie general-
ity of mankind. Steele, Spectator, No. 188.
What the people but a herd confused,
XmisoenaneousinVblet -Jffltoj!, P. E., iii. 60.
promiscuously (pro-mis'kii-us-li), adv. In a
promiscuous manner ; in a crowd or mass with-
out order; with confused mixture ; indiscrimi-
nately ; without distinction of kinds or individ-
uals.
Like beasts and birds promiscuously they join. Pope.
promiscuousness (pro-mis'ku-us-nes), n. The
state or character of being promiscuous, or of
being mixed without selection, order, or dis-
tinction.
promise (prom'is), n. [Early mod. E. also
promys, promes ; < M^.promys,promesse, < OP.
promesse, F. promesse = Sp. promesa = Pg. It.
promessa, < ML. promissa, f., L. promissum,
neut., a promise, fern, and neut. of lu.promissus,
pp. of promittere, send or put forth, let go for-
ward, say beforehand, promise: see promii.]
1. A declaration in reference to the future,
whether written or verbal, made by one person
to another, purporting to assure the latter that
the former will do or forbear from a specified
act, or cause it to be done or refrained from ;
a declaration intended to give to the person to
whom it is made assurance of his right; to expect
from the promisor the thing promised; especial-
ly, a declaration that something shall be done or
given for the benefit of the promisee or another.
In law, a promise is not binding in such sense as to be
directly enforceable through the courts, unless made
upon a consideration good or valuable ; in which case the
promise and the consideration together form a contract
or agreement (if under seal, termed a covenant) which
binds the promisor, and it may be his legal representa-
tives, and gives the promisee, and in some cases a third
person for whose benefit the promise was made, the right
to enforce it by suit, or to recover damages for its breach.
promise
Also, no Straungere comethe before him but that he
makethe him sum Promys and Graunt, of that the Straun-
gere askethe resonabely. Mandeville, Travels, p. 40.
0 Rome, I make thee promise;
If the redress will follow, thou receivest
Xhy full petition at the hand of Brutus 1
Shak., J. C, U. 1. 66.
Statesman, yet friend to Truth ! of soul sincere, . . .
Who broke no pronaae, served no private end.
Pope, To Addison, 1. 69.
2. Ground or basis of expectation; earnest;
pledge.
There buds the promiee of celestial worth 1
Young, The Last Day, iii.
Thy [Friendship's] blossoms deck our unsuspecting years ;
The prffmise of delicious fruit appears.
Cowper, Valediction.
3. That which affords a ground or basis for
hope or for expectation of future excellence or
distinction: as, a youth of great j«'omise.
You have an unspeakable comfort of your young prince
Hamillius ; it is a gentleman of the greatest promise that
ever came into my note. Shak., W. T., i. 1. 39.
0, 1 see the crescent promise of my spirit hath not set.
Tennyson, Locksley Hall.-
4. That which is promised; fulfilment or grant
of what is promised.
And . . . commanded them that they should not depart
from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father.
Act i. 4.
Olou. Look, when I am king, claim thou of me
The earldom of Hereford. . . .
Buck. I'll claim thai promise at your grace's hands.
Shak., Rich. III., iii. 1. 197.
Absolute promise, a promise which pledges fulfilment
at all events; a promise unqualified oy a condition. —
Breach of promiBe. See breach. — Conditional prom-
ise, a promise the obligation to fulfil which depends on
the performance of a condition, or on a contingent or yet
unknown event.— Express promise, a promise expressed
orally or in writing. — Implied promise, a promise which
the law implies from conduct^ as when one employs a
man to perform a day's labor, without any egress promise
to pay him. The law then presumes a promise on the em-
ployer's part to give the man a reasonable reward, and it
will enforce such implied promise. — Land Of Promise,
Canaan: so called because. promised by God to Abraham
in Haran ; figuratively, heaven. Also called The Promised
Land.
By faith he [Abraham] sojourned in the land of promise,
. . . dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob.
Heb. xi. 9.
Mesmeric promise, mutual promises, newpromlse.
See the adjectives.— Parole promise, (a) A promise
made orally, (b) A promise made without seal, either
orally or in writing, as distinguished from one made un-
der seal, which is technically called a covenant. — Promise
and offer, in Scots law, an offer is a proposal made to give
or to do something, either gratuitously or on an onerous
consideration ; aprorrvise is an offer of such a nature that
the promisor takes the other party's assent for granted.
An offer is not binding till it is accepted ; a promise is
binding as soon as it is known by the party it is made to.
— Special promise, an actual promise as distinguished
from an implied promise. — The Promise, according to
the account given in the Bible, the assurance given by
J^od to Abraham that his descendants should become the
chosen people, and that in him all the families of the earth
should be blessed.
*'So help me the promise, fair sirs," said Isaac, . . .
" as no such sounds ever crossed my lips ! "
Scott, Ivanhoe, xxxii.
To give a lick and a promise of better. See lieic.
=Syn. 1. Assurance, Promise, Engagement, Pledge, Cove-
nant. These words are arranged in the order of strength ;
it would be dishonorable to fail to keep what even the
weakest of them expresses. The formality and solemnity
of each are proportioned to its strength. A coverumt is a
mutual obligation ; the others are not. Each of them may
be either spoken or written, but the written is generally
more formed, and may have greater legal obligation.
promise (prom'is), i;.; pret. and yp. promised,
ppr. promising. [< ME. prom/ysen, promyssen;
< promise, ».] I. trans. 1. To make a promise
of; engage to do, give, grant, or procure for
some one; especially, to engage that some
benefit shall be conferred.
The! hym promyseden that thei sholde kepe well the
Citee while there life myght endure.
JHerlin (E. E. T. S.), iL 296.
I was promised them [ribbons] against the feast
ShaJc., W. T., iv. 4. 237.
You said that your Sponsors did promise for you that
you should keep God's commandments.
Book of Common Prayer, Oatechism.
2. To afford reason to expect: as, the year
promises a good harvest ; the clouds promise
rain.
Surely this seemeth a plott of great reason and small
difflcultye, which promiseth hope of a shorte end.
Spenser, State of Ireland.
Seeing the old castle of the state,
Thatjjromfe'd once more firmness, so assail'd.
Cowper, Task, v. 526.
3. To assure. [Colloq.]
And what that euer be withynne this place.
That wolle for the entrete in eny wise.
He shall not spede, I yow promysse.
Qenerydes (E. B. T. S.), 1. 1603.
4768
I do not like thy look, I promise thee.
Shale., Much Ado, iv. 2. 47.
1 oromise youl don't think near so ill of you as I did.
Sheridan, School for Scandal, iv. S.
4. To make as promisor; be the promisor in.
[Rare trade use.] '
These notes were promvied by S. and S.
Boston Traveller, Jan. 24, 1880.
The Promised Land. Same as Land of Promise (which
see, under promise, ».).— To be promlsedt, to have an en-
gagement.
Cassius. Will you sup with me to-night, Casca?
Casca. Ho, I am, promised forth. Shak., J. C, i. 2. 293.
=Sto. 1. To assure, engage, covenant. See the noun.
n. intrans. 1. To assure one by a promise
or binding declaration.
Tho' fickle fortune has deoeiv'd me.
She pramis'd fair, and perf orm'd but ill.
Bums, I Dream 'd I Lay.
2. To afford hopes or expectations; give ground
for expecting satisfactory or agreeable results.
A . . . son of the last Archbishop, who promises very
greatly. Walpole, Letters, II. 99.
The day was named, the weather promised well.
Miss Edgewarth, Helen, xvii.
3. To stand sponsor. [Bare.]
There were those who knew him near the king
And promised for him ; and Arthur made him knight.
Tennyson, Pelleas and Ettarre.
promise-breach (prom'is-brech), n. Failure to
perform what is promised. [Kare.]
Since miserie hath daunted all my mirth.
And I am quite vndone through promise-breach.
Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 6.
In double violation
Of sacred chastity and ot promise-breach
Thereon dependent. Shak., M. forM., >. 1. 410.
promise-breaker (prom'is-bra"k6r), n. One
who breaks or fails to make good his promises.
He's a most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar,
an hourly promise-breaker. Shak., All's Well, iii. 6. 12.
promise-crammed (prom'is-kramd), a. Cram-
med or stuffed with promises. [Rare.]
I eat the air, promise-crammed. Shak., Hamlet, iiL 2. 99.
promisee (prom-i-se'), n. [< promise + -eel.]
The person to whom a promise is made.
Where things promised in a treaty are incompatible,
the promisee may choose which he will demand the per-
formance of. Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, § 109.
promiseful (prom'is-ful), a. [< promise + -ful.']
Full of promise ; promising.
So som he wins with promise-full intreats.
With presents som, and som with rougher threats,
Sylvester, b'. of Du Bartas's Weeks, il., Babylon.
promisor (prom'i-s6r), a. [< promise + -erl.]
One who promises ; one who engages, assures,
stipulates, or covenants: in legal use jpromisor.
He was a subtyle deceiuer, a f ayer false promiser.
Jaye, Expos, of Daniel xL
Though the expectation which is raised by impertinent
promisers is thus barren, their confidence, even after fail-
ures, is so great that they subsist by still promising on.
Steele, Spectator, No. 448.
promising (prom'i-sing), jj. a. {Bt^c. ot prom-
ise, «.] Giving promise ; affording just expecta-
tions of good; affording reasonable ground of
hope for the future ; looking as if likely to turn
out well: as, a promising youth; a promising
prospect.
A course more promising
Than a wild dedication of yourselves
To unpath'd waters, undream'd shores,
Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 576.
promisingly (prom'i-sing;-li), adv. [< promis-
ing + -l^.i In a promising manner.
promisor (prom'i-sor), TO. [< promise + -oj-i.
Cf . L. promissor, a promiser.] In law, one who
promises.
promisst, «• [< L. promissus, hanging down,
long, pp. ot promittere, send or put forth, let go
forward, let hang down, etc., see promise, pro-
mit.'] Hanging down; long.
I know him by his promisse beard.
And beetle browes.
Eeywood, Dialogues (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 190).
promissiont (pro-mish'on), TO. [< ME. promis-
sioun, < L. promissio{n-'j, promise, <. promittere,
pp.promissjts, promise : see promise.] Promise.
The Holy Land, that Men callen the Lond of Promys-
sioun, or of Beheste. MandeuUle, Travels, p. 1.
Isaac, that was the child of Promission, although God
kept his life that was vnlooked for.
Sir T. More, Cumfort against Tribulation (1573), foL 37.
promissive pro-mis'iv), a. [< L. promissivus,
promising, (.promittere, jip. promissus, promise :
see promise.'] Making or implying a promise.
[Rare.]
promissorily (prom'i-so-ri-li), acl/o. By way of
promise. Sir T. Browne.
promorphological
promissory (prom'i-so-ri), a. [< L. promissor,
a promiser, < promittere, pp. promissus, prom-
ise: see pi-omise.'] Containing a promise, or
binding declaration of something to be done or
forborne.
As the preceptive part enjoins the most exact virtue, so
is it most advantageously enforced by thepromissory.
Decay of Christian Piety.
PromiSBory note, in law, an absolute promise in writ-
ing, signed Dut not sealed, to pay a specified sum at a
time therein limited, or on demand, or at sight, to a per-
son therein named or designated, or to his order, or to
the bearer. Byles. See negatiMble.— Promissory Oath.
See oaXh.
promitt, v. t. [MK. promytten z= OF.promettre,
prometre, P. promettre = Sp. prometer = It. 2}ro-
mettere, promise, < L. promittere, send or put
forth, let go forward, say beforehand, promise,
< pro, forth, + mittere, send: see mission. Cf.
admit, commit, permit, etc.] 1. To send forth;
let go.
Commaunded hym he sholde promytte and suflre the
seruauntes of almyghty god to passe out ot pryson and to
be at lyberte. Joseph ofAriinathie (E. B. T. S.), p. 32.
2. To disclose; make known.
Promising . , . frank and free pardon of all offences and
crimes promitted.
Hall, Chron. Hen. VII., foL 33. (.Encyc. Diet.)
3. To promise.
It like, therfore, to my Lord of Gloucestre, and to alle
the Lordes of the £inges Counsail, to promitte to the said
Erie and assure him that thei shul termely and trewely
assisten him in the excercise of the charge and occupacion
that he hathe aboute the Kinges persone.
Paslon Letters, 1. 33.
promontt, n. [<promont-ory, as if directly < L.
pro, forth, + mon{t-)s, hill: see mount^.] A
promontory. [Rare.]
Xpromont jutting out into the dropping South.
Drayton, Polyolbion, L 161.
promontorious(prom-on-t6'ri-us), a. [Kprom-
ontor-y + -ous.] Resembling a promontory;
high; projecting: conspicuous.
The ambitious man's mountain is his honour ; and who
dares find fault with bo promsntorious a celsitude?
Sev. T. Adams, Works, II. 497.
promontorium (prom-gn-to'ri-um), TO. ; pi. pro-
montoria (-a). [< L. promonturium, a mountain-
ridge, a headland: see promontory.] Inanat.,
a promontory.
promontory (prom'qn-tg-ri), n. and a. [= F.
promontoire = Sp. fg. It. promontorio, < ML.
promontorium, L. promonturium, promunturi-
um, a mountain-ridge, a headland, appar. (.pro,
forth, -I- mon(t-)s, mountain (see mowjit^), but
prob. < prominere (pp. as if *prominitus, *pro-
ndntus, *promuntus), project, jut out, < x>ro,
forth, + *minere, project, jut, akin to mon{t-)s,
mountain: see prominent.] I. to.; -pi. 2)romon-
tories (-riz). 1. A high point of land or rock
projecting into the sea beyond the line of coast;
a headland.
Like one that stands upon ^promontory,
And spies a far-ofi shore where he woiUd tread.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., ill. 2. 136.
The city Bagusa occupied a peninsula, sheltered on the
one hand by the mainland, on the other by another prom-
ontory forming the outer horn of a small bay.
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 236.
2. In anat., a prominent or protuberant part ;
a prominence, eminence, or protuberance, (o)
Of the sacrum, the bold salient angle between the first
sacral and last lumbar vertebra, bounding the brim of the
true pelvis posteriorly, and especially pronounced in man.
fl>) Of the tympanum, a rounded hollow protuberance of
the inner wall of the tympanic cavity, expressing the pro-
jection of the first whorl of the cochlea. It is situated be-
tween thefenestrae, and its surface is furrowed by branches
of the tympanic plexus of nerves.
II.+ a. Resembling apromontory ; high ; pro-
jecting.
He found his flockes grazing vpon the Promimtorie
Mountaines. Greene, Menaphon, p. 23. (Davies.)
Who sees not that the clambering goats get upon rocks
and promontory places, whiles the humble sheep feed in
the bottoms and dejected valleys?
'Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 428.
promorph (pro'mdrf ), n. [< Gr. Trprf, before, +
fiopip^, form.] In biol., a fundamental type of
form ; a form promorphologically considered as
to its fundamental character, without regard
to its actual modifications : as, a vertebrate, a
moUusoan, or an articulate promorph. Nature,
XXXIX. 409.
promorphological (pro-m&r-fo-loj'i-kal), o. [<
promorpholog-y + -i<>al.] Pertaining to pro-
morphology; mathematically or stereometri-
cally morphological.
The idea of the antimere is omitted, as being essen-
tially a promorphological conception.
Erusye. Brit., XVL 843,
promorphologlcally
promorphologically (pro-m&r-fo-loj'i-kal-i),
adv. Upon considerations of or acoordine to
promorphology.
promorphologist (pr6-m6r-fol'6-jist), n. r<
promorphology + -»««.] One wlio is versed m
or understands promorphology. Mncyc. Brit..
Ji. vi. 845.
promorphology (pro-mSr-f ol'6-ji), n. [As pro-
morph + -ology (cf. morphology).-] In Uol.,
stereometric morphology: the morphology of
organic forms considered with reference to
mathematical figures or to a few fundamental
types of structure; the mathematical concep-
tion or geometrical treatment of organic form.
Prmnorphology develops the crystallography ol organic
lO™- Bncye. Brit, XVI. 843, note.
promote (pro-mot'), «.; pret. aiid t^t^. promoted,
inpr. promoUng. [< OV. promoter, <l,.nromo-
tus, pp. of promovere, move forward, push
onward, advance, hring to pass, reveal: see
promoye.'] I. trans. 1. To contribute to the
establishment, growth, enlargement, or im-
provement of, as of anything vSuable, or to the
development, increase, or influence of, as of
anything evil ; forward; advance.
■ Mr. John Jenny . . . was always a leading man in pro-
moting the general interest of the colony.
N. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 102.
Those friendships which once promoted literary fame
seem now to be discontinued. Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 5.
2. To exalt, or raise to a higher post or posi-
tion; prefer in rank or honor: as, to promote
a captain to a majority.
I will promote thee unto very great honour.
Num. xxit 17.
Did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me, or here place
In this delicious garden? Milton, P. L., i. 746.
3t. To inform against.
There lack men to promote the king's otScers when they
do amiss, and to promote all offenders.
Latimer, 2d Sermon hef. Edw. VI., 1550.
=^m. 1. To further, help, encourage, assist.
Il.t intrans. To give information; be an in-
former.
Steps in this false spy, this promoting wretch;
Closely betrays him that he gives to each.
Drayton, The Owl.
promotet, pp. [ME., < L. promotus, pp. : see
promote, v.] Promoted.
For where a lover thinketh him promote.
Envy will gracche, repining at his wele.
Court of Love, L 1261.
promotementt (pro-mot'ment), 11. [< promote
+ -ment.'] Promotion. Evelyn.
promoter (pro-m6't6r), n. [< F. promoteur =
Sp. Pg. proniotqr = It. promotore, < ML. pro-
motor, a promoter, < li.promovere, promote : see
promove, promote.] 1 . One who or that which
promotes, forwards, or advances; an encou-
rager: as, a, promoter ot eharity.
We are no more justified in treating what we take tobe
untrue theories of morals as positive promoters of vice
than in treating what we deem truer theories as positive
promoters of virtue.
T. H. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, § 336.
2. One -who aids in promoting some financial
undertaking ; one engaged in getting up a joint-
stock company ; one who makes it his business
to assist in the organization and capitalizing of
corporations.
It is notorious that some of the [rail]roads have been
robbed to the extent of thirty, forty, and even more per
cent, by prom/)ter8 and syndicates, who have placed in their
own pockets such large proportions of the sums subscribed.
FortniglMy Rev., N. S., XLIII. 868.
3t. An informer; specifically, a person who
prosecuted offenders as an informer in his own
name and the king's, receiving in reward part
of the fines or penalties.
These be accusers, promoters, and slanderers.
Latimer, Misc. Selections.
Came sneaking to my house like a, promoter to spye flesh
in the Lent. Maraton and Bcurksted, Insatiate Countess, iv.
promotion (pr6-m6'shon),m. [< ME.promocyon,
< OF. (and F.) promo'Uon = Pi. promoMo = Sp.
£romoeion = Pg. promogao = It. promozione, <
1j. promoMo{n-), advancement, < li.promovere,
pp. promotns, move forward, promote: seei pro-
move, promote.] 1. The act of promoting; ad-
vancement ; encouragement : as, the promotion
of virtue or morals ; the promotion of peace or
of discord. — 2. Advancement in rank or honor ;
preferment.
The highest promotion that God can bring his unto in
this life is to suffer for his truth.
Latimer, Misc. Selections.
Many fair promotions
Are daily given to ennoble those
That scarce, some two days since, were worth a noble.
Shak., Rich. III., i. 3. 80.
4769
3t. The act of informing ; the laying of an in-
formation against any one.
Covetousness and promotion and such like.
lyndcUe, Expos, of Matthew vi. (Encyc. Diet.)
To be on one's promotion, (a) To be in the line of pro-
motion ; have the prospect or right of promotion in case
of vacancy. (6) To be on good behavior or diligent in duty
with a view to recommending one's self for promotion.
" You want to smoke those filthy cigars," replied Mrs.
Kawdon. "I remember when you liked 'em, though,"
answered the husband. . . . "That was when I was on mi/
promotion. Goosey," she said.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xliv.
=S3m. See progress.
promotive (pro-mo'tiv), a. [^(.promote + -ive.]
Tending to promote, advance, or encourage.
In the government of Ireland, his [Strafford's] adminis-
tration had been equally promotive of his master's inter-
est and that of the subjects committed to his care.
Hume, Hist. Eng., liv.
promovalt (pro-m5'val), n. [< promove + -al.]
Advancement; promotion.
Tell me if my recommendation can In anything be stead-
able for the promomU of the good of that youth.
Urquha/rt, tr. of Uabelais, iii. 29. (Davies.)
promovet (pro-mov'), v. t. [< F. promomoir =
Pr. Sp. 'Pg.promover = It. promuovere, < li.pro-
movere, move forward, push onward, advance,
bring to pass, enlarge, increase, extend, reveal,
<»ro, forth, forward, -1- movere, move: see move.
Cf. promote.] 1. To promote; forward; ad-
vance.
Th' increase
Of trades and tillage, under laws and peace,
Begun by him, but settled and prommed
By the third hero of his name.
B. Jonson, Prince Henry's Barriers.
Without Christ we can do just nothing but lie be-
calmed and unable to move ot promove.
Rev. S. Ward, Sermons and Treatises, p. 171.
2. To incite ; encourage.
Those works of ours are greatest in the sight of God
that . , . conduce most to the primming of others to
glorify God. Donne, Sermons, viii.
promoventt (pro-mo'vent), n. [< L. promo-
ven{t-)s, ppr. of promovere, move forward: see
promove.] The plaintifE in the instance court
of the admiralty.
promovert (pro-m6'ver), n. [(.promove + -ei-i.]
A promoter.
For bokis & heresies, as they call goddis worde, be pro-
hibited, pressed downe, & burned witli all the pramouers
thereof. Joye, Expos, of Daniel vii.
prompt (prompt), a. [< ME. *prompt, < OF.
(and F.) prompt = S-p.pronto = Pg. prompto =
It. pronto, < L. promptus, promtiis, visible, ap-
parent, evident, at hand, prepared, ready, quick,
prompt, inclined, disposed, pp. otpromere, take
or bring out or forth, produce, bring to light,
< pro, forth, forward, + emere, take, acquire,
buy: sf>e emption.] 1. Ready; quick to act as
occasion demands ; acting with cheerful alacri-
ty; ready and willing: as, prompt m obedience
or compliance.
Very discerning and prompt in giving orders.
Clarendon, Great Rebellion.
Good temper; Bpinta prompt to undertake,
And not soon spent, though in an arduous task.
Cowper, Task, i. 400.
Hundreds prom/pt for blows and blood.
Seott, L. of the L., iii. 24.
2. Given or performed without delay; quick;
ready; not delayed.
I do agnize
A natural and prompt alacrity
I find in hardness. Shak., Othello, i. 3. 233.
But chief myself I will enjoin.
Awake at duty's call,
To show a love as prompt as thine.
Cowper, Dog and Water-lily.
3. Hasty; forward; abrupt.
I was too hasty to condemn unheard ;
And you, perhaps, too prompt in your replies.
Dryden.
4t. Inclined or disposed.
Fair virtues all.
To which the Grecians are most prompt and pregnant.
Shak., T. and C., iv. 4. 90.
=Syn. Early, timely, punctual.
prompt (prompt), V. t. [< MB. prompten; <
prompt, a.] 1. To move or excite to action;
incite; instigate.
Murderer, do the worst
Thy base unnoble thoughts A&Ye prompt thee to !
I am above thee, slave !
Beav,. and Fl., Woman-Hater, v. 6.
His wish and mine both prompt me to retire.
Cowper, Retirement^ 1. 390.
2. To assist (a learner or speaker) by suggest-
ing something forgotten or imperfectly learned
or known, or by pronouncing the words next
in order: as, to prompt a pupil; to prompt an
actor.
promptness
Let him translate it into Latin againe, abiding in soch
place where no other scholer may jpromiK him.
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 89.
They whisper : — sever them quickly, I say, officers I why
do you let them prompt one another ?
Beau, and Fl., Coxcomb, v. 3.
If she shou'd flag in her part, I will not fail to prompt
her. Congreve, Way of the World, iii. 18.
3. To dictate; suggest to the mind; inspire.
And whisp'ring angels prompt her golden dreams.
Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, L 216.
By these Steps I strive to climb up to Heaven, and my
Soul prompts me I shall go thither.
HoweU, Letters, I. vi. 32.
4t. To remind; put (one) in mind.
. Soft and delicate desires,
AH. prompting me how fair young Hero is.
Saying I liked her ere I went to wars.
Shak., Much Ado, L 1. 806.
=SSU, 1. Actuate, Impel, Induce, etc. (see actuate), incline,
dispose, suggest to. See list under impel.
prompt (prompt), B. [< jMo»jp<,i;.] 1. In com.,
a limit of time given for payment for merchan-
dise purchased, the limit being stated on a note
of reminder called a, jprompt-note.
He does pay in money — that is, he gives his acceptance
at two or three months or whatever prompt is customary
in the trade, and when the bill falls due he pays it.
Nineteenth Century, XIX. 392.
2. Information suggested or prompted.
Few [children in schools] will not give, and not many
will not take prompts, or peep in their books.
G. S. Hall, Amer. Jour. PsychoL, III. 63.
prompt-book (prompt'buk), n. A copy of a
play prepared for the prompter's use, and con-
taining the text as cut and altered for represen-
tation, with all the stage business and other
directions required for performance.
prompt-center (prompt'sen"t6r), n. See stage.
prompter (promp'ter), n. [< ME. promptere,
promptare, promptowre ; (.prompt + -eri.] 1.
One who or that which prompts, or admonishes
or incites to action.
We understand our duty without a teacher, and acquit
ourselves as we ought to do i^ithout a prompter.
Sir R. L'Estrange.
We And In ourselves some prompter called a desire ;
and, the more essential the action, the more powerful is
the impulse to its performance.
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 30.
Specifically — 2. A person stationed behind
the scenes or in a covered box at the front of
the stage in a theater, for the purpose of assist-
ing the actors when they are at a loss by re-
peating to them the first words of a sentence ;
also, any person who aids a public speaker, etc.,
by suggesting words he may be at a loss for.
No without-book prologue, faintly spoke
After the prompter, for our entrance.
Shak., E. and J., i. 4. 8.
The play is done ; the cui'tain drops.
Slow falling to the prompter's bell.
Thackeray, The End of the Play.
prompting (promp'ting), n. [Verbal n. of
prompt, v.] 1. The act of inciting, instigating,
suggesting, or reminding. — 2. An incitement
or impulse, especially from inner desires or
motives: as, the promptings of affection.
Many sane persons have experienced horrid promptings
when standing looking over a precipice.
Pop. Sei. Mo., XXXVL 83.
The later the date the more likely that he [the archi-
tect] built his arcade according to the prompHngs of his
own genius. E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 264.
promptitude (promp'ti-tiid), n. [< F. promp-
titude = Sp. prontitud = It. prontitudine, < LL.
promptitiido, promptitude, < L. promptus, ready,
prompt: see prompt] 1. Promptness; readi-
ness ; qidckness of decision or action when oc-
casion demands ; cheerful alacrity.
Much will depend on the promptitude with which these
means can be brought into activity.
Jefferson, Works, VIII. 69.
2. Prompting.
Those who were contented to live without reproach,
and had no promptitude in their minds towards glory.
Steele, Spectator, No. 497.
promptly (prompt'li), adv. [< prompt + -ly"^.]
In a prompt manner ; readily; quickly; expe-
ditiously; cheerfully.
promptness (prompt'nes), n. [< prompt +
-ness.] The state or quality of being prompt;
readiness ; quickness of decision or action ;
especially, quickness of action in executing a
decision ; cheerful willingness ; alacrity.
Cassius alone, of all the conspirators, acted with prompt-
ness and energy in providing for the war which he fore-
saw the death of Ceesar would kindle.
Ames, Works, II. 271.
A good judgment combines promptness with deliberate-
ness. J. SuUy, Outlines of Psychol., p. 409.
promptness
They seemed desirous to prove their title to them hy
their thorough discipline and by their promptness to ex-
ecute the most dangerous and d^cult services. Prescott,
prompt-note (prompt'not), n. In com., a note
of reminder of the day of payment and sum due,
etc., given to a purchaser at a sale of merchan-
dise. See prompt, n.
prompt-side (prompt' sid), n. See stage.
promptuary (promp'tu-a-ri), n. ; pi. promptua-
ries (-riz), [==F.promp'tuaire = S'p.prontitario
= Fg. promptuario, < LL. promptuarium, prom-
tuarium, a repository, storehouse, store-room,
hence in ML. used (-like E. magazine) for a re-
pository of information, handbook (ia this
sense also irreg. promptorium, promptorius),
as in Promptuarium Parmilorum Clericorum or
Promptorium Paroulorum, 'the little scholars'
handbook,' or Promptorius Puerorum, ' the boys'
handbook,' the name of an English-Latin dic-
tionary of the 15th century; < L. promptus,
promtus, pp. of promere, produce, bring out: see
prompt.^ That from which supplies are drawn ;
a storehouse; a magazine; a repository.
History, that great treasury of time and promptuary of
heroique actions. Howell, Forreine Travell, p. 22.
Bid K^addo think, at Mantua, he had hut
To look into hia promptuary, put
Finger on a set thought in a set speech.
Srowninff, Sordello.
prompture (promp'tur), n. [< prompt + -ure.']
Suggestion; incitement; instigation.
Ill to my brother;
Though he hath fall'n Toy prompture of the blood.
Shak., M. for M., ii. 4. 178.
promulgate (pro-mul'gat), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
promulgated, ■p^v. promulgating. [< li.promul-
gatus, pp. ot promulgare, make known, publish,
< pro, forth, + -mulgare, of uncertain origin.
Cf. promulge.'i To make known by open dec-
laration, as laws, decrees, or tidings; publish;
announce; proclaim.
'Tis yet to know —
Which, when I know that boasting is an honour,
I shall promulgate — I^etch my life and being
From men of royal siege. Shak., Othello, i 2. 21.
The Statute of Uses was delayed until 1636, and the Stat-
ute of Wills until 1540, but both statutes were promulgated
in 1532. Stubbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 255.
=Syn. Declare, Announce, Proclaim, etc See anjiowTice.
promulgation (pro-mul-ga'shgn), n. [= F.
promulgation = Sp. promulgacion = Pg. pro-
mulgagSo = It. promulgazione, < L. promulga-
tio{n-), a proclamation, a publication, < promul-
giarejpp.jjroJBKi^oiMS, publish, make known: see
promulgate.^ 1. The act of promulgating;
publication; open declaration.
The stream and current of this rule hath gone as far, it
hath continued as long, as the very promulgation of the
gospel. Hooker, Eccles. Polity. {Latham.)
The doctrine of evolution at the present time rests upon
exactly as secure a foundation as the Copernican theory of
the motions of the heavenly bodies did at the time of its
prowulgaMon. Huxley, Araer. Addresses, p. 90.
2. In law : (a) The first official publication of a
law which has been passed, or of an ordinance
or a proclamation. (6) More strictly, the final
order of the sovereign power which puts an en-
acted law into execution. Clarh.
promulgator (pro'mul-ga-tor), n. [= P. pro-
mulgateur = Sp. Pg. promulgador = It. promul-
gators, < li, promulgator, one who publishes or
proclaims, < promulgare, pp. promulgatus, pub-
lish, make known: see promulgate.'] One who
promulgates or publishes; one who makes
known or teaches publicly.
An old legacy to the prmmilgators of the law of liberty.
Warburton, Sermons, xi. (Latham.)
promulge (pro-mulj'), v. t; pret. and pp. jpro-
mulged, ppr. promulging. [= F. promulguer =
Sp. Pg. promulgar = It. promulgare, < L. pro-
mulgare,'pvLblish,makekiiowTi:Beepromulgate.']
To promulgate ; publish; teach publicly.
Extraordinary doctrines these for the age in which they
■were promulged. Prescott. (Webster.)
Considering his Highness's wisdom, . . . they would
henceforth make, pronmUge, or execute no such constitu-
tions without his consent.
B. W. Dixon, Hist. Chui'ch of Eng., il.
promulger (pro-mul'jer), n. Same as promul-
gator.
Its [the gospel's] promulgers delivered it not out by par-
cels, as ia the way of cunning and designing men, but
offered the whole of it to be altogether examined and
compared. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. iii.
promuscidate (pro-mus'i-dat), a. l<promuscis
i-muscid-) + -ateK) In entom. : (a) Having the
form of a promuscis : as, a promuseidate mouth.
(6) Furnished with a promuscis: as, Sk promusci-
date insect.
4770
promuscis (prp-mus'is), n. ; pi. promusddes (-i-
dez). [NL., < L. promuscis, a corrupt form for
prohoscis, proboscis : see proboscis.'] 'in. entom.,
a proboscis ; a beak or rostrum of various in-
sects : originally applied by lUiger (1806) to the
mouth-parts of bees; applied by Kirby and
Spenee (1818) and subsequent authors to the
oral instrument of hemipterous insects, in
which the ordinary trophi are replaced by a
sheath containing four hair-like lancets or
scalpella.
Punctures the cuticle with a proboscis (a very short
three-jointed promuseU) springing as it were from the
breast, but capable of being greatly porrected.
E. P. Wright, Anun. Life, p. 472.
promycele (pro-mi-sel'), n. [< NL. promyoe-
liumT] In hot, same sts j)romycelium.
promycelial (pro-mi-se'li-al), a. [< promyce-
Hum + -al.] In hot, of or pertaining to the
promycelium.
The promycelial tube is divided by transverse walls into
a series of two or more short cells.
De Bary, Fungi (trans.), p. 177.
promycelium (pro-mi-se'li-um), n. [NL., < L.
pro, before, + NL. mycelium, q. v.] In lot., a
short and short-lived filamentous product of
the germination of a spore, which bears sporidia
and then dies. Also promycele.
pron. An abbreviation of (a) pronoun; (6) pro-
nounced; (c) pronunciation.
pronaos (pro-na'os), ». [< Gr. npSvao;, also
neut. wp6vaov, a porch before a temple, prop.
ad]., irpdvaoQ, irpovaiog, Attic irp&ueaq, before a
temple, < Trpd, before, -f- va6g, a temple, a cella:
see naos.] In arch. : (a) An open vestibule or
Pronaos.— Heroum adjoining the baths at Assos in the Troad, as
discovered and restored by the Archaeological Institute of America,
1881-2.
portico in front of the naos or cella of a tem-
ple. See naos, 2.
The temple . . . consists of a pronaos or vestibulum
. . . and of the naos proper. Schlimumn, Troja, p. 79.
(6) Same as narthex, 1. [This use is not to be
recommended.]
pronate (pro'nat), v. t. ; pret. and pp. pronated,
ppr. pronating. [< LL. pronatus, pp. of pro-
nare, bend forward, bow, < L. pronus, bent : see
prone.] To render prone ; specifically, to rotate
(the hand) so that its palmar surface faces in
the same direction as the posterior surface of
the ulna.
pronation (pro-na'shon), n. [= P. pronation
= Sp. pronacion = Pg. pronagdo = It. pronazi-
one, < lAi.pronare, Tpp. pronatus, bend forward,
bow : see pronate.] The act or result of pronat-
ing; the prone position of the fore limb, in
which the bones of the forearm are more or less
crossed, and the palm of the hand is turned
dovpnward : the opposite of supination. Pronation
and its reverse movement, supination, are free and perfect
in man and in some other mammals which use their fore
paws as hands. In pronation the bones of the forearm are
crossed ; in supination they lie parallel to each other. The
fore limbs of most quadrupeds are permanently fixed in
the state of pronation, with the palmar surface or sole of
the fore foot downward or backward, and the knuckles or
convexities of the joints of the digits upward or forward ;
supination is absent, and the ulna is often reduced to a
mere appendage of the radius, ankylosed at the upper end
of the latter.
pronator (pro-na'tgr), n. ; pi. pronatores, pro-
nators (pro-na-to'rez, pro-na'torz), [= F. pro-
nateur = Sp. Pg. pronador = It. pronatore, <
LL. pronare, pp. pronatus, bend forward, bow:
see pronation.] A muscle of the forearm whose
action pronatesthe hand or assists in pronation :
opposed to supinator Pronator oiuadratus, a flat
muscle on the lower part of the forearm in front, pass-
ing from the ulna to the radius. Also called cubitoradia-
lis, quadrate pronator, and more taWy pronator radii quad-
prong
rottis.— Pronator radii teres, a pronator and flexor of
the forearm. It arises chiefly from the inner condyle of the
humerus, and passes across obliquely in front, to be insert-
ed in the outer side of the radius near its middle. Als»
called pronaimr teres, and round or terete pronator. See
cut under muscle.
prone (pron), a. [< F. prone = Sp. Pg. It. prono,
< L. pronus, bent, leaning forward, < pro, for-
ward: seejjro-.] 1. Bending forward with thft
face downward; inclined; lying flat; not erect.
A creature who, not prone
And brute as other creatures, but endued
With sanctity of reason, might erect
His stature. Milton, P. L., vii. 506..
Ancient tow'rs,
And roofs embattled high, . . .
Fall prone. Cowper, Task, ii. 125.
3. Lying with the face or front downward.
The lamb jwon«.
The serpent towering and triumphant.
Browning;, Ring and Book, II. 56.
Specifically, in ffinaf. : (o) lying face downward; stretched:
at full length on the beUy. (b) Lying with the palm down-
ward ; pronated, as the hand. In both senses, the oppo-
site of supine.
3. Moving or sloping downward ; descending _:
inclined.
The sun.
Declined, was hasting now with prone career
To the ocean isles. MUton, P. L., iv. 353.
Prone down the rock the whitening sheet descends.
Bums, Written by the Fall of Fyers.
Since the floods demand
For their descent a prone and sinking land.
Does not this due declivity declare
a A wise director's providential care?
Sir B. Blackmore.
Just where the prone edge of the wood began
To feather toward the hollow.
Tennyson, Enoch Arden.
4. Inclined by disposition or natural tendency ;
prepense ; disposed : usually in an ill sense.
He is . . . as ^r(m« to mischief
As able to perform 't. Shak., Hen. VIII., i. 1. 160.
Anna's mighty Mind,
To Mercy and soft Pity prone.
Congreve, Pindaric Odes, i.
Prone mouth, a mouth which lies entirely on the lower
surface of the head, owing to the fact that the head itself
forms a right angle with the thorax, as in the grasshop-
pers.— Prone surface, the lower surface. =Syn. 1 and 2.
See prostrate.
pronely (pron'li), adv. In a prone manner 01-
position ; so as to bend downward.
proneness (pron'nes), «. The state of being
prone, (a) The state of bending downward: as,theprone-
ness of beasts that look downward : opposed to the erect-
ness of man. (6) The state of lying with the face or front
downward : contrary to m-pineness. (c) Descent ; decliv-
ity : as, the proneness of a hill, (d) Inclination of mind,
heart, or temper ; propensity ; disposition : as, proneness
to self -gratification or to self-justification. = Syn. (d) Ten-
dency, Disposition, etc. See bentT-.
pronephron (prd-nef'ron), ». ; pi. pronephra
(-ra). [NL.,<L.jpro, before, -I- Grr.vc^piif, a kid-
ney.] A part of the primitive kidney of the low-
er vertebrates, which appears at the most ante-
rior end of the archinephrie duct before the rest
of the kidney and at some distance from it. It
consists of a number of coiled tubuli, beginning with cili-
ated infundibula or nephrostomata : its duct ia the MiU-
lerian duct. See mesonephron.
pronephros (pro-nef 'ros), n. Same as jproneph-
ron.
prong^t (pr6ng), n. [ME., also pronge, prange,
a pang: seepang''-, which is an altered form of
the same word.] A pang. Prompt. Parv., pp.
415, 493.
prong2 (prdng), n. [Early mod. E. alsoprongue ■
cf. prog, thrust, prolce, thrust.] 1. A sharp
point or a pointed instrument ; especially, one
of several points which together make up a
larger object: as, the prong of a fork; the
prong of a deer's antler.
I dine with forks that have but two prongs.
Swift, to Gay, March 19, 172»
THie prongs of rock rose spectral on every side.
W. Y. Semi-weekly Tribune, Sept. 28, 1878.
3. A hay-fork. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
Would not sell me.
But, being his domesticke friend, expell me
With forks and prongs, as one insenc'd with ire.
Heywood, Dialogues (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 164).
3. A fork or branch of a stream or inlet.
[Southern U. S.]— 4. A prawn (?).
They speed their way through the liquid waste ;
Some are rapidly borne along
On tlie mailed shrimp or the prickly prong.
J. B. Drake, Culprit Fay, p. 29.
prong2 (prdng), V. t. [< prong'^, n.] To stab
with or as with a fork. [Humorous.]
Dear brethren, let us tremble before those august por-
tals. I fancy them guarded by grooms of the chamber
with flaming silver forks with which they prong all those
who have not the right of the entree.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, li.
prongbuck
prongbuck (prdng'buk), n. The American an-
telope or pronghom, AnUlocapra americana.
prong-cnuck (prdng'chui), n. A burnishing-
ohnok with a steel prong. E. H. Knight.
prongdoe (prdng'do), n. The female of the
prongbuck.
prong-hoe (pr6ng'h6), n. A hoe with prongs to
break the earth.
pronghom (pr6ng'h6m), a. andn. I. a. Hav-
ing horns with a prong or snag, as the prong-
buck: as, the ^ro»g'/»or« antelope.
J-^' "■ T?® P.rongbuck or cabrit. This remark-
able animal is an isolated American type, like the saiga of
the Old World; it has no near relatives living, and is sup-
posed to be in the line ot descent from some stock more
or less like the fossil SivatheHum ol India. It is not an
antelope in any proper sense, though universally so called
in the regions it inhabits— the flrstJiterary use of the name
dating about 1812. The pronghom was first scientifically
described from material furnished by Lewis and Clarke to
George Ord, who called it AntUope armricana in 1815, but
very soon instituted the genus AntUoeapra (which see,
and AntUoeapridse, for technical characters). The male
stands about 3 feet high at the croup and withers ; the
limbs are very slender ; the general form is that of a deer,
but rather stouter (contrary to a general impression) ; the
eyes are extremely large and full, and placed directly
under the base of the horns ; these in the male are from
6 or 8 inches to a foot in length, curved variously, but
always with the characteristic prong or snag — in the fe-
male mere harry cones tipped with a horny thimble an inch
long. The horns are shed annually, late in the fall or
early in winter. The pelage is close, without any flowing
tufts, but coaise and brittle, and nearly worthless ; the
hide makes a valuable buckskin when dressed. The veni-
son is excellent, resembling mutton rather than deer-
meat. There is an extensive set of cutaneous sebaceous
glands, eleven in number, which during the rut exhale a
strong hiroine odor. The prongdoe regularly drops twins,
usually late in spring or early in summer, and the kids
are not spotted (as the young of Cervidce usually are), but
resemble their parents. The bucks and does are alike of
a tawny or yellowish-brown color, with a large wliite disk
on the buttocks, a white crescent and triangle on the fore
part of the neck, and the under parts and inner sides of the
limbs white ; the forehead, muzzle, a spot on the neck over
the gland, and the horns and hoofs are mostly black or
blackish. During most of the year the animals go in bands,
sometimes numbering thousands, but oftener of much
less extent. Tliey range over all the region of the great
plains, from Britisli America far into Mexico, excepting
where they have of late years been driven off by the settle-
ment of the country. Unlike the bison, the pronghom does
not appear to have ever ranged east of the Mississippi.
It is jioted for its fleetness, and for a singular mixture of
timidity and curiosity, which renders it susceptible of
being " flagged," or decoyed within rifle-range by the ex-
hibition of any unusual object, as a handkerchief tied to a
pole. The gait is buoyant and easy, and when bounding
at full speed the animal is probably the fleetest of any
American game. But it lacks bottom, and its astonisliing
bursts of speed cannot be long sustained. Almost any
pack of hounds can overtake it, if the game has not too
much advantage at the start. The pronghorn is subject
to au epidemic disease of unknown character, which in
some years has destroyed many thousands. This fact,
together with the incessant persecution it suffers, has
very appreciably diminished its numbers as well as con-
tracted its range of late years, though it appears to be still
very far from the point of extermination.
pronityt (pro'm-ti), n. [= It. pronitA (at. Sp.
proneidad = Pg. proneidade), ^ L. pronita(t-)s,
inclination,<^j'o»MS, bent, inclined: seeprone.^
Same as proneness.
Saint Paule in hys Pistle to ye Eom. spekethof the^o-
nity and mocions in the fleshe remaining as the reliques
of original sinne. Sir T. Mare, Works, p. 650.
pronominal (pro-nom'i-nal), a. [= F. Sp. Pg.
pronominal = li.prononiinale,<.\i. prononiinaUs,
pertainingto a pronoun, < prononien, a pronoun :
see pronoun .] Belonging to or of the nature of
a pronoun : as, a pronominal root.
In Siam, when asking the king's commands, the pronom-
inal form is, as much as possible, evaded.
H. Speiwer, Prin. of Sociol., § 397.
pronominally (pro-nom'i-nal-i), adv. With the
effect or force of a pronoun; by means of a
pronoun.
"What was that notion of his"— they usually spoke of
the minister pronomirudly. Bowells, Annie Kilburn, xxx.
pronotal (pro-no'tal), a. [< pronotum + -aZ.]
Situated on the pronotum; of or pertaining to
the pronotum.
pronotary, n. Same as prothonotary.
And I knew you a Pronotaries boy,
That wrote Indentures at the toune house doore.
Daniel, Queen's Arcadia, iii. 1.
pronotum (pro-no'tum), n.; pi. pronota (-ta).
[NL., < Gr. Trp6, before, + varog, back: see no-
tum.'] The anterior one of the three divisions
of the notum of an insect, preceding the meso-
notum; the dorsal or tergal section of the pro-
thorax ; the upper part of the first thoracic seg-
ment or prothoraeio tergum. it is typically divided
into four sclerites (the prsescutum, scutum, scutellum,
and postacutellum), which sclerites are, however, usually
moreor less consolidated and therefore indistinguishable.
See cut under Jjisecto.— Cruciate, emaiginate,. ooyol-
vent, pulvlnate, etc., pronotum. See Ihe adjectives.
—Producted pronotum. See product.
4771
pronoun (pro'noun), n. [Not found in ME. ;
appar. altered (to suit the earlier noun) < P.
pronom = Sp. pronombre = Pg. pronome = It.
pronome, < L. pronomen, a word standing in
place of a noun, < pro, for, -I- nomen, a noun:
see noun.'] In gram., a word used instead of a
noun to avoidthe repetition of it; a demonstra-
tive word, pointing to a person or thing, but
not describmg it otherwise than by designating
position, direction, relation to the speaker, or
the like ; one of a small body of words, in Indo-
European and other families of language, com-
ing from a few roots, different from those from
which come in general verbs and nouns, and
having the office of designating rather than de-
scribing: they are believed to have borne an
important part in the development of inflective
structure in language. They are divided intovarious
classes : personal (doubtless originally demonstrative), as
/, thou, he, etc. ; possessive, which are the adjective forms
of the personal, as my, thy, his, etc. ; demonstrative, as this,
that, etc. ; interrogative, as who, what, etc. ; relative (which
are always either demonstratives or interrogatives with
changed oflice, implying an antecedent to which they re-
fer^ or relate), as that, which, who, etc. ; and iTidefiniZe,
which are of various meaning, and shade oif into ordinary
nouns, as each, either, some, any, such, etc. Abbreviated
pr., pron.
pronounce (pr6-nouns')j «•; pret. and pp. jjro-
nouneed, ppr. pronouncing. [< ME. pronouncen,
< OF.prononcer, Y.prononcer = Sp. Fg.pro-
nundar = It.pronunciare,pronungiare, < L. pro-
nunfiare, proclaim, publish, <.pro, forth, -1- nun-
tiare, announce, < nuntius, that makes known:
see nuncio. Cf . announce, denounce, enounce, re-
nounce. ] I. trans. If. To declare ; make known ;
announce; proclaim.
I will pronownce this bloudie deede,
And blotte thine honor so.
Qascoigne, Fhilomene, p. 100. ' (Arler.)
2. To form or articulate by the organs of
speech; utter articxdately; speak; utter; spe-
cifically, to give a word its due recognized
sound in uttering it.
Then said they unto him. Say now Shibboleth : and he
said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to prorwumie it
right. Judges xii. 6.
Yet sometime "Tarquin" yfzs pronounced plain,
But through his teeth, as if the name he tore.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1786.
3. To utter formally, officially, or solemnly.
I do beseech your lordship, for the wrongs
This man hath done me, let me pronmmce his punishment !
' £ca«. and JS'/., Woman-Hater, V. 5.
An Idol in the form of a Dog or Wolf, which was wor-
shipped, and is said to have pronouncd Oracles at this
place. MamndreU, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 36.
4. To speak or utter rhetorically; deliver: as,
to pronounce an oration.
The things that mount the rostrum with a skip,
And then skip down again ; pronounce a text . . .
Cowper, Task, ii. 410.
5. To declare or affirm.
0 gentle Romeo,
If thou dost love, pronounce it faitlifully.
Shak., R. and J., ii. 2. 94.
I dare not pronounce you will be a just monarch. .
Ford, Broken Heart, iv. S.
An author who laughs at thepublic which pronounces
him a dunce. Gfoldsmith, The Bee, No. 2.-
=Syn. Enunciate, Deliver, etc. See utter.
II. intrans. 1. To speak with confidence or
authority; make declaration; utter an opinion;
declare one's self.
Nor can [I] pronounce upon it
. . . whether
The habit, hat, and feather.
Or the frock and gipsy bonnet,
Be the neater and completer.
Tennyson, Maud, xx. 1.
Asked what she most desired, she prommnced for a spe-
cial providence of tea and sugar.
First Year of a Silken Reign, p. 22.
Among the Irish peerage tliere are more than a dozen
who have either pronounced for the principle of Home
Rule or are not hostile to it if a fair scheme be devised.
Contemporary Rev., III. 314.
2. To utter words; specifically, to articulate
words correctly.
pronouncet (pro-nouns')j »• Pronunciation;
declaration.
That all controversie may end in the flnall prmumnce or
canon of one Arch-primat.
Hilton, Chnrch-Govemment, i. 6.
pronounceable (pro-noun'sa-bl), a. [< pro-
nounce + -able. Ct.pronunciable.] Capable of
being pronounced or uttered.
Its first syllable, "Pen,"
Is pronounceable; then
Come two LLs and two HHs, two FFs and an N.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 65.
pronunciation
pronounced (pro-nounsf), p. a. [Pp. of pro-
nounce, v.] Strongly marked or defined; de-
cided.
Our friend's views became every day more pronounced.
Thackeray.
The outline of the tower is not unlike that of the Para-
surameswara temple, , . . but the central belt is more
pronounced. J. Fergusson, Hist. Indian Arcli., p. 43y.
Wolaey was too great a man, and More too good a man,
to be tools of Henry, especially after the inclination to-
wards tyrannic caprice became more pronounced.
Stuibs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 248.
pronouncedly (pro-noun' sed-li), adv. In a pro-
nounced manner ; markedly.
"Fatal Water," the most pronouncedly pathetic of the
tales. The Academy, Feb. 8, 1890, p. 93.
pronouncement (pro-nouns'ment), n. [< P.
prononeement = Pr. pronondamen = Sp. pro-
nunciamiento = It. pronumiamento; < ML. pro-
nunciamentum, < L. pronuntiare, pronounce:
see pronounce.] The act of pronouncing; a
proclamation ; a formal announcement.
The law is apprehended by ocular inspection, audible
pronouncement, and other like natural ways of cognition.
Bushnell, Forgiveness and Law, p. 114.
pronouncer (pro-noun'ser), n. One who pro-
nounces, or utters or declares.
pronouncing (pro-noun' sing),_p. a. [Ppr. oipiro-
nounce, v.] Pertaining to, indicating, or teach-
ing pronunciation: as, a jjj-OBOMMciMg' dictionary.
pronubial (pro-ntl'bi-al), a. [< L. pronubus,
pertaining to marriage, <pro, for, + nubere,
marry, wed : see nubile.] Presiding over mar-
riage. Congreve. [Eare.]
pronuclear (pro-nii'kle-ar), a. [(.pronucleus +
-ar^.] Pertaining to a pronucleus, or having
its character.
pronucleate (pro-nii'kle-at), a. [(. pronucle-us
+ -ate^.] Having a pronucleus or pronuclei.
pronucleus (pro-nu'klf-us), ». ; Tpl.pronudei (-i).
[< L. pro, before, + nucleus, nucleus.] 1. A
primitive nucleus ; the nucleus of an ovum or
of a spermatozoon before these have united
to form the definitive nucleus of an impreg-
nated ovum. That of the ovum is the female, that
of the spermatozoon the ^mtle pronucleus. The forma-
tion of the female pronucleus commonly occurs in a ripe
ovum after the extrusion of the particles of yolk known
as the polar globules of Robin, and it is that part of the
original germinal vesicle which remains behind after such
extrusion, receding from the surface of the ovum and as-
suming a spherical form. The male pronucleus is simply
the head of a spermatozobn buried in the yolk, and about
to blend its substance with that of the female pronucleus,
See feminonucleus, masaulonucleus.
2. In 5o*., the nucleus of a conjugating gamete,
which on coalescing with another pronucleus
forms the germ-nucleus. Goebel.
pronunciablet (pro-nun'gi-a-bl), a. [= It. ^ro-
nunziabile, < L. pronuntiare, pronundare, pro-
nounce (see pronounce), + -able.] Pronounce-
able.
Vowels pronuneiablc by the intertexture of a consonant.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 64.
pronuncial (pro-nun'gial), a. [< L. pronun-
tiare, pronundare, pronounce (see pronounce),
+ -ah] Pertaining to pronunciation.
pronunciamento (pro-nun"si-a-men't6), n.
Same as pronundamiento.
pronunciamiento (Sp. pron. pro -non -the- i-
mien'to), n. • [Sp., = E. pronouncement.] A
manifesto or proclamation ; a formal announce-
ment or declaration: often applied to the dec-
larations of insurrectionists. Also jironunda-
mento.
They [the people ol Suez] are, according to all accounts,
a turbulent and somewhat fanatic set, fond of quarrels,
and slightly addicted to pronundamentos.
R. F. Burton, El-Medinah, p. 118.
pronunciation (pro-nun-si-a'shon), n. [< P.
pronundaiion = Sp. pronundacion = Pg. pro-
nundagao = It. pronundasione, < L. pronuntia-
tio{n-),pronunciatio(n-), a proclamation, a pub-
lication, < pronuntiare, pronundare, proclaim,
announce: see pronounce.] 1. The act of pro-
nouncing, or uttering with articulation; the
manner of uttering words or letters ; specifical-
ly, the manner of uttering words which is held
to be correct, as based on the practice of the
best speakers : as, iheprommciation of a name ;
distinct or indistinct pronunciation. Abbrevi-
ated pron.
The standard of pronunciation is not the authority of
any dictionary, or of any orthoepist ; but it is the present
usage of literary and well-bred society.
NuttaZl, quoted in N. and Q., 7th ser., Vn. 174.
3. The art or manner of uttering a discourse
with euphony and grace : now called delivery.
Well-placing of words for the sweetness of pronuneia-
tion was not known till Mr. Waller introduced it.
Dryden, Dei. of Epil. to second part of Conq. of G ranada, ii.
pronunciation
Pronunciation of Greek and Latin, (a) ConHnenM
pronnndatum or system of pronunciation, a Bystem of pro-
nunciation of Iiatiu or Greek conforming or approximat-
ing to that in use on the continent of Europe, especially
in the vowel-sounds. As each of the principal nations in
western Europe pronounces Latin, and the most of them
Greek also, in the main after the analogy of its own lan-
guage, it is only in their chief points of agreement that a
usage which can justify this epithet continental exists.
The system of pronunciation known as continental retains,
for the most part> the English sounds of the consonants,
and pronounces the vowels as in German or ItaUan.
There is a stricter form of continental pronunciation of
Latin, approaching the Roman, and a modified form, ap-
preaching the English. The continental system of pro-
nouncing Greek is often called Brasmian, as closely resem-
bling the modified or modem Erasmian pronunciation
used in Germany. (6) Eclectic pronuruiiaUon (of Greeic), a
system of pronunciation of ancient Greek which seeks
to approximate to the actual ancient pronunciation. It
agrees on the whole with the stricter continental system,
and pronounces the diphthongs so that eacli element can
be heard separately, (c) English, prmamaiatian (of Qreek\
a system of pronouncing Greek with the EngUsh sounds
of the corresponding Latin letters. This system is now
little used in the United States, (tf) English pronuneia-
turn (of Latin), a system of pronouncing Latin which fol-
lows, with some exceptions, the general analogy of the
modern pronunciation of English. The Latin rule of ac-
centuation determines the place of the accent ; but the
vowels are given their long or short English sounds witli-
out regard to their Latin quantity. The English long
sounds are used at the end of a word (but final a is usually
obscure, as in coma), before another vowel, and at the end
of an accented penult or of any unaccented syllable (ex-
cept penultimate i). The English short sounds are used
in a syllable ending with a consonant (except final es, os),
before two consonants (not a mute and liquid) and x(=es),
and (excepting u) in an accented antepenult before a sin-
gle consonant, if not followed by two vowels the former
of which is e, i, or y, C, s, and t, succeeding the accent,
are equivalent to sh, and x is sounded like ksh, before two
vowels the former of which is an unaccented i or y, unless
s, t, or X precedes. Initial x is pronounced z. If the second
of two Initial consonants is not A, I, or r, the first (if not a)
is silent. Initial chth and phth are pronounced th. There
are no silent vowels. Different authorities vary these
rules somewhat, or acknowledge various exceptions to
them. The English system of pronunciation of Latin reg-
ulates the pronunciation in English of all proper names
which have not altered their Latin spelling, and of all
Latin words and phrases which have become Anglicized.
(e) Era8mianpronunciaUon(ofGhreek), asyateiaihG earliest
champion of which was Erasmus in his treatise "De Recta
Latini Grsecique Sermonis Pronunciation e" (Basel, 1528).
The pronunciation universally in use at that time was the
modern Greek as used in the middle ages and supported
by Byzantine scholars at the time of the revival of letters.
Investigation led to a general conviction among scholars
in the west of Europe that the Erasmiau theory of the an-
cient pronunciation was correct ; and by the end of the
sixteenth century — after considerable controversy, em-
bittered by the fact that the traditional or modern pro-
nunciation was favored by supporters of the papacy, and
the EraBmian system by the Reformers — the Erasmian
system had come Into general use, and the Byzantine
method of pronouncing Greek as a living language — also
called the Reuchlinian, from Johann Reuchlin, the first
great representative of Greek scholarship in Germany —
became obsolete in the western schools. In its original
form the Erasmian pronunciation was distinguished from
the Reuchlinian by giving roost of the vowels the sounds
which they have in Latin as pronounced by most of the
western nations, the Italians, Germans, etc., and by pro-
nouncing the diphthongs so that each vowel in them should
preserve its own sound. As, however, this pronunciation
closely approached that of the modern western languages
in the sixteenth century, it became practically the usage
that every nation should pronounce Greek after the analogy
of its own language, and, as this has gradually changed in
each country, the pronunciation of Greek has varied with
it. In England, in the time of Henry VIII., the pronunci-
ation of vowels was neaily the same as in continental lan-
guages. This is evident from the fact that the relation of
the Greek vowels, as pronounced by the Erasmian system,
to those in the Latin alphabet, as used in the vernacular,
is treated by writers of that time as identical in England
and on the continent. In England, accordingly, the Eras-
mian system of pronunciation was insensibly transformed
into what is now call ed the Enplish pronunciation of Greek.
The system known as the conHnentdl is a partial revision
of the Erasmian ; that designated as the eclectic restores
the Erasmian with some alterations. (/) Modem Greek
pronunciation, the pronunciation of Greek, ancient and
modem, actually in use In Greece at the present day.
The change from the ancient to the present pronunciation
was very gradual. The first signs of its prevalence are
found in the Boeotian dialect and among Hellenists. Con-
fusion of ei with t became general about 200-100 B. c, but
good speakers still made some difference between these
sounds till after 200 A, D. The vowel ij began to be fre-
quently confounded with i about 250-160 B. C, but per-
sons of culture retained the sound of a Latin e (English a)
for it till 500 A. D. or later. The diphthong at became
identical in sound with e about 150-200 A. D., and some-
what later oi was pronounced like v (ii). The vowel v was
distinguished from i till late Byzantine times. After about
150-200 A. D. av, ev came to be sounded as av, ev, and later
as af, ef before surds. During the Roman imperial period
distinctions of quantity fell more and more into disuse,
and merely accentual poetry began as early as the fourth
centuiy. In Egypt and other countries outside of Greece
these changes of pronunciation began very early, and even
the older manuscripts are accordingly full of their ef-
fects (iotacisms). This system of pronunciation prevailed
throughout the middle ages not only in the East, but in
the West tiU the time of the Reformation. Also called
iotacism, itacism, RewsMiraan pronunciation, (g) Reueh-
linian pronuneiatUm (qf Greek). Same as (/). See (e). (A)
Roman prommeiation (of Latin), a system of pronuncia-
tion of Latin which seeks to approximate to the actual an-
cient pronunciation. It differs from the stricter conti-
nental system fthiefly in the sounds given to m, ae, c, and
4772
V, and in having only one sound for each vowel. In the
ancient pronunciation e and o varied in sound, and there
are indications that the short vowels in geheral differed
somewhat in quality from the long vowels. The follow-
ing tables exhibit the leading systems described above.
PRONTTNCIATION OF GREEK.
Continental.
English.
Modem
Greek.
£
&
a
a
a
A
a
a
tu,
I (or as)
I
aore
<}
&
a
a
av
ou (or SB)
au
av or af
P
b
b
v
V>
e
g
gh or y
V>
ng
ng
ng
8
d
d
dh = IH
e
e
e
eora
€t
I(or6e,a)
i
e .
ew
u (or 66)
ii
evoref
i
dz or z
z
z
1
a(ora)
e
e
XI
a
e
e
v«
u (or att,aB)
ii
evoref
9
th
th
th
t
i
i
e
I
§
i
e
f
ks
ks
ks
0
o(d)
0
6
01
ol
ot
e
ou
B ,
ou
»
ti
1(3)
ii
e
V
u(ii)
u
e
VI, VI
we,whe(ue,hue) wi, whi
; e
X
k(<!h)
k
6h
w
0
0
A
*?
6
6
6
a>u
o(oo)
ou
6v or M
Rough breathhig O
h
h
Silent.
proof
from tlie fly-wheel of an engine, or transmitted
by shafting. The principle of this apparatus is the
same in all of its forms. In the accompanying illustration,
which represents a form of the apparatus used in labora-
tories, e is a shaft provided with a winch c, and support-
ed in bearings d In a frame h ; j is a lever having a scale-
pan suspended from the point m near the extremity of
the longer arm as shown at b, on which, when in use, a
weight or weights i are placed ; o is a counterpoise ; / is a
chain connected at Its ends to tightening-bolts k, K; trail.
In all these systems k, \, jn, v, tt, p, o-, t, 0, and ^ respec-
tively have the same sounds as k,i, m, n, p, r, s, t,f, and jps.
The sounds given in parentheses represent the stricter
continental pronunciation. 72 is y before 7, k, f, x (v^ be-
ing V elsewhere); gh represents the corresponding sonant
to 6h (nearly as German g in Wagen as pronounced by
most Germans). In the Modem Greek system x is ch as in
German ich, and 7 is y before a and e sounds (e, i, etc.) ;
7/t is ngg, (iir is mb, and vt is nd. The strict continental
system and the Modem Greek pronounce by the written
accent, while the English and the modified continental
accent Greek by the rule for accent in Latin. The two
last-named systems generally make a and t long in open
syllables and short in closed syllables (the English pro-
nunciation treating them as a and i in Latin), but v is
always long.
PRONUNCIATION OF LATIN.
Roman.
Continental.
Strict. Modified.
English.
a
i
a
ii, a
a,a
ffi
i(ae)
a
a
e,e
au
OU(aB)
OU
au
au
ci
k
k
k
k
c2
k
s
8(8h)
s(sh)
ch
k
(!h
k
k
e
a
a
a, 0
e,e
en
eB
eS
u
u
«;
g
g
e
g
g2
g
g
i
i
i
e
e
e
I. J
J
y
y
J
j
0
d
a, 6
6,0
0,0
ce
oi
a
a
f'z 1
s
s
s(z)
s(z)
t^sh)'
t
t
t
t(s)
a
B
0
u,a
u,a
T
w
T
V
V
z
ks
ks
ks
ks(ks
y
u
ii
e,i
i,i
dz(z)
dz
In all these systems b, d, f, Ji,k,l,m, n, p,ph(= f), q (qu
= kw), r, t, th (in thin), have their ordinary English sounds.
C2 and g2 represent c and g before e, ee, oe. i, and y; cl and
gy. represent c and g before other letters than these. The
short vowel-sounds are used in the English and in the
modified continental system in closed syllables, and the
long vowel-sounds in open syllables, regardless of the an-
cient quantity. The Roman system gives the same qual-
ity of sound to a short vowel as to a long, but makes it
more rapid in pronunciation. In continental pronuncia-
tion s is by some pronounced z between two vowels, and in
the modified system final es is pronounced az, and final os
OS. For the pronunciation of c, s, and t as sh, and of x
as ksh or z, see (d). Pronounce il as in German, or as
French v,.
pronunciative (pr9-nun'§i-a-tiv), a. [= It. pro-
nunziativo, < L. pronuntiativus, pronundativus,
declarative, enunoiative, <.pronunUare, pronun-
ciare, proclaim, enounce: see xnonounce.'] 1.
Of or pertaining to pronunciation ; pronuncia-
tory. — 2t. Uttering confidently ; dogmatical.
The -confident and jpronuncut^iue school of Aristotle.
Bacon, Prometheus.
pronunciator (pro-nun'gi-a-tor), n. [= Sp. Pg.
pronundador = It. pronunziatore, < L. pronun-
Uator, pronundator, a reciter, a relator, < pro-
nunUare, pronundare, publish, proclaim: see
pronounce.'] One who pronounces.
pronunclatory (pro-nun'§i-a-to-ri), a. [<.pro-
nvmdator + -?/i.] Eelating'to pronunciation.
Prony's dynamometer. A dynamometer,
named after its inventor, much used for ob-
taining data for computing the power deliv-
ered by turbines and other water-wheels, or
Prony's Dynamometer.
Gates wooden brake-shoes, which, by tightening the chain
/, can be made to press strongly against the projecting
end of the shaft e ; g, a' are stop-rests, which limit the
motion of tlie lever, used only for convenience in applying
the brake, and not essential to its action. In the deter-
mination of the power transmitted through the shaft e,
moving in the direction shown by the arrow, the counter-
poise is first adjusted to counterbalance the long arm of
the lever and the empty scale-pan. The chain / is then
tightened and the scale-pan loaded, so that at a given ve-
locity the lever is by the friction of the brake held away
from the rest g, but not in contact with g. Under condi-
tions so established, if L = the perpendicular distance in
feet of the point I from the axis of e, S = the weight
in pounds placed in the pan, r = the radius in feet or
fractions of a foot of the shaft e, and M = the moment of
torsion in pounds, then will L8/r = M, and 2irrll = the
power transmitted in foot-pounds during each turn of the
winch. Also called Prony's brake,
prooemiac (pro-e'mi-ak), a. [< proaemiuni +
-ac] Relating to-or constituting a proosmium
or preface.
The 104th [PsaUn] is the Prooemiac, because it com-
mences Vespers. J. M. Neale, Eastern Church, i. 856.
prooemium, procBmion (pro-e'mi-um, -on), n.
111. 2M'Ooemwm, < Gr. n-poolfuov, an opening: see
proem.'] 1. Same as jjroem.
Forgetful how my rich proosmion makes
Thy glory fly along the Italian field.
In lays that will outlast thy Deity.
Tennyson, Lucretius.
In his prooemium he plainly intimates that he is putting
forth a kind of commonplace book of historical anecdotes.
Emiye. Brit., XXIV. 41.
2. In rliet., the exordium.
proof (pvof ), n. and a. [Early mod. E. prooje,
profe, < ME. proof, prouff, profe, also (whence
early mod. E. prief, pretf) preef, preeve, prene,
weove, < OP. prove, proeve, preuve, P. preuve =
Pr. pirova, proa, a proof, < LL. proba, a proof,
<.1j. prohare, prove: see prove.] I. «. 1. Any
effort, act, or operation made for the purpose of ,
ascertaining any truth or fact; a test; a trial:
as, to make jjroo/ of a person's trustworthiness
or courage.
The verray preeve sheweth it indede.
ChMucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 163.
Here and se, and sey thou nought,
Than schall thou not toprqfe be brought.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 23.
Madam, you may make Proof of him, and if your Lady-
ship find him too saucy or wasteful, you may return him
whence you had him. Howell, Letters, I. v. 36.
Let there be
Once every year a joust for one of these ;
For so by nine years' pro<if we needs must learn
Which is our mightiest.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
2. Evidence and argumentation putting the
conclusion beyond reasonable doubt; demon-
stration, perfect or imperfect.
Trifies light as air
Are to the jealous confirmations strong
As proofs of holy writ. Shak., Othello, iii. 3. 324.
They [miracles] are not private, but public proofs; not
things to be<)aDe in a corner, for the sake of single per-
sons, but before multitudes, and in the face of the sun.
Bp. Atlerbury, Sermons, I. xii.
Credulous enough
To swallow much upon much weaker proof.
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 722.
3t. A thing proved or tried j truth or knowledge
gathered by experience ; experience.
Out of your proof you speak ; we, poor unfledged.
Have never wing'd from view 0' the nest, nor know not
What air 's from home. Shak., Cymbellne, ili. 3. 27.
4. The state of having been tested and ap-
proved; firmness, hardness, or impenetrability:
specifically applied to arms or armor of defense,
to note that they have been duly tested and are
impenetrable.
proof
-.3'h'''' "^'li"' '"' •'*°? Sarpedon, Pliatonax, Strophflns.
and Hippolytus, men of great proif in ware. i"""-"'
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, lii.
, , . . ^ She hath Dian's wit :
And, m strong proo/ of chastity well arm'd.
From love s weak childish how she lives unharm'd.
S?iak., E. and J., L 1. 216.
They harnessed him from head to foot with what was
ot proof, lest perhaps he should meet with assaults in the
■way. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 124.
5. la law: (o) The convincing effect of evi-
dence; the manifestation of the truth of a
proposition by presenting the reasons for as-
senting to it; such an array of evidence as
should determine the judgment of the tribunal
m regard to a matter of fact, in criminal cases,
to he effectual as proof, the evidence must satisfy beyond
a reasonahle doubt. In civU cases it is enough that the
evidence preponderates.
Evidence is the medium ot proof; proof is the effect of
evidence. Judge Danfarfh, 108 N. Y., 73.
<&) pi. In equity practice, the instruments of
evidence in their documentary form, as deposi-
tions, deeds, etc., received in a cause, (c) The
presentation of sufficient evidence : as, the bur-
den ot proof lies with the plaintiff, proof is either
■written or parole. The former consists of records, deeds
or other writings ; the latter of the testimony of witnesses
personally appearing in court or before a proper officer
and, as a rule, sworn to the truth of what they depose.
In this sense the word is used to designate either the
task of going forward with the giving of evidence at the
trial or the task of satisfying the minds of the jury.
Owing to the different functions of the judge and the
jury, the distinction is of great practical importance, be-
cause when the plaintiff has given evidence which would
entitle him if unanswered to go to the jury, it is proper for
him to tell counsel that the burden of proof is on de-
fendant, meaning that if the defendant adduces no evi-
dence the plaintiff will be entitled to have the case sub-
mitted to the juiy ; but it is error for him thereupon,
whether defendant offers evidence or nof^ to tell the jury
that the burden of proof is on defendant to contradict
plaintiff's case, for, considered as a task of satisfying the
jury, the burden of proof remains upon the plaintiff
throughout. The burden of proof is never on the def en-
'dant in this sense, except in respect to an affirmative de-
fense in avoidance as distinguished from a denial, (d)
In Scots law, the taking of evidence by a judge
upon an issue framed in pleading, sometimes
disputed facts may be sent to a jury, but, except in ac-
tions of damages, a proof is almost invariably the course
adopted. . . . The evidence as the proof is t^en down in
shorthand, and counsel are heard at the close. Henry
Goudy.
6. A test applied to manufactured articles or
to natural substances prepared for use ; hence,
the state of that which has undergone this test,
or is capable of undergoing it satisfactorily.
Compare armor of proof. — 7. In alcoholic
' liquors, the degree of strength which gives a
specific gravity of 0.920. See II., 2. Liquors
lighter than this are said to be dbofse proof and heavier
liquors are helow proof. See overproof and underproof.
The expressions " 20 per cent over proof," "20 per cent
under proof," mean that the liquor contains 20 volumes
of water for every 100 volumes over or under this fixed
quantity, and that, in order to reduce the spirit to proof,
20 per cent of water by volume must be subtracted or add-
ed as the case may be. Spons' Enayc. Maimif., I. 215.
8. In prinUng, a trial impression from com-
posed type, taken for correction. Generally a
number of successive proofs are read before the matter is
ready for the press, corrections being made first in the
printing-office until what is teohnicaJly called a clean
proof can be submitted to the author. The final proof is
called a press-proof or a foundry-proof, the first being used
of letterpress work, and the latter of plate-work.
Lap. What says my printer now?
G<U. Here 's your last proof, sir. [Giving proof-sheet.]
You shall have perfect books now in a twinkling.
Fletcher (and another'!), Nice Valour, Iv. 1 (circa 1625).
9. In engraving and etching, an impression taken
from an engraved plate to show its state during
the progress of executing it ; also, an early and
superior impression, or one of a limited num-
ber, taken before the title or inscription is en-
graved on the plate, and known sta proof before
letter. There may be first, second, and third proofs,
marking successive states of the work. See also artist's
proof, India proof, proof with open letters, and proof with
remarque, below.
10. In numis., any early impression struck at
the mint from a coin-die used for producing the
current coins of the realm. Proofs are often dis-
tinguished from the coins struck off for actual currency
hy having their edges left plain instead of being milled or
Inscribed. They are also often struck in a metal of greater
or less value than that which is proper to the current coin :
thus, there are gold, silver, and bronze proof s of the Eng-
lish copper farthing issued by George III. in 1799. Com-
pare jiaCfera, 8. J j-iT.
11. In bookbinding, the rough uncut edges of the
shorter leaves of a trimmed book, which prove
that the book has not been cut down too much.
— 12. In arith., an operation serving to check
the accuracy of the calculation — Acroamatic
proof. See ocroanMnSJc.— A priori proof, (a) Proof de-
duced from principles. (V) Proof independent of expen-
300
4773
ence. — Armor of proof, armor which has been proved
trustworthy, or which is known to be trustworthy, as
against ordinary weapons. — Artist's proof, in engraving,
a first impression taken from an engraved plate or block
after its completion. — Burden Of prOOf. See burdenl
and def. 5 (o).— Composite proof, direct proof. See
the adjectives Dogmatic or dlSCUIsive proof. Same
as aeroamatic protf. — Empirical proOfT proof from
actual experience. — Foul proof, imperfed; proof. See
the adjectives.— India proof. See India. — Indirect
proof, in logic, same as apagoge, 1 (().— Irregular proof,
a proof the external form of which is different from the
standard form of logic— Maldng proof, under United
States land laws, furnishing to the proper officer the
requisite affidavits of actual residence, etc., to entitle a
settler to a patent for his land. — Majked proof. See
moried.— Mathematical proof, proof from construction
of concepts, from a diagram or its equivalent.— Mixed
proof, a proof partly analytic and partly synthetic. —
Monosyllogistlc proofl a proof consisting of a single
syllogism.— ontologlcal, ostenslve, positive proof.
See the adjectives.— Proof before letter, an early proof
of a plate taken before the title or explanatory letter-
ing has been engraved.— Proof hy notoriety. Same as
Judicial notice (which see, under notice). — Proof pf gun-
powder, a test of strength, one ounce of powder being nsed
with a 24-pound ball, which must be driven a distance of
not less than 250 yards. — Proof of Ordnance and small-
arms, tests by means of hydraulic pressure and the firing
pf heavy charges.— Proof with Open letters, or open-
letter proof, an early proof of an engraving, on which
the title is engraved in letters that are merely outlined. —
Proof with remar^ or remark proof, a proof of an
engraving or etching in which the eai'ly state is denoted
by one or more croquis or fanciful marks traced on the
margin, or by the absence of certain lines in different
parts of the plate. These remarks are sometimes used
to denote the different states of the plate up to the point of
completion.— Pure proof. See purei.—to the prooft
to the quick ; so as to touch a vital part
But now 111 speaJt, and to the proof, I hope.
Marlowe, Edward n., i. 1.
We must be patient : I am vex'd to the proof too.
Fletaher, Wildgoose Chase, ill. 1.
=Syn. 1. Experiment, essay, ordeal.— 2. Tesiimmiy, etc.
(see emd^nxe and infererw^, demonstration, certification.
II. a. [BUiptieal for of proof: see proof ^ n.,
4.] 1. Impenetrable; able to resist, physical-
ly or morally: as, water-jjroo/, tie-proof, shot-
proof, hvihe-proof: often followed by to or
against before the thing resisted.
Now put your shields before your hearts, and fight.
With hearts more proqf than shields.
ShaJc., Cor., L 4. 25.
Now am I high proof
For any action ; now could I fight bravely.
And charge into a wildfire.
Beau, and Fl., Captain, iv, 2.
I . . . have found thee
Proof against all temptation.
Milton, P. E., iv. 533.
I do not know ... a task so difficult in human life as
to be pro(tf against the importunities of a woman a man
loves. Steele, Spectator, No. 610.
If James had not been proof to all warnings, these events
would have sufficed to warn him.
Macauiay, Hist. Eng., vi.
2. Noting alcoholic liquors which have the
specific gravity 0.91984, usually considered as
0.920, which is sufficiently accurate for prac-
tical purposes. Such spirits contain 0.496 of their
weight, orO.5727 of theirvolume, of absolute alcohol. The
strength is usually determined by a hydrometer. See alco-
holometry, overproof, and underproof.
3. Of excellent quality: said of land. Halli-
well. [Prov. Eng.]— Proof strength. Seetheq'o-
tation.
The proof strength is the load required to produce the
greatest strain ot a specific kind consistent with safety.
RanHne, Steam Engine, § 58.
proof-armt, «'• *• [i proof + arnfl.'] To arm as
with proof; make secure.
Men. She is a handsome wench.
Leu. A delicate, and knows it ;
And out of t\ia.t proof-arms herself.
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, ii. 3.
proof-armor (prSf 'ar"mor), n. Same as armor
of proof (yihieh see, under ^roo/).
proofed (proft), a. [< proof + -ed2.] Made
proof; specifically, made water-proof: as,
proofed silk. [Trade term.]
proowult (prof'ful), a. [< proof + -ful.'] Con-
veying proof; bearing testimony.
Had you been so blest
To give such honour to your captains' counsels
As their alacrities did long to merit
With prooffvU action. Chapman, Caesar and Pompey.
proof-galley (prof 'gal"i), n. In printing, a brass
galley flanged at one end and on both sides.
The type to be proved is held in position by a
sidestick secured by quoins. See galley, 5.
proof-glass (prof 'glas), «. A cylindrical glass
vessel very deep in proportion to its diameter,
and having a foot and a lip for pouring out
liquids ; a hydrometer-glass, it is principally used
for holding liquids while testing their densities or specific
gravities by the use of a hydrometer. See cut under hy-
drometer.
proof-spirit
proof-house (prof'hous), n. In gun-manuf., a
building in which gun-barrels are proved or
tested for flaws or defects by firing them with
critical test-charges of a definite weight of a
standard powder, and also by hydraulic pres-
sure. Bee proof, n.,Q. in London a proof house is es-
tablished by law, to which gun-barrels of different makers
can be sent for proof. Gua-barrels which meet the test
are then stamped with authorized proof-marks.
proof-leaf (prof 'lef),Ji. A proof; a proof-sheet.
They appear printed in a few proof -leaves ot it in my
possession. Boswell, Johnson, 1. 204.
proofless (prSf'les), a. [< 2)roof + -less.']
Lacking sufficient evidence to constitute proof;
not proved.
Such questionable, not to say altogether proofless con-
celts. Boyle, Works, II. 290.
prooflessly (prSf 'les-li), adv. Without proof.
The maxim . . . Locus conservat locatum . . . has been
proof-lessly asserted. Boyle, Works, IV. 390.
proof-mark (prof'mark), n. In gun-snaking, a
mark stamped in the metal of a gun-barrel to
show that it has been tested and found good.
proof-plane (prSf'plan), n. In elect., a small
thin metallic disk, insulated on a non-conduct-
ing handle, by which electricity may be carried
from one place to another, it is used in experi-
ments on the distribution of electricity on conductors.
When it is laid against the surface whose electric density
it is intended to measure, it forms, as it were, a part of
the surface, and takes the charge due to the area which it
covers, which charge may be carried to an electrometer
and measured.
proof-press (prof'pres), n. A printing-press
used exclusively for taking proofs.
proof-print (prof 'print), n. An early impres-
sion of an engraving, taken with greater care
than an ordinary print ; a proof.
proof-printer (prof 'prin'''ter), «. In engraving,
a skuled workman whose especial province is
the printing of proofs from engraved or etched
plates.
proof-reader (prefre^der), n. A person who
reads printers' proofs for correction ; one whose
occupation is to discover errors in proofs and
note on them the necessary changes, a critical
or editorial proof-read^ is one who- not only corrects the
compositors^ errors, but notes or points out the lapses of
the original text, or makes or indicates changes for its
improvement. Proof-readers were originally called cor-
rectors ofthepress, and that phrase still remains in literary
or formal use, especially for those who read proofs for
criticism as well as for correction.
proof-reading (pr6f're"ding), n. The correc-
tion of errors in printers' proofs. See proof-
reader. In marking a proof, the places in the text
where changes are to be made are indicated in the fol-
lowing modes. A caret (a) is inserted in the bottom of a
' line at a point where something is to be put in or a new
paragraph is to be made ; a line is drawn through any-
thing to be taken out or changed for something else, and
under anything to be changed to different type ; the mark
\~ is made to the left of a word to be shifted in that di-
rection, and _| to the right ; and letters or parts of a word
improperly separated are connected by a curve or curves
(^ or O). In the last two cases the same marking is re-
peated in tlie margin. The other indicative marks or signs
made in the margin (besides a few strictly technical ones,
whichadmitofmuch variation) arethetoUowing: 8 or J(
(dele-mark), representing d (S) for dele, take out ; ^ (turn-
mark), for turning an inverted letter ; U (space-mark), for
inserting a space, or more space ; si,, for putting down
space ; Q, for inserting an em-quadrat, or increasing the
space to that amount; f (paragraph-mark), for making a
new paragraph ; x, for a broken or imperfect letter; stet
(let it stand), for something that is to remain after being
crossed out, a row of dots being made under the erasure ;
tr, for transpose; w. f. for vjrong font (meaning a letter
or letters of different size or face from the others) ; ital.
for italic, and r&m. for roman; cap. or caps, tor capital
or capitals; S. c. for sfmaU capitals; I. c. for lower-ease.
In the last Ave" cases, where only a single letter is in-
volved, proof-readers usually write the letter itself in the
margin, in the form desired, or with the proper under-
scoring. In underscoring, italics are indicated by a sin-
gle line, small capitals by two lines, and capitals by three
lines. A single letter written as a capital does not usu-
ally need to be underscored. Where two paragraphs in
the text are to be joined or "run in," a line curving at
the ends is drawn between them, and " No ^ " written in
the margin. A marginal correction should alws^s be
written as nearly as possible opposite the place affected
in the text; and where the connection cannot thus be
made clear, a line should be drawn between the place
and the correctioiil.
proof-sheet (prof'shet), n. A printers' proof.
Mr. Arthur Pendenhis having written his article, . . .
reviewed it approvingly as it lay before him in its wet
proof-sheet at the office of the paper.
Thackeray, Pendennis, xlvi.
She recognized the name as that of a distinguished pub-
lisher, and the packet as a i-oll of proof-sheets.
H. James, Jr., Harper's Mag., LXXVII. 106.
proof-spirit (pr8f'spir'''it), n. In com., an alco-
holic liquor which has a specific gravity of 0.920,
and contains 0.495 of its weight, or 0.5727 of its
volume, of absolute alcohol.
proof-staff
proof-staff (prof staf), n. A metallic straight-
edge used as a standard to correct a wooden
staff ma,de for ordinary service.
proof-stick (prof stik), «. in sugar-manuf., a
rod of wood for dipping in boiling syrup to test
its condition by the rapidity and character of
the crystallization. E. S. Knight.
proof-text (prof 'tekst), re. A passage of Scrip-
ture brought forward to prove a special doc-
trine.
It is not a legitimate use of the Old Testament to seek
in it proof -teieta for all the doctrines that are found in the
New Testament. BiUiotheca Sacra, XLIII. 663.
proof-valiantt (prof 'val'yant), a. Of tried cou-
rage.
Believe me, captain, such distemper'd spirits.
Once out of motion, though they be pro(if-valiaM,
If they appear thus violent and fiery.
Breed but their own disgraces.
Beait. and Fl., Captain, il. 1.
proostracal (pro-os'tra-kal), a. [iproostracum
+ -al."] Forming or formed by the proostra-
cum ; of or pertaining to a proostracum.
proostracum (pro-os'tra-kum), n. [Nli., < Gr.
trp6, before, + baTpmoi!, shell: see Ostracea.']
The broad and projecting lamella of the thick
covering of the phragmacone of a cephalopod,
extending beyond the base of the phragmacone,
and being a continuation of the wall of the
most anterior chamber of the shell ; the fore-
most part of the guard or rostrum of a fossil
cephalopod of the belemnite group, it is vari-
ously shaped, usually lamellate, and with the rostrum
represents the pen of the squids. See cuts under belem-
nite, BeleTnnitiam, and caia/mary.
The genus Acanthoteuthis, ... in which the guard is
almost rudimentary, while the pro-ostracum is large and
penlike. Ewdey, Anat Invert., p. 466.
prootic (pro-o'tik), a. and n. [< Gr. wp6, before,
-I- otif ("'■-), ear, -I- -jc] I. a. Anterior with
reference to the otic capsule or among otic
bones; of or pertaining to the proBtio : corre-
lated with opisthoUc, etc. See II., and otic.
II. n. In goal, and anat., a bone of the ear,
an anterior ossification of the periotio capsule,
forming with the epiotic and opisthotie the pe-
trosal or petromastoid bone, developed in es-
pecial relation with the anterior vertical semi-
circular canal of the bony labyrinth of the
ear. it frequently remains distinct from the other otic
bones ; in man it assists the opisthotie in the formation
of the mastoid as well as the petrous part of the temporal
hone. See cuts under CrocodUm, Gallinx, zni perioU^.
The pro-otie is, in fact, one of the most constant bones
of the skull in the lower Vertebrata, though it is com-
monly mistaken on the one hand for the alisphenoid, and
on the other for the entire petro-mastoid.
Euxley, Anat. Vert, p. 26.
propl (prop), n. [Early mod. 'E.projppe, < ME.
proppe, a prop ; = MD. proppe, a prop, support ;
cf . MD. proppe, prop, a stopple, D. prop, a stop-
ple, cork, plug, wad, pellet, = MLG. prop,
proppe, LG. propp = G. prop/, propfen, a stop-
ple, cork (not found before the 19th century),
= Sw. pr(ypp = Dan. prop, a cork, stopple, plug.
The origin of these words is uncertain; some
compare G.p/roj)/,prop/em, a graft, MHG.jp/rop-
fen, OHG. *pfropfo, pfroffo, a set, slip, < L. pro-
pago, a set; sUp, layer of a plant: see propago,
propagate, etc. The Gael, prop, Ir. propa, a
prop, support, are prob. borrowed from E.] 1 .
A stick, stafE, pole, rod, beam, or other rigid
thing used to sustain an incumbent weight;
that on which anything rests for support; a
support ; a stay ; a fulcrum : usually applied to
something not forming a part of the object sup-
ported: as, &prop for vines; &prop for an old
wall.
Proppe, longe (staSe), contus. Prompt. Pan., p. 416.
You take my house when you do take the prop
That doth sustain my house.
Shaik., M. of T., Iv. 1. 376.
Justice and religion are the two chief props and support-
ers of a well-governed commonwealth.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 603.
But wit *s like a luxuriant vine.
Unless to virtue's prop it join.
Firm and erect towards heaven bound.
Cowley, Death of Mrs. C. Philips.
They are the pr<rps of national wealth and prosperity,
not the foundations of them.
1). Webster, Speech, House of Kepresentatives, Jan. 2, 1815.
2. In hot., same as fulcrum, 3. — 3. pi. Legs.
HaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.]=Syn. 1. Seesta/.
prop'
ping.
pen, prop, stay, or bear up (cf. MLG. proppen
= G. propfen = Sw. proppa = Dan. proppe, stop
up, cork) ; appar. from the noun, but the verb
may possibly be older: see prop, re.] I. trans.
1. To support or prevent from falling by pla-
4774
cing something under or against : as, to prop a
roof or wall.
Here wee saw certain great Serraglios, exceeding high,
and propt up by buttresses. Sandys, Travailes, p. 106.
What Shalt thou expect,
To be depender on a thing that leans,
Who cannot be new built, nor has no friends.
So much as but to prop him ?
Shale., Cymbeline, i. 6. 60.
He was propped up on a bed-rest, and always had his
gold-headed stick lying by him.
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xxxii.
2. To support by standing under or against:
as, a pillar props a roof; beams jjrop a wall.
He whose Arms alone sustained the Toil,
A.ndpropp'd the nodding Frame of Britain's Isle.
Congreve, Birth of the Muse.
Eternal snows the growing mass supply,
Till the bright mountains prop th' incumbent sky.
Pope, Temple of Pame, 1. 68.
But build a castle on his head,
His skull will prop it under.
Bums, Epigram on a Coxcomb.
3. To support or sustain in a general sense : as,
to prcfp a failing cause.
Wise men must be had to prop the republic.
Fletcher (and another 7), I>rophetesB, i. 3.
It behoved our Merchants to get an Interest here toprop
up their declining Trade. Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 182.
To oro^i fair Liberty's declining Cause,
And fix the jarring World with equal Laws.
Prior, To Boileau Despreaux (1704).
4. To help; assist. Malliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
II. intrans. To stop or pull up suddenly;
balk: said of a horse or other beast. Douglas
Sladen. [Australia.]
prop^ (prop), re. A shell used in the game of
props. See props'^.
prop. An abbreviation of (a) proposition ; (6)
properly.
propaedeutic (pro-pf-du'tik), a. ?,nd re. [< Gr.
irpoTzaiSevEiv, teach beforehand, < tt/jiS, before, +
waideiiuv, teach, bring up or rear : seepsedeuUcs.']
1. a. Pertaining to propsedeutics, or the intro-
duction to any art or science; relating to pre-
liminary instruction ; instructing beforehand.
The conceptual suppositions, which are taken for as-
sured premises and are in truth erroneous, and at best pro-
psedeulic, but are dragged unnoticed into the conclusion.
Westmimita- Rev., CXXVI. 476.
II. re. A branch of knowledge introductory
to a particular art or science ; a subject to be
mastered as apreliminary to some other subject.
It [logic] is a propaedeutic to all other sciences.
Atujater, Logic, p. 37.
That study [physical geography] which Kant justly
termed the "propaideuiic of natural knowledge."
Huxley, Physiography, Pref., p. vi.
propaedeutical (pro-pf-du'ti-kal), a. [ipropx-
deutic + -al.'] Same as propddeuUc.
propaedeutics (pro-pe-dii'tiks), re. [PI. of »ro-
pssdeutic (see -ies).^ ' The preliminary body of
knowledge and of rules necessary for the study
of some particular art, science, etc. ; the intro-
duction to an art or a science.
It [our secular life] is not a mere instrumentality for the
purpose of silencing the beast of the body, but rather is it
tlie propsedeutics of human combination and communica-
tion, wherein spiritual life becomes a reality.
A. B. Alcott, Table-Talk, p. 114.
propagable (prop'a-ga-bl), a. [= It. propaga-
bile, < L. as if *propa'gdbilis, ipropagare, prop-
agate: see propagate.'] 1. Capable of being
propagated, or of being continued or multiplied
by natural generation or production.
Such creatures as are produced each by its peculiar seed
constitute a AiBtinat propagable sort of creatures, Boyle,
2. Capable of being spread or extended by any
means, as tenets, doctrines, or principles.
propagand(prop'a-gand),re. \_<F.propagande:
see propaganda.'] " Same a,s propaganda.
A grand scheme for the union of Protestant Christen-
dom, and his [Hartllb's] propagand of Comenius's school-
reform. Marie Pattison, Life of Milton, p. 33.
propaganda (prop-argan'da), n. [= P. propa-
ganda = Sp. Pg. It.' propaganda; short for L.
(ML.) congregatio de propaganda fide, associa-
tion for propagating the faith (see def.) : pro-
paganda, abl. fern, gerundive of propagare,
propagate: see propagate.] 1. A committee of
cardinals (Congregation de Propaganda Mde,
,, .- . -a - J 'for propagating the faith') which has the su-
i(T?Top),v.;wf-^^^VP-proppedpvr.prop- peryigioS Sf foreign missions in the Eoman
7. [Early mod. E. proppe; = MD. D. prop- gatholic Church, it was founded by Pope Gregory
XV. in 1622. One of its chief instrumentalities is the
Propaganda College in Rome. See congregation, 6 (o), 10.
Hence — 2. Any kind of institution or organiza-
tion for propagating a new doctrine or system of
doctrines, or for proselyting.
propagate
The first attempts at ^propaganda of liberty, and the first
attempts at a propagarAa of nationality, were marked by
great excesses and great mistakes.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 287.
The rules of the association [the National Secular Soci-
ety] inform us that it is the duty of an "active member"
to promote the circulation of secular literature, and gen-
erally to sdd the Kree-thought propaganda of his neigh-
bourhood. Saturday Bev.
propagandic (prop-a-gan'dik), a. [< propa-
gand-a + -ic] Pertaining to a propaganda or
to propagandism.
propagandism (prop-a-gan'dizm), re. [= F.
propagandisme = Pg. propagandismo ; &sprop-
aganda + -i«m.] The system or practice of
propagating tenets or principles ; zealous dis-
semination of doctrines ; proselytism.
Wehave attempted no propagandism, and acknowledged
no revolution. Liinedln, in Kaymond, p. 309.
What were the causes which made his [Mohammed's]
disciples the leaders of a successful armed propagandiemf
StaU, stud. Med. Hist, p. 102.
propagandist (prop-a-gan'dist), re. and a. [=
F. propagandiste = Pg. propagandista ; as prop-
aganda + -ist.] I, re. One who devotes him-
self to the propagation or spread of any system
of principles.
Bonaparte selected a body to compose his Sanhedrim of
political propagandists. B. Walsh.
The eager propagandists who prowl about for souls.
Hawthorne, Marble Faun, xx.
II. a. Pledged to or employed in such prop-
agation ; given to proselyting.
On the second day after Eullmann's murderous attempt^
the authorities had been ordered to deal with the Catho-
lic Press, and with propagandist societies under the in-
fluence of the Jesuits, according to the utmost rigour of
the law. Lowe, Bismarck, II. 321.
propagate (prop'a-gat), v. t. ; pret. and pp. prop-
agated, ppr. propagating. [< L. propagatus,
pp. of propagare (> It. propagare = Pg. Sp.
propagar = P. propager), peg down (a layer),
set (slips or cuttings), propagate, extend, con-
tinue (cf. propago, a layer of a plant, a set, slip,
shoot, hence offspring, progeny), < pro, forth, +
pangere (-^^ pag), iaBten, set: see pact. Hence
ult. proin, prune^.] I. trans. 1. To multiply
or continue by natural generation or repro-
duction; cause to reproduce itself: applied to
plants and animals: as, to propagate fruit-
trees; to propagate a breed of horses or sheep.
I sought the purchase of a glorious beauty,
From whence an issue I might propagate.
Shak., Pericles, i. 2. 78.
The wriggling fry soon fill the creeks around, . . .
The propagated myriads spread.
C&wper, Progress of Error, 1. 484.
But cookie, spurge, according to their law,
Might prqpas'ate their kind with none to awe.
Browning, Childe Koland.
2. To transmit or spread from person to per-
son or from place to place ; carry forward or
onward; diffuse; extend: as, tojproj^ajate a re-
port; to propagate the Christian religion.
I first upon the mountains high built altars to thy name,
And grav'd it on the rocks thereby to propagate thy tame.
Drayton, Quest of Cynthia.
By newspaper reports, any great effect in one assise
town, or electoral town, has been propagated to the rest of
the empire. De Quincey, Style, L
The idle writers of the day continued to propagate dul-
ness through a series of heavy tomes.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., i. 18.
Throw a stone into the stream, and the circles that prop-
agate themselves are the beautiful type of all influence.
Emerson, Nature.
3t. To promote ; augment ; increase.
Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,
Which thou wilt propagate, to have it prest
With more of thine. Shak., E. and J., L 1. 193.
While tender airs and lovely dames inspire
Soft melting thoughts, and propagate desire.
Addison, The Greatest English Poets.
4t. To produce ; originate ; invent.
Thence to visit honest and learned Mr. Hartlib, a public
spirited and ingenious person, who had propagated many
usefuU things and arts. Evelyn, Diary, Nov. 27, 1666.
For the greatest part of the Island of Sumatra propa-
gates this Plant [pepper), and the Natives would readily
comply with any who would come to Trade with them.
Dampier, Voyages, II. 1. 116.
5. To scatter; disperse. [Rare.]
This short harangue propo^osted the Juncto, and put an
end to their resolves ; however, they took care of their
fee, but then left all concern for the lady behind them.
Gentleman Instructed, p. 644. (Davies.)
= Syn. 1. To increase, spread, disseminate.
n. intrans. To be multiplied or reproduced
by generation, or by new shoots or plants ; bear
young.
Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot.
To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot
Pope, Essay on Man, 11. 64-
propagate
Every thread of silk in the rich vestmentB seema only
a provision from the worms that spin, for the behoof of
worms tii&t propagaU in sepulchres.
IHckens, Pictures from Italy, ix.
propagating-bench (prop'a-ga-ting-bench), n.
In hort, a stationary shallow box, usually filled
with fine sand, but sometimes with earth, which
is kept moist, and into which cuttings or slips
are inserted until they have taken root. The
propagating-bench is usually so placed that
heat can be applied beneath it.
propagating-box (prop'a-ga-ting-boks), n. In
Itort, a shallow wooden box or pan, properly
movable {oomTpare propagating-bench), for hold-
ing slips and cuttings in sand, it is usuaUy placed
over the hot flues or water-pipes in a shady part of a
plant-house, or on the sand-bed in a propagating-house.
Sometimes the cuttings in the box are covered with a
propagating-glass.
propagating-glass(prop'a-ga-tin'j-glas), n. In
hort, a bell-glass used to cover cuttings or
seedlings in a hotbed, nursery, or garden.
propagating-house (prop'a-ga-ting-hous), n.
la nort., etc., any greenhouse especially adapt-
ed or used for the propagation or increase of
plants from outtings| or for growing them from
the seeds.
propagation (prop-a-ga'shon), n. [< ME.prop-
agacion, < OP. propagation, propagaSon, F.
propagation = 8p. propagacion = Pg. propa-
gagSo = It. propagasione, < L. propagaUo{n-),
a propagating, an extension, < propagare, pp.
propagatiis, propagate: see propagate.1 X.
The act of propagating: the multiplication or
continuance of the kind or species by natural
generation or reproduction: as, Via.e: propagaUon
of plants or animals, in the greater number of flower-
ing plants propagation is effected naturally by means of
seeds : but many plants are also propagated by the produc-
tion of runners or lateral shoots, which spread along the
surface of the soil, and root at the joints, from which they
send up new stems. Plants are also propagated by suck-
ers rising from rootstocks, and by various other natural
means. Propagation may be effected artificially by cut-
tings, grafting, budding, inarching, etc.
In September the propagacum,
In landes suche as tolde is of before,
Is best to sette in occupacion.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 189.
How is it that in the propagation of the race such a mar-
vel is repeated as that . . . every germ of a bodily organ-
ism receives the quickening breath of its spirit?
iotee, Microoosmus (trans.), I. 370.
There is not in nature any spontaneous generation, but
all come \iY propagaima. ^^y, Works of Creation.
2. The spreading or extension of anything;
diffusion : as, the propagation of Christianity ;
the propagation of socialistic ideas.
Ihe Apostle [Paul] did act like a prudent Govemour,
and in such a manner as he thought did moat tend to the
propagation of the Gospel. StiUingfleet, Sermons, II. vi.
It [speech] may be used for the propagation of slander.
B. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 166.
3t. Increase; augmentation; enlargement; ag-
grandizement.
For propagation of a dower
Eemaining in the coffer of her friends.
Shak., M. for M., i. 2. 164.
The spoil and waste they [the Jews] had made upon all
nations round about them for the propagation of their em-
pire, which they were still enlarging as their desires.
South, Sermons, XI. ii.
4. Transmission from one point to another, as
of sound by waves of condensation and rarefac-
tion in the air, and of radiant heat and light by
undulations in the ether. See soundP, heat,
Ughti, and radiant energy (under energy).
To account for the enormous velocity of propagation of
light, thd substance which transmits it is assumed to be
both of extreme elasticity and of extreme tenuity.
Tyndall, light and Elect., p. 60.
=Syn. 1. Increase, generation, procreation, breeding. —
2. Dissemination.
propagative (prop'a-ga-tiv), a. [= Sp. Pg.
propagativo; aa propagate + 4ve.^ Having the
power of propagation; propagating.
Bvery man owes more of his being to Almighty God than
to his natural parents, whose veTy propagative faculty was
at first given to the human nature by the only virtue, ef-
ficacy, and energy of the divine commission and institu-
tion. Sir M. Bale, Origin of Mankind, p. 354. (Latham.)
A church without propagative power in the world can-
not be other than a calamity to all within its borders.
H. Drummond, Natural law in the Spmtual World,
[p. 366.
propagator (prop'a-ga-tor), n. [= F.propaga-
teur = Sp. Pg. propagador = It. propagatore,<.
L. propagator, a propagator, enlarger, extend-
er, < propagare, pp. propagatus, generate, m-
crease: see propagate.'] One who propagates ;
one who continues by generation or successive
production ; one who causes something to ex-
tend or spread; a promoter; a diffiuser: as, a
4775
propagator of heresies. The name is given to one
whose business is the propagation of plants in nurseries,
etc., by budding, grafting, etc.
The Author then of Originall Sinne is the propagator of
our Nature. Purchae, Pilgrimage, p. 29.
Socrates, . . , the greatest propagator of morality.
Addison, Freeholder, No. 45.
Jacobus Baradseus, a Syrian, who was a chief propagator
of the Eutychian doctrines.
E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, II. 312.
propagatorium (prop^a-ga-tc'ri-um), n.; pi.
propagatoria (-a). [I^L.,'neut. of propagato-
rius, propagatory: see propagator."] In hiol.,
the reproductive apparatus; the entire physi-
cal mechanism of reproduction; the organs of
generation of either sex, consisting essentially
of a sexual gland producing ova or sperma-
tozoa, passages for the conveyance of the pro-
duct, or for detaining it until mature in the
body, and, usually, organs of sexual congress.
Compare nutritorium, locomotorium, sensorium.
propagatory (prop'a-ga-to-ri), a. [< NL. pro-
pagatorius, < li. propagator, propagator: see
propagator.] Serving to accomplish propa-
gation, as the organs of generation ; reproduc-
tive, as a system of physical organs.
propago (pro -pa 'go), n.; -pi. propagines (pro-
paj'i-nez). ' [L. ,< ^ropapare, propagate : see
propagate.] 1. In hort., a branch laid down
in the process of layering. — 2. In hot., same
as iulhlet.
propagule (pro-pag'iil), n. [< KL. propagulum,
q. v.] In hot., same as propagulum.
propagulum (pro-pag'u-lum), «. ; pi. propagu-
^ (■^^)^ [Nil., dim. oi propago.] In iot.: (a)
A shoot, such as a runner or sucker, which may
serve for propagation. (6) In algee, a modi-
fied branch by which non-sexual reproduction
is effected, (cf) One of the powder-like grains
which form the soredia of lichens.
Propalseotherium (pr6-pa"le-o-the'ri-um), n.
[NL., < Gr. np6, before, + naXaidg, ancient, +
driplov, a wild beast: see Palseotherium.] A ge-
nus of fossil tapiroid mammals from the Eocene
of Europe.
propale (pro-pal'), v. t. ; pret. and ■^^. propaled,
■ppr. propaling. [= Sp. Pg. propalar = It. pro-
palare, < LL. propalare, make public, divulge,
< L. propalam, openly, publicly, < pro, forth, +
palam, openly.] To publish ; disclose. Scott.
propalinal (pro-pal'i-nal), a. [< Gr. irpS, be-
fore, + nd?uv, back, backward, -1- -al.] Mov-
ing forward and backward ; relating to forward
and backward movement; protracted and re-
tracted, as the lower jaw when it moves forth
and back in the act of chewing : as, the pro-
palinal movement in mastication.
The propalinal mastication is to be distinguished into
the proal, from behind forwards, ... and the palinal, from
before backwards. Cope, Amer. Nat., ZXII. 7.
proparapteral (pro-pa-rap'te-ral), a. [< pro-
parapteron + -al.] Of or pertaining to the
proparapteron.
proparapteron (pro-pa-rap'te-ron), n.; pl.jpro-
paraptera (-ra). [Nli., < Gr. trpd, before, -1-
NL, parapteron.] In entom. , the parapteron of
the prothoracic segment; the third sclerite of
the propleuron.
proparent (pro-par'ent), n. [< L. pro, for, +
paren(t-)s, parent.]" One who stands in the
place of a parent. Imp. Diet.
proparoxytone (pro-par-ok'si-ton), a. and n.
[< Gr. TtpoTtapo^vTovoq (see def .), < jrpiS, before,
+ Trapo^irrcmoQ, paroxytone: see paroxytone.]
I. a. In Gr. gram., having or characterized by
the acute accent on the antepenultimate: some-
times applied to words in English and other lan-
guages to signify that they have the tonic ac-
cent on the antepenultimate.
II. In Gr. gram,., a word which has the acute
accent on the antepenultimate.
proparoxytone (pro-par-ok'si-ton), v. t.; pret.
and pp. proparoxytoned, ppr. proparoxy toning.
[< Gr. nprnapo^vTovtiv, < wponapo^vTovoe, pro-
paroxytone: see proparoxytone, a.] In Gr.
gram., to vrrite or pronounce (a word) with the
acute accent on the antepenultimate.
proparoxytonic (pro-par-ok-si-ton'ik), a. [<
proparoxytone + -Jc] Accented on the antepe-
nult; proparoxytone.
propassion (pro-pash'gn), n. [< ML. propas-
sio{nr), < L. pro, before, + passio(,n-), passion :
see passion.] A feeling antecedent to passion ;
an inchoate passion; the first stir of passion.
The philosopher calls it [anger] the whetstone to forti-
tude, a spur intended to set forward virtue. This is sim-
dIv rather a propassion than a passion.
^^ Iiev.T.Adams,WotiB,l.i76.
propeller-shaft
Not the first motions [of anger] are forbidden : the
twinklingi of the eye, as the philosophers call them, the
propassions and sudden and irresistible alterations.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 18SB), I. 211.
propatagial (pro-pat-a-ji'al), a. and n. [< KL,
propatagialis, <. propaiagium, q. v.] I. a. Of
or pertaining to the propatagium; as, apropata-
gial fold of integument ; a propatagial muscle.
II. n. Apropatagialis.
propatagiaus (pr6-pat"a-ji-a'lis), n.; pi. pro-
patagicHes (-lez). [NL.: see propatagial.] A
tensor muscle of the propatagium, of which
there are two, long and short — Propatagialis
brevls, the short propatagial muscle, also called tenx/r
jiropnta^ifrreiw.— Propatagialis longus, the long pro-
patagial muscle, also called tensor propatagii longus.
propatagian (pro-pat-a-ji'an), a. [< propata-
gium + -an.] Same as propatagial.
Tiie propatagian muscles of the swallows.
Science, X. 71.
propatagium (pro-pat-a-ji'um), n. ; pi. propata-
gia (-a). [NL., < Gr. np6, before, + NL. jjato-
gium,\. v.] The so-called patagium of a bird's
wing : the more precise name of the fold of skin
in front of the upper arm and of the forearm
which fills up the reentrance between these
parts, and so forms the smooth fore-border of
the wing from the shoulder to the carpal angle.
pro patria (pro pa'tri-a). {L.-. pro, for; pa-
tria, abl. of patria, one's native land : see pa^
tria.] For one's native land.
proped (pro'ped), n. [< li.pro, for, + pes ipedr)
= E.foot.] In eretom., a proleg. Kirhy. See
cut vrnderproleg.
propedal(pr6'ped-al),a. [<. proped + -al.] Of
the nature of or pertaining to a proped: as, a
propedal process.
propel (pro-pel'), V. t.; pret. and yp. propelled,
ppr. propelling. [< ME. propellen, < L. propel-
lere, drive or push forward, < pro, forward^ +
pellere, drive, push: see pulse^. Cf. expel, im-
pel, repel, etc.] To drive forward; move or
cause to move on; urge or press onward by
force.
Ferre awaie propdle
Horrend odoure of kychen, bath, gutters.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 38.
That overplus of motion would be too feeble and lan-
guid to propel so vast and ponderous a body with that pro-
digious velocity. Bentley.
The rate of succession may be retarded by insisting upon
one object, and propelled by dismissing another before its
time. Eamee, Elem. of Criticism, ix.
propellant (pro-pel'ant), n. [Erroneous form of
propellent.] ' "That which propels or drives for-
ward ; a propelling agent.
Though not as a military propellant, it [guncotton] has
been used with great success in sporting cartridges,
The Engineer, IXIX. 117.
In all saloon rifles and pi^ls the propeUant is fulminat-
ing powder contained in a small copper case.
W. W. Oreener, The Gun, p. 368.
propellent (pro-pel'ent), a. [< li. propellen(,t-)s,
ppr. of propeliere, drive or push forward : see
propel] Driving forward; propelling.
propeller (pro-pel' 6r),». l<. propel + -er\] 1.
One who or that which propels ; in marine en-
gin., broadly, any contrivance or appliance,
as a sail, paddle, oar, paddle-wheel, screw,
etc., used for moving vessels floating upon the
surface of water, or under the surface; in a
more restricted and more generally accepted
sense, any instrument or appliance, and espe-
cially a screw, used for marine propulsion and
actuated by machinery (usually a steam-engine
called a marine engine) carried by the vessel
so propelled, a principle common to all this class of
propellers is that a vessel is moved forward by the re-
action on the propeller of the water thrown rearward,
the propelling machinery being at some part or parts
rigidly attached to the ship. The net propelling power
is therefore determined by the mass of water thrown
rearward multiplied into the square of the velocity with
which it is thrown, allowance being made for prejudicial
resistances.
2. A boat or vessel driven by a propeller. — 3.
In fishing, a kind of troUing-hook with arti-
ficial bait, fitted with wings or flanges to make
it spin in the water; a spinning-bait — Archi-
medean, fish-tail, screw, etc., propeller. See the
qualifying words.
propeller-engine (pr9-pel'er-en"jin), n. A ma-
rine engine for driving a screw propeller.
propeller-mower (pro-pel'er-mo'er), n. Same
as front-cut mower (which see, under mower^.
propeller-pump (pro-pel'er-pump), «. A form
of rotary pump with helical blades inclosed in
a casing and submerged in the water.
propeller-shaft (pro-pel' er-shaft), n. The rigid
metallic shaft which carries the propelleo- of a
marine engine.
propeller-well
propeller-'well (pro-pel' fer-wel), n. A vertical
aperture over the screw in the stern of a ship
which has a hoisting propeller. When It ia desired
to proceed under sail, the screw, a two-bladed one, is
hoisted off the end of the shaft into the propeller-well, so
that it may not retard the ship by dragging in the water.
propeller-wheel (pro-pel' 6r-hwel), ». A ma-
rine propeller or screw ; a screw propeller.
propeunent (pro-pel'ment), n. [< propel +
-menf] 1. Theaotof prbpeUing. — 2. Inolook-
work, electrical recording-instruments, oalou-
lating-maohines, etc., the propelling mecha-
nism; more particularly, an escapement mecha-
nism in which the primary propulsive power is
applied to the escapement, and the pallets of
the escapement drive the scape- wheel, instead
of the latter operating the escapement, as in
ordinary clocks.
BTOpendt (pro-pend'), v. i. [= OF. porpendre,
pourpendre, '< L. propendere, hang forward or
down, be inclined or disposed, < pro, forward,
+ pendere, hang: see pendent.1 To lean for-
ward ; incline ; be prepense or disposed in favor
of anything.
Ne'ertheless,
My spritely brethren, I propend to you
In resolution to keep Helen still.
Shak., T. and C, ii. 2. 190.
His eyes are like a balance, apt \xtpropend each way.
Burt<m, Auat. of MeL, p. 454.
pXOpendencyt (pro-pen'den-si), n. [<.prqpen^
den{t) + -cy.'] 1. A leaning toward anything;
inclination ; tendency of desire to anything. —
2. Attentive deliberation. [Rare.]
An act above the animal actings, which are transient,
and admit not of that attention and propenderuiy of ac-
tions. Sir U. Hale.
propendent (pro-pen'dent), a. [< L. propen-
den{t-)s, ppr. of propendere, hang forward or
down: see^ropereS.] It. Inclining forward or
toward anythiig. South. (Imp. Diet.) — 2. In
&ot., hanging forward and downward. Paxton.
prepense (pro-pens ' ) , o. [< L. propensus, pp. of
propendere, tang forward or down, be inclined:
see propend.'i Leaning toward anything, in a
m.oral sense; inclined; disposed, whether to
good or evil; prone.
God is more propenae to rewards than to punishments.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 40.
Our agents shall discern the mind of the parliament to-
wards us, which if it be^qp^nse and favorable, there may
be a fit season to procure . . . countenance of our pro-
ceedings. Wirdhrop, Hist. New England, II. 345.
propensely (pro-pens'li), adv. In a prepense
manner; with natural tendency.
Others . . . looked upon ib on the contrary, as a real
and substantial fXiMLprtypangeiy formed against Yorick.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, iv. 27.
propenseness (pro-pens'nes), n. The state of
being prepense ; natural tendency.
A propen8ene88 to diseases in the body.
Z>onn€,, Devotions, p. 573.
propension (pro-pen'shon), n. [< F.propension
^ Sp. propension = Pg.'propensSo = It. propen-
sione, <. L. propermoin-), inclination, propen-
sity, < propendei-e, pp. propensus, hang forward
or down: see propend.^ 1. The state of being
prepense; propensity.
I ever had a greater zeal to sadness,
A natural propension.
Middleton, Masginger, and Rowley, Old Law, iv. 2.
Such by-words as reaction and progress are but the po-
litical slang which each side uses to express their aver-
sions and ttieiT propennons.
StTwbe, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. IS.
2. The state or condition of tending to move
tn a certain direction.
In natural motions this impetuosity continually in-
creases, by the continued action of the cause— namely,
the propension of going to the place assigned it by nature.
Whewai.
propensitudet (pro-pen 'si-tud), n. l< pro-
pense + -itude, as in attitude, etc.] Propensity.
[Bare.]
T' abandon naturall propemitudes.
Marston, What you Will, ii. 1.
propensity (pro-pen'si-ti), «. [= It. ^^ropensi-
td; aspropense + ■dtu.'] A bent of mind, nat-
ural or acquired ; inclination ; natural tenden-
cy; disposition to anything good or evil, par-
ticularly to evil: as, aj>rqpe»s»^ to gamble.
He that learns it [angling] must not onely bring an en-
quiring, searching, and discerning wit but he must bring
dso that patience you talk of, and a love and propensity
to the art itself.
/. Walton, Complete Angler (rep. of 1653), p. 11.
Let there be but propensity and bent of will to religion.
South.
=Syil. Bias, IruMnaKon, etc. See bent^.
propensivet (pro-pen'siv), a. [< prepense +
-we.'] Inclined; disposed; favorable.
4776
This Edward the Thirde, of his propenxlve minde to-
wardes them, united to Yarmouth Kirtleyroad, from it
seaven mile vacant _ ,„ . .
Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (Harl. Misc., VI. 152). (Domes.)
propenyl (prop'e-nil), n, [< prop{ionic) + -erir
+ -yW] Same as glyceryl.
propeptone (pro-pep'ton), n. [< pi-o- + pep-
tone.'] One of the first products of peptic and
tryptic digestion : same as hemialhumose.
propeptonuria (pro-pep-to-nu'ri-a), n. [NL.,
<, propeptone + Gr. oipov, urine.] The pres-
ence of propeptone in the urine.
proper (prop'6r), a. and n. [< ME. propre,<
OF.propre, F.propre = Sp. Fg. It. propria, <L.
proprius, special, proper, one's own, personal,
also lasting: no certain connections. Prom
Ii. proprius are also vM. propriety, property, pro-
priate, appropriate, expropriate, etc.] I. a. 1.
Special; peculiar; belonging to a sjjeeies or
individual and to nothing else ; springing from
the peculiar nature of a given species or indi-
vidual ; particularly suited to or befitting one's
nature; natural; original.
Vexed I am
Of late with passions of some difference.
Conceptions only proper to myself.
Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviours.
Shak., J. C, 1. 2. 41.
They have a proper saint almost for every peculiar in-
firmity. Burton, Anat of Mel., p. 274.
But first he casts to change his proper shape,
Wliich else might work him danger or delay.
Maton, F. L., iii. 634.
He knew how to adapt every plant to its proper soil.
Addison, Hilpah and Shalum.
A neatness that seemed less the result of care and plan
than a something as iwoiwr to the man as whiteness to the
lily. Lowell, Cambridge Thirty Years Ago.
2. Belonging to one; one's own.
For if they sholde abyde longe with vs they shuld vndo
vs^ and ete vs lyke as they do their owne ^wo^we folke.
£. Eden, tr. of Amerigo Vespucci (First Boolcs on Ameri-
[oa, ed. Arber, p. zxziii.).
Here at my house and at my proper cost.
Shak., T. N., v. 1. 327.
The waiter's hands that reach
To each his perfect pint of stout,
^i^ proper chop to each.
Tennyson, Will Waterproof.
3. Pit; suitable; appropriate.
'Tis wooer I obey him, but not now.
ShMk., Othello, v. 2. 196.
A middle estate is raosi proper to the office of teaching.
MUtim, Apology for Smectymnuus.
To sit with her in sight was happiness, and the proper
happiness for early morning— serene, incomplete, but
progressive. Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xxxvi.
Unhappily, you are in a situation in which it is proper
for you to do what it would be improper in me to endure.
Uacaulay, in Trevelyan, 1. 186.
The proper function of authority is to enlarge, not to
contract, our horizon. Oladstone, Might of Itight, p. 196.
4. According to recognized usage; correct;
just: as, a jjroper word; a jjJ'oper expression.
Those parts of nature into which the chaos was divided
they signified by dark names which we have expressed in
their plain mi proper terms.
T. Burnet, Theory of the Earth.
No dawn — no dusk — no proper time of day !
Rood, November.
5. Rightly so called, named, or described; taken
in a strict sense : in this sense usually follow-
ing the noun : as, the apes proper belong to the
Old World; no sheU-fish are mkes proper.
This elevation descended . . . into what might be called
the garden proper. Scott, Waverley, ix.
It is safe to assert that no Government proper ever had
a provision in its organic law for its own termination.
Lincoln, in Baymond, p. 114.
6. Decent; correct in behavior; respectable;
such as should be : as, proper conduct.
That is an advertisement to a proper maid in Florence,
one Diana. Shak., All's Well, iv. 3. 240.
Under the most exciting circumstances, Titia was such
an exceedingly proper child.
Mrs. D. M. Craik, Christian's Mistake, ii.
7. WeU-formed; good-looking; personable;
handsome; also, physically strong or active.
[Now only prov. Eng.]
There is not among us al one
That dare medle with that potter, man for man.
I felt his handes not long agone, . . .
He is as ^opre a man as ever you medle withal.
Playe ofBobyn Hode (Child's Ballads, V. 425).
I am a proper fellow of my hands.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 2. 72.
A comely, proper woman, though not handsome.
Pepys, Diary, I. 98.
And still my delight is in proper young men.
Bums, Jolly Beggars.
8. In her., having its natural color or colors:
said of any object used as a bearing: thus, a
properistoma
coil of rope proper is represented brown, and
the spiral lines of the cordage are indicated. —
9. In liturgies, used only on a particular day or
festival, or during a particular octave or sea-
son: &s, the proper iatroit; a, proper pvetaee;
proper -pBsihns. — 10. Pine; pretty: said ironi-
cally of what is absurd or objectionable.
Talk with a man out at a window ! a, proper saying.
Shak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 312.
Expect. They two help him to a wife.
Slirth. Ay, she is a proper piece that such creatures can
broke for. B. Jonson, Staple of News, L 2.
11. Becoming; deserved. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eng.]— Definition proper, a definition by means of the
genus and specific diilerence. — Proper a^unct, an ad-
junct which belongs to the whole of a species, and always^
and to nothing else.— Proper chant, an old name for the
keyofCmaJor. StoineromiiarreS.- Propercognitlont.
See coffniMoji.— Proper conversion, in logie. See conver-
sion, 2. — Proper duTereuce, an inseparable accident dis-
tinguishing two things.— Proper exciple. See exciple.
—Proper feud, in law, an original and genuine feud held
by pure military service.— Proper fraction. See /roe-
tion, 4.— Proper Jurisdiction. See jarfedictiojt.- Prop-
er motion, in astron. See motion.— R:oper noun or
name, a name given to an individual memoer of a class,
for distinction 6om other members of the same class, as
Shakspere, Ceesar, London, April, Tuesday, Tray, Eclipse,
etc.: opposed to common or appeUaiive nmm. — Proper
object, an object that is object to out one subject— Prop-
er preface. Seeijr^ace.-Proper quantity. Same as
extensive qaaniity (which see, under exfeTmoe). — Proper
syllogism, the Kamist name for a syllogism having an in-
dividual middle : as, Hobbes was a genius ; Hobbes showed
no early bent in the direction in which he afterward dis-
tinguished himself; hence, it is possible for a man of
genius to show no early bent in the direction in which he
will afterward distinguish himself. =Syn. 1. Particular,
individual, specific- 3 and 4. Fitting, befitting, meetj
seemly, becoming, legitimate.
II. n. 1. That which is set apart to special or
individual use. [Rare.] Specifically, in Zitttrgics, a
special office or special parts of an office appointed for a
particular day or time: as, the proper of the day; the
proper of Whitsunday.
2t. A property in the logical sense.
Propers either flow immediately from the essence of the
subject ... or by the mediation of some other property.
Bwgersdiclus, tr. by a Gentleman.
In propert, individually ; privately.
The princes found they could not have that in proper
which God made to be common.
Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, iii. 3.
Proper of saints, the variable parts of an office appointed
for use on the festival of .an individual saint. Compare
Common of the saints, under coTremoii.— Proper of the
mass, the proper of the season for the mass. — Proper of
the season, in liturgies, the variable parts of an office
appointed for use on a Sunday or other day (not cele-
brated as a saint's day), at a certain festival, etc., or dur-
ing a certain octave or season.
proper (prop'fer), adv. [< proper, a.] Properly;
very; exceedingly. [Vulgar.]
"Isn't it lovely, Mrs. Flint?
Celyndy.
Proper pretty," replied
Jatie G. Austen, The Desmond Hundred, vL
propert (prop'Sr), v. t. [< OF. proprier, < L.
propriare, take as one's own, appropriate, <
propritis, one's own: see proper, a.] 1. To
appropriate. Palsgrave. (Halliwell.) — 2. To
make proper; adorn. Salliwell.
properatet (prop'e-rat), v. i. [< "L. properatus,
pp. of properare, liasten, quicken, < properus,
quick, speedy, (.pro, forward, forth, + •\/ par-,
make.] To hasten.
And, as last helps, hurle them down on their pates.
Awhile to keep off death, which jTrojierotes.
Vicars, tr. of Virgil. iSares.')
properationf (prop-e-ra'shon), n. [< Ta.prope-
ratioin-), quickness," a hastening, < mroperare,
Y^. proper alvs, hasten: seejirpperate.] The act
of properating or hastening; haste; speed.
There is great preparation of this banquet properation
to it, participation of it; all is carried with joy and Jouis-
ance. Sev. T. Adams, Works, I. 216.
properispome (pro-per'i-spom), n. and a. [<
l!rL.properis2}omenon, q.v.] I. n. In Or. gram.,
a word which has the circumflex accent on the
penultimate.
II, a. In Gr.jrj'am., having or characterized by
the circumflex accent on the penultimate.
properispome (pro-per'i-spom), «. t. ; pret. and
pp.properispomed, ppr. properi^oming. [(.pro-
perispome, «.] In Gr. gram., to write or pro-
nounce with the circumflex acoent on the pe-
nultimate.
properispomenon (pro-per-i-spom'e-non), n.
[NL.,< (Jr. npoirepiaTrafitvav, a word with the cir-
cumflex accent on the penult, neut. of irponepi-
mr&iievoc, ppr. of irpoTuepimrav, draw around be-
fore, < 7rp6, before, -1- irepiairav, draw around, strip
oS: see perispomenon.'] Swoae a.a properisponw.
properistoma (pro-pe-ris'to-ma), n.; pi. pro-
peristomata (pro-jer-i-sto'ma-tH.). [NL., ? L.
pro, before, -f- NL. peristoma : "see peristome,']
properistoma
The lip of the primitive mouth of a gastrula.
AiBO properistome.
At the thickened edges of the gastrula, the primitive
. . . prc^enstoma, the endoderm and the exoderm pass
into each other. Haeekel, Evol. Anim. (trans.), I. 220.
properistomal (pro-per'i-sto-mal), a. [< pro-
peristoma + -al.'i Pertainingtoaproperistoma.
properistome (pro-per'i-stom), n. [< NL. pro-
peristoma, q. v.] Same a.a properistoma.
properly (prop'6r-li), adv. [< ME. properly,
proprely, propreliclie; < proper + -ly^.] if. la
one's own manner, speech, action, etc.
Ne though I speke here wordes properly.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., L 729.
2. In a proper manner; with propriety; fitly;
snitahly; correctly: as, a word properly ap-
plied ; a dress properly adjusted.
"Parfay," quath Paoience, "propreliche to telle
In English, hit is tul harde."
Piers Plowman (C), xvil 119.
Ignorance of forms cannot^()2)erZj/ be styled ill manners.
Swift, Good Manners.
3. To a high degree ; quite; entirely; exceed-
ingly; extremely. [CoUoq.]
All which I did assure my lord was most prt^perly false,
and nothing like it true. Pepys, Diary, July U, 1664.
Father . . . gave me a wipe ... on the side of my
face that knocked me over and hurt me properly.
HaZiburUm, Sam Slick in England, xxvi. (BartleU.)
Abbreviated prop.
FroperlJ^ speaking, (a) In the correct or strict sense.
(6) Speaking without qualification.
properness (prop'er-nes), n. {(.proper + -ness.']
The character of being proper, in any sense of
that word.
'Slight, sir ! yonder is a lady veil'd,
'Sot properness beyond comparison,
And^ sure, her face is like &e rest; we'll see 't.
Fletcher (and another) Love's Pilgrimage, iv. 1.
propertied (prop'er-tid), a. [(.property + -ed^.]
Possessed of property.
An institution devoted ... to ih& propert-Ud and satis-
fled classes generally.
if. Aradld, Last Essays, Church of England.
The loyal and propertied part of the community.
Oladkone, Nineteenth Century, XXII. 458.
property (prop'er-ti), n. ; pi. properties (-tiz).
[< MB. propertee, properte, proprete, propirte,
propurte, < OF. properte, propriety, fitness,
property, < L. proprieta(t-)s, a peculiarity, pe-
culiar nature or quality, right or fact of posses-
sion, property, < propriits, special, particular,
one's own: see proper. Ct. propriety; a. Aoviblet
ot property.^ 1 . Any character always present
in an individual or a class; an essential attri-
bute; a peculiar quality; loosely, any quality
or characteristic.
It is the propertie of a wyse buylder to vse such tooles as
the woorke requireth.
E. Eden (First Books on America, ed. Arber, p. 67).
Delectable and pleasant conversation, whose property is
to move a kindly delight. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, v. 3.
But Thou art the same Lord, Whose property is always
to have mercy.
Book of Common Prayer, Communion Office, Prayer of
[Humble Access.
Property is correctly a synonym forpeculiar quality ; but
it is frequently used as co-extensive with qu^ity in gen-
eral. Sir W. Hamilton.
Strictly speaking, we ought to confine the term property
to Bodies, not to Matter ; for an abstraction can have no
properties; and it is the bodies which severally manifest
the qualities.
G. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, 11. iv. § 42.
Soft iron loses almost all magnetic properties at a red
heat. Atkinson, tr. of Mascart and Joubert, I. 384.
2. In logic, a character which belongs to the
whole of a species, and to nothing else, but not
to the essence or definition.
Propretie is a naturall promenesse and manor of dooyng
whiche agreeth to one kinde and to the same onely and
that evermore. Wilson, Eule of Reason (1551).
What is propertie f It is a natural inclination or property,
incident to one special kind ; which is to be understood
foure mannerof wales. First, it is called proprium, which
is proper to one onely kind, as to be a poet or musician is
proper to man, but not to every man : secondly, it is called
proper that belongeth to all the kind, but not to that kmd
alone : thirdly, it is said to be proper when it belongeth to
one onely kind and to all that kind, but yet not alwayes, as
to be bare-headed or bald is proper to man in old age, but
yet not alwaies : fourthly, it is said to be proper, or rather
most proper, which is incident to one kind alone, to aU
that kind, and alwaies, as to have a natural aptnesse to
laugh or to speake is proper to man onely, to every man,
and alwaies, and therefore this kind of property is said to
be convertible with the kind whereunto it belongeth, as
whatsoever hath naturally power to speake or laugh the
same is man, and whatsoever is man the same hath power
to speake or laugh. BlundeMle, Arte of Logioke, i. 4.
3 The right to the use or enjoyment or the
beneficial right of disposal of anything that can
be the subject of ownership; ownership; es-
tate; especially, ownership of tangible things.
4777
In the broader sense, a right of action iBproperty; so is a
mere right to use or possess, if it be a right as against the
general owner, but is usually termed special property, to
distinguish it from the right of the general owner, which
is termed the general property. The entire property is the
exclusive right of possessing, enjoying, and disposing of a
thing. See bailm,ent, and lien^, 1.
Ne truste no wight to finden in Fortune
Ay properte: hlr giftes ben comune.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 392.
Jack has an unresisting good nature, which makes him
incapable of having ^property in any thing.
Steele, Spectator, No. 82.
The idea ol property being a right to any thing.
Locke, Human Understanding, IV. iii. 18.
Property . . . denotes in every state of society the larg-
est powers of exclusive use or exclusive control over things
(and sometimes, unfortunately, over persons) which the
law accords, or which custom, in that state of society, rec-
ognizes. J. S. Mill, Socialism, p. 129.
4. A thing or things subject to ownership ; any-
thing that maybe exclusively possessed and en-
joyed; chattels and land; possessions.
The King has also appropriated the Queen's jewels to
himself, and conceives that they are his undoubted pri-
vate ^operij/. Qreville, Memoirs, Jan. 8, 1823.
It was the misfortune of my friend ... to have em-
barked his property in large speculations.
Irrnng, Sketch-Book, p. 36.
English political economy and English popular notions
are very deeply and extensively pervaded by the assump-
tion that s\\ property has been acquired through an ori-
ginal transaction of purchase, and that, whatever be the
disadvantages of the form it t^kes, they were allowed for
in the consideration for the original sale.
Maine, Early Law and Custom, p. 325.
5. A thing required for some peculiar or spe-
cific use, as a tool ; an accessory ; specifically,
in theaters, a stage requisite, as any article of
costume or furniture, or other appointment,
necessary to be produced in a scene (in this
specific sense used also attributively).
This devil Photinus
Employs me as 2. property, and, grown useless.
Will shake me off again.
Fletcher {and another), False One, v. 3.
To hire soihe of owx properties: as a sceptre and crown
for Jove ; and a caduceus for Mercury.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 2.
Not to be of any Use or Consequence in the World as
to your self, but merely as a Property to others.
Steele, Tender Husband, L 1.
I had seen many rehearsals, and sometimes got a peep
at the play, having been taken on "in arms" as si property
child in groups of happy peasantry.
J. Jefferson, Autobiog., i.
6t. Propriety.
Our poets excel in grandity and gravity, smoothness and
property, in quickness and briefness. Camden.
7. Individuality; that which constitutes an in-
dividual. [Rare.]
Property was thus appalled
That the self was not the same.
Sha:k., Phoenix and Turtle, 1. 37.
8. A oloak or disguise. SalUwell. [Prov.Eng.]
Hadst thou so cheap opinion of my birth.
My breeding, or my fortunes, that none else
Could serve loT property of your lust but I?
Shirley, Wedding, i. 3.
Anhanaonic, com]nnnlt7, corporeal, descriptive
property. See the qualifying words. — Cotes's proper-
ties of the circle. See drdc— De Moivre's property
of the circle. See i»rc2e.— Discussion of property,
gee i2u(;t<8su)n.—Focal,lndividual,etc., property. See
the adjectives.— Mixed subjects of property. See
mtodi.— Movable property. Same aspersonai property.
— Perishable, personal, private property. See the ad-
jectives.—Property inaction, ownership without pos-
session, but with the present right of possession enforce-
able by action. In the broadest sense the term may include
any right of action for money or other property. Compare
chose in action, under cfioses. — Property qualification.
See qualification.— QaaM^eA property, a limited right
of ownership, (a) Such right as a man has in wild animals
which he has reclaimed. Also called speaal property,
lb) Such right as a bailee has in the chattel transferred to
him by the bailment.— Real property. See real.— Spe-
cial property. Same as qualifled property (a). =S3m. 1.
Attnlmte, Characteristic, etc. See quality.— i. Property,
Effects, Chattels, Goods, Wares, Commodities, Merchandise,
possessions, wealth. Property is the general word for those
material things which are one's own, whether for sale or
not. Effects applies to personal property, viewed as in-
cluding the things even of least value. Chattels comprises
every kind of property except freehold. (See the defini-
tions of the classes real eLndpersonal, under chattel.) Goods
includes a merchant's stock-in-trade, or one's movable
property of any sort. Wares are manufactured articles,
especially of the heavier sort, as earthenware, wooden-
ware. Commodities are such movable articles as are ne-
cessities of life, and have a money value. Merehamdise is
the general word for articles of trade.
propertyt (prop'er-ti), v. t. [< property, ».]
1. To invest with (certain) properties or quali-
ties.
His voice was propertied
As all the tuned spheres. Shale., A. and C, v. 2. 83.
2. To make a property or tool of; appropri-
ate.
prophesy
I am too high-born to be propertied.
To be a secondary at control,
Or useful serving-man and instrument. ■>
Shak., K. John, v. 2. 79.
property-man (prop'fer-ti-man), n. A person
employed in a theater and having the charge
of stage properties.
At the death of Peer, the property man at this theatre,
the Guardian extracted much fun from a catalogue ol
articles under his care.
Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, II. 16.
property-master (prop'6r-ti-mas"t6r), ». In a
theater, a person who superintends the making,
storage, and use of stage properties; a head
property-man.
While the property-master and his men were fashioning
the god Talepuika, the scenic artist had sketched and
modelled the scenery of the opera.
SerUmei's Mag., IV. 44a
property-plot (prop'er-ti-plot), n. In a theater,
a list of the accessories required in the produc-
tion of » play.
property-room (prop'6r-ti-r6m), n. The room
in a theater in which the stage properties are
kept.
property-tax (prop'fer-ti-taks), n. A direct tax
imposed on the property of individuals, amount-
ing to a certain percentage on the estimated
value of their property.
prophanet, prophanelyt, etc. Obsolete spell-
ings ot profane, etc.
prophasiS (prof 'a-sis), n. [NL., < Grr. vpSAaaii,
that which appears, a motive, a pretext, < npo-
i^ivetv, show forth, manifest, < izpd, forth, +
(paivEiv, show, (paivcaBai, appear: see phase.'i In
med., prognosis; foreknowledge of the course
of a disease.
prophecy (prof 'e-si), n. ; pi. prophecies (-siz).
[< ME. prophecy, prophecie, profecye, < OP.
prophecie, prophetie, F. prophStie = Sp. profecia
= Pg. prophecia = it.profesia, < JAj.prophetia
(ML. also propheda), < (Jr. npofiiTeia, the gift of
interpreting the will of the gods, in N. T. in-
spired discourse, prediction (see def. 2), < ■trpo-
tptjTsiiEiv, prophesy, predict, < Tzpafrjriiq, a prophet :
see prophet.'^ 1. Inspired discourse; specifical-
ly, in Christian theol. , discourse flowing from the
revelation and impulse of the Holy Spirit.
Sone a lew stode vp in by.
And thus he said thurgh prophecy.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 83.
The rest of the acts of Solomon, . . . are they not writ-
ten in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy
of Ahijah? Z Chron. ix. 2i). ,
For the prophecy' came not in old time by the will of
man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by
the Holy Ghost. 2 Pet. L 21.
2. A prediction; declaration of something to
come ; especially, a foretelling under divine in-
spiration.
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias. Mat. xiiL 14.
A prophecy, which says that G
of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.
Shak., Rich. HI., t 1. 39.
3f. Interpretation of Scripture; religious ex-
hortation or instruction.
The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother
taught him. Prov. xxxi. ].
Mr. Wilson, praying and exhorting the congregation to
love, Ac, commended to them the exercise of prophecy in
his absence. Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 60.
4. In liturgies: (a) A lection from the Old
Testament, especially a eucharistic or missal
lection ; also, a lection in the Mozarabic daily
ofSce, and in the Greek (Church at sabbath
vespers on certain festivals. (6) The canti-
cle Benedietus (Luke i. 68-79) as sung in the
Galilean liturgy, afterward displaced by the
Gloria in Excelsis. = Syn. 1. DivinaUori, etc See
' predi^stion. \
prophecy-monger (prof 'e-si-mung''ger),»i. One
who deals in prophecies : so called in contempt.
The English [are] observed by f orrain ers to be the great-
est prophecy-mangers, and, whilst the Devil knows their
diet, they shall never want a dish to please the palate.
FuUer, Ch. Hist., IV. ii. 46. (Davies.)
prophesier (prof'e-si-6r), n. [(.prophesy + -eri.]
One who prophesies or predicts.
Saynt Dauyd of Wales, the great archebishop of Menenia,
had many prophesiers and manye angels sent afore to geue
warning of his comming . . . yeares ere he was borne.
Bp. Bale, English Votaries, i.
The counterfeit module has deceived me, like a double-
meaning proptofer. Shak., All's Well, Iv. 3. 115.
prophesy (prof 'e-si), ».; pret. a,jidi-pp.propliesied,
ppr. prophesying. [Formerly also prophecy, <
fate MB. prophecie, proficy; < prophecy, n. The
orig. long final syllable, having retained its
accent, though now secondary, has undergone
the usual change of long accented ME. i, as in
prophesy
pacify, multiply, etc.] I. trans. To predict;
foretell; foreshow. See prophet.
Methouffht thy very gait did prophesy
A royal Dobleness. Sliak., Lear, v. 3. 176.
Amongst many other dignities which this letter hath by
being received and seen by you, it is not the least that it
was prophesied of betore it was born. i)on»i«. Letters, xxv.
One ol his [Olive's] masters . . . was sagacious enough
to prophet that the idle lad would make a great figure in
the world. Maeaiday, Lord Clive.
For by the warning of the Holy Ghost
I prophesy that I shall die to-night.
Tennyson, St. Simeon Stylites.
II. intrans. 1. To speak by divine inspira-
tion ; Titter or tell as prophet.
Again he said unto me. Prophesy upon these bones^ and
say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
Ezek. xxxvii. 4.
The prophets . . . prophesied of the grace that should
come unto you. 1 Fet. L 10.
2. To utter predictions ; foretell future events.
Prophesy not in the name of the Lord, that thou die not
by our hand. .Ter. xi. 21.
Sf. To interpret or explain Scripture or reli-
gious subjects; preach; exhort.
In the afternoon, Mr. Koger Williams (according to their
custom) propounded a question, to which the pastor, Mr.
Smith, spake briefly ; then Mr. Williams mopheeied.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 109.
They also allowed greater Uberty to prophesy than those
before them ; for they admitted any member to speak and
pray as well as their pastor.
Penn, Uise and Progress of Quakers, i.
prophesying (prof'e-si-ing), n. [Verbal n. of
prophesy, v7\ It. Preaching; religious exhorta-
tion; the act of speaking on religious subjects.
The Liberty of Prophesying. [Title.] Jer. Taylor.
The Puritans maintained frequent religious exercises,
in which texts of Scripture were interpreted or discussed,
one speaking to the subject after another, in an orderly
method. This was called prophesying^ in reference to 1
Corin. xiv. 81 : Ye may all prophesy, that all may learn, and
all may be comforted.
Neal, in New England's Memorial, p. 171, note.
2. The act of foretelling.
prophet (prof et), n. [< ME. prophete, profett,
profite, < OF. prophete, profete, F.prophdte =
Pr. Pg. propheta = Sp. It. prof eta = OFries. pro-
pheta = D. profeet = iSliG. prophete = MHG.
prophete. Or. prophet = Sw. Dan. profet, < LL.
propheta, prophetes = Goth, praufetes, prau-
fetus, < Gr. irpo^ng, Doric Trpo^drw, one who
speaks for a god, an interpreter (as Tiresias
was of Zeus, Orpheus of Bacchus, Apollo of
t Zeus, the Pythia of Apollo), expounder (as those
who interpreted the words of the inspired
seers), proolaimer, harbinger (as the bowl is of
mirth, or the cicada of summer), in tne Septua-
gint an interpreter, spokesman, usually an in-
spired prophet, also a revealer of the future,
in N. T. and eccl. an interpreter of Scripture,
a preacher, < irpoipdvai, say before or before-
hand, < npi, before, in public, + <l>avac, speak,
say: see fable, fcme\ fate.'] 1. One who speaks
by a divine inspiration as the interpreter
through whom a divinity declares himself. In
the times of the Old Testament there was an order of
prophets, for the duties of whose office men were trained
In colleges called schools of the prophets. The members of
these schools acted as public religious teachers, and the
prophets in the stricter sense (inspired teachers) generally
belonged to this order. In the New Testament, Christian
prophets were recognized in the church as possessing a
charism distinct from that of mere teachers, and as utter-
ing special revelations and predictions. They are often
mentioned with apostles, and next after them in order.
Ihesus that sprong of iesse roote,
As us hath prechid thi prophete.
Hymns to Virgin, ete. (E. E. T. S.), p. 12.
The word prophet (n-poi^^TTj?) was derived in the first in-
stance from the interpreters of the will of the gods (see
Pindar, K, L 91); later and especially it was applied to
those who expounded the umntelli^ble oracles of the
Pythoness of Delphi, or the rustling of the leaves of Do-
dona. In a metaphorical sense it was used of poets, as
of interpreters of flie gods or Muses. It was then adopted
by the Septuagint as the best equivalent of the nam or
prophet of the Old Testament. ... In all these cases
(Acts 11. 17, 18; xlii. 1; xv. 32; Key. i. 3; xl. 3, 6, 10,
18; xvL 6; xviii. 20, 24; xix. 10; xxiL 6, 7, 9, 10, 18), in
the New Testament as in the Old, and it may be added in
the Koran, the prominent idea is not that of prediction,
but of delivering inspired messages of warning, exhorta-
tion, and instruction ; building up, exhorting, and com-
forting; convincing, judging, and making manifest the
secrets of the heart (1 Cor. xiv. 8, 24, 25). The ancient
classical and Hebrew sense prevails everywhere. Epime-
nides and Mahomet on the one hand, Elijah and Paul on
the other, are called prophets, not because they foretold
the future, but because they enlightened the present.
A. P. Stanley, Com. on Corinthians, p. 243.
2. One who foretells future events; apredicter;
a foreteller ; especially, a person inspired to an-
nounce future events.
As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which
have been since the world began ; That we should be
4778
saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that
hate us. L^ks '■ 70.
Polybius was of the best sort of prophets, who predict
from natural causes those events which must naturally
proceed from them. Dryden, Character of Polybms.
I do rest
A propliet certain of my prophecy,
That never shadow of mistrust can cross
Between us. Tennyson, Geraint.
3. An orthopterous insect of the famUy Man-
tidss. [Local, TJ. S.]— French prophets, a name
sometimes given in England to the Camisards.— Major
prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel ; also,
the books of their prophecies in the Old Testament.—
Minor prophets, the writers of the Old Testament from
Hosea to Malachi inclusive ; also, their books. The dis-
tinction between major and wiTior relates to the size of
the books.— School Of the prophets, among the ancient
Jews, a school or college in which young men were edu-
cated and qualified to be public teachers. One ejderly or
leading prophet presided over them, called their father
or master; hence the students were called sons qf the
prophets. Their chief subject of study was the law and
its interpretation, but music and sacred poetry were sub-
sidiary branches of instruction.— The Prophets, those
books of the Old Testament which are largely composed
of prophecies, or which were written or compiled by mem-
bers of the order of prophets. The ancient Jews some-
times divided the Old Testament into the Law (Penta-
teuch) and the Prophets, and sometimes (as still in Hebrew
Bibles) into Law, Prophets, and Hagiographa. In Hebrew
Bibles the Farmer Prophets are Joshua, Judges, I. and II.
Samuel, and I. and II. Kings ; the Latter Prophets are the
books from Isaiah to Malachi inclusive, with the exception
of Lamentations and Daniel, which are placed in the Ha-
giographa.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the
Mat. xxiL 40.
= Syn. 1. Prophet, Seer, Soothsayer. A prophet is properly
one who discloses or speaks forth to others the will of God ;
a seer is one who has himself learned God's wiU by a vision.
Both titles were applied in the Old Testament to the same
class of men, but at different times. The extra-Biblical
uses of the words correspond to the Biblical. The word
prophet is sometimes used in the Bible of a candidate for
the prophetic office, or of an inspired preacher or interpre-
ter. Soothsayer, as used in the Bible, implies imposture,
and in other literature its standing is little better.
Beforetime, in Israel, when a man went to enquire of
God, thus he spake. Come, and let us go to the seer: for he
that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.
1 Sam. ix. 9.
They had with them inspired men, Prophets, and it were
not sober to say they did ought of moment without divine
intimation. ' Milton, Church-Government, i. 2.
The secret which the king hath demanded cannot . . .
the soothsayers shew unto the king. Dan. ii. 27,
prophett (profet), V. i. [< prophet, ».] To
prophesy. [Rare.]
Nor propheting Helenus, when he foretold dangerous hard
haps,
Forspake this burial mourning.
Stanihurst, iBneid, iii. 727. (Vames.)
prophetet, n. A Middle English form ot profit.
prophetess (prof et-es), n. [< 'P.propMtesse =
Pg. prophetiza = Sp. profetisa = It. profetessa,
< LL. prophetissa, a prophetess, < propheta, a
prophet: see prophet.] A female prophet; a
woman who speaks with inspiration or fore-
tells future events.
Ourself have often tried
Valkyrian hymns, or into rhythm have dash'd
The passion of the prophetess.
Tennyson, Princess, iv.
prophet-flower (prof'et-flou"fer), n. A boragi-
naeeous herb, Amehia Gviffitliii, found in north-
west India, etc., and somewhat cultivated for
its interesting flowers. The corolla is funnel-shaped,
ot a bright primrose-yellow, the limb at opening marked
with five dark spots which fade away as the day advances.
The flowers ai-e racemed, the plant hairy. The name is
of Mussulman origin, pi-obably suggested by the some-
what crescent-shaped spots.
prophethood (prof'et-hud), «. [< prophet +
-hood.] The quality or condition, or the position
or office, of a prophet.
His environment and rural prophethood has hurt him
[Wordsworth] much. Carlyle, in Fronde, I. 27.
prophetic (pro-fet'ik>, a. [< F. propMtique =
Pg. prophetico = Sp. prof4tico = It. profetieo
(at. D. profetisch = G. propheUsch = Sw. Dan.
profetish), < LL. propheticus, < Gr. irpoijiifTMOQ,
pertaining to a prophet or to prophecy, < irpo-
<l>^ris, a prophet: see prophet] 1. Pertain-
ing or relating to a prophet or to prophecy;
having the character of prophecy; conta.ining
prophecy: as, prophetic -writinga.
Till old experience do attain
To something like prophetick strain.
Milton, II Penseroso, 1. 174,
It was with something of quite true prophetic fervour
that eacbof these [Byron and Shelley] . . . denounced the
hypocrisies which they believed they saw around them.
J. C. Shairp, Aspects of Poetry, p. 119.
2. Presageful; predictive: with o/ before the
thing foretold.
And fears are olt prophetic of the event.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., x. 46.
rophetship would excfte a violent
B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 24.
prophylaxy
3. Anticipative ; having or tending to a pre-
sentiment or an intuitive discernment of the
future.
O vav prophetic soul ! my uncle t
Shak., Hamlet, i. 6. 40.
prophetical (pro-fet'i-kal), a. [(.prophetic +
-aC] Same &spropheUe.
God hath endued us . . . with the heavenly support
ot prophetical revelation, which doth open those hidden
mysteries that reason could never have been able to And
out. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, L 15.
propheticality (pro-fet-i-kal'i-ti), n. [< pro-
phetical + -i-ty.] Prophetioalness. Coleridge.
[Rare.]
prophetically (pro-fet'i-kal-i), adv. [< pro-
phetical + -ly'^.] In a prophetic manner; by
way of prediction ; in the manner of prophecy.
They prophetieally did fore-signify all such sects to be
avoided. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 883.
prophetioalness (pro-fet'i-kal-nes), n. t<pro-
phetical + .^ness.] The character of being pro-
phetical. [Rare.]
prophetism (prof 'et-izm), n. [<prophet + 4sm.]
The system, practice, or doctrine of inspired
teaching. The American, XIII. 59.
prophetizet (prof 'et-iz), v. i. [< F. propMtiser
= Sp. profetizar = Pg. prophetizar = It. profe-
tizzare, < LL. prophetizare, < Gr, ■Kpo^rrril^uv, be
a prophet, prophesy, < npo^rfrnji, a prophet: see
prophet.] To utter predictions; prophesy.
Nor, thrild with bodkins, raues in frantik-wise,
And in a furie seems Ui prophetize.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Schisme.
Nature ... so doth warning send
By jM-opAetmn^ dreams. Danirf, Civil Wars, iiL
prophetship (prof'et-ship), n. [< prophet +
-ship.] Same as prophethood.
To deny Mahomet's pro^
antagonism. B. Tayl
prophitet, «. A Middle English form ot profit.
prophloSm (pro-flo'em), m. [< pro- + phloem.]
A tissue in the sporophore of mosses, resem-
bling the phloem of ordinary stems in micro-
scopic structure, and corresponding to it in
position.
prophoricf (pro-f or'ik), a. [< Gr. npotjiopMdQ, per-
taining to utterance, < iirpo(popa, a bringing for-
ward, utterance, < wpoijiipeiv, bring forward, <
irpd, forward, + ^ipew, bring, bear, =z E. bear^.]
Enunciative. Wright.
prophragma (pro-frag'ma), n.; pi. prophrag-
mata (-ma-ta). [< Gr. irp6, before, + ^payjia,
fence, partition: see phragma.] In entom., a
transverse internal plate which, in many Cole-
optera, descends from the anterior margin of
the mesoscutellum, between the mesothorax
and the metathorax, serving for the attachment
of internal organs. It probably corresponds to
the mesoscutum,
prophylactic (prof-i-lak'tik), a. and ra. [= P.
prophylactique = Sp. profildeiico = Pg. prophy-
lactico, < Gr. Trpo^XaKrwcif, pertaining to guard-
ing, precautionary, < vpoijniUaaeiv, keep guard
before, < Trpd, before, + fvUaaeiv, Attic ^vXdr-
TCiv, watch, guard: see phylactery.] I, a. In
med., preventive; defending from disease: as,
prophylactic doses of quinine.
His ears had needed no prophylactic wax to pass the
Sirens' isle. Lowell, Fireside Travels, p. 77.
Notwithstanding the directions issued for prophylactic
treatment, and the system of domiciliary visits, the chol-
era carried off a greater number than before.
B. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 426.
II. n. 1. Anything, as a medicine, which de-
fends against msease ; a preventive of disease.
Inventive persons have from time to time thought that
they had secured a sure cure^ if not an unfailing prophy-
lacHe [for consumption). Pop. Set. Mo., XXVIII. 669.
2. Same as prophylaxis.
Medicine Is distributed into prophylactick, or the art
of preserving health, and therapeutick, or the art of re-
storing health. Watts, Logic, I. vl. 1 10.
prophylactical (prof-i-lak'ti-kal), a. [< pro-
phylactic + -al.] Same as pr^hylactic.
Dieteticall and prophybKUcaU receipts of wholesome
caution. Bp. Ball, Sermon preached to the Lords.
prophylaxis (prof-i-lak'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. as
if *fffio0t)Aa|if, < irpo^Tidxsaeiv, keep guard be-
fore : see prophylactic.] In med., the guarding
against the attack of some disease. Also pro-
phylactic, prophylaxy.
The germs do not appear to be very tenacious of life, so
that an efficient prophylaxis can be readily exercised.
Science, III. 557.
prophylaxy (prof'i-lak-si), n. [< m^. prophy-
laxis, q. v.] Same as prophylaids.
The discussion on the prophylaxy of tuberculosis waa
then resumed. Lancet, No. 3465, p. 218.
prophyllum
4779
prophyllum (pro-fll'um), m. [< Gr. 7rp(i, before, propiolic (pro-pi-ol'ik), o. l< propi(omc) + -ol
+ 0uX;U)Vj leaf.] A primary leaf; one of the first ■ - — ■■ -
leaves of a branch or axis.
propicet, a. [Also jprqpise; < OF. propice, < L.
propitius, propitious: see propiUous.i Propi-
tious.
Of that mater ... I wyll traicte more amply in a place
more propise for that purpose.
Sir T. Elyat, The Governour, ii. 7,
+ '-»c.] Noting an aeid derived from a mo-
novalent radical C3H0 Propiolic acid, the abbre-
viated commercial name for ortho-nitrophenyl-propiolio
acid, one of the coal-tar derivatives, which, although color-
less in itself, may be converted in calico-printing into in-
digo blue on the fiber. It is a very close approach both
chemically and physically to natural indigo. In its appli-
cation borax is used as a solvent, xanthate of soda as a
reducing agent, and starch as a thickening.
■ - - ■ - - ■ [( propionic +
[The wind] veered to the South and South South West, propionate (pr6'pi-6-nat), n.
I apt and propSce for our journey. -dJel.] In chem,, a compoui"'
Exped. in Scottava (Arber's Eng. Garner, 1. 116). and a base. See propionic.
This place [where the Cherubim were in the Tabernacle] propionic (pro-pi-on'ik), a. [< Gr.7r/3S(TOf), first,
as called the Propitiatory, because in that place the + mav, fat, + -jc.1 Noting an acid (CoHgOo),
Lord God did manifest him self e more propise and neere.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 352.
propination (prop-i-na'shqn), n. [= OF. pro-
pination, absorption, = Pg. propinagSo, < L.
propinatio(n-), a driniing to one's health, <.pro-
pinare, pp. propmatus, drink to one's health:
see propine. ] The act of drinking with another,
or together, in fellowship; the act of drinking
a pledge or a health.
This propinalion was carried about towards the right-
hand, where the superlour quality of some of the guests
did not oblige them to alter that method.
Abp. Potter, Antiq. of Greece, iv. 20.
propine (pro-pin'), v. t.; pret. axidyp. propined,
ppr. propiriing. [< OF. propiner = Sp. Fg.pro-
pinar = It. propinare, < L. propinare, driri to
one's health, give one to drink, give to eat, give,
present, offer, furnish, < Grr. Trpomveiv, drink be-
fore another or to his health, < irpS, before, +
mveiv, drink: see potation.'] 1. To pledge in
drinking; drink to; wish for in behalf of some
one while drinking to him.
The lovely sorceress mixed, and to the prince
Health, joy, and peace propined.
C. Smart, The Eop-Garden.
St. To present; offer; guarantee.
It [the doctrine of Jesus Christ] propines to us the no-
blest, the highest, and the bravest pleasures of the world.
Jer. Taylor, Moral Demonstration of the Christian Eeli-
[gion (1660).
The priests of a neighbouring convent, in expectation of
the ample donation, or soul-scat, which Cedrio had pro-
pined, attended upon the [funeral] oar.
Scott, Ivanhoe, xxxii.
Unless we would propine both ourselves and our cause
unto open and just derision.
Fotherby, Atheomastix, p. 11. (Latham.)
the third substance in the monatomic fatty
series Propionic acid, a colorless liquid, with a pun-
gent odor like that of acetic acid, founfl in perspiration,
the juices of the stomach, the blosaomb of milfoU, etc.
It is monobasic, forming salts called prop'onates, which
have a fatty feel, whence the name.
propiset, «• Seepropice.
Propithecus (pro-pi-the'kus), n. [NL. (Ben-
nett, 1832), < Gr. npS, before, + izIBtikoq, an ape:
B6Q Pithecus.'] A genus of lemuroid animals of ^ ^
Madagascar, of the family Lemuridse and sub- propitiatorily (pro-pish'i-a-to-ri-li), adv. [<
propitiousness
crushed heart ; .but at the same time the terms ia which
it should be set forth have been disputed, and sometimes
the doctrine itself denied.
W. Thomson, in Aids to Faith, Essay viii.. Int.
We may have it as our privilege, I think, when our
mind recoils from the tremendous difficulty of propitia-
tion itself, to carry-the whole matter up above the ranges
of time, and look on him who stands there " in the midst
of the throne, as it had been a Lamb slain from the foun-
dation of the world."
B. BushneU, Forgiveness and Law, i. 4.
In the great tragic poet .^schylus is a striking instance
of XvTpov in the sense of an expiaiion or atonement for
murder. The chorus of mourning women, bewailing the
untimely end of Agamemnon, exclaim, ** What atonement
is there for blood that has fallen on the ground? . . . All
the rivers moving in one channel would flow in vain to
purify murder." J. P. Thompson, Theology of Christ, v.
Satitfaction expresses the relation which the work of
Christ sustains to the demands of God's law and justice.
A. A. Hodge, Outlines of Theology, xxii. 2.
propitiator (pro-pish'i-a-tor), n. [< F.propiti-
ateur = Sp. Fglpropiciador^It.propiziatore, <
LL. propitiator, a peacemaker, < L. propitiare,
pp. j)»'opi*«aiMS, appease: see propitiate.] One
vmo propitiates. Johnson.
family Indrisinee, established upon the Propi~
thecus diadema, the diadem-lemur.
propitiable (pro-pish'i-a-bl), a. [< OF. propiti-
abUfpropiciahle, < li.propitiahilis, easy to be ap-
g eased, < propiUare, appease : see propitiate.]
apable of being propitiated ; that may be made
propitious.
It could never enter into my mind that he [God] was
either irritable or propUmbU by the omitting or perform-
ing of any mean and insignificant services.
Dr. H. Jf ore. Gen. Pref. to PhUos. Writings, p. x.
propitiate (pro-pish'i-at), v.; pret. and pp. pro-
pitiated, -pT^i. propitiating. [<,li. propitiaius, pp.
of propitiare (> It. propiziare = Pg. Sp. propidar
= F. propitier), appease, < propitius, favorable,
well-disposed: seepropitiovs.] I, trans. To ap-
pease and render favorable; make propitious;
conciliate.
Let fierce AohiUes, dreadful in his rage.
The god propitiate and the pest asswage.
Pope, Iliad, i. 192.
He [Frederic William] could always be propititttei by a
present of a grenadier of six feet four or six feet five.
Macaulay, Frederic the Great.
II, intrans. To make propitiation or atone-
ment.
propinet (pro-pin
money, present;
1. Money given
favor, or loving pledge,
For no rewarde, gyft, norpropyne.
Thole none of thir twois causis tyne.
Lauder, Dewtie of Kyngis (E. E. T. S.), 1. 499.
And a' that he gied me to my propine
Waa a pair of green gloves and a gay gold ring.
Bolhwea (Child's BaUads, L 160).
There was never sic a braw propine as this sent to a
yejL SeM, Abboti xxvii.
2. The power of giving.
And if I were thine, and in thy jwopine,
0 what wad ye do to me?
Lady Anne (Chad's Ballads, IL 264X
propinCLUate (pro-ping'kwat), v. i. ; pret. and
pp. propingwated, ppr. propinquating. [< Li.
propinquatus, pp. of propinguare, bring near,
hasten, < propinquus, near: see propinqmiy.
a. appropinque.] To approach; be near. Imp.
Diet. ^ „
propinaue (pro-pingk'), «• [= Sp. propmcrw =
Pg. It. propinquo, <.1j. propinquus, near, <.prope,
near.] Near; contiguous. Swan, Speculum
Mundi, p. 81. {Latham.)
propinauity (pro-ping'kwi-ti), n. [< ME.jpro-
pinguUee, < OF. propinqvite = Sp. propmmi-
dad = Pg. propmquidade = It. propmqmta, <
' L. propinqmta(,t-)s, vicinity, nearness, < pro-
pinquiis, neax: see propinquate.] 1, Nearness
m place; neighborhooi
propitiatory + -h/^.] By way of propitiation.
propitiatory (pro-pish'i-a-to-ri), a. and n. [=
F. propitiatoire '= Sp. Pg. propiciatorio = It.
propiziatorio, < TJlt.propiUatorims, atoning, rec-
onciling, < L. propitiatus, pp. ot propitiare, ap-
pease : see propiUate.] I. a. Having the power
to make propitious ; effecting or intended to ef-
fect propitiation: as, a. propitiatory sacrifice.
Christ's sacrifice on the cross was the only perfect and
all-sufflcient propitiatory sacrifice "for the sins of the
world. " J. Bradford, Works (Parker Soc. , 1863), II. 285.
When the predominance of the chief has become so de-
cided that he is feared, he begins to receive propitiatory
presents. H. Speneer, Prin. of SocioL, § 542.
Il.f n. 1. In Jewish antiq., the mercy-seat;
the lid or cover of the ark of the covenant, lined
within and without with plates of gold.
But nowe hath God declared Christe to be unto all peo-
ple the very propitiatory, mercie table, and sacrifice.
J. UdaU, On Eom. iii.
They [Joseph and Mary], like the two cherubims about
the propitiatory , took the Child between them.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 76.
2. A propitiation.
God hath set forth Christ to be the propitiatory in his
blood. Locke, On Rom. iii. 26.
^ <ropice
pro-
ipropvi
- od.
It was delightful to see . . . his purejoy In ber 1>™;
vinmUni: he asked nothing, sought nothing, s^e to be
Sffi beloved object. Hawthorns, Marble Faun, ix.
2. Nearness in time.
Thereby waa declared the prmnquOy of their desola-
tions and that their tranquillity was of no longer duration
ttothMesoondecayingftuitsofsummer. SirT.Brouym.
.3. Nearness of blood; kindred.
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propin^Uy, and P™P«'y ^"o^' „, i. 1. jie.
Thev may love other individuals far better than then:
TelatWe^f^ but yet, in view of death, the strong preju-
5?i« if ™,irf«^/*i/ revives and impels the testator to send
di^°WXtaSMne markeS out by custom so im-
anemorial that it looks like nato^^^_ ^^^^^ ^^,^^ .
piUatus, appease: see propitiate.] 1. The act
of propitiating; the act of making propitious.
— 2. That which propitiates or appeases; that
which furnishes a reason for not executing a
punishment justly due for wrong-doing ; specifi-
cally, in the New Testament, Christ himself, be-
cause his life and death furnish a ground for
the' forgiveness of sins.
And he is the propitiation ior our sins ; and not for ours
only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John iL 2.
=Syn. Atonement, BecorurUiation, Propitiation, Expiation,
Samfacliim. By derivation and by Biblical usage atow-
meia and recmmliation are essentially the same ; two that
were alienated are made at one, or put back into friend-
ship. Atonement, however, ia not now applied to the re-
lation of man to man, except in its extra-Biblical exten-
sion, by which it means also the making of full and satis-
factory amends (lat^aetion) or the enduring of proper pen-
alties (expiation) for a great wrong : as, there could be no
atimement for such an outrage. As applied to the relations
of God and man, atonement has been lifted into much
greater dignity than any other word in the list ; it is now
the august, chosen, and only endeared word for the effect
of the life and especially of the death of Christ in estab-
lishing right relations between God and man ; reconcile
and reeorualialim, are the principal words for this in the
New Testament, atonement being used only once, and
atom not at all. Propitiation is the only one of these
words having exclusive reference to the feelings or pur-
poses of the person or being offended ; it is a severe word,
implying slowness to relent, and is, in regard to the at-
titude of God toward man, chiefly a theological term.
Expiation regards the guilt of the offense ; it is the suf-
fering of the penalty proper for an act (as, to make ex-
piation for one's crime upon the scaffold), or of an ade-
ouate substituted pain. The word is general, and only
barely Biblical (Num. xxxv. 33, margin, and revised ver-
sion) although the fact is by the mass of Christians be-
lieved to lie in some form in the saflerings of Christ.
Satiifaetion in this connection means adequate amends:
as satiifaotion for an insult or for damage ; the word has
been taken by a school in theology to express the suffi-
ciency of the sufferings of Christ to meet the demands of
the retributive justice of God.
Some conjecture it to have been orig. a term in
augury with ref. to the flying of birds, < li.pro,
forward, + petere, seek, orig. fly (seepetiUon);
according to another view, < L. prope, near.]
1. Favorably disposed; ready to grant a favor
or indulgence ; kind; disposed to be gracious or
merciful; ready to forgive and bestow favors.
My Maker, be propitious while I speak !
Milton, P. L., viii. 380.
Would but thy sister Marcia he propitious
To thy friend's vows. Addison, Cato, i. 2.
As propitious Heav'n might send
What once I valu'd and could boast, a friend.
Cooper, Kettoement, L 377.
2. Affording favorable conditions or circum-
stances; favorable.: a,s, a, propitious sea^son.
That diet which is most propitious to one is often per-
nicious to another. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 284.
No time could be more propitious than the present.
D. Webster, Speech, June 17, 1825.
=Syn. 1. Gracious, benign.— 2. Auspzcious, Propitious,
promising. Aiupicious cannot he safely used in any mean-
ing beyond that of giving omen or indication of success ;
an auspicious event is one that seems an omen of pros-
perity for that which follows. Auspiaous could be ap-
plied to a person only by a highly figurative use of the
word. The earlier tendency to use the word outside of
the limits here indicated is not now sanctioned by good
usage. Propitious applies primarily to persons, but may
he freely extended by figure to things. Propj(ioi«r goes
beyond au^iieious in representing a benign disposition
and manner, leading one to expect a kind reception and
help.
Auspieimis omens from the past and present cheer us
for the future. Sumner, Orations, I. 109.
And now t' asswage the force of this new fiame.
And make thee more propitious in my need,
I meane to sing the praises of thy name.
Spenser, Hymne in Honour of Love, L 9.
Sure some propitious planet then did smil^
When first you were conducted to this isle.
Dryden, To Sir Godfrey Kneller, L 133.
The atojjemen* has for its object to restore that relation .,-.,, ,.nj t
of man to God which sin had disturbed, and to reconcile propitiously (pro-pish'us-li), adv. in a propi-
the sinner to God. > ttt •• c <, tious manner; favorably; kindly.
ram<)mn,Sinlessnessof Jeaus(trans.), IV. 11. §2. pj^pitiousness (pro-pish'us-nes), w. The state
The doctrine of Beeoneaiation has not escaped the fate *" g^araoter of being propitious, in any sense
of other Christian truths; It has done and IS doing Its " » rr , ^ B f if
work in converting the world, and consoling many a ol tnat wora.
propitiousness
The propiUoumees of climate to that sort of tree.
Sir W. Temple, Anc. and Mod. Learning.
prop-joint (prop'joint), n. In carriage-making,
a jointed bar which spreads the bows of a ca-
lash-top. E. H. Knight. Compare rule-joint
proplasm (pro'plazm), n. [< Gr. wpdv^u/ta, a
model, < trpd, for, before, + JUiaaetv, form, mold,
shape: see ^2ag«^] A mold; a matrix.
Thoae shells Bervlng as proplasnu or moiildB to the mat-
ter which so filled them.
Woodward, Essay towards a Nat. Hist, of the Earth.
We gather that the mysterious Spirit is merely the rou-
menon or proplaem of physical and psychical phenomena.
Now it is surely far simpler and better to speak of this
proplagm as Matter, and thus avoid the very equivocal
term Spirit. Land. Jour, of Sci., No. cxxir. 242.
proplastic (pro-plas'tik), a. [< Gr. jrpd, for,
before, + irXaaTtudq, pertaining to molding or
modeling: see pla^tic.'^ Forming a mold or
cast.
proplastics (pro-plas'tiks), n. [PI. ot proplastic
(see -ics).^ The art of making molds for east-
ings, etc.
prop-leg (prop'leg), n. In entom., same &spro-
leg.
propleural (prd-ple'ral), a. [< proplemon +
-ffli.] Anterior and lateral or pleural, as a part
of the prothorax ; of or pertaining to the pro-
pleura.
propleuron (pro-plS'ron), n. ; t^I. propleura (-rS).
[NL., < Gr. TrpiJ, before, + irXevpa, side: see
pleuron.'] The lateral part of the prothorax;
a prothoraeic pleuron. There are two propleura.
Tight and left; and each propleuron is typically divided
into three sclerites — an episternum, an epimeron, and a
parapteron.
proplex (pro'pleks), n. [< NL. proplexus, q. v.]
Same as proplexus.
proplexus (pro-plek'sus), n.; pi. proplexus or
proplexuses. [NL., < L. pro, before, -1- plexus,
a braiding: see plexus.'^ The plexus of the
proooelia; the choroid plexus of either lateral
ventricle of the brain. Wilder amd Gage, Anat.
Tech., p. 485.
propodeum (pro-p6'de-um), n.; pi. propo-
dea (-a). [NL.,irreg. < 'Li.pro, before, + podi^ex),
fundament.] In entom., a part of the thorax
immediately over and partly surrounding the
insertion of the abdomen, seen principally in
the Hymenoptera. it is originally the first abdominal
segment, which, during the development of the larva and
pupa, becomes transferred to the thorax, and so intimate-
ly joined with it that it appears to be a part of the last
thoracic ring.
propodia, )i. Plural of jpropodfam.
propodial (pro-po'di-al), a. and n. [ipropodi-
um + -aZ.] 1. a. l.'Of or pertaining to the
propodium of a moUusk. — 2. Of or pertaining
to the propodialia.
II. n. Same &s propodium.
Limbs consisting of one basal element, two propodials,
and metapodlals and digits, Amer. Nat., XSIIL 862.
propodialia (pro-po-di-a'li-a), n.pl. [NL., <
Gr. n-po7r6Scoc, before the feet: see propodium.']
The bones of the proximal segment of both fore
and hind limbs (that is, the humerus and femur)
taken together or considered as corresponding
to each other. See e^ipodialia.
propodite (prop'o-dit), n. [< Gr. wp6, before,
-I- jroiif (Tod-), = B./oof, -I- -iffii.] In Crustacea,
the sixth (penultimate) joint of a developed en-
dopodite, between the carpopodite and the dae-
tylopodite. In a lobster, for example, it is the joint
which with the movable dactylopodite makes the nipper
or chelate claw. MUne-Edwarda; Huxley. Also propodos.
See cut under endopodUe.
propoditic (prop-o-dit'ik), a. [< propodite +
-ic] Of or pertaining to the propodite of the
limb of a crustacean.
propodium (pro-po'di-um), n. ; Tp\.propodia (-a).
[NL., < Gr. ■KooTzMiog, before the feet, < Trpd, for,
before, -1- ttovq (rro6-) = E. foot."] The anterior
one of the three median parts into which the
foot of some moUusks maybe divided: corre-
lated with mesopodium and metapodium. Also
propodial. Compare epipodiv/m.
propodos (prop'o-dos), n. Same ss propodite,
propolis (prop'o-lis), n. [< L. propolis, < Gr.
TrpdTTo/lif, the substance with which bees line and
fence their hives, the suburb or outer part of
a city, < npd, for, hef ore, -I- wdliQ, city.] A red,
resinous, odorous substance having some re-
semblance to wax and smelling like storax.
It is collected by bees from the viscid bads of various trees,
and used to stop the holes and crevices in their hives to
prevent the entrance of cold air, to strengthen the cells,
etc. Also called bee-glue.
'Speaking of the honey-bee reminds me that the subtle
and sleight-of-hand manner in which it fills its baskets
with pollen and propolis is characteristic of much of na-
ture's doings. The Century, XXV. 678.
4780
propolize (prop'o-liz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. prop-
olized, ppr. propolising. \\ propol-is + -ize."]
To cover with propolis. Pfcin, Diet. Apicul-
ture, p. 55.
propone (pro-pon'), v. t.; pret. and t^t^i. proponed,
ppr. proponing. [= Sp. proponer = Pg. pro-
p6r = It. proporre, proponere, <L. proponere,
set forth, place before, < pro, forth, before, +
ponere, set, place : see ponent. Cf . propound, a
doublet of jjrqpojse.] 1. To put forward; pro-
pose; propound.
He [Aristotle] . . . neuer propones any allegation, or
makes any surmise, but he yeelds a reason or cause to for-
tifle and proue it. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 191.
Ke proponed vnto me sundry questions, both touching
religion, and also the state of our countreys.
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 346.
3. In Scots law, to bring forward ; state.
Deniyng flersly al the other new invencions alleged
imi proponed to his charge.
Hall's Union (1648). (HaUiweU.)
Fleas proponed and repelled, in Scots law, pleas stated
in court, and overruled before decree.
proponent (pro-po'nent), a. and n. [= Sp. Pg.
It. proponente', < L. proponen{t-)s, ppr. of pro-
£onere, set forth, place before : see propone.']
a. Making proposals ; proposing.
For mysterious things of faith rely
On i\ie proponent Heaven's authority.
Dryden, Hind and Panther, 1. 121.
II. n. 1. One who makes a proposal, or lays
down a proposition. — 2. In law, one who pro-
pounds a wiU for probate.
propons (pro'ponz), n. [< L. pro, before, + pons,
bridge: see pores.] In a»a«., a small bundle of
transverse fibers just below the pons, crossing
the proximal end of the pyramid. Also called
proportt, V. t. An obsolete form ot purport.
proportion (pro-por'shon), n. [< ME. propor-
cion, propordoun, < OP. proportion, proporcion,
F. proportion = Sp. proporcion = Pg. propor^So
= It. proporzione, < L. proportio{rP), compara-
tive relation, proportion, symmetry, analogy,
<pro, for, hetoTe, + portio(n-), share, part: see
portion.] 1. The relation of one thing to an-
other in respect to size, quantity, magnitude of
corresponding parts, capacity, or degree.
He must be little skilled in the world who thinks that
men's talking much or little shall hold proportion only to
their knowledge. Locke.
Every thing must bear a proportion with the outward
value that is set upon it. Steele, Tatler, No. 171.
In proportion as men know more and think more, they
look less at individuals and more at classes.
Maemulay, Milton.
Justice can be well administered only in proportion as
men become just. H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 289.
2. Specifically, the relation of one part to an-
other or to the whole with respect to magni-
tude; the relative size and arrangement of
Earts : as, the proportion of the parts of an edi-
ce, or of the human body. Commonly in the
plural.
The system of definite proportion which the Greeks em-
ployed in the design of their temples was another cause of
the effect they produce even on uneducated minds.
J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., I. 261.
The three vast recesses [of the facade of Peterborough
Cathedral : see cut under portal] have not, as they haye at
Lincoln, any correspondence with the proportions of the
nave and aisles which they terminate. Being of equal
height, and the narrow one being in front of the wide
central aisle while the wide ones fall in front of the nar-
row side aisles, they wholly contradict these proportions.
Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 166.
3. Symmetrical arrangement, distribution, or
adjustment ; the proper relation of parts in a
whole ; symmetry or harmony.
Hee commeth to you with words sent in delightfulliiro-
portion, either accompanied with or prepared for the well
inchaunting skill of Musicke.
Sir P. Sidney, Apol. for Poetrie, p. 40.
Statues which are placed on high are made greater than
the life, that they may descend to the sight in their just
proportion. Dryden, Essay on Dram. Poesy.
[We,] your guilty Subjects, . . . have held pace and
proportion with you in our evill wayes.
N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 63.
4. That which falls to one's lot when a whole
is divided according to a rule or principle ; just
or proper share; in general, portion; lot.
Wee were all constrained to line onely on that Smith
had onely for his owne Companie, for the rest had con-
sumed their porportions.
Quoted in Capf. John Smith's Works, IL 1.
1 have received mj proportion, like the prodigious son.
ShaJc., T. G. of T., iL 3. 3.
5f. Form; shape; figure.
I thought King Henry had resembled thee
In courage, courtship, and proportion,
Shai., 2 Hen. VI., i. 8. 67.
proportionable
Look : here 's a face now of another making,
Another mould; here 's a divine proportion.
Fletcher (and another 1), Prophetess, iii. 3.
The people . . . [are] generally tall and straight, of a
comely proportion. Capt. John Smith, Works, 1. 129.
6. In math., the equality of ratios or relations ;
analogy. Complicated and difficult definitions of this
word were given by Euclid and the old mathematicians,
because they were unwilling to regard a ratio as a quan-
tity capable of equality ; bat it is now recognized that such
generalizations are at once the most profound and the most
intelligible way throughout mathematics.
When he hadde founde his firste mansioun [in astrology].
He knew the remenaunt hy propmdoun.
Chaucer, Franklin's Tale, 1. 668.
7. In music: (a) The ratio between the vibra-
tion-numbers of two tones. (6) Same as r'hythm
or meter. — 8. In arith., the rule of three; that
rule which, according to the theory of propor-
tion, enables us to find a fourth proportional
to three given numbers — that is, a number to
which the third bears the same ratio as the fii'st
does to the second — Academic proportions. See
figure of academic proportions, under acaaemic. — Alter-
nate proportion. Seeo^teraote.— Combiningpropor- '
tions. Same as definite proportions. — Composition of '
proportion. See eompositum.— Compoimd proportion,
the equality of the ratio of two quantities to another ratio,
the antecedent and consequent of which are respectively
the products of the antecedents and consequents of two-
or more ratios.— Continued proportion, a succession of
several equal ratios the consequent of each of which is
identical with the antecedent of that which follows, as-
8 : 12 = 12 : 18 = 18 : 27, etc.— Contra-arlthmetlcal pro-
portion, contrabarmonlcal mean and proportion,
definite proportions. See the adjectives.— Conversion
of proportions. See coni»r«ion.— Direct proportion.
See direct ratio, under ratio.— Discrete proportion. See
discrete, 2.— Dupll(iate, geometrical, harmonic. In-
ordinate proportion. See the adjectives.— Gunter's
proportion. "Same as Quntefs line (a) (which see, under
M»i«2).— Inverse proportion. See reciprocal proportion.
— Law of multiple proportion. See multiple.— Mixed
ratio or proportion, see mtoiii.- Musical propor-
tion. Same as fiarmonio proportion, — Beclprpcal or in-
verse proportion, an equality between a direct and a
reciprocal ratio, or a proportion in which two of the quan-
tities are taken inversely : thus, the ratio of 4 to 2 is that
of 3 to 6 taken inversely, or 4 : 2 = J : J.- Simple pro-
portion, the equality of the ratio of two quantities to that
of two other quantities. =Syn. 3. See symmetry.
proportion (pro-por'shon), V. t. [< ME. pro-
porcionen, porp'ordoumen, < OP. proportionnerf
propordonner, F. proportionner = Sp. Pg. pro-
forcionar = It. propomionare ; from the noun.]
. To adjust in suitable relations ; adapt har-
moniously to something else as regards dimen-
sions or extent: as, to proportion the size of a
building to its height, or the thickness of a thing
to its length; to proporUon expenditure to in-
come.
He . . . [advises] men to live within Bounds, and to-
proportion their Inclinations to the Extent of their For-
tune. Congreve, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, xi., Arg.
Fortunately, the Sphinx proposes her conundrums to us
one at a time, and at intervals proportioned to our wits.
Lowell, Address at Harvard Anniversary.
2. To form with symmetry ; give a symmetri-
cal form to.
Sir, jefl thow wilt wrappe thy soueraynes bred stately,
Thow must square & porpordoun thy bred dene and
evenly. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 180.
Nature had proportioned her without any fault quickly
to be discovered by the senses. Sir P. Sidney.
3. To bear proportion or adequate relation to ;.
correspond to.
Bid him therefore consider of his ransom, which must
proportion the losses we have borne.
Shak., Hen. V., Hi. 6. 134.
4t. To divide into portions; allot; apportion.
Next, for your monthly pains, to shew my thanks,
I do proportion out some twenty ducats.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, ii. 2.
Here are my commodities, whereof take your choice
the rest I wiU proportion fit bargains for your people.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 214.
5. To compare; estimate the relative propor-
tions of.
Now, Penshurst, they that will proportion thee
With other edifices, when they see
Those proud ambitious heaps, and nothing else,
May say their lords have built, but thy lord dwells.
jB. Jonson, The Forest..
Fond earth 1 proportion not my seeming love
To my long stay. Quarles, Emblems, iy. 2.
6. In type-manuf., to adjust (a font of type) so
that it shall contain the proper number of each
letter, point, etc.
proportionable (pro-por'shon-a-bl), a. [< OF.
proporUonahle, proporUonriabte = Sp. propor-
cionable = Pg. proporcionavel = It. proporzio-
nabiU, < LL. "proportionaUlis (in adv. proper-
Uonahiliter), < L. proportio{n-), proportion : see
proportion.] Capable of being proportioned or
made proportional ; also, being in due proper-
proportionable
tionj having a due comparative relation; pro-
portional; corresponding.
For us to levy power
Proportionable to the enemy
la aU unpossiWe. Shak., Kloh. II., n. 2. 125.
My encouragement In the Navy alone being in no wise
proportionable to my pains or deserts.
Pepye, Diary, 11. 317.
Such eloquence may exist without a proportionable de-
gree of wisdom. B„rte
proportionableness (pro-por'shon-a^bl-nes), n.
The state of being proportionaliie."
Because there will be a proporUonablenese of the parts
of our perfection ; and therefore, as our love to God and
his works will be there perfected, so wUl be our know-
ledge. Baxter, Dying Thoughts.
proportionably (pr6-p6r'shon-a-hli), adv. [<
proportionable + -ly^.^ Proportionally.
As he approached nearer home, his good humour oto-
portianably seemed to increase.
Ootdsmith, Citizen of the World, lii.
proportional (pro-p6r'shon-al), a. and n. [<
ME. proporcionel', n., < (SF. "proportionel, pro-
poreionel, F. proportionnel = Sp. Pg. propor-
cional = It. proporeionale, < LL. proporUonalis,
pertaining to proportion, < L. proportio{n-),
proportion: see proporUon.'] I. a. 1. Based
upon proportion; pertaining to or having pro-
portion.
Relations depending on the equality and excess of the
same simple idea in several subjects may be called . . .
proportional. Locke, Human Understanding, II. xxviii. 1.
2. According to or having a due proportion ;
being in suitable proportion or degree.
The conquerors were contented to share the conquered
country, usually according to a strictly defined propor-
Uonal division, with its previous occupants.
Oraik, Hist. Eng. Lit., I. 62.
They see a great amount of wealth in the country, and
they think that their share is \iotpropartional to their de-
serts. New Princeton Rev., 11. 52.
3. In math., having the same or a constant ra-
tio : as, proportional quantities.— Directly pro-
portionkii in ma^A., noting proportional quantities when
the proportion is according to the order of the terms (that
is, one thing is greater in the same ratio that another is
greater) : in contradistinction to inversely or reciprocally
proportional, when the proportion is contrary to the order
of the terms (that is, one thing is less in the same ratio that
another is greater, and vice versa).
We may assume that the elastic force of the luminif erous
medium called into play by a displacement is direeUy
proportional to the displacement. Tail, Light, g 2S1.
Froportional compasses, compasses with a pair of legs
at each end, turning on a common pivot. The pivot is
secured in a slide which is adjustable in the slots of the
legs so as to vary in any required proportion the relative
distances of the points at the respective ends. The legs are
provided with marks by which the ratio of proportion of
the respective ends may be arranged or determined. The
instrument is used in reducing or enlarging drawings; etc.
— Froportional parts, parte of magnitudes such that
the corresponding ones, taken in their order, are propor-
tional—that is, the first part of the first is to the first part
of the second as the second part of the first is to the second
part of the second, and so on. — Froportional radii.
See ntdim.— Froportional representation. See rep-
resejitofe'on.— Proportional scale, (a) A scale on which
are marked parte proportional to the logarithms of the
natural numbers ; a logarithmic scale. (6) A scale for pre-
serving the proportions of drawings or parts when chang-
ing their size.
II. ». 1. A quantity in proportion. Specifi-
cally— (ft) In chem., in the theory of definite proportions,
the weight of an atom or prime. See prime, n., 6. (6) In
math., one of the terms of a proportion : of these the first
and last are called the extremes, and the intermediate the
means, or, when the proportion consists of only three
terms, the mean. See mean^.
2t. A table of proportioital parts.
Hise jwppomo7ie?es convenientz
For hise equaeions in every thyng.
Chaucer, Franklin's Tale, 1. 660.
Continued proportionals. See continued.
proportionality (pro-por-sho-nal'i-ti) , n. [< F.
proportionnaliU = Sp. proporcionalidad = Pg.
proporcionalidade = It. proporgionalitA, < LL.
proportionalita{t-)s,Tproportion,<proportionalis,
proportional: see proportional.'] The charac-
ter or state of being in proportion.
The principle of proportionaiHy of cause and effect is
suspended, the smallest causes producing, if need be, the
largest effects. ^- Sain, Mmd, XIL 178.
proportionally (pr6-p6r'shon-al-i), adv. In pro-
portion ; in due degree ; with suitable compara-
tive relation.
If these circles, whilst their centres keep their distances
and positions, could be made less in diameter, their inter-
fering one with another . . . would be proportionally Ai-
ininisTied. -S^*"*""-
proportionaryt, n. [MB. proporcynary,< ML.
proporUonarius, proportional,< h.proportio{n^),
proportion: aee proporUon."] Proportion.
And so to werke it, after his proporcyrmy,
That it may appere to all that shaU it se
A thyng ryght Pa^yt^Xl cSr^tl'Trol. p. 3.
4781
proportionate (pro-por'shon-at), a. [= F. pro-
portionne = Sp. Pg. propor'isionado = It. projwr-
zionato, < LL.^rqporiJomatos, proportioned, < L.
pi'oportio{n-), proportion, symmetry, analogy:
see proportion.] Having proportion, or due pro-
portion ; adjusted to something else according
to a certain rate or comparative relation ; pro-
portional.
In the state of nature, one man comes by no absolute
power to use a criminal according to the passion or heats
of his own will, but only to retribute to him . . . what
is proportiomtte to his transgression. Locke.
Is such eSect proportionate to cause?
Brouming, King and Book, IL 214.
It the demand for increase of power in some particular
faculty is great and unceasing, development will go on
with proportionate speed.
E. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 452.
proportionate (pro-p6r'shon-at), V. t. ; pret. and
pp. proportionated, ppr. "proportionating. [<
proporUonate, a.] To make proportional; ad-
just according to a settled rate or to due com-
parative relation or proportion : as, to propor-
tionate punishments to crimes.
Every single particle hath an innate gravitation towards
all otheiB, pr<^iortioruited by matter and distance.
Bewtley, Sermons.
proportionately (pro-por'shon-at-li), adv. In
a proportionate manner or'iiegree; with due
proportion ; according to a settled or suitable
rate or degree.
To this internal perfection is added a proportiovately
happy condition. Bp. Pearson, Expos, of Creed, xii.
proportionateness (pro-por'shon-at-nes), n.
The character or state of being proportionate.
proportioning (pro-por'shon-ing), n. [Verbal
n. of proportion, «.'] Relation of size, height,
etc. ; adjustment of proportions.
The vertical proportioning [of the interior of Durham
Cathedral] is quite unlike what we have seen in the east-
ern districts ; the main arcade is much higher, and the trl-
f orium arcade relatively lower. The CeiAury, XXXV. 228.
proportionment (pro-por'shon-ment), n. [<
OP. proportionnemeni, < projyorUonner, propor-
tion: see proportion.'] The act of proportion-
ing, or the state of being proportioned.
A regard to the proportionment of the projective motion
to the vis centripeta. Molyneux, To Locke, July 26, 1897.
propos (pro-p6'), n. [P. : seepurpose.] A prop-
osition; statement.
John the Saint,
Who maketh oft Propos full queint.
Prior, Earl Robert's Hice,
proposal (pro-p6'zal),ra. [<^jropose -t- -a?.] 1. A
proposition,"plan, or scheme offered for accep-
tance ; a scheme or design ; in the plural, terms
or conditions proposed: as, to make proposals
for a treaty of peace ; to make a proposal of
marriage.
When we . . . propounded terms
Of composition, straight they changed their minds. . . .
If our 2»ropos(ds once again were heard,
We should compel them to a quick result.
Milton, P. L., vi. 618.
2. Offer or presentation to the mind; state-
ment.
The proposal of an agreeable object. South.
The truth is not likely to be entertained readily upon the
Oist proposal. Bp. Atterbury.
3. In law, a statement in writing of some spe-
cial matter submitted to the consideration of a
master in Chancery, pursuant to an order made
upon an application ex parte, or a decretal or-
der of the court. Imp. Diet — Sealed proposals,
competitive offers to furnish supplies or perform work,
made as bids for a contract to be awarded therefor, each
offer being inclosed in a sealed envelop when presented,
and all to be opened simultaneously, so as to prevent later
bidders from learning the terms offered by earlier bidders
in time to underbid. =Syn. 1. Proposal, Proposition, Over-
ture. A proposal is something proposed to be done, which
the person addressed may accept or reject : as, a proposal
of marriage. A proposition may be something proposed
for discussion, with a view to ascertaining the truth or the
wisdom of it : as, a proposition in Euclid ; few now refuse
assent to the proposition that the earth is round. Proposi-
tion is likely to be applied to ^proposal which is deliberated
upon, discussion and deliberation being associated with
the word proposition, and action with the word proposal:
as a proposition to build a new dam, if it will not cost too
much; & proposal to haild it tor ZIO, 000. Both these words
imply some exactness, completeness, or fonnality, whereas
an overture may be of a tentative sort. By derivation, an
overture opens negotiation or business : as, an overture from
an inferior to a superior ecclesiastical body ; an overture
of peace from one of two estranged friends or neighbors.
An overture, if not rejected, may be followed by a definite
proposal.
propose (pro-poz'), ».|pret. and ]?p. proposed,
ppr. propomg. [< ME. proposen, < OP. pro-
poser, v. proposer, propose, purpose, taking the
place of L. proponere, pp. propositus, set forth,
place before (< pro, forth, before, + ponere,
set, place : see propone), as with similar words :
proposition
see pose^.] I. trans. 1 . To put forward or of-
fer for consideration, discussion, acceptance,
admission, or adoption : as, to propose a bill or
resolution to a legislative body; to propose a
question or subject for discussion; to propose
one as a member of a club.
Sphinx is said to propose various difBcult questions and
riddles to men. Bacon, Physical Fables, x., ExpL
It is hard to find a whole age to imitate, or what century
to propose for example. Sir T. Broume, Christ. Mor. , iii. 1.
2. To place before as something to be done,
attained, or striven after; form or declare as
an intention or design.
What to ourselves in passion we propose,
The passion ending, doth the purpose lose.
Shak., Hamlet, iiL 2. 204.
But ere we could arrive the ^int proposed,
Caesar cried, "Help me, Cassius, or I sink !"
Shak., J. C, i. 2. 110.
And then come to town till I begin my journey to Ire-
land, which I propose the middle of August.
Stcift, Letter, July 8, 1726.
Sf. To set or place forth; place out; state.
Milton has proposed the Subject of his Poem in the fol-
lowing Verses. Addison, Spectator, No. 303.
4t. To place one's self before ; face ; confront.
Aaron, a thousand deaths
Would I propose to achieve her whom I love.
Shak., Tit. And., ii. 1. 80;
5t. To speak; utter; discourse.
Of hyr lenger wold I haue spoke sure.
Iff more of wryting therof founde myght be ; . . .
And sin more ther-of I can noght propose,
Offers moste 1 here take rest and repose.
Rom. ofPartenay (E. Ii. T. S.), L 6404.
Euery one gaue his consent with Surius, yeelding the
choyce of that nights pastime to the discretion of the La-
die Flauia, who thus proposed her mind.
Lyly, Euphues and his England (ed. Arber), p. 40k
Where I stand kneel thou.
Whilst I propose the selfsame words to thee
Which, traitor, thou would have me answer to.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., v. 8. 20i
= Syn. 1. To propound, present, suggest, recommend,
move, enounce. — 2. To intend, mean, desi^.
II. intrans. 1. To form or declare an inten-
tion or design.
Man proposes, but God disposes.
Chron. of Battle Abbey (Lower's trans.), p. 27.
2. To offer; specifically, to make an offer of
marriage.
Why don't the men propose, mamma?
T. Haynes Bayly, Why Don't the Men Propose!
3t. To converse; discourse.
Kun thee into the parlour ;
There Shalt thou find my cousin Beatrice
Proposing with the Prince and Claudio.
Shak., Much Ado, UL 1. 3;
proposet (pro-poz'), ». [(.propose, v.; et. pur-
pose, M.] Talk; discourse.
There will she hide her,
To listen out propose.
Shak., Much Ado, iii. 1. 12.
proposedlyt (pro-po'zed-li), adv. Designedly;
purposely.
They had heen proposedly planned and pointed against
him. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, 1. 117.
proposer (pro-p6'z6r), »i. [(.propose + -er^.'] 1.
One who proposes; one who offers anything for
consideration or adoption.
He [Nicholas Briot] was the inventor, or at least one of
the ^rst proposers, of coining money by a press, instead of
the former manner of hammering.
Wttlpole, Anecdotes of Fainting, II. i.
The candidates should be nominated by means of apaper
containing the names of a proposer and seconder and eight
assentors. J. McCarthy, Hist. Own Times, lix.
2^. A speaker; an orator.
Let me conjure you, ... by what more dear a better
proposer could charge you withal, be even and direct with
me. Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 297.
proposita, n. Plural ot propositum.
proposition (prop-o-zish'on), re. [< 'ME.propo-
sioioun, < OF. proposition, P. proposition = Sp.
proposieion = Pg. proposigdto = It. proposizione,
< L. propositio(n-), a setting forth, a representa-
tion, < proponere, pp. propositus, propose : see
propone, propose.'] 1. The act of placing or set-
ting forth; the act of offering.
The ample propositwn that hope makes
In all designs begun on earth below
Fails in the promised largeness.
Shale., T. and C, i. 3. S.
Gums fit for incense, and oblations for the altar of propo-
stticm. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 677.
2. That which is proposed; that which is of-
fered for consideration, acceptance, or adop-
tion; a proposal; offer of terms: commonly in
the plural: as, propositions of peace.
The Govemour and council of Plimouth returned an-
swerable courteous acceptance of their loving propoalHUms
N. Morton, New England's Memoriid, p. 133.
proposition
The enemy sent projxwutons, such as upon delivery o{
a strong fortified town, aftera handsome defence, are usu-
ally granted. Clarendm, Great Rebellion.
3. A representation in thought or language of
> an aot of the mind in thinking a quality or
general sign, termed a predicate, to be appliea-
Dle to something indicated, and termed a sub-
ject. This connecting of predicate and subject may
range from a mental necessity to a mere impulse to look
at a certain possibility. These differences are called
differences In the mode, or modality, of the proposition,
according to which, as ordinarily stated, propositions are
either de inesse (that is, the mode is not considered) or
madalf and in this case problematical, coT^ngent, or apo-
dictic. The modality may properly be said to affect the
copula, or form of Junction of the predicate and subject.
The predicate, logically speaking, embraces the whole
representation of the quality of the fact. Thus, in the
proposition "Elijah was caught up to heaven," the gram-
matical predicate is "was caught up to heaven"; but
the logical predicate includes the whole picture which
the sentence conveys— that of a man caught up to heav-
en. The predicate, however, is not a mere picture; it
views the fact represented analytically, and distinguishes
certain objects as identical with the subjects. There
may be only one subject, or, if the predicate expresses
a relation, there may be several. These subjects cannot
be sufficiently Indicated by any general description, but
only by a real junction with experience, as by a finger-
pointing. In ordinary language they are for the most
part but imperfectly expressed. In whatever way they
are represented, they can commonly (in the last analysis
always) be set forth in classes only ; from such a class the
subject meant is to be taken in one or other of three ways :
flrs^ by a suitable selection, so as to render the proposi-
tion true ; secondly, by taking any one, no matter which ;
thirdly, by taking no matter what one among a selected
proportion of those which present themselves in experi-
ence. The first mode of selection gives a particular prop-
osition, as "An object can be selected which is a man
caught up to heaven"; the second mode gives a univereal
proposition, as "Take any object you please in this world,
and it is not a man caught up to heaven " ; the third mode
gives a statistical proposition, as "Half the human beings
in the world are women." If there are several subjects,
the order of their selection is often important. Thus, it
is one thing to say that having taken any man you please
a woman can be found who was his mother, and quite an-
other to say that a woman can be found such that, what-
ever man you select, that woman was that man's mother.
Several of the distinctions between propositions found in
the old treatises are based on distinctions between the
different categories (or, in modern logical language, uni-
verses) from which the subjects are understood to be
drawn. Such is the distinction between a categorical prop-
osition, whose subject is denoted by a noun, and a hypo-
thetical proposition, whose subject is a hypothetical state
of things denoted by a sentence. Such is also the distinc-
tion between a synthetical proportion, whose subject is
drawn from the world of real experience, and may suitably
be denote,d by a concrete noun, and an analytic proposi-
Uon, whose subject is drawn from a world of ideas, and
may suitably be denoted by an abstract noun. Proposi-
tions are further distinguished according to the forms of
their predicates ; but these distinctions, unlike those al-
ready noticed, merely concern the form under which the
proposition happens to be thought or expressed, and do
not concern its substance. The predicates of propositions
are either simple, negative, or compound ; and in the lat-
ter case they may conveniently be considered (by a slight
fiction) as either disjunctive or conjunctive.
Aproposicion is a perfeicte sentence spoken by the indic-
ative mode, signifiyng either a true thing or a false with-
out al ambiguite or doubtf ulnesse.
WUson, Kule of Eeason.
Verbal propositions, which are words, the signs of our
ideas, put together or separated in affirmative or negative
sentences. Locke, Human Understanding, IV. v. 6.
All that is necessary to constitute a proposition is that
it should imply inclusion or exclusion, attdbution or non-
attribution. VeUcli, Int. to Sescartes's Method, p. xxzv.
4. In math., a statement in terms of either a
truth to be demonstrated or an operation to be
performed, it is called a theorem when it is something
to be proved, and a problem when it is an operation to be
done. Abbreviated prop.
Bos. What said he? How looked he? Wherein went
he? . . .
Cel. It is as easy to countatomies as to resolve thepropo-
sitions of a lover. Shak., As yon Like it, iii. 2. 246.
5. In rhet., that which is offered or affirmed as
the subject of the discourse ; anything stated
or afSrmed for discussion or illustration; the
first part of a poem, in which the author states
the subject or matter of it: as, Horace recom-
mends modesty and simplicity in the proposi-
tion of a poem.
It is very disproportlonable for a man to persecute an-
other certainly for a proposition that, if he were wise, he
would know is not certain.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 376.
Though that proposition had many degrees of truth in
the beginning of the law, yet the case is now altered : God
hath established its contradictory.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1886),'I. 806.
6. In musie : (a) The act or process of enun-
ciating or giving out a theme or subject. Spe-
cifically— (6) The subject of a fugue, as dis-
tinguished from the answer.— Absolute, adversa-
tive, affirmative, ampliatlve, analytical, apodlc-
tlc, assertory, binary, categorical, causal, cognate
proposlldon. See the adjectives.— CJomposite propo-
sition, a proposition consisting of several propositions all
asserted at once.— Compound proposition, a proposi-
4782
tion consisting of two or more propositions, associated
copulatively, disjunctively, conditionally, or otherwise. —
Comprehensive proposition, a proposition in which
the subject is regarded as a whole of logical comprehen-
sion including the predicate as a part. — Conditional,
conlllctive, contradictory, contranr proposition.
See the adjectives. — Contrariety of propositions.
See con«rarie«3/.— Converted proposition, converting
proposition. See conuer*.- Copulative proposition,
a proposition consisting of parts united by a copulative
conjunction ; a composite proposition. — Correlative
proposition. See correlative.— CvaaaxHative proposi-
tion, a proposition regarded as a compound of singu-
lar propositions, united conjunctively or disjunctively.
Thus, "every man is mortal" is cumulative, as implying
tlie first, the second, the third, etc., man to be, each of
them, mortal.— Descriptive proposition. See descrip-
tive.—IJialectiC proposition, (a) A probable interro-
gation ; a problem suitable for discussion. (6) An assump-
tion Of what appears likely.— Dllemmatlc, discretlve,
d^unct, disjunctive, divided proposmon. See the
adjectives.— Dual proposition. Same as binary propo-
sition. See binary enunciation, under binary.— &ersien-
tary, equal, exceptive, exclusive, exemplar, ex-
Sllcative, explicatory, explicit, exponent, exponl-
le, extensive, false proposition. See the adj ectives.
— finite proposition, a proposition whose predicate is
not an infinitated term.— Form Of a proposition. See-
form — Fundamental, hypothetical, nypothetlco-
dlsjunctlve. Identical, mcldent proposition. See
the adjectives.— Impossible proposition, a proposition
which cannot be true.— Indefinite proposition. See
t«(te^jiife.— Infinite proposition, a proposition whose
predicate, affirmed of its subject, has the form of a nega-
tive: as, Every devil is non-human. — Intensive propo-
sition. See inteimoe.— Inventive proposition, a prop-
osition de inesse. — LoaveS Of propositlont, in Jewish
antiq., the showbread.
Under this fair heauen . . . there was the holy table,
vppon whiche was set the holy bread, called the loaves of
proposition.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1677), p. 361.
Local proposition. See local.— THiioi proposition, a
major premise. — Minor proposition, a minor premise.
—Modal, necessary, negative proposition. See the
adjectives.— Numenoally definite proposltion,aprop-
osition which states how many objects, at least, there are of
a given description.- Obligistlc proposition, a propo-
sition which has to be admitted in disputation owing to
institution, petition, position, deposition, dubitation, or
truth.— Opposite propositions, propositions having the
same terms but not identical : as, Some woman is mother
of some man ; Some woman is mother of each man ; Some
woman is mother of every man ; Every woman is mother
of some man ; All women are mothers of one man ; Every
woman is mother of every man. — Particular, perfect,
practical, principal, privative proposition. See the
adjectives.— Possible proposition. Same as problematic
proposition.— 'Piedioa.iive proposition. Same as cate-
gorical proposition.— 'PioTaSiVle proposition, a proposi-
tion stating with more or less determinacy how often
within a certain genus of events a certain specific event
would be found to occur, in a given range of experience.
—Problematic proposition, a proposition asserting
something to be possible in some sense. — Proposition de
inesse. See def . 3.— Proposition de necessarlo, a prop-
osition thought to be necessary. Such propositions were di-
vided by the old logicians into (a) propositions de necessaHo
conditionali, which stated something to be necessarily true,
provided a certain condition held ; (&) propositions de ne-
cessarlo quando, which stated something to be necessarily
true at specified times ; and (e) propositions de necessario
simpliciter, or categorical apodictic propositions. The lat-
ter weref urther divided into propositionsffe necessario sim-
pliciter pro nunc, or propositions stating something to be
necessarily true now, and propositions de necessario sim-
pliciter pro semper, stating something to be always neces-
sarily true.— Proposition de omnl, a universal proposi-
tion.—Proposition in sensu composlto, a proposition
in which the egression of the mode is attached to the
subject or predicate. Such a proposition, as remarked
by Sootus, is not, properly speaking, a modal but an or-
dinary proposition concerning possibility.— Proposition
in sensil dlvlso, a proposition in which the expression
of the mode is attached to the copula. — Proposition per
se, a proposition which asserts something to be essentially
true — that Is, the universe Is a universe of essences, not of
existences. Four modes of such propositions are recog-
nized by Aristotle : first, where the predicate is involved
in the idea of the subject ; second, where the subject is
involved in the idea of the predicate; while the third and
fourth modes are respectively modes of existing and of caus-
ing.—Propositions of second adjacent, of third adja-
cent. See adjacent.— Pure proposition, a proposition
not modal. — Pythagorean proposition. See PytMgore-
an.— Quantified proposition, aproposition in which the
manner of selecting the subject is fully expressed. — Ka-
tlonal proposition, a hypothetical proposition in which
several categoricals are united by a causal conjunction. —
Reciprocating proposition, one which asserts two terms
to be coextensive: as, "Man" is identical with "rational
animal."— Relative proposition, a proposition whose
predicate is a relative term. — Remotlve proposition.
See rcmoKce.- Restrictive proposition, a proposition
with a restrictive clause : as, Christ, in his divine nature,
is omnipresent.— Simple proposition, (a) Properly, a
proposition whose predicate is simple : as. There is a ma'>.
(6) Usually, a categorical proposition, or one expressed by
means of a noun and a verb, as contradistinguished from a
condiOoTuUj^oposition. — Singular proposition, a propo-
sition whose subjects are single Individuals: as, Cainkilled
Abel.— Spurious proposition, a proposition one of the
subjects of which is a character designated as one of those
which belong to a given group. Thus, from the premises.
Every European wants some character of Americans,
and Every nobleman possesses some character other than
those that are common to Americans, we can infer, first,
that every European wants some character different from
some character common to noblemen, and that every noble-
man possesses a character different from some character
wanting to every European. These are spurious propo-
sitions.—Statistical proposition, a proposition which
proppage
states how many objects of one kind there are in connec-
tion with each one of another kind, in the average of a
certain line of experience. — Subaltezu proposition, a
proposition asserting a part, and only a part^ of what is
asserted in another proposition.— Subcontrary prop-
ositions, propositions which have the same terms
and may be true together but cannot be false together.
— Syllogistic proposition, a proposition forming part
of a syllogism Synthetic proposition. See syn-
tlietic Judgment, under Sf/nthetie. — Temporal proposi-
tion, a proposition consisting of two categoricals united
by a temporal adverb.— Temal or trinarv proposition,
a proposition of third adjacent.— Theoretical proposi-
tion, a proposition concerning the fact, not concerning
what ought to be done.— True proposition. See true.
— Universal proposition, a proposition whose subject
is any object whatever in the universe of discourse:
as, Take any object you please, you will find it not a
grifiln. Every such proposition states the non-existence
of something. If, in addition, it asserts the existence of
something, it should be regarded as a composite propo-
sition, partly universal and partly particular. But many
logicians divide universal propositions into different spe-
cies according as they do or do uot assert the existence of
their subjects. The result of this mode of treating the
subject is ahighly complicated doctrine.— TTnqaantlfled
proposition, an indefinite proposition. =Syn. 2. Over-
ture, etc. See proposal.— 3 and 6. Position, thesis, state-
ment, declaration, dictum, doctrine. Proposition differs
from the words compared under eubjeet, in that it is the
technical word in rhetoric for the indication of the theme
of a discourse.
The proposition is that part of a discourse by which its
subject is defined. It includes, therefore, but is not re-
stricted to, that which is termed proposition in the no-
menclature of logic. It embraces all varieties of rhetorical
form by which a subject is indicated to the audience. An
interrogative may be in rhetorical dialect the proposition.
A. Phelps, Theory of Preaching, xx. § 1.
propositional (p™p-o-zish'gn-al), a. [ipropo-
sition + -o?.] Pertaining to' or constituting a
proposition; considered as a proposition.
If a proposition ascribing the nature of things has an in-
definite subject, it is generally to be esteemed universal,
in ilzpropogitional sense. Watts, Logic, II. ii. § 1.
In theology truth iB propositional — tied up in neat par-
cels, systematized, and arranged in logical order.
H. brummond. Natural Law in the Spiritual World, p. 362.
Propositional quantity. See manuty.
propositionally (prop-o-zish'on-al-i), adv. In
the manner of a proposition.
If he only uttered them [propositions] at random, or if
they were only signs of emotion, they would not serve
propositionally. Laneet, No. 3476, p. 787.
propositionize (prop-o-zish'on-iz), v. i. ; pret.
and pp. proposiUonized ; ppr. proposiUonizing.
[i proposition, + -fee.] To make a proposition.
To speak is not merely to utter words, but to proposi-
tionize. Lancet, No. 8476, p. 787.
propositum (pro-poz'i-tum), n. [ML., < L. pro-
positum, the first premise of a syllogism, an
argument, neut. oi propositus, pp. otproponere,
set forth: see^ro^ose, v., andjjiwpose, m.] In.
medieval universities, a disputation concern-
ing the canon law, which had to be performed
by every bachelor in law.
propostscutellar (pro-post-sku'te-lar), a. [<
propostscutell-uvi + -«/•».] Of or pertaining to
the propostscutellum.
propostscutelluin (pro-post-sku-tel'um), n. ; pi.
propostscutella (-a). [NL., < l!. pro, before, +
NL. postscuteUum, q. v.] In- entom., the post-
seutellum of the pronotum; the postscutellar
sclerite of the prcthorax.
propound (pro-pound'), 1}. t. , [With unorig. -d,
for earlier propoune, var. of propone, < L. pro-
ponere, set forth, place before: see propone.
Cf. compound, expound.'] 1. To put forward;
offer for consideration; offer; put or set, as a
question; propose.
If then he [the offender] appear not, they banish him,
and propound a reward according to the greatness of the
offence. Sandys, Travailes, p. 6.
Give me leave to propound to you a second question.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 15a
2. Among Congregationalists, to propose or
name as a candidate for admission to member-
ship in a church.
He was . . . (with his wiie) propounded to be admitted
a member. Winthrop, Hist. New England, 1. 131.
propounder (pfo-poun'dfer), n. [< propound +
-erl.] 1. One who propounds; one who pro-
poses or offers for consideration.
The point of the sword thrust from him both the propo-
sitions and the propounders. Milton, Eikonoklastes, § 11.
Some deny the Infallibility of the present church, and
only make the tradition of all ages the infallible pro-
pounder. ChUlingwoHh, Works, I. 119.
2. A monopolist. Blount. {Halliwell.)
proppage (prop'aj), n. \<prop + -age.] That
which props or supports; materials for prop-
ping.
Hat and stick were his proppage and balance-wheel.
CaHylt.
proprsescutal
proprsescutal, a. See propresoutal.
propraescutum (pro-pre-sku'tum), m • nl m-o.
prsBscuta (-ta). [NL., < L. pro, before, + NL.
prseaeutwm, q. v.] laentom., the prEBScutum of
the pronotum; the presoutal sclente of the pro-
propraetor, propraetorial. See propretor, pro-
propret, propretet. Middle English forms of
proper, property.
proprescutal, proprsscutal (pro-pre-sku'tal),
a. [< proprseseut-im + -al.^ Of or pertaimng
to the proprsBseutum.
propretor, propraetor (pro-pre'tor), n. [< L.
proprxtor^ < pro, for, + i)ra?<or,"pretor.] In
Rom. antiq., a magistrate filling the ofloe and
exercising the authority of a pretor, but not hold-
ing the titular rank; one who, having discharged
the oflee of pretor at home, was sent into a
province to command there with pretorial au-
thority ; also, an officer sent extraordinarily into
the provinces to conduct the government with
the authority of a pretor.
propretorial, propraetorial (pr6-pre-t6'ri-al),o.
[< propretor, proprietor, + -ia?.] Oi or relating
to a propretor or the office o£ propretor.
Thus the distinction between consular (or proconsular)
and prtetorial (or proprsetorial) provinces varied from year
to year with the militmy exigencies ol different parts of
the empire. Bncyc. Brit, XIX. 885.
propriate (pro'pri-at), a. [Appar. by aphere-
sis for appropriate (?) ; othervpise < L. propria-
tus, pp. of propriare, appropriate : see proper,
«.] Peculiar; speoino, [Rare.]
But any simple Tom will tell ye.
The source at life is iu the belly,
From whence are sent out those supplies
Without whose prtrpriate sympathies
We should be neither strong nor wise.
W. Combe, Dr. Synta!^ iL 7. (fiamea.)
propriesf, n. [< L. propria, neut. pi. otpropri-
us, proper, own: see proper. ^ Possessions;
property. Hallmiell.
proprietarian (pro-pri-e-ta'ri-an), n. [< pro-
priety + -avian.'] A stickler 'ior the proprie-
ties ; a formal and precise person. [Rare.]
The conversazioni of the rigid proj^r^farians, where peo-
ple sit down to a l^ind of hopeless whist, at a soldo the
point, and say nothing. Bawells, Venetian Life, xzi.
proprietary (pro-^n'e-tar-ri), a. and n. [= F.
proprUtai/re = Sp. propietario = Pg. It. pro-
prietario, < LL. proprietarius, pertaining to a
property-holder ; as a noun, an owner ; < L. pro-
£rieta(t-)s, property: see propriety, property.]
a. Belonging to a proprietor or owner; of
or pertaining to property or ownership: as,
proprietary rights.
Though sheep which are proprietary are seldom mark-
ed, yet they are not apt to straggle.
Jv. Grew, Gosmologia Sacra.
The recognition by Icings that, If they do not recognise
the proprietary rights of the wealcer, then the stronger
will not consider theirs.
Stutbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 214.
Troprletaiy colony. See II., l.— Proprietary medi-
4^6, a medicine the manufacture or sale of which is re-
stricted through patent of the drug or combination of
4lrugs, of the label, or of the name, or otherwise, or a
medicine concerning wliich the person mailing it claims
a private formula.— Proprietaw' rlfht, the right of a
jproprietor; specifically, in the theatrical profession, the
«ommon-law right of the author of a drama to control
•exclusively its production or representation so long as
the drama remains unpublished : also applied to the right
when protected by copyright after publication.
II, n.; -pi. proprietaries (-liz). 1. One who
has exclusive title ; one who possesses or holds
the title to a thing in his own right ; an owner;
a proprietor; specifically, in .^mer.cotojwoi hist,
the grantee or owner, or one of the owners, of
one of those colonies a&lledL proprietary colonies
(in distinction from charter colonies and royal
colonies or provinces). See colony, 1.
'Tis a mistake to think ourselves stewards in some of
'God's gifts and proprietaries in others.
Qmermment of the Tongue.
To Hie proprietaries of Carolina the respect of the revo-
lution [of 1688] for vested rights secured their possessions.
Baneroft, Hist. U. S. (12th ed.), HI. 18.
3. A body of proprietors collectively: as, the
proprietary of a county.
The influence of a monopolist middleman— such as the
•corporate JWopWetoJ^ of a railway virtually constitute— is
placed in a new light. The Academy, July 27, 1889, p. 53.
•8. The right of proprietor; ownership.
Peasant proprietary or occupying ownership, which are
the names European economists give to that system of
ownership which we have regarded as typically American,
may exist for a long while among a population whose nat-
ural increase is restrained, where emigration is not thought
.ot JT. A. Bev., CXIIL 395.
4783
4. In monasteries, a monk who had reserved
goods and effects to himself, notwithstanding
his renunciation of aU at the time of his pro-
fession. Imp. Diet.
proprietor (pro-pri'e-tgr), n. [An aceom. form,
with substituted suffix'-or, toi''proprieter,<, OP.
proprietaire, an owner: see proprietary, »«.]
One who has the legal right or exclusive title
to something; an owner: as, the j)ropnetor of
a farm or of a mill.
French . . . was at any rate the only language spoken
for some ages after the Conquest by our kings, and not
only by nearly all the nobility, but by a large proportion
even of the inferior landed proprietors.
Craik, Hist. Eng. Lit., I. 98. (Latham.)
Lord proprietor, in Amer. colonial hist., same as pro-
prietary, 1.
Charleston became the principal town ; and to it the
whole political power of the colony [South Carolina] was
exclusively oonflued during the government of the Lords
Proprietors. Calhoun, Works, I. 401.
Feasant proprietor. See peasant.
proprietorial (pro-pri-e-to'ri-al), a. [(.proprie-
tor + -i-al.] Proprietary.
Proprietorial rights. N. A. Bev., CXUI. 56.
proprietorship (pro-pri'e-tgr-ship), n. [(.pro-
prietor + -ship.'] The state or right of a pro-
prietor; the condition of being a proprietor.
If you think she has anything to do with the proprietor-
ship of this place, you had better abandon that idea.
Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxxvi.
proprietress (pro-pri'e-tres), n. [< proprietor
+ -ess.] A female proprietor.
Are castles shadows? Three of them? Is she
The &weet proprietress a shadow?
Tennyson, Princess, ii.
proprietriz (pro-pri'e-triks), n. [Fem. oi pro-
prietor.] A proprietress.
propriety (pro-pri'e-ti),«.; T^\. proprieties (_-^iz).
[< OP. prop'riete, later form of the vernacular
proprete (> E. property), P. propriete = Pr. Sp.
propiedad = 'Pg.proprieaade = It. propriety, < L.
proprieta{t-)s, pecTdiarity, property : see prop-
erty.] If. Peculiar or exclusive right of pos-
session; ownership; possession; property.
Why hath not a man as true propriety in his estate as in
his life? Bp. HtUl, Cases of Conscience.
So are the proprieties of a wife to be disposed of by her
lord ; and yet all are for her provisions, it being a part of
his need to refresh and supply hers.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), 1. 710.
The reasons annexed to the second commandment are
God's sovereignty over us, his propriety in us, and tlie zeal
he hath to his own worship.
Shorter Catechism, ans. to qu. 52.
Pensylvania. . . . The Propriety and Goverment of
this Country was given by King Caiarles II. to William
Pen, Esq. Hist., Geog., etc., Diet., ed. Collier, 2d ed. (1701).
2t. That which is proper or peculiar; property;
peculiarity.
Man did give names unto other creatures in Paradise, as
they were bi'ought before him, according unto their pro-
prieties. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i.
A court which, if you will give me leave to use a term
of logick, is only an adjunct, not a propriety of happiness.
Dryden, Aurengzebe, Ded.
Sf. An estate; a holding.
The splitting the colony into proprieties, contrary to
the original charters. Beverley, Virginia, i. % 92.
4. Suitableness to an acknowledged or correct
standard or rule ; consonance with established
principles, rules, or customs; fitness; justness;
correctness.
Propriety's cold, cautious rules
Warm Fervour may o'erlook.
Burns, Apologetic, to Mrs. Lawrie.
Miss Temple had always something of serenity in her
air, of s^te in her mien, of refined propriety in her lan-
guage. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, viii.
After all his [Daniel Webster's] talents have been de-
scribed, there remains that perfect propriety which ani-
mated all the details of the action or speech with the char-
acter of the whole, so that hisbeauties of detail are endless.
Emerson, Fugitive Slave Law.
5t. Individuality; particular or proper state.
Alas ! it is the baseness of thy fear
That makes thee strangle thy propriety [j. e., makes thee
disavow thyself]. Shak., T. N., v. 1. 160.
Silence that dreadful bell: it frights the isle
From Taev propriety [i. e., out of herself].
ShaJc., Othello, il. 3. 176.
The proprieties, the standards of conduct and behavior
adopted and approved by society ; conventional customs.
= Syn. 4. Precision, etc. (see purity); appropriateness,
seemliness.
proprium (pro'pri-um), n. [L., neut. of pro-
priits, special, peculiar, own: see proper.] In
Swedenhorgianism, what is one's own; selfhood.
Tou will find that the will of man is his proprium, and
that this from nativity is evil, and that thence is the false
in the understanding.
Swedenborg, True Christian Beligion (trans.), iv.
propugner
Their character is the majestic proprium of their per-
sonality. Bushnell, Nature and the Supernat, iL
Keligion has had but one legitimate spiritual aim,
namely, the softening of the selfhood or proprium which
man derives from nature.
H. James, Subs, and Shad., p. 25&
proproctor (pro-prok'tor), n. [< pro- + proc-
tor.] In English universities, an assistant
proctor.
"1.
A gambling game in.
Shells used in the Game of Props.
props^ (props), n.pl.
vogue about
1850-60, espe-
cially in Bos-
ton. It was, in
effect, acrude sort
of dice-throwing.
Small shells were
partially ground
down and their
hollows filled
with sealing-wax.
Four of these
shells were shaken
in the hand and
tlirown on a table, the stake being won or lost according
to the number of red or white sides coming up.
2. The shells used in this game.
props^ (props), n. [Short toi properties(-man').]
The property-man of a theater. [Theatrical
slang.]
The property-man, or, as he is always called, props for
short. New York TrOnme, July 14, 1889.
prop-stay (prop'sta), n. In steam and pnev^
matio engin., a stay used to strengthen tubes,
water-spaces in steam-boilers, or large tubes
and annular spaces in air-tanks, and resist
pressure tending to collapse or rupture after
the manner of a strut, instead of acting by ten-
sile strength after the manner of a tie-rod.
Where such stays pass through flues of steam-boilers, they
are usually made tubular, thus permitting water to flow
tlu'ough them as a protection from overheating, while at
the same time their exteriors become more or less effective
heating-surfaces. The so-called Galloway boiler is a good
example of the use of tubular prop-stays.
propterygial (pro-te-rij'i-al), a. [< proptery-
gium + -al.] Ot or pertaining to the proptery-
gium: as, the propterygial basale.
propterygium (pro-tf-rij'i-um), n. ; pi. propte-
rygia (-a). [NL. (Gegenbaur), < li.pro, before,
+ 'Sh.' pterygium, q. v.] 'hxiehth., the fore-
most one of three basal cartilages which the
pterygium of a fish, as an elasmobranch, may
present. Bee pterygium.
The peculiar form of the (pectoral] fin in the Kay is due
to the great development of the propterygium.
Gegenbaur, Comp. Anat. (trans.), p. 478.
proptosed (prop'tost), a. [< *proptose, v. (<
prqptosis), + -ed^.] Prolapsed. [Rare.]
A small portion of the bladder wall was proptosed
through the deficient neclc Lancet, Ko. 3466, p. 246.
proptosis (prop-to'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. irp&irTo-
aig, a fall forward, < npoTriirreiv, fall forward,
< irpd, before, + itiirreiv, fall.] Prolapse or pro-
trusion, as of the eyeball.
propugnt (pro-pun'), V. t. [< OP. *propugner =
Pg. propugnar = It. propugnare, < L. propug-
nare, go forth to fight, fight for, defend, < pro,
forth, before, + pugnare,^g)ii: see pugnacious.
Cf. expugn, impugn, oppugn.] To fight for; de-
fend; vindicate.
Thankfulness is our meet tribute to those sacred cham-
pions for propugning of our faith. HammAmd.
propugnaclet (pro'pug-na-kl), n. [< OP. pro-
pugnacle, also propugnacule = Sp. propugnd-
culo = Pg. prop%gnacv,lo = It. propugnacolo,
propugnacule, < L. propugnaculum, a bulwark,
rampart, defense, ( propu^nare, fight or con-
tend for: seepropugn.] Same as jjropMgrnaca-
lum,
Kochel [La Bochelle] was the chief est Propugnaele of
the I^otestants there. Howell, Letters, I. v. 8.
propugnaculum (pro-pug-nak'u-lum), n.; pi.
propugnaoula (-Vi.). [L.'- see propugnaele.] A
bulwark; a defense.
The Boman colonies were thus not merely valuable as
propugnaeula of the state. Eneye. Brit., VI. 168.
propugnationt (pro-pug-na'shon), n. [= It.
propugnazione, < L. propiignatio{n-), a defense,
vindication, < propugnare, pp. propugnatus,
fight or contend for: seepropugn.] Defense.
What propugnation is in one man's valour.
To stand the ptish and enmity of those
This quarrel would excite?
Shak., T. and C, it 2. 136.
propugnert (pro-pu'n6r), ». [Also propugn-
or; < OP. *propugneor, also propugnateur, <
L. propugnator, a defender, < propugnare, de-
fend: see propugn.] A defender; a vindica-
tor.
propugner
Zealous propugtiers are they of their native creed.
GovemmuiTtt of the Tongue.
He (Plutarch] was an earnest iM-opa^nor of another third
principle. Cudwarth, Intellectual System, p. 216.
propulsationf (pro-pul-sa'shon), n. [< L. pro-
pulsatio(n-), a driving forth',' a repulse, < pro-
jnilsare, pp. propulsatus, drive forth, ward off :
Bee p-opulse.^ The aet of driving away or re-
pelling ; the keeping at a distance.
The just cause of war is the propulsaUon of public in-
juries. Bp. Ball, Cases of Conscience, iil. 8.
propulset (pro-puls' ),v.t. [= Pg. propulsar =
It. propulsare, < li. propulsare, drive forth, ward
off, freq. otpropellere, -pp. propulsits, drive forth,
push before, < pro, forward, hef ore, + pellere,
drive: see pulse^.J To repel; drive ofE; keep
away.
Pereeavyng that aU succours were clerely estopped and
propulsed from them, and so brought into utter despalre
of aide or comfort. Hall, Hen. VII., f. 23. (HaUiwea.)
propulsion (pro-pul'shgn), n. [< F. propulsion.
= Bp. propulsion = V^'- propulsdo, <'ML. *pro-
pulsio{'n-), < L. propellere, pp. propulsus, drive
forth: see propulse, propel.'] 1. The aet of
propeUing or driving forward ; impulse given.
The reasonable soul and all its faculties are in children,
will and understanding, passions, and powers of attraction
said proptUsion. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1885), I. 181.
God works in all things ; all obey
His fiist propulsion. Whittier.
2. Inpathol., same a,s paralysis fesUnans.—JHoA-
ulUB of propulsion. See nwdtuus.
propulsity (pro-pul'si-ti), n. [< L. propulsus,
pp. oi propellere, prop'el (see propulse), + •ity.J
Propulsion; motive power.
It euer was ; that was ere Time had roome
To stirre itself e by Heau'n's jn-o^s%.
Davies, Summa Totalis, p. 10. (Davies.)
propulsive (pro-pul'siv), a. [< propulse + 4ve.']
Tending or having power to propel; driving or
urging on.
The propulsive movement of the verse. Coleridge.
Two propulsive forces, which appear to have overcome
the body's inertia, and to have imparted to it a rapid mo-
tion. J. SvUy, Sensation and Intuition, p. 24.
propulsory (pro-pul'so-ri), a. [< propulse +
-ori/.] Same ak prwpulsive.
propupa (pro-pii'pa), n. [NL., < li.pro, before,
+ NL. pupaj] A'stage of development of cer-
tain insects, intermediate between the larva
and the pupa. Also called semipma.
prop-wood (prop' wild), n. 1. Saplings and
copse-wood suitable for cutting into props. —
2. Short stout lengths of fir and other wood
used for propping up the roofs of collieries.
propygidium (pro-pi-jid'i-um), n.; pi. propy-
gidia (-a). [NL., < Gr. irpd, before, + irvyi],
rump, H- dim. -j(5<ov. Ci. pygidium.] Inentom.,
the penultimate or subterminal dorsal segment
of the abdomen: especially used in describing
those beetles whose elytra do not reach to the
end of the abdomen.
propylseum (prop-i-le'um), n.; pi. propyleea
(-a). [L., Sblao propylsBOn, < Gtr. ■jrpojrvXaun), usu-
ally in pi. irpomiTiata, a gateway, an entrance,
neut. of npowblaioQ, before a gate, < ■!rp6, be-
fore, + TriXfi, a gate.] An important architec-
tural vestibule or entrance to a sacred inclo-
4784
products of the destructive distillation of organic mat-
ters, and is produced artificially by the action of phos-
phorus iodide on glycerin, and in other ways.
propylite (prop'i-lit), n. [So called because
supposed to have opened a new era in volcanic
geology, or to have opened lie Tertiary volcan-
ic epoch; < Gr. n-piSmMov, a gateway {seepropy-
lon), + -ite^.'] In litliol., the name given by
Eichthofen to a volcanic rock occurring in and
considered by him as characteristic of vari-
ous important silver-mining regions, especial-
ly those of Waslioe (in Nevada) and Hungaiy.
It is a considerably altered form of andesite, or of some
igneous rock more or less nearly related to it. The meta-
morphism wliich was displayed in the formation of the
metalliferous deposits of these regions was also attended
by great changes in the inclosing and associated rocks.
Also called greenstone trachyte.
I hope shortly to be able to describe some of the chief
types of these rocks, . . . their altered forms (the propy-
lites), and their Plutonic representatives (diorites and
quartz-diorites). Quart. Jour. Geol. Soe., XLV. 201.
propylitic (prop-i-lit'ik), a. [< propylite +
-jc] Eelated to or characteristic of propylite.
These rOcks . . . may be traced undergoing certain
changes due to both deep-seated and suilace action, and
also exhibiting interesting examples of the so-called in*op-
ylitio modification. Quart. Jour. Geol. Soe., XLV. 179.
propylon (prop'i-lon), n. [L.,< Gr. irpSTrv^ov, a
gateway, a vestibule, < 7rp6, before, + ttvAii,
gate. Cf . propylsenm,.'\ In anc. Egypt, arch., a
monumental gateway, usually between two
Propylsea.
A, plan of the propylaea of the Acropolis of Athens and Temple of
Nike Apteros, as they stood in Fericles's time ; B, wings, never com-
pleted, which formed partof the oriBrinal project of Mnesicles; C, the
earlier propyleea of Cimon. removed by Pericles ; D. Roman pedestal
of Agrippa; E, ancient Pelasgic wall of the primitive fortification of
the Acropolis : F, ramparts oAhe Periclean citadel.
sure or other precinct, as that of the AeropoMs
of Athens, or that of the sanctuary of Eleusis:
usually in the plural. In its origin it was a strongly
fortified gateway, but it became developed into an orna-
mental structure; often elaborate and magnificent, with
which were combined gates of more or less defensive
strength.
propylene (prop'i-len), n. l< prop(ionic) + -yl
+ -ene.'] A gaseous hydrocarbon (CsHg), be-
longing to the series of olefines. it is one of the
Propylon at Kamak, Egypt.
towers in outline like truncated pyramids, of
which one or a series stood before the actual
entrance or pylon of most temples or other im-
portant buildings.
At Essabua, Girsheh, and Dandour, the cells of the tem-
ple have been excavated from the rock, but their courts
and propylons are structural buildings added in front.
J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., 1. 126.
prora (pro'ra), n.; Tgl. prorie (-re). [NL., < L.
prora, the fore part of a ship : seeprore.'] The
prow or point of a cymba, or C-shaped sponge-
spicule. When lobed or alate, the proras are
called pteres. See ptere. Sollas.
proral (pro'ral), a. [< prora + -al."] Of or per-
taining to tie prorae of a cymba: as, proral
pteres. Sollas.
pro rata (pro ra'ta). [ML. : li.pro, tat, in ac-
cordance with ; ML. rata, abl. sing, or rata, i-ate :
see rate^.] In proportion.
pro-ratable (pro-ra'ta-bl), a. [< pro-rate +
-able.'] Capable of being pro-rated. [U. S.]
pro-rate (pro-raf), v. [< pro rata.] I, trans.
To assess pro rata; distribute proportionally.
[U S.]
II, mtrans. To make arrangement or agree-
ment on a basis of proportional distribution.
A general circular was issued from the Santa Fe head-
quarters yesterday giving notice to all lines doing busi-
ness between the Missouri River and St. Louis that it will
hereafter refuse to prorate with them on shipments of
grain and live stock. New York Tribune, June 6, 1890.
prore (pror), n. [< L. prora, < Gr. wpQpa, the
prow of a ship, < 'irpS, before, in front. Cf.
prow^, a doublet ot prore.] The prow or fore
part of a ship. [Poetical and rare.]
There no vessel with vermilion prore.
Or bark of trafiic, glides from shore to shore.
Pope, Odyssey, ix. US.
The tall ship, whose lofty prore
Shall never stem the billows more.
Scott, L. of the I.., vl 13.
prorogue
prorector (pro-rek'tor), n. [< L. pro, for, in-
stead of, -I- rector, a'govei-nor, a ruler: see rec-
tor.] An officer in a German university who
represents the rector, or who is next in au-
thority to the directing officer.
prorectorate (pro-rek'tor-at), n. [< prorector
+ -afeSj The office of a prorector.
prerenal (pro-re'nal), a. [< L. pro, for, be-
fore, + renes, the kidneys : see renal.] Existing
or acting instead of or prior to the definite
formation of a kidney; of or pertaining to the
segmental organ, or primitive kidney.
The pro-renal (segmental) duct ; a conspicuous thick-
walled tube seen, on either side, lying within the somatic
mesoblast.
Bvxley and Ma/rtin, Elementary Biology, p. 169.
pro re nata (pro re na'ta). [L. : pro, for, ac-
cording to ; re, abl. sing, of res, thing, affair,
circumstance; nata, abl. sing. rem. of watius,
pp. of nasci, be bom, arise, originate: see na-
taV^.] For some contingency that arises un-
expectedly or out of due course. A pro re nata
meeting, tor instance, is one called not at the stated time
of meeting, but on account of the emergence of some oc-
currence or circumstance requiring it.
proreptiont (pro-rep'shon), n. [< li. proreptus,
pp. of prorepere, creep iorth, come out, < pro,
forward, before, -I- repere, creep, crawl: see re-
pent^, reptile.] A creeping on. Imp. Diet.
prorex (pro'reks), n. [< L. pro, for, instead of,
-I- rex, king : see rex.] A viceroy. [Rare.]
Create him Pro-rex of all Africa.
Marlowe, Tamburlaine, I., L 1.
proritationf, n. [< L. as if *proritatio{nr-), <
proritare, provoke, < pro, forth, -I- *ritare, as
in irritare, excite, provoke, irritate: see irri-
tate^.] Provocation; challenging.
Your Maimonides, after all your proritation, holds no
other than fair terms with our Samaritan Clironicle.
£p. Hall, Works, X. 399. (Dames.)
Frorodon (pro'ro-don), n. [NL. (Ehrenberg), <
Gr. irpopa, prow (see prore), -H bSoiic (bSovr-) =
E. tooth.] The typical genus of the family
Prorodontidie, with terminal mouth and armed
pharynx. There are many species, mostly of
fresh water, as P. nimeus; F. marimw is found
in salt water.
Frorodontidae (pro-ro-don'ti-de), n.pl. [NL.,
< Frorodon (-dont-) 4- -idle.] A family of ho-
lotriohous eiliate infusorians, named from thfe
genus Frorodon, of symmetrical oval or oylin-
drie figure, with lateral or terminal mouth and
a distinct pharynx, usually plicate or armed
with rod-like teeth. It corresponds to Perty's
Decteria, but is more restricted. W. S. Kent.
prorogate (pro'ro-gat), v. t. ; pret. and pp. pro-
rogated, ppr. prorogating. {CL.prorogatus, pp .
of prorogare, prolong, extend, defer : see pro-
rogue.] To prorogue ; put off. Brougham.
prorogation (pro-ro-ga'shon), n. [< F. proro-
gation = Sp. j)»-orog'ac«W= Pg. prorogagSo =
It. prorogazione, < L. prorogaUo(n-), an exten-
sion, a putting off, < prorogare, pp. proroga-
tus, prolong, extend: see prorogue.] 1. The
act of continuing, prolonging, or protracting ;
continuance in time or duration; a lengthening
out to a distant time ; prolongation ; the delay-
ing of action upon anything.
When they preferred another law for the prorogation of
the provinces and armies which Ceesar demaniled, Cato
would speak no more to the people to hinder It.
Morth, tr. of Plutarch, p. 651.
¥&tTi3.Tchal prorogations of existence.
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 263.
2. The aet of proroguing; more specifically,
the right which belongs to the British crown,
exercised by its ministers, of terminating a
session of Parliament; also, the exercise of that
right.
But it now seems to be allowed that a prorogatum must
he expressly made in order to determine the session.
BlacJcstone, Com., I. ii.
The power ot prorogation either before or after the day
of meeting rested with the king.
Stubbs, Hist. Eng., § 296.
Prorogation of a judge's Jurisdiction, a Judge's adju-
dication by consent of parties on matters proper^ outside
his jurisdiction.— Prorogation of a lease, the exten-
sion of a lease. = Syn. 2. Tteeees, DissoltUim, etc. See ad-
jourrwnewt.
prorogue (pro-rog'), i>. #.; pret. and pp. pro-
rogued, ppr. proroguing. [Early mod. E. pro-
roge; < OF.proroguer, ¥. proroger = Sp. Pg.
prorogar = It. prorogare, < L. prorogare, pro-
long, protract, extend, continue, defer, < pro,
forth, + rogare, ask: see rogation.] If. To
prolong; protract.
'Well prorogue his expectation, then, a little.
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iii. 1.
Mirth prorogues We. Burton.
prorogue
2f. To defer ; put off ; delay.
To promise better at the next we bring
Prarogve» disgrace, commends not anything.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Kevels, Epil.
The ktag's jonmey into Scotland mustbe m-orooM^d un-
td another year, notwithstanding the gestes thereof be
already set down. Court and Times of Charles I., II. 207.
3. To discontinue meetings of for a time, usu-
ally for a period of time not expressly stated:
used specifically of the British Parliament
Parliament is prorogued £tom session to session by the
sovereign's authority, either by the lord chancellor in the
royal presence, or by commission, or by proclamation. See
parliament and odjournmenL
The Parliament is prorogued till Michaelmas Term.
Howell, Letters, I. v. 6.
prorsad (prdr'sad), aOv. [< L. prorsum, for-
ward, + -ad^.'\ In anat., forward; so as to be
to or toward the front; antrorsely; oephalad:
opposed to retrad.
prorsal (prdr'sal), a. [< L. prorsum, forward,
+ -oJ.] In anat., forward; anterior: the op-
posite of retral.
prorumpt (pro-rump'), V. i. [= OF. prorompre,
prorumpre = Sp. prorwmpvr = Pg. proromper =
It. prorompere, < li. prorumpere, vp- Proruptus,
break forth, burst out, <pro, forth, + rumpere,
break: see ruptwre.'] To break forth; burst
out. [Bare.]
What a noise it made 1 as if his spirit would have pra-
ntTiipt with it. B. Joraon, Poetaster, v. 1.
proruption (pro-rup'shon), n. [< LL. prorup-
Uoin-), a breaking or iJursting forth, < L. pro-
rumpere, pp. proruptus, break or rush forth:
see prorump.'i The act of bursting forth; a
bursting out. [Bare.]
Excluding but one day, the latter brood, impatient^ by
a forcible jn'oru^fum anticipate their period of exclusion.
Sir T, Brovme, Vulg. Err., itu 16.
pros. An abbreviation otprosody.
pros-. [L., eto., pros-, < Cfr. irpog-, prefix, wp6g,
prep., from forth, from (one point) toward (an-
other), toward, before, in presence of, hard by,
near, etc.; earlier irpori, izori, = Skt. prati,
toward, against, = OBulg. proii (ef . with kotI
the Zend paiti) ; with a formative -ti, from the
base of np6, forth, before : see pro-.'] A prefix
in words of Greek origin or formation, meaning
'to,' 'toward,' 'before,' etc./
prosaic (pro-za'ik), a. [= F. prosatgue = Sp.
prosdico =:'J?g. It. prosaico {oi. T>. prozaiseh =
G. prosaiscli = Sw. Dan. prosaisk), < LL. pro-
saicus, pertaining to prose, in jprose, < li.prosa,
prose: seeprose.] If. Pertaining to prose; re-
sembling prose ; in the form of prose.
In modem rhythm, . .• . be it prosaic or poetic, he [the
reader] must expect to ^d it governed for the greater
pait by accent. Harris, PhiloL Inquiries, ii. 3.
2. Ordinary or commonplace in style or ex-
pression; uninteresting; dullj of ;persons, com-
monplace in thought; lacking imagination;
literal.
These prosaic lines, this spiritless eulogy, are much be-
low the merit of the critic whom they are intended to
celebrate. J, Wa/rton, Essay on Pope. {Latham.)
The danger of the prosaic type of mind lies in the stolid
sense of superiority which blinds it to everything ideal.
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 260.
=Syn. 2. Vapid, flat^ bald, tame, humdrum, stupid.
prosaical (pro-za'i-kal), a. [< prosaic + -al.}
Same aa prosaic.
The Urat proaaicaZ work with which Rastell's ponderous
foUo opens is called "The Life of John Hcus."
Int. to Sir T. More's Utopia, p. Ixxiii.
All manner of Greek writers, both metrical and prosai-
cal. Cvdvmrth, Intellectual System, p. 261.
prosaically (pro-za'i-kal-i), adv. In a duU or
prosaic manner.
prosaicism (pro-za'i-sizm), »._ [< prosaic +
4sm.'] A prosaic style or quality.
Through this species otproswieism, Cowper, with scarcely
any of the higher poetical elements, came very near mak-
ing his age fancy him the equal of Pope. _
Poe, Marginalia, xxvm. (Dames.)
prosaicness (pro-za'ik-nes), n. The quality or
character of being prosaic.
The vulgarity and prosaicness of these people.
Athensmm, No. 3254, p. 303.
prosaism (pro'za-izm), »J. \=i'e.j^osamne; as
L.pro«a, prose, ^-jsj».] A prose idiom; a pro-
saic phrase. Coleridge.
prosaist (pro'za-ist), «. [< L. prosa, prose, +
-is*.] 1. A writer of prose.
There is no other prosaist who possesses anything like
Milton's command over the resources of language.
Mark Pattison, Milton, 1. 46.
8. A prosaic or commonplace person ; one des-
titute of poetic thought or feeling.
4785
Thou thyself, O cultivated reader, who too probably art
no Psalmist, but a Prosaist, knowing God only by tradi-
tion. Carlyle, Sartor fiesarius, i. 11.
prosalt (pro'zal), a. [< OF. prosal, < ML. as if
*prosalis, < li.'prosa, prose: see prose.] In the
form of prose.
The priest not always composed his prosal raptures into
verse. Sir T. Browne, Misc., p. 177.
prosapief, n. [< OF. prosapie = Sp. Pg. It. pro-
sapia,<.li. prosapia, aXso prosapies, a stock, race,
family.] A stock; race. [Rare.]
My harte abhorreth that I should bo
In a woman's kirtle my self disguise,
Beyng a manne, and begotten to
Of a mannes prosapie, in manly wise.
Udall, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 69. (Davies.)
prosar (pro'zSr), n. [< ML. prosarivm, a book
containing t£e proses, < L. prosa, prose: see
prose.] A service-book containing the proses.
Bee prose, 3.
proscapula (pro-skap'u-la), K.: pi. proscapulse
(-le). [NL., < L. pro, before, + scapula, shoul-
der-blade.] In ichth., the principal and outer
element of the scapular arch, generally carried
forward and downward to articulate with its
fellow of the opposite side, and supporting on
its inner surface the cartilage or the bones
which in turn bear the pectoral fin. It was
called by Cuvier humeral, by Owen eoracoid,
and by later writers clavicle.
proscapular (pro-skap'u-lar), a. [<proscapula
+ -arS.] In icJith., relating to the proscapula,
or having its character.
proscenium (pro-se'ni-um), re.; pi. proscenia
(-a). [< L. pros'csenium, proscenium, < Gr. vpo-
ciafvwv, the place in front of the scene or scen-
ery, the stage, also the fore part or entrance of
a tent, < irpo, before, in front of, + aiaiv^, a tent,
scene: see scene.] 1. In the ancient theater,
the stage before the scene or back wall.
During his time, from the Proscemum, ta'en,
Thalia and Melpomene both vanish'd.
Colman, Poetical Vagaries, p. 16. (Bavies.)
In Asia Minor some of the theatres have their proscenia
adorned with niches and columns, and friezes of great
richness. J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., I. 271.
2. In the modem theater, that part of the house
which lies between the curtain or drop-scene
and the orchestra : often used also to mean the
curtain and the arch or framework which holds
it.
proscenium-arcll (pro-se'ni-um-arch), n. An
arch or archway or any equivalent opening in
the wall, which, except for this opening, is usu-
ally built solid as a precaution in case of fire
between the stage and the auditorium of a mod-
ern theater.
proscenium-box (pro-se'ni-um-boks), TO. A
stage-box ; a box in the proseeniiun-arch.
proscenium-grooves (pro-se'ni-um-grovz), to.
pi. The scenery-grooves nearest the prosceni-
um.
proscindt (pro-sind'), V. t. [< L. proscindere,
tear open in front, rend, < pro, before, + scin-
dere, cut, tear: see scission. Cf. exscind, pre-
scind.] To rend in front.
They did too much proscind and prostitute (as it were)
the Imperial purple.
Bp. Gauden, Tears of the Church, p. 673; (Dames.)
proscolecine (pro-skol'e-sin), a. [< proscolex
(-ec-) + -ine^.] Pertaining to a proscolex, or
having its character.
proscolex (pro-sko'Ieks), n. ; pi. proscolices (-li-
sez). [NL., < Gr. ■rrpd, before, + aK&2,>!^, a worm:
see scolex.] The first embryonic stage of a ces-
toid, as a tapeworm, when it has been liberated
from the egg and is a minute vesicular body
provided with hooks or horny processes for ad-
hering to and working its way into the tissues
of the host. Compare deutoscolex a,nd proglottis.
See cut under Teenia.
The proscolex, or six-hooked embryo, which gives rise to
the bladder-worm. JEncyc. BrU., XXIII. 62.
proscolla (pros-kol'a), «.; pi. proscollse (-e).
[NL.,< Gr. TrpSg, before,+ K6XKa, glue.] In hot,
a viscid gland on the upper side of the stigma
of orchids, to which the poUen-masses become
attached. Treas. of Bot.
proscribe (prg-skrib'), v. t. ; pret. and pp. pro-
scribed, ppr. proscribing. [= F . prosarire = Sp.
£roscribir = Pg. prosareiver = It. proscrivere, <
. proscribere, write before, publish, advertise,
publish as having forfeited one's property, con-
fiscate the property of, outlaw, proscribe,<i3ro,
before, + scribere, write.] 1. To publish the
name of, as condemned to death and liable to
confiscation of property.
prose
Sylla and the triumvirs never proscribed so many men to
die as they do by their ignorant edicts.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, iL 196.
2. To put out of the protection of the law ; ban-
ish; outlaw; exile.
Eobert Vere, Earl of Oxford, was . . . banished th«
realm and proscribed. denser, State of Ireland.
3. To denounce and condemn as dangerous ; re-
ject utterly; interdict; prohibit.
In the year 325 . . . the Arisen doctTinesweTe proscribed
and anathematized in the famous council of Nice.
WaterlaTut.
That he who dares, when she [Fashion] forbids, be grave,
Shall stand proscrib'd a madman or a knave.
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 476.
The king told Kochester to choose any ministers of the
Established Church, with two exceptions. The proscr^Kd
persons were Tillotson and Stillingfleet.
Macaidaj/, Hist. Eng., vi.
=Syn. 1. To doom.— 3. To forbid.
proscriber (pro-skri'bfer), n. One who de-
nounces; one who dooms to destruction.
The triumvir and proscriber had descended to us in a
more hideous form than they now appear, if the Empei-oor
had not taken care to make friends of him and Horace.
Drydeti, ^neid. Bed.
prescript (pro'skript), n. [< OF. proscript, P.
£roscrit = Sp. Pg. proscripto = It. proscritto, <
. proscriptus, pp. ot pi-oscribere, write before,
etc.: see proscribe.] 1. A proscribed person.
— 2. A prohibition; an interdict.
For whatfloeuer he were which for the diminution of the
liberties of the church were excommunicat, and so con-
tinued a yeeres space, then he should be within the dan-
ger of this proscript. Foxe, Martyrs, p. 271, an. 1260.
[Rare in both uses.]
proscription (pro-skrip'shgn), n. [< F. pro~
scription = Sp. proscripcion = Fg. proscrippao =
It. proscrizione, < L. proseripUo(n-), public no-
tice, advertisement, proscription, < proscribere,
pp. proscriptus, publish, proscribe: see pro^
scribe.] The act of proscribing; outlawry:
denunciation; prohibition; exclusion; specifi-
cally, the dooming of citizens to death as pub.
lie enemies, and the confiscation of their goods.
The two great proscriptions in lU>man history were Uia'.
by Sulla about 82 B. c, and that by the second triumvirate
43 B. C.
By proscription and bills of outlawry,
Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus
Have put to death an hundred senators.
SMk., J. C, iv. 3. 173.
prescriptive (pro-skrip'tiv), a. [< L. proscrip-
ttui, pp. ot proscribere, publish, proscribe: see
proscribe.] Pertaining to or consisting in pro-
scription; proscribing; disposed to proscribe.
The Imperial ministers pursued with prescriptive laws
and ineif ectual arms the rebels whom they had made.
Gibbon, Decline and Fall, xxxv.
People frequently acquire in such confederacies a nar-
row, bigoted, and prescriptive spirit.
Burke, Present Discontents.
proscriptively (pro-skrip'tiv-li), adv. In a pro-
soriptive manner. '
proscutal (pro-sku'tal), a. \iproscut-um + -al.]
Of or pertaining to the proscutum.
proscutellar (pro-skii'te-lar), a. [< proscutel-
lum + -ar^.] Of or pertaining to the proscu-
tellum.
proscutellum (pro-sku-tel'um), TO. ; pi. proscu-
tella (-a). [NL., < Xilpro, before, + NL. scu-
teBMJB, q. v.] In entom,, the scutellum of the
pronotum; the scutellar sclerite of the pro-
thorax.
proscutum (pro-sku'tum), «.; pi. prosouta (-ta).
[NL., < L. pro, before, + NL. scutum, q. v.]
In entom., the scutum of the pronotum; the
scutal sclerite of the prothorax.
prose (proz), TO. and a. [< ME. prose, < OP.
prose, P. prose = Sp. Pg. It. prosa = D. proza
= OHG. prosa, MHG. prose, G. prosa = Icel.
prosa = Sw. Dan. prosa, < li., prosa, prose,
short for prosa oratio, straightforward or di-
rect speech (i. e. without transpositions or or-
namental variations as in verse) : prosa, fem.
of prosus, contr. of prorsus, straightforward,
direct, contr. of *2)roversus, < pro, forth, + ver-
sus, turned, pp. of vertere, turn (> versus (ver-
SU-), a turning, a line, verse) : see verse. The
element vers- is thus contained, though in dif-
ferent applications, in both verse and prose.
Cf. Gr. TTEfof %6yog or irff^ ^^^ig,!^. pedestris ora-
tio, prose, lit. 'speech afoot' (not 'mounted'
or elevated).] I. to. 1. The ordinary written
or spoken language of man ; language not eon-
formed to poetical measure, as opposed to verse
or metrical composition. See poetry.
" Su*e, at o word, thou Shalt no lenger lyme.'' . . .
" I wol yow telle a litel thyng in prose
That oghte liken yow, as I suppose."
Chaucer, ProL to Tale of Melibeos, 1. 19l
prose
Prompt eloquence
Flow'd from their lips, in prow or numerous verse.
MHUm, P. L., T. 149.
Well, on the whole, plain prose must he my fate : . . .
m e en leave verses to the hoys at school.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. ii. 198.
Prose, however fervid and emotional it may become,
must always he directed, or seem to be directed, by the
reins of logic. Bnoyc Brit., XIX 261.
Hence — 2. Commonplace ideas or discourse.
Goodrich. — 3. In liturgies, a hymn sung after
the gradual, originating from a practice of set-
ting words to the jnbilatio of the alleluia. Such
hymns were originally either in the vernacular or in i^imed
latin, with rhythms depending, as in modern verse, upon
the accfint : hence they were called prosx, proses, in dis-
tinction from verms, verses, this latter term being applied
only to poetry written in meters depending on quantity as
in the ancient classic poets. See sequeru^e.
Hymns or proses full of idolatry.
Harmair, tr. of Beza (1587), p. 267.
On all higher festivals, besides this sequence, the rhythm
called the prose, which generally consisted of between
'twenty and thirty verses, was likewise chanted.
Sock, Church of our Fathers, III. U. 21.
4t. An oration; a story.
Whethur long, othir littull, list me not tell,
Ffor no mynd is there made in our mene bokes,
ISe noght put in oni proses by poiettes of old.
Destruction qf Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 9076.
II. a. Belating to or consisting of prose;
prosaic; not poetic; hence, plain; common-
place. Thackeray.
There you have the poetic reverie, . , . and the dull
prose commentary. Longfellow, Hyperion, ii. 7.
prose (proz), V. ; pret. and pp. ^rose(i, ppr. jjros-
ing. liMK.prosen; <. prose, n.'] I. trams. To
write or compose in prose : as, a fable prosed or
versified.
But alle shul passe that men prose or ryme ;
Take every man hya turn as for his tyme.
Chaiicer, Scogan, 1. 41.
And if ye winna mak* it clink,
By Jove I'U. prose it !
Bums, Second Epistle to Lapraik.
H. intrans. 1 . To write or compose in prose.
It was found . . . that whether ought was impos'd me
by them that had the overlooking, or betak'n to of mine
own choise in English or other tongue, prosing or versing,
but chiefly this latter, the stile by certain vital signes it
had was likely to live.
MUton, Church-Government, ii.. Int.
*'Toprose"i8 now to talk or to write heavily, tediously,
without spirit and without animation; but"to2»'ose"was
once the antithesis of to versify, and "proser" of a writer
In metre. Trench, Select Glossary.
2. To write or speak in a dull or tedious man-
ner.
When much he speaks, he finds that ears are closed.
And certain signs inform him when he *s prosed.
Crabhe, Works, II. 158.
" My very good sir, " said the little quarto, yawning most
drearily in my face, "excuse my interrupting you, but I
perceive you are rather given to prose. "
Irmng, Sketch-Book, p. 168.
The wither'd Misses ! how they prose
O'er books of travell'd seamen.
Tennysim, Amphlon.
prosect (pro-sekt'), v. [< L. prosectus, pp. of
prosecare, out off from before (taken in sense of
'dissect beforehand'), < pro, before, + secare,
out: see secUon.'] I. trans. To dissect (a sub-
ject) beforehand ; prepare (a cadaver) for ana-
tomical demonstration by a professor.
II. intrans. To fill the ofa.ee or perform the
duties of a prosector: as, to prosect tox aua^
tomioal lectures.
prosection (pro-sek'shqn), n. [< LL. prosec-
Uo{n-), a cutting off, < li. prosecare, yp.prosec-
tu8, cut off from before : see prosect.J The act
or process of proseoting; dissection practised
by a prosector.
prosector (prp-sek'tpr), n. [< liL. prosector, one
who outs in pieces, <^\i. prosecare, t^t^. proseetus,
cut off from before: see prosect.'\ One who
prosects ; one who dissects the parts of a cada-
ver for the illustration of anatomical lectures ;
a dissector who assists a lecturer by preparing
the anatomical parts to be described by the lat-
ter. The office of prosector in a medical col-
lege ranks nearly with that of demonstrator.
A comvetsnt prosector attached to our zobloglcal garden
— one who' combined the qualities of an artist an author,
and a general anatomist — would soon demonstrate the
high importance of his work, and contribute the most ef-
ficient aid to animal taxonomy. Science, VII. 505.
prosectorial (pro-sek-to'ri-al), a. [<, prosector
+ -ja^] Of or pertaining to a prosector or
prosection; fitted for prosecting: as, prosecto-
rial duties; a prosectorial o&oe.
Often small species can be at once consigned to alcohol,
for the future use of the prosectorial department.
Pop. Sa. Mo., XXXIV. 790.
4786
prosectorship (pro-sek'tor-ship), n. [< prosec-
tor + -ship.\ Tlie office or position of a pro-
sector.
During his tenure of this Prosectorship he [Henle] pub-
lished t&ee anatomical monographs on previously unde-
scribed species of animals.
Prac. iJoj/. iSoc, XXXIX. No. 239, p. iv.
prosecutable (pros'f-ku-ta-bl), a. l<prosecute
+ -able.'] Capable of being prosecuted ; liable
to prosecution. Quarterly Bev.
prosecute (pros'e-kut), v. ; pret. and pp. prose-
cuted, y^v. prosecuting. [I'ormerly also prose-
quute; < OF. prosecuter, < L. prosecutus, prose-
quutus, pp. ot prosequi (> It. proseguire = Pg.
Sp. proseguir = OF. prosequer, vernacularlyjjor-
suir, poursuivre, > E. pursue), follow after or up,
pursue, < pro, for, forth, + sequi, follow : see
sequent. Cf . execute, persecute, etc., and see^jtr-
sue, from the same L. verb.] I. trans. 1. To
follow up ; pursue with a view to attain or ob-
tain ; continue endeavors to accomplish or com-
plete; pursue with continued purpose; carry
on ; follow up : as, to prosecute a scheme ; to
prosecute an undertaking.
So forth she rose, and through the purest stof
To Joves high Palace straight cast to ascend.
To prosecute her plot. Spemer, F. Q., VIL vi. 23.
I am beloved of beauteous Hermia;
Why shoidd not I then prosecute my right?
Shak., M. N. D., i. 1. 105.
In the yeare 1596, there were sent other two shippes, to
prosequvte this Discouerle. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 434.
This intelligence put a stop to my travels, which I had
prosecuted with much satisfaction.
Addison, Coffee House Politicians.
The very inhabitants discourage each other from prose-
cwbi'ng their own internal advantages.
Oddsmtth, Citizen of the World, Mil.
2. In law : (a) To seek to obtain by legal pro-
cess: as, to prosecute a claim in a court of law.
(6) To arraign before a court of justice for some
crime or wrong ; pursue for redress or punish-
ment before a legal tribunal : as, to prosecute
a man for trespass or for fraud. A person institut-
ing civil proceedmgs is said to prosecute his action or
suit ; a person instituting criminal proceedingB, or civil
proceedings for damages for a wrong, is said to prosecute
the party charged, (cf) To proceed against or pur-
sue by law : said of crimes.
What they will inform.
Merely in hate, 'gainst any of us all.
That will the king severely prosecute
'Gainst us, our lives, our children, and our heirs.
Shak., Rich. II., ii. 1. 244.
=&ni. 1. To follow out, persevere In.— 2 (6). To arraign.
n. intrans. To carry on a legal prosecution;
act as a prosecutor before a legal tribunal.
Faith, in such case, if you should prosecute,
I think Sir Godfrey should decide the suit.
Pope, Imit, of Horace, II. ii. 23.
He [the king} is therefore the proper person to prosecute
for all public offences and breaches of the peace, being the
person injured in the eye of the law.
Blackstona, Com., I. vii.
prosecution (pros-e-ku'shon), re. [< OF. prose-
cution, prosecucion = Sp. prosecudon = Pg.
prosecug&o = It. prosecuzione, < LL. prosecu-
tio{n-), a following or accompanying, < L.
prosequi, pp. prosecutjis, follow after, pursue :
see prosecute.] If. A following after; a pur-
suing; pursuit.
When I should see behind me
The inevitable prosecution of
Disgi-ace and horror. Shak., A. and C, iv. 14. 65.
Let us therefore press after Jesus, as Elisha did after his
master, with an inseparable prosecution, even whitherso-
ever he goes. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 25.
2. The act or process of prosecuting, or pur-
suing with the object of obtaining or accom-
plishing something; pursuit by endeavor of
body or mind ; the carrying on or following up
of any matter in hand : as, the prosecution of a
scheme orimdertaking; the prosecution of war
or of commerce ; the prosecution of a work, ar-
gument, or inquiry.
It is a pursuit in the power of every man, and is only a
regular prosecution of what he himself approves.
Steele, Tatler, No. 202.
3. (a) The institution and carrying on of a suit
in a court of law or equity to obtain some right
or to redress and punish some wrong : as, the
prosecution of a claim in chancery. (6) The in-
stitution and continuance of a criminal suit ;
the process of exhibiting formal charges or ac-
cusations before a legal tribunal and wie press-
ing of them : as, prosecutions by the crown or
by the state. — 4. The party by whom proceed-
ings are instituted: as, such a course was
adoptedby the prosecution Crimlsal, malicious,
etc., prosecution. See the adjectives.— Prosecution
of Offenses Act, an English statute of 1879 {42 and 43
Vict., c. 22) which established the office of director of pub-
proselytism
lie prosecutions for the purpose of instituting and carry-
ing on criminal proceedings under the superintendence of
the attorney-general, giving advice to police authorities,
etc.
prosecutor (pros'f-ku-tgr), n. [< LL. prose-
cutor, prosequutor, prosecutor, < L. prosequi,
pp. prosecutus, prosequutus, follow after, pur-
sue: see prosecute.] 1. One who prosecutes;
one who pursues or carries on any purpose,
plan, enterprise, or undertaking.
The lord Cromwell was conceived to be the principal
mover and prosecutor thereof.
,S^m<i»,^Hist. Sacrilege. (Lathmn.)
2. In law, the person who institutes and car-
ries on any proceedings in a court of justice,
whether civil or criminal: generally applied to
a complainant who institutes criminal proceed-
ings.
In criminal proceedings, or prosecutions for offences, it
would still be a higher absurdity it the king personally
sat in judgment ; because in regard to these he appears
in another capacity, that ot prosecutor.
Blackstonc, Com., I. vii.
Public proseeator, an olBcer charged with the conduct
of criminal prosecutions in the interests of the public,
as a district attorney and in Scotland a procurator fiscal.
prosecutrix (pros'f-kii-triks),' n. [NL., f em. of
lib. prosecutor, ■piosecxitoT: see prosecutor.] A
female prosecutor.
proselachian (pro-se-la'ki-an), n. [< NL. Pro-
selachiu^ -f- -an.] A hypothetical primitive se-
lachian of the imaginary genus Froselachius.
Froselachius (pro-se-la'ki-us), n. [NL., < L.
pro, before, + NL. selacMus, q. v.] A hypo-
thetical genus of primitive selachians, "closely
related to the existing sharks, and hypothetical
ancestors of man" {HaeckeV).
proselyte (pros'f-lit), n. [Formerly also j;ros-
elite; < ME. proselite, < OP. proselite, P. pros4-
lyte = %p.prosilito = Pg. proselyto = It. prose-
lito, < IdJ. proselytus, < Gr. Trpoa^T^vToc, a convert,
proselyte, lit. one who has come over to a
party, < wpoaipxeadai (2d aor. 'KpoafjWov)^ come
to, < t^pis, to, toward, + epxea6ai (2d aor. eWelv),
come.] r. One who changes foom one opin-
ion, creed, sect, or party to another, with or
without a real change in purpose and princi-
ple: chiefly used in a religious sense. Often ac-
companied with an adjective indicating the religion to
which the change is made : as, a Jewish proselyte (that is,
a proselyte to Judaism). See convert.
Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte.
Hat. xxiii. 16.
False teachers commonly make use of base, and low,
and temporal considerations, of little tricks and devices,
to make disciples and gain proselytes. Tillotson.
Fresh confidence the speculatist takes
Fromicv'ry hair-brain'd proselyte he makes.
Covjper, Progress of Error, 1. 491.
It is not to make proselytes to one system of politics or
another that the work of education is to be directed.
StvlAs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 19.
2. Specifically, in Jewish hist., one who be-
came detached from the heathen and joined a
Jewish community.
Many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul.
Acts xiii. 43.
Proselytes of righteousness, In rabbinical lit., those
proselytes who were circumcised and adopted into the
body of the Israelites.— Proselytes of the gate, in rab-
binical lit., those proselytes who were not compelled to
submit to the regulations of the Mosaic law.
At the last Passover, we read in John's Gospel, certain
Greeks — who were not Jews, but heathen, probably prose-
lytes of the gate — who had come up to the festival to wor-
ship, came to Philip, one of the twelve, and expressed
their wish to see Jesus (John xii. 20).
The Century, XXXIX. 688.
=Syn. 1. Neophyte, Convert, Proselyte, etc. (see convert),
catechumen.
proselyte (pros'f-lit), v. t ; pret. and pp. prose-
lyted, ppr. prosetytmg. [< proselyte, n.] To in-
duce to become the adherent of some given
doctrine, creed, sect, or party ; proselytize : as,
"^proselyted Jew," South, Sermons, XL 108.
There dwells a noble pathos in the skies,
Which warms our pasaions, proselytes our hearts.
Ycrung, Night Thoughts, ix.
I have no wish to proselyte any reluctant mind.
Emerson, Free Eeligious Associations.
proselytise, proselytiser. See proselytize,
proselytizer.
proselytism (pros'f-li-tizm), n. [= F. prosily-
tisme = Pg. prosety'tismo; as proselyte + -ism.]
1. The act or practice of making proselytes or
converts to a religion or to any doctrine, creed,
system, sect, or party.
They were possessed of a spirit of proselytism in the
most fanatical degree. Burke.
2. Conversion to a system or creed.
Spiritual proselytiem, to which the Jew was wont to be
wash'd, as the Christian is baptized.
Hammond, Works, IV. 60a
proselytist
proselytist (pros'e-li-tist), n. [< proselyte +
-w<.] A proselytizer.
The Mormon proselytieta report unusual success in their
missionary work. New York Hoangelist, June 22, 1876.
proselytize (pros'f-li-tiz), v.; pret. and pp.
proselytized, ppr. proaelyUzing. [< proselyte +
-ize.'\ I. trans. To make a proselyte of ; induce
to become the adherent of some religion, doc-
trine, sect, or party ; convert.
If his grace be one of these whom they endeavour to
proselytize, he ought to he aware of the character of the
sect whose doctrines he is invited to embrace.
Burke, To a Noble Lord.
II, intrans. To make proselytes or converts.
As he was zealously )w-osei!i/feiij!^ at Medina, news came
that Abusophian Een-Hareth was going into Syria.
L. Addison, Mahomet (1679), p. 71.
Man is emphatically a, proselytising creature.
Carlyle, Sartor Besartus, 1. 2.
The egoism of the Englishman is self-contained. He
does not seek to proselytise.
M. L. Stemenson, The Foreigner at Home.
Also spelled proselytise.
proselytizer (pros'f-li-ti-zer), n. One who
makes or endeavors to make proselytes. Also
spelled proselytiser.
There is no help for it; the faithful proselytizer, if she
cannot convince by argument, bursts into tears.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxxiii.
prose-man (proz'man), n. A writer of prose ;
a proser.
All broken poets, all prose-men that are fallen from small
sense to mere letters. Beau, and i^Z., Woman-Hater, iv. 2.
Verse-man or prosema/n, term me which you will.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. i. 64.
Let them rally their heroes, send forth all their powers.
Their verse-men and prose-men, then match them with
ours. Omrick, quoted in Boswell's Johnson, II. 63.
proseminary (pro-sem'i-na-ri), n. ; pi. prosem-
inaries (-riz). [< pro-, before, + seminary.'] A
preparatory seminary; a school which prepares
students to enter a higher school or seminary.
Merchant Taylors' School in London was then just
founded as a ^ogeminarj/ for Saint John's College, Oxford,
In a house called the Manour of the Bose.
T. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry.
proseminate (pro-sem'i-nat), V. t. ; pret. and pp.
proseminated, ppr. proseminating. [< L. pro-
seminatus, pp. of proseminare, sow, scatter
about, <^ro, forward, + seminare, sow: seese?»-
inate.'] To sow; scatter abroad, as seed.
Not only to oppose, but corrupt the fteavenly doctrine,
and to proseminaie his curious cockles, dissensions, and
factions. Evelyn, True Beligion, II. 222.
prosemination. (pro-sem-i-na'shon), n. [< pro-
seminate + -ion.2 'Propagation by seed.
We are not, therefore, presently to conclude every vege-
table sponte natum, because we see not its prosemination.
Sir M. Hale, Grig, of Mankind, p. 268.
prosencephalic (pros"en-se-fal'ik or pros-en-
sef 'a-lik), a. [_<prosenceplialon + 40.] 1. Per-
taining to the prosencephalon or fore-brain. —
2. Pertaining to the forehead or fore part of
the head; frontal: applied to the next to the
first one of four cranial vertebrse or segments
of the skull. Owen.
prosencephalon (pros-en-sef'a-lon), n. [NL.,
< Grr. npSs, before, + cyK6<l>a}Mi', the brain.] 1.
(a) The fore-brain; the cerebral hemispheres,
together with the eallosuni, striate bodies, and
fornix. It may also include the rhinencepha-
lon. (6) All of the parts developed from the
anterior of the three primary cerebral vesicles,
including, in addition to those of (a), the thala-
mencephalon. Also called proeerehriim. — 2.
The second cranial segment, counting from be-
fore backward, of the four of which the head
has been theoretically assumed to be composed.
See cuts under encephalon and Petromyzontidse.
prosenchyma (pros-eng'ki-ma), n. [NL., < Gr.
■Kp6Q, to, toward, + lyxvfm{T-), that which is
poured in, an infusion: see enchymatous and
parenchyma.^ In bot. , the fibrovascular system
or tissue of plants ; the cells and modified cells
which constitute the framework of plants, as dis-
tinguished from parenchyma, or the cells which
constitute the soft tissues of plants. See pa-
renchyma. In most of the lower plants it is barely if at
all developed, but in the higher plants it exists as a skele-
ton which brings all the parts into closer relation. The
solid wood of trunks and the veins of leaves are familiar
examples. As in parenchyma, the cells composing this
tissue are very various in form, size, etc., and have been
minutely classified, yet they may be reduced to a few com-
paratively simple types. These cells, which are normally
of considerable length in proportion to the transverse di-
ameter, are generally more or less sharply pomted, and are
divided into typical wood-cells and woody libers (includ-
ing libriform cells and secondary wood-cells) and vasifoiTO
wood-cells or tracheids. The most important modifica-
tion is that in which cells belonging to this system unite
4787
to form long rows in which the terminal partitions are
nearly or quite obliterated, throwing the cavities into
one, forming a duct. These ducts or vessels may be
dotted, spirally marked, annular, reticulated, or trabecu-
lar. A modification in a different direction produces
bast-cells, bast-flbers, or liber-flbers. See also wood-ceU,
libriform ceUs (under libriform), duct, 2 (b), bast\ 2, li-
beri, 1.
prosenchymatous (pros-eng-Mm'a-tus), a. [<
prosenchyma(t-) + -o«s.] In boi., like or be-
longing to prosenchyma.
According to the amount of surface-growth and thick-
ening of the cell-wall, various forms of parenchymatous
and prosenchymatous tissue result. Eneyc. Brit., IV. 85.
proser (pr6'z6r), n. [< prose + -erl.] 1+. A
writer of prose.
And surely Nashe, though he & proser were,
A branch of laurel yet deserves to bear.
Drayton, Poets and Poesy.
[See also second quotation underdose, v. i., 1.]
2. One who proses or makes a tedious narra-
tion of uninteresting matters.
But Saddletree, like other pro'sers, was blessed with a
happy obtuseness of perception concerning the unfavour-
able impression which he sometimes made on his auditors.
Scott, Heart of Mid- Lothian, xxvii,
Proserpina (pros-er-pi'na), n. [NL., < L. Pro-
serpina: see Proserpine.'^ A genus of gastro-
pods, typical of the family Proserpinidse.
Froserpinaca (pros"er-pi-na'ka), n. [NL. (Lrn-
nsBus, 1753), so called because of its partly
prostrate habit; < L. proserpinaca, a plant.
Polygonum aviculare, < proserpere, creep for-
ward, creep along, < pro, forward, + serpere,
creep : see serperit.2 A genus of polypetalous
water-plants of the order Haloragess. it is charac-
terized by the absence of petals, and by the numerical sym-
metry in threes, having usually a three-sided calyx-tube,
three calyx-lobes, three stamens, three stigmas, and for
fruit a three-angled three-seeded nutlet. There are but
2 species, natives of North America, including the West
Indies. They are smooth and low-growing aquatics, bear-
ing alternate lanceolate leaves, pectinately toothed or cut,
and minute sessile axillary flowers. They are named mer-
maid-weed, doubtless from their comb-like leaves and
growth in water.
Proserpine (pros'6r-pin), n. [= P. Proserpine, <
L. Proserpina, OL. Prosepna, corrupted from Gri.
Hepaeipdv^, also T\.epaE(p6veia, Proserpine (see def .),
traditionally explained as 'bringer of death,'
< fipeiv, bring (see 6eari), + (j>6vog, death (see
bane^) ; but this explanation, untenable in it-
self, fails to apply to the equiv. 'Slepai(paaca, IlEp-
aeipaTTa ; these forms, if not adaptations of some
antecedent name, are appar. < ■Kepae-, a form in
comp. of wepdetv, destroy ; the second element
-<liovij may bfe connected with fSvog, death, -<paa(ja
with •/ ^a, shine.] In Eom. myth., one of the
greater goddesses, the Greek Persephone or
Prosefpme
Relief of Ceres (Demeter), lacchus or Tnptolemiis, and Proserpine
(Perseplione or Kora), found at Eleusis, Attica.
Kora, daughter of Ceres, wife of Pluto and
queen of the infernal regions. She passed six
months of the year in Olympus with her mother, during
which time she was considered as an amiable and propi-
tious divinity ; but during the six months passed in Hades
she was stern and terrible. She was essentially a personi-
fication of the changes in the seasons, in spring and sum-
mer bringing fresh vegetation and fruits to man, and m
winter harsh and causing suffering. She was Intimately
connected with such mysteries as those of Bleusis. The
Roman goddess was practically identical with the Greek.
Compai'e cuts under Pluto and modiut.
prosiphonate
Proserpinidse (pros-er-pin'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,<
Proserpina + -idee.] A family of rhipidoglos-
sate gastropods, typified by the genus Proser-
pina. The animal has a foot truncated in front and acute
behind, without appendages, and a pulmonary pouch. The
shell is helicif orm, with a semilunar aperture, the columel-
la plicated or truncated at the base, and the interior is
absorbed with advancing age. The operculum is wanting.
The species are inhabitants of middle America and the
West Indies.
prosest, n. An obsolete (Middle English) spell-
ing ot process.
prosetnmoid (pros-eth'moid), n. [< Gr. tt/joc,
toward, + E. ethmoid.'] In ichth., the foremost
upper bone of th e cranium of typical fish es, gen-
erally regarded as homologous with the ethmoid
of the higher vertebrates.
proseuclie, proseucha (pros-n'ke, -ka), ».; pi.
proseuehsB (-ke). [< LGr. 7r/90(7£«;t;^prayer, place
of prayer, < npoatvxeaOai, pray, otter up vows, <
jrpiif, toward, + eix^oOai, pray.] A place of
prayer ; specifically, among the Jews, one that
was not a synagogue, , in distinction from the
temple. These proseuchse were usually outside the
town, near some river or the sea, and built in the foi-m of
a theater, unroofed.
A Proseucha among the Hebrew people was simply an
oratory or place of retirement and devotion.
B. H. Sears, The Fourth Gospel the Heart of Christ,
[p. 271, note.
prose-writer (proz'ii^tfer), M. A writer of prose;
a prosaist.
A poet lets you into the knowledge of a device better
than a prose-writer. Addison.
prosiliency (pro-sil'i-en-si), «. [< L. j)rosi-
lien{t-)s, ppr. otprosilire, leap forth, spring up,
<.pro, forth, forward, + salire, ppr. salien(t-)s,
"leap, bound: see salient.'] The act of leaping
forward; hence, a standing out. [Bare.]
Such prosiliency of relief. Coleridge. (Imp. Diet,)
prosily (pro'zi-li), adv. In a prosy manner ; te-
diously; tiresomely.
prosimetrical (pro-zi-met'ri-kal), a. [< L. pro-
«a, prose, + metrum, meter, 4- -dc-al (at. metrv-
caV').] Consisting of both prose and verse.
Frosimia (pro-sim i-a), n. [NL., < "h. pro, be-
fore, + siini'a, an ape.] A genus of lemurs:
same as Lemur. Brisson, 1764.
Prosimise (pro-sim'i-e), n.pl. [NL., pi, of Fro-
simia.] A group of primatial quadrumanous
mammals, founded by Storr in 1780 on the ge-
nus Prosimia of Brisson, later called Strepsir-
rhini and Lemuroidea; the lemurs, it is now re-
garded as one of two suborders of the order Primates,
including all the lemurine or lemuroid quadrupeds. The
cerebrum leaves much of the cerebellum uncovered. The
lacrymal foramen is extra-orbital, and the orbits are open
behind. The ears are more or less lengthened and point-
ed, without a lobule. The uterus is two-horned, the clito-
ris is perforated by the urethra, and the mammae are vari-
able. There are three families, Lenmridse, Tarsiidee, and
Daubentoniidse. See cut under Lemur.
prosimian (pro-sim'i-an), a. and n. [< Prosimia
+ -ail.] t. a. Lemimne or lemuroid; strep-
sirrhine, as a lemur; of or pertaining to the
Prosimiie.
II. «. A member of the Prosimfe; a lemuroid,
lemurine, or lemur.
prosiness (pro'zi-nes), n. [< prosy + -ness.]
The character or quality of being prosy.
His garrulity is true to nature, yielding unconsciously
to the prosiness of dotage. Nodes Am^osmnae, Feb. , 1832.
prosing (pro'zing), n. [Verbal n. of prose, v.]
Dullness or tediousness in speech or writing.
He . . . employed himself rather in the task of antici-
pating the nature of the reception he was about to meet
with . . . from two beautiful young women, than with
the prosing of an old one, however wisely she might prove
that small-beer was more wholesome than strong ale.
Scott, Pirate, xiL
prosingly (pro'zing-li), adv. In a prosing man-
ner; prosily.
prosipnon (pro-si'fon), n. [< pro- + siphon.]
The predecessor of the protosiphon in the
Ammonites, consisting of a kind of ligament
united to the wall of the initial chamber, or
protoeonch.
prosiphonal (pro-si'fon-al), a. l<jarosipJion +
-al.] Of or pertaining to the prosiphon.
Prosiphonata (pro-si-fo-na'ta), n. pi. [NL. :
see prosiphonate.] A primary group of cam-
erate cephalopods, having the siphonal fuunel
directed forward, or in the direction of growth.
(a) In the NautHoidea the group is represented only by
the extinct NotheceraUdse. (b) In the Ammonitotdea the
corresponding group includes all except the family Gonia-
prosiphonate (pro-si'fon-at), a. [< L. pro, be-
fore, + NL. siphon : see siphon, 2.] Hayingthe
siphonal region of the partitions convex for-
ward, or in the direction of growth : applied to
various eephalopodous shells so distinguished.
prosit
prosit (pro'sit). [L., 3d pers. sing. pres. subj.
of prodesse (ind. pres. 1st pera. prosum, 3d pers.
prodest), be of use or advantage, do good, <
pro, for, + esse, be .] Good luck to you : a salu-
tation used in drinking healths and otherwise
among Germans and Scandinavians, especially
among university students.
There were students from different TJnlversiHeB. . . .
There was jesting, singing, . . . some questioning, some
answering, . . . prosit I lucl£ be with you ! Adieu !
C. 0. Leland, tr. of Heine's Kotures of Travel, The Hartz
[Journey.
proslambanomenOB (pros-lam-ba-nom'e-nos),
n. [< Gr. wpoaXafipavdfievog (so. rdvog), < npoa?ia/i-
piveiv, take or receive besides, add, < wp6g, be-
fore, + ?.afipdveiv,tsbke.'] la Byeantine music,t'he
lowest tone of the recognized system of tones :
so called because it was added below the lowest
tetrachord. Its pitch is supposed to have corre-
sponded to that of the second A below middle C.
pro-slavery (pr6-sla'v6r-i), a. [< L. pro, for, +
E. slavery.^ In U. S. hist., favoring the princi-
ples and continuance of the institution of sla-
very, or opposed to national interference there-
with: as, a pro-slavery Whig; pro-slavery reso-
lutions.
The majority in the Senate was not merely Democratic,
of the Lecompton or extreme pro-Slavery caste ; it was es-
pecially hostile to Senator Douglas.
H. Qredey, Amer. Conflict, L 306.
proslepsiS (pros-lep'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. np6a-
hrj^ii, an assumption, < wpoaTia/i^dvEiv, take be-
sides, assume besides, < irpdg, before, + Xa/ipd-
veiv, TM^elv, take, assume (> A^^Jf, an assump-
tion).] In Stoic philos., a premise, the minor
premise of a modus ponens or toUens.
prosnet, n. [< OF. prosne, prone, "the publica-
tion made or notice given by a priest unto his
parishioners (when service is almost ended) of
the holy days and fasting days of the week
following, of goods lost or strayed," etc. (Cot-
grave).] A homily.
I will conclude this point with a saying, not out of Cal-
vin or Beza, who may be thought partial, but out of a, prosne
or homily made . . . two hundred years ago.
Bp. Hacket, Abp. Williams, ii. 56. {Davies.)
prosneiisis (pros-nti'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. wpda-
vevatg, a tendency, direction of a falling body,
< Trpoaveiieiv, incline toward, nod to, < mxif, be-
fore^ + veveiv (= L. niiere),nod, incline (> vevmc,
inclination).] The position-angle of the part
of the moon first eclipsed.
prosobranch (pros'o-brangk), a. and n. Same
as prosobranehiate.
ProsobrancMata (pros-o-brang-ki-a'ta), n. pi.
[NL. : see prosobrancMate.'i An order or sub-
class of gastropods, having the gills anterior to
the heart, generally breathing water, more or
less completely inclosed in a univalve shell, and
sexually distinct : opposed to OpisthobrancJiiata.
prosobranehiate (pros-o-brang'ki-at), a. and n.
[< 'Nli.prosobrancMatm, < Gr. izpdau, later Attic
also iroppa (= L. porro), forward, further, fur-
ther on, in advance, + Ppiyxia, gills : see bran-
chiate.'] I. a. Having the gills in front of the
heart, as a gastropod; of or pertaining to the
ProsobrancMata.
II. n. A member of the ProsobrancMata.
prosobranchism (pros'9-brang-kizm), n. [<
prosobranch + -ism.'] Disposition of the giUs
of a gastropod before the heart ; the character
of a prosobranehiate.
prosodal (pros'o-dal), a. [< prosodus + -aZ.]
Incurrent or aditalj as an opening in a sponge;
of the nature of or pertaining to a prosodus.
prosodiac^ (pro-s6'di-ak), a. [< LL. prosodia-
ciis, < Gr. irpoai)diaK6c, pertaining to accentua-
tion, < vpoatfidla, accentuation: see prosody.]
Same as prosodic.
proBOdiac^ (pro-s6'dl-ak), a. and n. [< proso-
dion + -ac.] I.' a. Used in prosodia (eeeproso-
dion); hence, constituting or pertaining to a
variety of anapestic verse, named from its use
in prosodia. See n.
II. n. In anc. pros., an anapestic tripody
with admission of an (anapestic) spondee or
an iambus in the first place.— Hyporcliematic
prosodlac. See hyporehmnatic.
prosodiaU (pro-s6'di-al), a. [< li. prosodia, ac-
centuation (s&e prosody), + -al.] Same as pro-
sodic.
Chapleted youths singing the praise of Pallas mproso-
dial hymns. J. A, Syrnonds, Italy and Greece, p. 215.
prosodial2(pro-s6'di-al),a. Same asprosodiac^.
prosodian (pro-so'di-an), n. [< L. prosodia,
accentuation (see prosody), + -an.] One who
is skilled in prosody, or in the rules of metrical
composition.
4788
Some hare been so bad jrrosodiawi as from thence to
derive the Latine word malum, because that fruit [apple]
was the first occasion of evil.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vii. 1.
Each writer still claiming in more or less indirect meth-
ods to be the &mt prosodian among us.
S. Larmr, Science of English Verse, p. viii.
prosodic (pro-sod'ik), a. [= F.prosodiqiie =
Sp. prosddico = Pg. prosodico, < Gr. Trpoa(fdu<.6g,
pertaining to accentuation, < irpoa^dia, accen-
tuation: see prosody:] Pertaining to prosody,
or to quantity and versification.
The normal instrumental ending &, preserved for pro-
aodie reasons. Erusyc. Brit., XXI. 270.
prosodical (pro-sod'i-kal), a. [iprosodic + -al.']
Same &s prosodic.
prosodically (pro-sod'i-kal-i), adv. As regards
prosody.
prosodiencephal (pros-o-di-en-sef 'al), n. [< Gr.
npdau, forward, + NL. diencephalon, q. v.] The
prosencephalon and the diencephalon taken
together.
prosodiencephalic (pros-o-di"en-se-fal'ik or
-sef'a-lik), a. [<. prosodiencephal + 4c.] Per-
taining to the prosodiencephal.
prosodion (pro-s6'di-on), n.; pi. prosodia (-a).
[< Gr. ■Kpoaiidiov, neut. of npoadSiog, belonging'to
processions, processional, < ■KpdaoSog, a proces-
sion, < n-pdf, from, + 6S6g, way, expedition.] In
anc. Gr.Ut., a song or hymn sung by a procession
approaching a temple or altar before a sacrifice.
prosodist (pros'o-dlst), n. [< prosody + -ist.]
One who understands prosody; a prosodian.
The exact prosodist will find the line of swiftness by one
time longer than that of tardiness. Johnson, Pope.
prosodus (pros'o-dus), n.; pi. prosodi (-di).
[NL., < Gr. irpdgj to, + &S6q, a way, road.] An
incurrent opening or passageway in a sponge ;
an aditus. Eneyc. Brit., XXH. 415.
prosody (pros'o-di), n. [= V. prosodie = Sp.
Pg. It. prosodia, < L. prosodia, < Gr. npoaudia, a
song with accompaniment, modulation of voice,
especially tone or accentuation, mark of pro-
nunciation, < n-pof, to, + 0t!^, a song: see ode.]
The science of the quantity of syllables and of
pronunciation as affecting versification; in a
wider sense, metrics, or the elements of metrics,
considered as a part of grammar (see metrics^, 2) .
[The modern sense of prosody (prosodia) seems to have
originated from the fact that the marks of quantity were
among the ten signs called Trpoo-wStai.]
Prosody and orthography are not parts of grammar, but
diffused like the blood and spirits through the whole.
B. Jonson, English Grammar, i.
prosogaster (pros-o-gas't6r), n. [NL., < Gr.
irpdao, forward, -I- yamiip, stomach.] An an-
terior section of the peptogaster, extending
from the pharynx to the pylorus, and including
the esophagus or gullet, with the stomach in
all its subdivisions, from the cardiac to the
pyloric orifice — the fore-gut of some writers.
prosognathous (pro-sog'na-thus), a. Same as
prognathic.
prosoma (pr6-s6'ma), n. [NL., < Gr. vpd, be-
fore, -I- aciiM, body.] 1. The anterior or cephal-
ic section of the body of a cephalopod, bearing
the rays or arms ; the head or anterior part of
any moUusk, in advance of the mesosoma. —
2. In dimyarian lamellibranchs, a region of
the body m which is the anterior adductor
muscle, and which is situated in front of the
mouth: it is succeeded by the mesosoma. —
3. In Cirripedia, the wide part of the body,
preceding the thoracic segments: in the bar-
nacle, for example, that part which is situated
immediately behind the point of attachment of
the body to the shell on the rostral side. Dar-
ivin. See cuts under Balanus and Lepadidse.
prosomal (pro-so'mal), a. [< prosoma -i- -al.]
Same a,8 prosomatid'
prosomatic (pro-so-mat'ik), a. [< prosoma
(-somat-) + ■4c.'] Anterior, as a part of the
body ; pertaining to the prosoma.
prosome (pro'som), re. [^Nh. prosoma.] Same
as prosoma.
prosonomasia (pros-on-o-ma'si-a), n. [< Gr.
wpoaovo/ioala, a naming, < npoaovofid^eiv, call by
a name, < wp6g, to, + ovoftaieiv, name, < bvopa,
name.] In rhet., a figure wherein allusion is
made to the likeness of a sound in two or
more names or words ; a kind of pun.
A iesting frier that wrate against Erasmus called him, by
resemblance to his own name, Errans mus, and [is] . . .
mainteined by this figure Prosonomasia, or the Nicknamer.
PiOtenhmn, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 169.
prosopalgia (pros-o-pal'ji-S), n. [NL., < Gr.
wpdaunov, face, + oKyoq, pain,] Facial neural-
gia.
Branch of Mesquit {Prosofiisj'ulifiora), with
Flowers and Leaves, a, a flower; b, a pod.
prosopopeia
prosopalric (pros-o-pal'jik), a. [< prosopalgia
+ -de] Pertaining to or affected with facial
neuralgia, or tio-douloureux.
Prosopis(pro-s6'pis), n. [NL. (Linnseus, 1767),
< Gr. irpoauTcig, an unidentified plant, < npo-
cruTTov, face.] 1. A genus of leguminous trees
and shrubs of the suborder Mimosese and tribe
Jdenantherex, characterized by the cylindrical
spikes, and by the pod, which is nearly cylindri-
cal, straight or curved or twisted, coriaceous or
hard and spongy, indehiscent, and commonly
filled with a pulpy or fleshy substance between
the seeds. There are about 16 species, scattered through
tropical and
subtropical re-
gions, often
prickly, thorny,
or both, bearing
broad and short
twice - pinnate
leaves,andsmall
green or yellow
flowers in axil-
lary spikes, rare-
ly shortened
into globose
heads. Each
flower has a
bell-shaped ca-
lyx, five petals
often united be-
low, and ten
separate sta-
mens, their an-
thers crowned
with glands. P.
juiifiora is the
mesquit, also
called honey-
pod and honey-
locust in the
southwestern United States, cashaw and July-JUmer in
Jamaica, and pacay in Peru : see 7n£squiff2, algarroba, 2,
(^garrobilla,}imey-mes^it,imAmesquit-gum(mideTgumi).
For P. pubescem, the tomilla or tornillo, see screw-pod mes-
quit (xmier mesguitZ) and screw-bean (under beanl).
2. in zool.: (a) A genus of obtusilingual soli-
tary bees of the family Andrenidx. Fabricius,
1804. (6) A section or subgenus of Trochatella,
a genus of Selidnidse.
prosopite (pros'o-pit), n. [< Gr. irpoaon^uov), a
mask (< rrpdauirov, face), + -ite^.] A hydrous
fluoride of aluminium and calcium occurring in
colorless monoclinie crystals in the tin-mines
of Bohemia, and also found in Colorado.
Frosopocephala (pro-s6-p6-sef'a-la), n. pi.
[NL., < Gt. irpdaaTTov, face, + icefaXii, head.]
The tooth-shells, or Dentaliidse, as an order of
gastropods: synonymous with Cirribranchiata,
Scaphopoda, and Solenoconchse. See cut under
tooth-shell.
prosopography (pros-o-pog'ra-fi), n. [< Gr.
wpSaonrov, face, + -ypafia, < ypafuv, write.] In
rhet., the description of any one's personal ap-
pearance.
First touching the prosopographie or description of his
person. BoUnshed, Stephan, an. 1154.
The reader that is inquisitive after the prosopography
of this great man [Mr. Cotton] may be informed that he
was a clear, fair, sanguine complexion, and, like David, of
a "ruddy countenance." C. Mather, Mag. Chris., iii. 1.
prosopolepsyt (pro-s6'po-lep-si), n. [< Gr. irpo-
aairoAtripla, respect' of persons, < irpdaumov, face,
countenance, + Tvafipdveiv, ?Mpeiv, take.] Ee-
spect of persons; especially, an opinion or a
prejudice formed merely from a person's ap-
pearance. [Rare.]
There can be no reason given why there might not be
as well other ranks and orders of souls superior to those
of men, without the injustice of proaopolepsie.
Cudwortfi, Intellectual System, p. 567.
prosopology (pros-o-pol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. irpoau-
■Kov, face, + -?ioyia,'<. TLiyiiv, speak: see -ology.']
Physiognomy.
Frosoponiscus (pro-so-po-nis'kus), n. [NL.
(Kirby, 1857), < Gr. irpSmJiTov, face, + avusKog,
a wood-louse, dim. of ivog, ass : see Oniscvs.]
A genus of supposed amphipod crustaceans, a
species of which, P. problematicus, occurs in
the Permian of England.
prosopopeia, prosopopoeia (pro-so-po-pe'ya),
»• [== F. prosopop6e = Sp. prosopopeya = Pg.
prosopopea, prosopopeia = It. prosopopea, pro-
sopop^a, < L. prosopopceia, < Gr. irpoatmoTroiUi,
personification, a dramatizing, < irpoaumowotelv,
personifj;, dramatize, < ■Kpoauirov, face, person,
a dramatic character, + iroulv, make, form, do.]
Literally, making (that is, inventing or imagin-
ing) a person ; in rhet., originally, introductTon,
in a discourse or composition, of a pretended
speaker, whether a person absent or deceased,
or an abstraction or inanimate object: in mod-
em usage generally limited to the latter sense,
and accordingly equivalent to personification.
prosopopeia
^Jt^M^"^^^ '°' representative figures] is proiopo-
««toj In which the speaker personates another ; as where
kilo 18 introduced by Cicero as speaking through his lips.
• .,; Sometimes this figure takes the form of a colloquy or
a dialogue. This was the ancient semiocinatio.
B. N. Day, Art of Discourse, § 344.
prOBOpopeyt, n. [< F. prosopopSe, < L. prosopo-
poeia: see prosopopeia.] Same as prosopopeia.
The witlessly malicious prosopopey, wherein my Eefuter
brings in the Beverend and Peerless Bishop of London
pleadmg for his wife to the MetropoUtan, becomes weU
the mouth of a scuiril Mass-priest.
Bp. Hall, Honor of Married Clergy, ii § 7.
prosopopoeia, n. Bee prosopopeia.
prosopostemod^mia (pro-s6-p6-st6r-no-dim '-
i-a), n. [NL., < Gr. ■irpdaoirov, face, + OTepvov,
breast, + dlSvfioq, douWe: see didymous.] In
teratol., a double monstrosity, with union of
faces from forehead to sternum.
prosopotocia (pro-so-po-to'gia), n. [NL., < Gr.
■irpdaamov, face, + rdfcof' parturition.] Parturi-
tion with face-presentation.
Frosopulmouata (pros-6-pul-m6-na'ta), n. pi.
[NL.: see prosopulmonaie.1 Those air-breath-
ing gastropods whose pulmonary sac occupies
an anterior position.
prosopnlmonate (pros-o-pul'mo-nat), a. [< Gr.
■Kpdau, forward, -I- L. pulmo, liing: seepulmo-
nate.] Having anterior pulmonary organs:
applied to those pulmonates or pulmoniferous
gastropods in which the pallial region is large,
and gives to a visceral sac, with the concomi-
tant forward position of the pulmonary cham-
ber, an inclination of the auricle of the heart
forward and to the right, and of the ventricle
backward and to the left.
prosopylar (pros'o-pi-lar), a. [< prosopyle +
-arS.j Of or pertaining to a prosopyle; pro-
vided with a prosopyle ; incurrent, as an ormce
of an endodermal chamber of a sponge.
prosopyle (pros'o-pa), n. [< Gr. irpdau, for-
ward, -I- 7n)?.7i, a gate.] In sponges, the incur-
rent aperture by which an endodermal cham-
ber communicates.with the exterior.
Returning to the ancestral form of sponge, Olynthus,
let us conceive the endoderm growing out into a number
of approximately spherical chambers, each of which com-
municates with the exterior by a prosopyle and with the
paragastric cavity by a comparatively large aperture,
which we may term for distinction an apopyle.
W. J. SoUas, Encyc. Brit., XXII. 414.
prosothoracopagns (pros-o-tho-ra-kop'a-gus),
n. [NL., < Gr. irpdaa, forward, -f-' 6apaf{-aK-),
thorax, + n&yoQ, that which is fixed or firmly
set, < nriyvvvai, stick, fix in.] In teratol., a
double monster with the thoraees fused toge-
ther in front.
prospect (pro-spekt'), V. [< L. prospectare, look
forward, look out, look toward, foresee, freq. of
prospicere, pp. prospectus, look forward or into
the distance, look out, foresee, < pro, forth, +
specere, look; in signification I., 2, from the n.]
r. intrans. If. To look forward; have a view
or outlook ; face.
This poynte . , . prospectethe towarde that parte of
Aphrike whichetheportugales caule Caput Bonee Speran-
tisB. Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 129).
Like Carpenters, within a Wood they choose
Sixteen lair Trees that never leaues do loose.
Whose equall front in quadran form progpected.
As if of pui'pose Nature them erected.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Handy-Crafts.
2 (pros'pekt). In mining, to make a search;
explore : as, to prospect for a place which may
be profitably worked for precious metal.
II. trans. 1. To look forward toward ; have
a view of.
He tooke the capitaine by the hand and brought him
with certeine of his familiars to the highest towre of his
palaice, from whense they myght prospecte the mayne
sea. Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 179).
2 (pros'pekt). In mining : (a) To explore for
unworked deposits of ore, as a mining region.
(6) To do experimental work upon, as a_ new
mining claim, for the purpose of ascertaining
its probable value : as, he is prospecting a claim.
[Pacific States.]
prospect (pros'pekt), n. [< F. prospect = Sp.
Pg. prospeeto = It. prospetto, < L. prospectus, a
lookout, a distant view, < prospicere, pp. pro-
spectus, look forward or into the distance : see
prospect, v.] 1. The view of things within the
reach of the eye ; sight ; survey.
Who was the lord of house or land, that stood
Within the prospect of your covetous eye?
Fletcher, Beggars' Bush, i. 2.
The streets are strait, yeelding prospect from one gate
to another. Furchas, Pilgrimage, p. 436.
4789
2. That which is presented to the eye; scene;
view.
There is a most pleasant prospeel from that walke ouer
the railes into the Tuillerie garden.
Coryat, Crudities, L 36, sig. D.
Up to a hill anon his steps he rear'd.
From whose high top to ken the j)rospecf round.
MUlan, P. E., ii. 286.
What a zooSiy progpect spreads aronnd.
Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and spires 1
Thomson, Summer.
There was nothing in particular in the prospect to
charm ; it was an average French view.
H. James, Jr., Little Tour, p. 96.
3t. A view or representation in perspective ; a
perspective ; a landscape.
I went to Putney and other places on yo Thames to take
prospects in crayon to carry into France, where I thought
to have them engrav'd. Fvelyn, Diary, June 20, 1649.
The Domes or Cupolas have a marvellous effect in ^o^
pect, though they are not many.
Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 8.
The last Scene does present Noah and his Family com-
ing out of the Ark, with all the Beasts, two by two, and
all the Fowls of the Air seen in a Prospect sitting upon the
Trees. Quoted in AsMon's Social Life in Keign of Queen
[Anne, I. 257.
4. An object of observation or contemplation.
Man to himself
Is a large prospect.
Sir J. Denham, The Sophy, v. 1.
The Survey of the whole Creation, and of every thing
that is transacted in it, is a Prospect worthy of Omni-
science. Addison, Spectator, No. 316.
5f . A place which affords an extensive view.
People may from that place as from a most delectable
prospect contemplate and view the parts of the City round
about them. Coryat., Crudities, I. 206.
Him God beholding from his prospect high.
MtUan, P. L., iiL 77.
6. A wide, long, straight street or avenue: as,
the Ascension Project in St. Petersburg. [A
Russian use.] — 7. Direction of the front of a
building, window, or other object, especially in
relation to the points of the compass ; aspect ;
outlook; exposure: as, a prospect toward the
south or north.
Without the inner gate were the chambers of the sing-
ers; . . . and their jTTOsj'ece was toward the south; one at
the side of the east gate having theprasp&A toward the
north. Ezek. xl. 44.
Eden, and all the coast, in prospect lay.
Milton, P. L., X. (
8. A looking forward; anticipation; foresight.
Is he a prudent man as to his temporal estate who lays
designs only for a day, without any prospect to or provi-
sion for the remaining part of life? TiUotson.
9. Expectation, or ground of expectation, espe-
cially expectation of advantage (often so used
in the plural) : as, a prospect of a good harvest ;
a, prospect of preferment; iLas prospects are good.
I had here also a prosped of advancing a profitable
Trade for Ambergrease with these People, and of gaining
a considerable Fortune to my self.
Dampier, Voyages, I. 481.
For present joys are more to flesh and blood
Than a dull prospect of a distant good.
Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii 365.
Without any reasonable hope or prospect of enjoying
them. Bp. Atterbury, On Mat. jcxvii. 25.
I came down as soon as I thought there was a prospect
of breakfast. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxxvii.
Over and over again did he [Cellini] ruin ezoeUeot pros-
pects by some piece of madcap folly.
Fortmlghay Sev., N. S., XL. 75.
10. In mining, any appearance, especially a
surface appearance, which seems to indicate a
chance for successful mining. Sometimes used as
a synonym of color in panning out auriferous sand, or
more often for the entire amount of metal obtained in
panning or vanning.
11. In her., a view of any sort used as a bear-
ing: as, the /irospec* of amined temple. = syn.
1-3. Scene, Landscape, eta. Seeufew, ». — 9, Itomise, pre-
sumption, hope.
prospector, n. See prospector.
prospection (pro-spek'shgn), n. l< prospect +
-ion.] The act 'of looking forward, or of pro-
viding for future wants; providence.
What does all this prove, but that the prospection, which
must be somewhere, is not in the animal, but in the Crea^
tor? Paley, Nat. Theol., xviii.
prospective (pro-spek'tiv), a. and n. [< ME.
prospectyve, n., <: OF. prospecUf, a. (as a noun,
prospective, t.), = It. prospettivo, < LL. pro-
specUvus, pertaining to a prospect or to looking
forward, < L. prospicere, pp. prospectus, look
forward, look into the distance: see prospect.]
I. a. It. Suitable for viewing at a distance;
perspective.
In time's long and dark prospective glass
Foresaw what future days should bring to pass.
MUton, Vacation Exercise, 1. 71.
This is the prospective glass of the Christian, by which
he can see from earth to heaven.
Banter, Saints' Rest, iv. 8.
prosper
2. Looking forward in time ; characterized by
foresight; of things, having reference to the
future.
The French king and king of Sweden are circumspect,
industrious, xaA prospective too in this affair. Sir J. Child.
A large, liberal, and prospective view of the interests of
states. Burke, A Regicide Peace.
Nothing could have been more proper than to pass a
prospective statute tying up in strict entail the little which
still remained of the Crown property.
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., zziiL
3. Being in prospect or expectation; looked
forward to ; expected : as, prospective advan-
tages; a, projective a,ppoiatmeut.
II. n. 1. Outlook; prospect; view.
A quarter past eleven, and ne'er a nymph in proepec-
Um. B. Jomom, Cynthia^ Revels, ii. L
Men, standing according to the prospective of their own
humour, seem to see the self same things to appear other-
wise to them thsm either they do to other, or are indeed
in themselves. Daniel, Defence of Rhyme.
The reports of millions in ore, and millions in prosper
tive. Boston Traveller, Jan. 24, 1880.
2t. The future scene of action.
Howsoever, the whole scene of affairs was changed from
Spain to France ; there now lay the prospective.
Sir H. Wotton, Reliquiae, p. 219.
3t. A perspective glass ; a telescope.
They speken of Alocen and Vitulon,
And Aristotle, that writen in her ly ves
Of queynte mirours and ot prospectyves.
CMucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 226.
It is a ridiculous thing, and fit for a satire to persons of
judgment, to see what shifts these formalists have, and
what prospectives to make superficies to seem body that
hath depth and bulk. Bacon, Seeming Wise (ed. 1887).
What doth that glass present before thine eye? . . .
And is this all? doth thy prospective please
Th' abused fancy with no shapes but these?
Quarles, Emblems, iiL 14.
4t. A lookout; a watch.
Be ther placd
A prospective vpon the top o' th' mast, . . .
And straight give notice when he doth descrie
The force and comming of the enemie.
Tiimeif WhisOe (E. £. T. S.), p. 146.
5. In her., perspective: as, a pavement paly
barry in prospective.
prospectively (pro-spek'tiv-li), adv. [< pro-
spective + -ly^.] In a prospective manner; with
reference to the future.
prospectiveness (pro-spek'tiv-nes), n. [< pro-
spective + .mess.] The state of being prospec-
tive; the act or habit of regarding the future;
foresight.
If we did not already possess the idea of design, we
could not recognize contrivance and prospectiveness in such
instances as we have referred to. WTieweU.
prospectivewise (pi-o-spek'tiv-wiz), adv. In
her., in prospective. ' See prospecUve, 5.
prospector, prospecter (pros'pek-tor, -t6r), n.
. [< prospect + -or^, -erl.] In mining, one who
explores or searches for valuable minerals or
ores of any kind as preliminary to regular or
continuous operations. Compare /ossjcfter.
A large number of prospectors have crossed over the di-
vide to the British head waters of the Yukon, in search of
the rich diggings found by a lucky few last year.
Science, VIII. 179.
On all diggings there is a class of men, impatient of steady
constant labour, who devote themselves to the exploring
of hitherto unworked and untrodden ground : these men
are distinguished by the name ol prospectors.
A. C. Grant, Bush Life in Queensland, n. 283.
prospectus (pro-spek'tus), re. [< h. prospectus,
a lookout, prospect : see jirospect.] A printed
sketch or plan issued for the purpose of making
known the chief features of some proposed en-
terprise. A prospectus may announce the subject and
plan of a literary work, and the manner and terms of pub-
lication, etc., or the proposals of a new company, joint-
stock association, or other undertaking.
prosper (pros'pfer), v. [< F. prosp4rer = Sp.
Pg. prosperar = It. prosperare, < li.prosperare,
cause to succeed, render happy, < prosper, pros-
£erus, favorable, fortunate: see prosperous.]
intrans. 1. To be prosperous or successful;
succeed; thrive; advance or improve in any
good thing: said of persons.
They, in their earthly Canaan placed.
Long time shall dweU and prosper.
Milton, P. L., xii. 316.
Enoch ... so prospered that at last
A luckier or a bolder fisherman,
A caref uller in peril, did not breathe.
Tennyson, Enoch Arden.
2. To be in a successful state ; turn out for-
tunately or happily: said of affairs, business,
and the like.
The Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
Gen. xxziz. 3.
All things do prosperhest when they are advanced to the
better ; a nursery of stocks ought to be in a more barren
ground than that whereunto you remove them. Batwn.
301
prosper
I never heard of any thing that prospered which, being
once designed for the Honour of God, was alienated from
that Use. Howell, Letters, I. v. 8.
Well did all things prosper in his hand.
Nor was there such another in the land
For strength or goodliness.
Waiiam Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 112.
3t. To increase in size ; grow.
Black cherry-trees prosper ever to considerable timber.
Evelyn.
II. trans. To make prosperous; favor; pro-
mote the success of.
Let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath
prospered him. 1 Cor. xvi. 2.
We have so bright and benign a star as your majesty to
conduct and prosper us.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 106.
All things concur to prosper our design. Dryden.
prosperation (pros-pe-ra'shon), 11. [< OF. ;pros-
2)eration, < LL. prosperatio(n-), prosperity, < L.
^rosperore, prosper: see prosper.'] Prosperity.
SalHwell. [Obsolete or provincial.]
I bethink me of much ill-luck tui'ned to prosperation.
Amelia E. Barr, Friend Olivia, vi.
prosperity (pros-per'i-ti), n. [< ME. prosperi-
tie,<. OF. prosperite,prosprete, ¥. prospfyi,U:=
Sp. proiperidad = Pg. prosperidade = It. pros-
peritd,, CIj. prosperita(t-)s, good fortune, < pros-
per, fa,vov3ible,tovturta,te: seeprosperoM*.] The
state of being prosperous; good fortune in any
business or entei-prise; success in respect of
anything good or desirable : as, agricultural or
oommeToi&l prosperity ; national ^ro«perii^.
Prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth
best discover virtue. Bacon, Adversity.
Prosperity hath the true Nature of an Opiate, for it stu-
pefies and pleases at the same time.
StUHngfleet, Sermons, III. xiii.
He . . . would . . . return
In such a sunlight of proNoerity
He should not be rejected.
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field.
=Syn. Good fortune, weal, welfare, well-being. Seepros-
perous.
prosperous (pros'per-us), a. [< ME. *prosper-
mis, < AP. prospergus, prospereus, prosperous,
an extended form of OP. prospere, P. prospdre
= Sp. Pg. It. prospero, < L. prosperus, prosper,
favorable, fortunate, lit. 'according to one's
hope,' < j)ro, for, according to, + spes, hope (>
sperare, hope). Of. despair, desperate.'] 1.
Making good progress in the pursuit of any-
thing desirable; having continued good for-
tune ; successful ; thriving : as, a prosperous
trade ; a prosperous voyage ; a prosperous citi-
zen.
The seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her
fruit. Zech. viii. 12.
Count all the advantage prosperous vice attains ;
'Tis but what virtue flies from and disdains.
Pope, Essay on Man, iv. 89.
There the vain youth who made the world his prize,
Thai prosperous robber, Alexander, lies.
Howe, tr. of Lucan's Fharsalia, x.
2. Favorable; benignant; propitious: as, a
prosperous wind.
A calmer voyage now
Will waft me ; and the way, found prosperoius once,
Induces best to hope of like success.
UiUon, P. B,., i. 104.
A favourable speed
EuflSe thy mirror'd mast, and lead
Thro' prosperous Hoods his holy urn.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, ix.
=Syn. 1. Successful, etc. (see/oriunate), ttourishini;^ well-
oil, well-to-do.— 2. Propitious, auspicious.
prosperously (pros'per-us-li), adv. In a pros-
perous manner; with success or good fortune.
Consider that he Hue at his hartes ease prosperously in
this worlde to his liues end.
Bp. Gardiner, True Obedience, To the Reader.
prosperousness (pros'pfer-us-nes), n. The state
of being prosperous ; prosperity.
prosphysis (pros'fi-sis), n. ; pl.prosphyses ^ -sez).
[NL. , < Gt. TTpdaipvaig, a growing to something, a
joining, < irpoai^veiv, make to grow to, fasten,
pass. TrpoafvEodai, grow to or upon, < Trp6g, to, -f-
(fiiieiv, cause to grow, pass, tpieadai, grow.] In
pathol.. adhesion ; a growing together. ^
prospicience (pro-spish'ens), n. [< L. prospi-
cienlt-)s, ppr. of prospicere, look forward, look
out: see prospect.'] The act of looking forward.
prosporangium (pro-spo-ran'ji-um), n.; pi.
prosporangia (-a). [NL., < L. pro, before, -I-
NL. sporangium'j q. v.] A vesicular cell iu the
Chytridiese, the protoplasm of which passes into
an outgrowth of itself, the sporangium, and be-
comes divided into swarm-spores. De Bary.
proas'^ (pros), n. [Appar. a dial, form of jwose
in like sense.] Talk; conversation. Malliwell.
[Prov. Eng.]
4790
pross^t (pros), n. [In pi. prosses, as if pi. of
pross, but appar. orig. sing., same as process :
see process.'] A process or projection, as of or
on a horn. [Rare.]
They have onely three speers or prosses, and the two
lower turne awry, but the uppermost groweth upright to
heaven. Topsell's Four-Footed Beasts, p. 327. (HaUiwell. )
Frostanthera (pros-tan-the'ra), n. [NL. (La-
billardifere, 1806), so called in allusion to the
spurred anthers; irreg. < Gr. TrpoarMvai, add
(< irp6i, to, besides, -I- riBivai, put), + NL. an-
tliera, anther.] A genus of shrubs of the order
Ldbiatx, type of the tribe Prostantliereae. it is
characterized by a two-lipped calyx with the lips entire
or one minutely notched, and by completely two-celled
anthers, usually with the back of the connective spurred,
but the base not prolonged. The 88 species are all Aus-
tralian. They are resinous, glandular, and powerfully
odorous shrubs or undershrubs, with usually small leaves,
and with white or red flowers solitary in the axils, some-
times forming a terminal raceme. They are known as
mint-tree, mint-bush, or Australian lUac; and P. laeianthos,
the largest species, sometimes reaching 30 feet, is also
called the Victorian dogwood.
ProstanthereseCpros-tan-the're-e), n.pl. [NL.
(Bentham, 1836), < Frostanthera + -ex.] A
tribe of Australian shrubs of the order Lali-
atse. It is characterized by a ten- to thirteen-nerved
equal ortwo-lipped calyx, four stamens with two-celled or
one-celled anthers, a two-lipped corolla with broad throat
and broad flattish upper lip, an ovary but slightly f our-
lobed, and obovoid reticulated nutlets, fixed by a broad
lateral scar. It includes about 93 species in 7 genera, of
which Prostanthera is the type.
prostata (pros'ta-ta), m.; pi. prostates (-te).
[NL., < Gr. TrpodTaTr/g, one who stands before:
gee prostate.] The prostatic gland, or prostate :
chiefly in the phrase levator prostatx, a part of
the levator anl muscle in special relation with
the prostate. Also prostaUca.
prostatalgia (pros-ta-tal'ji-a), ». \^li.,< pros-
tata, q. v., -I- akyog, pain.] Pain, most prop-
erly neuralgia, in the prostate gland.
prostate (pros'tat), a. and n. [< Gr. npoaraTrj^,
one who stands before, < rcpowrdvai, stand be-
fore, < 7rp(5, before, -1- IcT&vai, stand.] I. a.
Standing before or in front of something ; pros-
tatic : specifically noting the gland known as
the prostate Prostate body or gland. Same as ll.
— Prostate concretions, calculi of the prostate gland.
II. 11. The prostate gland; a large glandular
body which embraces the urethra immediately
in front of the mouth of the bladder, whence
the name . lu man the prostate is of the size and shape
of a horse-chestnut, suirounding the first section of the
course of the urethra. It is a pale firm body, placed in
the pelvis behind and below the symphysis of the pubis,
posterior to the deep perineal fascia, and resting upon the
rectum, through the walls of which it may easily be felt,
especially when enlarged. It is held in place by the pu-
boprostatic ligaments, by the posterior layer of deep peri-
neal fascia, and by a part of the levator ani muscle called
on this account levator prostatse. It measures about 1^
inches in greatest width, 1^ inches in length, and 1 inch in
' depth, and weighs about 6 drams. It is partially divided
into a median and two lateral lobes. The prostate is in-
closed in a firm fibrous capsule, and consists of both mus-
cular and glandular tissue. The latter is composed of
numerous racemose follicles whose ducts unite to form
from 12 to 20 large excretory ducts, which pour their
secretion into the prostatic part of the urethra.
prostatectomy (pros-ta-tek'to-mi), n. [< NL.
prostata, q. v., + Gr. ckt'o/i^, a cutting out.] Ex-
cision of more or less of the prostate gland.
1}rostatic (pros-tat'ik), a. [< Gr. npoaraTiKdq,
pertaining to one who stands before, < npoara-
TTic, one who stands before: seeprostate.] Of or
pertaining to the prostate gland: as, the pros-
tatic fluid, the secretion of this gland ; prostatic
urethra, the part of the urethra embraced by
the prostate ; prostatic concretions, calculi of
the prostate Prostatic ducts, twelve to twenty
short ducts which open upon the floor of the urethra,
chiefly in the prostatic sinuses.— Prostatic plexus. See
plexus. — Prostatic sinus, a longitudinal groove in the
floor of the urethra, on either side of the crest, into which
the prostatic ducts open. — Prostatic vesicle, a small cul-
de-sac, from a quarter to a half of an inch in its greatest
diameter, situated at the middle of the highest part of the
crest of the ui'ethra. It corresponds with the uterus of
the female. Also called sinus poeidaris, utricle, and uterus
maseulinus.
prostatica (pros-tat'i-ka), n.; pi. prostaticse
(-se). [NL.: seejjrostottc."] The prostate gland :
more fully called glandula prostatica.
prostatitic (pros-ta-tit'ik), a. [< 'HL. prostatitis
+ -Jc] Affected with prostatitis.
prostatitis (pros-ta-ta'tis), n. [NL., iprostata,
q. v., + -itis.] Iniflammation of the prostate.
prostatocystitis (pros''ta-to-sis-ti'tis),». [NL.,
< prostata, q. v., H- Gr. icvang, bladder, + -itis.
Of. cystitis.] Inflammation of the prostate and
the bladder.
prostatolithus (pros-ta-tol'i-thus)j n. [NL., <
prostata, q. v., 4- Gr. XiSog, stone.] A calculus
of the prostate gland.
prostibulous
prostatorrhoea, prostatorrhea (pros*ta-t6-re'-
a), n. [NL., iprostata, q. v.,+ Gr. pola, a flow,
'i iiEiv, flow.] Excessive or morbid discharge
fa'om the prostate gland.
prostatotomy (pros-ta-tot'o-mi), n. [< NL.
prostata, q. v., + Gr. -ro/zia, < ri/ipeiv, ra/ielv,
cut.] In surg., incision into the prostate.
prosternal (pro-stfer'nal), a. [< prostermim +
-al,"] Of or pertaining'to the presternum ; pro-
thoracic and sternal or ventral, as a sclerite of
an insect's thorax — Prostemal'eplmera and ejl-
stema, the pleuree or side pieces of the prothorax, adjom-
ing the prosternum.— ProBtemal groove or canal, a hol-
low extending between the front coxbb : it is found in many
Bhynehophora, serving for the reception of the rostrum
in repose. — Frostemal lobe, a central prolongation of the
front of the prosternum, more or less completely conceal-
ing the mouth when the head is in repose, as in the Ela-
tetridm and Histerid«.— Prosternal process, a posterior
process of the prosternum, between the anterior coxto.—
Prosternal sutures, the impressed lines separating the
side-pieces from the presternum.
prosternationt (pros-ter-na'shon), n. [< F.
prosternation = Sp. prosternacion = Pg. pros-
ternagao = It. prosternazione, < L. prosternere,
throw to the ground, overthrow : see jjrostrate.
Cf. consternation.] The state of being cast
down; prostration; depression.
While we think we are borne aloft, and apprehend no
hazzard, the failing floor sinks under us, and with it we
descend to mine. There is a prostemaiion in assaults un-
lookt for. Feltham, Resolves, ii. 60.
Fever, watching, and prosternation of spirits.
Wiseman, Surgery.
prosternum (pro-stSr'num), n.; pi. prosterna
(-na). [NL., < 'L. pro, before, + NL. sternum,
q. v.] 1. In entom., the ventral or sternal scle-
rite of the prothoi-ax; the under side of the
prothoracic somite; the middle piece of the
antepectus. Also presternum. — 2. [cap.] A
genus of coleopterous insects. Also Proster-
non.— Lobed prosternum. See loied.
prosthaphaeresist (pros-tha-f er'e-sis), n. [NL.,
< Gr. jrpoada<paipeac(, previous subtraction, <
TrpSaBev, before, -I- a^aipeatg, a taking away: see
apheresis.] 1. The reduction to bring the ap-
parent place of a planet or moving point to the
mean place. — 2. A method of computing by
means of a table of natural trigonometrical
functions, without multiplying. It was invent-
ed by a pupil of Tycho Brahe, named Wittig,
but was entirely superseded by logarithms.
prostheca (pros-the'ka), n. : pi. prosthecse (-se).'
[NL., < Gr. vpoad^K}), an ad(!ition, appendage, <
jrpouTidevai, -put to, add.: see prosthesis.] A some-
what gristly or subcartilaginous process of the
inner side, near the base, of the mandibles of
some coleopterous insects, as the rove-beetles
or Staphylinidee.
prosthecal (pros-the'kal), a. [< prostheca +
-af.] Of or pertaining'to the prostheca.
prosthema (pros'the-ma), re. ; pi. pi-osthemata
(pros-them'a-ta). [NL'.', < Gr. TrpdaBE/ia, an ad-
dition, appendage, < wpoanBevai, put to, add: see
prostheca.] A nose-leaf ; the leafy appendage
of the snout ofabat. See out under Phyllorhina.
prosthencephalon (pros-then-sef'a-lon), n.
[NL., < Gr. wp6adEv, before, in front, + iyKi-
fa?MQ, the brain.] A segment of the brain con-
sisting essentially of the cerebellum and medul-
la oblongata. Spitzka.
prosthenic (pros-then'ik), a. [< Gr. ■n-pd, be-
fore, -I- cBhog, strength.] Strong in the fore
parts ; having the fore parts preponderating in
strength.
prosthesis (pros'the-sis), n. [< LL. prosthesis, <
Gr. np6cdeai(, a putting to, an addition, < irpoari-
6hai, put to, add, < tt/j Jf, to, -1- ridhai, put, place :
see tliesis.] Addition ; afSxion ; appendage.
Speciflcally— (a) In gram., the addition of one or more
sounds or letters to a word ; especially, such addition at
the beginning. (6) In aius. pros., a disemic pause, (c) In
surg., the addition of an artlflcial part to supply a defect
of the body, as a wooden leg, etc. ; also, a flesh-growth fill-
ing up an ulcer or fistula. Aim prothesix.
prostnetic (pros-thet'ik), a. [< Gr. npdadeTog,
added or fitted to, < ■KpoarMvai, put to, add :
see prosthesis.] Exhibiting or pertaining to
prosthesis; added; especially, prefixed.
The prosthetic initial sound for words beginning with
vowels is now (the infant learning to articulate Is twenty
months old) zh, or an aspirated y. Pop. Sei. Mo., XIII. 693.
Prosthobranchia (pros-tho-brang'ki-a), n. pi.
[NL., < Gr. vpdcBev, before, -I- ppdyxia, gills.]
Same as Prosohranchiata.
prostibuloust (pros-tib'u-lus), a. [< L. prosti-
bttlum, prostibula, prosiiWlis, a prostitute, <
prostare, stand forth, stand in a public place,
< pro, forth, before, + stare, stand: see static.]
Pertaining to prostitutes ; hence, meretricious.
ProstOrulouse prelates and priestes. Bp. Bale, Image, iii.
prostitute
prostitute (pros'ti-tat), v.t; pret. and pp. pros-
tituted, ppr. prostituting. [< L. prostttutus, pp.
ot prostituere (> It. prosUtuire = Sp. Pg. pros-
tituir = F. prosUtuer), place tef ore or in front,
expose publicly, <pro, forth, before, + statuere,
cause to stand, set up: see statue, statute. Cf.
constitute, institute, etc.] 1. To offer to a lewd
use, or to indiscrimmate lewdness, for hire.
Do not prostaute thy daughter, to cause her to be a
''"°™- Lev. xix. 29.
For many went to Corinth, in respect of the multitude
of Harlots prostituted or consecrated to Venus.
Purchoi, Pilgrimage, p. 821.
2. To surrender to any vile or infamous pur-
pose ; devote to anything base ; sell or hire to
the service of wickedness.
Shall I abase this consecrated gilt
Of stren^h, . . . and add a greater sin.
By prostUvtCng holy things to idols?
MUtm, S. A., L 1888.
1 pity from my soul unhappy men
Compell'd by want to prostitute their pen.
Stacormmm, Translated Verse.
The title [of esquire] has, however, become so basely
prottituted as to be worthless. N. and Q., 7th ser., V. 478.
prostitute (pros'ti-tut), a. and n. [I, a. < L.
prostitutus, exposed publicly, prostituted, pp.
ot prostituere, expose publicly: see prostitute,
V. n. n. = Sp. Pg. It. prostituta, < li.prostituta,
a prostitute, fern, of prostitutus, exposed pub-
licly: seel.] I. a. 1. Openly devoted to lewd-
ness for gain.
Made bold by wani^ and prostU'ute for bread.
JWor, Henry and Emma.
S. Sold for base or infamous purposes; in-
famous; mercenary; base.
I found how the world had been misled by proalUute
writers to ascribe the greatest exploits in war to cowards.
Sur(ft, Gulliver's Travels, iii. 8.
So sliameless and so prostitute an attempt to impose on
the citizens of America.
A. HamMon, The Federalist, No. Ixv.
H. rt. 1. A woman given to indiscriminate
lewdness for gain; a strumpet; a harlot. In
criminal law it has been held that the element
of gain is not essential or may be presumed.
Dread no dearth of prostitfifes at Some. Dryden.
2. A base hireling; a mercenary; one who en-
gages in infamous employments for hire.
No hireling she, no prostitute to praise.
Pope, Ep. to Harley, 1. 36.
prostitution (pros-ti-tii'shon), n. [< P. prosti-
tution = Sp. prostitucion = Pg. prosUtuigao = It.
prostituzione, < L. prostituMoin-), prostitution,
X prostituere, pp. prostitutus, expose publicly:
see prostitute.'^ 1. The act or practice of pros-
tituting, or offering the body to indiscriminate
sexual intercourse for hire.
Till prosHtvtion elbows us aside
In all our crowded streets.
Cavoper, Taelc, iii 60.
2. The act of offering or devoting to a base or
infamous use : as, the prostitution of talents or
abilities.
When a country (one that I could name)
In proslUutifm sinks the sense of shame.
When infamous Venality, grown bold.
Writes on his bosom "to be let or sold."
Cawper, Table-Talk, 1. 415.
I hate the proM/uHon of the name of friendship to sig-
nify modish and worldly alliances. Emerson, Friendship.
prostitutor (pros'ti-tii-tpr), n. [= P. prosUtu-
teur = Pg. prostituidor, i L. prosUtutor, a pros-
titutor, pander, violator, < prosUtuere, pp. pros-
titutus, expose publicly: see prostitute, v.] One
who prostitutes ; one who submits one's self or
offers another to vile purposes; one who de-
grades anything to a base purpose.
This sermon would be as seasonable a reproof of the
Methodists as the other was of the prostUvtars of the Lord's
supper. Bp. Hurd, To Warburton, Let. cL
prostomial (pro-sto'mi-al), a. [< prostomi^m
+ -aZ.] Preoral; situated in advance of the
mouth; pertaining to the prostomium.
The Mollusca are sharply divided into two great lines of
descent or branches, according as the prostormal region is
atrophied on the one hand or largely developed on the
other. E. R. Lankester, Encyc. Brit., XVI. 639.
prostomiate (pro-sto'mi-at), a. [(.prostomium
+ -afel.] Provided with a prostomium.
prostomium (pro-sto'mi-um), n. ; pi. prostomia
(-a). [KL., < Grr. wpS, before, + ard/m, mouth.]
The region m front of the mouth in the embryos
of the Cmlomata; the preoral pai-t of the head:
said chiefly of invertebrates, as mollusks and
worms. This is the essential part of the head, and is
connected with the faculty of forward locomotion in a
definite direction and the steady carriage ot the body, as
opposed to rotation of the body on its long axis. As a re-
4791
suit the CedonuUa present, in the first instance, the gen-
eral condition of the body known as bilateral symme^.
Prostomum (pros'to-mum), m. [NL., < Gr. Trp6,
before, + aro/ia, mouth.] A genus of aproctous
rhabdocoelous Tmrbellaria, having a second or
frontal in addition to the usual buccal probos-
cis. Also Prostoma.
prostrate (pros'trat), v. t.; pret. and -p^. pros-
trated, ppr. prostrating. [< L. prostratus, pp.
of prostemere (> It. prosternere, prosteniare =
Sp. Pg. prosternar = F. prosterner), strew in
front of, throw down, overthrow, < pro, before,
infront of, -i- sternere, spread out, extend, strew:
seestratus, strew.'} 1. Tolayflat; throwdbwn:
as, to prostrate the body. — 2. To throw down;
overthrow; demolish; ruin: as, to prostrate a
government; to jjrosfrafe the honor of a nation.
In the streets many they slew, and fired divers places,
prostrating two parishes almost entirely. Sir J. Hayward.
3. To throw (one's self) down, in humility or
adoration; bow with the face to the groimd:
used reflexively.
All the spectators prostrated tTtemselves most humbly
upon their knees. Coryat, Crudities, 1. 39, sig. D.
I prostrate myself in the hnmblest and decentestway of
genuflection I can Imagine. HoweU, Letters, I. vL 32.
4. To present submissively; submit in rever-
ence.
We cannot be
Ambitious of a lady, in your own
Dominion, to whom we shall more willingly
Prostrate our duties.
SJdrley, Grateful Servant, L 1.
5. In med., to make to sink totally; reduce ex-
tremely; cause to sacoumb: as, to prostrate a
person's strength.
prostrate (pros'trat), a. [< ME. prostrat = OF.
prostri, < L. prostratus, pp. oiprosternere, strew
infront of: seeprostrate,v.} 1. Lying at length,
or with the body extended on the grovmd or
other surface.
Well ny so half hour she lay, this swet wight,
Prostrat to the erth.
Itirni. o/ParteiMy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3569.
Mother Jourdain, be you prostrate, and grovel on the
earth. Sfeii., 2Hen. VI.,L4. 13.
Havoc and devastation in the van.
It [Etna's eruption] marches o'er the prostrate work of
man. Cowper, Heroism, 1. 22.
2. Lying at mercy, as a suppliant or one who
is overcome in fight : as, a prostrate toe.
Look gracious on thy prostrate thralL
Shak., 1 Hen. VL, i. 2. 117.
3. Lying or bowed low in the posture of hu-
mility or adoration.
O'er shields, and helms, and helmed heads he rode
Of thrones and mighty seraphim prostrate.
Miltm, P. L., vi. 841.
See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings.
Pope, Messiah, 1. 93.
4. In lot., lying flat and spreading on the
ground without taking root; procumbent. — 5.
In gool., closely appressed to the surface ; lying
flat: as, j?rosfra*e hairs. =Syn. 1. Prostrate, Supine,
Prone. He who lies prostrate may be either supine (that
is, with his face up) or proTie (that is, with his face down).
prostration (pros-tra'shon), n. [< F. prostra-
tion = Sp. postradon = "Pg. prostragao = It.
prostragione,<.'iAi.prostratio{n-), an overthrow-
ing, a subverting, X L. prostemere, pp. prostra-
tus, overthrow, prostrate: see prostrate."] 1.
The act of prostrating, throwing down, or lay-
ing flat.
Though the loss of power to resist which prostration on
the face implies does not reach the utter def encelessness
implied by prostration on the back, yet it is great enough
to make it a sign of profound homage.
H. Spencer, Prin. of SocioL, § 384.
2. The act of falling down, or the act of bow-
ing, in humility or adoration; primarily, the
act of falling on the face, but the word is now
used also for kneeling or bowing in reverence
and worship.
The comely Prostrations of the Body, with Genuflection,
and other Acts of Humility in time of divine Service, are
very Exemplary. HoweU, Letters, iv. 36.
How they can change their noble Words and Actions,
heretofore so becoming the majesty of a free People, into
the base necessity of Court-flatteries and Prostrations, is
not only stauge and admirable, but lamentable to think
on. Milton, Free Commonwealth.
Lying at the feet of their blessed Lord, with the hum-
blest attention of scholars, and the lowest prostration of
subjects. South, Sermons, IV. i.
3. Great depression ; dejection: as, ajirostro-
tion of spirits. — 4. In med., a great loss of
strength, which may involve both voluntary
and involxmtary functions.
A sudden prostration of strength, or weakness, attends
this collick. Arbuthnot.
protamnion
A condition of prostration, whose quickly consummated
debility puzzled all who witnessed it.
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xxiv.
Nervous prostration. See nervous.
prostrator (pros'tra-tor), n. [< JAi. prostrator,
prostrator, < h, prosternere, pji. prostratus, over-
throw : see prostrate.] One who prostrates,
overturns, or lays low.
Common people. . . are the great and infallible pros-
trators of all religion, vertue, honour, order, peace, civil-
ity, and humanity, if left to themselves.
Bp. Gauden, Tears of the Church, p. 189. (Dames.)
prostyle (pro'stU), a. [< L. prostylos, < Gr.
■Kpoarvloq, having columns in front, < np6, in
front, + arvTio^, column.] In
arch., noting a portico in
which the columns stand out
entirely in front of the walls
of the building to which it is
attached; also, noting a tem-
ple or other structure having
columns in front only, but
across the whole front, as
distinguished from a portico
in antis, or a structure char-
acterized by such a portico.
See ampMprostyle, anta^, and
portico.
The next step [in the development
of a temple plan] was the removal of
these side walls [antse], . . . columns
takingtheir place in the comers, . . .
and the proOyle temple was thus ob-
tained. Reber, Ancient Art (tr. by Clarke)^ p. 200.
prosy (pro'zi), A. [< prose + -^i.] Like prose ;
prosaic; hence, dull; tedious; tiresome.
Poets are prosy in their common talk.
As the fast trotters, for the most part, walk.
0. W. Holmes, The Banker's Dinner.
They tell us we have fallen on prosy days.
Lowell, Under the Willows.
prosyllogism (pro-sil'g-jizm), n. [= F.prosyl-
logismo = Pg. prosillogismo, < Gr. npoav)Jioyia-
Ii6g, a syllogism of which the conclusion forms
the major premise of another, < irpd, before, in
front of, + avTJuoytaiJ.dQ, a conclusion, a conse-
quence: see syllogism.] A syllogism of which
the conclusion is a premise of another.
A prosyllogism is then when two syllogisms are so con-
tained in five propositions as that the conclusion of the
first becomes the major or minor of the following.
Burgersdicius, tr. by a Gentleman, ii. 13.
Epicheirema denotes a syllogism which has a prosyllo-
gism, to establish each of its premises.
Atwater, Logic, p. 157.
Prot. An abbreviation of Protestant.
protactic (pro-tak'tik), a. [< Gr. irporaKTiKdc,
placing before, < wporaaaeiv, place before, < vp6,
before, in front, + raaaeiv, place, arrange : see
tactic] Being placed at the beginning; pre-
vious.
protagon (pro'ta-gon), n. [NL., < Gr. irparoc,
first, + ayuv, ppr. of aysiv, lead, act: see agent.]
A phosphureted, fatty, crystalline substance,
which forms a chief constituent of nervous tis-
sue. Its composition has been represented by
the formula C160H308N5PO35.
Now it has recently been discovered that white or fibrous
nerve- tissue is chemically distinguished from gray or vesic-
ular nerve-tissue by the presence in large quantity of a
substance called protagon.
H. Spencer, Prin. of PsychoL, § 34, note.
protagonist (pro-tag'o-nist), n. [< Gr. ■Kporaya-
viurriQ, a chief actor, < izparoQ, first, + dyuviar'^g,
a combatant, pleader, actor: see agonist.] In
the Gr. drama, the leading character or actor
in a play; henc^, in general, any leading char-
acter.
Tis charged upon me that I make debauched persons
(such as they say my Astrologer and Gamester are) my
protagonists, or the chief persons of the drama.
Dryden, Mock Astrologer, Pref.
It is impossible to read the books of the older prophets,
and especially of their protagonist Amos, without seeing
that the new thing which they are compelled to speak is
not Jehovah's grace, but His inexorable and righteous
wrath. Encyc. Brit., XIX. 818.
Protalcyonaria (pro-taFsi-o-na'ri-a), n. pi.
[NL., < Gr. nparog, first, + NL. Alcyonaria,
q. v.] In some systems, an order of alcyona-
rian polyps.
protamnion (pro-tam'ni-on), n. [NL., < Gr.
irpoTOQ, first, 4- a'livlov, amnion : see amnion.] A
hypothetical primitive amniotic animal, the
supposed ancestor or common parent-form of
the Amnionata, or those vertebrates which are
provided with an amnion.
In external appearance the protammon was probably an
Intermediate form between the salamanders and the liz-
ards. Haeekel, EvoL of Man (trans.), II. 134.
Protamoeba
f rotamoeba (pro-ta-me'ba), n. [NL., < Gr. xpS-
Tof, first, + NL. Amceba.y A genus of Moneta,
or myxopodous Protoeoa.-mXh. lobate, not fila-
mentous, pseudopods. See Protogmes.
It is open to doubt, however, whether either Protanue-
ba, Fiotogenes, or Myxodictyum is anything hut one
stage of a cycle of fonns which are more completely,
though perhaps not yet wholly, represented by some other
very Interesting Monera. Hmdey, Anat Invert., p. 76.
protamceban (pro-ta-me'ban), a. and n. I. a.
llaving the characters of Protammia.
II. n. A member of the genus Protamoeba.
protampMrhine (pro-tam'fi-rm), n. [< Gr. npa-
Toc, first, + NL. amphwhmvus : see amphirhine.']
The hypothetical primitive ancestral form of
vertebrates having paired 'nostrils. See am-
phirhine, monorliine.
I^om this Prota/mpfdrhine were developed. In divergent
lines, the true Sharks, £^8, and Chimeerie ; the Ganoids,
and the Dipneusta.
Hvidey, Critiques and Addresses, p. 284.
protandric (pro-tan'drik), a. [Aaprotamdr-y +
-»c.] In hot., same &s protandrow.
protandrous (pro-tan'drus), a. [Asjorotoredr-y
+ -ous.'] In hot., same as proterand/rous.
protandry (pro-tan'dri), n. [< Gr. wp&ToQ, first,
+ dv^p (av6p-), male (in mod. bot. stamen).] In
hot., same as proterandry.
The terms protandry and protogyny used by Hildebrand
to express, in the one case the development of the sta-
mens before the pistils in the other case the development
of ^6 pistils before tiie stamens, are so convenient and
expressive that they have been adopted in this paper.
ifature.
pro tanto (pro tan 'to). [L. : pro, for, so far
as ; tanto, abl. sing. neut. of tantus, so much.]
For so much ; to that extent.
protarch (pro'tark), n. [< Gr. ■npCrrog, first, +
&pxeiv, rule.] A chief ruler.
In the age of the Apostles and the age next succeeding,
the highest order in the church under the Apostles were
national protarchB or patriarchs.
Abp. BramhaU, Works, 11. 149. (Dames.)
protarsus (pro-tar'sus), n. ; pi. protarsi (-si).
[NL., < Gr. npd, before, + rapudf, >NL. tarsiis.']
In entom., the whole tarsus of the first or fore
leg of a six-footed insect, in front of the meso-
tarsus, which in turn is succeeded by the meta-
tarsus.
protasis (prot'a-sis), n. [< L. protasis, < Gr.
Trpdramg, a stretching forward, a proposition, <
Tzporelveiv, stretch forward, < np6, forward, +
Tctefv, stretch, extend: see ie»d.] 1. A prop-
osition; a maxim. Johnson. [Kare.] — 3. In
gram, and rhet., the first clause of a condi-
tional sentence, being the condition on which
the main term (apodosis) depends, or notwith-
standing which it takes place: as, if we run
(protasis), we shall be in time {apodosis); al-
though he was incompetent (protasis), he was
elected (apodosis). See apodbsis. — 3. In the
ancient drama, the first part of a play, in which
the several persons are shown, their characters
intimated, and the subject proposed and en-
tered on: opposed to epitasis.
I will . . . returne to thee, gentle reader, because thou
Bhalt be both the protasis and catastrophe of my epistle.
Times' WhisOe (E. E. T. S.), p. 111.
Now, gentlemen, what censure you of our protasis, or
first act? B. JoTison, Magnetick Lady, i. 1.
4. In anc. pros., the first colon of a dicolic
verse or period.
protastacine (pro-tas'ta-sin), a. [< Protas-
tacus + -feel.] fiaving the character of Pro-
tastactis; primitive or ancestral as regards
crawfishes.
The common protastacins form is to be sought in the
Trias. Bvaley, Crayfish, vi.
Frotastacus (pro-tas'ta-kus), n. [NL., < Gr.
wpaTog, first, + 'aoraK^c, a lobster.] A hypo-
thetical ancestral marine form from which the
existing fluviatile Potamohiidx and Parasta^
cidx may have been developed. Stixley, 1878.
protatic (pro-tat'ik), a. [< L. protaUms, < Gr.
Trparanicdg, pertaining to a protasis, < wp&raaic, a
protasis : see protasis.^ Of or pertaining to a
protasis ; introductory.
There are indeed some protaHdc persons in the ancients
whom they make use of in their plays either to hear or
give the relation. Vryden, Essay on Dram. Poesy.
Frotaxonia (pro-tak-so'ni-a), n.pl. [NL., < Gr.
TrpoToc, first, + a^urv, axis.] In morphology,
axonial organic forms all of whose parts are
arranged round a main axis: correlated with
Somaxonia. . The Protaxonia are divided into
Monaxonia and Stauraxonia.
protaxonial (pro-tak-so'ni-al), a. [< Protax-
onia + -al.'] Having all parts arranged round
a main axis ; of or pertaining to Protaxonia.
4792
Frotea (pr6'te-a), n. [NL. (Linneeus, 1737),
so called in allusion to the numerous forms
naturally taken by these shrubs, and especial-
ly the many new forms and the loss of satiny
surfaces when first cultivated; < Gr. Upc^-eiig,
Proteus, a sea^god fabled to change himself
into any shape he wished: see Proteus.'] A
genus of apetalous shrubs, the type of the
order Proteacese and tribe Proteese. it is charac-
terized by a slender two-lipped and prolonged calyx, with
the narrow upper segment separate to the base at flower-
ing, and the three others forming an entire or toothed
broader lower lip, by the four sessile anthers borne on
the calyx and tipped with a prolonged connective, and
by the fruit, a hairy nut tipped with the smooth persis-
tent style. There are about 60 species, natives of South
Africa, one or two extending north into Abyssinia. They
bear idternate or scattered rigid entire leaves, of many
shapes in the different species, and flowers in large dense
round or cone-like heads, with numerous overlapping
scales between, which are sometimes conspicuous and
colored, especially red or purple. P. eynaroides is known
Branch of Protea vieltiftra. with inflorescence.
a, a flower ; d, the hairy nut with the persistent style.
as the Caps artichoke-flower, and P. meUifera as the Cape
honeysuckle, honey-flmoer, or sugar-bush. The latter con-
tains in its flower-cup an abundant sweet watery liquor,
valued as a remedy for coughs.
Froteacese (pro-te-a'sf-e), n. pi. [NL. (E.
Brown, 1809), < Frotea' + -acese^ A large and
very distinct order of apetalous plants of the
series Daphnales, characterized by the four val-
vate calyx-lobes, four opposite stamens, one-
celled ovary and one or two ovules, and further
distinguished from the nearly related laurel
family by its anthers opening, not by a valve,
but by a longitudinal line, it includes about 960
species and 52 genera, mainly South African or Australian
shrubs or trees, with some in South America, Asia, and
the South Faciflc. They are classed in two series, Nu-
cuTnentacese, with four tribes, bearing a nut or drupe, and
FoUiculares, with three, bearing a follicle or capsule. Near-
ly all bear alternate or scattered coriaceous leaves, often
polymorphous and entire, toothed, or dissected on the
same plant. The flowers are usually in a head, spike, or
raceme, set with numerous bracts, which often harden
into an imbricated cone in fruit. For important genera,
see Protea (the type), PetrophUa'i; Persoonia, Banksia, Gre-
vUlea, and Hakea.
proteaceous (pro-tf-a'shius), a. [< NL. Pro-
tea + -aceous.'] Of' or pertaining to the Prote-
acese.
Frotean (pro'te-an), a. and n. [< Proteus (see
def.) + -a».] X" a. 1. Pertaining to Proteus,
a sea-god of classical mythology, who could
change his shape at will ; hence, readily assum-
ing different shapes; exceedingly variable.
Tour Protean turnings cannot change my purpose.
Beau, and Fl., Thierry and Theodoret, iv. 2.
All the Protean transformations of nature, which hap-
pen continually. Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 32.
2. [I.e.] In ^od7., changeable in form; execut-
ing movements involving shifting of shape, as
an animalcule ; amosbif orm or amoeboid ; amoe-
ban ; of or pertaining to a proteus-animalcule.
Also proteijorm Protean animalculeB, Amoebx
Frotean stone, a kind of semi-translucent artificial stone
prepared from gypsum.
tl. n. [I. c] 1. An actor who plays a num-
ber of parts in one piece. [Theatrical slang.]
■^2. A salamander of the family Proteidse; a
proteid.
Froteana (pro-te-a'na), n.pl. Qifh.: see Pro-
tean.] Same as Proieomyxa. E. B. LanTcester.
Froteanly (pro'te-an-li), adm. In a Protean
manner; with assumption of different shapes.
protection
Which matter of the universe Is alwaies snbBtantlally
the same, and neither more nor less, but only Proteanly
transformed into different shapes.
Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. cU.
protect (pro-tekf), V. t. [< OF., protecter, < L.
protectus, pp. of protegere (> It. proteggere =
Sp. Pg.proteger = F.protiger), protect, defend,
cover before or over, < pro, before, in front of,
+ tegere, cover, roof: see tegument.] 1. To
cover or shield from danger, harm, damage,
trespass, exposure, insult, temptation, or uie
like; defend; guard; preserve in safety: ap-
plied vidth a wide range, both literally and fig-
uratively, actively and passively.
The gods of Greece protect you I Shak. , Pericles, i. 4. 97.
Captain, or Colonel, or Knight in arms,
Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize, . . .
Guard them, and him within protect from harms.
MUton, Sonnets, iiL
As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care, . . .
By day o'ersees them, and by night protects.
Pope, Messiah, 1. 62.
It is plain, as a matter of fact, that the great mass of
men axe protected from gross sin by the forms of society.
J. H. Newman, Parochial Sermons, i. 131.
Six fresh plants were protected [from insects] by separate
nets in the year 1870. Two of these proved almost com-
pletely self-sterile.
Darwin, Cross and Self Fertilisation, p. 33S.
2. To act as protector or regent for. Compare
protector, 2 (a).
Car. He will be found a dangerous protector.
Buck. Why should he, then, protect our sovereign.
He being of age to govern of himself!
5Ao*., 2 Hen. VI., i 1. 165.
3. Specifically, in poUt. eeon., to guard or
strengthen against foreign competition by
means of a protective duty.
Whatever increased profits our manufacturers of pro-
tected articles get, or whatever increased wages they pay
their workmen, must come from other classes — the con-
sumers of their products. The Nation,, ZLVII. 464.
=Syn. 1. Defend, Shelter, etc, (see keep), screen, secure.
protectee (pro-tek-te'), n. [i protect + -eel.]
A person protected; a prot6g6. [Rare.]
Yo\a protuctee. White, was clerk to my cousin.
W. Taylor, of Norwich, 1807 (Memoirs, n. 198). (Dames.)
protector, n. See protector.
protectingly (pro-tek'ting-li), adAi. [< protect-
ing, ppr. ot protect, v., + -ly^.] In a protecting
manner ; by way of protection ; so as to pro-
tect.
The straw-roofed Cottages, ... all hidden and protect-
ingly folded up in the valley-folds.
Carlyle, Sartor Hesartus, iL 9,
protection (pro-tek'shon), n. [< F. protection
= Sp. proteccibn = Pg. protecgSo = It. prote-
zione, < L. protectio(n^, a covering over, < pro-
tegere, pp. protectus, cover over or in front : see
protect.] 1. The act of protecting, or the state
of being protected; defense; shelter or preser-
vation from loss, injury, or any form of harm
or evil: as, i^e protection of good laws; divine
protection.
To your protection I commend me, gods !
Shak., Cymbeline, ii. 2. 8.
O happy islands, if you know your bliss !
Strong by the se^'i protection, safe by his.
Hoscommon, A Prologue.
Beauty of that tender and beseeching kind which looks
for fondness a.n& protection. Jroing, Alhambra, p. 327.
2. That which protects or shields from harm ;
something that preserves from injury : as, cam-
phor serves as a protection against moths.
Let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.
Dent, xxxii. 38.
3. A writing that guarantees protection; a
passport, safe-conduct, or other writing which I
secures the bearer from molestation; espe-
cially, a certificate of nationality issued by the
customs authorities of the United States to sea-
men who are American citizens.
The party who procured the commission, one George
Cleves, brought also a protectimt under the privy signet
for searching out the great lake of Iracoyce.
WirMarop, Hist New England, I. 276.
They [boats] generally belong to Greek masters, who
have a. protection from the convent for twelve mariners,
and cannot betaken by the Maltese within eighW leagues
of the Holy Land.
Poeocke, Description of the East, II. i. 61.
He had a protection during the rebellion. Johnson.
4. In polit. econ., the theory, doctrine, or sys-
tem of fostering or developing the industries of
a country by means of imposts on products
of the industries imported into that country;
the discouragement of foreign competition
with the industries of a country by imposing
import duties, granting monopolies of com-
merce, etc . The system of protection was little known
In antiquity, but prevailed extensively in the middle
protection
ages, and hu flonrished widely since. A strong Influence
to favor of Iree trade was exerted In the eighteenth cen!
f^fiJ'^SiLP^T'?™*^.,*".''^ '•^^ writings of Adam
S°!iv »jea* »"tain adopted a system of practical free
trade by the abolition of the oom-laws In 1846 and later
years, followed by the removal of duties on nearly aU im-
ported articles. On the continent of Europe the general
tendency m recent years has been In the direction of in-
creased protection. In the United States the policy of
protection has, especially in later history, formed one of
the leading national questions. See tariff and revenue —
Animals Protection Acts. See animal.— viae otrtTo.
tection. See )tooa._Game protection. Seejromii.-
Wrlt of protection, (a) A writ, very rarely granted,
whereby the sovereign's protection is guaranteed (6) A
writ issued to a person required to attend court as wit-
ness, ]uror, ete., to secure him from arrest for a certain
time.=S^. 2. Guard, refuge, security.
protectional (pro-tek'shon-al), a. [< protection
+ -al.'\ Pertaining to proteetion.
protectionism (pro-tek'shgn-izm), n. [= F.
protectionnisme = Sp. proieccionismo ; as pro-
tection + -ism.] The doctrine of the protec-
tionists; the system of protection. Seejjrofeo-
tion, 4.
I do not speak . . . of the friendly controversy ... be-
tween the leanings of America to protectionimi and the
more daring reliance of the old countay upon free and un-
restricted intercourse with aU the world.
Gladstone, N. A. Kev., CXXVll. 179.
protectionist (pro-tek'shou-ist), n. and a. [=
F. proteetionniste = Sp. proteceionista; as pro-
tecUon + -is*.] I. n. One who favors the pro-
tection of some branch of industry, or of native
industries generally, from foreign competition,
by imposing duties on imports and by other
means.
Polk was accused of having gone over, bag and baggage,
to the camp of the protecHonists.
H. von Hoist, John C. Calhoun, p. 217.
II. a. Favoring or supporting the economic
doctrine of protection.
Pennsylvania has always been a Protectionist State.
Westminster Rev., CXXVIII. 832.
protective (pro-tek'tiv), a. and n. [= Pg. pro-
tecUvo; < protect + ■me.'} I. a. 1. Affording
protection; sheltering; defensive.
The favour of aproteetive Providence.
Fettham, Kesolves, 11. 68.
There is not a single white land-bird or quadruped in
Europe, except the few arctic or Alpine species, to which
white is a protective colour.
A. E. WaUace, Nat. Select., p. 65.
Law is the necessary check upon crime, and gives to the
standard of public morality s. protective sanction which it
sorely needs. B. N. Oxmham, Short Studies, p. 37.
2. Adapted or intended to afford protection: as,
a protecti/oe measure ; affording protection to
commodities of home production: as, a,protec-
tioe tariff ; protective taxes.— Protective mimicry.
See mimiery, 3. — Protective paper, paper so made that
anything printed or written upon it cannot be tampered
with without leaving traces. Water-marks, the incorpora-
tion of a special fiber, and a peculiar texture produced In
the manufacture are devices employed for this purpose, as
well as the printing of the surtace with flue lines, and vari-
ous chemical treatment of the paper. — Protective per-
son, in zool., that part of a compound organism which spe-
cially functions as a protection to other parts or persona
of a cormus, as the hjrdrophyllium of a hydroid polyp. —
Protective sheath, iu bot. See sheath.
11, n. 1. That which protects; something
adapted to afford pi'oteetion.
Fur coats are the grand protective on the journey.
Nineteenth Century, XXIV. 60.
2. In stirg., carbolized oiled silk applied over
wounds for the exclusion of pathogenic bac-
teria.
protectively (pro-tek'tiv-li), adv. In a manner
adapted to give protection; so as to protect:
as, insects proteet/i/vely colored.
The markings . . . aboutthemuzzle, ears, and throat of
antelope, deer, hares, and other mammals, whether iwotec-
tively colored or not. Amer. Nat., XXII. 203.
protectiveness (pro-tek'tiv-nes), «. A dispo-
sition to protect or guard ; the quality of being
protective.
Shelley's affection for his young wife had strengthened
with his growing sense ot protectiveness towards her.
E. Dowdm, Shelley, I. 196.
protector (pro-tek'tor), n. [Also proieeter ; =
F. protecteur = Sp.'tg. protector = It. protet-
tore, < LL. protector, a protector, < li. protegere,
pp. proteetus, cover before or over: see pro-
tect.'] 1. One who or that which protects, de-
fends, or shields from injury or any evil; a de-
fender; a guardian ; a patron : as, a child's nat-
ural protectors.
As for me, tell them I will henceforth be their Ood, pro-
tector, and natron, and they shall call me Quirinus.
North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 29.
I hither fled,
Under the covering of a careful night.
Who seem'd my good protector.
Shak., Pericles, i. 2. 82.
4793
What farther relates to Charles I. as protector of the arts
will be found In the subsequent pages, under the articles
of the different professors whom ne countenanced.
WaLpoU, Anecdotes ot Painting, II. 11.
But Vivien . . , clung to him and hugg'd him close ;
And call'd him dear protector in her fright.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
2. In Eng. hist. : (a) One who had the care of
the kingdom during tiie king's minority or in-
capacity; a regent: as, the Duke of Somerset
was protector in the reign of Edward VI.
Go in peace, Humphrey, no less beloved
Than when thou wert protector to thy Idng.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., IL 8. 27.
The council . . . would have preferred to adopt the
system which had been adopted m the early days of Henry
VI. , and to have governed the kingdom in the King's name,
with Gloucester as president or protector.
StiMs, Const. Hist., § 360.
(6) lcap.-\ The title (in full Lord Protects) of
the head of the executive during part of the
period of the Commonwealth: it was held by
Oliver Cromwell 1653-8, and by Kichard Crom-
well 1658-9. — 3. In weaving, a stop-motion at-
tached to a power-loom, which immediately
stops the loom when the shuttle fails to enter
the box — Cardinal protector, a cardinal who repre-
sents at Rome the interests of a nation or of several na-
tions; also, a cardinal who represents the Interests of a
religious order, etc.— Lord n:otectOr. Same as pro-
tector, 2 (6).— Protector of the setUement, in law, the
person whose consent is necessary under a settlement to
enable the tenant in tail to cut off the entail. He is usu-
ally the tenant for life in poBsession, but the settler of
the lands may appoint in his place any number of per-
sons, not exceeding three, to be together protector dur-
ing the continuance of the estate preceding the estate
tail. Digby. ■
protectoral (pro-tek'tor-al), a. [< protector +
-al.'] Relating'to a protectory protectorial.
The contention of the representative system and the
protectoral power. Qodwin, Mandeville, I. 226. (Dames.)
protectorate (pro-tek'tor-at), n. [= F.protee-
torat = Sp. Pg. protectora'do = It. protettorato,
< NL. "protectoratus, the office of a protector, <
LL.^rofector, protector: see protector."] 1. Gov-
ernment by a protector ; also, the rank or posi-
tion of a protector, or the period of his rule:
specifically [cop.] used with reference to the
period in English history during which Oliver
and Bichard Cromwell held the title of Lord
Protector.
Eichard Cromwell . . . being designed to be his Father's
Successor In the Protectorate, was, about the time that this
honour was done to him, sworn a Privy Counsellor.
Wood, Fasti Oxon., II. 119.
His well-known loyalty [was] evinced by secret services
to the Boyal cause during the Protectorate.
Barha/m, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 208.
The arrival of a governor of course put an end to the
protectoral of Oloff e the Dreamer.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 147.
3. Arelation assumedby a strongnation toward
a weak one, whereby the former protects the
latter from hostile invasion or dictation, and in-
terferes more or less in its domestic concerns.
The seven Ionian islands — their consent being given
through their parliament, and Great Britain's abandon-
ment of her protecimaJle having been accepted— are to
form a part of the Greek monarchy.
WooUey, Introd. to Inter. Law, App. ii., p. 422.
In summing up what we have discovered with regard to
our new protectorates and our recent annexations, we have
then to note that until about 1884 we had for some time
almost consistently refused offers of territory which had
been pressed upon us.
Sir C. W. Dilke, Probs. of Greater Britain, v. 1.
protectorial (pro-tek-to'ri-al), a. [< LL. pro-
tectorius, pertaining to a protector (see protec-
tory), + -at.] Relating to a protector; protec-
toral.
protectorian (pro-tek-to'ri-an), a. [< LL. pro-
teetorims, pertaining to a protector, + -an.]
Same as protectorial; specifically [cap.], re-
lating to the Protectorate in English history.
This Lord . . . during the tyranny of the PratectorUm
times kept his secret Loyalty to his Sovereign.
Fidler, Worthies, Herefordshu'e, II. 95.
protector less (pro:tek'tor-les), a. i< protector
+ -less.] Having no protector.
protectorship (pro-tek'tor-ship), n. [< protec-
tor + -ship.] The office of a_ protector or re-
gent; a protectorate ; the period during which
a protector governs.
And did he not, in his protectorship.
Lew great sums of money through the realm ?
' * Shak., 2 Hen. VL, Hi. 1. 60.
The duke of York, when he accepted the protectorship
to 1455 insisted on the payment of the council.
Slubls, Const. Hist., § 367.
protectory (pro-tek'to-ri), n.; pi. protectories,
(-riz). [= Si^.protectorio, a., < JSL.protectoriits,
pertaining to a protector (ML. protectorium,
n., a safe-conduct), < protector, protector: see
Froteina
protector.] An institution for the proteetion
and training of destitute; vagrant, truant, or
vicious children: the specific name of a Roman
Catholic institution in New York city.
protectress (pro-tek'tres), n. [< F. protectrice
= Sp. protectriz = It. protettrice, < LiL. protec-
trix, fem. of protector, a protector : see protec-
tor.] A woman who protects.
AU tUngs should be guided by her direction, as the
sovereign patroness and protectress of the enterprize.
Bacon.
protectriz (pro-tek'triks), n. [< LL. protectrix,
fem. of protector, protector: see protectress.]
Same as protectress.
Proteeae (pro-te'e-e), n. pi. [NL. (A. de Can-
dolle, 1856), '< Pr'otea + -ese.] Atribe of plants
of the order Proteacese and series Nucumenta-
cese. It is characterized by its dry nut, single ovule, and
anthers seated on the base of the calyx-lobes at the sum-
mit of the tube, and usually all periect. It includes 14
genera, of which Protea is the type.
prot6g6 (pro-ta-zha'), »■ [F.,-p^. ot protSger,
protect, < L. protegere, protect: see protect.]
One who is under the care and protection of
another.
prot^g^e (pro-ta-zha'), n. [P., fem. otprot4g4,
q. v.] A girl or woman who is under the care
and protectionof another person.
proteidi (pro'tf-id), m. \<prote{in) + -id^.] A
substance formerly supposed to contain protein
as an essential ingredient. The term is now applied
to a considerable number of nitrogenous bodies \niich
make up the substance of the soft tissues of the body and
of the blood, and are also widely distributed In the vege-
table kingdom. They are amorphous solids, having cer-
tain general features in common, but differing widely in
solubility and in their decomposition products. The
gluten of flour, egg, albumin, the fibrin of the blood, syn-
tonin, and casein are examples of proteids. Gelatin and
chondrin Huxley calls outlying members of the same
group. Also called albwminoid.
Food-stuffs have been divided into heat-producers and
tissue-formers — the amyloids and fats constituting the
former division, the proteids the latter. But this is a very
misleading classification. Inasmuch as it implies on the
one hand that the oxidation of the proteids does not de-
velop heat, and on the other that the amyloids and fats,
as they oxidize, subserve only the production of heat.
Proteins are tissue- formers, inasmuch as no tissue can be
produced without them ; but they are also heat-producers,
not only directly, but because, as we have seen, . . . they
are competent to give rise to amyloids by chemical meta-
morphosis withm the body.
Hwdey and Yownvans, PhysioL (1875), § 176.
proteid^ (pro'te-id), ». l< Proteid-x.] Ineool,
an amphibian of the family Proteidse.
Proteida (pro-te'i-da), n. pi. [NL., < Proteus
+ -dda.] In zool., an order or suborder of tail-
ed amphibians, conterminous with the family
Proteidai.
Proteidse (pro-te'i-de), 7i.pl. [NL., < Proteus
+ -idiB.] A family of gradient or tailed am-
phibians, typified by the genus Proteus, with
external gills persistent throughout life, max-
illaries absent, intermaxillaries and mandible
toothed, palatine and pterygoid bones develop-
ed, and orbitosphenoid elongate and not enter-
ing into the palate. The American representative of
this family is the menobranch. See cut under Meno-
branchus. JUeTwbranchidse is a synonym.
Proteidea (pr6-te-id'e-a),j!.j)?. [NL. : see Pro-
teidse.] A division of saurobatrachian or uro-
dele Amphibia, having the external branehice or
gill-clefts persistent, or disappearing only in
old age, no eyelids, amphicoelous vertebrte, and
cartilaginous carpus and tarsus: synonymous
with Proteida, and contrasted yrith tie Sala-
mandridea.
proteidean (pro-te-id'e-an), a. [< Proteidae +
-an.] Of or pertaining to the Proteidea.
proteiform (pr6'te-i-f6rm), a. [< NL. Proteus
(see Proteus, 2) -f' L. forma, form.] Same as
protean, 2. Encyc. Brit., IX. 376.
protein (pro'te-in), «. [< Gr. irpSrro^, first, +
-e-in^.] 1. A hypothetical substance formerly
believed to be the essential nitrogenous con-
stituent of food, and to exist in animal and
vegetable albumin, fibrin, casein, and other
bodies. This view has been abandoned, and at present
the word Is chiefly used as the first element in com-
pounds.
2. The nitrogenous material in an animal or
vegetable substance. [Recent.]— proteln-hod-
ies. Same as proteids. See proteid. — Froteln-gran-
Ules. Same as aleurone.
Proteina (pro-te-i'na), n. pi. [NL. (WalHeh), <
Proteus + -JnoS'. ] A' group of protean or amoe-
bitorm rhizopods, having a nucleus and con-
tractile vacuole : divided intoAcUnophryna and
Ammhina, respectively characterized by their
monomorphous and polymorphouspseudopods.
Sun-animalcules and ordinary proteus-animal-
Proteina
eules illustrate the two divisions. See cut un-
der amoeba.
proteinaceous (pro'te-i-na'shius), a. [(.protein
+ -aeeous.'] Resemoling, containing, or con-
sisting of protein. Also proteinous.
Digestion — that is, solution of tlie proteinaceaia and
other nutritive matters contained in food.
4794
Time, protension, or protensive quantity, called likewise
duration, is a necessary condition of thought.
Sir W. Hamilton, Discussions, Appeudix I. (A).
protensity (pro-ten'si-ti), n. [< Ii.
pp. of protendere, stretch forth or out (Bee pro-
tend), + -j^.] The character of being proten-
sive or of taking up time.
Huxley and Martin, Elem. Biology, xi. protensive (pro-ten'siv), a. [< li.protensiis, pp.
Proteininae (pro'tf-i-ni'ne), n.pl. [NL.,< Pro
teinus + -inse.'i A' subfamily of Staphylinidse or
rove-beetles, typified by the genus Proteinus.
Also Proteinina, Proteinini.
proteinous (pro'te-i-nus), a. [(.protein + -ous.J
Same &s proteinaceous.
Proteinus (pro-te-i'nus), n. [NL. (Latreille,
1796).] The typical genus of the subfamily
oi protendere, stretch forth or out (see protend),
+ -ive.2 Drawn out in one dimension; ex-
tended; stretching forward.
Examples of this sudden effort; and of this instantaneous
desisting from the attempt, are manifested in the exten-
sive sublime of space, and in the protermve sublime of
time. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., xlvi.
Protensive quantity. See guaraUy.
Proteininae, having the elytra mostly covering Proteolepadidse (pr6"te-6-le-pad'i-de), n. pi.
the abdomen, and somewhat perfoliate auten- [NL., < Proteolepas (-ad-) + ■idse.'] A family of
use inserted before the eyes. apodal cirripeds, represented by the genus Pro-
Proteles (prot'e-lez), n. [NL. (GeofEroy, ), teolepas.
irreg. so called as having five toes on the fore Proteolepas (pro-te-ol'e-pas), n. [NL., < Pro-
feet, lit. 'complete in front,' < Gr. np6, before, *?"* (see Proteiis, 3) + Gr. Tiewdg, a limpet: see
protest
RMnophrynidx : eoiTelated with Aglossa and
Opistnoglossa.
proteroglossate (profe-ro-glos'at), a. [< Pro-
teroglossa + -ate^T] Having the tongue free in
front, as a batrachian ; pertaining to the Pro-
teroglossa, or having their characters.
proteroglyph (prot'e-ro-glif), n. A venomous
serpent of the group Proteroglypha.
Proteroglypha (prot-e-rog'li-fa), n. pi. [NL.
(F. Proteroglyplies, DumSril and Bibron), < Gr.
irp&repog, fore, + yMfciv, carve.] A suborder
or other division of Ophidia, containing venom-
ous cobriform serpents whose anterior maxil-
lary teeth are grooved or perforate and suc-
ceeded by smooth solid teeth, and whose maxil-
lary bones are horizontal and do not reach the
premaxillaries : thus contrasted with the crotali-
f orm venomous snakes, or Solenoglypha. Though
the general aspect of these snakes is colubrine, or like that
of harmless serpents, they are all poisonouB, and some of
them are among the most deadly of all thanatophidians.
The families Elapida.Najidse, Dendraspididm, and Hydro-
pMda compose the Proteroglypha. Also Proteroglypkia,
a. [< proteolysis (-lyt-) +
-Jc] Pertaining to prote-
olysis, or the digestion of
sa), n. pi. [NL., < Gr, Tlpu-
Teiig, Proteus, + liv^a, slime,
mucus: see mucus.'] Lan-
kester's name of a so-called
class of gymnomyxine Pro-
tozoa, containing a great many of the lowest
protozoans, of negative characters, insuffieient-
ly known, or not satisfactorily referred to any
definable group. The name is a formal expression
of ignorance upon the subject. Many of the so-caUsd
Proteomyxa are usually referred to other and more defi-
nite groups, especially the Mycetoma. The Monera of
Haeckel, in so far as they are proper persons at all, come
under this head. The group is also called Proteana,
ized sectorial molars, the feet digitigrade, and proteolytic (pro'tf-o-lifik),
the fore feet five-toed. " ' ' ••-•-■• •
pro tern. An abbreviation otpro tempore.
protembryo (pro-tem'bri-o), n. [NL., < Gr.
Trpurof, first, + ififipvov, embryo.] A stage of proteids^
the ova of metazoic animals which is parallel Proteomyza (pr6'''te-o-mik'-
with the adult colonies of certain protozoans : '" ' ' " ' '"
the monoplast of Lankester, or amphimorula of
Haeckel, including the monoplacula and diplo-
placula of Hyatt. Hyatt, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat.
Hist., Nov. 16, 1887.
protembryonic (pro-tem-bri-on'ik), a. [<i)ro-
tembryo(n-) + -jc] Of or pertaining to a pro-
tembryo.
Protemnodon (pro-tem'no-don), n. [NL.
(Owen, 1874), < Gr. Trpori/ivEiv, cut short, + ofJoyf
(bdovT-) = E. tooth.'} A genus of fossil diproto-
dont marsupials from the late Tertiary of Aus-
tralia.
pro tempore (pro tem'po-re). [L. : pro, for ; proter (pro'ter), n.
tempore, abl. sing, of tempus, time : see tempo- confusion with
raZl.] For the time being; temporary: as, a
secretary pro tempore. Abbreviated jjro tern.
protencepiialon (pr6-ten-sef'a-lon),Ji.; vl.pro-
teneephala (-la). [NL., < Gr. wparog, first, +
kyK^ipaXog, the brain.] The fore-brain: divided
into protencepiialon primarium, the fore-brain
proper, or prosencephalon, and protencephalon
seowndarium, the thalamencephalon or dien-
eephalon. Edbl-Ruckard, 1884. See cuts under
enceplialon and Petromyzontidse.
protenchyma (pro-teng'ki-ma), n. [NL., < Gr.
ffpuTOf, first, -I- iyxvfia, an infusion (see paren-
chyma).'] In Sot, a term used by Nageli for all
tissues except the fibrovascular (epenchyma) —
including, therefore, the primary meristem, epi-
dermal tissue, and fundamental tissue of Sachs.
See fundamental cells, under fundamental.
The protenchyma of Kageli therefore splits np, accord-
ing to me, into three kinds of equal value with his epen-
cl^ma. Sada, Botany (trans.), p. 103.
protend (pro-tend'), V. t. [= It. protendere, <
L. protendere, stretch forth or out, (pro, forth,
forward, + tendere, stretch, extend: see tend,
Ci. portend.] To hold out; stretch forth; ex-
tend forward: used especially of a spear.
He spoke no more, but hasten'd, void of fear.
And threaten'd with his long protended spear.
Dryden, .^neid, x.
teroglypha + -ic]
ha.
Of or pertaining to the Pro-
in front, + T^Xof, end. Ct Ateles, Brachyteles, P^pas.] The single known genus of the cirriped proteroglyphic (prot"e-r6-glif'ik), a. [< Pro-
words of like formation.] The only genus of "* ''" " -.«-•■■ _
the family Protelidm, containing one species,
the aardwoU or earthwoK of South Africa, P.
lalandi. See cut under aardwolf.
Frotelidse (pro-tel'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Prate- proteolysis (pro-te-ol'i-sis),
les, + -idae.] A family of hyeniform seluroid n. [NL., < prbte(id) +
carnivorous quadrupeds, of the order Ferse, '^~ ""
typified by the genus Proteles, having 32 teeth,
very smaU and distant molars, no functional
group Apoda. p. trimncta is
about one Af th of an inch long, and
resembles the larva of an insect. It
is a parasite of another cirriped,
AUpas cormda.
)r
Gr. Ivaig, dissolving.] The
change effected in proteids
during their digestion.
S h"
Proteolepas bivincta,
tn, mouth ; g,k, pedun-
cle and antenna; i, k,
vesicula seminalis and
penis.
proterogynous (prot-e-roj'i-nus), a. [(prote-
rogyn-y + -ous.] In hot., exhibiting or charac-
terized by proterogyny. See extract under jjto-
terandroiis.
proterogyny (prot-e-roj'i-ni), n. [< Gr. np&re-
pog, fore, -I- yuv^, female (in mod. bot. pistil).]
In ioU, the maturation of the stigmas in a her-
maphrodite flower before the anthers in that
flower have matured their pollen. It is an
adaptation for cross-fertilization. Compare
proterandry, and see dichogamy.
proterosaur (prot'e-ro-sar), n. A reptile of the
family Proterosauridae.
Proterosauria (prot"e-ro-sa'ri-a), n.pl. [NL.,
see P» oterosaurus.] One of the major divisions
of the Lacertilia, a fossil group consisting of
some of the oldest known reptiles, whose re-
mains occur in rocks of the Permian formation
in Thuringia and in those of corresponding age
in E'.wland: no later representatives of the
groip are known, it is typified by the genus Prote-
rosa jrux, baaed upon the Thuilngian lizard, which attained
a length of 6 or 7 feet.
proterosaurian (prot'''e-ro-sa'ri-an), a. and n.
I, a. Of or pertaining to the Pro'terosauria.
II. n. A member of the Proterosauria; a
, n. [Appar. a var. otproker, by proterosaur._ „ _
poter, ( pote, voke.] A poker. Proterosau'ldae (profe-rp-sa'ri-de), n.pl.
Ralliwell. [Prov. Eng.]^ [Nh., ( Proterosaurus + -idae.] A tamiljotfoB-
proterandrous (prot-e-ran'drus), a. [< prote- ^^^ saurians, based on the genus Proterosaurus.
randr-y + -ous.] In "bot. and zoSl., exhibiting ProterOSaurus (prof'e-ro-sa'rus), n. [NL., <
or characterized by proterandry. Also iorofa»i- "'• 'rp''"POf> fore, + ffaipof, lizard.] The ge-
drous. ^^^ represented by the fossil monitor of Thu-
Certain individuals mature their pollen before the fe- ^^^' '^J'^*'^ ??" °°<:^^ ^J'^^ Durham Per-
male flowers on the same plant are ready for fertilization, ^^an rooks, it was long the earliest known
and are called proterandrous ; whilst conversely other in- fossil reptile,
before thefr"''u^™'*™^°°"°' ^^" "'*"' °''*™*' matire Froterospongia (prot'^e-ro-spon'ji-a), n. [NL.,
before their pollen is ready.
Darwin, Di9erent Forms of Flowers, p. 10.
proterandry (prot-e-rau'dri), n. [< Gr. irpore-
pog, being before, fore, former, + av^p (avdp-),
male (in mod. bot. stamen).] 1. In bot., the
maturation of the anthers and the discharge of
the pollen in a hermaphrodite flower before
the stigmas of that flower are receptive of proterTity'(pr9-t6r'vi-ti), n. ; pi. proterviiies
pollen: an adaptation for Gross-fertiUzation. ' "-^ r? ^ft • .■•..-" „> i* • 7^'">^""^'ci,
Compare proterogyny, and see dichogamy and
— 2. In zool., development of male
parts or maturation of male products in her-
maphrodite animals before the development or
maturation of those of the opposite sex.
If the polypides are unisexual, then the proterandry
refers only to the colony as a whole.
W. A. HerdTnan, Nature, XXXVII. 213.
Alaoprotandry.
proteranthous (prot-e-ran'thus), a. [< Gr.
■nrpdrepog, fore, + avSof,"flower.] In bot., noting
a plant whose flowers appear before the leaves.
Asa Gray.
proterobase (prot'e-ro-bas), n. [< Gr. irpArepog,
fore, + piaig, base.'] The name given by Gum-
bel to a Paleozoic eruptive rook resembling dia-
base in composition, but being in a somewhat
more advanced stage of alteration than are the
varieties of the rock ordinarily designated by
that name. The term proterobase has also been used by
other lithologists, generally with reference to rocks of the
diabasic type, but in a highly altered condition.
Spemer, F. Q., III. iU. 4. Protero^tlossa (profe-ro-glos'S,), n. pi. [NL.,
protension (pro-ten'shon), n. [< li. proten- i.Gv.Tzp6Tepog,taie, + y7Maaa,ton^e:seegloss^.]
sio(n-), a stretching out, < protendere, pp. pro- In Giinther's classification, one of three prime
fe»s««, stretch forth or out: see j>rotered.] Tern- divisions of salient batrachians, having the
poral extension ; duration. tongue free in front, represented by the family
Thy fate was next, O Fhaestus ! doom'd to feel
The great Idomeneas* protended steel.
Pope, niad, v. 68.
From hill to hill he hies,
His ataS protending like a hunter's spear,
Or by its aid leaping from crag to crag.
Wordsworth, Prelude, viiL
protenset (pro-tens'), n. [Irreg. tor protension,
q. v.] Extension ; drawing out. [Rare.]
Begin, 0 (Mol and recount from hence
My glorious Soveraines goodly ancestrye.
Till that by dew degrees, and long proteme.
Thou have it lastly brought unto her Excellence.
< Gr. Trpdrepog, fore, -i-" anoyyid, a sponge.] A
genus of choanoflagellate animalcules, founded
by Saville Kent on the form Protospongia, olaced
by him in a family Phalansteriidie, and regarded
as furnishing a stock-form from which, by the
process of evolution, all sponges might have
been derived. A species is named P. liaeckeli.
J (pr"
(-tiz). [< OP. protervite = Sy.'protenHdad =
it. protervitd, < L. protervita(t-)s,'hol&nesB, im-
Sudence, < protervus (> It. Sp. Pg. protetro =
'F. proterve), violent, wanton, prob. < prote-
rere, trample down, overthrow, <pro, forth, +
terere, rub, bruise: see trite.] Peevishness;
petulance; wantonness.
Companion to T. Becket in his exUe, but no partner in
his protermty against his Prince.
Fuller, Worthies, Wilts, n. 442. (Davies.)
In his [Victor Hugo's] poems and plays there are the
SMne unaccountable protenrities that have already aston-
ished us In the romances.
A L. Steoefnaon, Victor Hugo's Bomances.
protest (pro-test'), v. [< F. protester = Sp. Pg.
protestor = It. protestare, < L. protestari, pro-
tesUre, declare in public, bear witness, < pro,
before, forth, + testari, bear witness, < testis, a
witness, one who attests : see tesfi.] I. trans.
1. To make a solemn declaration or affirma-
tion of; bear witness or testimony to ; assert;
asseverate; declare: as, to profes* one's inno-
cence.
™I^*l''S..'°-.,^T'^' protested openly at St Maiy-s
spltal, the Tuesday In Easter week, thatlie was never of
that mind. Cmerdale, Kemauis (Parker Soc.), p. 341.
To think upon her woes I do protest
That I have wept a hundred several times.
Shak.,T. G. of V.,iv. 4.
1481.
protest
Their own guilty carriage protetta they doe f earei
Milton, Church-Government, 1. 6.
"I j»-ote««, Charles," cried my wife, " this Is the way you
always damp my girls and me when we are in spirits."
GoMrnnith, Vicar, v.
2. To call as a witness in affirming or denying,
or to prove an affirmation ; appeal to. [Rare,.]
Fiercely opposed
My Journey strange, with clamorous uproar
Protealvng fate supreme. MUUm, P. L., x. 480.
3t. To declare publicly; publish; make known.
I wm make it good how you dare, with what you dare,
and when you dare.— Do me right, or I vnO. protest your
cowardice. Shak., Much Ado, v. 1. 149.
Thou wouldst not willingly
Live a protested coward, or be call'd one ?
Beaw. and PL, Little French Lawyer, 1. 1.
4t. To promise solemnly; vow.
On Diana's altar to protest
For aye austerity and single life.
Shak., M. N. D., i. 1. 89.
5. To declare formally to be insufficiently pro-
vided for by deposit or payment : said of a note
or bill of exchange, and also, figuratively, of
personal credit, statements, etc. See protest,
n., 3.
Turn country bankrupt
In mine own town, upon the market day.
And be protested for my butter and eggs.
To the last bodge of oats and bottle of hay.
B. Jomsan, New Inn, i. 1.
The blU lies for payment at Dollar's and Co., in Blrchin-
lane, and if not taken up this afternoon wiU Tae protested.
Colman, The Spleen, 1. (Davies.)
"I said — I did nothing," cried Lady Cecilia. ... An
appealing look to Helen was, however, protested. "To the
best of my recollection at least," Lady Cecilia immediately
added. Miss Edgeworth, Helen, vl. (Dames.)
The moral market had the usual chills
Of Virtue suffering from protested bills.
0. W. Holmes, The Banker's Dinner.
=Syn. 1. Protest differs from the words compared under
asseirt (aver, asseverate, etc.) in being more solemn and
earnest, and in implying more of previous contradiction
or expectation of contradiction (see the quotations above) ;
like thein, it is used to make the statement seem certainly
true.
II. intrans. 1. To bear testimony; affirm
with solemnity; make a solemn declaration
of a fact or an opinion ; asseverate.
The man did aolemtVy protest unto us, saying. Ye shall
not see my face, except your brother be with you.
Gen. xlili. 3.
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Sha:k., Hamlet, iii. 2. 240.
Z. To make a solemn or formal declaration
(often in writing) in condemnation of an act or
measure proposed or accomplished: often with
Now therefore hearken unto their voice : howbeit yet
protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner
of the king that shall reign over them. 1 Sam. viii. 9.
When they say the Bishops did antiently prate**, it was
only dissenting, and that in the case of the Pope,
Selden, Table-Talk, p. 68.
Warham, as an old lawyer, protested in a formal docu-
ment against all legislation which might be enacted against
ecclesiastical or papal power.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 279.
protest (pro'test, formerly also pro-test'), n. [<
ME. protest (= D. G. Sw. Dan. protest), < OF.
protest (F. protSi), m., proteste, t., = Sp. pro-
testo, m.,protesta, f., = Pg. It.protesto, m. (ML.
protestum, neut.), a protest (mostly in the com-
mercial sense) ; from the verb.] 1. The act of
protesting, or that which is protested; an affir-
mation ; asseveration ; protestation : now re-
stricted for the most part to a solemn or formal
declaration against some act or course of ac-
tion, by which a person declares (and some-
times has his declaration recorded) that he
refuses, or only conditionally yields, his con-
sent to some act to which he might otherwise
be assumed to have yielded an unconditional
assent : as, to submit under protest; a protest
against the action of a committee.
Swear me, Kate, like a lady as thou art,
A good mouth-flUing oath, and leave " in sooth,"
And Bach protest of pepper-gingerbread.
To velvet-guards. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iii. 1. 260.
He [Spenser] is a standing protest against the tyranny of
Commonplace. Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 199.
He took away the reproach of silent consent that would
otherwise have lain against the indignant minority, by
uttering, in the hour and place wherein these outrages
were done, the stem protest. Emerson, Theodore Parker.
Two protests of peers against the proceedings of the min-
isters were expunged from the records of the House of
lords. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., i.
2. In law : (a) In a popular sense, all the steps
taken to fix the liability of a drawer or indorser
of commercial paper when the paper is dishon-
ored. (6) Technically, the solemn declaration
on the part of the holder of a bill or note against
4795
any loss to be sustained by him by reason of the
non-acceptance or non-payment, as the case may
be, of the bill or note in question, and the calling
of a notary to witness that due steps have been
taken to prevent such loss, (c) The document
authenticating this act. (d) A written declara-
tion, usually by the master of a ship, attested
by a justice of the peace or a consul, stating the
circumstances under which any injury has hap-
pened to the ship or cargo, or other circum-
stances calculated to affect the liability of the
owners, officers, ctew, etc.— Acceptance supra
protest. See acceptance, 1.— Acceptor supra protest.
See acceptor.- Protest Of Spires (SpeyerXa protest of
Lutherans against the decision of the Diet of Spires in
1529, which had denounced the Reformation. The essen-
tial principles involved in the protest against this de-
cree were— (a) that the Roman Catholic Church could
not judge the Reformed churches, because they were no
longer in communion with her; (6) that the authority
of the Bible is supreme, and above that of councils and
bishops ; and (c) that the Bible is not to be interpreted
according to tradition, but is to be interpreted by means
of Itself.
Protestaucy (prot'es-tan-si), n. [< Protestan{t)
+ -cy.'] Protestantism.
Protestaney is called to the bar, and though not sen-
tenced by you to d^ath without mercy, yet arraigned of
so much natural malignity (if not corrected by ignorance
or contrition) as to be in itself destructive of salvation.
ChiUingworth, Religion of Protestants, 1. 1.
protestando (pro-tes-tan'do), n. [L., abl. sing.
gerund, of protestari, declare in public, bear
witness : see protest.'] In law, a protestation.
See protestation, 3.
protestant (prot'es-tant), a. and n. [< F. pro-
testant = Sp. Pg. It.'protestante = D. Gr. Dan.
Sw. protestant = Russ. protestantU, < Jj.protes-
tan(t-)s, ppr. otprotestari, declare in public, bear
witness: see jproteai.] I. a. 1. Protesting;
making a protest. [In this use also pronounced
distinctively pro-tes'tant.]
A private proterfant tribunal [conscience], where person-
al moral convictions preside, and which alone enables men
to adapt themselves to new ethical .situations or environ-
ments. Q. S. Hall, Amer. Jour. Psychol., III. 61.
2. [cap.] Of or pertaining to Protestants or
their doctrines or forms of religion.
All sound Protestant writers. MUtrni, Civil Power.
Protestant Friends. Same as Free Congregations (which
see, under congregation).
II. n. 1 . One who protests ; one who makes
protestation . [In this use also pronounced dis-
tinctively pro-tes'tant.]
Bid me to live, and 1 will live
Thy protestant to be ;
Or bid me love, and I will give
A loving heart to thee.
Herriek, To Anthea.
If consistency were a matter of great concern to partl-
zans, it might also be pertinent to suggest that no great
moral value can be attached to a protest against evil-doing
at which the protestant has connived.
The Century, XXX. 328.
2. [cflsp.] A member or an adherent of one of
those Christian bodies which are descended
from the Reformation of the sixteenth century;
in general language, opposed to Roman Cath-
olic and Greek. The name, first applied to the Luther-
ans who protested at the Diet of Spires in 1529, came to
be applied to Lutherans generally, and afterward was ex-
tended to Calvinists and other opponents of the papacy in
countries where the papacy had formerly been in power.
(See protest of Spires, under protest.) The Protestants
gained a strong foothold in some countries, as France,
in which they are now numerically weak. They are in
the majority in Great Britain and many of its possessions,
in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the Scandina-
vian countries, and the United States.
What Gerson and Panormitanus write, which were an-
cient fathers, and not new Prote^amts.
Bp. PUkington, Works (ed. Parker Soc, 1662), p. 532.
One of these tracts [printed about 1570] has the follow-
ing title : Ane p^ettle Mirronr, or Conference betuix the
Faithtull Protestant and the Dissemblit false Hypocreit.
Lauder, Dewtie of Kyngis (E. E. T. S.), Pref., p. Ix.
Queen Elizabeth, finding how fickle the French Protes-
tants had carried themselves towards her, intended to
make a Peace. Baker, Chronicles, p. 833.
Papist or Protestant, or both between.
Like good Erasmus, in an honest mean.
i>(ipe, Imlt. of Horace, II. L 65.
Protestanticalt (prot-es-tan'ti-kal), a. [< Prot-
+ -ic-al.i Protestant. [Rare.]
TheprotestavMcal Church of England.
Bacon, Obs. on a Libel.
Protestantism (prot'es-tan-tizm), n. [= F.
protestantisme = Sp. Pg. protestanUsmo ; as
Protestant + -ism.] The state of being a Prot-
estant; the religious principles of Protestants;
the religious and other tendencies fostered by
the Protestant movement. See protest of Spires,
■ondieT: protest.
The liberal genius of Protestantism had periected its
work. r. Jforton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, II. 461. (Latham.)
Proteus
The FroteOanHsm of a great number of the Anglican
clergy is supposed to be but languid.
M. Arnold, A Persian Passion Play.
Protestantize (prot'es-tan-Uz), v. t. ; pret. and
pp. ProtestanUzed,vpr. Protestantizing. [< Prot-
estant + -iee.] To render Protestant; con-
vert to Protestantism.
To Protestantize Ireland. DitraeK.
Protestantlyt (prot'es-tant-li), adv. [< Protes-
tant + -ly^.] In conformity to Protestantism
or the Protestants.
To protestants . . . nothing can with ihore conscience,
more equltie, nothing more protestantly can be permitted
then a free and lawful debate at all times ... of what
opinion soever, disputable by scripture.
Milton, Civil Power.
protestation (prot-es-ta'shon), n. [< ME.jpro-
testadoun, < OF. protestation, F. protestation
= Sp. protestacion = Pg. protestagao = It. pro-
testazione, protestagione, CIAj. protestatio(n-), a,
declaration, < L. protestari, pp. protestatiis, de-
clare in public, bear witness : see protest.] 1.
A solemn or formal declaration of a fact, opin-
ion, or resolution ; an asseveration : as, protes-
tations of friendship or of amendment.
But first I make a protestadoun
That I am dronke, I knowe it by my soun.
Chaucer, Piol. to Miller's Tide, 1. 29.
Whereas ye write the day and year of D. Barnes' death,
it increaseth your own confusion, and shall be a clear tes-
timony against yourself for resisting those good words of
hi& protestation, if ye forsake not your heresy in time.
Coverdale, Remains (Parker Soc), p. 328.
You are welcome too, sir ;
'TIS spoken from the heart, and therefore needs not
Much protestation.
Beau, and Fl., Custom of the Country, ill. 6.
Hear but some vows I make to you ;
Hear but the protestations of a true love.
Fletcher and Rowley, Maid in the Mill, i. 3.
2. A solemn or formal declaration of dissent;
a protest.
Which protestaldon, made by the first public reformers
of our religion against the imperial edicts of Charles the
fifth imposing church-traditions without Scripture, gave
first beginning to the name of Protestant.
Milton, Civil Power.
I hear at once
Hubbub of protestation !
Browning, Ring and Book, II. 215.
3. In law, a declaration in jjleading, by which
the party interposed an oblique allegation or
denial of some fact, by protesting that it did
or did not exist, and at the same time avoid-
iug a direct affirmation or denial, the object
being to admit it for the purpose of the present
action only, and reserve the right to deny it in
a future action — "an exclusion of a conclu-
sion." Coke. In Scots lam, a proceeding taken by a
defender, where the pursuer neglects to proceed, to com-
pel him either to proceed or to suffer the action to fall.
=Syn. 1. Affirmation, averment. ^eprtAeiit, ti. i.
protestator (prot'es-ta-tor), n. [= Pg. protes-
tador = It. protestatore, < NL. protestator, < L.
protestari, pp. protestatits, declare in public,
bear witness : see protest.] One who protests ;
a protestor.
protested (pro-tes'ted), p. a. Having made a
protest. [Rare.]
In this age, Britons, God hath reformed his church after
many hundred years of popish corruption ; ... in this
age he hath renewed our protestation against all those yet
remaining dregs of superstition. Let us all go, eveiytrue
protested Briton, throughout the three kingdoms, and
render thanks to God. Milton, Animadversions.
protester (pro-tes'tfer), n. [< protest + -eri.]
1. One who protests; one who utters a solemn
or formal declaration.
, Were I a common laugher, or did use
To stale with ordinary oaths my love
To every new protester. Shak,, J. C, 1. 2. 74.
A Protestant^ a protester, belonging nearly always to
an extreme minority, is inevitably disliked — sometimes
feared, but always disliked. S?Mrp, D. 6. Rossetti, IL
2. One who protests a bill of exchange, etc. —
3. [cap.] Specifically, in Scottish hist., a mem-
ber of a party which protested against the union
of the Royalists with the Presbyterians in 1650.
Also spelled Protestor.
After having been long comrades, they had parted in
some unkindness, at the time when the Kingdom of Scot-
land was divided into Resolutioners and Protesters : the
former of whom adhered to Charles II. after his father's
death upon the scaffold, while the Protesters Inclined
rather to a union with the triumphant republicans.
Scott, Old Mortality, v.
protestingly (pro-tes'ting-li), adx. [< protests-
ing, ppr. ot protest, v., + -ly^.] In a protesting
manner ; by way of protesting.
Protestor (pro-tes'tor), «. Same as Protester, 3.
Proteus (pro'tiis or -te-us), n. [L., < Gr. Upo-
Tsvg, the name of a sea-god: see def.] 1. In
classical myth., a sea-god, the son of Ooeanus
Proteus
and Tethys, who had the power of assuming
different shapes. — 2. [NL.] A genus of tailed
amphibians, typical of the family Proteidx,
Proteus ait^uijtus.
established by Laurenti in 1768.— Sf. [NL.]
In Protozoa, a genus of animalcules, based as
such by O. P. Miiller in 1786 upon the proteus
or protean animalcule of earlier writers, as
Bbsel, 1755. The genus is the same as Armxba, a com-
mon species of which is named Amceba proteus. This
generic name is untenable, because antedated in the bi-
nomial system by the amphibian genus ProteiiS of Lau-
renti, for, although the name proteus was first applied to
these animalcules, it was given at a time when genera, in
the modern sense of the term, had not been established
in zoology. See cut under Atnoeba.
4t. [I- ".] An animalcule of the genus Proteus
(or Amceba) ; an amoeba.
proteus-animalculet (pr6'tus-an-i-mal"kul), n.
Same as protetis, 4.
proteTangelium (pro-te-van-jel'i-um), ». [< Gr.
npiiToc, first, + evayyi^tmi, gospel : see evangel.']
The earliest announcement of the gospel: re-
ferring to Gen. iii. 15. Also c&lled protogospel.
The Messianic promises andhopes which run like agold-
en thread from the protevangelium in paradise lost to the
voice of John the Baptist.
Sehaff, Hist. Christ. Church, I. § 17.
pretext (pro'tekst), n. [< L. pro, before, +
textus, text. Cf. context.] That part of a dis-
course or writing which precedes some other
part referred to or quoted.
See Baring-Gould's " Curious Myths of the Middle Ages,"
p. 600 (ed. London, 1831), and theprotext.
N. and Q., 7th ser., n. 279.
prothalamium, prothalamion (prd-tha-la'mi-
um, -on), n. [CQr. irp6, before, + B&^^fios, a
bride-chamber: see thalamus. Cf. epithalami-
um. ] A piece written to celebrate a marriage ;
an epithalamium.
ProttudamUm, or a Spousall Verse, made by Edmund
Spenser. Spenser, Frotbalamion (Title).
When prothalamiam praia'd that happy day
Wherein great Dudley match 'd with noble Gray.
Draytjcm, Lady Jane Gray to Lord Dudley.
prothalli, n. Plural ol prothallus.
prothallia, n. Plural of prothalUum.
prothallic (pro-thal'ik), a. [< prothalU-um +
-ic] In hot., of or relating to the prothaUium.
prothalline (pro-thal'in), a. [iprothaUAum +
-ireei.] In hot.', similar to, characteristic of, or
belonging to a prothallium.
Their fspermatia's] fecundatmg influence is . . . exer-
cised on mBprMvaUine elements of the growing thallus.
Encfye. Brit., XIV. 655.
prothallium (pro-thal'i-um), J!.; pi. prothallia
(-a). [NL., < ti.pro, before, -t- NL. thallus.] In
hot. , a thalloid oSphy te or its homologue ; a little
thalloid structure resembling a lichen or Mar-
chantia, which is produced by the germination of
I. FnthaUium and yonae plantlet of Pltris Crctica : Rk, the rhiz-
oids; R, the roots. 3. Adtantum cuneatum. 3. Vertical section
of the same, but the plantlet very young (maenified) : ^A, the rhiz-
olds : a, archwonia. 4. The antheridium of the same : S, the escap-
ing antberozoids (highly magniiied).
4796
the spore in the higher cryptogams, and which
bears the sexual organs ( antheridia and archego-
nia) . It is rarely more than one tenth of an inch in length,
is composed of cellular tissue, and bears the antheridia
and archegonia on its under surface. After fertilization the
oosphere remains for a time within the archegonium, and
proceeds to grow by the ordinary processes of cell-multi-
plication, until finally it breaks through the walls of the
archegonium differentiated into its first root and leaf. The
young plant continues to draw its nourishment for a time
from the prothallium, but it soon develops root-hairs
which extend into the soil and render it independent of
the prothallium; which, having accomplished its purpose,
withers away. See /cn»i, Musci, OpIUogloseacese. Also
protkaUus, protottiailus.
prothalloid (pro-thal'oid), a. [< prothalUum
+ -Old.] In hot., resembling a prothallium. —
Frothailold branch. Same as proembrymm branch
(which see, anAer proembryonie).
prothallus (pro-thal'us), n.; pi. prothalU (-i).
[NL., < L. jpro,' before, + NL. thallus.] Same
as prothallium.
prothelminth (pro-thel'minth), ». [< Gr. n-pu-
To^, first, + iX/uvg (eX/mv8-), a worm: see hel-
minth.] A ciliate or flagellate infusorian; any
member of the Prothelmintha, regarded as rep-
resenting an ancestral type of worms.
Prothelmintha (pro-thel-min'tha), n.pl. [NL. :
see prothelminth.] An order of protozoan ani-
malcules named by K. M, Diesing (1865) as fore-
shadowing or pretypifying the lowest worms of
the metazoic series, as the turbellarians. The
term regarded more especially the holotrichous ciliate
infusorians, but included all the ciliate and flagellate
forms, excepting VarUeeOidse and SteMtorida, and is thus
neai'ly synonymous with Inftisoria. See cut under Para-
mecium.
prothelminthic (pro-thel-min'thik), a. [< pro-
thelminth + -ic] Having the character of an
archetypal worm ; of or pertaining to the Pro-
thelmintha.
prothelmis (pro-thel'mis), n. [NL., < Gr. npa-
Tog, first, + afug, a worm.] A hypothetical
primitive worm, the entire body of which is
supposed to have permanently consisted of
four layers corresponding to those of the four-
layered germ of most animals. Baedkel.
prothesis (proth'e-sis), ». [< LL. protliesis, <
Gr. 7rp66eatg, a putting before, proposition, pur-
pose, preposition, < nporiBSvai, put before, < irpd,
before, + TiShat, put, place: see thesis. Gf.
prosthesis.] 1. Inthe Gr. 0/j.: (a) The prepa-
ration and preliminary oblation of the eucha-
ristie elements before the liturgy: more fully
called the office of prothesis. This office is said re-
sponsively by priest aud deacon. The priest signs an ob-
late with the holy lance, thrusts the lance into the right,
left, upper, arid lower sides of the holy lamb, lifts this
off, cuts it crosswise, and stabs it. He then blesses the
chalice which the deacon has prepared (mixed). Appro-
priate prayers and verses of Scripture accompany these
rites. He then takes from the remainder of this and other
oblates pyramidal pieces called portions of the Virgin
Mary, apostles, martyrs, etc., the living and the dead,
commemorating these classes, and arranging the portions
in a prescribed manner on the disk (paten). Incense is
then offered, the asterisk and veils placed over the ele-
ments, and the prayer of prothesis said. The elements
are left in thechapel of prothesis till taken to the altar at
the Great Entrance. (J) The table on which this
preparation is made (the table or altar of proth-
esis). It answers to the Western credence-
table, (c) The apartment or the part of the
bema or sanctuary in which this table is situ-
ated and the office used (the chapel of proth-
esis). See iema and the cut there given. — 2.
In gram., addition of one or more sounds or
letters at the beginning of a word, some Latin
writers use this form for the Greek TrpoaQturis (see pros-
thesis) apparently through misapprehension, and some
moderu writers prefer it as more specific.
3. In swg., prosthesis.
prothetic (pro-thet'ik), a. [< j>rothesis (-thet-)
+ -ic.] Pertaining to or exhibiting prothesis.
prothetically (pro-thet'i-kal-i) , adv. By proth-
esis.
Letters added protTieticaUy.
Trans. Amer. PhiM. Ass., XVI. App. p. xxxili.
prothonotarial (pro-thon-o-ta'ri-al), a. [ipro-
fhonotary + -al.] t'ertaihing or "belonging to
a prothonotary.
prothonotariat (pro-thon-o-ta'ri-at), n. [Also
prop, protonotariai, < OF. *prothonotariat, <
ML. protonotarius, prothonotary: see prothon-
otary.] The college constituted by the twelve
apostolical prothonotaries in Rome.
prothonotary, prptonotary (pro-thon'o-ta-ri,
pro-ton'o-ta-ri), n.; pi. prothonotaries, protono-
taries (-riz). [Prop, protonotary, formerly pro-
tonotarie; < OF. praihonotaire, P. protonotaire
= Sp. Pg. It. protonotario,<. ML. protonotarius,
a cMef notary or scribe, < Gr. jrp6ror,ifirst, + L.
notarius, notary: see notary.] A chief notary
or clerk.
Protista
Can I not sin but thou wilt be
My private protonotarie?
Herrici, To his Conscience.
Specifically— (a) Originally, the chief of the notaries ; now,
in the Bam. Oath. Ch., one of a college of twelve (formerly
seven) ecclesiastics charged with the registry of acts,
proceedings relating to canonization, etc. (ft) In the Or.
Ch., the chief secretary of the patriarch of Constantino-
ple, who superintends the secular work of the provinces.
Ifi) In law, a chief clerk of court ; formerly, a chief clerk
in the Court of Common Fleas and in the King's Bench.—
Prothonotary warbler, Prottmotaaria eitrea, a small mi-
gratory insectivorous bird of North America belonging to
the family Sylmcolidse or MniotUiidas. It is a beautiful
warbler, of a rich yellow color, passing by degrees through
olivaceous to bluish tints on the rump, wings, aud tail.
Prothonotary Warbler {Protottotaria ciireai.
the last blotched with white ; the bill is comparatively
large, half an inch long, and black; the length \i "
inches, the extent 9^. It inhabits swamps, thickets.
large, half an inch long, and black; the length is 5^
inches, the extent 9^. It inhabits swamps, thickets, and
tangle, nests on or near the ground in holes or other shel-
tered cavities in trees, stumps, or logs, and lays tour or
five creamy-white profusely speckled eggs.
prothonotarysnip (pro-thon'o-ta-ri-ship),«. [<
prothonotary + -ship.'i The office of a prothon-
otary.
prothoracic (pro-tho-ras'ik), a, [< prothorax
(-thorac-) + -jc] In entom., of or pertaining to
the prothorax — Prothoracic case, that part of the
integument of a pupa which covers the prothorax. — Fro-
thoracic epipleura. See epipleura, 8.— Prothoracic
legs, the first or anterior pair of legs, sometimes aborted,
as in certain butterflies.— Prothoracic shoulder-lobea,.
lobes of the prothorax which cover the anterior corners
of the mesothorax, as in certain Diptera: when they show
no appai'cnt separation from the mesothorax they are call-
ed shovider-catlosUies.
prothoracotheca (pr6-th6'''ra-ko-the'ka),m.; pi.
protlioraeothecsB (-se). [NL.','< (Jr. irpd, Before, +
Biipa^ (dapax-), breast, + 6^ki;, a ease, box.] ' In
entom., the prothoracic case, or that part of the
integument of a pupa covering the prothorax.
prothorax (pro-tho'raks), n. [NL., < Gr. vpo,
before, + 6&pa^, breast: see thorax.] In In-
secta, the first one of the three thoracic somites,
which succeeds the head, is succeeded by the
mesothorax, and bears the first pair of legs.
In descriptions of Cdleoptera and Hemiptera the term is
often restricted to the broad shield, or pronotum, forming
the part of the thorax seen from above. In the Hyme-
noptera, IHptera, and Lepidtyatera the prothorax is generally
so small as to be hardly distinguishable. See cuts under
CoUoptera, Insecta, mesothorax, and rnetathorax. — Cruci-
ate, emarginate, lobed, etc., prothorax See the ad-
jectives.
prothyalosoma (pro-tM''a-16-s6'ma), «. ; pi.
prothyalosomata (-ma-ta)." [NL., < &r. icpaTog,
first, + t)a/lof, glass, + aaim, body.] Van Ben-
eden's name (1883) of an investing portion or
spherical envelop of the nucleolus of the nu-
cleus of an ovum.
prothyalosomal (pro-thi'-'a-lo-so'mal), a. [<
prothyalosoma + -al!] Of or' pertaining to the
prothyalosoma.
prothysteron (pro-this'te-ron), n. [< Gr. •npa-
diioTepov, < ■n-poTOQ, ifirst, + "vaTcpoi, last. Cf. hys-
teron-proteron.] In rhet., same as hysteron-pro-
teron, 1.
protichnite (pro-tik'nit), n. [< Gr. rpurof, first,
+ Ixvog, a traolc, trace, footstep, -I- -ifeS.] a
fossil track or trace occurring in the Potsdam
sandstone of Canada, supposed to have been
made by trilobites, or some related animals, a»
eurypterids.
protist (pro'tist), a. and n. [< Protista.] I. a.
Pertaining to the ProUsta, or having their char-
acters.
II. n. Any member of the Protista.
Protista (pro-tis'ta), n. pi. [< Gr. wpimara,
neut. pi. of irpimaTog, the very first, superl.
of TrpoToc, first, < Trp6, before, first. Cf . former'^
and first'-.] One of the kingdoms of animated
nature, which Haeckel proposed (1868) to in-
clude the Protozoa and the Protophyta, or the
lowest animals and plants as collectively dis-
tinguished from other organisms. The propo-
sition to recognize this alleged •' third kingdom " had been
several times made before, and the unicellular plants and
Protista
antoals had been grouped together under variouB names,
ag ProtoctiMa. of Hogg (1830), and PrinuUia ol WUson and
Cassin (1863),
protistan (pro-tis'tan), a. and n. [< Protista
+ -are.] I. a. Of or pertaining to the Pro-
tista.
.II. n. A member of the Protista; any uni-
cellular organism not definitely regarded as a
plant or an animal.
protistic (pro-tis'tik), a. [< Protista + -ic.l
Of or pertaining to the Protista.
Frotium (pro'shi-um), n. [NL. (Wight and
Amott, 1834) ; perhaps from a native name in
Java.] A genus of polypetalous trees of the
order Burseracese and tribe Burserese. it is char-
acterized by a free cup-shaped four- to sut-oleft calyx, a
cup-like disk bearing the four to six long narrow petals
' and the eiitht to twelve unequal erect stamens on its
margin, and a globose drupe, the fleshy outside splitting
into four valves and the stone consisting of from one to
four bony one-seeded nutlets, at first united together but
finally free. There are about 50 species, natives of the
tropics of both hemispheres. They are small trees, exud-
ing a balsamic resin, and bearing pinnate leaves toward
the end of the branchlets, composed of three or more large
stalked leaflets. The small slender-pedicelled flowers
form branching panicles borne on long stalks. P. Quia-
nense is the hyawa or incense-tree of British Ouiana, and
P. aUissimum is there known as white cedar. Some of the
species have formerly been classed under Idea (,A%Met
1776). They produce many valuable gum-resins, for which
see aemi, aeoucM-regin, carauna, conima, and hyawa gum
(under gumS).
proto-, [< Gr. TrpCrrog, first, superl., < irpS, before,
first, in advance of.] An element in compound
words of Greek origin, meaning 'first,' and de-
noting precedence in time, rank, or degree. Be-
sides its frequent use in scientific names, it is common in
compounds having a historical reference, as proUhAraiic,
proto-Medic, etc. Compsire proto-compound.
proto-abbatyt (pro-to-ab'a-ti), ». [< Gr. jrparoc,
first, + ML. dbbaUa, abbacy: see abbacy.'] A
first or principal abbacy.
Dunstan . . . was the first abbot of England, not in
time, but in honour, Glastonbury being the proto-aibaty
then and many years after.
FvUer, Worthies, Somersetshire, III. 92.
proto-apostate (pro'to-a-pos'tat), n. [< Gr.
irpaTog, first, + imocTarnQ, apostate: see apos-
tate."] A first or original apostate.
Sir James Montgomery, the false and fickle proto-apo^
tate of whiggism. HaUa/m, Const. Hist., III. 127, note.
protoblastic (pro-to-blas'tik), a. [< Gr. irparog,
first, + piacTdq, germ.] Same as holoblastic.
The eggs of mammals are, as embryologists would say,
regularly j>roto!i2a8{ii;. Amer. Nat., XVm. 1276.
protocanonical (pro*t6-ka-non'i-kal), a. [<
ML. protocanonicus, < (5-r. Trpdirof, first, + Kavovt-
k6(, canonical: see canonic.] Of the first or
original canon. See deuterocanonical.
From the perpetual and universal tradition and ptac-
- tice of the whole church from the apostles' time to ours,
' we may have a human persuasion, and that cei>tain and
infallible, of the divine and canonical authority of those
books which were still undoubted, or which some call the
protocananical. Baxter, Saints Best, ii.. Fret.
Frotocaulidae (pro-yto-ka'li-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Protocaulon + -idse.'l A family of spicateous
pennatuloid polyps, typified by the genus Pro-
tocaulon. They are of small size, without cells or ra-
chial pinnules, and with sessile polypites on both sides of
the rachis in a single series or in indistinct rows.
Protocaulon (pro -to -ka ' Ion), n. [NL., < Gr.
irpoTog, first, + Kav%6Q, the stalk of a plant.]
The typical genus of Protocaulidee.
protocercal (pro-to-s6r'kal), a. [< Gr. TrpSrof,
first, -1- icipKog, tail :' see c&rcal.] Having a prim-
itive tail-fin : noting the embryonic stage of the
vertical fins and tail of a fish, when these con-
sist of a continuous skinfold along both upper
and under sides of the body and around its tail-
end. Jeffries_ Wyman.
protocere (pro'to-ser), n. [< Gr. irparog, first, +
itipoQ, horn.] T"he rudiment of the antler of a
deer, or that process of the antler which is best
developed in the second year.
protocerebral (pro-to-ser'f-bral), a. [< pro-
tocerebrum + -al.] Ct or pertaming to the pro-
tocerebrum.
protocerebnim (pro-to-ser'f-brum), «. [NL.,
< Gr. npirrog, first, + 'L. cerebrum, the brain :
see cerebrum.] The primitive anterior cerebral
vesicle or rudiment of the cerebrum proper.
N. Y. Med. Jour., March 28, 1885, p. 354.
protocblorid, protochloride (pr6-to-kl6'rid),
n. [< Gr. izpZn-og, first, -H E. ehlorid, chloride.]
A ehlorid whose molecule contains a single
chlorin atom, or one in which the ratio of
chlorin atoms to basic atoms is the smallest.
—Protochlorid of mercury. Same as coZomrf.
ProtococcacesB (pro'to-ko-ka'se-e), n.pl. [NL.,
< Protococcus + -acem.] An order of unicellu-
lar a^» of the class Protococcoidex, typified
Red Snow {Ptvtococcus nivalis), highly
magnified.
4797
•by the genus Protococcus. it includes a number of
organisms of very simple structure, many of which occur
both in a free-swimming and in a resting condition.
protococcoid (pro-to-kok'oid), a. [< Proto-
coccus + -Old.] Li bot., resembling Proto-
coccus.
Protococcoidese (pro^to-ko-koi'df-e), n.pl.
[NL., < Protococcus + ^idex.] A class of mi-
nute plants belonging to the group Schizophy-
ceee, taking its name from the genus Protococ-
cus. It includes those simplest forms of vegetable life
in which the endochrome consists of pure cUorophyl of
its natural green color, sometimes replaced, to a greater
or less extent, by a red pigment, but never possessing in
the cell-sap a soluble blue coloring matter. They are of
microscopic size, and may occur in both the resting and
the motile condition. They multiply very rapidly by bipar-
tition and also by means of swarm-spores. This class is
a purely provisional one, and probably includes many
forms tliat are nothing more than stages in the develop-
ment of algsB of greater complexity and belonging to
widely separated families. The Protococcoidex embrace
two orders, the EremMea and ProUKOccacese. See Sehizo-
phycea.
Protococcus (pro-to-kok'us), n. [NL. (Agardh),
< Gr. jrpurof, Mst, + iciiKKOf, aberry: Bee coccus.]
A genus of algae, typical of the order Protococ-
cacese and class Protococcoidese. They are in the
strictest sense uniceUular plants, being spherical, un-
branched, and sin-
gle, or gathered into
irregular groups or
clusters. They are
primarily always fill-
ed with chlorophyl-
green cytioplasm,
which often changes
to red by exposure or
other circumstances.
They multiply rapid-
ly by repeated bipar-
tition of the cell-contents. P. viridis is exceedingly abun-
dant everywhere, forming broadly expanded strata of yel-
lowish- or darker-green color on trunks of trees, moist
rocks, walls, timbers of shaded buildings, old fences, etc.
P. Tdvalw is the well-known "red snow " which frequently
covers large tracts of snow in arctic or alpine regions in a
very short time.
Protocoelomata (prd''''to-se-lo'ma:-ta), n. pi.
[NL., < Gr. nparroc, first, + KO(Au^a(r-),"a hollow,
cavitjr: see cceloma.] .Animals which have a
primitive archenteron with simple coelomic sacs
or branching diverticula, as most sponges : more
fully called Metazoa protoccelomata. A. Hyatt,
Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist, 1884, p. 113.
protocoelomate (pr6"t9-se-16'mat), n. One of
the Protocoelomata.
protocoelomatic (pro-to-se-lo-mat'ik), a. [<
Protocoelomata + -ic] Of or "pertaining to the
Protocoelomata.
protocol (pro'to-kol), n. [< OF. protocole, pro-
thocole, protecole, F. protocole = Pr. prothcolle =
Sy. protocolo = Pg. It. protocollo = D. protokol
= G. protocoU, protohoil = Sw. protokoll = Dajji.
protokol, < ML. protocollum, corruptly protho-
collum, a draft of a document, a minute, a pub-
lic register, a paper confirmed by a seal, < MGr.
irpaTSiwMov, a protocol, orig. a leaf or sheet
glued in front of a manuscript, on which to
enter particulars as to the administration under
which the manuscript was written, the writer's
name, etc., < Gr. wpSyrog, first, + KoUav, glue, <
ic6?\,la, glue: see collodion, etc.] If. The ori-
ginal of any writing.
An original is styled the protocol, or scriptural matrix;
and if the protocol, which is the root and foundation of the
instrument, does not appear, the instrument is not valid.
Ayliffe, Parergon.
2. In diplomacy, the minutes or rough draft of
an instrument or a transaction ; hence, the ori-
ginal copy of any despatch, treaty, or other doc-
ument ; a document serving as a preUminary to
or opening of any diplomatic transaction ; also,
a diplomatic document or minute of proceed-
ings signed by friendly powers in order to
secure certain diplomatic ends by peaceful
means.
The next day the Doctor [Dale], by agreement, brought a
most able protmol of demands in the name of all the com-
missioners of her Majesty [Elizabeth].
Motley, Hist Netherlands, n. 406.
3. A record or registry; in law, a notary's rec-
ord of copies of his acts.
The protocol here is admirable, taken on the spot by Mr.
B and printed in full, and 'iSi. G is very positive
in stating that there were a large number of complete suc-
cesses [in experiments]. Amur. Jour. Psychol., 1. 186.
4. In the parts of the United States acquired
from Mexico, the original record of the trans-
fer of land . Under Spanish laws the parties to a deed,
or other instrument affecting land, appeared before a re-
ffidffr, a sort of notary or alderman, accompanied by their
neighbors as "instrumental witnesses," and stated the
terms of their agreement. That ofScer made a minute of
the terms and entered the formal agreement in a book.
protogaster
This entry was called the protocol or matrix, and remained
with the officer, the parties receiving from him a similar
document called a te^imanio.
protocol (pro'to-kol), v.; pret. and pp. proto-
colled, ppr. prbtocolling. [< protocol, n.] I.
intrans. To form protocols or Mst drafts ; issue
protocols.
Serene Highnesses who sit there protocolling, and mani-
festoing, and consoling mankind.
Carlyle, French Kev., II. vL 8. (fiavUt.)
Nevertheless, both in Holland and England, there had
been other work than protoeoUing.
Motley, Hist. Netherlands, II. 445.
II. trans. To make a protocol of.
protocol-book (pro'to-kol-buk), ?». A book for
the purpose of entering records ; a register.
A second person sitting at the other side of the table
reads off and records in the protocol-book the distance of
each excursion. Mind, IX. 103.
protocolist (pro'to-kol-ist), n. [= G. protocol-
Ust = Sw. Dan. protokollist = Euss. protoholis-
tu; as protocol + 4st.] A register or clerk.
The protocoHsts, or secretaries.
Barper'e Monthly, LXIV. 276.
protocolize (pro'to-kol-iz), ». j. ; pret. and pp.
protocolized, ppr. protocolizing. [< protocol +
■4ze.] To write or draw up protocols.
Kept protocolizing with soft promises and delusive de-
lays. Mah^ony, Father Frout, p. 85, note. (Encyc. Diet.)
proto-compound (pr6't6-kom'''pound), n. In
chem., originally, the first of a series of binary
compounds arranged according to the number
of atoms of the electronegative element. At
present the term is most commonly used, in contradistinc-
tion to per-compnunds, to designate those compounds of
an element which contain relatively less of the electro-
negative radical. Thus, two chlorids of iron are known,
FeCl2 and Fe2Cls ; the former is called protochlorid, the
latter perchl&nd. [The name is less usual now tlian it was
some years ago.]
protoconch, (pro'to-kongk), n. [< Gr. irpdroQ,
first, + /ci}y;i;5, a mussel, shell: see conch.] The
embryonal or primitive shell of an ammonoid
cephalopod. Owen. Also called embryo-sac,
ovicell, and ovisac.
The position was taken that the scar of the Nantiloides
showed that a protoconch had existed in the embryo of
Nautilus, but had disappeared during the growth of the
shell, the scar being uncovered by its removal.
A. HyaM, Proc. .Amer. Assoc. A v. Set, 1S84, p. 325.
protoconchal (pro'to-kong-kal), a. [< proto-
conch + -al.] Pertaining to the protoconch.
Protodenuiacese (pro-to-der-mi-a'sf-e), n. pi.
[NL. (Eostafinski), < Protodermium' -h -acese.]
A family of Myxomycetes of the order Proto-
dermieSB, containing the monotypic genus Pro-
todermium. It has the characters of the or-
der.
Protodermiese (pro^to-dfer-mi'f-e), n.pl. [NL.,
< Protodermium + -ek.] An order of Myxomy-
cetes, embracing the single iaxaWy Protodermia-
cese. The peridium is simple, of regular shape,
and destitute of capitulum; the spores are
violet.
Protodermium (pr6-to-d6r'mi-um), n. [NL.
(Eostafinski, 1875), < 6r. Trparog, first, -I- 6ip/ia,
skin.] A monotypic genus of myxomyeetous
fungi, typical of the family Protodermiaceie and
order Protodermiese. P.presillum, the only spe-
cies, is found on decaying wood.
protodipnoan (pro-to-dip'no-an), n. [< Gr.
TvpSyrog, first, + E. dipnoan.] A primitive dip-
noan; a supposititious representative of the
stock from which the dipnoans sprang.
Frotodonata (pro-to-do-na'ta), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. tcpHTOQ, first, + ifL. Odonata, q. v.] A
group of fossil pseudoneuropt^rous insects of
the coal period, containing forms resembling
the Odonata or dragon-flies of the present
day.
Proto-Dorlc (pro-to-dor'ik), a. and n. [< Gr.
'tparrog, first, + AapiKig, Doric] I. a. In arch.,
primitively Doric ; noting any style, member,
etc., as a column or capital, which exhibits the
rudiments of the later-developed Grecian Doric,
or is considered as having contributed to the
evolution of the Grecian Doric.
II. n. In arch., primitive or rudimentary
Doric. See cut under hypogeum.
protoi;aster (pro-to-gas 'ter), n. [< Gr. Trporof,
first, + yaoHip, stomach.] In embryol., the cen-
tral cavity of agastrula; the primitive intesti-
nal cavity of a two-layered germ; the hollow
of the archenteron of a germ-cup, inclosed by
the hypoblastic blastodermic membrane or en-
doderm, and communicating with the exterior
by the protostoma or archseostoma, which is the
orifice of invagination of the antecedent blas-
tula.
protogastrlc
protogastric (pro-to-gas'trik)^ a. [imotogas-
ter + -tc.] 1. Of or pertaining to the proto-
gaster. — 2. In bTaehyurous Crustacea, noting
an anterolateral subdivision of the gastric lobe
of the carapace. See cut under Brachyura.
protogenal (pro-toj'e-nal), a. [< Gr. irparoc,
first, + -yev^f, produced (see -gen), + -al.'] First-
born; primitive or ori^nal, as organized mat-
ter.
Sarcode or the protogenal Jelly-speck.
Omn, Comp. Anat. (1868), III. 817.
Protogenes (pro-toj'e-nez), n. [NL., < Gr. tt/jS-
Tof, first, + -ytviji, produced: see -gen.'] A ge-
nus of amoebiform mastigopodous protozoans,
referred by Haeckel to the Lobosa, by Lankes-
ter to the Proteomyxa, having filamentous, rami-
fied, and anastomosing pseudopodia.
In the Protogenes of Professor Haeckel, there has been
reached a type distinguishable from a fragment of albu-
men only by its fluely-granular character.
H. Spencer, Prin. of PsychoL, § 65.
protogenesis (pro-t6-jen'e-sis),». [< Gv.Trparog,
first, + yiveaii, generation.] The origination of
living from not-living matter ; abiogenesis. it
is a logical inference that protogenesis has occurred at
some time, but we hare no knowledge of the fact.
protogenetic (pr6"to-je-net'ik), a. [As proto-
genic, with term, as in' geneUc] Same as joro-
togenie.
protogenic (pro-to-jen'ik), a. [< Gr. irparoc,
first, + -yev^g, produced (see -gen), + -jc] 1.
In geol., noting crystalline or fire-formed rocks,
in contradistinction to deuterogenic,wh.ioh notes
those formed from them by mechanical action.
— 3. In hot., noting those intercellular spaces
of plants which are formed when the tissues be-
gin to differentiate. Compare hysterogenic, lysi-
genous, schizogenic.
protogine (pro'to-pen), n. [Irreg. < Gr. irparcg,
first, + yiveadat, yiyveaaai, become, be.] A va-
riety of granite occurring in the Alps. This was
formerly considered a peculiar rock, the light-colored mica
which it contains having been mistaken for tslo. Some
varieties of the Alpine granite do contain talc or chlorite,
but these minerals do not appear to be essential to its con-
stitution. Formerly written sometimes by French geolo-
gists protogyne. Also called Alpine granite and protogine
grardte.
protogospel (pro-to-gos'pel), n. [< Gr. irparoc,
first, + E. gospel.] Same as protevangelium.
Scltaff.
protograph (pro'to-graf ), n. [< Gr. Trparog, first,
-I- ypa^eiv, write.] A preliminary draft or pro-
posed statement.
protogynous (pro-toj'i-nus)^ o. i< protogyn-y
+ -Otfs.] 1. Of or pertaining to protogyny;
characterized or affected by protogyny. — 2.
In hot., same as proterogynous.
In protogynma flowers the stigma is receptive before
the anthers in the same flower are mature.
SaeM, Botany (trans.), p. 813.
protogyny (pro-toj'i-ni), n. [< Gr. wparog, first,
-I- yvw/, female (in mod. bot. a pistil). ] In bot,
same as proterogyny. See the quotation under
protandry.
Prototaippus (pro-to-hip'us), n. [NL., < Gr.
■Kpiyrog, first, + limoQ, horse.] A genus of fos-
sil horses of the family Eguidse, founded by
Leidy in 1858 upon remains from the early
Pliocene of North America.
proto-bistoric (pro 'to -his- tor 'ik), a. [< Gr.
jrpaTog, first, + iaropiiuig, historic] Belonging
or relating to the dawn or very beginnings of
recorded history.
The discourse of Signer Vilanova is on pre-historic or
proto-historie Spain. The Academy, So. 897, p. 28.
Protohydra (pro-to-hi'dra), n. [NL., < Gr.
izparoQ, first, + 'S'L.' Hydrg,': see Hydra, 4.] A
genus of eleutheroblastio hydroids resembUng
Hydra, but of still simpler form, as they lack
tentacles.
Proto-Ionic (pr6'*'t6-i-on'ik), a. [< Gr. rrpoTog,
first, + '1o>vik6c, Ionic] In arch., primitively
Proto-Ionic Capital, discovered in the Troad by the Archaeological
Institute of America.
Ionic; exhibiting or containing the germs of
Ionic
protomala (pro-to-ma'la), n.: pi. protomalse
(-le). [NL. (Packard, 1883), < Gr. nparoc, first,
4798
+ L. mala, mandible.] The mandible of a
myriapodjthe morphological equivalent of that
of a hexapodous mseet, but not structurally
homologous therewith, rather resembling the
laeinia of the maxiUa of the hexapods. See
the quotation, and cut under epilabrum.
The prolomdla consists of two portions, the cardo and
stipes, while the hexapodous mandible is invariably com-
posed of but one piece, to which the muscles are directly
attached, and which corresponds to the stipes of the
myriapodous protomala.
A. S. Packard, Proo. Amer. Philos. Soc, June, 1883, p. 198.
protomalal (pro-to-ma'lal), a. [^(.protomala -h
-al.] Of or pertaining "to the protomala of a
myriapod. Packard.
protomalar (pro-to-ma'lar), a. [< protomala
+ -arS.] In Myriapoda,'sa,va.e as protomalal.
protomartyr (pr6-to-mar't6r), n. [Formerly
also prothomartyr ; = F. protomartyr = Sp. pro-
tomdrtir = Pg. protomartyr = It. protomarUre,
< ML. protomartyr, < MGr. npuTd/iaprvp, first
martyr, < Gr. wparog, first, + /idprvp, martyr:
see martyr."] The first martyr ; the first of any
series of martyrs; the first who suffers or is
sacrificed in any cause ; specifically, Stephen,
the earliest Christian martyr.
In the honoure of that holy prothomartyr, seynt Albon.
Fabyan, Chron., I. cxvili.
That Proto-Martyr, the yong faithfuU Steven,
Whom th' hatef ull lews with hellish rage did stone.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Triumph of Faith, iii. 28.
Myself were like enough, O girls,
To unfurl the maiden banner of our rights.
And clad in iron burst the ranks of war.
Or, falling, pratmmntyr of our cause.
Die. Tennyson, Princess, Iv.
protomeristem (pro-to-mer'is-tem), n. [< Gr.
irpaTog, first, -I- E. meristem.'] In bot., primary
meristem — that is, young and imperfectly de-
veloped meristem which forms the first founda-
tion or beginning of an organ or a tissue. See
meristem.
protomerite (pro-tom'e-iit), n. [< Gr. -rrparog,
first, + i^^pog, a part, + "-ite2,] The smaller an-
terior one of the two cells of a dieystidan or sep-
tate gregarine. it may bear the epimerite, or probos-
cis serving for the attachment of the parasite to its host,
in which case the gregarine is called a eephalont. The
protomerite is distinguished from the larger posterior
deutomerite.
protomeritic (pr6"to-me-rit'ik), a. [< pro-
tomerite + -io.] Pertaiuing to the protomerite
of a gregarine.
Protomeryx (pro-ta-me'riks), n. [NL., < Gr.
TrpSrof, first, -J- fi^pv^, a ruminating mammal.]
A genus of fossil camels of the family Camelidse,
named by Leidy in 1856 from remains of Mio-
cene age of North America.
protomesal (pro-to-mes'al), a. [< Gr. irpurof,
first, + p.kaof, midiile: see mesal.] In entom.,
noting a series of wing-cells or areolets in hy-
menopterous insects, between the pterostig-
ma or the costal cells and the apical margin.
Kirby. There may be as many as three of these cells, dis-
tinguished as upper, middle, and lower. They correspond
to the second, third, and fourth submarginal or cubital
cells of modern entomologists.
Protomonas (pro-tom'o-nas), n. [NL., < Gr.
irpSyroQ, first, + fiivog, single : see monad.] A
genus of Monera, or myxopodous Protozoa,
characterized by the production, after becom-
ing encysted and rupturing, of free mastigopo-
dous germs, which swim by means of a long vi-
bratile flageUum, like flagellate infusorians. in
this free state the germs are mastigopods, but they after-
ward withdraw their filamentous pseudopodia, and become
myxopods, which creep about by means of lobate pseudo-
podia. See cut under Protomyxa.
protomorpMc (pr6-to-m6r'fik), a. [< Gr. irpij-
Tof, first, + /iop(p^, form.] Being in the first,
most primitive, or simplest form or shape ; hav-
ing a primitive character or structure ; not met-
amorphic: as, "a protomorpMc layer" [of tis-
sue], S. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., § 290.
Protomyces (pro-tom'i-sez), n. [NL., < Gr.
wpoTog, first, + limr/g, a mushroom.] A small
fenus of zygomycetous fungi, type of the order
'rotomycetacese. They are mostly parasitic upon the
Uwielliferee, inhabiting the intercellular spaces of the
leaf-stem, petiole, flower-stalk, and pericarp. They have
a branching septate mycelium, upon which are formed
at irregular intervals large oval resting progametangia.
When the mycelium dies they persist and hibernate, and
are liberated when the tissues of the host decay.
Protomycetacese (pro-to-mi-se-ta'se-e), n. pi.
[< Protomyces (-et-) + '-acese.'] An order of
zygomycetous fungi, typified by the genus Pro-
Frotonopsidse
together into an active Plasmodium, which, be-
coming quiescent and encysted, undergoes fis-
Protbmyxa (pro-to-mik'sa), n. [NL. (^aeckel,
1868), i. Gr. wparog, flrstj' + /li^a, mucus.] A
genus of Monera, represented by an organism
which consists of a number of myxopods run
Protomyxa aurantiaca.
a. quiescent, encysted ; b, dividing in the cyst ; r, cyst burst, givlnz
exit to mastigopods resembling monads or flagellate infusoriaos (^),
which after a while become anicebiform myxopods {e\ a Dumber of
which then unite into a single active Plasmodium (yi, which grows and
feeds, as upon the infusorians and the diatoms figured in its sub-
stance (these are a peridinium above, next two istnmiae, below three
dlctyocystse).
sive multiplication within the cyst,' and gives
rise to a number of germs which alternate be-
tween the myxopod and the mastigopod state.
There is no means of knowing whether the cycle of
forms represented by Protomonas and Protomyxa is com-
plete, or whether some term of the series is still wanting.
Bvxtey, Anat. Invert, p. 77.
protomyxoid (pro-to-mik'soid), a. [< Proto-
myxa + -oid.] Resembling, relating to, or be-
longing to the genus Protomyxa,
The writer has attempted to explain the forms of free
and united cells as specializations of a {proUymyxoid) cycle
In which variations of functional activity are accompanied
by the assumption of corresponding forms, the whole series
of changes depending upon the properties of protoplasm
under the variations in the supply of energy from the en-
vironment. Eneyc. Brit., XVI. 846.
protonema (pro-to-ne'ma), n. [NL., < Gr. vpa-
rof, first, + vvfia, a thread.] In Musdnese, a
pluricellular, confervoid or filamentous, usu-
ally chlorophyllose, structure upon which the
leafy plant which bears the scTual organs
arises as a lateral or terminal shoot. Also pro-
toneme.
protonemal (pro-to-ne'mal), a. [Kprotonema +
-al.] In bot. , belonging to a protonema.
protonematoid (pro-to-nem'a-toid), a, [< pro-
tonema{t-) -I- -oid.] In bot., resembling or hav-
ing the character of a protonema.
protoneme (pro'to-nem), n. [< KL. protonema,
q. v.] In 6o*., same as jprotomema.
protonephric (pro-to-nerrik), a. [< protoneph-
r-on -I- -ic] Pertaining to the protonephron, or
having its character.
protonephron (pro-to-nef'ron), M. ; pi. proto-
nephra (-rS,). [NL., <'Gr. Trpurof, first, + veippSc,
a kidney.] A primitive kidney or segmental
organ; the original renal organ of an embryo;
a Wolffian body, later absorbed or modified
into some other part of the urogenital system,
and thus giving place to the permanent func-
tional kidney, in some of the lower vertebrates the
renal organ is regarded as a persistent Wolfllan body, and
therefore as a deflnitive protonephron. A protonephron
IS divisible into three recognizable structures, caWei pro-
nephron^ mesonephron,midmetanephron. See these words.
protonic (pro-ton'ik), a. [< Gr. vp6, before, +
Tdvog, accent: see tonic] Preceding the tone
or accent.
ProtonopsidSB (pro-to-nop'si-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Protonopsis + -idee!] A family of gradient or
tailed amphibians, typified by the genus Proto-
nopsis, without eyelids, with teeth on the an-
terior margin of the palatine bones, no denti-
gerous plates on the parasphenoid, vertebrse
amphicoelian, no anterior axial cranial bone,
the parietals and prefrontals prolonged, meet-
ing and embracing the frontals, the wall of the
vestibule membranous internally, premaxilla-
ries separated, the occipital condyles sessile,
Frotonopsids
and well-developed Umbs. Also called Meno-
Protonopsis (pro-to-nop'sis), n. [NL., irreg. <
Gr. UpbTevg (see Protean) + b-^ig, view.] A
genus of tailed amphibians, typical of the fam-
ily Protonopsidie : synonymous with Menopoma.
See cut Tinder helllender.
protonotariat, protonotary (pro-ton-6-ta'ri-
at, pro-ton' o-ta-ri), K. See prothonotariat, pro-
thonotary.
Protonucleata (pro-to-nu-kle-a'ta), n.pl. [NL. :
see protormeleate.'i A hypothefical ancestral
stock of protonucleata protozoans, derived from
homogeneous protoplasm, and giving rise to all
other animals.
protonucleate (pro-to-nu'kle-at), a. [< Gr. trpa-
TOQ, first, + Li. nucleatus, having a kernel: see
nucleate.'] _ Exhibiting the first signs of nuelea-
tion ; having a primitive or primordial nucleus ;
of or pertaining to the Protonucleata.
proto-organism (pr6-t6-6r'gan-izm), n. [< Gr.
wpaTog, first, -I- E. organism."] A micro-organ-
ism, whether animal or vegetal ; a protozoan or
protophyte ; a protist.
protopapas (pro-to-pap' as), m. [= ML.proto-
papa, prothopapus, < Mfir. ^pm-oirairas, a chief
priest, < Gr. irpoToc, first, + LGr. Trajrof, a
bishop, priest : see papa^.J In the Gr. Ch., a
chief priest ; a priest of superior rank, corre-
sponding nearly to a dean or an archdeacon.
protoparent (pro-ta-par'ent), n. [< Gr. irpSyroc,
first, + Jj. paren(t^)s, parent.] A first parent.
Davies, Microcosmos, p. 23.
protopatMa (pro-ta-path'i-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
■trpoTos, first, + jToBog, disease!] Primary disease.
protopathic (pro-to-path'ik), a. [< protopathia
+ -ic] Pertaining to the original lesion of a
disease; primary.
protopepsia (pro-to-pep'gia), n. [NL., < Gr.
irpiJTog, first, + Jtriifiig, digestion: see pepsin.]
Primary digestion; digestion proper as it oc-
curs in the cavity of the alimentary tract, and
as distinguished from any further elaboration
of the products effected in the walls of the in-
testine, the liver, or elsewhere.
protophloSm (pro-to-flo'em), n. [< Gr. Trpflroc,
first, -I- E. phloem.] In hot., the first formed
elements of phloem in a vascular bundle.
Protophyta (pro-tof'i-ta), m. pi. [NL., pi. of
protophytum : see protophyte.] One of the pri-
mary groups or divisions of the vegetable king-
dom, containing the lowest and simplest plants,
and corresponding to the Protozoa of the ani-
mal kingdom. They are usually exceedingly minute
plants, requiring the highest powers of the microscope for
their study. The cells are in general poorly developed ;
the nucleus is wanting in many cases, and frequently there
is either no cell-wall or an imperfectly developed one.
They multiply most commonly by fission, the sexaal or-
gans being unknown or only very slightly differentiated.
According to the classification of Bennett and Murray,
the Protophyta embrace two groups— the chlorophyllous
group, or Schizophycem, and the non-chlorophyllous group,
or ScfUzomycetes. The first group includes the classes Pro-
tococcoidese, Diatamacese, and Cyarwphycex; the second
includes the Bacteria. See Schizophyceee and ScMzomy-
cetes.
prot6phyte (pro'to-flt), /t. [< Irdi.protophytam,
< Gr. wp(jTa<l>VTog, first-produced, < wparog, first,
+ fvT&v, a plant.] A plant of the group Pro-
tophyta.
protophytic (pro-to-flt'ik), a. [< Protophyta +
-ic] Of orpertainiiig to the Protophyta, or hav-
ing their characters.
protoplasm (pro'to-plazm),' n. [< NL. proto-
plasma, protoplasm, < ML.protoplasma,tlDie first
creation, the first creature or thing made (pro-
toplasms, the first man made), < MGr. Trpoyro-
whw/m, < Gr. nparrog, first, + JrXda/ia, anything
formed or molded : see plasm.] An albuminoid
substance, ordinarily resembling the white of
anegg,c9nsisting of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen,
and hydrogen in extremely complex and un-
stable molecular combination, and capable,
underproper conditions, of manifesting certain
vital phenomena, as spontaneous motion, sen-
sation, assimilation, andreproduction,thuseon-
stituting the physical basis of life of all plants
and animals; saroode. it is essential to the nature
of protoplasm that this substance consist chemically of
the four elements named (with or without a trace of sonie
other elements) ; but the molecule is so highly compound-
ed that these elements may be present in somewhat differ-
ent proportions in different cases, so that the chemical
formula is not always the same. The name has also been
somewhatloosely applied to albuminous substances widely
different In some physical properties as density or fluid-
ity. Thus the hard material of so-called vegetable ivory
and the soft body of an amoeba are both protoplasmic The
physiological activities of protoplasm are manifested in
its irritability, or ready response to external stimuli, as
well as its inherent capacity of spontaneous movement
4799
and other indications of life; so that the least particle of
this substance may be observed to go through the whole
cycle of vital functions. Protoplasm builds up every vege-
table and animal fabric, yet is itself devoid of discerni-
ble histological structure. It is ordinarily colorless and
transparent, or nearly so, and of glairy or viscid semifluid
consistency, as is well seen in the bodies of toraminifers,
amoeb», and other of the lowest forms of animal life.
Such protoplasm (originally named sareode), when not
confined by an investing membrane, has the power of ex-
tension in any direction in the form of temporary pro-
cesses (see p8e%idopodiwm) capable of being withdrawn
again ; and it has also the characteristic property of stream-
ing in minute masses through closed membranes without
the loss of the identity of such masses. An individuated
mass of protoplasm, generally of microscopic size, and
with or without a nucleus and a wall, constitutes a cell,
which may be the whole body of an organism, or the struc-
tural unit of aggregation of a multicellular animal or plant.
The ovum of any creature consists of protoplasm, and all
the tissues of the most complex living organisms result
from the multiplication, differentiation, and specializa-
tion of such protoplasmic cell-units. The life of the or-
ganism as a whole consists in the continuous waste and
repair of the protoplasmic material of its cells. No animal,
however, can elaborate protoplasm directly from the
chemical elements of that substance. The manufacture
of protoplasm is a function of the vegetable kingdom.
Plants make it directly from mineral compounds and from
the atmosphere under the infinence of the sun's light and
heat, thus becoming the storehouse of food-stuff for the
animal kingdom. Protoplasm appears to have been first
recognizably described by RBsel, in or about 1765, in his
account of the proteus-animalciUe. It was observed, not
named, seventeen years later by Corti, in the cells of Chara.
Like motions of protoplasm were noticed by Meyen in 1827
in Vallimeria, and by E. Brown in 1831 in his discovery of
the cyclosis in the filaments of Tradescantia. In 1835 Du-
jardin called attention to a " primary animal substance " in
the cells of foraminif ers, described as "a sort of slime" en-
dowed with the property of spontaneous motion and con-
tractility, and called it sareode. The word protoplasm was
first used (in the torm protoplagma) by Hugo von Mohl, in
1846, with reference to the slimy granular semi-fluid con-
tents of vegetable cells. The identity of this vegetable
"protoplasm" with animal "sareode," suggested in 1850
by Cohn, who regarded this common substance as "the
prime seat of almost all vital activity," was confirmed by
Schultze in 1861 ; Virchow had in 1858 abandoned the idea
that a cell-wall is necessary to the integrity of a cell, hold-
ing that a nucleus surrounded by a molecular blastema
(that is, protoplasm) constitutes a cell, and Schultze de-
fined the cell as protoplasm surrounding a nucleus, which
since that time the term has come into universal use. Also
caUed bioplasm, (Ooplasm or cytioplasm, and plasmogen.
See these words, and cuts under amoeba and cm, 5.
Hence this substance, known in Vegetable Physiology as
protoplasm, but often referred to by zoologists as sareode,
has been appropriately designated by Prof. Huxley "the
Physical Basis of Life." W. B. CarperOxr, Micros., § 219.
For the whole living world, then, it results that the
morphological unit — the primary and fundamental form
of life — is merely an individual mass of protoplasm, in
which no further structure is discernible.
Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 18.
protoplasina(pr6-to-plas'ma),». [NL.: seepro-
toplasm.] Protoplasm. Ago von Mohl, 1846.
protoplasmal (pro-to-plaz'mal), a. [< proto-
plasm + -al.] Protoplasmic.
protoplasmatic (pro-to-plaz-mat'ik), a. [<
protoplasm + -atic'^.] Same s,s protoplasmic.
Part of its protoplasmatic matter has undergone resorp-
tion and served nutritory purposes.
Quart. Jour, of Micros. ScC., N. S., XXX. 345.
protoplasmic (pro-to-plaz'mit), a. [< proto-
plasm + -ic] 1. Firat-formed, as a constitu-
ent of organized beings ; primitive or primor-
dial, as a cause or result of organization ; of or
pertaining in any way to protoplasm: as, a
protoplasmic substance; a protoplasmic pro-
cess; a protoplasmic theory.
In the young state of the cell, the whole cavity is oc-
cupied by the protoplasmic substance.
W. B. Carpenter, Micros., § 224.
2. Consisting of, formed or derived from, or
containing protoplasm; bioplasmic; sarcodous.
— 3. Resembling protoplasm in chemical com-
position or in vital activities;- protoplastic;
plastic; germinative or formative — Protoplas-
mic processes of Deiters, the thickly branched pro-
cesses of the large central ganglion-cells : distinguished
from the aoAs-cylinder process of Deiters.
protoplast (pro'to-plast), n. [< ML.protoplas-
tus, the first man made, the first creation, < Gr.
■KpuT&K'iM.aTog, formed or created first, < nparog,
first, + Trhicrdg, formed, molded: see plastic.
Cf. protoplasm.] 1. That which or one who is
fli'st formed ; the original,^ type, or model of
some organic being; especially, the hypotheti-
cal first individual or one of the supposed first
pair of the human race; a protoparent.
The consumption was the primitive disease which put
a period to our j»-otoptois, Adam and Eve. Harvey.
Adam was set up as our great protoplast and representar
tive. Qla/nvUle, Pre-existence of Souls, Pref.
Fresh from the Protoplast,
Furnished for ages to come, when a kindlier wind should
Lured now to begin and live. Browning, Abt Vogler, st. 5.
3. Aprotozoan; a simple unicellular organism;
specifically, a member of the Protoplasta.
protosalt
Protoplasta (pro-ta-plas'ta), n. pi. [NL. : see
protoplast.] An or&er of rhizopods ; unicellular
organisms in general; those Protozoa, Protista,
or Plastidizoa the organization of which has the
morphological valence of a simple cell.
protoplastic (pro-tg-plas'tik), a. [< protoplast
+ -ic] 1 . Protoplasmic ; pertaining to or hav-
ing the character of a protoplast.
Om: protoplastick sire
Lost paradise.
Howell, Lexicon Tetraglotton (1660).
A return to the condition of Lord Monboddo's protoplas-
tic baboon even the Carlylists . . . might find it irksome
to realize with equanimity. F. Hall, Mod. Eng., p. 30.
2. Specifically, belonging to the Protoplasta.
Protopoda (pro-top'o-da), n. pi. [NL., < (Jr.
jrpuTof, first, -t-Vodf (nod-j = E. foot.] A group
of tsenioglossate gastropods, with the foot rudi-
mentary, including the Vermetidee.
protopodia, «. Plural ot protopodiwn.
protopodial (pro-to-po'di-al), a. [< protopo-
di-um + -al.] Of or pertaining to the protopo-
dium, or having its character.
protopodite (pro-top'6-dit), n. [< Gr. wpCrroc,
first, + TTotJf (TTorf-), = '&.foot, + -ite^,] In Crus-
tacea, the first or basal division of an appendage
of a segment, by which such appendage articu-
lates with its somite; the root or first joint
of a limb, which may bear an endopodite or an
exopodite, or both of these. See endopodite,
and cut under ehela^.
Each appendage consists of three divisions . . . sup-
ported on a protopodite, or basal division.
Hiialey, Anat. Invert., p. 244.
Probably the coxo- and basipodite [of the ambulatory
leg of a crawflsh] together answer to the protopodite of the
abdominal appendages, the remaining joints representing
the endopodite. Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 269, note.
protopoditic (pr6"to-po-dit'ik), a. [< protopo-
dite + -ic] Of or pertaining to a protopodite.
protopodium (pr6-to-p6'di-um), n. ; pi. proto-
podia (-a). [NL., i. Gr. nparoq, first, + NL.
podium, q. v.] In Mollusoa, the primitive or
typical podium; the foot proper, irrespective
of its various modifications.
The valve of the siphon [in cephalopods] is a true foot,
OF protopodium, and the two lateral folds are pteropodia.
GUI, Smithsonian Keport, 1880, p. 361.
protopope (pro'to-pop), «. [<.B,uss.protopopu,
< MGr. npuTonanag, a chief priest: see proto-
papas, and cf . pope^.] Same as protopapas.
protopresbyter (pro-to-pres'bi-tfir), n. [< Gr.
TrpuTof, first, -I- 7rpe(7/3{iT£/)Of, presbyter; seepres-
iyter.] Saxae a.s protopope.
protoprism (pro'to-prlzm), n. [< Grr. Trpu-
Toc, first, -f irpitsiM, prism: see prism.] See
prism, 3.
protopsyche (pro-to-si'ke), n. [< Gr. nparoQ,
first, -I- '^x^t soul: see Psyche.] Bee psyche,
4 (c). Haeclcel.
protopteran (pro-top'te-ran), a. and n. I, a.
Same a.s protopterous.
II, n. A member of the Protopteri.
protoptere (pro-top'ter), n. A fish of the order
Protopteri. Sir J. Richardson,
Protopteri (pro-top'te-ri), n. pi. [NL., pi. of
Protopterus.] In Owen's classification, an order
of cold-blooded vertebrates transitional be-
tween the fishes and the amphibians: same as
Sirenoidei and Dipnoi.
Protopteridae (p;r6-top-ter'i-de), n.pl. [NL., <
Protopterus + -idse.] A family of dipnoans,
typified by the genus Protopterus: same as
protopterous (pro-top'te-ms), a. [< NL. pro-
topterus, < Gr. ■KparroQ, £rst, + nrtpAv, wing, =
E. feather.] Having a simple or primitive type
of limb, as a protopterus ; of or pertaining to
the Protopteri.
Protopterus (pro-top'te-rus), n. [NL. (Owen,
1837): see protopterous.] 1. The typical genus
of Protopteridee, containing the African mud-
fish, P. annectens. in this dipnoous fish the pectorals
and ventrals are reduced to long filaments with fringes
containing rudimentary rays. See Lepidoeiren^ and cut
under mudfish.
2. II. c] A member of this genus.
protopyramid (pro-to-pir'a-mid), n. In crystal.
See pyramid, 3.
Protornis (pro-t6r'nis), n. [NL., < Gr. wpurog,
first, + bpvig, bird.] A genus of birds, founded
by Von Meyer upon remains from the Lower
Eocene of (Jlaris. P. glariensis is regarded as
the oldest known passerine bird.
protosalt (pro'to-salt), re. [< Gr. Trpurof, first,
-I- E. salt^.] In chem., that one of two or more
compounds of the same metal with the same
acid which contains relatively the least quan- »
tity of metal. '
protosiphon
protosiphon (pro-to-si'fon), n. [< Gr. irparog,
first, + 1;. siplwn.'] The representative or origin
of the siphunole in the protoeonch of ammoni-
toid cepnalopods.
protOBOmite (pro-to-so'mit), ». [< Gr. npoTOi,
first, + E. somite.'] One of the primitive or
rudimentary somites or segments of an emhry-
onie worm or arthropod.
Generally, the development of the protosamites, as these
segments might be called, does not occur [in annelids] un-
til some time after the embryo has been hatched.
HusUey, Anat. Invert, p. 243.
protosomitic (^ro'to-so-mit'ik), a. l<protoso-
mite + ■ic.'] Primitively segmented; oforper-
taining to a protosomite.
protospasm (pro'to-spazm), n. [< Gr. irpSiToc,
first, + airaaiiSs, spasm: see spasm.] See Jacli-
sonian epilepsy, vmder Jacksonian.
protospermatoblast(pro-to-sp6r'ma-to-blfi,st),
n. [< GrT. TrpuTof, first, + E'. spermaiobtast.'] A
cellular blastema in which spermatozoa origi-
nate. See spermatoblast.
The spermatozoa of the decapods studied by him [Saba-
tier) arise in large cells, the prolo^^ermatoUaMi, and are
homologous with the epithelial cells of the Graafian fol-
licle. Mierm. So,., N. S., No. cxix., Yyy Hi. 261.
Protosponria (pro-to-spon'ji-a), n. [NL.
(Salter), < Gr. npcuro;, drst, + oTroyyia, a sponge.]
A genus of lyssacine hexaetinellidan sponges,
including the oldest known forms of fossil
sponge, from the Menevian beds of the Lower
Cambrian of Wales, as P. fenestrata.
protospongian (pro-to-spon'ji-an), a. Primi-
tive, as a stage in the evolution of sponges or
in the development of a sponge. Haeckel.
We have not been able to separate the Protosptmgian
stage of Haeckel from the ascula, and thinl; it should be
merged in the latter.
Hyatt, Pioo. Bost. Soc. Nat Hist, XXIII. 86.
protospore (pro'to-spor), n. [< Gt. wpCn-o;, first,
+ anSpoc, seed.]' In hot., one of the primary
or apparent spores of certain fungi, corre-
sponding to the prothallus of the hi^er cryp-
togams.
Protostapedifera (pro-to-stap-e-dif'e-ra), n.pl.
[NL., < Gt. irpoToc, first, -I- NL. iSiapedifera,
q. v.] A hypothetical form from which the Sta-
peAifera are supposed to have originated. See
Btapedifera. Tliacher, 1877.
Frotostigma (pro-to-stig'mS), n.pl. [NL. (Les-
quereux, 1877), < Gr. nparog, first, -f- ariyfia, a
spot, mark.] A name provisionally given to
certain doubtful plant remains, consisting of
fragments of stems found in rooks of the Hud-
son Kiver (Cincinnati) group, near Cincinnati,
and considered by the author of the name to
be related to Sigillaria and other types of vege-
tation of the Devonian and Carboniferous. The
specimens found are very obscure, and are referred 'by
some paleobotanists to the sponges or other low forms
of marine life.
protostoma (pro-tos'to-ma), m. ; pi. protosto-
mata (pro-tos-to'ma-ta). [NL., < Gr. irparog,
first, -f- ard/ia, mouth..] The archseostoma or
primitive mouth-opening of a gastrula, by
which the protogaster or cavity of the arehen-
teron communicates with the exterior. It is the
original orifice of that invagination whereby a blastula is
converted into a gastrula, and is mouth and anus in one.
In some kinds of gastrulss the protostoma is also called
anus ofRuscfmi; in others, a Mcuittda^aore. Haeckel, Evol.
of Man (trans.), 1. 191.
Protosymphyla (prd"t6-sim-fi'ia), n.pl. [NL.,
< Gr. irpaTog, first, -I- ISTL. Symphyla, q. v.] A
term applied by Erich Haase to a hjrpothetical
group, from wmch he supposed the orders Sym-
phyla, Thysanura, and Chilopoda to have been
derived by evolution: its existence in nature
is disputed or denied.
phylar (pr6*to-sim-fi'W,r), a. [< Pro-
ila + -orsC] di or pertaining to the
Frotosyngnatha (pro-to-sing'na-tha), n. pi.
[NL., < Gr. TTpoTOf, first, + avv,_ along with, -t-
yvddo;, jaw.] A group of fossU myriapods of
Carboniferous age, represented by the genus
Palaeoeampa, resembling the extant chilopods
in having but one pair of legs to each segment
of the body. Also called Protosygnatha.
protosyugnathous (pr6-to-sing'na-thus), a.
[< Protosyngnatha + -ous.'j Of or 'pertaining
to the Protosyngnatha, or having their charac-
ters.
prototergite (pr6-t6-t6r'jit), n. [< Gr. irpSnog,
first, + L. tergfMOT, 'back.] In entom., the first
dorsal segment of the abdomen.
protothallUS (pro-to-thal'us), n.; -pi. protofhal-
U (-1). [NL., < Gr.' ■rrpcJTOC, first, + BaTMc, a
young shoot.] In hot. : (a) Same as prothal-
Uum, (b) Same as hypothallus.
4800
protothere (pro'to-ther), n. A mammal "of the
group Prototherid; any prototherian.
Prototheria (pro-to-the'ri-a), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. irpCnoQ, first, -f- dnp, a "wild beast.] 1. A
name proposed by Gill in 1872 for one of the
major groups of the Mammalia, consisting of
the Monotremata alone, as distinguished from
the Eutlisria : coextensive with Ornithodelphia.
— 2. Those unknown primitive mammals which
are the hypothetical ancestors of the mono-
tremes : synonymous with Promammalia.
It will be convenient to have a distinct name, Prolothe-
Ha, for the group wUoh includes the at present hypo-
thetical embodiments of that lowest stage of mammalian
type of which the existing monotremes are the only known
representatives. HvMey, Proo. Zool. Soc, 1880, p. 653.
prototherian (pro-to-the'ri-an), a. and n. [<
Prototheria + -an.] ' I. a. Primitively mamma-
lian; primeval or ancestral, as a mammal; of
or pertaining to the Prototheria in either sense.
n. n. A member of the Prototheria, hypo-
thetical or actual.
protothorax (pro-to-tho'raks), n. [< Gr. irparoq,
first, + diipa^, thorax.] Same a,B prothorax.
Frototracneata (pro-to-tra-ke-a'ta), n. pi.
[NL., < Gr. irparog, first, -I- rpaxeia, trachea,
+ -ata^.] Same as Protracheata.
prototypal (pro'to-ti-pal), a. \<. prototyp-e +
-al.] Pertaining to a 'prototype; forming or
constituting a prototype or primitive form;
archetypical. Mso prototypical.
Survivors of that prototypal flora to which I have already
referred. Dawson, Geol. Hist, of Plants, p. 24.
prototype (pro 'to -tip), n. [< F. prototype =
Sp. It. protoUpo = 'Pg. prototypo, a prototype;
LL. ])rototypus, original, primitive ; < Gr. npa-
t6tvkoc, in the first form, original, neut. irporS-
Timov, a first or primitive form, < jrpSrof, first, -1-
Tinrof, impression, model, type: see type.] A
primitive form; an original or model after
which anything is formed; the pattern of any-
thing to be engraved, cast^ etc.; an exemplar;
an archetype ; especially, in metrology, an ori-
ginal standard, to which others must conform,
and which, though it may be imitated from
something else, is not required to conform to
anything else, but itself serves as the ultimate
definition of a unit. Thus, the mHre des archives is
a prototype, and so is the new international meter atBre-
teull, although the latter is imitated from the former.
But the inMre du conservatoire and the meters distributed
by the International Bureau are not prototypes, since
they have no authority except from the evidence that they
coi^orm to other measures.
In many respects [he] deserves to be enniched, as & pro-
totype for all writers, of voluminous works at least
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, iii. 38.
The square or circular altar, or place of worship, may
easily be considered as the prototype of the Sikra surround-
ed by cells of the Jains.
J. Fergutsan, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 208.
prototypembryo (pr6"to-tip-em'bri-6), n. [<
prototype + embryo.] A later stage of the em-
bryo, which exhibits the essential characters
of the division of animals to which it belongs.
Thus, the veliger of a moUusk, the nauplius of a crusta-
cean, and the notochordal stage of a vertebrate are !&•
eoecUvely prototypmibryos of the MoUxisca, Onatacea, and
Vertebrata. Hyatt. [Rare.]
prototypembryonic (pr6"to-tip-em-bri-on'ik),
a. [_Cprototypembryo(n-) 4- -ic] Having the
character of a prototypembryo. [Bare.]
prototypical (pro-to-tip'i-
kal), a. \<,prototype + -^c-al.]
Same as prototypal.
Their [the Maruts'] coming to the
fleht must be taken as prototypicai
of the coming of the Greek heroes to
the great fields of battle.
Keary, Prim. Belief, p. 152.
protova, n. Plural of proto-
vum.
protovertebra (pro-to-vSr'-
te-bra), «y pi. protovertebrm
(-bre)'. [NL., < Gt. nparog,
first, -t- L. vertebra, vertebra.]
If. In Carus's nomenclature
(1828), a rib regarded as a
vertebral element developed
to contain and protect the
viscera, or organs of vegeta-
tive life : correlated with deu-
tovertebra and tritovertebra. — vertebrate Embryo
2. A primitive, temporary S!fe,^)!°°'"^''°"°-
vertebra; one of the series a, cephalic end; *,
of segments which appear in ^^I'^H^iSSjXl
pairs m the early embryo Sorsai laminx, have
along the course of the note- ^°^„f'°5s'?e°»|S- 1
chord, and from or about numerous protoverte-
1 ■ T_ 1 T_ . bra : y, rudiment of an
wmch the permanent ver- omphaiomesaraic vein.
*ll*!lllli5*^''""
Protozoa
tebrsB are developed. They soon disappear,
being replaced by definitive vertebrae.
protovertebral (pro-to-vfer'te-bral), a. [<pro-
tovertebra + -al.] Having the cliaraeter of a
protovertebra; pertaining to protovertebree :
as, a protovertebral segment; a protovertebral
portion of the notochord.
Protovertebrata (pro-to-vfer-tf-bra'ta), it. pi.
[NL. : see protovertebrdte.] A hypothetical
group of animals, assumed to have been the
ancestral forms of the Vertebrata.
protovertebrate (pr6-to-v6r'te-brat), a. [<NL.
*protovertebratiis, <. protovertebra, q.v.] 1. Pro-
vided with or characterized by the presence of
protovertebrse : as, the protovertebrate stage of
a vertebrate embryo. — 2. Of or pertaining to
the Protovertebrata.
protovestiaryt (pro-to-ves'ti-a-ri), «. [< ML.
protovesUarvus, < Gt. 'irporrog, first, -I- ML. ves-
tiarvus, the keeper of a wardrobe : see vesUa/ry.]
The head keeper of a wardrobe.
Protomesiimry, or wardrobe keeper of the palace of An-
tiochus at Constantinople.
T. Warton, Hist Eng. Poetry, I. 132.
protoVTlin (pro-to'vum), n. ; pi. protova (-va).
[NL., < Gr. irparog, first, -1- L. ovum, egg: see
ovum.] An original or primitive egg ; an ovum
or ovule in its first state, as when still in its
Graafian follicle, or, in general, before its im-
pregnation, when it becomes a cytula or parent-
cell by fecundation with sperm ; or, in the case
of meroblastic eggs, an undifferentiated female
egg-cell before it acquires the mass of non-
formative food-yolk which converts it into a
metovum.
protoxid, protoxide (pro-tok'sid), n. [< Gr.
TrpoTog, first, -I- E. oxid.] That member of a
series of oxids which contains a single oxygen
atom combined with a single bivalent atom or
with two univalent atoms: applied only to
oxids which are not strongly basic or acid.
protoxylem (pro-to-zi'lem), n. [< Gr. irparoQ,
first, -r E. xylem.] In bot., the first-formed
elements of the xylem of a vascular bundle.
Protozoa (pr6-to-z6'a), «. pi. [NL., pi. of Pro-
tosoon.] Primordial or first-formed animals,
or cell-animals ; protozoans : a subkingdom of
AnimMlia or prime division of animals, con-
trasted with Metasaa, or all other animals col-
lectively. The Protozoa are animal organisms con-
sisting of a single cell, or of several cells not differen-
tiated into tissues. This i^ the essential distinction
between protozoan and metazoan animals, though no
hard and fast line can be drawn around Protozoa to dis-
tinguish them on the one hand frpm Protophyta, and on
the other from Hfetazoa. The name Protozoa was first used
by Goldf uss (1809) to include microscopic animals and also
the polyps and medusse. Siebold and Stannius first used
it in its modern signification as comprising and limited,
to the infusorians and rhizopods. Owen (1869) used the
term Protozoa for a kingdom including diatoms, etc.,
and therefore synonymous with Protista. The sponges,
in the view (as held by W. Saville Kent lor example)
that they consist essentially of an aggregate of choano-
flagellate infusorians, are often brought under Protozoa,
though they have not only an ectoderm and an endo-
derm, but also a mesoderm, and are therefore tissue-
animals as distinguished from cell-animals. Excluding
sponges, Protozoa may be characterized as animals com-
posed of a simple nearly structureless jelly-like substance
called sarcode, a kind of protoplasm, devoid of permanent
distinction or separation of parts resulting from tissue-
formation or histogenesis (uiough they may have very
evident organs as parts of a single cell), without a perma-
nent definitive body-cavity or any trace of a nervous sys-
tem, no permanent differentiatod alimentary system ex-
cept in a most rudimentary state, and no multicellular
membranes or tissues. Nevertheless, there is really a
wide range of variation or gradation of structure in these
seemingly structureless animalcules. Some of the lowest
forms are mere microscopic specks of homogeneous sar-
code, of any or no definite shape. Such are moners, or
representatives of a division 3Ionera or Proteomyxa; out
it is not certain that all such objects are either individu-
als or species in a usual sense of these words. Among
the lowest protozoans of which species and genera can
be deflnitoly predicated are the amoebiform organisms,
which have a nucleus, and locomotory organs in the form
of pseudopods, temporarily protruded from any part of
the body, and which ingest and egest foreign substance
from any part of the body. Vast numbers of protozo-
ans are of this grade of complexity, and with the simpler
forms constitute a class, Shizopoda, including the normal
amoeboids and the foraminifers and radiolarians. Fo*,
though both these latter may have very complicated shells,
tests, or skeletons, their sarcodous substance remains of
alow and simple type. It is an advance in organization
when a protozoan becomes corticate —that is, assumes a
form in which an outer harder ectoplasm and an inner
softer endoplasm are distinguishable —since this confines
Oie sarcodous mass and gives it definite shape or form.
This advance In organization is often marked^by the ap-
pearance of a nucleolus or endoplastule, besides the nu-
cleus or endoplast which most protozoans possess, by the
presence of definite and permanent locomotory organs in
the form of cilia or flagella, and finally 1^ the fixation of a
specialized oral oringestive area or mouth. In place of the
one or several temporary vacuoles which serve as stom-
achs m lower forms. Protozoans of this higher grade occur
Protozoa
under various forms. The class Oregarinida represents
Sf wi^±™^°°*;°' two;?*"*'*' eesentiaUy like the ova
ol Metaioa The class Infusoria comprehends an enor-
mous number ol mmute, nearly always microscopic, anl-
malcules, found m Infusions, inhabiting both fresll and
salt water, sometimes parasitic, but mostly leading an in-
dependeut fixed or free Ufe. There are many groups ol
these, as the ciliate, flageUate, choanoflagellate, and suoto-
rial inlusonans, among them the most complex organisms
which are commonly included under Protozoa, as the Noe-
Mtica, lor example. With or without some ol the lowest
disputed lorms, and with or without the sponges Proto-
zoa h&ye been very variously subdivided, almost every
author having his own arrangement. A so-called moner
an amoeba, a loraminiler, a radiolarian, a gregarine, and
an Inlusorian respectively exemplily as many leading
types ol Protozoa. One division is Into Astomata and
Stomatoda, according to the absence or presence ol a
mouth. Another is Into Mon^ra and Endoptastica, accord.
Ing to the absence or presence of a nucleus, the latter be-
ing again distinguished as Myxopoda and MasUgopoda, sic-
cording to whether the locomotory organs are temporary
pseudopods or permanent cilia or flagella. A third is Into
Gymnomyxa and Corticata, according to the absence or
presence ol a distinguishable ectoplasm. (1) The Oym-
nomyxa are separated into 7 classes: Proteomyxa (in-
definable), Myoetozoa (often regarded as plants), Lobom
(ordinary amoebiforms), LdbyrinthtUidea, HeMozoa (sun-
animalcules), Retieularia (the loraminllers), and Badiola-
ria. (2) The Corticata are divided into 6 classes : Sporo-
zoa (gregarines and many others), Magellata, JHnoflagel-
lata, EhyneJwflageUata, GUiata, and Adnetaria, the last five
being as many classes ol inlusorians. This is the classifi-
cation presented in the latest edition ol the Encyolopse-
dia Britannica. By Savllle Kent the Protozoa (including
sponges) are divided into 4 prime "evolutionary series,"
not exactly coincident, however, with any recognized
zoeiogical groups, called Pantostomata, Dieeostamata,
Emtomata, and Polystomata. (See these words.) Also
called Hypozoa, OSzoa, Plaslidozoa. Compare Primalia,
ProMata, Protophyta. See outs under ActmospJuerium,
amoeba, Buglena, Foramimfera, Globigerinid^, OregaH-
tiidse, Irifumria, Noetiluca, Parameeium, radiolarian, and
iun-afmmaicvle.
protozoal (pro-to-zo'al), a. [(.protozoan + -al.'\
Same as protozoan.
Biltschli's classification ol these protozoal forms.
Lancet, So. 3467, p. 308.
protozoan (pr6-to-z6'an), a. and n. [< proto-
zoan, + -am.] I. a. First, lowest, simplest, or
most primitive, as an animal ; of or pertaining
to the Protozoa.
II. 11. A mem.l)er of the Protozoa; a proto-
zoon.
protozoanal (pr6-to-z6'an-al),a. [Irreg. <^ro-
tozoan + -al.l Ol or pertaining to a proto-
zoan. [An improper form.]
The individualized ^ohtzoawal stage has become con-
fined to the earliest periods ol existence.
Stand. Nat. Hist., I. 60.
protozoary (pr6-to-z6'a-ri), m. ; ]p\. protozoaHes
(-riz). [< r. protbzoawe, < Gr. irparog, first, +
i^jidpiov, dim. of ffiow, an animal.] A protozoan.
protozoic (pr6-to-z6'ik), a. [iprotozoon + 4c.]
1. luzool., same a,s protozoan.
They exhibit the rhythmically contracting vacuoles
-which are specially characteristic ot protozoic organisms.
W. B. CarperOer, Micros., § 225.
2. In geol., containing the earliest traces of life.
— Protozoic schists, the name given by Barrande to the
lowest division of the fossililerous rocks ol Bohemia. See
protOZOOn, protOZOUm (pr6-t6-z6'on, -um), n.;
pi. protozoa {-%). [NL., < Gr. irparoc, first, +
f^ou, animal.] An individual or a species of
Protozoa; a protozoan.
protozoonal (pr6-to-z6'on-al), a. [< protozoan
+ -al.2 Pertaining to a pifotozoSn: a,s, proto-
zoonal collars and flagella. Hyatt.
protOZOIlin, n. See protazoon.
Protracheata (pro-tra-kf-a'ta), n.pl. [NL., <
L. pro, before, + 'Traclwata, \, v.] In G-e^en-
banr's system, one of three prime series into
which all arthropods are divided (the others
being Branchiata, or Crustacea in a wide sense,
and Tradheata, or insects in the widest sense),
established for the reception of the single ge-
nus Peripatus: thus conterminous with Mala-
copoda, OnycJiopJiora, and Peripatidea.
More exact investigations into the organization ol Peri-
patus show that this animal, which as yet has been gener-
ally placed with the Vermes, is the representative ol a
special class of Arthropoda which must be placed belore
the Traoheata [that is, Protracheata].
Qegmham; Comp. Anat. (trans.), p. 230.
protracheate (pro-tra'kf-at), a. Of or pertain-
ing to the Protracheata ; malacopodous; ony-
chophorous ; peripatidean.
protract (pro-trakf), v. t. [< Jj.protractus,m.
of protrahere <> It. pratraere, protrarre = OF.
pourtraire), draw forth, lengthen out, < pro,
forth, + trahere, draw: see tract. Ct. portray,
portrait, from the same source.] 1. To draw
out or lengthen in time; prolong: now chiefly
in the past participle.
The Galles were now weary with long protracting at the
—J, edding, tr. ol Csssar, lol. 32.
4801
Doubtless he shrives this woman to her smock,
Else ne'er could he so long jiroiract his speech.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., i. 2. 120.
You shall protract no time, only I give you a bowl ol
rich wine to the health ol your general.
B. Janxan, Case is Altered, ill. 1,
Her spirit seemed hastening to live within a v^ briel
span as much as many live during 2.pfroira<Aed existence.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, viii.
2. To lengthen out lu space ; extend in gen-
eral. [Rare.]
Their shaded walks
And long protracted bowers.
Cowper, Task, 1. 257.
Many a ramble, lar
And yride protracted, through the tamer ground
■ Of these our unimaginative days. Wordgwarth.
•3. To delay; defer; put off to a distant time.
Let us hury him,
And not protract with admiration what
Is now due debt. To the grave !
SMIi., Cymbeline, Iv. 2. 232.
4. In surv., to draw to a scale ; lay down, by
means of a scale and protractor, the lines and
angles of, as a piece of land ; plot. — 5. In anat.,
to draw forward (a part or an organ) ; extend
(a part) anteriorly ; have the action or effect of
a protractor upon.— protracted meeting, a revival
meeting continued or protracted ; a series of meetings of
unususd importance, often lasting for several days and
attended by large numbers : chiefly used by Congregation-
alists, Methodists, and Baptists. USew Eng.]
protractt (pro-trakf), n. [< LL. protractus, a
prolonging, <'L. protrahere, yy.protractiis, pro-
long: see protract.'] A lengthening out; de-
lay; putting off.
And wisdome willed me without ^otroKs*,
In speedie wise, to put the same in ure.
Iforton and SaekmUe, Eerrex and Porrex, iv. 2.
Many long weary dayes I have outwome ;
And many nights, that slowly seemd to move
Theyr saA protract from evening untill raorne.
Spenser, Sonnets, Ixxxvi.
protractedly (pro-trak'ted-li), adv. [< pro-
tracted, pp. of protract, v., + -ly^."] In a pro-
tracted or prolonged manner; tediously.
protractor (pro-trak'tfer), n. [<protract + -er\']
One who protracts, or lengthens in time. Also
protractor.
protractile (pro-trak'til), a. '[<protract+-4le.']
Susceptible of being drawn forward or thrust
out, as the tongue of a woodpecker ; protrusile :
correlated with retractile, that which is one be-
ing also the other.
protracting-bevel (pro-trak'ting-bev''''el), n. A
combined sector, rule,' straight-edge, and bevel
used in plotting plans and other drawings.
protraction (pro-trak'shon), n. [< ^-.protrae-
Uon = It. protraziane, < "LL. proiracUo{n-), a
drawing out or lengthening, < Ij. protrahere, pp.
protractus, &i&wiovih, di-agout: see protract.]
1. The act of drawing out or prolonging; the
act of delaying: as, tloB protraction of a debate.
If this grand Business of State, the Match, suffer such
ProlrckHans and Puttings off, you need not wonder that
private ISTegotiations, as mine is, should be subject to the
same Inconveniencies. Howell, Letters, I. iii. 24.
2. In surv.: (a) The act of plotting or laying
down on paper the dimensions of a field, etc.
(6) That which is protracted or plotted on pa-
per.— 3. The action of a protractor in sense
(&). — 4. In anc. pros., the treatment as met-
rically long of a syllable usually measured as
a short: opposed to correpUan.
protractive (pro-trak'tiv), a. [< protract +
-ive.] Drawing' out or lengthening in time;
prolonging; contintiing; delaying.
The protractive trials ol great Jove
To find persistive constancy in men.
Shak., T. and C, i. 3. 20.
He saw, but suffered theb protractive arts.
I>ryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 1103.
protractor (pro-trak'tor), n. [< NL. protractor
(cf . ML. protractor, one who oaUs or drags an-
other into court), < L. protrahere, pp. protrac-
tus, draw or drag forth : see protract.] One
who or that which protracts. As applied to
persons, also protracter. Specifically— (a) in sun. ,
protruslveness
an instrument for laying down and measuring angles on
paper. It is ol various forms— semicircular, rectangular,
ol a1iv?ular. See also cut under bevel-protractor.
This parallelogram is not, as Mr. Sheres would the other
day have persuaded me, the same as a protractor, which
do so much the more make me value it, but of Itsell It is a
most uselnl instrument. Pepys, Diary, Feb. 4, 1668.
(6) In anat,, a muscle which protracts, or extends or draws
a part lorward ; the opposite of retractor. See diagram
under EcJdnoidea.
The psoas minor . . . isajirofractorol thepelvis.
Hiadey, Anat. Vert., p. 47.
(c) An adjustable pattern, agreeing in proportion with
particular measurements, used by filers in cutting out
garments.
protreptical (pro-trep'ti-kal), a. [< Gr. wpo-
TpeirriKSg, fitted for urging on, exhorting, <
TzpoTpiweiv, turn toward, < irpd, forth, forward,
+ Tpineiv, turn : see trope.] Intended or adapt-
ed to persuade ; persuasive ; hortatory.
The means used are partly didactical and prolrepHcal.
Bp. Ward, Infidelity.
protrisene (j^ro-trT'en), n. [< Gr. 7rp(5, before, +
Tplaiva, a trident : see triiene.] In the nomen-
clature of sponge-spicules, a tri»ne with por-
rect cladi. it is a simple spicule ol the rhabdus type,
bearing at one end a cladome ol three cladi or rays wbicn
project lorward. SoUas.
protritet (pro'trit), a. [< li. protritus, pp. of
proterere, drive forth', wear away, < pro, forth,
+ terere, pp. tritus, rub: see trite.] Common;
trite.
They are but old and rotten errors, jn-otrite and puUd
opinions ol the ancient Gnosticks.
Bp. Qauden, Tears of the Church, p. 195. (Darned.)
Whereuppon grew that protrite distinction of a triple
appetite, naturall, sensitive, and reasonable.
T. Wright, Passions of the Minde (1601); i. 7.
protrudable (pro-tr6'da-bl), a. [< protrude +
-able.] Protrusitoe or protrusile ; protractile.
The protrudable trunk or proboscis of other annelids.
Darwin, Vegetable Mould, L
protrude (pro-trod'), «.; TpTet.&ndi'ff^. protruded,
ppr. pratrudmg. [< Jj. protrudere, thrust forth,
protrude, < pro, forth, forward, + trudere,
thrust, push: see threat. Cf. extrude, intrude,
etc.] I. trans. 1. To thrust forward or onward;
drive or force along.
The sea's hem^ protruded forwards ... by the mud or
earth discharged into it by rivers. Woodward.
2. To shoot or thrust forth; project; cause to
project; thrust out as from confinement; cause
to come forth: as, a sn.wi protrudes its horns.
Spring protrudes the bursting gems. Thomson, Autumn.
II. intrans. To shoot forward; be thrust for-
ward; project beyond something.
The parts protrude beyond the skin. Bacon.
With that lean head-stalk, that protruding chin,
Wear standing collars, were they made of tin !
0. W. Holmes, A Bhymed Lesson,
=Syn. To project, jut (out), bulge (out).
protrusible (pro-trS'si-bl), a. [< L. protrusus,
pp. oi protrudere, thrust forth {see protrude), +
4ble.] Capable of being protruded; protrusile.
In many the oral aperture is surrounded by a flexible
muscular lip, which sometimes takes on the form of a, pro-
trusible proboscis. Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 167.
protrusile (pro-tro'sil), a. [< L. protrusus, pp.
ofprotrudere,ih.mattoTt'b.^seeprotrude), + 4le.]
Capable of being protruded; protrudable ; pro-
trusible; protractile.
protrusion (pro-tr6'zhon), n. [< L. as if *pro-
trusio{n-), < li.'protrucCere, pp. protrusus, thrust
forth: see protrude.] 1. The act of protruding
or thrusting forth, or the state of being pro-
truded.
Some sudden protruswn to good ; . , . a mere actual,
momentary, transient conduction.
■ Bp. HaU, Sermon on Kom. vilL 14.
Without either resistance ot protrusion. Locke.
We see adaptation to the wind in the incoherence of . the
pollen, . . . in the ^ototision of the stigmas at the period
ol lertilisation.
Darwin, Different Forms ol Flowers, p. 94.
2. That which stands out beyond something ad-
jacent ; that which protrudes or projects.
The onlyleatures ol the enormous structure are the
blank, sombre stretches and protrusions of wall, the effect
of which, on so large a scale, is strange and striking.
H. James, Jr., Little Tour, p. 98.
protrusive (pro-trS'siv), a. [< li. protrusus, pp.
of protrudere,' thmst forth (see protrude), +
-4ve.] Thrusting or impelling forward; obtru-
sive; protruding: as, protrusive vnotion.
The chin protrusive, and the cervical vertebrse a trifle
more curved. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, viL
protrusively (pro-trb'siv-li), adv. [(.protruswe
+ -ly^.] In a protrusive manner; obtrusively.
protruslveness (pro-tro'siv-nes), n. Tending
to protrude or to be'protrusive ; obtrusiveness.
prott-goose
prott-|;oose (prot'gSs), n. [< prott (said to be
imitative) + goose.] The brent- or brant-goose,
Bernicla brenia.
protuberance (pro-tu'be-rans), n. [< F. pro-
tUb&rance = Sp. Pg. proiuHerancia = It. protu-
herama, < NL. *protuberanUa, < LL. ^rotofte-
ra»(«-)s, protuberant: see protuberant.] A swell-
ing or tumor on the body; a prominence; a
bunch or knob; anything swelled or pushed
beyond the surrounding or adjacent surface;
on the surface of the earth, a hill, knoll, or
other elevation ; specifically, in anat. and zool.,
a protuberant part; a projection or promi-
nence; a tuberosity: as, a bonj protuberance.
See cut under conjugation.
Mountains, that geem but so many wens and unnatural
ptotvbffrances upon the face of the earth.
Dr. H. Mare, Antidote against Atheism, I. ii. 3.
He had a little round abdominal protuberance, which an
Inch and a half added to the heels of his boots hardly en-
abled him to carry off as well as he could have wished.
Troilopet Doctor Thorne, xli.
Annular protuberance of the brain. See annular.—
Occipital, parietal, etc., protuberance. See the ad-
jectives.
protuberancy (prortu'be-ran-si), n. [As pro-
tuberance (see -cj/).] Same as jyrotuberance.
protuberant (pro-tu'be-rant), a. [< F. protube-
rant, < lAi. protuberan'(t-)s, ppr. ot protuberare,
swell, grow forth : see protuberate.} Swelling;
prominent beyond the surrounding surface.
pro-
Ray.
Though the eye seems round, In reality the Iris is prt
ttiberani above the wliite. Bai
Those large brown protttberant eyes in Silas Marner's
pale face. Oeorge Eliot, Silas Marner, i.
protuberantly (pro-tii'be-raut-li), ado. [< pro-
tuberant + -ly^.] In a protuberant manner ;
in the way of protuberance.
protuberate (pro-tfl'be-rat), v, i. ; pret. and pp.
protuberated, ppr. prdiuberating. [< LL. protu-
berat'us, pp. of pro tuberare, swell out, grow forth,
< L. pro, forth, forward, -I- *tuberare, swell, <
tuber, a bump, swelling, tumor: see tuber.'] To
swell beyond the adjacent surface ; be promi-
nent; bulge out.
If the navel protuberates, make a small puncture with a
lancet through the skin. Sharpe, Surgery.
protuberation (pro-tu-be-ra'shon), n. [< pro-
tuberate + -ion.] The act of swelling beyond
the surrounding surface.
protuberoust (pro-tii'be-
rus), a. [< LL. protube-
rare, swell out, grow forth
(see protuberate), + -ous.
Of. tuberous.] Protuber-
ant. [Eare.]
The one being protvberous,
rough, crusty, and hard ; the
other round, smooth, spongy,
and soft. ^.Smi'tA, Portrait oi
[Old Age, p. 183.
Protula (pro-tu'la), n.
[NL. (Risso), prob. < Gr.
Trpd, before, H- riiAof, a
knot or knob.] A ge-
nus of cephalobranehiate
tubleolous worms of the
family Serpulidse. P. dys-
teri is an example. Also
called Apomatiis.
Protungulata (pro-tung-
gu-la'ta), n.pl. [NL., <
&r. Trparog, first, + NL.
XJngulata, q. v. ] A group
of Cretaceous hoofed
mammals regarded as
the probable ancestral
stock of all subsequent
ungulates.
protureter (pr6-tu-re't6r), n. [NL., < Gr. irpa-
Tog, first, + NL. ureter.] A primitive ureter,
or excretory duct of a protonephron.
protutor (pro-tu'tor), n. [= F. protuteur = Sp.
protutor, < ML. protutor, < L. pro, for, + tutor,
guardian : see tutor.] In Scots law, one who
acts as tutor to a minor without having a regu-
lar title to the office.
protyle (pro-ti'le), n. [NL., < Gr. TrpSrof, first,
-1- iAT/, matter: seeMyla.] An imagined super-
sensible, imponderable, indifferent, or primal
siibstanee, from which all forms of living mat-
ter are supposed to be derived by modification,
differentiation, or specialization. W. Crookes.
Also called variously biod, biogen, zoether, psy-
ehoplasm, etc.
proud (proud), a. [< ME. proud, prowd, prud,
eavlier prout, prut, < AS. priit, proud (very rare);
cf . deriv. prutung (verbal n. ), ■pTiAe,j>ryte, pride
■ ~ " Thelce"
Protula dysteri, a tubico-
louspolychstousannelid; an-
terior part of the body, cut oif
atd, the stomach, ana seen iii
longitudinal section; ^, mouth;
b, hood-lilce expansion ; o,
branchial plumes or branchiae.
X>'&.pride'^); root unknown.
tae\.prudhr,
4802
proud, Dan. prud, stately, magnificent, are ap-
par. from the AS.] 1. Having or cherishing
a high opinion of one's own merits; showing
great or lofty self-esteem ; expecting great def-
erence or consideration : haughty ; full of pride.
Specifically— (a) Having undue or inordinate pride ; arro-
gant ; haughty ; supercilious ; presumptuous.
Better is it to beate Apromde man
Then for to rebuke him ;
For he thinkes in his own conceyte
He is wyse and very trim.
Babees Book (B. E. T. S.), p. 96.
We have heard of the pride of Moab ; he is \eiy proud :
even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and wrath,
Isa. xvi. 6.
Norfolk rides foremostly, his crest well known.
Proud as if all our heads were now his own. .
Webster and Dekker, Sir Thomas Wyatt.
And was so proud that, should he meet
The twelve apostles in the street.
He'd turn his nose up at them all.
And shove his Saviour from the wall. ChtirohUl.
Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much ;
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
Cowper, Task, vL 96.
(6) Having a worthy and becoming sense of what is due to
one's self ; self-respecting : as, too proud to beg.
F. You're strangely proud.
P. So prtmd, I am no slave.
Pope, Epil. to Satires, IL 205.
Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to importune,
He had not the method of making a fortune.
Gray, On Himself.
Lady Clara Vere de Vere,
I know you proud to hear your name.
Your pride is yet no mate for mine,
Too proud to care from whence I came.
Tennyson, Lady Clara Vere de Vere.
(c) Priding one's self; having high satisfaction; elated;
as, proud to serve a cause.
What satisfaction can their deaths bring to you,
That are prepar'd «ad proud to die, and willingly?
Fletcher, Wife for a Month, ii. 3.
A divine ambition and a zeal
The boldest patriot might be proud to feel.
Coviper, Charity, 1. 308.
Hell be a credit till us a' —
We'll a' he proud o' Robin.
Burns, There was a Lad was born in Kyle.
2. Proceeding from pride ; daring ; dignified.
As choice a copy of Verses as any we have heard since
we met together ; and that is a proud word, for we have
heard very good ones. I. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 188.
But higher far my proud pretensions rise.
Cowper, On the Receipt of his Mother's Picture.
3. Of fearless or untamable spirit ; full of vigor
or mettle.
I have dogs, my lord.
Will rouse the proudest panther in the chase.
Shak., Tit. And., ii. 2. 21.
The fiend replied not, overcome with rage ;
But, like a proud steed rein'd, went haugh^ on.
MUton, P. L., iv. 858.
Like ^prmid swan, conqu'ring the stream by force.
Cowper, Table-Talk, I. 623.
4. Giving reason or occasion for pride, con-
gratulation, or boasting ; suggesting or exciting
pride; ostentatious; grand; gorgeous; magnif-
icent.
One is higher in authority, better clad or fed, hath a
prouder coat or a softer bed.
Bp. PUkington, Works (Parker Soc, 1842), p. 124.
I better brook the loss of brittle life
Than thoae proud titles thou hast won of me.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., v. 4. 79.
Storms of stones from the proud temple's height
Pour down, and on our batter'd helms alight.
Dryden, .<^neid, ii. 553.
The proudest memory in the later history of the island
is the defeat of the Turks in 1716.
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 859.
5. Full; high; swelled. BalUwell. [Prov.Eng.]
The wind was loud, the stream was proud.
And wi' the stream gaed Willie.
Willie's Drmimed in Gamery (Child's Ballads, II. 183).
Proud flesh. See;!e«A.— Froudstomacll. Seestmnach.
—To do one proud. See doi. =Syii.l. Lofty, lordly.— 4.
Stately, noble. See references waSiea; pride.
proudt (proud), V. [< ME. prouden, pruden,
prouten, < AS. *pruUan (in verbal n. prutung),
prytian, be proud, <prut, proud: see proud, a.
Cf. imde\ v.] I, intrans. 1. To be proud or
haughty.
There proudeth Power, Heer Prowess brighter shines.
Sylvester, tr. of P. Mathieu's Henry the Great, 1. 117.
2. To be full of spirit or animation; be gay.
Yong man wereth jolif,
And than proudeth man and wiif.
Arthour and Merlin, p. IL (HdUiweU.)
3. To be excited by sexual desire.
II. trans. To make or render proud.
Sister proudes Sister, Brother hardens Brother,
And one Companion doth corrupt another.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Trophies.
proudfallt, n. [ME., < proud +faU; a dubious
formation.] The front hair which falls or is
folded over the forehead ; forelock.
provand
Streght as a strike, straght thurgh the myddes [of her hair]
Depertid the proud/all pertly In two,
Atiret in tressis trusset full f aire.
Destruction qf Troy (E. E. T. S.X 1. 8025.
proud-hearted (proud'har'ted), a. Arrogant ;
haughty; proud.
And so, proud-hearted Warwick, I defy thee.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., v. 1. 98.
proudlingf (proud'ling), n. [< proud + -ling^.]
One who is proud: used in rebuke or contempt.
Milde to the Meek, to Proudlings steme and strict.
Sylvester, tr. of P. Mathieu's Heniy the Great, 1. 162.
proudly (proud'li), adv. [< ME. prudly, proud-
liche, prudliche, < AS. prutUce, < prut, proud:
see proud.] In a proud manner; with inordi-
nate self-esteem; haughtily; ostentatiously;
with lofty mien or airs ; with vigor or mettle.
And past f urth prudly his pray for to wyu.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.),L 855.
Question her proudly, let thy looks be stern.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., i. 2. 62.
proudness (proud'nes), n. [< proud + -ness.]
The state or quality of being proud ; pride.
Set aside all arrogancy and proudness.
Latimer, Sermons on the Lord's Prayer, ii.
proud-pied (proud'pid), a. Gorgeously varie-
gated. [Bare.]
Proud-pied April dress'd in all his trim.
Shak., Sonnets xcviii.
proud-stomached (proud'stum"akt), a. Of a
haughty spirit; self -asserting; arrogant; high-
tempered.
If you get a T^&TGelot proud-stomached teachers that set
the young dogs a rebelling, what else can you look for?
Dickerts, Nicholas Nickleby, xiii.
proustite (pros'tit), n. [Named after J. L.
Proust, a French chemist.] A native sulphid of
arsenic and silver, occurring in rhombohedral
and soalenohedral crystals and also massive.
It has a beautiful cochineal-red color, and is hence called
ruby silver, or light-red silver ore; the latter name is given
to distinguish it from the other form of ruby silver, py-
rargyrite, which is dark-red or nearly black, and is called
dark-red silver ore. Magnificent specimens of proustite
are obtained from the mines of Chafiarcillo in Cliill.
prov. An abbreviation of (a) proverb; (b) pro-
verbially; {o) provincial ; {d) provost; (e) [cap.]
Provencal.
provable (pro'va-bl), a. [< WE., provable, < OF.
provable, prouvable, provable, certain, < ti.pro-
babilis, that may be proved, probable : see prob-
able. In mod. use as if directly < prove +
-able.] Capable of being proved or demon-
strated.
And if thee thynke it is doutable.
It is thurgh a-rgnraent provable.
Rom. of the Rose, \. 6414.
The crime was a suspicion, provable only by actions ca-
pable of divers constructions.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), IL 316.
Proof supposes something provable, which must be a
Proposition or Assertion. J. S. Mm, Logic, I. iii. § 1.
Provable debt, a debt of such a class that it may be
proved against the estate of a bankrupt
provableness (pro'va-bl-nes), ». The state or
quality of being provable ; capability of being
proved.
provably (prS'va-bli), adv. In a manner ca-
pable of proof.
If thou knowe any man of that maners and upright
lyuinge that no faulte can proudbly be layed to him.
J. Udall, On Tit. i.
prcvandt, provendt (proVand, -end), n. and a.
[Also provant, provent; < ME. provande, prov-
ende, promande, < OF. pi-ovende,protivende (also
with unorig. r, provendre, > ME. provendre, E.
provender), an allowance of food, also a preb-
end, < LL. preebenda, a payment, ML. also an
allowance of food and drink, pittance, also a
prebend: see prebend.] I. m. 1. A regular al-
lowance of food; provender; especially, the
food or forage supplied to an army or to its
horses and beasts of burden.
The Aueyner schalle ordeyn promande good won
For tho lordys horsis euerychon.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 319.
These sea-sick soldiers rang hills, woods, and vallies,
Seekhig provant to fill their empty bellies.
Legend of Captain Jones (1669). (llalHwell.)
Camels in the war, who have their provand
Only for bearing burdens. Shak., Cor., ii. 1. 267.
I say unto thee, one pease was a soldier's 2>ro»a7it a whole
day at the destruction of Jerusalem.
Fletcher (and another), Love's Cure, il. 1.
2. A prebend. [In this sense only provend.]
Cathedral chirches that han prouertdis approprid to
nem. Wyelif, Tracts (ed. MatthewX p. 419.
II. a. Belonging to a regular allowance; such
as was provided for the common soldiers?
hence, of common or inferior quality.
provajid
In the yeare 154» the weather was so cold that the prov-
ant wine ordained for the army, being frozen, was divided
with hatchets, and by the souldiers carried away In bas-
kets. HakewCU, Apology, II. vU. 1 1.
The good wheaten loaves of the Flemings were better
than theprovattt rye-bread of the Swede.
Scott, Legend of Montrose, ii.
provandt, provendt (prov'and, -end), v. t. [Also
provant, prevent (?) ; < OS", provender, supply
■with provisions, < provende, provision, proven-
der : see provand, provend, to.] To supply with
provender, provisions, eg: forage.
Do throughly prmend well your horse, for they must
bide the brunt. Hall, Homer (1681), p. 30. (Naree.)
Should . . . pravant and victuaU moreover this mon-
strous army of strangers.
Nrnhe, Lenten Stufle (HarL Misc., VI. 149).
provant-mastert, «. An officer who served out
provisions, etc., to soldiers. Barnaby Mich,
Fruites of Long Experience (1604), p. 19.
{Halliwell.)
prove (prov),?;.: pret.^rwed, pp. ^ro«)e(? (some-
times incorrectly ^j-(M)e«), -p^T. proving. [< ME.
proven (partly < AS. profian), also preven (>
early mod. 'E.priei>e,preeve), < OF.prover,prou-
ver, primer, preuver, F. prouver = l^i.provar =
Sp. probar = Pg. provar = It. probare = AS.
profian, test, try, prove, = LG. proven, proven =
MH(3-. pruaven, priieven, G. priifen (also pro-
ben and probieren) = loel. profa, prova = Sw.
profva (also probera) = Dan. prove (also pro-
bere), < Ij. probare, test, try, examine, approve,
show to be good or fit, prove, < probus, good,
excellent. Of. probe, probity, proof, etc., and
cf. approve, disprove, improve, reprove, etc., ap-
probate, reprobate, etc., approbation, probation,
etc.] I. trans. 1. To try hy experiment, or hy
a test or standard ; test ; make trial of ; put to
the test: as, to prove the strength of gunpow-
der ; to prove the contents of a vessel by com-
paring it with a standard measure.
I bad Thoust tho be mene bitwene.
And put forth somme purpos to prou&ti his wittes.
Piers Plowman (B), vlit 120.
Ne would I it have ween'd, had I not late it priemd.
Spenser, 1". Q., V. iv. S3.
Yell say that I've ridden but into the wood,
Toprieve gin my horse aud hounds ai'e good.
Sir Olvf and the Elf -King's Daughter (Child's Ballads,
[I. 300).
And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and
I go to prme them. Luke xiv. 19.
I have praoed thee, thou art never destitute of that
which is convenient. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 302.
He felt happy, and yet feared to prime
His new-born bliss, lest it should fade from him.
WiUiam Morrix, Earthly Paradise, III. 342.
2. To render certain; put out of doubt (as a
proposition) by adducing evidence and argu-
mentation; show; demonstrate.
That pitee renneth sone in gentil herte . . .
Is preved al day, as men may It see,
As wel by werk as by auctoritee.
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, L 473.
Give me the ocular proof; . . .
Make me to see 't; or, at the least, bo prone it
That the probation bear no hinge nor loop
To hang a doubt on. Shak., Othello, ill. 3. 360.
The wise man . . . hath condescended to prove as well
as assert it, and to back the severe rule he hath laid down
with very convincing reasons. .
Bp. Atterlmry, Sermons, I. vi.
Eeduc'd to practice, his beloved rule
Would only prove bJTn a consummate fool.
Couiper, Conversation, 1. 140.
3. To establish the authenticity or validity of ;
obtain probate of: as, to prove a wiU. See
probate.
The holy crosse was proeyd by resyng of a Dede man
whanne they wer in Dowte whlche it was of the thre.
TorHngton, Diarie of Bng. Travell, p. 41.
4. To have personal experience of; experience;
enjoy or suffer.
But I did enter, and enjoy
.What happy lovers pi-oue. ,„ ,
Carew, Deposition from Love. (Naret.)
Let him in arms the power of Turnus j)ro«e.
Dryden, JBneid, vu. 610.
Such feebleness of limbs thou prof^
That now at every step thou mov st
Upheld by two. Cowper, To Mary a793).
5 In arith., to ascertain or demonstrate the
correctness of (an operation or result) by a cal-
culation in the nature of a cheek : as, to prove a
sum. Thus in subtraction, if the difference between two
numbers added to the lesser number makes a sum equal to
thegreater, the correctness of the subtraction improved.
6. In printing, to take a proof of. -To prove
mastenest, to make trial of skill ; contend for the mas-
He would often run, leape, or prove masteries with his
chiefeTourtiers. ^>U4 Hist. Turks, 616, L (Nares.)
= Syn. 2. To verify, justify, confirm, substantiate, make
good, manifest.
4803
II. intrans. 1. To make trial; essay.
It is a pur pardoners craft ; prow and assaye !
Piers Plowman's Crede (E. E. T. S.), L 247.
2. To be found or ascertained to be by expe-
rience or trial ; be ascertained or shown by the
event or something subsequent ; turn out to be :
as, the report proves to be true ; to prove useful
or wholesome ; to prove faithful or treacherous.
That proved [var. premd] wel, for overal ther he cam.
At wrastlynge he wolde have alwey the ram.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., L 547.
It springing things be any jot diminish'd.
They wither in their prime, prove nothing worth.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 418.
If his children prove vicious or degenerous, ... we ac-
count the man miserable.
Jer. Taylor (edi. 1835), Works, L 717.
He knows '
His end with mine involved ; and knows that I
Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane,
Whenever that shall be. MUtan, P. L., ii. 808.
When the two processes of deduction prove to be identi-
cal, we have no choice but to abide by the result, and to
assum e that the one inference is equally authoritative with
the other. H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 191.
Hence — 3. To become; be.
Tell him, in hope he'll prow a widower shortly;
I'll wear the willow garland for his sake.
Shak., 8 Hen. VI., iii. 3. 227.
4t. To succeed; turn out well.
If the experiment proved not, it might be pretended that
the beasts were not killed in the due time. Bacon.
5. Tothx-ive; be with young: generally said of
cattle. Balliwell To fend and inrovet. See/endi.
— To prove up, to show that the requirements of the law
for taking up government land have been fulfilled, so that
a patent for the same may be issued. [U. S.]
Under these laws the settler is obliged to pay the gov-
ernment two hundred dollars for his claim, whether he
proves up after a six months' residence, or waits the full
limit of his time for making proof —thirty- three months.
Harper's Mag., LXXVIL 238.
provet, «• An obsolete form of proo/.
provectt (pro-vekf), a. [= OF. proveet, a man ^J°^^^^^ _„..
advanced m years; < L. proveetus, advanced J^i^vcui-c luac.
proventriculus
I was much amused in watching ourprovedor, as he went
about collecting things by ones and twos, until he had
piled a litUe cart quite full
Lady Brassey, Voyage of Sunbeam, I. xiv.
proven (prS'vn), pp. [An improper form of
proved, with ^»i, suffix of strong participles,
for orig. -ed2.] Proved: an improper form,
lately growing in frequency, by imitation of
the Scotch use in "not proven."
The evidence is voluminous and conclusive, and by com-
mon consent a verdict of proven is returned.
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 422.
Not proven, in Scots law, a verdict rendered by a Jury in
a criminal case when the evidence is insufficient to justify
conviction, yet strong enough to warrant grave suspicion
of guilt.
provenance (prov'e-nans), n. [< F. provenance,
origin, production: see provenience.'] Origin;
source or quarter from which anything comes ;
pro irenience : especially in the sense of ' place
of manufacture, production, or discovery.' [A
French term, better in the English form pro-
venience.']
[Well-tombs] in which we have the use of metallic chis-
els clearly and Indisputably indicated, and the presence
of bronze work of Oriental OTO»enan««.
The Nation, XLVIIL 303.
Style of art, historical probability, and the provenance
of the coins themselves, all seem to indicate a Spanish
origin. B. V. Head, Historia Numorum, p. 4.
PrOVenQal (P. pron. pro-von-sal'), a. and n. [<
F. Provencal (C L. Provindalis), < Provinda (>
F. Provence), a former province of southeastern
Prance, < L. provinda, a province, a Roman
fovernment outside of Italy: see province.]
, a. Pertaining or belonging to Provence in
Prance, or to its old lai^uage.
II. n. 1. A native of Provence. — 2. The Ro-
mance tongue of Provence. It is the langue
(Hoc, and was the dialect used by the Trouba-
dours. See langue d'oc.
Abbreviated Pr. or Prov.
Provence oil. See oil.
[A misnomer for ProBJms rose.]
('ofirr^e),pp.'oTi"rOTefterefca^^^^^ n „ r it p.^,«,.„7.
varipfi < nro forth + vehere eaiTV see vehi- Provencial(pro-ven'shal), a. Z=F.Provengal;
Z^J^ ' \aZI'oJa' ' ' ^' < Provence + -ial.] Same as Provengal.
C6e.j Aayancea. ,^ ,,.„,. , , provendt, provendet, »• and a. %ee, provand.
We haue in daily experience that little infantes assay- i^*! ' „" j I" f. f a„„ „Vo„„«rf
eth tofolowe . . . thewordes ... of them that be pro- prOVenClt, V- t. i,ee provana.
uecte In yeies. Sir T. JBlyot, The Goveinoni, i. i. provendor (prov'en-der)jM. [< ME.protieMdre,
provectant (pro-vek'tant), n. [< L. provehere,
pp. proveetus, carry forward, advance (see pro-
vect), + -ant.] A covariant considered as pro-
duced by the operation of a proveetor on a
contravariant.
provection (pro-vek'shon), n. [< LL. provec-
Uo{n-), a carrjring forward, an advancement,
promotion, < L. provehere, pp. proveetus, carry
forward, advance : see proved.] In philol. , the
< OF. provendre, var. of provende, allowance,
provision: s&& provand.] 1. Food ; provisions ;
especially, dry food for beasts, as hay, straw, or
com; fodder.
I fynde payne for the pope and proiiendre for his palfrey.
Piers Plowman (B), xiii. 243.
Shall we go send them dinners and fresh suits.
And give their fasting horses provender.
And after fight with them ? Shak., Hen. V., iv. 2. 68.
In the connivance of his [the prodigal's] security, har-
carrying of a terminal letter from a word to the lots and sycophants rifle his estate, and then send him to
next succeeding one, when it begins with a rob the hogs of their prooejider, Jove's nuts^ acorns,
vowel, as the tone for that one, the tothertor that
other. [Rare.]
proveetor (pro-vek'tor), n. [NL., < L. prove-
here, pp. proveetus, carry forward, advance : see
proved.'] The contravariant operator (a, b,
Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 497.
2t. A prebend.
And porchace sow prouendres while goure pans lasteth,
And bigge gow benefices pluralite to haue.
Piers Plowman (C), iv. 32.
=Syn. 1. Fodder, etc. ^eefeed, n.
J dt, 3,, . . )"', where d^, 3,,, etc., replace x, provender (prov'en-der), v. t. [iprovender, n.
y, etc., in the quantic {a,b, . . .^ x,y, . .)
any contravariant operator resulting from a
similar substitution in any covariant of the
original quantic.
proveditort (pro-ved'i-tor), n. [Also provedi- _
tore, providitore; < It. proveditore (= Sp. pro- ender.
veedor = Pg. provedor), a provider, purveyor, < provendre^t, n.
provedere, provide, purvey: see provide. Of.
provedor and purveyor.] 1. A purveyor; one
employed to procure supplies ; a provider.
Thrice was he made.
In dangerous armes, Yenlce providetwe.
Xarston, What you Will, i. 1.
The entertainment that St. John's proveditdre, the an-
eel eave him was such as the wilderness did afford.
^ ' * Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1886), I. 82.
Ready money in open market . . . being found upon
experience to be the hest proveditor of any.
Blaekslone, Com., I. viii.
2. An overseer; a governor.
When they have any great Expedition to make, they
have always a Stranger for their General, but he is super-
Cf. provand, v.] To feed; fodder, as a horse.
His horses (quatenus horses) are provendered as epi-
curely.
Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (HarL Misc., VL 179). (Davies.)
provendre^t, n. A Middle English form otprov-
,_ [ME., < OF. provendier, < ML.
praebendarius, a prebendary: see prebendary.]
A prebendary.
provenience (pro-ve'niens), n. [= F. prove-
nance (> E. provenance) = It. provenienza, < NL.
*provenientia, origin, < h.provenire, come forth,
appear, originate, < pro, forth, -t- venire, come.]
Origin ; the place from which something comes
or is derived ; the place of production or deri-
vation of an object, especially in the fine arts
and in aroheeology. Compare provenance.
Wherever the place in which an object was found, or —
to use a convenient word already borrowed by German
archeeologists from the Italians and French — its pro-
venience, IS stated. A. D. Savage, The Century, XXIV. 632.
„„■ ., =- .,,_.., ,- i ..i - t The surface of the marble [of a statue found at Sicyon]—
vis'd by two Proveditors, without whom he cannot attempt ^j^ m-ovenience of which I am unable to state - is some-
any thing. HoweU, Letters, 1. 1. 35. ^j^hat corroded. Amer. Jour. Archeeol., V. (1889) 293.
provedor, provedore (prov 'e-d6r, -dor), n. proventt, «. Ba,m.e as provand.
[Also providore; < Sp. proveedor = Pg. prove- proventricular (pro-ven-trik'ii-lar), a. \_<pro-
£i!or, provider, purveyor: see proveditor and pur- ^^e„tricultis + -arS.] Pertaining to the proven-
veyor.] A purveyor; one who provides neces- ^^^ias: as, proventricular g\a,nds; proventricv^
saries and supplies ; a proveditor. ^„^ digestion .
When the famous Beefsteak Club was first instituted, proventriCUlUS (pr6-ven-trik'u-lus),n.; pl.^o-
he [KichardEstcourt] had the office of promdore ^signed " ^^.i^uU (-Ii). [NL., < L.^rb, before, + ven-
him. W. King, Art of Cookery, note 0° ^ ^9 (Ch^aJmers s ^«.^^^^^ ^^J^^ ^^^^^.^ stomach': see ventricU.^
proventriculus
1. In omith., the glandular stomach; a second
dilatation of the esophagus, succeeding the crop
orcraw, and succeededby the gizzard, gigerium,
or muscular stomach, it is the true stomach of a bird,
or place where digestion is chiefly carried ou, and corre-
sponds to the cardiac end or division of the stomach of a
mammal. It is situated at the lower end of the gullet,
next to the gizzard, and is always recognized by the gas-
tric follicles which form a zone or belt of variously dis-
posed patches upon its mucous surface. Also called ven-
tricvlus glanduwswi.
2. In insects, the first stomach, the ingluvies or
crop, being merely an expansion of the esopha-
gus. It generally has thick muscular walls, and is often
armed interiorly with horny plates or teeth of various
forms. The proventriculus lies wholly or partly in the
abdomen, and is generally absent in haustellate insects.
See cut under Blattidse.
3. In worms, a muscular crop,
provenuet (prov'e-nii), n. [< OF. provenUfprou-
venu, produce, revenue, < provenu, pp. oipro-
venir, < L. provenire, come forth, appear: see
provenience. Cf. revenue.'] Produce.
Our liberal Creator hath thought good to furnish our
tables with . . . the rich and dainty provenites of our gar-
dens and orchards.
Bp. Hall, Cliristian Moderation, \. 1, § 2.
prover (prS'vfer), TO. l< prove + -er'^-.'] 1. One
who or that which proves or tries.
Patr. Why am I a fool?
Th^. Make that demand of the prover.
Shak., T. and C, ii. 8. 72.
2. A skilled workman employed to strike off
proofs from engraved plates.
From two to six men, . , . whose duty it is to print proof
impressions only ; they are called provenrs.
t^re. Diet., II. 289.
proverb (prov'ferb), n. [< ME. proverie, < OP.
(and F.)proverbe = Sp. Pg. It. proverbio, < L.
proverbium, a common saying, saw, adage, a
proverb, later also byword, < pro, before, forth,
+ verbum, a word: see verb.] 1. A short pithy
sentence, often repeated colloquially, express-
ing a well-known truth or a common fact ascer-
tained by experience or observation ; a popular
saying which briefly and forcibly expresses some
practical precept ; an adage ; a wise saw : often
set forth in the guise of metaphor and in the
form of rime, and sometimes alliterative.
And trewe is the proverbe that the wise man seith, that
" who is fer from his iye is soone foryeten."
3ferlin(E. B. T. S.), iii. 693.
They said they were an-hungry ; sigh'd forth prov^bs.
That hunger broke stone walls, that dogs must eat,
That meat was made for mouths. Shak., Cor., i. 1. 209.
What is a prmerb but the experience and observation
of several ages gathered and summed up into one expres-
sion? South, Sermons (ed. 1823), I. 437.
The pithy quaintness of old Howell has admirably de-
scribed the ingredients of an exquisite proverb to be sense,
shortness, and salt. I. jyjgraeH, Curios, of Lit., III. 369.
2. A byword; a reproach; an object of scorn
or derision.
I will deliver them ... to be a reproach and a proverb, a
taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
Jer. xxiv. 9.
Salisbury was foolish to a proverb.
Maemday, Hist. Eng., vii.
3. In Scrip., an enigmatical utterance; a mys-
terious or oracular saying that requires inter-
pretation.
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation ; the
words of the wise, and their dark sayings. Prov. i. 6.
4. pi. [^cap.] One of the books of the Old Testa-
ment, following the Book of Psalms. The full, title
is Proverbs of Solomon (i. 1). It is a collection of the say-
ings of the sages of Israel, taking its full title from the
chief among them, though it is by no means certain that
he is the author of a majority of them. The original
meaning of TnaslwZ, the Hebrew word translated 'proverb,'
seemstobe'a comparison.* The term is sometimes trans-
lated 'parable' in our English Bible ; but, as such com-
parisons were commonly made in the East by short and
pithy sayings, the word came to be applied to these chiefly,
though not exclusively. They formed one of the most
characteristic features of Eastern literature.
5. A dramatic composition in which some prov-
erb or popular saying is taken as the founda-
tion of the plot. Good examples are — " A Door must
he either Open or Shut," Alfred de lUusset ; " Still Water
Kuns Deep," Dion Boucicault. When such dramas are
extemporized, as in private theatricals, the proverb em-
ployed is often withheld, to be guessed by the audience
after the representation.— To cap proverbs. See capl.
=Syn. 1. AlBiam, Mamm, etc. See aphorixm.
proverb (prov'^rb), v. [< ME. proverben; <
proverb, n.] I. trans. 1. To utter in the form
of a proverb; speak of proverbially; make a
byword of.
Por which this wise clerkes that ben dede
Han evere this proverbed to us yonge ;
That firste vertu is to kepe tonge.
Chaucer, Troilus, iU. 293.
Am I not sung and proverb'd for a fool
In every street? Milton, S. A., 1. WS.
4804
2. To provide with a proverb.
I am proverb'd with a grandsire phrase.
Shak., E. and J., i. 4. 37.
II. intrans. To utter proverbs.
All their pains taken to seem so wise in proiwrMTJ^ serve
but to conclude them downright slaves ; and the edge of
their own proverb falls reverse upon themselves.
Miiton, Articles of Peace with the Irish.
proverbial (pr6-v6r'bi-al), a. [< F. proverbial
= Sp. Pg. proverbial = It. proverbiale, < lAj.pro-
verbialis, <li. proverbium, -pTOYerb: eeeproverb.]
1 . Pertaining to proverbs; resembling or char-
acteristic of a proverb : as, to express one's self
with proverbial brevity.
This river whose head being unknown, and drawn to
a proverbial obscmity, the opinion thereof became with-
out bounds. Sir T. Brovme, Vulg. Err., vi. 8.
2. Mentioned in a proverb; used or current as
a proverb: &s, a, proverbial sa.jisig; hence, com-
monly spoken of ; well-known ; notorious.
In case of excesses, I take the German proverbial cure,
by a hair of the same beast, to be the worst in the world.
Sir W. Temple.
That praverMal feather which has the credit or discredit
of breaking the camel's back.
Oeorge Eliot, Mill on the Floss, iL 2.
Equally jwouerfiioi was the hospitality of the Virginians.
Bancroft, Hist. U. S., I. 177.
proverbialism (pro-v6r'bi-al-izm), n. [< pro-
verbial + ^sm.] A proverbial phrase or saying.
proverbialist (pro-ver'bi-al-ist), n. [< prover-
bial + -«s<.] A composer^' collector, or user of
proverbs.
proverbialize (pro-ver'bi-al-iz), v.; pret. and
pp. proverbialised, ppr. proverbialieing. [< jjto-
verbial + -ize.] I. trans. To make into a prov-
erb; turn into a proverb, or use proverbially;
speak of in a proverb. [Bare.]
II. intrans. To use proverbs. Davies.
But I forbear from any further proverbialii^ng, lest I
should be thought to have rifled my Erasmus's adages.
Rennet, tr. of Erasmus's Praise of Folly, p. 136.
proverbially (pro-ver'bi-al-i), adv. In a pro-
verbial manner or style; liy way of proverb ; as
a proverb.
So are slow-worms accounted blind, and the like we
aflirm proverbially of the beetle, although their eyes be
evident and they win flye against lights, like many other
insects. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., ii. 18.
proverbize (prov'erb-iz), v. t. and i.; pret. and
pp. proverbized, ppr. proverbizing. [<! proverb
+ Aze.] Same as proverbialize. [Rare.]
For House-hold Kules, read not the learned Writs
Of the Stagirian (glory of good wits) ;
Nor his whom, for his hony-steeped stile.
They Proverbuid the Attick Muse yer-while.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, L 7.
proviantt, «. and a. [A corrupt form of pro-
vand, provant, appar. simulating proviaunce.]
Same as provand.
providable (pro-vi'da-bl), a. [< provide +
-able.] That may be provided ; capable of being
provided.
I have no deeper wish than that bread for me were pro-
vidable elsewhere. Cartyle.
provide (pro-vid'), "•; pret. and pp. provided,
T^pr. providing. [= F. pourvovr, OF. pourvovr,
pourveir (> E. purvey) = Pr. provezir = Bp. pro-
veer = Pg. prover, < It. provedere, provvedere, <
L. providere, see forward, act with foresight,
take care, provide, < pro, forward, -1- videre,
see: see vision. Cf. purvey, from the same
source, through OP.] I. trans. It. To foresee;
look forward to.
Severe and wise patriots, . . . providing the harts these
licentious spirits may do in a state.
B. Jonson, Volpone, Ded.
2. To procure beforehand ; get, collect, or make
ready for future use ; prepare.
God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering.
Gen. xxii. 8.
A small spare mast.
Such as seafaring men provide for storms.
ShAik., C. of E., 1. 1. 81.
There are very good Laws provided against Scandal and
Calumny. Steele, Tender Husband, v. 1.
3. To furnish; supply: now often followed by
with, but formerly also by of.
And I know you well provided of Christian, and learned,
and brave defences against all human accidents.
Donnje, Letters, cxxiii,
Rome, by the care of the magistrates, was well prmided
with com. Arbuthnot, Ancient Coins.
4. To make ready ; prepare.
I shall expect thee next summer (if the Lord please),
and by that time I hope to be provided for thy comforta-
ble entertainment. Winthrop, Hist. New England, 1. 447.
They . . . told vs, We were welcome if wee came to
fight, for they were prowided for vs.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 16.
providence
5. To make or lay down as a previous arrange-
ment, guaranty, or provision; make a previous
condition, supposition, or understanding: as,
the agreement presides that the party shall in-
cur no loss.
We also provided to send one hundred and sixty [men]
more ... to prosecute the war.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 266.
The Constitution provides, and all the States have ac-
cepted the provision, that "the United States shall guar-
antee to every State in this Union a republican form of
Government. w Lincoln, in Haymond, p. 160.
6. Eecles., to grant the right to be in future
presented to a benefice which is not vacant at
the time of the grant. See provision, 8.
Robert Waucop, "the blind Scot," who had just been
provided by the Pope to the vacancy of Armagh.
A W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., xix.
II, intrans. 1. To procure or furnish sup-
plies, means of defense, or the like: as, to pro-
vide liberally for the table.
They say Nature brings forth none but she provides for
them ; I'll try her liberality.
Beau, and Fl., Scornful Lady, L 1.
0 Thou who kindly dost provide
For every creature's want 1 Bums, A Grace.
The cross housekeeper was gone ; . . . her successor,
who had been matron at the Lowton Dispensary, unused
to the ways of her new abode, provided with comparative
liberality. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, ix.
2. To take measures for counteracting or es-
caping something : often followed by against or
for.
This gaue vs cause to prouide for the worst.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, 1. 190.
Providing against the inclemency of the weather.
Sir M. Bale.
Sf. To make ready; prepare.
A hunting he provides t» go ;
Straight they were ready all.
The Cruel Black (Child's Ballads, IIL 371).
When they sawe their desire and hope of the arriuall of
the rest of the sbippes to be euery day more and more
frustrated, they prowided to sea againe.
Hakluyfs Voyages, I. 246.
provided (pro-^'ded),^^. and qaasi-conj. [Tr.
of Xi.provisova. similar use, 'it being provided'
(that . . . ); prop. pp. absolute. Qe& proviso.]
This (or it) being understood, conceded, or es-
tablished; on (this) condition; on these terms:
in this sense always introducing a clause of con-
dition or exception, and followed by that (ex-
pressed or understood).
I take your offer, and will live with you.
Provided that you do no outrages
On silly women or poor passengers.
Shak., T. G. of Y., iv. 1. 7L
This man loves to eat good meat — always provided he
do not pay for it himself.
Bea/u. and Fl., Woman-Eatcr, i. 3.
providence (prov'i-dens), n. [< ME. providence,
< OP. providence, P. "providence = Pr. providen-
iia = Sp. Pg. providenda = It. providenza, < L.
providentia, < providen(t-)s, ppr. of providere,
foresee, provide : see provident. Cf . prudence
a,nA purveyance.] 1. Foresight; timely care or
preparation.
These Zemes, they beleue to . . . haue the cure and
prouidence of the sea, wooddes, and sprynges and foun-
taynes, assigninge to euery thynge theyr peculier goddes.
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. 101).
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer'd?
It will be laid to us, whose prouideTice
Should have . . . restrain'd . . .
This mad young man. Shak., Hamlet, iv. 1. 17.
2. Frugality ; prudence in the management of
one's concerns; economy.
My heart shall be my own ; my vast expense
Reduced to bounds by timely providence.
Dryden, Theodore and Honoria, 1. 242.
3. The care and guardianship of God over his
creatures; divine supervision. The doctrine of
divine providence is the doctrine that God both possesses
and exercises absolute power over all the works of his
hands ; it thus differs from the doctrine of omnipotence,
which only attributes to him the power, but does not ne-
cessarily imply that he uses it ; and it is opposed to the
doctrine of naturalism, or that nature is governed wholly
by natural laws with which God never interferes.
It is a part of the Divine Providence of the World that
the Strong shall influence the Weak.
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 3.
God, in his ordinary providence, maketh use of means,
yet is free to work without, above, and against them, at his
pleasure. Westminster Confession (if Faith, V.
That to the hightb of this great argument
I may assert eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of (Jod to men.
MUton, P. I., i. 26.
Hence — 4. leap.] God, regarded as exercising
forecast, care, and direction for and over his
creatures; the divine power and direction.
providence
The world was aU before them, where to ehooae
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide.
Milton, P. L., xii 647.
Who finds not Providence all good and wise,
Alike in what it gives, and what denies ?
Pope, Essay on Man, L 87.
6. Something due to an act of providential in-
tervention; an act or event in whioli the care
of Grod is directly exhibited.
A remarkable proiriifence appeared In a case which was
tned at the last court of aaslBtants.
Wivthrop, Hist. New England, I. 880.
Spe^al providence, the special intervention in or admin-
istration of the laws of nature and life by God, for special
ends ; specifically, a particular act of divine interposition
m favor of one or more individuals.
There 's a speeud providence in the fall of a sparrow.
Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 281.
=SyTi. 1 and 2. Prudence, Diteretion, etc. See vnsdmn.
provident (prov'i-dent), a. [< F. provident =
Sp. Pg. providente, < L. providen{t-)8, ppr. of
providere, foresee, provide: see provide. Cf.
prudent, of same ult. formation.] 1. Foresee-
ing wants and making pro vision to supply them ;
forecasting; cautious; prudent in preparing for
future exigencies; having an anticipatory per-
ception of something: sometimes followed by
of-
First crept
The parsimonious emmet, provident
Of future. Mitton, P. L., vil. 486.
A Parent who, whilst providmt of Ills whole family,
watches over every particular child.
Chanmng, Perfect Life, p. 83.
The little Maid again, pramdemt of her domestic destiny,
takes with preference to Dolls. Carlyle, Sartor Besartus.
Suppose your savings had to be made, not, as now, out
of surplus Income, but out of wages already insufficient
for necessaries ; and then consider whether to heprtmidettt
would be as easy as you at present find it.
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 252.
2. Frugal; economical Provident Bocietles.
Same a&frienmy societies.
While the Briton does not make as a rule those sacri-
fices for the benefit of all those about him which are made
by the poorly-paid Hindoo, who, in a country of low wages
in which a poor law is unknown, invariably provides for
his old people and keeps them in greater comfort than he
keeps himself. Englishmen and colonists alike are re-
markable for the extent to which they have carried Uie
system <A provident soeietiee.
Sir C. W. Dake, Probs. of Greater Britain, vi. 2.
providential (prov-i-den'shal), a. {i'P.provi-
dentiel = Sp. Pg. proividen,mal, < L. providentia,
foresight: see providence.'] Effected by the
providence of God; proceeding from divine di-
rection; referable to divine providence.
This thin, this soft contexture of the air.
Shows the wise a.u.thor'B providential care.
Sir B. Blackmore.
I claim for ancient Greece a marked, appropriated, dis-
tinctive place in the providevMal order of the world.
Qladatmie, Might of Kight, p. 107.
providentially (prov-i-den'shal-i), adv. In a
providential manner ; by mean's of God's provi-
dence.
providently (prov'i-dent-li), adv. In a provi-
dent manner; with prudent foresight; with
wise precaution in preparing for the future.
He that doth the ravens feed,
Yea, providenUy caters for the sparrow,
Be comfort to my age !
Shak., As you Like it, ii. 3. 44.
providentness (prov'i-dent-nes), n. The qual-
ity of being provident ; foresight ; carefulness ;
prudence ; providence.
Companions of shootings be pravidentmress, good heede
geving, true meetinge, honest comparison, which thinges
agree with vertue verye well. Aseham, Toxophilus, i.
provider (pro-vi'dSr), n. One who provides,
furnishes, or'supplies.
Here 's money tor my meat ;
1 would have left it on the board so soon
As I had made my meal, and parted
With prayers for the provider.
Shak., Cymbeline, iil. 6. 53.
A good provider, one who is liberal in supplying pro-
visions, etc., for his family. [Colloq.] —Lion's provider.
See lion.
providetoret, n. Same as proveditor.
providore (prov'i-dor), n. Same as provedor.
province (prov'ins), n. [< ME. province, < OF.
province, P. province = Pr. proensa, prohensa =
Sp. Pg. provinoia = It. provincia = D. MLG.
provincie = &. provintme, provintz, noyf provinz
= Sw. Dan. provins, a province, < L. provinoia,
a territory outside of Italy brought (chiefly
by conquest) under Roman dominion, also of-
ficial duty, office, charge, province, < pro, be-
fore, in front of, + vvncere, conquer.] 1. Origi-
nally, a country of considerable extent which,
being reduced under Roman dominion, was re-
modeled, subjected to the rule of a governor
sent from Rome, and charged with such taxes
302
4805
and contributions as the Romans saw fit to im-
pose. The earliest Roman province was Sicily.
Judea now, and all the Promised Land,
Reduced a province under Koman yoke.
Obeys Tiberius. Milton, P. B., iii. 168.
A province, in the Soman system, was a subject land, a
land beyond the bounds of Italy, a land of which the Bo-
man People was Hie corporate sovereign.
E. A. Freeaum, Amer. Lects., p. 320.
2. (a) An administrative division of a country :
as, the provinces oi Spain; the former ^rtwmces
of Prance ; more loosely, any important admin-
istrative unit, as one of the governments of
Russia or of the crownlands of Austria.
Galilee is one of the Pravyncee of the Holy Lond ; and
in that Provynce is the Cytee of Naym and Caphamaum
and Chorosaym and Bethsayde.
MaixdeviUe, Travels, p. 110.
Over each province is placed a Governor, who is assisted
in his duties by a Vice-Governor and a small council.
D. M. Wallace, Bussia, p. 199.
(6) A part of a country or state as distinguished
from file capital or the larger cities; the coun-
try: usually in the plural: as, an actor who is
starring in the provinces, (c) Eccles., the terri-
tory within which an archbishop or a metropoli-
tan exercises jurisdiction: as, the province of
Canterbury; iheprovince of Illinois, (d) In the
-Eom. Cath. Ch., one of the territorial divisions
of an ecclesiastical order, as of the Franciscans,
or of the Propaganda, (e) A region of country ;
a tract ; a large extent.
Over many a tract
Of heaven they march'd, and many a proi^nee wide.
Maton, P. L., vL 77.
8. The proper duty, ofSce, or business of a per-
son; sphere of action; function.
I have taken all knowledge to be my proviyice.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, Pref., p. iv.
The family is the proper province for private women to
shine in. Addison, Party Patches.
The most iit&cult province in friendship is the letting a
man see his faults and errors. Budgell, Spectator, If o. 385.
Within the region of religious activity itself there are
provinces which demand varying degrees of distinctness in
definition and graduation of discipline.
Stiibbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 293.
4. A division in any department of knowledge
or activity ; a department.
Their understandings are . . . cooped up in narrow
bounds, so that they never look abroad into other provinces
of the intellectual world.
Watts, Improvement of Mind, I. xiv. § 10.
5. In zool., a prime division of animals ; a phy-
lum; a subkingdom; a branch; a type: as, in
Owen's classification, the tovac provinces — Ver-
tehrata, Artieulata, MoUusca, and Badiata. The
prime divisions of a province are called suh-
provinces. — 6. In zoogeog., a subregion; a
faunal area less extensive than a region. Thus,
the Nearctic or North American region is zoologically di-
vided into the eastern, middle, and western proi^nces.—
Boreal province, lUyrian m^ovinces, Peruvian prov-
ince. See the adjectives.— Province Of distilbutioii.
See distribution.
province-rose (prov'ins-roz), n. An erroneous
form of Provims rose, the cabbage-rose.
provincial^ (pro-vin'shal), a. ana n. [< ME.
provindall (n.)'; < OF. provincial. F. provin-
cial = Pr. Sp. Pg. provincial = It. provindale, <
L. provindalis, pertaining to a province, < pro-
vincia,Sb province: see province.] 1, a. 1. Of
or pertaining to a province ; existing in a prov-
ince ; characteristic of a province : as, a pro-
vincial government ; a provincial dialect.
A nobleman of Picardyi . . . amanofconsiderablepro-
vinohil distinction, sought and obtained a commission as
lord of the unknown Norimbega.
Bancroft, Hist. TJ. S., L 16.
Already he [the king] had assembled provincial councils
formed of representatives from cities, boroughs, and mar-
ket-towns, that he might ask them for votes of money.
H. Spencer, Prin. of SocioL, § 501.
2. Forming a province or territory appendant to
a principal kingdom or state : as, provincial ter-
ritory.— 3. Pertaining to an ecclesiastical prov-
ince, or to the jurisdiction of an archbishop;
not ecumenical: as, a, provincial council.
Since the Conquest most of the archbishops had held
provincial synods and issaei provincial canons.
StiMs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 307.
4. Exhibiting the manners of a province; char-
acteristic of the inhabitants of a province, or
of the country as distinguished from the me-
tropolis or larger cities; countrified; rustic;
hence, not polished ; narrow; unenlightened.
Fond of esiiihitiDg provincial airs andgraces. Maca/ulay.
A society perfectly promndal, with no thought, with no
hope, beyond its narrow horizon.
J. H. Shmthome, Countess Eve, L
proving
His [Shakespeare's] patriotism was too national to be
provincial. Swinburne, Shakespeare, p. 113.
Provincial conereaseB. See con^rew.- Provincial
Letters, the name by which a celebrated collection of
letters written in French by Blaise Pascal in 1668-7, in
condemnation of the Jesuits, is ordinarily known. The
phrase, which appears as the title of En^lsh trandatioDS
of the letters, representing the popular French ProvincA-
ales, is a misnomer — the actu^ title being Letters to a
Prooimsial.
II. n. 1. A person belonging to a province;
one from any part of the country except the
metropolis or one of the larger cities. The name
Pramneials was often applied to the inhabitants of the
American colonies before the revolution, especially to their
contingents engaged in military service.
The land law of the Gracchi was well intended, but it
bore hard on many of the leading provincMils, who had
seen theii' estates parcelled out. Froude, Ceesar, p. 68.
Vulgarized by the constant influj^ of non-Italian pro-
vincials into Bome. JBncyc. Brit., XIV. 333.
5. Restricted to a province ; local.
2. In some religious orders, a monastic superior
who has the general superintendence of his fra-
ternity in a given district called a province. ,
Onve prouinciall hath power to assoilen
Alle sustren & bretheren that beth of our order.
Piers Ploumum's Crede (E. E. T. S.), 1. 328.
Two years after this event, he was elected provincial of
his order in Castile, which placed him at the head of its
numerous religious establishments.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., iL 6.
Provincial^ (pro-vin'shal), a. [< ML. Provin-
eialis, Provencal: see Prove^igal.] Pertaining
to Provence ; Provenjal.
Provyndal of is dyvers kynde of vynys.
PttUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 69.
Provincial rose, (a) The cabbage-rose, (b) A rosette of
ribbons formerly worn on a shoe ; a shoe-rose.
With two Provincial roses on my razed shoes.
SAai-., Hamlet; iii. 2. 288.
provincialism (pro-vin'shal-izm), n. [< P. pro-
vindalisme = Sp. f g. It. provindalismo ; as pro-
vincial^ ■{■ -ism.] 1 . That which characterizes a
province or a provincial person; a certain nar-
rowness or localism of thought or interest, or
rudeness of manners, characteristic of the in-
habitants of a province as distinguished from the
metropolis, or of the smaller cities and towns
as distinguished from the larger ; lack of polish
or enlightenment.
But provincialism is relative, and where it has a flavor
of its own, as in Scotland, it is often agreeable in propor-
tion to its very intensity. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 94.
2. Specifically, a word or manner of speaking
peculiar to a province; a local or dialectal
term or expression.
The inestimable treasure which lies hidden in the an-
cient inscriptions might be of singular service, particu-
larly in explaining the provincialisms.
H. Marsh, tr. of Michaelis (1793>,
provincialist (pro-vin'shal-ist), n. [<provi)i-
ciaP- + -ist] 1. An inhateant of a province;
a provincial. Imp. Diet. — 2. One who uses pro-
vincialisms. Imp. Diet.
provinciality (pro-vin-shi-al'i-ti), n. [< pro-
vvndaV- + ■4-ty.] The character of being pro-
vincial.
That circumstance must have added greatly to the pro-
vinciality and . . . the unintelligibility of the poem.
T. Warton, Enquiry into the Authenticity of the Poems
[attributed to Thomas Rowley, p. 46.
provincialize (pro-vin'shal-iz), v. t. ; pret. and
pp. provinciaUeed,' ppr. provincializing. [< pro-
vincial^ + -ize.] To render provincial.
provincially (pro-vin'shal-i), adv. In a pro-
vincial manner.
provincialship (pro-vin'shal-ship), n. [< pro-
vineiaU + -ship.] I'he post or dignity of a pro-
vincial. See provincial; n., 2.
In the said generalship or provijicialship he [Bich.
Brynckley] succeeded Dr. Henry Standish.
Wood, Fasti Oxon., I. 38.
provlnciatet (pro-vin'sM-at), V. t. [< province
(L. provincia) + -ate^.] To convert into a prov-
ince.
There was a design to provinciate the whole kingdom.
Bowell, Vooall Forrest.
provine (pro-vln'), v. i. [< F. provigner, lay a
stock or branch of a vine, < provin, < L. propago
(-gin-), the layer of a vine : see pruned. The
P. form provigner simulates vigne, a vine.] To
bury a stock or branch of a vine in the ground
and bring up the end at a distance from the
root, to form a bearing plant for the next sea.
son. This system is extensively practised in
the viticulture of several regions of Prance.
proving (pro'ving), «. [Verbal n. ot prove, ».]
1. Testing or trying in any way. — 2. In law,
probation; leading of proof — Action of proving
the tenor, in Scots law, an action, peculiai* to the Courts
Session, by which the terms of a deed which has been lost
or destroyed may be proved.
proTing
proTing-gronnd (prS'ving- ground), TO. A
ground or place used for firing proof charges
in cannon, for testing powder, and for making
ballistic experiments.
provmg-hut (pro'ving-hut), n. Same aaproof-
house. E. H. Knight.
proving-press (pro'ving-pres), TO. A press for
testing the strength of iron girders, ete.
proving-ptuup (pr8'viug-pump), to. A special
form of force-pump combined with a pressure-
gage for testing the strength of boilers, tubes,
etc., by means of water-pressure.
FrovillS rose. The cabbage-rose. Also Pro-
vincial rose. See provincial^.
provision (pro-vizh'on), to. [< F. provision =
Pr. provisio = Sp. provision = Pg. provisSo =
It. provisione, < L. provisio{n-), a foreseeing,
foresight, purveying, < providere, pp. provisus,
foresee, provide: see provide.l If. Foresee-
ing; foresight.
The direful spectacle of the wreck . . .
I have with such proiitsum in mine art
So safely ordered. Sfto*., Tempest, i. 2. 28.
2. The act of providing, or making previous
preparation.
I''lve days we do allot thee, for ^ooision
To shield thee from diseases of the world.
Shak., Lear, 1. 1. 176.
3. A measure taken beforehand; something
arranged or prepared in advance; a prepara-
tion; provident care.
For great and horrible punishments be appointed for
thieves, whereas, much rather, ^rooiston should have been
made that there were some means whereby they might
get their living. Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Robinson), i.
To be ignorant of evils to "come, and forgetful of evils
past, is a merciful ^oi;mon in nature.
Sir T. Browne, Urn-burial, v.
Marriage had always been her object; it was the only
honourable provision for well-educated young women of
small fortune. Jana Austen, Pride and Prejudice, xxii.
4. Accumulation of stores or materials before-
hand ; a store or stock provided.
There is a store house in the Oitadell, wherein is kept
promsimi of come, oyle, and other things.
Coryat, Crudities, 1. 124.
5. Specifically, a stock of food provided; hence,
victuals ; food ; provender: usually in the plural.
Provisions laid in large
For man and beast. MiUon, P. L., xi. 732.
This first day I had not taken care to have &ny provisions
brought, and desiring the man that was sent with me to
bring me some bread, he went and brought me of such
fare as they have, and I dined in the temple.
Pococke, Description of the East, I, 90.
I had furnished the stranger Turks with water and j^ro-
vision at my own expence, when crossing the desert,
Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. 191.
6. Inlaw, a, stipulation ; a rule provided ; a dis-
tinct clause in an instrument or statute ; a rule
or principle to be referred to for guidance : as,
the provisions oi law; the provisions of the con-
stitution. It is sometimes used of unwritten
as well as of written laws and constitutions.
Such persons would be within the general pardoning
power, and also the special provision for pardon and am-
nesty contained in this act. Lincoln, in Raymond, p. 202.
All the three [archdeacons] had, by the provisions of the
cathedral statutes, dispensation from residence whilst
ifaey were away at the schools. .
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 140.
7. pi. Certain early or medieval Engli-sh stat-
utes. See phrases below. — 8. In eccles. law,
promotion to office by an ecclesiastical supe-
rior ; especially, appointment by the Pope to a
see or benefice in advance of the next vacancy,
setting aside the regular patron's right of nom-
ination. Canonical provision consists of designation,
collation or institution, and installation. In the thir-
teenth and fourteenth centuries the Pope made frequent
provisions to bishoprics and livings in England, but these
acts were strenuously resisted. See Statute of Frouisors,
under provisor.
The weakness of Edward II. and the exigencies of the
papacy emboldened Clement V. and his successors to
apply to the episcopal sees the system of provision and
reservation. Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 384.
Provisions made In the Exchequer. See Statute of
Ruttand, under etotttfe.— Provisions of Merton, an Eng-
lish statute of 1235-6 (20 Heu. III.), so called because
made at Merton, relating to bastardy, dower, common of
pasture, appearance by attorney in local courts, etc. Also
called staiMte of Jf erton.— Provisions of Oxford, in Eng.
kisL, certain articles enacted by the Parliament at Ox-
ford in 1268. .See Mad Parliament, under jnadl. — Pro-
visions of the Barons, or Provisions of Westmin-
ster, in Eng. hist., certain ordinances issued by the barons
in 1259, which provided for the reform of various abuses.
=Syn. 2. PraiMenai, Prudence. See wisdom.
provision (pro-vizh'on), V. t. [< provision, to.]
To provide with things necessary; especially,
to supply with a store of food.
It was also resolved to notify the Governor of South
Carolina that he might expect an attempt would be made
to provision the fort. Lincoln, in Raymond, p. 140.
4806
provisional (pr6-vizh'on-al), a. [= F. pro-
visionnel = Sp. iPg. provisional = It. provisio-
nale; as provision + -al,"] Provided for pres-
ent need or for the occasion ; temporarily es-
tablished ; temporary : as, a provisional regu-
lation ; a provisional treaty.
It was . . , agreed to name a. provisional council, or re-
gency, who should carry on the government, and provide
for the tranquillity of the kingdom.
Preseott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 19.
Provisional ooncesBion, in the parts of the United
States acquired from Mexico, the first act of Mexican
authorities ui granting land. It was subject to further
action, notably the definite location of the property, which
was generally accomplished by the "extension of title"
or "delivery of juridical possession."— Provisional in-
junction. Same as ad interim injunction (which see,
under in;'unctu»i).— Provisional judgment.aconclusion
admitted for the time being, though affected with doubt
which it is expected may be cleared up. — Frovlsional
Femed3r, in law, a remedy, as arrest, attachment^ tem-
porary injunction, and receiver, intended to restrain the
person of the debtor or property in question until judg-
ment.
provisionally (pro-vizh'on-al-i), adv. In a
provisional manner; by way of provision; tem-
porarily; for a present exigency.
The abbot of St. Martin . . . was bom, . . . was bap-
tised, and declared a man provi^ruiUly [till time should
show what he would prove].
JKenuge, quoted in Locke, Human Understanding, III. vi.
(§26.
provisionary (pro-vizh'on-a-ri), a. [< ML.
provisionarius, n.', < li. p'rovisio(^n-), provision:
seeprovision.J 1 . Provident ; making provision
for the occasion. Shaftesbury.
Public forms of prayer, . . . whose design is of univer-
sal extent, and provisionary for all public, probable, feared,
or foreseen events. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. ISSS), n. 274.
2. Containing a provision; giving details of
provisions.
The preamble of this law, standing as it now stands, has
the lie direct given to it by the provisionary part of the
act. Burke, American Taxation.
3. Provisional ; provided for the occasion ; not
permanent.
provision-car (pro-vizh'on-kar), TO. A railroad-
car provided witli refrigerating apparatus for
the preservation of perishable products during
transportation. Cold air caused to circulate over ice
and over the articles to be kept cool is usually the means
employed for cooling the substances. The interiors of the
cars are kept tightly closed, and are protected from ex-
ternal heat by non-conducting materials.
provision-dealer (pro-vizh'gn-de"16r), to. Same
as provision-merchant,
provisioner (pro-vizh'on-6r), to. One who fur-
nishes provisions or supplies.
Among other provisioners who come to your house in
Venice are those ancient peasant-women who bring fresh
milk in bottles. HoweUs, Venetian Life, vii.
provision-merchant (pr6-vizh'on-mer"chant),
n. A general dealer in articles of food, as
hams, butter, cheese, and eggs.
proviso (pro-vi'zo), n. [So called from its being
usually introduced in the original Latin word-
ing by the word ^rowso, ' it being provided'; L. ,
abl. sing. neut. of provisus, pp. of providere,
provide: see provide. Cf. provided.'] 1. A
clause making what precedes conditional on
what follows ; a provision or article in a stat-
ute, contract, or other writing, by which a con-
dition is introduced ; a conditional stipulation
that affects an agreement, law, grant, etc.
He doth deny his prisoners,
But with proviso and exception.
That we at our own charge shall ransom straight
His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer.
ShaJc., 1 Hen. TV., i. 3. 78.
I was to be the young gentleman's governor, but with a
proviso that he should always be permitted to govern him-
self. Goldsmith, Vicar, xx.
2. Naut., a stem-fast or hawser carried to the
shore, to steady a ship.— Trial by proviso, in law, a
trial at the instance of the defendant in a case in which the
plaintiff, after issue joined, does not proceed to trial, when
by the practice of the court he ought to have done so.
Imp. Z)icfc— WUmot proviso, in U. 5. hist., an amend-
ment to a bill which appropriated money for the purchase
of territory from Mexico during the course of the Mexican
war. This amendment was introduced in the House of
Representatives in 1846 by Mr. Wilmot of Pennsylvania,
and provided that slavery should never exist in any part
of such territory. It played a prominent part in subse-
quent discussions.
provisor (pro-vi'zor), n. [< ME. provisotir, < OF.
provisour, provisev/r, P. proviseur = Sp. Pg.
provisor = It. prowisore, < L. provisor, a fore-
seer, a provider, Kprovidere, pp. provisus, pro-
vide: see provide.] If. One who provides ; a
purveyor ; a provider.
The chief provisor of our horse. Ford.
2. A person who has the right, gained by man-
date of the Pope, to be in future presented to
provocative
a benefice which is not vacant at the time of
the grant. See provide, 6. In England, the ap-
pointment of provisore was restrained by statutes of Sicb-
ard II. and Henry IV.
Symonye and Cyuyle selden and sworen
That prestes anAprouisours sholde prelates semen.
Piers Plowman (C), iil. 182.
Provisor . . . berehastheusualsenseinwhichitlsem-
ployed in our statutes, viz. one that sued to the Court of
Rome for a provision. A provision meant the providing
of a bishop or any other person with an ecclesiastical liv-
ing by the pope before the death of the actual incumbent.
Piers Plowman (ed. Skeat), II. 38, notes.
Whoever disturbs any patron in the presentation to a
living by virtue of anypapal provision, such provider shall
pay fine and ransom ix> the king at his will, and be impris-
oned till he renounces such provision.
Blackstone, Com., IV. viii.
Statute Of FrOvlBOrs, an English statute of 1351, design-
ed to prevent the Pope from exercismg the right of provi-
sion in England. Subsequent statutes of 1390 and other
ytars, in furtherance of the same design, are known by the
same name.
In a provi-
can only, therefore, he admitted inv-
Sir W. Hamilton.
provisorily (pro-vi'zgr-i-li), adv.
sory manner; conditionally.
This doctrine .
visorUy.
provisorshipf (pro-vi'zgr-ship), n. [< i^rovisor
+ -ship.] The ofBce of provisor.
A worthy fellow h' is ; pray let me entreat for
The provisorsMp of your horse.
Webster, Duchess of Malfl, i. 2.
provisory (pro-vi'zgr-i), a. [= F. provisoire z=
Sp. Pg. provi'sorio = It. provviswio, < L. as if
"provisorius, < providere, provide ("> 2>rovisor, a
provider): see provide, provisor.] 1. Serving to
provide for the time ; temporary; provisional.
A new omnipotent unknown of democracy was coming
into being, in presence of which no Versailles Govern-
ment either could or should, except in a provisory charac-
ter, continue extant. Carlyle, French Rev., I. iv. 1.
2. Containing a proviso or condition; condi-
tional— Provisory hoop. Seehoopi.
provocable (pro-v6'ka-bl), a. [< LL. provoca-
hilis, excitablej < \j."provocare, call forth, ex-
cite: see xwovoke.] aanae a,s provohahle.
provocation (prov-o-ka'shpn), TO. [< ME. pro-
vocacion, < OF. provocationjprovocacion, F. pro-
vocation = Sp. provocacion = Pg. provocofSo =
It. provocazione, < L. provocatio(n-), a calling
forth, a challenge, summoning, citation, < pro-
vocatus, pp. of provocare, call forth, call out:
see provoke.] 1. The act of provoking or ex-
citing anger or vexation.
ITie unjust provocation by a wife of her husband, in
consequence of which she suffers from his ill-usage, will
not entitle her to a divorce on the ground of cruelty.
Bouvier.
2. Anything that excites anger; a, cause of
anger or resentment.
By meanes of protiocaclon on eyther party vsed, the Ro-
maynes issued onte of the cytie and gaue batayl to the
Brytons. Falyan, Chron., I. Ixiv.
For when I had brought them into the land, . . . there
they presented the promcaUon of their offering [i. e., to
false gods]. Ezek. xx. 28.
O the enormous crime
Caused by no pramcaUon in the world !
Browning, Ring and Book, 1. 199.
3t. An appeal to a court or judge.
Nought with stondyng that I herde nevere of this matier
no maner lykly ne credible evidence unto that I sey your
lettre and the instrument, yet I made an appell and a
grocuracie, and also a ^ouocacion, at London, longebifoi'D
ristemasse. Paston Letters, I. 25.
Aprovoeation is evei-y act whereby the office of the judge
or his assistance is asked : & provocation including both a
judicial and an extrajudicial appeal. Ayliffe, Parergon.
4. Incitement ; stimulus.
I thought it but my duty to add some further spur of
provocation to them that run well already.
John Robinson, in New England's Memorial, p. 25.
It is worth the expense of youthful days and costly
hours if you learn only some words of an ancient language,
which are raised out of the trivialness of the street to be
perpetual suggestions and pravocaMom.
ThereoM, Walden, p. 110.
The provocation, the time of the Jews' wanderings in
the wilderness, when they roused the anger of God by
their sins.
Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, and as
m the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your
fathers tempted me. ' ps. xcv. 8, 9.
provocative (pro-vok'a-tiv), a. and n. [= F.
provocatif= Pr. provocatiu = Sp. Pg. It. pro-
vocative, < LL. provocativus, called forth, elicit-
ed, <L.^ro«ocare, pip.provocatus, call forth, call
out: see provoke.] I. a. Serving or tending to
provoke, excite, or stimulate; exciting; apt to
incense or enrage : as, provocative threats.
Not to he hasty, rash, provocative, or upbraiding in our
language. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1885), 1. 107.
In the humorous line I am thought to have a verypretty
way with me; and as for pathos, I am as provocative of teara
as an onion. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xii.
provocative
n. n. Anything that tends to excite appetite
or passion; a stimulant.
JhrovocaUves to stir vp appetite
To brutish lust & sensual delight
Must not be wanting.
TiTiiaf WUMe (E. E. T. S.), p. 87.
.»™in»"?^''i!? Si'' " "'S" *>» supposed that so eager-
S!!?'KffJP*5*?^*y'''^"°s'^"*'i*o«>epublioan'slSsi.
ness ; but in fact it was a great prmoeaKvi to drinldng
George Eliot, Felix Holt, xi.
provocativeness (pro-vok'a-tiv-nes), n. The
quality of being provocative or BtimulatinK.
Bailey, 1727. ^
provocatoryt (pro-vok'a-to-ri), n. [< L. provoca-
toi-ius, pertaining to a challenge or challenger,
< provocator, a challenger, an exciter, < provo-
catus, pp. of provocare, call forth or out: see
provoke.^ A challenge.
proTOkable (pro-v6'ka-bl), a. . [< provoke +
-abU. Cf . provocable.'\ Capable of being pro-
voked. *^
Irascible, and therefore prmokaMe.
Cudwarth, Intellectual System, p. 188.
provoke (pro-vok'), v.; pret. and pp. proDoitetZ,
ppr. provoking. [< ME. provoken, < OF. (and P. )
f'ovoquer = Sp. Pg. provocar = It. provocare,
L. provocare, call forth, eaU out, challenge,
summon, appeal, incite, excite, provoke, < pro,
forth, + vocare, call, summon, convoke : see vo-
cation. Cf . avoke, convoke, evoke, invoke, revoke.']
1. trans. If. To call forth or out; challenge;
summon.
This lenity, this long-forbearing and holding of his hand,
jmoDoheth us to repent and amend.
LaUmer, Sermon bet Bdw. VI., 15S0.
He^ sitting me beside in that same shade,
Promked me to plaie some pleasant fit.
Spenser, Colin Clout, 1. 69.
He novr prmoket the sea-gods from the shore;
Brydxn, ^neid, Ti.
2. To stimulate to action; move; excite;
arouse.
Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to
good works. Heb. x. 24.
Beaaty provoketh thieves sooner than gold.
Shak., As you Like it, i. 3. 112.
Be ever near his watches, cheer his labours.
And, where his hope stands fair, provoke his valour.
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenanl^ i. 1.
Mine [shadow], spindling into longitude immense, . . .
Provokes me to a smUe. Cowper, Task^ v. 14.
In solid and molten bodies a certain amplitude cannot
be surpassed without the introduction of periods of vibra-
tion which provoke the sense of vision.
TyndaU, Kadiation, § 10.
3. To call forth; cause; occasion; instigate.
Let my presumption not provoke thy wrath.
Shak., 1 Hen. VL, ii. 3. 70.
Cant is good to provoke common sense.
Emerson, Fortunes of the Republic.
4. To excite to anger or passion ; exasperate ;
irritate; enrage.
Charity ... is not easily provoked. 1 Cor. xiiL 5.
Take heed you laugh not at me ;
Provoke me not ; take heed.
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, ill. 1.
I am a little provoKd at you. I have something to be
angry with you for.
N. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, 1. 117.
=Syn. 2 and 3. To stir up, rouse, awake, induce, incite,
impel, kindle. — 4. Irritate, Incense, etc. (see exaspercU^,
offend, anger, chafe, nettle, galL
II, vntrans. If. To appeal.
Even Arius and Felagius durst provoke
To what the centuries preceding spoke.
Dryden, Beligio Laici, I. 346.
2. To produce anger or irritation. Compare
provokementf (pro-vok'ment), n. [< provoke
+ -ment.'] Provocation.
Whose sharpe provokement them incenst so sore
That both were bent t' avenge his usage base.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. iv. 4.
provoker (pro-v6'k6r), n. One who or that
which provokes, excites, promotes, or stirs up;
one who stirs up anger or other passion.
In the mene whyle mine enemies still encrease ;
And my praiwkers hereby doo augmente.
That without cause to hurt me do not cease.
Wyatt, Ps. xxxviiL
Drink,air, Is a great proBofer of three things, . . . nose-
painting, sleep, and urine. Shak., Macbeth, IL ,"i. 27.
As common perturbers of the quyet people, and capy-
taines and prmtokers of trayterous rufflings.
Graft/an, Hen. Tin., an. 17.
As In all civil insurrections, the ringleader is looked on
with a peculiar severity, so, in this case, the tiit provoker
has double portion of the guilt. . ^ ,» „
Oovemment of the Tongue.
provoking (pro-vo'king), p. a. Having the
power or quaJify of exciting resentment; tend-
4807
ing to stir up passion; irritating; vexatious:
as, provoking words ; provoking treatment.
One, his equal in athletic frame,
Or, more provoking still, of nobler name.
Cowper, Hope, L 192.
provokingly (pro-vo'Mng-li), adv. In a pro-
voking manner; so as to excite anger or annoy-
ance.
This erudite but provokingly fragmentary edition of a
true poet,
A. B. Orosart, Blog. Sketch of Bp. John King, in King on
[Jonah, p. 5.
provost (prov'ost), n. [< ME. provost, provest,
partly < XB.pr'a,fost,prafest,prauost,profost (=
OPries. progost, provest = MD. proost, D. prost
= MLGr. provest, prost =ORGr^probast,probist,
provost, prohasto, prubesto, MHG. probest, pro-
vist,probst, brobest, brobst, Gt. probst = lee\.. jiro-
fastr = Sw. prost = Da.Ta..provst, movost, dean),
and partly COF. provost, prevost^.pr^oot = Pr.
prebost = Sp. Pg. preboste = It. prevosto,prepos-
to, < Xi. pr^osihis, a principal, president, chief,
provost, pp. ot prseponere, put or set before, set
over as chief, < prsB, before, + ponere, set, place :
see ponent, posit. Ct.prepositor,prepostor.'] 1.
One who is a;ppointed to superintend or preside
over something; the chief or head of certain
bodies, (a) The head of one of certain colleges (as of
Oriel, Queen's, etc., in the university of Oxford, of King's
College, Cambridge, Eton College, etc.): equivalent to
principal in other colleges, (t) Bcdes., the chief digni-
tary of a cathedral or collegiate church ; in monastic or-
ders, a second in authority nnder an abbot or the head of
a subordinate house, (c) In the Scotch burghs, the chief
magistrate, correspon^g to the English mayor. The
chief magistrates of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Perth,
and Dundee are styled lord proved. The title provost was
formerly given to the heads of corporations in England.
My tTVAty provost, tried and tight.
Stand forward for the Good Town's right.
Scott, Carle, Now the King's Come,
(d) The keeper of a prison ; a chief jailer.
The kyng commaunded hym and sayd : Prouost, get you
men tocher well horsed, and pursewe that traytour syr
Peter of Craon. Bemers, tr. of Proissart's Chron., n. clxxxv.
The provost hath
A warrant for his execution.
Shall., M. forM., L 4. 73.
(et) Formerhr, oneholdingaposition in the English schools
of fence higher than that of scholar and lower than that
of master.
2. A temporary prison in which the military
police confine prisoners imtil they are disposed
of — Provost maXBhal. (a) In the anny, an officer who
acts as the head of police of any district, town, or camp, for
the preservation of order, and to bring to punishment all
offenders against militaiy discipline. He is responsible
for all prisoners confined on charges of a general nature
mider the articles of war, and in the field his power is
summary. (&) In the navy, an officer who is charged with
the safe-keeping of a prisoner, pending his trial by a court
martial, and who is responsible for his production before
the court whenever his presence is required. [Also pro-
nounced pro'vQ mar'shgl, in partial imitation of the mod-
ern W.privdt.] — Provost sergeant, a sergeant who has
charge of the miUtaiy police, and also, in the British ser-
vice, of the custody of prisoners in the cells.
provostait, a. [< OF. prevostal, P. j^r^dtal, <
prevost, provost : see provost."] Pertaining to a
provost. Cotgrave.
provosterf, n. [< provost + -eri ; ult. a var. of
prepostor.] Same as provost, 1 (e).
For of fence, almost in everye towne, there is not only
maisters to teach it, with his provosters, ushers, schol-
ars .. . Aseham, Toxophilus, L
provostry (prov'ost-ri), n. [< ME. provostrye,
< OF. prevosterie"th.e ofSce of a provost, < pre-
vost, provost: see provost.'] If. Provostship;
the office of provost or chief magistrate.
Certes the dignite of the provostrye of Rome was whylom
a gret power. Chaucer, Boethins, iii. prose 4.
2. A district or town under the jurisdiction of
a provost, or an ecclesiastical or monastic foun-
dation of which a provost is the head. [Scotch.]
The Provostry of Abemethie.
Spottiswoode, Hist Scotland.
We likewise make, constitute and ordain, and perpet-
ually establish the Provostry of the said Collegiate Church
of the Holy Trinity near Edinburgh, upon the following
Fruits and Appointments, as hereafter limited and modi-
fled Charter o/Trin. Coll. Church, 1574 (Maitland,
[Hist. Edinburgh, p. 207).
provostship (prov'ost-ship), n. [< provost +
-ship.] The office of a
provost.
What an enormity is this
in a Christian realm, to serve
in a civility, having the profit
of a provostship, and a dean-
ery, and a parsonage !
LaUmer, 2d Sermon bef.
[Edw. VI., 1549.
prowl (prou), w. [<0F.
proue, P. proue = Pr.
Sp. Pg. proa = It. prua,
Prow of French Ship of War of
about 1680.
prowler
< L. prora, < Gr. irpQpa, the bow of a ship, < vpo,
before. Ci.prore.] 1. The fore part of a ship;
the bow; the beak.
With that they bid vs amaine English dogs, and came
vpon our quarter starboard ; and, gluing vs flue cast pieces
out of her prowe, they sought to lay vs aboord.
Hakluyfs Voyages, III. 666.
Turn thy curved prow ashore,
And in our green isle rest forevermore.
LowaU, The Sirena
2. In zool., a prora.
prow^t (prou), n. [< ME. prow, < OF. prou,
prod, profit, advantage : origin uncertain. Cf .
prowess.] Profit; advantage; benefit.
All thynges is mayd, man, for thy prowe.
All creatours shall to the bowe
That here is mayd erthly. York Plays, p. 20.
So ye ly ve al in lest,
Ye lovers, for the konnyngest of yow,
That serveth most ententifliche and best,
Hym tyt als often harme there of as prowe.
Chaucer, Troilus, i. 333.
prow^ (prou), a. [ME. *prow (not found), < OF.
prou, prod, prude, pros, proz, teja.prode, prude,
good, excellent, brave, F.preux = Pr.proz^lt.
prode, brave, valiant, doughty. Cf. prow^, n.,
a,ni prude.] Valiant. [Now rare and archaic]
They be two the prowest knights on grownd.
denser, F. Q., II. ilL 15.
From prime to vespers will I chant thy praise
kzprouiest knight and truest lover.
Tennyson, Felleas and Ettarre.
prow^t, n. An obsolete form of proa.
prowess (prou'es), n. [Early mod. E. also
prmoes,proues,prowse; < 'iSIE.prowess,prowesse,
< OP. prouesse, goodness, excellence, bravery
F.prouesse (= Pr. Sp. Pg.proeza = It.prodeeza).
bravery, < prou, good, excellent, brave: see
prow^.] If. Excellence; virtue; goodness; in-
tegrity.
Ful selde up riseth by his branches smale
Prowesse of man, for God of his goodnesse
Wol that of hym we clayme cure gentilesse.
Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 273
2. Bravery; valor; particularly, military brav-
ery combined with skill ; gallantry ; daring.
And thei were noble knyghtes and hardy, and full of
high jwowess. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 117.
Your self Ya^prowesse prov'd, and found him flers and bold.
Spenser, F. Q., II. viii. 13.
Proofs ot prowess are above all things treasured by the
savage. H. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., § 2b6.
3t. A feat or deed of valor; a valiant act.
KyngeCodogan . . . remembredeaUethejirowessesthat
he hadde sein hym do, and so sadly he sat in that thought
that alle thei were troubled, and lef te theire mete.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 226.
prowessfult (prou'es-fid), a. {(.prowess + -ful.]
Bold; fearless; daring. [Eare.]
Nimrod usurps ; his prowes-fvU Policy
To gain himself the Goal of Souerainty.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., Babylon (Arg.).
prowl (proul), V. [Formerly also proul, var. of
esxliev proU, prole, < ME. proZfem, prolen, search
about; perhaps a contr. freq. form, < proke, in
like sense: see proke, aadct. prog.] I. trans.
1. To rove or wander over in a stealthy man-
ner : as, to prowl the woods or the streets.
Kg prowls each place, still in new colours deck'd.
Sir P. Sidney.
2t. To collect by plunder.
By how many tricks did he proll money from all parts
of Christendom? Barrow, Pope's Supremacy.
II. intrans. 1. To rove or wander stealthily,
as one in search of prey or plunder; search
carefully, and in a quiet or secretive manner.
Though ye proUe ay, ye shul it never fynde.
Chaucer, Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 40L
We travel sea and soil, we pry, vg prowl.
We progress, and we prog from pole to pole.
Quarles, Emblems, ii. 2.
Wild and savage insurrection quitted the woods, and
prowled about our streets in the name of reform.
Burke, To a Noble Lord.
He walked to the railway station andjprowZed all about,
with a forlorn sort of hope that she might have missed
her train. Mrs. Oliphant, Poor Gentleman, xxxvL
2t. To plunder; prey; foray.
prowl (proul), n. [< prowl, v.] The act of
prowling ; a roving as for prey : as, to be on the
])rowl. [Colloq.]
The bar-girl that waits, the bailiff on the prowl.
Thackeray, Four Georges, p. 216.
prowler (prou'ler), n. One who prowls or roves,
as for prey.
Such run-about ^owfera, by night and by day,
See punished justly, for prowling away.
Tusser, Husbandry, September.
Suttle Prowlers, Pastors in Name, but indeed Wolves.
Milton, Hist. Eng., iii
On church-yards drear (inhuman to relate !)
IChe disappointed prowlers fall, and dig
The shrouded body from the grave.
Thomson, Winteu
prowlery
prowleryt (^rou'lfer-i), n. [< prowl + -ery.']
Prowling; pillage.
Thirty-seven monopolies, with other sliarking prowler-
iea, were deory'd in one proclamation.
Bp. Backet, Abp. WilliamB, L 61. (Dames.)
prowlingly (prou'ling-li), adv. In a prowling
manner.
prowort, n. A Middle English form otpv/rveyor.
My prouiar and my plowman Piers shal ben on erthe^
And lor to tulye treuthe a teme shal he haue.
Pierg Plowman (B), xlx. 266.
prox (proks), n. [Abbr. of proxy-l In Bhode
Island, a list of candidates for election ; a ticket
or ballot containing such a list.
Such of the colony as could not attend the Oeneral As-
sembly had the right to send their votes for these officers
by some other persons ; hence the origin of the terms
prox, and proxy votes, as applied to the present mode of
voting for state officers in Bhode Island.
Stmflee, Annals of Providence, Coll. E. I. Hist. Soc, V. 64.
proz. An abbreviation ot proximo.
proxenet (prok'se-net), n. [< Grc. izpo^evrrriiQ, an
agent or broker, < npo^evelv, be a protector, pa-
tron, or agent, < 7rp6^Evog, a protector, patron,
public friend: SQeproxeniis.'] A negotiator; a
go-between. [Eare.]
The common ^OEenei or contractor of all natural matches
and marriages betwixt forms and matter.
Dr. H. More, Immortal, of Soul, III. iii. 13.
proxenns (prok'se-nus), n. ; pi. proxeni (-ni). [<
Gr. TTpd^EvoQ, a public guest or friend, a patron,
protector, < %po, before, + f&of, guest, friend.]
In Gr. antiq., a citizen who was appointed by
a foreign state to represent its interests and to
protect its travelers m his native country. The
office corresponded closely to that of a modem
consul.
The good understanding between Greek States must
have been promoted by this habit of appealing to arbitra*
tion, and also by the institution of proxeni, whose office
was in many respects analogous to that of a modern con-
sul. C. T. Newton, Art and ArchsBoL, p. 121.
proximad (prok' si-mad), adv. [< L. proximus,
nearest (see proxime), + -adS.] Toward the
proximal part, or point of attachment or in-
sertion.
For example, the shoulder is proximad of the elbow, but
the elbow is proxvmad of the wrist.
Buch^s Handbook of Med, Sciences, VIXI. 536.
proximal (prok'si-mal), a. and n. [= OF. jjroai-
mal; (.ii. proayimuSj'neajTest: see proxime.'] I.
a. Proximate; nearest; next, in anatomy, zoology,
and botany, noting that end of a bone, limb, or organ
which is nearest the point of attachment or insertion:
opposed to distal and extremital. Thus, of the two rows
of carpal or tarsal bones, the one next to the arm or leg
is prossimal, and the other is distaZ; of the humerus or
femur the head of the bone is proxdTmU, and its condyles
are distal. See cuts under Artiodactyla and carptis.
In the province of Ise one often sees a brace or bracket
made out of an unhewed piece of timber, generally the
proxiTnal portion of some big branch.
Pop. Sci. Mo., XXVni. 660.
n. n. In eodl., the comparatively fixed or ba-
sal extremity of a Umb or of an organism.
proximally (prok'si-mal-i), adv. xu zool., to-
ward the proximal end or a part or organ;
proximad.
The quadrate bone loosely articulated with adjacent
elements, and oxHy proximally. Amer. Nat., XXIII. 863.
proximate (prok'si-mat), a. [< JAj.proxvmatus,
pp. of proximare, draw near, approach, < L.
proximus, nearest : see proxime. Cf . approxi-
mate.] Next : immediate ; without the inter-
vention of a third.
The general truth that pursuit of proximate satisfactions
is, under one aspect, inferior to pursuit of ultimate satis-
factions has led to the belief that proximate satisfactions
must not be valued. H. Spencer, Data of Ethics, § 43.
The enormous consumption of petroleum and natural
gas frequently raises the question as to the probability of
the sroawmote exhaustion of the supply.
Solenoe, XTV. 228.
Internal proximate cause. See intermd.— Proximate
analysis, in chem. , the separation of a complex substance
into its constituent compounds. — Proximate cause, that
cause which immediately precedes and directly produces
an effect, as distinguished from a rem,ate, mediate, or pre-
disposing cai«e.— Proximate matter, the matter of any-
thing in the last degree of elaboration before that thing
was formed.— Proximate object, immediate object;
that object without the existence of *hich it would be
logically impossible for the cognition to exist,— Proxi-
mate principles, organic compounds which are the con-
stituents of more complex organizations, and exist ready
formed in animals and vegetables, such as albumen, gela-
tin, and fat in the former, and sugar, gum, starch, and
resins in the latter. Mso atHlei orgarde principles.
proximately (prok'si-mat-li), adv. In a proxi-
mate position, time, or relation; immediately;
directly; by direct relation.
They know it immediately or proximiUely from their
proper guides or other instructors, who in the last resort
learn it from the ancients. WiOerUmd, Works, V. 287.
4808
Proximately, the source of the Thames and other rivers
is to be found in springs j but ultimately it must be traced
to rain. Bitxley, Physiography, p. 38.
proximet (prok'sim), a. [= Sp. ^rdximo = Pg.
proximo = It. prossimo, < L. proximus, nearest,
superl. of j)ro2>e, near.] Nearest; immediate;
proximate.
The three terms [of the propositions] are called the re-
mote in»tter of a syllogism ; and the three propositions
the proa^me or immediate matter of it. Watts, Logic, iiL 1.
proximioust (prok-sim'i-us), a. An erroneous
form otproximoiis. [Eare.]
This righteousness is the proximious cause operating to
Salvation. Dean Tucker. iWorceeter.)
proximity (prok-sim'i-ti), n. [< OF. proximite,
F. proximite = Sp. proximidad = Pg. proxinii-
dade = It. prossimiia, < L. proximita(t-)s, near-
ness, vicinity, <^roaJmMS, nearest: see proxime.]
The state of beingproximate; nearness in place,
time, or relation.
We would muche rather haue remitted these iniuries
in respect olproximitie of bloud to our nephieu, than we
did heretofore y" inuasion of his father.
Hall, Hen. VIIL, an. 34.
For the prosaffnity of blood, he is the more stirred to have
special eye and regard to our surety and good education
in this our said minority. Bp. Burnet, Kecords, II. i. 6.
Always after a time came the hour . . , when he could
endure proximity without oneness no longer, and would
suddenly announce his departure.
George MacDonald, What's Mine's Mine, vii.
= Syn. Vidntty, etc. (see neigM>or}wod), adjacency.
proximo (prok'si-mo), adv. [L., abl. sing. (sc.
mense, month) of proximus, nearest; next : see
proxime.] In or of the next or coming month ;
noting a day of the coming month: as, the 1st
proximo. Often abbreviated to prox.
proximocephalic (prok^si-mo-se-f al'ik or -sef '-
a-Uk), a. [< tj. proximus, nearest, + Gr. KeipaTdi,
tead.] Nearest the head.
In numbering the individual elements [of the carpus]
the first is the laozt proxiTnocephdlio, that is the scaphoid.
Buenos Handbook qfMed. Seienoes, VIII. 636.
proximoust (prok'si-mus), a. [< L. proximus,
nearest, next: see ^roxtoe.] Nearest.
proxy (prok' si), «. ; pi. proxies (-siz). [Early
mod. 'E.proeJcesy, < ME. prohecye (as if *pro(facy),
eontr. of procuracy : see procuracy. Cf . proc-
tor, similarly contracted from procurator,] 1 .
The agency of a substitute; the office or au-
thority of one who is deputed to act for an-
other.
In the upper house they giue their assent and dissent
each man seuerally and by himselfe, first for himselfe,
and .then for so many as he hath proxie.
Sir T. Smith, Commonwealth of Eng., ii. 3.
We cannot be punished unto amendment by proxy.
Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., ii. 11.
Upon my conscience, a pretty way this of working at
second-hand 1 I wish myself could do a little by proxy.
Sheridan (?), The Camp, L 1.
The twelve archons met in a general assembly, some-
times in person, and sometimes hy proxy.
J. Adamx, Works, IV. 600.
One of the reasons of non-attendance of the members of
the House of Lords in former times was their special privi-
lege of voting by proxy, which has now, however, fallen
into disuse. Eneye. Brit,, Vin. 269.
2. One who is deputed to represent or act for
another; a deputy.
The King replied That, since his Highness was resolved
upon so sudden a Departure, he would please to leave a
Proxy behind to finish the Marriage, and he would take it
for a Favour if he would depute Him to personate him.
Howell, Letters, I. iii. 23.
I am oblig'd to you, that you would make me your
Proxy in this Affair. Congrme, Way of the World, iv. 2.
Another privilege is that every peer, by license obtained
from the king, may make another lord of parliament his
proxy, to vote for him in his absence. A privilege which
a member of the other house can by no means have, as he
is himself but a, proxy for a multitude of other people.
Blackstone, Com,, L ii.
Will not one
Of thine harmonious sisters keep in tune
Thy spheres, and as thy silvei proxy shine?
Eeats, Lamia, L 267.
3. A document authorizing one person to act
as substitute or deputy for another; a written
authorization to exercise the powers and pre-
rogatives of others.
A copy of the proa^ sent to the Duke of Chevreuse to
marry the queen in the name of our king, and another, of
my lord duke's commission to bring her majesty into Eng-
land, I shall have time enough to send you the next week.
Court and Times of Charles I., I. 27.
Under no circumstances should & proxy be executed in
favor of an officer or director of a company that will en-
able him to vote upon it in approval of his own acts, or to
perpetuate his own power. N. A. Sev,, CXXXIX. 538.
4. That which takes the place of something
else; a substitute.
Talente are admirable when not made to stand proxy for
virtues. Mrs. E. More.
prudence
In the Picture Gallery are quantities of portraits ; but
in general they are not only not so much as copies, but
proxies— eo totally unlike they are to the persons they
pretend to represent. Walpole, Letters, IL 356.
5. Eccles., same as procuration, 4.
The other fifty must go in a curate and visitation charges
and poxes— pnoies, I mean. Siii\ft, Letter, June 28, 1726.
6. An election, or a day of election. [Con-
necticut.]
proxy (prok'si), v.i.; pret. and pp. proxied, ppr.
. proxying. [(.proxy, n.] To vote or act by proxy,
or by the agency of another.
Proxys (prok'sis), «. [NL. (Spinola, 1837).] A
genus of heteropterous insects of the family
Pentatomidse. The species are few
in number, and are confined to tropi-
cal and subtropical America P. punc-
tvlatus is common in the southern
United States, and is said to be both
carnivorous and phytophagous.
proxyship (prok' si-ship), m. [<
proxy + -ship.] The office or
agency of a proxy. Prc:<ys tunc^un^.
The two cases are so like : . . . the
same correspondency and proxiship between these spirits
and their images.
Brevint, Saul and Samuel at Endor, p. 394.
proxy-wedded (prok'si-wed'''ed), a. Wedded
by proxy.
She to me
Was proxy^edded with a bootless calf
At eight years old. Tennyson, Princess, t
proymnion (pro-im'ni-on), n.; pi. proffmnia
(-a). [NL., < Gr. Trpoi/ivwv, < 7rp6, before, -t- v/i-
vo'g, hymn : see hymn.] In anc. pros., a short co-
lon preceding a system, strophe, or antistrophe,
especially in a hymn. See ephymnimn, mesym-
nion, metliymnion.
proynt, v. An obsolete spelling of pruned.
prozoosporange (pr6-z6-o-sp6'ranj), n. [< Gr.
irpd, before, + f^ow, animal, + airdpo;, seed, +
ayyelov, vessel.] In bot., a stage in the repro-
duction of certain fungi which is to develop
zo6spores. From the prozofisporange there grows out
a thick, cylindrical, thin-walled process, into which all
the protoplasm passes and within which it breaks up into
zoospores.
prozygapophysis (pro-zi-ga-pof'i-sis), «. ; pi.
proeygapophyses (-sez). [NL., < Gr. irpd, be-
fore, + ^vy6v, yoke, + aTrS^vmc, process.] Same
SiS prezygapophysis. [Eare.]
A prominence is developed from each prozygapophysis.
Mivart, Elem. Anat., p. 46.
Prozymite(proz'i-mit),}t. [< (}r.?rpofmi7-)7f,oue
who uses leavened bread, < jrpo^b/iT;, leavened
bread, < irpd, for, -I- ?%:?, leaven.] One who uses
leavened bread in the eucharist: applied, espe-
cially in the eleventh century, by Latin con-
troversialists to members of the Greek Church.
See Aeymite.
Prucet (prSs), n. [< OP. Pruce, < ML. Prussia,
Prussia : see Prussian. Cf. spruce.] An obso-
lete form of Prussia: erroneously defined as
"Prussian leather" by Johnson and Ash.
Ful ofte tyme he hadde the bord bygonne [sat at the head
of tlie table]
Aboven alle naciouns in Pruce.
Chaucer (ed. Morris), ProL to C. T., L 63.
Some for defence would leathern bucklers use
Of folded hides, and others shields of Pruce.
Dryden, FaL and Arc, iiL 31.
pnidf, a. A Middle English form ot proud.
prude (prSd), n. [< F. prude, OF. prude, prode,
f em. of prou, prod, prud, good, excellent, brave :
see prow^.] A woman who affects rigid correct-
ness in conduct and thought ; one vpho exhibits
extreme propriety or coyness in behavior : oc-
casionally applied also to a man.
Another customer happened to be a famous prude; her
elbows were rivetted to her sides, and her whole person
so ordered as to inform every body that she was afraid
they should touch her. Taller, No. 6.
Let the prude at the name or sight of man
Pretend to rail severely.
SheridaniJ), The Camp, i. 2.
With prudes for proctors, dowagers for deans.
And sweet girl-graduates in their golden hair.
Tennyson, Mncess, FroL
prudence (pro'dens), n. [< MB. prudence,pnir
dens, < OF. (and F.) prudence = Pr. prudenza
= Sp. Pg. prudencia = It. prudenzia, prudenza,
< li.prudentia, a foreseeing, sagacity, prudence,
< pruden(t-)s, foreseeing, prudent: see pru-
dent. Cf . providence ana purveyance, ult. dou-
blets of prudence.] 1. The quality of being
prudent, (a) Practical wisdom ; discretion : good judg-
ment: sagacity.
Prudens, alias ! oon of thyn eyen thre
Me lakked alwey, er that I com here:
On tyme ypaased wel remembred me.
And present tyme ek koude I wel ysee ;
But future tyme, er I was in the snare,
Koude I not sen ; that causeth now my care.
Clumcer, Troilus, v. 74t
prudence
He [HeBlod] was wonderfully grave, discreet and frugal ;
he lived altogether in the country, and was probably lor
Ms great prudence the oracle ol the whole neighbourhood.
Addison, On Virgil's Oeorgics.
Lafayette, who commanded the American forces in the
prOTino^ appears to have shown skill and prudence in
bafflmg the attempts of ComwalliB to bring on a general
"""oo- LeOcy, Eng. in 18th Cent. , xlv.
(6) Regard for self-interest ; worldly wisdom ; policy.
Is it yow: prudence to be inraged with your best friends,
lor adventuring their lives to rescue you from your worst
enemies? 2f. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 58.
All the virtues range themselves on the side oltmidenoe,
or the art of securing a present well-being.
Emerson, Essays, 1st ser., p. 218.
There is then a Duty of seeking one's own happiness,
commonly known as the Duty of Prudence.
B. Sidgwick, Methods of Ethics, p. 804.
2. Enowledge; science. Compare jv/rispru-
In Ms [Mr. Webster's] profession of politics, nothing, I
think, worthy of attention had escaped him ; nothing of
the ancient or modem prudence.
It. Choate, Addresses, p. 285.
= Syn. 1. Mseretion, Providence, etc. (see wisdmn), judi-
ciousness, care, considerateneas, caution, circumspection,
judgment, wariness.
prudencyt (pr8'den-si), n. [As prudence (see
-c^),] Same a,s prudence.
O marueilous politicall, & princely prudencie, in time
of peace to foresee and preuent ... all possible malice 1
HaUuyt's Voyages, I. 7.
prudent (prS'dent), a. [< ME. prudent, < OF.
prudent, F. prudent= Sp. Pg. It. prudente, < L.
pruden(t-)s, foreseeing, prudent, contr. from
providen(t-')s, foreseeing, provident: see provi-
dent.'] 1. Thoughtful; judicious; sagacious;
sensible.
A Folititian very prudent, and much inured with the
ininat and pnblique affaires.
Puttenham,, Arte of Eng. Foesie, p. 2.
But that he hath the gift of a coward to allay the gust
he hath in quarrelling, 'tis thought among the pnulent
he would quickly have the gift of a grave.
Shak., T. N., i. 3. 34.
The age in which we live claims, and in some respects
deserves, the praise of being active, prudent, and practical.
Oladstom, Might of Eight, p. 297.
2. Careful of self-interest; provident; politic;
worldly-wise.
The prudent man looketh well to his going.
Prov. XIV. 16.
So steers the prudent crane
Her annual voyage, borne on winds,
Milton, P. L., vii. 430.
3. Discreet; circumspect; decorous.
Jriend Pope ! be prudent, let your Muse take breath.
And never gallop Pegasus to death.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, I. i. 13.
To wish thee fairer is no need.
Move prudent, or more sprightly.
Couiper, Poet's New- Year's Gift.
The prudent partner of his blood
Lean'd on him, faithful, gentle, good,
Wearing the rose of womanhood.
Tennyson, Two Voices.
4. Judicious; wise; prudential.
A Life which, if not f eno'd by prudent Fears
And Jealousies, its own self overthrows.
J. Seaumonl, Psyche, iv. 6.
According as his conduct tended to self-conservation or
the reverse it might be termed prudent or imprudent, but
a wicked or righteous act would be impossible.
C. Mereier, Mind, X. 7.
=Syn. Careful, circumspect, ete. See cautious.
prudential (pr5-den'shal), a. and n. [= Sp. Pg.
prudenoial = it. prudemiale^ < L. prudenUa,
prudence: »ee prudence.] I. a. 1. Involving
prudence; characterized or prescribed by pru-
dence : as, prudential motives ; prudenUal con-
siderations.
Myresentment. . . was bythistimeprettymuch cooled,
and restrained by prudertlial reasons so effectually that I
never so much as thought of obtaining satisfaction for the
injuries he had done me. Smollett, Eoderick Kandom, vu.
Considering things in a prudential light, perhaps I was
mistaken. Cfoldsmith, The Bee, No. 4.
His great excellence was his sound understanding and
solid judgment in prudential matters, both in private and
public affairs. S. Franklin, Autobiog., p. 15.
There may be ... a prudential genius, as well as a
mathematical or a musical genius; the fact of intense
Sersistenoe in idea of the charaotoristio impressions of the
epartment being common to alL
A. Bain, Emotions and WiU, p. 477.
2 Exercising prudence; hence, advisory; dis-
cretionary: as, a. prudential committee (a com-
mittee having discretionary charge of various
affairsof asociety).— 3. Instructed; scientific.
Such in kind ... is the additional power you give to
labor by improving the inteUectual and prudential charac-
ter which informs and guides^it.^^^^^_ ^^^^^^_ ^ ^^^
II n. That which demands the exercise of
prudence; a matter for prudence.
4809
Many stanzas in poetic measures contain rules relating
to common prudentials, as well as to religion. Watts.
prudentialist (pr^-den'shal-ist), n. [< pruden-
tial + -is*.] One who acts from or is governed
byprudentialmotives. Coleridge. (Imp. Diet.)
prudentiality (pr{j-den-shi-al'i-ti), n. [< pru-
dential + -%.] The quality of being pruden-
tial, or characterized by prudence.
Being unoapable . . . nghtly to jviAge the prudenHaHty
of affairs, they onely gaze upon the visible success.
Mr T. Browne, Vulg. Err., 1. 3.
prudentially (pr8-den'shal-i), adv. In con-
formity with prudence ; prudently.
I know not how any honest man can charge his con-
science in prudentially conniving at such falsities.
Dr. H. More, Enthusiasm, ii, 47.
prudently (pr8'dent-li), adv. In a prudent
manner; with prudence or discretion; judi-
ciously.
Accordingly Virgil has prudently joined these two to-
gether, accounting him happy who knows the causes of
things, and has conquered all his fears.
Bacon, Physical Fables, ii., Expl.
prudery (prS'de-ri), n. [< F. pruderie, prudery,
<. prude, a prude : see prude.] The quality or
character of being prudish; extreme propriety
in behavior; affected coyness or modesty; prim-
ness.
jlfr«. Lov. The world begins to see yova prudery.
Mrs. Prim. Prudery! What 1 do they invent new words
as well as new fashions? Ah ! poor fantastick age, I pity
thee. Mrs. CenUivre, Bold Stroke for a Wife, ii.
What is prudery ? 'Tis a beldam
Seen with wit and beauty seldom. Pope.
I would send to my friend Clara, but that I doubt her
prudery would condemn me. Sheridan, The Duenna, 1. 6.
A Frenchman, whatever be his talents, has no sort of
prudery in showing them.
Stems, Sentimental Journey, p. 45.
They thanked God in their hearts that they had a coun-
try to sell ; they were determined to sell it at the highest
figure ; but reserve waa decent and profitable, andprudery
haggled for its price. Westminster Rev., CXXVlll. 812.
prud'homme (pru-dom'), ». [F., < OF.preud-
hom, prodhom, prodhoem, prodom, proddom,
preudon,preudomme,preudome,prodomme,eta.,
pi. preudomeSjpreudeshomes, proudes homes, eto.,
a good or discreet man, a skilful or expert man,
< preu, prud, prod, etc., good, excellent (see
prow'^), + home, homme, man, < L. homo, man:
see Somo. Cf . OP. preudefemme, a good or dis-
creet woman.] A discreet man; specifically,
in France, a member of a tribunal composed
of masters and workmen, especially charged
with the arbitration of trade disputes. Such
tribunals existed from the time of the later middle ages,
and have been reorganized in the present century. Such
a council was constituted at Lyons in 1806, and several
others have been created since.
The prudhommes were arrayed at every election, at every
hustings, against the lesser folk.
W. J. Iioftie, Hist. London, v.
prudish (prS'dlsh), a. [< prude + -ish^.] 1.
Having the character or manner of a prude ;
affecting extreme propriety of behavior; also,
characteristic of a prude ; prim.
I know you all expect, from seeing me.
Some formal lecture, spoke yrith prudish face.
Garrick, Prologue.
The moon, y/hether prudish or complaisant.
Has fled to her bower. Keats, Song.
2. Excessively formal or precise ; rigid; stiff;
severe.
There was a parlor in the house, a room
To make you shudder with its prudish gloom.
Lowdl, Fitz Adam's Story.
A verse not fettered in its movements, OT prudish in its
expressions, but Protean in the forms it can assume, pass-
ing naturally from grave to gay.
^ Edinburgh Reo., CLXin. 133.
prudishly (pr5'dish-li), adv. In a prudish man-
ner.
prudishness (pro'dish-nes), n. Same as pru-
pruinate (pro'i-nat), a. [< L. pruina, hoar-
frost, rime, also snow, + -ateK] Same asprid-
pruinescence (pro-i-nes'ens), n. [< h. pruina,
hoar-frost, + -escence.] In zool., hoariness;
the quality or condition of being pruinose.
pruinose (pro'i-nos), a. [= It. pruinoso, < L.
pruinosus, frosty, rimy, < pruina, hoar-frost.]
Covered with a bloom or powder so as to ap-
pear as if frosted: said of some plant-surfaces
dusted with a fine granular secretion.
pruinous (pro'i-nus), a. Same &s pruinose.
prunei (pron), n. [< F. prune = Sp. Fg.pruno
= It. pruno, < li.prunum, a ylmn.,prunus, plum-
tree, < Gr. izpoiivov, a plum, wpovvog, plum-tree,
earlier npovuvm, plum, irptAjivri, plum-tree : see
plurn^.] 1. A plum; in recent usage (espe-
prunel
cially in the western United States), a plum
suitable to be dried as a prune.
The damask prune rather bindeth than lowseth, and is
more commodious vnto the stomake.
Sir T. Elyot, Castle of Health, ii. 27. (fiichmrdson.)
2. The dried fruit of one of several varieties of
the common plum-tree. The most highly reputed
prunes are produced in the valley of the Loire, from the
St. Julien and other varieties of plum, the very finest be-
ing known as French plums. There is a large and increas-
ing production of prunes in California, the vai-iety of plum
chiefly grown for that purpose being identical or nearly
so with that employed in France, while the myrobalan
variety is the accepted grafting st^ck. Prunes are pro-
duced also in Spain and Portugal. German prunes are
largely produced, though of second quality. Bosnia and
Servia export large quantities. Prunes are stewed as a
sauce, or otherwise prepared, and are valued for their nu-
tritious, demulcent, and laxative properties.
I must have saffron to colour the warden pies; . . .
four pound ot prunes, and as many of raisins o' the sun.
Shak., W. T., iv. 8. 61.
Wild prune. See Pappea.
prune^ (pr6n), v. ; pret. and pp. pnmed, ppr.
pruning. [Early mod. E. also proin, proyn;
sXso preen (prob. due in part to confusion with
preen^) ; < ME. prwnen, proinen, proynen, trim
or adorn oneself, prob. also in the sense of
'trim trees,' ' take a cutting from a vine,' < OP.
proigmer, proognAer, prougner, progner, preti-
gner, prooingnier, contr. of provigner, F. pro- ■
vigner (> E. provine), lay (a slip or cutting of
a vine), layer, propagate, multiply, < provin,
provain, P. provin = It. propaggine, a slip or
cutting of a vine, a layer, sucker, < L. propago
(propagin-), a layer, sucker: e,ee propago, prop-
agate. Cf. provime.] I. trans. 1. To lop su-
perfluous twigs or branches from (a vine, bush,
or tree) ; trim with a knife.
What Vine, if it be not proymed,, bringeth f oorth Grapes ?
hyly, Enphues, Anat. of Wii^ p. 127.
But, poor old man, tliou ^wwnest a rotten tree.
That cannot so much as a blossom yield
In lieu of all thy pains and husbandry.
Shak., As you Like it, IL 3. 63.
2. To lop off as superfluous or injurious; re-
move by cutting.
Domen jTToing
The straight young boughs that blush with thousand blos-
soms.
Because they may be rotten?
Fletcher {and another). Two Noble Kinsmen, iil 6.
3. To clear from anything superfluous ; remove
what is superfluous or objectionable from.
Laws . . . are to h&prun£d and reformed from time to
time. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii.
4. To dress or trim, as birds their feathers;
preen: also used figuratively.
Ne dare she proin hir plumes again.
But f eares a second flight.
Gaseoigne, Philomene (ed. Arber), p. 98.
His royal bird
Prunes the immortal wing, and cloys his beak.
Shak., Cymbeline, v. 4. 118.
Where I sit aaiprayne my wings
After flight. B. Jonson, Underwoods, v.
Neither doe I know anything wherein a man may more
improue the reuenues of his learning, or malie greater
show with a little, decking and pruning himself e with
borrowed feathers, than in this matter of the Creation.
Purchajs, Pilgrimage, p. 6.
II. inirans. 1. To lop off superfluous twigs
or branches, as from a vine, bush, or tree.
A good husbandman is ever proyrdng and stirring in his
vineyard ; he ever findeth somewhat to do. Bacon.
With plenty where they waste, some others touch'd with
want;
Here set, and there they sow ; here prmn, and there they
plant. Drayton, Polyolbion, iii. 358.
2. To arrange or dress the feathers with the
bill: said of birds, and also used figuratively.
And, eftor this, the birdis everichone
Take up ane other sang full loud and clere ;
We proyne and play without dout and dangere.
All clothit in a soyte full fresch and newe.
King's Quavr, ii. 45. (JamSeson.)
A hawk jwoiK«s when she fetches oil with her beak over
her tail. Markham. (EalKweU.)
Every scribbling man
. . . grows a fop as fast as e'er he can.
Prunes up, and asks his oracle the glass.
If pink or purple best become his face.
Dryden, All for Love, Epil., 1. 13.
Prunese (prS'nf-e), n. pi. [NL. (Bentham and
Hooker, 1865),' < Prunus + -ese.] A tribe of
rosaceous plants, characterized by the drupa-
ceous fruit, numerous stamens in a complete
ring, and a single pistil with one subterminal
style and two pendulous ovules, it includes 5
genera, of which Prunus is the type. (See also NuttaZlia.)
They are trees and shrubs, natives chiefly of northern tem-
perate regions, including most of the drupes among the
edible fruits, and sometimes known as the plum family,
sometimes as the almond family. Also called Drupaceee
(A. P. de CandoUe, 1805) and Amygdalese (Jussieu, 1789).
See cuts under almond-tree, Prunus, apricot, and corymb.
pruuelf (prS-nel'), n. Same a,a prunella^.
prunelet
prunelet (prBn'let), n. [iprune^ + dim,
A liquor made from sloes or wild plums.
morids.
prunell (pr^-nel'), n. [< F. prunelle, prunella :
seej)rM«eHa*.] A milled cashmere. Compare
■let.']
Sim-
prunellaif (prB-mel'a), n. [< ML. prunella (El-
ian), a disorder of the throat, < MHGr. hriune,
G. hraune, sore throat, quinsy, lit. brownness,
< brun (> ML. hrurms), hrown: see brown.'] In
jaathol. : (a) Sore throat. (6) Thrush, (c) An-
gina pectoris.
prunella^ (prg-nel'a), n. [Also prvmello, tor-
inexly prunel, pruneilo (= Gr. prunelle, formerly
braunelle = IDsji.prunel); < ¥. prunelle, brunette
= Sp. brunela, self-heal, = It. prunella, wall-
wort, < ML. prunella, the plant self-heal, said
to have been named from the disease prunella,
which it was reputed to cure : see prunella^.]
If. A plant of the genus Prunella. Also brunel.
— 3. [cap.] [NL. (LinnsBus, 1737; earlier £»•«-
nella, Toumefort, 1700).] A genus of plants,
now known as Brunella, belonging to the order
Labiatse, tribe Staehydese, and subtribe Scutel-
lariese, characterized by a two-lipped calyx with
three lobes in the upper and two in the lower lip,
anthers with two divaricate cells, andboth style
and filaments two-toothed at the apex. There
are two or three species, widely dispeTsea throughout
temperate regions and on mountains in the tropics. They
are perennial herbs, partially erect from a decumbent base,
with opposite and entire toothed or pinnatilld leaves, a
flattened and truncate ten-nerved calyx, and purplish, blue,
red, or white flowers, six in a verticillaster, and crowded
in a dense terminal spike with broad rounded bracts be-
tween. P. (Brunstla) gravdijlora and other species are
cultivated for the beauty of their flowers. P. (BruneUa)
vulgaris^ the self-heal, widely distributed over the world
(except Africa) and remarkable for the intense violet of its
flower-buds, has also the old or provincial names aUkeal,
bruTiel, carpenter-grass, herb-carpenter , hea/rUof-tke-eajrth^
hookheal, mokweed, sickleheal, and sicMev/ort. (See heai-
all and carpenter^s-herbf and cut under Betf'heaZ.) The
decoction of its leaves and stem is still in domestic use
for healing wouuds, for which it was once in the highest
esteem.
prunella^ (prS-nel'a), n. [NL. prunella, < F.
prunelle, the ball of the eye, lit. a plum, < ML.
prunellum, a plum (prunelltis, plum-tree), dim.
of L._pr«»Mm, aplum: seep^'une^.] A prepara-
tion of purified niter or potassium nitrate mold-
ed into cakes or balls. Also called jprMneHd salt
and sal prunella.
prunella* (pr6-nel'a), n. [Also pruneUo ; = G-.
prunell = Dan. primel, < F. prunelle, a stuff so
called, supposed to be so named from its color,
< prunelle, plum: see prunella?.] A kind of
lasting of which clergymen's gowns were once
made, now rarely used except for the uppers of
women's shoes. Also called everlasUng.
Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow;
The rest is all but leather ot prunella,
PopBj Essay on Man, iv. 204.
The finest lawn makes common cause with any linen
bands — the silken apron shrinks not from poor prunella.
D. JerrM, Men of Character, John Applejohn, viii.
Tou know the sort of man — a linen duster fora coat,
prunella shoes, always smiling andhopeful — a great deal
about " Brethren." Harper's Mag., LXXVII. 845.
Prunella^ (prS-nel'a), n. [NL.] In ornith., a
genus of birds: same as Accentor. Vieillot,
1816.
pruneilo^ (pr^-nel'o), n. Same &s prunella^.
pruneilo^ (pr^-nel'o), n. Same as prunella'^.
pruneilo^ (prB-nel'o), n. [< F. prunelle, a plum,
= It. ^irMMeMo, blackthorn: see prunelkfi.] A
prune of the finest grade, prepared from the
green gage and the St. Catherine varieties of
plum. The skin and stone are removed.
prune-purple (pr6n'p6r"pl), n. A maroon or
dark and rather reddish purple color, like the
stain of prunes. A color-disk mixture of artificial
ultramarine 7 parts. Intense red 8 parts, and black 85
parts gives a prune-purple.
prnner (prS'ner), n. [Formerly also proiner;
< pruned + -eri.] One who prunes, or removes
what is superfluous.
His father was
An honest proiner of our country vines.
Machin, Dumb Knight, iii.
prune-tree (prSn'tre), re. 1. A plum-tree. Spe-
cifically— 3. Prunus occidentalis, an excellent
timber-tree of the West Indies. See Prunus.
pruniferous (prg-nif'e-rus), a. [< L. prunrnn,
a plum, -I- ferre = E.' bear^.] Bearing plums.
E. Phillips, 1706.
pruniform (pro'ni-f&rm), a. [< L. prunum, a
plum, + forma, form.] Having the appearance
of a plum; plum-shaped. Thomas, Med. Diet.
pruning (pro'ning), n. [Verbal n. oiprune^, v.]
1. The act of trimming or lopping off what is
superfluous; specifically, the act of cutting off
4810
branches or parts of trees and shrubs with a
view to the strengthening of those that remain,
or to the bringing of the tree or plant into a
desired shape. Eoot-pruning is also practised with a
Bpade or otherwise In order to control size, promote fruit-
fulness, or secure a growth of fibrous roots near the stem
prior to transplanting. Compare lopping, 1, and poUard, 1.
3t. hi falconry, what is cast off by a bird when
it prunes itself; hence, refuse. Beau, and Fl.
pruning-chisel (pr6'ning-chiz'''el), n. A chisel
used for pruning trees. It is often made with
a concave cutting edge, as a safeguard against
slipping.
pruning-hook (pro'ning-huk), n. A knife with
a hooked blade, used for pruning trees, vines,
etc.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruninghooks. Isa. it 4.
pruning-knife (pro'ning-nif), n. A knife used
for pruning ; a cutting-tool with a curved blade
for pruning; a pruning-hook.
pruning-saw (pro'ning-s^), n. A saw similar
to a table- or compass-saw, but with larger,
thicker, and keener teeth. Some pruning-saws are
made with double teeth and the back and cutting edge of
the blade nearly parallel, but with the back only half as
thick as the tooth-edge.
pruning-shears (pro'ning-sherz), n.pl. Shears
for pruning shrubs. One form has one of the blades
moving on a pivot, which works in an oblong opening in-
stead of a circular one, by which means a draw-cut is pro-
duced similar to that of a knife, instead of the crushing
cut produced by common shears.
Prunus (pro'nus), re. [NL. (Toumefort, 1700),
< L. prunus, plum-tree : see prune^.] A genus
of rosaceous trees, the type of the tribe Pru-
neee. it is characterized by a flve-lobed calyx, five pet-
als, commonly broad, large, and showy, numerous stamens,
and a single ovary, becoming in fruit a fleshy drupe with a
hard, smooth, or roughened bony stone, containing a sin-
gle pendulous seed with two thick seed-leaves. There are
about 96 species, mainly natives of north temperate re-
gions, also numerous in tropical America, rare in tropical
Asia, and elsewhere entirely lacking. They are usually
Wild Yellow or Red Plum i,Pr»mts AmericaMa).
I. Branch with flowers, z. Branch with leaves and fruit.
small trees, sometimes shrubs, bearing alternate undi-
vided leaves, usually finely toothed and folded lengthwise
by the midrib (conduplicate) in the bud. The white,
pink, or rose-colored flowers are in umbel-like clusters or
racemes, or sometimes solitary. Many of the most valua-
ble fruit-trees belong to this genus, including the peach,
apricot, cherry, and plum. Many are used as febrifuges
or for other medicinal properties. A gum exudes from their
bark, especially in the cherry. Nearly all parts contain
the elements of prussic acid, rendering the kernels and
bark of some species poisonous if eaten freely, particu-
larly the wilted leaves and young branches of some cher-
ries. One fourth of the known species are American, of
which 14 are found east and 6 west of the Kocky Moun-
tains. Mexico is the home of a remarkable group of 6
species (section Ermectodadus, Torrey), extending to Utali
and California, with velvety fruit, smooth stone, and soli-
tary or twin flowers appearing with the leaves, somewhat
akin to the almond. The section or former genus Amyg-
dalus has a downy fruit, rough and wrinkled stone, con-
duplicate vernation, and flowers preceding the leaves, and
includes about 10 species, natives of warmer Europe and
Asia, of which the type is P. Amygdalus {A. eommunu), the
almond. (See ahnmd, almond-tree, AmygdaLvjs, and a/myg-
dalin.) Its variety amara, the bitter almond, is the source
of a well-known essence. P. Persica, the peach, is now
placed in this section also. (See peachX, nectarine, ding-
utone, and Persica.') The apricot section, Armeniaca
(Toumefort, 1700), is similar in its downy drupe and flow-
ers preceding the leaves, but differs in its smooth stone
and convolute vernation. It includes P. Armeniaca, the
apricot; P. Sibiriea, the Siberian apricot, valued for its
earlier and ornamental flowers ; P. dagyea/rpa, the black
apricot, also Siberian ; and P. BriganMaca mm Brianton
in France, known as the marmottes-oU tree, from^e oil ex-
pressed from its kernels and used like olive-oil. The sec-
tion Prumts proper, including the plums of the Old World,
has a short calyx, smooth fruit, usually with a bloom, a
pruritus
flattened stone, and solitary or twin flowers preceding or
accompanying the leaves, which are convolute in the bud,
as in P. domesUea, the cultivated plum, and its probable
original, P. spinosa, the sloe or biackthom. (See plumK)
The related P. coeomilia of Calabria is valued in Italy as a
remedy for fever. ' The plums of the New World diflier in
their conduplicate vernation, fruit with little or no bloom,
and in some species very turgid stones, approaching those
of the cherry, as in P. Americana, the red or yellow plum
of the Atlantic States (also called Canada plum and horse-
plum) ; P. maritima, the beach-plum ; P. subcordaia, the
wild plum of California; and P. angustifolia (P. Chicam),
the Cnickasaw plum, or hog-plum. The cherry section,
Cerasus, known by its smooth fruit without a bloom, con-
duplicate vernation, and solitary clustered or umbeled
fiowers preceding or accompanying the leaves, includes
about 20 species, of which P. Cerasus is the parent of the
red and many other garden cherries. (See eharry^, Cerasus,
bigaroon, and moreuo. For P. avium, also called muzard
and merry, see gean and hedgeberry; also kirsch-ucasser,
nw/rasca, maraschino, and raJtafia. For P. Mahaleb, see
mahcUeb, and cut under corymb. For P. Chamacerams,
see ground-cherry.) Two related species belong to the
eastern United States, the dwarf P. pumila, or sand-
cherry, and P. Pennsylvanica, the wild red cherry, pin-
cherry, or pigeon-cherry. (See pin-cherry.) The section
Padus contains cherries with racemed fiowers following
the leaves, and smaller, less edible fruit, as P. Padus of
Europe, known as bird-cherry, and 4 American species,
P. Capuli and P. demissa, the wild cherries, respectively,
of Texas and the Eocky Mountains ; P. seroUna, the black
cherry, rum-cherry, or cabinet-cherry (see ruwrcherry);
and P. Virginiana, the choke-cherry. Another section,
Laurocerasus, suggests the true laurel in its evergreen
leaves, and has racemed flowers with a short obconical
calyx, a conduplicate vernation, and a small, smooth, in-
edible berry-like fruit. It includes about 30 species, both
temperate and tropical, mainly American, as P. occidenta-
lis, the West Indian laurel or prune-tree ; the Califomian
P. iticifolia, the islay, also called hoUy-laurel; and P. Caro-
linians, the Carolina cherry-laurel, also known as wUd
orange audimld peach. (See oran,ge^ And peachrbrd/ce.) For
the long-cultivated P. Lamroeerastis, type of this section,
also known as cherry-bay, laurel-cherry, and date of Trebi-
zond, see cherry-laurel, also laurel-water. The Versailles
laurel of gardens is a variety of this. P. Lusitanica is the
Portugal laurel. A species similarly valued for the beauty
of both its leaves and flowers is P. Pseudocerasus, the sa-
kura of Japan, also called Chinese cherry, used in Japanese
wood-engraving.
prurience (pro'ri-ens), re. [<. prurien{t) + -ce.]
Same as pruriency.
There is a prurience in the speech of some,
Wrath stays him, or else God would strike them dumb.
Covjper, Conversation, L 81
pruriency (pro'ri-en-si), n. [_As prurience (see
-cy).] The character or state of being prurient.
(a) An itching or longing after something ; an eager de*
sire or appetite.
This selfsame vile prurieney for fresh adventure in all
things has got . . .' strongly into our habits and humours.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, i. 20.
The bustling insignificance of Maximilian, cursed with
an impotent prurieney for renown. Macaulay, MachiavellL
(6) A tendency toward, or a habit of, lascivious thought;
sensuality.
Between prudery and prurieney in such matters there
is a wide debatable ground, and it is not always easy to
draw the line which separates what is permissible from
what is not. The American, XVn. 110.
prurient (pre'ri-ent), a. [= Pg. prwiente', < L.
«rMnere(<-)s, ppr. of ^rwrire, itch.] 1. Itching;
having an eager desire or longing for some-
thing.
There was always in the generality of mankind a prui-
rient desire and hankering alter the knowledge of future
events. Culverwdl, Light of Nature. (Ord MS.)
Love
Should have some rest and pleasure in himself.
Not ever be too curious for a boon.
Too prurient for a proof against the grain
Of him ye say ye love. Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
3. Inclined to lascivious thought; of an un-
clean habit of mind ; sensual.
The eye of the vain and prurient is darting from object
to object of illicit attraction. Isaac Taylor.
pruriently (pr5'ri-ent-li), adv. In a prurient
manner ; with a lonmng or lascivious desire.
pruriginous (pr8-rij'i-nus), a. [== F. prurigi-
neux = Sp. Pg. It. pruriginoso, < L. prurigino-
sus, having the itch, scabby, (.prurigo {-gin-),
an itching, < prurire, itch: see prurient.] Af-
fected by prurigo ; caused by or of the nature of
prurigo.
Their blood becoming pruriginous, and exalted by the
salt and corrupt diet, as it often does, produces mange,
scabs, and leprosies.
OreenhUl, Art of Embalming (1706), p. 164.
prurigo (pr§-ri'g6), n. [L., an itching, < pru-
rire, itch: see prurient.] An itching; specifi-
cally, a papular eruption of the skin in which
the papules vary in size from a millet-seed to
a small pea, are discrete, often in great num-
bers and close set, irregular in distribution,
nearly of the color of the cuticle, and usually
intolerably itchy.
pruritus (prO-ri'tus), re. [L., an itching, < pru^
rire, itch: see prurient:] An itching; more
specifically, a functional affection of the skin
pmritns
characterized by simple itching without struc-
tural change.
If there henpruntut, or Itch of talking, let it be in
matters of religion. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), 1. 74a
Pruritus Memalis, a form of pruritus in which the sldn
IS dry and harsh, with smarting and burning sensations.
It occurs chiefly in winter, and affects especially the inner
sides of the thighs, the popliteal spaces, and the calves.
4811
Woe to the vassal who durst piy
Into Lord Marmion's privacy 1
Scott, Marmion, lit. 16.
United States and Mexico, related to the nonpa-
reil, lazuli-finch, and indigo-bird, of a Prussian-
blue color varied with purplish tints.
Prussian (prush'an), a. and n. [< F. Prussien
= Sp. Prusiano = Pg. It. Prussiano, < ML,
taining to Prussia — (a) a former duchy near the
southeastern angle of the Baltic, which, after
its union with the Mark of Brandenburg, formed
the nucleus of the Prussian monarchy: or, (&)
a kingdom of northern Germany, now the chief
state in the reconstituted German empire. —
Native Fiussian blue. Same as blue ocher (which see,
underocAer).— Prussian asparagus, ^e agpmagm.—
Prussian binding, a land of twilled binding having a
sills lace and a cotton back.— Prussian blue, brown
carp, green, etc. See the nouns.
II. n. 1. A native or an inhabitant of Prussia.
— 2. A language belonging to the Lettish di-
vision of the Slavo-Lettic branch of the Aryan
, family, and usually called Old Prussian, it was
spoken in the region between the lower Vistula and the
Nieraen ; it became extinct in the sixteenth or seven-
teenth century, being replaced largely by Geiman.
Prussianize (prush'an-iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
Prussianized, ppr. Prussianizing. [< Prussian
+ -ize.'] To render Prussian in character, in-
stitutions, laws, etc.
The first step taken by the Emperor Paul after his ac-
cession to the tlirone was to marcli his little Prussianized
army from Gatchina to St. Petersburg.
WestndnMer Mev., CXXVIII. 680.
prussiate(prus'i-at),». l<pruss(ie) + -i-ate.^ A
common name for the ferrocyanides and ferri-
cyauides : thus, potassium f errocyanide is com-
monly called yellow prussiate of potash, potas-
sium ferricyanide red prussiate of potash, etc.
—Prussiate cake, in the manufacture of Prussian blue,
the solid cake produced by calcining potassium carbonate,
iionborings, -filings, or -clippings, and animalmatter, such
as dried blood, horn, leather-clippings, etc. This cake, when
broken up, is leached, and the liquor concentrated to crys-
tallization. The crystals are purified by re-ciystallization.
prussic (prus'ik), a. [< Pruss-iau (with ref . to
Prussian blue) + -4.C.'] In cliem., related to Prus-
sian blue, which was the first cyanogen com-
pound isolated. — Prusslo acid, the common name of
hydrocyanic acid. See hydrocyanic.
prussine (prus'in), n. [<.pruss-iG + -ine^."] Cy-
ajiogen.
prutif, «. A Middle English form ot proud.
prut^ (prut), interj. [MB. prut, ptrot, ptrwpt,
also trut, < OF. trut, an exclamation of con-
lempt or indignation. Cf. trut, tut.'\ An ex-
clamation of contempt or indignation.
And setteth hym ryjt at the lefte,
And seyth prut for thy cursyng prest.
MS. Harl. 1701, f. 20. (HaUiwell.)
Prutenic (pr8-ten'ik), a. [< ML. Prutenus, Pru-
tinus, Pruxenus, etc., a Prussian: see Prtissian.']
Prussian : noting certain planetary tables by
Erasmus Eeinhold iii 1551, and so called by the
author in allusion to the liberality of his pa-
tron, Albert, Duke of Prussia. They were the
first application of the Copernican system.
I trust anon, by the help of an infallible guide, to per-
fect such Prutenic tables as shall mend the astronomy of
our wide expositors. Milton, Divorce, i. 1. (Davies.)
pruttent, v. i. [< prut^, obs. form otproud.'] To
be proud ; hold up the head in pride or disdain.
HaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.]
pryi (pri), V. ; pret. and pp. pried, ppr. prying.
[< ME. pryeii, prien, peep, peer; supposed to
be a transposed form of pirera, peer: aeepeer^.
Transposition of this kind (of r in second sylla-
ble before a vowel to the first syllable before
the first vowel) is peculiar; transposition as
in brid to bird is in the other direction.] I,
intrans. To look closely or with scrutinizing
curiosity; hence, to search curiously or imper-
tinently into any matter; peer; peep.
So ferde another clerk with astromye ;
He walked in the feeldes, for to WT/f
Upon the sterres, what ther sholde bifalle,
TUhewasinamarleputyfalle;
He saugh nat that. Chaucer, Miller s Tale, 1. 272.
O eye of eyes,
Why,^-.« thou through my wlndowMeave Uiy peeptog.
II. trans. To observe ; note.
Pandarus, thatgan ful taste prye
That al was weL Chatuer, Iroilus, IL 1710.
pryi (pn), m.; pl.jp™s(piiz). lipry^v.} 1.
A peeping glance ; peering; curious or narrow
inspection. [Rare.]
From the sun and from the showV
Haste we to yon boxen bow'r.
Secluded from the teasing piy
Of Argus' curiosity. C, Smart, A Noon-piece.
They seldom meet the eye
Of the little loves that fly
Eound about with eager pr;/.
Keais, To .
2. One who pries j aprier; an inquisitive, in-
trusive person (with allusion to Paul Pry, a
fictitious name which, in its turn, was evi-
dently suggested by this sense of the word).
We in our silence could hear and smile at the busy
caclde of the "Prys" outside the door.
Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 82.
pry2 (pri), ». ; -pi. pries (priz). [Appar. tar prized,
taken erroneously as a plural: see priz^."] A
large lever employed to raise or move heavy
substances; a prize.
A dozen strong wooden poles served ns as prUs over
many a lake and river bar of sand, gravel, and mud.
Sdenee, III. 226.
pry2 (pri), V. t. ; pret. and pp. pried, ppr. prying.
[SPfy^, »•] To raise or move by means of a
pry ; prize ; bring into a desired position or con-
dition by means of a pry : as, to pry a box open.
pryan (pri'an), n. [Com. pryan, prion, clayey
ground.] Clay. [Cornwall, Eng.]
prjrany (pri'an-i), a. [< pryan + -^i.] Con-
taining pryan, or mixed with pryan.— Pryany
lode, a lode in which the masses, bunches, or stones of
ore occur mixed with more or less flucan and gossan.
[Cornwall, Eng.]
prydeti »• An obsolete spelling otpride^.
pryer, «. See prier.
pryghtet. An obsolete preterit of jjricfc CJuiu-
cer.
prying (pri'ing),^. a. Peeping; peering; look-
ing closely into anything; hence, inquisitive;
curious.
Many have been prying and inquisitive into this matter,
hoping to know something more particularly of it.
Waterland, Works, I. 227.
Prying eyes the fire-blast seldom lack.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 13.
=Syn. Inquisitive, etc. See curious.
pryingly (pri'ing-li), adv. In a prying manner ;
with close inspection or impertinent curiosity.
To those who peer pryingly into all comers the little inn
of the place will suggest some memories of a very modem
history. E. A, Freeman, Venice, p. 236.
prykt, pryketi v. Middle English spellings of
prick.
prjnnet, «• and n. A Middle English spelling of
prime,
prymert, »• -A-n obsolete form ot primer^.
pryst, n. A Middle English spelling ot price.
pryset, "• *• -Aju obsolete spelling of ^me^.
prytaneum (prit-a-ne'um), n. ; yX.prytanea (-a).
[L.,< Gr. ffjOi/ravEiov, the meeting-place orofSeial
house of the prytanes, < irpvTaviq, a presiding
magistrate : see prytanis."] A public hall in an-
cient Greek states and cities, housing and typi-
fying the common ritual or official hearth of the
community. That of Athens is especially famous. In
it the city extended hospitality both to her honored citi-
zens and to strangers. The prytanes, or presidents of the
senate, were entertained in it at the public charge, toge-
ther with those who, on account of personal or ancestral
services, were entitled to this honor.
prytanis (prit'a-nis), n.; pi. prytanes (-nez).
[L., < Gr. wpvTm/i(, dial, irpdravig, a chief lord,
prince, ruler, a presiding magistrate, president
(see def.); prob. < irpd, before.] In ancient
(Greece: (a) A chief magistrate or priest in
several states, as Ehodes, Lycia, and Miletus.
(6) A member, during the term of presidency
of his section, of one of the ten sections of fifty
each into which the Senate of Five Hundred was
divided at Athens. These sections constituted stand-
ing committees, every one of which, in rotation, repre-
sented the full senate in minor matters, and had charge
of routine business. See the quotations.
The prytanes were by turns presidents, had the custody
of the seal, and the keys of the treasury and citadel, for
one day. J^. Adams, Works, IV. 480.
The principal functions of the state itself grew out of
the care which was bestowed on the tribal fire. The men
who attended it in Hellas were called the Prytanes.
Eneyc. Brit., IX. 229.
prytanize (prit'a-'^z), «. ». ; pret. andpp. _pry*-
anized, ppr. pry'ianizing. [< prytatir-y + 4ze.'\
psalmist
In Gr. aiiUq.,to exercise the prytany: said of
a state or tribe, or of an individual legislator.
The order of the ten tribes in line of battle, beginning
from the right wing, was conformable to their order in
prytaniang, as drawn by lot for the year.
Orote, Eist. Greece, IV. 8(i0.
prytany (prit'a-ni), v. [< Gv. irpvTavda, a presi-
dency, the term of office or authority of a pryt-
anis, < irpvTavig, a presiding magistrate: see
prytanis.^ In ancient Greece, a presidency or
direction ; the office or dignity of a prytanis ;
especially, in ancient Athens, the period dur-
ing which the presidency of the senate belonged
to the prytanes of one section.
If Schbmann's older view is correct, the presiding ofiieer
in the Senate and the Assembly must always belong to the
tribe which holds the prytany at the time.
Trans. Amer. PhUol. Ass., XVI. 169.
prytheet. An obsolete spelling of prithee.
P. S. An abbreviation (a) of postscript; (6)
(theat.) ot prompt-side.
psallenda (sa-len'da), «.; pi. psallendee (-de).
[L., fern. sing, gerund, of psallere, play on a
stringed instrument, LL. sing the Psalms : see
psalm.'] In the Ambrosian office, one of two
proper antiphons simg at lauds and vespers on
Sundays and certain saints' days.
psalloid (sal'oid), a. [< NL. psulloides, irreg.
< Gr. fdMeiv, play on a stringed instrument, +
eldog, form.] Lyriform ; like the lyra, or corpus
psalloides, of the brain.
psalm (sam), n. [< ME. psalme, psanme, salm;
partly (a) < AS. sealm = D. psalm = MLG. salme
= OHG. psalmo, salmo, salm, MHG. psalme,
psalm, salme, salm, Gr. psalm = Sw. jj«(/to = Dan.
psalme; partly (6) < OF . psa%ime, F. psaume =
Pr. psalm, psalme, salme = Sp. It. scilmo = Pg.
salmo, psalmo; < IJh.psalmus = Goth, psalma,
psalmo, < Gr. ijxil/idc, a song sun^ to the harp, a
song, psalm, the sound of the cithara or harp,
a pulling or twitching with the fingers (cf.
ipaA/ia, a tune played on a cithara or harp, >
LL. psalma, a psalm), < ijiaTiMiv, touch, twitch,
play on a stringed instrument (> L. jysallere,
play on a stringed instrument, LL. sing the
Psalms). Cf. psalter, psaltery.'] 1. A sacred
poem or song, especially one in which expres-
sions of praise and thanksgiving are prominent :
usually restricted either to those contained in
the Book of Psalms, or to the versifications of
these composed for the use of churches, as the
Psalms of Tate and Brady, of "Watts, etc.
"This Dragon of Dissait, that thou derfly liath fourmet: "
So sethe in the sauter tlie Salme to the end.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4436.
Euen the name Psalmes will speake for mee, which, be-
ing interpreted, is nothing but songes.
Sir P. Sidney, Apol. for Poetrie.
They do no more adhere and keep place together than
the Hundredth Psalm to the tune of " Green Sleeves."
Shak., M. W. of W., iL 1. 63.
The great organ . . . rolling thro' the court
A long melodious thunder to the sound
Of solemn psalms, and silver litanies.
Tennyson, Princess, ii.
2. pi. {_cap.] A book of the Old Testament
which follows Job and precedes Proverbs, and
contains 150 psalms and hynms; more fully,
the Book of Psalms. The authorship ot a large num-
ber of the psalms is ascribed traditionally to David. Many
of them, however, are supposed to date from the time of
the exile or later.
3. 2)1. Among the ancient Jews, the Hagiogra-
pha: so called because the Psalms constitute
the first book in it. Luke xxiv. 44 Abeceda-
rian, gradual penitential, etc., psalma. See the ad-
Jectives.- Psalms of commendation. See commenda-
ti<m, 5. — Psalms of degrees. Same as gradual psalms
(see gradimC).
psalm (sam), I). \WEi.*psalmen,salmen; <. psalm,
n.] I.t intrans. To sing psalms.
II. trans. To celebrate in psalms ; hymn.
That we her Subjects, whom He blesseth by her,
Psalming His praise, may sound the same the higher.
Syloester, tr. ot Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Handy-Crafts.
psalm-book (sam'buk), n. [< ME. *salmbol:
salmboo,< AS. sealmboc (= D. psalmhoeh = MLG.
salmbok = G. psalmbuch = Sw. psaJmholc = Dan.
psalmebog), < sealm, psalm, + 6oc, book: see
psalm and book,] 1. A collection of metrical
translations of the Psalms prepared for liturgi-
cal use ; a Psalter. — 2. Any collection of sacred
poems or songs for liturgical use, with or with-
out music.
psalmist (sa'mist or sal'mist), «. [= F. psal-
miste = Pr.psalmista, salmista = Sp. It. salmista,
< LL. psalmista, < LGr. *ipa7i,/uaT7ic, a composer
or singer of psalms, < Gr. ijjaTi/jdg, a psalm : see
psalm.] 1. A writer or composer of psalms;
especially, one of the authors of the psalms ia„.
the Bible ; specifically, David.
psalmist
David, . . . the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the
nweetpscUmist of Israel. 2 Sam. zziii. 1.
She tun'd to pious notes the psalmisVs lyre.
' J. Hughes, Divine Poetry.
2. In early Christian music, a. cantor or other
official of the minor clergy charged with the
singing of church music.
psamister (sa'mis-tfer or sal'mis-tfer), n. [<
psalmist + -ei-i.] Same as psalmist, 2.
psalmistry (sa'mis-tri or sal'mis-tri), n. [<
psalmist + -ry.'\ The art, act, or practice of
singing psalms ; psalmody.
He who, from such a kind of pBalmintry, or any other
verbal devotion, . . . can be persuaded of a zeal and true
righteousness in the person, hath much yet to learn.
Maton, Works, I. 408. (Jodrell.)
psalm-melodicon (sam'me-lod'i-kon), n. A
musical instrument of the wood wind group,
having several finger-holes and keys and a com-
pass of four octaves, and so constructed that
from four to six tones could be produced at
once. It was invented by S. Weinrich in 1828,
and improved by L. Schmidt in 1832. Also
called apollolyra.
psalmocuc (sal-mod'ik), a. [< psalmod-y + -jc]
Belonging or relating to psalmody.
That glorious body of pgdtmodic literature or hymnol-
ogy which constitutes the Book of Fsalms.
J. A. Alexander, On the Fsalms, 11. 294.
psalmodical (sal-mod'i-kal), a. [< psalmodic
+ -oi.] Same as psalmodic.
If Queen Elizabeth patronized cathedral musick exclu-
sively, she did not inUsrdict psalmodical.
'^- W. Maeim, Church Music, p. 170.
psalmodist (sal^mo-dist or sa'mo-dist), n. [<
psalmod-y + -is*.] One who composes or sings
psalms or sacred songs.
It will be thought as fit for our lips and hearts as for
our ears to turn psalmodists.
Hammond, On the Fsalms, Pref . {Latham.)
Frophet in some parts of the Scripture seems to imply
little more than a mere poet, or psalnwdigt, who sung ex-
tempore verses to the sound of an instrument.
Dr. Bumey, Hist. Music, I. 230.
Itsalmodize (sal'mo-diz or sa'mo-diz), v. i, ; pret.
and T^T^.psalmodiee'df-ppT.psahnbdizing. [ipsaU
mod-y + -ize.'] To practise psalmody.
In short, the bird perform'd his part
In all the psalmodiginff art.
J. G. Cooper, Ver-Vert, ii.
psalmody (sal'mo-di or sa'mo-di), n. [< ME.
psalmody, < OF. (and F.)psaimodie = Pr. psal-
modia = Sp. salmodia = It. salmodia = Pg.psal-
modia, < ML. psalmodia, < Gr. ■ipaAfitj)Sia, a sing-
ing to the harp, < (MQr.) faX/u^Selv, sing to the
h.a,Tp,(. ipa7\,/i6g, a song (see p«aZ»}),+ acideiv, g^Eiv,
sing: see o(fei.] 1. The art, act, or practice of
singing psalms or hymns as a part of worship.
As touching that is laide to our charge in psalmodies
and songs, wherewith our slauuderers do fray the simple,
I haue thus to say. Foxe, Martyrs, p. 1921, an. 1588.
Calvin, who had certainly less music in his soul than the
other [Luther], rejected both vocal and instrumental har-
mony, and admitted only unisonous psalmody.
W. Mason, Church Music, ill.
He was also an expert in psalmody, having in his youth
been the pride of the village singing-school.
H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 34.
2. Psalms collectively, especially in the form
of metrical versions prepared for liturgical use.
psalmody (sai'mo-di or sa'mo-di), v. t.; pret.
and pp. psalmodied, ppr. psalmodying. [< psal-
mody, ».] To hymn ; celebrate in psalms.
It is an event which can be looked on ; which may still
be execrated, still be celebrated SiXi&psalm^died; but which
it were better now to begin understanding.
Carlyle, Misc., iv. 119. (Jlavks.)
psalmographt (sal'mo-graf ), n. [< LL. psalmo-
graphus, < Gr. ipa%/ioyp&iliog, a ;psalm-writer, <
^aA/«if, a psalm, + yp&<peiv, write.] Same as
psalmographer.
That great King-Prophet, Poet, Conqueror,
Sweet Psalmogra^K
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Triumph of Faith, iii. 10.
This, the most sweet and sacred psalmagraph.
Middleton, World Tost at Tennis.
psalmographer (sal-mog'ra-f er), n. [< psalmo-
graph + -eri.] A writer of psalms or sacred
songs.
Therefore our Psalmogra/pher, ver. 15 [Ps. cxviii.], hav-
ing shewed that " the voice of rejoicing and salvation is
in the tabernacles of the righteous," he adds, "The right
hand of the Lord hath done valiantly."
Ren. T. Admns, Works, L 119.
psalmographist (sal-mog'ra-fist), re. [< psalmo-
graph + 4st.'\ Same as psalmographer.
psaunography (sal-mog'ra-fi), re. [< Gr. fa'kfi6(,
song, + -ypmjiia, < ■ypa<psiv, write. Cf. psalmo-
graph.'i The art or practice of writing psalms
or sacred songs.
4812
psalm-singer (sam'sing'Sr), re. One who sings
psalms ; especially, one who holds that the con-
gregational singing of psalms is a necessary
part of all church worship.
psalm-singinf (sam'sing'ing), n. The act or
practice of singing psalms or similar sacred
poems as a part of church worship.
psalm-tone (sam'ton), re. In medieval music, a
melody or tone to which a portion of the Psalter
was habitually sung.
psaloid (sa'loid), a. [< Gr. faMg, an arch, vault,
+ el6og, form.] Resembling an arch. Thomas,
Med. Diet.
psalter (sai'ter), re. [< ME. psauter^sautere,
sauter, sautre,<. OF. psaultier, sauUer, 'F.psautier
='Pi.psalteri, salteri, sauteri = Sp. salterio =Fg.
psalterio = It. saltero, salterio, < L. psalteri/um,
a song sung to the psaltery, LL. the psalms
of David, < Gr. fa^r^piov, a psaltery, LGr. the
Psalter, Book of Psalms: see psaltery.'] 1.
[cap.] The Book of Psalms, considered as a
separate book of the Old Testament: usually
restricted to those versions of or compends
from it which are arranged especially for the
services of the church, such as the version of
the Psalms in the Book of Common Prayer.
The translation of the Psalter in the Book of Common
Prayer is not that of the authorized version, but that of
the earlier version of Cranmer's Bible.
The prophete his payn eet in penaunce and wepyng;
As taepsaiUer vs seith, so dude moni othere.
Piers Plowman (A), viii. 107.
As David seythe in the Psavtere, Quoniam persequeba-
tur unus mille, & duo fugarent decem milia.
MandemUe, Travels, p. 261.
2. In liturgies, that portion of the Psalms ap-
pointed for a given day or service.
And [let] each brother of common condition [sing] two
psalters of psalms, one for the living and one for the dead.
Quoted in English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), Int., p. xviii.
3. IntheiJom. Caife. CA.: (a) A series of devout
utterances or aspirations, 150 in number, in
honor of certain mysteries, as the sufferings
of Christ.
Euery brother and sister shal payen, of ye commoun
oatel, a peny to a savier for ye dedes soiile.
English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 26.
(6) A large chaplet or rosary, consisting of 150
beads, corresponding to the number of the
Psalms.
psalterial (sal-te'ri-al), a. \_<psalterium + -al.J
In zool., of or pertaining to the psalterium : as,
the psalterial aperture of the reticulum; the
psalterial laminss.
psalterian (sal-te'ri-an), a. [(.psaltery + -an.]
Pertaining to a psaltery ; resembling the music
of a psaltery ; musical.
Then once again the charmed Ood began
An oath, and through the serpent's ears it ran
Warm, tremulous, devout, psalterian.
Keats, Lamia, i.
psalterion (sal-te'ri-on), re. ; pi. psalteria (-a).
[< Gr. ipaXrijptov. see psalterium.] Same as
psaltery, 1.
He was driven, for revenge and his own defence, to an-
swer with great and stout words, saying that indeed he
had no skill to tune a harp, nor a viol, nor to play on a
psalterion. North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 96.
psalterium (sal-te'ri-um), re. ; ipl.psaUeria (-a).
[L. ; see psalter, psaltery.] 1. Same as psal-
ter.— 2. Same SjS psaltery, 1.
The psalterium was a kind of lyre of an oblong square
shape ; ... it was played with a rather large plectrum.
South Kensington Art Handbook, No. v., p. 36.
3. In zool., the third division of the stomach of
a typical ruminant, between the reticulum or
honeycomb and the abomasum ; the omasum :
also called manyplies, from the numerous folds
of mucous membrane which nearly fill the in-
terior. It is reduced to a mere tube, without folds, in
the less typical ruminants, as the Tragulides. See cut un-
der ruminant.
WTien this portion of the stomach is slit open longitu-
dinally, the lamelliB fall apart like the leaves of a book,
whence it has received the fanciful name of the Psalteri-
um, from anatomists, while
butchers give it that of
Manyplies.
Huxley, Anat. Vert., p. 323.
4. In anat. : (a) The
lyra of the fornix. (&)
The pectunculus.
psaltery (sai't6r-i), re.;
pi. psalteries (-iz). [<
ME. psalterie, sautrie,
< OF. psalterie, < L.
psalterium, psalteiy,
also a psalter, < Gr. faX-
T^piov, a stringed in-
strument, a psaltery, Psaltery of the Mth century.
Fsammopbis
also the Psalms of David, the Psalter, < ^d/Ufiv,
touch, twitch, play on a stringed instrument:
see psalm.] 1. A musical instrument of the
zither group, having several or many strings
variously tuned, which are sounded by the fin-
ger with or without the aid of a plectrum, its
use has been extensive, beginning in Biblical times, and
continuing to the seventeenth century. It is similar to
the dulcimer, except that its tone is produced by twitch-
ing or picking instead of by striking. It differs from the
harp proper in having a sound-board behind and parallel
with the strings. In some cases two or three strings
tuned in unison were provided for a single tone.
And al above ther lay a gay sautrie,
On which he made a nyghtes melodie,
So swetely that al the chambre rone.
Chaucer, Miller s Tale, I. 27.
Praise the Lord with harp ; sing to him with the psaltery,
and an instrument of ten strings. Ps. xxxiii. 2.
Deep rob'd in white, he made the Levites stand
With cymbals, harps, and psalteries in their hand.
Pamell, Gift of Poetry.
2. Same as psalter.
She knew all the Psaltery by heart, ay, and a great part
of the Testament besides.
Lamb, Dream-Children. (fiaUes.).
psaltreSS (sai'tres), n. [< Gt. *iiaXTi(, equiv.
to ■fd^TTic, a harper (< jjidMeiv, play on a string-
ed instrument), + -ess.] A woman who plays
upon the psaltery.
Earth is a wint^ clod ;
But spring-wind, like a dancing psaltress, passes
Over its breast to waken it. frotoning', Paracelsus.
Fsaltria (sal'tri-a), re. [NL. (Tennninck,
1832), < 1,. psaltria, 'i Gr. ipaXrpia, fem. of falrfi;,
a hai-per : see psaltress, Psaltripa/rus.] A genus
of Paridse, the type of which is P. exilis, a very
small Javan titmouse: extended to various
American species. See Psaltriparus.
Fsaltriparus (sal-trip'a-rus), re. [NL. (Bona-:
parte, 1851), < Gr. ipa^rpia, fem. of *ipaM/p, a
harper, + L. pants, a titmouse.] An Ameri-
can genus of Paridse, containing several species
of diminutive tits, with long tails, building very
large pensile nests and laying pure-white eggs ;
the bush-tits. p. melanotie, P. minimut, and P. plum^
beus are three species found in western pai'ts of the United
States, respectively known as the black-ea/red, least, and!
plumJbeous bush-tit. See cut under busJi-ttt.
Fsammat (sam'a), re. [NL. (P. de Beauvois,
1812), < Gr. ipd/ifiog, sand.] A former genus of
grasses : same as Ammophila, 1.
Fsamminse (sa-mi'ne), n.pl. [NL., < Gr. ipi/i-
IWQ, sand, + -inas.] A subfamily of Spongillidse,
without flesh-spicules, the skeleton consisting
of foreign bodies cemented by indistinct spon-
gin.
psammismus (sa-mis'mus), re. [NL., < Gr. ijid/i-
/iog, sand. Cf . Gr. ipa/i/ua/idc, a burying in the
sand.] Inpathol., the passage of gravel in the
urine.
psammite (sam'it), n. [< P. psammite, < Gr.
fa/i/i'iTTic, of sand, sandy,< ipi/i/ioc, sand.] Sand-
stone ; gritstone. [Little used by American
geologists.]
psammitic (sa-mit'ik), a. [< psammite + 4c.]
In geol., having a structure like that of sand-
stone made up of rounded grains of sand. If
the grains are sharp, the structure is called
gritty, and the rock a grit or gritstone.
psammocarcinoma (sam-o-kar-si-nd'ma), n.
[NL., < Gr. ijjdn/ioc, sand, '+ NL. carcinoma.]
A carcinoma with a calcareous deposit.
psammoma (sa-mo'ma), «. [NL., < Gr. ipdfifioi,
sand, + -oma.] A tumor containing abundant
calcareous deposit, usually growing from the
membranes of the brain, ana most frequently
a myxoma or fibroma.
Fsammonemata (sam-o-ne'ma-ta), n. pi. [NL.,
< Gr. ipd/i/ioc, sand, + v'^/ia (vi;/laT-), thread.] A
group of horny or fibrous sponges, having sand
or other foreign substance in the axis of the
spongir. The common bath-sponge is an ex-
ample.
FsammopMdae (sa-mof'i-de), re. pi. [NL., <
Psammophis + 4dSB.] A family of harmless co-
lubrine Ophidia, typified by the genus Psammo-
phis, now reduced to a subfamily of Colubridee;
the sand-snakes, in Gtinther's classification it con-
tained four genera, represented chiefly by African and
Indian species. Also Psammophididse.
Fsammophinse (sam-o-E'ne), re. pi. [NL., <
Psammophis + -inse.]' A subfamily of Colu-
bridee, represented by three genera, Psammo-
phis, Psammodynastes, and Mimophis; the sand-
snakes or desert-snakes. They have the head dis-
tinct, the body moderately slender, not compressed, the
middle teeth elongated, and the posterior ones grooved.
The species are all tropioaL Also Psammophidmie. E.
D. Cope.
Psammophis (sam'6-fis), n. [NL. (Wagler), <
Gr. V>(l/i/iof, sand, + 6(ptg, a serpent.] The typi-
Psammophis 4813
pseudepigrapha
sSdTplMes ''""'"'• " ^- «>»*"»»™». frequenting
Paaris (sa'ris), » [NL. (Cuvier, 1817), < Gr.
&d1^5;^^-^ Agenusoftityrinebirds,now
[< NL- psellismus, < Gr. pseudaesthosia (su-des-the'si-a), ». [NL., < Gr.
TpeXTua/iog, a stammering, < ijieAMeiv, stammer,
pronounce indistinctly, < ipc^Mg, faltering in
speech, stammering.] A defect in emmoiation ;
misenunciation. PselliBm may consist in lisping, stam-
mering, barring, liesitation, etc. It also designates defec-
Po9rn/>n1iiici Coot. !z i,;;/i- s ,-.,» tive enunciation due to a liare-lip or defect ol lip.
S RnpnW«H I . i'"""^^' "•. ^^■' < ^''- PSellismus (se-Us'mus), «. [NL.] Same as
^apdc, speckled, + Ko?[.c6g, a woodpecker.] A pseUism. j> l j
WarffiH^l'sMifM ""^^ °I ^'=*''''i«' T^er wMeh Psephenid» (se-fen'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Pse-
3enf iio i^!«? 1} %^ ^ ''''™^^'' °* "^ss^Uar J''^«»«s + -»«i«.:i A family of coleopterous in-
«V«t^LT/^,;,f- ''i^^^r°''y'^°'''^*^^'^ «««t8' ^™ed by Le Conte in 1861 from the
P^aron?,« ?«5^s' • ^7°^*^ ^??^^- . t ^enus Psephenvl: now merged in Pamid*.
^STg . te^"ak "Wdae'dUTcT^- W,T^' ^Svfc'Ta^k ^bsi^i S=i -^f -rfVetc."
stone, < Vapdf, speckled, < #^, a starling.] In genus ofPsSX' ' °''^''™®--' ^^^ *^'"''^ pseudambulacral (su-dam-bu-la'kral), a,
/omJ 60*., a genus of petrified tree-fernf.Thev " ^ "^ - "i-*— — v^-i-™ ' '
have been found chiefly in the Permian, but also In the
coal-measures. Portions of these petrified trunks have
been cut and polished for ornamental purposes, and called
by the name of staarstein in German, and star- or stami-
rtone m English. »•«■"»
psautert, n. a Middle English form of psal-
dee. Two species
only are known,
both of the United
States.
. psepliisiu(se'fizm),
n. 1<'L. psephisma,
psautriet, n. A Middle EngUsh form of psal- ordinance^ ojTa de"^
tery.- liberative assem-
pscbem, n. Same as pshem. My < iimMCew
pschent(ps6hent),». [Egypt.] In arcft«o?., the comit, reckon with
sovereign crown of all Egypt, composed of the pebbles or count-
tall pointed miter, or white crown, of southern ers, < i/«70of, also
ipi?(j>l(, a pebble, a
smooth stone, <
Tpdeiv, rub. ] In
Gr. cmtiq., a pub-
lic vote of an as-
sembly, specifical-
ly of an assembly
Psephenus Ucontei.
( Cross shows natural size.)
fevd^K, false, + aiadTim^, feeliu'g: see esstHesia.l
Imaginary or false feeling; imaginary sense
of touch in organs that have been removed, as
when pain is felt as if iu the fingers or toes
of an amputated limb. Also spelled psetides-
thesia.
Pseudalopex (su-da-Io'peks), n. [NL. (Bur-
meister, 1856), < Gr. Vra%, false, + dXdTnyf, a
fox.] A genus or subgenus of South American
Canidse, related to Ijycalopex, but further re-
sembling foxes in having the pupil of the eye
elliptical when contracted, as in P. azarx, P.
Sim-
ulating ambulacra or ambulacral areas, as cer-
tain spaces observed in blastoid crinoids.
pseudaphia (sii-da'fi-a), n. [< Gr. i//e«%, false,
+ d^, a touch: SG% parapMa.'\ Paraphia.
pseudapostle (sud-a-pos'l), n. [< LL. pseuda-
postolus, < LGr. -ipevdaTrdaTohjc, a false apostle,
< TpevSiji, false, + mrScTolog, apostle : see apos-
tle.'] A false or pretended apostle. Also psevr-
do-apostle.
For these Philippian pseudaposUes, two ways were they
enemies to the crosse of Christ: in their doctrines, in
their practice. Bp. Hail, Sermon on Phil. iii. 18, 19.
Pseudarachnse (su'^da-rak'ne), n.pl. [NL., <
Gr. Tjievd^g, false, -1- ap&xv?!, a spider: see Arach-
nida.] A group of arthropod animals com-
posed by Haeekel to contain the sea-spiders, or
Pycnogonida, and the water-bears, or ArcMsca.
In Gegenbaur's system the Paeudarachnm are one of two
prime divisions oiArcushnida, the other being Avtarachrue.
Also called Pseitdarachna. See cuts under Arctiaca and
Pyctwgonida.
of the Athenian people; a decree or statute PSeudarthrosis (sii-dar-thro'sis), n. A condi-
enacted by such a vote. tion in which, after fracture, there is failure of
psephomancy (se'fo-man-si), n. [< Gr. ipv<l>oc, ^ony union, and there remains an actual joint
a pebble, + /rnvTsia, divination.] Divination <"■ ^ filrous union with slight movement.
by means of pebbles drawn from a heap. Moget. Pseudastacus (sii-das'ta-kus), re. [NL., < Gr.
Psephurus (se-fii'rus), n. [NL. (Gilnther, ■V'™<'tc, false, + acrra/ciifj a lobster, crawfish: see
1873), < Gr. ii^^oc, pebble, -f-" oipd, tail.] A
genus of polyodont fishes, having six upper
Pschent — From rel efs of the temple-court of Edfou, Egypt
Egypt, combined with the red crown, square in,
front and rising to a point behind, of northern
■^Sypt. The two kingdoms were united by Menes, who
founded the greatness of the Egyptian monarchy and re-
strained the power of the priests, at the dawn of recorded
history.
Pselaphi (sel'a-fi), n. pi. [NL., pi. of Psela-
phiis, q. v.] In Latreille's classification, the
third family of trimerous Coleoptera, contain-
ing Pselapims and Claviger as leading genera.
It corresponds to the modern family PselapM-
dse, but was differently located in the system.
pselaphid (sel'a-fid), a. and re. I. a. Of or per-
taining to the 'PselapMdsB.
II. n. Any beetle of this family.
Pselaphids (sf-laf 'i-de), n. pi. [NL. (Leach,
1817), < Pselaphus + -^dse.] An anomalous
family of Coleoptera, typified by the! genus Pse-
laphus. They have been variously located in the Palpi-
eomiM or Clavicomia, and are now classed with the latter T>_„j.is__ /„. 4.-/ s-,
suborder. The tarsi are trimerous, the dorsal abdominal irSeTiTilllBe ^se-Il ne;,
segments are entirely corneous, and the abdomen is fixed,
unappendaged, and of five or six segments. Ihey are very
small brownish beetles, more or less pubescent, found in
most countries in moss and ants' nests and under stones.
The family is rich in genera and species ; of the former,
29 are represented in the
United States.
pselaphothecaCsel''-
a-fo-the'ka), n. ; pi.
"pselapliotfiecx (-se).
[NL., < Gr. frjAaipav,
feel about, + B^kij, a
box, chest.] In en-
tom., one of the two
conical processes on
the anterior extrem-
ity of many butter-
fly pupsB, in which
the palpi are de-
veloped.
Pselaphus (sel'a-
fus), n. [NL.
(Herbst, 1792), <
Gr. ipijXa^av, feel or
grope about.] The
typical genus of
Pselaphidse, having
the tarsi single-clawed, and the maxillary pal-
Psephunts gladius.
Astaeus.l A genus of fossil decapod crusta-
ceans, from the Solenhofen slates of Bavaria,
containing such species as P. pustulosus. Also
Pseudo-astacus.
Pseudecbeneis (sii-dek-e-ne'is), n. [NL.
(Blyth, 1860), < Gr. Vrarffe false, -I- NL. Eche-
neis.'] A genus of Asiatic catfishes of the fam-
ily Sihiridse: so called from the adhesive ap-
paratus or sucking-disk formed by plaits of
skin between the pectorals, enabling the fish
to cling to stones in the mountain streams
which it inhabits.
caudal fulcra enormously developed, p. giadius
is a Chinese fresh-water species, with a long snout extend-
ing far beyond the month. It attains a length of 18 feet.
Psetta (set'a), n. [NL. (Swainson, 1839), < L.
&0»'i^hTrUeS'bJthtbf3Vl P5«-delephant (s.-del'e-fant), ». Amastodon,
^r^et^sir'f So^r^^rfarKis^'^t P^^^^^^^^
maxima is the famous turbot, next in size to
the halibut among the flatfishes.
Psettidss (set'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Psettus +
•idle.'] A family of aeanthopterygian fishes,
typified by the genus Psettvs (or Monodactylus).
l^he body is much compressed and elevated, the vertical
fins are covered with scales, the dorsal has seven or eight
spines and the anal three, and the ventrals are rudimen-
tary. The few species are inhabitants of the Pacific and
African coasts. See cut under Psettus.
pi. [NL., < Psetta -f-
Coues.
[< Gr. tjievS^c,
tidse,+ £X/uvg{sX/uvd-),awoTm: aeehelminth.] A
supposed entoparasitic worm which proves to
be something else. Also pseudhelminth.
Sometimes the pseudeJ/mmthx are really so worm-like
that a mere naked-eye examination is insuificient to de-
termine their nature.
T. S. Coblold, Tapeworms (1866), p. 9.
pseudelytrum, pseudelytron (su-del'i-trum,
-tron), n. ; pi. pseiidelytra (-tra). A false ely-
trum; a spurious or degenerate wing-cover or
fore wing, as the small twisted process of a sty-
See Strepsiptera and Stylopidse.
insB.] A subfamily of PleuroneoUdm, typified lops. „. .„. „ . ... „„ ^ „„.^.
by the genus P«e<to. They have a nearly symmetri- pseudembryo (su-'&em'bri-o), n. "^[< Gr. todfc
p.at ann (renprjillv Inrfye TnmiT.n_ ann r.np v,infra1 fino nn. ... i . ^ n t" . n . '- '
cal and generally large mouth, and the ventral fins un-
symmetrical, that of the eyed side having an extended
base on the ridge of the ab-
domen, while the other is
narrower and lateral. The
eyes are on the left side. It
includes the turbot, brill,
whilt, topknot, scaldfish,
and many other flatfishes.
psettine (set'in), a. and
n. I. a. Of or pertain-
ing to the Psettinas.
II, n. Any member
of the group PsetUnee.
Psettus (set 'us), n.
[NL. (Cuvier and Va-
lenciennes, 1831), < Gr.
iji^ra, a flatfish, a
plaice, sole, or turbot.]
A genus of carangoid
fishes, typical of the
family Psettidse. P.
Psettus sebm.
false, + efi^pvov, embryo.] A false embryo:
applied to various larval forms after the egg
stage, (as) The echinopsedium of a sea-urchin. Wyville
Thomson. (6) The bipiryiaria or brachiolaria of a starfish.
(c) The swarm-gemmule of a sponge, or so-called sponge-
embryo. W. S. Kent.
pseudembryonic (su-dem-bri-on'ifc), a. [<
pseudemhryo(n-) + -ic] Pertaining to a pseu-
dembryo, or having its character; echinopsedie.
Pseudemydse (sti-dem'i-de), n.pl. [NL.,< Pseu-
demys (-emyd-) + -se.] A family of cryptodirous
tortoises, named from the genus Pseudemys, now
merged in the family Clenimyidse or Testudinidse.
J. E. Gray.
Pseudemys (su'de-mis), n. [NL. (J. E. Gray,
1856), < Gr, ■^ev&fjQ, false, + NL. Emys.] A ge-
nus of tortoises of the family Emydidx, some-
times giving name to the Pseudemydx. it con-
tains chiefly North American turtles, among them P. ru-
gosa or rubriventris (the potter, slider, or red-bellied ter-
rapin), P. concinnat P. Tnobiliensis, etc.
Pselaphus erichsoni.
(Cross shows natural size.)
argenteus is an Indo-Paciflc species, about 10 pseudencephalus (siid-en-sef'a-lus), n.; pi,
„j being . .. 1. , „ .
longiclamts, are found in North Amenoa north of Menoo.
inches long. P. seise is West African,
pseud-. See pseudo-.
pseudaconitine (su-da-kon'i-tin), n. Same as
^o-aconitine.
da-kii'sis), n. [NL., < Gr,
axoiiaii, a hearing.] False hear-
ing
pseudencephali (-11). [NL., < Gr. xpevdTi;, false,
-I- eyKEfaTioc, the brain.] In teratol., a monster
in which the brain is replaced by a vascular
tumor derived from the pia mater.
)Seudepigrapba (su-de-pig'ra-fa), n.pl. [NL., <
Gr. ipsvocmYpa^a, neut. pi. of ^lievSemypa^^, falsely
inscribed or ascribed: see psevdepigraphousT]
pseudepigrapha
4814
Spurious writings; specifically, those writings
wMch profess to be Biblical in character and
inspired in authorship, but are not adjudged
genuine by the general consent of scholars;
those professedly Biblical books which are re-
garded as neither canonical nor inspired, and
from their character are not worthy of use in
religious worship. Biblical literature is divided into
three classes : (o) The canonical and inspired ; (6) the non-
canonical and uninspired, but on account of tlieir charac-
pseudochromidoid
seutibranchiate gastropods, with the gills de-
veloped as a branching vessel on the inner sur-
face of the mantle, the body and shell spiral,
the lateral central teeth of the odontophore
large and irregular, and no operculum. The
group was instituted by J. E. Gray for terres-
trial forms belonging to the family Proserpin-
idee.
prefix, with words of any origin, and by no means all the
compounds made with it are given below. In scientific
compounds it implies something deceptive in appearance,
function, or relation. Thus, in ciystallography, it is used
in such compounds aspsettdo-isometric, pseudo-tetiagonal,
etc., to describe crystals which appear to belong to the
isometric, tetragonal, etc., systems, but in fact belong to
a system of lower grade of symmetry. (See pseudosym-
metry ) In biology it is much used (like pMsi) to indi-
cate deceptive likeness of things really quite unlike ; but ,.,,.,., „ • ,N ry
it frequently implies a real resemblance so close as to Ob- pggmio^rancnial (su-ttO-brang kl-alj, a. l\
scure or hide actual difference. ^ pseudobranchia^ + -al.^' Ot or -peTtaJniag to a,
ter worthy of use in"the services of the church ; (c) those pseudo-aconitine (su"d6-a-kon'i-tin), n. A pggudobranch or to pseudobranchisB.
which, though Biblical in form, so vary from the BibUcal crystalline alkaloid (C36H49NO12) derived from nseudobranchiate (su-do-brang'ki-at), a. [<
^irfn"r°eSr.*nL"s^e^o1d'?ort1t:;t°^^^^^^^^ Alonitumf^o. Mso''pse^CO,utine. l^^^^^^^^m^ L„, -,- ^„.^.„.„u.,
rypha, the third the pseudepigrapha. Thus, what is some- pseudo-angle (su-do-ang gl), n. An angle m
times known as the New Testament Apocrypha, being not non-Euclidean geometry,
considered worthy of regard by any branch of the Chris- neendo-annulUS (su-do-an'u-lus), n. In Musci,
tian church, properly consists of pseudepigrapha. ■'^ „ „„+ „T,„,,ii,a «^ ,.i,^a. nf nnn vpaipiilMr
pseudepigi:aphic(sii-dep-i-|raf'ik);a. [<pse«- an apparent annulus or ring ot non-vesicuiar
depigravk-ous + -ic] Inscribed with a false "eiis. „„-n\ ».
name: specifically, pertaining to the Jewish pseudo-apostle (su"do-a-pos 1), n.
Same as
pseudapostle.
pseudepigraph a.
Of these pseudepigrapMc Hermetic writings some have
come down to us in the original Greek.
Eneye. Brit., XI. 7B1.
pseudepigrapbical (su-dep-i-graf 'i-kal), a. [<
pseudepigraphic + -al.'] Same as pseudepi-
graphie. .1 1 / i, \
PemdepCgraphical writings, which ought not only to be pseudo-articulation^ (su"dO;kr-tik-u-la^shon)
rejected but condemned. l!neyc.BrU.,'V.12. ^ ^- - - - .».«
pseudobranchia^ + -ateK'j Provided with pseu-
dobranchisB.
pseudobrookite (sa-do-bruk'it), n. A mineral
occurring in minute rectangular tables in cavi-
ties in some volcanic rocks, as andesite. It re-
sembles brookite, and is related to it in compo-
sition, consisting of the oxids of titanium and
iron.
pseudepigraphous (sH-de-pig'ra-fus), a. [< Gr.
ijievdeTriypafog, falsely inscribed or ascribed, not
pseudo-aquatic (su"do-ar-kwat ik), a. Growing pgeudobulb (sti'do-bulb), n. A fleshy enlarge-
in very moist places, yet not strictly aquatic, mgnt of the base of the stem in many epiphytic
pseudo-archaic (su"d6-ar-ka'ik), a. Same as ordiids, having the ajpearance of a bulb, but
archaistic : used especially in the fine arts. ggjj^ j^ structure : nearly allied to the corm,
It is possibly a pseudo-archaic work of the fifteenth cen- Tjut not subterranean,
tury. a C. PerKns, Italian Sculpture, p. 344, note, pseudobulbar (sH-do-burbar), a. Noting a
io-articulation (su"d6-ar-tik-u-la'shon), kind of paralysis, ^ee pseudobulbar paralysis,
... In entom.: (a) A deep impressed line or uadev paralysis.
constriction surrounding apart, and resembling pseudobulbil (sti-do-bul'bil), n. In bot., an
" ■ - ■ . • oophytic outgrowth sometimes replacmg or-
dinary sporangia in ferns, and producing an-
theridia and archegonia,
a true joint. (6) A pseudo-joint, or part resem-
genuine, < i>kv6^g, false, + imypdaetv, inscribe : Wing a true joint, but not really jointed.
see epigraph.-\ S&me ^s pseudepigraphic. pseudp-ascetlc(su"do-a-set ik),». Apretended
Herodotus . . . seemed ... to conclude the Orphick
poems to have been pseudepigraphous.
Cudwortk, Intellectual System, p. 296.
pseudepigraphy (su-de-pig'ra-fi), n.
■dBpigrapTi-m:s-(--y. Gt.efigmph^.] Thelalse pseudo-axiS (su-do-ak sis), m.
ascription of a particular authorship to works, sympoomm.
depiploon.
pseudepiploon (su-de-pip'lo-on), ■». A kind of
omeiitum found in birds.
pseudobulbous (su-do-bul'bus), a. Having the
character of, or marked by the presence of, a
pseudobulb.
Shaftesbury, Advice to an Author, i. § 1. pgeudocarcinoid (sii-do-kar'si-noid), a. and n,
ascetic.
These may be termed a set of pseudo-ascetieJcs, who can
have no real converse either with themselves or with
heaven.
The pseudepiploon [of the flamingo] was
In bot., same as
Pl-
_ A corpuscle resembling
or mistaken for a' bacterium.
It was simply psevdo-bacteria, or broken blood corpus-
oles. Science, III. 739.
also shown to pseudobasidia (su"do-ba-sid'i-a), ».J)!. In 60*.,
false basidia : bodies with the form and appear-
ance of basidia and produced with them. See
A false or pre-
The work which the reader has now the privilege of pe-
rusing is as justly entitled to the name of the Koran as the
so-called pseudo-Wble itself, because the word signifies
"that which ought to be read."
Southey, The Doctor, Interchapter ix. (Davies.)
see
differ from tiiat of Lamellirostres, and to agree with that
of storks, in extending back to the cloaca.
Athenfmm, No. 2931, p. 870.
pseudepiscopacy (su-df-pis'ko-pa-si), n. False pseudo-Bible (sii-do-bi'bl), n.
or pretended episcopacy. Also pseudepiscopy, tended Bible.
pseudo-episcopacy. [Kare.]
A long usurpation and convicted psevdepixcopy of pre-
lates. MUtan, On Def. of Humb. Bemonst., Pref.
pseudesthesia, «. See pseudsesthesia.
pseudhsemal (sM-he'mal), a. Same aspseudo-
hevial.
pseudhelminth, n. Same as pseudelminth.
pseudimaginal (sii-di-maj'i-nal), a. Pertain-
ing to or having the character of a pseudimago ;
subimaginal.
pseudimago (sii-di-ma'go), «. ; ;pl. pseudima-
gines (su-di-maj'i-nez). A false imago: same
as subiniago.
Fseudis (su'dis), n. [Nil. (Wagler, about 1830),
< Gr. ■ijievSig, var. of TJievd^g, false: see pseudo-.j
A genus of arciferous batrachians of the family
I. a. Being macrurous and simulating a brachy-
urous crustacean ; looking like a crab without
being one.
II. n. A pseudocarcinoid crustacean, as a
member of the genus Thenus or Ibacus. Huxley.
pseudocarp (sii'do-karp), w. [< NL. psettffo-
carpus,< w. f etidi^f', false, + KaptrSg, fruit.] That
part of an anthoearpous fruit which does not
belong to the pericarp. Also called anthocarp
or anfhocarpium. See anthoearpous.
psendocarpous (sH-do-kar'pus), a. [< NL.
pseudocarpus : see pseudocarp.2 In Jot, same
as antliocarpous.
pseudo-Christ (sii'do-krist), n. [< LL. pseudo
cliristus, < Gr. ijiEvSdxptoToc, a false Christ, < fev-
di/g, false, + XptarSc, Christ.] One who falsely
claims to be the Christ.
Be on your guard against the seductions of the pseudo-
Christs. Lange, Com. on Mark xiii. 6-13 (trans.).
pseudoblepsia (sii-do-blep'si-a), n. [NL
pseudablepsis.'] Same &s pseudoblepsis.
pseudoblepsis (su-do-blep'sis), n. [< Gr. ■^ev-
&flQ, false, + (8/l£i/'if, vision, < ^MTceiv, look, see.]
Parablepsia; visual illusion or hallucination.
Pseudobombus (su-do-bom'bus), n. [NL.,< Gr.
fevdijg, false, + NL. Bombus: see Bombus, 2.] In
entom.: (o) An alternative generic name of bees pseudo-Christology (3ii"do-kris-toro-ji),w. An
of the genus Apathus, which closely resemble erroneous doctrine or system of doctrines re-
pseudo-Chxistianity (sii-do-kris-ti-an'i-ti), V.
The religion or doctrines of a false or pretended
Christ ; counterfeit Christianity.
Pseudo-Christs, pseudo-Christianities, false prophets.
Lange, Com. on Mark xiii. 6-13 (trans.).
the species of Bombus proper and live parasiti-
cally in their nests. (&) \l. c] A bee of this
genus.
Cystignathidse, containing frogs the webs of pgeudobombyces (sii"d6-bom-M'sez), n. pl.
whose hind toes extend up between the meta-
tarsals, and whose tadpoles acquire legs and
reach the size of the adults before losing their
tails. The jakie, P. paradoxa, is an example,
inhabiting South America.
pseudisodomon (su-di-sod'6-mon), TO. [< Gr. i/jeu-
SiadSoixoQ, built of stones of unequal size, < ■>pev- pgeudobombycine (su-do-bom'bi-sin), a.
dvi, false, + MdofWQ, bmlt aUke, i. e. m equal tainine to the Pseudobombyces.
[NL., < Gr. fevd^g, false, + ;8<i/i;9tif, a silkworm:
see Bombyx."} In Latreille's classification, a
division otnoetumaX Lepidoptera, approximate-
ly corresponding to the modern families ArcUi-
dse, lAthosiidsB, and Psychidss. Also Pseudobom-
bycini.
- -- Per-
oourses: seeisod-
omon.'] Id. arch.,
a type of mason-
ry in which the
courses differ as
to the height,
length, or thick-
ness of their
stoneSjthe stones
of any one course
posed to isodomon
Pseudisodomon.
Pseudobombycini (sii-do-bom-bi-si'ni), ■«. pl.
[NL., as Pseudobombyces + -im.] Same as
Pseudobombyces. Boisduval.
pseudobrachlal (su-do-bra'ld-al), a. Pertain-
ing to the pseudobrachium.
pseudobrachium (sii-do-bra'ki-um), n.; pl.
pseudobrachia (-a) . A kind of false arm formed
by the actinosts'of the pectoral fin of pedieu-
late fishes. Gill.
garding the nature of Christ.
The latter fmodem evangelical theology] has to vindi-
cate . . . thetruedivinityandhistoricityof Christagainst
the mythical, legendary, and humanitarian pseudo-Chris-
tologies of the nineteenth century.
P. Schaf, Christ and Chtistianity, p. 172.
pseudochromia (sii-do-kro'mi-a), TO. [NL., <
Gr. ipevdfjg, false, -I- xf>"l'<^> color.'3 False per-
ception of color.
Pseudochromidae (su-do-krom'i-de), to. jiL
[NL.] Same as PseudochromididaB. J. Rich-
ardson, 1856.
Pseudochromides (su-do-krom'i-dez), n. pl.
[NL., pl. of Pseudochromis, q. v.] A group of
acanthopterygian traehinoid fishes, having the
dorsal fin continuous and the lateral line inter-
rupted, typified by the genus Pseudochromis,
and corresponding to the family Pseudochro-
mididse. In Giinther's classification it was
the fourth group of TracMnidse. Miiller and
Troscliel, 1849.
however, being alike: op- ps"eudobranch (su'do-brangk), to. A false or PseudochroiIlididse(sii"d6-kr6-mid'i-de), to.^jI.
In the form characteristic of ■ ■ '" _.•-,-. „. . ttt .„ f-ntt .- tj — j__7, .-. / ....j x •j_ -i » n — •!_
spiraeular gill. Stand. Nat. Hist., III. 43.
fereek masonry, in which, however, the pseudisodomon is nnpii(ln'hrnm>'hinl (''!ri-dfi-brana''ki-a1
usually earlier or (especially) later than the best time, P?,®^"°.?i?'.".S'llf , -^^" "9 ^^^"^ '^/■/
pl.
pseudobrav chile (-e). [^ Gr. fevdfg, false, 4-
Ppdyxta, gills.] A false gUl. See the quotation.
The anterior branchial vein [in fishes) gives off the hy-
the courses are alternately thick and thin, all the thick
courses being of the same thickness, and so with all the
thin courses. Masonry of this kind is frequent in Roman
work.
pseudo-. [Before a vowel sometimes pseud-; <
Gr. TpevSo-, fevi^, combining form of ipev^g, false,
sham, deceitful, ijjevSog, a falsehood— or rather
of the orig. verb, fetiSeiv, Me, cheat, deceive.]
An element, a quasi-prefix, in compounds of ,, . „s ,
Greek origin, meaning 'false,' 'counterfeit,' Pseudobranchia^ (su-do-brang ki-a), «. pl.
' spurious,' ' sham.' It is freely used as an English [NL. : see pseudobranchia^.'] A suborder of
oidean artery, which ascends along the hyoidean arch, and
very generally terminates by one branch in the cephalic
circle, and by another enters a rete mirabile which lies
in the inner side of the hyoniandibular bone, and some-
times has the form of a gill. This is the pseudobranchia.
Hu/xley, Anat. Vert., p. 140.
[NL.,< Pseudochromis {-mid-) -i- -idse.'S Afamily
of acanthopterygian fishes, typified by the genus
Pseudochromis. The body is oblong, the lateral line
interrupted, the head convex forward, and the pharyn-
geal lines distinct. The species are mostly inhabitants of
the Indo- Pacific ocean. They have a superficial resem-
blance to pomacentrids, but the distinct lower pharyn-
geals distinguish them. Also Pseuiochromidee, Pseudo-
chromides, and Pseudochromidmdei. See Plesiomdes, and
cut under Pleiiofs.
pseudochromidoid (su-do-krom'i-doid), a. and
n. I. a. Of or pertaining to the Pseudochro-
mididse.
II. TO. A member of the Pseudochromididse.
4815
Fseudochromidoidei
Pseudochromidoidei (su-da-krom-i-doi'de-i), pseudo-critic (su-do-krit'ik), ». A pretended
BUek'er, 1859. ^® Pseudoehromididx. or would-be critic.
PsPiidoplirnTniH ^aii flnVi.n v«<n\ „ rvrr /-r... The greatest hurt those poetasters and jjseMdo-criticJ*
^b11 Iftiw^ ?P ^ ,^" A? 59-nus), «. [NL. (Rup- did him was pretending to L things on him ol which he
peil, lesa/J, ^ Ur. i|;EU()^f, false, + ;f/j(ij«if, a kind was not author, ulyre, Pope (ed. 1764), L 247. (JodnU.)
P^lot^oL^^'*'^'*'"'^^"'^^"^ *^« '^'""y pseudo^croup (su'do-krep), ». False croup;
P-?A°^^.^_«*li«(^*^-d9-^«Vl-)>. Same as pSoTyX^SUMa'sis), .. The ap-
pseudopupa.
pseudo-citizen (su-do-sit'i-zn), n. One who
falsely lays claim to the right of citizenship.
Some Indeed hold that he who is unjasUy a citizen is a
pseuaoeitizen, a mere counterfeit.
Gaiies, tr. of Aristotle, II. 196. (Joirea.)
pseudo-classicism (su-do-klas'i-sizm), n. A
false or affected classicism.
An increasing number of persons Were perverse enough
to feel [a difficulty in reading] ... the productions of a
pseudo-cloiHeigm, the classicism of red heels and periwigs.
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 391.
pseudoccele (sfi'da-sel), n. [< Gr. fevS^c, false,
parent circulation of food in an amoeba, super-
ficially resembling cyclosis. Wallich.
pseudocyesis (sii"do-si-e'sis), n. Spurious preg-
nancy.
pseudocyst (sii'do-sist), n. [< Gr. fttid^c, false,
+ /ciiCTTJc, a bladder: see eyst.'] In bot., one of
many more or less imperfectly spherical bodies
produced by the breaking up of the protoplasm
of the filaments in certain of the Protophyta.
pseudodeltidium (su"do-del-tid'i-um), ». : pi.
pseudodeltidia (-a). In Brachiopoda, a false
deltidium, such as occurs in a spirifer.
-I- (coaof, hollow.]' In «od7., a certain cavity of Pseudodipteral (sii-do-dip'te-ral), a. [< L.
■ L.-i_.._i-_ _ , , , „ , - _ pseudodipteros,<.G!T.'\j>svSoSmTe'poq,'<.i>evSrii,i3\se,
-f- dOTTepof, two-winged: see dipteral.'] In. clas-
sical arch., noting a disposition in the plan of a
columnar structure resembling that of a dipteral
building in the wide space left between the peri-
style and the cella, but with the inner row of
columns omitted, or, a disposition of ;plan like
that of the Parthenon, in which there is an in-
ner portico of six columns within the peristyle
before both pronaos and opisthodomos, but no
such secondary range on the flanks
some invertebrates: better oalled pseudoccelom.
The adult body cavity comes entirely from pieudoecele.
Adam Sedgwick, Micros. Science, XXVII. 491.
pseudocoelic (sii-do-se'lik), a. Of or pertaining
to the pseudoccele.
This statement applies also to the heart and pericar-
di'im. These are both peeudocaelic.
Adam Sedgwick, Micros. Science, XXVII. 491.
pseudocoelom (su-do-se'lom), n. [< Gr. tpEvSr/g,
false, + Koi7i.a/j.a, a hollow, cavity: see coeloma.]
Slime as pseudoccele. ' ^ — =
pseudocolumella (su-do-kol-u-mel'a), n. ; pi. PSeudodipterally (su-da-dip'te-ral-i), adv. In
pseudocolumellx (-e). Iii corals, a kind of f a&e a pseudodipteral manner or style. Enoye. Brit.
columella formed by the twisting together of ^^' j •,. .
the inner ends of septa : a parietal or septal Pseudodistance (su-do-dis'tans),
columella. tance m non-Euclidean geometry.
The more prominent septa extend to the centre of the P§®^4°/*°P,* (su'do-dont), a. [< Gr. V>£ud^f, false,
corallite, and then either unite evenly by their free inner "'" "ooif (oooiT-) = E. tooth.] Having false
margins or curve round each other to a slight extent, teeth, as a monotreme.
c«5"h°J been given' '^ '"'^'"' '''' "^""^ °' "''"^ pseudodoX (su'do-doks), a. and n. [< Gr fev-
Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc, XLIV. 210. T.f-^' aol'l}?g » false_ opinion, < i/<c»%, false,
The dis-
pseudocolumellar (su"do-kol-u-merar), a.
Pertaining to a pseudocolumella.'
pseudocommissura (su-do-kom-i-sii'ra), n. ; pi.
pseudocommissursB (-re). Same as pseudocom-
misswe. Wilder and Gage, Anat. Tech., p. 420.
pseudocommissural (su-da-ko-mig'u-ral), a.
Of or pertaining to a pseu'docommissiire : as,
pseudocommissural fibers.
pseudocommissure (sn-do-kom'i-sur), n. A
sort of commissure, formed of connective tissue,
between the olfactory lobes of some batrachi-
ans, as the frog. Also pseudocommissura.
pseudoconcha (su-do-kong'ka), n. ; pi. pseudo-
+ fi6^a, a notion, an opinion, < Somlv, think. 0£
orthodox.] I. a. False; not true in opinion.
[Bare.]
II. n. A false but common opinion.
Mad. He 's a rare fellow, without question 1 but
He holds some paradoxes.
Aim. Ay, and pieudodoxea.
B. Jonmn, Staple of News, Hi. 1.
The Eomists stick not, as once the Valentinian here-
tics veritatis ignorantiam cognitionem vocare, by a para-
dox, pseudodox, to call the ignorance of the truth the true
knowledge thereof. Rev. T. Adams, Works, 1. 412.
The counterpart of false and absurd paradox is what is
called the vulgar error, the pseudodox.
De Morgan, Budget of Paradoxes, p. 23.
eonchse (-\e). [NL.', < Gr. tCCTo^f, false, + K6y- . .j_j i / -/j- j i i% r^ j ^
;t,, a shell: seeconcl] An alinasal turbinated ^f''^P^°^\^^J±t^};S"Pi.±A^ir''''^°f''
atmcturR in the nose of birds in front of and "^ ""^■] *"** ™^ nature of a pseudodox or false
siiucture m me nose 01 oiras, m irom; 01 ana .„i„i„„, *„iaaW hfiH..™,!- iiv>+,yiiA n,.7r.i=tQto,i
opinion; falsely believed; ulitrue or mistaken
in opinion. [Rare.]
Orosia is much degenerated from what she was by the
Gherionian sectaries, who have infected the inhabitants
with so many pseudodoxaU and gingling opinions.
Howell, Parly of Beasts, p. 122. (Davles.)
pseudo-episcopacy (su"do-e-pis'ko-pa-si), n.
, . , . . 1 , ^ ^T. T. Same as pseudepiscopacy.
can antelope, which form the base of the horn- pgeudofilaria (sTi"d6-fi-la'ri-a), «.; ^1. pseudo-
sheath and gradually change into true horn "-fliarix (-e). [NL.,' < Gr. fkv^s, false, + L.
below the turbinal proper, connected with the
internasal septum, and separating the vesti-
bule of the nose from the internal nasal cavity.
Gegenbaur, Comp. Anat. (trans.), p. 547.
pseudocorueous (sTi-do-k6r'ne-us), a. Partly
or somewhat horny^ as the mass of agglutinat-
ed hairs of the deciduous horns of the Ameri^
toward the tip of those organs
pseudocortex (su-d5-k6r'teks), n. [NL., < Gr.
ipevS^g, false, + L. cortex, bark.] In bot, an ag-
glomeration of secondary branches in the F'lo-
rideee, originating at the nodes, and closely ad-
pressed to the main or axial branch of a frond,
forming a false cortex.
pseudocosta (su-da-kos'ta), «. ; pi. pseudoeostss
(-te). [< Gr. ipEvd^Ct false, -I- L. costa, rib.]
One of the flattened or rounded interspaces
filum, thread : see filar.] A stage in the devel-
opment of a gregarina, supervening upon the
finishing of the early embryonic condition of
a pseudonavieella, and passing into the condi-
tion of the adult. See pseudonavieella. E. Van,
pseudofilarian (sii"d6-fi-la'ri-an), a. and n. [<
pseudofilaria + -ore.] I. a. Pertaining to a
pseudofilaria, or having its character.
II. n. A pseudofilaria.
Gr. f 811%, false, -I- L. /oKaceM, leafy: seefoli-
aceous.] la bot., provided with lobes or expan-
sions resembling leaves: said of a thaUus or
stem.
Pseuda-foliaceous forms, in which the thallns is lobed,
the lobes assuming leaf-like forms.
Underwood, Bull, of 111. State Laboratory, II. 6.
False ga-
which stand out in slight relief between the pgeudofoliaceous (su-do-fa-li-a'shius), a. [<
septa of some corals. Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc, "- . ., » , . t ^.v.- T__ii_. ^_,,
XLFV. 213.
pseudocostate (su-do-kos'tat), a. [< Gr. fsv-
%, false, -I- L. costa, rib: see costa, costate.]
1. In 60 <., false-ribbed: said of leaves in which
the true veins are confluent into a marginal or
intramarginal rib or vein, as in mshny Myrtacex.
— 2. In eool., having pseudocostss, as a coral.
psendocotyledont (su-da-kot-i-le'don), n. In ^^^^ ^^^ „.„.,v-.,>.v.., «, --- .-™.™.
bot., one of the germinating threads ot the pgeudogastrula (su-do-gas'tro-la), n. A false
spores of cryptogams. The name was formerly so gastrula ; that embryonic stage or state in
S°u?fan«\T?Syrel*s"/p^^^^^ which an organism resembles a gastrula with-
rnotTowtour '^ \ r, . out halving undergone a pr^er gastrulation.
pseudocrisis (su-do-kri'sis), ».; ^hpseudocrises Jour. Mie/ros. Sei., ^^ylll- **«.
(-sez) In pathol', a sudden remission of tern- pseudogeneral (su-do-jen e-ral), a. JNotmg a
perature r^embling a crisis, but followed im- kind of paralysis. See pseudogeneral paralysis,
mediately by a return to the previous fever, as \mder paralysis. The pseudo- here really quali-
may occirr in croupous pneumonia. fies not general, but general paralysis.
pseudogalena (su"d6-ga-le'na), n.
lena. See black-jack, 3, and blende.
pseudogyrate
pseudogeneric (su"d9-je-ner'ik), a. Spurious
or merely nominal as a genus ; of the charac-
ter of a pseudogenus : as, a, pseudogeneric form ;
pseudogeneric names.
pseudogenus (sii-doje'.nus), re.; -p].. pseudogen-
era (-jen'e-rS,). [NL., < Gr. ■^Et)%, false, + L.
genus, birth: see genus.] 1. In bot, a form-
genus; a genus based upon apparent species
which are really only stages in the life-cycle
of species of other genera. Many of the so-
called genera of fungi, bacteria, etc., avepseudo-
or form-genera. See form-genus, and compare
form-spedes. — 2. In eool., a spurious genus.
Pseudogenera, or pseudogeneric names, may be due to (a)
the imagination, as when hypothetical or supposititious
ancestral forms, of which nothing is actually known, are
named as genera (see several cases among words begin-
ning in Pro-, Proto-) ; (6) detect or error of observation,
particularly of microscopic objects liable to look different
when differently manipulated ; (e) defective or mutilated
specimens accurately described but mistaken for normal
examples of their kind ; (d) natural monstrosities not
recognized as such; (e) normal stages of growth or de-
velopment of any organism mistaken for a different organ-
ism. Many pseudogenera of class («) have been named
among animals which undergo marked or peculiar trans-
formations from the embryo to the adult, not under-
stood by the observer at the time, as many c<elenterates,
echinoderms, crustaceans, etc., and even some vertebrates,
as fishes and batrachians. Pseudogenera in the above
senses are all foreign to the question of what degree of dif-
ference shall be accounted generic, and also of any ques-
tion of priority or other nomenclatural rule. Those of
class (afhave such standing as one may choose to allow
them. Those of class (&) can have no standing. In classes
(c) and (d) pseudogeneric names may hold if they can be
identified and properly recharacterized (and are not ob-
noxious to any rule of nom enclature). The large class (e) of
cases based upon literally " larval" or masked forms of or-
ganisms whose adults are already named generically has
no claim to recognition among New Latin genera properly
so called. But many such pseudogeneric words are con-
veniently retained in a modified sense as English names
of the objects which they designate. See, for examples,
Bipinnaria, BrachiolaHa, Cysticereus, Leptocephalus, Me-
galops, Naupliits, Phyllosoma, Zcea.
pseudogeusia (sH-do-gu'si-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
■ijievd^^, false, -I- yevaic, sense of taste', < yeiicadai,
taste: see gust^.] False taste-perception.
pseudogeustia (sii-do-gus'ti-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
i/ieuii^f, false, + yevoTdc;, verbal adj. of yeieaBai,
taste.] Same as pseudogeusia.
pseudograph (sii'do-graf), n. A false writing.
See pseudography.
pseudographeme (su-dog'ra-fem), n. [< Gr.
iljevdoypd(j>?i/j.a, that which is untruly drawn, < ipcv-
SiiQ, false, + ypdfciv, write.] A fallacy imitat-
ing an apodictie syllogism.
pseudographize (su-dog'ra-fiz), v. i. ; pret. and
pp. pseudographized, ppt.Jpseudhgraphizing. [<
pseudograph-y ■{• -ize.] To write wrongly ; pre-
sent a word, etc., in an incorrect form by writ-
ing, printing, or any other method of graphic
representation. [Rare.]
If we account this error typographical, there must have
been a widespread conspu'acy among old printers to pseu-
dographize. P. Hon, Mod. Eng., p. 169.
pseudography (su-dog'ra-fi), n. [< Gr. il>mSo-
ypafla, a false drawing 6i a line, < ■\l1ev6aypa4elv,
draw falsely, < -ipevS^g, false, -I- ypaipeiv, write.]
An incorrect system or method of graphic rep-
resentation; bad spelling.
"6h" is only a piece of iU writing with us, . . . for the
g sounds just nothing in "trough," "cough," "might,"
"night," &c. Only the writer was at leisure to add a
superfluous Letter, as there are too many in our pseudog-
raphy. B. Jonson, Eng. Grammar, i. 4.
I do not intend to pursue the many pseudographys in
use, . . . but to shew of how great concern the emphasis
were, if rightly used. Holder, Elements of Speech, p. 104.
Pseudogryphus (su-dog'ri-fus), re. [NL. (Ridg-
way, 1874), < Gr. ■^ev&fiQ, false, -I- LL. grypJms,
a griffin : see Grypjisea.] A genus of Cathartidse,
or American vultures, of which the California
condor, P. californianus, is the only species,
having no caruncles on the head, and the plu-
mage of the under parts of peculiar texture.
See cut under condor.
pseudogyne (sU'do-iin), n. [< Gr. ^Eti%, false,
-h yvvf, female.] One of the agamic or asex-
ual females of plant-Uce and some other insects
which reproduce without union with the male.
With the Aphididse, coition of males and true females
results in the winter egg, from which hatches a pseudo-
gyne, which gives birth to a number of generations of
pseudogynes. Lichtenstein and others use the term es-
pecially for a member of the first-winged or migrant gen-
eration of plant-lice, as distinguished from one of the
pupiferous or return migrant generation.
A gall-making aphis, the foundress pseudogyne.
Nature, XXX. 69.
pseudogynous (su-doj'i-nus), a. [< pseudogyne
+ -ous.j Pertaining to a pseudogyne, or hav-
ing its character.
pseudogyrate (su-do-ji'rat), a. [< Gr. fevS^s,
false, + L. gyratus, pp., turned round : see gy-
pseudogyrate
rate.] In iot., falsely ringed, as when an elas-
tic ring is confined to the vertex of the spore-
cases of ferns. Treasury of Botany.
pseudo-heart (su-do-harf), ». la brachiopods,
one of several tubtdar inf vmdibxilif orm organs
by which the perivisceral cavity eommunicates
with the pallial chamber, and which were de-
scribed by Owen as hearts. See cut' under
Waldheimia.
It i3 probable that these pseudo-Iiearts subserve the
function both of renal organs and of genital ducts ; and
that they are the homologues of the organs of Eojanus of
other moUusks, and of the segmental organs of worms.
Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 400.
pseudohemal (sii-do-he'mal), a. [< Gr. fevS^s,
false, + al/M, blood: see hemal.'] Like or an-
alogous to blood without being blood : noting
various fluids which circulate in the bodies of
some invertebrates, especially annelids, and
the structures which provide for the circula-
tion of such fluids ; water- vascular; chylaque-
ous; aquiferous. Also pseudksemal.
In the Arthropoda no segmental organs orpseud-hsBTmd
vessels are known. Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 57.
pseudohermaphrodite (su"do-h6r-maf'ro-dit),
a. Apparently hermaphrodite, though s'exed;
affected by pseudohermaphroditism.
pseudohermaphroditism (su"d6-h6r-maf'ro-
di-tizm), n. False hermaphroditism; an ap-
pearance of hermaphroditism resulting from a
monstrous conformation of the external geni-
tals in sexed individuals. The usual conditions
are extensive hypospadia of the male organs, or
hypertrophy of the clitoris of the female.
pseudohexagoual (su"d6-hek-sag'o-nal), a. In
crystal., falsely hexagonal; appearing to be
hexagonal, though not really so. Twins of ortho-
rhombic aragonite resembling hexagonal crystals are said
to be pseudohexctgoncU; some of the micas are pseudohex-
agonal, because they approximate to the hexagonal system
closely in angle.
pseudohypertrophic (su-do-hi-per-trof'ik), a.
Pertaining to or of the nature of pseudohyper-
trophy.—pseudohypertropMc paralysis. Bee paral-
ysis.
pseudohypertrophy (su"do-lu-p6r'tr6-fi), n.
The enlargement of an organ without increase
of its proper tissue, as when in muscular pseu-
dohjrpertrophy there is increase of fat and con-
nective tissue while the muscle-fibers are atro-
phied— Muscular pseudohypertrophy. Same as
pseudohypertrophic paralysis.
pseudo-Isidorian Decretals. See False De-
cretals, under decretal.
pseudolabial (su-do-la'bi-al), a. [< pseudola-
ii-um + -al.2 Of or pertaining to the pseudola-
bium of a myriapod.
pseudolabium (stl-do-la'bi-um), ». ; pi. pseudo-
labia (-a). [NL. (Packard, 1883), < Gr. ipevd^g,
false, -I- L. labium, lip.] In chilopodous My-
riapoda, the stemite of the subbasilar plate,
being the part called labium by Newport : usu-
ally a large plate, with a median indentation
in front and teeth on each side.
It may for convenience in descriptive zoblogy be termed
the psmMlaMum. A. S. Packard, Proo. Amer. Philos.
[See, June, 1883, p. 201.
Fsendolariz (sii-dol'a-riks), n. [NL. (Gordon,
1858), < Gr. ipeudr/s, false, + lapi^, larch: see
Larix.1 A genus of coniferous trees of the
tribe AbieUneee. By some it is included in the genus
Lairix, the larch, from which it differs in its cones, their
pointed scales falling away with the seeds, and in its leaves,
which resemble those of Cedrus, the cedar, but are decid-
uous like those of the larch. The only species, P. Esemp-
feri, is a native of China, and is known as golden larch,
from the color to which the light-green leaves turn in
autumn. It bears pendulous cones about 3 inches long,
broad and conical, falling asunder when ripe, except as
long woody threads, passing out of the base of the scales,
bind them in masses. See larch.
pseudolateral (sii-do-lat'e-ral), a. In bot., hav-
ing a tendency to fceconie lateral when it is
normally terminal, as the fruit of certain Be-
paUcse.
pseudoleucemia (su"do-lii-se'mi-a), n. [NL.
pseudoleucxmia, < Gr. fevS^c, false, + Ti^vkSq,
white, + di/ia, blood. Cf. leucemia.'] A disease
characterized by progressive hyperplasia of the
lymph-glands, sometimes of the spleen, with
anemia and the development of secondary lym-
phatic growth in various parts of the body,
but without leucocytosis. Also called Hodg-
Icin's disease, lymphadenoma, malignant lympho-
ma, lymphosarcoma, anemia lympliatiea, etc.
pseudoleucocythemia (su-do-lu"ko-si-the'mi-
a), n. [NL. pseudoleucocythsemia, < Gr, fevSr/c,
false, -I- ?i£VK6g, white, -1- Kvrog, cell, + alfia, blood.
Cf. leucemia.2 Same as pseudoleucemia.
pseudolichen (su-do-H'ken), n. A so-called
lichen which does not possess the one mark of a
Pseudttlvva plutnbea.
4816
true lichen — that is, the presence of algse in the
thallus. These plants are simply ascomyoetous fungi
parasitic upon a true liohen-thallus or other plant. See
lichen.
Fseudoliva (su-dol'i-va), ». [NL., < Gr. ijiwd^q,
false, -I- NL. Olima, q.'v.]
In conch., the typical genus
otPseudolivinm. Swainson.
Also Gastridium.
Fseudoliyinse (sii-dol-i-
vi'ne), n.pl. [NL., < Fseu-
doliva + -insB.1 A sub-
family of Buccinidie, typi-
fied by the genus Fseudo-
liva. The shell is buccinifonn,
and the operculum has a lateral
nucleus. The typical species is
the existing Paeudoliva plwmbea
of the Atlantic coast of Africa, but
most of the species are extinct.
Fseudolmetlia (sH-dol-me'di-a), n. [NL. (Tr6-
cul, 1847), < Gr. ipevdrig, false," -I- NL. Olmedia,
a related genus of plants.] A genus of apeta-
lous trees and shrubs of the order UrUcaceee,
tribe Artocarpese, and subtribe Olmedieee, char-
acterized by receptacles containing numerous
staminate flowers mixed with scales and with-
out distinct perianths, and by pistillate flowers
solitary in their receptacles. There are 5 species,
natives of tropical America and the West Indies. They
bear shining entire alternate short-stalked leaves, which
are feather-veined and thin but coriaceous. The ovoid
fruit is inclosed in a persistent and enlarged fleshy peri-
anth, and the whole forms in P. spuria of Jamaica an edi-
ble red drupe-like fruit. See ha^ri bread-nvi (under
Itread-nt^, and mUkwood.
pseudologistt (su-dol'o-jist), n. [< Gr. ibsvdoXo-
yiariig, one who speaks falsely, a liar, < ipevSo-
/Wyof, speaking falsely: see pseudology.2 A re-
tailer of f alseEoods ; a liar.
pseudologyt (su-dol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. fev6o7ioyia,
falsehood, < iievSoMyoc, speaking falsely, < fev-
Siic, false, -I- 7\iyeiv, speak: see -ology.'\ The
science of lying; falsehood of speech; men-
dacity; lying.
Not according to the sound rules otpsendology.
Arbuthnot.
pseudomalachite (su-do-mal'a-kit), n. A hy-
drous phosphate of copper occurring ordinarily
in massive forms of a bright-green color, much
resembling malachite. It is closely related to
dihydrite and ehlite.
Fseudomelania (sii-do-me-la'ni-a), n. [NL.,<
Gr. ipevSijg, false, -t- NL. Melania, q. v.] An ex-
tinct genus of shells superficially resembling
a melanian, typical of the family Fseudomela-
Fsendomelaniidae (sii-do-mel-a-m'i-de), n. pi.
[NL., < Fseudomelania + -idse.'] A family of
t»nioglossate gastropods, typified by the ge-
nus Fseudomelania. They had elongated tnrreted
shells with the aperture oral and the columella simple or
plicated forward. The species inhabited the seas of the
Paleozoic to the Tertiary epochs, and are entirely extinct.
pseudomembraue (su- do -mem 'bran), n. A
false membrane. See membrane.
pseudomembranous (sii-do-mem'bra-nus), a.
Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of a pseudo-
membrane — PseudomemhranouB bronchitis, bron-
chitis with the formation of a false membrane lining the
bronchial tubes. It may be due to diphtheria, to the in-
halation of hot steam, or to other causes.— Pseudomem-
branous enteritis, a non-febrile affection of the intes-
tinal mucous membrane, characterized by the periodical
formation of viscous, shreddy, or tubular exudates com-
posed mainly of mucin.— Pseudomembranoua laxsfn-
^tis, a laryngitis characterized by the formation on and
in the mucous membrane of a croupous pseudom embrane ;
true croup,— Pseudomembranous tracheitis, an in-
flammation of the mucous membrane of the trachea ac-
companied by the formation of a pseudomembrane.
pseudometallic (sii"do-me-tarik), a. Falsely
or imperfectly metallic: specifically applied
to a kind of luster closely resembling that of
metals.
pseudomonocotyledonous (six-do - mon - 6 -kot-
i-le'do-nus), a. In bot., having two or' more
cotyledons consolidated into a single mass, as
in the horse-chestnut.
pseudomorph (sii'do-mdrf), n. [< Gr. ipevS^i,
false, + //o/)^, form.'] A deceptive, irregular,
or false form; specifically, in mineral., a min-
eral having a definite form belonging, not to
the substance of which it consists, but to some
other substance which has wholly or partially
disappeared. Sometimes quartz is found in the form
of fluor-spar crystals, the fluor-spar having been changed
by a process of substitution into quartz. Such crystals
are pseudomorphs by substitution ; another illustration
is that of tinstone, cassiterite, after orthoclase feldspar.
A more common and important class of pseudomorphs
includes those formed by the chemical alte^tion of the
original mineral : these are illnstrated by pseudomorphs
of native copper after the oxid cuprite, where there has
been a simple loss of one ingredient, in this case oxygen ;
Fseudoniscidse
also, of gypsum after anhydrite, where the anhydrous cal-
cium sulphate has been changed by assumption of water
to the hydrous sulphate ; or, still more important, where
there has been a more or less complete exchange of con-
stituents, as of the lead carbonate cerusite after the lead
sulphid galena, or of serpentine after chrysolite, or of
kaolin after feldspar, etc. Pseudomorphs are also formed
by molecular change without change of chemical sub-
stance, as of calcite after aragonite, or rutile after brook-
ite; tliese last are also called paramorpha. (See para-
morphism.) Pseudomorplis very commonly have a non-
crystalline waxy structuie, but this is not necessarily tlie
case.
pseudomorphia (sii-d6-m6r'fi-a), n. [NL.,< Gr.
ipevdijs, false, -I- NL. morphia.'] One of the
alkaloids of opium, C17H19NO4. Also caUed
phormia, oxymorphia.
pseudomorplhic (sii-do-mdr'fik), a. [< pseudo-
morph + -ic] Saxne's,B pseudomorphous.
pseudomorphine (su-do-m6r'fin), n. [< Gr.
fevd^Q, false, -1- NL. morphvna, morphine.] Same
as pseudomorphia.
pseudomorphism (su-do-m6r'fizm), n. [< pseur
domorph + -ism.] The state of having a form,
usually crystalline, different from that proper
to the mineral ; the process by which this state
is brought about. See pseudomorph.
pseudomorphosis (sTi'do-mdr-fo'sis), n. [NL.,
< Gr. fevS^g, false, + 'fiSp^aais, a shaping, <
fiop^vv, form, shape, < fop^, form.] Same as
pseudomorphism.
pseudomorphous (sii-do-m6r'fus), a. [(.pseur
domorph + -OM.] Not' having the true form;
characterized by or exhibiting pseudomor-
phism; in mineral.j'noting substances having
an external form, usually crystalline, which
does not properly belong to themselves. See
pseudomorph.
pseudomorula (sii-do-mor'§-la), n. ; pi. pseudo-
morulsB (-le). A false morida: appUed by W.
S. Kent to a collection or aggregate of cells
or spores of distinctly unicellular animals, re-
sembling a morula, but of a different morpho-
logical character. See morula.
pseudomorular (sti-do-mor'e-iar), a. [< pseu-
domorula + -arS.] Having the character of a
pseudomorula.
pseudonavicella (sii-do-nav-i-sel'a), ».; pi.
pseudonavicellse (-e). [NL., < Gr. ipevS^g, false,
+ LL, naviceUa, a small boat, dim. of navis, a
ship: see nave^.] The embryonic form of a
gregarine ; one of a number of minute bodies
into which the substance of an adult encysted
gregarine breaks up in reproduction. Pseudo-
navioellse are so called from their resemblance to the navi-
cellSB or naviculse of diatoms. On the rupture of the cyst
of the adult gregarine these bodies escape ; and on rup-
ture of the psendonavicellse themselves the embryo proper
is similarly set free. See pseudqfllaria, and cut under
Qrega/rinidae. Also psevd(mavimla.
pseudonavicellar (sii-do-nav-i-sel'ar), a. [<
pseudonavicella + -arS.] tertaining to a pseudo-
navicella, or having its character, as the spores
of Sporozoa. Also pseudonavicula/r,
pseudonavicula (sH'^do-na-vik'ti-ia), n.; pi.
pseudonaviculse (-le). [NL'., < Gr! ipevd^s, false,
-I- L. navieula, a small boat, dim. of navis, a
ship.] Same as pseudonavicella.
pseudonavicular (su"do-na-vik'u-lar), a. [<
pseudonavicula -I- -ar^.] ' Same as pseudona/ei-
cellar.
pseudoneuropter (su"do-nii-rop't6r), n. [<
Fseudoneuroptera.'] A p'seudoneuropterous in-
sect.
Fseudoneuroptera (su"do-nu-rop'te-ra), n. pi.
[NL., < Gr. fevd^g, false', + NL. i^europtera,
q. v.] An order of Insecta, proposed by Erich-
son in 1840 to contain those neuropterous in-
sects which have the metamorphosis incom-
plete, four membranous wings usually many-
veined, and mandibulate mouth-parts (except
in one family, Ephemeridse). The order thus de-
fined has been divided into three suborders ; (1) Platyp-
tera, including the Perlidse, PsoddiB, EnMidm, and Ter-
. mitidse; (2) Odonata or dragon-fiies ; and (3) Ephemerina
or May-flies. Brauer.-Tiowever, dismembers the Pseudo-
neuroptera, and distributes its components in his second,
third, fourth, and sixth OTdeiB—Ephemerida, Odonata,
Plecoptera, and Corroderdia—Tils PlecopUra including the
perlids, and his Corrodentia the termites and Psoddee.
pseudoneuropterous (sTi"do-nu-rop'te-rus), a.
[< Fseudoneuropter-a + -ous'.] I'ertaining to the
Fseudoneuroptera, or having their characters.
pseudo-nipple (su'do-nip'l), n. A false nipple
of the mammary gland, produced by the eleva-
tion of the non-glandular part around a depres-
sion at the bottom of which the duets open.
FseudoniscidSB (sTi-do-nis'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Fseudoniscus + -idse.'] A family of synziphos-
urous merostomatous crustaceans of Carbonif-
erous age, typified by the genus Fseudoniscus.
They had an oval body, short head, large compound eyes,
and abdomen with seven segments besides the telson.
Pseudoniscns
Pseudoniscus (su-do-nis'kus), n. [NL < Gr
i\icv6rK, false, + NL. 'Oniscus, a. v.] The typioai
genus 01 PsewtZoTMScid*.
pseudonomania (su"don-6-ma'ni-a), n. rlrreg.
< Gr. ■^eiideiv (ppr. ^Mav)', belie, mid. iieiSeoeai,
lie (see pseudo-), + imvia, madness.] A morbid
propensity to lie.
pseudonucleolus (8u"d6-nu-kle'6-lTis), n. ; pi.
pseudonucleoU{-]i). []SrL.,'< Gr.' Vsu%, false,
+ L. nucleolus, dim. of nucleus, a little nut : see
nucleohis.'i An accessory or supplementary
nucleus of some ova.
pseudonychium (su-do-nik'i-um), n. ; pi. vseu-
donychia (-a). [NL., < Gr. tpevdi/g, false, + NL.
onyehium, q. v.] In entom., the onychium or
spurious claw between the true tarsal claws.
See empodium and onychium, and compare ^aro-
pseudonym (su'do-nim), n. [Also pseudonyme;
< F.pseudonyme, < Gr. fevS^mv/ios, having a false
name,< fevdijs, taiae, + 6vv/ia, bvoua, name.] 1 . A
false name; especially, a fictitious name as-
sumed by an author in order to conceal or veil
his identity.
The [Bronte] sisters adopted the pseudonyms Currer,
Ellis, and Acton Bell, corresponding to their initials.
L. Stephen, Diet. National Biog., VL 410.
2. In nat. hist, the vernacular name of a spe-
cies or other group of animals or plants, as dis-
tinguished from its tenable technical name:
thus, roiin is the pseudonym of Tardus migrato-
rius. Corns, The Auk, I. 321 (1884).
pseudonymal (su-don'i-mal), a. [< pseudonym
+ -ai.] In erooJ., vernacular; not technical nor
tenable, as the name of an animal ; not having
the character of an onym. Cou^s.
pseudonymity (sii-do-nim'i-ti), n. [(.pseudonym
+ -ity.'] The state of being pseudonymous, or
of bearing a false name or signature; the act
or practice of writing under an assumed name.
Contemporary Bev. {Imp. Diet.)
pseudonymous (su-don'i-mus), a. [< Gr. i\iev-
d(!)v«/jof, having a false name: see pseudonym.']
Bearing a pseudonym, or false name: applied
to an author who publishes a work under a
false or feigned name, or to a work thus pub-
lished.
In the primitive age of publication, before there existed
" a reading public, " literary productions were often anony-
mous ; or . . . they wore the mask of a fictitious name,
and were paeudonynums.
I. B'lsradt, Amen, of Lit., II. 316.
pseudonymously (su-don'i-mus-li), adv. In a
pseudonymous manner; under a pseudonym, or
fictitious or false name.
That vSe concoction of camomile which you iopsevdony-
mausly dignify with the title of " Bitter Ale."
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II., Pref.
pseudoparalysis (su"do-pa-ral'i-sis), «. An af-
fection resembling paralysis, but regarded as
distinct from ordinary forms.— Spastic pseudo-
paralysis. Same as gpaMs epimd paratysis (which see,
under pairalysU).
pseudoparaplegia (sfl-do-par-a-ple'ji-a), n.
An affection Uke paraple^a, but regarded as es-
sentially distinct Tetanoid pseudoparaplegia.
Same as epaMo spinal paralysix (which see, under ^laroJj/-
sis).
pseudo-parasite (sti-do-par'a-sit), «._ An ap-
parent parasite; a commensal or inquiline;
also, a plant which attacks vegetable tissues,
but only when they are dead.
pseudoparasitic (sii-do-par-a-sit'ik), a. Para-
sitic apparently but not really; commensal;
inquiline.
pseudoparenchyma (su'''do-pa-reng'ki-ma), n.
In mycol., a tissue resembling parenchyma,
but of far different origin, being produced from
united and transformed hyphse.
pseudoparenchymatous (su-do-par-eng-kim'-
a-tus), a. In hot., belonging to or resemblmg
pseudoparenchyma.
pseudoparenchyme (sii'do-pa-reng kim), n.
Same as pseudoparenchyma.
pseudoparesis (sfi-do-par'e-sis), n. An affec-
tion resembling paresis, but regarded as dis-
tinct from ordinary forms.— Spastic paeudopar-
esis. Same as spaxths s^rud pmralysU (which see, under
pseudoparthenogenesis f su - do -pkr f the -no -
jen'e-sis), n. That mode of reproduction which
is intermediate between metagenesis and par-
thenogenesis proper. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., I.
214. , » ^ , ;,
pseudo-patron (sii-do-pa'tron), n. A pretended
or would-be patron. [Rare.]
Disturbers of a right of advowson may therefore be these
4817
pseudopediform (su-d6-ped'i-f6rm), a. [< Gx.
^et)%, false, + li. pes\ped-), = E./oo*, + for-
ma, form.] Having the character of a pseudo-
pod; pseudopodial.
Body ciliated, . . . without peeudopediform prolonga-
tions. Arthur Adams, Man. Nat. Hist., p. 370.
pseudopercular (su-do-p6r'ku-lar), a. [(.pseiu-
dopercuUvm + -arS.] False or secondary, as an
operculum; pertaining to a pseudoperculum.
pseudoperculate (su-d6-p6r'kii-lat), a. [<
pseudopercuUm + -afei.] Provided with a
pseudoperculum; having the aperture closed
by a pseudoperculum.
pseudoperculum (su-do-pfer'kii-lum), n.; pi.
pseudopercula (-la). [NL., < Gr. ipevd^g, false,
+ L. operculum, a lid, cover: see opercle.'] A
false opercle ; a kind of secondary lid closing
the aperture of the shell of some pulmonate gas-
tropods. See clausilium. Also called hwer-
naculum.
pseudoperidium (su"do-pe-rid'i-um), n. In
mycol., a false peridium: a name given to the
membranous cup inclosing the spores in .^ci-
dium. Bee peridium- and ^cidium.
pseudoperiodic (sfl-do-pe-ri-od'ik), a. Quasi-
periodic.
pseudoperipteral (sH^do-pe-rip'te-ral), a. In
arch., falsely peripteral : noting a temple with a
portico in front, or porticos in front and rear,
Plan of Fseudoperipteral Temple of Fortuna Virilis, Rome.
but with the columns on its flanks engaged in
the walls, instead of standing free. Compare
plan under opisthodomos.
There are but two known examples of Greek antiquity
of a pseudo-peripteral structure — the gigantic fane of Ju-
piter Olympins at Agrigentum, and the nine-columned edi-
nce at Feestum. Encye. Brit., II. 110.
pseudoperipteros (su'do-pe-rip'te-ros), n. [L.,
< Gr. fevSonepiiTTEpoc, with a false peristyle, <
ijievd^C, false, + irepOTrepof, with a single row of
columns all around: seeperipteros.'] A pseudo-
peripteral structure.
It would be difficult to decide whether this peculiar
pseudoperipteros [temple of Zeus at Agrigentum] owed its
conformation to the building-stone at disposal, ... or
whether other considerations led to this abnormal nega-
tion of the fundamental principles of columnar architec-
ture. Iteter, Ancient Art (tr. by Clarke), p. 219.
Fseudophallia (sii-do-fal'i-a), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. ■^EvoijQ, false, + 0aAXdf, phallus.] In MSroh's
system, a class of gastropods characterized by
the supposed absence of an intromittent male
organ, comprising the orders BMpidoglossa and
Docoglossa. Also called Exocephala.
Fseudophidia (su-do-fid'i-a), n.pl. [NL., < Gr.
ijjevS^C, false, + b^iSiov, dim. of o0(f, a sei-pent:
see Ophidia.^ In De Blainville's system of clas-
sification, an order of Amphibia, characterized
by the limbless serpentiform body (whence the
name); the csecilians, or Ophiomorpha. See
CsedlUdm.
pseudophidian (su-do-fid'i-aa), a. and n. [<
Fseudophidia + -an.] I. a. Having the appear-
ance of an ophidian, as an amphibian; belong-
ing to the Fseudophidia.
II, n. A member of the Fseudophidia.
pseudophone (sii'do-f on), n. [< Gr. VEt)%, false,
+ ijiGTv^, voice.] An instrument for the study
of the perception of direction of sounds by the
human ear. By it sound may be made to appear as
coming from any direction other than the true one. Ear-
pieces fastened to the head by straps, and carrying ad-
justable tin-plate mirrors— the latter producing the ef-
fects-constitute the instrument.
Pseudophyllidea (su"do-fi-lid'e-a), n. pi. [NL. ,
< Gr. tlisvS^c, false, + i^vllwv, leaf, + -idea.] A
group of the Cestoidea, or cestoid worms, in-
cludmg those tapeworms which, when mature,
have neither suckers nor lobes on the head, but
a deep groove on each side. The group includes
tapes found in various fishes, amphibians, and water-
birds, as well as BoUvHoeephalwi lotus, the broad tapeworm,
occasionally infesting the human body.
Pseudopneumona (sii-dop-nu'mo-na), n.pl.
[NL., < Gr. i//CT%, false, + imeifiaVj lung.] _ A
group of rostrif erous gastropods, with the gills
in very numerous cross-rows on the inner sur-
face of the mantle, eyes in front of the bases
of the tentacles, and operculum spiral. It in-
pseudoprostyle
eluded the families JUttorinidse, Laaunidse, and
TruncatelUdse. J. E. Gray.
pseudopod (su'do-pod), n. [< Gr. i//™%, false,
+ izoiiQ {tzoS-) = E. foot.] 1. A member of
the Pseudopoda, as an amoeba ; any protozoan
which is provided with pseudopodia, or has the
power of protruding diversiform parts of its
sarcode in the form of pseudopodia, serving as
temporary organs of locomotion ; a rhizopod ; a
myxopod.— 3. A pseudopodium.
Pseudopodaf (su-dop'o-da), n. pi. [NL. : see
pseudopod.] In Ehrenberg's system of classi-
fication (1836), a division of anenterous infu-
sorians, containing those called root-footed, or
the Amcebsea, Arcellina, and Bacillaria. The
term is disused, but is the origin of the very
common words pseudopod audi pseudopodium.
pseudopodal (su-dop'6-dal), a. [< pseudopod
+ -ai.J 1. Provided with pseudopods; fur-
nished with false feet; of or pertaining to the
Pseudopoda; rhizopod; myxopod. — 2. Pertain-
ing to pseudopodia ; pseudopodial.
pseudopode (sii'do-pod), re. [(.pseudopodium.]
Same &s pseudopodium.
pseudopodia, n. Plural ot pseudopodium.
pseudopodial (sfi-do-po'di-al), a. [(.pseudopo-
dium + -al.] PertaiJiing to pseudopodia; form-
ing or formed by pseudopodia: as, a pseudo-
podial process; pseudopodial movement; the
pseudopodial aperture for the protrusion of
pseudopodia in the test of a f oraminifer.
pseudopodian (sfi-do-po'di-an), a. [< pseudo-
podium + -an.] Same as pseudopodial.
pseudopodic (sfi-do-pod'Ik), a. [( pseudopod
+ -jc] Same as pseudopodal. W. S. Kent.
pseudopodium (su-do-p6'di-um), n. ; pi. pseu-
dopodia (-a). [NL., < Gr. xpevSTJg, false, + noig
(jTod-) = 'S.foot.] 1. In Protozoa, as pseudo-
pods, rhizopods, or myxopods, a temporary
diversiform prolongation or protrusion of the
sarcode or body-substance of the animalcule,
to any extent or in any shape, capable of being
withdrawn or reabsorbed into the general mass
of the body, and serving as an organ of locomo-
tion, prehension, or ingestion ; a pseudopod, or
false foot: generally in the plural. The term is
very comprehensive in its application to foot-like, flnger-
like, or ray-like processes of the body of protozoans ; but
it is the essential cbai'acter of a pseudopodium to be soft,
diversiform, or variable in shape, and temporary, or sub-
ject to reabsorption — in which respects the organ differs
from the fixed or constant processes of many protozoans,
as cilia or flagella. Pseudopodia are highly characteiistic
of the lower or non-corticate protozoans, the myxopods or
rhizopods proper, as all the amcebiforms, the hehozoans,
the foraminifers, etc. They may be broad and lobate pro-
cesses of sarcode, or slender filamentous rays. When
lobate the pseudopodia remain distinct from one another,
their margins are clear and transparent, and the granules
which they may contain plainly flow into their interior from
the more fluid central pai-t of the body ; or the whole body
of the animalcule may flow into such a pseudopod, thus
effecting a peculiar kind of locomotion. But when they
are filiform they are very apt to run into one another, and
give rise to networks, the constituent filaments of which,
however, readily separate and regain their previous form ;
and, whether they do this or not, the surfaces of these pseu-
dopodia are beset by minute granules, which are in inces-
sant motion. See cuts under Actinosphxrium, Amoeba, and
JRotalia.
2. In Bottfera, the aboral region, caudal ex-
tremity, or tail-end of a wheel-animalcule, it
varies much in size, form, and function, and may be
absent. When best developed, it is a considerable mus-
cular organ, serving as a sucker-like means of attachment
or as a fin-like organ for swimming. It is sometimes a
pair of tails, like styles or flaps.
3. In bot. : (a) In Musci, a false pedicel, or
elongation of the extremity of a branch of the
oophyte, in the form of a stalk, supporting a
sporogonium or capsule.
In Sphagnum, the sporogonium is fully developed withhi
the epigonal leaves, and when complete the axis beneath
it elongates, forming i\iepsevdopodium»
Encye. Brit., IV. 116.
( &) In Mycetonoa, a protrusion of the protoplasm
of an amoeboid Tsody, which may be drawn in,
or into which the whole body may move.
pseudoproct (sfi'do-prokt), n. [< Gr. ^™%,
false. > TpuKTdc, anus.] 1. The anus or anal
opening of the pseudembryo or echinopredium
of an echinoderm. — 2. The false oscule, or
pseudostome, of a sponge. W. J. Sollas.
The faulty use of the term oscule for what is neither
functionally nor morphologically a mouth is here obvious,
for in one sense the oscule is always a pseudostome; it
would be better if the term pseudoproct could be substi-
tuted. Encye. Brit., XXII. 416.
pseudoproctOUS (su-do-prok'tus), a. [< pseu-
doproct + -ous.] Provided with a pseudo-
proct.
pseudoprostyle (sii-do-pro sHl), a. [< Gr. fev-
ir/g, false, + vpSarvTiog, prostyle.] Noting a por-
tico the projection of which from the wall is less
pseudoprostyle
than the width of its intercolumniation. Hos-
pseudopsia (su-dop'si-a), n. [NL., < Gr. Vew^,
false, + o^if, sight.] False sight-peroeptlon.
pseudopupa (su-do-pii'pa), n. ; pi. pseudopupsB
(-pe). [NL., < Gr. -fevd^c, false, + NL. pupa,
q. v.] A false pupa : applied to the fifth stage,
or eoarotate pupa, of those insects which un-
dergo hypermetamorphosis. Also called semi-
pupa. See eoarotate, and cut under Sitaris.
pseudopupal (sti-do-pu'pal), a. [ipsevdopupa
+ -al.\ Pertaining to a pseudopupa, or having
its characters.
Pseudopus (su'do-pus), n. [NL. (Merrem, 1820),
< Gr. ■i{>ev5iiQ, false, + Troif (Trod-) = B. foot.'] A
genus of lizards of the family Zonuridm, having
rudimentary hind limbs and traces of shoulder-
girdles. P. pallasi is an example.
pseudoramose (su-do-ra'mos), n. [< Gr. TpevS^c,
false, + L. ramiw, a IJranch: see ramus, ramose,']
labot., forming false branches. See pseudora-
Fseudoscorpion iChelifir
obisium). (Hair-line shows
natural size.)
pseudoramulus (su-do-ram'u-lus), n. ; pi. pseu-
doramuli (-li). [NL.,' < Gr. V™%, false, + L.
ramulus, dim. of ramus, a branch.] In bat., a
false branch: applied to the filaments of the
Bivulariacese and other algss, in which the ter-
minal part of the filament detaches itself and
applies itself laterally to an enlarged part of
the filament called the heterocyst. See hetero-
q/st.
tnendo-ray (sii'do-ra), it. A straight line or ray
in non-Euclidean geometry.
Fseudorca (su-d6r'ka), «.. [NL., < Gr. 1/1™%,
false, + L. orca, a kind of whale : see OreaK]
A genus of cetaceans, established for the re-
ception of the Phocsma crassidens of Owen, dis-
covered subfossil in England, and afterward
found living, related to Orca, but having only
about 40 teeth and 50 vertebrae, the cervieals
mostly ankylosed, the lumbars half as long
again as they are broad. The animal is black,
and attains a length of 14 feet.
Pseudoscines (su-dos'i-nez), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
Tpevd^g, false, + L. oscen (oscin-), a singing bird:
see Oscines.] In ornitli., in Sclater's arrange-
ment of 1880, a suborder of Passeres, including
the ^ eromyodi abnormales of Garrod and Forbes,
or the genera Menura and Atrichia of Australia,
as together distinguished from Oscines, or nor-
mal aeromyodian Passeres.
pseudoscinine (sH-dosM-nin), a. Anomalously
oscinine, as the lyre-birds and scrub-birds of
Australia; belonging to the Pseudoscines.
pseudosclerosis (sU'da-skle-ro'sis), n. A case
resembling clinically multiple sclerosis, but
not presenting the characteristic lesions post
mortem.
pseudoscope (sii'do-skop), n. [< Gr. ^evSrjc,
false, + OKOTreiv, view.] A kind of stereoscope
that makes concave parts appear convex, and
convex parts concave. Wheatstone's pseudoscope
produces these effects by the use of two flint-glass rectan-
gular prisms, which reflect the light coming from the ob-
ject viewed from their inner surfaces, the latter being,
with reference to the eye of the observer, at the angle of
total reflection.
Hence, too, the obstinacy with which human faces and
forms, and other extremely familiar convex objects, refuse
to appear hollow when viewed through Wheatstone's pseu-
doaeope. W. Jamei, Mind, XII. 528.
pseudoscopic (sii-do-skop'ik), a. [< pseudoscope
+ -ic] Pertaining to the pseudoscope, or to the
class of optical phenomena which it presents,
in which false impressions of visual objects are
conveyed to the mind.
By m&idoBeopic vision we mean that "conversion of
relief which is produced by the combination of two re-
versed perspective projections.
W. B. Carpmter, Micros., § 31.
The second [group of illusions] relates to the instability
of our judgments of relative distance and size by the eye,
and includes especially what are known as pseudoscopic
illusions. W. Jamet, Mind, XIL 524.
pseudoscopically (su-do-skop'i-kal-i), adv. In
a pseudoscopic manner ; as in a pseudoscope.
When mounted pteudoscopicaUy, at first it [a photograph]
is very unsatisfactory. Jour. Franklin Imt, CXXIII. 428.
psendoscopy (sii'do-sko-pi), n. [< pseudoscope
+ -^S.] The use "of the pseudoscope, or the
production of effects similar to those exhib-
ited by it.
pseudoscorpion (su-do-sk6r'pi-on), ». [< NL.
i)seudoseorpio(n-), < Gr. ^cvd^s, false, + aicopwiog,
L. scorpio^nA, a scorpion.] A false scorpion;
a member of the Pseudoscorpkmes or Cheliferi-
dse. See cut in next column.
Psendoscorpiones (sfi'do-skdr-pi'S-nez), n. pi.
[NL., pi. of pseudoscorpioivr-) : seepseudoscorpi-
4818
on.'] An order of trache-
ate arachnidans, with seg-
mented abdomen not dis-
tinctly separated from
the cephalothorax, didac-
tyl or chelate maxillary
palps, two or four eyes,
and no postabdomen nor
poison-glands: the false
scorpions, of the families
Cheliferidse and Obisiidse.
Also called Cheliferidea.
Also Pseudoscotpionina,
and as a family Pseudo-
scorpionidse.
pseudoseptate (sti-do-
sep'tat), a. 1. In hot.,
having the appearance of being septate, as
many spores. — 2. In zool., having pseudosepta,
as corals.
pseudoseptum (su-do-sep'tum), n. ; pi. pseudo-
septa (-ta). In corals, a false septum; a sep-
tum not homologous with the regular septa of
corals — that is, not identified as a calcified
mesentery. Thus, in Heliopora, with eight
mesenteries only, there are twelve pseudo-
septa.
pseudosiphon (su-do-sl'fon), n. [NL., < Gr.
TJievS^l, false, -1- a'ujiav, sipHon: see siphon.] A
false siphon; the vertical trace in the exter-
nal solid plug of the truncated shell of certain
cephalopods, as orthoceratites, continuous with
the true siphon. J . Hyatt, Proo. Bost. Soo. Nat.
Hist., XXfl. 258.
pseudosiphoiial(su-d6-Bi'fo-nal), a. [(.pseudo-
siphon + -al.] Of, pertaining to, or resembling
the pseudosiphon of cephalopods.
pseudosiphuncle (su-do-si'fung-kl), n. [< Gr.
ijievi^C, f Eflse, + E. siphuncle.] A pseudosiphon.
A. Hyatt.
pseudosmia (su-dos'mi-a), n. [NL., < Gr. ipcv-
6^g, false, + 6<r/i^, odor.J False smell-percep-
tion.
Fseudosolanese (su"do-s6-la'ne-e), n.pl. [NL.
(Bentham and Hooker, lS76), <'Gr. ipevS^c, false,
+ NL. Solanese.] A series or suborder of gamo-
petalous plants of the order Scrophularinese,
having some relationship with the order Sola-
nacese, and characterized by alternate leaves,
uniformly centripetal inflorescence, a five-lobed
corolla with the two upper lobes exterior, and
four, sometimes five, perfect stamens, it includes
9 genera and 3 tribes, of which the VerhascesBj or the mul-
len tribe, Is the chief. They are herbs or shrubs, the
flowers with a broad corolla-tube bearing rather flat and
spreading lobes.
pseudospermic (sii-do-sp6r'mik), a. [ipseudo-
sperm-ium + -ic] In bot., forming or pertain-
ing to a pseudospermium.
pseudospermium (sii-do-sper'mi-um), n. [NL.,
< Gr. fEvdrig, false, + airip/ia, seed.] In bot,, any
one-seeded indehiseent fruit in which the peri-
carp so closely invests the seed that the whole
appears as merely a seed — for example, an
achenium.
pseudospermous (su-do-spfer'mus), a, [As
pseudosperniric + -ous.] Same as pseudosper-
mic,
pseudosphere (su'do-sfer), n. 1. A surface of
constant negative curvature. — 2. A sphere in
non-Euclidean geometry.
pseudospherical (su-do-sfer'i-kal), a. Having
a constant negative curvature.
Were space le&Wy pBeudospherieal, then stars would ex-
hibit a real parallax even if they were infinitely distant.
Encyc. Brtt., XV. 664.
Fseudosplierical surface, a surface lilie that generated
by the rotation on its axis of the curve
Fseudotriinera
which some tracheate acarines, as the Oriha-
tidse or beetle-mites, are provided, in these mites
the pseudostigmata are conspicuous, dorsal, tubular, and
each has a filament projecting from the interior 01 the
tube.
pseudostoma (su-dos'to-mS,), n. ; pi. pseudosto-
mata (sii-do-stb'ma-ta). [NL. : see pseudo-
stome.] 1 . tn anat.] a supposed opening on the
surface of a serous membrane, regarded as the
mouth of one of the absorbents or lymphatic
vessels which begin in such membranes. — 2.
iaeool.: (a) Same a.spseudostome, 2. (ftf) [.cap.]
The name-giving genus of Pseudostomidie:
synonymous with Geomys. Thomas Say, 1823.
Also caUed Diplostoma, Saecophorv^, and As-
X + -^r^ — y' = rlog
9
Pseudospora (su-dos'p6-ra), n. [NL.,< Gr. ipev-
S^i, false, -I- avipoQ, seed.[[ A genus of myxo-
myeetous fungi, typical of the family Pseudo-
sporesB, with Plasmodium wanting, or at least
unknown.
pseudospore (sU'do-spor), n. [< Gr. fevSiK,
false, -r airdpog, seed.] In my col., same as
teleutospore.
Pseudosporese (sii-do-sp5're-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Zopf), < Pseudospora + -ess.] A family of
myxomycetous fungi of the class Monadinese,
typified by the genus Pseudospora.
pseudostella (sii-do-stel'a), n. [NL., < Gr.
fevd^g, false, + L. Stella, star.] A meteor or
phenomenon of any kind resembling a star in
the heavens.
pseudostigma (su-do-stig'ma), n.; pi. pseudo-
stigmata (-ma-ta). A kind o{ false stigma with
pseudostomatous (sii-do-stom'a-tus), a. [<
pseudostoma{t-) + -ous.] ' Provided with pseu-
dostomata, as a serous surface ; of or pertain-
ing to a pseudostoma.
pseudostome (su'do-stom), n. [< Nh.pseudos-
toma (at. GT.iliev66aTO/ia,th6 false or blind mouth
of a river), < Gr. ^radijf, false, + ardfia, mouth.]
1 . The mouth or oral orifice of the pseudembryo
or eehinopffidium of an echinoderm; a pseu-
dostoma: correlated with jjsettiiqproct. — 2. The
false osculum or secondary opening replacing
an original oscule of a sponge. Also called
pseudoproct.
Secondary canals or cavities, which may be incurrent
(vestibular) or exourrent (cloacal), the opening of the lat-
ter to the exterior being termed a false oscule oipmido-
glome. W. J. SoOat, Encyc. Brit., XXII. 416.
3. A pouched rat, or pocket-gopher, of North
Ainerica, as Geomys bwrsarivs. See Pseudos-
toma, 2 (&).
Pseudostomidse (sti-do-stom'i-de), n. pi, [NL.
(Gervais, 1848), < Pseudostoma + -idee.] a
family of American rodents, with external
cheek-pouches, named from the genus Pseudos-
toma; the pocket-rats and pocket-mice, now
dissociated in the two families Geomyidse and
Saccomyidse; the pseudostomes.
pseudostomine (sti-do-sto'min), a. [i pseudo-
stome + -Miei.] Having external cheek-pouches,
as a pocket-rat or pocket-mouse ; saccomyine.
pseudostomosis (su'do-sto-mo'sis), n. [NL., <
pseudostome + -osis.] Tlie formation or exis-
tence of a pseudostome, or false oscule, as that
of a sponge. TV. J. SoUas, Encyc. Brit., XXH.
416.
pseudostomotic (su"d6-st6-mot'ik), a. [< pseu-
dostomosis (-ot-) + -Jc] characterized by or ex-
hibiting pseudostomosis; provided with pseu-
dostomes or false oscules, as a sponge.
pseudostomous (su-dos'to-mus), a. [< pseudo-
stome + -OMS.] Saving' pseudostomes, as a
sponge ; of or pertaining to pseudostomes.
pseudostroma (su-do-stro'ma), n. In mycol., a
false stroma; a cellular body resembling a
stroma, as that produced in certain lichens.
See stroma,
pseudosymmetry (sti-do-sim'e-tri), n. In crys-
tal., false symmetry; the appearance of having
a higher degree of symmetry than is actually
the case, usually produced through twinning.
See twin,
Pseudotetramera (sii"do-te-tram'e-ra), «. pi.
[NL. (Westwood,1839): seepseudoietramerous.]
In Westwood's system of classification, one of
the four prime divisions of Coleoptera, including
those beetles in which the tarsi are five-jointed,
but the fourth joint is minute and concealed be-
tween the lobes of the preceding, it is equivalent
to the Cryptopentamera of Burmeister and the Svbpenta-
mera of Latreille. It includes the large and important
groups Shynchophora, Longicomia, and Phytophaga.
pseudotetramerous (sii'''do-te-tram'e-rus), a.
[< Gr. Tjievdij;, false, + Tirrdpec {rerpa-), four, +
/iepog, part.] Having apparently four-jointed
but actually five-jointed tarsi, as a beetle ; of or
pertaining to the Pseudotetramera.
psendotinea (su-do-tin'e-a), n. [< O. i/ien^,
false, + L. tinea, a worm!] The larva of cer-
tain pyralid moths, as the bee-moth, Gakria
cereana, which feeds on wax, and is a terrible
enemy to bees. They sometimes infold the cells in
their webs to such an extent as to destroy the community.
See Galena, and cut under tee-moth.
Pseildotrimera (su-do-trim'e-ra), n.pl. [NL.
(Westwood, 1839): see pseuditri/merous.] In
Westwood's system of classification, one of the
four prime divisions of Coleoptera, including
those beetles in which the tarsi are four-joint-
ed, the third joint being very diminutive and
concealed between the lobes of the preceding.
It is equivalent to the Cryptotetrameraot Burmeister and To
the SiAtetramera and Trimera of Latreille. It includes the
three families Brotylida, Endomychidse. and CocdnelUdai.
pseudotrimerous
psendotrimerous (su-do-trim'e-ms), a. r< Gr
^v6m, false, + rpa-f (rpi-j.threb, +/i£pof, part.]
Having apparently only three, but actually four
tarsal joints, as a beetle; of or pertainine to
the Pseudotrimera.
Fseudotsuga (su-dot-su'ga), n. [NL. (Car-
n&re, 1867), < Gr. i//ei,%, 'false, + NL. Tsuga,
^'■^'^ ^ genus of coniferous trees of the
i-n\>& AUetinese. By Eiohler, Bugler, and others it
is united with the related genua Ttniga, the hemlock-
spruce, from which It has been disthiguished by the ab-
sence of resin-vesicles in the seeds, by the smooth branch-
lets and by cones fringed with conspicuous sharnlv two-
lobed bracts much longer than the scales, with their mid-
ribs prolonged into a spine or bristle. There is but one
roecies, P. DauglaMi, discovered by the Scotch botanist
David Douglas, in Oregon, in 1825, the most widely dis-
tributed timber-tree of the Pacific States, known as red
01 yMow fir, Oregon pine, Douglas fir, Douglas spruce,
ana Douglas pine. (See Oregon pine, under pine^.) The
wood is unlike that of any related conifer in its abun-
dance of spirally marked wood-cells. The trees are at
first pyramidal and flpruce-like, afterward more spread-
ing, with very thick and rough brown bark. They bear
flat and very narrow linear leaves, spirally Inserted but
spreading somewhat in two ranks by a twist at the base,
and handsome pendulous cones, which are nearly cy-
lindrical, 2 or 3 inches long, and are matured the first
year. In the variety maerocarpa, the hemlock of the San
Bernardino Mountains, a smaller tree, about 60 feet in
height^ the cones reach 7 inches long, and the larger seeds
contain as many as from nine to twelve seed-leaves.
Fseudoturbinolidae (su-d6-t6r-bi-nol'i-de), n.
pi. [NL., < Gr. fevdric, failse, + NL. Tmhino-
lidse.l A family of extinct aporose scleroder-
matous corals, resembling Tu,rbinoUdse,'but with
septa each composed of three laminse free in-
ternally, externally united by a single costa.
The genus Dasmia is an example. Also called
DasmUdx. Edwards and Haime, 1850. »
pseudova, n. Plural otpseudovum.
pseudoval (sii-do'val), a. [ipsmdovum + -al.'\
Of or pertaining to a pseudovum or metovum.
Buxley, Anat. Civert., p. 331.
pseudovarian (sii-do-va'ri-an), a. [< pseudo-
var-y + -jare.] Of or pertaining to a pseudo-
vary : as, a pseudovarian tubule ; a pseudova-
rian ovum.
The terminal or anterior chamber of each pseudovarian
tube is lined by an epithelium, which incloses a number
of nucleated cells. Husdey, Anat. Invert., p. 385.
pseudovarium (su-do-va'ri-um), n. [NL. : see
pseitdovary.^ Same as pseudovary.
A portion of the cells . . . bei3omes converted into a
psevdova/rium, and the development of new pseudova
commences before the young leaves the body of its pa-
rent. It is obvious that this operation is comparable to
a kind of budding. Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 447.
pseudovaiy (sfi-do'vS-ri), n.; jal. pseudovaries
(-riz). {_<. Nil. pseudovarium, <Gr. ■^ei/rfi^f, false,
+ NL. ovarium, ovary: see ovary^.'] 1. The
ovary of a viviparous insect, as an aphis, in
which are developed the kind of ova called pseu-
dova.
The young ai'e developed within organs which resemble
the ovarioles of the true females in their disposition, and
may be teraie^ pseudovaries.
Bwdey, Anat. Invert., p. 385.
2. The filmy pellicle or so-called proligerous
membrane of infusions of hay, etc., out of which
infusorial animalcules were supposed to be pro-
duced by the heterogenists, or believers in spon-
taneous generation.
pseudovelar (su-do-ve'lar), a. [<. pseudovelum
+ -orS.] Vascular, as the velum of a seypho-
medusan; having the character or quality of a
pseudovelum.
pseudovelum (sii-do-ve'luin), n.; pi. pseudovela
(-la). [NL., < Gr. ipevd^^, false, -1- NL. velum.']
THe vascular velum of some hydrozoans, as the
Sayphomedusx, containing enteric vessels, and
regarded as morphologically distinct from the
true velum of the Sydromeduax. See velum,.
Fseudoviperset (sti-do-vi'pe-re), n. pi. [NL.
(Oppel, 1811), < Gr. -^evUiq, false, + L. vipera,
viper.] The wart-snakes (genera Acrochordus
and Erpeton).
pseudoviperine (sii-do-vi'pe-rin), a. [As Pseu-
doviper-ee + -jraei.] Having the appearance of
a viper or other venomous serpent, but harm-
less, as a wart-snake ; pertaining to the Pseu-
pseudo-volcanic (sii"dd-vol-kan'ik), a. Per-
taining to or produced by a pseudo-volcano.
pseudo-volcano (sii"d6-vol-ka'n6), n. A vol-
cano that, when in a state of activity, emits
smoke and sometimes flame, but no lava; also,
a burning mine of coal.
Pseudovomer (sii-do-vo'mfer), «. [NL., < Gr.
ihsvSrig, false, + L. vomer, plowshare : see vomer.]
A genus of fossil earangoid fishes of Miocene
age.
4819
pseudovum (su-do'vum), «. ; pi. pseudova (-va).
[NL., < Gr. \pEvd?ic, false, + L. ovum, egg.] A
pseudovarian ovum; the egg produced in a
pseudovary ; a false egg, or the germ of an in-
dividual, as an aphid, produced agamogeneti-
cally andparthenogenetically. Theunimpregnated
eggs laid by a virgin aphis are pseudova. The delicate
investing membrane or cell-wall is ruptured immediately
by the active embryos.
One of the hindermost of these cells enlarges and becomes
detached from the rest as a pseudovwm. It then divides
and gives rise to a cellular mass, distinguishable into a
peripheral layer of clear cells and a central more granu-
lar substance, which becomes surrounded by a structure-
less cuticula. It is this cellular mass which gradually be-
comes fashioned into the body of a larval aphis.
Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 885.
The ova which originate in it [pseudovary] and are in-
capable of fertilization [it will be convenient to call] the
pseudova. Ckms, Zoology (trans.), p. 544.
pseudoxanthin (su-dok-san'thin), n. [< Gr.
^evdljg, false, + ^avBSg, yellow, + -i»2.] a leu-
comaine found in muscular tissue.
psha, pshah (sha or psha), interj. See pshaw.
pshaw (sh& orpshfi,), interj. [^Alao psha, pshah;
a mere exclamation, of no definite formation,
but suggesting j)isft and sho, aecom. to ah, aw.]
An exclamation implying contempt, disdain,
impatience, or a sense of absurdity.
PsJmrn, Pshmv ! you flb, you Baggage, you do understand.
Congreve, Double-Dealer, iv. 3.
Pshaw.' Sure I must know better than you whether
he 's come or not. Shsridan, School for Scandal, iii. 3.
You will say that the story is not probable. Psha!
Is n't it written in a book ? Thackerwg, Bluebeaxd's Ghost.
pshaw (sh& or psh&), V. i. [(.pshaw, interj.] To
utter the inter-
jection pshaw;
evince contempt
or impatience by
such interjections
as pshaw.
My father travelled
homewards ... in
none of the best of
moods, pshaw'ing and
Sish-ing all the way
own.
Sterne, Tristram
[Shandy, I. xvii.
pshem (pshem), n.
A head-dress for
women, derived
from the Bast,
probably the Le- pshem.
vant, and adopted
in Spain in the thirteenth century. It was prac-
tically an upright and nearly cylindrical hat.
psi (pse or si), n. A Greek letter, *, V. It be-
longs to the Ionic alphabet, and stands forps or
phs. The character may be a modification of
<t,6.
Fsidium (sid'i-um), n. [NL. (Linnseus, 1737),
said to have been so called in allusion to the suc-
culent fruit ; irreg. < Gr. ■fi^eiv, ipteiv, feed on pap,
+ dim. -idiov.] A genus of polypetalous trees
and shrubs of the order MyrtaeesB and tribe
Myrtese. it is characterized by a broad calyx-tube bear-
ing four or five lobes which are closed in the bud and be-
come separated on flowering, four or flve spreading pet-
als, an ovary commonly with four or flve cells, and nu-
merous many-ranked ovules containing a curved and ring-
like embryo. There are over 100 species, all American,
except one in Asia, and all tropical or subtropical. They
are commonly hairy or woolly, and bear opposite feather-
veined leaves, rather large cymos= flowers, and roundish
or pear-shaped berries, sometimes crowned with the calyx-
lobes, often edible, and known as guava. See guava (with
cut).
Psila (si'ia), n. [NL. (Meigen, 1803), < Gr. iit-
M(, bare, naked, smooth, blank, mere.] A no-
table genus of dipterous insects, typical of
the family Ps»K(te, containing shining-black or
rust-colored flies, the larvae of which feed on
the roots of plants. P. rosrn of Europe is a
pest of the carrot and cabbage. See cut un-
der Psilidee.
psilanthropic (sl-lan-throp'ik), a. [< psilan-
throp-y + 4c.] Of, pertaining to, or embody-
ing psilanthropism. Coleridge. (Imp. Diet.)
psilanthropism (si-lan'thro-pizm), n. [< psi-
lanthrop-y + -ism.] The doctrine or belief of
the mere human existence of Christ. [Rare.]
psilanthropist (si-lan'thro-pist), n. [< psilan-
throp-y + -ist.] One who believes that Christ
was a mere man ; a humanitarian.
The schoolmen would perhaps have called you Unicists :
but your proper name is PsUarUhropists — believers in the
mere human nature of Christ.
Coleridge, lable-Talk, April 4, 1832.
psilanthropy (si-lan'thro-pi), n. [< LGr. fiUv-
dpumoQ, merely human, < ■il>M<:, bare, mere, +
avdpuiroc, man.] Same as - -•'—-■'^ ------
Fsilopaedes
Fsilidae (sU'i-de), n. pi. [NL. (Loew), < Psila
+ -idsB.] A family of acalyptrate Muscidx,
Loxoeera cylindrica (much enlai^ed), one of the Psilides.
comprising a few small forms distributed in
a half-dozen genera, of which Psila and Loxo-
cera are the most notable.
Fsilocephalinse (si-lo-sef-a-li'ne), n.pl. [NL.,
< Psiloceplialus + -inse.] " In Gill's classifica-
tion, a subfamily oiBalisUdse, with the verte-
brsB increased to 29 or 30, the anterior dorsal
represented by a weak spine over the frontal
region, and the branchial apertures in advance
of the eyes. The only species is from East In-
dian seas.
Fsilocephalus (si-lo-sef 'a-l™), n. [NL. (Swain-
son, 1839),< Gr. ■^iTJig, bare, + m^ali/, head.] 1.
The typical genus of Psiloeephalinee, contain-
Psitocefhaius barbattis.
ing the fish otherwise known as Anaeanthus
iarbatus. — 2. In entom:: (a) A genus of dip-
terous insects. Zetterstedt, 1842. (6) A genus
of coleopterous insects of the family Psela-
phidse. Raffray, 1877.
Fsiloceras (si-los'e-ras), n. [NL. (Hyatt, 1868),
< Gr. ■^iK6g, bare, + Kipag, horn.] A genus of
Jurassic ammonites of the family Arietidse, to
which, according to Hyatt, all the forms of true
ammonites may be traced. P. planorbis is an
example.
psiloceratite (si-lo-ser'a-tit), n. [< Psiloceras
(-cerat-) + -ite^.]' A fossil cephalopod of the
genus Fsiloceras.
Fsilodermata (si-lo-d6r'ma-ta), n. pi. Same as
Amphibia, 2 (c).
psilodermatous (si-lo-dfer'ma-tus), a. [< Gr.
fcMc, bare, -I- d^p/to, sMn.] "Having the skin
naked (that is, not scaly), as an amphibian ; of
or pertaining to the Psilodermata.
psilology (si-lol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. ■fMg, bare,
mere, + -Tioyia, < ^iiyeiv, speak: see -ology.] Love
of idle talk. Coleridge. [Kare.] Imp. Diet.
psilomelan (si-lom'e-lan), n. Same as psilome-
lane. Encyo. Brit., XV. 479.
psilomelane (si-lom'e-lan), n. [< Gr. ■\iiOi6q,
bare, + fd'Aaq (/z£/lov-), black.] A hydrous oxid
of manganese occurring in smooth botryoidal
and stalactitio forms and massive, and having
a color iron-black to steel-gfray.
psilomelanic (si"lo-me-lan'ik), a. [< psilome-
lane + -ic] Pertaining to or consisting of psi-
lomelane.
The writer found in one of these [manganese nodules]
... a total of 21.04 per cent, of the psUorrulanic part.
Eneyc. Brit, XV. 479.
Fsllonotidse (si-lo-not'i-de), ii. pi. [NL., < Psi-
lonotus + -idle.] ' In Gill's system of classifica-
tion, a family of gymnodont plectognath fishes,
represented by the genua Psilonotus. They are
among the smallest plectognaths, and inhabit tropical
seas. The frontals are separated from the supraoccipital
by the intervention of the postfrontals, which are con-
nected together and laterally expanded but short; the
ethmoid is prominent above, enlarged and narrow for-
ward ; the vertebrae are few, about 8 + 9 ; the head is com-
pressed, with a projecting attenuate snout^ and the dorsal
and anal fins are short and pauciradiate.
Fsilonotus (si-lo-no'tus), n. [NL., < Gr. ipMc,
bare, + vSyrog, back.] The typical genus of
Psilonotidx.
Psilopsedes (si-lo-pe'dez), «. pi. [< Gf. ■^lUq,
bare, naked, + Traig {ttoiS-), pi. jrotdec, child.]
In ornith., in Sundevall's system (1872), a pri-
mary group of birds, embracing those which
are hatched naked and require to be fed in the
nest by the parent. The term is nearly conterminous
Fsilopsdes
with Attrieei, but of more exact Bigniflcation, The an-
tithesis is PtUopadea or Dasypxdea. Also called Oymno-
piedei.
psilopaedic Csi-lo-pe'dik), a. [< Psilopsed-es +
-ic] Of or pertaining to the Psil<ypsBd)es : ap-
^Qs&^to pU'wpsBd,ica,-DA.hest}wgenous. AlBogym-
nopxdic.
Psilophyton (a-lof l-ton), n. [NL., < Gr. iliMg,
bare, smooth, + ^&i>, a plant: see phyton.']
A genus of fossil plants considered by Dawson
as being a conneeting-link between the rhizo-
earps and lycopods, and so named by him in con-
sequence of its partial resemblance to certain
parasitic lycopods placed in the modern genus
Psilotum. This plant is abundant in the Devonian of
Qasp6 Bay, Canada. Kemains of plants referred to this
genus by Lesqnereux are also said to have been found in
both Ohio and Michigan ; in the former case, in rocks of
Lower Silurian age ; in the latter, of Upper Silurian. The
plant has also been found in the Devonian of England and
Germany.
Fsiloptera (si-lop'te-ra), n. [NL. (Solier, 1833),
< Gr. fMg, bare, naked, + Trrepdv, wing, = E.
feather.'] An important genus of buprestid
beetles, comprising more than a hundred spe-
cies, extremely variable in form, and found
mainly in Africa and South America.
FsilorMnns (si-lo-ri'nus), n. [NIj. (Euppell,
1831), < Gt. iliMg, bare, + l>lc (.f>iv-), nose.] An
American genus of Corvidse, containing large
magpie-Hke jays, of dark coloration, with very
long graduated tail, crestless head, a stout bill,
and naked nostrils; the smoky pies. There are
several species, as the brown jay, P. morio. This bird
inhabits Texas and Mexico, is smoky-brown, paler below,
with bluish gloss on the wings and tail, the bill black or
yellow, the length 16 inches, of which the tail is about
one half.
Fsilosomata (si-lo-s6'ma-ta), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. ij/M(, bare, +'<70;tta, Taody: see Psilh.'] In
De Blalnville's classification (1825), a family of
his Aporobranehiata, consisting of the genus
PkylUrhoe alone, it was one of three families of
pteropods, contrasting with Thecosomata and Cfymnoso-
mata. It is now generally called PhylUrhmdse and re-
ferred to the nudibranchiates. See cut under PhyUi'
rhoe.
psilosopher f si-los'o-f 6r), n. [< Gt. ijiMs, bare,
mere, + ctxpSg, wise'.] A would-be or pretended
philosopher; a sham sage; an incompetent or
mean pretender to philosophy. [Rare.] Imp.
Diet.
Fsittaci (sit'a-a), n. pi. [NL., pi. of Psitta-
cus.] An order of birds, having the bill hooked
and cered, and the feet yoke-toed ; the parrots,
or the parrot tribe. This is one of the most natu-
ral and well-marked groups in ornithology, formerly re-
ferred to an "order" Scansorea. The feet are perma-
nently zygodactyl by reversion of the fourth toe, and cov-
ered with rugose or granular scales or plates. The wings
have ten primaries, and the tail has ten rectrices. The
bill is strongly epignathous, and furnished with a naked
or feathered cere. The tongue is thick and fleshy, some-
times peculiarly brushy, and may be used as an organ of
taction or prehension ; the upper mandible is peculiar-
ly movable, and the beak is habitually employed in pro-
gression. The symphysis of the lower jaw is short and
obtuse. The bony orbits of the eyes are often completed
by union of the lacrymal with the postorbital process.
The sternum is entire or simjily fenestrated behind, and
the clavioles are weak, sometimes defective or wanting.
The lower larynx or syrinx is peculiarly constructed, with
three pairs of intrinsic muscles. The plumage is after-
shafted; the oil-gland is absent, or present and tufted;
there are no cseca and no gall-bladder ; the carotid arteries
are variable ; the ambiens muscle is present, variable, or
absent; the femorocaudal, semitendinoBns,and its acces-
sory are present ; the accessory femorocaudal is absent
The Psittad are considered to represent only one family,
Pattaeidie; or two families, Stringopidse and Pgittacidie
rSclater) ; or two families, Pcdseomithida and PgUtaddsB
(Oarrod, Cones) ; or three families, Pelttacidse, Cmatuidie,
and Slrigopidie (Gray) ; or nine families, Stringopidx, Pits-
aolophidse, Platyeereidie, Microptittacidse, TrichogloaMee,
PdlsBomithidse, PeUtacidss, Conuridee, and PUmida. There
are upward of 400 species, inhabiting all tropical regions,
but poorly represented in the temperate zones. They are
chiefly frugivorous^ and are sometimes c^edfntgiwrous
Saptores. See the family names, and cockatoo^ lory, lorU
keet, love-birdj fnacaw, owl-parrot^ parrakeet^ and parrot.
Also called PsittOffCme, PsiUacini, and PsiUacomorphx.
psittacid (sit'a-sid), n. and a. I. n. A parrot,
as a member of the Psittacidse in any sense.
II. a. Same a,s psittacine.
Psittacidse (si-tas'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Psitta-
eus + -idee.'] A family of Psittad ; the parrots,
(o) The only family, conterminous with the order. In this
sense the PsUtaeidie are divided by Knsch into 6 subfami-
lies: Stringopinse, owl -parrots; PlictolophiTisBf cockatoos;
SiUavinx, with numerous genera, both American and Old
World; Pstttaeinx; and Trichoglossinm, the lories. See
outs under owl-parrot, parrot, parrakeet, Prionituna. (dt)
Bestricted by exclusion of the owl-parrots and cockatoos,
and divided into Pezopmrinm, Arinse, Lorince, Truihoglom-
nx, Jfentorinie, and Paittaoinse. 0. R. Gray, (c) Restrict-
ed by exclusion of the Palaomithinie to Psittacl with two
carotids, of which the left is normal, and divided into ..^rt-
7U», PyrrhurinsBf Platycereinse, and Chrysotirue. Oarrod;
Coues. {cO Restricted to the gray African parrots of the
genera PsUtacus and Coracopgis. Meichenow,
4820
psittacine (sit'a-sin), a. [< LL. psittacinus, of
or pertaining to a parrot, < psittaetis, a parrot :
see Psittaeits.'] Parrot-like ; resembling or re-
lated to parrots ; of or pertaining to the Psittaci
or Psittacidse in any sense; psittacomorphic.
Also psittacean, psittaceous, psittacid.
Fsittacini (sit-a-si'ni), n. pi. [NL., < Psittacus
+ -ini.] Same as Psittad.
psittacinite (sit'a-si-nit), n. [< psittadne +
-ite^.'i A vanadate of lead and copper from
Montana, occurring in thin crusts of a siskin or
parrot-green color.
Fsittacirostra (sit*a-sl-ros'tra), n. [NL., < L.
psittacus (< Gr. -iptrTaKdc), a parrot, + rostrum,
beak.] A remarkable genus of Hawaiian birds
of the family Dicseidse, having a stout fes-
tooned bill. The only species is the parrot-billed gros-
beak, P. psittaeea. Originally Psittirostra. Temmirusk,
1820. Also called PsMacopix, PtUtaema.
Psittacomorplise (sit"a-ko-m6r'fe), n.pl. [NL.
(Huxley, 1867), < Gr. ijiiTTaKdi, a parrot, + iwp^,
form.] A superifamily of desmognathous cari-
nate birds, established by Huxley in 1867, cor-
responding to the order Psittad. The technical
characters used in defining the group are the arched and
hooked rostrum, regularly articulated with the skull ; no
basipterygoid processes; movable, vertically elongated
palatines ; spongy maxillopalatines ; lacrymal and postor-
bital processes approximated or united; quadrate bone
with a small orbital and single mandibular facet ; mandib-
ular rami deep, with rounded truncate symphysis ; ster-
num unnotched or single fenestrate ; clavicles weak and
separate, or wanting ; tarsometatarsus short, broad, with
two articular facets on its outer distal end, for jointing
with the reversed fourth digit ; syringeal muscles three
pairs ; contour-feathers aftershaf ted, and oil-gland with a
circlet of feathers when present.
psittacomorphic (sit"a-ko-m6r'fik), a. [< Psit-
iacomorph-x + -ic] Saving the structure of
a parrot; belonging to the Psittacomorphse ;
psittacine.
Psittacula (si-tak'u-la), n. [NL. (Brisson,
1760), dim. of Psittacus, q. v.] A genus of Psit-
tacidse, sometimes made the type of a subfam-
ily Psittaculinse, containing the pygmy parrots
of various countries, some of which are com-
monly known as love-birds, and including in its
different applications a large number of small
species with short tail and mostly green colora-
tion, (a) American parrots, such as P.passerina and sun-
dry other small species. lUiger, 1811. (6) African species
of small size, as P. pvUaria or P. ros&icollis, now placed
in Agapomia. These are the love-birds proper, (c) Vari-
ous small Indian, Philippine, Papuan, and Australian par-
rots, among them species of Loneulvs and Nasiterruz.
Psittaculinse (si-tak-u-li'ne), n. pi. [NL., <
Psittacula + ■inse.'] A subfamily of Psittadass,
named from the genus Psittacula. '
Psittaculus (si-tak'u-lus), n. [NL., dim. of
Psittacus, q. v.] l.'Same as Psittacula (a).
Spix, 1824. — 2. Same as Psittacula (c), or Lori-
culus. Bwainson, 1837.
Psittacus (sit'a-kus), n. [NL., < L. psittacus, <
Gr. ijJiTTOKdg, also ipiTrdK^ (also ^'iTraKoc, aiTTaiai),
a parrot; prob. of foreign origin.] ALinnean
genus of Psittad, formerly conterminous with
the order, subsequently variously restricted,
now usually confined to the gray African par-
rots, or jackos (as P. erithacus, in which the
plumage is grayish, with a short square red
tail), which are among the commonest cage-
birds. See out under ^arJ-o*.
psittaket, »• [ME. psitake; < L. psittacus,< Gr.
■fiTTaKdg, a parrot: see Psittacus.] A parrot.
And there ben manye Popegayes, that thei clepen
Psitakes in hire Langage. Maridmlle, Travels, p. 274.
Psittirostra (sit-i-ros'tra), n. [NL.] Same as
Psittadrostra.
psoadic (so-ad'ik), a. [< psoas (assumed stem
psoad-) +' -ic] Of or pertaining to the psoas
muscles; psoatic: as, the jjsoatKc plexus. Oioen.
psoas (so'as), n. [NL., prop, psoa (the form
psoas being perhaps due to a genitive psoas),
< Gr. ■^)6a, also ■^a, usually in pi. ijidai, ■pbai, a
muscle of the loins.] A muscle of the loins and
pelvis; the tenderloin psoas abscess, a burrow-
mg abscess formed by caries of the spine, and confined by
the sheath of the psoas magnua muscle.— Psoas magnus,
a large fusiform muscle situated within the abdomen at
the side of the bodies of the lumbar vertebrse, from which
it takes its origin, and inserted with the iliacus into the
trochanter minor of the femur. It heljps to form the ili-
opsoas. Also called psoas major lumbarzs, and nhognipsoas.
See cut 3, c, under miMcfe, and tenderiloijj.— Psoas major.
Same as psoas magnus. — Psoas parvus, a small muscle,
frequently absent in man, lying on the front and inner side
of the psoas magnus, and inserted into the brim of the pel-
vis by a long tendon. Also called parmpsoas.
psoatic (so-at'ik), a. [< psoas (assumed stem
psoat-) + -jc] Of or pertaining to the psoas
muscles; psoadic.
Psocids (sos'i-de), n. pi. [NL. (Stephens, 1836),
< Psocm + -idie.] An impori;ant family of pseu-
psoriasis
doneuropterous insects, typified by the genus
Psocvs, having an oval body, a free head, and a
small prothorax. The wings when present are of un-
equal size, the hind pair being smaller. The tarsi are two-
or three-jointed. It comprises two subfamilies, the Atro-
pinse andPsoctiuK. The former contains wingless species,
such as Atropos divinataria, the common book-louse, and
ClothiUa pulsatoria (formerly Atropos pvlsaiorm8\ the
death-wateh, while the latter contains a host of small
winged forms which feed upon lichens, fungi, and decay-
ing vegetation. Also Psocina. See cut under OfiotA-uiateA.
psocine (so'sin), a. [< Psocus + -ine^.} Of or
pertaining to the Psoddse or Psodna, especial-
ly to the subfamily Psodnse.
Psocus (so'kus), n. [NL. (Latreille, 1797), ap-
par. for *Psocms, < Gr. tjiQx"^, rub in pieces
(of. deriv. ipoxog, dust, sand); of. *il)6£a>, coUat.
form of ipdv, rub away, grind.] A large and
wide-spread genus of pseudoneuropterous in-
sects, typical of the ta,mily Psoddse. The species
have ocelli, and the wings are well developed. P. venosus
is often found in decaying cotton-bolls in the southern
United States.
psoitis (so-i'tis), M. I'NJj., < psoas + -itis.] In-
flammation of the psoas muscle.
Psolidse (sol'i-de), n. pi. [NL. (Forbes, 1841),
< Psoitis + -idee.] A family of dendroohirotous
. dipneumonous holothurians, typified by the ge-
nus Psolus, having branching tentacles, a pair
of water-lungs, polar mouth and anus, uniserial
pedicels, separate sexes, and Cuvierian organs.
Psolus (so'lus), n. [NL. (Oken), < Gr. V*;^f,
circumcised.] The typical genus of PsoUdse,
having the dorsal ambulacra atrophied.
FsopMa (s6'fi-a), n. [NL., < Gr. ipd^oQ, any in-
articulate noise.] The only genus of Psophi-
idse, containing several species, the best-known
of wftch is P. crepitans, the trumpeter, agami,
or yakamik. See cut under agami.
Psophiidse (so-fi'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Psophia
+ -idse.] A" family of gruiform or gerano-
morphic grallatorial birds, represented by the
genus Psophia; the trumpeters or agamis. They
are confined to South America. Thefamilyis isolated, to
some extent combining the characters of cranes andrdls,
and having some relationship with the seriema and kagu.
The PsopMidx share with tinamous the remarkable char-
acter of a chain of suborbital bones. The sternum is en-
tire ; the pterylosis is crane-like ; the legs are long, and
thebillis stout, shaped somewhat as in gallinaceous birds;
the plumage of the head and neck is short and velvety,
that of the rump long and fiowing. Also PsopMdse.
psora (so'ra), n. [NL., < Ij.psora, < Gr. ■^<i/Da, the
itch, mange, < *ij)i)eiv, ipav, rub.] Same as scabies.
Psoralea (so-ra'lf-a), n. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1753),
so called in allusion to the glands or dots
sprinkled over their surface; < Gt. ipapaUog,
scurfy, scabby, mangy, < Tpiipa, the itch, mange :
see psora.] A genus of leguminous herbs and
shrubs of the tribe Galegese, the type of the sub-
tribe Psoraliese, characterized by an ovary wiHi
one ovule, an indehisoent pod with its seed ad-
herent, and entire calyx-lobes which are un-
changed in fruit. There are about 106 species— over
40 in South Africa, 30 in North America, and others in both
tropical and temperate regions. They are peculiar in their
glandular-dotted herbage, and beai* compound leaves usu-
ally of three leaflets, and purple, blue, red, or white flow-
ers, in heads or spikes, or variously clustered. Many spe-
cies have been cultivated on account of their flowers, both
for the lawn and for the greenhouse. P. esculenia, of the
plains from the Saskatchewan to Texas, yields an edible
tuberous root, known SLSpomme-de-prainSypomm^-blanclte,
prairie-turnip, prairie- apple, Cree potato, or Missouri bread-
root. Its introduction into Europe as an esculent was un-
successfully attempted at the time of the potato- rot. It
is a rough-hairy plant with palmate leaves and dense ob-
long spikes of purplish flowers, and once yielded a great
part of the food of the Indians. P. LuvmAlus is the small
lupine of southern pine-barrens, a slender plant with violet
flowers. P. bituminota is the bitumen-trefoil, an ever-
green shrub of the south of Europe. P. glandulosa is the
Jesuit's tea or Mexican tea, known in Chill as eulen, and
there used to fonn a medicinal drink, also as a purgative
and for poultices. For P. emylitolia, see iaweJian-teed.
psoriasis (so-ri'a-sis), n. [NL., < Gr. fupiaccg,
the itch,< ijiapmv, have the itch,< iji&pa, the itch,
mange: see psora.] A chronic non-contagious
skin-disease, characterized by reddish, sligjitly
elevated, diy patches of varying size, shape,
and number, covered with whitish or grayish
imbricated scales. The upper stratum and papillsB of
the conum become infiltrated with leucocytes, the lower
part of the epidermis becomes overgrown, comlfication
of the surface is interfered with, and the cells become
loosened. Psoriasis isfound chiefly on extensor surfaces-
elbows, knees, back, and scalp— not on mucous surfaces.—
^l?"?^*^^ annularis or circlnata, patches of psoriasis
which have healed in the center, but are progressing at the
edges.— Psoriasis diffusa, patches of psoriasis of very
uregular shapes.— Psoriasis guttata, psoriasis with
drop-like nodules, of the size of peas.— Psoriasis gyraXa-
patches similar to psoriasis circinata, except that the edges
take en a wavy, festooned, or figured shape.— FsoriasiB
Ungjue. Same as Jei«()p!(icia.— Psoriasis nummularis,
patches of psoriasis of the size and shape of small coins.—
Psoriasis palmaris, psoriasis affecting the palms of the
hands.— Psoriasis punctata, an early stage of psoriasis,
with a small pinhead eruption.
'■!■
psoric
psoric (so'rik), a. and n. [< Gr. 4iuotK6c iioh^,
1. a. i'ertainuig to psora or scabies
ai,y influeDce in practSe *•"** " '" ^"^^ ^'">»»t
Quoted in 0. fT. Hdm^S Med. Essays, p. 83.
H._ n. A remedy for the itoli.
like the Itch, < f^pa, the itct, mange, + «'doc
form: see psora.-] Similar to, or delating to
psora or scabies. ^ '
psorophthalmia (so-rof-thal'mi-a), ». tnl
< Gr. *,ipa, the itch, mange, + o-^aX(.la, Tkl
Hnl ^ i^ eyes: see ophthalmia.-] fiiflWrna-
■m eyelids, especially along the mar-
psorophthalmic (s6-rof-thaI'mik), a. r< rtso-
rophmirm.a + -ic] Pertaining to or affeSted
with psorophthalmia. •
psorosperm (so'ro-sperm), n. One of the pso-
rospermisB. ^
sponaia. j?. s. Lankester, Bncyo. Brit., XIX. 856.
psorospermise (so-ro-sp6r'mi-e), n. pi. FNL
< Gr. fapds, itchy, mangy (< f6pa, the itch!
mange), + anep^a, ^eed.] Certain vesicular
usually caudate, bodies that occui- as parasites
m the bodies of various animals. Their nature
IS questionable ; some are probably embryonic
Greganmdse; others may be different organisms
psorospermial (so-ro-sper'mi-al), a. [< psoro-
spermix + -al.] Same as iisorospermic.
psorospermic (so-ro-sp6r'mik), a. [< psoro-
spermise + -jc] Of the nature of psorosper-
misa; composed of psorospermi».
psorous (so'rus), a. [< Gr. ipop6g, itchy, mangy :
see psora.] Affected by psora or the itch.
psychal (si'kal), a. {< psyche, 2, + -al.] Per-
tainingto the soul; spiritual; psychic. [Rare.]
AU excitements are, tiuxnigh a psychal necessity, tran-
*'™*- Poe, The Poetic Principle.
psychalgia (si-kal'ji-a), n. [NL., < Gr. ipv^^,
soul, + alyo(, pain.] The painful feeling at-
tending mental action observed in melancholia.
Psyche (si'ke), n. [< L. Psyche (in myth.), <
Gr. fvxv, breath, spirit, life, the spirit, soul,
mind, etc., a
departed spirit,
ghost, etc., also
a butterfly or
moth as the
symbol of the
soul, < iln/x^tv,
breathe, blow.]
1. In classical
myth., -the per-,
sonified and
■deified soul, or
spirit, the be-
loved of Eros,
by whom she
was alternately
caressed and
tormented, siie
was considered as
a fair young girl,
often with the
wings of a butter-
fly, and the butter-
fly was her symbol.
2. [I. c] The human soul or spirit or mind
4821
psycheometry (si-ke-om'e-tri), ,i. [<
psycheometria (Wolf), irreg. < Gr. t(wr*.
:< Nii.
^ ." J - -"; \y^"-j, ^iwg. \ v^i. yvj^ij, SOul,
mina, + -fierpm, < /drpov, measure. Of. psychom-
etry.] The mathematical theory of mental
phenomena.
psychiater (si-ki'a-t6r), n. [< Gr. foxfi, soul,
mind, + iorpdf, a pjhysician, < laxjdai, cure, heal:
see iatric] One who treats diseases of the
mind; an alienist.
psychiatria (si-M-a'tri-a), n. [NL. : see psy-
ehmtry.] Same as psycUatry.
psychiatric (si-ki-at'rik), a. [< psychiatry +
-«c.] Of or pertaining to or connected with
psychiatry.
psychiatrical (si-ki-at'ri-kal), a. Z<psychiatric
+ -al.] Same as psychiatric. Alien, and Neti-
rol., IX. 449.
psychiatrist (si-ki'a-trist), n. [< psychiatr-y
+ -j«*.] One who practises psychiatry ; a psy-
chiater.
psychiatry (si-ki'a-tri), n. [< NL. psychiatria,
^ Gr. fv%ti, soul, + larpeia, a healing, < laTpevetv,
heal, < mrpdg, a healer, physician.] The treat-
ment of mental diseases.
psychic (si'Mk), a. and n. [= F. psychiqm, <
Gr. imxiKd^, pertaining to the soul or to life, also
(>LL.j?«2^e7j«c««),pertainingtomereanimallife,
camal,<^w;t;^, soul, life, mind: see Psyche.] I.
a. 1. Of or belonging to the human soul or
mind; mental; spiritual; psychological.
A good third of our psychic life consists in these rapid
premonitory perspective views of schemes of thought not
yet articulate. TT. ./ameg. Mind, ix. 16.
2. Pertaining to the science of mind: opposed
to physical: as, psychic force.— 3. Pertaining
to the class of extraordinary and obscure phe-
nomena, such as thought-reading, which are
not ordinarily treated by psychologists: as,
psycMe research.— 4. Pertaining to the lower
soul, or animal principle, and not to the spirit,
or higher soul.
psychography
Instead of the association of mental atoms, we are com-
ing to the idea of segmentation of a psychoblast, if we may
invent such a term. Athemeum, No. 3193, p. 12.
Psychoda (si-ko'da), n. [NL. (Latreille, 1796),
< Gr. iwxi, a butterfly (see Psyche), + elSog,
form.] A genus of dipterous insects, typical of
the family Psychodidse, comprising small light-
colored flies which live as larva in dung and
decaying vegetation, as P. phalsenoides. Only
a few species are known, two of which inhabit
North America.
psychodectic (si-ko-dek'tik), a. [< Gr. ■\jwxo-
daiKTJig, destroying the soul, < fv^^, soul, + daU-
r^f, < dati;eiv, cleave, slay.] Soul-destroying.
Psychodidas (si-kod'i-de), n. pi. [NL. (Zetter-
stedt, 1842), < Psychoda + -idee.] A small fam-
ily of nemocerous dipterous insects, allied to the
Xiputtdse, represented in- Europe by ten small
genera, and in North America by only two spe-
cies of the typical genus Psychoda.
psychodometer (si-ko-dom'e-ter), n. [< Gr.
■(jniX^, soul, mind, +'6S6g, way, process, + ui-
rpov, measure.] An instrument for measurmg
the duration of mental processes.
psychodynamic (si"ko-di-nam'ik), a. [< Gr.
fuX^, soul, mind, -f- dm>a/iig, power: see dynant-
ic] Pertaining to psychodynamics.
psychodynamics (si"ko-di-nam'iks), n. [PI. of
psychodynamic (see -tcs).] The science of the
laws of mental action.
psycho-ethical (a-ko-eth'i-kal), a. [< Gr. ij^x^,
soul, mind, + ^iK6g, ethical: "see ethic, etUcal.]
The psychic, or animal, man is the natural man of this
present age. BiMiotheca Sacra, XLVI. 399.
Psychic force, a supposed power or influence, not physi-
cal or mechanical, exhibiting intelligence or volition and
capable of causing certain so-called spiritualistic phe-
nomena : so named by William Crookes in 1871.
II. n. A person specially susceptible of psy-
chic impressions, or subject to psychic force;
a medium; a sensitive. [Recent.]
psychical (si'ki-kal), a. i<psychic + -al.] Same
as psychic.
Cupid CEtos) and Psyche. — Capitoline
Museum, Rome.
Psychology is the science of the psycTie or soul.
JPew Princeton Hev., V. 272.
3. The 16th planetoid, discovered by De Gas-
paris at Naples in 1852. — 4. In zool.: (a) In
entom., a genus of bombycid moths, erected by
Schrank in 1801 (after Linnaeus, 1735), and
typical of the family Psychidee. They have wing-
less females, and males with wings which scarcely reach
beyond the tip of the abdomen. About 70 species are
known, neai'ly all of which are European, one belonging
to Australia and one to Ceylon. (6) In conch., a ge-
nus of gymnosomatous pteropods of the family
Mvryliidse. AXso aaMeA Halopsyche. — 5. \l. c]
In anat., the cerebrospinal nervous system : in
Haeekel's vocabulary applied to the brain and
spinal cord as the physiological center of the
nervous system, in the activities of which he
supposed the soul or spirit to subsist, in this
use of the term, the psyche is divided into protopsyche
<forebrain), dmtopsyche ('tween-brain), mesop^che (mid-
brain), metapsyche (hindbrain), epipsyche (atterbrain, or
medulla oblongata), and notopsyche (the spinal cord).
6. [I. c] A large mirror, in which the whole
person can be seen, usually hung on pivots at
the sides, the whole being supported in a mova-
ble frame.
psyche-glass (si'ke-glas), «. Same aspsyche, 6.
303
Hence the right discussion of the nature of price is a
very high metaphysical and psychical problem. MusMn.
FsycMcal excitation, an idea considered as the cause
of another idea by virtue of an association : so called to
express the hypothesis that there is some scientific analogy
between this phenomenon and the excitation of a periph-
eral nerve by aphysical excitation.— Psychical research
experimental and observational research into alleged phe^
nomena apparently implying a connection with another
world, or faculties unknown to psychologists.
psychically (si'ki-kal-i), adv. In a psychical
manner; with reference to the mind; in con-
nection with or by effect upon the mind: op-
posed to physically.
psychics (si'kiks),w. [Pi. ot psychic (see -ics).]
The science of psychology, or the investigation
of mind ; especially, the doctrine of those who
reject the methods of the psyehophysicists and
favor those of the advocates of psychical re-
search— Mathematical psychics, the application of
mathematics to the moral sciences.
Psychidse (si'ki-de), «. pi. [NL. (Boisduval,
1829), < Psyche, 4 («), + -idee.] A family of bom-
bycid moths, including forms which have case-,
bearing larvss and wingless feiaales. it is not a
well-defined group, and its genera may be divided among
several other families. As at present accepted, the family
is of wide distribution, and comprises about 20 genera.
The common bag-worm of the United States, Thyridop-
teryx ephemerstformis, is a representative form. See cut
under ba^'Worm.
psychism (si'kizm), n. [< Gr. ^mxii, soul, -t-
-ism.] 1 . The doctrine that there is a fluid dif-
fused throughout all nature, animating equally
all living and organized beings, and that the
difference which appears in their actions comes
of their particular organization. Fleming. — 2.
The character of being psychic or mental.
There can be no question that the world-object furnishes
overwhelming proof ot psychism. Contemporary Rev. , L. 54.
psychist (si'kist), n. [< Psyche (see psyche,
2) -I- -ist.] One who engages in psychical re-
search; especially, one who holds the doc-
trines of psychics or of psychic force in any
form.
psychoblast (si'ko-blast), n. [< Gr. ■\jmxv, soul,
mind, + pXaardc, a germ.] The germ from which
a soul is developed.
origination and development of the soul, or
psychic organism.
Psychogenesis . . . teaches that instinct is organized ex-
perience, i. e. undiscursive intelligence.
O. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, I. i. § 21.
It interests the psychologist as an important chapter
m the study of mind, its psyehogenesis. Science, VI. 435.
2. Generation or reproduction by means of or
due to the activity of the inmost life or vital-
ity of an organism; biogenesis referred to the
operation of higher than vital forces.
Specific change must be, above all, due to the action of
an organism's innermost life : that is to say, it must be a
result of a process ot psychogenesis.
Mivart, The Forum, VII. 102.
psychogenetical (si"ko-je-net'i-kal), a. [<.psy-
chogenesis, after geneiical.] Pertaining to the
formation of the mind by development.
psychogenetically (si"k6-je-net'i-kal-i), adv.
In reference to the theory of the origin of the
mind.
ps^chogeny (sl-koj'e-ni), n. [< Gr. ■fvxi, soul,
mmd, -I- -yeveia, < -ysv^g, producing: see -geny.]
1. The development of mind.— 2. The theory
of the development of mind.
Psychageny will show us that color, heat, etc., are, from
one point of view, both in the objects and in us.
G. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, I. ii. § 82.
psychogonic (si-ko-gon'Ik), a. [< psychogon-y
+ -ic] Same as psychogenetical.
psychogonical (si-ko-gon'i-kal), a. [< psychog-
ony -I- -ic-al.] Same as psyc'hogenetical.
The controversy between the psychtigomeal and intro-
spective methods of studying mind.
B. SOgwiek, Mind, XI. 211.
p^chogony (si-kog'o-ni), n. [< (Jr. iwxoyovia,
the generation of the soul, < ifiixv, soul, mind,
+ -yovia, < -yovoc, generation: see -gony.] The
doctrine of the development of mind.
Psychogany . . . endeavors to interpret the genesis of
intellectual faculties and emotional feelings in the race,
and their slow modifications throughout countless genera-
tions. J. Piske, Cosmic Philos., I. 221.
It deals rather with psychogany, or how mind came to be
what it is, than with psychology, or the description of mind
as it is. Atheneeum, No. 3069, p. 235.
psychograph (si'ko-graf ), n. [< Gr. ^xv, soul,
mind, -I- ypa^uv, write.] An instrument or ma-
chine used in psychography. several kinds are in
use. A common one consists of a light, freely movable
bar or pointer pivoted on a board upon which the letters
of the alphabet are printed in a circle, the movement of
the pointer spelling out words. The planchette is a kind
of psychograph.
psychographic (si-ko-graf 'ik), a. [< psyehog-
raph-y + -ic] Of or pertaining to psychog-
raphy.
psychography (si-kog'ra-fi), n. [< Gr. fuxv,
soul, mind, + -ypcupia, < ypaipuv, write.] 1. The
natural history of mind; the description of the
phenomena of mind: a branch of psychology.
— 2. Supposed "spirit- writing" by the hand of
a medium ; the supposed transmission of a spir-
it's thought in writing by the hand of a medium,
either directly or by means of an instrument.
psychol.
psyctaol. An abbreviation of psychology.
psychologic (si-ko-loj'ik), a. [=F. psycholo-
giqtte = aT^. psicoldgico; &% psycholog-y + -ic]
Same as psychological.
psychological (si-ko-loj'i-kal), a. [< psycho-
logic + -a/.] Of or pertaining to psychology ; of
the nature of psychology; of or pertaining to
the mind as the subject of psychology.
Shakspeare was pursuing two Methods at once; and,
besides the PsychotogiccU Method, he had also to attend
to the Poetical. . , . We beg pardon for the use of this
insolens verbum ; but it is one of which our Language
stands in great need. We have no single term to express
the Philosophy of the Human Mind, and, what is worse,
the Principles of that Philosophy are commonly called
Metaphysical, a word of very different meaning.
Coleridge, Method, § 2.
Doubt of It [personal identity] in a sane person is a
2>»ychological impossibility.
H. B. Snath, Christian Theology, p. 171.
Fsychologlcal materialism, the doctrine that intelli-
gence is a consequent of matter.
psychologically (si-ko-loj'i-kal-i), adv. l<psy-
chological + -ly^.'\ In a psychological manner ;
from a psychological point of view; by psycho-
logical methods.
psychologies (si-ko-loj'iks), n. [PI. of psycho-
logic (see -ics).'] Psychology; metaphysics.
Five thousand crammed octavo pages
Of German psycfiologics.
Shelley, Peter Bell the Third, vi. 14.
psychologist (si-kol'o-jist), n. [= P. psycholo-
giste; as psychology -h -ist.] One who studies,
writes on, or is versed in psychology.
psychologize (si-kol'o-jiz), v. ; pret. and vV-P^y-
chologized, vy^- psychologizing. [< psychology
+ -fee.] r. intrans. To make psychological
speculations ; investigate or reason psychologi-
cally.
Why, since the feeling has no proper subjective name of
its own, should we hesitate to psychologize about it as "the
feeling of tliat relation " ? W. Ja/mes, Mind, ix. 5.
II. trans. To hypnotize or mesmerize. [Re-
cent.]
Is the non-concurrence of the obstinate juryman in a
righteous verdict owing to an honest conviction, or has he
been unconsciously psychologized by the lawyer who has
the biggest fee in his pocket?
AUaraie Monthly, Uf HI. 692.
psychologue (si'ko-log), n. [< P. psychologue
= Sp. psicdlogo, < 6r. fvxn, soul, mind, -I- -h>yoQ,
< Acyav, speak: see-oZopy.] A psychologist.
psychology (si-kol'o-ji), n. [= P. psyohologie
= Sp. psicologia, sieologia = Pg. psychologia =
It. psicologia = G. psyohologie, < NL^ psycholo-
gia (Melanohthon), < Gr. fvxv, soul, mind, +
-Aoyia, < Ikyeiv, say, speak: see -ology."] The
science of the phenomena of mind ; mental sci-
ence. It is said to have originated with Pythagoras.
Aristotle greatly improved it, and stated its most impor-
tantprinciple, that of the association of ideas. It has, how-
ever, only recently token the position of a universally ac-
knowledged science ; and its methods are still in dispute.
Some psychologists hold that we know the mind by di-
rect intuition in consciousness; others^ distinguishing
between consciousness and self -consciousness, hold that
the former involves no recognition of the mind, while
the latter is not an original power, but only acquired
knowledge. But, though such inward vision be denied,
most psychologists still consider the observation of what
S asses within us as the main foundation for psychology,
thers regard introspection as too deceptive to be of much
use, and some deny its possibility. A few psychologists
only, since Descartes, have held that the distinctions we
naturally draw about mental functions— as, for example,
between thinking and willing —have, in good part at least,
a real significance. The great majority have denied this,
explaining that the laoulties are nothing in the soul (which
itself has no parts), but are mere conveniences of descrip.
tion. Nevertheless, these^vriters are accused by many mod-
ern psychologists of practically assuming that our natural
ideas of mind are In some approximate harmony with the
facts of mind, just as physicists assume that among the
conceptions which appear simple and natural to man are
likely to be found those that are embodied in laws of na^
tnre. The prevalent school of modern psychologists at-
tributes great importance to systematic experimentation by
one person upon another, especially to quantitative deter-
minations, as of the time occupied in different mental pro-
cesses, the force required to produce sensations of given
intensity, and the like ; yet some of the older generation
predict that the utility of this method will be found to
have narrow limits. Psychology has also been pursued by
means of extensive observations upon persons in abnormal
mental states, upon persons having some mental peculiar-
ity, upon the development of the minds of children, upon
the languages, institutions, mythology, and arts of differ-
ent races, and by means of the comparative study of bi-
ography. Psychology has often been divided into psychog-
raphy, psychonomy, and psychosophy. See the somewhat
deceptive quotation from Coleridge, 1817, under psycho-
logical, and the first quotation below.
Under the general term [physiology] I also comprehend
natural theology and pgycftoJoffJ/, which inmy opinion have
been most unnaturally disjoined by philosophers.
G. Camphdl, Philos. of Khet. (1776), I. v. 2.
Psychology, or the Philosophy of the Human Mind,
strictly so denominated, is the science conversant about
4822
the phtenomena, or modifications, or states of the Mind,
or Conscious-Subject, or Soul, or Spirit, or Self, or Ego.
Sir W. Hamuton, Metaphysics, vui.
Abstract psychology, the account of the gener^ phe-
nomena of the human mind, then- classification, and laws.
—Comparative psychology, the study of mental phe-
nomena in different kinds of animals, including man.—
Criminal psychology, the study of psychology in re-
lation to crime.— Empirical psychology,, psychology
studied by means of observation.— Evolutional psy-
(diology the account of the development of mind.—
Experimental psychology, psychology studied largely
by the method of experiment.— Infant-psychology,
the study of the development of mind in children.— In-
trospective psychology, psychology resting mainly on
self -observation.— Mathematical, nomologlcal psy-
chology. See the adjectives.— Objective psychology,
psychology resting mainly upon observations of minds
other than that of the observer.— Physiological psy-
chology, the physiology of psychical functions.— Ear
tional psychology, the deduction of certain characters
of the mind from certain others assumed as axiomatic-
Scientific psychology, psychology based on well-con-
sidered methods in harmony with those of the physical
sciences.
psychomachy (si-kom'a-M), n. [< Gr. fvxo-
ftaxia, desperate fighting, < fuxofiaxecv, fight to
the death, < foxfi, soul, life, + fidxeaecu, fight.]
A conflict of the soul with the body.
psychomancy (si'ko-man-si), ». [< Gr. fvx^,
soul, mind, -f- /lavreia, divination. Of. ilmxo/iav-
Tclov, a place where the souls of the dead were
conjured up.] 1. Divination by consulting the
souls of the dead; necromancy. — 2. A myste-
rious influence of one soul upon another.
psychomantic (si-ko-man'tik), a. [< psycho-
mancy (-mant-) + -ic] Of or pertaining to
psychomancy.
psychometric (si-ko-met'rik), a. [< psychom-
etr-y + -jc] Pertaining to psyohometry.
psychometrical (si-ko-met'ri-kal), a. Same as
psychometric.
psychometrize (si-kom'e-triz), v. i.; pret. and
pp. psychometrized, ppr. psychometrizing. [<
psychometr-y + -ize.'] To practise psyohom-
etry on, as a letter or photograph.
psychometry (si-kom'et-ri), n. [< Gr. ijmx^,
soul, mind, + -jisTpla, < jiirpov, measure.] 1 . The
power, fancied to be possessed by some sensi-
tive persons, of catching impressions from con-
tact which enable them to describe the prop-
erties of medicines, the vital forces of any
part of the human constitution, the character,
physiological condition, etc., of persons whose
autographs or photographs are touched, and the
scenes associated with any substance investi-
gated. J. B. Buchanan, 1842. — 2. The measure-
ment of the duration of psychic processes.
Psychomorpha (si-ko-m6r'fa), «. [NL. (Har-
ris, 1839), < Gr. fvx^i butterfly (see Psyche), -I-
fiop^fl, form.] A genus
of bombycid moths of
the family Lithosiidse,
having the body slender,
and pilose at the apex,
palpi porrect, antennas
simple in the female, S
shortly pectinate in the Grape-vme Epimenls IPsy-
, J ^ choTnorpha epttnents), natural
male. The sole species is P. size.
cpfjnenis, of North America,
commonly called the grape-viiie epimems, of considerable
economic importance from the damage its larva does in
Grape.vine Epimenis ^Psychomorpha epimenis'),
a, larva ; h, side view of one segment, enlarged ; c, hump on
eleventh joint, enlarged.
drawing together and destroying the terminal shoots of
the vine in early summer. The moth is velvety-black,
with a white patch on the front wings, and an orange or
brick-red blotch on the hind wings.
psychomotor (si'ko-mo-tor), a. [< Gr. ■^xVi
soul, mind, -H L. motor, mover.] Pertaining to
such mental action as induces muscular con-
traction Psychomotor centers, the areas of the cor-
tex about the central fissure immediately related to mus-
cular action. — Psychomotor nerve-fibers, the fibers
passing downward from the psychomotor centers to the
paints of origin of the motor nerves.
psychoneiirology (si"ko-nu-roro-jl), n. [< Gr.
■<pvx^, soul, mind, + vevpov, nerve, + -Tioyca, <
Isyeiv, speak: see -ology.^ That part of neu-
rology which deals with mental action.
psychoneurosis (si"ko-nu-r6'sis), n. [NL., <
Gr. Tjrvx^, soul, -f NL. neurosis, q. v.] Mental
disease without recognizable anatomical le-
sion, and without evidence and history of pre-
ceding chronic mental degeneration. Under this
bead come melancholia, mania, primary acute dementia.
psychoscope
and mania hallucinatoria. These cases issue in recovery,
or in secondary dementia or imbecility of various grades.
psychonomy (si-kon'o-mi), n. [< Gr. iw^v, soul,
mind, -I- ovo/ia, name.] The science of the laws
of mental action : one of the branches of psy-
chology in many of the older systems.
psychonosology (si'ko-no-sol'o-ji), «. [< Gr.
imx^, soul, mind, + votrof, disease, -f -Joyia, <
leyuv, speak : see -ology.] That branch of med-
ical science which treats of the nature and clas-
sification of mental disease.
psychopannychism (si-ko-pan'i-kizm), n. [<
Gr. fvx>l, soul, mind, -I- Traimixiog, all night long
(< ffflf, nav, all, + viif (vvKT-), night), + -ism^
The theological doctrine that at death the sold
falls asleep, and does not awake till the resur-
rection of the body.
psychopannychist (si-ko-pan'i-kist), n. [<
psychopannychrism + -ist.'\ One who holds to
the doctrine of psychopannychism.
The Saducees miglit deny and overthrow the resurrec-
tion against Christ, or the Psychopammchists the soul's
immort^ty.
Bp. Gauden, Tears of the Church, p. 283. ^Dairies.)
psychoparesis(si-5£o-par'e-sis), n. [NL., < Gr.
fuxVi soul, mind, -I- 'irapeaiQ, paralysis: see pare-
sis.] Mental weakness.
psychopath (si'ko-path), n. [< psychopath-ie.1
A morally irresponsible person.
psychopathic (si-ko-path'ik), a. and n. [< psy-
chopath-y + -ic] 'I. a. 1. Pertaining to or of
the nature of psychopathy. — 3. Pertaining to
the cure of the sick by psychic means.
II. n. An insane or nearly insane patient.
psychopathist (si-kop'a-thist), n. [Cpsychopa-
th^ + -ist-l A physician for psychopathy; an
alienist.
psychopathy (si-kop'a-thi), n. [< Gr. iivx^,
soul, mind, + irdtoc, disease.] 1. Derangement
of the mental functions. This is a slightly more ex-
tensive word than insanity, as the latter is not usually ap-
plied to idiocy, and is often reserved for disorder of a cer-
tain considerable grade of intensity.
2. The cure of the sick by psychical influence.
psychophysic (si-ko-fiz'ik), a. [< Gr. iwx^, soul,
mind, + ^vmicdg, physical : see physic.'] Same
as psychophysical.
psychophysical (si-ko-flz'i-kal), a. [(.psycho-
physic -I- -al.] Of or pertaining to psycho-
physics — Fechner's psychophysical law. See lawi.
—Psychophysical time, that part of the reaction-time
which is occupied with brain-action. See reaction-time.
psychophysicist (si-ko-fiz'i-sist), n. and a. [<
psychophysic -I- -dsf] ' I, ». A student of psy-
chology who relies mainly or extensively upon
quantitative experiments made by one person
upon another.
II. a. Pertaining to or composed of psycho-
physicists.
psychopihysics (si-ko-fiz'iks), n. [PI. of psy-
chophysic (see -ics).] The science of the rela-
tions between stimuli and the sensations which
they evoke.
psychophysioldgical (si-ko-fiz"i-o-loj'i-kal), a.
[< psyehophysiolog^ + -ic-al.'] Of or pertaining
to psychophysiology.
psychophysiology (si-ko-fiz-i-ol'o-ji), n. [< Gr.
^X^i soul, mind, H- ^aioh)yla, physiology.]
Physiological psychology. See psychology.
psychoplasm (si'ko-plazm), n. [< Gr. fox^l,
soul, mind, + nMa/ia, anything formed: see
plasm.2 The material medium or physical
basis of consciousness : same as protyle. See
the quotation.
The vital organism is evolved from the bioplasm, and
we can now see how the psychical organism is evolved
from what may be analogically called the psychoplasm.
. . . We may represent the molecular movements of the
bioplasm by the neural tremors of the psychoplasm; these
tremors are what I call neural units — the raw material
of Consciousness. The movements of the bioplasm con-
stitute vitality ; the movements of the psycht^lasm con-
stitute sensibility. We may say that the sentient ma-
terial out of which all the forms of consciousness are
evolved is the psychoplasm, incessantly fluctuating, in-
cessantly renewed.
O. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, 1. 100.
psychoplasmic (si-ko-plaz'mik), a. [< psycho-
plasm + -jc] Of or pertaining to psycho-
plasm; composed of or subsisting in psycho-
plasm.
psychopomp (si'ko-pomp), n. [< Gr. ijwxoTroiiTdc,
conductor of souls, < ipvxi^, soul, + izofiiTdQ, con-
ductor, < ni/iTTEiv, send, conduct : see pomp.']
A guide or conductor of spirits or souls to the
other world : a special title of Hermes.
A kind otp^chopomp or leader of departed souls.
,7. Fiske, Myths and Mythmakers, p. 102.
psychoscope (si'ko-skop), ». [< Gr. ilmxr/, soul,
mind, -I- amwelv, view.] A means of observing
the mind.
psychoscope
Somnambulism, double-consciousness, epilepsy, insanitv
itself, are all of them nataial peyehoicopes.
Proo. Soc. Paych. Beaeanh, HI. 61.
psychosensorial (si-'kd-seii-so'ri-al), a. [<
psychosensm--y + -a«.] Of the nature of per-
cepts, but not produced by any real action on
the senses at the time. Thus, a person who sees an
object which is not really present, and does not merely
have an ordinary imagination of it, though he may be able
to distinguish it from real perception, has a psyclwsemo-
rial hallucination.
psychosensory (si-ko-sen'so-ri), a. [< Gr. xjwx^,
soul, mind, + E. seiisory.'] ' Same as psychosen-
sorial. Amer. Jour. Psychol., 1887.
psychosis (si-ko'sis), »».; pi. psychoses (-sez).
£< Gr. ipbxt^is, a giving of life or soul, ani-
matiog, < ipvxovv, give life or soul to, animate,
< '^xi, soul, life, mind : see Psyche.'] 1 . Mental
constitution or condition.
It is, in fact, attended with some peculiar difficulty, be-
cause not only are we unable to make brute psychosis a
part of our own consciousness, but we are also debarred
from leai'ning it by aprocess similar to that which enables
us to enter into the mluds of our fellow-men — namely,
rational speech. Mimrt.
2. A change in the field of consciousness.
This conception of the relation of states of consciousness
with molecular changes in the brain— of psychoses with
neuroses— does not prevent us from ascribing freewill to
brutes. Hiarfcj/, Animal Automatism..
3. In pathol., any mental disorder; any form
of insanity.
psychosomatic (si^ko-so-mafik), a. [< Gr.
irvx^, soul, mind, + aCtftd, body: see somatic.}
Eelating to both soul and body.
ps^chosophy (si-kos'o-fi), «. [< Gr. iA>%^, soul,
mind, + ao^ia, skill, knowledge.] The meta-
physics of mind: one of the branches of psy-
chology in the older systems.
psychostasia (si-ko-sta'si-a), n. [KL., < Gr.
TJmxoaTaaia, weighing of souls, < ipvx^, soul, +
ardaic, weighing.] The weighing of souls : an
ancient belief that during a combat the souls
of the combatants were weighed against one
another, and that he whose soul was overbal-
anced was slain.
psychostasy (si'ko-sta-si), n. [< NL. psycho-
stasia, q. v.] Same as psycJiostasia.
psychostatlc (si-ko-stat'ik), a. [< Gr. ipvx^,
soul, mind, + araTucdg, causing to stand: see
static.'] Pertaining to psychostatics.
psychostatical (si-ko-stat'i-kal), a. [< psycho-
static + -al.] Same' as psycliostaUc.
But the feelings registered are psychostatical elements.
O. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, 1. 195.
psychostatically (si-ko-stat'i-kal-i), adv. In a
psychostatio manner.
psychostatics (si-ko-stat'iks), n. [PI. of 2^sy-
chostatic (see -ics).]' The theory of the condi-
tions of the phenomena of mind.
To those who . . . have adopted the view that mind is
only one of the forms of life, and that life is not an entity
but an abstraction expressing the generalities of organic
phenomena, it is obvious that psychology must endeavour
to ascertain the conditions of these phenomena, both gen-
■ eral and special. These may be classed (by a serviceable
extension of the term statics) under the heads of biostatics
and psychostatics.
G. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, I. ii. § 3.
psychotheism (si'ko-the-izm), n. [< Gr. iwxv,
soul, spirit, -I- dedg, dod.: see tlieism.] The doc-
trine that God is pure spirit.
psychotherapeutic (si-ko-ther-a-pu'tik), a. [<
Gr. fvxv, soul, -f- depanevTLKdg, pertaining to
medical treatment: see therapeutic.] Pertain-
ing to psychotherapeutics.
psychotherapeutics (si-ko-ther-a-pu'tiks), n.
[PI. of psychotherapeutic (see -ics).] The art
of curing mental disease.
psychotherapy (si-ko-ther'a-pi), n. [< Gr. foxv,
soul, mind, -I- depaTrela, medical treatment: see
therapy.] Same as psychotherapeutics.
Psychotria (si-kot'ri-a), n. [NL. (Linnesus,
1767), said to refer to the medicinal qualities of
some of the species; < Gr. fvx^rpta, vivifying,
animating, < iwxovv, give life to, animate : see
psychosis.] A genus of gamopetalous plants
of the order Bubiaeeee, type of the tribe Psy-
chotriese. it Is characterized by corymbose or panicled
flowers with a flve-lobed valvate corolla, a short calyx-tube
having a small flve-toothed border, linear or oblong-
obtuse anthers fixed by their back near the base, entire
and membranaceous stipules, and a drupaceous fruit with
two plano-convex nutlets. It is a vast and polymorphous
genus, one of the largest among plants, containing about
425 species, all tropical and especially American. They
are staibs or small trees, rarely perennial herbs, either
erect, climbing, or twining. They bear opposite entire and
sometimes whorled leaves and ,sMP°l^^=^^^'''% ?l%Pf*{i
oles, often twin and united into a sheatti. The small
flowers are white, green, nx or yellow. Most of the spe-
cieshave handsomeleaves, but are inconspicuous m flower,
pf /<Stot, a red-berried, fleshy-leafed species of the
4823
West Indies, is there known as dimbina-mne. P. daph-
Tioides, a small evergreen, is the brusluand sage-tree of
Australia. P. emetica yields the drug striated ipecacu-
anha (see ipecacuanha), and some other species furnish a
dyestufl. ,
Psychotriese (si-ka-tri'e-e), n. pi. [NL. (Ben-
tham and Hooker,' 1873), < Psychotria + -ese.]
A large tribe of plants of the order Bubiacese,
the madder family, it is characterized by an ovary
with two or many cells, each with a single basilar erect
anatropous ovule and Inferior radicle ; a valvate corolla
bearing the stamens on Its throat ; a stigma entire or near-
ly so ; and an indehiscent fruit, commonly with two nut-
lets, corneous albumen, and curved embryo. It includes
about 1,084 species of 32 genera, mostly tropical trees or
shrubs. Psychotria (the type) with 425 species, Pdlicourea
with 136, Rudgea with 92, and Vragoga (Cephaelis) with 120,
are large genera mainly of America, and Lasianthits with
SO species is principally Asiatic.
psychovital (si-ko-vi'tal), a. [< Gr. fvxv, soul,
mind, + L. vita, life, + -al: see vital.] Psy-
chical and vital; pertaining at once to mind
and to life.
ps^chozoic (si-ko-zo'ik), a. [< Gr. fox^, soul,
mind, -I- fu^, life, + -ic] Same a,s psychovital.
psychrometer (si-krom'e-t6r), ». [< Gr. ipvxpig,
cold, chill (< ipvxetv, blow, make cool or cold),
-1- fis-pov, a measure.]
An instrument f or de-
terminingthe tension
of the aqueous vapor
in the air or the rel-
ative humidity, it
consists of two thermome-
ters, commonly called the
dry-lmlb and the wet-lmlb.
The dry-bulb thermome-
ter gives the temperature
of the air. Tlie wet-bulb
thermometer, whose bulb
is covered with muslin
wetted at the time of ob-
servation, cools below the
air-temperature, and indi-
cates what is known as
the temperature of evapo-
ration. From the com-
bined readings of the two
thermometers, along with
that of the barometer at
the time, the pressure of
the vapor in the air is ob-
tained by means of an em-
pirical formula, or more
conveniently from spe-
cially constructed tables.
psychrometric (si-
kro-met'rik), a. [<
psychrometer + -ic]
Of or pertaining to a psychrometer; hygro-
metrioal.
psychrometrical (si-kro-met'ri-kal), a. [< psy-
chrometric + -al.] Same as psychrometric.
psychrometry (si-krom'et-ri), n. [< Gr. in>xp6c,
cold, + -/lerpiaji /j^Tpov, measure.] The theory
and art of determining by means of a psy-
chrometer the tension of the aqueous vapor in
the atmosphere.
psychrophobia (si-kro-fo'bi-a), n. [< Gr. fv-
Xpo(ji6jioQ, dreading cold or col'd water, < fvxpSc,
cold, + ^ojietaBai, fear, < fd/iog, fear.] A dread
of anything cold, especially cold water; im-
pressibility to cold. Dunglison.
psychrophore (si'kro-for), «. [< Gr. ilwxpo(p6pog,
carrying cold water, < TJmxpiQ, cold, + ^kpeiv
= B. hear^.] In surg., a sound with double
bore through which a current of cold water is
made to flow for applying cold to the urethra.
psydracium (si-dra'si-um), n.; pi. psydracia
(-a). [NL., < Gr. tjrvdpaum, dim. of ifidpaS (ipv-
Psychrometer.
ptarmigan
Span-), a white blister on the tip of the tongue,
feigned to be caused by one's telling a lie,
< ijmdpdc, lying, < TpeliSeiv, lie : see pseudo-.] A
small pustule without inflammatory base.
psykter (sik'ter), m. [< Gr. frnTvp, a vase for
cooling wine (see def.), < tpvxeiv, blow, make
cool.] In Gr. antiq. and archseol., a type of
vase used for cooling wine. The body is of conoid
form, with short cylindrical neck and a somewhat tall cy-
lindrical foot, adapted in form for insertion in the crater,
and for standing on the table. It was sometimes sup-
ported on a tripod. See cut in preceding column.
Psylla (sU'a), n. [NL. (Geoffrey, 1764), < Gr.
■\l)vX?ia, a flea ; ef . L. pulex, a flea.] A genus of
homopterous insects, typical of the family Psyl-
lidx, having a pointed, bent front, highly arched
Pear-tree Flea-louse i^Psylla pyrf). (Cross shows natural size.)
scutum, and strongly developed scutellum, the
body smooth, naked, or finely pilose, and the
extreme tip of the wing falling between the
radius and the fourth vein. It is a large group, rep-
resented in all parts of the world. P. jyyri is a common
pest of the pear in Europe and North America, produ-
cing two or more summer generations of naked young.
From the damage it does to young blossoms in the spring,
it is sometimes called the bud-blight insect, though more
commonly known as the Jlea-lffuse of the pear.
Psyllidae (sil'i-de), n.itl. [NL. (Latreille,1807),
< Psylla + -ddx.] A notable family of hemipte-
rous insects, typified by the genus Psylla, com-
prising the flea-lioe or jumping plant-lice. They
are small insects, resembling plant-lice, having stout legs,
the hinder pair fitted for jumping, antennse nine- or ten-
jointed and armed at the tip with one or two bristles. They
live on the juices of plants, and many of them form galls.
The principal subfamilies are Liviinx, Aphalarinm, Psylli-
nm, and Triozinse. See cuts under Jlea-louse and Psylla.
psyllyt (sil'i), ». [< Gr. tjwXMi, a flea: see Psyl-
la.] The fleawort, Plantago Psyllium. See
quotation under fleawort.
gt. An abbreviation (a) of part; (6) otpint.
Pt. The chemical symbol of platinum.
Pteeroxylon (tf-rok'si-lon), n. [NL. (Ecklon
and Zeyher, 1834), so called in allusion to the
effect on those working with its wood ; < Gr.
TTTaipeiv, sneeze, -I- ^v7uov, wood.] A genus of
polypetalous trees of the order Sapindacese,
characterized by four small erect and finally
recurved petals, and by the fleshy annular disk,
four-parted coriaceous two-celled capsule, and
the two long compressed, broadly winged seeds.
The only species, P. utUe, the sneezewood of South Africa,
is a tree with bitter bark, opposite pinnate leaves, and
flowers in small panicles shorter than the leaves. See
Ptah (pta), n. [Egyptian.] An Egjrptian di-
vinity of high rank, worshiped especially at
Memphis, and reverenced as the creative force.
ptarmic (tar'mik), n. [< Gr. Trrap/uKo;, causing
to sneeze, < irTap/idg, a sneezing, < irraipeiv, Attic
TrrapmaBai {y/icTap), sneeze, akin to L. stemuere,
sneeze: see sternutation.] A medicine which
excites sneezing; a sternutatory.
Ptarmica (tar'mi-ka), n. [NL. (Necker, 1791),
< Gr. TTTap/Micfi, a plant, yarrow or milfoil ; prop,
fern, of wTap/unog, causing to sneeze: see ptar-
mic] A former genus of plants, now united
with Achillea.
ptarmigan (tar'mi-gan), n. [With unorig. ini-
tial p (appar. first in F. ptarmigan, so spelled
Psvktei In red-figured pottery : style of the artist Huthymides,
5th century, B. c.
Rock Ptarmigan t,Lagopus ruftstris). in winter plumage.
ptarmigan
pvob. because assumed to be of Gr. origin), for
» tarmigan, formerly termigant, teimagatU,< Gael.
tarmachan = Ir. tarmochan, also tarmonach, the
ptarmigan.] A bird of the family Tetraonidae
and genus Lagopus, having feathered feet. The
name was originally applied, in Scotland, to L. mulue or
alpinus, a bird which lormerly inhabited England and
Wales as well as Scotland, and is also found in Russia,
Scandinavia, the Alps, Pyrenees, etc., and is represented
in Iceland, Greenland, Siberia, and North America by a
closely allied species, L. rupestris. This bird turns white
in winter, like all of the genus Lagopm, excepting L.
ecoticm, the red grouse, moor-fowl, or moor-game of Great
Britain. The willow-grouse, L, allms or salieeti, of sub-
arctic distribution in Europe, Asia, and America, L. hemi-
lewcurm of Spitzbergen, and L. leucurus of alpine regions
in western North America are other ptarmigans. See Xa-
gopits, and cut under grouse.
Ftelea (te'le-a), n. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1737), so
called from the similarity of the fruit to that
of the elm; < Gr. Trr£?Ua, the elm.] A genus of
polypetalous shrubs and trees of the order Bu-
taccse and tribe Toddaliese. it is characterized by
having four or five imbricated petals, as many stamens,
and tor fruit a broadly winged orbicular samara with
two or three cells, each one-seeded. The 8 species are all
natives of North America. They are shrubs or small trees,
with bitter bark, bearing alternate compound leaves of
two or rarely five leaflets, which are broad and punctate
with pellucid dots. The yellowish-green flowers are fol-
lowed by rather large clusters of dry and flat disk-like
fruit, with veiny wings. P. trifoliata is the hop-tree, known
also as wingseed (from the fruit), wafer-ash, and shrubby
trc/oil. See hop-tree.
Ptenoglossa (te-no-glos'a), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
TTTijydg, feathered, + yTMa'aa, the tongue.] A di-
vision or suborder of peetinibrauehiate gastro-
pods, whose odontophore has numerous similar
acuminate admedian teeth in each transverse
row. It comprises the families lanthinidse,
Scalariidse, Eulimidse, and PyramidelUdse.
ptenoglossate (te-no-glos'at), a. [< Gr. TTT^iSf,
feathered, -I- yXaaad, tongue : see glossate."] Tti
Mollusea, having on the radula or lingual rib-
bon, in any one eross-row, no median tooth, but
an indefinitely large number of lateral teeth.
The term is correlated with racMglossate, rhi-
pidoglossate, etc.
Ptenopleurat (te-no-plo'ra), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
■KTirvd^, feathered, + wXevpd, the side.] One of
the divisions of the Prosimiss or lemurine ani-
mals, represented by the so-called flying-le-
murs: now classed with the Insectivora. See
Oaleopith^cus.
ptenopleural (te-n6-pl6'ral), a. [< Gr. Krrivdg,
feathered, + ir^Evp'a, the side, + -a/.] Having
the sides of the body winged or alate; having a'
parachute or flying-membrane; belonging to
the Ptenopleura.
Pteranodon (te-ran'o-don), TO. [NL., < Pter(o-
dactylus) + Gr. dvddovi (avoSovT-), toothless: see
Anoaon.'] The typical genus of PteranodontidsB.
pteranodont (te-ran'o-dont), a. Of or pertain-
ing to the PteranodontidsB.
Fteranodontia (te-ran-o-don'shi-a), n.pl. [NL. ,
< Pter{odaetylus) + Gr. avddovc (avoOovT-), tooth-
less: see Anodon.'] The toothless pterodactyls,
a division of Pterosauria, represented by the
family PteranodontidsB, by some ranked as a
peculiar order.
PteranodontidsB (te-ran-o-don'ti-de), n.pl.
[NL., < Pteranodon{t-) + ■ddse.'] A family of
pterodactyls of the order Pterosauria, or giv-
ing name to the Pteranodontia, having toothless
jaws and the coraooid bone solidly united with
the scapula. Their remains occur in the Cre-
taceous. Some species have a spread of wing
of 20 feet.
PteraspiS (te-ras'pis), TO. [< Gr. irrepdv, wing,
-I- acTttg, shield.] A fossil genus of fishes, the
remains of which are found in the Middle De-
vonian and the Lower Ludlow.
ptere (ter), n. [< Gr. irrcpdv, feather, wing, usu-
ally in pi., feathers, wings, plumes, plumage,
foliage, also a fan, oar, side-row of columns,
side-waU, etc., z^E. feather: see feather.2 In
sool., an alate or wing-like part or organ; spe-
cifically, one of the lobes of the prora of a.
eymba. A ptere resulting from the broadening or loba-
' tiou of the prora itself is known as a proral ptere ; a lateral
lobe, between the prora and the tropis, is called ^pleural
ptere; additional pteres, resulting from lateral outgrowths
of the tropis or keel, are tropidicU pteres.
pteria, »(. Flarai oi pterion.
Ptericntliyidse (ter-ik-thi'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Pterichthys + -idse.'] A family of fishes of un-
certain relations, typified by the genus Pter-
ichthys. It had a cephalic shield with dorsal eyes sepa-
rated by a movable plate, a dorsal buckler and a flattish
abdominal one, long pectoral appendages of two pieces,
incased in armor, and a caudal portion destitute of a fin
and covered with polygonal scales. The jaws were small
and aimed with confluent denticles. The organization of
the species indicates that they could not have progressed
4824
pterocymbate
by swimming, and that they probably crawled by the use pterobranchiate (ter-6-brang'ki-at), a. [< Pte-
„f *u. «„i.„ „.„f™.i ™.,.,h„. 'I'hov inh«hit.ort the De. ^^g^aHchia + -afol.] ■ Of or pertaining to the
Pterohranehia.
pterocardiac (ter-o-kar'di-ak), a. [< Gr. irrepov,
wing, + E. cardiac."] Alate, or wing-like, and
car(uac : used specifically by Huxley to note an
ossicle in the stomach of the crawfish, which
articulates with the cardiac ossicle. See cut
under Astacidse.
of the flnless pectoral members. They inhabited the De-
vonian seas. Their pertinence to the class of lishes has
been disputed, and they have even been referred to the
tunicates in an order called AnMarcha,
Pterichthys (te-rik'this), «. [NL., < Gr. ■n-repdv,
wing, + ixBiiC, a Ash.] A genus of fishes, typi-
cal of the family Pterichthyidse.
Pteridese (te-rid'f-e), n.pl. [NL., < Pteris (-»<?-)
+ -eas.] Atribeof'polypodiaoeousfems, typified
by the genus Piej-Js. The sori are marginal or intra- pterOCarpOUS (ter-6-kar'pus), a. [< Gr. m-e/Dw,
raarginal,provided with an indusium formed of the reflexed
margin of the frond, and opening inward.
pteridium (te-rid'i-um), TO. [NL., < Gr. irrepdv,
wing, + dim. -i6iov.'] A key-fruit or samara.
Also pterodium.
pteridologist (ter-i-dol'o-jist), to. [< pteridol-
og^ + -ist.] One who is versed in the study of
ferns.
pteridology (ter-i-dol'o-ji), TO. [< Gr. wTEplg
(TTTeptS-), fern (see Pteris), + -h)yia, < Myetv,
speak: see -ology."] The science of ferns; a
treatise on ferns.
pteridomania (ter^'i-do-ma'ni-a), to. [NL., <
Gr. TTTEpic (irrepiS-), fern, + fiavia, madness.] A
mania or excessive enthusiasm in regard to
ferns. [Eare.]
Your daughters, perhaps, have the prevailing pterido-
mania, and are collecting and buying ferns. Kingsley.
Fteridophyta (ter-i-dof 'i-ta), n. pi. [NL., pl.-
ot pteridophytum: see ptefidophyte.'] A divi-
sion of the vegetable kingdom including the
ferns and their allies ; the vascular cryptogams.
See Cryptogamia, and compare Brytmhyta.
pteridophyte (ter'i-do-fit), to. [< NL. pterido-
phytum, < Gr. irrepie (irrepid-), fern, + fvrdv,
plant.] One of the Pteridqphyta.
pterigraphy (te-rig'ra-fi), n. [Irreg. for "pteri-
dography, < Gr. Trrepic (wrepid-), fern, + ypcujieiv,
write.] In hot., a description of ferns.
Pteriidse (te-ri'i-de), to. pi. [NL., < Pteria +
-idse.] A family of bivalve moUusks, typified
•by the genus Pteria; the wing-shells. Now
called Aviculidse. Also MargariUdse, Malleidse.
pterion (te'ri-on), TO. ; pi. pteria (-a). PSTL., <
Gr. iTTspdv, feather, wing: see ptere.J In era-
wing, -1- Kapir6(, fniit.] In hot., having winged
fruit.
Pterocarpus (ter-o-kar'pus), ». [NL. (Lin-
naeus, 1767), < Gr. wrepdv, wing, + mpnoQ, fruit.]
A genus of leguminous trees of the tribe Dal-
bergiese, type of the subtribe PterocarpesB. it is
characterlzeaby a broad or nearly orbicular and oblique
pod, which is tipped by a lateral style, is flattened around
the edges into a thin coriaceous or membranous wing, and
contains in its hard thickened center one, two, or three
seeds separated by woody partitions. The 18 species are
all tropical, and natives of Asia, Africa, and America.
They are large thornless trees, bearing alternate pinnate
leaves, and yellow papilionaceousflowers, of ten showy and
sometimes variegated with white or violet, forming ra-
cemes or loose panicles. In general they produce hard
and valuable timber, and also gum-resins, some very im-
portant. For P. Margupium, the bija or bastard tefak or
Amboyna kino-tree, see Hno and under teak. For P. Indi-
cus, the padouk, lingo-tree, Burmese rosewood, or Anda-
man redwood, see Mabooca-wood and under redwood. P.
eriruieeiis is the molompi, Gambia kino-tree, cornwood, or
African rosewood. For P. Draco, see dragon's-blood. P.
santalinus is the red sandalwood, red sanders-wood, ruby-
wood, or East Indian redwood, affording an important dye-
stuff.
Pterocaillon (ter-o-kfe'lon), TO. [NL. (Elliott,
1824), < Gr. TTTepdv, wing, + KavUc, stem.] A
genus of composite plants of the Iribe Inuloi-
desB and subtribe Plucheineas. it is characterized
by its small flower-heads massed in dense clusters which
are spiked or scattered, and by the slender capillary pap-
pus, and stem winged by the decurrent leaves. The 9
species are nearly equally divided between America and
the Old World, and are principally natives of wai-m cli-
mates. They are herbs, or sometimes shrubby at the base,
commonly whitened with a dense wool, and bearing alter-
nate leaves and numerous small white or yellow flowers.
Two species are found in the southeni United States, P.
pyenostachywm (see blaefc-root, 2\ and P. virgatum, a plant
of Texas, Mexico, and the West Indies, known in Jamaica
as golden-locks and golden-tvft. See golden cudweed, under
niom. , the region where the frontal, squamosal,
parietal, and sphenoid bones meet or approach jSocephala (ter-6-sef 'a-la), n.pl. [NL., < Gr.
?r°ontnf f 's-ho?t'irTsthi'nT^^tSl"*,Sti?^^^^^^^ T''™' T^' "^ "'^^"'' H^^^ Thecosomatous
where the lower anterior corner of the paiietal joins the Pteropods : a synonym of Tliecosomata. Wog-
tip of the alisphenoid ; but in some cases this line is re- ner, 1885.
duced to nothing, and then the frontal and squamosal PterOCleS (ter'6-klez), m. [NL. (Temminck.
1809), < Gr. nrepov, wing, feather, + xJlEif, key,
bolt, tongue of a Isuckle.] The typical genus
of PteroclidSB. There are 12 or 14 species, mostly Afn-
come into contact. See cut under craniometry.
In the region of the pterion in the male, the squamosal
articulates with the frontal on the right side for a space
of 4 mm. Anthropological Jour., XTIII. 7.
pteriplegistic (ter-i-plf-jis'tik), a. Same as
pteroplegisUc. Webster.
Pteris (te'ris), TO. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1737), < Gr.
m-ep/f {TnepiS-), also
■KTspiQ (nrepe-), a
kind of fern, so
called from its fea-
thery leaves, < ttts-
p6v, a feather: see
ptere.] A cosmo-
politan genus of
ferns, typical of the
tribe Pteridese; the
brakes, it includes
plants of almost every
kind of venation and di-
vision. The sporangia
Sand-grouse {Pterocles arentrrta).
can. Three are Asiatic— P. arenaria, the common sand-
grouse (see sonif-ffi-owe), P./asciata, and P. alehaJta; the
first and last of these also occur in Europe, and the last is
sometimes placed in a different genus, Pterocluna, See
..=w... ^„= =i,„™.B.« aJao cut under flron^a.
are in a continuous slen- JrterOCliaaB (te-rok'li-de), TO. JjZ. [NL., < Pto'O-
der line occupying the cles + 4dee.'\ A family of sand-grouse, alone
representing the Pteroclomorplm, and composed
of the subfamilies Pteroclinse and Syrrhaptinse,
They are essentially terrestrial (iolumbine birds, modified
for a grouse-like life ; the digestive system resembles that
of gallmaceous birds, but the pterylosis and many osteo-
„.. .„„ .r „ logical characters are like those of pigeons.
known, only 4 are found PteroclomorphSB (ter''''6-kl6-m&r'fe), n. pi.
brake, is very abundant '^^ s classihcation of birds, a superf amily group
in rocky thickets, dty flelds, etc. See braked, bracken, ad- consisting of the sand-grouse, considered to be
der-«pi«, and cut under iwotWium. intermediate between the CoZt(m6a and the Gfli-
pterna (ter na), to. ; pi. pternse (-ne). [< Gr. linse.
Trr^pva the heel.] In ornjt/t., the heel-pad; the pteroclomorpMc (ter"6-kl6-m6r'flk), a. K Pte-
dis art ™ *°®^ roclomorphx + -ic.} Havikg the structure and
Pterobranchia (ter-6-brang'ki-a), n.pl.
< Gr. TTTE/Diiv, wing, -f- ppayxta, gills.] 1.
Pteris aquitina.
, a pinnule on laiger scale, showing
the revolute margin.
entire margins of the
fertile frond, and cover-
ed by its narrow reflex-
ed edge, which forms a
continuous membrana-
ceous indusium. Of the
more than 100 species
[NL.,
In J.
E. Gray's classification (1821), one of two or-
ders of pteropods (the other being Dactylio-
hranchia): same as Gymnosomata. — 2. InLan-
kester's classification of molluscoids, the second
section of the third class of a phylum Podax-
affinities of the Pteroclidse; belonging to the
Pteroclomorphse.
pterocymba (ter-6-sim'ba), n. [NL., < Gr. irre-
p6v, wmg, + NL. cymba'i q. v.] A cymba, or
eymbate flesh-spicule of a sponge, whose prorte
are alate, or widened into proral and pleural
pteres, whence a figure resembling an anchor
results. W. J. Sottas, Encye. Brit., XXH. 418.
0)w_«, composed of two genera., BhUMopleura pterocymbate (ter-6-sim'bat), a. T< pterocym-
and Cephalodwcus: called by others Podosto- ba + -afci.] Alat4, as a cyiiba;'-hS Ihe
Encyc. Bnt. , XIX. 430. form or character of a pterocymba.
mata and Aspidophora.
Pterocynes
Pterocynes (te-ros'i-nez), n. pi. [NL., < Gr
wrep&v, -wing, + kvuv {kw-), dog.] In some
systems, a division of the mammalian order
CMrop^a, including the frugivorous bats, or
flying-foxes, as distinguished from all the rest
of the order, then collectively called JV«/cfendes.
The two divisions correspond respectively to
the terms Frugwora and Animalwora, which are
more frequently used.
pterodactyl, pterodactyle (ter-6-dah'til), n.
[< NL. Pterodaetylus.'] An extinct reptile of
Skeleton of PterodactyL
the genus Pterodaetylus or oviev Pterosauria ;
a pterosaurian ; an ornithosaurian ; a flying-
dragon. Also pterodaetylian.
Pterodactyl! (ter-o-dak'ti-li), «. j>?. [NL., pi.
of Pterodaetylus.^ The pterodactyls as a group
of extinct flying-dragons, typified by the genus
Pterodaetylus : same as Pterosauria.
pterodaetylian (ter"o-dak-tiri-au), n. [< ptero-
dactyl + -ian.'\ B&me &s jJterodaeiyl.
Fterodactylidse (ter-'o-dak-til'i-de), n. pi.
[NL., < Pterodaetylus + -idse.'] A family of
pterodactyls, typified by the genus Pterodaety-
lus. See PterosauridsB. Bonaparte, 1841.
pterodactyloilS (ter-o-dak'ti-lus), a. ^< NL.
pterodaetylus, < Gr. nrepdv, wing, + SoktvXoc,
finger, digit.] Adapted for flight by having
one digit of the fore limb much enlarged and
webbed, as a pterodactyl ; specifically, pertain-
ing to pterodactyls, or having their characters;
pterosaurian; ornithosaurian.
Pterodaetylus (ter-o-dak'ti-lus), ». [NL.
(Oken, 18X6), < Gr. irrepSv, wing, + oaKTvTiog, fin-
ger, digit.] The leading genus of the order
Pterosauria, it was formerly conterminous with the
group Pterodactyli, but now gives name to the family
Pterodaetylidm, and is restricted to species having the
usuid four joints in the ulnar digit, a very short flexible
tail, the metacarpus usually more than half as long as the
forearm, and the strong pointed jaws furnished with teeth
to their tips. (Compare Rhamphfyrhynchus.) There are
several species, extending from the Jura to the Chalk.
See cut nader pterodactyl.
Fterodicera (ter-o-dis'e-ra), n.pl. [NL. (La-
treille, 1806), < Qx'. nrepSv, feather, wing, + rft'/ce-
pog, a double horn: see dicer otis.'] Li Latreille's
classification, one of the two main divisions of
the class Insecta, including aU the winged or-
ders. The other division is Jptera.
Fterodina (ter-6-di'na), n. [NL. (Ehrenberg),
< Gr. nrepdv, feather, "+ dreof, wheel, ring.] A
genus of rotifers, typical of the family Ptero-
Pterodinidse (ter-6-din'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Pte-
rodima + ■Mee.'\ A'f amily of rotifers, typified by
the genus Pterodina. Theyhaveatroohaldisk'of two
transverse circular lobes, the wreath on each being dou-
ble ; the trophi are malleoramate ; and the foot is trans-
versely wrinkled, wholly retractile, and ends in a oiliate
cup.
pterodium (te-r6'di-um)j». Same &spteridium.
Pterodon (ter'o-don), n. [NL. (De Blainville,
1841), < Gr. TZTepdv, wing, + odoiif {bSom--) = E.
tooth.'] A genus of fossil carnivorous quadru-
peds, closely related to Hymnodon, based upon
remains of Eocene age found in Prance.
pteroglossine (ter-6-glos'in), a. [< Gr. wrep6v,
feather, + yUiaaa', tongue (see Pteroglossus),
+ -ine^.'] Having a feathery or brushy tongue :
specifically applied to the araearis.
Pteroglossus (ter-o-glos'us), n. [NL., < Gr.
■KTepdv, feather, + yloaaa, tongue.] 1. InonwWJ.,
a genus of EhamphasUdx, including those tou-
cans known as araearis. Illiger, 1811. See cut
under aracari.—2. In entom., a genus oi cole-
opterous insects of the family Caralndx. CMu-
doir, 1847. Also called Oodius.
pterographer (te-rog'ra-fer), n. [< pterogra-
pli-y + -eri.] A writer of pterography; the
author of a pterographio treatise.
pterographic (ter-o-graf'ik), a. [< pterogra-
ph-y + -«!.] Of or pertaining to pterography.
4825
pterographical (ter-o-graf 'i-kal), a. [< ptero-
graphic + -al."] Same as pterographic.
pterography (te-rog'ra-fi), n. [< Gr. izrep&v,
feather, + ypcu^etv, write.] The description of
feathers; a treatise on plumage: a term of
wider sense than pterylography, which it in-
cludes.
pteroidl (te'roid), n. [< Gr. irTep&v, wing (see
ptere),+ eMof, form.] A slender bone of some
pterodactyls extending from the carpal region
in the direction of the humerus. Some consider it
as an ossification of a tendon corresponding with one
which is found in a similar position in birds, while others
regard it as a rudimentary first digit, modified to support
the edge of the patagium.
pteroid^ (te'roid), a. [< Gr. Tnepk, fern (see
Pteris), + eldog, form.] In hot., fern-like ; re-
sembling a fern ; filicoid.
pterological (ter-o-loj 'i-kal), a. [< pterolog-y
+ 4e-al.'] Of or pertaining'to pterology ; f ound-
edonpterology: a,8,pterologieal chavsMteis; the
pterological description of an insect.
pterology (te-rol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. wrepdv, wing, -f-
-TLoyia, < Myetv, speak: see -ology.'] In entom.,
the science of insects' wings ; the description
of the neuration or venation and other charac-
teristics of the wing-structure.
pteroma (te-ro'ma), n. ; pi. pteromata (-ma-ta).
[L.,< Gr. m-ipu/M, a 'wing' of a temple (see
def .), also a feathered arrow, < n-repovv, furnish
with feathers or wings, < irTepdv, feather, wing:
see pfere.] In arch., the space between the wall
of the cella of a classical temple or any similar
columnar structure and the pteron, or the col-
umns of the peristyle.
Pteromalidse (ter-6-mal'i-de), n. pi. [NL.
(Walker, 1831), < Pieromalus + 4dse.'] 1. The
PteromalineB considered as a separate family.
— 2. A family of parasitic Hymenoptera : used
by Dalman as the equivalent of and super-
seding the family Chalddidse.
Pteromalinse (ter"o-ma-H'ne), n. pi. [NL.
(Walker), < Pteromalus + -inse.i One of the
largest subfamilies of Chalddidse, named from
the genus Pteromalus, comprising about 1,000
species of several tribes and many genera, hav-
ing thirteen-jointed antennse with a three-joint-
ed club and two rin^-joints. They are small, usually
metallic insects, parasitic generally upon lepidopterous,
dipterous, or coleopterous larvae. The group has 8 tribes,
and nearly 100 genera besides Pteromalus.
pteromaline (te-rom'a-lin), a. Of or pertain-
ing to the Pteromalidse or PteromalinsB.
Pteromalus (te-rom'a-lus), n. [NL. (Swede-
rus, 1795), < Gr. irrepSv, wing, + T>fia\6g, even.]
A genus of
chalcidid hy-
menopterous
insects, giv-
ing name to
the subfamily
Pteromalinse.
It is character-
ized by the one-
spuixed hind ti-
biffi ; antennal
club not clavate;
head with the
vertex some-
times medially
acute; eyes oc-
casionally hairy ;
mandibles four-
dentate ; ring-
jointsofantennse
plain; metatho-
raxcarinate;and
abdomen never
produced at the
apex. Itisalarge
unwieldy genus,
universally dis-
tributed, para-
sitic upon insects of several different orders. P. puparum
lives upon several lepidopterous larvse, notably fliat of
PierUrapse. .
Pteromys (ter'o-mis), n. [NL. (G. Cuvier,
1800), < Gr. m-epdv, wing, + jivg, mouse.] A
genus oiSciwridse; the flying-squirrels, (a) First
used in 1800 by G. Cuvier to include all the squirrels
which have a patagium or parachute. (6) Bestricted in
1825 by r. Cuvier to the large flying-squirrels of southern
Asia and the Indian archipelago, having the tail terete and
bushy, postorbital processes highly developed, and several
other cranial and dental characters different from those
of the small flat-tailed flying-squirrels of Europe and Amer-
ica called Sciuropterus.
pteron (te'ron), n. ; pi. ptera (-ra). [< Gr. wrepdv,
wing, side-row of columns : see ptere.] In Gr.
arch, and archieol., a range of columns; a portico.
Pteronura (ter-o-nu'ra), n. [NL. (J. E. Gray,
1837), prop. Pterura, < Gr. irTEpov, wing, + ovpd,
taU.] A South American genus of otters of the
family Mustelidx and subfamily Lutrinse, hav-
ing the tail alate, or margined with a flange-like
Pteropoda
fold or ridge on each side. The type is P. sand-
bachi, known as the margin-tailed otter. Also
Pterura.
Pteropsedes (ter-a-pe'dez), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
•KTepdv, feather, wmg, + naig (iratd-), child.]
Those birds which are fledged and able to fly
when hatched, as the mound-birds. Compare
Ptilopsedes.
pteropsedic (ter-o-pe'dik), a. [< Pteropsedrca
+ -ic] Having the characters of the Ptera-
pa '
Pteromalus pufiarum. a, male; j, female.
(Lines show natural sizes.)
PterOTappi (ter-6-pap'i), n. pi. [NL., < Gr. •kte-
p6v, feather, wing, + irAirirog, down: see pap-
pus.'] A rare synonym of Odontotormse.
pterope (ter'op), n. [< NL. Pteropus, q. v.] A
fruit-bat or flying-fox ; a member of the genus
Pteropus in a broad sense.
pteropegal (ter-o-pe'gal), a. [<.pteropeg-um +
-al.] Pertaining to the pteropegum, or having
its character.
pteropegum (ter-o-pe'gum), n. ; pi. pteropega
(■gft)- [NL., < (Jr. wrep&p, feather, wing, +
Tctiydg, lit. fastened, < izriywvat, fasten: see pact]
In entom., the socket on the side of the thorax
in which a wing is articulated.
Pterophora (te-rof'o-ra), n.pl. [NL. (Clair-
ville, 1798), < Gr. TTTEfrn'^dpoc, having wings : see
Pterophorus.] In Clairville's system, one of the
prime divisions of Insecta, including all hexap-
odous insects except Aptera : same as Ptilota,
Fterodicera, and Pterygota.
Pterophoridse (ter-o-for'i-de), n. pi. [NL.
(Zeller, 1841), < Pterophorus + -idse.] A fami-
ly of lepidopterous insects, typified by the ge-
nus Pterophorus, including the plume-moths.
They have long slim bodies and legs, and most of them
are remarkable for having their wings divided into lobes
or feathers. The larvse are fusiform, sixteen-legged, and
fm^nished with irregular protuberances and tubular hairs,
and some of them resemble small'bundles of dried leaves.
The species are not numerous, although the family is of
wide distribution. Also called Aluamdse. See FUeipen-
nse, and cut under plume-moth.
Pterophorina (te-rof-o-ri'na), n.pl. [NL., < Pte-
rophorus + -ina.] A'division of moths, repre-
sented by the family Pterophoridse.
Pterophorus (te-rof 'o-ms), 11. [NL. (Geoffroy,
1764), < Gr. ■KTEpo^'pog, bearing feathers, fea-
thered, winged, < nrepdv, feather, wing, + -fdpog,
< ^ipeiv = E. l)ear^.] A genus of lepidopterous
insects, type of the Pterophoridse. p. nwnodacty-
lus occurs in Europe, western Asia, and all parts of North
America. Its larva feeds on Cmivolmilue and Chenopo-
diwm. See cut \m&ev plume-moth.
Pterophyllum (ter-o-fil'um), n. [NL. (Bron-
gniart, 1828), < Gr. 'KTEp6v, feather, wing, + ipbl-
%ov, a leaf.] 1. A genus of cycadaceous fossil
plants, with linear leaves attached to the ra-
chis by the full width of their bases, and at
right angles to it ; the nervation is simple and
parallel to the length of the leaf. This genus is
first seen in the upper part of the coal-measures, attains
its greatest development in the Trias, and finally disap-
pears at the close of the Jiu-assic.
2. A genus of fishes of the family Ciehlidee.
Pteropidse, etc. See Pteropodidse, etc.
Pteroplatea (ter-o-pla'te-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
TVTEpdv, wing (fin), -I- 7r/ldV{if (fem. Tr/iaraa),
broad.] A genus of sting-rays, typical of the
subfamily Pteroplateinse. P. maclura is an east-
ern and P. tnarmorata a western American spe-
cies.
Pteroplateinse (ter-o-pla-te-i'ne), n. pi. [NL.,
< Pteroplatea + -ink.] A' subfamily of trygo-
noid sting-rays, typified by the genus Ptero-
platea. They have a very broad disk, the pec-
toral fins extending far sideways, and the tail
short.
pteropod (ter'o-pod), a. and n. [< NL. pteropus
(■pod-), < Gr. wTepdTTovi {-irod-), wing-footed (as
HermesX < wnpiv, wing, + jzoig (n-od-) = E.
foot.] I, a. Having an alate podium, or wing-
like expansions of the foot, as a moUusk; of or
pertaining to the Pteropoda. Also pteropodous.
II. TO. A moUusk of the class Pteropoda. The
shell-bearing pteropods are the Thecosomata; the naked
pteropodsare the Oymnosomata ; spiny pteropods belong
to the family Cavoliniidx, and spiral pteropods to the Li-
nmeinidse; slipper-pteropods are Cj/m6«J«to. Msopiero-
pode.
Pteropoda (te-rop'o-da), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi.
ot pteropus (-j)od-), wing-footed: &&& pteropod.]
1. A division of Mollusea, having the mesopo-
dium or middle part of the podium or foot ex-
panded into a pair of large alate lobes like wings
or flippers, and used as such to swim with ; the
pteropods. The ctenidia are abortive, the nephridium
is single, and the general configuration is more or less un-
symmetrical, somewhat as in gastropods. The propodium
may be produced into tentaculiform organs. There are
otidia or otocysts, and one osphradium. The pteropods
are hermaphroditic or moncecious; there are organs of
Pteropoda
copulation and a single genital pore. According to the
presence or absence of a mantle-skirt and sliell, tlie Ptero-
poda &TeTheco807nata and Qymnoaomata. All are oceanic.
Tliey originally formed the secoud class of Cuvier's branch
MoUwsca, under the French name Pteropodee. By most
conchologists this view has been accepted, but others have
united the pteropods with the cephalopods, and still others
■with the gastropods. By several anatomists they have been
approximated to the tectibranchiates, and even supposed
to be derived from diSerent stocks of that order— the the-
cosomes from the Cephalaspidea, and the gymnoaomes
from the Anaspidea. Also called Coponautx. See cuts
under CawUnndse and Pneunwdermon.
2. In De Blainville's classification (1825), one
of two families of his fifth order, NucleobrancM-
ata (the other heing Nectopoda), composed of
the genera Atlanta, Spiratella, and Argonauta.
It is thus a highly artificial group, oomprising
a part of the heteropods together with some
cephalopods, etc.
pteropodan (te-rop'o-dan), a. and n. l<ptero-
pod + -an.] Same' a,apteropod.
pteropode (ter'o-pod), n. [< NL. Pteropus
(-pod-).'] 1. An animal of the genus Ptere)pj«s;
a fruit-bat or fljring-f ox; a pterope. — 2. Same
as pteropod.
pteropodia, n. Plural oipteropodium.
pteropodiai (ter-o-po'di-al), a. \<.pteropodi-v.m
+ -at.] Of or pertaining to a pteropodium : as,
the pteropodiai fins or wings of a pteropod.
Fteropodids (ter-o-pod'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Pteropus (-pod') + '-idee.] A family of Megachi-
Skeleton and Outline of a Flying-fox {Pteropus').
roptera, Frugivora, or fruit-eating bats, of the
tropical and subtropical parts of the Old World.
They are generally of large size, with the tail excluded
from the interfemoral membrane when present, little or
no spigelian lobe of the liver but a large caudate lobe, the
cardiac end of the stomach generally elongated, the index-
finger with three phalanges and usually a claw, and the
molar crowns smooth. The family contains about 8 gen-
era, of which the best-Imown are Ptertmus, Epomoplwrus,
and Harpyia, It is sometimes divided into Pteropi and
Macroglosei. Also called Pteropidse. See also cut under
Pteropits.
pteropodium (ter-o-p6'di-um), ». ; pi. pteropo-
dia (-a). [Nil., < Gr. trrepdv, wing, + 7r6mov,
dim. of noitg = E. foot: see podium.'] The pe-
culiar podium or foot of a pteropod.
pteropodous (te-rop'o-dus), a. [< pteropod +
-ojts.] Same as pteropod.
Fteroptochidae (ter-op-tok'i-de), n. pi. [NIi.,
< Pteroptochus + -idx.] A South American fam-
ily of formioarioid passerine birds, typified by
the genus Pteroptochus, with tracheophonous
mesomyodian syrinx, taxaspidean tarsi, oper-
culate nostrils, and ten primaries; the rock-
wrens. They are small ^vren-like birds of skulking
habits, especially characteristic of Chili and Patagonia.
There are about 24 species, leading genera of which, be-
sides the type genus, are Hylactes, Seytalopyx, and Rhi-
noerypta. Some of them are known as iarking-Mrds.
Pteroptochus
(ter-op-to'kus),
n. [NX,.(Kitt-
litz, 1830, in
the form Pter-
<yptochos), < Gr.
TTTepov, wing,
+ nTux^Q, one
who crouches
or cringes.]
The typical ge-
nus of Pterop-
tochidie. P. ru-
heoula and P.
albicolUs in-
habit Chili.
Pteropus (ter'-
o-pus),n. [NL.
(Brisson,1756),
< Gr. TTTtpdnovg,
wing-footed:
see pteropod.]
4826
The typical genus of the flying-foxes, or large
fruit-bats of the family Pteropodidse. It includes
some 40 species, or more than half the family, chiefly of
the Malay archipelago and Australia, having no tail, a
pointed muzzle like a fox's, woolly fur on the neck, and
the dental formula 2 incisors, 1 canine, and 3 premolars
in each upper and lower haif-jaw, and 2 molars above
and 3 below on each side. P. edulis of Java, one of the
best-known species, is the largest, measuring five feet in
extent of wings. See also cuts under Pteropodidse and
flying-fox.
Pterorhina (ter-o-ri'na), n. pi. [NL., prop.
"Pterorrhina, neut. pi. of "pterorrhinus : see
pterorhine.] A division of AleidsB, including
those whose nostrils are feathered, as typical
auks, murres, and guillemots.
pterorhine (ter'o-riri), a. , [Prop. *pterorrhine,
< NL. *'pterorrMnus, < Gr. irTeptni, feather, wing,
+ pig (piv-), nose.] Having feathered nostrils,
as an auk; belonging to the Pterorhina.
pterosaur (ter'o-sar), n. [< Pterosaur-ia.] A
member of the Pterosauria ; a pterodactyl.
Pterosauria (ter-o-s&'ri-a), «. pi. [NL., <
Gr. TTTspdv, wing, + aavpog, a lizard.] 1. An
order of extinct Mesozoic BepUlia adapted for
flight; the pterosaurians, pterodactyls, orni-
thosaurians, or flying-dragons. The whole fore
limb is modified to support a flymg-membrane somewhat
like that of bats, and the rest of the skeleton is conform-
able with this modification. The vertebrae are compara-
tively few, procoelous, those of the neck very large, and
from three to six of the pelvic ones are united to form a sa-
crum, lie anterior ribs have bifurcated heads. The skull
is of great size, with long heavy jaws and large eye-sockets
including a circlet of sclerotic ossifications. The sternum
is broad and carinate, the scapula and coracoid are slender,
and clavicles are wanting. The phalanges of the ulnar
digit are extremely long and strong, and support the para-
chute. The hind limbs are smaller than the tore limbs,
and comparatively weak. The order contams the families
Pterosauridse and Pteranodontidie. They lived from the
Lias to the Chalk. See cut under pterodactyl. Also called
Omithosauria, Pterodactyli.
2. Same as Pterosauridse.
pterosaurian (ter-9-sS,'ri-an), a. and n. I. a.
Of or pertaining to the Pterosauria ; omitho-
saurian.
II. n. A pterosaur, pterodactyl, or ornitho-
saur.
Pterosauridse (ter-6-sS,'ri-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Pterosauria+ -idee.] A family of pterodactyls,
of the order Pterosauria, with teeth and sepa-
rate scapula and coracoid bones, it is represented
by such genera as Pterodaetylus, Phamphorhynehite, and
Dimorphodortf from the .Turassic formation. Also Ptero-
I-ruit-bat iPuropus edtilist.
Pterospermum (ter-6-sp6r'mum), n. [NL.
(Sehreber, 1789), < Gr". irrepSv, wing, + airipfta,
seed.] A genus of polypetalous trees and
shrubs of the order Sterculiacese and tribe
Helicterese. It is characterized by stalked anthers, with
parallel linear cells, woody round or five-angled five-valved
capsules, and winged seeds. The 16 species are all natives
of tropical Asia. ' They are commonly clothed with stellate
hairs, and bear oblique coriaceous leaves, and elongated
fiowers, which are axillary and nearly or quite solitary,
and consist of a tubular five-cleft calyx with five obovate
petals and a prominent column of united stamens. The
flowers are usually white, fragrant and several inches in
length. P. aceriffoliura and P. svieriffolium are trees of
the East Indies, sometimes cultivated under the name of
vnngseed. P. Javanicwm is the bayur of Java.
Pterospora (te-ros'yo-ra), n. [NL. (Nuttall,
1818), < Gr. TTTepdv, wmg, 4- airdpog, seed.] A ge-
nus of root-parasitic plants belonging to the or-
der Monoiropese. it is characterized by a gamopeta-
lous urn-shaped corolla with five short recurving lobes,
five persistent sepals, ten stamens with pendulous an-
thers facing inward and two-spurred on tlie back, and a
five-lobed and five-celled capsule filled with minute seeds
which terminate in a large and broad hyaline reticulated
wing. The only species, P. andromedea, known as pijie-
drops, is a slender, puiplish-brown, clajnmy-hairy, and
scaly herb, growing 1 or 2 feet high, leafless like most
parasites, and with roots consisting of a mass of coral -like
thickened fibers. The white nodding flowers are borne
in a long raceme. It is a rare plant, found on hard clay
soil under pines from Vermont and Pennsylvania north-
ward and westward across the continent. From its early
discovery neai" Albany, and its resemblance to beech-
drops, it is also known as Albany beech-drops.
pterostigma (ter-o-stig'ma), «.; pi. pterostig-
mata (-ma-ta). [NL., < Gr. nrepov, feather,
wing, -t- ariyjm, a spot, mark: see stigma.] The
carpus or stigma, a peeiiliar mark or spot on the
wings of some insects. It is a dark-colored triangu-
lar or quadrate space on the anterior border of the fore
wings of liymenopters, and on both fore and hind wings
of dragon-flies. It corresponds to that one of the costal
cells which is thickened to strengthen the costal border.
—Fenestrate pterostigma. Seefeneetraie.
pterostigmal (ter-o-stig'mal), a. [< pterostig-
ma + -al.] Pertaining to a pterostigma or hav-
ing its character; pterostigmatic : as, a ptero-
stigmal cell or spot.
pterostigmatic (ter"o-8ti^-mat'ik), a. [< pter-
osUgma(t-) + -ic] Havmg a pterostigma, as
an insect's wing ; provided with pterostigmata,
as an insect; pterostigmal.
pterygoda
pterostigmatical (ter^o-stig-mat'i-kal), a. [<
pterostigmatic + -al.] Same as pterostigmatic.
Hagen.
pterotheca (ter-o-the'kS), n.; pi. pterothecsB
(-se). [NL., < Gr. nrepdv, wing, + S^io?, case:
see theca.] In entom., a wing-ease, or that part
of the integument of a pupa on which is out-
lined the undeveloped wing beneath it.
pterotic (te-rot'ik), a. and n. [< Gr. irTspdv,
feather, wing, + oig (or-), = E. ear, + -Jc] I. a.
In zool. and anat., noting an ossification of the
periotic capsule or petrosal bone, distinct from
the prootic, epiotic, and opisthotic, which oc-
curs in some vertebrates between the prootic
and the epiotic.
II, n. A pterotic ossification. See first cut
under teleost and cut imder Esox.
Pterotrachea (ter^o-tra-ke'S), n. [NL. (Fors-
kfi.1), < Gr. iTTcpiv, wing, + Tp'a%ig, fern, rpaxela,
rough: see trachea.] The typical genus otPtero-
tracheidse. Also called Firola.
Pterotracheacea (ter-o-tra-ke-a'se-a,), n. pi.
[NL.,< Pterotrachea + -acea.] The Pierotrache-
idse considered as a suborder of heteropods.
Pterotracheidse (ter"6-tra-ke'i-de), n.pl. [NL.
(J. E. Gray, 1840), < Pterotrachea + -idle.] A
family of shell-less heteropods, typified by the
genus Pterotra-
chea. Different
limits have been as-
signed to it. By
some it is extend-
ed to all the hetero-
pods with the bran-
chise carried in a
dorsal peduncle
and protected by a
small or no shell,
and the roesopodi- pterotrachea fedunculata.
urn lamelliform.
By others it is limited \jo Pterotrachea and Firol(yides, hav-
ing the visceral hump, reduced to a mere oval sac, embed-
ded in the posterior region of the body, no shell, and a cy-
lindrical slug-like form. Also called FirdtidBe and, as a
suborder, Pterotracheacea.
Pterozamites (ter-6-zam'i-tez), n. [NL.
(Sehimper, 1870), < Gtr. itTepSv, feather, -f- Zam-
ites; q. v.] A genus of fossil cycadaceous plants,
differing from other genera chiefly in having
only the stronger veins fork at base. It em-
braces about 5 or 6 species, found in the Ehetic,
Lias, and Oolite of Europe.
Pterura (te-ro'ra), n. Same as Pteronura.
pterygial (te-rij'i-al), a. [< pterygium + -al]
Of or pertaining to a pterygium.
pterygium (te-rij'i-um), n. ; pi. pterygia (-a).
[NL., also pterygion; cf . L. x>terygium, < Gr. ■ktc-
piiyiov, a little wing, a fin, projection, film over
the eye, growth of flesh over the nails, dim. of
TrTepvl(7rrepvy-), wing,< 7rrep6i\ wing, feather: see
ptere.] 1. In eool. and anat., a limb or member
of one of the vertebrates,
as a fish, in the most gen-
eral sense, without refer-
ence to its specialization
in any given instance. A
hypothetical pterygium, whence
other pterygia are supposed to
have been evolved, is an archip-
terygium; the ichthyic modifica-
tion is an ichthyopt^ygium; the
air-breathers' modification is a
chiropterygium. Parts of the
pterygium of an elasmobran-
chiate fish have been called
mesopterygium, metapterygium,
proplerygium, bearing basalia
and radialia, as in the accom>
panying flgui'e.
2. In pathol., a more or
less triangular patch of hy-
pertrophied conjunctiva
and subconjunctival tissue
with its apex at the edge of
the cornea or upon the cor-
nea.— 3, In entom., one of
tJie two lateral expansions ^°'^^ Limb of the Monkfish
at the end of the rostrum '^^"ttsf-Jiol^^^^'
of certain weevils. Thev ?"^' metapterygium -t.
..FJ' iticr reSDfichvelv the nroi
riietai
Pterygium, or (rightl Fee-
lie above and partly conceal the ["y|iLif'^'e3,?^-ar^-
Bcrooes or grooves in which the metapterygial
antennae are concealed. radialia.
rygial, mesopterygial, .
' 'il basalia and
pterygoblast (ter'i-go-blast), n. [< Gr. irripv^
(irrepvy-), wing, -t- BAaarSg, germ.] A germinal
fin-ray; the histological element from which
the embryonic fin-rays of fishes are developed.
J. A. Byder.
pterygobranchiate (ter"i-g6-brang'ki-at), a.
[< Gr. Trr^pwf (wrepvy-) , feather, + Ppiyxia, gills. ]
Having feathery gills: noting a section of iso-
pods, in distinction from phytobranchiate.
pterygoda (ter-i-go'da), n. pi. [NL., < Gr. ■^re-
ovyudi/g, wing-like: see pterygoid.] In ciitom.,
pterygoda
the tegulsB, a pair of small movable scales or
epaulets attached to the mesothorax of Lepi-
doptera, near the insertion of the first legs.
In front of the fore wings ... are a pair of pterygoda,
a kind of epaulettes, which extend backwards
LatreiUe, In Cuvier's Rfegne Animal (trans.), ed. 1849,
[p. 476.
pterygode (ter'i-god), n. One of the pterygoda.
Also ptei-ygoid. J. 0. Westwood.
pterygofaoeting (ter"i-g6-fas'et-ing), n. [<
pterygo{id) + faoefi- + -jngrl.] The formation
of an articulate facet for the pterygoid bone on
the rostrum of a bird's skull. Coues.
, pterygoid (ter'i-goid), a. and n. [< Gr. Trrepu-
yoei&jg (eontr. m-epvy6SiK), wing-like, feathery,
< irriflvS {nrepvy-), a wing, + eldoc, form.] I. a.
Wing-like or wing-shaped; aliform or alate:
.specifically applied in anatomy to certain
bones or bony processes and associate parts.
— Fterygoid artery, a branch of the Internal maxillary,
from the second or pterygoid section of that vessel, sup-
plying the pterygoid muscles.— Pterygoid l)ones, the
pterygoids.— Pterygoid canal. Same as Fidian canal
(which see, under canal).— Pterygoid fossa. See/ossai.
—Pterygoid mUBCles, the pterygoidei, or muscles which
arise from the pterygoid bones or pterygoid processes of the
sphenoid. In man the external pterygoid muscle arises
from the external pterygoid process of the sphenoidand the
part of the alisphenoid below the pterygoid ridge, and ex-
tends nearly horizontally outward to be inserted into the
condyloid section of the lower jaw-bone : it is also called
^ctopterygoid. The itOemai pterygoid muscle arises from
the pterygoid fossa and palate-bone, and passes downward
and outward to be inserted into the inner surface of the as-
cending ramus and angle of the lower jaw-bone : it is also
■called entopterygoid and intermiZ masseter. The pterygoid
muscles etleot the lateral and forward and backward move-
ments of the jaw, and the internal maxillary raises it. —
^Pterygoid nerves, two branches of the inferior maxillary
to the mternal and external pterygoid muscles. — Ptery-
goid notch. See noteft.— Pterygoid plate, a pterygoid
process.— Pterygoid plexus. See jjfena.— Pterygoid
process, (ot) Either one of two parts of the compound
■-sphenoid bone of mammals. (1) The external pterygoid
process is aprocess or extension of the alisphenoid, or great
wing of the sphenoid bone, having no independent center
of ossification, and never being a distinct part. (2) The jn-
.temal pterygoid process, on the other hand, is a distinct
bone, the pterygoid proper, having its own center of ossifi-
cation, and representing the freely articulated pterygoid
bone of lower vertebrates. These processes are also (nstin-
guished as ectopterygoid and entoptxrygoid. (b) The com-
bined internal and external pterygoid processes, the two
parts being distinguished as the internal and external
pterygoid plates, (c) The pyramid al process, or tuberosity
of the palate.— Pterygoid ridge, a ridge traversing the
outer surface of the alisphenoid, or great wing of the sphe-
noid bone, delimiting the respective attachments of the
temporal and external pterygoid muscles, and also serving
to distinguish the temporal from the zygomatic fossa.
II. n. In zool. and anat. : (a) A bone of the
facial part of the skull, forming a part of the
hard palate, or pterygopalatal bar, commonly
a horizontal rod-like bone, one of a pair on
each side of the median line intervening be-
tween the palatal and the quadrate bone, or
-suspensorium of the mandible, and movably
articulated with both, frequently also articu-
lating with the basisphenoidal rostrum of the
■skull : in any mammal, detached from its pos-
terior connection with the suspensorium, and
commonly immovably sutured with the palatal
and ankylosed with the sphenoid, when it forms
the part known in human anatomy as the inter-
nal pterygoid process of the sphenoid, in fishes
there are several different pterygoid bones, entering into
the formation of the pterygopalatal bar or palatoquad-
rate arch, and distinguished as entopterygoid, ectoptery-
gmd, and metapterygoid : see these words, and cut under
palatoqiiadrate. See also cuts under desmognathous, dro-
mieognathttus, periotie, Petromyzon, Physeter, poieon-fang,
Python, and tmiporommtoid. (6) A pterygoid mus-
cle.— 2. pi. In entovi., same as pterygoda.
3>terygoideus (ter-i-goi'de-us), n. ; pi. pterygoi-
dei (-i). [NL. : see pterygoid.'] A pterygoid
muscle.— pterygoldeus extemus or minor and
pterygoldeua internus or major, two stout muscles of
mastication ; the pterygoid muscles (which see, under
pterygoid).— 'PteiygoiAeMS proprius, a small occasional
muscle of man, passing from the alisphenoid to the outer
plate or tuberosity of the palate.
pterygomaxillary (ter-'i-go-mak'si-la-ri), a. [<
pterygo{id) + maxillary.'] Pertaining to a ptery-
goid process or the pterygoid bone and to either
the superior or inferior maxillary bone : spe-
cifically applied in anatomy to several parts.
— Pterygomaxillary fissure. See /srare.- Pterygo-
maxillaxy fold, the fold formed by the pterygomaxil-
lary ligament in the mouth, back of the last molar tooth.
-Pterygomaxillary ligament, a tendinous band pass-
ing from the apex of the internal pterygoid plate to the
posterior extremity of the internal oblique Ime of the
lower jawJ
Pterygopalatal (ter'-'i-go-pal'S-tal), a. l<ptery-
goHd) + palatal.] Same as pterygopalattne —
Pterygopalatal bar, the movable series of bones which
connect the upper jaw of vertebrates below manimala
with the suspensorium of the lower jaw. No such bar
. occurs in mammals, in which the lower jaw has no suspen-
.Borium, and the pterygoids are entirely cut off from con-
4827
nections behind. In birds the bar is always a single and
simple pterygoid bone, movably articulated behind with a
quadrate and in front with a palate-bone. The case be-
comes complicated In lower vertebrates by the presence of
more than one pterygoid, and in fishes with several ptery-
goids, variously disposed, the arrangement is more com-
monly called the palatoqvadrate arch. See cut under
palatogwidraJle.
pterygopalatine (ter"i-g6-pal'a-tin), a. [<
pterygo(id) + palatine^.] Pertaining to the
pterygoid process of the sphenoid, or to the
pterygoid bone, and to the palate or palate-
bone : as, the pterygopalatine branch of the in-
temalmaxillaryartery.-pterygopalatine artery,
a small branch of the internal maxillary, which passes
through the pterygopalatine canal to the pharynx, nasal
fossa, and sphenoidal sinus. Also called pharyngeal ar-
te«^.— Pterygopalatine canal, (a) The canaliculus
pharyngeus. (6) The posterior palatine canal. — Ptery-
gopalatine foramen. See/oraimn.— Pterygopalatine
nerve, a small branch of Meckel's ganglion that passes
through the canal of the same name to the pharynx.
pterygo-pharsmgeus (ter"i-g6-far-in-je'us), n.
[NL., < pterygo(id) + pharyngeus.] That part
of the superior constrictor of the pharynx
which arises from the internal pterygoid pro-
cess.—pterygo-pharyngeus extemus, a small super-
numerary muscle arising from the hamular process and
inserted into the wall of the pharynx.
pterygoquadrate (ter"i-g6-kwod'rat), a. [<
pterygo(id) + quadrate.] 1. Pertaining to the
pterygoid bone proper and to the quadrate bone,
or suspensorium of the lower jaw, as in a ver-
tebrate below mammals : as, the pterygoquad-
rate articulation. — 3. Combining elements of
the pterygoid and quadrate bones: as, the
pterygoquadrate cartilage of a shark.
pterygosphenoid (ter"i-go-sfe'noid), a. [<
pterygo(id) + sphenoid.] Same as sphenoptery-
goid.
pterygospinosus (ter"i-g6-spi-n6'sus), n.; pi.
pterygospinosi (si). [NL.: aeepterygospinous.]
A muscular slip, occasionally seen in man,
arising from the sphenoidal spine and inserted
into the external pterygoid plate.
pterygospinous (ter"i-g6-spi'nus), a. [< NL.
pterygospinosus, < E. pterygoiid) + L. spinosus,
spinous.] Pertaining to a pterygoid process
and to the spine of the sphenoid ^Pterygospi-
nous ligament, a fibrous band running from the spine
of the sphenoid to the posterior margin of the outer ptery-
goid plate.
pterygostaphylinus (ter " i - go - staf - i - li 'nus) ,
». ; pi. pterygostaphyUni (-ni) . [NL. , < Gr. vripv^
(TTTepvy-), wing, -f- aTa(pvX^, uvula.] Same as
tensor palati.
pterygostium (ter-i-gos'ti-um), n. ; ■pl.pterygos-
tia (-a). [Also pterygosteum; NL. (Leach, 1829),
< GvircTepv^ (■irTepvy-),-m.rig,+ L. osSmto, mouth.]
One of the nervures or veins of an insect's
wing. They are thickenings of the two surfaces of the
upper and lower wing-membranes exactly opposed to each
other, the inner surfaces being grooved so as to allow the
circulation of fluids and the enhance of trachese.
pterygostomial (ter'''i-e6-st6'mi-al), a. [< Gr.
TTTspv^ {irrepvy-), wing, + ard/xa, mouth, + -4al.]
In zool., noting the flaring anterior edges of the
carapace of crustaceans, when these turn for-
ward in front of the bases of the limbs, paral-
lel with each other and with the axis of the
body. Milne-Edwards — Pterygostomial plates,
those parts of the carapace of the braonyurous crustaceans
which run forward parallel with the axis of the body.
Hvtdey, Anat. Invert., p. 295.
pterygOStomian (ter"i-g6-st6'mi-an), a. [<
pterygostomiifbl + -an.] Same as "pterygosto-
mial. [Bare.]
Epistome longer than wide, and the pterygostomian re-
gions rudimentary. Eng. Cye., Nat. Hist., in. 576.
Pterygota (ter-i-go'ta), n.pl. [NL., neut. pi. of
Pterygotus: see pter'ygote.'] One of the prime
divisions of Insecta, containing all hexapodous
insects except Jpfera. Gegenbaur. They are nor-
mally winged (wingless only as an adaptive specialized
modification), and metabolous— that is, they undergo a
more or less complete metamorphosis. Also called Ptero-
dicera, Pterophora, and PtUota.
pterygote (ter'i-got), a. [< NL. Pterygotus, <
Gr. irTspuyoT6Q, winged, < nripv^ (Krepvy-), wing:
see pterygium.] Winged; alate; having wings
or wing-like parts; specifically, belonging to
the Pterygota.
pterygotrabecular (ter"i-g6-tra-bek'u-lar), a.
l<pterygo(id) + trabecular.] Pertauung to the
pterygoid bone and the trabecular region of the
skull.
A well developed pterygo-trabeeular process — homolo-
sous with the pedicle of the tadpole's suspensorium.
A. S. Woodward, Proc. Zobl. Soc, 1886, p. 221.
Pterygotus (ter-i-go'tus), n. [NL., < Gr. Trrspv-
yoTdg, winged : see pterygote.] A genus of ex-
tinct crustaceans of the Silurian period, belong-
ing to the group Eurypterida, occurring chief-
Ftilocercus
lyin the passage-beds between the Silurian and
the Devonian system, it has a long lobster-like form,
composed in the main of a cepbalothorax, an abdominal
division of several segments, and a somewhat oval telson
or tail-plate. The organs of locomotion, three or four
pairs in number, are all attached to the under side of the
carapace, as in the king-crab. P. anglitme is a species
sometimes called seraphim.
Pterygura (ter-i-gu'ra), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
■KTtpi)^ (Ti-repvy-), feather, wing, + oiipA, taU.]
A division of anomurous decapod crustaceans.
pterygurous (ter-i-gii'rus), a. Of or pertaining
to the Pterygura.
pteryla (ter'i-la), n.; pi. pterylse (-le). [NL., <
Gr. nrepdv, feather, wing, + vkri, wood.] A
feather-tract ; one of the sets or clumps of fea-
thers which are inserted in definite tracts or
areas in the skin of a bird, separated by apte-
ria, or places where no feathers grow. The fact
that birds' feathers are seldom implanted uniformly over
the whole skin, but usually grow in definite patches, had
been known long before the publication of Nitzsch's "Sys-
tem of Pterylography" in 1840; but it remained for this
author to define the principal pteiylse and point out the
taxonomic significance of pteiylosis. The most constant
pterylse are eight : (1) Pteryla spinalis, the spinal or dorsal
tract, from the nape of the neck to the tail, subject to
much modification. (2) Pteryla humeralis, the humeral
tract, on each wing, running from the shoulder obliquely
backwai'd, parallel with the scapula. (3) Pterylafemmalis,
the femoral tract, a similar oblique strip on each thigh.
(4) Pteryla veMraXis, the ventral tract, forming most of the
plumage of the under parts, and presenting numerous
modifications. (5) Pteryla capitalis, the head-tract. (6)
Pteryla alaris, the wing-tract. (7) Pteryla caudalie, the
tail-tract. (8) Pteryla eruralis, the lower leg-tract.
pterylograpMc (ter"i-16-graf 'ik), a. [< ptery-
lography + -4c.] Of or pertaining to pterylog-
raphy; descriptive of pteryl» or pterylosis.
pterylograpllical (ter"i-lo-graf'i-kal), o. [<
pterylograpMc + -al.] Same a,a pterylograpMc,
pterylograpMcally (ter"i-16-graf'i-kal-i), adv.
With reference to pterylography; upon ptery-
lographioal principles.
pterylbgrapliy (ter-i-lo^'ra-fi), n. [< IJili.ptery-
la + Gr. -ypafla, < ypa^peiv, write.] The de-
scription of pterylse, or a treatise on pterylosis :
a science which had its origin in the "System
der Pterylographie" of Nitzsch, 1833-40.
pterylosis (ter-i-16'sis), n. [NL., < pteryla +
-osis.] The arrangement or disposition of pti-
losis; the plumage of a bird, considered with
reference to the manner in which the feathers
are implanted in the skin in definite pterylse ;
the mode of feathering ; the distribution of the
feathers in tracts, it differs from ptilosis in that the
latter relates to the character of the plumage itself, not
to its disposition upon the body.
Ptilichthyidae (til-ik-thi'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Ptilichthys + -idx.] A family of aeanthop-
terygian fishes, typifledby the genus Ptilichthys.
The body is very elongated and angnillitorm, the head
small, the mouth oblique with the lower jaw projecting,
branchial apertures restricted, dorsal very long and with
about 90 spines and 145 rays, anal long, and ventrals ab-
sent. Only one species is known.
Ptilichthys (ti-Hk'this), m. [NL., < Gr. ■KrVKmi,
feather, + Ix^iig, fish.] A genus of fishes, typi-
Spiny-back Eel ^Ptilichthys goodei).
cal of the family Ptilichthyidee. The only
known species is P. goodei of Bering Sea.
Ptilocercus (til-o-ser'kus), n. [NL. (J. E. Gray,
1848), < Gr. TZTikov, feather, + Kipiwg, tail.] A
Pentail {Ptilocercus lov/ei).
Ptilocercus
genus of TupaiidsB or elephant-shi-ews, contain-
ing a single species, P. lo%ijei, of Borneo, having
a long tail furnished with distichous hairs to-
ward the end, like a pen or feather, whence
the name ; the pentails.
Ptilogonatinae (til-o-gon-a-ti'ne). n.pl. [NL. ,
< PUlogonys {-gonat-) + -inee.'] A subfamily of
oseine passerine birds, typified by the genus
Ptilogonys, referred to the conventional family
Ampelidse. The bill is slenderer than in Ampelis, with
naked nasal scale and slightly bristled rictus ; the tarsus
is scutellate anteriorly and sometimes also on the sides ;
the wings are rounded, with ten primaries, of which the
first is sptu-iouB ; the tail is variable, and the head crested.
The few species are confined to western North America,
Mexico, and Central America. Also PtUogonydina.
Ptilogonys (ti-log'o-nis), n. [NL. (Swainson,
1824), also in the forms Ptiligonys, Ptiliogonys,
and Ptiliogonatus; < Gr. TTi'/tov, wing, + ydvv
(yovar-), knee, joint. Of. gonys.'] 1. The typi-
cal genus of Ptilogonatinie or Ptilogonydinse.
The type is P. cinereus of Mexico. — 2t. Ex-
tended to birds of the genus Myiadestes and
others. — 3. [i.e.] A bird of the genus PtJZojro-
nys in any sense. Townsend's ptilogonys is
Myiadestes townsendi. The black ptilogonys is
Pliainopepla nitetts. See cut under fly-snap-
per.
ptilolite (til'o-lit), n. [< Gr. wri/lov, wing, +
^uBoQ, stone.] ' A zeolitic mineral, occurring in
white tufts or s;pongy masses of minute aeicular
crystals, found in cavities in augite-andesite in
Jefferson county, Colorado. Itis a hydrous silicate
of aluminium, calcium, and potassium, and is remarkable
for its high percentage of silica.
Ptilonopinae (til"6-n6-pi'ne), «. pi. [NL., <
Ptilonopns + -inse.^ A subfamily of Columbidse,
named from the genus Ptilonopus. P. J. Selby,
1835. See Treroninse.
Ptilonopus (ti-lon'6-pus), n. [NL. (Swainson,
1837), prop. Ptilopus, < Gr. srW/lov, feather, + noiig
= E. foot.'] An extensive genus of pigeons of
the family Columbidse, giving name to the PUlo-
nopinx. Also Ptilinopus {Swainson, 1825) and
Ptilopus {Strickland, 1841).
Ptilopsedes (til-o-pe'dez), n. pi. [< Gr. ■kt'iXov,
down, + Tzalg (iraid-), child.] In ornith., in
Suudevall's classification, a primary group of
birds, embracing such as are clothed at birth
with down (which sprouts not only from ptery-
l£e, but also from parts of the skin which form
apteria when the true plumage is acquired),
and are generally able to mn about and feed
themselves when hatched: opposed to Psilopse-
des : nearly equivalent to Prsecoces, but of more
exact signification. Also called Dasypsedes,
Autophagi.
ptilopsecUc (til-o-pe'dik), a. [< Ptilopaed-es +
-ic] Of or pertaining to the PUlopsBdes; prse-
cocial : opposed to psilopsedic.
Ftilophyton (ti-lof'i-ton), n. [NL. (Dawson,
1878), <Gr. tctITmv, feather, + ^vrdv, a plant.]
A plant of very uncertain affinities, so called
by Dawson and supposed by him to be aquatic,
and more likely to have been allied to rhizocarps
than to any other group. It consists of beautiful
feathery fronds, beainng on parts of the main stem or
petiole small rounded sporocarps. It is found in the De-
vonian and Lower Carboniferous of New York, in Nova
Scotia, and in Scotland.
Ptilopteri (ti-lop'te-ri), n. pi. [NL., < Gr. m-i-
/uov, leather, -I- m-'epdv, wing.] The penguins
as an order of birds: conterminous with Im-
pennes, Squamipennes, Sphenisci, and Splienisco-
morphse.
Ptilorhis (til'o-ris), n. [NL. (Swainson, 1825),
erroneously ttilornis and Ptiloris, prop. *Pti-
lorrhis, < Gr. tttj/Iov, soft feather, + }>li (ptv-),
nose.] A genus of Paradiseidie, belonging to
the subfamily EjnmacMnx, or slender-billed
birds of paradise, having the tail not longer
than the body, and a jugular shield of metallic
plumes. The nostrils are feathered, whence the name.
i'our species of these beautiful birds inhabit Australia and
Xew Guinea— P. paradisea, the rifle-bird, P. victoriee, P.
aiberti, and P. (Praspedophora) magniflca. See cut under
rijle-bird.
ptilosis (ti-16'sis), re. [NL., < Gr. Trrthjaig, plu-
mage, also a disease of the eyelids resulting in
loss of the eyelashes, < jmiovadai, be winged
(or feathered), < Trr/Xov, feather, wing.] 1. In
ornith., plumage; the feathering of a bird, con-
sidered with reference to the textiu-e or other
character of the feathers themselves. Com-
Eare pterylosis. — 2. In med., loss of the eye-
liSllfiS
Ptilota (ti-16'ta), n.pl. [NL. (Macleay, 1821),
< Gr. TTTihyTdi, winged, verbal adj. of n-i. "^ma-
8ai, be winged: see ptilosis.'] In Maoleay's
classification, one of the prime divisions of me
4828
class Insecta, distinguished from Aptera, cor-
responding to Latreille's Pterodicera, and di-
vided primarily into Mandibulata and Haustel-
lata. See Pterygota.
Ptilotis (ti-16'tis), n. [NL. (Swainson, 1837),
< Gr. TTriXov, feather, + ov( (ur-) = B. ear.] A
very extensive genus of meliphagine birds, it
includes nearly 40 species, ranging through the Austro-
malayan, Australian, and Polynesian regions, mostly of
plain dull olivaceous and yellowish colors, with the skin
of the sides of the head often bare and wattled, or the
pai'otic feathers (ear-coverts) stiffened and usually white
or yellow, forming a conspicuous mark, whence the name.
P. chrysotii and P. carum»data are examples.
Ftinidae (tin'i-de), n. pi. [NL. (Leach, 1819), <
Ptinus + -idle.] A large family of serricorn
coleopterous insects, containing beetles _ of
small size, having the antennse with from nine
to eleven joints, the head retractile, and the ely-
tra entire. Bothlarvce and beetles feed mostly on dead
animal and vegetable matter. The larvae eat drugs, even
pepper and tobacco. Some 44 genera and 160 species are
recognized in the United States. Lasioderma serrwonie
is known in the United States as the eigarette-beette, on
account of the damage it does to cigarettes. Sitodrepa
panicea is a wide-spread museum-pest^ and is found in
many drugs. Members of the genus Anobium are known
as deathywalches. Many of the species are cosmopolitan.
See cut under book-worm,
Ptinus (ti'nus), n, [NL. (Linnaeus, 1767), ir-
reg. < Gr. fdivecv, fdinv, decay, waste, destroy:
see phthisis.] A large and wide-spread genus
of beetles, typical of the family Ptinidse, of
which about 80 species are known, 6 inhabiting
the United States. A number of them occur both in
Europe and in North America. P. fur is cosmopolitan
and a well-known museum-pest. See cut under book-
worm.
ptisan (tiz'an), n. [Also ptisane, torjaetlj pty-
sane, tisan; = F. tisane = Pr. tizana, tipsana =
Sp. -Pg. It. tisana, < L. ptisana, < Gr. irTiaavn,
peeled barley, also a drink made from it, <
KTlaauv, peel, husk.] 1 . A mild harmless drink,
or one having a slight medicinal quality, as,
barley-water or herb-tea.
For what auncient phisition is there that in his workes
commendeth not ptysane, whiche is none other than pure
barley braied in a morter and sodden in water?
Sir T. Elyot, Castle of Health, ii. 21.
2. Grape-juice allowed to drain on the slab,
without pressure. R. F. Burton, Arabian Nights,
V. 158, note.
P. T. 0. An abbreviation of Please turn over:
a direction, usually at the foot of a page, to call
attention to matter on the other side of the
leaf.
ptochocracy (to-kok'ra-si), n. [< Gr. tttux^S, a
beggar (< ■KT&ahciv, croiieh or cower from fear),
-I- -leparia, < Kparelv, rule.] Government by beg-
gars; the rule of paupers: the opposite ot plu-
tocracy. [Rare.]
It [the opposition to the extension of the county fran-
chise] alleges the risks we run from the old and the rich,
the danger of a gerontocracy and a ploutocracy ; whereas,
to make its argument good, it should have shown the im-
minence of a ptochocracy.
Gladstone, Gleanings of Past Years, 1. 182.
ptochogony (to-kog'o-ni), n. [< Gr. ■Jrraxdg, a
beggar, + -yovia, generation : see -gony.] The
production of beggars; pauperization. [Kare.]
The whole plan of the Bishop of London is a, ptochogony
— a generation of beggars.
Sydney Smith, To Archdeacon Singleton, iii.
Ptolemsean (tol-e-me'an), o. [< L. Ptolemsms,
Ptolemeeius, of Ptolemy, < Ptolemseus, < Gr.
HroAe/iaZof, Ptdlemy.] Same as Ptotemaic. Max
Mutter, Sci. of Lang., p. 27.
Ptolemaic (tol-e-ma'ik), a. [< Gr. JlToAeyKai/cdf,
pertaining to Ptolemy, < TlTo'kefiaioq, Ptolemy:
see def.] Of or pertaining to Ptolemy; (a)
relating to one or all of the line of Ptolemies,
rulers of Egypt from the end of the fourth to
the first century B. c; (6) relating to the Alex-
andrian geographer and astronomer Ptolemy
(see below).— Ptolemaic chart. Se& Bonne's map-
projection, under projection. — Ptolemaic Bystem, the
structure of the heavens according to Ptolemy, an Egyp-
tian-Greek astronomer, whose recorded observations ex-
tend from 127 to 151 A. D. His " Treatise of Mathematics "
(Ma07jftaTi<^ (TuvTalis), commonly called the "Almagest," is
mainly devoted to an investigation of the movements
of the heavenly bodies. Ptolemy holds that the eai-th
is stationary, because there is no appearance of varia-
tion in the perspective of the fixed stars. He admits
it would simplify astronomy to suppose It rotated daily
on its axis, but thinks that refuted by physical considera-
tions, while, regarding the stars as devoid of weight, he
sees no objection to supposing them to move with im-
mense velocity. But these two errors of denying the mo-
tion of the earth both in translation and in rotation were
not incompatible with a correct representation of the mo-
tions of. the planets relatively to the earth. The figure
shows his theory of Mars, which was exactly like that of
Jupiter and Saturn. He supposed that about a circular
deferent, which was really nearly similar and similaily
placed to the true orbit of the planet about the sun, moved
Y
Ptolemaic Theory of Mars.
ptyalogogue
an epicycle, which was really of nearly the same propor-
tionate size as the earth's true orbit and parallel to it— this
epicycle carrying the
planet on its circum- -"V G
ference. In the fig-
ure, T is the earth;
XDIYJ, the orbit,
deferent, or eccentric
of Mars ; C, the cen-
ter of the orbit ; 6H,
theeguant; E, its cen-
ter; AKPL, the epi-
cycle; D, its center;
i , Mars ; IJ, the line
of nodes of the or-
bit; KL, the line of
nodes of the epicycle
(which is parallel to
the ecliptic) upon
the plane of the or-
bit. Mars revolves
upon the epicycle so
as to move uniformly relatively to P, the perigee of the
epicycle, which it reaches so as to be then in opposition
to the mean sun. The center D of the epicycle moves
about the orbit so as to describe in equal times equal
angles about E, the center of the equant. 0, the center
of the orbit, bisects the eccentricity ET. The essential
errors in his representation were as follows. (1) He rep-
resented the deferent by the circle, thus giving it a breadth
too great. This circle remained in an eccentric position,
whence it was called the eccentric, as well as the d^erent
and the orbit. (2) Instead of supposing the moving radius,
TD, to describe equal areas in equal times, he drew a line to
D, the attachment of the epicycle with the deferent, from
E, really corresponding to the empty focus of the ellipse,,
but called by him the center of the equant, and he supposed
this line ED to turn with an equable motion so as to de-
scribe equal angles in equal times. This made an observ-
able error only in the case of Mars. It made a tolerable ap-
proximation to the elliptic motion, which excited the ad-
miration of Kepler, and it shows that Ptolemy aimed at
something much better than a mere harmonic analysis of
the motions of the planets. (3) He not only made the epi-
cycle circular, but he placed its center upon the deferent,
thus virtually neglecting the eccentricity as well as thfr
ellipticity of the earth's orbit in its eft'pcts on the apparent
places of the exterior planets. (4) He made the planet re-
volve in its epicycle so as to describe in equal times equal
arcs measured from the perigee of the epicycle, as if the
earth's motion were affected by the eccentricity of the or-
bit of the other planet. And (5) he made the planet come-
to the perigee of its epicycle when it was just opposite the
mean place of the sun, instead of the true place. Other
still more serious falsities affected his theories of the infe-
rior planets and of the moon. Yet, notwithstanding all
these errors, Ptolemy's theory satisfied pretty closely, in
the cases of all the planets except Mercury and the moon,
such observations as could be made in his time. In his
phrase, it "saved appearances." The Ptolemaic theory
continued in vogue until Copernicus (in 1543) explained the
relations between the motions of the planets and that of
the sun, and thus supplied a method for detei-mining the
relative magnitudes of the different planetai-y orbits. But
the system of Copernicus did not in itself represent the
phenomena any better than that of Ptolemy ; and it was
not until the great work of Kepler on the motions of Mara,
published in 1609, that the real truth was known. The
Almagest remains, however, a model of scientific investi-
gation, most admirable for the genius with which it man-
ages not only the astronomical problems attacked, but also
those of pure mathematics.
Ptolemaist (tol-e-ma'ist), n. [< PtolemaAc +
-ist] A believer in the Ptolemaic system of
astronomy.
ptomaine, ptomain (to'ma-in), n. [Irreg. < Gr.
nrciua, a ooi-pse (prop, that which is fallen, <
irtiTTEiv, fall), -I- -ine^.] A generic name of al-
kaloid bodies formed from animal or vegetable
tissues during putrefaction, and the similar
bodies produced by pathogenic bacteria. Some
of them are poisonous.
ptosis (to'sis), n. [< Gr. nTaaiQ, a fall, a fall-
ing, < mVrejv (perf . nmruKa, verbal adj. nrtirdf),
fall, = L. petere, fall upon, attack, seek, etc.:
see peUtion.] A falling of the upper eyelid, or
inability to raise it, due to paralysis of the
levator palpebree. slight ptosis niay be due to p»-
ralysisofMUUer's muscle innervated through the cervical
sympathetic. Also called blepkaroptosis, blepharoplegia.
ptotic (to'tik), a. l< ptosis (plot-) + -ic] Per-
taining to, characterized by, or affected with
ptosis.
ptyalin, ptyaline (ti'a-lin), n. [< Gr. wtMmv,
spittle, CtTTiiEiv, spit : 'see spew.] The peculiar
principle^ of saliva, believed to be a proteid
body, which acts as a ferment on starch, rapid-
ly converting it into dextrose.
ptyalism (ti'a-lizm), n. [< Gr. wrvaAia/iSc, a,
spitting, < wTvaU^Eiv, spit much: see ptyalize.]
In med., salivation; a morbid and copious ex-
cretion of saliva.
ptyalize (ti'a-liz), v. i. ; pret. and pp. ptyalizedy
ppr. ptyalizing. [< Gr. trnmXiieiv, spit much,
< ■KThaiov, spittle, < TiTvuv, spit : see ptyalin.]
To salivate.
ptyalogogic (ti"a-16-goj'ik), a. \_< ptyalogogue
+ -ic] Promoting a flow of saliva.
ptyalogogue (ti-al'o-gog), n. [< Gr. irrtaXw,
spittle, + ayaydi, leading, < ayeiv, do, bring.]
A medicine which causes salivation, or a flow
of saliva.
Ptyas
Ptyas (li'as), n. [NL., < Gr/ Trrwdf, a Mnd of
serpent, lit. 'spitter,' < tzTieiv, spit.] A genus
of Colubrinse or snakes. They have the posterior
maxillaiy teeth not abraptly longer than the preceding
ones, rostral plate narrow and £ree laterally, one median
dorsal row of scales, Internasals separate from nasals,
several lorals, and two or more preoculars. P. mueosua is
known as the rat-snake.
ptychodont (ti'k9-dont). a. [< Gr. m-i? (t^tvx-),
trrux^, a fold, + otfofcf {bSovr-) = E. tooth.'i In
odontol., haTing the crowns of the molar teeth
folded.
FtychodllS (ti'ko-dus), n. [NL. (Agassiz, 1837),
< Gr. irrtf (wtvx-), irrvxij, a fold, + bdovg (6(5oi/r-)
= E. tooth.'\ A genus of fossil selachians, of
the Cretaceous age : so called from the trans-
verse or radiating plications on the large square
teeth. It was formerly supposed to be related to the ces-
traclont sharks, but is now referred to or near the family
MyliobaUdee.
Ftychopleura (ti-ko-pie'ra), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
TTTiif {irrvx-), trrvx^, a fold',"+ nXeiipa, the side.]
A group of lizards: same as Cyclosaura. Also
Ptychopleuri.
ptychopleural (ti-ko-ple'ral), a. [< Ftycho-
pleura + -al.2 Of or pertaining to the Ftycho-
pleura.
Ptychopteris(ti-kop'te-ris),»i. [NL.,< Gr.irrfif
(nrvx-), iTTvx^, a fold, + irrepis, fern.] In fossil
hot, a genus of fossil ferns, known chiefly
from the f onn of the leaf-scars. These are elon-
gated-oval or elliptic in form ; of their details but little
has been made out. The fern-stems which have been
placed in this genus are said by Schimper to bear a close
resemblance in external appearance to the living Cyathea
and Alaophila. They are found in abundance in the Ca]>
boniferous, especially in the St. Etienue (France) coal-
field, where they occur associated with leaves of Peeop-
teris, to which they may belong.
Ptychosperma (ti-ko-sp6r'ma), n. [NL. (La-
billardiere, 1808), < Gr. nrtif i'urvx-), ''^tvx^, a
fold, + ankpiia, seed.] A genus of palms of
the tribe Arecese, type of the subtribe Ftycho-
spermesB. it is characterized by moncecious flowers,
both sexes within the same spadix, the staminate flowers
having orbicular concave broadly imbricated and heeled
^sepals, acute petals as many as the sepals, and from
twenty to thirty stamens — the pistillate flowers being
smaller, nearly globose, and having a single ovary which
becomes a one-celled fruit whose thick fibrous pericarp
contains a single erect .seed with ruminate albumen and
a smooth or deeply five-grooved surface. The 11 spe-
cies are natives of the Malay archipelago, Papua, Aus-
tralia, and the islands of the Pacific. They are thorn-
less' palms, with a tall trunk marked by annular scars,
and terminal pinnately divided leaves with the segments
commonly dilated to the broad apex and there erose, or
appearing as if eaten off. The flowers are small, and are.
borne in clusters on the slender spreading branches of
a spadix inclosed by two spathes. The species are of
little known Industrial use, but rank among the most
elegant of decorative palms. Those in greenhouse cultiva-
tion are sometimes called in general feather-palms, and
very often Seafarthia (R. Brown, 1810), from lord Seaforth,
a patron of botany. P. Seemani, a beautiful dwarf species,
produces a stem only about one inch in diameter and very
strong and straight. Most of the species reach a command-
ing height: among them P. AlexamLrsBt the Alexandra
palm, is remarkable as the tallest palm of Australia, ex-
ceeding 100 feet in height; P. CwiimnghamM, the Ula-
waiTa palm, as found further south than almost any other
palm ; and P. (Seaforthia) elegans, the bangalow palm, as
the most common in cultivation, and one of the most beau-
tiful of all palms. The trunk of the last-named species is
a smooth cylindrical shaft, swollen at the base and crown-
ed by drooping feather-like leaves of a bright and intense
green. Each leaf-stalk is dilated at the base into a smooth
bright-green sheath completely inclosing the upper part
of the trunk for 5 feet or more, below which the trunk
is variegated by the broad deep-brown ring-like scars left
by the preceding similar sheaths. This palm ocouis in
the coast forests of tropical Australia and to 35° south.
See palm^, and under it Alexandra palm, bangalow palm,
and feailwr-palm.
Ptychozoon (ti-ko-zo'on), «. [< Gr. irrwf (irrvx-),
TTTvx^, a fold, + 'i^ov, an animal.] A genus of
4829
loceplialum, about 7 inches long, having alate
folds of the integument, whence the name.
ptygodere (ti'go-der), re. A lizard of the genus
Ptygoderus.
Ptygoderus (ti-god'e-rus), n. [NL., irreg. < Gr.
Trrdf (tttvx-), nTvx^f'k fold, -I- Sipog, skin, hide.]
A genus of iguanoid lizards, having a crest of
keeled scales on each side, as F.peeUnatus.
Ptynx (tingks), n. [NL., < Gr. nriiyf, the eagle-
owl.] If. An old generic name of the darters :
same as Flotus. Moehring, 1752. — 2. A genus
of smooth-headed owls, so named by Blyth in
1840. The type is Ptynx uralerms, commonly
called Si/rnium walense.
Ftyobranchina (ti"o-brang-ki'na), n. pi. [NL.,
< Ftyobranchus + -imfi.'\ In Guilther's system,
a group of MnrssnidiBplatyschistx,'mth. the tail
much shorter than the trunk, and the heart
situated at a great distance behind the gills:
same as the family Moringuidm.
ptysmagoglie (tis'ma-gog), re. [< Gr. m-iafia,
sahva (< nrieiv, spit)',' + ayirydg, leading, < Hyeiv,
lead, bring.] A medicine that promotes dis-
charges of saliva; a sialogogue.
ptsrxis (tik'sis)) re. [NL., < Gr. nrif^f, a folding,
< ■KTvacem, fold.] In hot., the folding or con-
figuration of a single part in a leaf- or flower-
bud: oxjposed to vernation and estivation, the
disposition of the parts conjointly.
pu' (pu), V. A Scotch form otpull.
Why pu' ye the rose, Janet?
What gars ye break the tree ?
The Young TamUane (Child's Ballads, 1. 116).
pua (po'a), re. [Hawaiian.] A Hawaiian musi-
cal instrument, made of a gourd or a joint of
bamboo, it has three holes, two of which are flnger-
holes. It is blown by putting the third hole to the play-
er's nose. When made of gourd, it resembles the ocarina ;
and when of bamboo, it is a variety of nose-flute.
puantt, «■ [< OF. puant, < L. puten{t-)s, ppr.
otputere, stink: seaputid.'^ Stinking. Skelton.
{Halliwell.)
pub (pub), re. [Abbr. ot public, re., 2.] A pub-
lic house; a tavern. Atlienxum, No. 3198, p. 177.
[Slang, Eng.]
pub. An abbreviation ot public, publish, or pub-
lisher.
pubblef (pub'l), a. [Origin obscure.] Pat;
plump. [Prov. Eng.]
Thou Shalt Me fynde fat and well fed.
As pubble as may be.
Drant, tr. of Horace's Ep. to TibuUus.
pub. doc. An abbreviation ot public document.
puberal (pii'be-ral), a. [< 'li.pubes,puber, adult
{%eo puberty),' -^^ -al.'] Pertaining to puberty.
Dunglison. [Eare.]
puberty (pfl'ber-ti), re. [< OF. puberte, P. pu^
berte = Pr. pubertal = Sp. puhertad = Pg. pu-
berdade = It. puberiA, < L. puberta(t-)s, the age
of maturity, manhood, < pubes, puber, grown
up, of mature age, adult: of plants, downy,
pubescent; < -/iJM, beget.] 1. The condition
of being able to reproduce ; sexual maturity in
the human race, in males this is usually developed
between the ages of thirteen and sixteen, and in females
somewhat earlier; and it appears that In very warm cli-
mates puberty is reached somewhat sooner than else-
where. At common law the age of puberty is conclu-
sively presumed to be fourteen in the male and twelve in
the female.
2. In hot., the period when a plant begins to
bear flowers.
puberulent (pn-ber'§-lent), a. [< L. pubes, pu-
ber, downy, pubescent, -f- -ulenf] 1. Finely
and softly pubescent; downy. — 2. In 6o*., cov-
ered with fine, short down ; minutely pubescent,
pubes (pu'bez), re. [< L. pubes, the hair which
appears on the body at the age of puberty, the
genitals,<jJM6e«,i>«6c»',grown up, of mature age;
of plants, downy, pubescent: see puberty.'] If.
The pubescence or hairiness of the genitals,
which appears at puberty. Hence — 2. (a) The
place where hair grows at puberty; the supra-
pubic or hypogastric region, at the middle of
the lowest part of the abdomen: in women
known as the mons, or mons Veneris, (b) The
pubic bones, or bony framework of the pubes;
the underlying skeleton of the pubic region,
more fully called os pubis. There being a pair of
pubic bones right and lefti each is now called os pubis,
plural ossa pubis, or, more frequently, pubis, in the plural
piubes. SeepuMs. ^ a ■,-■,■. «
3. In hot, same as pubescence, 3.-4. Plural of
Flying-gecko {^Ptychozoan hoynatocephaluni).
gecko lizards, containing the flying-gecko of
idia and the East Indian archipelago, P. homw
pubescence (pii-bes'ens), re. [< pubescen{t} +
-ce.] 1. The coming of puberty, or attaining to
puberty; the state of beingpubescent; puberty.
In the first [septenary] is dedentition or falling of teeth ;
in the seconipuieseenee. Sir T. irimme, Vnlg. Err. , iv. 12.
public
2. Hairiness ; especially, the fine soft hairs of
various insects, etc. ; lanugo. — 3. In hot : (a)
The condition or character of being pubescent.
(J) The down or hair which grows on many
plant-surfaces. See pubescent.
pubescency (pu-bes'en-si), re. [As pubescence
(see -c»/).] Pubescence.
From crude pubescency unto perfection.
Sir T. Browne, Garden of Cyrus, iii.
pubescent (pu-bes'ent), a. [< L. pubescen(t-)s,
reach the age' of puberty, become downy, i. pv^
bes, puber, of mature age, downy: see pubes.]
1. Arriving at puberty. — 2. Covered with pu-
bescence, or fine short hair; downy. — 3. In
hot., covered or sprinkled with down or hairs:
a general term, including villous, hirsute, stri-
gose, lanate, etc., but when used alone in spe-
cific description denoting a soft or downy and
short pubescence.
pubic (pii'bik), a. [< pub-is + -ic] Of or per-
taining to the pubes or pubis: as, the pubic
bones ; the pubic symphysis, ramus, spine, liga-
ment, artery, etc — Pubic angle, the angle formed by
the pubic crest and the inner border of the pubis. — FubiC
arch, the arch formed by the inferior ramus of each pu-
bis converging to the pubic symphysis. In the male it
is narrower and more acute-angled than in the female, be-
ing in the former case like a letter V Inverted. It repre-
sents a great part of the interior outlet of the pelvis. Also-
called arch of the pubis, sometimes subpubic arch. — Publo
crest, the crista pubis (which see, under crwia).— Pubic
ligaments, certain ligaments uniting the two pubic
bones: an anterior, a superior, an inferior, and a pos-
terior are distinguished, respectively specifically called
prepubic, suprapubic, infrapubie, and postpvbic. — Pubia
ramus, one of the two branches of which each pubis
chiefly consists in man and some other animals. In man.
the two rami are (a) the superior or horizontal, forming
much of the true brim of the pelvis, and ankylosed with
the ilium, and (b) the inferior, oblique, or descending ramus,
forming each half of the pubic arch, partly circumscribing
the obturator foramen, and ankylosed with the ischium.
— Pubic spine, a prominent tubercle on the upper bor-
der of the horizontal ramus of the pubis of man, about,
an inch from the symphysis. Poupart's ligament is in-
serted into it. Also called tubercmum pubis or tubercu^
Zumjniiicum.— Pubic symphysis, or syjnphysls pubis,,
the coming or growing together of the right and left pubic
bones at the median line of the pubes. It may be a sim-
ple apposition or articulation of the bones, or complete
ankylosis. In man the bones -are commonly ai'ticulated
but not ankylosed, forming in any case an immovable'
joint. — Pubic vein, a tributary to the external iliac vein,
from the obturator vein.
pubigerous (pu-bij'e-ms), a. [< L. pubes, the-
hair which appears on the body at the age of
puberty (see pubes), + gerere, carry.] Bearing,
down or downy hairs ; pubescent.
pubiotomy (pu-bi-ot'o-mi), re. [< li. pubis (see^
pubis) + Gr. TOjila, '<. re/iveiv, ra/ielv, cut.] In
surg., a section of the pubic symphysis.
pubis (pu'bis), re.; pl.^«6es(-bez). [NL.,foros.
pubis: OS, bone; pubis, gen. of pubes,^ pubes:
see jyuhes.] In anat. and zoifl., a pubic bone,,
or bone of the pubes (os pubis); a distal in-
ferior and anterior division of the pelvic arch,
forming a part of the os innominatum or
haunch-bone by ankylosis at the acetabulum
with the ilium and ischium, and often, as in
man and most mammals, united also with the
ischium to circumscribe the obturator fora-
men, and, with its fellow of the opposite side,
forming the pubic symphysis, in man each pubis,
is united to its fellow in the median line at the pubic syir-
physis, and the two circumscribe the brim of the pelvis ip
front by their bodies and horizontal rami, their descend*
ing rami becoming ankylosed with the ischium to cir-
cumscribe the obturator foramen, furnishing bony sup-
port to the genitals, and forming part of the interior strait.
or outlet of the pelvis. In a few mammals, and in alL
birds excepting the ostrich, there is no pubic symphysis.
See epipulns, prepubis, and outs under Dromxus, epipleura,.
ligaanent, Ormthoseelida, pelvis, sacrarium, and jnarsupial.
—Angle, arch, etc., of the pubis. See pvMe.
public (pub'lik), a. and re. [Formerly publick,.
earlier publigue, puhlike, publyke; < OP. (and
F.) public, m., F.puhlique,m. andf., = Sp.plib-
lico = Pg. publico = It. puhhlico, publico, < L.
publicum, in inscriptions a\so poblicus, poplicus,
pertaining to the people, contr. from *populicus,
kpopulus, TpeoTple: see peoiile.] I. a. 1. Of or
belonging to the people at large ; relating to-
or affecting the whole people of a state, nation,
or community: opposed to private: as, thejjttft-
lie good; public affairs; the public service; a.
public calamity; public opinion.
PxMilce toke his begynnyng of people, whiche in latin
is Populus, in whiche worde is conteyned all the inhabi-
tantes of a realme or citie, of what astate or condition so-
euer they be. Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, i. 1.
That here was an Vniuersitie, the Students whereof were
maintained at publique charge, ot which number himself e-
was one. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 74.
Many springs are gathered together . . . into an ample-
cistern, . . . and . . . from thence by conduits conducted,
unto ITieix puMupie uses. Sandys, Travailes, p. 26,
public
To the publick good
Private respects must yield. MUton, S. A., 1. 867.
2. Open to all the people ; shared in or to be
shared or participated in or enjoyed by people
at large; not limited or restricted to any par-
ticular class of the community: as, a 2>i(hUc
meeting; public woishm; a pjeJZic subscription;
a public road ; a public house ; public baths.
The church, by her publick reading of the book of God,
preached only as a witness ; now the principal thing re-
quired In a witness is fidelity. Hooker, Eccles. Polity.
1 saw her once
Hop forty paces through the public street.
Shak., A. andC, ii. 2. 234.
And this was obserued both for their puilique and pri-
uate prayers. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 119.
There are also divers Convents, which have spacious and
well kept Gardens, which are always open and publick to
People of any Note. Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 185.
AVe leave the narrow lanes behind, and dare
Th* unequal combat in the public square.
Dryden, .^neid, ii.
3. Open to the view or knowledge of all; no-
torious: as, a public exposure; ptibUc scandal.
Of this ordynaunce and bondes there were made instru-
mentes puU^eg and letters patentes.
Bemers, tr. of Froissart's Chron., I. clxxiii.
Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing
to make her a public example, was minded to put her away
privily. Mat. i. 19.
4. Regarding or directed to the interests of the
community at large, and not limited or confined
to private, personal, or selfish matters or in-
terests: a,s, public spirit; a pMftKc benefaction.
Every true member of the church hath a public spirit^
preferring the church's interest to his own, and suffering
with fellow-members in their suffering, and having a care
of one another, 1 Cor. xii. 25, 26. Baxter, SeU-Denial, ii.
In the public line, engaged in keeping a public house
or tavern. [CoUoq., Great Britain.]
Mysell being in the public line,
I look for howfs I kenn'd lang syne,
Whar gentles used to drink gude wine.
Scott, Epil. (spoken by Meg Dods) to Drama founded on
[St. Eonan's Well.
Notary public. See notaryi . — Public acts, bills, laws,
legislation, statutes, such acts, bills, etc., as concern
the community at large, or the state or its municipalities,
as distinguished from private acts, etc. (see private), one
important result of the distinction being in the rule that
the courts take judicial notice of public acts, but a pri-
vate act must be alleged and proved by him who relies
upon it.— Public administrator, corporation, credit,
doctunent, domain, enemy, etc. Seethenouns.— Pub-
lic funds. See/Kj»di.— Public holiday. Same as legal
holiday (which see, under holiday).— 'Pn.Wic house, (a)
An inn or tavern ; in England, especially, one which rarely
accommodates lodgers, and which has for its chief busi-
ness the selling of beer and other liquors. (In the United
states rare and used in a general sense.] (6) Public house
and public: place are used in numerous statutes against im-
moral practices, gaming, prostitution, etc., with varying
limitations of meaning, but generally implying a place to
■which any one may have access without trespassing. —
IMibllc indecency. See indecency.— VMloTio Institu-
tion, an establishment of an educational, charitable, re-
lormatory, or sanitary character, maintained and con-
-ducted for the use and benefit of the public, and usually
at the public expense.
Education, shorter hours of labour, sanitary homes, and
public institutions to take the place of the public house.
Nineteenth Century, XXVI. 741.
Public lands.lands belonging to government, especially
■such as are open to sale, grant, or other method of dispo-
sal to whosoever will comply with the conditions pre-
scribed by law. — Public law, international law. See in-
ternational, a.— Public loan. See Joani.— Public nui-
sance. See nuisance, 6,— Public office. See office, 4. —
Public opinion. See opimore.— Public orator. See
orator, 6.— Public policy, the policy, or general purpose
and spirit, of the law : thus, contracts calculated to de-
feat justice or to hinder wholesome competition in trade
are held void, as aga.inat public policy, or against the policy
.of the law, even when there is no positive statutory prohi-
bition. See policy of the law,andeTlawi:—'Pxiblic print-
er, prosecutor, records, etc. See the nouns.— Public
Tight, in Scots feudal law, the technical name given to a
heritable right granted by a vassal to be held, not of him-
self, but of his superior.— Public SChOOL See school.—
Public spirit. See spirit.— 'PaWic stores, (a) Naval
.and miliary stores, equipment, etc. (6) Warehouses to
which dutiable goods are sent for appraisement ; bond-
ed warehouses, or stores in which goods are held under
l)ond for duty until sold or exported. [IT. S.]— Pub-
lic trust, a trust constituted for the benefit either of
the public at large or of some considerable part of it
answering to a particular description. See private. —
Public use. (a) In the constitutional provisions author-
izing the taking by the state or nation of private property
lor the use of the people at large on making compensa-
tion, a use directly subservient to public necessity or con-
venience, as lor a park, a highway, a railroad, etc., as dis-
tinguished from uses for private interest, though inciden-
tally beneficial to the public, as for a mill or factory : thus,
the supplying of water to a town is apublicuse for which it
may constitutionally be authorized to condemn the rights
of private owners in watercourses. (6) A use so intimately
allied to or aSecting the public welfare or convenience
that the state may regulate it as to the management or
charges : thus, the great grain-elevators of modem com-
merce, standing between the wharves of lake or ocean navi-
gation and the termini of trunk lines of railway, have been
hel I to be so affected with a public use that the state may
regulate by law the rates of charges, (c) In patent law.
4830
use without restriction by one or more members of the
community, as distinguished from use by the inventor :
thus, an inventor of a secret spring who should allow its
use by others without patenting it might be deemed to
allow its public use, although, from its peculiarities of
structure and relation, its use could not be seen by the
publici— Public war. Seewar.— Public waters, waters
which are deemed navigable at common law. See »aj».
S'aMe.— Public works, all fixed works constructed for
public use, as railways, docks, canals, water- works, roads,
etc.; more strictly, military and civil engineering works
constructed at the public cost.
II. n. 1. The general body of people con-
stituting a nation, state, or community; the
people, indefinitely: with the.
God made man in his own image _; but t?ie public is made
by newspapers, members of parliament, excise officers,
poor-law guardians. DisrocK, Coningsby, iii. 1.
That . . . the nobler, and what are vulgarly called the
higher classes of society, are insufficient in their number,
their power, and co-operation of sentiment to support any
particular theatre, orpiece, independent of tAc^wift^wj; and
that it is only the great mass of the people that can finally
establish the fate of any theatrical representation.
W. Cooke, Memoirs of S. Toote, I. 64.
2. A public house. [CoUoq., Eng.]
It 's BO far from the world, as a man may say ; not a
decent public within a mile and a half,^ where one can hear
a bit of news of an evening.
Mrs. Oaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, xli.
In every little comfortablejmWic within acircle of thirty
miles' diameter, the home-brewed quivers in the glasses
on the open tables. The AUarttic, LVIII. 458.
In public, in open view ; before the people at large ; not
in private or secretly.
In private grieve ; but, with a careless scorn.
In public seem to triumph, not to mourn.
Granville.
publican (pub'li-kan), n. [< ME. j)m&Kc(Mj,< OP.
publicain, publican, puplicain,popeUcan, etc., P.
publicain = Sp. Pg. It. publieano, a pubhcau, <
Jj-publicanus, pertaining to the public revenues,
or to their farming out or collection ; as a noun,
a farmer-general of the public revenue, a tax-
gatherer; <pM&WcMs, public: seepublic.'i 1. In
ancient Eome, one who farmed the public rev-
enues ; a tax-gatherer. On account of their oppres-
sive exactions, especially in the conquered provinces, the
publicans were commonly regarded with detestation.
As Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publi-
cans and sinners came and sat down with him and his dis-
ciples. Mat. ix. 10.
How like a fawning publican he looks !
Shak., M. of V., i. 3. 42.
Hence — 2. Any collector of toll, tribute, cus-
toms, or the like.
The custom-house of cevtaAn publicans that have the ton-
naging and poundaging of all spoken truth.
Milton, Areopagitica.
3. The keeper of a public house or other such
place of entertainment. In law, under the term
publieam are included innkeepers, hotel-keepers, keepers
of ale-houses, wine-vaults, etc. Wharton. [Great Britain.]
The publican can . . . profitably combine the business
of a bookmaker with the equally profitable business of sell-
ing intoxicant fluids. Nineteenth Century, XXVI. 849.
publicatet (pub'li-kat), v. t. [< L. publicatus,
■pp. oi publicare, ■pxihlish: seepublish.'] To pub-
lish. [Rare.]
little sins in them [the clergy], it publicated, grow great
by their scandall and contagion.
Bp. Oauden, Tears of the Church, p. 115. (Davies.)
publication (pub-li-ka'shon), «. [< p. publi-
cation = Sp. publication = Pg. publicagSk) = It.
pubblicasione, < L. publicatio{n-), a making pub-
lic, an adjudging to the public treasury, < pmb-
licare, pp. publicatus, make public : see publi-
cate, publish.'] 1. The act of publishing, or
bringing to public notice ; notification to people
at large, by speech, writing, or printing ; procla-
mation; promulgation; announcement: as, the
publicaUon of statutes ; publication of banns. In
law, the publication of defamation consists in communi-
cating it to any third person ; the publication of a will is
that act of a testator in which he declares to the subscrib-
ing witnesses that the instrument he asks them to attest
is his will ; in chancery proceedings, opening to the inspec-
tion of the parties depositions that have been taken and
returned under seal to the court or clerk is publication.
The communication of a libel to any one person is a pub-
lication in the eye of the law. Blacketone, Com., IV. xi.
On the third publication they [betrothed persons] are
said to be asked out. Dickens, David Copperfield.
2. The act of offering a book, mapj print, piece
of music, or the like, to the public by sale or
by gratuitous distribution.
An imperfect copy having been offered to a bookseller,
you consented to the publication of one more correct.
Pope.
3. A work printed and published; any book,
pamphlet, or periodical offered for sale to the
public: a,B, araonthly publication ; an illustrated
publication. — 4t. Appearance in public ; public
appearance. [Rare.]
public-spiritedness
His jealousy . . . attends the businesB, the recreations,
the publications, and retirements of every man.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 772.
Obscene publication. See obscene.- To pass publica-
tion, to reach the stage of a cause in chancery when the
time for examining witnesses has expired, and the deposi-
tions kept secret may be disclosed ou the application of
either party.
public-hearted (pub'lik-har"ted), a. Having
the interests of the people at heart; public-
spirited.
They were public-hearted men ; as they paid all taxes, so
they gave up all their time to their country's service,
without any reward. Clarendon, Great Kebellion.
publicist (pub'li-sist), n. [= P. publidste = Sp.
Pg. publicista = It. pubblidsta ; aspublie + -ist.']
1. A writer on the law of nature or the laws of
nations : one who is versed in public or inter-
national law ; one who treats of the rights and
mutual obligations of nations.
The methodised reasonings of the great publicists and
jurists form the digest and jurisprudence of the Christian
world. Burke, A Begicide Peace, ii.
The mixed systems of jurisprudence and morals con-
structed by the publieisis of the Low Countries appear to
have been much studied by English lawyers.
Maine, Ancient Law, p. 45.
Many puUicists stiU view the .allowance of transit [to
belligerents] as reconcilable with the notion of neutrality,
and a number of treaties have expressly granted it to cer-
tain states. Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, § 180.
2. One who is versed in or who writes upon
the current poUtieal topics of the time.
This eminent imMicist, . . . Mr. Arthur Pendennls.
Thackeray, Fendennis, xxxvi.
"Slow and sure" is not the motto of either reader or
writer in these days. Public and puNidst are acceptable
to each other in proportion as they are ready to conform
to the electric influences of the times.
Nineteenth Century, XX. 515.
publicity (pub-lis'i-ti), n. [< P. publicite = Sp.
publicidad = Fg. pitbUcidade = It. pubblicitd; as
public + -ity.'] The state of being public, or
open to the observation or inquiry of a com-
munity ; notoriety : as, to give publicity to a
private communication.
publicly (pub'lik-li), adv. In a public manner.
(a) Openly ; without reserve or privacy.
Sometimes also it may be private, communicating to
the judges some things not fit to be publicly delivered.
Bacon.
When Socrates reproved Plato at a feast, Plato told him
" it had been better he had told him his fault in private,
for to speak it publicly is indecency."
Jer. Taylor, Works, V. 378.
But he so much scorned their charitie, and publikely
defied the vttermost of their crueltie, he wisely prevented
their policies. Quoted inCapUJohnSmith'sWorks,!. 152.
(b) In the name of the community; with general consent.
This has been so sensibly known by trading nations that
great rewards are iraWicJi/ offered for its supply. Addison.
public-minded (pub'lik-min'''ded), a. Disposed
to promote the public interest ; public-spirited.
public-mindedness (pubaik-min^ded-nes), II.
A disposition to promote the public interest ;
public spirit.
All nations that grew great out of little or nothing did
so merely by the public-mindedness of particular persons.
South.
publicness (pub'lik-nes), «. 1. The character
of common possession or interest; joint hold-
ing: as, the ^M&Kcness of property.
The vast multitude of partners does detract nothing from
each private share, nor does the publickness of it lessen
propriety in it. Boj/i«, Works, I.
2. Openness or exposure to the notice or know-
ledge of the community or of people at large ;
notoriety: as, the publicness of a resort; the
publicness of a scandal.
The publickness of a sin is an aggravation of it ; makes
it more scandalous, and so more cruninous also.
Hammond, Works, I. 218. (Latham.)
public-spirited (pub"lik-spir'i-ted), a. 1. Hav-
ing or exercising a disposition to promote the
interest or advantage of the community; dis-
posed to make private sacrifices for the public
good: as, a public-spirited aitizen.
At Geyra Iwent to the house of the aga, a venerableold
man, who was one of those public-spirited Turks that en-
tertains all strangers.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 71.
It was generous and public-spirited in you to be of the
kingdom's side in this dispute. Su-^t.
2. Dictated by or based on regard for the pub-
lic good : as, a public-spirited measure.
Another public-spirited project, which the common ene-
my could not foresee, might set King Charles on the
t'lfone. Addison.
public-spiritedly (pub"lik-spir'i-ted-li), adv.
With pudlic spirit.
public-spiritedness (puVlik-spir'i-ted-nes), n.
The quality or character of being public-spir-
publlc-spiritedness
4831
ited, a disposition to act with energy for the pubococcygeus(pu"b6-kok-sij'e-us),m.: pl.j7«-
puDUo interest or advantage ; a wiUingness to bococoygei (-i). [< NL. puMs, pubis, + coccyx
make saonfioes of private interest for t|je pub- (coccyg-), coccyx.] That part of the levator ani
lie gooa. which arises from the pubis.
pubofemoral(pu-bo-fem'o-ral),a. [< NL.j)m6w,
pubis, + femur (femor-j, ttigh-bone, + -a(.]
Common to the pubis and the thigh-bone : as,
thB pnbofemoral fascia or ligament Pubofemo-
ral ligament, an accessory bunme of fibers entering into
the formation of the capsule of the hip- joint.
pubo-iliac (pu-bo-il'i-ak), a. [< NL. pubis, pu-
bis, + ilium, ilium, + -ac] Common to the
pubis and the iUum: as, Vne pubo-4,Uac suture.
pubo-iscbiac (pu-bo-is'ki-ak). a. [< NL. pubis,
pubis, -1- ischium, ischium, -t- -ac] Common
to the pubis and the ischium ; pertaining to the
pubo-ischium ; isehiopubic.
pubo-iscbilim (pii-bo-is'ki-um), n. [NL., <]m-
bis, pubis, -I- iscMum, ischium.] The isehio-
pubic bone. See isehiopubic, 2.
pubo-peritonealis (pu-bo-per-i-to-ne-a'lis), n.
Same aa pubo-transversalis.
puboprostatic (pii"bo-pros-tat'ik), a. [< NL.
pubis, pubis, -I- prostata, prostate gland, -l-
-ic] Common to the pubis and the prostate
gland: aS; the puboprostatic ligament — Pubo-
prostatic ligament, one of the two anterior ligaments
of the bladder, running from the baclc of the pubis over
the upper surface of the prostate gland to the front of the
neck of the bladder.
pubotibial (pii-bo-tib'i-al), a. [< Nli-pubis, pu-
bis, -I- tibia, tibia, -I- -a?.] Common to the pu-
bis and the tibia: as, a. pubotibial muscle.
pubo-transTersalis (pu-b6-trans-v6r-sa'lis), n.
A thin muscular slip arising from the upper
margin of the superior pubic ramus and insert-
ed into the transversalis fascia.
pubo-urethral (pu"b6-u-re'thral), a. [< NL. pu-
bis, pubis, + urethra, urethra, '-f -al.'] Passing
from the pubis to the urethra: noting an occa-
sional muscle of man Pubo-urethral muscle,
fibers passing from the back part of the pubis to the pros-
tate gland, or to the base of the bladder in the female.
pubovesical (pii-bo-ves'i-kal), a. [< IXh. pubis,
pubis, + L. vesica, bladder,' + -al.'] Common to
the pubis and the bladder, as a muscle or liga-
ment.— Pubovesical ligament. Same as puboprostatic
ligament (which see, under puboprostatic). — Pubovesical
muscles, the fibers of the external longitudinal muscular
layer of the bladder which arise from the posterior surface
of the body of the pubis.
Puccianite (p6'chi-an-it), m. [<P«m (see def.)
-t- -an -f -ite^.J One of a body of Universal-
ists, followers of Francesco Pucci, an Italian
theologian of the sixteenth century.
Fuccinia (puk-sin'i-a), n. [NL. (Persoon, 1797),
namedafter T.PMCcinijan Italian anatomist.] 1 .
A genus of parasitic fungi of the class Uredinese;
the rusts. Plants of this genus exhibit the phenomenon
of heteroecism— that is, they pass throagh different stages
of their life-history upon different host-plants. P. grami-
ids, one of the commonest and most destructive species,
may be taken as a type. It appears in the spring on the
leaves of Berberis vulgaris, constituting what is known as
barberry-rust or barberry duster-eam. This is the secidial
stage, and received the name of J^cidium Berberidis be-
The spirit of charity, the old word tor puMic-spiritMneee.
WhMoek, Manners of Eng. People, p. 382.
publish (pub'lish), V. t. [< WE.. pubUschen,pup-
lischen, pupplischen; with term, -ish^, after the
analogy of words like abolish, polish, etc.; < OP.
publier, V.publier = Pi. publiear, piibUar = Sp.
Pg. publiear = It. publicare, pubbUcare, < L. 2ntb-
licare, make public, show or teU to the people,
make known, declare, also (and earlier) confis-
cate for pubUo use, < pubUcus, pertaining to the
people, public: see public.'] 1. To make public;
make known to people in general; promulgate
or proclaim, as a law or edict.
For he that wil puppMsohe ony thing to make it openly
knowen, he wil make It to ben oryed and pronounced in
the myddel place of a Town. irandevaie. Travels, p. 2.
Publish it tliat she is dead indeed ;
Maintain a mourning ostentation.
Shak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 206.
Mahomet hauing with Word and Sword published his
Alcoran (as you haue heard), his followers after his death,
succeeding in his place, exceeded him in tyrannic.
Purehas, Pilgrimage, p. 273.
Nay, the Royal Society have found and pubUsIied lately
that there be thirty-and-three kinds of spiders ; and yet
all, for aught I know, go under that one general name of
spider. /. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 76.
2. To exhibit, display, disclose, or reveal.
Fwt. Stand by, then, without noise, a while, brave Don,
And let her only view your parts ; they'll take her.
Giui. I'll publish them in silence.
Ford, Lady's Trial, iv. 2.
The unwearied sun, from day to day.
Does his Creator's power display,
And publishes to every land
The work of an Almighty hand.
Addison, Paraphrase of Psalm xix.
3. To utter, or put in circulation, as counter-
feit paper; communicate to another person, as
a libel or slander. — 4. To cause to be printed
and offered for sale; issue from the press; put
• in circulation : as, to publish a book, map, print,
periodical, piece of music, or the like.
Books were not published then so soon as they were writ-
ten, but lay most commonly dormient many years.
Abp. Bramhall, Works, II. 142.
5. To introduce to public notice; offer or ad-
vertise to the public. [Obsolete or rare.]
The gentleman that gave fifty pounds tor the box set
with diamonds may show it until Sunday night, provided
he goes to church ; but not after that time, there being
one to be published on Monday which will cost foui'score
guineas. Steele, Tatler, No. 142,
I have a small bust of the Duke of York. It is of silver
gilt, measuring with the pedestal about three inches in
height. On the back are engraved the words "Published
by T. Hamlet, Aug. 16, 1824." N. and Q., 7th ser., VI. 207.
=Syn. 1. Declare, Proclaim, etc. (see announce), disclose,
divulge, reveal, spread abroad. See list xmAeT proclaim.
publishable (pub'lish-a-bl), a. [< publish +
-able.] Capable of being published; fit for pub-
lication.
publisher (pub'lish-er), n. One who publishes,
(a) One who makes known what was before private or un-
known ; one who divulges, declares, proclaims, or promul-
gates. 1
Use all the best means and ways ye can, in the diligent
examining and searching out, from man to man, the au-
thors and publishers of these vain prophesies and untrue
bruits. Bp. Burnet, Records, II. ii. 14.
The many publishers, . . . in a short time, the Lord had
raised to declare his salvation to the people.
Penn, Rise and Progress of Quakers, v.
The mob uniformly cheers the publisher, and not the
inventor. jSmerson, Success.
(6) One who, as the first source of supply, issues books
and other literary works, maps, engravings, musical com-
positions, or the like for sale ;'one who prints and offers
a book, pamphlet, engraving, etc., for sale to dealers or to
the public.
Most of the publishers had absolutely refused to look at
his manuscripts ; one or two had good-naturedly glanced
over and returned them at once.
Bidwer, My Novel, vi. 14.
(e) One who utters or passes counterfeit paper, or puts it
m cbculation.— Publisher's Imprint. See imprint, 2.
publishment (pub'lish-ment), n. [(.publish +
-ment.] 1. The act of publishing or proclaim-
ing; public exposure.
Ye cardinall . . . rebuked them by open publysshement
and otherwyse. Fabgan, Chrou., I. ccix.
2. An official notice made by a town clerk or
other civil or clerical official of an intended
marriage J a publishing of the banns of mar-
riage. [U. S.]
pubococcygeal (pu'bo-kok-sij'f-al), a. [< pu-
bococcygeus + -al.] Of or pertaining to the.
pubis and the coccyx: as. the pubococcygeal
muscle.
Pucciiiia frr'i*ftif"'s ^^^ ■■^'^^^""^ Berberidis.
I, puccinia on the leaf of a prass ; a, one of the uredo-spores ; *,
one of the teleutospores ; 2, part of the superior face of the leaf of
Berberis vulgaris, showing the spermogonia ; .^, leaf of Berberis vul-
garis, inferior face, showing the aecidia ; c, transverse section of the
k^i o{ Berberis vulgaris, snowing the spermogonia on the superior
and the Eecidia on the inferior face ; rf, the cupuies, forming the groups
of secidia.
fore the heteroecism was suspected. Later in the season
the uredo stage makes its appearance on the leaves and
stems of the cultivated oats, wheat, etc., appearing as
pale-yellowish or whitish spots on the leaves. Soon the
tissues are ruptured, and the long lines of orange-red uredo-
spores are exposed, now constituting the red rust of oats,
etc. By the rapid germination of the uredo-spores the
disease is quickly spread, and may involve th e entire plant.
In the fall, just before cold weather, the black teleuto-
pucker
spores are produced. This is known as the black rust,
and is designed to carry the fungus over the winter, when
it again begins its life-cycle on the barberry. About 460
species of Puccinia are known, not a few of which are
serious pests to the agriculturist or horticulturist. See
heteroecism, barberry-fungus, rust, Uredineae.
2. A plant of this genus.
puccoon (pu-kon'), n. [Also poccoon; Amer.
Ind. (?).] 1. The bloodroot, Sanguinaria Cana-
densis: eaXied red puccoon. See bloodroot, 2. —
2. One of three or four American species of
Lithospermum, with bright golden-yellow near-
ly salver-shaped flowers, and hairy surfaces.
L. canescens, the hoary puccoon, is the puccoon of the
Indians. L. hirtum, a rougher plant, is the hairy puc-
coon— Yellow puccoon. See Hydrastis, and Indian
paint (under paint).
puce (pus), a. [< F.puce, puce, flea-colored, <
OF. pulce^ flea, < L. pulex (pulic-), a flea : see
Pulex.] Purple-brown ; reddish-brown ; of a
flea-color.
pucelt, n. Same aapucelle.
pucelage (pu'se-laj), n. [< ¥.pucelage, virgin-
ity, <^MceKe, a virgin: see pucelle.] A state
of virginity. [Rare.]
The examen of pucelage, the waters of jealousy, &c.,
were very strict ; and, to the same end, municipaL
R. Robinson, Eudoxa (1658), p. 37. (Latham.)
pucellas (pu-sel'as), n. In glass-blowing, same
as procellas.
pucellet (pu-sel'), n. [Early mod. E. aXsoinicel,
pucell; < ME. jpwceHe, < OF.pucelle,pulcelle, P.
pucelle = Pr. piucela, pieucela = OSp. puncella
= It. pulcella, pulzella, a virgin, maid, girl, <
ML. as if *pullicella, dim. fem. of L. pullus, a
young animal, a chick : see pullet.] 1 . A maid ;
a virgin : specifically applied in history to Joau
of Arc, the Maid of Orleans. — 2. A wanton girl ;
a harlot.
Does the Court Pucelle then so censure me,
And thinks I dare her not? . . .
Tor bawd'ry, 'tis her language, and not mine.
B. Jonson, Underwoods, Ixvii.
Fucherania (pu-ke-ra'ni-S), «. [NL.] In or-
nith., same as Pachycephdla^, 1.
pucherite (pb'cher-it), n. [< Pucher (see def.)
+ -iW^.] A vanadate of bismuth, occurring in
reddish -brown orthorhombio crystals in the
Pucher mine in Sehneeberg, Saxony,
puchero (p6-cha'r6), «. [S. Amer. (?).] A fleshy
plant, Talinum patens, of tropical American
shores. It is used as a vegetable like purslane.
puck (puk), n. [Early mod. E. sXso poulc,poulce ;
< ME. pou]ce,2Mke, a fairy, elf, sprite, devil (cf.
AS. pucel, a demon: see pucMe), < Ir. j^uca, an
elf, sprite, = W. pwca, pwoi, a goblin, fiend ; ef .
Icel. piilci, a devil, imp. The G. spuk (> E.
spook), a hobgoblin, is prob. a dif£. word. Cf .
pug'^, a var. of puck. Cf. also puckle, puckrel,
stlsopixy a,ndpoker^, and bug^, bog^, bogy, bogle.]
1. A fairy; elf; sprite.
Ne let the PouJce, nor other evill sprights, . . .
Fray us with things that be not.
Spenser, Epithalamion, 1. 341.
And so likewise those . . . which (saith Lavater) draw
men out of the way, and lead them all night a by-way,
or quite barre them of their way : these have severall names
in severall places ; we coramrnly call them Pucks.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 30.
Ne let hobgoblin ne the pon^ [read poiik] profane
With shadowy glare the light, and mad the bursting
brain. W. Thompson, Hymn to May, st. 33.
Specifically — 2. [cap.] A fairy of high repute,
who was also known by the names of liobin
Goodfellow and Friar Rush. His character and at-
tributes are depicted in Shakspere's "Midsummer Night's
Dream." He was the chief of the domestic tribe of fairies,
or brownies as they are called in Scotland.
3f. The devil ; Satan.
Fro the povkes poundfalde no maynprise may ous fecche.
Till he come that ich carpe of, Crist is hus name.
Piers Plourman (C), xi.t. 262.
4. The disk of rubber used in place of a ball
in hockey.
pucka (puk'a), a. [Hind, pakkd, ripe, cooked,
strong, firm" adept, etc.] Solid; substantial;
real; permanent; lasting: as, a ^Mcfca wall ; a
pucka road : opposed to cutcha. [Anglo-Ind.]
My Parsee neighbor, the amiable Gheber, ... in the
pucka house that adjoined my own in CossitoUah.
J. W. Palmer, The New and the Old, p. 271.
puck-ball (puk'bal), n. Same aspuffball.
pucker (puk'er), V. [A freq. form, < poke^, a
bag or pocket. Cf. purse, v., wrinkle, K. purse,
n. ; It. saccolare, pucker, < sacco, a bag, sack.]
I. trans. To draw up or contract into irregu-
lar folds or wrinkles; specifically, in sewing,
together: often followed by Mp ; a,8, to pucker
cloth in sewing.
I saw an hideous spectre ; his eyes were sunk into his
head, his face pale and withered, and his skin puckered up
in wrinkles. Spectator.
packer
It is forgotten now ; and the flrat mention ol it puckers
thy sweet countenance into a sneer. Carlyle.
The flowers on the potato plants, saucer-shaped by day,
are now perchance nodding with their open rim puckered
in gathers around the central stamens — a common caprice
ol these flowers, but; dependent upon some whim which I
have not yet solved. Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 143.
II. intrans. To become irregularly ridged or
•wrinkled : as, his face puckered up into a smile ;
the mouth puckers on eating choke-cherries.
pucker (puk'er), n. [< pucker, v.'] 1 . A draw-
ing or gathering into folds or wrinkles; an ir-
regular folding or wrinkling; a collection of
irregularly converging ridges or wrinkles.
Ruff, Anything collected into.puc*ers or corrugations.
Johnson.
Held from rolling off the seat only by the steady hold ol
her mother in the puekers of her dress during the rest.
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 22.
The cloth to he stitched, being placed close up to the
cog-wheels on the opposite aide ol where the needlepoint
rests, is dragged in puckers into the latter, by turning the
winch handle. Spom' Encyc Manvf., 1. 471.
2. A state of flutter, agitation, or confusion.
[CoUoq.]
Well to be sure, the whole parish was in npucker: some
thought the French had landed.
Smollett, Peregrine Pickle (2d ed.), il.
I told William when we first missed her this momin',
and he was in such a pucker about her, I bet anything he
was a mind to that the child had gone back to Miss KU-
burn's. Howells, Annie Kilbum, xxix.
pnckerer (puk'6r-er), n. One who or that which
puckers.
puckeridge (^uk'fer-ij), n. [Origin obscure.]
1. The night-jar, Caprimulgus europeeus. Mon-
tagu.— 2. A fatal distemper of cattle. Gilbert
White. [Prov. Eng. in both uses.]
pucker^ (puk'er-1), a. [< pucker + -^i.] 1.
Producing or tending to produce puckers: as,
a puckery taste (that is, a bitter or astringent
taste such as may cause the mouth to pucker).
Some of these wildings [apples] are acrid and puckery,
genuine verjuice. T?u>reau, Excursions, p. 291.
There are plenty [of American proverbs] that have a
more native and puckery flavor, seedlings from the old
stock often, and yet new varieties.
Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser.. Int.
2. Inclined to become puckered or wrinkled;
full of puckers or wrinkles : said especially of
a textile fabric.
pucket (puk'et), n. [Origin obscure.] A nest
of caterpillars. HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
puckfistt (puk'fist), n. [Mao puckfoist; cf. L6.
pukfust, a fist doubled up, < pukken, strike,
poke, -1- fust, fist.] 1. A niggardly or close-
fisted person.
0, they are ^mcbing puckfists !
B. Jonson, New Inn, iii. 1.
Petrarch was a dunce, Dante a jig-maker,
Sanazzar a goose, and Ariosto ?. puck-fist to me !
Ford, Love s Sacrifice, ii. 1.
For those are pinching pvjdkfm^s, and suspicious.
Fletcher (and another), love's Pilgrimage, i. 1.
2. In hot., a puffball.
puckfoistt (puk'f oist), n. Same as puckfist.
puckish (puk'ish), a. £< piick + -j«7j1.] Re-
sembling the fairy Puck ; like what Puck might
do; merry. J. B. Green.
puckle (puk'l), n. [Prob. < ME. "poukel, *pukel
(not found), < A.B.pucel, a demon (found once,
in ace. pi. pucelas, glossed by pilapos): see
puck.^ Sameas^Mcfc. [Obsolete or provincial.]
The spoome, the mare, the man in the oke, the hell
wauie, the flerdrake, the puckle, Tom thombe, hobgoblin,
etc. B. Scot, Discoverie of Witchcraft (ed. 1584), vii. 163.
The scene of fairy revels, . . . the haunt of bulbeggars,
witches, . . . [and] the ptickle. S. Judd, Margaret, i. 6.
puckrelf, n. Same a,B puckle. HalUwell.
pucras (pH'kras), n. [Native name.] A pheas-
ant of the genus Pucrasia. P. L. Sclater.
Fncrasia (pu-kra'si-a), n. [NL. (G. R. Gray,
1841), < pucras, a native name.] A beautiful
genus of pheasants of the family Phasianidse
and subfamily Lophophorinse, having the head
crested, the nostrils feathered, the tail long
and cuneate, the wings short and rounded, in-
habiting Asia in the Himalayan region, China,
and parts of India. The common pucras is P.
macrolopha ; the buff-spotted is P. xanthospila ;
P. duvauceli is a third species.
pud^ (pud), n. [Perhaps orig. a slang form of
D. «oo<, paw: seejjawi.] A paw; fist; hand.
[Colloq.]
The kangaroos— your Aborigines— do they keep their
primitive simplicity un-Europe-tainted, with those little
short fore puds, looking like a lesson framed by nature to
the pickpocket? Lamh, Distant Correspondents.
pud^ (p6d), ra. Same as pood.
puddening (pud'ning), n. [So called as mak-
ing as it were a pudding, i. e. a thick soft mass
4832
around the rope; < piudden, a dial, form of
pudding (see pudding, 3, in same sense), +
-in^i.] Athick pad of rope-yams, oakum, etc.,
covered with a mat or canvas, and tapering
from the middle toward the ends, used as a
fender on the bow of a boat, when rope cables
were used, the covering of soft rope and canvas on the
ring of an anchor was so called. Also called pudding.
pudder (pud'er), v. [Also putter; dial, form of
potter^ or pother.'] I. intrans. To make a tu-
mult, bustle, or stir; potter.
Such as are least able are most busie to pudder in the
rubbish, and to raise dust. N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 2.
Some [fishes] almost alwayes pudder in the mud
Of sleepy Pools.
Syloester, tr. ol Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 5.
II, trans. To perplex; embarrass; confuse;
bother.
He that will improve every matter of fact into a maxim
will abound in contrary observations, that can be of no
other use but to perplex and pudder him if he compares
them. Locke, Conduct of Understanding, § 13.
[Obsolete or dialectal in both uses.]
pudder (pud'Sr), n. [< pudder, v.] A tumult ;
a contused noise ; a bustle ; pother.
Some fellows would have cried now. and have curs'd thee,
And lain out with their meat, and kept & pudder;
But all this helps not. Beau, and Fl., Scornful Lady, iL 2.
What a pudder and racket ... in the schools ol the
learned about power and about spirit !
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ii. 2.
Parkin's Pints has been makin' a great pudder over to
England. S. Judd, Margaret, L 16.
pudding (pud'ing), n. [Also AiaX.puddin, pud^
den; early mod. B. also poding; < ME. i)ud-
dyng, poding ; appar., with aceom. suflSx, < Ir.
putog = Gael, putag, a pudding; cf. (with diff.
term.) W. xioten, a paunch, pudding; ef. also
W. pwtyn, a short round body, Corn. j;o*, abag,
puddingj Gael, put, an inflated skin, a large
buoy. The E. word may have been in part eon-
fused with P. boudin, black-pudding, blood-
pudding, roller-pudding (naut.), etc., ult. < L.
botulus, sausage. The F. pouding = D. pud-
ding, podding = LG. jmdding, pudden, budden
= G. Sw. pudding = Dan. budding, pudding, are
all < E.] 1. Minced meat, or blood, properly
seasoned, stuffed into an intestine, and cooked
by boiling.
As sure as his guts are made ot puddings.
Shak., M. W. ol W., ii. 1. 32.
And first they ate the white puddings,
And syne they ate the black.
Get up and Bar the Door (Child's Ballads, VIII. 12C).
They make better puddings ol their horses then ol their
hogs, which they eate being new made.
BaMuyfs Voyages, I. 97.
2. A dish consisting of flour or other farinaceous
substance with suet, or milk, eggs, etc., some-
times enriched with fruit, as raisins, etc., ori-
ginally boiled in a bag to a moderately hard
consistence, but now made in many other ways.
je han harmed vs two in that ge eten the puddyng,
Mortrewes, and other mete, and we no morsel hade !
Piers Ploieman (B), xiii. 106.
Then to their supper were they set orderlye.
With hot hSLg-puddings, and good apple-pyes.
King and Miller ^Mansfield (Child's Ballads, VIII. 36).
When I was a young man, we used to keep strictly to
my father's rule, "No broth, no ball; no ball, no beef";
and always began dinner with broth. Then we had suet-
puddings, boiled iu the broth with the heel ; and then the
meat itsell. Mrs. Oaskell, Cranlord, iv.
3. Naut.,sa,Tne asj)tt(Z(Ze«»«(7.— Dundee pudding,
a sailors' dish, commonly called dandyfunk. — Tudian
pudding. See /ndian.— Pudding pipe-tree. See pipe-
tree. (See also Mack-pudding (also caUed blood-pudding),
cap-pudding, hasty-pudding, hog's-pudding, white-pud-
ding.)^
pudding-bag (pud'ing -bag), n. 1. A bag in
which a pudding is boiled: usually not sewed
in any way, but a cloth gathered around the
uncooked pudding and tied with a string.
About half a yard long, of the breadth of a pudding-bag.
Letter dated 1626. (Nares.)
2. The long-tailed titmouse: same a,s feather-
poke. [Norfolk, Eng.]
pudding-clotb (pud'ing-kldth), n. The cloth
in which a pudding is boiled.
pudding-faced (pud'ing-fast), a. Having a fat,
round, smooth face ; having a face suggestive
of a pudding.
stupid pudding-faced as he looks and is, there is still a
vulpine astucity in him. Carlyle, Cagliostro.
pudding-fish (pud'ing-fish), n. A labroid fish
of West Indian waters, Platyglossus radiatus,
the bluefish or donceila.
pudding-grass (pud'ing-gras), n. The penny-
royal, itfenifea Pulegium: so called from its use
in seasoning puddings. Also pudding-lierb.
[Old and provincial.]
puddle
pudding-head (pud'ing-hed), n. A dull, stu-
pid person.
pudcUjIg-headed (pud'ing-hed"ed), a. Dull;
stupid. [Colloq.]
A purse-proud, pudding-headed, f atrgutted, lean-brained
Southron. Scott, Fortunes ol Nigel, xxvi.
pudding-heartt (pud'ing-hart), «. A coward.
[Rare.]
Go, pudding-heart !
Take thy huge offal and white liver hence.
Sir H, Taylor, Ph. van Artevelde, II., iii. 1. (Dames.)
pudding-houset (pudlng-hous), «. The paunch ;
belly. [Slang.]
He . . . thrusthimdownehisj)K<f<iij!i;-A<n«eatagobbe.
Nashe, Lenten Stufte (HarL Misc., VI. 166). (Dames.)
pudding-pie (pud'ing-pi), ». A pudding with
meat baked in it.
Three weU larded pudding-pyes he hath at one time put
tofoyle. . John Taylor, yVoi\iB(ie30). (Nares.)
Some cried the Covenants instead
Of pudding-pies and gingerbread.
5. Butler, Hudibras, I. ii. 546.
pudding-prickt, n. A skewer used to fasten a
pudding-bag.
His mighty arguments prove not the value of upoding-
prick.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc, 1860),
[p. 141.
pudding-sleeve (pud'ing-slev), ». A large,
loose sleeve; especially, in England, a sleeve
of the black gown of a clergyman.
He sees, yet hai'dly can believe.
About each arm apudding-deese;
His waistcoat to a cassock grew.
Swijt, Baucis and Philemon.
pudding-stone (pud'ing-ston), h.. A roekmade
up of rounded and water-worn debris of other
rocks, a considerable proportion of the pieces
being large enough to be called pebbles or
cobbles. Detrital rocks made up of finer materials are
called sandstones, shales, or mudstones. Pudding-stone is
a synonym of conglomerate. See cut under conglomerate.
pudding-time (pud'ing-tim), n. 1. The time
for pudding — that is, dinner-time. — 2f. The
nick of time ; critical time.
I came in season — as they say, in pudding time, tem-
pore veni. Withals' Dictionarie (ed. 1608X p. 3. (Nares.)
But Mars, that still protects the stout.
In pudding-time came to his aid.
S. Butler, Hudibras, I. ii. 865.
When George in pudding-time came o'er.
And moderate men looked big, sir.
My principles I changed once more.
And so became a Whig, sir. Vicar of Bray.
pudding-tobaccot (pud'ing-to-bak"6), ;i. To-
bacco made up in rolls like puddings.
Never kneels but to pledge healths, nor prays but for a
pipe ol pudding-tobacco. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, ii. 1.
pudding-wife (pud'ing-wif), n. A labroid fish,
Platyglossus radiatus, with a long body, large
scales, and the color bluish or bronze, with
wavy sky-blue spots, a stripe frOm snout to
nape, and blue stripes in the fins. It occurs
from the Florida Keys to Brazil.
puddingy (pM'ing-i), a. [< pudding + -^i.]
Resembling or suggestive of a pudding. [Col-
loq.]
A limpness and roundness ol limb which give the form
apuddingy appearance.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, m. 66.
puddle^ (pud'l), n. [Early mod. E. a\sopuddel;
< ME. podel, a pool; origin obscure. Cf. AS.
pudd (rare), a ditch or fiuTow (glossed by L.
sulcus) ; E. dial, pudge, a ditch. The W. pwdel,
a puddle, is prob. < E.] 1. A small pool of
water, especially of dirty rain-water ; a muddy
plash.
Ther's not a Puddle (though it strangely stink)
But dry they draw 't, Sea^Water 's dainty Drink.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, iL, The Schisme.
The Lucrine lake is but spuddle in conipaiison of what
it once was, its springs having been sunk in an earth-
quake. Addison, Remarks on Italy (ed. Bohn), I. 432.
2. Clay to which a little water has been added
and wMch has thenbeen tempered, so as to make
it homogeneous and increase its plasticity. It
is used in a great variety of ways when a water-
tight stopping is required. It is also calted
puddling.
puddlei (pud'l), V. ; pret. and pp. puddled, ppr.
puddling. [Early mod. E. also iwodle; appar.
from the noun, but prob. in part a var. of iiad-
dlel and pudder in similar senses. In the tech-
nical sense, def . 3, the verb has been adopted
into other tongues (P. puddler, etc.).] I. trans.
1. To make foul or muddy; stir up the mud or
sediment in; hence, to befoul in a figurative-
sense.
Something . . . hath puddled his clear spirit.
Shak., Othello, iii. 4. 143..
puddle
But such extremes, I told her, weU might harm
The woman's cause. " Not more than now '• ahe naM
"SopuddUd as it is with favouritism " ' '
Tennyson, Princess, iii.
2. To work puddle into; render water-tieht by
means of puddle. See puddle^, n., 2 —8 To
convert (pig-iron) into wrought-iron by stirring
while subjected to intense heat, in order to ex-
pel the oxygen and carbon. See puddling, «., 2.
II. intrans. To make a stir, as in a pool.
Indeed I were very simple, if with Crabronius I should
poodle m a wasp's nest, and think to purchase ease by it 1
Junius, Sin Stigmatized (1639), Pref. (Latlmm.)
puddle2 (pud'l), n. [Of. L(J. *puddel, purrel,
something short and thick (puddel-^und, purrel-
rtmd, short, thick, and round), puddig, thick,
puddeln, pudeVn, waddle, pudel, a thick-haired
dog (see poodle).'^ A pudgy, lU-shaped, awk-
ward person.
1 remember when I was quite a boy hearing her called
a limping old jmdiSe.
AfissBKTO«j/, Cecilia, vii. 6. (Dmies.)
A foot which a puddle of a maid scalded three weeks
ago- Carlyle, in Froude, Life in London, 1. 16.
puddle-ball (pud'l-b&l), %. in iron-manuf.,
a lump of red-hot iron taken from the pud-
dling-furnaoe in a pasty state to be hammered
or rolled.
puddle-bar (pud'l-bar), n. Bar-iron as it comes
from the puddle-rolls (see that word).— puddle-
bar train. See muek-rMs.
puddle-duck (pud'l-duk), n. The common do-
mestic duck: so called from its characteristic
habit of puddling water.
puddle^poet (pud'l-p6*et) , n. A low, mean poet.
[Bare.]
The pudHe-poet did hope that the jingling of his rhyme
would drown the sound of his false quantity.
FuUer, Ch. Hist., I. iii. 1. (Davies.)
puddler (pud'l6r), n. One who or that which
puddles ; specifically, one who is employed in the
process of converting cast-iron into wrought-
iron — Rotary puddler, in mMtoZ-M/orSiBjr, amechanical
puddler In which the treatment of the molten metal is
effected by the rotation of the furnace. See Danks ro-
tary furnace^ vaiAer furnace.
puddle-rolls (pud'lrrolz), n.pl. In iron-manuf.,
a pair of heavy iron rollers with grooved sur-
faces, between which the lumps of iron taken
from the puddling-furnaoe, after being sub-
jected to a preliminary forging, are passed so
as to be converted into rough bars.
puddling (pud'ling), n. [Verbal n. of pud-
dle^, v.] 1. In hydraul. engin., the operation of
working plastic clay behind piling in a cofEer-
dam, the lining of a canal, or in other situation,
to prevent the penetration of water; also, the
clay or other material used in this operation.
— 2. The operation of transforming pig-iron
into wrought-iron in a reverberatory furnace.
The object of puddling is to remove the carbon in the
pig-iron ; and this is effected partly by the direct action of
the oxygen of the air at the high temperature employed,
and partly by the action of the cinder formed, or the
oxidized compounds of iron added during the process.
After the iron "comes to nature" in the furnace, it is
made up into balls for convenient handling ; these are
"shingled "by hammering or squeezing, and passed be-
tween rolls, by which the metal is made to assume any
desired form. There are two methods of puddling : the
process as originally performed is called dry puddling;
that which Is now most generally followed is known as
wet puddling, but is oftener called pig-hmling. In the
older process only white or refined iron could be used ; in
the newer unrefined iron is employed, aud this melts more
perfectly and boils up more freely than is the case when
refined iron is used, which remains in a more or less pasty
condition daring the process ; hence the name pig-boiling.
The puddling process was invented in England by Henry
Cort, about 1784, and he was also the inventor of the method
of finishing iron by passing it through grooved rolls— pro-
cesses of immense importance as determining the long-
maintained supremacy of England in the iron-manufac-
turing business. The invention of what is known as
"Bessemer steel" has considerably diminished, and is like-
ly still further to diminish, the relative importance of the
puddling process— Mecmmical puddling, the substi-
tution for hand-labor of some one of the various mechan-
ical contrivances which have been invented to make the
operation of puddling less fatiguing for the workmen.
Various methods of mechanical puddling have within the
past few years come more or less extensively into use :
one is to arrange the tools so as to imitate manual rabbling
(see rabbleU) as nearly as possible ; in the other method
some form of rotating or oscillating hearth is employed,
the motion of which replaces the operation of rabbling.
See Danks rotary furnace, nnder furnace; also (under the
same heading) Pemotfumaee, a form which has been em-
ployed for puddling iron as well as for making steel.
puddling-furnace (pud'ling-fer"nas), n. A
kind of reverberatory furnace in which iron is
puddled. See puddling, 2 (a), and out in next
column.
puddling-machiue (pud'ling-ma-shen"), n. See
puddUng, 2 (a).
puddling-roUs (pud'ling-rolz), n. pi. Same as
forge-train.
4833
Fuddling -furnace.
a. Fire-chamber; *, iron-chamber; e, hearth; d, stoclc-hole; e,
throat; /; neclc; f, bridge; A, staclc; ^velvet-tree; i6,grate; /.roof;
m, tap-hole ; «, stopper-hole.
puddly (pud'li), a. i< puddle^ + -^1.] Like the
water of a puddle ; muddy; foul; dirty.
For He (I hope) who, no less good then wise,
Ffrst stirr'd vs vp to this great Enterprise, . . .
Will change the Pebbles of our puddly thought
To Orient Pearls, most bright and bravely wrought.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Vocation.
Limy or thick puddly water killeth them. Carew.
puddocki (pud'ok), n. A variant oi paddock^.
[Scotch.]
puddock^ (pud'ok), n. [Var. otpaddock'^. Cf.
equiv. pwrrock, var. of varrock.'\ A small in-
closure ; a paddock. [Prov. Bng.]
puddock^ (pud'ok), n. A variant of puttodk.
[Prov. Eng.]
puddy (pud'i), a. game a,s pudgy.
Their little puddy fingers. Albert Smith.
pudencyt (pu'den-si), n. [< L. puden{t-)s, bash-
ful, modest, ppr. of pudere, be ashamed, feel
shame.] Modesty; shamefacedness.
Women have their bashf ulness and pudency given them
for a guard of their weakness and frailties.
W. Montague, Devoute Essays, i.
I observe that tender readers have a great pudency in
showing their books to a stranger. Ejnereon, Books.
pudenda, n. Plural ot pudendum.
pudendal (yu-den'dal), a. [< pudendum + -aW]
Of or pertaining to 'the pudendum; connected
with or relating to the pudenda; pudic: as,
the pudendal vessels, nerves, etc Common pu-
dendal nerve. Same as pudUs nerve (which see, under
jmdio).- Inferior pudendal nerve, a branch of the small
sciatic distributed to the skin of the upper and back part
of the thigh and of the outer surface of the scrotum or
of the labium.— Pudendal hematocele, a collection of
blood in the labium.— Pudendal hernia, ahernia into the
lower part of the labium, by the side of the vagina. Also
called labial hernia. — Pudendal plexUB. See plexus.
pudendoliemorrhoidal(pu-den"d6-hem-o-roi'-
dal), a. [< L. pudendum, pudendum, + B'. hem-
orrhoid + -aZ.J Pertaining to the pudendum
and the lower part of the rectum where hemor-
rhoids occur — Pudendohemorrhoidaluerve. Same
as pudic nerve (which see, under jnuiu;).
pudendous (pu-den'dus), a. [= 8p. Pg. pa-
dendo, < L. pudendus, participial adj. ot pudere,
feel shame.] Shameful; disgraceful. [Rare.]
A feeling laughable in apriestess/pudeiuious in apriest.
Sydney Smith, Peter Plymley's Letters, ii. {Latham.)
pudendum (pu-den'dum), ».; pi. pudenda (-da).
[li.j gerund, ot pudere, feel shame: seepuden-
cy.\ 1. In anat.: (as) The region of the private
parts ; the pubes and perineum, together or in-
discriminately. (6) Specifically, the vulva. —
2. pi. The private parts; the genitals.
pudge (puj), ri. [Cf. puddle\'\ A ditch or gap.
SalliweU. [Prov. Eng.]
pudgy (puj'i), a- [-^so podgy, pudsy, pudsey,
puaay; origin obscure.] Pat and short ; thick ;
fleshy. [CoUoq.]
The vestry-clerk, as every body knows, is a short, pudgy
little man. D&kene, Sketches, i.
A blond and disorderly mass of tow-like hair, a podgy
and sanguine countenance.
M. Arnold, Friendship's Garland, v.
She was caught now under the mistletoe ... by little
fellows with pudgy arms, who covered her all over with
kisses. Harper's Mag., LXXVni. 156.
pudic (pu'dik), a'. [= P. pudique = Sp. p4dico
= Pg. It. pudico, < li. pudieus, shamefaced, bash-
ful, modest, < pudere, feel shame.] In anat,
pudendal Pudic artery, (a) External, one of two (a
deep and a superficial) branches of the femoral artery, sup-
plying parts of the pudenda. (6) Internal, a large and sur-
gically very important branch of the anterior trunk of the
internal iliac artery, the principal source of the blood-sup-
ply of the external genitals. It leaves the pelvis by the
greater sciatic foramen, winds around the ischiac spine,
reenters the pelvis by the lesser sciatic foramen, courses
along the inner side of the rami of the ischium and pubis,
gives oil inferior hemorrhoidal and superficial and trans-
verse perineal branches, and divides into three penial ar-
teries — of the bulb and cavernous body and dorsum of the
penis.— Pudic nerve, the smaller terminal division of the
sacrai plexus. It issues from the pelvis through thegreater
and reenters through the lesser sciatic foramen, and after-
ward divides into the perineal and dorsalis penis. It also
gives off the inferior hemorrhoidal. Also called common
pudendal, pudendohemorrhoidal nerve.— Pudic vein, (o)
Exterruil, a tributary of the external saphenous, collect-
ing blood from the genitals and inner part of the thigh.
(6) Internal, a vein corresponding to the internal pudic
puerperal
artery, except that it does not receive the blood from the
dorsal vein of the penis,
pudical (pu'di-kal), a. [< pudic + -al.^ Same
Aspudic.
pudicity (pu-dis'i-ti), n. [= P. pudicite, < L.
pudicitia, modesty, chastity, (.pudieus, bashful,
modest: seepudic.l Modesty; chastity.
It sheweth much grauitie & also pudiottie, hiding euery
member of the body which had»ot bin pleasant to behold.
PvUenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 287.
pudsy (pud'zi), a. Same as pudgy.
pudu (po'do), n. [S. Amer.] The venada, Cer-
vuspudu or Fu4ua humilis, a Chilian deer.
pudworm (pud'werm), n. The piddock, Pliolas
dactylus. [Local, Eng.]
pue^t, n. An obsolete form otpew^.
pue^t (pu), «. j. [Alsopew; an imitative word;
of. pule.'] To chirp or cry like a bird; make a
sound like this word.
The birds likewise with chirps and puing.
Sir P. Sidney. (.Riehardton.)
pueblo (poeb'16), n. [Sp., a town, village, peo-
ple, < L. populus, people: see people.] 1. In
Spanish America, a municipality; a town or
village : any inhabited place, in the parts of the
United States acquired from Mexico it is used in the
sense of the English word taum. It has the indefinite-
ness of that term, and, like it, it sometimes applies to a
mere collection of individuals residing at a piuticular
place, a settlement or village, as well as to a regularly or-
ganized muuicipaUty.
In its special significance, a pueblo means a corporate
town, with certain rights of jurisdiction and administra-
tion. In Spain the term lugar was usually applied to
towns of this nature, but the Spanish Americans have
preferred and persistently used the term pueblo.
Johns Bopkins Univ. Studies, 8th ser., IT. 48.
2. [cap.] A Pueblo Indian — pueblo Indians, a
body of Indians in New Mexico and Arizona, who dwell
in communal villages (pueblos). They are partly civilized
and self-governing. Among the best-known of them are
the Zufiis.
puer (pu'er)j n. An erroneous spelling otpure'^.
puerile (pu'e-ril), a. [= P. puSril = Pr. Sp. Pg.
piieril = It. puerile, < L. puerilis, pertaining
to a boy or child, boyish, childish, <puer, boy,
child, < ■s/ fu-, beget, whence ^■so pupus, a boy,
■pwpa, a girl, etc. : see pupa, pupili, etc.] 1. Of
or pertaining to a boy or chUd; boyish ; child-
ish; juvenile.
Franciscus Junius . . . was bom at Heidelberg, a fa-
mous city and university in Germany, an. 1689, educated
in puerile Learning at Leyden in Holland.
Wood, Athenee Ozon., IL 602.
Hence — 2. Merely childish ; lacking intellec-
tual force; trivial: as, a ^Mente criticism.
It was therefore useless, almost puerUe, to deny facts
which were quite as much within the ^owledge of the
K^etherlanders as of himself.
Motley, Hist. Netherlands, II. 288.
FUerlle'reBpiration, the respiratory murmur as heard
in (healthy) children, louder and less vesicular than in
healthy adults.
Puerile respiration in the lung of an adult is generally
a sign of disease. SirT. Watson, Lectures on Physic, xlviL
=S3T1. 1. Juvenile, Boyish, etc. (eee youthful).— 2. Weak,
foolish, silly.
puerilely (pu'e-ril-li), adv. In a puerile man-
ner; boyishly; triflingly.
puerileness (pfi'e-ril-nes), n. The state or
character of being puerile ; puerility.
puerility (pu-e-ril'i-ti), n. ; pi. pueriUUes (-tiz).
[= P. puSriUii j= Sp. ijwmKda^ = Pg. piterili-
dade = It. puerilita, < h. puerilita(t-)s, boyhood,
childhood, < puerilis, pertaining to a boy or
child: see puerile.] 1. A puerile character or
condition; boyishness; childishness.
A reserve of puerility . . . not shaken off from school.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., L 7.
2. The time of childhood ; specifically, in civil
law, the period of life from the age of seven
years to that of fourteen. — 3. That which is
puerile; what is characteristic of or done in
boyhood ; hence, a childish or silly act, thought,
or expression.
Of the learned puerilities of Cowley there is no doubt,
since a volume of his poems was not only written, but
printed, in his thirteenth year. Johnson, Cowley.
One God would not suffice
For senile puerility; thou framedst
A tale to suit thy dotage.
Shelley, Queen Mab, vi.
Even amid the affectation and love of anagrams and
puerUities which sullied her later years, Elizabeth remain-
ed a lover of letters and of all that was greatest and pur-
est in letters. J. R. Green, Hist. Eng. People, vi. 2.
puerperal (pu-6r'pe-ral), a. [= P. puerp4ral =
Pg. puerperal= It. puerperale, < 'Mj.puerperalis,
< L. puerpera, f., bringing forth, a parturient
woman, < puer, a child, + parere, bring forth,
bear.] Of or pertaining to childbirth Puer-
peral convulsions, epileptiform attacks occuning im-
puerperal
mediately before or after childbirth.— Puerperal ec-
Iamp3ia,puerperal convulsions.— Puerperal fever. See
/eiwri.— Puerperal insanity, insanity occurring during ■
and caused by the puerperal state or during lactation.— '
Puerperal septicemia, septicemia following childbirth ;
puei-peral fever.— Puerperal State, the state of a woman
m and immediately following childbfrth.
puerperally (pu-er'pe-ral-i), adv. From puer-
peral fever or disorders connected with child-
birth. ,
puerperium (pu-er-pe'ri-um), n. [L., child-
birth: seepuerpery.] The puerperal state.
pnerperous (pu-er pe-ms), a. [< L. puerpera,
bringing forth, a parturient woman : see puer-
peral.'] Puerperal; lying-in.
puerpery (pu-er'pe-ri), re. [< L. puerperium,
ehildbirtb, i'pticipera, bringing forth, a'i^artu-
rient woman : see imeiperal.'] The puerperal
state. Lancet, No. 3475, p. 750.
puet (pii'et), n. A variant of pewit (a).
The poor flsh have enemies enough, ... as otters, . . .
the cormorant, . . . the puet, . , . and the crabber.
/. Wattoti, Complete Angler, i. 2.
pufF(puf), «. [< ME. jjMffcre, blow, = D. j)tt/e»,
puff, blow up, boast, = MLG. puffen = G. puf-
fen, Wiffen, puff, pop, = Dan. puffe, pop, = Sw.
pwffa, crack, push ; ef . F. pouffer, burst out
laughing, bouffer, intr. swell, swell out, puff,
puff up, rise (as bread), stuff, gorge, tr. blow up,
houffir, intr., swell, be puffed up, OF. buffier,
puff, = It. buffare, puff; W. pwffio, come in puffs;
4834
4. To praise with exaggeration; give undue or
servile praise to.
This starving public then — through the medium of
posters, newspaper advertisements, men in cardboard ex-
tinguishers, and other modes of legitimate pt#7i(7— had
been informed that its cravings were at last to be satisfied,
in a grand, new, original melodrama called Pope Clement,
or the Cardinal's Collapse.
Whyte MdvUle, White Bose, II. xxviii.
A man may be pufed and belauded, envied, ridiculed,
counted upon as a tool, and fallen in love with, or at least
selected as a future husband, and yet remain virtually un-
known. Oeorge Eliot, Middlemarch, xv.
Steele jw/ed him [Estcourt] in the Spectator, and wept
over his decease in the same periodical.
Ashton, Social Life in Eeign of Queen Anne, II. 19.
puff (puf ), n. [< ME. puf = D. pof, bof= MLG.
puf = Gr. puff =Sw. Dan. jmf, apuff; OF. pouf,
F. pouf, a kind of head-dress, a low seat or ot-
toman, apuff (advertisement); W.pwff, a puff;
ult. imitative: see iJtt#, 1^.] 1. A sharp, forci-
ble blast; a whiff; a sudden emission, as of air
from the mouth, or smoke from the stack of an
engine ; also, as much as is suddenly so emit-
ted at one time.
For not onepufe of winde there did appeare.
" , F. Q., II. xii. 22.
connected with the noun and inteij. puff, ult,
imitative of a quick explosive sound. Cf . buff^."]
1. intrans. 1. To blow with quick, intermittent
blasts ; emit a whiff, as of wind, air, or smoke.
Like foggy south pufiiig with wind and rain.
Shah., As you Like it, iii. 5. 50.
A new coal is not to be cast on the nitre till the detona^
tion be either quite or almost altogether ended ; unless it
chance that the jm^Tw matter do blow the coal too soon
out of the crucible. Boyle, Physico-Chymical Essay, § 8.
Our postilions were sitting silently upon the bench, and
wtf followed their example, lit our pipes, and puffed away.
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 86.
Where boys and girls pursued their sports,
A locomotive puffs and snorts,
And gets my malediction.
F. ZdOcker, Bramble-Klse.
2. To blow, as an expression of scorn or eon-
tempt; snort; sneer.
As for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. Ps. x. 6.
It is really to defy heaven, to jm^at damnation, and to
bid Omnipotence do its worst. South,
3. To breathe with agitation, as after violent
exertion.
You are a fellow dares not fight.
But spit and puff and make a noise, whilst
Your ti'embling hand draws out your sword.
Beau, and Fl., Honest Man's Fortune, ii.
Sir Timothy, who makes love to my f liend's eldest daugh-
ter, came in amongst UBpufflnff and blowing, as if he had
beeu very much out of breath.
Addison, Sir Timothy Tittle.
4t. To act or move with flurry and a swelling,
bustling appearance ; assume importance.
Then came brave Glory puffing by
In silks that whistled, who but he !
G. Herbert, The Temple.
H. irons. 1. To blow; send forth in quick
short blasts or whiffs ; drive with a blast.
Piries and plomtrees were puffed to the erthe.
In ensample, ge segges, ge shulden do the bettere.
Piers Plowman (B), v. 16.
Not three centuries have elapsed since knightly B^eigh
puffed its [tobacco'sj fumes into the astonished eyes of
Spenser and Shakespeare.
B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 179.
A radical in thought, he puffed away
With shrewd contempt the dust of usage gray.
Lowell, Fitz Adam's Story.
2. To draw smoke through, or send out smoke
from.
Here the old burgher would sit in perfect silence, puffing
his pipe, looking in the fire with half -shut eyes, and thmk-
ing of nothing for hours together.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 168.
3. To fill, inflate, or expand with breath or air,
andflguratively with pride, vanity, conceit, etc.;
swell: frequently with uj>: as, puffed up with
success; puffed with ambition.
But generally the high stile is disgraced and made fool-
ish and ridiculous by all wordes affected, counterfait, and
puffed vp, as it were a windball carrying more countenance
then matter. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 128.
Have I not heard the sea, pufd up with winds,
Kage like an angry boar chafed with sweat?
Shak., T. of the S., i. 2. 202.
Windy praise
And puffing hopes of her aspiring sons.
B. Jonson, Sejanus, ii. 2.
Yet did this Royalty not puff his heart
Too high to his grand Sovereign's Will to bow.
J. BeOMmont, Psyche, i. 63.
There lies the port : the vessel puffs her sail :
There gloom the dark broad seas. Tennyson, Ulysses.
The young Cardinal of Guise died, being struck down by
the Puff oi a Cannon-bullet, which put him in a burning
Fever. HoiveU, Letters, I. iii. b.
At length apuff oi northern wind
Did blow liim to the land.
Young Bearwett (Child's BaUads, IV. 303).
2. A puffball. — 3. An inflated, swollen, light,
fluffy, or porous thing or part, (a) In dressmaUng,
a strip of some fabric gathered and sewed down on both
edges, but left full in the middle.
Long Puffes of Yellow and Blewe Sarcenet rising vp be-
twixt the Panes, besides Codpieces of the like colours.
• Coryat, Crudities, I. 41, sig. B.
The duchess wears a fine gauze dress, trimmed with puffs
and rosettes of satin. The Century, XXXTX. 266.
(b) A light, porous, spongy, or friable cake, geneiUly filled
with preserve or the like : as, CTQom-puffs; jaia-puffs.
"Tom," said Maggie, as they sat on the boughs of the
elder-tree, eating their ^a,ra-puffs, "shall you run away to-
morrow?" George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, 1 6.
4. An implement consisting of swan's down or
a wad of flossy or loose texture, used for apply-
ing powder to the hair or skin. See powder-
puff. — 5. Exaggerated or undue praise uttered
or written from an interested point of view ; es-
pecially, a written commendation of a book, an
actor's or a singer's performance, a tradesman's
goods, or the like.
My American puffs I would willingly burn all
(They're all from one source, monthly, weekly, diurnal)
To get but a kick from a transmarine journal I
LoweU, Fable for Critics.
6. One who is puffed up ; an inflated, conceited
person.
The other, a strange arrogating pu^.
Both impudent and ignorant enough.'
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Hevels, ill. 2.
A very ^^, a weak animal. Shirley, Love Tricks, ii. 2.
7. One who writes puffs. — 8. A small vessel
with minute openings for scattering liquid per-
fumes. Bev. George Ormsby, Joiu*. Brit. Ar-
chsBol. Ass., XXII. 404.
puff (puf ), im^er/. [See^M#, «.] An exclama-
tion of contempt or impatience.
Puff! did not I take him nobly?
Beau, and Fl., King and No King, i. 1.
puff-adder (puf'ad"6r), ». The largest and
most venomous African serpent of the family
Viperidse, Clotho arietans. It lies with its body partly
immersed in the sand, its head on^ being exposed, so that
pedestrians are liable to tread on it. It is sluggish in its
nature, and the Bushman will fearlessly put his foot on its
neck, and then cut off its head for the sake of its venom,
with which he poisons hi^ arrows. It is, when full-grown,
from 4 to 5 feet long, and as thick as a man's arm. It is
named from its habit of puffing up the upper part of its
body when irritated. See cut under Viperidai. Compare
pi^ng-adder.
puffball (puf'-
h&l), 11. Any one
of various gaste-
romycetous fungi,
especially of the
genus Lycoper-
don : so called
from their habit
of puffing or sud-
denly discharg-
ing a cloud of
spores when they
are shaken or
squeezed after
the chamber in
which the spores
develop breaks puir-biid i.inaimotiiia/usca)
puffin
open. See Fvmgi, Gasteromyeetes, and Lycoperdon; see
also M-ball2,foisti,/uzzl>all, earthpuff, Bomsta (with cut),
blind-Harry, blindman'sbuf, deil's snuff-box (under deu),
devil's snuff-box (under devU), and cut under basidium.—
Giant puffball, a fungus, Lycoperdon giganteum, which
often grows to a large size, having been known to attain
a diameter of 5 feet. It is edible when young, and the
matui'e dry spores maybe used to stanch slight wounds.
puff-bird (puf 'herd), II. Any fissirostral barbet
of the American family Buceonidx : so called
from its habit of puffing up the plumage. See
cut in preceding column, also barbet^, JSucco,
and cut under nun-bird.
puff-box (puf 'boks), n. A box designed to con-
tain toilet-powder and a puff. It is often made
an ornamental article for the toilet-table.
puffed (puft), a. [< puff + -f(f2.] In costume,
■ gathered up into rounded ridges, as a sleeve,
or one leg of a pair
of hose.— Puffed and
slashed armor, armor
of the middle of the six-
teenth century, in which
thepeculiar stuffed forms
of the puffed and slashed
dresses of the time are
imitated.
puffer (puf'to), H. [<
puff+ -eri.] 1. One
who puffs; one who
praises with exag-
gerated and inter-
ested commenda-
tion.— 2. One who
attends a sale by
auction for the pur-
pose of raising the
price and exciting
the eagerness of bid-
ders to the advan-
tage of the seller.
Also called bonnet
and wMtebonnet.
Upon the suspicion that the plaintiff was a puffer, the
question was put whether axsj puffers were present.
Lard Chan. Eldon (1806), Mason v. Aimitage, 13 Ves.
[26, 37.
Puffing, it has been said, is illegal, even if there be only
one puffer. . Encyc. Brit., III. 69.
3. A fish that swells or puffs up ; specifically,
any member of either of the plectognath fam-
ilies Tetrodontidse and Diodontidx, all of whose
species, some eighty in number, have the habit
of inflating themselves with air which they
swallow; a swell-fish or globe-fish; a blower.
The common puffer or swell-fish, Sphxroides maculatus
or Tetrodon turgidus, is a good example. The tambor or
smooth puffer is Lagocephalus Isemgattts. The rough puffer
is Chilomycterus schoepji or geometrieus. See cuts under
Diod/on, suieU-Jieh, aaS Tetrodontidte.
4. A porpoise or puffing-pig. — 5. In weaving, a
vat in which linen and cotton cloth is cleansed
by boiling; a buckiug-keir.
puffer-pipe (puf 'er- pip), n. In weaving, the
central pipe of a bucking-keir, from the top of
which water is discharged over the cloth.
puffery (puf'6r-i), ». [.<puff-i- -ery.] System-
atic puffing; extravagant praise.
1 have reviewed myself incessantly.
Nay, made a contract with a kindred spirit
For mutual interchange of puffery.
Gods ! how we blew each other !
W. E. Aytoun, Firmilian-
puff-fish (puf 'fish), )(. A puffer or swell-fish.
puffily (puf 'i-li), adv. In a puffy manner.
puffin (puf 'in), re. [Said to be so called from its
puffed-out beak; <l)uff + -in, appar. a dim. ter-
mination. The NL. Puffinus, also PupMnus, is
from E. ] 1 . A sea-parrot, eolter-neb, or bottle-
Puffed and Slashed Costume.
Common Puffin iFratercula arcticn).
nosed auk; a bird of the family Alcidse and ge-
nus Fratercula or Lunda. See these words.
There are several species. The common puffin is F. are-
puffin
tfco, which abounds on both coasts of the North Atlantic,
nesttag In boles in the ground. It is abont 12 inches long
ol a blackish color above, white below, with a black collir
and gray face; the bill is very curious— bright-red, blue,
and yellow, extremely high, narrow, and furrowed : the
feet are small, placed far back, red ; the eyeUds are ca.
runoulate; the wings and taU are short. The bird flies
swiftly and dives well. The whole horny covering of the
beak and the caruncles of the eyelids are regularly molted
F. glaeitUw and F. comieulata are closely related ; the lat.
ter has the fleshy process of the eyelid elongated into a
Head of Tufted Puffin {Lnnda cirrata).
horn. Lunda cirrata is the tufted puffin, quite different
inhabiting the North Pacific, with a long tuft of yellow
glumes on each side of the head, the coloration mostly
lackish, with white face, and the beak peculiar in shape.
What shall we do with this same puffln here.
Now he 's on the spit? B. Jamon, Alchemist, ilL 2.
2. A kind ot fungus; a fuzzball; a puffball.
— CSreBted puffin, the tufted puffin.— Manx puffint, or
pufBn of the Isle of Mant, the manx shearwater, PiiM-
mis anglorum. WiUughby,
puffin-applet, 't- A variety of apple. B.Jonson.
Puffines (pu-fin'e-e), n.pl. [NL., < Puffinus +
-ex.'] A division of Procellariinse, represented
by the genus Puffinus in a broad sense ; the
shearwaters.
puffiness (puf 'i-nes), n. A puffy or turgid char-
acter or state.
Some of Voltaire's pieces are so swelled with this pre-
aaaotMoxiB puffiness that I was forced into abatements of
the disposition 1 once felt to look upon him as a generous
thinker. A. Hill,
puffing (puf 'ing), n. [Verbal n. otpuff, v.] 1.
The practice of writing or publishing puffs, or
uncritical or venal pr.aises of another person's
productions or wares.
Puffing is of various sorts the principal are the puff
direct, the puif preliminary, the puff collateral, the puif
collusive, and the puff oblique, or puff by implication.
These all assume, as cucumstances require, the various
forms of letter to the editor, occasional anecdote, impar-
tial critique, observation from correspondent, or adver-
tisement from the party. Sheridan, Critic, i. 2.
2. In costume, one or more ridges or ribs in-
tended for ornament; ornamentation by means
of such ridges. See puffed. — 3. In gasteromy-
cetous fongi, the sudden discharging of a cloud
of spores. See puffball.
puffing-ardder (puf 'ing-ad^'er), n. A hog-nosed
snake or blowing viper; any one of several
species of the genus Heterodon (which see).
They are ugly snakes of threatening aspect,
but quite harmless. [Local, U. S.]
puffingly (puf 'ing-li) ,adv. In a puffing manner.
puffing-pig (puf'ing-pig), n. A porpoise: so
called from its blowing or puffing as it comes
to the surface of the water.
Puffinuria (puf-i-nU'ri-a), n. [NL. (Lesson,
1828), < Puffmus + Una.] In ornith., same as
Peleeanaides.
Puffinus (puf'i-nus), n. [NL. (Biisson, 1760,
after Gesner, etc.), < E. puffin: see puffin.] A
genus of Proeellariidx, characterized by the
short low nasal tubes obliquely truncate at
the end, and with a thick septum, a long, com-
paratively slender, and much-hooked beak, thin
pointed wings, very short tail, and large feet ;
the shearwaters. There are numerous species, found
on all seas, some of them known as hags or Tatgdens. The
greater shearwater is P. tnajor, widely distributed over
the Atlantic ; the cinereous shearwater is P. kuhli of the
Mediterranean. The Manx shearwater is P. anglorum;
the dusky, P. ohsewms; the sooty, P. fidiginosus. See cut
under hagden.
pufEkint (puf' kin), n. [< puff + -hin.] A
, fungous excrescence ; a worthless dustball ;
hence, a light, worthless person.
And now and then too, when the fit 's come on 'em,
Will prove themselves but flirts and trMrypuffHns.
Ford, lady's Trial, ill. 1.
puffleg (puf'leg), n. A humming-bird of the
fenus Erioonemis : so called from the white
eecy tufts or puds about the legs. See cut
under Eriocnemis.
puff-netting (puf'nef'ing), n. Same as Uaf-
piS-paste (puf 'past), n. In cookery, a rich
dough for making the light friable covers of
tarts, etc.
pufEroart, n. A noisy blast. [Kare.]
East, weast, and South-wynd with pufroare mightelye
Tamping. Stamhurst, .^neid, u.
pnff-wigt (puf 'wig), n. A fluffy kind of wig.
4835
Here, sirrah, here 's ten guineas (or thee ; get thyself a
drugget suit and apuff-vrig, and so I dub thee gentleman-
usher. Farquhar, The Inconstant, i. i.
puff-wingt (puf 'wing), n. A puffed-up part of
a dress, rising from the shoulders, and resem-
bling a wing.
You shall see them flock about you with their puf -wings,
and ask you where you bought your lawn.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 1.
puffy (puf'i), a. \<puff+ -j/i.] 1. Swollen,
as with air or some soft substance ; puffed up ;
tumid; soft: as, ajiM^^tumor.
A very stout pu/;/ man in buckskins and Hessian boots.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, iii.
2. Tumid; turgid; bombastic: as, ajjjt^^style.
He lives at a high sail, tiiat the puffy praises of his
neighbours may blow him into the enchanted island, vain-
glory. Rem. T. Adams, Works, I. 486.
Nor [could] the tickling sense of applause and vaine-
glory [make me stoop so low as] to affect the puffy name
and title of an Orator.
Dr. H. More, Immortal, of Soul, Ep. Ded.
There is a man, . . .
Better than you, or all your puffy race,
That better would become the great battalion.
Dryden, Duke of Guise, ii. 2.
3. Coming in puffs ; characterized by puffs ;
gusty.
We were running wingandwing before a very fresh and
puffy wind. The Century, XXVIII. 106.
pugi (pug), 11. [A var. otpuck. Cf. hug^. As
applied to a monkey, fox, or little dog, it means
'a little imp': so called in allusion to its pert,
ugly face.] If. An elf; fairy; goblin; sprite:
same &spuclc, 1.
In John Milesius any man may reade
Of Divels in Sarmatia honored
Call'd Kottri or Kibaldi ; such as wee
Pugs and hobgoblins call. Then' dwellings bee
In comers of old houses least frequented,
Or beneath stacks of wood ; and these convented
Make fearf uU noise in buttries and in dairies.
Itobin good-fellows some, some call them fairies.
Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, ix. 574. (Nares.)
2. A monkey.
Vooi pug was caught; to town convey'd;
There sold. How envy'd was his doom.
Made captive in a lady's room 1 Qay, Fables, i. 14.
3: A fox.
Some well-known haunts of pug. Kingdey, Yeast, i.
4. A dwarf variety of dog ; a pug-dog.
All at once a score of pugs
And poodles yell'd within.
Tennyson, Edwin Morris.
5. A term of familiarity or endearment, like
du^h, etc.
Good pugge, give me some capon.
Marston, Antonio and Mellida, I., ii. 1.
The first I called sweet duck ; the second, deare heart ;
the third, prettie pugge.
Marston, Antonio and Mellida, II,, lit 4.
6. A three-year-old salmon. Malliwell. [Prov.
Eng.] — 7. One of certain small geometrid
moths : an English collectors' name. The net-
ted pug is Eupithecia venosata; the foxglove-
pug is E. pulehellata. — 8f. A short cloak worn
by ladies about the middle of the eighteenth
century.
pug2 (pug), n. [Abbr. of pug-nose.] A pug-
nose ; the form or turn of a pug-nose : as, a de-
cided ^« jr. [Colloq.]
pugS (pug), V. t. ; pret. and pp. vugge^, PPr. pug-
ging. [A var. of pofce.] 1. To thrust; strike.
EMnoell. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. In building: (a)
To tamp with clay, or stop with p^uddle ; clay.
(6) To line (spaces between floor-joists) or cover
(partition-walls) with coarse mortar, felt, saw-
dust, or any other material to impede the pas-
sage of sound; deaden; deafen. — 3. Inpottery-
and irick-manuf., to grind, as clay, with water
in order to render it plastic.
The mixing and pugging apparatus is 23.6 inches in di-
ameter at the teed end, and diminishes to 20.7 inches at
the delivery end. Ure, Diet., IV. 631.
pugS (pug), re. [See p'xgS, v.] I.Clay ground
and worked or kneaded with water, and some-
times with other substances, into consistency
for molding, as into bricks, etc. — 2. A pug-mill.
pug*t (pug), n. [ME. pugge; origin obscure.]
Chaff; refuse of grain.
Mast, chastene, yeve hem pugges of thi come.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 99.
It can not abide rank mucke, but contenteth itselfe
with rotten chaff e or pugs, and such like jjlain mullock.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xix. 5. (Dames.)
pugS (pug), ■«. lW.nA.pag, foot.] The print of
afoot; a footmark. See puggi.
pugaree (pug'a-re), n. Seepugree.
pug-dog (pug'dog), n. A small dog which bears
a resemblance in miniature to the bulldog.
pug-mill
It is characterized by timidity and gentleness, is oftec
very affectionate and good-natured, and is kept only as a
pet or curiosity. It is very liable to disease, from being
pampered and from lack of exercise and proper food.
There are different varieties of pug-dogs, some character-
ized by an extreme peculiarity of the jaws and teeth. Com-
monly called 2>u^. See Dysodus.
pug-faced (pug'fast), a. [<pugi + face + -ed^.]
Having a monkey-like face.
puggardt, n. [Perhaps an orig. misprint for
*priggard, < prig^ + -ard. Cf . pugging^.] A
thief.
Cheators, lifters, nips, foists, puggards, curbers,
With all the devil's black-guard,
Middleton and Dekker, Roaring Girl, v. 1>
puggeredf, a. An obsolete variant ot puckered,
past participle ot pucker.
Nor are we to cavil at the red pugger'd attire of the tur-
key. Dr. H. More, Antidote against Atheism, II. xi. 1.
puggery (pug'er-i), «. ; pi. puggeries (-iz).
Same aspugree.
puggi (pug'i), n. [Hind, pagi, <pag, foot: see
pug^.] In India, a tracker; one whose occupa-
tion is to trace thieves, etc., by their foot-
prints.
puggingi (pug'ing), n. [Verbal n. of pugS, v.
In def. 1 perhaps an altered form (by some
confusion) of puddling.] 1. The process of
mixing and working clay for bricks, etc. — 3.
In arch., any composition laidimder the boards
of a floor, or on partition-waUs, to prevent the
transmission of sound. Also called deadening
or deafening,
pugging^t, a. [Perhaps an orig. misprint for
prigging, <prig^, v.] Thieving.
The white sheete bleaching on the hedge.
With hey the sweet birds, 0 how they sing ;
Doth set jny pugging tooth an edge.
Shak., W. T., iv. 3. 7 (1623).
puggle (pug'l), V. t, [Freq. ot img^, v.] To
stir (the fire). HaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.]
puggree, puggry. «• Same as pugree.
pugn (p6 or pun), interj. [Also ])iih ; a mere
exclamation ; cf. jiJiew, pooh, etc.] An excla-
mation of contempt, disdain, or disgust.
pugili (pii'jil), n. [= S^.p4gil = Pg. pugil =
It. pugile, a boxer, < L. pugil, a boxer, one who
fights with the fists,< pugnus (Vp^<9)t fist. Cf .
2mgil9, pugnacious, etc.] A boxer; a pugilist.
He was no little one, but saginati corporis bellua, as
Curtius says of Dioxippus the pugil.
Bp. Hacket, Abp. Williams, i. 37. (Davies,}
pugil2 (pu'jil), n. [= It. pugillo, a pinch, < L.
pugillus, pugillum, a handful, dim., < pugnus
{■\/ pug), fist : see pugiU.] As much as can be
taken up between the thumb and the first two
fingers; a pinch. [Obsolete or archaic]
Take violets, and infuse a good pugUl of them in a quart
of vinegar. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 17.
The old gentleman . . . at last extracted an ample round
snuff-box. I looked as he opened it and felt for the wonted
pugil. 0. W. Holmes, Autocrat, iv.
pugilism (pii'.ii-lizm), n. [< pugiP- + -ism.]
The art or practice of boxing or fighting with
the fists.
The writing is a kind of pugilism — the strokes being
made straight out from the shoulder.
HoweUg, Venetian Life, vii.
pugilist (pti'ji-list), n. [= F. pugiliste = Pg.
pugilista; as pugil^ + -ist.] A boxer; one who-
fights with his fists.
pugilistic (pH-ji-lis'tik), a. [< pugilist -I- -ic]
Of or pertaining to pugilists or pugilism ; re-
lating to boxing or fighting with the fists.
Gentlemen of the pugilistic profession are exceedingly
apt to keep their vitid flire burning with the blower up.
0. W. Holmes, Autocrat, vi.
pugilistically (pH-ji-lis'ti-kal-i), adv. In a pu-
gilistic manner; with reference to pugilism.
The record of these gentlemen, like my own, proves that
we are, pugilistically speaking, men of peace.
The Century, XXXIX. 655.
pugillares (pii-ji-la'rez), n. pi. [L. pugillares
(sc. libelli), ot pugillaria, neut. pi., tablets ; also
cerx pugillares, waxen tablets; pi; ot pugillaris,
that can be held in the hand: see pugillaris.]
In Bom. antiq., writing-tablets. See triptych.
pugillaria, «• pi- See pugillares.
pugillaris (pti-ji-la'ris), n.; pi. pugillares
(-rez). [ML., < li. pugillaris, that can be held
in the hand, < pugillus, a handful: see pugiP.]
The euoharistic calamus or fistula. See cala-
mus, 4.
pugioniform (pu-ji-on'i-f6rm), a. [< L. pur-
gio{nr), a dagger (< pugnus W pug), fist: see
poniard), + forma, form.] In lot, having the
shape of a dagger.
pug-mill (pug'mil), n. A machine for mixing
and tempering clay. A common form consists of a
pug-mill
hollow iron cylinder, generally set upright, with a revolv-
ing shaft In the line of its axis, carrying several knives
arranged in a spii-al manner round the shaft, with their
edges somewhat depressed. The clay Is thrown in at the
top of the cylinder, cut and kneaded by the knives in its
downward progress, and Anally forced out through a hole
in the bottom of the cylinder.
Pugnaces (pug-na'sez), n. pi. [NL., pi. of L.
pugnax (pugnac-), combative: seepugnaciousJ]
An old division of domestic dogs, including
those notable for their fighting qualities, as
mastiffs and bulldogs : distinguished from Cele-
res and Sagaoes.
pugnacious (pug-na'shus), a. [< L. pugnax
(jiugnae-), combative, ipugnare, fight, Kpugnits,
fist. Cf. pugil\ pugil^.^ Disposed to fight;
quarrelsome; given to fighting: as, a, pugna-
cious fellow; a, pugnacious disposition.
A furious, 2>ugjiacums pope, as Julius n.
Barrow, Pope's Supremacy.
The mistress of the puffnacimis quadruped entered to
the rescue. Barhrnn, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 33.
=Syn. Contentious.
pugnaciously (pug-na'shus-li), adv. [(.pugna-
cious + -?i/2.] In a pugnacious manner.
pugnaciousness (pug-na'shus-nes), TO. {(.pug-
nacious + -ness.'\ Pugnacity. [Bare.]
pugnacity (pug-nas'i-ti), n. [= F. pugnadte
= Sp. pugnacidad = tg. pugnacidade, < li.pug-
nacita{t-)s, combativeness, quarrelsomeness, <
pugnax (pugnao-), combative : seepuffnacioits.]
The quality of being pugnacious ; disposition
to fight; quarrelsomeness.
I like better that entry of truth which cometh peace-
ably . . . than that which cometh with pugnadty and
contention. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 177.
Keeping alive a natural jm^Tioctty of character. Motley.
pug-nose (pug'noz'), n. [< pug^, pug^, -I- nose.}
1. A nose turned'upward at the tip like that of
the pug-dog; a snub-nose.
Then half arose.
From beside his toes.
His little pug-dog with his Utile pug-7i08e.
Ba/rham, Ingoldsby Legends, L 55.
2. The pug-nosed eel. See eel and Simenche-
lys.
pug-nosed (pug'nozd), a. [< pug^ + nose +
-ed^.] Having a pug-nose Pue-nosedeel. SeeeeJ.
pug-piles (pug'pilz), n.pl. Kles mortised into
one another by a dovetail-joint. Also called
pug-piling (pug'pi'''ling), TO. Dovetailed piling.
pugree (pug're), «. [Also puggree, puggery,
pugaree, etc. ; < Hind, pagri, a turban.] A
scarf of cotton or silk wound roimd the hat or
helmet like a turban to protect the head from
the sun. [Anglo-Indian.]
With a little pulling and wrenching, and the help of my
long, tough turban-cloth, a r«al native pugree, we set and
bound the arm as best we could.
P.M.
^, Mr. Isaacs, x.
yvLhi.interj. Same as »oo7t. <SAaft., Hamlet (folio
1623), i. 3.
I am careless what the fusty world speaks of me. Puh !
B. Jomon, Every Man out of his Humour, iii. 1.
puisne (pH'ne), a. and n. [An archaic form of
puny, retained in legal use : see puny^.1 I. a.
1 . fii law, younger or inferior in rank.
An old gentleman . . . declaiming against the1;imes,
and treating them and their imimj/ advocate with more
contempt than either one or the other seemed to deserve.
Observer, No. 82.
2t. Later.
If he undergo any alteration, it must be in time, or of a
puixne date to eternity. Sir M. Hate.
St. Same as^MTOvi, 2 Muller puisne. Seemulier^.
— Pulsnejudge. Seejudge. [Eng.]
n. TO. A junior: an inferior; specifically, in
law, a judge of inferior rank.
Each odd pvime of the lawyer's inn.
Each barmy-froth, that last day did begin
To read his little, or his ne'er a whit.
Marston, Scourge of Villanle, To the Reader.
This 'tis for a puisne
In policy's Protean school to try conclusions
With one that hath commenced, and gone out doctor.
ifosn'n^er, Duke of Milan, iv. 1.
If stUl this privilege were ordinarily left in the Church,
it were not a work for puisnes and novices, but for the
greatest masters, and most learned and eminently holy
doctors, which the times can possibly yield.
Bp. HaU, Invisible World, ill § 9.
Lord Chief Justice Coke did not pass sentence on Mrs.
Tomer; that grim office was performed by his jntime,
Croke, J. N. and Q., 7th ser., IX. 263.
puisnyt, «. &a,mB as puisne, puny^. [Bare.]
puissance (pii'i-sans), n. [< ME. puyssanee,
puysaunce, < OF. puissance, poissance, F. puis-
sance, power, < puissant, powerful : see puis-
sant.'] 1. Power; strength; force; vigor.
Thei were moche peple and riche lordes of grete jrays-
sance, and ther-to were thei well horsed.
Mertin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 232.
4836
With what help and aid the virtues resist and overcome
the puissajwe of the vices.
Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Kobinson), ii, i.
Commonly ciuil and popular warres iece.y in puisance,
preuaile sildome, and may not indure.
Gueeara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 248.
His hart did earne
To prove his wuissance in batteU brave.
Spemer, F. Q., I. i. 3.
Leave your England, as dead midnight still,
Ouarded with grandsires, babies, and old women,
Either past or not arrived to pith andiweissaTice.
Shak., Hen. v., iii., Prol., 1. 21.
Still from time to time
Came murmurs of her beauty from the South,
And of her brethren, youths of puissance.
Tennyson, Princess, i.
2t. Jurisdiction; power; control.
The educacion of childeren should not altogeather be vn-
der the puissamice of their fathers, but vnder the publlque
power and aucthority, hecawse the publlque haue therein
more Intereste then their parentes.
Booke qf Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 11.
St. Armed force.
Than, with the ii&tepuyssaunce that we may make, lete
vs distroye the vitaile fro them thourgh the oontreye, and
lete vs sette in eche gamyson as moche peple as we may.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 174.
All \iie puyssance that was sent hy Kyng Philyppe . . .
they were all discomfytted and sla^e.
Bemers, tr. of Froissart's Chron., 1. 731.
Cousin, go draw our puissaytce together.
Shak., K. John, ui. 1. 339.
puissant (pu'i-sant), a. [< ME. puyssant, puy-
saunt, pusant, (.'i)F. puissant, poissant, F. puis-
sant. = It. pos'sente, powerful, < ML. as if *pos-
sen{t-)s, toilj. poten(t-)s, ppr. ot posse, be able:
see potent.] Powerful; mighty; strong; vigor-
ous; forcible: as, a jjuissan* prince or empire.
Which f ele letters brought with brefles many
Of Anthony hys part, e. pusant man the.
Bom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), L 2883.
The flemynges were beyond the ryuer puyssaunt ynough
... to kepe the passage.
Bemers, tr. of Froissart's Chron., I. 721.
I will he puissant,
And mighty in my talk to her.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, v. 1.
Puissant is the Danish king, and strong
In all the sinews of approved force.
Ford, Honour Triumphant, Mouarchs' Meeting.
Lofn is OB puissant a divinity in the Norse Edda as Cam-
adeva in the red vault of India, Eros in the Greek, or Cu-
pid in the Latin heaven. Emerson, Success.
puissantly (pii'i-sant-li), adv. In a puissant
manner; powerfully; potently.
Mahomet, a man snbtfle in witte, of valiant hearte, and
fortunate in exployt of war, as he manifested most pui.
santly by obteyning more honour than any other in the
campe. Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1677), p. 326.
puissantness (pii'i-sant-nes), TO. Puissance;
power; strength.
The emperour . . . hath bene driuen to extreme shif tes,
and that by the pollicie of mean men who were thought
to be hys f rendes, and not by the puisantnes of others who
were knowne to be his open enemys.
Ascharn, AjSaira of Germany, p. 3.
puist, puistie (pflst, piis'ti), a. [< poust, n.]
In easy circumstances ; well-to-do : said of per-
sons of the lower classes who have made money.
[Scotch.]
puit^ (pu'it), TO. Same a.s pewit (b). [Eng.]
puit^t (put), TO. [< F.puits = Fi.potz, poutz =
Sp.pozo = 'Pg.pogo = It. pogzo, < li.puteus, a
well: seepif^.] A spring; a fountain; a well;
a rill.
The puits flowing from the fountains of life.
Jer. Taylor,
puka-puka (p6'ka-po''ka), n. [New Zealand.]
A small branching composite tree, Senecio For-
steri, of New Zealand, its leaves. are very large,
sometimes a foot long, and used by the natives as paper,
whence pukorpvka has become the native word for com-
mon paper.
puke^ (piik); »• ; pret. and pp. puJced, ppr. puk-
ing. [Origin obscure; perhaps for *spuke or
*speuh, extended form of spew. Cf . G. spucken,
spit.] I. intrans. 1. To vomit; eject the con-
tents of the stomach.
The infant
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Shak., As you Like it, ii. 7. 144.
2. To sicken ; be overcome with loathing.
As one of Woodward's patients, sick and sore,
I puke, I nauseate — yet he thrusts in more.
Pope, Satires of Donne, iv. 153.
II. trans. 1. To vomit; throw up; eject from
the stomach: generally with wp. — 2. To cause
to puke or vomit.
pukei (puk), TO. [< puJce^, v.] 1. Vomit; a
vomiting; that which is vomited. — 2. An
emetic. — S. A disgusting person. • [Low.] —
4. [cap.] An inhabitant of the State of Mis-
souri. [Vulgar, U. S.]
Pulex
puke^t (piik), a, and n. [Formerly also pewke;
< ME. ^ttfce; appar. an unassibilated form of
jjMcc] I. a. Oi a dark color, said to be red-
dish brown.
The coulour of this camell is for the most part browne,
orjJJife. TopseK, Four-footed Beasts. (Halliuell.)
II. TO. A dark color between russet and black;
puce.
I wolde in alle hast possible have that same gowne of
puke ffurryd with whyght lamhe. Paston Letters, III. 153.
You shall doe well to send flue or sixe broad clothes,
some blackes, pukes, or other sad colours.
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 357.
puker (pti'kSr), TO. 1. One who pukes or vomits.
— 2t. A medicine which causes vomiting; an
emetic.
The griper senna, and fhepuker rue.
The sweetener sassafras, are added too.
Garth, Dispensary, ill.
puke-stockingt (piik'stok''''lng), a. Wearing
puke-colored stockings. [Bare.]
Wilt thou rob this leathern jerkin, crystal-button, not.
pated, agate-ring, imie-sJocMn^, caddis-garter?
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., U. 4. 78.
puke-weed (piik'wed), n. The officinal lobelia,
Lobelia inflata, once much employed as an
emetic.
puking-fever (pii'king-fe'''v6r), TO. Same as
milk-siclmess.
pukishf (pu'Msh), a. l<puke^ -I- -ishK] Of the
color called puke.
I saw my selfe old Canadie,
About twelve of the clocke.
Bare foote, hyr lockes about her heade,
Ytuckde in pukishe pocke,
Drant, tr. of Horace's Satires, viii,
pulas (pu-las'), TO. [Bind, paldsh, palds.] An
East Indian tree, Sutea frondosa; also, S. su-
perha, which differs cMefly in its climbing
habit. Also palas, and pulas-tree. See Butea
and fcJTOoi.
pulas-oil (pu-las'oil),_M. Same as moodooga-oil.
pulas-tree (pu-las'tre), to. Same a,s pulas.
pulcbrioust, a. [MB. pulerious, < L, pulclwr,
puleer, beautiful, -f- -^o«s.] Beauteous; beau-
tiful; fair.
The seffe child Ffromont that time callyd was.
Of stature of persone hie, gret, and long.
Inly wel formed, pulerious of face.
Sage, subtile, wel taught, myghty and stronge.
Rom. <if Partenay (E. E. T. S.), L 1263.
pulchritude (pul'kri-tud), n. [< ME. pulcti-
tude, < OP. *hulcritude = Sp. pulcritud = Pg.
pulchritude, Ch.pulckritudo,pulcritudo, beauty,
< pulcher, puleer, OL. polcer, beautiful.] Beau-
ty; comeliness; handsomeness.
Persing our hartes with thi pulcrifude.
Court of Love, L 613-
Themistius . . . maintain'd an Opinion that . . . the
Pulchritude and Preservation of the World consisted in
Varieties and Dissimilitudes. HoweU, Letters, iii. 26.
The queen, when she had view'd
The strange eye-dazzling admirable sight.
Fain would have prais'd the state and mUehritude.
Sir J. Davies, Dancing.
What more than heavenly pidchrUude is this?
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, ii. 1.
puldronf, to. An obsolete form otpauldrov.
pule (pill), v.; pret. and pp. puled, ppr. puling.
[YovmeAjaXso pewl,peule; < OF.piuler,pioler,
piauler, < F.piauler, chirp, pule; cf. It. pigo-
tare, chirp, moan; imitative words; of. pipe\
peep\ ete.,pue^, etc.] I. intrans. 1. To peep
or pipe plaintively, as a chick. — 2. To cry as
a complaining child; whine; whimper.
The poore silly Sovlea pewling out of Purgatory.
Sir T. Mare, Tracts (Utopia, Int., p. xovii.).
A wretched puling fool. Shak., B. and J., iii. 6. 185.
Thou 'rt such a puling thing ! wipe your eyes and rise ;
go your ways. Beau, and PI., Coxcomb, iv. 7.
Wherefore should I pule, and, like a girl,
Put flnger in the eye? Ford, Broken Heart, v. 2.
All the wisdom of the ages wiU avail it nothing if it
pule in discontent and fret in nervous sickness.
Hr. A. Sev., CXLII. 146.
Il.t trans. To utter in a whining or queru-
lous manner: with out.
I say " You love " ; you peiule me out a No.
Drayton, Idea, v.
puler (pii'lfer), TO. One who pules or whines ; a
sickly, complaining person.
If she he pale of complexion, she wiU prove but a puler;
is she high coloured, an ill cognizance.
The Man in the Moone (1609), sig. G. (HaUiwdl.)
Pulex (pil'leks), n. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1735), < L.
pulex, a flea.] 1. A notable genus of insects,
typical of the Pulicidse, or flea family. They lead
a semi-parasitic life upon man and other animals. The
larvsp feed on refuse, and are slender and whitish. Many
species are known. P. irrttans is the common flea which
Pulex
infests man. P. canie is found upon the cat and the doe.
See cut under JUai. '
2. II. c] A flea, or some similar creature.— pu-
lex arbOTescenst, arborescent flea, an old name of any
water-flea with branched horns— that is, of anv dado-
cerous crustacean. ^ '
"pnliallt, n. See puUol.
-prdiall-mountamt, n. Same a,spella-mountain.
jtuic (pu'lik), n. [Shortened from NL. Puli-
caria.'] In bot., a plant of the genus FuUcaria;
fleabane.
Pulicaria (pii-U-ka'ri-S,), n. [NL. (Gartner,
1791), < liL. puUcaria, a plant, also called ps«J-
lion (from the supposed power of the smoke of
P. dysenterica to drive away fleas), < L. pulex,
a flea.] A genus of composite herbs of the
tribe Inuloidese and subtribe EuinulesB. it is
characterized by a long inner pappus of one row of bris.
ties, a very short outer pappus more or less united into a
•crown or a fringed cup, a broad Involucre of narrow bracts
In but few rows, yellow ray-flowers in one or two rows, and
either smooth or ribbed achenes. Some species hava the
appearance of Inula, the elecampane, which is distin-
«uished by its nearly uniform pappus. There are about
SO species, natives of Europe, Africa, and Asia, especially
In the Mediterranean region. They are hairy annuals or
perennials, with alternate sessile leaves, and flower-heads
solitary at the summits of the branches. P. (^Imda) dy-
genterica, the fleabane, was once supposed to destroy fleas,
and has sometimes been used to cure dysentery. Old
names of the plant are Jtea^ane-imdlet and herb-christo-
pher.
'pillicat, n. See pulUcat.
pulicene (pii'li-sen), a. [Irreg. for *pulicine,
< h. pulex {puUe-), a flea, + -jmel.] Relating
to fleas ; pulieous.
Tulicidse (pii-lis'i-de), n.pl. [NL. (Stephens,
1829), < Pulex (Pulie-) + -idse.'] The flea fam-
ily, considered as either a family of Diptera, or
the sole family of an order called Aphaniptera
■or Siphonaptera. Several genera are known, the prin-
•cipal ones being PtUex and SarcopsyUa. Insects of this
family are minute, wingless, with the antennse from tbree-
to fourteen- jointed, mandibles long and serrate, body ovate
:andmuch compressed, two simple eyes, no compound eyes,
and edges of the heaid and prothorax armed with stout
spines directed backward. See cuts underyfeal and ehigoe.
pulicosef (pu'li-kos), a. [< L. puUcosus, full of
fleas, < pulex (pulie-), a, flea.] Abounding with
fleas.
pulicoust (pU'li-kus), a. Same a,a pulicose.
puling (pii'ling), n. [Verbal n. of pule, «.] A
plaintive piping, as of a chicken; a whining
complaint.
Let the songs be loud and cheerful, and not chirpings
or pulingt. Bacon, Masques and Triumphs (ed. 1887).
TVhat 's the news from London, sirrah ? My young mis-
tress keeps such a puling for a lover.
Yorkshire Tragedy, i. 1.
puling (pU'ling),^. fls. Complaining; whining;
crying; childish; weak.
Come, look up bravely; put tlua pvZing passion
Out of your mind.
Seau. and Fl., Enight of Malta, ii. 3.
Where be those ^iny fears of death, just now expressed
or affected? Lamb, New Year's Eve.
pulinglv (pu'ling-li), adv. In a puling manner ;
with whining or complaint.
I do not long to have
My sleep ta'en from me, and go pulingly,
lake a poor wench had lost her market-money.
Beau, and Fl., Captain, ill. 1.
puliolt, n. [Also pulioll, pulial, puliaU, ult. < L.
puleium, pulegium, fleabane, pennyroyal, < pu-
lex (puUc-), a flea: see Pulex.'] Same as pen-
nyroyal, 1.
puliol-royalf, n. [Also puliaU royal; < ME.
puUall real, < ML. puleium regale, equiv. to
L. puleium regium, royal fleabane: see puliol
and royal. Hence, by corruption, pennyroyal.]
Same as pennyroyal, 1.
pulisll(pii'lish), «. [Native name (?).] The
Angola ant-thrush. Pitta angolensis.
pulfci (pulk), n. [Appar. a contracted dim. of
pool^.'] A pool; a pond. [Prov. Eng.]
pulk2, pulkha (pulk, pul'ka), n. [Lappish.]
A Laplanders' traveling-sledge, it is built in the
Lapland Pulk. (From an original in the possession of the
American Geographical Society.)
iorm of a boat, of light materials, covered with reindeer-
skin. It is drawn by a single remdeer, and is used in
Journeying over the snow in winter.
These pulks are shaped very much like a canoe; they
«re about five feet long, one foot deep, and eighteen mches
304
4837
wide, with a sharp bow and a square stem. You sit up-
right against the stem-board, with your legs stretched
out in the bottom, B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 103.
pulk-hole (pulk'hol), n. Same as jwffii.
This underwood, with the turf in the pulk hole or bog
lands, . . . constitutedabsolntely the only fuel at the be-
ginning of the century. A. Je^app, Arcady, iL
pull (pul), V. [< ME. pullen, < AS. pullian, pull
(also in comp.- dpulUanjVaO-), = Ujr.pulen, pick,
pluck, pull, tear; ef.MD^MZZen, drink; root un-
known.] I. trans. 1. To draw or try to draw
forcibly or with effort; drag; ha.ul; tug: op-
posed to push : generally with an adverb of dl-
reetion, as up, down, on, off, out, back, etc. : as,
to pull a, chair back ; to pull down a flag ; to pull
a bucket out of a well; to pull ojf one's coat.
This Arcito, with f ul despttous herte
Whan he him knew, and^hadde bis tale herd.
As flers as leoun puUede out a swerd.
Chaveer, Knight's Tale, 1. 740.
So hangs, and lolls, and weeps upon me ; so hales, and
pulie me. Sltak., Othello, iv. 1. 144.
0 Night, thou ptiUest the proud Mask away
Where-with value Actors, in this Worlds great Play,
By Day disguise them.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, L
PttU off, pull off the broach of gold.
And fling the diamond necklace by.
Tennyson, Iiady Clare.
2. To pluck; gather by hand: as, toj)MZ/flax;
to pull AowevB.
He joys to puU the ripened pear.
Dryden, tr. of Horace's Epodes, iL
3. To draw in such a way as to rend or tear;
draw apart; rip; rend: followed by some
qualifying word or phrase, such as asunder, in
pieces, apart : also used figuratively.
Fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces.
Acts xxili. 10.
It is hardly possible to come into company where yon
do not find them pulling one another to pieces.
Steele, Spectator, No. 348.
4. To extract; draw, as a tooth or a cork. —
5. To agitate, move, or propel by tugging, row-
ing, etc.: as, to pull a bell; to pull a boat.
1 have pulled a whale boat in the Pacific, and paddled a
canoe on Lake Huron. Whyte JUelmlle, White Hose, II. vii.
May bend the bow or pull the oar.
Whittier, Mogg Megone, ii.
6. To transport by rowing: as, to pull a pas-
senger across the bay.
To pull Ij&dj Cramly and her daughter down the river.
T. Hook, Fathers and Sons, xvlL
7. In printing, to produce on a printing-press
worked by hand; hence, to take or obtain by
impression in any way: as, to pull a proof.
The " copy " was quickly put in type, a proof was putted,
and at lOh. 50m. it was placed in my hands, exactly an
hour after the observations had been made at a station
nearly 3000 miles away. The Century, XXXVm. 606.
8t. To bring down; reduce; abate.
His rank flesh shall be putt'd with daily fasting.
Fletcher, Wife for a Monui, v. 3.
9f . To pluck ; fleece ; cheat.
what plover *s that
They have brought to ;>ti2I.'
B. Jonson, Staple of News, li 1.
10. In tanning, to remove the wool from (sheep-
skins), or the hair from (hides). A puUing-knite,
made of steel with a rather blunt edge, is used, acting
much on the principle of a scraper. It engages the hair
without cutting it off , and pulls it out. The skin is spread,
with the hair or wool side uppermost^ on an inclined sup-
port during the process.
11. To steal; filch. [Thieves' slang.]
We lived by thieving, and I do stUl— by putting flesh
(stealing meat).
Nayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 460.
12. To make a descent upon for the purpose
of breaking up ; raid; seize: as, to jw?? a gam-
bling-house: said of police. [Slang.]— 13. In
iwrse-racing, to check or hold back (a horse) in
order to keep it from winning: as, the jockey
was suspected of pulling the horse. [Slang.]
— To pull a face, to draw the countenance into a particu-
lar expression ; grimace : as, to putt a long face (that is, to
look very serious).
The Prior and the learned pulled a face.
Browning, Fra Lippo Lippi.
To pull a finch't. See.;incAi.— To pull down, (a) To
take down or apart ; demolish by separating and remov-
ing the parts : as, to putt down a house.
Pull not doum my palace towers, that are
So lightly, beautifully built.
Tennyson, Palace of Art.
(J) To subvert ; overthrow ; demolish.
In politicall affairs, as well as mechanical, it is farre
easier to putt down then build up.
HovjeU, Vocall Forrest^ p. 104.
The world is full of institutions which, though they never
ought to have been set up, yet, having been set up, ought
not to be rudely in^^Zed down.
Uacaulay, Gladstone on Church and State.
pullaile
(c) To abase ; humble ; degrade.
Nothing putteth doume a mans heart so much as aduer^
sitie and lacke. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Foesie, p. 34.
He putteth doume, he setteth up on hy ;
He gives to this, from that he takes away.
Spenser, F. Q., V. ii. 41.
To raise the wretehed and putt doum the proud.
RoscomwMn, tr. of Horace's Art of Poetiy.
The f eind no sooner Jesus there did read.
But QvSltpulFd down his eyes, and fear his head.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, ii. 122.
To pull down the Sidet, to cause the defeat of the party
or side on which a person plays.
If I hold your cards I shall putt doum the side;
I am not good at the game.
Massinger, Great Duke of Florence, iv. 2.
To pull in one's horns. SeeAora.- Topullone tbrough,
to extricate one from a difficulty.
I am very hopeful of your regiment arriving in time to
pull us through.
Phantom Piquet, Comhill Mag., Oct., 1888.
To pull the dead horse. SeeAorsei.— TopuUthelong-
bow. Seeion^ftoMJ.- Topullup. (o) To pluck up; tear up,
as by the roots ; hence, to extirpate ; eradicate ; destroy.
They shall no more be putted up out of their laud which
I have given them. Amos ix. 15.
I observed that they reap their com in these parts,
whereas about Damascus they pull it up by the roots.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 142.
(b) To take to task ; administer reproof or admonition to ;
put a check upon. [Colloq.] (c) To arrest and take before
a court of justice. [Colloq.] (d) To bring to a stop by
means of the reins : as, to pidl up a horse when driving or
riding. Hence— (e) To stop or arrest in any course of
conduct, especially In a bad course. =Syn. 1. To drag.—
2. To gather.
H. imtrans. To give a pull; tug; draw with
strength and force : as, to pull at a rope.
I haf jemed & jat ^okkez of oxen,
& for my hyjez hem host, to bowe haue I mester.
To see hem puUe in the plow aproche me byhouez.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 68.
To puU apart, to separate or break by pulling; as, a
rope will putt apart. — To pull for, to row toward: as,
they pulled for the ship or the shore. — To pull through,
to get through any undertaking with difficulty. [ColloqO
I shall be all right 1 I shall ^puZZ through, my dear !
Dickens, Bleak House, xxxvii.
To pull up, to stop in riding or driving by drawing the
reins; halt; stop.
The SloggerptiZ2> up at last for a moment, fairly blown.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Kugby, i. 5.
Mr. Kearney putted up at the outskirts of the town in
front of a sm^ general store.
The Century, XXXVII. 602.
pull (pul), «. [< ME.jjmZ; < pull, v.] 1. The
exercise of drawing power; effort exerted in
hauling; a tug; drawing power or action; force
expended in drawing.
The husbandman, whose costs and pain,
Whose hopes and helps lie buried in his grain.
Waiting a happy Spring to ripen full
His long'd-for harvest to the reapers' putt.
Beau, and Fl., Four Plays in One, Epil.
Particles . . . aiTanging themselves under the influence
ot the putt or gravity of the earth.
Pop. Sd. Mo., XXIX. 46.
An iron bar, . . . one inch square, cooled through 80°
Fahr., contracts with Siputt of fifty tons.
W. L. Carpenter, Energy in Nature (1st ed.), p. 46.
2. Exercise in rowing; an excursion in a row-
boat: as, to have a, pull after dinner. [Colloq.]
— Sf. A contest; a struggle.
Tills wrastling pull between Corineus and Gogmagog.
it Carew, Survey of Cornwall, p. 2.
4. That which is pulled. Specifically- (o) The lever
of a counter-pump or beer-pull. (6) The knob and stem
of a door-bell ; a bell-pull.
5. Influence; advantageous hold or claim on
some one who has influence : as, to have a pull
with the police ; he has a pull on the governor.
[Slang.]
A good feature of the ordinance is the power given to
the city engineer, . . . who is too often handicapped by
politicians and contractors who have a putt on the Cify
Fathers. The Engineer, LXV. 392.
6. A favorable chance; an advantage: as, to
have the i)wZ? over one. [Slang.]
Do you know, it 's a great putt not having married young.
Whyte Melville, White Rose, II. xxiv.
The great ptdl that men have over us [women] is that
they are supposed to do only one thing at a time.
Nineteenth Century, XXVL 782.
7. A drink; a swig: as, to have a. pull at the
brandy-bottle. [Colloq.]
The other hiccoughed, and suoked in a long pull of hia
hot coffee. Whyte Mdville, White Rose, II. ii.
"Bre'r Tonn," he said, after a long pull at the pitcher
of persimmon beer. Tlie Century, XXXVm. 88.
8. Inprintirig, a single impression made by one
pull of the bar of a hand-press — Candy-pnU. See
candy^. — Dead pull, in mech., total pressure ; impressed
force.
pullailet, »• [ME., < OP. poulaiUe, P. poulailk,
poultry, < poule, hen, < 'L.puUtts,a, young ani-
mal, a chicken: aeepMet.] Poultry.
pullaile
With caleweis or with puttayle.
With oonynges or with fyne vitaille.
Horn. (^ the Rose, h 704S.
Pnllastrse (pu-las'tre), n. pi. [KL., pi. of L.
pullastra, a young hen, a pullet, dim. olpullus,
a young fowl: see piMeW] An artificial as-
semblage of birds, in which those gallinaceous
birds which are peristeropod or pigeon-toed,
as the Craeidse and Megapodidse, are grouped
with the true pigeons, or Colwmbee, includiag
the dodos.
pnllastriform (pu-las'tri-f6rm), a. [< L. pul-
lastra, a young hen, a pullet, 4- forma, form.]
Same aa pullastrine.
PvUaMriform and Struthious Birds.
E. D. Cope, Origin oi the Fittest, p. 122.
puUastrine (pu-las'trin), a. [< Pullastt-ee +
-ine'^.} Pertaining to the Pullastrse, or having
their characters.
The PuUaatrine birds are a generfdized group.
K D. Cope, Origin at the Fittest^ p. 114.
pull-back (pul'bak), n. [< pull + back\ adv.'j
i. That which keeps one back or restrains; a
drawback.
I appeal to the mind of every particular person that
hears me whether he has not often found a struggle within
himself, and a kind of puUiaek from the sin that he has
been about to engage in. Sovth, Sermons, VII. xi.
2. In modem costume for women, a contrivance
by which the folds of the skirt behind were held
together closely, so that the skirt in front was
drawn tightly and hung straight down. It was
in fashion about 1885.
pull-cock (pul'kok), n. A faucet of which the
lever is vertical when the outlet is closed, and
is pulled forward 90° in a vertical plane to open
the passage fully.
pnll-devil (pul'dev'l), n. A device for catching
fish, made of several hooks fastened back to
back, to be dragged or jerked through the water.
pnlldoo (piU'dS), n. [< F.poule d'eau, 'water-
hen': poule, hen (see pullet); de, of (see de^);
eau, water (see eioe'^).'] The American coot, !%■
lica americana. [Local, U. S.]
pull-down (pul'doun), n. In organ-building,
the wire whereby a pallet or valve is opened
when its digital is depressed ; a pallet-wire.
pullent (piiren), n. [Also pullein, pullain, puU
liii , < OF. poulain,puleyn, polan.F. poulain (of.
Pr. pollin, polli = Sp. pollvno = It. poUimo), the
young of any animal, esp. a foal, colt, < ML.
puUanus, also, atter 11,0111., pullenus,polinus, m.,
'puUana, pulina, f., a foal, colt, filly,< li.pullus,
a young animal : see puVst.'] Poultry.
They bring up a great multitude of pvUein, and that by
a marvellous policy; for the hens do not sit upon the
eggs ; but by keeping them in a certain equal heat they
bring life into them, and hatch them.
Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Robinson), ii. 1.
A false theefe
That came like a false foxe my pullain to kil and mis-
cheef e. Bp. StUl, Gammer Gurton's Needle, v. 2.
To see how pitifully the pullen will look, it makes me
after relent, and turn my anger into a quick ilre to roast
'em. Middleton, Your Five Gallants, ii. 1.
Litss. What, three and twenty years in law?
Vind. I haue knowne those that haue beene flue and
fifty, and all about PvUin and Pigges.
C. Toumeur, Revenger's Tragedy, iv. 2.
puller (pul'fir), n. [< pull + -erl.] One who or
that which pulls.
Peace, impudent and shameless Warwick, peace,
Proud setter up and pvJXer down of kings !
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iii. 3. 167.
P >lller off, in a press or punching-machine, a forked piece
which is so adjusted as to be almost in contact with the
work to be stamped or punched, which it prevents from
rising when the die or punch is drawn back.
pullet (pul'et), n. [ME. pulette, polete, < OF.
polete, poulette, F. pouleite, a chick, young hen,
dim. of poule, a hen, < ML. pulla (> OF. and F.
poule), a young hen, fem. of Ti.puUus, a young
animal, young, esp. of domestic fowls, a young
fowl, a chicken, a young sprout, = K. foal,
q. V. Gtpoult.'] 1. A young hen.
And in this maner, ye that be anncient teachynge vs,
and wee obedient^ as old fathers and young puUettee, bee-
yng in the nest of the Senate. Cfolden Book, viil.
2. A bivalve, Tapes pullastra, of the family Ve-
neridse, abundant in European seas, chiefly in
muddy sand or sandy bottoms near tide-mark.
It also occupies deserted holes, and is then apt to show
distortion of the shdl, which in growing adapts itself to
its surroundings. When not raajfoimed, the shell is ob-
long, and the valves are covered with concentric stricB be-
commg coarser and more wavy toward the ends, and crossed
by diverging strice.
puUet-spermt (pul'et-spferm), n. The treadle
or chalaza of an egg : so called because formerly
supposed to be the sperm of the egg.
Ill no pullet-a>erm in my brewage.
Shak., M. W. ef W., iii. 6. 32.
4838
pulley (piil'i), n. [Formerly also pully, pullie ;
< (o)late ME.polley {=MD.poleye = Sp._poteo
= Pg. poU = It. puleggia, formerly also puleg-
gio) {ML.polea,polegia,polegium), < OF.poulie,
a pulley (CotCTave), F.pouUe, a pulley, block,
sheave ; of. OF. poulie, poulUe, a place to hang
out clothes; origin uncertain; by some con-
nected with AS. pullian, B. pull. (6) Cf . ME.
polive, appar., with accom. term, -ive, of like
origin with the above, (c) ME. poleyne, a pul-
ley, < OF. pottlain (ML. polanus), a pulley-rope,
a particular use of poulain, a colt: see pullen.
The transfer of sense from 'colt' to 'a sup-
port' is paralleled in the use of liorse and easel
(lit. 'ass'), and of F.poutre, 'filly,' also 'beam,'
ch^re, 'goat,' also 'crane,' and of E. crane it-
self; also by Gr. ivof, ass, crane, pulley.] 1.
(a) Properly, a simple machine consisting of
a wheelhaving a grooved rim for carrying a
rope or other line, and turning in a frame,
which, when movable, is termed a pulley-block.
(J) A block containing several grooved wheels,
(c) A tackle or apparatus consisting of one
or more pulley-blocks with a rope or ropes
reeved through them for use in hoisting. The
pulley serves to balance a great force against a small
one ; its sole use is to produce equilibrium ; it does not
save work, unless indirectly in some unmechanical way.
The pulley is a lever with equal arms ; but when it turns,
the attachments of the forces are moved. Fig. 1 shows a
fixed pulley. The equal weights d and e are in equilib-
rium, because they hang from the equal arms of the lever
ab, having its fulcrum at c. Fig.-2 illustrates the prin-
ciple of the movable pulley. The equal-armed lever, with
fulcrum at c, has on one arm the weight d and on the
other the force of the stretched string be. If there is
equilibrium, this force must be equal t» the weight of d.
Thus, the total downward pull on /, one arm of the equal-
armed lever fg, with fulcrum at A, is twice the weight
of d, which must, therefore, be the weight of i to keep it
in balance. We may also use the axiom that when a cord
is free to move along its length it must be under equal
stress in all its parts. Consequently, when a movable block
is supported by a number of parallel parts of the same cord.
pulley-mortise
as shown in fig. 3. The lettering corresponds to that in
flg. 1, and serves to show the principle. Fig. i shows the
machine in action. Here a a is the triangular frame of the
Fig. i
Fig. a.
Fig. 3-
Fig. 4-
Fig. S-
Pulleys.
these must bear equal shares of the load. Thus, in fig.
3, the lower block with the weight b brings equal strains
. upon four stretches of the cord, one of which is balanced
by a. Consequently, the weight of 6 is four times that
of a. But the effects of friction and of the stiffness of the
cord are of great importance in the calculation of the ad-
vantages of pulleys. There is a great mechanical advan-
tage in having separate blocks for all the movable pul-
leys, as in figs, i and 5. Thus, in fig. 4, the weight a is
balanced over the lowest pulley by the puU on b, and the
sum of these forces drawing down the lowest pulley is
balanced over the second pulley by the pull on c, which
is therefore double the weight at 0. Thus, by means of
four pulleys a balances a + 2a + ia + Sa = a (24 — 1),
or fifteen times instead of (as by the arrangement of fig.
3) only four times its own weight. Another arrangement
is shown in fig. 6. Here, by means of four pulleys, a bal-
ances eight times its own weight.
2. In anat. : (a) A trochlea, or trochlear sur-
face of an articulation. (6) A ligamentous
loop which confines or changes the direction of
the tendon of a muscle passing through it: as,
the digastric muscle of the chin and the supe-
rior oblique of the eye both pass through a
pulley. See outs under muscle and eye'^ Com-
pound pulley, a system of pulleys by which the power
to raise heavy weights or overcome resistances is gained at
the expense of velocity. See def . 1 («). — Conical pulley,
a cone-pulley. — Crown-
ing pulley, a pulley with
a convex rim, much used
where from various causes
belt8_ are in danger of
slipping off, the convexity
tending to retain the belt
on the rim.— Dead pul-
ley. Same as loose pull^.
[Local, Eng.]— Differen-
tial pulley, a peculiar
machine operating upon
the principle of the lever.
Let AD (flg. 1) be a lever,
having its fulcrum at 0,
half-way between A and
D. From D and B (a point
on AC) cords are attached to the equal arms of the lever
BF, with fulcrum at G. Then, if weights are placed on
A and G so as to balance one another, G is practically
supported at the point half-way between B and D.
The ratio of the weight at G to that at A is therefore
2 AC (CD-BC). The differential pulley has above one
solid wheel with two grooved rims, the lower one being
furnished with spikes to enter the links of a chain and
prevent it from running over the wheel (see fig. 2). An
endless chain is reeved upon this and upon a pulley below,
Fig- 3-
Fig. 4-
Differential Pulley.
Flat-rope Pulley for
transmitting power by
means of a band or
rope. y. face of pul-
ley ; 9, flanges.
Crowning Pulley.
traveler, b a link with which the hook e of the differen-
tial pulley p engages, and r, r rollers which support the
frame on the rail R,— Double-SPeed pulley, a combina-
tion of two loose pulleys (see loose pvUey) and toothed
gearing with one fast-driven pulley, whereby two differ-
ent speeds of rotation may be obtained with pulleys of
the same diameter by shifting the band from the fast pul-
ley to one of the loose pulleys. Also called two-speed pul-
ley.— Driven pulley, in mech., a pulley which receives
its motion through a belt or band from another pulley
called the driving jwrfJej/.— Driving pulley, a pulley
which, by means of a belt or band, transmits its motion
to another pulley. A wide-faced pulley is often both a
driven and a driving pulley.— Fast-and-loose pulleys.
Seefast^. — Fast pulley, a pulley flrmljr attached to the
shaft from which it receives or to which it communicates
motion.— Flat-rope pulley, a pulley
with a sheave having in its peiimeter
a rectangular or nearly rectangular
groove, instead of the usual semicir-
cular score.— Frame pulley, a pul-
ley which has, instead of a block, a
sort of frame of iron in which tlie
sheave or sheaves are pivoted. —
Loose pulley, a pulley fitted loosely
on a shaft and placed near a fast pul-
ley to receive and support the belt
when it is thrown off in order to dis-
connect the shaft. It is practically
an idle-wheel.— Parting pulley, a
pulley or belt- wheel that can be sep-
arated into two parts so that a shaft
need not be dismounted in order to
receive it.— Scored pulley, a pulley
having a semicircular groove about
its perimeter to receive a band of circular section, or a
rope. E. H. Knight.— SiAe pulley, a pulley the block of
which has laterally or vertically extending lugs, with
holes therein, by which it may be bolted to a wall or post
—Sliding pulley, a pulley with a clutch mechanism
placed so as to slide baekward and forward on a shaft;
used for coupling and disengaging machinery, and also
as a pulley.— Tug pulley, in a well-boring rig, the pulley
which, by means of the bull-rope acting as a crossed band,
imparts motion to the bull-wheel of an oil-derrick. See
oil-derriek.
pulley (pul'i), V. *. l< pulley, n. Ct.F.poulier,
raise with a pulley, < poulie, a pulley.] To raise
or hoist with a pulley. [Rare.]
A Mine of white Stone was discovered hard by, which
runs in a continued Vein of Earth, and is digged out with
Ease, being soft, and is between a white Clay and Chalk at
first; but being pulleyed up with [into 1] the open Air, it
receives a crusty kind of Hardness, and so becomes per-
fect Freestone. Howell, Letters, 1. 1. 1«.
pulley-block (pWi-blok), n. A shell contain-
ing one or more sheaves, the whole forming a
pulley.
pulley-box (pul'i-boks), n. In a draw-loom, a
frame containing the pulleys for guiding the
tail-cords. JE. B. Knight.
pulley-check (pul'i-chek), n. An automatic
clutch or locking device designed to prevent a
rope from running backward through a pulley-
block.
puUey-clutcIl (piil'i-kluch), )!. An automatic
device, in the form of a grappling-tongs, for
fastening a hoisting-pulley to a beam or raf-
ter.
pulley-drum (piil'i-drum), n. A pulley-shell
or pulley-block.
pulley-frame (piil'i-fram), n. In mining, same
as head-frame, poppet-head, etc.
pulley-mortise (piil'i-m6r'tis), n. Same as
chase-mortise.
pulley-sheave
pulley-sheave (ptU'i-shev), n. The grooved
roller over which a rope runs In a pnUey-bloek.
pulley-shell (pul'i-shel), n. The outer part or
casing of a pxuley-block,
pulley-Stand (pul'i-stand), n. A hanger on
which pulleys can lie adjusted as to height and
angle ot axis, so as to make them suit the belt-
ing, which may reach them at angles varying
with the stem of the hanger. M. H. Knight.
pulley-Stone (ptd'i-ston), n. Ingeol., a name
familiarly given to the sUiciouspuUey-like oasts
or molds of the joints and stems of enerlnites.
pulley-Wheel (pul'i-hwel), ». A pulley-sheave.
pullicat, puhcat (pul'i-kat), n. A cotton check
handkerchief of real or imitation Indian make.
Balfour.
puUint, m. Beeptdlen.
puUing-jack (pWing-jak), n. A hydraulic
jack which has a pulling instead of a pushing
action.
pulling-OUt (pul'ing-ouf), n. ; pi. pulUngs-out
(-ingz-onf). The lining worn with a slashed
garment and drawn partly through the slash,
so as to project loosely.
pull-iron (ptl'i"em), n. 1. In a railroad-car,
an eye-bolt or lug to which a chain may be at-
tached when the oar is to be moved by horses.
— 2. A hook or ring at the back end of the
ton^e of a horse-ear, for attaching it to the car.
pullisht, i>. An obsolete form of polish^.
pullock (pul'ok), n. A putlog. H. H. Knight.
pull-off (pul'of), n. In gun-making, the power
required to be applied to the trigger to dis-
charge a gun.
pull-over (pul'6*v6r), n. In hat-manuf., a cap
of silk or felted fur drawn over a hat-body to
form the napping ; also, a hat so made.
pull-piece (pul'pes), n. In a clock, a wire or
string which, when pulled, causes the clock to
strike : used, if necessary, to bring the striking-
mechanism into accord with the hands.
pull-pipes (pul'pips), TO. [A corruption of
pool-pipes.'] Various species of Equisetum : so
called from their hollow stems and growth in
wet places. [North. Eng.]
pull-to (piil'to), n. In weaving, same as lay-cap,
pullulate (pul'u-lat), V. ».; pret. and pp. jjm^mj-
lated, ppr. pullulating. [< L. puUulatus, pp. of
pullulare (> It. pulhtlare, pullolare = Sp. pulu-
lar = Pg. pulhilar = F. puUuler), put forth,
sprout forth, < pullulus, a young animal, a
sprout, dim. otpullus, a young animal, a chick:
Bee pullet.] To germinate ; bud.
Money is bnt as drags and lenitive ointments, to mitl-
gatetlie swellings and diseases of the body, whose root re-
maineth still within, and puZliUateth again, alter the same
or some other manner.
Grainger, On Ecclesiastes (1621), p. 175.
Instead ot repairing the mistake, and restoring religious
liberty, which would have stifled this pullvlating evil in
the seed by affording it no further nourishment, they
took the other course. Warbwrton, Divine Legation, ii. 6.
Ovisacs or bulbules naked, bud-like, pullvlaUng from
the bases of the tentacula. Johnston, British Zoophytes.
puUulation (pul-u-la'shon), to. [= F. pullula-
Uon = Pg. pulluldcao = It. pullulazione, < L. as
il*pull'ulatio{n-), (.pullulare, Tpp.pullulatus, pul-
lulate: see ^«KMtote.] 1. The act of germinat-
ing or budding.
These were the Generations or Ptdlulatione of the Hea-
venly and Earth^ Nature. Dr. H. More, Moral Cabbala, ii.
2. Specifically, in lot., a mode of cell-multi-
plication in which a cell forms a slight protu-
berance on one side, which afterward increases
to the size of the parent-cell, and is cut off
from it by the formation of a dividing wall at
the narrow point of junction : same as sprout-
ing. This mode of multiplication is especially
characteristic of the yeast-plant and its allies.
puUus (pul'us), TO. INh., < li. pullus, a young
animal.] 1. InorTO»*fe.,a chick; a very young
bird; a nestling: applied to any bird in the
down, or before it has acquired its first full
feathering. Hence— 2. In ^rooV., the young (em-
bryonic or larval) condition of any animal.
Craven has . . . subsequently acknowledged that his
Sinusigera perversa (from the Indian Ocean) is only a piil-
lus of Triforis. , „ „, . ,
P. Pelseneer, Challenger Reports, XXIII., ZoBl., partlxv.,
[Eeport on Thecosomata, p. 40.
pulmentt, to. Same aspolment.
Fulmobranchia (pul-mo-brang'ki-a), to. pi.
[NL., < L. pulmo(n-), lung, + branchiae, gills.
In this and following compounds, pulmo- is
short for pulmono-, prop. jJM^moMJ-.] Same as
Pulmolyranchiata.
4839
Gills or branchise modified into organs of aerial
respiration ; the respiratory apparatus peculiar
to certain animals, (a) The lung-sacs of air-breathing
mollusks, as snails. See cut under PuZmonato, (&) The
lung-sacs of certain aiachnidans, as spiders ; the pulmo-
trachCGs. See cuts under ptdrmma/ry and Scorplomdee.
pulmobranchial (pul-mo-brang'ki-al), a. [<
Fulmobranchia + -al.] l". In coKc7».','breat,hing
hj means of pulmobranehise or lung-sacs ; per-
taining to pulmobranchiee ; pulmonate, pulmo-
niferous, or pulmonary, as a snail. — 2. In
entom., breathing by means of pulmotrachese ;
pertaining to piSmotrachese ; pulmonary, as a
spider. = Syn. PidmdbranehM, etc. In application to
those arachnidans which have lung-sacs by which they
breathe, as well as by trachese, the teims pvlnumary, pM-
vwTiate, pvlmobrancnitil, pulmobranchiate, pvinwtracheal,
pidmotrac?ieate, and pulmotracheary mean the same, the
first two terms being the least specific, since they are ap-
plied to other animals, the two middle terms being less spe-
cific, as shared by certain mollusks, the last three being spe-
cific and precise, since they apply only to these arachnidans.
In application to mollusks, pulmonary, pulmonate, pvlma-
niferous, pulmobranchial, pulmobranehiate, and pulmogas-
teropod are a parallel series of words, the first three shared
by any other animals which have lungs, the fourth and fifth
by arachnidans, the sixth being specific and precise.
Pulmobranchiata (pul-mo-brang-ki-a'ta), n.pl.
[NL., neut. pi. ot pulmoiranchiatus: see pul-
mobranehiate.] In t>e BlainviUe's classification
(1825), the first one of three orders of his Para-
eephalophora monoica asymmetrica, containing
the three families Limnacea, Auriculacea, and
IdmMiinea, or the pulmonary gastropods, as
snails, slugs, etc.,both'aquatio and terrestrial.
Also Fulmobranchia. Now commonly called
Fulmonata or Pulmonifera.
pulmobranehiate (pul-mo-brang'M-at), a. [<
Nil. j^ulmobramchiatus, < pulmobraruihise, q. v.]
Provided with pulmobranchiss. (a) Breathing by
lung-sacs or pulmobrancbise, as mollusks ; of or pertaining
to the Pulmobranchiata. (b) Breathing by lung-sacs or
pulmotrachese, as spiders; pulmotracheatc^Syn. See
pvlmjobranchial.
pulmocutaneous (puV'mo-ku-ta'ne-us), a. [<
L. pulmo(n-), lung, + cutis, skin: see cuta,-
neous.] Of or pertaining to the lungs and skin :
said of the hindmost one of three passages into
which each of the two aortic trunks of the adult
frog is divided, which ends in pulmonary and
cutaneous arteries.
pulmogasteropod, pulmogastropod (pul-mo-
gas-t6r'o-pod, -gas tro-pod), a. and to. [< L.
pulmo(n-), lung, -f- G-r.' yacrr^p, stomach, + noig
(fforf-) = B. foot.] I, a. Pulmonate or jjulmo-
niferous, as a gastropod; of or pertaining to
the Fulmogasteropoda.
II, TO. A pulmonate gastropod; any member
of the Pulmogasteropoda.
Also pulmonogasteropod.
Pulmogasteropoda (pul-mg-gas-te-rop'o-da), m.
pi. [NL.] Same as Fulmonata, 1 (a).
Pulmograda (pul-mog'ra-da), n.jyl. [NL., neut.
pi. of pulmogradv^ : see pulmograde.] De Blain-
viUe's name of a group of aealephs, approxi-
mately the same as Discophora.
pillmograde (pul'mo-grad), a. and n. [< NL.
pulmogradus, < L. pulmo(n-), a lung, -I- gradi,
walk.] I, a. Having the characters of the PttZ-
mograda; swimming by means of alternate con-
traction and expansion of the body, as if by a
kind of respiration, as a jellyfish.
II. TO. An acaleph of the group PttZmoflrrada;
a disoophorous hydrozoan.
puhnometer (pul-mom'e-t6r), to. [< L. pul-
mo(n-), lung, + Gr. fdrpov, measure.] An in-
strument for measuring the capacity of the
lungs; a spirometer.
pulmometry fpul-mom'e-tri), n, [< L. pnl-
mo(n-), lung, + Gr. -/ierpla, < /lirpov, measure.]
The measurement of the capacity of the lungs ;
spirometry.
Pulmonacea (pul-mo-na'shia), n.pl. [< Jj.pul-
mo(n-), lung, + -aoea.] In conch., same as Ful-
monata, 1.
piilmonar (pul'mo-^r), a. [= F. pulmonaire :
see pulmonary.] ' Having lungs or lung-like
organs; pulmonate or pulmonary; specifically,
belonging to the araehnidan order PuVmonaria.
Pulmonarial (pul-mo-na'ri-a) , n. [NL. ( Tour-
nefort, 1700), so called from its reputation and
former use; fern, oi pulmonarius, pertaining to
the lungs, as a pulmonary remedy : see pulmona-
ry.] A genus of gamopetalous plants of the or-
der Boraginese, tribe Boragese, and subtribe An-
chusese. ■ it is characterized by a flve-lobed funnel-shaped
corolla without scales in the throat, a flve-oleft calyx en-
larged in fruit, and four broad erect nutlets with an ele-
vated and slightly concave basilar scar which is without
^ .■'(.fftyi^. «-..^— a surrounding ring. There are 5 or 6 species, natives of
DUlmobranchiS (pul-mo-brang'ki-e), n. pi. Europe and Asia, especially of western Asia They are
[NL., < L. ^imc»(m-), l™g, + branchix, gills.] erect perennial hairy herbs, bearing large petioled radical
Pulmonata
leaves and a few small alternate stem-leaves, and terminal
two-parted cymes of blue or purplish flowers. They are
generally known as lungwort (which seeX especially P.
oMcinalie, which is the common English species, having
also the old or local names of spotted comfrey, bugloss cow-
slip, Jerusalem cowdip, beggar's-basket, etc. See also Jo-
seph-and-Ma/ry.
Pulmonaria2(pul-mo-na'ri-a),».p2. [NL.,neut.
pi. of L. pulmonarius, pertaining to the lungs :
see pulmonary.] 1. In conch., same as Fulmo-
nata, 1. — 2. In entom., the pulmonary arachni-
dans, as spiders and scorpions, in Latreille's sys-
tem of classification they were one of two orders ot Arach-
nida, the other being TraeTieairia. Also called Pulmona-
risB and Pvlmonala.
pulmonaria^, ». Plural ot puhnonariwm.
Fulmonaris (pul-mo-na'ri-e), n. pi. Same as
Pulmonaria^, 2.
pulmonarious (pul-mo-na'ri-us), a. [< L. pul-
monarius, diseased in the lungs: see pulmona-
ry.] Diseased in the lungs ; affected with pul-
monary disease.
pulmonarium (pul-mo-na'ri-um), ».; pi. pul-
monaria (-a). [NL., neut. of L. pulmona/rius,
pertaining'to the lungs : see pulmonary.] In
entom., the lateral membrane often separating
the dorsal and ventral abdominal segments,
and containing stigmata or breathing-holes.
Kirby.
pulmonary (pul'mo-na-ri), a. and to. [= V. pul-
monaire = Bj>. Pg. piilmonar = It. jaulmonare,
puVmonario, < L. pulmonarius, pertaining to the
lungs, affecting the lungs, < pulmo{n-), lung,
= (?r. v'Mjujm, usually nvev/Jbrv, lung : see pneu-
monia.] t, a. 1. Of or pertaining to the lungs,
in the widest sense; respiratory: as, pulmo-
nary organs.
The force ot the air upon the pvlTnormry artery is but
small in respect to that ot the heart. ArovthnoU
2. Affecting the lungs : a,s, pulmonary ^sease.
— 3. Eemedial of affections.of the lungs; pul-
monic: BiS, pulmonary vaedioine. — 4. Done by
means of lungs ; aSrial, as a mode of breathing :
opposed to branchial or tracheal : as, pulmonary
respiration. — 5. Having lungs, lung-sacs, or
lung-like organs; able to breathe air; pulmo-
branehiate, pulmonate, or pnlmoniferous : dis-
tinguished from branchiate : as, a pulmonary
mollusk. — 6. Of or having the characteristics of
the Pulmonaria : distinguished from tracheary:
as, ^pulmonary araehnidan Pulmonary alveoli,
air-cells. See O!h)eoto(6).—Pillmonary artery, anj arteiy
conveying blood directly from the heart to the lungs ; in
man, a large vessel, about two inches in length, conveying
venous blood from the right cardiac ventricle. It divides
into two branches, called the right and the left pulmoiiaiy
artery, tor the respective lungs. See cuts under lung and
thorax. — Pulmonary 'branchiae, of spiders and other
arachnidans, peculiar breathing-orgaiisor gills, situated in
the abdomen and consisting of many membranous folds,
appearing like the leaves of a book or porte-monnale. The
air enters these folds from the exterior orifice, and passes
through the membrane to the blood which circulates be-
tween them. See cut below.— Pulmonary calculus.
See cttleulus, 2. — Pulmonary cartilage, the second cos-
tal cartilage of the left side.— Pulmonary circulation,
the lesser circulation of the blood, from the right cardiac
ventricle through the pulmonary artery, pulmonary capil-
laries, and pulmonary veins, back to the left auricle. See
cut under cireulatUm. — Pulmonary consumption,
Iihthisis.— Pulmonary lobules, small sections of lung-
tissue, each receiving a bronchiole, and separated from
one another by connective-tissue septa in which vessels
ramify.— Pulmonary nerves, a variable number of
branches of the pneumogastric, distributed to the root of
the lungs. — Pulmonary pleura, the pleura pulmonalis.
—Pulmonary plexuses. SeeiJieaaw.— Pulmonary sac,
in entom., a special form of respiratory organ found only
in some arachnidans (spiders), being
an involution of the integument, the
walls of which are so folded as to ex-
pose a large surface to the air, which
is alternately Inspired and expired,
thehlood being brought to the sacs
by venous channels.— Pulmonary
sinuseB, the sinuses of Valsalva in
thepulmonary artery. — Pulmonary
valves, the semilunar valves of the
right cardiac ventricle.— Pulmo-
nary veins, any veins which bring
blood du:ect from the lungs to the
heart ; in man, four veins, two from
each lung, which convey arterial blood to the left auricle
ot the heart. See cuts under lung and iftorao;.- Pulmo-
nary vesiCles, air-cells. =Syn. See pidmobranehial.
II, TO.; T^l. pulmonaries (-riz). 1. A pulmo-
nary araehnidan, as a spider or scorpion ; a mem-
ber of the Pulmonaria. — 2. Lungwort.
Pulmonata (pul-mo-na'ta), TO. pi. [NL., neut.
pi. of pulmonatus, ' having lungs : see jjulmo-
nate.] 1. In conch.: (a) An order or subclass
of Gasteropoda, air-breathing and adapted to a
terrestrial life ; the true pulmonate or pnlmo-
niferous gastropods, as snails and slugs, having
thepallial cavity or mantle-chamber converted
into. a lung-sac, no ctenidia or true gills, and
generally no true operculum to the shell. Soma
other gas&opods are pulmonate in the sense that they
Pulmonary Sac of a
Spider f.Mygale coe-
tftentaria), p. the
leaflets or lamellae ; s,
stigma or breathiiig-
■ >Ie.
hole
Fnlmonata
breathe air, but are otherwise stracturally related to the
pectinibranchiate or to the rUpidoglossate gastropoda.
The Pulmonata are hermaplirodite, with highly developed
copidatory and other sexual organs in every inmvidaal, and
well-tormedodontophore. AshelliBa8aaJlypresent,some-
times small or wanting ; its apertnre is closed in some
cases by a pseudoperculum. They are divided into Batom-
Toatophora and Stylommatopliora. There are more than
Diagram of the Anatomy of the Saail (Helix), iUustratine structure
of Putmenata.
a, mouth; d, tooth; r, odontophore ; t^guUet; «, crop ;y; stomach;
f, coiled end of the visceral mass ; A, rectum ; i, anus ; ib, renal sac ;
J heart; m, lung-^c, or modified pallial chamber; n, its external
opemng ; #, thick edee of mantle ; >, /, extent of the foot; r, j, ner-
vous gangha round tne esophagus.
6,000 niectes. By F^mssac and many later conchologists
uie order was extended to Include the operculate tenio-
glosaate and rhipidogloasate terrestrial gastropods, the
true Pvlmormta being then called P. inopmaHata, and the
others P. operculata. This use of the word was long preva-
leot, bat is now obsolete. Also called Pidmonea, Pulim-
tiifera, Ptdmanogasteropoda, and Puhnogasteropoda. (ft)
A section of rhipidogloBsate gastropods, char-
acterized by adaptation for aerial respiration,
and incladmg the families Helicimdse, Sydro-
cenidse, and Proserpinidse. Fischer. — 2. Id. en-
tom., the pulmonary arachnidans: same as Pul-
monaria^, 2,
pulmonate (ptil'mo-nat), a. andn. [< NL. pul-
monatus, < L. pulmo(n-), lung: aeemUmonary,']
I. a. Having lungs, lung-sacs, or lung-like or-
gans; pulmonary or pulmoniterous, as a mol-
tuak or an arachnidan; pulmonated, as a verte-
brate: distinguished from branchiate and tra-
cheate.:=SyrL SeepvlmobranclMa.
n. n. A member of the Pulmonata in either
sense, as a snail or a spider.
pulmonated (pul'mo-na-ted), a. [< pulmonate
+ -ed^.'] Same as pulmonate.
In the lower pvlTnonated Yertebrata, the sacculation is
more marlied near the entrance of the bronchus.
Huneley, Anat. Tert., p. 92,
Fulmonea (pul-mo'ne^), n. pi. [NL., < L. md-
mo(n-), lung: see p'utimmate.'] In Latreille's
classification, an order of Gasteropoda : now
called Pulmonata or Pulmonifera.
pulmonian (pul-mo'ni-an), n. [< L. pulmo(n-),
lung, + -ian.'] A pulmonate gastropod, as a
snail.
PnlniOIlibranclliata(pul''mo-ni-brang-ki-a'ta),
n. pi. [NXi.] The more correct form of Put-
mobranchiata.
pulmonibranchiate (pul'''mo-ni-brang'ki-at), a.
The more correct form ot pulmobra/nchiate.
pulmonic (pul-mon'ik), a. and n, [= ¥. pul-
monique = Pg. pulmonico (at. Sp. puhnoniaco),
< L. pulmo(n-), lung: see pulmonary.']
Of or pertaining to ttie lungs.
An ulcer of the lungs may be a cause oipulmoniek con-
sumption, or consumption of the lungs.
Harvey, C!onsumptions.
Pnlmonie circulation. Same as pulmonary circvMion
(which see, under pu2>nonarj/>
H. n. 1. A medicine for diseases of the
lungs. Dunglison. — 2. OnewhoisafEectedwith
a disease of the lungs.
Pulnumicks are subject to consumptions, and the old to
asthmas. Arbuthnot.
pulmonifer (pul-mon'i-f6r), n. r< NL. Pulmo-
nifera.'] A pulmonate gastropod, as a snail;
any member of the Pulmonifera.
Pulmonifera (piU-mo-nife-ra), n. pi. [Nil.,
neut. pi. of piAmonifer, having lungs: see paJ-
moniferous.] In conch.: (a) Same as Pidmo-
nata, 1 (a). (&) The Pulmonata considered as
a subclass of gastropods, Pulmonata then being
reserved as &e ordinal name, (c) A section
of t»nioglossate pectinibranchiate gastropods,
characterized by a modification of the respira-
tory apparatus as a lung for aSrial respiration.
It includes the families Cycldstomidse, Poma-
tiidse, Cyclophoridx, and Aciculidse. Fischer.
Adelopneumona is a synonym.
puhaoniferons (pul-mo-mf'e-rus), a, [< NL.
pulmonifer, < L. pulmo[n-), lung, + ferre = E.
tear^.] 1. Provided with lungs, as an animal ;
pulmonary or pulmonate, as a moUusk; of or
4840
pertaining to the PttJTOom/era. — 2. Containing
the lungs, as a part of the body: as, the pulmo-
niferous somites of an arachnidan.
PlUmonigradaCpul-mo-nig'ra-da), m.jpZ. [NL.,
neut. pi. ot pulmonigradus : seepuhnonigrade.'i
Same as Pulmograda.
pulmonigrade (pul-mon'i-grad), a. and ». [<
NL. puTmonigradus, < L. pulmo(nr.), lung, -I-
gradi, walk.] Same as pulmograde.
pulmonobranchous (pul'mo-no-brang'kns), a.
[< L. pulmo{n-), lung, + Gr. ^payxia, gills.] Pul-
monate, as a gastropod; pnlmonibranchiate.
[Eare.]
Affording a good character for dividing the land put-
manobranehous Mollusca into two families.
JSng. Cyc, Nat. Hist, ni. 65.
pulmonogasteropod(pul''mo-no-gas'ter^9-pod),
a. and n. Same as pulmogdsteropod.
PulmonogasteropodaCpuFmo-no-gas-te-rop'o-
da), n.pl. [NL., < li. pulmo(n-)', lung,"+ NL.
Gasteropoda.] Same as Pulmonata, 1 (o).
pulmotracheal (pul-mo-tra'kf-al), a. [< L.
pulmo(n-), lung, + NL. tracHed, windpipe, +
-al.] Li entom., pulmobranchial ; pertaining to
or done by means of pulmotrachese : as, pulmo-
tracheal respiration.
Fulmotracliearia (pul-mo-tra-kf-a'ri-a), n. pi.
[NL., < Jj. pulmo{n-), lung, +' 'Nli. "trachea,
windpipe.] A group of pulmobranchiate or
pulmo^aeheate arachnidans; anorderof-^racZi-
nida, containing those arachnidans which have
pulmonary sacs as well as trachese, as spiders
and scorpions. See cut under Scorpionidee.
pulmotracheary (pul-mo-tra'kf-a-ri), a. and n.
I. a. Of or pertaining to the Piilmotrachearia.
II. n. ; pi. pulmotrachearies (-riz). A pulmo-
tracheate arachnidan.
pulmotracheate (pul-mo-tra'kf-at), a. [< L.
milmo(ti-), lung, + trach^sa, winclpipe, + -ate^.]
Pulmobranchiate, as a spider; of or pertainiag
to the Puimotrachearia.
pulp (pulp), n. [z= P. pul^e = Sp.pulpa = Pg. It.
polpa, < Ii. pidpa, the fl«shy part of an animal
body, etc., solid flesh, the pulp of fruit, etc.] A
moist, slightly cohering mass, consisting of soft
undissolved animal or vegetable matter. Specifi-
cally— (a) The soft, succulent part of fruit : as, ihepulp
of an orange, or of a grape. In the American giape of
the Viiis Labrusea varieties (as Concord, etc.) the pulp is
a distinct portion of the berry inclosing the seeds, and
is characteristically tough and sour. It is inclosed in a
sweet and well-flavored layer formed beneath the sisln.
The savoury jmZ}) they chew, and In the rind.
Still as they thirsted, scoop the brimming stream.
iiaton, P. L., iv. 335.
(&) The material from which paper is manufactured after
it is reduced to a soft uniform mass, (c) Caiyme ; the pul-
pifled mass of food after chymiflcation and before chylifl-
cation. (iQ The soft pulpy core of a tooth, consisting
chiefly of the nerve accompanied by its vessels and con-
nective tissue ; a tooth-pulp, (e) The soft elastic flbrocar-
tilage forming much of the substance of the intervertebral
disks. It chiefly occupies the interior of these disks, whose
periphery is more fibrous and tougher. To the compressi-
Dilll7 and elasticity of this pulp u mainly due the action
of the disks in serving as buffers to diminish concussion
of the spine. The pulp is compressible enough to account
also for the fact that a man may be appreciably taller in
the morning after lying all night than in the evening after
a day spent on the feet. (/) In tnimnff, slimes ; ore pul-
verized and mixed with water.
I. a. In the case of sliver the ore is frequently pulverized by
stamps, and the resulting ^nilp amalgamated in pans or
barrds. Eneyc BriL, XVI. 465.
pulpit
pulp-cavity (pnlp'kav'i-ti), n. The hollow In-
tenor of a tooth which contains the pulp. Also
called nerve-canal. See cut under tooth.
pulp-digester (pnlp'di-jes't6r), n. In paper-
manuf., a machine for digesting straw, wood,
bamboo, and other materials, to free the fibrous
matter from gluten, gum, starch, and other ex-,
traneous matters. Such machines are essentially
boilers, in which the paper-stock is cooked with various
chemicals under more or less steam-pressure. In some
digesters the boilers are stationary and are provided with
a stirring-mechanism ; in others the boilers are made to
rotate. Also called jnilp-boiJer.
pulp-dresser (pulp'dres"6r), «. In paper-man-
uf., an apparatus for clearing paper-pulp from
impurities, and freeing it from lumps and
knots.
puljt-engine (pulp'on^jin), n. Jnpaper-manuf.,
a machine for converting paper-rags, esparto,
Pulp-engine, consisting of an oblong iron vat a, rounded at the
ends and divided by a partition d, over which is Joumaled a cylinder
c. having grooves into which chisel-edged blades d are inserted in sets
of three, generally to the number of sixty ; beneath these, and set at
an angle therewith, other blades « are fixed in the bottom of the
vat ; the distance between the two may be adjusted by raisin? or
towering the cylinder c. Tile part e of the bottom is sloping, and has
a recessy for uie reception of grit. A hood ^prevents the pulp from
being thrown out of the machine, and one side of this is a sieve A,
with a removable cover t, through which the foul water expelled from
the pulp passes and is discharged through the opening A,
and other materials into a pulp with water. .Also
called pulper, pvip-machine, pulping engine, and
2}ulp-mUl.
pulper (pul'pfer), n. 1. A machine for reducing
roots, as turnips, mangel-wurzel, etc. , to a pulp ;
a root-pulper. — 2. A machine for removing the
fleshy pulp of coffee-berries. — 3. A pulp-di-
gester, pulp-grinder, or pulp-engine.
pulpett, n. A Middle English form otptdpit.
pulp-grinder (pulp'gpn'dfer), n. In pajper-
manuf., a form of grinding-mill for crushing,
disintegrating, and grinding partially made
paper-pulp, or for grinding wood to form paper-
stock.
pulpifier (pul'pi-fi'6r). n. An apparatus for
grinding up fresh meat, and converting it into
an almost jelly-like pulp as an aid to digestion
for dyspeptics. Also called meat-pulpifiBr and
meat^ulverizer,
pnlpiJQr (piil'pi-fi)? «• *• ; pret. and pp. pulpijied,
ppr. pulpifying. [< pulp + •ify.'] To render
pulpy; make into pulp.
These actions [of rumination] are repeated until the
greater portion of the graas which has been cropped is
pulpified. EuaZey, Anat. Vert, p. 321.
pulpiness (pul'pi-nes), n. A pulpy character or
consistency.
pulping-maclline (pul'ping-ma-shen'^), n. In
agri., a pulper or root-pulper. "
pulpit (pul'pit), n. and a. [< ME. pulpit, pvl-
pet, < OP. pulpite, P. pupitre, dial, pulpite =
Sp. piUpito = Pg. It. pulpito, < L. piUpitum, a
staging, stage, platform, scamold.] I. ». 1.
A rostinim or elevated platform from which a
Blue, dentaL etc., pulp. See the adjectives.— Persis-
tent pulps. See i2entii2j)u2p(&).— Pulp-colors. See color.
pulp (pulp), ». [< pulp, ».] X trans. 1. To
make into pulp, in any sense ; reduce to pulp :
as, to pulp wood-fiber for paper; to pu^ old
papers. — 2. To deprive of the snrroun^ngpulp
or pulpy substance: as, to pulp coffee-beans.
The other mode is to pulp the coffee immediately as it
comes from the tree. By a simple machine a man wlU
pulp a bushel in a minnte. Bryan Edwards.
n. intrans. To be or to become ripe and juicy
like the pulp of fmit.
A kiss should bud upon the tree of love.
And pulp and ripen richer every hour. Keats.
The buried seed begins to pulp and swell
In Earth's warm bosom. £. H. Stoddard, Ode.
pnlpamentat (pul-pa-men'ta), n. pi. [L., pi. of
pulpamentum, meat j' pulp, Cpulpa, meat, pulp:
s^epulp.] Delicacies; tidbits.
What, Friday night, and in afSictlon, too, and yet your
pulpamenta, your delicate moraels I
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, v. 7.
pulpatoont,n. [Origin obscure.] A kind of con-
fection or cake, supposed to be made of the pulp
of fruits.
With a French tioop ot mdpatoams, mackaroons, Uck-
shawB, grand and excSlent Names, Mlcrocosmus, lit
pulp-boiler (pulp'boi''16r), n. Same as pulp-
digester.
Pulpit of Nlocoli Pisano, In the Bapduy at Fisa. Italy.
speaker addresses an audience or delivers an
oration; specifically, in the Christian church,
an elevated and more or less inclosed platform,
from which the preacher delivers bis sermon
pulpit 4841
and, in cliurclies of many denominations, con- pulp-washer (pnlp'wosM6r), n. A machine for
ducts the service. cleansing papir-p^p from dirt and foreign mat-
And Eira Uie scribe stood upon a pulpU of wood, which '
the; had made lor the purpose. seb! vill. 4.
Fn^nce his body to the market-place.
And in the pvlpa, as becomes a blend,
SpeaK in the order of his funeral.
Shai., J. C, ill. 1. 229.
And the reader droned from the pulpit.
Like the murmur of many bees.
Longfettow, King Wltlal's Drinklng-Hom.
2. A bow of iron lashed to the end of the bow-
sprit of a whaling-vessel, and forming a support
for the waist of the harpooner, to insure his
safety.— The pulpit, preachers ooUectlvelv, or what
thef preach.
By tliepulpa are adumbrated the writings of our modem
saints in Oreat Britain. ~ ... ~ . - — .
II. a. Of or pertaining to the pulpit or preach-
ers and their teaching: as, pulpit eloquence;
pulpit utterances.
pnlpit (pul'pit), ». t [< pulpit, n.2 To place in
or supply with a pulpit. [Bare.]
Certainly it is not necessary to the attainment of Chris-
tian knowledge that men should sit all their life long at
the feet of a pulpited divine. JU&ton, Touching Hirelings.
ter ; a pulp-dresser, it has a screen to retain grain,
stones, etc., and devices for carrying oS dirty water and
admitting a fresh supply.
pulpy (pul'pi), a. [< pulp + -^1.] Like pulp ;
soft; fleshy; pultaceous; succulebt: as, the
pulpy covering of a nut; the pulpy substance
of a peach or cherry.
Long'st thou for Butter? bite tlaepmdpy part.
And neuer better came to any Ms^
Sylvester, tr. of Dn Bartas's Weeks, L 3.
In lupins these pulpy sides [of the bean] do sometimes
arise with the stalk in a resemblance of two fat leaves.
Sir T. Browne, Urn-burial, ili.
Fnlpy disease of the sjmovial membrane, Brodie's
S«>«/«, Me oraTub,T pulque (pftl'keT'm- [Sp., < Mex. jjaigMC.] A
pulpitariant (pul-pi-ta'ri-an),
-flWan.] A preacher. [Bare.]
[< pulpit +
fermented drinl: made in Mexico and some
countries of Central America from the juice of
the agave or maguey, Agave Americana.. The sap,
which abounds In sugar and mucilage when the plant is
about to flower. Is at that time drawn into a cavity formed
by cutting out the bud and upper leaves. The yield may
be as much as two gallons a day for several months. The
juice is fermented in reservoirs of rawhide, and early in
the process is pleasant, resembling spruce-beer, but at the
end acquires the putrid odor of the animal matter con-
tained in the hides. It is, however, a favorite beverage
with the Mexicans.
The Scottish brethren were acquamted by common in- pillaue-brandy (pul'ke-bran'di), n. A strong
ircourse with these du-ectiona that h»rt „«n«rt ti,. .„. gpjrituous liquor produced in Mexico by distil-
ling pulque, the larger part of which is so con-
sumed; aguardiente; mescal,
pulsate (piil'sat), v. i. ; pret. and pp.
ppr. pulsaUng. [< L. pulsatus, pp. of pi
beat, strike, push, drive : see oMteel.] To beat
or throb, as the heart or a blood-vessel ; con-
tract and dilate in alternation or rhythmically,
as the heart in systole and diastole, the disk of
a jellyfish in swimming, the vacuoles in some
protozoans, etc.
tercourse with these directions Uiat had netled the ag-
grieved pulpUariam.
Bp. Backet, Abp. Williams, i. 90. (fiaviea.)
pulpiteer (piil-pi-ter'), n. l< pulpit + -eer.] A
preacher : a contemptuous term.
Then it was under the name of puritans and round-heads,
and now It is openly as ministers, under the name of priests,
and blackcoats, and presbyters, a,ni pulpiteers [that many
servants of the Lord are reTiled).
Baxter, Self-Denial, Bpistle Monitory.
To chapel; where a heated ptUpOeer,
Kot preaching simple Christ to simple men.
Announced the coming doom, and fulminated
Against the scarlet woman and her creed.
The heart of a viper or frog will continue to pulsate long
after It is taken from the body. Barain.
Tennyson, Sea Dreams.
pnlpitert (pul'5i-t6r),m. l<p'ulpit + -eri.] One pulsatile (pul'sa-til), a. and n. [= P. pulsatile
who preaches from a pulpit; a preacher.
0 most gentle pulpiter! what tedious homily of love
have you wearied your parishioners withal !
Shak., As you Like it, iiL 2. 163.
pnlpitical (piil-pit'i-kal), a. [< pulpit + •io-al.']
Of or pertaining to the pulpit; suited to the
pulpit. [Bare.] Imp. Diot.
pnlplticatly (ptd-pit'i-kal-i), adv. In a manner
suited to the pulpit. [Bare.]
To proceed then regularly anipulpitusally.
lord, Chesterfield, Letters. {Latham,.)
pnlpitish (ptd'pi-tish), a. [< pulpit + -Js/sl.]
Smacking of the pulpit ; like a pulpit perform-
ance.
pulpitmanf (ptil'pit-man), n. A preacher.
Grew a fine pttlpitman, and was beneficed.
Massinger, Duke of Milan, ilL 2.
Dr. Hooper preached. . . . This is one of the first rank
of pulpit nun in <^e nation. Bhoelyn, Diaty, ITov. 6, 1681.
pulpitry (pul'pit-ri), n. [< pulpit + -»•«.] , i_, „
Teaching iuch as that given from the pulpit; ^««- Seep««««-A«-er.
preaching. ' pulsation (pul-sa'shon), ». i=;F. pulsation =
'^ ^ Vr.pulsacM = Bp. pulsoMon = Vg.pulsagao =
It. pulsagione, < L. pulsatio(tt-), a beating, a
striking, < pulsare, pp. pulsatus, strike, beat:
see pupate, pulse^.'] 1. The act or process of
pulsating, or beating or throbbing : as, the pul-
saUon of the heart, of an artery, of a tumor. —
2. A single beat of the heart or a blood-ves-
sel.— 3. A beat or stroke by which some medi-
um is affected, as in the propagation of sound.
See beat^, n., 2. — 4. In law, a beating without
pain.
The Cornelian law " de in juriis " prohibited pulsatum as
well as verberation, distingnislilng verberation, which was
accompanied with pain, from pulsation, which was attend-
ed with none. Blackstone, Com., HI. vilL
^ pulsdtil = Pg. pulsaUl = It. pulsatile,
< ML. pulsatilis, beating, striking, throbbing
(nent. pulsatile, a sieve),? L. pulsare, -pp.pulsa-
tus, beat, strike: see pulsate, pulseK'] I. a. 1.
Capable of pulsating; pulsating or pulsatory;
throbbing; beating. — 2. Bequirmg to be struck
in order to produce sound; in music, noting an
instrument the tone of which is produced by
blows, as of a hammer, as a drum, tambourine,
cymbals, or a bell. The epithet is not commonly used
with reference to stringed Instruments, like the dulcimer
or the pianoforte, though it properly belongs to them.
Compare percussive.
II, n. Amusical instrument which is sound-
ed by means of blows.
Pulsatilla (pul-sa-til'a), n. [ML, pulsattlla,
Pulsatilla, dun., K"L.putsare, ■pp.pulsatus, beat,
strike: see pulsate, pulsatile.^ The pasque-
flower, Anemone Pulsatilla; also, iapharmacog-
raplvy, A. pratensis and A. patens (var. Nuttal-
liana). These plants have medicinal properties. Also
They teach not that to govern well is to train up a na>
tion in true wisdom and virtue, . . . and that this is the true
flourishing of a land, other things follow as the shadow
does the substance ; to teach thus were mere pulj^try to
them. MUUm, Beformation In Ung., IL (fiavies.)
iralpless (pulp'les), a. [< pulp + -less.'\ Lack-
ing or deficient in pulp ; free from pulp.
There is a greater interest manifested by the masses of
the dental profession in the retention ot pulpiest teeth.
Seiemie, XI. 216.
Same as
pulp-maclline (pulp'ma-shen"),
pulp-engine.
pulp-meter (pulp'me^tSr), ». A device for reg-
ulating the quantity of pulp supplied to a pa-
per-machine, that the quantity may be adjusted
to the required width and weight of the sheet, pulsative (pul'sa-tiv), a. [= 'W.pulsatif= Sp.
pulp-mill (pulp'mU), n. A pulp-grinder, pulp- Fg.pulsaUvo; as pulsate + -#e.] Same aapul-
ing-maohine, or pulper. satile.
pu5)0US (pul'pus), o. l=F.pulpeua;=Sp.'Pg. pulsator (pul-sa'tor), ». [<L.j>Mfeof<w, onewho
pulposo = It. polposo, pulpy, < L. pulposus, beats or strikes, < pulsare, pp. pulsatus,^ beat,
fleshy, < pulpa, the fleshy portion of a body, strike: see pulsate.i 1. A beater; a striker. —
solid flesh: see j>M?i>.] Consisting of or resem- 2. The pulsometer pump. — 3. A small gravi-
bling pulp ; pulpy. tating machine or shaker, used in diamond-
Theredstreak, . . . whose puipotw fruit mining in South Africa, and elsewhere. It
With gold irradiate and vermilion, shines works on the same principle as the Jigger.
Tempting. ./. PMijw, Cider, i Pulsatorla (pul-sa-to'ri-a), n. pi. [NL.: see
pulpousness (pul'pus-nes), n. The state or pvlsator.'] A group of parasitic Infusoria,
quality of being pulpous ; softness and moist- called a subclass, framed for the reception of
ness. Imp. Diet. Pulsatella eonvolutse,_ a rhythmically pulsatile
puln-strain'er (pidp'stra'''n6r), m. A sieve for organism without cilia and with a differentiated
straining pulp; specifically, a sieve for this pur- contractile vesicle, found in the mesoderm of
pose ua^ in paper-making. a planarian worm, Convoluta sehuleei.
pulse
pulsatory (pul'sa-to-ri), a. [= Sp. Pg. pulsa-
torio, < L. jjMteore," beat, stnke: see pulse^.l
Same as pulsatile.
An inward, pungent^ smipulsatory ache within the skull,
ar H. Walton, Keliquiffi, p. 418.
Pulsatory current, in elect., a current rapidly and regu-
larly intermitted.
The pulsatory current is one which results from sadden
or instantaneous changes In the intensity of a continuous
current. Jour. Franklin Inst., CXXI. 34.
pulse'- (puis), n. [Now aocom. to L. spelling;
in ME. poulee, pause, pons, < OF. pouts, pons,
poux, a beat, stroke, pulse, F. pouls, pulse, =
Pr. pols = Sp. Fg.pulso = It. polso = I>.pols =
ML&.^«te = G. Sw. Da,n.puls, pulse,< li.pulsus,
a beating, striking, pushing (pulsus venarum,
'the beating of the veins,' the pulse), < pellere,
pp. pulsus, strike, drive, push. Cf . puUei-, o.j
1. A beat; a stroke; especially, a measured,
regular, or rhythmical beat ; a short, quick mo-
tion re^larly repeated, as in a medium of the
transmission of light, sound, etc. ; a pulsation;
a vibration.
The vibrations or pulses of this medium, that they may
cause the alternate flts of easy transmission and easy re-
flexion, must be swifter than light, and by consequence
above 700,000 times swifter than sounds. Neu^xm.
I . . . caught once more the distant shont^
The measured pulse of racing oars
Among the willows.
T&nnys&n, In Memoriam, Ixxxvil.
2. Speeifieally, in physiol., the series of rhyth-
mically recurring maxima of fluid tension in
any blood-vessel, consequent on the contrac-
tions of the heart. These may be perceived by palpa-
tion, and recorded by the sphygmograph, and often pro-
duce a visible effect in dilating the vessel, or causing a
lateral movement of it. The pulse is for the most ^ut
confined to the arteries, but a venous pulse occurs (see
below). There is one arterial pulse for each veniric-
ular ^stole; but in disease a ventricular systole may be
too feeble to produce a sensible pulsation in a distant ar-
tery, as at the wrist, or again each pulsation may be
double. (See dicrotic pulse.) The features of the pulse
are the times between successive pulsations, the maxima
and minima of pressure, and the way in which the tension
changes from maximum to minimum and to maximum
again, represented in the form of the sphygmographic
tracing. The normal pulse exhibits approximately equal
and equidistant maxima, the rate being in adults between
70 and 80 (Bee pulse-rate); the rise of pressure is sharp,
the fall slow with only a slight dicrotic wave ; the extent
of change (amplitude) is not excessive ; and the tension
of the blood in the vessel is neither too high nor too low.
As taken with Basch's sphygonomanometer, the radial
(maximum) tension in health usually lies between 135 and
165 millimeters mercury.
He perceyuede by his p(me he was in peril to deye.
And bote he hadde recouer the rather that rise sholde he
neuere. Piers Plowman (C), xx. 66.
Bit pons [var. pows, poulee] and pawmes of his hondes.
CMucer, Troilus, ilL 1120.
Yet she *b warm, her pulses beat,
'Tis a sign of life and heat.
Fletcher, Paithful Shepherdess, ilL 1.
stir not a Pvlse; and let my Blood,
That turbulent, unruly Flood,
Be softly staid.
Congreve, On Mrs. Hunt.
3. In nmsie, same as heat or accent. — 4. Fig-
uratively, feeling ; sentiment ; general opinion,
drift, tendency, or movement, private or public :
as, Repulse of an occasion; ihe pulse of the com-
munity— Anacrotic pulse, a pulse in which the first
wave is not the highest; so that the ascending limb of the
pulse-curve is notched.— Bounding pulse, a large, more
or less frequent pulse. — Corrlgan'a pulse, the typical
guise of aortic regurgitation: a large, quick, suddenly ecl-
ipsing pulse.— Dicrotic pulse, a pulse in which the
dicrotic wave is excessive ; a double pulse. — Entoptic
pulse, pulsation of the retinal arteries, as revealed by
the ophUialmoscope or by Purkinje's method.— Pllifonn
pulse, a thready pulse ; the pulse when the artery is con-
tracted and the pulsations are feeble. — FreguentL pulse,
a pulse in which the number of beats per minute is exces-
sive. Alsocalledropuiand sometimes^tcirjndge. — Full
SUlse, a large pulse, the artery not bemg contracted. —
lard pulse, a pulse where the arte^ is not easily com-
OTessed, the blood-tension being high; pulsus durus. —
Hyperdlcrotlc pulse, a very marked dicrotic pulse. —
ImtecLuent pulse, a pulse in which the number of pul-
sations per minute is abnormally low ; pulsus rarus. Some-
times called slow j>ufoe.— Irregular pul8e,apulse in which
the pulsations are of unequal strength or recur at unequal
intervals, or which is abnormal in both these respects. —
Large pulse, a pulse in which the amplitude or differ-
ence between the maximum and minimum of tension is
great ; pulsus magnus.— Monocrotic pulse, a pulse witti
only one distinguishable wave. — Folycrotic pnliie, apnlse
where there are several secondary waves. — Fostucrotic
pulse, a pulse in which the postdicrotic wave is well mark-
ed.— Fredlcrotlc pulse, a pulse in which there is a liltge
predicrotic wave.— (JuicK pulse, (a) A pulse in which
the rise of tension is very rapid, or in which the time oc-
' cnpied by the rise and the greater part of the fall is vei;
short; pulsus celer. (&) A frequent pulse.— Recurrent
pulse, the reappearance of a pulse in an artery beyond
uie point where it is compressed, due to distal anastomosis.
—Slow pulse, (.a) A pulse in which the rise of tension
is very slow, or in which the time occupied by the rise
and the greater part of the fall is unusually long ; pulsus
tardus, (ft) An infrequent pulse.— Small pulse, a pulse
pulse
4842
In which the ampUtude or diSerenoe between maximum
and minimum of tension is amall ; duIbus parvus.— Soft
piilse, a pulse where the artery is easily compressed:
pulsus mollis. The individual pulsations may be weU
upward stroke of the pulse-curve.— SecondaJT pulse-
wave, a wave following the primaiy wave, and due to the
elastic nature of the arterial walls ; a wave indicated by
- „ . „. „^ . — r < — ™«„..o .„„j „„ „cu an elevation following the initial npwai'd strolte of the
marKed.—Tliready pulse, a veiy small, frequent pulse pulse-curve. SeejmJsel, 2. "-
in a contracted artery.— To feel one's pulse, flgura. nnlRifin Cmil-sif'ikl a
tivdy, to sound one's opinion ; try or ImoVone's iind. P^^SmC jpul Sll IK;, O.
—Wiry pulse, a small, frequent pulse in a contracted
fti'tfiryi
^ (P^s), «.; pret. and pp.j>«teed, ppr.jpjife-
[< L. pulsare, beat, strike, push, drive,
pulse
ing. _ ^
ft-eq. ot peUere, pp. pulsus, beat, strike, push',
Unve. Cf . push\ ult. < L. pulsare, and see com-
pel, expel, impel, propel, repel, appulse, compulse,
expulse, impulse, etc.: see also pulsate, and
pulse\n.'i I. trans. If. To drive.
And I [my snnne] thy noble name with foule reproch have
stain'd,
Pulst forth through spyte from princely throne, and place
where father rain'd. Phaer, ^neid.
2. To drive by a pulsation of the heari;. [Bare.]
II. intrans. To beat, as the arteries or heart.
Taint panting puis his ioynts, and tier'd with pains his
entrails beat. Phaer, iEneid, x.
The hearty when separated wholly from the body, in
some animals, contmues still to pidie for a considerable
t™e- Say-
pulse^ (puis), n. [< ME. puis, also pause, < OP.
pouls, pais, pous, < L. puis (pult-) = Gr. ndXrog,
pottage of beans, peas, etc., porridge. Cf.
poultice.'] 1. The esculent seeds of leguminous
plants cultivated as field or garden crops, as
peas, beans, lentils, etc.
With Elijah he partoolt.
Or as a guest with Daniel, at his pidse.
Milton, P. E., ii. 278.
2. One of the plants producing pulse.
Every iwfe,
There lande is colde, is herrest nowe to huls.
PaUadius, HuBbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 160.
High climb his pulse in many an even row.
Deep strilce the ponderous roots in soil below.
Craibe, Vfotks, I. 41.
pulse-curve (puls'kferv), n. The sphygmograph-
ic tracing of a pulse-wave.
pulse-glass (puls'gl&s), n. An instrument in-
tended to exhibit the ebullition of liquid at low
temperatures, constructed
like a cryophorus. The bulbs
are connected by a slender stem,
and partially charged with water,
ether, or alcohol, the supernatant Pulse-glass.
air having been expelled by boil-
ing, and the opening hermetically sealed by a blowpipe.
If one of the bulbs is grasped, the heat of the hand will
cause the formation of vapor and drive the liquid into
the other bulb, producing a violent ebullition in the lat-
ter. E. H. Knight.
pulseless (puls'les), a. [< pulse + -less."] Hav-
ing no pulse or piUsation.
He lay a full half-hour on the sofa, death-cold, and d\-
TXLO^t pmseless. fin^«^, Two Years Ago, xi.
pulselessness (puls'les-nes), n. Failure or ces-
sation of the pulse.
pulsellum (pul-sel'um), n.; pi. pulsella (-a).
[NL., dim. of L. pulsus, a beating: seepulse^.']
A propulsive filament or flagelliform appen-
dage, as the tail of a spermatozoan, which by its
lashing motions propels the body to which it
is attached, it is a modified form of flagellum chiefly
characteristic of spermatozoa, but possessed by some few
flagellate infusorians, whose action serves to drive the
animalcule backward through the water. E. R. Lantes-
ter; W. S. Kent. Catopeie flageUum, gubemaeulum, trao-
iellum.
The flagellum of the Flagellata is totally distinct from
the pulsellum of the Bacteria. Encye. Brit., XIX. 869.
pulse-rate (puls'rat), n. The number of pulsa-
tions of an artery in a minute. The normal pulse-
rate of man in adult life, reclining, and undisturbed by ex-
ertion,' averages, for the time between breakfast and retir-
ing at niglit, about 72. There is a large diurnal variation,
the rate falling to 60 or below during the night, and rising
to 76 or more at noon or some other time during the day.
The rate is from 140 to 120 or less during the first year of
life, falls in the next year to 100, and reaches the adult rate
shortly after puberfy; after 60 years of age there Is a
slight increase. The pulse-rate of woman is 8 to 5 beats
higher than tiiat of man. Height of stature diminishes
pulse-rate. The rate during health varies greatly, from
unlmown causes, in different persons — some rates being
40 or less, and others 100 or more, without inconvenience
or other derangement of health. The pulse-rate is higher
in a standing than in a sitting, or, still more, in a recum-
bent posture. It is raised by excitement^ by exertion, by
pyrexia, by various drugs and diseases.
pulse-warmer (puls'wfl,r'''m6r), n. A wristlet.
[CoUoq.]
pulse-wave (puls'wav), n. The wave of raised
tension and arterial expansion which starts
from the aorta with each ventricular systole,
and travels to the capillaries. Its velocity va-
ries greatly, but in most cases lies between 4
and 12 meters per second.- Fundamental or pri-
mary pulse-wave, the wave resulting from the primary
or ventricular Impulse ; the wave indicated by the initied
Z^ pulse + -i-fic.'} Ex-
citing the pulse; causing pulsation. [Bare.]
To make [the muscular c6nstriction ot the heart] no-
thing but apulsifiek corporeal quality in the substance of
the heart itself ia very unphilosophical and absni'd.
Cudwcffth, Intellectual System, p. 161.
pulsimeter (pul-sim'e-t6r), n. [Also pulsome-
ter; < L. pulsus, pulse, -1- Gr. /iirpov, measure.]
An instrument for measuring the strength or
quickness of the pulse.
pulsion (pul'shon), n. [< liL.pulsio(n-), a beat
ing, a striking,' < L. pellere, pp. pulsus, beat,
strike, drive : see puise^.'] The act of driving
forward: opposed to suction or traction.
How general and ancient soever the common opinion
may be that attraction is a Idnd of motion quite differing
from pulton, if not also opposite to it, yet 1 confess I con-
cur in opinion . . . with some modem naturalists that
think attraction a species of pulHon:
Boyle, Cause of Attraction by Suction, i.
The operation of nature is different from mechanism,
it doing not its work by trusion or pulsion, by knockings
or tlirustings, as it it were without that which it wrought
upon. Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 156,
pulsive (pul'siv), a. [< L. pulsus, pp. of pel-
lere, beat, strike, drive (see ptilse^),+ ■ive.'] 1.
Constraining; compulsory. [Rare.]
The ptil8t«e strain of conscience. Mareton.
2. Impulsive. Nares.
In end xa^ pulsive braine no art alfoords
To mint, or stamp, or forge new coyned words.
John Taylor, Works (1630).
pulsoiueter (pul-som'e-t6r), n. [< L. pulsus, a
beating, + Gr. iiirpav, measure.] 1. Same as ■nnitrioi ,,
pulsimeter. — 2. In mec%., a kind of steam-con- i'"i'!'^-"''> ■
Sensing pump acting on the principle of a vacu-
um-pump. By interposing a stratum of air between
iteam and the water it forms a far more economic^
In the il-
pulverization
which for the most part or entirely disappears during inspi-
ration, returning with expiration. It occurs in some case!!
when the aorta is compressed during inspiration by cicatri-
cial bands produced by pericarditis or mediastinitis, in
some cases of adherent pericardium, and In some ot stenosis
of the trachea or larynx.— Pulsus parvus, a small pulse.
See j>u2se.— Pulsus quadrigenilnus, a pulse in which
there is a longer pause after every four beats.— Pulsus
tardus, a slow pulse. See ptiJse.— Pulsus tremulus, a
very feeble pulse just perceptible at the wrist as a faint
fluttering sensation.- Pulsus trigeminus, a pulse with
a longer pause after every three beats.— Pulsus venosus,
the alternating expansion and contraction of a vein or
veins, either due to the contractions of the lieart acting
backward through the large veins, or constituting a di-
rect centripetal pulse due to arterial relaxation,
tsultt, »• A Middle English form otpeW^.
pultaceous (pul-ta'sMus), a. [< L. puis (pultJ),
pottage, porridge (aeepulse^), + -aceotis.'] 1.
Soft or semi-fluid, as the substance of a poul-
tice; pulpy. — 2. Macerated; pulpified; partly
digested : as, a pultaceous mass of food m the
stomach.
Pultensea (pul-te-ne'a), n. [NL. (Sir J. E.
Smith, 1793), named after Richard Pulteney
(1730-1801), an English botanist.] A genus of
leguminous shrubs of the tribe Podalyrieie. it
is characterized by united keel-petals, a large banner-
petal, two ovule^ an ovate two-valved pod, persistent
bracUets closely investing the calyx, and dry or ttiread-
like stipules. The 75 species are all Australian. They
bear undivided and alternate or rai-ely whorled ilat or con-
cave leaves, and brownish stipules often enlarged to form
an involucre under the yellow or orange flowers, which are
solitary in the axils or crowded in terminal heads. They
are dwarf and ornamental evergreens, usually from 1 to S
feet high, cultivated chiefly under the name Pultensea;
one, P. daphnoides, which reaches S feet, Is known in Vic-
toria as wall-Jlower. See Viminaria.
pulterf, n. An obsolete form ot poulterer.
pultesset, pultiset, n. Obsolete forms otpoul-
machine than the old style of vacuum-pump,
lustration a and a'
are bottle-shaped
chambers; & is the
bonnet with
steam-passages; c
is a spherical valve
which excludes
the steam from one
chamber while
permitting it to
flowinto the other.
Steam enters at s;
d is an induction-
passage for water ;
e and e' are vul-
canized rubber
valves; / and f,
valve-seats ; h, the
delivery - passage,
shown (with other
parts) in dotted
outline ; g and g^,
eduction - valves
for water; i and
i, valve-guaids ; j,
an air-chamber ;
ft and K, bonnets
covering open-
ings whereby the
valves may be
Pulsometer, shown in section.
reached for adjustment or repair ; I and V, rods which hold -
the inductioivvalves and tlieir attachments in place; n pulverate (pul've-rat), V. t
and n', brass socket-headed bolts which secure the valves verated, ppr. pulverating.
An obsolete form of jjoM^iry.
pulture, n. Beeputure.
pulu (po'lo), n. [Hawaiian.] A fine silky yel-
lowish fiber obtained in the Hawaiian Islands
from tree-ferns of the genus Cibotium, the
bases of whose leafstalks it densely covers.
It is exported in considerable quantity, chiefly to San
Francisco, for use in stuffing mattresses, etc. A species of
the genus, C. Barometz, of tropical Asia and the Malayan
islands, yields (as do also species of Dj<;ft<o»ui)a like prod-
uct, used for the same purpose, and also employed in sur-
gery as a mechanical styptic.
pulv. -An abbreviation of Latin pulvis, powder :
used in medical prescriptions.
pulverable (pul've-ra-bl), a. [< L. pulverare,
cover with dust, reduce to powder (< puMn
(pulver-), dust, powder), + -able.] Capable of
being pulverized, or reduced to fine powder.
[Rare.]
In . . . the Indies hefumished himself with some liquid
substances afforded by wounded plants, that as soon as
he came near Europe, and not before, turned into consis-
tent and pulverable bodies. Boyle, Works, I. 636.
pulveraceous (pul-ve-ra'shius), a. [< h. pul-
vis (pulver-), dust, powder, + -aceous.] Ia bot.
and zool., having a dusty or powdery surface;
pulverulent.
pulveraint (pul've-ran), n. [= F.pulvMn, <
It. xwlverino, < polmere, powder : see powder.]
A powder-horn, especially one for fine priming-
powder.
pret. andpp.pwf-
. - . ^ „ [< L. pulveratus. pp.
of pulverare (> It. poherare), cover with dust,
reduce to powder, < pulvis (pulver-), dust, pow-
der: eeepowder.] To beat or reduce to powder
or dust; pulverize. [Rare.]
They litter them [their horses] in their own dung, first
dryed m the Sun and pulverated. Sandys, Travailes, p. 61.
g and g' and their attachments in their places. Into the
neck of each of the chambers a and a' is screwed a small
Inlet air-valve (not shown). A similar valve is fitted to the
chamber j. Steam entering chamber a expels its contents,
and then, condensing, forms a partial vacuum. The valve
then closes the opening into that chamber, and admits
steam into the other. Water then rises to fill the vacuous
chamber; also a little air enters tlirough the minute air-
valve in the neck. By this time the contents of the other ■D,,i_._.4._ / ,/, -..,_,
chamber are expelled, the steam condenses therein, and *UlveratOreS (pnl"ve-ra-to'rez), n. pi. [NL.,
other events follow as described for the first chamber. The Pl- 01 jmlverator, < L. pulverare, pp. pulveratUS
small quantity of air admitted, being heavier than steam, reduce to powder: seepulKerate.] Erdswhich
forms a film over the upper surface of the water, and, be- habitliallv mil t\,^-^=J^rll. i^i-Xf a^ZxT
ing a non-conductor oflieat, prevents wasteful condensa- p„°"". '^ themselves in the dust, as the
tion of steam, which would otherwise aiise from the direct ^asores.
contact of the steam with the water. The machine de- pulver-davt (pul'vSr-da), n. Same as Pulver-
rives its name from the pulsatory action of the steam i^-'---'-- " " c ao x »<.!/<,/
ejected, and the analogy of its form, with its interior niilver ilial^t /mil'^r^. /h„t,\ ryr i ■ , >
valves, to the construction of the heart. Also called oomo- P"^7°^-aipT (pul y6r-dish), n. [<.!,. pulvis (pul-
•^ ver-), dust, a.sh6B,+ E. dish.] A vessel in which
40 or less, and others 100 or more, without inconvenience pulsus (pul'sus), n. [L.: seepulse^.] Thepulse. "^ere placed the ashes which were to be snrin-
or other derantrement of health. The nulse-rate is higher '_pmgitJaltemailS,apulBeinwhicha"-— ''---- ^'''"'^ ii- i!-.^i-^--i . , ^'b/" ue spim
strong and weak.— Pulsus bigemllLUS, _
of cycles consisting of two beats followed
Pulsus celer, a quick pulse. SeeiHrfse.- l„„„„i„viu- -, - , _, - -.i ^, >
tus, a dicrotic pulse. See jnrfge.- Pulsus dlfferens, a ^^® iwwcler.] Powdery or dusty; pulverulent
pulseunequal in strength; or dissimilar in form in the two pulveriu, pulverfne (pul've-rin). n WL rmU
radials.- Pulsus durus, a hard pulse. Seep«be.— Pul- vis ( ■nulvi^-\ rlii«t n=V,^<, i iis / % ^i a^.
BUS flliformis, a filiform pulse. See puUe. -^Pulsus^- „f vVJiY ■'' ' ^ ®*' ^ "*" ' ■*'*^ •] ^^^^
perdicrotUB, a hyperdicrotic pulse. See ijaise.- Pulsus "loariiia.
intercurrens, a pulse in which there is an extra beat in- PUlVeriZable (pul've-ri-za-bl), a. [= F nul-
tercalated in a normal series.— Pulsus Intermittens, an virisaUe = Sp. pulverieabh = It 'Dolwrigz'nhilp ■
mtermittent pulse. See injise.- Pulsus magnus, a large as vulverize + -ahlp 1 PpTaTTlo Af v • i '
pulse. See ptrfge.- Pulsus mollis, a soft pulse. Sie tJ Tif ^i^-J J-apa Die of being pulver
jndse.— PulBusmouocrotus,amonooroticpulse.— Pul- , ' .■'^^^° spelled i)«j«)er!«a6te.
sus myurus, a pulse which becomes feebler and then PUlVCriZatlon (puFve-ri-za'shon) n r= F
stronger in alternate series.- Pulsus paradoxus, a pulse pulvirUatum = Sp. puloerizacion — Pg xmlve-
pulverization
'r,?f5"n "^J*" -PP'^fw^^a^Jone; as puherize +
■^ston.] The act of pulverizing, orreducing to
pulverize (pul've-nz), ^.; pret. a,nd vv. pulver-
tzed, ppr. pulverizing. [= F. jjafc^lger = Pr.
iJoJt-m^ar = 8p. Pg. pulverizar = It. polveriz-
as by pounding, grinding, etc,
The zealous ftophet, with lust f uty mooT'd,
lore all the Hoaat, his Brother sharp reproov'd,
ADd mdverizd their Idol. '
Sylvester, tr. ol Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Lawe.
II intrans. 1. To become reduced to fine
powder ; faU to dust.— 2. In ornith., to roll or
wallow in the dust; take a sand- or dust-bath.
as a hen or partridge.
Also spelled pulverise.
pulverizer (pul've-ri-z6r), n. 1. One who or
that which pulverizes; especiaUy, a machine
4843
pulvillus (pul-vil'us), n. ; pi. pulvilli (-i). [L.,
a little cushion : see pnlvil.'] In entom., a little
process, like a cushion, pad, or sucker, between
the clavi or claws of the apical or terminal
tarsal joint of an insect's leg; a foot-pad. a
pulvillus is a modified plantula, onycbiam, or empodium,
lormiDg a pad often furnished with tubular hairs which
secrete an adhesive substance, enabling the insect to walk
on smooth surfaces. The cushion of a fly's foot is an ex-
ample. Also pidvinvius.
pulvinar (pul-vi'nar), a. and n. [< L. pulvi-
naris, of or belonging to a cushion or pillow;
pump
lava from which gas or steam has escaped in
large oLuantities while it was becoming consoli-
dated. Pumice is usually a form of obsidian, and con-
tains from 60 to 75 per cent of silica. It is often so porous
aa to float on water for a considerable time after beintr
ejected from a volcano. After its pores become filled » i li
water it sinks to the bottom, its specific gravity being nei. . -
ly two and a half times that of water.
Planted in rude and uncultivated places, amongst rocks
and diy pumices. Evelyn, SUv ;u
Like as a swarm of bees that in an hollow pumice pend
„ „ J. , PAoer, ^neid, xil.
pulvinarium, vLsaaHy pulvinar, a couch made of pumice (pum'is or pu'mis), v. t.
cushions; <JimW»ms, a cushion, bolster, pillow, ptmiiced, vpi. pumicing. r<'
elevation : see piUoie.'] I. a. Padded or pad-
like; cushiony; pillowy: as, the ^«JwMir prom-
inence of the brain.
II. n. 1. A pillow or cushion; a medicated
cushion. — 2. The posterior iimer part of the
optic thalamus, forming a prominence on its
upper surface. Also called posterior tubercle.
— 3. The cushion of fat filling up the non-
%l^7^^J2''L'^lktr^','^ri ^"^^ ^cul^rp^riTthe acefab=.
grain, etc... 2.^^or^<^.,abirdttath^^^^^^^ Pulviuarii(pul-vi-na'ri-a), ». [NL
rolls or wallows in the dust or takes sand-baths ;
one of the Pwlmeratores.
Tozzetti, 1868), < L. puMnus,
(Targioni-
a cushion:
pret. and pp.
-.---- „ ,. - pumice, «.] To
polish, rub, or otherwise treat with pumice-
stone ; especially, in silver-plating, t o clean wii 1 1
pumice and water, as the surface of an artielo
to be plated.
We who have ragged beards are cniel by prescriptirn
and acclamation ; while they who have pumiced faces ainl
perfumed hair are called cruel only in llie moments of
tenderness, and in the pauses of irritation.
Landor, Diogenes and Plato.
The box being finished, the outside is pumiced and pol-
ished, and any applications of gilding can be made.
Warkelwp Receipts, ist ser., p. 3SC.
The singvilarity of manners . c
cies, by some called pulverizers.
J.:
i)«?OTM,«s.] Anotablegenusof bark-liceorscale- pumiceous (pii-mish'ius), a. Klj.pumicens, of
pecuUar to a few spe- insects of the homopterous family CoccidsB. The
Sennie, in Montagu's Ornith. Diet
Also spelleA pulveriser.
pulverizmg-mill (pul've-ri-zing-mil), n. An
apparatus for reducing tie ingredients of gun-
.- ly
females are large, circular, and flat, with a dense white,
cushion-shaped, and waxy egg-mass. They are very injuri-
ous to trees and plants. P. vitis damages grape-vines in
Europe, and P. tnnumerabitis is a great peat to maple
shade-trees in the United States, where it is known as the
cottony maple-scale.
powder separately to an impalpable powder pulvinate (pul'vi-nat), a. [< L,
before they are combined in the incorporating- cushion-shaped, having a swelling or elevationi
<.pulvinus, a cushion, an elevation: seepiUow.^
mill.
pulverous (pul've-rus), a. [< L. puhis (pulver-),
dust, powder : see powder.'] Consisting of dust
or powder; like powder. Smart.
pulverulence (pul-ver'g-lens), n. [< puVoeru-
len{t) + -ce.] Dustiness; powder; the state of
being dusted over, powdery, or pulverulent.
pulverulent (pul-ver'ij-lent), a. [= F.pulv^tir-
1. Pulvinar; cushiony; pillowy; pad-like.— 2.
In hot., cushion-shaped.
Also pulviniform.
Pulvinate prothoraz or pronotiun, in entom., a pro-
thorax or pronotum which is depressed in one place and
appears to be puffed out in others, giving a fanciful re-
semblance to a cushion or pillow that has been pressed
down in any part. Kirby.
or pertaining to pumice, Kpumex (pumic-), pum-
ice: see jp^mice.] Pertaining to pumice ; con-
sisting of pumice, or resembling pumice : as,
pumiceous structure.
Minute angular fragments of pumiceous glass, such as
is thrown high in the air during violent eruptions.
Science, XU. 373.
pumice-stone (pnm'is-ston), n. [Formerly also
pumie-stone,pumiy-stone; (.pumice + stone. Cf.
AS. pumic-stan.'] Same as pumice.
Fire, fall'n from Heav'n, or else by Art incited, . . .
Or from som Mountains burning bowels throw'n,
Kepleat with Sulphur, Pitch, and Pumy stone,
With sparkling fury spreads.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii. The furies.
This mountain, and indeed the whole island, is evidently
of volcanic origin, and formed of lava, tufo, and pumice
etone. Evslace, Italy, III. i.
Pumie stones I hastly hent
And threwe. Spenser, Shep. Cal., March.
pumiciform (pum'i-si-f6rm), a. [< L. immex
(pumic-), pmmce, + forma, form.] Resembling
pumice : specifically applied in geology to cer-
tain light spongy rocks having the texture of
pumice.
pumicosei (pum'i-kos), a. [= It. pumicoso, po-
pulvinulus (pul-vin'ii-lus), «.; pi. pulvinuU ^*<">so, < L. pumicosus, like pumice, porous, <
(-li). [NL., < L. pulvinulus, a little cushion, a 3?"™«^ (pumic-), pumice: see pumice.1 Con-
little bank of earth, dim. of pulvinus, a cushion, listing of orresemblmg pumice,
an elevation.] In entom., same as pulvillus. The cavity of the sinus was almost entirely occupied liy
pulvinus (pul-vi'nus), n.; pi. pulvini (-m). ^PV^micose deposit. Sir W. Hamttton.
[NL., < Zi. pulvinus, a cushion, bolster, pillow, pumie-stonet, «■ Same a.s pumice-stone.
elevation: see pillow.'] In bot., same as cusJi- pummacet, »»• An obsolete form o£ pomace.
f, ion,2(j). pummel, n. and V. See pommel.
L pulviplume (pul'vi-plom), n. [< NL. pulvi- pummelo, «. See pomelo.
pluma, < L. pulvis, dust, powder, + pluma, a pump^ (pump), n. [<ME. jjwmpe, <.0¥.pompe.
i^^f ^ f^-,^^' Pii^^erulento, < L. puherulentus, pulvinated (pul'vi-na-ted), a. [< pulvinate +
full of dust, covered with dust, < pulms {pulwer-), -ed^.] In arch., noting a swelling or bulging out
dust, powder : see powder.] 1 . Dusty ; consist- in any part of an order, or any member so ehar-
mg of fine powder; powdery: as, calcareous acterized, as some friezes. MsoQ&Wedi pillowed.
gtone IS sometimes found in the pulverulent pulvinately (pul'vi-nat-U), adv. In bot., in a
form. — 2. In zool.g finely powdery or dusty, pulvinate manner.
as a surface ; especially, covered as if powdered pulvini, n. Plural of pulvinus.
with very minute scales, as an insect.— 3. In pulviniform (pul-vin'i-f6rm), a. [< L. pulvi-
bot.: (a) Covered as if with powder or dust; nus, a cushion, an elevation, + forma, form.]
pulveraceous : said of surfaces. (6) Of very Same a,s pulvinate.
slight cohesion : said of tissues.
The "thallus," which increases in thickness by the for-
mation of new layers upon its free surface, has no very de-
fined limit, and, in consequence of the slight adhesion of
its components, is said to be "pulverulent"
W. B. Carpemter, Micros., § 325.
4. Addicted to lying and rolling in the dust, as
fowls.
Pulver- Wednesdayt (pul'v6r-wenz"da), n.
"L. pulvis {puher-), dust, ashes (see powder),
Wednesday.] Same as Ash Wednesday.
pulvilt (pul'vil), n. \A\so pulmlle s,vApulvillo,
pulvilUo, pulvilio; < It. pohiglio, < L. pulvillus,
a little cushion, eontr. from puMnulus, < pul-
vinus, a cushion, an elevation.] A little bag
of perfumed powder; a sachet.
There stands the Toilette, Kursery of Charms,
Completely f umish'd with bright Beauty's Arms ;
The Patch, the Powder Box, PvlvUle, Perfumes,
Pins, Paint, a flattering Qlass, and Black lead Combs.
Gay, The Fan, i. 129.
pulvilt (piil'vil), V. t. [< pulml, n.] To sprinkle
with pulvil or a perfumed powder.
Have you pulviU'd the Coachman and Postilion, that
they may not stink of the Stable?
Congrem, Way of the World, iv. 1.
feather.] Same as powder-down.
pulwar (pul'war), ». [Also palwa/r; B. Ind.]
A light, keelless, neatly built boat used on the
pulza-oil (pul'za-oil), n. [Origin uncertain.]
A fixed oU 3delded by the seeds of the physio-
nut, Jatropha Curcas, used medicinally and for
general purposes. The seed is produced largely in
the Cape Verd Islands, and exported to Lisbon, where
chiefly the oil is expressed. Also called jatroplia-oil (see
Jatropha), seed-on, and purqueira-o&.
puma (pu'ma), n. [< Peruv. puma, a puma.]
1. Same as coM^ar. — 2. [cop.] [NL.] A genus
of FeUdse, such as the cougar. Siar W. Jardme.
pumelo, n. See pomelo.
, ., . ^ ,/ ■■! 1 - ^ A J. 1 i pumeyt, ». SameaspMWJce.
pulvil-caset (pul'vil-kas), n. A receptacle for *"*"•'' '■ -^ .
perfumed powder and other articles of the toi- „, ^„^ ^^ tralucent'pebble.ston'es
let, as combs, eto. Becelves the weary bridegroom of the sea.
pulviliot, n. Same as pulml. Peele, England's Holidays
It was easy for the porter in Farquhar to pass for Beau pumlcate (pii'mi-kat), V. t.; pret. and pp. pumi-
Cllncher, by borrowing his lace antf ^^P^^^-^^^^^ cated, ppr. pumicaUng. [< £ , pumicatus, pp. of
, .„ ,,,.■,.. s rxT 7 -77 j_ <j -I pumicare, rub smooth with pumice, < pumex
pulvillar (pul'vi-lar), o. [< L. pulvillus + -ar^.] (Vmc-), a pumice-stone: seepumice.] Tomake
Cushion-like or pad-hke, as a process on an in- l^ooth. witl pumice. [Bare.]
sect's tarsus between the claws ; of or peri;ain- p^jnice (pum'is or pii'mis), n. [Early mod. B.
mg to a pulvmus. a\so pumish, &\so pumey, pumie{-stone); < MB.
P ,^UJ?^' '"" -tS^^f ^f puivu. pomyce, pomys, pomeys, pomayse, pomeqe, < OP.
"^AlrJS^^'^SX ii^-pulvillu., ^i>W^5),vernacularly^o»o«(>B.|oW£)
a little cushion, + forma, form.] In entom.
resembling a pulvillus; cushion-like: as,a,pul-
villiform empodium.
pulvilliot, pulviliot, n. Same a.8 pulvil.
The flowers perfumed the air with smells of incense,
ambergris, and ptUo^ios, and were so interwoven with
one another that they grew up in pieces of embroidery.
Aadisan, Spectator, No. 63.
= Sp. pdmez = Pg. pomes = It. pomice = AS.
pumic(stdn) = D. puim(steen) = OHG-. humez,
MHG-. bumez, bimz, G. bims, bims{stein) = Sw.
pim{sten) = Dan. pimp(sten), pumice, < L.
pumex {pumie-), pumice-stone, any light po-
rous stone; perhaps orig. *spumex, < spuma,
toeim: see spume. Cf. doublet ^owrace^.] Lava
having a loose, spongy or cellular structure;
F.pompe (> Rnss. pompa) = Cat. Sp. Pg. bom-
ba, pump ; cf . D. pomp = MLGr. L(j. pmtipe =
Gr. pumpe = Sw. pump = Dan. pumpe, a pump ;
also in another form, G.j}lumpe, a pump; cf.
G. plumpen = B. ddal. plump, v., pump, forms
simulating plump^, or more prob. original, and
connected with plump^, and thus ult., like
plunge, (. Ti. plumbum, lea,A: see plump^. Tl;e
relations of the forms are difficult to deter-
mine, owing in part to the imitative intent
appar. present in them.] 1. One of several
kinds of hydraulic and pneumatic machines.
(a) A hydraulic machine for raising
liquids from a lower to a higher level
through a pipe or passage by means
of one or more pistons or plungers
(with or without valvesi or analogues
of these devices, working in, or in
correlation with, one or more pump-
barrels, pump-stocks, chambers, or
confined spaces. Of this class the
common single-acting house-pump,
the details of which are shown in
the cut, is a familiar example. (6) A
hydraulic machineforforcing liquids
under pressure through one or more
pipes or passages, in any direction,
by means of one or more pistons or
plungers, or analogues of these de-
vices, working in one or more cylin-
ders, trunks, pump-barrels, pump-
stocks, chambers, or confined spaces.
See force-pump, (c) A pneumatic
machine for forcing aeriform fluids
or vapors in any direction through a
pipe or passage by means of one or
more pistons, or their analogues or single-actinK Castiroa
equivfdents, working in one or more House-pump
chambers, cylinders, pump-barrels, «, levei; 6, piunfei
or pump-stocks. See air-pump ar^d or piston; c, fulcrum;
mercury air-pump. [In the dia- f gj'°*5^ °' ^,^■^
phragm^pump, a reciprocatmg dia- v'aivej/.base.'suppSt:
phragm performs the function of a ing all other parts. -
pump
piston. In the chain-pump, the "buttons" on the chain
are substantially pistons of a lifting-pump. In the tpiral-
' pujnp, which forces water through a spiral passage, as the
Archimedean screw, the portions of file walls of the pas-
sage lying behind tho liquid are the analogues of pistons.
In rotary pumps, acting by direct pressure or by centrif-
ugal force, or having a turbinate form, the analogues of
pistons are the rotating vanes, buckets, etc. In propeller-
pumps, the blades of the propeller-wheel represent the
pistons. In pumps of the monte^us variety, including
steam vacuum-pumps, the pnlsometer, etc., me represen-
tation of the piston is a volume of steam which first presses
upon the liquid, and is then condensed and replaced by an
equal volume of liquid, which in its turn is displaced by
another volume of steam. In jet-pumps, the analogue of
the piston is either a liquid column moving at high velo-
city to force other portions of liquid or vapor forward, or
a column of air, gas, or vapor, which, in the steam injector
and ejector, is steam that is condensed to a liquid during
its movement without much reduction in its velocity.]
2._ [< pump'^, «.] An artful effort to extract or
elicit information, as by indirect question or
remark. [CoUoq.]
I was the easier indeed because, for all her pumps, she
gave no hints of the key and the door, &c., which, had he
communicated to her, Aie would not have forborne giving
me a touch of. Richardson, Pamela, 1. 171.
Atmospheric, centrifugal, centripetal pump. See
Hie adj ectives. — Circulating pump, the pump employed
to move a current of cold water through a surface-con-
denser. In a marine engine the water is taken from the
sea, made to circulate through the condenser, and then
thrown overboard.— Dental pump, a device for freeing
the mouth from saliva during dent^ operations. Also
called saliva-pump.— mSextuMal pump. See differen-
tial.— Double-acting pump, a pump which, instead of
discharging and inducting liquid in it» outward stroke only,
both inducts and discharges at each stroke. An inlet- and
an outlet-valve is arranged at each end of the pump ; the
piston is solid and valveless ; an induction branch-pipe or
passage leads to each inlet-valve ; and a discharge branch-
pipe or passage leads from each outlet- valve. — Eccentric
pump, a cylinder In which revolve a hub and axis ar-
ranged eccentrically. The water enters by one opening
and escapes by another, expelled by ilaps upon the hub,
which serve as pistons in the space between the hub and
case.— Jack-bead pump, a pump having its delivery-pipe
attached to the pump-barrel or -cylinder by a gooseneck
connection. This form of attachment is used especially in
lifting-pumps for
raising water from
deep shafts or bor-
ings.—Uercurial
pump. See Yiter-
earyair-pvmp, un-
der 'mercury.— Q^-.
dilating pump,
a form of pump In
which a vessel in-
closes two valved
sectors or vibrat-
ing chambers that
oscillate upon a
pivot under the
control of a handle
or lever. It oper-
ates by the oscil-
lation of the sec-
tor-shaped pistons,
which alternately
suck waterinto and
discharge it from
the inclosing ves-
sel. — Pendulum
pump. See pen-
imlwm — Pump-
joint macMne, a
machine tor fitting
togetherthe joints
of pump-stocks, by
boring out and
turning down the
joining ends to
form a socket-
joint. — Rotary
pump, any pump
that acts by the ro-
tary motion of the
part or parts that
force the liquid
forward. See cut
under centrifugal.
— Saliva-pump.
Same as denIM
pump. — Single-
acting pump,
■ adii ■
OscillatinEf Pump.
The body of the pump is made in two sec-
tions, a and b, flaneed and bolted together.
The induction-chamber c has upwardly open-
In contradlstinc-
in£ valves d, j, throug:h which water is drawn
by osdUatin^ the handle B, causing corre-
sponding: oscillation of the piston /y, which
turns uponyasa center, and is provided with
tion to double-act- valves >./, opening upwardly into the chamber
J-T™™.« Vrvnmt. '. '■>» "'■'™ ""= "a'" '= toiixi at each suc-
vngpump, a pump missive oscillation, and discharged therefrom
that inducts and through the eduction-opening k.
discharges during
one stroke only — the outward stroke. Compare Aroke.
—Spiral-pump. Same as ^rcAinwdeim screw (which see,
waifST Archimedean).— iteaw. Jet-PUmp, a jet-pump in
which water is driven by steam. In the case of the injector
this form of pump is used to feed water to the boiler. See
injector and ejector, which are special names for steam jet-
pumps.— Steam vacuum-pump. SeemuMumrpmnp.-
Sulimerged pump, apump the barrel and valves of which
are submerged, while its pump-rod and discharge-pipe
extend above the surface of the water in which the ^ump-
barrel is placed. The principal advantage pertaining to
submerged pumps Is that their working parts are not
liable to be obstructed by the formation of ice (called
freezing up), as is the case with pumps exposed to effects
of very cold air.— To fetcll a PUmp. See /«teAl.— TO
prime a pump. See prime. (See also air-pump, chmn-
pump, ftUer-pump, force-pump, jet-pump.)
pumpi (pump), V. [= D. pompen, = G. piimpen
= Sw. pumpa = Dan. pumpe; from the noun.
4844
Cf. E. Ai&l.plump = G.plumpen, pump.] I. in-
trans. To work a pump ; raise water or other
liquid with a pump.
Ifot so, oh Charon, wanting to defray.
Thou hast my paines, I pumpt part of the way.
Then tug'd at th' oare, being that only soule
Who in thy barge did neither moume nor honle.
Eeywood, Dialogues (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VL 238).
Mariners, . . . while they pour out their vows to then:
saviour gods, at the same time fall lustily to their tackle,
andjTUTnp without intermission.
WarburUm, Divine Legation, iii. 6.
Pumidng of the barometer, the oscillation of the mer-
cury in the tube of a barometer, resulting from sudden
movements of the instrument, or sometimes from the me-
chanical influence of blasts of air in compressing or rare-
fying the air when the barometer is placed near an obstruc-
tion. At sea, where the barometer is subject to the pitch-
ing and rolling of the vessel, pumping is especially trou-
blesome and, in order to diminish it, marine barometers
are cons^cted with the tube contracted for a considers^
ble part of its length.
II. trans. 1. To raise with a pump: as, to
jpMmp water. — 2. To free from water or other
fluid by means of a pump or pumps : as, iopump
a ship. — 3. To elicit or draw out by or as by
artful interrogation: as, to pump out secrets.
I'll stand aside whilst thou pwmp'^ out of him
His business. B. Jons&n, Tale of a Tub, iv. S.
4. To subject to a pumping process for the
purpose of extracting, procuring, or obtaining
something, such as money, information, or se-
crets.
Here— 'tis too little, but 'tis all my store ;
111 in Uipump my dad, and fetch thee more.
Randolph, Muses Looking Glass, ii. 4.
Not to rove, and pwmp one's Fancy
For Popish Similes beyond Sea.
Prior, To Fleetwood Shephard.
I am going to pwmp Mr. Bentley for designs.
WaZpole, Letters, II. 264.
He , . . finally made a motion with his arm as it he
were working an imaginary pump-handle, thereby inti-
mating that he (Mr. Trotter) considered himself as under-
going the process of being jwm^d by Mr. Samuel Weller.
Ifickens, Pickwick, xvL
To pump ship, to urinate. [Low.]
pump2 (pump), n. [Prob. < F.pompe, pomp, or-
nament, show (> LG. pvmp, pomp, show); cf.
G. pumphosen, wide pantaloons, < (LGr.) pump,
pomp, show, + hoset^ hose; pumpstiefel, a
large, clumsy boot, < (LG. ) pump, pomp, show,
+ stiefel, boot : see pomp. For the form, cf .
pumpet tovpompet.'i A low shoe or slipper, with
a single unwelted sole, and without a heel, or
with a very low heel, worn chiefly for dancing.
Thy pumps, as white as was the milk,
And yet thou wouldst not love me.
QreetuHeeves Child's Ballads, IV. 242).
Thou Shalt not need to travel with thy pumps full of
gravel any more, after a blind jade and a hamper.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, iii. 1.
The usual attire of a gentleman, viz. pumps, a gold
waistcoat, a crush hat, a sham frill, and a white choker.
Thackeray, Book of Snobs, L
pumpage (pum'paj), n. [< pwmp^ + -fflflre.]
The amount pumped; the quantity or amount
raised by pumping.
The pumpage for the year averaged 69,658,969 gallons
per day. ^nUa/rian, XVII. 119.
pump-barrel (pump'bar'''el)j n. The wooden
or metal cylinder or tube which forms the body
of a pump, and in which the piston moves.
pump-bit (pump'bit), n. Same as nose-hit.
pump-bob (pump'bob), n. In a steam-engine,
a form of bell-crank lever serving to convert
rotary motion into reciprocating motion, for
operating a pump-piston.
pump-bolt (pnmp'bolt), n. A toggle-pin used
on fishing-vessels. [Massachusetts, u. S.]
pump-box (pump'boks), n. 1. The piston of
the common pump, having a valve opening up-
ward.— 2. The casing or cap of a pump Low-
er pump-box, the casing of the lower valve of a pump,
—upper pump-box, the csaing of the upper valve.
pump-brake (pump'brak), n. The arm or han-
dle of a pump, more particularly that form
which has a horizontal hand-piece at the end
of a lever. See hrakeS.
pump-cart (pump'kart), n. A vehicle carrying
a pump and reservoir, used for watering and ir-
rigating. K H. Knight.
pump-cnain (pump'chan), n. The chain of a
cham-pump. See chain-pump,
pump-cistern (pump'sis'tfim), n. 1. Naut.,
a cistern over the head of a chain-pump to re-
ceive the water, whence it is conveyed through
the ship's side by the pump-dales. — 2. A con-
trivance to prevent chips and other matters
from getting to and fouling the chaip-pumps.
pump-coat (ptunp'kot), n. Naut., a canvas
cover fastened aSjout a pump, and uaUed to
pu
loi
pump-kettle
the partners, to prevent water from running-
down its sides.
pump-dale (pump ' dal), re. The discharge-spout
(originally and still commonly a trough) of a
3ump, wmeh directs the flow; specifically, a
!ong detachable hose or tube used on board
ship to conduct water from a pump across the
ship and over the side. Pump-dales are also
used in tanneries to convey tan-liquor pumped
from one vat into another. Also called dale.
pumped^ (pumpt), i). o. [< pump^ + -e^.'] Out
of breath; panting; breathless: sometimes
with out. [CoUoq. or slang.]
Darkness began to set in, the artillery horses were
pumped out, and orders were given to retire.
W. B. Russell, Diary in India, II. 370.
pumped^ (pumpt), a. l< pump^ + -ed^.'i Pro-
vided with pumps ; wearing pumps or low dresa
shoes. [Bare.]
All the young gentlemen tightly cravatted, curled, and
pumped. Dickens, Dombey and Son, xiv,
pumper (pum'p6r), m. [= Or. pumper; aspump^
+ -eri.] 1. One who or that which pumps.
The flame lasted about two minutes from the time the
pumper began to draw out the air. Boyle, Works, I. 26.
2. A mineral-oil well from which the oil must
be pumped up_, as distinguished from one fromi
which the oil issues in a natural jet.
pumpernickel (pum'p6r-nik''el), n. [< G>
pumpernickel, formerly also pomperniekel, orig..
a heavy, blockish fellow, hence applied to a
coarse, heavy bread; < pumper, the noise of a
heavy fall (< pumpen, fall, plump: see plump
and^Mwpi), + Nickel, a popular abbr. of the
common personal name Nicolaus, Nicholas : see
Mck^, nickel.'] A kind of coarse bread made
from unbolted rye, used especially in Westpha-
lia. It has a little acidity, but is agreeable to the taste,
though not very nourishing. Also called bombemickel.
pumpetti n. Seepompet.
pump-gear (pump'ger), n. Naut., apparatus,
employed in pumping.
pump-nandle (pump'han*dl), n. The handle
or lever attached to the piston-rod of a pump
for moving the piston up and down.
She 's five and forty. She 's red hair. She 's a nose like
a, pump-handle. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, xl.
pump-head (pump'hed), n. The cap or top of
a chain-pump, which serves to guide the water
into the disebarge-spout, and as a cover for
the pump and well ; a pump-hood.
pump-hood (pump'hM), n. A semioylindrical
frame covering the upper wheel of a chain-
pump; a pump-head. It directs the water into
the discharge-spout, and prevents the throw-
ing out of part of it by centrifugal force.
pump-house (pump'hous), n. Same as pump-
room.
It is customary to begin the morning [Bath, 1766] by
bathing, which continues from six till about nine ; the
company then repair to thepump-Jiouse, some to drink the
hot waters, but more for pastime, as they are here amused
by a band of music, which fills up the intervals of wife
and pleasantry. I^e of Qum (reprint 1687X p. 50. <
pumping-engine (pump'ing-en"jin), n. Any
form of motor for operating a pump. While
pumping-engines of many types are merely large steam-
pumps, a distinction appears to obtain between the terms.
Fumping.engines are among the largest engines con-
structed. They are often built as beam-engines, as at the
water-works of Louisville in Kentucky, and also as hori-
zontal engines directly connected with horizontal pumps,
as in the common Steam-pump.
pumping-shaft (pum'ping-sh&ft), n. See shaft.
pumpion (pum'pion), n. [Also pompion,
pompeon, poumpion',' pompon ; < OF. pompon, a,
melon, a variant (simulating a reduplicated
form) of earlier pepon (> ME. pepon), < L.
pepo(n-\ < Gr. iriirw), a kind of melon: see
pepo. CLpipptn^. Hence jwrnpfciM, q. v.] A
pumpkin. [Obsolete or archaic]
Herbes of the bygger sorte, as gourdes, melones, ou-
cnmers, pompons, citrons, and suche other, ooome to their
perfection in the space of thirtie dayes.
Peter Uartyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 168).
All manner of strange fruits, as pomegranates, oranges,
pompiom. Stow (Arber's Eng. Gamer, I. 477).
We'll use this unwholesome humidity, this gross watery
pumpion: we'll teach him to know turtles from jays.
Shak., M. W. of W., Hi. 3. 43.
Indian jpompeoTU, the water melon, and the musk-mel-
lon. S. Clarke, Four Plantations In America (1870), p. 2«.
Observe a pom^^ion-twine afloat;
Pluck me one cup from off the castle-moat 1
Along with cup you raise leaf, stalk, and root,
The entire surface of the pool to boot.
Brovming, Sordello, li,
pump-kettle (pump'ket*!), n. A convex per-
forated diaphragm fixed at the bottom of a
pump-kettle
piunp-tube to prevent the entrance of foreign
matters ; a strainer. E. M. " ' ^ ■
pumpkin (pump'kin), n. [Formerly also pum-
hm (and in popular use, though spelled pump-
Un, now generally pronounced pung'kin, as if
written punk'm) ; an altered form, simulating
the tei-m. -kin, ot pumplon.l The fruit of a va-
riety of CuourUta Pepo; also, the plant which
produces it. The plant is a coarse decumbent vine,
often many feet long ; the leaves are heart-shaped and
somewhat lobed, nearly a foot across, and rough and al-
most prickly, as are also their hollow stalks. The gourd-
like fruit is ueai'ly globular or somewhat oblong, flattened
at the ends, a foot or more in length, and of a deep orange-
yellow color when ripe. Inside it is partly fUled with a
dryish stringy pulp containing the seeds; the esculent
part IS a fleshy Uyer an inch or two thick beneath the rind.
The pumpkin is of supposed Asiatic origin, and is culti-
vated in many countries ; in England it baa been culti-
vated either as a curiosity or for food since 1670. It is
thought to have been known to the American aborigines,
and to have been planted by them among their maize. In
America it has been largely given as food to catUe, and is
also used on the table, especially in pumpkin-pie; but
in culinary use it is now largely superseded by the squash,
and is less grown for other purposes than formerly. The
pumpkin has various subvarieties, and is closely related to
the vegetable marrow. (See tnarrowl.) The name is some-
times wrongly applied to forms of the squash. In Eng-
land occasionaUy called gourd or pum^Hn-gourd. See
Cttcurbita.
We had an entertainment of boiled wheat with meat in
it, and a dish of the pumkin kind, dressed after their way,
Poeocke, Description ot the Easti II. L 181.
pumpkin-head (pump'Mn-hed), n. A stupid
fellow J a dolt. [CoUoq., U. S.] "
pumpkm-seed (pump'kin-sed), n. l. The seed
of the pumpkin. — 3. One of many small oen-
trarehoid fishes of the genus Lepomis oiPomoiis,
especially the common sunfish of the eastern
United States, Z. gibhosus: so called from the
shape. Also tobacco-box. See cut under sun-
fiaJi. [U. S.] — 3. A type of yacht-built boat,
broad and cat- or sloop-rigged. It is a very
wet sailer. Henshall. [Florida.] — 4. Avery
flat, wide row-boat, of the shape of a pumpkin-
seed, used in water that is shallow or encum-
bered with weeds or grass. [U. S.]
pumpkin-vine (pump'kin-vln), n. The pump-
kin-plant.
pump-lug (pump'lug), n. A lug cast upon
the cross-head of a locomotive, to which the
pump-plunger is attached, and which imparts
a reciprocating motion to the plunger.
pump-piston (pump'pis'ton), n. The plunger,
cup, or bucket, reciprocating in a cylinder, by
means of which the function of a pump is per-
formed.
pump-plunger (pump'plun*i6r), n. 1. The
solid piston of a plunger-pump ; used to dis-
tinguish this class of pump-piston from those
which contain a valve. — 2. A pump-piston of
which the part that operates in the pump-bar-
rel also extends out through the stufSng-box,
and is either itself the piston-rod or plunger-
rod, or ii connected with a piston-rod or plun-
ger-rod exteriorly to the stufiBng-box.
pump-room (pump'rom), n. A room connected
with a mineral spring, in which the waters are
drunk.
Her first resolution . . . [was to seek Miss TilneyJ In
the Pump Boom at noon. In the Pvmp Smm one so
newly airived in Bath must be met with.
Jane AuiUn, Northanger Abbey, Iz.
pump-scra,per (pump'skra'''per), «. A circular
plate used for cleaning out a pump-barrel.
pump-spear (pump'sper), n. The rod connect-
ing the handle and the valve of a pump.
pump-staff (pump'staf ), n. The pump-spear or
piston-rod of a pump.
pump-stock (pump'stok), «. The body of a
pump.
pump-stopper (pump'stop*6r), n, N<mt^ a plug.
pump-thunder (pump'thun''d6r), n. [So called
in sOlusion to its booming cry; < *pump, var.
of hump^, + thunder.'] The American bittern,
Botaurvs mugitans or ImUginosus. .Also called
thunder-pumper. [Local, TJ. 8.]
pump-well (pump'wel), n. 1. A well from
which water or other fluid is raised by means
of a pump.— 2. Naut., a compartment formed
by bulkheads round the pumps on shipboard,
to keep them clear of obstructions, to protect
them feom injury, and to aflEord ready admit-
tance for examining their condition.
pumyt. n. [A quasi-sing. form otpurmce, taken
as plural: see pumice. Cf. pumice-stone.] A
pebble; a stone. [Rare.]
And oft the iwmiM latched. „, „ ,
Speruer, Shep. Gal., March.
puni (pun), V. t.; pret. and pp. punned, vvr-
mining. [< ME. 'punen, < AS. jmnum, beat.
4845
pound: see pound^, the same word in diff.
form.]- Tobeat; strike with force; ram; pound,
as in a mortar ; reduce to powder. [Obsolete
or prov. Eng.]
He would pun thee into shivers with his flst^ as a sailor
breaks a biscuit. Shak., T. and C, ii. 1. 42.
The roots must be first sliced and dried in the sunne,
or by the fire, and then, being punned into floure, will
make good bread. HcMuyt'e Voyages, III. 272.
Yea sometimes in the winter season, when he was in
the country, he refused not to cleave wood, and to punne
barley, and to doe other country works only for the exer-
cise of his body. Cogtum'e Haven of Health, p. 226.
Too much stress cannot he laid upon good sound pun-
ning. The earth, as itis thrown in, should be thorough-
ly well panned at every stage.
Preece and Sivewright, Telegraphy, p. 196.
pun2 (pun), V. ; pret. and pp. punned, ppr. pim-
ning. [Usually explained as a particular use
of pun^, pound, as if to pound or beat words,
as it were into new shapes (cf . twist, wrest, as
used of words; clench, clinch, a pun); but this
explan ation requires the verb to have been orig.
transitive, 'to pound' (so. words); evidence of
such a use is lacking, and it is not certain that
the verb precedes the noun.] I. intrans. To
make puns.
Who dealt In doggrel, or who punned, in prose.
Dryden, tr. of Juvenal, x. 189.
II. trans. To affect by a pun.
The sermons of Bishop Andrews and the tragedies of
Shakspeare are full ot them [puns]. The sinner was pun-
ned into repentance by the former, as in the latter no-
thing is more usual than to see a hero weeping and quib-
bling for a dozen lines together.
Addison, Spectator, Ko. 61.
pun^ (pun), re. [S6epun^,v.'\ An expression in
which the use of a word in two different appli-
cations, or the use of two different words pro-
nounced alike or nearly alike, presents an odd
or ludicrous idea; a play on words that are
alike or nearly alike in sound but differ in
meaning; a kind of verbal quibble.
A pun can be no more engraven than it can be trans-
lated. When the word is construed into its idea, the
double meaning vanishes. Addison, Ancient Medals, ii.
A better 2>un on this word [gay] was made on the Beg-
gar's Opera, which, it was said, made Gay rich, and Bich
gay. Wttlpole, Anecdotes of Fainting, V. 92, note.
= Syn. Pun, Paronomasia, Assonance. Pun and paro-
nomasia are often confounded, but are in strictness dis-
tinct in form and effect. A. pun is a play upon two senses
ot the same word or sound, and its effect is to excite a
sense of the ludicrous : as.
They went and told the sexton, and
The sexton talVd the bell.
Hood, Sally Brown.
Even when taken into sober discourse, the pun has an
effect at least of oddity : as.
For SuffoU^s duke, may he be suffocate.
S?iak., 2 Hen. VL, L 1. 124.
Hence modem taste excludes puns from serious writing
and speaMng. Paronomasia is rather the use of words
that are nearly but not quite alike in sound, and it height-
ens the effect of what is said without suggesting the ludi-
crous: as, "Per angusta ad augusia"; "And catch with
his surcease success," Shaik., Macbeth, L 7. 4 ;
To begirt the almighty throne
BeteecMng or besieging. MMon, F. L., v. 869.
As in these examples, it is most likely to be used where
the words thus near in sound are far apart in meaning.
It is very common in the original languages of the Bible,
especially in the Old Testament, as in Isa. v. 7. An at-
tempt to imitate it may be found in Mat. zxi. 41, revised
version. Assonance is the bare fact of resemblance of
sound, being generally accidental, and in the majority of
cases disagreeable to the ear : as, urtfold old truths, our
power, if of, is as, and Andrew drew, the then condition.
For the technical meaning of assonanee, see det. 2 under
that word.
puna (p6'iiS')> **• [Peru'^'] In the Peruvian
Andes, nearly the same as paramo.
Tschndi says that by the name of puna is designated
the high table-land in Peru and Bolivia lying between the
two great chains of the Cordillera, beginning at an eleva-
tion of about 10,600 feet above the searlevel, and extend-
ing to the regions of eternal snow.
J. D. Whitney, Names and Places, p. 196.
punatoo(pun-a-tS')>»' [Cingalese.] In Ceylon,
the preserved'pulp of the fruit of the palmyra-
palm. It is the chief food of the poorer classes of the
peninsula of Jaffna for several months of the year, and
is used in soups, etc.
puna-wind (po'na-wind), n. A cold and re-
markably dry wind which blows from the Cor-
dilleras across the table-land called the Puna,
in Peru.
punch^ (punch), v. t. [< ME. punehen = Sp.
punehar (< 'MJu. punctare),punzar ='P^. pungar
(< ML. "punetiare, punctuare), pierce, prick,
punch, sting, < ML. punctuare, puncture, pierce,
pri«k, punch, < L. punetum, punctus, a poiut :
see pointy n. and v. The E. form is in part due
to the related noun puncheon (see puncheon^),
and has been in part confused with ME. pun-
punch
chen, var. otpunischen, punish (aeepunch^), also
with ME. bunchen, beat, strike (see bunch^).]
1. To make a hole or holes in with a punch or
some similar instrument; pierce; perforate:
as, to punch a metal plate.
When I was mortal, my anointed body
By thee was punched full of deadly holes.
Shak., Kich. in., v. 8. 126.
2. To make with or as with a punch: as,topunch
a hole in something — Punchins-and-shearlng
machine, a machine having both punches and shearing-
plates connected with the same standard or bed, and with
the same driving pulley or motor. — Funehing-preSB, a
die-press constructed like an ordinaiy punching-machine.
punch^ (punch), M. [<punch\v.; inpartprob.
abbr. ot puncheon^, q. v.] 1. A tool the work-
ing end of which is pointed, blunt, a continu-
ous edge inclosing an area, or a pattern in re-
lief or intaglio, and which acts either by pres-
sure or percussion (applied in the direction of
its longitudinal axis) to perforate or indent a
solid material, or to drive out or in objects in-
serted in previously formed perforations or
cavities. The pointed punch may be regarded as a
chisel with a very narrow edge, cutting, therefore^ in one
point only, and
forcing adja-
cent parts of
the material
asunder by a
wedge-like ac-
tion. The ac-
tion of a punch
with a continu-
ous edge inclos-
ing an area is
also analogous
to the action ot
a chiseL The
action of a flat-
nosed punch.
a. piece to be punched ; >, punch
. support for a; t, tones. The pu . .,
ated Dy striking with a hammer or sledee at M».
. A, handle;
le punch is oper-
The tongs are usually held in the left hand of the
smith, and the handle of the punch in his right
hand, his assistant delivering the blows.
when used with a die to which it is fltted, is that of a
shear-blade, the parts of the material operated upon be-
ing separated by sliding over each other, instead of being
wedged apart, as is the operation of the pointed punch.
Hardened and tempered steel is the usual material of
which punches are made. Solid punches with engraved
faces are used for stamping-dies, as in coining, and with
plain flat faces are used in connection with accurately
fltted dies for making clean-cut holes in metal plates, and
also for punching out blanks for buttons, coins, smaU
gear-wheels, etc. Hollow punches, or punches having
continuous edges inclosing an area, are principally used
for cutting either very thin, soft sheet-metal, as tin, brass,
or copper plates, or other soft flexible substances, as lea^
ther, paper, or cloth. The pointed punch is used for
marking centers in the operation of turning, or for punch-
ing holes in thin materials where clean cutting is ot no
importance, as in punching holes in sheet-zinc or -tin for
the reception ot nails in nailing such sheets to wood.
2. A tool used to force nail-heads below the
surface. — 3. A stone-masons' chipping-tool; a
puncheon. — 4. In surg., an instrument used for
extracting the stumps of teeth. — 5. In decora-
tive art, a tool in the form of a bar, sometimes
fitted with a handle and engraved at the end in
a cross, concentric ring, or other device. It is
used for impressing ornamental patterns upon
clay or other plastic materials. — 6. The en-
graved model of a printing-type on the end of
a steel rod: so called from its being punched
in a copper bar which makes the matrix, or a
reversed impression of the model. — 7. In carp.,
studding by which a roof is supported. — 8. In
hydraul. engin,, a short length placed on the
top of a pile to permit the momsey of a pile-
driver to bear upon it when it has been driven
too low to be struck directly; a dolly. — 9. In
coal-mming, same as pout^. [North. Eng.] —
Centering pimch, a pointed steel punch with par^lel
sides, sliding freely in the stem of an inveited funnel or
centering cone. C. P. B. Shelley, Workshop Appliances,
p. 166.— Coopers' puncll, a punch operated Dy a lever
and making l^o holes at once. It is used to punch rivet-
holes in iron hoops.— Duplex punch, (a) A punch
which has a counter-die on the opposite pan, as in a ticket-
punch. (6) A punch operated by the rolling action ot two
levera on one fulcrum, forming a toggle.— Hollow punclL
See det. 1.
punch^ (punch), V. t. [< ME. punehen, a synco-
pated form otpunischen, punish (cf . similar syn-
copated MB. forms ot polish, vanish, and the re-
verse in ME. perishen, var. of perehen, percen,
pierce : see pierce). Punch in this sense has
been confused with punch^, with which it is
now practically identified: see punch\ and cf.
bunch^.] If. Same &s punish.
Punchyn, or chastysen, punysshen, punio, castigo.
Pron^ Parv., p. 416.
For 8our errours on erthe . . ,
ge schulle he punched.
Alexander and Dindimvs, L 747.
2. To give a blow, dig, or thrust to ; beat with
blows of the fist: as, to punch one on the head,
or to punch one's head. [Colloq.]
With a goade he pwncht each furious dame.
And made them eveiy one cast downe their greene and
leavie speai'es. Chapman, Iliad, vi.
puncb
Smart chap that cabman — handled his Sres well; hut
11 I'd been yoiii- friend in the green jemmy — . . . punch
his head — cod I would. Dickens, Piclswlck Papers, li.
Won't you please jwncA that Are, and give us more blaze 1
C. D. ITamer, Backlog Studies, p. 156.
punch2(pimeh),m. [<»M>jc/t2,«.] Ablow.dig,
or thrust, as with the fist, elbow, or knee: as,
to give one a punch in the ribs or a punch on the
head. [CoUoq.]
punch^ (punch), a. and n. [Perhaps a var. of
bwncK^; of . j)!*»c% with hunchy.'] I. a. Short
and fat. [Prov. Eng.]
II. n. 1. A short, fat fellow.
I ... did hear them call their fat child pmush, which
pleased me mightily, that word being become a word ol
common use for all that is thick and short.
Pepye, Diary, April 80, 1669.
2. A short-legged, barrel-bodied hoise, of an
English draft-breed.
A stout Suffolk punch, about thirteen hands and a hsU
in height. Barham, Ingoldsby L^ends, 1. 119.
Punch* (punch), n. [Abbr. of Punchinello, by-
conformation with punch^."] A short hump-
backed hook-nosed puppet, with a squeaking
voice, the chief character in a street puppet-
show called "Punch and Judy," who strangles
his child, beats his wife (Judy) to death, be-
labors a policeman, and does other tragical
and outrageous things in a comical way.
puncll^ (punch), n. [Formerly also pounohe,
punee (= D. pons = G. Sw. Dan. punsch = F.
punch, ponche = Sp. Pg. ijonche = It. punehio,
ponchio, < E.); so called from its five ingredi-
ents, < Hind. ^omc7», five, < Skt. ^jancfea, five, =
E. five: see five. The Hind, panch does not
seem to occur alone in the sense of 'punch,'
but it is much used in composition to de-
note various mixtures of five things, aspanch-
dmrit, a mixture of milk, curds, sugar, glue, and
honey, ^fli»c7j-6/»adra, a sauce of five ingredients,
panch-pallav, a medical preparation from the
sprouts of five trees, etc., or sets of five things,
as pancli-pir, five saints, panch-gavya, the five
things yielded by the cow, etc. ; also alone for
an assembly of five men, or any council (cf.
punchayet).] A drink commonly made with
wine or spirits, and either water or some sub-
stitute, as a decoction of tea, and fiavored with
lemon-juice or lemon-peel and sugar. Punch is
usually named from the alcoholic liquor which it con-
tains, as brandy-^mncA, claret^puncA, v\im-pum;h, but some-
times also from other ingredients, as milk-punch, tear
punch, or from some person or circumstance, as Regent's
pune?t, Swedish jmncA, Webster jnjjicA.
E'en now the godlike Brutus views his score
Scroll'd on the bar-board, swinging with the door ;
Where, tippVmg punch grave Cato's self you see.
And Amor Patriae vending smuggled tea.
Crabbe, Works, 1. 186.
Punch had begun to make its appearance, but it was a
simple liquor to what afterwards became known by that
name.
J. Ashton, Social Life in Beignof Queen Anne, I. 202.
Cobbler's punch. See cobbler^. — Roman punch. See
R(nnu7i.
punchayet (pun-chi'et), n. [Hind, panchdyat,
eontr. panohdt, a court of arbitration consisting
of five or more members, a council ; cf . panch,
a council of five, < panch, five : see punch^.'] In
the village communities of Hindustan, a com-
mittee of five men sitting as a jury to try of-
fenses against caste, etc., or as an administra-
tive council or the like.
Bigamy is a Parsee abomination, . . . and the unfortu-
nate Jemshedjee was excommunicated by the honorable
punchayet. J. W. Palmer, The New and the Old, p. 274.
punch-bo-wl (punch'bol), n. [= Sw. punschb&l
= Dan. punschebolle ; as punch^ + iowP-.'^ A
bowl in which the ingredients of punch are
mixed, and from which it is served by means
of a ladle. See cut under monteith.
Ihey hae gard [caused] fill up ae mmch-boui.
Jock 0' the Side (Chaffs Ballads, VI. 88).
Take, for instance, the punch-bowl. ... It was a thing
to be brought forth and filled with a fragrant mixture of
rum, brandy, and cura^oa, lemon, hot water, sugar, grated
nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon,
W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 170.
punch-check (punch'chek), n. Same as bell-
punch.
punch-cutter (punch'kut^fer), n. The engraver
on punches of letters for a type-foundry.
puncheon! (pun'chon), n. [Formerly also pun-
chion,pwnchin; < ME. punchon.punsoun, < OF.
poi7ichon,poinson,F.poingon = Sp.pumon=Fg.
pwngdo = lt.pumone, a sharp instrument, a bod-
kin, dagger, < L. punctio(n-), a prieMng, punc-
ture, < pungere, pp. punctus, prick, punch : see
punch'^ and pointt. Cf. doublet jpMmcfe'OM.] 1.
A perforating- or stamping-itool ; a punch, (a)
An iron instrument with a sharp steel pointy used in
4846
marble-working : as, a dog's-tooth or gradin punc?ieon; a
stone-cutters' puncheon. K H. Knight, (b) A tool by
which a plate-mark is put upon silverware or the like.
That other signet of gold, w' my puncheon of ivory and
silver, I geue and bequeath unto Kobert my secunde sone.
Fabyan, Chron., I., Pref., p. vii.
2. In carp. : (a) A short upright piece of tim-
ber in framing; a dwarf post, stud, or quarter.
(6) A slab of split timber with the face smooth-
ed with an adz or ax, sometimes used for floor-
ing or bridge-boards in the absence of sawed
boards. [IT. S,]
The house was constructed of logs, and the floor was of
puTichetms — a term which in Georgia means split logs
with theb faces a little smoothed with the axe or hatchet.
Oeorgia Scenes, p. 12.
He had danced on puncJieon floors before, but never on
one that rattled so loudly. The Century, XXXIX. 286.
(c) One of the small quarters of a partition
above the head of a door. E. S. Knight.
puncheon^ (pun'chon), n. [Formerly alBopim-
chion; ME. not found; < OF. poinson, pongon,
P. poingon, a wine-vessel, = It. pungone, a
wine-vessel ; perhaps so called orig. with ref . to
the stamp or print impressed on the cask by a
puncheon or stamping-tool, and so a transferred
use of puncheon^ (cf. hogshead, a cask). The
OF. pogon, posson, a small measure, quarter of
a pint, can hardly be related. The Or. dial.
(Bstv.) punsen, poneen, a cask, is perhaps of P.
origin.] A cask; a liquid measure of from 72
to 120 gallons : as, a puncheon of wine. The pun-
cheon of beer in London contained 72 beer-gallons ; that
of wine, 81 wine-gallons. The latter value was legalized
in 1423.
And he 's sew'd up the bloody hide,
A puncheon o' wine put in.
Xing Henry (Child's Ballads, L 149).
puncher (pun'chfer), n. [<punch^ + -eri.] One
who or that which punches, perforates, or
stamps.
He was a rival of the former, who used puncheons for
his graving, which Johnson never did, calling Simon a
puncher, not a graver.
Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting, IL 250.
punch-glass (punch'glas), n. A small tumbler
or ornamental mug with a handle, made of glass
and used for punch and similar drinks : usually
forming part of a set, as with a tray, or a tray
and punch-bowl.
punch-gutt, a. Pot-bellied.
O swinish, punch^gut God, say they, that smells rank of
the sty he was sowed up in.
Kenn£t, tr. of Erasmus's Praise of Folly, p. 19. {Davies.)
punch-house (puneh'hous), re. In India, an inn
or tavern ; specifically, in the Presidency towns,
a boarding-house or house of entertainment for
seamen.
Sailors, British and American, Malay and Lascar, [be-
long] to Flag Street, the quarter ot puneh^houees.
J. W. Palmer, The New and the Old, p. 264.
punchint, n. An obsolete variant of puncheon^.
Funchinello (pun-ehi-nel'o), n. [Formerly also
Punchanello, Punchionello ; = F. Polichinelle, <
It. pulcinello, a clown, buffoon, prop, a puppet,
dim. of pulcino, formerly a,\so polcino, a yoxing
chicken, a child; cf. pulgella, t., a young girl,
maiden, = P. pucelle {seepucelle) ; ult. < L. put-
lus, the young of an animal, a chicken : Bee pul-
let, a. Punch^.'] It. [i.e.] A puppet; spe-
cifically, a popular puppet of Italian origin, the
prototype of Punch. See PunchK [In the first
quotation the name is applied to an exhibitor
of puppets.]
1666, ]March 29. Rec. of Punchinello, the Itallian popet
player, for his booth at Charing Cross, £2 12«. ed.
Overeeer'e Books of the Parish (^ St, Martin's in the Fidds,
[London. (Jfares.)
Twas then, when August near was spent^
That Bat, the grilliado'd saint,
Had usher'd in his Smlthfleld-revels,
yfheTe punchionelloes, pope^ and devils
Are by authority allow'd,
To please the giddy gaping crowd.
Budibras Redivivus (1707). (Ifares.)
2. Any grotesque or absurd personage, likened
to the familiar character of the popular comedy
in Italy.
Being told that Gilbert Cooper called him [Johnson] the
Caliban of literature : "Well," said he, **I must dub him
the Punchinello." BosweU, Johnson, setat. 61.
punching-bag (pun'ching-bag), re. A bag, gen-
erally large and heavy, suspended from the ceil-
ing, to be punched by an athlete, especially a
boxer, for the sake of exercise.
punching-bear (pun'ching-bar), n. A punch-
ing-machine, operated by hydraulic power or
by ordinary lever-power, for pxmching holes in
bars or sheets of metal.— C!Iose-montbed punch-
ing-bear, a punching-bear which has a central opening
throngli the body of the machine, into which laetiX bars
are thrust and brought into position for the action of the
punctation
punch.— Open-mouthed puncbing-bear, a punching-
bear which has in its side an opening or slot for the insep.
tion of the margin of a metallic sheet or plate to be
punched. See cut under bear^, 9.
punching-machine (pun'ching-ma-shen'O, n.
A power-punch for making rivet-holes in plates,
tubes, and other work in wrought-iron. such
machines are operated by means of cams with steam or
other power. They are often combined with shearing-
machines.
punchionf, n. An obsolete form of puncheon^.
punch-jug (punch' jug), n. A jug, usually of pot-
tery, formed in a grotesque shape like Punch.
punch-ladle (punch'la''''dl), n. A ladle of me-
dium size, the bowl of which has two spouts,
one on each side, used for filling glasses from
a punch-bowl.
punch-pliers (punch 'pli''''6rz), ». pi. A tool with
two jaws, one bearing a hollow jjunch, and the
other constituting a flat die against which the
punch works. Punches of this nature are used
by shoemakers, railroad and street-car conduc-
tors, etc.
punch-prop (puneh'prop), n. In coal-mining,
a short prop of timber used to support the coal
in holing or undercutting; a punch. Also called
sprag.
punchy (pun'chi), a. [< pundli^ + -^i ; prob.
in part a vari of paunchy, < paunch + -^i.]
Paunchy; pot-bellied; shori;, squat, and fat.
[CoUoq.]
A fat^ little, punchy concern of sixteen.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 124.
punctt (pimgW;)) »*• [<L.i>M»cf««8, apoint: see
point^.'] A point.
And neuerthelesse at the same instant and puiKt of time
it maketh day and high noone in one place, and nyght and
mydnyght on the opposite part.
R. Eden (First Books on America, ed. Arber, p. xliii.).
punctt (pungkt), V. t. [< ML. puncture, pierce,
punch: see punch^, poinfl-.'] To pierce; punc-
ture. Halliwell.
puncta, n. Plural oijmnctum.
Punctaria (pungk-ta'ri-a), n. [NL. (Greville),
so called in allusion to tlie dots formed by the
sporangia and hairs; < li. punctum, point, dot:
seepoint^.2 A genus of olive-brown seaweeds,
with a simple membranaceous frond which is
composed of from two to six layers of cuboidal
cells. The unilocular sporangia, which are immersed in
the frond, are formed from the superflcial cells ; the pluri-
locular sporangia also are collected in spots aud immersed,
except at the apex. There are 5 or 6 widely distributed
species.
PunctariacesB (pungk-ta-ri-a'se-e), re. pi, [NL.,
< Punctaria -t- -acese.'] An order of marine, algse
of the class Phseosporese, taking its name from
the genas Punctaria ; a family of fucoid algse.
The root is a minute naked disk. The frond is cylindri-
cal or flat, unbranched, and cellular. The fructification
consists of Bori scattered all over the fronds in minute dis-
tinct dots, composed of roundish sporangia, producing
punctate (pungk'tat), a. [< ML. punctatus,
marked with dots (NL. punctat-us, pointed), pp.
of punctare,Taa,vk with dots, mark, point, < L.
^«MC*M»», point, dot : seepoint^.2 1. Having a
point or points ; pointed. — 2. In mai/j., having
an aenode, or point separate from the rest of
the locus spoken of. Newton, 1706.— 3. In
bot. and i^ool., having dots scattered over the
surface ; studded with points, as of color, shape,
texture, etc. ; dotted ; pitted.
punctated (pungk'ta-ted), a. [< punctate +
-€(i2.] Punctate ; dotted ; finely pitted.
Nearly allied to this is the genus Bacillaria ; ... its
valves have a longitudinalimnctoted keel.
W. B. Carpenter, Micros., § 285.
Punctated curve, a curve with an acnoda or separate
point.
punctate-striate (pungk'tat-stri'at), a. In
entom., having striBB or impressed lines with
punctures in them at more or less regular in-
tervals. Also punetatostriate.
punctate-sulcate (pungk'tat-sul'kat), a. In
entom., sulcata or grooved, with punctures in
the grooves. Also punctatosulcate.
punctation (pungk-ta'shon), n. [< ML. punc-
tatio(,n-), < punctare, mark, dot : see punctate."]
1 . The state or condition of being punctate, in
any of the senses of that word.
The absence of punctation in the test Is referred to
metamorphism, as in C. Guerangeri all stages were dis-
covered, from impunotate to completely punctate.
Science, III. 325.
2. In dvil taw, a document made between the
parties before the contract to which it refers
has binding force, generally merely with the ob-
ject of putting clearly before them the principal
points discussed. Gowdsroit-Punctatlonof Ems
a document prepared at Bad Ems, Germany, in 1786, by
representatives of theEoman Catholic archbishops of Co-
punctation
SfSft E?''^'- ¥1*°^ 5°^ Salzburg, In which episcopal
rights were maintained against the pretensions ol the
punctator (pimgk-ta'tor), n. [< ML. pmctator,
one who marks with dots (appUed to one who
so marked the names of persons absent from
service), <jpMncte»-e, mark with dots: see punc-
tate, i One who marks with dots: speeifieally
applied to the Masorites, who invented the
Hebrew vowel-points. See masoreUc.
punctatostriate (pungk-ta"t6-stri'at), a. Same
as punctate-striate.
punctatosulcate (pungk-ta"t6-sul'kat), a.
Same as punctate-suleate.
puncticular (pungk-tik'u-lar), a. [< NL. 'piimc-
tiiiuluni, dim. of Xj. punctunl, point: seepomt^.']
Comprised in a point; being a mere point as to
size. [Bare.]
T^epundicvlar originals of periwinkles and gnats.
, Sir T. Browne, Urn-burial, ill.
puncticulate (pungk-tik'u-lat), a. [< NL.
*puncticulattcs, < *puncUculum, dim. of L. punc-
<i«m, point: seejjowJi.] Minutely punctate;
punctulate.
Functidse (pungk'ti-de), n. pi. [NL., < Punc-
tum + -idee.'] A family of geophilous pulmo-
nate gastropods, typified by the genus Punotum,
having the shell heliciform, the mantle sub-
median, the jaw disintegrated into many sep-
arate pieces, and the teeth peculiarly modi-
fied, represented only by medians and laterals,
having the bases of attachment longer than
wide, and the free parts narrowed and reflected.
It contains a few minute species, such as the Punctum
pygmseum of Europe and P. minvtimmmm of North
America.
punctiform (pungk'ti-fdrm), a. [< L. pvmotum,
point, + forma, form.] Like a point or dot;
having the character of a point; located in a
point.
A.piinct^orm sensation of cold is experienced.
Science, VII. 469.
punctigerous (puugk-tij'e-rus), a. [< li. punc-
tum, point, + gerere, oarify.] Having a small
simple eye or eye-spot, without a lens: op-
posed to lentigerous. Encyc. Brit., XVI. 680.
punctilio (pungk-til'io), ». [Formerly also^jwrnc-
Ullo; < Sp.j)MMWZZo = It.^«{»%Ko,asmall point,
punctilio, \ LL. pwneUllv/m, a small point, a dot,
dim. of L.jjMwciMra, point: seepoinv-. Ct.punc-
to.'] It. A small point. B. Jonson.
In that punctilio of time wherein the bullets struck him
... he is in an instant disanimated.
The Unhappy Umkxman, 1659(HarL Misc., IV. 4). (fiaviet.)
2. A nice point, especially in conduct, cere-
mony, or proceeding; also, particularity or ex-
actness in the observance of forms.
Where reputation is, almost everjr thing becometh ; but
where that is not, it must be supplied by puncWiOS and
compliments. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 308.
'Sdeath ! to trifle with me at such a juncture as this —
now to stand on punctUios — love me ! I don't believe she
ever did. Sheridan, The Duenna, L 2.
Societies
Polished in arts, and in punotMia versed.
Wordsworth, Prelude, ix.
punctilious (pungk-til'ius), a. [< puneUlio +
-o«s.] Attentive to punctilios ; very nice or pre-
cise in behavior, ceremony, or intercourse ; ex-
act (sometimes, to excess) in the observance of
rules or forms prescribed by law or custom.
Fletcher's whole soul was possessed by a sore, jealous,
punctUioua patriotism. Macavlay, Hist. Eng., xxiv.
The courtiers, in emulation of their master, made fre-
quent entertainments, at which he [Columbus] was treated
with the pmuitUious deference paid to a noble of the high-
est class. Preseott, Ferd. and Isa., 1. 18.
=S3m. Particular, precise, scrupulous,
punctiliously (pungk-til'ius-li), adv. In a
punctilious manner; with exactness or great
nicety.
I have thus pujictSiously and minutely pursued this dis-
quisition. Johnson, False Alarm.
punctiliousness (pungk-til'ius-nes), n. The
quality of being punctilious ; exactness in the
observance of forms or rules ; attention to nice
poiats of behavior or ceremony.
punction (pungk'shon), n. [Early mod. E. also
punccion; < OF. poncMon, F. ponction = Pr.
punccio, puneio=8p. pvmdon = Pg. pungSo = It.
pumione,< L. puncUo(n-), a,^Tiekmg,<pungere,
m. punctus, pierce, prick: see :^oint\ puncKi-.
Cf. doublet i)M»c/>eo«i.] A pricking; puncture.
But I thynke this was no dreame, but a punebm and
prioke of hys synfuU conscyenee. HaM, Eich. ni., an. 3.
punctist (pungk'tist), n. [< L. punctum, a
4847
<JMo.] It. A nice point of form or ceremony;
a punctilio.
All the particularities and religious punctoes and cere-
monies. Bacm, Hist. Hen. VII., p. 106.
2. In fencing, the point of the sword or foil;
also, a blow with the point. See point.
punctual (pungk'Ju-al), a. [= 'P.ponctv^l =
Pr. punetal = Sp. puntual = Pg. pontual = It.
pwituale, < ML. *punctualis (in adv. punctuali-
ter),<. Jj.pwnetus, a point: seepoint^.'] 1. Con-
sisting of a point ; being a point.
To officiate light
Bound this opacous earth, thiB punctual spot.
One day and night. MUton, F. L., viii. 23.
2. Exact; precise; nice.
No doubt, many may be well seen in the passages of gov-
ernment and policy which are to seek in little and punc'
tual occasions. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i. 36.
I hope the adversaries of episcopacy, that are so punc-
tual to pitch all upon Scripture ground, will be sure to
produce clear Scripture.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), II. 149.
Must he therefore believe himself well because he can-
not tell the punctual time when he tell sick?
SMingJleet, Sermons, II. L
ITpon his [St. John's] examination upon oath, he made
a clear, full, imA.punciiuU declaration.
Court and Times of Charles I., II. 39.
We should search in vain for its punctual equivalent.
F. Ball, Mod. Eng., p. 307.
3. Exact or prompt in action or in the observ-
ance of time, the keeping of appointments, en-
gagements, etc.
Punctual be thou In Payments.
Stede, Grief A-la^Mode, v. 1.
4. Prompt ; at the exact or stipulated time : as,
punctual payment.
She enjoins the punctual discharge of all her personal
debts within a year. Preecott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 16.
Punctual COdrdinate. Same as point-coordinate.
punctualistf (pungk' Ju-al-ist), n. [^(.punctual +
-ist. ] One who is very exact in observing forms
and ceremonies.
Bllson hath decipher'd us all the galanteries of Signore
and Monsignore, and Monsieur, as circumstantially as any
punctualiet of Casteel, Naples, or Fountain-Bleau could
have don. Milton, Church-Government, ii. 1.
punctuality (pimgk-tu-al'i-ti), n. [= F. pone-
tualitS; as punctual + -ity.] The state or char-
acter of being punctual, (a) Scrupulous exactness
with regard to matters of fact or detail ; exactness ; nicety.
I have in a table
With env\o\^s punctuality set down.
To a hair's breadth, how low a new-stamped courtier
May vail to a country gentleman.
Maesinyer, Emperor of the East, i. 2.
Who teaches you the mimic posture of your body, the
punctuality of your beapJI, the formality of your pace?
Shirley, Witty Fair One, ii. 1.
(&) Adherence to the exact time of meeting one's obliga-
tions or performing one's duties ; especially, the fact or
habit of promptness in attendance or in fuUUing appoint-
ments.
We were not a little displeased to find that, in the first
promise ot punotudlity our Rais had made, he had disap-
pointed us by absenting himself from the boat.
Bruce, Source of the Nil^ I. 47.
(c) The character of being, or existence in, a point.
A state of rest in our own body or in external things,
the perception of any defined and static form whatever,
and most of all the very possibility of unspaciality or
punctuality, must be subsequently inferred as negative in-
stonces from indeterminate extension and movement.
O. S. Hall, German Culture, p. 230.
punctually (pungk'tu-al-i), adv. [< punctual
+ -ly^.'] In a punctual manner, (a) With atten-
tion or reference to minute points or particulars; nicely;
exactly; precisely.
In imitation of what I have seene my Father do, I began
to observe matters more punetualy, which I did use to set
down in a blanke almanac. Evelyn, Diary (1631), p. 9.
What did you with It?— tell me punctually ;
I look for a strict accompt.
Massinger, Emperor of the East, iv. 5.
It [the gift of reading] consists, first of all, in a vast in-
tellectual endowment, ... by which a man rises to un-
derstand that he is not punctually right, nor those from
whom he differs absolutely wrong.
ii. L. Stevenson, Books which have Influenced me, p. 14.
(6) With scrupulous exactness orjpromptness in regardto
the fulfilling of obligations, duties, appointments, etc. :
as, to pay debts or rent punctually.
punctualness (pungk'Ju-al-nes), n. [< punctual
+ -ness.] Exactness; punctuality; prompt-
ness.
Yet X can obey those wherein I think power is unguided
hv prudence with no less punctualnegB and fidelity.
Boyle, Works, n. 413.
punctuate (pungk'tu-at), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
pwnctuated, ppr. punctuating. [< ML. punctu-
are ( > F. ponctuer), mark with points, < L.
pimcius, a point : seepoinfi-, n., and cf. poinf^,
v., punch^, v., and punctate.'] 1. In writing
and. printing, to mark with points in some sig-
punctum
nificant manner; speeifieally, to divide into
sentences and parts of sentences by the con-
veniional signs called points or marks of punc
tuation : as, to punctuate one's letters carefully.
See punctUAition.^Z. Figuratively, to empha-
size by some significant or forcible action; en-
force the important parts or points of in some
special manner : as, to punctuate one's remarks
by gestures. [Colloq.]
punctuate (pungk'tu-at), a. [< ML. punctu-
atus, pp.: see the verb.] In entom., same as
punctured.
punctuated (pungk'Ju-a-ted), a. l< punctuate
+ -ed^.] In zool., same as punctate.
punctuatim (pungk-tu-a'tim), adv. [NL.,
formed in imitation of verbatim and literatim,
< L. punetus, a point : see punctuate.] Point for
point; with respect to every point or mark of
punctuation : in the phrase verbatim, literatim,
et pwnctuatim, word for word, letter for letter,
and point for point.
punctuation (pungk-ta-a'shpn). n. [= P.
ponctuMtion, < ML. punctuatio(n-), a marking
with pouits, a writing, agreement, < punctuare,
markwith points, settle: see punctuate.] 1. In
■writing andprinting, a,'poiatiTigo& orseparation
of one part from another by arbitrary marks ;
specifically, the division of a composition into
sentences and parts of sentences by the use of
marks indicating intended differences of effect
by differences of form. The points used for punctu-
ation exclusively are the period or lull-stop, the colon,
the semicolon, and the comma. (See poinh, n., 11 {a).)
The interrogation- and exclamation-points serve also for
punctuation in the place of one or another of these, while
having a special rhetorical effect of their own ; and the
dash is also used, either alone or in conjunction with one
of the preceding marks, in some cases where the sense or
the nature of the pause required can thereby be more
clearly indicated. {See parenthesis.) The modem system
.of punctuation was gradually developed after the intro-
duction of printing, i)rimarily through the eSorts of Al-
dus Manutius and his family. In ancient writing the
words were at first run together continuously ; afterward
they were separated by spaces, and sometimes by dots or
other marks, which were made to serve some of the pur-
poses of modern punctuation, and were retained in early
printing. Long after the use of the present points became
established, they were so indiscriminately employed that,
if closely followed, they are often a hindrance rather
than an aid in reading and understanding the text.
There is still much uncertainty and arbitrariness In punc-
tuation, but its chief office is now generally understood to
be that of facilitating a clear comprehension of the sense.
Close punctuation, characterized especially by the use of
many commas, was common in English in the eighteenth
century, and is the rule in present French usage ; but open
punctuation, characterized by the avoidance of all pointing
not clearly required by the construction, now prevails in
the best English usage. In some cases, as in certain legal
papers, title-pages, etc., punctuation is wholly omitted.
The principles of pun£tuation are subtle, and an exact
logical training is requisite for the just application of
them. 0. P. Marsh, Lects, on Eng. Lang., xix.
2. In gool., the punctures of a punctate sur-
face.
The very fine and close punxlwUion of the head, etc.
Watarhouse, in Trans. Entom. Soc. of London.
punctuative (pungk'tu-a-tiv), a. [< punctuate
+ -dve.] Pertaining or relating'to punctuation .
punctuator (pungk'tu-a-tor), n. [< punctuate
+ -ori.] One who punctuates.
punctula, n. Plvaal ot punctulum.
punctulate (pungk'tu-lat), a. [< NL. punctu-
latus, < L. punctulum, a slight prick, a small
point (dim. ot punetus, a pricking, a point), +
-ate^.] Minutely punctate; studded with very
small pits or dots.
punctulated (pungk'tu-la-ted), a. Same as
punctulate.
The studs have their surface punctndated, as if set all
over with other studs infinitely lesser.
Woodward, Fossils.
punctulation (pungk-tu-la'shon), n. [< punc-
tulate + -don.] The state of being punctulate ;
a set of punetules ; minute or fine puncturation.
punctule (piingk'tul), n. [< LL. punctulum,
dim. of L. ^MBctem, a point: seepoint^.] la en-
tom., a very small puncture or impressed dot.
punctulum (pungk'tu-lum), n. ; pi. punctula
(-la). INh.: see punctule.] Same as punctule.
punctum (pungk'tum), ». ; pl.puncta{-tS,). [L.,
apointjdot: seepoint^.] 1. tmool. artaanat.,
a point; a dot; a pit; a papilla; some little
place, as if a mere point, in
any way distinguished. — 2.
leap.] [NL.] In conch., a
genus of geophilous pulmo-
nate gastropods, type of the
family Punctidse: so called
on account of its minute size.
E. S. Morse, 1864 Puncta P""'*"'" minutissi-
vasculoaa, numerous small red S\"i^'S;s S"
Spots obBerved on a section of tn6 raisize.)
punctum
Imin, due to the escape of blood from the vessels divided
in the operation.— Punctum cieciun, the blind spot in
the eye ; the optic papilla, where the nerve enters the eye.
halL— Punctum lacrymale, the lacrymal punctum; the
minute aperture of the lacrymal canal at the summit of a
lacrymal papilla — Pvmctum luteum, the yellow spot.—
Punctum proximum, the nearest point which a given
eye can bring to focus upon its retina ; the near point.—
Punctum remotum, the furthest point which a given
eye can bring to focus upon its retina ; the far point.-
Punctum sallens, a saUent point; an initial point of a
movement or procedure ; hence, a starting-point of any-
thing; specifically, in embryol., the first trace of the em-
bryonic heart, as a pulsating point or vesicle of a primi-
tive blood-vessel.- Punctum vegetationlB, in hot, the
growing-point or vegetating-point of an organ.
puncturation (pungk-ta-ra'shon), n. [< LL.
punctura, a prick, a puiioture,' + -ationj] X.
In surg., the act of puncturing. — 3. In zool.,
the state of being punctured, dotted, or pitted;
a set of punctures.
puncture (pungk'tflr), n. [= Sp. It. puntura
= Pg. ptmetura, puntura, < LL. punctura, a
4848
pricking, a puncture, < L. pimgere, pp. punctus,
pierce, prick: see pungent, pomt^.) 1. The act
of perforating or pricking, as with a pointed
instrument, or a small hme so made; a small
vyound, as one made by a needle, prickle, or
sting: as, the puncture of a lancet, nail, or pin.
When prick'd by a sharp-pointed weapon, which kind of
wound is call'd a juncture, they are much to be regarded.
Wiseman, Surgery, v. 3.
A lion may perish by the puncture of an asp,
Johnson, Rambler.
2. In zool., a depressed point or dot, as if punc-
tured; a small depression, as it pricked into a
surface ; a punctum. See cut under Coscmap-
tera — Confluent, dilated, distinct, dorsEa, obliter-
ate, ocellate, etc., punctures. See the adjectives.
puncture (pungfc'tur), v. t. : pret. and -pp. punc-
tured, ppr. punctm-ing. [< pimctwre, m.J To
prick; pierce with a sharp point of any kind:
as, U> puncture the skin.
With that he drew a lancet in his rage
Toj)»»ctur< the still supplicating sage.
Qttirth, Dispensary, vL
Punctured work, inmasmary, a kind of rustic stonework
in*which the face is ornamented with series of holes.
punctureleas (pungk'tur-les), a. [(.puncture +
-less.'] In entom., without punctures; smooth.
punctus (pung^k'tus), n. ; yl.mmetus. [ML.,< L.
pwnctus, a, ■point: see points'] In medieval mu-
sical notation : (a) A note, (b) A dot or point,
however used.
pund (pund), n. A dialectal variant otpowndi^.
[Scotch and North. Eng.]
pundert) »• -An obsolete variant otpinder^.
pundit (pun'dit), n. [Also pandit (the Hind, a
being pronounced like E. m); < Hind, pandit,
pandat, a learned man, master, teacher, an hon-
orary title equiv. to doctor or professor; also a
Hindu law-officer, jurist; < Skt.^oMf^to, a learn-
ed man, scholar, as adj. learned.] A learned
Brahman ; one versed in the Sanslmt language,
and in the science, laws, and religion of India:
as, formerly, the Pundits of the supreme court;
by extension, any learned man.
[An Anglo-Indian child] calls a learned Pundit "aasl
oln," an egregious owl.
J. W. Palmer, The New and the Old, p. 342.
The jovLBg pandit, then, is expected to master the sys-
tem of Hinda Orammar, and to govern his Sanskrit speech
and writing by it. Whitney, Amer. Jour. Philol., v. 281.
It behooved the squire himself to. . . see certain learned
pundits . . . at various dingy dismal chambers in Lincoln's
Inn fields, the Temple, and Gray's Inn Lane.
TroUope, Doctor Thome, zliv.
pundlet (pun'dl), n. [Origin obscure; et.punchS
and bundle.'} A short, fat woman. J»rap. Diet.
pundonor (pun'do-n6r')> ™. [Sp., contootion
of punto de honor = P. point cPliownewr, point
of honor: see points, ae^, lionor.'] Point of
honor.
They stood not much upon the pundonor, the high punc-
tilio, and rsrdy drew the stiletto in their disputes.
Irving, Granada, p. 2E6.
The Spaniard fights, or rather fought, for religion and
the Pundonor, and the Irishman fights for the fun of fight-
ing. S. F. Burton, £1-Medinah, p. 326.
pundum (pun'dum), n. Same as piny resin
(which see, under j>i»yl).
punesef, ». SeepwUce^.
pung (pung), ». [Origin obscure.] A rude
form of sleigh consisting of a box-like body
placed on runners; any low box-sleigh. [New
Eng.]
pungar (pung'gSr), n. A crab. SaUiweU. [Lo-
cal, Eng.]
pungence (pun'jens), n. [< pungen(t) + -ce.]
Pungency.
Aronnd the whole rise clondy wreaths, and far
Bear the warm pungence of o'er-boiling tar.
Crabbe, Works, U. 6.
pungency (pun'jen-si), n. [As pungence (see
-c^).] Pungent character or quality; the pow-
er of sharply affecting the taste or smell ; keen-
ness; sharpness; tartness; causticity.
The pungency of forbidden lust is truly a thorn in the
flesh. Jet. Taylor, Great Exemplar, Pref., p. 10.
This unsavory rebuke, which probably lost nothing of
its pungency from the tone in which it was delivered, so
incensed the pope that he attempted to seize the paper
and tear it in pieces. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., 11. 10.
=Syn. Poignancy, acridness, pointedness.
pungent (pun'jent), a. [= Sp. Pg. It. pungente,
< L. pungen{t-)s, ppr. of pungere, pierce, prick,
sting, penetrate : see points. Fiom li. pungere
are also E. punch^, punction, punclieon^ (and
prob. puncheon^), points, punct, pwaetule, prnic-
tilio, puneUlious, etc., punctual, punctuate, etc.,
puncture, compunction, exptmge, poimee^, poig-
nant (Aoviblet ot pungent), eto.'] 1. Piercing;
sharp.
A rush which now your heels do lie on here
Was whilome used for a pungent spear.
Chapman, Gentleman Usher, iL 1.
Specifically- (a) In hot, terminating gradually in a hard
sharp point, as the lobes of the holly-leaf. (&) I9 entom.,
fitted for piercing or penetrating: as, a jmn^CTtt ovipositor.
2. Sharp and painful ; poignant.
We also may make our thorns, which are in themselves
pungeTit and dolorous, to be a crown.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 183B), L 325.
3. .Affecting the tongue like small sharp points ;
stinging; acrid.
Among simple tastes, such as sweet, sour, bitter, hot,
pungeTit, there are some which are intrinsically grateful.
v. Stewart, Philos. Essays, L 6.
And herbs of potent smell and pungent taste
Give a warm relish to the night's repast.
Crabie, Works, L 41.
4. Sharply affecting the sense of smell: as,
pungent snuff.
The pungent grains of titillating dust.
Pope, B. of the L., v. 84.
5. Hence, sharply affecting the mind; curt and
expressive; caustic; racy; biting.
A sharp and pungent manner of speech. Dryden.
She could only tell me amusing stories, and reciprocate
any racy and pungent gossip I chose to indulge in.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, iz.
The attention of the reader is continually provoked by
the pungent stimulants which are mixed in Uie composi-
tion of almost every sentence.
Whipple, Ess. and Bev., 1. 14.
=Syn. Sharp, stinging, keen, peppery, acrid, caustic.
Piquant, Pungent, Poignant. That which is pigyani is
just tart enough to be agreeable; that which is pungent
IS so tart that, if it were more so, it would be positive-
ly disagreeable ; that which ia poignant is likely to prove
actually disagreeable to most persons. PungeTit is mani-
festly figurative when not applied to the sense of taste, or,
less often, of smell; pimmnt is similar, but less forcible;
poignant is now used chiefly of mental states, etc., as poig-
nant grief, or of things affecting the mind, as poignaTU wit.
pungently (pun' jent-li), adv. With pungency ;
sharply.
pungl (pong'ge), n. [Hind. pUngi."] A Hindu
pipe OP nose-flute composed of a gourd or nut-
shell into which two wooden pipes or reeds are
inserted. It emits a droning or humming sound,
and is the instrument commonly used by snake-
charmers.
pungled (pung'gld), a. [Origin obscure.] Shriv-
eled; shrunken: applied specifically to grain
whose juices have been extracted by the insect
Thrips cereaUum. Salliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
pungy (pung'i), ».; pi. pungies (-iz). [Origin
obscure.] 1. Asmallboatlikeasharpey. [Mas-
sachusetts.]— 2. A kind of schooner peculiar
to the oyster-trade of Chesapeake Bay, sailing
fast, and holding from 300 to 600 bushels of
oysters. JBroca. — Canoe piuig7,a canoe like a pungy,
used in oyster-dredging. [Chesapeake Bay.]
Punic (pu'nik), a. and n. [< L. Punicus, Pcenicus,
Carthaginian, < Posnus, a Carthaginian, a Phe-
nician, akin to Gr. ioivt^, a Phenioian : see Phe-
nician.'i I. a. Of, pertaining to, or character-
istic of the Carthaginians, who were character-
ized by the Romans as being unworthy of trust ;
hence, faithless; treacherous; deceitful.
Yes, yes ; his faith attesting nations own;
'Tis Punie all, and to a proverb known '.
Brooke, tr. of Tasso s Jerusalem Delivered, U.
Punic apple, the pomegranate.
But the territorie of Carthage chalengeth to itselte the
punieke apple; some call it the pomegrsnat [granatnm],
and they have made severall kinoes thereof.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xiU. 19.
Punicfaitb. See/attA.— Funic wars, in iioni.Aut., the
three wars waged by Bome against Carthage, 264-241,
218-201, and 149-146 B. 0. They resulted in the over-
throw of Carthage and its aimexation to Home.
n, n. The language of the Carthaginians,
which belongs to the Canaanitish branch of the
punisher
Semitic tongues, and is an offshoot of Pheni-
eian, and allied to Hebrew.
Funica (pu'ni-ka), n. [NL. (Toumefort, 1700),
< L. punictim, so. malum, the pomegranate, lit.
'Carthaginian apple,' < L. punicus, Carthagini-
an : see Punic] A monotypic genus of plants
of the polypetalous order Lythrariese, former-
ly classed in the Myrtacese, or myrtle family,
and by many constituted into a separate or-
der, Granateae (Don, 1826). it is anomalous in its
ovary, which is inferior and consists of two circles of cells,
a lower set of three or four and an upper circle of from
five to ten, each with many ovules crowded in numerous
rows on enlarged fleshy placentas, which become united
to the membranous partitions and walls. It is also char-
acterized by very numerous stamens in many rows, ovate
versatile anthers on slender Incurved filaments, leaf-like,
spirally rolled seed-leaves with two auricles at tiieir base^
and a persistent flexuous style with swollen base and capi-
tate stigma. The only species, P. granatuim, the pome-
granate, is a native of western Asia to northwestern
India, gtawing in the Himalayas to the altitude of 6,000
feet, long naturalized throughout the Mediterranean coun-
tries, and now widely cultivated in subtropical regions,
including. In the United States, chiefly Louisiana, Texas,
and Florida. (See pomegranate, balausta, and bmlausUne.)
Of ornamental varieties may be mentioned eBjiecially the
variety nana, the dwarf pomegranate, a favorite double-
flowered lawn and greeimouse plant, native of the East
Indies, and now naturalized in places in the southern
United States and West Indies.
puniceif, «. *• An obsolete form ot punish.
punice^t, puneset, »• [Also puny (see puny^) ;
< P. punaise, a bedbug, f em. of punais, stink-
ing, mt. < L. putere, stmk.] A bedbug.
His flea, his morpion, and punese,
S.0 'ad gotten for his proper ease,
S. Butler, Hudibras, IIL L 433.
puniceous (pu-nish'ius), a. [< L. puniceus, red-
dish, purple,' < Pwnicus, Carthaginian, Pheni-
cian. Cf . Gr. (polvt^-, red, purple : see Phenician. ]
In entom., purplish-red or crimson; having the
color of a pomegranate.
punieshipf , n. See punyship.
puniness (pii'ni-nes), n. [<puny'^ + -ness.] The
state or character of being puny ; littleness ;
pettiness ; smallness with feebleness.
punish (pun'ish), D. *. [< ME. pumisohen,.puM-
isshen,punicen, pumchen, < OF. puniss-, stem of
certain parts of punir, P. punir = Pr. Sp. Pg.
pvmr = It. punire, < L. pwnire, pcenire, inflict
punishment upon, < poena, pumshment, pen-
alty: seepaini. Cf.jjai»i,2'OTe2, from the same
ult. source, and pv/nch^, a contracted form of
punish.] 1. To inflict a penalty on ; visit judi-
cially with pain, loss, confinement, death, or
other penalty ; castigate; chastise.
The spirits perverse
With easy intercourse pass to and fro.
To tempt or punAsh mortals.
MiUjm, P. L., a 1032.
2. To reward or visit with pain or suffering
inflicted on the offender : applied to the crime
or offense: as, to punish murder or theft.
By an Act of Parliament, or rather by a Synod of Bishops
holden at London, he [Heniy I.] was authorized to jmntsA
Marriage and Incontinency of Priests.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 40.
Our Supreme Foe in time may much remit
His anger ; and perhaps thus far removed
Not mind us not offending ; satisfied
With what \&pmi,ith'd. JfiZton, P. L., li. 213.
3. To handle severely: as, to punish an oppo-
nent in a boxing-match or a pitcher in a base-
ball game ; to punish (that is, to stimulate by
whip or spur) a horse in running a race.
[CoUoq.]— 4. To make a considerable inroad
on ; make away with a good quantity of. [Col-
loq.]
He punished my champagne.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, liii.
=Syn. 1. Chasten, etc. (see chastise), scourge, whip, UiHi,
correct, discipline.
punishability (pun*ish-a-biri-ti), n. [= P.
punissabilit4,] The quality oJ being punish-
able ; liability to punishment.
The vexed question of vunishdbUity is raised by certain
forms of insanity. A. Bain, Emotions and Will, p. 622.
punishable (pun'ish-a-bl), a. [<OV.punissable,
F. punissdble; a,8 punish + -able.] jDeserving
punishment; liable to punishment; capable of
being punished by right or law: applied to per-
sons or conduct.
That time was when to be a Protestant, to be a Chris-
tian, was by Law as punishable as to be a traitor.
MUton, Eikonoklastes, xL
Dangerous tumults and sedltiong were puniihable by
death. Banaro/t, Hlat. V. 8., L 97.
punishableness (pun'ish-a-bl-nes), n. The
character of being punishable,
punisher (pun'ish-6r), n. One who punishes;
one who inflicts pain, loss, or other evil for a
crime or offense.
ptmlsber
For he [the Sultan] Is of no Moody disposition. ... yet
he Is an unrelenting i>u»i.fterol offences, even in his own
>"'"»1">''1- Sandyi,: TravaUes, p. 67.
So should I purchase dear
Short intermission bought with double smart.
ThiBlmowsmyi»«n<«A«r. Miltm, P. L.,ir. 103.
panishment (pun'iHh-ment), n. [< pimish +
-ment.'\ 1. The aet of pmushing; ae inflic-
tion of pain or chastisement.
How many sorts of fears possess a sinner's mind? fears
of disappointments, fears of discovery, and fears of min-
"hment. SlilUngfleet, Sermons, I. x.
We now come to speak of punishment: which, in the
sense in which it is here considered, is an artificial conse-
quence, annexed by political authority to an offensive act
in one instance ; in the view of putting a stop to the pro-
duction of events similar to the obnoxious part of its
natural consequences in other instances.
Bentham, Introd. to Morals and Legislation, xii. 36.
Crime and puniahment grow out of one stem. Pumeh-
meiO, is a fruit that unsuspected ripens within the flower
of the pleasure which concealed it.
Emerson, Compensation.
It is Impossible to separate that moral indignation wlilch
expresses itself in punishmenit from the spirit of self-re-
dress for wrongs. Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, § 20 a.
> 2. Pain, suffering, loss, confinement, or other
penalty inflicted on a person for a crime or of-
fense, by the authority to which the offender
is subject; a penalty imposed in the enforce-
ment or application of law.
Whatsoever hath been said or written on the other side,
all the late statutes, which inflict capital puniahment
upon extollers of the Pope's supremacy, . . . have for
their principal scope, not the punishment of the error of
conscience, but the repressing of the peril of the state.
Bacon, Charge upon the Commission tor the Verge.
So this Prophet [Amos] tells us that the true account
of all QoiB punishments is to be fetched from the sius of
the people. SOUingfleet, Sermons, I. i.
I proceed, in the next place, to consider the general na-
ture ot punishments, which are evils or inconveniences con-
sequent upon crimes and misdemeanours; being devised,
denounced, and inflicted, b^ human laws, in consequence
of disobedience or misbehaviour in those to regulate whose
conduct such laws were respectively made.
Elaekstone, Com., IT. i.
3. Fain or injury inflicted, in a general sense;
especially, in colloquial use, the pain inflicted
by one pugilist ou another in a prize-fight.
Tom Sayera could not t2^Q puTdshm^mt more gaily.
Thaokeray, Philip, iv.
Canonical punishments. See canonical. = Syn, 2. Chas-
tisement, correction, discipline. See chastise.
punitiont (pu-nish'on), n. [< 'ME.pv/nieion,pu-
nyssyon = F. puniUon = Pr. pvMido = Sp. pu-
mcwn = Pg. punigSo = It^tmizione, < liL.puni'
Uo(n-), a punishment, < E. punire, pp. punitus,
punish: so&punish.l Punishment.
The dole that thou haste for GaSray thy sone,
That the monkes brende so disordinait^,
Enowith thys, that it was iotpunieion
Taken vppon tho of religion hy.
Rom. ofPartenay (E. E. T. S.X 1. 3671.
The translation of kingdoms and governments by such
wonderful methods and means, for the pumiiiim of tyrants
and the vices of men, of which history abounds with ex-
amples [is the decree of a most admirable disposer].
Evelyn, True Keligion, I. SS.
punitive (pii'ni-tiv), a. [< OF. punitif — Pg.
It. pumtivo, < L. punire, pp. ^umtus, punish:
see pv/nish.'] Pertaining to or involving punish-
ment; awarding or inflicting punishment: as,
punitive law or justice.
The jmnifitw part of repentance is resolved on, and be-
gun, and put forward into good degrees of progress.
: Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 70.
The penal code then would consist principally of puni-
tive laws, involving the imperative matter of the whole
number of civil laws : along with which would probably
also be found various masses of expository matter, apper-
taining, not to the civil, but to the punitory laws.
Bentham, Introd. to Morals and Legislation, xvit 29, note.
Punitive damages. Same as exemplary (^o7)M^gres (which
see, under da/mage),
punitory (pu'ni-to-ri), a. [< LL. as if "punito-
rius, < punitor, a punisher, < li.p'umre, Tpp.puni-
tus, punish : see punish.'] Punisliuig, or tending
to punishment ; punitive.
"Let no man steal," and "let the judge cause whoever
is convicted of stealing to be hanged." . . . The former
might be styled a simple imperative law ; the other a punv-
tary; butthepMm'torj/, if it commands the punishment to
be inflietei and does not merely permit it, is as truly im-
perative as the other; only it li punitory besides, which
the other is not. , , . , „ _■ „ i.
Brntham, Introd. to Morals and Legislation, xix. 2, note.
Punjabee, Punjabi (pun-ja'be), n. [< Hind.
Pers. Panjabi, < Pers. panj, five, + oo, water,
river.] 1. A native or an inhabitant of the
Punjab (or Panjab), literally the country of the
five rivers, in extreme northwestern British In-
dia.
4849
He was clad in the white dress of a Punjabee.
Proc. Soe. Ptyeh. Besearch (London), IX. 368.
2. The dialect of the Punjab, a variety of
Hindi.
punjum (pun'Jum), n. [E. Ind.J Same as pan-
Jam.
punJk (pungk), n. [Appar. reduced from spunk.
Cf. ftmk\ rotten wood.] 1. Wood decayed
through the influence of a fungus or otherwise,
and used like tinder; touchwood. — 2. Tinder
made from certain fungi. See amadou and
fimgus-tinder. — 3. A prostitute; a ooratezan.
Utaapunk is one of Cupid's carriers.
Shak., M. W. of W., ii 2. Ul.
punka (pung'kSr), n. [Also punkah; < Hind.
pankha, a fan (isf . Pers. pankan, a fan), akin to
pamkha, a wing, feather, and to paksha (< Skt.
paksha), a wing.] In the East Indies, a fan
of any kind; specifically, a swinging screen
consisting of cloth stretched on a rectangular
frame, hung from the ceiling and kept in motion
by a servant, or in some cases by machinery,
by means of which the air of an apartment is
agitated.
The cool season was just closing. Punka fans were
coming into play again.
J. W. Palmer, The New and the Old, p. 401.
The day following I was engaged to pull &punJcah in the
house of an English lawyer.
P. M. Oranju/ard, Mx. Isaacs, i.
punk-fist (pungk'fist), n. Same a.spuekfist.
punkin (pung'kin), n. A dialectal or colloquial
form of pumpkin.
punkisht (pung'Msh), a. [< punk + -JsAi.]
Meretricious.
The credit of a good house is made not to consist in in-
ward hospitality, but in outward walls. These punkish
outsiders beguile the needy traveller; he thinks there
cannot be so many rooms in a house and never a one to
harbour a poor stranger. Jiev. T. Adams, Works, I. 28.
punklingt (pungk'ling), n. [< punk + -ling^.'\
A little or young punk, ^eepunk, 3.
And then eam'd your royal a day by squiring punks and
punklings up and down the city?
Fletcher {and another). Love's Cure, ii. 1.
punk-oak (pungk'ok), n. The water-oak, Quer-
cus aguaUca.
punky (pung'ki), TO. ; pl.^MifcJes(-kiz). [Origin
obscure.] A minute dipterous insect common
in the Adirondack region of New York and in
the Maine woods, wmch bites severely and is
a great nuisance to travelers and sportsmen.
It has not been determined entomologically,
but is probably a midge of the genus Cerato-
pogon.
Sandy beaches or gravelly points are liable to swarm
with midges ovpurMes. Spartxman's Qazetteer, p. 642.
punnage(pun'aj),m. l<.pun!i + -age.'] Punning.
[Rare.]
The man who maintains that he derives gratification
from any such chapters of pannage as Hood was in the
daily practice of committing to paper should not be cred-
ited upon oath. Poe, Marginalia, clxxvii. (Dames.)
punner^ (pun'6r), n. [< pun'^ + -eri.] One
who or that which puns or rams earth into a
hole; specifically, a tool for ramming earth.
[Eng.]
The hole should not be hastily filled up, but ample time
be given to thepunners to do their share of the work.
Preeee and SlvewrigM, Telegraphy, p. 196.
punner^ (pun'er), TO. l<pun^ + -er^.2 One who
makes puns ; a punster. Swift.
punnet (pun'et), ». A small but broad shallow
basket for displaying fruit or flowers.
punning (pun'ing), n. [Verbal n. of pun'!^, v.]
The practice of making puns.
Several worthy gentlemen and critics have applied to
me to give my censure of an enormity which has been re-
viv'd after being long suppressed, and is call'd punning.
Steele, Tatler, No. 32.
punning (pun'ing),i?. a. [Ppr.oipun^jV.] Given
to making puns; exhibiting a^^pun or play on
in
^m
Funtin^.
punnology yr i « -» - ^ ^
' '.] The art of punning. [Rare.]
He might have been better Instructed in the Greek
- Pope. (Jodrell.)
punquettot,™- [<jpMMfc + It.dim.-e«o.] Same
aapunk,3. [Slang.]
Marry, to his cockatrice, oipunguelto, half a dozen taf-
fata gowns or satin khrtles In a pair or two of months—
why, they are nothing. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, ii. 1.
punster (pun'stfer), to. [< pun^ + -ster.l One
who puns or is skilled in punning; a qmbbler
on words.
puntilla
Whatever were the bons mots of Cicero, of which few
have come down to us, it is certain that Cicero was an in-
veterate puneter; and he seems to have been more ready
with them than with repartees.
/. B'Isradi, Curios, of Lit, 1. 126.
puntl (punt), TO. [< JitE. *punt, < AS. punt = D.
ponte, pont = MLG. punte, a punt, ferry-boat,
pontoon, < L. ponto{n-), a punt, a pontoon:
seej>ontooTO.] 1. Aflat-bottomed, square-ended,
masttess boat of varying size and use. The smaller
punts are used in fishing, andby sportsmen in shooting wild
fowl ; larger ones are often used as ferry-boats across shal-
low streams, and still larger ones aroused as lighters and
scows.
As for Pamphilus, ... of his making is the picture of
Vlysses In &punt or small bottom.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xxxv. 10.
They came on a wicked old gentleman breaking the laws
of his country, and catching perch in close time out of a
pura. H. Mngiley, Ravenshoe, Ixiv.
2. [ipuHp; v., 3.] lo. foot-ball, a kick of the
ball as it is dropped from the hands and before
it strikes the ground.
punti (punt), «. [<^MTO«i, TO.] I. trans. 1. To
convey in apunt:
as, he was punt-
ed across the riv-
er. Hence — 2.
To propel as a
pimt is usual-
ly propelled, by
pushing with a
pole against the
bed of the water;
force along by
pushing: as, to
punt a boat. —
3. In foot-ball,
to kick, as the
ball, when it is
dropped from the hands, and before it touches
the groimd; give a punt to. — 4. In general, to
knock; hit.
To see a stout Flamand of fifty or thereabouts solemnly
punting, by the aid of a small tambourine, a minute india-
rubber ball to another burgher of similar aspect, which
is the favourite way in which all ages and sexes take exer-
cise on the digue, is enough to restore one's faith In human
nature. Contemporary Bev., XUX. 52.
II, intra/ns. To hunt for aquatic game in a
punt and with a punt-gun (which see).
punt2 (punt), TO. [= F. ponte, a punt, < Sp.
punto, a point, a pip at cards, < L. punetum,
a point: see pointy A point in the game of
basset.
punt^ (punt), V. i. [< P. ponter, punt (at cards),
< ponte, punt : see pu/nl!^, to.] To play at basset
or ombre.
Another is for setting up an assembly for basset, where
none shall be admitted to punt that have not taken the
oaths. Addison, Freeholder, No. 8.
Wretch that I was ! how often have I swore,
When Winnall tally'd, I would punt no more !
Pope, The Basset Table.
He was tired of hawking, and fishing, and hunting.
Of billiards, short-whist, chicken-hazard, and punting.
Bairluvm, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 2S2.
punt^ (punt), TO. Same as punty, pontil.
puntee (pun'te), n. Same as punty, ponUl.
punterl (pun'ter), TO. [< pMTOti + -eri.] 1.
One who fishes or hunts in a punt.
He . . . caught more fish in an hour than all the rest of
the punters did in three. T. Hook, Gilbert Gnrney, UL
2. One who punts a boat.
Wherever you go, you see the long, straight boat with
its passengers luxuriously outstretched on the cushions In
the stern, the punter walking from the bow and pushing
on his long pole. The Century, XXXVIII. 488.
punter^ (pun'tSr), n. [Kpunt^ + -e»-i.] One
who marks the points in the game of basset ; a
marker.
There used to be gix)wn men in London who loved . . .
to accompany lads to the gaming-table, and perhaps have
an understanding with the punters.
Thackeray, Virginians, xxx. (Davies.)
Some of the punters are professional gamblers, others
are mere generM swindlers.
Fortnightty Bev., N. S., XXXIX. 324.
punt-fishing (punt'flsh"ing), TO. Fishing from
a punt or boat on a pond, river, or lake.
punt-gun (punt'gun), TO. A heavy gun of large
caliber (usually Ii inches) and long range, used
with large shot for killing water-fowl from a
punt (which see).
puntil (pun'til), TO. Same 9.S pontil.
puntilla (pun-til'a), n. [Sp., dim. of punto,
point: see poinP-.'i Laoework; hence, in deco-
rative art, decoration in color or relief in slender
lines or points resembling lace: applied espe-
cially to such work of Spanish origin.
punto
pnnto (pun'to), re. [< Sp. It. punto, < L. pwnc-
tum, a point: see poinfi. Cf. puncto.'] 1. A
point; specifically, in music, a dot or point.
This cannot be any way offensive to your own, and is ex-
pected to tlie utmost j)«7i«o by that other nation.
Bp. Backet, Abp. Williams, L 150. (Damet.)
2t. One of the old forms given to the beard.
I have yet
No ague, I can look upon your bufl.
And punto beard, yet call lor no strong-water.
Shirley, Honoria and Mammon, i. 2.
3. A thrust or pass in fencing; a point.
I would teach these nineteen the special rules, as your
punto, your reverso, your stoocata, your imbroccato, your
passada, your montanto.
B. Jonsm, Every Man in his Humour, iv. 6.
4. A stitch or method of work with the needle
or the loom: same as jjojmti, 18. — 5. Same as
pontil.
A solid iron rod tipped with melted glass, called a puento.
Ure, Diet, II. 667.
Punto dritto, a direct point or hit.
Your dagger commaunding his rapier, you may give him
a puvta, either dritta, or riversa.
Samolo, On the Duello, £2. (Nares.)
Panto rlverso, a back-handed stroke.
Ah, the immortal passado ! thejmnto reverao f
Shdk., K. and J., iL 4. 27.
puntsmaa (punts'man),m. ; ^l.puntsmen (-men).
[< jjMjifs, poss. otpunfi-, + man.'] A sportsman
who uses a punt.
It being the desii'e of puTitsmen to pot as many birds as
possible by one shot. W. W. Qreener, The Gun, p. 631.
punty (pun'ti), n.; pi. punties (-tiz). [Also
puntee, ponty, etc.: aes ponUl,] 1. Same as
pontil.
Now the glass globe is fastened to two bars, the pwnty
and the blow-pipe. Bmpei's Mag., LXXIX. 254.
2. An oval or circular dot or depression: a
kind of ornamentation eihployed in glass-cut-
ting.
punty-rod (pun'ti-rod), n. Same a,s pontil.
punyl (pu'ni), a. and n. [Formerly also puney,
punie, punay, also puisne, puisny, the form
puisne being still retained archaically in legal
use ; < OF. puisne, F. pu/im,4, < ML. postnatus,
later-bom, younger, < L. post, after, + natus,
born: see postulate.'] I. a. If. Later-bom;
younger; junior. Bee puisne, 1. — 2. Small and
weak; inferior or imperfectly developed in size
or strength; feeble; petty; insignificant.
How the young whelp of Talbot's, raging-wood.
Did flesh his puny sword in Frenchmen's blood !
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iv. 7. 36.
I do but ask my month,
"Which every petty, puwns de^ has.
B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, 1. 1.
He is sipuTiy soul who, feeling pain,
Finds ease because another feels it too.
Wordsworth, The Borderers, iii.
— Syn. 2. Little, diminutive, stunted, starveling.
Il.t n.; pi. punies (-niz). A young, inexperi-
enced person ; a jumor ; a novice.
Nay, then, I see thou 'rt but a puny in the subtill
Mistery of a woman.
Toumewr, Kevenger's Tragedy, i. 3.
There is only in the amity of women an estate for will,
and every puny knows that is no certain inheritance.
Dekker and Webster, Westward Ho, i. 2.
He . . . must appear in Pilnt like a punie with his
guardian and his censors hand on the back of his title to
be his bayl and surety that he is no idiot or seducer.
MUton, Areopagitica, p. 31.
Others to make sporte withall ; of this last sorte were
they whom they call freshmenn, punies of the first yeare.
Chrietmas Prince at St. John's CM., p. 1. {Naares.)
puny^t, »*• [Adapted as a sing, from the sup-
posed T^lm:^ punioe, punese, < F.punaise, a bed-
bug: aeepunice^.] A bedbug: same aapunice^.
Cotgrave.
punyshipt (pu'ni-ship), n. [< puny + -ship.]
The state of a puny, junior, or novice; nonage.
[Rare.]
In ttie punieship or nonage of Cerdicke Sandes . . . the
best houses and walles there were of mudde.
Ifashe, Lenten Stuflfe (Harl. Misc., VI. 171). (Davies.)
pup (pup), n. [Abbr. trom puppy, erroneously
regarded as a dim. otpup.'] Same as puppy, 2. —
To be in pup, to be pregnant, or heavy with young : said
of dogs. (CoUoq.)
pup (pup), V. i. ; pret. and pp. pupped, t^^t. pup-
ping. [< pup, n.] To bring forth pups, as a
bitch ; whelp, as a carnivorous quadruped.
pupa (pu'pa), n. ; pi. pupse (-pe). [< NL. pupa,
a pupa, chrysalis, < L. pupa, puppa, a girl, a
doll, puppet, fem. of pupus, a boy, child ; ef .
puer, a boy, child, pusus, a boy, < y/ pu, beget.
From L. pupus, pupa, are also ult. pupe, pupiTX,
pupil^, eia., puppet, puppy, pup, ete.] 1. The
Pupa of Prionus lati-
eoltis.
4850
third and usually quiescent
stage of those insects which
undergo complete metamor-
phosis, intervening between
the larval and the imaginal
stage. It is usually called the
second stage, the egg not being
counted. Some pupffi, as those of
mosquitoes, ai*e active. The pupa
of some insects is called a pu-
parium, and of others a nymph
or chrysaZis. See these words. See
also cute under beetle, Carpocapsa,
chinch-bug, Mfrotylus, and Juruse-fly.
2. A stage in the develop-
ment of some other arthro-
pods, as cirripeds. See lo-
comotive pupa, below. — 3.
[cap.] [NL.] In conch., the
typical genus of Pupidx; the
chrysalis - shells — Coarctate
pupa, conical pups9, ezarate
pupss, inert pupa, see the adjectives.— Incased pupa.
See incase.— Locomotive pupa, in drripedia, the third
stage of the larva, the first being a naupliuB, the second
resembling Daphnia or Cypris. In this stage little is visi-
ble externally but the carapace, the limbs being hidden.
There are, however, large lateral eyes and six pairs of legs,
and the gut-formed gland is well developed. After swim-
ming awhile the pupa becomes attached to some object^
at first only by its suctorial disks, soon, however, becom-
ing permanently fixed to the spot by the secretion of a ce-
ment. See cut under drripedia.
'na&loeomotivepapa . . . is unable to feed; . . . other
important alterations take place during the passage of
the locomoHve pupa into the fixed young Cirripede.
Hvaley, Anat. Invert., p. 269.
Mature, naked, obtected, etc., pupa. See the adjec-
tives.— Pupa coarctata, a coarctate pupa.
The pupa, in the majority of Diptera, is merely the larva
with a hard case (jmpse coa/rctatse).
Pascoe, Class. Anim., p. 122.
Pupa Obtecta, an obtected pupa.
Fupacea (pu-pa'se-a), n.pl. [NL., < Pupa +
-acea.] Same as Pupidx.
pupal (pii'pal), a. l<. pupa + -al.] Of or per-
taining to a'pupa ; nymphal ; chrysalid ; pupi-
form.
puparial (pu-pa'ri-al), a. [< puparium + - al.]
Of or pertaining to a puparium, or dipterous
pupa.
puparium (pu-pa'ri-um), n.; pi. puparia (-a).
[NL., < pupa] a pupa: see pupa.] A pupa in-
cluded within the last larval skin ; a coarctate
pupa; a larva pupigera, as in all dipterous in-
sects of the division Cyclorhapha and in many
of the Orthorhapha. See cut under Pipiza.
pupate (pti'pat), v. i. ; pret. and pp. pupated,
ppr. pupating. [< pupa + -ate^.] To become
a pupa; enter upon the pupal state; undergo
transformation from the state of the grub or
larva to that of the perfect insect or imago : as,
to pupate under ground; %o pupate in winter.
pupation (pu-pa'shon), n. [< pupate + -ion.]
The act of pupating, or the state of being a
pupa; the pupal condition; the time during
which an insect is a pupa.
pupe (pup), n. [< F. pupe, < NL. pupa, a pupa :
see B«^a.] Same as pupa. Wright.
pupelo (pu'pe-16), n. [Perhaps a corrupted
form, ult. < F. pomme, apple. Cf . pomperkin.]
Cider-brandy. [New Eng.]
In Livingston there were five distilleries for the manu-
facture of cider-brandy, or what was familiarly known as
pupelo. S. Judd, Margaret, i. 7.
Fupidse (pti'pi-de), n. pi. [NL., < Pupa +
-idse.] A family of geophilous pulmonate gas-
tropods, typified by the genus Pupa. The ani-
mal nas a nearly smooth jaw and teeth like those of Hdi-
eidiB ; the shell is generally pupiform, but sometimes conic
or cylindric, and has usually a contracted aperture and
teeth or lamellse on the lips. The species are mostly of
small size. By many they are united with the Helieida.
Also called Pupacea.
pupifera (pu-pif'e-ra), n. pi. [NL. (Lichten-
stein), < pupa, a pupa, + h./erre = B. tear^.]
The return migrant generation of plant-lice, or
the last winged generation, which gives birth
agamically to the true sexual generation. See
pupiform (pu'pi-f6rm), a. [< NL. pupa, pupa,
+ li. forma, form.] 1. In entom., having the
form or character of a pupa; pupal; puparial;
as, a pupiform larva. — 2. In conch., shaped
like a shell of the genus Pupa; resembling one
of the Pupidse in the form of the shell.
pupigenous (pu-pij'e-nus), a. [< NL. pupa,
pupa, + -genus, producing: see-genous.] Same
as pupiparous.
pupigerous (pii-pij'e-rus), a. [< 'KL.pupa, pupa,
+ li.gerere, carry.]"Havingthe pupa contained
within the last larval skin ; f ormmga puparium,
as most dipterous insects ; coarctate, as a pupa.
See larva pupigera, under larva.
pupilarity
In the other group [of dipterous insects], which are al-
ways pupigerous, the perfect insect escapes from the larval
skin through a more or less circular opening.
Stand. Nat. Hist., IL 400.
pupili (pii'pil), n. and a. [Foimevly pupill ; <
OF. pupile,pupille, F. pupille, m. and f ., = Pr.
pupilU = Sp. pupilo, m., pupila, f., = Pg. It.
pupillo, m . , pupilla, f ., a ward, < L. pupillus, m.,
pupilla, f., an orphan chUd, a ward or minor, .
dim. ot pupus, a hoy, pupa, a girl: see pupa.]
I. «. 1. A youth or any person of either sex un-
der the care of an instructor or tutor; in gen-
eral, a scholar; a disciple.
Tutors should behave reverently before their 2>ujA.
Sir/!. L Estrange.
2t. A ward; a youth or person under the care
of a guardian.
What, shall King Henry be a pupil still
Under the surly Gloucester's governance?
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., 1. 3. 49.
3. In civil law, a person under puberty (four-
teen for males, twelve for females), over whom
a guardian has been appointed.
II, a. Under age ; in a state of pupilage or
nonage; minor.
The custody of his pupil children.
Wesbminxtcr Bm., CXXVIII. 703.
pupil^ (pii'pil), n. [Formerly &iso pupill; < F.
pupille, f ., = Pr. pupilla = Sp. pupila = Pg. It.
pupilla = D. pupil = G. pupille = Sw. pupill =
Dan. pupil, < L. pupilla, the pupil of the eye, a
particular use (as a 'baby' in the eye: see
haby) of pupilla, an orphan girl, a ward or
minor, dim. fem. of pupa, a girl: see pvpiU.]
1. The orifice of the iris; the hole or opening
in the iris through which light passes. The pupil
appears usually as a black spot in the middle of the color-
ed part of the eye, this appearance being due to the dark-
ness of the back of the eye. The pupil contracts when 1 he
retina is stimulated, as by light, on accommodation for
near distances and on convergence of the visual axes ;
pain may cause a dilatation. The size of the pupil is de-
termined by the circular and radiating muscular fibers of
the iris. It may also be infiuenced by drugs ; thus, opium
contracts and belladonna dilates the pupil. The same
consequences may result from disease or injury. The
shape of the pupil in most animals is circular, as the ex-
pression of the uniform action of the contractile fibers of
the iris ; but in many animals it is oval, elliptical, or slit-
like. Thus, the pupil of the cat contracts to a mere chink
in the sunlight, and dilates to a circle in the dark. Ihe
pupil of the horse is a broad, nearly parallel-sided fissure
obtusely rounded at each end. The variability of the
pupil in size is not less remarkable in owls than in cats,
but in these birds it keeps its circular figure, changing in
size from a mere point to a disk which leaves the iris a
mere rim. The pupil sometimes gives zoological charac-
ters, as in distinguishing foxes from wolves or dogs. See
iris, 6, and cuts under eyel.
2. In zool. : (a) The central dark part of an
oeellated spot. See ocellus, 4. (6) A dark,
apparently interior, spot seen in the compound
eyes of certain insects, and changing in posi-
tion as it is viewed from differeiS sides.— Ar-
gyll-Robertson pupil, a pupil which does not contract
from light, but does with accommodation for short dis-
tances. It is a frequent symptom in locomotor ataxia. —
Exclusion of the pupil See exclvxian.— Occlusion of
the pupil, the filling up of the pupil with inflammatory
material.— Pinhole pupil, the pupil when so contracted,
as it sometimes is, as to resemble a pinhole.
pupilabilityt (pii"pi-la-bil'i-ti), n. [< pupilX +
-able + -ity (see -Ulity).] I'upilary nature ; con-
fidential character. [Bare.]
What can he mean by the lambent pupilaliaity of slow,
low, dry chat, five notes below the natural tone?
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, iv. 1.
pupilage, pupillage (pfi'pi-laj), n. [= Sp. pu-
pilose = Pg. pupillagem ; as pupiU + -age.] 1 .
The state of being a pupil or scholar, or the pe-
riod during which one is a pupil.
Most Noble Lord, the pUlor of my life
And Patrone of my tinaes pupiUa^e.
Spenser, To Lord Grey of Wilton.
The severity of the father's brow, . . . whilst they [the
children] are under the discipline and government of
pupilage, I think . . . should be relaxed as fast as their
age, discretion, and good behaviour could allow it,
Loeke, Education, § 95.
2. The state or period of being a ward or minor.
Three sones he dying left, all under age.
By meanes whereof their uncle Vortigere
Usurpt the crowne during their jwpi»a^e.
Spenser, F. Q., II. x. 64.
There, there, drop my wardship.
My pupUlage and vassalage together.
B. Jonson, Staple of News, i. L
mat they themselves might confine the Monarch to a
kind of Pupillage under their Hierarchy.
Milton, Reformation in Eng., iL
pupilar, pupillar (pa'pi-lar), a. Same as pu-
pupilarity, pupillarity (pii-pi-lar'i-ti), «. [=
F. pupillarity = Pr. pupillaretat,"< ML. *pu-
pillarita(t-)s, pu2nllarieta(t-)s, < L. pupillaris.
pupilarity
pupilai^: aeepupilaryi.-] In Scots law, the in-
terval from birth to the age of fourteen in males
and twelve m females; pupilage.
If 8 a fatherless bairn, . , . and a motherless ; ... we
are In loco parentis to him during his years of pLpOlarUy.
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, v.
pupilaryi, pupillaryi (pTi'pi-lar.ri), a. [= F.
pupillatre = Pr. pupilari = Sp. pupilar = Pg.
pupiUar = It. pupillare, < lu.pupillaris, pertain-
ing to an orphan or ward, < pupilliis, an orphan,
a ward: see pupiU.'] Pertaining to a pupil or
ward. -^ ^
pupilarya, pupillarys (pu'pi-ia-ri), a. [< pi^
pU^ + -ary. Ct pupilaryi.) Of or pertaining
to the pupil of the eye.
Now it becomes an interesting question, When the axial
and local adjustments are thus dissociated, with which
one does the pupOiary contraction ally itself? I answer, It
allies itself with the focal adjustment.
Le Conte, Sight, p. 118.
Pupilary membrane. See membraiie.
eially darker color; noting marks so oharao.
terized.
pnpiled, pupilled (pu'pild), a. [,<pupm + -ed2.]
In entom., furnished with a central dark spot;
pupUate : as, a white spot pupiled with blue :
used especially of ooellated spots.
pupiUze, pupillize (pii'pi-liz), v. i. ; pret. and
pp. pupiligea, pupilMzed, ppr. pupilizing, pupiU
Using, l<pupill + -ige.'\ To take pupils; teach;
tutor.
When the student takes his degree, he obtains by pupil-
izing enough to render further assistance unnecessary.
C. A. Bristed, English University, p. 111.
pupilla (pu-pU'a), ». ; ■pl.pupillsB(-§). [L.: see
pupil^.'] In anat., the pupil of the eye.
pupillage, pupillar, etc. See pupilage, etc.
pupillometer (pu-pi-lom'e-t6r), n. l<Ij.pupilla,
pupil, + Gr. fUrpov, measure.] An instrument
for measuring the size of the pupil of the eye.
pupil-mongert (pu'pil-mung"g6r), n. One who
takes or teaches pupils ; a tutor or schoolmaster.
[Bare.]
John Preston . . . was tde greatest pmrH-monger in
England in man's memory, having sixteen fellow common,
ers . . . admitted in one year in Queen's College, and pro-
vided convenient accommodations for them.
Fuller, Worthies, Northampton, n. 617.
pupil-teacher (pu'pil-te'''ch6r), n. One who is
both a pupil and a teacher, in Great Britain pupil-
teachers are apprenticed for five years under a certificated
master ormis&ess, receive daily instruction out of school-
hours, and assist in the regular school- work during school-
hours. Their subsequent training consists of a course of
two years at a normal college and training-schooL
The large towns, which are the almost only nurseries of
pupU-teaelieni, are mostly working on the centre-system,
which makes the papU-tBoch^r merely a kind of inferior
assistant, not a pupil at all, to the teacher under whom he
is apprenticed. The Academy, Jane 1, 1889, p. 370.
Fupina (pu-pi'na), n. [NL. (Ehrenberg, 1831),
< Pupa, tlie shell so called, 4- -ina.'] The typ-
ical genus of Pupinidse. The species are of a lus-
trous brown or mahogany color, and inhabit India, China,
Australia, and islands of the Pacific ocean. P. mcanicu-
lata is an example.
Pupinacea (pu-pi-na'se-a), ». pi. [NL., < Pm-
pina + -acea.J Saxaeas Pupinidse.
Pupinae (pu-pi'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Pupa +
-iiisB.'] The Pupidse considered as a subfamily
of Helieidse.
Pupinidse (pu-pin'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Fupina
+ ■idsB.'] Afamily of terrestrial pectinibran-
chiate gastropods, typified by the g&nusPupima.
They are closely related to the CydophioHdx, and are by
many referred to that family, but are distinguished by a
pupiform shell. The species are confined to tropical coun-
tries. Piipinaand Uegaiomastomii are the principal gen-
era.
Pupininse (pu-pi-ni'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Fupina
+ •msB.'] A subfamily of Cyclophoridse, typified
by the genus Fupina : same as Pupinidse.
Pupipara (pu-pip'a-ra), n. pi. [NL. (Nitzsch,
1818), ipupa, pupa, + L. parere, bring forth.]
A division of dipterous insects in which the
eggs are hatched and the larval state is passed
within the body of the parent, the young being
bom ready to become pupse. The head is closely
connected with the body, and flie proboscis is strong and
adapted for piercing. Certain genera are wingless. The
pupiparous Vetera are of the three families Hippoboeeidae,
Nycteribiidee, andBravlidse. The first family includes the
well-known horse-tick, sheep-tick, and bird-ticks, the
second the bat-ticks, and the third the bee-lice. Some-
tunes called Sym/plApara.
Fupu>aria (pii-pi-pa'ri-3'), «• jP'- [NL.] Same
as Pupipara.
pupiparous (pu-pip'a-rus), a. [< NL. oMpo,
pupa, H- L. parere, bring forth.] Bnngmg forth
pup» ; giviBg birth to larvse which are already
4851
advanced to the pupal state ; of or pertaining
to the Pupipara. Also pupigenous.
Fupivora (pu-piv'o-ra), ». jjZ. [NL., < TXh.pupa,
pupa, + L'. uorare," devour.] A division of
Hymenoptera characterized by the petiolate or
stalked abdomen, the female armed with an
extensile ovipositor, the larvse footless, and
having the habit of ovipositing in the larvee or
pupae of other insects (often however in plants,
as in the gall-insects), upon which the young
feed when they hatch, whence the name; the
pupivorous, entomophagous, or spicuHferous
hymenopterous insects, in Latreille's system of clas-
sification the Pupivora formed the seoondfamily of Hyme-
noptera, divided into six tribes, Euaniades, Ichtieumfmidse,
GaUicolsB, CluUddise, Oxyuri, and Chrysides, respectively
corresponding to the modem families Eoaniidie, Ichneu-
Tnonidie (with Braconidas), CynipCdse, Chaleididai, Procto-
trypidm, and Chrysididse. The Pupivora, slightly modi-
fied, are also called BManwphaga, and by Westwood Spi-
eui(fera.
pupivore (pH'pi-vor), n. A pupivorous insect;
a member of the Pupivora.
pupivorous (pu-piv'6-rus), a. [< NL. pupa,
pupa, + L. vdrare, devour.] Devouring the
pupss of other insects, as an insect; parasitic
on pnpsB ; belonging to the Pupivora. See cut
under Pimpla.
puplet, n. A Middle English form ol people.
pupoid (pii'poid), a, [< NL. pupa, pupa, + Gr.
eloog, form.] In conch., pupiform; resembling
or related to the Pupidse.
puppet (pup'et), n. [Also poppet; early mod.
E. popet, < ME. popet, < OF. poupette, a doll,
puppet, dim. of *poupe, < Jj.pupa, a doll, pup-
pet, a girl : see pupa. Cf . puppy.'] If. A doll.
This were a popet in an arm tenbrace
For any woman, smal and fair of face.
Chaucer, Prol. to Sir Thopas, 1. 11.
2. A little figure of a person, moved by the
fingers, or by cords or wires, in a mock drama;
a marionette.
Neither can any man marvel at the play ot puppets that
goeth behind the curtain, and adviseth well of the mo-
tion. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i. 94.
Hence — 3. One who is actuated by the will of
another ; a tool : used in contempt.
Puppet to a father's threat, and servile to a shrewish
tongue. Tennyson, LocksleyHalL
M' pi- Toys ; trinkets.
A maid makes conscience
Of half-a-crown a-week for pins and puppets.
Fletcher, Wit without Money, ii. 2.
5. The head-stock or the tail-stock of a lathe.
See lathe.
puppett (pup'et), «. *. [< puppet, n.] Todr«ss
as a doll; bedeck with finery.
Behold thy darling, whom thy soul affects
So dearly ; whom thy fond indulgence decks
And puppets up in soft, in silken weeds.
Quarles, Emblems, v. 8.
puppet-head (pup'et-hed), «. A sliding piece
on the upper part of the lathe-bed of a lathe or
boring-machine, to hold and adjust the baok-
centea
puppetish (pup'et-ish), a. [Early mod. E. pop-
etish; < puppet + -ishi.] Pertaining to or re-
sembling puppets or puppetry.
Ne lesse also doth he that setteth menne to open pen-
aunce at Panics Crosse, for holye water makyng, for pro-
cession and seusinge, wyth other popetisfte gaudes, con-
strayninge them to promise the aduauncement of the old
faith of holy church by such f antasticall fopperyes.
Bp. Bale, Image, ii.
puppetlyf (pup'et-li), a. [< puppet + -lyi.]
Like a puppet. [Bare.]
PuppeUy idols, lately consecrated to vulgar adoration.
Bp. Oauden, Hieraspietes (1653), p. 448.
puppetman (pup'et-man), n.; pi. puppetmen
(-men). Same as puppet-player.
From yonder puppet-man enquire.
Who wisely hides his wood and wire. Su)(ft.
puppet-master (pup'et-mas'''t6r), n. The mas-
ter or manager of a puppet-show.
Bost. Of whom the tale went to turn puppet-master.
Lou. And travel with young Goose, the motion-man.
B. jonson, New Inn, i. 1.
puppet-play (pup'et-pla), m. _ 1. A dramatic
performance with puppets, with or without a
dialogue spoken by concealed persons. — 2.
That kind of performance which is carried on
by means of puppets ; entertainment by means
of marionettes.
puppet-player (pup'et-pla^er), n. One who
manages the motions of puppets.
puppetry (pup'et-ri), n. [Formerly also pup-
etry, popetry ; < puppet + -ry.'] 1. Finery, as
that of a doU or puppet; outward show; affec-
tation.
puppy-snatch
Rave, talk idly, as 'twere some deity,
Adoring female pa.ixitei puppetry.
Xarston, Scourge ol Villauie (ed. 1699), viiL 204.
Your dainty ten-times-drest buff, with this language,
Bold man ol arms, shall win upon her, doubt not,
Beyond all silken puppetry. Ford, Lady's IWal, ii. 1.
The theatre seems to me almost as bad as the church ;
it is all puppetry alike. S. Jtidd, Margaret, ii. 11.
2. The exhibition of puppets or puppet-shows ;
a puppet-show.
How outraglously are then- preistes and chirches omed
and gorgiously gamisshed in their p<^try, passe tymes,
and apes playe. Joye, Expos, of Dan. viL
Thou profane professor of puppetry, little better than
poetry. B, Jonson, Bartholomew fair, v. 3.
A grave proficient in amusive feats
Of puppetiry. Wordsworth, Excursion, v.
puppet-show (pup'et-sho), n,. Same aspuppet-
play, 1.
A man who seldom rides needs only to get into a coach
and traverse his own town, to turn the street into a pup-
pet-shtno. Emerson, Misc., p. 47.
puppet-valve (pup'et-valv), n. A valve which,
in opening, is lifted bodily from its seat instead
of being hinged at one side.
puppify (pup'i-fi), V. t.; pret. and pp. puppi-
fied, ppr. puppifying. [< puppy + -fyT] To
make a puppy of; assimilate to a puppy or
puppies. [Rare.]
Concerning the peeple^ I verily believe ther were never
any so far degenerated since the Devill had to do with
mankind, never any who did fool and puppijie themselfs
into such a periect slavery and confusion.
BowiH, Parly of Beasts, p. 29. (fiavies.)
puppily (pup'i-li), a. \<. puppy + -lyi.'] Pup-
py-like. [Rare.]
This impertinent heart is more troublesome to me than
my conscience, I think. I shall be obliged to hoarsen my
voice and roughen my character, to keep up with its pup-
pily dancings.
Bichardson, Clarissa Harlowe, V. 79. (JDavies.)
puppingti n. An obsolete form of pippitfi,
Minsheu.
Puppis (pup'is), n. [NL., < L. puppis, a ship,
the stern of a sliip : seeiioopi.] A subdivision
of the constellation Argo, introduced by BaUy
in the British Association Catalogue.
puppy (pup'i),w.; i^l. puppies {-iz). [Earlymod.
^.puppie; < Op. poupee, F.poup4e, a doU, pup-
pet, < ML. as if *pupata, < L. pupa, a doll, pup-
pet: see pupa, puppet. A little dog appears
to have been oatled puppy because petted as a
doll or puppet. Hence, by abbr., pup.] If. A
doll; a puppet. Halliwell. — 2. A young dog;
a whelp ; also, by extension, a young seal or
other young carnivore.
A bitch's blind puppies, fifteen i' the litter.
Shak., M. W. ol W., ilL 6. 11.
3. A conceited, frivolous, and impertinent man;
a silly young fop or coxcomb : used in contempt.
Go, bid your lady seek some fool to fawn on her.
Some unexperienc'd puppy to make sport with ;
I have been her mirth too long.
Beau, and Fl., Little French Lawyer, iL 3.
You busy Puppy, what have you to do with our Laws?
Milton, Answer to Salmasius, Pref., p. 15.
I am by no means such a puppy as to tell you I am upon
sure ground ; however, perseverance.
Miss Bumey, Evelina, IxxvL
4. A white bowl or buoy used in the herring-
fisheries to mark the position of the net near-
est the fishing-boat. [Eng.]
puppy (pup'i), V. ».; pret. and -pp.puppied, ppr.
puppying. [< puppy, m.] To bring forth pup-
pies; whelp. Also pup.
puppy-dog (pup'i-dog), n. A pup or puppy.
[(JoUoq.]
Talks as familiarly of roaring lions
As maids of thirteen do ot puppy-dogs !
Shak., K. John, iL 1. 460.
puppy-fish (pup'i -fish), n. A selachian, the
angel-fish, Squatina angelus. See cuts under
angel-fish and Squatina.
puppy-headed (pup'i-hed"ed), a. Stupid.
I shall laugh myself to death at this jH«j)pj/-ieoded mon-
ster. Shak., Tempest, ii. 2. 159.
puppyhood (pup'i-hud), n. [< puppy + -hood.']
The condition of being a puppy, or the period
during which this condition lasts.
Large dogs "are still in their puppyhood at this time
[one year old]." Darwin, Tar. ol Animals and Plants i.
puppyism (pup'i-izm), n. [< puppy + -ism.]
Conduct becoming a puppy; silly, conceited
foppishness ; empty-headed affectation.
It is surely more tolerable than precocious puppyigm in
the Quadrant, whiskered dandyism in Regent-street and
Pall-mall, or gallantly in its dotage anywhere.
Bickene, Sketches, Characters, L
puppy-snatcht, n. Apparently, a snare. Da
vies.
puppy-snatch
It Beem'd indifferent to him
Whether he did or sink or swim;
So he by either means might catch
Us Trojans in a Puppy-match.
Cotton, Scarronides^ p. 10.
purl, J), and n. See purr^.
pur^t, purr^ti «. A term of unkno'tnimeaning
used in the game of post and pair.
Some, having lost their double Pare and Post,
Malce their advantage on the Piirrs they haue ;
Whereby the Winners winnings all are lost,
Although, at best, the other 's but a Icnaue.
Sir J, Daviet, Wlttes Pilgrimage, quoted in Masque of
[Christmas, by B. Jonson.
Post and Pair, with a pair-royal of aces in bis hat ; liis
garment all done over with pairs and purs.
B. Jonson, Masque of Christmas.
pur^t, a. and adv. A Middle English form of
pure.
Furana (p§-ra'na), ». fSkt. purdna, things of
the past, tale of old times, prop, adj., past,
former, ancient, < pv/rd, formerly, before ; akin
to E. /ore ; see/orel.] One of a class of sacred
poetical writings in the Sanskrit tongue, which
treat chiefly of the creation, destruction, and
renovation of worlds, the genealogy and deeds
of gods, heroes, and princes, the reigns of the
Manus, etc.
The Puranat, though comparatively modem, make up
a body of doctrine mixed with mythology and tradition
such as few nations can boast of.
J. Pergusson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 7.
Furanic (pij-ran'ik), a. [< Purana + -io.] Per-
taining to the Puranas.
Purbeck beds. In geol. See lecP-.
Furbeck marble. A gray marble obtained from
the upper Purbeck strata. See Pwrbeck beds, un-
der 6edl. It is made up chiefly of specimens of Pttlu.
dina. This marble has been worlsed for more tlian 700
years, and used especially for slender shafts in medieval
architecture, "but the introduction of foreign marbles
has decreased the demand for It" Of ooiward).
purblind (pfer'blind), a. [Formerly also per-
blind (simulating L. per, through, as if ' thor-
oughly \>imA'), poreblind, poa/r^Und (simulat-
ing porei-, as if ' so nearly blind that one must
pore or read close'), poorhlind (simulating
poor, as if 'having poor sight — almost blind');
< ME. puriVynde, pwr Wind, quite blind, later
merely dim-sighted (tr. by L. htseus); orig. two
words: pur, pure, adv., quite; blind, blind.
The use of the adv. pv/re becoming obs. or dial.,
the meaning of pwr- became obscure; hence
the variations noted.] If. Quite blind; en-
tirely blind.
Me ssolde pulte oute bothe hys eye, and make hym jTur-
blynd. Sob. qf Olaueester, p. 376.
A gouty Briareus, many hands and no use, or parWind
Argus, all eyes and no sight. Shak., I. and C, i. 2. 31.
2. Nearly blind; dim-sighted; seeing dimly or
obscurely.
Thy dignitie or auctoritie, wherein thou only diflereth
from other, is (as it were) but a weyghty or heuy cloke^
freshely glitteryng in the eyen of them that heporebtind.
Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, ii. 3.
PoreMind men see best in the dimmer lights, and like-
wise have their sight stronger near hand than those that
are not jtore-UiTUf. Boom, Works (ed. 1826), lY. 470.
QpurUind race of miserable men I
Tennyson, Geraint.
purblindly (pfer'blind-U), adv. In a purbUnd
manner.
purblindness (p6r'blind-nes), n. The state of
being purblind ; shortness of sight ; near-sight-
edness ; dinmess of vision.
The Professor's keen philosophic perspicacity is some-
what marred by a certain mixture of almost owlish ^r-
Uininest. Carlyle, Sartor Besartns, iii. 10.
purcatoryet, n. A Middle English form of pur-
gatory.
purchasable (p6r'eha-sa-bl), a. [Also pur-
chaseable ; < purchase '+ "able."] Capable of be-
ing bought, purchased, or obtained for a con-
sideration.
Money being the counterbalance to all things purchase-
able by it. Locke, Lowering of Interest.
purchase (p6r'chas), v. ; pret. and pp. pur^
chased, ppr. pwrcha^ng. [< ME. purchasen,
purchaeen, purchesen, porchacyen, < OP. por-
ehacier, purchasier, porchacer, porchaser, pur-
cacer, etc., P. pourchasser (= Pr. percassar =
It. procaeciar^, seek out, acquire, get, < pur-
(< Li. pro), forth, + ehacier, chaser, chasser,
pursue: see e'hase^.'] I. trans. 1. To gain,
obtain, or acquire ; secure, procure, or obtain
in any way other than by inheritance or by pay-
ment of mone;^ or its equivalent; especially, to
secure or obtain by effort, labor, risk, sacrifice,
etc.: as, to purchase yeace by concessions; to
purchase favor with flattery.
4852
The Monstre answerde him, and seyde he was a dedly
Creature, suche as Ood hadde formed, -and duelled in tho
Desertes, in purchasynge his Sustynance.
MandevUle, Travels, i>. 47.
So it Benyth in my Rememberaunce
That dayly, nyghtly, tyde, tyme, and owre,
Hit is my will to purches youre f auoure.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Fumivall), p. 48.
By reproving faults they purchased unto themselves
with the multitude a name to be virtuous.
Booker, Eocles. Polity, Pret, iiL
Lest it make you choleric and purchase me another dry
basting. Sluik., C. of £., iL 2. 63.
I think I must be enforced to purchase me another page.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Kevel% iL 1.
Would that my life could purchase thine !
SJidley, The Cenci, v. 1.
3. To secure, procure, or obtain by expendi-
ture of money or its equivalent; buy: as, to
purchase provisions, lands, or houses.
The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth.
Oen. XXV. 10.
TwHl purchase the whole bench of aldermanity.
B. Jonson, Magnetick Lady, v. S.
The Pasha grants a licence to one person, generally a
Jew, to buy all the senna, who is obliged to take all that
is brought to Cairo, and no one else can purchase it.
Pococke, Description of the East, 1, 122.
3t. To expiate or recompense by a fine or for-
feit.
1 will be deaf to pleading and excuses.
Nor tears nor prayers shalljrarcAraie out abuses.
Shak., K. and J., iii. 1. 198.
4. [(.purchase, n., 10.] To apply a purchase
to; raise or move by mechanical power: as, to
purchase an anchor. — 5t. To steal. Imp. Bid.
II. intrans. If. To put forth efforts to obtain
anything; strive.
Duke John of Brabant purchased greatly that the Earl
of Flanders should have bis daughter in marriage.
Bemers.
Sf. To bring something about; manage.
On that other side this Claudas hath so purchased that
he hath be at Borne, and he and the kynge of Oaule haue
take theire londes to the Emperoure be soche covenaunt
that the Emperour lulius shall sonde hym socour.
Mmiin (E. E. T. S.), iL 803.
3t. To acquire wealth.
Were all of his mind, to entertain no-suits
But such they thought were honest, sure our lawyers
Would not purchase half so fast
Webster, Devil's Law-Case, iv. 1.
4. Naut, to draw in the cable : as, the capstan
purchases apace.
purchase (p6r'chas), n. [Early mod. E. also
purchas; ( ME. purchase, purchas, porchas, <
OP. porchas, purchase; from the verb.] 1.
Acquisition; the obtaining or procuring of
something by effort, labor, sacrifice, work, con-
quest, art, etc., or by the payment of money or
its equivalent ; procurement ; acquirement.
And sent yow here a stede of hia purchase;
Of kyng Buhen he wanne hym for certayn.
Generydes (E. B. T. S.), L 2812.
Say I should marry her, she'll get more money
Than all my usury, put my knavery to it:
She appears the most inf Alible way ot purchase.
Pleteher, Eule a Wife, ill. 6.
For on his backe a heavy load he bare,
Of nightly stelths, and pillage several!.
Which he had got abroad hy purchas crlminall.
^lenser, F. Q., I. iii. 16.
I glory
More in the earaaag purchase of my wealth
Tlian in the glad possession.
B. Jonson, Volpone, L 1.
3. That which is acquired or obtained other-
wise than by inheritance ; gain^ acquisitions ;
winnings ; specifically, that which is obtained
by the payment of money or its equivalent.
& he gan of her jiorcAtu largeliche hom hede.
Rob. of Gloucester, p. 34.
A beautjr-waning and distressed widow, . . .
Made prize and^rcAooe of his lustful eye.
Shak., Blob. IIL, iiL 7. 187.
Our lives are almost expired before we become estated
in oxa purchases. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1886), I. 861.
St. Prey; booty; plunder; hence, ill-gotten
gain or wealth.
That has f ray'd many a tall thief from a rich purchase !
MiddUton (ajid others), Widow, iiL 1.
Sod. Who are out now?
Fourth Out. Good teUows, sir, that, if there be any pur-
chase stirring.
Will strike it dead. Fletcher, Pilgrim, ii. 2.
Do you two pack up all the goods and purchase
That we can carry m the two trunks.
B. Jonson, Alchemist^ iv. 4.
Tailors in France they grow to great
Abominable purchase, and become great officers.
Webster, Devil's Law-Case, iL i.
4t. Means of acquisition or gain ; occupation.
Thou hast no land ;
Stealing 's thy only purchase.
Fletcher and Shirley, Night. Walker, L L
purchaser
5. In law : (a) The act of obtaining or acquir-
ing an estate in lands, etc., in any manner other
than by inheritance or escheat. (6) The ac-
quisition of property by contract, (c) The
acquisition of property by contract for a valua-
ble consideration, (d) The suing out and ob-
taining of a writ. — 6. Value; advantage; worth:
as, to buy an estate at twenty jeaxw purchase
(that is, at a price equal to twenty times its
annual value, or the total return from it for
twenty years).
A monarch might receive from her, not give.
Though she were his oroym's purchase,
Fletcher, Beggars' Bush, v. 2.
Some fall in love with . . . popular fame and applause^
supposing they are things of gKdX purchase; when in many
cases they are but matters of envy, peril, and impediment.
Baeart, Advancement of Learning, iL 344.
One report affirmed that Moore dared not come to York-
shire ; he knew that his life was not worth an hour's pur-
chase if he did. Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xxx.
7t. Attempt; endeavor.
111 sit down by thee,
And, when thou wak'st^ either get meat to save thee.
Or lose my life i' the purchase. Fletcher, Bonduca, v. s.
8t. Course; way; departure.
For whan she died that was my maistresse,
Alle my weelf are made than the same purchas.
PoUtieal Poems, eta. (ed. Fumivall), p. 64.
9. The acquisition of position, promotion, etc.,
by the payment of money. See purchase sys-
tem, beh)w.
He abolished purchase in the army.
N. A. Rev., CXLII. 690.
10. Firm or advantageous hold by which
power may be exerted; specifically, any me-
chanical power, force, or contrivance which
may be advantageously used in moving, rais-
ing, or removing heavy bodies; in nautical
use, a tackle of any kind for multiplying
power.
The head of an ox or a horse is a heavy weight acting at
the end of a long lever (consequently with a gieaipurchase),
and in a direction nearly perpendicular to the joints of the
supporting neck. Paley, Nat. Theoi.
A politician, to do great things, looks for a power, what
our workmen call & purchase; and if he finds that power
in politicks as in mechanicks, he cannot be at a loss to ap-
ply it. Burke, Bev. in France.
The last screw of the rack having been turned so often
that its purchase crumbled, and it now turned and turned
with nothing to bite. J>iekens, Tale of Two Cities, iL 23.
11. A knob or raised thumb-piece, allowing
the hand which holds the handle to throw back
the hinged cover of a tankard, beer-mug, or
similar vessel — Bell puxcbase (naut.), a kind of bur-
ton, consisting of four single blocks and a fall, frequently
used for topsail-halyards of small vessels in the United
States: so called from the name of the inventor. — Gads-
den purchase, a territory purchased by the United States
from Mexico in 1863 for 110,000,000, and Included in the
southern part ot New Mexico and Arizona: so called
from James Gadsden, United States minister to Mexico,
who negotiated the treaty. — Grlolet purchase, an ar-
rangement of blocks and f ^s for mounting and dismount-
ing heavygunson the deck of aman-of-war.— Gun-tackle
purchaBe. See gun-tacMe. 2. — Louisiana purchase,
the territory which the United States in 1803, under Jeffer-
son's administiation, acquired by purchase from France,
then under the government of Bonaparte aa first consul.
The price was $16,000,000. The purchase consisted of New
Orleans and a vast tract extending westward from the
Mississippi river to the Bocky Mountains, and from the
Gulf of Mexico to British America. The United States
claimed West Florida and the extreme northwest, includ-
ing Idaho, Oregon, and Washington as parts of the pur-
chase ; but it appears that they were wrong in so doing.
Texas, which was part ot the purchase, was ceded to Spain
in 1819 by the treaty by whicli Florida was acquired. In
1845 it again became & part of the United States.— Peak-
purchase. See peo^i.— Purchase of Land Act. See
Aindi.— Purchase system, the system under which
commissions in the British army were formerly purchased.
By this system nearly all the first appointments and a
large proportion of the subsequent promotions of officers
were effected. The regulation prices of commissions va^
ried from £460 for an ensigncy to £7,260 for a lieutenant-
colonelcy in the Life Guards, the highest commission nur-
ohasable. The system was abolished in 1871.— RoIUng
purchaset. Same as crane^in, 1. — To raise a pur-
chase. See raised.
purchaseable, a. See purchasable.
purchase-block (pfer'ohas-blok), n. Naut. See
block^.
purchase-fall (p6r'chas-f41), n. The rope rove
through a purchase-block.
purchase-money (p6r'chas-mun''i),«. The mon-
ey paid or contracted to be paid for anything
bought. ' ^
Whether ten thousand pounds, well laid out, might not
build a decent coUege, fit to contain two hundred persons ;
and whether the purchase-trumey of the chambers would
not go a good way towards defraying the expense?
Bp. Berkeley, Querist, g 189.
purchaser (p6r'cha-s§r), n. [< ME. purchasour,
< OP. porchaceor', pourchassewr, one who ac-
purchaBer
quires or purchases, < porehacier, pmtrchaser.
etc., acquire, purchase : aee purchase.'] It An
acquirer; a money-maker.
So gret a purchastmr was nowher noon
ChawxT, Sen. ProL to c' T., 1. 318.
2. One who ohtains or acquires the property
of anything by purchase; a buyer. Specifically,
i°c?n1idera«?n. *"'*'"™^ property by the payment ol
What supports and employs productive labour is the
capital expended in setting it to work, and not the de-
mand of purchasers for the produce of the labour when
completed. j g ^^
(6) One who acquires or obtains by conquest or by deed
of gift, or in any manner other than by Inheritance or
escheat. Thus, a devisee or a donee in a deed of gift is
technicaUy a purchaser.— Bona-fide pvurchaser. See
6ono;ide.— First purchaser, in the Icm of inheritance
the one who first among the famUy acquired the estate
whether by gift, buying, or bequest, to which others have
succeeded ; the earliest person in a line of descent.
purchase-shears (per'ohas-8herz),re.j)i. Avery
powerful form of shears," the cutters of which
are rectangular steel bars inserted in grooves,
so that they can be readily removed for sharp-
ening or renewal. They have usually at the back of
the blade a strong spring or backstay to hold the two edges
in contact, and a stop to regulate the size of the pieces to
be sheai'ed off.
purcyt, a. A Middle English form otpv^rsy.
purcyvauntet, n. A Middle English form of
pursuivant.
purdah (p6r'da), n. [^AXsopardah ; < Hind, par-
da, a curtain, screen, privacy, Pers. parda, a
curtain.] In India, a curtain, (a) a curtain serv-
ing as a screen in an audience-hall or room of state.
The guns are kept loaded inside the purdah at the hall-
door. W. H. Russea, Diaiy in India, II. 103.
(6) A curtain screening women of superior rank from the
sight ol men and from contact with strangers.
The doctor is permitted to approach the purdah, and
put the hand through a small aperture ... in order to
feel the patient's pulse.
WiUiamson, East India Vade Mecum, I. 130.
[(yjrfe and Burnett.)
Hence— (c) The kind of seclusion in which such women
live, constituting a mark of rank, (d) The material of
which the curtain is made ; especially, a fine kind of mat-
ting, or a cotton cloth woven in white and blue stripes.
purdahed ("pSr'dad), a. [< purdah + -ed^.J
Screened by a purdah or curtain : said of a Mos-
lem woman of rank.
The hour is passed in lively dialogues with the several
purdahed dames,
Mrs. Meer Ali, Observations on Massalmans of India.
pure (pur), a. and n. [< ME. pure, pur, < OF.
(and P.) pur, m., pure, f., = Sp. Pg. It. puro, <
L. purus, clean, free from dirt or filth, hence
free from extraneous matter, plain, unadorned,
unwrought, unoccupied, also free from fault or
taint, as speech or morals, in law free from con-
ditions, unconditional; akin to putu^, clear (see
pute), and to Skt. Vp^> purify. From li.purus
are also ult. purity, puritan, purify, depure, de-
purate, etc. , purge, purgation, etc., expurgate,
spurge, etc.] I. a. 1. Free from extraneous
matter ; separate from matter of another kind ;
free from mixture ; unmixed ; clear ; especial-
ly, free from matter that impairs or pollutes :
said of physical substances.
lastly I saw an Arke ol purest golde
Upon a brazen pillour standing hie.
Spenser, Kuines of Time, 1. 659.
In pure white robes.
Like veiy sanctity, she did approach
My cabin. SAaS., W. T., iii. 3. 22.
2. Bare; mere; sheer; absolute; very: as, it
was done out otpure spite ; a, pure villain.
And cum wightly therwith the weghes hom selfe.
To a place that was playne on the pure ground.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), L 4794.
For the meschief and the meschaunce amonges men of
Sodome
■Wex therw plente ol payn and otpure sleuthe.
Piers Plowman (B), xir. 76.
The pure wyse of liire mevynge
. Shewede wel that men myghte in hire gesse
Honor, estate, and womanly noblesse.
Chaucer, Troilus, 1. 285.
Alas, sir, we did it toipure need.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., a 1. 157.
And half his blood burst forth, and down he sank
For the pure pain, and wholly swoon'd away.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
8t. Sole; only.
More f ement in faith thi lalle I dessyre,
Ffor Patroclus, my pure felow, thou put vnto dethe.
DeslrucHm of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7934.
4t. Whole; thorough; complete.
Ac hor nother, as me may ise, injmr righte nas.
Sob. of Gloucester, L 174.
And Paris, that is prinsipall of oar pure hat^
M hit happe vs to hent, hongit shalbe
As a felon falsest foundyn with thefte.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), I. 3634.
305
4853
5t. Pine; nice.
Venus the worthy, that wemen ay plesyn ;
And Palades, with pure wit that passes all other ;
And Jono, a iustis of ioyes in erthe.
Destruction, of Troy (E. K T. S.), 1. 2384.
Nay, I confess I was quiet enough, till my Husband told
me what pure Lives the London Ladies live abroad, with
their Dancing, Meetings, and Junqnetings.
Wycherley, Country Wife, iii. 1.
You are a pure Fellow for a Father. This is always your
Tricks, to make a great Fool of one before Company.
SUde, Tender Husband, L 1.
6. Figuratively, free from mixture with things
of another kind ; homogeneous.
Howsoeuer, in the time of Elisa or Dido, the Phesnicean
or Punike, which she carried into Africa, yft&pure Hebrew,
as was also their letters. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 47.
Although very much more modem in date, and con-
sequently less pure in style, the i*uins at Follonarua are
scarcely less Interesting than those ol the northern capital
to which it succeeded.
J. Fergusson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 199.
7. Free from mixture with that which contami-
nates, stains, defiles, or blemishes, (a) Free from
moral defilement or guilt ; innocent; guileless; spotless;
chaste : applied to persons.
Unto the pure all thihgs me pure. Tit. i. 15.
I have been made to believe a man of honour a villain,
and the best and purest of creatures a false profligate.
Scott, Kenilworth, xxxix.
Who would against thine own eye-witness fain
Have all men true and leal, all women pure.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
(5) Ritually or ceremonially clean ; unpolluted.
All of them were pure, and killed the passover.
Ezra vi. 20.
(c) Free from that which vitiates, pollutes, or degrades ;
unadulterated; genuine; stainless; sincere: said of
thoughts, actions, motives, etc.
Pure religion, and undeflled. Jas. i. 27.
In their looks divine
The image of their glorious Maker shone.
Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure.
JfiZtoTj, P. L., iv. 293.
A friendship as warm and as pure as any that ancient
or modern history records.
8. In music : (a) Of intervals, intonation, and
harmony, mathematically correct or perfect:
opposed to tempered, (b) Of tones, without dis-
cordant quality, (c) Of style of composition or
of a particular work, correct ; regular; finished.
— 9. In metaph., of the nature of form; unma-
teriate; in the Kantian terminology, not de-
pending on experience; non-sensiious Predl-
cables of the pure understanding. See predieable.
-Pure act, algebra, apperception, being. See the
nouns. — Pure beauty, a judgment of taste unmixed with
other emotions. Eajit. — Pure body, the first and sim-
plest form united to the first and simplest matter. — Pure
categorical, cognition, color. See the nouns.— Pure
concept of the understanding, a concept which ex-
presses universally and adequately the formal objective
condition of experience. Eant. — Pure conversion, in
logiCf simple conversion. See conversion,2. — Pure cul-
ture, enunciation, equation, forest. See the nouns.—
Pure ethics, the science of the necessary moral laws of a
free will. — Pure harmony. See harmony, 2 (<«).— Pure
hyperbola a hyperbola without cusp, node, or acnode. —
Pure intellect. See intelieet, 1.— Pure interval or in-
tonation, in music, an interval or intonation mathemati-
cally correct: opposed to tempered interval or inUmatum.
— Pure Intuition, the pure form of sensibility, not de-
rived from experience, and virtually preceding all actual
intuition ; pure space and time. — Pure Imowledge (NL.
cogniUo pura), Imowledge unmixed with any sensuous
element ; with the Cartesians and Leibnitzlans, that know-
ledge in which there is no mixture of sensible images, it
being purely intellectual. Using the term intellect less
precisely than the Aristotelians, tlie Cartesians found it ne-
cessary to employ, in ordinary, for the sake of discrimina-
tion, the expression pure intellect (L. inteHectus purus) in
contrast to sense and imagination. This phrase was, how-
ever, borrowed from the schools, who again borrowed Hi
through the medium of St. Augustine, from the Plato-
nists. Sir W. Hamilton, Beid, note A, § 5, Supplemen-
tary Dissertations.— Pure logic, (a) See logic. (6) Logic
based solely on a priori principles ; a canon of the under-
standing and of the reason in reference to the formal ele-
ment. ^an«.— Pure mathematics. See mathematics.
— Pure natural science, the science of the a priori laws
of nature, such as "substance is permanent," and "every
event is completely determined by causes. " Kant.— Pure
Obligation, in Scots law. See obligation.— tiae power.
See poweri.— Pure proof, an a priori proof, drawing no-
thing from experience.— Pure propoSltiont,a non-modal
proposition in which the predicate is applied to the sub-
ject without qualification.— Pure reason. See reasonK
Pure representation, a representation which con-
tains no matter of experience. JTon*.— Pure scarlet. See
scarlet. — Pure syllogism, in the scholastie logic, a non-
modal syllogism composed of pure propositions ; in the
Kantian logic, one which involves no immediate inference ;
dfceot syllogism.— Pure sjmthesia, one whose manifold
is given a priori. Eant. — Pure truth, absolutely a priori
truth.—Pure Villeinage. Seemlleinage.—Tbepvae ego.
See ego. = Syn. 7. Uncorrupted, incorrupt, unsullied, un-
tainted, untarnished, unstained, clean, fair, unspotted, un-
polluted, undeflled, immaculate, guiltless, holy.
II. n. 1. Purity. [Bare.]
Here are snakes within the grass ;
And you methinks, O Vivien, save ye fear
The monldsh manhood, and the mask otpure
Worn by this court, can stir them till they sting.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
pnrfle
2. In tanning, a bate of dog's dung, used for
counteracting the action of the Ume on the
skins in the process of unhairing.
There are about 30 tanyards, large and small, in Ber-
mondsey, and these all have their regular Pure collectors
from whom they obtain the article.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, IL 168.
pure (piir), adv. [< ME. pure, pur, < OF. pur
(in the phrase a pur, purely, absolutely), = Pr.
pur, quite, = It. pure, pur, however, neverthe-
less, though, < L. pure, purely, plainly, simply,
unconditionally, absolutely, < purus, pure, sim-
ple, unconditional: see pure, a. This adverb
exists unrecognieed iapurilind.^ Quite ; very ;
absolutely; perfectly. [Now only prov. Eng.]
14'atheless there is gode Londe in sum place ; but it is
pure litille, as men seyn. Mandeville, Travels, p. 130.
Godes pyne and bus passion is pure selde in my thouhte.
Piers Plowman (C), viii. 20.
His countess, a bouncing kind of lady-mayoress, looks
pure awkward amongst so much good company.
Valpole, Letters, IL 297.
pure (piir)i ^- *• ; pret. and pp. pured, ppr. pur-
ing. [< ME. puren, < OP. purer, < LL. purare,
make pure, purify (by religious rites), < L. pu-
rus, pure : see pure, a.] 1 . To purify ; cleanse ;
refine.
Alias ! that I bihighte
Ot pured gold a thousand pound of wighte
Unto this philovphre.
Chaucer, Franklin's Tale, L 832.
If we had their peace and good will
To myne and fine, and metal for to pure.
In Wilde Irish might we flnde the cure.
BakluyVs Voyages, I. 199.
If you be unclean, mistress, you may pure yourself.
Middletcn, Family of Love, iii. 3.
Specifically — 2. In tanning, to cleanse with a
bate of dog's dung.
They [calf-skins] are then unhaired and fleshed In the
usual manner, pured with a bate of dog's dung.
Workshop Receipts, 2d ser., p. 366.
pur6e (pfi-ra'), n. [P., a thick soup or porridge
prepared from vegetables : see porrey.] A kind
of broth or soup consisting of meat, fish, or
vegetables boiled to a pulp, and passed through
a sieve. The ordinary pea-soup is a familiar
example.
purely (pur'li), adv. [< ME. purely, pureliche,
purli; <pure + -lyK] 1. Without admixture
or blemish; in such a way or to such a degree
as to be free from anything that is heterogene-
ous or tends to impair. — 2. Entirely; wholly;
completely; thoroughly; absolutely; quite:
as, the whole thing y^as purely accidental.
Neuer-more for no man mowe be deliuered,
Ne pult out [of] prison but purli thourh gour help.
William of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4219.
And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge
away thy dross, and take away all thy tin. Isa. i. 26.
■ With these powers were combined others of a purely ju
dicial character. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 9.
3. Very; wonderfully; remarkably: ajS,2}urely
well. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Purely jealous I would have her.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, IL 1.
He is purely happy, because he knowes no euill, nor
hath made meanes by sinne to bee acquainted with mis-
ery. Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Childe.
4. Innocently; without guilt or sin ; chastely.
purely (piir'li), a. [An elliptical use ot purely,
adv.] Very or wonderfully well; having good
health. [Prov. Eng.]
So, Mr. Keynolds, if the ladies' prayers are of any avail,
you ought to be purely.
Miss EdgewortTi, Absentee, xvi. (Davies.)
"Lawka'massey, Mr. Benjamin," cries a stout motherly
woman in a red cloak, as they enter the field, "be that
you? Well I never ! you do look purely."
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Kngby, i. 2.
pureness (piir'nes), n. The state or quality of
being pure; purity, (a) An unmixed state; separa-
tion or freedom from any heterogeneous or foreign m atter :
as, the pureness of water or other liquor ; the pureness of a
metal; the pureness of air. (6) Freedom from improper
words, phrases, or modes ot speech : as, pureness ol style,
(c) Freedom from moral turpitude or guilt ; moral clean-
ness; innocence.
He was all pureness, and his outward part
But represents the picture of his heart.
Cowley, Death of John Littleton.
purfilet, "• and n. An obsolete form of purfle.
purfle (per'fl), v.; pret. and -pp. purfled, ppr.
purfling. [Early mod. E. a]ao pur file, powrjlll ;
< i£IE^.purfilen,pwfylen, < OV.pou/rfiler,porfiler,
'F.pourfiUr, also parfiler = lt.profilare, embroi-
der, border, < L. pro, before, + filum, thread :
see^ro- and file^, and ci. profile, from the same
ult. source. Hence, by eontr.,pMrt3.] I. trans.
1. To ornament or decorate with a wrought or
flowered border; border. Specifically— (a) To em-
broider on the edge or margin.
piirfle
Hue was purfild' -with peloure non purere In erthe,
And coroned with a corone the kynge hath no betere.
Piers Plowman (C), iii. 10.
A goodly lady clad in scarlot red,
Purfled with gold and pearle of rich assay.
Spemer, F. Q., I. il. 13.
After they have wash'd the Body . . . they put it on a
Flannel Shirt, which has commonly a Sleeve rmrJUd about
the Wrists.
Quoted in AsMon's Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne,
[I. 64.
The unburnt end o' the very candle, Sirs,
Purfled with paint so prettily round and round,
He carried in such state last Peter's day.
JBrmming, Ring and Book, I. 211.
And on his brows a purfled purple hood.
SvnnburTie, St, Dorothy.
(6) To edge with fur. (c) To line with fur : as, a mantling
purfled and bordered vair. (d) In her., to decorate with
gold mountings, such as the studs or bosses in armor, as
in the phrase "a leg in armor proper, purfled or.*' (e)
In arch., to decorate richly, as with sculpture.
To this chest [shrine] the goldsmith, whose work it al-
ways was, gave an architectural form : it had its flying but-
tresses, its windows filled in with tracery, its pinnacles
ribbed with crockets as light and thin and crispy as leaves
upon a bough, and its tall crest purfled with knobs of
sparkling jewels to run along the ridge of its steeply-
pitched roof. Hock, Church of our Fathers, III. i. 390,
(/) In viol-tnaking, to decorate (the edges of the body of
an instrument) with a wavy inlay of valuable wood.
2. To mark or draw in profile.
She [the daughter of Dibutades] used ordinarily to marke
upon the wall the shadow of her lover's face by candle
light, and to pourflll the same afterward deeper, that so
shee might enjoy his visage yet in his absence.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xxxv. 12.
II. intrans. To hem a border".
purfle (per'fl), n. [Early mod. E. purfyll, pur-
ful (alsopurjlew) ; < ME.purfyle,purfoyl,porfil,
porfyl; from the verb.] A decorated or wrought
border; a border of embroidered work.
Of precios perle in pffrfyl pygte.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), i. 216.
He preisede Pemel hlrepor/fZ to leue.
And kepen hit in hire cofre for catel at neode.
Piers Plowman (A), v. 26.
Hany a riche stone
Was set on the purfles, out of doute,
Of colers, sieves and traines round aboute.
Flower and Leaf, 1. 146.
Specifically, in her., a border of one of the furs : not com-
mon, for a border purfle ermine means no more than a
border ermine. An attempt has been made to discrimi-
nate the number of rows of the bells of the fur by the
terms purfled, counter-purfled, and vair, for one, two, and
three rows. It is not usual.
purflewt, ». Same as purfle.
pnrfling (p6r'fling), n. [Verbal n. of purfle, v."]
An ornamental border, generally composed of
ebony and maple or sycamore, inlaid in the
edges of violins and similar instruments,
purfly (per'fli), a. [<jjMr/e + -lyi.] Wrinkled;
seamed : as, a large, purfly, flabby man. Car-
lyle, in Froude.
purgamentt (p6r'ga^ment), n. [= It. purga-
mento, < L. purgamentum, what is swept or
washed off, offsoonrings^ (.purgare, cleajase : see
2>urge.'] 1. A cathartic; a purge. — 3. That
which is excreted from anything ; excretion.
The humours . . . are commonly passed over in anato-
mies &a purga/ments.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 195.
purgation (p6r-ga'shon), n. [< ME. purgacion,
< OF. purgation, F. purgation = Pr. Sp. purga-
cion = Pg. purgagao = It. purgazione, < L. pur-
gatio{n-), a cleansing, < purgare, pp. purgatus,
cleanse: see purge.^ 1. The act of purging;
clearing, cleansing, or purifying by separating
and carrying away impurities or whatever is
extraneous or superfluous; purification; spe-
cifically, evacuation of the intestines by purga-
tives.
Or that haue studied Phisicke so longe that he or they
can glue his Masters purse a Purgacion, or his Chist,
shoppe, and Countinghouse a strong vomit.
Batees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 241.
Let the physician apply himself more to purgation than
to alteration, because the oif ence is in quantity. Bacon.
We do not suppose the separation . . . finished before
the purgation of the air began,
T. Burnet, Theory of the Earth,
2. The act of cleansing from the imputation of
guilt ; specifically, in old law, the clearing of
one's self from a crime of which one has been
publicly suspected and accused, it was either
canonical (that is, prescribed by the canon law, the form
whereof used in the spiritual court was that the person
suspected took his oath that he was clear of the facts ob-
jected against him, and brought his honest neighbors with
him to make oath that they believed he swore truly) or
vulgar (that is, by fire or water ordeal, or by combat).
See ordidl.
She was always an honest, civil woman ; her neighbours
would have gone on her purgation a great way.
Latimer, 5th Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1649,
4854 purge
The inquisitors bad a discretion to allow the accused to
make the canonical purgation by oath instead of undergo-
ing corporal torture, but the rule which allows this to be
done at the same time discountenances it as fallacious,
Encyc. Brit, ZXIII. 463.
purgative (pfer'ga-tiv), a. and n. [< F. purga-
Uf =Vt. purgatiu = Sp. Pg. It. pv/rgativo,<. LL.
purgativus, cleansing, cathartic, < L. purgare,
pp- purgatus, cleanse: see purge."] l. a. 1.
Having the power of cleansing; usually, hav-
ing the power of evacuating the intestines;
cathartic.
Purging medicines . , . have their purgative virtue in
a fine spirit. Bacon, Kat. Hist., § 20.
They had not yet analysed these purgative waters, and
consequently "Epsom salts" were unknown, so that peo-
ple, did they wish for them, must either go to Epsom or
buy the water in London.
Ashion, Social Life in Keign of Queen Anne, II. 113.
2. Having the property, as judicial torture in
some eases, of invalidating the evidence against
an accused person, when he, under torture,
satisfactorily answered the questions of the
judges.
II. n. A medicine that evacuates the intes-
tines, producing more or less abundant and / , .n ^ j
watery stools.-cholagogue purgative, a purgative P^^ge. (P^rj), «.; pret. and pp. purged, m
which increases the flow of bUe into the intesfine,-Dras- pvrgmg.^ iS*"^ ???t ^- *^®° POUjye ;^ < M.
tic purgative, a violent purgative,— Hydragogue pur- ' """ - ■■ " - ,„ „ „
gative, a purgative causing profuse watery stools, — Lax-
ative purgative, a gentle purgative.
purgatively (p6r'ga^tiv-li), adv. In a purgative
manner; cleansingly; cathartically.
purgatorial (pfer-ga-tq'ri-al), a. [< purgatory rete^|e7eousrforei|n"OTSupTr¥uoVs° cleanse;
+ -al.] Of or pertaining to purgatory ; expia- clean, or clean out.
Nowe purge upp broke and diche.
PiUladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p., 190.
The people doe eftsoones adde their owne industiy to
dense and purge them [the streets],
Coryat, Crudities, I. 213.
The best-known localities bearing the name oi purgato-
ries are those at Sutton and Great Barrington, Mass., and
there is one on the sea-shore at Newport, R. I,
J. D. Whitney, Names and Places, p. 160.
Purgatory hammert, one of the ancient and prehistoric
perforated axes found in Scotland. This implement was
so named as being supposed to have been buried with its
owner in order that he might have the wherewithal "to
thunder at the gates of Purgatory till the heavenly janitor
appeared" (Wilson, Prehist. Ann. of Scotland, 1. 191).
As we find the little flint arrow-head associated with
Scottish folk-lore as the Elfin's bolt, so the stone hammer
' of the same period was adapted to the creed of the middle
ages. The name by which it was popularly known in
Scotland almost till the close of last century was that of
the Purgatory Hwmmer.
WUson, Arch, and Prehist. Ann. of Scotland, p. 136.
St. Patrick's Purgatory, a cavern in an island in Lough
Derg, county Donegal, Ireland, to which pilgrimages are
made, where Christ is said to have appeared to St. Pat-
rick and showed him a deep pit, telling him that wlioever
remained in it a day and a night should be purified from
his Bins and behold both the torments of the damned
and the joys of the blessed. A person of the name of
Owen is said to have done this in the above cavern, for-
merly also called Owen's cave.
He satte, all heavie and glommyng, as if he had come
lately from' Troponius' cave, or Saint Patrick's purgatory.
Erasmus, Praise of Folic, sig. A. (kares.)
pr.
_ _ . 'E.
purgen,< OF. (and F.)j)urger = Pr. Sp. Pg.
pur gar = It. purgare, < L. purgare, make pure,
cleanse, < purus, clean, pure, + agere, make,
do.] I. trans. 1. To cleanse or purify by sep-
arating and carrying off whatever is impure,
tory.
The sculptured dead on each side seem to freeze,
Emprison'd in black, purgatorial rails.
Keats, Eve of St, Agnes, ii.
The idea of purgatorial suffering, which hardly seems
to have entered the minds of the lower races, expands in
immense vigour in the great Aiyan religions of Asia.
E. B. Tylor, Prim. Culture, II, 88.
pnrgatorian (p6r-ga-t6'ri-an), a. and n. [<
purgatory + -an."] 1. a. ^w^^&% purgatorial.
The delusions of purgatory, with all the apparitions of
purgatmian ghosts.
J. Mede, Apoataoy of Latter Times (1641), p. 45.
II. n. A believer in purgatory.
Boswell. We see in Scripture that Dives still retained an
anxious concern about his brethren.
Johnson. Why, sir, we must either suppose that passage
to be metaphorical, or hold, with many divines and all
Purgatorians, that departed souls do not all at once ar-
rive at the utmost perfection of which they are capable.
Boswell, Life of Johnson, iii, 193. (JDaviss.)
purgatorious (p6r-ga-t6'ri-us), a. [< li. pur-
gatorius, cleansing: "see purgatory."] Having
the nature of or connected with purgatory.
Purgatorious and superstitious uses.
MUton, Touching Hirelings,
purga/tory (pfer'ga-to-ri), a. and n. [< ME.
purgatorye, pwrcdior'ye, purcatorie, n., = F.pur-
gatoire = Pr. purgatori, porguatori = Sp. Pg.
It. purgatorio, <liL.purgatoriu^, cleansing, pur-
gative (Mil. jmrgatorium, neut., a place of pur-
gation, purgatory, also a wash-house, laundry),
<Jj. purgare, -p-p. pwrgatus, cleanse: seepurge.]
1. a. Tending to cleanse; cleansing; expiatory.
This purgatory interval is not unfavourable to a faithless
representative, who may be as good a canvasser as he was
a bad governor. Burke, Rev. in France.
II. «. ; p\. purgatories (-liz). 1. In the belief
of Roman Catholics and others, a place of pur-
gation in which the souls of those dying peni-
tent are purified from venial sins, or undergo
tne temporal punishment which, after the guilt
of mortal sin has been remitted, stUl remains to
be endured by the sinner. It is not considered as a
place of probation ; for the ultimate salvation of those in
purgatory is assured, and the impenitent ai-e not received
into purgatory. The souls in purgatory are supposed, how-
ever, to receive relief through the prayers of the faithful
and through the sacrifice of the mass. The common be-
lief in the Latin Church is that the purgatorial suffering is
by fire ; the Greek Church, however, does not determine
its nature.
A robbere had remission rathere thanne thei alle,
Withoute penaunce of purcatorie to haue paradls for euere.
Piers Plowman (A.), xi. 278.
How many men have been miserably afilicted by this
Action of purgatory ! Burton, Anat. of MeL , p. 609.
2. Any place or state of temporary suffering
or oblivion.
Nor have we yet quite purg'd the Christian Land ;
Still Idols here, like Calves at Bethel, stand.
Cowley, Death of Crashaw.
Thy chill persistent rain has purged our streets
Of gossipry. Browning, Ring and Book, II. 177.
2. To remove by some cleansing or purifying
process or operation ; clear or wash away: often
followed by away and off.
Purge away our sins, for thy name's sake. Ps. Ixxlx. 9.
I am thy father's spirit,
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the.night.
And for the day confined to fast in fires.
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away, Shak., Hamlet, i. 5. 13.
The ethereal mould.
Incapable of stain, would soon expel
Her mischief, and purge of the baser fire,
Victorious. Milton, P. L,, il. 141.
National corruptions were to be purged by national ca-
lamities. GoldemUh, Bolingbroke.
3. To clear from moral defilement or guilt: in
this and next sense often followed by of ov from.
My heart is purged from grudging hate.
Shak., Rich. III., ii. 1. 9.
4. To clear from accusation of a crime, as by or-
deal, or from charge of contempt, as by oath
showing that there was no wrong intent; free
from taint or suspicion of crime.
He [Richard III,] sent to the Queen, being still in Sanc-
tuary, divers Messengers, who should first excuse &nipurge
hhno/ all Things formerly attempted and done agalnsther.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 231.
As usual, the first charge gave rise to a large number of
informations. Thomas Mowbray, the earl-marshal, was
unable to deny that he had some inkling of the plot, and
archbishop Arundel had to purge himself /rom a like sus-
picion. Stubhs, Const. Hist., S 312.
5. To clarify ; defecate, as liquors. — 6. To op-
erate on by or as by means of a cathartic.
He purged him with salt water. Ariuthnot.
7t. To void.
The satirical rogue says . . . that old men have grey
beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging
thick amber and plum-tree gum. Shak. , Hamlet, li. 2. 200.
8t. To trim.
Care the ground well, dresse the vines, purge the trees,,
and alway haue memorie of the Goddesse Ceres.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1677), p. 73.
Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth [in the re-
vised version eleanseth] it, that it may brtog forth more
fruit. John XT. 2.
_ II. intrans. 1. To become pure by clarifica-
tion.— 2. To take a purge; produce evacuations,
from the intestines by means of a cathartic.
I'll purge, and leave sack, and live cleanly, as a nobleman
should do. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., v. 4. 168.
3. To be cleansed or purified by the escape of
steeply mclined walls of rock. ^ [KewEng, pS^^^T ^^f/^^J;!?- !!T»fi
purging; purgation.
Any subject that was not to their palat they either con-
demn'd in a prohibition, or had it straight into the new
Purgatory of an Index. Miltm, Areopagitica, p. 10.
3. A gorge or cleft between perpendicular or
It is nearly the same as flume (used as a topographicsd
word), except that localitieB called /mn«< in New England
always have a stream of water running through them,
which the purgatories have not.
The preparative for the purge of paganism out of the
kingdoms of Northumberland. FuUer
purge
2. Anything that purges; speoifloaUy, a medi-
®'SSB*'*,S^^''"?'*®^ *^^ intestines; a cathartic,
^^^r Mh^JT'nVt^'^- **!■' " '<«-=iMe reduction, De.
cember eth 1648, ol the membership of the Long Parlia,
S.13^ tSf" •*" ,^'.*^°°S' "■"*» the command of ColSnS
SM?ar^!,1t^le's"X TSSe^' S^'eS PUTiflcatory (pu'ri-fl-ka-to-ri), a. and »., [= F
mCTubCTr" ^ '''^ ■'*""'■''' *"'* consisted of about 60 to 80
4855
brant's fingers and mouth and the holy vessels
after the ablutions. Before celebration and untU the
offertory, and after celebration, it covers the chalice, and
the paten rests on it covered by the pall and veU. Also
called mundatory.
purge-cock (perj'kok), n. A purging-cock.
When it becomes necessary to empty the receiver use is
made of a purge-cock. Sei. Amer. Supp., p. 8897,
purger (pfer'jer), n. [< purge + -ej-i.] 1
person or thing that purges or cleanses.
We shaU be can'd purgers, and not murderers.
^ „^ , ^ SiMk., J. C, il. 1. 180.
raith is a great purger and purifier of the soul.
„ . ^, , . •^«'' ^mor. Works (ed. 18S5), II. 22.
2. A cathartic.
puriflcatoire = Sp. Pg. purificatorio = It. puri-
ficatojo, n., < LL. puriftcaioriiis, cleansing, <
L. purificare, pp. purificatus, make clean: see
purify.2 I. a. Purlfieative. Johnson.
II. H. Same a,s purificator.
A purifier (pu'ri-fi-6r), II. 1. One who or that
which purifies or cleanses; a cleanser; a re-
finer; specifically, a purificator.
He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.
Mai. iii. 3.
2. In mining, an apparatus for separating bran-
scales and flour from grits or middlings.
If. ia of ffonrt nsn in T>t,™io « . - ^,. . scales anu. nour rrom grits or miaaungs.— Dry-
purgery(p6r'jer-i),m.;pl._pi«rffmes(-iz). r=p' V^s,+ forma,toTm.-] Pus-like; resembling pus.
purgerie; &spurge + -ery.:i The part of a sugar- P^^^y^.P^ ";5)i£;! pret. andpp.j)«n^d, ppr.
,. u-..-f,_" .J J.. i- . ""icisugd,! purifying. 1<ME. puryfyen,<. OF. purifier, F.
furifier = Sp. Pg. purificar = It. purificare, <
. j^wrj^core, make clean or pure,<j)ttrj<s, clean,
, - - - _ „^ jT 1 sugar-
house where the sugar from the coolers is placed
in hogsheads or in cones, and allowed to draia
off its molasses or imperfectly crystallized cane-
juice. E. H. Knight.
purging (per'jing), n. [Verbal n. oi purge, «.]
1. Any purifying process.— 2. A diarrhea or
dysentery ; looseness of the bowels.
purging-agaric (pfer'jing-ag'a-rik), n. The
white or " female " agaric, Polyporus officinalis,
a fungus growing upon the larch of the Old
World. It is more or less employed in Europe
as a cathartic.
purging-cassia (per'jing-kash'ia), n. The
plant Cassia fistula, or its fruit. See Cassia.
purging-cock (per'jiag-kok), n. The mud-cock
or discharge-valve of a steam-boiler. E. H.
Knight.
purging-flax (pfer'jing-flaks), n. An Old World
plant, Linum catharticum, a decoction of which
ia used as a cathartic and diuretic.
purging-nut (per'jing-nut), n. See Jatropha.
purification (pu"ri-fi-ka'shon), n. [< F. puri-
fication = Sp. purificadon = Pg. pvrificagao =
It. purifioazione, < li.purificatio{n-), a purifying,
< purificare, pp. purificatus, make clean: see
purify.'] 1. The act of purifying; the act of
freeing from impurities, or from whatever is _ . . _, . .
heterogeneous or foreign: as, the purification Purim (pu rm), n.
pure, + /acere, make.] I. trails. 1. To make
pure or clear; free from contamination or ex-
traneous admixture : as, to purify liquors or
metals; to purify the blood; to purify the air.
— 2. To make ceremonially clean ; cleanse or
free from whatever pollutes or renders cere-
monially unclean and unfit for sacred service.
Whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath
touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives
on the third day, and on the seventh day. Num. xxxL 19.
3. To free from guilt, or the defilement of sin ;
free from whatever is sinful, vile, or base.
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from
all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works. Tit. ii. 14.
Thy soul from all guilt will we purify.
And sure no heavy curse shall lie on thee.
Wmiam Morris, Barthly Paradise, III. 93.
4. To elevate and free from barbarisms or in-
elegances: as, to purify a language.
II. intrans. To grow or become pure or clear.
We do not suppose the separation of these two liquors
wholly finished before the purgation of the air began,
though let them begin to purify at the same time.
T. Burnet, Theory of the Earth.
[Heb.] An annual festi-.
' of liquors or of metals. — 2. The act or process
of cleansing ceremonially ; a ritual observance
by which the person or thing subjected to it is
cleansed from a ceremonial uncleanness, as a
symbol of a spiritual cleansing. Ceremonial puri-
fication by washing or by other means was common to the
Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and other peoples, and is still
practised by the Mohammedans, Greeks, and Roman Cath- ..... -/ -\
olics, as well as by Hindus and other Orientals. In the puriri ^^-ve Vfi), ?J,
val observed by the Jews on the 14th and ISth"
of the month Adar (about the 1st of March).
It is preceded by the Fast of Esther on the 13th. These
three days commemorate the deliverance of the Jews by
Esther from the massacre planned by Haman, as related
in the book of Esther.
Jewish ceremonial law the use of water was essential to
purification, and it was often accompanied by sacrifices.
The purifications of the Mosaic law fall under several
heads, among which are those for. defilement arising
from secretions, those for leprosy, those for pollution from
Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name
of Pur. Esther ix. 26.
PMaori.] A New Zealand
tree, Vitex Uttoralis, 50 or 60 feet high, with
robust spreading branches, it yields a very hard,
heavy, and durable timber, of a brown color, in short
lengths, often curved, suitable for ships' frames and
many other purposes.
1.UUJ .icxxsKiuii,:, w.uoo ..ji .>.i,i™j, uuuo.. >»^^»..u.,..ju "v"" mauy omer purposes.
corpses, and ttose for defilement from eatmg the flesh of purism (pur'izm), n. [= F. purisme = Sp. Pg,
certain animals.
3. A cleansing of the soul from guilt; the ex-
tinguishment of evil desire as something which
does not belong to the children of God.
Water is the symbol otpuritication of the soul from sin.
Jer. Taylor, Worthy Communicant, i. § 3.
4. In the Roman Catholic and Anglican
ehurches, the pouring of wine into the chalice
to rinse it after communion, the wine being
then drunk by the priest Purification of St.
Mary the Virgin, a feast observed in the Roman Catho-
lic and some other liturgical churches on February 2d, in
It. purismo ; a.spure + ■ism.'] The exclusion of
admixtuie of any kind ; the affectation of rigid
purity, as. in language, style, etc. ; specifically,
excessive nicety as to the choice of words.
The English language, however, it may be observed, had
even already become too thoroughly and essentially a
mixed tongue for this doctrine of purism to be admitted
to the letter. Cra'Oc, Hist. Eng. Lit, I. 419.
Orthographic purism is of all kinds of puHsm the low-
est and the cheapest, as is verbal criticism of aU kinds of
criticism, and word-faith of all kinds of orthodoxy.
Whitney, Linguistic Studies, 2d ser., p. 192.
pulously at purity, particularly in the choice
of language ; one who is a rigorous critic of
purity in literary style.
He [Fox] was so nervously apprehensive of sliding into
some colloquial incorrectness . . . that he ran into the
opposite error, and purified his vocabulary with a scrupu-
losity unknown to any puriiA.
Maca/utay, Sir James Mackintosh.
2. One who maintains that the New Testament
was written in pure Greek. M.Stuart. [Kare.]
tcMmi of Christ in the Temple, and PurificaMon of Our Lady.
Tewysday, the ij Day of Februarii, that was the Purifl-
eacon of our lady, the wynde made well for us.
Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travel!, p. 61.
purification-flower (pu'''ri-fi-ka'shon-flou'''er),
n. The European snowdrop, Galanihvs nivalis,
which blossoms at about the time of the feast
of the Purification, when maidens in white for-
merly walked in procession. Compare fair-
maids-of -February. -., _, . , . = ^
purificative (pu'ri-fl-ka-tiv), a. [< F. purifi- puristic (pu-ns'tik), a. [< punst + -ic] Per-
catif = Ft. purifieatiu '= It. purificative, < L. taining or relating to punsm; characteristic of
purificare, pp. purificatus, Tpuiify, make elean: a purist. Maurice.
aee purify.] Having power to purify; tending puristical (pu-ris'ti-kal), a. [_< purisUc + -ah]
to cleanse. Johnson. Same a,a purisUc.
purificator (pu'i-i-fi-ka-tor), «. lAlso purifica- puritan (pu'n-tan), n. and a. [Irreg. < L.
ton/; < ML. purificatorium, < L. purificare, pp. purita{t-)s, punty, + -an. The F. Puritam and
pmificatus, make clean: see purify.] In the Sp. Pg. It. Puritano are from B. The noun
Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, a cloth precedes the adj. in use.] I. n. I. One who is
or napkin used to wipe the chalice before the very strict and serious in his religious life, or
mixture (krasis) and oblation, and the cele- who pretends to great purity of life: first used
purity
about 1564, and applied to certain Anabaptists :
frequently a term of contempt.
About that tyme were many congregations of the Ana-
baptysts in London, who cawlyd themselves Puritans or
Unspotted Lambs of the Lord.
Stow, Memoranda (Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles,
[Camden Soc, p. 143).
She would make a puritan of the devil, if he should
cheapen a kiss of her. Shak., Pericles, iv. 6. 9.
2. leap.] One of a class of Protestants which
arose in England in the sixteenth century. The
Puritans maintained a strict Calvinism in doctrine, and
demanded, in opposition to those who desired a reform of
the church service, the substitution of one from which
should be banished all resemblance whatever to the forms
of the Soman Catholic Church. Large numbers of them
were found both in and out of the Church of England,
and various i:epressive measures were directed against
them by the sovereigns and by the prelates Parker, Whit-
gift, Bancroft, Laud, and others. In the reign of Charles I.
the Puritans developed into a political party and gradu-
ally gained the ascendancy, butlostiton Cromwell's death,
and after the Restoration ceased to be prominent in liis-
tory. During their early struggles inany of them emi-
grated to New England, especially to the Massachusetts
Bay Colony. One band of Puritans who separated en-
tkely from the Church were cidled Separatists or Broum-
ists, and from them came the founders of the Plymouth
Colony, often called PUgrim Fathers or Pilgrims.
Now as solemn as a traveller, and as grave as a Puritan's
ruff. Marston, Antonio and Mellida, I., Ind.
From that time followed nothing but Imprisonments,
troubles, disgraces on all those that found fault with the
Decrees of the Convocation, and strait were they branded
with the Name of PurOam.
Milton, Reformation in Eng., i.
The extreme Puritan was at once known from other
men by his gai^ his garb, his lank hair, the sour solem-
nity of his face, the upturned white of his eyes, the nasal
twang with which he spoke, and above all by his peculiar
dialect. Macaulay.
=Syn. Puritan, Pilgrim. Careful distinction should be
made between the Pilgrims or Pilgrim Fathers, who set-
tled at Plymouth in 1620, and the Puritans, who in 1628-SO
founded the colony of Massachusetts Bay at Salem and
Boston.
II. a. \^cap.] Of , pertaining to, or character-
istic of the Puritans.
Hee 's gone ; 111 after him
And know his trespasse, seeme to beare a part
In all his ills, but with a PuritaTie heart.
Toumeur, Revenger's Tragedy, ii. 2.
Mr. Pyncheon's long residence abroad, and intercourse
with men of wit and fashion — courtiers, worldlings, and
free-thinkers — had done much toward obliterating the
grim Puritan superstitions which no man of New Eng-
land birth, at that early period, could entirely escape.
Hauithome, House of Seven Gables, xiii.
Gathering still, as he went, the May-fiowers blooming
around him ; . . .
"Puritan flowers," he said, "and the type of Puritan
maidens,
Modest and simple and sweet, the very type of Priscilla ! "
Longfellow, Miles Standish, iii.
= Syn. Puritan, Puritanic. Puritanic (or puritanieat) is
now generally used in a depreciative sense ; Pur^n in a
commendatory or a neutral sense.
puritanic (pii-ri-tan'ik), a. [< puritan + -ic]
1 . Pertaining to the Puritans or their doctrines
and practice. Hence — 2. Very scrupulous iu
religious matters ; exact ; rigid-: often used in
contempt or reproach.
Too dark a stole
Was o'er religion's decent features drawn
By puritanic zeal. W. Mason, English Garden, iv.
=Syil. See Puritan, a.
puritanical (pii-ri-tan'i-kal), a. [< puritanic
+ -al.] Same aspantomjc.
Wearing feathers in thy hair, whose length before the
vigorous edge of any puritanical pair of scissors should
shorten the breadth of a finger, let the three housewifely
spinsters of destiny rather curtail the thread of thy life.
Dekker, Gull's Hornbook, p. 83.
Puritanical and superstitious principles. /, Walton.
It is quite certain that Bunyan was, at eighteen, what,
in any but the most austerely puritanical circles, would
have been considered as a young man ol singular gravity
and innocence. Macaulay, Encyc. Brit., IV. 526.
puritanically (pfl-ri-tan'i-kal-i), adv. In ajiuri-
tanical manner ; with the exact or rigid notions
or manners of the Puritans.
Puritanism (pii'ri-tan-izm), n. [= F. purita-
nisme = Sp. Fg.puriianismo; a,spuritan + -ism.]
1. Strictness of religious life; puritanic strict-
ness in religious matters. — 2. The principles
and practices of the Puritans.
How resplendent and superb was the poetry that lay at
the heart of Puritanism was seen by the sightless eyes of
John Milton, whose great epic is indeed the epic of Puri-
tanism. M. C. Tyler, Hist. Amer. Lit., I. 266.
puritanize (pU'ri-tan-iz), w. i. ; pret. and pp. puri-
tanized, ppr. puriianizing. [< puritan + -ize.]
To conform to the opinions of Puritans ; affect
or teach puritanism.
(pii'ri-ti), n. [< ME. purete, < OF. pu^
pureie = Sp. puridad = Pg. puridade =
It.puritA,<IjIj.purita(t-)s, cleanness, pureness,
< Ij. purus, clean, pure : see pure.] The condi-
tion or quality of being pure, (a) Freedom from
purity
foreign admixture of heterogeneous matter : as, thepurity
of water, of wine, of spirit ; tbepurOy of drugs ; the injrifi/
of metals.
The pureti of the quinte esseneie schal be sublymed
aboue, and the groats schal abide bynethe In the botme.
£00* qf Quinte Esserux (ed. Furnivall), p. 5.
The slight touch of Ilenaissance In some of the capitals
of the palace in no sort takes away from the general minly
of the style. jE, A. Freeman, Venice, p. 257.
(6) Cleanness; freedom from foulness or dirt : as, thepu-
rity of a garment, (c) Jfreedom from guilt or the defile-
ment of sin ; innocence : as, purity of heart or life.
If we describe purity by reference to contrasts, then It
is a character opposite to all sin.
Bushnell, Sermons for New Life, p. 264.
(d) Freedom from lust, or moral contamination by illicit
sexual connection ; chastity.
So bold is Lust that she
Dares hope to And a Blot in Purity.
J. Beaumont, Psyche^ ii. 207.
(«) Freedom from sinister or improper views ; sincerity :
as, purity of motires or designs.
Princes have vouchsafed grace to trifles offered from a
purity of devotion. Ford, 'Tis Pity, Ded.
(/) Freedom from foreign idioms, or from barbarous or
improper words or phrases : as, purity of style or language.
After Ctesar and Cicero's Time, the Latin Tongue con-
tinned In Kome and Italy in her PuriUf 400 Years together.
Howell, Letters, ii. 58.
=Syn. (c) and (d) Immaculateness, guilelessness, honesty,
int^rity, virtue, modesty. (/) Purity, Propriety, Preci-
sion. As a quality of style, "Purity . . . relates to three
things, viz. the form of words [etymology], the construc-
tion of words in continuous discourse [syntax], and the
meaning of words and phrases [lexicography]." (A.
Phelps, Eng. Style, p. 9.) "Propriety . . . relates to the
signification of language as fixed by usage." (A. Phelps,
Eng. Style, p. 79. ) " The offences against the usage of the
English language are . . . imj'rqpmtiefi, words or phrases
used in a sense not English." (A. S. Hill, Khet., p. 19.)
" An author's diction is pure when he uses such words only
as belong to the idiom of the language, in opposition tfl
words that are foreign, obsolete, newly coined, or without
proper authority. ... A violation of purity is called a
barbarism. . . . But another question arises. ... Is the
word used correctly in the sentence in which it occurs?
. . . A writer who fails in this respect offends against ^0-
priety. " (J. S. Hart, Comp. and Ehet. , pp. 68, 74. ) " Pre-
dsion includes all that is essential to the expression of no
more, no less, and no other than the meaning which the
writer purposes to express." (A. Phelpi, Eng. Style, p. 6.)
Parsons may be ranked among the earliest writers of our
vernacular diction in its purity and pristine vigor, with-
out ornament orpolish. l.D'Israeli, Amen, of Lit., II. 85.
In our own tongue we may err egregiously against pro-
priety, and consequently against purity, though all the
words we employ be English, and though they be con-
strued in the English idiom. The reason is evident : they
may be misapplied ; they may be employed as signs of
things to which use hath not affixed them. This fault
may be committed either in single words or in phrases.
(?. Campbell, Philosophy of Khetoric, II. iii. § 3.
Our verse . . . had become lax and trivia], and we
needed to be recalled to preei8i<m and moral vigor.
F. Oosse, From Shakespeare to Pope, p. 131.
Furkinjean (per-kin'je-an), a. [< Purhirye
(see def.) + -an.'] Pertaimng to or named af-
ter the Bohemian physiologist Purkinje (1787-
1869): as, the PMrfcin/eare vesicle, discovered by
him in 1825. See germinal vesicle, under germi-
nal.
Furkinje's cells. See cells of Pvrldrye, under
cell.
Furkinje's fibers. Large beaded and reticulat-
ed fibers found in the subendocardial tissue of
some animals, and occasionally in man.
Furkinje's figures. See figure.
Furkinje's vesicle. See germinal vesicle, under
purli (perl), V. i. [Formerly also pirl; < Sw.
porla, purl, bubble, as a stream; cf. D. horrelen,
bubble; a freq. form from the imitative base
seen in pirr and purr^. It is partly confused
with jjjri, prilP-, whirl.] To flow with a rippling
or murmuring sound, as a shallow stream over
or among stones or other obstructions; ripple
along in eddying and bubbling swirls.
From dry Eocks abundant Kivers piurl'd.
Sylvester, be. of Du Bartas's Weeks, 1. 3.
The brooks run purling down with silver waves.
Pamdlf Health.
Swift o'er the rolling pebbles, down the hills.
Louder and louder purl the falling rills.
Pope, Iliad, xxL 297.
See from the weedy earth a rivulet break.
And puH along the untrodden wilderness.
Bryant, The Path.
purU (p6rl), n. fPormerly alsopirl; ipurl^.v.]
1 . A continued murmuring sound, as of a shal-
low stream of water running over small stones :
as, the purl of a brook. — 2t. Amurmuring brook
or rippling stream of water.
A broket or plrle of water.
Leland'i Itinerary (1769), liL 182. (ffoStweS.)
purl2 (p6rl), V. [Formerly also pirl; < ME. pyr-
len, whirl, throw; atpurU.] I. intrans. 1. To
curl or swirl; move in rippling or eddying swirls.
4856
From his Ups did fly
Thin winding breath, which j>ur2'a up to the sky.
Shak., Luerece, 1. 1407.
A purling wind that files
Off from the shore each morning, driving up
The billows far to sea.
Chapman, Caesar and Pompey, it 1.
2. To upset; overturn; capsize. [Slang.] See
the quotation under II., 2.
II, trans. 1. To whirl about; cause to ro-
tate: as, the wind purls a snow-drift. — 2. To
upset; overturn; also, specifically, as a hunting
term, to unseat or unhorse. [Slang.]
They commonly paddle in companies of three; so then,
whenever one is purled the other two come on each side
of him, each takes a hand and with amazing skill and
delicacy they reseat him in his cocked hat, which never
sinks, ovly purls.
C. Seade, I^ever too Late, xxxviii. (Davies.)
3. To wind, as thread, upon a reel or spindle.
I pyrle wyre of golde or syluer, I wynde it vpon a whele
as sylke women do. Palsgrave. (Jamieson.)
pur 1^ (perl), M. l<purl^,v. Cjt.purU,n.'] 1.
A circle or curl made by the motion of water;
a ripple ; an eddy.
Whose stream an easie breath doth seem to blow,
Which on the sparkling gravel runs lu purlee.
As though the waves had been of silver curies.
Drayton, Mortimeriados, 1. 1596. {Richardson.)
So have I seen the little pwrls of a spring sweat through
the bottom of a bank, and intenerate the stubborn pave-
ment Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), L 849.
purl3 (p6rl), i;. *. \Caiiix. oi purfle.'] 1. To or-
nament with a decorative border of any sort ;
decorate with fringe or embroidery; purfle.
For all the copes and vestementes wer but pf one pece,
so wouen for the purpose, cloth of tissuo and pondered
with redde lo&e^ purled with fine gold.
Haa, Hen. Vm., an. 12.
Is thy skin whole? art thou not purVd with scabs?
Fletcher {and another). Sea Voyage, L 3.
2. To invert, as a stitch in knitting; turn over
and knit the other way ; seam.
puris (p6rl), n. [Contr. of purfle.] 1. A bor-
der of embroi-
dery or perhaps aiiiNk>|xf
of lace, or gold gxT/^P
lace or galloon.
Throughout the fif
teenth, sixteenth, ^u^an) MVII'
and seventeenth cen- V W 9 V
. turies the term is Embroidered Border, a, the purl,
in use, and evidently
with different significations, but always as an ornamental
adjunct, an edging or the like to a garment. Alsoi>ear2.
Himself came in next after a triumphant chariot made
of carnation velvet, enriched with purl and pearL
Sir P. Sidney.
How many puffs and purls lay in a miserable case for
want of stiffening [starch]!
Xiddleton, Father Hubbard's Tales.
My lord, one of the purls of your band is, without all
discipline, fallen out of his rank.
Masmiger and Field, Fatal Dowry, ii. 2.
2. A spiral of gold or silver wire, used in lace-
work. — 3. An inversion of the stitches in knit-
ting, which »ves to parts of the work an ap-
pearance different from the general surface,
such as the ribbed appearance of those parts
where great elasticity is required.— 4. A plait
or fold, as in an article of dress. — 5. In lace-
mahing, a kind of lace in common use in the
sixteenth century, and often of great value.
The term is used in the general sense as indicating the
fabric spoken of, and also as denoting a certain quantity
of it: as, so many shillings ike purl.
purl* (perl), n. [Appar. another spelling of
pearl, so called with ref . to the bubbles on the
surface, < pearl, v.] A drink, of which beer is
the principal ingredient, defined about 1815 as
hot beer mixed with gin: same as dog's-nose;
in later times, a stimulating mixture of beer,
gin, sugar, and ginger. It was, before coffee and
tea were used, commonly made to be drunk in the morn-
ing, and hence the liquor is called early purl.
Early in the morning I set my books ... in order.
Thence, forth to Mr. Harper's to drink a draft otpurle.
Pepys, Diary, Feb. 19, 1660.
My lord duke would have a double mug of purl.
Steele, Spectator, No. 88.
Mr. Swiveller . . . had by this time taken quite as much
to drink as promised to be good for his constitution {purl
being a rather strong and heady compound).
Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, Iviii.
Again, there was purl — early purl. Once there was a
club in the neighbourhood of Covent Garden which existed
for the purpose of arising betimes and drinking purl be-
fore breakfast. W. Besant, Fifty Tears Ago, p. 170.
purFt, V. A Middle English form of prowl.
Prompt. Pare., p. 417.
purl8(p6rI),TO. [Imitative, like pwrr*, etc.] The
common tern, or sea-swallow. [Norfolk, Eng.]
purleyf, n. An obsolete form of purlieu.
purloiuer
purl-goods (pSrl'gfidz), n.pl. English machine-
made lace.
The Purl-goodt ... in imitation of the hand-made
laces of France. Artisan's Report, p. 160.
purl-house (pferl'hous), n. A place where purl
is sold and drunk.
There were lower depths yet : there were \hepurl houses,
where "Tradesmen flock in their Morning gowns, by Sev-
en, to cool their Plucks." ,
J. Ashton, Social Life in Beign of Queen Anne, I. 234.
purlicue (per'li-kii), v. t. Same asparlecue.
purliet, n. An obsolete form of purlieu.
purlieu (pfer'M), n. [Formerly also purlue, pwr-
Iv/y; an altered form, simulating F. lieu, a place
(see lieu), of purUe, purly, purley, prop, land
which, having been part of a royal forest, has
been severed from it by perambulation or sur-
vey, < OF. pourallee,puralee, a going through or
about, perambulation, (.pour-, pur- (< L. pro-),
used for per-, par- (< L. per), through, + alee,
a going : see alley'^.'] If. Land added to a royal
forest by unlawful encroachment, but after-
ward disafforested, and restored to the former
owners, its bounds and extent being settled by
perambulation.
With all amercements due
To such as hunt in purley; this is something.
With mine own game reserved.
Randolph, Muses' Looking-glass, iv. 3.
As a purly hunter, I have hitherto beaten about the cir-
cuit of the forest of this microcosm.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 227.
Th' infernal Nimrod's halloo?
The \s,yi\eaa purlieus? and the game they follow? . . .
These purlieu men are devils ; and the hounds . . .
Temptations. Quarles, Emblems, ilL 9.
Land which had . . . been once forest land and was
afterwards disafforested was known as purlieu.
Erwyo. Brit., IX. 409.
2. pi. The borders or environs of any place ;
the outskirts; outlying places: as, the purlieus
of Paris.
Pray you, if you know.
Where in the purlieus of tliis forest stands
A sheep-cote fenced about with olive trees?
Shak., As you Like it, iv. 3. 77.
A party next of glittering dames.
From round the purlieus of St. James,
Came early. Sui(ft, Cadenus and Vanessa.
Fresh from brawling courts
And dusty purlieus of the law.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Ixxxix.
Purlieu men, in old forest law, men who had ground with-
in the border of a forest, and were licensed to hunt within
their own purlieus. Manwood, Forest Laws, xx. §8.
purlin, purline (per'lin), «. [Origin obscure.]
In carp., a piece of timber laid horizontally
upon the principal rafters of a roof to support
the common rafters on which the covering is
laid. Also called side timber or side waver.
See cut under roof.
purlin-post (p6r'lin-p6st), n. In carp., one of
the struts by which a purlin is supported to
prevent it from sagging.
purlman (perl'man), n.; pi. purlmen (-men). A
seller of the liquor called purl.
Thereisyet another class of itinerant dealers, . . . the
river beer-sellers, or purlmen as they are more commonly
called, itayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 107.
purloin (p6r-loin'), V. [< ME. pwrloynen, per-
loynen,pwlongen, < OF. purloigmer,porloignier,
prolong, retard, delay, < LL. prolongare, pro-
long: see ^jroZongr. Ct. eloin, eloign.] I, trans.
It. To put off; prolong; delay. Prompt. Parv.,
pp. 394, 417.— 2t. To set back or aside; put
away; remove.
Who that yonre perceptis pertely perUyned,
With drede in to dede schall ye diyfle hym.
York Plays, p. 271.
3. To remove, carry off, or take for one's self;
hence, to take by theft; filch; steal.
Vast Quantities of Stores did he
Embezzle and purloin.
Prior, The Viceroy, st. 25.
Your butler purloins your liquor, and the brewer sells
your hog-wash. Arbuthnot, Hist. John Bull.
If rigid honesty permit
That I for once purloin the wit
Of him, who, were we all to steal.
Is much too rich the theft to feel.
Churchill, Ghost, iv.
Perverts the Prophets and purloins the Psahns.
Byron, Eng. Bards and Scotch Reviewers.
A certain document of the last importance has been pur-
loined from the royal apartments.
Poe, Prose Tales, I. 204.
II. intram. To practise theft.
TSotpurloininfi, but shewing all good fidelity. Tit ii. 10.
purloiner (p6r-loi'ner), n. One who purloins;
a thief.
The only reason why these purloiners of the public cause
such a clutter to be made about their reputations.
Swi^, Examiner, No. 28.
purlong
purlongt, V. A Middle EngUshform ot purloin.
purlyt, n. An obsolete form otpv/rlieu 1
porpartt (pSr'part), n. Same as purparty.
- - - (of. JMXi. propars, perpars),
share of an estate, < por, pur « L. nro), for,
+ partie, part : see party!.'] In tow, an aUot^
ment ; the share or portion of an estate allotted
to a coparcener by partition.
Through which the grottnde by iwraartiM
Departed is in thre parties
That is Asie, Affrike, Europe.
Sower, Conf. Amant., viL
purpeysf , n. A Middle English form ot porpoise.
purple (p6r'pl), n. and a. [< UE.purpul, ear-
lier pwrpre, pourpre, also purpur, purpure, pur-
pour (of. AS. purpure, a purple garment, j)Mr-
puren, purple), < OP. porpre, pourpre, pouple,
pople, AF. also pwrpille, F. pourpre = Pr.
porpra, polpra = Sp. purpura = Pg. purpura
= It. porpora = D. jiMrper = MLG. purper,
purpur = OHG. purpura, MHG. purper, G.
purpur = Icel. jjMrpMn = 8w. Dan. purpur =
Goth, paurpaura, paurpwa, purple, < L. ijar-
j)wa, the purple-fish, purple dye, < Gr. izop-
^vpa, the purple-fish; of. izopfvpeoQ (later also
poet. 7,6p(^poi), purple, orig. applied to the
surging sea, dark, prob. redupl. of ^puv, Tni-x
up, mingle, confound, = L. furere, rage : see
fury. Cf . porphyry, from the same Gr. source.]
1. ». 1. A color formed by the mixture of blue
and red, including the violet of the spectrum
above wave-length 0.417 micron, which is near-
ly a violet-blue, and extending to but not in-
cluding crimson. The following coloivdisk formula
will serve to identify several purples. The red used is
the most intense procurable, so that mixed with 7 per
cent, of blue it gives a good carmine.
Red. Blue. Black. White.
Auricula purple 17 28 66 0
Dahlia purple 14 7 79 0
Heliotrope purple 25 2S 26 25
Indian purple 20 31 40 0
Magentia 67 33 0 0
Mauve 37 50 0 13
Plum purple 5 26 70 0
Pomegranate purple 60 10 40 0
Koyal purple 65 12 33 0
Solferino 83 17 0 0
Wine purple 60 17 33 0
Of the various colors called purple at any time, the
Tyrian dye (which was properly a crimson) was anciently
the most celebrated. This color was produced from an
animal juibe found in a shell-flsh called nmrex or eonehy-
lium by the ancients. See Purpura, 2.
Musidorus . . . had upon bim a long cloak . . . made
of purple satin ; not tbAt purple which we now have and
is but a counterfeit of the Getulian purple, which yet was
far the meaner in price and estimation, but of the tight
Tyiian purple, which was nearest to a colour betwixt our
murrey [a dark-reddish brown] and scarlet.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, v.
Great part of the colouring yet lemains upon the stones :
red, in all its shades, especially that dark dusky colour
called Tyviaa purple. Brme, Source of the Nile, 1. 105.
Purple is very seldom used in English heraldry. It is
nonsense, however, to say it is improper to use i^ as it is
quite good heraldry.
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 96, note 1.
2. A cloth robe, dress, or mantle of this hue,
formerly the distinguisriing dress of emperors,
kings, or princes : as, to wear the purpU.
" Hi ham clotheth," he gayth, "mid pourpre and mid
nayre robes." AyerMte of Irmyt (E. E. I. S.), p. 229.
The 3 thousand is clothed in Clothes of Silk, of Purpre,
or of Ynde. Mandemlle, Travels, p. 233.
How uneasy must the leather and frieze sit upon the
shoulder that used to shine with the purple and the er-
min ! South, Sermons, III. viii.
This spectacle of the discrowned queen with hex purple
in the dust, and her sceptre fallen from her hand, was one
that nearly broke his heart to see. Comhill Mag.
Hence — 3. Imperial or regal power; the ofBce
or dignity of an emperor or king.
And hurld him from the Scepter to the Spade ;
Tum'd him out of his purple, here to sweat
And hardly earne his meat before he eat.
Heywood, Dialogues (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 161).
That which raised him [Vespasian] to the purple, that
which suggested him to men s minds, was his military
eminence. J5« Quincey, Essenes, ii.
4. A cardinalate : so called in allusion to the
red or scarlet hat and robes worn officially by
cardinals.
The cardinal . . . is old and infirm, and could never be
induced to resign his pMiji's. ^, ,,.„., ^ ,„„
Addiion, Kemarks on Italy (ed. Bohn), I. 500.
Cardinal de Tencin . . . had been recommended to the
purple by the Chevalier de St. Georgf- „. . „
•^ -^ ' Smollett, Hist. Bug., 11. 8.
5t. A gastropod yielding a purple fluid for dye-
ing, as a murex. Holland, tr. of Pliny.— 6.
A shell of the genus Purpura.— 7. A purple
4857
fluid secreted by certain shell-fish, more folly
eailei purple of Molhisca. — 8. pi. See purples.
— Alizaiin purple, a shade of purple or lilac obtained
by treating fabrics with alizarin and sulphate ot iron.—
Aniline purple. Same as mauve.— Ethyl puiple, a
coal-tar color used in dyeing, being the hexa-ethyl-paxa-
rosai41ine producing the bluest shade of violet. — Field's
purple. Same as madder purple. — French purple, a
color obtained from archil, Roecella Unctoria, and used for
dyeing purples and mauves on silk and wool. — TnriiaTi
purple, an artists' pigment prepared by precipitating
cochineal-extract with copper sulphate. It is a deep-
toned purple which is apt to blacken on exposure to light,
and is now little used- — London purple, a residue from
the manufacture of aniline dyes, which consists of cal-
cium arsenite with some coloring matter. It is largely
used as an insecticide.
The supply of powder can be regulated to such a nicety
that Mr. liCggett claims he can make half a pound of Lon-
don purple cover an acre. Science, XIII. 394.
Madder purple, a very deep rich lake, of great body and
intensity, prepared from madder. The color, though not
brilliant, is transparent and durable. Also called purple
rubiate and Field's purple. — Mineral purple. Same as
Mare violet (which see, under violet). Also (^ed pur-
ple ocher. — Orchil puiple, a dye-color obtained from
several varieties of seaweed. It is very beautiful, but
not durable, and is little used since the introduction of
tar-colors. — Perkins's purple. Same as mauve. — Pur-
gle of Amorgos, a cfiebrated dye obtained from the
recian island Amorgos, believed to have been a kind ot
orchil.— Purple of CaSBlUB [namedtrom the Danish phy-
sician Andreas Cassiiue, died 167S], a compound oxid pre-
cipitated when solutions of the chlorids ot gold and tin
are mixed. It is a rich and powerful color, not bright but
very durable, and varies in hue from deep crimson to a
murrey or dark purple. Used mostly in miniature-paint-
ing.— Purple of MollUBCa, a viscid liquor secreted by
certain gastropods of the families Murieidee and Purpu-
ridse, as Purpura lapiUus, which dyes wool, etc, ot a pur-
ple color.— Begina purple, a coal-tar color used in dye-
ing, being the hydrochlorid of diphenyl rosaniline, pro-
ducing a dull violet shade.— Tyrian purple. See def. 1.
II. a. 1. Of a hue or color composed of red
and blue blended.
Feed him with apricocks and dewberries.
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries.
Shak., M. N. D., iii. 1. 170.
A purple lion was borne by the De Lacy family. Earls of
Lincoln, and is (accordingly) the arms of Lincoln's Inn.
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 96, note 1.
Here comes a middle-aged gentleman who looks almost
like a coachman in his coat with many capes and his pur-
ple cheeks. W. Beeant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 60.
2. Imperial; regal; of the conventional color
of imperial robes Purple avens. See arena.-
Purple azalea or honeysuclde. Same a^ pinkster-
flower. — Purple heech, a variety of the European beech,
Fagus gylvaUca, with deep reddish-brown or purplish
leaves ; copper beech.— Purple birch. See Krch, 1. — Pur-
ple brown. See ftrowm.- Purple bullflnoh. Same as
purple ;!ncA.— Purple clover, the red or meadow clover,
TrifoUum pratense. — Purple Cone-flower. See come-
fxmer. — Purple Copper. Same as Roraite.— Purple
crow, emperor, fever, finch, fringe-tree. See the
nouns.— Purple gland, the parpuriparous adrectal gland
of some gastropods.— Purple grackle. See graekle, 2.—
Purple haw. Same as hluewood. — Purple heron, a
European heron, Ardea purpurea, resembling the com-
mon heron, but darker in coloration, and in some places
purplish.- Purple jacohsea, lake, laver. See the
nouns. — Purple lily, (a) Same as martagon. (&) See
Patersonia.- Purple loosestrife, madder, maroon,
medic, etc. See the nouns. — Purple martin, a large
blue-black swallow of the United States, Progne mbis or P.
purpurea, without a trace of purple : the name originated
in a wrongly colored figure given by Catesby. See out
under Progne.— Wocple melic-grasB, purple moor-
grass. See Molinia. — Purple ocher. Same as Mars
violet (which see, under sioJet).- Purple ragwort. See
ragwort.— Purple rubiate. Same as madder purple.
Seel.
purple (p6r'pl), V. ; pret. and pp. pwpled, ppr.
purpling. l< purple, a.'] I. trans. To tinge or
stain with purple ; impart a purplish hue to.
Like a jolly troop of huntsmen come
Our lusty English, all with purpled hands.
Dyed in the dying slaughter of their foes.
Shak., K. John, ii 1. 822.
Aurora had but newly chas'd the night.
And purpled o'er the sky with blushing light.
Dryden, Pal. and Arc., L 187.
H. intrans. To become purple; assume a
purplish hue.
From the purvling east departs
The star that led the dawn.
Wordsworth, Ode Composed on May Morning.
Eapidly the glow crimsoned— shadows purpled; and
night spread swiftly from the east— black-violet and full
of stars. L. Beam, Yonma, xii.
purple-egg (p^r'pl-eg), n. A common sea-ur-
chm, Strongylocentrotus drobachiensis : so called
from the shape and tint of the test.
purple-fish (per'pl-fish), n. A sheU-fish of the
genus Purpura or some allied genus.
purple-grasst (per'pl-gras), n. A cultivated
variety of the common red clover, TrifoKum
pratense, with dark-brown or purplish foliage.
Also pwplewort. Britten and Holland, Eng.
Plant Names.
purple-heart (per'pl-hart), n. The heart-wood
of Copaifera MarUi, var. pubiflora, and of C.
purpose
bracteata of Guiana, or the trees themselves.
Also called purple-wood.
purplelip (p6r'pl-lip), m. A West Indian oliaib-
ing orcmd. Vanilla claviculata.
purple-marbled (p6r'pl-mar'bled), n. A Brit-
ish moth. Micro ostrima.
purples (per'plz), n. pi. [< ME. purpyls; pi.
ot purple?] 1. In med., petechise, or spots of
livid red on the body, such as appear in certain
diseases ; purpura.
All the myracles to shewe it were to longe ;
There is many mo fuU great that I do not reherse.
As pestylence, purpyls, and agonys strong.
Joseph ofArimathie (E. E. T. S.), p. 41<.
There is a fresh Report blown over that Luines is lately
dead in the Army of the Plague, some say of the Purples,
the next Cousin-german to it. Howell, Letters, L iu. 6.
2. A disease of wheat caused by a nematoid
worm of the family Anguillulidse, Tylenchus
scandens or T. tritid. Also called ear-cockle.
Curtis, Farm Insects, p. 297. — 3. -Ai early pur-
ple-flowered orchid, drchis mascula, common in
Europe and part of Asia.
With fantastic garlands did she come
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples.
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name.
Shak., Hamlet, iv. 7. 170.
purple-wood (p6r'pl-wtid), n. Same a,s purple-
heart.
purplewort (p6r'pl-w6rt), n. Same as purple-
grass.
purple-wreath (p6r'pl-reth), n. See Petrea.
purpointt (per'point), n. See pourpoint.
purport (p6r'p6rt or p6r-p6rt'), v. t. [< ME.
*ptt/iporten, proporten, OP. pourporter, purpor-
ter, porporter, proporter, intend, < pour- (< L.
pro), forth, + porter, bear, carry: see p<yrtS,
and cf . import.'] To convey to the mind as the
meaning or thmg intended; imply; mean, or
seem to mean: as, the docvjnent purported to
be official.
Sable, goulis, asur, vert: perpure
The[r]-with wnproper, aaproporHs the text.
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 96.
In this l^eatie there was an expresse article against
the reception of the rebels of either prince by other ; pur-
porting that) if any such rebell should bee required by the
prince whose rebell bee was ot the prince confederate,
that forthwith the prince confederate should by procla-
mation command him to auoid the countrie.
Bacon, Hist. Hen. Vn., p. 162.
I do not believe there ever was put upon record more
depravation of Man, and more despicable frivolity of
thought and aim in Woman, than in the novels which
purport to give the picture ot English fashionable life.
Marg. Fuller, Woman in 19th Cent., p. 139.
Christianity purports to be not a system of moral teach-
ing only, but, in vital union therewith, a system of reveal-
ed facts concerning the nature of God, and his dispensa-
tions towards mankind. Gladstone, Might ot Bight, p. 77.
purport (pto'port, formerly also per-port'), n.
[< OP. pourport, purport, porport, intent, pur-
port, K pourporter, purporter, intend: see pur-
port, v.] 1. Meaning; tenor; import; nature:
as, the purport of a letter.
Thus there he stood, whylest high over his head
There written was the purport of his sin.
In cyphers strange, that few could rightly read.
Spenser, F. Q., V. ix. 26.
With a look so piteous in purport
As if he had been loosed out of heU
To speak of horrors. Shak., Hamlet, ii. 1. 82.
Mr. Pyncheon heard a halt-uttered exclamation from
his daughter, . . . very faint and low ; so indistinct that
there seemed but half a will to shape out the words, and
too undefined a purport to be intelligible.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xiii.
2t. Pretext; disguise; covering.
For shee her sexe under that strange purport
Did use to hide. Spenser, F. Q., in. 1. 52.
=Syil. 1. Gist, drift, sense, signification.
purportless (pfer'port-les), a. [< purport +
-less.] Without purport, meaning, or design.
Southey.
purpos-f, n. A Middle English form oi purpose.
purpose (pfer'pos), v. ; pret. and pp. purposed,
ppr. purposing" [< MB. purposen, < OP. jmr-
poser, var. ot proposer, propose: see propose, of
which purpose is a doublet. The verb should
prop, be accented on the last syllable (as in
propose, compose, etc.), but it has conformed
to the noun, which is wholly from the L. (see
purpose, n.), whereas the verb (OF. purposer) is
partly of different origin (see pose^).] I. trans.
1. To propose; intend; design; mean: gener-
ally with an infinitive.
And alle the dlsciplis p^irposiden after that ech hadde
for to sende in to mynysterie to britheren that dwelliden
in ludee. Wydif, Acts xi. 29.
I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose.
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 36.
He sav'd my life, though he purpos'd to destroy me.
Fletcher, Wife for a Month, v. 3.
purpose
The ship a naked helpless hull is left ;
Borc'd round and round, she quits her purpos'd way.
And bounds uncertain o'er the swelling sea.
Eowe, tr. o£ luoan's Pharsalia, ix.
2. To resolve ; determine, or determine on.
Because you look not to hear of your well-doing of man,
I am purposed to pass it over with silence.
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc, 1853), II. 62.
Beg. For his particular, 111 receive him gladly.
But not one follower.
Oon. So am I purposed.
Shak., Lear, ii. 4. 296.
=Syn. 1, To mean, meditate.
II. intrans. 1. To have intention or design ;
intend; mean.
Upon my soul.
You may believe him ; nor did he e'er purpose
To me but nobly.
Fletcher (a/nd another 1), Prophetess, Iv. 1.
2t. To discourse.
Although it serve you to purpose with the ignorant and
vulgar sort, who measure by tale and not by weight.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, Pref., iv.
She in merry sort
Them gan to herd, and purpose diversly.
Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 16.
purpose (per'pos), n. [< ME. purpose, porpose,
purpos, porpos ; < OF. pourpos, purpose, porpos,
a var. of propos, propost, P. propos, a purpose,
aim, end, < L. propositwm, a thing proposed or
intended, neut. of propositus, pp. of proponere,
set forth, place before : see propose, propound.
Cf. purpose, 11.] 1. A thing proposed or in-
tended; an object to be kept in view or sub-
served in any operation or course of action;
end proposed ; aim.
True it is, that the kingdom of God must be the first
thing in our purposes and desires.
Hooker, Eccles, Polity, i. 10.
I wondred to what purpose they built Castles so near.
Coryat, Crudities, 1. 93.
When they had environed and beset the fields in this
manner, they thought their purpose sure.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 218.
Those great number of Oriental Books he had most
from his Nephew, whom he sent abroad for that purpose.
l/bster. Journey to Paris, p. 102.
This man . . . had made a vow that, every Lent, he
would spend the whole forty days In some part of the
Abyssinian kingdom ; and to this purpose he had raised,
at his own expence, a small body of veteran troops, whom
he inspired with the same spirit and resolution.
Bruce, Source of the Nile, II. 115.
Nothing can make ritual safe except the strict obser-
vance of its purpose, namely that it shall supply wings to
the human soul in its callow efforts at upward flight
Oladstone, Might of Righ^ p. 222.
2t. Proposition; proposal; point to be consid-
ered or acted upon.
As I badThougt thobe mene bitwene.
And put forth somme purpos to prouen his wittes.
Piers Plmi>man(B), vill. 120.
And therefore have we
Our written purposes before us sent ;
Which, if thou hast consider'd, let us know
If 'twill tie up thy discontented sword.
Shak., A. and C, li. 6. 4.
Hence — 3. Intended or desired effect; practi-
cal advantage or result ; use ; subject or mat-
ter in hand ; question at issue : as, to speak to
the purpose.
He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like an
honest man and a soldier. Sfiajk., Much Ado, ii. 3. 20.
He would answer me quite from the purpose.
B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 2.
It is to small purpose to have an erected face towards
heaven, and a perpetual grovelling spirit upon earth.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 361.
The speech he made was so little to the purpose that I
shall not trouble my readers with an account of it.
Addison, Sir Boger at the Assizes.
4. Intention; design; resolve; resolution; de-
termination.
Full long agoo I was in this purpose.
Butt thenne I myght not telle yow what I ment.
Benerydes (K E. T. S.), L 484.
I scball do my part as feythfully as I can to lett Wynd-
hamys porpose tyl ye come home. Fasten Letters, I. 259.
Infirm of purpose .'
Give me the daggers. Shak., Macbeth, ii. 2. 62.
At this Time Intelligence was given to the Lords that
E-ichard, King of the Komans, had a Purpose to come into
England. Baker, Chronicles, p. 86.
The purpose firm is equal to the deed :
Wlio does the best his circumstance allows
Does well, acts nobly ; angels could no more.
Young, Night Thoughts, ii. 1. 90.
A certain hot fellness of purpose, which annihilated
everything but itself. Mawthome, Seven Gables, viii.
5. Import; meaning; purport; intent.
The intent and purpose of the law
Hath full relation to the penalty.
Which here appeareth due upon the bond.
Shak., M. of v., iv. 1. 247.
With words to this pwrpoge, he [Ambrose] put back the
Emperor as inferior to himself.
Milton, Ans. to Salmasius.
4858
6t. Discourse ; conversation.
For she in pleasaunt purpose did abound.
And greatly joyed merry tales to f alne.
Spemer, F. Q., II. vl. 6.
7t. Instance; example.
'Tis common for double dealers to be taken in their own
snares, as, for the purpose, in the matter of power.
Sir M. L' Estrange.
8t. pi. A sort of conversational game. Com-
pare cross-purpose, 2.
Ott purposes, oft riddles he devysd.
And thousands like which flowed in his braine.
F. Q., IIL X. 8.
For sport's sake let 's have some Riddles or Purposes ho !
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, Iv. 1.
9t. A dance resembling a cotillion, a charac-
teristic feature of which was the introduction
of confidential or coquettish conversation.
The Purpose was so called because the figure exacted
that at stated intervals the couples should dance together
through the doorway into an adjoining room, and, having
made the circuit of that apartment, should return, un-
bosomed of any secrets they might have had to Inter-
change, to the rest of the laughing company. It was a
. figure obviously adopted for the ti'iumph of coquetry and
the discomfiture of mankind.
Whyte MelvUle, Queen's Maries, xvi.
Of purpose, on purpose, purposely; intentionally; with
design : as, to do a uiing on purpose; the door was left
open of purpose.
Wherefore we must thinke he did it of purpose, by the
odde sillable to glue greater grace to his meeter.
PUttenhami, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 108.
Nature herself seemed to have studied of purpose how
to make herself there admired. Howell, Letters, I. i. 39.
Her father, a hale and hearty man, died, on purpose, I
believe, for the pleasure of plaguing me with the care of
his daughter. Sheridan, School for Scandal, iii. 1.
To all Intents and purposes. See intent.— lo be in
purpoaet, to be resolved ; intend.
I a/m in purpos to passe perilous wayes,
To kaire with my kene mene, to conquere gone landes.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), L 641.
purposedlyt (p6r'post-li), adv. [< purposed,
^p.oipurpose,v., + '-ly^. Ci. purposely.'] Inten-
tionally; designedly; purposely. North, tr.ot
Plutarch, p. 615.
purposeful (per'pos-ful), a. [(.purpose + -ful.']
1. Characterized by purpose or definite aim ;
having an object in view; full of purpose or
meaning; of serious import or significance : op-
posed to aimless.
The group of mother and child on page 89 is sincere,
purposeful, downright drawing.
The Nation, Deo. 16, 1869, p. 639.
The funeral offerings of food, clothing, weapons, &c., to
the dead are absolutely intelligible and purposeful among
savage races, who believe that the souls of the departed
are ethereal beings, capable of consuming food.
E. B. Tylor, Encyc. Brit, II. 122.
Hence — 2. Intended; made or introduced on
purpose.
The angles [were] all measured, and the purposeful vari-
ation of width in the border therefore admits of no dispute.
Buskin.
purposefully (per'pos-fid-i), adv. With full
purpose or design ; of set purpose.
You may indeed perhaps think . . . that it is much
more pardonable to slay needlessly than purposefully.
RusJan.
purposefulness (p6r'pos-ful-nes), n. Purpose-
ful character or quality ; adaptation to a pur-
pose: as, the pitrposefulness ot an architectural
design.
The purposefulness of the process of evolution.
JSncye. Brit., VIIL 769.
purposeless (p6r'pos-les), a. l< purpose + -less.]
Lacking purpose or use ; without practical ad-
vantage; aimless; useless.
purposelessly (p6r'pgs-les-li), adv. In a pur-
poseless manner; aimlessly; without apparent
object.
purposelessness (per'pos-les-nes), ». 1. Lack
of definite or practical purpose or aim. — 2.
The state or quality of being purposeless, and
therefore without design or final cause. See
dysteleology.
purpose-like (per'pos-lik), a. 1. Having a
definite purpose or object to be subserved: as,
a purpose-like person or action. — 2. Having the
appearance of being fit for a purpose.
Cuddle soon returned, assuring the stranger . . . that
the gudewif e should make a bed up for him at the house,
mair purpose-like and comfortable than the like o' them
could gie him. Scott, Old Mortality, xxxviii.
purposely (p6r'pgs-li), adv. [A reduction of
purposedly; as ii.' purpose + -ly^."] Intention-
ally; designedly; on purpose.
purposer (per'pos-er), n. [< purpose + -erl.]
1. One who purposes, resolves, or determines
on any particular course of action; one who
purpura
forms a resolution. — 2. One who proposes or
sets forth anything.
purposive (p6r'pgs-iv), a. l< purpose + -ive.'\
1. Having an aim or purpose; having an end
in view; purposeful. [Rare.]
We want a word to express the adaptation of means to
an end, whether involving consciousness or not ; the word
purpose will do veiy well, and the adjective purposive has
already been used in this sense.
W. E. Clifford, Lectures, II. 168.
To ascertain the origin and progress of purpom'ue action
it seems, then, that we must look to the effects of pain
rather than to those of pleasure. Eiusyo. Brit., XS. 73.
2. Accomplishing some end ; functional; use-
ful in animal or vegetable economy : applied in
biology to parts and organs which are not rudi-
mentary or vestigial, and may therefore be re-
garded as teleological.
purposiveness (per'pos-iv-nes), n. The quality
or character of being pm-posive, or designed
for an end. [Rare.]
Its movements, instead of being wholly at random, show
more and more signs of purposiveness. Contemporary Rev.
purpoyntt, »»• -^^ obsolete form ot 2>ourpoint.
purpret, »• and a. An obsolete variant otpurple.
Chaucer.
purpresture (p6r-pres'tur), n. [A\ao pourpres-
ture; < OP. porpresture, pourpi'esture, purpres-
ture(MLi.purprestura,porprestura,proprestura),
an encroachment, purpresture, a fee paid by
villeins for the privilege of inclosing land; a
variant of pourpresure, porpresure, pourpris-
sure, an inclosure, space'ocoupied, <^0MJ3)me,
porprise, purprise, pourprinse, an inclosure:
see purprise.'i In law, a nuisance consisting
in an inclosure of or encroachment on some-
thing that belongs to another person or to the
public, as the shutting up or obstruction of a
highway or of navigable waters. Encroach-
ments other than against the public are no
longer termed j:)«trpres<«res.
The offence of purpresture . . . was an encroachment
on the forest rights, by building a house within the forest,
and it made no difference whether the land belonged to
the builder or not Encyc. Brit., IX 409.
purprise (per-priz'), n. [Early mod. E. aXsopour-
prise; < "MIK. purprise, < OiF . pourprise, porprise,
purprise, an inclosure, ipourpris, porpris,pur-
pris, pp. of 2}our2}rendre, porprend/re, purpren^
dre, seize upon, occupy, encroach upon, invest,
surround, inclose, < pour-, por-, pur-, < L. pro,
\)eito^e,+ prendere, take : SBeprehend a,-aAprize^,
surprise, eta. Ct. purpresture.'] A close or in-
closure ; also, the whole compass of a manor.
And eke amydde this purprise
Was maad a tour of gret maistrise.
Bom. of the Rose, I. 4171.
The place of justice is a hallowed place ; and therefore
not only the bench, but the footpace and precincts and
purprise thereof ought to be preserved without scandal
and corruption. Bacon, Judicature (ed. 1887).
purpulf, a. A Middle English form otpurple.
purpura (p6r'pu-ra), n. [NL., < L. purjmra, <
Gr. nopfbpa, the purple-fish, a purple dye or
color: see purple.'] 1. In
med., an eruption of small
purple spots and patches,
caused by extravasation of
blood in the skin; the pur-
ples.— 2. [cap.] A genus of
gastropods, typical of the
family Furpuridse. The ani-
mal has a purpurigenous gland,
and secretes a purplish fluid which
has given name to the genus. The
shell is generally oblong-ovate, its
surface usually being rather rough
with spines or tubercles. The spe-
cies are numerous, and are di-
vided in various subgenera, consid-
ered by some as genera. P. lapil-
lus is an abundant northern spe- Purpura latuius.
cies, common to both shores of Uie
Atlantic. See also out under operctdMm.— Malignant
pviipura, cerebrospinal fever.— Purpura liemoiTha-
glca, purpura attended with hemorrhage into and from
mucous membranes, and often into serous membranes and
cavities. Pyrexia may be present or absent. Also called
morius maauloms FeriAo/Si.— Purpura nautlca, scurvy.
—Purpura nervosa, purpura with rheumatoid pains^
with colic and vomiting, sometimes hemorrhage from the
bowels, and frequently cutaneous edema. It occurs most-
ly in children. The specific name refers to a supposed de-
pendence on the sympathetic nervous system.— Purpura
papulosa, purpura in which the ecchymoses are inter-
spersed with livid papules. Also called lichen Umdut.—
Purpura rheumatica, a disease characterized by a pur-
puric eruption, often with some fever, nausea, colicky
pains, diarrhea, or constipation, and with rheumatoid
pains and often swelling and redness in certain joints.
-Purpura simplex, a disease characterized by a pur-
puric eruption, with slight general symptoms such as lan-
guor and loss of appetite. The spots come out in suc-
cessive crops, each lasting a week or ten days; there may
be a number of such recurrent eruptions.— Purpura
purpura
symptomaUoa, a purpuric eruption occurring as a symp-
^"^^iJSI"? •J*s'i"<=">sease, aa smallpox, cholera, meislea,
or scarlet fever.-Pimura urticans, a variety of pur-
pura simplex in which the eruption is raised into wheals,
which may or may not be accompanied by itching.
Purpuracea (p6r-pu-ra'se-a), n. pi. [NL., <
Purpura + -acea.} Same 'a,s Pwpuridse. Menke,
1828.
purpuracean (per-pu-ra'sf-an), a. and n. I. a.
Same &s purpwaceoiis.
II. n. A member of the Purpuracea.
purpuraceous (per-pu-ra'sMus), d. [< L. pwr-
pnra, purple, + -aceous.'] Of a purple color;
of or pei-taining to the Pwpuracea; purpurate.
purpuratei (p6r'pu-rat), a. [< L. pv/rpwratus,
purpled, clad in purple, pp. otpurpurare, make
purple, < purpura, purple: see p-mple.J Of a
purple color.
purpuratei (p6r'pu-rat), n. [< purpur{ic) +
-afei.] A salt of purpuric acid.
purpurate^ <p6r'pu-rat), a. [< purpura +
-a*ei.] Of or pertaining to purpura; purpuric.
purpure (per' pur), n. and a. [< ME. purpure,
2)urpur, purpour, < OP. purpure, vei-naoularly
purpre, purple: see j)«rpJe.] Purple: repre-
sented in heraldry Ijy diagonal lines from the
sinister base of the shield to the dexter chief.
[Obsolete except in heraldic use.]
The whit cote that hade sem none,
And the purpure that layd both upon one,
They be ray sokur and my helping,
That my hodi hath usud soft cloging.
Holy Rood (B. E. T. S.), p. 178.
The ground that erat was yellow, greene, and blew
la overcled with blood in purpure hew.
Hudson, tr. oJ Du Bartas's Judith, y.
purpureal (per-pu'rf-al), a. [< L. purpureus
(< Grr. TTopi^pEOQ), purple-colored, < purpura,
purple: see purple.'^ Purple.
More pellucid streams.
An ampler ether, a diviner air.
And fields invested with purpureal gleams.
Wordswtyrth, Laodamia.
purpurescent (per-pu-res'ent), a. [< L. pur-
pura, purple, + -escent.'] In eool., purplish;
tinged with purple.
purpuresset, ri. [MB., < pwpure + -es«.] A
woman who sells purple. Wyolif.
purpuric! (p^r-pii'rik), a. [< li.purpura, purple,
+ -jc] Having a. purple color; also, producing
a purple color; specifically, in cliem., noting an
acid produced by the action of nitric acid upon
uric acid, it forms deep-red or purple compounds with
most bases, whence the name. It cannot be obtained ex-
cept in combination. Also isopurpurioi
purpuric^ (per-pu'rik), a. [< purpura + -jc]
Of the nature of or pertaiijing to purpura. —
Malignant purpuric fever. See/eoeri.
Purpuridse (per-pu'ri-de), 11. pi. [NL., < Pur-
pura + -idee.^ A family of gastropods, typified
by the genus Purpura : same as the subfamily
4859
purr 1, purl (p6r), «. [imitative; cl.pirr,purP;
a,jii liuss.] I. intrans. To utter a low murmur-
ing sound expressive of satisfaction orpleasure,
as a cat. The sound is made by throwing the vocal
cords into vibration measured and regulated by the respi-
ration ; and this vibration is strong enough to make the
whole larynx tremble, so that it may be felt or aeen from
the outside. Purring is highly characteristic of the oat
tribe, though probably not confined to it.
I know aomebody to whose knee that black cat loves to
climb ; against whose shoulder and cheek it likes to purr.
Chairlotte Bronte, Shirley, xii.
Sitting drowsy in the fire-light, winked and purred the
mottled cat. WMttienr, Mary Garvin.
Furring thrill, a thrill or fremitus, or sense of line vibrio
tion, perceptible to the hand, as sometimes over an aneu-
rism, or over the heart in some cases of valvular lesion.
It resembles the sensation which the back of a purring
oat yields to the hand. Also called purring tremor, pur-
ring fremMuB, and, in French, //•emfesemen* cataire.
II. trans. To express or signify by purring.
Her ears of jet and emerald eyes
She saw, and purr'd applause.
Gray, Death of a Favourite Cat.
[Pigm'atively of pei'sons in both uses.]
purr^, purl (per), n. l<.purr\ d.] The sound
made by a cat in purring.
[She] thrills the hand that smooths her glossy fur
With the light tremor of her grateful purr.
0. W. Holmes, Terpsiphore.
purr^t, n. See pur'^.
purr^, purrei (p^r), n. [Msopirr; perhaps ult.
< AS. pttr, occm-ring in two glosses, aa a syno-
nym of rdradumbla, a bittern (glossed by L.
onocrotalus, a pelican), or of hxferMsete, appar.
a snipe (E. dial. hammerUeat).'} A sandpiper,
IMnga alpina, commonly called dunlin.
purr^(per), Ji. [Origin obscure.] Abivalveof
the family Veneridee, Tapes decussata. it inhab-
its chiefly the European coasts on sandy or gravelly bot-
toms between tide-marks. It burrows in the ground, and
is usually indicated by two little holes about an inch apart,
made by the siphons. The purrs are held in some esteem
for food, being considered better than cockles. Also called
purrei, n. See purr^.
purre^t, n. An obsolete form of perry^.
purree, purrhee (pur'e), n. A yellow coloring
matter. See euaanihin. Also called Jndia/n
The roseate tern.
Purpurifera (p6r-pu-rif 'e-ra), «. i)Z. [NL.: see
purpuriferous.'] In 'Lamarck's system, a family
of trachelipodous gastropods containing species
producing a purple fluid, and others supposed
to resemble them. ltincludedtheP«rp«riin«(butnot
the Muirteinse) and various incongruous genera referred
by modern authors to different families and even sub-
orders.
purpuriferous (per-pti-rif'e-rus), a. [< li.pur-
pura, pui-ple, + ferre, bear.] Purpxiriparous;
belonging to the Purpurifera.
purpuriform (per'pu-ri-f 6rm), a. [< NL. Pw-
pura, q. v., + L. forma, form.] Eesembling a
shell of the genus Purpura; related or belong-
ing to the PMrp«nte._ A\.so purpuroid.
purpurigenous (per-pu-rij'e-nus), a. [< L. pur-
pura, purple, + gignere, genere, bear: see -ge-
iious.'] Producing purple.— Purpurigenous gland,
a gland, especially developed in the gastropods of the fam-
ily Murieidae, secreting a liquid of a purplish color.
purpurin, purpurine (n^r'pu-rin), n. [< L.
purpura, purple, + 4n^, -ine-^.] A red color-
ing matter, Ci4Hg02(OH)3, used in dyeing,
extracted from madder and prepared artifi-
cially by the oxidation of artificial alizarin.
Its application in dyeing is similar to that of alizarin. In
commerce it is known as alizarin, yellow shade(fil red), the
true alizarin giving blue shades of red.
Purpurinae (per-pu-ri'ne), «. pi. [NL., < rw-
pura + -inx.^ A subfamily of Muricidx, char-
acterized by having an operculum with a lateral
nucleus. It includes the genera Purpura, Acan-
thina, Pentadactylus, Concholepas, and others.
purpuriparous (per-pu-rip 'a-nis), a. [< L. pur-
pura, purple, + parere, bring forth, bear.] Pro-
ducing or secreting a purple substance : as, the
purpuriparous glands of the sea-hare.
Burpuroid (pfer'pfl-roid), a. [< h. purpura, pm-
ple + Gr. elSog, form.] Same as purpur%form.
Belt-purse or Sporran, 17th
century.
purreic (pu-re'ik), a. [< purree + -Jc] Per-
taining to or derived from purree Purreio acid.
Same as ewamllnc add (which see, under euaantkic).
purrelt, »■ [Perhaps a form of purl^ for purfle,
border.] A list ordained to be at the end of
kersies to prevent deceit in diminishing their
length. Salliwell.
purre-maw (p6r'ma), n.
[Prov. Eng.]
purrock (pur'ok), n. [A
var. oijjarrock, as equiv.
puddock^ of paddock^.']
Same as paddock^.
purse (pers), n. [< ME.
purse, purs, pars, an al-
tered form of lurs, hors,
< OP, horse, bourse, P.
bourse = It. borsa, < ML.
bursa, byrsa, < Gr. pvpaa,
a hide or skin. Cf . bii/rse,
bourse.'] 1. A bag or
pouch ; specifically, a small bag or case in which
money is contained or earned.
Her girdle was greene, and at that hung a large leather
Greene (?), Vision.
A pouch with many parts and jjurseg thin.
To carry all your tools and trinkets in.
J. Dennys (Arbor's Eng. Gamer, 1. 154).
Out has he ta'en a. purse o' gowd.
Was a" f ou to the string.
Braum Adam (Child's Ballads, IV. 62).
3. Figuratively, money ; means ; resources.
Had men beene as forward to aduenture their purses,
and performe the conditions they promised mee, as to crop
the fruits of my labours, thousands ere this had beene bet-
tered by these designes. Capt. John Smith, Works, II. 241.
But here attir'd beyond otii purse we go,
For useless ornament and flaunting show.
Dryden, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, iii. 296.
He needs his purse, and knows how to make use on it.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, i. 1.
You never refused your purse and credit to the service
and support of learned or ingenious men.
Swift, Improving English Tongue.
3. A treasury ; finances : as, to exhaust a na-
tion's purse, or the public j^rse. Shak., T. of
A., i. 2. 200. — 4. A purseful of money; a sum
of money offered as a prize or collected as a
present : as, to win the purse in a horse-race ;
to make up a purse as a present. — 5. A spe-
cific sum of money. In Turkey large accounts are
often set down in purses of 500 Medjidie piasters, equiv-
alent to i pounds 10 shillings of English money, or about
purse-leech
The Greeks have three churches, and their bishop re-
sides here, who has an income of about four purses a year.
PoeocJce, Description of the East, II. ii. 24.
A Turkish merchant residing in Cairo died leaving prop-
erty to the amount of six thousand purses.
E. W. Lane, Modem Egyptians, L 136.
6. In zool. and anat. , some kind of a pouch, bur-
sa, marsupium, or ovicapsule a light purse, or
an empty purse, poverty, or want of resources.— A long
purse, or a heavy purse, wealth ; riches.— Cold purse.
See cold— HalQienny-purse, a small purse worn at the
side : the name probably implies its use for the smallest
coins, as, perhaps, the silver halfpence of the middle ages
down to the seventeenth century. — Maundy purse. See
nuzundy.— Mermaid's purse. See mermaid's-purse. — .
Privy Jjurse. (a) An allowance for the private expenses of
theBritishsovereign, forming part of the civil list. (6) An
ofllcer of the British royal household charged with the pay-
ment of the sovereign's private expenses. His official title
is keeper qf the privy purse. — Purse of state, in her , a bag
or pouch resembling an aumdnifere, bearing the arms of
the sovereign or state on the side, and having cords formed
into an elaborate knot or plaiting. — Sword and purse,
the military power and wealth of a nation.
purse (pers), V. t. ; pret. and pp. pursed, ppr.
pursing. l< ME. pursen, porsen; <.purse,H. For
the sense 'wrinkle,' 'pucker' (like the mouth
of a purse drawn together with a gathering-
string), cf. pucker, as related to poke^, a bag,
sack, pocket.] I. trans. 1 . To put in a purse,
gene poure peuple the pans ; ther-of porse thow none,
Ac 3eue hem forth to poure f olke that f or iny loue hit ask-
eth. Piers Plowman (C), xiii. 164.
I will go andpurse the ducats. Shak., M. of V., i. 3.>175.
The benefits you have done me are not lost^
Nor cast away ; they are pursed here in my heart.
Massinger and Field, Fatal Dowry, ii. 2.
3. To contract into folds or wrinkles; knit;
pucker : frequently with up.
Thou criedst "Indeed! "
And didst contract and purse thy brow together.
Shak., Othello, iii. 3. 113.
Was this a story to jmrse up people's hearts and pen-
nies against giving an alms to the blind?
La/mb, Decay of Beggars.
0 moralist, frown not so dark,
Purse not thy lip severe.
Harper's Mag., LXXIX. 972.
Il.t intrans. To take purses ; rob.
I'll purse; if that raise me not, I'll bet at howling alleys.
Beau, and Fl., Scornful Xady, i. 1.
purse-bearer (p6rs'bar"er), n. One who carries
or guards the purse of another.
I'll be your purse-bearer, and leave you
For an hour. Shak., T. N., iii. 3. 47.
purse-bearing (pers'bar"ing), a. Pouched or
marsupiate : an epithet formerly used to note
the marsupials, a.% purse-bearing animals, trans-
lating Scaliger's phrase Animdlia erumentata.
purse-boat (pers'bot), n. A boat 28 feet long,
6 feet wide, and 2 feet deep, from which the
seine is worked in the menhaden-fishery. The
captain of a gang has charge of this boat.
purse-clasp (pers'klasp), n. A metal frame of a
large medieval purse or aumonifere, often very
elaborate and richly decorated, and an object
of curiosity when the bag of the purse has per-
ished. Sometimes a pistol is concealed in the frame,
and would be discharged by an unskilful attempt to open
it. Also purse-snap.
purse-crab (pers'krab), n. A short-tailed ten-
footed crustacean of the genus Birgus, as JB. la-
tro, the oocoanut-crab, found in Mauritius and
the more eastern islands of the Indian Ocean,
and one of the largest crustaceans. It resides on
land, often burrowing under the roots of trees, lines its
hole with the fibers of the cocoanut-husk, and lives on the
nuts, which it procures by clunbing the trees, breaking
the shells with great ingenuity.
purse-crew (pers'kro), n. The crew or gang of
a purse-net; a purse-gang.
purse-cutter (pers'kuf'er), n. A thief who
steals purses; a cutpurse.
It is a gentle admonition, you must know, sir, both to
the purse-cutter and the purse-bearer.
B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iii. 1.
purse-davit (p6rs'dav"it), ». A short, strong
davit attached to the gunwale and a thwart
of a boat, supporting the pursing-blocks of a
purse-seine.
■pursefuli(p^rs'ful),a. [<pm-se + -/«?,!.] Rich.
Dr. Percy's next difficulty was how to supply the purse-
ful and purse-proud citizen with motive and occupation.
Miss Edgeworth, Patronage, xix. (Doines.)
purseful^ (pers'fiil), )(. [< purse + -ful, 2.] As
much as a purse will hold. Dryden.
purse-gang (pers'gang), ». A purse-crew,
purse-gill (pers'gil), n. A marsipobranchiate
fish; one of the Jfarsipo6rancM.
purse-gilled (pers'gild), a. Marsipobranchiate.
purse-leech (pers'lech), n. One who grasps at
money; a grasping person. [Rare.]
Whilst the king and his faithfuls retained their places of
dominion, we enjoyed such golden days of peace and plenty
purse-leecli
as we must never see again, so long as you harpyes, you
sucking purse-leeches, and your implements be our masters.
British Belman, 1648 (Harl. Misc., VII. 625.) (Davies.)
purse-line (pfers'lm), n. The line by means of
which a purse-seine is pursed.
pnrse-milkmgt (p6rs'mil'']dng), a. Making fre-
quent or heavy demands upon one's purse; ex-
tortionate; expensive. [Rare.]
Purse-mUking nation.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., To the Header, p. 49. (DavUs.)
purse-mouth (pfers'mouth),?!. Aprim orpursed-
up mouth. [Bare.]
Maud with hsr sweet jmrse-moutft when my father dangled
the grapes. Tennyson, Maud, i. 18.
purse-net (pfers'net), n. A net the mouth of
■which may be drawn close with cords, or closed
quickly in any way. See cut under pwrse-seine.
We shopkeepers, when aU 's done, are sure to have 'em
in oxaptirsenets at length.
MuLdleUm ajid Dekker, Koaring Girl, iv. 2.
Conies are taken by pmsentii in their burrows.
HarWmer, Husbandry.
pnrsenet-flsh (p6rs'net-fish), n. Same as has-
ket-fish. John Winthrop.
purse-pinched (p&rs'pinoht), o. Impecunious ;
poor.
Ladies and Lords, purse-pinchid and soule-pain'd.
Barnes, Microcosmos, p. 14. (Davies.)
purse-pride (pSrs'pnd), n. Pride of wealth; in-
solence proceeding from consciousness of the
possession of wealth.
Even purse-pride is quarrellons, domineering over the
humble neighbourhood, and raising quarrel; out of trifles.
Bp. HaU, Supernumeraries, § 4.
purse-proud (pers'proud), a. Proud of wealth ;
puffed up with the possession of money or
riches.
This person was . . . anoisy.intrseprottd, illiterate dem-
agogue, whose Cockney English and scraps of mispro-
nounced Latin were the jestof the newspapers. Alderman
Beckford. Maeaulay, Earl of Chatham.
purser (pfer'ser), m. [< purse + -erK Cf. hw-
sar.'] 1. An official charged with the keeping
of accounts and the disbursing of money ; spe-
cifically, an officer who keeps the accounts of
a ship, and has charge of the provisions, pay,
etc.: now called in the na,vj paymaster.
And this order to be scene and kept euery voyage order-
ly, by the pursers of the compaule's owne ship, in anywise.
Hakluyt's Voyages, L 273.
Z. In mining, the paymaster or cashier of a
mine, and the official to whom notices of trans-
fer are sent for registration in the cost-book.
[Cornwall, Eng.]
purse-ring (pfers'ring), n. A metal ring attach-
ed to the bridle-rope on the foot of a purse-
seine, for the pursing-line to run through.
purse-rope (p6rs'r6p), n. Same as purse-lme.
pursership (per'sfer-ship), n. lipurser + -ship.']
The office of purser.
purses (pfer'sez), n. pi. A seaweed, Alaria escu-
lenta. [Pro v. Eng.]
purse-seine (pfers'san), n. A seine which may
be pursed or drawn into the shape of a bag.
Purse-seine.
a, boat; 6 and c, blocks; rf, gunwale of boat; <?, purse-line or
bridle; /",/*, corks or floats; ^, sheave; A, pursing-blocks attached
to purse-davit. See cut under pursins-block.
Mackerel purse-seines range from 120 to 220 fathoms long
by 20 to 30 fathoms deep, having 760 to 1,000 meshes of
depth. The average mesh is 2| inches. The pursing
weight varies from 160 to 200 pounds. The seines are
made of fine Sea Island cotton twine.
The mirse-seine first came into general use in 1850.
Nature, XII. 180.
purse-seiner (p6rs'sa'''n6r), n. A vessel em-
ployed in the menhaden or the mackerel purse-
seine fishery.
purse-silk (pfers'silk), n. A stout silk thread
used for knitting purses, and also for embroi-
dery with the needle. -Also purse-twist.
purse-snap (p^rs'snap), n. Same a,spurse-elasp.
purse-spider (pers'spi"d6r), ». A spider, Aty-
pus rdger, which spins a close web of varying
shape and size against the bark of trees at the
surface of the ground. [Southern TJ. S.]
4860
purse-strings (pfers'stringz), n.pt The strings
by means of which a purse is fastened or un-
fastened.
The merchants, frightened by Drake's successes, and
appalled by the ruin all around ttiem, drew their purse-
slnngs inexorably. Xottey, Hist. Netherlands, II. 18.
pursett (p6r'set), n. [< pwse + -e*.] A purse
or bag. [Rare.]
The blood of the frog and the bone in his back
I have been getting ; and made of liis skin
A purseit to keep Sir Cranion in.
B. Jonson, Masque of Queens.
purse-taking (p6rs'ta"king), n. The act of
stealing a purse; robbing.
I see a good amendment of life in thee ; from praying
to purse-takirig. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., i. 2. 115.
purse-twist (pfers'twist), n. Same sts purse-silk.
pursevantt, »• An obsolete form of jj«{rsMW<Mi*.
purse-weight (pers'wat), n. The weight or
sinker of a purse-seine concerned in drawing
the net. In a menhaden-seine it weighs about
35 pounds; in a mackerel-seine, 200 pounds or
more.
purseyt, «■ Seepwsy^.
pur sift, a. An obsolete form oipwsy. Levins.
pursiness (p6r'si-nes), n. [Early mod. E. also
pwrsioeness, pursifness; < JSlE. pm-synes, *pw-
sifnes; < pursif, pursy: see pwsy^ and -ness.J
The state of being pursy; the state of being
short-winded; shortness of breath.
pursing-block (p6r'sing-blok), n. A block used
in haxuing in .
the pursing- H, Jj
line or bridle "^
of a purse-
seine. Two
of these are
attached to
the purse-
davit by
hooks, as
shown in the
cut.
pursing-gear
(p6r ' sing-
ger), ». The
gearbywhich
a seine is
pursed.
pursivet
(p6r'siv), a.
An obsolete
form of pur-
sy. Holland.
pursivenesst
(per'siv-nes),
n. An obso-
lete form of
pursiness.
Bailey, 1727.
purslane (pfers'lan), n. [Also purslain; early
mod. 'EJ.pourslade,purseUne; < ilLE. purslane, <
OF. poreelaine, pourcelaine = It. porcellana,
purslane, with acoom. term., < ML. *porcilana;
cf . OHGr. pureella, MHG. pvjrzel, Gr. bureel, < L.
porcilaca, var. of portulaca, purslane, portu-
laea: see Portulaca.'] A herbaceous plant,
Portulaca oleracea, widely distributed through
warm and temperate climates. It is a prostrate
annual of a reddish-green aspect, with fleshy stems and
leaves, and small yellow flowers. Purslane is used, now
less than formerly, in salads, as a pot-herb, in pickles, and
for garnishing, and is cultivated in Europe in several vari-
eties for these purposes. In America it is regarded chiefly
as a weed, and is rather troublesome in gardens, from its
abundance and persistent vitality. In i£e United States
yvlgarly pussly (or pusley) or pitssly-weed.
Pourslane dothe mitigate the great heat in al the in-
ward partes of the body e, semblably of the head and eyes.
» T. Elyot, Castle of Health, ii. 15.
Black purslane, a kind of spurge, Euphorbia PreslH (E.
hypericifolia), a common weed of the United States, some-
what resembling purslane in habit, but not fleshy. — MUk-
puralane, the spotted spurge, Huphorbia niaeulata, a
prostrate weed having a milky juice.— Mud-purslane,
a waterwort, Elatine Americana. — Sea-PUTBlane. (a) In
Great Britain, Atriplex portulaeoidesAhe purslane orach, a
low straggling sea-shore shrub. (&) In America, Sesuviu/m
Porttdacastrum, of the warmer Atlantic shores and the sa-
line or alkaline valleys of the southwestern United States,
a prostrate fleshy plant, forming mats sometimes 6 feet
broad; also, iS*. pentavdrwm, sometimes erect, reaching
north to New Jersey.— Water-purslane, (a) Peplis Par-
tula. 0) jMdwigia palustirig. (cj An American aquatic or
sometimes terrestrial herb, IHdiplis linearis, of the Lythra-
riese, with opposite linear leaves and very small greenish
flowers. — Wild purslane, a European species, JSuphorbia
Peplis, with prostrate leafless flowering branches which
fork repeatedly, forming mats on maritime sands.
purslane-tree (p6rs'lan-tre), n. The African
shrub Portulacaria Afra.
purslane-worm (ptos'lan-werm), n. The larva
of a zygBsnid moth, dopidryas gloveri, which
Pursing-block.
a, a', pursing-blocks ; b,b', hooks which en-
fage eyes in the upper extremity of the putse-
avit c; ff, gunwale ; d, brace fastened to gun-
wale and also bolted ate to the thwart^
pursue
feeds in enormous numbers on the wild purs-
lane. [Western U. S.]
pursuahle (p6r-sii'a-bl), a. l<pursue + -able.]
Capable of being, or fit to be, pursued, followed,
or prosecuted.
pursual (per-Bu'al), ». l< pursue -h -al.] The
act of pursuing;" pursuit: as, " quick pursual,"
Southey. [Rare.]
pursuance (p6r-sii'ans), n. [< pursuan{t) +
-ce.] The act of following or pursuing; pur-
suit; prosecution: as, the pursuance of some
design; in pursuance of orders.
He being in purmamie of the imperial army, the next
morning, in a sudden fog that fell, the cavalry on both
Bides being engaged, he was killed in the midst of the
troops. Howell, Letters, i. 6. (Latha/m.)
Whether he [Samson] acted in mreiuance of a Command
from Heaven, or was prompted oy his own Valour only,
or whatsoever inducement he had, he did not put to death
one, but many that tyrannized over his Countrey.
ItUton, Ans. to Salmasius, iv. 104.
George was to depart for town the next day, to secure
his commission, in pursuance of his generous patron's di-
rections. OoldtmUh, Vicar, xxL
=Syjl. See pursuit
pursuant (p6r-su'ant), a. and n. [< ME. *pur-
suant, persewend, ? OF. pursmant, powrsvAant,
ppr. of pwsuir, pursue : see pursue. Cf . pur-
suivant.] I. a. Done in consequence of or in
the prosecution of something.
You may perceive that which I now desire to be per-
suavt thereupon. ■
Bacon,, Advancement of Learning, Pref., p. Ix.
Il.t n. A pursuivant.
Ye poore people were so vexed with apparators, & pur-
suants, & y comissarie courts, as truly their affliction
was not smale. Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 8.
pursuant (p6r-su'ant), adv. [< pursuant, a.]
According; agreeably: with to — ^Pursuant to, fol-
lowing ; according to ; in accordance with : as, pursuant
to orders, passage was denied.
Mr. President : I rise. Sir, pursuant to notice, to ask
leave to bring in a bill,
D. 'Webster, Senate, March 18, 1834.
pursuantly (p6r-sii'ant-li), ffltfe. [< pursuant
+ -ly^.] Pursuant;" agreeably; conformably.
pursue (per-su'), v.; pret. and pp. jjMrswed, ppr.
pwrsuing. [Early mod. E. also pursew, i)ersue,
persew, < 'KK.'pursuen, pv/rsmven, porsuen, por-
sewen, < OF. pursuer, poursuier, pourswiver, por-
smoer, also porsmr, porsuivvr, poursuAr, pour-
smvir, also powsuivre, powrsevre, porsevre, F.
poursuivre = Sp. Pg. proseguir = It. proseguire,
< L. prosequi, follow forth, follow after, pur-
sue, prosecute, < pro, forth, + sequi, follow:
see sequent. Cf. prosecute, from the same L.
verb; and of . sue, ensue.] I, trans. 1. To fol-
low; proceed along; follow in action.
There are those who pursue their own way out of a sour-
ness and spirit of contradiction. Steele, Spectator, No. 284.
Wilfrid a safer path pursued. Scott, Rokeby, ii. 16.
It will not be necessary to pursue his course further
than to notice a single occurrence of most extraordinary
nature. Prescott, Perd. and Isa., II. 8.
2. To follow with the view of overtaking; fol-
low with haste ; chase ; hunt : as, to pursue a
hare; to jjMrsJte a fleeing enemy.
And Pouertc pursuwede me and putte me to be lowe,
And flittynge fond ich the frere that me conf essede.
Piers Plowman (C), xiii. 15.
T^hen they fled
Into tUs abbey, whither we pursued them.
Shak., C. of E., v. 1. 166.
Each creature returned to its own nature, and pursued
and preyed upon its fellow. Bacon, Physical Tables, iiL
They fled
TUs way and that, pursued by nought but dread.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 82-2.
3. To seek; seek to obtain: as, to pursue a,
remedy at law; to pursue ■plea.sure.
Quod the child, "y come poore the world withinne
To pursue a wondirful eritage."
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 69.
Too hard a Censure they pursue
Who charge on all the Failings of a few.
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love.
lliey who most passionately purnte pleasure seldomest
arrive at it. Steele, Spectator, No. 644.
4. To follow close upon; attend; be present
with; accompany.
Fortune pursue thee ! S)Mk., A. and C, iii. 12. 25.
Both here and hence ^r«i« me lasting strife,
If, once a widow, ever I be wife !
Shdk., Hamlet, iii. 2. 232.
5t. To follow vindictively or with enmity;
persecute ; treat with hostility ; seek to in-
jure.
For a cursed Emperour of Persie, that highte Saures,
pursuede alle Cristene men, to destroye hem, and to com-
peUe hem to make Sacrlflse to his Ydoles.
MandevCUe, Travels, p. 2G0>
pursue
I will to death pwraue Mm with revenge.
Beau, and Fl., Maid's Tragedy, iiL 2.
av ,w ^^ ^ffl yon the knights
Shall to the edge of all extremity
Pursm each other?
Shak., T. and C, iv. 6. 69.
6. To follow as a principle of action, profes-
sion, trade, or occupation ; prosecute ; practise
systematically; caiTy on.
Men must pwTOe things which are just in present, and
leave the future to the divine Providence.
Baxon, Advancement of Learning, 11. 284.
The . . . measures which are now mirmed tend to
strengthen and aggrandize . . . absolute monarchy.
ffoZdsmaft, Seven Years' War, ii
Both Foote and Melding vnrmei the law until the law
pursued them. Jom, Bee, Essay on Samuel Foote.
The principle of asceticism never was, nor ever can be,
consistently ■gurxaeS, by any living creature.
BentAom, Introd. to Morals and LegislaUon, il la
7. To follow up ; continue ; proceed with.
Thus far, with rough and all-unable pen.
Our bending author hath pursued the story.
Shxik., Hen. V., Epa
Be slow to stir Inquiries which you do not mean partic-
ularly i-opurxue to their proper end.
QlaMmie, Might of Bightj p. 245.
8t. To endeavor; try.
Men fyndeth that Makamede was a man ycrystned,
And a cardinal of court a gret clerk with-alle,
And portuede to haue be pope, pryns of holychurche ;
And for he was lyke a Lussheborgh ich leyue oure lord
hym lette. Piers Plowman (C), xviii. 167.
=Syn. 2. To track, hound.— 3. To strive for.— 6. To con-
duct, keep up, persist in.
II. intrans. If. To give chase ; charge.
Therfore, wende well Gaheries he hadde be slayn ; and,
therfore, he pursude vpon hym with swerde drawen, as
fiercely as a wilde boor. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iL 194.
2f. To seek; endeavor; try.
The dede of Andromaca dull thai told.
And how Elynus egerly ertid the lordis
To pursu for the pes to the pure Grekis.
Destruction qf Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 12050.
Quod enuie, "thl foote thou holde.
And pursue for to passe the beest."
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 62.
8. To go on ; continue ; proceed.
I have, pursues Carneades, wondered chemists should
not consider, etc. " — '"
4. To sue; act as prosecutor; take legal steps
as plaintiff or prosecutor.
And, ofyr yat, yei shul pursu for her Catelle in qwat
cowrte yat hem liste. English OUds (E. E. T. S.), p. 71.
pursuet, n. [Early mod. E. also persiis; < pur-
sue, «.] Pursuit.
By the great persue which she there perceav'd.
Well hoped sbee the beast engor'd had beene.
denser, F. Q., m. v. 28.
pursuementt (pfer-sii'ment), n. [Early mod. E.
also pursument ; < pursue + -ment.'] Pursuit.
The Spachies are horsemen, weaponed for the most part
at once with bow, mase, lance, h^quebush, and oymiter ;
whereof they haue the seuerall vses, agreeing with their
fights, their flights, or pursuments.
Sandys, Travels, p. 48. (Davies.)
pursuer (p6r-sii'er), n. [< ME. pursuwer; <
pursue, + -eri.] 1. One who pursues or fol-
lows; one who chases;- one who follows in
haste with a view to overtake. — 3t- One who
follows vindictively or with enmity; a perse-
cutor.
I first was a blasphemer &ni pursuwer.
Wyclif, 1 Tim. i. 13. (Trench.)
If God leave them in this hardness of heart, they may
prove as desperate opposites and pursuers of all grace, of
Christ and Christians, as the most horrible open swine, as
we see in Saul and Julian.
D. Bogers, Naaman the Syrian, p. 106. (Trmeh.)
3. In Scots law, the ■pla.intiS; the party who in-
stitutes and insists in a;n ordinary action.
pursuit (p6r-siit'), n. [Early mod. ^.pm-sute;
< ME. pursute, < OP. porsuit, powrsmt, m.,
poursieute, poursiute. poursmte, F. poursuite,
a following, chase, < porswir, etc., poursmyre,
pursue: see pursue.'] 1. The act of pursuing,
or of following briskly for the purpose of over-
taking; a following hastily, either for sport or
in hostility; the chase, or a chasing: as, the
pursuit of game, or of an enemy.
In his earnestness to expedite the pursuit, Uncas had
left himself nearly alone. ,,, , . _ ..
J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, xxxu.
The oureuft was kept up for some three miles beyond
the point where the picket guard had been captured.
11. S. Grant, Personal Memoirs, I. 333.
2. The act of following with a view to reach,
accomplish, or obtain; the endeavor to attain
to or gain: as, the pursuit of happmess.
It vs Ivke that grete labour and speciall pursute shOl be
made to the lord Sealys that he wolle meynteyn the said
Tuddenham and Heydon in all he c^ or may and thus I
have herd sey. -P"**"" ^«*^«' ^- "2-
4861
Paris should ne'er retract what he hath done,
ITor faint in the pursuit. Shak., T. and C, a 2. 142.
A man in pursuit of greatness feels no little wants.
JEhnersan, Conduct of Life.
3. The object of one's endeavors or continued
exertions or application; that which one sys-
tematically engages in or follows as a recrea-
tion, occupation, profession, or trade, or with
some similar end in view ; course of occupation
or employment: as, literary j)w««»ts; mercan-
tile jjwrsMJte.
He lived where gallantry was the capital pursuit.
Goldsmith, Richard Nash, Pref.
I judge of the value of human pursuits by their bearing
upon human interests. Huxley, Amer. Addresses, p. 142,
4. A following up or out; a canning out;
prosecution: as, the pursuit of a design.
Maeas and that noble reste of Troye,
Id martial moodes Lucane did singe the channce.
End, and pursute of that lamented warre.
PuOenham, Parthenlades, li.
5t. Persecution.
And thei pnrsueth the pouere & passeth [go beyond] pwr-
sutes, . . .
First to brenne [bum] the bodye in a bale of fljr,
And sythen the sely soule slen [slay] & senden byre to
helle ! Piers Plouman's Crede (E. E. T. S.), L 664.
Curve Of pursuit. See c«nK.— Fresh pursuit, in Jaw.
See fresh. =^Syu. 1 and 2. Pursuit, Pursuance. Pursuit is
tree in either physical or moral uses : as, the pwrsuM of a
tiger, a profession, an ambition. Pursuance is not now
used except in the moral sense, and then generalljr in the
sense of following out: aa, pursuaruie of his original in-
tention ; in pursuance of a peculiar theory. We speak of
the pursuit of pleasure.
Sm, in pursuit of profit or delight.
Who risk the most— that take wrong means, or right?
Pope, Essay on Man, iv. 86.
George was to depart for town the next day, to secure
his commission, in pursuance of his generous patron's di-
rections. Goldsmith, Vicar, xxL
3. CaUtng, Employment, etc. See occupation.
pursuivant (p6r'swi-vant), n. [Formerly also
pov/rsuimcmtfpwsevani) < ME. pursivaunt, pur-
cyvaunt, < OP. {aiidF.) poursmeant, a follower,
prop. ppr. of ^o««rsMwe, pursue : see pursue.
Cf. pursuant.'] 1. A follower, attendant, or
messenger; especially, one who attended the
king in nis wars.
In respecte of the of&ce of Harold, Pursuivant, Messen-
ger, or Interpreter, they (the Readers] always beare with
patience ... all actions, both of woord and deede, apper-
teining vnto his office.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), To the Reader.
How oft do they with golden pineons cleave
The flitting skyes, like flying Pursuivant,
Against lowfe f eendes to ayd us militant !
Spenser, F. Q., II. viii. 2.
Swift insects shine, thy hovering pursuivants.
Wordsworth, Sonnets, u. 33.
2. A state messenger; an officer who executes
warrants.
That great man [Dr. Goodwin] lay wind-bound in hourly
suspicions that the pursevants would 8tm> his voyage, and
seize his person, before the wind would favour his getting
away for Holland. C. Hather, Mag. Chris., iii. 5.
One pursuivant who attempted to execute a warrant
there was murdered. Maeaulay.
3. One of the third and lowest order of heral-
dic of&Cers. There are four pursuivants belonging to
the English College of Arms, named Rouge Croix, Blue
ManUe, PortcuUis, and Eouge Dragon. In the court of the
Lyon King-of-Arms in Scotland there are three pursui-
vants, Unicom, Carrick, Bute. In the court of the Ulster
King-of-Arms in Ireland there are four pursuivants, Ath^
lone and St. Patrick Nos. 1, 2, and 3.
The pursevants came next, in number more ;
And like the heralds each his scutcheon bore.
Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 1. 250.
pursuivantt (p6r'swi-vant), V. t. [<. pursuivant,
n.] To pursue; follow after; chase. [Rare.]
Their navy was pursuivanted. Fuller.
pursumentt, »■ See pursuement.
pursy (per'si), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also
pursie, pursive, pursif, purdf, purseyf; mod.
dial, pussy; < MB. pursy, purey, earlier purcyf,
< bv.pourcif, var. oi poulsif,poussif, F.poussif,
short-winded, < OF.poulser,pousser, 'F.pousser,
beat, pant, gasp, also push, < L. pulsare, beat,
push: see push, pulse^.] 1, a. Short-winded;
asthmatic ; now, usually, fat and short-winded.
As in hem that haue the pirre and styffles and ben pur-
seyf and thikke brethid.
Trevisa tr. Barthol. de Proprietatibus Remm, lii. 15(Cath.
' [Aug., p. 294).
When I grew somewhat jrarey, I grew then
In men's opinions too and confidences.
Beau, and Fl., Wit at Several Weapons, l 1.
I had a start out, and by chance set upon a tat steward,
thinking his purse had been as pursy as his body.
* jlfa(«eto»(?), The Puritan, i. 4.
Slothful and pursy, insolent and mean.
Were every bishop, prebendary, dean.
Crabie, Works, IT. 12.
purveyance
A short pursy man, stooping and laboring at a bass-viol,
so as to show nothing but the top of a round bald head.
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 264.
Il.t u. See the quotation.
Pursy is a desease in an horses bodye, and maketh hym
to blow shorte, and appereth at his nosethrilles, and com-
meth of colde^ and may be well mended.
Fiizherbert, Husbandry (Cath. Aug., p. 294).
purtenance (per'te-nans), n. [< ME. purte-
nance, pwrtenaunce, piirtenaunce, portinaunce ;
by apheresis from appurtenance.] Appurte-
nance ; pertinents ; belongings ; the inwards or
intestines of an animal: especially applied to
the pluck, or the heart, liver, and lungs.
With al the portinaunee of purgatorye and the payne of
helle. Piers Plouiman (Cj lit 108.
Eydde roste with y heed & theportenauTice onlambe &
pygges fete, with vinegre & percely theron.
Bttiees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 275.
Boast with flre ; his head with his legs, and with the
purtenance thereof. Ex. xii. 9.
How she can dress and dish up— lordly dish
Fit for a duke, lamb's head and purtenance —
With her proud hands.
Brouming, Ring and Book, I. 204.
purtrayf, purtreyt, v. Middle English forms
of portray.
pumlence (pu'rg-lens), n. [= P. purulence =
Sp. Pg. purulencia"=z It. purulenza, < LJj. purur-
lenUa, an accumulation of pus, < L. puruUntus,
full of pus, festering: seepurulent.] The state
of being purulent; the generation of pus or
matter; pus, or its presence ; suppuration.
purulen^ (pU'ro-len-si), n. [As purulence (see
-ey).] Sajae a.8 purulence.
purulent (pu'rS-lent), a. [= F. purulent = Sp.
Pg. It. purulenio,\ L. purulentus, full of pus,
festering, <pus (pur-), pus: see pus.] Con-
sisting of pus or matter ; full of, resembling,
or of the nature of pus; suppurating Puru-
lent pleurisy, empyema.
purulently (pU'ro-lent-li), adv. [< purulent +
-%2.] In apunilenlmanner; aspus.
puruloid (pfi'rB-loid), a. lipuru{lent) + -oid.]
BesembUng pus.
purvey (per-va'), V. [Early mod. E. also^oMJ--
vey; < ME. purvey en, purvayen, purveien, por-
veyen, < GF.porveier,purveier,porveer, porveoir,
porvoir, pourvoir, P. pourvoir = Sp. proveer =
Pg. prover = It. provedere, < L. providere, pro-
vide : seeprovide, of which purvey is a doublet.]
1. trans. If. To foresee.
What myght I wene, and I hadde swich a thoght.
But that God purveieth thynge that is to come.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 1066.
2. To provide; supply; furnish; especially (in
modem use), to provide or supply provisions or
other necessaries for (a number of persons).
The tbinges tliet byeth to coraene he deth poruay and
ordayny. Ayenbite qflnwyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 152.
He chees hym for to wende
And come agayn right at the yeres ende
With swich answere as God wolde hym purveye.
Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, L 61.
Whenne yee answere or speke, yee shuUe hepurveyde
What yee shalle say. Bailees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 3.
And the seid grevaunces shewed also here amongs the
Eyng and the Lordz, it ys verrayly to thynk that they
shall be purveyed of a remedie. Pasttm Letters, 1. 173.
Get thy wounds healed, purvey thee abetter horse, and
it may be I will hold it worth my while to scourge out of
thee this boyish spirit of bravado. Seott, Ivanhoe, xliv.
n. intrans. 1. To provide; make provision ;
purchase or supply provisions, especially for a
number.
And as for the remenant of the assizes, he shaU purvey
to be ther by water. Pasttm Letters, I. 50.
And therfore the Patron of the Galye and euery man
purveyed to be redy as def ensyble as myght be.
Sir B. Guylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 11.
The meane time that the repaires and trauerses were
made with all diligence. Sir Gabriel Martlningo- neuer
ceased going to euery place to puruey for all things.
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 86.
2. To pander: with to.
Their turpitude purveys to their malice. Burke.
purveyance (per-va'ans), n. [Early mod. E.
also purveyaunce, po'urveyance; < ME. purvey-
ance, purveiance, purveiaunce, porveance, perve-
aunce, purvyatis, < OP. porveiance, porveance,
pourveiance, purveiaunce, eta., foresight, provi-
sion, < L. providentia, foresight : see x>rovidence,
of which purveyance is a doublet, a,s purvey is of
provide.] If. Foresight; providence.
Eteme God, that thurgh thy purveiaunce
Ledest the world by certein governaunce,
In ydel, as men seyn, ye no thyng make.
Chaucer, Franklin's Tale, 1. 137.
Who wol do perveaunce in worldes longe
The palmes forto sette he must have mynde.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 193.
purveyance
2. The act of purveying, providing, furnishing,
or procuring; suj^ly; specifically, the procur-
ing of provisions or victuals for a number of
persons.
The purumunce therot lith you vppon,
Auaunce you now, lor hys loue in trinite,
So that thys contre well purueyed be.
jRom. of Partetiay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2376.
The Commons have their Commodities daily taken from
them for the Purveyance of the King's Houshold, for
which they are not paid. Bater, Chronicles, p. 190.
3. That which is purveyed or prepared, as pro-
vision, supplies, etc.
Philip for that may mad puruebtTtce redy.
With folk of gode aiay to Doner com in hy.
Roh. qf Brunne, p. 307.
Therfore alle the purveyance that he hadde ordeyned
to make the Temple with, he toke it Salomon his Sone ;
and he made it. MandeoUle, Travels, p. 87.
Of vitaille and of other pwrveiaunce,
Chaucer, Franklin's Tale, 1. 176.
And of ter to his Pallace he them bringes, . . .
Whence, mounting up, they fynd purveyaunce meet
Of all that royall Princes court became.
Spemef, F. Q., I. xii. 13.
4t. Preparation.
Folks ben rytj sore af red that they wel don moche harm
this somer,bat if ther be made rytg srett purvyans agens
hem. Paston Letters, I. 116.
5. In law, the royal prerogative or right of pre-
emption, by which tiie king was privileged to
buy provisions and necessaries for the use of
his household at an appraised value, in prefer-
ence to all his subjects, and even without the
consent of the owner; also, the right of im-
pressing horses and carriages and the enforce-
ment of personal labor, etc., for the use of the
sovereign — a right abolished by the statute 12
Charles II., c. 24.
The treasurer, ... by the exercise of the right of pur-
veyance, , . . drew down popular hatred on the cause
which was reduced to such expedients,
Stuibs, Const Hist., § 363.
purveyor (p6r-va'or), ». [Early mod. E. also
pourveyor; < MB. purveour, < OF. porveor, por-
veour, purveour, pourveur, 'P.pourvoyeur (= Sp.
proveedor = Pg. provedor = It. provveditore), a
provider, purveyor, < porveir, etc., purvey : see
purvey. Ct.proveditor, provedor. 2 1. One who
purveys or pi'ovides ; specifically, one who pur-
veys victuals, or whose business it is to make
provision for the table ; one who supplies eat-
ables for a number of persons ; a caterer.
Our purveyors are herein said to have their provision
from the popish shambles. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, viii. 4.
1 lore the sea; she is my fellow-creature.
My careful purveyor; she provides me store.
Quarles, Emblems, T. 6.
3. An officer who formerly provided or exact-
ed provision for the king's household.
The statute of Edward III. was ordered to be enforced
on the royal purveyors. Stuibs, Const. Hist., § 340.
3. One who provides the means of gratifying
lust ; a procurer or procuress ; a pimp ; a bawd.
This stranger, ravished at his good fortune, is introduced
to some imaginary title ; for this purveyor has her repre-
sentatives of some of the finest ladles. Addison.
purview (pSr'vti), n. [< OF. pourvieu, purview,
Kpouneu, F.pourvu, provided, pp. oipourvoir,
provide, purvey: see purvei/.'] 1. A condition,
provision, or disposition ; in law, that part of a
statute which begins with the words "Be it en-
acted," as distinguished from the preamble, and
hence the whole body of provisions. — 2. Field,
scope, sphere, or limits of anything, as of a law,
authority, etc. : as, thepwview of science ; facts
that come under the purview of consciousness.
If any fair or market have been kept in any churchyard,
these are profanations within thepurview of several stat-
utes ; and those you are to present.
Bacon, Charge upon the Commission for the Verge.
The phenomena he describes fortunately fall within the
purview of the association over whose deliberations you
preside. Sczeiwe, VII. 166.
All nations of all past ages have confessedly founded
thefr states upon their religions. This is true of Egypt,
Greece, and Rome, of China, Japan, and all else within
thepurview of history.
A. A. Hodge, in New Princeton Rev., III. 37.
It is only by becoming familiar with forms so utterly
dissimilar from those we have hitherto been, conversant
with, that we perceive how narrow is the purview that is
content with one form or one passing fashion.
J. Fergusson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 404.
pus (pus), n. r= F. Sp. Pg. It. pus, < L. j;ms
(pur-) = Gfr. Tdiov = Skt. puy'a, matter, pus, <
■/ pu (Skt. •/ puy) in Ii. putere, stink. From L.
ptts are also vdtl purulent, suppurate, eta. ; and
from the sikme root are puant, putid, putrid,
etc.] An inflammatory exudation composed
of modified white blood-cells (pus-corpuscles),
4862
with more or less of the debris and of the pro-
liferating cells of the solid tissues of the part,
and a liquid plasma. The formation of pus is called
suppuratiori. A collection of pus within the solid tissues
is called an abscess. A suppurating open sore is an ulcer.
—Ichorous pus. Same as tcAor.— Laudable pus, thick,
creamy pus such as may be formed in the progressing re-
pair of wounds.— Pus-cells or -coipuscles, the leu-
cocytes of pus.— Pus-disease, pyemia.— Sanious pus, a
somewhat thin, often ill-smelling, greenish or reddish
pus, as discharged from an ill-conditioned ulcer.
pusant, pusanet, »• Same &%pisarfi.
Puseyism (pii'zi-izm), n. [< Pv^ey (see def.)
+ -ism.'] The principles and teachings charac-
teristic of a High-church party in the Church
of England, originating in Oxford University
in the early part of the nineteenth century: so
called from one of the leaders in this so-called
Oxford movement, Dr. E. B. Pusey, professor
of Hebrew in the university. See Tractarian-
ism, ritualism.
Ecclesiastical sentiment, which, in a morbidly exagger-
ated condition, forms one of the principal elements of
Puseyism, Buskin, Elements of Drawing, ill., note.
Puseyistic (pu-zi-is'tik), a. [< Puseyist + -ic]
Of or pertaining to Puseyism or Tractarianism.
Pusejnstical (pii-zi-is'ti-kal), a. [< Puseyistic
+ -al.'] Same as Puseyistic.
Puseyite (pu'zi-it), «. [< Pusey (see Puseyism)
+ -ite^.1 An adherent of the Oxford move-
ment as advocated by Pusey (see Puseyism);
hence, a ritualist.
Puseyites and ritualists, aiming to reinforce ecclesias-
ticism, betray a decided leaning towards archaic print as
well as archaic ornaments.
H. Spencer, Study of Sociol., p. 107.
When I go into a house where there is a ^pretty engrav-
ing of surpliced choristers, with an inscription in red let-
ters underneath — probably a scrap of Latin — I know that
the master of the house, or its mistress, is a Puseyite.
P. 8. Hamerton, Thoughts about Art, ix.
pushl (push), V. [Early mod. E. also posse; <
MB. pussen, possen, < OF. pousser, poulser, F.
pousser = Vr. pulsar = Sp. Pg. pulsar = It. pul-
sare, < L. pulsare, strike, beat, drive, push, f req.
ot pellere, vp. pulsus, strike, drive, push: see
ptclse^"] 1. trans. 1. To strike with a thrust-
ing motion ; thrust, as with a sword ; thrust or
gore, as with the horns.
If the ox shall push a manservant or maidservant, . . .
the ox shall be stoned, Ex. xxi. 32.
2. To thrust forcibly against for the purpose
of moving or impelling in a direction other
than that from which the pressure is applied ;
exert a thrusting, driving, or impelling pres-
sure upon ; drive or impel by pressure ; shove :
opposed to draw : as, to push a hand-cart ; to
push a thing up, down, away, etc.
The see by nyghte as any torche brende
For wode, and posseth hym now up now doun.
Chaucer, Good Women, L 2420.
Push him out of doors. Shak., As you Like it, ill. 1. IB.
Waters forcing way
Sidelong had push'd a mountain from his seat.
Milton, P. L., vi. 197.
They walked out, or drove out, or were pushed about in
bath-chairs. Dickens, Pickwick, xxxvL
3. To impel in general; drive; urge.
We are solicited so powerfully by evil objects without,
and pushed on so violently by evil inclinations within, that
it is impossible but that both these should now and then
prevail. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, II. iv.
4. To press or urge; advance or extend by
persistent or diligent effort or exertion : as, to
push on a work.
He had a true British determination to ptish his way in
the world, George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, ii. 1,
I had intended to push my excursion further, but, not
being quite well, I was compelled to return.
Darwin, Voyage of Beagle, I. 171.
To say at the end of the second year of the war the line
dividing the contestants at the East was pushed north of
Maryland . , . would have been discouraging indeed.
U. S. Grant, Personal Memoirs, I. 406.
5. To prosecute or carry on with energy or
enterprise ; use every means to extend and ad-
vance : as, to push one's business ; to pu^h the
sale of a commodity.
We may push the commeroe^but the pushing must be
done in South America, not in Washington.
The Century, XL. 318.
6. To press hard.
We are ^wsAed for an answer. Siv^.
= Svn. 1. To hustle, jostle, elbow, crowd, force. See thrust.
n. intrans. 1. To thrust, as with the horns
or with a sword ; hence, to make an attack.
At the time of the end shall the king of the mnthpush
at him. Dan. xi. 40.
None shall dare
With shortened SM-ord to stab in closei* war, , . .
Hot push with biting point.
Lryden, Pal. and Arc, iiL 511.
pusher
2. To exercise or put fortli a thrusting or im-
pelling pressure; use steady force in moving-
something in a direction the opposite of that
implied in the word draw : as, to push with all
one's might. — 3. To advance or proceed with
persistence or unflagging effort; force one's
way; press eagerly or persistently; hasten;
usually with on, forward, etc.: as, to push on
at a rapid pace.
The se bigan to posse
Rigt in to Westernesse.
Hi strike sell and maste
And ankere gunne caste.
King Ham (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1011.
Deserted, surrounded, outnumbered, and with eveiy-
thing at stake, he [Clive] did not even deign to stand on
the defensive, \)\s.t pushed boldly /oriwrd to the attack.
Macaulay, Lord Clive.
4. To sit abaft an oar and propel a boat with
forward strokes: as, to push down a stream.
push^ (push), ». [Early mod. E, aXso poxtshe;
< pusl>X, V. In sense 6 the word is appar. the
same (an ' eruption ') ; it cannot be, as some sug-
gest, connected with pustule, or with F, pocks, a
pocket.] 1. A thrust; the exercise of a driv-
ing or impelling thrust; the application of
pressure intended to overturn or set in motion
in the direction in which the force or pressure
is applied; a shove: as, to give a thing or a
person &pvsh.
■ Yet so great was the puissance of his otisA
That from his sadle quite he did him beare.
Spenser, F. Q., I. iiL 35.
Notwithstanding, with an incredible courage they ad-
vanced to the push of the Pike with the defendants.
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, 1. 19.
I'm pleased with my own work ; Jove was not more
With infant nature, when his spacious hand
Had rounded this huge ball of earth and seas
To give it the ilrst push, and see it roll
Along the vast abyss. Dryden, Cleomenes, i. 1.
2. An assault or attack; a forcible onset; a
vigorous effort ; a stroke ; a blow.
Through the prowesse of our owne souldiourspractysed
in former conflicts, they were not able to abyde one pushe
of us, but by and by tourned their backs.
Oolding, tr. of Ceesar, fol. 78.
Here might you see the strong walls shaking and falling
with the pushes of the yron ramme.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 166.
Exact reformation is not perfected at the first jnwA.
MUtan, Reformation in Eng., L
3. An emergency; atrial; an extremity.
This honest chambermaid.
That help'd all at a push.
Middleton, Chaste Maid, v. 4.
'Tis common to talk of dying for a friend, but when it
comes to the push, it is no more than talk.
Sir R. L'i
4. Persevering energy ; enterprise. [CoUoq.]
Bysshe Shelley was a gentleman of the old school, with
a dash of New World cleverness, push, and mammon-wor-
ship. E. Dmvden, Shelley, I. 2.
Where every one recognizes that it is either money
or push which secured the place that should have been
awarded to merit. The Century, XXXVIIL 166.
5. A button, pin, or similar contrivance to be
pushed in conveying pressure : as, the electric
heUV-push.
The spring push, which was secured higher np on the
door, was too much of a toy affair, and could be tampered
with by patients so inclined. Sci. Armr., N. S., LX. 313.
6. A pustule ; a pimple. [Obs. or prov. Bng.]
Some tyme blacke poushes or boyles, with inflammation
and moch peyne. Sir T. Elyot, Castle of Health, iii. 7.
It was a proverb amongst the Grecians, that "He that
was praised to his hurt should have a push rise upon his
nose." Baxson, Praise (ed. 1887).
Push Of an arch. Same as thrust of an arch (which see,
under thrudt).
push^t (piish), inier/. Same asjjisTt.
Push! I take 't unkindly, 1' faith.
MiddMoin, Your Five Gallants, iL 1.
push-a-piket (push'a-pik), n. An old game.
Since only those at kick and cuff
Are beat that cry they have enough ;
But when at push a pike we play
With beauty, who shall win the day?
Hudihras Sedivivus (1707). {Nares.)
push-button (piish'buf'n), n. See button, 4 (c).
push-car (piish'kar), m. 1 . A light four-wheeled
platform-car used on railways by track-repair-
ers in moving tools and materials. — 2. A car
used at a ferry-slip to connect an engine with a
train on a ferry-boat. [U. S.]
pusher (push'fer), n. 1 . One who or that which
pushes; one who drives forward. — 2. Inmech.,
a stem or rod, usually vi'ith a button on the outer
end, by which, from the outside of an inclosed
space, some movement or result is accomplished
within the space by pressing upon the button
or outer extremity of the rod to push it toward
cases, nee cui unaei ^lOK'-.
push-pin (piiah'pin). n. [< push^, v., +
/)»»!.] A children's play in which pins
pushed alternately, Also put-rHn,
pusber
the interior : as, the pusher of an electric signal
or a system of electric bells, whereby an electric
circuit IB completed or broken.— 3. One of the
levers of a tvpe-setting machine, which, when
touched on the keyboard, dislodges and pushes
out a type.
push-hoe (pfiah'hd), n. See hoe^.
push-hole (ptish'hol), n. In glass-maJelng, a
hole in a flattening furnace for annealing and
flattening plate-glass. E. B. Knight.
pushing (plish'ing), p. a. [Ppr. of push^, v.^]
Pressing forward in business; putting one's
self forward; self-assertive.
An Intriguing, puiMnff Irishman named White.
Maea/uZay, Hist. Eng., vl.
pushing-jack (plish'ing.jak), n. An implement
for moving a large and heavy object, such as a
railroad-oar, for a short distance, inoneformltls
a toggle-bar, one end of which Is put against a tie, and the
other against the oar, which Is moved by the action of the
lever,
pushingly (p1ish'ing-li), adv.- In a pushing,
vigorous, energetic manner.
pusnm, n. [Pers. Hind, pashm, wool, fur, hair,
down.] Same as pashm.
pushmina (push-mS'ng,)^. [Pers. Hind, pasl^
mina, woolen cloth.] Woolen cloth: used at-
tributively: as, a, pushmina shawl. The word Is
applied to true Cashmere shawls of fine quality, as din-
tfngttlshed from Imitations or Inferior manufactures. Also
paghmtna,
push-pick (plish'pik), n. A tool with a short
handle and a heart-shaped blade, used in mili-
tary mining for loosening the earth behind the
cases of galleries preparatory to inserting new
cases. See cut nndei piek^.
obj,
are
pushed alternately,
Lol. Once more and you shall go play, Tony.
Ant, Ay, play at jH«A-jii», cousin.
» Jaiddleton and Rowley, Changeling, I. 2.
Pimh-pin Is a very silly sport, being nothing more than
simply pushing one pin across another.
Strvtt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 606.
pushti (push'ti), n. [Pers. pushU, a support
(for the back), cf. pmhta, a'bundle, load, hil-
lock, < pusht,_ the back.] A square of material,
often embroidered silk, used in Persia and the
East to cover the wall where a sofa touches it,
so that aperson seated leans against it.
Pushtu, Pushtoo (push'ta), ». [Also Pushto,
Pashto; Afghan.] The language of the Af-
ghans : it belongs to the Iranian group of the
Indo-European languages,
pusilt (pu sil), a. [z= It, pusillo, < L. pusillus,
very little, petty, insignificant, dim. otpusus, a
boy, a little boy; otpi^us, a boy, puer, boy,
child; Bee pvpiP-.'] Very little. Bacon.
pusillanimity (pu'''si-la-nim'i-ti), n. [< F. pu-
mllarwmiU = Pr. pwiUamimtat = Sp. pusila-
immidad = Pg. pusillammidade = It. pusillanl-
mUd,,<,lih,pusiUammita{t-)8, faint-heartedness,
< pusUlavdmAs, faint-hearted, timid : see pusil-
lammcms.'] The state or condition of being
pusillanimous; lack of that spirit which con-
stitutes courage or fortitude; cowardliness;
timidity.
The liver white and pale, which Is the badge of pmll-
lanknity and cowardice. Sha7e., 2 Hen. IV., Iv. 8. 114.
There may bo a pustllanhniti/ even towards God; a man
may over-clog his own oonsolenoe, and belle himself In his
confessions, out of a distempered Jealousy.
Donne, Sermons, xl.
=Syil. Poltroonery. See eowaird, n.
pusillanimous (pu-si-lan'i-mus), a. [== F. pi^
sillamime = Sp. pusildMme = Pg. pwsillaiwme =
It. pusillanime, pvMUawimo, < IJL. pusillanimis,
faint-hearted, timid, < L. pusillus, very little, H-
animus, mind, heart : see pusil and anMrms."] 1 .
Lacking strength and firmness of mind; want-
ing in courage and fortitude; being of weak
courage; faint-hearted; mean-spirited; cow-
ardly.
The dangers which he avoided with a caution almost
piMlanimowi never confused his perceptions.
Mamvlay, Machlavelli.
Pow'r nsurp'd
Is weakness when oppos'd ; conscious of wrong,
'TiB»tm7i(Ww'»MJ«» and prone to flight.
Cinuper, Task, v. 878.
He was a man of Incurably commonplace Intellect, and
of no character but a hollow, blustery, pmillavmume, and
unsound one. Carlyle, Sterling, III. 6.
S. Proceeding from lack of courage; indicating
timidity.
An argument fit for great and mighty princes, . . .that,
neither, by over-measuring their forces, they lose them-
selves in vain enterprises ; nor, on the other side, by un-
dervaluing them, descend to fearful and pimllamSmous
Sttoon, True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates (ed. 1887).
4863
He Is slow and full of Wariness, and not without a Mix-
ture of Fear : I do not mean a piadUmimmia, but politic
Fear. Howell, Letters, I. L 10.
=Syn. 1. Poltroon, Daitard, etc. See eowa/rd.—l and 2.
Weak, feeble^ timorous, spiritless, effeminate, dastardly.
pusillanimously (pu-si-lan'i-mus-li), adv. In a
pusillanimous manner; mean-spiritedly; with
want of courage.
The rebels, puglUanimoudy opposing that new torrent
of destruction, gaze awhile. &»■ T. Herbert, Travels, p. 88.
pusillanimouBness (pU-si-lan'i-mus-nes), n.
Pusillanimous character; pusillanimity.
pusio, n.; -pi. pusiones. Same a,a pisanX
pusley (pus'li), n. See pussly.
pusont, n. and v. A late Middle English form
ot poison. Cath. Aug., p. 2S5.
puss (p1is), n, [= D. poes = LG. pus, lus (in
comp. pusJcatte) — Dan, pus = Sw. dial, pus =
Norw. puse, a oat, = Ir. pus, a cat, = Grs,el.puis,
Ir. Aim. puism, a kitten ; similar forms are found
in some remote tongues, and the word is sup-
posed to have been orig. imitative, perhaps
of the noise made by the oat when "spitting."
Cf. 'Bi-oA. fish, fish, popularly wM»,pte, 'pussl
puss I ' used in calling a cat.] 1 . A cat ; a pussy
or pussy-cat.
Thus Dorset^ purring like a thoughtful cat.
Married, but wiser mus ne'er thought of tliat.
Dryden, Essay upon Satire, 1. 179.
2. A hare or rabbit.
Thou Shalt not give Pm*« a hint to steal away— wemust
catch her In her form. Scott, KenUworth, xxix.
3. A puss-moth. — 4. A pet name for a child or
young woman.
Gone I what a pox had I Just run her down, and is the
little puee stole away at lafit ? Caiman, Jealous Wif e, U. 3.
The little jm88 seems already to have airs enough to make
a husband as miserable as it s a law of nature for a quiet
man to be when he marries a beauty.
Qeorge Eliot, Adam Bede, Ix.
FuSS-lU-the-Comer, a children's game. "A certain num-
ber of boys or girls stand singly at different distances ;
suppose we say for instance one at each of the four cor-
ners of a room, a fifth Is then placed In the middle ; the
business ot those who occupy the comers is to keep chang-
ing their positions In a regular succession, and of the out-
player to gain one of the corners vacated by the change
before the successor can reach It ; It done, he retains It,
and the loser takes his place In the middle." (Strutt, Sports
and Pastimes, p. 488.)
puss-clover (pus'kl6"v6r), ». The rabbit's-f oot
or stone-clover, TrifoUum arvense: so named
from its silky heads.
pnssel (pus'el), n. The large scallop, Peoten
magellardous, [Local, Labrador.]
puss-gentleman (pus'jen'''tl-man), n. An ef-
feminate dandy, [Bare.]
A fine pues-gentleman that 's all perfume.
Coioper, Conversation, 1. 284.
pussly (pus'li), n. A corruption of purslane.
Also writtea pulley. [U. S.J
When asked to select the most offensive among the
worst weeds, the task becomes an exceedingly difficult
one. Among the annuals, especially In gardens, the purs-
lane or pusleu perhaps takes the lead.
Amer. Nat., XXII. 778.
puss-moth (ptis'mdth), n. A moth of the genus
Cerura. C, (or Dieramurc^ vinvia is a handsome large-
bodied bombycid moth of Europe, of a whitish color with
black spots. The larva, which feeds on poplars and wil-
lows, is blackish when young, pale-green when full-grown,
and provided with two long anal projections ; it ejects an
acrid fluid when irritated. See out under Cerura,
pusstail (pus'tal), », A common grass of the
fenus Setaria: so called on account of the
ristly cyUndrioal spikes. More often called
foxtail,
pussyi (piis'i), «. ; pi. pussies (-iz), l<puss +
dim. -2/.] A diminutive oipuss.
pussy2 (pus'i), a. [<pus^ + -^l.] Filled with
pus.
The moat vusau gland ruptured during extrication.
Med. News, LIII. 695.
pussyS (pus'i), a. A dialectal form ot pursy,
pussy-cat (ptis'i-kat), n. [= LG. puselcatte; <
pussy'^ + cat^.'] 1. A puss or oat. — 2. The
silky catkin of various willows, in England
chiefly of SaUx Caprea, the common sallow.
Also applied to the catkins of Populus alba.
pussy-willow (pus'i-wil"6), «. A common
American willow, SaUx discolor, producing in
earliest spring catkins that are very silky when
youn g. It Is a shrub or small tree with glaucous leaves,
growing in moist ground. The name is also applied to
other willows whose young catkins are silvery. Some-
times called glaucous mUow, and swam^-wlUow.
In his dreams he hunts toi tmssy-willows, as he did when
a ^,oy. Harper's May., LXXVII. 924.
pustular (pus'tu-iar), a. [< pustule + -arS.]
1. Of the nature of a pustule; proceeding from
pustules, or characterized by their presence:
put
as, a pustular disease. — 2. In hot. and zool.,
having low elevations like blisters. .Also ptistu-
late, pustulose.
pustmate (pus'tu-lat), v. i.j pret. and pp. pus-
tulated, ppr. pustulating. [< L. pustulatus, pp.
of pustulare, blister, < pusMa, a blister, pim-
ple: see pustule.J 'To form pustules.
The blanes [of Job] pustulated to afflict his body.
Stackhome, Hist. Bible, I. 364.
pustulate (pus'tu-lat), a. [< Li. pustulatus, pp. :
see the verb.] 1. In bat, same a,B pustular, 2.
— 2. In entom., covered with small spots, or
with slight rounded elevations less distinct
and regular than those of a granulated surface.
pustulation (pus-ta-la'shon), «.. [< lj'L,pustu-
latioln-), a breaking out into pustules, < ti, pus-
tulare, pp. pustulatus, blister: see pustulate.']
The formation or breaking out of pustules.
pustulatous (pus'Ju-la-tus), a. [< pustulate +
-o«s.] Pustulate.— PuBtnlatouB moss, a commer.
clal name of certain lichens of the genera Lecanora and
Farmelia, used in the preparation of archil. Lindsay,
British Lichens.
pustule (pus'tul), n, [= F. pustule = Sp. pHis-
tula = Pg. pustula = It. pustula, pustola, < L.
pusfula, a blister, pimple, pustule ; cf . pusula,
a bubble, blister, pimple ; perhaps akin to Gr.
fuaa7iic,.(fvtja?,2,ic, a, bladder: see ph/ysaUs.li 1.
In med., a small inflammatory tumor contain-
ing pus; a small pimple containing pus. — 3.
In bot., a slight elevation like a pimple or little
blister. — 3. In zool.; (a) A small rounded ele-
vation of surface, like a blister; a papule or
pimple, (&) A spot of color larger than a dot,
and suggestive of a blister.- Malignant pustule,
a pustule forming th e Initial lesion of anthrax. See malig-
nant anthrax, under anthrax. — Pustules of the sea, a
sailors' name of sessile barnacles or acorn-shells. ^^
called eeorthoma,
pustnllform (pus'tu-li-f 6rm), a. [< L. pvstvla,
, a blister, ^ustule,'4- forma, form.] In bot, and
eool,, having the form of a pustule,
pustulocrustaceous (pus'-'tu-lo-kms-ta'shius),
a. [< L. pustula, a blister, pustule, -I- crusta,
crust: see erustaeeous,2 Pertaining to pus-
tules which, discharging, form more or less ex-
tensive crusts ; having or characterized by such
pustules,
pustulose (pus'tu-los), a. [< L. pustulosus:
see pustulous.] "In bot., same a,spustular, 2.
pustulous (pus'tu-lus), a. [= F. pustuleiix =
Pr. pustulos = Pg. pustuloso, < L. pustulosus, full
of pustules, < pustula, a blister, pustule : see
pustule.] Full of or covered with pustules ;
resembling a pustule or pustules ; pustular.
put^ (put), V. ; pret. and pp. put, ppr. putting.
[Formerly also putt (dial, pit) ; < ME. putten,
puten, a secondary form or variant of ^oten, <
AS.potian, push, thrust ; cf. Ds,n.putte (< E. f),
gut; prob. of Celtic origin: < W. pwtio =
om. poot = Gael, put, push, thrust. Ctpote.]
1. trans. 1. To push; thrust: literally or figura-
tively.
Ther as the mene peple were fledde in U> caves for soc-
our, thel putt In fler, and brent hem ther-ynne.
Merlin (E. B. T. S.), IL 236.
Seem you but sorry for what you haue done.
And straight shele put the finger In the eye.
With comfort now, since it cannot be helpt.
Heywood, 1 Edw. IV. (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, 1. 5).
2. To cast; throw; particularly, to throw with
an upward and forward motion of the arm : as,
to put the stone ; to put the shot. Compare
putt, [In this sense pronounced put in Scot-
land.]
In the square are wooden benches for looking on at the
tossing of the ctibet, putting fhe stone, and other High-
land games. W. Black, In Far Loohaber, it
The sports will include a 100-yard dash, running broad
Jump, 220-yard hurdle (low), putting sixteen-pound shot,
running hfgh lump, and a one-mile run.
New York Tribune, May 11, 1890.
3. To drive; impel; force, either literally or fig-
uratively; hence, to oblige; constrain; compel.
A-bove alle other was Sh- Gaweln comended, flor
thourgh his prowesse thel were putte bakke and cnaeed
to the town. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 460.
Eashly I thought her false, and put her from me.
Fletcher, Loyal Subject, v. 2.
Sheejnrf him soone after to his ohoyce, whether he would
enloy what he had seene, and the Kingdome lor dowrle,
without other loynture then Candaules bloud, or would
there himselfe be slaine. Purchaa, Pilgrimage, p. 330.
He espied two ships more riding by them, put in by the
storm. Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 5.
That trick
Was well put home.
B. Jonson, Sejanus, 11. 2.
They all agreed to censure him, »n6.put him from that
employment. Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 375,
put
I shall be pyt unwillingly to molest the pablick view
with the vindication of a private name.
JKutou, Apology for Smectymnuns.
4. To place, set, lay, deposit, bring, or cause to
be in any position, place, or situation.
Same puUen Wax in Oyle of the Wode of the fruyt of
Bawme, and seyn that it is Bawme.
Mandemlle, Travels, p. 51.
Caduce if that the fruyte be, cleef the roote,
And putte in bit a stoone.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. 3.), p. 92.
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden ;
and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Oen. iL 8.
Yon put sharp weapons in a madman's hands.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 847.
The aqaavitee was put aboard by my brother Peter's
order, without my appointment
Winthrop, Hist. New England,!. 467.
I went to the Sheik's house, and carried the letter I had
from the Sheik of Furshout. When he knew who it was
from, he klss'd the letter and put it to his forehead, which
is a ihark of great respect.
Pomcke, Description of the East, 1. 113,
But sit beside my bed, mother, and put your hand in mine.
Tennyeon, May Queen, Conclusion.
5. To set in some particular way or course;
instigate; urge; incite; entice.
If your Majesty be not Popish, as you professe, and I am
very willing to beleeve, why doe you »«« the Parliament
to resume the Sacrament of the Altar?
N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 69.
It might have put him upon some dangerous design of
surprising our ships.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, IL 135.
6. To cause, or cause to be ; bring or place in
some specified state or condition: as, to put
one in mind ; to ^m* to shame ; to put to death ;
to put one out of pain ; to put va. motion ; to put
in order ; to put to inconvenience.
It is playnly your purpos to put you to dethe,
With suche fyndes to flght till ye fay worthe.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), L B97. .
Put me in a surety with thee. Job xviL 3.
But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with
the gospel, even so we speak. 1 Thes. ii. 4.
This question ask'd
Putt me in doubt. Milton, P. 1., iv. 888.
This last Storm put our Men quite out of heart.
Dam^ner, Voyages, I. 439.
Becently, he had been a public lecturer on Mesmerism,
for which science (as he assured Pbcebe, and, indeed, sat-
isfactorily proved by putting Chanticleer, who happened
to be scratching near by, to sleep) he had very remaritable
endowments. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xiL
"Yes, sfar," murmured Polly, put to blush by the appa-
rition. Harper's Mag., LXXIX. 929.
7. To assign ; set, as to a task or the doing of
something: as, to put vnen to work.
And for my curtesie I was put to the Soudenys house
& was made vssher of halle.
Politieal Poems, eta. (ed. Eurnivall), p. 13.
The women, as the weaker sort, be put to the easier
crafts : as to work wool and flax.
Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Kobinson), ii. 4.
It was not till the yeare 1628 that I was pui. to leame
my Latine rudiments, and to write of one Citolin, a French-
man, in lewes. Evelyn, Diary, p. 8.
8. To set or propose for consideration, delib-
eration, judgment, reply, acceptance, or re-
jection; propound; pro_pose; offer; state as a
hypothesis or proposition: as, to put a case
(see phrases below) ; to put a question ; to put
it to one to say.
I put it to the common sense of all of you . . . whether
any great body of the conquered people could have lived
on in their former dwelling-places through such a con-
quest as this. E, A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 131.
The questions which the Indians put betray their rea-
son and their ignorance.
Mmersvn, Hist. Discourse at Concord.
9. To state ; express ; phrase.
Stupidly ^m£/ Inane is the response.
Brauming, £ing and Book, II. 69.
A thought 's his who kindles new youth in it.
Or so pt(t8 it as makes it more true.
Lowell, Franciscus de Verulamio.
Hie old Hydrous appears as a Greek colony, placed, as
one of the old geographers happily puts it, on the mouth
either of the Hadriatic or of the Ionian sea.
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 313.
10. To render; do; turn; translate.
I have put this Boke out of Latyn into Frensche, and
translated it azen out of Frensche into Englyssche.
Mandemlle, Travels, p. 5.
So did enery scholer & secular clerke or versifier, when
he wrote any short poeme or matter of good lesson, jra< it
in ryme. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesle, p. 10.
lit. To posit; afSrm.
The true faith pulteth the resurrection, which we be
warned to look for every hour. The heathen philosophers,
denying that, did imt that the souls did ever live.
TgndaU, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc, 1850), p. 180.
12. To apply; use.
mtte here Bodyes
heritage, thei may
4864
And the comoun Peple, that wolde
and here Catelle for to conquere oure
not don it withouten the Lordes.
Mandemlle, Travels, p. 3.
The Mayor, &e. [of Bristol], approve the ordinances [of
fullers], and put thereto the Common Seal of the City, in
September, 1406. English QUds (E. E. T. S.), p. 286.
The great difference in the notions of mankind is from
the dilterent use they put their faculties to. Locke.
In truth it is rare for me to put pen to paper for private
correspondence, so much is my time and attention en-
grossed bypublic business.
George Washington, To Col. Sam! Washington, quoted
[in N. A. Kev., CXUII. 482.
13t. To lay down; give up; surrender.
No man hath more loue than this, that a man putte his
lyf for hise frendis. Wydif, John xv. 13.
Put it In assay t. See assay.— Put the case, elliptioally
put case, suppose the case to be; suppose.
But put the case, in travel I may meet
Some gorgeous structure, a brave frontispiece.
Shall I stay captive in the outer court?
B. Jomsan, New Inn, iii. 2.
Put ease our author should, once more.
Swear that his play were good.
B. Jomsan, Poetaster, Ind.
PvH the case, I was a gentleman (which, thank God, no
one can say of me); well — my honour makes me quarrel
with another gentleman of my acquaintance.
Sheridan, The Itivals, iv. 1.
To be put to it, to be hard pressed or tried ; be driven to
extremities ; be embarrassed ; be hampered.
Others of them were worse put to it, wher they were
faine to eate doggs, toads, and dead men, and so dyed al-
most all. Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 137.
The pathway was here also exceeding narrow, and there-
fore good Christian was the more put to it; for when he
sought in the dark to shun the ditch on the one hand, he
was ready to tip over into the mire on the other.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 132.
To be put to one's trumps, to be driven to one's re-
sources or endeavor. — To put a bone in any one's
hoodt. See doMi.— To put about, (a) Navt., to reverse
the course of. (i>) To put to inconvenience, trouble, an-
noyance, bewilderment or embarrassment: as, he was
much put about by that occurrence.
"Nay," pleaded Jeremiah. "Thee art sorry for what
thee said ; thee were sore jwf about, or thee wouldn't have
said it." Mrs. Oaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, xxxvi
(c) To publish ; declare ; circulate. [Colloq.]
Put it about in the right quarter that you'll buy queer
bills by the lump. IHckens, Our Mutual Friend, ii. 6.
To put all one's eggs Into one basket, a nail in one's
coffin, an ape in one's hoodt. See eggJ^, coffin, ape.—
To put an end to. See end.— to put a stop to. See
stop.— To put away, (at) To drive away ; remove ; expel.
This oyle, that is to seie quinta essencia of gold, hath the
mooste swetnes and vertu to a-swage and puUe a/um the
ache of wouudis.
Book of Quints Essence (ed. Fumivall), p. 10.
Henry the Fifth ^nrf away the Friars, Aliens, and seiz'd
to himself 100,0002. a year. Selden, Table-TaUc, p. 18.
(jb) To renounce ; discard.
Put away the gods which your fathers served.
Josh. xxiv. 14.
(c) To divorce.
Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? . . . Moses
Buffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her
away. Mark x. 2, 4.
(dt) To dispose of.
He took two skins and a half, . . . which he carried to
Mr. Cutting's ship, and put it auiay there for twenty-four
shillings. Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 426.
By reason some Hollanders, and others, had bin there
lately before him, who carried away with them all the To-
bacco, he was forced to put away all his commodities upon
trust till the'next crop.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 271.
To put back, (a) To hinder ; delay, (b) To restore to
the original place, (c) To set, as the hands of a clock, to
an earlier time. (pC) To refuse ; say nay to.
Coming from thee, I could notput him back.
Shale., Lucrece, 1. 843.
To put by. (a) To turn away ; divert.
Watch and resist the devil ; his chief designs are to hin-
der thy desire in good, to put thee by from thy spiritual
employment. Jer. Taylor.
(i) To set or thrust aside.
Just God, put by th' unnatural blow.
Cowley, Davldeis, iii.
The chancellor, sedate and vain,
In courteous words retum'd reply.
But dallied with his golden chain.
And, smiling, put the question by.
Tennyson, Day-Dream, The RevivaL
fc) To place in safe keeping ; save or store up : as, "to put
by something for a rainy day."— TO put down, (a) To
repress ; crush ; suppress.
The great feast at Whitehall was on Tuesday, where is
unspeakable bravery ; but the Duke of Chevreuse put down
ours. Court and Times of Charles J., I. 37.
Sir Peter is such an enemy to scandal, I believe he would
have It pttt down by parliament.
• Sheridan, School for Scandal, ii. 2.
(S) To degrade ; deprive of authority, power, or place, (c)
To defeat; put to rout; overcome; exceL
The Spaniards, notwithstanding they are the Masters of
the Staple of Jewels, stood astonished at flie Beaut? of
these, and confessed themselves to be put down.
Howell, Letters, I. iv. 1.
put
(<f t) To bring into disuse.
Sugar hath put down the use of honey.
Bacon.
Here is no trading, carriers from most places put doume ;
nor no receiving of any money, though long due.
Sherley, qnotei in Bradford's Plymouth Plantation, p. 845.
(«) To confute ; silence.
Mark now, how a plain tale shall put you down.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., 0. 4. 281.
As I live, madam, you put them all down
With your mere su'ength of Judgment.
B. Jonson, Catiline, iL 1.
(/) To write, as in a subscription-list or in a program : as,
to pvt one's name doum for a handsome sum ; to put one
down for a toast or a speech. (£r) To give up ; do without
[Eng.]
He had set himself not only to put down his carriage, but
... to order the whole establishment on the sparest foot-
ing possible. Qeorge Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xxiv.
To put forth, (a) To stretch out ; reach.
He put forth his hand, and took her. Gen. viil. 9.
(A) To shoot out ; send forth or out, as a sprout.
A standard of a damask rose with the root on was set
. . . upright in an earthen pan full of fair water without
any mixture: . . . within the space of ten days the stan-
dard did put forth a fair green leaf.
Bacon, Nat Hist, § 407.
(c) To exert; bring into action.
Virgil putieth himself /orCA to attribute to Augustus Ces-
sar the best of human honours.
Ba^on, Advancement of Learning, i, 97.
In honouring God, put forth all thy strength.
Jer. Taylor.
(d) To propose; offer.
Samson said unto them, I will Dovr put forth a riddle unto
you. Judges xiv. 12.
At their request he put forth him selfe to make a trial]
... of his skill. Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 211.
(e) To issue; publish.
I am not yet fully determined with myself whether I
will put forth my book or no.
Sir T. More, Utopia, Ded. to Peter Giles, p. 11.
The proposed Congress, commonly called the "Stamp.
Act Congress," . . . also jmt/ortA a declaration of colonial
rights, acknowledging allegiance to the crown, and claim-
ing " all the inherent rights and privileges of natural-bom
subjects within the kingdom of Great Britain."
A. Johngtm,, Encyc. Brit, XXIII. 738.
To put forth one's hand against, see hmid.—io put
heads together. See to lay heads together, under Iiq^i.
— To put In. (a) To hand in ; present.
He is ts^put in his answer the 13th of January.
WalpdU, Letters, II. 69.
(&) To introduce among others ; interpose.
Give me leave to put in a word, to teU you that I am
glad you allow us different degrees of worth.
Jeremy Collier.
(c) To insert : as, to put in a passage or clause ; to put in a
scion, (d) To appoint to an office.
The ai'chbishop is put in by the patriarch of Constanti-
nople, and the metropolitan makes the bishops, who put
in the parish priests.
Pococke, Description of the East H* i- 267.
To put In an appearance, to put In or into commis-
slon, to put In mind, to put In pledge, to put in prac-
tice. See the nouns. — To put In the pin. See pm^.
He had two or three times resolved to better himself
and to put in the pin, meaning he had made a vow to re-
frain from drinking.
Mayhew, Loudon Labour and London Poor, I. 345.
To put off. (a) To push off from land ; push out into the
water.
Two of them going out of the boat, he caused the boats-
men to put o^the boat
Winthrop, Hist New England, I. 376.
(6) To palm off ; pass fraudulently ; foist.
The Natives are for putting off bad Money, it possibly
they can. Dumpier, Voyages, II. i 181.
It is the hardest case in the world that Mr. Steele should
take up the artificial reports of his own faction, and then
put them offnvon the world as " additional fears of a pop-
ish successor." Swift, Public Spirit of the Whigs,
(ct) To dispose of, as by barter or sale ; sell.
In yo midds of these distractions, they of Leyden, who
had put of their estats, and laid out their moneys, were
brought into a greate streight.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 46.
These ships, by reason of their short passage, had store
of provisions left, which they put off at easy rates, viz.
biscuit at 20«. the hundred ; beef at £a the hogshead, etc.
Winthrop, Hist New England, 1. 169.
(d) To take off or lay aside ; doff.
None of us put off one clothes. Neh. iv. 23.
Hell about me.
Behind me, and before me ; yet I dare not.
Still fearing worse, put off my wretched being.
Beau, and Fl., Elnight of Miilta, iv. 1.
Could hee put off his body with his little Coate, he had
got etemitie without a burthen, and exchang'd but one
Heauen for another.
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographle, A Ghilde.
(e) To dismiss ; discard.
The kyng to the komyns carplt agayne ;
To put of that purpos he paynet hym sore.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 11416.
The clothiers all . . . put off
The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers.
Shak., Hen. VIII., I 2, 32,
pat
I do not send you George, because they are speaklnit of
puUmg 0/ servants. Winthrop, Hist. New England, iTM.
if) To defer; postpone; delay: as, to put off som'ethlnK
to a more convenient season; U) put off one's departurl
top & W66K.
The promised collection was long put 0/ under various
pretexts. Uacavlay, Hist. Eng., vt
(g) To defeat or baffle, as by delay, artifice, plausible ex-
CUS6j 6tC.
Do men in good earnest think that God wUl be put off
, 1 or t^t the law of God will be baffled with a lie otothe'd
in a scoff?
Soiah.
When I ask, I am not to be put off, Madam. No, no. I
take my triend by the button. > > -^
Qoldrniitli, Good-natured Man, ii.
Hastings, who wanted money and not excuses, was not
to be put off Toy the ordinary artifices of Eastern negotia-
t'O"- Macavlay, Warren Hastings.
To put on or upon, (a) {On, adv.] (1) To clothe, cover,
or mvest the person, or some pai't of It, with ; assume as a
oovermg, or as something to be worn : as, to put on one's
clothes ; to put on a new pair of gloves.
He'8|»ee«?i on his cork-heel'd shoon,
And fast awa rade he.
Burd Ellen (Child's Ballads, HI. 218).
Fresh was Phoebe, moreover, and airy and sweet In her
apparel ; as if nothing that she wore . . . had ever been
put on before ; or, if worn, were all the fresher for it, and
with a fragrance as if they had lain among the rosebuds.
HamtTwme, Seven Gables, xL
Hence — (2) To assume ; assume the garb or appearance
of ; show externally ; exhibit : as, to piet on a solemn
countenance, or a show of interest ; to put on airs.
We made love, and contemn'd love ; now seem'd holy.
With such a reverent put-on reservation
Which could not miss, according to your principles.
Fletcher, Wlldgoose Chase, iii. 1.
Putting off the Courtier, he now puts on the Philosopher.
Milton, Eikonoklastes, vL
Mai. Now all in tears, now smiling, sad at parting.
Guiee. Dissembled, tor she told me this before ;
'Twas aUpvt on that I might hear and rave.
Dryden, Duke of Guise, iii. 1.
(8) To turn or let on ; turn orbringintoaction: as, to put
on more steam. (4) To forward ; promote.
This came handsomely to put on the peace.
Bacon, Hist. Hen. VII.
(9) To instigate ; incite.
You protect this course, and put it on
By your allowance. Shak., Lear, L 4. 227.
These two, as the king conceived, put him on to that
foul practise and illusion of Sathans.
Apothegrm of King James (1669). (Nares.)
(6) To deceive; impose upon; cheat; trick: as, I will not
be put upon.
The stork found he was put upon, but set a good face,
however, upon his entertainment. Sir £. L'Eetrange.
(b) [On, prep.] (1) To impose upon ; inflict upon.
That which thou putteet on me, will I bear.
2 Si. xviii. 14.
Sir, I must have you know
That you are and shall be at our pleasure^ what
Fashion we wUlput upon you.
Beau, and Fl., Fhilaster, L L
(2) To lay on ; impute to : as, to pvt the blame on some-
body else.
I'll try you for his Murder, which I find you'd put on
me, thou hellish Engine 1 Steele, Grief A-la-Mode, v. 1.
(3) To impel to ; instigate to; incite to.
Ambition often puts men up€m doing the meanest offices.
Swift, Thoughts on Various Subjects.
But pray, Mr. Puff, what first put you oil exercising your
talents in this way? Sheridan, The Critic, L 2.
(4) To ascribe to.
Thus the priests of elder time Ta.a.iieprutupon them many
incredible conceits. Sir T. Broume, Vnlg. Err.
In faith, in faith.
You do not fair to pitt these things upon me.
Which can in no sort be.
B. Jomon, Sad Shepherd, i. 2.
(5) To foist upon ; palm oB on.
My Lady Townshend has picked up a little stable-boy
in the Tower, which the warders have put upon her for a
natural son of Lord Kilmarnock's.
Walpole, Letters, n. 81.
(6) In law, to rest on ; rest one's case in ; submit to : as, the
defendant jntts himself upon the country (that is, he pleads
not guilty, and will go to trial).— To put one In a hole,
to put one on or to Ills mettle, to put one's back up.
See the nouns.— To put one's best foot forward, to
put one's foot in it, to put one's foot into. See foot.
—To put one's band to. See hand.— To put one's
liand to the plow. See plow.— To put one's head into
the lion's mouth, one's nose out of joint, one's nose
to the grindstone, one's oar in. See lion, joint, grind-
atone, oar.— To put one to the door. See door.— To put
on trial. Seetrioi.— Toputout. (a) To thrust out. (1)
To destroy, so as to blind: said of the eyes.
But now with a most inhumane cruelty they who have
put out the peoples eyes reproach them of their blind-
nesse. Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus.
(2) To extend; reach out; protrude.
It came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put
out his hand. Gen. xxxviu. 28.
(6) To extinguish.
Is the light of thy Vnderstanding now cleane^ outf
Dekker, Seven Deadly Sms, p. 24.
(c) To shoot forth, asabud or sprout: as, to ;jMt(m« leaves.
(d) To exa:t; use.
4865
Let us all set ourselves in good earnest to resist all man-
ner of temptations : let us put out all the strength which
we naturally have to this purpose, and beg of God super-
naturally to supply us with what we have not.
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, II. iv.
(e) To expel; eject; drive out; dismiss: as, to^mt out an
intruder ; to be put out of office.
The same Day that he [Adam] was putt in Paradys, the
same Day he was put autt, MandemUe, Travels, p. 67.
Whanne nature hath sett in you ^lente
Of alle goodnesse, by vertu and bi grace.
He neuere assembled hem, as semeth me.
To put pyte owte of his dwellyng place.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 67.
They should put out four of the magistrates from that
power and trust which the freeman had committed to
them. Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 206.
(/) To publish ; make public ; issue : as, to put out a pam-
phlet.
I was surprized at the Impudence of a Booth, which put
out the Pictures of some Indian Beasts with hard Names ;
and of four that were Painted I found but two.
Idster, Journey to Paris, p. 177.
They were putting out very curious stamps of the several
edifices which are most famous for their beauty.
Addison, Works (ed. Bohn), I. 888.
Every case in which copies of the original letters can be
compared with the revised editions put out by the writers.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 127,
(g) To confuse ; disconcert.
My Aunt is here, and she will put me out: you know I
cannot dance before her.
Wycherley, Gentleman Dancing-Master, iv. 1.
Something has gone wrong. Miss Fanny, I'm afraid.
You seem put old, and it's very becoming, I give you my
honour. Whyte MelvOle, White Eose, I. viii.
(A) To offend.
You're a good old brick to be serious, and not put out
with me. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, iL 7.
(»■) To lay out. (1) To expend ; spend : as, to put outmoney
(2) To invest ; place at interest.
He called his money in.
But the prevailing love of pelf
Soon split him on the former shelf:
"Re put it out again.
Dryden, tr. of Horace's Epodes, ii.
(J) To dislocate : as, to put out one's ankle. — To put out
Of sight. See gj^Afc— To put over, (a) [0»er, adv.] (1)
To refer ; send.
For the certain knowledge of that truth
I put you o'er to heaven and to my mother.
Shak., K. John, L 1. 62.
(2) To defer; postpone: as, the court ^'U^oi'e'' the cause to
the next term. (3t) To transfer; make over; assign.
If he intends to come hither, it were good he sold his
land, and paid his sister her £100, which he promised
when I put over his land to him.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 468.
(4) To knock over; kill. [Australia.]
"I wouldn't lose that pistol for five pounds," he said,
"No— nor more. I should never have one like it again.
I've jmt omr a parrot at twenty yards with it."
U. Kingsley, Geoffry Hamlyn, p. 412.
(6) [Over, prep.] (1) To place in authority over. (2) To
transport across ; ferry or carry across.
Cattle . . . which came late, and could not be put over
the river, lived very well all the winter without any hay.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 219.
To put the ax in the helve, the hoot on the wrong
leg, the cart before the horse. See axi, boot», cwrt.—
To put the case. See case^, and put the case, above. — To
put the change on or upont. See change.— To put the
fool on or upont. See fooli.— To put the hand to (or
unto), (a) To take hold of ; begin ; undertake.
Ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unta.
Deut. xiL 7.
(A) To take or seize, as in theft ; steal.
If the thief be not found, then the master of the house
shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he have
put, his hand unto his neighbour's goods. Ex. xxii. 8.
To put the helm down. See luXmX.- To put the last
or finishing hand to. See hand:— To put this and
that together, to draw a conclusion from certain cir-
cumstances ; think of two related facts and form an opin-
ion thereon ; infer from given premises.
Putting this and that together- combmmg under the
head "this "present appearances, , . . and ranging under
the head "that" the visit to his sister — the watchman
reported to Miss Peecher his strong suspicions.
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, it 11.
To put through, to carry or conduct to a successful ter-
mination : as,^e measure was put through without hesi-
tation.
That was the way he put her through —
"There 1 " said the Deacon, "naow she'll dew!"
0. W. Holmes, The Deacon's Masterpiece.
To put to (or unto), (.a) [To, adv.] (1) To add; unite.
I muste a-bide al manere aventure,
For I may not put too, nor take away.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Fumivall)i p. 70.
(2) To put forth; apply; use.
If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge^ then
must be put to more strength. Eccl. x. 10.
Who shall put-to his power
To draw those virtues out of a flood of humours
Where they ai-e drown'd, and make 'em shine again?
Beau, and Fl., Eing and no King, iv. 2.
© ITo, prep.] (1) To add to; unite with.
Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever ; nothing can
be put to it, nor any thing taken from it. Eccl. iii. 14.
n
put
'2) To drive ; force ; impel : as, to be put to one's shift
,8) To send, bring, or consign to.
Such as were taken on either side weie put tirtbe sword
or to the halter. CTotre«(fo», Great Rebellion.
They put him to the cudgel fiercely.
S. Butler, Hudibras, HL 1 1148.
(4) To expose to ; refer to.
Having lost two of their bravest commanders at sea, they
durst not put it to a battle at sea. Bacon,
When our universal state
Was put to hazai'd.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., L
(5) To limit or confine to.
If there be twenty ways to some poor village,
'Tis strange that virtue should be put to one.
MiddletOTb, Game at Chess, iL 1.
To put to a stand, to death, to earth, to prentice. See
the nouns.— To put together, to unite ; place in juxta-
position or combination.— To put tO rights. See right.
—To put to the blush, to (the) foilt, to the horn, to
the rack, to trial, etc. See the nouns.— To put two
and two together. Same as to put this and that together.
— To put up. (ot) To bear or suffer without protest or
resentment; pass unnoticed or unavenged; overlook:
now, to put up with
Take my armour off quickly, 'twill make him swoon, I
fear ; he is not fit to look on 't that will put up a blow,
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, v. 1,
Every body tells me I am the properest gentleman in the
town, and I put it up; for the truth is, I dare not give any
one the lie. Shirley, Love Tricks, ii. 1.
(&t) To send forth or shoot up, as plants.
Hartshorn . . , mixed with dung and watered putted
up mushrooms. Bacon.
(c) To offer.
I cannot see how he will escape that heathenish Battol-
ogie of multiplying words which Christ himself e, that has
the putting up of oui Praiers, told us would not be accept-
able in heaven. MUton, On Def. of Humb. Bemonst.
The itinerant bookseller evades, or endeavours to evade,
the payment of an auctioneer's licence, by putting.up his
books at a high price, and himself decreasing the terms.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 323.
(<2) To start from a cover : as, to put up a hare.
In town, whilst I am following one character, I am crossed
in my wajr by another, and put up such a variety of odd
creatures in both sexes that they foil the scent of one an-
other, and puzzle the chase. Addison, Spectator.
I started off on a walk through the country — a short one
— incited thereto by the possibility of putting up a deer, or
slaying a jackal. W. H. BusseU, Diary in India, 1. 160.
(e) To hoard.
Himself never put 'up any of the rent. Spelmnn,
if) To pack ; store up, as for preservation : as, to put up
beef or pork in casks.
Not any of them would eate a bit with him, but put vp
all the remainder in Baskets.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, 1. 161.
ig) To put into its ordinary place when not in use, as a
sword in its scabbard, or a purse in the pocket.
Faith, we may put up our pipes, and be gone.
Slmk., R. and J., iv. S. 96.
Put thy sword up, traitor. Shak., Tempest, L 2. 469.
She put up her spectacles, shut the Bible, and pushed
her chair back from the table.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxiv.
(A) To accommodate with lodging : as, I can put you up
for a night.
I'se warrant yell be weel put up; for they never turn
awa' naebody frae the door. Scott, Guy Manuering, L
(i) To post as a candidate ; nominate tor election.
Soon after this debate Pitt's name was put up by Fox at
Brookes's. Macaulay, William Pitt.
To put upon. See to put on.— To put up to, to give
information respecting ; make acquainted with; explain;
teach: a8,he,2'utmeuj} toathingortwo; weweveputup
to the trick or dodge. ' [Slang. ] = Syn. Put, Set, Lay, Place.
Put is a very indefinite word, with a wide range of idio-
matic uses. Set has also a wide range ; it suggests fixed-
ness, especially of something upright: as, to set a vase'or
lamp on the table, or a chair by the table. Lay suggests
a horizontal position : as, to lay one's self down ; to lay a
knife or book on the table. Place suggests diifluiteness of
location : as, to place one's finger on i£e spot.
II. intrans. 1, To go or move; especially,
to go quickly; hasten.
In fibrous [roots] , , , the sap delighteth more in the
earth, and therefore putteth downward.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 6, vL
Stay in your place, know your own strength, and put not
Beyond the sphere of your activity.
B. Jomon, Devil is an Ass, i. 1.
2. To direct one's course ; turn.
His fury thus appeased, he puts to land.
Dryden, .^neid, vi, 654.
3t. To make an effort ; try ; endeavor.
If it be possible
That an arch- villain may ever be recovered.
This penitent rascal wiU put hard.
Fletcher (and another). False One^ iv. 3.
4t. To put the case ; suppose.
Lat us now putte that ye ban leve.
Chaueer, Tale of Melibeus.
To put about, to go about; turn back; change or re-
verse one's course. — To put at, to throw with an upward
and forward motion of the arm.
put
O it fell anes upon a time
Iliey piMed at the stane ;
And seven foot ayond them a'
Brown Robin 'a gar*d it gang.
Rose the Red and White Mly (Child's Ballads, V. 17«).
To put away for (nout.). to start to go to : as, to^m* away
/orhome after a cruise. — To put fair, to bid fair.
And he had put fair for it, had not death prevented him ,
by which his life and projects were cut off together.
Heylin, Hist. Presbyterians, p. 130. (flames.)
To put for, to start for ; especially, to get in resolute
motion toward with decided purpose and vigorous ac-
tion : as, to put far home ; to put far the shore.— To put
forth, (o) To shoot ; bud ; germinate.
Take earth from under walls where nettles put forth.
Bacon, Nat, Hist.
Then the flowers put forth and spring, and then the
Sunne shall scatter the mists.
Milton, Church-Government, i. 6.
(6) To set out ; depart.
Order for sea is given ;
They have imt/ortA the haven.
Shak., A. and C, iv. 10. 7.
To put forwardt, to hasten on.
I am willing to put forward as fast as my beast will give
me leave, though 1 fear nothing in your company.
Cotton, in Walton's Angler, u, 228.
To put in. (o) Naut., to enter a port or harbor; espe-
cial^, to deviate from the regular course to seek shelter
from storms, or to reflt, procure provisions, etc. : as, the
ship jm£ in to Charleston.
We sailed for Mytilene, but put in the first evening at
Cardamilla in Soio, where I pitched my tent, and lay all
night, and the next evening arrived at the port of MytUene.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 14.
(6) To call at and enter a place, as a house of refreshment.
f We took horse, and got early to Baldwick, where there
was a fair, and we put in, and eat a mouthfull of porke,
which they made us pay lid. for, which vexed me much.
Pepys, Diary, I. 220.
(c) To dash into covert for safety, as a bird when hard
pressed by a hawk, (d) To interpose.
He has . . . kicked me three or four times about the
tfrlng-house ... for but offering to put in with my ex-
perience. B. Jonson, Barth(Aomew Fair, Ind,
And although astrology may here jpttt {n, and plead the
secrett influence of this star [the dog-star] . . .
Sir T. Browne, Tulg. Err., iv. 13.
To put in for, to put in a claim for; make application
for; seek to obtain.
Jacob had suffered patiently the direction of those that
governed him, so long as the excuse of his minority Was a
good one. But, being now arrived at the age of 17, he be-
gan to put in by degrees far his share in the direction of
affairs. Bruce, Source of the Nile, II. 241.
Many most unfit persons are now puttmg in for that
place. Abp. UssTier, Letters, cxvi.
To put off, to leave land ; sail off.
Let me cut the cable.
And, when we arepTJt off, fall to their throats.
Shak., A. and C, ii. 7. 78.
To put on, to move or hasten on.
So put an, my brave boy, and make the best of thy way
to Boulogne. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vii. 6.
We put on pretty fast ; the janizary, and guide to whom
the horses belonged, frequently looking back in the ut-
most consternation, lest they should send after us, and
injure us some way or other.
Pococke, Description of the East^ II. ii. 65.
To put out. (o) Naut., to start ; sail. Q>) To leave sud-
denly; be off; get out. (c) In tanning morocco leather,
to remove small fragments of flesh still adhering to the
flesh-side of the tanned skins, and at the same time to
stretch and smooth the skins. Formerly done almost ex-
clusively by hand-labor, this operation is now largely per-
formed by putting-out machines.— To put over, (a) To
sail over or across. (&) To remove her meat from the gorge
into the stomach : said of a hawk. — ^To put up. (.a) To
take lodgings ; lodge. (6) To offer one's self as a candi-
date.
The beasts met to chuse a king, when several put up.
Sir R. L' Estrange.
(c) To sheath the sword ; cease from further contest.
Troth, Y)Xpui up at all adventures, master :
It comes off veiy fair yet.
Middleton (and others). The Widow, i. 2.
(d) To pay down or stake money. [Slang, TJ. S.]— To put
up to, to advance to ; approach. [Rare.]
With this he put up to my lord ;
The courtiers kept their distance due. Swift.
To put up with, to bear without resentment or repining ;
tolerate : as, to put up with many annoyances ; to put up
with injury ; to put up with bad fare.
It would no more repay us for all the insolence that we
have put up with than does the infliction of a forty-shil-
ling fine on the cabman recompense the gentleman whom
he has blackguarded for an hour in a crowded thorough-
fare. Blackwood's Mag., XCVL 198.
pilti (put), m. [Formerly also jjMtt; <. ME. put,
<pufi,v.] 1. A thrust; a push.
The dear creature, I doubted not, wanted to instruct
me how to answer the captain's home put.
Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe^ IV. 316. (Davies.)
2. A oast or throw ; speeifioally, a throw made
hy an upward and forward motion of the arm,
as In putting the stone. [Pronounced in Soot-
land put.]
The put of the stoon thou maist not reche.
To htU mygte is in thi sleue.
Hymns to Virgin, etc (E. E. T. S.), p. 73.
4866
putldness
3t. An attempt; particularly, an attempt to putative (pii'ta-tiv), a. [<F.j9Jttoto/=Sp. Pg-
avoid something, as when a bird or beast of jj«to*8«o,<LL.\pMto<i»tts, supposed, <L.2)tttere,
chase, hard pressed, seeks safety under cover. ■—^-^-- ii--_i- v.j.-... n c
The stag's was a forced put, and a chance rather than
a choice. Sir R. L'Bstrange.
4. A game at cards, played generally by two
people, but sometimes by three, and often four.
The whole pack is used in playing, but only three cards
are dealt out at a time. Whoever gains at least two tricks
out of the three counts five points, which make game.
There are some playing at back-gammon, some at trick-
track, some at picket, some at cribidge, and, perhaps, at
a by-table in a corner, four or five harmless fellows at put
and all-f oures. Couvtry Gentteman's Vade Mecum (1699),
[p. 75. (HaUiweU.)
■pp.putatus, think, suppose : ae&putation.'] Sup-
posed; reputed; commonly thought or deemed:
as, the putative father of a child.
Thus things indifferent, being esteem'd useful or pious,
became customary, and then came for reverence mto a
putative and usurp'd authority.
Jer. Taylor, Dissuasive from Popery, II. i. § 3.
Sei putative parents had impressed,
On their depai'ture, their enjoinment.
Brovming, King and Book, 1. 175.
Putative marriage, in carum law, a marriage contract-
ed in violation of an impediment, but in good faith on the
part of at least one party.
He had heard an old tailor say that m his youth, fifty pat-byt (put'bi), n. An excuse for setting aside
=ars a«ro. rmt was a common pubUc-house game. i>^^ ignoring. See quotation unAoT put-off.
put-caset (put'kas), n. [<.put\ v., + obj. easel,
B.] A propounder of hypotheses, or hypotheti-
cal eases.
He used to say that no man could be a good lawyer that
was not a put-case.
Roger North, Lord Guilford, I. 20. (Davies.)
years a^o, put was a common public-house game.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 267.
5. A contract by which the party signing or
making the same agrees, in consideration usu-
ally of a certain sum. of money, that he will ac-
cept and pay for specified securities or com-
modities which the party named therein, or
the bearer of the contract, at or within a time ... j. ■,. i , t. t , r. t ,^
named, shaU, at the option of 'the latter, ofter P?*<=hu^!, PUtchock (pu-chuk', pu-chok'), n.
to sell the fo^er at a specified price, it isused [E. I^d.] In India, the eostus-root._ Green or
uu oD.i. viiD iuiuioi a,u c« ot.v^...x»i>..v.. ^z ^^. i„,= u=ciA j^fjYQ gj^ggj^ p^if,jyalc, the Chinese Anstdochm recur-
vUabra : so called from some resemblance of its rootstock
to the putchuk imported from India. It is used as a reme-
dy for burns and indigestion, and, like many other species
of Aristolochia, is regarded as an antidote to snake-poison.
Physicians, however, now credit these plants with the vir-
tues of diaphoretics, stimulant tonics, and emmenagogues
only. The drug is obtained chiefly from cultivation, and
is at Ningpo a large article of commerce.
Bisbee and Sinionds, Law Prod. Ex., p. 60. putet (put), a. [iTu.putus, cleansed, clean, clear,
1 specified price,
chiefly in the stock-market^ for speculative purposes, and
if the intent of the parties is to settle the difference of
price in money, it is illegal.
<3ran. Andall this out of Change- Alley?
Wit. Every Shilling, Sir ; all out of Stocks,
PvMii, Bulls, Bams, Bears, and Bubbles.
Gibber, Eefusal, i.
A put is an option to deliver, or not deliver, at a future
pure, unmixed (usually joined yrifiipwrus, pure :
purus putus, or purus ao putus), orig. pp., <
y pu, in purus, pure, clean : see pure. From
this adj. are also ult. E. putamen, piitaUon, pu-
tative, compute, counts, account, dispute, repute,
etc.] Clear; pure; mere.
Armiuius . . . acknowledges faith to be the pure pw(e
gift of God. Bp. Ball, Via Media (trans.), v. (Davies.}
Generally pure pute Italians, preferred in England,
transmitted the gain they got . . . into their own coun-
try. Fuller, Worthies, York, in. 464. (Davies.)
. was pure and pute factions.
Roger North, Examen, p. 627.
That cause ,
(Davies.)
puteal (pii'te-al), n. [L., a stone curb sur-
rounding the mouth of a well, < puteus, a well :
see j«<i.] An inolosure surrounding a well to
prevent persons from falling into it ; a well-
curb. Sculptured examples of both antiquity and the
middle ages occur, among which are works of art of higk
excellence. See cut under pozzo.
day.
put2 (put), n. [Also putt; perhaps < "W. pwt,
any short thing; cf . pwtan, pwtog, a squat wo-
man.] Arustic; a clown; a sillyfellow; a sim-
pleton; an oddity. [Eng.]
Ashe gave the good-night to two or three young fellows
a little before our landing, one of them, instead of return-
ing the civility, asked us what queer old put we had in
the boat. Addison, Sir Boger at Vauxhall.
What Letacre said to you upon that occasion you ought
to have borne with more decency . . . than to have call-
ed him country piit. Steele, Spectator, No. 263.
put^t (put), n. [< OF. pute, pwite (= Pr. Sp. Pg.
puta= lt.putta), a prostitute, fem. oi put,puit,
pout, pot (= Sp. Pg. puto = It. putto), foul,
bad, wicked.] A strumpet ; a prostitute.
put*t, »■ An obsolete form of ^Jii.
putage (pu'taj), n. [< OP. putage (ML. puta-
givm), fornication, prostitution, < pute, a pros-
titute: seejjMf?.] In law, prostitution or for-
nication on the part of a woman.
If any heir female under guardianship were guilty of TiiitpTf7Tii"i+,'fijr>r" «" rW Tnrl 1 A YtrnaA flnt-
putage, she forfeited her part to her coheirs. P? 5^' '■P?,, !■'' ■, i • 'J ^. xT^
Jacob, Law Diet, bottomed boat, used for transporting the pro-
putailet.TO. A variant form of iJito«e.' ducts of India down the Ganges, it is from 40 to.
putamen (pu-ta'men), n. ; pi. putamina (pu-
tam'i-na). [< L. putamen, a trimming or clip-
ping, waste, husk,<j»M*are, cleanse, trim, prune :
see putation.'] 1 . In lot., the endocarp of a fruit
when hard and stony; the shell of a nut, or
the stone of a stone-fruit or drupe ; also, one of
the pyi'ense or apparent seeds of some drupes.
See drupe and endocarp, and cut under drupe.
— 2. In ornith., the soft shell of an egg; a last
layer of tough tenacious albumen deposited
upon the soft white of the egg, forming a mem-
brane in and upon which the hard shell is de-
posited.— 3. In anat., the outer zone of gray
matter of the lenticular part of the corpus stri-
atum of the brain. The claustrum se;garates
the putamen from the cortex of the brain.
putaminous (pu-tam'i-nus), a. [< putamen
{-mirir-) + -ous.]' Of or pertaining to the puta-
men : as, a putaminous envelop or membrane.
putanism (pu'ta-nizm), n. [< F.putamisme (= ^^ '««* ^°°e- 'ifhtly ™??e. an* capable of conveying a.
8n nutanitmn mitmsmn -nnuttanismn) woa J^^^y "ȣ80. The puteli is surmounted by a large flat-
op. »«trawismo,JJMt«M«mo _ U.punamsmo), vros- topped shed, nearly as long as the boat, and carries a sin-
titution, <puta^n (= It. putfana), a prostitute, gle large square sail.
< pafe, a prostitute: see ^«<3.] Customary puterieKm. [ME., < OP.p«iene(=Sp.i)M«eria,■
lewdneBS or prostitution in a female. Bailey. ML. reflex ^Mteno), prostitution, < pute, a pros-
putation (pu-ta'shon), n. [< ME. putadon, < titute : see put^,} Prostitution. Chaucer.
Puteli of the Ganges.
OF. putaUon, ill. putatio^i"), a pruning, lop- putidt (pu'tid), a. [< L. putidus, stinking,
ping, also (LL.) a reckoning, computing, con-
sidering, < putare, pp. putatus, cleanse, trim,
prune, fig. adjust, settle (rationem or rationes)
accounts ; hence reckon, count, compute, value,
estimate, esteem, consider, think, suppose, be-
lieve; < putus, clean, clear: see pute.'] 1. A
lopping or pruning, as of trees; pruning.
Eke thai be apte \iiito putacion
Of bowes drie orfoule elacion.
PttUadiue, Husbondrle (E. E. T. S.), p. 91.
3. The act of considering, deeming, or sup-
posing; supposition; estimation.
fetid, < putere, stink, be rotten, < V P^, = Skt.
VP^y, stink. Ctputrid."] 1. Stinking; rotten.
This Mother of divinest Love, as pure
As is that other putid !
J. Beaumont, Psyche, ii. 220.
2. Mean; low; worthless; foul; dirty; dis-
gusting.
PuMd fables and ridiculous fictions.
Jer. Taylor 0), Artif . Handsomeness, p. 126.
putidityt_(pu-tid'i-ti), n. [<. pnUd + -ity.]
The quality of being putid ; foulness ; vileness ;
meanness.
Ifwewerenottheactor8andsuflerers,it,isnotpo88ible _„4.:j__ooi Cnvi'+i/l r,<.=^ ». r/ ™,«.7 j. „„„„ i
that we should be made the natural subjects of the acci- PSP'™^^,^' (PU tad-nes), TO. [< putid + -ness.}
dents of another's body, by any putation, estimation, or .■'•ue quality oi bemg putid; rottenness; putld-
misjudging whatsoever. Baxter, Lite of Faith, lli. s, ity.
putidness
High-tasted Bawces made with garlick or onions niir.
Kr?e!.^l1e!° '*'■'*''* '^'^'^ '"-'"'« the^"'^=S
Bp. Gauden, Teais of the Church, p. 199. (Davlee.)
putlog (put'log), n. [< putl (?) + logl.l In
earp., one of a number of short pieces of tim-
4867
piltrefacient (pu-tre-fa'sMent), a. and n. [=
Pg. putrefadente, < "h. putrefacien(t-)s, ppr. of
putrefacere, putrefy: &&& putrefy.'] 1, a. Same
a, putlog; 4, i, putlog-holes; c, ledger.
ber used in building to carry the floor of a scaf-
fold. They are placed at right angles to the wall, one
end resting on the ledgers of the scaifold, and the other in
holes left in the wall, called pwSoff-Me*.
putlog-hole (p<it'log-li61), n. One of a series
of small holes left in a wall, to admit the ends
of putlogs.
put-oflf (put'6f), «. An excuse; a shift for eva-
sion or delay.
There be so many put-ofs, so many put-byes, so many
respects and coi)siderations of worldly wisdom.
Laiimefr, Sermon of the Plough.
"We want t' man who came here for hiding last night ;
t" man called John Whitehead." "He came not here last
night." " That "s a pKi-o/. He came this morning —
then. " A.E. Bairr, Friend Olivia, iii.
putois (F. pron. pii-two'), n. [F. putois (ML.
^taeiMs), a polecat, its fur, a brush made of
its fur, < L. putere, stink: seejpjt^id.] A brush
supposed to be made of the hair of the polecat,
used by painters of ceramic ware.
putoo (put'o), n. [Cingalese.] A dish made
from flour or meal from the germinal shoots of
the palmyra-nut, scraped coeoanut, and jack-
fruit, much esteemed by the Cingalese.
Putorius (pu-to'ri-us), n. [NL., < li. putor, a
stench, < jjwiere, stink : seeputid.'\ .An exten-
sive genus of Mustelidse, belonging to the sub-
family Mustelinse, having 34 teeth, instead of
38 as in MMStela, and containing the animals
known as weasels, stoats, ermmes, polecats, fer-
rets, and minks. They are related to the martens and
sables, but are smaller, with much slendeier body and tail,
and very short limbs. They inhabit neai'ly all countries.
They are often destructive to poultry, but are beneficial in
destroying rats, mice, and other vermin. Species inhabit-
ing cold countries turn white in winter, the tip of the tail
remaining black. Such furnish a higiily prized fur, known
tis ermine. The common weasel, Putanus mdgaris, is one
of the smallest species, 6 or 8 inches long, with a short -
tail. P. emiinea is the common stoat or ermine. P.fos-
Udm is the polecat, of which a variety, P. fu.ro, commonly
an albino with pink eyes, is the domesticated ferret. The
spotted polecat is P. sarmaiicus. (See sarmatier.) The
black-footed ferret of the western prairies of the United
States is P. (Cyrwmyonax) nigripes. The bridled weasel of
South America is P. frenatuis. A Siberian form, P. siUri-
cm, is the red sable, chorok, or kolinsky (which see). An
aquatic species, somewhat otter-like, is P. ItUreola, the Eu-
ropean mink. The American mink is P. mson. See cuts un-
der Cynamyanax, ermine, ferret, mink, polecat, and weasel.
putourt, »• [ME., < OiF.pute, a prostitute: see
im<3.] A pimp; a procurer; a keeper of a
brothel. Chaucer.
put-pin (put'pin), n. [< pufl^, v., + obj. pin^.']
Same as push-pin.
Flaying at pat-pin, doting on some glass
(Which, breatlTd but on, his f alsed gloss doth pass).
Marston, Scourge of Villanie, vUi. 205.
Putranjiva (put-ran-ji'va), n. [NL. (Wallich,
1824), from a native name in India, < Skt. putra,
son, +jwa, living.] A genus of apetalous trees
of the order Euphorhiacex and tribe Phyllan-
thesB. It is characterized by numerous staminate flow-
ers in dense heads at the nodes, each with a slender un-
equally flve-lobed calyx and two or three stamens ; pis-
tillate flowers with three short spreading styles expanded
into broad fleshy papillose branches ; and an ovary of three
carpels each with two ovules, becoming in fruit an ovoid
drupe with one cell and one seed. The two species are
natives of the mountains of central and southern India,
and are large timber-trees with close-grained and very
hard wood, bearing rigid and entire veiny alternate
leaves, and axillary flowers, the staminate numerous and
short-stalked and the pistillate one or few and long-
stalked. P. Biozlmrghii is known in India as wild olive.
putredinous (pu-tred'i-nus), a. [< OF.putre-
dineux = Pg. It. putredinoso, < LL. putredo
(-d«n-), rottenness, < li. putrere, he putrid: see
putrid.'] Proceeding from putrefaction, or par-
taking of the putrefactive process ; having an
offensive smell.
A tmtredinous ferment coagulates aU humours, as milk
with rennet is turned. Floyer, Anunal Humours.
Putrefacient action on the blood and tissues after the
lapse of some hours. Alien, and NeuroL, IX 363.
II. n. An agent or a substance that produces
putrefaction.
putrefactedf (pu'trf-fak-ted), a. [Also putri-
facted; < L. putrefactus, pp. of putrefacere,
putrefy, + -edX'] Putrid; putrefied.
Vermine bred oiputr^acted slime.
Marston, Antonio and Mellida, II., iv. 4.
putrefaction (pii-tre-fak'shon), n. [Alsoputri-
faction; <.T>ILE.putrifaccioun'j(. OF. putrefaction,
F. putr&faction = Pr. putrefacdo = Sp. putre-
faccion = Pg. putrefacgSo = It. putrefazione, <
LL. putrefactio{n-), < L. putrefacere, pp. putre-
factus, putrefy: see putrefy.'] 1. The act or
process of putrefying ; the decomposition of an-
imal and vegetable substances, attended by the
evolution of fetid gases. Putrefaction is at present
believed to be a result of the activity of organisms of the
simplest form —the Schiaomyoetes. It can therefore take
place only when the conditions are favorable for the life
and growth of these organisms. A temperature of from
60° to 80° F., a moderate degree of humidity, and limited
access of air are the conditions most favorable to putre-
faction. Extremes of heat and cold, salt, sugar, vinegar,
oarbolic acid, corrosive sublimate, and other antiseptics
prevent putrefaction by destroying or rendering inactive
the organisms which induce it. The chemical changes
in a putrefying body are most complex. From proteid
bodies are formed leucin, tyrosin, a considerable number
of alkaloids, the ptomaines, compound ammonias, hydro-
gen sulphid, and many other solid and gaseous products.
See fermentation, and germ theory (under germ).
Alle philosophoris seyn that the feuere contynuele is
gendrid of pKlrifaccioun of blood and of corrupcioun of
humouris. Book of Quinte Essence (ed. Furnivall), p. 21.
All creatures that have breath in their nostrils must
suddenly return to ptUref action.
I. Walton^ Complete Angler, p. 31.
Pasteur proved that in the special fermentation which
bears the name of putrefactionthe primum movens of the
putrtfaction resides in microscopic vibrios of absolutely
the same order as those which compose the butyric fer-
ment. lAfe qf Pasteur (trans.), p. 57.
2. Putrefied matter.
putrefactioust (pu-tre-fak'shus), a. [< putre-
facti{on) + -ous,] Putrefying ; putrid.
Drunkennesse, whose putrefactions slime
Darkens the splendour of our common wealth.
Tirnesf Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 70.
putrefactive (pu-tre-fak'tiv), a. [Also^Min-
factive; = F. putr6facUf= Sp.'Pg. putrefactivo
= It.putrefattioo, < L. putrefactus, pp. otputre-
facerejTpTitvety: see putrefy.] 1. Pertaining to
putrefaction : as, the putrefactive smell or pro-
cess, or the putrefactive fermentation.
If the hone be corrupted, the putrefactive smell will dis-
cover it. Wiseman, Surgery.
There were small signs yet of the acetous and putrefac-
tive stages which were to follow in the victory and decline
of Puritanism. LoweU, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 154.
2. Causing putrefaction.
The vessels of the living body, whether of man or ani-
mals, are sealed up beyond the reach of putrefactive germs
so long as they are in a sound and healthy state.
S. B. Berrick, Wonders of Plant Life, p. 77.
putrefactiveness (pii-tre-fak'tiv-nes); n. Pu-
trefactive character, quality, or condition. Also
putreflable (pH'tre-fi-a-bl), a. [Also putrifia-
hle ;<. putrefy + -ahle.']' Liable to putrefy; sub-
ject to or causing putrefaction.
For absorption of putreflable materials Esmarch has
used with great satisfaction turf enclosed in gauze bags.
W. T. Belfleld, Kel. of Mioro-Org. to Disease, p. 60.
putrefier (pii'tre-fl-6r), n. A putrefacient.
Also putrifier.
An account of a series of experiments upon putrefiers
and antiseptics. Workshop Beceipts, 2d ser., p. 196.
putrefy (pii'tre-fi), v.; pret. and pp. putre-
fied, ppr. putrefying. [Also putrify; < MB.
putrefm,< OF. putrefier, F. putrifier = Sp. Pg.
putrifiear (< ML. "putreficare) = It. putrefare, <
L. putrefacere, cause to rot, putrefy, putrefieri,
rot, putrefy, < putrere, be rotten (see putrid),
+ fieri, pass, of facere, make, do.] I. trans.
1. To render putrid; cause to decay with an
offensive odor; cause to become fetid by rot-
ting. See putrefaction. — 2. To make carious
or gangrenous.
A wound was so putrefied as to endanger the bone.
Sir W. Temple.
3. To corrupt; make foul or offensive. [Rare.]
They would but stink and putrefi/ the air.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iv. 7. 90.
II. intrans. To become putrid; decay with a
fetid smell. See putrefaction.
putter
Wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores. Isa. i. 6
Whenne they shewe uppe thaire fertilitee.
So turne hem with the plough to puirifle;
And after that thi lande shal multiplie.
Palladius, Husbondrie (B. E. T. S.X p. 182.
Many substances in nature which are solid do putrify
and corrupt into worms.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i 43.
=Syn. Decay, Corrupt, etc. See rot.
putrescence (pu-tres'ens), n. [< ¥. putrescence
= It. putrescensa ; as"putrescen{t) + -ce.] Pu-
trescent character or condition; tendency to
putridity or decay; a putrid state.
We must confess in the common putrescence it may pro-
mote elevation, which the breaking of the bladder of gall,
so small a part in man, cannot considerably advantage.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iv. 6.
In attempting to sterilize a putrescible solution by
means of cold, it was found that, though in some cases
putrescence was delayed, in no case were the organisms
completely destroyed. Science, VI. 393.
putrescent (pu-tres'ent), a. [< OF. putrescent
= It. putrescente, < L'. putrescen(t-)s, ppr. otpur-
trescere, grow rotten, decay, freq. from putrere,
be rotten or putrid: Bee putrid.] 1. Becoming
or growing putrid, or fetidly rotten ; in course
of putrefying; tainted with putrefaction or de-
cay: as, putrescent &esb.
Stately, externally powerful, although undermined and
putrescent at the core, the death-stricken empire still
dashed back the assaults of its barbarous enemies.
Motley, Dutch Eepublio, 1. 18.
If from the hospitals . . .
All the diseases in one moat were gathered.
Such was it here, and such a stench came from it
As from putrescent limbs is wont to issue.
LongfeUow, tr. of Dante's Inferno, xxix. 51.
2. Of or pertamingto the process of putrefac-
tion: as, & putrescent smeM.
putrescible (pu-tres'i-bl), a. [< OF. (and F.)
putrescible = It. putresciMle, < L. putrescere,
^ow rotten, + -ible.] Subject to putrefaction ;
liable to become putrid: as, putrescible sub-
stances.
It does not appear to be putrescible.
Philosophical Transactions (1798), i. § 2.
Finely divided charcoal is usually stated to have strong
antiseptic powers. It certainly has a remarkable action
upon putrescible substances.
W. A. Miller, Elem. of Chem., § 366.
putrid (pu'trid), a. [< F.putride = Sp. pHtrido
= Pg. lt.putrido,< li.putridus, rotten, corrupt, <
putrere, be rotten, putris, rotten; cf. putere, be
rotten, Ir. putar, stinking, L. pus, matter, etc. :
see putid and pus.] 1. In a state of decay or
putrefaction; exhibiting putrefaction ; corrupt;
fetid from rottenness ; stinking : said of animal
and vegetable bodies: as, putrid flesh.
The wine to putrid blood converted flows.
Waller, ,^neid, iv.
A wide and melancholy waste
01 putrid maxabea. Shelley, Mastoi.
2. Indicating a state of putrefaction ; proceed-
ing from or pertaining to putrefaction: as, a
putrid scent.— Putrid fever. See /ejierif- Putrid
sore throats gangrenous pharyngitis.
putridity (pu-trid'i-ti), n. [= F. putriditS = It.
putridita; as putrid + .4ty.] 1. The state of
being putrid; corruption; fetid rottenness. —
2. Putrid matter.
A hundred and thirty corpses of men, nay of women
and even children, ... lie heaped in that glacifere ; pu-
trid MnAex putridities. Carlyle, French Eev., II. v. 3.
putridness (pii'trid-nes), n. Putrid character
or condition.
putrifactedt, putrifaction, etc. See putref act-
ed, etc.
putrification (pii"tri-fi-ka'shon), n. [< putrefy
+ -ation (see -fy).] Putrefaction,
PvtrifieatUm must nedes be in a bodye.
Confutation if N. Shaaton (1546X
putrify, «. See putrefy.
putryif (pii'tri), a. [< L. putris, putridiis, rot-
ten: see putrid.] Putrid.
Howl not^ thou. putry mould! groan not^ ye graves!
Marston, Antonio and Mellida, II. (Bichards(in.y
putlT^t, »*• Same asputerie.
putt' (put), V. i. [A speUing of puP-; obsolete
in the general sense.] In golf-playing, to play
with a putter ; play when the ball lies at a short
distance from the hole.
putti (put), n. [Kputf^, v.] In golf-playing, a
stroke made with a putter, or made in attempt-
ing to hole a ball.
putt^, n. See put^.
puttah, n. Same as patdh.
putter! (put'fer), n. [< put^ + -erl.] 1. One
who puts or places: as, a putter of obstacles in
one's way. — 2. One who puts or hauls coal
from the place where it is mined to the point
patter
from whicli it is raised to the surface; one who
transports coal on any underground road. Also
called haulier, drawer, and trammer. [Little, if
at all, used in the United States.] — 3. One who
puts or throws, especially a stone: as, he is
but a poor putter. [In tlus sense pronounced
puffer in Scotland.]
Fame saying that Troy trains vp approvM sons
In deeds oJ arms, btsMe imttera-oS of shafts.
For winging lances, masters of their crafts.
Chapman, Odyssey, xviiL 379.
4 (put'er). In golf-claying, a club with a stiff
and comparatively short shaft, generally used
when the ball is on the putting-green Putter
on. (o) One who urges, instigates, or incites : an instiga-
tor or Inciter.
They vent reproaches
Most bitterly on you, as prMer an
Of these exactions. Shak., Hen. Vm., i. 2. 24.
(6) One who puts or places something on something else.
—Putter out, formerly, one who deposited money on go-
ing abroad, on condition of receiving a very much larger
sum on his return, the money being forfeited in case of
his non-return. This mode of gambling was practised in
the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. On dangerous expe-
ditions the money received was sometimes as much as five
pounds for every pound deposited.
Or that there were such men
Whose heads stood in their breasts ? which now we And
Each jwtter-(ntt of live for one will bring us
Good warrant of. Shak., Tempest, iii. S. 48.
putter^ (put'6r), v.i. A variant otpotter'^.
Lies abed Sunday morning, and gets up late to putter
with the furnace. The Centmy, XXVI. 636.
putti (put'ti), n. pi. [It., pi. of putto, a lit-
tle child, < L. putus, a boy, child : see pupiP-.J
Eepresentations of Cupid-Uke nude children
common in the art of the fifteenth and follow-
ing centuries, especially in Italy.
puttier (i)ut'i-er), n. [< putty, v., + -eri.] One
who putties ; one whc( fills up or cements with
putty, as a glazier.
Craclced old houses where the painters and plumbers
and puUyers are always at work.
Thackeray, Level the Widower, ii.
putting-green (put'ing-gren), n. That part of
a golfing-ground which surrounds a hole: it is
usually carefully prepared and preserved.
Some of the putHng-greens [at St. Andrews] are not
what they should be, . . . hut others, again, are tilings of
beauty. The green of the "hole o' cross" is probably the
best in all the world of golf.
ffoj/f (Badminton Library), p. 313,
putting-stone (put'ing-ston), n. In Scotland,
a heavy stone to be thrown with the hand,
raised and thrust forward from the shoulder:
chiefly used in gymnastic exercises or athletic
sports.
She lifted the heavy puUing-stane,
And gave a sad " Ohon ! "
Rose the Bed and White IMly (Child's BaUads, V. 177).
putto, n. Q&eputtoo.
puttock (put'gk), n. [< ME. jmttok, potoh;
origin uncertain.] A kind of hawk, (a) The
kite or glede^ MUvm regaZit. (p) The common buzzard,
4868
4. A mixture of ground materials in which in
potteries earthenware is dipped for glazing. —
5. A mixture of clay and horse-dung used in
making molds in foundries Glycerin putty, a
kind of putty, more properly a cement, made of glycerin
and litharge.
putty (put'i), V. t. ; pret. and pp. putHed, ppr.
puttying, [{putty, m.] To cement with putty ;
fill up with putty.
puttjr-eye (put'i-i), n. A name given by pigeon-
fanciers to the eyes of pigeons which have a
thick orbit of a fleshy character.
putty-faced (put'i-fast), a. Having a face re-
sembling putty in pastiness or color.
putty-kmie (put'i-nif ), n. A knife with a blunt,
puzzle
In 6 Henry vm. nsi4)puture was paid for the forest
which was reclaimed towards the close of that reign.
Baines, Hist. Lancashire, II. 2fi.
puzi (puk'si), n. [Mex. Ind.] The larvae of
the various dipterous insects of the genus
Mphydra.-wbich
inhabit the al-
kali lakes of
western North
America, and
are made into
edible cakes :
so called by
Mexican In-
dians and
Spanish Amer-
icans. See
Ephydra, aim-
atle, and Icoo-
Putty-knives.
flexible blade, used by glaziers for laying on
putty; a stopping-knife.
putty-powder (put'i-pou"d6r), n. An artifi-
cially prepared oxid of tin (Sn02), sometimes
mixed with oxid of lead (PbO), used for polish-
ing glass and other substances.
puttyroot (put'i-rSt), n. An American orchid,
Aplectrum hiemale, producing every year on a
slender rootstoek a eorm an inch in diameter,
filled with an extremely glutinous matter, which
has been used as a cement, whence the name.
puyi, n. Same
aSVOV '""" ^^^ (Efhydra califirnica\
4C -o' _. (Line shows natural size.)
pTw2 (pwe), n.
[P. puy : see poy_, pewK^ One of the small vol-
canic cones which are common in Auvergne,
central France.
It is a' most striking sight to see the small cones or Puy»
of the later date, of which there are not fewer than 230^
still looking as fresh and perfect as though they had been
in eruption within the present century.
Prestwich, GeoL, I. 363.
Puyai (pii'ya), n. [NL. (Molina; 1782), from a
native name in Chili.] A genus of monocoty-
ledonous plants of the order Bromeliaeese, un-
like the rest of its tribe Pitcairniese in its loeu-
licidal, not septicidal, dehiscence, and other-
wise characterized by a filiform style, three-
valved capsule, and numerous seeds surroimded
by a wing. There are 3 or 4 species, natives of Peru
and Chili. They bear narrow spiny leaves crowded at the
base or apex of the unbranched and sometimes arbores-
cent stem, and a terminal simple or pyramidally com-
pound raceme, with a single showy flower under each
bract. _ Several species are in cultivation under glass,
sometimes under the former name Pourr^ia, including
white and yellow, and less often blue, pink, and green
flowering varieties. See chagwd gwm, under gum'^.
puya2 (pii'ya), M. 1. Seei>ooa.— 2. A textile
fiber yielded by the pooa.
puyssancet, puyssantt. Middle English forms
The Hen which when the Piittoi^ hath caught hir
Chekin beginneth to cackle.
Lyly, Euphues, Anat. of Wii^ p. 92.
Who finds the partridge in the pvUock'B nest
But may imagine how the bird was dead.
Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak?
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 2. 191.
puttoo (put'6), n. [Also putto; < ISind. pattu.'}
A fabric made in Cashmere and neighboring
countries of the longer and coarser wool of
the goat, after the fine and soft undergrowth
has been separated from it. See cashmere
shawl, under cashmere. Also called Cashgar
cloth.
putty (put'i), n. [< OF. potee, brass, copper,
tin, etc., calcined, also a potful, F. pot4e, pow-
dered tin, oxid, putty, also a potful, < pot, a
pot: seepot^. Ct.potin,pottain, pot-metal.'] 1.
A kind of paste or cement compounded of whit-
ing, or soft carbonate of lime, and linseed-oil,
mixed to the consistence of dough, in this state
it is used by glaziers for fixing the panes of glass in win-
dow-sashes, etc., and also by house-painters to stop up
holes and cavities in woodwork before painting. It is of-
ten tinted with various pigments to make it agree in color
with the sui*face on which it is used.
2. A powder of oxid of tin, used in polishing
glass and steel : sometimes eaXled jewelers' putty.
— 3 . A very fine cement, used by plasterers and
stone-masons, made of lime only. See the
Unotation.
Fine stuff [mortar made of fine white lime] very care-
fully prepared, and so completely macerated as to be held
ill solution in water, which is allowed to evaporate till it
is of sufficient consistence for worldng, is called putty,
plasterais' putty. Workshep Receipts, 1st ser., p. 121.
Puttyroot {Aplecirum hiemale).
1, upper part of flowering scape ; 2, a leaf -from a bulb of the sea-
son, snowing attachment to bulb of preceding season : 3, fruiting
scape.
Each conn persists till there are three or four horizontally
connected. The newest sends up, late in summer, a sin-
gle much-veined and plaited leaf, which lasts through the
winter, and in spring a scape a foot or more high,- with a
loose raceme of brownish fiowers. Also called Adaim and
Em,
putty-work (put'i-werk), n. Decoration by
means of a composition in which ornaments
are modeled while it is soft, and which grows
very hard. Coffers, picture-frames, shrines, etc., were
elatiorately decorated in this material in Italy in the six-
teenth and seventeenth centuries, color being often added
to the oniaments in relief.
put-up (pM'up), a. Concocted or planned by
intimates or insiders, but so as to appear to
emanate from or be the work of others; spe-
ciously conceived, planned^ or carried out : as,
apM#-Mpjob. [CoUoq.]
"Well, master," said Blathers, . . . "thiswam't ai™*-
wp thing." "And what the devil's a putrwp thing?"^ de-
manded the doctor impatiently. "We call It a j)ut-up
robbery, ladies," said Blathers, turning to them as if he
pitied their ignorance, but had a contempt for the doctor's,
"when the servants is in it. "
Dickens, Oliver Twist, xxxi. (Deniies.)
puture, pulture (pti'tur, pul'tur), n. [< OF.
peuture, puture, pouture, poture, pulture, food,
nourishment, < iSl. *pultura, putura, food, pot-
tage, < L. puis (pult-), a thick broth or pottage :
see pulse^.'i A custom claimed by keepers in
forests, and sometimes by bailiffs of hundreds,
to take food for man, horse, and dog from the
tenants and inhabitants within the perambula-
tion of the forest, hundred, etc.
puzzelt, n. [Appar. < OF. pucelle, a girl, maid :
see pucelle. Some compare It. puszolente, fil-
thy.] A dirty drab.
Pucelle orpvsael, dolphin or dogfish.
SMt., 1 Hen. VI., 1. 4. 107.
No, nor yet any droyle or puzzel in the country but will
carry a nosegay m her hand.
Stubhes, Anat. of Abuses. (Nares.)
puzzle (puz'l), n,. [By apheresis, as if *pozel,
*posal, from early mod. E. opposal, opposeUe, ap-
poselle, < ME. opposayle, a question put, < op-
posen, apposen, E. oppose, by apheresis pose,
question: see oppose and^oseS.] 1. A difficult
question or problem; specifically, a riddle, or
a toy or contrivance which is designed to try
one's ingenuity.
Keep it like apuzde, chest in chest,
with each chest lock'd and padlock'd thirty-fold, . . .
I yet should strike upon a sudden means
To dig, pick, open, find, and read the charm.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
2. Embarrassment; perplexity: as, to be in a
puzzle, or in a state oi puzzle.
puzzle (puz'l), V. ; pret. and pp. puzzled, ppr.
puzzling. [< puzzle, n.] I. trans. 1. To per-
plex or pose with or as with difScult points,
problems, or questions ; put to a stand ; gravel.
My Thoughts are now puxzLed about my Voyage to the
Baltic Sea upon the King's Service, otherwise I would
have ventured upon an Epithalaminra.
BoweO,, Letters, ii. 72.
A very shrewd disputant in those points is dexterous in
pwaLxng others. Dr. H. Mare, Divine Dialogues.
You meet him under that name incognito; then, if an
accident should happen, both you and she may be safe,
andjmzsfe the truth. SUOe, Lying Lover, B. 1.
2. To entangle ; make intricate.
The ways of heaven are dark and intricate,
Pvxaed in maaes and perplex'd with error.
Addison, Cato, i. 1.
They disentangle from Oiepuzded skein . . .
The threads of politic and shrewd design
Tli»t ran through all his purposes.
Cawper, Task, Ui. 145.
3. To resolve or discover by long cogitation
or careful investigation; make out by mental
labor; cogitate: with om*.
He endeavoured to puzde its principle out for himself.
Qladaone.
puzzle
The bloodhound has a much more deUoate noae than
any other known breed of hound, and can puzzle out a cold
scent under the most adverse conditions.
The Century, XXXVIII. 190.
= Syn. 1. Perplex, etc. (see embarrass), pose, nonplus, be-
wilder, stagger. ■ •• < r •
11. intrans. To be bewildered; be perplexed
or posed.
"And now," he cried, "I shall be pleased to get
Beyond the Bible— there I puzzle yet." Orabbe.
puzzle-cup (puz'1-kup), n. Same as surprise-
cup.
A two-ha,Diled pvzzle-eup painted with flowers.
Hamilton Sale Catalogue, 1882, No. 806.
puzzledom (puz'l-dum), », \ipuzde + -dom.']
A puzzled or perplexed condition; bewilder-
ment. [CoUoq.]
I was resolved to travel with him into the land of puzzle-
dam. Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, TI. 367. (Davies.)
The wonderful interior of the double basilica opens upon
us. The first feeling is simply puzzledam.
E, A. Freeman, Venice, p. 79.
-puzzleliead (pnz'1-hed), n. One who puzzles
over matters that are plain and intelligible ; a
person of confused notions.
"All this theistio philosophy of yours only means so
much grist to their mill in the end." "They don't see it
in that light themselves," said Boberfi smiling. "No,"
returned the Squire, "because most men are MaaJefteacfe."
Mrs. Humphry Ward, Robert Elsmere, xli.
puzzle-headed (puz'l-hed"ed), a. Given to
puzzling over matters that are plain and intel-
ligible; also, characteristic of puzzleheads.
He [Maittaire] seems to have been a pvj^sHe-headed man,
with a large share of scholarship, but with little geometry
or logiclc in his head, without method, and possessed of
little genius. Johnson, in Boswell, an. 1780.
puzzle-headedness (puz'^hed^ed-nes), n. The
state of being puzzle-headed or a puzzlehead.
The Academy, April 26, 1890, p. 291.
puzzle-jug (puz'1-jug), n. A surprise-cup.
puzzle-lock (puz'1-lofc), n. See tocfci.
At one time it used to be supposed that locks which
could only be opened by setting a number of rings or
disks to a particular combination of letters could not pos-
sibly be opened by anybody who was not in possession of
the secret; and hence they were also c^lodi puzzie-locks.
Snaya. Brk., XIV. 746.
puzzlement (puz'1-ment), n. lipuzzle + -ment. ]
The state of being puzzled; bewilderment.
"I have heard of a wedding very often," said Fanny,
with a pretty look of pwaHement and doubt, "but I don't
know exactly what it means."
Buhner, Night and Morning, v. 6.
A delightful air oipuxzlemeni came over her face.
W. C. RuasM, Jack's Courtship, xzviii.
puzzle-monkey (puz'l-mting''']d), n. [ipuzele,
v., + obj. monhey.'] Same as monhey-puzzle.
See Araucaria.
puzzle-peg (puz'1-peg), n. A short piece of
board fastened under the lower jaw of a dog,
and projecting a few inches beyond it, to pre-
vent him from putting his nose close to the
ground.
puzzler (puz'lSr), n. [< puzzle + -erl.] One
who or that which puzzles or perplexes.
Hebrew, the general puzzler of old heads.
A. Brome, Elegy on his Schoolmaster.
puzzle-rin^ (puz'1-ring), n. A number of
small rings intertwined with one another so
that they cannot be separated, the puzzle be-
ing to bring them together in the form of a
single ring or in some other combination, as a
sort of knot.
puzzling (puz'ling), p. a. [Ppr. of puzzle, v.]
1. Perplexing; embarrassing; bewildering. —
3. Evidencing bewilderment or perplexity;
easily bewildered or perplexed.
The servant is a puzzling fool, that heeds nothing.
Sir S. VSOirange.
pnzzlingly (pnz'ling-li), adv. In a puzzling
manner; perplexingly.
puzzQlana, puzzolano (puz-o-la'na, puz-o-ia'-
no), ». Same &■& pozzuolana.
puzzolite (puz'o-lit), n. \<.puzzol[ana) -t- -»fo2.]
Same as pozzuolana.
pwys, n. [W., a state of rest, weight, a weight.]
A Welsh weight of wool, about two potmds.
pxt. A contraction of the Latin pirucit, ' (He)
painted (it).'
pyaemia, pysemic. See pyemia, pyemic.
Pyanepsia (pi-a-nep'si-a), n. pi [< CH-. Hm-
vitpia (so. iepd), an Athenian festival (see det.;,
said to be so called from a dish of beans which
was then cooked and eaten, < wvavog, a bean, +
Hecv, boil.] In ancient Athens, an annual fes-
tival of Apollo, celebrated on the 7th of the
month Pyanepsion (October-November). It
iad the character of a harvest-feast.
306
4869
pyarthrosis (pi-Sr-thro'sis), «. [NL. , < Gr. Hjov,
pus (see pus), + ap6pacTi;, a jointing : see ar-
throsis.'] The presence of pus in a joint.
pyat, n. Seepiet.
Fycnantliemum (pik-nan'the-mmn), n. [NL.
(F. A. Miohaux, 1803), so called in allusion to
the dense inflorescence ; < Gr. irviwdg, thick,
dense, + avde/iov, blossom.] A genus of gamo-
petalous plants of the order Labiatee, tribe
SaiMremese, and subtribe Menthoidese. it is char-
acterized by its four nearly equal straight and divergent
stamens, a calyx sometimes two-lipped, with Ave teeth and
about thirteen nerves, and a somewhat two-lipped corolla,
with five ovate lobes, the flowers in dense vertioillasters,
involucrate with crowded bracts, and commonly cory_m-
bosely panicled. The 13 species, known as fnountainrTmni,
and sometimes as Amei'iean basil (see basil^), are North
American, and all but one are natives of the eastern or
southern United States. They are erect and rigid peren-
nial herbs, warmly aromatic and odorous, often hoaiy with
minute down, and with flat-topped inflorescence, frequent-
ly conspicuous by reason of large whitened floral leaves.
The flowers are whitisli or purple and purple-dotted.
They are commonly dimorphous in having in different
flowers their stamens either exserted or included. The
P. lanceolatum is sometimes known as Virginian thyme
01 prairie-hyssop. See cut under itenr.
I^cnaspidese (pik-nas-pid'e-e), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. ■kvkv6q, thick, dense, + adirlg (aamS-), a round
shield.] In Sundevall's system of classifica-
tion, the fourth cohort of scutelliplantar Pas-
seres, including a heterogeneous group of chief-
ly Neotropical birds, such as those of the gen-
era Bupicola, Chasmorhynehus, Cephalopterus,
Tityra, and lApaugus, to which are added the
East Indian genera Calyptomena, Eurylsemus,
and others.
pycnaspidean (pik-nas-pid'e-an), a. [< Pye-
naspidesB + -a».] In ornifh., liaving the planta,
or back of the tarsus, studded with many small
irregular scales or plates, as a modification of
the scutelliplantar tarsus.
pycnaster (pik-nas't6r), n. [< Gr. nvKv6(:, thick,
dense, H- aar^p, a star.] A kind of sponge-
spicule. SoUas.
pycnid, pycnide (pik'nid), n. Same 3,s.pycni-
dium, 1.
pycnides, n. Plural otpycrds.
pycnidia, n. Plural of pycnidiwn.
pycnidial (i>ik-nid'i-al), a. [< pycnidi-um -i-
-al.'] Relating to a pyenidium, or having its
character.
pycnidiophore (pik-nid'i-o-for), n. [< NL.
pyenidium, q. v., + Gr. (pepeiv = E. bea/r^.'\
In bot., a compound sporophore bearing pyc-
nidia.
pycnidiospore (pik-nld'i-o-spor), n. [< NL.
pyenidium + Gr. ai^dpog, seed.] In bot., same
pycnogonoid
II. n. A fossil fish of the family Pyenodon-
Udse.
Pycnodontes (pik-no-don'tez), ». j)Z. [NL.,
pi. of Pycnodus (-odont-).'] Same as Pyenodon-
Fycnodontidse (pik-no-don'ti-de), n.;pl. [NL.,
< Pyctiodus i-odont-) -f- -idse.'] A family or sub-
order of ganoid fishes, typified by the genus
Pycnodus. The tail is homocercal ; the neural arches
and ribs are ossified ; the roots of the ribs are but little
expanded in the older genera, but enlarged in the later
ones, so as to simulate vertebrae ; the paired fins are not
lobate ; the teeth on the palate and on the sides of the
mandible are obtuse ; the intermaxillary teeth are incisi-
form ; and none of the fins are fulcrate. These fishes are
characteristic of the Mesozoic and Tertiary; all are ex-
tinct.
Fycnodontini (pik'no-don-ti'ni), n. pi. [NL.,
< Pycnodits {-odont-) ■¥ ■ini.'\ Same as Pycno-
dontoidei.
pycnodontoid (pik-no-don'toid), a. and n. I,
a. EesembUng or related to a pycnodont; be-
longing to the Pycnodontoidei.
II, n. A member of the Pycnodontoidei.
Pycnodontoidei (pik'''no-don-toi'de-i), n. pi.
[NL., < Pyonodus (-odont-) + -oidei'.'] A sub-
order of ganoid fishes, characterized by a per-
sistent notochord, rhombic scales in pleuro-
lepidal rows, paired fins without axial skele-
ton, g,nd effulcrate and branohiostegal rays.
The principal family is that of the Pymodon-
tidsB.
Pycnodus (pik'no-dus), n. [NL. (Agassiz,
1833), < Gr. wviaiSs', thick, -I- bdoig (bdovr-) = E.
tooth.'] The typical genus of Pyanodontidse.
Pycnogonata (pik-no-gon'a-ta), «. pi. [NL.,
< Gr. T:vK.v6g, thick, -f- y6m (yovar-), knee, joint.]
Same as Pycnogon/ida.
Fycnogonida (pik-no-gon'i-da), n.pl. [NL., <
Pycnogonum + -ida.'] A group of marine ar-
thropod articulate animals, combining some
characters of both Crustacea and Arachmda/
with others of neither of these classes; the
sea-spiders. They have a four-segmented cephalo-
thorax bearing four pairs of many-joinfed legs ending in
claws, and in the female a pair of additional appendages
pyenidium (pik-nid'i-um), n.; t^I. pycnidia (-a).
[NL., < Gr. irvKvSg, thick, dense, -I- dim. -iSiov.']
1. In bot., a receptacle in ascomycetous fungi,
resembling a perithecium, in which stylospores
or pyenospores are produced: same aiS olino-
sporangium. See stylospore. Also pycnid, pyc-
nide.— 2. [cap.] [NL.] In ewtom., a genus of
coleopterous insects of the family Tenebrioni-
dse. Also called Oochrotus. Erichson, 1846.
pycnis (pik'nis), «. ; pi. pycnides (pik'ni-dez).
[NL., < Gr. irvuvSg, thick, dense, compact.] Li
bot, the same or nearly the same as clinospo-
pycnite (pik'mt), n. [< Gr. iruKvdg, thick, dense,
compact, -f -ite^.] A compact columnar va-
riety of topaz, from the tin-mines of Saxony
and Bohemia.
Pycnocoma (pik-nok'o-ma), n. [NL. (Ben-
tham, 1849), < Gr. irvitvdg, thick, + Kdp-v, hair (al-
luding to the stamens).] A genus of apetalous
shrubs of the order MuphorbiacesB, tribe Cro-
toneSB, and subtribe Plukenetiese. it is character-
ized by numerous stamens which are often flexnous in
the bud, small terminal anthers, and a long columnar
style. The 8 species are equally divided in nativity be-
tween tropical Africa and the Mascarene Islands. They
are shrubs, sometimes becoming small trees, bearing large
entire leaves crowded at the end of the branches, and
monoecious flowers in racemes in the upper axils, re-
markable for the large number of the elongated stamens,
often over fifty, borne on an elevated receptacle and in-
termixed with glands. See bomah-nvt.
pycnoconidium (pik"'no-ko-nid'i-um), n. ; pi.
pycrwconidia (-a). [NL., < Gr. TrvKvdc, thick, -I-
NL. conidiwm, q. v.] In myeol., an asexually
produced spore or conidium the character of
which has recently (1888) been demonstrated.
It is what has been called a spermatium in certain lichens,
and was thought to he a fertilizing organ, but on being
sown on a proper medium it immediately germinated and
produced a thallus. j ^ x»
pycnodont (pik'no-dont), a. and n. I. a. Per-
taining to the PyenodonUdsB, or having their
characters
Amiftothea pycnogtmoides, one of the Fycnogonida— l&za^Xo,
a. esophagus ; b, stomach, prolonged into the limbs e and antennae d;
c, rectum.
between the anterior legs ; a rudimentary unsegmented
abdomen ; a tubular or proboscis-like mouth, simple or
appendaged ; four ocelli ; no respiratory organs ; and the
sexes distinct. The palpi when present have from flve to
nine joints and end in a claw. The group has been various-
ly rated as a family, suborder, order, subclass, and class,
and has been called or placed in Araehnopoda, Aranei-
Sarmia, Aporobranehia, Lsevigrada, Nymphonacea, Pan-
topoda, Podosomata, Polygonopoda, Pseudarachna, Pyc-
nogonata, Pyenogonidse, Pyenogomdea, and Pycnogomdes.
Some are parasitic, others are found moving sluggishly
among seaweeds. Leading genera are Pycnogonum,
Phoxiehilus, Nymphan, and Ammothea. See also cut un-
der Nymphon.
Pycnogonidse (pik-no-gon'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,<
Pycnogonum + -idse.] 1. A family of Pycnogo-
nida, typified by the genus Pycnogonum, con-
taining parasites of comparatively stout form,
with relatively short and knotty legs, and tubu-
lar mouth without either mandibles or palpi.^
St. Same as the group Pycnogonida.
Pycnogonidea (pik'no-go-nid'e-a), n.pl. [NL.]
Same as Pycnogonida.
Pycnogonides (pik-no-gon'i-dez), n. pi. [NL.]
Same as Pycnogonida.
pycnogonidium (pik"no-go-nid'i-um), n.; pi.
pycnogonidia (-a). [NL., < Gr. Trvia/6g, thick,
+ NL. gonidium.] In bot., same as stylospore.
pycnogonoid (pik-nog'o-noid), a. and n. I. a.
Resembling a sea-spider; of or pertaining to
the Pycnogonida.
pycnogonoid
II. n. Any member of the Pycnogonida.
Pycnogonum (pik-nog'o-num), n. [NL., < Gr.
TTVKvdg, thick, + yhiv,
knee, joint.] The
typical genus of
Pyotiogonidx. P.Ut-
torale is a parasite
of cetaceans, and is
half an inch long.
pycnometer (pik-
uom'e-tfer), n. [<
Gr. irvKvdg, thick,
dense, + uirpov,
measure.] An in-
strument for deter-
mining the relative
density or specific
gravity of solid bod-
ies ; a specific-grav-
ity flask. It consists of
a glass flask with a long
tabular stopper. The flask, when filled with distilled water,
and when the stopper is pressed in till the water overflows
through the tubule of the stopper, will at any given tem-
perature hold a speciflc volume and therefore a specific
weight of the liiiuid. The combined weight of the flask
and its stopper, and the weight of water it contains when
the stopper is pressed in, having been ascertained, and
J^ctufi-ottum littorale, ij^ times
uatural size.
Pycnometers.
also the total weight of the flask and its contents after
the solid body has been placed in it, the then unfilled
space refilled with distilled water, and the stopper again
pressed in, the weight of the solid body in air and the
weight of the water displaced by it when it is put in the
pycnometer can be easily determined. These are the
data necessary to compute the relative density or speciflc
gravity of the body — a unit of mass of distilled water at
4° C. divided by its apparent volume at the same tem-
perature being the usual unit of density. This unit is
written "1.000" in specific-gravity tables in which the
speciflc gravity of bodies lighter than water is expressed
in three places of decimals. See density, densimeter, epe-
djus gravity (under gravity), volume, and nutss^.
pycnometochia (pik"no-nie-t6'ki-a), n. [NL.,
< Gr. TTvicvdg, thick, close, crowded) -I- fierox^, a
participle.] Use of participles or participial
clauses at short intervals; close succession of
participles. Compare oUgometoehia.
pycnometochic (pik"no-me-t6'kik), a. [<. pyc-
nometochia + -icT] Cliaracterized by using or
containing participles in close succession.
pycnon (pik'non), n. [Jsisopylmon; < Gr. wvn-
v6v, neut. of irvKvdg, thick, dense, close, com-
pact.] 1 . In anc. Gr. music, one of the short in-
tervals in the chromatic or enharmonic scales,
usually about equivalent to a quarter-step. —
2. In medieval music, a half -step or semitone.
Pycnonotidse (pik-no-not'i-de), n.pl. [NL., <
Pycnonotus + ■ddse.'] ' The bulbuls, rook-thrush-
es, or PycnonoUnse rated as a family of Pas-
Fycnonotinse (pik"n6-n6-ti'ne), n. pi. [NL., <
Pycnonottis + -inse."] ' A subfamily of turdiform
or thrush-like oscine passerine birds, placed in
the family TwrdA&x, or merged in the subfamily
White-eared Bulbul i^Pycnonotus lettcotis).
4870
Brachypodinm ; the bulbuls or rock-thrushes,
typified by the genus Pycnonotus.
pycnonotine (pik-no-no'tin), a. Eesembling or
related to Pyenonoius; belonging to the Pycno-
noUnse.
Pycnonotus (pik-no-no'tus), n. [NL. (Kuhl,
1826) ,< Gr. trvKvii, tliaok, -1- vSyroQ, the back.] An
extensive genus of Old World thrush-like passe-
rine birds, typical of the subfamily P^cmoMoto«
or family Pycnonotidee. It contains about fifty
kinds of bulbuls, ranging from Persia and Pales-
tine to South Africa. Also spelled Picnonotiis.
See cut in preceding column.
pycnospore (pik'no-spor), n. [< Gr. irvKvdc,
close, + cTrdpog, seed.] Same as stylospore.
De Bary.
pycnostyle (pik'no-stil), a. [< Gr. wukv6q, thick,
close, compact, + OTvh)g, column.] laclassical
columnar arch., according to the Vitruvian sys-
tem, noting a conventional intereolxunniation,
less than that usually employed. It is common-
ly reckoned at one diameter and a half.
pyet, «• Seepie\pie^, etc.
pyebaldt, a. An obsolete form ot piebald.
pyedema (pi-e-de'ma), n. [NL., < Gr. viov, pus
{see pus), + 'oUripa,"& swelling, tumor.] Infil-
tration with pus.
pyelitic (i)i-e-lit'ik), a. \_< pyelitis + -ic] Of
or pertaining to pyelitis ; affected with pyelitis.
pyelitis (pi-e-li'tis), n. [NL., < Gr. niie^g, a
trough or pan, hence the pelvis, + ■4tis.'] In-
flammation of the pelvis of the kidney. Also
called endonephritis.
pyelocystitis (pi"e-lo-sis-ti'tis), n. [NL., < Gr.
ir{ie?iof, pelvis, + idang, bladder, + -4Ms.} In-
flammation of the renal pelvis and of the uri-
nary bladder.
pyelonephritic (pi"e-lo-nef-rit'ik), a. [<pye-
lonephriUs + -ic.'] Of, pertaining to, or affected
with pyelonephritis.
pyelonephritis (pi'-'e-lo-nef-ri'tis), n. [NL., <
Gr. wiieAog, pelvis, + ve<j>p6s, kidiey, + -iMs.2
Inflammation of the kidney and the renal
pelvis.
pyemia, pysemia (pi-e'mi-a), n. [NL. pysgnaa,
< Gr. wvov, pus (see j)M«),+ oi/io, blood.] In^a-
thol., a febrile disease caused by the absorp-
tion of pus, or certain of its constituents, or of
its bacteria, with the formation of metastatic
abscesses.
pyemic, pysemic (pi-e'mik), a. [< pyemia, py-
asmia + -jc] Of, pertaining to, or character-
ized by pyemia ; of the nature of pyemia ; af-
fected with pyemia.
pyengadu (pi-eng'ga^do), m. [B.Ihd.] An aca-
cia-like tree, Xylia dolabriformis, one of the
ironwoods, found in considerable quantities in
India,' Burma, etc. It rises 70 or 80 feet without
branches, and furnishes a reddish-brown timber in large
sizes and of remarkable quality. It is heavier than water,
and so hard that the Burmese work it only before season-
ing. It resists decay even better than teak, and its heart-
wood is proof against white ants and teredo. !From its
power of resisting shocks, it is valued for gun-carriages,
but it is also used for niuuerous other purposes requiring
strength, hardness, and durability. Aieo pynJiado.
pye-powdert, n. An old spelling ot piepowder.
pyet, n. A variant otpiet.
Fygaera (pi-je'ra), n. [NL. (Ochsenheimer,
1810), < Gr. trvy^'JTtaap, + aipciv, raise, lift up.]
A genus of lepidopterous insects of the bomby-
cid famUy NotodonUdse, occurring in Europe
and Asia; the buff-tips. P. bu^ephala is an
example.
pygal (pi'gal), a. and n. [< Gr. mry^, rump, +
-al.'] I. a" In zool., of or pertaining to the
rump or posterior part of an animal Pygal
plate or shield, in Jierpet, one of the posterior median
pieces of the carapace of a turtle. See pygidium, uro-
pymv/fn, and cuts under carapace and Chdonia.
II, n. The posterior median or supracaudal
plate of the carapace of a tortoise; a pygal
shield.
pygarg (pi'garg), n. [< L. pygwrgus, a kind of
antelope, also a kind of eagle, < Gr. wijaayos,
a kind of antelope, also the white-tailed ea-
gle, Falco albicilla, also a kind of sandpiper,
lotanus ochropus, lit. ' white-rumped,' < tzvyii,
rump, + apydg, shining, white.] If. A kind of
antelope, perhaps the addax.
The harfi and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the
wild goat, and the pygarg [marg. or, bison ; Heb. dishon],
and the wild ox, and the chamois. Deut. xiv. 5.
2. The osprey, sea-eagle, or fish-hawk,
pygargue, n. Same &s pygarg, 2.
pygargus (pi-gar'gus), «.; p[. pygargi {-ji).
[NL. : see pygarg.'] 1. Same ae pygarg, 2. —
2. leap.] [NL.] A genus of hawks : same as
Circus. Koch, 1816.
pygmy
pyghtt. Same aspight, an obsolete past parti-
ciple otinteh^.
pygidial (pi-jid'i-al), a. [< pygidium -f -al.]
Of or pertaining to the pygidium; caudal; anal;
cereal.
Fygidiidae (pi-ji-a'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Pygidi-
um + -idae.] A family of nematognathous
fishes, typified by the genus Pygidium. They
have a naked body, air-bladder confined in a capsule
formed by the lateral processes of the anterior vertebrae
only, the dorsal generally posterior, and no adipose fin.
The species, about 40, are confined to the fresh waters of
South America. Also called Triohcnnycteridx.
pymdium(pi-jid'i-um),«.; vl.pygidia{-3;). [NL.,
< Gr. 7rv)4", rurap, + dim. -idiov.] 1. A posterior
part of the body, In any way distinguished; an
Posterior End of Pelyrtog, a polychaetous annelid.
W, from above, B, from below, showing pygidium, etc.; c, c\ noto^
podial and neuropodial cirri of last true somite of the Ixidy ; a. cirri
of pygidimn ; g, setae ; h, inferior tubercle ; x, anus.
anal, caudal, or pygal part or organ : said chiefly
of insects, crustaceans, and worms, (a) In entom.,
the last dorsabdominal segm ent, when modified or special-
ized, as into an ovipositor, sting, anal forceps or cerci, etc.
The term is much used in the classification of coleop-
ters, hymenopters, and some of the homopters. In Coleop-
tera, the term generally applies to any part of the dorsab-
dominal segments which may be visible beyond the ends
of the closed elytra. This is usually harder than the part
covered by the elytra. /When more than one segment is
thus emosei, pygidium may he restricted to the last one,
the next preceding being distinguished as propygidium.
(6) The terminal division of the body of a trilobite. See
cut under TrUotnta. (c) The terminal segment of a worm.
2. [cap.] A genus of nematognaths, typical
of the family Pygidiidse. Later called Trielio-
mycterus — Divided pygidium. See divided.
pygmean, pigmean (pig-me'an), a. [< L.
pygmsBug, \ (3t. nvy/Mioc, dwarfish; see pygmy,
pigmy.] Pertaining to a pygmy or dwarf; very-
small; dwarfish.
Throng numberless, like that pygrrmm race
Beyond the Indian mount. Milton, F. L., 1. 780.
pygmy, pigmy (pig'mi), n. and a. [Early mod.
E. also pigmie, pigmey, pigm^e ; < ME. pigmey,
pygmey, pygme = OP. pigme, pygme, P. pygmee
= Sp. pigmeo = Pg. pigmeo, pygmeo = It. pig-
meo = Gr.pygmae = Sw. pygm4 = Dan. pygmse
— 'Rnss.pigme'l, < L. Pygmeeus, a Pygmy, dwarf,
as adj. dwarfish, < Gr. TbiyiicuoQ, in pi. TLvy/ialot,
a Pygmy, a dwarf, adj. dwaiflsh, lit. long or
tall as a irvyfi^, < nvyjifi, a measure of length, the
distance from the elbow to the knuckles, equal
to 18 &i.KTv'A.oi ('fingers') or about 13^ inches, a
particular use of nviyfiii, a fist, akin to L. pug-
MMS, the fist: %&^pugilX,pugnaeious^ I. m.;pl.
pygmies {-roSz). 1. [cap.] One of a fabulous race
of dwarfs, mentioned by various ancient au-
thors. The Pygmies (Pygmeei, with an eponymic ancestor
Pygmseus) of Greek fable were represented by Homer as
dwelling on the southern shores of Ocean, and as being
warred upon by the cranes in their annual migrations,
later writers placed them in India and elsewhere. The
African Pygmies described by Herodotus, and hitherto
supposed to be equally fabulous, were apparently the
same as the remarkable race or races of dwarfs found by
recent explorers in various parts of equatorial Africa, espe-
cially those discovered by Stanley (1888) in the forests of
the upper Congo region.
Hence — 2. A little or dwarfish person; adwarf;
also, anything very small of its kind.
In another Yle ther ben lifylle folk, as Dwerghes; and
thei ben to so meche as the Pygmeges, and thei han no-
Mouthe, but in stede of hire Mouthe thei han a lytylls
round hole. UamdeaiOe, Ti-avels, p. 205.
Thy God raigns in his Ark, and I on Earth :
I Chalenge Him, Him (if he dare come forth^
Not Thee, base Pigmee.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Trophies.
Pygmies are pygmies still though perch'd on Alps,
And pyramids are pyramids in vales.
Young, Night Thoughts, vi.
3. The chimpanzee: perhaps as the supposed
ordinal of the fabled Pygmies.
II. a. 1. Belonging to or resembling a pyg-
my; pygmean; dwarfish; very small of its kind;
little.
Behold the Child among his new-bom blisses,
A six years' Darling of a pigmy size.
Wmrdsworth, Ode to Immortality.
2. In ^o67., very small of its kind; dwarfish or
dwarf: applied to many animals.
pygmy
pygmy, pigmy (pig'mi), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
pygmied, pigmied, ppr. pygmying, pigmying.
[< pygmy, ».] To make like a pygmy; dwarf.
[Rare.]
Stand off, thou poetaster, from thy press.
Who jwmiart martyrs with thy dwarf-like verse.
Wood, Fasti Oxon. (1st ed.), II. 799. (Laiham.)
pygmy-weed (pig'mi-wed), n. A plant, Taieea
simplex, a tufted annual an inch or two high,
found oa muddy banks from Nantucket to
Maryland.
Fygobranchia (pi-go-brang'ki-a), ». pi. [NL.,
< Gr. m/yrj, rump, + ppayxia, gUls.] In J. B.
Gray's classification (1821), one of two orders
(the other being Polyhranchia) of gymno-
branchiate gastropods, having plumose or
branching gills surroimding the anus on the
middle of the hinder part of the back, and the
skin more or less spiculous. it was framed to re-
ceive the families Onchidaridse, Dorididie, Goniodoridie,
PolycerCda, Triopidse, and Ceratosomidie. AnthobraiMhia
Is a synonym.
fygobranchiata (pi-go-brang-M-a'ta), n. pi.
[NL., neut. pi. of pygobranchiatvs : see pygo-
hranchiate.l Same as Pygobranchia.
pygobranchiate (pi-go-brang'ki-at), a. [< NL.
pi/gobranchiatus, < Gr. iriryri, rump, + fipayxia,
gills: see Tyranehiate.l Having gills around
the anus ; of or pertaining to the PygohramcM-
ata.
pygodidymus (ro-go-didl-mus), «. ; pi. pygo-
mdymi (-mi). [NL.,< Gr. nvyq, rump, + SiSvfiog,
double, twofold, twin.] Same as dipygus.
pygopagUS (pl-gop'a-^s), n.; pi. pygopagi
(-ji). [NL., < Gr. mypi, rump, -I- nayog, that
which is fixed or firmly set, < ■Kriymvai,, make
fast, make solid.] In teratol., a double mon-
ster with union at the buttocks.
pygoparasiticus (pi-go-par-a-sit'i-kus), n. ; pi.
pygoparasiUd (-si). [NL., < Gr. irvy^, rump, -I-
TrapaaiTiKdc, parasitic] In teratol., a pygopagus
where one fetus is a parasite.
pygope (pi'gop), n. A lizard of the family Py-
goiiodidse; a pygopod.
Pygopidae (pi-gop'i-de), n.pl. [NL.] Same as
Pygopodidse.
pygopod (pi'go-pod), a. and n. [< Gr. ■Kvyij,
rump, + ■jroi)S (ttoiS-) =E./oo*.] I. a. 1. In or-
nitli., rump-footed, as an auk, loon, or grebe;
having the legs inserted far back, appearing
close by the rump ; of or pertaining to the Py-
gopodes. — 2. In herpet, of or pertaining to the
Fyloridea
arteriosus) of the lower vertebrates. See trta'.-
CVS.
pylar (pi'lar), a. [ipyle^ + -ar^.'\ Of or per-
taining to a pyle ; specifically, pertaining to the
pylsB of the brain.
ous.] In or»t</ir, rump-footed; speci¥caUy, of pylchet, »• A Middle English form of j)»Zcfei.
or pertaining to the Pygopodes, or having the pyle^ti »• A Middle English form otpile^ etc.
characters of that group of birds: also applied pyle^ (pil), n. [Perhaps a use otpyle^=pile^.']
to some birds, as cormorants and penguins, A single grain of chaff. Burns, To the Unco
which do not belong to the Pygopodes. Guid. [Scotch.]
Pygopus (pi'go-pus). ii. [NL. (Merrem, 1820), pyle^ (pil), n. [< Gr. triXii, a gate.] A pore or
s Gr. TTvy^, nimp, + Trcnic = B. foot.'i A ge- other orifice or opening of small size, as a mi-
4871
tebras, the clavicle not dilated and loop-shaped
proximally, and no postorbital or postfrontal
squamosal arches. T. Gill, Smithsonian Re-
port, 1885.
pygopodous (pi-gop'o-dus), a. [< pygopod +
Pygt^
II. n. lnherpet., a ]izaidot the tsbmilj Py go
podidsB.
Pygopodes (pi-gop'o-dez), n. pi. [NL. : see
pygopod.'] An order of swimming and diving
birds, the rump-footed birds, having the legs
inserted very far back, and buried in the com-
mon integument of the body nearly to the heel.
Its limits have varied with different writers, hut it is now
generally considered to include the loons, grebes, and
auks, and to exclude the penguins, which, though pygop-
odous, are otherwise very different in important respects.
It then consists of the families ColymUdae, Podicipedidse,
and Alddai. In consequence of the position of the legs,
these birds can hardly walk, and when on land they as-
sume a more or less nearly upright attitude. See cuts
under Alca, grebe, and loon.
Fygopodidae (pi-go-pod'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Pygopodes + -idee.] An Australian family of
eriglossate lacertilians, tjrpifled by the genus
Pygopus, alone representing the superfamily
Pygopodoidea, having the frontal bone excluded
from the orbit, the prefrontal and postfrontal
bones being extended and contiguous. Also
rump,
nus of lizards, typical of the family Pygopodidse,
having a pair of rudimentary hind limbs. P.
lepidopodvs, the only species, inhabits Austra-
lia ; it is about 2 feet long. See cut in preced-
ing column.
Pygoscelis (pi-gos'e-lis), n. [NL. (Wagler,
1832), < Gr. Tzvyi], rump, -I- aniTM^, leg.] A ge-
nus of pen-
guins, of which
the gentoo or
so-oaUed Pa-
puan penguin,
P. papua or P.
taeniata, is the
type. It is one
of those com-
monly called
johnny by
sailors. See
gentoo^.
pygostyle (pi'-
go-stil). n. [<
Gii.mipijTMwp,
+ oTvhig, col-
umn.] In or-
nith., the vo-
mer or plow-
share bone of a bird's tail, consisting of a num-
ber of caudal vertebrae ankylosed together for
the support of the tail-feaihers,andpossessedby
nearly all birds
.Since the oldest
known birds (of Tu
rassic age) had no
pygostyle, but a
long tapering tail
like a lizaid's with
a pair of large fea^
thers to each verte-
bra (see out under
Areltssopteryx), and
since all modern
birds have a pygo-
style, upon which
feathers are bunch-
ed in several pairs.
cropyle. Coues.
pylemphrazis (pi-lem-frak'sis), ». [NL., < Gr.
TTii/l)?, a gate, + e/KJipa^ig, a stopping: see em-
phracHc.] Obstruction of the portal vein.
pylephlebitis (pi-lef-le-bi'tis), n. [NL., < Gr.
wvhj, a gate, -t- <l)Xiiji (^AejS-), a vein, -I- -itis. Of.
phlebitis.'] Inflammation of the portal vein and
its branches.
pylethrombosis (pi-leth-rom-bo'sis), n. [NL.,
< Gr. TTvTiii, a gate, + NL. thrombosis, q. v.]
Thrombosis of the portal vein.
pylgrimt, n. A Middle English form of pilgrim.
pylon (pi'lon), n. [< Gr. Trv/Uiv, a gateway, <
tt'v?.?!, a gate, a gateway.] In arch., a monu-
mental gateway to an Egyptian temple, or oth-
er important building. The pylon was sometimes a
single structure, in outline resembling a truncated pyra
Gentoo {^Pygoscelis iafnia(a)
Pygostyle.— Eight caudal vertebras of an
eagle {HattaHtus teiecocefihatus), of which
the iast, /, is the pygostyle. (Two thirds
natural size.)
Pylon.— Temple of Edfou, Egypt
mid, through which the passage for the gate was pierced,
but was more typically a combination of two such trun-
cated pyramidal structures, connected by a lower archi-
tectural member, in which was the gate proper. They
were usually covered with elaborate decoration in +
sculpture, together with hieroglyphic inscriptions. m
Often used synonymously with propylon. (Com- 111
pare ptopylon.) Various forms of the pylon are
used as hieroglyphic symbols. That shown in the
cut stands for <m, the Greek Heliopolis.
_: __ _ ". '. ■;, [<NL.i52/-
forus + Gr. "enro/i^, a cutting out.] Excision of
Hieio-
;lyphic
•ylon.
it follows that, theoretically, a pygostyle includes or rep-
resents as many coalesced caudal vertebrse as there are nylorectomV (pi-lo-rek'to-mi),
pairs of feathers in the tail— namely, five or six in most *^i' „,,„ j. />- >m-omA a putting mi
birds, up to twelve or more in some. But this view does [^^^ ^ ^^- ^i^<>lf, a CUtranp on
not rest upon observation. Whatever its morphological the pylorus, as tor cancer.
character, the pygostyle Is always the last bone of the tail, pyloric(pi-lor'ik), a. and n. [< NL. pylorus + -ic]
„»j „!„„„. — «™„„™,= i„ cw». ir, .h=T.o it. ,'« vBw vari- j^ ^_ -^ anttt., of OT pertaining to the pylorus:
opposed to cardiac: as, pyloric valve; pyloric
orifice; pyloric compartment of the stomach.
See cuts under DiirancMata, ink-bag, and in-
and always conspicuous in size
able in different birds.
in shape it is very vari-
Pygopodoidea (pi"|;9-]P9-doi'de-90, n^P^
' Pygopodes + " '" * °-
..„,.,„ ^ [NL.,
X J. j/yy,^^^^ . ^dea.] A superfamily of eri-
glossate lacertilians, represented by the family
Pygopodidee alone, having concavo-convex ver-
r^gafus leptdopailus. «, rudiment of hind leg.
pygostyled (pi'go-stild). o. [ipygostyle + -e^.]
Furnished with 'a pygostyle ; forming or con-
verted into a pygostyle.
Tail short as to its vertebrae, which xcb pygostyled.
Coues, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 2b3.
pyic (pi'ik), a. [< Gr. niov, pus, + -ic] Of or
belonging to pus ; purulent.
pyjamas, «. pt- Same a.s pajamas.
pytt, pyKet) »• aii'i *• Obsolete spellings of
pike^.
pykedt, «• A Middle English form oi piked.
pykeysf, «• -A- Middle English form of pickax.
Prompt. Parv.
pyknometer, ™. Same as pycnometer.
pyknon, n. See pycnon.
pyla (pi'ia), n. ; pi. pylee (-le). [NL., < Gr. iriTiTi,
a gate.] " The orifice by which each paraque-
duct or optic ventricle of the brain communi-
cates with the aqueduct of Sylvius.
pylagoras (pi-lag'o-ras), n. ; pi. pylagorai (-ri).
[< Gr. Uv/Uiydpac (see def.), < TliiTuu, the Pass
of Thermopylae (pi. of Mn, gate, pass), -1-
aydpecv, collect, gather : see agora.] In ancient
Greece, an elected delegate or representative
of a constituent state in the Amphictyonio
Council. The pylagorai were secondary to the delegates
entitled hieromnemones (see hieromnemon), arid had their
name from the older place of assembly of the Pythian
Amphictyony, at Pylai (Thermopylse).
pylagore (pi'la-gor), n. [< Gr. avUydpas: see
pylagoras.] Same as pylagoras.
pylangial (pi-lan'ji-al), a. [< pylangi-um +
-al.] Pertaining to the pylangium.
pylangiiun (pi-lan-ji'um), ». ; ^\.pylangia{-a).
[NL., < Gr. ■Khlri, a gate, + ayyeiov, a vessel.]
The first section of the arterial trunk (tnincus
In the darter, which has a pyloric division or compart-
ment of the gizzard, this is nearly filled with a mass of
matted hairs, a peculiar modiflcation of the epithelial lin-
ing, serving to guard the pyloric orifice.
Coveii, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 213.
Pyloric artery, a branch of the hepatic artery, distrib-
uted to the pyloric extremity and lesser curvature of the
stomach. The name is sometimes restricted to the small
branch given off to the pylorus only. — Pyloric cseca. (a)
In icMh., more or less numerous csecal diverticula which
are generally found about the beginning of the small intes-
tine of fishes, (b) In entom. , the csecal diverticula with
which the chylific ventricle of an insect may be provided.
See cut under Blattidm.— Pyloric glands. See gland.—
Pyloric orifice. Same as pylorus, l (a).— Pyloric ossicle,
a transverse, partly calcified plate situated in the roof of
the pyloric part of the stomach of some crustaceans, as
crawfish, and connected with the pterocardiac by the zygo-
cardiac ossicle. — Pyloric plexus. See plexwi. — Pyloric
sacs, in echinoderms, dilatations of the alimentary canal,
as of a starfish, on the aboral side of the cardiac sacs, sep-
arated by a constriction from the latter, and provided with
:» tubular processes along the aboral aspect of a ray or arm.
— Prtonc tube, a narrowed or tubular part of the sto-
mach of a fish.— Pyloric vein, a small vein accompany-
ing the pyloric artery and emptying into the portal vein.
II. n. pi. The pyloric cseca of a fish. .
When ascending int» fresh water with their ova nearly
ready for extrusion, their pylorics are loaded with fat.
The Field (London), Dec. 26, 1885.
Pylorid^at (pi-16-rid'e-a), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
nvhjpdg, also 7rvlovp6(, a gate-keeper (see pylo-
rus), + -idea.] In De Blainville's classification,
the tenth family of bivalve mollusks, character-
ized by gaping shells with deep pallial emar-
gination. It contains a number of genera now dissoci-
ated in several different families, especially Myidee, So-
lenidee, Saxicamdse, and Ga^ocheenidse.
pyloridean
4872
P3n:amid
pyloridean (pl-16-rid'e-an), a. and n. [< NL. pyonephrosis (pi"6-nef-r6'sis), ". [NL., < Gr. Pyralis (pir'a-lis), «. .[NL. (Sohrank, 1801), C
Pyloridea + -a?!.] I. 'a'.' Gaping, as a bivalve mov, pus, + ve^pog', kidney, + -orn.] The pres- L. pyralis, < Gr. ;rupaA(f, ■KvppaMq, a winged in-
moUusk; of or pertaining to the Pyloridea. ence of pus in the kidney and its pelvis. sect supposed to live on hre, ^ '^^P>/"'| • s^e
' n. ». A member of the Pyloridea. pyonephrotic (pi'o-nef-rot'ik), a. [< pyoneph- pyre.') ^ A pnus of mo™^..tyPicalot^tne tomiiy
pyloristenosis (pi-l9-ris-te-no'sis), n. [NL., < TOsis (-0*-) + -ic] Pertaining to pyonephrosis. " -- '-- — „ ™„ „o«,„ „«
Gr. 7roXup(5f, pylorus, + arivactg, a narrowing, pyoningt, n. Seepioning.
straitening, < arevovv, narrow, straiten, arevdg, pyon3rt, »*• An obsolete form of j)Jo»y, peony.
narrow, strait.] '" — ^'^ — ■■ '■' ^"
lorus.
pylorochesis (pi-lo-ro-ke'sis), n.
PyralidsB, having a conspicuous proboscis and
ascending palpi. About a dozen species are
known, mainly European. P. farinalis is a.
Morbid conti'action of the py- pyopericardium (pi-o-per-i-kar'di-um)," ». cosmopolitan flour-pest.
[NL., < Gr. TTtiov, pus, + NL. pericardium: see pyrallollte (pi-ral o-ht), n. [bo called as tak-
pericardium.1 The presence of pus in the peri- ing another color ; < Gt.nvp, fire, + a/Aof, other.
[NL., < Gr. peri
■Kvkopdg, pylorus, + oxvi-Q, a carrying, driving cardial sac. _
(taken in sense of 'holding'), <o;tr«v, bear, car- pyqperitonitis (pi-o-per"i-t9-ni'tis), n. [NL.,
ly, drive, < e;);"", hold, have.] Obstruction of < Gr. Triov, pus, + NL. ^mtoJiife, q. v.] Sup-
the pylorus. purative peritonitis.
pylorus (pi-16'rus), n. ; pi. pylori (-ri). [NL., < pyophthalmia (pi-of-thal'mi-a), n. [NL. , < Gr.
LL. pylorus, < Gr. 'in)7Mp6^, also mTMvpd^, a gate- -kvov, pus, + b^aXiiia, a disease of the eyes : see
keeper, also the lower orifice of the stomach, < ophthalmia.'] Production of pus in the eye.
KvMi, a gate, a pass, + iipa, Ionic upi?, care, heed, pyopneumothorax (pi-o-nii-mo-th6'raks)j n.
or ovpoQ, a watcher or warder, < 6pav, see.] 1. [NL., < Gr. ■kvov, pus, + nvev/j.uv, lung, + flupaf.
In the early church, a doorkeeper; an ostiary thorax.] Same as pneunwpyothorax,
+"XiBoq, stone.] A white or greenish altered
variety of pyroxene, found in Finland.
Pyrameis (pir-a-me'is), «. [NL. (Huebner,
1816).] A large and wide-spread genus of but-
terflies of the family Nymphalidee. it occurs in
most parts of the world, and is represented in the United
States by four species, of which P. cardui is aoosmopolitan
form and is well known in England as the painted-lady
(which see with cut),and in the United States as thethistle-
butterfly, from the fact that its larva feeds on thistles.
pyramid (pir'a-mid), n. [Formerly also, as L.,
(which see).— 2. In anat.: (a) T^e orifice of pyopogsis(pi'o-p6-e'sis),»:"Sameasi52/Oi)oiesM. pyramis, V\Pyra%ti^es; =F. p^amide, Jor-
communication between the stomach and the pyopoiesis (pi"o-poi-e'.sis),_«. [NL., < Gr. xtev, meriyj^ramde =^±PJ^<^J^''^^=y£PZT'a'
intestine, by which the contents of the stomach pus, + woitiaLQ, production, < iromv, make.] Sup-
pass into the intestine, it is usually situated on the puration ; production of pus ; pyosis. Also pyo-
right-hand side, opposite the cardiac or esophageal orifice, poesis.
but may closely approximate or be adjoined to the latter, nvontvsis (ra-oo'ti-sis), «. [NL., < Gr. ttvov.
See cut under rtomacA. (6) The fold of mucous ^'^^g^ ^ „^>^,^^ ^ spitting, < nriew, spit.] Ex-
membrane, containing muscular fibers, which pectoration of pus
guards the pyloric orifice, or other contrivance pyorrhea, pyorrhoea (pi-6-re'a), n. [NL. pyor-
)pposing the passage of food "^ji^a, < Gr. nvov, pus, + ^om,' a flow, < l>nv,
for retarding or opposing
from the stomach into the intestine, (c) The
pyloric end or division of the stomach. — 3. In
flow.] Purulent discharge.,
laxls, an alveolar abscess.
-Pyorrhoea alveo-
phonophorous hydrozoans
tmitnini, ' ' ^^
cular
' An obsolete variant (or misprint)
Hydrozoa, a valvular structm-e which separates pyosalpingitis (pi-6-sal-pin-ji'tis), n. [NL.,< Gr.
the gastric from the somatic cavity in the si- nvov, pus, + irdAmyf (aa^myj-), a tube, + -itis.']
Antrum pylori. See Purulent inflammation of a Fallopian tube.
-■ ■ ■ ■ ■ - - - u. [NL., < Gr.
The presence of
pus m a ii'allopii
The difficulty of accurate diagnosis between a pyosal-
mtKe and a hydrosalpinx . . . must here be taken into ac-
count. Lancet, N6. 3477, p. 837.
pyosapremia (pi^o-sap-re'ini-aj, n. [NL., < Gr.
Trioi;, pus, + aanpiq, rotten, + ai^o, blood.] The
infection of the blood with a purulent exudate,
as pus.
pyoscope (pi'o-skop), n. [< Gr. iriiov, pus, +
aKimslv, view.] An instrument for the deter-
mination of the amount of fat in milk.
A Middle English spelling of pyOSis (pi-6'sis), n. [< Gr. Trvaatg, suppuration,
° < -Kvom, cause to suppurate, < mov, pus : see
pynnet.«.andr. A Middle English form of pml. i""*-] The progress or formation of pus.
pyoblennorrhoea (pi-6-blen-6-re'a), ». [NL., < pyott, «. Seejpje*. ,
*^&r. ,rtov7puB, + m^og, mucus, +>/«, a flow, pyothorax (pi-o-tho'raks), ». [NL., < Gr. ^y,
m. CtUenn^rhea.] Muco-purulent pus, + ei>pa^, tWax.] The presence of pus in
pymma
pympert, "• *•
ot pamper.
Good mistress Statham, . . . seeing what case I was in,
hath fetched me home to her own house, and doth pymper
me up with all diligence, for I fear a consumption.-
Latimer, Sermons and Hemains (Parker Soc), p. 386.
HDavies.)
pynaclet, n. A Middle English form of pinnacle.
pynchf, V. An obsolete spelling ot pinch.
pyndt, pyndert. Middle English forms of pind,
ier,
pyramide = It. piramide = D. piramiede = G.
pyramide = Sw. pyramid = Dan. pyramide, < L.
pyramis l-mid-), < Gr.Trvpa/iic (-fuS-), a pyramid,
perhaps < Egypt, ^ir-em-its, the slanting edge of
a pyramid. Some have imagined a connection
with Gr. Trip, fire, as if named from the resem-
blance to a tapering flame.] 1 . A massive struc-
ture of polygonal, usually square plan, the sides
of which slope, each usually in one plane, to a
common apex. Pyramids have been erected in diflEer-
ent parts of toe world, especially in Egypt, where there-
are numerous groups in different styles of execution and
states of preservation. By far the most interesting of th ese
groups is that of Ghizeh, near Cairo, where there are three'
pyramids of large size, and several smaller ones. All the
Egyptian pyramids were built for tombs, and certainly in
most cases, if not in all, for royal personages. They are re-
markable not only for the great size of many of them, but
for the manner in which Siey were hermetically sealed,
there being no external opening of any kind, nor any in-
dication of the place in which the mummy had been de-
posited; on the contrary, some of them exhibit very in-
genious arrangements intended to lead astray those search-
pyneti n. and V.
p%ne-
a pleural cavity; empyema.
He had seen the rapid formation of an abscess follow an
exploratory puncture in a case of tuberculous pyotAoraa;.
Lancet, No. 3479, p. 989.
. TTVOV, ]_
< })eiv, flow.
discharge.
pyochezia (pi-o-ke'zi-a), n. [NL., < Gr. mov,
pus, + ;i;^fen', ease oneself.] The condition in
which pus is discharged by the intestine. ,
pyocoelia (pi-o-se'U-a), m. [NL.,<Gr. 7r{iov,pus, pyracanth (pir'a-kanth), n. [< (iT.irupamvOa,
+ KoiMa, a cavity : "see ccelia.] The presence a variety of thorn, < Trap, fire, + amvdog, a pnck-
of pus in the abdominal cavity. ly tree, a thorn.] A t\i.oTa, Cratsegus Pyra-
pyocolpos (pi-6-kol'pos), n. [NL., < Gr. nim, cantha, found in the south of Europe.
pus -H KO^Trof, womb.] The presence of pus in pyracid (pi-ras'id), m. ^3.me 3.S pyro-acid.
the vagina. pyral (pi'ral), a. \< pyre + -al.] Of or
pyocystis (pi-6-sis'tis), n. [NL.,< Gr. Triov, pus,
+ Kvartg, bladiier : see cystis.] An encysted col-
lection of pus.
pyogenesis (pi-o-jen'e-sis), n. [NL., < Gr. mov,
pus, + yiveaic, origin, source : see genesis.] The
generation of pus ; the theory or process of the pyralid (pir'a-lid), a. and n,
per-
taining'to a pyre.
Whether unto eight or ten bodies of men to adde one of
a woman, as being more inflammable, and unctuously con-
stituted for the better pyratt combustion, were any ra-
tional practise. Sir T. Browne, Urn-burial, iv.
I, a. Resembling
formation of pus. Also pyogenia.
pyogenetic (pi"6-je-net'ik), a. [< pyogenesis,
after genetic] Pertaining to pyogenesis ; pyo-
pyo^eilia (pi-6-je'ni-a), n. [NL., < Gr. ttvov,
pus, + -yheia, < -yevT/g, producing.]
pyogenesis. _, „
pyogenic (pi-o-jen'ik), a. [< Gr. ttkov, pus,
+ -yevi/c, producing, + -ic] Having relation
to the formation of pus ; producing or generat-
-Pyosenic fever, pyemia.
a moth of tte family Pyralidse ; belonging to
this family ; pyralideous.
II. n. A pyralid moth; any member of the
Pyralidse or Pyralidina.
Alsopyralidine.
Same as Pyralidse (pi-ral'i-de), n.pl. [NL. (Leach,
1819), < Pyralis + -Mse.] A heterogeneous fam-
ily of moths, of uncertain limits and characters,
rtey are generally of medium size or small, with slender
bodies and long legs, and with both maxillary and labial
palpi. The family has in fact for many years been a rest-
ing-place for genera which do not find place in the other,
-• •■• Also Pj/roJidtaa, and preferably
_ : pyralid +
;„'theT»lBnTflrpavitv' -eoas.j ' Pyralid; of or pertaining" to the Pjfra-
pyoid (pi'oid), a. [< Gr. ™o«%, like pus, < Mma : as, ''t-hepyrattdem^ grouv," Stainton
^Sw,pus, -I- k<5of, form.] , Having the nature pyralidi/om (pir-a-lidJi-J6rm)^a. _ [< NL. Pj,-
of or resembling pus; purulent. ~~i../ .^ ^...
pyolymph (pi'o-limf), n. [< Gr. ttW, pus, +
NL. lympha, lymph : see lymph.] Lymph some-
what turbid with pus-corpuscles.
pyometra (pi-6-me'tra), n. [NL., < Gr. jruov,
pus, + /i^rpa,' uterus.] The presence of pus
in the uterus. _
^^"t^^^^l^'^l^tisfS'.:] &ative py^aMine (pi-ral'i-din), a. and'^. Same as
The Pyramids of Ghizeh, Egypt.
ing for the sepulchral chamber. Everything was planned
in their construction to insure permanence, concealment,
and security from violation. Of the three great pyramids
at Ghizeh, the largest and by far the most important and
interesting is the so-called Great Pyramid, in regard to
which a very extensive literature exists, and which liaa
frequently been measured and elaborately described. It
is the largest work of man's hands in the world, having
been originally 481 feet in height, and each of the sides of
its very nearly square base measuring on the average
nearly 766 feet (9068.S in., Petrie). It is the only one re-
maining of the "seven wonders of the world." Its inte-
rior structure is more elaborate than that of any of the
other pyramids, and some of the features which it displays
are peculiar, aud remarkable as showing the desire of the
builders that at least one geometrical fact of fundamental
Importance should be incorporated into the structure.
Thus the height of the Great Pyramid bears, with remark-
able precision, the same relation to the total length of the
four sides ot its base that the radius of a circle has to its
circumference, and other indications of the ir ratio exist
in its interior. This and other interesting peculiarities of ,
this pyramid have led various persons, some of whom have
been eminent in science, to adopt the view that it was a
divinely inspired building, and that the so-called "coffer"
contained within the principal sepulchral chamber was
intended to serve as a standard of weights and measures
and a record of various fundamental facts in geophysics,
and not for a sarcophagus. Of the manner in which the
huge stones of which this pyramid is built were raised to
their present position but little is definitely known, but
it is inferred that the work was done without the aid of
complicated machinery; that they were shaped — to a vei-y
rnliol iri \-i-Wfm-nin tnrm^ Havine the form complicated machmery; that they w
rails (-n-) -1- WO' rn,a, iprm.j naviug uue xui m go„giagj^,jje ^^^^^^ atleast-by the use of saws of bronze,
or structure of a pyralid moth , pyralimne or ^■^^^ ^^^^■|^ „{ -wiiiQii were gems or hard stones, has been
pyralideous ; belonging to the Pyralidiformia
Pyralidiformia (pir-a-lid-i-f6r'mi-a), n. pi.
[NL.: aeepyralidiform.] A group of pyralidi.
form or pyralideous moths. Schrank, 1802.
Pyralidina (pir"a-li-di'na), n. pi. [NL., < Py-
ralis (-id-) + -ina^.] Saine as PyraUdw.
inflammation of the kidney.
pyralid.
clearly shown by the most recent investigations. The
date of the Great Pyramid, which is believed to have been
built by or for King Shufu (Cheops) of the fourth dynasty,
is variously fixed by Egyptologists at from 2460 to 4235
B. 0. The latter is the date assigned by Mariette.
2. In geom., a solid contained by a plane poly-
gon as base and other planes meeting in a
point. This point is called the vertex of the pyramid ;
and the planes which meet in the vertex are called the
pyramid
Bides, which are necessarily all triangles, having for their
bases the sides of the base of the pyramid. Any pyramid
IS m volume one third of a prism that has the same base
and altitude. Pyramids are denominated from the figures of
their bases, being triangular, square, pentagonal, etc., ac-
cording as the base is a triangle, a square, a pentagon, etc.
Knowledges are as pyramids, whereof history is the
basis. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 165.
3. In crystal., a form, in any system but the
isometric, bounded by eight, twelve, sixteen, or
twenty-f onr planes, and consisting of two four-,
six-, eight-, or twelve-sided pyramids placed
base to base. The name is also extended to embrace
any form the planes of which intersect all three of the
axes; in the monoclinic system it includes only four, and
in the triclinic only two planes, being in eacli case an open
form. If the planes intersect the lateral axes at the as-
sumed unit distances, the pyramid is csdled a unit pyra-
mid ; other forms are designated macropyramids, clvnojryr-
amide, etc. (see these terms), according to their position.
In the tetragonal system a unit pyramid is also called a
protopyramid, or pyramid of the first order or series, and
a square octahedron formed by pyramidal planes parallel
to one of the lateral axes is in distinction called a deutero'
pyramid or diametrai pyramiid, or one of the second or-
der or series. These terms are also used in an analogous
manner in the hexagonal system.
4. In zool. and anat., a pyramidal or conical
part, structure, or organ ; specifically, a mass of
longitudinal fibers on each side of the anterior
median fissure of the oblongata. See cut un-
der ElasmoibrancMi. — 5. The pile of five or six
triangular valves covering an opening on the
oral surface of the body of a cystic crinoid.
The structure is variously interpreted as ova-
rian or oro-anal. — 6. In medieval arch., a pin-
nacle of quadrangular plan, most commonly
Pyramids.— Apsidal Buttresses of Rheims Cathedral, France.
acutely pyramidal in form; hence, any similar
feature. Compare pyramidion.
Accordingly at Amiens this weight is set . . . in the
form of an upright square mass of masonry crowned by a
steep pyramiid, and the Gothic pinnacle stands forth in
essential completeness.
C. H. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 84.
7. The American columbo, or Indian lettuce,
Frasera Carolinensis — Decussation of the pyrar
midS, the crossing over of the crossed pyramidal tract of
one side to join the du?ect pyramidal tract of the other,
revealed externally by bundles crossing the anterior me-
dian fissure of the oblongata a little below the olivary
bodies.— Double pyramid group. See groupi.—Mal-
pighian pyramids. See Malpighian.— Posterior pyr-
anild, a funiculus gracilis. [Eare.]— Pyramid of the
cerebellum, a lobe of the vermis inferior of the cerebel-
lum behind the uvula. It is connected laterally with the
diga'stric lobes.— Pyramid of the thyroid gland an
occasional conical third lobe of the thyroid gland.— Pyr-
amid of the tjrmpanimi, a small conical bony prom-
inence on the posterior wall of the tympanic cavity, be-
hind the fenestra ovalis, containing the stapedius mus-
cle in its interior, and transmitting the tendon of that
muscle through a foramen at its apex.— Pjrrajnld of
the vestibule, a prominence on the mner wall ofthe
vestibular cavity, behind the fovea hemispherica^ Pyr-
amid of Wistar, the sphenoturbinal bone.--Pyramid
SSS See Joo^ n., 2 W-P^rap^ds of Ferrein, a
name given to the bundles of straight renal tubules which
constitute the medullary rays. These bundles as they
approach the cortical margin become smaller and more
conical from the diminution of tt'«°"^ber of tubules,
whPTipe the name —Pyramids ofthe medulla omon-
gata «"to*^ a°d ^aeriar. See def. 4, and posterior
Iwi^ above.- P^araldS ofthe spine, a name given
^Stnterioriy projecting parts of the spinal column.
4873
The upper pyramid is formed by all the vertebra! from the
second cervical to the last lumbar, and this is again sub-
divided into three lesser pyramids ; the lower pyramid is
composed of the sacrum and coccyx.
pyramidal (pi-ram'i-dal), a. [= P. pyramidal
= Sp. piramidal = Pg. pyramidal = It. pira-
midale = D. piramiedaal, < ML. pyramidalis,
pertaining to a pyramid, < L. pyramis (-mid-), a
pyramid: see pyramid.^ 1. "Pertaining to a
pyramid, or having its form. Also pyramidical.
He [Plato] would compound the earth of cubical and
fire oi pyramidal atoms, and the like.
Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 53.
These meadows are planted with mulberry trees, and
adorned by the pyramidal tomb of Caius Cestius.
Bustace, Italy, I. xi.
2. In bot., anat., and zool., shaped more or less
like a pyramid; conical; pyriform Pyramidal
bell-flower, an ornamental plant. Campanula pyramida-
lis. Also called chimney-plant — l^^sunldal bone, the
cuneiform bone of the carpus; the pyramidale. — Py-
ramidal column. Same as fasciculus groA^is. — Py-
ramidal hemiliedrism. See hemihedrism Pyram-
idal muscle, the pyramidalis. — Pyramidal ntmibers,
the third order of flgurate numbers. See figurate.—'Py-
ramidal plane, in crystal. , one of the faces of a pyramidal
crystal. See pyramid, 3.— Pjrramidal tract, a system of
nerve-flbers which originate in the cortex, in the region of
the central fissure, pass down in the posterior limb of the
internal capsule and the central section of the crusta, form
the pyramids in the oblongata, and divide into the direct
and crossed pyramidal tracts, to terminate in the imme-
diate vicinity of and in close physiological connection with
the origins of motor nerves in the anterior columns of the
spinal cord. Some few fibers may pass to the lateral pyram-
idal tract without crossing, and a few may cross and re-
cross in the cord to the original side. (Also called pe-
duncular tract.) The pyramidal tract crossed ia that part
of the pyramidal fibers which crosses in the oblongata to
pass downward in the posterior part of the lateral column
of the opposite side of the cord. The pyramidal tract di-
rect is that part of the pyramidal fibers which descends
the cord without crossing over to the contralateral side.
It lies close to the anterior median fissure, and is some-
times called the column of Turck.
pyramidale (pi-ram-i-da'le), n. ; ■pl.pyramidaUa
(pir"a-mi-da'li-a). [NL.,neut. ot pyramidalis,
q. v.] The cuneiform bone of the carpus, more
fully called os pyramidale. .
pyramidalis (pi-ram-i-da'lis), n. ; ipl.pyramida-
les (-lez). [NL., se. mnsculus, muscle : see py-
ramidal.'] One of several different pyramidal
or pyriform muscles, (a) In humjin amat. : (1) The
external rectus muscle of the abdomen, a small triangu-
lar muscle, two or three inches long, arising from the os
pubis in front of the rectus, and inserted into the linea
alba below the navel. More fully called pyramidalis ab-
dominis, and also rectus extemus. It is comparatively
small and vestigial, and often absent, in man, represent-
ing a large muscle which in some animals reaches from
the pubes to the clavicles. (2) A slip from the occipito-
frontalis, lying upon the nose, more fully calle A pyramida-
lis nasi. Also called dorsalis nnrium, procerus nasi, and
procerus. (6) In omUh., one of the two muscles of the
nictitating membrane, situated upon the back of the eye-
ball, of a pyramidal or pyriform shape, cobperating with
the quadratus in movements of the third eyelid. See
third cut under et/ei.— Pyramidalis abdominis. See
def. (a) (1).— Pyramidalis femoris. Same as pyrifor-
mis. — Pyramidalis narium. Same as lexatmr labii su-
perioris alseque nasi (which see, under leoator). See also
sneering-rnvxcletVLniei muscle^. — Pyramidalis nasi. See
def. (a) (2).
pyramidalism (pi-ram'i-dal-izm), n. \ipyram-
idal + -ism.'] The body of facts or beliefs re-
specting the pyramids of Ghizeh. C. Piazzi
Smyth.
pjrramidalist (pi-ram'i-dal-ist), n. [< pyrami-
dal + -ist.] A pyramidist.
pyramidally (pi-ram'i-dal-i), adv. In the form
of a pyramid : as, a paxt'pyramidaUy produced ;
in a loose sense, so as to form a high, angular
elevation; hence, extremely.
If, according unto his [Aristotle's] own ethicks, sense is
not essential unto felicity, but a man may be happy with-
out the apprehension thereof, surely in that sense he is
pyramidally happy. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vii. 13.
pyramidate (pi-ram'i-dat), a. [< pyramid +
-afei.] In eretom., pyramidal; jutting out into
a prominent angle : as, a pyrami-
date fascia.
Pyramidella (pir"a-mi-del'a), n.
[NL. (Lamarck, 1796), dim. of L.
pyramis (-mid-), a pyramid: see
pyramid.'] The typical genus of
Pyramidellidse.
Pyramidellacea (pir-a-mid-e-la'-
se-a), n. pi. [NL., < Pyramidella +
-acea.'] Same as Pyramidellidse.
Pyramidellidse (pir"a-mi-del'i-de),
n. pi. [NL., < Pyramidella + -idse.']
A family of gymnoglossate holostomatous pec-
tinibranchiate gastropods, typified by the ge-
The animal has flattened auriform
tentacles, eyes sessile on the tentacles behind, a long re-
tractile proboscis, and a mentuin below the mouth. The
sheU is turreted or conic, with the nucleus sinistral and
the rest of the shell dextral, aperture entire, and columel-
pyrena
lar lip plicated or simple. Species are distributed in all
temperate and warm seas.
pyramides, n. Plural of pyramis.
pyramidia, «. Plural ot pyramidion.
pyramidic (pir-a-mid'ik), a. [< pyramid + 4c.']
Having the form of a pyramid ; pyramidal.
Their gold in pyramidic plenty piled.
Shenstone, Elegies, xix.
pyramidical (pir-a-mid'i-kal), a. [< pyramidic
+ -al.] Same as pyramidic.
The contrivance of nature is singular in the opening and
shutting of bindeweeds, performed by five infiexures, dis-
tinguishable by pyramidical figures, and also different
colours. Sir T. Browne, Garden of Cyrus, iii.
This bounding line [of a building] from top to bottom
may either be inclined inwards, and the mass therefore
pyramidical; or vertical, and the mass form one grand
cliff ; or inclined outwards, as in the advancing fronts of
old houses. Buskin, Seven Lamps of Architecture, iii. § 6.
pyramidically (pir-a-mid'i-kal-i), ado. In a
pyramidical maimer ; in the form of a pyramid.
Pellon, being the leasts is placed above Ossa, and thus
they ijae pyramidically. Pope, Odyssey, xi., note.
pyramidicalness (pir-a-mid'i-kal-nes), n. The
character of being pyramidic. "Bailey, Vi^.
pyramidion (pir-a-mid'i-on), n. ; pi. pyramidia
(-a). [NL., < Qrv" *irvpaiilSioni, dim. of mipa/iig, a
pyramid: see pyramid.] In arch., the apex in
the shape of a small pyramid which often ter-
minates the top of an obelisk, and was very
commonly sheathed with a cap of metal : often
applied to any comparatively small structure
or member of pyramidal shape.
PSrramidist (pir'a-mid-ist), n. [< pyramid +
-4st.] One who makes a special study of the
pyramids of Egypt, or is versed in their struc-
ture and history.
pyramidoid (pi-ram'i-doid), n. [< Gr. irvpa-
/lig (-/iid-), pyramid, + elSoc, form. Cf. pyra-
moid.] A parabolic spindle. Also pyramoid.
Bailey, 1727.
pyramidoidal (pir-a-mi-doid'al), a. {(.pyrami-
doid + -al.] Having the shape of a pyrami-
doid.
pyramidon (pi-ram'i-don), n. [< pyramid +
-on, as in harmonicon, accordion, etc.] In or-
ganAiuilding, a stop having wooden pipes in
the form of an inverted pyramid, about four
times as large at the top as below, and giving
very deep tones somewhat like those of a
stopped diapason.
pyramid-shell (pir'a-mid-shel), ». Any mem-
ber of the Pyramideilidee.
pyramis (pir'a-mis), n.; -p\. pyramides (pi-ram'-
i-dez). \Xi., a, ■pjt&TmA: SQQ pyramid.] A pyr-
amid. Formerly also piramis.
Make
My country's high pyramides my gibbet.
And hang me up in chains !
Shak., A. and C, v. 2. 61.
Place me, some god, upon & pyramis
Higher than hills of earth, and lend a voice
Loud as your thunder to me.
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, iv. 4,
At the end of this Labyrinth there stood a square Pyra-
mis of a marvellous breadth and answerable altitude.
Sandys, Travailes, p. 88.
Pyramis vestibull, the pyramidal eminence of the ves-
tibule.
pyramoid (pir'a-moid), n. [< Gr. irvpafwstd^g,
like a pyramid, < jzvpa/^ig (-iu6-), a pyramid, +
eldoQ, form.] Same as pyramidoid.
pyramoidal (pir-a-moi'dal), a. [< pyramoid +
-al.] Same aspyramidoiml.
Pjrranga, n. See Piranga. Vieillot, 1816.
pyrargyrite (pi-rar'ji-rit), n. [< Gr. Trip, fire,
+ apyvpog, silver, + -ite^.] An important ore
of silver, consisting of the sulphid of silver and
antimony. It occurs in crystals belonging to the
rhombohedral system, often highly complex, and also in
massive forms. When transparent it has a deep ruby-red
color by transmitted light, though on the surface it is
nearly black with a metallic adamantine luster ; the streak
has a cochineal-red color. Also called ruJry silver, or, in
distinction from proustite, dark-red sUver ore. The com-
mon Spanish name in Mexico and South America is rosicler
oscuro, or sometimes petlanque. See proustite.
pjrratet, »• and v. An obsolete spelling ot pirate.
pyre (pir), n. [= Sp. pira = Pg. pyra = It. pira
(cf . P. pyr4e), < L. pyra, < Gr. irvpa, Ionic irvp^,
a hearth, the place of a funeral fire, a funeral
pile, a mound raised on the place of a pyre, < nvp
= E. fire: see fire.] A pile or heap of wood or
other combustible materials for burning a dead
body; a funeral pile.
For nine long nights, through all the dusky air.
The ^res thick flaming shot a dismal glare.
Pope, Iliad, i. 72. (Richardson.)
Apollo's upward flre
Made every eastern cloud a silvery ^re
Of brightness. Eeats, Endymion, i.
pyrena (pi-re'na), m.: T^l.pyrenee (-ne). [NL.:
see pyrene^.] Same as pyrene^.
Pyrensemata
Pyrenaemata (pir-e-ne'ma-ta), m. ^Z. [NL.,
neut. pi. of pyrense/matus : see pyrenematous.^
Tliose animals ■which ai'e pyrenematous, as a
lower series o£ vertebrates. See Apyrensemata.
pyrenarium (pi-rf-na'ri-um), n. ; pi. pyrenaria
(-a). [INh.jipyrena, stone of a frmt,+ -arium.']
A pome; properly, a drupaceous pome — that
is, one containing pyrenes, as that of the med-
lar and of Cratsegiis. [Bare.]
pyrenei (pi'ren), n. [< NL. p^rema, < Gr. izvp^,
the stone of a fruit, as of a date or olive.] A
stone or putamen, properly when there are sev-
eral in a single fruit, as in the huckleberry and
other berry4ike drupes, and in some pomes
with a stony endoearp, as those of the haw-
thorn and medlar ; a nutlet. Also ossiculus.
pyrene^ (pi'ren), n. [< Gr. Trip, fire, + -ene.]
A hydrocarbon (C15H12) obtained from coal-
tar — Pyrene-Oil. See oKve-oU.
Psrrenean (pir-e-ne'an), a. [= F. Pyr6neen, < L.
Pyrensii, sc. monies, the Pyrenees, < Pyrene, <
Gr. Jlvpffuti, the Pyrenees.] Of or pertaining to
the Pyrenees, a range of mountains between
Prance and Spain.
Till o'er the hills her eagles flew
Beyond the P^enean pines,
Tennyson, Death of Wellington, vi.
pjrreneite (pir-f-ne'it), n. [< Pyrenees (see def .)
+ -ite'^.'] A variety of garnet of a grayish-black
color, found in the Pyrenees.
pyrenematous (pir-e-nem'a-tus), a. [< NL. py-
rensematus, < Gr. Trups^, the stone of a fruit, +
al/ia (ai/iOT-), blood.] Having nucleated blood-
corpuscles: distinguished from apyrenematous.
Gulliver.
Pyrenestes (pir-f-nes'tez), «. [NL. (Swainson,
1837), also erron. Pirenestes; irreg. < Gr. nvp^,
the stone of a fruit, + iadieiv, eat (cf. Chon-
destes).'] A leading genus of Spermestinse, in-
cluding a number of African spermestine birds,
as P. osirina (or sanguinea) and P. coccinea.
pyrenin (pi-re'nin), n. [<. pyrene^ + -in?.'] In
biol., according to P. Schwartz, the chemical
substance composing the nucleoli of a cell — the
nuclear membrane being accordingly termed
ampMpyrenin.
pyrenium (pi-re'ni-um), n.; pi. pyrenia (-a).
[NL., < Gr. Tzvpf/vtov, dim. of nvpf/v, the stone of
a fruit : see pyrene^.'] In 6ot., the hypothecium
of a nucleiform or angiocarpous apothecium.
Encye. Brit.
pyreuocarp (pi-re'no-karp), n. [< Gr. irup^, the
stone of a fruit, -t- Kapjrdc, fruit.] In bot.: (a)
Any drupaceous fruit. (6) In mycol., same as
Xieritliecium.
pyrenocarpous (pi-re-no-kar'pus), a. [< pyre-
nocarp + -o«s.] In bot, resembling, belonging
to, or possessing a pyrenocarp.
pyrenodean (pi-re-no'df-an), a. [< pyrenode-
mis + -an.'] In bot., pyrenodeous; specifically,
having the character of a pyrenium.
pyrenodeine (pi-re-no'de-in), a. lipyrenode-oits
+ -mei.] In bot.', same' a,s pyrenoid.
pyrenodeous (pi-rf-no'de-us), a. [< Gr. miprjv,
the stone of a fruit, -I- elSog, form, + -eous.'] In
bot., same a,s pyrenoid.
pyrenoid (pi-re'noid), a. and n. [< Gr. trvp^v,
the stone of a fruit, + elSog, form.] I. a. Ee-
sembUng in form the stone of a fruit ; globular ;
nucleiform; of excrescent bodies, wart-Uke.
II. n. A small colorless mass of proteid sub-
stance of a crystalline form, usually appearing
hexagonal in optical section. Hwcley and Mar-
tin, Elementary Biology, p. 398.
Pyrenolichenes (pi-re" no -li-ke'nez), n. pi.
[NL., < Pyreno(myeetes) + Lichenes.] A divi-
sion of lichens in which the fungus which en-
ters into the composition of the lichen belongs
to the Pyrenomycetes.
pyrenomycete (pi-re-no-nu'set), n. [< Pyreno-
mycetes.] In bot., a member of the Pyrenomy-
Pyrenomycetes (pi-re"no-mi-se'tez), n. pi.
[NL., < Gr. TTvp^v, the stone of a fruit, -I- i^iKrii,
pi. fiiiKT/Teg, mushroom.] An order of ascomy-
cetous fungi of parasitic or saprophytic habit,
with the tissues usually hard and somewhat
coriaceous. The asci are long and club-shaped, usually
containing eight spores, and are produced in deep flask-
shaped cavities or perithecia. This order includes a large
number of exceedingly injurious fungi which attacls and
destroy plants and also insects. The ergot, Clavkeps pur-
purea, and the black-knot, Sphaeria morbom of cherry-
and plum-trees, are familiar examples. The most destruc-
tive diseases of the grape are also due to members of this
order, such as the black-rot, Physalospora Bidwellii, and the
powdery grape-mildew, Unoinula spiralisor Oidium Twk-
eri. See ergotl, for cut and description ; also black-km^
Sphseria and Valsa, grape-mUdew, Phonrn, Unciniila, Oidi-
um, Phyllosticta.
4874
pyrenomycetous (pi-re'-'no-mi-se'tus), a. [<
Pyrenomycetes -f -otts.] In bot, belonging to,
similar to, or characteristic of the Pyrenomy-
cetes.
Certain pyrenomycetous fungi. Eneyc. Brit., XIV. 659.
pyrenous (pi-re'nus), a. [_< pyrene^ -I- -o«s.] In
bot., containing pyrenes: used only in compo-
sition with a numeral: as, 2-pyrenous, 5-pyre-
nous, etc.
P3n^ethrum (pir'e-thrum), n. [NL. (Gartner,
1791), < L. pyrethrum, < Gr. mpeffpov, a plant,
Anacyclus Pyrethrum, so called from the hot
spicy taste of the root, < ■'rvp, fire.] 1. A
plant of the genus Pyrethrum; feverfew. — 2.
leap.] A former genus of composite plants of
the tribe Anthemideie, now included as part
of the section Pyrethra in the genus Chrysan-
themum, from which it was distinguished by
achenes nearly equally from five- to ten-ribbed
and crowned with a pappus, characters now
known to vary in the same species. The most
common species is now called ChrysarUhemum Partke-
nium (for which &ee feverfew, 1, pellitory, 2, and bert/ram).
Its variety aureum is the golden-feather of the gardens,
used for edging,
3. A powdered preparation of pyrethrum, used
as an insectifuge. Also Bailed, pyrethrvm-pow-
der. See insect-powder and buhach. — 4. In
phar., the Anacyclus Pyrethrum, or peUitory-
of-Spain.
pyretic (pi-ret'ik), a. and «. [Irreg, < Gr. ttv-
pennicdg, feverish, < 'Kvptaauv, be feverish, < irvpe-
rdg, burning heat, fever, < irvp, fire : see^re.] I.
a. Characterized by or afEected with psrrexia or
fever; feverish.
Antipyrln, however, was continued night and morning
in doses of gr. xv. throughout the pyretic period.
Medical News, XLIX. 40.
II, n. A remedy for fever.
pyretogenesia (pir'''e-to-je-ne'si-a), n. [NL.:
see pyretogenesis.] Same as pyretogenesis.
pyretogenesis (pir"e-to-jen'e-sis), n. [NL., <
Gr. nvperdi, fever, + yevcaig, origin : see genesis.]
The genesis of pyrexia.
pyretology (pir-e-tol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. miperdc,
fever, -h -Tioyia, < Tieyeiv, speak: see -^logy.]
The branch of medical science which treats of
fevers.
pyrexia (pi-rek'si-a), ». [NL., < Gr. Tripe^ig,
feverishness, < nvp^crasiv, be feverish, < Trvperdg,
fever: see pyretic.] A higher bodily tempera-
ture than is normal ; fever.
pyrexial (pi-rek'si-al), a. [< pyrexia + -al.]
Of or pertaining to pyrexia.
pyrexia (pi-rek'sik), a. [Irreg. < pyrexy + -ic.]
Same a,s pyrexial.
pyrexical (pi-rek'si-kal), a. [< pyrexic + -al.]
Same as pyrexial.
pyrexy (pir'ek-si), n. [< NL. pyrexia, q. v.]
Same as pyrexia.
Pyrgita (p6r-ji'ta), n. [NL., < Gr. ■Kvpykrig, of
a tower (cf. arptmbq TrvpyiTj/g, a house-sparrow),
< TTvpyog, a tower.] A genus of fringilline birds,
the sparrows, now usually placed in the genus
Passer : so called because the common house-
sparrow often builds its nest in towers.
pyrgoidal (p6r-goi'dal), a. [< *pyrgoid (< Gr.
■KvpyouSijg, like a tower, < nlpyog, a tower, -1-
Eidof, form) -I- -al.] Tower-shaped; of the
form of a prism having at one end a pyramid
on the same base. — Pyrgoidal number, a number
of the form
5(m — 2)»-3_J(2m — 7) r2 -)- J(2m — 7)r.
pyrheliometer (per-he-li-om'e-tfer), n. [< Gr.
iriip, fire, + ^Xiog, sun, -1- /lirpov, measure.] An
instrument devised by
M. Pouillet for mea- \
suring the intensity of
the heat of the sun. it
consists of a shallow cylindri-
cal vessel of thin silver or
copper, containing water or
mercury in which a ther-
mometeris plunged. The up-
per surface of the vessel is
covered with lampblack, so
as to make it absorb as much
heat as possible, and the ves-
sel is attached to a support
in such a way that the upper
surface can always be made
to receive the rays of the sun
perpendicularly. The actual
amount of heat absorbed by
the instrument is calculated
by ordinary calorimetrical
means: the area of the ex-
posed blackened surface is
Known, and the amount of
water or mercury which has
been raised through a cer-
tain number of thermomet-
Pyrhelionieter.
a, blackened disk exposed to
sun's rays, the direction of which
is indicated by dotted lines, as
dd; c, column'df delicate ther-
mometer whose bulb is inserted
in the box beneath a; e, place
of support.
pyritohedral
ric degrees is known, and thus the absolute heating effect
of the sun, acting upon a given area under the conditions
of the experiment, can be readily found. Also pyroheli-
ometer.
The pyrhdiometer and actinometer measure for us the
outflow of solar heat, and show us that the blaze is at least
seven or eight times as intense as that of any furnace
known to art. C. A. Young, The Sun, p. 18.
pyrbeliometric (p6r-he''''li-o-met'rik), a. [<
pyrheliometer + Ac] Of or pertaining to, or
recorded or indicated by, the pyrheliometer:
as, pyrheliometric observations.
pyridia, n. Plural ot pyridium.
pyridine (pir'i-din), n. [< Gr. TTvp, fire, + -id
+ -jne2.] A colorless liquid (C6H5N) of pun-
gent odor, derived from coal-tar, and useful
in allaying asthmatic paroxysms.
pyridium (pi-rid'i-um), n.; pi. pyridia {-&).
[NL., < L. pyrum, prop, pirum, a pear, + Gr.
dim. -iSiov.] In bot., same as pome.
pyriform (pir'i-f6rm), a. and n. [Prop, piri-
form; < L. pyrum, prop, pirum, a pear (see
pear^), + forma, form.] I, a. Pear-shaped;
having the general shape of a pear; obconic;
differing from eg^-shaped or oviform in having
a slight constriction running around it, or, in
section, a reverse or concave curve between
the convex curves of the two ends: as, a, pyri-
form vase. See cut of egg nndei plover.
II, n. In anat, the pyriformis.
pyriformis (pir-i-f6r'mis), n.; pi. pyriformes
(-mez). [NL., sc. musculus, muscle: see pyri-
form.] A flat triangular muscle situated partly
within and partly without the pelvis, it arises
chiefly from the anterior surface ot the sacrum, and, after
passing through the sacrosciatic foramen, is inserted into
the upper fore part of the great trochanter of the femur.
It is one of a group of six muscles collectively known as
rotatores femoris. The character of the muscle varies
much in different animals. Also called pyramidalia femo-
ris and Uiacus extemus. — Fascia of ^6 pyriformlB.
See fascia.
pyritaceous (pir-i-ta'shius), a. [< pyrites +
-aceous.] Of or pertaining to pyrites. See
pyritic.
P37rite (pi'rit), n. [Formerly also pyrit; < L.
pyrites, < Gr. Trvpin/c, a flint, millstone, Pyr-
ite, prop, adj., pertaining to fire (nvphtig XmQ, a
mineral which strikes fire), < ■kvd, fire : seevyre.
Cf. pyrites.] Native iron disulphid (PeS2), a
very common mineral, occurring in isometric
crystals, cubes, octahedrons, pyritohedrons,
etc., and also, and more often, massive, it has
a pale brass-yellow color and brilliant metallic luster,
and is very hard. It is used in large quantities in the
manufacture of sulphuric acid and of sulphur. It is com-
monly called iron pyrites, which term, however, also in-
cludes the related orthorhombic species marcasite, as well
as the magnetic pyrites, or pyrrhotlne. Compare marca-
site, 1,
Like the pyrit stone, that is fler without and frost with-
in. Greene, Never too Late (Works, ed. Dyce, Int., p. xiL),
Hence sable coal his massy couch extends.
And stars of gold the spaxkling pyrite blends.
Vr. E. Darwin, Botanic Garden, I. ii. 350.
pyritegium (pir-i-te'ji-nm), n.; -pl.pyritegia
(-a). [ML., < Gr. irvp, = E. fire, + L. tegere,
cover. Cf. equiv. ML. ignitegium.] The cur-
few-bell: so called in medieval Latin. See
curfew.
pyrites (pi-ri'tez), n. [NL., < L. pyrites, < Gr.
TTvpirtis, a flint, millstone, pyrite.] Either of
the common sulphids of iron, pyrite and marca-
site, but also the yellow sulphid of copper and
iron, chalcopyrite : the former are called distinc-
tively iron pyrites, while the latter is known as
copper pyrites. The name is also extended to other re-
lated sulphids and arsenides of Iron, cobalt, nickel, etc. :
as, vyrrhotiDeoT magnetic pyrites, arsenopyrite or aracnicaZ
pyrites, linnseite or cobalt pyrUes, millerite or caj^lary py-
rites, etc.— Cockscomb pyrites, spear psrrites, white
iron pyrites. See marcasite, 2. — Hepatic pyiltes. See
hepatic.
pyritic (pi-rit'ik), a. [< NL. pyrites + Ac]
Pertaining to pyrites ; consisting of or resem-
bling pyrites.
pyritical (pi-rit'i-kal), a. i<. pyritic + -al]
Same as;pyritic.
pyritiferoiis (pir-i-tif 'e-rus), a. [< NL. pyrites
+ L. ferre = E. beafK] Containing or pro-
ducing pyrites.
pyritization (pir'^i-ti-za'shgn), n. [< pyritize
+ -ation.] Conversion into pyrites.
Prof. T. Bupert Jones commented on the rarity of fos-
sil Radlolaria. Some few have been found in the Chalk.
Their pyritization would tend to their ready destruction.
Quart. Jour. Oeol. Soc, XLV. 124.
pyritize (pir'i-tiz), v. t. ; pret. andpp.jpynfee(J,
ppr. pyriUzing. [< NL. pyrites + -dze.] To
convert into pyrites.
P3?ritohedral (ni-ri-to-he'dral), a. [< pyrito-
hedron + -al.] Periiaining td'the pyiitohedron,
See hffmihe-
pyrltohedral
or belonging to the class of liemihedral forms
of which it IS the type.
It is very curious that in the treatment with aqua regia
the cuhe and octahedron faces remain unattacked, whUe
the acids exert a decided action upon the pyritoheclral
(pentagonal dodeoahedral) faces, entirely destroying their
power of reflecting light. Sel. Armr., N. S., LX. 162.
Fyrltobedral hemlhedriBm, in crystal,
drism.
pyritohedron (pi-ri-tO-he'dron),
Gr. mipiTvs, pyrites, + iSpa,"
a seat, base.] In crystal.,
a pentagonal dodecahedron
I (see dodecaJied/ron); a solid
contained by twelve penta-
gons: a common form with
pyrite, whence the name. It
is the hemihedral form of the
tetrahexahedron.
pyritology (pir-i-tol'o-ji), «. ' ^"'°^'^""'-
l<G:V.nvpiT!K, pyrites, + -loyla, < leyetv, speak:
see -ology.^ 1. Facts or information relating to
pyrites. — 2. A system of or treatise on blow-
pipe analysis.
pyritous (pir'i-tus), a. [< NL. pyrites + -ous.]
Consisting of pyrites.
pyro- (pi'ro- or pir'o-). [L., etc., < Gr. wvpo-,
combining form of wvp, fire, = E. fire : see^re.]
An element in many words of Greek origin or
formation, meaning ' fire.'
pyro-acetic (pi-ro-a-set'ik), a. [< Gr. vvp, fire,
-i- E. acetic.^ Pertaining to or obtained from
acetic acid when subjected to the action of heat.
— Pjrro-acetio spirit. Same as acetone.
pyro-acid (pi-ro-as'id), n. [< Gr. tzvp, fire, + E.
aeid.2 A product obtained by subjecting cer-
tain organic acids to heat. Also pyracid.
pyroballogy (pi-ro-bal'o-ji), n. [< Gr. Trip, fire,
+ pdVieiv, throw, hurl '(see halUsta), + -Tuoyla,
< y^eysiv, speak: see -ology.'] The art of throw-
ing fire ; the science of artillery, or a work on
artillery. [Rare.]
He was enabled, by the help of some marginal docu-
ments, . . . together with Gobesius's militaiy architec-
ture oaA pyroballogy f translated from the Flemish, to form
his discourse with passable perspicuity.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ii. 3.
Fyrocephalus (pi-ro-sef'a-lus), ». [NL. (J.
Gould, 1838), < Gr. 'irtip, Bre, + ns^aXi), head.]
A genus of Tyrannidse; the vermilion flycatch-
ers, which have in the male sex a full globular
4875
Fyrochroidse (pi-ro-kro'i-de), n. pi. [NL.
(Leach, 1817), < Pyrochroa + -idee.^ A small
family of heteromerous beetles of moderate
size, with broad depressed bodies and elytra
Vermilion Flycatcher {l^rocefihattes rubineus). male.
crest and the whole under parts flaming-red,
the back, wings, and tail dusky-brown, p. rvbU
rmis is about six inches long. A variety of this is found in
Mexico and the southwestern parts of the United States.
There are several others.
pyrochlore (pi'ro-klor), n. [< Gr. vvp, fire, +
;t:A(ap<if, yellowish-green: see elilorin.'] Aniobo-
titanate of calcium, cerium, and other bases,
occurring in isometric crystals, commonly oc-
tahedrons, of a brownish color and resinous
luster. It turns yellowish-green under the
blowpipe, whence the name.
Pyrodiroa (pi-rok'ro-a), n. [NL. (Geoffrey,
1762), < Gr. irip, flre, + xP^a, color.] A genus
of heteromerous beetles, typical of the- family
Purochroidse, and comprising about a dozen
species, of which 2 are found in North Amer-
ica, 1 in Japan, and the rest m Europe. P.
cocmnea and P. rubens are known as cardinal
beetles, from their red color.
pyrochroid (pi-rok'ro-id), a. and n. I. a. Of or
pertaining to the Pyrochrmdx.
n. n. A beetle of the family Pyrochrmdx.
Dettdroidts canadlnsis, a member of the family Pyrochroida.
a, larva ; b, pupa ; e, beetle (female) ; d, enlarged anal horns ; e,
enlarged head of larva : /, antenna of male beetle, magnified. (Lines
show natural sizes of a, o, c.)
broadening behind, and remarkable for their
relative size. They live in all stages under the half-
decayed bark of many trees. Five genera and about 20
species are known, represented in Europe, Asia, North
America, and Australia. Dendroides canadensis is a com-
mon North American member of this family.
pyrochroite (pi-rok'ro-it), n. [< Gr. irbp, fire,
T xp^<^i color, + -ife2.i Manganese hydrate, a
mineral occurring in foliated forms with pearly
luster, resembling brucite. It is white when
fresh, but changes to bronze and black upon
exposure.
pyrocitric (pi-ro-sit'rik), a. [< Gr. irvp, fire, +
E. citric.'] Obtained by subjecting citric acid
to the action of heat Pyrocitric acid. Same as
cUraconic aeid (which see, under eUraconic).
pyroclastic (pi-ro-klas'tik), a. [< Gr. nvp, fii-e,
+ lAaarig, broken: see clastic] Formed by
volcanic agencies, or in the process of being
erupted: applied to volcanic breccia or to any
angular or comminuted material of igneous
origin, ^^/j/rfc"
It is asserted that there is an absence of masses of 2)J/ro-
clastic materials (tuffs an(i dust) such as we should expect
to ilnd around great volcanic centres.
Quart. Jour. Geol. Soo., XLV. 204.
Fyroderinsef (pi-rod-e-n'ne), n.pl. [NL., < Py-
roderus + -mse.] A subfamily named from the
genus Pyroderus. See GynmoderinsB.
Pyroderus (pi-rod' g-ms), «. [NL. (G. E. Gray,
1840), < Gr. irvp, fife, + SepTi, neck.] A genus
of South American fruit-crows belonging to
the subfamily Gynmoderinse, giving name to the
Pyroderinse. There are 3 species, P. scutatus,
P. orinocensis, and P. granadensis, inhabiting
tropical parts of South America.
pyrodin (pi'ro-din), n. [< Gr. vvpiiSjjf, like fire
(< m/p, fire, 4- elSog, form), -I- -im^.] An anti-
pyretic, acetyl-phenyl hydrazine, Cg;H5.C2H30.
N2H2. Also aalleA phendcetliydrazine.
pyro-electric (pi'^ro-f-lek'trik), a. and n. [<
Gr. wvp, fire, + E. electric] I. a. Kelating to
pyro-electricity; having the property of becom-
ing electropolar when heated, as certain crys-
tals; thermo-electric.
There are certain crystals which, while being heated or
cooled, exhibit electrical charges at certain regions or poles.
Crystals thus electrified by heating or cooling are said to
'bepyro.^ectrlc. S. P. Thompson, Elect, and Mag., p. 64.
II. n. A substance which becomes electrified
when heated.
pyro-electricity (pi"ro-e-lek-tri^i-ti), n. [< Gr.
TTvp, fire, + E. electricity.] That branch of elec-
tricity which considers the production of a state
of electrification in certain crystallized bodies
by change of temperature alone. Thus, when a
prismatic crystal of tourmalin is slightly heated, positive
electricity is found to be developed at one extremity (called
the analogous pole) and negative at the other (the antilo-
gous pole). If the crystal is cooled, similar properties are
developed, but the poles are reversed. Many other crys-
tals show the same property, especially those whose molec-
ular structure differs at the opposite extremities of the
same crystallographic axis Oike tourmalin)— that is, which
are hemimorphio or hemihedral. The unlike parts of a
compound (twin) crystal of quartz become dissimilarly
electrified by change of temperature. This can be well
shown by shaking over a heated section of such a crystal a
mixture of red lead and sulphur ; the former collects on
the parts which are negatively, the latter on those which
are positively electrified. The phenomenon is closely re-
lated to the variations in stress which occur in the crystal
when its temperature is altered. By some writers pyro-
electricity is used to include also the phenomena of thermo-
electrioify, which, however, are totally different in char-
pyrogallate (pi-ro-gal'at), n. [< Gr. wvp, fire,
+ E. gallate.] , A salt of pyrogaUie acid.
pyrogallic (pi-ro-gal'ik), a. [< Gr. wup, fire, +
B. gallic^.] Obtained from gallic acid by the
action of heat : noting an acid, or more properly
pyrolater
a phen()l (CeH3(OH)3), which forms colorless
crystalline plates or needles, soluble in water
and poisonous, in the presence of alkalis itrapidly ab-
sorbs oxygen, and it is used in chemical processes for that
purpose. Pyrogallic acid rajiidly reduces salts of mercury,
silver, and gold, precipitating the metals, and from its
property of reducing silver salts is one of the most effi-
cient and most extensively used of photographic develop-
ing agents.
pyrogen (pi'ro-jen), n. [< Gr. nip, fire, 4- -yev^,
producing: see -gen. ] 1 . Any substance which,
introduced into the bloo'd, causes pyrexia or
fever. — 2. The electric fluid.
pjrrogenesia (pi"ro-je-ne'si-a), n. [NL.] Same
as pyrogenesis.
pyrogenesis (pi-ro-jen'e-sis), n. [< Gr. nvp, fire,
+ yeveaig, generation : see genesis.] Production
of fire or heat.
pyrogenetic (pi"ro-je-n et'ik), a. [(.pyrogenesis,
after genetic] Seat-producing.
The actual rise of temperature that follows upon strip-
ping in a cold atmosphere or upon first entering into a cold
bath is not one of the least curious phenomena of the reg-
ulative function of the pyrogenetic mechanism.
Arc. Cruise of the Canmn, 1881, p. 12.
pyrogenic (pi-ro-jen'ik), a. [< Gr. imp, fire, +
-yev^g, producing : see -gen, -genous.] Producing
fever.
pyrogenous (pJ-roj'e-nus), a. [< Gr. jriip, fire,
-t- -yev^g, producing: see -genous.] 1. Produ-
cing or concerned in the production of fire or
heat : as, pyrogenous action in the blood. — 2.
Produced by fire ; igneous.
pyrognomic (pi-rog-nom'ik), a. [< Gr. ■nip,
fire, + yvo>/iav, index, mark : see gnomon.] Ex-
hibiting an incandescent glow when heated to
a certain degree: specifically noting certain
minerals.
pyrognostic (pi-rog-nos'tik), a. [< Gr. Trip,
fire, + yvuBTtKdg, knowing : see gnostic] Per-
taining to fire or heat: specifically noting those
characters of a mineral which are observed by
means of the blowpipe.
pyrognostics (pi-rog-nos'tiks), TO. [PI. ot pyrog-
nostic (see -ics).] Those properties of a min-
eral which it exhibits when heated, alone or
with fiuxes, in the blowpipe-flame or in the
flame of a Bunsen burner, as the fusibility,
intumescence, or other phenomena of fusion,
flame-coloration, etc.
pyrography (pi-rog'ra-fi), n. [< Gr. iriip, fire,
+ ypa^eiv, write.] A method of reproducing a
design or an inscription on wood by the applica-
tion underpressure of heated metalUo plates or
cylinders, the surfaces or peripheries of which
bear dies or matrices in relief.
pyrogravure (pi"ro-gra-viir'), «. [< Gr. Trip,
fire, + P. ^ra«are, engraving, < graver, grave:
see grave^.] A method of engraving on wood
by the use of a red-hot metallic point; also, a,
picture produced by this method.
Pyrogravure is a new method of engraving in blacky
reddish brown, bister, etc., by the use of a red hot metal-
lic point. Sd. Armr., N. S., LVIII. 363.
pyroheliometer (pi-ro-he-li-om'e-ter), TO. Same
as pyrheliometer.
Pyrola (pir'o-la), »• [NL- (Tournefort, 1700),
so called from'the resemblance of the shining
leaves to those of the pear-tree ; prop. Pirola;
dim. of Ti.pirus, improp. jjj/rMs, a pear-tree : see
Pyrus.] 1. A genus of dicotyledonous plants
of the order Ericaceie, the heath family, type
of the tribe Pyrolese, characterized by racemed
flowers with flve converging petals, ten sta-
mens with peculiar four-celled inverted anthers
opening by pores, and a capsule opening from
the base upward, with cobwebby margins.
The 16 species are natives of the northern hemisphere,
including 8 in the United States. They are smooth per-
ennial herbs, sending out subterranean runners, and bear-
ing radical or alternate long-stalked evergreen leaves,
commonly entire and rounded, and an erect scape of braot-
ed nodding flowers, which are white, yellowish, rose-col-
ored, or purple. Several species are known in England
and among American writers as wintergreen ov false winter-
green. P. rotundifolia, the larger wintergreen, is the most
conspicuous species, a plant of both hemispheres, with
thiokish veiny round leaves, and commonly pure-white
flowers, the stalk 6 to 12 inches high. It has been called
Indian lettuce and canker-letttice. P. eUiptiea, a smaller
American plant with thin elliptical leaves, is called shin-
leaf, a name aio extended to the genus.
2. \l. c] Any plant of the above genus — One-
flowered pyrola, Maneses grandiflora, a plant once in-
cluded in the genus Pyrola.
Pyrolacese (pir-o-la'sf-e), n.pl. [NL. (Lind-
ley, 1836), < Pyrola + -aceee.] Same as Pyrolese.
pyrolater (pi-rol'a-ter), to. [< pyrolatry (of.
idolater).] A flre-worshiper. [Rare.]
The fires [Were rejected] ... as having too near an
analogy to the religion of fhepyrolatms.
Sinithey, Thalaha, viii., note.
pyrolatry
pyrolatry (pi-rol'a-tri), n. [< Gr. irvp, fire, +
>MTpeia, worship.] Thie worship of fire; fire-
worship.
Pyroleae (pi-ro'le-e), n. pi. [NL. (Lindley,
1821), < Pyrola + -e«.] A tribe of plants of
the gamopetalous order Ericacex, the heath
family, unlike the rest of the order in its poly-
petalous corolla and herbaceous habit, and also
characterized by a loculicidal capsule, five im-
bricated deciduous .petals, and a perennial
creeping rhizome, it includes about 21 species in tlie
three genera Pyrola, Moneses, and ChimapMla, all small,
smootli, shining evergreen herbs of northern temperate
regions, and weU represented in the Fuited States. See
the above genera, and compare Ericacese. Also Pj/ro-
lacem.
pjrroleter (pi-rol'e-tfir), n. [< Gr. wvp, fire, +
oMrfip, destroyer, < bTMvai, destroy.] An ap-
paratus for the extinction of fire, especially on
board ships, by which hydrochloric acid and
sodium bicarbonate, partly dissolved and part-
ly suspended in water, are pumped into a cyl-
inder, and the carbonic acid there generated is
projected on the fire.
The pyroleter is a small doable pump worked by hand,
which sucks up from tubes on either side muriatic acid
and a solution of carbonate of soda. These mingle in a
generator forming part of the pump. The carbonic acid
gas formed and the solution of salt and acid pass at once
down a metal pipe to the hold ; along the keelson of the
ship runs a perforated wooden box, which admits the dry
carbonic acid gas amongst the buruing materials.
Ure, Diet., IT. 712.
pyroligneons (pi-ro-lig'ne-us), a. [< Gr. irvp,
fire, + L. ligneiis, of wood ': see ligneous.'] Gen-
erated or procured by the distillation of wood.
Also vyroUgnous — Pyroligneoua acid, impure acetic
acid obtained by the distillation of wood.— PyrolteneouB
alcohol, methylic alcohol. — Fyroligneous Vinegar,
wood-vinegar.
pyrolignic (pi-ro-lig'nik), a. [< Gr. Trvp, fire,
+ L. lignum, wood, 4- -jc] Same as pyrolig-
neoua.
pyrolignite (pi-ro-lig'nit), n. [< p^rolign(ic)
+ -Jte'^.] A salt of pyroligneons acid.
pyrolignous (pi-ro-Ug'nus), a. [< Gr. irvp, fire,
-1- L. lignosus, like wood: see lignous.'] Same
as pyn
pyrolitl__
lido;, stone.] In chem., same as cyanuric.
lithic (pi-ro-lith'it), a. [< Gr. Trip, fire, +
Wrologist (pi-rol'6-jist), n. [<pyrolog-y + -ist.']
One who is versed in the doctrines of heat ; an
investigator of the laws of heat.
pyrology (pi-rol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. nvp, fire, +
-Aoyt'o, < Myetv, speak : see -ology.] The science
of heat, latent and sensible.
pyrolusite (pi-ro-ltL'sit), n. [< Gr. vvp, fire, -I-
Aovmc, a washing (< ^mecv, wash), -t- -ite^.] Na-
tive manganese dioxid (MnOg), a common ore
of manganese, occurring crystallized and mas-
sive, of a gray color and metallic luster. It parts
with a portion of its oxygen at a red heat, and is on this
account used to discharge the brown or green tints of glass,
whence its name. When crystallized it has often the form
of manganite, from which it has been, at least in many
cases, derived by alteration. It is very soft, and is readily
distinguished by this property from the other form of
manganese dioxid, called polianite,
pyromagnetic (pi"ro-mag-net'ik), a. [< Gr.
mip, fire, + B. magnetic.'] Kelating to magnet-
ism as modified by heat: noting a dynamo
and motor of novel construction, devised by
Edison, the operation of which depends on the
fact that the intensity of magnetization of iron
diminishes as the temperature increases.
pyromancy (pi'ro-man-si), n. [< ME. *piro-
maneie, perimanoie, < OF. *piromancie, piro-
mance, pyromance, < ML. pyrommiUa, pyrotnan-
eia, < Gr. Trvpoftavreia, divination by fire, < irvp,
fire, + /lavreia, divination.] Divination by fire,
or by the forms appearing in fire.
I^igromancye and perimaneie the pouke to rise maketh ;
gif thou thence Dowel dele with hem neuere.
Piers Plovmuin (A), xi. 158.
Amphiaraus was the first that had knowledge of Pyro-
mande, and gathered signs by speculations of fire.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, vii. 66.
pyromania (pl-ro-ma'ni-a), n. [< Gr. ■a-vp, fire,
+ fiavia, madness.] A mania for destroying
things by fire ; a form of insanity marked by a
mania for setting things on fire.
pyromaniac (pi-ro-ma'ni-ak), a. and n, [< pyro-
mania + -cui.'] i. a. Of, pertaining to, charac-
terized by, or affected with pyromania.
II. n. A person possessed of a mania or ir-
resistible impulse to burn things.
As pyromaniacs rarely incriminate themselves, it_ be-
comes the more important to study the many indications
by which the diagnosis can be made by indirect examina-
tions. Amer. Jour. Pgyehd,, 1. 191.
pyromaniacal (pi"r6-ma-iu'a-kal), a. [< pyro-
maniac + -al.] 1. Affected with or having a
4876
tendency to pyromania: as, pyromaniacal per-
sons.— 2. Caused by pyromaniacs: a&, pyroma-
niacal fires.
pyromantic (pi-ro-man'tik), a. and n. [< pyro-
mancy (-mant-) '+ -Jc] I. a. Pertaining to
pyromancy.
II. n. One who pretends to divine by means
of fire.
pyrometamorphism (pi-ro-met-a-m6r'fizm), n.
[< Gr. Trip, fire, -1- E. metamorphism.] Meta-
morphism resulting from the action of heat, as
distinguished from hydrometamorphism, that
produced by water. See metamorphism.
pyrometer (pi-rom'e-t6r), n. [< Gr. irvp, fire, -f-
fiirpov, measure.] An instrument, in the form
of a simple metallic bar, employed by Muschen-
broek, about
1730, for mea-
suring the
changes pro-
duced in the
dimensions of
solid bodies
by the appli-
cation of neat.
The name is now
applied, how-
ever, to any in-
strument the ob-
jectofwhichisto
measure all gra.
dations of tem-
perature above
those that can be
indicated by the
mercurial ther-
mometer. Wedg-
wood's pyrome-
ter, the first
which came into
extensive use,
was employed by
him for testing
the heat of his
pottery- and
porcelain - kilns,
and depended
on the property
of clay to con-
tract on exposure
to heat. Many
different modes
have been pro-
posed or ac-
tually employed
for measuring
high tempera-
tures: as (a) by
contraction, as in
Wedgwood's ; (6)
by the expansion
of bars of differ-
ent metals ;(c) by
change of pressure in confined gases, as in Lamy's instru-
ment, or by the expansion of gases, as in the air-ther-
mometer; (d) by the amount of heat imparted to a cold
mass, as in Siemens's instrument; (o) by the fusing-point
of solids ; (/) by conduction and radiation of heat (see
pyroscope) ; (if) by color, as red and white heat ; (A) by
change in the velocity of sound; (i) by the resolution
of chemical compounds ; (j) by generation of electricity,
as in Becquerel's thermo-electric pyrometer ; and (ft) by
change in resistance to electricity, as in the instrument
invented by Siemens, which may be adapted to measuring
either high or low temperatures.
pyrometric (pi-ro-met'rik), a. [As pyrometer
T -ic.] Pertaining to the pyrometer, or to its
use; ascertained or shown by means of the
pyrometer.
pyrometrical (pi-ro-met'ri-kal), a. [< pyro-
metric + -al.] Same ajS pyrometric.
pyrometrically (pi-ro-met'ri-kal-i), adv. In a
pyrometric manner; with or by means of the
use of the pyrometer.
pyrometry (pi-rom'e-tri), n. [< Gr. trip, fire,
+ -fieTpta, < uirpov, a measure.] That branch
of science which treats of the measurement of
heat; the act or art of measuring amounts or
degrees of heat.
pyromorphite (pi-ro-m6r'fit), n. [So called in
allusion to the peculiar crystalline form which
a fused globule assumes on cooling; < Gr. irvp,
fire, + iiop^ii, form, + -ite'^.] Native phosphate
of lead with lead chlorid. it is a mineral of a green,
yellow, or brown color, crystallizing in hexagonal prisms,
and isomorphous with apatite, mimetite, and vanadinite.
It also occurs massive in globular, reniform. fibrous, moss-
like, granular, or earthy forms. Often called green lead
ore.
pyromorphous (pi-ro-mdr'fus), a. [< Gr. nvp,
fire, + p-opi^, form, + -ous.] In mineral., hav-
ing the property of being crystallizable upon
fusion.
pyronaphtha (pi-ro-naf 'tha), n. [< Gr. inip, fire,
+ vaipOa, naphtha : see napKtha.] An illuminat-
ing agent which has been prepared in Russia
from the waste products of the distillation of
Baku petroleum. It bums with a bright light.
pyrophosphate
pyronomics (pi-ro-nom'iks), n. [< Gr. Trip, fire,
-f v6/iog, law.] I'he science of the properties
and action of heat. [Rare.]
pyrope (pi'rop), n. [< Gr. TrvpoTrdc, a kind of
red bronze, prop, adj., fire-eyed, fiery, < trip,
6re, + i)f, eye.] Fire-garnet, or Bohemian gar-
net, a dark-red variety of garnet, sometimes
use4 as a gem, found embedded in serpentine
at Budweis in Bohemia and elsewhere, it be-
longs to the magnesia-alumina varied of the species, and
often contains Edso some chromium. See gameO-.
pyrophane (pi'ro-fan), n. [< Gr. irvp, fire, -I-
(jiaivew, show.] A kind of opal (hydro;phane)
which by the absorption of melted wax is ren-
dered translucent so long as it is hot, but be-
comes opaque again on cooling.
pjnrophanous (pi-rof a-nus), a. [< Gr. nvp, fire,
+ (palvecv, show.] Rendered transparent or
translucent by heat.
Pyrophila (pi-rof 'i-la), n. [NL. (Stephens,
1829), < Gr. TTvp, fire,"+ <j)i9i£iv, love.] A genus
of noctuid moths, containing a number of spe-
^iPyrometer (Gauntlett's) in which the point-
er of aial i/ is turned by the unequal expansion
of rods^, which are made fast at^.* ^consists
of three brass or copper rods surrounding one
of iron which connects with dial through tube A
supported at^, ^.pyrometer in which the mo-
tive power is a coil of wire inside e', the con-
necting^ rods passing through tube h' to dial at
rf*. C. pyrometer with screw-shaped metallic
coil withm the tube Ah", which, when heated,
moves the pointer of dial at e".
Pyramidal Grape-vine Moth and Worm l^T^rofhila fyramidoides).
cies which are destructive in their larval states.
P. pyrixmidoides is the pyramidal grape-vine worm of the
United States, which damages grape-vines, and also rasp-
berry, poplar, and red-bud (Cereie).
pyrophobia (pi-rp-fo'bi-a), n. ' [< Gr. irvp, fire,
+ -<^3ia, < (ji6po(, fear.] A morbid dread of fire.
pyroplone (pi'ro-fon), n. [< Gr. nvp, fire, +
ijiuvij, sound, tone.] A musical instrument in
which the tones are produced by means of
burning jets of hydrogen inclosed in gradu-
ated glass tubes. It was invented about 1875
by Frederic Kastner. Sometimes called chemi-
cal harmonicon.
pyrophor (pi'rp-fdr), n. [< Gr. nvpo^dpog, fire-
bearing : see pyropliore.] A name sometimes
given to the stirmp-lantem.
pyrophore (pi'ro-for), n. [< Gr. nvpoi^6poQ, fire-
bearing, < TTvp, ifire, T ijiipeiv = E. ftearl.J 1.
A body which will become ignited if exposed
to air or water, such as self-lighting logs in-
tended for use at sea in facilitating the rescue
of a person who is overboard. — 2. A composi-
tion or an apparatus for kindling fire.
pyrophoric (pi-ro-for'ik), a. [< NL. pyrop'ho-
r{us) + -ic] Same as pyrophoroiis.
pyrophorous (pi-rof'6-rus), a. [< 'Nh.pyro-
phor(us) + -ous. ] Pertaining to or resembling
pyrophorus.
pyrophorus (pi-rof o-ms), n. [NL., < Gr.
■n-vpofdpog, fire-bearing: see pyrophore.] 1. A
substance which takes fire on exposure to air.
Many metals (iron, lead, etc.), when exposed to the air in
a very finely divided condition, combine so rapidly with
oxygen as to cause an evolution of light.
2. leap.] [NL. (Illiger, 1809).] A notable
genus of elaterid beetles, comprising nearly
a hundred species, con-
fined to tropical and sub-
tropical America, and con-
taining the most brilliant
forms of luminous insects.
The light is given out from
two oval spots in the pronotum
near each basal angle, and from
a point beneath, between the
thorax and the abdomen. These
beetles fiy in a nearly direct line,
and the light is more intense
and sustained than that of the
Lampyridse. In many countries
of tropical America they are Pyrcfhtru^ ruciilucus.
used as toilet ornaments and
form an article of trade. P. noctUwym is alarge West Indian
species, often brought alive to the United States. See
also cut under antenna.
3. leap.] A genus of arachnidans. Koch, 1837.
pyrophosphate (pi-ro-fos'fat), n. [< pyro-
phosph(oric) + -atei.] A salt of pyrophos-
phorio acid. See pyrophosphoric.
pyrophosphoric
p^ophosphoric (pi"ro-fo8-for'ik), a. [< Or.
^Z'^^' t ^- ■P''?iP'""-»«-] Poriied by"- heal:
mg phosphono acid: noting an acid (H^PoO,)
afi?f tnTf^^ ^^°f^ concentrated phospliUi
aoia to a temperature of 415° T? t>™„ u u •
acid is tetrabasif-that S, capaWe of •foSnfto^''r
Th»T™ ?. i. i''® hydrogen is replaced by a metaL
medi?,C^ °''''"'*^'' espeoiaUy that 5l iron, i-e used In
pyTophotograpliy (pi'ro-f o-tog'ra-fi), n. [< Gr.
TTi^p, fire, + fi. photography.-] Certain photo-
g'apliio processes in which heat is used to fix
the picture.
pyrophylllte (pi-ro-fil'it), n. [So called in al-
lusion to Its exfoliationbefore the blowpipe:
< Gr. jrSp, fire, + ^hVi/tv, leaf, + -jte2.] A hy-
drated aluminium silicate, occurring in foliated
talc-like subtrausparent masses having a white,
green, or yellow color and pearly luster.
pyropliysalite (pl-ro-fis'a-lit), n. [< Gr. Trip,
fire, + E. physalite.] Seephysalite.
pyropuncture (pi-ro-pungk'tur), n. [< Gr.
TTvp, fire, -I- B. puncture.;] Puncturing with hot
needles ; also, a puncture so made.
pyroracemate (pi-ro-ras'e-mat), n. [ipyrora-
cem{ic) + -afei.] A salt formed by the union
of pyroracemio acid with a base.
pyroracemic (pi"'r6-ra-sem'ik), a. [< Gr. mip,
fire, + E. racemic.] Produced by the distilla-
tion of tartaric and racemio acids : as, pyrora-
cemic acid (C3H4O3).
pyroBCtaist (pi'ro-shist), n. [< Gr. Trip, fire, +
E. schist.] Schist or shale containing sufficient
bituminous matter (hydrocarbons) to bum with
a bright flame, or yielding volatile hydrocar-
bon or inflammable gas when heated.
pyrosclerite (pi-ro-skle'rit), n. [< Gr. wvp, fire,
+ aK^p6g, hard, -t- -ite^.] An emerald-green
mineral allied to the ohlorites, occurring in
serpentine in the island of Elba, Italy.
pyroscope (pi'ro-skop), n. [< Gr. wvp, fire, +
OKoirelv, view.] An instrument for measuring
the intensity of radiating heat or cold, it re-
sembles a differential thermometer, having one bulb cov-
ered with quicksilver-leaf, while the other is bare.
pyrosilver (pi-ro-sU'vSr), n. [< Gr. TTvp, fire,
+ E. silver.] A trade-name for electroplated
wares which, after they are taken from the
bath, are subjected to heat. This treatment seems
to cause the metal to sink into the pores of the plated
base metal and adhere to it much more firmly and dura-
bly. The process is technically called bumingr-in.
P3rrosis (pi-ro'sis), n. [< Gr. Tciipamg, a burning,
a kindling, < irapam), set on fire, burn, < mip, fire :
see^re.] la. pathol., the eructation of watery
fluid, usually insipid, but sometimes acrid, at-
tended with more or less burning pain in the
epigastrium. It is commonly called water-brash.
pyrosmalite (pi-ros'ma-lit), m. [< Gr. irbp, fire,
+ bajiii, a smell, an object of smell, + XiBoq,
stone.] A mineral of a liver-brown color, or
pistachio-green, occurring in six-sided prisms,
with perfect basal cleavage, found in Sweden.
It is a silicate of iron and manganese, con-
taining chlorin, the odor of which it exhales
when heated.
Pyrosoma (pi-ro-so'ma), n. [NL. (P6ron), <
Gr. nvp, fire, + aaim, body.] The typical ge-
nus oiPyrosomaUdse: so called from their phos-
phorescence. They inhabit the Mediterranean and At-
lantic. They unite in great numbers, forming a large hol-
low cylinder, open at one end and closed at the other,
swimming in the ocean by the alternate contraction and
dQatation of its component individual animals. See cut
under cyathozodid.
Pyrosomatidae (pi"ro-so-mat'i-de),«.p?. [NL.,
< Pyrosoma (-somat-) + ^dse.] A family of com-
pound or aggregate ascidians of the class Tuni-
cata, typified by the genus Pyrosoma, sometimes
representing an order or suborder Dacfe/Moftram-
chia; the firebodies. They are free-swimming pelagic
organisms, highly luminous, united together in hollow
chains or rods several inches long, one end of each in-
dividual fitting into the cavity of the next, somewhat like
a set of thimbles. Also Pyroeomidie, Pyrosomiidee.
pyrosome (pi'ro-som), n. [< NL. Pyrosoma.]
A member or individual of the genus Pyroso-
ma; a flrebody.
Pyxosomidee (pi-ro-som'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Pyrosoma + 4die.'] Same as Pyrosomatidss.
Pyrosomiidea (pi-r6-s6-mi-id'e-a), n.pL [NL.]
A false form of Pyrosomatidx or Pyrosomidse,
taken as the name of an order of ascidians
which that family is supposed to represent.
E. B. Larikester.
pyrostat (pi'ro-stat), n. [< Gr. 7r5p fire, -I-
oroTiJf, < loT&vaL, set up, stand: see static] An
automatic draft-regulator for chimneys, smoke-
pipes, and smoke-stacks. See draft^egulator,
under regulator.
306*
4877
pyrostereotype (pi-ro-ster'e-o-tip), «. [< Gr.
irvp, fire, -I- ^.stereotype.] A process by which
a mold for casting a printing relief -plate is ob-
tained by burning an intaglio to a definite depth
in the face of a wood block by means of heated
steel dies and a special apparatus. It is used
for printing music, etc.
pyrostilpnite (pi-ro-stilp'nit), n. [< Gr. nvp,
fire, + anTiirvSg, glistening, + -ite^.] A rare
mineral, occurring in minute tabular monoclin-
io crystals. It is a sulphid of arsenic and silver,
near proustite in composition. Also calledj^re-
blende.
pyrosulpliuric (pi"'ro-sul-fii'rik), a. [< Gr. irvp,
fire, + E. sulphuric.] Obtained from sulphuric
acid by the action of heat Pyrosulpliiiric acid.
Same as disulphuric acid (which see, under disidphuric).
pyrotartaric (pi"r6-tar-taT'ik), a. [< Gr. Triip,
nre, -I- E. tartaric] Obtained by heating tar-
taric acid in a close vessel: as, pyrotartaric
acid (C5H8O4).
pyrotartrate (pi-ro-tar'trat), n. [< Gr. vvp, fire,
■r E. tartrate.] A salt of pyrotartaric acid.
pyrotechnian (pi-ro-tek'ni-an), n. [ipyrotech-
n/y + -an.] A pyrotechnist.
pyroteclinic (pi-ro-tek'nik), a. [< pyrotechn-y
T -«e.] Of or pertaining to fireworks or the
art of making them.
pyroteclmical (pi-ro-tek'ni-kal), a. [< pyro-
technic + -al.] Same a.s pyrotechnic Pyrotech-
nical sponge. Same as aTrhadou.
pyrotechnician (pi"ro-tek-nish'an), n. [ipyro-
technic + -4-an.] A pyrotechnist.
pyrotechnics (pi-ro-tek'niks), n. [PI. of pyro-
technic (see -Jcs).] The art of making fire-
works; the composition, structure, and use of
fireworks. See firework, 2.
pyrotechnist (pi-ro-tek'nist), n. l<. pyrotechn-y
+ -ist.] One who' is skilled in pyroteohny; a
manufacturer of fireworks.
pyrotechny (pi'ro-tek-ni), n. [< Gr. Trip, fire,
-I- r%w?, art.] 1. The management and me-
chanical application of fire.
Does man go thus far by his skill in pyrotechny, and
shall not God do more, who is the Cosmotect?
Evelyn, True Keligion, 1. 199.
3. The fabrication of fireworks for military
and ornamental purposes (see firework, 2) ; the
composition and scientific use of combustible
substances employed as signals, as destructive
agents, or for purposes of display.
pyrothonide (pi-roth'o-nid), ». [< Gr. jTvp, fire,
-t- b66vj!, fine linen, +'4de'^.] A kind of empy-
reumatic oil produced by the combustion of
textures of hemp, linen, or cotton in a copper
vessel, formerly used in medicine. Dunglison.
pyrotic (pi-rot'ik), a. and n. [< Gr. nvpuriKdq,
burning, heating, < nvpomi, set on fire, < inip,
fire: see pyrosis^ I. a. Caustic.
II. n. A caustic medicine.
pyro-uric (pi-ro-U'rik), a. [< Gr. nvp, &se,+ ovpov,
urine, + -ic] In chem., same as cyanuric.
pyroxanthine, pyroxanthin (pi-rok-san'thin),
n. [< Gr. Kvp, fire, -f- ^avddg, yellow, + -ine'^,
-in^.] A yellow crystalline substance found in
crude wood-spirit. Also called eblanin.
pyroxene (pl'rok-sen), n. [< Gr. nip, fire, -1-
f£vof, a guest.] An important mineral spe-
cies, embracing many varieties differing in ap-
pearance and chemical composition, it occurs
in monoclinic crystals, often short prismatic in habit, and
with an angle in front of nearly 90°, so that these crystals
resemble square prisma. Granular forms axe common,
and also massive varieties, the latter being usually coarse-
ly laminated in structure, rarely fibrous or columnar. The
color varies from white to gray, green, brown, and black,
and the composition from the simple metasilicate of cal-
cium and magnesium to kinds containing, with calcium or
magnesium, or both, iron, manganese, and aluminium. The
different varieties are usually divided Into two groups, the
non-aluminous and the aluminous. Of the former the
prominent kinds are— diopside or malacolite, which con-
tains only calcium and magnesium, and is white to gray
or light-green in color, with the subvarieties called alalite
or mussite (the diopside proper, from the Mussa Alp in the
Ala valley in Piedmont, occurring in beautiful slender
crystals), traversellite, canaanite, and white granular coc-
colite, and those containing iron, nam ely the grayish-green
to deep-green or black salite, occurring in laminated mass-
es, the crystallized baikalite, the granular green cocoolite,
and the deep-green diallage, which is characterized by a
distinct parting parallel to the orthopinacoid plane and
often by a pearly to metalloidal luster on this surface ;
also the lime-iron variety, hedenbergite, and the manga-
nesian scheflerite. The aluminous kinds include fassaite,
which is light- to dark-green in color, and the common
augite which is dark-green to black and contains consid-
erable' iron. Augite is characteristic of many eruptive
rocks, especially those of a basic character, as diabase,
basalt, etc. Diallage is an essential constituent of the
gabbros, of norite, etc. Besides the above varieties or
subspecies belonging to pyroxene proper, the pyroxene
group includes the related species enstatite or bronzite
and hypersthene, which are orthorhombic in crystalliza-
tion (hence called rhombic pyroxenes); also the mono-
pyrrhichins
clinic species wollastonite, eegirite and acmite, spodu-
mene, and the triclinic rhodonite and babingtonite. Jade-
ite probably also belongs here. All these are characterized
by the same prismatic angle of 87°. This group is closely
related to the analogous amphibole (or hornblende) group,
the species of which are characterized by a prismatic
angle of 12^° ; and several of the kinds under the two
groups correspond exactly in composition — for example,
diopside to tremolite, etc. A change of pyroxene to horn-
blende by a process of paramorphism is often observed, es-
pecially in certain igneous rocks. See uraiite andurtuiti-
zation.
pyroxenic (pi-rok-sen'ik), a. [< pyroxene + -ic]
Pertainingto pyroxene, orpartakingof its ciuali-
ties ; composed of or containing pyroxene.
pyroxyle (pi-rok'sil), «. [< Gr. TTvp, fire, -I-
li/lov, wood.] Same a,s pyroxylin.
pyroxylic (pi-rok-sil'rk), a. [< Gr. nip, fire, +
^iihiv, wood (cf . pyroxyle), + -ic] Obtained by
distilling wood — Pyroxylic spirit, methylic alcohol ;
a product of the distillation of wood. It constitutes about
one tenth of the watery products after separation of the
tar, and is obtained from these products by re-distillation.
Eectification is partially effected by first heating it with
slaked lime, which frees a large quantity of ammonia, next
neutralizing the remainder of the ammonia and precipi-
tating the remaining traces of tar by sulphuric acid, then
a^ain distilling and passing it several times over quick-
lime. The product is the crude wood-spirit of commerce,
which still contains many impurities ; these are removed
by chemically combining it with calcium chlorid and hsat>
iug the compound over a water-bath to 100° C, which drives
off volatile impurities. It is then distilled with water,
which breaks up the combination and sets free the pyrox-
ylic spirit diluted with water. The latter is then removed
to get the desired strength by treatment with quicklime.
Also called wood-spirit and wood-alcohol.
pyroxylin, pyroxyline (pi-rok'si-lin), n. l<py-
roxyle + -irfi, -ine^.] (Jiincotton or a similar
substance obtained by immersing vegetable
fiber in nitric or nitrosulphuric acid, and then
suffering it to dry. Such substances are nitro-
derivatives of cellulose. Also pyroxyle.— Sol-
uble pyroxylin. Same as dinitroceUviose.
pyrrmc^ (pir'ik), ». and a. [< L. pyrrhieha,
pyrrhiche, < Gr. nvppixv, a kind of war-dance,
said to be named from Pyrrhiehus, the inven-
tor, < Tlippixog, Pyrrhiehus.] I. n. An ancient
Grecian warlike dance, in quick and light mea-
sure, accompanied by the flute. It consisted chiefly
in adroit and nimble steps and motions of the body, in-
tended to represent the attempt to avoid strokes of an
enemy in battle and to inflict injury upon him. It was
performed under arms, and the movements and practice
necessary were looked upon as training for service in the
field.
II. a. Of or pertaining to the Greek martial
dance called a pyrrhic.
You have the Pyrrhic dance as yet ;
Where is the Pyrrhic phalanx gone?
Byron, Don Juan, iii. 86 (song).
pyrrhic^ (pir'ik), a. and n. [< Jj. pyrrhichius, <
Gr. irvpplxm, of or belonging to the pyrrhic
(dance) (ffowf irupplxtog, a pyrrhic foot), < nvp-
pixv, a pyrrhic: see pyrrhic^.] I. a. In pros.,
consisting of two short times or syllables: as,
a pyrrhic foot; composed of or pertaining to
feet so constituted : as, pyrrhic verse ; pyrrhic
rhythm.
II. n. In anc pros., a foot consisting of two
short times or syllables, a pyrrhic is apparently
a disemic isorrhythmic foot (>^ | ^ or ^ | •£>). The earlier
and better ancient authorities (the rhythmicians), how-
ever, did not acknowledge the existence of a disemic foot,
and it seems to have been first introduced into metrical
analysis by the grammarians and later metricians. An
apparent pyrrhic (w ^) can occur— (a) at the end of an
iambic line (y w for ^ —) ; (6) as part of proceleusmatics
(www w), Ionics (-' « or w w), or paeons(- www,
w — w w, w w _ w, www—), regarded by later writers as
compound feet; and (c) in the so-called basis or polysche-
matist foot of a logaoedic series. Wherever it occurs as a
separate foot, it is accordingly a representative of a tri-
semic foot (— w or w — ). Pyrrhics in continuous compo-
sition would constitute proceleusmatic verse, and, although
there is little trace of the actual existence of such a meter,
it may have been used in single lines or short systems to
accompany or suggest the more rapid movements of the
war-dance (pyrrhic^) from which it probably takes its
name. Also called dilrrach (Latin diSraehys or bibrevis),
pariambv£, and (single or diseimc) proceleusmatic. The
name iiyeftmv or heg&num (leader), often given to the
pyrrhic in ancient writers, was apparently suggested by
its being placed first in the accepted list of feet. Also
pyrrhiehiits.
A verse made up of pyrrhics in immediate succession.
J. Hadley, Essays, p. 99.
Pyrrhic^ (pir'ik), a. [< L. Pyrrhus, < Gr. Uippog,
Pyrrhus (see def . ), < mippdg, red-haired, reddish:
see hurrel.] Pertaining to Pyrrhus, especially
to Pyrrhus, King of Epiius (see phrase below).
— Pyrrhic victory, a success obtained at too great a cost :
In allusion to the reputed exclamation of Pyrrhus, King of
Epirus, after the battle of Asculum against the Romans
(279 B. C), "Another such victory and we are lost 1 "
pyrrhicist (pir'i-sist), «. [< Gr. nvpptxcdTvs,
one who danced. the pyrrhic, < wppixiiuv, dance
the pyrrhic, < iruppixv, the pyrrhic : seepyrrKici.]
One who danced in the pyrrhic. Imp. Diet.
pyrrhichius (pi-rik'i-us), n. ; pi. pyrrhichii (-i).
[L. : see pyrrhic^.] Same as pyrrhic^.
PSrrrliichius
This word [rSngt] haaing both sillables eliding and slip-
per make the foote Pirrichius, because if he be truly vt-
tered, he beares in maner no sharper accent vpo the one
then the other Billable, but be in effect egall in time and
tune, as is also the Spondeus.
Pvttenham, Arte ol Eng. Poesie, p. 102.
pyrrhite (pir'it), n. [< Gr. TTvppdg, reddish (see
burrel), + -iie^.] A rare mineral, occurring in
minute regular reddish-yellow octahedrons. Its
composition is not certainly known, butitis sup-
posed to be related to the niobate pyrochlore.
pyrrhoarsenite (pir-o-ar'se-nit), n. [< Gr. nvp-
p6(, reddish, + E. arsenite.'] An arseniate of
calcium, magnesium, and manganese, in which
the arsenic is in part replaced by antimony.
It occurs in embedded grains of a deep yellow-
ish-red color in Sweden.
Pyrrhocoracinse (pir-o-kor-a-si'ne), n. pi.
[NL., < Pyrrhocorax (-corac-) + -inee.} A sub-
family of Corvidee, named in 1846 by Q. K. Gray
from the genus Pyrrhocorax; the choughs.
Also called Fregilinse.
pyrrhocoracine (pir-o-kor'a^sLn), a. Of or per-
taining to the Pyrrhocoracihse.
Pyrrhocorax (pi-rok'o-raks), n. [NL. (Vieillot,
1816), < Gr. irvppog, reddish, -I- Kdpa^, a raven.]
A genus of Corvidie, typical of the Pyrrhoco-
racinse : the choughs, p. or FregUus gramlm is the
common chough, with red bill and leet (see cut under
chough); P. alpima is the alpine chough. The genus is
sometimes restricted to the latter, and then distinguished
from Fregilui.
Pyrrhocoridse (pir-o-kor'i-de), m. pi. [NL., <
Pyrrhocoris + -jife.] A family of heteropterous
insects, consisting of large, stout bugs, usually
marked with red and black, and containing
many tropical and subtropical species. The cot-
ton-stainer of the West Indies and southern United States,
Dygdercux evlurellus, is an example.
Pyrrhocoris (pi-rok'o-ris), «. [NL. (Fallen,
1841), < Gr. irvppdg, reddish, -I- K6pi(, a bug.] A
genus of true bugs, typical of the family Pyr-
rliocoridse.
Pyrrhonean (pi-ro'ne-an), a. [< L. Pyrrlioneus
(< Gr. Hvppufv, Pyrrh'oV see Pyrrhonic) + -an.']
Pyrrhonic.
Pyrrhonian (pi-ro'ni-an), n. [< Gr. livppav,
Pyrrho, + -i-an.'] Same as Pyrrhonist.
Pyrrhonic (pi-ron'ik), a. [< Gr. ILvppai), Pyrrho,
+ -ic] Of or pertaining to Pyrrho (about
360-270 B. c), a philosopher of Elis, and disci-
ple of Anaxarchus; of or pertaining to Pyrrho-
nism or skepticism: as, the Pyrrhonic form of
doubt. The doctrine of Pyrrho was that there is just as
much to be said for as against any opinion whatever ; that
neither the senses nor the reason are to be trusted in the
least ; and that when we are once convinced we can know
nothing, we cease to care, and in this way alone can at-
tain happiness. It is said that Pyrrho would take no or-
dinary practical precautions, such as getting out of the
way of vehicles.
Pyrrhonism (pir'o-uizm), n. [< Gr. Uippuv,
Pyrrho, -t- ■4sra.'] I'he doctrines of Pyrrho and
his followers; absolute skepticism; universal
doubt.
And thus, 0 circular philosopher, . . . you have arrived
at a fine Pyrrhonism, at an equivalence and indlfferency
of all actions. Emerson.
Pyrrhonist (pir'o-nist), n. [< Gr. Ubppav,
Pyrrho, + -ist.'] A follower of Pyrrho; an ad-
herent of Pyrrhonism; one who doubts every-
thing.
Pyrrhopappus (pir-o-pap'us), n. [NL. (A. P.
de Candolle, 1838), < Gr. nvppdg, reddish, -t- n-dn--
irof, taken in mod. sense 'pappus': see pap-
piis.] A genus of composite plants of the
tribe Cichoriacese and subtribe Lactticeee. it is
characterized by its smooth habit, and its nearly cylindri-
cal beaked achenes, covered with manyrough and muricate
ridges and bearing a reddish pappus which is either per-
sistent or in falling carries with it a disk from which it
grows. There are 3 or, according to some authors, 4 spe-
cies, all natives of the United States or Mexico. They are
annual or perennial herbs, with radical leaves or with
alternate stem-leaves, and both entire and deeply out on
the same stem. The yellow flower-heads terminate long
erect stalks, and resemble those of the common dandelion,
which, however, aie readily distinguished by then: white
pappus. See false dandelion, under dandelion.
pyrrhotine (pir'o-tin), n. [< Gr. TTvppdi, red-
dish, + -t- + -?ne2.] Native iron sulphid, a
mineral crystallizing in hexagonal prisms and
occurring also massive, of a bronze color and
metallic luster, it is generally slightly magnetic, and is
hence called magtietie pyrites. In composition it conforms
to the general formula Fe„S„-t-i, but varying from Fe7S8
to Feu3i2. The mineral troilite, common in nodules in
meteoric iron, may be the same mineral, although to this
the formula FeS is generally ascribed.
pyrrhotite (pir'o-tit), ». [As pyrrhot-ine +
-ite^.l Same aspyrrhotine.
pyrrhous (pir'us), a. [< Gr. mippdf, flame-col-
ored, yellowish-red, reddish, red-haired, < rrvp,
fire. Cf. hurrel.'] Reddish.
4878
Pyrrhula (pir'^-la), n. [NL. (Brisson, 1760),
dim. < Gr. irvppdc, reddish: see pyrrhous."} A
genus of lYingilUdm, giving name to the Pyr-
rhulinx, characterized by the very short stout
turgid biU; the bullfinches. See cut under
bullfinch^.
Pyrrhulinse (pir-8-li'ne), n.pl. [NL., < Pyrrhula
+ -insB.'] An undefinable subfamily of Fringil-
lidas, named by Swainson in 1837 from the ge-
nus Pyrrhula; the bullfinches.
pyrrhuline (pir'o-Un), a. [< Pyrrhula + -inei.]
Kesembling a bullfinch, especially in the form
of the bill: said of various birds.
Pyrrhuloxia (pir-o-lok'si-a), n. [NL. (Bona-
parte, 1850), < Pyrrhula + Zoxia : see Pyrrhula,
and Loxia, 2.] A genus of FringilUdse, closely
related to Cardinalis, but having a very short
stout turgid bill, like a bullfinch's ; the Texas
cardinals. The species is P. sCnuata, having the size
and form of the common cardinal, but the plumage gray,
beautifully varied with carmine red.
Pyrrhura (pi-ro'ra), ». [NL. (Bonaparte, 1856),
< Gr. izi)ppoQ, reddish, + obpa, tail.] A genus of
parrots, giving name to the Pyrrhminse. P.
cruentatus of South America is an example.
Pyrrhurinse (pir-8-ri'ne), n.pl. [NL., < Pyr-
rhura + -inie.2 A subfamily of Psittaddse,
named by Garrod from the genus Pyrrhura, re-
sembling ArmsB, but having no ambiens.
pyrryt, «• An obsolete form otpirry.
Pyrula (pir'6-la), n. [NL. (Lamarck, 1799), <
L. pirum, improp. pyrum, a pear : see pear. Cf .
Pyrola.] A genus of gastropods having a pyri-
form shell, whence the name ; the fig-shells or
pear-shells. (See cut under ^gr-s7jeK.) Verydiffer-
ent limits liave been assigned to it. (a) Originally it was
named in connection with P.ficun only. (6) Subsequent-
ly it was used for many species agreeing with P. ficux in
general form, but radically differing in other characters,
and consequently afterward generically differentiated, (c)
Later it was restricted to the genus now generally called
Fvlgur and related forms, P. Jicus then being called
Ficvla or Sycotypus. (d) By recent authors it is restricted
to P. Jieus and closely related species. Also spelled Pirula.
Pyrularla (pir-ij-la'ri-a), n. [NL. (F. A. Mi-
chaux, 1803), so ealleS with ref. to the small
pear-shaped fruit ; < L. pirum, improp. pyrum,
a pear: see Pyrula.] A genus of apetalous
shrubs of the order Santalaceie, the sandal-
wood family, and of the tribe Osyridese. It is
characterized by partly dioecious flowers, with parallel
anther-cells, and a disk with scale-shaped lobes alter-
nating with the five stamens, the small clusters of stam-
inate flowers racemed toward the ends of the branches,
and the pistillate flowers terminal, and few or single.
The two species are shrubs or small trees, with thin and
veiny alternate short-stalked and minutely pellucid-dotted
leaves, small greenish flowers with a short columnar style
and capitate stigma, and an inferior one-celled ovary, with
two or three ovules hanging from the apex of a free cen-
tral placenta. The rather large obovoid fruit is a fleshy
drupe, with a hard thin-shelled spherical aton& containing
a globose seed with fleshy and very oily albumen. One of
the species is North Am^^rican, for which see oU-nut (6) ;
the other, P. edidis, is found in India, a large tree, yielding
an edible fruit.
Pyrulidse (pi-ro'li-de), n. pi. [NL., < Pyrula
+ 4dee. ] A family of tsenloglossate gastropods,
typified by the genus Pyrula {d) or Fiould. The
animal has a narrow long head with subulate tentacles
and eyes at their external bases, mantle with large lobes
reflected over the shell, and a large foot. The shell is
pyriform, thin, and generally sculptured with transverse
and longitudinal lines. The species are inhabitants of
tropical or warm seas. Also Pimlidx, Ficulidse, and Sy-
cotypidse.
Pyrulinae (pir-8-li'ne), n. pi. [< Pyrula +
-«»«.] 1. The P^j-wZitJas as a subfamily of Do-
liidee. — 2. A subfamily restricted to Pyrula as
represented by species of Fulgur and related
forms. They are known as fig-shells and 2}ear-
sJiells.
pyruline (pir'^-lin), a. Pertaining to the Pyru-
linse, or having their characters.
pyruric (pi-ro'rik), a. [< Gr. mp, fire, + oipov,
urine. Cf. pyro-uric.'] IncAew., sameascj/owM-
Pjrrus (pi'rus), n. [NL. (Toumefort, 1700),
prop. Pirus, < L. pirus, improp. pyrus, a pear-
tree : seepear^ .] A genus of rosaceous trees and
shrubs, including the apple and pear, the type
of the tribe Pomese, which takes its name from
the pome, the characteristic fruit of this genus.
It is characterized by an urn-shaped superior calyx, of
which the limb is deciduous or persistent, and by an ovaiy
of from two to five mostly two-ovuled cells, which in fruit
are two- or one-seeded, separated, cartilaginous-walled,
and immediately invested by a fleshy expansion of the
disk, the whole being surrounded by the thickened calyx.
There are about 60 species, natives of northern temperate
regions and extending into the mountains of India. They
bear alternate petioled and usually toothed leaves, decid-
uous stipules, and numerous cymes of snowy-white or
pink flowers, each with five roundish petals Mid numerous
stamens, terminating short spur-like branches. The nu-
merous sections are strikingly different in habit, and sev-
eral were long received as distinct genera. The typical
Pythagoreanize
section Pyrophamm (De Candolle, 1825) includes the pear
and the wild pear or choke-pear and "allied species. (See
Mori.) The section Malti» (Tournefort, 1700), the apple,
distinguished by a fruit hollowed in at the base, includes
P. Mollis, for which see appU, apple-tree, and crdb^. To
the section Aria (De Candolle, 1825), having only two or
three styles and ovate leaves whitened beneath, belongs
P. Aria, the beam-tree, with several varieties, including P.
- inUrmedia, the Swedish beam-tree. To the section Tormi'
naria (De Candolle, 1826), with pinnately lobed leaves and
somewhat obconical fruit, belongs P. torminalis the wild
service-tree (see sermce-tree). In the section Sortms (Tour-
nefort, 1700), with compound cymes and pinnate leaves,
are included P. dwnestica (toTmetly Sorbus domestica), for
which see service-tree; P. Americana and P. aucuparia,
for which see mountainrtzsh. Another section, Adeno-
rhachis (De Candolle, 1825), with berry-like frui^ but un-
divided leaves and glandular petioles, includes P. artuti-
folia, for which see cholceberry, and cut under infiores-
cence. To the section Oydonia (Tournefort, 1700) belong
the quinces. (See Oydonia and quince'^.') The genus Mes.
pUus was also made by Bentham and Hooker a section ol
Pyrus. See Mespilus and medlar. Also Pirus.
pyryt, »■ An obsolete form of pirry.
pysa (pi'sa), ». Same asjjice.
pysanet^, «• Same as ^Jsan^.
pytt, pjrttet, «■ Obsolete forms of j«<i.
Pythagorean (pi-thag-o-re'an), a. andn. [< L.
Pythagoreus, < Gr. UvBaydpewg, pertaining to
Pythagoras, < ilvBaydpac, Pythagoras.] I. a. Of
or pertaining to Pythagoras, a Greek philoso-
pher (perhaps 532 b. c), or the school founded
at Crotona (modem Cotrone), in Italy. All testi-
mony concerning this school is of a late date, and the
substance of it is rejected by many critics either as im-
probable, or as probable, and "on that account all the
more indemonstrable" (ZeUer). The stories are, how-
ever, very consistent. The higher grade of the school is
represented as a strict monastic community, the doctrine
being kept secret, and all betrayals terribly punished, tor
the pui'poseof maintaining political ascendancy. Pythag-
oras is said to have traveled to Fgypt and Babylon ; and
many circumstances are accounted for by supposing that
he did so. From those countries he might have brought,
as it is said he did, a superior knowledge of mathematics.
This knowledge, it kept secret, might have supplied rev-
enues to the school, by calculations and surveys made for
citizens. It'is difllcult to doubt that mathematical science
was much advanced within the school. All writers upon
ancient mathematics attribute to Pythagoras the Pythag-
orean proposition and a rule for flnding Pythagorean
triangles. The importance attached to the pentagram in
the school shows that the Pythagoreans were acquainted
with its geometrical construction, which is very difficult.
They knew the regular or cosmical bodies. They were in
possession of many propositions in the theory of numbers,
including thedoctrine of the arithmetical, geometrical, and
harmonical proportions. It is not impossible that they
may have had an abacus, little inferior to the Arabic sys-
tem of arithmetical notation. It is not known how long
the society lasted, perhaps for many centuiies ; as long as
it retained any valuable secret it would continue to exist.
The Pythagorean philosophy has never been compre-
hended. The substances of things were held to be ab-
stract numbers; they were in some sense the elements of
the universe. Each number, therefore, had its virtue.
Onewasthenumberof the origin, of reason. Two was the
number of matter, of brute force, of evil. Three was the
number of mediation, four of justice, five of reproduction,
etc. Ten governed the world. In the Pythagorean oath,
Pythagoras is called the revealer of the quaternary num-
ber— that is, ten — as if something decimal were what he
chiefly taught. Something fundamental was also found
in odd and even, in square numbers, and the like. Har-
mony, or music, consists in number. The soul is the har-
mony, or number, of the body. The universe has also a
soul. The remainder of the prominent Pythagorean teach-
ings with which we are acquainted are apparently reli-
gious. Pythagoras taught the transmigi'ation of souls.
Spirits, both ghosts and demigods, were an object of Pythag-
orean belief. The brotherhood celebrated certain myste-
rious rites connected with a view of life as a process ot puri-
fication. About the time of Augustus, perhaps earlier, Py-
thagoreanism became mixed with Platonism. — Pythag-
orean bean. See fteimi.— Pythagorean comma. See
commo,6(<i).— Pythagorean dyad. See di/aii.— Pythag-
orean letter, the letter Y, so called because its Greek
original represented the sacred triad, formed by the duad
proceeding from the monad. — Pythagorean lyre, a lyre
of eight strings, said to have been invented by Pythagoras.
—Pythagorean proposition, the 47th proposition of
the first book of Euclid's "Elements," that the sum of the
squares on the legs of a right-angled triangle is equal to the
square on the hypotenuse: said to have been discovered by
Pythagoras.— I^^agoreansemitone. SameasZimma, 1.
— Pjrthagorean system, in astron. , the astronomical sys-
tem of Copernicus, erroneously attributed to the Pythag-
oreans.—Pythagorean table, the multiplication-table.
But this appellation is due to a corruption in the text ot
Boethius. The table originally referred to was an abacus.
-Pythagorean triangle, a triad ot whole numbers pro-
portional to the sides of a right-angled triangle — the
square of one being equal to the sum of the squares of the
other two : as, 3, 4, S ; 12, 35, 37.— PyHiagorean tuning,
in music, a system of tuning in which the tones of the scale
are fixed by tuning upward in perfect fifths, and back in
octaves. The major third thus obtained was long con-
sidered the true one, and its recognition as a consonance
correspondingly delayed.
II. n. A follower of Pythagoras, the founder
of the Italic sect of philosophers.
Not that I wanted beans to eat, for I am by nature a Py-
thagorean, so far as beans are concerned.
Thoreau, Walden, p. 175.
Pythagoreanism (pi-thag-o-re'an-izm), n. [<
Pythagorean + -ism.] Same a.s Pythagorism.
Pythagoreanize (pi-thag-o-re'an-iz), v. i. [<
Pythagorean + -ize.] Same a,s Pythagorize.
Fythagorlc
Pythagoric (pith-a-gor'ik), a. [< L. Pytliago-
ncus,<Gi. HvdayopiKd^, pertaining to Pythago-
ras,< nueaytipaf, Pythagoras: s%e PythaqoreanA
Pythagorean. Imp. Diet.
Pythagorical (pith-a-gor'i-kal), a. [< Pytha-
goric + -a«.] Same as Pythagoric.
TbAt Pythagorical naenV. in a gentleman's suit to-dav,
in a knight s to-morrow.
Hiddleton, Your Mve Gallants, v. 1.
BTeechesPythagorieal, by reason of their transmigration
into several shapes. B. Jomon, Cynthia's Revels, iv. 1.
Pythagorism (pi-thag'6-rizm), «. [< Gr. Uvda-
yapiafidq, adherence to the principles laid down
by Pythagoras, < UvBaydpoQ, Pythagoras: see
Pythagorean.'] The doctrines or philosophy of
Pythagoras or of the Pythagoreans. Also Py-
thagoreanism.
Pythagorize (pi-thag'6-riz), v. i. ; pret. and pp.
Pythagorized, ppr. Pythagorizing. [< Gr. TIvBa-
yopi^uv, be a disciple of Pythagoras, < Tivdayd-
paf, Pythagoras: SBe Pythagorean.'] To specu-
late after the manner of Pythagoras or his fol-
lowers ; tend toward or become imbued with
Pythagorism.
Pythia (pith'l-a), n. [< Gr. ff.vdia (se. Upeia, a
priestess), the Pythia, priestess of Apollo at
Delphi: see -PiifiWan.]
1. In Gr. antiq., the
priestess who held
communion with
Apollo and received
his oracles in the in-
ner sanctuary of the
great temple at Del-
phi, throughout his-
toric antiquity. See
oracle. — 2. [NL.] In
conch.i (a) A genus
of gastropods of the
family Aurictdidse,
generally called Sear-
«5tts. Bolton, 1798.
(6) A genus of buUmi-
form shells, compris-
ing species of Aeha-
tina, Bulimus, Glan-
dina^ etc. Oken, 1815.
pythiad (pith'i-ad),
n. [< Gr. Tnidcdg (,-ai),
a period of four years
between two con-
secutive celebrations
of the Pythian games, < Ilv6ca (sc. iepd), the
Pythian games: see Pythian.] The period of
four years intervening between one celebration
of the Pythian games and the succeeding.
Pythiambic (pith-i-am'bik), a. [As Pythian +
iambic] In anc.pros., constituting an episyn-
thetio meter consisting of a dactylic hexameter
(Pythian' verse) followed by an iambic colon.
The Jirst Pythiambic system (stama or strophe) subjoins an
iambic dimeter and the second PyGdaiDHc system {stanza
or strophe) an iambic trimeter to the hexameter.
Pythian (pith'i-an), a. [< L. PytMus, < Gr.
Uvdiog, pertaining to Delphi, or to the Delphic
Apollo, < Tlvda, also Uwav, the older name of
Delphi and the surrounding region.] Pertain-
ing to Delphi, or to the priestess of Apollo at
Delphi, who there delivered oracles Pythian
Apollo. See ApoUo.—'Pyt'bia.n games, one ot the four
great national festivals of Greece, celebrated ones in four
years in honor of Apollo at Delphi.— PytUan meter,
Pythian verse, the dactylic hexameter: probably so
called from its use in the oracles delivered by the Pythia,
or, according to ancient writers, from the first song of tri-
umph to Apollo for his victory over the Python, a triple ir|
PytMdae (pith'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Pytho +
-idee.] A small family of heteromerous coleop-
terous insects, typified by the genus Pytho.
They have the anterior coxal cavities open behind, the an-
tennsB free, the thorax not margined at the sides, and its
disk not impressed at the base. Ten genera are known,
distributed in Europe and North America, a single species
only occurring elsewhere. They are found under bark and
stones.
Pytho (pi'tho), n. [NL. (Latreille, 1796) : see
Pythian.] A genus of coleopterous insects, typ-
ical of the family Pythidx, comprising forms
with very depressed body, striate elytra, and
one-toothed mandibles. A half-dozen species are
known, 3 from North America, and the others from Eu-
rope. They live under the bark of trees.
pythogenesiS (pi-tho-jen'e-sis), n. [ < Gr. nWeiv,
rot, become putrid, + yiveaig, origin: see gen-
esis.] Production by means of filth. Seepy-
thogenic. ^,„ ,.
pythogenic (pi-tho-jen'ik), a. [< Gr. ■KvBeiv rot,
+ -yevriQ, producing: see -genous.] Produced
by filth : specifically applied to a class of dis-
eases, as typhoid, the occurrence of which is
The Pythia Seated on the Oracu-
lar Tripod. (From a Greelc red-
figured vase.)
4879
favored by filth, especially by a vitiated atmo-
sphere.
Cause and effect were for the first time connected in the
public mind, which was thus enlightened for the first time
as to the nature of what we now call pythogenic or filth-
born maladies. Pall Mall Oaxtte.
P3rthogenic fever. Seefemri.
pythometric (pi-tho-met'rik), a. [Improp. for
*pithometnc, < Gr. niBog, a wine-jar, + fdrpov,
measure: see metric] Pertainingto the gaging
of casks.
Python (pi'thon), n. [< L. Python, < Gr. Tlvdc^,
Python (see def. 1) . Cf . TivB6, Hvdim, the earlier
name of Delphi, and see Pythian.] 1. In clas-
sical antiquities and in the New Testament, a
soothsaying spirit or demon; hence, also, a per-
son possessed by such a spirit; especially, a
ventriloquist, some ancient writers speak of the ser-
pent Python as having delivered oracles at Delphi before
the coming of Apollo, and during the Roman imperial
period we find the name often given to soothsayers. The
spirit was supposed to speak from the belly of the sooth-
sayer, who was accordingly called eyyaarpifAvdtK, a ven-
triloquist, a word used in the Septuagint to represent the
Hebrew 'oth (see o6i), often rendered pyfhm. in the Vul-
gate. In Acts xvi. 16 the usual reading is ' a spirit of Py-
thon," while some manuscripts read 'a spirit, a Python."
A certain maid having a spirit of divination [margin :
Gr. a spiritj a Python] met us.
Acts xvi. 16 (revised version).
Like thee [the Sun], the Hero does his Arms employ
The raging Python, to destroy.
Priar, Hymn to the Sun, st. 3.
2. \l, c] Any very large serpent, as a rook-
snake : loosely used, like hoa and anaconda, but
properly applicable only to the large Old World
non-venomous serpents of the family Python-
idee. — 3. [NL.] The typical genus of Python-
idae: formerly conterminous with the family,
now restricted to species having premaxillary
pyx
I got from the cretaceous deposit of my neighborhood
enough fossil material to diagnose a new species of reptile,
which, although with powerful paddles, was almost ^-
thmdc in structure. Science, VII. 242.
Pythonidse (pi-thon'i-de), «. pi. [NL., < Py-
thon (see Python, 3) + ■4die.] An Old World
family of peropodous oolubriform OpMdia, hav-
^^ ^\S07WTrpPaF0s„
PmxVo
PI PS
Python ^Python molurus),
teeth, labial plates of both jaws fossate, and
scuta extending to between the orbits. These
are the rock-snakes proper, as P. nwlurus and P. retieun
lattts. See out under Pythmidse, also cuts under Ophidia,
zygantrum, and zygospT^ne.
pythoness (pith'o-nes), n. [Also, as ML., Py-
thomissa; < ME. Phitonesse, Phitonisse, etc., <
OF. Pythonesse, etc., < ML. Pythonissa, < MGr.
iriiB&musaa, fern, of Gr. irvduv, a ventriloquist,
also prob. a diviner (cf. 7n>ev/ia irvdovog, a spirit
of divination), < 'ii.vdi), HijBuv, the older name
of Delphi: see Pythian.] The Pythia or es-
pecial priestess of Apollo at his temple at
Delphi, who was supposed to be inspired to
give his oracular answers; hence, any woman
supposed to have a spirit of divination; a
witch.
Kagiciens and tregetours,
AnAphitonisses, charmeresses,
Olde wyches, sorceresses.
Chawxr, House of Fame, 1. 1261.
Saiththe Pythonissa to Saul, " To-morrow thou and thy
sons shall be with me." Bacon, Prophecies (ed. 1887).
She stood a moment as a PytJioness
Stands on her tripod.
Byron, Don Juan, vi. 107.
pythonicl (pi-thon'ik), a. [< Gr. XlvBuviKdg,
pertaining- to Pytho, < TLvda, Hvdav, the older
name of Delphi : see Pythian.] Oracular; per-
tainingto the prediction of future events ; pro-
phetic.
pythonic^ (pi-thon'ik), a. [< python + -ic]
Of or pertaining to a python or the pythons ;
resembling a python.
^'^ OpO
SIcull of a Python, left sidt: and in longitudinal section.
££?, basioccipital; £.?, basisphenoid; Cm, columella of ear.orstapes
(not the columella of the skull) ; £0, exoccipital ; EpO, epiotic ; Fr.
frontal ; FO. fenestra ovalis ; L. lacrymal ; Na, nasal ; OpO, opis-
thotic ; Pa. parietal ; PI, palatine ; Pmx, premaxilla ; PrO, proiltic :
/■^i presphenoid ; Pr, pterygoid ; P^, postfrontal; 0i<, quadrate ; SO,
supraoccipital : SOr, supraorbital ; Sq, squamosal ; Tl, turbinal ; Tr,
transverse bone ; V, VII, VIII, exits of fifth, seventh, and eighth
nerves ; Vo, vomer. The teeth show the aglyphodont dentition.
ing rudiments of posterior extremities, a eoro-
noid bone, supraorbital and postorbital bones,
and premaxillary teeth, with or without maxil-
lary teeth; the rock-snakes. There are several
genera, as Python, Morelia, Liasia, Ifardoa, Aspidiotes,
Loxooenius, Chondropython, and AspidopyVum.
pythoniform (pi'thon-i-f6rm), a. [< NL. Py-
thon, q. v., -i- L. forma, form.] Resembling or
related to a python, boa, or rock-snake ; pytho-
noid; peropodous, as a serpent.
Pythoninse (pi-tho-ni'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Py-
thon -I- -dnsB.] A subfamily of pythonoid ser-
pents, typified by the genus Python, having pre-
maxillary teeth. They chiefly inhabit the tropics of
Africa and Asia, and some of them are among the largest
of snakes.
pythonine (pl'tho-nin), a. and n. I, a. Of or
pertaining to the Pythoninse or Pythonidse; py-
thoniform.
II. ». A python or member of the Pythonidse.
pythonism (pith'o-nizm), TO. [< Gr. TlvBi),
Pytho, the older name of Delphi (see Pythian,
Python), + 4sm.] The art of foretelling future
events after the manner of the Delphic oracle.
pythonistt (pith'o-nist), TO. [Also pithonist; <
Gr. 'n.vdi), JbMSn), Pytho, the older name of Delphi
(see Pythian, Python), + -ist. Of. pythoness.]
A conjurer.
See the conjuring, proud, remorceless Priest
Rend in full rage (too like a furious fiend)
The pompous vestures of this Pithonist,
When Christ doth (vrg'd) aright His cause defend.
Daviea, Holy Roode, p. 7. {Davies.)
pythonoid (pi'tho-noid), a. and to. [< L. Py-
thon, q. v., + Gr. eZdof, form.] I. a. Eesembling
or related to a python ; belonging to the Pytho-
noidea; pythoniform.
II. n. A member of the Pythonoidea.
Pythonoidea (pi-tho-noi'df-a), n.pl. [NL.: see
pythonoid.] A suborder of (^ftidia; the perop-
odous ophidians, having no trace of a pelvis,
but almost invariably rudiments of hind limbs
in the form of anal spurs. They are not poisonous,
but are for the most pan of great size, and often have
great powers of constriction. They are the rock-snakes,
pythons, boas, and anacondas, of the families Pythonidse,
Boidse, and Charinidee.
pythonomorph (pi'tho-no-mdrf ), n. Any mem-
ber of the Pythonomorpha.
Pythonomorpha (pi'''tho-no-m6r'fa), n. pi.
[NL., < Python, q. v., +'Gr.' /^lopf^, form.] In
Cope's classification (1871), an order of fossil
streptostylie reptiles : same as Mosasauria.
pythouomorphic (pi'tho -no -mor'fik), a. [<
pythonomorph + -ic] Same as pythonomor-
phow.
pythonomorphous (pi"tho-no-m6r'fus), a. [<
Python + Gr. fiop^, form.] Pertaining to the
Pythonomorpha, or having their characters;
mosasaurian.
The two orders of Ophidians and Lacertilians are nearly
allied ; the former is probably merely a specialized de-
scendant of the latter or of the pythonomorphous reptiles,
or perhaps of both. Giintfier, Eficyc. Brit., XXII. 189.
pyuria (pi-U'ri-a), to. [NL., < Gr. irvov, pus,
H- dpov, urine.] The presence of pus in the
urine.
pyx (piks), TO. [Formerly also pix; < L. pyxis,
pttxis, < Gr. jrjjfj'f {-iS-), a box, orig. one of
boxwood, < ffifof, the box-tree, boxwood : see
pyx for holding the Consecrated Host,
i2th century.
pyx
6oa;l.] 1. In the Mom. Cath. Ch., the vase or
vessel in which the reserved eucharist is kept.
The name pyx (pyxis)
for this vessel seems
to have come into use
in the ninth century.
In earlier times the
reserved sacrament
was kept in an area,
columba, or turris
(see reservaHon). In
the Greek Church the
vessel in which the
sacrament is reserved
Is called the artopho-
rion, pyxion, or pyxis.
Thejyx has also been
used for unconsecrat-
ed altar-breada. It
has generally been
made cylindrical in
shape, with a foot
like that of a chalice,
and has sometimes
had a conical cover.
In modern usage it is
much smaller than
formerly, and is often made round and flat like a watch-
case, for convenience, especially in carrying the sacrament
to the sick. Tor public exposition of the sacrament a
monstrance or ostensoi? is used instead.
The King marched towards Calais, so strictly observing
his Proclamation against Church-robbing that, when one
was complained of for having taken a Silver Pixe out of
a Church, he not only caused the same to be restored, but
the Soldier also to be hanged. BaHer, Chronicles, p. 170.
2. A box or chest in which specimen coins are
deposited. — 3. Naut., the metallic box in which
the nautical compass-card is suspended. — 4.
In anat., the acetabulum of the hip-bone ; the
cotyloid oavily ; the pyxis— TrlaJ of the pyx, the
final trial by weight and assay of gold and silver coins.
At the Biitish mint one coin is deposited in the pyx from
every fifteen pounds of gold and one from every sixty
pounds of silver coined. The trial is conducted periodi-
cally by a jury of goldsmiths under the direction of the
queen's remembrancer, and constitutes a public attesta-
tion of the standard purity of the coin. In the United
States it is conducted annually at Philadelphia. The
phrase is also applied to the assaying of gold and sUver
plate which takes place at assay-offices.
pjrx (piks), ». «. [<. pyx, 71.1 To test by weight
and assay, as the coins deposited in the pyx at
the British mint. See trial of the pyx, above.
pyx-cloth (piis'kldth), n. A cloth of silk or
other material in which it was formerly cus-
tomary to wrap or veil the pyx. Also Corpus
ClirisH cloth, pyx-Tcerchief, pyx^^eil.
Pyxicola (pik-sik'o-la), n. [Nh., < Gr. m/fig,
a box (see pyx), -I-' £. colere, inhabit.] A ge-
4880
nus of vaginieolous Vorticellinidse, in which
the animalcules are attached behind to a
lorica which can be closed by a discoidal
operculum like the lid of a box, whence the
name.
Fyxidanthera (pik"si-dan-the'ra), 11. [NL.
(P. A. Michaux, 1803), so oalled'm allusion to
the lid-like opening of the anthers; < Gr. wv^ig,
a box, + NL. antlwra, anther.] A genus of
gamopetalous plants of the oriev Diapensiacese.
It is characterized by a persistent sessile corolla with
short bell-Bha^ed tube and five flat roundish lobes, five
stamens fixed in the notches between the lobes, nostami-
nodes, a three-celled ovary with many ovules, and globose
anther-cells which are transversely two-valved and awn-
pointed at the base. The only species, P. barbulata, is a
dwarf and trailing shrubby evergreen, found in sands
under pines from New Jersey southward to North Caro-
lina; it is eagerly sought as a highly ornamental early
spring-fiowering plant, being covered with a profusion of
small starry blossoms. It is known as the pine-barren
beauty, and Jtowering moss (which see, under moss^, and
also, locally, by contraction of its generic name, aapyxie.
It bears crowded awl-shaped dark-green leaves covering
the short erect branches, or alternate on the longer creep-
ing ones, and somewhat hairy or bearded neai* the base,
whence the specific name.
pyxidate (pik'si-dat), a. Z<pyxis (-id-) + -afei.]
In hot., having the character of a pyxis.
pyxidium (pik-sid'i-um), 11.; pi. pyxidia (-&).
[< Gr. TTv^iSiov, a writing-tablet, dim. of jrofif,
a box: aee pyx."] 1. In 6oJ., same as jji/tos, 9.
— 2. leap.'] [NL.] In zool., a genus of Vorti-
celUnidee.
pyx-veil
Pyxinei, Fyxinese (pik-sin'e-i, -e), n.pl. [NL. ,
< L. pyxis, < Gr. nv^ic, a box, + -in- + -ei, -ese.'J
A natural order of lichens, comprising those
known in the arctic regions as tripe de roche.
The order is characterized by a horizontal foliaceous thal-
lus, mostly fixed by the center, and an orbicular disk, with
the exciple distinct from the thallus, and at first closed.
pyxis (pik'sis), n. ; pi. pyxides (-si-dez). [L.,
also piixis, < Gr. jrufif, a box: seepyx.'] 1. In
Gr. antiq. and archseol., a type of cylindrical
vase or box with a cover, used especially by
women, as for the toilet. See cut in preced-
ing column. — 2. A box; a jewel-case. — 3. In
anat., the cotyloid cavity, or acetabulum of the
hip-joint. — 4. [cap.] [NL.] A genus of braehi-
opods. Chemnitz, 1784. — 5. [cap.] [NL.] In
conch., a genus of gastropods. Sumphreys,
1797.— 6. leap.] [NL.] A genus of land-tor-
toises of the family TestuMnidx, having the
anterior part of the plastron so movable that
it can be shut like the lid of a pyxis. T. Bell,
1827. — 7. A tortoise of this genus, the only
Greek Pyxis of red -figured pottery, 4th century B. c.
J^xis arachttoidea.
known species, FyxAs araehnoidea, of Madagas-
car and Mauritius. Its shell is yellow, with
broad black bands radiating from the center
of the dorsal shields. — 8. \_ea;p.'\ [NL.] In en-
tom., a genus of coleopterous insects. D^ean,
1834. — 9. In hot. : (a) A seed-vessel, common-
ly a capsule, with a ciroumscissile dehiscence,
the top falling away like a lid, as in the com-
mon purslane and plantain, and in the fruit
known as monkey-pots. See Lecythis, and cut
under circumsdssile. (6) The theca of mosses.
Also pyxidium — Pyxla Nautica, a southern constel-
lation mtroduced by Lacaille, representing a ship's com-
pass or binnacle. It seems no longer to be in use.
pyx-kerchief (piks'k6r"chif ), n. Same as pyx-
cloth.
pyx-'Veil (piks'val), «. Same as pyx-cloth.
1. The seventeenth letter
and thirteenth consonant
in the English alphabet.
It had a correspoDding position
in the early Greek and in the Latin
alphabet, as aiso in the Fheni-
cian, where it was the nineteenth
character. Its value in Phenician
was that of a deeper or more gut-
tural k; and a like distinction of
two &% less and more guttural
(,knf and gof), is still made in the Semitic languages gen-
erally. But in Greek and Latin there was no such dis-
tinction to be maintained ; hence the sign was abandoned
In Greek )[being retained only as an episemon, or sign of
number, in its old place between ir and p, and called
koppa); while in Latin, on the other hand, it was kept,
though without a value different from that of k, in the
combination mi, equivalent to our kw; and so we have
it also in English as a superfluous letter, simply because
it existed in Phenician with a real olSce. The compara-
tive table of early forms (as given for the other letters:
see especially A) is as follows :
0^ -% ^ ?9
Egyptian.
Hieroglypnic. 1
Hieratic.
Pheni-
cian.
Early
Greelc and Latin.
Q occurs in English, as in Latin, only before a u that is f ol-
lowedbyanothervowel. The combination ^uispronounced
either as kw (for example, quinquenniaZ), or, the u being
silent, as k simply (for example, pique). The words con-
taining it are nearly all of Latin or French origin ; but there
are a few common words (as gween, queer, quench, quick,
quoth) in which qu has been substituted for the equivalent
Anglo-Saxon cw or Teutonic kw, and a number of other
words (Asiatic, African, American, etc.) in which gu rep-
resents a like combination. In the transliteration of some
Oriental alphabets (Arabic, Persian, Turkish, etc.), g repre-
sents the more guttural form of k. See qu. ■
2. As a medieval Roman numeral, 500. — 3.
Au abbreviation: (a) [I. c] of quadrans (a
farthing); (6) [I. c] of query; (c) [I. c] of ques-
Uon; (3) of queen; (e) [Z. c] in a ship's log-
book, of squalls; (/) in Bom. lit. and inscrip-
tions, of Quintus. — 4t. A halt-farthing: same
as cue'^, 2 (a).
Eather pray there be no fall of money, for thou wilt then
go for a q. Jjuhl, Mother Bombie, iv. 2. (Nares.)
To mind one's p's and q's. See mjndi.
qabbalah, n. See caoala.
Q. B. An abbreviation of Queen's Bench.
Q. C. An abbreviation: (a) of Queen's Coun-
cil or Queen's Counsel; (6) of Queen's College.^
Q. d., or q. d. An abbreviation of the Latin
phrase quasi dicat, as if he should say. »
qd. An old contraction for quod or quofh. Sal-
Q. e., or q, e. An abbreviation of the Latin
phrase quod est, which is.
Q. £. D. An abbreviation of the Latin phrase
quod crat demonstrandum, which was to be
demonstrated.
<J. £. F. An abbreviation of the Latin phrase
quod erat faciendum, which was to be done.
Q. E. I. An abbreviation of the Latin phrase
quod erat inveniendum, which was to be found
out.
Q. M. An abbreviation of quartermaster.
Qm., or qm. An abbreviation of the Latin word
quomodo, by what means.
Q. M. G. An abbreviation of qumrtermaster-
Or or qr An abbreviation : {a) of quarUr (28
pounds); (6) of quadrans (farthing); (c) of
quire.
Q S An abbreviation of quarter-sesstons.
Q" S ' or q S An abbreviation: (a) of quarter-
section; ('&) of the Latin phrase quantum suffidt.
Qt, or qt. An abbreviation: (o) of quart; (6)
of quantity. „. „ i
qut, «. An obsolete spelling of queue or cue\
In 1724 the peruke-makers advertised "fuU-bottom tyes
(4 perukes, and bagg wiggs" among the variety of
artihcial head-gear which they suw^«%^^ _ ^XIV. 560.
OU. [(1) < ME. qu-, qw-, < OF. qu-, F.qu- = Sp.
Vm- - Pff CM-, au- = It. qu-, <h.qti- = Gv. k- (kF),
som^tlm^sVi Skt. Jcv-, Ic-, etc. (2) < MB. q^c,
307
qvi-, kw-, ku-, eu-, cw-, < AS. cm- = OS. few- =
OPries. Mo- = D. fcw- = OHG. kw-, cw-, MHG.
kw-, qu-, Gr. qu- = Icel. kv- = Sw. kv-, qu- = Dan.
ho- = Goth, kw- (by Germans often written kv-,
also rendered by q- or g«-; the Goth, character
being single, namely, u — the resemblance to
the Boman u being accidental). (3) < ME. qu-,
qw-, quw-, quh-, wh-, hw-, < AS. kw- = OS. OFries.
me- = D. w- = Gr. w- = Icel. Sw. Dan. kv-, etc. : see
wlir-. (4) Of various origin, ult. due to c- or k-
or c^.] 1. An initial and medial sequence in
words of Latin origin, as in quarreU, quarrel^,
quadrant, query, etc. — 3. An initial sequence
in some words of Anglo-Saxon (or other Teu-
tonic) origin, properly written kw-, or as origi-
, nally cw-, but altered in the Middle English
period to qu- in conformity with the spelling of
French and Latin words with qu- (see 1). It oc-
curs in quaiU, quake, qualm, queen, quell, qvAck,
etc. It does not occiu" medially except in com-
position.— 3. Am initial sequence in some Mid-
die English or modern dialectal (Scotch) vari-
ants of words regularly spelled with wh-, as in
qual, qwaylle, quhal, for whale; quhilk tovwhilk
(which), quhyp for whip, etc. — 4. An initial se-
quence of various origin other than the above,
as in quaint, quassia, quay, quince, quip, quire\
qui/re^, quiver^, quoin, quoit, etc. See the ety-
mology of these words.
qu. Aa abbreviation: (a) of queen, quarterly;
(Jb) of question, or qusere, query.
qua^t, pron. An old Scotch form of who.
Qua herd ever a warr auntur.
That he that noght hadd hot of him
Agayn him suld becum sua grim?
MS. Cott. Yegpas. (A), iii. f. 4. (Halliwdl.)
qua^ (kwa), adv. [L. qua (often written qud),
as far as, so far as, as, at or in which place, in
what manner, how, orig. abl. fern, of qui, who,
which : see wAo.] As being; so far as.
I know what that man's mind, gud mind, is, well enough.
M. ,4™oM, friendship's Garland, vi.
The first thing to notice about this position is, that the
Darwinian, mat Darwinian, has nothing to do with it.
Nature, XXXVII. 291.
qua^ (kwa), n. [Appar. a var. of quad^, quod^.']
A jail; quod. Tufts' s Glossary of Thieved Jar-
gon, 1798. [Thieves' jargon.l
quab^, quob (kwob), v. i. [Var. of the earlier
quap, quop : see quap^, quop\ and cf . quave.'\
To shake; tremble; quiver; throb; flutter.
After whan the storme ys al ago,
Yet wol the watir guappe a day or two.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 1767.
But, zealons sir, what say to a touch at pialer?
How gwoOT the spirit? In what garb or ayre?
Fletcher, Poems, p. 203. {HaUiweU.)
O, my eyes grow dim ! my heart quabs, and my back
acheth. Dryden, Limberham, iii. 2.
quabi, quob (kwob), n. [< quab^-, v. Cf. quave-
mire.} A bog or quagmire. Halliwell.
quab^t (kwob), n. [Early mod. E. quaUe; <
MD. qudbJ>e,huappe, D. kwob, kwabbe = OLG.
quappa, MLGT quappe, LG. quaVbe, quappe, an
eel-pout, = G. quabbe, quappe, an eel-pout, tad-
pole, = Sw. qvdbba = 'Da.n. fcva&feej a burbot; so
called from its active motions; from the verb
represented by quab^, quap^. Cf. quap^.'] 1.
A fish, the eel-pout or miller's-thumb. Minsheu.
2. A gudgeon. Also quabling and quap.
A quabling or little quaVbe, a flsh, . . . gouibn.
Minsheu.
auab^t (kwob), n. [< quab\ v., as squab^ <
squab^, «).] 1. A squab, or other unfledged
young bird. See squab^.—2. Something im-
mature or crude.
A trifle of mine own brain, ... a scholar's fancy,
A auab — 'tis nothing else — a very ?Ma6.
Ford, Lover a Melancholy, lii. 3.
nua-bird (kwa'bferd), n. [< qua (imitative, like
equiv. quark, quawk) + UrdK'] The American
night-heron, Nyctiardea grisea nsevia.
4881
quacha (kwa'cha), n. Same as quagga. Imp.
Diet.
quachi, n. Same as coati.
quachil, n. [Native name.] A large pocket-
gopher, Geomys hispidus (formerly Saccophorus
quachil). it inhabits Central America and some parts
of Mexico, and is larger than any of the United States
species, being nearly or quite a foot long, with the tail
three inches more ; the tail and feet are nearly naked ;
the pelage is harsh and lusterless, of a uniform dull choco-
late-brown, merely paler or grayer below ; the upper in-
cisors have each one deep furrow lying wholly in the in-
ner half of the tooth. Its nearest relative is the Mexican
tucan, 6. mexicanus.
quack^ (kwak), v. i. [< ME. *quakken (?), queken
= MD. quacken, queken, croak, quack, cry as a
frog, goose, or quail, later kwakken, kwaaken, D.
kwaken, croak, as a frog, = MLG. quaken = G.
quacken, quaken, quack, croak, ha^X^e, quacken,
quaken, cry, scream, = Icel. k/BOka = Sw. qvaka
= Dan. kvakke, croak, quack; of. L. coaxare,
croak, Gr. Kod^, a quacking (see coaxation) ; all
imitative words. Hence freq. quackle^, and
ult. quail^.'] 1. To utter a harsh, flat, croaking
sound or cry, as a goose or duck ; croak ; now,
usually, to cry as a duck.
He toke a gose fast by the nek,
And the goose thoo begann ioguek.
Bel. Antig., 1. i. {Halliwell,)
There were thirteen ducks, and . . . they all guacked
very movingly. B. D. Blackmore, Loma Doone, x.
2. To make an outcry: said of persons. [Prov.
Eng.]
He slew the captain where he stood.
The rest they did quack an' roar.
WiUie Wallace (Chad's Ballads, VI. 236).
quack^ (kwak), n. [< ME. quakke, queke = G.
quack, quak = Dan. kvak; &om the verb.] 1.
A harsh, croaking sound.
He speketh thurgh the nose.
As he were on the quakke or on the pose.
Chaucer, Keeve^s Tale, L 232.
3. The cry of a duck; a quacking.
Hegavemealook fromhisonelittleeye, . . . and then
a loud qmck to second it.
R. D. Blackmore, Loma Doone, x.
quack^ (kwak), v. [A particular use of quack\
now associated with quack^, n., which is in
part an abbr. of quacksaVoer ."i I. intrans. 1.
To talk noisily and ostentatiously; make vain
and loud pretensions.
Seek out for plants with signatures,
To guack of universal cures.
S. Butler, Hudibras, III. L 328.
2. To play the quack; practise arts of quack-
ery, as a pretender to medical skill.
Hitherto I had only guack'd with myself, and the high-
est I consulted was our apothecary.
B. MandeMle, Hypochondrical Disorders 0L730), p. 7.
[(Latham.)
II. trans. 1. To treat in the maimer of a
quack; play the quack with.
If he [Monro] has any skill in guacking madmen, his art
may perhaps be of service now in the Pretender's court.
Walpole, Letters, II. 6.
Quackery, and the love of being gmicked, are in human
nature as weeds are in our fields.
Dr. J. Brown, Spare Hours, 3d ser.. Int., p.'32.
2. To tamper with dishonestly; use fraudu-
lently.
Mallet. My third Son ... has an admirable knack at
guacUng Titles. . . . They tell me, when he gets an old
good-for-nothing Book, he claps a new Title to it, and sells
off the whole Impression in a Week.
Mrs. CenUivre, Gotham Election, i. 1.
quack^ (kwak), n. and a. [Partly < quack''', v.,
partly an abbr. of quacksalver, q. v.] I. n. 1.
An impudent and fraudulent pretender to med-
ical skill; a mountebank; a knavish practi-
tioner of medicine.
Quacks in their Bills, and Poets in the Titles of their
Plays, do not more dissappoint us than Gallants with their
Promises. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, iii.
A potent quack, long versed in human ills.
Who first insults the victim whom he kills.
Crahbe, Works, 1. 14.
quack
These, like quacks in medicine, excite tlie malady to
profit by the core, and retard the cure to augment the
'ees. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 229.
Hence — 2. One who pretends to skill or know-
ledge of any kind whioli he does not possess;
an ignorant and impudent pretender; a charla-
tan.
Men that go mincing, grimacing, with plausible speech
and brushed raiment ; hollow within ! quacks political ;
quacks scientific, academical.
Carlyle, French Rev., II. iii. 2.
=Syn. Quack, Empiric, Mountebank, Charlatan. A quack
is, by derivation, one who talks much without wisdom,
and, specifically, talks of his own power to heal ; hence,
any ignorant pretender to medical knowledge or skill. Em-
piric is a more elevated term for one who goes by mere
experience in the trial of remedies, and is without know-
ledge of the medical sciences or of the clinical obser-
"ations and opinions of others ; hence, an incompetent,
self-confident practitioner. A mmmJtebank is generally a
quack, but may be a pretender in any line. Charlatan (lit-
erally ' chatterer ") is primarily applied, not to a person be-
longing to any particular profession or occupation, but to
a pretentious cheat of any sort.
II, a. Pertaining to or characterized by
quackery of any kind ; specifically, falsely pre-
tending to cure disease, or ignorantly or fraudu-
lently set forth as remedies: as, a quack doc-
tor ; quack medicines.
If all understood medicine, there would be none to take
his quack medicine. WhaMy.
The attractive head
Of some guoci-doctor, famous in his day.
Wtyrdsworth, Prelude, vii.
In the eighteenth century men worshipped the things
that seemed ; it was a ^mek century.
Caroline Fox, Journal, p. HI.
They're set to the doing of quack work, and paid wages
for dishonesty. New Prirusetm Reo.,11.'!.
quackened (kwak'nd), a. [Var. of querkened,
aecom. to *qaack, quackle^. See qiterkenJ] Al-
most choked. [Prov. Eng.]
quackery (kwak'er-i), ». ; pi. quackeries (-iz).
[< quaek^ + -ery.'] The boastful pretensions
or knavish practice of a quack, particularly in
medicine; empiricism; charlatanry; humbug.
Such quackery is unworthy any person who pretends to
learning. Parson, Letters to Travis, p. 41, note.
An epoch when puffery and quackery have reached a
height unexampled in the annals of mankind.
Te, Sartor Resartus, i. 2.
quack-grass (kwak'gras), ». Same as quick-
grass, quitch-grass.
quackhood (kwak'hM), «. [< quack^ + -hood.']
Quackery. Carl/yle, Past and Present, iii. 13.
[Rare.]
quacking-clieatt (kwak'ing-ohet), ». [< quack-
ing, ppr. of quack^, v., + cheat^.] A duck.
Dekker (1616). (HalUwell.) [Old slang.]
quackisn (kwak'ish), a. [< quack^ + -isfei.]
Like a quack or charlatan ; dealing in quack-
ery; humbugging.
The last quackish address of the National Assembly to
the people of liance.
Burke, To a Member of the Nat. Assembly, note.
quackism (kwak'izm), n. [< quack^ + -dsm.]
The practice of quackery. Carlyle, Cagliostro.
quackle^ (kwak'l), v. i. ; pret. and pp. quackled,
ppr. quacklmg. [Preq. of quack'^.'] To quack;
eroak. [Prov. Eng.]
Simple ducks in those royal waters quacMe for crumbs
from young royal fingers.
Carlyle, !French Rev., XI. i. 1. (Davies.)
quackle^ (kwak'l), v. t. ; pret. and pp. quackled,
ppr. quackling. [Freq. oi* quack, imitative, like
choice^, of the sound of choking. Cf . quackened.]
To suffocate; strangle; choke. [Prov. Eng.]
As he was drinking, the drink, or something in the cup,
quackled him, stuck so in his throat that he could not get
It up nor down, but strangled him presently.
Sev. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 163.
quacksalvet (kwak'sav), n. [< *quacksalve (It
Kwaksalven), a verb assumed from quacksalver.]
A quacksalver.
A quaeksalve,
A f eUow that does deal with drugs.
Masdnger, Parliament of Love, iv. 6.
quacksalver (kwak'sal-v6r), n. [< D. kwakzal-
ver (= LGr. quaksalver, > G. quacksalber = Sw.
qvaeksaioare = Dan. kvaksalver), a quacksalver,
< kwaken, quack, -t- galver, salver: see salver'^.]
One who boasts of his skill in medicines and
salves, or of the eflScacy of his nostrums; a
charlatan ; a quack.
And of a Physitian, That he is a Quacksalver, which sig-
nifleth a Quick Healer, yet for the common acception ad-
judged actionable. Jos. EeUe (1685), Reports, I. 62.
They are quacksalvers.
Fellows that live by venting oils and drugs.
B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 1.
These are not physicians indeed, but Italian quack-sal-
vers, that, having di'unk poison themselves, minister it to
the people. Jtev. T. Adams, Works, I. 390.
4882
quacksalving (kwak'sal-ving), a. [Ppr. of
*quacksalve, v., implied in quacksalve, n., and
quacksalver.] Quackish; humbugging.
Tut, man, any quacksalving terms will serve for this pur-
pose. Middleton, Mad World, ii. 6.
quad^ti «• aii<i '*• See qued.
quad^ (kwod), n. [Abbr. of quadrangle.] 1.
A quadrangle or court, as of a college. [Col-
loq.]
The quad, as it was familiarly called, was a small quad-
rangle. Trollops, Warden, v.
2. The quadrangle of a prison where prisoners
take exercise; hence, a prison; a jail. More
commonly spelled quod. [Slang.]
Fancy a nob like you being sent to quod t Fiddlededee I
You see, sir, you weren't used to it.
Disraeli, Henrietta Temple, vi. 21.
My dear Arminius,' ... do you really mean to maintain
that a man can't put old Diggs in quad for snaring a hare
without all this elaborate apparatus of Roman law?
Jf. Arrmd, Friendship's Garland, vii.
quad2(kwod),t).*. [<gMad2,TO.] To put in prison.
He was quodded for two months.
Hewlett, College Life, xxlx. (Hoppe.)
quad^ (kwod), «. [AWoT. ot quadrat.] In print-
ing, a quadrat.
quad^ (kwod), V. t. ; pret. and pp. quadded, ppr.
quadding. [< quad^, n.] In primtvng, to fill
with quadrats: as, to quad out a line.
quad^ (kwod), n. An abbreviation of quadru-
plex in tele^aphy.
quad^i (kwod), n. A bicycle for four riders.
[CoUoq.]
quaddy ('kwod'4), a. [Prob. for "quatty, < quat^
+ -^1.] Short and thick. HaUiwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
quadeti v. t. [< MB. quuden, < quad, bad: see
qued.] To spoil or destroy. MalUwell.
Thine errores will thy worke confounde,
And all thine honoure quade.
Halle's Historiall ExpostulaUtm (1565). (Nares.)
quader^t (kwa'dto), v. i. [< OF. quadrer, F.
cadrer = Sp. CMod»'ar = Pg. quadrar = 'ii,. quadr
rare, < L. quadrare, make square or four-cor-
nered: see quadrate.] To quadrate; match.
The X doth not ^ua(2«r well with him, because it sounds
harshly. Hist. Don Quixote (1675), p. 88.
quader^ (kwa'dSr), n. [Q., square, < MHG.
qudder, < L. quadrus (sc. lapis), square: see
quadra^.] The German name of a division of
the Cretaceous : an abbreviation of quadersand-
stein, paving-sandstone, it is divided into Unter-,
Mittel-, and Oberquader. The last is the equivalent of the
UX)per Chalk of England and France, and is familiar as
being the rock which, by its peculiar erosion, has given
rise to the picturesque scenery of Saxon Switzerland.
quader^ (kwa'der), n. [< L. quadratus, pp. of
quadrare, make square: see quadrate.] In
anat., the quadrate lobule, or prsscuneus.
quadnesst, n. See quedness.
quadra^ (kwod'rS,), ».; pi. quadrse (-re). [< L.
quadra, a square, "a plinth, a fillet; fem. of (LL.)
quadruSfSquaiVe: see quadrate ajuasquare^.] In
arch., eta.: (a) A square frame or border in-
Quadra.— "Annunciation," by Luca della Robbia, in the Borgo
San jacopo, Florence.
closing a bas-relief; also, any frame or border.
(6) The plinth of a podium, (c) Any small
molding of plain or square section, as one of
the fillets above and below the sootia of the
Ionic base.
quadra^, n. See euadra.
quadrable (kwod'ra-bl), a. [< L. as if *quadra-
Wlis, < quadrare, square: see quadrate, v.] In
geom., capable of being squared j having an area
exactly equal to that of an assignable square ;
also, capable of being integrated in finite terms ;
capable of having its definite integral expressed
in exact numerical terms.
quadrans
quadrad (kwod'rad), n. [< L. quattuor (^quadr-),
= E. four, + -ad\] Same as tetrad.
quadfagenarious (kwod"ra-je-na'ri-us), a. [=
F. quadraginaire = Sp. cuadragenario = Pg. It.
quadragenario, < h. quadragenarius, pertaining
to the number forty, consisting of forty, < quad-
rageni, forty each: see quadragerie.] Consist-
ing of forty; forty years old. Imp. Diet.
quadragene (kwod'ra-jen), n. [< L. quadra-
geni, forty each, distributive of quadraginta,
forty, ='E.forty.] A papal indulgence for forty
days; a remission of the temporal punishment
due to sin corresponding to the forty days of
the ancient canonical penance. Imp. Diet.
You have with much labour and some charge purchased
to yourself so many quadragen£S, or lents of pardon : that
is, you haveboughton the penances of so many times forty,
days ! Jer. Taylor, Dissuasive from Popery, I. ii. § i.
Quadragesima (kwod-ra-jes'i-ma), n. [= F.
quadragesime = Sp. cuadragesima = Pg. It.
quadragesima, < ML. quadragesima, Lent, < L.
quadragesima, fem. of quadragesimus, quadra-
gensumus, fortieth, < quadraginta, forty, = E.
forty.] Lent: so called because it continues
forty days. See Lent^ — Quadragesima Sunday,
the first Sunday In Lent.
quadragesimal (kwod-ra-ies'i-mal), a. and «.
[= P. quadragesimal =" Sp. cud^agesimal =
Pg. quadragesimal = It. quadragesimale, < ML.
quadragesimalis, pertaining to Lent, < L. quad-
ragesimM, Lent : see Quadragesima.] I. a. Per-
taining to the forty days of Lent; belonging to
Lent; used in Lent; Lenten.
Qvadraffes&mal wits, and fancies lean
As ember weeks. W. Cartunight, Ordinary, iii. 6.
This quadragesimal solemnity, in which, for the si)ace of
some weeks, the church has, in some select days, enjoined
a total abstinence from flesh. South, Sermons, IX. 134.
II. n. An offering formerly made to a iuother
church by a daughter church on Mid-Lent Sun-
day.
quadragesmst, n. [< L. quadragesimns, for-
tieth: see Quadragesima.] A name for a sec-
tion of the fourth volume of the English Law
Reports of the time of Edward III., covering the
last twelve years of his reign.
quadrangle (kwod'rang-gl), n. [< F. quad-
rangle = Sp. cuadrdnguU) = Pg. quadrangulo =
It. quadrangolo, < LL. quadra/nguVum, a four-
cornered figure, a quadrangle, neut. of L. quad-
rangulus, quadrianguVus, four-cornered, < quat-
tuor (combining form quadr-, quadri-, quadru-,
the adj. quadrus, square, being later), + angvr-
lus, an angle, a corner: see angle^.] 1. A plane
figure having four angles ; a foursquare figure ;
a quadrilateral; in mod. geom., a plane figure
formed by six lines intersecting at four points.
— 2. A square or oblong court nearly or quite
siuTounded by buildings: an arrangement com-
mon with public buildings, as palaces, city
halls, colleges, etc.
My choler being over-blown
With walking once about the quadrangle.
Shak., 2 Hen. VL, 1. 3. 166.
, At the Palais Royale Henry IV. built a f aire quadrangle
of stately palaces, arched underneath.
Eoelyn, Diary, Feb. 4, 1644.
Julian hardly stopped to admire the smooth green quad-
rangle and lofty turrets of King Henry's College.
Farrar, .lulian Home, v.
8. In palmistry, the space between the line of
the heart and that of the head Axis of a quad-
rangle, one of the three lines passing each through two
centers of the quadrangle. — Center of a quadrangle, one
of the three points in which opposite sides of a quadrangle
meet. — In quadrangle, in her., arranged, as charges or
groups of charges, so that tour will occupy the four quar-
ters of the escutcheon, with no lines of division between
the quarters : as, or, four lions in quadrangle gules.
quadrangular (kwod-rang'gu-lar), a. [= P.
quadrangulaire = Sp. cuadraiigular = Pg. quad-
rangular = It. quadrangolare, < L. quadrangv^
Zms, four-cornered: see quadrangle.] Four-cor-
nered; four-angled; having four angles.
That the college consist of three fair quad/rartgular
courts and three large grounds, enclosed with good walls
behind them. Cowley, The College.
As I returned, I diverted to see one of the Prince's Pal-
aces, ... a very magnificent cloyster'd and madranguhiir
building. Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 1, 1641.
Quadrangular lobe, the quadrate lobe of the cerebel-
lum.
quadrangularly (kwod-rang'gu-lar-li), adv. In
the form of a quadrangle.
quadrans (kwod'ranz) , m. ; pi. quadrantes (kwod-
ran'tez). [L., a fourth part, a quarter, a coin,
weight, and measure so called: see quadrant.]
In Bom. antiq., a copper (or, strictly, bronze)
coin, the fourth part of the as. It bore on the ob-
verse the head of Hercules, and on the reverse (like the
other coins of the libral series) a prow. It also bore three
quadrass
peUets, to indicate that it was (nominally) ol the weight
of three unoiffi (ounces) -QuadranB MliallB, 'the ffla-
ral Quadrant an obsolete constellation, introduced by
Lalande (1795). '
auadrant (kwod'rant), n. and a. [< ME. quad-
rant, < AF. quadrant, a farthing, OF. quadrant,
a Koman com (quadrans), also quadram, cadran,
a sun-dial, F. cadran, a sim-dial, dial, = Sp.
cuadrante = Pg. It. quadrante = D. hwadrant =
G. quadrant = Sw. quadrant = Dan. kvadrant,
a quadrant, < L. quadran(t-)s, a fourth part,
a c^uarter, applied to a eoia (see quadrans), a
weight (a fourth of a pound), a measure (a
fourth of a foot, of an acre, of a sextarius), <
quattuor (quadr-) = E. four: see four.'] I. n.
It. The fourth part; the quarter.
The sunne, who in his annuall circle takes
A daye'a full quadrani from the ensuing yeere,
Eepayea it in foure yeeres, and equall m!&;es
The number of the dayes within his spheare.
Sir J. Beaunwnt, End of his Majesty's First Year.
In sixty-three years there may be lost almost eighteen
days, omitting the intercalation of one day every fourth
year allowed for this quadrant, or six hours supernume-
rary. Sir T. Brmene, Vulg. Err., iv. 12.
2. The quarter of a circle ; the arc of a circle
containing 90°; also, the figure included be-
tween this are and two radii drawn from the
center to each extremity; the division of an-
gular magnitude from zero to a right angle, or
90°. — 3. An astronomical instrument for mea-
suring altitudes, of ancient origin, and consist-
ing of a graduated arc of 90°, with a movable
radius carrying sights, or the quadrant, carry-
ing sights, might turn about a fixed radius.
Ficard in 1669 substituted a telescope for the sights, and
Flamsteed (1689) introduced spider-lines in the focal plane
of the object-glass. The quadrant was superseded by the
mural circle, and this by the meridian circle.
Howe it commeth to passe that^ at the beginnynge of
the euenyng twilight, it [the pole-atar) is eleuate in that
Begiou only fyue degrees in the moneth of lune, and in
the mominge twylight to bee eleuate xT. degrees by the
same mioadraTUe, 1 doo not vnderstande.
S. Eden, tr. of Peter Martyr (First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 90).
Those curious Quadrants, Ohimea, and Dials, those kind
of Waggons which are used up and down Cliristendom,
were first used by them. HaweU, Letters, I. ii. 15.
The astrolabe and quadrant are almost the only astro-
nomical instruments used in Egypt.
E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. 277.
4. An instrument of navigation, for measuring
the altitude of the sun, distinctively called the
'.•eflecting quadrant, it was invented by Thomas God-
frey of Philadelphia in 1730, whence called Oodjrey's how,
and perhaps independently by Hadley, an instrument-
maker of liondon, about the same time. Among Hadley's
papers after his death was found a description of a similar
instrument by Ifewton, of earlier date. The quadrant is
now nearly superseded by the sextant.
5. An instrument used in giving a cannon or
mortar the angle of elevation necessary to the
desired range, in the older forms it has a graduated
arc, and a plumb-line wbicli indicates the angle of eleva-
tion upon the arc. In a more finished and accurate form
a spirit-level is substituted for the plumb, and one of the
branches of the Instrument is pivoted and slides over the
face of the arc so as to show the elevation. Also called
gunner^ quadrant and gunnenf tqume.
6. In elect., a name suggested for the practical
unit of self-induction. Its value is 109 centi-
meters Adams's quadrant, Coles's quadrant, va-
rieties of the back-staff, or Davis's quadrant.— Colliiis's
quadrant, an instrument for finding the time of day at
a fixed latitude, from the date and the altitude or azi-
muth of the sun, by means of a st«reographio projection
of a quarter of the celestial zone between the tropics —
Davis's quadrant, the baok-stafl, originally described by
John Da™, the discoverer of Davis's Straits, in 1594. and
still called by his name, though modified by Hooke, Bou-
guer, and others. The observer stood with his back to the
sun, and, looking through sights, brought the shadow
of a pin into coincidence with the horizon.— Godfirey's
quadrant, Hadley's quadrant. See def. 4.— Gunter's
quadrant, a quadrant made of wood, brass, or other mate-
nal— a kind of stereographic projection on the plane of the
equator, the eye being supposed to be in one of the poles.
It is used to find the hour of the day, the sun's azimuth,
etc., as also to take the altitude of an object in degrees.—
Horodlctical quadrant, a sort of movable sun-dial.
Upon the plane of the dial are described, first, seven con-
centric quadrantal ai-os marked with the signs of the
zodiac, or days of the year, and, secondly, a number of
curves the intersections of each of which with the cir-
cles are at the same angular distances from one radius
that the sun is above the horizon at a given hour of the
day in each of the declinations represented by the circles.
The radius 90° from that first mentioned carries sights,
and from the center hangs a plumb-line whose intersec-
tion with the proper circle marks the time of day,—
Uural quadrant. See mMrirf.- Quadrant electrom-
eter. See «fec<ro)««ter.— Quadrant electroscope. See
eJectromope.— Quadrant of altitude, an appendage of
the artificial globe, consisting of a slip of brass of the
length of a quadi'ant of one of the great circles of the
globe, and graduated. It is fitted to the meridian, and
can be moved round to all points of the horizon. It
serves as a scale in measuring altitudes and other ^eat
circles.— SlDloal quadrant, a diagram, with or without
a movable ann, for solving plane triangles. An octant is
sufficient.- Spirit-level quadrant, an instrument for
4883
determining altitudes by the use of a spirit-level. — Sut-
ton's quadrant. Same as CMin^s quadrant.
Il.t a. Pour-sided; square. [Kare.]
The bishop with Gilbert Bourne his chaplaine, Bobert
Wamington his commissarie, and Kobert Johnson his
registerj were tarying in tiquadrant void place before the
doore of the same chamber.
Foxe, Martyrs, p. 1206, an. 1550.
Cross nowy quadrant. See crossi.
quadrantal (kwod'ran-tal), a. [= Sp. mmd-
rantal = Pg. quadfantdt, < L. quadrantaUs,
containing the fourth part of, < qua^ran{t-)s, a
fourth part, a quarter: see quadrant.] 1. Per-
taining to a quadrant; included in the fourth
part of a circle: as, a quadrantal space.
Problems in Dialling, both Universal and Particular,
and performed by the Lines inscribed on the QuMdrarOnu,
Part of the Instrument.
Quoted in N. and Q., 7th ser., VIII. 244.
3. Pertaining to the quadrans; of the value
of a quadrans Quadrantal dial. SeedMi.- Quad-
rantal triangle, in trigon., a spherical triangle which has
one side equal to a quadrant, or 90°.
quadrantal (kwod'ran-tal), n. [< L. quadran-
tal, a liquid measure containing eight congii,
also a cube, die, < quadrantaUs, containing a
fourth: see quad/rantal, a.] 1. A liquid mea-
sure used by the Romans, equivalent to the
amphora. — 2. A cube. [Eare.]
quaarant-compass (kwod'rant-kum''''pas), n. A
carpenters' compass with a'curved arm or arc,
and a binding-screw to hold the limbs in any
position.
quadrantes, n. Plural of quadrans.
quadrantid (kwod'ran-tid), n. [< NL. Quad-
ran{t-)s, sc. Muralis" {see guadrans), + -fd^.]
One of a shower of shootmg-stars appearing
January 2d and 3d, and radiating from the old
constellation Quadrans Muralis.
quadrat (kwod'rat), a. and n. [Another form
of quadrate; as a noun, in def. 1, < F. quadrat,
cadrat, a quadrat, lit. a square : see quadrate.]
I.t a. See quadrate.
II. n. 1. In printing, a blank type for the
larger blank spaces in or at the end of printed
lines, cast lower in height, so that it shall not
be inked or impressed: made in four forms for
all text type — en, em, two-em, three-em. Usu-
ally abbreviated to quad.
■ ^ BBI
en quad, em quad. 2-em quad. 3-em quad.
The low quadrat, for letterpress work, is about three
fourths of an inch high ; the high quadrat, for stereotype
work, is about ten twelfths of an inch high.
In the lower case, having fifty-four boxes, are disposed
the small letters, together with the points, spaces, ouod-
ratt, ete. Ure, Diet., III. 643.
2. An instrument furnished with sights, a plum-
met, and an index, and used for measuring
altitudes, but superseded by more perfect in-
struments in modern use. Also called geomet-
rical square, and line of shadows. — 3. A series
or set of four.
quadrata, n. Plural of quadratum.
quadrate (kwod'rat), a. and n. [Formerly also
quadrat; < OF. quadrat (F. quadrat, cadrat, as
a noun: see quadrat) j OP. vernacularly gworre
(> E. quarryi), P. carr6 = Sp. ctmdrato = Pg.
quadrado = It. quadrato = D. Jcwadraat = G.
Sw. quadrat = Dan. hvadrat, a square; < L.
quadratus, square (neut. quadratu/m, a square,
quadrate), pp. of quadrare, make four-cornered,
square, put in order, intr. be square, < quadra,
a square, later quadrus, square, < quattvar =
E. four: see four. C£. quarry\ a doublet of
quadrate; cf. also square^.] I. a. 1. Having
four equal and parallel sides ; square ; arranged
in a square ; four-sided.
And they followed in a quadrat array to the entent to
destroy kyng Heniy.
Ball's Un&m (1648), Hen. IV., f. 13. (Haniwai.)
And searching his books, [he] found a book of astronomy
. . . with figures, some round, some triangle, some quad-
rate. Foxe, Martyrs, an. 1568.
3. Squai'e by being the product of a number
multiplied into itsdf .
Quadrate and cubical numbers.
aSr T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iv. 12.
3t. Square, as typifying justice according to
the Pythagoreans ; well-balanced.
The Moralist tells us that a miadrat solid wise Man
should involve and tackle himself within his own Virtue.
Howell, Letters, I. vi. 68.
4t. Fitted; suited; applicable.
The word consumption, being applicable ... to a true
and bastard consumption, requires a generical description
quadrate to both. Earvey, Consumptions.
5. In her., of square form, or having square
corners : thus, a cross quadrate in the center has
four rectangular projections in its reentrant
quadratic
angles. Also quarter-angled Quadrate bone, in
zoiil., the special bone by the intervention of which the
lower jaw of birds,
reptiles, etc., ar-
ticulates with the
skull, thus dis-
tinguishing them
from mammals, in
which the lower
jaw articulates
directly with the
squamosal. See
n., 3. — Quad-
rate cartilages,
small qnadrangu-
larcartilages often
found in the na-
sal alae. — Quad-
rate gyrus
lobule. See
rus, and cut under
cerebral. — Quad-
rate line, lobe,
pronator, ete.
See the nouns. —
Quadrate mus-
cle, in anat: (a)
The quadratus te-
moris, or square
muscle of the femur, of man, one of the six muscles col-
lectively known in human anatemy as the rotatoresfemo-
ris, arising from the ischium and passing to the intertro-
chanteric part of the femur, which bone it rotates out-
ward, (b) The quadratus lumborum, or square muscle of
the loins, lying on each side of the lumbar region, between
the lower ribs and the pelvis, (c) The square muscle of
the chin, which draws down the lower lip: commonly
called depressor laMi inferioris. (d) The quadratus uicti-
tantis, one of the two muscles (the other being the py-
ramidal) on the back of the eyeball of birds, ete., subserv-
ing the movements of the nictitating membrane, or third
eyelid. See third cut under eye^.
II, Ji. 1. A plane figure with four equal sides
and four equ^ angles; a square.
The one imperiect, mortall, foeminine,
Th' other immortall, perfect, masculine ;
And twixt them botli a quadrate was the base,
Proportiond equally by seven and nine.
~ iser, F. Q., II. ix. 22.
Left Quadrate Bone of an Eaele, outer side,
gg- a little enlargedT
nder s, shaft or body of the bone : afi, pterygoid
apophysis for muscular attachment ; pa, ar-
ticular facet for pterygoid bone ; z'a, ea, inter-
nal and external condyles for articulation
with the lower jaw, separated by tf^, trochlear
g^ove ; qjc, quadratojugal cup for articula-
tion of quadratojugalbone; hi, he, internal
and external capitulum for articulation with
squamosal bone, separated by eg, capitular
groove.
The powers militant
... in mighty quadiraU join'd.
MiUm, P. L., vi. 62.
3. In astrol., an aspect of two heavenly bodies
in which they are (fistant from each other nine-
ty degrees, or the quarter of a circle ; quartile.
— 3. In zool. and anat. : (a) The os quadratum,
or quadrate bone (see I.); the os pedicellatum,
or pedicellate bone ; the suspensorium, or sus-
pender bone of the mandible, or that one which
is in connection with the lower jaw, in verte-
brates below mammals. Also called by Owen and
others the tympanic bone, and considered to represent that
bone of a mammal; by most zoologists now identified
with the malleus or greater part of the malleus of Mamma-
lia, formed about the proximal extremity of the Meckelian
cartilage. In birds and reptiles the quadrate is a remark-
ably distinct bone, generally shaped something like an an-
vil or a molar tooth, with normally four separate movable
articulations — with the squamosal above, the mandible
below, the pterygoid internally, and the quadratojugal
externally. Such vertebrates are hence called Quadror
Hfera. (See cuts under QaUinse, and quadraU, a.) Below
reptiles the quadrate or its equivalent assumes other char-
acters, and its homologies are then disputed ; so the bone
which has at any rate the same function, that of suspend-
ing the lower jaw to the skuU, is usually c^led by another
name. See epUymparde and hyomand&ular, and cuts un-
der hyaid imAmlatoquadrate. See also cute under Python,
poison^fang, Crotalus, Petromyzon, teleoet, paZatoquadrate,
and acrodont. (6) Any quadrate muscle. — 4. In
musical notaUon: (a) Same as natural, J: so
called because derived from B quadratum
(which see, under B). (6) Same as breve, 1.
quadrate (kwod'rat), v.; pret. and pp. quad-
rated, ppr. quadrating. [< L. quadratus, pp.
of quadrare (> It. quadrare = Pg. qtiadrar =
Sp. cuadrar = F. cadrer, OF. quadrer, > E.
quader\ q. v.), make four-cornered, square : see
quadrate, a. and n.] I.t trans. 1. To square;
adjust; trim, as a gun on its carriage. — 3. To
divide into four equal parts; quarter. Moor,
Hindu Pantheon (1810), p. 249.
II. intrans. To square; fit; suit; agree: fol-
lowed by u]ith.
One that . . . has a few general rules, which, like me-
chanical instruments, he applies to the works of every
writer, and as they quadrate with them pronounces the
author perfect or defective. Addison, Sir Timothy Tittle.
But we should have to make our language over from
the beginning, if we would have it miadrate with other
languages. F. Hall, False Phllol., p. 85.
quadrated (kwod'rat-ed), p. a. [< quadrate, v.]
Va. quadrature.
What time the moon is quadrated in Heaven.
Poe, Al Aaraaf, ii.
quadrati, n. Plural of quadratus.
quadratic (kwod-rat'ik), a. and n. [< quadrate
+ -ic] I. a. 1. In alg., involving the square
and no higher power of the unknown quantity
or variable of the second degree; of two di-
quadratic
mensions. — 2. In crystal., tetragonal or di-
metrie : applied to the system that includes the
square prism and related forms. See crystal-
lography— Quadratic equation, group, logarithm,
mean, modulus, etc. See the nouns.— Quadratic fig-
ure, a figure of two dimensions ; a superficial figure. See
cufttco;.— Quadratic reciprocity, the relation between
any two prune numbers expressed Dy the law of reciprocity
(which see, under law^). — Quadratic residue, a number
left as remainder after dividing some square number by a
given modulus to which the quadratic residue is said to
belong. Thus, 1, 3, 4, 5, and 9 are quadratic residues of 11,
for 1 = 12 -0.11, S = 62-2.11, 4 = 92 - 7.11, etc. ; but 2,
6, 7, 8, and 10 are quadratic non-residues of 11.
II. n. 1. In alg., an equation in which the
highest power of the unknown quantity is the
second, the general form being
0*2 + 2 te + c = 0.
Such an equation has two solutions, real, equal, or imagi-
nary, expressed by the formula
_ — 6 ± v'62 — ge
a
2. pi. That branch of algebra which treats of
quadratic equations.— Adfeoted quadratic, aquad-
ratio equation having a term containing the unknown to
the first degree, and another not containing the unknown.
-Simple quadratic. See simple.
quadratically (kwod-rat'i-kal-i), adv. To the
second degree.— To multip^ quadratically, to
raise to the second power.
Quadratifera (kwod-ra-tif' e-ra), n. pi. [NL.,
neut. pi. of quadratifer : see quadraUferous.']
Those vertebrates which have a distinct quad-
rate bone, as birds and reptiles; a series of
Vertebrata intermediate between the higher
Malleifera (mammals) and the lower lyyrifera
(fishes proper and selachians).
quadratiferous (kwod-ra-tif'e-rus), a. [< NL.
quadratifer, < L. quadrdtua, tlte quadrate mus-
cle, + L. ferre = B. &eorl.] Having a distinct
quadrate bone, as an animal or its skull ; of or
pertaining to the Quadratifera.
Quadratiformis (kwod-ra-ti-f6r'mis), n. ; pi.
quadratiformes (-mez). [NL., < L. quadratics,
the quadrate muscle, + forma, form.] The
square muscle of the ooxal group; the quad-
ratus femoris. Cones.
quadratipronator (kwod-ra,"ti-pro-na'tor), n.
[< L. quadratus, square, -1- NL. pronator, q. v.]
A square pronator of the forearm : same as^ro-
tiator quadratus. See pronator. Corns.
quadratocubic (kwod-ra-to-kti'bik), a. Of the
fifth degree Quadratocubic root, the fifth root.
cmadratojugal (kwod-ra-to-jo'gal), a. and n.
I. a. Connected with or representing elements
of the quadrate and of the jugal or malar bone ;
common to these two bones : as, the quadrato-
jugal arch ; the quadratojugal articulation.
II. n. A bone of the zygomatic arch of birds,
etc., interposed between the quadrate bone be-
hind and the jugal or malar bone before: gen-
erally a slender rod forming the hinder piece of
the zygoma. By some it is identified with the squa-
mosal of mammals — a determination to which few now
assent. See cuts under Qallinx, girdle-bone, temporo-
mastoid, and Trematosaurus.
quadratomandibular (kwod-ra"t6-man-dib'u-
lar), a. Of or ^pertaining to the quadrate bone
aiiid the lower 3aw: as, the quadratomandibular
articulation. See cut under Lepidosiren.
quadratopterygoid (kwod-ra"to-ter'i-goid), a.
Of or pertaining to the quadrate and pterygoid
bones: as, the quadratopterygoid articulation.
quadratoquadratic (kwod-ra"t6-kwod-rat'ik),
a. Of the fourth degree — Quadratoquadratic
root, the fourth root.
quadrator (kwod-ra'tor), n. [< LL. quadrator,
a squarer (used only in sense of 'stone-cutter,
quarrier' : see quarrier^), < L. quadrare, square :
see quadrate.^ A circle-squarer.
quacbratosquamosal (kwod-ra'to-skwa-mo'-
sal), a. In aiiat., of or pertaining to the quad-
rate and the squamosal : as, the quadratosqua-
mosal articulation.
quadratrix (kwod-ra'triks), n. [NL. (tr. Gr.
TerpayiMiil^ovaa), tern, of LL. quadrator, squarer:
see quadrator.'] In geom.,
a curve by means of which
can be found straight lines
equal to the circumference
of circles or other curves
and their sevei-al parts; a
curve employed for find-
ing the quadrature of
other curves. Quadratrix of Dinostratus.
Deinostratus, to whom is ascribed the invention of the
quadratrix for solving the two famous problems — the tri-
section of the angle and the quadrature of the circle.
The Academy, June 1, 1889, p. 381.
4884
Quadratrix of Dinostratus, a curve probably invented
by Hippias of Elis about 430 B. C, and named by Dinos-
tratus a century later. Its equation is r sin e = a».—
Quadratrix of Taclumhausen [named from its inven-
tor, Count E. W. von Tschimhaitsm, 1661-1708), a curve
of sines, having the distance between two successive in.
tersections with the line of abscissas equal to the greatest
diflierence of the ordinates.
quadratum (kwod-ra'tum), n.; pi. quadrata
(-ta). [L., neut. of quadratus, square: see
quadrate, a.] 1. In goal., the quadrate bone:
more fully called os quadratum. — 2. In medieval
music, a breve.
quadrature (kwod'ra-tur), n. [= F. quadra-
ture = Sp. cuadratura = Pg. It. quadratura, <
LL. quadratura, a making square, a squaring,
< L. quadrare, pp. quadratus, square : see quad-
rate.'} 1. Iq geom., the act of squaring an area ;
the finding of a square or several squares equal
in area to a given surface. — 2. A quadrate ; a
square space. [Bare.]
There let him (God] still victor sway, . . .
And henceforth monarchy with thee divide
Of all things, parted by the empyreal bounds,
His quadrature, from thy orbicular world.
maton, P. 1., X. 381.
3. The relative position of two planets, or of a
planet and the sun, when the difference of their
longitudes is 90°.
But when armillae were employed to observe the moon
in other situations ... a second inequality was discov-
ered, which was connected, not with the anomalistical,
but with the synodical revolution of the moon, disap-
pearing in conjunctions and oppositions, and coming to
its greatest amount in quadratures. What was most per-
plexing about this second inequality was that it did
not return in every quadrature, but, though in some it
amounted to 2° 39', in other quadratures it totally disap-
peared, ^runll, Account of the Astronomical Discoveries
[of Kepler (London, 1804), § 11.
Neptune ... is in quadrature with the sun on the 23d.
Sci. Amer., N. S., LVIL 64.
4. A side of a square. [Rare.]
This citie [Cambalu] is fonre square, so that eaery quad-
rature or syde of the wall hath in it thre principal portes
or gates. R. Eden, tr. of Sebastian Munster (First Books
[on America, ed. Arber, p. 25).
Indefinite quadrature, a rule for the quadrature of the
circle, applicable to any sector of it. — Meclianlcal quad-
rature, an approximate quadrature of a plane surface,
effected by the division of it by parallel lines into parts
so small that they may be regarded as rectilinear or other
qnadrable figures : also, the integration of any expression by
an analogous method.— Method Of quadratures, the ap-
proximate integration of an expression between given nu-
merical limits by the summation of parts in each of which
the difference between the limits is so small that the inte-
gral is practicaUy equal to that of some integrable expres-
sion.—The problem of the quadrature, or the quad-
rature of the circle, the problem of squaring the circle,
of which there are two varieties: first, the arithmetical
quadrature, exactly to express in square measure the area
of a circle whose radius is some exact number in long
measure ; second, the geometrical quadrature, to describe
or draw with the rule and compasses alone a square equal
in area to a given circle. Both problems have been proved
to be insoluble.
quadratus (kwod-ra'tus), «.; pi. quadrati (-ti).
[NL., sc. musoulus, the square muscle: see
quadrate."] In eool. and anat., the museulus
quadratus or quadrate muscle of (a) the femur ;
(6) the loins ; (c) the chin ; (d) the nictitating
membrane. See quadrate muscle, under quadr
rate. — Quadratus femoris, a muscle situated at the
back of file hip-joint, arising from the tuberosity of the
ischium and inserted into a line running from the posterior
intertrochanteric ridge.— Quadratus labll Inferioris.
Same as depressor laMi inferioris (which see, under depres-
sor).—QnadlHtaa labli Buperioris.the combined leva-
tor labfi superioris alseque nasi, levator labii superioris
proprius, and zygomaticus minor muscles, the three differ-
ent parts being called caput angylare, caput infraorbitale,
and caput zygomaticum respectively. — QiiadratUB lum-
borum. See Jumtos.- Quadratus menU. Seementum.
quadrauricular (kwod-ra-rik'u-iar), a. [< L.
quattuor (quadr-), four, H- auricula, auricle : see
auricle.'] Having four auricles, as the heart of
a nautilus.
quadrel (kwod'rel), «. [< ML. quadrellus, dim.
of L. quadrum, a square: see quarrel^.] 1. In
arch.j a square stone^ brick, or tile. The term Is
sometimes restricted in its application to a- kind of arti-
ficial stone formed of a chalky earth molded to a square
form and slowly and thoroughly dried in the shade.
2. A piece of turf or peat cut in a square form.
[Prov. Bng.]
quadrelle (kwod-rel'), n. [< OF. quadrelle, an
arrow, shaft, var. of quarele, t., quarel, m., an
arrow, crossbow-bolt, etc.: see ^uarreP.] A
square-headed or four-edged missile.
quadrennial (kwod-ren'i-al), a. and n. [For
quadrienmal, q. v.] I. a.'l. Comprising four
years: ss,&quadrennialT^QvioA. — 2. Occurring
once in four years : as, quadrennial elections.
Both States [Montana and Washington] provide for a
quadrennial election of a governor, lieutenant-governor,
secretary of state, state treasurer, state auditor, attorney-
general, and superintendent of public instruction.
The Century, XXXIX. 506.
quadricillate
II. n. A fourth anniversary, or its celebra-
tion.
quadrennially (kwod-ren'i-al-i), adv. Once in
four years.
quadrenniate (kwod-ren'i-at), n. [< quadren-
ni-um + -ate^.] A period of four years ; a quad-
rennium.
quadrennium (kwod-ren'i-um), n. [For quad-
riennium, q. v.] A period of four years.
Burdening girls, after they leave school, with a quad-
rennium of masculine college regimen.
M. B. Clarke, Sex in Education, p. 125.
quadrequivalent (kwod-re-kwiv'a-lent), a.
[< L. quattuor {quadr-), = E. four, + E. equiva-
lent.] Same as quad/rivalent.
quadri-. [L., also quadru-, sometimes quatri-,
combining form of quattuor, = E. four (the
independent adj. quadrus or quadruus, four-
cornered, square, fourfold, < quattuor, four,
being of later use) : see /own] An element in
many compounds of Latin origin or f oi-mation,
meaning 'four.' In quadrangle, quadrangular
(as in Latin), and in quadrennial, quadrennium,
it is reduced to quadr-.
quadriarticulate (kwodM-ar-tik'n-lat), a. [<
L. quattuor {quadri-), = E. four, + articulatus,
pp. of articulare, divide into single joints : see
articulate.] Having four articulations or joints.
quadribasic (kwod-ri-ba'sik), a. [< L. quat-
tuor {quadri-), = E./oar, + E. lasie.] In chem,.,
noting an acid which has four hydrogen atoms
replaceable by basic atoms or radicals.
quadriblet (kwod'ri-bl), a. [Irreg. for the later
quadrable, q. v.] Capable of being squared.
[Bare.]
Sir Isaac Newton had discovered a way of attaining the
quantity of all quadrible curves analytically, by his method
of fluxions, some time before the year 1688.
Derhaim, Physioo-Theol., v. 1, notey.
quadric (kwod'rik), n. and a. [< LL. quadrus,
square {IXi.quattuor = E. fovjr), ■¥ -ic.] I. n. In
alg., a homogeneous expression of the second
degree in the variables. Ternary and quaternary
quadrics, equated to zero, represent respectively curves
and surfaces which have the property of cutting every
line in the plane or in space in two points, real or imagi-
nary, and to such surfaces the name quadrie is also ap-
plied.— Modular method of generation of quadrics.
See moduiar.
II, a. In alg. and geom., of the second de-
gree ; quadratic, where there is only one variable,
the word quadratic is usually employed ; in plane geome-
try, conic; and in solid geometry and where the number
of non-homogeneous variables exceeds two, quadric Thus,
we say quadric cone, not quadratic or conic cone. — Quad-
ric inverBlon. See inversion.— Quadric surface, a sur-
face of the second order.
quadricapsular (kwod-ri-kap'su-iar), a. [< L.
quattuor {quadri-), = E. four, '+ capsula, cap-
sule: see capsule, capsular.] In bot, having
four capsules.
quadricarinate (kwod-ri-kar'i-nat), a. [< L.
quattuor {quadri-), = E. four, + carina, keel:
see carina, carinate.] In entom., having four
carinse, or longitudinal raised lines : specifically
said of the face of an orthopterous insect when
the median carina is deeply suloate, so that it
forms two parallel raised lines, which, with the
two lateral carinse, form four raised lines.
qnadricellular (kwod-ri-sel'u-lar), a. [< L.
quattuor {quadri-), = E. four, + NL. cellula,
cellule: see cellular.] Having or consisting of
four cells.
quadricentennial (kwod"ri-sen-ten'i-al), a. and
n. [< L. quattuor {quadri-), = E. foiir, + ML.
eentennis, a hundred years old: see centennial.]
I, a. Pertaining to or consisting of a period of
four hundred years.
II. n. The commemoration or celebration of
an event which occurred four hundred years
before : as, the Luther quadricentennial.
quadriceps (kwod'ri-seps), n. [NL., < L. quat-
tuor {quadri-), = B. four, + caput, head: see
biceps.] In anat., the quadriceps extensor cru-
ris of the thigh; the great muscle which ex-
tends the leg upon the thigh, considered as con-
sisting of the rectus, cruraeus, and vastus in-
ternus and extemus. Called triceps extemor cruris
when the crurceus is regarded as a pm of the vastus in-
temus, or when the rectus is separately enumerated. This
great muscle forms nearly all the flesh upon the front of
the thigh. See cuts under muscle^. — (JuadricepB SUia,
the combined gastrocnemius extemus and intemns, sola-
ns, and plantaris, forming the bulk of the muscle of the
calf.
quadriciliate (kwod-ri-sil'i-at), a. [< L. quat-
tuor {quadri-), = B./owr, + NL. cilium + -afei.]
Having four cilia, or flagelliform appendages.
M. Thuret informs us that he has seen the bicillate
spores germinate as well as the quadriciliate.
M. J. Berkeley, Introd. to Cryptog. Bot., p. 137.
quadricinium
QUadriciniimi (kwod-ri-sin'i-um), n.; pi. ouad-
nama (-a). [NL., < L. quattuor (quadrt), =
E. four, + canere, sing.] In music, a composi-
tion for four voices. Also guatricvnium.
auadricipital (k wod-ri-sip'i-tal), a. [< quadri^
ceps i-aptt-) + -al.2 Having'four heads or ori-
gins, as a muscle ; of or pertaining to the quad-
riceps.
quadricone (kwod'ri-kon), n. [< L. quattmr
(quaar^), = ^.four, + conns, cone: see coneA
A quadric cone, or surface generated by the
motion of a line through a fixed point, one
point of which describes a conic section.
quadricorn (kwod'ri-kdrn), a. and n. [< NL.
quadricornis, < L. quattuor {qmdri-), = E.four,
Quadricorn Sheep (Ovts artes var qteadricornis).
+ cm'nu = E. liorn.'] I. a. Having four horns
or horn-like parts, as antennse ; quadricomous.
II. n. A quadricorn animal.
quadricomous (kwod-ri-k6r'nus), a. [< quad-
ricorn + -ousj} Having four horns; quadricorn.
quadricostate (kwod-ri-kos'tat), a. [< L. quat-
tuor (quadri-), = E. four, + casta, rib : see cas-
ta, costate.l Having four ril)s or costse, in any
sense.
quadricrescentic (kwod-'ri-kre-sen'tik), a. [<
li. quattuor {quadri-), = E. four, + E. crescent
-f- -jc] Having four crescents; quadricrescen-
toid.
quadricrescentoid (kwod-ri-kres'en-toid), a, [<
Jj. quattuor (quadri-), = E. four,"+ E. crescent
+ -Old J] In odontog., having four orescentic
folds : noting a pattern of selenodont dentition.
quadricuspidal (kwod-ri-kus'pi-dal), n. [< L.
quattuor {quadri-), = E./o«er, + cnspis {cuspid-),
a point: see cuspidal.'] A ruled surface of the
eighth order — Limited quadricuspidal, a ruled sur-
face of the fourth order, generated by the motion of a
straight line cutting two given straight lines and touch-
ing a given quadric sui'face.
qnadricuspidate (kwod-ri-kus'pi-dat), a. [< L.
quattuor {quadri-), = E./ojw, + euspis (cuspid-),
a point: see cusp, cuspidate/] Having four
cusps, as a tooth. W. S. Flower, Encyc. Brit.,
XV. 402.
quadlicycle (kwod'ri-si-kl), n. [< L. quattuor
(quadri-), = E. four, + LL. eyclus, cycle : see
cycled.] A four-wheeled vehicle intended to be
propelled by the feet of the rider.
A Qimdrieucle for pedal propulsion on railways.
Tte .Engineer, LXV. 109.
quadridentate (kwod-ri-den'tat), a. [< L. quad-
riden(t-)s, having four teeth, < quattuor (qua-
dri-), = E. four, + den(t-)s = E. tooth : see den-
tate.] Having four teeth or tooth-like parts,
as sferrations.
quadriderivative (kwod^ri-de-riv's-tiv), n. [<
h. quattuor (quadri-), = E.four, + E. dervvatme.]
A derivative invariant of the second order.
quadridigitate (kwod-ri-dij'i-tat), a. [< L.
quattuor (quadri-), = E. four, + L. digitus, fin-.
ger or toe : see digit, digitate.] Having four
digits, whether fingers, toes, or other digitate
parts; tetradactyl; quadrisulcate, as a hoof ed
quadruped.
quadriennialt (kwod-ri-en'i-al), a. [= F. quad-
riennal, quatriennal = Sp. cuadrienal == Pg.
quadriennal, < LL. quadriennis, of four years, <
L. quattuor(quadri^,='Ei.four, + annus, a year.]
Quadrennial. ,. , .< ^ ^ j
quadrienniallyt(kwod-ri-en'i-al-i), adv. Quad-
rennially. , . ,. , rr J
auadrieimium (kwod-n-en'i-um ), n. [l. quaa-
riennium, a space of four years, < LL. quadnen-
4885
nis, of four years: see quadriennial.] A quad-
rennium. — Quadriennium utile, in Scots law, the four
years allowed after majority within which may be insti-
tuted an action of reduction of any deed done to the
prejudice of a minor.
quadrifarious (kwod-ri-f a'ri-us), a. [< LL. quad-
rlfariits, fourfold, < L. quattuor (quadri-), = E.
four, + -farius, as in bifarius, etc. (see hifari-
ous).] Set, arranged, or disposed in four rows
or series : correlated with unifarious, bifarious,
trifarious, and multifarious.
quadrifariously (kwod-ri-fa'ri-us-li), ade. In
a quadrifarious manner.
quadri^ (kwod'ri-fld), a. [< L. quadrifidus,
split into four parts, four-cleft, < quattuor (quad-
ri), = E.four, -I- findere (Vfid), cleave, split.]
Four-cleft; deeply cut, but not entirely divided,
into four parts : correlated with bifid, trifid,
and mulUfi,.
The mouth of the animal, situated at one of the poles,
leads first to a qvadrifid cavity.
W. B. Carpenter, Micros., § 530.
Quadrifidse (kwod-rif'i-de), n. pi. [NL., fem.
pi. of L. quadrifidus, fom'-eleft : see quadrifid.]
In entom., a section of noetuid moths; one of
the two prime divisions of noetuid moths in
Ouen^e's classification, it includes all those fami-
lies in which the median vein of the hind wings has four
branches. It contains the largest of the noctulds, and the
forms are mainly American and East Indian. The char-
aoter which gives the name is not a stable one, and the
term has nearly fallen into disuse.
quadrifocal (kwod-ri-f o'kal), a. [< L. quattuor
(quadri-), = 'E.four, + focus, toens: see focus,
focal.] Having four foci.
quadrifoliate (kwod-ri-fo'li-at), a. [< L. quat-
tuor (quadri-), = E.four,
+ folium, leaf: see foli-
ate.] In 6ot., four-leaved.
(a) Having the leaves whorled
in fours, (b) Same as quadiifo-
liolate: an incorrect use.
quadrifoliolate (kwod-ri-
fo'li-o-lat), a. [< L. quat-
tuor (quadri-), = E. four,
+ foliolus, leaflet.] In
hot., having four leaflets :
said of a compound leaf.
quadriforiu (kwod'ri-fdrm), a. [< LL. quadri-
formis, four-formed, < L. quattuor (quadri-), =
E. four, + forma, form.] Having a fourfold
aspect, as in shape, arrangement, etc.
We can also apply the principle of group-flashing as easi-
ly to a fourfold light as to a single light. According to
the number of tiers employed, the arrangement was to be
named Biform, Triform, Quadriform.
FartnigMy Beo., N. S., ZLIII. 816.
quadrifrons (kwod'ri-fronz), a. [< L. quattuor
(quadri-), = E. four, + frons (front-), front :
see front.] Having four faces. Beebifrons.
quadrifurcate (kwod-ri-f6r'kat), a. [< L. quat-
tuor (quadri-), = 'St. four, -I- furca, fork: see
fwca, fwcate.] Having four forks, tines, or
branches; twice-forked; doubly dichotomous:
correlated with bifurcate and trifurcate.
quadrifurcated (kwod-ri-f6r'ka-ted), a. [<
quadrifurcate + -ed^.] Same as quadrifurcate.
quadriga (kwod-ri'ga), .«. ; pi. quadrigee (-je).
[L., usually in pi. quadrigse, contr. from quad-
rijugee, a team of four, < quattuor (qxmdri-), =
E. four, + jugum (= Gr. i^vydv), a yoke, pair,
team: see yoke,] In classical anUq., a two-
Quadrifoliate Stem of Ascle-
pias quadrifolia.
Quadriga.— " The Rape of Proserpine by Pluto," from a Greek
red-figured vase.
wheeled chariot drawn by four horses, which
were harnessed all abreast, it was used in racing
in the Greek Olympian games, and in the circensian games
of the Romans. The quadriga is often met with as the
reverse type of Greek coins, especially those of Sicily, and
is of frequent occurrence in sculpture and vase-painting.
The madriga for which Praxiteles was said to have made
the driver. A. S. Murray, Greek Sculpture, 1. 182.
quadrigemina (kwod-ri-jem'i-na), n.pl. [NL. ,
neut. pi. of L. quadrigeminus, fourfold: see
qv^rigeminous.] The quadrigeminous bodies
of the brain, more fully called corpora quadri-
gemina. Below mammals they are represented
quadriliteral
by the corpora bigemina, or twin bodies. See
corpus.
quadrigeminal (kwod-ri-jem'i-nal), a. [< quad-
rigemin-ous + -al] Fourfold; especially, per-
taining to the corpora quadrigemina.
other fibres, arising in the optic thalamus and guadri-
geminal body, descend, which preside over the reflex mo-
tions. Frey, Histol. and Histochem. (trans.), p. 694.
quadrigeminate (kwod-ri-jem'i-nat), a. [<
quadrigemin-ous + -aie'^.] 1. In bat., growing
in fom-s, as the cells of certain algse. — 2. In
anat., same as quadrigeminous.
quadrigeminous (kwod-ri-jem'i-nus), a. [< L.
quadrigemimis, fourfold, < quattuor (quadri-), =
E./o«r, + gemimis, twin-bom, twin: see Gemi-
ni, geminate.] 1. Consisting of four similar
parts ; having four parts, as one and the same
thing; fourfold; quadrigeminal. — 2. In atiat.
and zool., specifically, pertaining to the optic
lobes or corpora quadrigemina of any mammal,
known in human anatomy as the nates and
testes, which appear as two4)airs of lobes or tu-
bercles on the morphologically superior surface
of the midbrain or mesencephalon, close to the
pineal gland, behind the third ventricle, over
the aqueduct of Sylvius. See corpus and quad-
rigemina.
quadrigenarious (kwod"ri-je-na'ri-us), a. [<
L. quadrigeni, quadringeni, four hundred each,
distributive of quadririgenti, four hundred, i.
quattuor (quadri-), = 'E.four, + centum = E.
Imnd-red.] Consisting of four hundred.
quadriglandular (kwod-ri-glan'du-lar), a. [<
L. quattuor (quadri-), = E. four, + gUm(d-)s,
gland: see gland.] Having four glands or glan-
dular parts.
quadrijugate (kwod-ri-j6'gat or -rij'p-gat),
a. [< quadnju^-ous + -aie^.] In bot., pinnate
with four pairs of leaflets: as, a quadrijugate
leaf.
quadxijugons (kwod-ri-j6'gus or -rij'6-gus), a.
[< L. quadrijugus, belonging to a team of four,
< quattuor (quadri-), = E. four, + jugum (=
Gr. ixry6v), a yoke. Cf. quadriga.] Same as
quadrijugate.
quadrilaminar (kwod-ri-lam'i-nar), a. [< L.
quattuoi- (quadri-), = E. /omt, -I- lamina, a thin
plate : see lamina, laminar.] Same as quadri-
lamvnate.
quadrilaminate (kwod-ri-lam'i-nat), a. [< L.
quattuor (quadri-), = E. four, + lamina, a thin
plate: see lamina, lami/nate.] Having four
laminse, layers, or plates ; four-layered.
Quadrilatera (kwod-ri-lat'e-ra), n.pl. [NL., <
L. quadrilaterus, four-sided':' see quadrilateral.]
In Crustacea, a group of crabs having a.quad-
rate or cordate carapace. Latreille.
quadrilateral (kwod-ri-lat'e-ral), a. and n. [<
L. quad/rilaterus, four-sided, i quattuor (quadri-),
= E. four, + latus (later-), side,
flank: see lateral.] I. a. Having
four sides ; composed of four lines.
—Quadrilateral map-projecticn. See
projedion.
II. m. 1. A figure formed of four
straight lines. In the old geometry the complete
lines are supposed to terminate at four in- Quadrilateral,
tersections ; in modern geometry the lines
are regarded as infinite, and a plane quadrilateral as hav-
ing six angles. Such a figure has three diagonals or aaces,
being straight lines through opposite vertices, and three
centers, which are the intersections of the axes.
2. Milit., the space inclosed between, and de-
fended by, four fortresses : as, the Bulgarian
quadrilateral. The most famous quadrilateral was that
ui northern Italy, inclosed by the fortresses of Peschiera,
Mantua, Verona, and Legnago.
Field Marshal Hadetsky . . . had collected under his
own command all the Austrian forces scattered over the
Lombardo-Y enetian provinces, andhad concentrated them
within the well-nigh impregnable stronghold formed in
the very heart of these provinces by the fortresses of the
Quadrilateral. K Dicey, Victor Emmanuel, p. 86.
Inscriptible quadrilateral. See inscripefflie.— Plane
quadrilateral, a quadrilateral lying in a plane.— Skew
quadrilateral, a quadrilateral that does notlie in aplane.
quadrilateralness (kwod-ri-lat'e-ral-nes), n.
The property of being quadrilateral.
quadriliteral (kwod-ri-lit'e-ral), a. and n. [<
L. quattuor (quadri-), ■='&. four, + littera, litera,
letter: see literal.] I. a. Consisting of four
letters, or of only four constant letters or con-
sonants.
II. n. A word or a root consisting of four
letters or containing four consonants.
Arabick roots are as universally \i. e., almost universally]
triliteral. . . . If we suppose ten thousand of them (with-
out reckoning quadriliterals) to exist, and each of them to
admit only five variations, . . . even then a perfect Ara-
bick dictionary ought to contain fifty thousand words.
Sir W. Jones, Asiatic Dissertations, 1. 126.
quadrille
quadrille (kwod-ril' or ka-dril'), »• and a. [<
P. qtmdrille, m., a game at cards, a square
dance, music for such a dance, < Sp. euadrillo,
m., a small square (cf. P. quadrille, f., a troop
of horsemen, < Sp. ouadrilla, a troop of horse-
men, a meeting of four persons, < It. guadriglia
= Pg. quadrWia, a troop of horsemen), dim. of
euadro, m., euadra, f., < L. quadram, n., quadra,
i., a square: see quadrum, quadra^. Cf. quar-
rel^.'] I. n. 1. A game played by fom- persons
with forty cards, which are the remainder of
the pack after the tens, nines, and eights are
discarded.
They taught him with address and skill
To shine at ombre and guadrUle,
Ccmtlwm, Birth and Education of Genius.
Quadritle, a modern gam e, bears great analogy to ombre,
with the addition of a fourth player, which is certainly a
great improvement, StnM, Sports and Pastimes, p. 436.
2. A square dance tor four couples, consisting
regularly of five parts or movements, each com-
plete in itself — namely, le pantalon, VeU, la
poule, la trfyiise (or la pastourelle), and la fi-
nale. These parts are adaptations of popular society
dances. They were combined in their present order about
1800, and were soon adopted in France, England, and Ger-
many, giving rise to a quadrille mania similar to the later
polka mania.
3. Any single set of dancers or maskers ar-
ranged in four sets or groups. [Kare.]
At length the four quadrilles of maskers, ranging their
torch-bearers behind them, drew up in their several ranks
on the two opposite sides of the hall.
Scott, Kenllworth, xxxvii.
4. Any square dance resemblingthe quadrille. —
5. Music for such square dances. For the move-
ments of the quadrille proper the rhythm is either sextuple
or duple, and each section is usually 32 measures long.
Quadrille music is usually adapted or arranged, not spe-
cially written for the purpose.
II. a. Same as quadrilU.
quadrille (kwod-ril' or ka-dril'), v. i. ; pret. and
pp. quadrilled, ppr, quadrilling. [< quactrille, n.']
1. To play at quadrille. Imp. Diet. — 2. To
dance quadrilles.
[ While thu^ like motes that dance away
Existence in a summer ray.
These gay things, bom but to qimdrille.
The circle of their doom fulfil.
Moore, Summer FSte.
quadrille (ka-dre-lya'), a. [P., < *quadrille, a
small square, < Sp. ciiadriUo, a small square: see
quadrille.'] Divided or marked off into squares ;
having a pattern composed of small squares:
said of textile fabrics, writing-papers ruled with
lines crossing at right angles, and the like.
quacbillion (kwod-ril'yon), n. [< P. quadril-
lion, < L. qtiaUuor {qudJdri-), = E. four, + P.
{m)iUion, > E. millionK'] The fourth power of
a million according to the system of numera-
tion called English; but the fifth power of a
thousand according to the French system, com-
monly used in the United States.
quadrilobate (kwod-ri-lo'bat), a. [< L. quattuor
{quadri-), = E./oiw, + NL. lobus, lobe.] In bat.
and zool., having four lobes or lobules.
quadrilobed (kwod'ri-lobd), a. [< L. quattuor
(quadri-), ='E.four, + NL, ZoSm, lobe, + -ed?.']
Same as quadrilobate.
quadrilocular (kwod-ri-lok'u-iar), a. [< L.
quattuor (quadri-), = E, four, '+ loculus, a cell.]
1. In hot., having four cells or compartments;
four-celled: as, a quadriloeular pericarp. — 3.
In anat. and zool., having four cavities or com-
partments: chiefly an epithet of the heart of
mammals and birds.
quadriloculate (kwod-ri-lok'u-lat), a. [< L.
quattuor {quadri-), = E, four, + loeulus, cell:
see loeulus, loaulate.'] Same as quadriloeular.
quadriloge (kwod'ri-loj), n. [= OP. quadri-
logue, < L. quattuor (quadri-), = E. four, + Grr.
?Jyo^, a saying, speaking, discourse : see Zogos.l
1, A book written in four parts, as "CMlde
Harold's Pilgrimage." — 2. Any narrative de-
pending on the testimony of four witnesses, as
the four Gospels. — 3. Any work compiled from
four authors, as the " Life of Thomas a Beek-
et." Brewer. [Rare in all senses.]
The very authours of the gMffldriJoge itself e . . , doeaU,
with one pen and mouth, acknowledge the same.
Lanibarde, Perambulation (1696), p. 615, (HaUiweU.)
Quadrimani (kwod-rim'a-ni), ra._p?, [NL., pi.
of quadrimanus : see quadrimanous.] In La-
treille's system of classification, a group of oara-
boid beetles, typified by the genus Harpalus,
having the four anterior tarsi dilated m the
males: distinguished from Simplidmard and
Patellimani. See Marpalmse.
quadiimanous (kwod-rim'a-nus), a. [< NL.
quadmmamis, four-handed, <;' L, quattuor {guad-
4886
n-), = E,/0Mr, + mantis, hand, Cf. quadru-
manous.'] Same as quadrumanous.
At this malicious game they display the whole of their
quadriinarums activity,
Burke, Kev. in France, Works, III. 199.
quadrimembral (kwod-ri-mem'bral), a. [< LL.
quadrimembris, four-limbed, four-footed, < L.
quattuor {quadri-), = E. four, + membrum, a
limb, a member.] Having four members (or
parts) as limbs : as, most vertebrates are quad-
rimembral.
quadrint, quadrinet (kwod'rin), n. [< ML.
quadrinus (?); ef. L. qvMdran{t-)s, the fourth
part of an as: see quadratic, quadrant.'] A
mite ; a small piece of money, in value about
a farthing.
One of her paramours sent her a purse full of quadrinss
(which are little pieces of copper money) instead of silver,
Korth, tr. of Plutarch, p. 722.
quadrinomial (kwod-ri-no'mi-al), a. and n. [<
L. quattuor {quadri-), = E, four, + nom{en),
name (see nome^), + -al. Cf. binomial, etc.]
I, a. In alg., consisting of four terms.
II. n. In alg., an expression consisting of
fom" terms,
quadrinomical (kwod-ri-nom'i-kal), a. [As
quadrinom{ial) + -ic-al.] Quadrinomial.
quadrinominal (kwod-ri-nom'i-nal), a. [< L.
quattuor {quadri-), = 'E.four, + nomen (nomin-),
name: see nomen, nominal.'] Having four
terms; quadrinomial.
quadrinucleate (kwod-ri-nu'klf-at), a. [< L,
quattuor (quadri-), = E, four, +' nucleus, a nu-
cleus: see nticleate.] In bot, having four nu-
clei, as the spores of some fungi.
quadrinvariant (kwod-rin-va'ri-ant), n. [< L.
quattuor (quadri-), = E. four, +"'E. invariant.]
An invariant of the second order in the coeffi-
cients.
quadripara (kwod-rip'a-ra), n. [NL,, < L. quat-
tuor (quadri-), = E. four, -i- parere, bring forth,
bear.] A woman who is bearing a child for the
fourth time.
Quadriparse (kwod-rip'a-re), n.pl. [NL., fem.
pi. of quadriparus : see quadriparous.] A group
of birds proposed by E. Newman in 1875, being
those which lay four eggs, and only fom', and
place them with the small ends together in the
middle of the nest: it includes Snipes, sand-
pipers, plovers, etc, and is practically equiva-
lent to Umieolse, 1,
quadriparous (kwod-rip'a-ms), a. [< NL.
qtiadriparus,(. L. quattuor (quadri-), = il.four,
+ parere, bring forth, bear.] In ornith., lay-
ing four eggs, and only four; being of the
Quadriparie : as, quadriparous birds. Newman.
quadripartite (kwod-ri-par'tit), a. and n. [=
OP. quadriparUt, quadriparty, < L. quadripar-
titus, quadripertitus, divided into four parts,
fourfold (LL. also as a finite verb, quadripar-
Ure, divide into four), < quattu,or (quadri-), =
E. four^+ parUtus, pp. otpartwe, divide, sepa-
rate, distribute: see part, v., partite, etc.] I.
a. Divided into four parts ; specifically, in bot.
and zool., parted into four; divided to the base
or entirely into four parts ; in arch., divided, as
Quadripartite Vault— Nave of Amiens Cathedral, France.
a vault, by the system of construction em-
ployed, into four compartments. Such a vault is
the cardinal type of medieval Pointed vaulting.
Squire Headlong , . , was gtuidripartite in his locality :
that is to say, he was superintending the operations in
four scenes of action — namely, the cellar, the library,
the picture-gallery, and the dining-room.
Peacock, Headlong Hall, ii.
II. n. A book or treatise divided into four
parts or treatises; a tetrabiblion: as, the last
Qnadrisulcata
two books of Ptolemy's Qtiadiipartite; the quad-
ripartite (four Gospels) of the New Testament.
quadripartitely (kwod-ri-par'tit-li), adv. In
four divisions; in a quadripartite distribu-
tion.
quadripartition (kwod"ri-par-tish'on), ». [<
L. qvadripartiiio(n-), a division into four, <
quadripartitus, divided into four: see quadri-
partite.] A division by four or into four parts,
Nor would it, perhaps, be possible to entirely deny the
position of one who should argue that this convenient
gttadri-partUian of the month was first in order of time.
Cimtempora/ry Sev., I, 528.
quadripennate (kwod-ri-pen'at), a. and n.
[< L. quattuor (quadri-), = E.four, + penna,
wing: see penrm, penmate.] I. a. In etitom.,
having four wings — that is, four functional
wings, an anterior pair being not converted
into elytra or wing-cases.
II, n. A four-winged or quadripennate in-
sect.
quadriphyllous (kwod-ri-fil'us), a. [< L,
quattuor (quadri-), = E. four, + Gr. ^yjmi =
L. folvum, leaf,] In bot., having four leaves ;
quadrifoliate,
quadriplanar (kwod-ri-pla'nar), a. [< L, quat-
tuor (quadri-), = B, four, + Nfi, planum, a plane :
see plane\ planar.] Formed by four planes. —
Quadilplanar coiircllnateB, See coordiruUe.
quadriplicate (kwod-rip'li-kat), a. and n. Same
as quadruplicate.
quadriplicated (kwod-rip'li-ka-ted), a. Same
as quctaruplicate.
quadripuunonary (kwod-ri-pul'mo-na-ri), a.
[< L, quattuxir (quadri-), = E, fov/r, + L, ptil-
mo(n-), lung: see pulmonai'y.] In Arachnida,
having two pairs of pulmonary sacs; tetra-
pneumonous : opposed to bipulmonary.
quadriquadric (kwod-ri-kwod'rik), a. and n. [<
quadri(c) + quadric] I. a. Of the second de
gree in each of two variables or sets of variables,
II. n. A skew quartio curve, the interseetion
of two quadric surfaces. There are other quar-
tics not of this description.
quadriradiate (kwod-ri-ra'di-at), a. [< L,
quattuw (quadri-), = B. four, + radius, ray (>
radiatus, radiate) : see radiate.] Having four
rays, as a fish's fin; tetraotinal, as a sponge-
spicule; in bot., having four radii or prolonga-
tions : as, a quadriradiate mass of chlorophyl,
quadrireme (kwod'ri-rem), n. [< L. quadri-
remis (LL. also quatriremis), a vessel fitted
with four banks of oars,< quattuor (quadri-), =
E. four, + remus, oar: see oar^.] A galley
with fom" banks of oars or rowers, mentioned
as in use occasionally among the ancient Greeks
and Romans.
quadrisacramentalist (kwod-ri-sak-ra-men'-
tal-ist), n. [< L. qtiattuor (qiiadri-), = '^.four,
■f sacramentum, sacrament,-!- -al + -ist.] Same
as quadrisacramentarian.
quadrisacramentarian (kwod-ri-sak*ra-men-
ta'ri-an), n. [< L, quattuor (quadri-),' = B,
four, + sacramentum, sacrament, -I- -arian.]
One of a small body of German Protestants in
the middle of the sixteenth century, who held
that the four sacraments of baptism, the eu-
charist, holy orders, and absolution are reqid-
site for salvation.
quadrisectiou (kwod-ri-sek'shon), n. [< L.
quattuor (quadri-), = E, fourj' + sectio(n-), s
cutting : see sectio^i.] A section into four equal
parts.
quadriseptate (kwod-ri-sep'tat), a. [< L.
quattuor (quadri-), = E. four, + septum, a parti-
tion : see septum, septate.] Having four septa
or partitions,
quadriserial (kwod-ri-se'ri-al), a. [< L, quat-
tuor (quadri-), = E, four, +' series, a row : see
serial.] Set or arranged in fom* rows or series ;
four-rowed; quadrifarious ; tetrastichous.
The production of the ambulacral element in some star-
fishes IS much more rapid than general growth, thus pro-
ducing a crushing together of the plates in the direction
of the length, in some cases carried to such an extent that
the tube-feet in each furrow become muidriserial.
Amer. Nat., Feb., 1890, p. 161.
quadrisetose (kwod-ri-se'tos), a. [< L. quat-
tuor (quadri-), = 'E.four, + seeta, seta, a bristle :
see seta, setose.] . In entom., bearing four setse
or bristles.
quadrispiral (kwod-ri-spi'ral), a. [< L. quat-
tuor (quadri-), = E. four, + spira, a coil, a spire :
see spire, spiral.] In bot., having four spirals.
Elaters [of MmMaria] rather short, nm'tpmdrUpiral.
Underwood, Hepaticse of N. A., p. 39.
Quadrisulcata (kwodM-sul-ka'ta), n.pl. [NL.,
neut. pi, of qua^isuleatvs : see quadrisuloate.]
Quadrisulcata
A group of hoofed quadrupeds having four toes ;
the quadiisulcate ungulate mammals.
quadriSUlcate (kwod-ri-sul'kat), a. r< NL
quadrisulGatus, < L. quaUuor (quaOri-), = e'
pur, + sulcus, a furrow: see sulcus, sulcate.]
Having four grooves, furrows, or sulci; spe-
eihoallj, in mammal, having a four-parted
hoof; four-toed; quadridigitate.
- j_i ,y , .,-0»sisting of quadrisyllables.
quadrisyllabical (kwod*ri-si-iab'i-kal), a
l<quadrisyUaUc + -al.-] Same as qudmsyl-
quadrisyllable (kwod-ri-sil'a^bl), ». [< l.
quattuor {quadri-), = E.four;'+ syllaha, sylla-
ble: see syllable.^ A word consisting of four
syllables.
A distinction without a dififereuce could not sustain it-
self ; and botli ablce disguised tlieir emptiness under tiiis
pompous qaadrisylUMe.
De Quincey, Eoman Meals. (flavCes.)
quadritactic (kwod-ri-tak'tik), a. [< L. qmt-
tuor {quadm-), = E. foiir, + Gr. ramicdg, per-
taining to arrangement : see tacUc.'] Of the
nature of a point on a surface or skew curve
where four consecutive points are in one
plane.— Quadritactic point. See trttucUo poCnt, un-
derpoiTU^
Quadritubercular (kwod"ri-tu-b6r'ku-lar), a.
Same as quadritubereulate.
By the suppression of one of the primitive cusps we ar-
rive at th^ quadritubercndmr tootli. Nature, XLI. 467.
quadritubereulate (kwod"ri-tii-b6r'ku-lat), a.
[< L. quaUuor (quadri-), = E. 'four, +' tubereu-
Ivm, tubercle : see tubercle, tubereulate.] Hav-
ing four tubercles: as, a quadritubereulate mo-
lar.
quadrivalent (kwod-riv'a-lent), a. [< L. quat-
tuor (quadri-), = E. fov/r', + valen(t-)s, ppr. of
valere, be strong.] In chem., noting an atom
the equivalence of which is four, or an element
one atom of which is equivalent, in combining
power, to four atoms of hydrogen ; tetradic ;
tetratomic.
quadrivalve (kwod'ri-valv), a. and n. [< L,
quattvMT (quadri-), = E. four, + valea, a door:
see valve.^ I. a. Same as quad/rivalvular.
II. n. One of a set of four folds or leaves form-
ing a door.
quadrivalvular (kwod-ri-val'vu-lar), a. [< L.
qimttuor (quadri-), = E. four, '+ 'l^L. valvula,
dim. of L. vaha, valve: see valve.l In 0OOI.
and bot., having four valves or valvular parts.
quadrivia, n. Plural of quadrivvwm.
quadrivlal (kwod-riv'i-al), a. and n. [< L. quad-
rimus, having four ways, + -al. Cf. trivial.']
1, a. 1. Having four ways meeting in a point;
leading in four directions.
A forum, with quadrivial streets.
iJ. Jormm, Expostulation with luigo Jones.
2. Belonging to the quadrivium: thus, qVfOd-
rimal astrology is astrology in the sense in
which astrology is a branch of the quadrivium
— that is, astronomy.
II. n. One of the four arts constituting the
quadrivium.
ThegwdSniafflZs— Imeane arythmetike, masike, geome-
trie, and astronomie — & with them all skill In the per-
spectines, are now smallie regarded in either of them [the
universities]. HoUmkei., Descrip. of England, IL 3.
quadrivious (kwod-riv'i-us), a. [< L. quadri-
vium, of the cross-roads, lit. having four ways,
< quattuor (quadri-), = E. four, + via = 'B. way.]
Going in four directions.
When the cheese was so rotten with them [vermin] that
only the twigs and string kept it from tumbling to pieces
and walking off quadrivious, it came to table.
C. Seade, Cloister and Hearth, xxlv.
quadrivium (kwod-riv'i-um), n. ; pi. quadrima
(-a). [< LL. quadrivium, quadruvium, the four
branches of mathematics, a particular use of
L. quadrivium, a place where four ways meet,
neut. of quadrwius, having four ways : see quad-
rivious. Of. trvoium.'} The collective name of
the four branches of mathematics according
to the Pythagoreans — arithmetic (treating of
number in itself), music (treating of applied
number), geometry (treating of stationary
number), and astronomy (treating of number
in motion). This Pythagorean quadrivium, preceded
by the trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, made up
the seven liberal arts taught in the schools of the Eoman
empire. ,,,. k ry t j
quadrivoltine (kwod-n-vol'tm), n. [< L. quat-
tuor (quadri-\ = 'E.four, + It. wZto, turn, time,
+ -«»e2.] A silkworm which yields four crops
of ooooons a year.
4887
quadroon (kwod-ron'), n. [An alteration
(simulating words in quadri-, guadru-) of quar-
teroon, < Sp. cuarteron, a quadroon, one who is
one fourth black; also, a fourth part ; < cuarto, a
foutth: see qucurf^, quarter^.] The offspring of
a mulatto and a white person; a person having
one fourth African blood.
quadro - quadro - quartic (kwod " ro - kwod " ro-
kwHr'tik), n. [< quadric + quadric + quartic.']
A non-plane curve formed by the intersection
of two quadric surfaces.
quadroxid, quadroxide (kwod-rok'sid, -sid or
-Sid), n, [< L. quattuor (quadri-, quadr-), = E.
four, + oxid, oxide.] In chem., a compound of
four equivalents of oxygen and one of another
element, or a simple oxid containing four atoms
of oxygen.
quadrum (kwod 'rum), «. [L., square, any-
thing square in form, neut. of (LL.) quadarus,
four-cornered, square : see quadra^, quad/rate.]
In music, same as natwral, 7.
quadruman, quadrumane (kwod 'r9 -man,
-man), n. [< F. quadrumane, < NL. quadrv^
manus, four-handed: see quadrumanous.] A
four-handed quadruped; an animal capable of
using aU four feet as hands; specifically, a
member of the Quad/rumana.
Quadrumana (kwod-r6'ma-na), n. pi. [NL.,
neut. pi. of quadrumanv^, four-handed: see
quadrumanous.] An order of Mammalia named
by Blumenbaoh in 1791, including all kinds of
apes, monkeys, and lemurs; the quadrumanous
mammals : so called because their hind as well
as fore feet can be used as hands. The term is
scarcely used now, being superseded by Primates; but
Primates includes both the Bimana (man alone) and the
Qtiadrumuma of the earlier systems. When the name
was in vogue the Quadrumana were usually divided into
CatarrMni, Old World apes and monkeys; Platyrrhini,
New World monkeys ; and Strepsirrhini, lemurs.
quadrumanous (kwod-ro'ma-nus), a. [< NL.
quadrumanus, four-handed, i'L. quattuor (quad-
ru-), = E. four, + manus, hand: see mairfi.]
Pour-handed; having all four feet fitted for
use as hands : said of mammals, as opossums,
etc.; specifically, of or pertaining to the Quad-
rumana. Also quadrimanovs.
^Ihe strongly convex upper lip frequently seen among
the lower classes of the Irish is a modified mmdnmumims
character. E. D. Cope, Origin of the Fittest, p. 291.
quadruped (kwod'rij-ped), a. and n. [= F.
quadruphd^='Pv. quadrupeai=B^. cuadr4pede,
ciuad/r4pedo = Pg. quadrupede = It. quadrupeds,
quadrupedo, < L. quadrupes, quadripes (-ped-),
having four feet, a four-footed creature, K quat-
tuor (quadruf), = E. four, + pes (ped-) = E.
foot.] I. a. Four-footed; having four limbs
fitted for sustaining the body and for progres-
sion ; habitually going on all fours : opposed to
aliped and biped: correlated with quadruma-
nous a.nd. pedimanous: chiefly said of mammals,
but also of four-footed reptUes, as lizards and
tortoises. Compare quadrumanow.
II. n. A four-footed or quadruped animal:
especially, a four-footed mammal, as distin-
guished from a biped, as man or a bird.
quadrupedal (kwod'ro-ped-al), a. and n. [=
OP. quadrupedal = Sp. cuctdrupedal = Pg. quad-
rupedal; as quadruped + -al.] I. a. Quadru-
ped or four-footed; especially, going on all
fours, or adapted or restricted to that mode of
progression: SuS, the quadrupedal sliapei; quad-
rwpedal locomotion.
Il,t n. A quadruped. [Rare.]
The coldest of any ijuadrupedal.
Howell, Parly of Beasts, p. 11.
quadrupedated (kwod'rS-pe-da-ted), a. [<
quadruped + -ate^ + -ed^.] Made or become
four-footed or like a beast; turned into a quad-
ruped. [Rare.]
Deformed and luxate with the prosecution of vanities ;
quadrupedated with an earthly, stooping, grovelling cove-
tousness. Men. T. Adams, Works, I. 399.
quadrupedism (kwod're-ped-izm), n. [< quad-
ruped + -ism.] The state of being a quadruped ;
the condition of being four-footed, as a beast.
[Rare.]
Among the Mahometans . . . qtcadrupedism is not con-
sidered an obstacle to a certain kind of canonisation.
Southey, The Doctor, cxcix. (Dairies,)
quadruplane (kwod'r8-plan), n. [< L. quattuor
(quadru-), = B. four, + plarmm, a plane: see
plane^.] A plane quad-
rilateral having its op-
posite or alternate sides
equal and one pair of
these crossing each . . , „ .
., ° Quadruplane or Contraparal-
Other. Wogram.
quadxuplicity
quadruple (kwod'rij-pl), a. and n. [< F. quad-
ruple = Sp. cuddruplo = Pg. It. quadruplo, < L.
quadruplus, fourfold, quadruplum, a fourfold
quantity, < quattuor (quadru-), = E. four, +
-plus, -fold: see -fold.] I. a. Fourfold; foui-
times told.
A law that to bridle theft doth punish thieves with a
quadruple restitution hath an end which will continue as
long as the world itself continueth.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iii. 10.
A quadruple Jacquard, or four separate Jacquards fixed
in one frame. A. Barlow, Weaving, p. 275.
Quadruple counterpoint, in music, counterpoint In
which four melodies are so contrived as to be mutually usa-
ble above or below one another by transposition. Twenty-
four different dispositions of such melodies are possible.
Compare double and triple eouvierpoint (which see, under
c(m»terp(»K«2, 8).— Quadruple crown, a size of printing-
paper, 30 X 40 inches. [Eng. ] — Quadruple demy, a size
of printing-paper, 35 x 45 Inches. [Eng.]— Quaffiniple
fOOlBCap, a size of printing-paper, 27 x 34 inches. [Eng.]
—Quadruple medium, a size of printing-paper, 88 x 48
inches. [Eng.] — Quadruple post, a size of printing-pa-
per, 32 X 40 inches. [Eng.]— (^adTUple pot, a size of
printing-paper, 26 x 32 inches. [Eng.] —Quadruple qua-
ver, in TmisiecU notation, same as hemidemiseTniquaver, —
Quadruple ratio. See ratio. — Quadruple rhythm or
time, in music, rhythm or time characterized by four beats
or pulses to the measure. See rhythm. — Quadruple roy-
al, a size ot printing-paper, 40 x 60 inches. [Eng.]
II, «. Anumber, sum, etc., fourtimes as great
as that taken as the standard : as, to receive the
quadruple of a given sum.
quadruple (kwod'rij-pl), v. ; pret. and pp. quad-
rupled, ppr. quadrupUng, [< P. quMdrwpler, <
LL. quaAruplare, make fourfold, < L. quadru-
plus, fourfold: see quadruple, a.] I. trans. To
make four times as much or as many ; multiply
by four ; repeat four times ; make, do, or cause
to happen four times over.
The trade of Scotland has been more than quadrupled
since the first erection of the two publick banks.
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, ii. 2.
II. intrans. To become four times as much
or as many; repeat itself four times.
quiadruplet (kwod'rS-plet), n. [< quadruple +
-et.] 1. Any combination of four objects or
parts grouped, united, or acting together: as, a
quadruplet of springs, consisting of four ellip-
tic springs coupled together and acting as one
spring. Also called quartet. — 3. One of four
bom at a single birth. — 3. A bicycle for four
riders.
quadruples (kwod'ro-pleks), a. and n. [< L.
quadruplex, fourfold, < quaUuor (quadru-), = E.
four, + plicare,to\dL: seepUcate.] I. a. Four-
fold : applied to a system of telegraphy in which
four messages may be transmitted simultane-
ously over one wire.
II. n. An instrument by means of which four
messages may be transmitted simultaneously
over one wire.
Sometimes abbreviated quad.
quadruples (kwod'rS-pleks), V. t. [< quadru-
plex, n.] To make quadruplex; arrange for
fourfold transmission.
If the line is already duplexed, the phonophore will Grua(2-
ruplex it. JSlect. Sev. (Amer.), XIV. 6.
quadruplicate (kwod-ro'pli-kat), v. t. ; pret. and
pp. quadruplicated, ppr. quadruplicating. [<
L. quactruplicatus, pp. of guadruplicare (> OP.
quadruplier, quadrupUquer), make fourfold, <
quadruplex, fourfold: see qvMdruplex.] To
make fourfold; double twice.
quadruplicate (kwod-rij'pli-kat), a. and n.
[Also quadriplicate; < L. quadruplicates, make
fourfold: see the verb.] I. a. Fourfold; four
times repeated : as, a quadruplicate ratio or pro-
portion. Also quadriplicated.
II. n. One ofiour things corresponding in all
respects to one another, or toacommonoriginal.
quadruplication (kwod-ro-pli-ka'shpn), n. [=
P. qvadruplicaUon = Sp. euadruplicdcion = Pg.
quadruplicagao = It. quadruplicazione, < LL.
gtt«tfritpfcaWo(»-), amakingfourfold,< L. quad-
ruplioare, make fourfold: see quadruplicate.']
The act of making fourfold; a taking of four
times the simple sum or amount._
quadruplicature (kwod-ro'pli-ka-jar), n. [<
quadruplicate + -ure.] The act of quadrupli-
cating; also, that which is fourfold — that is,
folded twice, so as to make four layers : corre-
lated with duplicature : as, the great omentum
is a quadruplicature of peritoneum.
quadruplicity (kwod-r^-plis'i-ti), n. [< ML.
quadrupUeita(t-)s, the character of being four-
fold, < L. quadruplex, fourfold: see quadruplex.]
The character of being quadruplex.
This quadrujMd^, these elements,
From whom each body takes his existence.
Timei Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 117.
quadruply
QUadruply (kwod'rij-pli), adv. In a quadruple
or fouMold degree; to a fourfold extent or
amount.
If the person accused makes his innocence plainly to
appear upon his trial, the accuser is Immediately put to
. . . death ; and out of his goods or lands the innocent
person is quadruply recompensed.
Swift, Gulliver's Travels, i. 6.
quaere (kwe're), n. [L., impv. of quserere,
seek, seek to learn, question; as a noun, in
accom. E. speUing, query : see guery.2 Same
as query,
quaesitum (kwe-ai'tum), «. ; pi. quxsita (-ta).
[L., neut. of qusesitus, pp. of quserere, seek, ask :
see gwes*!.] SometMng sought or required.
A thesis which an argument supposes to be in question
is called qusesWuum; and opposed to that is a thesis from
which the argument proceeds— a thesis necessarily con-
nected with the argument, but not in question : such a the-
sis is called a datum. Weetmineler Eev., CXXVIII. 747.
qusesta (kwes'tS,), n.; pi. queestx (-te). [ML.,
f em. of L. qusesitus, pp. of quserere, seek, obtain :
see qu.esfi:'] In the middle ages, one of a class
of indulgences or remissions of penance which
were granted by the Pope to those who con-
tributed certain specified sums of money to
the church.
quaestor, quaestorship, n. See questor, questor-
ship.
quaestus, n. In law. See questus.
quaff (kwaf), V. [Prob. a reduced form, with
change of orig. guttural gh tof(ff) (as in dwarf,
trough, pron. as if troff, etc.), of quaught, drink,
quaff : see quaught. There may have been some
confusion with the Sc. quaigh, quegh, quech, also
queff, a icup, < Gael. Ir. cuach, a cup, bowl : see
quaigh.'] I. trans. To drink; swallow in large
draughts; drink of copiously or greedily.
. . Se calls tor wine, . . . quaff" A off the muscadel.
And threw the sops all in the sexton's face.
; Shak., T. of the S., iii. 2. 174.
9he who, as they voyaged, qwUfd
with Tristram that spiced magic draught.
M. Arnold, Tristram and Iseult.
H, mtrans. To drink largely or luxuriously.
Eato softly, and drinke manerly.
Take heede you doe not guo^e.
Bdbeet Book(,B. E. T. S.X p. 77.
They quaffe and drinke. Purchae, Pilgrimage, p. 211.
Kear him rode Silenns on his ass,
Felted with Howers as he on did pass,
Tipsily qiu^ffing.
Keate, Endymion, iv. (song).
quaff (kw&f ), n. [< quaff, v.'] The act of quaff-
ing ; also, tiie quantity of liquor drunk at once ;
a draught.
Kow Alvida begins her quaff,
And drinks a full carouse unto her king.
Oreene and Lodge, looking Glass for Lond. and Eng.
quafferi (kwaf'fer), n. [< quaff + -erl.] One
who quaffs or drinks much,
quaffer^t, «. »: [Cf. mta/ (?).] To drink greedr
ily, or to dabble. [The sense is uncertain.]
Ducks, geese, and divers others have such long broad
bills to quaffer and hunt in waters and mud.
Derham, Physico-Theology, Iv. 11, note.
quaffing-pot (kw&f'ing-pot), n. A drinking-
vessel holding half a gill.
quafftidet(kwaf'tid),«. Drinking-time. [Rare.]
QuHftyde aproacheth.
And showts in nighttyme doo ringe in loftye
Githeeron. Stanihurst, .^neit^ iv. 314. (Daviee.)
quag (kwag), n. [Abbr. of quagmire.'] A shak-
ing, marshy soil ; a quagmire.
On the left hand there was a very dangerous quag, into
which if even a good man falls, he can And no bottom
for his foot to stand on. Into that Quag King David once
did fall. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, pt. L
With packhorse constancy we keep the road,
Crooked or straight, through quags or thorny dells.
Cvwper, Tirocinium, 1. 253.
=Syn. See marsh.
quagga (kwag'a), n. [Also quacha; appar. S.
African.] 1. An African solidungulate quad-
ruped of the horse family, Equus or Hippotigris
quagga, related to the ass and zebra, but not
fully striped like the latter, not being banded
on the hind quarters and legs. The ears are short,
the head is comparatively small, the tail is tufted, and the
color is a dark brown on the head, neck, and shoulders, the
back and hind quarters being of a lighter brown, the croup
of a russet-gray, and the under parts of the body white.
It will breed with the horse, and a mixed race of this kind
existed in England some years ago. By the natives the
flesh is esteemed palatable.
2. Burchell's zebra, Equus or Hippotigris bur-
chelU, closely related to the above, but striped
throughout like the zebra: more fully called
honte-quagga. See cut under dauw.
quagg^ (kwag'l), n. [Dim. of quake.] A trem-
ulous motion. SalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
4888
quaggy (kwag'i), a. [< quag + -^i.] Yield-
ing to the feet or trembling under the foot, as
soft wet earth ; boggy; spongy.
The watery strath or quaggy moss.
CoUins, Superstitions of the Highlands,
The quaggy soil trembles to a sound like thunder of
breakers on a coast. Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 733.
quaraiire (kwag'mir), n. [Appar. a var. of the
Q&wei quakemire : see quakemire.] Soft, wet,
boggy land that trembles under the foot; a
marsh; a bog; a fen.
Whom the foul fleud hath led through fire and through
flame, and through ford and whirlipool, o'er bog and quag-
mire. Shak., Lear, iii. 4. 54.
Faith, I have followed Cupid's Jack-a-lantorn, and find
myself in a quagmire at last. Sheridan, The Hivals, iii. 4.
=Syn. Slough, Bog, etc. See marsh.
quagmire (kwag'mir), v. t.; pret. and pp.
quagmired, ppr. quagmiring. [< quagmire, «.]
To entangle or sink in or as in a quagmire.
[Rare.]
When a reader has been quagndred in a dull heavy book,
what a refreshing sight it is to see finis !
Laconics (1701), p. 120. {LatJumi.)
A man is never quagmired till he stops ; and the rider
who looks back has never a firm seat.
Landor, Imaginary Conversations, Wellington and Sir
[Kobert Inglls, p. 376.
quagmiry (kwag'mir-i), a. [< quagmire + -^i.]
Like a quagmire ; boggy ; marshy ; fenny ; quag-
gy. [Rare.]
They had twenty wigwams, hard by a most hideous
swamp, so thick with bushes and so quagmiry as men
could hardly crowd into it.
Winthrop, Hist New England, I. 279.
quahog, quahaug (kwa-hog', -hftg'), n. [Also co-
hog, eohaug, eohauk, quohog, quog, etc. ; < Amer.
Ind. (Narragan-
sett) poquau-
hock.] The large
edible round
clam of the At-
lantic coast of
the United
States, Venus
mercenariafVauah
and chowders. See clam^, and cut under dimy-
anaTi.— Blood-qualiog, the young or a small specimen
of various species of AreidiB, or ark-shells ; a bloody clam
or hair-clam. [Narragansett Bay.]
quaich, n. See quaigh.
quaidt, a. or pp. An artificial contracted form
of quailed, past participle of quaiP-. Spenser.
quaigh, quaich (kwaoh), n. [Also qu^gh, qimgh,
queeh, quoieh, queych, queff; < (Jael. Ir. euach, a
cup, bowl. Cf. quaff.] A shallow drinking-
cup, made of small staves hooped together:
it is usually of wood, but sometimes of silver.
[Scotch.]
She filled a small wooden quaigh from an earthen pitcher.
Scott, Pirate, vi.
Nov lacked they, while they sat at dine.
The music, nor the tale,
Nor goblets of the blood-red wine,
Nor mantling quaighs of ale.
Scott, Thomas the Bhymer, iii.
The girded qmich they brimmed for him.
Prof. Bladcie, Lays of Highlands and Islands, p. 171.
quaiU (kwal), v. [Early mod. E. and dial, also
queal; < ME. quelen (pret. qual), < AS. cwelan
(pret. cwsel, pp. ewoUn), die (also in comp.
d-ewelan, die utterly), = OS. quelan, die, = MD.
quelen = MLG. quelen, suffer pain, pine, = OHG.
quelan, quelen, chelen, MHG. queln, die, (3-. qu4-
len, suffer pain ; of. AS. cwalu, destruction, ME.
quale, murrain (see quale^), and AS. cwellan,
cause to die, kill, quell: see queU, which is the
causative form of quail, and of. qualm, from
the same source.] 1. intrans. It. To begin to
die; decline; fade; wither.
For as the world wore on, and waxed old,
So virtue quail'd, and vice began to grow.
Tancred and Ckmmnda, ii. 3.
The quailing and withering of all things.
HakewiU, Apology, p. 71.
2. To lose heart or courage; shrink before
danger or difficulty; flinch; cower; tremble.
And with sharpe threates her often did assayle ;
So thinking for to make her stubborne eoTBgemuiyle.
Spenser, F. Q., Ill: viii. 40.
Plant courage in their quailing breasts.
Shak., 8 Hen. VI., IL 3. 64.
But Pelleas lifted up an eye so fierce
She quail'd. Tennyson, Pelleas and Ettarre.
3t. To slacken.
And let not search and inquisition quail.
Shak., As you L&e It, ii. 2. 20.
H. trans. To quell; subdue; overpower; in-
timidate; terrify.
quail
Couetousnesse quayleth gentlenesse.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 91.
When somer toke in hand the winter to assail.
With force of mighty and vertue great, his stormy blasts to
quail. Surrey, Complaint of a Lover.
The sword of the spirit Satham guailes.
And to attaine the conquest never failes.
Times' Whisae (E. E. T. S.), p. 145.
Am not I here to take thy part?
Then what has quail'd thy stubborn heart?
5. Butler, Hudibras, I. iii. 204.
Kesist — the thunder quails thee 1— crouch— rebuff
Shall be thy recompense !
Wordntiorth, Eccles. Sonnets, i. 39.
quail^t (kwal), V. i. [< ME. quaylen, qualen, <
OP. eoailler, P. cailler = Sp. cuMjar = Pg. coa-
Iha/r = It. quagliare, eagliare, < L. eoagulare,
curdle, coagulate: see coagulate.] To curdle;
coagulate. Palsgrave.
The cream is said to be quailed when the butter begins
to appear in the process of churning.
Batchelor, Orthoep. Anal., p. 140. (HaUiwell.)
quaiF (kwal), n. [Early mod. E. also quayle,
Se.quailzie; < ME. quaille, quayle, qwayle,< OP.
quaille, P. caille = Pr. calha = OS^. coalla = It.
quaglia, < ML. quaquila, also quaquara, qua-
quadra, quisquila (also, after OP., etc., qualia),<.
MD. quakele, quackel, D.Jcwakkel (MD. also quar-
tet, J), kwartel) = MLG. quackele, LG. quackel, a
quail; so called in reference to its cry, < MD.
quaelcen, D. kwaken = MLG. quaken, quack:
see quack^.] 1. A small gallinaceous bird of
the Old World, related to the partridge, and
belonging to the genus Coturnix. The common
Messina or migratory quail of Europe and Africa is C. eom-
nvunis or C. dactylisonans, highly esteemed for the table.
Common Migratory or Messina Quail of Europe iCotumix
' cotntnunis).
The bill is much smaller and weaker than in the partridge,
and the nasal fossse are mostly feathered. The wings are
pointed by the first, second, and third quills ; the first is
emarginate on the inner web ; the tail is very shorty soft,
and slight, not half as long as the wing. The feet are
small, with the tarsus shorter than the middle toe and
claw, and slightly feathered above. The length of the
bird is about 7 inches. The plum^e is much variegated,
the most conspicuous markings being sharp lance-linear
stripes, whitish or buff, over most of the upper parts. This
quail has several times been imported into the TTnited
States, but has failed thus far to become naturalized.
There are many other quails of the same genus in vari-
ous parts of the Old World, but none are indigenous to the
New.
2. One of the various small gallinaceous birds
more or less closely resembling the quail prop-
er: loosely applied, with or without a qualify-
ing term, especially in the United States, to
all the species of Ortyx or CoUnus, Lophortyx,
Oreortyx, CalUpepla, Cyrtonyx, and other gen-
era of American Ortyginse or Odontophorimse.
Bob-white, or Common Quail of America {Ortyx vir^niana").
Among such, the species of bob-white, as Ortyx cirgini-
ana, the common partridge or quail of sportsmen, are
the nearest to the Old World species of Coturnix. In the
United States, wherever the ruffed grouse, Bonasa umbel-
la, is called pheasant, the bob-white is called partridge:
where that grouse is called partridge, the bob-white is
known as guaU. See also cuts under Callipepla, Cyrtonyx,
Lophortyx, and Oreortyx.
quail
If we must borrow a name from any Old World birds
for our species of Ortyx, Lophortyx, Callipepla, etc., the
term "gjmU is rather more appropriate than "partridge."
Coiies, Key to N. A. Birds, p. B96.
St. A prostitute. Also caXleA plover. [Low.]
Here 's Agamemnon — an honest fellow enough, and one
that loves quaUe. Shak., T. and C, v. 1. 67.
Fainted QLuaiL See painted.
quail-call (kwal'kai), n. A quail-pipe.
quail-dove (kwal'duv),«. An American pigeon
of the genus Starncenas. S. cyanocephalus is the
blue-headed quail-dove, found in the West In-
dies and Florida.
quail-mutton (kwal'mufn), n. Diseased mut-
ton. HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
quail-pigeon (kwal'pii"on), n. A pigeon of the
genus Geophaps.
quail-pipe (kwal'pip), n. [< ME. guail-pipe; <
guailS + pipei-.J A call or pipe for alluring
quaU into a net.
Highe shoos knopped with dagges,
That frounoen lylce a quaile-j;dpe.
Mom. of the Rose, 1. 72B9.
Thrush or nightingale, all is one to the fowler ; and.
Master Vainey, you can sound the quail-pipe most daintily
to wile wantons into his nets. Scott, Kenilworth, vii.
Quall-plpe bootst, boots resembling a quail-pipe. Halli-
weU.
A gallant that hides his small-timbered legs with a
quail-pipe boot. Middleton, Blurt, Master-Constable, ii. 1.
quail-snipe (kwal'snip), n. l. A South Ameri-
can bird of the family Thmocoridie: same as
lark-plover. — 2. The dowitcher, or red-breasted
snipe. J. P. Giraud, 1844. [Long Island.]
quailsr (kwa'li), n.\ pi. guailies (-liz). [Said to
be imitative.] TJie upland plover, or Bartram's
sandpiper, Trmga hartramia ai Bartramialongi-
cauda. See cut under Bartramia. [Manitoba.]
quaint (kwant), a. [Early mod. E. also gueint;
dial. (Se.) quent; < ME. quaint, quaynt, gwhainte,
qiieint, queynt, quoint, coint, hoint, < ttP. coint,
coynt, coinet, coente, cuinte, quoint, queint, qwmnt,
quieynt, well-known, brave, wise, clever, quaint,
= Pr. conte, cointe = It. canto, known, noted,
also pretty, contr. of cognito, known, < L. cog-
nitus, known : see cognizance, cognise, etc. The
somewhat remarkable development of senses
(which took place in OF.) is partly paralleled
by that of couth, known, with its negative un-
couth, and by that of AS. mmre, known, famous,
etc. (see mere^) ; but some confusion with L.
comptus (> It. conto), neat, and with computatus
(> It. coKto,, counted, numbered, etc.) is prob.
also involved: see compt^. Of. quaint, v., and
acquaint, etc.] If. Known ; familiar.
The hert & the hinde there thanne hem hed sone,
As the werwolf hem wissed that ay was here gye.
Under a coynte cr&g fast hi the queues chaumber.
WiUiam (^ Paleme (B. B. T. S.), 1. 2850.
2t. Artful ; clever ; cunning ; crafty ; wily.
Ovid openly in Eydos tellus
How Medea the maiden made hym all new.
By crafte that she kouth of hir coint artys.
Destruction of Troy (E. B. T. S.), 1. 125.
" Dere brother," quath Peres, "the devell is ful queynte
To encombren holy Chm'che."
fiers Plmmnan's Crede (E. E. T. S.), 1. 482.
But you, my lord, were glad to be employ'd,
To snow how quaint an orator you are. .
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., lii. 2. 274.
St. Artiflcial; ingenious; elaborate; curious;
pretty; elegant; fine.
And of Achilles with his queyrOe spere.
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 231.
git schal thou, erthe, for al thi erthe, make thou It
neuere so queynte & gay. „ „ „ „ ,
aymns to Virgin, etc. (B. B. T. S.), p. 89.
Our plumes, our spangs, and al our queint aray,
Are pricking spurres, prouoMng filthy pride.
Ga^caigne, Steele Glas (ed. Arber), p. 60.
For he was clad in strange acooustrements,
Fashion'd with queint devises, never seene
In court before. Spenser, Mother Hub. Tale, 1. 673.
For a flue, quaint, graceful, and excellent fashion, yours
[your gown] IS worth ten on "t. ,,,,,, ...,„„
" ® Shak., Much Ado, m. 4. 22.
To nurse the saplings tall, and curl the grove
With ringlets quaint. MUton, Arcades, 1. 47.
4. Fanciful ; odd ; whimsical : as, a quaint
phrase ; a quaint talker.
We semen wonder wyse,
OnrtermesbeensoclergialandsosMes/Bto.
ChOMcer, Prol. to Canon's Yeoman s Tale, 1. 199.
To move
His laughter at their quaint opinions wide
Hereafter, when they come to model beaven
And caloiilate the stars. Miltm, P. L., vm. 78.
Some stroke olguaint yet simple pleasantry. Macaulay.
5. Odd and antique; old-fashioned; curious;
o4d in any way.
4889
But sodeinly she saugh a sighte queynte.
Ohomcer, Knight's Tale, L 1476.
A casement high and triple-arched there was,
. . . diamonded with panes of quaint device.
Keats, Eve of St. Agnes, st. 24.
There [in Europe] were to be seen the masterpiece[8]
of art, the refinements of highly-cultivated society, the
guaint peculiarities of ancient and local custom.
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 14.
Hare fronts of varied mosaic, covered with imagery,
wilder and quainter thaa ever filled a Midsummer Night's
Dream. RusHn.
As maint, a four-in-hand
As you shall see— three pyebalds and a roan.
Tennyson, Walking to the MaiL
6t. Affectedly nice ; squeamish; prim.
She, nothing quaint,
STor sdeignfull of so homely fashion,
Sith brought she was now to so hard constraint.
Sat downe upon the dusty ground anon.
Spenser, F. Q., III. vii. 10.
=Syn. 5. Old, Antique, etc. See amsiemt^.
quaintt (kwant), adv. [ME. quainte, queynte,
etc. ; < quaint, a.] Elegantly.
What shulde I speke more queynte.
Or peyne me my wordes peynte?
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 245.
quaker
quaintness (kwant'nes), n. [< ME. quaintnes,
qwhayntnes; < quaint + -Bess.] The quality of
being quaint, (at) Artfulness ; cunning ; wiliness. (6t)
Elegance; daintiness; niceness; affectation.
The fancy of some odde quaininesses bane puthim cleane
beside his Nature.
Bp. Earle, Mioro-cosmographie, An Affected Man
I . . . have therein more solicitously followed the truth
of things (many of which I cau also assert on my own know-
ledge) than I have studied quainUwss in expressions.
N. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 11.
There is a certain majesty in simplicity which is far
above the quaintness of wit. Pope.
(c) Fancif ulness ; oddity ; whimsicality ; queemess ; espe-
cially, odd, old-fashioned appearance or manner.
The great obstacle to Chapman's translations being read
is their unconquerable quaintness.
Lamb, Eng. Dramatists, Notes.
Healthy seriousness often best expresses itself in play- ■
ful qimintmess. Froude, Sketches, p. 184.
That peculiar air of quaintness which is shared by all
places where narrow streets run up a steep hilL
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 93.
quairt, n. An obsolete form of quirefi
quaisy (kwa'zi), a. An obsolete or dialectal
form of queasy.
quaintt (kwant), v. t. [< ME. quainten, quein- quait (kwat), n. A variant of quoit. [U. S.]
ten, queynten, eoimtmi ; by apheresis from aquain- quake (kwak), v. ; pret. and pp. quaked, ppr. quak-
ten, eta.: see acquainf} To acquaint; inform; "'fl'
cause to know.
He coynted him queyntli with tho tvo ladies,
That hade that time thi sone to kepe in warde.
William (if Paleme (B. B. T. S.), 1. 4644.
There if he travaile and qumnte him well.
The Treasure of Knowledges is his eche deale.
Recorde, Castle of Knowledge (1656). (,HalUwett.)
I met a man and bad him stay,
Bequeisting him to mak me quaint
Of the beginning and the event.
Batae of Harlaw (Child's Ballads, VII. 182).
quaintancet, n. [ME. quaintance, qweyntance,
quoyntaunce; by apheresis from acg«ajmto»ce.]
Acquaintance.
He kysses hir comlyly, & knygtly he mele^ ;
Thay kallen hym of a quoyntaunee, & he hit quyk askeg,
To be her seruaunt sothly, if hem-self lyked.
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (B. B. T. S.), 1. 976.
quaintiset) n. [< ME. quaintise, quayntise,
qwaintis, qwantis, queyntise, < OP. covnUse, coyn-
Mse, covntice, quoinUse, cuintize, coentisce, quen-
tis, etc., cleverness, skilfulness, cunning, art-
fulness, neatness, < coint, known, clever,
quaint: see quaint.'\ 1. Cleverness; artful-
ness; euiming; craft.
The divill by his dotage dissaneth the chirche,
And put in the prechours y-paynted withouten :
And by his queyntise they comen in the curates to helpen.
Piers Plowman's Crede (B. E. T. S.), 1. 507.
Into the cuntre of Calaphe cast with a storme.
There the qwene with hir qwaintis qwaitid me to cacche :
Held me with hir, & my hede knightes.
DeOructim, of Tray (B. B. T. S.), 1. 13245.
Be waar to whom thou trnstis, and spare for no qweynMse,
For myche harme hath falle to them that ben not wise.
Btaees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 42.
2. Elegance; beauty; neatness; trimness;
daintiness.
[< ME. quaken, awaken (pret. quakede, also
quoke, quok, quoc), < AS. cwaeian (pret. cwacode)
(whence causative cweccan, cause to shake, wag :
see quitch^) ; perhaps akin to quick.^ I. intrans.
To shake ; tremble ; be agitated by tremors or
shocks. Specifically— (a) To tremble from cold, weak-
ness, or fear ; shiver ; shudder.
They [wives] sholde setten hire entente to plesen hir
housbondes, but nat by hire queyntise of array.
Chancer, Parson's Tale.
quaintiset, «• <• [ME. _
«.] To make or adorn cunnmgly.
The new guise of Beme was there;
With sondry thynges well deuised
I see, wherof thei he queintised.
Oower, Conf. Amant., viii.
quaintly (kwant'li), adv. [< ME. quaintly,
queinthj, queyntly, cointly, coyntly; < quaint +
-ly^."] In a quaint manner, (at) Artfully ; cun-
ningly; ingeniously; cleverly.
Bothe that on & that other, myn honoured ladye,
That thus hor knygt wyth hor kest ban koyntty bigyled.
This Ypermestra caste hire eyen doun.
And quok as doth the leete of aspe grene.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 2649.
We were so f erde we can [began] downe falle.
And qwoke for drede,
York Plays, -p. il6.
And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceed-
ingly fear and quake. Heb. xii. 21.
She, . . . while her infant race ... sit cow'ring o'er the
sparks,
Ketires, content to quake, so they be warm'd.
Cowper, Task, iv. 386.
(b) To tremble from internal convulsions or shocks.
The erthe awoke, and mounteynes an highly
Valeis, & stoonys, bursten a-sundir.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (B. E. T. S.), p. 48.
The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the
earth is burned at his presence. Nah. 1. 5.
(c) To tremble from want of solidity or firmness : as, quail-
ing jelly ; a quaking bog.
Let custards quake, my rage must freely run !
Mareton, Scourge of Villanie, ii. 4.
Next Smedley dived ; slow circles dimpled o'er
The quaking mud, that clos'd, and op'd no more.
Pope, Dunciad, ii. 292.
Quaking ash, asp, etc. See the nouns. =Syn. (a) Shud-
der, etc. See stdver.—ifi) and (c) To vibrate, quiver.
Il.t trans. To cause to shake or tremble ;
throw into agitation or trembling; cause to
shiver or shudder.
I am not pleas'd at that ill-knotted fire.
That bushing-staring star. Am I not Duke?
It should not mjake me now ; had it appear'd
Before, it I might then bane justly fear'd.
Tmtmeur, Revenger's Tragedy, v. 3.
Where ladies shall be frighted,
And, gladly quaked, hear more. Shak., Cor., i. 9. 6.
quake (kwak), n. [< ME. quake; < quake, v.']
1. A shake; a trembling; a tremulous agita-
tion; a shuddering.
Yet as the earth may sometimes shake.
For winds shut up will cause a quake.
Suckling, Love's World.
2t. Pear; dismay.
Thou shal bye thi breed ful dere,
Til thou tume ajeyn in quake
To that erthe thou were of -take.
Cursor Mundi, MS. Coll. Trin. Cantab., f. 6. (HaUiwell.)
"sirGawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T.'S.),!" 2413. quake-bieecht (kwak'brech), n. A coward.
A ladder quaintly made of cords, [Eare.]
To cast up, with a pair of anchoring hooks - ^ hartlesse, a faint-hearted fellow, n quake-
Shak., T. G. of V., m. 1. 117. j^^^^^ without boldnes, spirit, wit ; a sot. Wtthals, Diet.
^ 'ea^l'he^'rd's Week. Monday, 1. 79. quakO-graSS (kwak'gras), n. Same as quaking.
(b\) Prettily ; nicely ; pleasantly ; with neatness or trim-
The lorde loutes therto, & the lady als,
In-to a comly closet coynUy ho entre.
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (B. E. T. S.), 1. 934.
Yes. yes : the lines are very quaintly writ.
' Shak.,^. G. of V., ii. 1. 128.
When was old Sherewood's hair more quainUy curl'd.
Or nature's cradle more enchased and purl'd?
B. Jonson.
(c) Fancifully ; oddly ; whimsically ; curiously ; especially,
in an odd, old-fashioned way : as, quaintly dressed ; quaint-
Anon a figure enters, quaivMy neat,
AU nride and business, bustle and conceit.
" Crabhe, Works, 1. 14.
grass.
quakemiret (kwak'mir), n. [< quake + mire.
Hence quagmire, and by abbr. quag. Cf . quave-
mire, quickmire.'] A quagmire. Stanihurst.
quaker (kwa'k6r), «. [< quake + -erl. Hence
(in sense 2) P. Quaere, Quaker = Sp. Cudkero
= Pg. Quaere = D. Kwaker = G. Quaker = I>a3i.
KviBker = Sw. Quakare.'} 1. One who quakes
or trembles.— 2. icap.'\ One of the religious
denomination called the Society of Friends. The
name, originally given in reproach, has never been adopted
by the Society. See Society of Friends, under flrietid.
Quakers that, like to lanterns, bear
Their lights within 'em will not swear.
5. Butler, Hudibras, II. iL 219.
quaker
A certain minister in Bremen, . . . reproached with the
name of Quaker, because of his singular sharpness against
the formal lifeless ministers and Christians in the world.
Perm, Travels in Holland, etc.
Get the writings of John Woolmau by heart, and love
the early Quakers. Larnb, A Quakers' Meeting.
3. A Quaker gun (wUoli see, under guri^).
The only other vessel in the port was aBussian govern-
ment bark, . . . mounting eight guns (four of which we
found to be quakers).
R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 271.
4. In entom., one of cei'tain noetuid moths:
an English collectors' name. Agrotis castanea
is the common quaker, and Mamestra nana is
the small quaker. Also qwaher-mofh Free
Qualcer, a name assumed by those Quakers who were
disowned by the Society of Friends, at the time of the Rev-
olutionary War, for actively supporting the cause of the
colonists. They organized ns a separate body, which
ceased to exist after the death of Its original members. —
Quaker Uack-drop. See black-drop.— Q-aakeT but-
tons. See button. — Stewed Quaker, a posset of mo-
lasses or honey, stewed with butter and vinegar, and
taken hot as a remedy for colds. [CoUoq.] — The Quaker
City, Philadelphia in Pennsylvania : so called in allusion
to its having been founded by Quakers.
quaker-bird (kwa'k6r-b6rd), n. The sooty al-
batross, Diomedea or Phoebetria fuUginosa : so
called from its somber color.
Quaker-color (kwa'k6r-kul''or), n. The color of
the drab or gray fabrics muc£ worn by Quakers.
The upper parts are a uniform, satiny olive gray or
guaker-cotor. Couet, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 474.
Quakerdom (kwa'ker-dum), n. [< Quaker +
-dom.'] Quakers as a class; the world of Qua-
kers, with their tenets, aims, manners, customs,
etc. [Colloq.]
He [Derwent Coleridge] spoke very civilly of modern
Quakerdom, congratulating them on their preference for
the cultivation of the intellect rather than the accomplish-
ments of the person. Caroliita Fox, Journal, p. 47.
Quakeress (kwa'ker-es), n. l<. Quaker + -ess.']
A female Quaker.
Every Quakeress is a lily. Lanib, A Quakers' Meeting.
quaker-grass (kwa'ker-gras), n. Same as
quaking-grass. [Prov. Eng.]
Quakeiic (kwa,'k6r-ik), a. [< Quaker + 4c.']
Pertaining to a Quaker; Quakerish. [Rare.]
The Qualcerie dialect. Macaulay, in Trevelyan, II. 190.
Quakerish (kwa'k6r-ish), a. [< Quaker + -i*7ji.]
Pertaining to Quakerism; characteristic of or
resembling the Quakers ; Quaker-like.
Don't address me as if I were a beauty ; I am your plain
Quakerish governess. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxiv.
Quakerism (kwa'kfer-izm), n. [< Quaker +
-jsm.] The tenets, religious customs, and man-
ners peculiar to the Quakers wet Quakerism,
the doctrine of those I'riends who believe in the proprie-
iy and Scriptural sanction of baptism with water : used
opprohriously.
Wet Quakerism is largely on the Increase, even in the
innermost circle. H. K. Oxenhmn, Short Studies, p. 3.
Quakerly (kwa'ker-li), a. [< Quaker + -ly'^.]
Characteristic of or resembling Quakers ; Qua-
ker-like.
Tou would not have Englishmen, when they are in
company, hold a e&mt mmkerly meeting.
J, Goodman, Winter Evening Conferences, p. 1.
quaker-moth (kwa'k6r-m6th), n. An English
collectors' name for certain modest-colored noe-
tuid moths. _
qnakers (kwa'kerz), n. [PI. of quaker.] The
quaking-grass. [Prov. Eng.]
quakeryt (kwa'ker-i), n. [< Quaker + -^3 (see
-ery).] Same as Quakerism.
quaketail (kwak'tal), n. The yellow wagtail ;
any bird of the genus Budytes, as B.JUwa. Mac-
gillivray; Montagu. [Local, British.]
quakiness (kwa'ki-nes), n. The state of being
quaky or shaking : as, the quakiness of a bog.
quaking (kwa'king), n. [< ME. quahynge, < AS.
cwacung, verbal n. of cwacian, quake: see
quake.] Trembling; fear; agitation.
Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy
water with tremblmg. Ezek. xiL 18.
quaking-grass (kwa'king-grS,s), n. A grass of
the genus Briza, especially B. media, an Old
World plant sparingly introduced into the Unit-
ed States. The spikelets are tremulous on the slender
branches of the panicle. Also called quake-grass, quaker-
grass, dodder-grass, cow-quakes, dittiering grass, jodcey-
grass, and rrMidenhair-grass.—Taii qLuaking-grass. See
Qlgc&ria.
quakingly (kwa'king-li), adv. In a quaking or
trembling manner.
But never pen did more quakingly perform his o£Bce.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, ilL
quaky (kwa'M), a. [< quake + -y^.] Charac-
terized by or prone to quaking; shaky: as, a
quaky bog.
4890
Poor old Twoshoes is so old and toothless and quaky
that she can't sing a bit.
Thackeray, Koundabout Papers, Some Carp at Sans Soaci.
qualeH, «• [ME., < AS. ewalu, slaughter, de-
struction (= OS. quala, quale = MD. qiMele,
D. kwaal, sickness, disease, = MLG. quale,
liGt.quaal, kwaal = OHG. quala, chwala, chala,
MH(t. quale, kale, Gr. qual = Icel. hvSl = Sw.
qvM = Dan. hoal, pang, agony), < cwelan,
die: see guaj^l.] A plague ; murrain. Laya-
mon.
quale^t, v. i. A Middle English form of quail^.
quale^f , n. A Middle English dialectal form of
whale^.
quale* (kwa'le), n. [L., neut. of qualis, inter-
rog. , of what character or quality, of what sort ;
rel., of such a kind; indef., having some quali-
ty or other: see quality.] An object named or
considered as having a quality.
Moreover, we can directly observe in our own organic
sensations, which seem to come nearest to the whole con-
tent of infantile and molluscous experience, an almost
entii'e absence of any assignable quale.
J. Ward, Bncyo. Brit., XX. 40.
qualifiable (kwol'i-fi-a-bl), a. [< F. qualifia-
ble; as qualify + -able.] Capable of being
qualified, in any sense. Barrow.
qualification (kwoFi-fi-ka'shon), n. [= P. qua-
lification = Sp. caUficadon = Pg. qualificagSo
= It. quaUficazione, < ML. *qualificaUo{n-), <
qualifieare, qualify: see qualify.] 1. The act
of qualifying, or the state of being qualified, by
change or modification; specifically, adapta-
tion; fitness.
Keither had the waters of the flood infused such an im-
purity as thereby the natural and powerful operation of
all plants, herbs, and fruits upon the earth received a
qualijicaiion and harmful change. Raleigh, Hist. World.
2. A quality adapting a person or thing to
particular circumstances, uses, or ends.
The qualiflcaimm which conduce most to the fixity of
a portion of matter seem to be these.
Boyle, Experimental Notes, i.
Strength, agility, and courage would in such a state be
the most valuable quaXiJicaMons.
MarmemUe, Fable of the Bees, Dialogue vi
3. That which qualifies a person for or renders
him admissible to or acceptable for a place,
an oflce, or an employment; any natural or
acquired quality, property, or possession which
secures a right to exercise any function, privi-
lege, etc.; specifically, legal power or ability:
as, the qualifications of an elector.
The true reason of requiring any qualificaHon with re-
gard to property in voters' is to exclude such persons as
are in so mean a situation that they are esteemed to have
no will of their own. Btackstone, Com., I. ii.
They say a good Maid Servant ought especially to have
three Qumificationg: to be honest, ugly, and high-spirited.
jr. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 304.
Considerable efforts are, however, now being made to
have the real gymnasium certificate recognized as a suf-
ficient qualiflcation for the study of medicine at least.
Encyc. Brit., XX. 17.
4. In logic, the attaching of quality, or the dis-
tinction of affirmative and negative, to aterm. —
5. A qualifying — that is, partially negativing
or extenuating — circumstance; modification;
restriction; limitation; allowance; abatement:
as, to assert something without any qualifica-
tion.
It may be laid down as a general mle, though subject
to considerable qualificatume and exceptions, that history
begins in novel and ends in essay. Maeamay, History.
Buf^ all qualifications being made, it is undeniable that
there is a certain specialization of the [nervous] discharge,
giving some distinctiveness to the bodUy changes by which
each feeling is accompanied.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., § 495.
6t. Appeasement; pacification.
Oat of that will I cause these of Cyprus to mutiny ;
whose qual'^caUon shall come into no true taste again but
by the displanting of Cassio. Shak., Othello, ii. 1. 282.
Property qualification, the holding of a certain amount
of property as a condition to the right of suffrage or the
exercise of some other public function. This condition
in the case of suffrage 1ms been common in ancient and
modem times, and stUl prevails to a considerable extent
in Europe. In the United States it has disappeared in the
different States — the last one, Rhode Island, having abol-
ished it (with a few exceptions) in 1888. In many States
a smaU property qualification is a condition of service as
a juror.
qualificative (kwol'i-fi-ka-tiv), a. and n. [=
F. qualificatif= Pg. qualijUcativo; < NL. qualify
caUvus, < ML. qualifieare, qualify: see quMify.]
I. a. Serving to qualify or modify, or having
the power to do so ; qualifying.
if. n. That which serves to qualify, modify,
or limit; a qualifying term, clause, or state-
ment.
qualify
qualificator (kwol'i-fi-ka-tor), ». [= F. quali-
ficateur = Sp. calificador = Pg. qualificador =
It. quaUficatore; < ML. qualificator, < qualifi-
eare, qaality: see qualify.] In Koman Catholic
ecclesiastical courts, an officer whose business
it is to examine causes and prepare them for
trial.
qualificatory (kwol'i-fi-karto-ri), a. [< NL.
"qualificatoriits, < ML. qimUficare, qualify: see
qualify.] Of or pertaining to quaUfieation.
[Eare.]
Some teachera urge that we should have no examina-
tions at all,. . . others that examinations should be solely
qualificatory. The Academy, Oct. 12, 1889, p. 238.
qualified (kwol'i-fid), p. a. 1. Having a quali-
fication; fitted by accomplishments or endow-
ments ; furnished with legal power or capacity :
as, a person qualified to hold an appointment ;
a qualified elector.
Well qualified and dutiful I know him ;
I took him not for beauty.
Beau, and Fl., Fhilaster, iii. 2.
He only who is able to stand alone i% qualified for society.
Emerson, Fugitive Slave Law.
2. Affected by some degree of negation, limi-
tation, or modification; modified; Umited; re-
stricted : as, a qualified statement ; qu^ified ad-
miration.
The Quaker's loyalty, said the Earl of Errol at Aberdeen,
Is a qualified loyalty; it smells of rebellion.
Bancroft, Hist. V. S., II. 349.
3. Eccles., noting a person enabled to hold two
benefices Estate of inheritance qualified. See es-
taJte.— Qualified acceptance. See aeceptartce, l (c) (2).—
Qualified fee, Indorsement, oatb, property. See the
nouns. = Syn. 1. Competent, Qiudijjea, Fitted. To be com-
petent is to have the natural abilities or the general train-
ing necessary for any given work ; to be piai^d is to have,
in addition to competency, a-special traming, enabling one
to begin the work effectively and at once. He who is compe-
tent may or may not require time to become qualijied;ii^
who is not com^etevJt cannot become gwMfied, for it is not
in him. Fitted is a general word ; he who is fitted by na-
ture, experience, or genial training is competent; he who
iB fiUed by special preparation is qualified.
qualifiedly (kwol'i-fid-li), adv. In a qualified
manner ; with qualification or limitation.
qualifiedness (kwol'i-fid-nes), n. The state of
being qualified or fitted.
qualifier (kwori-fi-6r), n. [< qualify + -eri.
Cf . qualificator.] One who or that which quali-
fies ; that which modifies, reduces, tempers, or
restrains; specifically, in gram., a word that
qualifies another, as an adjective a noun, or
an adverb a verb, etc.
Your Epitheton or qualifier, whereof we spake before,
. . . because he semes also to alter and enforce the sence, '
wewiU say somewhat more of him.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 152.
Qualifiers of the Holy Office, a body of monks, in the
service of the Inquisition, who examined the evidence in
regard to accused persons, and made reports to the. tribu-
nals. Emye. Brit.
qualify (kwol'i-fi), v.; pret. and pp. qualified,
ppr. qualifying. [< OF. qualifier, eallifier, cuali-
ficar, F. qualijier = Sp. cdUficar = Pg. quali-
ficar = It. qualifieare, < ML. qtMlificare, < L.
qualis, of what kind, + -fica/re, < facere, make :
see quality onA -fy.] I. trans. 1. To note the
quality or kind of ; express or m ark a quality of.
— 3. "To impart a certain quality or qualification
to ; fit for any place, office, or occupation ; fur-
nish with the knowledge, skill, or other accom-
plishment necessary for a purpose.
I determined to qualify myself for engraving on copper.
Hogarth, in Thackeray's Eng. Humourists, Hogarth,
[Smollett, and Fielding, note.
Misanthropy is not the temper which qwdifies a man to
act in great affairs, or to judge of them.
Macanday, Hallam's Const. Hist.
3. SpeciflcaUy, to make legally capable; fur-
nish with legal power or capacity: as, to quali-
fy a person for exercising the elective franchise.
The first of them, says he, that has a Spaniel by his Side,
is a Yeoman of about an hundred Pounds a Year, an hon-
est Man ; He is just within the Game Act, and qualiMd to
kill an Hare or a Pheasant. Addison, Spectator, Ho. 122.
In 1432 it was ordered that the qualifying freehold should
be within the county. Stubbs, Const. Hist, § 368.
4. In logic, to modify by the negative particle
or in some similar way. — 5. In gram., to ex-
press some quality as belonging to; modify;
describe : said of an adjective in relation to a
noun, of an adverb in relation to a verb, etc.
— 6._ To limit or modify; restrict; limit by ex-
ceptions; come near denying; as, to qualify a
statement or an expression; to qualify tne sense
of words or phrases.
Sometimes wordes suffered to go single do giue greater
sence and grace then words quaUifUd by attributions do.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. .162.
ciualify
7. To moderate; soothe; abate; soften; di-
nunisti; assuage: as, to gualify the rigor of a
statute. °
1 do not seek to quench your love's hot fire.
But qualify the fire's extreme rage.
Shak., T. G. of V., iL 7. 22.
Although the seat of the Town be excessive hot, yet it
IS happily qualified by a North-east gale that blovFeth from
^**- Sandys, Travailes, p. 6.
8. To modify the quality or strength of; make
stronger, dilute, or otherwise fit for taste : as, to
qualify liquors.
I have drunk but one cup to-night, and that was craftily
qualified too. Shak., Othello, ii. 3. 41.
A set of f euars and bonnet lairds who . . . contrived to
drink twopenny, qualified with brandy or whisky.
Seott, St. Uonatfs Well, i.
9. To temper ; regulate ; control.
This is the master-piece of a modern politician, how to
tpwMfie and mould the sufferance and subjection of the
people to the length of that foot that is to tread on their
necks. Milton, Reformation in Eng. , iL
It [the bittern] hath no fit larynx or throttle to qualify
the sound. Sir T. Broume, Vulg. Err., iiL 27.
10. In Scotch law, to prove; authenticate; con-
firm.
The other [half of the goods forfeited] to be given to
him who delates the recepters and qualifies the same.
Spalding, Hist. Troubles in Scotland, I. 273. (Jamieaan.)
If any individual could qualify a wrong, and a damage
arising from it.
Thurlaw, quoted in Boswell's Johnson (an. 1776).
=Syn. 2. To prepare, capacitate. See qualified.— 6 and 7.
To reduce.
II. intrans. 1. To take the necessary steps
for rendering one's self capable of holding any
ofBlee or enjoying any privilege; establish a
claim or right to exercise any function. — 2. To
take the oath of office before entering upon its
duties. — 3. To make oath to any fact : as, I am
ready to qualify to what I have asserted. [U. S.]
qualitative (kwol'i-ta-tiv), a. [= F. qualitative
= Sp. eualitati/vo = t*g. It. qiMlitativo, < LL.
qualitatimis, < L. qualita{t-)s, quality: see qual-
ity.'] Originally, depending upon qualities;
now, non-quantitative ; relating to the posses-
sion of qualities without reference to the quan-
tities involved ; stating that some phenomenon
occurs, but without measurement. The word
occurs, according to Dr. Fitzedward Hall, in
Gavile's Tlvg-fiavria (1652).
After this quantitative mental distinction [between men
and women], wliioh becomes incidentally gwoZifartiiw by tell-
ing most upon the most recent and most complex facul-
ties, there come the qualita^ve mental distinctions conse-
quent on the relations of men and women to their chil-
dren and to one another.
B. Spencer, Study of Sooiol., p. 374.
Qualitative analysis, in c!iem. See anoZi/sis.— Quali-
tative atrophy, degeneration of tissue combined, with
atrophy.— Qualitative definition, a definition by means
of accident^ qualities.
qualitatively (kwol'i-ta-tiv-li), adv. In a quali-
tative manner; with reference to quality; in
quality.
qualitied (kwol'i-tid), a. [< quality + -ed2.]
Disposed as to qualities or faculties ; furnished
with qualities ; endowed.
Besides all this, he was well qualitied.
Chapman, Iliad, xiv. 104.
A dainty hand, and small, to have such power
Of help to dizzy height ; and quatUied
Divinely. Harper\ Mag., LXXVin. 184.
quality (kwol'i-ti), n.; pi. qualities (-tiz). [<
OF. quaUte, F." qualite = Sp. cualidad, calidad
= Pg. qualidade = It. q^lal^tct, < L. quaUta(t-)s,
property, nature, state, quality (Cicero, tr. Gr.
iroi&nig), < qualis, interrog., of what kind, of
■what sort; rel., of such a kind, of such sort,
such as, as; indef., having_ some quality or
other; < quis, fem. abl. qua, who, what: see
who.'] 1. That from which anything can be
said to be such or such; a character expressi-
ble by an adjective admitting degrees of com-
parison, but not explicitly relative nor quan-
titative: thus, blueness, hardness, agility, and
mirtlifulness are qualities. The precise meaning of
the word is governed by its prominence in Aristotelian
Bhilosophy, which formed part of a liberal education till
near the end of the seventeenth century, though the modi-
fled doctrine of Kamus was taught at Cambridge. Aris-
totle makes quality one of his categories, or highest gen-
era, and thereby distinguishes it absolutely from sub-
staJice, quantity, and relation, as well as fromplaoe, time,
action; passion, habit, and posture. A quality is further
said by Aristotle to be something which has a contrary
which admits of degree, and which is a respect in which
Sings agree and flso differ. But no writers, not even
Aristotle himself, have strictly observed these distmc-
tionsi and Cicero, much followed by the Eamists, uses
thewordquiteloosely. e««'«2' ^as, however always been
ZloBedU, quantity; andfew writers c^ the universal at-
tributes of matter or those of mind qualities.
There is somewhat oontrarie unto qualOie, as vertue is
contouie unto vice, wit unto foUe, raanhode unto coward-
4891
ise. The thing conteinyng orreceivyng any qualitie male
be saied to receive either more or less. As one man is
thoughte to be wiser then another, not that wisdome it
self is either greater or lesse, but that it male bee in some
manne more and in some manne lesse. Byqmlitie things
are compted either like or unlike. Those fniugs are like
whiche are of like qualitie and have proprieties bothe ac-
cordingly. Wilson, Kule of Reason (1651).
Our good or evil estate after death dependeth most upon
the quality of our lives. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 46.
Every sin, the oftener it is committed, the more it ac-
quireth in the quality of evil.
Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, i. 42.
Qualities do as well seem to belong to natural bodies
generally considered as place, time, motion, and those
other things. Boyle, Origin of Forms, Pref.
The power to produce any idea in our mind, IcaSlqual-
tty of the subject wherein that power is.
Locke, Human Understanding, II. vili. 8.
The three qualities which are usually said to distinguish
atom from atom are shape, order, and position.
W. Wallace, Epicureanism, p. 174.
2. One of those characters of a person or thing
which make it good or bad; a moral disposi-
tion or habit. This use of the word, which comes from
Aristotle, was much more common and varied down to
the end of the eighteenth century than now. Good char-
acters were called qualities more often than bad ones.
All the quaHHes that man .
Loves woman for. Shak., Cymbeline, v. 5. 166.
You must now speak Sir John Falstaft fair ;
Which swims against your stream of quality.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., v. 2. 34.
To-night we'll wander through the streets, and note
The Mutinies of people. Shak., A. and C, i. 1. 64.
You never taught me how to handle cards.
To cheat and cozen men with oaths and lies ;
Those are the worldly qualities to live.
Beau, and Fl., Honest IVIan's Fortune, iv. 1.
You must observe all the rare qualities, humours, and
compliments of a gentleman.
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, i. 1.
Thou hast that pretty Quality of the famUiar Fops of
the Town, who, in an Eating-House, always keep Company
with aU People in 't but those they came with.
Wycherley, Plain Dealer, v. 1.
He is very great, and a very delightful man, and, with a
few bad qualities added to his character, would have acted
a most conspicuous part in life.
Sydney Smith, To Lady Holland.
3.. A distinguished and characteristic excel-
lence or superiority : as, this wine has quality.
We find spontaneity, also, in the rhymes of AUingham,
whose ' ' Mary Donnelly " and " The Fairies " have that in-
tuitive grace called quality — a grace which no amount of
artifice can ever hope to produce.
Stedman, Vict. Poets, p. 258.
In character the setter should display a great amount
of quality, a term which is difiicult of explanation, though
fully appreciated by all experienced sportsmen. It means
a combination of symmetry, as understood by the artist,
with the peculiar attributes of the breed under examina-
tion, as interpreted by the sportsman.
Dogs of Great Britain and America, p. 102.
4. Degree of excellence or fineness; grade: as,
the food was of inferior quality; the finest qual-
ity of cloth. — 5. A title, or designation of rank,
profession, or the like.
When ye will speake gluing euery person or thing be-
sides his proper name a qutditie by way of addition, whe-
ther it be of good or of bad, it is a flgnratiue speach of audi-
ble alteration. Futtenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 147.
6. Bank; profession; occupation; function;
character sustained.
A man of such perfection
As we do in our quality much want.
Shak., T. G. of T., iv. 1. 58.
I am weary of this trade of fortune-telling, and mean to
give all over when I come into England ; for it is a very
ticldish quality.
Fletcher (and another). Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 2.
Kneeling is the sinner's posture ; if thou come hither in
the quality of a sinner, . . . put thyself into the posture
of a sinner, kneel Donne, Sermons, vii.
The saints would often leave their cells.
And stroll about, but hide their quality,
To try good people's hospitality.
Swift, Baucis and Philemon.
A marriage, at the Halifax parish church, between John
Bateman, of Hipperholme, in that parish, and a Margaret
Aldersleye (no address or quality given).
N. and Q., 6th ser., X. 189.
7. Persons of the same calling or fraternity.
[Rare.]
To thy strong bidding task
Ariel and all his quality. Shak., Tempest, i. 2. 193.
8. Nobility or gentry, either abstractly (as,
persons of quality) or concretely (as, the qual-
ity). But the former is obsolescent, the latter
obsolete or now vulgar.
Gentlemen of blood and qualify.
Shak., Hen. V., iv. 8. 95.
Two or three great silver flagons, made with inscriptions
as gifts of the King to such and such persons of quality
as did stay in town the late great plague, for the keeping
things in order in the town. Pepys, Diary, III. 120.
A nymph of quality admires our knight ;
He marries, bows at Court, and grows polite.
Pope, Moral Essays, iii. 385.
quality
9t. Character in respect to dryness or moisture,
heat or cold, these being the elemental qualities
from which it was supposed other properties,
especially those of drugs and the temperaments,
were compounded.
The \i\xvnvag quality
Of that fell poison. Shak., K. Jolm, v. 7. 8.
lOt. Cause ; occasion : an incorrect use. ^
My brother Troilus lodges there to-night :
Rouse him and give him note of our approach,
With the whole quality wherefore.
Shak., T. and C, iv. 1. 44.
11. In logic: (a) The character of a proposi-
tion as affirmative or negative. [This use comes
from Appuleius, a Latin writer of the second
century.]
How is a simple proposition divided according to qual-
itie ! Into an affirmative and negative proposition.
BluTidemlle, Arte of Logicke, HI. i.
(6) The character of apprehension as clear and
distinct or obscure and confused. [This use is
due to Kant.]
In relation to their subject, that is, to the mind itself,
they [concepts] are considered as standing in a higher or
a lower degree of consciousness — they are more or less
clear, more or less distinct ; this ... is called their qual-
ity. Sir W. Hamilton, Logic, viii.
Accidental quality, a quality not distinguishing one
species from another, but such that its subject might lose
it without ceasing to be the same kind of subs^nce; —
Active, alterative, or alterant quality, a quality by
force of which a body acts : thus, heat is an active quality
of fire.— Affective duality. Same as affection, 6.— Cate-
gories of quality. See category.— Contingent quality,
a derivative quahty not necessarily involved in any primi-
tive quality.— Contrariety of quality. See contrariety.
— Corporeal qualil^, a natural quality of a kind of sub-
stance.—Cosmical quality, a quality of a body depen-
dent upon the presence of some unperceived thing, as its
color upon the presence of the luminiferous ether. — Ele-
mental or first quality (tr. Gr. nput-nj Sio^op^), one of
the four qualities, hot and cold, moist and diy, which,
according to Aristotle, distinguish the four elements, earth
being dry and somewhat cold, water cold and somewhat
moist^ air moist and somewhat hot, fire hot and some-
what dry. Of these qualities, hot and cold are active,
moist and dry passive. The hot segregates different kinds
of substance, the cold brings them together ; the moist
has no definite boundary of its own, but readily receives
one ; the dry has its own boundary, and does not easily re-
ceive another. The effort of the Aristotelians constantly
was to account for the properties of compound bodies by
these first qualities, and tills was esnecisSly done by phy-
sicians in regard to drugs.— Essential quality, a qual-
ity the essential difference of some species. — ^puted
qualltyt. See impute.— Intentional quality, a charac-
ter the predication of which states a fact, but not the true
mode of existence of that fact : thus, it is a fact that the
celestial bodies are accelerated toward one another ; but,
if action at a distance be not admitted, attraction is an
intentional quality.— Logical quality. See def. 10, above.
— Manifest, occult, original qualities, see the adjec-
tives.—mecnaJilcal quality, a quality explicable upon
the principles of mechanics.— Fatible qualityt (tr. Gr.
ir<ii6Ti)?7roflT|T«i\onethat directly aflfectsoneof the senses.
— Fredicamental quality, quality in the strict sense, in
which it is one of the ten preaic aments or categories of Aris-
totle.—Primary quality, one of the mathematical char-
acters of bodies, not strictly a quality, and not the object
of any single sense exclusively. Locke enumerates these
as solidity, extension, figure, motion or rest, and number.
— Primitive quality, a quality which cannotbe conceived
to be a result of other qualities.— Quality of a sound.
See tvmlre.- Quality of estate, in law, the manner in
which the enjoyment of an estate is to be exercised while
the right of enjoyment continues. — Real quality, (a)
A quality really existing in a body, and not intentional.
(6) A quality really existing in a body, and not imputed.
— Secondary quality, (a) Apatiblequallty. (i>) A de-
rivative quauty.— Sectindo-pnmary quality, a char-
acter which in being known as it affects us is ipso facto
known as it exists, as hardness.— Sensible or senslle
quality. Same as patiUe quality.— laxstHe quality,
(a) A quality known by the touch. (6) A patible quality.
— The quality, persons of high rank, collectively. [Now
vulgar.]
I shall appear at the next masquerade dressed up in
my feathers and plumage like an Indian prince, that the
quality may see how pretty they will look in their travel-
ling habits. Addison, Guardian, No. 112.
The quality, as the upper classes in rural districts are
designated by the lower.
TroUope, Barchester Towers, xxxv.
= Syn. 1 and 2. Quality, Property, Attribute, A ccident. Char-
acteristic, Character, Affection, Predicate, Mark, Differeruse,
Diathesis, Determination. Quality is that which makes or
helps to make a person or thing such as he or it is. It is
not universal, and in one popular sense it implies an ex-
cellence or a defect. In popular speech a qumity is intel-
lectual or moral; in metaphysics it may be also physical.
Aproperty is that which is viewed as peculiarly one's own,
a peculiar quality. An attribute is a high and lofty char-
acter : the attritmtes of God are natural, as omniscience,
omnipotence, ete., and moral, as holiness, justice, mercy,
etc. "Accident is an abbreviated expression for accidental
or contingent quality." (Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., vi.)
Characteristic is not a term of logic or philosophy ; it stands
for a personal, peculiar, or distinguishing quality : as, yel-
low in skin, horn, milk, etc., is a characteristic of Guernsey
cattle. Characteristics may be mental, moral, or physical.
Character is the most general of these words ; a character
is anything which is true of a subject. In another sense
character (as a collective tenn) is the sum of the charac-
teristics of a person or thing, especially the moral charac-
teristics. The word always views them as making a unit
quality
or whole, and has lower and higher uses. The other words
are somewhat technical. Affectum is used in various
senses. Predicate and mark are very general words in
logic. Differeiux is a character distinguishing one class
of objects from others. Diathem, the corresponding
Greek form, is applied in medicine to peculiarities of con-
stitution. Determination is a more recent philosophical
term denoting a character in general.
It would he felt as indecorous to speak of the cnwMties
of God, and as ridiculous to speak of the atlrmites of
•natter. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., vi.
Property is correctly a synonym tor peculiar jtarfiey; but
it IS frequently used as co-extensive wlthmali^ in general.
Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., vi.
We have no direct cognizance of what may be called the
substantive existence of the body, only of its occitorfe.
J. H. Newman, Parochial Sermons, I. 273.
Affability is a general charaeteristio of the Egyptians of
all classes. E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. 261.
To judge human cTtaracter, a man may sometimes have
very small experience, provided he has a very large heart.
BvZwer, What will he Do with it? v. 4.
quality-binding (kwol'i-ti-bm"ding), n. A kind
of worsted tape used f oir binding the borders of
carpets and similar work. Simmonds.
quallet. «• A Middle English form of whale^.
qualm (kwam), n. [Also dial, calm; < ME. qualm,
quelm, pestilence, death, < AS. cwealm, death,
slaughter, murder, destruction, plague, pesti-
lence (= OS. qualm, death, destruction, = D.
Icwalm, suffocating vapor, smoke, = OHG.
qualm, chwalm, MHGr. qualm, tivalm, slaughter,
destruction, Gr. qualm, suffocating vapor, vapor,
steam, damp, smoke, nausea, = Sw. qvalm, suf-
focating air, sultriness, = Dan. kvalm, suffocat-
ing air, kvalme, nausea), < cwelan, die, whence
ewellan, cause to die, kill: see quaiP-, and cf.
quale^ aad quell.'] If. Illness; disease; pesti-
lence; plague.
A thousand slain, and not of qualme ystorve.
ChaiMxr, Knight's Tale, 1. 11S6.
2. A sudden attack of illness; a ttu'n of faint-
ness or suffering; a throe or throb of pain.
Some sudden qualm hath struck me, at the heart,
And dimm'd mine eyes. Shak., 2 Hen. YI., i. 1. 64.
3. Especially, a sudden fit or seizure of sick-
ness at the stomach ; a sensation of nausea.
Fdlstaff. How now, Mistress Doll 1
Hoeteai. Sick of a eaZm. Shah., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 40.
For who without a qualm hath ever look'd
On holy garbage, though by Homer cook'd?
Roseonrnum, Translated Verse.
4. A scruple or twinge of conscience; com-
punction ; uneasiness.
Some seek, when queasy conscience has its qualms,
To lull the painful malady with alms.
Cou/per, Charity, L 447.
5t. The boding cry of a raven.
As ravenes gwUm^ or schrychynge of thise owlis.
Clumcer, Troilus, v. 382.
qualm (kwam), V. i. [< qualm, m.] 1. To be
sick; suffer from qualms. [Bare.]
Above the rest.
Let Jesse's sov'relgn flow'r perfume my qualming breast.
Quarlee, Emblems, v. 2.
2. To cause pain or qualms.
Solicitude discomposes the head, jealousy the heart;
envy qualms on his bowels, prodigality on his purse.
Oenilema,n IrMnuited, p. 560. (Davies.)
qualmiret (kwal'mir), n. [A var. of quavemire,
appar. simulating quaiP-, qualm.] Same as
quagmire.
Whosoeuer seketh it in ani other place, and goeth about
to set it out of men's puddels and qualbmires, and not out
of the most pure and cleare fountaine itselfe.
Bp. Oairdxner, True Obedience, fol. 9.
qualmish (kwa'mish), a, [< qualm + -isfei.]
1. Sick at the stomach ; inclined to vomit; af-
fected with nausea or sickly languor.
I am qaxHimish at the smell of leek.
Shale., Hen. V., v. 1. 22.
2. Uneasy.
Elizabeth was not desirous of peace. She was malrmsh
at the very suggestion. MofUy, Hist. If etherlands, 1. 521.
qualmishly (kwa'mish-li), adv. In a qualmish
manner.
qualmishness (kwa.'mish-nes), n. The state of
being qualmish; nausea. .
quamash (kwa-mash'), n. Same as camass.
quamash-rat (kwa-mash'rat), n. Same as ca-
mass-rat.
quamoclit (kwam'o-kllt), n. [Mex.] 1. The
cypress-vine, Ipomeea Quamoclit. — 2. \oap.'\
[NL.] A section of the genus Ipomxa, includ-
ing the cypress-vine, formerly regarded as a
genus.
quam proxime (kwam prok'si-me). [L.: quam,
as ; proximo, most nearly, < proximus, nearest :
see proxime.] As near as may be ; nearly.
quandang (kwan'dang), n. [Australian.] A
small Australian tree, Fusanus acuminatus, or
i
4892
its fruit. The latter, called native peach, is said to be
almost the only Australian fruit reliSied by Europeans.
The kernel of the seed i^quandang-nut) as well as the pulp
is edible. Also quandong and guantong.
quandary (kwon'da-ri or kwon-da'ri), n.: pi.
quandaries {-xiz). "[Origin unknown ; perhaps
a dial, corruption (simulating a word of L.
origin with suffix -ary) of dial, wandreih, evil,
light, peril, adversity, difficulty : see wandreth.
Jhe change of initial w- to wh- (hw-) occurs in
some dialectal forms, e. g. in whant, a fre-
quently heard pron. of want (as, 1 don't whant
it). Medial w often suffers dialectal change to
qu (as in squete for sweet), and instances of the
change of wh- to qu- are numerous (So. qua,
quha, for who, quhar for where, etc.). The no-
tion that quandary comes from P. qu'en dirai-je,
' what shall I say of it,' is absurd.] A state of
difficulty or perplexity; a state of uncertainty,
hesitation, or puzzlement; a pickle; a predica-
ment.
1 leaue you to iudge ... in what a quandarie . . . Phar-
icles was brought. Greene, Mamillia.
That much I fear forsaking of my diet
Will bring me presently to that quandaay
I shall bid aU adieu.
Beau, and Ft, Knight of Burning Pestle, i. 1.
We are in a great quandary what to do.
Pepys, Diary, I. 245.
quandary (kwon'da-ri or kwon-da'ri), v.; pret.
and pp. quandar'ied, ppr. qua/nda/rying, [<
quandary, n.] I. trans. To put into a quandary ;
bring intb a state of uncertainty or difficulty.
Methlnks 1 am qvanda/ry'd, like one going with a party
to discover the enemy's camp, but had lost his guide upon
the mountains. Otway, Soldier's Fortune, iii.
II. intrans. To be in a difficulty or uncertain-
ty; hesitate.
He quandaries whether to go forward to God, or, with
Demas, to turn back to the world.
Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 605. {Dames.)
quandy (kwan'di), m.; pi, quandies (-diz). [Ori-
gin obscure.] A duck, the oldwife or south-
southerly, Harelda glaciaHs. See cut under
Harelda. [Massachusetts.]
quannet (kwan'et), M. [Origin obscure.] l.A
kind of file, used especially for scraping zinc
plates for the process denominated anastatic
printing. Ure. — 2. A flat file set in a frame like
a plane, used in the manufacture of combs.
Tortoise-shell handles ... are smoothed with a float or
single cut file, technically known as a quannet.
O. Byrne, Artisan's Handbook, p. 410.
quanon, n. Same as Icanun.
quant (kwant), n. [Also quont; < ME. quante,
whanie, a pole, stick, rod ; cf . kent^.] 1 . A walk-
ing-stick. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. A pushing-pole
with a flat board or cap at one end to prevent it
from sinking into the mud, used by bargemen ;
also, a jumping-pole, similarly fitted, used in
marshes. The name is also given to the cap.
[Prov. Eng.]
quanta, n. Plural of quantum.
quantativet (kwon'ta-tiv), a. Same as quanti-
taUve.
The notions of quantity, and of the two most simple dif-
ferences of quantaMve things, rarity and density.
Sir K. Digby, Treatise of Bodies (1644), iv.
quantic (kwon'tik), ». [< L. quantus, how great,
how much (see quantity), + -ic] In math., a ra-
tional integral homogeneous function of two or
more variables. Quantics are classifled according to
their dimensions, asquadric, cubic, 'mmrtic,quintio, etc., de-
noting quantics of the second, third, fourth, fifth, etc., de-
grees. They are further distinguished as binary, ternary,
qmctemary, etc., according as they contain two, three, four,
etc., variables. The word was introduced by Cayley in
1854.— Order of a, (juantic, the degree of a quantic—
Tbe eauatlon of a quantic. See equation.
quantical (kwon'ti-kal), a. Eclating to quan-
tics.
quantification (kwon'''ti-fi-ka'shon), n. [< NL.
as if *qiMntifieatio(n-), < *quanUficare, quantify :
see quantify.] 1. The act of attaching quan-
tity to anything: as, the quantification of the
predicate.— 2. The act of determining the quan-
tity— Quantification of the predicate, the attaching
of the signs of logical quantity, every and some, to the predi-
cates of propositions. The resulting propositional forms,
according to Hamilton, the protagonist of the opinion that
this should be done in formed logic, are: All A is all B; any
AisnotanyB; all A is some B; any A is not some B; some
A is all B ; some A is not any B ; some A is some B ; some
A is not some B. But these forms include but one de-
cidedly useful addition to the usual scheme (all A is all
B), and are systematic only in appearance, as De Morgan
has abundantly shown. The doctrine essentially implies
that the copula should be considered as a sign of identity ;
the usual doctrine makes it a sign of inclusion. Accord-
ing to the most modern school of formal logicians, the
question is not of great importance, but should be de-
cided against the quantification of the predicate. Aristotle
examined and rejected the quantification of the predicate.
quantity
on the ground that Every A is every B can be true only if
A and B axe one individual.
The doctrine of the quanUJication qf the predicate, set
forth in 1827 by Mr. George Bentham, and again set forth
under a numerical form by Professor De Morgan, is a doc-
trine supplementary to that of Aristotle.
H. Spencer, Study of Sociol., p. 228.
quantify (kwon'ti-fl), v. t.; pret. and pp. quan-
tified, ppr. quantifying. [< NL. *quam,Uficare,
< L. quantus, how much, how many, -I- -ficare,
< facere, make: see quantity and -fy.] To de-
termine the quantity of; modify or determine .
with regard to quantity; mark with the sign
of quantity: as, to quantify a syllable or a
verse : more especially a term in logic Quan-
tified propoBitlon. See propo^Mon.
quantitative (kwon'ti-ta-tiv), a. [= P. quan-
titaUf = Pr. quamMtaUu = Sp. cuantitaUvo =
Pg. It. quantitaUvo, < ML. quantitativus (Abe-
lard), < L. quantita{t-)s, quantity: see quantity.]
Belating or having regard to quantity or mea-
surement.
If the thing may be greater or less, . . . then quanti-
tative notions enter, and the science must be Mathematical
in nature. Jevons, Pol. Econ., Int., p. 8.
Perhaps the best j«onti(oM»e verses in our language. . .
are to be found in Mother Goose, composed by nurses
wholly by ear and beating time as they danced the baby
on their knee. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 266.
The logic of probability is related to ordinary syllogistic
as the quantitative to the qualitative branch of the same
science. C. S. Peirce, Theory of Probable Inference.
Quantitative analysis, in chem. See analysis.— Quan-
titative atrophy. Same as simple atrophy. — Quail-
titative feet, meters. See accentual feet, under accen-
tual.—(iasctm.ta,tlve geometry. Same a,s metric geom^
etry (which see, under ge«metry). — Quantitative logic,
the doctrine of probability.
quantitatively (kwon'ti-ta-tiv-li), adv. In a •
quantitative manner; with regard to quantity.
quantitativeness (kwon'ti-ta-tiv-nes), n. The
state or condition of being quantitative.
In Geology, in Biology, in Psychology, most of the pre-
visions are qualitative only ; and where they are quantita-
tive their quantitativeness, never quite definite, is mostly
very indefinite. H. Spencer, Study of Sociol., p. 46.
quantitivet (kwon'ti-tiv), a. Same as quanti.
tative. [Kare.]
Compounding and dividing bodies according to quanti-
tive parts. Sir K. Digby, Man's Soul, iii.
quantitively (kwon'ti-tiv-li), adm. So as to be
measured by quantity ; quantitatively.
quantity (kwon'ti-ti), n.; pi. quantities (-tiz).
[< ME. quantitee',' quanUte.i OP. quantite, P.
quantiti = Sp. canUdad = Pg. quanUdade = It.
quanUtd,, < L. quantita(t-)s, relative greatness
or extent (tr. Gr. noa&nn), < quantus, how much,
how many, < quam, how, in what manner, <
qui,-v!ho, = 'E.who: s6ewho,what,how^.] 1. The
being so much in measure or extent; techni-
cally, the intrinsic mode by virtue of which a
thing is more or less than another; a system
of relationship by virtue of which one thing is
said to be more or less than another ; magni-
tude.
Thy zodiak of thin Astralabie is shapen as a compass
wich that contienith a large brede, as aftur the quantite
of thin astralabie. Chaucer, Astrolabe, i. 21.
Quantity and number differ only in thought (ratione)
from that which has quantity and is numbered.
Descartes, Prin. of Philos. (tr. by Veltch), ii. § 8.
The science of number is founded on the hypothesis of
the distinctness of things; the science of quantity is
founded on the totally different hypothesis of continuity.
W. K. Clifford, lectures, I. 337.
2. In the concrete, an object regarded as more
or less; a quantum; any amount, magnitude,
or aggregate, in a concrete sense : as, a quan-
tity of water : sometimes erroneously used to
denote that which should be enumerated ra-
ther than measured; as, a quantity of people.
Any perfectly regular system of objects whose relaHons
are definable in advance, and capable of cons^ction in
the imagination, forms a system of quantity capable of
being dealt with by mathematical reasoning. The quan-
tities of the mathematician, being constructed according
to a definition laid down in advance, are imaginaiy, and
in that sense abstract ; but as being objects of the imagi-
nation, and not merely of the discursive reason, they are
concrete. Mathematical quantities are either discrete (as
whole numbers) or continuous. They may also be multi-
ple, as vectors.
Tbei don rightfulle luggementes in every cause, bothe
of riche and pore, smale and grete, aftre the quantytee of
the trespas that is mys don. Manaemlle, Travels, p. 287.
Forty thousand brothers
Could not, with all their quantityoi love, .
Make up my sum. shak., Hamlet, v. 1. 293.
There is a farre greater quantity of buildings in this
(Exchange] then in ours. Coryat, Crudities, I. 212.
Where the ground is seen burning continually about
the quantity of an acre. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 19.
Heat, considered with respect to its power of warming
things and changing their state, is a quantity strictly ca-
pable of measurement, and not subject to any variations
m quality or in kind. Clerk Maxwell, Heat, p. 67.
quantity
8. A large or considerable amount.
Warm antiscorbutical plants taken in miawtUUg will oc
oaaion stinking breath. Arbuthnot, AAmeStn^tr, ^l.
4t. A piece or part, especially a small por-
tion ; anything very little or diminutive.
Away, thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant
SAo*., 1. of the S., IT. 3. 112.
5t. Proportion ; correspondent degree.
ITilngs base and vUe, holding no quantitu.
Love can transpose to form and dignity.
S/uik., M. N. D., i. 1. 232.
6. Inane, orthoepy, pros., and metrics, the rela-
tive time occupied in uttering a vowel or a syl-
lable; that characteristic of a vowel or a syllable
by which it is distinguished as long or short;
syllabic measure or time ; prosodic length, in
ancient Greek and Latin pronunciation a long vowel or
syllable occupied nearly, or in deliberate enunciation
fully, twice the tune of a short vowel or syllable and the
grammarians accordingly assumed the average short vowel
or syUable as the prosodic unit (mora), and taught that a
long vowel or syllable was equal to two short ones Some
vowels or syllables varied In time between these two lim-
its and were called eomnwn, admitting of metrical use as
either longs or shorts. In certain situations (elision, ec-
thlipsis) vowels were much shorter in pronunciation than
the average short, and, although audible, were disregarded
in metrical measurement A syllable was long either by
nature or by position (see longl, a., 6 (a)\ In the English
pronunciation of Latin and Greek, quantity in the proper
sense Is entirely disregarded, except in so far as the length
of the penult affects the accent according to the Latin
rule ; and English writers use the phrase fcUse quantity
for a false accentuation. Thus, to pronounce mc-tl'gaZ
vaiti-gal is called a "false quantity," but to pronounce the
a alike in pdter and mater is not so designated.
All composed in a metre for Catullus,
All in quantity, careful of my motion.
Tennyson, Experiments, Hendecasyllablcs.
7. In logic, that respect in which universal
and particular propositions differ. See prop-
osition, ajidlogicalquantity,'belaw. — 8. Inelect.,
the amount of electricity which passes through
any section of a circuit in a unit of time:
more exactly termed the strength of the cur-
rent. A battery is arranged for quantity when the pos-
itive poles of all the cells are connected and all the
negative poles are connected, so that the current is
the maximum when the external resistance is small.
—Absolute CLuantity, quantity considered as belong-
ing to an object in itself, without reference to any other. —
Auxiliary quantity. See auaxliary.—Bioken quan-
tity, discrete quantity.— Cateforical quantltyf, that
accident which has parts outside of one another; the
quantity of which Aristotle treats in his book of the Gate-
gories.— Categories of quantity. See category, 1.—
Commensurable quantities, quantities having a com-
/ mon measure. — Complex quantity, a multiple quantity,
or one which requires two or more numbers to state it;
especially, an Imaginary quantity of the form A + Bi,
where i' = — 1. — Compound quantity. See compound^.
— Constant quantities, in math., a quantity which re-
mains invariably the same while others Increase or de-
crease ; a quantity which, though It may be indetermi-
nate. Is not studied in reference to its progressive varia-
tion.—Continuous or continued quannlnr, a system
of concatenated quantity which includes the limit of
every convergent series of quantities It contains. See
eontinutty, 2. — Corporeal quantity, quantity of space
or spatial extension, as length, area, volume, etc. —
Definite quantity. In logic, the quantification of a
proposition in a more definite way than by the distinc-
tion of " some" and "all." There are various systems of
definite quantity.— Dimensive quantity. Same as cor-
pareal gt«in«%.— Discrete quantity, quantity proceed-
ing by discrete steps, belonging to a system such that
Its quantities are susceptible of being connected, one to
one, with the whole or a part of the series of whole num-
bers. The system of ordinal numbers is the most famil-
iar example of discrete quantity ; another example is the
system of ordinary vulgar fractions.— Dissimilar quan-
tities, quantities such that no one is a real multiple of
another.— Dual quantity, a system of quantity having
only two values in any one direction, as in the Boolian
algebra.— Elliptic quantity, a system of quantity (as
the quantity of angles) In which there are no real infinite
distances, but in which any quantity on being sufficient-
ly increased returns into itself: so called because the
ellipse has no real point at infinity.— Extensive quan-
tity. See extensive. — 'External or extrinsic quan-
tity. See earferjMrf.— Flowing quantity. See Jlmeing.
—Heterogeneous quantities. See heterogeneous.—
Byperbouc quantity, a system of quantity containing
such quantities that there are, In some directions at least,
two different absolutelimits, generally -)- x and — oo . Thus,
if it were the property of a yardstick to shorten on reced-
ing from a fixed center, this might happen according to
such a law that no finite number of layings down of the
yardstick could carry the measurement beyond two limits
In every, or in some, directions. Points lying beyond these,
if such there were, would be at imaginary distances. Such
measurement would make a system of hyperbolic quan-
tity.— Imaginary quantity. See imaginary.— Impos-
Sible quantity. Same as imaginary quantity.— Im-
proper quantity. Same as intensive quantity. Eeid
defines improper quantity as that which cannot be mea-
sured by its own kind— that is, everything not extension,
duration, number, nor proportion.— Incommensurable
quantities See irwommermtraile. — IndeteTmlaa.te
quantity See indeterminate— InieieTice of trans-
posed quantity. See ij^ftrence.— Infinite quantity,
a quantrty Infinitely greater than every measurable quan-
tl^. See infinite.— Infinitesimal quantity, a quantity
infinitely less than every measurable quantity. See m-
finitesimal, n.— Intensive quantity. See intmnve.-
4893
Internal quantity. See in(<ma2.— Intrinsic quan-
■ tity, the older nan^e of intenxive mianUty. — Irrational
quantity, a quantity not expressible by any whole num-
ber or fraction, but usually by means of a square or higher
root of a rational quantity ; In Euclid, however, by an ir-
rational quantity is meant one Incommensurable with
the unit of the same kind. In this phrase, irrational
[tr. Gr. aAoyos] means 'inexpressible'; it does not mean
'absurd,' though these quantities are called ««r<fc.— Like
quantities, quantities one of which multiplied by a
scalar quantity gives the other.— Limited quantity, a
system of quantities all finite, and having an absolute
maximum and minimum In every direction.^ Logical
quantity, that charaoter by virtue of which one term
contains or Is contained by another, and that in three
senses : (a) <imuiMy of extension, or logical breadth, a
relative character of a term such that when It Is in excess
the term is predlcable of all the subjects of which another
Is predlcable, and of more besides ; or a relative character
of a concept such that when It is in excess the concept Is
applicable in all the cases In which another Is applicable.
(6) Quantity of comprehension or intensian, or logical depth,
a relative character of a term such that when it is In ex-
cess the term has all the predicates of another term, and
more besides ; or a relative character of a proposition such
that when it Is in excess the proposition Is followed by all
the consequents of another proposition, and more besides,
(c) Quantity of science (Aquinas) or of informaiion, a rela-
tive character of a concept such that when it Is in ex-
cess it has all the subjects and predicates of another con-
cept, and more besides, owing to its being in a mind which
has more knowledge. Logical quantity is to be distin-
guished from the quantity of a i»'oposf(to».— Mathemati-
cal quantities, see math&matieai. — Measurable quan-
tity, a system of quantities every one of which can be
stated to any desired degree of approximation by the sums
of numerical multiples and submultlples of a finite num-
ber of units ; a system of quantities embracing only finite
quantities together with certain isolated infinities. —Mea-
sure Of a quantity. See measure.— Jltaltiple quanti-
ty, a quantity which can be exactly expressed only by
means of two or more numbers, as a geographical position.
— Natural quantity, quantity in a sense more concrete
than the mathematical; quantity as joined to sensible
matter, as when we speak of two different but equal quan-
tities of water or lead.— Negative quantity, a fictitious
quantity in mathematics, In most cases inconceivable, but
never involving any logical contradiction in itself, sup-
posed to belong to a line of quantity continuing the line
of ordinary or positive quantity below zero for an iuflnite
distance. In many cases a negative quantity has an inter-
pretation : thus, the negative of a dollar owned is a dollar
owed, the negative of a temperature above zero is the same
degree of temperature below zero, etc. — Numeral quan-
tity, number.— Parabolic quantity, a quantity belong-
ing to such a system of quantity that on increasing through
infinity it Immediately reappears on the negative side of
zero. Such are Cartesian coordinates In ordinary geome-
try.—Permanent quantity. See perTnanent.-PbjtA-
cal quantity, any character in nature susceptible of more
or less, such as velocity, atomic weight, elasticity, heat,
electric strength of current, etc.— Positive quantity.
See i>os«CTe.— Predlcamental quantity. See predica-
MMnfarf.- Proper quantity. Same as extensive quantity.
— Propositional quantity, the quantity of a proposition
in logic. See loffictu quantity, above. — Frotenslve quan-
tity, duration in time.— Quantity of action, the line-
integral of the momentum. — Quantity of an eclipse.
See erfijwe.— Quantity of curvature, the reciprocal of
the radius of curvature.— Quantity of electricity, in
electrostatics, the amount of electricity upon a charged
body. It depends upon the capacity of the body, which,
in the case of a sphere, is proportional to the radius (see
capacity), and upon the potential of the electricity. It is
numerically equal to the product of these two factors.
In electrodynamics it is measured (In coulombs) by the
amount of electricity furnished by a current In one second.
— Quantity of estate, in law, the time during which the
right of enjoyment of the property in question is to con-
tinue.— Quantity of beat. See heat, 2.— Quantity of
magnetism, the strength of a magnetic pole ; the force
it exerts upon an equal pole at the unit distance. — Quan-
tity Of matter, the mass, as measured by weighing in a
balance.— Quantltyof motion. See motion.- Quesitive
quantity, quantity expressed by an interrogative numeral.
— Badical quantities. See radical.— UsAioiial quan-
tity, a quantity expressible by a whole number or fraction
multiplied by the unit of the same kliid ; In Euclid, a com-
mensurable quantity.— Real quantity, that kind of quan-
tity which extends from zero to infinify, and from infinity
through the whole series of negative values to zero again.
-Reciprocal of a quantity. See reciprocal.— JieciB-
rocal quantities. See reciprocal.— Scalax quanti-
ty, the ratio between two quantities of the same kind;
a real number. This is the definition of Hamilton, but
subsequent writers sometimes include imaglnaries among
scalars. — Semi-infinite quantity, a system of quantity
which is limited at one end and extends to infinity in the
other. — Similar quantities, quantities of the same
kind whose ratios are numbers.— Sophistic quantity,
an imaginary quantity.— Superinfinlte quantity, a
system of quantity which extends through infinity into
a new region. Hyperbolic quantity is a special kind of
superinfinlte quantity in which there are only two re-
gions.— Syncategorematic quantity, quantity as ex-
pressed by a syncategorematic word, or generally by any
word not a noun.— Terminal quantity. In logic, the
quantity of a terra, as opposed to the quantity of a proposi-
tion.-Transcendental quantity, intensive quantity as
opposed to predicamental quantity : so called because dif-
ferent from thequantity treated by Aristotleunderthe cate-
gory of quantity.— Transposed quantity, logical quan-
tity transposed from one subject in the premise to another
In the conclusion.— Unidimensional quantity, a sys-
tem of quantities all of the same kind, otherwise called
simple quantity.— UnWie quantities, quantities which
have not a numerical ratio between them.— Unlimited
quantity, a system of quantities such that, any two A and
B being given, a third C exists such that B lies between A
and C ; a system of quantity which lias no absolute maxi-
mum nor minimum in any direction.— Unreal quantity.
quar
tor quantity, the quantity which belongs to a right lino
considered as having direction as well as length, but which
is equal for all parallel lines of equal length ; any quantity
capable of representation by a directed right line, without
considering Its position In space ; a quantity whose square
is a negative scalar.— Virtual quantity. Same as inten-
sive quantity.
quantity-culture (kwon'ti-ti-kul"tTir), ». See
the quotation.
Quantity-culture . . . means a culture, whether pure or
not, where a great quantity or bulk of bacteria are grow-
ing. Hueppe, Bacteriological Investigations (trans.), p. B.
quantity-fuse (kwon'ti-ti-fuz), n. See fuse^.
qnantivalence (kwon-tiv'a-lens), n,. [< quan,-
tivalen(t) + -ce.] In chem.jtiie combining pow-
er or value of an atom as compared with that
of the hydrogen atom, which is taken as the
unit of measure : same as valence. Also called
atomicity.
quantivalency (kwon-tiv'a-len-si), n. [As
qua/ntivalence (see -cy).] Same as quantiua-
lence.
quantivalent (kwon-tiv' anient), a. [< L. g«a«-
tiis, how much, how many (see quantity), -I- va-
len(t-)s, ppr. of valere, be strong: see valiant.']
Chemically equivalent; having the same satu-
rating or combining power Quantivalent ratio.
Same as oxygen ratio (which see, under ratio).
quantoid (kwon'toid), n. [As quant(ic) + -oid."]
The left-hand side of a linear differential equa-
tion whereof the right-hand side is zero.
quantong, n. Same as quandang.
quantum (kwon'tum), n. ; pi. quanta (-ta). [L.,
neut. sing, of qiiantus, how much, how many:
see quantity.'] 1. That which has quantity; a
concrete quantity.
The objects of outer sense are all quanta, in so far as they
occupy space, and so also are the objects of inner senses in
80 far as they occupy time.
K Caird, Philos. of Kant^ p. «L
2. A prescribed, proper, or sufficient amount.
In judging the quantum of the church's portion, the
world thinks every thing too much.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835)i L 78.
Quantum meruit, as much as one has merited or de-
served ; the measure of recovery In law for services the
price of which was not fixed by contract.— <}uantum BUf-
ficit, as much as is sufficient. Abbreviated q. s., or quant.
«</.— Quantum valebat, as much as it was worth ; the
measure of recovery in law for goods sold when no price
was fixed by the contract.
quantuplicityt (kwon-tu-plis'i-ti), n. [Irreg.
(after duplicity, triplicity, etc.) < *quantuplex, <
L. quantus, how much, +plicare, fold.] Same
as quality. WaUis.
quapi, quopi (kwop), v. i. [< ME. quappen =
Norw.toepjja ('piet.i;vapp,lcvopp), shake, quake,
rock ; akin to quave, quaver. Hence later quab,
quoh\ q. v.] Same as quah^. [Prov. Eng.j
quap^t, n. Same as quah^, 2.
06, gtA [It.], a fish called a quap [a mop-fish, ed. 1611],
which is poison to man, and man to him. Florio, 1698.
quaquaversal (kwa-kwa-ver'sal), a. [< NL.
quaquaversus, < L. quaqua, wheresoever, abl.
fem. sing, of gMJsgMJs, whoever, whatever (<g'MJ«,
who, -f quis, who), + versus, pp. of veriere, tmra,
incline (see verse), + -al.] Inclined outward
in all directions from a central point or area:
used chiefly in geology, as in the phrase qua-
quaversal dip, a dipping in all directions from a
central area.
quaquaversally (kwa-kwa-vfer'sal-i), adv. In
a quaquaversal manner; in all directions from
a central point or area.
The outer walls are stony ridges rising from 470 to 610
feet above sea-level, and declining quaquaversally to the
fertile plateau which, averaging 400 feet high, forms the
body of the island. Uncyc. Brit., XIV. 695.
quaquaversus (kwa-kwa-ver'sus), a. Same
as quaquaversal. Brewster, Phil. Trans., 1852,
p. 472.
quaquinert, «• A form of quaviver.
There is a little fish in the form of a scorpion, and of the
size of the fish quaquin^r [tr. L. aranei piscis'].
N. Bailey, tr. of Erasmus's CoUoq., p. 393. (Davies.)
quar If, n. [< ME. quar, quarre, etc. : see quar-
ry^.] An obsolete form of quarry^.
When templeslye like batter'd quarrs,
Rich in their riiin'd sepulchers.
P. Fletcher, Poems, p. 136. (Hqlliwai.)
A chrysolite, a gem, the very agate
Of state and policy, cut from the quar
Of Machiavel. B. Jonson, Magnetick Lady, i. 1.
The whole citie [Paris], together with the suburbes, is
situate upon a quarre of free stone.
Caryat, Crudities, I. 27.
quar^t, v. t. [< quar^, n.] To block up.
But as a miller, having ground his grist,
Lets down the flood-gates with a speedy fall,
And quarring up the passage therewithal.
W. Brovme, Britannia's Pastorals.
an imaginary quantity.— Variable quantity, a quantity ^ \, i 4. j? ' c„ «
whose progressive changes are under consideration.-Vec- quar^t, n. An obsolete form of quarry^
quax
When the Falcon (stooping thunder-like)
With sudden souse her [a duolt] to the ground shall
stnke.
And, with the stroak, make on the sense-less ground
The gut-less Quar once, twice, or thrice rebound.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Lawe.
QUarS (kwar), v. i. [Origin uncertain.] To
coagulate: said of milk in the female breast.
Halliwell. [Pro v. Eng.]
[Garden mint] is very good to be applied to the breastes
that are stretched forth and swollen and full of milke, for
rt slaketh and sof teneth the same, and keepeth the mylke
from qtuirring and crudding in the brest
Lyte, Dodoens, p. 246 (quoted in Cath. Ang., p. 84).
quarantinable (kwor'an-ten-a-bl), a. [< quar-
antine + -able.] Admitting of quarantine;
amenable to or controlled by quarantine.
CLUarautine (kwor'an-ten), TO. [Formerly also
quarantain, quaraniaine, also carentane (Lent) ;
= D. quarantaine, haranteine = O. quarantane
= Sw. karantdn = Dan. karantdne (< P.) = Sp.
cuarentena = Pg. quarentena = Pr. quarantena,
carantena, < OF. quarantaine, quarentaine, qua-
rantine, F. quarantaine = Turk, karamtina, <
It. quarantina, quarentina, quarantana, qwa-
rentana, a number of forty, a period of forty
days, esp. such a period of forty days, more
or less, for the detention and observation of
goods and persons suspected of infection, <
ML. quarantena, quarentena (after Eom.), a pe-
riod of forty days, Lent, quarantine, also a
measure of forty rods (see quarentene), < L.
quadraginta ( > It. quara/nta = P. quarante) , forty,
='E. forty: see forty.'] 1. Aperiod of fortydays.
Speoifloally— (o) The season of Lent. (6) In law, a period
of forty days during which the widow of a man dying
seized of land at common law may remain in her husband's
chief mansion-house, and during which time her dower
is to be assigned, (c) See def. 2.
2. A term, originally of forty days, but now of
varying length according to the exigencies of
the case, during which a ship arriving in port
and known or suspected to be infected with a
malignant contagious disease is obliged to for-
bear all intercourse with the place where she
arrives. The United States first adopted a quarantine
law in February, 1799. This law required federal ofiicers
to assist in executing State or municipal quarantine regu-
lations. On April 29th, 1878, a national quarantine law
was enacted, authorizing the establishment in certain con-
tingencies <n national quarantines.
To perform their mmrantme (for thirty days, as Sir Ed.
Browne expressed it in the order of the Council, contrary
to the import of the word, though in ttie general accepta-
tion it signifies now the thing, not the time spent in do-
ing it). Pepye, Diary, Nov. 26, 1663.
We came into the port of Argostoli on the twenty-sec-
ond, and went to the town ; I desired to be aahoar as one
performing qaarantain.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 179.
3. The enforced isolation of individuals and
certain objects coming, whether by sea or by
land, from a place where dangerous eormmmi-
cable disease is presumably or actually present,
with a view to limiting the spread of the mal-
ady. Qumn. — 4. Hence, by extension: (a) The
isolation of any person svmering or convales-
cing from acute contagious disease. [CoUoq.]
(6) The isolation of a dwelling or of a town or
district in which a contagious disease exists.
It was ... a relief when neighbours no longer consid-
ered the house in quarantine [after typhus].
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xxvii.
5. A place or station where quarantine is en-
forced.
He happened to mention that he had been three years
in Qwvranline, keeping watch over infected travellers.
B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 26.
6. The restriction within limits awarded to na-
val cadets as a punishment. [U.S.]— Quarantine
flag, a yellow fla^ displayed by a snip, to indicate that she
has been placed m quarantine or that there is contagious
disease on board.— Quarantine of observation. See
the quotation.
A qu/ira'nU'ne of observation, which is usually for six or
three days, and is imposed on vessels with clean bills, may
be performed at any port. Eneyc, Brit., XX. 164.
Shot-gun auarantine, forcible quarantine not duly au-
thorized by law. [U. S.j
quarantine (kwor'an-ten), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
quarantined, ppr. qnaraniming. [< quarantine,
».] 1. To put under quarantine, in any sense
of that word. — 3. Figuratively, to isolate, as
by authority.
The business of these [ministers] is with human nature,
and from exactly that are they qimrantiiiei, for years.
W. U. Baker, New Timothy, p. 13.
quaret, ». An obsolete form of quvre'^.
qiiare impedit (kwa're im'pe-dit). [So called
from the L. words quure impedit, contained in
the writ: L. quare, why (orig. two words, qiid
re, for what cause : qua, abl. fern, of quis, who,
what; re, abl. of res, thing, cause); impedit,
4894
3d pers. sing. pres. ind. of impedire, hinder, im-
pede : see impede.] In Eng. law, the writ (re-
quiring defendant to show why he hindered
plaintm) used to try a right of presentation to
a benefice.
qiiarelt, «• See quarreP-, quarrel^, quarrel^.
quarelett, "■ -^ obsolete form of quarrelet.
quarellet, »• -Aji obsolete form of quarrel^.
quarentenet, «• [< ML. quarentena (sc. terrx),
a furlong, an area of forty rods : see quaran-
tine.] A square furlong. Pearson, Historical
Maps of Eng., p. 51.
quarerf, n. Same as quarry^.
quariert, to. See qitarrier^.
quark (kwark), TO. [Imitative; cf. gaaiofc.] Same
as quawk.
quarU (kwSrl), v. A dialectal form of quarreP-.
quarl^ (kwarl), n. [Prob. a oontr. form of quar-
rel^ (applied, as square is often applied, to an
object of difEerent shape).] In irickmaking, a
piece of fire-clay in the shape of a segment of a
circle or similar form : it is used in construct-
ing arches for melting-pots, covers for retorts,
and the like.
The erection of nine six-ton pots requires 15,000 com-
mon bricks, 10,000 fire-bricks, 160 feet of quarles, 80 fire-
play blocks, and 6 tons of fire-clay. Ure, Diet., III. 67.
The cover [of a retort] is usually formed of segments of
stoneware, or fireclay quarls, bound together with iron.
Spomf Encye. Mantjtf., 1. 166.
quarl* (kwarl), n. [Origin obscure.] A me-
dusa or jellyfish.
Some on the stony starfish ride, . . .
And some on the jellied qvAirl, that fiings
At once a thousand streamy stings.
J. R. Drake, Culprit Fay, at. 13.
quar-manf, «. A quarryman.
The sturdy Quar-man with steel-headed Cones
And massie Sledges slenteth out the stones.
Sylveeter, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Magnificence.
quaroff, adv. An obsolete dialectal form of
wJiereof. Halliwell.
quar-pit-K TO. A stone-pit; a quarry. Whalley.
["West of Eng.]
quarrt, »■ and v. See quari.
quarret, a. A Middle English form of quarry^.
quarrel! (kwor'el), to. [Early mod. B. also quarel,
querel; < ME. quarel, quarell, qua/relle, querel,
querele, < OF. querele, P. querelle ^zFr. querela,
querella = Sp. querella = Pg. querela = It. que-
rela, < L. querela, a complaining, a complaint,
< queri, pp. questus, complain, lament. Of.
querent\ querimony, querulous, etc., from the
same source.] If. A complaint; a lament;
lamentation.
Whennes comyn elles allethyse foreyne Complayntes or
guerdes of pletynges? ChoMcer, Boethius, iii. prose 3.
Thou lyf, thou luste, thou mannis hele,
Biholde my cause and my querele 1
Gower, MS. Soc. Antiq. 134, f. 39. (HaUiwdl.)
As his frendes w.epte for hym lyenge on the byere they
sayd with swete and deevoute qmrellee, whicli suffred her
devoute seruant to deye without confession andpenaunce.
Golden Legend, quoted in Prompt. Parv., p. 419.
If I shulde here answere to all these guereJs particularly
and as the woorthynesse of the thynge requireth, I myght
fynde matter sufficient to make a volume of iuste quanti-
tie, and perhappes be tedious to summe.
R. Eden (First Books on America, ed. Arber, p. 63).
2. An accusation; in law, a complaint; an ac-
tion, real or personal.
The wars were scarce begun but he, in fear
Of quarrela 'gainst his life, fled from his country.
Beaat. and Fl., Laws of Candy, i. 1.
3. Cause, occasion, or motive of complaint,
objection, dispute, contention, or debate; the
basis or ground of being at variance with
another; hence, the cause or side of a certain
party at variance with another.
My guardl is growndid vppon right,
"Which gevith me corage for to fight.
Generydes (E. B. T. S-X 1. 3210.
Methinks I could not die anywhere so contented as in
the King's company ; his cause being just and his quarrel
honourable. Sluik., Hen. V., iv. 1. 133.
Herodias had a quarrel against him. Mark vi. 19.
He thought he had a good quarrel to attack him.
Holinshed.
Uejoice and be merry in the Lord ; be stout in his cause
and quarrel.
J. Bracfford, Letters (Parker Soc, 1863), II. 249.
What is your quarrel to "shallops "?
Gray, Letters, I. 301.
4t. Cause in general; reason; plea; ground.
I undyrstand that Mastre Fjrtzwater hathe a syster, a
mayd, tomary; . . . ye may telle hym, synse he wyll have
my servyse, . . . syche a bargayn myght be mad ; ... for
then he shold be swer that I shold not be flyttyng, and I
had syche a qwarell to kepe me at home.
Paeton LeUers, 111. 164.
quarrel
Wives are young men's mistresses, companions for mid-
dle age, and old men's nurses, so as a man may have a
quarrel to marry when he will.
Bacon, Marriage and Single Life (ed. 1887).
5. Altercation; an altercation; an angry dis-
pute ; a wrangle ; a brawl.
If I can fasten but one cup upon him.
With that which he hath drunk to-night already.
Hell be as full of quarrel and offence
As my young mistress' dog. Shak., Othello, ii. 3. 62.
If upon a sudden quarrel two pei'sons fight, and one of
them kills the other, this is manslaughter.
Blaeketone, Com., IV. xiv.
6. Abroach of friendship or concord; open vari-
ance between parties; a feud.
England was, from the force of mere dynastic causes,
dragged into the quarrel. Freeman, Norman Conq., V. 63.
The Persian Ambassador has had a quarrel with the
court. GremUe, Memoirs, June 26, 1819.
7t. A quarreler. [Kare.]
Though 't [pomp] be temporal,
Yet if that quarrel, fortune, do divorce
It from the Dearer, 'tis a sufferance panging.
Shak., Hen. VIIL, ii. 3. 14.
Double quarrel, ecclea., a complaint of a clerk to the arch-
bishop against an inferior ordinary, for delay of justice.
No double quarrel shall hereafter be granted out of any
of the archbishop's courts at the suit of any minister who-
soever, except he shall first take his personal oath that
the said eight-and-twenty days at the least are expired,
etc. 9bth Canon qf the Church qf England (1603).
To pick a quaxreL See ■pieki.—'So take up a quairelt,
to compose or adjust a quari'el ; settle a dispute.
I knew when seven justices could not take up a quarrel,
but when the parties were met themselves, one of them
thought but of an If , . . . and they shook hands.
Shak., As you Like it, v. 4. 104.
=Syn. 6 and 6. Qwa/rrel, Altercation, Afray, Fray, Mdie,
Brawl, Broil, Scuffle, Wrangle, Squabble, Feud. A quarrel
is a matter of ill feeling and hard words in view of sup-
posed wrong: it stops just short of blows; any use beyond
this is now figurative. Altercation is the spoken part of a
quarrel, the parties speaking alternately. An altercation
is thus a quarrelsome dispute between two persons or two
sides. Affray and fray express a quarrel that has come to
blows in a jiublicjplace: they are often used of the strug-
gles of war, implymg personal activity. Md4e emphasizes
the confusion in which those engaged in an affray or strug-
gle are mingled. Brawl emphasizes the unbecoming char-
acter and noisiness of the quarrel ; while broil adds the idea
of entanglement, perhaps with several : two are enough
for a brawl ; at least three are needed for a Irnkl : as, a brawl
with a neighbor ; a neighborhood broH. A scuffle is, in this
connection, a confused or undignified struggle, at close
quarters, between two, to throw each other down, or a
similar struggle of many. A wrangle is a severe, unrea-
soning, and noisy, perhaps confused, altercation. A squab-
ble is a petty wrangle, but is even less dignified or irration-
al. A. feud is a deeply rooted animosity between two sets
of kindred, two parties, or possibly two persons. See ami-
mosUy.
quarrel^ (kwor'el), v.; pret. and pp. quarreled
or quarrelled, ppr. quarreUng or quarrelling,
[Early mod. B. also quarel, querel; < OF. quere-
ler, quereller, complain, complain of, accuse,
sue, claim, P. quereller, quarrel with, scold,
refl. have a quarrel, quarrel, = Pr. querelhar =
Sp. querellar, complain, lament, bewail, com-
plain of, = Pg. querelar, complain, = It. quere-
lare, complain of, accuse, indict, refl. complain,
lament, < L. querela/ri, make a complaint, ML.
querelare, complain, complain of, accuse, < L.
querela, complaint, quarrel: see quarreU, n.]
1. intrans. 1. To find cause of complaint ; find
fault; cavil.
There are many which affirme that they haue sayled
rownd abowt Cuba. But whether it bee so or not, or
whether, enuyinge the good fortune of this man, they seeke
occasions of q^u£freli7ige ageynste hym, I can not iudge.
B. Eden, tr. of Peter Martyr (First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 90).
I would not quarrel with a slight mistake.
Boscommon, tr. of Horace's Art of Poetry.
Viator. I hope we have no more of these Alps to pass
over.
Piscator. No, no. Sir, only this ascent before you, which
you see is not very uneasy, and then you will no more
quarrel with your way. Cotton, in Walton's Angler, it 232.
All are prone to qwjrrel
With fate, when worms destroy their gourd,
Or mildew spoils their laurel.
F. Locker, The Jester's MoraL
2. To dispute angrily or violently; contend;
squabble.
Not only, sir, this your all-licensed fool,
But other of your insolent retinue
Do hourly carp and quarrel. Shak., Lear, i. 4. 222.
And Jealousy, and Fear, and Wrath, and War
Qvarrel'd, although in heaven, about tlieir place.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, i. 105.
If we grumbled a little now and then, it was soon over,
for we were never fond enough to quarrel.
Shendan, The Duenna, i. 3.
3+. To disagree ; be incongruous or incompati-
ble ; fail to be in accordance, in form or essence.
Some defect in her
Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owed,
And put it to the foil. Shak., Tempest, iii. 1. 4^
Quarrels of Window. — The
form illustrated is the "short
quarrel," the acute angle of
the pane measuring jy° 19'.
auarrel
'??,??n?l"„^^ f*^^ °' S*""*"*^ ^H"! VMrretting kind,
Ihe forepart lion, and a snake behind.
Cowley, Davideis, ii.
wXh*^?^,®!,'^*'* °^^'^ ^^^f* ai* Dutter, to fall out
with, or pursue a course prejudicial to, one's own material
biokeTlpS.'"""^ subsistence. =Syii. 2. To jangle,
II. trans. 1. To find fault with; challenge;
reprove, as a fault, error, and the like. [Scotch.]
Say on, my bonny boy,
Ye'se nae be guarrelVd by me.
Young Akin (Child's Ballads, 1. 181).
2t. To disagree or contend with.
They [Pharisees] envied the work in the substance, but
they quarrel the circumstance. Donne, Sermons, xviii.
Fitz. You will not slight me, madam?
Wit. Nor you'll not ouarrei me?
B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, iv. 3.
3. To affect, by quarreling, in a manner indi-
cated by a word or words connected: as, to
quarrel a man out of his estate or rights.
quarrel^ (kwor'el), n. [< ME. quarel, < OF.
quarrel, quarel, carrel, later quarreau, F. car-
reau = Pr. cairel = Sp. cuadrillo, a small
square, = It. quadrello, a square tile, a dia-
mond, a crosshow-bolt, < ML. quadrellus, a
square tile, a crossbow-bolt, dim. of L. quad-
rum, a square: see quadrum.'] 1. A small
square, or lozenge, or diamond ; a tile or pane
of a square or lozenge
form. Specifically— (ffi) A small
tile or paving-stone of square
or lozenge form. (!)) A small
lozenge-shaped pane of glass,
or a scLuare pane set diagonally,
used in glazing a window, es-
pecially in the latticed window-
frames formerly used in Eng-
land and elsewhere.
And let your skynner out both
yesortesof theskynnesin smale
peces triangle wyse, lyke half e a
quarell of a glasse wyndowe.
Balees £ooft(K E. T. S.), p. 247.
We are right Cornish diamonds.
Trim. Yes, we cut
Out quarrda and break glasses
where we go.
MiddleUm and Rowley, Fair
[Quarrel, ii. 2.
2. A bolt or arrow having a square or four-
edged head, especially a cross-
bow-bolt of such form.
I sigh [saw] yet arwis reyne.
And grounde quarels sharpe of Steele.
Bom. of the £oie, 1. 1823.
Schot sore alle y-vere ;
Quarels, arwes, they fly smerte ;
The fyched Men turns heed & herte.
Artlmr (ed. Furnivall), 1. 461.
A seruaunt . . . was found shooting a
quarrell of a crossehow with a letter.
HaUuyVt Voyages, II. 87.
Here be two arblasts, comrades, with
windlaces and quarrels — to the barbican
with you, and see you drive each bolt
through a Saxou brain !
Scott, Ivanhoe, xxviii.
3. An instrument with a head
shaped like that of the erossbow-
Quarreia, 2. bolt. (<)()A glaziers' diamond. (6)Akind
of graver, (c) A stone-masons' chisel,
quarrel^t (kwor'el), TO. [Earlymod-E.also quar-
rell, quarel; < MB. quarelle, querelle, a quarry, a
var. of quarrer, < OF. quarrere, a quarry: see
qiiarry^.'] A quarry where stone is cut. Catli.
Aug., p. 296.
quarreler, quarreller (kwor'el-er), n. [< ME.
querelour, < OF. querelour, quereleur, F. querel-
leur, < quereler, quarrel: see quarreU, «.] One
who quarrels, wrangles, or fights.
Quenche, fals querelour, the quene of heven th« will quite !
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 66.
Besides that he 's a fool, he 's a great quarreller.
SAaft.,T.N.,i. 3. 31.
quarrelet (kwor'el-et), n. [< 'quarreP + -et]
A small square or diamond-shaped piece; a
small lozenge.
Some ask'd how pearls did grow and where?
Then spoke I to my girle
To part her lips, and shew d them there
The marems of pearl. .
Herrick, The Kock of Eubies and Qname of Pearls.
quarreller, ra. See quarreler.
quarreloust, quarrelloust (J^wor el-us), a.
[Also quarellous; < ME. *querelous, < OP. quere-
los, quereleux, F. querelleux, < qusrele, quarrel:
see quarren.\ Apt or disposed to quarrel;
petulant; easily provoked to enmity or con-
tention; of things, causing or proceeding from
quarreling.
Neither angry without cause, neither 4«fflrcKOT(« without
colour I4lly, Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 146.
4895
As quarrelmis as the weasel,
Shak., Cymheline, iii. i. 162.
And who can tell what huge outrages might amount of
such quarreloug and tumultuous <}auseB?
6. Rarwg, Foure Letters, ii.
quarrel-pane (kwor'el-pan), ». Same as quar-
rel^, 1 (6).
Roland Grseme hath . . . broke a quarrel-pane of glass
in the turret window. Scott, Abbot, xxxiv.
quarrel-picker (kwor'el-pik'''6r), n. 1. One
who picks quarrels; one who is quarrelsome.
[Rare.] — 2. A glazier: with punning allusion
to quarreP, n., 3 (a).
quarrelsome (kwor'el-sum), a. [< quarrel +
-some.l Apt to quarrel; given to brawls and
contention; inclined to petty fighting; easily
irritated or provoked to contest; irascible;
choleric ; petulant ; also, proceeding from or
characteristic of such a disposition.
He would say I lied : this is called the Countercheck
Quarrelsome. Shak, As you Like it, v. 4. 86.
quarrelsomely (kwor'el-smn-li), adv. In a
quarrelsome manner ; with a quarrelsome tem-
per; petulantly.
quarrelsomeness (kwor'el-sum-nes), n. The
state of being quarrelsome ; disposition to en-
gage in contention and brawls ; petulance.
Although a man by his quarrelsomeness should for once
have been engaged in a bad action . . .
BentJiam, Iiitrod. to Morals and Legislation, xii. 33, note.
quarrender (kwor'en-der), n. A kind of apple.
Davies. [Prov. Eng.]
He . . , had no ambition whatsoever beyond pleasing
his father and mother, getting by honest means the maxi-
mum of red quarrenders and mazard cherries, and going
to sea when ne was big enough.
Kmgsiey, Westward Ho, i.
quarrert, »• A Middle English form of quarry^.
quarriable (kwor'i-a-bl), a. [< quarry^ + -able.']
Capable of being quarried.
The arable soil, the quarriable rock. ETnerson.
quarried (kwor'id), a. [< quarry'^ + -ed^.]
Paved with quarries. See quarry^, n., 1 (a).
In those days the quarrwd parlour was innocent of a
carpet. George Eliot, Essays, p. 148.
quarrier^ (kwor'i-er), n. [< ME. quaryour, quer-
rour,<. OP. quarrier,<. LL. quadratarius, a stone-
cutter, < quadratus, squared {saoeum quadratum,
a squared stone) : see quarry^. Of. LL. quadra-
tor, a stone-cutter, lit. 'squarer,' < quadrare,
make square: see quad/rator, quadrate.] One
who works in a quarry ; a quarryman.
Aboute hym lefte he no masoun
That stoon coude leye, ne querrour.
Rom. of the Rose, L 4149.
Rie men of Eome, which were the conquerors of all na-
tions about them, were now of warriors become quarri&rs,
hewers of stone and day laborers.
Holland, tr. of Livy, p. 35. (Dames.)
When -in wet weather the quarHer can sit chipping his
stone into portable shape. Harper's Mag.,liX.X. 243.
quarrier^t, quariert, ». [Also currier (see cur-
rier^); < OF. *quarier, ult. < L. quadratus,
square: see quarry'^, quarts, square.] A wax
candle, consisting of a square lump of wax with
a wick in the center. Also called quarion.
All the endes of quarriers and prickets.
Ord. and Reg., p. 295. (HaUiwell.)
To light the waxen quarters
The auncient nurce is prest.
Romeus and JvZiet, (Nares.)
quarryi (kwor'i), a. and n. [Early mod. E.
also quarrey, quary ; < ME. quarry, quarrey,
quarre, square, thick, < OP. quarre, F. carrS,
square, < L. quadratus, squared, square ; as a
noun, L. quadratum,-aevit.,a, square, a quadrate,
LL. quadratus, m., a square: see quadrate, of
which quarry^ is a doublet.] I.t a. 1. Square ;
quadrate.
Quarri scheld, gode swerd of steil.
And launce stef , biteand weL
Arthour and Merlin, p. 111. (HaUiwell.)
The simplest form of mould is that employed for stamp-
ing flat diamond-shaped pieces of glass for quarry glazing.
Glass-making, p. 88.
The windows were of small quarry panes.
Quarterly Rev., CXLVI. 47.
3. Stout; fat; corpulent.
Thycke man he was yron, hot he nas nogt wel long ;
Quarry he was, and wel ymade vorto be strong.
Rob. of Gloucester, p. 412.
Agtatrrj/, fatman.obesus. Cofos, Lat. Diet. (Halliwell.)
II. n.; -pi. quarries (-iz). 1. A square or loz-
enge. Specifically— (a) A small square tile or paving-
stone ; same as quarrel^, 1 (a).
To be sure a stone floor was not the pleasantest to dance
on but then, most of the dancers had known what it was
to 'enjoy a Christmas dance on kitchen quarries.
George Eliot.
quarry-hawk
(b) A small square or lozenge-shaped pane of glass : same
as quarrel^, 1 (6).
The Thieves, . . . taking out some Quaries of the Glass,
put their Hands in and rob the Houses of their Window
Curtains.
Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne,
[1.74.
Hartley's rolled coloured-plate, and quarries stamped by
mechanical pressure, are also largely used where translu-
cency is required without transparency.
GlasS'inaking, p. 92.
2t. A bolt or arrow with a square head : same as
quarrel^, 2.
quarry^ (kwor'i), n. ; pi. quarries (-iz). [< ME.
quarrye, also quar, altered, by confusion with
quarry'^, from earlier quarrer, quarrere, quarer,
qudrere, < OF. quarriere, F. earri^e, < ML.
quadraria, a quarry, a place where stones are
cut or squared (suggested byLL. quadratarius,
a stone-cutter, lit. '^a squarer': see quarrier'^),
< L. quadratus, square, pp. of quadrare, make
square, square: see quarry'^, quadrate.] A
place, cavern, or pit where stones are dug
from the earth, or separated, as by blasting
with gunpowder, from a large mass of rock.
The word Tnine is generally applied to the excavationa
from which metals, metalliferous ores, and coal are taken ;
from quarries are taken all the various materials used for
building, as marble, freestone, slate, lime, cement^ rock,
etc. A quarry is usually open to the day ; a mine is gen-
erally covered, communicating with the sui-tace by one or
more shafts. Bee mine'^.
Thei sale, a litel hem bi-side, a semliche quarrere,
Vnder an heig hel, al holwe newe diked.
WiUiam of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2232.
That Stone rough in the Quarry grew
Which now a perfect Venus shews to View.
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love.
A quarry is an open excavation where the works are
visible at the surface. Bairibridge, On Mines, p. 2.
quarry^ (kwor'i), v. t. ; pret. and pp. quarried,
ppr. quarrying. [< quarry^, n.] To dig or take
from a quarry: as, to quarry marble.
Part of the valley, if not the whole of it, has been formed
by quarrying away the crags of marble and conglomerate
limestone. B. T&ylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 89.
Scarped cliil and quarried stone.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Iv.
quarry^ (kwor'i), n. [< ME. querre, Tcyrre,< OF.
cuiree, curee, P. ourSe, quarry, orig. the refuse
parts of an animal slain, given to the hounds
in its skin, < cuir, skin, hide, < L. corium, hide :
see corium.] If. The refuse parts of an ani-
mal slain in the chase, given in the skin to the
hounds: as, to make the quarry (to open and
skin the animal slain, and give the refuse to
the hounds).
And after, whenne the hert is splayed and ded, he un-
doeth liym, and maketh his kyrre, and enquyrreth or re-
wardeth his houndes, and so he hath gret likynge.
MS. Bodl. 546. (Halliuell.y
Then tersly thay flokked in folk at the laste,
& quykly of the quelled dere a querri thay maked.
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. I. S.), 1. 1824.
2. A beast of the chase when pursued or
slain; any creature hunted by men or by
beasts or birds of prey, especially after it has
been killed.
I watch'd his eye.
And saw how falcon-like it tower'd, and flew
Upon the wealthy quarry.
Fletcher {and another). False One, iv. 1.
As a falcon from the rocky height.
Her quarry seen, impetuous at the sight.
Forth-springing insi^nt, darts herself from high,
Shoots on the wing, and skims along the sky.
Pope, niad, xiiL 92.
3. Hunted or slaughtered game, or any object
of eager pursuit.
And let me use my sword, I'ld make a quarry
With thousands of these quarter'd slaves.
Shak., Cor., L 1. 202.
quarry^t (kwor'i), v. [< quarry^, n.] I. in-
trans. To prey, as a vulture or harpy.
Like the vulture that is day and night quarrying upon
Prometheus's liver. Sir R. L'Estrange.
II. trans. To provide with prey.
Now I am bravely quarried. Beau, and Fl.
A soldier of renown, and tlie first provost
That ever let our Roman eagles fly
On swarthy -Slgypt, quarried with her spoils.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1.
quarry-faced (kwor'i-fast), a. Eough-fa,ced,
as taken from
the quarry:
noting a type
of buildmg-
stone and ma-
sonry built of
such stone.
quarry - hawk
(kwor'i-hak).
a.>-
^r™-V'.-^S
r
Quarry-faced or Rock-faced Masonry.
quarry-Iiawk
n. Aa old entered and reclaimed hawk. HaU
liwell.
quarrsring-inaclline (kwor'i-ing-ma-slien"), n.
A form of gang-drill for cutting channels in
native rock; a rock-drill. Such machines are usu-
ally combined in construction with the motor which oper-
ates them, and are placed on a railway-track for conve-
nience in moving them along the surface ot the stone to be
cut.
quarryman (kwor'i-man), n.; pi. quarrymen
(-men). [< quarry^ +"man.'\ A man who is
occupied in quarrying stones.
quarry-slave (kwor'i-slav), n. A slave com-
pelled to work in a quarry.
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon. Bryant, Thanatopsia.
quarry-water (kwor'i-wa"t6r), n. The water
which is mechanically held between the par-
ticles of a newly quarried rock, and which
gradually disappears by evaporation when this
is kept from exposure to the weather, a part of
this water only disappears after the rock has been heated
to the boiling-point, and this is usually called hygroscopic
Tnoisture. The quantity of quarry-water held by rocks
varies greatly in amount, according to their composition
and texture. Some rocks which are so soft that tiiey can
be cut with a saw or chisel when freshly quarried become
much harder after exposure to the air for a few weeks.
The longer the stone (limestone] has been exposed to
the air, the less fuel will be consumed in driving oft its in-
herent moisture, or quarry-water,
Sptms' Encye. Manvf^f L 619.
quarts (kwftrt), n. [< ME. quarte, < OF. quarte,
¥. quarte, f ., < L. quarta (so. pars), a fourth
part; cf. OF. quart, F. quart, m., = Sp. cuarto
= Pg. quarto = It. qiuirto, fourth, a fourth part,
quarter; < L. qvartus, fourth (= 'E. fourth), ap-
par. for *quaturtvs, with ordinal (superl.) for-
mative -tus (E. -th), < quattuor = E. four: see
four, and compare quadrate, quarter^ etc.] If.
A fourth part or division ; a quarter.
And Camber did possesse the Western quart.
Spenser, F. Q., II. x. 14.
2. A unit of measure, the fourth part of a gal-
lon ; also, a vessel of that capacity. Every gallon
of liquid measure has a quart, and in the United States
there is a quart of dry measure, although the use of the
gallon of that measure is confined to Great Britain. In
England the peck, or fourth part of a bushel, is sometimes
called a quart.
1 United States liquid quart = 0.9468 liter.
1 United States dry quart = 1.1017 liters.
1 imperial quart = 1.1359 liters.
1 Scotch quart ='3.398 liters.
Before the adoption of the metric system, there were mea-
sures of capacity corresponding to the quart in almost
every part of Europe.
Go fetch me a quart ot sack ; put a toast in 't.
Shut., M. W. of W., iii. 6. 3.
Yet would you . . . rail upon the hostess, . . .
Because she brought stone jugs and no seal'd quarts.
Shak., T. ot the S., Ind., ii. 89.
Glass bottles of all qualities I buys at three for a half-
penny, . . . but very seldom indeed 2(f., unless it's some-
thing very prime and big like the old quarts.
MayheWt London Labour and London Poor, II. 122.
3. In music, the interval of a fourth: prefixed
to the name of an instrument, it denotes one
pitched a fourth lower or a fourth higher than
the ordinary instrument.
A succession of parallel quarts, quints, and octaves,
which would be intolerable to modern ears.
The Academy, Jan. 18, 1890, p. 61.
4. In Gloucestershire and Leicestershire, Eng-
land, three pounds of butter; in the Isle of
Man, seven pounds — that is, the fourth part
of a quarter. — 5. A Welsh measure of length
or surface ; a pole of 3J to 4} yards.
quart^ (kart), ». [< F. quarte, a sequence of
four cards at piquet, also a position in fencing;
particular uses of quarte, a fourth : see quart^.l
1. In card-playing, a sequence of four cards.
A quart major is a sequence of the highest four
cards in any suit.
If the elder hand has quoH major and two other Aces,
the odds are only 5 to 4 against his taking in either the
Ten to his quart, or another Ace. i
The American Hoyle, p. 136.
2. One of the eight thrusts and parries in fen-
cing. A thrust in quart is a thrust^ with the nails up-
ward, at the upper breast, which is given direct from the
ordinary position taken by two fencers when they engage,
the left of their foils touching. A parry in quart guards
this blow. It is produced by carrying the hand a few
inches to the left without lowering hand or point.— Quart
and tierce, practice between fencers, one thrustmg in
q uart and tierce (see tierce) alternately, and the other jparry-
ing in the same positions. It is confounded with tirer au
mur (f encinc at the wall), which is simply practice for the
legs, hand, and eyes against a stationary mark, usually a
plastron hung on the wall.
The assassin stab of time was parried by the ?uar( and
tierce of art. Smollett, tr. of Gil Bias, iv. 7.
How subtle at tierce and quart of mind with mind !
Tennyson, In Memoriam, W. G. Ward.
4896
quartet, «• [ME. quart, quarte, qwarte, quert,
qwert, whert; origin obscure.] Safe; sound; in
good health. Prompt. Parv., p. 420.
quartet, ». [ME. quart, qwart, querte; < quarts,
o.] Safety; health.
Againe alle our care hit is our quert.
Boly Mood (E. B. T. S.), p. 108.
A 1 worthy lorde, wolde thou take heede,
I am full olde and oute of qwarte.
That me liste do no daies dede,
Bot yf gret mystir me garte. York Plays, p. 41.
With beaute and with bodyly quarte
To serve the I toke noone heede.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Eumivall), p. 174.
Loue us helith, & makith in qwart.
And liftith us up in-to heuene-riche.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 23.
quartan (kw&r'tan), a. and n. [Early mod. E.
also quartain; < SlE. quarteyne, < OP. quartame,
F. quartaine = Pr. quartana, cartana = Sp. cuar-
tana = Pg. quartSo = It. quartana, < L. quar-
tana (sc. febris), quartan fever, fem. of qiiar-
tanus, of or pertaining to the fourth, < quartus,
fourth : see quarts. Ji I. a. Having to do with the
fourth ; especially, occurring every fourth day :
as, a quartan ague or fever (one which recurs
on the fourth day — that is, after three days).
The {Mortan-f ever, shrinking every limb.
Sets me a-capering straight.
Ford, Perkin Warbeck, iii. 2.
The sins shall return periodically, like the revolutions
of a quartan ague. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), 1. 104.
II. n. 1. An intermitting ague that occurs
every fourth day, both days of consecutive oc-
currence being counted, as on Sunday, Wednes-
day, Saturday, Tuesday, etc.
After you felt your selfe delluered of your quartaine.
Chtevara, Letters (tr. by Heilowes, 1677X P- 13.
The quarteyn is gendrid of myche haboundaunce of mal-
encolye that is corrumpid withinne the body.
Booke of Quinte Essence (ed. Fumivall), p. 20.
2. A measure containing the fourth part of
some other measure.
quartanert, ». [ME. quartenare, < ML. qwar-
tenarius, < quartana, the quartan : see quwrtan.'\
One who has the quartan.
quartation (kwS,r-ta'shgn), n. [< L. quartus,
fourth (see quart^), + -ation.'] The parting of
gold and silver by the use of nitric acid, it is so
called because an alloy consisting of more than one part of
gold to three parts of silver is very little affected by the
acid ; hence it is necessary, in the case of allO}[S very rich in
gold, to fuse them with so much additional silver that the
gold shall form not more than a fourth of the whole.
In that operation that refiners call quartatiort, which
they employ to purify gold, three parts of silver are so ex-
quisitely mingled by fusion with a fourth part of gold
(whence the operation is denominated) that the resulting
mass acquires several new qualities by virtue of the com-
position. Boyle, Works, I. 604.
quart d'6cut (kar da-kii'). [F.] An old French
coin: same as eardlecM.
Sir, for a quart-d'icu he will sell the fee-simple of his
salvation. Shak., All's Well, iv. 3. 811.
quarts (kart), n. [F., lit. a fourth part: see
quart^, quarts.'] Same as quarts.
quarter! (kwS.r't6r), «. [< ME. quarter, quar-
tere, dial, wharter, quarter (= u. hwartier =
G. quartier = Sw. quarter = Dan. hvarteer, quar-
ter), < OF. quartier, quarter, cartier, a fourth
part, quarter, as of mutton, etc., = Sp. euartel
= Pg. quartel = It. quartiero, quarUere, quarter,
< L. quartarius, a fourth part of any measure,
esp. of a sextarius, a quarter, quartern, ML.
quartarius, also neut. quartarium, also (after
Eom.) quarterius, quarterium, a quarter, eto.,<
Jj. quartus, toTxrth: see quartK Ct. quarter^.'] 1.
One of four equal or equivalent parts into which
anything is or may be divided; a fourth part
or portion ; one of four equal or corresponding
divisions.
I have a kinsman not past three quarters of a mile hence.
Shak., W. T., Iv. 3. 86.
Specifically —(a) The fourth part of a yard or of an eU.
The stuarde in honde schalle haue a stale,
A fyngur gret, two wharters long,
To reule the men of court ymong.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 810.
His arrowes were flue quarters long, headed with the
splinters of a white christall-like stone.
Capt. John Smith, Works, 1. 120.
(b) The fourth part of a hundredweight— that is, 28
pounds, the hundredweight being equal to 112 pounds.
Abbreviated qr. (c) In England, as a legal measure of
capacity, eight bushels. Locally, 16, 12, or 9 bushels, 8
bushels and 3 pecks, or 8 bushels, 2 pecks, and 2^ quarts
are variously called a quarter.
Holding land on which he could sow three-quarters of
an imperial quarter of corn and three imperial quarters of
potatoes. Quarterly Rev., CLXII. 887.
(d) The fourth part of an hour.
quarter
Sin' your true love was at your yates,
It 's but twa quarters past.
The Drowned Lovers (Child's Ballads, II. 179).
He always is here as the clock 's going five—
Where is he ? . . . Ah, it is olmning the quarter !
F. Locker, The Old Government Clerk,
(c) In astron., the fourth part of the moon's period or
monthly revolution : as, the first quarter after the change
or full. (/) One of the four parts into which the horizon
is supposed to be divided; one of the four cardinal points :
as, the four quartos of the globe ; but, more widely, any
region or point of the compass : as, from what quarter
does the wind blow? people thronged in from all quartersj
hence, indefinitely, any direction or source ; as, my infor-
mation comes from a high quarter.
Upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four
quarters of heaven. Jer. xllx. 36.
I own I was hurt to hear it^ as I indeed was to learn,
from the same quarter, that your guardian, Sir Peter, and
Lady Teazle have not agreed lately as well as could be
wished. Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 1.
(g) In nav., the fourth part of the distance from one
point on the compass-card to another, being the fourth of
11° 15'— that is, about 2° 49'. Also called quarter-point.
(A) The fourth part of the year ; specifically, in schools,
the fourth part of the teaching period of the year, gener-
ally ten or eleven weeks.
I have served your worship truly, sir, this eight years ;
and if I cannot once or twice in a quarter bear out a
knave ... I have but a very little credit.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., v. 1. 63.
There was a fiction that Mr. Wopsle examined the schol-
ars once a quarter. Dickens, Great Expectations, vii.
(i) A silver coin, equal to one fourth part of a dollar, or
twenty-five cents; also, the sum of twenty-five cents.
[U. S. ] Q') One fourth part of the body or carcass of an ani-
mal, in the case of butcher's meat including a leg : as, a
fore or hind quarter of mutton ; especially, one of the hind
quarters ; a haunch : generally in the plural : as, the quar-
ters of ahorse. See cut under horse, (k)
In her. : (1) One of the four parts into
which a shield is divided by quartering.
The four quarters are numbered as fol-
lows : 1, dexter chief ; 2, sinister chief ;
3, dexter base ; 4, sinister base. (2) An
ordinary occupying one fourth of the
field, and placed (unless otherwise di-
rected) in the dexter chief, as shown in
the cut ; also^ sometimes, same as can-
tonX.i. (2)In8Aoema^n^, thepartofthe Quarter,
shoe or boot, on either side, between the
back of the heel and a line drawn downward from the
ankle-bone or thereabout ; hence, that part of the leather
which occupies the same place, whether the actual upper-
leather of the shoe or a stiff lining. See cut under hoot.
Lace shoe upper, consisting ot vamp, quarter, and facing
for eyelet holes. Ure, Diet., IV. 110.
(m) Naut. : (1) The part of a ship's side between the after
part of the main chains and the stern. (2) The part of a
yard between the slings and the yard-arm. (n) Va farriery,
the part of a horse's foot between the toe and the heel,
being the side of the coffin. A false quarter is a cleft in
the hoof extending from the coronet to the shoe, or from
top to bottom. When for any disorder one of the quar-
ters is cut, the horse is said to be quarter-coA (o) In arch.,
a square panel inclosing a quatrefoil or other ornament ;
also, an upright post in partitions to which the laths are
nailed, (p) In a cask, the part of the side between the
bulge and the chime. (9) In the dress of a millstone, a
section of the dress containing one leader and branches,
(r) In carp., one of the sections of a winding stair. («) In
cork-cutting, a parallelepiped of cork ready to be rounded
into shape, (f) In printing, any one of the four corners
of a cross-barred chase. («) In mueic, same as quarter-
note.
2. A distinct division of a svirface or region ; a
particular region of a town, city, or country;
a district ; a locality : as, the Latin quarter of
Paris; the Jews' quarter in Rome.
Some part of the town was on fire every night ; nobody
knew for what reason, nor what was the quarter that was
next to be burnt. Bruce, Source of the Nile, II. 624.
To the right and left of the great thoroughfares are by-
streets and quarters. E. W. Lane, Modem Egyptians, 1. 6.
Hence — 3. A position assi^ed or allotted;
specific place ; special location ; proper posi-
tion or station.
The Lord high-Marshall vnto each his quarter
Had not assigned.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, L 1.
Swift to their several quarters hasted then
The cumbrous elements. MUUm, P. L., iii. 714.
More specifically-^ (a) The proper stations of officers and
men on a man-of-war in battle, in exercise, or on inspec-
tion : in the plural. The exercise of the guns, as in bat-
tle, is distinguished as general quarters. (6) Place of lodg-
ing ; temporary residence ; shelter ; entertainment : usu-
ally in the plural.
The Duke acquaints his Friends, who hereupon fall
every one to his Quarter. The Earl of Warwick fell upon
the Lord Clifford's Qitarter, where the Duke of Somerset
hasting to the Rescue was slain. Baker, Chronicles, p. 193.
I shall have time enough to lodge you in your quarters,
and afterwards to perform my own journey.
Cotton, in Walton's Angler, ii. 223.
(c) A station or an encampment occupied by troops; a
place of lodgment for officers and men : usually in the
plural : as, they went into winter quarters. Compare head-
quarters.
Had all your quarters been as safely kept
As that whereof I had the government.
We had not been thus shamefully surprised.
Shale., 1 Hen. TI., ii. 1. 63.
quarter
h^Z3^ '^^Jj® ¥" ''^™ "■«»'l. and the last volley has
^^^^. -^^^ the burled soldier, the troops mMch to
quarters with a quick step, and to a lively tn£e.
Thackeray, Philip, xxx.
i^n^;„'?v,l''^^',°S inhabited by the negroes on a planta-
tion, in the period of slavery. [Southern U. S.] ^
Let us go out to the quarters, grandpa; they wiU be
dancing by now. Harpe/s Mag., LXjfmir253
4t, [Appar. due to the phrase to keep quarter
(6).] Peace; concord; amity. [Rare.]
Friends all but now, even now
In quarter, and in terms like bride and groom.
_ . T, . ,, . , Skak., OtheUo, ii. 3. 180
5t. Friendly intercourse.
K your more serious business do not call you
Let me hold quarter with you ; we will talk '
An hour out quicldy. Beau, and PI., Philaster, ii. 2,
Alteniate quarters, in her. See aiteraote.— Close-
quarters. Same as doae-fighU. — Grand quarter. In her
one of the four primary divisions in quartering —Great
Quarter Court. Same as Court of Assistants (which see
under court).— On the quarter (naut), strictly, 45° abaft
the beam : generally used to designate a position between
abeam and astern.— Quarter blndmg. See binding —
QuEurter gasket. See gasket.— To beat to quarters
See cca«i.— To come to close quarters. See cTosea.— To
keep quarter!, (a) To keep the proper place or station.
They do best who, if they cannot but admit love, yet
make it keep quarter, and sever it wholly from their seri-
ous aCEairs. Bacon, Love (ed. 1887).
(6) To keep peace. Compare quarter^.
I knew two that were competitors for the secretary's
place in Queen Elizabeth's time, and yet kept good quar-
ter between themselves. Baeon, Cunning (ed. 1887).
For the Venetians endeavoui', as much as in them lies,
to keep good quarters with the Turk, j
' 'S, Travailes, p. 6.
(ct) To make noise or disturbance : apparently an ironi-
cal use.
Sing, hi ho. Sir Arthur, no more in the house you shall
prate ;
For all you kept such smarter, you are out of the counoell
of state. Wright's Political Ballads, p. 150. (^Halliwett.)
This evening come Betty Turner and the two Mercers,
and W. Batelier, and they had fiddlers, and danced, and
kept a quarter. Pepys, Diary, IIL 360.
Weather quartern the quarter of a ship which is on the
windward side.— winter quarters, the quarters of an
army during the winter ; a winter residence or station.
quarteri (kw&r'ter), v. [< quarter^ n. In def .
n., 5, cf. F. cartayer, drive so that one of the
two chief ruts shall be between the wheels (thus
dividing the road into four sections), < quart,
fourth: see quartK'] I. trans. 1. To divide
into four equal parts.
In his silver shield
He bore a bloodie Crosse that quartred all the field.
Spenser, F, Q., II. i. 18.
A thought which, gtiarter'd, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward. Shak., Hamlet, iv. 4. 42,
2. To divide ; separate into parts ; cut to pieces.
If you frown upon this profler'd peace.
You tempt the fury of my three attendants,
Lean famine, quartering steel, and climbing fire.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iv. 2. 11.
Here is a sword baith sharp and broad.
Will quarter you in three.
King MaZcolm and Sir Colmn (Child's Ballads, III. 380).
The lawyer and the blacksmith shall be hang'd,
Quarter'd. Ford, Perkin Warbeck, iii. 1.
3. To divide into distinct regions or compart-
ments.
Then sailors quartered heaven, and found a name
For every fixed and every wandering star.
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgios, i 208.
4. To furnish with lodgings, shelter, or enter-
tainment; supply with temporary means of
living; especially, to find lodgings and food
for: as, to quarter soldiers on the inhabitants.
Divers souldiers were quarter'd at my house, but I thank
<j|od went away the next day towards Flanders.
Evelyn, Diary, May 1, 1667.
They would not adventure to bring them to us, but
mmrtered them in another house, though in the same
town. E. Knox (Arber's Eng. Gamer, I. 344).
5t. To diet; feed.
Scrimansky was his cousin-german.
With whom he served, and fed on vermin;
And when these fail'd, he'd suck his claws.
And quarter himself upon his paws.
S. Butler, Hudibras, I. ii. 268.
6. To furnish as portion ; deal out; allot; share.
But this isle.
The greatest and the best of all the main.
He quarters to his bluehair'd deities.
Milton, Comus, 1. 29.
When the queen frown'd, or smil'd, he knows . . .
Whose place is quarter'd out, three parts in four.
Pope, Satires of Donne, iv. 136.
7. In her. , to bear quarterly upon one's escutch-
eon : thus, a man quarters the arms of his father
with those of his mother, if she has been an
heiress. The verb to quarter is used even when more
than two coats of arms are united upon one escutcheon,
and when, therefore, more than four compartments ap-
pear. See quartering, 4.
308
4897
Slen. They [the Shallow family] may give the dozen white
luces in their coat ; . . . I may quarter, coz.
Shal. You may, by marrying.
Shak., M. W. of W., i 1. 23.
"Look at the bannerj"' said the Abbot ; "tell me what
are the blazonries. " "The arms of Scotland," said Ed-
ward; "the lion and its tresBure, juartered . . . with three
cushions." Scott, Monastery, xxxvii.
8. In mach., to make wrist-pin holes in, 90°
apajt: said of locomotive driving-wheels. — 9.
In sporting, to range or beat (the ground) for
game : with indefinite it : said of hunting-dogs.
In order to complete the education of the pointer in
ranging or beating his gi-ound, it is not only necessaiy
that he should quarter it, as it is called, but that he should
do it with eveiy advantage of the wind, and also without
losing time by dwelling on a false scent.
Dogs of Great Britain and America, p. 229.
To bang, draw, and quarter. See hang.— to quar-
ter the sea, to bring the sea first on one quarter and
then on the other: frequently done with a small boat
running before a heavy sea with plenty of sea-room.
II. intrans. 1. To be stationed; remain in
quarters ; lodge ; have a temporary residence.
Some fortunate captains
That miarter with him, and are truly valiant.
Have flung the name of Happy Ceesar on him.
Flet£her{and another), False One, iv. 2.
That night they quartered in the woods.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 163.
2. Naut, to sail with the wind on the quarter.
We were now assured they were Spaniards ; and there-
fore we put away. Quartering, and steering N. W.
Da/mpier, Voyages, II. ii. 20.
3. To shift ; beat about ; change position, so as
to get advantage of an adversary.
.They quarter over the ground again and again, Tom
always on the defensive.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Bugby, ii. 5.
4. In sporting, to run back and forth in search
of game, as if going about all quarters, as a
dog in the field. — 5. To drive a carriage diago-
nally from side to side, so as to keep the wheels
from entering the ruts.
The postillion . . . was employed, not by fits and starts,
but always and eternally, in quartering — i. e. in crossing
from side to side — according to the casualties of the
ground. J)e Quineey, Autob. Sketches, L 298.
quarter^ (kw^r'tfer), to. [= G. quai-tier = Sw.
quarter = Dan. Tcnarteer, quarter; < P. quartier,
' ' quarter, or fair war, where souldiers are taken
prisoners and ransomed at a certain rate " (Cot-
grave) (= Sp. cuartel = 'Pg. quartet = It. quar-
Uere, quarter), in the phrases donner quartier, or
faire quartier, give quarter, demander quartier,
beg quarter, supposed to have referred orig. to
the sending of the vanquished to an assigned
' quarter' or place, there to be detained until
his liberation, ransom, or slavery shotdd be
decided: see quarter^. The explanation from
an alleged ' ' custom of the Dutch and Spaniards,
who accepted as the ransom of an of&eer or
soldier a quarter of his pay for a certain period"
(Imp. Diet.) presents obvious difBoulties.] In-
dulgence or mercy shown to a vanquished
enemy, in sparing his life and accepting his
surrender; hence, in general, indulgence;
clemency; mercy.
The three that remain'd call'd to Eobin for quarter.
RoUn Hood's Birth (Child's Ballads, V. 350).
Death a more gen'rous Kage does use ;
Quarter to all he conquers does refuse.
Cowley, The Mistress, Thraldom.
He magnified his own clemency, now that they were at
his mercy, to offer them quarter for their lives, if they
gave up the castle. Clarendon.
Most people dislike vftnity in others, whatevershare they
have of it themselves ; but I give it fair quarter wherever
I meet with it. Franklin, Autobiog., I. 83.
quarterage (kw£lr'ter-aj), n. [Early mod. E.
also quarteridge, quartridge; <ME. quarterage,
< OF. quarterage, quarterage, < quartier, a quar-
ter: see quarter^, ^ 1. A quarterly allowance
or payment, as 'or tuition or rent.
Upon every one of the said quarter days, every one that
is a Freeman of the said Company shall pay to the Master
for the time being, for his quarteridge, one penny.
English Oilds (B. E. T. S.), p. 289.
[A virtuous writer] might have expended more by the
year by the revenue of his verse than any riotous elder
brother upon the wealthy quartridges of three time three
hundred acres. Middleton, Father Hubbard's Tales.
In 1711 the quarterage [of Cartmel Grammai* School] was
raised to Is. 6^. for Latin and Is. for English, the poor
children still to be taught free.
Baines, Hist. Lancashire, II. 681.
2. Quarters; lodgment; keeping.
The warre thus being begun and followed, the Scots
kept their quarterrage. HoUnshed, Scotland, an. 1557.
Any noble residence at which they [great stewards] in-
tended to claim the free quarterage due to their ofllcial
dignity, while engaged in the examination of the state of
the district and the administration of the laws by the
king's command. O'Curry, Ancient Irish, I. xvi.
quartered
For qtiarterage of a soldier, 6s. per week.
Connectieut Jteeords, II. 386. (Bartlett)
3. A certain special tax. See the quotation.
They [the Soman Catholics] could not obtain the free-
dom of any town corporate, and were only suffered to carry
on their trades in their native cities on condition of pay-
ing special and vexatious impositions known by the name
of quarterage. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., ii.
quarter-angled (kwar'ter-ang'-'gld), a. In her.,
same as quadrate, 5.
quarter-aspect (kwar't6r-as''''pekt), m. In as-
trol., the aspect of two planets whose positions
are 90° apart on the zodiac.
quarter-back (kwar't6r-bak), n. A certain
player or position in foot-ball. See haclc^,
n., 12.
quarter-badge (kw^r'tfer-baj), to. Naut., orna-
mentation on the quarters of a ship.
quarter-bend (kwar't6r-bend), to. In a pipe,
a bend the arc of which subtends an angle of
90°.
quarter-bill (kw&r't6r-bil), n. Naut, a list of
the stations on board a man-of-war for men to
take in time of action.
quarter-bitts (kwar'ter-bits), n. pi. Vertical
posts or timbers projecting above the deck on
a vessel's quarter, to which hawsers, tow-lines,
etc., may be secured.
quarter-blanket (kwdr'ter-blang"ket), TO. A
horse-blanket intended to cover only the back
and a part of the hips. It is usually put on un-
der the harness.
quarter-blocks (kwfii'tfer-bloks), n. pi. Naut.,
blocks underneath a yard close in amidships,
for the clew-lines and the sheets of the sail set
above them to reeve through.
quarter-board (kwar't6r-bord), to. One of a set
of thin boards forming an additional height to
the bulwarks of the after part of a vessel. They
are also called topgallant-bulwarks.
quarter-boat (kw&r'tfer-bot), n. Naut., any
boat hung to davits over a ship's quarter Lar-
board quarter-boat. See larboard.
quarter-boot (kwar'ter-bot), n. A leather boot
to protect the fore feet of horses which over-
reach with the hind feet.
quarter-bound (kwar'ter-bound), a. In book-
binding, bound with pasteboard covers and lea-
ther or cloth on the back only.
quarter-boys (kwli,r'ter-boiz),TO.^Z. Automata
which strike the quarter-hours in certain bel-
fries. Compare jack of the clock, under Jacfci.
Their quarter-boys and their chimes were designed for
this moral purpose as much as the memento which is so
commonly seen upon an old clock face, and so seldom upon
a new one, Southey, Doctor, xxix. (I)ames.)
quarter-bred (kwfij-'ter-bred), a. Having only
one fourth pure blood, as horses, cattle, etc.
quarter-cask (kw^r'ter-kask), to. a smaU cask
nolding 28 gallons or thereabouts.
quarter-cast (kwar't6r-kast), a. Cut in the
quarter of the hoof: said of horses operated
upon for some disease of the hoof.
quarter-cleft (kw^r't^r-kleft), a. Same as
quartered, 4.
quarter-cloth (kw^r'ter-kldth), to. Naut., one
of a series of long pieces of painted canvas for-
merly extended on the outside of the quarter-
netting from the upper part of the gallery to the
gangway.
quarter-day (kw^r'tfer-da), n. In England, the
day that begins each quarter of the year. They
are Lady day (March 25th), Midsummer day (June 24th),
Michaelmas day (September 29th), and Christmas day (De-
cember 25th). These are the usual landlords' and tenants*
terms for entering or quitting lands or houses and for
paying rent. In Scotland the legal terms are Whitsunday/
(May 15th) and Martinmas (November 11th) ; the conven-
tional terms Candlemas (February 2d) and Lammas (Au-
gust 1st) make up the quarter-days.
quarter-deck (kw&r'ter-dek), to. Naut., the
part of the spar-deck of a man-of-war between
the poop and the main-mast. It is used as a
promenade by the officers only.
The officer was walking the quarter-deck, where I had no
right to go. E. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 6.
quarter-decker (kw&r'ter-dek"er), «. Naut,
an officer who is more looked upon as a stickler
for small points of etiquette than as a thorough
seaman. [CoUoq.]
quartered (kw9,r'terd), ^. a. 1. Divided into
or grouped in four equal parts or quarters;
separated into distinct parts.
Nations besides from all the quarter'd winds.
Milton, P. R., iv. 202.
2. Lodged; stationed for lodging; of _.r per-
taining to lodging or quarters.
When they hear the Boman horses neigh.
Behold their qttarter'd fires. Shak., Cymbeline, iv. 4. 18.
quartered
8. Having hind quarters (of a specified kind) :
as, a short-quartered horse. — 4. Sawed into
quarters (said of a tree-trunk), and then cut
into planks in such a manner as to show the
grain of the wood (especially the silver grain
of oak) to advantage. This is done in various ways
—that most approved being to out the quarter into two
equal parts from the pith to the bark, and then to saw off
boards by cuts parallel to the bisecting section.
5. In her., having a square piece cut out of the
center: noting a form of cross.
The perforation is usually as wide as the
band that forms the cross, so that the
arms of the cross do not unite in tile mid-
dle except at their corners.
6. In shoemaking, made with
quarters (of a particular kind):
as, lo-w-qtiartered shoes Drawn
and quartered. See drown.— Quar-
tered oak. See def. 4.— Quartered
4898
quarter-partition
A Cross Quartered.
Quarterly
Malli-
partitlon, a partition formed with quarters.-
quartered. See quarterly.
quarterer (kwar't6r-er), ». A lodger,
well. [Prov. Eng.]
quarter-evil (kw&r't6r-e"vl), n. Same as symp-
iomatic anthrax (which see, under anthrax).
quarter-face (kw&r'tfer-f as), n. A countenance
three parts averted.
But let this dross carry what price it will
With noble ignorants, and let them still
Turn upon scorned verse their quarter-face.
B. Jonson, Forest, xii. To Countess of Rutland.
quarter-fast (kwar'ter-fSist), n. Naut. See
fast\ 1.
quarter-fishes (kwar't6r-fish"ez), n. pi. Stout
pieces of wood hooped on to a mast to strength-
en it.
quarterfoil (kw^r'tfer-foil), re. See quatrefoil.
quarter-franc (kwS,r'ter-frangk), n. In her.,
■ a quarter used separately as a bearing.
quarter-gallery (kwar't6r-gal"e-ri), n. Naut,
a projecting balcony on each of the quarters,
and sometimes on the stern, of a large ship;
also, a small structure on the quarters of a ship,
containing the water-closet and bath-tub.
quarter-grain (kw^r'ter-gran), n. The grain
of wood shown when a log is quartered. See
quartered, 4. Compare felt-grain.
quarter-guard (kwar't6r-gard), n. Milit., a
small guard posted in front of each battalion
in camp.
quarter-gunner (kwar't6r-gun"6r), n. lu the
United States navy, a petty o£S.ceT whose duty
it is, under the direction of the gunner, to care
for the guns, gun-gear, small-arms, and ammu-
nition.
quarter-hollow (kw4r't6r-hol"6), n. and a. I.
n. In arch., etc., a concave molding the arc of
which is, or approaches, 90°, or a quadrant : the
converse of a quarter-round.
II. a. Having the form of a quarter-hollow.
— Quarter-hollow tool, a chisel or gouge used in wood-
working to make convex or concave moldings.
quarter-horse (kwa,r 'ter-h6rs), n. A horse that
is good for a dash of a quarter of a mile in a
race. [Southern IT. S.]
quarter-hung (kwlbr'ter-hung), a. Having, as
a gun, trunnions with their axis below the line
of bore. Farrow, Mil. Encyo.
quarteridgeti »• An obsolete form of quarter-
age.
quarter-ill (kw4r'ter-il), ». Same as symptom^
atic anthrax (which see, under anthrax).
quartering (kw&r't6r-ing), re. [Verbal n. of
quarter^, «.] 1. The act of dividing into
fourths. — 2. The act of assigning quarters, as
for soldiers. — 3. Quarters; lodging; a station.
Divers designations, regions, habitations, mansions, or
quarterings there. Bp. Mountagu, Appeal to Csesar, xviit
4. In her., the marshaling or disposal of va-
rious escutcheons in
one, in order to denote
the several alliances
of one family with the
heiresses of others.
When more than three
other escutcheons are quar-
tered with that of the fam-
ily, the arms are still said to
be quartered, however many
compartments the shield
maybe divided into. The
name is also given to the
several different coats mar-
shaled and placed together
in one escutcheon. See
quarterly.
5. In carp., a series of small vertical timber
posts, rarely exceeding 4 by 3 inches, used to
form a partition for the separation or boundary
of apartments. They are usually placed about twelve
Inches apart, and are lathed and plastered in interiors, but
if used for exteriors they are generally boarded. Qwilt.
6. In gun., the position or placing of a piece of racks, tents, etc., of a regiment, and to keep
ordnance when it is so traversed that it will '■^ ' *"' "* — " — *^^ """'' ' ^" "^^ — *"
shoot on the same line, or on the same point of
the compass, as that on which the ship's quarter
has its bearing. — 7. In mech., the adjustment
of cranks on a single shaft at an angle of 90°
with each other; also, the boring of holes for
wrist-pins in locomotive driving-wheels at right
angles with each other. M. H. Knight. «
quartering (kw^r'ter-ing), p. a. [Ppr. of
quarter^, v.'] 1. Naut.: (a) Sailing large but
not before the wind. Totten. (6) Being on the
quarter, or between the line of the keel and the
beam, abaft the latter: as, a quartering wind.
Dana. — 2. In archery, making an acute angle
with the range : said of the wind.
quartering-belt (kw8;r'ter-ing-belt), n. Same
as quarter-turn belt (which see, under belt).
quartering-block (kwte'tfer-ing-blok), n. A
block on which the body of a person condemned
to be quartered was cut in pieces. Macaulay.
quartering-hanuner (kwar't6r-ing-ham"6r), re.
A steel hammer used to block out masses of
flint for flaking.
quartering-machine (kwar'ter-ing-ma-shen"),
re. A machine for boring the wrist-pin holes
of driving-wheels accurately at a distance apart
of 90°.
quarter-iron (kwS,r't6r-i"6m), n. Naut.,
boom-iron on the quarter of a lower yard.
quarterland (kwS-r'tfer-land), ». A small ter-
ritorial division or estate in the Isle of Man,
forming a division of a treen.
quarter-light (kw&r'tfer-lit), n. In a carriage,
a window in the side of the body, as distin-
guished from the windows in the doors. Car-
Builder's Diet.
the regimental stores on the march : he directs
the marking out of camp, in the United States
army the quartermaster is appointed by the colonel of
the regiment, subject to the approval of the Secretary of
War. In the British service the quartermaster is gener-
ally taken from the ranks, and after thirty years' service,
including ten as an officer, he may retire witli the honor-
ary rank of captain. Farrow, Mil. Encyc.
2. Naut., a petty officer who has charge of the
steering of the ship, the signals and sound-
ings, and the running lights, leads, colors,
log, compasses, etc., as an assistant to the
navigator. Quartermasters keep regular watch during
the whole time a ship is in commission, and are selected
from the steadiest and most trustworthy seamen. On
mail steamers the quartermasters steer and keep the flags
and running-lights in order.— Quartermaster's depart-
ment, the staff department of the United States army
which provides the quarters and transportation of the ar-
my, purchases stores, transports army supplies, and fur-
nishes clothing, camp andgarrison equipage, horses for the
artillery and cavalry, straw, fuel, forage, and stationery. It
disburses the appropriations for the incidental expenses of
the army, such as the pursuit and capture of deserters, the
burial of officers and soldiers, the extra-duty pay of sol-
diers, the purchase of veterinary medicines and stores, the
hiring of escorts, couriers, guides, spies, and interpreters ;
and it has charge of the support and maintenance of the
national cemeteries.— Signal or chief quartermaster^
in the United States navy, a petty officer who has charge of
all the apparatus of navigation, as well as the flags, sig-
nals, and lights.
a quartermaster-general (kwar't6r-mas"t6r-
jen'e-ral), re. Milit., in the British service, a
staff-officer whose department is charged with
all orders I'elating to the marching, embarking,
disembarking, billeting, quartering, and can-
toning of troops, and to encampments and camp
equipage ; in the United States army, a stafi-
officer of the rank of brigadier-general, who is
at the head of the quartermaster's department.
quarter-line (kw^r'ter-lin), M. 1. The position quartermaster-sergeant (kwS,r't6r-mas''t6r-
of ships of a column ranged in a line when one sar'jent), n. Milit., a non-commissioned of-
is four points forward or abaft another's beam, fleer whose duty it is to assist the quartermas-
Also called iow-and-quarter line. — 2. An addi- ter.
tional line extending to the under side of the quartern (kwAr'tfim), n. [< ME. quarteroun, <
bag of a seine. As the bag approaches the shore, this OP. quarteron, P. quarteron = Pr. eartayron.
line is from time to time drawn upon to relieve the strain
upon the wings.
quarter-lookt (kw4r'ter-luk), n. A side look.
B. Jonson.
quarterly (kwS,r't6r-li), a. and n. [< quarter^
+ ~ly^-^ I. «• 1. Containing or consisting of
a fourth part.
The moon makes four quarterly seasons within her little
■year or month of consecution. Holder, On Time.
cartairo = Sp. cuarteron = It. quarterone, a
fourth part, < ML. quartero(n-), a fourth part,
< L. quartus, fourth: see quarts, quarter^. Cf.
quMrteroon, quadroon.'] 1. A fourth part; a
quarter.
And there is not the mone seyn in alle the lunaciuuii,
saf only the seconde quarteroun.
Mandeville, lYavels, p. 301. (HaMiweU.)
Specifically — 2. The fourth part of certain
British measures, (a) in Uquid measure, the fourth
of a pint ; an imperial gill.
The waiter . . . returned with figuartem of brandy.
Smollett, Launcelot Greaves, xvii.
2. Recurring at the end of every quarter of the
year : as, quarterly payments of rent ; a quarter-
ly visitation or examination Quarterly confer-
ence. See conference, 2 (c) (2).
. II, n. ; pi. quarterlies, (-liz). A publication
or literary periodical issued once every three
months.
So much of our reviewing is done in newspapers and
Sitictotlriv?n^=tl"e''n«a'Sr'"''''''' *" '"'"" quarter-Uetting (kwar'ter-nef'ing), n. Naut.,
(6) The fourth of a peck, or of a stone, (c) A quarter of a
pound.
Applicants for quarterns of sugar.
DUkem, Sketches, Tales, iv.
criticism nearly engrosses the name.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 54.
quarterly (kwar'ter-li), adv. [< quarterly, a.]
1. In quarters; by quarters.
They tore in peces quarterly
The corps which they had slaine.
Gascalgne, Fhilomene (Steele Glas, etc., ed. Arber, p. 107).
2. Once in a quarter of a year : as, the returns
are made quarterly. — 3. In her,', (a) Arranged
according to the four
quarters of the shield.
(&) Arranged according
to quartering, even when
more than four divisions
exist: as, he bears quar-
terly of twelve. Com-
pare quartering, 4 Quar-
terly In equerre, in her., di-
vided into four parts by broken
lines, producing an effect simi-
lar to gironny.— Quarterly in
saltier, in her., same as per
said of the fleld. See
Quarterly in Equeire.
Quartering.
First and fourth quarters are of
one ancestor, A: second of an-
other, B ; third of another, C.
netting oti the quarter for the stowage of ham-
mocks, which formerly in action served to arrest
bullets from small-arms.
quarternion (kwai-tfer'ni-on), re. An erroneous
form of quaternion.
quartern-loaf (kwar'tem-lof ), re. A loaf weigh-
ing, generally, four pounds.
Who makes the quartern-loaf and Luddites rise?
H. Smith, Rejected Addresses, i.
In proof of their poverty they [the sweepers] refer you
to the workhouse authorities, who allow them certain
quartem^loaves weekly.
Mayhem, London labour and London Poor, II. 628.
quarter-noble (kw&r't6r-n6"bl), «. .An old
English coin, equal in value to the fourth part
of a noble. Also ferling-nohle. See noble, 2.
quarter-note (kwar'tfer-not), re. In musical no-
tation, a note equivalent in time-value to one
half of a half -note ; a crotchet : marked by the
• sign J or r. Mso quarter — Quarter-note rest.
Same as quarter-rest.
quarteroon (kwfi,r-te-r8u'), «. [< Sp. cuarteron :
see quartern and quadroon.^ Same as quad'-
roon.
Your pale-white Creoles have their grievances : and your
yellow Quarteroons? . . . Quarteroon Ogi . . . feltforhis
share too that insurrection was the most sacred of duties.
Corij/Je, TrenchRev., II. V. 4. (Savies.)
saltier. — Quarterly pierced, in her., quartered. — Quar-
terly quartered, in her., divided along the lines which
separate the fleld quarterly : said of any bearing in the
fleld.
quarterman (kwar't6r-man), re.; -pi. quarter-
men (-men). An officer of a subdivision of a
navy-yard working force. [U. S.]
quartermaster (kwar't6r-mas"t6r), n. [= D. quarterount, n.
kwarUermeester = G. quarUermeister = Sw. quartern,
qvartermdstare = Dan. hvarteermester; as quar- quarter-pace (kwftr'tfer-pas), n. The footpace
<er2 -h TOflsterl.] 1. Jlfiiifc, a regimental staff- of a staircase when it occurs at the angle-turns
officer, of the relative rank of lieutenant, whose of the stairs.
duties are to superintend the assignment of quarter-partition (kwar't6r-par-tish"on), re. In
quarters and the distribution of clothing, fuel, carp., a partition consisting ot quarters. See
and other supplies, to have charge of the bar- quartering, 5.
A Middle English form of
quarter-pieces
quarter-pieces (kwftr'ter-pe"Bez), n.pl. Naut.,
projections beyond the quarters of a ship for
additional cabin accommodation.
auarter-pierced Ckwar't6r-perst), a. in her.,
pierced with a square hole not so large as in
quartered or quarterly pierced. See quartered, 5.
—Cross quarter-pierced. Seecroggi.
Quarter ;plate (kwar'ter-plat), n. In photog.:
(a) A size of plate measuriag 3J x 4J inches.
The half-plate measures 4i x 5i inches in the
Umted States (4i X 6i ia England), and the
whole-plate 6^ X SJ inches. (6) A plate of this
size, or a picture made from such a plate.
OLuarter-point (kwar'ter-point), n. Naut., the
fourth part of a point, or 2° 48' 45".
quarter-pointed (kwar't6r-poin"ted), a. In
her., representing one quarter of the field cut
off saltierwise, usually that quarter which is
appended to either side of the field.
quarter-rail (kwar'ter-ral), n. Naut. , that part
of the rail which runs above the quarter of the
ship ; the rail that serves as a guard to the quar-
ter-deck where there are no ports or bulwarks.
quarter-rest (kwdr'ter-rest), n. A rest or sign
for silence, equivalent in time-value to a quar-
ter-note ; a crotohet7rest : marked > or S- Also
called quarter-note rest.
quarter-round (kw4r'ter-round),». 1. Ina/reh.,
a molding whose contour is exactly or approxi-
mately a quadrant: same as ovolo.
In the quarter round of the cornish without there are
spouts carved with a lip and flowers that do not project.
Pococke, Description ol the East, II. i. 109.
2. Any tool adapted for forming quarter-
rounds, as an ovolo-plane Quarter-round tool,
a chisel adapted for cutting concave or convex moldings.
quarter-saver (kw4r'ter-sa"ver), n. A device
attached to a knitting-machine to prevent the
work from running off if the yarn breaks or runs
out.
quarter-sawed (kwftr'ter-sad), a. Same as
quartered, 4.
quarter-seal (kw^r'ter-sel), n. The seal kept
by the director of the Chancery of Scotland.
It is in the shape and impression of the fourth part of the
great seal, and is in the Scotch statutes called the tetlimo-
ni^U of the great seal. Gifts of lands from the crown pass
this seal in certain cases. SeU.
quarter-section (kwftr'ter-sek"shon), n. In the
United States Government Land Survey, a
square tract of land containing 160 acres, and
constituting one fourth of a section.
quarter-sessions (kw&r't6r-sesh'''onz), n. pi. 1.
A criminal court held quarterly in England by
justices of the peace in counties (in Ireland by
county-court judges), and by the recorder in
boroughs, and having jurisdiction of minor
offenses and administration of highway laws,
poor-laws, etc. In several of the United States
a somewhat similar court is known by this
name.
A great broad-shoulder'd genial Englishman, . . .
A quarteT'Sessions chairman, abler none.
Tennyson, Princess, Conclusion.
2. In Scotland, a court held by the justices of
the peace four times a year at the county
towns, and having power to review sentences
pronounced at the special and petty sessions.
Abbreviated Q. S.
quarter-sling (kwar'ter-sling), n. One of the
supports for a yard on either side of its center.
quarter-square (kwar'ter-skwar), n. The fourth
part of the square of a number. Tables of quar-
ter-squares are sometimes used to replace logarithms, on
account of the property that J (« + 2/)' + i C"' — »)'' = ^■
quarter-staff (kw^r'ter-staf), n.; pi. quarter-
staves (-stavz). An old English weapon formed
of a stout pole about 6^ feet long, it was grasped
by one hand in the middle, and by the other between the
middle and the end. In the attack the latter hand shifted
from one quarter of the staff to the other, giving the weapon
aiapid circular motion, which brought the ends on the
adversary at unexpected points.
A stout frere I met,
AndaoMfflrter-sto/einhishande.
PlayeofRohyn Bode (Child's Ballads, V. 420).
Quarter-staff Dr. Johnson explains to be "A staff of de-
fence, so called, I believe, from the manner of using it;
one hand being placed at the middle, and the other equal-
ly between the end and the middle."
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 357.
The two champions, being alike armed with Q^arter■
staves, stepped forward. . . . The miller, . . . ho ding
his ^tarte?-itaff by the middle and making it flourish
round his head, . . . exclaimed boastfully, "Come on,
churl, an thou darest 1 " Scott, Ivanhoe, xi.
quarter-Stanchion (kwar't^r - stan"shon), n.
Naut, a strong stanchion m the quarters of a
square-sterned vessel, one such stanchion form-
ing the extreme boundary of the stem on each
side.
4899
quarter-stuff (kw4r't6r-stuf), n. Plank one
fourth of an iueh in thickness. E. H. Knight.
quarter-tackle (kwftr't6r-tak"l), n. A purchase
sometimes used on the quarter of a lower yard
to hoist boats, etc.
quarter-timber (kwar't6r-tim"b6r), n. 1.
Naict.., one of the framing-timbers in a ship's
quarters. See cut under counter. — 2. In carp^
scantling from two to six inches deep. E. Ja.
Knight.
quarter-tone (kwS,r'ter-t6n), n. In musical
acoustics, an interval equivalent to one half of
a semitone or half-step. The term is loosely
applied to a variety of small intervals, espe-
cially to enharmonic ones.
quarter-trap (kw&r'ter-trap), n. In theaters,
a small trap on each side of the stage, on a line
with the first entrance.
quarter-turn (kwar't^r-tfem), n. The arc sub-
tending an angle of 90° ; a bend or change of
direction at right angles Qoaxter-tum Belt,
gooseneck, etc. See belt, etc.
quarter-undulation (kw&r"ter-un-du-la'shon),
n. In opUcs, a quarter of a wave-length Quar-
ter-undulation plate, a plate (as of mica) so thin as to
cause in a refracted ray a retardation equal to one fourth
of a wave-length. Such a plate is used in determining in
the polariscope the positive or negative character of a uni-
axial crystal.
quarter-vine (kw&r't6r-vin), n. An American
vine, Bignonia capreolata. it is so called because,
owing to the projection of medullary tissue in four wing-
like layers from the middle to near the surface, a short
section of the stem, when gently twisted in the hand, will
divide into quarters. See eross^ne.
quarter-waiter (kwar't6r-wa"ter), n. An of-
ficer or gentleman usher of the English court
who is one of a number in attendance by turns
for a quarter of a year at a time. Also called
quarterly waiter.
GentleTnan Usher. "No, do as I bid thee; I should know
something that have beene a quarter^uiayter [in the queen's
service] these fifteen yeares.
Sir J. Davies, Dialogue, Tanner MS. 79.
quarter-watch (kw&r'ter-woch), ». Naut., one
half of the watch on deck.
On the whaling ground in the southern fishery, when a
ship is hove to in mid-ocean, they stand quarter-watches,
one-fourUi of the working hands, or hall of each watch,
being on duty, headed by the boat^steerers.
Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 229.
quarter-'wind (kw&r'tfer-wind), n. Naut, a
wind blowing on a vessel's quarter.
quarter-yard (kwar'tSr-yard), n. An old ale-
measure. See ale-yard and half-jyard.
quartet, quartette (kwar-tef), n. [< It. quar-
tetto, a quartet, < L. quartus, fourth: see quarf^.l
1. In music : {a) A composition or movement
for four solo parts, either vocal or instrumen-
tal, usually without accompaniment. Specifi-
cally, an instrumental work, usually for four stringed in
struments, written in sonata form, and planned like a
small symphony ; a string-quartet. The quartet is the
highest variety of chamber-music. It first reached its
full development at the end of the eighteenth century.
(6) A company of four singers or players who
perform quartets. A mixed vocal quartet properly
consists of a soprano (treble), an alto, a tenor, and a bass.
A string-quartet consists of two violins, a viola, and a vio-
loncello, (c) In an orchestra the stringed in-
struments collectively], and in oratorio music
the principal vocal soloists, are sometimes loose-
ly called the quartet. — 2. A stanza of four
lines. — 3. Same as quadruplet. Car-Builder's
Diet Double quartet, (a) A composition for eight
voices or instruments, especially for four violins, two
violas, and two violoncellos. Orove. (b) The performers
of such a composition, whether vocal or instrumental.—
Quartet choir, a church choir consisting only of a mixed
quartet, especially when made up of expert singers.
quartette (kwar-tet'o), n. [It.] Same as quar-
tet.
quartfult, quartifult, «• [ME. quartyfulle, quar-
ful; < quarts + -ful.'] In good health; pros-
perous. Cath. Ang.
quartfulnesst, «• \}li-'E. quarfulnesse ; iquart-
ful + -ness.'] Prosperity. Cath. Ang.
quartic (kwftr'tik), a. and n. [< L. quartus,
fourth (see quarts, + -ic] I. a. In math., of
the fourth degree; especially, of the fourth
order Quartic ssraimetry, symmetry like that of a
regular octagon ; in general, symmetry arising from the
vanishing of the cubinvariant of a quartic.
II, re. -An algebraic function of the fourth
degree ; a quantic of the fourth degree — Bicir-
cular quartic. S6e SieircMiar.— Ex-cuDO-quartlc, a
non-plane curve formed by the intersection of a quadrio
and a cubic surface which have, besides, two non-inter-
secting straight lines in common.
quartifult, «• B^equartful.
quartile (kwHr'til), n. [< L. quartus, fourth
(see quarts), + -He."] In astrol,, an aspect of
planets when their longitudes differ by 90°.
See aspect, 7.
quartz
The heavens threaten us with their comets, stars,
planets, with their great conjunctions, eclipses, opposi-
tions, quarlUes, and such unfriendly aspects.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 87.
Or Mars and Venus, in a quartU, move
My pangs of jealousy for Arcite's love.
Dryden, Pal. and Arc, L 500.
quartilunar (kwftr-ti-lii'nar), a. [< L. quartus,
fourth (see quarf^), + luna, moon : see lunar.]
Pertaining to or consisting of one fourth of a
lunar month. [Rare.]
Such [tidal] waves as these may follow their causes, in
periodic times, not diumally alone, as infiuenced by sun
and moon, but in semilunar or quartUunar intervals.
Fitz Roy, Weather Book, p. 98.
quartine (kwar'tin), «. [< L. quartus, fourth
(see qaarf^), + -inel.] In bot., a supposed
fourth integument of some ovules, counting
from the outermost. It is really only a layer
of the secundine or of the nucleus.
quartinvariant (kw4r-tin-va'ri-ant), n. [< L.
quartus, fourth, + E. invariant.'] " An invariant
of the fourth degree in the coefficients.
quartisection (kw9,r-ti-sek'shon), n. [< L.
quartus, fourth, + E. section.'] Separation
into four equal parts ; quadrisection.
quartisternal(kwar-ti-ster'nal),w. [<L. quar-
tus, fourth, -t- sternum, breast-bone.] In anat.,
the fourth stemeber, counting from the manu-
brium backward; that bone of the sternum
which is opposite the fourth intercostal space.
[Kare.]
quartle(kwa,r'tl), n. [Avar.of gaarieri.] Same
as quarter^. HalUwell.
quartlet (kw&rt'let), n. [ME. quartelette, < OF.
*quartelet, < quart, fourth : see quarts.] A
tankard or goblet holding a quart.
Item, ij. quartelettes, of dyvers sortes, weiyng xlviij.
unces. PaMon LeUers, I. 472.
quarto (kw4r't6), n: and a. [Short for L. (NIi. )
in quarto : L. in, in ; quarto, abl. of quartus,
fourth: see quari^.] I. re. A size of book in
which the leaf is one fourth of a described or
implied size of paper. The sheet folded twice in cross
directions makes the square quarto, or regular quarto;
folded twice in the same direction makes the long quarto.
A cap quarto is 7 >; 8^ inches ; demy quarto, 8 x 10^ inches ;
folio-post quarto, 8^ x 11 inches ; medium quarto, 9 x 12
inches ; royal quarto, 10 x 13 inches. The leaf of a quarto
is understood to have a broad and short shape. Abbrevi-
ated 4to.
In my library there is a large copy of the Apocrypha,
in what may be called elephant quarto, printed for T.
Cadell and W. Davies, by Thomas Bensley, 1816.
N. and Q., 7th ser., IX. 356.
Broad quarto. See broad folio, under broad. — Small
quarto, a square octavo ; a book having eight leaves to a
sheet but the shape of a quarto.
II. a. Noting the size of a book in which a
sheet makes four leaves : as, a quarto volume ;
being of the size or shape of the leaves of a
quarto: as, quarto paper; a quarto edition.
Quartodeciman (kw&r-to-des'i-man), n. and a.
[< ML. quartadedmani, pi., < L. quarta decima
(sc. dies lunse), the fourteenth (day of the
moon), fern, of quartus decimus, fourteenth, <
quartus, fourth, -f- decimus, tenth : see quarts
and decimal.] I. n. A member of one of those
early Christian communities which celebrated
the Paschal festival on the fourteenth day of the
month Nisan (the same day as that on which
the Jews celebrated their Passover), without
regard to the day of the week. This practice led
to great .confusion and to a wide-spread controversy (the
Qicartodeciman controversy). In modern times this ques-
tion has been much misunderstood, from a failure to dis-
tinguish the "Pascha" which was the anniversary of
Christ's crucifixion from that which was the anniversary
of his resurrection. The Quartodeciman usage was finally
condemned by the Council of Nice, A. D. 325.
II. a. Relating to the (Juartodeoimans or to
their practice of celebrating the Paschal feast.
As to the origin and precise nature of the Quartodeciman
observance, there is not yet an entire agreement.
0. P. Fisher, Begin, of Christianity, p. 334.
Quartodecimani (kwar-to-des-i-ma'ni), n. pi.
[See Quartodeciman.] The Quartodeeimans.
Quartodecimanian (kwar-to-des-i-ma'ni-an),
n. and a. [< Quartodeciman + -ian.] Same as
Quartodeciman. Also Quartadecimanian.
quartole (kw^r'tol), «. [< L. quartus, fourth:
see quart^.] In music, a group of four notes to
be performed in the time of three or six. Com-
pare decimole, quintole, etc.
quartraint (kwar'tran), n. An improper form
of quatrain.
quartridget (kw&r'trij), n. An obsolete form
of quarterage.
quartz (kw3,rts), n. [= F. quartz = Sp. cuarzo
= Pg. It. quarzo = D. kioarts = Sw. qvarts =
• Dan. Jcvarts =Euss. kvartsu, < MHG. qtiarz (pi.
querze), G. quarz, rock-crystal, quartz.] The
quartz
common form of native silica, or the oxid of
silicon (Si02). Silica is also found in nature in the
minerals opal and tridymite (wliich see). Quartz oc-
curs crystallized and massive, and in botlj states is most
abundantly diBused, being one of the constituents of
granite, gneiss, and many other crystalline roclcs, form-
ing quartzite and sandstone, and making up the mass of
the sand of the sea-shore. When crystallized it commonly
occurs in hexagonal prisms, terminated by hexagonal
pyramids. It belongs, however, to the rhombohedral
division of the hexagonal system, and its forms are some-
times very complex. Optically it is remarliable as exliibit-
ing the phenomenon of circular polarization, the riglit and
left-handed character of the crystiJs optically correspond-
ing to the arrangement of the modifying trapezohedral
planes present. It scratches glass readily (hardness 7),
gives Are with steel, becomes electrified by friction, and
also by heating and pressure. It is infusible in the flame
of the blowpipe, and insoluble in ordinary reagents except
hydrofluoric acid. Its specific gravity is 2.66 when pure,
and the luster vitreous or in some cases greasy to dull.
The colors are various, as white or millcy, gray, reddish,
yellowish, or brownish, purple, blue, green. When color-
less, or nearly so, and crystallized, it is Icnown as rock-
crystal (which see): here belong the "Lake George
diamonds," etc. Other distinctly crystalline varieties
are the pink, called rose-quartz; the milk-white, milk-
quartz ; the purple or bluish-violet, amethyst ; the smoky-
yellow or brown, smoky quartz or Cairngorm stone, called
■morion when black or nearly so ; the yellow, false topaz
or citrine ; the aventurin, spangled with scales of mica
or hematite; sagenitic, containing acicular crystals of
rutile ; the cat*s-eye, opalescent through the presence of
asbestos fibers. The cryptocrystalline varieties are named
according either to color or to structure : here belong chal-
cedony, agate In many forms, onyx, sardonyx, cainelian,
heliotrope, prase, chrysopraae, flintj hornstone, jasper,
baaanite, agatized wood, etc. (see these words). The
ta:ansparent varieties of quartz (amethyst smoky quai-tz,
etc.) are used for cheap jewelry, also when colorless for
spectacles (then called pebbleX and for optical instru-
ments. Quartz prisms are useful in spectrum analysis,
since quartz is highly transparent to the ultra-violet rays.
(See spectrum.) Beautiful spheres of rock-crystal, some-
times several inches in diameter, occur in Japan. The
massive colored kinds of quartz are much used as orna-
mental stones, especially the agates and agatized or fossil
wood, onyx, etc. In these cases the colors are often pro-
duced or at least heightened by artificial means. Pul-
verized quartz is employed in making sandpaper; also
when pure for glass-making, and in the manufacture of
porcelain. Quartz-veins are often found in metamorphic
rocks, and frequentlycontain rich depositsof gold; hence,
in California and other gold-mining regions mining in the
solid rock is commonly called quarts-mining , in con-
tradistinction to placer and hydraulic mining. See cut
under geode.—Ba.'bel quartz, a curious form of quartz
crystals found atBeer Alston in Devonshire, England, the
under surface of which shows the impression of the crys-
tals of fiuor-spar upon which the quartz was deposited.
Also called Babylonian quartz. — Capped quartz, a variety
of crystallized quartz occurring in Cornwall, England, em-
bedded in compact quartz. When the matrix is broken
the crystals are revealed, and a cast of their pyramidal
terminations in intaglio is obtained. Another kind con-
sists of separable layers or caps, due to successive inter-
ruptions in the growth of the crystal, with perhaps a depo-
sition of a little clay between the layers. — milky quartz.
Same as Tniik-quartz.
CLUartz-crUsIier (kw&rts'krush"6r), TO. A ma-
chine for pulverizing quartz.
quartziferous (kwart-sif'e-rus), a. [< quartz
+ -i-ferous.'i Consisting of quartz, or chiefly
of quartz; containing quartz.
quartzite (kw^rt'slt), n. [< quartz + -ite^.'] A
rock composed essentially of the mineral quartz.
It is a rock of frequent occurrence, and often forms de-
posits of great thickness. Quartzite is rarely without a
granular structure, either perceptible to the naked eye or
visible witli the aid of the microscope. Sometimes, how-
ever, this structure is with great aifliculty perceptible.
It is generally held by geologists that quartzite has re-
sulted from the alteration of quartzose sand, pressure and
the presence of siliciferous solutions having thoroughly
united the grains of which the rock was originally com-
posed. The quartzose material of which many veins are
made up (material which must have been deposited from
a solution) is not generally designated as quartzite, this
sense being reserved for such quartz as is recognized by
its stratigraphic position to have been formed from sedi-
mentary material.
quartzitic (kwdrt-sit'ik), a. [< quartzite +
-jc] Of or pertaining to quartzite or quartz;
consisting of quartzite or quartz.
quartz-liquefler (kw&rts'lik"we-fi-er), to. An
apparatus in which comminuted auriferous
quartz is dissolved to liberate the gold,
quartz-mill (kw^rts'mil), u. 1. A machine for
pulverizing quartz, differing in character from
the ordinary mill in which the ore is pulverized
hj stamping, hut intended to serve the same
purpose. See stamp-mill. — 2. An establish-
ment where auriferous quartz is stamped or in
some other way reduced to a powder, and the
gold separated from it by amalgamation; a
stamp-mill.
quartzoid (kwart'soid), a. [< quartz + -o«U]
Tn crystal, a double six-sided pyramid, repre-
sented by uniting two six-sided single pyra-
mids base to base.
quartzose (kwart'sos), a. [< quartz + -ose.']
Composed of quartz. Quartzose rocks are such
as are essentially made up of the mineral-
quartz. Also quartzous.
4900
quartz-porpliyry (kwarts'p6r*fi-ri), to. See
porphyry.
quartz-reef (kwarts'ref), n. Same as quartz-
vein. [Australian.]
quartz-rock (kw&rts'rok), to. Quartzite.
quartz-sinter (kw&rts'sin"t6r), «. Silieious
sinter.
quartz-trachyte, n. See trachyte.
quartz-vein (kw^rts ' van), ». A deposit of
quartz in the form of a vein. Most of the gold ob-
tained from mining in the solid rock, and not by washing
of detrital material, comes from veins of which the gangue
is entirely or chiefly quartz ; hence auriferous veins are
often called quartz-veins, and mining for gold in the rock
is called quartz-mining.
quartzy (kw^rt'si), a. [< quartz + -i/i.] Con-
taining or abounding in quartz ; pertaining to
quartz ; partaking of the nature or qualities
of quartz; resembling quartz.
The iron ore is still further separated from its granitic or
quartzy matrix by washing.
Sir Oeorge C. M. Birdwood, Indian Arts, II. 4.
quas (kwas), TO. Same as kvass.
quash^ (kwosh), v. [< ME. quashen, quaschen,
quassen, quessen, < OF. quasser, casser, quassier,
quesser, Tcaisser, break in pie.ces, bruise, shatter,
maltreat, destroy, F. casser, break, shatter, < L.
quassare, shake or toss violently, shatter, fig.
shatter, impair, weaken, freq^. or quatere, pp.
quassus, shake, shatter, break in pieces; whence
also ult. B. concuss, discuss, percuss, rescue. In
the fig. sense this verb (L. quassare) merges
withF. casser, annul: see gwas/i^.] I. trans. 1.
To beat down or beat in pieces ; crush.
Abowte scho whirles the whele, and whirles me undire,
Tille alle my qwarters that whille whare qwaste al to peces !
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.),l. 3390.
The whales
Against sharp rocks, like reeling vessels quctsh'd,
Though huge as mountains, are in pieces dash'd.
Waller, Battle of the Summer Islands, ii.
2. To crush; subdue; put down summarily;
quell; extinguish; put an end to.
The word Puritan seemes to be quasht, and all that here-
tofore were counted such are now Brownists.
JUUton, Church-Government, i. 6.
The Commotions in Sicily are quashed, but those of Na-
ples increase. Howell, Letters, iii. 1.
To doubts so put, and so quashed, there seemed to be an
end for ever. Lamb, Witches.
II. intrans. To be shaken with a noise ; make
the noise of water when shaken.
The erthe quook and quashte as hit quyke were.
Piers Plowman (C), xxi. 64.
A thin and flne membrane strait and closely adhering to
keep it [the brain] from qmashing and shaking.
Bay, Works of Creation, li.
quasht (kwosh), v. t. [< ME. *quashen, < OF.
quasser, prop, casser, annihilate, annul, F. cas-
ser, annul, < LL. cassare, annihilate; destroy,
annul, < L. cassus, empty, hollow, fig. empty,
vain, useless, futile, null: see caSs^, cash^, cas-
sation\ cashier^, etc.] To make void ; annul ; in
law, to annul, abate, overthrow, or set aside for
insufficiency or other cause: as, to quash an
indictment,
Pleas in abatement (when the suit is by original) con-
clude to the writ or declaration by praying "judgment
of the writ, or declaration, and that the same may be
quashed," cassetur, made void, or abated.
Blaekstone, Com., III. xx.
quash^ (kwosh), to. [Perhaps so called with ref .
to its being easily broken ; < quash^, v. Squash^
is of Amer. Ind. origin.] If. A pompion. Sal-
liwell. — 2. Same as squash^ (?).
The Indian kale, ochro, quash, peppers, ackys, and a var
riety of pulse being natural to the climate [of Jamaica].
T. Boughley, Jamaica Planter's Guide (1828), p. 74.
quashey (kwosh'i), m. [Cf. gjtasP.] A pump-
kin.
With regard to these said quasheys, . . . the best way
of dressing them is to stew them in cream.
Southey, Letters (1823), iii. 391. (Davies.)
quashy-quasher (kwosh'i-kwosh"er), «. A
small tree, Thevetia neriifolia, of the West In-
dies and tropical America, it has saffron-colored
funnel-shaped flowers, its wood is hard and even-grained,
and its seeds yield a fixed oil called exileaU.
quasi (kwa'si), conj. or adv. [L., as if, just as,
as it were, about, nearly, < quam, as, how, -I- si,
if.] As if; as it were; in a manner: used in in-
troducing a proposed or possible explanation.
quasi-. [< L. quasi, as if, as it were : see quasi.']
A prefix or apparent adjective or adverb (and
hence often wiitten without the hyphen) mean-
ing 'seeming,' 'apparent' (equivalent to 'as
it were,"in appearance,' in predicate use), ex-
pressing some resemblance, but generally im-
plying that what it qualifies is in some degree
Quassia
fictitious or unreal, or has not all the features
of what it professes to be : as, a gMast-argument ;
a gMa«!-historical account. In construction and
partly in sense it is Xiike pseudo-.
The popular poets always represent Macon, Apolin, Ter-
vagant, and the rest as ^a«i-deities, unable to resist the
superior strength of the Christian God.
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 110.
A quasi hereditary priesthood is in each.
J. F. Clarke, Ten Great Beligions, vi. 7.
Henry . . . allowed the Archbishop of Canterbury to
exercise a 9i£«^legatine autliority under himself, and with
a check in Chancery on his proceedings.
Slums, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 2C9.
Quasi contract, a legal relation existing between parties
to which the law attaches some of the characteristics of a
contractual relation. See natural obligation, under natu-
ral.— Quasi corporation, d^lit, entail. See th e nouns.
—Quasi delict [LL. quasi delictum], in Bom, law, the
contravention of certain police regulations which imposed
a penalty upon a person for certain acts committed by any
one belonging to his family — for example, throwing of
water out of the windows. The distinction between de-
licta and mtasi delicta has been followed by some authors
whose writings are based on the common law ; and quasi
delicta are defined as those acts by which damage is done
to the obligee, though without the negligence or intention
of the obligor, and for which damage the obligor is bound
to make satisfaction. As, however, intention is not neces-
sary to constitute a delict (tort), the distinction seems to
be unnecessary in modern systems.
quasi-evolute (kwa'si-ev"o-lTit), n. In math.,
the envelop of the quasi-normal of a curve.
quasi-fee (kwa'si-fe), n. In law, an estate
gained by wrong. Wharton._
quasi-geometrical (kwa-si-je-o-met'ri-kal), a.
Relating to hyperspace.
quasi-heirloom (kwa'si-ar"16m), n. See heir-
loom, 1.
Quasimodo (kwas-i-mo'do). [= F. quasimodo;
so called because the introit for this day begins
with the words " Quasi modo geniti indfantes,"
As new-bom babes (1 Pet. ii. 2) : L. quasi, as if;
modo, just now, lately.] Same as Low Sunday.
Also called Quasimodo Sunday and Quasimodo-
geniti Sunday. See low^.
quasi-normal (kwa-si-n6r'mal), to. The har-
monic conjugate of the tangent to a curve with
respect to the lines joining its point of contact
to two fixed points.
quasi-period (kwa-si-pe'ri-od), TO. That con-
stant which, added to the variable of a quasi-
periodie function, multiplies the constant by a
fixed function.
quasi-periodic (kwa-si-pe-ri-od'ik), a. Noting
a function such that, when the variable is in-
creased by a certain fixed amount, it has its
value multiplied by a fixed function: thus, l" is
quasi-periodic, because !'' + ''■ = I. V.
quasi-radiate (kwa-si-ra'di-at), a. In hot.,
slightly radiate : noting the heads of some com-
posites whose ray-florets are small and incon-
spicuous.
quasi-realty (kwa-si-re'al-ti), TO. In law, things
which are flxed in contemplation of law to
realty, but are movable in themselves, as heir-
looms, title-deeds, court-rolls, etc. Wharton.
quasi-tenant (kwa-si-ten'ant), m. In law, an
undertenant who is in possession at the deter-
mination of an original lease, and is permitted
by the reversioner to hold over. Wharton.
quasi-trustee (kwa''si-trus-te')) n. In law, a
person who reaps a beneflt from a breach of
trust, and so becomes answerable as a trustee.
Wharton.
quasje, n. See coati.
quass^t, V. A Middle English form of quashK
quass^t (kwas), to. Same as Icvass.
With spiced Meades (wholsome hut deer),
As Meade Obarne and Mead Cherunk,
And the base Qtmsse by Fesants drunk.
Pvmlyco or Bunne Bed Cap (1609), quoted in Giilord's Jon-
[son, VIL 241.
quassation (kwa-sa'shon), TO. [< L. quassa-
tio{n-), a shaking or beating, < quassare, shake,
shatter: see quash^.] The act of shaking;
concussion; the state of being shaken.
Continual contusions, threshing, and quassoHons.
Qayton, Notes on Don Quixote^ p. 68.
quassative (kwas'a-tiv), a. [< L. quassatus,
pp. of quassare, sli'ake: see quash^.^ Tremu-
lous ; easily shaken.
A Frenchman's heart is more quassative and subject to
tremor than an Englishman's.
Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, iii. 2.
Quassia (kwash'ia), TO. [NL. (Linneeus, 1763),
named after Qudssi or Coissi, a negro slave in
Surinam, who used its bark as a remedy for
fever. Quassi, Quassy, or Quashy was a common
name of negroes.] 1. A genus of plants, of
the order Simaruiaceas and tribe Simarubeas.
Quassia
?™25i°J*°'?''J''^f ''? * '5''8« columnar receptacle bearing
a am^l flve-lobed calyx five long erect petafs, ten thread-
Uke stamens, and a flve-lobed ovary ripening into flvefleshv
drupes. There are 2 species : one, little known, is from
4901
Branch of Quassia amara, with inflorescence.
a, a flower ; 6, the fruit.
tropical Africa ; the other, Q. amara, is a tall and smooth
tree o( tropical America, with intensely bitter wood, bear-
ing alternate pinnate leaves with a winged petiole, and
having terminal racemes ol large scarlet tubular flowers.
3. [I. c] A drug, also called Utter-wood, con-
sisting of the wood oi Picrsma {Qiiassia) ex-
celsa, and of two or three related trees ; also, a
medicinal preparation from these woods. The
original tree was Quassia mnara, the Surinam quassia. Its
wood is still in use in France and Germany, but is largely
superseded by that of the more abundant Piareena ex-
cetia, a tall tree, the bitter-ash of Jamaica and some small-
er islands. A substitute for these is SimarUba amara,
the mountain-damson or bitter damson or stavewood of
the West Indies and northern South America. Qnassiar
wood is imported in billets, and appears in the shops in
the form of chips, raspings, etc. As a remedy it possesses
in the highest degree the properties of the simple bitters.
Its virtues are due to the principle quassin. Cups turned
from the wood impart a bitter taste to their contents, and
were once papular. A sweetened infusion of quassia is
useful to destroy flies. Piersena excelsa has sometimes
been substituted for hops in brewing, but this use is con-
sidered deleterious. See bitter ash (under asAl), bitter-
wood, and 'mountain-dams(m.
q[uassia-tree (kwash'ia-tre), n. Any of the
trees producing the drug quassia ; a bitterwood-
tree.
Quassilabia (kwas-i-la'bi-a), n: [NL. (Jordan
and Brayton, 1878), < L. qiiassus, pp. of guatere,
shake, + labium, lip.] A genus of catostomoid
fishes of the United States ; the hare-lip suckers.
Quassilabia lacera.
Q. lacera is the cutlips, or May, splitmouth, or rabbit-
mouUi sucker, a singular flsh of the Ohio valley and south-
ward, of an olivaceous or brownish color above, the sides
and belly silvery, the lower fins tinged with orange, and a
peculiar formation of the month which has suggested both
the technical and the vernacular names.
auassin (kwas'in), «. [< quassia + -j»2.] The
neutral bitter principle of quassia (Piersma ex-
celsa). This substance crystallizes from aqueous solu-
tions in very small white prisms. Its taste is intensely
bitter, but it is destitute of odor. It is scarcely soluble
in common ether, slightly soluble in water, and more sol-
uble in alcohoL Also called quassiin.
quassite(kwas'it),». [_< quassia + 4te^.'] Same
as quassin.
quasumt, pron. [MB., < qua, dial, form of who,
+ sum, mod. E. some.'] "Whoso.
Qtia-mm this tale can beter tende,
For Cristis loue he hit amende.
Holy Jtood (E. E. T. S.), p. 120.
quatl (kwot), V. [< OF. quatir, quaUvr, catw,
press down, strike down, plunge, siak, hide,
refl. crouch, squat, hide, = It. mattare, dial.
cattare, crouch, lie close, squat, < L. coaetare,
press together, constrain, force, < cogere, pp.
eoactus, press together, urge : see cogent. Cf .
squat, v., the same as quat, with a prefix; and
cf. also the related caehei and squasiiA.'] I.
trans. If. To press down; subdue.
The renowne of her chastitie was such that it almost
g^aated those aparkes that heated him on to such lawlesse
Greene, Never too Late (Works, ed. Dyce, Int., p. xxi.).
2t. To oppress; satiate.
Had Philotimus been served in at the first course, when
your stomach was not juaiteii with other daintier fare, his
relish had perhaps been something loathsome.
reiiBiijiaui, v Philotimue, 1583. (Nares.)
To the stomackg««tte(J with dainties al delicates seeme
queasie. I^ly< Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 44.
3. To flatter. HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
Il.t intrans. To squat.
quat^f (kwot), n. [Origin obscure.] 1. A
pustule or pimple. — 2. Figuratively, a small,
shabby, or insignificant person.
I have rubb'd this young C[uat almost to the sense.
And he grows angry. SMk., Othello, v. 1. 11.
quat^t (kwot), V. t. [A strong pret. and pp. of
quit, used also as inf.] To quit.
quat^ (kwot)jr). a. [See quat^, v.] Quit ; free ;
released. [Seoteh.]
quat*, pron. A dialectal form of what.
quata (kwa'ta), n. Same as coaita.
quatch^ (kwoch), v. i. [Origin obscure.] To
tell; be a telltale; peach. Malliwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
quatch^ (kwoch), n. [< quatch\ v.] A word.
Hallvwell. [Prov. Eng.]
Noe ; not a quaUih, sad poets ; doubt you
There is not greif e enough without you ?
Bp. Corbet, Elegy on Death of Queen Anne. (Dairies.)
quatch^t (kwoch), a. [Cf. quat^, squat (?).]
Squat; flat.
It is like a barber's chair, that fits all buttocks ; the pin-
buttock, the quatehrlmttock, the brawn buttock, or any
buttock. Shak., All's Well, ii. 2. 18.
quater-cousin, «. Same as cater-cousin.
quaterfoil, n. See quatrefoil.
quateru (kwa'tem), a. [< L. quaterm, four
each, by fours, distributive, < quattuor, four :
see quarts. Cf. quire^.] Consisting of four;
fourfold; growing by fours: as, gwaierre leaves.
quaternary (kwa-ter'na-ri), a. and n. [< L.
quaternarius, consisting of four each, contain-
ing four, <. quaterm, four each, by fours: see
quatern.'] i.a.l. Consisting of four ; arranged
or grouped in fours.
Eeproductive organs . . . solitary or quaternary in the
same sporangium.
Le Maoutand Decaime, Botany (trans.), p. 966.
3. [cap.] In geol., noting that part of the geo-
logical series which is more recent than the
Tertiary; Post-tertiary. (See Tertiary.) The
oldest and most general division of the Quaternary is into
diluvial and diluvial, by which terms are meant respec-
tively coarse detrital material and fine detrital material
— the one the result of rapid, the other of slower currents
of water. The former presence of ice, both fixed and
fioating, over a part of the northern hemisphere, and es-
pecially in the regions where geology was earliest culti-
vated, has greatly complicated the question of this divi-
sion of the Quaternary into subgroups or epochs. Thus
dUmiial has come to be replaced for the most part by gla-
cial; and some English geologists divide the Quaternary
into glacial and receviX, using the term Pleistocene also as
the equivalent of glacial. The term recent has also as its
synonym both allumal and human. While the essential
difi!erence between Tertiary and Quaternary is theoreti-
cally supposed to be that in the former a portion of the
fossil species are extinct^ while in the latter all are living,
this does not apply in the case of land-animals, especially
the mammals. In fact, there is, over extensive areas,
great difiiculty in deciding the question whether certain
formations shall be called Tertiary or Quaternary, as, for
instance, in the case of the Fampean deposits, which,
although containing great numbers of species of mam-
mals all or nearly all extinct, are generally considered by
geologists as being of Quaternary age.
3. In old, oliem., noting those compounds which
contained four elements, as fibrin, gelatin, etc.
— 4. In math,., containing, as a quantic, or ho-
mogeneous integral function, four variables.
A surface may be called a qiwUmary locus, because de-
fined by a quaternary equation, or one equating a quater-
nary quantic to zero. — Quaternary cubic. See cubic. —
Quaternary number, ten : so called by the Pythagore-
ans because equal to 1-I-2 + S + 4. Pythagoras, in the
oath of the brotherhood, was called the revealer of the
quaternary number, on account of some secret of arith-
metic, possibly an abacus.— Quaternary quadrics. See
quacbric.
II. n. A group of four things.
The objections I made against the qmOerrmry of ele-
ments and ternary of principles needed not to be opposed
so much against the doctrines themselves.
Bayle, Works, I. 686.
quaternate (kwa-ter'nat), a. [< NL. quater-
natus, < L. quaterm, four each: see quatern.]
Consisting of four — Quaternate leaf, a leaf that
consists of four leaflets.
quaternion (kwa-tfer'ni-gn), n. [Also quarter-
nion; <L. gMa*erMo(M-), the number four,a body
or group of four, < quaterni, four each, by fours :
see quatern.] 1. Aset, group, or body of four:
applied to persons or things.
He put him in prison, and delivered him to four quar-
temions of soldiers. Acts xii. 4.
Myself ... am called Anteros, or Love's enemy ; the
more welcome therefore to thy court, and the fitter to con-
duct this quartemion. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, v. 3.
When and where this quartemion rhyme, as it is used by
Berceo, was first introduced, cannot be determined.
Tioknor, Span. Lit., I. 27.
3. A word of four syllables; a quadrisyllable.
quatrefoil
The triads and quartemions with which he loaded big
Scott
3. A fourfold quantity capable of being ex-
pressed in the form xi -i- yj + zk + w, where x,
f, z, w are soalars, or real numbers, while i, j,
are vectors, or quantities whose squares are
negative scalars. The calculus of such quan-
tities is termed quaternions,
A Quaternion is the quotient of two vectors, or of two
directed right lines in space, considered as depending on
asystem of EourQeometrical Elements, and as expressible
by an algebraical symbol of Quadrinomial Form. The sci-
ence, or Calculus^ of Quaternions is a new mathematical
method wherein the foregoing conception of a quaternion
is unfolded and symbolically expressed, and is applied to
various classes of algebraical, geometrical, and physical
questions, so as to discover many new theorems, and to ar-
rive at the solution of many difficult problems.
Sir W. Rowan HamUton.
Coitjugate of a quaternion. See conjugate.— Co-a^vi.-
fate quaternions. Seecimju^ate.— Quatemiongroup.
ee groups.
quaternion (kwa-ter'ni-gn), v. t. [< quater-
nion, n.] To divide into" quaternions, files, or
companies.
The Angels themselves . . . are distinguisht and qua-
temiond into their celestiall Princedomes.
MUton, Church-Government, L 1.
quaternionist (kwa-t6r'ni-gn-ist), n. [< qtia-
ternion + -ist.] A student of quaternions.
Do we depart wider from the primary traditions of arith-
metic than the Quaternionist does?
J. Venn, Symbolic Logic, p. 91.
quaternity(kwa-t6r'ni-ti),M. [= F. quaternit4;
as quatern + -iiy.] 1 . The state of being four ;
the condition of making up the number four.
The number of four stands much admired, not only in
the quatemity of the elements, which are the principles
of bodies, but in the letters of the name of God.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iv. 12.
2. A group of four.
So that their whole scale, of all that is above body, was
indeed not a trinity, but a quartemUy, or four ranks and
degrees of beings one below another.
Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 557.
quateron, n. Same as_ quadroon.
quatorzain (ka-t6r'zan), n. [Formerly also
quaterzayn; < OP. quatorzaine, quatorsaine, the
number fourteen, < quatorze, fourteen: see qua-
toree.] A stanza or poem of fourteen lines ; a
sonnet.
Put out your rush candles, you poets & rimers, and be-
queath your crazed quarterzayns to the chandlers ; for loe !
here he commeth that hath broken your legs.
Nashe, quoted in Pierce Penilesse, Int., p. xxiv.
His [Drayton's] next publication is Idea's mirror;
Amours in QuMorzains, 1694. It contains fifty-one son-
nets. N. and Q., 6th ser., X. 61.
quatorze (ka-t6rz'), n. [< F. quatorze, < L. quat-
tuordedm, fourteen, < quattuor, four, + decern,
ten: &e& fourteen.] In the game of piquet, the
four aces, Mngs, queens, Imaves, or tens : so
called because such a group of four, in the hand
that holds the highest, counts fourteen points.
quatrain (kwot'ran), n. [Formerly also,improp.,
quartrain; < P. quatrain, a stanza of four lines,
< quatre, four,< li. quattuor = E./oar; see four.]
A stanza of four lines riming alternately.
I have chosen to write my poem in quatrains, or stanzas
of four in alternate rhyme, because I have ever judged them
more noble, and of greater dignity both for the sound and
number, than any other verse in use amongst us.
Dryden, Account of Annus Mirabilis.
Who but Landor could have written the faultless and
pathetic quatrain f —
I strove with none, for none was worth my strife ;
Nature I loved, and, next to Nature, Art ;
I warmed both hands before the fire of lite ;
It sinks, and I am ready to depart,
Stedman, Vict. Poets, p. 69.
quatraylef, ». [< OF. quatre-ayle, etc., < quatre,
four, + ayle, grandfather: see ayle.] A male
ancestor three generations earlier than one's
grandfather.
Thomas Gould, . . . who died in 1520. He was the quat-
rayle of Zaccheus Gould6, the New England immigrant.
New Engtanjd Bibliopolist, I. 71.
quatre-cousint, n. Same as cater-cousin.
quatrefoil (kat'er-foil), n. [Also quaterfoil,
quarterfoil ; < ME. Tcatrefoil, < OF. (and P.) quor-
trefeuille, < quatre,touv{<. L. quatttior =:^.four),
+ feuille, leaf (< L. folium, leaf) : see four and
foiP-.] 1. A leaf with four leaflets, as some-
times that of clover.
And katrefoU, whenne thai beth up yspronge,
Transplaunte hem into lande ydight with dounge.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 191.
In arch., an opening or a panel divided by
cusps or folia-
tions into four
foils, or, more
correctly, the
figure formed by
Quatrefoils. the CUSpS. This
CLuatrefoil
ornament resembles the tonr petals of a crucilorm flower,
but is certainly not derived from Imitation of such a flow-
er. Bands of small quatrefoils are much used as oma-
Quatrefoils, from west portal of Amiens Cathedral, France;
23th century.
ments in the English Perpendicular style, and sometimes
in thp Decorated. The same name is given also to flowers
and leaves of similar form carved in relief as ornaments
on moldings, etc. See also cut under gallery.
3. In her., a four-leaved grass, or leaf divided
into four leaflets, used as a bearing CroBs qna^
trefoil. See cnwgi. — Double qaatrefoU. SxmexseigM-
foU or octofoU.
OLUatrible (kat'ri-ljl), n. [< OP. quadruUe, quad-
rouble, quadruple, a piece of musie for four
voices or four instruments, < quadruple, four-
fold: see quad/ruple.'\ In medieval music, a
descant in parallel fourths to tlie cantus firmus.
^natrible (kat'ri-bl), v. i. ; pret. and pp. quat-
ribled, ppr. quatribling. [< quatrible, to.] In
■medieval music, to sing a descant at the interval
of a fourth from the cantus iirmus. See di-
■aphony, 2. Compare guimble.
quatronf, a. An obsolete variant of quatern.
HalUwell,
ciuatto, n. Same as eoaita.
g.uattnno (kwa-tre'no), n. [It. (ML. quatri-
nus), < quattro, four:' see four.'] An Italian
coin of about the value of a half a United
States cent.
The qiwUHno, a square coin which was struck during
his [Loredano's] reign.
C. C PerKns, Italian Sculpture, p. 356, note.
qtuattrocentist (kwat-ro-chen'tist), n. [= p.
quattrocentiste, < It. quaitrocenUsta, quattroeen-
tist, < quattrocento (see quattrocento) + -ist.]
An Italian of the fifteenth century ; specifical-
ly, an Italian artist of the style of art called
quattrocento.
It was a revelation to me, and I began to trace the pur-
ity of work in the quaMrocentists to this drilling of unde-
viating manipulation which fresco-painting had furnished
to them. Contemporary &11., XXIX. 476.
quattrocento (kwat-ro-chen'to), n. and a. [It.,
lit. 400 (< guattro, < L. quattmr, toav, + cento,
< L. centum, hundred), but used as an abbre-
viation of mille quattrocento, MOO, with ref.
to the century (1401-1500) in question. Cf.
' cinqu^-cento.] I. n. The fifteenth century con-
sidered as an epoch of art or literature, and
especially in connection vsdth Italy: as, the
sculpture of the quattrocento. The painters of the
«arly part of the period had not yet attained the power to
render their conceptions with entire freedom ; but their
coloring is very beautiful, and their sentiment in general
nobler than that of the artists who followed them.
II. a. Belonging to, or living or produced
in, the fifteenth century; of the style of the
fifteenth century: as, quattrocento sculpture.
quatuor (kwat'u-6r),». l<li.quatuor, prop.g«a<-
tuor, = 'E.four: see/o«r.] In music, a quartet.
quaught (kw4dht), v. t. and i. [Early_ mod. E.
sdBoquaght; 8e.wau^ht,wauclit; origin uncer-
tain. Cf. quaff.] To drink; quaff.
ImmugM, I drinke all out.
Wyll you quaght with me?
quavet (kwav), v. i. [Early mod. E. also queave;
< ME. quaven, earlier cwavien; akin to quab\
quap^. Hence freq. gMd^er, q. v.] To quiver;
shake.
The daye for drede with-drowe, and derkebicamthe Sonne,
Ohe wal [veil] wagged and clef [was rent], and al the worlde
quaued. Piers Plowman (B), xviu. 61.
i While thy mighte
Can keepe my harte qmamnge or quicke.
PiOtenham, Partheniades, VL
qnavet (kwav), n. [< ME. quave; < quave, v.] A
shaking; trembling. Prompt. Parv., p. 419.
ouavemiret (kwav'mir), n. [Also contr. qua-
mire; < qtcave + mire. Cf. quagmire, quake-
mire.] Same as quagmire. Palsgrave.
4902
A muddie quavemire. Mir. far Mags., p. 653.
Howbeit, Aratus would not suffer the Achaians to follow
them, because of bogs and quavemires, but sounded the re-
treat North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 670.
quaver (kwa'vfer), v. [< ME. quaveren, freq. of
quave; of. LQ-. quabbeln=Gr. quabbeln, quappeln,
quiver, tremble, freq. of the form represented
byE. gMafii. Cf. quiver^.] I. intrans. 1. To
have a tremulous motion ; tremble ; vibrate.
It semythe that the worlde is alle qwaveryng; it will re-
boyle somwher, so that I derae yonge men shall be cher-
ysshed. Paston Letters, III. 174.
At the end of this Hole is a Membrane, . . . stretched
like the Head of a Drum, ... to receive the Impulse of
the Sound, and to vibrate or quaver according to its re-
ciprocal Motions. Ray, Works of Creation, p. 263.
If the finger be moved with a quav&ring motion, they [the
colors] appear again. Neivton, Opticks.
Her hand trembled, her voice mavered with that emo-
tion which is not strength. Stedrrum, Vict. Poets, p. 143.
2. To sing or sound with the wavy tones of an
untrained voice, or with a distinctly tremulous
tone ; hence, to sing, in general; also, to per-
form a shake or similar melodic embellishment
with the voice or an instrument.
You'd swear that Randal, in his rustic strains,
Again was quavering to the country swains.
Dryden and Soames, tr. of Boileau's Art of Poetry, ii
Now sportive youth
Carol incondite rhythms with suiting notes,
And gntaver unharmonious. . J. PhUips, Cider, IL
II. trans. To sing in an artless manner or
with tremulous tone.
And for Mnsick an old hoarse singing man riding ten
miles from his Cathedral to Quaner out the Glories of our
Birth and State. Shadwell, The Scowrers.
We will quaver out Peccavimus together.
Thackeray, Philip, xxvii.
quaver (kwa'ver), n. [< quaver, v.] 1. A
quivering ; a trembling.
The worth of such actions is not a thing to be decided in
a quaver of sensibility or a flush of righteous common
sense. B. L. Stevenson, The English Admirals.
3. A tremulous or quivering sound or tone.
And the choristers* song, that late was so strong.
Grew a quaver of consternation.
Sovthey, Old Woman of Berkeley.
3. A shake or similar embellishment, particu-
larly in vocal music.
I hearde a certaine French man who sung veiy melodi-
ously with curious quavers.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 36, Big. D.
It has at least received great improvements among us,
whether we consider the instrument Itself, or those sev-
eral quavers and graces which are thrown into the playing
of it. Addison, The Cat-Call.
4. An eighth-note (which see) Quaver-rest, in
■musical notation, same as eighthrrest.
quaverer (kwa'ver-er), n. One who or that
which quavers; a warbler.
quaveringly (kwa'v6r-ing-li), ad/n. In a quaver-
ing or tremulous manner.
quavery (kwa'ver-i), a. [< quamer + -y'^.]
Shaky; unstahle.
A quauery or a maris and unstable foundacion must be
holpe with great pylys of alder rammed downe, and with
a frame of tymbre called a crossaundre.
Horman, quoted in Prompt Paiv., p. 419.
quavingt (kwa'ving), n. [< ME. quavyng; verbal
n. of quave, v.] A shaking or trembling, as of
the earth. Sir T. Ehjot, Castle of Health, i. 2.
quavivert, n. [Origin uncertain. Cf. viver.]
• A fish, the sea-dragon or dragonet; a kind of
gurnard. See gurnard and Trigla.
Tumle, the great sea-dragon, or q[uamver; also the gur-
nard, called so at Koan. Cotgrave.
Vive, the quaviver, or sea-dragon. Cotgrave,
Traigne, the sea-dragon, viver, ^mmver. Cotgrave.
quawk (kwHk), v. i. [Imitative; cf. squawTc.^
To croak; caw. [Prov. Eng.]
quawk (kw&k), n. [Imitative; cf. quawh, v.]
The qua-bird or night-heron, NycUardea grisea
nsevia. Also quark, squawlc. [Local, TJ. S.]
quayl, ». An obsolete or dialectal form of
whey.
quay2 (ke), n. [A more recent spelling, after
the F. quMy, now quai, of the earlier E. hay,
key (the mod. pron. ke prop, belongs to key
only): see key^, kay^.] A landing-place; a
place where vessels are loaded and unloaded ;
a wharf: usually constructed of stone, but
sometimes of wood, iron, etc., along a line of
coast or a river-bank or round a harbor or dock.
Make quays, build bridges, or repair Whitehall.
Pope, Imlt of Horace, II. iL 120.
To ascertain the limits of all ports, and to assign proper
wharfs and quays in each port for the exolujive landing
and loading of merchandise. Blaekstane, Com., I. vii.
quay2 (ke), v. t. [< quay^, n.] To furnish with
a quay or quays.
queasiness
quayage (ke'aj), n. [Pormerly keyage; < V.
quayage, < quay, a key, quay : see qtiay^.] Duty
paid for repairing a quay, or for the use of a
quay; quay-dues; wharfage.
quay-berti (ke'berth), n. A berth for a ship
next to a quay.
quayedt, «• -A. manufactured form of quailed,
past participle of quaiU. Spenser.
queJ^
Same as eue^.
que^, n. A dialectal form of cow'^. HalUwell.
queach^t (kwech), v. i. A variant of quitch^.
queach^ (kwech), n. [Also quitch; < ME. queehe,
a thicket.] 1. A thick bushy plot; a thorny
thicket.
The! rode so longe till the! com In to a thikke queehe in
a dope valey. Merlin (£. E. I. S.), iii. 540.
3. A plat of ground left unplowed on account
of queaches or thickets. HalUwell. [Prov.Eng.]
queachyi (kwe'chi), a. [Also queechy; < queach^-
+ -yi.] Shaking; moving, yielding, or trem-
bling under the feet, as wet or swampy gioimd.
Twixt Penwith's furthest point and Goodwin's qiieaehy
sand. Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. 396.
I'n got no daughter 0' my own — ne'er had one — an' I
warna sorry, for thCT're poor queechy things, gells is.
George Mliot, Adam Bede, x. {Davles.)
queachy^t (kwe'chi), a. [Early mod. E. also
quechy; < queaeh^-i- -y^.] Bushy; thick.
The owle, that hates the day and loues to flee by night,
Hath queachie bushes to def ende him from Apollo's sight
TurberviUe, That All Things Have Belease.
Our bloud is changed to Inke, our hatres to Quils,
Our eyes half e buried in our quechy plots.
Eeywood, Golden Age, v. 1.
queal^ (kwel), v. i. [An earlier and more origi-
nal form of ^Maj^l.] To faint away. HaUiwell.
[Prov. Eng.]
queal^, n. An obsolete or dialectal form of
quean (kwen), n. [(a) Also dial. (Sc.) quine;
early mod. E. queane, quene; < ME. quene,
quen, cwene, < AS. (ywme, ewyne (gen. owenan),
prop, cw^ne, orig. *(!mne, a woman (L. femvna,
mulier), wife (L. uxor) (of. *owenfugol, a hen-
hird — a douhtful word in Somner),= OS. qv^na,
wife, queen (L. regina), harlot (L. meretrix), =
OD. quene, wife, MD. quene, a vain or worthless
woman, a barren woman, also a barren cow, D.
kween, a barren woman, a barren cow, = MLGr.
quene, an old woman, LG. quene, a barren cow,
a heifer, = OHG. quena (quena), ckwena, chena,
MHG. chone, kone,lcon, G. (obs.) kone, a woman,
G. dial, kan, cfeore, a woman, wife, =Icel. kvenna
= Sw. qvinna = Dan. kvinde, a woman (cf.
contr. Icel. kona, woman, = Sw. kona, a harlot,
= Dan. kone, a woman, esp. a married woman,
wife), = Goth, qino, a woman, wife (Gr. ywzi) ;
the above forms being distinct from, though,
partly confused with (6) E. qiieen (L. regina), <
ME. queen, quen, quene, kuen, cwene, ewen, < AS.
Owen, rarely cwien (gen. cwene), a woman (L.femi-
na), wife (L. uxor), queen (L. regina, impera-
trix, augusta), = OS. quan, wife, = OHG. quena,
chuuma = Icel. kedn, 'kvsen, wife, = Gtofh.kwens,
rarely kweins, wife (not recorded in sense of
'queen'); 'both forms ult. akin to Ir. Gael.
covnne, a woman ; Gr. ywij, a woman, female
[se&gynieoeum,gynarchy,Bta.,gynecocracy,e!ta.);
Skt.Ja»t, a wife, appar. < -y/jan = Gr. •/ 7^ =!'•
■\/ gen = Tent, y ken, bring forth : see ken^.
kmX, genus, generate, etc.] A woman ; a female
person, considered without regard to qualities
or position : hence generally in a slighting use.
It may be merely neutral or familiar, like wemm (as, a
sturdy queaii, a thriving quean\ or be used in various de-
grees of depreciation (=ja<ic, «!;««, harlot, strumpet). [Eng.
and Scotch.]
Hastow with som quene al nyght yswonke?
Chaucer, ProL to Manciple's Tale, 1. 18.
At churche in the charnel cheorles aren yuel to knowe,
Other a knyght fro a knaue other a queyne fro a queene.
Piers Plowman (C), ix. 46.
Flavis, because her meanes are somewhat scant.
Doth sell her body to relieve her want^
Yet ecornes to be reputed as a quean.
Times' WhisUe (E. E. T. S.), p. 46.
I never was ambitious
Of using congees to my daughter-queen —
A queen ! perhaps a ^an !
Ford, Perkin Warbeck, ii. 3.
I see her yet, the sonsie quean
That lighted up my jingle.
Bums, To the Guidwlfe of Wauohope House.
My young master will . . . call you slut and qnean, it
there be but a speck of soot upon his bandbox.
ScoU, Abbot, iv.
queasily (kwe'zi-li), 'adv. In a queasy manner;
with squeamishness.
queasiness (kwe'zi-nes), n. The state of being
queasy ; nausea ; qualmishness ; inclination to
vomit; disgust.
queaslness
They did flght with queaginege, constrain'd.
As men dnnk potions. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., L 1. 196.
Let them live and die in serrUe condition and thir scru-
pulous jiieasmess, it no instruction wiU conflrme them.
MiUon, Eiiionoklastes, xxvili.
fllieasy (kwe'zi), a. [Early mod. E. and dial.
also qtmtgy; < ME. quaysy, queysy, causing a
teeling of nausea ; prob. < Norw. kveis, sickness
after a debauch, = Icel. kveisa, in eomp. idhra-
kreisa, oolie, = Sw. dial. Tcvesa, soreness, blis-
ter, pimple; perhaps akin to Sw. gvdsa, bruise,
wound, squash, Dan. koase, squash, crush. Cf .
AS. tocwisan, cTMsh.: iQo squeeze.'] 1. AfEeoted
"With nausea ; inclined to vomit.
The Reverend Doctor Gasterlound himBelf rather oueasi/
in the morning, therefore preferred breakfasting in bed.
Peacock, Headlong Hall, vii.
2. Fastidious; squeamish; delicate.
And even so in amanner these instruments make aman's
•wit so soft and smooth, so tender and qimigy, that they be
less able to brook strong and tough study.
AscJiam, Toxophilus (ed. 1864), p. 27.
I am so queasy-stomiLched
1 cannot taste such gross meat.
Massiyiger, Bondman, iL 2.
Is there cause why these men should overween, and be
ao jueasie of the rude multitude, lest their deepe worth
should be undervalu'd for want of fit umpires ?
MUton, Apology for Smectymnuus.
Deprecation which is unusual even for the queasy mod-
esty of sixteenth-century dedications.
S. Lanier, SoL of Eng. Verse, p. vi.
3. Apt to cause nausea; occasioning uncom-
fortable feelings ; hence, requiring to be deli-
■cately handled; ticklish; nice.
Those times are somewhat queasy to be touched.
B. Jonson, Sejanus, L 1.
I have one thing, of a queasy question.
Which I must act Shak., Lear, ii. 1. 19.
1 was not my own man again for the rest of the voyage.
I had a qiteasy sense that I wore my last diT clothes upon
my body. R. L. Stevenson, Inland Voyage, p. 132.
4. Short ; brief. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
qneazent (kwe'zn),«. *. {FoT*queasen, < queas(y)
-I- -e»i.] To make queasy; sicken.
The spirable odor and pestilent steame . . . would have
queazened him. iVasAe, Lenten StuSe(Harl. Mi3c.,VT. 173).
quebast, »■ An old game.
Every afternoon at my Lady Briefs and my Lady Mean-
well's at ombre and quebas.
Etheredge, She Would if she Could, iii. 3.
Quebec group. In geol. , a division of the Lower
Silurian established by the Canada Geological
Survey, of very uncertain value.
According to recent researches by Mr. Selwyn, the Que-
bec group as defined by Logan embraces three totally dis-
tinct groups of rocks, belonging respectively to Archaean,
Cambrian, and Lower Silurian horizons.
GeUde, Text^Bookof GeoL, p. 691.
Quebec oak. See oak.
quebracbo (ke-bra'oho), n. [Pg., contr. from
gMe6ra-7»acAo, 'ax-breaker'; so called in allusion
to the hardness of the wood; < quebrar, break, -I-
hacha,facha, ax : see hatcJiet.'] The name of sev-
eral hard-wooded South American trees of eco-
nomic value. The white quebracho (quebracho bianco)
is Aspidosperma Quebracho, best known for its medicinal
bark. (See quebracho bark, under bark^.) The red que-
bracho Iqueiwacho Colorado) is Sehinopsis (Loxopterygium)
LorentuCi, of the La Plata region. Its wood and bark form
an important tanning-material, veiy rapid in action, ex-
ported to Europe in bulk and in extract. Its timber is ex-
tremely hard and strong. Another quebracho is lodirui
rhrnnUfolta of the Sawtalacese (quebracha fxja), its wood
and bark being mixed with the last.— QaebracIlO gum,
the dried juice or watery extract of Sehinopsis LorentsAi.
It is used for the relief of dyspnoea,
quebrada (ke-bra'da), n. [Sp. , broken, uneven
ground, prop. fern, of quebrado, pp. of quebrar,
break.] A gorge; a ravine; a defile: a word
occasionally used by writers in English on Mex-
ican and South American physical geography,
and by the Spanish Americans themselves, with
about the same meaning as barranca.
quecchet, »• «• A Middle English form of quitch^.
quech (kwech), n. Same as quaigh. [Scotch.]
queckt ». [Origin uncertain; ct. querken.] A
blow (?). , ,, ,
But what and the ladder slyppe, . . .
And yf I fall I catche a quecke,
I may fortune to broke my necke, . . .
Nay, nay, no J.^-^^^^^ ^ y^^ (HaUiweU.)
queckshoest, »• See quMquechose.
quedf a.a.ndn. \ME., aXso quede, queed, quead,
quad,quaad, queth, < AS. »cwxd=: OFxies. quad
= MD. quaed, D. hwaad = MLG. quat, LG.
quMd, bad ; otherwise foimd in the neuter, as a
noun, AS. "rnvM, cwedd, filth, dung, = MD.
quaed, quaet, quat, Teat == OHG 2«»*, MHG.
qiiat, kat, quot, kot, G. hot, hoth, filth, dirt,
mud.] I. a. Bad; evil.
II. n. 1. Evil; harm.
4903
For to deme quike and dede
He seal come to gode and quede.
King Horn (E. E. T. S.), p. 121.
2. An evil person; especially, the evil one ; the
devil.
A shrew ; an evil person.
Namly an eyre [heir] that ys a qued,
That desyreth hys fadiys ded.
MS. Harl. 1701, f. 42. (BalliweU.)
And lete me neuere falle in boondis of the queed !
Eymns tu Virgin, etc. (E. B. T. S.), p. 6.
Quedius (kwe'di-us), n. [NX.. (Stephens, 1832).]
Anotable genus of rove-beetles or Staphylinidse,
having the prothoracic stigmata each covered
by a triangular lamella. About 120 species have
been described, the majority from Europe, but many from
Asia and America ; 18 are found in America north of Mex-
ico. Most of them have the ordinary rove-beetle habits,
but Q. diiatatus breeds in hornets' nests in Europe, and
will also eat honey.
quedsUpt, n. [ME. quedscMpe, queadschipe; <
qued + -ship.] Badness; evilness. Ancren
Miwle, p. 310.
queed^, n. A dialectal variant of quid^. Halli-
well.
queed^t, n. See qtied.
queen^ (kwen)j n. [< ME. queen, quen, queue,
qwhene, whene, kuen, cwene, ewen, < AS. cwen,
rarely cwMn (gen. cwene), a woman (L. femina),
wife (L. uxor), queen (L. regina, imperatrix,
augusta), = 08. qudn, wife, = OHG. quena,
ehuueiia, wife, = Icel. hvdn, kvsen, wife, = Goth.
kwens, rarely kweins, wife (not recorded in the
sense of ' queen') . See quean.] 1 . The consort
of a king.
Thursdaye, the laste daye of Apryll, to Lasheles, where
lyethe quene Elyanour of Englonde, and in an abbey of her
awne foundacyon. Sir R. Guylforde, Fylgrymage, p. 4.
I'll undertake to make thee Henry's qiieen.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., v. 3. 117.
2. A woman who is the sovereign of a realm;
a female sovereign, in countries under monarchical
rule females are sometimes excluded from the throne, and
seldom if ever succeed in direct lineal descent. In the line
of succession to the British throne the eldest son of the
sovereign is the heir, to the exclusion of older sisters ; but
a daughter who has no brothers succeeds, to the exclusion
of younger brothers of her father or their male descen-
dants. The exceptionally long reign of Queen Victoria
(who succeeded in right of her deceased father, the Duke
of Kent, to the exclusion of his younger brothers) has
familiarized English-speaking commuuities of the present
day with the form queen's instead of Hng's in such phrases
as queen's counsel, the queen's English, etc.
Of lower Syria, Cyprus, Lydia,
Absolute queen. Shak., A. and C, iii. 6. 11.
Now what I am ye kuow right well — your Queen,
To whom ... ye did promise full
Allegiance and obedience to the death.
Tennyson, Queen Mary, iL 2.
3. Figuratively, a woman who is chief or pre-
eminent among others ; one who presides : as,
queen of beauty; queen of the May (see May-
queen).
Venus, the queen of Love, was but thy figure.
And all her graces prophecies of thine.
Shirley, Traitor, iii. 3.
Isabel, thro' all her placid life.
The queen of marriage, a most perfect wife.
Tennyson, Isabel.
4. Hence, anything personified as chief or
greatest, when considered as possessing female
attributes.
The Cathedrall Church of this Citie [Amiens] is dedi-
cated to our Lady, being the very Queerie of al the Churches
in France. Coryat, Crudities, I. 15.
Show this queen of cities that so fair
May yet be foul. Cowper, Task, i. 727.
Seven hundred years and flfty-three
Had Rome been growing up to might.
And now was queen of land and sea.
Domett, Christmas Hymn.
5. In entom., a queen bee or queen ant. — 6. A
playing-card on which a queen is depicted.
The knave of Diamonds tries his wily arts.
And wins (oh shameful chance !) the Queen ot Hearts.
Pope, K. of the L., iii, 88.
7. In chess, the piece which is by far the most
powerful of all for attack. See chess^. Abbre-
viated Q. — 8. A variety of roofing-slate, mea-
suring 3 feet long and 2 feet wide. Compare
duchess, 2 Court of Queen's Bench. See Court of
King's Bench, under court.— Dollar queen, in apiculture,
an untested queen bee, bred from a purely bred mother
that has mated with one of her own race : so called be-
cause the standard price was supposed to be one dol-
lar The price of dollar queens, however, varies from 75
cents to ^. Phin, Diet, of Apiculture, p. 57.— Keeper
of the Queen's prison. See Marshal of the King's
(or Queen's) Bench, under jjiorsAoJ.- Marshal Of the
queen's liousehold. See morsAoZ.— Problem of the
queens. See problem. — Queen Anne's boimty. See
bounty.— (^xxsetl Anne style, in arch., the style which
obtained in England in the early part of the eighteenth
century, and produced many commodious and dignified
buddings, particularly in domestic architecture; also,
specifically, a nondescript style purporting to follow the
queenfish
above, and reproducing some of the exterior forms and
ornaments of the original, much in vogue in the United
States, especially for suburban cottages, from about 1880.
—Queen bee. See See.— Queen doser. See cioseri (6)i
—Queen consort. See cojisorti.— Queen dowager, the
widow of a deceased king. — (2ueen mother, a queen
dowager who is also mother of the reigning sovereign. —
Queen of heaven, (a) A title often given to the god-
dess Astarte or Ashtoreth.
The women knead their dough to make cakes to the
queen of heaven, . . . that they may provoke me to anger.
Jer. vU. 18.
With these in troop
Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd
Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns.
Mittan, P. L., L 439.
(b) Among Eoman Catholics, a title given to the Virgin
Mary.— <^een of the May, a young girl crowned with
flowers and enthroned as the central figure of the Ma^-day
sports.— Queen regent, queen regnant, a queen who
holds the crown in ner own right, or a queen who reigns
as regent. — Queen's advocate. Same as lord advocate
(which see, under advocaU).— Queen's color, in the Brit-
ish army, one of the pair of colors belongmg to every
regiment. In the line it is a union jack charged with
some regimental devices ; in the Guards it is a crimson
fiag, sometimes having the jack in the dexter chief, but
always having the royal cipher and regimental devices.
See cdar, and a pair of colors, under i^afri. Boutell, English
Heraldry.— Queen's counsel, enemy, gambit. See
coutueZ, etc.— Queen's evidence. See king's evidence,
under evidence.— Queen's gap, a gap in a dam, a style
of fishway used in British waters. It has been occasion-
ally used in America for alewives. In low dams it answers
well for salmon.— Queen's herbt, snufl : so called (in the
latter part of the sixteenth centmy) because Catharine
de' Medici acquired a taste for it soon after the introduc-
tion of tobacco into France.— Queen's keys. See ieyi.
—Queen's messenger. See messenger. — ^e queen's
English. See^Ts^JisA.— The queen's peace. Seepeace.
queen^ (kwen), v. [< queen^, ».] I. intrans. To
play the queen; act the part or character of a
queen; domineer: with an indefinite it,
A three-pence bow'd would hire me,
Old as I am, to queen it.
Shak., Hen. VIIL, ii. 3. 37.
Xerxes went out of his way with his army to do homage
to the great plane-tree that queened it in the desert alone.
P. Robinson, Under the Sun, p. 85.
II, trans. 1 . In chess, to make a queen of :
said of a pawn on its reaching the eighth square.
— 2. In apiculture, to supply with a queen ; in-
troduce a queen to : said of a colony of bees.
FMn, Diet, of Apiculture, p. 57.
queen^ (kwen), n. Same as quin.
In England one hears such names for scallops as " fan-
shells," " frills," or " queens" in South Devon, according to
Montagu ; and ou the Dorset coast the fishermen call them
*' squinns." Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 565.
queen-apple (kwen'ap'l), ». Avariety of apple.
The queen^apple is of the summer kind, and a good
cider apple mixed with others. Mortimer, Husbandry.
queen-cell (kwea'sel), n. The eeU of a honey-
comb destined for a queen or female larva.
It is larger than the other cells, and generally placed on
the edge of the comb, and is said to be provisioned with
richer food, the so-caUed royal jelly.
queen-conch (kwen'kongk), n. The giant
stromb or conch, Strombus gigas; the fountain-
shell, used to make conch-coral, porcelain, etc.
queencraft (kwen'kraft), n. (>aft or skill in
policy on the part of a queen; kingcraft as
practised by a female sovereign.
Elizabeth showed much queeneraft in procuring the
votes of the nobility. Fuller.
Queen-day (kwen'da), n. The Feast of the An-
nunciation of the "Virgin Mary ; Lady-day.
queendom (kwen'dimD), n. [< queeni + -dmn.]
1. The condition or character of a queen;
queenly rule, power, or dignity.
Will thy queejidom all lie hid
Meekly under either lid?
Mrs. Browning, The Dead Pan.
2. The realm or the subjects of a queen.
The mother sat at the head of the table, and regarded
her qxteendom with a smile.
George MaeDorudd, What's Mine's Min^ p. 9.
[Rare in both uses.]
queenfish (kwen'fish), n. A scisenoid fish,
Seriphus politus, found on the Pacific coast of
the United States, it is a food-fish of good quality,
but too small to he of much economic importance, reaching
Queenfish (Serif ktis politius'i.
a length of only eight inches and a weight of half a pound.
The body is compressed, and covered with rather large
deciduous scales. The two dorsal fins are separate ; the
qLueenflsb
color Is bluish above, silvery below, yellow on the belly,
with yellowish vertical flns, and blackish at the base of the
pectorals. Also called kingflsK
queen-gold (kweu'gold), n. A royal duty or rev-
enue once enjoyed by every queen of England
during her marriage witli the king.
qaeenhood (kwen'hud), n. [< queen + -hood.'i
The state or rank of a queen; the dignity of
character becoming a queen.
With all grace
Of womanhood and queenhood.
Tennyson, Geraint.
aiieening (kwe'ning), n. [Appar. < qtieen +
■4ng3 • but perhaps connected with quine,
quince."] A name of several varieties of apple :
on6 is distinguished as the winter queening.
The ivinter queening Is good for the table.
Mortimer, Husbandry.
queenite (kwe'mt), «. [< queen + -ite^.] A
partizan of Queen Caroline in her differences
with her husband, George IV.
He thought small beer at that time of some very great
patriots and Queenttee.
Soutkey, The Doctor, interchapter xvi. (Daviea.)
queenlet (kwen'let), n. [< qiieen + -let.'] A
petty or insignificant queen.
In Prussia there is a Fhilosophe King, In Kussia a Fhilo-
sophe Bmpress ; the whole North swarms with kinglets
and queeruets of the like temper.
Carlyle,'Misa.,TlI.2W. (.Davies.)
queen-lily (kwen'UFi), n. A plant of the ge-
nus Phsidranassa. p. eJdoracea is a handsome cul-
tivated species from Peru, with flowers 2 inches long, the
short tube greenish, the segments of the limb purplish
rose-color tipped with green.
queenliness (kwen'li-nes), n. The state or con-
dition of being queenly; the characteristics of
a queen; queenly nature or quality; dignity;
stateliness.
queenly (kwen'li), a. [< queen + -Z^l.] Like
a queen ; befitting a queen ; suitable to a queen.
An anthem for the queenlieH dead that ever died so young.
Pi^, Lenore.
queenly (kwen'li), adv. [< queenly, a.] Like a
queen ; in the manner of a queen.
Queenly responsive when the loyal hand
Bose from the clay it work'd in as she past.
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field.
queen-mother (kwen'muTH^Sr), n. See queen.
—Queen-mother herbt, tobacco.
queen-of-the-meadowsCkwen'ov-the-med'oz),
n. The English meadow-sweet, Spirsea TJl-
maria, an herb ^ yard high, with pinnate leaves,
and a compound cyme of very numerous small
yellowish-white sweet-scented flowers; also,
rarely, the American meadow-sweet. Spiraea
4004
queen's-flower (kwenz'flou'''6r), n. The blood-
wood or jarool, Lagerstrcemia Flos-Beginae, a me-
dium-sized tree of the East Indies, etc., in those
regions often planted. The panicled flowers are each
2 or 3 inches in diameter, rose-colored in the morning,
becoming purple by evening.
queensnip (kwen'ship), n, [< queen + ship.]
The position or dignity of a queen.
Neither did I at any time so far forget myself in my ex-
altation or received queensMp but that 1 always looked for
such an alteration as I now find.
Queen Ann Boleyn'a last Letter to King Henry (quoted by
[Addison in Spectator, No. 397).
Queensland ebony, see Maba; hemp, see Sida;
laurel, see Pittosporum; nut, nut-tree, see
Macadamia; olive, poplar, etc., see olive, etc. ;
plum, see Owenia, 1.
queen S-lily (kwenz'lil"i), n. 1. See KnipJio-
fia. — 2. The Mexican lily. See lily.
queen's-metal (kwenz'met'al), n. An alloy of
which the chief ingredient is tin, answering the
purposes of Britannia metal, and somewhat finer
and!^ harder than pewter. The proportions of
the ingredients vary.
queen'S'pigeon (kwenz'pij"on), n. A large and
nandsome ground-pigeon, Goiira victoriee: so
named from the Queen of England. See Goura.
Also called Victoria crown-pigeon.
queen's-root (kwenz'rSt), n. Same as queen's-
quell
A shoulder-knotted puppy, with a grin.
Queering the threadbare curate, let him in.
Cdtman the Younger.
2. To puzzle. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
queer^t, »■ -An obsolete form of quire^. Cot-
queen-of-the-prairie (kwen'ov-the-pra'ri), n.
A tall American herb, Spirsea lobdta, of mea-
dows and prairies in the interior, its pinnate
leaves, which are fragrant when bruised, are chiefly near
the ground. It bears an ample panicled compound cyme
of handsome crowded peach-pink flowers.
queen-pinet, n. The pineapple. Also called
icing-pine.
queen-post (kwen'post), n. In carp. , one of the
suspending posts in the framed principal of a
Queen-post Roof.
.^ ^, queen-posts; ^,tie-beamj C C, struts or braces.
roof, or in a trussed partition or other truss,
when there are two such posts. When there
is only a single post it is called a Tcing-poat or
crownpost. Also called jincfc^pos*.— Queen-post
stay, in a railroad-car, a rod or bar fastened to a queen-
post to secure it against any lateral movement. — Sec-
ondary queen-poBts, a kind of truss-posts set in pairs,
each at the same distance from the middle of the truss, for
the purpose of hanging the tie-beam below. Also called
queen's-arm (kwenz'arm), n. A musket.
Agin the chimbley crook-necks hung ;
An* in amongst 'em rusted
The ole queen's-arm thet gran'ther Young
Fetched back frum Concord busted.
LoweU, The Couitm .
queen's-delight (kwenz'df-lif), n. A herba-
ceous plant, StilUngia sylv'aUca, order Euphor-
biacex, native of the southern United States.
It has clustered stems from 1 to 3 feet high, springing from
a thick woody root. The latter is an officinal alterative.
Also queen'^^of^.
queen-stitch (kwen'stich), n, A simple pattern
ia embroidery, made by a square of four stitches
drawn within another larger one made in the
same way. A checker pattern is produced by
a series of these.
qmeen's-ware (kwenz'wSr), n. A variety of
VVedgwood ware, otherwise known as cream-
colored ware. See Wedgwood ware, under ware^.
queen's-yellow (kwenz'yeFo), n. The yellow
subsulphate of mercury; turpeth-mineral.
queen-truss (kwen'tms), n. A truss framed
with queen-posts.
queequehatch, n. Same as quicTchatch.
queer"- (kwer), a. and n. [Formerly also quire;
< L(J. queer, quer, cross, transverse (> quere,
obliquity), = MH(t. G. quer, cross, transverse
(> quere, obliquity), OHG. MH(j. twer, cross,
transverse (> twer, obliquity) ; a variant, with-
out the final guttural, of OH(i. diverah, dwerih,
dwereh, dmerh, thwerak, thwereh, twerh, MHG.
dwerch, twerch, G. ewerch- = AS. thweorh, cross,
transverse, = Sw. tvdr = Dan. tvser, cross, ob-
tuse, = Goth, thwairhs, angry, = leel. thverr,
neut. thvert, > ME. thwert, thwart, E. thwart,
transverse, transversely: see thwart, which is
thus a doublet of qvser.] I.a. 1. Appearing,
behaving, or feeling otherwise than is usual
or normal; odd; singular; droll; whimsical;
quaint.
The presence seems, with things so richly odd,
The mosque of Mahound, or some queer paged.
Pope, Satires of Donne, iv. 239.
The queerest shape that e'er I saw.
For flent a wame it had ava'.
Bums, Death and Dr. Hornbook.
3. Open to suspicion ; doubtful in point of hon-
esty. [CoUoq.^
You drive a queer bargain with your friends, and are
found out, and imagine the world will punish you.
Thackeray.
"We've seen his name— the old man's— on some very
queer paper," says B. with a wink to J.
Thackeray, Philip, iv.
3. Counterfeit; worthless. [Slang.]
Put it about in the right quarter that youll buy queer
bills by the lump. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, ii. 5.
4. Having a sensation of sudden or impend-
ing illness ; sick or languid. [CoUoq.]
little of all we value here
Wakes on the mom of its hundredth year
Without both feeling and looking queer.
0. W. Holmes, The Deacon s Masterpiece.
A queer fish. See ^«W.— Queer Street, an imaginary
place, where persons in financial or other difficulties, and
flighty, uncertain, and "shady" characters generally, are
feigned to live. [Slang.]
A fair friend of ours has removed to Queer-street; . . .
you'll soon be an orphan-in-law.
Dickens, Dombey and Son, xl.
I am very high in Queer Street just now, ma'am, having
paid your Dills before I left town.
Kingsley, Two Years Ago, xiv. (Davies.)
= Syn. 1. Strange, Odd, etc. (see eccentric), curious, ex-
traordinary, unique, fantastic.
II. n. Counterfeit money; "green goods."
[Slang.] —To shove the queer, to pass counterfeit
money. [Slang.]
queer! (kwer)^ «. *. \iqueer\a.] 1. To banter;
ridicule; dende. [Slang.] <■
Who in a row like Tom could lead the van.
Booze in the ken, or at the spellken hustle?
Who gtoer a flat? Byron, Don Juan, xi. 19.
queer* (kwer), n. [Formerly also quare; prob.
ult. < L. quadrus, square : see guarry\ square.]
One of the joints or division-planes of queery
rock. [Cornwall, Eng.]
queerer (kwer'6r), «. One who banters or ridi-
cules. [Slang.]
'Twould be most tedious to describe
The common-place of this facetious tribe.
These wooden wits, these Quizzers, Queerers, Smokers,
These practical nothing-so-easy Jokers.
Colm/m the Younger.
queerity (kwer'i-ti), n. [Formerly also quear-
ity; < queer^ +"-ity.] Queemess. [Rare.]
No Person whatsoever shall be admitted [to the "tJgly
Club"] without a visible Quear&y In his Aspect, or pecu-
liar Cast of Countenance. Steele, Spectator, No. 17.
queerly (kwer'li), adv. In a queer, odd, or sin-
gular manner.
queemess (kwer'nes), n. The state or charac-
ter of being queer.
queery (kwer'i),o. [Formerly also quarey; <.
queer^ + -y ^ ■ ] Breaking up in euboidal masses,
as rocks in various quarries. [Cornwall, Eng.]
queest (kwest), n. [Also queast, quest, quist,
formerly quoist, also corruptly qiiease, queeze,
quice; < ME. quysht, prob. a contr. form of
cushat.] The cushat or ring-dove, Columha pa-
lumbus. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Askes beth goode, and so hoot is noo dounge
Of f oule as of the douve, a quysht outake [excepted].
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.X p. 28.
queet^ (kwet), ». [A dial. var. of coot.] The
coot, Fulica atra. [Prov. Eng.]
queet^ (kwet), n. [Also quit, cuit, cute, coot;
origin obscure.] An ankle. [Scotch.]
The first an' step that she stepp'd in.
She stepped to the queeL
The Drowned Lovers (Child's Ballads, II. 179).
The second brother he stepped in.
He stepped to the quU;
Then out he jump'd upo' the bank.
Says, "This water's wond'rous deep."
Bondsey and Maixry (Child's Ballads, II. 379).
queez-madam (kwez'ttad'am), n. [F. cuisse-
madame.] The cuisse-mad'am, a French jar-
gonelle pear. [Scotch.]
He'll glowr at an auld-warld barkit aik-snag as if It were
a quees^^madda/m in full bearing. Scott, Bob Roy, xxi.
queff, quegh, queigh, ». Same as quaigh.
queintH, a. A Middle English form of quaint.
queint^t. An obsolete preterit and past parti-
ciple of quench. Chaucer.
queintiset, n. A variant of quaintise.
quekebordet, «• [ME., appar. as if *quickhoard,
< qwicTc + board.] An old game, prohibited
under Edward IV. Strutt, Sports and Pas-
times, p. 512.
Quekett's indicator. See indicator, 1 (c).
quelch (kweleh), m. [Ct. squelch.] A blow; a
bang. SalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
quele^t, i>. An obsolete form of quaiP-, queal.
quele^t, n. An obsolete form of wheel.
quelea(kwe'le-a), ». [African (?).] 1. The crim-
son-beaked weaver-bird of .Africa. — 2. [cop.J
QueUa sanguinirostris.
[NL. (Reichenbach, 1850).] A genus of Afri-
can weaver-birds or Floce^dx, containing such
species as the above, Q. sangvmirostris.
quell (kwel), V. [< MB. quellen, < AS. ewellan
(= OS. quelUam = OHG. quetlan, ewellan, quel-
len, chetlen, chelen, MHG. chwellen, chollen,
quellen, queln, Icoln, G. qudlen = Icel. TcveTja =
Sw. qeUya), kill, lit. cause to die, causal of
cwelan, etc., die, E. queal, now usually quail :
quell
seeauaia. The common identification of qwll
with kiia, of which it is said to be the eaiUer
form, IS erroneous.] I, trans. 1\. To cause to
die; put to death; kiU; slay.
Take heed that thou reveal It ere thou be gueUed to
°®**"- Boly Hood (B. E. T. 3.), p. 8.
The dokes oriden as men wolde hem quette.
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's TsJe, L 670.
Hee lete catch the King & kyllen hym soone.
And his Rinces of price prestlich hee guelde
Alisaunder of Macedoine (E. B. T. S.), 1. 925.
Treading one vpon another, they qmtted to death . . .
a multitude of the common souldiours.
Hakluyt's Voyages, n. 20.
And mell'd the Snakes which round his [William's] Cra-
dle ran. Prior, Carmen Seculare (1700), st. 9.
3. To cause to cease; subdue; crush: as, to
quell an insurrection.
Appointed ... to quell seditions and tumults.
The mutiny was quelled with much less difficulty than
had been feared. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., xlv.
3. To reduce to peace or inaction; quiet;
allay.
Bat Consideration is ol greater Use, as it suggests Argu-
ments from Reason to queU and allay the sadden heat of
Passions. StaUngfleet, Sermons, III. vii. quemlyt, adv. [ME., < queTne
Me Agamemnon urg'dto deadly hate ; pleasing or fitting manner.
The golde was all gotyn, & the grete sommes
4905
That [yirtne] is approperid into noo degree,
But the flrste Fadir in magestee,
Which may his heires deeme hem that him queme,
Al were he mytre. corone, or diademe.
Chaucer, Gentleness, L 20.
God geue us grace in oure lyuynge
To serue oure God, & Marie to gwee7n£.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. pi. E. T. S.), p. 66.
Parys full pristly with preciouse araye
Worshippit that worthy in wedys lull riche,
As qwemet for a qwene & qwaintly atyret,
That Priam hade purueit & to the place sent.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.X 1. 3404.
Such merimake holy Saints doth queme.
Spemer, Shep. Cal., May.
II. mtrans. To become; come to be.
To qweme qwyt of all other.
To skape out of skathe and sklaunder to f alle.
Destruction of Tray (E. E. T. S.), L 1809.
quemfulf, a. [ME., < quems + -ful.'\ Becom-
ing; fit.
Now, sothely, na thyng hot a lathynge of all this werldis
blysse, ol all fleschely lykynges in thi herte, and a qwem-
fvU langynge with a thristy gernyng to heuenly joye.
Hampole, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. 8.), p. 33.
Haile ! quern/nil Queene, quaintly shape !
Moste 01 all Macedoine menskfull Ladie!
Alisaunder of Macedoine (E. E. T. S.), L 582.
+ -ly^.'] In a
Tis past — I queU it ; I resign to fate.
„ ,, . j^ , , Pope, Ihad, xviii. 144. Of qwhet^"* of qwhite fyluV, gwemZj to-gedur.
Caroline refused tamely to succumb. . . . Bent on vie- Destruction of Trm (E. E. T, S.), I. 11783.
tory over a mortal pam, she did her best to quell it. . ,, , , . , i j
Charlotte BronK, Shirley, xi. ftuench (kwench), v. ; pret. and pp. quenched,
4f . To dash out ; destroy ' formerly also queint. [< ME. quenchen (pret.
They lighten, and bryngen hors and man to grounde, 2«e»cte, qmynte), iAB.cwencan (also, in comp.,
And with hire axes cute the braynes queUe. a-cwencan), quench, put out, causal or *cwincan
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 46. (pret. *c/wanc), in comp. a-cwincan (= OFries.
=Syu. 2. To overpower, put down, lay, smother.— 3. To Jctoinka), go out, be extinguished; cf. *cwman
calm, compose,
Il.t intrans.
1. To die; perish.
Yet did he quake and quiver, like to queU.
denser, P. Q., VII. vii. 42.
2. To abate.
Winter's wrath beginnes to quell.
Spender, Shep. Cal., March.
quell (kwel), m. l<queU,v.2 If. Murder. [Rare.]
What cannot you and I . . . put upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great gptellf Shak., Macbeth, i. 7. 72.
2. Power or means of quelling or subduing.
[Kare and poetical.]
Awfully he [Love] stands,
A sovereign quell is in his waving hands ;
No sight can bear the lightning of his bow.
Keats, Endymion, iL
queller (kwel'er), n. [< ME. queUer, < AS.
civellere, a killer, < cwellan, kill: see qwell-l It.
One who quells or kills ; a slayer.
And our posterite shalbe reproued as children of home-
cides, ye ol regicides, and prince quellers.
Hall, Hen. IV., an. 1.
Mrs. Quickly. Murder! . . . thou art a honey-seed [homi-
cide], a mAn-gueUer, and a womaxi-gueller.
ShA., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 1. 59.
2. One who subdues or crushes.
Hail, Son of the Most High, heir ol both worlds,
QueUer of Satan ! Milton, P. E., iv. 634.
quelliot, »■ [< Sp. cueUo, a ruff.] A kind of
ruff.
Our rich mockado doublet, with our cut cloth-of-gold
sleeves, and our quellio. Ford, Lady's Trial, ii. 1.
Your Hungerland bands, and Spanish quellio ruffs.
Maseinger, City Madam, Iv. 4.
quelm, v. t. An obsolete or dialectal form of
whelm. Babees Booh (E. E. T. S.), p. 323.
qtielquecliose (kelk'shoz), n. [Also queVcchose
(also queckshoes, keclcshose, Mckshose, kickshaws,
etc.: see kickshaw), < F. quelquechose, some-
thing, < qtielqiie, some, + chose, thing: see
cfeo«e2. CI. Mckshaw.'] A trifle ; a kickshaw.
Only let me love none, no, not the sporty
From countiy grass to confitures of court.
Or city's quefque-ehoses, let not report
My mind transport.
Donne, Love's Usury.
(pret. *cwdn), in comp. a-cwinan, go out, be ex-
tinguished.] I. trans. 1. To extinguish or put
out, as fire.
Thy rage shall bum thee up, and thou shalt turn
To ashes, ere our blood shall quench that Are.
Shak.,K. John, iiL 1. 345.
The taper, quenched so soon.
Had ended merely in a snuff, not stink.
Browning. Ring and Book, 1. 112,
2. To extinguish or allay ; sf.op ; put an end to,
as thirst.
The gentle deare retumd the selfe-same way.
Thinking to quench her thirst at the next brooke.
Spenser, Sonnets, Ixvii.
In lavish streams to quench a countiy's thirst
Pope, Moral Essays, iii. 176.
3t. To relieve the thirst of.
A bottle of ale, to quench me, rascal.
B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, ii. 1.
4. To suppress; stifle; check; repress; de-
stroy: as, to quench a passion or emotion.
The supposition of the lady's death
Will quench the wonder of her infamy.
Shak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 241.
Parthians should, the next year, tame
The proud Lucaniana, and nighquench their Name.
Sylvester, tr. ol Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 2.
As I have much quenched my senses, and disused my
body Irom pleasure, and so tried how I can endure to be
my own grave, so I try now how 1 can suffer a prison,
Donne, Letters, xxviii.
5. To lay or place in water, as a heated iron.
II.
In quenching a tool of which one portion is thick and
another thin, the thickest part should generally be the
first to enter the water.
C. P. B. Shelley, Workshop Appliances, p. 323.
intrans. 1. To be extinguished; go out.
Right anon on of the f yres gueynte.
And quykede agayn, and after that anon
That other lyr was queynt, and al agon.
Chaucer, Enight's Tale, 1. 1476.
Zif he be chosen to ben Prelate, and is not worthi, is
Lampe quenehethe anon. Mandeville, Travels, p. 60.
That hand shall burn in aevev-quenching fire.
Shak., Rich. IL, v. 5. 109.
2. To lose zeal; cool; become cool.
Dost thou think in time
auemet. a. [ME., also quem, cweme, earlier she will not quench? SAai., Cymbeline, i. 5. 47,
i-queme, i-cweme, < AS. gecweme, pleasing, quenchf (kwench), n. [< quench, «.] The act
agreeable, acceptable, fit (cf., with diff. prefix, of quenching or extinguishing; also, the state
OB.Gr. biqudmi, MHCJ. hequieme, G. hequem, fit), of being extinguished.
< qe-, a generalizing prefix, + cuman (pret.
*mBam, com), come: see com^e, and cf. become
and comely. \ Pleasing; agreeable.
Wherfore I beqwethe me to your gwe?K« spouse.
To Ivne with in Ivkyng to my lyf es ende.
^^ "^""^ X>j^^lo» o/ZVoy (E. E. T. S.), L 633.
miPTTiPt v [ME. quemen, < AS. cweman, also queuch-coalf (kwench'kol), n. [< quench, v.
ff/SW; please, satisfy, propitiate, < gecweme, + obj. coal-l Anything which quenches or
nlPflsinff becomme: see queme, a.i I. trans, extinguishes fire: applied figuratively to a cold,
To becoie ; suit ; fit ; satisfy ; please. heartless professor of rebgion.
The same quench he hath cast
Upon my life shall quite put out his fame.
Chapman, Byron's Tragedy, v. 1.
quenchable (kwen'oha-bl), a. [< quench +
-able.'i Capable of being quenched or extin-
guished.
quercitannic
Zeal hath in this our earthly mould little fuel, much
quench^coal; is hardly fired, soon cooled.
Beo. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 71.
You are quench-cocd; no sparkle of grace can kindle
upon your cold hearth. D. Sogers.
quencher (kwen'ohfer), n. 1. One who or that
which quenches or extinguishes.
A griever and quenclier of the Spirit.
Hammond, Works, IV. 614.
You would-be quenchers of the light to be !
Tennyson, Princess, iv.
2. That which quenches thirst ; a draught or
drink. [Slang.]
ThejaoidBi, quencher, . . . coming close upon the heels
ol the temperate beverage he had discussed at dinner,
awakened a slight degree ol lever.
Dvckens, Old Curiosity Shop, xxxv.
At the bottom [ol the hill], however, there is a pleasant
public, whereat we must really take a modest quencher,
lor the down air is provocative ol thirst
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 1.
quench-firet (kwench'fir), n. [< quench, v., +
obj. fire.'] A machine for extinguishing five ; a
fire-extinguisher.
I went to see Sir Sam. Morland'a inventions and ma-
chines, arithmetical wheeles, quench.Jires, and new hai-p.
Evelyn, Diary, July 10, 1667.
quenching (kwen'ching), n. [Verbal n. of
quench, v^ 1. The act of extinguishing; also,
the state of being extinguished.
Some outward cause late hath perhaps design'd.
Which to the soul may utter quenching bring.
Sir J. Davies, Immortal, ol Soul, xxxi-
3. In metal., a method of producing a hard
crust on molten metal for convenience in re-
moving it in small plates or disks, called some-
times rosettes, instead of allowing it to solidify
in one mass. See rosette Quencliing-tub,a ves-
sel of water placed beside a blacksmith's forge for cooling
or tempering the irons.
quenchless (kwench'les), a. [< quench + -less.]
That cannot be quenched or repressed ; inex-
tinguishable: as, quenchless S.T0 or fury.
Come, bloody Clifford, rough Northumberland,
I dare youi quenchless fury to more rage.
Shak., 3 Hen. VL, i. 4. 28,
His hate
Is quenchless as his wrongs.
Shelley, Queen Mab, v.
quenchlessly (kweneh'les-li), adv. In a quench-
less manner.
quenchlessness (kweneh'les-nes), n. The state
of being quenchless or unquenchable.
quenchuret, «. [ME., also quenchour; irreg. C
quench + -ure.] The act of quenching.
Whanne ge haue do goure quenchour, putte alle the wa-
tris togidere. Book of Qulnte Essence (ed. Fnmivall), p. 6.
quenelle (ke-nel'), m. [P.] In coofcery, a force-
meat ball made of a rich and delicately seasoned
paste of chicken, veal, or the like. Quenelles
are usually served as entries.
quenouille-trainlng (ke-nS'lye-tra'ning), n.
[P. quenouille = It. connochia, < ML. conueular
coltieula, a distafl, dim. of L. colu^, a distaff.]
In hort,, a mode of training trees or shrubs in
a conical form, with their branches bent down-
ward, so that they resemble a distaff in shape.
quenstedtite (kwen'stet-it), n. [Named after
P. A. Quenstedt (1809-89), a German geologist
and mineralogist. ] A hydrous sulphate of iron,
occurring in tabular monoclinic crystals of a
reddish-violet color: it is found in Chili.
quentiset, n. Same as quaintise.
quequert, n. A Middle English form of quiver^.
quercetic (kw6r-set'ik), a. [< qiiercet(in) +
-jc] Produced from quercetin: as, querceUc
acid.
quercetine, «. Same as querciUn.
quercetum (kwer-se'tum), n. [Ij., an oak-wood,
< quercus, an oak: see Quercus.] A collection
of living oaks, as in a botanical garden. The
word is so applied in the Kew GaTdens,London.
quercine (kwer'sin), a. [< LL. querdnus, of
the oak, of oak-leaves, < L. quercus, oak: see
Quarcu^.] Of or pertaining to the oak or oak-
trees.
Quercinese (kw6r-sin'e-e), n.pl. [NL. (Dumor-
tier, 1829), < L. querdnus, of the oak, + -ex.] A
tribe of dicotyledonous trees and shrubs of the
apetalous order Cupuliferse, characterized by the
usually three-celled ovary, lobed perianth, nu-
merous stamens, and fruit a nut partly or whol-
ly surrounded by an involucre or cupule. it con-
tains 4 genera, including the oak, 'beech, and chestnut,
lor which see Quereus (the type), Faigus, Caitanea, and Cas-
tarwpHs. The range of the whole tribe is included in that of
the oak (see Quercus), except in the case of the beech, which
extends into South America, Australia, and Nevr Zealand.
quercitannic (kwer-si-tan'ik), a. [< L. quercus,
oak, + E. ta7inic.] Same as tannic.
oLuercltannic
The tannin of the quercitron, or quereitannie acid.
C. T.DavU, Leather, p. 101.
<iuercite (kwfer'sit), «. [< L. quercus, an oak,
+ -»te2.] A crystalline substance, C6H7(OH)6,
derived from acorns, which resembles tie su-
gars in that it is sweet and optically active, but
does not ferment with yeast or reduce metallic
salts.
quercitin (kw6r'si-tin), n, [Aoeom. from quer-
citron, as if < L. queroetum, an oak-wood (<
quercus, an oak), + -m2.] ^ substance de-
rived from quercitrin by the action of mineral
acids.
CLUercitrin (kwer'sit-rin)^. [< queroltr{on) +
-J»2.] A gluooside, Cs6H3g02Q, which forms
yellow orystalline needles or tablets. It is the
coloring principle of quercitron-bark. Also
called querdlrone.
quercitron (kwfer'sit-rpn), n. [Irreg. < L. quer-
cus, an oak, + citrus, a tree of the lemon find:
see dtronJ] 1 . The black or dyers' oak, Quercus
tinetoria, a tree from 70 to 100 feet high, common
through the eastern half of the United States
and in southern Canada. Kb wood is of some value,
and its hark is of considerable importance. The latter,
though outwardly darls, is inwardly yellow, whence the
tree is also called yeUow or yellmv-bark oak.
a. The bark of this tree, it contains, in the princi-
ple quercitrin, a yellow dye, which is now used in the form
of a preparation called ftavin. It is also used for tanning,
and occasionally in medicine, but the coloring matter hin-
ders these applications.
quercitron-bark (kw6r'sit-ron-bark), n. Same
as quercitron, 2.
quercitron-oak (kw6r'sit-ron-6k), n. Same as
quercitron, 1.
quercivorous (kw6r-siv'o-rus), a. [< L. quercus,
an oak, + vorare, devour.] Iq zooL, feeding on
the oak, as an insect,
'Quercus (kwSr'kus), «. [NL. (Malpighj, 1675),
< L. quercus, an oak, = E. fir, q. v.] A genus
of dicotyledonous trees, the oaks, type of the
apetalous order Cupuliferx and of the tribe
QuereiliesB, it is characterized by usually slender and
pendulous or erect staminate catkins, the stamens and
■calyx-lobes of each flower being six in number, and by
the scattered or clustered fertile flowers, composed of an
ovary commonly with three cells, six ovules, and a three-
lobed stigma, surrounded by an involucre of more or less
consolidated scales, which becomes a hardened cupule or
•cup around the flat or rounded base of the nut or acorn.
There are about 300 species, natives of all north temperate
iregions, extending througli Mexican mountains and the
Andes into the United States of Colombia, and in the moun-
tains of Asia to the Moluccas. They are entirely absent
in South America beyond the equator, in Australasia and
the Pacific islands, and in Africa outside of the Mediter-
ranean region. They are mainly trees of large size, hard
and durable wood, and slow growth, sprouting repeatedly
from the root ; a few only are never more than stu'ubs.
The characteristic oak-leaf is alternate, thin, and veiny,
deeply and pinnately lobed, with the lobes either rounded,
as In the white oak, or ending in bristle-points, as in the
black and red oaks ; but the genus includes great diver-
sity of form, ranging to thick and entire evergreen leaves
in the live-oak and others. (See cut under otxk.) The fruit
■or acorn matures in one year in the white oak, bur-oak,
post-oak, live-oak, and the chestnut-oaks; in other At-
lantic species, the biennial-fruited oaks, in two. The yel-
lowish catkins precede or accompany the leaves. The
■numerous American and European species all belong (with
■the exception of Q. dertdJUym, the peach-oak of California)
to the subgenus hepidobalanus (Endlicher, 1844), with
-slender and loose-ilowered proper aments, and broad
■cupules with imbricated scales. Of these over 60 are found
in Mexico and Central America, and about 40 within the
United States, 25 of which occur only east of the Rocky
Mountains, and about 15 in California, They extend in
North America as far north as 45°, in Europe to 66°. The
■oaks of centra and eastern Asia constitute five other sec-
tions, mostly with erect staminate spikes, and include
about 106 species. See oaik, acorn, hlack-jack, Uue^jack,
eneino, holm-oak, kenrmes-oak, live-oak, pin-oak, post-oak,
red-oak, roble, senib-oak, ahingle-odk, valonia-oak, waimeot-
oak, wtker-oa^, wUlaw-oak-
queret, n- An obsolete form of quvre"^, quire^.
querelat (kwe-re'la), n. [L., a complaint, la-
ment: see quarrelX.1 A complaint to a court.
See audita querela Duplex querela. See double
quarrel, under gMorre^l.— Qiuerela Inofficiosi testa-
mentl, in miil law, an action by which an inofficious or
undutiful will was attacked.— Querela nuUltatla, in
systems of procedure based on the Boman law, an action
to get a judicial decree that an act was void.
querelet, querellet, »• Obsolete (Middle Eng-
lish) forms of qvMrreP-.
querenti (kwe'rent), n. [< L. queren(t-)s,-pTpT. of
qtteri, eomplain,"lament. Of. quarreP-, querela,
querimony, etc.] A complainant ; a plaintiff.
querent^ (kwe'rent), n. [< L. quserenlt-)s, ppr.
of qucBrere, ask," inquire: see quest^.'] An in-
quirer. [Eare.] ,
When a patient or querent came to him [Dr. Napierl he
presently went to his closet to pray. Avirey, Misc., p. 133.
querimonious (kwer-i-mo'ni-us), a. [< L. as
if *querimoniosus, < querimonia, a complaint:
see querimony. J Complaining ; querulous ; apt
to complain.
4906
querimoniously (kwer-i-mo'ni-us-li), adv. [<
querimonious + -ly^.'i In a querimonious man-
ner ; with complaint; quenilously.
To thee, dear Tom, myself addressing.
Most querimoniously confessing
That I of late have been compressing.
Str J. Denham, A Dialogue.
querimoniousness (kwer-i-mo'ni-us-nes), re. [<
querimonious + -ness.'] The character of be-
ing querimonious; disposition to complain; a
complaining temper.
querimonyt (kwer'i-mo-ni), re. [< F. qu&rimo-
nie = It. querimonia, querimonio, < L. querimo-
nia, a complaint, < queri, complain, lament:
see querent^.'] A complaint ; a complaining.
Hys brother's dayly gmrirmmye.
Baa, Edward IV., an. 17.
Here Cometh over many quiriTnonies, and complaints
against me, of lording it over my brethern.
Ouahman, quoted in Bradford's Plymouth Plantation, p. 61.
querist (kwe'rist), re. [< quer-y + -ist.2 One
who inquires or asks questions.
And yet a late hot Querist for Tithes, whom j;e may know,
by his Wits lying ever beside him in the Margin, to be ever
beside his Wits in the Text.
Milton, Considerations.
I shall propose some considerations to my gentle gu&riat.
Spectator,
queristert, «. A variant of quirister, for chor-
ister.
querk^ (kwerk), V. [< ME. qmrlcen = OPries.
?uerka, querdza. North Pries, querke, quvrke =
eel. hyrkja, kvirJcja, throttle, = OSw. quarka
= Dan. kvserke, throttle, strangle, suffocate ;
from the noun, North Pries, q'uerk = Icel. kverk
= Dan. kvserk, throat. Cf . querken.] I. trans.
To throttle; choke; stifle; suffocate.
II, intrans. To grunt; moan. Salliwell.
[Prov. Eng.]
querk^ (kw6rk), n. An obsolete or dialectal
form of quirk^.
querkent (kwfer'ken), v. t. [Also quirken ; < MB.
querkenen; < querk'^- + -erei.] Same as querk^.
Chekenyd or qwerkenyd. Prompt. Parv. {HdUiwell.)
querl (kw6rl), v. t. [Also quirl; a dial. var. of
i/wirl, perhaps due to confusion with curl. Cf . Gr.
querlen, twirl.] To twirl ; turn or wind round ;
coil : as, to querl a cord, thread, or rope. [U. S.]
querl (kwferl), re. l(. querl, v."] A twist; a curl.
[U. S.]
And the crooks and qtterls of the branches on the floor.
Marper's Mag.^ TiXX. 21.
quern (kw6m), re. [Also dial, kern, and former-
ly cum; < ME. quern, cwerne, < AS. oiveom,
ewyrn = OS. quern, quema = OPries. gwerre = D.
kweern = MLG-quern, querne = OH(j. cJiwirna,
quirn, churn, MHG. chwrne, hum, kii/rne = Icel.
kvern, mod. Tmorn = Sw. qvarn = Dan. kvie/rn
= Goth, k/wairnus, a millstone, a quern.] 1.
A stone hand-mill for grinding grain. The most
usual form consists of two circular flat stones, the upper
one pierced in the center, and revolving on a woodein or
querulous
We stopped at a little hut, where we saw an old woman
grinding with the quem. Boswell, Johnson, IV. z.
The old hand-mill, or ^uern, such as Pennant sketched
the Hebrides women grinding with in the last century,
has not yet gone out ; Dr. Mitchell says there are thou-
sands of them at work in Scotland, where still
"The music for a hungry wame
Is grinding o" the quemie."
K B. Tylor (Academy, Sept. 18, 1880).
2. A hand-mill used for grinding pepper, mus-
tard, and the like. Such querns were used even
on the table, and as early as the sixteenth cen-
tury.
quern (kw6m), v. t. and i. [Formerly also kern,
cum; < quern, re.] To grind.
Fly where men feel «
The euming [var. eunning\ axel-tree ; and those that suffer
Beneath the chariot of the snowy beare.
Chapman, Bussy D'Ambois, v.
quern-stone (kwSm'ston), re. A millstone.
Theyre corne \a.qmmstoans they do grind.
Sanihurst, tr. of Virgil, i. (Nares.)
querpo, «. See cuerpo.
Querguedula (kw6r-kwed'u-la), re. [NL.
(Stephens, 1824), < L. querquediila, a kind of
teal; by some doubtfully connected with Gr.
KEpKovpoc, < nipnovpoQ, a kind of light boat. Hence
ult. E. kestrel, q. v.] A genus of AnaUdse and
subfamily .4wa<»««, containing a nximber of spe-
cies of all countries, notable for their small
size, beauty, and excellence of flesh ; the teal.
The common teal of Europe is Q. erecca; the garganey or
summer teal is Q. cirda; the green-winged teal of North
America is Q. carolinensis; the blue-winged, Q. diseors; the
cinnamon, Q. cyanoptera. See NeM<M, and cut under teal.
querquedule (kw6r'kwe-diil), re. [< Querque-
dula, q. v.] A book-name of ducks of the genus
a teal.
querret, re. A Middle English form of quarry^.
querrourf, n. A Middle English form of quar-
rier^.
querryt, n. See equery.
quertt, re. An obsolete form of quart^.
Querula(kwer'Q-la), re. [NL., fem. of L. queru-
lus, complaining :"see querulous.^ A genus of
Piahau [Queruta piirpttrata).
fruit-crows, giving name to the subfamily Qvs-
rulinse; the type is Q. purpurata, the piahau.
Vieillot, 1816.
querulation(kwer-Q-la'shon),re. [<ML. *queru-
latio(n-), < querulari, complain, < L. queruVus,
complaining: see querulous.'] A complaint;
murmuring.
Will not these mournings, menaces, querulations, stir
youi' hearts, because they are derived from God through
us, his orgau-pipes, as if they had lost their vigour by the
" Jiev. T. Adams, Works, I. 349.
to
stone Querns for Grinding.— Dublin Museum.
metal pin inserted in the lower. In using the quern the
grain is dropped with one hand into the central opening,
while with the other the upper stone is revolved by means
of a stick inserted in a smaU hole near the edge.
Men weude that bele Isaude
Ne coude hem noght of love weme ;
And yet she that grynt at a qmme
Is al to good to ese hir harte.
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 1798.
Some apple-colour'd corn
Ground in taire qvemn; and some did spindles turn.
Chapman, Odyssey, vll. 189.
querulentialt (kwer-i>-len'shal), a. [< queru-
l{ous) + -ent + -iaZ.] Having a tendency tc
querulousness ; querulous. [Bare.]
Walpole had by nature a propensity, and by constitu-
tion a plea, for being captious and querulential, for he was
a martyr to the gout. Cumberland, Memoirs, L 23.
Querulinse (kwer-ij-li'ne), n.pl. [NL., < Qneru-
la + -inas.'] A subfamily of Cotingidee, taking
name from the genus Querula: same as Gym-
noderinsB. Swainson, 1837.
querulous (kwer'{j-lus), a. [< L. queruJms, full
of complaints, complaining, < queri, complain,
lament: see ^Mcrerefi.] 1. Complaining; habit-
ually complaining; disposed to murmur or ex-
press dissatisfaction: as, a querulous man.
O querulous and weak ! — whose useless brain
Once thought of nothing, and now thinks in vain ;
Whose eye reverted weeps o'er all the past.
Cttwper, Hope, 1. 29.
2. Expressing complaint; proceeding from a
complaining habit : as , a querulous tone of voice.
Quickened the flre and laid the board.
Mid the crone's angry, querulous word
Of surly wonder.
William Morri», Earthly Paradise, III. 69.
3t. Quarrelsome.
querulous
Warlike, ready to light, quenUms, and mlBchlevous.
The cock his crested helmet bent ™'<««2-
And down his cpierulous chaUenge sent.
WMUier, Snow-Bound.
= Syn. 1 and 2. See plaintive and petulant
■ouerulously (kwer'o-lus-li), adv. In a queru-
lous or complaining manner.
querulousness (kwer'ij-lus-nes), n. The state
ot bemg querulous ; disposition to complain, or
the habit or practice of murmuring.
•query (kwe'ri), n. ; pi. queries (-riz). [Formerly,
as L.. quxre, being the L. quxre, ask, inquire
(i. e. 'inquire further into this,' 'look this up'),
2d pers. sing. impv. of quierere, seek, search for,
ask, inquire : much used as a marginal note or
memorandum to indicate a question or doubt,
and hence taken as a noun: see qiiest.'] A
question; an inquiry to be answered or resolyed;
specifically, a doubt or challenge, as of a -writ-
ten or printed statement, represented by the
interrogation-point (?), or by an abbreviation,
q., qy., or qu., or by both.
This name ol Sion, Silon, or Slam may worthily moue a
qutere to Geographers. Pwrchan, Pilgrimage, p. 459.
Answer'd all queries touching those at home
With a heaved shoulder and a saucy smile.
Tennyeon, Aylmer's Field.
=S3m. Inquirj/, Interrogation, etc. See quenKan.
query (kwe'ri), v. ; pret. and pp. queried, ppr.
querying. [< query, m.] I. intrans. To put a
query; ask a question or questions; express
doubt.
Three college sophs, . . .
Each prompt to gtiery, answer, and debate.
Pope, Dunciad, ii. 381.
He queried, and reasoned thus within himself.
iS. Parker, Blbliotheca Biblioa, 1. 394.
11. trans. 1. To mark with a query; express
a desire to examine as to the truth of.
This refined observation delighted Sir John, who digni-
fies it as an axiom, yet afterwards came to doubt it with
a " sed de hoc queere " — query this !
I. b'Israeli, Curios, of Lit., II. 384.
It [Chelsea College) was afterwards repurchased by that
monarch (but query if purchase money was ever paid).
N. amd Q., 7th ser., V. 186.
2. To seek by questioning; inquire or ask : as,
to query the sum or amount ; to query the mo-
tive or the fact.
We shall not proceed to query what truth there is in
palmistry. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., v. 24.
3. To examine by questions; address queries
to : as, to query a person. Gayton.
quesal, n. Same as quetzal.
«[ueset (kwez), v. i. [< L. qusesere, seek, beg,
ask, var. of quierere, seek, ask : see quesP-.'] To
search after ; look for. Milton. [Eare.]
quesitive (kwes'i-tiv), a. [< ML. qusesitivus,
seeking, desirous, < L. quierere, pp. qusesitus,
seek, inquire : see quest^. Cf . inquisitive.^ In-
terrogatory— Quesitive quantity. See quantity.
quest! (kwest), n. [< ME. queste, < OF. queste,
F. qu^te = Pr. questa, quista = It. chiesta, <
ML. qusesta, < L. quxsita (sc. res), a thing
sought, quwsitwm, a question, fem. or neut.
of qwiesitus, pp. of quierere, also qusesere, OL.
quairere, seek, search for, seek to get, desire,
get, aoquii-e, obtain, seek to learn, ask, inquire,
etc. From the same L. verb are ult. E. que-
rent^, query, question, acquire, conquer, exqvkre,
inquire, perquire, require, acquest, conquest, in-
quest, request, etc., exquisite, perquisite, inquisi-
Uon, perquisition, requisition, etc. In def. 6
quest is in part an aphetie form of inquest.'] 1 .
The act of seeking ; search; pursuit; suit.
The Bassa of Sidon's servants, who were abroad in
bluest ot Mules for the service of their Master.
Maundrell, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 32.
Her sunny locks
Hang on her temples like a golden fleece ; . . .
And many Jasons come in guest of her.
Shak., M. of V., 1. 1. 172.
Greek pirates, roving, like the corsairs of Barbary, in
ouest of men. laid the foundations ot Greek commerce.
^ Bancroft, Hist. U. S., I. 127.
2. An act of searching or seeking, as for a par-
ticular object: as, the quest of the holy grail.
Thei entred in to many 3«e«*«» for to knowe whiche was
the beste knyght. Merlin (B. E. T. S.), iii. 603.
A long and wearisome quest of spiritual joys, which, for
all he knows, he may never arrive to. , . „ «
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. xi., Pref.
And those that had gone out upon the Quest,
Wasted and worn, and but a tithe of them,
And those that had not, stood before the King
Tennyson, Holy Grail.
8. A body of searchers collectively; a search-
ing party.
The senate hath sent about three several Quests
To search you out. 5Aai:., Othello, i. 2. 46.
4907
4. Inquiry; examination.
Volumes of report
Run with these false and most contrarious gue^
Upon thy doings. Shak., M. for M., iv. 1. 62.
5. Bequest; desire; solicitation; prayer; de-
mand.
Gad not abroad at every quest and call
Of an untrain'd hope or passion.
O. Herbert, The Temple, Content.
6. A jury of inquest; a sworn body of exam-
iners; also, an inquest.
By God, my maister lost c. marc by a seute of Margyt
Bryg upon a defence of atteynt, because a quest passed
ayenst hyr of xij. penyworth lond by yeer.
Paston Letters, I. 404.
The judge at the empanelling of thequest had his grave
looks. Latimer, 6th Sermon bet Edw. VI., 1649.
The quest of jury-men was call'd.
Sis?- Hugh of the Grime (Child's Ballads, VI. 249).
What lawful quest have given their verdict up
Unto the frowning judge? Shak., Rich. III., i. 4. 189.
xil. they must be to make an enquest or, as some call it^ a
qy^st. An enquest or quest is called a lawf ull kind of triall
byxiLmen. StoitA,Commonwealth, ii. 18. {Riehardsan.)
Crowner's quest. See croitmers.— Klrby's quest, an
ancient recora remaining with the remembrancer of the
Exchequer : so called from its being the inquest of John
de Kirby, treasurer of King Edward I. BapcUJe and Law-
questi (kwest), V. [< ME. questen, < OF. ques-
ter, F. quSter, seek, < queste, a seeking: see
questjn."] I. intrans. 1. To go in search; make
search or inquiry; pursue.
And that the Prelates have no sure foundation in the
Gospell, their own guiltinesse doth manifest ; they would
not else run questing up as high as Adam, to fetch their
originall, as tis said one of them lately did in pablick.
Milton, Church-Government, i. 3.
How soon they were recognized by grammarians ought
to be ascertainable at the expense of a few hours' questing
in such a library as that of the British Museum.
F. Hall, Mod. Eng., p. 326.
3. To go begging.
He [Samuel Johnson] dined on venison and champagne
whenever he had been so fortunate as to borrow a guinea.
If his questing had been unsuccessful, he appeased the ra^e
of hunger with some scraps of broken meat.
Maeaulay, in Encyc. Brit., XIII. 722.
There was another old beggar-woman down in the town,
questing from shop to shop, who always amused me.
Fraser's Mag.
3. To give tongue, as a dog on the scent of
game.
To bay or quest as a dog. Florio, p. 1. (Haltiwell.)
Pup. They are a covey soon scattered, methink ; who
sprung them, I marie?
Tovm. Marry, yourself, Puppy, for aught I know ; you
quested last. B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed,
As some are playing young Spaniels, quest at every bird
that rises ; so others, held very good men, are at a dead
stand, not knowing what to doe or say.
jr. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 19.
While Redmond every thicket round
Tracked earnest as a questiruf hound.
Scott, Rokeby, iv. 31.
II. trans. 1. To search or seek for; inquire
into or examine. [Rare.]
They guest annihilation's monstrous theme.
Byrom, Enthusiasm.
3. To announce by giving tongue, as a dog.
Not only to give notice that the dog is on game, bnt also
the particular kind which he is questing.
Dogs of Great Britain and America, p. 111.
quest^ (kwest), n. Same as queest.
qnestantt (kwes'tant), n. [< OF. questant, F.
quStant, ppr. of quester, F. quiter, seek: see
quest^, «.] A candidate ; a seeker of any ob-
ject; a competitor.
When
The bravest que^ant shrinks, find what you seek.
That fame may cry you loud.
Shak., AU's Well, ii. 1. 16.
quest-dovet (kwest'duv), n. Same as queest.
Panurge-halved and fixed upon a great stake the horns
of a roe-buck, together with the skin and the right fore-
foot thereof, . . . the wings of two bustards, the feet of
four gue^doves, . . . and a goblet of Beauvois.
Urguhart, tr. of Rabelais, ii. 27. (Dames.)
quester (kwes'ter), n. [< OP. questeur, F. qu4-
teu/r, < L. quiesitor, a seeker, < quierere, pp.
OM^sJiMS, seek: see gwesii, «. Ct. qv^stor.] 1.
A seeker; a searcher. — 3. A dog employed to
find game.
The quester only to the wood they loose,
Who silently the tainted track pursues.
Howe, tr. of Luean's Pharsalia, iv.
questful (kwest'ful), a. [,< questT- + -fid.'] FiUl
of quest; searching; investigating.
The summer day he spent in questful round.
Lowell, Invita Minerva.
quest-houset (kwest'hous), n. The chief watch-
nouse of a parish, generally adjoining a church,
where sometimes quests concerning misde-
question
meanors and annoyances were held. Salli-
well.
A hag, repair'd with vice-complexion'd paint,
A guest-house of complaint.
Qtcarles, Emblems, ii. 10.
questing-stonet, «• [Appar. < *questing, verbal
n. of "quest, rub (< MD. quisten, rub, rub away,
spend, la-vish, D. Icuisten, spend, lavish), +
stone.'] A stone used for rubbing or polish-
ing (?).
Laden with diuerse goods and marchandises, . . . name-
ly with the hides of oxen and of sheepe, with butter,
masts, sparres, boordes, guesting-stmies, and wilde werke.
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 168.
question (kwes'chon), n. [< ME. question, ques-
tioun, < OF. question, F. question = Pr. questio,
question = Sp. cuestion = Pg. questao = It.
questione, quistione, < L. quiBstio{n-), a seeking,
investigation, inquiry, question, < quierere, pp.
quiesitus, ML. quiestus, seek, ask, inquire: see
quests.] 1. The act of interrogation; the put-
ting of inquiries : as, to examine by question
and answer.
Ross. What sights, my lord ?
Lady M. I pray you, speak not ; he grows worse and
worse;
Question enrages him. Shak., Macbeth, iii. 4. 118.
Leodogran . . . ask'd.
Fixing full eyes of guestion on her face, . . .
" But thou art closer to this noble prince?"
Tennyson, Coming of Arthur.
3. That which is asked; an inquiry; a query;
the expression of a desire to know something
indicated more or less definitely, in grammar,
questions are classed as (1) direct (independent) : as, John
is here? isJohnhere? who is that? (i) indirect (dependeTit),
taking the form of an object-clause : as, he asks if John is
here; he asks who that is; (3) simple: as, is that. man a
soldier? (4) double (aUerruitive, compound, di^unctive): as,
is that man a soldier or a ciTilian ? (6) indirect double : as, he
asks whether that man is a soldier or not; (6) deliberative
or doubting: as, shall I do it? shall we remain? (7) posi-
tive: as, is that right? — with emphasis on the verb this
expects the answer "N'o"; (8) Tiegative: as, is not that
right? — this expects the answer " Yes."
Answer me
Directly unto this gtiestion that I ask.
Stuik., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 3. 89.
I^one but they doubtless who were reputed wise had
the Question propounded to them.
MUton, Eikonoklastes, xxviii.
3. Inquiry; disquisition; discussion.
It is ... to be put to question . . . whether it be lawful
for Christian princes or states to make an invasive war
only and simply for the propagation of the faith.
Bacon, An Advt. Touching an Holy War.
4. The subject or matter of examination or in-
vestigation; the theme of inquiry; a matter
discussed or made the subject of disquisition.
Now in things, although not commanded of God, yet
lawful because they are permitted, the question is what
light shall shew us the conveniency which one hath above
another. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, ii. 4.
The gueMm of his [Csesar's] death is enrolled in the
Capitol ; his glory not extenuated, . . . nor his offences
enforced. Shak., J. C, iii. 2. 41.
The press and the public at large are generally so oc-
cupied with the questions ot the day that . . . the more
general aspects of ^^liticBlcpiestions are seldom . . . con-
sidered. Mneteenth Century, XXVI. 733.
5. Dispute or subject of debate; a point of
doubt or difficulty.
There arose a question between some of John's disciples
and the Jews about purifying. John iii. 25.
To be, or not to be : that is the question.
5A(zA;., Hamlet, iii. 1. 56.
6. Doubt; controversy; dispute: as, the story
is true beyond all quesUont
Our own earth would be barren and desolate without
the benign influence of the solar rays, which without
question is true of all other planets. Bentley.
Had they found a linguist half so good,
I make no question but the tower had stood.
Pope, Satires of Donne, iv. 86.
In a work which he was, uo question, acquainted with,
we read ... F. HaM, Mod. Eng., p. 178.
7. Judicial trial or inquiry; trial; examina-
tion.
He that was in question for the robbeiy.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., i. 2. 68.
Mr. Endecottwas also left out, and called into question
about the defacing the cross in the ensign.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 188.
8. Examination by torture, or the application
of torture to prisoners under criminal accusa-
tion in order to extort confession.
Such a presumption is only sufficient to put the person
to the rack or question, . . . and not bring him to con-
demnation. Ayliffe, Parergon.
A master, when accused, could offer his slaves for the
question, or demand for the same purpose the slaves of an-
other ; and, if in the latter case they were injured or killed
in the process, their owner was indemnified.
Sneyc. Brit., XKXl. 132.
question
9f. Conversation; speech; talk.
I met the duke yesterday, and had much queititm with
him. SAot., As you Like it, iii. 4. 39.
10. In logic, a proposition, or that which is to
he established as a conclusion, stated by way
of interrogation. — 11. la parliamentary usage:
(a) The point under discussion by the house;
the measure to be voted on: as, to speak to
the question. (6) The putting of the matter
discussed to a vote : as, are you ready for the
question ?— Comparative, complex, double, Eastern
dnestion. See the adjectives.— Division of the ques-
mon. See divmon — Horary question, in astrot., a
question the decision of which depends upon the figure
of the lieavens at the moment it is propounded.— Hyjpo-
thetlcal question. See hypothetical. — In question,
under consideration or discussion : indicating something
just mentioned or referred to.
He is likewise a rival of mine — that is, of my other
self's, fur he does not think his friend Captain Absolute
ever saw the lady in question. Sheridan, The Uivals, ii. 1.
Mr. Wall and his ally exert themselves to make up for
the painful absence incrueBtion to their utmost power.
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 213.
IiOadlng question, a question so put as to suggest the
answer which is desired, and thus to lead to and prepare
the way for such an answer. A party is not allowed to put
a leading question to his own witness, except in matters
purely introductory, and not touching a point in contro-
versy ; and except that if his witness is obviously hostile
or defective in memoir the court may in its discretion
allow a leading question. A party may put leading ques-
tions in cross-examining his adversary's witness.— Mixed
questions. See rmaxd. — Out of question, doubtless;
beyond question.
Out 0/ question, you were bom in a merry hour.
Shak., Much Ado, ii. 1. 346.
Out of the question, not worthy of or requiring consid-
eration ; not to be thought of.
It is out of the question to ask the Diet for money to
clear off the enormous debts ; so that it is difficult to
guess how the matter will end.
Contemporary JRev., XUX. 287.
Previous question, in parliamentary practice, the ques-
tion whether a vote shall be come to on the main issue or
not, brought forward before the main or real question is
put by the Speaker, and for the purpose of avoiding, if the
vote is in the negative, the putting of this question. The
motion is in the form, ** that the question be now put," and
the mover and seconder vote against it. In the House of
Representatives of the United States (it is not used in
the Senate), and in many State legislatures, the object of
mo^ng the previous question is to cut off debate and se-
cure immed^tely a vote on the question under considera-
tion ; here, therefore, the mover and seconder vote in the
aflOrmative.
The great remedy against prolix or obstructive debate
is the so-called previous question, which is moved in the
form "Shall the main question be now put?" and when
ordered closes forthwith all debate, and brings the House
to a direct vote on that main question.
J. Bryce, American Commonwealth, 1. 130.
Question of fact, question of law. See fact, s.— Ques-
tion of order. Seeorder.— Question of privilege. See
privilege.— JLeal question. See reoii.— The Questions,
the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly of
Divines. [Scotch.]- To beg the question. See begl.—
To call in question, (a) To doubt ; challenge.
You call in question the continuance of his love.
Shak., T. H., i. 4. 6.
(b) To subject to judicial interrogation.
Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in
question by you this day. Acts xxiv. 21.
The governour wrote to some of the assistants about it,
and, upon advice with the ministers, it was agreed to caU
. . . them [the offenders] in question.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 172.
To pop the question. Seepopi. =Syn. 2. Question,Qiiery,
Inquiry, Interrogation, and Interrogatory agree in express-
ing a form of words used in calling for information or an
answer from another. Question is the most general in its
meaning, and inquiry stands next, (iuery stands for a
question asked without force, a point about which one
would like to be informed : the word is used with all de-
grees of weakness down to the mere expression of a doubt:
as, I raised a qu&ry as to the strength of the bridge. A
question may be put in order to test another's knowledge ;
the other words express an asking for real information.
Interrogatory is a strong word, expressing an authoritative
or searching question that must be explicitly answered,
sometimes in law a written question. Inquiry is some-
what milder and less direct than question, the order of
strength being query, inquiry, question, interrogation.
There is no perceptible dilierence between interrogation
and irOxnogatary, except that the former may express
also Vaa act. See asil and examinatimi.— 4 and 6. Propo-
sition, motion, topic, point.
question (kwes'chon), V. [< OF. questionner,
< ML. qusBStionare" question, < L. quiesUo(n-),
question: see question, m.] I. intrans. 1. To
ask a question or questions; inquire or seek to
know; examine.
He that questioneth much shall learn much.
Bacon, Discourse.
And mute, yet seem'd to quesUm, with their Eyes.
Congreve, Hiad.
2. To debate ; reason ; consider.
Nor dare I question with my jealous thought
Where you may be. Shak., Sonnets, Ivii.
8. To dispute; doubt.— 4t. To talk; converse.
For, after supper, long he miestioned
With modest Luorece. Shak., Luorece, L 122.
4908
I haue heard him oft question with Captaine Martin and
tell him, except he could shew him a more substantia!!
trial!, he was not inamoured with their durty skill.
Quoted in Capt John Smith's Works, I. 169.
II. trans. 1. To inquire of by asking ques-
tions ; examine by interrogatories : as, to ques-
tion a witness.
Her father loved me ; oft invited me ;
Still qtiestion'd me the story of my life.
Shak., OtheUo, i. 3. 129.
They questioned him aparti as the custom is,
When first the matter made a noise at Rome.
Browning, Ring and Book, 1. 127.
2. To doubt of ; be uncertain of ; mention or
treat as doubtful or not to be trusted.
It is much to be questioned whether they could ever spin
it [asbestos] to a thread.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 229.
There is no possibility to disprove a matter of fact that
was never questioned or doubted of before.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 167.
Nor question
The wisdom that hath made us what we are.
Lowell, Under the Willows.
3. To call in question; challenge; take excep-
tion to : as, to question an exercise of preroga-
tive.
What uproar 's this? must my name here be question'd
In tavern-brawls, and by affected ruflians ?
Beau, and Fl., Honest Man's Fortune, ii. 2.
Power and right
To question thy bold entrance on this place.
Maton, P. L., iv. 882.
Whatever may he questimied, it is certain that we are in
the presence of an Infinite and Eternal Being.
J. R. Seeley, Nat. Religion, p. 44.
=Syn. 1. Ask, Inquire of, Inferrogate, etc. (see ask^),
catechize. — 3. To controvert, dispute.
questionable (kwes'ehon-a-bl), a. [= Sp. cues-
tionable = Pg. questionavel = It. questionabile;
as question + -able.'] 1. Capable of being ques-
tioned or inquired of ; inviting or seeming to
invite inquiry or conversation. [Now rare.]
Thou comest in such a questionaMe shape
That I will speak to thee. Shak., Hamlet, i. 4. 43.
2. Liable to question; suspicious; doubtful;
uncertain; disputable : as, the deed is of ques-
tionable authority ; his veracity is questionable.
It being cmestionable whether he [Galen] ever saw the
dissection of a human body.
Baker, Reflections upon Learning, xv.
The facts respecting him [Governor Van Twiller] were
so scattered and vague, and divers of them so quesOoTiable
in point of authenticity, that I have had to give up the
search. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 151.
questionableness (kwes'chon-a-bl-nes), n. The
character or state of being questionable, doubt-
ful, or suspicious.
questionably (kwes'chon-a-bli), adv. In a
questionable manner ; douhtfully.
questionary (kwes'chon-a-ri), a. and ». [= P.
questionnaire = Sp. cuesiionario = Pg. questio-
nario,< LL. qusesUonarivs, prop, adj., of or per-
taining to question, but used only as a noun,
LL. a torturer, executioner, ML. also an ex-
aminer, a judge, also a solicitor of alms, a
beggar, < L. quiestio{n-), question, inquiry: see
question.'^ I, a. Inquiring; asking questions.
I grow laconick even beyond laconicisme ; for sometimes
I return only Yes or No to questionary or petitionary
epistles of half a yard long. Pope, To Swift, Aug. 17, 1736.
II. n.; pi. questionaries {-viz). A pardoner;
an itinerant seller of indulgences or relics.
One of the principal personages in the comic part of the
drama was ... a qu£estion.ary or pardoner, one of those
itinerants who hawked about from place to place reliques,
real or pretended, with which he excited the devotion at
once and the charity of the populace, and generally de-
ceived both the one and the other. Scott, Abbot, xxviL
questioner (kwes'ehon-6r), «. [< question +
-eri.] One who asks questions ; an inquirer.
He that labours for the sparrow-hawk
Has little time for idle questioners.
Tennyson, Geraint.
questioning (kwes'ehon-ing), n. [Verbal n. of
question, «.] 1. The act of interrogating; a
query. — 2. Doubt; suspicion.
Those obstinate questionings
Of sense and outward things.
Wordsworth, Ode, Immortality, st. 9.
questioningly (kwes'ehgn-in^-ll), adv. Inter-
rogatively; as one who questions.
questionist (kwes'chon-ist), n. [< question +
-ist.'] 1. One who asks questions ; a questioner;
an inquirer; an investigator; a doubter.
He was not so much amtestionist, but wrought upon the
other's questions, and, like a counsellor, wished him to
discharge his conscience, and to satisfy the world.
. Bacon, Charge against Wentworth, Works, XII. 221.
2. In old universities, the respondent in the
determinations; hence still at Cambridge, a
questuB
student of three years, who is consequently
qualified to be a candidate for a degree.
Yea, I know that heades were oast together, and ooun-
sell deuised, that Duns, with all the rable ,of barbarous.
questionistes, should haue dispossessed of their place and
rowmes Aristotle, Plato, Tullie, and Demosthenes.
Ascham, The Scholemaster (Arber's reprint, p. 136).
The papers set on the Monday and Tuesday of the week
following contain only about one low question arpiece, to-
amuse the mass of the QuesUonists during the half-hour
before the expiration of which they are not allowed to
leave the Senate House.
C. A. Bristed, English University, p. 291.
questionless (kwes'chon-les), a. and adv. [<
question + -less.'] I. a. Unquestioning.
With the same clear mind aniquestionless faith.
L. WaUace, Ben-Hur, p. 498L
II. adv. Without question; beyond doubt;
doubtless; certainly. [An elliptical use of the
adjective, standing for the phrase "it is ques-
tionless that."]
I have a mind presages me such thrift
That I should questionless be fortunate 1
Shak., M. of V., i. 1. 176.
She 's abus'd, questioTiless.
Middleton and Rowley, Changeling, iv. 2.
What it [Episcopacy] was in the Apostles time, that
questiorilesse it must be still.
Milton, Reformation in Eng., ii.
questmanf (kwest'man), n. [< quesf^ + man.]
1. One having power to make legal inquiry.
Specifically, in M law: (a) A person chosen to inquire
into abuses and misdemeanors, especially such as relate
to weights and measures. (6) A collector of parish rates.
(c) An assistant to a churchwarden. Also called sidesman
and synod^man. (d) A juryman ; a person impaneled to
try a cause. Also questryman.
2. One who laid informations and made a trade
of petty lawsuits; a common informer.
questmongert (kwest'mung'''g6r), ». [< quest^
+ monger.] A jitryman.
questor, quxstor (kwes'tor), n. [= F. questetir
= Sp. euestor = Pg. questor = It. questore, <
L. qusestor, a magistrate having special juris-
diction in financial matters (see def.), < qus-
rere, pp. quxsitus, seek, procure : see quesf^.]
1. In ancient Rome, a member of one of
two distinct classes of magistrates : (o) One of
two public accusers {qusestores parricidii) whose duty
it was to lay accusations against those guilty of murder
or other capital offense, and to see to the execution of
the sentence. This magistracy was in existence at the
earliest historic time, but became obsolete about 366
B. 0., its functions being transferred to other ofhcers-
(6) One of the officers (qujxstores dassici) having the
care and administration of the public funds ; a pub-
lic treasurer. It was their duty to receive, pay out, and
record the public finances, including the collection of
taxes, tribute, etc. Questora accompanied the provin-
cial governors, proconsuls, or prefers, and received every-
where the public dues and imports, paid the troops, etc.
After Julius Ceesar, some of their functions were given to
the prefers and some to the ediles. The number of ques-
tors was originally two, but was gradually increased to
twenty. Under Constantino the qusestor sacripalaHi was
an imperial minister of much power and importance.
2. In the middle ages, one appointed by the
Pope or by a Koman Catholic bishop to an-
nounce the granting of indulgences, of which
the special condition was the giving of alms to
the church. — 3. A treasurer; one charged with
the collection and care of dues.
questorsMp, qbsestorship (kwes'tor-sMp), ».
[< questor + -sMp.] The office of a questor, or
the term of a questor's office.
He whom an honest qusestorship has indear'd to the
Sicilians. Milton, Areopagitica.
questristt (kwes'trist), n. [Irreg. < quester +
-ist.] A person who goes in quest of another.
[Rare.]
Some five or six and thirty of his knights.
Hot questri^ after him, met him at gate.
Shak., Lear, iii. 7. 17.
questrymant, n. Same as questman.
Then other questry-men was call'd ; . . .
Twelve of them spoke all in a breast.
Sir Hugh in the Grime, thou'st now guilty.
Sir Hugh of the Grime (Child's Ballads, VI. 249).
questuaryf (kwes'tu-a-ri), a. and n. [= OF.
questuaire, < L. qutestuarius, pertaining to gain
or money-getting, < qusestus, gain, acquisition,
< g««rere, pp. qusestus, seek, get, obtain: see
quesf^.] I. a. Studious of gain ; seeking gain ;
also, producing gain.
Although lapidaries and questMory enquirers affirm it,
yetthewritersol minerals . . . are of another belief, con-
ceiving the stones which bear this name [toad stone] to be
a mineral concretion, not to be found in animals.
Sir T. Braume, Vulg. Err., iii. 13.
Some study questuary and gainful arts, and every one
would thrive in 's calling. Middleton, Family of Love, v. 1.
II. n. A pardoner; a questionary. Jer. Tay-
lor, Dissuasive from Popery, i. 3.
questus (kwes'tus), n. [< L. qusestus, gain, pro-
fit, < quserere, seek, obtain : see guesii. J In law,
questus
land which does not descend by hereditary right,
but IS acquired by one's own labor and industry.
Also qussstus.
questwordt (kwest'wSrd) , n. A beqtieathment.
The legacies or qitestword of the deceased supplied the
'^^- Anhaologia (1792), X 197. (.Daviea.)
quetcht, v. See quitch^.
qjiethei, V. t. \ pret. quoth, ppr. quething. [<
ME. quethen (pret. quoth, quod, koth, ho, earlier
quath, queth), < AS. cwethan (pret. cw^ift, pi.
cwxdon, pp. ge-cwetlwn), speak, say. Cf. 6e-
queatlt.] 1. To say; declare; speak. [Obso-
lete except in the archaic preterit quoth.1
I qmtke hym qnyte, and hym relese
Of Egypt alle the wildirnesse.
Bom. of the Rose, 1. 6999.
Being alive and seinge I peryshe, i. beinge nuycke and
quethyng 1 am undone.
Palstave, Acolastus (1540). (Hattiwett.)
"Xordynges," quoth he, "now herkneth (or the beste."
Chaucer, Prol. to C. T., 1. 788.
"I hold by him."
•'And I," quoth Everard, "by the wassail- bowl."
Tennyson, The Epic.
2t. To bequeath.
Hous and rente and outher thyng
Mow they quethe at here endyng.
MS. Harl. 1701, £. 42. (BiMiwell.)
quethe^t, n. See qued.
quetzal (kwet'sal), n. [Native name.] The
paradise-trogon, Pharomacrus moeinno (or Ca-
lurus elegans), the most magnificent of the
trogons, of a golden-green and carmine color,
with long airy upper tail-coverts projecting
like sprays a foot or two beyond the tail. It
inhabits Central America, especially Costa
Klca. See cut under trogon. Also quesal, quijal.
queue (ku), n. [< P. queue, a taU, < L. cauda,
tail: see cuei.] 1. A tail; in her., the tail of
a beast. — 2. A tail or pendent braid of hair; a
pigtail: originally part of the wig, but after-
ward, and toward the close of the eighteenth
century, when it was in common use, formed
of the hair of the head. See cue^, 1. — 3. Same
as cue^, 2.
Several dozen [men] standing in a quelle as at the ticket
ofiBce of a railway station.
if. James, Jr., International Episode, p. 13.
4. The tail-piece of a violin or similar instru-
ment.— 5. In musical notation, the stem or tail
of a note.
queue (ku), v. t. ; pret. and pp. queued,-p-pT. queu-
ing. [< queue, n. ] To tie, braid, or fasten in
a queue or pigtail.
Among his officers was a sturdy veteran named Kelder-
meester, who had cherished through a long life a mop of
hair . . . queued so tightly to his head that his eyes and
mouth generally stood ajar, and his eyebrows were drawn
up to the top of his forehead.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 316.
queued (kud), a. [< qu^ue + -ed^.] In her.,
same as tailed: used in the phrases double
queued, triple queued, etc.
quevert, o,. See quvoer\
quewt, »■ An obsolete spelling of cue\ 3 (a).
At the third time the great door openeth, for he shut in
one before of purpose to open it when his qiiew came.
■ CalfHa, Answer to Martial], p. 209. (Barnes.)
quey (kwa), n. [Also quee; ME. quye, qwye; <
Icel. hviga = Sw. qviga = Dan. Icvie, a quey.] A
young cow or heifer; a cow that has not yet
had a calf. [Scotch.]
Nought left me o' four-and-twenty gude ouaen and ky,
Mv weel-ridden gelding, and a white quey.
Fray ofSuport (Child's Ballads, VI. 116).
queycht, n. An obsolete variant of quaigh.
queyntt, «• An obsolete variant of quaint.
quilllk, pron. A Scotch form of whieh.
qullillest, adv. An obsolete Scotch form of
wliilat.
quibt (kwib), n. [Avar, of quip; at. quibble.^
A sarcasm ; a taunt ; a gibe ; a quip.
After he was gone, M''. Weston, in lue of thanks to ye
Gov and his freinds hear, gave them ... [a] g»i6 (be-
hind their baks) for all their pains
Bradftyri, Plymouth Plantation, p. 161.
quibble (kwib'l), v. i. ; pret. and pp. quiibUd,
ppr. quibbUng. [Freq. of quip; at. quib.'] 1.
To trifle in argument or discourse; evade the
point in question, or the plain truth, by artifice,
play upon words, or any conceit; prevaricate.
QumHing about self-interest and motives, and objects
of desire, and the greatest happiness of the greatest num-
ber is but a poor employment for a grown man.
" 1- -r Jfac<wia!/, Mill on Government.
Q To nun
^ ' His part has all the wit.
For none speakes, carps, and quibbles besides him ;
I'd rather see him leap, or laugh, or cry,
Than hear the srravest speech m all the play.
Than ne«r^^|^^^^eless Shepherdess, Prel. (StruU.)
4909
quibble (kwib'l), n. [< quibble, «.] 1. A start
or turn from the point in question, or from plain
truth ; an evasion ; a prevarication.
Quirks and quibbles ... have no place in the search
after truth. Watts, Improvement of Mind, i. 9, § 27.
His still refuted quirks he still repeats ;
Kew rais'd objections with new quibbles meets.
Covyper, Progress of Error, 1. 551.
2. A pun ; a trivial conceit.
Puns and quibbles. Addison.
It was veiy natural, therefore, that the common people,
by a quibble, which is the same in Flemish as in English,
should call the proposed " Moderation " the " Murdera-
tion." Motley, Dutch Kepubllo, I. 529.
quibbler (kwib'ler), n. 1. One who quib-
bles ; one who evades plain truth by trifling
artifices, play upon words, or the like. — 2. A
punster.
quibblet (kwib'let), n. Same as quubble, 2.
Nares.
quibbling (kwib'ling), n. A pun ; a witticism.
I have made a quibbling in praise of her myself.
Shirley, Witty Fair One, iil. 2.
quibblingly (kwib'ling-li), adv. In a quibbling
manner; evasively; punningly.
quibibt, «• [ME., also quibyb, quybibe, quybybe,
usually in pi. quibibes, < OP. quibibes, cubebes,
cubebs : see cubeb.1 An obsolete form of cubeb.
quiblinf,n. lA^T^ax.iov quibbling. 2 A quibble.
To o'erreach that head that outreacheth all heads,
'Tis a trick rampant! 'tis a very quiblyn!
Marston, Joitson, and Chapman, Eastward Ho, iii. 2.
quicet, n. Same as queest.
quicht, V. i. Same as quitch^.
quick (kwik), a. and n. [< ME. quilc, qwik, quyh,
quek, cwic, cwuc, < AS. ewic, ewyo, cwicu, cucu,
living, alive, = OS. OPries. quiJc = D. kwik =
LG. quik = OHGr. quec, queh, quek, ehec, MHG.
qubc (queek-), kee {keck-), (J. queek (in quecksilber
= E. quicksilver), living, keck, living, lively,
quick (> Sw. kack = Dan. kgsek, lively), = leel.
kvikr, Jaykr = Sw. qvick = Dan. kvik (all these
forms having an unorig. k developed before the
orig. w) = Goth, kwius (*kwiwa-), living, quick,
= L. vivus, living (cf. vivere, live, > vita, life),
for orig. *gvivus, = Gr. pioc, life (> piovv, live,
BioTog, life, way of life) (the same relation of
B. c (k), h. V, Gr. /3 appearing in E. come = L.
venire = Gr. ^aivetv), = OBulg. zhivii = Bohem.
zhiwy = Euss. zhifou = Lith. givas, living; Skt.
■\/jwAive. To the same root in Tent, belongs
loel. Kveikja, kveykja, kindle (a fire).] I, a. 1.
Living; alive; live. [Archaic]
Men may see there the Erthe of the Tombe apertly
many tymes steren and meven, as there weren quykke
thinges undre. Mandeville, Travels, p. 22.
Seven of their Porters were taken, whom leremie com-
manded to be flayed quicke.
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 24.
He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
quick-answered
So quick the run,
We felt the good ship shake and reel.
Tennyson, The Voyage.
5. Hasty; precipitate; irritable; sharp; un-
ceremonious.
In England, if God's preacher, God's minister, be any
thing qvMsk, or do speak sharply, then he is a foolish fel-
low, he is rash, he lacketh discretion.
Latimer, Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1550.
He had rather haue a virgin that could glue a quicke
aunswere that might cut him then a milde speache that
might claw him. hyly, Euphues and his England, p. 280.
6. Pregnant; with child: specifically noting a
woman when the motion of the fetus is felt.
Jaquenetta that is quick by him.
Shak., L. L. I,., v. 2. 687.
His vncles wife surviues, purchance
Left qvick with child ; & then he may goe dance
For a new living. Timeil WhisOe (E. E. T. S.), p. 39.
Puritanism, believing itself quick with the seed of reli-
gious liberty, laid, without knowing it, the egg of democ-
racy. LfmelX, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 238.
7. Active in operation ; piercing ; sharp ;
hence, bracing; fresh.
■ For the word of God is qnidc and powerful, and sharper
than any two edged sword. Heb. iv. 12.
The air is qukk there.
And it pierces and sharpens the stomach.
Skak., Pericles, iv. 1. 28.
Why stay I after? but I deserve to stay.
To feel the quiak remembrance of my follies.
Steele, Lying Lover, v. 1.
Quick anatomyt, vivisection.— Quick goods, cattle or
domestic animals. Norris, Pamphlet (Charleston, 1712).
— Quicli-retum gearing. See gearing.— (^vals. time.
Si&e quickstep,!. — Quick water, a dilute solution of nitrate
of mercury and gold, used in the process of water-gilding.
E.^ H. Knight. = Syn, 2 and 4. Expeditious, rapid, active,
alert, agile, hunymg, hurried, fleet, dexterous, adroit. See
quickness. — 3. Acute, keen.
II. n. If. A living being. [Rare.]
Tho, peeping close into the thicke.
Might see the moving of some quicke.
denser, Suep. Cal., March.
2. That which is quick, or living and sensi-
tive: with the definite article: as, cut to the
Still this great solitude is quick with life.
Bryant, The Prairies.
2. Lively; characterizedby physical or mental
liveliness or sprightliness ; prompt; ready;
sprightly; nimble; brisk.
The next lesson wolde be some quicke and merydialoges,
elect out of Luciane. Sir T. Elyot, The Govemour, L 10.
To have an open ear, a quick eye. and a nimble hand
is necessary for a cutpurse. Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 686.
Where is the boy ye brought me?
A pretty lad, and of a quick capacity.
And bred up neatly. Fletcher, Pilgrim, ii. 2.
Good intellectual powers, when aided by a comparative-
ly small power of prolonged attention, may render their
possessor quick and intelligent.
J. SuUy, Outlines of PsychoL, p. 100.
3. Prompt to perceive or to respond to im-
pressions; perceptive in a high degree; sen-
sitive; hence, excitable; restless; passionate.
Quick is mine ear to hear of good towards him.
Shak., Rich. II., ii. 1. 234.
Quiet to quick bosoms is a hell,
And there hath been thy bane.
Byron, Childe Harold, iii. 42.
No more the widow's deafened ear
Grows quick that lady's step to hear.
Scott, Marmion, ii,. Int.
She was quick to discern objects of real utility.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 16.
4. Speedy; hasty; swift; rapid; done or occur-
ring m a short time ; prompt ; immediate : as, a
quick return of profits.
Give thee quick conduct. Shak., Lear, iii. 6. 104.
Slow to resolve, but in performance quick.
Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 921.
It may calm the apprehension of calamity in the most
susceptible heart to see how quick a bound nature has set
to the utmost infliction of malice.
Emerson, Essays, 1st ser., p. 239.
This test nippeth, this pincheth, this touches Oie quick.
Latimer.
I know the man,
And know he has been nettled to tJie quick too.
Fletcher, Double Marriage, ii. 3.
How feebly and unhke themselves they reason when
they come to tlie quick of the difference. FuUer.
You fret, and are gall'd at the quick.
Milton, On Def . of Humb. Kemonst.
3. A live fence or hedge formed of some grow-
ing plant, usually hawthorn; quickset.
The workes and especially the counteicamp are curi-
ously hedg'd with quwk. Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 22, 1641.
Wild bird, whose warble, liquid sweet.
Kings Eden thro' the budded quicks.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, IxxxviiL
4. The quitch-grass. Also quicks, quitch. [Prov.
Eng.]
quick (kwik), adv. [< quick, a."] 1. In a quick
manner; nimbly; with celerity; rapidly; with
haste; speedily: as, i-un quick.
But quick as thought the change is wrought.
Lady Anne BothweU's Lament (Child's Ballads, IV. 126).
2. Soon ; in a short time ; without delay : as,
go and return quick.
Then rise the tender germs, upstarting quick.
Cowper, Task, iii. 521.
quick (kwik), V. [< ME. quikken, quiken, quyken;
< quick, a.] I. trans. If. To make alive ; quick-
en; animate.
"The whiles I quykke the corps," quod he, "called am I
Anima ;
And whan I wilne and wolde Animus ich hatte."
Piers Plowman (B), xv. 23.
Thow seyst thy princes han thee yeven myght
Bothe for to sleen and for to quike a wyght.
Chaucer, Second Nun's Tale, 1. 481.
2t. To revive ; kindle ; quicken.
Pandarus to quyke alwey the fire
Was ever yholde prest and diligent.
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 484.
3. In electroplating, to prepare for the firmer
adhesion of the deposited metal by the use of
a solution of nitrate of mercury.
With a brush dipped therein [in a solution of quicksilver
and aquafortis] they stroke over the surface of the metal
to be gilti which immediately becomes quieked.
Workshop Beceipts, 1st ser., p. 308.
Il.t intrans. To become alive ; revive.
Eight anon on of the fyres queynte.
And quykede agayn.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1477.
quick-answeredt (kwik'S-n'serd), a. [< quick
+ answer, n., + -ed^.l Quick in reply; ready
at repartee. [Kare.]
quick-answered
Eeady in gibes, quick-an»wer'df saucy.
Shak., Cymbeline, iii. 4. 161.
quick-beam (kwik'bem), n. The Old World
moimtain-ash or rowan. See mountain-ash.
Also called quicken or quicken-tree.
quicken^ (kwik'n), V. IKlateME. quylcenen; <
quick + -en^.'] I. intrans. 1. To become quick
or alive ; receive life.
Summer flies, . , , that quicken even with blowing.
Shak., Othello, iv. 2. 67.
2. To become quick or lively; become more
active or sensitive.
Sees by degrees a purer blush arise,
And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes.
Pope, K. of the L., i. 144.
3. To enter that state of pregnancy in which the
child gives indications of life ; begin to mani-
fest signs of life in the womb: said of the
mother or the child. The motion of the fetus
is first felt by the mother usually about the
eighteenth week of pregnancy.
II. trans. 1. To make quick or alive ; vivify;
revive or resuscitate, as from death or an in-
animate state.
You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and
Bins. Eph. ii. i.
How a sound shall quicken content to bliss.
Browning, By the Fireside.
The idea of universal free labor was only a dormant bud,
not to be quickened for many centuries.
Baruro/t, Hist U. S., 1. 127.
2. To revive; cheer; reinvigorate ; refresh.
Music and poesy use to quicken you.
ShA., T. of the S., i. 1. 36.
Wake ! our mirth begins to die ;
Quicken it with tunes and wine.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 8.
3. To make quick or speedy; hasten; accel-
erate : as, to quicken motion, speed, or flight.
Who got his pension rug,
Or quickened a reversion by a drug.
Pope, Satires of Donne, iv. 135.
And we must quicken
Our tardy pace in journeying Heavenward,
As Israel did in journeying Canaan-ward.
LongfeUow, New Bng. Tragedies, p. 160.
4. To sharpen ; give keener perception to ;
stimulate; incite: as, to quicken the appetite
or taste ; to quicken desires.
To quicken minds in the pursuit of honour.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, v. 3.
The desire of fame hath been no inconsiderable motive
to quicken you. Sv^ifi,
When 1 speak of civilization, I mean those things that
tend to develop the moralf orces of Man, and not merely
to quicken his sesthetic sensibility.
Lowell, Oration, Harvard, Nov. 8, 1886.
5. To work with yeast. HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
= Syn. 3. To expedite, hurry, speed. — 4. To excite, ani-
mate.
quicken^ (kwik'n), n. [< quick + -en, used in-
definitely. Ct. quick-grass s,ndLquitch^.'\ 1. The
couch- or quitch-grass, Agropyrum (Triticum)
repens. Also quickens. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. Same
as quick-beam.
quickener (kwik'n^r), n. [< quicken'^ -I- -erl.]
One who or that which quickens, revives, vivi-
fies, or communicates life ; that which reinvig-
oi'ates ; something that accelerates motion or
increases activity.
Love and enmity, aversation, fear, and the like are no-
table whetters and quickners of the spirit of life.
Dr. H. More, Antidote against Atheism, II. xii. 12.
quickening (kwik'ning), n. [< ME. quykening;
verbal n. of quicken^ «.] 1. The act of re-
viving or animating. Wyclif,^ Select Works (ed .
Arnold), II. 99. — 2. The time of pregnancy
when the fetus is first felt to be quick.
quicker (kwik'Sr), ». [< quick + -erl.] A quick-
set hedge. HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
quick-eyed (kwik'id), a. Having acute sight ;
of keen and ready perception.
Quick-eyed experience. Fletcher, Bonduca, iv. 3.
quick-grass (kwik'gras), n. [= Dan. kvikgrass;
as quick + grass. Cf . quicker^, quitch^.'] Same
as quitch-grass.
quickliatcll (kwik'haeh), TO. [Amer. Ind.] The
American glutton, carcajou, or wolverene, Ghdo
lusctis. Also queequehateh.
quick-hedge (kwik'hej), n. A live fence or
hedge ; a quick.
quick-in-hand, quick-in-the-hand (kwik'in-
hand', kwik'in-the-hand' ), »- The yellow bal-
sam or touch-me-not, Impatiens Noli-tangere:
so called from the sudden bursting of its cap-
sule when handled. [Eng.]
quicklime (kwik'Hm), n. [< quick + lim^'^.']
Calcium oxid, CaO ; burned lime ; lime not yet
slaked with water. Quicklime is prepared by subject-
4910
ing chalk, limestone, or other natural calcium carbonate
to intense heat, when carbonic acid, water, and any organic
matter contained in the carbonate are driven oft. It is
a white amorphous infusible solid, which readily absorbs
carbonic acid and water when exposed to the air. In
contact with water, quicklime slakes, each molecule of the
oxid combining with a molecule of water and formmg
calcium hydrate, CaC0H)2, or slaked lime. It is most
largely used in making mortar and cement, but has num-
berless other uses in the arts.
quickling (kwik'ling), n. [< quick + -ling'-.^
A young insect. Balliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
quickly (kwik'li), adv. [< ME. qwyhly, quic-
liche, cioicliche ;< quick + -ly^.'] 1. Speedily;
with haste or celerity.
Quickly he walked with pale face downward bent.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 169.
2. Soon; without delay.
John Earl of Heynault had quickly enough of the King
of B^nce, and was soon after reconciled to his Brother
King Edward. Baker, Chronicles, p. 118.
quick-march (kwik'march), n. Same as quick-
step.
quick-match (kwik'mach), n. See match^.
quickmire (kwik'mir), n. [ME. quick mire; <
quick -I- OTJj-ei. Cf. quakemire,quag7rm-e.'i A
quagmire. HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
That al wagged his fleish.
As a quick nvvre.
Piers Plowman's Creed, 1. 449.
quickness (kwik'nes), n. [< ME. qwyknesse,
cwicnesse; < quick + -ness."] 1. The state of
being quick or alive; vital power or principle.
Touch it with thy celestial quickness. Herbert.
All the energies seen in nature ax'e . . . but manifesta-
tions of the essential life or quickness of matter.
Pop. Sei. Mo., XXII. 168.
2. Speed; velocity; celerity; rapidity: as, the
quickness of motion.
' Hamlet, this deed . . . must send thee hence
With fiery qmelmess. Shak., Hamlet, iv. 3. 4S.
3. Activity; briskness; promptness; readiness:
as, the quickness of the imagination or wit.
lohn Hoywood the Epigrammatist, who, for the myrth
and qvidknesse of his conceits more then for any good
learnmg was in him, came to be well benefited by the
king. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 49.
With too much quickness ever to be taught;
With too much thinking to have common thought.
Pope, Moral Essays, ii. 97.
4. Aeuteness; keenness; alertness.
Would not qmelcrwss of sensation be an inconvenience to
an animal that must lie still? Locke,
In early days the conscience has in most
A quickness which in later life is lost.
Cowper, Tirocinium, 1. 110.
5. Sharpness; pungency; keenness.
Then would he wish to see my sword, and feel
The quickness of the edge.
Beau, and Fl., Maid's Tragedy, i. 1.
A few drops tinge, and add a pleasant quickness.
Mortimer.
=Syn. 2. Quickness, Fastness, Speed, Celerity, Swiftness,
Fteetness, Rapidity, Velocity, haste, expedition, despatch,
alertness, liveliness. Quickness isthegenerictemt. Quick-
ness, fastness, speed, and rapidity may have relation to time
only, or to space passed through or over ; the others apply
only to space, '*Swift to hear," in Jas. i. 19, is a bold
figure. Celerity is swift voluntary movement ; but we do
not ordinarily speak of the movements of an animal as
having celerity. Fleetness also is voluntary, and is applied
to animals ; we may speak by figure of the fleetness of a
yacht. The word suggests quickness in getting over the
ground by the use of the feet : we speak of the smftness
or rapidity of the swallow's or the pigeon's flight ; the
fieetness ot Atalanta, a hound, a deer. Sunftness is pre-
sumably not too great for carefulness or thoroughness ;
rapidity may be too great for either. Velocity is the attri-
bute of matter in motion ; the word is especially a techni-
cal term for the rate of movement of matter, whether fast
or slow. We speak also of th^ vdocity of sound or light.
Rapidity has less suggestion of personality than any of the
others, except veloeit^. See nimble. — 3. Dexterity, adroit-
ness, expertnesB, facility, knack. — 4. Penetration.
quicksand (kwik'sand), m. [< MB. quyksande
(= D. kwikzand = G. quicksand = Icel. kvik-
sandr = Sw. qoicksand = Dan. kviksand); <
quick -\r sand.'] A movable sand-bank in a sea,
lake, or river ; a large mass of loose or moving
sand mixed with water formed on many sea-
coasts, at the mouths and in the channels of
rivers, etc., sometimes dangerous to vessels,
and especially to travelers.
And fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands
[should be cast upon the Syrtis, R. V.], [they] strake sail
and so were driven. Acts xxvii. 17.
And what is Edward but a ruthless sea?
Wliat Clarence, hut a quicksand of deceit?
Shak., 8 Hen. VI., v. 4. 26.
quicksandy (kwik'san-di), a. [< quicksand +
-y.] Containing or abounding in quicksands ;
consisting of or resembling quicksands.
The rotten, moorish, quicksandy grounds.
Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 368.
quick-work
Unfortunately for this quicksandy world, nobody can be
suie of his position, however comfortable.
Sew York Semi-weekly Tribune, April 2, 1867.
quick-scented (kwik'sen"ted), a. Having an
acute sense of smell; of an acute smell.
I especially commend unto you to be quick-scented, easi-
ly to trace the footing of sin.
HaZes, Golden Remains, p. 168. {Latham.)
quickset (kwik'set), a. and n. [< quick + ««<!.]
I, a. Made of quickset.
He immediately concluded that this huge thicket of
thorns and brakes was designed as a kind ot fence or quick-
set hedge to the ghosts it enclosed.
Addison, Tale ot Marraton.
II. n. A living plant set to grow, particularly
for a hedge ; hawthorn planted for a hedge.
The hairs of the eye-lids are for a quickset and fence-
about the sight. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 167.
quickset (kwik'set), v. t. ; pret. and pp. quick-
set,-pTpv. quicksetting. {_< quickset, n.] To plant
with living shrubs or trees for a hedge or fence ::
as, to quickset a ditch.
quick-sighted (kwik'si"ted), a. Having quick
sight or acute discernment; quick to see or
discern.
The Judgment, umpire in the strife, . , .
Quick-sighted arbiter of good and ill.
Cowper, Tirocinium, 1. 31.
quick-sightedness (kwik'si"ted-nes), n. The
quality of being quick-sighted; quickness of
sight or discernment ; readiness to see or dis-
cern.
quicksilver (kwik'sil"v6r), «. [< ME. qwyksiU
ver, < AS. cwicseolfor (= D. kwikeilver = MLG.
qwiksulver = OHGr. auecsilabar, quechsilpar,
MHG. quecsilber, G. quecksilber = loel. kinksiljr,
mod. kvikasilfr = Sw. qvicksilfver = Norw. kvik-
sylv = Dan. kviksiilv, kvsegsolv), lit. 'living sil-
ver,' so called from its mobility, < cwic, living,
-I- seolfor, silver : see quick and silver. So in L.,
argentum viuum, 'living silver'; also argentum
liquidum,'liqmd silver,' Gr. apyvpo; ;pT(if, 'fused
silver,' idpdpyvpoc, 'water-silver' (see hydrar-
gyrum).'] The common popular designation of
the metal mercury. See mercury, 6, and mer-
The rogue fled from me like quicksilver.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 248.
Thou hast quicksilver in the veins of thee to a certainty.
Scott, Abbot, xix.
Qulckailyer plastert, a mercury soap, prepared from
chloride of mercury and soap. Also called quicksilver soap.
—Quicksilver water, nitrate of mercury.
quicksilver (kwik'sil"v6r), v. t. [< quicksilver,
n.] To overlay with quicksilver; treat with
quicksilver: ohiefiy used in the past and pres-
ent participles.
quicksilvered (kwik'sil'verd), p. a. 1. Over-
laid with quicksilver, or with an amalgam, as a
plate of glass with quicksilver and tin-foil, to
make a mirror. — 2t. Partaking of the nature
of quicksilver ; showing resemblance to some
characteristic of quicksilver.
Those nimble and quicksilvered brains.
Sir E. Sandys, State of Religion, H. 2. b. 1605. (Latham.)
This may serve to shew the Difference betwixt the two
Nations, the leaden-heel'd Pace of the one, and the quick-
iHver'd Motions of the other. Sowell, Letters, I. iv. 21.
quicksilvering (kwik'sil"ver-ing), n. [Verbal
n. of quicksilver, v.] 1 . The process of coating
with quicksilver or with an amalgam. — 2. A
coating with quicksilver or an amalgam, as in
a looking-glass.
quickstep (kwik'step), n. 1. Milit, a march
in quick time — that is, at the rate of 110 steps
per minute. — 2. Music adapted to such a rapid
march, or in a brisk march rhythm.
quick-tempered (kwik'tem"p6rd), a. Passion-
ate; irascible.
quick-witted (kwik'wif'ed); a. Having ready
wit; sharp; ready of perception.
Bap. How likes Gremio these quick-witted folks ?
Ore. Believe me, sir, they butt together well.
Shak., T. ot the S., v. 2. 38.
quick-wittedness (kwik'wif'ed-nes), n. The
character of being quick-witted ; readiness of
wit.
quickwood (kwik'wud), n. The hawthorn.
Compare quickset. [Prov. Eng.]
He ... in a pond in the said close, adjoining to a quick-
wood hedge, did drown his wife.
Aubrey, Misc., Apparitions.
quick-work (kwik'werk), n. In ship-building,
short planks between the ports ; all that part
of a ship's side which lies between the chain-
wales and the decks: so called because of its
being the work most quickly completed in
building the ship.
QuicunoLue
Quicunque (kvn-kung'kwe), n. [So eaUed from
the opening words of the Latin version, Qui-
cunque vult, whosoever will: L. quicunque, qui-
ciimque, whoever, whosoever, < qui, who, + -eum-
que, & generalizing suffix.] The Athanasian
creed. Also called Symbolum Quicunque and
the Fsalm Quicunque vult.
^'^^' \^ • Vinoentias, . . . and Vigilius, . . . towhom
severally the authorship of the Quicunque has heen as-
cribed. j;^j,j, £rt(^ Vj 5g2_
quidl (kwid), n. [Also queed; var. of cud, q. v.]
1 . A cud. [Prov. Eng.]— 3. A portion suitalole
to be chewed; specifically, a piece of tobacco
chewed and rolled about in the mouth.
_ The beggar who chews his g«a as he sweeps his Cross-
e's- Disraeli.
quidl (kwid), V. t. and i.; pret. and pp. quidded,
T^-pi. quidding. l<quid\n.;\ To drop partly mas-
ticated food from the mouth: said of horses.
quid^ (kwid), n. [< L. ^uid, interrog. what, in-
def . somewhat, something, neut. (= E. what) of
quia, who, = E. who : see wfto.] 1. What; na-
ture; substance.
You must know my age
Hath seene the beings and the g[wid of things ;
I know the dimensions and the termini
Of all existence. Marston, The Fawne, i. 2.
3. Something: used chiefly in the phrase ter-
Uum quid (see below). See predication.— lei-
tiuia quid, something different from both mind and mat-
ter, a representative object in perception, itself immedi-
ately known, mediating between the mind and the reality.
—The Quids, in U. S. hist, from 1806 to 1811, a section of
the Democratic-Kepublican party which was attached to
extreme State-rights and democratic views, and separated
Itself from the administration, under the leadership of
John Bandolpfa, favoring Monroe as successor to Jeffer-
son : supposed to have been so named as being tertiwn
miid to the Federalists and administration E,epublican8.
Also called Quiddists.
In his next speech he avowed himself to be no longer a
republican ; he belonged to the third party, the quiddists
or ^idds, being that tertium quid, that third something,
which had no name, but was really an anti-Madison move-
ment. H. Adams, John Kandolph, II. 181.
quid^ (kwid), ». [Origin obscure.] Asovereign
(£1). [Slang, Eng.]
quidam (kwi'dam), n. [L., some, a certain, <
qui, who, + -dam, var. -dem, an indef. suffix.]
Somebody; one unknown. [Rare.]
So many unworthy Quidarm, which catch at the garlond
wMch to you alone is dewe. Spenser, Shep. Cal., Ded.
quiddany (kwid'a-ni), n. [< L. cydonimn, cy-
doneum, quince-juice, quince-wine, < cydonia
{cydomum malum), a quince : see Cydonia. Cf .
quine^, quince^.'] A confection of quinces pre-
pared with sugar.
quiddative (kwid'a-tiv), a. [Contr. of quiddi-
tative.'] Same as quidditati^e.
Quiddist (kwid'ist), n. [< quid^ + -is*.] See
the Quids, under quid^.
quiddit (kwid'it), n. [A contr. of quiddity.^ A
subtlety; an equivocation ; a quibble.
No quirk left, no quiddit,
That may defeat him?
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, i. 3.
By some strange quiddit, or some wrested clause,
To find him guiltie of the breach of laws.
Drayton, The Owl.
quidditative (kwid'i-ta-tivL a. [< P. quiddi-
tatif, < ML. quidditativiis, < quiddita{t-)s, ' what-
ness': see quiddity.'] Constituting the essence
of a thing Qnidditative being, entity. See the
nouns.— Quiddltative predication, the predication of
the genus or species.
quiddity (kwid'i-ti), n. ; pi. quiddities (-tiz). [=
T. quidditS, < ML. quiddita{t-)s, ' whatness,' < L.
quid, -what {='E. what): seequid^.] 1. In scho-
lastic philos., that which distinguishes a thing
from other things, and makes it what it is, and
not another; substantial form; nature.
I darevndertake Orlando Furioso.or honest King Arthur,
will neuer displease a Souldier: but the quiddity of Ens,
and Prima materia, will hardely agree with a Corslet
Sir P. Sidney, Apol. for Poetrie.
Neither shal I stand to trifle with one that will tell me
ot quiddities and lovmalltles. , , „ , .. ,
Milton, Church-Qovernment, ii. 1.
The Quiddity and Essence of the Incomprehensible
Creator cannot imprint any formal Conception upon the
finite Intellect of the Creature. HoweU, Letters, u. 11.
Reason is a common name, and agrees both to the un-
derstanding and essence of things as explained in defini-
tion. Quiddity they commonly call it. The intellect they
call reason reasoning, miiddity reason reasoned.
BurgersMcius, tr. by a Gentleman, L. xxi. 4.
2. A trifling nicety; a cavil; a quirk or quibble.
But she, in quirks and quiddities of love.
Sets me to school, she is so overwise.
Greene, George-a-Greene.
Evasion was his armature, quiddity his defence.
J. T. Fields, Underbrush, p. 80.
4911
quiddlei (kwid'l), v. i. ; pret. and pp. quiddled,
ppr. quiddling. [A dim. or freq. form, appar.
based on L. quid, what, as in quiddit, quiddity,
etc. : see quid^, quiddity.'] 1 . To spend or waste
time in trifling employments, or to attend to
useful subjects in a trifling or superficial man-
ner; be of a trifling, time-wasting character.
You are not sitting as nisi prius lawyers, bound by
quiddling technicalities.
W. PhUlips, Speeches, etc., p. 181.
3. To criticize. Davies.
Set up your buffing base, and we will quMdell upon it.
R. Edwards, Damon and Pythias. (Dames.)
quiddlel (kwid'l), «. [iquiddle^jV.] One who
quiddles, or busies himself about trifles. Also
The Englishman is very petulant and precise about his
accommodation at inns and on the road, a quiddXe about
his toast and his chop and every species of convenience.
Emersmi, English Traits, vi.
quiddle^ (kwid'l), v. i. ; pret. and pp. quiddled,
ppr. quidMing. [Origin obscure.] To quiver;
shiver; tremble; creep, as live flesh: as, the fish
were still quiddling. [New Eng.]
quiddler (kwid'16r), n. [< quiddle'i- + -eri.]
Same as quiddle^.
quidificalt, «■ [< L- gmd, what, + -fie + -al.
Cf. quiddity.] Equivocal; subtle.
Diogenes, mocking zo(i!a.mddijiiidll trifles, that were al in
the cherubins, said. Sir Plato, your table and your cuppe
I see very well, but as for your tabletee and your cupitee,
I SQ0 none soche.
Udall, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 139.
quidlibet, n. Same as quodlibet.
quidnunc (kwid'nungk), n. [< L. quid nunc,
what now : quid, what (see quid^) ; nunc, now
(see now).] One who is curious to know every-
thing that passes, and is continually asking
"What now!" or "What news?" hence, one
who knows or pretends to know all that is go-
ing on in politics, society, etc. ; a newsmonger.
Are not you called a theatrical quidnunc, and a mock
Meecenas to second-hand authors?
Sheridan, The Critic, i. 1.
What a treasure-trove to these venerable quidnuncs,
could they have guessed the secret which Hepzibah and
Clifford were carrying along with them !
Hajwthame, Seven Gables, xvii.
quid pro quo (kwid pro kwo) . [L. , something for
something: quid, interrog. what, indef. some-
thing; pro, for: quo, abl. sing, of quid, some-
thing.] Sometlmig given for something else ;
a tit for tat; in law, an equivalent; a thing
given or offered in exchange for or in consid-
eration of another; the mutual consideration
and performance of either party as toward the
other in a contract.
quien, n. [F. chien, dial, quien, < L. canis, a dog :
see 'hound.] A dog. [Thieves' cant.]
" Curse the quiens," said he. And not a word all dinner-
time but "Curse the ^wiens/" I said I must know who
they were before I would curse them. " Qmens9 why,
that was dogs. And I knew not even that much?"
C. MaadA, Cloister and Hearth, Iv.
quien sabe (kien sa'be). [8p. : quien, who, <
L. quem, aec. of quis, who ; sahe, 3d pers. sing,
pres. ind. of saher, know,< L. sapere, have taste
or sense: see sapient.] Who knows? a form of
response equivalent to 'how should I know?' or
'T do not know,' occasionally used by Ameri-
cans on the Pacific coast.
quiert, »• An obsolete variant of quired
quiesce (kwi-es'), v. i.; pret. and pp. quiesced,
ppr. quiesdng. [< L. quiescere, rest, keep quiet,
< quies, rest, quiet: see quiet, n. Cf. acquiesce.]
1. To become quiet or calm; become silent.
The village, after a season of acute conjecture, quiesced
into that sarcastic sufferance of the anomaly into which
it may have been noticed that small communities are apt
to subside from such occasions.
Howells, Annie Kilburn, xxx.
3. Tnphilol., to become silent, as a letter; come
to have no sound. Amer. Jour. PMlol.,\in..
282.
quiescence (kwi-es'ens), n. [< 'LJj.quiescentia,
rest, quiet, < L. quiescen{t-)s, ppr. of quiescere,
repose, keep quiet: see quiescent.] 1. The
state or quality of being quiescent or inactive ;
rest; repose; inactivity; the state of a thing
without motion or agitation : as, the quiescence
of a volcano.
'Tis not unlikely that he [Adam] had as clear a percep-
tion of the earth's motion as we think we have of its qui-
Qlanville, Vanity of Dogmatizing, i.
It is not enough that we are stimulated to pleasure or
to pain we must lapse into muscular jMiesce/ice to realize
•either. ' ^- Bain, Emotions and Will, p. 149.
3. In philol., silence ; the condition of not be-
ing heard in pronunciation : as, the quiescence
quiet
of aletter. — 3. In hiol., quietude or inactivity t
a state of animal life approaching torpidity^
but in which the animal is capable of some mo-
tion, andmayreceivefood: itis observed among
insects during either hibernation or pupation,
and in many other animals both higher and
lower in the scale than these.
quiescency (kwi-es' en-si), n. [As quiescence
(see -cy).] Same asquiescence.
quiescent (kwi-es'ent), a. and m. [< L. quies-
cen{ t-)s, ppr. of quiescere, keep quiet, rest : see
quiesce.] I. a. L Resting; being in a state
of repose; still; not moving: as, a quiescent
body or fluid.
Aristotle endeavoureth to prove that in all motion
there is some point quiescent.
J3aeon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 222.
Quiescent as he now sat, there was something about his
nostril, his mouth, his brow, which, to my perceptions,
indicated elements within either restless, or hard, or eager.
Charlotte BronU', Jane Eyre, xxix.
The overpowering heat inclines me to be perfectly qui-
escent in the daytime.
Qearge Eliot, Mill on the Moss, vii. 3.
3. In philol., silent; not sounded; having no
sound: a,s, a, quieseentlettei. — 3. In Woi., phys-
iologically inactive or motionless; resting, as
an insect in the chrysalis state, or an encysted
amoeba.
II. n. In philol., a silent letter.
quiescently (kwi-es'ent-li), adv. In a quiescent,
manner; calmly; quietly.
quiet (kwi'et), a. [< ME. quiet, quyet = OF.
quiet, quiete, quite, vernacularly quoi, coi (> E.
coy), F. coi = Pr. quetz = Sp. Pg. quieto, ver-
nacularly chedo = It. quieto, vernacularly queto,
< Lr. quietus, pp. of quiescere, keep quiet, rest ;
cf . quies (quiet-), quiet, rest : see quiesce, quiet,
n. Cf . coy't, a doublet of quiet, and quit\ quite\
acquit, requite, etc.] 1 . Being in a state of rest ;
not being in action or motion; not moving or
agitated; stUl: as, remain quiet; the sea was.
quiet.
And they . . . laid wait for him all liight in the gatft
of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying. In the
morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. Judges xvi. 2.
The holy time is quiet as a Nun
Breathless with adoration.
Wordsworth, Misc. Sonnets, i. 30.
3. Left at rest; free from alarm or disturb-
ance; unmolested; tranquil.
In his days the land was quiet ten years. 2 Chron. xiv. 1.
A peace above all earthly dignities,
A still and quiet conscience.
Shak., Hen. VIII., iii. 2. 380.
3. Peaceable; not turbulent; not giving of-
fense ; not exciting controversy, disorder, or
trouble.
As long as the Cairiotes are poor and weaken'd by for-
mer divisions they are quiet, but when they grow rich
and great they envy one another, and so fall into divi-
sions. Fococke, Description of the East, 1. 169.
Be plain in dress, and sober in your diet ;
In short, my deary, kiss me ! and be quiet.
Lady M. W. Montagu, Summaiy of Lord Ly ttelton's Advice
[to a Lady.
4. Undisturbed by emotion; calm; patient j
contented.
The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. 1 Pet. iiL 4.
Grant . . . tothy faithful people pardon and peace, that
they may be cleansed from all their sins, and serve thee
with a ^iet mind. Book of Common Prayer, Collect for
[21st Sunday after Trinity.
Margaret Duchess of Burgundy, a Woman that could
never be ipdel iu her Mind as long as King Henry was quiet
in his Kingdom. Baker, Chronicles, p. 241.
5. Free from noise or sound; silent; still: as,
a quiet neighborhood.
Much of mirthe wat3 that ho made.
Among her feres that watg so quytl
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), i. 1148.
Her days
Henceforth were given to quiet tasks of good.
Bryant, Sella.
Till he find
The quiet chamber far apart.
Tennyson, Day-Dream, The Arrival.
AU was quiet, but for faint sounds made
By the wood creatures wild and unafraid.
WWiam Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 221.
6. Free from fuss or bustle ; without stiffness
or formality.
A couple of Mrs. Bardell's most particular acquaintance,
who had just stepped in to have a mtie* cup of tea.
Dickens, Pickwick, xxvi.
7. Not glaring or showy; not such as to attract
notice; in good taste: as, gwef colors; a quiet
dress.
A large frame, . . . which I afterwards found to contain
a rather highly colored seventeenth-century master, was
covered with a quiet drapery. The Century, XXXVIII. 91.
ciulet
=am. 1-5. Plaad, Serene, etc. (see cojml), peaceful, nn-
ramed, undisturbed.— 4. Meek, mild.
quiet (kwi'et), n. [< ME. quiete, quyete = Sp.
quiete = It. quiete, < L. quies (quiet-), rest; cf.
quiet, a.'] 1. Rest; repose; stillness.
For now the noonday quiet holds the hill.
Tennyson^ (Enone,
That cloistered quiet which characterizes all university
towns. Lowell, Cambridge Thirty Years Ago.
Long be it ere the tide oJ trade
Shall break with harsh resounding din
The quiet of thy banks of shade.
WhiUier, Kenoza Lake.
2. An imdisturbed condition; tranquillity;
peace; repose.
And take hede hou Makamede, thorwe a mylde doue,
Be hald al Sunye as hym-self wolde and Sarasyns in guyete ;
Nouht thorw manslauht and mannes strengths Maka-
mede hadde the mastrie.
Piers Plowman (C), xviiL 240.
Enjoys his garden and his book in quiet.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. i. 199.
And, like an infant troublesome awake,
Is left to sleep for peace and qui&t's sake.
'Cawper, Truth, 1. 428.
3. An undisturbed state of mind; peace of
soul; patience; calmness.
Thy greatest help is quiet, gentle NeU.
Shuk., 2 Hen. VL, li. 4. 67.
A certain quiet on his soul did fall,
As though he saw the end and waited it.
WiMiam Morris, Earthly Paradise, 11. 314.
At quiett, still ; peaceful.
And they . . . came unto Laish, unto a people that were
■at quiet and secure. Judges xviii. 27.
Death did the only Cure apply ;
She was at quiet, so was 1.
Prior, Turtle and Sparrow.
In quiet, quietly.
York. I shall not eleep in quiet at the Tower.
Qlou. Why, what should you fear?
Shak., Rich. III., iii. 1. 142.
On the quiet, clandestinely ; so as to avoid observation.
[Slang.]
I'd just like to have a bit of chin wag with you on tAe guiet.
Punch, Jan. 8, 1881, p. 4.
Out of quiett, disturbed ; restless.
Since the youth of the count's was to-day with my lady,
she is much mit, of quiet. Shak., T. N., ii. 3. 144.
= Syn. Repose, TranqxiiLViiy, etc. See rest.
quiet (kwi' et), v. [< LL. cpaetare, quietari, make
quiet, < L. quietus, quiet: see quiet, a. Cf.
quit^, u.] I, trans. 1. To bring to a state of
rest; stop.
Quiet thy cudgel. Shak., Hen. V., v. 1. 64.
The ideas of moving or quieting corporeal motion.
Loeke.
2. To make or cause to be quiet; calm; ap-
pease; pacify; lull; allay; tranquillize: as, to
quiet the soul when it is agitated ; to quiet the
clamors of a nation; to quiet the disorders of a
city.
After that Gallia was thus quieted, Csesar (as he was de.
termiued before) went into Italy to hold a parlament.
Oolding, tr. of Caesar, fol. 176.
Surely I have behaved Sindquieted myself, as a child that
is weaned of his mother. Ps. cxxxi. 2.
The growth of our dissention was either prevented or
soon quieted. Milton, Eikonoklastes, xxvi.
=Syn. 2. To compose, soothe, sober ; to still, silence, hush.
II. intrans. To become quiet or stUl; abate:
as, the sea quieted.
While astonishment
With deep^lrawn sighs was quieting. Keats.
quietaget(kwi'et-aj), ». [iquiet + 'age."] Peace;
quiet. [Eare.]
Sweet peace ^.nd quiet-age
It doth establish in the troubled mynd.
Spenser, S. Q., IV. Hi. 43.
quieten (kwi'et-n), v. [< quiet, a., + -en^.'] I.
intrans. To become quiet or still.
H. trans. To make quiet ; calm ; pacify.
I will stay, . . . partly to quieten the fears of this poor
faithful fellow. Mrs. Oaskell, Ituth, xxxiv. (Davies.)
quieter (kwi'et-6r), n. [< quiet + -eri.] One
who or that which quiets.
qilieting-chamber (kwi'et-ing-cham"b&r), n.
In a steam-engine, an exhaust-pipe fitted with
a number of small branch tubes the sections
of which, taken together, equal that of the main
pipe. It is intended to prevent the usual noise
of blowing off steam.
quietism (kwi'et-izm), n. [= F. quUtisme =
8p. Pg. It. quietismo = G. quietismus, < NL. quie-
tismus ; as quiet + -ism.'] 1 . That form of mys-
ticism which consists in the entire abnegation
of all active exercise of the will and a purely
passive meditation on God and divine things
as the highest spiritual exercise and the means
of bringing the soul into immediate union with
the Godhead. Conspicuous exponents of quiet-
4912
ism were Molinos and Mme . Guyon, in the seven-
teenth century. See MoUnist^.
If the temper and constitution were cold and phlegmatic
their religion has sunk into quietism; if bilious or san-
guine, it has flamed out into all the frenzy of enthusiasm.
Warburton, Alliance, i.
The Monks of the Holy Mountain [Mount AtliosJ, from
the eleventh century, appeared to have yielded to a kind
of quietim, and to have held that he who, in silence and
solitude, turned liis thouglits with intense introspection
on himself, would find his soul enveloped in a mystic and
ethereal light, the essence of God, and be filled with pure
and perfect happiness.
J. M. Neale, Eastern Church, i. 870, note.
2. The state or quality of being quiet ; quiet-
ness. [Bare.]
He . . . feared that the thoughaesBness of my years
might sometimes make me overstep the limits of quietism
which he found necessary.
Godudn, Mandeville, 1. 110. {Dames.)
quietist (kwi'et-ist), n. [= p. qui6tiste = Sp.
Pg. It. quieOsta = G. quietist, < NL. quietista;
as quiet + -ist.] 1. One who believes in or
practises quietism: applied especially [cop.]
to a body of mystics (followers of Molinos, a
Spanish priest) in the latter part of the seven-
teenth century. Somewhat similar viewp were held by
the Euchites, Beghards,Begnines, Hesychasts, Brethren of
the Free Spirit, and others of less note.
The best persons have always held it to be the essence
of religion that the paramount duty of man upon earth is
to amend liimself ; but all except monkish quietists have
annexed to this the additional duty of amending the world,
and not solely the human part of it, but the material, the
order of pliysical nature. J. S. Mill.
3. One who seeks or enjoys quietness; one who
advocates a policy of quietness or inactivity.
Too apt, perhaps, to stay where I am put 1 am aquiet.
ist by constitution. The Century, XXVI. 280.
quietistic (kwi-e-tis'tik), a. [< quietist + -ic]
Of or pertaining to quietists or quietism.
Jeanne Marie . . . Guyon, ... a leading exponent of
the quietistic mysticism of the 17th century.
Eneyc. Brit, XI. 341.
quieti've (kwi'et-iv), n. [< quiet + -ive.'] That
which has the property of inducing quiet or
calm, as a sedative medicine.
Every one knows of a few plants that are good as laxa-
tives, emetics, sudorifics, or quietives.
Pop. Sd. Mo., XXVIIL 629.
quietize (Irm'et-Iz), v. t. [< quiet, a., + 4ze.1
To make quiet; calm.
Solitude, and patience and religion have now quielized
both father and daughter into tolerable contentment.
Mme. D'Arllay, Diary, V. 271. (Dames.)
quietly (kwi'et-li), adv. In a quiet state or
manner. Especially — (a) Without motion or agitation ;
in a state of rest.
Lie quietly, and hear a little more ;
Nay, do not struggle.
Shak., VenuB and Adonis, 1. 709.
(&) Without tumult, alarm, dispute, or disturbance ; peace-
ably : as, to live quietly.
After all these Outrages, the King proclaimed Pardon to
all such as would lay down Arms and go quietly home.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 138.
(c) Calmly ; tranquilly ; without agitation or violent emo-
tion; patiently.
Quietly, modestly, and patiently recommend his estate
to God. Jer. Taylor.
Then came her father, saying in low tones
"Have comfort," whom she greeted quieiiy.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
(S) In a manner to attract little or no observation ; with-
out noise : as, he quietly left the room.
Sometimes . . . [Walpole] found that measures which
he had hoped to carry through quietly had caused great
agitation. Macaulay, Horace Walpole.
He shut the gate quietly, not to make a noise, but never
looked back. Mrs. Oliphant, Poor Gentleman, xxxvi.
quietness (kwi'et-nes), n. [< ME. quietness ; <
quiet + -ness.] The state of being quiet, still,
or free from action or motion; freedom from
agitation, disturbance, or excitement; tran-
quillity; stillness; calmness.
It is great quyetnesse to haue people of good behaviour
in a house. Babees Book (E. E, T. S.), p. 64.
Peace and quietness. Milton.
In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.
Isa. XXX. 16.
quietoust (kwi'et-us), a. [< quiet + -o«s.]
Quiet; peaceable.
Bryngynge men to a quyetotise holde and sure step in
the Lorde. Bp. Bale, Image, i.
quietouslyt (kwi'et-us-li), adv. [< quietous +
-ly^.l In a quietous manner; quietly. Bp.Bale.
quietsomet (kwi'et-sum), a. [< quiet + -some.1
Calm; still; undisturbed.
But let the night be calme and quieUome.
Spenser, Epithalamion, 1. 326.
quietude (kwi'e-tiid), n. [< F. quUtude = Sp.
qwietud = It. quietudine, < L. quietudo, quiet-
quill
ness, rest, calmness, for *quieUtudo, < quietus,
quiet: see quiet, o.] Best; repose; quiet; tran-
quillity.
A future quietude and serenitude in the affections.
Sir U. Wotton, Reliqulse, p. 79.
Never was there a more venerable quietude than that
which slept among their sheltering boughs.
Hawthorne, Marble Faun, viii. ,
There broods upon this charming hamlet an old-time
quietude and privacy. B. James, Jr., Pass. Pilgrim, p. 42.
quietus (kwi-e'tus), n. [< ML. quietus, or qui-
etus est, (he is) 'free' or 'quitted,' i. e. he is
discharged from the debt : a formula in noting
the settlement of accounts: see quiet, a.] 1.
A final discharge of an account; a final settle-
ment ; a quittance.
Till 1 had signed your quietus. Webster.
I hoped to put her oft with half the sum ;
That's truth; some younger brother would have thank'd
me,
And given [me] my quietus. Shirley, The Gamester, v. 1.
Hence — 2. A finishing or ending in general;
stoppage.
■When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin. Shak., Hamlet, iii. 1. 7.5.
Why, you may think there's no being shot at without a
little risk ; and if an unlucky bullet should carry a quietus
with it — I say it will be no time then to be bothering you
about family matters. Sheridan, The Kivals, v. 8.
3. A severe blow; a "settler." HalUmell.
[Slang.]
quightt, adv. An erroneous spelling of quite^.
qui-ni, qui-hye (kwi'hi'), n. [Hind, koi hai,
'who is there?'] 1. In Bengal, the Anglo-
Indian call for a servant, one being always in
attendance, though not in the room.
The seal motto [of a letter] qui hi ("who waits") de-
noting that the bearer is to bring an answer.
J. W. Palmer, The New and the Old, p. 298.
2. Hence, the popular nickname for an Anglo-
Indian in Bengal.
The old boys, the old generals, the old colonels, the old
qui-his from the club came and paid her their homage.
Thackeray, Newoomes, Ixii. (fiavies.)
Quiina (kwi-i'na), n. [NL. (Aublet, 1775), from
the native name in Guiana.] A genus of poly-
petalous plants of the order GutUferee, type of
the tribe QuUneie.^ it is characterized by ovary-cells
with two ovules, the numerous stamens and several styles
all filiform, and the fruit a beriy with fibrous interior and
from one to four woolly seeds, each filled by the two thick
and distinct seed-leaves, Tlie 17 species are natives of
tropical America. They are trees or shrubs or sometimes
climbers, bearing opposite or whorled stipulate leaves,
elegantly marked with transverse veinlets. The small
flowers are arranged in short axillary panicles or terminal
racemed clusters. Q. Jamaicensis is an entire-leafed spe-
cie^ known in Jamaica as old-wojruzn's tree.
Quiines (kwi-in'f-e), n.pl. [NL. (Bentham and
Hooker, 1862), <' Quiina + -ex.] A tribe of
dicotyledonous polypetalous plants of the order
Guttiferse, consisting of the genus Quiina, the
embryo having large cotyledons and minute
radicle, while in the rest of the order, except
the CalopJiylleee, the radicle is large and the
seed-leaves are minute.
quilisma (k-wi-lis'ma), n. [ML., < Gr. Kv?.iafia,
a roll, < KvXUiv, roll: see cylinder. ] In medieval
musical notation, a sign or neume denoting a
shake or trill.
quilU (kwil), n. [< ME. *quille, quylle, a stalk
(L. calamus); cf. LG. quiele, Iciele = MHG.
hil, G. hiel, dial. Iceil, a quill ; connections un-
certain. Cf. OF. quille, a peg or pin of wood,
a ninejiin, < OHG. kegil, MHG. G. kegel, a nine-
pin, sMttle, cone, bobbin : see kaiP. The Ir.
cuille, a quill, is appar. < E.] 1. The stalk of
a cane or reed. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. A cane or
reed pipe, such as those used in Pan's pipes.
For they bene daughters of the hyghest Jove,
And holden scorne of homely shepheards gui2Z.
Spenser, Shep. Cal., June.
On a country mitt each plays
Madrigals ana pretty lays.
Shirley, Love Tricks, iv. 2.
He touch'd the tender stops of various quills.
With eager thought warbling his Dorick lay.
Milton, Lycidas, L 188.
3. One of the large, strong feathers of ^eese,
swans, turkeys, crows, etc., used for writing-
pens and the like.
Snatch thee a quHZ from the spread eagle's wing.
Quarles, Emblems, i., Invoc.
And reeds of sundry kinds, . . . more used than quits
by the people of these countreys.
Sandys, Travailes, p. UOl
4. A quill pen; hence, by extension, any pen,
especially considered &s the characteristic in-
strument of a writer.
Thy Pencil triumphs o'er the poet's QuHl
Congreve, To Sir Godfrey Eneller.
QUUl
of red ink behind the other, another of black Ink In his
"'°'"'^ W- H- Baker, New Timothy, p. 151. '
5. One of the comparatively large flight-fea-
thers or remiges of any bird, without reference
to the use of such feathers for making qmll
pens; a quill-feather: as, the gMiib and coverts
<)f the wmg; sometimes extended to include
the similar feathers of the taU.
Who now so long hath praised the chough's white biU
That he hath left her ne'er a flying o«iB.
Mareton, Satires. L 68.
6. The hard, hollow, horny part of the scape
■of any feather, which does not bearharbs, and
by which the feather is inserted in the skin ; the
<salamus, as distinguished from the raehis.
The whole scape is divided into two parts : one, nearest
the body of the bird, the tube or barrel, or miUl proper,
which IS a hard, horny, hollow, and semi-transpaieut cyl-
inder, containing a little pith in the interior; it bears no
■webs. Coueg, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 84.
7. One of the much enlarged and peculiarly
modified hairs with which some animals, as
porcupines, are provided ; a large hollow spine.
Iiike quUls upon the fretful porpentine.
Shak., Hamlet, i. 6. 20.
Thou It shoote thy guilleg at mee, when my terrible
backe 's turn'd, for all this ; wilt not. Porcupine ?
Dekker, Humorous Poet, I. 235.
8. A piece of small reed or other light slender
tube, used by weavers to wind thread upon,
and by manufacturers to hold the wound silk
and other thread prepared for sale.
Of works with loom, with needle, and with ^piill.
Spemer,
9. (a) A plectrum of quill, as of a goose, for
playing on musical instruments of the lute and
zither families. (6) In the harpsichord, spinet,
and virginal, a small piece of quill projecting
from the jack of each key (digital), and so set
that when the key was depressed the corre-
sponding string was twitched or twanged by it.
Various other materials were used instead of
■quUls. — 10. In seal-engraving, the hollow shaft
or mandril of the seal-engravers' lathe, in which
the cutting-tools are secured to be revolved
while the stones are held against them. — 11.
In mining, a train for igniting a blast, consist-
ing of a quill filled with slow-burning powder:
it is now superseded by the safety-fuse. — 12.
The faucet of a barrel. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
— 13. Inphar., bark in a roll, such as is often
iormed in drying, as of cinnamon or cinchona. —
In the qulllt, a phrase used in the following passage,
and interpreted to mean 'penned* (Steevens)] 'in form
and order like a quilled ruff' iNares); 'in the coil'
(linger).
My lord protector will come this way by and by, and
then we may deliver our supplications in the quill.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., i. 3. i.
Primary, secondary, tertiaiy quiUs. See the adjec-
tives.— To be under the quill, to be written about.
The subject which is now under the quM is the Bishop
of Lincoln. Bp. Hacket, Abp. Williams, ii. 28. (Dames.)
To carry a good quill, to write well.
fluilli (kwil), V. [< quilU, m.] I. trans. 1. To
pluck out quills from.
His wings have been quilled thrice, and are now up
again. Stiift, To Stella, xvii.
2. To tap, as a barrel of liquor. Salliwell.
[Prov. Eng.]
II. intrans. To wind thread or yam on quills
for the loom. [New Eng.]
The child Margaret sits in the.door of her house, on a
low stool, with a small wheel, winding spools— in our ver-
nacular, quilling— ioi her mother. iS. Jvdd, Margaret, i. 2.
•quill2 (kwil), n. [Also, as mere F., quiUe; < P.
quille, a, keel : see keelK] A fold of a plaited
or fluted ruff or ruffle.
•ftUill2 (kwil), V. t. [< quim, ».] To flute ; form
with small rounded ridges.
What they called his cravat was a little piece of white
linen quaied with great exactness, and hanging below his
chin about two inches. ,«,,„„ xr ^^„
Addison and Steele, Tatler, No. 257.
>ailillai (ke-li'), n. [Also quillay, cuUay; <
Chilian guillai, so called from its soap-like
qualities, < quillean, wash.] A middle-sized
Chilian tree, QuiUaia Saponaria — QulUal-bark,
the bark of the qufflai-tree, the Inner layers of which
abound in saponin, whence it is commonly used in Chili
as soap. It has also come into use elsewhere for washing
silks, printed goods, etc.; and an oU for promoting the
growth of the hair has been extracted from it. Also
qmaia-bark,quMlajahark,i).^i soap-bark. ,„„„,>
•Quillaia (kwi-la'ya), n. [NL. (Molina, 1782), <
Chilian quillai.'] 'A genus of rosaceous trees,
type of the tribe Quillaiese. ' it is characterized by
an mferior radicle, five valvate calyx-lobes to which ad-
here the five dilated and fleshy stamen-bearing lobes of
the disk, and five wooUy carpels, becoming a stellate
.109
4913
crown of Ave many-seeded follicles. The 3 or 4 species
are natives of southern Brazil, Chili, and Peru. They are
very smooth evergreen trees, bearing scattered and undi-
vided leaves which are thick, rigid, and veiny. The large
and WQoUy flowers are in small clusters, of which the lat.
eral are staminate and the central are fertile. Q. Sapona-
ria is the -quillai, cullay, or soap-b^k tree of OhilL See
quiUai-iark, under quillai. Also spelled QuUlaja.
Quillaiese (kwi-la'ye-e), n.pl. [NL. (Endlicher,
1840), < QuiUaia + -eseJ] A tribe of rosaceous
plants somewhat resembling the Spirseese, dif-
fering in the usually broadly winged seeds, and
characterized by commonly persistent brae tless
sepals, five, ten, or many stamens, one or many
usually ascending ovules, and fruit of five fol-
licles or a capsule. It includes 8 genera, mainly
American, of which QuiUaia is the type. See
Kagenechia. Also spelled Qwillajeie.
quillback (kwil'bak), n. The sailflsh, spear-
fish, or sMmbaek, Carpiodes cyprinus, a kind of
carp-sucker. The name is also given to other
fishes of that genus, as C. difformis. [Local,
U. S.]
qulU-bit (kwil'bit), TO. A small shell-bit: same
as gouge-bit.
quill-coverts (kwil'kuv''6rts), n. pi. Peathers
immediately covering the bases of the large
feathers of the wings or tail of a bird; wing-
coverts or tail-coverts ; tectriees. See covert, 6.
quill-driver (kwirdri"v6r), n. One who works
with a quill or pen; a scrivener; a clerk.
[Slang.]
quill-driving (kwil'dri'ving), n. The act of
working with a pen; writing. [Slang.]
Some sort of slave's quill-drimng. Kingsley, Hypatia, xii.
quille, n. See quilP.
quilledi (kwild), a. [< quilU + -e(J2.] 1 . Fur-
nished with quills.
His thighs with darts
Were almost like a sbarp-quUl'd porpentine.
Shot., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 363.
2. Formed into a quill: said of bark: as,
quilled calisaya, contrasted with /ai.calisaya.
In drying it [cinchona^bark] rolls up or becomes
quilled. U. S. IHspensatory (16th ed.), p. 433.
3. In her., having a quill: said of a feather
■ employed as a bearing, and used only when the
quill of a feather is of a different tincture from
the rest.
quilled^ (kwild), a. [<, quill^ -i- -ed?.'] Crimped;
fluted.
In the Dahlia the florets are rendered quUled [by culti-
vation], and are made to assume many glowing colours.
Mrtcyc. Brit., IV. 129.
Quilled suture. See suture.
quiller (kwil'er), >8. [< gmMl + -«•!.] An un-
fledged bird. HalUioell. [Prov. Eng.]
quillet! (kwil'et), n. .[Origin obscure. Cf.
quill^.'] 1. A furrow. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] —
2. A croft, or small separate piece of ground.
[Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
All the account to make of every bag of money, and of
every quUlet of land, whose it is. Bonne, Sermons, ix.
In the "Cheshire Sheaf," June, 1880, it was stated that
there were close to the border town of Holt a number of
qieSlets cultivated by the poorer freemen. These were
strips of land marked only by mear or boundary stones
at a distance of twenty-nine to thirty-two yards.
N. and Q., 6th ser., X. 336.
quillet^t (kwil'et), n. [Contr. from L. quidlibet,
anything you please: gaieZ, anything; libet, lu-
bet, it pleases.] A nicety or subtlety; a quib-
ble.
O, some authority how to proceed ;
Some tricks, some quillets, how to cheat the devil.
Shak., L. L. L., iv. 3. 288.
He is . . . swallowed in the quicksands of ls.w-quUlets.
Middleton, Trick to Catch the Old One, L 1.
quill-feather (kwil'feSH"er), n. Same as
quill\ 5. See feather.
quilling (kwn'ing), n. [< quilV^ + -ingi.'] A
narrow bordering of net, lace, or ribbon plaited
so as to resemble a row of quills.
A plain quUling in your bonnet— and-it ever any body
looked like an angel, it's you in a net quilling.
George Eliot, Middlemarch, Ixxx.
quill-nib (kwil'nib) ,n. A quiU pen from which
the feather and a large part of the tube have
been cut away, leaving only enough of the sub-
stance to give the point of the pen sufficient
consistence. This is done for ease of trans-
portation, and the nib requires a holder like
the steel pen.
quillon (ke-ly6n'), n. One of the arms or
branches of the cross-guard of a sword. See
cross-guard, eross-Mlt, cut in next column, and
out under Mlt.
quilltail (kwil'tal), n,. The ruddy duck, Eris-
matura rubida. Also caMei quilltail coot. [New
Jersey.]
Sword-hilt, a, a, quiUons.
quilting
quill-turn (kwil'-
tem), n. A ma-
chine or instru-
ment in which a
weavers' quiU is
turned. Halli-
well.
quill-work
(kwil'w6rk), n.
Embroidery
with porcupine-
quills, such as
that made by
the North Ameri-
can Indians. See
Canadian em-
broidery, under
Canadian.
quillwort(kwir-
wert), n. A
plant, Isoetes la-
custris: so called
from the quill-like leaves ; also, any plant of
the genus Isoetes. See Isoetes and Merlin's-
grass.
quilly (kwil'i), a. [< quiVX + -^1.] Abounding
in quills; showing the quills, as a bird's plum-
age when frayed or worn away.
His wings became quilly and draggled and frayed.
J. (hoen. Wings of Hope.
quilt (kwilt), n. [< ME. quilte, quylte, < OF.
cuilte, also cotre, coutre, also coite, coitte, coistre,
a tick, mattress, = Sp. Pg. colcha = It. coUre
= W. cylched, a quilt, < L. culcitO; eulcitra, a
cushion, pillow, mattress, quilt: see cushion.
Cf. counterpane^. The Ir. cuilte, a bed, bed-
tick, is appar. from the E.] If. A mattress or
flock-bed.
Cause to be made a good thycke quylte of cotton, or els
of pure flockes or of cleane wolle, and let the couerynge
of it be of whyte f ustyan, and laye it on the f etherbed that
you do lye on. Bdbees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 245.
After that thei lay down to slepe vpon the grasse, for
other quyltes ne pilowes hadde thei noon.
Merlin (B. E. T. S.), iii. 539.
And you have fastened on a thick quMt, or flock-bed, on
the outside of the door. B. Jonson, Epiccene, ii. 1.
2. A cover or coverlet made by stitching to-
gether two thicknesses of a fabric with some
soft substance between them; any thick or
warm coverlet : as, a patchwork quilt.
In both sorts of tables the beds were covered with mag-
nificent quilts. Arbuthnot, Ancient Coins, p. 134.
There Aif ectation, with a sickly mien, . . .
On the rich quilt sinks with becoming woe.
Pope, K. of the L., iv. 35.
3. A quilted petticoat. [Eural.]— Log-oabln
quilt. See logi. — Marseilles quilt, a double cotton-
cloth coverlet woven in patterns which are raised in relief
in parts, from having a third thickness there interposed.
quilt (kwilt), V. [< quilt, m.] I. trans. 1. To !
stuff or interline in the manner of a quilt; sup-
ply with stuffing.
A bag quUted with bran is very good, but it drieth too
much. Bacon, Nat. Hist.
With these [verminous and polluted rags] deformedly
to quUt and mterlace the intire, the spotlesse, and unde-
caying robe of Truth. MUton, Prelatical Episcopacy.
To Charing Cross, and there into the great new Ordi-
nary, . . . being led thither by Mr. Beale, . . . and he
sat with me while I had two mdlted pigeons, very hand-
some and good meat. Pepys, Diary, Sept. 26, 1668.
Dressed
In his steel jack, a swarthy vest,
With iron quilted well. Scott, Marmion, v. 3^
2. To stitch together, as two pieces of cloth,
usually with some soft substance between:
as, to quilt a petticoat j in general, to stitch
together : said of anything of which there are
at least three layers or thicknesses, the stitch-
ing often taking an ornamental character, the <
lines crossing one another or arranged in
curves, volutes, etc. — 3. To pass through a
fabric backward and forward at minute inter-
vals, as a needle and thread in the process of
making a quilt.
He . . . stoops down to pick up a pin, which he quilts
into the flap of his coat-pocket with great assiduity.
Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 1.
Quilted armor, stuffed and wadded garments of defense
held in place and strengthened by quilting.— Quilted
calves, sham calves for the legs, made of quilted cloth.
Halliwell.— Quilted grape-shot. See grape-shot.
quilter (kwil'ter), n. [< quilt -I- -erl.] 1. One
who quilts; one who makes quilting. — 2. An
attachment to sewing-machines for executing
quilting upon fabrics.
quilting (kwil'ting), ». [Verbal n. of quilt, ».]
1 . The act or operation of forming a quilt. —
2. The material used for making quilts; pad-
ding or lining. — 3. Quilted work.
CLTdlting
Thick quUtings coTered with elaborate broidery.
Bulwer, Last Days ol Fompeil, i. S.
4. A kind of cloth resembling diaper, having a
pattern slightly marked by the direction of Sie
threads or raised in low relief. It is made of
cotton and of linen, and is used, like piqu6, for
waistcoats. — 5. A qnilting-bee. [New Eng.] —
French quilting. Same as p^ui, 2 (aX
CLUilting-bee (kwil 'ting-be), n. A meeting of
women for the purpose of assisting one of their
number ill quilting a counterpane: usually fol-
lowed by a supper or other entertainment to
which men are mvited. [New Eng.]
Now [in the days of Peter Stnyvesant] were instituted
ffuUHng beeg , . , and other rural a^emblages, where, un-
der the inspiring influence of the fiddle, toil was enlivened
by gayety and tallowed up by the dance.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 406.
quilting-COtton (kwil'ting-kof'n), n. Same as
cotton wadding (which see, under cotton^).
CLOilting-frame (kwil'ting-fram), n. A frame
with adjustable bars, wires, etc., used for
stretching flat a fabric for quilting or for con-
venience in embroidering upon it.
Quimper pottery. See pottery.
quin (kwin), n. [Possibly < Ir. cuine, cun, coin,
money; with ref . to the shape.] Akind of scal-
lop orpecten. Alao queen, squin. [LooaljEng.]
guina (kwi'na or ke na), n. X= ^. quina, < Sp.
Pg. quina (NL. quina)", <. S. Amer. (Peruv.) qui-
na, hina, bark.] The bark of various species
of Cinchona: also applied in Brazil to some
other febrifugal barks.
CLUinamia (kwi-na'mi-a), n. [NL., < qwina +
am(ide) + -io.] Same as quinamine.
Oillinamicine (kwi-nam'i-sin), n. [< quinam-
ine: an arbitrary form.] An artificial alka-
loid obtained from quinamine. Its formula is
CJ9H24N2O2.
qmnamidine (kwi-nam'i-din), «. [< qmna +
amide + -iwe^.] An artificial alkaloid obtained
from quinamine. It is isomeric with quinami-
cine.
quinamine (kwi-nam'in), n. [< quina +
amine.'] A natural crystalline alkaloid, with
the formula C19H24N2O2, obtained from vari-
ous cinchona barks. Also called quinamia.
quinancyt, n. An obsolete form of quinsy.
Quinancy-'WOrtf , n. An obsolete form of quinsy-
wort. Miller, English Plant Names.
QUinaqilina (ke-na-ke'na), n. [Also quinqudna
= P. quinquina = Sp. quinaquina, < Peruv. quina-
quina, the tree which yields the bark called
quina : see quina.] The bark of various species
of Cinchona. See Mn-hina.
quinarian (kwi-na'ri-an), a. and n. [< quinary
+ -an.] I. a. Quinary, as a system of classi-
fication ; classified in sets of five, in zoology the
word notes specifically the circular or so-called natural
system of classiflcatiou, originally propounded by Mac-
leay in 1819, and further elaborated especially by Vigors
and Swainson. As subsequently modifled and formu-
lated by Swainson in 1836, it rests substantially upon
the following five propositions : (1) Every natarEd series
of beings, in its progress from a given poinl^ returns
or tends to return to that point, thus forming a circle.
(2) The primary circular divisions of every group are
actually three, or apparently five. (3) The contents of
such a circular group are symbolically or analogically rep-
resented by the contents of all other circles in the animal
kingdom. (4) These primary divisions of every group are
characterized by definite peculiarities of form, structure,
and economy, which, under diversified modifications, are
uniform throughout the animal kingdom, and are there-
fore to be regarded as the primary types of nature. (5)
The difi^erent ranks or degrees of the circular groups are
nine in number, each being involved within the other.
None of these propositions being intelligible, the system
soon fell into disuse, and is now regarded as entirely
groundless and fanciful.
II. n. In 2o67., one who proposed, practised,
or taught the quinary system of classification;
an adherent of the quinary system.
There were not wanting other men in these islands
whose common sense refused to accept the metaphorical
doctrine and the mystical jargon of the Quinariane; but
so strenuously and persistently had the latter asserted
their infallibility, and so vigorously had they assailed any
who ventured to doubt it, that most peaceable ornithol-
ogists found it best to bend to the furious blast, and in
some sort to acquiesce at least in the phraseology of the
self-styled interpreters of Creative Will.
A. Newton, Encyc. Brit., XVni. 16.
quinarius (kwi-na'ri-us), n. [L. : see quinary.]
An ancient Boman republican and imperial
silver coin, in value half the denarius, or about
8 cents United States money, it was originally
equivalent to five asses, but after the depreciation of the
as, to eight. It was also called mOoriatus, from the figure
of Victory stamped upon it. It appears to have been first
coined at Rome 177 B. c, after the victories of Clodius in
Istria.
quinary (kwi'na-ri), a. and n. [= F. quinaire =
Sp. Pg. It. quinario, < L. quinarius, containing
4914
five, < quini, five each, < quinque, five, = E. five.]
1. a. 1. Divided in a set of five, as parts or or-
gans of most radiates.
A quinary division of segments.
Adam, Manual of Nat. Hist., p. 328.
2. In eool., same as quinarian.
Swainson's system of classification was peculiar. He
endeavored to establish "circular" or quinary analogies
throughout the animal kingdom. Amer. Jfat., XXI. 889.
The mischief caused by this theory of a Quinary System
[in zoblogyj was very greats but was chiefly confined to
Britain. A. Newton, Encyc. Brit., XVIII. 16.
Quinary system, or quinary classification. See qui-
Tiarian.
11. ».; pi. quinaries (-riz). A whole com-
posed of five parts or elements.
Quaternaries or compounds formed of four elements,
quinaries, sextaries, etc., according as the number of the
constituent elements increases.
Pop. Sei. Mo., XXXIV. 740.
quinate'i (kwi'nat), a. [< L. quini, five each,
+ -ate^.] In hot., having an arrangement of
five similar parts together, as five leaflets on a
petiole.
quinate^ (kwi'nat), n. [< quin(ic) + -atei.]
ia chem., a salt of quinic acid.
quince! (kwins), n. [Formerly also quence; <
ME. quence, an extension of quine, appar. ori^.
plural taken as singular: see quine^. Of. E.
cydonia, pi., quince. Less prob. a reduction
of OP. coignasse, the largest kind of quince;
< coin, quince: see quin^.] 1. The fruit of
the tree Pyrus Cydonia. (Seedef. 2.) it is pear-
shaped, or in one variety apple-shaped, large, sometimes
weighing a pound, of a golden-yellow color when ripe, and
fc
Branch with Fruit of Quince (Pifnts Cydonia).
very fragrant. The quince was known to the ancients, and
it has been argued that the golden apples of the Hesperides
were quinces. While raw it is hard and austere, but it
becomes edible by boiling or baking, and is largely used
for jelly, preserves, and marmalade (see etymology of nrnr-
malade), and for fiavoring sauces of other fruits. The
seeds of the common quince ai'e used in medicine and the
arte, on account of their highly mucilaginous coat. In
decoction they afford a demulcent application, and they
are sometimes used in eye-lotions. Their mucilage is em-
doyed in making bandoline and in marbling books. See
tandolin^.
Of ripen'd Quinces such the yellow Hue.
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love, iii.
3. The fruit-tree Pyrus Cydonia, sometimes
classed as Cydonia vulgaris, the latter genus be-
ing based (insufficiently) on the many-seeded
cells of the fruit. The quince is a small hardy tree,
usually dwarfed, but sometimes reaching 16 or 20 feet in
height, having crooked spreading branches which produce
the flowers singly at their ends. Besides bearing fruit, the
quince often serves as a stock for dwftcflng the pear. The
local origin of thequince is not clearly known, but it occurs
spontaneously from northwestern India westward through
the Mediterranean basin. The name quince applies also
to any of the plants formerly referred to Cydonjia. See the
phrases below. — Bengal quince, jEgle Marmelos. See
^gle. — Chinese quince, a species, Pyrus Caihayensis
{Cydonia Sinensis), resembling the Japanese quince, but
less ornamental. Its large green egg-shaped fruit can he
used to make jelly.— Japanese qtffice, a garden shrub.
Pyrus (Cydonia) Japoniea, a great favorite, on account
chiefiy of its abundant early large scarlet or crimson flow-
ers, varying to white. It is well suited for ornamental
hedges. The fruit, which resembles a small apple, is in-
edible, but is sometimes used for making jelly. Also called
japoniea and, locally, burning-hush. P. (C.) MauZei, more
lately from Japan, bears abundant smaller orange-scarlet
fiowers on every twig.— Portugal quince, a variety of
the common quince, having superior finely colored fniit,
but less productive than other sorts. — Qiunce-essence.
See (enanthie etker, under omanthie.
quince^t (kwins), n. [ME. quynce; appar. an
abbr. form of quinsy, quinancy.] Scrofula.
For the quynce. Take horehownde and columbyne, and
sethe it in wyne or ale, and so thereof let hym dryncke
fyrste and laste. MS. Bee. Med. (HalliweU.)
quince® (kwins), ». Same as gMin^e.
quincentenary (kwin-sen'te-na-ri), a. and n.
[Irreg. < L. quin{que), five, + c'entenarims, con-
sisting ©fa hundred: see centenary.] ,1. a. Be-
lating to or consisting of five hundred, especial-
ly five hundred years.
quindecima
II. n. 1. That which consists of or compre-
hends five hundred.— 2. A five-hundredth an-
niversary.
It saves us from the reproach of having allowed the
quincentenary of the Canterbury Pilgrimage to pass by ut-
terly unnoticed. The Academy, Nov. 24, 1888, p. 331.
quince-tree (kwins'tre), n. The tree that bears
the quince, Pyrus Cydonia. See quince^.
quince-wine (kwins win), n. A mink made of
the fermented juice of the quince.
quinch (kwinch), V. i. [A var. of quitch^,
appar. simulating winch for wince.] If. To
move; stir; wince; flounce.
But Cato did abid it a long time, and never qwinclied for
it, nor shewed countenance of fear.
North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 638.
Noe parte of all that realme shall be able or dare soe
much as to quinche. Spenser, State of Ireland.
2. To make a noise. Ealliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
quincuncial (kwin-kun'shal), a. [= F. quin-
concial = lt. quimcoru!iale,< L. quincuncialis, con-
taining five twelfths, < quincunx, . .
kve twelttha: see quincunx.] Dis- . . .
posed so as to form 9, quincunx; • . •
arranged in a set of five; also, _ ' , " _
arranged in two sets of oblique ■.'.■.
rows, at right angles to one an- . .
other, so that five together form ^l^^^^\
a quincunx ; in bot., sometimes ""^"k^""™ ■
noting a pentastiohous arrangement of leaves ;
more often noting an estivation.
Now for the order of setting trees either in groves, hop-
yards, or vineyards, we ought to follow the usuall manner
of chequer row called quineuntiall.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, vii. IL
Qulncuiiclal estivation, the imbricated arrangement of
five petals in a bud, in which the first and second are ex-
ternal, the fourth and fifth internal, and the third has
one margin external, overlying the fifth, the other inter-
nal, overlapped by the first.— Qulncuuclal map-projec-
tlon. Se^ projection.
quincuncially (kwin-kun'shal-i), adv. In a
quincuncial manner or order.
It is no wonder that this qulncunciall order was first and
still aflected as grateful! unto the eye : for all things are
seen quineuimaUy. Sir T. Browne, Urn-burial, iv.
quincunx (kwin'kungks), n. [= F. quinconce =
Pg. quincunce, a quincunx; < L. quincunx {quin-
cunc-), five twelfths (of anything), < quinque,
= E. jwe, + uneia, a twelfth part: see ^iie and
O'wnoe'^.] 1. An arrangement of five objects
in a square, one at each corner and one in the
middle (thus, ".) ; especially, an arrangement,
as of trees, in such squares continuously. A col-
lection of trees in such squares forms a regular grove or
wood, presenting parallel rows or alleys in different direc-
tions, according to the spectator's position. See diagram
under quineuncial.
Before them obliquely, in order of quincuwc, were pits
dug three foot deep. Bladen, tr. of Csesar's Com., vii. 31.
The single quincma: of the Hyades upon the neck of
Taurus. Sir T. Browne, Urn-burial, iii.
2. In T)ot., same as quincuncial estivation (which
see, under quincunmal). — 3. In astrol., the posi-
tion of planets when distant from each other
five signs or 150°.
quincunxial (kwin-kungk'shal), a. An erro-
neous form of quincuncial.
In tjuincumeUtl {estivation . . . two of the five pieces are
exterior, te Maout and Decaisne, Botany (trans.), p. 86.
quindecagon (kwin-dek'a-gon), n. [< L. quin-
que, = E. five, + B. decagon.] In geom., a ;^ane
figure with fifteen sides and fifteen angles.
qUindeceni'Tir (kvrin-de-sem'v6r), n. [Altered
in the second vow6l to suit decemvir; < L. quinde-
dmvir, < quAndecim, = E. fifteen (see quindecim),
+ vir, a man.] In Bom. antiq., one of a body or
fifteen magistrates who, at the close of the re-
public, had charge of the Sibylline books. They
succeeded the board of the decemvirs (decemviri sacrisfa-
ciundis, or decemviri sacronim), who were keepers of the
Sibylline books from 367 B. 0., and who continued the func-
tions of the duumvirs, or two patricians of high rank who
kept the books under the kings. It was the duty of the
quindecemvirs to celebrate the festival of Apollo and the
secular games, and they were all regarded as priests of
Apollo.
quindecemvirate (kwin-de-sem'vi-rat), n. [<
L. quindecimviratus, the dignity of a quindecem-
vir, < quindecimviri, the quindecemvirs: see
quindecemvir.] The body or oflee of the quin-
decemvirs.
quindecimt (kwin'df-sim), n. [< LL. quindeci-
mm (L. quintus dedmus), fifteenth, < L. quinde-
cim, fifteen, < quinque, = E. five, + decern = E.
ten.] A fifteenth part of anything.
Oner and beside hath also beene declared what vnrea-
sonable collections of monie from time to time, as quinde-
CMMS, subsidies, tenths, &c. Poxe, Martyrs, p. 298, an. 1267.
quindecima (kwin-des'i-ma), n. [ML., fem. of
quindecimus, fifteenth: see quindedm.] 1. In
auindecima
music, the interval of a fifteenth, or double oc-
tave.—a. An organ-stop two octaves above the
foundation-stops.
^J^w^Sr^^' "• • ^- i'^yndene, < OP. guindesme
^■'' ^,^;^2«'«»^<»«Ms, fifteenth: see quinde-
am. Gt. ML.qmndena, a period of fifteen days.]
ihe fatteenth day, counting inclusively from a
certain date.
And that done, he toke hia leue of aeynt Denya about w
quynd^me of Pasehe. Fabyan, Chron., IL, an. 134V.
quindismet, n. Same as quindeeim.
In the parliament of 6 E. 2. pars 2 num. 11. the bishop
of Norwich offered before the king and lords that, if the
king would grant him the }«indi»m« and dlsme of thelaity
and clergy . . . Prynne, Treachery and Disloyalty, Iv. 7.
quinei, n. A dialectal (Scotch) form otquean.
qmne^t, n. [< ME. quyne, coine, coin, < OF. coin,
F. comg = Pr. codoing, m., = It. eotogna, t, a
quince, < L. Cydonium, Cydoneum (sc. malum), <
Gr. KvS6viov (so. pAov), a quince, lit. 'apple of
Cydonia,-< KvSuvia, KvSuvtc, Cydonia, an ancient
Greek city of Crete: see Cydonia. Gt. quince^
quiddany.'] A quince.
quine^t, adv. An obsolete dialectal form of
quinet (kwi'net), n. [< OF. quignet, quoignet,
coignet, cuignet, a little wedge, dim. of quoin,
coin, nweAge: see coin\coign.^ A wedge. HaU
liweU. [Prov. Eng.]
quinia (kwin'i-a), n. [NL., < quina, q. v.] An
older name for quinine.
miimble (kwin'i-bl), n. [ME. quynible, ult. <
lj.quinque = 'E.five. Ct.quatrible.'] In miwic, an
interval of a fifth; a descant sung at the fifth.
Therto he song som tyme a loud guynyUe.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 146.
To sing a quinible means to descant by singing fifths on
a plain-song.
ChOfPpeU, Popular Music of the Olden Time, p. 34.
quinible (kwin'i-bl), v. i. [< guinible, «.] In
music, to sing a descant at the interval of a fifth.
See diaphony, 2.
quinic (kwin'ik), a. [< quina + -ic] Same as
kinic.
quinicia (kwi-nish'ia), n. [NL., < quinic, q. v.]
Same as qvinicine.
guinicine (kwin'i-sin), n. [< quinic + -ine^.]
The isomeric alkaloid into which quinine or
quinidine is converted by heat, differing from
them in being dextrogyrate and amorphous.
quinidamine (kwin-i-dam'in), n. [< quina +
-id- + amine.'] An alkaloid of cinchona barks,
with the formula C19H34N2O2. Also called
conchinamine.
quinidine (kwin'id-in), n. [< quina + -id- +
-ime^.J Abase (C20H24.N2O2) isomeric with qui-
nine, and occurring associated with it in some
cinchona barks, it crystallizes in large transparent
prisma, almost insoluble in water, but tolerably soluble In
alcohol. It neutralizes acids, and forma salts with them
which much resemble the corresponding quinine salts,
but crystallize more easily. Their action on the system is
similar to that of quinine, but less powerful. Also called
omeMnine.
quinine (kwin'en or ki-nen' or kwi'nin), n.
[= F. quinine = Sp. Pg. quinina = It. cMnina,
chinino, < NL. quinina, quinine, < quina, Peru-
vian bark: see quina and -ine^.'] A very im-
portant vegetable alkali (C20H24N2O2), obtain-
ed from the bark of several trees of the genus
Cinchona, it is colorless, inodorous, and extremely
bitter. With acids it forms orystallizable salts, the most
important o( which is the sulphate, extensively used in
medicine. It is antiperiodio, antipyretic, antineuralgic,
and tonic,
quininism (ki-nen'izm), n. [< quinine + -ism.]
Same as cinchonism.
quiniretin (kwin-i-ret'in), n. [< quinine; sec-
ond element obscure.] The flocculent precipi-
tate deposited in solutions of quinine by the
action of sunlight. It has the same chemical
composition as quinine, but no alkaloidal prop-
erties.
qninisext (kwin'i-sekst), a. [< L. quini, five
each, five, + sexttis, sixth.] Bearing some re-
lation to five and six or to the fifth and sixth.
— Qulnisext Council. See ConstantinopoUtan ComusU,
under ConstanUnopolitan. , . -,
quinism (kwi'nizm), n. [< quma + -ssra.]
Same as cinchonism.
quink-goose (kwingk'gSs), n. [< quinJc (imi-
tative) + goose.] The brent-goose, Bernicla
hrenta. See cut under brent-goose.
quinnat (kwin'at), m. [The native name.] The
king-salmon, Oncorhynchus quinnat. Also called
chavicha and equinna. See Oncorhynchus and
salmon. .
OUinoa (ke'no-a), n. [Also qmnua; Peruv.] An
annual herbj "Chenopodium Qutnoa, native m
Peru, Chili, etc., and there much cultivated for
4915
its farinaceous seeds. These afford a meal which
can be made into cakes, but not into leavened bread. A
favorite preparation is a kind of broth or gruel called cara-
ptdqu£, prepared from these seeds and seasoned with red
pepper, etc. The quinoa is somewhat grown in England,
the seed being eaten by fowls, and the leaves used like spin-
ach. The plant resembles some common species of goose-
foot or pigweed. A variety having white seeds is the one
yielding food ; the red seeds of another variety are used
in decoction as an application for sores and bruises, and
their husk has emetic and antiperiodlc properties. Also
called petty^rice.
They [the Incas of Peru] had also Mai^ Qicinua, Pulse,
Fi-ult-trees, with Fruit on them all, of Gold and Silver re.
sembling the natural.
S. CTfflrte,Geog. Desor. (1871), p. 281.
quinoline (kwin'6-lin), n. [< quina -1- -oU -i-
-ine^.] Same as c/iinoZme.— Quinoline blue, acoal-
tar color formerly used in dyeing: It is veiy fugitive to
light.
St (kwi-nol'o-jist), n. [< quinolog-y +
] One who is versed in quinology.
quinolo^ fkwi-nol'o-ji), n. [< NL. qidna +
Gt. -"koyla, < l^eiv, speak, say.] The sum of
scientific knowledge concerning quinine and
other cinchona alkaloids.
quinone (kwin'on), n. [< quina ■\- -one.] 1.
The general name applied to all benzene de-
rivatives in which two hydrogen atoms are
replaced by two oxygen atoms. — 2. Specifi-
cally, a compound obtained by distilling kinic
acid with diluted sulphuric acid and peroxid
of manganese, or by the oxidation of aniline
with chromic acid, it is in the form of a sublimate
of fine golden-yellow crystals, slightly soluble in cold
water and very volatile, and has a piercing irritating odor
in the state of vapor. Also written kinone.
quinquagenarian (kwin"kwa-je-na'ri-an), a.
and n. [= F. quinquag^naire = Sp. qmncuage-
nario = It. quinquagenario, < L. quinquagena-
rius, consisting of fifty, < quvnquageni, fifty each,
< quinquaginta, fifty, < quinque — E. Jive.] I. a.
Being fifty years of age.
II. TO. A person aged fifty or between fifty
and sixty.
Dancers of fifty are a very different sort of quinqua^eym-
Hans from sitters of fifty. The New Mirror (1843), II. 34.
quinquagesima (kwin-kwa-jes'i-ma), TO. [L.,
f em. of quinquagesimus, fiftieth, < quinquaginta,
fifty: see fifty.] A period of fifty days Quin-
quagesima Sunday, the Sunday immediately preceding
Ash Wednesday, being the fiftieth day before Easter (both
inclusive), and the last Sunday before Lent ; Shrove Sun-
day.
quinquangular (kwin-kwang'gu-lar), a. [< LL.
quinquangulus, five-cornered, < L. quinque, = E.
jive, + angulus, corner, angle: see angle^.]
Having five angles.
qninquarticular (kwin-kwar-tik'u-lar), a. [<
L. quinque, =E..^«e, -I- artieulus, jomi, article.]
Consisting of or relating to five articles Quln-
quarticular controversy, the controversy between the
Arminians and the Calvinists on the "five points." See
tjie Five Artidee and the Five Paints, under article.
You may perhaps be able to grapple with the difficul-
ties of the guinquartieular controversy without discredit
to yourselves. Bp. Horsley, Charge, Aug., 1806.
quinque-angled (kwin-kwf-ang'gld), a. [< L.
quinque, = E. five, + E. angled.] Quinquan-
gular.
quinquecapsular (kwin-kwf-kap'su-lar), a. [<
L. quinque, = E. five, + capsula, capsule.] In
bot. and zool., having five capsules.
quinquecostate (kwm-kwf-kos'tat), a. [< L.
quinque, = E. five, + casta, a rib.] In zoSl. and
bot, having five ribs or costse, in any sense.
quinquedentate (kwin-kwe-den'tat),. a. [< L.
quinque, = B. five, + den(t-)s = E. tooth : see
dentate.] In bot. and zool., having five teeth
or serrations of any kind.
quinquedentated (kwin-kwe-den'ta-ted), a.
[< quinquedentate + -ed^.] Same as quinque-
dentate.
quinquedigitate (kwin-kwe-dij'i-tat), a. [< L.
quinque, = 'E. five, + digitus, &agev: see digi-
tate.] Having five fingers or toes ; peutadac-
tyl.
quinquefarious (kwin-kwe-fa'ri-us), a. [< L.
quinque, = E. five, + -farius, as in bifarious, etc.]
1. In 6o<., disposed in five vertical ranks. Gray.
— 2. In mool., disposed or arranged in five sets,
rows, or series ; quinqueserial; pentastiohous.
quinquefid (kvrin'kwf-fid), a. [< L. quinque, =
T^.five, + findere (y/fid), cleave, split.] In bot.,
cleft into five segments. See cleft'^, 2.
quinquefoliate (kwin-kwe-fo'li-at), a. [< L.
quinquefolius, five-leaved (< quinque, = E. five,
-f folium = Gr. ^vklxni, leaf), + -afei.] In bot.,
having five leaves, or, more commonly but less
properly, five leaflets.
quinquefoliated (kwin-kwe-fo'li-a-ted), a. [<
quinquefoliate + -ed!^J] Same as quinquefoliate.
quinquesyllabic
quinquefoliolate (kwin-kwe-fo'li-o-lat), a. [<
L. quinque, = Y^.five, + Nh!foliolum, a leaflet:
see foliolate.] In bot, having five leaflets : said
of compound leaves.
quinquegrade (kwin'kwe-grad), a. [< L. quin-
que, = E. five, + gradus, degree: see graded.] In
music, consisting of five tones Quinauegrade
scale. Same as pentcUonic scale (which see, under scale).
quinqueliteral (kwin-kwe-lit'e-ral), a. [< L.
quinque, = E. five, + littera, litem, letter: see
literal.] Consisting of five letters.
quinquelobate (kwin-kwe-16'bat), a. [< L.
quinque, =E. Jive, + NL. lobus, lobe : see lobate.2
ti bot. ajiieool., having five lobes.
quinquelobed (kwin'kwe-lobd), a. [< L. quin-
que, = E. five, + E. lohe + -ed2.] Same as
quinquelocular (kwin-kwf-lok'u-lar), a. [< L.
quinque, = E. five, + loculus, a ce'U:"'see locular.]
In zool. and bot., having five loculi, cavities, or
cells.
quinquenerved (kwin'kwf-nfervd), a. [< L.
quinque, = E. five, + nerius, nerve, + -ed^.2
Same as quintuplinerved.
quinquennalia (kwin-kwe-na'li-a), n. pi. [L.,
neut. pi. of quinquennalis, that tates place every
fifth year: see quinquennial.] In Som. antiq.,
public games celebrated every fifth year. See
quinquennial, n., 2.
quinquenniad (kwin-kwen'i-ad), re. [< L. quin-
quennium, a period of five years (see quinquen-
nium),+ -ad'-.] A period of five years.
So sleeping, so aroused from sleep
Thro' sunny decads new and strange.
Or z^y quinqiwnmmds, would we reap
The flower and quintessence of change.
Tennyson, The Day-Dream, X'Envoi.
quinquennial (kwin-kwen'i-al), a. and TO. [For
* quinquennal,<. L. quinquennalis, occurring once
in five years, < quinquennis, of five years, < quin-
que, ='El. five, + annus, yeax.] I. a. 1. Occur-
ring once in five years. — 2. Eecurring in the
fifth year, reckoning both years of occurrence ;
occurring every fourth year. See II., 2.
With joyous banquets had he crown'd
The %£G2.tquinquennial festival of Jove.
westf tr. of Pindar's Nemean Odes, xi.
3. Lasting five years.
II. m. 1 . A period of five years ; a quinquen-
niad ; hence, something characterized by such,
a period or interval, as an anniversary, or a
college catalogue. — 2. A festival or celebra-
tion occurring once in four years ; an anniver-
sary in the fifth year, in this sense both the first
and last years of the cycle of occurrence were reckoned,
as was the invariable system in antiquity. Thus, the
Olympian, Pythian, and Isthmian games, all celebrated
once in four years, were all quinquennials.
quinquennially (kwin-kwen'i-al-i), adv. Once
in five years; during a period of five years.
quinquennium (kwin-kwen'i-um), m. [L., <
quinquennis, of five years: see quinqusnnial.'\
A period of five years.
The lapse of a quinquennium.
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 264.
quinquepartite (kwiu-kwe-par'tit), a. [< L.
fmnquepa/rtitus, divided into five parts, fivefold,
quinque, = B. five, + partitus, pp. otpartire,
divide, distribute : see part, v.] Five-parted ;
divided into or consisting of five parts.
quinquepetaloid (kwin-kwf-pet'a-loid), a. [<
L. quinque, = E. five, + E. petaloid.] Formed
of five petaloid ambulacra : as, the quinquepeta-
loid rosette of a spatangoid sea-urchin.
quinqueradiate (kwin-kwe-ra'di-at), a. [< L.
quinque, = 'E.five, + radius, ray.] Having five
rays ; pentactinal, as a fish's fin, a starfish, or
a sponge-spioule.
quinquereme (kwin'kwe-rem), n. [< L. quin-
queremis, < quinque, = E. five, + remu^, oar.]
An ancient galley having five banks of oars.
The great triremes and quinqueremes rushed onward.
Kingsley, Hypatia, xviii-
quinquesect (kwin'kwe-sekt), v. t. [< L. quin-
que, = E. five, + secare, pp. sectus, cut.] To cut
into five equal parts.
quinquesection (kwin-kwf-sek'shon), n. [< L.
quinque, = 'E.five, + secUo(n-), a cutting: see
section.] Section into five equal parts.
quinqueseptate (kwin-kwe-sep'tat), a. [< L^
quinque, = E. fi/ue, + septum, a partition: see
septum, septate.] Having five septa or parti-
tions.
quinqueserial (kwin-kwe-se'ri-al), a. [< L.
quinque, = E. five, + series, row, series : see
series, serial.] Arrangedin five series or rows.
quinquesyllabic (kwin^kwf-si-lab'ik), a. [< L.
quinque, = E. five, + syllaba, syllable: see syl-
labic] Having five syllables, as a word.
qninanesyllable
quinquesyllable (kwin-kwe-sil'a-W), «. [< L.
qmnque, = E. five, + syllah'a, syllable: see syl-
lable.} A word of five syllables.
Anything beyond a quinquusunable is difficult to nro-
nounce. Bmk a Handbook of Med. Sciences, VHI. 616.
Quinquetactic (kwin-kwe-tak'tik), a. [< L.
qmnque, = E. five, + Gr. raicTiicdg, tactic : see tac-
ne.i Having five consecutive points m eom-
™°°-— Quinquetactic point. See tntactie point, under
quinqnetubercular (kwin"kwe-tu-b6r'ku-lar),
a. Same as quinquetuberculate. ' ' "
Tlie crowns of the lower molars are quinquetubercular.
4916 qnlntic
3. In organ-building, a stop giving tones a fifth quinternet, »■ [OF. quinteme, a corrupt foi-m
above the normal pitch of the digitals used. — of guinteme, guiterne, a gittem, guitar: see git-
4. The smallest of the three varieties of viola tern, guitar J\ A musical instrument of the lute
da bracchio. See «ioZ. — 5. The B string or family, which was one of the early forms of the
chanterelle of a violin: probably so edled modern guitar.
from the highest string of the lute.^6. In quinteron (kwin'te-ron), ». Same as g«««<room.
fencing, the fifth of the eight parries in sword- quintessence (kwiiii-tes'ens, formerly kwin'te-
play. It is taught in the schools, but rarely sens), n. [< ME. quintessence, < OF. (and F.)
used'in practice.
quint-. [L. gwwtas, fifth: see gjra'Jii.] A prefix
of the names of musical instruments and of or-
gan-stops, denoting a variety whose pitch is a
fifth above or below that of the usual varifety,
quinquetuberculate (kwiu"kwe-tu-ber'ku-lat)
a. [< L. quinque, = E. five, +' tubereulum, tu-
bercle: see tubercle, tuberculate.'\ Having five
tubercles : as, a quinquetuberculate molar.
quinquevalent (kwin-kwev'a-lent), a. [< L.
quinque, = E. five, + E. valent.'i In clwm.
Amer. Naturalist, XXII. 663. quinta (kwin'ta), «. [Sp. Pg. quinta, a coun-
try house.] A country house in Madeira.
A Pasco del Molino is the best part of the town, where
all the rich merchants reside in quintas surrounded by
pretty gardens. Lady Brassey, Voyage of Sunbeam, I. v.
quintad (kwin'tad), n. [< L. quintus, fifth (see
quint), + -acP-.'] Same as pentad.
pable of being combined with or exchanged quintadena (kwin-ta-de'na), n. [< L. quintus,
for five hydrogen atoms ; having an equwa- ^^^i "*" -ad-ena, an arbitrary termination.] In
leneeoffive. ' "" ' ' ' " '
quinqUevalve (kwin'kwe-valv), a.
organ-building, a stop having small stopped
pipes of metal in the tones of which the second
harmonic or twelfth is decidedly prominent.
quintain (kwin'tan),». [Formerly also quinten,
quintin; < ME. quyntayne, qwaintan, < OP. quin-
taine, cuintaine, etc., f., a quintain, P. qvAntaine '
= Pr. It. quintana, < ML. quintana, a quintain,
also a part of a street where carriages could pass,
< L. quintana, a street in a camp, between the
fifth and sixth maniples, where were the market
and forum of the camp, and, it is supposed, the
place of martial exercises, etc., whence the ML.
use ; fern. (sc. via) of quintanus, fifth : see qttin-
tan.'] 1 . A figure or other object to be tilted at.
It was constructed in various ways. A common form in
England consisted of an upright post, on the top of which
Movable Quintain, z4th century.
(From Strutfs "Sports and Pastimes of the People of England."
. ,, [< L. quin-
que, = E. five, -i- NL. valva, door (valve).] In
bot., having five valves, as a pericarp.
quinquevalvular (kwin-kwe-val'vu-lar), a. [<
L. quinque, = E. five, + NL. valvula, dim. of
valva, valve : see valve.} Same as quinquevalve.
quinquevir (kwiu'kwe-ver), n.; pi. quinqueviri
(kwin-kwev'i-ri). [L'., < quinque, ='E.five, +
vir, a man.] In Bom. antiq., one of five com-
raissioners who were appointed from time to
time under the republic as extraordinary ma-
gistrates to carry any measure into effect, as to
provide relief in time of public distress, to di-
rect the establishment of a colony, or to pro-
vide for the repair of fortifications.
quinqui-. For words so erroneously spelled,
see quinque-.
quinquina (kin'ki-na), n. Same as quinaqvina.
quinquino (kin'ki-no), n. [S. Amer.] A tree,
Myroxyton Pereirse, the source of the balsam
of PeiTi. It is found on a strip along the coast of San
Salvador called the Balsam Coast. It has a height of
60 feet, branching at 8 or 10 feet from the ground ; the
leaves are pinnate, 6 or 8 inches long, the flowers numer-
ous in erect racemes, the pods 3 or 4 inches long, narrow
at the base, broadening and winged above, containing one
seed. The balsam is obtained by the natives from the
trunk by a process of beating and incision. It was first
exported by the way of Peru, whence its name. The fruit
also yields to cold pressure a valuable white balsam, and di-
gested in rura furnishes a medicine, balsamito, but neither
of these is an article of commerce. See Myroxyltm, and
balsam of Peru (under balsam).
quinsy (kwin'zi), n. [Formerly also quinsey,
quimzy, quincy (also quinanoy); reduced from
early squincy, *squinsy, sqmmie, a contracted
form of squinancy, < OF. squinancie, squinance,
esquinance, P. esquinancie (cf. also OF. quina-
tique, quinaUhe) = Sp. esquinancia = Pg. esqui-
neneia = It. schinanzia, quinsy, with prosthetic
s, < LL. cynanche, < Gr. Kvv&yxv, a kind of sore
throat, also a dog-coUar, lit. ' dog-throttling,' <
nhwv (KVV-), dog, + ayxnv, choke, throttle. Cf .
cynanche^ Tonsillitis; specifically, a deep sup-
purative tonsillitis.
In steps that insolent insulter.
The cruell Q/ainxy, leaping like a Vulture
At Adams throat.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Furies.
Why don't you speak out?— not staud croaking like a
frog in a quinsy 1 Sheridan, The Rivals, iv. 2.
quinsy-berry (kwin'zi-ber"i), n. The black cur-
rant, Bibes nigrum, of the northern Old World,
often planted. Its berries are eaten, and a jelly
of them is a long-known popular remedy for
quinsy and sore throat.
quinsywort (kwin'zi-w6rt), n. [Formerly also
quinancy-wort, squinancy-wort; , <. quinsy + , .^
wort^.} A small trailing European herb, Aspe- Chapman, Blind Beggar ol Alexandria.
rula eynanehica, of the Bubiacese, having nar- quintan (kwin'tan), a. and ». [< L. quintanus,
row leaves whorled in fours, and smaU, clus- pertaining to the fifth, < qumtus, fifth, < quin-
quintessence = It. quintessenza = ML. quinta es-
sentia, fifth essence : L. quinta, fern, of quintus,
fifth; essentia, being or essence: see quint
and essence.} 1. The fifth essence, or fifth
body, not composed of earth, water, fire, or air ;
the substance of the heavenly bodies, accord-
ing to Aristotle, who seems in this matter to
follow Pythagorean doctrine. The quintessence
wa^ situated above the four terrestrial elements, and was
naturally bright and incorruptible, and endowed with a
circular motion.
Forsothe philosophoris olepen the purest substaunce of
manye corruptible thingis elementid quinta essenda.
Book qf Quinte Essence (ed. Fumivall), p. 2.
Paracelsus . . . tells us . . . the lungs consume part of
the air, and proscribe the rest. So that ... it seems we
may suppose that there is in the air a little vital qtiin-
tessence (if I may so call it), which serves to the refresh-
ment and restauration of our vital spirits, for which use
the grosser and incomparably greater part of the ail' being
unserviceable, it need not seem strange that an anini^
stands in need of almost incessantly drawing in fresh air.
Boyle, Kew Experiments touching the Spring of the Air,
[Exp. xll. 1.
Hence — 2. An extract from anything, contain-
ing its virtues or most essential part in a small
quantity; pure and concentrate^ essence; the
best and purest part of a thing; in oM chem.,
an alcoholic tincture or essence often made by
digestion at common temperatures or in the
sun's heat, and always at a gentle heat.
To comforte the herte, putte yn oure S essense, the 5 es-
sence of gold and of peerl, and he schal be delyuerid there-
of [of venom] and be hool.
Book qf Quinte Essence (ed. Fumivall), p. ?3.
More precious I do holde
Maltes pure ^idrdesseru:e then king Harries golde.
Tiines' Whistle (B. E. T. S.), p. 61.
The quintessen^ of every sprite
Heaven would in little show.
Shak., As you Like itj ill. 2. 147.
The large scarlet anemone outshone even the poppy,
whose color here is the quintessence of flame.
B. Taylor, Lands of the Saraoen, p. 116.
Pure quinlesiences of precious oils
In hoUow'd moons of gems.
Tennyson,, Palace of Art.
was a horizontal bar turning on a pivot; to one end of
this a sandbag was attached, to the other a broad board : quintessence (kwin-tes'ens, formerly kwin'te-
and It was a trial of skill to strike or tilt at the broad end ggns), V. t.; pret. and VV- quintessenced, ppr.
[< quintessence, n.} To extract
with a lance, and pass on before the bag of sand could
whirl round and strike tlie tilter on the back.
My better parts
Are all thrown down, and that which here stands up
Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block.
Shak., As you Like it, i. 2. 263.
The quintain in its original state was not confined to
the exercise of young warriors on horseback; it was an
object of practice for them on foot, in order to acquire
strength and skill in assaulting an enemy with their
swords, speai'S, and battle-axes.
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 183.
2. The game or exercise of tilting at the quin-
tain.
Somur qwenes, and qwaintans, & other qwaint gaumes
There foundyn was nrst, & yet ben forthe haunted.
Destnuition of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1627.
quintal (kwin'tal), n. [Also kintal, and for-
merly kental, Mntle, early mod. E. Icyntayl; < P.
quintal = It. quintale, < Sp. Pg. quintal, < Ar.
qintar, a weight of one hundred pounds, < L.
centum, a hundred: see cent and cantar, canta-
ra.} A weight of 100 pounds. The old French
quintal was equal to 100 livres, or nearly 108 pounds avoir-
dupois. The quintal mitrique, or modem quintal, is 100
kilograms, or about 220 pounds avoii'dupois.
I give this jowel to thee, richly worth
A quMtaZ or an hundred-weight of gold.
gue = ^.~five : see five. Cf . quintain.} I. a.
Occurring or recurring every fifth day, both
days being counted, as on Sunday and Thurs-
day: as, a quintan fever.
II. n. An intermittent fever the paroxysms
of which recur every fifth day.
quintet, a. A Middle English form of quaint.
tered, nearly white flowers . It was once reputed effi-
cacious as a gargle in quinsy and sore throat, whence the
common and the specific names. Also quinsy-woodruff.
quint (kwint), n. [< F. quinte (= Sp. Pg. It.
quinta), f., a fifth part, a fifth (in music, etc.),
also quint, m., a fifth, < quint (= Sp. Pg. It.
quinto), fifth, < L. quintets, fifth, < quinque, five
sV fivll 1. A set or sequence of five, as in ^^^-^p^j-^ (k^^^S);
^"^ For since the State has made a quint fnquefoil, as if < 0¥. quint, fifth, -I- JoU, leaf.]
Of generals, he's listed in 't. In fter., same as csBgwe/oj?. onititir (kwin'tilrl «'iT.<l,.
S. Butler, Hudibras (1541), III. ii. quintellt (kwin'tel), m. An erroneous form of ^?c^ii „°„^^,T j. .i'l"' I""!"-,
2. In music, same as fifth, 2. quintain.
As the melody proceeded there resulted a succession of of wassalle now, o? letrthe W^Ji V
parallel quarts, juiJrfs, and octaves, which would be in- EerHck, A Pastofall sung to the King.
The Academy, Jan. 18, 1890, p. 61. quintenf, n. An obsolete form of quintain.
as a quintessence; reduce to a quintessence.
[Bare.]
If the whole world were quini£ssenced into one perfume,
it could not yield so fragrant a smell.
Rev. T. Adams, Works, II. 484.
It is truth guintesseiiced and raised to the highest power.
Quoted in Litiell's Living Age, OLXXV. lis.
quintessential (kwin-te-sen'shal), a. [< quin-
tessence (ML. quinta essentia) -i^' -al.} Consist-
ing of quintessence ; of the nature of quintes-
sence.
Here first are bom the spirits animal,
Whose matter, almost immaterial,
Besembles heaven's matter mintessential.
P. Fletcher, Purple Island, y.
Our states, I have always contended, our various phases,
have to be passed through, and there is no disgrace in it
so long as they do not levy toll on the quintessential, the
spiritual element G. Meredith, The Egoist, xlv.
quintessentialize (kwin-te-sen'shal-Jz), v. t;
pret. and pp. quintessentialized, ppr'.' mintessen-
tializing. [< quintessential + -ize.} To reduce
to a quintessence; exhibit in the highest or
quintessential form. [Rare.]
Their [the Jews'] national egotism, quintessentialized in
the prophets, was especially sympathetic with the per-
sonal egotism of Milton.
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 273.
quintet, quintette (kwin-tef), n. [= p. quin-
tette, < It. quintette, a quintet, < quinto, < L.
quintus, fifth: see quint.} Inmusic: (a) Amove-
ment for five solo parts, either vocal or instru-
mental. Instrumental quintets are essentially
similar to quartets. (6) A company of five sing-
ers or players who perform quintets.
[It.] Sameasgmm-
[A oorrup_t>rm of "^J^^*®**" (kwin-tet'o), „
tolerable to modern ears.
quintfoil (kwint'foll), n. See quintefoil.
luintic (kwin'tik), a. and n. [<L. quintus, fifth
(see quint), -I- 4c.} I. a. Of the fifth degree.
—Qulntlc equation. Seeeg«ae«)?i.—Ouintlc symme-
try, symmeby arising from the possibility of retocing a
quintic to the form ax' + by'.
II. n. An algebraic function of the fifth de-
gree.
quintile
ftuintile (kwin'til), n. [< L. quintus, fifth, <
qulnque, five, + -iZe.] The aspect of planets
•when they are distant from each other the fifth
part of the zodiac, or 72°.
Qlllntillian (kwln-tll'lan), n. [< QuinUlla, a
Koman female name (see def .), fem. of QumUl-
lus, dim. of qumtm, fifth : see quintan.^ One of
a body of Montauists, said to have been so
called from a prophetess Qviintilla.
*S5*^^S'^ (kwin-til'yon), «. [< L. quintus,
hith, + t. (m)UUon.'\ In the English notation,
the fifth power of a million, a unit followed by
thirty ciphers; in the French notation, used
generally in the United States, the sixth power
of one thousand, a unit followed by eighteen
ciphers.
quintint, n. An obsolete form of quintain.
quintine (kwin'tia), n. [< L. quintus, fifth, +
-me2.] In hot., an alleged fifth coat of an ovule,
counting from the outermost. Compare qvar-
Une.
quintistemal (kwin-ti-st6r'nal), n. [< L. quin-
tus, fifth, + NL. stermim, sternum.] In anat.,
the fifth stemeber, succeeding the quadrister-
nal, and corresponding to the fifth intercostal
sijace. [Bare.]
quintole (kwin'tol), n. [< It. qidnto, < L. quin-
tus, fifth, + -o?e.] 1. Same as quintuplet, 3.
Compare deoimole, quartole, etc. — 3. A five-
stringed variety of viol much used in France
in the eighteenth century. See viol.
guintroon (kwin-tron'), n. [Also quinteron; <
Sp. quinteron, a quintroon, < L. quintus, fifth:
see quint. Cf . quarteroon, quadroon.)^ In the
"West Indies, the child of a white person by
one who has one sixteenth part of negro
blood.
quintuple (kwin'tu-pl), a. [= F. quintuple =
Sp. quintuple = Pg! It. quintwplo, < MLi. *quintu-
plus, fivefold, < L. quintv,s, fifth (< quinque, five),
+ -plus, -fold. Cf. L. quintuplex, fivefold, <
quintus, fifth, + plicare, fold.] 1. Fivefold;
containing five times the number or amount.
Owing this name not only unto tlie quiviuple number
of trees, but the Hgure declaring that number.
Sir T, Browne, Garden of Cyrus, i.
2. In hot., divided or arranged by a rule of five ;
fivefold — Quintuple rl^hm or time, in rmmc,
rhythm or time characterized by five beats or pulses to the
measure. See rhythm,
quintuple (kwin'tu-pl), v. ; pret. and pp, quin-
tupled, ppr. quintupling. [^ quintuple, o.] I.
trans. To make fivefold.
II. intrans. To increase fivefold.
The value of land in that district has quintwpled within
the last thirty or forty years.
FoHnighay Eev., N. S., XLII. 226.
quintuple-nerved (kwin'tu-pl-nervd), a. Same
quintuple-ribbed (kwin'tu-pl-ribd), a. Same
quintuplet (kwin'tu-plet), n. [< quintuple +
-et.l 1. A set of five, as of car-springs, etc.
— 3. pi. Five children bom at a birth.
Hve years subsequently she gave birth to ^ntuplets.
Lancet, No. 3417, p. 392.
3. In music, a group of five notes to be per-
formed in the time of three, four, or six. Also
quintole. Com'paxe nonuplet, triplet, eto. — 4, A
bicycle for five riders.
quintuplicate (kwln-tti'pli-kat), v. t. ; pret. and
pp. quintwplicated, ppr. qvintuplicating. [< L.
quintupUcatv^, pp. of quintupUcare, < quintus,
fifth, + plicare, fold : see plicate.'] To make
fivefold; increase orrepeattothenumberof five.
quintuplicate (kwin-tu'pli-kat), a. and n. [<
L. quintuplieatus, pp. oi quintupUcare: see quin-
tuplicate, V.2 I. a- Consisting of or relating to
a set of five, or to five corresponding parts.
II. n. One of five things corresponding in
every respect to one another.
A great many duplicates, not to speak of triplicates, or
even such a guintvplicate as that which I adduced.
Trench, Study of Words, p. 181
quintuplication (kwin-tu-pli-ka'shon), n. [<
quintuplicate + -ion.] The act or process of re-
peating five times, or increasing to the number
of five.
The perceptible are evolved out of the imperceptible
dements by the process of guintuplication. ^ ^^„ , , „
Sncye. Bnt., XXIV. 119.
auintuplinerved (kwin'tu-pU-nervd), a. [<
ML. *quintuplus, fivefold, + L. nervus, nerve,
4- -ed2.] ^ hot, having a midrib with two
lateral ribs or primary nerves on each side:
said of palmately nerved leaves, or those ap-
proaching the palmate nervation. See nerva-
tion. Also quinquenerved.
4917
quintus (kwin'tus), n, [ML. , < L. quintus, fifth :
see quint.] In medieval music, the fifth voice
or part, it either corresponded in compass to one of
the other four, though independent or strengthened the
different parts in turn : hence sometimes called vagans.
quinzain, quinzaine (kwin'zan; F. pron. kan-
zan'), n. [< ME. *quinzaine, quynsynne, < OF.
(and F.) quinzaine, the number of fifteen, a
fortnight,? quinze, fifteen: see quinze.] 1. In
cftron., the fourteenth day after a feast-day, or
the fifteenth if the day of the feast is included.
And the juyngj/nne after that Merlyn come to courte^
and grete was the ioye the kynge made to hym.
jlferii»(E. E. T. S.), i.57.
2. A stanza consisting of fifteen lines.
quinze (kwinz ; F. pron. kanz), n. [Also quince;
< F. quinze, fifteen, < L. quindecim, fifteen : see
quindedm.] A game of cards somewhat similar
to vingt-un, in which the object is to count fif-
teen, or as near as possible to that number with-
out exceeding it.
Gambling the whole morning in the Alley, and sitting
down at night to quinze and hazard at St. James's.
Cohnan, Man of Business, iv.
quinzyt, n. See quinsy.
quip (kwip), n. [< W. chwip, a quick turn or
flirt, < chwipio, whip, move briskly. Cf. wTiip.
Hence quih, quihhle.] A smart sarcastic turn;
a sharper cutting jest; a severe retort; a gibe.
P^i. Why, what 's a quip f
Manes, Wee great girders call it a short saying of a
sharpe wit^ with a bitter sense in a sweet word.
I/yly, Alexander and Campaspe, iii. 2.
If I sent him word again it was not well cut, he would
send me word he cut It to please himself. This is called
the Quip Modest. Shak,, As you Like it, v. 4. 79.
Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee
Jest, and youthful jollity.
Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles.
Milton, L'AUegro, 1. 72.
quip (kwip), v.; pret. and pp. quipped, ppr.
quipping, [<.quip,n.] I. «»i»*ans. Tousequips
or sarcasms ; gibe ; scoff.
Are you pleasant or peevish, that you quip with suche
briefe girdes?
Greene, Theeves Falling Out(HarI. Misc., VIII. 383).
Ye malitlous haue more minde to quip then might to
cut. Lyly, Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 206.
II. trans. To utter quips or sarcasms on;
taunt; treat with a sarcastic retort; sneer at.
The more he laughes, and does her closely quip,
To see her sore lament and bite her tender lip.
Spenser, F. Q., VI. vii. 44.
quipo, n. See quipu,
quippert (kwip'er), re. One who jests or quips.
And here, peraduenture, some desperate quipper will
canuaze my proposed comparison.
Nashe, Introd. to Greene's Menaphon, p. 14. ^Davies,')
quippian (kwip'i-an), n. [So called because
denoted by Q.] A curve of the third class,
the left-hand member of whose equation is the
quintic contra variant of a cubic.
quippish (kwip'ish), a. [< quip + -jsftl.]
Abounding in quips ; epigrammatic. [Rare.]
I prefer Fuller's [version], as more quigpish and adagy.
N. and Q,, 7th ser., VI. 601.
qiiipu (ke'po or kwip'6), n, [Also quippu, quipo,
quippo; < Peruv. quipu, a knot.] A cord about
2 feet in length, tightly spun from variously col-
ored threads, and having a number of smaller
threads attached to it in the form of a fringe :
used among the ancient Peruvians and else-
where for recording events, etc. The fringe-like
threads were also of different colors and were knotted.
The colors denoted sensible objects, as white for silver
and yellow for gold, and sometimes also abstract ideas, as
white for peace and red for war. They constituted a rude
register of certain important facts or events, as of births,
deaths, and marriages, the number of the population ilt
to bear arms, the quantity of stores in the government
magazines, etc.
The mysterious science of the quipus , , . supplied
the Peruvians with the means of communicating their
ideas to one another, and of transmitting them to future
generations. Fresmtt, Conquest of Peru, i. 4.
Wampum and mippus are mnemonic records of the
most elementary kmd. Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, 1. 18.
quiquihatch (kwe'kwe-hach), n. [Amer. Ind.]
The quickhatch or wolverene, Gulo lusctis.
quiracef, n. An obsolete form of cuirass.
For all their bucklers, Morions, and Quiraces
Were of no proof e against their peisant maces.
Hudson, tr. of Du Bartas's Judith, v.
quirboillet, quirboillyt, n. Obsolete forms of
cuir-houilli.
quircal (kwfir'kal), n. A kind of marmoset.
Sci, Amer., LV. 176.
quirel (kwir), n. [Early mod. E. also quier,
queer; < ME. queer, quere, quer, queor, < OF.
cuer, F. choeur = Pr. cor — Sp. Pg. It. eoro = D.
Icoor = Gr. ohor = Sw. Icor = Dan. Icor = AS. clior
Quirinus
(rare), < L. chorus, < Gr. x^P^Qj a dance, chorus :
see chorus, Cf. choir, a mod. spelling simulat-
ing, like the mod. P. choeur, the L. spelling, but
with pron. of gajre.] 1. A body of singers ; a
chorus.
They rise at mid-night to pray vnto their Idols, which
they doe in Quires, as the Friers doe.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 459.
Angelick quires
Sung heavenly anthems of . . . victory.
Milton, P. E., iv. 693.
When the first low matin-chirp hath grown
FuU quire, Tennyson, Love and Duty.
3. The part of a church allotted to the choris-
ters; the choir.
Besyde the Queer of the Chirohe, at the right syde, as
men comen dounward 16 Greces, is the place where cure
Lord was bom. mandeimle. Travels, p. 70.
The fox obscene to gaping tombs retires,
And savage bowlings fill the sacred quires.
Pope, Windsor Forest> I. 72.
St. A company or assembly.
And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh.
Shak,, M. N. D., ii. 1. 56.
quirel (kwlr), v, i, ; pret. and pp. quired, ppr.
quiring. [< quire^, n.] 1. To sing in concert
or chorus; chant or sing harmoniously.
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st,
But in his motion like an angel sings.
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubims.
Shak., M. of v., v. 1. 62.
2. To harmonize.
■ My throat of war be tum'd.
Which quired with my drum, into a pipe
Small as . . . the virgin voice
That babies lulls asleep ! Shak., Cor., iii. 2. 113.
quire^ (kwir), re. [Early mod. E. also quier, queer,
quere; < ME. quayer, quaier, quair, quayre, quaer,
cwaer (= Icel. lever, a quire, a book), < OP.
quaier, quayer, caier, cayer, coyer, a quire (also
a square lamp), F. cdhier, a quire (six sheets),
a copy-book, writing-book, written lectures, a
memorial, = Pr. cazern = It. quaderno, a quire,
a copy-book, writing-book, cash-book, two fours
at dice, < ML. quatemum, a set of four sheets of
parchment or paper, neut. of quatemus (> OF.
quaier, caier, etc., = Olt. quaderno, four-square),
pi. quaterni, four at a time : see quatern. For
OP. quaer, quaier, < L. quatemum, cf . enfer, < L.
infernum.] If. A set of four sheets of parch-
ment orpaper folded so as to make eight leaves :
the ordinary unit of construction for early
manuscripts and books.
The quires or gatherings of which the book was formed
generally consisted, in the eai'liest examples, of four
sheets folded to make eight leaves.
Eruryc, Brit., XVIII. 144.
2. A set of one of each of the sheets of a book
laid in consecutive order, ready for folding. JE,
H. Knight.— 3\. A book.
Go, litel quayre, go unto my lyves queue.
Lydgate, Black Knight, L 674.
4. Twenty-four sheets of paper; the twentieth
part of a ream — In quires, in sheets, not folded or
bound : said of printed books.
The Imprinter to sell this Booke in Queres for two shil-
linges and sixe pence, and not above.
Notice in Edward VI.'s Prayer-Book, 1549.
Inside quires, the eighteen perfect quires of a ream of
paper, which were protected by outer quires of imperfect
paper, one on each side of the package. This distinction
between outside and inside quires is noticeable now only
in hand-made papers. Machine-made jispers are of uni-
form quality.
quire^ (kwir), v. t.; pret. and pp. quired, ppr.
quiring. . [< quire^, re.] To fold in quires, or
with marks between quires.
quire^t, «• An obsolete form of queerK
quirewise (kwir'wiz), adv. la printing, in sin-
gle forms on double leaves of paper, so that the
leaves can be quired and sewed in sections:
in distinction from on single leaves, which have
to be side-stitched.
Quirinalia (kwir-i-na'li-a), n.pl.^ [L., neut. pi.
of quirinalis, pertaining to Quirinus or Eomu-
lus, or to the Quirinal Hill at Eome, < Quirinus,
a name of Romulus deified: see Quirinus.] In
ancient Rome, a festival in honor of Quirinus,
celebrated on February 17th, on which day
Romulus was said to have been translated to
heaven.
quirinca-pods (kwi-ring'ka-podz), n. pi. [< S.
Amer. quirvnca + E. j)0(J.] The fruit-husks of
Acacia Cavenia, the espanillo of the Argentine
Republic. They contain about 33 per cent, of
tannin.
Quirinus (kwi-ri'nus), «. [L.,< Cures, a Sabine
town. Cf. Quirites,] An Italic warlike divin-
ity, identified with Romulus and assimilated to
Mars.
quirister
quiristert (kwir'is-ter), n. [Also quirrister, quer-
ister, querester; < quired, n., + -ister. Cf. chor-
ister.'\ Same as chorister.
The clear qviristers ol the woods, the birds.
Ford, Lover's Melancholy, i. 1.
The coy quiristers that lodge within
Are prodigal ol harmony. Thmnson, Spring.
CLuiritarian (kwir-i-ta'ri-an), a. [< quiritary +
-o».] In Bom. law, legal : noting a certain class
or form of rights, as distinguished from ioni-
tarian. The use is equivalent to that of legal in
modem lav, in contradistinction to equitable.
They [the Eoman lawyers] could conceive land as held
(so to speak) under different legal dispensations, as helong-
ing to one person in Quirttarian and to another in Boni-
taiian ownership, a splitting ot ownership which, after
feudalism hadfajlen into decay, revived in our country in
the distinction between the legal and the equitable estate.
Maine, Early Law and Custom, p. 343.
quiritary (kwir'i-ta-ri), a. [< ML. quiritarius,
< L. Quirites, the Eoman citizens : see Qui/rites.']
Same as quiritarian. Eneyc. Brit., XX. 682.
qiliritation (kwir-i-ta'shpn), n. [< L. quirita-
Uo{n-), a cry, a shriek, < quiritare, wail, shriek;
commonly explained (first by Varro) as orig.
'call upon the Quirites or Eoman citizens for
aid,' < Quirites, Quirites; prob. freq. of queri,
complain: see querent^, and cf. cry, ult. < quin-
tare.'] A crying for help.
How is it then with thee, O Saviour, that thou thus
astonishest men and angels with so wofnll a guirUaUan:
(My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?)?
Bp. Hall, The Crucifixion.
Quirite (kwir'it), n. [< L. Quiris {Quirit-) : see
Qmrites.2 One of the Quirites.
Quirites (kwi-ri'tez), n. pi. [L., pi. of Quiris
( Quirit-), orig. an inhabitant of the Sabine town
Cures, later a Eoman citizen (see def . ) ; < Cures,
a Sabine town.] The citizens of ancient Eome
considered in their civil capacity. The name Qui-
irites pertained to them in addition to that of liomam, the
latter designation having application in their political and
military capacity.
quirfcl (kwerk), n. [Formerly also querh; per-
naps a var. of *quirt{et.jerJc^,jert),< W. chwired,
craft, quirk (< ckwiori, turn briskly), = Gael.
cuireid, a turn, wile, trick (cf. car, turn).] 1.
A sharp turn or angle ; a sudden twist.
Then have they neyther-stockes to these gay hosen, . . ,
curiously knit, with open seame down the legge, with
>mtirkes and clockes about the anckles, and sometime
'(haplie) interlaced with golde or silver threds.
^titbbes, Anat. of Abuses, p. 31. (Nares, under Thesth^r-stooks.'^
Hence — 2. An artful turn for evasion or sub-
terfuge; a shift; a quibble: as, the quirks of a
pettifogger.
As one said of a lawyer thati resolving not to be for-
gotten, he made his will so full of intricate quirks that
Sis executors, if for nothing else, yet for very vexation of
Jaw, might have cause to remember him.
Bev. T. Adams, Works, I. 76.
8t. A fit or turn ; a short paroxysm.
I have felt so many quirks of joy and grief.
Sfta*.,AU's Well, ill. 1.51.
4. A smart taunt or retort ; a slight conceit or
quibble ; a quip ; a flight of fancy.
I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit
broken on me. Shak., Much Ado, li. 3. 245.
Twisted quirks and happy hit^
From misty men of letters ;
The tavern-hours of mighty wits.
Tennyson, Will Waterproof.
5. Inclination; turn; peculiarity; humor; ca-
price.
I have heard of some kind ot men that put quarrels pur-
posely on others, to taste their valour : belike this is a man
of that qalrk. Shak., T. S., iii. 4. 268.
6. A sudden turn or flourish in a musical air;
a fantastic phrase.
Light quirks ot musick, broken and uneven.
Make the soul dance upon a jig to heaven.
Pope, Moral ISssays, iv. 143.
The quirks of the melody are not unlike those of very
old English ballads. IMhrop, Spanish Vistas, p. 126.
7. In building, a piece taken out of any regular
PTOund-plot or floor, as to make a court or
yard, etc.: thus, if the ground-plan were square
or oblong, and a piece were taken out of the
corner, such piece is called a quirk. — _8. In
arch., an acute angle or recess ; a deep inden-
tation; the incision under the abacus.— 9. A
pane of glass cut at the sides and top in the
form of a rhomb. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] —
10. In a grooving-plane, a projecting fillet on
the sole or side, arranged to serve as a fence or
gage for depth or distance.— Bead and CLulrk,
bead and double qulili. See lead, 9.— Quirk bead, a
molding the round part of which forms more than a semi-
circle, and which has a sinkmg on the face termed the
quirk. — Quirk molding. Same as quirked molding.
quirfcl (kw6rk), V. [< qu,irk\ «.] I. intrans.
TTo turn sharply.
4918
II. traw. 1. To twist or turn; form into
quirks. — 2. To form or furnish with a quirk
or channel.
In Grecian architecture, ovolos and ogees are usually
quirked at the top. Weale.
Quirked molding, a molding characterized by a sharp
Quirked Moldings.
-4, quirited ogee or cyma reversa (ardi of Constantine, Rome] ; B,
quirlced ovolo ; C, quirked cyma recta; D, quirked bead {B, C, D.
modern colonial American woodwork), q q q q. quirks.
and sudden return from its extreme projection to a reen-
trant angle. Aho called quirk molding. Gwilt.
quirk^ (kw6rk), v. i. [Cf. querk^.2 1. To emit
the breath forcibly after retaining it in vio-
lent exertion. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. To
grunt; complain. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
quirk-float (kwferk'flot), «. See float, 9 (c).
quirking-plane (kw6r'king-plan), n. A mold-
ing-plane for working on convex surfaces. B.
H. Krdght.
quirkish (kwer'Msh), a. [< quirk^ + 4sh^.J
Having the character of a quirk; consisting of
quirks, quibbles, or artful evasions. [Bare.]
Sometimes it [tacetiousness] is lodged in a sly question,
in a smart answer, in a quirkish reason.
Barrow, Works, I. xiv.
quirky (kw6r'ki), a. [< quirk^ + -yi.] 1.
Abounding in quirks or twists; irregular; zig-
zag; quirMsh. [Eare.]
Bordered by quirky lines.
Philadelphia Times, June 1, 1885.
2. Full of quirks or subterfuges ; shifty ; quib-
bling; characterized by petty tricks: as, a
quirky attorney; a, quirky question. — 3. Mer-
ry; sportive. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
quirl (kwerl), v. and n. See querl.
quirlewindt, «• An obsolete dialectal form of
whirlwind,
quirpele, n. [Tamil.] A name for the mon-
goos : used in India. Yule and Burnell.
quirt (kwert), n. [Perhaps < Sp. cuerda, a cord,
rope : see cordK"] A kind of riding-whip much
used in the western parts of the United States
and in Spanish-American countries. It usually
consists ot a short stout stock, a tew inches long, of wood,
or ot leather braided so tightly as to be rigid, and ot a
braided leather lash, about two feet long, flexible and very
loosely attached to the stock. The quirt thus resembles
a bull-whip in miniature. It is sometimes entirely braid-
ed of leather, like a small black-snake, but so as then to
make^a short rigid handle and long flexible lash. The
quirt is often ornamented fancifully, and generally hung
on the right wrist by a leather loop.
quirt (kw6rt), v. t. [< quirt, m.] To strike or
flog with a quirt. [Western U. S.]
A first-class rider will -sit throughout it all without
moving from the saddle, quirting his horse all the time,
though his hat may bejiurod oif his head and his revolver
out of its sheath. T. Boosevelt, The Century, XXXV. 854.
Quiscalinse (kwis-ka-ll'ne), n. pi. [NL., <
Quiscalus + -mss.'\ "A subfamily of Icteridse,
typified by the genus Quiscalus, usually having
a lengthened and more or less boat-shaped tail,
somewhat crow-like or thrush-like bill, stout
feet, and in the male the color entirely irides-
cent-black; the American grackles or crow-
blackbirds. The species are mostly terrestrial
and gregarious. See Quiscalus and Seolecopha-
gus.
Quiscalus (kwis'ka-lus), n. [NL. (VieiUot, 1816);
appar. < ML. quismla, quisquAla, quisquilla, etc.,
aquaU: seequaiis.'] The typical genus of ©w-
calmse, having the bill elongated and crow-like,
the tail long, graduated or rounded, and more
or less keeled or boat-shaped. Several species in-
habit the United States and warmer parts of America.
The common crow-blackbird, or purple grackle, is Q.pur-
pureus (see cut under eroui-Wackbird); the boat-tailed
grackle or jackdaw ot the Southern States is Q. major (see
cut under ioat-shaped); the fan-tailed blackbird is Q. ma-
erurus, inhabiting Texas and Mexico.
quishti n. .An obsolete form of cuisse.
quishint, n. An obsolete form of cushion.
Quisqualis (kwis-kwa'lis), «. [NL. (Eumphius,
1747), named in allusion to its polymorphous
leaves and changing colors of flowers, or from
an uncertainty at first as to its classification ;
< L. guis, who, -I- qualis, of what kind.] A ge-
nus of polypetalous plants of the order Conibre-
tacesB and suborder Combretese. it is characterized
quit
by a calyx with a small deciduous border and a slender
tube below, far prolonged beyond the one-celled ovanr;
by its Ave petals and ten straight stamens ; and by the
large, hard, dry fruit with five wings, containing a single
flve-lurrowed oblong seed and sometimes three cotyle-
dons instead of the usual two. The 3 or 4 species are
natives ot tropical Asia and Africa. They are shrubby
climbers with slender branolilets, opposite leaves, and
handsome spiked or racemed flowers of changeable colors,
passing from white or orange to red. Several species are
in cultivation under glass, especially the Hangoon creeper,
Q. Indica, Used by the Chinese as a vermifuge.
quist (kwist), n. Same as queest. [Prov. Eng.]
quistle, n. An obsolete or dialectal form of
whistle.
quistront,. n. [ME. qwystron, questeroun, < OF.
coistron, coestron, quistron, questron, coisteron, a
scullion; cf. P. cuistre, a college servant, a vul-
gar pedant.] A scullion.
This god ot love of his fasoun
Was &ke no knave ne qwystron.
Rom. qf the Rose, I. 886.
quiti (kwit), a. [< ME. quit, quyt, quite, quyte,
cwite = OPries. quit = D. kwijt = MLG. quit,
LG. quit, quiet = MHO. quit, queit, Gr. quitt =
loel. kroittr = Sw. quitt = Dan. kvit, < OP. quite,
euite, F. guitte = Pr. quiti = Sp. quito = Pg.
quite, discharged, released, freed, < ML. quieiMS,
discharged, released, freed, a particular use of
L. quietus, at rest, quiet : see quiet, a., of which
quit is a doublet. Cf . quietu^.'i Discharged or
released from a debt, penalty, or obligation;
on even terms; absolved; free; clear.
Yet ye will, leve me^ and yet ye ne will, leve me nought ;
for I ne leve vow nought, and so be we quyte.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), il 168.
Tho that ben shryuen <fe Terry contryte.
Of alle here synnes he maketh hem jwjrte.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Fumivall), p. 118.
I promise you that when I am quit of these (public af-
fairs) I will engage in no other.
B. Franklin, Autobiography, p. 317.
Double or quits, in gambling, said when the stake due
from one person to another is either to become double or
to be reduced to nothing, according to the favorable or un-
favorable issue at a certain chance.— TO be quit or quits
(with one), to have made mutual satisfaction of claims or
demands (with him); be on even terms (with him); hence,
as an exclamation, ^ite.' *weareeven.' [In these phrases
the adjective is used as a quasi-noun in a plural form.]
I hope to be shortly quit with you for all Courtesies.
Howell, Letters, I. iv. 28.
I'll be quit with him tor discovering me.
Sheridan, School tor Scandal, iv. 3.
To get quit of. See get^.
quit^ (kwit), V. t. ; pret. and pp. quit or quitted,
ppr. quitting. [Early mod. E. also quite (a form
still used in requite), and erroneously quigjit;
< MB. quiten, qu/yten (= D. kwijten = MLG. qui-
ten, LG. quitten = MHG. quiten, quiten, quitten,
G. quitten = Icel. kvitta = Sw. quitta = Dan.
kvitte), < OF. quiter, cuiter, quitter, P. quitter =
Pr. Sp. Pg. quitar = It. quitare, chitare (ML. re-
flex quitare,_ quitta/re), < ML. quietare, pay, dis-
charge, quit, leave, abandon, particular uses
of L. quietare, make quiet: see quiet, v., and
ct.quit^,a. Gt. acquit, requite.'] 1. To satisfy,
as a claim or debt ; discharge, as an obligation
or duty; make payment for or of; pa.y; repaj^
requite.
gut more, to make pees and quyte menne dettes, . .
As Crist himself comaundeth to alle Cristene peux)le.
' Piers Plovtman (C), xiv. 76
I am endetted so therby,
Ot gold that I have borwed trewely.
That whyl I lyve, I shal it quyte never.
Chaucer, Prol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 183.
Ill quite his cost or else myself will die.
0reen£, Alphonsus, L
A litle mony from the law will quite thee,
Fee but the Sumner, & he shall not cite thee.
Times' WhisOe (B. E. T. S.), p. 81.
Like doth quit like^ and measure still tor measure.
Shall., M, for M., v. 1. 416.
First, all our debts are paid ; dangers ot law.
Actions, decrees, judgments against na, quitted.
B. Jonson, Catiline, i. 1.
Each looks as it he came to beg.
And not to quit a score.
Cowper, The Yearly Distress
2. To set free; release; absolve; acquit; ex-
onerate.
God quit you in his mercy ! Shak., Hen. V., ii. 2. 166.
Until they that were accused to be the murtherers were
quitted or condemned. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, v.
I must quit
Young Florio ; Lorenzo and myself
Are only guilty ot the prince's death.
Shirley, Traitor, v. 8.
3. To free, as from something harmful or op-
pressing; relieve; clear; liberate: with o/.
If I quit you not presently, and for ever, of this cumber,
you shall have power instantly ... to revoke your act.
B. Jonson, Epicoene, v. I.
quit
„ . ^, Their judicious king
5%">s athome; quUs first liis royal palace
0/ flattering sycophants.
Webster, Duchess of Malfl, L 1.
4 To meet the claims upon, or expeotations
entertamed of; conduct; acquit: used reflex-
ively.
Be strong, and quit yourselves like men. 1 Sam. iv. 9.
Samson hath quit himself
Like Samson. MUton, S. A., 1. 1709.
5t. To complete; spend: said of time.
Never a worthy prince a day did quit
With greater hazard, and with more renown.
Daniel.
6. To depart from; go away from; leave.
Avaunt ! and quit my sight ! Shak., Macbeth, iii. 4. 93.
She ought to play her part in haste, when she considers
tl>«t she Is suddenly to quit the stage, and make room for
otaera. Addison, Spectator, No. 89.
7. To resign; give up; let go.
The other he held in his sight
A drawen dirk to his breast.
And said, "False carl, quit thy staff."
BoWn Hood and the Beggar (Child's Ballads, V. 197).
I had never quttud the lady's hand all this time.
Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. 23.
8. To forsake ; abandon.
Quit thy fear ;
All danger is blown over.
Fletcher (and another). Love's Cure, i. 3.
Ilpiscopacy he bids the Queen be confident he will never
guitt, Milton, Eikonoklaates, xviiL
9. In archery, to discharge ; shoot.
Quit or discharge the arrow by allowing the string to
pass smoothly over the finger-points without jerking.
Eneye. Brit., II. 377.
10. To extract ; get rid of. Sportsman's Gazet-
teer.— H. To remove by force. Halliwell.
fObsolete or prov. Eng.] ^
He strove his combred clubbe to quight
Out of the earth. iSpenser, F. Q., I. vili. 10.
12. To cease; stop; give over. [Now chiefly
colloq.]
Quit ! quit for shame ! this will not move,
This cannot take her.
Suckling (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 24).
Notice to auit, in law, notice to a tenant of real property
that he must surrender possession. Where notice to quit
is required, as in the case of a tenant at will or by suffer-
ance, it should be in writing, and should state accurately
the time for leaving, which, however, varies according to
the nature of the tenancy and the relation of the parties.
^To CLUit cost, to pay expenses ; be remunerative.
Who say I care not, those I give for lost ;
And to instruct them, 'twill not quit the cost.
G. Herbert, The Temple, the Church-Porch.
To quit scores, to make even ; balance accounts.
Are you sui'e you do nothing to quit scores with them?
Sheridan, St. Patrick's Day, 1. 1,
=SyiL. 6 and S. Desert, Abandon, etc. See/orsake.
quit^, n. Same as qtieet^.
quits (kwit), TO. [Prob. imitative.] The popular
name of numerous small birds of Jamaica, be-
longing to different genera and families. Ba^
nana-qnlts are species of CerOdola, as C.faeeola; grass-
quits are various small sparrow-like birds, as SpermophUa
olivaeea; the blue quit is a tanager, Euphonia Jamaica
the orange quit is another tanager, Tanagrelltt rujictMis.
qui tain (kwi tarn). [L.: gui,yiho; torn, as well,
as much as, equally.] In law, an action on a
penal statute, brought partly at the suit of the
people or state and partly at that of an inform-
er: so called from the words of the old com-
mon-law writ, " §M« tarn pro domino rege quam
pro se ipso," etc.
quitasoit (ke'ta-sol), n. [Sp., < quitar, quit, +
sol, sun. Cf . parasol.'] A parasol.
Then did he Incask his pate in his hat^ which was so
broad as It might serve him excellently for a juitasol.
Shelton, tr. of Don Quixote, I. 1. 13. (Bichardson, under
liniask.)
quitch^t (kwich), v. [Also quick, queach, queatch
(also quinch, simulating winch), more prop.
quetch; < ME. quicehen, quycehen, quytchen, quee-
chen, < AS. cweccan (pret. cweahte, cwehte), shake,
causative of cwacian, shake, quake: see quahe.']
1. trans. To shake; stir; move. Layamon.
tl. intrans. 1. To stir; move. Prompt. Parv.,
p. 421 ; Palsgrave.
An huge great Lyon lay, . . . Uke captived thrall
With a strong yron chaine and coller bound,
That once he could not move, noiquieh at aU.
Spenser, F. Q., V. ix. 33.
2. To flinch; shrink.
He laid him down upon the wood-stack, covered his face,
nor never stured hand nor foote nor quitched when the fire
took him. S'orth, tr. of Plutarch, p. 687.
quitch^ (kwich), n. [Also quickens; an assibi-
lated form of quick (= Norw. kvika, kviku,
Jmkve, kuku, quitch-grass), < quick, a. Cf.
quiteh-grass.j Same as quitch-grass.
1, Flowerir^ Plant of
Quitch -nass {Agro^-
rum (Trtiicum) re-
pens) ; a, the spike on a
la^er scale ; a, a spike-
let; d,' the flowering
glume ; c, the palet.
4919
Full seldom does a man repent, or use
Both grace and will to pick the vicious quitch
Of blood and custom wholly out of him.
And make all clean, and plant himself afresh.
Tennyson, Geraint.
Black quitch, mostly the slender foxtail-grass, Alope-
curus agrestis, a weedy grass with dark-purple flowers.
Also black bent, black couch-grass, black squitch.
quitch-grass (kwioh'gras), n. [Also couch-
grass, cooch-grass ; assibi-
lated form of quick-grass:
see quick-grass, quitch^.] A
weed-grass somewhat re-
sembling wheat, though
smaller, formerly regarded
as belonging to the wheat
fenus, Aiticum, but now
nown as Agropyrum re-
pens. Also quick-, quack-,
cutch-j and couch-grass. See
especially couch-grass.
The thoroughfares were overrun
with weed
— Docks, quitchgrass, loathy mal-
lows no man plants.
Brovming, Sordello, iv.
quitclaim (kwit'klam), n.
[< ME. quiteclayme, < OF.
quiteclame, a giving up,
abandonment, release, <
quiter, quit, + dame, claim :
see claimK'] In law : (a) A
deed of release ; an instru-
ment by which some claim,
right, or title to an estate
is relinquished to another.
(&) A conveyance without
any covenant or warranty, expressed or implied.
Sin ye wyll do so.
Of vs shal he haue a quite-dayme fully.
Bom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), L 1886.
quitclaim (kwit'klam), v. t. [Early mod. E. also
quiteclaim; < ME. quitclaymen, quiteclaymen,
quytecleymen, < OF. quiteclamer, quiteclaimer,
give up, release, < quiteclame, a quitclaim: see
quitclaim, ».] 1. To quit or give up claim to;
relinquish ; release ; acquit, as of an obligation.
The queue quyte cleymed the x knyghtes that were pris-
oners that hir knyghtes hadde her sent.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ill. 602.
Fram henne to Ynde that cit^
Quitedaym thai schnl go tre.
Gy of Warwike, p. 310. (HalliweU.)
Wee haue quite claimed, and for vs and our helres re-
leased, our welbeloued the Citizens of Colen and their mar-
chandise from the payment of those two shillings which
they were wont to pay. Hakluyfs Voyages, I. 131.
2. In law, to quit or abandon a claim or title to
by deed; conveywithout covenants of warranty
against adverse tit] es or claims : as, to quitclaim
a certain parcel of ground.
If any freke be so felle to f onde that I telle,
Lepe ly^tly me to, & lach this weppen,
Iquit clayme hit for euer, kepe hit as his auen.
^r Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 293.
quitclaimance (kwit'kla'mans), n. [< MK
quite-clamance, < OP. quiteclaikance (ML. quiete
clamantia), < quiteclamer, quitclaim: see quit-
claim.'] Same as quitclaim.
Of that Fhillp, for he suld haf grantise.
Mad Bichard a quite cla/manee fro him & alle hise,
& neuer thorgh no distresse suld Clayme ther of no right.
Bob. ofBrunne, tr. olLangtof t's Chron. (ed. Heame), p. 186.
quiteHi «• -An obsolete form of quit^.
quite^ (kwit), adv. [Early mod. E. also, errone-
ously, quight; < ME. quite, quyte, adv., < quite^,
a.] 1. Completely; wholly; entirely; totally;
fully; perfectly.
Generydes hym sette so vppon the hede
That Ills helme flew quyte in to the feld.
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), L 2636.
No gate so strong, no locke so flrme and fast,
But with that perclng noise flew open quite, or brast.
Spenser, F. Q., I. viii. 4.
Shut me nightly in a charnel-house,
O'er-covered quite with dead men's rattling bones.
Shak., K. and J., iv. 1.
82.
Something much more to our concern.
And quite a scandal not to learn.
Pope, Imlt. of Horace, II. vi. 146.
Books qvMe worthless are quite harmless.
Macaulay, Machiavelll.
2. To a considerable extent or degree ; notice-
ably: as, quite -waxm; quitepretty; quite clevei;
quite an artist: in this sense now chiefly collo-
quial and American.
Billings . . . was but three months old, but, as the
Americans say, was quite a town.
W. Shepherd, Prairie Experiences, p. 76.
The lithographer has done his work quite, though hard-
ly very, well. Science, VII. 403.
quitter
Quite a few. See few.— Quite a little, considerable : as,
quae a little business; quHe a little curiosity. [CoUoq.J —
Quite SO, a form of assent in conversation.
quite H, V. t. An obsolete form of qiuf^.
quite^t, a. An obsolete dialectal form of white.
Ther cam on in a qwyte surplisse.
And pryvely toke him be the slefe.
MS. Cantab. Ff. v. 48, f. 67. (Halliwell.)
quitelyt, adv. [ME., also quitly; < quite"^, quit^,
a., -I- -ly^.] 1. Completely; entirely; quite,
gour ancestres conquered all France quitely.
Bob. <jf Brunne, p. 115.
2. Freely; unconditionally.
Ther-fore, gif godes wille were 1 wold haue al the payne.
To mede 36 were fro this quarrere quitly a-schaped.
William of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), L 2341.
Qui tollis (kwi tol'is). [So called from the first
words : L. qui, who ; tollis, 2d pers. sing. pres.
ind. act. of tollere, raise, take away.] In the
Bom, Cath. and Anglican liturgy: (a) A part of
the Gloria in Bxcelsis. (6) A musical setting
of the words of the above.
Quito orange. See orange^.
Qui transtulit sustinet (kwi trans'tu-lit sus'-
ti-net). [L.: 5tti, who; <»-aMS<«Mf, 3d pers. sing,
perf.ind.of transferre, transfer; sustinet, 3d pers.
sing. pres. ind. of susUnere, sustain.] He who
transplanted still sustains: the motto of the
State of Connecticut.
quit-rent (kwit'rent), n. [< ME. quiterent; <
quiti -I- rent^.] Rent paid by the freeholders
and copyholders of a manor in discharge or ac-
quittance of other services. Also called chief-
rent.
Consydre what seruyce longyth ther-to.
And the quyterent that there-of owte shalle goo.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Fumlvall), p. 24.
There was nothing before him but contests for quitrents
with settlers resolved on governing themselves.
Bancroft, Hist. U. S., II. 366.
quits (kwits). See quit, a.
quit-shillingt (kwit'shil"ing), n. A gratuity
given by a prisoner on his acquittal.
Were any one lucky enough to be acquitted, he had to
spend a Quit Shilling for their delight.
J. Ashton, Social Lite in Kelgn of Queen Anne, II. 245.
quittable (kwit'a-bl), a. [< quit^ -I- -able.]
Capable of being quitted or vacated.
quittalt (kwit'al), n. [< quit^ -I- -al. Cf. acquit-
tal, requital.] Requital; return; repajonent.
As in revenge or quittal of such strife.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 236.
Let him unbind thee that is bound to death.
To make a quUal for thy discontent.
Eyd, Spanish Tragedy, ill.
quittance (kwit'ans), n. [< ME. quytance, <
F. quittance (= Sp. quitanza = Pg. quitanqa =
It. quitanza), a release, receipt, < quitter, quit,
release: see quit\ v.] 1. Acquittance; dis-
charge from a debt or obligation ; a receipt.
Haulng paid the cnstome, it behoueth to haue a quit-
tance or cocket sealed and firmed.
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 272.
Who writes himself "Armigero" in any bill, warrant,
quittance, or obligation. Shak., M. W. of W., i. 1. 10.
Gurth . . . folded the quittanee, and put it under his
cap. Scott, Ivanhoe, i
2. Recompense; requital; return; repayment
But these mine eyes saw him in bloody state,
£enderlng faint qyittanee, wearied and outbreathed,
To Harry Monmouth. SAo*., 2 Hen. IV., L 1. 108
In quittance of your loving, honest counsel
I would not have you build an airy castle.
Shirley, Hyde Park, i. 1.
To cry quittance, to get even.
Cry pittance, madam, then, and love not him.
Marlowe, Edward II., L 4.
Against whom [certain ladies of 'the bed-chamber], at
their first being appointed, the French shut the doors,
. . . whereas now ours have cried guiUanee with them.
Court and Times of Charles I., L 122.
quittance! (kwit'ans), v. t. [< quittance, n.]
To repay; make requital or return for.
Hate calls on me to quittanee all my ills.
Greene, Orlando Furioso.
We dread not death to quitta-nce injuries.
Toumeur, Revenger's Tragedy, iii. 5.
quitter^ (kwit'er), n. [< quit^ + -eri.] 1. One
who quits. — 2t. A deliverer.
quitter^ (kwit'er), n. [Also quittor, and for-
merly quitture; < ME. quiter, quitere, quitoiire,
quiture, quytur, whitour; cf. LGr. kwater, kwa-
der, rottenness.] It. Matter flowing from a
sore or wound.
Quyytur or rotunnes, putredo.
NomiTMle MS. {HalliweU.)
Still drink thou wine, and eat;
Till f alr-hair'd Hecamed hath giv'n a little water-heat
To cleanse the quitture from thy wound.
Chapman, Iliad, xlv. 7. (.Davies.)
2. In farriery, a fistulous wound upon the quar-
ters or the heel of the coronet, caused by treads.
quitter
pricks in shoeing, corns, or other injuries which
produce suppuration at the coronet or within
the foot. — 3f. Scoria of tin.
quitter^ (kwit'Sr), v. i. [< ME. qiiiteren, whit-
ouren; from the noun.] To suppurate.
quittor, n. See quitter^
quitturet, n. An obsolete variant of quitter^.
qmverif (kwiv'er), a. [Also dial, quever; < ME.
"quiver, quever, ewiver, < AS. *cwtfer, in comp.
cwiferlice, eagerly ; cf . quiver^, t>.] Nimble ; ac-
tive; spry.
There was a little gfuiver fellow, and a' would manage
you his piece thus ; and a" would about and about.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iii. 2. 301.
qniverl (kwiv'er), v. i. [Cf. MD. Myveren,
tremble, quiver, freq. form, associated with
kuyven, tremble, quiver, and with the B. adj.
quiveri; see quiver\ a. Cf. quaver.'] 1. To
quake; tremble; shake tremulously; shudder;
shiver.
In glaunces bright she glittered from the ground.
Holding in hand her targe and quiuering spere.
Surrey, ^neid, ii.
That jewel 's mine that quivers in his ear,
Mocking his master's chilness and vain fear.
Tawmeur, Eevenger's Tragedy, i.
Her pale lip quivered, and the light
Gleamed in her moistening eyes.
0. W. Bolmes, Illustration of a Picture.
2. To flutter or be agitated with a tremulous
motion.
Quivering beams, which daz'd the wondering eye.
Fair/ax, tr. of Taaso.
Willows whiten, aspens quiver.
Tennyson, Lady of Shalott.
=Syil. Qualce, etc. See sMver2.
quiver^ (kwiv'er), n. [< quiver'^, ».] The act
or state of quivering; a tremulous motion; a
tremor; aflutter; a shudder; a shiver.
But Figs, all whose limbs were in a quiver, and whose
nostrils were breathing rage, put his ifttle bottle-holder
aside. T?uickeray, Vanity Fair, v.
quiver^ (kwiv'fer), n. [< ME. quiver, quyver,
quywere, quequer, < OP. guivre, cuivre, quevre,
euevre, coivre, couvre (ML. cucurum = MGr.
KoiKovpov), < OHGr. chohhar, chochar, cJwhhdri,
MHG. Jcooher, Jcochsere, also hoger, Iceger, G.
kocher, also
MHG. hoger,
Iceger = LG. Ico-
ker, leaker = D.
koker = OS. eo-
car = OFries.
koker = AS. co-
cwr, cocer, ME.
koke)- = Sw. ko-
ger = 'Da,n.kog-
ger, a quiver.]
A case for
holding arrows
or crossbow-
bolts. Quivers
were formerly
nearly as long as
the arrows, so that
only the feathers
projected, these
being covered by a
piece of leather or
cloth when not
likely to be re-
quired. Medieval
archers in war
generally used the
quiver on the
march only, and
in battle carried
their arrows se-
cured by a strap, usually with the addition of a small
socket in which the points only were covered.
But Mosco did vs more service then we expected, for,
having shot away his quiver of Arrowes, he ran to the Boat
for more. Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 186.
Now in her hand a slender spear she bore,
Now a light quiver on her shoulders wore.
Addison, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., ii.
quivered (kwiv'^rd), a. [< quiver^, n., + -ed2.]
1. Furnished with a quiver; wearing a quiver.
The mtiver'd Arabs' vagrant clan, that waits
Insidious some rich caravan. J. Philips, Gerealia.
Him, thus retreating, Artemis upbraids.
The quivered huntress of the sylvan shades.
Pope, Iliad, zxi. 546.
2. Held or covered in or as if in a quiver: said
of a feathered arrow, or, as in the quotation, of
a quill.
From him whose quills stand miver'd at his ear
To him who notches sticks at Westminster.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, I. i. 83.
quivering (kwiv'er-ing), n. [Verbal n. of
quiver^, v.] The act of trembling, wavering,
or vibrating; a tremulous shaking.
4920
The quivering of objects seen through air rising over a
heated surface is due to irregular refraction, which inces-
santly shifts the directions of the rays of light.
Tyndall, Light and Elect., p. 43.
quiveringly (kwiv'6r-ing-li), adv. In a quiver-
ing manner; with quivering.
quiverish (kwiv'er-ish), a. [< quiver^ + -isfel.]
Tremulous; trembling.
Then furth with a quiverish horror.
Stanihurst, iEneid, iii. 30. (Davies.)
quiver-tree (kwiv'er-tre), n. A species of aloe.
Aloe dichotoma.
qui vive (ke vev). [P., lit. who lives? i. e. who
goes there ? as a noun in the phrase ^tre sur le
qui vive, be on the alert: qui (< L. qui), who;
Vive, 3d pers. sing. pres. subj. of vivre, < L.
vivere, live : see vivid.] Who goes there ? — the
challenge of French sentries addressed to those
who approach their posts To be on the qui
vive, to be on the alert ; be watchful, as a sentinel.
Our new £ingLog we cannot complain of as too young,
or too much en the qui-vive.
Miss Edgeworth, Patronage, viii. {Dairies.)
quixote (kwik'sot), v. i. [< Quixote (see def.
of quixoUe) (Sp! Quixote, now spelled Quijote,
pronounced ke-ho'te).] To act like Don Quix-
ote ; play the Quixote : with indefinite it.
When you have got the devil in your body, and are
upon your rantipole adventures, you shall Quixote it by
yourself for Lopez. Vanbruffh, False Friend, v. 1.
quoddle
His [Sydney Smith's] constant quizzing of the national
foibles and peculiarities. Encyc. Brit., ZXII. 177.
I hate to.be quizzed, and I think most people do, par-
ticularly those who indulge in the habit of quizang others.
J. Jefferson, Autobiog., iii.
2. To look at through or as through a quizzing-
glass; peer at; scrutinize suspiciously.
To inquire the name of an individual who was using
an eye-glass, in order that he might complain . . . that
the person in question was quiziang him.
Dickens, Sketches.
8. To examine (a student) orally or infor-
mally, as in a quiz- or question-class. [Col-
loq.]
II. intrans. 1. Topractisebantering or chaff-
ing; be addicted to teasing. — 2. In med., to
attend oral or informal examinations, as in a
quiz-class. [CoUoq.]
quiz^ (kwiz), n. [Perhaps a var. of whiz.'] A
toy, formerly popular, consisting of a small cyl-
inder or wheel grooved to receive a string, by
which the wheel is made to wind and unwind
itself. Also called bandalore.
Moore says that his earliest verses were composed on
the use of the toy "called in French a bandalore, and in
English a quiz." JV. and Q., 7th ser.. III. 67.
quiz-class (kwiz'klas), n. In med., a number
of medical students enrolled in a class for the
purpose of being orally questioned, either by
their teacher or by one another. [CoUoq.]
quixotic (kwik-sot'ik), a. [< QM^o^a (see def.) ^^r^f^'J.<^^.f^'''^Ar:'^Jt.'J^^^^
+ -ic] Pertaining to or resembling Don Quix-
ote, the hero of Cervantes's celebrated ro-
mance of that name ; hence, extravagantly or
absurdly romantic; striving for an unattain-
able or impracticable ideal; characterized by
futile self-devotion ; visionary.
The project seemed rash and quixotic, and one that he
could not countenance. Everett, Orations, I. 464.
or leader of a quiz-class. Compare quiz^, n., 4.
quizzer (kwiz'Sr), n. One who quizzes others,
or makes them the object of banter or raillery.
quizzery (kwiz'^r-i), n.; pi. quizzeries (-iz). [C
quiz'^ + -ery.] The act or practice of quizzing ;
a quizzical observation or comment.
(Jf Mrs. Carlyle's quhaeries, he [Sterling] thinks she puts
them forth as such evident Actions that they cannot mis-
lead with reference to the character of others.
This family training, too, combined with their turn for Caroline Fox, Journal, p. 133.
combativeness, makes them eminently quixotic They nrazmpa\ Ckwif. 'i-ka.Tl a. Vi nmVl -4- -»/■ «7 T
can't let anything alone which they think going wrong, "^pi^^rlf i Jft-„ „f „"!,''■ ' -u L^ 3«»^^ T" -^C-al.i
r.Hifffto, Tom Brown at Kugby i. 1. <^haraetenstic of a quiz; bantering; teasing;
~..:„.x.- ii_ /I -1 i/' 1 1 -N J r, ■ shy; queer: as, a gw^^icanook or remark.
quixotically (kwik-sot'i-kal-i), adv. [< qmoc- ^ ' ,. ^ /, ... \ ... .. . .
nfin + -nl X- .7«2 1 AftoT-'+Tio monTioT. /^f n,^^ I belicve you havB takcu such a faucy to the old ouferf-
ouc 1- -ai t- -ly.i Alter tne rnanner ot Don ^al fellow that you can't live without him.
Qmxote ; m an absurdly romantic manner. Miss Edgeworth, Belinua, ix. (Davies.y
*]S^?o-^l>?+^''7.™ 1^" n^"^V"- 1^ ^"''"'*' ^'?® quizzicality (kwiz-i-kal'i-ti). n. [< quizzical +
2«»a;oftc) + -ism.] Quixotic extravagance in "^^^.j The quality of bSing quizzicil; a quiz-
notions, actions, or undertakings; pursuit of ^io^ioo]! or remark. ^ ' ^
absurdly romantic enterprises; uncalled-for or ti,.. ™™ t>,.i,o -t., *i, ,a ■ ■ ,-, ■ ^ ,-.
usfilpaa fViwnliTr nr macr^a^yi-mlt-o ,. ■'■"^ P"""^ Duke, . . . With the olAquizztcality in his lit-
useiess cmvairy or magnanimity. tie face, declared . . . Carlyle, in Froude, II.
Since his [Cervantes's] time, the purest impulses and the niiiyyioallv Ctwiy'i' Iml n"! /tAi Tt, d r,^,^.,,•,n„^
noblest purposes have perhaps been oftener stayed by the q"lZZlcaiiy ^KW1Z i-Jiai-i;, OflSi;. In a qmzzicaJ,
devil under the name of Quixotism than any other base °^ oantenng manner; with playful slyness,
name or false allegation. ., ^ . .. .. "Look here," said one of them, OMfeSjoKj/, "Ogden,
ItusHn. Lectures on Architecture and Painting, ii. have you lived all your life in every house in cjofleld and
quixotry (kwik'sot-ri), n. [< Quixote (see quix- '" MertonvUle and everywhere?" St. Nicholas, XVII. 611.
otic) + -fy.] Quixotism ; visionary notions or quizziflcation (kwiz'''i-fi-ka'shon), «. [< quiz-
zify + -ation.] A joke; a quiz.
Mongol Quiver, a, separate arrow.
undertakings.
Many persons will . . . consider it as a piece of Quix-
otry in M'Intyre to give you a meeting [in a duel] while
your character and circumstances are involved in such
obscurity. Scott, Antiquary, xx.
quizi (kwiz), n. ; pi. quizzes (kwiz'ez). [Orig.
slang; perhaps a made word, based on ques-
tion (with which it is vaguely associated), or
(as a school term) on the L. quseso, I ask: see
quese, quests. No reUanee is to be placed on
the various anecdotes which purport to give
the origin of the word.] 1. A puzzling ques-
tion ; something designed to puzzle one or make
one ridiculous ; banter; raillery. — 3. One who
(luizzes.— 8. One who or that which is obnox-
ious to ridicule or quizzing ; a queer or ridicu-
lous person or thing.
Where did you get that quizot a hat? it makes you look
After all, my dear, the whole may be a qwhasificatitm of
Sir Philip's— and yet he gave me such a minute descrip-
tion of her person I ilfiss^Bd^ewortA, Belinda, xi. (Davita.y
quizzify (kwiz'i-fl), v. t. ; pret. and pp. quizzi-
fied, ppr. quizzifying. [< quiz^ + -d-fy.] To.
turn into a quiz ; make odd or ridiculous.
"The caxon quinzMes the figure, and thereby mars the ef-
fect of what would otherwise have been a pleasing as well
as appropriate design.
Southey, The Doctor, cxiL (Dames.)'
quizziness (kwiz'i-nes), n. Oddness; eccen-
tricity.
His singularities and affectation of affectation always,
struck me; but both these and his spirit of satire aremere
quizziness. lime. D'ArUay, Diary, VI. 187. (Davies.)-
quizzing (kwiz'ing), n. [Verbal n. of quiz^, v.]
. „ _ _ ^ ^ Banter; raillery; teasing.
like an old witch. ./aiie4!«te)i,NorthangerAbbey, p.33. qUizZillg-glaSS(kwiz'ing-glas),«. A single eye-
'Twas the Queen dressed her ; you know what a figure glass, or monocle ; especially, one that is held
sheusedtomakeofherselfwilhherodd manner of dress- to the eve bv the muaolfis nf the fncn
ingherself;butmamma said, "Now really. Princess Roy- „„„: ""V A^^wS + * * i.
al, this one time is the last, and I cannot suffer you to ^"°J' i"^<"*' -A-H Obsolete form of who.
make such a quiz of yourself." . . . The word quiz, you quO . A clipped form of quoth.
may depend^was never the Queen's qUOad hOC (kwo'ad hok). [L. : g«oa(i, SO far as
.Sfme.i)^rMay,D,ary(1797),VI.lS8. (Dai^^.) (< gMod, what, as, + at/, to); fe?C, neut. of Wc,
4. An oral questioning of a student or class by this : see *ei.] To this extent ; as far as this,
a teacher, conducted with the object of com- quoad omnia (kwo'ad om'ni-a). [L. : quoad, so
munieating instruction and prepafingfor some far as; omnia, neut. pi. of omnis, all.] As re-
examination: as, the surgery quiz; the prac- gards or in respect of all things: as, a quoad'
tiae quiz. [CoUoq.] — 5. A collection of notes ommja parish. Bee parish.
made by a student from a professor's lectures, quoad sacra (kwo'ad sa'faa),
. especially when printed for the use of other stu-
dents. [CoUoq.] — 6. A monocular eye-glass,
with or without a handle; a quizzing-glass.
quiz! (kwiz), v.; pret. and pp. quizzed, ppr.
quizzing. [< quizi, n.] I. trans. 1. To puz-
zle; banter; make sport of by means of puz-
zling questions, hints, and the like ; chaff.
The zeal for quixzing him grew less and less
As he grew richer. Batteck, Fanny.
- , ,. [L. : quoad, so
lar as; sacra, neut. pi. of sacer, sacred, conse-
crated.] In respect of or as far as concerns
sacred matters : as, a quoad sacra parish. See
parish.
quob, V. and n. See quaV>-.
quod^t. An obsolete form of quoth.
quod2 (kwod), n. and v. See quad^i, 2.
quoddlei, v. t. An obsolete or dialectal form of
coddle^.
auoddle
■»»h r!™^ f <** *' '!?* fashion with you to sugar your papers
•with Carnation phrases, and spangle vour sneechea with
newquodledwoTiB. JT. W, StopleToWer,P 8*
quoddleS (kwod'l), v. i.- pret. and pp. quod-
md, ppr. guoddhng. [Cf. waddle (?).] To pad-
Yon wUl presently see the young eagle mountine into
the air, the duck quoddling in a pool.
Bp. SliUingfleet, Origines Saorce, iii. 1, 1 18.
auoddy (kwod'i), m. ; pi. quoddies (-iz). [Abbr.
of Passamaquoddy.^ A kind of large herrinff
found in Passamaquoddy Bay.
auodlibet (kwod'li-bet), «. [= F. quolibet, a
joke, pun; < ML. quodlibetum, a quodlibet, < L.
quodhbet {quidlibet), wliat you please, anything
you please, anything at all (neut. of quilibet,
any one you please, any one at all), X quod,
what, neut. of guj, who, which, + libet, impers ,
it pleases. Oi. quillet^.-\ 1. A scholastic argu-
mentation upon a subject chosen at will, but
almost always theological. These are generally the
most elahorate and subtle o( the works of the scholastic
doctors. There are about a dozen printed books of quod-
libets, all written between 1260 and 1350.
These are your guodUbets, but no learning, brother.
Metcher (and another). Elder Brother, li. 1.
He who, reading on the Heart
(When aU his Quodliiets of Art
Could not expound its Pulse and Heat),
Swore he had never felt it beat.
Prior, Alma, iii.
2. In miisio : (a) A fantasia or potpourri. (6)
A fanciful or humorous harmonic combination
of two or more well-known melodies: some-
times equivalent to a Dutch concert,
quodlibetal (kwod'li-bet-al), a. [< ML. quodU-
betaUs; as quodUhet + -dl.'] Consisting of quod-
libets — Quodlibetal question. Same as quodMba.
quodlibetarian (kwod"li-be-ta'ri-an), n. [<
ML. quodlibetarius {<. quodlibetum, st'ciuo&Vibet:
see quodlibet) + -a»i.] One given to quodlibets
or argumentative subtleties.
quodllbetic (kwod-li-bet'ik), a. [< ML. quod-
UbeUcus, < quodlibetum, a quodlibet: see quod-
libet.'] 1. Not restrained to a particular sub-
ject ; moved or discussed at pleasure for curi-
osity or entertainment; pertaining to quodli-
bets.
To speak with the schools, it is of quodtibetio applica-
tion, ranging from least to greateiit. Sir W. Ha/milton,
2. Given to niceties and subtle points.
QLUOdlibetical (kwod-li-bet'i-kal), a. [< quod-
libetic + -al.2 Same as quodlibetal. W. Watson,
A Decachordon of Ten Quodlibetical Questions.
quodlibetically (kwod-H-bet'i-kal-i), adv. In
a quodlibetical manner ; at pleasure ; for curi-
osity; so as to be debated for entertainment.
Many positions seem miodlibeticaUy constituted, and,
like a JDelphian blade, will cut on botifi sides.
Sir T. Brmme, Christ. Mor., ii. § 3.
quodlingt, CLUOdlint, »• See codling^, 2.
Dot. A fine young qimdling.
Face. O,
My lawyer's clerk, I lighted on last night.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, 1. 1.
g,nod permittat (kwod per-mit'at). [So called
from these words in the writ: L. quod, which,
neut. of qui, who ; permittat, 3d pers. sing. pres.
aubj. ot permittere, -penoit: see permit'-.'] In
£Jng. law, a writ (requiring defendant to permit
plaiutiff to, etc.) used to prevent interference
with the exercise of a right, such as the enjoy-
ment of common of pasture, or the abatement
of a nuisance.
quod vide (kwod vi'de). [L. : quod, which, neut.
of qui, who; vide, im^v. sing, of videre, see.]
Which see: common, in the abbreviated form
q. v., after a dictionary-word, book-title and
page, or the like, to which the reader is thus
referred for further information.
quog (kwog), n. Same as quahog.
quohog, n. Same as quahog.
qnoich, n. Same as quaigh.
quoift n. An obsolete spelling of coif.
quoiffuret, »• An obsolete spelling of coiffure.
quoilt, n. An obsolete spelling of eoiU.
quoin (koin), n. [< F. coin, an angle, a comer,
a wedge: see coin^.] 1. An external solid
angle; specifically, in arch, and masonry, the
external angle of a building. The word is gener-
ally applied to the separate stones or blocks of which the
angle is formed ; when these project beyond the general
surface of the walls, and have their corners chamfered off,
Oiey are oaHed riietic quoins OT bossage.
2. A wedge-Uke piece of stone, wood, metal,
or other material, used for various purposes.
(a) In maaomry, a wedge to support and steady a stone.
(6) In minting, a short blunt wedge used by printers to
secure the types in a chase or on a galley. Mechanical
onoins are made of iron in many forms, pressure bemg
applied by means of the screw or by combined wedges.
4921
Small wedges, called mioinji, are inserted and driven
forward by a mallet and a shooting-stick, so that they
gradually exert increasing pressure upon the type.
Eneye. Brit, XXIII. 700.
(c) In gem-cutting, any one of the four facets on the crown
of A brilliant ; also, any one of the four facets on the pavil-
ion or base. These facets divide each portion of the bril-
liant into four parts. Also called lozenge. See cut un-
der brilliant, (d) Naut., a wedge placed beneath a cask
when stowed on shipboard, to prevent it from rolling, (e)
In gun., a wooden wedge used to hold a gun at a desired
elevation. — Cantick-quoin. Same as canting-coin.
quoin (koin), v. t. [< quoin, «.] To wedge,
steady, or raise with quoins, as a stone in
building a wall, the types in a chase, etc. : gen-
erally with up. See quoin, n., 2.
"They [flat stones] are exactly what I want for my wall
— just the thing for quoiningup." What Mr. Grey meant
by quoining up was filling in the spaces under the large
stones when they did not flit exactly to those below them,
and thus wedging them up to their proper level.
Jacob Abbott, Wallace, vii.
quoin-post (koin'post), n. In hydraul. engin.,
the heel-post of a lock-gate. E. H. Knight.
quoit (kwoit), V. [Also coit; < ME. coiten, coyten,
< OF. coiter, coitier, quoitier, cuiter, press, push,
hasten, incite, prob. < L. coactare, force, freq. of
eogere, compel: see cogent. Cf. gaaA; cf. also
quail^, ult. < L. coagulare.] I. trams. To throw
as a quoit; throw.
Quoit him down, Bardolph. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., it 4. 206.
Hundreds of tarred, and burning hoops were skilfully
quoited around the necks of the soldiers, who struggled in
vain to extricate themselves from these fiery ruffs.
MoUey, Dutch Republic, II. 468.
II. intrans. To throw quoits ; play at quoits.
For Python slain, he Pythian games decreed.
Where noble youths for mastership should strive.
To quoit, to run, and steeds and chariots drive.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., i. 600.
quoit (kwoit), n. [Also coit,
also dial, quait; < ME. coite,
coyte; at. quoit, v.] 1. A
flattish ring of iron, used in
playing a kind of game. It is
generally from 8J to 9^ inches in ex-
ternal diameter, and between 1 and
2 inches in breadth, convex on the
upper side and slightly concave on
the under side, so that the outer
edge curves downward, and is sharp
enough to cut into soft grouad.
He willed vs also himselte to sit
downe before him the distance of a
quoit's cast from his tent.
Hakluyt'a Voyages, 1. 365.
'Tis not thine to hurl the distant dart.
The quoit to toss, the pond'rous mace to wield.
Or urge the race, or wrestle on the field.
Pope, Iliad, xxiii, 713.
Formerly in the country the rustics, not having the
round perforated quoits to play with, used horse-shoes,
and in many places the quoit itself, to this day, is called a
shoe. Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 142.
2. pi. The game played with such rings. Two
pins, called hobs, are driven part of their length into the
ground some distance apart ; and the players, who are
divided into two sides, stand beside one hob, and in regu-
lar succession throw their quoits (of which each player
has two) as near the other hob as they can. The side
which has the quoit nearest the hob counts a point toward
game, or. if the quoit is thrown so as to surround the hob,
it counts two. The game only slightly resembles the an-
cient exercise of throwing the discus, which has, however,
been often translated by this English word.
A' plays at quoits well. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 266.
The game of quoits, or coits, ... is more moderate, be-
cause this exercise does not depend so much upon supe-
rior strength as upon superior skill.
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 141.
3. A quoit-shaped implement used as a weapon
of war; a discus. Those used by the Sikhs are of
polished steel with sharp edges, and are sometimes richly
ornamented with damascening or the like.
quoivest, »• Plural of quoif, an old form of coif.
quo jure (kw6 jo're). [So called from these
words in the writ: L. quo, by what, abl. sing,
neut. of quis, who, which, what; jure, abl. sing,
of jus, law, right.] In law, a writ which for-
merly lay for him who had land wherein an-
other challenged common of pasture time out
of mind : it was to compel him to show by what
title he challenged it. Wharton.
quokt, quoket. Obsolete strong preterits of
Quoit.
a, centra] opening; *,
marginal edge, which,
when the quoit is skil-
fully pitched, cuts into
the earth; c, thumb-
notch, by which the
thrower is enabled to
give the quoit a spin-
ning motion on an axis
at nght angles with the
marginal edge.
quoU (kwol), n. [Australian.] An Australian
marsupial mammal, Dasyurus macrurus.
quo minus (kwo mi'nus). [So called from these
words in the writ: L. quo, by which, abl. sing,
of quod, which, neut. of qui, who; minus, less:
see minus.] An old English writ, used in a suit
complaining of a grievance which consisted
in diminishing plaintiff's resources, as for in-
stance, waste committed by defendant on land
^quota
from which plaintiff had a right to take wood or
hay. The Court of Exchequer, whose original juriediction
related to the Treasury, acquired its jurisdiction between
private suitors by allowing a plaintiff by the use of this
writ to allege that, by reason of the defendant's not paying
the debt sued for, the plaintiff was less able (quo minu8>
to discharge his obligations to the crown.
quondam (kwon'dam), a. and n. [L., formerly,
< quom, cum, when, -t- -dam, a demonstr. par-
ticle.] I. a. Having been formerly; former;
as, one's quondam friend; a quondam school-
master.
This is the quondam king. Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 23.
Farewell, my hopes ! my anchor now is broken :
Farewell, my quondam joys, of which no token
Is now remaining.
Beau, and Fl., Woman-Hater, iii. 2.
II. ». Apersonformerlyin an office; apersoiv
ejected from an office or a position.
Make them quondams, out with them, cast them out of
theic ofllce. Latimer, 4th Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1549.
As yet there was never learned man, or any scholar oj
other, that visited us since we came into Bocardo, which
now in Oxford may be called a college olquoudam^.
Bp. Ridley, in Bradford's letters (Parker Soc, 1853), II. 84.
quondamshipt (kwon'dam-shiji), n. [< quon-
dam ■\- -ship.] The state of being a quondam.
As for my quondarmhip, I thank God that he gave me
the grace to come by it by so honest a means.
Latimer, 4th Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1649.
Quoniam (kw6'ni-am), n. [So called from the
initial word in the L. version : L. quoniam, since
now, although, < quom, cum, when, since, +
jam, now.] 1. In the Rom. Cath. liturgy: (a)
A pai't of the (Gloria. (6) A musical setting of
the words of the above. — 2t. [Z. c] A sort of
drinking-cup.
Out of can, qumiimn, or jourdan.
Healy, Disc, of New World, p. 69. {Nares.y
quont, n. See quant.
quookt, quooket. Obsolete preterits and past,
participles of quaJce.
quorlf , V. A Middle English form of whirl.
quorum (kwo'rmn), n. [Formerly also corum;
< L. quorum, ' of whom,' gen. pi. of qui, who :
see who. In commissions, etc., written in Latin,,
it was common, after mentioning certain per-
sons generally, to specify one or more as always-
to be included, in such phrases as quorum unum-
A. B. esse volumus (of whom we will that A. B.
be one) ; such persons as were to be in all eases-
necessary therefore constituted a quorum.] 1 .
In England, those justices of the peace whose
presence is necessary to constitute a bench.
Among the justices of the peace it was formerly custom-
ary to name some eminent for knowledge and prudence-
to be of the quorum ; but the distinction is now practically
obsolete, and all justices aie generally "of the quorum."
He that will not cry " amen " to this, let him live sober,
seem wise, and die o the corum.
Beau, and Fl., Scornful La'dy, i. 2.-
I must not omit that Sir Roger is a justice of the quorum.
Addison, Spectator, No. 2.
2. The number of members of any constituted,
body of persons whose presence at or partici-
pation in a meeting is required to render its;
proceedings valid, or to enable it to transact
business legally, if no special rule exists, a majority
of the members is a quorum ; but in a body of consider-
able size the quorum may by rule be much less than a ma-
jority^ or in a smaller one much more. Forty members
constitute a quorum or "house" in the British House of
Commons.
In such cases, two thirds of the whole number of Sena-
tors are necessary to form a quorum.
Calhoun, Works, I. 175.
others [regulations] prescribe rules for the removal of
unworthy members, and guard against the usm-pation of
individuals by fixing a quorum.
Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 367.
St. Eequisite materials.
Here the Dutchmen found fullers' earth, a precious,
treasure, whereof England hath, if not more, better than
all Christendom besides ; a great commodity of the quo-
rum to the making of good cloath.
Fuller, Ch. Hist., III. ix. 12. (Dames.y-
Quorum of Twelve, or Quorum, a name given collec-
nvelyto the twelve apostles in the Mormon Church. See-
Mormmi^.
quostt, n. An obsolete spelling of coast.
quota (kwo'ta), n. [< It. quota, a share, < L.
quota (so. pars), fem. of quotum, of what num-
ber, how many, < quot, how many, as many as,
akin to qui.] A proportional part or share;
share or proportion assigned to each; any re-
quired or proportionate single contribution to ■
a total sum, number, or quantity.
They never once furnished their quota either of ships or
men. Sv>ift, Conduct of the Allies.
The power of raising armies, by the most obvious con-
struction of the articles of the confederation, is merely a -
power of making requisitions upon the states for quotas of
men. .^> Hamilton, Federalist, No. 22.-
quotability
qnotability (kwo-ta-bil'i-ti), n. [< quotable +
-ity (see -biUty).} Capability of or fitness for
being quoted ; quotable quality.
It is the prosaicism of these two writers [Cowper and
Moore] to which is owing their especial quotabilUy.
Poe, Marginalia, xxviii. (,Dames.)
quotable (kw6'ta-bl), a. [< quote + -able.']
Capable of or suitable for being quoted or
cited.
Mere yividness of expression, such as makes quotaile
passages, comes o{ the complete surrender of self to the
impressiOD, whether spiritual or sensual, of the moment.
Lowell, Among my Books, Ist ser., p. 176.
quotableness (kw6'ta-bl-nes), n. Quotability.
Atlienseum, Nov. 24, 1888, p. 693.
ilVOtably (Wo'ta-bli), adv. So as to be quoted ;
in a quotable manner.
All qualities of round coal prices are weak, though not
quotdUy lower. The Engineer, LXV. 513.
quotation (kwo-ta'shon), n. [< quote + -ation.']
1. The act of quoting or citing.
Classical quobiMon is the parole of literary men all over
the world. Johnson, in Boswell, an. 1781.
Emerson . . . believedin^'icotojion, and borrowed from
everybody, . . . not in any stealthy or shame-faced way,
but proudly. 0. W. Holmes, Bmerson, xii.
2. That which is quoted; an expression, a
statement, or a passage cited or repeated as
the utterance of some other speaker or writer ;
a citation.
When the guoto^ton is not only apt^ but has in it a term
of wit or satire, it is still the better qualified for a medal,
as it has a double capacity of pleasing.
Addison, Ancient Medals, iii.
3. In com., the current price of commodities
or stocks, published in prices-current, etc.
A mwtaMon of price such as appears in a daily price list
is, if there has been much fluctuation, only a very rough
guide to the actual rates of exchange that have been the
basis of the successive bargains making up the day's busi-
ness. Encyc. Brit., XXII. 465.
4. [Abtor. of quotaiion-quadrat.'] In printing,
a large hollow quadrat, usually of the size 3X4
picas, made for the larger blanks in printed
matter. [U. S.] = Syii. 2. Extract. See quote.
quotational (kwo-ta'shon-al), a. [< quotation
+ -a?.] Of or pertaining to quotations; as a
quotation.
quotationist (kwo-ta'shon-ist), «. [< quotation
+ -ist.'] One who makes quotations.
Considered not altogether by the narrow intellectuals of
quotationists and common places.
Milton, Divorce, To the Farlament.
quotation-mark (kwo-ta'shon-mark), H. One
of the marks used to note the beginning and
the end of a quotation. In English, quotation-marks
generally consist of two inverted com mas at the beginning
and two apostrophes at the end of a quotation; but a
single comma and a single apostrophe are also used, es-
pecially in Great Britain. In the former case the mark-
ing of a quotation within a quotation is single ; in the
latter, properly double. Single quotation-marks are often
used, as in this work, to mark a translation. Quotation-
marks for printing in French, Oerman, etc., are types
specially cut and cast for this use ; and in some fonts tor
grinting in English characters have been made for the
eginning of quotations corresponding in reverse to the
apostrophes at the end.
quote (kwot), V. ; pret. and pp. quoted, ppr.
quoting. [Formerly also cote; < OF. quoter,
coter, r. coter, letter, number, quote (in com-
mercial use), < ML. quotare, mark off into
chapters and verses, give a reference, < L.
quotus, of what number, how many, < quot, as
many as.] I, trans. If. To note down; set
down in writing; hence, in general, to note;
mark; observe.
A fellow by the hand of nature mark'd.
Quoted and sign'd to do a deed of shame.
Shak., E. John, iv. 2. 222.
1 am sorry that with better heed and judgement
1 had not quoted him. Shak., Hamlet, ii. 1. 112.
Wherfore I was desirous to see it again, and to read it
with more deliberation, and, being sent to me a second
time, it was thus qiuited in the margent as ye see.
Foxe, Martyrs, p. 1110, an. 1543.
4922
2. To adduce from some author or speaker;
cite, as a passage from some author or a saying
of some speaker; name, repeat, or adduce as
the utterance of some other person, or by way
of authority or illustration ; also, to cite the
words of: as, to quote a passage from Homer;
to quote Shakspere or one of his plays; to qiiote
chapter and verse.
He quoted texts right upon our Saviour, though he ex-
pounded them wrong. Atterbury,
As long as our people qu^te English standards they
dwarf their own proportions. Emerson, Conduct of Life.
3. In writing or printing, to inclose within quo-
tation-marks ; distinguish as a quotation or as
quoted matter by marking: as, the dialogue in
old books is not quoted. — 4. In com., to name,
as the price of stocks, produce, etc. ; name the
current price of. — Quoted matter, in printing, com-
posed types that are inclosed by quotation-marks : thus,
" ". = Syjl. 2. Quote, Cite, Adduce, Secite. ■ Whenwe quote
or reeUe, we repeat the exact words ; when we cite or ad-
duee, we may only refer to the passage without quoting it,
or we may give the substance of the passage. We may
quote a thing for the pleasure that we take in it or for any
other reason : as, to quote a saying of Izaak Walton's. We
dte or adduce a thing in proof of some assertion or doc-
trine : as, to eite an authority in court ; to oMuee confir-
matory examples. Adduce, besides being broader in its
use, is stronger than eite, as to urge in proof. Becite, in this
connection, applies to the quoting of a passage of some
length; as, toreotealaw; tor^citetheconversation of Lo-
renzo and Jessica at Belmont. It generally implies that
the passage is given orally from memory, but not necessa-
rily, as a petition recites, etc. ; the others may be freely used
of that which is read aloud or only written.
H. intrans. To cite the words of another;
make a quotation.
quote (kwot), n. [In def. 1, < OF. quote; in
other senses < quote, v.] If. A note upon an
author.
O were thy margents clifEes of itching lust.
Or quotes to chalke out men the way to sin,
Then were there hope that multitudes wold thrust
To buy thee. C. Toumeur, Transformed Metamorpho-
[sis, Author to his Booke.
2. A quotation, or the marking of a quotation.
This column of " Local Notes and Queries" . . . has been
succeeded by a column entitled "Notes and Quotes."
N. and Q., 7th ser., VIL 605.
3. A quotation-mark: usually in the plural.
[CoUoq.] — 4t. A quotient. [Bare.]
quoteless (kwot'les), a. [< quote + -less.] Not
capable or worthy of being quoted ; imquotable.
quoter (kwo'ter), n. One who quotes or cites
the words of an author or a speaker.
Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first
quoter of it. Emerson, Quotation and Originality.
quoteworthy (kwot' wer'-'THi), a. Deserving of
quotation. [Bare.]
In Home's " Spirit of the Age" are some quoteworthy re-
marks. The New Mirror (N. Y., 1843), IIL
quoth (kwoth). Preterit of quethe. [Obsolete
or archaic]
"Good morrow, fool," quoth I. "No, sir," quoth he,
" Call me not fool till heaven hath sent me fortune."
Shak., As you Like it, ii. 7. 18.
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore." Poe, The Baven.
quotha (kwo'tha), inteiy. [For quoth a, and that
for quoth he, a being a corruption of he : see a^.]
Forsoothl indeed! originally a parenthetical
phrase used in repeating the words of another
with more or less contempt or disdain.
Here are ye clavering about the Duke of Argyle, and this
man Martingale gaun to break on our hands, and lose us
gude sixty pounds— I wonder what duke will pay that,
quatha. Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxiv.
quotidian (kwo-tid'i-an), a. and n. [< ME. co-
tidien, < OF. quotidien, coUdien, F. quotidien =
Pr. cotidian, cotedian = Sp. coUdiano = Pg. It.
quotidiano, < L. quoUdianus, cotUdianus, daily,
< quottdie, cotUdie, cotidie, daily, < quot, as many
as, + dies, da.y: see dial.] I, a. Daily; occur-
ring or returning daily: as, a quotidian fever. .
Common and quotidian infirmities that so necessarily at-
tend me. Sir T. Browne, Beliglo Medici, iL 7.
qy.
Like the human body, with a gMoMdifWi life, a periodical
recurrence of ebbing and flowing tides.
enadstone. Might of Kigbt, p. 173.
Double quotidian fever. See/ever^.
II, n, 1. Something that returns or is ex-
pected every day; specifically, in med,, a fever
whose paroxysms return every day.
He seems to have the quotidian of love upon him.
Skak., As you Like it, lit 2. 383.
A disposition which to his he finds will never cement, a
quotidian of sorrow and discontent in his house.
MUton, Divorce, ii. 16.
2t. A cleric or church officer who does daily
duty. — 3f. Payment given for such duty.
quotient (kwo'shent), n. [= F. quotient; with
accom. term, -ent, < L. quoUes, quoUens, how
often, how many times, < quot, how many, as
many as.] In math., the result of the process
of division ; the number of times one quantity
or number is contained in another. See divi-
sion, 2. — Differential quotient. Same as differential
coefficient (which see, under coefficient).
quotiety (kwo-ti'e-ti), n. [< L. quoties, how
often (see quotient) + -e-ty.] The proportion-
ate frequency of an event.
quotity (kwot'i-ti), n. [< L. quot, how many, -f-
-i-ty.] 1. The number of individuals in a col-
lection.— 2. A collection considered as contain-
ing a number of individuals. Carlyle, French
Eev., I. ii.
quotqueant) »• A corruption of cotquean.
Don Quot-quean, Don Spinster I wear a petticoat still, and
put on your smock a' Monday.
Fletcher (and another). Love's Cure, ii. 2.
quotum (kwo'tum), n. [L., neut. of quotus, of
what number, how many, < quot, how manjr, as
many as.] A quota; a share; a proportion.
[Bare.]
The number of names which are really formed by an imi-
tation of sound dwindles down to a very small quotum if
cross-examined by the comparative philologist.
Max Miiller.
quo warranto (kwo wo-ran'to). [So called
from these words in the writ : L. quo, by what
(abl. sing. neut. of quis, who, which, what);
ML. warranto, abl. of warrantam, warrant: see
warrant.] In law, a writ calling upon a person
or body of persons to show by what warrant
they exercise a public office, privilege, fran-
chise, or liberty. It is the remedy for usurpa-
tion of office or of corporate franchises, etc. —
Information or action in t^e nature of a quo war-
ranto, a statement of complaint by a public prosecutor or
complainant to the court : now used in many jurisdictions
in lieu of the ancient writ of quo warranto.
Quran, n. Same as Koran.
quyf, «. Same as quey. SalUwell.
quyrboillet, quyrboillyt. Obsolete forms of
cuir-bouilli.
The Gentyles ban schorte Speres and large, and fuUe
trenchant on that o syde : and thei han Plates and Helmes
made of QuyrboyUe, and hire Hors covertoures of the
same. Mandeville, Travels, p. 251.
His jambeux were of quyrboilly.
Chamer, Sir Thopas, L 164.
quyssewest, »• A Middle EngUsh form of
cuishes.
quysshenf, n. An obsolete form of cushion.
And doun she settc hire by hym on a stone
Of jasper, on a quysthen [var. (16th century) quishin] gold
ybette. Cliaucer, Troilus, ii. 1229.
q, V. An abbreviation (a) of the Latin phrase
quantum vis, ' as much as you will' ; (6) of quod
vide, 'which see.'
qw. See qu.
qwelet, n. An obsolete form of wheel.
qweseynt, n. An obsolete form of cushion.
qwethert, adv. An obsolete dialectal variant
of whether.
qwh-. Sep wh-.
qwhatt, pron. A Middle English dialectal form
of what.
qwichet, pron. An obsolete dialectal form of
which.
qy. An abbreviation of query.
1. The eighteenth letter and
fourteenth consonant in the
English alphabet, repre-
senting a character having
a like position and value in
the alphal>ets from which
the English is derived — the
Latin, Greek, and Pheni-
cian. SpecimenB of its early
forms (as In the case of the other letters : see especially A)
are given below:
4^
E^ptian.
Hien^lypmc. Hieratic.
^ "{f-
Pheni-
dan.
Early
Greek and Latin.
The tag below the curve by which the EngUsh (and the
Latin) K differs from the later Greek form F was added to
the latter in order to distinguish it from the ^sign after
this had assumed its present form ; the addition was first
made on Greek ground, but was abandoned there when
the distinction of thep- and r-signs had become estab-
lished in another way. The value of the character has
always been essentially the same ; it represents a contin-
uous sonant utterance made between the tip of the tongue
and the roof of the mouth, at a point more or less removed
backward from the upper front teeth. The sound is so reso-
nant and continuable as to be nearly akin with the vowels ;
and it is, in fact, used as a vowel in certain languages, as
Sanskrit and some of the Slavic dialects : in norm^ Eng-
lish pronunciation, however, it never has that value. By
its mode of production it is nearly akin with I, and r and
i are to a large extent interchangeable with one another
in linguistic history. It is often classed as a "liquid,"
along with I, m, n; less often, but more accurately, as a
semivowel, with I, y, w. It also, on no small scale, an-
swers as corresponding sonant (in languages that have no
2) to 5 as surd, and (^omes from 8 under sonantizing influ-
ences : so in Sanski'it, in Latin (as ara from asa), and in
Germanic'(as in our were, plural of was). In Anglo-Saxon
the initial r of many words was aspirated (that is, pro-
nounced with an h before it), as hrin^ (our ring); but the
aspiration was long ago abandoned, both In pronuncia-
tion and in spelling. In Greek initial r was always thus
aspirated, and the combination was transliterated in Latin
by rh instead of hr: hence the frequency of rh in our
words of Greek derivation. Moreover, such an r, when
by inflection or composition made medial, became rrhj
and double r was in general viewed as rrh: whence
that spelling in many of our words (for example, diar-
rhea^ hemarrtiage, catarrh^ etc.): in recent scientific words
and names taken from Greek, the Greek rule and Latin
practice as regards the doubling and aspiration of the
r are often neglected. The mode of production of the
r-sound itself varies greatly in different languages and
dialects. Normally its utterance is combined with a dis-
tinct trilling or vibration of the tip of the tongue, in vari-
ous degrees (the sound is thence often called the " do?'s
letter," litteia eanina). But in ordinary English pronun-
ciation this vibration is either extremely slight, or, more
commonly, altogether wanting ; in fact, the tip of the
tongue Is di-awn too far back into the dome of the palate
to admit of vibration ; the English r is a smooth r. But
further, in many localities, even among the most culti-
vated speakers, no r is ever really pronounced at all un-
less followed (in the same word, or, if final, in the word
following) by a vowel (for example, in are, farther, pro-
nounced ah, father); it either simply disappears, or,
as after most long vowels, is replaced by a bit of neu-
tral-vowel sound, of Hovi; arid after such a long vowel,
if it comes to be pronounced by the addition of a
vowel, it retains the same neutral-vowel sound as
transition-sound (for example, in faring, fearing, pour-
ing, during, firing, aaaring : the pronunciation is indi-
cated in this work by retaining the r in the same syl-
lable with the long vowel : thus, far'ing, fer'ing, etc.). An
r has a stronger and more frequent influence upon the
character of the preceding vowel than any other conso-
nant; hence the reduction to similarity of the vowel-
sounds in such words as pert, dirt, curt, earn, myrrh. If
all our r's that are written are pronounced, the sound is
more common than any other in English utterance (over
seven per cent.); the instances of occurrence before a
vowel and so of universal pronunciation, are only half
as frequent. There are localities where the normal vibra-
tion of the tip of the tongue is replaced by one of the
uvula, making a guttural trill, which is still more en-
tiaefto the name of " dog's letter" than is the ordinary
r: such are considerable parts of France and Gennany ;
the sound appears to occur only sporadically in Enghsh
pronunciation. ^
2 As a medieval Eoman numeral, 80, and with
aline over it (S), 80,000.-3. As an abbrevi-
ation : (a) Of Sex or Regina, as m George E.,
Victoria B. (6) Of Boyal, as in B. N. for Boyal
Naw, M. A. for Boyal Academy or Academutmn,
or for Boyal Arch (in freemasonry), (c) Pre-
fixed to a medical prescription (f^), of recipe,
take, (d) [^l. cJ] Naut.: (1) In a ship's log-book,
of rain. (2) When placed against a man's name
in the paymaster's book, of run away, (e) Of
right (right-hand), as in B. A. for right ascension,
B. II. E. for right second entrance (on the stage of
a theater). (/) In math., r is generally a radius
vector of coordinates, R the radius of a circle,
p a radius of curvature. (3) Of rupee — The three
R's, reading, writing, and arithmetic: a humorous term.
It originated with Sir William Curtis (1762 - 1S29) , an emi-
nent but illiterate alderman and lord mayor of London,
who, on being asked to give a toast, said, " I will give you
the three B's, Kiting, Reading, and Kithmetic"
Parochial education in Scotland had never been confined
to the three R's. Times (London).
raf, n. An obsolete form of roe^. Chaucer.
Sa (ra), n. [Egypt.] In Egypt, mythol., the
sovereign sun-god of the Memphite system, the
chief Egyptian personification of the Supreme
Being. He was often confounded to some extent with
the Theban Amen. In art he was typically represented
as a hawk-headed man hearing on bis head the solar disk
and the royal nrteus.
R. A. All abbreviation of (a) Boyal Academy;
(6) Boyal Academician; (fi) Boyal Arch; (d) right
ascension.
ra-. [See re-.] A prefix in some words of
French origin, ultimately from re- and ad-. See
rotate, rabbet, rapport, etc.
raad, n. [< Ar. ra'd, thunder.] A nematog-
nathous fish, Malapterurus electricus, inhabit-
ing the NUe; the electric catfish. It reaches a
length of 3 to 4 feet, and gives a sharp galvanic
shock on being touched.
rab^ (rab), n. [Origin obscure.] A kind of
loam; a coarse hard substance for mending
roads. Halliwell. [Cornwall, Eng.]
rab^t (rab), n. [An abbr. of rabbit^.'] Same as
rabbit^, 1.
rab^ (rab), n. [Heb. : see rabbi.'] A title of
respect given to Jewish doctors or expounders
of the law. See rabbi.
rabanna (ra-ban'a), ». [Native name.] Cloth
or matting made tcgm. the raffia and perhaps
other fibers: an article of export from Mada-
gascar to Mauritius. See raffia.
rabat (ra-baf; F. pron. ra-ba'), n. [F., < ra-
bat, a turned-down collar, a band or ruff, OF.
also a plasterers' beater, a penthouse, eaves, also
a beating down, suppression, < rabattre, beat
down, bring down: see rabate. Cf. rabato.]
1. A kind of linen collar worn by some eccle-
siastics, falling down upon the chest and leav-
ing the neck exposed. — 3. ApoUshing-material
made from unglazed pottery which has failed
in baking, used by marble-workers, etc.
rabate (ra-baf), v. t.; pret. and pp. rabated,
ppr. rabatimg. [Early mod. E. also rabbate; <
P. rabattre, OF; rdbatre, beat down, bring down,
< re-, back, + abattre, beat down : see abate. Cf .
rebate.'] If. To beat down; rebate.
This alteration is sometimes by adding, sometimes by
rabatting, of a Billable or letter to or from a worde either in
the beginning, middle, or ending.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 134.
2. la falconry, to bring down or recover (the
hawk) to the fist.
rabatet (ra-baf), n. l<rabate,v.'] Abatement.
And your figures of rabbate be as many.
PvOenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, jk 135.
rabatinet (rab'a-tin), n. [< p. "rdbatine (f ), dim.
of rabat, a neck-band. : see rabat, raibato.'] Same
as rabato.
Keform me, Janet, that precise ruff of thine tor an open
rabatine of lace and cut work, that will let men see thou
hast a fair neck. Scott, Kenilworth, xxiiL
rabatot (ra-ba'to), n. [Also rebato; with altered
termination (as if of Sp. or It: origin), < OF. (and
p.) rabat, a turned-down collar, a band or ruff:
seera&a*.] 1. Afallingband; acoUartumed
over upon the shoulders, or supported in a hori-
zontal position like a ruff.
4923
Where is your gowne of silke, your periwigs.
Your fine rebatties, and your costly lewels?
Heywood, 2 Edw. IV. (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, 1. 168).
Your stiSneckedrdbatoSf that have more archesforpride
to row under than can stand under five London bridges,
Dekker, Gull's Homlwok.
2. A wire or other stifEener used to hold this
band in place.
I pray you, sir, what say you to these great ruffes, which
are borne up with supporters and rebatoes, as it were with
poste and raile? I>ent'd Pathway, p. H. (HaUiweU.)
rabattement (ra-baf ment), n. [< P. rabatte-
ment, < rabattre, beat down: see rabate.] An
operation of descriptive geometry consisting in
representing a plane as rotated about one of its
traces imtil it is brought into a plane of pro-
jection, with a view of performing other opera-
tions more easilyperformed in such a situation,
after which the plane is to be rotated back to
its proper position.
ra.bDan(rab'an),»i. [Heb. rabban, lord; cf. Ar.
rabbani (> Pers. rabbani), belonging to a lord
or the Lord, divine; as a noun, a rabbi; rab-
bana (Pers.), O our Lord! etc.: see rabbi, and
cf . rabbani.'] A title of honor (of greater dig-
nity than rafiW) given by the Jews to the patri-
archs or presidents of the Sanhedrim — Gama-
liel I. , who was patriarch in Palestine about A. D.
30-50, being the first to whom it was applied,
rabbanist (rab'an-ist), n. Same as rabbinist.
rabbatef, v. t. An obsolete form of rabate.
rabbet (rab'et), V. t. [Early mod. E. also rab-
bot, rabot; < ME. rabeten, rabbet, < OP. (and P.)
raftoter, plane, level, lay even; ef.P.raftoi, ajoin-
ers' plane (also a plasterers' beater, cf . OP. ra-
bat, a plasterers' beater: see rabat); cf. P. ra-
boteux, rugged, knotty, rough; < OP. rabouter,
thrust back (= Pr. rebotar= It. ributtare, push
back), < re-, again, + aboter, abouter, thrust
against: see re- and abut. Cf. rebut.] To cut
the edge of (a boEird) so that it will overlap that
of the next piece, which is similarly cut out, and
will form a close joint with this adjoining board ;
cut or form a rabbet in (a board or piece of tim-
ber). See rabbet, n Rabbetedlock, alook of which
the face-plate is sunk in a rabbet in the edge of a door.
B. a. Knight.
rabbet (rab'et), n. [< ME. rabet, < OF. (and
P.) rabot, a joiners' plane, < raboter, plane : see
rabbet, v.] 1 . A cut made on the edge of a boar("
so that it may
join by lapping t
with another B;
board similar- P-.L....
ly cut; also, a jj '
rectangular re-
cess, channel, or
groove cut along
the edge of a
board or the like
to receive a corresponding projection cut on
the edge of another board, etc., required to
fit into it. Rabbets are common in paneling.
See also cut under match-joint, — 2. Same as
rabbet-plane.
rabbetmg-macliiiie (rab'et-ing-mgrshen"), n.
A machine for cutting rabbets:' a form of
matching-, molding-, or planing-machine. E.
H. Knight.
rabbet-joint (rab'et-joint), n. A joint formed
by rabbeting, as the edges of two boards or
pieces of timber.
rabbet-plane (rab'et-plan), n. A plane for
plowing a groove along the edge of a board.
Eabbet-planes are
BO shaped as to
adapt them to pe-
culiar kinds of
work. In a square-
rabbet plane the
cutting edge is
square across the
sole; in a skew-
rabbet plane the
Square Rabbet plane. bit is set obliquely
jj vy'lta
rabbet-plane
across the sole ; in a side-rabbet plane the cutter is on the
side, not on the sole.
rabbet-saw (rab'et-s§,), n. A saw used for mak-
ing rabbets. Such saws commonly have an
adjustable fence or gage to insure the proper
placing of the groove.
rabbi (rab'i or rab'i), n. ; pi. rahlis (rab'iz or
rab'iz). [Early mod. E. also rabJne, rally; <
ME. raU, raly = OP. ralli, rali, raby, < LL.
rabli, < Gr. |6ai3/3(, < Heb. (Aramaic) rabhi, mas-
ter, lord (much used in the Targums for all de-
grees of authority, from king and high priest
down to chief shepherd), lit. 'my master' or
'my lord' (= Ar. ralli, 'my master' or 'my
lord') ; with pronominal suffix -i, < rob, master,
lord (= Ar. rail, master, lord, the Lord, God,
cf . rahha, mistress), < rdlal, be great. Cf . ral^,
ralMn, rallan, ralboni.'] Literally, 'my mas-
ter': a title of respect or of ofSce (of higher
dignity than ral ) given to Jewish doctors or ex-
pounders of the law. in modem Jewish usage the
term is strictly applied only to those who are authorized
by ordination to decide legal and ritualistic questions,
and to perform certain designated functions, as to receive
proselytes, etc. ; but it is given by courtesy to other dis-
tinguished Jewish scholars. By persons not Hebrews it is
often applied to any one ministering to a Jewish congre-
gation, to distinguish him from a Christian clergyman.
Qod liketh nat that Raby men us calle.
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 479.
They said unto him, MabM (which is to say, being inter-
preted. Master [i. e.. Teacher]). John L 38.
Those whose heads with age are hoary growen.
And those great RabMes that do grauely sit^
Revolving volumes of the highest Writ.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weelcs, ii.. The Captaines.
rabbin (rab'in), n. [< F. rallin, < LL. rabU,
< Gr. fiap^i, rabbi : see rabbi."] Same as rabbi.
It is expressly against the laws of our own government
when a minister doth serve as a stipendiary curate, which
kind of service nevertheless the greatest rdbMns of that
part do altogether follow. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. SO.
Now he [Salmasius] betakes himself to the fabulous ro5-
bim again. Milton, Ans. to Salmasius, ilL 85.
rabbinate (rab'in-at), n. [< rabbin + -ate^.']
The dignity or office of a rabbi.
Gradually the Talmud, which had been once the common
pabulum of all education, passed out of the knowledge of
the laity, and was abandoned almost entirely to candidates
for the rabbinate, Encyc. Brit., XIII. 681.
rabbinic (ra-bin'ik), a. and n. [= F. rabbi-
nigue; as rabbin + -«c.] I. a. Same as rab-
bimcal.
II. n. [cav^ The language or dialect of the
rabbis; the later Hebrew.
rabbinical (ra-biu'i-kal), a. [< rabbinic + -al."]
Pertaining to the rabbis, or to their opinions,
learning, and language. The term rabbinical
has been applied to all the Jewish exegetioal
writings composed after the Christian era.
We will not buy your rabbinical fumes ; we have One
that calls us to buy of him pure gold tried in the fire.
MUton, On Def . of Humb. Semonst.
It is but alegend, I know,
A fable, a phantom, a show.
Of the ancient rabbinical lore.
Longfellow, Sandalphon.
Rabbinical Hebrew. See Hebrew.
rabbinically (ra-bin'i-kal-i)^ ad^. In a rab-
binical manner ; like a rabbi.
rabbinism (rab'in-izm), n. [< F. ralbinisme =
Sp. ralinismo; as rallin + -ism.] 1. A rab-
binic expression or phrase ; a peculiarity of the
language of the rabbis. — 3. A system of reli-
gious belief prevailing among the Jews from
the return from the Jewish captivity to the lat-
ter part of the eighteenth century, the distin-
guishing feature of which was that it declared
the oral law to be of equal authority with the
written law of God.
rabbinist (rab'in-ist), n. [Also rabbanist; < F.
rabliniste = Sp. rabinista; as rabbin + ■ist.']
Among the Jews, one who adhered to the Tal-
mud and the traditions of the rablDins, in oppo-
sition to the Karaites, who rejected the tradi-
tions. See rabbinism.
Those who stood up for the Talmud and its traditions
were chiefly the rabbins and their followers; from whence
the party had the name of raibbiniete.
Staekhauxe, Hist. Bible, II. vii. 4.
rabbinite (rab'in -it), n. [< rabbin + -jfeS.]
Same as rabbinist.
rabbit! (rab'it), n. [Early mod. E. also ral-
bate, rabet; < ME. rabet, rabbit, appar. < OF.
*ralot, indicated in F. dial, rabotte, a rabbit;
cf. OD. robbe, D. rob, a rabbit; LG. G. robbe,
a sea-dog, seal ; Gael, rabaid, rabait, a rabbit.
Cf . P. rdble, the back of a rabbit, Sp. Pg. ralo,
tail, hind Quarters, Sp. ralel, hind quarters.
An older E. name is cong. The native name
for the rabbit is hare (including hares and rab-
4924
bits).] 1. A ToAent mammal, Zepuscuniculus,
of the hare family, Leporidse; a kind of hare
notable for burrowing in the ground. This ani-
mal is indigenous to Europe, but has been naturalized
in many other countries, and is the original of all the
domestic breeds. It is smaller than the common hare
of Europe, L. Umidus or variabUis, with shorter ears
Rabbit {white lop-eared variety).
and limbs. The natural color is brownish, but in do-
mestication black, gray, white, and pied individuals are
found. Ttie ears a^B naturally erect, but in some breeds
they fall ; such rabbits are called lopped or lop-eared, and
degrees of lopping of the ears are named haff-lops and
/j3l-lops. Uabbits breed in their burrows or warrens,
and also freely in hutches : they are very prolific, bringing
forth several times a year, usually six or eight at a litter,
and in some countries where they have been natm-alized
they multiply so rapidly as to become a pest, as in Austra-
lia for example. The fur is used in the manufacture of
hats and tor other purposes, and the flesh is esteemed for
food.
Hence — -.2. Any hare; aleporid, oranymember
of the Leporidse. The common gray rabbit or wood-rab-
bit of the tjnited States is L. sylvaticus, also called cotton'
tail and mdly cottontail, a variety of which (or a closely re-
lated species) is the sage-rabbit of western North America,
L.artemisia. IhemaLTGh-Tahhitis L.palustris; theswamp-
rabbit of the Southern States is L. aguatieus. Various
large long-eared and long-limbed hai'es of western North
America are called jack-ral)bits or jackoBS-rabbits, The
South Amei*ican rabbit or hare is the tapeti, L. brasUiensis.
See cuts under cottmiM.il, jack-rabbit, and hare. — Native
rabbit, in Australia, a long-eared kind of bandicoot. Ma-
crotis lagotit. — Snow-shoe rabbit, that vaaiety of the
American varying hare which is found in the Rocky
Mountains. It turns white in winter, and at that season
the (ur of the feet is very heavy. It has been described
as a distinct species, Lepus bairdi, but is better treated
as a local race of L. americanus. — Welsh rabbit, [A
term of jocular origin, formed after the fashion of Nor-
folkcapon, a red herring, etc. (see quotation). Owing to
an absurd notion that rabbit in this phrase is a corruption
of rarebit (as if 'a rare bit'), the word is often so written.]
Cheese melted with a little ale, and poured over slices of
hot toast. Cream, mustard, or Worcestershire sauce are
occasionally added. The name has been given to cheese
toasted but not entirely melted, and laid on toast.
Welsh rabbit is a genuine slang term, belonging to a large
group which describe in the same humorous way the
special dish or product or peculiarity of a particular dis-
trict. For examples: . , . an Essex lion is a caU; aMeld-
lane duck is a baked sheep's head ; Glasgow magistrates
or Norfolk capons are red herrings; Irish apricots or
Munster plums are potatoes ; Gravesend sweetmeats are
shrimps. MacmUlan's Mag,
rabbit! (rab'it), v. i. [< rablit\ to.] To hunt
or trap rabbits.
She liked keeping the score at cricket, and coming to
look at them Ashing or rdbbiting in her walks.
T, Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, II. vii.
"I suppose," pursued Mr. Morley presently, "that you
have been indulging in the Enslishman's usual recreation
of slaughter." "I've been rabbiting, it that's what you
mean," answered Sir Christopher shortly.
W. M. Nmnris, Miss Shafto, xix.
rabbit^t (rab'it), n. [< OP. (and P.) robot, a
plasterers' beater: see rabbet.'] 1. A wooden
implement used in mixing mortar. Cotgrave,
— 2. A wooden can used as a diinking-vessel.
Strong beer in roMtx and cheating penny
cans.
Three pipes tor two-pence, and such like
trepans.
Praise of Yorkshire Ale (1697), p. 1.
HHalliweU.)
rabbit^ (rab'it), v, t. [Appar. a
corruption of rabate (cf . rabbet),
used as a vague imprecation.]
-An interjeotional imperative,
equivalent to confound.
"Rabbit the fellow," cries he; "I
thought, by his talking so much about
riches, that he had a hundred pounds
at least in his pocket."
Fielding, Joseph Andrews. (Latliam,.)
Rabbit me, I am no soldier. Scott
rabbit-berry (ra,b'it-ber"i), n.
The buffalo-berry, SJiepherdia ar-
Floweijjig Plant
of Rabbit-bnjsh
( Btt^eltmia graveo-
tens'), a, a head ;
b, a flower.
rabble
ground over large tracts. It furnishes a safe retreat
for the large jack-rabbits of the plains. It is a disagree-
ably scented plant, with numerous bushy branches which
are more or less whitened by a close tomentum, narrow
leaves, and yellow flowers. There are 4 or 5 well-marked
varieties, differing chiefly in the width of the leaves, in
the degree of whiteness, and in $ize.
rabbitear (rab'it-er), n, A long slender oyster;
a razorblade.
rabbit-eared (rab'it-erd), a. Having long or
large ears, like those of a rabbit ; lagotic : as,
the rabbit-eared bandicoot or native rabbit of
Australia, Macrotis lagotis.
rabbiter (rab'i-tfer), n. One who hunts or traps,
rabbits.
The majority of the men engaged as rabbit^s [in Aus-
tralia] were making a very high rate of Wages.
SH, Amer., N. S., LVI. 294.
rabbit-fish (rab'it-fish), n. 1. A holoeepha-
lous fish, ChimsBra monstrosa. Also called king
of the herrings. [Local, British.] — 2. A plec-
tognathous fish of the family Tetrodontidse and
^enus LagocephaltlS. The name refers to the pecu-
liarity of the front teeth, which resemble the incisors of a
rabbit. The rabbit-fish of the eastern United States is L.
lavigatus, also called smoothpufer and tambor. Itismost-
ly olive-green, but silver- white below, and attains a length
of 2 feet or more. The name is also extended to kindred
plectognaths.
3. The streaked gurnard, Tnflite Kneoto. [Lo-
cal, Eng.]
rabbit-foot clover. See clover, 1, and hare's-
footj 1.
rabbit-hutch (vab'it-huch), n, A box or cage
for the confinement and rearing of tame rabbits.
rabbit-moth (rab'it-m6th), n. The bombycid
moth Lagoa opercularis : so called from its soft
furry appearance and rabbit-like coloration.
See out under stinging-caterpillar. [U. S.]
rabbit-mouth (rab'it-mouth), n, A mouth like
that of a hare; used attributively, having a
formation of the jaws which suggests harelip :
as, the rallit-^iouih sucker, a catostomoid fish,
otherwise called splitmouth, harelip, harelipped
sucker, cutlips, and LagocMla or Quassilalia la-
cera. This fish has the form of an ordinary sucker, but
the lower lip is split into two separate lobes, and the up-
per lip is greatly enlarged and not protractile. It is most
common in the streams flowing from the Ozurk mountains.
See cut under Qwissilatyia.
rabbit-rat (rab'it-rat), n. An Australian rodent
of the genus Hapalotis, as H. allipes.
rabbit-root (rab'it-rot), n. The wild sarsapa-
rillaj Aralia mtdicaulis.
rabbltry (rab'it-ri), ».; pi. ralbitries (.-viz). [<
rallifi- + -ry.] A collection of rabbits, or the
place where they are kept ; a rabbit-warren.
rabbit-spont (rab'it-spout), n. The burrow of
a rabbit. [Prov. Eng.]
Here they turn left-handed, and run him into a rabbit-
spout in the gorse.
Field (London), Feb. 27, 1886. {Encyc. Diet,')
rabbit-squirrel (rab'it-skwuT'''el), n. A South
rabbit-brush (rab'it-brush), n,
A tall shrubby composite plant,
Bigelovia graveulens, growing
abundantly in alkaline soils of
western North America, often,
like the sage-brush (but at low-
er elevations), monopolizing the
South American Chincha or Rabbit-squirrel {Laffidium cuvieri).
American rodent of the family ChinchilUdse and
genus Lagidium, as L. cmieri. Coues.
rabbit-suckert (rab'it-suk'-'fer), n. 1. A suck-
ing rabbit ; a young rabbit.
I preterre an olde cony before a rabbet-sucker, and an an-
cient henne before a young chicken peeper.
Lyly, Endymion, v. 2.
It thou dost it halt so gravely, so majestically, both in
word and matter, hang me up by the heels for a rabbit-
sucker. Shak., 1 Hen. I V. , ii. 4. 480.
2. A gull; a dupe; a cony. See coni/, 7.
rabbit-warren (rab'it-wor'''en), n. A piece of
ground appropriated to the perservation and
breeding of rabbits.
rabble^ (rab'i), v, ; pret. and pp. rabbled, ppr.
rabbling. [Also ravel; < ME. rablen, speak con-
fusedly; cf. OD. rallelen, chatter, trifle, toy, =
G. dial, ralleln, rolleln, chatter, prattle; cf.
ML. ralulare, scold, < L. ralula, a brawling ad-
vocate, a pettifogger. Cf . Gr. l)apdaauv, make
rabble
a noise, If. rapal, noise, rapach, noisy, Gael, ra-
pair, a noisy feUow. The word may have been
in part confused or associated with ramble; ef.
dial, rabbling, winding, rambling.] I. intrans.
To speak confusedly; talk incoherently: utter
nonsense.
n. trans. To utter confusedly or incoher-
ently; gabble or chatter out.
Let thy tunge serve thyn hert in Bkylle,
And raJile not wordes reoheles owt of reson.
MS. Cantab. Fl. ii. 38, 1 24. (Halliwell.)
Thus, father Travea, you may see my rashness to raMle
out the Scriptures without purpose, time [in other editions
nme\ or reason,
J. Bradford, Letters (Parlser Soc., 1853), IL 23.
[Obsolete or prov. Eng. and Scotch in both
nses.]
rabble^ (rab'l), n. and a. [Early mod. E. rahle;
<ME.rabel;<if.rabblei,v.'\ I. n. 1. A tumul-
tuous crowd of vulgar, noisy people; a eon-
fused, disorderly assemblage ; a mob.
I saw, I say, come out of London, even unto the pres-
ence of the prince, a great rdble of mean and light persones.
Aacham, The Scholemaster, i.
Then the Nabob Vizier and liis ralUe made theii' appear-
ance, and hastened to plunder the camp of the valiant
enemies. MacaiUay, Warren Hastings.
2. Specifically, the mass of common people;
the ignorant populace; the mob: with the defi-
nite article.
The rabble now such freedom did enjoy
As winds at sea that use it to destroy.*
Dryden, AstrBea Redux, 1. 43.
3. Any confused crowd or assemblage ; a hap-
lazard conglomeration or aggregate, especial-
ly of things trivial or ignoble.
This miscreant [Mahomet]. . . instituted and published
a sect, or rather a rabble^ of abbominable preoeptes and
detestable counselles, thereby to chaunge the vertuous,
and therewith to delight the vicious and wicked.
Btiemtra, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 327.
For the solace they may geue the readers, after such a
Table of scholastical precepts which be tedious, these re-
ports being of the nature of matters historicall, they are
to be embraced. FuOenJuim, Arte of Eng. Foesie, p. 221.
Flies, Butterflies, Gnats, Bees, and all the rabbles
Of other Insects.
tier, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 6.
.1. Mobf etc. See populace.
n. a. Pertaining to or consisting of a rabble;
riotous ; tumultuous ; disorderly ; vulgar ; low.
To gratify the barbarous party of my audience, I gave
them a short rabble-scene, because the mob ^as they call
them) are represented by Plutarch and Polybius wifli the
same character of baseness and cowardice.
Dryden, Cleomenes, Pref.
How could any one of English education and prattique
swallow such a low, rabble suggestion?
Moger North, Examen, p. 306. (Davies.)
The victory of Beaumont proved to MacMahon that his
only resource left was to abandon the attempt to reach
Bazaine, and to concentrate his rabble army around the
frontier fortress of Sedan. Lowe, Bismarck, I. 648.
labble^ (rab'l), V. t. ; pret. and pp. rabbled, ppr.
rabbling. [< rabble^, n.2 To assault in a vio-
lent and disorderly manner; mob. [Scotch.]
Unhappily, throughout a large part of Scotland, the
clergy of the established church were, to use the phrase
then common, rabbled. MaeoAjlay, Hist. Eng., xiii.
The desolation of Ireland, the massacre of Qlencoe, the
abandonment of the Darien colonists, the raXbling of
about 300 Episcopal clergymen in Scotland . . .
Ledky, Eng. in 18th Cent., i.
It seems but as yesterday since in the streets of Edin-
burgh liidies were insulted and riMled on their way to a
medical lecture-room.
Fartuvigmy Bev., N. S., XXXIX. 19.
rabble^ (rab'l), n. [< OP. roabU, F. rdble, an
implement for stirring or mixing, a poker, etc.,
dial, redable, < L. rutabulum, ML. also rotabu-
lum, a poker or shovel.] An iron bar bent at
right angles at one end, used in the operation
. of puddling for stirring the melted iron, so as
to allow it to be more fully exposed to the ac-
tion of the air and the lining of the furnace.
rabble^ (rab'l), v. t; pret. and pp. rabbled, ppr.
ling. [< rabble^, re.] To stir and skim with
-'^
rabbling. ,_ , .
a rabble or puddling-tool, as melted iron m a
furnace.
rabble-fish (rab'1-flsh), n. Eish generally re-
jected for market, as the dogfishes, rays, gur-
nards, scad, and wrasses. [West of Eng.]
rabblementi (rab'1-ment), ». l<rabblei +
-ment.'] Idle, silly talk; babblement. HalUwell.
[Prov. Eng.] ^ n^ i i
rabblement^t (rab'l-ment), n. [Formerly also
rablement; < rabble^ + -ment.^ 1. A tumultu-
ous crowd or assemblage; a disorderly rout; a
rabble.
The first troupe was a monstrous rablement
Of fowlemisshapen wightes^^^^^^ ^ ^^ ^^ ^ ^_
4925
The rabblement hooted, and clapped their chopped hands.
SMk., J. C, i. 2. 245.
I saw ■ . . giants and dwarfs.
Clowns, conjurors, posture-masters, harlequins,
Amid the uproar of the rabblement,
Perform then- feats. Wordsworth, Prelude, vii.
2. Refuse; dregs. HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
rabbler (rab'16r), n. One who works with or
uses a rabble, especially in the operation of
puddling.
rabbling (rab'ling), a. Same as rambling. See
ramble. [Prov. Eng.]
rabbom(ra-b6'ni),B. [Heb.: seera66i.] Liter-
ally, 'my great master': a title of honor among
the Jews ; specifically, the highest title given
to doctors or expotmders of the law. It was
publicly given to only seven persons of great
eminence, all of the school of Hillel.
She turned herself, and salth unto him, Rdbbmd; which
is to say, Master [i. e., Teacher]. John xx. Ifi.
rabd, rabdoid, etc. See rhabd, etc.
rabel, n. Same as rebec.
Sabelaisian (rab-e-la'zi-an), a. [< F. rabelap-
sien, (.Rabelais (seedef.).^ Of or pertaining to
Fran9ois Rabelais (about 1490-1553), a French
priest, author of " Gargantua and Pantagruel" ;
resembling or suggestive of Rabelais and the
characteristics of his thought and style. Com-
pare Pantagruelism.
Gleams of the truest poetical sensibility alternate in him
[John Skelton] with an almost brutal coarseness. He was
truly Rabelaisian before Rabelais.
Loviea, N. A. Rev., CXX. 340.
rabetif, n. An obsolete spelling of rabbit^.
rabet^t, n. An obsolete spelling of rabbet.
rabi^t, «■ An obsolete spelling of rabbi.
rabi^ (rab'i), n. [Also written rubbee; < Hind.
rabi, the spring, the crop then gathered.] The
great grain-crop of Hindustan, consisting of
wheat, barley, oats, and miUet. It is the last of
the three crops, being laid down in August and September,
partly on land which has lain fallow and partly on land
which has been cleared of the bhadoee or earliest crop.
It furnishes about five sixteenths of the food-supply in a
normal year.
rabiate (ra'bi-at), a. [< ML. rabiatus, pp. of
rabiare, go mad, rave, rage, < L. rabies, mad-
ness: see raftiea. Ct.rage,rave^.2 Rabid; mad-
dened.
Ah ! ye Jewes, worse than dogges rabiate.
La/mentation of Mary Magdalen.
rabiator (ra'bi-a-tor), n. [< ML. rabiator, a
furious man, < rabiare, rave, go mad: see rabi-
ate. The So. rubiature, a, robber, buUy, It. rM-
batore, a robber, < ML. *rubator, does not seem
to be connected.] A furious animal or person ;
a violent, greedy person. [Scotch.]
rablc (rab'ik), a. [< rabi(es) +-ic.2 Of or per-
taining to rabies ; affected or caused by rabies.
Of eight unvacciua^d dogs, six succumbed to the in-
travenous inoculation of ral^ matter.
TyrtdaM, Int. to Lady C. Hamilton's tr. of Life of Pasteur,
[p. 40.
In the interval it [a dog] manifests rabic symptoms.
Medical Sews, XLVIII. 223.
rabid (rab'id), a. [= OP. rabi, rabit = Sj). rd-
bido — Pg. It. rabido, < L. rabidus, mad, furious,
< rabere, be mad, rage : see rabies, and cf . rage,
«.] 1. Furious; raging; mad.
With rabid hunger feed upon your kind.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., xv. 268.
Like rabid snakes that sting some gentle child
Who brings them food. Shdley, Revolt of Islam, v. 7.
Sleep is the sure antidote of insanity, the cure of idiocy,
. . . without whose potent anodynes every creature would
run rabid. A. B. Alcott, Table-Talk, p. 71.
2. Specifically — (o) Affected with rabies or hy-
drophobia, as a dog, wolf, horse, or man; hy-
drophobic ; mad. (6) Pertaining to rabies: as,
rabid virus. — 3. Excessively or foolishly in-
tense; rampant: as, a raftid Tory ; a raftid tee-
totaler.
In the raMd desire to say something easily, I scarcely
knew what I uttered at all. Foe, Tales, I. 289.
rabidity (ra-bid'j-ti), «. [< ML. rabidita(t-)s,
rabidness,^ L.ra6»(JMS, rabid: seerabid.'] The
state of being rabid; rabidness; specifically, ra-
bies. [Rare.]
Although the term hydrophobia has been generally
applied to this terrible disease, I have preferred that o^
rabies, or rabidity, as being more characteristic of the chief
phenomena manifested by it both in man and the lower
animals. Copland, Diet. Pract. Med., Rabies, § 2.
I fear that he [Maoaulay] is one of those who, like the
individual whom he has most studied, will "give up to
party what was meant for mankind. " At any rate, he must
get rid of his roMdily. He writes now on all subjects as
if he certainly intended to be a renegade.
Disraeli, Young Duke, v. 6.
rabidly (rab'id-li), adv. [< rabid + -ly^.'\ In
a rabid manner; madly; furiously.
raccourcy
rabidness (rab'id-nes), n. [< rabid + -ness.']
The state of being rabid; furiousness; mad-
ness.
rabies (ra'bi-ez), n. [< L. rabies, rage, mad-
ness, fury: see rage, m.] An extremely fatal
infectious disease of man and many other ani-
mals, with predominant nervous symptoms.
In man (where it is called hydrophobia) the period of in-
cubation lasts in a majority of cases from three to six
months or more. Cases where it is said to have lasted
several years are ill sustained. The outbreak begins with
malaise, anorexia, headache, and slight difficulty in swal-
lowing. After one or two days of these prodromal symp-
toms the stage of tonic spasms begins, most marked at
first in thepiiaryngeal muscles and in the attempt to swal-
low, especially liquids, but proceeding to involve the
respiratory muscles and others of the trunk and those of
the extremities. These convulsions are accompanied by
extreme anxiety and oppression, and may be elicited by
any stimulus, but especially by attempts to drink or by the
sound or sight of liquids. They may last from a few min-
utes to half an hour. The pulse-rate increases, the tem-
perature is more or less raised, and there may be decided
delirium. After from one to three days the period of
paralysis succeeds, followed shortly by death. The mor-
tality after the development of the malady is nearly 100
per cent. The disease is communicated to man by inocu-
lation from a rabid animal, usually by a dog-bite. The
maximum numberof inoculations occurin the early spring
or winter, the minimum in late summer or falL The sa-
liva of rabid dogs seems to be somewhat rabigenic two or
three days before the animal shows any evident signs of
ill-health. Of persons bitten by rabid animals only a frac-
tion develop rabies, estimated at from 16 per cent, for light
wounds through the clothing up to 80 per cent, for wounds
of exposed parts. The records of Pasteur's laboratories
show a reduction to less than 1 per cent, when such
persons are treated by his method. See Pasbeurism.
rabietic (ra-bi-et'ik), a. [Irreg. < rabies + -et
+ -jc] Pertaining or relating to rabies ; of the
nature of or resembling rabies.
To M. Grancher was most justly accorded the very
agreeable task of expounding in a few simple and un-
adorned sentences the results of the s.Xit\-rabieHa treat-
ment of M. Pasteur. Nature, XXXIX. 73.
rabific (ra-bif' ik), a. [< L. rabies, madness, +
facere, make (see -.^c).] Communicating ra-
bies or canine madness; capable of causing
hydrophobia.
Rabific virus is obtained from a rabbit which has died
after inoculation by trepanning. Eneyc. Brit., XX. 202.
rabigenic (rab-i-jen'ik), a. [< L. rabies, mad-
ness, + gignere, genere, produce, y' "gen, bear,
produce: see -gfew.] Same as raJi^c.
rabinetf (rab'i-net), n. [Origin obscure.] A
small piece of ordnance formerly in use, weigh-
ing about 300 pounds, and carrying a ball about
1-J inches in diameter.
rabioust (ra'bi-us), a. [< OP. rabieux = Sp.
rabioso = Pg. raivoso = It. rabbioso, < L. rabi-
osus, full of rage, raging, < rabies, rage, fury:
see rabies and rage.'] Wild; raging; fierce.
Ethelred languisiiing in minde and body, Edmond his
Sonne, surnamed Ironside (to oppose youth to youth)^ was
imployed against thisrabious inuador.
Daniel, Hist. Eng., p. 15. (Davies.)
rabitet, «• [ME., also rabett, rabyghte, war-
horse, < Icel. rabitr, an Arabian steed (cf . Icel.
rabitar, Arabs), = MHG. rdvit, ravit, a war-
horse, < OP. arabit, arrabi, an Arabian horse, <
Arabe, Arab : see Arab.'] A war-horse.
Syr Gye bestrode a rabyghte,
That was moche and lyghte.
MS. Cantab. Ff. ii. 38, f. 121. (.HaHiwell.)
rabonet, n. [= Sp. rdbano = Pg. rabano, rabSo,
< L. raphanus, a radish : see Raphanus."] A rad-
ish. Gerarde, Herball.
rabot (rab'ot), «. l< F.rabot: see rabbet] A
hard-wood "rubber used in rubbing marble to
prepare it for polishing. E. S. Knight.
raca (ra'ka), a. [Formerly also raclia; LL.
raca, < Gr. pa/ca, < Chal. reka, an insulting
epithet of doubtful meaning, connected per-
haps with raq, spit, spit upon (Ar. riq), or
with riqd, empty, valueless (Ar. raig, vain,
futile).] Worthless; naught: a transliterated
word occurring in Mat. v. 22, common among
the Jews in Christ's time as an expression of
contempt.
raccahout (rak'a-hot), n. [< P. racahout, a cor-
ruption of Ar. rdqaut, rdqoUt, or rdqaout, a nour-
ishing starch with analeptic properties. But
this Ar. word may be the P. ragoUt, OP. ragoust,
imported into the East during the Crusades : see
ragout] A starch or meal prepared from the
edible acorns of the belote oak, Quercus Ballo-
ta, sometimes recommended as a food for inva-
lids. Mixed with sugar and aromatics, it is used by the
Arabs as a substitute for chocolate. (Eneyc. DicL) The
so-called racahout des Arabes, sold in France, is a mixture
made from edible acorns, salep, chocolate, potato-starchy
rice-flour, vanilla, and sugar. Larousse.
raccoon, n. See racoon.
raccourcy (ra-kor'si), a. [< OF. raccourci, pp.
of raccourcir, shorten, out off, < re-, again, + ac-
racconrcy
courcir, shorten, < a- + court, short : see eurt.']
In her., same as couped.
racei (ras), n. [Early mod. E. also rase; < ME.
rase, ras, commonly rees, res, a rush, running,
swift course^ swift current, a trial of speed,
etc., <^AS. rxs, a rush, swift course, onset (of.
gar-rms, ' spear-rush,' fight with spears), = leel.
ras, a race, runniug, course, channel : see raee\
v., and cf. race^. The AS. form r^, ME. rees,
res, would produce a mod. E. *reese; the form
ia noun and verb, race, prop, rase, is due to the
Scand. cognates, and perhaps also in part, in
the verb, to confusion with race^, ».] 1. A
mish; running; swift course.
Whenne thei were wax of Hoises,
Thel Seyje away al in a res.
Cursor Mundi. (BdUiweU.)
That I ful ofte, in suche a res,
Am werye of myn owen lyf.
Oower, Conf. Amant.
The flight of many birds is swifter than the roce of any
beasts. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 681.
2. A course which has to be run, passed over,
or gone through; onward movement or pro-
gression; career.
How soon hath thy prediction, Seer blest,
Measured this transient world, the race of time,
Till time stand flx'd ! Milton, P. L., xii. 654.
Eternity ! that boundless Sace
"Which Time himself can never run.
C<mgreve, Imit. of Horace, II. xiv. 1.
Succeeding Years their happy Race shall run,
And Age unheeded by Delight come on.
Prior, Henry and Emma,
My Arthur, whom I shall not see
Till all my widow'd race be run.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, ix.
3. A contest of speed; a competitive trial of
speed, especially in running, but also in riding,
driving, sailing, rowing, walking, or any mode
of progression. The plural, used absolutely, commonly
means a series of horse-races run at a set time over a reg-
ular course : as, to go to the races ; the Epsom races.
To the bischope in a ras he ran.
Old Eng. Melr. HomUies, 1. 141.
Part on the plain, or in the air sublime.
Upon the wing or in swift race contend.
As at the Olympian games. Milton, P. L., ii. 529.
The rac£S were then called bell courses, because. . .the
prize was a silver bell. Struit, Sports and Pastimes, p. 107.
4t. Course, as of events ; progress.
The prosecution and race of the war carrieth the defen-
dant to assail and invade the ancient and indubitate pat-
rimony of the ilrst aggressor. Bacon, War with Spain.
5t. Struggle ; conflict ; tumult ; trouble.
Othes hue him sworen in stude ther he wes.
To buen him hold ant trewe for alles cunnes res.
Execution of Sir Simon Eraser (Child's Ballads, VI. 276).
Hem med the res that thei ne rest had.
Alisaunder ofMacedoine (E. E. T. S.), 1. 389.
Kedeliche in that res the recuuerere that me falles.
As whan i haue ani hap to here of that barne.
Williami of Paleme (B. E. T. S,), 1. 439.
6t. Course; line of onward movement; way;
route.
The souldier viotourer is not woonte to spare any that
commethe in his rase.
R. Eden, tr. of Peter Martyr (First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 122).
Consolation race. SeeeonsdlaHon. — Flat race, a horse-
race over level or clear ground, as opposed to a hurdle-race
or steeplechase. — Obstacle-race. See obstacle.
race! (ras), v. ; pret. and pp. raced, ppr. racing.
[<ME. rasen, rese»i,rush, run, hasten, < AS. rse-
san, rush, move violently, also rush on, attack,
rush into ; = OD. rdsen, rage, = MLG. rasen,
MHG. G. rasen, rage, = Icel. rasa = Sw. rasa =
Dan. rase, race, rush, hurry: see race^, »,, 1.
The form race, prop, rase, is due to the Scand.
cognates: see the noun.] I. intrans. 1. To run
swiftly; run in, or as if engaged in, a contest
of speed.
Saladin began to rase for Ire.
BicTiard Coer de lAon, 1. 3633.
The racing place, call'd the Hippodromus, without the
gate of Canopus, was probably in the plain towards the
canal. Pocoeke, Description of the East, L 10.
But I began
To thrid the musky-circled mazes, wind
And double in and out the boles, and race
By all the fountains : fleet I was of foot.
Tennyson, Princess, iv.
2. To run with uncontrolled speed; go or re-
volve wildly or with improper acceleration:
said of a steam-engine, a wheel, a ship's screw,
or the like, when resistance is diminished with-
out corresponding diminution of power.
No centrifugal governor could have so instantaneously
cut off the steam : it would not have acted till the engine
began to race.
S. P. Thompson, Dynamo-Elect. Mach., p. 98.
A big steamer in a heavy seaway often rests upon two
■waves, one under her bows and the other under her stem,
4926
while the 'midship section has practically no support from
the water ; and, again, her bows will be almost out of wa-
ter and her screw raeiTig. Sd. Amer., N, S., LVII. 144.
3. To practise horse-racing as an occupation;
be engaged in the business of running horses.
II. trans. 1. To cause to run or move swift-
ly; push or drive onward in, or as if in, a trial of
speed: as, to race a horse; to race steamers. —
2. To run, or cause horses, etc., to run, in com-
petition with; contend against in a race.
Swore, boxed, fought cocks, and raced their neighbor's
horses. Iroing, Knickerbocker, p. 176.
[Colloquial in both uses.]
race^ (ras), n. [A particular use of race'^, as ' a
swiftly running stream'; but perhaps in part
due to OP. rase, raise, a ditch, channel, x= Pr.
rasa, a channel ; origin uncertain.] A strong
or rapid current of water, or the channel or
passage for such a current ; a powerful current
or heavy sea sometimes produced by the meet-
ing of two tides: as, the Eace of Aldemey;
Portland Race.
This evening the Talbot weighed and went back to the
Cowes, because her anchor would not hold here, the tide
set with so strong a race.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 4.
Near the sides of channels and near the mouths of bays
the changes of the currents are very complex ; and near
the headlands separating two bays there is usually at cer-
tain times a very swift current^ termed a race.
Encyc. Brit, XXIII. 363.
(a) A canal or watercourse from a dam to a water-wheel :
speciflcally called the head-race. (6) The watercourse
which leads away the water after it leaves the wheel :
speciflcally called the taH^tzce.
race^ (ras), n. and a. [< P. race (> G. rasse,
race = Sw. ras = Dan. race, breed of horses,
etc.), dial, raice = Pr. Sp. raza = Pg. ra^a =
It. razsa, race, breed, lineage, < OHG. reiz,
reiza, MHG. reiz (G. nss), line, scratch, stroke,
mark, = Icel. reitr, scratch, < rita, scratch, = AS.
writan='E. write: see write. No connection with
racei, root, < L. radix, though race^ may have
been influenced by this word in some of its
uses: see race*.] I. ». 1. A genealogical line or
stock ; a class of persons allied by descent from
a common ancestey; lineage; family; kindred:
as, the Levites were a race of priests ; to be of
royal or of ignoble race.
She is a gentlewoman of very absolute behaviour, and
of a good race, B. Jonson, Epiccene, iii. 2.
He lives to build, not boast, a generous race;
No tenth transmitter of a foolish face.
Savage, The Bastard.
2. An ethnical stock; a great division of man-
kind having in common certain distinguishing
physical peculiarities, and thus a comprehen-
sive class appearing to be derived from a dis-
tinct primitive source: as, the Caucasian race;
the Mongolian race; the Negro race. See man, 1.
I cannot with any accuracy speak of the English race;
that would be claiming for ourselves too great a place
among the nations of the earth.
E. A. Freeman, Amer. lects., p. 14.
3. A tribal or national stock; a division or sub-
division of one of the great racial stocks of
mankind, distinguished by minor peculiarities:
as, the Celtic race; the Finnic race is a branch
of the Mongolian; the English, French, and
Spaniards are mixed races. — 4. The human
family; human beings as a class; mankind:
a shortened form of human race : as, the fu-
ture prospects of the race; the elevation of
the race.
She had no companions of mortal race.
SheUey, Sensitive Plant, ii. 4.
5. A breed, stock, or strain of domesticated
animals or cultivated plants; an artificially
propagated and perpetuated variety. Such races
differ from natural species or varieties in their tendency
to revert to their original characters, and lose those artifi-
cially acquired, when they are left to themselves. Many
thousands of races have been produced and named.
There is a race of sheep in this country with four horns,
two of them turning upwards, and two downwards.
Pocoeke, Description of the East, II. i. 196.
The truth of the principle of prepotency comes out more
clearly when distinct races are crossed.
Darwin, Var. of Animals and Plants, xiv.
Speciflcally — (a) In zobl., a geographical variety; a sub-
species, characteristic of a given fannal area, intergrading
with another form of the same species. (6) In hot. : (1) A
variety so fixed as to reproduce itself with considerable
certainty by seed. Baces may be of spontaneous origin
or the result of artificial selection. (2) In a broader use,
any variety, subspecies, species, or group of very similar
species whose characters are continued through succes-
sive generations. Bentham, Address to Linn. Soc, 1869.
6. Any fixed class of beings more or less broadly
differentiated from all others ; any general ag-
gregate of mankind or of animals considered as
a class apart; a perpetuated or continuing line
lacemation
of like existences: as, the human race; the race;-
of statesmen ; the equine or the feline race.
That provident care for the welfare of the offspring
which is so strongly evinced by many of the insect race.
Say.
7t. A line or series; a course or succession:
used of things.
A race of wicked acts
Shall flow out of my anger, and o'erspread
The world's wide face. B. Jonson, Sejanus, ii. 2.
Sf. A strong peculiarity by which the origin
or species of anything may be recognized, as,
especially, the flavor of wine.
Order. There came not six days since from Hull a pipe-
of rich canary. . . .
Oreedy. Is it of the right race/
Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts, i. 3,
Of. Intrinsic character; natural quality or dis-
position; hence, spirit; vigor; pith; raciness.
Now I give my sensual race the rein.
Sliak., M. for M., ii. 4. 160.
I think the Epistles of Phalaris to have more race, more
spirit, more force of wit and genius than any others I hav&
ever seen. Sir W. Temple, Anc and Mod. Learning.
=Syn. Tribe, Clan, etc See people.
11. a. Of or pertaining to a race. [Eare.]
The pyramids are race monuments.
^ew Princeton JRev., V. 235.
race* (ras), TO. [Formerly also ra^e; < OF. rai's,.
raiz = Sp. raiz = Pg. rate = It. radice, a root,
< L. radix, a root: see radix, radish.'\ A root.
See race-ginger, and hand, 13 (a).
I have a gammon of bacon, and two razes of ginger, to-
be delivered as far as Charing Cross.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 1. 27.
By my troth, I spent eleven pence, beside three races of
ginger.
Greene and Lodge, Looking Glass for lond. and Eng.
race^t (ras), ». *. [< ME. racen, rasen, by apheresis
from aracen, root up : see araee^, and cf . rash^.^
To tear up; snatch away hastily.
After he be-heilde towarde the fier, and saugh the flesshe
that the knaue hadde rested that was tho I-nough, andi
raced it off with his hondes madly, and rente it a-sonder in
peces. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 424.
And raas it trome his riche mene and ryste it in sondyre.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 362.
race^t, v. t. An obsolete form of rasei, raze^.
race'^ (ras), ». [Origin obsciu'e.] A calcareous
concretion in brick-earth. [Prov. Eng.]
What were at first supposed to be pebbles in one of the-
samples from Tantah prove on examination to be calcare-
ous concretions (race or kunkur).
Proc. Roy. Soc, XXXIX. 213.
rac6 (ra-sa'), a. In her., same as indented.
race-card (ras'kard), n. A printed card con-
taining information about the races to be rum
at a meeting on a race-course.
I remember it because I went to Epsom races that year-
to sell race cards.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 431.
race-cloth (ras'kl6th), n. A saddle-cloth used
in horse-racing, having pockets for the weights
that may be prescribed.
race-course (ras'kors), n. 1. A plot of ground
laid out for horse-racing, having a track for the-
horses, usually elliptical, and accommodations
for the participants and spectators. — 2. The-
canal along which water is conveyed to or from
a water-wheel.
race-cup (ras 'kup) ,n. A piece of plate forming-
a prize at a horse-race. Originally such a piece
of plate had the form of a goblet or drinking-
cup, whence the name.
race-ginger (ras'iin"j6r), n. Ginger in the root,
or not pulverized.
race-ground (ras'groimd), «. Ground appro-
priated to races.
race-horse (ras'h&rs), n. 1. A horse bred or
kept for racing or running in contests ; a horse
that runs in competition. The modern race-horse,
though far inferior to the Arab in point of endurance, is-
perhaps the finest horse in the world for moderate heats,
such as those on common race-tracks. It is generally'
longer-bodied than the hunter, and the same power of
leaping is not required. This animal is of Arabian, Ber-
ber, or Turkish extraction, improved and perfected 1)y
careful crossing and training. See racer, 2.
2. The steamer-duck. — 3. A rear-
horse ; any mantis.
race-knife (ras'nif ), n. A tool with a
bent-over lip for scribing, marking,
numbering, and other purposes. E.
H. Knight.
racemation(ras-e-ma'shon),M. [<LL.
racematio(n-), the gleaning of grapes, *^«-'">tf=-
< L. racemus, a cluster of grapes: see racer.ie.']
1. The gathering or trimming of clusters of
grapes. [Kare.]
racemation
Tt^rJlll?,''™"*^* "'*'■ '°™« curious instruments out of
Bp. Burnet, Bp. Bedell, p. 120. (LaOiam.)
2. A cluster, as of grapes; the state of being
racemose, or having clustered folUeles, as I
gland. [Ears.] '
The whole racemation or cluster of eggs.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iil. 28.
raceme (ra-sem'), n. [= F. raehne, a cluster,
= op- Pg- racmo = It. raeemo, < L. racemm, a
cluster of gra])es ; allied to Gr. /idf (gen. jmyic),
a herry, esp. a grape. Cf . raism\ from the same
source.] A cluster; specifically, in hot., a sim-
ple inflorescence of the centripetal or indeter-
minate type, in which the several or many flow-
ers are borne on somewhat equal axillary pedi-
cels along a relatively lengthened axis or raohis.
Examples are furnished by the currant, the lily-of-the-
v^ley, the locust, etc. A raceme becomes compound
when the smgle flowers are replaced by racemes: See
tnfloreicenee, compare spilce, and see cuts under Aetaa in-
florescence, and Omtthogalum.
racemed (ra-semd'5, a. [< raceme + -edS.] In
hot., disposed in racemes: said of flowers or
fruits, or of the branches of a racemosely com-
pound inflorescence.
race-meeting (ras'me"ting), n. A meeting for
the purpose of horse-racing.
How many more race-meetings are there now than there
were in 1860? Quarterly Iieii.,CXLY. 10.
racemic (ra-sem'ik), a. [< raceme + -jc] Per-
taining or relating to grapes in clusters, or to
racemes — Eacemic acid, G4H«06, an acid isomeric
with tartaric acid, found along with the latter in the tar-
tar obtained from certain vineyards on the Rhine. It is a
modification of the ordinary tartaric acid, differing from
it in its physical but not in its chemical properties. Also
called paratartaHe add.
racenuferous (ras-e-mif 'e-ms), a. [< L. race-
miis, a cluster (see raceme), -H/erre = E. 6earl.]
Bearing racemes.
racemiform (ra-se'mi-f6rm), a. [< L. racemiis,
a cluster, -I- forma, form.] In hot., having the
form of a raceme.
racemocarbonic (ra-se^mo-kar-bou'lk), a. [<
racemic + carbonic.'] Formed from or consist-
ing of racemic and carbonic acids Eacemooar-
bonlc acid. Same as desoxaZic acid (which see, under
desoxaZie),
racemose (ras'f-mos), a. [Also racemous; = F.
racemeux = Sp. Pg. racimoso = It. racemoso,
< L. racemosus, full of grapes, < racemiis, bunch
of grapes : see raceme, raisin.] 1. In hot. : (a)
Having the character or appearance of a ra-
ceme : said of a flower-cluster. (6) Arranged
in racemes: said of the flowers. — 2. In anat.,
clustered or aggregate, as a gland; having
ducts which divide and subdivide and end in
bunches of follicles, it is a common type of glan-
dular structure, well exemplified in the salivary glands
and the pancreas. See cut under parotid. — Eacemose
adenoma, a tumor originating from glandular tissue, and
resembling closely the appearance and structure of a race-
mose gland : found in the breast and in salivary and seba-
ceous glands.
racemosely (ras'f-mos-li), adv. So as to form
or resemble a raceme or racemes.
racemous (ras'f-mus or ra-se'mus), a. Same
as racemose.
racemule (ras'f-miil), n. [< NL. *racemul'us,
dim. of Li. racemus, a cluster: see raceme.] In
hot., a small raceme.
racemulose (ra-sem'u-16s), a. [< NL. racemu-
losus, full of small racemes, < *raeemulus, a
small raceme: see racemule.] In hot., resem-
bling a racemule, or arranged in racemules.
race-plate (ras'plat), n. A wrought-iron or
steel traversing-platform for heavy guns, upon
which the gun is moved in a horizontal arc and
moves backward in recoil.
racer (ra'ser), n. [= loel. rasari, a racer, race-
horse; as raicel + -eri.] 1. One who races ; a
runner or contestant in a race or in races of
any kind.
Besmear'd with filth, and blotted o'er with clay,
Obscene to sight, the rueful racer lay.
„ , , Pope, Iliad, xxiii. 912.
2. A race-horse.
The racer is generally distinguished by his beautiful
Arabian head; his fine and finely-set-on neck ; his oblique
lengthened shoulders ; well-bent hinder legs ; his ample
muscular guarters ; his flat legs, rather short from the knee
downwards : and his long and elastic pastern.
Quoted in T. Bell's British Quadrupeds, p. 382.
3. Hence, anything having great speed.
Coal will be transferred across the Atlantic in cargo
boats for the use of the ocean racers. Engineer, LXVI. 77.
4. In a braiding-machine, a traversing sup-
port for tension and spool-holding apparatus.—
5 A snake of the genus Seotophis (or Coluber),
5. ohsoletus, also called pilot hlack-snahe or
pilot-snaJce. It is black, with a mottled black
4927
and yellow belly, and has the median dorsal
scales carinated. — 6. A snake, Bascanion con-
strictor, the common black-snake of the eastern
United States. It is blue or blue-black, with
greenish-blue belly, and has smooth scales. —
7. A poor, thin, or spent fish; a sUnk: applied
to mackerel, shad, salmon, etc. — 8. A sand-
crab. See Ocypoda.—-sixLs racer. See Uueraeer.
race-track (ras'trak), n. The track or path
over which a race is run ; a race-course.
raceway (ras'wa), TO. 1. An artificial passage
for water flowing from a fall or dam ; a mill-
race. Compare mill-race. See race^. — 2. In
fish-culture, a fishway.
racht, TO- See ratclfi.
rachamah, n. In ornith. See Neophron.
rache^t, n. See ratch^.
rache^t, v. An obsolete form of reachX.
raclie^t, v. t. An obsolete assibilated form of
racfci.
rachial (ra'M-al), a. [< rachis + -al.] Pertain-
ing to a raohis; rachidial. Also rhachial.
racnialeia (ra-ki-al'ji-a), to. [NL., prop. rAacfej-
algia, < Gr. l)dxig, spine, + aXyog, pain.] Pain
in the spine, especially neuralgic pain. Also
rhachialgia.
rachialgic (ra-ki-al'jik), a. [< rachialgia + -ic]
Affected with rachialgia. Also rhachialgic.
Rachianectes (ra"ki-a-nek'tez), re. [NL.
(Cope), also Bhachianecies, < Gr. l>ax'ia, a rocky
shore, -t- i^/cn/f, a swimmer, < vfjxeiv, swim.]
A genus of whalebone whales of the family
Balsenopteridse and subfamily Agaphelinse, con-
taining the gray whale of the North Pacific,
B. glaucus, combining the small head, slender
form, and narrow flippers of a finner-whale
with the lack of a dorsal fin and absence of
folds of skin on the throat of a right whale.
This whale attains great size, and its pursuit is an impor-
tant branch of the fisheries in the waters it is found in,
sometimes attended with special dangers. The parasites
chiefly affecting R. glaucus are a whale-louse, Cya/mus
scammom, and a barnacle, Cryptolepas rachianecU.
Bachicallis (ra-ki-kal'ls), TO. [NL. (A. P. de
CandoUe, 1830), < Gr. jiaxia, a rocky shore, +
KoXkog, beauty.] A genus of rubiaceous shrubs
belonging to the tribe Bondeletiese, differing
from BondeleUa chiefly in its half-superior sep-
tieidal capsule. There is only one species, E. rapes-
trie, called earwort, growing on the rocky coasts of the
West Indies. It is a low shrub bearing narrow decussate
leaves with sheathing stipules, and small solitary yellow
flowers sessile in the axils.
racbides, to. Plural of rachis.
racbidial (ra-kid'i-al), a. [Also rhachidial; <
Gr. fidxtg (assumed'stem *i)axi,S-), the spine, +
-al.] Of or pertaining to a rachis, in any sense;
rachial.
racbidian (ra-kid'i-an), a. [_Also rhachidian ; <
F. rachidien, < Gr. paxiQ (assumed stem *ptixtS-),
the spine, + -ian.] Same as rachidial.
The teeth of the radula are divided by nearly all students
of that organ into rhaehidian or median, lateral, and un-
cinal. W. H. Doll, Science, iv. So. 81, Aug. 22, 1884.
EacMdian bulb. Same as medulla oblongata. — Eachid-
lajl canal, the spinal or neural canal.
Bacbiglossa (ra-ki-glos'a), n.pl. [Also Bhachi-
glossa; NL., < Gr. fidx^i, the spine, + yTuJaaa,
tongue.] Those moUusks which are rachiglos-
sate; specifically, a division of gastropods so
characterized, including the Bucdnidx, Muri-
cidse, Volutidx, etc. See cut under ribbon.
rachiglossate (ra-M-glos'at), a. [Also rha-
chiglossate ; < Grr. jy&xi-Q, the spine, -I- ■y'kdaaa,
tongue .] In Mollusca, havingi,upon the lingual
ribbon or radnla only a single median tooth, or
a median tooth with only an admedian one on
each side of it, in any one of the many trans-
verse series or cross-rows of radular teeth. The
formula is O-I-O or I-I-I, where the 0 is a cipher
and I means one.
racbilla (ra-kil'a), TO. [Also rhachilla; NL., < Gr.
jjaxtg, the spine', + dim. .411a.] In hot., a little
rachis ; a secondary rachis in a compound in-
florescence, as of a spikelet in a grass.
Bacbiodon (ra-ki'o-don), TO. [NL.: see ra-
chiodont.] THe typical genus of Bachiodonti-
dse, having a series of enamel-tipped vertebral
processes projecting into the esophagus and
serving as teeth: synonymous with Dasypeltis
(which see). The type is R. scaber, of Africa, a snake
which lives much on eggs, and has this contrivance for not
smashing them till they get down its throat, when the sa-
gacious serpent swallows the contents and spits out the
shell. Also Rhaehiodon.
racbiodont (ra'ki-o-dont), a. [Also rhachio-
dont; < Gr. pdxiQ, the spine, + Movg (bSovr-) = E.
tooth.] Having processes of the spinal column
which function as teeth; belonging to the Ba-
ehiodontidse.
Rye-grass (Lo-
/iutnfiereftne).
a, Rachis.
racially
Bacbiodontidse (ra''ld-o-don'ti-de), n.pl. [NL.,
< Bachiodon ^-odimt-) + -idse.] A family of colu-
briform ophidians, named from the genus Ba-
chiodon : same as the subfamily Dasypeltinx.
Also Bhachiodontidse.
Bacbiopteris (ra-ki-op'te-ris), TO. [NL., < Gr.
}>dXK, tne spine, -1- Trrepif,' fern : see Fteris.] A
name under which Schimper has grouped vari-
ous fragments of the rachides or stems of fossil
ferns, specimens of this nature have been described by
Lesqnereux as occurring in the coal-measures of Illinois,
and by Dawson as having been found in the Devonian of
New York.
racbipagus (ra-kip'a-gus), TO.; pi. rachipagH-y).
[NL., < Gr. j>6.xi.g, the spine, H- ndyog, that which
is fixed or firmly set, < miyvmai,, make fast.] In
teratol., a double monster united at the spine.
racbis (ra'kis), re.; pi. rachides (-ki-dez). [Also
rhachis; NL., < Gr. }>axi^, the spine,
a ridge (of a mountain-chain), a rib
(of a leaf) .] 1 . In hot. : (a) The axis
of an inflorescence when somewhat
elongated ; the continuation of the
pedimcle along which the flowers
are ranged, asinaspikeora raceme .
(6) In a pinnately compound leaf
or frond, the prolongation of the
petiole along which the leaflets or
pinnsB are disposed, corresponding
to the midrib of a pinnately veined
simple leaf. See cut under com-
pound. — 2. Jnzool. and anat.: (a)
The vertebral column. (6) The stem, shaft, or
scape of a feather, as distinguished from the
web, vane, or vexillum ; especially, that part of
the stem which bears the vexillum, as distin-
guished from the calamus or quill. See quill, 4.
The differentiation of the feather into rachis and vexil-
lum. Gegenbaur, Comp. Anat. (trans.), p. 419.
(c) The median part of the radula of a moUusk,
usually bearing teeth which differ from those
on each side of it. — 3. The axial skeleton of
various polyp-colonies, as of Gorgonia; some
axial part, or formation like a midrib, as in
crinoids — Generative rachis, in crinoids, a cellular
rod or cord which lies in the genital canal in connection
with the visceral generative tissue, and the enlargements
of which in the pinnules form the genital glands,
racbitic (ra-Mt'ik), a. [Also rhachitic; < F.
rachitigue; as rachitis + -ic] 1. In anat., of
or pertaining to the spinal column ; spinal ; ver-
tebral. [Eare.] — 2. Pertaining to or affected
with rachitis ; rickety.
racbitis (ra-ki'tis), re. [NL. (Dr. Glisson, 1650,
in his work "De BaehiUde"), as if lit. 'inflam-
mation of the spine' (prop. rhachiUs,<. Gr. fiaxig,
the spine, -1- 4,tis), but adopted as a Latinized
form for B. richets: see rickets.] 1. A disease
of very early life, characterized by a perversion
of nutrition of the bones, by which uncalcified
osteoid tissue is formed in place of bone, and
the resorption of bone is quickened. Hence the
bones are flexible, and distoi'tions occur, such as crooked
legs,heart-shaped pelvis, or curvature of spine. See rickets.
2. In hot., a disease producing abortion of the
fruit or seed — EacMtlB fcetalis annularis, intra-ute-
rine formation of annular thickenings on the diaphyses of
the long bones. Also called rachitis introrUterina annu-
laris.— Eacbitis foetalls micromellca, intra-uterine
stunting of the bones in their longitudinal growth. Also
called rachitis uterina micromelica.
racbitome (rak'i-tom), n. [Also rhachitome; <
F. rachitome, < Gr. pdxtg, the spind, + -ro/zof, <
ri/ivew, ra/ielv, cut.] AJi anatomical instrument
for opening the spinal canal, without injuring
the medulla.
racbitomous (ra-kit'o-mus), a. [Also rhachito-
mous; < Gr. pdxis, the spine, + -ro/jog, < ts/ivbiv,
ra/ielv, cut.] Segmented, as a vertebra of many
of the lower vertebrates which consists of a neu-
ral arch resting on a separate piece on each side,
the pleurocentrum, which in turn rests on a sin-
gle median piece below, the interoentrum ; hav-
ing or characterized by such vertebrss, as a fish
or batrachian, or the backbone of such animals.
See emholomerous. E. D. Cope.
Both kinds of vertebrse (rachitomous and emholomerous)
can be found in the same animaL Science, VI. 98.
racial (ra'sial), a. [< raee^ + -4al. Cf . facial.]
Eelating or pertaining to race or lineage, or to
a race or races of living beings ; characteristic
of race or of a race.
Man, as he lived on the earth during the time when the
most striking rociaZ characteristics were beiug developed.
W. H. Flower, Encyc. Brit., XV. 445.
racially (ra'sial-i), adv. In a racial manner ; in
relation to or as influenced b^ race or lineage.
The unification of the racially most potent people qt
whom we have record. The Academy, Aug. 3, 1889, p. 66.
Baciborskia
lUciborskia (ras-i-bdr'ski-S), n. [NL. (Ber-
lese), < Maeyborski, a Polish 'botanist.] A genus
of myxomyeetous fungi, giving name to the
famUy BaciborsTriacesB.
Haciborskiacese (ras-i-bdr-sM-a'se-e), n. pi.
[NL., < Badborskia + -aceas.] A small family
of myxomyeetous fungi, taking its name from
the genus BadborsJcia, and having the peridium
naked and distinctly stipitate, and the eapil-
litium violaceous.
xacily (ra'si-li), adv. [< racy + -ly^."] In a
racy manner: piquantly; spicily.
Tacinet, «. [ME.; < OP. radne, raehine, P. ra-
cine = Pr. racina, raeina, root, < ML. as if "radi-
eina, dim. of L. radix (radic-), root: see radix.
Cf. racei.} A root.
Unlet alle lust, though it be Bote,
And ol alle yvelle the raeyne.
Bom. of the Rose, L 4881.
xaciness (ra'si-nes), n. [< racy + -ness.'] The
quality of being racy; peculiarly characteristic
and piquant flavor or style; spiciness; pun-
gency.
racing (ra'slng), n. [Verbal n. of raee\ ».]
The running of races ; the occupation or busi-
ness of arranging for or carrying on races', espe-
cially between horses.
The Qaeen [Anne] was fond of racing, and gave her MM.
gold cups to be run for, as now : nay more, she not only
kept race horses, but ran them in her own name.
Ashton, Social Life in Eeign of Queen Anne, I. 302.
racing-bell (ra'sing-bel), n. A grelot or small
bell given as a prize for a horse-race : such a
prize, was frequent in the sixteenth century.
Bells of this form exist of silver, from an inch to two
inches and a half in diameter, with inscriptions and dates.
racing-bit (ra'sing-bit), n. A light jointed-
ring bit, the loose rings of which range in size
from 3 to 6 inches.
racing-calendar (ra'sing-kal"en-dar), n. A de-
tailed list of races run or to be run.
rack! (rak), V. t. [Early mod. B. also wrack (by
confusion with wrack'^) ; not found as a verb
in ME. or AS., except the secondary forms AS.
reccan, as below, and ME. raxen, < AS. raxan,
*racsan, stretch oneself (see rax) ; prob. < MD.
racken, stretch, reach out, torture, rack, = G.
raeken, stretch, torture; a collateral form of
AS. reccan (pret. reahte), stretch out, also cor-
rect, direct, rule, guide, tell, etc. (^ME. ree-
chen, stretch, also tell: see retell^ and racW,
reckon), = OS. rekkian, stretch, = MD. recken,
D. rekicen = MLG. reken, stretch, = OHG. rec-
■ehan, MHO-, recken, stretch, extend, = Icel. rek-
Ja, stretch, trace (of. reki^a, strain), = Dan.
reekke = Sw. rdcka, reach, hand, stretch, =
<Joth. *rakjan, in comp. uf^akjan, stretch out;
prob. = L. regere, rule, lit. 'stretch out,' 'make
straight ' (in por-rigere, stretch forth, e-rigere,
straighten out, erect, etc. ) (pp. rectus, straight,
= E. right), = Grr. 'opkyuv, stretch, = Lith. razau,
razyU, stretch, = Skt. v arj, stretch. Akin to
rake'^, reach, extend, but prob. not to rake^, nor
to reacW-, with which, however, rack'^ has been
partly confused. The verb and esp. the noun
rack show great confusion and mixture of
senses, and complete separation is difficult.
In some senses the verb is from the noun.] 1 .
To stretch; stretchout: strain by force or vio-
lence ; extend by stretching or straining.
Which yet they rack higher to foure hundred three-
score and ten thousand yeares.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 64.
I know your hearts are like two lutes rocW up
lo the same pitch. The Slighted Maid, p. 53. (Wares.)
Suits in love should not,
Like suits in law, be rack'd from term to term.
Shirley, Hyde Park, i. 2.
2. To strain so as to rend ; wrench by strain or
jar; rend; disintegrate; disjoint: as, a racking
cough ; to rack a ship to pieces by slanting shot.
The duke
Dare no more stretch this finger of mine than he
Dare rack his own. ShaJc., M. for M., v. 1. 317.
8. To torture by violent stretching; stretch on
a frame by means of a windlass ; subject to the
punishment of the rack. See rack^, n., 2 (6).
He was racked and miserably tormented, to the intent
he should either chaunge his opinion or conf esse other of
his profession. Foxe, A Table of French Martyrs, an. 1551.
An answer was returned by Lord Killultagh to the effect
that "you ought to rack him if you saw cause, and hang
him if you found reason." Eneyc. Brit., XXIII. 466.
Noblemen were exempt, the vulgar thought,
From racking, but, since law thinks otherwise,
I have been put to the rack.
Brmmmng, Eing and Book, I. 202.
Hence — 4. To put in torment; afEeot with great
pain or distress; torture in any way; disturb
violently.
4928
My soul is rack'd till you dissolve my fears.
Beau, and Fl. (?), Faithful Friends, .', 1.
Lord, how my soul is racWd betwixt the world and thee !
Quarles, Emblems, v. 9.
I will not rack myself with the Thought.
Steele, Grief A-la-Mode, v. 1.
Kinraid was racked with agony from his dangling broken
leg, and his very life seemed leaving him.
Mrs. GaskeU, Sylvia's Lovers, xxxviiL
5. To strain with anxiety, eagerness, curiosity,
or the like; subject to strenuous effort or in-
tense feeling; worry; agitate: as, to rack one's
invention or memory.
A barbarous phrase has often made me out of love with
a good sense ; and doubtful writing hath wracked me be-
yond my patience. B. Jonson, Discoveries.
It doth rack my brain why they should stay thus.
Shirley, Love in a Maze, v. 5.
6. To stretch or draw out of normal condition or
relation; strain beyond measure or propriety;
wrest; warp; distort; exaggerate; overstrain:
chiefly in figurative uses.
Albeit this is one of the places that hath been racked, as
I told you of racking Scriptures.
Latimer, Sermon of the Plough.
For it so falls out
That what we have we prize not to the worth
While we enjoy it, but, being lack'd and lost,
Why, then we rack the value.
Shak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 222.
Pray, rack not honesty. Fletcher, Loyal Subject, ii. 6.
Hyperbole is racked to find terms of adoring admiration
for the queen. Whipple, Ess. and Eev., II. 28.
7. To exact or obtain by rapacity; get or gain
in excess or wrongfully. See rack-rent. [Ob-
solete or archaic]
Each place abounding with fowle injuries.
And flld with treasure rackt with robberies.
Spenser, Mother Hub. Tale, L 1306.
Why, honest master, here lies all my money,
The money I ha* racked by usui-y.
Fletc}ier(and another). Sea Voyage, L 1.
Good for nought but to persuade their lords
To rack their rents and give o'er housekeeping.
Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, i. 1.
8t. To subject to extortion; practise rapacity
upon ; oppress by exaction.
The commons hast thou rack'd; the clergy's bags
Are lank and lean with thy extortions.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., i. 3. 181.
Here are no hard Landlords to racke vs with high rents,
or extorting fines. Capt. John Smith, Works, II. 186.
9. In mining, to wash on the rack. See rack^, n.,
5 (i). — 10. To place on or in a rack or frame
made for the purpose, either for storage or for
temporary need, as for draining, drying, or the
like. — 11. To form into or as if into a rack
or grating ; give the appearance of a rack to. —
12. Naut., to seize together with cross-turns,
as two ropes — Racking ttims, turns taken alternate-
ly over and under ropes, to bind them together. — To rack
a tackle, to seize two parts of a tackle together with rope-
yam or spun-yarn, so that, if the fall is let go, the strain
will not be loosened.
rack! (rak), n. [< ME. racke, a rack (for tor-
ture), rakke, a straight bar, a rack for hay, a
framework, rekke, a bar, a framework above a
manger, a bar, a rack (for torture), later rak,
rack (as a roost, a frame for dishes, weapons,
etc.); < MD. racke, D. rak, a rack, = LG. rakk,
a shelf, = G. rack, a bar, rail, recke, a frame,
trestle, rack for supporting things, dial, reck,
scaffold, wooden horse; the lit. sense. being
either (a) active, 'that which stretches,' as an
appliance for bending a bow, a frame for stretch-
ing the limbs ij torture (rack in this sense also
involving the sense of 'framework' merely),
or (6) passive, 'that which is stretched,' hence
a straight bar (cf. Icel. rakkr, rakr, straight, =
Sw. rak, straight), a frame of bars (such as the
grating above a manger), a framework uSed in
torture (involving also the orig. active notion
of ' stretching'), a bar with teeth, a thing ex-
torted, etc.; from the verb. Cf. G. reckbank, a
rack (means of torture), < recken, stretch, -1-
bank, bench.] It. A bar.
Hevie rekkes binde to hire fet.
FarlyEng, Poems and Lives of Saints (ed. Furnivall), xv.
[192.
2. A frame or apparatus for stretching or strain-
ing. Specifically — (a) A windlass or winch for bending
a bow ; the part of the crossbow in which the gaffle moved.
rack
was laid, having at one end a fixed bar to which one pair of
limbs was fastened, and at the other end a movable bar
Rack.
to which the other limbs were fastened, and which could
be forcibly pulled away from the fixed bar or rolled on
its own axis by means of a windlass. See judicial tortwe,
under torture.
Galows and racke.
Caxton, tr. of Eeynard the Fox (ed. Arber)^ p. 24.
Take him hence ; to the rack with him I We'll touse you
Joint i)y joint, but we will know his purpose.
SAa*.,M. for M.,v. 1.313.
3. Punishment by the rack, or by some similar
means of torture.
X'ou have found a Person who would suffer Backs in
Honour's Cause. Congreve, Way of the World, iv. 18.
Hence — 4. A state of torture or extreme suf.
fering, physical or mental; great pain; rend-
ing anxiety ; anguish. See on the rack, below.
A fit of the stone puts a king to the rack, and makes him
as miserable as it does the meanest subject.
Sir W. Temple.
5. A grating or open framework of bars, wires,
or pegs on or in which articles are arranged or
deposited: much used in composition, as in
bottle-»'acfc, card-mcfe, hat-racfc, letter-racfc, etc.
Specifically — (a) A grating on which bacon is laid, (b)
An open wooden framework placed above a manger or the
like, in which fodder for horses or cattle is laid.
From their full ra^ks the generous steeds retire.
Addison,
(e) An openwork siding, high aiid flaring outward, placed
on a wagon for the conveyance of hay or straw, grain in
the sheaf, or other light and bulky material, (d) In print-
ing, an upright framework, with side-cleats or other
supports, tor the storing of cases, of boards or galleys of
type, etc. : distinguished as case-rack galley-rack, etc. (c)
Naut., a fair-leader for a running rigging. (/) The cob-
iron of a grate. Halliwell. (g) A framework for a table
aboard ship to hold dishes, etc., so as to keep them from
sliding or falling ojf : same as fiddle, 2. (h) A frame for
holding round shot in holes; a shot-rack. {€) In metal.,
an inclined wooden table on which fine ore is washed on a
small scale. It is one of the various simpler forms of the
huddle. (J) In woolen-cloth manuf., a frame in a stove or
room heated by steam-pipes on which the cloth is stretched
tightly after washing with fullers' earth, (fr) In organs
building, one of the thin boards, with perforations, which
support the upper part of the feet of the pipes.
6. In mach., a straight or very slightly curved
metallic bar, with teeth on onfe of its edges,
adapted to work into the teeth
of a wheel, pinion, or endless
1^=. screw, for converting a circular
Rack and Wonn.
Rack and Pinion.
These bows . . . were bent only by a man's immediate
strength, without the help of any bender or rack.
Bp. WUkins, Math. Magick. {Latham,)
(b) An instrument of torture by means of which the limbs
were pulled in different directions, so that the whole body
was subjected to a great tension, suificient sometimes to
cause the bones to leave their sockets. The form of ap-
plication of the torture differed at different times. The
rack consisted essentially of a platform on which the body
into a rectilinear motion, or vice versa. If the
rack is curved, it is called a segment-rack. If the teeth
are placed on the rack obliquely and it is used with a
worm. instead of a wheel, it forms a rack-and-worm gear;
in the cut, a is the worm, b the rack, and e a friction-
wheel on which the back of b rolls, and which holds b in-
termeshed with a. See also cut under mutilated.
7. An anglers' creel or fish-basket. — 8. A fish-
weir. — 9. A measure of laeework counting 240
meshes perpendicularly. — 10. Eeach: as, to
work by rack of eye (that is, to be guided by
the eye in working). — llf. That which is ex-
torted; exaction.
The great rents and racks would be insupportable.
Sir E. Sandys, State of Eeligion.
In a high rack, in a high position. Halliwell. [Frov.
Eng.] — On the rack, on the stretch by or as if by means
of a rack ; hence, in a state of tension or of torturing pain
or anxiety.
I wou'd have him ever to continue upon the Back of
Fear and Jealonsie. Congreve, Way of the World, ii. 1.
My Head and Heart are on the Back about my Son.
Steele, Conscious Lovers, iv. 1.
Back and pinion. See def. 6, above.— Rack-and-pin-
lon Jack, a lifting-jack in which power is applied by
means of a rack and pinion. — Rack-and-Plnion preSB,
a press in which force is transmitted through a pinion to
a rack connetted with the follower. E. H. Knight. —
Rack-cutting machine, a milling-machine for cutting
the teeth of racks.— To live at rack and manger, to
live sumptuously and recklessly without regard to pecu-
niary means ; live on the best without reck of payment
But while the Palatine was thus busily employ'd, and
lay with all his sea-horses, unbridl'd, unsaddl'd, at rack
rack
ajid nwn^er secure and carelesa ot any thine else but of
carrying on tlie great worlc which he hid begun .
The Pagan Prince (1690). (uTaree.)
«,fv'"*^''?fl'y?l'P*'«*'"»™an figure . . . tearing out
w ,^r^ ! °' ?V Edmundabury Convent (its larders name.
ly and cellars) In the moat ruinous way, by Umng at rack
and nmnger there. Cmlyle, Past ind Pres&it, ii. l!
To put to the radk, to subject to the torture of the rack :
cause to be racked ; hence, to torment with or about any-
tnmg ; subject to a state of keen suSering
rack2 (rak), n. [< MB. *rakke, < AS. hreaeca,
hrecca, hreca, the baok of the head (L. occiput;
Sweet, Old Eng. Texts, p. 549).] The neek and
spine of a fore quarter of veal or mutton, or
the neek of mutton or pork. HallimeU.
A rack of mutton, sir,
And half a lamb, mdmoan. Chaste Maid, 11. 2.
racfcSf (rak), v. i. [Altered, to conform to
racks, n., from ME. reken (pret. rac), drive,
move, tend, < loel. reka, drive, drift, toss, =
Sw. vrdka = Dan. vrage, reject, drift, = AS.
wrecan, drive, wreak, E. wreak: see wreak.
Cf . racfcs, w.] 1. To drive; move; go forward
rapidly; stir.
His spere to his heorte rac. Layamm, 1. 9320.
To her sone sche gan to reke. Oetovian, 1. 182.
Ichwule forthur reke. Owl and Nightingale, L 1606.
2. To drive, as flying clouds.
Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun;
^ot separated with the racJanff ^ouds.
But sever'd In a pale clear-shining sky.
Shale, 3 Hen. VL, 11. 1. 27.
The clouds rack clear before the sun. B. Jonscm.
racks (rak), n. [< MB. rac, rak, rakke, < loel. racki" (rak), v. t
rek, drift, a thing drifted ashore, jetsam ; cf . raekt; ' "
reH, drift, jetsam; < reka, drive, drift: see
raelfi, v. Cf . rack^ = wrack'-, wreck."] Thin fly-
ing broken clouds ; especially, detached frag-
ments of raggy cloud, commonly occurringwith
rain-clouds.
There a tempest horn toke on the torres hegh :
A rak and a royde wynde rose in hor saile.
Destruction of Tray (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1984.
The great globe itself.
Yea, all which it inherit^ shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded.
Leave not a rack behind.
Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 166.
The cloudy rack slow journeying in the west.
Keats, Endymion, ii.
As when across the sky the driving rack of the rain-cloud
Grows for a moment thin, and betrays the sun by its
brightness. LongfeUow, Miles Standish, ix.
rack^ (rak), n. [Another spelling of wrack : see
wrack"^, n., and ef. rack^, from the same ult.
source.] Same as wrack^: now used in the
phrases to go to rack, to go to rack and ruin.
We fell to talk largely of the want of some persons un-
derstanding to look after the business, but all goes to rack.
Pepys.
rack^ (rak), n. [A var. of rake^, a path, track:
see rake^.] 1. A rude narrow path, Uke the
track of a small animal. Halliwell. [Prov.
Bug.] — 2. A rut in a road. HalliweU. [Prov.
Eng.]
rack^ (rak). v. A dialectal form of reck.
rack'^t (rak), V. t. [A dial, form for what would
be reg. *retch, < ME. reechen, racchen, reehen
4929
Successive Positions of a Hoise in one Stride of the Rack. (After
instantaneous photographs by Hadweard Muybridge.)
The sisters turn the wheel.
Empty the woolly rack, and fill the reel.
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, iv. 423.
ik), V. t. [Appar. first in pp. racked,
< OP. raquer, pp. raqu4, in mn raqu4,
"small or corse wine, squeezed from the dregs
of the grapes, already drained of all their best
moisture " (Cotgrave) ; origin uncertain; ac-
cording to Wedgwood,< Languedoc araca, rack,
< raco, husks or dregs of grapes ; according to
Skeat, for orig. *rasquer = Sp. Pg. Pr. rascar,
scratch; cf. Sp. Pg. rasgar, tear apart: see
rash^."] To draw off from the lees ; draw off,
as pure liquor from its sediment: as, to rack
cider or wine ; to rack off liquor.
RacM, wines — that is, wines cleansed and so purged that
It may be and is drawne from the leese. Minsheu, 1617.
rackli (rak), n. [Partly by apheresis from ar-
rack; cf. Sp. rague, arrack, Turk, ragi, a spir-
ituous drink, from the same ult. source : see ar-
rack.] 1. Same as arrack.
Their ordinary drink is Tea : but they make themselves
merry with hot Rack, which sometimes also they mix with
their Tea. Damtfier, Voyages, II. i. 58.
3. A liquor made chiefly of brandy, sugar,
lemons (or other fruit), and spices. Salliwell.
— Back punch, a punch made with arrack.
I don't love rack puvxih. Swift, To Stella, xxxv.
If slices of ripe pineapple be put into good arrack, and
the spirit kept for a considerable time, it mellows down and
acquires a ver;^ delicious flavour. This quality is much
valued for making rack-panxih,
Spanif Eneyc. Manvf., I. 220.
rack^^ (rak), n. [Origin obscure.] A young
rabbit. See the quotation.
Backs, or young rabbits about two months old, which
." ,^ -,. .. •, xAo- have not lost their flrst coat. Ure, Diet., IV. 380.
(pret. rahte, rente, ramgte), rule, < AS. reccan, ,, /i/t,-\ ry nj
&eet. extend, reach forth, exnlain. sav: see rackabones (rak'a-bonz), m [< racki, v., + a
direct, extend, reach forth, explain, say: see
j-acifci, and ef. retcJi^ and reckon.] To relate;
tell. SalUwell.
rack^ (rak), V. i. [Perhaps a pariieiilar use of
racV, V, By some supposed to be a var. of rock'^.]
To move with the gait called a rack.
His Rain-deer, racking with proud and stately pace,
Giveth to his flock a right beautiful grace.
Peele, An Eclogue.
(insignificant) + "bones.] A very lean person
or animal. [CoUoq., U. S.]
He is a little afraid that this mettlesome charger can-
not be trusted going down hill ; otherwise he would let
go ot the old rackabonesth&t hobbles behind [the vehicle].
New York Tribune, June 13, 1862.
rackapelt (rak'a-pelt), n.
An idle rascal. "Halliwell.
[Cf. rackabones.]
[Prov. Eng.]
Bcrratto [It.l a boulting cloth, a sieue ; bracking of a rackarock (rak'a-rok), n [< racfcl, v., + a^ +
horseT Borotore, to sift or bouli meale. Also a racking rock}. Cf . rendroek.] An explosive eonsisting
between an amble and a trot. Mono.
racks (rak), ». li racks, v.] A gait of the horse
of about three parts of potassium chlorate to
iaj>. ™ X . v.,^-.. , «. ^* "— ~ 0^6 part of nitrobenzoL
between ateot and rgallop(o7i?ant^^^^^ rack-bar (rak'bar), m. iVitM*., a billet of wood
the fore feet move as in a slow gaUop, while the used to twist the bight of a rope called a swifter,
hind feet move as in a trot (or pace), it is usu- in order to bind a raft firmly together,
ally an artificial gait, but is sometimes hereditary or natu- rack-block (rak'blok), n. Maut., a range of
ral. There is much confusion of terms in respect to this sheaves Cut in one piece of wood for running-
gait, duetothefactthatthegaitttself issomewhatvaiied, ^ j^^ through.
according as the racker carries the one or the other fore _^"V° i,-„--_ frak'kal"i-Derz'> n r>l Caliners
foot foremost in the galloping motion of the fore feet; that racK-CaliperS (.raK Kai i perz;, ?i.^e. (..aiipers
many confound the rack with the pace, the two words of which the legs are actuated by a rack-and-
often being used as synonymous; and that many have pinion motion. E. H. Knight.
mistaken the use of the words pace wad. amtle. There is joek-car frak'kar), n. A freight-car roofed
t^^'^.'Ziff^^''^^^^^:^^^^^^t:X^na^^^?. 'ov'e^rl^d^th side's formed of slats witCpen
The motion of the hind feet is the same in the trot, the spaces between.
pace, and the rack. In the trot the diagon^ hind and rack-COmpaSS (rak'kum'pas), n. A joiners'
fore feet move nearly simiUtageously. In the_pace ot ^^j^pg^gg ^^h a rack adjustment. H. H. Knight.
racket
mentor. — 2. One who wrests, twists, or dis-
torts.
Such raOters of orthography. Shak., L. L L., v. 1. 21.
3. One who harasses by exactions : as, a. racker
of tenants. Swift.
racker^ (rak'er), TO. [< rack^ + -erl.] Ahorse
that moves with a racking gait.
rackerS (rak'fer), n. [< racftio -1- -eri.] A de-
vice for racking liquor, or drawing it off from
the lees ; also, a person who racks liquors.
The filling of casks is effected by Smith's rockers.
Engineer, LXVI. 161.
racket^ (rak'et), n. [< Gael, racaid, a noise,
disturbance, < rac, make a noise like geese or
ducks; Ir. racan, noise, riot. Cf. rackle.] 1.
A disorderly, confusing noise, as of commin-
gled play or strife and loud talk ; any prolonged
clatter; din; clamor; hurly-burly.
Pray, what's all that racket over our heads? . . . My
brother and I can scarce hear ourselves speak.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, U. 6.
2. A disturbance; a row; also, a noisy gath-
ering; a scene of clamorous or eager merri-
ment. [CoUoq.]
Chan. Adzflesh, forsooth, yonder haz been a most heavy
roicket; by the zide of the wood there Is a curious hansom
gentlewoman lies as dead as a herring, and bleeds like
any stuck pig. Unnatural Mother (JiWS). {Nares.)
3. A clamorous outburst, as of indignation or
other emotion; a noisy manifestation of feel-
ing: as, to make a racket about a trifle; to
raise a racket about one's ears. [CoUoq.] — 4.
Something going on, whether noisily and open-
ly or quietly; a special proceeding, scheme,
project, or the like : a slang use of very wide
application: as, what's the racket f (what is
going on!); to go on a racket (to engage in a
lark or go on a spree) ; to be on to a person's
racket (to detect his secret aim or purpose); to
work the racket (to carry on a particular scheme
or undertaking, especially one of a "shady"
character); to stand the racket (to take the
consequences, or abide the result).
He is ready as myself to stand the racket of subsequent
proceedings.
DaUy Telegraph (London), Sept. 8, 1882. (Enaye. Diet.)
He had been off on the racket, perhaps tor a week at a
time.
DaUy Telegraph (London)^ Nov. 16, 1886. (Eneyc. Diet.)
"Lucky I learned that signal racket," i^i Jack, as, still
at a furious pace, he made cuts in different directions
with his extemporized flag. The Century, XXXIX. 527.
To give the name of legislation to the proceedings at
Albany over the fair Bill yesterday would be an abuse of
language. The proper name for them was "tumbling to
the racket." The Assembly passed the bill without de-
bate and almost unanimously, much as they might pass a
bill authorizing a man to change his name.
Neito York Evening Post, Jan. 29, 1890.
5. A smart stroke; a rap. [Prov. Eng. and
Scotch.]
racket^ (rak'et), ». [</'acfcetl,».] Lintrans.l.
To make a rattling or clattering noise; raise a
tumult; move noisily.
The wind blazed and racketed through the narrow space
between the house and the hill. S. Judd, Margaret, L 17.
2. To engage or take part in a racket of any
kind; frequent noisy or tumultuous scenes;
carry on eager or energetic action of some spe-
cial kind. [Colloq.]
Old Gineral Pierpont, his gret-gret-grandf ather, was a
ginenil in the British army in Injy, an' he racketed round
'mong them nabobs out there, an' got no end o' gold an'
precious stones. H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 571.
3. To be dissipated; indulge to excess in social
pleasures, [(jolloq.]
I have been racketing lately, having dined twice with
Bogers and once with Grant.
Maeaulay, in Trevelyan, I. 302.
II, trans. To utter noisily or tumultuously;
clamor out. [Bare.]
Then think, then speak, then drink their sound again,
And racket round about this body's court
These two sweet words, 'Tis safe.
B. Jomon, Case is Altered, Iv. 4.
racket^ (rak'et), n. [Also racquet, raguet; <
MB. raket = D. raket = MLGt. ragget = Gr. racket,
raket, rakett = Dan. Sw. raket, < OP. assibi-
lated rachete, rachette, rasguete, rasquette, a
racket, battledore, also the palm of the hand,
P. raquette, a racket, battledore, < Sp. raqueta
= It. racchetta, also lacchetta, a racket, battle-
dore (cf. ML. racha), < Ar. rdhat, palm of the
wi=io^» ^«.- "-"--., --——-"-.- compass wiuii a lacij-aujuaumcjiu. ja. ji. jofmyni,. hand, pi. rafe, the palms ; cf . j)o?to1, 7, the game
Z^X*L'ot"^llTuttn1x?c%^n!'^' ^racklri(rak'6r),«. [.JD.rakker=m.a.rack. so called, tennis.^ 1. The instrument with
--- -- .__,, ™, „ . which players at tennis and hke games stnke
the ball ; a bat consisting usually of a thin strip
of wood bent into a somewhat elliptical hoop,
simultaneously. See out in __ .
racks (rak), n. [A var. of rocks, by confusion
with rack^. Cf . racks, a supposed var. of rock^.]
A distaff; a rock.
310
er, racher, LGr. rakker = G. racker =: Sw. rack-
are = Dan. rakker; as rack\ v., + -er^.] 1.
One who puts to the rack; a torturer or tor-
racket
Rackets.
«, 6, racket and ball used in Italy in the 17th century ; c, d, racket
and ball in present use.
across which a network of cord or catgut is
stretched, and to which a handle is attached.
But kanstow pleyen raket to and fro?
Chmixer, Troilus, iv. 460.
Th' Haa, which the Wlnde full In his face doth yerk,
Smarter than Racquets in a Court re-ierk
Balls 'gainst the walls of the blaok-boorded house.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartaa's Weeks, ii., The Captaines.
Tis but a ball bandied to and fro, and every man car-
ries a radcel about hiro, to strike it from himself among
the rest of the company.
SvHft, Tale of a Tub, Author's Pref.
2. pi. A modem variety of the old game of
tennis.
He could shoot, play rttckeU, whist, and cricket better
than most people, and was a consummate horseman on
any animal under any circumstances.
Whyte Melville, White Rose, I. xiil.
Some British oSacers, playing rackets, had struck a ball
to where he was sitting. Smeteevth Certtury, XXVI. 801.
3. A kind of net. Sallmell. — 4. A snow-shoe:
an Anglicized form of the French raquette.
[Bare.]
Their [the Canadian Indians'] Dogges are like Foxes,
which spend not, neuer giue ouer, and haue rackets tyed
vnder their feet, the better to runne on the snow.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 753.
5. A broad wooden shoe or patten for a horse
or other draft-animal, to enable liim to step on
marshy or soft ground. — 6. A bii'd's tail-fea-
ther shaped like a racket; aspatule. The racket
may result from a spatnhtte enlargement of the webs
at or near the end of the feather ; or from the lack, natu-
ral or artificial, of webbing along a paii) of the feather,
beyond which the feather is webbed ; or from coiling of
the end of the feather. These formations are exhibited
in the motmots, in some humming-birds and birds of para-
dise, and in various others, and are illustrated in the fig-
ures under Momotus, Prionitwrm, and Cincinnurus, Some
feathers springing from the head acquire a similar shape.
See cut under PariMa,
7t. A musical instrument of the seventeenth
century, consisting of a mouthpiece with a dou-
ble reed, and a wooden tube repeatedly bent
upon itself, and pierced with several finger-
holes. Its compass was limited, and the tone weak and
difficult to produce. Several varieties or sizes were made,
as of the bombard, which it resembled. Early in the
eighteenth century it was replaced by the modem bassoon.
8. An organ-stop giving tones similar to those
of the above instrument,
racket^t (rak'et), «i. *. [<racke1^,n.'i To strike
with or as if with a racket; toss.
Thus, like a tennis-ball, is poor man racketed from one
temptation to another, till at last he hazard eternal ruin.
Hewyt, Nine Sermons, p. 60.
racket-court (rak'et-kort), n. A court or area
in which the game of rackets is played ; a ten-
nis-court.
racketer (rak'et-6r), n, [< rackefi- + -eri.] A
person given to racketing or noisy froUcMng;
one who leads a gay or dissipated life.
At a private concert last night with my cousins and Miss
Clements ; and again to be at a play this night ; X shall be
a rmketer, I doubt.
Richairdson, Sir Charles Orandison, I. letter xvL
racket-ground (rak'et-ground), n. Same as
racket-court.
The area, it appeared from Mr. Eoker's statement, was
the racketrground. Dickens, Pickwick, xli.
rackettail (rak'et-tal), n. A humming-bird
of the genus Diseurus and related forms, having
two feathers of the tail shaped like rackets.
racket-tailed (rak'et-tald), a. Having the
tail formed in part like a racket; havmg a
racket on the tail, as the motmots {MomoUdse),
certain humming-birds (^Diseurus, etc.), or a
parrakeet of the genus Prioniturus.
4930
rackety (rak'et-i), a. [< racket^ + -^i.]
Making or characterized by a racket or noise ;
noisy: as, arocfcei^eompanyorplace. [CoUoq.]
This strange metamorphosis in the racketty little Irish-
man. Mngsley, Two Years Ago, vii. (Dames.)
In the rackety bowling-alley.
C. F. Woolson, Anne, p. 193.
rack-flsht(rak'flsh), n. [Origin unknown; prob.
either for *wraclcfish or for rockfish, q. v.] A
fldi, of what kind is not determiaed. <S. Clarke,
Four Plantations in America (1670), p. 5.
rack-hook (rak'huk), n. In a repeating clock,
a part of the striking-mechanism which en-
gages the teeth of the rack in succession when
the hours are struck; the gathering-piece or
pallet. M. H. Knight.
racking^ (rak'ing), re. [Verbal n. of raek\ v."]
1 . The act of torturing on the rack. — 2. Naut.,
a piece of small stuff used to rack a tackle. —
3. In metallurgical operations, same as rag-
ging, 2.
racking^ (rak'ing), n. [Verbal n. of rack^, v.'}
In the manige, same as raeifi.
racking-can (rak'ing-kan), n. A vessel from
which wine,can be drawn without disturbing
the lees, which remain at the bottom.
racking-cock (rak'ing-kok), n. A form of
faucet used in racking off wine or ale from the
cask or from the lees in the fermenting-vat.
racking-crook (rak'ing-kruk), n, A hook hung
in an open chimney to support a pot or kettle.
See trammel. Also called ratten-crook.
racking-faucet (rak'ing-ffi,''''set), n. Same as
racking-cock.
racking-pump (rak'ing-pump), n. A pump for
the transfer of liquors from vats to casks, etc.,
when the difference of level is such as to pre-
vent the use of a siphon or faucet.
racking-table (rak'ing-ta''bl), n. A wooden
table or frame used in Cornwall for washing
tin ore, which is distributed over the surface
of the table with a solid rake or hard brush,
whence the name: sometimes corrupted into
ragging-table. Qqg framing-table.
rackle(rak'l), v. t. and*.; pret. and pp. rackled,
ppr. rackling. [Perhaps a var. of rartfel; but
ef. racket^."] To rattle. [Prov. Eng.]
rackle (rak'l), n. [Cf . rackle, v., racketK'] Noisy
talk. [Prov. Eng.]
rackoont, »• An obsolete spelling of racoon.
rack-pin (rak'pin), n. A small rack-stick.
rack-rail (rak'ral), n. Arail laid alongside the
bearing-rails of a railway, having cogs into
which works a cog-wheel on the locomotive :
now used only in some forms of inclined-plane
railway.
rack-railway (rak'raVwa), n. A railway op-
erated with the aid of rack-rails.
The first rack-railway in France was opened lately at
Langrea. Nature, XXXVII. 328.
rack-rent (rak'rent), n. [< rach\ v., + rent^,
».] A rent raised to the highest possible limit ;
a rent greater than any tenant can reasonably
be expected to pay: used especially of land-
rents in Ireland.
Some thousand families are . . . preparing to go from
hence and settle themselves in America, . . . the farmers,
whose beneficial bargains are now become a rachrent too
hard to be borne, and those who have any ready money,
or can purchase any by the sale of their goods or leases,
because they find their fortunes hourly decaying.
Swift, Intelligencer, 'So. 19.
Rack-rent . . . is the highest annual rent that can he ob-
tained by the competition of those who desire to become
tenants. It is not a strictly legal term, though sometimes
used in Acts of Parliament ; in legal documents it is rep-
resented by "the best rent that can be obtained without a
fine." F. Pollock, Land Laws, p. 162.
rack-rent (rak'rent), v. [< rack-rent, m.] I.
trans. To subject to the payment of rack-rent.
The land-lord rack-renUng and evicting him [the tenant]
with the help of the civil and military resources of the
law. W. S. Gregg, Irish Hist, for Eng. Headers, p. 160.
II. intrans. To impose rack-rents.
Hence the chief gradually acquired the characteristics
of what naturalists have called "synthetic" and "pro-
phetic" types, combining the features of the modern gom-
been-man with those of the modem racft-rentinp' landlord.
Huxley, Pop. Sci. Mo., XXXVI. 783.
rack-renter (rak'ren"tto), «. [< rack-rent +
-eri.] 1. One who is subjected to the payment
of rack-rent.
The yearly rent of the land, which the rack-renter or un-
der tenant pays. Locke.
2. One who rack-rents his tenants.
The entire Tory and Unionist alliance went on its knees,
so to speak, during the Autumn to implore ttieirack-reni-
ers to moderation. Contemporary Rev., LI. 124.
rack-saw (rak'sa), n. A wide-toothed saw.
racy
rack-stick (rak'stik), n. A stick suitably pre-
pared for stretching or straining a rope or the
like, as in fastening a load on a wagon.— Rack-
stick and lashing, a piece of two-inch rope, about 6
feet long, fastened to a picket about 16 inches long, hav-
ing a hole in its head to receive the rope. Farrow, Mil.
Encyc.
rack-tail (rak'tal), «. In a repeating clock, a
bent arm connected with the strUring-mecha-
nism, having a pin at its end which drops upon
the notched wheel that determines the number
of strokes.
rackwork (rak'wferk), n, A piece of mecha-
nism in which a rack is used ; a rack and pinion
or the like. See cut under rack^.
raconteur (ra-k6n-t6r'), n. [F., < raconter, re-
late: see recount'^.'] A story-teller; a person
given to or skilled in relating anecdotes, re-
counting adventures, or the like.
There never was, in my opinion, a raconteur, from
Charles Lamb or Theodore Hook down to Gilbert k Beckett
or H. J. Byron, . . . who spoke and told anecdotes at a
dinner-table, . . . that was not conscious that he was go-
ing to be funny.
Lester Wallack, in Scribner'a Mag., IV. 721.
racoon, raccoon (ra-kon'), n. [Formerly also
rackoon, rackcoon, by apheresis from earlier
arocoun, aroughcun, aroughcond, < Amer. Ind.
aratlicone, arrathkune, a racoon. Hence, by
further apheresis, coon. The F. raton, racoon,
is an accom. form, simulating F. raton, a rat r
see ratten.l A small plantigrade carnivorous
quadruped of the arctoid series of the order
Feree, belonging to the family Procyonidx and
genus Procyon. The common racoon is P. lotar, so
called from its habit of dipping its food in water, as it
Common Racoon ^Procytm lotor),
washing it, before eating. This animal is about 2 feet long,
with a stout body, a bushy ringed tail, short limbs, pointed
ears, broad face, and very sharp snout, of a genersu grayish
coloration, with light and dark markings on the face. It
is common in southerly parts of the United States, and
feeds on fruits and other vegetable as well as animal sub-
stances. Its flesh is eatable, and the fur, much used for
making caps, is called coowskin. The racoon is readily
tamed, and makes an amusing pet. Other members of the
genus are P. psora of California (perhaps only a nominal
species) and the quite distinct P. caruyrivorus, the crab-
eating racoon, of the warmer parts of America, known as
the agouajra.
A beast they call Arffughmn, much like a badger, but
vseth to Hue on trees as squirrels doe.
Capt. John Smith, Virginia, 1. 124,
Quil-darting Porcupines and Rackcomes be
Castled in the hollow of an aged Tree.
5. Clarke, Four Plantations in America (1670), p. 32.
racoon-berry (ra-kon'ber"i), n. The May-ap-
ple, Podophyllum peltatum. [U. S.]
racoon-dog (ra-kon'dog), «. An Asiatic and
Japanese animal of the family Canidse, Nycte-
reutes procyonoides, a kind of dog having an as-
pect suggesting a racoon. See cut under Nyc-
tereutes.
racoon-oyster (ra-ken'ois^tfer), n. An uncul-
tivated oyster growing on muddy banks ex-
posed at low tide. [Southern coast, U. S.]
racoon-perch (ra-k6n'p6rch), n. The common
yellow perch, Perca americana, of the Missis-
sippi valley: so called from bands around the
body something like those of a racoon's tail.
See cut under percfel.
Baco'Vian (ra-ko'vi-an), o.. and re. [< Racow
(in Poland) (^^L. Bdcovia) + -ia».] I. a. Per-
taining or relating to Eakow, a town of Po-
land, or to the Socinians, who made it their
chief seat in the first part of the seventeenth
century: as, the Bacovian Catechism (a popu-
lar exposition of Soeinianism : see catechism, 2).
II. n. An inhabitant of Eakow, or an adhe-
rent of the Unitarian doctrines formerly taught
there; specifically, a Polish Socinian.
racquet, «. See racket^.
racy (ra'si), a. [< raceS + -j/i.] i. Having
an agreeably peculiar flavor, of a kind that
may be supposed to be imparted by the soil,
as wine ; peculiarly palatable.
racy
The hospitable sage, in sign
Ot social welcome, mix'd the raey wine.
Pope, OdysBey, lii. 503.
2. Havmg a strong distinctive and agreeable
quality of any kind; spirited; pungent; pi-
quant ; spiey : as, a racy style ; a racy anecdote.
Brisk raey verses, in which we
The soil from whence they came taste, smell, and see.
Cowley, Ans. to Verses.
His ballads are raeUst when brimmed with the element
that most attracts the author.
E. C. Stedman, Poets of America, p. 282.
Book English has gone round the world, but at home
we still preserve the racy idioms of our fathers.
It. L. Stevenson, The Foreigner at Home.
3. Pertaining to race or kind; racially distinc-
tive or peculiar ; of native origin or quality.
Yorkshire has such families here and there, . . . pecu-
liar, ra<^, vigorous ; of good blood and strong brain.
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, ix.
The eyes [of a Gordon setter] must be full of animation,
of a rich color, between brown and gold ; the neck must
be clean and racy. The Century, XXXI. 11&
=Syn. 1 and 2. Raey, Spicy. These words agree in ex-
pressing a quality that is relished, physically or mentally.
Literally, racy applies to the peculiar flavor which wines
derive from the soil, and spicy to the flavor given to food,
breezes, etc. , by spice. Figuratively, that is raey which is
agreeably fresh and distinctive in thought and expression ;
that is spicy which is agreeably pungent to the mind, pro-
ducing a sensation comparable to that which spice pro-
duces in taste. Fointedness is essential to spiciness, and
likely to be found in racinem.
rad,! (rad), a. [< ME. rad, < Icel. Jirieddr = Sw.
wdfi = Dan. r«(Z, afraid.] Afraid; frightened.
[Old Eng. and Scotch.]
We were so rad enerilkon,
When that he put besyde the stone.
We qwoke for f erd, and durst styr none,
And sore we were abast.
York Play t, p. 416.
She seyd, " Without consent of m^
That an Outlaw suld come befor a King ;
I am right rad of treasonrle."
Sang of tJie OwOaw Murray (Child's Ballads, VI. 27).
rad^t, a. A Middle English form of rath^.
rad^t. A Middle English preterit of ride.
rad*t. -Aji obsolete preterit of read^.
radS (rad), n. [Abbr. of radical.^ A radical.
[Low.]
He 's got what will buy him bread and cheese when the
Rods shut up the Church. TroUope, Dr. Thome, xxxv.
raddet. An obsolete preterit of readX.
raddle^ (rad'l), n. [Early mod. E. radel, redle;
also (in verb) ruddle; perhaps a transposed form
of hurdle ; or formed from wreathe or loritlie (cf .
writhle, v.) and confused with hurdle, or with
ntJdfeS (ME. »-e(ie2, etc.), a curtain.] 1. A hur-
dle. [Prov. Eng.] — 3. pi. SmaU v?ood or sticks
split like laths to bind a waU for the plastering
it over with loam or mortar. Kennett. (HalU-
well.)
In old time the houses of the Britons were slightlie set
vp with a few posts and many radds, with stable and all
offices under one roofe.
Harrison, Descrip. of Britain, ii. 12. (Holinshed's Chron.)
3. A piece of wood interwoven with others be-
tween stakes to form a fence. [Prov. EngJ —
4. A hedge formed by interweaving the shoots
and branches of trees or shrubs. [Prov. Eng.]
— 5. A wooden bar with a row of upright
pegs, employed by domestic weavers^ in some
places to keep the warp of a proper width, and
to prevent it from becoming entangled when it
is wound upon the beam. — 6. In metal-working,
a rabble.
raddlel (rad'l), v. t. ; pret. and pp. raddled, ppr.
raddJdng. [Formerly also redle, ruddle; < rad-
dle\ n.'i 1. To weave; interweave; wind to-
gether; wattle.
Raddling or working it up like basket work.
De/oe, Eobinson Crusoe, xxv.
at. To "baste"; beat.
Bobin Hood drew his sword so good,
■■ The peddler drew his brand.
And he hath raddled him, bold Bobin Hood,
So that he scarce can stand.
Ballad of Room Hood.
raddle^ (rad'l), TO. {Wax. ot reddle, ruddU^.'] 1.
Same as reddle.— Q. A layer of red pigment.
Some of us have more serious things to hide than a yel-
low cheek behind a raddle of rouge. „ ^ , ^ „ ■, ,
Thackeray, Boundabout Papers, A Medal of George the
raddleS (rad'l), ». t.; pret. andpp.TOddZetZ, ppr.
raddling. [,< raddle^, n.-] 1. To paint with or
as if with raddle ; color coarsely, as with rouge.
Can there be any more dreary object than those whiten-
ed and raddled old women who shudder at the slips?
cu ouii . »- rpj^^li^ny^ Newcomes, xx.
2 To get over (work) in a careless, slovenly
manner. [Prov. Eng.] Imp. Diet.
4931
raddle-hedge (rad'l-hej), n. Same as raddle^, 4.
raddlemanK n. Same as reddleman. Fuller,
Worthies, III. 38.
raddock (rad'ok), n. A dialectal form of rud-
dock.
raddourt, n. See redour.
radeif (rad). A dialectal (Old English and
Scotch) preterit of ride.
rade2 (rad), n. A dialectal (Scotch) or obsolete
form of road.
radeau (ra-do'), n. ; pi. radeaux (-doz'). [< F.
radeau = Pr. radelh, < ML. *rateUus (also, after
OF., radelltis, rasellus), dim. of L. ratis, raft,
vessel.] A raft.
Three vessels under sail, and one at anchor, above Split
Bock, and behind it the radeau Thunderer.
Irmng. QFebster.)
Rademacher's plaster. See plaster.
radevoref, ». [ME., prob. of OF. origin ; per-
haps orig. OP. *ras de Fore : ras (Sp. It. raso),
a sort of smooth cloth (see rasfe*) ; de, of ; * Vore,
perhaps the town of La/eaur in Lan^edoc. Cf .
F. ras de Chdlons, ras de Gennes, similar cloth
from the places named.] A sort of cloth or
textile fabric usually explained as 'tapestry' or
' striped stuff tapestry.'
This woful lady ylemed had in youthe
So that she werken and embrowden koathe.
And weven in stole the radevore.
As hyt of wymmen hath be woved yore.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 2352.
radget (raj), n. Same as rodge.
radial (ra'di-al), a. and n. [< P. radial = It.
radiale, < NL."ra(JJaZ»s, < L. radium, ray, radius :
see radius, ray^.'] I. a. Of or pertaining to a
ray or a radius (or radii) ; having the character
or appearance of a ray or a radius ; grouped or
appearing like radii or rays; shooting out as
from a center ; being or moving in the direction
of the radius.
At a little distance from the center the wind is probably
nearly radial. Science, III. 94.
Specifically — (a) In anat., of or pertaining in any way to
the radius (see radius, 2): as, the radial artery, nerve,
vein ; radial articulations or movements ; the rn^ial side
or aspect of the arm, wrist, or hand ; the radial group of
muscles ; the radial pronator or supinator. (6) In zool.,
rayed, radiate, or racUating ; of or pertaining to the mys,
arms, or radiating processes of an animal ; relating to the
radially disposed or actinomeric parts of the Radiala and
similar animals. See cut under me(iiw^£3r?n. (c) InicAfA.,
ot or pertaining to the radialia. See radiale (c).
The cartilaginous, or ossified, basal and radial supports
of the fins. Huxley, Anat. Vert., p. 38.
(d) In iaL : (1) Belonging to a ray, as of an umbel or of a
flower-head in the Composite. (2) Developing uniformly
on all sides of the axis : opposed to bifacial or dorsiventral.
(?oe6«i.— Radial ambulacral vessels. See andndacral.
— Radial arter;^, the smaller of the branches resulting
from the bifurcation of the brachial artery at the elbow,
extending in a straight line on the outer side of the front
of the forearm to the wrist, where it turns around the radi-
al side of the carpus and descends to the upper pait of the
first interosseous space, where it penetrates the palm of
the hand to help form the deep palmar arch. Just above
the wrist it lies subcutaneously on the ulnar side of the
tendon of the long supinator, and is here commonly felt
in ascertainingthe pulse. Its chief branches, besides the
muscular and cutaneous ones, are the radial recurrent and
the anterior and posterior carpals.— Radial axle-box.
See axle-iox.— 'Ra.Aia.l bimdle, in bot, a flbrovascular
bundle in which the phloem and xylem are arranged in
alternating radii. Compare closed, collateral, and concen-
tric bundle, under bundle.
The last form is the radial, where the bundles of phloem
and xylem are arranged alternately in the centralflbro-vaa-
cular axis. Encyc. Brit., XII. 18.
Radial cells, in entom., same ispostcosM cellules (which
see, under iiosteostaQ.— Radial curve, in geom., a curve
most conveniently expressed by means of the radius vec-
tor as one coordinate : spirals and the quadratrix of Dinos-
tratus are radial curves. — Radial drilling-machine. See
drUliTng-machine.—'RBjSiaX fibers of the retina. See sus-
tentacular fibers, under susteraacular.--B,a,Qisil formula,
the expression ot the number of rays in the flns of a fish by
the initial letters of the names of the flns and the numbers
of their rays : thus, the radial formula for the yellow perch
is D, XIII. -f 1. 14 ; A, n. -H 7; P, 16 ; V, I. 5— where the
Soman numerals are the spines and the Arabic the rays
of the dorsal, anal, pectoral, and ventral flns respectively.
—Radial nerve. See ««n)e.— Radial-piston water-
wheel. See waier-whal. — Radial plates, in crinoids,
the set or system of plates which includes the joints of the
stem, arms and pinnules, the centrodorsal plate, and the
radial plate proper : distinguished from^erwomaiic j?Zate».
—Radial recurrent artery, a branch of the radial artery,
given off near its origin, that turns backward to join in the
anastomosis about the elbow. — Radial Sjnnmetry. See
sj/mmetry.— Radial vein. See marginal vein, under mar-
ii. ». A radiating or radial part; a ray. Spe-
cifically, in anat. and zoU. : (a) A radiale. (6) In icldJi. , the
radius or hypercoracoid (a bone), (c) One of the joints of
the branches of a crinoid, between the brachials and the
basals ; one of the joints of the second order, or of a divi-
sion of the basals. See cut under Crinoidea.
The two radials [of a crinoid] on either side of the larg-
est basal . . . are broader than the other two.
Quart. Jmr. Geol. Soc., XLV. 160.
radiance
(d) The fourth joint, counting from the base, of the pedi-
palp of a spider.
radiale (va-di-a'le), n. ; pi. radialia (-li-a).
[NL., neut. of radialis, radial: see radial.']
In zool. and anat. : (a) The radiocarpal bone ;
that bone of the wrist which is situated on the
radial side of the proximal row of carpals. in
special relation with the radius. In man this
bone is the scaphoid. Compare ulnare, and see
cuts under hand and carpus. (6) One of the
rays of the cup of a crinoid. See radial, n. (c),
and cut under Crinoidea. (c) A eartUage radiat-
ing from the base of the fins of elasmobranchi-
ate fishes. Seecutimder^ten/sriuTO. (d) Same
as radial, n. (6). See hypercoracoid.
radialis(ra-di-a'lis),M.; -pl.radialesiAez). [NL.
radialis (sc. musculus, etc.), radial: see radial.]
In anat. , a radial muscle, artery, vein, or nerve :
chiefly used adjeotively as a part of certain
Latin phrase-names of muscles: as, flexor eax-
pi radialis; extensor carpi radialis longior or
brevier. Bee flexor, extensor.
radiality (ra-di-al'i-ti), n. [< radial + -ity.]
The character or structure of a radiate organ-
ism ; formation of rays, or disposition of rayed
parts; radial symmetry. Sometimes called ra-
diateness and radiism.
radialization (ra-di-al-i-za'shon), n. [< radi-
alize + -ation.] Arrangement in radiating
forms; radiation.
Thus the rocks exhibit much evidence of a siliciflcation
(and often of a radializatian, possibly connected with it).
Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., XIV. 267.
radialize (ra'di-al-iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. ra-
dialized, ppr. radializing. [< radial + ■4ze.'] To
render radiate; make ray-like.
One fragment exhibits part of a lai'ge radialized struc-
ture within a spheruUtic matrix.
Quart. Jour. Ged. Soc., XLV. 249.
radially (ra'di-al-i), adv. 1. In a radial or ra-
diating manner ; in the manner of radii or rays :
as, lines diverging radially.
As the growth [of the fungus] spreads outward radially,
the inner hyphee, having sucked all the organic matter
out of the ground, perish.
5. B. Herrick, Wonders of Plant Life, p. 82.
2. In entom., toward or over the radius (a vein
of the wing): as, a color-band radially dilated.
radian (ra'di-an), n. [< radius + -an.] The
angle subtended at the center of a circle by an
arc equal in length to the radius. Also called
the unit angle in circular measure. It is equal
to 57° 17' 44".80625 nearly.
radiance (ra'di-ans), n. [< F. radiance, < ML.
radiantia, radiance, < L. radian{t-)s, radiant:
see radiant.] 1. Brightness shooting in rays
or beams ; hence, in general, brilliant or spark-
ling luster; vivid brightness.
The sacred radiance of the sun. Shak., Lear, i. 1. 111.
The Son, . . .
Girt with omnipotence, with radiance crown'd
Of majesty divine. Milton, P. L., vii. 194.
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass.
Stains the white radiance of eternity.
Shelley, Adonais, lii.
3. Badiation.
Thus we have ... (3) Theory of radiance.
J. Clerk Maxwell, in Encyc. Brit., XIX. 2.
=S3m. 1. Radiance,BriUiance,BrUliancy,E^^gence,Reful-
gence. Splendor, Luster. These words agree in representing
the sliooting out of rays or beams in an impressive way.
Radiance is the most steady ; it is generally a light that is
agreeable to the eyes ; hence the word is often chosen for
corresponding flgurative expressions : as, the radiance of
his cheerfulness ; the radiance of the gospel. Brilliance
represents a light that is strong, often too strong to be
agreeable, and marked by variation or play and penetra-
tion : as, the briUianee of a diamond or of flreworks. Hence,
figuratively, the brilliancy of the scene at a Vedding ; the
radiance of humor, the brilliancy of wit. Brilliance is more
often literal, brilliaTwy figurative. Effulgence is a splendid
light, seeming to fill to overflowing every place where It is
— a strong, flooding, but not necessarily intense or painful
light ; as, the effulgence of the noonday sun ; the effulgence
of the attributes of God. Hence a courtier might by figure
speak of the effulgence of Queen Elizabeth's beauty. Reful-
gence is often the same as effulgence, but sometimes weaker.
Splendor, which is more often used figm'atively, is, when
used literally, about the same as refulgence. Luster is the
only one of these words which does not imply that the ob-
ject gives forth light; luster may be used where the light
is either emitted or reflected, but latterly more often re-
flected: as, the hister of silk. Luster is generally, like
briUiarwe, a varying light, but it may be simply two or
three degrees weaker than splendor. For comparison with
glislm, glitter, etc., see glare, v. i.
'Twere all one
That I should love a bright particular star
And thinli to wed it, he is so above me.
In his bright radiance and collateral light
Must I be comforted. Shah, All's Well, i. 1. 99.
There is an appearance of brilliancy in the pleasures of
high life which naturally dazzles the young. Craig.
Effulgence of my glory, Son beloved.
MUtm, P. L., vi. 680.
radiance 4932
Though they fell, they fell like stars, Badiata (ra-di-a'ta), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi. of
Streaming 8pfcn<io«r through the slqr. ^ radiatus, radiate: see radiate, a.] 1. In
.H r • , ^^'^'7^'f"l«f ^^^■>'i"»- Cuvier-s system of classification, the fourth
il;rc?'eaCXs,J"aS^%"p?otl?dl*^e: Fa-l^^-«^oftteanimalkingdomc^^^^^^^^
Pleased the green jMstre of the scales suJrey, mg "the radiated animals or zoophytes. It
And with their lorky tongues shall innocently play. was divided Into five classes : (1) Mchmodermata; W„ ""
Pope, MesslahTL 82. tozoa, or intestinal worms; (3) Aadepha, or sea-nettles;
J. /-/J. -N rij. / m Poii/oi; f6) Jnftisoria.- thus a mere waste-basket for
radiancy (ra di-an-si), n. [As radiance (see ^^imalanSt elsewhere located to Cuvier's satisfaction.
-c«).] Same as radiance. it was accepted and advocated by L. Agassiz after its
radiant (ra'di-ant), a. and n. FEarly mod. E. restriction to the echinoderms, acalepbs, and polyps, ra
radiaunh <. OP radian f F rndinnt—f>in Pp- whlchsenseltwasvery generally adopted for many years.
ramauni, \kjk . raaiani, a . raaiam — »p. rg. ^^^^ ^^^ j^^ ^^^ j,gg„ al)olished, and its compo-
raaiante = It. radiante, raggumte, < u. ram- nents are wi&ly distributed in other phyla and classes
an{t-)8, ppr. of radHwre, radiate, shine : see ro- of the animal kingdom, as Pratxaoa, Coelentera, Echinoder-
diate.'i 1. a. 1. Darting, shooting, or emit- mala, and Vermes.
ting rays of light or heat ; shining: sparkling ; The lower groups of which he [Cuvier] knew least, and
beaming with hriirhtTies^! literallv oV fiOTii-at.ivfi. which he threw into one great heterogeneous assemblage,
Deammgwiin Drigntness,nterauyorngurative- Radiata, have been altogether remodelled and re-
ly: as, the raojawt sun ; a rasmam* countenance, arranged. . . . Whatever form the classification of the
Mark, what radiant state she spreads. Animal Kingdom may eventually take, the Cuvierian So-
Milton, Arcades, L U. diata is, in my judgment, eflectoally abolished.
, ,, . ■. u ..iu t,i- -^ ■ -. — » ^ficJey, Classification (1869), p. 86.
A sudden star, it shot through liquid air, . "' . ,. .^
And drew behind a radiant trail of hair. 2. In later classifications, with various limita-
i»ope, B. of the L., V. 128. tions and restrictions of sense 1. (a) The old
His features radiant as the soul within. Radiata without the Infusoria, (ft) Same as Echinoder-
O. W. Holmes, Vestigia Qulnque Ketrorsum. nuUa proper ; Arribulacraria (which see) without the ge-
r, /.,. . . J. ■ ii, i! J! nus Balanoglosms. Metschnikoff. (c) In Owens system
3. triving out rays; proceeding m the form o± agsaXone of four provinces of the animal kingdom, di-
rays; resembling rays; radiating; also, radi- vlded into RadiaHa, Entozoa (ccelelminths and sterel-
ated; radiate: as, radian* heat. minths), and i^tMoria (the latter containing Rotifera
Jonas. .. made him a shadowynge place for his defence «« jj^+i^^/^s/i^, 5+\ m ■ *ii.nf o-nrl T»r» vnflin1-j>.rl
agaynst the radyaunt heet of thi Sonne in the syde of an radiate (radl-at),«. , pret and py.raaMWO,
hylL Bp. Fisher, Seven Penitential Psalms, Ps. cxxx. ppr. radiating, [< L. radiatus, pp. ot raaiare,
The passage of radiant heat, as such, through any me- furnish -with spokes, give out rays, radiate,
dium ioea not heat it at all. shme (> It. radia/re, raggiare = Sp. Pg. raaiar
W. L. Carpenter, Energy in Nature (1st ed.), p. 46. = p. radier, radiate, shine), < radius, a spoke,
■Whenthla[radlationofflbers]take8placeinanopencav- ray: 860 radius, ray^.'] I, intrans. 1. To issue
ity, producing brush-like forms, they are termed radiant, and proceed in rays or straight lines from a
Eneyc Brit., XVL 37a pojuj; spread directly outward from a center
3. In her.: (a) Edged with rays : said of an or nucleus, as the spokes of a wheel, heat and
ordinary or other bearing such as is usually light, etc.
bounded with straight lines, the ||,,, |||||||||||||||||||||||i Light ... rodiote* from luminous bodies directly to
rays generally appearing like ^^^H^H^ <><"' ^y^^ Locke, Blem. ot Nat. PhlL, xi.
long indentations. See ray^, 8. IMW|liffl But It [the wood] Is traversed by plates of pai'enchyma,
(6) Giving off rays, which do (fffrfSffl or cellular tissue of the same nature as the pith, which
not form a broken or indent- f--'- •'•:•. 'J radftite from that to the b^k. ,,>„»„„„„,,
„j „j j.„ iv„ r,„„ • v„,i !•.•.•... .1 .4. Graj/, Structural Botany, p. 74.
ed edge to the bearing, but y ...... .i „,.....;,..... . ,. .,. ^^ ^r, . ,
slTfinnffrfiTn it its oiitlirifi be- ^vL^-lil-i' When the light diminishes, as in twUi^ht, the cu-cular
stream trom it, us outline oe- ^^rTT^,, fibers relax, the previously stretched radiaUng fibers con-
ing usually perfect and the Or. a chief Radi- ^^^^ j,y elasticity, and enlarge the pupil,
rays apparently streaming from " °' ie Cojrfe, Sight, p. 39.
behind it. — 4. In hot., radiating; radiate. — 3. To emit rays; be radiant: as, a radiating
Radiant energy. See enerpy.-Radiant heat. See body.— 3. To spread in all directions from a
heat, 2. — Radiant matter, a phrase used by Crookes "^^f ". " i- 4.„„„j „„
to describe a UgMy rarefied gas, or "ultra-gaseous mat- central source or cause; proceed outward as
ter," which is found to produce certain peculiar me- from a foeus to all accessible points,
ohanlcal and luminous effects when a charge of high-po- ^ ^^^ j^^ U^^ ^^ tj,g ^^^^^^ „, „j,t„je, and radiates
tential electricity is passed through it For example, m a j jj^ circumference. ^m«)-s(m,llature, p. 51.
vacuum-tube exhausted to one millionth of an atmosphere ' ' '
(a Crookes tube) the molecules of the gas present are pro- Enjoyment radiates. It is of no use to try and take
jeoted from the negative pole in streams, and if they are care of all the world; that is being taken care of when
made to strike against a deUcately poised wheel they set you feel delight in art or in anything else.
It in motion ; if on a piece of calcite, they make it phos- George Eliot, Mlddlemarch, xxii.
phoresoent, etc.— Radiant neuration,in.e)i«om.,nenraj tt ^^^g J To emit or send out in direct
tion characterized by a number of vems radiating outward ,-"' „„ i!„„™ „ „„:„+ „„ *„„„-,. i,-.r.„o t-n na,,ca
from a smaU roundish areolet or cell in the disk of the "MS, as from a point or focus; hence, to cause
wing, as In certain Diptera.—'RaidiaxA point, in physics, to proceed or diverge in all directions, as irom
the point from which rays of light or heat proceed. Also a source or cause : communicate by direct em-
called radiaUng paint.--Ra,dmnt veins or nervures, anation : as, the sun radiates heat and light,
in eTiJom., veins or nervures radiating from a single small ""■»"""•"'=)•'"==""■'«"'-""'"""""" ,, , ,
wing-ceU.=SyiL 1. Beaming, resplendent. See radiaruie. Donatello . . . seemed to radiate Jollity out of his whole
II. n. 1. In optics, a luminous point or ob- "imMe person. Hawthorne, Marble Faun, x.
iect from which light radiates to the eye, or to The Wonder . . . looked fuU enough of life to radiate
a mirror or lens; a point considered as the ^"^"^ "*'"' ^'''*TyrHota. A Mortal Antipathy, vi.
focus of a pencil of rays.- 2. In OSfron., the fountain tops gather clouds around them for the same
point m the heavens trom whicn the snootmg- reason : they cool themselves by radiating theii heat,
stars of a meteoric shower seem to proceed : through the dry superincumbent air, into space,
thus, the radiant of the shower of November iJ. ,;: Jfarsn, In Modem Meteorology, p. 23.
13th is near the star CLeonis, and these meteors 2. To furnish with rays; cause to have or to
are hence called the Leonides. Similarly the mete- consist of rays ; make radial,
ors of November 27th (which are connected with Biela's Elsewhere, a brilliant radiated formation was conspic-
comeli and are often called the BjeJwfes) have theU; radiant „„„g spreadmg, at four opposite points, into four vast
not far from y AndromedsB, and are also known as the luminous expansions, compared to feather-glumes, or
AndromfdesoTAi^romedids. aigrettes. 4. jif. CTerie, Astron. inl9thCent,p. 83.
radiantly (ra'di-ant-h), adv. 1. Witt radiant j^^^^^ keyboard or pedals, in organ-building, a
or beaming brightness; with glittering splen- pej^l k^oard in which the pedals are placed closer to-
dor, — 2. By radiation ; in the manner of rays ; gether in front than behind, so as to enable the player to
radiatinelv HRare 1 reach them with equal ease.— Radiating point. Same
_ ,., °j'' .. ^ ,j _, J. #7 /,-, asm(?iant»mrrf(whiohsee, under radiant).— Radiating
Healthy human actions should spring radianUy Gike pQ^er. Same as radiative power (which see^ under rodf-
rays) from some single heart motive. ^ ,^ ^ „. oHve).
iJrato, Elements of Drawing, 111. radiate (ra'di-at), a. and n. [< L. radiatus,
Radiariat (ra-di-a'ri-a), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi. having rays, radiating, pg. of radiare, radiate,
ot radiariits, radiate: see radiary.'\ 1. In La- furnish with spokes: see radiate, ».] I. a. 1.
marok's classification (1801-12), a class of ani- Having a ray, rays, or ray-like parts; having
mals, divided into the orders Mollia^ or aca- lines or projec-
lephs, and Echinoderma (the latter including tions proceeding
the Actinix). — 2. In Owen's classification from a common
(1855), a subprovinoe of the province Badiata, center or sur-
containing the five classes EeUnodermata, face; rayed: as,
Bryogoa, Anthozoa, AcalephsB, and Hydrozoa. — a radiate animal
3. In H. Milne-Bdwards's classification (1855), (amemberof the
the first subbranch of Zoophytes (contrasted Badiata); B.radi^
with Sareodaria), containing the three classes ate mineral (one
of echinoderms, acalephs, and corals or polyps, -vyith rayed crys- p ,^-„. Bh,..-^,,. vi^.vdute.
radiaryt (ra'di-k-ri), a. and n. [= P. radiavre, tals or fibers)! a ^'*'" stmcturc-waveihte.
< NL. radiarius, < L, radius, a ray, radius: see radiate flower-head. Specifically— (o) In mol.: (l)
raMus.'\ In zool., same as radiate. Characterized by or exhibiting radial symmetry, or radia-
radiation
tion ; having the whole structure, or some parts of it, radj-
ating from a common center ; radiatory ; rayed ; actino-
meric. (2) Of or pertaining to the Cuvierian Radiala : as,
"the radiate mob," Hualey. (6) In bat, bearing raj-flow-
ers : said chiefly of a head among the Compositie, In which
a disk of tubular florets is encircled by one or more rows of
radially spreading ligulate florets, as in the daisy and sun-
flower; or in which all the florets are ligulate^ as in the
dandelion and chicory.
2. Constituting a ray or rays; proceeding or
extending outward from a center or focus; ra-
diating: as, the radiate fibers of some minerals
and plants; the radiate petals of a flower or
florets of a head.
A school-house plant on every hill.
Stretching In radiate nerve-lines thence
The quick wires of intelligence.
WhttUer, Snow-Bound.
3. In numismatic and similar descriptions, rep-
Radiate Head of Gallienus From an aureus in the British Mu-
seum. (Four times the size of the original.)
resented with rays proceeding from it, as a head
or bust : as, the head of the Emperor Caraealla,
The sun-god Helios rising from the sea, showing radiate head.
(Metope from New Ilium in the Troad.)
radiate; the head of Helios (the sun-god), ra-
il, ». 1. A ray-like projection; a ray.
The tin salt ciystalllsed out in transparent, shining nee.
dies, arranged in clusters of radiates about nuclei.
Amer. Chem. Jow., SI. 82.
2. A member of the Badiata, in any sense.
radiated (ra'di-a-ted), p. a. [< radiate + -ed^.]
Same as radiate Radiated animals. See Radia-
ta.—'RaM&'tei. falcon. See /oJcon.- RaiUated wing-
cells, in entom., wing-cells formed principally by diverg-
ing nervures, as In the earwig.
radiately (ra'di-at-li), adv. In a radiate man-
ner; with radiation from a common center; ra-
dially— Radiately veined or nerved, in tot, same as
palmately veined or nerved. See neroaMon.
radiateness (ra'di-at-nes), n. Same as radi-
ality.
radiate-veined (ra'di-at-vand), a. In lot.,
palmately veined. See nervation.
radiatif orm (ra-di-a'ti-f 6rm), a. [< L. radiatus,
radiate, •¥ forma, form.] In lot., having the
appearance of being radiate: said of heads, as
in some species of Centawea, having some of
the marginal flowers enlarged, but not truly
ligulate.
radiatingly (ra'di-a-ting-li), adv. Same as ra-
radiation (ra-di-a'shon), n. [< F. radiation
= Sp. radiadon = Pg. radiapSo = It. radi-
azione, < L. radiatio(,n-), shining, radiation, <
radiare, shine, radiate: see radiate."] 1. The
act of radiating, or the state of being radiated ;
specifically, emission and diffusion of rays of
light and the so-called rays of heat. Physically
speaUng, radiation Is the transformation of the molecu-
lar energy of a hot body — that Is, any body above the ab-
solute zero (—273' C.) — Into the wave-motion of the sur-
rounding ether, and the propagation of these ether waves
through space. Hence, every body Is the source of radla^
tion, but the character ot the radiation varies, depending
radiation
chiefly upon the temperature ol the body ; it is called lu-
vunoue or obecwre, according as it is or is not capable of
exciting the sensation of light. See further radiarU energy
(under energy^ also heat,Ugm, gpeetrum.
SadiaUon u the communication of vibratory motion to
the ether, and when a body la said to be chUled by radio-
Urn, as for example the grass of a meadow on a starlight
nlgh(^ the meaning Is that the molecules of the grass have
lost a portion of their motion, by imparting It to the
medium in which they vibrate. TyndaU, £adiation, § 2.
Any substance . . . will become heated by rodiotion to
the greatest degree when its surface Is made rough and
completely black, so that it can absorb all the rays falling
upon it. Laimnel, light (trans.), p. 198.
2. The divergence or shooting forth of rays
from a point or focus. — 3. In 2odl., the struc-
tural character of a radiate ; the radiate con-
dition, quality, or type; the radiate arrange-
ment of parts. Also radiism Direct radiation
and Indirect radiation, phrases used in describing the
method of heating by steam-radiators, according as the
radiator Is actually In the room heated or is inclosed in a
space beneath, from which the hot air is distributed by
tin pipes, as in simple heating by a hot-air furnace. In
both cases the heat is communicated by convection, and
in the case of indirect radiation not at all by radiation.
—Dynamic radiation, a phrase introduced by Tyndall
to describe the i-adlation of a gas when the heat is not
due to an outside source, but is developed by the molecu-
lar motion as the gas passes rapidly into an exhausted
vessel.— Solar radiation, the radiation of the sun as
, measured by the heat which the earth receives from it
— Terrestnal radiation, the communication of heat
by the earth to the surrounding ether, by means of radia-
tion.
radiative (ra'di-a-tiv), a. [< radiate + -ive.']
Having a tendency to radiate ; possessing the
quality of radiation. -Radiative or radiating
power, the ability of a body to radiate heat — that is, phys-
ically, to transform its own heat-energy into the wave-
motion of the surrounding ether. It depends, other
things being equal, upon the nature of the surface of the
body, being a maximum for lampblack aud a minimum
for polished metallic surfaces : thus, a mass of hot water
will cool more rapidly in a vessel with a dull-black sur-
face than In one which is polished and bright, like silver.
The radiative and absorbing powers of a substance are
identical, and are the opposite of the reflecting power.
Also called emissive power.
radiator (ra'di-a-tor), m. [_< radiate + -orT-.'] 1.
Anything which radiates ; a body or substance
from which rays of heat emanate or radiate. —
2. A part of a heating apparatus designed to
communicate heat to a room, chiefly by con-
vection, but partly, in some cases, by radiation.
a, a direct radiator with cast-iron base w« and cap n; f, vertical
tubes of wrought-iron screwed into the base; ^, inlet; h, outlet; d
and f, detail sections of tube ; i, diaphragm used in one kind of ver-
tical-tube steam-radiators, steam passing through it, as indicated by
arrow. *, a direct-indirect radiator, an: entering at /, and circulating
upward through passages in base A*, c, an indirectsteam-radiator: m,
base ; f, tubes ; cold air from without is admitted at /, and passes over
radiator as indicated by arrows ; k, flues up which warm air passes
to register y.
A common form of radiator is a sheet-iron drum or cyl-
inder containing deflectors or bafile-plates, placed over a
fireplace to cause the volatile products of combustion to
give up their heat as they pass; a heating-drum. A steam-
radiator consists of a mass of coiled or flexed pipes to which
steam for heating is conveyed through a continuous pipe
from a boiler, and which is provided with suitable valves
for the control of the steam.
radiatory (ra'di-a-to-ri), a. [< radiate ■¥ -ory.']
Radiating j having parts arranged like rays
around a center or axis ; rayed ; actiuomeric.
radical (rad'i-kal), a. and n. [< T. radical =
Pr. Sp. Pg. radical = It. radicate = D. radikaal
= Gt. 8w. Dan. radikal, < LL. radicaUs, of or
pertaining to the root, having roots, radical,
< L. radix (radio-), root: see radix.'] I. a. 1.
Pertaining or relating to a root or to roots.
The cause ot a thynne and wateiy radycaU moyster to
snche thynges as drawe theyr nuryshement therof.
R Sden. tr. of Gonzalus Oviedus (First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 227).
Specifically— (a) In but., belonging to the root : opposed
to cauline. See radical leaves and radical pedunde, be-
low (b) In phOol., of the nature of or pertaining to a
root, or a primary or underived word or main part of a
word- as a radical word; a radical letter or syllable;
radical accentuation, (e) In matJi., consisting of or in-
dicating one of the roots of a number: as, a radical ex-
pression ; the radical sign. (,d) In climi., noting any atom
4933
or group of atoms which is, for the moment, regarded as a
chief constituent of the molecules ol a given componnd,
and which does not lose its int^rlty in the ordinary chem-
ical reactions to which the substance is liable. Cooke,
Chem. PhUos., p. 106.
2. Making part of the essential nature of the
subject or thing concerned ; existing inherent-
ly ; intrinsic ; organic : as, radical defects of
character ; a radical fault of construction ; the
radical principles of an art or of religion. The
latin word first occurs, about the beginning of the thir-
teenth ceatary. in the phrase humidum radicale, or radi-
cal moisture, that moisture in an animal or a plant which
cannot be expelled without killing the organism which
was supposed to remain unchanged throughout life, and
to be the chief principle of vitality. The word seems to
translate the pseudo-Aristotelian ws av elirot n? pt'^ai, *as
one may say, roots * — an expression applied to moisture
and certain other conditions as being essential to the life
of plants.
Hadicall moisture, or first or naturall moisture, spred
like a dew thorow all the parts of the bodie, wherewith
such parts are nourished : which moisture, being once
wasted, can neuer be restored. Minshezi.
Whilst thus my sorrow-wasting soul was feeding
Upon the radical humour of her thought.
Quarles, Emblems, iv. 12.
This radical error . . . has contributed more than any
other cause to prevent the formation of popular constitu-
tional governments. Calhoim, Works, I. 30.
3. Of or pertaining to the root or foundation
of the subject ; concerned with or based upon
fundamental principles; hence, thoroughgoing;
extreme : as, a radical truth ; a radical differ-
ence of opinion; radical views or measures; the
Radical party in British politics.
His works . . . are more radical in spirit and tendency
than any others, for they strike at all cant whatever,
whether it be the cant of monarchy or the cant of democ-
racy. Whipple, Ess. and Eev., 1. 147.
4. [cop.] Of or pertaining to a political party
or body of persons known as Radicals (see
II., 4, below): as, a Radical candidate; the
Radical program Radi-
cal axis of two circles.
See orasi.— Radical ba£S, in
mime, same as fundamental
bass (which see, wider fwnda-
'meriioQ.— Radical cadence,
in m/usic, a cadence consisting
of chords in their original posi-
tion.—Radical center of
three circles In a plane, the
intersection of the three radi-
cal axes of the three pairs of the
three circles. — Radical curve-
Radical Axes and Radical
Center.
See (r«)T«.— Radical
expression, an expression containing radical signs, es-
pecially a quantity expressed as a root of another. Some-
times loosely called a radical quant^. — Radical func-
tion. See /Kwciion.— Radical leaves, leaves springing
from the root, or, properly, from a part of the stem near to
and resembling the root. In many herbs (primrose, dan-
delion, etc.) all or nearly all the leaves are thus clustered
at the base of the stem. See cuts under Hiera(num. and
OmOhogalum.—'RaMoal moisturet. See above, def. 2.
— Radical peduncle, a peduncle that proceeds from the
axil of a radical leaf, as in the primrose and cowslip. —
Radical pitch, the pitch or tone with which the utter-
ance of a syllable begins.— Radical plane, the plane of
Intersection of two spheres other than the plane at in-
finity, whether the circle of intersection be real or not. —
Radical sign the sign y (a modified form of the letter
r, the initial ot Latin radix, root), placed before any quan-
tity, denoting that Its root is to be extracted : thus, y o or
y a + b. To distinguish the particular root, a number is
written over the sign : thus, W , ^ , i' , etc., denote
respectively the square root, cube root, fourth root, etc.
In the case of the square root however, the number Is
usually omitted, and merely the sign written. The same
sign is much used to mark a so-called root or radical ele-
ment of words. — Radical Stress, in elocvUon, the force
of utterance falling on the initial part of a syllable or word.
= Syn. 3. There may be a distinction between a radical
reform, change, cure, or the like, and one that is fhorovgh,
entire, complete, or thoroughgoing, radical emphasizing only
the fact of going to the root, whether there is thorough-
ness or entireness or not. Yet that which is radical is
likely to be thorough, etc.
II. M. 1. In philol.: (a) A radical word or
part of a word; especially, a primitive word
or verbal element serving as a root of inflected
or derivative words. (6) A radical letter; a
letter forming an essential part of the primitive
form or root of a word. Also radicle.— 2. In
cltem., an element or group of combined ele-
ments which remains after one or more ele-
ments have been removed from a compound.
(See the quotation. ) The term is chiefly applied to
compound radicals, which are assumed to exist in com-
pound bodies and to remain intact in many of the chem-
ical changes which these bodies undergo. Thus the com-
pound radical ethyl, CaHs, appears in alcohol (C2H6.OH),
In ether ((C2H5)20), in ethylamine (C2H5.NH2), etc., and
may be transferred without change, like an element, from
one of these compounds to the other. Also radicle.
The word radical stands for any atom or group of atoms
which is, for the moment, regarded as a chief constituent
of the molecules of a given compound, and which does
not lose its integrity in the ordinary chemical reactions
to which the substance is liable. ... As a general rule
the metallic atoms are basic radicals, while the non-metal-
lic atoms are acid radicals. . . . Among compound radicals
radicant
those consisting of carbon and hydrogen alone are usu-
ally basic, and those containing oxygen also are usually
acid. Cooke, Chem. Fhilos., p. 106.
3. In music, same as root. — 4. A person who
holds or acts according to radical principles ;
one who pursues a theory to its furthest apjiar-
ent limit ; an extremist, especially in pobties.
In the political sense, in which the word has been most
used, a Radical is one who aims at thorough reform in
government from a libera] or democratic point of view,
or desires the establishment of what he regards as abstract
principles of right and justice, by the most direct and
uncompromising methods. The political Radicals of a
country generally constitute the extreme faction or wing
of the more liberal of the two leading parties, or act as a
separate party when their numbers are suflicient for the
exertion of any considerable Influence. The name Badi-
col is often applied as one of reproach to the members of
a party by their opponents. In the United States it has
besn so applied at times to Democrats, and to Eepnbli-
CtUS especially in the South about the period of recon-
struction. The French Radicals are often called the
Extreme Left. The British Hadicals form an important
section of the Liberal party.
In politics they [the Independents] were, to use the
phrase of their own time, "Root-and-Branch men," or, to
use the kindred phrase of our own. Radicals. Macaulay.
He [President Johnson] did not receive a single South-
ern vote, and was detested through every Southern State
with a cordiality unljnown in the case of any Northern
Radical. The Nation, ni. 141.
5. In alg., a quantity expressed as a root of
another quantity Negative, organic, etc., radi-
cal. See the adjectives.
radicalise, v. See radicalize.
radicalism (rad'i-kal-izm), n. [= P. radica-
lisme = Sp. Pg. It. "radicali'Smo; as radical +
-ism.'] The state or character of being radical ;
the holding or carrying out of extreme princi-
ples on SLUj subject ; specifically, extreme politi-
cal liberalism ; the doctrine or principle of un-
compromising reform in government ; the sys-
tem or methods advocated by the political Radi-
cals of a country.
Radicalism endeavours to realize a state more in har-
mony with the character of the ideal man.
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 511.
The year 1769 is very memorable in political history, for
it witnessed the birth of English Radicalism, and the first
serious attempts to reform and control Parliament by a
pressure from without, making its members habitu^y
subservient to their constituents.
Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., zi.
radicality (rad-i-kal'i-ti), n. [< radical + -ity.]
1. The state or character of being radical, in
any sense. [Rare.] — 2\. Origination.
There may be equivocal seeds and hermaphroditical
principles which contain the radicalUy and power of
diif erent forms. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iiL 17.
radicalize (rad'i-kal-iz), V. ; pret. and pp. radi-
calized, ppr. radicalizing. [< radical -f -ize.]
1. trans. To make radical; cause to conform
to radical ideas, or to political radicalism.
[Recent.]
It is inferred . . . that Lord Salisbury means to radical-
ize his land programme for England.
New York Tribune, Feb. 18, 1887.
II. intrans. To become radical; adopt or
carry out radical principles, or the doctrines of
political radicalism. [Recent.]
Indeed, it Is hard to say which is the more surprising—
the goodwill shown by the Russians, and even by the
Russian Government, for a radicali^ng Republic, or the
fatuous admiration of certain French Republicans for the
most autocratic State in Europe.
Contemporary Rev., Lin. 303.
Also spelled radicalise.
radically (rad'i-kal-i), adv. 1. By root or
origin; primitively; originally; naturally.
Tho' the Word [bless] be radically derived from the
Dutch Word, yet it would bear good Sense, and be very
pertinent to this Purpose, if we would fetch it from the
French Word " blesser," which is to hurt.
Howell, Letters, I. vi. 55.
These great Orbs thus radically bright.
Prior, Solomon, i.
2. In a radical manner ; at the origin or root :
fundamentally; essentially: as, a scheme or
system radically wrong or defective.
The window tax, long condemned by universal consent
as a radically bad tax.
S. Bowed, Taxes in England, II. 313.
radicalness (rad'i-kal-nes), n. The state of be-
ing radical, in any sense.
ramcand (rad-i-kand'), n. [< L. radicandus,
ger. of radicari, tsike root: see radicate.] In
math., an expression of which a root is to be
extracted.
radicant (rad'i-kant), a. [< F. radicant, < L.
radican(t-)s, ppr.' of radicari, take root: see
radicate.] In bot., rooting; specifically, pro-
ducing roots from some part other than the
descending axis, as for the purpose of climb-
ing. Also radicating.
radicaxian
radicarian (rad-i-ka'ri-an), a. [< L. radix (ra-
dio-), root, + -arian.'] "Of or relating to roots.
The strength of the radicarian theory is that it accords
Avith aU that we have learned as to the nature of language.
WUtney, Amer. Jour. Philol., Nov., 1880, p. 338.
Eadicata (rad-i-ka'ta), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi.
of L. j-ad»ca«tts, rooted: see radicate.'] A divi-
sion of polyzoans: same as ArtUytilata (d): op-
posed to Inerustata,
radicate (rad'i-kat), v.; pret. and pp. radi-
cated, ppr. radicaUng. [< L. radicatus, pp. of
radicari (> It. radicare = Sp. Pg. Pr. radicar),
take or strike root, < radix (radio-), root : see
radix.] I. intrans. To take root.
For evergreens, especially such as are tender prune them
not after planting till they do radicate. Eoelyn, Sylva.
II. trans. To cause to take root ; root; plant
deeply and firmly.
Often remembrance to them [noblemen] of their astate
may happen to radycate in theyr hartes intoUerable pride.
fSlr T. Elyot, The Governour, i. 4.
This medical feature in the Essenes is not only found in
the Christians, but is found radicated in the very consti-
tution of that body. J)e Quineey, Essenes, iii
radicate frad'i-kat), a. [< L. radicatus, pp. of
radicari, take root: see radicate, v.] 1 . In zool. :
(a) Rooted •. fixed at the bottom as if rooted ;
grovfiagfrom a fixed root or root-like part. (6)
Specifically, in conch.: (1) Byssiferous; fixed
byabyssus. (2) Adherent by the base to some
other body, as a limpet to a rock, (o) Booted
and of a plant-like habit, as a polyzoan; not
inerusting like a lichen; belonging to the Badi-
eata. — 2. In hot., rooted.
radicated (rad'i-ka-ted), p. a. [< radicate, v.,
+ -ed^.] Booted, or having taken root : same
as radicate : as, a radicated stem.
It, therefore, you would not cheat yourselves, as multi-
tudes in this age have done, about your love to the breth-
ren, try not by the bare aotj but by the radicated, preva-
lent degree of your love. Baxter, Saints' Rest, iii. 11.
radicating (rad'i-ka-ting), p. a. In hot., same
as radioant.
radication (rad-i-ka'shon), n. [< P. radication
= Sp. radioaoion = Vg" radicaoao = It. radioa-
zione, < ML. radioaUo(n-), < L. radicari, pp.
radicatus, take root: see radicate.] 1. The
process of taking root, or the state of being
rooted.
Pride is a sin of so deep radication, and so powerful in
the hearts of carnal men, that it will take advantage of
auy condition. Baxter, Life of Faith, lit 15.
2. In hot., the manner in which roots grow or
are arranged. — 3 . In. zool., fixation at the base,
as if rooted; the state of being radicate or rad-
icated.
radicet, »• -Aji obsolete form of radish.
radicei (rad'i-sel), n. [< F. radioelle = It. radi-
cella, < NL. *radicella, little root, dim. of L. ras-
dix (radio-), root.] 1. In hot., a, minute root;
a rootlet. Also radicle. A. Gray. — 2. In sool.,
a rootlet or radicle.
radices, n. Plural of radix.
radicicolous (rad-i-sik'o-lus), a. [< L. radix
(radio-), loot, -\- cotere, inhabit.] Living upon
or infesting roots : specifically noting the root-
form of the phylloxera or vine-pest : contrasted
with gallioolous. See Phylloxera, 2.
radiciflorous (ra-dis-i-flo'rus), n. [< L. radi^
(radio-)^ root, + flos (flor-), flower, + -ous.]
Flowering (apparently) from the root. A. Gray.
radiciform (ra-dis'i-f6rm), a. [= F. It. radi-
dforme, < L. radix (radio-), root, + forma, form:
see form.] 1. In hot., of the nature or appear-
ance of a root. A. Gray. — 2. In sool., root-like
in aspect or function.
radicle (rad'i-kl), n. [— F. radicule = Sp. ra-
dicula, < L. radicula, rootlet, small root, also
radish, soapwort, dim. of radix (radio-), root:
see radix. Of. radicei.] 1. labot.: (a) A root-
let: same as radicei. (b) Specifically, same
as cauliole: by late writers appropriately re-
stricted to the rudimentary root at the lower
extremity of the cauliole. — 3. In anat. and
zool., a little root or root-like part; a radix:
as, the radicles of a vein (the minute vessels
which unite to form a vein) ; the radicle of a
nerve. — 3. In philol., same as radical, 1. [Un-
usual.]
Radicles are elementary relational parts of words. They
are generally single sounds — oftenest a consonant sound.
F. A. March, Anglo-Saxon Grammar (1869), p. 33.,
4. In chem., same as radical, 2.
A radicle may consist of a single elementary atom, and
it then forms a simple radicle; or it may consist of a
group of atoms, in which case it constitutes a compound
radiSe. W. A. Maier. Elera. of Chemistry, § 1061.
4934
Aaverse, centrifugal, centripetal radicle. See the
adjectives.
radicolous (ra-dik'o-lus), a. A contracted form
of radicicolous.
radicose (rad'i-kos), a. [= Sp. Pg. radicoso, <
L. radicosus, full of roots, < radix (radio-), a
root: see radix.] In hot., having a large root.
radicula (ra-dik'n-la), n. ; pi. radiculee (-le).
[L. : see radicle.] In entom., a radicle.
radicular (ra-dik'u-lar), a. [< radicule -t- -arS.]
Characterized by the presence of a radicle or
radicles.— Radicular odontome, an odontome formed
on the neck or root of a tooth.
radicule (rad'i-kul), ». [< F. radicule, < L. ra-
dicula, little root: see radicle.] In hot., same
as radicle, 1.
radiculose (ra-dik'u-los), a. [< NL. *radiculo-
sus, < L. radicula, rootlet : see radicle.] In hot.,
covered with radicles or rootlets.
radii, ». Plural of radius.
radiism (ra'di-izm), n. [< L. radius, ray, +
-ism.] In zool., same as radiation, 3. Forbes,
Brit. Sea Urchins.
radiocarpal (ra"di-6-kar'pal), a. [< L. radius,
radius, + NL. carpus, the wrist: see carpal.]
1. Pertaining to the radius and the carpus or
wrist: as, the radiocarpal axtiav\a,tion; radio-
carpal ligaments. — 2. Situated on the radial
side of the wrist : as, the radiocarpal bone. See
radiale — Radiocarpal axterles, ttie anterior and pos-
terior carpal arteries ; small branches given off from the
radial at the wrist and passing to the front and back to
help form the anterior and posterior carpal arches. — Ra-
diocarpal articulation, the wristjoint proper; the
jointing of the manus or third segment of theforelimb of
any vertebrate with the second or preceding segment. In
animals whose ulna is shorter than the radius this joint is
formed wholly by the radius in articulation with some or
all of the proximal row of carpal bones, constituting a
radiocarpal articulation in literal strictness ; but the ulna
often enters into this joint without altering its name. In
man, whose pronation and supination are perfect, the
ulna reaches the wrisfi but is cut off from direct articula-
tion with any carpal by a button of cartilage interposed
between itself and the cuneiform, and the radius articu-
lates with both the scaphoid and the semilunar, so that
the human wrist-joint is properly radiocarpal.— Radio-
carpal ligament, the external lateral ligament of the
radiocarpal articulation. It extends from the summit o
the styloid process of the radius to the outer side of the
scaphoid.
Badioflagellata (ra"di-o-flaj-e-la'ta), n. pi.
[NL. : see radioflagellate.] An order of animal-
cules emitting numerous ray-like pseudopodia,
after the manner of the Badiolaria, and pro-
vided at the same time with one or more flagel-
late appendages, but having no distinct oral
aperture. They are mostly marine. In Kent's
system they consist of two families, Actinomo-
nadidx and Euchitonides.
radioflagellate (ra"di-o-flaj'e-lat), a. [< L. ra-
dius, ray, + flagellum, a whip : see flagellate^.]
Having radiating pseudopodia and flagella ; of
or pertaining to the Badioflagellata.
radiograph (ra'di-o-graf), n. [< L. radius, ray,
+ Gr. yp&^Btv, write.] 1. .An instrument for
measuring and recording the intensity of solar
radiation. — 2. An impression produced on a
sensitive photographic plate by the BBntgen
rays. See ray.
radiography (ra-di-og'ra-fi), n. The produc-
tion of images on sensitized plates by means
of the X-rays.
radiohumeral (ra'-'di-o-hii'me-ral), a. [< L.
radius, ray, -I- humerus, prop.MTOeras, a shoul-
der : see humeral.] Relating to the radius and
the humerus : as, the radiohumeral articulation
or ligament.
Badiola (ra-di'o-la), n. [NL. (J. F. Gmelin,
1791), so named in reference to the many
branches; < L. radiolus, a little ray, also a
plant resembling a fern, dim. of radius, a ray:
see radius, ray^.] A genus of polypetalous
plants of the order Linese, or flax family, and
tribe EuUnese, distinguished from the nearly
related genus Linum (flai) by its complete nu-
merical symmetry in fours (instead of fives),
having four toothed sepals, four twisted petals,
four distinct stamens, a four-celled ovary, four
styles, and an eight-celled, eight-seeded cap-
sule. The only species, R. Millegrana, native of the
temperate and subtropical parts of the Old World, Is
a little annual with forking stem, opposite leaves, and
minute white corymbose flowers. See allseed (d) and
Jlaxseed, 2.
Uadiolaria (ra"di-6-la'ri-a), n.pl. [NL.,neut.
pi. of *radiolaris, <' L. radiolus, a little ray: see
Badiola.] A class of filose non-corticate Pro-
tozoa : a name applied by Haeckel (in 1862) to
the protozoans called by Ehrenberg Potycysiina.
The radiolarians are marine gymnomyxine protozoans in
which no contractile vacuoles are observed, having an amoe-
A Radiolarian t^fieliosfhsera pectinata").
z6o times natural size.
radiometer
biform body of spherical or conical figure with radiant
fllose pseudopods, inclosing a similarly shaped perforated
test of membranous texture called the central capsule.
The intracapsular protoplasm Is continuous through the
f)erforations with that which is extracapsular, and has a
arge specialized
nucleus or sev-
eral such nuclei.
There is usually
a skeleton of sili-
cious spicules or
of the substance
called acanthin,
and embedded in
the protoplasm
may be oil-glob-
ules, pigment-
granules, and
crystals. Most
radiolarians con-
tain peculiar nu-
cleated yellow
corpuscles regard-
ed as parasitic al-
gals. Reproduc-
tion both by fis-
sion and by sporu-
lation has been observed. The Badiolaria have been 6i-
yideAlntotbeanbcl&esesStticoskeletaaaiAcantlunwtridea,
according to the chemical composition of the skeleton,
the former subclass into Peripyleea, Monopyleea, and Tri-
pyleea (or Phseadaria) ; into Monocyttaria, with one cen-
tral capsule, and Polycytiaria, with several such ; and in
vai'ious other ways. The latest monographer arranges
them under four subclasses or "legions": (1) Peripylea
or SpmneUaria, with 82 families: (2) Actipylea or Acan-
tharia, with 12 families ; (3) Monopylea or Naesellaria,
with 26 families ; and (4) Canrwpylea or Phseodaria, with
16 families. The term RadUHaria appears to have been
first used by Johannes Miiller, in 1868, for the organisms
known as Polycystina, ThalaetActAla, aud Acanthvmetra.
The marine radiolarians all inhabit the superficial stra-
tum of the sea, and fabricate their skeletons of the in-
fiuitesimally small proportion of silex which is dissolved
in sea-water. When they die these skeletons sink to the
bottom, forming geological strata. Extensive masses of
Tertiajy rock, such as that which is found at Oran in
Algeria, and that which occurs at Eissex Hill in Barba-
dos, are very largely made up of exquisitely preserved
skeletons of Badiolaria, which are erroneously named
" fossil IvjfuBoria." But, though there can be little doubt
that Badiolaria abounded in the Cretaceous sea, none are
found in the Chalk, their silicious skeletons having prob-
ably been dissolved and redeposited as fiint. Recent re-
mains of radiolarians enter largely into the composition
of the so-called radiolarian ooze.
radiolarian (ra"di-6-la'ri-an), a. and n. [< Ba-
diolaria + -an.] r. a. Of or pertaining to the
Badiolaria; containing or consisting of ra-
diolarians.— Radiolarian ooze, the ooze or sediment
at the bottom of tlie sea, composed in part of the shells of
radiolarians. See globigerina-mvd.
Their siliceous skeletons accumulate in some localities
... to such an extent as to form a Radidlarian ooze.
W. B. Carperder, micros., § 507.
II. 11. Any member of the Badiolaria.
radioli, n. Plural of radiolus.
radiolite (ra'di-o-lit), n. [< NL. radiolites, < ra-
diolus, dim. of L'. radius, vaj: see radius.] 1. A
member of the gemxs Badiolites. — 2. A variety
of natrolite, occurring in radiated forms in the
zircon-syenite of southern Norway.
Badiolites (ra"di-o-]i'tez), 11. [NL.: see radi-
olite.] A genus of Budistse, typical of the fam-
ily Badiolitidas. The typical species have at maturity
valves elevated in a coniform manner in opposite direc-
tions, and sculptured with radiating grooves and ridges.
Badiolitidse (ra'di-o-lifi-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Badiolites + -ddse.] ' A fawJlj ot Budistse, typi-
fied by the genus Badiolites. The shell is very in-
equivalve and fixed by one valve ; the hinge has one car-
dinal tooth and two fossee in the fixed valve, and two
cardinal teeth in the free ; the external layer of the shell
is thick and the internal thin ; the summit of the free
valve is nearly central in the adult, but submarginal in
the young. The family is characteristic ot the Cretaceous
period.
radiolus (ra-di'o-lus),».; pi. radioli (-M). [NL.,
dim. of L. radius, a ray : see rad^^ls.] In ornith.,
one of the barbules, or rays of the second or-
der, of the main shaft of a feather Radioli ac-
cesaorii, the barbules of the aftershaf t or hypoptilum of a
feather.
radiometer (ra-di-om'e-tfer), n. [= P. radiom^
tre = Sp. radidmetro, < L. radius, a ray, H- Gr.
ftirpov, measure.] 1. An old instrument for
s^E^
aialei si si
Radiometer or Cross-staff.
measuring angles; the cross-staff. The end of the
staff was held to the eye, and the crosspiece was shifted
until it just covered the angle to be measured, when the
latter was read off on the longitudinal staff.
Crookesfs Radiometer.
radiometer
2. An instrument which serves to transform
radiant energy into mechanical work, it con-
sists of four crossed
arms of very fine glass,
supported in th e center
by a. needle-point, and
having at the extreme
ends thin vertical disks
or squares of pith,
blaclcened on one side.
When placed in a
glass vessel nearly ex-
hausted of air, and ex-
posed to rays of Ught
or heat, the blackened
surfaces absorb the ra-
diant energy and be-
come heated, the mole-
cules of the air remain-
ing in the vessel strik-
ing against them gain
from them greater ve-
locity, and there results
an increased pressure,
causing a more or less
rapid revolution of the
anus. By varying the
conditions as to degree
of exhaustion, size of
bulb, etc., a number
of experiments are performed with the radiometer which
serve to illustrate the mechanical effects of the rapidly
moving molecules of a gas.
radiometric (ra"di-o-met'rik;), a. Pertaining to
the radiometer, or to the experiments performed
by it.
radiomicrometer (ra"di-o-mi-krom'e-t6r), n.
[< L. radius, ray, + E. micrometer.'] An in-
strument serving as a very delicate means of
measuring small amounts of heat, it consists
essentially of an antimony-bismuth thermo-electric cou-
ple of very small dimensions, with the ends joined by a
hoop of copper wire, and suspended by a slender thread in
a powerful magnetic field. It is claimed for it that it can
be made even more sensitive than Langley's bolometer.
radiomuscular (ra"di-6-mus'ku-lar), a. [< L.
radius, radius, + mvsculus, muscle': see muscle^,
muscular.] In anat., pertaining to the radius
and to muscles: specifically noting muscular
branches of the radial artery and of the radial
nerve. Coues.
radiophone (ra'di-o-fon), n. [< L. radius, ray,
+ Gr. ^6n^, voice, sound: seej)feo»ei.] An in-
strument in which a sound is produced by the
successive expansions and contractions of a
body under the action of an intermittent beam
of radiant heat thrown upon and absorbed by it.
radiophonic (ra'di-o-fon'ik), a. [< radiophotw
+ -ic] Pertaining" to radiophony, or the pro-
duction of sound by the action of a beam of
light and heat ; relating to the radiophone, or
produced by it.
radiophonics (ra,'''di-6-f on'iks), n. [PI. of radio-
phonic (see -ics).] Same as radiophony.
radiophony (ra'di-o-fo-ni), n. [< Ii. radius, ray,
+ Grr. (jion^, voice, sound : see phone^.] The pro-
duction of sound by the action of an intermit-
tent beam of radiant heat ; that branch of acous-
tics which considers sound so produced. For ex-
ample, if the beam from a lime-light is thrown upon a
rotating disk perforated with a series of holes, and, after
thus being rendered intermittent^ is made to fall upon a
confined mass of a liquid or gas capable of absorbing
radiant heat, a musical note is obtained from the latter
whose pitch depends upon the rapidity of the rotation.
Similar results are obtained with a plate of an appropriate
solid, as hard rubber. Radiophony also includes the more
complex case where an intermittent beam of light, falling
upon a substance like selenium (also in a less degree sul-
phur), serves to vary its electrical resistajace, and hence the
strength of current passing through it, so as to produce a
corresponding sound in a telephone-receiver placed in the
circuit. This is illustrated in the photophone.
radio-ulnar (ra'''di-6-ul'nar), a. [< L. radium,
radius, + ulna, ulna : see ulna, ulnar.] Of or be-
longing to the radius and the ulna : as, the radio-
ulnar articulation — Radlo-ulnar flbrooartilage.
See fibroeartUage.
radious (ra'di-us), a. [< ME. radious, radyous,
radius, < OF. *radios, P. radieux = Sp. Pg. It. ra-
dioso, < L. radiosus, radiant, beaming, < radius,
a ray: see radius.] It. Consisting of rays, as
light. Berkeley.— 2t Eadiating; radiant.
His radious head with shameful thorns they tear.
G. Fletcher, Christ's Triumph over Death, st. 36.
3. In hot, same as radiant. [Rare.]
radish (rad'ish), n. [Formerly also raddish
(also dial, redish, reddish, appar. simulating
reddish, of a red color) ; early mod. B. radice,
radyce; < ME. radish = D. radijs = L(3r. radys
= G. radies = Dan. radis = Sw. radisa, radis,
radisa, < OF. radis, F. radis, a radish, < Pr. ra-
ditz, a root, a radish, = OF. rats, raiz (also ra-
dice), a root, = It. radice, a root, radish, = AS.
rmdic, redic, erroneously hrsedie, MB. radik =
MLG. redih, redek, redich = OHG-. ratih, ratich,
MHG. rastich, rdtich, reUch, G. rettich, rettig =
4935
Dan. rdddike = Sw. rdttika, a radish, < L. radix
(radic-), a root, in particular an edible root, esp.
a radish: see radix.] 1. A plant, Baphanus
satimis, cultivated forits edible root ; also other
species of the same genus. (See phrases below. )
Hie radish of cultivation is unknown in a wild state, but
is thought by many to be derived from the wild radisth if.
RaphanUtrmti. It has been highly prized from the days
of ancient Egypt for its crisp fleshy root; which is litUe
nutritious, but pleasantly pungent and antiscorbutic, and
is mostly eaten raw as a relish or in salads. The radish
commonly must be young and fresh, but some varieties
are grown for winter use. The root varies greatly in size
(but is ordinarily eaten when small), in form (being long
and tapering, turnip-shaped, olive-shaped, etc.X and also
in color (being white, scarlet, pink, reddish-purple, yel-
lowish, or brown), llie leaves were formerly boiled and
eaten, and the green pods make a piclde somewhat re-
sembling capers.
2. A root of this plant. — 3. Same as water-
radish — Horse radish. See horse.-radish. — Rat-tail
radish, a species {Ra-phanus caudahis) or perhaps a vari-
ety of the common radish, a curiosity from the East Indies,
with naiTow pods a foot or more long, which are boiled
or pickled for the table.— Sea-radish, or seaside rad-
ish, a variety of the wild radish, sometimes regarded as a
species(J2apAantf«7narifimu8)foundonEuropean coasts, —
Wild radish, a noxious field-weed, Rapkarms Raphanig-
trwm, resembling charlock, but having necklace-formed
pods, and hence sometimes c^\eA jointed charlock. It has
rough lyrate leaves, and yellowish petals turning whitish
or puiTJlish. It is adventive in the eastern United States.
radish-fly (rad'ish-fli), n. An Ameiican dip-
terous insect, Anthomyia raphani, injurious to
the radish,
radium (ra'di-um), ». [NL., <L. ra(iw. See
radius.] A remarkable radio-active substance
discovered in pitch-blende by M. and Mme.
Curie in 1898.
radius (ra'di-us), n.; pi. radii (-i). [< L. radius,
a staff, rod, spoke of a wheel, a measm-ing-rod,
a semidiameter of a circle (as it were a spoke
of the wheel), a shuttle, spur of a bird, sting of
a fish, the radius of the arm; by transfer, a
beam of light, a ray. Cf. ray'^ (a doublet of
radius) and the derived radiant, radiate, irra-
diate, etc.] 1. In math., one of a number of
lines proceeding from a center;
a ray; especially, a line drawn
from the center to the periphery
of a circle or sphere; also, the
measure of the semidiameter. —
2. In anat. and eooL, the outer
one of the two bones of the fore-
arm, or corresponding part of
the fore leg; the bone on the thumb side of
the forearm, extending from the humerus to
the carpus, and bearing upon its distal end
the manus or hand : so called from its re-
volving, somewhat like a spoke, about the
ulna, as in man and other mammals whose
fore limb exhibits the motions ealled pronation
and supination. In most animals, however, the radius
is motionless, being fixed in a state of pronation, when it
appears as the inner rather than the outer of the two
bones, or as by far the larger bone, of the forearm, the
ulna being often much reduced. In man the radius
is as long as the ulna without the olecranon, and some-
what stouter, especially in its distal parts. It presents a
small, circular, cupped and button-like head, for articu-
lation with the capitulum of the humerus and lesser
sigmoid cavity of the ulna, following which is a constric-
tion termed the Tieck, and next to this a tubercle for the
insertion of the biceps muscle. The shaft enlarges from
above downward, and is of somewhat prismatic form, with
the sharpest edge of the prism presenting toward the
ulna. The lower end has two large articular facets for
articulation with the scaphoid and lunar bones (forming
the radiocarpal articulation, or wrist-joint), a lateral facet
for the radio-ulnar articulation, and a stout projection
called the styloid process^ for the insertion of the supinator
longns mus^e. The radius is pronated by the pronator
radii teres and pronator quadratus, and supinated by the
supinator longus and supinator brevis, assisted by the
biceps. Quite a similar form and disposition of the radius
characterize various mammals which use their fore paws
like hands, as monkeys, mice, squirrels, opossums, etc.
The radius of others, as the horse and ox, is more differ-
ent, and associated with a much reduced and ankylosed
ulna. In birds the radius is so peculiarly articulated with
the humerus that it slides lengthwise back and forth upon
the ulna in the opening and closing of the wing, prona-
tion and supination being absent in this class of animals.
See pronation and supiruition, and cuts under carpus, Ca-
tarrhina, EquidsB, forearm, ox, pinion, Plesiosaums, and
3. In ichth., a bone of the pectoral arch, wrong-
ly identified by some naturalists with the ra-
dius of higher vertebrates. The one so called
by Cuvier is the hypercoraeoid, and that of
Owenisthehypocoracoid. — 4. Ine»toOT.,avein
of the wing of some insects, extending from
the pterostigma to the tip of the wing. — 5.
\^cap.] In conch., a genus of Ovulidse. R. volva
is the shuttle-shell or weaver-shell. — 6. pi. In
ornith., the barbs of the main shaft of a feather ;
the rays of the first order of the raehis. — 7. In
arachnology, one of the radiating lines of a geo-
metrical spider's web, which are connected by
radix
a single spiral line.— 8. In echinoderms, one
of the five radial pieces of the dentary apparatus
of a sea-urchin, heing an arched rod-Uke piece
articulated at its base with the inner extremity
of each rotula, running more or less nearly par-
allel with the rotula, and ending in a free bi-
furcated extremity. Also called the compass
of the lantern of Aristotle (which see, under lan-
tern). See also cut B under lantern. — 9. pi.
Specifically, in Cirripedia, the lateral parts of
the shell, as distinguished from the paries, when
they overlap: when overlapped by others, they
are called alee. — 10. In hot., a ray, as of a
composite flower, etc. — 1 1 . The movable Umb
or arm of a sextant ; also, a similar feature in
any other instrument for measuring angles. —
12. In fort., a line drawn from the center of
the polygon to the end of the outer side Au-
ricular radiL See auricvlar.— Geometrical radius of
a cog-wheel, the radius of the pitch-circle of the wheel.
In contradistinction to its real radius, which is that of the
circle formed by the crests of the teeth. — OhUflue line
of the radius. See o62ijw.—Fronator radii quadra-
tus. See pronator quadratus, under jwoTurtor.— Pronator
radii teres. See ^oTwior.— Proportional radii, in a
system of gears, or in a set of gears of the same pitch,
radii proportioned in length to the number of teeth in
the respective wheels. The proportional radii of any two
geared wheels, when taken together, are equal to the line
connecting the centers of the wheels, which line is the
basis of computation in determining them. Also called
primitive radii. — Radii
accessorii, the barbs of
the aftershaft or hypora-
chis of a feather. — Ra-
dius astronomlcus.
Same as radioTneter, 1. —
Radius of concavity.
Same as radius of curva-
ture.—TiaMas of curva-
ture, the radius of the
circle of curvature — that
is, of the osculating circle
at any point of a curve.
In the cut, AUBC is the
primitive curve (in this
case an ellipse); EHJ, the
circle of curvature^ oscu-
lating theprimitive curve
atH;T,thecenterof cur-
vature; TH, the radius of
curvature; GFTED, the
locus of centers of curva-
ture, or the evolute. The
radius of curvature >vrap-
ping itself upon the evo-
lute gives the primitive
curve.— Radius Of dissipation. See dissipation.— Ra,-
dius of explosion. See mine^, 2 (6).— Radius of gyra-
tion, in mech., the distance from the axis to a point such
that, if the whole mass of a body were concentrated into
it, the moment of inertia would remain unchanged. If
the axis is a principal axis, this radius becomes a prin.
dpal radius of gyration. — Radius Of rupture. See
mines, 2 (6).— Radius of the evolute. Same as ra-
dius of eurvature. — Radius of torsion, the element
of the arc of a curve divided by the angle of torsion.
— Radius vector (pL radii vect&res\ the length of the
line joining a variable point to a fixed origin ; in as-
tronomy the origin is taken at the sun or other cen-
tral body. See sector.— Real radius. See geometrical
radius.
radius-bar (ra'di-us-bar), n. In a steam-engine,
one of a pair of rods pivoted at one end and
connected at the other with some concentri-
cally moving part which it is necessary to keep
at a definite distance from the pivot or center.
Also called radius-rod and iridle-rod. See cuts
under grasshopper-beam and paddle-wheel.
radius-saw (ra'di-us-s&), n. A circular saw
joumaled at the end of a swinging frame or
radial shaft, used in cross-cutting timber.
radix (ra'diks), n.; pi. radices (ra-di'sez). [<
L. radix {radic-), a root, = Gr. ^d5(f, a branch,
rod. Hence ult. E. race^ and radish (doublets
of radix), radical, radicel, radicle, radicule, rad-
icate, eradicate, arace'^, etc.] 1. The root of
a plant : used ehiefiy with reference to the roots
of medicinal plants or preparations from them.
Hence — 2. The primary source or origin ; that
from which anything springs, or in which it
originates. [Rare.]
Her wit is all spirit, that spirit fire, that Are flies from
her tongue, able to bume the radix of the best invention ;
in this element she is the abstract and briefe of all the
eloquence since the incarnation of TuUy.
Heywood, Fair Maid of the Exchange (Works, 1874, 11. 54).
Judaism is the radix of Christianity — Christianity the
int^ratlon of Judaism. De Quincey, Essenes, ill.
3 . In etym. , a primitive word or form from which
spring other words ; a radical; a root. — 4. In
math., a root, (a) Any number which is arbitrarily
made the fundamental number or base of any system of
numbers, to be raised to different powers. Thus, 10 is the
radix of the decimal system of numeration (Briggs's). In
the common system of logarithms, the radix is also 10 ; in
the Napierian it is 2.7182818284 ; every other number is
considered as some power of the radix, the exponent of
which power constitutes the logarithm of that number.
(b) The root of a finite expression from which a series is
derived.
Radius of Curvature,
A, median tooth and teeth of one row of
ri^hc half of radula of Trachtts cinerarius,
B;Qne row of radular teeth of Cyprasa eu-
ropua. A is rhipidoglossate, and B is tfenio-
glossate.
radix
5. In zool. and anat., a root; a rooted or root-
like part; a radicle : as, the ra&vc or root of a
tooth; the radix of a nerve — Radix cerebelll,
the posterior peduncle ot the cerebellum.— Radix mo-
toria, the smaller motor root of the trigeminal nerve.—
Radix sensoria, the larger sensory root ot the trigeminal
nerve.
radlyt, a&v. See rathly.
radnesst (rad'nes), n. [ME., < radi + -Mess.]
Pear; fright; terror.
The Bomaynes for radnesse ruschte to the erthe,
Fforde ferdnesse of hys face, as they fey were.
llorte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 120.
radoub (ra-dob'), »• [P., repairs made on a
vessel, < radoMfter, formerly also redouber, mend,
repair: see reduh.'] In mercantile law, the re-
pairing and refitting of a ship for a voyage.
Wharton.
radula (rad'u-la), «. ; pi. radulse (-le). PJL., <
L. radula, a scraper, scraping-iron, < radere,
scrape: seerasei,razei.] In co»cA., the tongue
or lingual ribbon of a moUusk, specifically
called odontophore, and more particularly, the
rasping surface
or set of teeth
of the odonto-
phore, which
bites like a file.
This structure is
highly character-
istic of the cepha-
lophorous classes,
among which it
presents great di-
versity in detail.
It hears the numer-
ous small chiti-
nous processes or
teeth of these mol-
lusks, which serve to triturate food with a kind of illiiig
or rasping action. According to the disposition of the
teeth in any one of the many cross-rows which beset the
length of the radula, mollusks are called rachigloBsate,
issnioglossale, rhipidoglossate, toxoglossate, ptenoglossate,
and docoglossate. See these words, and odontophore.
radular (rad'u-lar), a. [< radula + -ar'^.'\ Per-
taining to the radula : as, radular teeth.
radulate (rad'u-lat), a. [< radula + -ate'':]
Provided with a radula, as a cephalophorous
moUusk; raduliferous,
raduliferous (rad-u-lif 'e-rus), a. [< NI;. radur-
la + L. ferre = E. 6earl.] Bearing a radula;
radulate.
raduliform (rad'u-li-fdrm), a. [< L. radula, a
scraper, + forma, form.] Basp-like; having
the character or appearance of the teeth of a
file; cardiform: specifically noting, in ichthy-
ology, the conical, sharp-pointed, and close-set
teeth of some fishes, resembling viUif orm teeth,
but larger and stronger.
rae (ra), n. A Scotch form of roe.
rafet- A Middle English preterit of reave.
rafft (raf), V. t. [< OP. raffer, rafer, catch,
snatch, slip away, = It. *raffare, in comp. ar-
raffare, snatch, seize, = MHG. raffen, reffen, Gr.
rdffen, snatch, sweep away, carry off sudden-
ly, = MLG. LG. rapen, snatch, = Sw. rappa,
snatch, seize, = Dan. rappe, hasten: see rap^,
from the Soand. form cognate with the Gt.
Hence ult. raffle^.] To sweep; snatch, draw,
or huddle together; take by a promiscuous
sweep.
Their causes and effects ... I thus rafe vp together.
iJ. Carew, Survey of Cornwall, fol. 69.
raff (r&f ), n. and a. [< ME. raffe, raf, esp. in the
phrase rifand raf (now riffraff), < OP. rifet raf,
every bit, in which raf is due to the verb ro/-
fer, snatch: see raff, v. Cf. riffraff. Cf. It.
rajfoZa, a crowd, press.] I, n. 1. A promiscu-
ous heap or collection; a jumble; a medley.
[Obsolete or archaic]
The synod of Trent was convened to settle a raffot er-
rors and superstitions. Barrow, Unity of the Church.
2. Trashy material ; lumber; rubbish; refuse.
[Old and prov. Bng.]
And maken of the rym and raf
Suche gylouTB for pompe and pride.
Appendix to W. Mapes, p. 340. {HaUiwM.)
let raffs be rife in prose and rhyme.
We lack not rhymes and reasons.
As on this whirligig of Time
We circle with the seasons.
Tennysm,, Will Waterproof.
3. Abundance; affluence. HalUwell. [Prov.
Eng. and Scotch.] —4. A worthless or disor-
derly person; a rowdy; a scapegrace: now ap-
plied to students of Oxford by the townspeople.
Halliwell.
Myself and this great peer
Of these rude raffs became the Jeer.
W. CamJbe, Dr. Syntax, i. 20. (Damet.)
4936
One of the raffs we shrink from in the street,
Wore an old hat, and went with naked feet.
Leigh Hunt, High and Low. (Vavies.)
5. Collectively, worthless persons ; the scum or
sweepings of society; the rabble. Compare
riffraff.
"People, you see," he said, "won't buy their 'accounts'
of raff: they won't have them of any but respectable."
Mayhem, London Labour and London Poor, 1. 325.
II. a. Idle; dissolute. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
EaffaelesCLUe, a. See Saphaelesque.
raffe, raffle (raf, raf'i), ». [Origin obscure.]
'Naut., a three-cornered sail set on schooners
when before the wind or
nearly so. The head hoists
up to the foretopmast-head
and the clues haul out to
the square-sail yard-arms.
It is rarely used except on
the Great Lakes of North
America. Sometimes it is in
two pieces, one for each side
of the mast.
raffia,roffia(raf'i-a,rof'-
i-a), ». [Malagasy.] 1.
A" palm, Baphia Bttffia,
growing in Madagascar.
It bears pinnate leaves 20 or 30 feet long upon a moderate
trunk. 'The cuticle is peeled from both sides of the leaf-
stalk, for use as a fiber, being largely made into matting,
and also applied by the natives to finer textile purposes.
(See rabanna.) It is now somewhat largely used for agri-
cultural tie-bands, as is also a similar product of the ju-
pati-palm, R. tssdigera, included under the same name.
Also spelled raphia.
2. The fiber of this plant.
raffish (raf'ish), a. [< raff + -Js7ii.] Resem-
bling or having the character of the raff or rab-
ble; scampish; worthless; rowdy. Compare
raff, «., 5.
rive or six rafflsA-looking men had surrounded a fair,
delicate girl, and were preparing to besiege her in form.
Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, xxiii.
The raffish ^oung gentleman in gloves must measure his
scholarship with the plain, clownish laddie from the parish
school. R. L. Steoeneon, The Foreigner at Home.
raffle^ (raf '1), n. [< ME. rafle, a game at dice (=
Sw. raffel, a raffle) ; < OP. rafle, raffle, P. rafle, a
pair royal at dice {fai/re rafle, sweep the stakes),
also a grape-stalk, < rafler, snatch, seize, carry
off, < G. raffeln, snatch up, freq. of raffen, snatch,
snatch away, carry off hastily : see raff, v. Cf .
raffle^.] If. A game with dice.
Now comth hasardrie with hise apurtenaunces, as tables
and ro/tes, of which comth deceite, false othes, chidynges,
and alle ravynes, blasphemynge and reneyinge of God.
Chauce/r, Parson's Tale.
3. A method of sale by chance or lottery, in
which the price of the thing to be disposed of
is divided into equal shares, and the persons
taking the shares cast lots for its possession by
throwing dice or otherwise.
raffle^ (raf'l), v.; pret. and pp. raffled, ppr.
raffling. [= Sw. raffia = Dan. rafle, raffle;
from the noun.] I. intrans. To try the chance
of a raffle ; engage in a raffle : as, to raffle for
a watch.
They were raffling for his coat.'
S. BuUer, Satire upon Gaming.
The great Rendezvous is at night, after the Play and
Opera are done ; and Raffling for all Things Vendible is
the great Diversion. Li^er, Journey to Paris, p. 176.
II. trans. Todisposeof by means of a raffle:
often with off: as, to raffle or raffle off a watch.
raffle^ (raf'l), v. ; pret. and pp. raffled, ppr.
raffling. [Perhaps < Icel. hrafla, scrape toge-
ther (a slang term); cf. Ivrapa, hurry, hasten:
seeraff,xi. Ct.raffie'^.'] I. iM*ra»s. 1. Tomove
or fidget about. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] — 2.
To live in a disorderly way. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
n. trans. 1. To stir (a fire).— 2. To brush
off (walnuts). Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
raffle^ (raf'l), n. [< rafflf, v. Cf. raff, «.]
Naut., raff; lumber; rubbish.
Her decks were heavily encumbered with what sailors
call ra^ — that is, the muddle of ropes, torn canvas,
staves of boats and casks, . . . with which the ocean il-
lustrates her violence. W. C. RusseU, Death Ship, xxx.
raffle^ (raf'l), m. [Origin obscure.] Same as
raffle-net.
ramed (raf'ld), a. [Origin obscure.] Having
the edge finely divided or serrated.
A peculiar small cut or raffkd leaf resembling an ivy,
or more nearly a vine leaf.
Soulages CaMogm, p. 116, note to No. 365.
raffle-net (raf 'l-net), n. A kind of fishing-net.
raffler (rafler), n. [< raffle^, + -eri.] One
who raffles.
Rafflesia (raf-le'zi-a), n. [NL. (E. Brown, 1821),
named after Sir Stamford JJaj^es, British gover-
raft
nor in Sumatra, and companion to the botanist
Dr. Joseph Arnold, who discovered there the
first known species, M. Arnoldi, in 1818.] A
genus of apetalous parasitic plants of the or-
der Gytinacese and type of the tribe Bafflesiese,
characterized by a.perianth of five large entire
and fleshy imbricated lobes, numerous stigmas,
and globose many-chambered anthers, each
opening by a single pore, which form a ring
at the revolute top of a column rising in the
center of the flower. The flowers are dioecious, and
the pistillate ones contain an ovary with a labyrinth ot
small cells and numerous ovules. The 4 species are na.
tives of hot and damp jungles in the Malay archipelago.
The whole plant consists of a single flower, without leaves
or proper stem, growing out from the porous root or stem
of species of Vitis (OfestM), at a time when the leaves and
flowers of the foster-plant have withered. The flower of
the parasite protrudes as a knob from the bark at first,
and enlarges for some months, resembling before opening
a close cabbage, and remaining fully expanded only a few
days. It exhales an odor ot tainted meat, securing cross-
fertilization by aid of the flies thus attracted to it. The
flower reaches 3 inches or more in diameter in R. Roehus-
sem, (valued by the Javanese for astringent and styptic
properties), 6 inches in others, and 2 feet in R. Patma, R.
Arnoldi has long been famed for its size, greatly exceeding
the Victoria lily (23 Inches), and even exceeding the Aria-
tolochia Goldiearm (a specimen of which at Kew, March,
1890, was 28 inches long and 16 broad). The first flower
Rafflesia Arnoldi, parasitic on a stem.
ot R. Amddi found measured 3 feet across its flat circular
top, and weighed about 15 pounds ; the roundish calyx-
lobes were each a foot long, and in places an inch thick ;
and the globular central cup was a foot across and held
about 6 quarts. The fruit ripens into a chestnut-brown
and truncated nut, about 5 inches thick, with irregularly
furrowed and broken surface, and containing thousands
of hard, curiously appendaged and lacunose seeds. The
flower is flesh-colored and mottled pink and yellow with-
in, and with brown or bluish scales beneath. It is called
a/ml)un-awban or wonder-wovdef by the Malays, and ftr«-
iwt, a name which they also give to another gigantic plant
which grows with it, the ovoid AmorphophaUus TitanuTn,
Bafflesiacese (raf-le-zi-a'sf-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Schott and Endlicher, 1832), < Bafflesia +
-acese.] Same as Bafflesiese, but formerly re-
garded as a separate order.
Bafflesiese (raf-lf-zi'f-e), n. pi. [NL. (Robert
Brown, 1844), < Bafflesia + -ex.] A tribe of
apetalous parasitic plants, constituting with
the smaller tribe Hydnorese the order Cutinacese.
It Is characterized by the presence of scattered or imbri-
cated scales in place of leaves, and flowers with from four
to ten usually imbricated calyx-lobes, the anthers forming
one, two, or three circles about a column in the center of
the staminate flower, and the one or many stigmas termi-
nating a similar column in the pistillate flower. It includes
about 21 species in 5 genera, scattered through warm
climates, and extending into the Mediterranean region,
South Africa, and Mexico. All are indwelling parasites,
issuing out of the roots or branches of various trees and
shrubs. They vary in habit, having in Cytinus a colored
fleshy and distinct stem and many-flowered spike, while
in the other genera the whole plant consists ot a single
flower sessile on its embedded rhizome. They range from
a minute size in Apodanthes and large in other genera to
the monster flower of Rafflesia, the type. The plants are
called patma-worts by some botanists.
raffliug-uet (raf'ling-net), n. Same as raffle-
net.
rafEmanf (r&f'man), n. [< raff + man.] A
dealer in miscellaneous stuff ; a chandler.
Grocers and raffemen. NoruAch Records. (JSares.)
raff-merchant (raf'mer"chant), n. A dealer in
lumber or old articles. Also raft-merchant.
[Prov. Eng.]
rafti (raft), n. [< ME . raft, rxft, rafte, a rafter,
spar, beam, < Icel. raptr (raftr), a rafter, beam
(r final being sign of nom. case) ; = Sw. Dan.
raft, rafter; with formative -*, perhaps < Icel.
raf, rsefr, a roof, = OHG. rafo, MHG. rdvo, G.
dial, raff, a spar, rafter; cf. Gr. bpo^c, a roof,
ip^w, cover. Cf. ra/ter^.] If. Abeam; spar;
rafter.
Aythir gripus a schatte
Was als rude as a rafte.
Avowynge of King Arthur, xxv.
2. A sort of float or framework formed of logs,
planks, or other pieces of timber fastened or
lashed together side by side, for the conve-
nience of transporting the constituent materi-
als down rivers, across harbors, etc. Raits of logs
raft
to be floated to a distant point are often very large, strongly
constructed, and carry hats for the numerous men re-
quired to manage them. Those ot the Ehine are some-
times 400 or 600 feet long, with 200 or more hands. A ci-
gar-shaped raft of large logs, 560 feet long, 60 feet wide, and
35 feet deep, was lost In December, 1887, under towage
by sea from Nova Scotia to New York ; but other large
rafts have been successfolly transportei
3. A structure similarly formed of any mate-
rials for the floating or transportation of per-
sons or things. In cases of shipwrecli, planks, spars,
Life-rafL
a, ^, tanks or air-chambers ; ff.c'.decks; e, fender; /;/■', life-lines;
Zt rowlocks ; ff\ steering and sculling rowlock ; A, lashings.
barrels, etc., are often hastily lashed together to form a
raft for escape. In passenger-vessels life-rafts frequently
form part of the permanent equipment. See VSe^aft.
Where is that son
That floated with thee on the fatal raift?
Shak., C. ot E., T. 1. 34&
4. An accumulation of driftwood from fallen
trees in a river, lodged aild compacted so as to
form a permanent obstruction. Kafts of this kind
exist or have existed in the Mississippi and other livers of
the western United States, the largest ever formed being
that of the Bed River, which during many years completely
blocked the channel for 45 miles.
5. A conglomeration of eggs of some animals,
as certain Insects and moUusks, fastened to-
gether and forming a mass; a float. See cut
under lantMna.
A great many eggs [of the common cockroach] are laid at
one time, the whole number being surrounded by a stiff
chitinouB coat^ forming the so-called ra^t
Amer. NaL, XXTT. 857.
rafti (raft),«>. *. [<ro/«i,«.] I. trans. 1. To
transport or float on a raft.
Guns taken out of a ship to lighten her when aground
should be hoisted out and rafled clear, if there is any dan-
ger of bilging on them. Imce, Seamanship, p. 182, note.
The idea of raMng timber by the ocean.
Sd. Amur., N. S., LVni. 17.
2. To make a raft of ; form into a raft.
As soon as the blabber is taken off, it is ra/ted — tied to-
gether with ropes in a sort of I'alt — and lies in the water
until taken on board ship.
C. M. Scammon, Marine Mammals, p. 63.
I could see him securing these planks to one another by
lashings. By the time he had rmfled them, nearly an hour
had passed since he had left the sandbank.
W. C. Jinssett, A Strange Voyage, xlvi.
II. intrmis. To manage a raft; work upon a
raft or rafts ; travel by raft.
They canoed, and rafted, and steam-boated, and travelled
with packhorses. Academy, Nov. 10, 1888, p. 301.
raft^ (raft), n. [A var. of raff, appar. by con-
fusion with raff^J} A miscellaneous collection
or heap; a promiscuous lot: used slightingly:
as, a raft of papers ; a whole raft of things to
be attended to. [CoUoq., U. S.]
This last spring a raft of them [Irish maids] was out of
employment. PhUadelpUa Times, Oct. 24, 1886.
raffcS (raft), M. [Origin uncertain ; cf.raf. ] A
damp fusty smell. HalUwell. [Prov. Bng.]
raft*t. An obsolete preterit and past participle
of reave.
raft-breasted (raft'bres"ted), a. In ornitli.,
ratite. W. K. Farker.
raft-dog (raft'dog), n. An iron bar with ends
bent over and pointed, for secur-
ing logs together in a raft. The
points are &ven respectively in-
to adjacent or juxtaposed logs,
which are thus bonded to each
other. Raft-dog.
raft-duck (raft'duk), n. The
scaup or blackhead duck, Aithyia or Puligula
or FuUx marila: so called in the United States
from its flocking closely on the water, as if form-
ing a raft of ducks. Also called bluebill, shuffler,
and floeking-fowl. See cut under sca«p.— Red-
headed rafli-du(ac Sameasr«(fA«od,2. _,. . ,
raftet. -^ obsolete preterit and past participle
of reave. CJumeer.
rafterl (rafter), n. [< MB. rafter, refter, <
AS. rxfter, pi. rssftras, reftres (= MD. rafter =
MLG. rafter, raffert), a beam, rafter; with for-
mative -«r, from *rxft = Icel. raptr{raftr) =
Sw. Dan. raft, a rafter, beam : see raft^ 1. In
luiUing, one of the beams which give the slope
of a roof, and to which is secured the lath or
4937
other framework upon which the slate or other
outer covering is nailed. The rafters extend from
the eaves to the ridge of the roof, abutting at their upper
ends on corresponding rafters rising from the op;^site side
of the roo^ or resting against a crown-plate or ridge-plate
as the case may be. For the different kinds of rafters in
a structure, see roQ/', and cuts under turlHroof, jaok-rafUr,
and pontoon.
Shepherd, I take thy word,
And trust thy honest offer'd courtesy.
Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds
With smolsy rafters than in tap'stiy halls.
MUton, Comas, L 324.
2. Same as carline*', 2. — 3. In anat., a trabecule
or trabeculum : as, the rafters of the embryonic
skull,— Bindlng-iafter. See fti;uZin^.— Intermediate
rafter, a rafter placed between the ordinary rafters, or
between princip^ rafters, to strengthen a roof. — Prin-
cipal rafter, a main timber in an assemblage of car-
pentry ; especially, one of those rafters which are larger
than the common ratters, and are framed at their lower
ends into the tie-beam, and either abut at their upper ends
against the king-post or receive the ends of the straining-
beams when queen-posts are used. The principal rafters
support the purlins, which again carry the common raf-
ters : thus the whole weight of the root is sustained by
the principal rafters.
rafterl (rafter), v. t. [< rafter\ ».] 1. To
form into or like rafters: as, to ra/fer timber.
— 2. To furnish or build with rafters: as, to
rafter a house.
Buildyng an hous euen from the tonndacion vnto the
vttermoste raftreyrig and reiring of the roof e.
Udtdl, b'. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 260. (flames.)
3. In agri., to plow, as a piece of land, by turn-
ing the grass side of the plowed furrow on a
strip of ground left unplowed.
rafter^ (raf 'tfer), n. [< raft^ + -eri.] One who
is employed in rafting timber, or transporting
it in rafts, as from a ship to the shore.
How the 900 casual deal-porters and rafters live during
... six months of the year ... I cannot conceive.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, m. 293.
rafter-bird (raf'ter-berd), n. The beam-bird
or wall-bird, Mvscicapa grisola; the spotted
flycatcher: from the site of its nest. [Eng.]
raxting-dog (raf'ting-dog), n. Same as raft-
dog.
raft-Uke (raft'lik), a. Plat-bottomed or keel-
less, as the breast-bone of a bird; ratite.
raft-n^erchant (raffmer^chant), n. Same as
raff-merchant.
raft-port (raft'port), ■». In some ships, a large
square hole framed and cut immediately under
the counter, or forward between the breast-
hooks of the bow, for loading or unloading tim-
ber. See cut under Vmnber-^ort.
raft-rope (raft'rop), n. A rope about three
fathoms long, with an eye-splice, usedf or string-
ing seal-blubber to be towed to a whaling-ves-
sel. A raft-rope is also sometimes used by a
blubber-logged vessel for rafting or towing
whale-blubber.
Thehorse-pieces [blubber of the sea-elephant] are strung
on a raftf^ogs . . . and taken to the edge of the surf.
C Jf. Scammon, Marine Mammals, p. 119.
raftsman (rafts'man), TO. ; pi. raftsmen (-men).
[< raft's, poss. of rafC^, + man.'] A man em-
ployed in the management of a raft.
rafty (raf'ti), a. [< m/<3 -I- -yi.] 1. Musty;
stale. — 2. Dampjmuggy. — 3. High-tempered;
violent. [Trov. Bng. in all senses.]
ragi (rag), n. and a. [< ME. ragge, pi. ragges,
shred of cloth, rag; cf. AS. *raggig, in neut. pi.
raggie, shaggy, bristly, ragged, as applied to
the rough coat of a horse (as if from an AS.
noun, but prob. from the Scand. adj.) ; < Icel.
rogg, shagginess (raggathr, shaggy), = Sw. ragg,
rough hair (Sw. raggig, shaggy, Sw. dial, rag-
gi, having rough hair, slovenly), = Norw. ragg,
, rough hair (raggad, shaggy) ; root unknown.
The orig. sense 'shagginess' or 'roughness' is
now more obvious in uses of ragged.] 1. n. 1.
A sharp or jagged fragment rising from a sur-
face or edge : as, a rag on a metal plate ; hence,
a jagged face of rock; a rocky headland; a cliff;
a crag.
And taking up their standing upon the craggie rookes
and ragges round about, with all their might and maine
defended their goods.
EoUand, tr. of Ammianus Marcellinus (1609). (Nares.)
2. A rock having or weathering with a rough
irregular surface. [Eng.]
The material is Kentish rag, laid in regular courses,
with flue joints. Quoted in If. and Q., 7th ser., V. 466.
We wound
About the cliffs, the copses, out and in.
Hammering and clinking, chattering stony names
Of shale and hornblende, rag and trap and tuff.
Tennyson, Princess, iii
3. InJo*. : (a) A lichen, /SWcto_pw2raoBarJa (see
haeel-crottles). (6) Another lichen, Parmelia
rag
saxatilis (stone-rag), (c) A catkin of the hazel,
or of the willow, &Zia;copreo. Also raw. [Prov.
Eng.] — 4. A torn, worn, or formless fragment
or shred of cloth; a comparatively worthless
pieceof any textile fabric, either wholly or part-
ly detached from its connection by violence or
aibrasion: as, his coat was in rags; cotton and
linen rags are used to make paper, and woolen
rags to make shoddy.
Hir ragges thei anone of drawe, . • .
She had bathe, she had reste.
And was arraied to the beste.
Gower, Conf. Amant., i.
Cowls, hoods, and habits with their wearers toss'd,
And flutter'd into rags. UUton, P. L., ill. 491.
5. Awom, torn, ormean garment; intheplural,
shabby or worn-out clothes, showing rents and
patches.
If you will embrace Christ in his robes, you must not
think scorn of him in his rags.
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc, 1853), IL 111.
Drowsiness shall clothe a man with ra^s.
Prov. xxiii. 21.
Trust me, I prize poor virtue with a rag
Better than vice with both the Indies.
Beaiu and Fl. (?), Faithful Friends, iv. 4.
The poore inhabitants were dispers'd, . . . some un-
der tents, some under miserable hutts and hovells, many
without a rag or any necessary utensills.
Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 5, 1666.
The man forget not, though in rags he lies,
And know i^e mortal through a crown's disguise.
AJceraide, Epistle to Curio.
6. Any separate fragment or shred of cloth,
or of something like or likened to it : often
applied disparagingly or playfully to a hand-
kerchief, a flag or banner, a sail, the curtain
of a theater, a newspaper, etc.
It cost three men's lives to get back that four-by-three
flag — to tear it from the breast of a dead rebel — tor the
name of getting their little rag back again.
Watt Whitman, The Century, XXXVI. 827.
7. Figuratively, a severed fragment ; a rem-
nant; a scrap; a bit.
So he up with his rusty sword.
And chopped the old saddle to rags.
Saddle to Rags (ChUd's Ballads, VIII. 267).
They [fathers] were not hearkened to, when they were
heard, but heard perfunctorily, fragmentarily, here and
there a rag, a piece of a sentence. Donne, Sermons, v.
Not having otherwise any rag of legality to cover the
shame of their cruelty. Fvller.
8. A base, beggarly person; a ragamuffin; a
tatterdemalion. [Colloq.]
Lash hence these overweening rags of France,
These famish'd beggars, weary of their lives.
Sha]c., Rich. IIL, v. 3. 328.
Out of my doore, you Witch, you Jtagge, you Baggage !
Sto., M. W. of W. (folio 1623), iv. 2. 194.
9. A farthing. Salliwell. [Bng. cant.]
Ja4!. "Twere good she had a little foolish money
To rub the time away with.
Boet. Not a rag.
Not a denier. Beau, and Fl., Captain, iv. 2.
lOt. A herd of colts. Strutt. [Prov. Eng.]— 11.
In type-founding, the bur or rough edge left on
imperfectly finished type.— Coral rag, one of the
limestones of the Middle Oolite, consisting in part of con-
tinuous beds of petrified corals. — Hag, tag, and ragt.
See Aaj'S.— Kentish rag. See £e»(i8A.— Litmus on
rags. See ii«mMS.—Eag, tag, and toobtall, a rabble; ev-
erybody indiscriminate^. Seerag-tag. [Colloq.] — Row-
ley rag, a basaltic rock occurring in the South Stafford-
shire coal-field, much quarried tor road-mending. See rag-
stone.
H. a. Made of or with rags; formed from or
consistingofrefusepieeesorfragments of cloth:
as, rag pulp for paper-making; a rag carpet. —
Eag baby, (a) A doll made entirely of rags or scraps ot
cloth, usually in a very artless manner. (6) In U. S.
political f^ng, the paper currency of the government;
greenback money : so called with reference to the con-
tention of the Greenback party, before and after the re-
sumption of specie payments in 1879, in favor 'of mak-
ing such money a full legal tender tor the national debt
and all other purposes.
Fortunately, the "specie basis" of the national banks is
now chiefly paper— the rag-baiy— three hundred and
forty-six millions of greenbacks 1 If. A. Sev., CXLI. 207.
Rag carpet, a cheap kind of carpeting woven with strips
or shreds of woolen and other cloth, usually tiom worn-
out garments, for the weft. A better kind is made with
strips ot list from new cloth, when it is also called list
carpet— Rag money, rag currency, paper money ; cir-
culating notes issued by United States banks or by the gov-
ernment : so called in depreciation or contempt, in allu-
sion to the origin of the material, to the ragged appear-
ance of paper money when much handled, and to its in-
trinsic worthlessness. [Slang.]
All true Democrats were clamorous for "hard-money"
and against rag^money. Ths Nation, July 29, 1875, p. 66.
Rag paper. See paper.
ragi (rag), V. ; pret. and pp. ragged, ppr. ragging.
[< ro^i, ».] I. intrans. 1. To become ragged;
fray : with out.
rag
Leather thus leisurely tanned and turned many times
in the fat will prove serviceable, which otherwise will
quicldy fleet and rag out.
Fuller, Worthies, Middlesex, II. 312.
2. To dress; deck one's self: in the phrase to
rag out, to dress in one's best. [Slang, U. S.]
A finely dressed woman rage out.
S. Bowles, Our New West, p. 506.
II. trans. 1. To make ragged; abrade; give
a ragged appearance to, as in the rough-dress-
ing of the face of a grindstone.
In straggling or ragging [a grindstone] the stone is kept
running as usuaL 0. Byrne, Artisan's Handbook, p. 422.
2. In mining, to separate by ragging or with
the aid of the ragging-hammer. See ragging, 2.
rag3 (rag), v. t. ; pret. and pp. ragged, ppr. rag-
ging. [Prob. < rag\ n., 5. In another view, <
Icel. riegja, calumniate, == AS. wregan, accuse:
see wray.'] To banter; badger; rail at; irri-
tate; torment. Compare buUyrag. [Local.]
To rag a man is good Lincolnshire for chaff or tease. At
school, to get a boy into a rage was called getting his rag
out. N. and Q., 7th ser., VI. 38.
rag3 (rag), n. [< leel. hregg, storm and rain.]
A drizzling rain. [Prov. Eng.]
rag* (rag), n. An abbreviation of raginee.
ragaDash (rag'a-bash), n. [Also raggabash,
ragairash, Sc. fag-a-buss, ragabtish; appar. a
made word, vaguely associated with rag^ or
ragamuffin.'] 1. A shiftless, disreputable fel-
low; a ragamuffin. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
The most unalphabetical raggabashes that ever bred
louse. Diseov. of a New World, p. 81. (Nares.)
2. Collectively, idle, worthless people. Malli-
well. [Prov. Eng.]
ragamiuBn (rag'a-muf-in), n. and a. [Early
mod. E. also raggemuffin, ragamofin, ragomofin;
erroneously analyzed rag-a-muffin, rag of Muf-
fins; < ME. Eagamoffyn, the name of a demon,
prob., like many other names of demons, mere-
ly fanciful. The present sense has been partly
determined by association with rag^. For the
sense 'demon,' ef. »"agiwia?i2.] j, ,i. ij.. [cap.]
The name of a demon.
Ac rys vp, Baganwffyn, and reche me alle the barres
The Belial thy bel-syre beat with thy damme.
Piers Plowman (C), xxi. 283.
2. An idle, worthless fellow; avagabond; now,
especially, a disreputably ragged or slovenly
person : formerly used as a general term of rep-
rehension.
I have led my raganvuMm where they are peppered.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., v. 3. 36.
Did that same tiranicall-tongu'd rag-a-muffln
Horace turne baldpates out so naked?
Dekker, Humorous Poet.
Once, attended with a crew of raggwmw^ns, she broke
Into his house, turned all things topsy-turv^, and then
set it on fire. Stoirt, Story of an Injured Lady.
3. A titmouse: same as muffiin.
II. a. Base; beggarly; ragged or disorderly.
Here be the emperor's captains, you ragamuffin rascal,
and not your comrades. B. Jonson, Poetaster, i. 1.
Mr. Aldworth . . . turned over the rest of this ragor
muffin assembly to the care of his butler.
Graves, Spiritual Quixote, vii). 23. (Dames.)
ragamuffinly (rag'a-muf-in-li), a. [< ragamuf-
fin + -lyK] Like a ragamufSn; marked by
raggedness or slovenliness. [Bare.]
His attire was . . . shabby, not to say raganmffinly in
the extreme, ... as to inherent disreputableness of ap-
pearance. J. FothergiU, March in the Ranks, x.
rag-bolt (rag'bolt), n. An iron pin with a barb-
ed shank, chiefly used where a com-
mon bolt cannot be clinched. Also
called barb-bolt and sprig-bolt.
rag-bush (rag'btish), n. In some hea-
then countries, a bush in some special
locality, as near a sacred well, on
which pieces of cloth are hung to pro- ^^ ^^i^
pitiate the spirits supposed to dwell
there. The rags are generally pieces torn from
the garments of pilgrims or wayfarers.
There is usually a rag-lmsh by the well, on which bits of
linen or worsted aie tied as a gift to the spirits of the
watei-s. C. Elton, Origins of Eng. Hist., p. 285.
rag-dnst (rag'dust), n. The refuse of woolen
or worsted rags pulverized and dyed in various
colors to form the flock used by paper-stainers
for their flock-papers.
rage (raj), re. [< ME. rage, < OP. rage, raige,
F. rage, P. dial, raige = Pr. rabia, ratje = Sp.
rabia = Pg. raiva, rabia = It. rabbia, dial, rag-
gia, madness, rage, fury, < ML. (and prob. LL.)
raUa, a later form of L. rabies, madness, rage,
fury, < rabere, be mad, rave, = Skt. •/ rabh,
seize. Cf. rage, v., enrage, rave\ rabies, rabid,
4938
etc.] It. Madness ; insanity; an access of ma-
niacal violence.
Now, out of doubt Antipholus is mad. . . .
The reason that I gather he is mad.
Besides this present instance of his rage,
Is a mad tale he told to-day.
S'A<ii.,C. of E.,lv.3.88.
2. Violent anger manifested in language or ac-
tion; indignation or resentment excited.to fury
and expressed in furious words and gestures,
with agitation.
Words well dispost
Have secrete powre t' appease inflamed rage.
Spenser, F. Q., II. viii. 26.
So he [Naaman] turned and went away in a ra^e.
2K1. y. 12.
Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned.
Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.
Congreve, Mourning Bride, iii. 8.
3. Extreme violence of operation or effect; in-
tensity of degree, force, or urgency: used of
things or conditions: as, the rage of a storm
or of the sea; the rage of fever or of thirst.
And in wynter, and especially in lente, it ys mervelows
flowyng with rage of watir that comythwith grett violence
thorow the vale of Josophat.
Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travel!, p. 27.
Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages.
Shak., Cymbeline, iv. 2 (song).
Ere yet from rest or food we seek relief,
Some rites remain, to glut our rage of grief.
Pope, Iliad, xxii. 14.
4. Vehement emotion; generous ardor or en-
thusiasm; passionate utterance or eloquence.
Thurgh which her grete sorwe gan aswage ;
She may not alwey duren in swich rage.
Chaueer, Franklin's Tale, 1. 108.
And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage.
And stretched metre of an antique song.
Shak., Sonnets, xvii.
The soldiers shout around with generous rage.
And in that victory their own presage.
Dry den, Pal. and Arc, 1. 117.
Chill penury repressed their noble rage,
And froze the genial current of the soul.
Gray, Elegy.
5. Vehement desire or pursuit; ardent eager-
ness, as for the attainment or accomplishment
of something; engrossing tendency or propen-
sity: as, the rage for speculation, for social
distinction, etc.
So o'er this sleeping soul doth Tarquin stay.
His rage of lust by gazing qualified.
Shak., Lncrece, 1. 424.
What rage for fame attends both great and small !
Better be d— d than mentioned not at all.
Wolcot (P. Pindar), To the Koyal Academicians.
In our day the rage for accumulation has apotheosized
work. H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 178.
Croquet, which is now so far lost in the mists of an-
tiquity that men of thirty are too young to remember the
rage for it, was actually not yet [1837] invented.
W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 88.
6. An object of general and eager desire or
pursuit; fashion; vogue; fad: as, music is now
all the rag'e. [CoUoq.] — 7t. A violent wind.
Therout cam a rage and such a vese
That it made al the gates for to rese.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1127.
=Syn. 2. Vexa^on, TndiffnoKon, etc. (see ansrerl) ; frenzy,
madness, raving.
rage (raj), k. ; pret. and pp. raged, ppr. raging.
[< ME. ragen, < OF. ragier.rager, be furious,
rage, romp, play, F. rager, Picard dial, rabier,
be furious,rage, = Pr.ra'!)Jar,ro<;rt»' = Sp.raftjar
= Pg. raivar = Olt. rabbiare, be furious, < ML.
rabiare, be furious, rage, < rabia, L. rabies, mad-
ness, fury, rage : see rage, n. Cf . enrage, rave^,
rabiate.'] I. intrans. 1. To be furious with an-
ger; be excited to fury;
with passion of any kind.
He inly raged, and, as thejr talk'd,
Smote him into the midriff with a stone.
MUton, P. L., xl. 444.
2. To speak with passionate utterance, or act
with furious vehemence ; storm ; rave.
The fool rageth, and is confident. Prov. xiv. 16.
Poets, when they ra^e.
Turn gods to men, and make an hour an age.
Beau, and Fl., Maid's Tragedy, i. 2.
As hee was thus madde and raging against the true Re-
ligion. Purehas, Pilgrimage, p. 84.
I expect Mr. Tickler this evening, and he will rage if he
miss his free-and-easy. Noctes Arnlyrosianse, Feb., 1832.
3. To act violently; move impetuously; be vio-
lently driven or agitated; have furious course
or effect : said of things : as, a raging fever ; the
storm rages; war is raging.
The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall Justle
one against another in the broad ways. Nahum ii. 4.
Like the hectic in my blood he rages.
Shak., Hamlet, iv. 3. 68.
ragged
If the Sickness rage in such Extremity at London, the
Term will be held at Reading. Howell, Letters, J. iv. 23.
The storm of cheers and counter-cheers rages around
him [Mr. Gladstone], as it can rage nowhere except in the
House of Commons. T. W. Beid, Cabinet Portraits, p. 24.
4t. To frolic wantonly; play; frisk; romp.
When sche seyth galantys revell yn hall,
Yn here hert she thynkys owtrage,
Desyrynge with them to pley and rage,
Ana stelyth fro yow full prevely.
Seliq. Antiq., i. 29. (HalKwell.)
On a day this hende Nicholas
Fll with this yonge wyf to rage and pleye.
Chaticer, Miller's Tale, L 87.
She bygan to plaie and rage.
As who saith, I am well enough.
Gower, Conf. Amant., L
5. To be very eager or anxious. [Eare.]
H. trans. To enrage ; chafe ; fret.
Deal mildly with his youth ;
For young hot colts being raged do rage the more.
Shak., Rich. IL, ii. 1. 70.
ragee, n. See raggee.
rageful (raj'fid), a. [< rage + -ful.] Pull of
rage; furious.
With rageful eyes she bad him defend lilmself.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, ii.
Nor thou be ragout, like a handled bee.
Tennyson, Ancient Sage.
ragemant, "■• See ragman^.
rag-engine (rag'en"jin), n. In pajier-manuf., a
tank fitted with rotating cylindrical cutters or
other devices for the rapid disintegration of
rags to form paper-pulp.
rageoust (ra'jus), a. [Also ragious; < rage +
-ous, perhaps by association with the imrelated
outrageous.] Pull of rage ; furious.
Our Sauyour whiche redeemed vs with so great a price
may not thincke that it longeth to hym to se vs peryshe,
neyther to suffer the shippe of his churche to bee so
shaken with many great and ragious flodes.
Bp. Fisher, Seven Penitential Psalms.
rageousnesst (ra'jus-nes), n. The quality of
being rageous ; fury. Also ragiousness.
Wh&t Si. ragiousnes is it, to set thy chastity common like
an harlot, that thou maiest gather riches !
Vives, Instruction of a Cliristian Woman, iii. 7.
rageryt (ra'j6r-i), n. [< ME. ragerie, < OF.
ragerie, rage, anger, < rager, rage: see rage, v.]
1 . Rage ; an ebullition of rary.
Plucked off ... in a ragery.
W. Browne, Shepherd's Pipe, i.
2. Wantonness; frolic.
He was al coltissh, f ul of ragerye.
Chaueer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 603.
rag-fair (rag'f ar), re. A market for vending old
clothes and cast-off garments.
raggt, re. See rag^.
raggabash, re. See ragabash.
ragged (rag'ed), a. [< ME. ragged, raggyd,
shaggy, tattered, torn; < Icel. raggathr (=
Norw. raggad), shaggy, < Icel. rogg, shagginess,
= Norw. ragg, rough, uneven hair: see rag^.]
1. Having a rough shaggy coat, as a horse or
sheep; shaggy.
A ragged colt. King Alisaunder, 1. 684.
What shepherd owns those ragged sheep?
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Eclogues, iii. 1.
2. Bough, uneven, or rocky, as a sea-bottom.
— 3. Boughly broken, divided, or disordered;
having disjointed parts, or a confusedly irregu-
lar surface or outline; jagged; craggy; rug-
gedly uneven or distorted: often used figura-
tively.
My voice is ragged; I know I cannot please jrou.
Shak., As you Like it, ii. 6. 16.
I am so bold as to call so piercing and so glorious an
Eye as your Grace to view those poore raggedlmea.
Capt. John SmiUi, Works, I. 67.
Then, foraging this Isle, long-promis'd them before.
Amongst the ragged oleeves those monstrous Giants
sought. Drayton, Polyolbion, i. 471.
We went somewhat out of ye way to see the towne of
Bourbon I'Archambaut, from whose autient and ragged
castle is deriv'd the name of the present Royal Family of
France. Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 24, 1644.
Bagged clouds still streamed the pale sky o'er.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 162.
4. Bent or worn into rags or tatters; tattered;
frayed : as, a ragged coat; ragged sails.
He (the sheik] came out to us in a ragged habit of green
silk, lined with fur.
Poeoeke, Description of the East, II. i. 166.
5. Wearing torn or frayed clothes ; dressed in
rags or tatters.
Since noble arts in Rome have no support.
And ragged virtue not a friend at court.
Dryden, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, iii.
He , . . perhaps thinks that after all gipsies do not
look so very different from- other ragged people.
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 68.
ragged 4939
6 Shabby ; iU-f umished. ragingly (ra'jing-U), adv. In a ragmg maimer ;
wnm»n*S"th' 1°7' ''«9?«<' «>om . . . Margaret saw an old with fiuy ; with violent impetuosity.
TnrbSoTe'her ofa tabT^ "'"' & jl^*^ M^frfdT '^£°'^*' ragionsneSSt. See rageous, rageous-
7i;i JSi'^'V^-*™® ^? '■a^Miy, especiaUy of any- rag-knife (rag'nif), n. In a Tag-engine, one of
tm^ which IS raguly on both sides. Beeragged the knives in the cylindrical cutter, working
eaS; Pnrt .S7::ZS''*^** S*^- *" *«^- » ^^ <»"P«<1 »* against those in the bed or bottom-plate.
ragnly
lag-money (rag'mun''i), n. See ra*/ money,
nnder rag^.
Bagnarok (rag'na-rek'), n. [< Icel. ragna rohr,
' twilight of the gods' (Gr. gotterdammerung):
Ian, commander-in-chief of the British forces
in lie Crimea.] A kind of loose overcoat, hav-
ing very full sleeves, or a sort of cape covering
the arms, worn about 1855 and later.
stomps of branches on each side,
'{"^f-^^lofj^^arwlck's roused staff is yet to be seen
pourtrayed in their church steeple.
£. Carew, Surrey of Cornwall.
xaeged-lady (rag'ed-la'di), n. A garden flower,
Nigella Damascena.
raggedly (rag'ed-li), adv. In a ragged condi-
tion or manner; roughly; brokenly.
• Baggedly and meanly apparelled.
^. Hocfet, Abp. WlUiams (1693), p. 219. (Latham.) _ _ -
Sometimes I heard the foxes as they ranged over the ^f^B^^ (rag'man), ». ; pi
snow crust in moonlight nights, . . . barking raggedly L^ MJl,. rogmann; < rag^ + man.]
and demoniacally like forest dogs.
Thoreaxi, Walden, p. 293.
raggedness (rag'ed-nes), n. The state or char-
acter of being ragged, in any sense.
Poor naked wretches . . . How shall
Your loop'd and window'd raggedness defend yon
From seasons such as these? STutk., tear, iii. 4. 31.
ragged-robin (rag'ed-rob'in), n. The cuckoo-
flower, Lychnis
Ragged-robin [Z^ehnis Flos-cuculi).
X, upper part of stem with inflorescence ;
2, lower part of stem with rhizome ; a. a.
fruit.
Flos-emcuM.
ragged-sailor
(rag'ed-sa'lor),
n. A plant" of
the genus Poly-
gonum: same as
prine^s-featlwTj'i.
ragged-school
(rag'ed-skel), n.
See schooP-.
ragged-staff
(rag'ed-staf), n.
A kind of poly-
zoan, Alcyonidi-
um glutinosum
Also called mer-
inaid?s-glove.
raggee (rag'e),
n. [Also raggy,
ragee; < Hind.
Canarese ragi.']
A grass, Eleus-ine
coracana, a pro-
lific grain-plant
cultivated in Ja-
pan and parts of
India,
raggery (rag'er-i), n. [< rag^ + -ery.l
collectively; raggedness. [Rare.]
Grim, portentous old hags, such as Michael Angelo
painted, draped in majestic raggery.
Thackeray, Newcomes, xxzr.
ragging (rag'ing), to. [Verbal n. of rag\ r.]
1. A method of fishing for the striped-bass,
etc., in which a red rag is used as a fly. [U. S.]
— 3. In mining, the first and roughest separa-
tion of the ore (mixed with more or less vein-
stone), by which the entirely worthless portion
is selected and rejected. Nearly the same as spoil-
ing; but sometimes the latter term is used to designate
a second and more thorough ragging, while cobMng may
mean a still more thorough separation ; but all are done
with the hammer, without special machinery.
ragging-frame (rag'ing-fram), to. Same as rack-
ing-taile.
raggle (rag'l), v. t. ; pret. and pp. raggled, ppr.
raggling. [Freq. of ragK'] To notch or groove
irregularly.
raggle (rag'l), TO. [< raggle, v."] A ragged piece ;
a torn strip.
Striding swiftly over the heavy snow, he examines each
trap in torn, to find perhaps in one a toe, in another a nail,
and in a third a splendid ermine torn to Toggles by "that
infernal carcajou." Cosnwpolitan, Feb., 1888.
raggyt (rag'l), a. [< ME. "raggy, < AS. rag-
gig (pi. raggie), rough, shaggy, < Sw. raggig,
shaggy, Sw. dial, raggi, rough-haired, sloven-
ly, <ragg, rough hair, = Icel. rogg, shagginess:
see TOfiri.j Bough; rugged; rocky.
A stony and roggy hiU. BcUand.
raghtt. Same as raughfl for reached.
ragi (rag'e), TO. See ragee. _ . .
raginee (rag'i-ne), «. [Hind, ragtm, a mode
in music (= Skt. ragini, possessing color or pas-
sion), cf. rag, a mode in music, < Skt. ra^o, color-
ing, color, feeling, passion; < y/raj, be colored.]
One of a class of Hindu melodies founded on ragman's roUt (rag'manz rol),
fixed scales. Often contracted to rag. roll.
As it was quite dark in the tent, I picked np what was
supposed to be my raglan, a water-proof light overcoat^
without deeves. The Century, XXXTX. 566.
rag-looper (rag'lo'p^r), m. -An apparatus for
knotting together strips and pieces of fabrics
in making a rag carpet.
ragmen (-men).
\\. A ragged
person.
Rogmann, or he that goyttie wythe iaggyd [var. roggyd]
clotliys, pannicius vel pannicia. Prompt Pom)., p. 421.
Z. A man who collects or deals in rags.
ragman^, «. [ME. *ragman, rageman, ragge-
man, prob. < Icel. ragmenni, a craven (cf. regi-
macHir, a craven), < ragr, craven, cowardly (ap-
par. a transposed form of argr, craven, coward-
ly, = AS. earg, cowardly: see arch^), + madhr
(*7»aTOnr), man, = E. TOare. Cf . rajman-roK.] 1.
A craven. [Not found in this sense, except as
in ragman-1-oU and the particular application
in definition 2 following.] — 2. The devil.
Filius by the faders wil flegh with Spirltns Sanctns,
To ranaake that rogeman and reue hym bus apples.
That fyrst man deceyuede thorgh frut and false by-heste.
Piers Plowman (C), six. 122.
ragman^t (rag'man), n. [ME. ragman, ragmon,
rageman, rageman, ragment, a deed sealed, a
papal bull, a list, a tedious story, a game so
called: an abbr. of ragman-roll, q. v.] 1. Same
as ragman-roll, 1.
He blessed hem with his breuet, and blered hure eyen.
And raghte with bus ragman rynges and broches.
Piers Plowman (C), L 72.
Kede on this ragman, and rewle yow theraftur.
MS. Cantab. ¥t. v. 48, f. 7. (.HalUweU.)
The records in connexion with the financial operations
of Kichard IL and Bichard III. make it clear that a rag-
man or rageman — I believe the word is spelled both ways
— meant simply a bond or personal obligation.
Tlie Academy, Jan. 18, 1890, p. 47.
2. Same as ragman-roll, 2.
Mi". Wright • . , has printed two collections of ancient
verses used in the game of ragman. Halliw^.
ragman-rollt (rag'man-rol), n. [ME. "ragman-
rolle, ragmane-roelle ;' <. ragman'^ + roM, n. .Also
ragmaji's roll, ragman's rewe (i. e. row). Hence
by abbr. ragman^, by corruption rig^my-roU, rig-
marole: see rigmarole.] 1. A parchment roll
with pendent seals, as an official catalogue or
register, a deed, or a papal buU; hence, any
important document, catalogue, or list. The
name was applied specifically, and perhaps originally
(in the supposed invidious sense 'the Cravens' Eoll"), to
the collection of those instruments by which the nobility
and gentry of Scotland were tyrannically constrained to
subscribe allegiance to Edward I. of England in 1296, and
which were more particularly recorded in four large rolls
of parchment^ consisting of thirty-five pieces bound to*
gether, and kept in the Tower of London. (Jamieson.)
What one man emong many thousandes . . . hath so
moche vacannte tyme, that he male bee at leasure to
toume oner and oner In the bookes of Plato the rog-
mannes rcHes . . . whiche Socrates doeth there vse?
Uragmus, Pref. to Apophthegms, tr. by Udall.
The list of names in Fame's book is called ragman roU
in Skelton, L 420. EaUiwell.
2. A game played with a roll of parchment
containing verses descriptive of character, to
each of which was attached a string with a
pendant. The parchment being rolled np, each player
selected one of the projecting strings, and the verse to
which it led was taken as his description.
3. A written fabrication; a vague or rambling
story; a rigmarole.
Mayster parson, I marvayll ye wyll gyve lyoenc
To this false knave in this audience
To publish his ragman rolles with lyes.
The Pardoner and the Frere (1533). (HaUiweU.)
ragman's rewet. Same as ragman-roll, 2.
These songes or rimes (because their originall beginnyng
issued out of Fescenium) wer called in Latine Fescennina
Carmina or Fescennini rythmi or versus; whiche I doe
here translate (according to our English prouerbe) a rag-
man's rewe or a bible. For so dooe we call a long jeate
that railleth on any persone by nam^ or toucheth a bodie's
honestee somewhat nere.
Udall's Erasmwfs Apophth. , p. 274.
See ragman-
vapor (see reek^); but orig. ragna rok, the his-
tory of the gods and the world, esp. with ref . to
the last ju<^ment, doomsday: rok, reason, judg-
ment.] In Scand. myth., the general destruc-
tion of the gods in a great battle with the evil
powers, in which the latter and the earth also
perish, followed by regeneration of all things
through the power of the supreme God, and the
reappearance of those gods who represent the
regenerative forces of nature.
ragoa (ra-go'a), TO. Same as goa, 1.
ragondin, n. " The pelt or fur of the La Plata
beaver or coypou, Myopotamus coypus; nutria.
ragoot, TO. An obsolete English spelling of
ragout.
ragout _(ra-go'), TO. [Formerly spelled ragoo or
ragou, in imitation of the E. pron., also ragottst,
< OP. ragoust, P. rago&t, a stew, a seasoned
dish, < ragouster, ragoHter, bring back to one's
appetite ; < re- (< L. re-), again, + a- (< L. ad),
to,+ gouster, P. go4ter, < L. gustare, taste: see
gusi^.] 1. A dish of meat (usually mutton or
veal) and vegetables cut small, stewed brown,
and highly seasoned.
Spongy Morells in strong Jtagovsts are found.
And in the Soupe the slimy Snail is drown'd.
Gay, Trivia,
And thus they bid farewell to carnal dishes,
And solid meats, and higlily-spiced ragouts.
To live for forty days on ill-dress'd fishes.
Byron, Beppo, st. 7.
When he found her prefer a plain dish to a ragout, had
nothing to say to her.
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, p. 29.
2. Piguratively, a spicy mixture; any piquant
combination of persons or things.
I assure you she has an odd SagoHtot Guardians, as you
will find when you hear the Characters.
Mrs. Centlivre, Bold Stroke, iL
rag-picker (rag'pik^er), «. 1. One who goes
about to coUeot rags , bones, and other waste ar-
ticles of some little value, from streets, ash-
pits, dunghills, etc. — 2. A machine for tearing
and pulling to shreds rags, yarns, hosiery, old
carpet, and other waste, to reduce them to cot-
ton or wool staple; a shoddy-machine Eag-
pickers' disease malignant anthrax.
ragshag (rag'shag), TO. [A riming variation of
rag, as it <rag^ + shag.] A very ragged per-
son ; especial^, one who purposely dresses in
grotesque rags for exhibition. [CoUoq.]
While the iJo^sfto^s were marching, . . . [he] caught his
foot in his ragged garment and fell.
Conn. Courata, July 7, 1887.
rag-shop (rag'shop), TO. A shop in which rags
and other refuse collected by rag-pickers are
bought, sorted, and prepared for use.
rag-sorter (rag's6r*ter), TO. A person employed
in sorting rags for paper-making or other use.
The subjects were grouped as follows : six ragsorters,
four female cooks, etc. Mediad News, iSli. 600.
ragstone (rag'ston), to. [< rdg^ + stone.] 1.
In Eng. geol., a rock forming a part of a series
of rough, shelly, sandy limestones, with layers
of marl and sandstone, occurring in the Low-
er or Bath Oolite. The shale series is some-
times called the Ragstone or Ragstone series. —
2. In masonry, stone quarried in thin blocks
or slabs.
rag-tag (rag' tag), to. [Also tag-rag, short for tag
and rag: see rag^, tag, n., tag-rag.] Bagged
people collectively ; the scum of the populace ;
the rabble : sometimes used attributively. [Col-
loq.] — Rag-tag and bobtail, all kinds of shabby or
shiftless people ; persons of every degree of worthless-
ness ; a disorderly rabble. [Colloq.}
Rag-tag and hobtail, disguised and got np with make-
shift arms, hovering in the distance, have before now de-
cided battles. Gladislane, Gleanings of Past Years, 1. 169.
rag-tumsol (rag'tSm'sol), TO. Linen impreg-
nated with the blue dye obtained from the juice
of the plant Chrozophora tinctoria, used as a test
for acids. See tumsol, 2.
ragolated (rag'u-la-ted), a. In lier., same as
raguly.
ragule (rag-u-la'), a. Same as ragvXy.
raguled (rag'iild), o. [< raguUj + -etP.] Same
as raguly.
raguly ( rag'u-li), a. [< Heraldic P. ragule; <
E. rag^ + -uf- + -S.] In her., broken into regu-
lar projections and depressions like battle-
A Cross RaEHily*
raguly
ments, except that the lines make ohlique an-
gles with one another: said of one of the lines
in heraldry, which is used to
separate the divisions of the
field or to form the boundary of
any ordinary.
Bagnsan (ra-g6'san), a. and m. [<
Bagusa (see def.)"+ -an. Cf. ar-
gosy.'] I, a. Of or pertaining to
Eagusa in Dalmatia, on the Adri-
atic, a city belonging to Austria,
but for many centuries prior to the time of
Napoleon I. an independent republic.
n. n. A native or an inhabitant of Bagusa.
ragweed (rag' wed), ». 1. Anyplant of the com-
posite genus Ambrosia; especially, the common
North American species A. trifida, the great
ragweed or horse-cane, and A. artemisiitfoUa,
the Koman wormwood or hogweed. Both are
sometimes called bitterweed. The former is commonly
found on river-banks, has three-lobed leaves, and is
sometimes 12 feet high. The latter, a much-branching
plant from 1 to 3 feet high, with dissected leaves, grows
everywhere in waste places, along roads, etc., and is trou-
blesome in fields. Its pollen is regarded as a cause of hay-
fever. The plants of this genus are monoecious, the flow-
ers of the two sexes borne in separate heads, the female
heads producing a single flower with the ovoid involucre
closed over it. The flowers are greenish and inconspicu-
ous. See Ambrosia, 2.
2. The ragwort or St.- James-wort, SenecioJaco-
hma. [Prov. Bng.]
rag-wheel (rag'hwel), n. 1. In mach., a wheel
having a notched or serrated margin. — 2. A
cutlers' polishing-wheel or soft disk made by
clamping together a number of disks cut from
some fabric — Rag-wheel ajid chain, a contrivance
for use instead of a band or belt when great resistance is
to be overcome, consisting of a wheel with pins or cogs on
the rim, and a chain in the links of which the pins catch.
See cut under cJtaiti-wheel.
rag-wool (rag'wul),n. Woolfromrags; shoddy.
rag-work (rag'w6rk),». 1. Masonry built with
tmdressed flat stones of about the thickness of
a brick, and having a rough exterior, whence
the name. — 2. A manufacture of carpeting or
similar heavy fabric from strips of rag, which
are either knitted or woven together. Compare
rag carpet, under rag^.
ragworm (rag'wferm), n. Same as mud-worm.
ragwort (rag'wert), n. The name of several
plants of the genus Senedo; primarily, 8. Jo-
cobsBa of Europe and
northern Asia. This is
an erect herb from 2 to 4
feet high, with bright-yel-
low radiate heads in a com-
pact terminal corymb; the
leaves are irregularly lobed
and toothed, whence the
name. Also called benweed,
canlcerweed, St.-Jatws-iimrt,
kadle-dockf jacobxa, etc.; in
IrelAnd fairies' 'horse. Some-
times ragweed. — African
ragwort. See Othonna. —
Cuden ragwort, a North
American plant, Senedo
aureuSf from 1 to 3 feet
high, sometimes lower,
beai'ing corymbs of golden-
yellow heads in spring:
very common and extremely
variable. It is said to have
been a favorite vulnerary
with the Indians, and is by
some regarded as an em-
menagogue and diuretic.
Also called squaw-weed
and liferoot—Vxajfle rag-
wort, the purple jacobiea,
Senecio elegans. a handsome
garden species from the
Cape of Good Hope : a
smooth herb with pinnatifld leaves and corymbed heads,
the rays purple, the disk yellow orpurple.— Sea-ragWOrt.
Same as dusty-miller, 2.— Woolly ragwort, Senecio tomen-
tosiis of the southern United States, a plant covered with
scarcely deciduous hoary wool.
rahatet, v. t. An erroneous form of rate''-.
He neuer linned rahatyng of those persones that offred
sacrifice for to haue good health of bodie.
Udall, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 86. (Varies.)
Eahu (ra'ho), n. [Skt. Baku; derivation ob-
scure.] In Sindu myth., the demon that is sup-
posed to be the cause of the eclipses of the sun
and moon.
Raia (ra'a), n. [KL., also Baja, < L. rata, a ray:
see ray^!] A genus of batoid selachians : used
with various limits, (a) By the old authors it was ex-
tended to all the species of the order or suborder Eaix.
(6) By modern authors it is restricted to those Baiidse (in
the narrowest sense) which have the pectorals separated
by the snout, the caudal rudimentary, and the ventrals
distinct and notched. It comprises nearly 40 species,
generally called skates or rays. See cuts under skate and
j'aj/4.
Kaise (ra'e), n. pi. [JTL., pi. of L. raia, a ray :
see Baia.'] An order or suborder of selachians,
I, the upper part of the stem
with the heads of golden ra^ort
iSeneczo aureus) ; 2, the rhizome
with the lower pari of the stem
and the leaves ; a, the achene.
4940
comprising the rays or skates, and distinguished
by the position of the branchial apertures on the
lower surface of the body, and the depressed and
disk-like trunk in combination with the out-
spread pectorals. Also called Batoidei.
raian (ra'an), a. and n. [< NL. iJa»(o) + -an.]
Same as raioid.
raible (ra'bl), v. A Scotch form of rabbleK
Wee Miller neist the guard relieves.
And orthodoxy rattles. Burns, Holy Fair.
raid (rad), n. [Also rade; < ME. rade, Northern
form of rode, < AS. rad, a riding, = leel. reidh,
a riding, a raid : see road, of which raid is a va-
riant, prob. in part from the cognate Icel.f orm.]
1. A hostile or predatory incursion; especially,
an inroad or mctirsion of mounted men; a
swooping assault for injury or plunder; a foray.
Then he a proclamation maid,
All men to meet at Inverness,
Throw Murray land to mak a raid.
BatOe of Harlaw (Child's Ballads, VIL 184).
So the rufiians growl'd.
Fearing to lose, and all for a dead man.
Their chance of booty from the morning's raid.
Tennyson, Oeraint.
Hence — 2. A sudden onset in general; an ir-
ruption for or as if for assault or seizure ; a de-
scent made in an unexpected or undesired man-
ner: as, a police raid upon a gambling-house.
[Chiefly colloq.]
raid (rad), v. [< raid, n.] I. intrans. To go
upon a raid; engage in a sudden hostile or dis-
turbing incursion, foray, or descent.
The Saxons were perpetually raiding along the confines
of GauL The Ailantie, LXV. 153.
II. trans. 1. To make a raid or hostile attack
upon; encroach upon by foray or incursion.
Henoe — 2. To attack in any way ; affect inju-
riously by sudden or covert assault or invasion
of any kind : as, to raid a gambling-house. [Col-
loq.] —To raid the market, to derange prices or the
course of trade, as on the stock-exchange, by exciting dis-
trust or uncertainty with regard to values ; disturb or de-
press prices by creating a temporary panic. [Colloq.]
raider (ra'd6r), n. [< raid + -eri.] One who
makes a raid ; one engaged in a hostile or pred-
atory incursion.
raign^t, i>. t. [ME. reynen; by apheresis for ar-
raign^ (MB. araynen, etc.).] To arraign.
And many other exstorcioners aud promoters in dyuers
contreys within the reame was broght to London, and put
in to prysons, and reyned at the Gyld Halle with Empson
and Dudley. Arnold's Chronicle, p. xliv.
raign^t, »• and v. An obsolete spelling of reign.
Raiidse (ra'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Baia + -idm.]
A family of hypotreme selachians, or Baise,
typified by the genus Baia; the skates and rays
proper. The species have a moderately broad rhombic
disk, a more or less acute snout, the tall slender but not
whip-like, and surmounted by two small dorsals without
spines, and no electrical apparatus. The females are
oviparous, eggs inclosed in quadrate corneous capsules
being cast. In this respect the Baiidm differ from all the
other ray-like selachians. The species are quite numer-
ous, and every sea has representatives. Formerly the
family was taken in a much more extended sense, em-
bracing all the representatives of the suborder except the
saw-fishes. Also Bajidx.
Baiinee (ra-i'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Baia + -inm.']
A subfamily of rays, coextensive with the fam-
ily BaiidsB in its most restricted sense.
raikt, v. i. See rake'^^.
raili (ral), n. [< ME. rail, raile, rayl, *regel,
*regol (in comp. regolsticke, a ruler), partly <
AS. regol (not found in sense of 'bar' or 'rail'
except as in regolsiicea (> ME. regolsUclee), a
ruler, a straight bar, but common in the de-
rived sense 'a rule of action,' = MD. reghel,
rijghel, rijchel, richel, a bar, rail, bolt, later rich-
geL a bar, shelf, D. rigchel, a bar, = MLG. regel,
LGr. regel, a rail, cross-bar, = OHG. }ngil, MHG.
rigel, Q. riegel, a bar, bolt, rail, = Sw. regel =
Dan. rigel, a bar, bolt ; partly < OF. reille, raille,
roille, roile, reilhe, relle, rele, a bar, rail, bolt,
board, plank, ladder, plow-handle, furrow, row,
eto.,P. dial. reille,\aiaeT, reille,raille, plowshare
(< LGr.); < L. regula, a straight piece of wood,
a stick, bar, staff, rod, rule, ruler, hence a rule,
pattern, model : see rule^. Baifl- is thus a doub-
let of rM?ci, derived through AS., while ruWi- is
derived through OP., from the same L. word.
Cf. raiVi.] 1. A bar of wood or other material
passing from one post or other support to an-
other. Eails, variously secured, as by being mortised to
or passing through slots in their supports, etc., are used
to form fences and barriers and for many other purposes.
In many parts of the United States rail fences are com-
monl)[ made of rails roughly split from logs and laid zig-
zag with their ends resting upon one another, e^ry inter-
section so formed being often supported by a pair of cross-
stakes driven Into the ground, upon which the top rails
rest.
rail
2. A structure consisting of rails and their
sustaining posts, balusters, or pillars, and con-
stituting an inclosure or line of division : often
used in the plural, and also called a railing. The
rails of massive stone, elaborately sculptured, which form
the ceremonial Inclosures of ancient Buddhist topes, tem-
ples, sacred trees, etc., in India, are among the most char-
acteristic and important features of Buddhist architec-
ture, and are the most remarkable works of this class
known.
The Grownd within the Rayles must bee coveryd with
blake Cloth.
Booke qf Precedence (£. E. T. S., extra ser.), L 33.
There lyeth a white marble in form of a graves-stone,
environed with a rale of brasse. Sandys, Travailes, p. 127.
The Bharhut rail, according to the inscription on it,
was erected by a Prince V&dha Fala. . . . The Buddh
Gaya rail is a rectangle, measuring 131 ft. by 98 ft.
J, Fergusson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. ^.
3. In joinery, a horizontal timber in a piece of
framing or paneling. Specifically— (a) In a door,
sash, or any paneled work, one of the holizontal pieces be-
tween which the panels lie, the vertical pieces being
called stiles. See cut under door, (b) The course of pieces
into which the upper ends of the balusters of a stair are
mortised, (c) In furniture-making and fine joinery, any
piece of the construction passing between two posts or
other members of the frame : as, the head-rail or foot-ra^
in a bedstead. Hence — (d) A corresponding member in
construction in other materials than wood, as a tie in
brass or iron furniture.
4. Naut., one of several bars or timbers in a
ship, serving for inclosure or support. The rail,
specifically bo called, is the fence or upper part of the
bulwarks, consisting of a course of molded planks or small
timbers mortised to the stanchions, or sometimes to the
timber-heads. The part passing round the stern is the
taffraU. Vcieforecastle-rau,poop-rail, and top^aU are bars
extended on stanchions across the after part of the fore-
castle-deck, the fore part of the poop, and the after part
of each of the tops, respectively. A pin-rail is part of a
rail with holes in it for belaying-pins ; and a ffe^aU is a
rail around the lower part of a mast, above the deck, with
similar holes. The raHs of the head are curved pieces of
timber extending from the bows on each side to the hull
of the head, for its support.
5. One of the iron or (now generally) steel bars
or beams used on the permanent way of a rail-
way to support and guide the
wheels of cars and motors. The
general form now most in use for steam-
railways is that known as the T-rait. But,
though these rails all have a section vague-
ly resembling the letter T, the proportions
of the different parts and the weights of
the rails are nearly as various as the rail-
ways themselves. In the accompanying h a • a
diagram is shown a section of a rail weigh- „5j i «•, base ; the
ing 75 pounds per yard in length, the part' rf is at' the
weight of the length of one yard being the inner side of the
common mode of stating the weights of J'""' *"„"„?
rails. These weights are in modem rails ^a, the throat of
sometimes as great as 100 or more pounds the car-wheel.
per yard, the more recent tendency having
been toward heavier locomotives and heavier rails. The
cut shows the comparative dimensions of the various
parts. (Compare fish-iaint, ftsh-plate, and jSsftl, v. t, 8.)
The curved junctions of the web with the head and the
base are called the fillets.
6. The railway or railroad as a means of trans-
port: as, to travel or send goods by »-aii. [Col-
loq.]
French and English made rapid way among the drago-
manish ofBcials of the rail.
W. H. Bussell, Diary in India, I. 24.
On the question of rail charges a good deal might be
written. Qitarterly Rev., CXLV. 319.
The tourists find the steamer waiting for them at the
end of the rail. C. D. 'Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 270.
7. In cotton-spinning, a bar having an up-and-
down motion, by which yam passing through is
guided upon the bar and is distributed upon
the bobbins — Adhesion of wheels to rails. Seead-
A«sio».— Capped rail. See capi.— Compoimd rail, a
railway-rail made in two longitudinal counterparts bolted
together in such manner that opposite ends of each pro-
ject beyond the other part to produce a lapping joint when
the rails are spiked fo the ties or sleepers. Also called
conttnuom raS.— Double-headed rail, a railway-rail
without fianges, with two opposite heads united by a web.
It is always used with chairs, and by turning it upside
down it can be used after the upper head has become so
worn as to be useless.— False rail, in ship-carp., a thin
piece of timber attached inside of a curved head-rail in
order to strengthen it.— Fish-bellied rail, a cast-iron
railway-rail having a convex or downwardly arching un-
der surface to strengthen its middle part, alter the man-
ner of some cast-iron beams and girders. It was intro-
duced in 1805. — Flat rail, a railway-rail of cast-iron or
wrought-iron fastened by spikes to longitudinal sleepers.
The cast-iron fiat rail was first used in 1776.— Middle rail,
in carp., that rail of a door which is on a level with the
hand, and on which the lock is usually fixed, whence it is
sometimes called the lock-rail. See cut under door.— Pipe
rail, a rail of iron pipe joined by fittings as in pipe-fitting.
Such rails, of iron or brass, are now much used in engine-
rooms of^shipa, at the sides of locomotives, on iron bridges,
elevated railways^ etc.- Pipe-rail flttings, the screw-
threaded fittings,including couplings, elbowB,crosses,tees.
flanges, etc., used in putting together pipe-rsdlings, and
usually of an ornamental pattern.— Polntrail, a pointed
rail used in the construction of a railway-switch Rail-
drllllng machine, a machine for drilling holes in the web
of steel rails for the insertion of fish-plate bolts.— Eall-
Section of Rail.
Biraihtei ^^^^ *^*^ railroad
steHfroil^ -Steri^hMrt.S'^=n°' ''"^?^'''- rail® (^al), «• [Early mod. E. rayle; < OP. raji- railing (ra'lmg), n. [< ME. raylynge; vertal n.
~- -"* ■ Ste.eU'eaded raJl. a raUway. ,g^_ p\ ^^^^^^^ .i-ggt_ ^Jg^^g^ j^gg^^ ^ gp_ ^^„^^^ of rai(i, j,.] 1. Bails collectively; a eombina.
grate, scrape, vex, molest, = Pg. ralar, scrape, *^°? °^ ^^^.ils ; a construction in which rails form
rub, vex, < L. as if "radulare, dim. or freq. of an important part. Hence— 2. Any openwork
radere, scrape, scratch: see rasel, raze^. Cf. J'o^st'^^ption used as a barrier, parapet, or the
L. rallum (contr. of "radium), a scraper, radula, ^^^> primarily of wood, but also of iron bars,
a scraping-iron : see radula. Hence rally^, rail- ^"1^?' ^^'^ — Post and railing. See ^xwti.
lery.'i I, intrans. To speak bitterly, opprobri- railmgly(ra hng-li), adj;. In a railing manner;
ously, or reproachfully; use acrimonious ex- ^*^ scofBng or opprobrious language,
pressions; scofE; inveigh. ra, •iTirr_r,/,=+ r-^m a„4.\ „ a
Thou raylest on, right withouten reason,
And blamest hem much for small encheason.
Spenser, Shep. Cal., May.
Angels . . . bring not railing accusation against them.
2 Pet. ii. 11.
A certain Spaniard . . . railed . . . extremely at me.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 126.
With God and Tate to rail at suffering easily.
sailed rail under.
Su havfnB'a''VroriS7'*«?l-''eaded rail, a raUway.
head SnSh \S,?"*''*''^° '•"* *"<* webSid a steil
«^rt ;,= £< ^^^\ *®™ *°° expensive for general use.
™il^*J%^''^" J"*^f *° *1« Bessemer-steel railsT Also
raU'?h?fl^''?"-^8*««l'^aU.aroUed.steel railway
^ \, ^P®.™«' steel raUs were manufactured in England
by Mushet m 1867. The development of the use of steel
rails, stimulated by the invention of the celebrated Besse-
mer process for making cheap mild steel from which rails
£; ^l^^^ durability than those of wrought-iron can
substitution of steel rails for wrought-iron rails on near-
ly ^1 important railways in the world.— To ride on a.
raiL See r«te.-vurt&i raU fence. sLvif Sfe
fence (which see, under /ence).
raili (ral), V. [< ME. railen, raylen (= OHG
ngilon, MHG. rigelen, Qc. riegeln), rail; cf. OE.
reillier, roillier, raillier, inclose with rails, bar;
from the noun. Cf . ra«3, «;.] I. trans. 1. To
inclose with rails: often with in or off.
blSe Cl^'tti'""^^'' ™°*' ^^^ raylyd about, and hangyd with
Bmke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.X i. 33.
It is a spot ro«e(J in, and a piece of ground is laid out like
a garden bed. Pococke, Description of the East, n. ii. loi.
Mr. Langdon ... has now reached the railed space.
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 150.
2. To furnish with rails; lay the rails of, as a
railway; construct a railway upon or along, as
a street. [Recent.]
Fifty miles of new road graded last year, which was to
receive its rails this spring, will not be railed, because it
IS not safe for the company to make further investments
m that State. Harper's Mag., LXXVII. 126.
II. intrans. Tofish with a hand-line over the
rail of a ship or boat. [CoUoq.]
In England, the summer fishing for mackerel is carried
on by means of hand lines, and small boats may be seen
railing or " whiffing" amongst the schools of mackerel.
Nature, XLI. 180.
rail^t (ral), V. t. [< ME. railen, raylen, < AS. as
railing-post (ra'ling-post)
post.
railipotent (ra-lip'6-tent), a.
Same as rail-
. . [Irreg. < rail^ +
potent, as in omnipotent.] Powerful in railing
or vituperation, or as incentive to railing; ex-
tremely abusive. [Rare.]
The most preposterous principles have, in requital,
shown themselves, as an old author phrases it, valiantly
railipotent. F. Ball, Mod. Eng., Pref .
Jf. .^rTwM, Empedocles on Etna. _,„4i t,.^„ /„=i/i -\ a j, ■ i ,
=8,11. of raU at. To upbraid, scold or scold at or scold '?fi±f ^ r^XJo^^<;^. t J^<^g«-P\^?« ^^^ *«
about, inveigh against, abuse, objurgate. Matting and flamp a rail to a chair by driving it m between
scolding are always undignified, if not improper ; literally, ttie rail and the chair. Compare rail-clamp.
causing is improper; all three words may by hyperbole raillery (ral'- or ral'er-i), n. [Early mod. E.
' n"t ?mr To sciy^Ttaunt; scold; banter; '^'''' '^''''''^' '^'^y' < F, ~«fen«,Jesting,
afEect by railing or raillery.
Till thou canst raU the seals from off my bond.
Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud.
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 139.
Such^ as are capable of goodness are railed into vice,
that might as easily be admonished into virtue.
Sir T. Browne, Eeligio Medici, ii. 4.
raiFt (ral), V. i. [Early mod. E. rayle; < ME.
railen, reilen, roilen, flow, prob. a var. of roilen,
roll, wander: see roiZi.] To run; flow.
Whan the Geaunte felt hym wounded and saugh the
blode raile down by the lifte iye. he was nygh wode oute
ofwitte. " '■ '— — — ---- —
Merlin (E. E. T. S.). iL 342. raiUeUT (ra-lyer'), n.
mockery,< railler, jest : see rail^ and m%2.] i .
Good.-humored pleasantry or ridicule ; satirical
merriment; jesting language ; banter.
Let raillery be without malice or heat. B. Jonson.
When you have been Abroad, Wephew, youll understand
Ballery better. Congrew, Way of the World, iii. 16.
That conversation where the spirit of raillery is sup-
pressed will ever appear tedious and insipid.
Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 1.
3t. A jest. [Rare.]
They take a pleasing raillery for a serious trutli.
GehUeman Instructed, p. 13. (Davies.)
I saw a spring out of a rocke forth rayle,
As clear as Christall gainst the Sunnie beames.
.„„,.-, _p , A.- ,' , ;-~ SiKBser, Visions of Bellay, L 165.
Ifr-fllv^r Z iZ^ni ""^r % <*-Tr*^«^»^' f «* r rail-bender (ral'ben"der), n. A screw-press or
order, rule, < regol = D. G. Sw. Dan. regel, < L. hydraulic press for strai "
regula, a rule: see raiP-, and of. ruleK Cf. OP.
reillier, roillier, rail, bar, also stripe, from the
noun.] To range in a line ; set in order.
Al watz rayled on red ryche golde naylez,
That al glytered <fc glent as glem of the sunne.
Sir Oawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. 3.), 1. 603.
mocker : see railer'^.']
serious into ridicule :
mocker.
[P. raillew, raUer, jester,
One who turns what is
a jester; abanterer; a
hydraulic press for straightening rails, or for
bending them in the construction of railway-
curves and -switches. The rail is supported
upon two bearers, between which the pressure
is applied. Also called rail-bending machine.
rail-bird (ral'bferd), to. The Carolina rail or
,„i, u v» i T J „ ; J, - ... sora, Porzana Carolina. VO. S.l
They were brought to London all railed m ropes, like a -.ji (,;++__„ /^I'i^'+z/a ^\ \. r\ js xi. n
am of horses in a cart, and were executed, some at Ion- raU-Dlttern (ral blfern), TO. One of the small
bitterns of the genus Ardetta, as A. neoxena,
which in some respects resemble rails. Coiies.
rail-board (ral'taord), to. a board nailed to
the rail of a vessel engaged in fishing for mack-
erel with hand-lines.
rail-borer (ral'b6r"er), TO. A hand-diTll for
making holes in the web of rails for the fish-
plate bolts.
rail-brace (ral'bras), to. A brace used to pre-
vent the turning over of rails or the spreading
nicnown.j 1. A gar- of tracks at curves, switches, etc., on railways,
only m the compound rail-chair (ral'char), to. An iron block, used
especially in Great
Britain, by means of
which railway-rails
are secured to the
sleepers. With the flat-
bottomed rail common in
the United States, chairs
are not required, the rails
being attached to the
sleepers by spikes.
rail-clamp (ral'- Double-headed Rail and Rail-
klftTTlTl'l TO A wedfffi chair, as used on the London and
Jiiamp;, «. Aweuge North-western Railway, England.
or tightemng-key for „, ^^^^ of ran ; «-, lower
clamping a rail firmly l^ead of rail; *, chair; c, sleeper;
inarail-Hhair.soastb t'^^kli°'"'^' "• "°°'*-="=''='
prevent lateral play.
rail-coupling (rarkup"ling), TO. A bar or rod
connecting the opposite rails of a railway to-
gether at critical points, as curves or switches,
where a firmer connection than is afEorded by
the sleepers is needed
team <
don, and the rest at divers places. Baeon, Hist Hen. VII.
Audley, Hammock. Joseph,
The ringleaders of this commotion.
Bailed in ropes, fit ornaments for traitors,
Wait your determinations.
Pord, Perldn Warbeck, iii. 1.
rail^t (ral), n. [Early mod. E., also rayle; <
ME. rail, reil, regel, < AS. hrsegel, hreegl, a gar-
ment, dress, robe, pi. clothes, = OS. hregil =
OPries. hreil, reyl, reil = OHG. hregil, clothing,
garment, dress; root unknown.] 1. A
ment; dress; robe: now
" ':-rail. — 3. A kerchief ,
Rayle for a womans neclc, crevechief. en quarttre dou-
bles. Palsgrave.
And then a good grey frocke.
A kercheff e. and a raUe.
Friar Bacon's Prophesie (1604). (Halliwell.)
rail^t (ral), V. t. [ME. railen; < rail^, «.] To
dress; clothe.
Keali railled with wel rlche clothes.
Waiiam ofPaleme (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1618.
rail* (ral), to. [Early mod. E. rayle; < OP. raale,
rasle, F. rdle (> G. ralle, ML. rallvs), P. dial.
reille, a rail; so called from its cry; cf. OF.
rasle, P. rdle, a rattling in the throat; < OF.
roller, F. rdler, rattle in the throat, < MD.
ratelen, rattle, make- a noise: see rattle. Cf.
also D. railen, reilen, make a noise, Sw. ralla,
chatter {rallf&gel, a rail), Dan. ralle, rattle.] A
bird of the subfamily Ballinie, and especially
of the genus JUallws; a water-rail, land-rail,
marsh-hen, or crake. Bails are small marsh-lov-
ing wading birds, related to coots and gallinules. ThJy railorl (ra'ler), to. [< raiU + -ej-l.] One who
abound in the marshes and swamps of most parts of the makes or tumisnes rails.
world, where they thread their way in the mazes of the railer^ (ra'16r), to. [Early mod. E. rayler, < F
reeds with great ease and celerity, the body being thin
and compressed, and the legs stout and strong with long
toes. They nest on the ground, and lay numerous spotted
eggs ; the young run about as soon as hatched. The com-
mon rail of Europe is Rallus aquaticus; the clapper-rail
or salt-water marsh-hen of the United States is S. crepi-
tans; the king-rail or fresh-water marsh-hen is B. elegans;
the Virginia rail is B. mrgirdanui, also called red rail,
little red-breasted rail, lesser dapper-rail, smaU mud-hen.
Very generally, in the United States, the word raU
railleur, railer, jester, < railler, rail, jest, mock:
see rail^.'] One who rails, scoffs, insults, cen-
sures, or reproaches with opprobrious language.
I am so far off from deserving you,
My beauty so unfit for your affection,
That I am grown the scorn of common raUera.
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iii. 1.
Junius is never more than a railer, and very often he is
third-rate even as a railer. John Morley, Burke, p. 47.
1. In English loco-
used absolutely means the sora or soree,' Porzana Caro-
lina, more fully called raU-Krd, chicken-billed rail, Mnglish rail-guard (ral'gard), «
raU, Carolina raU, Arneriean rail,cpmnwnrail,sora-raU, motives. One of two stout rods, reaching down
artdan, Carolina crake, erake-gallinu^, etc. See Orex, . -u. I <. 4j,php=! from the traot hSfnro a
Porzana, and cut under iJoJ«««.— Golden rail, a snipe 1° apout two incnes irom ine tracK, Detore a
of the genus Rhynchxa; a painted-snipe or rail-snipe.— iront wheel, in America the cow-catcher or
The family of the railleurs is derived from the same
original with the philosophers. The founder of philoso-
phy is confessed by all to be Socrates ; and he was also
the famous author of all irony.
Bp. Sprat, Hist. Koyal Soc.
railly (ra'li), to.; pi. raillies (-liz). [Dim. of
rail?.'] Same as rail^. [Scotch.]
rail-post (ral'post), to. In carp. : (a) A balus-
ter for a stair-rail, hand-rail, or a balustrade.
(6) A newel. Also called railing-post.
rail-punch (ral'punch), TO. A machine for
punching holes in the webs of rails, and for
analogous uses.
railroad (ral'rod),M. [< rail^ + road."] A road
upon which are laid one or more lines of rails to
fuide and facilitate the movement of vehicles
esigned to transport passengers or freight, or
both. [In this sense the words railroad and railway
(which are of about eqnal age) are synonymous ; but the
former is more commonly (and preferably) used in the
United States, the latter now universally in England.
In both countries steam- railroads are called roads, seldom
ways. For convenience, the subject of railroads, and the ,
various compound words, are treated in this dictionary
under railway.]
The London "Courier." in detailing the advantages of
rail-roads upon the locomotive steam engine principle,
contains a remark relative to Mr. Bush, our present minis-
ter in London . . . : " Whatever parliament may do, they
cannot stop the course of knowledge and improvement !
The American government has possessed itself, through
its minister, of the improved mode of constructing and
making rail-roads, and there can be no doubt of their im-
mediate adoption throughout that counti?."
NUes's Register, April 2, 1826.
Alas ! even the giddiness attendant on a journey on this
Manchester rail-road is not so perilous to the nerves as
that too frequent exercise in the merry-go-round of the
ideal world.
Scott, Count Eobert of Paris, Int., p. xl. (Oct. 15, 1831).
On Monday I shall set off for Liverpool by the railroad
which will then be opened the whole way.
Maeaulay, in Trevelyan, II. 20.
Lady Buchan of Athlone writes thus in 1833 : " I have a
letter from Sir John, who strongly recommends my going
by the railroad." N. and Q., 7th ser., VIII. 379.
Commissioner of Railroads. See eommiesioner.— Ele-
vated railroad. See raawa^/.— Eailroad euchre. See
eMcftre.— Underground railroad, (a) See underground
railway, under railway, (b) In the United States before
the abolition of slavery, a secret arrangement for enabling
slaves to escape into free territory, by passing them along
from one point of concealment to another till they reached
Canada or some other place of safety.
railroad (ral'rod), v. t. [< railroad, to.] To
hasten or push forward with railroad speed ;
expedite rushingly; rush: as, to railroad a, bill
through a legislature. [Slang, Ii . S.]
A New York daily some time ago reported that a com-
mon thief . . . was railroaded tlirough court in a few
days. Pop. Soi. Mo., XXXII. 758.
The Alien act, that was railroaded through at the close
of the last session. Sci. Amer., N. S., LVII. 37.
railroader
railroader (ral'ro-dfer), n. A person engaged
in the management or operation of a railroad
or railroads ; one employed in or about the run-
ning of railroad-trains or the general business
of a railroad. [U. S.]
The Inter-State Commerce Commission is endeavoring
to harmonise the interests of shippers and railroaders.
The Engineer, LXVI. 18.
railroading (ral'ro-ding), n. [< railroad +
-in^K'] The management of or work upon a
railroad or railroads ; the business of construct-
ing or operating railroads. [U. S.]
Wonders in the science of raUroading that the tourist
will go far to see.
Harper's Weekly, XXXIII., Supp., p. 60.
railroad-worm (ral'rod-wferm), n. The apple-
maggot (larva of Tryx^eta pomonella): so called
because it has spread along the lines of the rail-
roads. [New Eng.]
rail-saw (ral'sft), n. A portable machine for
sawing off raUway-rails in track-laying and -re-
palinng. The most approved form clamps to the rail to
he sawn, its frame carrying a reciprocating segmental
saw working on a rook-shaft, which is operated by later-
ally extending detachable rook-levers. It has mechanism
which slowly moves the saw toward the rail. A rail can
be cut off by it in fifteen minutes.
rail-snipe (ral'snlp), ». A bird of the genus
Bhynchsea (or Bostratula), as B. capenMs, the
Cape rail-snipe, also called painted Cape snipe
and golden rail,
rail-splitter (ral'split"6r), n. One who splits
logs mto rails for making a rail fence. Abraham
Lincoln, President of the United States from 1861 to 1865,
who in his youth had occasionally split rails, was some-
times popularly called the rail-sptilter, and clubs of his
partizans assumed th&name SaU-splttters. [U. 3.]
Yes : he had lived to shame me from my sneer.
To lame my pencil, and confute my pen ;
To make me own this hind of princes peer.
This rqil-galiUer a true-bom king of men.
Tom Taylor, Abraham Lincoln.
railway (ral'wa),")i. [< ra«i + way.'] 1. In
mech. engin., broadly, a way composed of one or
more rails, or lines of rails, for the support, and
commonly also for the direction of the motion,
of a body carried on wheels adapted to roll on
the rail or rails, or lines of rails. The wheels of
raU way-cars are now more usually flanged ; but in railways
forming parts of machines they are sometimes grooved,
or they may run in grooves formed in the rails.
2. A way for the transportation of freight or
passengers, or both, in which vehicles with
flanged or grooved wheels are drawn or pro-
pelled on one or moi-e lines of rails that sup-
port the wheels of the vehicles, and guide their
course by the latei'al pressure of the rails against
the wheels; a railroad, (fi&e railroad.) The parts
of an ordinary passenger- and freight-railway proper are
the road-bed, ballast, sleepers, rails, rail-chau's, splices,
spikes, switches and switch mechanism, collectively called
permanent way, and the signals; but in common and
accepted usage the meaning of the terms railway and rail-
road has been extended to include not only the perma-
nent way, but everything necessary to its operation, as
the rolling-stock and buildings, including stations, ware-
houses, round-houses, locomotive-shops, car-shops, and
repair-shops, and also all other property of the operating
company, as stocks, bonds, and other securities. Most ex-
isting railways employ steam-locomotives ; but systems of
propulsion by endless wire ropes or cables, by electric
locomotives, and by electromotors placed on individual
cat's to which electricity generated by dynamos at suitable
stations is supplied from electrical conductors extending
along the line, or from storage-batteries carried by the
oars, have recently made notable progress. Horse-rail-
ways or tramways, in which the cars are drawn by horses
or mules, are also extensively used for local passenger and
freight traffic ; but in man^^ places such railways are now
being supplanted by electric or cable systems.
RaUway. — A new iron railway has been invented in
Bavaria. On an exactly horizontal surface, on this im-
provement^ a woman, or even a child, may, with apparent
ease, draw a cai't loaded with more than six quintals. . . .
It is proved that those iron railings are two-thirds better
than the English, and only cost halt as much.
NUeis Begister, Jan. 26, 1822.
Abandoiunent Of railway. See abandonmeta.—ASllal,
Archtmedean, atmospheric, centripetal, electric
railway. See the adjectives.— Elevated railway, or ele-
vated railroad, in contradistinction to surface railway, an
elevated structure, in form analogous to a bridge, used in
New York and elsewhere for railway purposes, to avoid
obstruction of surface roadways. The elevated structures
are usually made of a good quality of steel and iron, and
cars are moved on them either by steam-locomotives or
by cable-traction, more commonly the former. Electricity
has also been applied to the propulsion of cars on elevated
railways.— Inclined railway, a railway having such a
steep grade that special means other than ordinary loco-
motive driving-wheels are necessary for drawing or pro-
pelling cars on it. The use of locomotives with gripping-
wheels engaging a rail extending midway between the
ordinary rails, or having a pinion engaging the teeth of a
rack-rail similarly placed, is a feature of many such rail-
ways. Cables operated by a stationary engine are also used.
— Mailne railway. See marine.— Military railway, a
railway equipped for military service. Armored locomo-
tives, and armor-plated cars having port-holes for rifles and
some of them carrying swivel-guns, are prominent features
4942
of a military railway outfit.— Pneumatic railway, (a) A
railway in which cars are propelled by air-pressure behmd
them. In one form of pneumatic railway the cars were
pushed like pistons through a tunnel by pressure of air
on the rear. The system failed of practical success from
the difficulties met with in the attempt to carry it out on
a large scale. Also called atmospheric railway (which see,
under atmospheric). (6) A railway in which cars are drawn
by pneamatic locomotives. Scarcely more success bas
been reached in this method than in that described above.
— PortaWe railway, or portatle railroad, a light rail-
way-track made in detachable sections, or otherwise con-
structed so that it may be easily taken up, carried about^
and transported to a distance, for use in military opera-
tions, in constructing roads, in building operations, in
making excavations, etc. The rails are frequently of
wood, or of wood plated with iron.— Prlsmoidal rail-
way, a railway consisting of a single continuous beam
or truss supported on posts or columns. The engine and
oars run astride of the beam, the former bfeing provided
with grip-wheels to obtain the hold on the track requisite
for draft.— Railway brain, a term applied to certain
cases developed by railway accident, in which a trau-
matic neurosis is believed to be of cerebral origin.— Kail-
way Clauses Consolidation Act, an English statute of
184.5 (8 and 9 Vict., c. 20) consolidating the usual statutoiy
provisions applicable to railway corporations, enabling
them to take private property, and giving them special
rights or special duties.— Railway cut-off saw. See
sawi.- Railway post-offlce. See post-ojice.— Railway
scrip. See scrip.— Railway spine, an affection of the
spine resulting from concussion produced by a railway
accident. See under spine.
The railway spine has taken its place in medical nomen-
clature. Set. Amer., N, S., LX. 22.
Underground railway, a railway running through a
continuous tunnel, as under the streets or other parts of
a city ; a subterranean railway.
railway-car (ral'wa-kar), n. Any vehicle in
general (the locomotive or other motor and its
tender excepted) that runs on a railway, whe-
ther for the transportation of freight or of
passengers.
railway-carriage (ral'wa-kar'aj), n. A rail-
way-ear for passenger-trafac. [Eng.]
railway-chair (ral'wa-ehar), n. Same as rail-
chair.
railway-company (ral'wa-kum'''pa-ni), «. A
stock company, usually organized uider a char-
ter granted by special legislative enactment,
for the purpose of constructing and operating
a railway, and invested with certain special
jjowers, as well as subject to special restric-
tions, by the terms of its charter.
railway-crossing (rarwa-kr6s"ing), n. 1. An
intersection of railway-tracks. — 2. The inter-
section of a common roadway or highway with
the track of a railway.
railway-frog (ral'wa-frog), n. Beefrog^, 2.
railway-slide (ral'wa-slid), n. A tum-table.
[Eng.]
railway-Stltcn (ral'wa-stioh), n. 1. In crochet,
same as tricot-stitch. — 2. In embroidery, a sim-
ple stitch usually employed in white embroi-
dery, or with floss or filoselle. — 3,. In worsted-
work or Berlin-wool work, a kind of stitch used
on leviathan canvas, large and loose, and cov-
ering the surface quiqkly.
railway-switch (ral'wa-swich), ». See switch.
railway-tie (ral'wa-ti), n. See tie.
railway-train (ral'wa-tran), n. See train.
raim (ram), v. t. Same as ream^.
raiment (ra'ment), n. [Early mod. E. rayment ;
< ME. raiment, rayment, short for arayment,
later arrajmem/, mod. arrayment: see arrayment.
Cf. ray, by apheresis for array.] That in
which one is arrayed or clad; clothing; vesture;
formerly sometimes, in the plural, garments.
[Now only poetical or archaic]
On my knees I beg
That you'll vouchsafe me rofim^nt, bed, and food.
Shale, Lear, ii, 4. 158.
Truth's Angel on horseback, his raiment of white silk
powdered with stars of gold.
Middleton, Triumphs of Truth.
=Syn. Clothes, dress, attire, habiliments, garb, costume,
array. These words are all in current use, while raiment
and vesture have a poetic or antique sound.
raimondite (ra'mon-dit), n. [Named after A.
Baimondi, an Italian scientist who spent many
years in exploring Peru.] A basic sulphate of
iron, occurring in hexagonal tabular crystals of
a yellow color.
rain^ (ran), n. [Early mod. B. rayne, < ME. rein,
reyn, reyne, reane, re$n, rien, ren, ran, < AS.
regn (often oontr. ren) = OS. regan, regin =
OPries. rein = D. regen = MLG. regen = OHG-.
regan, MHG. regen, Q. regen = loel. Sw. Dan.
regn = Goth, rign, rain ; cf. L. rigare, moisten
(see irrigation), Gr. /Spix^iv, wet (see embroca-
tion).'] 1. The descent of water in drops
through the atmosphere, or the water thus fall-
ing. In general, clouds constitute the reservoir from
which rain descends, but the fall of rain in very small
quantities from a cloudless sky is occasionally observed.
The aqueous vapor of the atmosphere, which condenses
rain
into cloud, and falls as rain, is derived from the evapora-
tion of water, partly from land, but chiefly from the vast
expanse of the ocean. At a given temperature, only a
certain amount of aqueous vapor can be contained in a
given volume, and when this amount is present the air
is said to be saturated. If the air is then cooled below
this temperature, a part of the vapor will be condensed
into small drops, which, when suspended in the atmo-
sphere, constitute clouds. Under continued cooling and
condensation, the number and size of the drops increase
until they begin to descend by their own weight. The
largest of these, falling fastest, unite with smaller ones
that they overtake, and thus drops of rain are formed
whose size depends on the thickness and density of the
cloud and on the distribution of electrical stress therein.
Sometimes the rate of condensation is so great that tiie
water appears to fall in sheets rather than in drops, and
then the storm is popularly called a cloud-burst. It is now
generally held that dynamic cooling (that is, the cooling
of air by expansion, when raised in altitude, and thereby
brought under diminished pressure), if not the sole cause
of rain, is the only cause of any importance, an'd that other
causes popularly appealed to — such as the intermingling
of warm and cold air, contact with cold mountain-slopes,
etc.— are either inoperative or relatively insignificant.
The requisite ascent of air may be occasioned either by
convection currents, a cyclonic circulation, or the upward
deflection of horizontal currents by hills or mountains ;
and rain may be classified as convective, cyclonic, or oro-
graphic, according as the first, second, or third of these
methods is brought into operation to produce it. The
productiveness of the soil and the maintenance of life in
most parts of the earth depend largely upon an adequate
fall of rain. In some regions it is more or less evenly dis-
tributed throughout the year, in others it is conflned to a
part of the year (the rainy season), and in others still it is
entirely absent, or too slight for need, according to varia-
tion of local atmospheric conditions. In a ship's log-book
abbreviated r.
A muchel wind alith mid a Intel rein.
Ancren Kiwle, p. 246.
Also a man that was bom in thys yle told vs that they
had no Rayne by the space of x months ; they sow ther
whete with owt Rayne.
TorHngton, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 61.
2. Figuratively — (o) A fall of any substance
through the atmosphere in the manner of rain,
as of blossoms or of the pyrotechnic stars from
rockets and other fireworks. Blood-rain is a fall
of fragments of red algse or the like, raised in large quan-
tities by the wind and afterward precipitated. Sulphur-
rain or yellow rain is a similar precipitation of the pollen
of flr-trees, etc. (6) A shower, downpour, or abun-
dant outpouring of anything.
Whilst Wealth it self doth roll
In to her bosom in a golden Bain.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, i. 38.
The former and the latter rain, in Palestine, the rains
of autumn and of spring ; hence, rain in its due season.
— The Rainst, a tract of the Atlantic ocean formerly so
called. See the quotation.
Crossing toward the west, from Africa, it is now known
that between about five and fifteen north latitude is a
space of ocean, nearly triangular, the other limit being
about twenty (long.)and ten (lat.), which used to be called
by the earlier navigators the Bains, on account of the calms
and almost incessant rain always found there.
Fitz Boy, Weather Book, p. 116.
= Syn. 1. Rain, Haze, Fog, Mist, Cloud. A cloud resting upon
the earth is called mist or fog. In mist the globules are
very fine, but are separately distinguishable, and have a
visible motion. In fog the particles are separately indis-
tinguishable, and there is no perceptible motion. A dry
fog is composed largely of dust-particles on which the
condensed vapor is too slight to occasion any sense of
moisture. Baze differs from fog and cloud in the greater
microscopic minuteness 6f its particles. It is visible only
as a want of transparency of the atmosphere, and in gen-
eral exhibits neither form, boundary, nor locus. Thus,
among haze, fog, mist, and rain, the size of the constituent
particles or globules is a discriminating characteristic,
though frequently cloud merges into fog or mist, and mist
into rain, by insensible gradations.
raini (ran), V. [< ME. raynen, reinen, reynen,
regnen, rinen, rynen (pret. rainde, reinede, rinde;
sometimes strong, ron, roan), < AS. rignan, rare-
ly regnan, usually contracted nBare, rynan (pret.
rinde; rarely strong, ran), = D. regenen = MLG.
regenen = OHG. reganon, regonon, MHG. rege-
nen, G. regnen = Icel. regna, rigna = Sw. regna
= Dan. regne = Goth, rignjan, rain; from the
noun: see roirei, m.] I. intrans. 1. To fall in
drops through the air, as water: generally used
impersonally.
There it reyneth not but litylle in that Contree ; and for
that Cause they have no Watre, but zif it be of that Flood
of that Ky vere. JUandeville, Travels, p. 45.
Evermore so stemliche it ron.
And blew therwith so wonderliche loude,
That wel neighe no man heren other koude.
Chaucer, Troilus, iiL 677.
And in Elyes tyme heuene was yclosed,
That no reyne ne rone.
Piers Plowman (B), xiv. 66.
The rain it raineth every day. Shai., T. N., v. 1. 401.
2. To fall or drop like rain : as, tears rained
from their eyes.
The Spaniards presented a fatal mark to the Moorish mis-
siles, which rained on them with pitiless fury.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 7.
Down rained the blows upon the unyielding oak.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 252.
rain
n. trana. To pour or shower down, like rain
trom the clouds ; pour or send down abundantly.
Behold, I will rain bread from heaven tor you.
^ , Ex. XTi. 4.
Does he rain gold, and precious promifles.
Into thy lap? Fletcher, Wife tor a Month, 1 1.
y?''j '*,'2*"* princes; though some people are disap-
pointed of the amval of the Pretender.
WcdpoU, Letters, U. 24.
To rain cats and dogs. See can.
rain2 (ran), ». [Origin obscure.] 1. A ridge.
HalUwell.— 2. A furrow. [Prov. Eng. in both
senses.]
Tliey reaped the come that grew in the rainc to serve
that tume, as the come in the ridge was not readie.
Wynne, History of the Gwedir FamUy, p. 87. (Eneyc. Diet.)
rain^t, n. An obsolete spelling of mrei.
rainball (ran'b&l), n. One of the festoons of
the mammato-cumulus, or poc!^ cloud: so
called because considered to be a sign of rain.
[Prov. Eng.]
rainband (ran'band), n. A dark band in the
solar spectrum, situated on the red side of the
D line, and caused by the absorption of that
part of the spectrum by the aqueous vapor of
the atmosphere. The intensity of the rainband va-
ries with the amount of vapor in the air, and is thus of
some importance as an indication of rain. Direct-vision
spectroscopes of moderate dispersion are best adapted for
observing it Pocket instruments of this kind, designed
tor the purpose, are called rair^an3/-8pectro8iiope8.
At every hour, when there is sufficient light, the inten-
sity of the rainband is observed and recorded.
Nature, XXXV. 589.
rain-bird (ran'berd), n. [< MB. reyne-hri/de; <
rain^ + ftirdl.] A bird supposed to foretell
rain by its cries or actions, as the rain-crow.
Many birds become noisy or uneasy before rain, the pop-
ular belief having thus considerable foundation in fact,
(a) The greenwoodpeoker,(?e(!i»iMwrirf is. Also rain-fowl,
rain-pie. [Eng.] (o) The large ground-cuckoo of Jamai-
ca, Sawothera vetvla; also, a related cuckoo, Piaya plu-
vialis.
rainbow (ran'bo), n. [< MB. reinbowe, reiriboge,
renioge, < AS. regn-boga, renboga (= OPries.
reinboga = D. regeriboog = MLGr. regenboge, re-
gensboge (cf. LQ-. water-boog) = OHGr. reganho-
go, MHGr. regenboge, Gr. regenbogen = Icel. regn-
bogi = 8w. regnbage = Dan. regnbue), < regn,
rain, + boga, bow: see rain^ and bowS, n.] 1.
A bow, or an arc of a circle, consisting of the
prismatic colors, formed by the refraction and
reflection of rays of light from drops of rain or
vapor, appearing in the part of the heavens op-
posite to the sun. When large and strongly illumi-
nated, the rainbow presents the appearance of two con-
centric arches, the inner being called the primary and
the outer the secondary rainbow. Each is formed of the
colors of the solar spectrum, but the colors are arranged
in reversed order, the red forming the exterior ring of the
primary bow and the interior of the seoondaiy. The pri-
mai-y bow is formed by rays of the sun that enter the up-
per part of falling drops of rain, and undergo two refrac-
tions and one reflection ; the secondary, by rays that enter
the under part of rain-di'ops, and undergo two refractions
and two reflections. Hence, the colors of the secondary
bow are fainter than those of the primary. The rainbow
is regarded as a symbol of divine beneflcence toward man,
from its being made the token of the covenant that the
earth should never again be destroyed by a flood (Gen. ix.
13-17). Smaller bows, sometimes circular and very bril-
liant, are often seen through masses of mist or spray, as
from a waterfall or from waves about a ship. (Seefog-bow.)
The moon sometimes forms a bow or arch of ligh^ more
faint than that formed by the sun, and called a luTiar
rainbow.
Thanne io ofe[r]-t^o hefenes mid wlcne. thanne bith
at&wed min r(n o6ge. betwuxe than folce [vel wlcne].
thanne beo Ic gemen^ged mines weddes. that ic nelle
henon forth mancyn. mid watere adrenche.
Old Eng. BamUies (ed. Morris), 1st ser., xxlv. 225. (UfcA.)
Taunede [showed] him in the wa[l]kene a^buuen
Bein-bowe. Genesie and Exodus, 1. 637.
When in Heav'n I see the Sain-boaw bent,
I hold it for a Pledge and Argument.
Sylve^xr, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, L 2.
Intersecting rainbows are not uncommon. They require,
of course, for their production, two sources of parallel
rays ; and they are seen when, behind the spectator, there
is a large sheet of calm water. Tait, Light, § 165.
2. In iter., the representation of a half-ring di-
vided into seven concentric narrow rings and
arched upward, each end resting on a clump of
clouds. To avoid the difficulty of finding seven different
tinctures, the number of concentric rings is sometimes di-
minished to three, usually amre, or, and jmfes— that is,
blue, gold, and red.
3. In ornith., a humming-bird of the genus
Diphlogena, containing two most briUiantly
plumaged species, X>. iris of Bolivia, and D. Ties-
perus of Ecuador. — 4. The rainbow-flsh — Eain-
DOWStyle, a method of calico-printing in which the colors
are blended with one another at the edges.— Spurious or
supernumerary rainbow, a bow always seen in connec-
tion with a fine rainbow, lying close inside the violet of the
primary bow, or outside that of the secondary one. Its
colors are fainter and less pure, as they proceed from the
4943
principal bow, and finally merge in the diffused white light
of the primary bow, and outside the secondary.
rainbow-agate (ran'b6-ag"at), n. An irides-
cent variety of agate.
rainbow-darter (ran'b6-dar''t6r), n. The sol-
dier-fish or blue darter, Poseiliehfhys cseruleus,
of gorgeous and varied colors, about 2i inches
long, found in the waters of the Mississippi ba-
sin ; as a book-name, any species of this genus.
rainbowed (ran'bod), a. [< rainbow + -ed^.']
1. Formed by or like a rainbow. — 2. Encir-
cled with a rainbow or halo. Davies.
See him stand
Before the altar, like a rainbowed saint.
Kingsley, Saint's Tragedy, L 3.
rainbow-flsh (ran'bo-fish), n. One of several
different fishes of bright or varied coloration.
(a) The blue darter, Poeeuichihys cservleus. [TJ. S.] (6)
A sparoid fish, Searus or Pseudoscarvx quadrisplnogus.
[Bermuda.]
rainbow-hued, rainbow-tinted (ran'bo-hud,
-tin"ted), a. Having hues or tints like those
of a rainbow.
rainbow-quartz (ran'bo-kw&rts), n. An iri-
descent variety of quartz.
rainbow-trout (ran'bo-trout), n. A variety or
subspecies of the Califomian Salmo gairdneri,
specifically called S. irideus. it is. closely related
rain-water
means of the pluviometeror rain-gage. The average rain-
fall of a district includes the snow, if any, reduced to its
equivalent in water.— Rainfall chart, an isohyetal chart.
See isohyetal.
rain-fowl (ran'foul), n. [< ME. reyn fowle;
< raifti + fowU.'] 1. Same as rain-bird (a).
[Eng.] — 2. The Australian Scythrops novse-
Rainbow-trout (Salmo irideus).
to the brook-trout of Europe, but not to that of the United
States. It has been quite widely distributed by piscicul-
turists. In the breeding season its colors are resplendent,
giving rise to the popular name.
rainbow-worm (ran'bo-wtom), n. A species of
tetter, the herpes im of Bateman.
rainbow-wrasse (ran'bo-ras), «. Alabroidfish,
Cow julis, the only British species of that ge-
nus : so calledfrom its bright and varied colors.
rain-box (ran'boks), n. A device in a theater
for producing an imitation of the sound of
falling rain.
rain-cnamber (ratt'cham'-'ber), n. An attach-
ment to a furnace, hearth, or smelting-works
in which the fumes of any metal, as lead, are
partly or entirely condensed by the aid of water.
rain-cbart (ran'ohart), n. A chart or map
giving information in regard to the fall and
distribution of rain in any part or all parts of
the world. Also called rain-map.
rain-cloud (ran'kloud), n. Any cloud from
which rain falls : in meteorology called nimbus.
Two general classes may be distinguished — (a) cumulo-
nimbus, where rain falls from cumulus clouds, generally
in squalls or showers, and (&) strato-nimbus, where rain
falls from stratus clouds. The name is sometimes espe-
cially given, in a more restricted sense, to the ragged, de-
tached masses of cumulus (called by ^oey fracto-cumulus),
or to the low, torn fragments of cloud cs^ed scud, which
are characteristic associates of rain-storms. See cut un-
der cloud.
rain-crow (ran'kro), n. A tree-cuckoo of the
genus Coccygiis, either C. aniericanws or C ery-
throplitlialmiis : so named from its cries, often
heard in lowering weather, and supposed to
predict rain. [Local, U. S.]
raindeert, ». See reindeer.
rain-doctor (rau'dok^'tor), n. Same as rain-
maker.
rain-door (ran'dor), n. In Japanese houses,
one of the external sliding doors or panels in
a veranda which are closed in stormy weather
and at night.
raindrop (ran'drop), n. [< ME. raindrope (also
reines drope), < AS. regndropa (= D. dim. re-
gendroppel, regend/mppel = OHCi. regentropho,
MHG. Gr. regentropfen = Sw. regndroppe = Dan.
regndraabe, raindrop), < regn, rain, + dropa,
drop: see rain^ and drop, m.] A drop of rain.
—Raindrop glaze, in ceram., a glaze with veiy slight
drop-like bosses, used for porcelain.
rainet, n. An obsolete spelling of reign.
raines^t, «■• pi- An obsolete spelling of reins.
raines^t, n. [Also raynes, reins; < Mennes (see
def.).] A kind of linen or lawn, manufactured
at Eennes in France.
She should be apparelled beautifully with pure white
silk, or with most fine rairws.
Bale, Select Works, p. 642. (Daxiet.)
rainfall (ran'fai), n. 1. A falling of rain; a
shower. — 2. The precipitation of water from
clouds; the water, or the amount of water,
coming down as rain. The rainfall is measured by
rain-gage (ran'gaj), n. An instrument for col-
lecting and measuring the amount of rainfall
a,t a given place. Many forms have been used ; their
size has been a few square inches or square feet in area,
and their material has been sheet-metal, porcelain, wood,
or glass. The form adopted by the United States Signal
Service consists of three parts— (a) a funnel-shaped re-
ceiver, having a turned brass rim 8 inches in diameter :
(6) a collecting tube, made of seamless brass tubing of 2.53
inches inside diameter, making its area one tenth that of
the receiving surface ; and (c) a galvanized iron overfiow-
cylinder, which in time of snow is used alone as a snow-
gage. A cedar measuring-stick is used to measure the
depth of water collected in the gage. By reason of the
ratio between the area of the collecting tube and that of
the receiving surface, the depth of rain is one tenth tiat
measured on the stick. See cut under plumometer.
rain-goose (ran'gos), n. The red-throated diver
or loon, Urinator or Colymbus septentrionalis,
supposed to foretell rain by its cry. [Local,
British.]
rain-houndt (ran'hound), n. A variety of the
hound. See the quotation.
Mastiffs are often mentioned in the proceedings at the
Forest Coiirts [in England], in company with other breeds
which it is not easy now to identify, such as the rain-
hound, which keeps wateh by itself in rainy weather.
The Academy, Feb. 4, 1888, p. 71.
raininess (ra'ni-nes), m. IK rainy + -ness.'] The
state of being rainy.
rainless (ran'les), a. [< rain^ + -less.'] With-
out rain: as, a rainless region; a rainless zone.
rain-maker (ran'ma"k6r), n. Among super-
stitious races, as those of Africa, a sorcerer who
pretends to have the power of producing a fall
of rain by incantation or supernatural means.
Also called rain-doctor.
The African chief, with his rairMnakers and magicians.
The Century, XL. 303.
rain-map (ran'map), n. Same as rain-ehart.
rainmentf (ran'ment), n. An aphetic form of
arraignment.
rain-paddock (ran'pad"ok), ». The batrachian
Breviceps gibbosus, of South Africa, which lives
in holes in the ground and, comes out in wet
weather.
rain-pie (ran'pi), n. Same as rain-bird (a).
[Eng.]
rainpour (ran'por), n. A downpour of rain; a
heavy rainfall. [Colloq.]
The red light of fiitting lanterns blotehed the steady
rainpour. Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 572.
rain-print (ran'print), n. In geol., the print of
raindrops in some aqueous rocks, formed when
they were in a soft state, such as may be seen
on a muddy or sandy sea-beach after a heavy
shower, it is possible for the geologist to tell by in-
spection of the prints from what direction the wind was
blowing at the time of their formation.
rain-proof (ran'prof), n. Proof against rain;
not admitting the entrance of rain or penetra-
tion by it; rain-tight; water-proof in a shower.
Their old temples, . . . which for long have not been
rain^oof, crumble down. Carlyle, Sartor Besartus, ii. 7.
rain-quail (ran'kwal), n. The quail ColHrnix
coromandelicus, of Africa and India, whose mi-
grations are related in some way to rainy sea-
sons.
rain-storm (ran'storm), n. A storm of rain ; a
rain.
The fells sweep skyward with a fine breadth, freshened
by strong breezes ; clouds and sunshine, ragged rainworms,
thunder and lightning, chase across them forever.
The Atlantic, LXV. 824.
rain-tigllt (ran'tit), a. So tight as to exclude
rain.
rain-tree (ran'tre), n. The genisaro or guango,
PitJiecolobium Saman. it is said to be so caUed be-
cause occasionally in South America, through the agency
of cicadas which suck its juices, it sheds moisture to such
an extent as to wet the ground. Another explanation is
that its foliage shuts up at night, so that the rain and dew
are not retained by it. See genisaro.
rain-wash (ran'wosh), n. See wash.
rain-water (ran'wS,"t6r), n. [< MB. reyne wa-
ter, reinwater, < AS. *regnwseter, renwseter (=
OHGr. reganwazar), < regn, ren, rain, + wseter,
water : see rain^ and water."] Water that has
fallen from the clouds in rain, and has not sunk
into the earth.
No one has a right to build his house so as to cause the
rain water to fall over his neighbour's land, . . . unless
he has acquired a right by a grant or prescription.
Bouvier, Law Diet., II. 419.
ramy
rainy (ra'ni), a. [< late ME. rayne, < AS. *reg-
nig, rmig, rainy, < regn, ren, rain: see rainX.'\
Abounding -with, or giving out rain ; dropping
with or as if with rain; showery: as, rainy
weather; a rainy day or season; a rainy sky.
A continual dropping in a very rainy day.
ProT. xxviL 16.
Both mine eyes were rainy like to his.
Shak., nt. And., v. 1. 117.
A rainy day, figuratively, a time of greater need or of
clouded fortunes; a possible time of want or misfortune
in the future : as, to lay by something for a rainy day.
The man whose honest industry just gives him a com-
petence exerts himself that he may have something
against a rainy day. Everett, Orations, I. 286.
laioid (ra'oid), a. and n. [< L. raia, ray, + Gr.
elSog, form.] I. a. Eesembling or related to
the ray or skate.
II. n. A selachian of the family Baiidee or
suborder Baiee.
Raioidea (ra-oi'de-S), n.^Z. [NL.: aeeraioid."]
A superfamily of rays represented by the fam-
ily Baiidse.
raip (rap), n. A dialectal form of rope.
rair (rar), v. and n. A dialectal form of roar.
rais (ra'is), n. Same as reis^.
raisable (ra'za-bl), a. [< rais(e)i + -able.'] Ca-
pable of being raised or produced ; that may be
lifted up. [Kare.]
They take their sip of coffee at our expense, and cele-
brate us in song ; a chorus is raisable at the shortest pos-
sible notice, and a chorus is not easily cut off in the mid-
dle. C. W. Stoddard, Mashallah, liviii.
raise^ (raz), v. ; pret. and pp. raised, ppr. rais-
ing. [Early mod. E. also rayse; < ME. raisen,
raysen, reisen^ reysen, < leel. reisa (= Sw. resa
= Dan. reise = Goth, raisjan = AS. reeran, B.
renri), raise, cause to rise, causal of i-tsa, rise,
= AS. risan, E. rise : see rise^. Of. rear\ the
native (AS.) form of raise.] I, trans. 1. To
lift or bring up bodily in space; move to a
higher place ; cany or cause to be carried up-
ward or aloft; hoist: as, to raise one's hand
or head : to raise ore from a mine ; to raise a
flag to the masthead.
When the morning sun shall raise his car
Above the border of this horizon,
"We'll foiTvard towards Warwick.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iv. 7. 80.
The oxen raise the water by a bucket and rope, without
a wheel, and so by driving them from the well the bucket
Is drawn up. Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 61.
The high octagon summer house you see yonder is
raised on the mast of a ship, given me by an East-India
captain. Colman and Qwrricfc, Clandestine Marriage, ii.
2. To make upright or erect; cause to stand
by lifting ; elevate on a base or support ; stand
or set up : as, to raise a mast or pole ; to raise
the frame of a building ; to raise a fallen man.
He wept tendirly, and reised the kynge be the hande.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), it 354.
The elders of his house arose and went to him, to raise
liim up from the earth. 2 Sam. xii. 17.
3. To elevate in position or upward reach;
increase the height of; build up, fill, or em-
bank ; make higher : as, to raise a building by
adding a garret or loft; to raise the bed of a
road ; the flood raised the river above its banks.
— 4. To make higher or more elevated in state,
condition, estimation, amount, or degree ; cause
to rise in grade, rank, or value ; heighten, ex-
alt, advance, enhance, increase, or intensify:
as, to raise a man to higher office ; to raise one's
reputation; to raise the temperature; to raise
prices ; to raise the tariff.
Merrick said only this : The Earl of Essex raited me, and
he hath overturned me. Baker, Chronicles, p. 392.
Those who have carnal Minds may have some raised and
spiritual Thoughts, but they are too cold and speculative.
Stillingfleet, Sermons, III. viii.
I was both weary and hungry, and I think my appetite
was raised by seeing so much food.
Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 93.
The duty [on salt] was raised by North, in the war of
American Independence, to 5s. the bushel.
S. DoweU, Taxes in England, IV. 4.
Steam-greens after printing are frequently brightened,
or raised as it is technically called, by passing through a
weak bath of bichrome.
W. Crookes, Dyeing and Calico-printing, p. 607.
5. To estimate as of importance; cry up;
hence, to applaud; extol.
like Cato, give his little Senate laws,
And sit attentive to his own applause ;
While wits and templars every sentence raise.
And wonder with a foolish face of praise.
Pope, Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, 1. 211.
6. To form as a pUed-up mass, or by upward
accretion; erect above a base or foundation;
build or heap up: as, to raise a cathedral, a
4944
monument, or a mound; an island in the sea
raised by volcanic action.
I will raise forts against thee. Isa. xxix. S.
All these great structures were doubtless raised under
the bishops of Damascus, when Christianity was the estab-
lished religion here.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. 1. 121.
7. To lift off or away; remove by or as if by
Hfting; take off, as something put on or im-
posed : as, to raise a blockade.
Once already have you prisoned me,
To my great charge, almost my overthrow,
And somewhat raisde the debt by that advantage.
Heiiwood, Fair Maid of the Exchange (Works, ed. Pearson,
" ' [1874, IL 28).
The Sorbonne raised the prohibition it had so long laid
upon the works of the Grecian philosopher [Aristotle].
" Mind, XII. 267.
8. To cause to rise in sound; lift up the voice
in; especially, to utter in high or loud tones.
When I raised the psalm, how did my voice quaver for
fear! SmfU Mem. of P. P.
In sounds now lowly, and now strong.
To raiie the desultory song.
Scott, Marmion, Int., lii.
They both, as with one accord, raised a dismal cry.
Dickens, Haunted Man.
9. To cause to rise in air or water; cause to
move in an upward direction : as, to raise a kite ;
to raise a wreck.
The dust
Should have ascended to the I'oof of heaven.
Raised by your populous troops.
Shak., A. and C, iii. 6. SO.
10. To cause to rise from an inert or lifeless
condition; specifically, to cause to rise from
death or the grave ; reanimate : as, to raise the
dead.
Also in ye myddes of that chapell is a rounde marble
stone, where the very hooly crosse was prouyd by reysinge
of a deed woman, whanne they were in doubte whiche it
was of the thre. Sir R. Guylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 26.
We have testified of God that Yieraised up Christ : whom
he raised not up. If so be that the dead rise not.
1 Cor. XV. 15.
Thou must restore him flesh again and life.
And raise his dry bones to revenge this scandaL
Beau, and Fl., Maid's Tragedy, iv. 1.
11. T6 cause to rise above the visible horizon,
or to the level of observation ; bring into view ;
sight, as by approach : chiefly a nautical use :
as, to raise the land by sailing toward it.
When first seeing a whale from the mast-head or other
place, it is termed raiding a whale.
C. M. Scammon, Marine Mammals (Glossary), p. 311.
In October, 1832, the ship Hector of New Bedford raised
a whale and lowered for it. The Century, XL. 562.
13. To cause to rise by expansion or swelling;
expand the mass of; puff up; inflate: as, to
raise bread with yeast.
I learned to make wax work, japan, paint upon glass, to
raise paste, make sweetmeats, sauces, and everything that
was genteel and fashionable.
Quoted in J, Ashton, Social Life in Beign of Queen Anne,
[I. 23.
The action of the saltpetre on the hides or skins, it is
claimed, is to plump or raise them, as it is called.
C. T. Davis, Leather, p. 240.
13. To cause to rise into being or manifesta-
tion; cause to be or to appear; call forth;
evoke : as, to raise a riot ; to raise a, ghost.
I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy
sons. 1 Chfon. xvii. 11.
He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind.
Ps. cvii. 25.
I'll learn to conjure and raise devils.
Shak.,T. andC, il. 3. 6.
Come, come, leave conjuring ;
The spirit you would raise is here already.
Beau, and Fl., Custom of the Country, iii. 2.
14. To promote with care the growth and de-
velopment of; bring up; rear; grow; breed:
as, to raise a family of children (a colloquial
use); to raise crops, plants, or cattle.
A bloody tyrant and a homicide ;
One raised in blood. Shak.,^ic\i. III., v. 8. 247.
Most can raise the flowers now,
For all have got the seed.
Temnyson, The Mower.
"Where is Tina?" . . .
"Asphyxia 's took her to raiie."
"To what?" said the boy, timidly.
*' Why, to fetch her up — teach her to work,*" said the
little old yiomsm. H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 112.
15. To cause a rising of, as into movement or
activity ; incite to agitation or commotion ;
rouse ; stir up : as, the wind raised the sea ; to
raise the populace in insurrection; to raise a
covey of partridges.
We are betray'd. Fly to the town, cry " Treason 1 "
And raise our faithful friends !
Fletcher, Double Marriage, v. 1.
Raise up the city : we shall be murder'd all !
Ford, 'lis Pity, v. 6.
raise
He sow'd a slander in the common ear, . . •
Raised my own town against me in the night.
Tennyson, Geraint
16. To cause to arise or come forth as a mass
or multitude; draw or bring together; gather;
collect; muster: as, to raise a company or an
army; to raise an expedition.
The Lord Mayor Walworth had gone into the City, and
raised a Thousand armed Men. Baker, Chronicles, p. 139.
He had by his . . . needless raising of two Armies, in-
tended for a civil Warr, begger'd both himself and the
Public. Milton, Eikonoklastes, v.
Send off to the Baron of Meigallot ; he can raise three-
score horse and bettor. Scott, Monastery, xxxlv.
17. To take up by aggregation or collection;
procure an amount or a supply of; bring to-
gether for use or possession: as, to raise funds
for an enterprise ; to raise money on a note ;
to raise revenue.
At lenght they came to raise a competente & comforte-
able living, but with hard and continuall labor.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 17.
He was commissioned to raise money for the Hussite
crusade. Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 334.
These young men find that they have to raise money .by
mortgaging their land, and are often obliged to part with
the land because they cannot meet the interest on the
mortgages. W. F. Roe, Newfoundland to Manitoba, vi.
18. To give rise to, or cause or occasion for;
bring into force or operation ; originate ; start :
as; "to raise a laugh ; to raise an expectation or
a hope ; to raise an outcry.
The plot I had, to raise in him doubts of her.
Thou hast effected.
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Malta, iii. 2.
This will certainly give me Occasion to raiM Difficulties,
Steele, Conscious Lovers, ii. 1.
There, where she once had dwelt 'mid hate and praise,
No smile, no shudder now her name could raise.
Willimn Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 161.
19. To hold up to view or observation; bring
forward for consideration or discussion; ex-
hibit ; set forth : as, to raise a question or a
point of order.
Moses' third excuse, raised oat of a natural defect.
Donne, Sermons, v.
They excepted against him for these 2. doctrins raised
from 2 Sam. xii. 7. Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 177.
What a beautiful Description has our Author raised
upon that Hint in one of the Prophets !
Addison, Spectator, No. 339.
20. To rouse ; excite ; inflame. [Scotch.]
The herds that came set a' things here asteer,
And she ran aff as rais*d as ony deer.
Ross, Helenore, p. 46. (Jamieson.)
Nahum was raised, and could give no satisfaction in his
answers. Bait, Ringan Gilhaize, II. 138. (Jamieson.)
He should been tight that daur' to raise thee
Ance in a day.
Bums, Auld Farmer's Salutation to his Auld Mare.
21. To incite in thought; cause to come or
proceed; bring, lead, or drive, as to a conclu-
sion, a point of view, or an extremity.
I cannot but be raised to this persuasion, that this third
period of time will far surpass that of the Grssoian and
Koman learning.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 358.
22. In the arts, to shape in relief, as metal
which is hammered, punched, or spun from a
thin plate in raised forms. See spin, repouss6.
— Eaised bands, battery, beach. See baim, ete.—
Baised canvas-work. See canvas-wmk, 2.— Raised
couclling. See couching^, 6. — Raised crewel-work, or-
namental needlework done with crewel-wool in raised
loops.— Raised embroidery, (a) Embroidery in which
the pattern is raised in relief from the ground, usually by
applying the main parts of the pattern to the ground in
locks of cotton or wool or pieces of stuff, and covering
these with the embroidery-silk. (6) Embroidery by means
of which a nap or pile like that of velvet is produced, the
pattern being worked in looped stitches and thus raised in
relief from the background.— Raised loop-stitdl, a stiteh
in crochet-work by which a soft surface of projecting loops
of worsted is produced. — Raised mosaic, (a) Mosaic in
which the inlaid figures are left in relief above the back-
ground, instead of being polished down to a uniform sur-
face, as in some examples of Florentine mosaic. Q>) Mo-
saic of small tessersB, in which the principal surface is
modeled in relief, as in stucco or plaster, the tesseraj be-
ing afterward applied to this surface and following its
curves: a variety of the art practised under the Roman
empire, but not common since. — Raised panel. See
panei.— Raised patchwork, patchwork In which some
or all of the pieces are stuffed with wadding, so that
they present a rounded surface.— Raised plan of a
house. Same as de\jatimi, 6. — Raised point, in lace-
making, a point or stitch by means of which a part of the
pattern is raised in relief. Compare rose-point, and Venice
point, under poinH.- Raised roof. See roo/.— Raised
stitch, in worsted-work or Berlin work, a stitch by means
of which a surface like velvet is produced, the wool being
first raised in loops, which are then cut or shaved and
combed until the pile is soft and uniform.- Raised vel-
vet. SeeDeiuct-RalaedWOIk, in Joce-maSsng', work done
In the point or stitch used in some kinds of bobbin-lace, by
means of which the edge or some other part of the pattern
is raised in relief, as in Honiton lace.— To have one's
dander raised. See dander^.—jo raise a bead,to cause
raise
a bead or mass of babbles to rise, as on a glass of Uqnor,
by agitation in pouring or drawing. See bead, n., 6.— To
Vt,^ *^^°J'^^i. See Woc*<Kie.-To raise abobbeiy,
J^JlS'® devu hell, the mischief, a racket, a row
a nimpus, etc., to make mischief or trouble ; create con-
fusion, disturbance, conflict, or riot [Slang.]
Sir, give me an Account of my Necklace, or 111 make
such a Noise in your House 111 raise the Deva in it.
Vanbrugh, Confederacy, v.
The head-editor has been in here raiding the miseMef
and tearing his hair.
Jfari Twain, Sketches, 1. (Mr. Bloke's Item).
1 expect Susy's boys 11 be raising Cain round the house :
they would if it wasn't for me.
H. B. Stmve, Oldtown, p. 242.
To raise a check or a note, to make a check or a note
larger by dishonestly altering the amount for which it
was drawn.— To raise a dust. See <ftM«i.— To raise a
house, to raise and join together the parts of the frame
of a house built of wood. See house-raising and raising-
hee. [Kural, U. S.]— To raise a purchase (natit.X to dis-
pose or arrange appliances or apparatus in such a way as
to exert the required mechanical power.— TO raise a
Siege, to relinquish the attempt to capture a place by be-
sieging it, or to cause the attempt to be relinquished.—
To raise bread, cake, etc., to render bread, etc., light
porous, and spongy by the development of carbonic-acid
gas in the substance of the dough, as by the use of yeast
or leaven.— To raise money on (something), to procure
money by pledging or pawning (something). — To raise
one's hnstles or one's dajider, to excite one to anger
or resentment; make one angry. [Vulgar, U. S.]
They began to raise mj/ dander by belittling the Yankees.
Haliburton, Sam Slick, The Clockmaker, let ser., xxil
To raise the curtain. See curtain.— To raise the
dust. Same as to raise the wind (&). [Slang.] — To raise
the land. See larwO-. — To raise the market upon,
to charge more than the cnrrent or regular price. [Col-
loq.]
Sweyn Erickson had gone too far in raising the market
upon. Mr. Mertoun. Scott, Pirate, iL
To raise the wind, (a) To make a disturbance. [Col-
loq.] (6) To obtain ready money by some shift or other.
(Colloq.]— To raise upt, to collect.
To reysen up a rente
That longeth to my lordes duetee,
Chaucer, Triar's Tale, 1. 90.
=Syil. 1 and 2. Saise, Lift, Erect, Elevate, Exalt, Height-
en, Heave, Hoist. Raise is the most general and the most
freely figurative of these words, and in its various uses
represents all the restj and also many others, as shown in
the definitions. Lift is peculiar in implying the exercise
of physical or mechanical force, moving the object gener-
ally a compai'atively short distance upward, but breaking
completely its physical contact with the place where it
was. To lift a ladder is to take it wholly off the ground,
if only an inch ; to raise a ladder, we may lift one end and
carry it up till it is supported in some way. To lift one's
head or arm is a more definite and energetic act than to
raise it. We lift a child over a place ; we raise one that
has fallen. To erect is to set up perpendicularly : as, to
erect a flagstaff. To elevate is to raise relatively, general-
ly by an amount not large ; the wordis often no more than
a dignified synonym for raise. To exalt is to raise to dig-
nity ; the word is thus used in a physical sense in Isa. ^
4, "Every valley shall be exalted," and elsewhere in the
Bible ; but the figurative or moral sense has now become
the principal one, so that the other seems antique. To
heighten is to increase in height, either physically or mor-
ally : he whom we esteem already is heightened in our es-
teem by an especially honorable act. To heave is to raise
slowly and with effort, and sometimes to throw in like
fashion. To hmst is to raise a thing of some weight with
some degree of slowness or effort, generally with mechan-
ical help, to a place : as, to hoist a rock, or a flag. — 14.
Bear, Bring wp. Raise. To rear offspring through their
tenderer years till they can take care of themselves ; to
Trring up a child in the way he should go ; to raise oats and
other products of the soil; to raise horses and cattle.
Where were you brougMupf not, where were you raised?
The use of raise in application to persons is a vulgarism.
Rear applies only to physical care ; bring up applies more
to training or education in mind and manners.
II. intrans. To bring up phlegm, bile, or blood
from the throat, lungs, or stomach. [Colloq.]
raise! (raz), n. [< raise\ v."] 1. Something
raised, elevated, or built up; an ascent; a
rise ; a pile ; a cairn. [Prov. Bng.]
There are yet some considerable remains of stones which
still go by the name of raises.
Hutchinson, Hist Cumberland. (Hattiwdl.)
That exquisite drive through Ambleside, and ... up
Dunmail Raise by the little Wythburn church.
Congregationalist, July 14, 1887.
2. A raising or Ufting ; removal by lifting or
taking away, as of obstructions. [CoUoq.]
yo further difficulty is anticipated in making permanent
the raise of the freight blockade in this city [St Louis].
Philadelphia Times, April 6, 1886.
3. A raising or enlarging in amount; an in-
crease or advance : as, a raise of wages; a, raise
of the stakes in gaming. [Colloq.] — 4. An
acquisition; a getting or procuring by special
effort, as of money or chattels: as, to make a
raise of a hundred dollars. [Colloq.]
raise^ (raz). A dialectal (Sqotch) preterit of
raiser (ra'zer), n. [< raised + -er^.'] 1. Aper-
son who raises or is occupied in raising any-
thing, as buildings, plants, animals, etc.
A raiser ai huge melons and of pine.
Tennyson, Princess, Conclusion.
311
4945
The head of the Victor Verdier type [of roses] originated
with the greatest of all the raisers, Lacharme, of Lyons.
The Century, XXVI. SSL
2. That which raises ; a device of any kind used
for raising, lifting, or elevating anything : as,
a water-raiser. Specifically —(o) In carp., same as
riser. (6) In a vehicle, a support or stay of wood or metal
under the front seat, or some material placed under the
trimmings to give them greater thickness, (c) In whale-
Jishing, a contrivance for raising or buoying up a dead
whale.
raisin (ra'zn), n. [< ME. raisin, reisin, reysyn,
reysone, reysynge, a cluster of grapes, also a dried
grape, raisin, = D. raz^n, rozijn = MLG. rosin =
MHG. rosin, rosine, G. rosine = Dan. rosin = Sw.
russin, (ML. rosina), raisin; < OF. raisin, reisin,
a cluster of grapes, a grape, a dried grape (rai-
sins de cabas, dried grapes, raisins), F. raisin,
dial, rosin, roisin, rosin, grapes Oun grain de rai-
sin, a grape ; raisins de eaisse, raisins), = Pr. ra-
eim, roeim, razain = Cat. rohim = Sp. radmo =
Pg. radmo = It. racemo (dim. raeimolo), a clus-
ter of grapes, < L. racemus, a cluster of grapes:
see raceme, a doublet of raisin.1 If. A cluster
of grapes ; also, a grape.
Nether in the vyneyerd thou schalt gadere reysyns and
greynes f allynge doun, but thou schalt leeve to be gaderid
of pore men and pilgryms.
Wydif, Lev. xix. 10. (Trench.)
2. A dried grape of the common Old World
species, ViUs vinifera. only certain saccharine va-
neties of the grape, however, thriving in special localities,
are available for raisins. The larger part of ordinary
large raisins are produced ou a narrow tract in Mediter-
ranean Spain. These are all sometimes classed &B Malaga
raisins, but this name belongs more properlyto the "des-
sert-raisins" grown about Malaga: they are also called
tnuscatels from the variety of grape, blooms from retaining
a glaucous suriace, and, in part at least, raisins of the sun
or siin.raajiin& because dried on the vine, the leaves being
removed, and sometimes the cluster-stem half-severed.
When packed between sheets of paper, these are known as
la^er raisins, Kalsins suitable for cookery, or "pudding-
raisins," sometimes called lexias, are produced especially
at Valencia. These are cured, after cutting from the vine,
in the sun, or in bad weather in heated chambers, the
quality in the latter case being inferior. The clusters
are often dipped in potash lye to soften the skin, favor
dicing, and impart a gloss. Excluding the "Corinthian
raisin" (see below)^ the next most important source of
raisins is the vicinity of Smyrna, including Chesme, near
Chios. Here are produced nearly all the sultanas, small
seedless raisins with a golden-yellow delicate skin and
sweet aromatic flavor. Kaisins are also a product of Ferw
sia, of Greece, Italy, and southern France, of the Cape
of Good Hope, Australia, and California. No variety of
native American grape has yet been developed suitable
for the preparation of raisins. See raisin-wine.
Then Abigail made baste, and took ... an hundred
clusters of rai^ns. 1 Sam. xxv. 18.
I must have saffron to colour the warden pies; . . .
four pounds of prunes, and as many of raisins & the sun.
Sftoft., W. T., iv. 3. 51.
Black Smyrna raisin, a small black variety of raisin
with large seeds. — Cormthlan raisin, the curranl^ or
Zante cuiranl^ the dried &uit of the variety Corinthiaca
of the grape. The cluster is about three inches long, and
the beny is not larger than a pea. It is produced in very
large quantities in the Morea and the neighboring islands,
and is consumed in baking and cookery.— Eleme raisin,
a Smyrna raisin of good size and quality, hand-picked from
the stem, used chiefly for ships' stores or sent to distant
markets.
raising (ra'zing), n. [< ME. reysynge; verbal
n. of raised, v.'] 1. The act of lifting, elevat-
ing, etc. (in any sense of the verb). Specifically
— (a) An occasion on which the frame of a new building,
the pieces of which have been previously prepared, but re-
quire many hands to put into place, is raised with the help
of neighbors. See hmse-raising and raisirtg-bee. [Kural,
tr. S. ] (&) In metal-'work, the embossing or ornamentation
of sheet-metal by hammering, spinning, or stamping, (e)
A method of treating hides with acids to cause them to
swell and to open the pores in order to hasten the process
of tanning, (d) In dyeing, the process or method of inten-
sifying colors.
2. Same as raising-piece.
Franke-posts, raisins, beames . . . and such principals.
W. Harrison, Descrlp. of England, ii 12.
3. That with which bread is raised; yeast or
yeast-cake ; leaven. Gayton, Pestivous Notes
on Don Quixote (cited by LoweU, Biglow
Papers, 2d ser.. Int.). [Old or prov. Eng. and
U. S.] — 4. In printing, the overlays in a press
for woodcut-printing.
raising-bee (ra'zing-be), n. A gathering of
neighbors to help in putting together and
raising the framework of a new building. Such
gatherings are nearly obsolete. Compare husJc-
ing-bee, guilting-'bee. [U. S.]
Raising-bees . . . were frequent, where houses sprung
up at the wagging of the fiddle-sticks, as the walls of
Thebes sprang up of yore to the sound of the lyre of
Amphion. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 405.
raising-board (ra'zing-bord), n. In leather-
man^., a corrugated board used to rub the
surface of tanned leather to raise the grain ; a
crippler. E. S. Knight.
rake
raising-gig (ra'zing-gig), n. In cloth-manuf.,
a machine for raising a nap on cloth; a gig-
machine. E. H. Knight.
raising-hanuner (ra'zing-ham"6r), n. A ham-
mer with a long head and a rounded face, used
by silversmiths and coppersmiths to form a
sheet of metal into a cup or bowl shape.
raising-knife (ra'zing-nif ), n. A coopers' knife
used to set up staves in form for a cask.
raising-piece (ra'zing-pes), n. In carp., a piece
of timber laid on a brick wall, or on the top of
the posts or puncheons of a timber-framed
house, to carry a beam or beams; a templet.
raising-plate (ra'zing-plat), n. In carp., a
horizontal timber restuig on a wall, or upon
vertical timbers of a frame, and supporting the
heels of rafters or other framework; a wall-
plate.
raisin-tree (ra'zn-tre), n. The common cur-
rant-shrub, Rihes rubrv/m, the fruit of which is
often confounded with the Corinthian raisin, or
currant. [Prov. Eng.] —Japanese ralsln-tree, a
small rhamnaceons tree, Hovenia dvlds. The peduncle
of its fruit is edible.
raisin-mne (ra'zn-win), n. Wine manufac-
tured from dried grapes. Malaga wine is mostly of
this kind, and the Tokay of Hungary is made from partly
dried fruit. Raisin-wine was known to the ancients.
raison d'itre (ra-z6n' da'tr). [F.: roison, rea-
son; (f for de, of, for; itre, being, < Stre, be.]
Beason or excuse for being; rational cause or
ground for existence.
raisonnS (ra-zo-na'), a. [< F. raisonn4, pp. of
raisormer, reason, prove or support by reason-
ing, arguments, etc. : see reasoifl, v.'] Eeason-
edout; systematic; logical: occurring in Eng-
lish use chiefly in the phrase catalogue roi-
sonm6 (which see, under catologm).
raivel (ravl), n. A Scotch form of raveU, 3.
raj (raj), n. [Hind, raj, rule, < Skt. -y/ raj, rule.
Cf. rtyo^.l Bule ; dominion. [India.]
But Delhi had fallen when these gentlemen threw their
strength into the tide of revolt, and they were too late
for a decisive superiority over the British rdj.
Copt. II. Thomson, Story of Cawnpore, xvt
Raja^, n. Same as Baia.
raja^, rajah (ra'ja), n. [Hind. rdja,<. Skt. rdjOj
the form in compi. of rajan, a king, as in mahor-
raja, great Mng; akin to L. rex, king (see rex) ;
<.vrdj,Tale: sedregent.l In India, a prince of
Hindu race ruling a territoiy, either indepen-
dently or as a feudatory; a king; a chief: used
also as a title of distinction for Hindus in some
cases, without reference to sovereignty, as na-
bob is for Mohammedans. The power of nearly all
the rajas is now subordinate to that of British officials
resident at their courts. Those who retain some degree of
actual sovereignty are commonly distinguished by the title
maha/raja (great raja).
Bajania (ra-ja'ni-a), n. [Nil. (LinnsBUS, 1737),
an adapted form of Jan-Raja (Plumier, 1703), so
called after John Ray (Latinized Raius), 1628-
1705, a celebrated English naturalist, founder
of a natural system of classification.] A genus
of monoeotyledonous plants of the order Dios-
coreacex, the yam family, it is characterized by
dioecious hell-shaped or flattened six-lobed flowers, with
six stamens and a three-celled ovary, ripening into a flat-
tened broad- winged and one-celled samara. The 6 species
are all natives of the West Indies. They are twining vines
resembling the yam, and bear alternate leaves, either hal-
berd- or heart-shaped or linear, and small fiowers in ra-
cemes. Several species are occasionally cultivated under
glass. R. pleioneura, common in woods of the larger West
Indies, is there called wild yam and viaw-waw.
rajaship, rajahship (ra'ja-ship), n. [< raja^
+ -ship.\ The dignity or principality of a raja.
Bajidse, n. pi. Same as Raiidse.
Rajput, Rajpoot<raj-pot'), n. [< Hind. rajpUt,
a prince, son of araja, < Skt. rdjaputra, a king's
son, a prince, < rdjan, a king, + putra, son.] A
member of a Hindu race, divided into numer-
ous clans, who regard themselves as descen-
dants of the ancient Kshatriya or warrior caste.
They are the ruling (though not the most numerous) race
of the great region named from them B.ajputana, consist-
ing of several different states. Their hereditary profes-
sion is that of arms, and no race in India has furnished so
large a number of princely families. The Bajputs are not
strict adherents of Brahmanism.
rake^ (rak), ». [< ME. raJee, < AS. raca, racu,
rsece = MD. rake, raeeke, D. rake, dim. roTcel =
MLCJ. rake, LGr. rake, a rake, = Sw. raka, an
oven-rake, = Dan. rage, a poker; in another
form, MD. reke, D. reek = L(j. reek = OHG. re-
cho, rehho, MH4. reehe, Gr. rechen, a rake, = Icel.
reka, a shovel; from the verb represented by
MD. reken, OHG. reckon, rehhan, MHG. rechen,
scrape together, = Goth, rikan (pret. rak), col-
lect, heap up (cf. rake\ v., which depends on.
the noun) . ] 1 . An implement of wood or iron,
or partly of both, with teeth or tines for drawing
rake
or scraping things together, evening a surface
of loose materials, etc. in its simplest form, lor use
by hand, it consists ot a bar In which the teeth are seti and
which is fixed firmly at right angles to a handle. Rakes are
made in many ways for a great variety of purposes, and the
Horse-rake. A and B show details of dumping-apparatus,
or, backpiece for lioldiog clearer-sticlcs ; b, steel teeth; c, pawl
engaged with ratchet ; f , pawl disengaged from ratchet ; d, trip for
pawl ; e, pawl acting by its gravity -to msengage ratchet ; y, clearer-
sticks, which clear the rake when dumping; ^, ratchet; h, wood
axle and cap for axle and tooth-holder; i, counter-balance for pawl ;y,
axle ; ^, "hand-up," by which the driver can raise the teeth and keep
them from the ground ; /, trip-rod for self-dump ; m, foot-lever for
holding down teeth ; «, trip-lever attached to trip-rod ^ for dumping
the rake. Pressure of the foot on n locks the pawls into the ratchet
g; then axle and cap trim with the wheels until the pawls automati-
cally disengage from the ratchet l3y striking d^ when the teeth fall
back again into original position.
teeth are inserted either perpendicularly or at a greater
or leas inclination, according to requirement. Their most
Srominent uses are in agriculture and gardening, for
rawing together hay or grain iu the field, leveling beds,
etc. For farm-work on a large scale horse-rajces of many
forms are used; the above figures represent the so-called
sndky-rake.
2. Aa instrument of similar form and use with
a blade instead of teeth, either entire, as a gam-
blers' or a maltsters' rake, or notched so as to
form teeth, as a furriers' rake. See the quota-
tions.
The rafts [for malt] . . , is an iron blade, about 80 inches
long and perhaps 2 inches broad, fixed at each end by
holders to a massive wood head, to which is attached a
strong wood shaft, with a cross-head handle.
Ure, Diet., III. 188.
The skin is first carded with a rake^ which is the blade
of an old shear or piece of a scythe with large teeth notched
Into its edge. . Ure, Diet., IV. 380.
Clam-rake, an instrument used for collecting the sea-
clam, Mactra sotidissima. — IJnder-rake, a kind of oyster-
rake, used mostly through holes in the ice, with handle
15 to 20 feet long, head 1 to 2 feet wide, and iron teeth 6
to 10 inches long. [Rhode Island.]
xake^ (rak), v.; pret. and pp. raked, ppr. raMng.
[< ME. Taken, scrape, < AS. *raoian = MD.
ralcen = MLG-. raken = Icel. Sw. raka = Dan.
rage, rake; from the noun: see raJce\ n. Cf.
MD. reken, OHG-. reehan, rehhan, MHG. rechen,
scrape together, Gr. rechen, rake, Goth, rika/n
(pret. ral^, collect, heap up: see rake^, «.] I.
traris. 1. To gather, clear, smooth, or stir with
or as if with a rake ; treat with a rake, or some-
thing that serves the same purpose : as, to rake
up hay: to rahe a bed in a garden; to rake the
fire with a poker or raker.
They rate these coales round in the forme of a cockpit,
and in the midst they cast the off enders to broyle to death.
Capt. John Smith, Works, 1. 144.
Sake well the cinders, sweep the floor,
And sift the dust behind the door.
C(mper, Epistle to Robert Lloyd.
2. To collect as if by the use of a rake ; gather
assiduously or laboriously ; draw or scrape to-
gether, up, or in.
All was raft'd up for me, your thankful brother,
That will dance merrily upon your grave.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, i. 1.
Who had hence raked some objections against the Cliris-
tians, for these things which had not authoritie of Scrip-
ture. Purehm, Pilgrimage, p. 68.
Times when chimney-comers had benches in them,
where old people sat poking into the ashes of the past^ and
raktvg out tr^itions like Ure coals.
Bawthome, Seven Gables, xviii.
3. To make minute search in, as if with a rake ;
look over or through carefully ; ransack: as,
to rake all history for examples.
The statesman rdkea the town to find a plot.
Sm^ On Dreams.
4. To pass along with or as if with a scraping
motion; impinge lightly upon inmoving; hence,
to pass over swiftly; scour.
4946
Thy thunders roaring rake the skies.
Thy fatal lightning swiftly flies.
Sandys, Paraphrase of Ps. Ixxvii.
^yeiy mast, as it passed.
Seemed to rake the passing clouds.
Longfellmv, Sir Humphrey Gilbert.
5. Milit, to fire upon, as a ship, so that the
shot will pass lengthwise along the deck; fire
in the direction of the length of, as a file of
soldiers or a parapet ; enfilade.
They made divers shot through her (being but inch
board), and so raked her fore and aft as they must needs
kill or hurt some of the Indians.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 226.
Raking a ship is the act of cannonading a ship on the
stern or head, so as that the balls shall scour the whole
length of her decks ; which is one of the most dangerous
incidents that can happen in a naval action.
Falconer, Marine Diet. (ed. 1778).
6t. To cover with earth raked together; bury.
See to rake up, below.
Whanne thi soule is went out, & thl bodi in erthe rakid.
Than thi bodi that was rank & Vndeuout, Of alle men is
bihatid. Eymm to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 89.
To rake hell, to search, as it were, among the damned,
implying that the person or thing referred to in the con-
text is so bad or so extreme that an equal could scarcely
be found even in hell.
This man I brought to the general, assuring his excel-
lency that if I had raked hell I could not find his match for
his skill in mimicking the covenanters.
Swift, Mem. of Capt. Creichton.
To rake up. (o) To cover with material raked or scraped
together; bury by overlaying with loose matter: aa,torake
up a fire (to cover it with ashes, as in a fireplace).
Here, in the sands.
Thee [a corpse] I'll ralce up, the post unsanctifled
Of murderous lechers, Shak., Lear, iv. 6. 281.
The Bellowes whence they blowe the fire
Of raging Lust (before) whose wanton flashes
A tender brest rak^t-x^ in shamef ac't ashes.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 2.
(6) To draw from oblivion or obscurity, as something for-
gotten or abandoned ; bring to renewed attention ; resus-
citate ; revive : used in a more or less opprobrious sense :
as, to rake up a forgotten quarreL
Nobody thinks any more of the late King than if he had
been dead flfty years, unless it be to abuse him and to
ralce up all his vices and misdeeds.
Gremlle, Memoirs, July 16, 1830.
To rake up old claims based on a forgotten state of things,
after treaty or long use had buried them, is profligate.
Woolsey, Introd, to Inter. Law, App. iii.,p. 438.
II. intrans. 1 . To use a rake ; work with a
rake, especially in drawing together hay or
grain. — 2. To make search with or as if with a
rake; seek diligently for something; pry; peer
here and there.
Those who take pleasure to be all thir lite time rakeing
in the Foundations of Old Abbies and Cathedrals.
Milton, Hist. Eng., iv.
But what pleasure is it to rake into the sores or to re-
prove the Vices of a degenerate age?
Stillingfleet, Sermons, II. ill.
rake^t (rak), re. [< ME. rake (also raike), < AS.
racu, a path {ed-racu, a river-path), from the
root of rack'^: see rack^. Cf. rake^, v."] A
course, way, road, .or path.
Rydes one a rawndoune, and his rayke holdes.
Morte Arthure (E. B. T. S.), L 2986.
Out of the raike of rigtwysnes renne suld he nevire.
Kin^ Alisaunder, p. 115.
rake^ (rak), v. %.; pret. and pp. raked, ppr.
raking. [Early mod. E. (So.) also railc; < ME.
raken, < AS. raciare, run, take a course, = Sw.
raka, run hastily; mixed with ME. raiken, ray-
ken, reyken, < Icel. reika, wander: see rake^, ».]
1 . To take a course ; move ; go ; proceed. [Ob-
solete or prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
Then Paris aprochyt, the Fercians hym with:
Radii on the right syde rakit he f urth.
And bounet into batell with a bi-ym will.
Destruction (j/ Troy (B. B. T. S.), 1. 6904.
Now pass we to the hold beggar
That raked o'er the hill.
Sobin Hood and the Beggar (Child's Ballads, V. 196).
2. Inhimting: (a) Of a hawk, to range wildly;
fly wide of the game.
Their talk was all of training, terms of art.
Diet and seeling, jesses, leash and lure.
" She is too noble," he said, "to check at pies.
Nor will she rdke; there is no baseness in her."
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
(&) Of a dog, to follow a wrong course. See
the quotation.
All young dogs are apt to ralce: that is, to hunt with
their noses close to the ground, following their birds by
the track rather than by the wind.
Sportsman's Gazetteer, p. 468.
To rake about, to gad or wander about. [Scotch.]
rake^ (rak), v. ; pret. and pp. raked, ppr. rak-
ing. [< OSw. raka, project, reach (rakafram,
reach over, project), = Dan. rage, project, pro-
trude, jut out; allied to AS. reccan, stretch:
see rack^, retch^.'] I. intrans. To incline from
rakehellonian
the perpendicular or the horizontal, as the mast,
stem, or stem of a ship, the rafters of a roof,
the end of a tool, etc. See the noun.
The stem, when viewed in the sheer plan, rakee aft, the
bounding line being straight, and making an obtuse angle
with the line forming the boundary of the buttock.
Thearle, Naval Arch., § 107.
II. trans. To give a rake to ; cause to incline
or slope. [Rare.]
Every face in it [the theater] commanding the stage,
and the whole so admirably raked and turned to that cen-
tre that a hand can scarcely move in the great assemblage
without the movement being seen from thence.
Dickens, Uncommercial Traveller, Journey iil.
rakeS (rak), re. [<rafce3, «.] 1. Inclination or
slope away from a perpendicular or a horizontal
line. The rake of a ship's mast is its inclination back-
ward, or rarely (in some peculiar rigs) forward ; that of
its stem or its stern (the fore rake and the rake aft of the
ship) is the slope inward from the upper works to the keel ;
also called tons'. (See cut under jtatomar.) The rake of
a roof is its pitch or slope from the ridge to the eaves. The
rake of a saw-tooth is the angle of inclination which a
straight line drawn tlirough the middle of the base of the
tooth and its point forms with a radius also drawn through
the middle of the base of the tooth ; of a cutting-tool, the
slope backward and downward from the edge on either
side or both sides. Rake in a grinding-mill is a sloping
or want of balance of the runner, producing undue pres-
sure at one edge.
2. In coal-mining, a series of thin layers of
ironstone lying so near each other that they
can all be worked together. [Derbyshire, Eng. |
rake^ (rak), n. [Abbr. of rakehell, ult. of rakel.']
An idle, dissolute person ; one who goes about
in search of vicious pleasure ; a libertine ; an
idle person of fashion.
We have now and then rakes in the habit of Roman sen-
ators, and grave politicians in the dress of rakes.
Steele, Spectator, No. 14.
I am in a fair Way to be easy, were it not for a Club of
Female Safkes who, under pretence of taking theii* inno-
cent rambles, forsooth, and diverting the Spleen, seldom
fail to plague me twice or thrice a day to Cheapen Tea,
or buy a Skreen. . . . These Hakes are your idle Ladies
of Fashion, who, having nothing to do, employ themselves
in tumbling over my Ware. Steele, Spectator, No. 336.
rake* (rak), v. i. ; pret. and pp. raked, ppr. rak-
ing. [< rakei, ».] To play the part of a rake ;
lead a dissolute, debauched life ; practise lewd-
ness.
'Tis his own fault, that will rake and drink when he ia
but just crawled out of his grave.
Swift, Journal to Stella, xx.
Women hid their necks, and veil'd their faces.
Nor romp'd, nor rak'd, nor star'd at public places.
Shmstone, Epil. to Dodsley's Cleone-
rake-dredge (rak'drej), n. A combined rake
and dredge used for collecting specimens in nat-
ural history, it is a heavy A-shaped iron frame, to the
arms of which bars of iron armed with long, thin, sharp
teeth, arranged like those of a rake, are bolted back to
back. A rectangular frame of round iron, supporting a
deep and flne dredge-net, is placed behind the rake, to re-
ceive and retain the animals raked from the mud or sand.
rakee, n. See raki.
rake-nead (rak'hed), re. In her., a bearing rep-
resenting the head of a rake, or, more usually,
four or five hooks or curved teeth inserted in a
short rod.
rakehell (rak'hel), a. and re. [A corruption of
rakel, simulating rakel, jj.^ + obj. hell, as if one
so bad as to be found only by raking hell, or
one so reckless as to rake hell (in double allu-
sion to the " harrowing otheU": see harrow^ auA
harrow''-) : see rakel, and ef . to rake hell, under
ralce^, v.'] I. a. Dissolute; base; profligate.
And farre away, amid their rakehell bands.
They apide a Lady left all snccourlcsse.
Spenser, F. Q., V. xi. 44.
II, re. An abandoned fellow; a wicked wretch;
especially, a dissolute fellow ; a rake.
I thought it good, necessary, and my bonnden duty to
acquaint your goodness with the abominable, wicked, and
detestable behaviour of all these rowsey, ragged rabble-
ment of rake-hells, that under the pretence of great mis-
ery, diseases, and other innumerable calamities, which
they feign through great hypocrisy, do win and gain
great alms in all places where they wily wander, to the
utter deluding of the good givers.
Harman, Caveat for Cursetors, p. ii.
A sort of lewd rake-hells, that care neither for God nor
the devil. B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iv. 1.
A rakeTiell of the town, whose character is set off with
no other accomplishment but excessive prodigality, pro-
tanenesB, Intemperance, and lust, is rewarded with a lady
of great fortune to repair his own, which his vices had
almost ruined. Surfft, Against Abolishing Christianity.
rakehelloniant (rak-he-16'nj-an), re. [< rake-
hell + -onian, as in Babylonicm, etc.] A wild,
dissolute fellow; a rakeheU. [Rare.]
I have been a man of the town, or rather a man of wil;
and have been confess'd a beau, and admitted into the
f amUy of the rakeh^lorUam.
Tom Brown, Works, 11. 318. (Davies.t
rakehelly
rakehelly (rak'hel-i), a. [^(.rakehell + ^l. Cf.
rakely.l Like or eharacteristio of a rakehell.
I scome and spue oat the ralceheUye route ol our ragged
'T™«"- Spemer, Shep. CaL, Ded.
Biaaipated, not to say rakehelly, countenances.
J. Fayn, Mystery of Mirbridge, p. 32.
rakelt, a. and n. [Early mod. E. also rakyl,
Se. racket; < ME. rakel, rakle, rack, rakyl, raUl,
hasty, rash, wild, < Icel. reikull, reikall, wan-
dering, unsettled (< leeL reika, wander, roam:
see rake^) ; cf. Sw. dial, rakkel, a vagabond, <
rakkla, wander, rove, freq. of raka, run hastily :
see rakeK C£. leel. rmkall, Sw. rakel, Dan.
rxkel, a hound, lout, nsed as a term of abuse.]
1. a. Bash; hasty.
O raleel hand, to doon so f onle amys.
Chaucer, Manciple's Tide, 1. 174.
n. n. A dissolute man. See rakeliell.
rakelt, v. i. [ME. raklen; < rakel, a.] To act
rashly or hastily.
Ne 1 nyl not nMe as tor to greven here.
Chmuer, Troilus, ill. 1642.
rakelnesset, n. [< ME. rakelnesse, haste, rash-
ness; i rakel + ■tiess.'] Hastiness; rashness.
0 every man, be war of rakelness,
He trowe no thyng witbouten strong witnesse.
Chaucer, Manciple's Tale, 1, 179.
rakelyt, a. [< rafce* + -lyl. Cf. rakehelly.l
Bakish; rakehelly.
Our rdMy young Fellows live as much by their Wits
as ever. C. Shadwea, Humours of the Army (1713).
raker (ra'kfer), n. [< MB. rakere, rdhyer; <
rake^ + -er^J] 1. One who or that which rakes.
Specifically — (o) A person who uses a rake; foimerly, a
scavenger or street-cleaner.
Their business was declared to be that they should hire
persons called rakers, with carts, to clean the streets and
carry away the dirt and filth thereof, under a penalty of
40s. Mayhew, London Labour and iJondon Poor, IL 232.
(6) A machine for raking hay, straw, etc., by horse or other
power, (fi) An instrument tor raking out the ashes from
a fire or grate ; in locomotives, a self-acting contrivance
for cleaning the grate, (d) A gun so placed as to rake an
enemy's vessel.
Down I she 's welcome to us :
Every man to his charge! man her i* the bow well.
And place your rakers right.
Fletcher, Double Marriage, ii. 1.
(e) A piece of iron having pointed ends bent at right
angles in opposite directions, used for raking out decayed
mortar from the joints of old walls, in order to replace it
with new mortar.
2. A rake-Uke row of internal branchial areh
appendages of some fishes. See gillrraker.
rakery (ra'ker-i), n. [< rake^ -f -ery.'\ The con-
duct or practices of a rake; dissoluteness.
[Bare.]
He . . . instructed his lordship in all the rakery and
intrlgaes of the lewd town.
Roger North, Lord Guilford, n. 300.
rakeshamet (rak'sham), n. [< rake\ v., + obj.
shame, n., as if 'one who gathers shame to him-
self ' ; formed in moral amendment of rakeheUJ]
A vile, dissolute wretch.
Tormentors, rooks, and rakesha/mes, sold to lucre.
MUton, Reformation ih Eng., ii.
rakestalef (rak'stal), n. [Also dial, rakestele;
< rake^ + staled, steal^.2 A rake-handle.
That tale is not worth a rakestele.
Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, L 93.
rake-vein (rak'van), n. In lead-^mining, in Eng-
land, a vertical or highly inclined fissure-vein,
as distinguished from the flat-vein, or flat, and
the pipe-vein (a mass of ore filling an irregu-
larly elongated cavern-like opening). [Derby-
shire, Bng.]
raki, rakee (rak'e), n. [< Turk, raki, spirits,
brandy. Cf . arrack, rack^^.J A colorless aro-
matic spirituous liquor, prepared from grain-
spirit, as in Greece, or from distilled grape-
juice, as in the Levant.
The hill-men on such occasions consume a coarse sort of
rakee made from corn.
W. H. Btissell, Diary in India, IL 181.
Baw grain spirit^ which is used in the country for mak-
ing raki. U. S. Cons. Rep., No. Ixviii. (1886X p. 640.
rakingl (ra'king), n. [< ME. rakynge; verbal
n. of rdke\ vJ} 1. The art of using a rake ; a
gathering or clearance with or as if with a
rake ; also, that which is raked or raked up.
But such a raking was never seen
As the raking o' the Bullien Green.
Battle of PenUand BUls (Child's Ballads, VIL 242).
2. The act of raking into or exploring some-
thing ; hence, a rigid scrutiny or examination;
a depreciatory overhauling; censorious criti-
cism.
The average common school received a raking which
would even gratify the sharp-set critical appetite.
Jour, (tf Education,, XVin. 136.
4947
rakillgi(ra'king),j).<». [Ppr. ofrai'ei,».] Such
as to rake : as, a raking flre.
raking^ (ra'king),^. a. [Ppr. of rafeeS, ?;.] In-
clining; having a rake or inclination — Baking
bond, molding, etc. See the noons.
raking-piece (ra'king-pes), ». l.In a bridge-
centering, a piece laid upon the sill supported
by the footing or impost of a pier. Upon the rak-
ing-pieces rest the strikmg-plates, which support the ilbs
of the centering, and are &*iven in to allow the centering
to drop clear when the arch is completed.
2. In a theater,a low and pointed bit of scenery
used to mask an incline.
rakish! (ra'kish), a. [< rake^ + -ishX.I _ Naut.,
having an unusual amount of rake or inclinar
tion of the masts, as a vessel. The piratical
craft of former times were distinguished for
their rakish build.
But when they found, as they soon did, that the beauti-
ful, raKsMooking schooner was averse to piracy, and care-
less of plunder, . . . they declared first neutrality, then
adhesion. Whyte UdmUe, White Sosei, II. L
rakish^ (ra'kish), a. [irake^ + 4sli^.'] 1. Re-
sembling or given to the practices of a rake ;
given to a dissolute life ; lewd; debauched.
The arduous task of converting a rakish lover.
Maeaiday.
2. Jaunty.
rakishly(ra'kish-li), adv. [< rakish^ + -ly^.1 1.
In a rakish or dissolute manner. — 3. Jauntily.
rakishness^ (ra'kish-nes), n. [< rakish^ +
-mess.] The aspect of a rakish vessel.
rakishness^ (ra'kish-nes), n. [< rakish^ +
-ness.^ 1. The character of being rakish or
dissolute ; dissoluteness.
It the lawyer had been presuming on Mrs. Transome's
ignorance as a woman, or on the stupid rakishness of the
original heir, the new heir would prove to him that he
had calculated rashly. George Eliot, Felix Holt, ii.
2. Jauntiness.
rakket, n. A Middle English form of rack^.
raklet, v. i. A variant of rakel.
rakshas, rakshasa (rak'shas, rak'sha-sa), n.
[Skt.] In Sind. myth., one of a class 6i evil
spirits or genii. They are cruel monsters, frequenting
cemeteries, devouring human beings, and assuming any
shape at pleasure. They are generally hideous, but some,
especially the females, allure by their beauty.
Rakusian (ra-ku'si-au), n. [Ar.] A member
of a christian sect mentioned by Mohammedan
writers as having formerly existed in Arabia.
Little is known of it, but its tenets appear to
be a further corruption of those of the Men-
dffians or Sabians. Blunt.
rale (ral), n. [< F. rdle, OP. raale, rasle, rat-
tling in the throat, < P. rdler, OP. roller, rattle,
< LG. ratelen, rateln, rattle: see rattle. Cf.
railK'l In pathol., an abnormal sound heard
on auscultation of the lungs, additional to and
not merely a modification of the normal re-
spiratory murmur. — CaveruouB r&le. See cavern-
ous.— Crepitant r41e, a very fine crackling r&le heard
during inspiration in the first stage of pneumonia. Also
called vesicular rdle. — Dry r^e, a non-bubbling respira-
tory r^le, caused by constriction of a bronchial tube or
larger air-passage. The high-pitched whistling dry r&le is
called a sibilant rdle, and the low-pitched snoring dry r&le
is called & sonorous rdle. — Moist rliles, bubbling r&les, fine
or coarse, produced by liquid or semiliquid in the bron-
chial tubes, bronchi, trachea, or larynx. — Pleural r^e,
an abnoi'mal sound produced within the pleura, as a fric-
tion sound, or metallic tinkling, or a succussion sound. —
Subciepitant raJe, a very fine bronchial bubbling tMb.
— Vesicular r^e. Same as er^itant rdle.
Balfsia (ralf'si-a), n. [NL. (Berkeley), named
in honor of John Ealfs, an BngUsh botanist.]
A small genus of olive-brown seaweeds of the
class Phxosporese, type of the order Balfsiacese.
They are rather small homely plants, growing on stones,
rocks, or the shells of mollusks and crustaceans. Three
species are found on the TSew England coast.
Balfsiacese (ralf-si-a'sf-e), n. pl._ [NL., < Balf-
sia + -aeese.'] An order of olive-brown sea-
weeds, typified bythe genus Balfsia. Thefronda
are horizontally expanded, sometimes crustaceous; and
fructification is in raised spots, composed of a few club-
shaped paraphyses and spheroidal sporangia.
rail. An abbreviation of rallentando.
rallentando (ral-len-tan'do), a. [It., ppr. of ral-
lentare = P. ralentir, slacken, relent, abate, re-
tard: see relent."] In tmisic, becoming slower;
with decreasing rapidity. Also rallen^to. Ab-
breviatedroJZ. Compare ritordarado and ritenuto.
ralliancet (ral'i-ans), n. [< rally^ + -ance."]
The act of rallying. [Bare.] Imp. Diet.
Ballidae (ral'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < BalVus +
■idse.'] A family of paludicole grallatorial pre-
cocial birds, typified by the genus Ballvs, and
divided into Ballvnse, Gallinulinx, and FuliBinie,
or rails, gallinules, and coots, to which some add
Oaydrominse and Simantornithinie; the rails and
their allies. There are upward of 150 species, found
rally
in nearly all parts of the world. In swamps and n;arshe&
See cuts under coot, gaUinule, Porzana, and Rallus.
rallieri (ral'i-er), n. [< rally^ + -eri.] One
who rallies or reassembles; one who reunites,
as disordered or scattered forces.
rallier^ (ral'i-er), n. [< raUy^ + -erl.] One
who rallies or banters. [Bare.] Imp. Diet.
ralliform (ral'i-ffirm), a. [< NL. ralliformis,
< BalVus, a raU, + L. forma, form.] Having
the structure of or an affinity with the rails ; ral-
line in a broad sense; of or pertaining to the
Balliformes.
Balljformes (ral-i-f dr'mez), n. pi. [NL. , pi. of
ralliformis: see ralliform.^ A superfamily of
paludicole precocial grallatorial birds, repre-
sented by the family Ballidie in a broad sense,
containing the rails and their allies, as distin-
grdshed fiom the Gruiformes, or related birds
of the crane type.
Ballinse (ra-li'ne), n.pl. [NL., < Ballus + -tna.]
The leading subfamily of BaUidse, including the
genus BalVus and related genera ; the rails. The
species are strictly paludicole ; the body is greatly com-
pressed ; the form tapers in front, and is thick-set behind,
with a short tipped-up tail; the wings are short and
rounded ; the tail has twelve feathers ; the thighs are very
muscular, and the flank-feathers are notably colored ; the
tibiSB are naked below ; the tarsi are scntellate in front ;
and the toes are long, cleft to the base, and not lobed or
obviously mai-gined. Besides Rallus, the leading genera
are Porzana and Crex. There are about 60 species, found
in most countries.
ralline (ral'in), a. [NL., < Ballus + -j»ei.] Per-
taining or related to the genus Ballus or f am-
ily Ballidse; resembling a rail; raUiform in a
narrow sense.
ralltun (ral'nm), n. ; pi. ralla (-a). [L., < ra-
dere, scrape, scratch: see rosei', raze^.] An
implement used as a scraper by husbandmen
among the Bomans, consisting of a straight
handle and a triangular blade Rallum-sliaped,
growing wider toward the end and terminating squarely,
as the blade of a stylus.
Ballus (ral'us), n. [NL., < P. rdle, OP. ra^le, a
rail: seeraJZ*.] The leading genus of iJoHina,
containing the true rails, water-rails, or marsh-
Vii^nia Rail {Ralltts vireinianus).
hens, having the bill longer than the head, slen-
der, compressed, and decurved, with long nasal
groove and linear subbasal nostrils, and the
coloration plain below, but with conspicuously
banded flanks. * See railK
rallyi (ral'i), v. ; pret. and pp. rallied, ppr. ral-
lying. [Early mod. E. rallie, < OP. rallier, ra-
lier, P. rallier, rally, < re-, again, + alier, oilier,
bind, ally : see ally'^, and cf . rely^ and rely^.'] I.
trans. 1. To bring together or into order again
by urgent effort ; urge or bring to reunion for
^oint action; hence, to draw or call together
m general for a common purpose : as, to rally
a disorganized army; to rally voters to the
polls.
There 's no help now ;
The army 's scatter'd all, through discontent,
Not to be rallied up in haste to help this.
Fletcher, Loyal Subject, iii. 1.
2. To call up or together, unite, draw, gather
up, concentrate, etc., energetically.
Prompts them to raXly all their sophistry.
Decay of Christian Piety.
Grasping his foe in mortal agony, he rallied his strength
tor a final blow. Pregcoft, Ferd. andlsa., il. 7.
Philip rallied himself, and tried to speak up to the old
standard of respectability.
Mrs. GankeU, Sylvia's Lovers, xxxiv.
II. intrans. 1. To come together or into or-
der again with haste or ardor ; reunite ener
getically; hence, to gather or become conjoined
for a common end ; cohere for aid or support.
And then we raUy'd on the hills.
Up and War Them A', VUlie (Child's Ballads, VII. 266>
rally
They rallied round their flags, and renewed the assault.
The Century, XXIX. 297.
2. To come into renewed energy or action; ac-
quire new or renewed strength or vigor; un-
dergo restoration or recovery, either partial or
complete : as, the market rallied from its de-
pression; the patient rallied ahout midnight.
Innumerable parts of matter chanced then to raUy to-
gether and to form themselves into this new world.
TUloUoTU
Catholicism had rallied, and had driven back Frotestant-
ism even to the German Ocean.
UatsoAday, Von Ranlte's Hist. Popes.
rallyi (ral'i), n.; pi. rallies (-iz). [< rally\ v.']
1. A rapid or ardent reunion for effort of any
kind; a renewal of energy in joint action; a
quick recovery from disorder or dispersion, as
of a body of troops or other persons. — 2.
Theat., specifically, the general scramble or
chase of all the players in a pantomime: a
mfflde of pantomimists, as at the end of a
transformation scene.
The last scene of all, which in modern pantomime fol-
. lows upon the shadowy chase of the characters called the
rally. Brusyc. Brit, XVIII. 216.
8. In lawm-temm, the return of the ball over
the net from one side to the other for a number
of times conseeutively.^4. A quick recovery
from a state of depression or exhaustion; re-
newal of energy or of vigorous action | return
to or toward the prior or normal condition, as
in disease, trade, active exertion of any kind,
etc.: as, a rally in the course of a disease; a
rally in prices.
The two stand to one another ^^ke men ; rally follows
rally in quick succession, each fighting as If he thought
to finish the whole thing out of hand.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Bugby, IL 6.
rally^ (ral'i), v.; pret. and pp. rallied, ppr. ral-
lying. [< P. raiWer, rail: see rai/B.] i_ i/rans.
To attack with raillery; treat with jocose, sa-
tirical, or sarcastic pleasantry ; make merry with
in regard to something; poke fun at; quiz.
Strephon had long confess'd his amorous pain.
Which gay Corinna rallied with disdain.
Oay, The Fan, L 40.
Snake has just been rallying me on otu* mutual attach-
ment. Sheridan, Scliool for Scandal, i. 1.
=S;ni. BaTiter, etc. (see banter), joke, quiz, tease.
tl. intrans. To use pleasantry or satirical
merriment.
Juvenal has railed more wittily than Horace \iABrdllied.
Dryden, Orig. and Prog, of Satire.
This gentleman rallies the best of any man I know;
for he forms his ridicule upon a circumstance which you
are in your heart not unwilling to grant him ; to wit, that
you are guilty of an excess in something which is in itself
laudable. Steele, Spectator, No. 422.
rally^ (ral'i), n. [< rally^, ».] An exercise of
good humor or satirical merriment. [Rare.]
rallyingly (ral'i-ing-li), adv. In a rallying,
bantering, or quizzical manner, [Bare.]
"What! tired already, Jacob's would-be successor?"
asks she rallyingly. R. Brfyughlmi, Doctor Cupid, ix.
rallying-point (rari-ing-polnt), n. A place,
person, or thing at or about which persons rally,
or come together for action.
ralph (ralf), n. [Appar. from the personal
name Ilalph.'] 1 . An alleged or imagined evil
spirit who does mischief in a printing-house.
[Printers' slang, Eng.] — 2. A familiar name
of the raven, Gorvus corax.
ralstouite (rWston-it), n. [After J. Grier
BaUton, of Norristown, Pennsylvania.] A flu-
oride of aluminium and calcium, occurring in
transparent isometric octahedrons with cryolite
in Greenland.
rami (ram), n. [< ME. ram, ramme, rom, < AS.
ram, ramm, rom; = D. ram = MLG. LG. ram
= OHG. ram, rammo, MHG. ram, G. ramm, a
ram, male sheep. Hence ram^. Cf. ra?B3.] The
male of the sheep, Ovis aries, and other ovine
quadrupeds ; a tup. See cuts under Ovis and
quad/ricomous. — Tlie Bam, Aries, one of the signs and
constellations of the zodiac. See Aries,
ram^ (ram), n. [< ME. ram, ramtne, < AS. ram,
ramm = D. ram, m., = MHG. G. ramme, t., a
battering-ram; orig. a particular use of ram\
in allusion to the way a ram uses his head in
fighting.] 1. -An instrument for battering,
crushing, butting, or driving by impact. Specifi-
cally— (a) Same as taXtering.ra/m.
Bring up your ra/ms.
And with their arm^d heads make the fort totter.
Fletcher, Bonduca, iv. 4.
ft) A soUd pointed projection or beak jutting from the
bow of a war-vessel, used both in ancient and in recent
times for crushing m an enemy's vessel by being driven
against it. See def. 2, and cut under embolim. (c) The
heavy weight of a pile-driving macliine, which falls upon
494S
the head of the pile : same as monkey, 3. (d) The piston
In the large cylinder of a hydraulic press, (e) A hooped
spar used in ship-building for moving timbers by a jolt-
ing blow on the end. (/) In metttl-worHng, a steam-ham-
mer used in forming a bloom.
2. A steam ship of war armed at the prow be-
low the water-line with a heavy metallic beak
Ram. a, bow-rudder.
or spur, intended to destroy an enemy's ship
by the force of collision. The beak is often so far
independent of the vital structure of the ship that, in the
event of a serious collision, it may be carried away with-
out essential injury to the ship to which it belongs. See
also outs under heak.— HydrauUc ram. See hydravlic.
ram^ (ram), V. ; pret. and pp. rammed, ppr. ram^
ming. [< ME. rammen, ram, ram ; cf . D. ram-
men = MLG. rammen, ram, batter, = G. rammen,
ram, bore or drive in (> Dan. ramme, hit, strike,
ram, drive); from the noun: see ram^, m.] I.
trans. 1. "To strike with a ram ; drive a ram or
similar object against ; batter : as, the two ves-
sels tried to ram each other. — 2. To force in ;
drive down or together: as, to ram down a car-
tridge ; to ram a charge ; to ram pUes into the
earth.
Somewhat of trepidation might be observed in his man-
ner as he ra/nmied down the balls.
Bairlmm, Ingoldsby Legends, 1. 143.
3, To fill or compact by pounding or driving.
Lady Len. No man shall ever come within my gates.
Men. Fos. Wilt thou ra/tn up thy porch-hold?
Marston and Barketed, Insatiate Countess, L
A Ditch . . . was filled with some sound materials, and
ra/rmrCd to make the foundation solid.
Arbylhiwt, Ancient Coins, p. 76.
4. To stuff as if with a ram; cram.
By the Lord, a buck-basket ! ramtimed me in with foul
shirts and smocks, socks, foul stockings, greasy napldns.
ShBlc., M. W. of W., iii. 6. 90.
They ramtjme In great piles of woode, which they lay very
deep. Coryat, Crudities, I. 206.
Do not bring your Mao^, your politician, unless you can
ra/m up his mouth with cloves.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, iiL 1.
II, intrans. To beat or pound anything, in
any of the transitive senses of ram.
So was it impossible that the wals of lericho should fall
downe, being neither vndermined nor yet ram/med at with
engines. Baktuyt's Voyages, II. 134.
Finding that he could do no good by ramming vrlth
logs of timber, he set one of the gates on fire.
Bacon, Hist. Hen. VII.
With all the watchfulness and all the skill in the world,
it would be futile to attempt to pass through the real ice-
pack without a ship built for ramming.
Schley and Soley, Eescue of Greely, p. 160.
ram^ (ram), a. [< Icel. ram/r, strong (ramliga,
strongly), = Sw. ra/m, strong, perfect, mere
(en ram oonde, 'a perfect boor'), = Dan. ram,
sharp, acrid, rank, mere (ramjydslc, 'pure Jut-
ish').] 1. Strong; as a prefix, very: used as
a prefix in ramshackle, rambvstiovs, etc. — 2.
Strong-scented; stinking: as, ram as a fox.
■ Latham.
Samadan, Bamadhan (ram-a-dan' ),n. [Also
Bamazan, Bamadzan, and Bhamaza/n; = F.
ramMzan, ramadan = Sp. ramadan = Pg. rama-
dan, remedSo = Turk. Pers. ramazam, < Ar. ra-
madan, the name of the 9th month of the Moslem
year, < ramed {ramad), be heated or hot.] The
ninth month of the Mohammedan year, and the
period of the annual thirty days' fast or Moham-
medan Lent, rigidly observed daily from dawn
until sunset, when all restrictions are removed.
The lunar reckoning of the Mohammedan calendar brings
its recurrence about eleven days earlier each year, so that
it passes through all the seasons successively in a cycle
of about thirty -three yeara ;'but it is supposed that when
it was named it was regularly one of the hot months,
through lunisolar reckoning. The close of the fast is fol-
lowed by the three days' feast called the Lesser Ba/i/ram,
ramageit (ram'aj), a. and n. [I. a. < ME. roro-
age,<0'P. ramage, of or belonging to branches,
wild, rude, < LL. *ramaiicus,ot branches, < ra-
mus, a branch : see ramus, n. n. < OP. romage,
branches, branching, song of birds on the
branches, etc., < LL. *ramaUciwm, neut. of *ra-
matiais, of branches: see I.] I. a, 1. Hav-
ing left the nest and begun to sit upon the
branches : said of birds.
ramble
A brancher, a rampage hawke. Cotgrave.
Nor must you expect from high antiquity the distinc-
tions of eyes and ramage hawks.
Sir T. Browne, Misc. Tracts, y.
Hence — 2. Wild or savage ; untamed.
Longe ye gan after hym abyde,
Cerching, enquering in wodes ramage,
A Wilde swine chasing at that houred Wde.
Bom. ({f Partenay (E. E. T. S.), I. 527.
Ellis he is not wise ne sage,
No more than is a gote ramage.
Bom. qf the Base, L 5384.
Yet if she were so tickle as ye would take no stand, so
ramAtge as she would be reclaimed with no leave.
Greene, Gwydonius (1693). (HaUiweli.)
Also ramish, rammish.
II. n. 1. The branching of trees or plants;
branches collectively. — 2. The warbling of
birds among branches ; bird-song.
When immelodious winds but made thee [a lute] move.
And birds their raimage did on thee bestow.
I)rv/mmond, Sonnets, iL 10.
3. A branch of a pedigree ; lineage ; kindred.
Cotgrane. — 4. Courage. Prompt. Parv., p. 422.
ramage^t, n. Same as rummage.
ramagioust (ra-ma'jus), a. [< ME. ramagous,
ramagiouSf < ramage, wild: see ramage^.2 Un-
tamed; wild. Coles, 1717.
ramal (ra'mal), a. [< NL. "ramalis, < L. ramus, a
branch: see'Vomjts.] 1. In Joi., of or belonging
to a branch ; growing or originating on a branch ;
rameal. — 2. In anat. and zool., pertaining to
a ramus; of the character of a ramus: as, the
ramal part of the jaw-bone.
Ramalina (ram-a-Ii'na), n. [NL. (Acharius),
< L. ramale, twigs, shoots, < ramus, a branch:
see ramus.i A genus of erustaceous lichens of
the tribe Parmeliacei and family Usneei. The
thallus is fruticulose or finally pendulous, mostly com-
pressed or at length subf oliaceous ; the apothecia are
scutellif orm ; the spores are ellipsoid or oblong, bflocu-
lar, and colorless. B. scopulorum furnishes a dye com-
parable with archil
ramasst (ra-mas' ),v.t. [< P. ramasser, bring to-
gether, gather, < re-, again, -I- omosser, heap up:
see amass.'\ To bring together; gather up;
unite.
And when they have ramast many of several kindes and
tastes, according to the appetite of those tliey treat, they
open one vessel, and then another.
Comical Hist, of the World in the Moan (1659). (Halliwell. )
ramastrumf (ra-mas 'trum), n.; pi. ramastra
(-tra). [NL., < L. ramus, a branch, + dim. -as-
ter.^ In bat., one of the secondary petioles, or
petiolules, of compound leaves. Lindley.
Kamayana (ra-m£t'ya-n^), n. [Skt. Bdmdyana,
< Bama (see def.) -I- ayana, a going, course, pro-
gress, expedition, < t, go: see go.'] The name
of one of the two great epic poems of ancient
India, the other being the Mahabharata. it gives
the history of Bama, especially of his expedition tlirough
the Deccan to Cejrlon, to recover, by the aid of the monkey-
god Eanuman, his wife Sita, carried away thither by Ka-
vana.
rambade (ram'bad), n. [< p. rambade, "the
bend or wale of a gaily" (Cotgrave), also ram-
hate; of. Pg. ar-rombada, a platform' of a gal-
ley. ] Naut. , the elevated platform built across
the prow of a galley for boarding, etc.
rambeh, (ram'be), n. [Said to be connected with
Malay rambutan, < rambut, hair : see rambutan.']
The fruit of a middle-sized tree, Paccaurea sa-
pida, of the Ewphorbiaceie, found in Malacca,
Burma, etc. The fruit is globose, half an inch long,
yellowish in color, several-celled, with a pleasant subacid
pulp.
ramberget (ram'bferj), n. [Also remberge; <
OP. ramberge; origin obscure.] A long, nar-
row war-ship, swift and easily managed., for-
merly used on the Mediterranean.
By virtue thereof, through the retention of some aerial
gusts, are the huge ramberges, mighty gallions, &C., launch-
ed from their stations.
OzeU, tr. of Babelais, iii. 6L (Mares.)
ramble (ram'bl), v. i.; pret. and pp. ramhled,
ppr. ra/mblvng. [An altered form (with dissimi-
lation of mm to mb) of dial. rammU, < ME.
"ramelen, freq. of ramen, B. dial, rame, roam,
ramble: see roam.'] 1. To roam or wander
about in a leisurely manner ; go from point to
point carelessly or irregularly; rove: as, to
ramble about the city or over ttie country.
Bold Bobin Hood he would ram3)le away.
Mobin Hood and the Banger (Child's Ballads, V. 207);
My first Entrance upon this Ramiling kind of Life.
Ba/mpier, Voyages, 11., Pret
2. To take a wavering or wandering course;
proceed with irregular turns, windings, or
transitions; show a lack of definite direction
or arrangement: as, a ramblmg path or house;
ramble
a ramUing discourse; the vine rambles every-
way; he rambled on in his incoherent speech.
But wisdom does not lie In the rambling imaginations
of mens minds. Si!iaina/fe««, Sermons, I. IL
O'er ills ample sides the ramMing sprays
Luznrlant shoot. Thomam, Spring, L 794.
Onrhome is a rambling old place, on the outskirts of a
country town. The Century, XL. 278.
3. To reel; stagger. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
=Syn. l.Rarta>le, ^dtt. Saunter, Rom, Boom, WanSer,
JSange, Stray. RanMe, by derivation, also gtroU and
tamper, and elray when used in this sense, express a less
extended course than the others. To ramhU or gtrM is to
go about, as fancy leads, for the pleasure of being abroad.
To aauntxr is to go along idly, and therefore slowly. One
may saunter or gtrM, stray or wanier, along one street as
&r as it goes. To x/iriMe, roue, or roam is to pnrane a course
that is not very straight. One may r&oe, roam,, or wanier
with some briskness or (or some object, as in search of a
lost child. One may wanier about or stray about because
he has lost his way. The wild beast raTif^e^ raves, or roamx
in search of prey. Boom, expresses most of definite pur-
pose : as, to roam, over Europe,
ramble (ram'bl), n. [< ra»»6te, «.] 1. A roving
or wandering movement; a going or tioming
about irregularly or indefinitely; especially, a
leisurely or sauntering walk in varying direc-
tions.
Ck>ming home after a short Christmas ramihle, 1 found a
letter upon my table. Swift.
In the middle of a brook, whose silver ramOiU
Down twenty little falls, through reeds and bramble
Tracing along, it brought me to a cave.
Keo^, Endymion, i.
On returning from our ramble, we passed the house of
the Governor. B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 37.
2. A place to ramble in; a mazy walk or tract.
— 3. In coal-mining, thin shaly beds of stone,
taken down with the coal, above which a good
roof may be met with. Gresley.
rambler (ram'blfir), n. [< ramble, v., + -eri.]
One who rambles ; a rover; a wanderer.
There is a pair of Stocks by every Watch bouse, to secure
night ramUers in. Dampier, Voyages, IL i. 77.
rambling (ram'bling), TO. [Terbal n. of ram-
ble, «.] 1. The act of wandering about, or from
place to place.
RamMing makes little alteration in the mind, unless
proper care be taken to improve it by the observations
that are made.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 277.
2. A roving excursion or ooxirse ; an indefinite
or whimsical turning back and forth.
Thy money she will waste
In the vain ramJoUngs of a vulgar taste.
Crabbe, Works, I. 73.
And oft in ramblings on the wold . . .
I saw the village lights below.
Tennyson, Miller's Daughter.
ramblingly (ram'bling-Ii), adv. In a rambling
manner.
ramboosef , ramboozet, n. See rwmbooze.
ram-bow (ram'bou), TO. A ship's bow of such
construction that it may be efficiently used in
ramming.
rambunctious (ram-bungk'shus), a. Same as
rajnbvsUous. [Colloq., U. S.]
rambustious (ram-bus'tyus), a. [Also ram-
buneUous; a slang term of no definite forma-
tion, as if < ram^ + bv,s1^ + -dous. Cf . E. dial.
rumbusUeal, rumgumptious, rumbumpUous, etc.,
boisterous, slang forms of the same general
type.] Boisterous; careless of the comfort of
others; violent; arrogant. [Prov. Eng.]
And as for that black-whiskered alligator, ... let me
first get out of those rambvstious unchristian filbert-
shaped claws of his. Bulwer, My ^N-ovel, xL Id.
rambntan, rambootan (ram-bo'tan), n. [Also
rambostan; < 'M.aXay rambutan, so called in al-
lusion to the villose covering of the fruit, < ram-
but, hair.] The fruit of Nephelium lappaceum,
a lofty tree of the Malay archipelago. It is of an
oval form, somewhat flattened, 2 inches long, of a reddish
color, and covered with soft spines or hairs. The edible
part is an aril, and is of a pleasant subacid taste. The
tree is related to the lichi and longan, and is cultivated in
numerous varieties.
rambyt, a. [ME.; cf. ramp.] Spirited; pran-
cing; ramping (?).
I salle be at joumee with gentille knyghtes.
On a ramby stede f ulle jolyly graythide.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.X L 373.
ram-cat (ram'kat), re. A tom-cat.
Egad ! old maids will presently be found
Capping their dead ram,-cats in holy ground.
And writing verses on each mousing devil.
Wotcot (P. Pindar), Peter's Pension.
Ram-cal is older than Peter. Smollett uses the word in
his translation of Gil Bias : "They brought me a ragout
made dramrcat" (vol. L ch. vii.).
N. and Q., 7th ser., V. 361.
ram6 (ra-ma'), o,. [OP. rame, branched, < L.
'ramatus, branched, < ramus, a branch: see ra-
mus.'] In her., same as attired.
4949
rameal (ra'me-al), a. [<.rame-ov,s + -al.'] Grow-
ing upon or dtlierwise pertaining to a branch.
Also rametms.
Bamean (ra'mf-an), TO. [< Samee or Ramus
(see Eamist) + '-an.] A Ramist.
ramed (ramd), a. [Appar., with E. suffix -ed^,
< P. ram6, pp. of ramer, prop, support (creep-
ing plants), < rame, f ., OP, raim, m., a branch,
stake, P. dial, rain, raime = Pr. ram, ramp =
It. ramo, < L. ramus, a branch: see ramus.]
Noting a vessel on the stocks when all the
frames are set upon the keel, the stem and
stem-post put up, and the whole adjusted by
the ram-line.
ramee, n. See ramie.
ramedn (ram'e-kLn), TO. [Also rammekin, rame-
guin; < P. ram^guin, a sort of pastry made with
cheese, < OPlem. rammelcen, toasted bread.]
Toasted cheese and bread, or toast and cheese ;
Welsh rabbit; also, bread-crumb baked in a
pie-pan with a farce of cheese, eggs, and other
ingredients. E. Phillips, 1706.
ramelt, «. See rammel.
ramellose (ram'el-6s), a. [< ramellus + -ose.]
In algology, bearing or characterized by ra-
melli. See ramellus.
Fasciculi of extreme branches densely ramellose,
H. C. Wood, Fresh- Water Algss, p. 207.
ramellus (ra-mel'us), TO. ; pi. ramelli (-i). [Nli.,
dim. of L. ramus, a branch: see ramtis, ramu-
lus.] In algology, a ramulus, or, more specifi-
cally, a branch smaller and simpler than a ram-
idus, ooeiirring at the growing tip.
rament (ra-menf), TO. [< Ii. ramentum, usually
in pi. ramenta, scrapings, shavings, chips, scales,
bits, < radere, scrapOj shave: see rase"^, raze^.]
1. A scraping; shavmg. — 2. In bot., same as
ramentum. [Eare.]
ramentaceous (ram-en-ta'shius), a. [< rament
+ -aceous.] In bot., covered with ramenta.
ramentum (ra-men'tum), TO.; pi. ramenta (-ta).
[NL. : see rament.] 1. Same as rament, l" —
2. In bot., a thiUj chaffy scale or outgrowth
from the epidermis, sometimes appearing in
great abundance on young shoots, and par-
ticularly well developed on the stalks of many
ferns : same as palea (which see for cut).
rameous (ra'mf-us), a. [< L. rameus, of or be-
longing to boughs or branches, < ramus, a
branch : see ramus. Cf . ramous, ramose.] Same
as rameal.
ramecLuinf, to. See ramehin.
Bameside (ram'e-sid), a. and to. [< Bameses
+ -ide^.] I. a. Pertaining or relating to any
of the ancient Egyptian kings named Bameses
or Eamses, or to their families or government.
The principal kings of the name were Sameses IL of the
nineteenth dynasty and Sameses III. of the twentieth.
H. TO. A member of the line or the family of
Rameside kings.
ramfeezle (ram-fe'zl), v. t.; pret. and pp. ram-
feezled, ppr. ramfeezling. [Appar. < ram^ +
feeze.] To fatigue ; e:^aust. [Scotch.]
My awkward muse sair pleads and begs
I would na write.
The tapetless ramfeezl'd hizzie,
She 's saf t at best, and something lazy.
Bums, Second Epistle to John Lapraik.
ram-goat (ram'got), to. A low, tortuous, leafy
shrub, Xantlioxylum spinifex (Fagara miorophyl-
Jum), found on arid shores in the West Indies
and South America.
ramgunshock (ram-gun'shok), a. [Also ram-
gunshoch, ranguns]iocl<:,Txigged; origin obscure.]
Rough; rugged. [Scotch.]
Our ramgunsTiock, glum gudeman
Is out and owre the water.
Bums, Had I the Wyte.
ram-head (ram'hed), TO. 1. An iron lever for
raising up great stones. — 2t. Miut., a halyard-
block. — St. A cuckold.
To be called ram-liead is a title of honour, and a name
proper to all men. John Taylor.
ram-headed (ram 'hedged), a. Represented
with the head of a ram, as a sphinx; furnished
with ram's horns, as a sphinx's head; crioceph-
alous (which see).
rami, n. Plxiral of ramus.
ramicom (ra'mi-kdm), re. and a. [< NL. rami-
comis, K. L. ramus, a branch, + cornu, horn.]
I. re. In omith., the homy sheath of the side of
the lower mandible, in any way distinguished
from that covering the rest of the biU.
The raTmcom, which covers the sides of the rami of the
lower mandible. Cones, Proc Phila. Acad. (1866), p. 276.
II. a. In entom., having ramified antennae,
as a hemipterous insect; pertaining to the
JSamieornes.
Bamilie
ramicorneous (ra-mi-k6r'ne-us), a. [< ramicom
+ -eous.] Of or pertaining to the ramicom.
Bamicomes (ra-mi-k6r'nez), re. pi. [NL., pi.
otramieornis: see ramicorn.] la entom., a, group
of hemipterous insects, having ramified anten-
nee. See ramose.
ramie (ram'e), TO. [Also ramee; Malay.] A
plant, the so-called China grass, Bahmeria ni-
vea, or its fiber. The plant is a perennial shrub with
herbaceous shoots, native in the Malay islands, China, and
Japan. It has long been cultivated in parts of the East
Indies to supply fiber for fish-nets and cloths, and in Chin»
and Japan textiles of great beauty are made from this
materiid. (See grass-doth.) In length, thickness and
woodlness the stems most nearly resemble hemp. The
fiber is unsurpassed in strength, is in an exceptional dc-
gree unaffected by moisture, in fineness rivals flax, and
has a silky luster shared only by jute. The plant can be
grown in any .moderate climate — in the southern United
States and as far north as Kew Jersey, as demonstrated by
experiment. Also called cambric-grass, sUk-grass, and
ramie-hemp; in India, rhea. See cut under Boekmeria.
ramie-fiber (ram'e-fi*b6r), re. See ramie.
ramie-plant (ram'e-plant), re. See ramie.
ramification (ram'i-fi-ka'shon), re. [= P. rami-
fication = Sp. ramificacion"= Pg. ramificagSo
= It. ramificazione, < ML. *ramificatio{n-), <
ramificare, ramify: see ramify.] 1. The act or
process of ramifying, or the state of being rami-
fied ; a branching out ; division into branches,
or into divergent lines, courses, or parts, as of
trees or plants, blood-vessels, amountain-chain,
a topic or subject, etc. — 2. The manner or re-
sult of ramifying or branching; that which is
ramified or divided into branches; a set of
branches: as, the ramification of a coral; the
ramifications of an artery or a nerve ; the rami-
fications of the capUlaries, or of nerves in an
insect's wing. See cuts under Bendrocaela and
embryo.
Infinite vascular ramifications, . . . revealed only by
the aid of the highest powers of the microscope.
Is. Taylor.
3. In bot., the branching, or the manner of
branching, of stems and roots. — 4. One of the
branches or divergent lines or parts into which
anything is divided ; a division or subdivision
springing or derived from a main stem or source :
as, the ramifications of a conspiracy; to pursue
a subject in all its ramifications.
When the radical idea branches out into parallel ramt-
ficoHons, how can a consecutive series be formed of senses
in their nature collateral? Johnson, Eng. Diet., Pref.
5. The production of figures resembling
branches — Point of iamlfication,in the iroegral col-
cuius, a point on the plane of imaginary quantity where
two or more values of the function become equal. Also
called critical poiiit.
ramified (ram'i-fid), a. In zool. and anat.,
branched; having branches; dividing and re-
dividing: as, ramified nervures of the wings.
— Ramified corpuscle, a lacuna of bone, having long
slender processes which ramify and inosculate with those
of other lacunae ; an ordinary bone-celL
ramiflorous (ra-mi-fio'rus), a. [< L. ramus,
branch, -J- flos (flor-), flower.] Flowering on
the branches. Gray.
ramiform (ra'mi-f6rm), a. [= P. ramiforme, <
L. ramus, a branch, + forma, form.] In bot.
and zool., resembling a branch. Senslow.
ramify (ram'i-fi), v.; pret. and pp. ramified,
ppr. ramifying. [< P. ramifier = Pr. Sp. Pg.
ramificar = It. ramificare, < ML. *ramificare (in
pp. ramificatus), branch, ramify, < L. ramus, a
branch (see ramus), + -ficare, < facere, make.]
1. intrans. 1. To form branches; shoot into
branches, as the stem of a plant, or anything
analogous to it; branch out.
When they [asparagus-plants] are older, and begin to
rarn^Di, they lose this quality. Arbuthnot, Aliments, p. 61.
The " test " has a single round orifice, from which, when
the animal is in a state of activity, the sarcodic substance
streams forth, speedily giving off ramifying extensions.
W. B. Carpenter, Micros., § 397.
2. To diverge in various ways or to different
points ; stretch out in different lines or courses;
radiate.
The establishments of our large carriers ram^ through-
out the whole kingdom. H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 441.
H. trans. To divide into branches or parts ;
extend in different lines or directions.
Whoever considers the few radical positions which the
Scriptures afforded him will wonder by what energetic
operations he expanded them to such an extent^ and
ra/mified them to so much variety. Johnson, Milton.
It is also infinitely ramified, diversified, extending every-
where and touching everything.
D. Webster, Speech, March 18, 1834.
Bamilie (ram'i-le), n. [< Eamillies : see def .]
A name given to various articles or modes of
dress, in commemoration of Marlborough's vic-
tory at Bamillies in Belgium over the French
Bamilie
under Villeroi, in 1706: chiefly used attribu-
tively. The Bamilie hat was a lorm ol cocked hat worn
In the time of George I. Its peculiarity consisted in the
adjustment o( the hat-brim — apparently the one in which
the three coclfs are nearfy equal in length and similar in
arrangement. The Bamilie wig, worn as late as the time
of George III., had a long, gradually diminishing plait,
called the Bamilie plait or tail, with a very large bow at
the top and a smaller one at the bottom.
A peculiar-shaped hat was known as the " RamMie cock. "
N. ana Q., 6th ser., XIL 35.
While in this country, the natural hair tied in a pig-
tail and powdered passed for as good as the Jiamilie wig
and RamUie taiL S. Dowett, Taxes in England, III. 290.
ramlparous (ra-mip'a-rus), a. [< L. ramus,
a branch, + 'parere, produce.] Producing
branches.
ramisllt, «. [A corruption of ramage^.'] Same
as ramage^.
The plaintiff had declared for a ramish hawk, which is
a hawk living inter ramos (amongst the boughs), and by
consequence ferfie naturse.
Nel»on, Laws Cone. Game, p. 161. {Erus!/e. Dtet.)
Ramism (ra'mizm), n. [< Ramvs (see def.) +
-ism.'\ The logical dootnne of Petrus Ramus,
or Pierre de la Ram6e (bom in Picardy, 1515;
massacred on St. Bartholomew's day, 1572). The
doctrine was that of Aristotle, with the omission of the
more difficult and metaphysical parts, and with a few ad-
ditions drawn from rhetoric and from Platonic sources
(such as the doctrine of dichotomy). It was characterized
by simplicity and good sense, and was set forth with some
literary skill. It attracted considerable attention, owing to
the unbounded hostility to Aristotle professed by Bamus,
and was taught for many years in the Scottish universi-
ties and at Cambridge. John Milton wrote a Bamist logic.
In England, Cambridge alone, always disposed to reject
the authority of ArlstoUe^ and generally more open to new
ideas than the sister university, was a stronghold of Ra-
migm. R. Adamson, Encyc. Brit., XIV. 803.
Kamist (ra'mist), n. and a. [< P. ramiste, a Ba-
mist, pertaining to Ramus, < Bamus (see Sa-
mism).'] I. n. A follower of Peter Ramus. See
Bamism. The main position of Bamus was that " every-
thing that Aristotle taught was false," but there was no-
thing original in his writings. He introduced into logic
the dilemma, which had always been taught as a part of
rhetoric, to which he greatly inclined.
II. a. Pertaining to Ramus or Ramism; char-
acterized by or characteristic of Ramism. —
Ramist consonants (French cansmmes ramistes), the let-
ters^' and v: so called by French writers, because Bamus
was the first, in his grammatical writings, to distinguish
them as consonants from the vowels i and u.
ram-line (ram'lin), ». [< ram (?) (see ramed)
■+ Une^,'\ 1. In sMp-building, a small rope or
line used for setting the frames fair, assisting
in forming the sheer of the ship, or for other
similar purposes. — 2. In spar-making, a line
used to make a straight middle line on a spar.
rammed (ramd), a. [Pp. of ram^, «.] Exces-
sive. HalliweU. [Prov. Eng.]
rammekint, »• See ramekin.
rammel (ram'el)^ n. [Also ramell, ramel; < late
ME. ramel, rubbish, < OP. ramaille, ramille, usu-
ally in pi. ramailles, ramilles, F. ramilles, branch-
es, twigs, < LL. ramale, usually in pi. ramalia,
branches, twigs, sticks, < L. ramus, a branch:
see ramus."] 1. Refuse wood, as of twigs or
small branches, or decayed woody matter.
Bubbish, ramimel, and broken stones. Holland.
2. Rubbish, especially bricklayers' rubbish.
The Fictes ridding away the earth and ramell wherewith
it was closed up.
BMnthed, Hist. Scot., M. b, coL 1, c. (Ifa/ret.)
[Obsolete or prov. Eng. in both senses.]
ranunelt (ram'el), v. i. [< rammel, ».] To turn
to rubbish ; molder.
Frana/re [It], ... to rammeU or moulder in pieces, as
sometimes mud walles or
great masses of stone will
doe of themselves.
Flmio (1611), p. 195.
rammelsbergite
(ram'elz-berg-it), n.
[After K. F. Bam-
melsberg (bom 1813),
a German chemist.]
An arsenide of nick-
el, like chloanthite
in composition, but
crystallizing in the
orthorhombio sys-
tem.
rammel-woodf
(ram'el-wud), n.
Natural copsewood.
There growyth many
allers and other ramsll-
■ujood, which servethe
muoheforthebuyldlnge ^ Rammers.
nf miphp nmall hnnses. o, wooden rammer, with iron band or
?>„^^ ?r, .^t- ■ hoop ; *, c, paving-rammers— b being
US. Cotton. Calig. B. VIU. use J to compactsand, and c for cob-
liHoUliweU.) blestones, etc.
4950
rammer (ram'Sr), n. [= Gt. rammer; as ram^,
v., + -e»'i.] An instrument for ramming, or
driving by impact. The pavers' rammer, used in set-
tling stones or compacting earth, is a heavy mass of iron-
bound wood, of tapering form, with handles at the top
and on one or both sides. (See teettel, 1.) Founders' ram-
mers are made in different ways, for various purposes, as
forcing the sand into the pattern, solidifying it In the flask,
etc. A gunners' rammer is a staff with a cylindrical head,
for driving home the charge in a cannon, usually having
for fleld-artillery a swab (called a sponge) at the other end
for cleaning out the gun after firing. Bamrods, and some
kinds of ram, as that of a ship of war, are also someUmes
called rammers. See ram^, 2, and ramrod ; see also cut in
preceding colunm, and cut under gun-carriage.
He earth is to bee wel driven and beaten downe close
with a rammer, that it may be fast about the roots.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xvii. 11.
rammish^ (ram'ish), a. [< ME. rammish; < ram^
+ -isfei.] Resembling or characteristic of a
ram; rammy; strong-scented; hence, coarse;
lewd; lascivious: used like gioafeft in the same
sense. Compare Mreine.
For al the world, they stinken as a goot :
Her savour is so ramm,ish and so hoot.
That though a man from hem a myle be.
The savour wol inf ecte him, tiusteth me.
Chaucer, Prol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, L 334.
Whose father being a rarmnish ploughman, himself a
perfumed gentleman. Middleton, Phoenix, i. 2.
rammish^t (ram'ish), a. Same as ramage^.
rammishness (ram'ish-nes), n. [< rammish^ +
-ness.] The state or character of being ram-
mish.
rammy (ram'i), fls. [< rami -1- -i/i.] Like a ram;
rammish.
Galen takes exception at mutton, but without question
he means that rammy mutton which is in Turkic and Asia
Minor. Burton, Anat. of Mel., ii. § 2.
ramoUescence (ram-o-les'ens), n. [< F. ra-
mollir, soften, refl. become soft (< re-, again, +
amollir, soften: see amoUish), + -escence. Cf.
L. remollescere, become soft again, become
soft.] A softening or mollifying ; mollification.
Imp. Diet. [Rare.]
ramollissement (ra-mo-les'mon), n. [< F. ra-
mollissement, < ramollir, soften, become soft:
see ramollescenee.'] In patliol., a morbid condi-
tion of some part of the body, as the brain or
the liver, in which it becomes softened.
ramoon (rarmon'), n. [< Sp. ramon, the top of
branches cut as food for sheep in snowy wea-
ther (= P. ramon, a broom of twigs or branches),
< ramo, < L. ramus, a branch : see ramus. ] A
low West Indian tree, Trophis Americana^ be-
longing to the mulberry tribe, with milky juice
and drupe-like fruit. Its leaves and twigs are
sometimes fed to cattle.
ramose (ra'mos), a. [< L. ramosu^, full of
branches: see ramoMs.] 1. Same as ramojts. — 2.
In zool. : (a) Branching; much-branched; rami-
fying frequently, as corals and other zoophytes ;
ramous. (6) Resembling a branch or branches ;
shooting out like a branch: as, the ramose spines
of some shells.— Ramose antennse.antennse in which
the joints are rather long, a few of them emitting from
the base or apex— generally on the outer side, rarely on
both sides- long cylmdrical processes or branches.
ramosely (ra'mos -li), adv. In a ramose or
branching manner. S. C. Wood, Fresh- Water
Algffl, p. 21.
ramous (ra'mus), a. [< F. rameux = Pr. ra-
mos = Sp. Pg. It. ramoso, < L. ramosus, full
of branches, < ramus, a branch: see ramus.1
Branched or branchy, or full of branches ; hav-
ing branches, or divisions of the character of
branches; ramifying; ramose.
Which vast contraction and expansion seems unintelli-
gible, by feigning the particles of air to be springy and
ramxms. Newton, Opticks, iii. query 31.
A rammts efflorescence of a fine white spar found hang-
ing from a crust of like spar, at the top of an old wrought
cavern. Woodward, Fossils.
ramp (ramp), V. [Also romp (now partly differ-
enced in use: see romp); < ME. rampen, < OF.
ramper, raumper, creep, crawl, also climb, F.
ramper, creep, crawl, cringe (cf. rampe, a flight
of stairs ( > Gr. rampe), = It. rampare, clutch (rram-
pa, a claw, a grip, rampo, a grappling-iron),
a nasalized form of *rappare, in comp. ar-rap-
pare, = Pr. Sp. Pg. rapar, snatch up, carry off,
seize upon; of Teut. origin: LG. rappen, rapen,
snatch up hastily; Bavar. dial, rampfen, G-.
raffen, snatch, etc. : see rap"^, rape'^, ra^.] J.
intrans. 1. To rise by climbing or shooting up,
as a plant; run or grow up rapidly ; spring up
in growth.
Some Sorts of Plants . . . are either endued with'a
Faculty of twining about others that are near, or else fur-
nish'd with Claspers and Tendrils, whereby . . « they
catch Hold of them, and so ramping upon Trees, Shrubs,
Hedges or Poles, they mount up to a great Height.
Ray, Works of Creation, p. 111.
rampacious
Trees of every sort
On three sidet slender, spreading, long and short ;
Each grew as it contrived, the poplar romped.
The fli-tree reared Itself. Browmng, Sordello.
2. To rise for a leap or in leaping, as a wild
beast ; rear or spring up ; prepare for or make
a spring; jump violently. See rampant.
Tho, rearing up his former f eete on hightj
He rampt upon him with his ravenous pawes.
Spenser, F. Q., VI. jcii 29.
Surely the Prelates would have Saint Paul's words rampe
one over another, as they use to clime into their Livings
and Bishopricks. Milton, On Def. of Hmnb. Bemonst.
Thither I climb'd at dawn
And stood by her garden-gate ;
A lion ramps at the top, .
He is claspt by a passion-flower.
Tennyson, Maud, ziv. L
3. To move with violent leaps or starts; jump
or dash about ; hence, to act passionately or
violently; rage; storm; behave with insolence.
Whan she comth hoom, she rampeth in my face,
And cryeth, "False coward, wreek thy wyf."
Chaucer, ProL to Monk's Tale, L 18.
The Gov, hearing ye tumulte, sent to quiet it, but ha
rajmped more like a furious beast then a man.
Bra4ford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 174.
For the East Lynn (which is our river) was ramping
and roaring frightfully.
R. D. BUK&more, Loma Doone, xlvliL
4. To spring about or along gaily; frolic; gam-
bol; flirt; romp. See romp.
Good wenches would not so rampe abrode ydelly.
UdaU, Bolster Doister, iL 4.
Then the wild boar, being so stout and strong, . . .
Thrashed down the trees as he rammd him along.
Jovial Hunter of Brrnnsgraee (Child's Ballads, VIII. 146).
Peace, you foul ram,plng Jade I
B. Jcmsan, Bartholomew Fair, iv. 3.
[This verb, although still employed in litera-
ture, is not common in colloquial use.]
II. trans. 1. To hustle; rob with violence.
[Thieves' slang.] — 2. To bend upward, as a
piece of iron^ to adapt it to the woodwork of a
gate or the like. Ealliwell.
Mr. B. Phipps is Introducing at Campbell Boad, Bow,
Messrs. Parkin and Webb's patent ramped wheel tire.
The Engineer, LXVUL 53S.
To ramp and reavet, to get (anything) by fair means
or foul. HdUiweU.
ramp (ramp), n. [< ME. rampe; < ramp, v.
Cf. romp, «.] 1. A leap; a spring; a bound.
[Obsolete or archaic]
The bold Ascalonite
Fled from his lion ramp. MUton, S. A., 1. 139.
2. A rising passage or road; specifically (miKi.),
a gradual slope or ascent from the interior
level of a fortification to the general level be-
hind the parapet.
The ascent is by easy ramps.
B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 40a
We crossed literallya rwmp of dead bodies loosely cov-
ered with earth. W. H. Russell, Diary in India, L 312.
3. In masonry and carp., a concave bend or
slope in the cap or upper member of any^iece
of ascending or descending workmanship, as
in the coping of a wall; the concave sweep
that connects the higher and lower parts of a
railing at a half- or quarter-pace. — 4. In arch.,
etc., any slope or inclined plane, particularly
an inclined plane affording communication
between a higher and a lower level.
In some parts [of the temple at Ehorsabad] even the
parapet of the ramp still remains in situ.
J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., 1. 154.
Sf. A coarse, frolicsome woman; a jade; a
romp. ■
Kay, ty on thee, thou rampe, thon ryg, with al that take
thy part. Bp. StUl, Gammer Gurton's Needle, lU. 3.
Although that she were a lusty bouncing rarme, some-
what like Gallimetta, or Maid Marian. Q. Harvey.
The bouncing ramp, that roaring girl my mistress.
UidMeim, and Dekker, Bearing Oirl, 1!L 3.
6. The garden rampion, or its root. — 7t. A
highwayman; a robber. HalliweU. — 8. In the
game of pin-pool, a stroke by which all the
pins but the center one are knocked down.
A player making a ramp at any stage of the
game wins the pool — Ramp and twist, in carp.,
any line that rises and winds simultaneously.
rampt (ramp), a. [< ramp, «.] Ramping; leap-
ing; furiously swift or rushing.
Bide out, ride out, ye raimp rider I
Your steed 's baith stout and Strang.
The Broom <tf Cowdenknows (Child's Ballads, IV. 46).
rampacious (ram-pa'shus), a. [A var. of ram^
pageous, prob. confused with rapackym,] Same *
as rampageous. [CoUoq.]
rampacions
A atone statue of some rampadom animal with flowing
mane and tail, distantly resembling an insane cart-horse.
3icke7i9, Pickwick, xxii.
xampadgeon (ram-pa' jon), n. [< rampage-Otis
+ -on.] A furious, boisterous, or quarrelsome
fellow. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
rampage (ram'paj or ram-paj'), n. [< ramp +
-age.'l A leaping or jumping about, as from
anger or excitement; violent or furious move-
ment; excited action of any kind: as, to be on
the rampage; to go on a rampage. [CoUoq.]
She 's been on the rampage this last spell about five
minutes. Dickens, Great Expectations, 11.
A diplomatist like Prince Bismarck, possessed of that
faculty of plain speech, and out for the time on the roTn-
page, seems to Continental Courts a terror.
Spectator (London), June 28, 1890.
rampage (ram'paj or ram-paj'), v. i. ; pret. and
pp. rampaged, ppr. rampaging. [Also (Sc.) ram-
pauge; < rampage, ».] 1. To act or move in
a ramping manner; spring or rush violently;
rage or storm about. [Colloq.]
Were I best go to finish the revel at the GriCto? But
then Maudie will rampauge on my return.
Scott, Fair Maid of Perth, xvi.
Now we will see how these ra/mpagiyig Hurons lived
when outlying in ambushments.
J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, xii.
2. To run or prance about; move springUy or
friskily; romp; riot. [Colloq.]
An' they rampaged about [on horseback] wi' their grooms,
and was 'untln' arter the men.
Tennyson, Village "Wife, vii.
How do you propose to goraTnpaging all over Scotland,
and still be at Oban on the fifteenth?
W. Black, Princess of Thule, xxvii.
rampageous (ram-pa 'jus), a. [Also rampa-
gious (and rampacious, q. v.) ; < rampage + ■
-Otis.'] 1 . Of a ramping character ; behaving
rampantly; unruly; raging; boisterous; stormy.
[CoUoq.]
The farmers and country folk [had] no cause to drive in
their herds and flocks as in the primitive ages of a ram-
pageous antiquity. Gait, Provost, xv. {Davies.)
A lion — a mighiy, conquering, generous, rampageous
Xeo Belgicus.
Thackeray, Roundabout Papers, A Week's Holiday.
There 's that Will Maskery, sir, as is the rwmpageousest
Methodis as can be. George Eliot, Adam Bede, v.
Hence — 2. Glaring or "loud" in style or taste;
"stunning." [Colloq.]
There comes along a missionary, . . . with a rampa-
gious gingham.
DaUy TelegrapTi, Oct. 6, 1886. (Enxyc. Diet.)
The ornamentation is for the most part in rampageous
rocaille style, bright burnished gold on whitewash or
white imitation marble. Harper's Mag., LXXIX. 200.
rampageousness (ram-pa'jus-nes), n. The
character of being rampageous. [Colloq.]
One there is, a lover-cousin, who out-Herods every one
else in rampagiousness and lack of manners.
Atlumeum, No. 3249, p. 145.
rampairt, ». *. [< F. remparer, fortify, inclose
with a rampart: see rampire, rampart.] To
make secure; intrench; shield; cover.
Theyr frame Is raysed of excedynge hyghe trees, sette
close together and fast rampaired in the grounde, so stand-
yng a slope and bending inward that the toppes of the trees
loyne together.
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 68).
rampalliant, rampallionf (ram-pal'yan, -yon),
n. [< ramp + -allian, -aUion, a vague termina-
tion of contempt, as in rapsealUon, rumgallion.']
EapscaUion; villain; rascal: a vituperative
word.
Away, you scullion ! you rampdUiaTi, you fustilarian I
SItak., 2 Hen. IV., IL 1. 65.
Out upon them, rampallions! Ill keep myself safe
enough out of their fingers.
, Beau, and Fl., Honest Man's Fortune, 11 2.
I was almost strangled with my own band by twa ram-
pallians, wha wanted yestreen ... to harle me into a
change-house. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, xxrl.
rampancy (ram'pan-si), n. [< rampan(t) +
-oy.] The state orquality of beingrampant; ex-
cessive activity; exuberance; extravagance.
The pope had over mastered all, the temporall power be-
ing quite in a manner evacuated by the rampancy of the
spirituaL
I>r. B. More, Epistles to the Seven Churches, Pref.
This height and rampancy of vice. South.
rampant (ram'pant), a. [< ME. *rampant, also
rampand, rampehd, < OF. rampant, p;pr. otram-
per, creep, climb: see ramp.]_ 1. Climbing or
springing unchecked; rank in growth; exu-
berant : as, rampant weeds.
The cactus is here very abundant and rampant.
C. D. Warner, Roundabout Journey, p. 95.
2. Overleaping restraint or usual limits; un-
bridled; unrestricted.
4951
He is tragicall on the Stage, but rampant in the Tyring-
house, and sweares oathes there which he neuer con'd.
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Player.
The custom of street-hawking is rampant in Spain.
Lathrop, Spanish Vistas, p. 19.
Happily the love of red rags which is so rampant on
either side of Parenzo, at Trieste and at Zara, seems not
to have spread to Parenzo Iteelf.
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 104.
The style of the pulpit in respect of Imagery, I conceive,
should be grave, severe, Intense, not luxuriant, not ram-
pant. A. Phelps, English Style, p. 144.
They were going together to the Doncaster spring meet-
ing, where Bohemianlsm would be raimpant.
Miss Braddon, Only a Clod, xxvl
3. Bamping; rearing.
The tawny lion . . . springs, as broke from bonds,
And rampant shakes his brinded mane.
Miltm, P. L., vii. 466.
When he chaseth and followeth after other beasts, hee
goeth alwaies saltant or rampant; which he neuer useth
to doe when he is chased in sight, but is onely passant.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, vilL 16.
4. In her., rising with both fore legs elevated,
the dexter uppermost, and the
head seen sidewise, the dexter
hind leg also higher than the
sinister, as if the weight of the
creature were borne upon the lat-
ter : noting a lion or other beast
of prey. Also ramping, effray6.
See also cut under affronte. Lion Rampant
Old Nevil's crest,
The rampant bear ohain'd to the ragged staff.
Shak.,2. Hen. VI., v. 1. 203.
Rampant afflront^, rampant combatant. See coun-
ter-ram-pant, —
. Rampant arcta, in
arch., an arch whose
Imposts or abut-
ments are noton the
samelevel. — Ram-
pant bandage, a
bandage applied in
such a manner that
the turns of the
spiral do not touch
each other, but
leave uncovered
spaces between. —
Rampant dis-
played, in her.,
facing directly out
from the shield
and seated on the
haunches or raised
erect on the hind
legs, the fore paws
extended ; noting a
lion or other beast
of prey.— Ram-
pant gardant, in
Tier., having the
same attitude as in
rampant, but with
the head turned so
as to look directly
out from the shield
— that is, affronts. Maria del Orto, Venice.
—Rampant in-
dorsed. See counter-raTnpant. — Rampant In full as-
pect. Same as rampant displayed. — Rampant passant,
said of an animal when walking with the dexter fore paw
raised somewhat higher than the mere passant position.
—Rampant regardant, in her., rampant, but with the
head turned round, so that the creature looks in the di-
rection of its tail. — Rampant sejant, in her., seated
on the hind quarters, but with the fore paws raised, the
dexter above. — Rampant vault. See vauU.
rampantly (ram'pant-li), adv. In a rampant
manner.
rampart (ram'part), n. [Early mod. E. also
rampar, ramper, rampare. rampire, rampier; <
OP. rempart (with excrescent t), rempar (P.
rempart), a rampjirt of a fort, < remparer, de-
fend, fortify, inclose with a rampart (P. rem-
parer, refl., fortify oneself), < re-, again, + em-
parer, defend, fortify, surround, seize, take
possession of (P. emparer, seize, take posses-
sion of), < en- + parer, defend : see pare^, par-
ry. Cf . It. riparo (= Pg. reparo), a defense, <
riparare, defend, = Pg. reparar, repair, shel-
ter: see ry>air^. Cf. parapet, which contains
the same ult. verb.] 1. In /ort., an elevation
or mound of earth round a place, capable of
resisting cannon-shot, and having the parapet
raised upon it; a protecting enceinte; also,
this elevation together with the parapet. The
rampart is built of the earth taken out of the ditch, but
the lower part of the outer slope is usually constructed of
masonry. The top of the rampart behind the parapet
should have sufficient width for the free passage of troops,
guns, etc. See cut under ^arope^
Thrice . . . did he set up his banner upon the rampier
of the enemy. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iii.
When bands
Of pioneers, with spade and pickaxe arm'd.
Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field,
Or cast a rampart. Milton, P. L., i. 678.
rampier
The term rampart, though strictly meaning the mound
on which the parapet standi generally includes the par^
pet Itself.
Brande and Cox, Diet, of Sci^, Lit, and Art, III. 205.
Hence — 2. Something that serves as a bulwark
or defense ; an obstruction against approach or
intrusion ; a protecting inclosure.
What rampire can my human frailty raise
Against the assault of fate?
Fletcher (and Massinger ?), Lovers' Progress, iv. 2.
At length they reached an open level, encompassed od
all sides by a natural rampart of rocks.
PrescoU, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 7,
Rampart gun. See gwn^. =Syn. See fortification.
rampart (ram'paaii), V. t. [Formerly also ram-
pire, rampei-; < rampart, rampire, n.] To forti-
fy with ramparts ; protect by or as ^ by a ram-
part; bolster; strengthen.
Set but thy foot
Against our rampired gates, and they shall ope.
S?tdk., T. of A., V. 4. 47.
Those grassy hills, those glittering dells,
Proudly ramparted with rocks.
Coleridge, Ode to the Departing Year, vii.
'Neath rampired Solidor pleasant riding on the Kance !
Browning, Herv6 Kiel.
rampart-grenade (ram'part-grf-nad''), n. See
Rampant Arches.
a, grand staircase of the Nouvel Opi£ra,
Paris ; 6, crowning arcade in facade of Sta.
rampart-slope (ram'part-slop), n. In. fort, the
slope which terminates the rampart on the in-
terior, connecting the terre-plein with the pa-
rade; the ramp or talus.
rampet, v. and n. An obsolete form of ramp.
ramper^ (ram'per), n. 1. An obsolete or dia-
lectal form of rampart. — 2. A turnpike road.
Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
ramper^ (ram'per), m. l<ramp + -er^.] A ruf-
fian who infests race-courses. [Slang.] Uncyc.
Diet.
ramph-. Porwordsbegiuniugthus, seerhamph-.
rampick, rampike (ram'pik, ram'pik), n. pPor-
meny also ranpiek, ranpike; appar.< ran^ (iden-
tified by some with ran- in ran-tree, roan-tree,
mountain-ash (cf. rantle-tree)) +pick^ oipike^.]
A tree having dead boughs standing out of its
top ; any dead tree : also used attributively (in
this use also rampicked). [Old and prov. Eng. ;
U.S. and New Brunswick, in the form rampike.]
When their fleeces gin to waxen rough.
He combes and trims them with a rampicke bough.
The Affectionate Shepheard (1594). {HaUiweU.')
The figedranpick trunk where plow-men cast their seed.
Drayton, Polyolbion, 11. 205.
The march of the fire was marked next morning by . . .
hundreds of blackened trees which would never bud
again. The sight of these bare and lifeless poles Is a com-
mon one here ; the poles are termed ram-pikes.
W. F. Eae, Newfoundland to Manitoba, ilL
rampicked (ram'pikt), a. [< rampick + -ed^.]
See rampick.
According to Wilbraham, a rampicked tree is a stag-
headed tree, 1. e. like an overgrown oak, having the stumps
of boughs standing out of its top, Halliwell.
rampiert, n. An obsolete form of rampart.
rampike, n. See rampick.
ramping (ram'ping),^. a. In lier,, same as ram-
pant, 4.
rampion (ram'pi-on), n. [Appar. corrupted
from It. ramponzolo, raperonzolo, raperonzo =
Sp. reponche, ruiponce = Pg. raponto, ruiponto
= OP. raiponee, reponce, raiponse = LGr. rapuns-
je = G. rapunzel = Sw. Dan. rapumel (ML. ra-
puncium), a plant, the Campanula Bapuneulus,
also the Phyteuma spicatum, < ML. rapunculiis,
dim. of L. rapa, rapum, a turnip : see rape^.
For the form, cf. Sp. rampion, a species of lo-
belia.] 1. One of the beUflowers, Campanula
Eapunculus, a native of central and southern
Europe, formerly much cultivated in gairdens
for its white tuberous roots, which were used as
asalad. TilLoveita\i.y garden rampion. — 2. Aname
of several plants of other genera Homed ram-
- pion, a general name of the species of Phyteuma, plants
related to the bellflowers, and called homed because the
slender corolla-lobes in some species remain long coherent
in a conical beak.— Large rampion, said to be a name of
the evening primrose, (Enothera Uenrds.
rampire, n. and v. An obsolete or archaic vari-
ant of rampart (which see).
rampired (ram'pird*), a. [< rampire + -ed^.]
Furnished with jamparts. See quotations un-
der rampa/rt, v.
rampisllt (ram'pish), a. [< ramp + ^Ti^.] Bam-
pant. Palsgrave. (Halliwell.)
rampier (ramp'ler), n. and a. [Also ramplor;
appar. equiv. to ramper^, lit. one who ramps, or
to rambler, onB who ramlDles or roves: see ram-
per^, rambler.] I, n. A gay, roving, or unset-
tled fellow. [Scotch.]
He 's , a mischievous clever ramplor, and never
devals with cracking his jokes on me.
GiUt, Sii Andrew Wylie, I. 226.
rampler
II. a. Roving; unsettled. Gait. [Scotch.]
Bampoor chudder. A soft shawl of fine wool
of the kind made at Bampoor in the Northwest
Provinces, India. Such shawls are called in
England and America simply chudder. See
chudder.
Tampostan, n. Same as rambutan.
ramps^ (lamps), n.^Z. Same as ramsojw. [Prov.
Eng.]
ramps^ (ramps), n. Same as rampion.
rampse (ramps), v. i. ; pret. and pp
ppr. rampsing. [Variant of ramp.^ To cUmbl
SaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.]
rampsman (ramps'man), n. ; pi. rampsmen
(-men). [Appar. < ramp + poss. gen. -s +
man. Cf . craclcsman.'} A highway rohber who
uses violence when necessary. The Slang Dic-
tionary, p. 211.
ram-riding (ram'ri'''ding), n. See the quota-
tion.
One summer evening, when the Bcandalised townsmen
and theh* wedded wives assembled, and marched down to
the cottage with intent to lead the woman in a Ramrrid-
in^, i. e. in a shameful penitential procession through the
streets, the sight ol Kit playing in the garden, and his
look of innocent delight as he ran in to call his mother out,
took the courage out of them.
The Speaker, AprU 19, 1890, 1. 427.
ramrod (ram'rod), n. [< ram^ + rod.] A rod
for ramming down the charge of a gun, pistol,
or other firearm, especiallyfor small hand-fire-
arms. (Compare rammer.) Now that most small-
arms load at the hreech, ramrods are much less used than
formerly. The ordinary ramrod for shot-guns, rifles, and
the like was an un jointed wooden or iron rod, enlarged at
the head or there fitted with a metal cap, and furnished
at the other end with a screw or wormer for extracting a
charge ; when not in use it was carried in thimbles on the
under side of the barrel.
ramrod-bayonet (ram 'rod-ba"g-net), n. A steel
rod one end of which is fitted for cleaning the
bore of a rifle, while the other is pointed to serve
as a bayonet : when intended for use as a wea-
pon, the bayonet end is drawn a certain dis-
tance beyond the muzzle, and is held by a
catch.
ramroddy (ram'rod-i), a. [< ramrod + -yi.]
Like a ramrod ; stiff or unbending as a ramrod ;
prim; formal; obstinate. [CoUoq.]
The inevitable English nice middle-class tourist with his
wife, the latter rwmroddy and uncompromising.
C. D. Wcmter, Their Pilgrimage, p. 60.
Bamsden's eyepiece. See eyepiece.
ramshackle^ (ram'shak-1), a. and n. [Also, as
adj., ramshackled, Sc. ramshackled; < loel. ram-
skakhr, quite wrong, absurd (Cleasby and Vig-
fusson); otherwise defined as "ramshackle,
crazy"; < ramr, strong, very, as intensive pre-
fix, veiy, + skaMr, wry, distorted, unequal,
> Sc. shach, distort: see shack. The second
element in the E. word is appar. confdrmed to
shackle; cf . loel. skokull, Sw. skakel, Dan. skagle,
the pole of a carriage that shakes about: see
shackle.2 I. a. Loose-jointed; ill-made; out of
gear or repair ; crazy ; tumble-down ; unregu-
lated; chaotic.
There came . . . my lord the cardinal, in his n^nwAacfrZe
and his two, nay three, footmen behind him.
4952
ing the ditch, and itself commanded by the
main work. — 3. An ammonite: a general name
of fossil eephalopods whose shells are spiral,
twisted, or bent.— 3. A winding net supported
by stakes, to inclose fish that come in with the
tide. HalUioell. [Prov. Eng.]
ramskin (ram'skin), n. [Prob. a corruption
of ramekin.'] A species of cake made of dough
and grated cheese. Also called Sefton cake, as
said to have been invented at Croxteth Hall,
England, the seat of Lord Sefton. Imp. Diet.
ramsons (ram'zonz), n. pi. [Formerly also rom-
sens, ramsins, sometimes corruptly ramshoms;
irreg., with additional plural suffix -a, for *ram-
son, *ramsen, itself a plural in ME.,< MB. *ram-
sen (< AS. hramsan), pi. (for which are found
ramsis, ramzys, ramseys, with pi. -s) of singu-
lar "ramse (> E. dial. *ramse, ramps, ramsh,
alaoi'amsy, ramsey), < AS. Iwamsa (pi. hramsan),
broad-leafed garlic, = Bav. dial, ramsen, ramr-
sel = Sw. *rams (in comp. rams-lok (lok = E.
leek), bear-garlic) = Dan. rams, also in comp.
rams-log (log = E. leek), garlic ; of. Lith. kre-
musse, kremuszis, wild garlic, Ir. creamh, garlic,
Gr. Kp6fimv, an onion.] A species of garlic.
Allium ursinum, of the northern parts of the
Old World.
Eate leekes in Lide and ramsim in May, •
And all the yeare after physicians may play.
Aubrey's Wilts, MS. Koyal Soc, p. 124. (HaUiwell.)
ram-stag (ram'stag), «. A gelded ram. SaUi-
well. [Prov. Eng.]
ram-stam (ram'stam), a. and n. [A riming com-
pound, < romS + stam, var. of stamp.'] I, a.
Forward; thoughtless; headstrong. HaUiwell.
[Scotch and North. Eng.]
The hairum-scairum, ram-sUj/m boys.
Burm, To James Smith.
II, n. A giddy, forward person. [Scotch.]
VTatty is a lad of a methodical nature, and no a hurly-
burly ram^staim,, like yon flea-luggit thing, Jamie.
Gait, The Entail, III. 70.
ram-stam (ram'stam), adv. [< ram-stam, a.]
Precipitately; headlong. [Scotch.]
The least well get, if we gang ram-stam in on them,
will be a broken head, to learn us better havings.
Scott, Eob Boy, xxviii.
ramstead, ramsted (ram'sted), n. Same as
ranstead.
ramstead-weed (ram'sted-wed), n. Same as
ranstead.
ramtil (ram'til), n. [B. Ind.] A plant, Guizo-
tia Abyssimica, with oleiferous seeds.
ramule (ram'iil), n. [< P. ramule, < L. ramulus,
a little branch: see ramulus.] In bot., same as
ranarium
the arteries of the pia mater, which penetrate
the substance of the brain.
rani (ran). Preterit of run.
ran^t (ran), n. [< ME. *ran, < AS. ran, rob-
bery, open rapine, < loel. ran = Dan. ran, rob-
bery, depredation.] Open robbery and rajpine ;
force; violence.
ran^ (ran), n. [Also rann; < ME. ran, ron, < W.
rhan, a part, division, sharCj portion, section,
= Ir. Gael, rann, part, division, verse, poem.]
A song.
ran^ (ran), n. [Perhaps a confused form of
rand^, strip of leather.] 1. The hank of a
string. HaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. In rope-
making, twenty cords of twine wound on a reel,
every cord being so parted by a knot as to be
easily separated from the others. — 3. Naut.,
yams coiled on a spun-yam winch. Encyc.
Diet.
ran^ (ran), n. Same as runn.
Banal (ra'na.), n. [NL., < L. rana, frog, prob.
orig. *racna'j & croaker; cf. raccare, cry as a ti-
ger.] 1 . ■ An extensive Linnean genus of aquat-
Brain of Rana escu-
lenta, from above, x 4.
Lol, olfactory lobe,
or rhinencephalon,
with /, olfactoiy
nerves; He, cerebral
hemisphere, or prosen-
cephalon ; Fho, thai-
amencephalon ; Pn,
pineal body; Lop, op-
tic lobe ; C, cerebel-
lum ; Srh, fourth ven-
tricle ; Mo, medulla
oblongata.
coach,
Thackeray, Newcomes, xxxv.
To get things where you wanted them, untU they shook
loose again by the rasm-shaekle movements of the machme.
Bramwelt, Wool-Carding, p. 135.
In the present complex, artificial, and generally rarni-
shaekle condition of municipal organization in America.
The American, IX. 229.
H. n. A thoughtless fellow. [Scotch.]
Gin yon ohield had shaved twa niches nearer you, your
bead, my man, would have lookit very like a bluidy pan-
cake. This will learn ye again, ye young ramtshaclde.
Lockhart, Beginsdd Dalton, I. 199.
ramshackle^ (ram'shak-1), v. A cormpt form
of ransack, confused with ramshackle^.
ramshackled (ram'shak-ld), a. [Sc. mra-
shackled, < ramshackle^ + -ed^.] Same as ram-
shackle'^.
ramshackly (ram'shak-li), a. [< ramshackle^ +
-yi.] Same as ramshackle^.
This old lady was immeasorably fond of the old ra/m-
shuckly house she lived in.
C. Reade, Clouds and Sunshine, p. 15.
ram's-head (ramz'hed), n. 1. A species of
lad/a-slipper or moccasin-flower, Cypripedium
arietinum, a rare plant of northern swamps in
North America. The solitary flower has the three
sepals distinct, is smaller than that of the common lady's-
slipper, is colored brownish and reddish, and is drooping
and of an odd form suggesting the name.
2. A seed of the chick-pea, Cicer arietinum.
ram's-horn (ramz'h6m), n. 1. A semicircular
work in the ditch of a fortified place, sweep-
ramuli, n. Plural of ramulus.
ramuliferous(ram-u-lif'e-rus),fl!. [i'L.ramulus,
a little branch, -\- 'ferre"= B. bear^.] In bot.,
bearing ramuli or branchlets.
ramulose (ram'u-los), a. [< L. ramulosus : see
ramulous.] Same as ramulotis Ramulose cell
or areolet of the wing, in entrnn., a cell or areolet emitting
a short nervure from the outer or posterior side.
ramulous (ram'u-lus), a. [= F. ramuleux,
< L. ramulosus, full of little branches (ap-
plied by Pliny to veined leaves), < ramulus, a
little branch: see ramafes.] 1. In 6oi., having
many small branches. — 3. In entom., having
one or more small branches ; ramulose.
ramulus (ram'u-lus), n.; pi. ramuli (-li). [L.,
a little branch, dim. of ramus, a branch ; see ra-
mus. Ct. ramule.] l.Jnbot.,anat.,&Tiizodl.,a,
branchlet or twig ; a small ramus or branch, as
of an artery. — 2. [cap.] [NL.] A genus of or-
thopterous insects. Saussv/re, 1861.— Ramulus
carotico-tyinpaiilcUB, one of the small branches of the
internal carotid artery given off in the carotid canal to the
mucous membrane of the tympanic cavity.
ramus (ra'mus),». ; pi. rami^-na). [=P.rame,f.,
OF. raim, m., = Sp. Pg. It. ramo, m., < L. ramus,
a branch, bough, twig, club, orig. *radmus =
Gr. l>d6a/ioc, a young branch; cf. Gr. l>idi^, a
branch, = L. radix, a root : see radix.] In biol.,
a branch or branching part, as of a plant, vein,
artery, or forked bone. The rami of the ischium and
pubis are their narrowed projecting parts. The rami of
the lower jaw, as in man, are the ascending branches at
each end, as distinguished from the intermediate hori-
zontal part, called the body; but in any case where such
distinction is not marked, as in birds and reptiles, a ramus
is either half of the mandible, or one of the gnathidia,
usually composed of several distinct bones. See diagram
under bUl, and cuts under Felidse sai'pleurockynt.—'llLaD.-
dihular, pubic, etc., ramus. See the adjectives.
ramuscule (ra-mus'kul), n. [= F. ramuseule,
< LL. ramusculus, dim. of L. ramus, a branch:
see ramtts.] 1. A branchlet; a small spray. —
2. In anat., a ramulus, branchlet, or twig, as of
ic salient anu-
rous batrachi-
ans, typical of
Rana- SMI of the Frog ; upper figure ^hc f amilv i?0-
from above, lower from below. . ., , , *o,
e, prdle-bone, or os-eu-ceinture ; «o, ex- male; tue trOgS
occipital ;/; frontal part of frontoparietal proper. It WaS
bone; m;r, maxillary ; «, nasal; (7>, opis- S««™„«1^ ,««««
thotlc;/, parietal part of frontipSietal; formerly moro
par, parasphenoid ; pm, premaxilla ; po, than COntCr-
proOtic; /^, pterygoid; ^, quadrato}ugal; . .,.
sg, squamosal ; sus, suspensorium ol lower TTTTnOUS WluU
Jaw ; v, vomer ; 1, optic foramen ; a, fora- fhA nvono-nf
men ovale; 3, condyloid foramen. . ., Preseni
taxailj Banidse.
Seefrogi, and also cuts under bullfrog, girdle-
bone, Anura^, and temporomastoid. — 2. A ge-
nus of moUusks. Humphreys, 1797.
Bana^ (ra'na), n. [Hind, rand, a prince, < Skt.
ra^amya, princely, royal,< rc^an, a king, prince :
seeraja^. Qit.rani.] Prince: the title of some
sovereign princes or ruling chiefs in Rajputana
and other parts of India.
Rdnti Bhim Sink [of Dholpur], the tenth in descentfrom
Rdiiid Singan Deo, seized upon the fortress of GwaJior.
, Eneyc. Brit., VII. 147.
Banee (ra'ne), n.pl. [NL., pi. of L. rana, frog:
see Bana^.'] The salient batraohians as an or-
der of reptiles. Wagler, 1830.
Banales (ra-na'lez), n. pi. [NL. (Lindley, 1833),
< Ban(unculus), the type of the cohort.] A co-
hort of dicotyledonous plants of the polypeta-
lous series Thalarmflorse. it is characterized by the
commonly numerous stamens and pistils, all distinct and
inserted on the receptacle or within It, and by the fleshy
and usually copious albumen, surrounding a small or mi-
nute embryo. It includes about 1,800 species, grouped in
8 orders, of which the Ranunaidaceee, the leading family,
and the SUlerdacese have generally one row of petals and
one of five sepals. The other orders are remarkable among
plants In having their petals commonly in two or more
rows, and Include the calycanthus and barberry families,
the leaves in the first opposite, in the second usually com-
pound ; the magnolia and custard-apple families, trees with
alternate leaves, in the first mainly stipulate ; the moon-
seed family, consisting of vines; and the water-lilies, a
family of aquatics.
ranarium (ra-na'ri-um), n.; pi. ranaria (-a).
[NL., < L. rana, frog (see Eana^), + -ariurii.]
A collection of live frogs ; a place where frogs
are kept alive, to study their transformations,
for vivisection in physiological experiments,
etc.
The Institute also contains a large room full of rabbits
and guinea-pigs, for which a little lawn is provided in
summer. It ^so possesses a ranari/mn, in which are 700
frogs, divided into thirty-one departments, to prevent the
spread of the frog disease. Lameet, Xo. 8426, p. 862.
Banatra
Banatra^(ran'a-trS,), n. [NL.]
cian (1794) genus of hemipterous insects of the
family Nepidse. in these
carious water-bugs the body is
extremely long and cylindric,
the short acute rostrum is di-
rected forward, there is a long
anal respiratory tube, and the
lore legs are raptorial. The
species are aquatic and camiv-
oroas. They are found In fresh-
water ponds, and feed on flsh-
eggf^ fry, and other water-bugs.
IL liTiearig of Europe is an ex-
ample ; R. fusca is common in
North America, where it is
called needXe-bug.
2. [i. c] A bug of this
genus; a needle-bug.
rancei (rans), n. [< OP.
ranelie, a stick, wooden
pin, P. ranche, a round
(of a ladder), rack, prop,
orbraoe: cf.OP.forec7tier, ■ ■
rancher, P. randier, a rack. Needie-bue ( Ranatra fys-
ladder, a erosspieee of ™)-"«>«-i»"="™'B-e.
wood placed in front of or behind a cart ; <
L. ramex {ramie-), a stafE, < ramus, a branch,
bough, twig, club: see ramus.'] 1. A shore or
prop acting as a strut for the support of some-
thing, as of a Congreve rocket. — 2. One of the
cross-bars between the legs of a chair.
rance^ (rans), v. t. ; pret. and pp. raneed, ppr.
ranoing, [< OP. rancor, prop, < ranee, a prop:
see ranee^.2 To shore or prop. [Scotch.]
Bance^t (rans), a. An obsolete form of Shenish,.
Ane great pels of Rmwe wyne.
Aberdeen Reg., 16th cent. {Jamiexm.)
rance^f, ranncet, n. [Early mod. E. ranee,
raunce (?), a kind of fine stone; < P. ranee,
ranee marire, defined bjr Larousse as a white
and red-brown marble veined with ashen-white
and blue; prob. lit. 'Rhenish' « Bance^), be-
longing to the Rhine, as it were a sort of 'Rhine-
stone.'] An unknown hard mineral or fine
stone, supposed to be some sort of marble.
What liuing Ranee, what rapting Ivory,
Swims in these streams?
Sylveeter, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, il.. The Trophies.
She 's empty ; hark ! she sounds ; there 'a nothing in 't ;
The spark-engendering flint
Shall sooner melt, and hardest raunce shall first
Dissolve and quench thy thirst.
Quarles, Emblems, ii. 10.
rancescent (ran-ses'ent), a. [< LL. rances-
een{t-)s, ppr. of raneescere, inceptive of L. (ML.)
roBce/e, stink: see rancid and rancor.] Becom-
ing rancid or sour. Imp. Diet.
ranchl (ranch), V. t. [Also raunch; prob.
4953
1. A Pabri- rancheria (ran-che-re'a), n. [Mex. Sp.,<roJW!/!o,
a ranch: see raneh^.'] ik Mexico, the dwelling-
place of aranohero or of rancheros;aherdsman's
hut, or a village of herders; hence, a settle-
ment, more or less permanent, of Indians.
Prior to the occupation of California by the Europeans
the Indians dwelt, more or less, in temporary villages, later
called ranchfirias, where they had an imperfect govern-
ment, controlled by chiefs, councils, and priests.
Johra Hopkins Univ. Studies, gth ser., IV. 3S.
By evening all the Indians had betaken themselves to
their own rancherian, and the agency was comparatively
deserted for another week. The Centary, XXXTIII. 398.
lanchero (ran-eha'ro), n. [< Mex. Sp. ranehero,
steward of a ranoho or mess, ranchman, herds-
man, also owner of a rancho or small farm, <
ranelio, a ranch: see ranoho.] In Mexico, a
herdsman; a person employed on a rancho;
Halting to raunch the arrow out.
Spenser, Shep. Gal., August.
Against a stump his tusk the monster grinds, . . .
And rancTted his hips with one continued wound.
myitn, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., 1.
ranch^ (ranch), n. [< raneh^, v.]
or wound. [Obsolete or prov,
specifically, one who has the oversight of a
rancho, or the care of providing for its people ;
by extension, same as ranchman.
A fancy serape hanging on a hook, with a ranchero's bit
and lariat. J. W. Palmer, The New and the Old, p. 86.
ranch-house (raneh'hous), n. The principal
dwelling-house on a ranch ; the abode of a ranch-
man. [Western U. S.]
Meanwhile the primitive ranch-Jumse, outbuildings, and
corrals are built. T. Roosevelt, The Century, XXXV. 499.
ranching (ran'ching), n. [Native name.] A
slender dagger used in the Malay Islands.
ranchmen
on a ranch;
specifically,
one who owns or who has the charge or control
of a ranch ; a raiicher.
At the main ranch there will be a cluster of log build-
ings, including a separate cabin for the foreman or raTich.
man. T. Roosevelt, The Centary, XXXV. 499.
A deep scratch ja,ncho (ran'oho), ». [< Sp. rancho,
S'-l fiTinn.ll fn.7TTi_ p.1n.n_ in
var. form of *rench for wrench.] To' wrench; ranchman (ranch 'man), n. ; pi.
tear; wound. [Obsolete or prov. Bug.] ^'^^^}\r.^^^^ ^'^° 's employed o
_ ^. . I ^,. i one of the herdsmen of a ranch ; s
Griffade [F.], a ranche or clinch with a beast's claw.
ranch^ (ranch), n. [Also ranche; < Sp. rancho:
see rancho.] 1. In the western part of the
United States, especially in the pEffts former-
ly Mexican, on the great plains, etc., a herd-
ing establishment and estate; a stoek-fami;
by extension, in the same regions, any farm or
farming establishment. The tract of land over which
.. K. L^ isp- raneno, a mess,
small farm, clan, hamlet, a clear passage, = Pg.
rancho, mess on a ship, soldiers' quarters ; cf .
ranchar, divide seamen into messes, Sp. arran,-
charse, dwell together; origin doubtful.] In
Spanish America, a rude hut or cluster of huts
where herdsmen or stockmen Uve or only lodge ;
hence, an establishment for breeding cattle and
horses ; a stock-farm. It is thus distinguished
from a hacienda, which is a cultivated farm or
plantation,
ta^n^^°ld\'™wf "s'ee'ra^e'r te^"""™"*" ^^^ ^ancid (ran'sid), a. [=' OP. raneide, P. rand,
mrage IB cauea a ran^e. oee range, n/i). «.„,„/.» /■Slirn ^nmot »./,«, <.«„», n ».„»,„«.„„».■
2. In a restricted sense, a company of ranch-
ers orraneheros; the body of persons employed
on a ranch.
The Spanish rancho means a mess, and so the American
herder speaks of his companions collectively as the ranch
or the "outfit." L. Swinburne, Scribner's Mag., IL 509.
ranch^ (ranch), V. i. [< rarwli^, n.] To con-
duct or work upon a ranch; engage in herding.
[Western U. S.]
RancMng is an occupation like those of vigorous, primi-
tive pastoral peoples, having little in common with the
humdrum, workaday business world of the nineteenth cen-
tury. T. Roosevelt, The Century, XXXV. 600.
Patients who have exchanged the invalid's room at
home for cattle ranching in Colorado.
Hancet, No. 3481, p. 1079.
rancher (rau'ch^r), n. [< ranch^ + -erl. Cf.
ranee (> MD. ranst, ransttgh, D. rans, ransig =
G. rangig) = Pr. rane = Sp. rancio = Pg. It. ran-
eido, < L. ranmd/us, stinking, rank, rancid, of-
fensive, < rancere (ML.), stmk, in L. used only
in ppr. rancen{t-)s, stinking; cf. rancor, feom
the same verb. The adj. rarefcl is not related.]
1. Rankly offensive to the senses; having a
tainted smell or taste; fetid or soured from
chemical change.
The oil with which fishes abound often turns rancid, and
lies heavy on the stomach, and affects the very sweat with
a rancid smell. Arlmthnot, Aliments, p. 79.
2. Repulsive to the moral sense; disgusting;
loathsome. [Rare.]
One of the most rancid and obnoxious pieces that have
ever disgraced the stage.
ilTew York Tribune, May 16, 1890.
ranehero.] A person engaged in ranching; one rancidify(ran-sid'i-fl), v.». and*.; pret. andpp.
who carries on or works upon a ranch ; a ranch- rancidified, ppr. raneidifying. [< rancid + -i-fy.]
man. [Western U. S.] To become or make rancid. [Rare.]
To misdirect persons was a common enough trick among The oxidation or raneidi/ying of the cacao batter.
ranchers. W. Shepherd, Prairie Experiences, p. 97. TherapeiMe Gazette, XI. 314.
Bandallite
rancidity (ran-sid'i-ti), ». [=P. ranciditS (cf,
ap. randdez, It. randdezea), < L. as if *ran~
cidita(t-)s, < randdu^, rancid: see rancid.]
The quality of being rancid; a rankly sour or
tainted smell and taste, as of old oil.
rancidly (ran'sid-li), adv. With a rancid odor ;
mustUy.
rancidness (ran'sid-nes), n. The quality of
being rancid; rancidity.
ranCEt, a. and V. An obsolete spelling of rank^.
rancor, rancour (rang'kgr), n. [Pormerly
also ranker; < ME. rancor j rancour, rankowre,
< OP. rancor, raneuer, rancoeur, dial, rancour,
disgust, rancor, hatred, = Pr. rancor = OSp.
rancor, Sp. rencor = Pg. rancor = It. rancore,
< LL. rancor, a stinking smell or fiavor, rancid-
ness, also bitterness, grudge, < L. (ML.) rajj-
cere, stink, be rancid: see rancid. Cf. the var.
form OP. *rancure, raneune, P. raneune = OPg.
raneura = It. rancura, < ML. rancura, rancuna,
rancor.] If. Sourness; bitterness.
ForBanqno's issue . . , Duncan have I murder'd ;
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace
Only for them. Shdk., Macbeth, iii. 1. 67.
2. Rankling malice or spitefulness ; bitter ani-
mosity; in general, a soured or cankered dispo-
sition, inciting to vindictive action or speech;
a nourished hatred or grudge.
In her corage no rancour dooth abide.
Babees Book (E. K T. S.), p. 33.
Some whom emulation did enrage
To spit the venom of their rancoui^s gall.
ford. Fame's MemoriaL
The rancor of an evill tongue.
MUton, Apology for Smectymnnus.
=Syn. 2. Asperity, Harshness, etc. (see aarirmmy\ lU-
vm. Enmity, etc. (see animosity), gall, spleen, spite, spite-
fulness, rankling, hate, hatred, malevolence, bad blood.
rancorous, rancourous (rang'kor-us), a. [<
OP. rancuros, rancorus, raneurus = Sp. rencoro-
so, < ML. raneorosus, rancorous, full of hate or
spite, <L. rancor, rancor: seeroMcor.] Pull of
rancor; implacably spiteful or malicious; in-
tensely virulent.
Can yon in words make show of amity,
And in your shields display such rancorous minds?
Marlowe, Edward II., 11 2.
He [Warren Hastings] was beset by rancorous and un-
principled enemies. Macaulay, Warren Hastings.
=Syn. See rancor.
rancorously, rancourously (rang'kor-us-li),
adi\ In a rancorous manner; with spiteful mal-
ice or vindictiveness.
rand^ (rand), n. [< ME. rand, border, margin,
edge, strip, slice, < AS. rand, rond, border, edge,
brink, margin, shore, the rim or boss of a shield,
a shield, buckler, = I), rand = ML&. rant, edge,
border, etc., = OH(J. rant, MHGr.'ran*, border,
rim or boss of a shield, a shield, G. rand, bor-
der, brim, rim, edge, etc., =Ieel. rond, a stripe,
a shield, = Sw. Dan. rand, a stripe, = Goth.
*randa (prob. found in the derived Sp. randa,
lace or edging on garments) ; cf . Lith. rumbas,
OBulg. reby, border, edge, rind, seam ; akin to
n'TOi, q. V. Hence ult., through OF., E. ran-
dom..] If. A margin, border, or edge, as the
bank of a stream. — 2t. A strip or slice of flesh
cut from the margin of a part or from between
two parts.
A great boIle-fuU of benen were betere in his wombe.
And with the randes of bakun his baly for to Alien,
Than pertriches or ploners or pekokes y-rosted.
Piers Plomnan's Crede (E. E. T. S.), L 763.
Giste de hceyf [F.], a rand of beef ; a long and fleshie piece
cut out from between the flank and buttock. Cotgrave.
They came with chopping Imives
To cut me into rands, and sirloins, and so powder me.
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, v. 2.
3. A hank of line or twine ; a strip of leather.
Halliwell. [Local, Eng.] — 4. Rushes on the
borders and edges of land near a river. Salli-
well. [Prov. Eng.] — 5. In shoemdking: (at)
The edge of the upper-leather; a seam of a
shoe. Bailey, (ftf) A thin inner shoe-sole, as of
cork. Simmonds. (c) One of the slips beneath
the heel of a sole to bring the rounding surface
to a level ready to receive the lifts of the heel:
distinctively called lieel-rand. See cut under
boot.
rand^t (rand), V. i. [Avar, of rant.] To storm;
rant.
He was born to fill thy mouth, ... he will teach thee
to tear and rand. B. Jonson, Poetaster, ilL 1.
randall-grass (ran'dal-gras), n. The meadow-
fescue. See Festuca. [Virginia.]
Bandallite (ran'dal-it), n. [After Benjamin
Bandall (1749-18{)8), founder of the body of
Preewill Baptists at New Durham, New Hamp-
shire, in 1780.] A Preewill Baptist. [Rare.]
randan
randan (ran'dan), n. [Cf. ran^; perhaps in
part due to rdhdon, random: see random. In
the 3d and 4th senses uncertain ; perhaps with
ref. to quick movement; but in def. 3 possibly
a corrupt form, connected with range, v.,6.2 1 .
A noise or uproar. HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.] —
2. A spree: used only in the pliase omi/jeraw-
dan (also on the ratidy), on a spree. [Prov.
Eng.]— 3. The finest part of the bran of wheat ;
the product of the second sifting of meal.
[Prov. Eng.]— 4. A boat impelled by three
rowers, the one amidships using a pair of sculls,
and the bowman and strokesman one oar each.
Also called randan-gig. [Eng.]
randan-gig (ran'dan-gig), n. Same as randan, 4.
A sort of boat, ... a randan-gig buUt for us by Searle
of Putney, where ... we used to keep her.
Yates, Fifty Years of London Life.
randanite (ran'dan-it), n. [< Bandan,'Puy de
D6me, Auvergne," France, where it is found, +
■ite^.'i The name given in France to infusorial
silica, or kieselguhr, found under the soil in
peat-bogs in the department of Puy de D6me,
at Randan and in other localities in the neigh-
borhood of Clermont.
Bandia (ran'di-a), n. [NL. (A. A. Houston,
1737, in LinnsBus's "Genera Plantarum"),
named after Isaac Band, a London botanist of
the 18th century.] A genus of gamopetalous
plants of the order Bubiacex and tribe Garde-
niesB, It is characterized by hermaphrodite and axillary
flowers, united style-branches bearing a club-shaped or fu-
siform stigma, a two-celled ovary with many ovules, seeds
with membranaceous coats, ana short intrapetiolar stip-
ules which are almost connate. There are about 100 spe-
cies, natives of tropical regions, especially in Asia and Afri-
ca. They are trees and shrubs, erect or climbing, with or
without thorns, and bearing opposite leaves which are obo-
vate or narrower, and either small or large flowers, which
are solitary or in clusters, and white or yellow, rarely red.
The fruit is a many-seeded, two-celled roundish berry,
yielding a blue dye in the West Indian species, as IL acu-
leata, known as indigo-beny and inkberry. These species
also furnish a valuable wood, used for cask-staves, ladders,
etc. R. duinwtorum , a small thorny tree, widely distributed
from Africa to Java, is used as a hedge-plant In India,
while its fruit, called emetic nut, is there a current drug,
said also, like Cocculus Indictts, to have the property of
stupefying Ush.
randie, a. and n. See randy.
randing-machine (ran'ding-ma-shen"), n. In
shoe-manuf., a machine for fitting rands to
heel-blanks for shoes, after the rands have
been formed from rand-strips in a rand-forming
machine.
randing-tool (ran'ding-tol), n. In shoe-manuf,,
a hand-tool for cutting out strips of leather for
rands.
randle-balk (ran'dl-bfik), n. Same as randle-
har.
randle-bax (ran'dl-bar), n. The horizontal bar
built into the walls of an open chimney, from
which to hang hooks for supporting cooking-
vessels. See baeJc-bar.
randle-tree, n. See rantle-tree.
random (ran'dum), ».i [An altered form (as-
similated to whilom, seldom, ransom, the latter
also with oiig. re) of the early mod. E. randon,
< ME. randon, randun, randoun, force, impetu-
osity, < OF. randon, force, impetuosity, im-
petuous course, as of a torrent (grands randoms
de pluie, great torrents of rain) ; esp. in the
phrases d randon, d grand randon, with force
or fury, very fast, with great force (eourir du
grant randon, run with great fury) ; of. It. dim.
randello, a randello, at random; a randa, near,
with difficulty, exactly; of. Sp. de rendon, de
rondon, rashly, intrepidly, abruptly (nearly like
E. at random); perhaps < OHG. MHG. rant,
G. rand, edge, brim, nm, margin: see rand^.']
if. A rushing, as of a torrent ; an impetuous
course ; impetuosity ; violence ; force : espe-
cially with great, as in the phrase a great ran-
dom, with great speed or force.
And thei rennen to gidre a gret randmm.
MandevUU, Travels, p. 238.
The two kynges were derce and hardy, and mette with
eo greU raundon with speres that were grete and shorte.
Merlin (B. E. T. S.), lil. 628.
But of hym thought he to faill in no wise,
With gret raundon cam to hym in his gise.
Smn. o/ParUnay (E. E. T. S.), L 6866.
Coragiously the two kynges newely fought with great
random and force. Hall, Hen. Till., an. 12.
2f. A rush; spurt; gush.
Whan thei saugh come the dragon that Merlin bar,
that caste oute of his throte so grete raundon of flere in to
the aire, that was fuU of duste and powder, so that It
semed all reade . . . Merlin (E. B. T. S.), ii. 219.
Sf. A continuous flow of words ; a harangue.
Bandme, or longe renge of wurdys, or other thyngys,
harlngga, etc. Prompt. Pan., p. 123.
4954
4. An indeterminate course or proceeding;
hence, lack of direction, rule, or method ; hap-
hazard; chance: used only in the phrase at
random — that is, in a haphazard, aimless, and
purely fortuitous manner.
You flee with winges of often change at random where you
please. Turterville, The Lover to a Gentlewoman.
Sith late mischaunce had her compeld to chaunge
The land for sea, at randon there to raunge.
Spenser, F. Q., III. viiL 20.
Come not too neere me, I at random strike,
For gods and men I now hate both alike,
Heywood, Dialogues (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 178).
Like orient pearls at random strung.
Sir W. Jones, Song of Haflz.
5. The distance traversed by a missile ; range;
reach.
The angle which the missive Is to mount by, if we will
have it go to its furthest random, must be the half of a
right one. Sir K. Digby.
random (ran'dum), a. and ».2 [By ellipsis from
at random."] I. a. Proceeding, taken, done, or
existing at random; aimless; fortuitous; hap-
hazard; casual.
In common things that round us lie
Some random truths he can impart.
Wordsworth, A Poet's Epitaph.
I would shoot, howe'er in vain,
A random arrow from the brain.
Tennyson, Two Voices.
You feel that the whole of him [Dryden] was better than
any random specimen, though of his best, seems to prove.
Lowed, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 8.
Random choice, the selection of objects, subject to the
condition that they shall belong to a given class or col-
lection, but not voluntarily subject to any other condition.
The assumption is that objects so selected will in the
long run occur as objects of the same kind occur in gen-
eral experience. This assumption is natural, it leads to
no difficulty, and no serious doubt has ever been thrown
upon it. It is the fundamental postulate of the theory of
probability. See probability. — Random courses, in ma-
sonry and paving, courses of stones in horizontal beds,
the stones being of unequal thickness, but exactly fitted
together.— Random line, (a) In local probability, an in-
finite straight line supposed to be chosen in such a man-
ner that the infinitesimal probability of its cutting any
limited straight line is proportional to the length of the
latter. (&) In United States public land-surveying, a trial
line on which temporary mile and half-mile stakes are set,
for the purpose of getting the data for rerunning the same
line and setting permanent stakes at the corners. — Ran-
dom point, in local probability, a point supposed to be so
chosen that the infinitesimal probability of its lying within
any closed surface is proportional to the solid contents of
that surface.— Random-range ashler, random-tooled
ashler. - See aslder, 3. — Random shot, a shot not inten-
tionally directed to any point ; also, a shot with the muzzle
of the gun elevated above the horizontal line. — Ran-
dom stonework, in masonry, a construction formed of
squared stones vaiying in thickness and not laid in courses.
See cut under ashler. —Random tooling, the act of bring-
ing the face of a stone to a nearly smooth surface by hew-
ing it over with a broad-pointed chisel, which produces a
series of minute waves at right angles to its path. It is
called droving in Scotland. — Random work, random
stonework. — Random yam, in dyeing, yarn dipped into
a bath of water with a layer of color at the top, so as to
produce a clouded effect ; clouded yarn.
On the large scale the random yams are coloured in ma-
chines. V. Crookes, Dyeing and Callco-Printing, p. 102.
II. n. Something done or produced without
definite method, or with irregular or haphazard
effect, (o) In masonry, one of a number of dressed
stones of irregular or unmatched sizes. See random
stonework, under I.
50 tons squares, 250 tons dressed randoms, and 1000 tons
2 in. ringsmall. Engineer, LXVII. 117.
(6) In dyeing, clouded yam. See random yam, under I.
randomly (ran'dum-li), adv. [< random ■\- -Vy^.l
In a random manner; at random, or without
aim, purpose, or guidance.
An inf usorinm swims ramdomdy about.
£r. Spemxr, Data of Ethics, § 4.
randont, n. An obsolete form of random.
randont (ran'don), ». i. [< OF. randonner, run
swiftly, < randon, a swift course: see rcwwtom.]
To stray in a wild manner or at random.
Shall leave them free to randjon of their will.
Norton amd SackeUle, Ferrex and Porrex, L 2.
randy (ran'di), as. and n. [Also randie, ranti/;
< ra/nd^, rant, + -^i. Cf. randan.] I, a. Dis-
orderly! boisterous; obstreperous; riotous;
also, noisily wanton. [Scotch and North. Eng.]
A merry core
0" randie, gangrel bodies.
Bums, Jolly Beggars.
II. rt. ; pi. raredies (-diz). 1. A sturdy beggar
or vagrant ; one who exacts alms by threaten-
ings and abusive language. Also called randy-
beggar. [Scotch.] — 2. Arompinggirl; anoisy
hoyden; a scold; a violent and vulgar quarrel-
some woman. Jamieson. [Scotch and North.
Eng.]
That scandalous randy of a girl,
Carlyle, in Froude (Life in London, xviii.).
range
3. A spree : as, to be on the randy. HalliweU,
[Prov. Eng.]
ranedeerf, n. An obsolete form of reindeer.
ranee, n. See rani.
Ranelagh mobt, Banelagh capt. A cap worn
by women in the eighteenth century, apparent-
ly a form of the mob-cap: the name is taken
from Eanelagh, a place of fashionable resort
near Dublin-
ranforcet) v. t. Same as reinforce. Bailey.
rangi (rang). Preterit of ring^.
rang^t, n. and V. An old form of rank^.
range (ranj), v. ; pret. and pp. ranged, ppr.
ranging. [Early mod. E. also raunge; < ME,
rengen, < OF. renger, F. ranger (= Pr. rengar),
range, rank, order, array, < rang, a rank, row:
see rankK Cf. arrange, derange.] I. trans. 1.
To make a row or rows of ; place in a line or
lines ; hence, to fix or set in any definite order ;
dispose with regularity; array; arrange.
Than two of hem renged hem, and priked after the mes-
sagers as faste as the horse myght hem here.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 127.
They had raunged their ships broad in a front ranke.
Holland, tr. of Livy, p. 967.
For all the Etruscan armies
Were ranged beneath his eye.
Macaulay, Horatius,
2. To rank or class; place or reckon as being
of or belonging to some class, category, party,
etc. ; fix the relative place or standing of; clas-
sify; collocate.
The late Emperour Augustus all the world raungeth in
this ranke of men fortunate. Holland, tr. of Pliny, vii, 45.
So ^&y ranged all their youth under some family, and set
upon such a course, which had good success, for it made
all hands very industrious.
N. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 93.
The great majority of the Indians, if they took pai-t in
the war, ranged themselves on the side of the Crown.
Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., xiv.'
Among those inhabitants of the Roman dominion who
were personally free, there were four classes, ranged in an
ascending scale — provincials, Italians, Latins, Romans.
E. A. Fre&man, Ainer. Lects,, p. 320,
3t. To rank or reckon ; consider ; count.
The ,:£thiops were as fair
As other dames ; now black with black despair :
And in respect of their complexions changed.
Are eachwhere since for luckless creatures ranged.
B. Jonson, Masque of Blackness.
4t. To engage; occupy.
That, of all other, was the most fatal and dangerous ex-
ploit that ever I was ranged in.
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iii. 1.
5. To pass over or through the line, course, or
extent of; go along or about, especially for some
definite purpose; rove over or along: as, to
range the forest for game or for poachers ; to
range a river or the coast in a boat.
I found this credit^
That he did range the town to seek me out.
Shale., T. N., Iv. 3. 7.
As they ranged the coast at a place they named Whitson
Bay, they were kindly vsed by the Natiues.
Quoted in Capt, John Smith's Works, 1. 108.
To range the woods, to roam the park.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Conclusion.
6. To sift; pass through a range or bolting-
sieve. [Obsolete or local.]
They made a decree, and tooke order that no come
maistersthat bought and sold grain should beat this mule
away from their raunging sives.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, viii. 44.
II. intrams. 1. To constitute or be parallel
to a line or row ; have linear course or direction ;
be in or form a line : as, a boundary ranging
east and west ; houses ranging evenly with the
street.
Than thei rode forth and renged close that wey where
as the childeren fooghten full sore, Sor the Saisnes were
mo than vijmi in a flote. Merlin (E. B. T. S.), ii. 198.
Direct my course so right as with thy hand to show
Which way thy forests range.
Drayton, Polyolbion, 1 14.
The stones are of the same thickness as the walls, and
the pilasters have no capitals ; there is a comish below that
ranges round, which imght belong to a basement.
Poeoeke, Description of the Basi^ II. i. 136.
2. To be on a level; agree in class or position;
have equal rank or place; rank correspond-
ingly.
'Tis better to be lowly bom.
And range with humble livers in content
Than to be perk'd up in a glistering grief.
And wear a golden sorrow.
Shak., Hen. VIII., Ii 3. 20.
This was cast upon the board.
When all the full-faced presence of the Gods
Banged in the halls of Peleus. Tennyson, (Enone.
3. To go in a line or course; hence, to rove
freely ; pass from point to point ; make a course
or tour; roam; wander.
range
Let reason range beyonde his creede.
PvOenham, Parthenladea, xlii.
The Oaulea Irom the Albane Ollnnes . . . raunged iOl
over the champion and the sea coaate, and wasted the
coontrie. HoUand, tr. o£ Livy, p. 265.
How wild hig [man's] thoughts ! how apt to range !
How apt to Tary ! apt to change 1
(^tarleg, 'EnMema, iv. 5.
Watch him, for he ranges swift and far.
JH. Arncld, Empedocles on Etna.
4. To move in a definite manner, as for start-
ing game ; beat about; of dogs, to run within
the proper range.
All shranlc— like boys who, unaware,
Banging the woods to start a hare,
Come to the mouth of the darl£ lair
AVhere, growling low, a fierce old bear
Lies amidst bones and blood.
Maecmlay, Horatius.
Next comes the teaching to range, which is about the
most difficult part of breaking.
Dogs of Great Britain and America, p. 226.
Down goes old Sport, ranging a bit wildly.
The Field (London), March 27, 1886. (Encyc. Diet)
5. To have course or direction; extend in
movement or location; pass; vary; stretch;
spread: as, prices range between wide limits;
the plant ranges from Canada to Mexico.
Man ranges over the whole earth, and exists under the
most varied conditions.
A. E. WaMaee, Nat. Select., p. 226.
In temperate climates, toward the higher latitudes, the
quicksilver ranges, or rises and falls, nearly tliree inches.
Pi»z Boy, Weather Book, p. IS.
The Cyprinoids also afford an instance of an Indian
species ranging into Africa. Bncyc. Brit. , XIL 673.
6. In gun. , to have range : said of a missile, and
denoting length of range and also direction:
as, that shot ranged too far, or too much to the
right: rarely, of the gun itself To range by,
to sail by; pass ahead of, as a vessel. =Syn. 3. Boaim,
Bone, etc. See ramible, v.
range (ranj), n. [Early mod. E. also roAinge; <
late ME. range, reenge, order,range, row (cf . OP.
rangie, P. ram,g4e, range, row, etc.); < range, v.
The noun prob. in part involves ME. reng, pi.
renges, rmges, rank, series, row : see rorf2. cf .
also (in def . 10) rung^."] 1 . A line or row (usu-
ally straight or nearly straight) ; a linear series ;
a regular sequence; a rank; a chain: used es-
pecially of large objects permanently fixed or
lying in direct succession to one another, as
mountains, trees, buildings, columns, etc.
Iher be iiij rowes oiBanges of pylers thorow the Chirche.
TorMngtan, Diarie of Eng. Travel], p. 47.
There is a long row or range of buildings.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 192.
Altogether this arcade only makes us wish for more, for
a longer rai>ge from the same hand.
E. A. freeman, Venice, p. 247.
A row of Corinthian columns, standing on brackets, once
supported the archivolts of a range of niches.
J. Fergutsan, Hist. Arch., I. 367.
Specifically — (a) A line or chain of mountains ; a Cordil-
lera: as, to skirt the range; to cross the ranges. [In
mountainous regions, as parts of Australia and America,
this specific use is common.] ^) In United States sur.
veys of public land, one of a series of divisions numbered
east or west from the prime meridian of the survey, con-
sisting of townships which are numbered north or south
in every division from a base-line. See toimsMp. (c) In
geom., a series of points lying in one straight line.
2. A rank, class, or order; a series of beings
or things belonging to the same grade or hav-
ing like characteristics. [Bare.]
The next range of beings above him are the immaterial
intelligences. iSfr M. Hale.
3. The extent of any aggregate, congeries, or
complex, material or immaterial; array of
things or sequences of a specific kind; scope;
compass: as, the range of industries in a coun-
try; the whole range of events or of history;
the range of prices or of operations; the range
of one's thoughts or learning.
The range and compass of his [Hammond's] knowledge
filled the whcde circle of the arts.
Bp. Fell, Hammond, p. 99.
A man has not enough range of thought to look out for
any good which does not relate to his own interest.
Addixort.
When I briefly speak of the Greek school of art with ref-
erence to questions of delineation, I mean the entire range
of the schools from Homer's days to our own.
Bwsldn, Aratra Fentelici, p. 157.
In the range of historical geography, the most curious
feature Is the way In which certein political names have
kept on an abiding life in this region, though with singu-
lar changes of meaning. E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 4.
4. Extent of operating force or activity; scope
or compass of efttcient action; space or distance
over or through which energy can be exerted;
limit of effect or of capability ; extent of reach :
as, the range of a gun or a shot; the range of a
thermometer or a barometer (the extent of its
variation in any period, or of its capacity for
4955
marking degrees of change); the range of a
singer or of a musical instrument. Eange in
shooting is the horizontal distance to which a projectile
is or may be thrown by a gun or other arm uuder existing
conditions : distinguished from trajectory, or the curvilin-
ear distance traversed by the projectile when the arm is
elevated out of a horizontal line. The eflective range de-
pends upon the amount or the absence of elevation and
the consequent trajectory, (fiom^axe point-blank.) To get
the range of a point to be fired at is to ascertain, either
by calculation or by experiment or by both, the degree of
elevation for the muzzle of the piece necessary to bring
the shot to bear upon it.
Par as creation's ample range extends.
The scale of sensual, mental powers ascends.
Pope, Essay on Man, 1. 207.
Her warbling voice, a lyre of widest range,
Struck by all passion, did fall down and glance
Erom tone to tone. Tennyson, Fair Women.
No obstacle was encountered until the gunboats and
transports were within range of the fort.
U. S. Grant, Personal Memoirs, L 439.
The proposal [advocating cremation] was not to be re-
garded as coming witliln the range of a practical policy.
NineUemlh Century, XXTIL 2.
5. TJnobstruoted distance or interval from one
point or object to another ; length of course for
free direct ranging through the air, as of a mis-
sile or of sight ; a right line of aim or of obser-
vation, absolute or relative : as, the range is too'
great for effective firing; the range of vision. —
6. The act of ranging ; a wandering or roving ;
movement from point to point in space.
He may take a range all the world over. Smitli.
7. An area or course of ranging, either in space
or in time ; an expanse for movement or exis-
tence ; the region, sphere, or space over which
any being or thing ranges or is distributed : as,
the range of an animal or a plant within geo-
graphical limits or during geological time, or
of a marine animal in depth; the range of
Gothic architecture ; the range of a man's influ-
ence.
The free bison's amplitude of range,
Whittier, Ilie Panorama.
Specifically — (a) A tract or district of land within which
domestic animals in large numbers range for subsistence ;
an extensive grazing-ground: used on the great plains of
the United States for a tract commonly of many square
miles, occupied by one or by different proprietors, and
distinctively called a eattie-, stock-, or sheep-range. The
animals on a range are usually left to take care of them-
selves during the whole year without shelter, excepting
when periodically gathered in a " round-up " for counting
and selection, and for branding when the herds of several
groprletors run together. In severe winters many are lost
y such exposure.
Cowboys from neighboring ranches will ride over, look-
ing for lost horses, or seeing if their cattle have strayed
off the range. T. Boosevelt, The Century, XXXV. 60a
(ft) A course for shooting at marks or targets ; a space of
ground appropriated or laid out for practice in ttie use
of firearms : distinctively called a rifle^ange or shooting-
8. A fire-grate.
He was bid at his first coming to take off the range, and
let down the cinders. Sir S. L'Estrange. {Latham.)
9. A cooMng-stove built into a fireplace, or
sometimes portable but of a simUar shape, hav-
ing a row or rows of openings on the top for
carrying on several operations at once. Fixed
ranges usually have two ovens, either on each side of the
fire-chamber or above it at the bacl^ and in houses sup-
plied with running water a hot- water reservoir or perma-
nent boiler. The origin of the modem cooking-range may
be sought in the furnaces of masonry of the ancient Ro-
mans, arranged to receive cooking-utensils on the top.
Throughout the middle ages only open-chimney fires were
used, uutU in France, in the course of the fourteenth cen-
tury, built furnaces with openings above for pots began
to be added In great kitchen^ for convenience in preparing
the soups and sauces then in greater favor than before.
The range in the modem sense, involving the application of
heat conducted by and reflected from iron plates, was first
advanced and practically improved by Count Kumford.
It [the kitchen] was a vaut ybuilt for great dispence.
With many raunges reard idong the wall.
And one great chimney, whose long tonnell thence
The smoke forth threw. Spenter, F. Q., II. Ix. 29.
Every thing whereupon any part of their carcase falleth
shall be unclean ; whether it be oven, or ranges for pots,
they shall be broken down. Lev. xi. 35.
And so home, where I found all clean, and the hearth
and range, as it is now enlarged, both up.
Pepyg, Diary, May 25, 1661.
10. A step of a ladder; a round; a rung. [Ob-
solete or local.]
The firet range of that ladder which should serve to
mount over all their customs, da/rendon, GreatBebellion.
1 1 . Naut. : (at) A large cleat with two arms or
branches, bolted in the waist of ships to belay
the tacks and sheets to. (6) A certain quantity
of cable hauled up on deck from the chain-lock-
er, of a length slightly greater than the depth
of water, in order that the anchor, when let go,
may reach the bottom without being checked.
— 12. In shoemaking, a strip cut from a butt or
side of sole-leather.
rangenne
The butt is first cut into long strips known as ranges,
of varying width according to the purposes for which re-
quired. Ure, Diet... IV. 110.
13. A bolting-sieve for meal. Cotgrave; Halli-
well. [Old and prov. Eng.]— Battle-range. See
Rafael.— Broken-rajige stonework, range stonework in
which thicker or thinner stones are occasionally inserted,
thus breaking the unit oimity. Compare random stonework,
under random.— Constituent of a range. See constitu-
ent.—Dovlble-oven range, a range which has two ovens,
one on each side of the fire-pot— Point-blank range.
Seejoiirt-Ston*.— Eandom-range ashler. See ashler^.
—Eange curve. See curve. — Range stonework, ma-
sonrjr laid in courses. The courses may vary in height;
but in each a level joint is preserved. — Single-oven
range, a range having but one oven, usually at one side
of the fire-pot : In contradistinction to dovlble-ooen range.
—To get the range of anything, to find by experiment
and cfuculatlon the exact angle of elevation of the gun,
the amount of charge, etc., necessary to throw projectiles
so as to strike the object aimed at.=S;iL 1. Line, tier,
file.— 4. Sweep, reach.
range (ron-zha'), n. [P., pp. of ranger, range,
order: see range, v.'] In her., arranged in
order : said of small bearings set in a row f esse-
wise, or the like. The epithet is not often needed:
thus, " six mullets in bend or bendwlse" is sufiicient with-
out the use of the expression "range In bend."
range-finder (ranj'fiu"d6r), n. An instrument
for measuring the range or distance of an ob-
ject. The range-finder used in the United States navy
is the invention of Lieutenant Fiske, U. S. N. Two teles-
copes, at the ends of the ship, are fitted ^vith contacts,
which move along arcs of resistance wire as the telescopes
are directed at any object. The wires are connected as a
Wheatstone bridge, the galvanometer of which is placed
in a secure place below the water-line of the ship. The
act of directing the telescopes toward any object disturbs
the "balance of the bridge," and makes the galvanometer
needle defiect by an amount proportional to the convey-
ance of the telescopes and inversely proportional to the
distance. The scale of the galvanometer is divided into
yards ; so that the needle automatically points to the grad-
uation representing the distance of the object.
range-heads (ranj'hedz), n.pt Naut., the wind-
lass-bitts.
range-lights (ranj'lits), n. pi. 1 . Two or more
lights, generally in lighthouses, so placed that
when kept in line a fair course can be made
through a channel: where two channels meet,
the bringing of two range-lights into line serves
to mark the turning-point into the new channel.
— 2. Lights placed aboard ship at a consider-
able horizontal distance from each other, and
in the same vertical plane with the keel. They
are used to give a better indication of changes of course
to approaching vessels than is afforded by the ordinary
side and steaming lights.
rangementt (ranj'ment), n, [< OP. rangement,
< renger, ranger, range : see range, ».] The act
of ranging; arrangement.
Lodgement, raii^emant, and adjustment of our other
ideas.' Waterland, Works, IV. 468.
ranger (ran'jSr), n. [Early mod. E. also raun-
ger; < range + -er^. Cf. P. rangeur, one who
arranges.] 1. One who ranges, or roams, or
roves about; especially, one engaged in rang-
ing or going about for some specific purpose,
as search or ward. .
0 where are all my rangers bold.
That I pay meat and tee
To search the forest far an' wide?
Young AJcin (Child's Ballads, L 186X
Specifically — 2. In England, formerly, a sworn
officer of a forest, appointed by the Mn^s letters
patent, whose business it was to walk through
the forest, watch the deer, prevent trespasses,
etc. ; now, merely a government official connect-
ed with a royal forest or park.
They [wolves] walke not widely as they were wont.
For feare of raungers and the great hunt.
Spenser, Shep. Cal., September.
3. One of a body of regular or irregular troops,
or other armed men, employed in ranging over
a region, either for its protection or as maraud-
ers : as, the Texan rangers. Military rangers are
generally mounted, but may fight on foot if occasion i-e-
quires. The name is sometimes used in the plural for a
permanent body of troops, as the Connaught Bangers in
the British army.
" Do you know, friend," said the scout gravely, . . .
" that this is a band of rangers chosen for the most des-
perate service?" J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, xxxil.
4. One who roves for plimder; a robber. [Bare.]
— 5. A dog that beats the ground. — 6t. Asieve.
Holland. — 7. A kind of fish. See the quotation.
[At Gibraltar] the Sp. besugo, a kind of seabream, is
called in English ranger. N. and Q., 7th ser., IV. 278.
8. A kind of seal, probably the young bay-
seal. [Newfoundland.] — Partlzan ranger. See
partisian^.
rangerine (ran'jer-in), a. Same as rangiferine.
Bangifer tarandus (Gray), the name usually given to
the Old World species of rangerine deer, of which' the
American woodland and barren ground caribou are be-
lieved to be mere varieties. Amer. Cyc, XIV. 265.
rangersMp
rangersMp (ran'j6r-ship), n. [< ranger +
ship.l The office of ranger or keeper of a for-
est or park. Todd.
range-stove (ranj'stov), n. A eooking-stove
made like a range ; a portable range.
range-table (rani'ta,"bl), n. A table for a par-
ticular firearm containing the range and the
time of flight for every elevation, charge of
powder, and kind of projectile.
Eangia (ran'jl-a), ». [ISTL., named after Mang,
a French coneholog3.st.] 1. In corec/t., the typ-
ical genus of Bangiidx. The S. cyrmoides is com-
mon in the States bordering on the Gulf ol Mexico. Also
called Onatltodon. Des Moulira, 1832.
2. In Actinozoa, a genus of ctenophorous aca-
lephs, ranking as the type of a f amfiy. Agasm,
1860.
Eangifer(ran'ji-f6r),«. [NL. (Hamilton Smith),
perhaps aceom. < OF. rangier, ranger, rancher,
Tanglier, a reindeer (appar. < loel. hreinn =
OSw. ren, reindeer), + L. /era, a wild beast.]
A genus of Cervidse, containing arctic and sub-
arctic species with large irre^arly branching
horns in both sexes, the brow-antler of which is
highly developed, usually unsymmetrical, and
more or less palmate, and very broad spreading
hoofs ; the reindeer. See cuts under remdeer
and caribou.
rangiferine (ran-jif e-rin), a. [< Bangifer +
-ine^.'] Belonguig or'relating to the genus Ban-
gifer; resembling a reindeer. Also rangerine.
Bangiidse (ran-ji'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Bangia
+ -idsB.'] 1. A family of bivalves, typified by
the genus Bangia. The animal has short siphons con-
nected at the base, a large llnguiform foot, long palpi, and
two pairs of gills, of which the outer is narrow and appen-
diculate. The sheU is equivalve with salient umbones, and
the hinge has two cardinal teeth and anterior and posterior
lateral teeth in each valve, as well as an internal median
fossa and cartilage.
2. A family of eurystomatous ctenophorans,
represented by the genus Bangia. it was based
on an African species, and characterized by the deep in-
dentation between the rows of locomotive flappers and a
tentacle projecting from the angle of each indentation.
ranging-rod (ran'jiug-rod), n. A surveyors'
rod or pole.
Bangoon creeper. See Quisqualis.
Bangoon tar. See tar.
rangy (ran' ji), a. [K.rarige + -y^.2 l.lnstocTe-
ireeding, adapted for ranging or running about,
or indicating such adaptation; quick or easy in
movement ; of roving character or capability :
as, a rangy yoke of oxen (that is, good travel-
ers, capable of making good speed, as in plow-
ing) ; rangy steers (that is, steers disposed to
wander away to a distance, as on a stock-range).
The word is also sometimes applied to a roving person, as
a lad who wanders from home, or who has a predilection
for a roving life, as that of a sailor. [U. S.]
The ponies . • . used for the circle-riding in the morn-
ing have need rather to be strong and rangey.
T. Sooievelt, Hunting Trips, L
2. Having or permitting range or scope; roomy;
commodious. [U. S.]
A large rangy shed for the horses.
I^ortanum's Gazetteer, p. 462.
rani, ranee (ran'e), n. [Also ram/, rannee,
ranny; < Hind, rani, < Skt. rajfii, queen, fem. of
rdjan: see raja."] In India, the wife of a raja,
or a reigning princess ; a queen.
Baniceps (ran'i-seps), n. [NL., < L. rana^ a
frog, + capjtt, head.] 1. In icMfe., a Cuvienan
Frog-crab (Ranina dorstpeiia).
natural size.
Tadpole-hake ^Jianiceps raninus).
genus of gadoid fishes, tp)ical of the family
Banidpiiidse. B. ramnus is known as the tad-
pole-hake. — 3. In herpet, a genus of fossil laby-
rinthodont amphibians of the Carboniferous.
Banicipitidae (ran"i-si-pit'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Baniceps (Banidpit-) + 4die.'] A family of
gadoid fishes, represented by the genus Bani-
ceps. Their characters are mostly shared with the Oa-
didse, but the suborbital chain is enlarged and continued
backward over the operculum, the suspensorium of the
lower jaw is very oblique, and the pyloric Offioa are rudi-
mentary or reduced to two.
Banidae (ran'i-de), n.pl. [NL., <Bawi^ + -idsB.J
A family of finnistemal salient amphibians,
typified by the genus Bana, with premaxiUaxy
and maxillary teeth, subeylindrical sacral dia-
pophyses and precoracoids, and with omoster-
num ; the frog family. It is the most extensive fam-
ily of batrachians, about 250 species, of several genera,
4956
being known. See frog^ , and cuts under onwstemum and
Jianal.
raniform (ran'i-fdrm), a. [< NL. raniformis, <
L. rana, a frog, + forma, form.] Frog-like;
resembling or related to a frog ; belonging to
the Baniformes; ranine: distinguished from
bufoniform.
Bailiformes (ran-i-f dr'mez). n. pi. CNIi., pi. of
raniformis : see raniform.'] A division of ba-
trachians, including the true frogs: distin-
guished from Bufoniformes.
Baninal (ra-ni'na), n. [NL. (Lamarck, 1801),
fem. sing, of ra-
rdnus : see ra-
nine.] In Crus-
tacea, the typical
genus of Banini-
die, containing
such frog-crabs as
B. dorsipeda.
Banina^ (ra-m'-
na), n. pi. [NL.,
i'BanaX + -ina^.]
In Griinther's clas-
sification, a divi-
sion of oxydactyl
opisthogloBsate
batrachians, con-
taining 6 families
of frogs,
Baninse (ra-ni'-
ne), n. pi. [NL.,
< Bama^ + -inie.']
The true frogs as
a subfamily of batrachians, corresponding to
the family Banidie.
ranine (ra'nin), a. [< F. ranin, < NL. raniniis,
< L. rana, a frog: see Bana^.] 1. In herpet,
pertaining to frogs ; related or belonging to the
-Bflijijite; raniform. — 3. In amo*., pertaining to
the under side of the tip of the tongue, where
a tumor called a ranula is sometimes formed.
The ranine artery is the termination of the lingual artery,
running to the tip of the tongue ; it is accompanied by the
ranine vein.
raninian (ra-nin'i-an), a. and n. [< ranine +
.dan.] I. a. Pertaining to the Baninidse.
II. n. A crab of the family Baninidse.
Baninidse (ra-nin'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Banina^
+ ■idse.'] A'family of anomilrous crustaceans,
typified by the genus Banina. They have a smooth
ovate-oblong carapace, the last pair of legs reduced and
subdorsal, and the abdomen short, partially extended, and
not folded under the thorax. The species are almost en-
tirely confined to the tropics. See cut under Samna^.
raninoid (ran'i-noid), a. Pertaining to the
Baninoidea; raninian.
Baninoidea (ran-i-noi'df-a), n. pi. [NL., < Ba-
nina^ + -oidea.] A sup'enEamily of anomurous
crustaceans, represented by the raninians.
ranite (ran'it), n. [< loel. Ban, a giant goddess,,
queen of the sea, + -ite^.] A hydrated silicate
of aluminium and sodium, derived from the
alteration of elreolite : it occurs in southern
Norway, and is essentially the same as hydro-
nephelite.
ranivorous (ra-niv'o-rus), a. [< L. rana, a frog,
+ vorare, devour.]" Prog-eating; subsisting
habitually or chiefly upon &ogs: as, the marsh-
hawk is ranworous.
ranfci (rangk), a. [< MB. ranJc, ranc, ronk,
rdunJc, renk, strong, proud, also rancid (influ-
enced by OP. ranee, rand, rancid : see rancid) ;
< AS. ranc, proud, forward, arrogant, showy,
bold, valiant, = D. MLG. LG. G. rank, slender,
projecting, lank, = Icel. rafc/nr (f or *rankr),
straight, slender, bold, valiant, = Qw.rank, long
and ttiin, = Dan. rank, straight, erect, slender.]
If. Strong; powerful; capable of acting or of
being used with great effect; energetic; vigor-
ous; headstrong.
There arof all the rowte with there Ranke shippes,
Cast ancres with cables that kene were of byt.
DeOmwUtm ctf Troy (E. E. T. S.), t 4701.
Socha ramie and full writer must vse, if he will do wise-
lie, the exercise of a verie good kinde of Epitome.
Aseham, The Scholemaater, p. 112.
When folke bene fat, and riches raneke,
It is a signe of helth. Spenser, Shep. Cal., July.
Her rank teeth the glittering poisons chaw.
Middleton, Entertainment to King James.
3. Strong of its kind or in character; unmiti-
gated; virulent; thorough; utter: as, rflwifc poi-
son; rarafc treason; ranfc nonsense.
The rente rebelle has been un-to my ronnde table,
S^dy aye with Komaynes !
Jforte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), L 2402.
■Whose sacred fllletes all besprinkled were
With fllth of gory Mod, and venim rank.
Surrey, .SIneid, IL
ran^
Willie mourns o'er her In vain,
And to his mother he has gane.
That vile rank witch, o* vilest kind I
Willie's Ladye (Child's Ballads, L 163>,
Rank corruption, mining all within.
Infects unseen. Shak., Hamlet, iii. 4. 14&
Eun, run, ye rogues, ye precious rogues, ye rank rogues !
Fletcher, Bonduca, Iv. 2.
What are these but rank pedants?
Addison, The Kan of the Town.
3. Strong in growth; growing with vigor or ra-
pidity; hence, coarse or gross: said of plants. .
Seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, ran^ and
good. Gen. xli. 6.
Rank weeds, that every art and care defy,
£.eign o'er the land, and rob the blighted rye.
CraMie, Works, I. S.
As o'er the verdant waste I guide my steed.
Among the high ramk grass that sweeps his sidesr
BryanJt, The Ptairiea,
4. Suffering from overgrowth or hypertrophy;
plethoric. [Rare.]
I know not, gentlemen, what you intend.
Who else must be let blood, who else is rank.
Shak., J. C, 111. 1. 162.
5. Causing strong growth; producing luxuri-
antly; rich and fertile.
Where land is rank, 'tis not good to sow wheat after a
fallow. Mortimer, Husbanthy.
6. Strong to the senses; offensive; noisome;
rancid: as, a rank taste or odor.
To thy fair flower add the rank smell of weeds.
Shak., Sonnets, Ixiz.
And because they [the Caphrarians] always annointthem-
selues with grease and fat, they yeeld a ranke smell.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 69&
Whence arise
But weeds of dark luxuriance, tares of haste.
Bank at the core, though tempting to the eyes.
Byron, Childe Harold, iv. 120.
A number held pipes between their teeth, filling the
room with the rank smoke of the strongest and blackest
tobacco. C. J. Bellamy, Breton Mills, ii.
Hence — 7. Coarse or gross morally; offensive
to the mind; obscene ; indecent ; foul.
My wife 's a hobby-horse, deserves a name
As rank as any fiax-wench. Shak., W. T., 1 2. 277.
The London Cuckolds, the most rank play that ever suc-
ceeded, was then [in the time of King Charles II.] in the
highest court favour. Hfe of Quin (reprint 1887), p. 14.
The euphemisms suggested by the American Bevisers
were certainly desirable, instead of the rank words which
oSend American sensibilities. .
BBMotheca Sacra, XLin. 667.
8t. Buttish ; in heat.
The ewes, being rank.
In the end of autumn turned to the rams.
Shak., M. of Y., i 3. 81.
9. In law, excessive; exceeding the actual
value: as, a rank modus. — 10. In mech., cutting
strongly or deeply, as the iron of a plane set so
as to project more than usual.
A roughing tool with rankieei or a finish tool with fine
feed. Stii. Amer., N. S., LI. 32.
H. Eager; anxious; impatient: as, he was
rank to do it. [Slang, U. S.] — 12. Very angry;
in a passion. [Prov. Eng.]
rankH (rangk), adv. [< rank'^, a.] Eankly;
strongly; furiously.
The seely man, seeing him ryde so ranck.
And ayme at him, fell fiatt to ground for feare.
Spenser, F. Q., II. ill. 6.
He's irrecoverable; mad, rante-mad.
itareUm, What you Will, j. 1.
rank^t (rangk), V. i. [MB. *ranken, ronken; <
rank'^, a.] To become rank.
Er hit ronke on rote. Anglia, iv. 19.
rank^ (rangk), n, [Early mod. E. also ranck,
ranke; < MB. renk, usually reng, pi. renges,
ringes, a row or line of soldiers, class, order,
grade, station, < OP. rene, reng, later rang, P.
rarig (> D. G. Ban. Sw. rang), F. dial, rimgue,
raimg = Pr. renc = OCat. renc, a rank, row,
range ; < OHG. hring, hrinc, MHG. rinc, G. ring,
a ring, = E. ring: see ring'>; n. Cf. harangue,
from the same ult. (OHG.) source. The Bret.
renk is < P.; Ir. rano < B.] 1. A line, row, or
range. [Obsolete or archaic except in specific
uses. See rarige, 1.]
And all the fruitfull spawne of fishes hew
In endlesse rancks along enranged were.
Spenser, F. Q., in. vi 35.
If therefore we look upon the rank or chain of things
voluntarily derived from the positive will of God, we be-
hold the riches of his glory proposed as the end of all.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v., App. 1.
The rank of osiers by the murmuring stream.
Shak., As you Like it, Iv. 3. 80.
Two equall ranks of Orient Pearls Impale
The open thi'oat.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, L 6.
rank
In my javenile days, and even long since, there was,
hereabouts, a hackney-coach rank that had endured time
out ol mind, but was in latter yeara called a cab-stand.
N. and Q., eth ser., X. 398.
Speciflcally— (o) One of the rows of a body of troops, or
of any persons similarly ranged in a right>and-lef t line ; a
line of soldiers or other persons standing abreast in a
formation : distinguished from Me3, 6. See rank and Me.
under yaeS. ■'^
And Merlin that rode fro oo renge to a-nother ascride
hem often "ore auaunt." Merlin (E. E. T. S-i iii. 588.
Olotocara, which had not learned to keepe his ranke, or
rather moued with rage, lent on the platf orme, and thrust
him through the bodie with his pike and slew him.
Hakluyt's Voyages, HI. 358.
Meanwhile the Tuscan army,
night glorious to behold.
Came flashing back the noonday light.
Sank behind rank, like surges bright
Of a broad sea of gold. Macmilay, Horatius.
Hence— (6) pi. The lines or divisions of an army or any
armed force ; organized soldiery ; the body or class of
common soldiers : as, the ranks are full ; to rise from the
ranks; to reduce an officer to the ranks.
The Knight of Rokeby led his ranks
To aid the valiant northern Earls
Who drew the sword for royal Charles.
Scott, Eokeby, i. 28.
In 1887 the number was fifty-one ; and in 1888, up to the
1st September, forty-five commissions were given to men
from the ranks. Harper's Mag., L2XX. 340.
(c) In organ-buUding, a row or set of pipes, one for each
digital of the keyboard. A mixture-stop is said to be of
two, three, four, or five ranks, according to the numbers
of pipes sounded at once by a single digital, (d) One of
the lines of squares on a chess-board running from side to
side, in distinction from the files, which run from player
to player, (e) A row, as of leaves on a stem.
2t. A oontJnuoTis line or course ; a stretch.
Presently after he was baptized, hee went to fast in the
desert, xl. dayes & xL nights on a rancke.
Queeaira, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1S77X p. 360.
3. A class, order, or grade of persons; any
aggregate of mdividuals classed together for
some common reason, as social station, occu-
pation, character, or creed: as, the Prohibition
ranks; the ranks of the Anarchists.
Thou wert honest,
Ever among the rank of good men counted.
Fletcher, Wife for a Month, v. 1.
All ranks and orders of men, being equally concerned
in public blessings, equally join in spreading the infec-
tion. Bp. Atterlmry.
Then from bis Lordship I shall learn
Henceforth to meet with unconcern
One rank as weel 's another.
Bums, On Meeting Basil, Lord Daer.
The nearest practical approach to the theological esti-
mate of a sin may be found in the ranks of the ascetics.
Leeky, Europ. Morals, 1. 117.
4. Grade in a scale of comparison; class or
classification ; natural or acquired status ; rel-
ative position ; standing.
Not i' the worst rank of manhood.
Shak., Macbeth, iii. 1. 103.
These are all virtues of a meaner rank. Addison.
Speciflcally, of persons— (o) Titular distinction or dig-
nity ; gradation by hereditary, official, or other title : as,
civil, judicial, or military rank; the rank of baron or
marquis ; the rank of general or admiral ; the rank of
ambassador or governor. The relative rank of officers of
the United States army and navy is as follows ; General
ranks with admiral ; lieutenant-general with vice-admiral ;
major-general with rear-admiral ; brigadier-general with
commodore; colonel with captain; lieutenant-colonel
with commander; major with lieutenant-commander;
captain with lieutenant (senior grade); first lieutenant with
lieuteuant (junior grade) ; second lieutenant with ensign.
The rank of an ambassador has nothing to do with the
transaction of affairs.
Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, § 94.
(6) Eminent standing or dignity ; especially, aristocratic
station or hereditary distinction, as in European mon-
archies ; inherited or conferred social eminence.
Bespect for Sank, fifty yearsago universal and profound,
is rapidly decaying. There are still many left who believe
in some kind of superiority by Divine Bight and the Sov-
ereign's gift of Bank, even though that Bank be but ten
years old, and the grandfather's shop is still remembered.
W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 118.
5t. A ranging or roving; hence, discursive
wandering; divagation; aherration.
Instead of a manly and sober form of devotion, all the
extravagant ranks and silly freaks of enthusiasm !
Bp. Atterlmry, Sermone^ I. ii.
6. In geom., the degree df a locus of lines, (a)
The number of lines of a singly infinite system which cut
any given line in tridimensional space. (6) The number
of lines of a triply infinite system which lie in one plane
and pass through one point in that plane. — A split in the
ran^, dissension and division in a party, sect, society,
or the like. [CoUoq.]
They must submit to the humiliation of acknowledging
a split in their own ranks.
Mneteenth Century, XXVI. 749.
Rank and file. See flies.— Ba^ik of a complex, the
number of its rays lying in an arbitrary plane and passing
through an arbitrary point in that plane. — Rank Of a
curve the rank of the system of its tangents, or the num-
ber of tangents which cut any arbitrarily taken line in
4957
space.— Bank of a surface, the number of tangent lines
to the surface which lie in a given plane and pass through a
given point in that plane. — To break ranks. See break.
— To fill the ranks, to make up the whole number, or
a competent number. — To keep rankt, to be In keeping ;
be consistent.
Some strange effect which wiU not well keim ranck
With the rare temperance which is admired
In his life hitherto.
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Malta, ill 3.
To take rank, to have rank or consideration ; be classed
or esteemed, with reference to position or merit : as, he
takes rank as a very original poet. — To take rank of, to
have the right of taking a higher place than ; outrank :
as, in Great Britain the sovereign's sons lake rank of all
other nobles. Compare rank^, v. t., 3. — To take rank
with, to have the same or coordinate rank with ; be en-
titled to like official or social consideration : as, a captain
in the navy takes rank vnth a colonel in the army.
rank^ (rangk), V. [Early mod. E. also ranck; <
rank^, n., q. Y.2 1, trans. 1. To arrange in a
rank or ranks ; place in a rank or line.
And every sort is in a sondiy bed .
Sett by it selfe, and rancM In comely rew.
Spenser, F. Q., III. vl 35.
A many thousand warlike French
That were embattailed and rankd in Kent.
5ftaft., K. John, iv. 2. 200.
These as enemies tooke their stands a musket shot one
from another ; ranked themselues 15 a breast, and each
ranke from another 4 or 5 yards.
Capt. John Smith, Works, 1. 135.
Horse and chariots rank'd in loose array.
MUton, P. L., ii. 887.
2. To assign to a particular class, order, or
division ; & the rank of ; class.
Thou bor'st the face once of a noble gentleman,
Bankd in the first file of the virtuous.
Fletcher, Double Marriage, ii. 2.
I will not raTik myself in the number of the first.
7. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 40.
How shall we rank thee upon glory's page?
Thou more than soldier and just less than sage I
Moore, To Thomas Hume.
3. To take rank of or over; outrank: as, in
the United States army, an officer commis-
sioned simply as general ranks all other gen-
erals. [U.S.] — 4. To dispose in suitable or-
der; arrange ; classify.
Antiently the people [of Magnesia] were ranked accord-
ing to their different tribes.
Poeocke, Description of the East, II. ii. 65.
By ranking all things under general and special heads,
it [Logic] renders the nature or any of the properties,
powers, and uses of a thing more easy to be found out
when we seek in what rank of beings it lies.
Watts, Logic, I. vl § 13.
5f. To flx as to state or estimation; settle; es-
tablish.
We cannot rank you in a nobler friendship
Than your great service to the state deserves.
Beau, and Fl., Laws of Candy, i. 2.
I, that before was ranked in such content.
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iii. 3.
6t. To range; give the range to, as a gun in
firing.
Their shot replies, but they were ranl^d too high
To touch the pinnace.
Legend qf Captain Jones (1659). (HaUiwell, under range.)
H. intrans. 1. To move in ranks or rows.
[Kare.]
Tour cattle, too ; AUah made them ; serviceable dumb
creatures; . . . theycomerani;in? home at evening time.
Carlyle.
2. To be ranged or disposed, as in a particular
order, class, or division; hold rank or station;
occupy a certain position as compared with
others: as, to rank above, below, or with some
other man.
There is reason to believe that he [William of Orange]
was by no means equal as a general in the field to some
who ranked far below him in intellectual powers.
Macavlay, Hist. "Eng., vii.
Gorizia ranks as an ecclesiastical metropolis.
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 50.
Sf. To range; go or move about; heuce, to
bear one's self ; behave.
His men were a' clad in the grene ;
The knight was armed capapie,
With a bended bow, on a milk-white steed ;
And I wot they ranHd right bonnilie.
Sang of the OuUaw Murray (Child's Ballads, VI. 26).
Harke ! they are at hande ; ranke handsomly.
Marston, Dutch Courtezan, iv. L
4. In British law .- (a) To have rank or standing
as a claim in bankruptcy or probate proceed-
ings.
£19,634 is expected to rank against assets estimated at
£18,120 16«. 2(2.
Daily Telegraph, April 8, 1886. (Mncyc. Diet.)
(6) To put in a claim against the property of a
bankrupt person or a deceased debtor : as, he
ranked upon the estate.
rankness
rank-axis (rangk'ak'sis), n. A line considered
as the envelop of planes. '
rank-brainedt (rangk'brand), a. Wrong-head-
ed; crack-brained.
rank-curve (rangk'kfirv), H. A curve consid-
ered as the envelop of its tangents.
ranker (rang'ker), n. [< rank^ + -eri.] 1.
One who ranks or arranges ; one who disposes
in ranks. — 2. AmiUtary officer who has risen or
been promoted from the ranks. [CoUoq., Eng.]
The new coast battalion, most of whose officers ai«
raiUcers.
St Jameses Gazette, June 2, 1886, p. 12. (Ertcgc. Diet) '
ranking (rang'king), n. [Verbal n. of rank^,
«.] The act of one who ranks Ranking and
sale, or ranking of creditors, in Scots law, the process
whereby the heritable property of an insolvent person is
judicially sold and the price divided among his credi-
' tors according to their several rights and preferences.
This is the most complex and comprehensive process
known in the law of Scotland, but is now practically ob-
solete. It corresponds to the English process of mar-
shaling securities in an action for redemption or fore-
closure.
rankle (rang'kl), v.; pret. and pp. rankled,
ppr. rankling. [Early mod. E. also rankill,
rankyll; < ME. ranclen, freq. of rank^, «.] I.
intrans. 1. To operate ranldy or with painful
effect; cause. inflammation or irritation; pro-
duce a festering woimd: used of either physical
or mental influences.
Look, when he fawns, he bites ; and when he bites.
His venom tooth will rankle to the death.
Sliak., Kich. HI., 1. 3. 291.
[He] looked the rage that rankled in his heart.
Crabbe, Works, L 76.
Or jealousy, with rankling tooth.
That inly gnaws the secret heart.
dray. On a Distant Prospect of Eton College.
Say, shall 1 wound with satire's rankling spear
The pure warm hearts that bid me welcome here?
0. W. Holmes, A Bhymed Lesson.
Besentment long rankled in the minds of some whom
Endicott had perhaps too passionately punished.
Banerqft, Hist. V. S., L 322.
2. To continue or grow rank or strong; con-
tinue to be painful or irritating ; remain in an
inflamed or ulcerous condition; fester, as a
physical or mental wound or sore.
My words might cast rank poison to his pores.
And make his swoln and rankling sinews crack.
Peele, David and Bethsabe.
A leper shut up in a pesthouse rankleth to himself, in-
fects not others. Bee. T. Adams, Works, IIL 19.
A wound i' the flesh, no doubt, wants prompt redress ; . . .
But a wound to the soul? That rankles worse and worse.
Browning, King and Book, 1. 197.
II, trans. 1. To irritate; inflame; cause to
fester.
Then shall the Britons, late dismayd and weake.
From their long vassalage gin to respire.
And on their Paynim foes avenge their ranckled ire.
Spenser, V.Q.,111. 11136.
2t. To corrode.
Here, because his mouth waters at the money, his [Jn-
daa's] teeth rankle the woman's credit, for so I find ma-
lignant reprovers styled : corrodunt, non corrigunt; cor-
reptores, immo corruptores — they do not mend, but make
worse ; they bite, they gnaw.
Bee. T. Adams, Works (Sermon on John xiL 6), IL 224.
rankly (rangk'li), oM, [< MB. rankVy, ronkly;
< rank'^ + -ly^.~\ If. With great strength or
force; Jiercely; rampantly.
Herk renk ! is this rysfv so ronkly to wrath
For any dede that I haf don other domed the get?
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ilL 431.
2. In an excessive manner or degree; inordi-
nately; intensely; profusely; exuberantly: as,
rankly poisonous; rankly treasonable; weeds
thsit giaw rankly. — 3. Offensively; noisomely;
fetidly.
The smoking of incense or perfumes, and the like, smells
rankly enough, in all conscience, of idolatiy.
Dr. H. More, Antidote against Idolatry, vliL iLatham.)
4. Grossly; foully.
The whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process of my death
Bankly abused. Sliak. , Hamlet, i. 6. 38.
rankness (rangk'nes), n. [< ME. ranknesse;
< rank^ + .'ness.'] If. Physical strength; ef-
fective force ; potency.
The crane's pride is in the rankness of her wing.
Sir B. L'Eetrange, Fables.
2. Strength of kind, quality, or degree, in a
disparaging sense; hence, extravagance; ex-
cess ; grossness ; repulsiveness : as, rankness of
growth; the rankness of a poison, or of one's
pride or pretensions. — 3t. Insolence; presump-
tion.
I will physic your rankness, and yet give no thousand
crowns neither. Shak., As you Like 1^ L 1. 91.
rankness
4. Strength of growth ; rapid or excessive in-
crease ; exuberance ; extravagance ; excess, as
of plants, or of the wood of trees. Eankness is a.
condition often incident to fruit-trees in gardens and or-
chards, in consequence of which great shoots or feeders
a^e given out with little or no bearing wood. Excessive
richness of soil and a too copious supply of manure are
generally the inducing causes.
I am stifled
With the mere ranlmees of their Joy.
5Aai., Hen. Vin., iv. 1. 69.
5. Excessive fertility; exuberant productive-
ness, as of soU.
By reason of the ranJcenesse and frutefulnesse of the
grounde, kyne, swyue, and horses doo maruelously in-
crease in these regions.
Peter Martyr (tr. of Eden's First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. 164)1
Bred by the rankness of the plenteous land.
Braiftorit Legend of Thomas CromwelL
6. Offensive or noisome smell or taste ; repul-
siveness to the senses.
The native ran^cness or olf ensiveness which some persons
are subject to, both in their breath and constitution.
Jer. Taylor (?), Artificial Handsomeness, p. 46.
rank-plane (rangk'plan), n. The plane of a
plane pencil.
rank-point (rangk'point), n. The focus of a
plane pencil.
rank-radiant (rangk'ra'di-ant), n. A point
considered as the envelop of lines lying in a
plane.
rank-ridingt (rangk'ri"ding), a. Eiding fm-i-
ously; hard-riding.
And on his match as much the Western horseman lays
As the rank-riding Scots upon their Galloways.
Drayton, Polyolbion, iii. 28.
rank-scented (rangk'sen'ted), a. Strong-scent-
ed; having a coarse or offensive odor.
The mutable, rank-scented many. Shak., Cor., iii. 1. 66.
rank-surface (rangk's6r"fas), n. A surface con-
sidered as the envelop of its tangents.
rann, n. See ran?.
rannee, n. See rani.
rannelt (ran'el), n. [< p. ranelle, toad, dim. of
L. rana, frog.] A strumpet; a prostitute.
Such a roinish ranv£l, such a dissolute Gillian-flirt.
6, Harvey, Pierce's Supererogation (1600).
rannel-balk (ran'el-bS,k), n. Same as randle-
bar.
rannent. A Middle English preterit plural of
run. Chaucer.
rannyt (ran'i), n. [Also ranney; supposed to be
nit. a corruption (through OF. ) of L. araneus, so.
mus, a land of mouse : see shrew and araneous.']
The shrew or shrew-mouse, Sorex araneus.
Sammonicus and I^icander do call the mus araneuSj the
ahrew or ranney, blind. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iii. 18.
ranoid (ra'noid), a. [< L. rana, a frog, + Gr.
elSoQ, form.] In herpet., same as ranine: dis-
tinguished from iufonoid.
ranpickt, ranpiket, «. Same as rampick.
ransack (ran'sak), V. [Prop. ransaJce, the form
ransack being due in part to association with
saclfi, pillage (see def. 2); < ME. ransaJcen,
ransakyn, raunsaken, < Icel. rannsaka (= Sw.
Norw. ransaka = Dan. ransage), search a house,
ransack, < rann (for *rasn), a house, abode (=
AS. riesn, a plank, eeUing, = G-oth. razn, a
house), + saka, fight, hurt, harm, appar. taken
in this compound with the sense of the related
ssBhja, seek, = AS. secan, seek: see seek and
sake.2 I. trans. 1. To search thoroughly; seek
carefully in aU parts of ; explore, point by point,
for what is desired; overhaul in detail.
In a morwenyng
When Phebus, with his flry torches rede,
liansaked hath every lover in hys drede.
Chamser, Complaint of Mars, L 28.
All the articlls there in conteynid they shall ramakyn
besyly, and discuesyn soo discretly in here remembraunce
that both in wiU . . . shal not omyttyn for t» complishe
the seyd artides. Pogfem Letters, I. 468.
In the third Tear of his Beign, he ransacked all Monas-
teries, and all the Gold and Silver of either Chalices or
Shrines he took to his own use. Baker, Chronicles, p. 26.
Cicero . . . ransacks all nature, and pours forth a re-
dundancy of figures even with a lavish hand.
OoldsmUh, Metaphors.
2f. To sack; pillage completely; strip by
plundering.
Their vow is made
To ransack Troy.
Shak., T. and C, Prol., L, 1. 8.
I observed only these two things, a village exceedingly
ransacked and ruinated by meanes of the civil warres.
Coryat, Crudities, 1 23.
3t. To obtain by ransacking or pillage ; seize
upon; carry off; ravish. — 4t. To violate; de-
flower: as, "ransackt chastity," Spenser.
4958
n. intrans. To make penetrating search or
inquisition; pry; rummage. [Obsolete or rare.]
With sacrilegious Tools we rudely rend her,
And ransack deeply in her bosom tender.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 6.
Such words he gaue, but deepe with dynt the sword
enforced f nrst
Had ransakt through his ribs and sweete white brest at
once had burst. PJtaer, Mneii, ix.
ransack (ran'sak), n. [Of. Icel. rannsak, rann-
sokn, a ransacking; from the verb.] 1. De-
tailed search or inquisition ; careful investiga-
tion. [Bare.]
What secret comer, what unwonted way.
Has Boap'd the ranmek of my rambling thought ?
Quarles, Emblems, iv. 12.
To compile, however, a real account of her (Madame
K^camier] would necessitate the ransack of all the
memoirs, conespondence, and anecdotage concerning
French political and lltersuy life for the first half of this
century. Encyc. Brit., XK. 309.
3t. A ransacking; search for plunder; pillage;
sack.
Your Highness undertook the Protection of the English
Vessels putting into the Port of Leghorn for shelter, against
the Dutch Men of War threatning 'em with nothing but
Bamiaik and Destruction.
Milton, Letters of State, Sept., 1652.
Even your father's house
Shall not be free from ransack. J. Webster.
ransackert (ran'sak-fer), ». [< ME. raunsaker;
< ransack + -eri.] One who ransacks; a care-
ful searcher; a pillager.
That es to say, Baunsaker of the myghte of Godd and of
His Maieste with-owttene gret clenues and meknes sail be
ouerlayde and oppresside of Hym-selfe.
Eampole, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S.), p. 42.
ransaket, v. An obsolete form of ransack:
ranshacklet (ran'shak-l), v. t. A variant of
ransack, simulating ramshackle^.
They loosed the kye out, ane and a',
And ranshaekled the house right wel.
Jamie Trf/er (Child's Ballads, VI. 106).
ransom (ran'sum), n. [Early mod. E. also ran-
some, raunsom; < ME. ransome, raunsom, rawn-
some, ranson^ ransoun, raunson, ra/umsun, rawni-
son (for the change of n to m, at. rarMom) =
D. rantsoen = MLG. LG. ranzun, ransun = G.
ranzion = Dan. ranson = Sw. ranson, < OE.
rangon, reason, raenson, raenchon,¥. rangon =
Pr. reemsos, rezempto, mod. rangoun, < L. redemp-
<«o(m-), ransom, redemption : see redemption, of
which ransom is a much shrunken form.] 1.
Redemption for a price ; a holding for redemp-
tion; also, release from captivity, bondage, or
the possession of an enemy for a consideration ;
liberation on payment or satisfaction of the
price demanded.
And Oalashin seide than sholde he dye withonte raun-
som. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 671.
You beseche and pray.
Fair sir, saue my life, lete me on-lif go.
Taking this peple to ranson also !
Rom. qfPmterMy (E. E. T. 3.), t 4206.
Then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever
is laid upon him. Ex. xxl. 30.
The Money raised for his Xamsom was not so properly
a Taxation as a Contribution. Baker, Chronicles, p. 66.
3. The money or price awarded or paid for the
redemption of a prisoner, captive, or slave, or
for goods captured by an enemy; payment for
liberation from restraint, penalty, or punish-
ment.
Vpon a crosse naylyd I was for the,
Soflred deth to pay the ravmison.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. FumivaU), p. HI.
Even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister, and to give his life a rarusam, for many.
Mark X. 45.
3t. Atonement; expiation.
If hearty sorrow
Be a sufficient ransoTn for offence,
1 tender 't here. Shak., T. G. of V., v. 4. 75.
ransom (ran'sum), V. t. [Early mod. B. also
raunsome; < ME. *raunsonen, raunceounen, <
OP. rangonner, ransom; from the noun.] 1.
To redeem from captivity, bondage, forfeit, or
punishment by paying or giving in return that
which is demanded; buy out of servitude ; buy
off from penalty.
A robbere was yraun^eowned rather than thei alle,
With-outen any penaunce of purgatorie, to perpetuel
blisse. Piers Plowman (B), x. 420.
This was hard fortune ; but, If alive and taken,
They shall be ramom'd, let It be at millions.
FUtcher, Humorous Lleutenantj ii. 4.
Walk your dim cloister, and distribute dole
To poor sick people, richer in His eyes
WhoraJMom'S us, and haler too, than I.
Temvysmn, Guinevere.
2t. To redeem; rescue; deliver.
1 will rangom them from the power of the grave ; I will
redeem them from death. Hos. xiii. 14.
rant
St. To hold at ransom; demand or accept a
ransom for; exact payment on.
And he and hys company . . . dyde great domage to
the countre, as well by raunsomynge of the townes as by
pillage ouer all the countrey,
Berrvers, tr. of Froissart's Chron., II. (Richardson.)
4+. To set free for a price; give up the cus-
tody of on receipt of a consideration.
I would . , . ransom him to any French courtier for a
new-devised courtesy. Shak., L. L. L., i. 2. 65.
5t. To atone for; expiate.
Those tears are pearl which thy love sheds,
And they are rich and ransom all ill deeds.
Shak., Sonnets, xxxiv.
ransomable (ran'sum-a-bl), a. [< ransom +
-able,^ Capable of being ransomed or redeemed
for a price.
I passed my life in that bath with man:r other gentle-
men and persons of condition, distinguished and ac-
counted as ransomfOble.
Jarcis, tr. of Don Quixote, I. iv. 13. (Davies.)
ransom-bill (ran'sum-bil), TO. A war contract
by which it is agreed to pay money for the
ransom of property captured at sea and for its
safe-conduct into port. ,
ransomer (ran'sum-6r), n. [Early mod. E.
raunsomer, < OP. rangonneur, < rangonner, ran-
som: see ransom, ».] One 'Sho ransoms or
redeems.
The onlie sauior, redeemer, and raunsoreier of them
which were lost in Adam our forefather.
Foxe, Martyrs, an. 1666.
ransom-free (ran'sum-fre), a. Free from ran-
som; ransomless.
Till the fair slave be render'd to her sire.
And ransom-free restor'd to his abode.
Dryden, Hiad, L 147.
ransomless (ran'sum-les), a. [< ransom ■¥
-fess.] Free from ransom; without the pay-
ment of ransom.
Cosroe, Cassana, and the rest, be free.
And ransomless retui'n !
Fletcher (and another 7), Prophetess, iv. 6..
For this brave stranger, so indear'd to thee,
Passe to thy country, ransorrilesse and free.
Seywood, Fair Maid of the West (Works, ed. Pearson,
[1874, n. 423).
ranstead (ran'sted), n. [Also ransted; fre-
quently also ramstead, ramsted; said to have-
been introduced at Philadelphia as a garden
flower by a Welsh gentleman named Banstead.']
The common toad-flax, lAnaria vulgaris, a weedi
with herbage of rank odor, erect stem, narrow
leaves, and a raceme of spurred flowers, col-
ored light-yellow, part of the lower lip bright-
orange.
rant (rant), «. i. [< OD. ranten, also randen,
dote, be enraged, = LG. randen, attack any
one, call out to any one, = G. ransen, toss-
about, make -. noise ; cf . G. dial, rant, noise,
uproar; root uncertain.] 1. To speak or de-
claim violently and with little sense; rave:
used of both the matter and the manner of
utterance, or of either alone: as, a ranting-
preacher or actor.
Nay, an thoult mouth,
I'll rant as weU as thou.
SAoft., Hamlet, t. 1. 307.
They say you're angry, and rant mightily,
Because I love the same as you.
Cowley, The Mistress, Bloh Eival..
Make not your Hecuba with fury rage,
And show a ranting grief upon the stage.
Dryden and Soames, tr. of Eoileau's Art of Poetry, iii. 663.
2. To be jo-vial or jolly in a noisy way ; make-
noisy mirth. [North. Eng. and Scotch.]
Wi' quaffing and laughing.
They ranted and they sang.
Bums, Jolly Beggars.
rant (rant), n. [< rant, t).] 1. Boisterous,
empty declamation; fierce or high-sounding-
language without much meaning or dignity of
thought; bombast.
This is stoical rant, without any foundation in the na-
ture of man or reason of things. Atlerlmry.
2. A ranting speech; a bombastic or boisterous
utterance. •
After all their rants about their wise man being happy
in the bull of Phalaris, &c., they yet allow'd him to dis-
patch himself if he saw cause. Slulingfleet, Sermons, I. v.
He sometimes, indeed, in his rants, talked with ITorman'
haughtiness of the Celtic barbarians ; but all his sympa-
thies were really with the natives.
Macavlay, Hist. Eng., vi.
3. The act of frolicking; a frolic; a boister-
ous merrymaking, generally accompanied with-
dancing. [Seotohi]
Thou art the life o' public haunts ;
But [without] thee, what were our fairs and ratUs f
Bums, Scotch Drink.
rant
I hae a good conscience, . . . unless it be about a rant
amang the lasses, or a splore at a Jair.
Scott, Black Bwarf , il
4. A kind of dance, or the music to which it was
danced. = Syn. L Fustian, Turgidnese, etc. See Immiast.
ran-tan (ran'tan), n. [Prob. an imitative var.
of randan. ~\ Same as randan.
ranteri (ran'ter), n. [< rant + -eri.] 1. One
who rants; a noisy talker; a boisterous preach-
er, actor, or the like. — 2. [cap.^ A name ap-
plied— (a) By way of reproach, to the mem-
bers of an English Antinomian sect of the
Commonwealth period, variously associated
with the Pamilists, etc. (6) Also, opprobrious-
ly, to the Primitive Methodists, who formed
themselves into a society in 1810, although the
founders had separated from the old Methodist
society some years before, the ground of dis-
agreement being that the new body favored
street preaching, camp-meetings, etc. — 3. A
merry, roving fellow ; a jolly drinker. [North .
Eng. and Scotch.]
Mistake me no^ custom, I mean not tho,
Of excessive drbiking, as great ranters do.
Praise of YorksMre Ale (1697), p. 6. (Halliwai.)
Tours, saint or sinner, Eob the Ranter.
Bums, To James Tennant.
ranter^ (ran't6r), n. [Origin obscure.] A large
beer-jug.
ranter^ (ran'ter), «. j. [Ct ranter^, n.'\ To pour
liquor fromalarge into a smaller vessel. r«ov.
Eng.]
ranter^ (ran'tfer), v. t. Same as renter^.
ranterism (ran'ter-izm), n. [< ranter^ + -ism.']
The practice or tenets of the Ranters; rantism.
rantersf (ran'tferz), n. pi. A woolen stuff made
in England in the eighteenth century. Dra-
pers' Diet.
rantingly (ran'ting-U), adv. In a ranting man-
ner, (a) With sounding empty speech; bombastically.
(&) "With boisterous jollity ; frolicsomely.
Sae rantingly, sae wantonly,
Sae dauntingly gaed he ;
He play'd a spring, and danc'd it round.
Below the gallows-tree.
Bums, Macpherson's Farewell.
rantipole (ran'ti-pol), a. and n. [Appar. < ran-
ty + pole = poltt, head : see poV?-. Of. dodi-
poll.'] I. a. WUd; roving; rakish.
Out upon *t, at years of discretion, and comport your-
self at this ranUpole rate !
Congreve, Way of the "World, iv. 10.
This ravMpole hero had for some time singled out the
blooming Katrina for the object of his uncouth gallantries.
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 431.
II. n. A rude, romping boy or girl; a wild,
reckless fellow.
What strange, awkward ranUpole was that I saw thee
speaking to? J. BaUlie.
I was always considered as a rantipole, for whom any-
thing was good enough.
Marryat, Frank Mildmay, xv. (Davies.)
rantipole (ran'ti-pol), v. i. ; pret. and pp. ran-
tipoled, ppr. rantipoling. [< rantipole, «.] To
run about wildly.
The elder was a termagant, imperious wench ; she used
to rantipole about the house, pinch the children, kick the
servants, and torture the cats and dogs. Arbuthnot.
rantism^f (ran'tizm), n. [< Gr. ^vrta/idg, a
sprinkling, < ^avrl^ew, sprinkle, besprinkle.]
A sprinkling; hence, a small number; a hand-
ful. [Eare.]
We, but a handful to their heap, a rantism to their bap-
tism. Bp. Andrews.
rantism^ (ran'tizm), n. [< rant + -ism.'] The
practice or tenets of the Banters; ranterism.
Johnson.
rantle-tree, randle-tree (ran'tl-tre, -dl-tre),
n. [Of. ran-tree, a dial, form of roan-tree; cf.
also ranpick, rampiek.'] 1. A tree chosen with
two branches, which are cut short, and left
somewhat in the form of the letter Y, set close
to or built into the gable of a cottage to sup-
port one end of the rooftree. — 2. A beam which
runs from back to front of a chimney, and from
which the crook is suspended. — 3. Figurative-
ly, a tall, raw-boned person.
If ever I see that anld randle-tree of a wife again, I'll gie
her something to buy tobacco.
Scott, Ouy Mannering, xxvi.
[Scotch in all uses.]
rantock (ran'tok), n. The goosander, Mergus
merganser, [drkneys.]
ran-iree (ran'tre), n. A dialectal variant of
roari-tree. Also rantnj.
ranty (ran'ti), a. and n. [< rant + -^i.] Same
as randy. [Prov. Eng.]
ranula (ran'u-la),». ; pi. ranulas (-le). [= F. ra-
nule, < L. rariuld, a little frog, also a small sweU-
4959
ing on the tongue of cattle, dim. of rana, a frog:
see Band^.] A cystic tumor caused by the ob-
struction of the duct of a small mucous gland on
the under surface of the tongue, the so-ealled
Blandin-Nuhn gland. The term has been applied,
however, with considerable looseness, to other tumors in
or near this place presenting some resemblance to true
ranulas.
ranular (ran'u-lar), a. [= F. ranukdre; as ran-
ula+ -ar^.] Of or pertaining to a ranula; of
the character of a ranula.
Banunculacese (ra-mmg-ku-la'se-e),».pZ. [NL.
(A. L. de Jussieu, 1789), ^Manuriculvs + -aceas.]
An order of polypetalous plants of the cohort ifa-
nales, characterized by the numerous stamens
inserted on the receptacle, five deciduous and
commonly colored sepals, not more than one
complete circle of petals, and seeds with a mi-
nute embryo in fleshy albumen, and without an
aril. They have usually many separate pistils which ma-
ture into distinct dry fruits, either achenes or foUicles) or
coalesce into berries. The species, estimated by some at
1,200, by Durand at 680, are included in 6 tribes and 30 gen-
era. They occur throughout the world, but in the tropics
more rarely and chiefly on mountains, elsewhere forming
a conspicuous part of the flora of almost every region,
especially in Europe, which contains one flfth, and in
North America, which has one seventeenth, of all the
species. Their wide distribution is aided by the long-
continued vitality of the seeds, many of which are also re-
markably slow to germinate after planting, those of sev-
eral S{)ecies requiring two years. They are annual or
perennial herbs — rarely understu-ubs, as XarUhorhiza.
Many have dissected alternate or radical leaves, the petiole
with an expanded sheathing base, but without stipules ;
Clematis is exceptional in its opposite leaves and climbing
stem. The order is often known as tl^ buttercup or crow-
foot family, from the type, and contains an unusually large
proportion of other characteristic plants, as the hepatica
o^ America, the Christmas rose of Germany, and the lesser
celandine of England. It includes also many of the most
beautiful flowers of garden cultivation. Most of the spe-
cies contain in their colorless juice an acrid and caustic
principle, which sometimes becomes a dangerous nar-
cotic poison, is often of great medicinal value (see hellebore,
aconite, Hydrastis,Actsea, Ctmtci/it^a), is usually most con-
centrated in the roots, but very volatile in the foliage and
stems, and is dissipated by drying or in water, but intensi-
fied by the action of acids, alcohol, etc. The order was one
of the earliest to be deflned by botanists with substantially
its present limits (as JUvltisUi^iue by Linnseus, 1751), and
has long been placed at the head of the polypetalous fami-
lies of dicotyledons, standing as the first order of plants in
the most widely accepted classifications, from De Candolle
in 1819 to Durand in 1888.
ranunculaceons (ra-nung-ku-la'sMus), a. [<
Nil. ranunculaceus, < Banmiculus, q. v. Cf.
Bammculacex.] Of or pertaining to the Ba-
nunculacess ; resembling the ranunculus.
Banunculese (ra-nung-Ki'le-e), n.pl. [NL. (A.
P. de Candolle, 1818), < Banunculus + -ex.] A
tribe of plants of the order Bammculaceie. it is
characterized by carpels with one ascending ovule, be-
coming achenes in fruit, by numerous radical leaves, and
(excepting in the two species of Oxygraphis) by the addi-
tional presence of alternate stem-leaves. It includes the
type genus Eanuneulus, and 3 other genera embracing 8
species.
Banunculus (ra-nung'ka-lus), n. [NL. (Kas-
pard Bauhin, 1623), < L. ranunculus, a medicinal
plant, also called batrachion, perhaps crowfoot
(> It. ranuneolo, Sp. raniinculo, Pg. ranunculo;D.
ranonkel, G. Dan. Sw. ranunkel, crowfoot), dim.
of rajia, a frog: seeiSamal.] 1. A large genus
of polypetalous plants, type of the order Banun-
culacese and of the tribe BarmnculesB. it is charac-
terized by the perfect flowers with from three to flve cadu-
cous sepals, three to flve or even fifteen conspicuous petals,
each marked at the base by
a nectar-bearing scale or pi^
and by the many achenes in
a head or spike, each beaked
with a short persistent style.
There are about 200 species,
scattered throughout the
world, abundant in temper^
ate and cold regions, with a
few on mountain-tops in the
tropics; 15 species are Brit-
isli, and about 47 occur in the
TTnited States, besides at least
9 others in Alaska; 23 are
found in the Atlantic States.
The genus is remarkable for
its development northward,
extending to the Aleutian
Islands and Point Barrow,
and even to Fort Conger,
81° 44' north. Others extend
well to the south, as the Fue-
gian B. bitematus. The spe-
cies have usually a perennial
base or rootstock, and bear
deeply divided leaves, entire
in a few species, and yellow
or white terminal flowers
(pink in B. Andersoni of Ne-
vada), which are generally
bright and showy, and have
numerous and conspicuous
short yellow stamens and a
smaller central mass of yellow
or greenish pistils. The more common species, with bright^
yellow flowers and palmately divided leaves, are known
Flowering FlaDtof^a«Mffc«/»j
bulbosus (buttercup).
rap
as buttercup and crowfoot, especially B. avris and B. bulbo-
ms, which have also the old local names of butter-flower,
butter-daisy, blister-plant crmo-Jlower, and in Scotland yel-
low gowan. (See also goldaip, and cut under ovaryl.) A
number of yellow species are cultivated under the name
garden ranunculus, as R. spedosus, a favorite source of
cut flowers, and especially the Persian R. AsiaMeus, with
three-parted leaves, parent of a hundred varieties, mostly
double, and including scarlet and other colors. B. tuxmi-
tifolius, a tall European species with five-parted leaves, is
cultivated in wUte double-flowered varieties under the
names bachelor's-buttons and fair-maids-of-Frarux or -of-
Eent. The bright-yellow flowers of R. insignis, a densely
woolly New Zealand species, are nearly 2 inches across.
Several white-fiowered species are remarkable for their
growth in rock-crevices amid perpetual snow, especially
R. gladalis of the Alps, and also the yellow-flowered R.
Tliora, the mountain wolf's-bane. A few weedy species
have prickly fruit, as R. arverms of England (for which see
hungerweed, hedgehog, 3, and joy, 4). Many species are
so acrid as to raise blisters when freshly gathered, but
are sometimes eaten, when dried, by cattle. R. scderatus,
said to be the most acrid species, is eaten boiled as a
salad in Wallachia, as are also the roots of R. bulbosus,
the acridity disappearing on boiling. B. auricomus (see
goldilocks) is exceptional in the absence of this acrid prin-
ciple, as also B. a^uaiUis, which sometimes forms almost
the entire food of cattle. This and several other species,
the water-crowfoots, are immersed aquatics with finely dis-
sected foliage, forming deep-green feathery masses which
bear white emersed flowers ; among them is B. Lyalii of
New Zealand, one of the most ornamental species, there
known as uiater-lUy. The yellow water-crowfoo^ B. mul-
Ufidus, found from North Carolina to Point Barrow, has
kidney-shapedandcutfloatingleaves. Several specieswith
long and mainly undivided leaves are known as spearwort.
For B. Ficaria, celebrated as one of the earliest EngUsh
flowers, and as Wordsworth's flower, see celandine, 2, pHe-
wort, and figwort, 2. See also cut under achenium.
2. II. c. ; pi. ranunculi (-li).] A plant of the
genus Banunculus.
ranverset, v. t. See renv&rse.
Banvier's nodes. See nodes ofBanvier, under
node.
Banzania (ran-za'ni-a), n. [NL., named (in
def. 1 by Nardo, 1840) after C. Banzani, an
Italian naturalist.] 1. In icMh., a genus of
gymnodont fishes of the family MoUdse. —
2. In entom., a genus of coleopterous in-
sects.
ranz des vaches (rons da vash). [Swiss F.
(see def.), explained as lit. (a) 'the lovping
of the cows': Swiss dial, ranz, connected, in
this view, with G. ranzen, make a noise, drum
with the fingers (cf . ranlcen, bray as an ass) ;
des, comp. of de, of, and Us, pi. of def. art.;
vaches, pi. of vaehe, < L. vacea, a cow (see vac-
cine) ; (6) in another view, 'the line of cows,'
ranz being taken as a var. of rangs, pi. of
rang, row, line (because the cows fall into line
when they hear the alpenhom): see rank^.]
One of the melodies or signals of the Swiss
herdsmen, commonly played on the alpenhom.
It consists of irregular phrases made up of the harmonic
tones of the horn, which are singularly effective in the open
air and combined with mountain echoes. The melodies
vary in the different cantons. They are sometimes sung.
Baoulia (ra-o'U-a), n. [NL. (Sir J. D. Hooker,
1867), named after E. Eaoul, a French naval
surgeon, who wrote on New Zealand plants in
1846.] A genus of composite plants of the tribe
Inuloideee and subtiibe Gnaphaliese. It is charac-
terized by the solitary, sessile, and terminal heads of many
flowers, wUch are mostly perfect and fertile, the outer
circles of pistillate flowers being only one or two, or less
than in the related genus GnapJialium (the everlasting),
but more than in the other next-allied genus, HeUchrysum.
All the flowers bear a bifld style and a pappus which is
not plumose. The 14 species are mostly natives of New
Zealand, and are small densely tufted plants of rocky
mountainous places, resembling mosses, with numerous
branches thickly clothed with minute leaves. They bear
white starry flower-heads, one at the end of each short
twig, closely surrounded with leaves, and in B. grandiflara
and others ornamented by an involucre with white bracts.
B. eximia and B. TnummUlaris are known in New Zealand
as sheep-plants, from their growth in sheep-pastures in
large white wooUy tufts, readily mistaken for sheep even
at a short distance.
rapi (rap), «. ; pret. and pp. rapped or rapt,
ppr. rapping. [< ME. rappen, < Sw. rappa,
strike, beat, rap ; cf. ropi, n. Cf. MHG. foeq.
raffeln, G. rappeln, intr., rattle. Perhaps con-
nected with rop2.] I. trans. 1. To beat upon;
strike heavily or smartly ; give a quick, sharp
blow to, as with the fist, a door-knocker, a
stick, or the like ; knock upon.
His bote newe chosen love he chaunged into hate.
And sodainly with mighty mace gan rap hir on the pate.
Oascoigne, In Praise of Lady Sandes.
With one great Peal they rap the Door,
Like Footmen on a Visiting Day.
Prior, The Dove, st. 9.
2. To use in striking; make a blow or blows
with. [Bare.]
Dunstan, as he went along through the gathering mist,
was always rapping his whip somewhere.
George Eliot, Silas Marner, iv.
3. To utter sharply; speak out: usually with
out (see phrase below).
rap
One raps an oath, another deals a curse ;
He never better bowl'd ; this never worse.
Quarles, Emblems, 1. 10.
To rap out. (o) To throw out violently or suddenly In
speech ; utter in a forcible or striking manner : as, to run
out an oath or a lie. — > *-
He could roundlie rap out so manle vgle othes.
AKham, The Scholemaster, p. 67.
The first was a judge, who ramei out a great oath at
his footman. Addison, Freeholder, No. 44.
(6) To produce or Indicate by rapping sounds ; impart by a
series of significant raps : as, to rap out a communication
or a signid : used specifically of the supposed transmis-
sion of sph'itual intelligence in this way through the In-
strumentality of mediums. =Syil. 1. To thump, whack.
II. intrans. If. To deal a heavy blow or
heavy blows; beat.
4960
All they could rap, and rend, and pilfer,
' To scraps and ends of gold and silver.
S. Butter, Hudlbras, H. U. 789.
From foe and from friend
He 'd rap and he 'd rend, . . .
That Holy Church might have more to spend.
Barham, lugoldsby Legends, IL 206.
rap* (rap), v. t. ; pret. and pp. rapped, ppr. rap-
ping, [Also rape; prob. due in part to rap^, but
m part representing ME. repen, < AS. hrepian,
touch, treat, = OFries. reppa, touch, move, =
MD. reppen, move, = LGr. reppen, touch, move,
> G. rappen, scrape, = Icel. 'hreppa, catch,
obtain, = Sw. repa, scratch. Cf . rape^.'] To
scratch. SalUwell. [Pro v. Eng.]
rap* (rap), n. [Perhaps a particular use of
rapi. There is nothing to connect the word
with MHG. Gr. rappe, a coin so called: see
rappe'^.'] A counterfeit coin of bad metal which
The elcmentes gonne to rusche & rappe,
And smet downe chirches & templis with crak.
PoWicaZ Poems, etc. (ed. FumivallX p. 206,
2t. To fall with a stroke or blow; drop so as passed current in Ireland for a halfpennyin the
to strike. reign of George I., before the issue of Wood's
halfpence. Its intrinsic value was half a farthing.
Hence the phrases not worth a rap, to care not a rap, im-
plying something of no value.
It having been many years since copper halfpence or
farthings were last coined in this Kingdom, they have
been for some time very scarce, and many counterfeits
passed about under the name of ra^.
Svrift, Drapier's Letters, letter i.
They [his pockets] was turned out afore, and the devil
a rap 's left. Barham,, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 76.
I don't care a rap where I go.
C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 201.
Rap halfpenny, a rap.
It is not of very sreat momenttome that I am now and
then imposed on 1^ a rap halfpenny.
Blackwood's Mag., XCVI. 392.
rap^t, ™. A Middle English form of rope.
rap^t. A Middle English preterit of reap.
WycUf.
rap'^ (rap), n. [Origin obscure.] A lay or skein
of yarn containing 120 yards. E. H. Knight.
Bapaces (ra-pa'sez), n. pi. [NL., pi. of L. ra-
pax, rapacious: see rapadoiis.'] 1. In mam-
mal., the beasts of prey ; carnivorous quadru-
peds; the Carnioora, now called Feree. Also
Bapacia. — 2. In ornith., the birds of prey; rapa-
cious birds ; the Accipitres or Baptores.
Bapacia (ra-pa'shi-a), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi. of
li.rapax: aee Bapaces.'] Rapacious mammals;
beasts of prey: synonymous with Bapaces, 1.
rapacious (ra-pa'shus), a. [= P. rapace = Pr.
rapatz = Sp. rapaz = It. rapace, < L. rapax
(rapac-), rapacious, < rapere, seize : see rape^.']
1. Of a grasping habit or disposition; given
to seizing for plunder or the satisfaction of
greed, or obtaining wrongfully or by extor-
tion ; predatory ; extortionate : as, a rapacious
usurer ; specifically, of animals, subsisting by
capture of living prey; raptorial; predaeeous:
as, rapacious birds or fishes.
What trench can intercept, what fort withstand
The brutal soldier's rude rapaeioiis hand.
Rowe, tr. of Lucan's Fharsalia, vii.
A rapaxious man he [Warren Hastings] certainly was not.
Had he been so, he would infallibly have returned to his
country the richest subject in Europe.
* Macamay, Warren Hastings.
2. Of a grasping nature or character; charac-
terized by rapacity; immoderately exacting;
extortionate: as, a rapacious disposition; ra-
pacious demands.
Well may then thy Lord, appeased,
Bedeem thee quite from Death's rapacious claim.
Milton, P. L., xL 268.
There are two sorts of avarice ; the one is but of a bas-
tard kind, and that is the rapacious appetite of gain.
Cowley, Avarice.
— Syn. 1. Rapacious, Ravenous, Voraciovs. Rapacious, lit-
erally disposed to seize, may note, as the others do not, a
distinctive characteristic of certain classes of animals ;
the tiger is a rapacious animal, but often not ravenous
or voracious. Ravenous implies hunger of an extreme
sort, shown in eagerness to eat. ■ Voracious means that
one eats or is disposed to eat a great deal, without refer-
ence to the degree of hunger : a glutton is voracious. Sam-
uel Johnson tended to be a voracious eater, because in his
early life he had often gone hungry till he was ravenous.
rapaciously (ra-pa'shus-li), ad/i). In a rapa-
cious manner ; by rapine ; by violent seizure.
rapaciousness (ra-pa'shus-nes), n. The char-
acter of being rapacious ; inclination to seize
violently or unjustly.
rapacity (ra-pas'j-ti), n. [< F. rapadtS = Pr.
rapacitat == Sp. rapacidad = Pg. rapacidade =
It. rapadtA, < L. rapaGita(t-)s, rapacity, < rapax
(rapac-), rapacious : see rapacious.'] The char-
acter of being rapacious ; the exercise of a ra-
pacious or predaeeous disposition; the act or
practice of seizing by force, as plunder or prey,
or of obtaining by extortion or chicanery, as
unjust gains: as, the rapacity of pirates, of
usurers, or of wild beasts.
Now, by this time the tears were rapping down
Upon her milk-white breast, aneth her gown.
Ross, Helenore, p. 70. (Jamieson.)
3. To strike a quick, sharp blow; make a sound
bjr knocking, as on a door: as, to rap for ad-
mittance.
Villain, I say, knock me at this gate,
And rap me well. Shale., T. of the S., i. 2. 12.
Whan she cam to the king's court.
She rapt^ wi' a ring.
Rarl Richard (ChUd's Ballads, III. 397).
Gomes a dun In the morning and raps at my door.
Shenstane, Poet and Dun.
4. To take an oath; swear; especially, to
swear falsely: compare to rap out (a), above.
[Thieves' cant.]
It was his constant maxim that he was a pitiful fellow
who would stick at a little rapping for his friend.
Fidding, Jonatlian Wild, i. 13. (Davies.)
rapi (rap), n. [< ME. rap, rappe = Sw. Norw.
rapp = Dan. rap, a rap, tap, smart blow ; cf .
rapi, «.] 1. A heavy or quick, smart blow; a
sharp or resounding knock; concussion from
striking.
The right arme with a rappe reft fro the shuldurs.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), L 7680.
And therewith (as in great anger) he clapped his fyste
on the borde a great rappe. Hall, Edw. V,
Bolus arriv'd, and gave a doubtful tap.
Between a single and a double rap.
Colman the Younger, Broad Grins, The Newcastle Apoth-
[ecary.
2. A sound produced by knocking, as at a door,
or by any sharp concussion; specifically, in
modem spiritualism, a ticking or knocking
noise prodiioed by no apparent physical means,
and ascribed to the agency of disembodied
spirits.
We may first take the ra^nand the "astral bells/'which
Mr. Sinnett seems to regard as constituting important test
phenomena.
R. Hodgson, Proc. Soc. Psych. Research, III. 261.
rap2 (rap), V. t. ; pret. and pp. rapped or rapt,
pi)r. rapping. [< ME. rappen, < Sw. rappa, snatch,
seize, carry off, = MHG. G. raffen, snatch; dial.
(LG.) rappen, snatch up, take up ( > ult. B. raff).
Cf . rapei and rape'^. The pp. rapped, rapt, be-
came confused with rapt, < L. raptus, pp. of
rapere, snatch, which is not connected with the
Tent, word: see rajpt^, raptf.] If. To snatch
or hurry away; seize by violence; carry off;
transport; ravish.
Some shall be rapt and taken alive, as St. Paul saith.
Latimer, 2d Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1560.
Think ye that . . , they will not pluck from you what-
soever they can rap or reave ?
Apostolic Benediction qf Adrian VI., Nov. 26, 1622
[(Foxe's Martyrs, II. 69).
He ever hastens to the end, and so
(As if he knew it) raps his liearer to
The middle of his matter.
B. Jonson, tr. of Horace's Art of Poetry.
But when these people grew niggardly in their oflteriqgs,
it [tlie room] was rapt from thence.
Sandys, Travailes, p. 160.
Rapt In a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.
Mitton, P. L., lil. 522.
2. To transport out of one's self; affect with
ecstasy or rapture; carry away; absorb; en-
gross.
What, dear sir.
Thus raps you 7 Are you well ?
Shak., Cymheline, L 6. 51.
I found thee weeping, and . . .
Am rapt with joy to see my Marcia's tears.
Addison, Cato, iv. 3.
Rapt into future times, the bard begun.
Pope, Messiah, L 7.
To rap ajid rend (originally to rape and ren : see rapeZ),
to seize and strip ; fall on and plunder ; snatch by violence.
rape
Out wild profusion, the source of Insatiable rapacity.
BMngbroke, To Pope.
In the East the rapaeUy of monarchs has sometimes
gone to the extent of taking from cultivators so much of
their produce as to have afterwards to return part for seed.
H. Spencer, Prin. of SocioL, § 443.
rapadura (rap-a-do'ra), n. [Also rappadura;
< Sp. Pg. rapadura, 'shavings or scrapings, <
rapar, shave, scrape, = F. rdper, OF. rasper,
scrape : see rasp^, v."] A coarse unclarified
sugar, made in Mexico and some parts of South
America, and cast in molds.
raparee, »._ See rapparee.
Bapatea (ra-pa'te-a), n. [NL. (Aublet, 1775),
from a native name in Guiana.] A genus of
monocotyledonous plants, the type of the or-
der Bapateacese. it is chaiacterized by an ovary vrith
three cdls and three ovules, six anthers each with a spi-
ral appendage, and numerous fiowers in a globose head
with an involucre of two long leaf-like bracts dilated at
the base, and each flower provided with many closed
imbricated obtuse appressed bractlets. There are 6 or 6
species, natives of Guiana and northern Brazil. They
bear long and narrow radical leaves from a low or robust
rootstock, and fiowers on a leafless scape, each with three
rigid and chaff-like erect sepals, and three broad and
spreading petals united below into a hyaline tube.
Bapateacese (ra-pa-tf-a'se-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Koemicke, 1871), < Bapatea + -acese.1 AJii or-
der of monocotyledonous plants of the series
Cm-onariese, typified by the genus Bapatea. it is
characterized by regular flowers with three greenish se-
pals and three petals, six stamens with long anthers open-
ing by a pore, a three-celled ovary with few or solitary
anatropons ovules, and a lenticular embryo In farinaceous
albumen. It includes about 22 species, of 6 genera, once
classed among the rushes, and now placed between them
and the spiderworts. They are perennial herbs, natives
of Brazil, Guiana, and Venezuela, and are mostly robust
marsh-plants, with long radical tapering leaves, sessile
or petioled, and fiowers on a naked scape, common^ in
dense involucrate heads resembling those of the Com-
rapeH (rap), v. i. [< ME. rapen, < Icel. hrapa,
fall, rush headlong, hurry, Tiasten, = Norw.
rapa, slip, fall, = Dan. rappe, make haste ; cf .
MliG. reppen, hasten, hurry, G. refl. rappeln,
hasten, hurry. Cf . rape^, a. and n., also rape^,
rap^, of which rape^ is in part a doublet.] To
make haste ; hasten ; hurry : often used reflex-
ively.
Pas fro my presens on payne of thi lyife,
And rape of [from] my rewme in a rad haste.
Or thou shall lelly be lost and thou leng oghter.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), L 1898.
"For I may nougt lette," quod that leode, and lyarde he
bistrydeth.
And raped hym to-Iherusalem-ward the rijte waye to ryde.
Piers Plowman (BX xvii. 79.
rapeH (rap), »• [ME., < rapei, «.] Haste; pre-
cipitancy; a precipitate course.
Bow forthe in a rope right to the banke.
Tit vnto Troy, taiy no lengur.
Deshructimi, of Troy (E. E. T. S.\ L 5633.
So oft a day I mote thy werke renewe,
It to correct and eke to rubbe and scrape;
And al is thorgh thy necligence and rape.
Chaucer, Scrivener, 1. 7.
rapeif (rap), a. [< ME. rape = D. rap, < Sw.
Norw. rapp = Dan. rap, quick, brisk: see rcvpe'^,
v.l Quick; hasty.
Than byspak his brother, that rape was of rees.
Tale qf Gamdyn, \, lOL
rape^t (rap), atJs;. [MB., < rapei, a.] Quickly;
hastily.
I aey and swere hym ful rape.
Rom. tffthe Rose, h 6616.
rape^ (rap), v. ; pret. and pp. raped, ppr. raping.
[< ME. rapen (= MD. rapen, raepen, D. rapen,
gather, = MLG. LG. rapen, snatch, seize, =
Norw. rapa, tear off), a var. of rappen, seize:
see rem^. This verb has been partly confused
with Jj. rapere, seize, whence ult. E. rapid,
rapine, rcmadous, rapt^, etc. : see rap^, rapfi-,
j"W*2,eto.] I. imirans. If. To seize and carry
off ; snatch up ; seize ; steal.
Bavenows fiches han sum mesure ; whanne thei hungren
thel rapyn; whanne thei ben ful they spaiyn!
Wimbelton's Sermon, 1388, MS. Hatton 67, p. 16. (EalUwOl.)
2. To commit the crime of rape.
There 's nothing new, Menlppus ; as beforOk
They rape, extort, forswear.
Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels (1636X p. 349. (Latham.)
II. U-ans. 1. To carry off violently; hence,
figuratively, to enrapture; ravish.
To rape the fields with touches of her string.
Drayton, Eclogues, v.
My son, I hope, hath met within my threshold
None of these household precedents, which are strong.
And swift to rape youth to their precipice.
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, ii. 3.
2. To commit rape upon; ravish To rape and
rent, to seize and plunder. Compare to rap and rend,
under rap^.
rape
For, thongh ye loke never bo brode and stare,
Ye shul nat winne a myte in that chaffare,
But wasten al that ye may rape aitd renm.
Chatuser, Canon's Yeoman's Tale, L 411.
rape2 (rap), n. [< rape% v.'\ 1. The act of
snatching by force; a seizing and carrying away
by force or violence, whether of persons or
things; violent seizure and carrying away: as,
the rape of Proserpine; the rape of the Sabine
women ; Pope's " Bape of the Look."
Death is oruell, suffering none escape ;
Olde, young, rich, poore, of all he makes his rape.
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 128.
Pear grew after pear,
Fig after flg came ; time made never rape
Of any dainty there. Chapman, Odyssey.
2. In law, the violation or carnal knowledge of
a woman forcibly and against her will. Forcibly
Is usually understood not necessarily to mean violence,
but to include negative consent. Statutes in various juris-
•dictions modify the definition, some by extending it to in-
•clude carnal knowledge of a girl under 10 either with or
without her consent. Rape is regarded as one of the worst
felonies. The penalty for it was formerly death, as it is
still in some jurisdictions, but is now generally imprison-
ment for life or for a long term of years. It is now often
•called criminal aesauLU
3. Something taken or seized and carriedaway ;
a, captured person or thing. [Rare.]
Where now are all my hopes? oh, never more
Shall they revive nor Death her rapes restore !
Sandys,
Rape of the forest, in Eng. lata, trespass committed in
the forest by violence.
irape^ (rap), n. [< leel. Jireppr, a district, prob.
orig. ' share ' or ' allotment,' < Icel. hreppa, catch,
obtain, = AS. hrepian, hreppan, touch:' see
rap^.^ A division of the county of Sussex,
in England, intermediate between a hundred
and the shire. The county is divided into six
rapes.
The Rape ... is ... a mere geographical expression,
the judicial organisation remaining in the hundred.
Stitbis, Coast. Hist., §46.
Tape* (rap), n. [< ME. rape, also ra/ve, < OP.
*rape, also raie, later rave, F. dial, reuve, reve,
rabe, rova = Pr. Sp. raba, rape, turnip (cf.
Pg. rabao, horse-radish), = D. raap = OHG.
raba, MHGr. rabe, rape, rappe, rape, turnip, G.
rapps, rape-seed, = LG. raap, rape; akm to
OHG. ruoba, ruoppa, MHG. ruobe, rvshe, G.
riibe, rape, turnip, etc.. = LG. rove, rowe =
Dan. roe = Sw. rofva, turnip ; cf . OBulg. riepa
= Serv. repa = Bohem. rzhepa = Pol. rzepa =
Buss, riepa = Lith. rojie^rape = Albanian repe,
' A turnip, < L. rapa, also rapum, a turnip, rape,
:^ Gr. pttTTvc, jicufoi, turnip; cf . Gr. jmi^vlg, lia^vri,
a radish; jjaipavoq, a cabbage; root unknown.]
If. A turnip. Salliwell. — 3. The colza, cole-
.•seed, or rape-seed, a cruciferous plant includ-
ing the Brassica campestris and B. Napus of
LinnsBus, the latter form now considered to be
a variety, together with the common turnip, of
£. campestris, which occurs in a wild state as a
■weed throughout Europe and Asiatic Russia.
Of the two forms named, the former, sometimes called
summer rape, has rough leaves, and the latter, called
winte* rape, smooth leaves. Kape is extensively grown in
Europe and in India for its oleaginous seeds, the source
of rape-oil. It is also sown for Its leaves, which are used
as food for sheep, and are produced in gardens for use as
a salad.
rape^ (rap), n. [< ME. rape = MHG. rappe,
rape, G. rapp, a stalk of grapes, < OP. rape, F.
rape = Pr. raapa = It. raspo, a stem or stalk
•of grapes.] 1. The stem or stalk of grapes.
Til grapes to the presse beo set
Ther renneth no red wyn in rape.
Hdy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 135.
2. pi. The stalks and skins of grapes from
-which the must has been expressed. E. S.
Knight. — 3. Loose or refuse grapes used in
■wine-making.
The juice of grapes is drawn as well from the rape, or
■whole grapes plucked from the cluster, and wine poured
upon them in a vessel, as from a vat, where they are
bruised. Ray.
4. A filter used in a ■vinegar-manufactory to
separate the mucilaginous matter from the ■vin-
egar. It derives its name from being charged
■with rapes. E. H. Knight.
lape^ (rap), V. t. ; pret. and pp. raped, ppr. rap-
ing. [Prob. a, var. of rap'f, perhaps affected
by P. rdper (= Sp. Pg. rapar), rasp: see rasp^.']
To scratch ; abrade ; scarify. [Prov. Eng.]
Interesting reading ; wasn't it ? I wish they'd rape the
character of some other innocent — ha !
The Money-makers, p. 78.
rape'' (rap), n. An obsolete or dialectal form
of rope.
Xape-DUtterfiy (rap'but''6r-fli), n. A pierian,
Pieris rapes, known in the United States as the
312
4961
imported cabbage-butterfly, to distinguish it from
several similar native species. See cut under
cabbage-butterfly, and compare figures under
Pieris. [Eug.]
rape-cake (rap'kak), re. A hard cake formed of
the residue of the seed and husks of rape (see
rape^) after the oil has been expressed, it is
used for feeding oxen and shieep, but is inferior to linseed-
cake and some other kinds of oU-cakes ; it is also used in
considerable quantity as a rich manure.
rapefult (rap'ful), a. [< rape'^ + -/«?.] Given
to rape or violence. [Rare.]
To teach the rape/ul Hyeans marriage.
Chapman, Byron's Tragedy, iv. 1. (Nares.)
rapelyt (rap'li), adv. [ME., also ra^ly, rap-
pUohe, etc. ; < rape\ a., + -ly^.'] HastUy ; hur-
riedly; quickly; rapidly.
Then seih we a Samaritan cam syttynge on a mule,
itydynge full raply the way that we wente.
Piers Plovmuin (CX xx. 48.
TJpsterte the champioun rapely anon.
Tale (ifGamelyn, 1. 219.
rape-oil (rap'oil), ». A thick brownish-yellow
oil expressed from rape-seed, it was formerly, as
in India still, applied chiefly to illumination, but is now
largely consumed for lubricating and in india-rubber
manufacturing. Also called cabbage-ml, cotzor-aU, rape-
seeetoU.
rape-seed (rap'sed), n. The seed of the rape,
or the plant itself; cole-seed Sape-seed olL
Same as rapeoU.
rape-wine (rap'win), n. A poor thin -wine pre-
pared from the murk or stalks, skins, and other
refuse of grapes which have been pressed.
rap-full (rap'fil), a. and n. [< rap^ -I- /««!.]
I. a. Pull of ■?rina : applied to sails when on a
wind every sail stands full without lifting.
II. n. A sail full of wind: also called a smooth
full.
rapfuUyt (rap'ful-i), adv. With beating or
striking; ■with resounding blows ; batteringly.
[Rare.]
Then far of vplandish we doe view thee flrd Sicil ^tna.
And a seabelch grounting on rough rocks rapfulye trap-
ping. StanihuTst, MneiA, ill.
Baphaelesqiue (raf*a-el-esk'), a. [Also Baf-
faelesgue; < Bapliael (It. Baffaello), a chief
painter of the Aalian Renaissance (see Baph-
aelism), + -esque.'] Of or resembling the style,
color, or art of the great Renaissance painter
Raphael (RafEaello Sanzio da Urbino).
A strange opulence of splendour, characterisable as
half-legitimate half-meretricious — a splendour hovering
between the raffaelesque and the japanuish.
Carlyle, Sterling, L 6.
Raphaelism (raf 'a-el-izm), n. [< Baphael (see
def.) + -ssm.] The principles of art introduced
by Raphael, the famous Italian painter (1483-
1520) ; the style or method of Baphael.
Baphaelite (raf'a-el-it), n. [< Baphael + -ite^:
see Baphaelism.'i One who adopts the princi-
ples or follows the style of the painter Raphael.
Kaphaelitism (raf'a-el-i-tizm), n. [< Baphael-
ite + -ism.'] The principles or methods of the
Raphaelites; pursuit of or adherence to the
style of the painter Raphael.
Baphanese (ra-fa'ne-e), n. pi. [NL. (A. P. de
CandoUe, 1821), < Baphanus + -e«.] A tribe of
polypetalous plants of the order Cruciferse. it
is characterized Dy an elongated unjointed indehiscent
pod, which is a cylindrical or monilifoi'm one-celled and
many-seeded silique, or is divided into many small one-
seeded cells (in one or two rows), which at length fall
apart. It includes 9 genera, of which Raphmms is the
type, all of them plants of the Old World, and chiefly
Asiatic.
Baphanus (raf'a-nus), n. [NL. (Tournefort,
1700), < L. raphanus, < Gr. pd^avoc, cabbage,
radish, fiafavic, radish, akin to /idm;f, pdfvg,
turnip, li. rapa, rapum, turnip: see rape^.]
A genus of cruciferous plants, including the
radish, type of the tribe BaphanesB. it is charac-
terized by globose seeds, solitary in the single row of cells
formed by constrictions of the pods, which are closed by a
pithy substance or sometimes remain continuous through-
out. The 6 species are natives of Europe and temperate
parts of Asia, and are branching annuals or biennials, with
fleshy roots, lyrate lower leaves, and elongated bractless
racemes of slender-pediceled white or yellow purplish-
veined flowers, followed by erect spreading,- thick, and
corky or spongy pods. Some species (genus Raphunistrum,
Tournefort, 1700) have a short seedless joint below, forming
a stalk to the long inflated necklace-like cell wMch com-
poses the rest of the pod, as R. Landra, a yellow-flowered
Italian weed with large radical leaves, eaten as a salad, and
R. Rap/mnistrum, a coarse weed, the wild or field radish.
See radish.
raphe (ra'fe), n. [NL., prop, rhaphe; < Gr. }>a<fiii,
a seam, suture, < It&Tn-Eiv, sew: see rhapsodie.']
1. In bot.: (o) In an anatropousor amphitaropous
(hemitropous) ovule or seed, the adnate cord
which connects the hilum ■with the chalaza,
commonly appearing as a more or less salient
ridge, sometimes complet.ely embedded in a
rapbigraph
fleshy testa of the seed. See cuts under anat-
ropous and hemivropous. (6) A longitudinal line
or rib on the valves of many diatoms, connect-
ing the three nodules when present. (See nod-
ule. ) The usual primary classification of gen-
era depends upon its presence or absence. —
2. In anat,, a seam-like imion of two lateral
halves, usually in the mesial plane, and consti-
tuting either a median septum of connective
tissue or a longitudinal ridge or furrow ; specif-
ically, in the brain, the median lamina of de-
cussating fibers which extends in the tegmen-
tal region from the oblongata up to the third
ventricle — Raphe of the corpus caUosmn, a longi-
tudinal furrow on the median line of its dorsal surface,
bounded by the mesial longitudinal striae.— Raphe of
the medulla Oblon^cata, the median septum, composed
of fibers which run m part dorsoventrally, in part lon-
gitudinally, and in part across the septum more or less
obliquely, together with nerve-ceUs.— Raphe of the
palate, a linear median ridge extending from a small
papilla in front, corresponding with the inferior opening
of the anterior palatine foramen, back to the uvula. —
Raphe of the penis, the extension of the raphe of the
scrotum forward on the under side of the penis.— Raphe
of the perineum, the extension of the raphe of the scro-
tum backward on the perineum. — Raphe Of the phar-
ynx, the median seam on the posterior wall of the phar-
ynx.— Raphe of the scrotum, a slight median lidge ex-
tending forward to the under side of the penis, and back-
ward along the perineum to the margin of the anus. —
Raphe Of the tongue, a slight furrow along the middle
of the dorsal surface^ terminating posteriorly in the fora-
men csecum.
Baphia (ra'fi-a), n. [NL. (Palisot de Beauvois,
1804) , < raffia, the native name of the Madagascar
species.] A genus of palms of the tribe Xg»-
docaryese, type of the subtribe BaphiesB (which
is distinguished from the true ratan-palms,
Calamese, by a completely three-celled ovary).
It is characterized by pinnately divided leaves crown-
ing an erect and robust trunk, and by a fruit which be-
comes one-celled, is
beaked with -the
three terminal stig-
mas, and has a thick
pericarp tessellated
with overlapping
scales, spongy with-
in and containing a
single oblong fur-
rowed seed with
very hard osseous
albumen. There are
5 species, natives of
tropical Africa and
Madagascar, with
one, R. Uedigera,
the jupati - palm
(which see), native
in America from the
mouths of the Ama-
zon to Nicai-agua.
All inhabit low
swampy -lands and
banks near tide- wa-
ter. Their trunks
are unarmed and of
little height, but
their leaves are
spiny and often
over 50 feet in
length,* the entire
tree becoming thus
60 or 70 feet in
height to their erect tips. The large pendulous flower-
spikes reach 6 feet in length, contain flowers of both sexes,
and have their numerou s branches set in two opposite rows,
their flower-bearing branchlets resembling flattened cat-
kins. In fruit the spike sometimes becomes 15 feet long,
and weighs 200 or even 300 pounds, bearing numerous egg-
like brown and hard fruits often used as ornaments. R.
Rugia, which produces the largest spadices, is known as
the raffia^palm. (Seero^a.) i?. m?i</"era supplies the tod-
dy of western tropical Africa, and its leafstalks are used
in various ways.
raphides, n. Plural of raphis.
Baphidia (ra-fid'i-a), n. [NL. (Linnseus, 1748),
< (Sr. paifiiQ {p'afiS-'), a needle, a pin : see raphis.'\
A notable genus of neuropterous insects, of the
family Sialidse or giving name to the family Ba-
phidiidse. The prothorax is cylindrical, and the wings
are furnished with a pterostigma.- The larvse differ from
all other Sialidie in not being aquatic ; they live under
bark. The genus is represented in North America only
on the Pacific coast, ^though common in Europe.
raphidian (ra-fid'i-an), a. 1. In bot., of the
nature of or containing raphides: as, raphidian
cells in a plant. — 2. In zoiil., of or pertaining
to the genus Bajyhidia.
raphidSerous (raf-i-dif'e-ms), a. [< Gr. ^o0tf
(pcuptS-), a needle, pin, -t^'L./e»Te, bear, carry.]
In bot., containing raphides.
BaphidiidaB (raf-i-di'i-de), oi.pl. [NL. (Leach,
1824), < Baphidia + -idee.'] A family of neu-
ropterous insects: now merged in the Sialidje.
raphigraph (raf'i-graf), n. [< Gr. fmijiir, a nee-
dle, pin, -1- ypcupEw, write.] A machine intend-
ed to provide a means of communication with
the blind, by the use ol characters made by
pricking paper ■with ten needle-pointed pegs,
Rafkia vini/era.
raphigraph
actuated by a keyboard, and operating in eon-
junction with mechanism for shifting the paper.
The machine has proved practically valuelesa from its com-
plication and its extreme slowness of operation, resulting
from the requisite number of motions.
raphis (ra'fis), n. ; pi. raphides (raf 'i-dez). [NL.,
< Gr. fiaipig, jiairlq, a needle, pin, < Imirreiv, sew,
stitch. Cf . raphe."] In hot., one of the acicular
crystals, most often composed of oxalate of lime,
which occur in bundles in the cells of many
plants. The term has less properly been used to include
crystals of other forms found in the same situations. Also
rhapMs.
rapid (rap'id), a. and n. [I. a. F. rapide (OF.
vernacularly rade, ra) = Sp. rdpido = Pg. It.
rapido, swift, < L. rapidus, snatching, tearing,
usually hastj'jswift, lit. 'quick,' < rapere, snatch,
akin to Gr. apn&Zsiv, seize (see harpy) : see rap^,
rape^. II. n. F. rapide, a swift current in a
stream, pi. rapides, rapids; from the adj.] I.
a. 1. Moving or doin^ swiftly or with celer-
ity; acting or performing with speed; quick in
motion or execution: as, a rapid horse; a rapid
worker or speaker.
Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal
With rajnd wheels. Jftlton, F. L., ii. 632.
Be flx'd, you rapid orbs, that beai'
The changing seasons of the year.
Carew, Ccelum Britennicum, It.
Against his Will, you chain your frighted King
On rapid Hhine's divided Bed.
PHffr, Imit. of Horace, iiL 2.
2. Swiftly advancing; going on or forward at
a fast rate ; making quick progress : as, rapid
gjtowth.; j-opjci improvement; a rapid conflagra-
tion.
The rapid decline which is now wasting my powers.
Farrar^ Julian Home, xiv.
3. Marked by swiftness of motion or action;
proceeding or performed with velocity; exe-
cuted speedily.
My father's eloquence was too rapid to stay for any
man ; — away it went. Steme, Tristram Shandy, v. 3.
Thus inconsiderately, but not the less maliciously, Old-
mixon filled his rapid page.
I. Disraeli, Amen, of lit., II. 416.
It pleased me to watch the curious effect of the rapid
movement of near objects contrasted with the slow mo-
tion of distant ones. O. W. Holmes, Old Vol. of Life, p. 20.
4. Gay. HaUiwell. [Prov.Eng.]=syn. 1-3. Fast,
fleet, expeditious, hasty, hurried.
II. n. A swift current in a river, where the
channel is descending; a part of a river where
the current runs with more than its ordinary
celerity ; a sudden descent of the surface of a
stream, more or less broken by obstructions,
but without actual cataract or cascade: usually
in the plural.
No truer Time himself
Can prove you, tho' he make jrou evermore
Dearer and nearer, as the rapid of lite
Shoots to the fall. Tennyson, A Dedication.
The rapids above are a series of shelves, bristling with
jutting rocks and lodged trunks of trees.
C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage; p. 810.
rapidamente (ra-pe-da-men'te), adv. [It.,< ra-
pido, rapid: see rapid.'] In music, rapidly; in
a rapid manner.
rapidity (ra-pid'i-ti), n. [< F. rapidiU (cf . Sp.
Pg. rapidez) = li'.rapiditd,, < L. rapidita(t-)s, ra-
pidity, swiftness, < rapidm, rapid: see rapid.]
The state or property of being rapid; celerity of
motion or action; quickness of performance or
execution; fast rate of progress or advance.
Where the words are not monosyllables, we make them
so by our rapidity of pronunciation. Addison.
The undulations are present beyond the red and violet
ends of tlie spectrum, for we have made them sensible
through their actions on other reagents, and have mea-
sured their rapidities.
O. B. Lewes, Probs. of Lite and Mind, n. 208.
=Syn. Speed, Smiftness, etc. (see quickness), haste, expedi-
tion, despatch.
rapidly (rap'id-li), ad/o. In a rapid manner;
swiftly; quickly; at a fast rate.
rapidness (rap'id-nes), n. The condition of
being rapid, or of acting or proceeding rapidly;
rapidity.
rapido (r4,p',i-do), adv. [It.: see rapid.] In
music, with rapidity or agility: commonly ap-
plied to a running passage.
rapier (ra/pifer), n. [= D. rapier, rappier = LG.
rapier = G. rappier = Sw. Dan . rapier, < OF. ra-
piere, raspiere, F. rapidre, F. dial, raipei/re (ML.
rapperia), a rapier; prob., as the form raspiere
and various allusions indicate, of Spanish ori-
gin, a name given orig. in contempt, as if ' a
poker,' < Sp. raspadera, a raker, < raspar, rapar
= Pg. rapar = OF. rasper, F. rdper, scrape,
scratch, rasp, < OHG. raspon, rasp, etc.: see
raspl.] 1. A long, narrow, pointed, two-edged
4962
sword, used, especially in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, with a guard for the
hand, adapted for both cutting and thrusting,
but used chiefly for thrusting. Bapier practice
was usually with a dagger or hand-buckler held in the left
hand to parry the thrust. See cut under sword.
And I win turn thy falsehood to thy hearty
Where it was forged, with my rapier's point.
Shak., Rich. H., iv. 1. 40.
Who had girt vnto them a Rapyer and Dagger, gilt, point
pendante. Greene, Quip for an Upstart Courtier.
Some . . . will not stioke to call Hercules himseUe a
dastard, because forsooth he fought with a club and not
at the rapyer and dagger. ..,,„, ^ „ .
Sir J. HaringUm, tr. of Anosto's Orlando Furioso.
The offense . . . caused her Majesty [Queen Elizabeth]
to . . . place selected grave citizens at every gate to cut
the ruffes and break the rapier!^ points of all passengers
that exceeded a yard in length of their rapiers.
Stawe, quoted in Bncyc. Brit., IX. 70.
2. In later English usage, a fencing-sword used
only for thrusting.
By a rapier is now always meant a sword for the thrust,
in contradistinction to one adapted for cutting.
Erusye. Brit.., IX. 70.
rapier-dancet (ra'mer-dans), «. A dance for-
merly practised in Yorkshire, England, by men
in costume who represented ancient heroes and
flourished rapiers, ending with a mock execu-
tion of one of their number by uniting their
rapiers round his neck. Bee sword-dance. EM-
liwell.
rapier-fish (ra'pier-fish), n. A sword-fish.
rapillo (ra-pil'6), n. [< F. rapille (Cotgrave) =
It. rapillo, dross and ashes from a volcano, a
kind of sand used in making mortar.] Pulver-
ized volcanic substances.
rapine (rap'in), «. [Early mod. B. also rapm;
< OP. rmine, P. rapine = Pr. rapina = Sp. rapiMa
_ = Pg. It. rapina, < L. rapina, rapine, plunder,
robbery, < rapere, seize : see rapid, rape^. Cf .
ravine^, raven^, from the same source.] 1 . The
violent seizure and carrying off of property;
open plunder by armed or superior force, as in
war or by invasion or raid.
They lived therefore mostly by rapin, pillaging their
Neighbours, who were more addicted to traffick than fight-
ing. Bampier, Voyages, n. L 107.
Plunder and rapine completed the devastations which
war had begun. £p. Atterbury, Sermons, n. xlll.
3t. Violence; force; ravishment.
Her graceful innocence, her every air
Of gesture, or least action, overawed
His malice, and with rapine sweet bereaved
His flerceness of the fierce intent it brought.
UUton, P. L., ix. 461.
=Syn. 1. Plunder, spoliation, robbery, depredation. See
rappel (ra-pelO, n. [<
(ML. rapeuum), verbal n.
Obverse. Reverse.
Rappen of Billon, 1802 ; British Mu-
seum. (Size of original.)
rapinef (rap'in), v. t. [< F. rapiner, rapine,
plunder; from the noun. Cf. raven'^, v., from
the same source.] To plunder violently or by
superior force.
A Tyrant doth not only rapine his Subjects, but spoils
and robs Churches. Sir 0. Buck, Hist. Sichard IIL, v.
raping (ra'ping),^. a. [Ppr. of rope^^ «.] 1. In
her., devouring or tearing its pre;y: said of any
carnivorous beast used as a bearmg. it is neces-
sary to mention the position of the creature, as rampant,
etc., and also the nature of the prey.
2. Ravishing.
Or had the Syrens, on a neighbour shore,
Heard in what raping notes she did deplore
Her buried gloiy. W. Browne, Pastorals, i. 6.
rapinousf (rap'i-nus), a. [= It. rapinoso, < ML.
*rapinosus, < L. rapima, rapine : see rapine. Cf .
ravenous, a doublet of rapinous,] Committing
or characterized by rapine ; rapacious.
All the close shrouds too, for his rapinom deedes
In all the caue, he knew.
Chapman, Homeric Hymn to Hermes.
raplach (rap'laoh), n. Same as raploch.
raploch, raplock (rap'lodh, -lok), n. and a.
[Also raploch, ra/plack; origin obscure.] I. n.
Coarse woolen cloth, made from the worst kind
of wool, homespun, and not dyed. [Scotch
and North. Eng.]
II. a. Unkempt; rough; coarse. [Scotch.]
My Muse, poor hizzie I
Tho' rough an' raploch be her measure.
She's seldom la^.
Bums, Second Epistle to Davie.
raplyt (rap'U), adv. See rapely.
rappt, V. t. An obsolete form of rap^.
rappadura, n. See rapadwa.
rapparee, raparee (rap-a-re'), »• [< If- '"«-
paire, a noisy fellow, sloven, robber, thief, =
Gael, repair, noisy fellow; of. Ix.rapal, noise;
rapach, noisy: see rabble^.] An armed Irish
plunderer ; in general, a vagabond
rapprochement
The frequent robberies, murders, and other notorious
felonies committed by robbers, rapparees, and tories, upon
their keeping, hath greatly discouraged the replanting of
this kingdom.
Laws ^ WiU. III. (1695), quoted In Bibton-Tumer's Va.
[grants and Vagrancy, p. 396.
The Irish formed themselves into many bodies . . .
called rapparees. Bp. Burnet, Hist. Own Times, an. 1690.
The confiscations left behind them many "wood kerns,"
or, as they were afterwards called, rapparees, who were
active in agrarian outrage, and a vagrant, homeless, half-
savage population of beggars.
Leeky, Bug. in 18th Cent., vi.
rappet, »■ A Middle English form of rap\
rap^, etc.
rappee (ra-pe'), »■ [= G. rapee, rappeh = 'Da,n.
rapee, < F. rdp^, a kind of snuff, < rdp^, pp. of
rc^er, rasp, scrape, grate : seerasp^.] A strong
Mnd of snuff, coarser than maocouba, of either
a black or a brown color, made from the darker
and ranker kinds of tobacco-leaves.
In early times the duly sauced and fermented leaves
were made up into "carottes"— tightly tied up spindle-
formed bundles, from the end of which the snuSer, by means
of a "snuJf rasp," rasped oil his own supply, and hence the
name "rftpi," which we have still as rappee, to indicate a
particular class of snuff. JStuiyo. Brit., XXTTT. 427.
P. rappel, OF. rapiel
of rapeler, F. rap-
jieZer, repeal, revoke : Bee repeal.] 1. The roll
or beat of the drum to call soldiers to arms. —
2. An ancient musical instrument, still used
in Egypt, consisting of a ring to which are
attached small bells or metal plates, forming a
sort of rattle.
rappen (rap 'en), n.; pi. rappen. [Swiss G.
rappen, a coin of Basel, of small value, bearing
the impress of a raven, < MHG. rappe, a coin
first struck at Frei-
burg in Baden, with
the head of a bird on
it representing the
Freiburg coat of
arms, < rappe, a col-
lateral form of robe
= E. raven: see ra-
ven^.] A Swiss coin
and denomination of money. At the present day
the rappen is equivalent to a centime : thus, 100 rappen
(equal to 100 centimes) make 1 franc,
rapper (rap'er), n. [< rap^ + -er-i.] 1. One
who raps or knocks ; specifically, a spirit-rap-
per.— 2. The knocker of a door. [Rare.] — 3.
In coaV^rmmmg, a lever with a hammer attached ,
at one end, placed at the mouth of a shaft or
incline for giving signals to the banksman, by
rapping on an iron plate. — 4. An extravagant
oath or lie; a "whopper." See to rap out (a),
under ropi, v. t. [Pro v. Eng.]
Bravely sworn I though this is no fiower of the sun, yet
I am sure it is something that deserves to be called a
rapper.
Bp. Parker, Beproof of Behearsal Transposed, p. 200.
rapping (ra;^'iiig), n. [Verbal n. of ropi, v.]
The production of sound by a rap ; specifically,
the sound of significant raps or knocks sup-
posed to be produced by spirits through the
instrumentality of mediimis or spirit-rappers;
spirit-rapping.
rapping (raping), a. [Ppr. of rapi, v.] Re-
markably large; of striking or astonishing
size; "whopping." [Prov. Eng.]
Rappist (rap'ist), n. [< Bapp, name of the
founder (see Ha/rmordst, 4), + Ast.] Same as
Harmonist, 4.
Rappite (rap'it), n. [< Mapp (see Eappist) +
-j«e2.] Same as Harmonist, 4.
rapport (ra-p6rt'), v. i. [< F. rapporter, relate,
refer: see report, v.] To have relation or
reference; relate; refer. [Rare.]
When God hath imprinted an authority upon a person,
. . . others are to pay the duty which that impression
demands ; which duty, because it rapports to God, and
touches not the man, . . . extinguishes all pretences of
opinion and pride. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), 1. 142.
rapport (ra-p6r'), n. [P. rapport, OP. raport,
account, also resemblance, correspondence,
accord, agreement, = Pg. raporte = It. rap-
porto, report, relation: see report, n.] %,
Harmonious relation; correspondence; accord
or agreement; affinity; analogy: used as a
French word, often in the phrase en rapport,
in or into close relation, accord, or harmony.
It Is obvious enough what rapport there is, and must
ever be, between the thoughts and words, the conceptions
and languages of eveiy country.
Sir W. Temple, Ano. and Mod. Learning.
2. In French law, a report on a case, or on a
subject submitted ; a return.
rapprochement (ra-prosh'mon), n. [P., reunion,
reconciliation, < rapprocher, approach again, <
rapprochement
re-, back, + approeh^; approach : see approaen.']
A coming or bringing together or into accord;
establishment of harmonious relations ; recon-
ciliation.
The present rapproehemerU between the Turk and the
Muscovite. yhe Academy, Dec. 15, 1888, p. 379.
He [Lewes] here seeks to effect a rappn>c?iement between
metaphyslo and science. Encyc. Brit., XIV. 491.
rapscallion (rap-skal'yon), n. [Amodifiedform
of rascalUon.'] A rascally, disorderly, or despi-
cable person ; a wretch or vagabond ; a rascal-
lion.
Well, mpicattiom ! and what now !
Barham, Ingoldsby L^ends, L 87.
There isn't any low, friendless rapsaUlion in this town
that hasn't got me tor his friend.
Howells, Annie Kilborn, xL
rapscallionry (rap-skal'yon-ri), n. [< rapscal-
lion + -ry.'\ Rascals collectively. [Rare.]
rapti (rapt). A preterit and past participle of
ropl.
rapt^ (rapt), p. a. [Early mod. E. spelling of
rapped, pp. of rap^, confused with L. raptus,
pp. of rapere, seize : see rap^, and cf . rapt^.'}
Seized with ecstasy; transported; exalted;
ecstatic; in a state of rapture.
More dances my rapt heart
Than when I first my wedded mistress saw
Bestride my threshold. SAot., Cor., iv. 6. 122.
Looks commercing with the skies.
Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes.
MUton^ n Penseroso, 1. 40.
Their faces wore a rapt expression, as if sweet music
were in the air around them.
HavMvome, Hall of Fantasy.
rapt't (rapt), v. t. [< L. raptare, seize and
carry off, freq. of rapere, ■pp. raptus, seize : see
rap^, and cf. rap^, rape^.J 1. To seize or
grasp; seize and carry off; ravish.
The Lybian lion, . . .
Out-rashing from his den, rapts all away.
Datdet, Civil Wars, vil 97.
We are a man distinct . . .
from those whom custom rajjtefA in her press.
B. J<mson, Poetaster, v. L
2. To transport as with ecstasy; enrapture.
So those that dwell in me, and live by frugal toil,
When they in my defence are reasoning of my soil.
As rapted with my wealth and beauties, learned grow.
Drayton, Folyolbion, xiii. 411.
rapt^t (rapt), n. [< F. rapt, OF. rat, rap = Pr.
rap = Sp. Pg. rapto = It. ratio, < L. raptus, a
seizure, plundering, abduction, rape, ML. also
forcible violation, < rapere, pp. raptus, seize,
snatch: see rapt^, a., and cf. rapture.'\ 1.
Transporting force or energy; resistless move-
ment.
And therefore in this Encyclopedic and round of know-
ledge, like the great and exemplary wheels of heaven, we
must observe two circles : that while we are daily carried
about, and whirled on by the swing and rapt of the one,
we may maintain a natural proper course in the slow and
sober wheel of the other. Sir T. Brovme, Vulg. Err., Pref .
2. An ecstasy; a trance.
Dissimulyng trannces and raptes.
BaU, Hen. Vm., an. 25.
He seemeth to lye as thoughe he were in great payne or
in a rapte, wonderfully tormentynge hym self e.
R. Eden, tr. of Gon^alus Oviedus (First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 215).
An extraordinaiy rapt and act of prophesying.
Bp. Morton, Discharge of Imput. (1633), p. 174.
Baptatores (rap-ta-to'rez), n. pi. [NL., pi. of
raptator, < L. raptare, seize and carry off,
waste, ravage, plunder: see rapt^, rapt^.'] In
ornith., same as Saptores. lUiger, 1811.
Baptatoria (rap-ta-to'ri-a), n. pi. [NL. : see
Baptatores.'] In entom., same ssBaptoria.
raptatorial (rap-ta-to'ri-aJ), a. [< raptatory-
+ -al,'] Same as raptorial.
raptatory (rap'ta-to-ri), a. [< NL. *raptatorius,
< raptator, a robber,' plunderer: see Baptatores.}
In entom., formed for seizing prey; raptorial.
raptert (rap'ter), n. Same as raptor, 1.
raptor (rap'tor), u. [= Sp. Pg. raptor = It.
rattore, < L. raptor, robber, plunderer, abduc-
tor, < rapere, pp. raptus, seize, carry off: see
rapt^, rapt^.] If. Aravisher; a plunderer.
To have her harmless life by the lewd rapter spilt.
Drayton, Folyolbion, x. 149.
2. [^eap.'] [NL.] A genus of coleopterous in-
sects.
Baptores (rap-to'rez), n. pi. [NL., pi. of L.
raptor, robber, plunderer: see raptor.} An
order of Aves, the Accipitres of LinnsBus, the
Baptatores, Bapaces, or Aetomorphse of some
authors ; the raptorial or rapacious birds ; the
birds of prey. They have an epignathous cered beal^
and talons generally fitted for graapins live prey. The
bill is hooked and often also toothed. The toes are four,
three in front and one behind, with large crooked claws ;
4963
the outer toe is sometimes versatile. The plumage is
aftershaf ted or not ; the oil-gland is present and usually
tufted. The carotids are two ; the syrinx has not more
than one pair of intrinsic muscles. Ceeca are present
(except in Catharlidx). The maxillopalatines are united
to an ossified septum ; the angle of the mandible is not
recurved. The Baptores are found in every part of the
world. There are upward of 600 species, mostly belong-
Raptores.
X, head and foot of golden eagle {Aguila chrysaitos) ; s, head
and foot of gerfalcon i,Falco gyrfalco').
ing to the two families Faleonidse and Slrigidie. The
Baptares are divided into 4 suborders or superfamilies ;
(1) the African Gypogerarades ; (2) the American Cathar-
tides; (3) the cosmopolitan diurnal birds of prey, Acci-
pUret; and (4) the cosmopolitan nocturnal birds of prey,
the owls, Smges.
Baptoria (rap-to'ri-a), n.pl. [NL., < L. raptor,
robber: see Baptores.} In entom., in West-
wood's system (1839), a division of orthopterous
insects; the ManUdse (which see). Weatwood's
Baptoria were a part of Laireille's Cursoria, the rest of
which Westwood called Ambvlataria and Cursoria. Also
Baptatoria.
raptorial (rap-to'ri-al), a. and n. [< raptori-otis
+ -al.} I. a. 1. Rapacious; predatory; preying
upon animals; of or pertaining to the Baptores
or Baptoria. — 2. Fitted for seizing and hold-
ing; prehensile : as, the raptorial beak or claws
of birds ; the raptorial palps of insects Rap-
toilal legs, in enttnn., legs m which the tibiss and tarsi
turn back on the femur, often fitting into it like the blade
of a pocket-knife into a handle; the tibiae may also be
armea with teeth or spines, thus forming very powerful
:;eizing-organs. This type is found only in the front legs,
and it is most fully developed in the Mantidx. See cut
under Mantis.
H. n. Abirdof prey; a member of the iSop-
tores.
raptorious (rap-to'ri-us), a. [< NL. *raptorius,
< L. raptor, a robber, plunderer: see raptor.}
In entom., same as raptorial. Kirhy. [Rare.]
rapture (rajj'tnr), n. [< rapt^ + -ure.} If. A
violent taking and carrying away; seizure;
forcible removal.
Spite of all the raifure of the sea.
This jewel holds his building on my arm.
Shak., Pericles, 11. 1. 161.
When St. Paul had his rapture into heaven, he saw fine
things. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), IL 131.
2. Violent transporting movement; a rapid
carrying or going along; moving energy.
Wave rolling after wave, where way they found ;
If steep, with torrent rapture; if through plain.
Soft ebbing. MiUm, P. L., viL 299.
With the raptvre of great winds to blow
About earth's shaken coignes.
Lowell, Agassiz, vi. 1.
3. A state of mental transport or exaltation;
ecstasy, (a) Ecstatic pleasure ; rapt delight or enjoy,
ment ; extreme joy over or gladness on account of some-
thing.
I have never heard
Praise of love or wine
That panted forth a flood of rapiure so divine.
SheOey, To a Skylark.
To exercise a devilish ingenuity in inventions of mutual
torture became not only a duty but a rapture.
Motley, Dutch Kepnblic, IL 426.
(6) Ecstatic elevation of thought or feeling ; lofty or soar-
ing enthusiasm ; exalted or absorbing earnestness.
This man, beyond a Stoick apathy, sees truth as in a rap-
lure, and deaves to it. Milton, ApologyforSmectymnuus
You grow correct that once with rapture writ.
Pope, EpiL to the Satires, L 3.
There is a rapture on the lonely shore . . .
By the deep sea, and music in its roar.
Byron, Childe Harold, iv. 178.
4. A manifestation of mental transport; an
ecstatic utterance or action ; an expression of
exalted or passionate feeling of any kind; a
rhapsody.
Her [Cassandra's] brain-sick raptures
Cannot distaste the goodness of a quarrel
Which hath our several honours all engaged
To make it gracious. Sliak., T. and C, ii. 2. 122.
rare
Are not groans and tears
Harmonious raptures in th' Almighty's ears?
Quarles, Emblems, iv. IS.
5t. An ecstasy of passionate excitement; a
paroxysm or fit from excessive emotion. [Rare.]
Tour prattling nurse
Into a rapture lets her baby cry.
iSAo*., Cor.,ii. 1. 223.
^Syn. 3. Transport, bliss, exaltation.
raptured (rap'turd), a. [< rapture -^- -ed^.} In
a state of rapture ; characterized by rapture or
ecstasy; enraptured.
Raptur'd I stood, and as this hour amaz'd,
With rev'rence at the lofty wonder gaz'd.
Pope, Odyssey, vi. 199.
The latent Damon drew
Such maddening draughts of beauty to his soul,
As for a while o'erwhelm'd his raptured thought
With luxury too-daring. Thomson, Summer, 1. 1333.
That favored strain was Surrey's raptured line.
Scott, L. of L. il., vL19.
rapturist (rap'jur-ist), n. [< rapture + -ist.}
One who habitually manifests rapture ; an en-
thusiast. [Rare.]
Such swarms of prophets and rapturists have fiown out
of those hives in some ages.
J. Spencer, Vanity of Vulgar Prophecies (1665), p. 43.
rapturous (rap'tur-us), a. [< rapture + -ous.}
of the character of rapture ; marked by rapture ;
exciting or manifesting rapture; ecstatically
Joyous or exalted: as, roptwroMS exultation ; a
rapturous look; a, rapturous ecene.
Els welcome, before enthusiastic, was now rapturous.
Everett, Orations, L 48a
rapturously (rap'tfir-us-li), adv. In a raptur-
ous manner; with'rapture ; ecstatically.
raptus melancholicus (rap'tus mel-an-kol'i-
kus). [NL.: L. raptes, a seizure ; melatihholicus,
melancholic: see rapt^, n., and melanclwlic.}
A motor crisis or outbreak of uncontrollable
violence developed in a melancholic person
from the intensity of his mental anguish.
raquet, n. See racket^.
racLuette (ra-kef), n. [F.] A racket — Ra-
quette head-dress, a kind of head-dress in use toward
the close of the sixteenth century, in which the hair is
drawn back from the forehead and temples, and raised
in a sort of crest ; a kind of chignon was arranged at the
back of the head and covered by a cap of fine linen, darned
net embroidery, or some similar material.
rara (ra'ra), n. [S. Amer. ; imitative of its
cry.] A bird, the South American plant-cut-
ter, Fhytotoma rara. Also called rarita. See
cut under Pliytotoma.
rara avis (ra'ra a'vis); pi. rarse aves (ra're a'-
vez). [L., in fuU rara avis in terris. 'a rare bird
on earth' — a phrase applied by Horace (Sat. ii.
2, 26) to the peacock : rara, f em. of rarus, rare,
uncommon ; avis, bird : see rare^ and Aves.} A
rare bird ; hence, a person or an object of a rare
kind or character ; a prodigy.
rare^ (rar), a. [< ME. rare = D. raar = MLG.
rdr, LG. raar = (J. Dan. Sw. rar, < OF. rare,
rere, P. rare, dial, raire, rale, rase = Sp. Pg..
It. raro, < L. rarus, thin, not dense, thinly scat-
tered, few, rare, uncommon ; root unknown.]
1. Thin; porous; not dense; of slight consis-
tence; rarefied; having relatively little matter
in a given volume : as, a rare substance ; the
rare atmosphere of high moimtains.
The fiend
O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,
With head, hands, wings, or feet pursues his way.
Milton, P. L., ii. 948.
Water is nineteen times lighter, and by consequence
nineteen times, rarer than gold. Newton, Opticks, n. lit 8.
2. Thinly scattered; coming or occurring at
wide intervals; sparse; dispersed.
Cucumber in this moone is sowen rare.
PaOadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 110.
The cattle in the fields and meadows green :
Those rare and solitary, these in flocks
Pasturing at once, and in broad herds npsprung.
Maton, P. L., vii. 46L
He left the barren-beaten thoroughfare,
C^ose the green path that show'd the rarer foot.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
3. Very uncommon or infrequent ; seldom oc-
curring or to be found; hardly ever met with.
She calls me proud, and that she could not love me
Were man as rare as phoenix.
SAffl*., As you Like it, iv. 3. 17.
It is the rareA thing that ever I saw in any place, ney-
ther do I thinke that any citie of Christendome hath the
like. Coryat, Crudities, I. 192.
When so many have written too much, we shall the more
readily pardon the rare man who has written too little or
just enough. Lowell, New Princeton Eev., I. 161.
Hence — 4. Remarkable from uncommonness ;
especially, uncommonly good, excellent, valua-
ble, fine, or the like; of an excellence seldom
met with.
rare
Good diBcent, rare features, vertuous partes.
Timetf Whisae (jE. E. T. S.), p. 43.
I think my love as rare
' As any she belied with false compare.
1 Shak., Sonnets, cxxi.
They write to me from England of rare News in France.
Howell, Letters, I. vi. 37.
Ha ! ha ! ha ! yes, yes, I think it a rare joke.
Sheridan, School for Scandal, lii. 3.
She 's a rare hand at sausages ; there 's noane like her
in a' the three Ridings. Mrs. Oaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, viiL
= Syn. 3. Bare, Scarce, infrequent, unusual. Sare im-
plies that only few of the kind exist : as, perfect diamonds
are rare. Scarce properly implies a previous or usual con-
dition of greater abundance. Bare means that there are
much fewer of a kind to be found than may be found
where scarce would apply.
A perfect union of wit and judgment is one of the rarest
things in the world. Burke.
Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain.
Shak., Rich. II., ii. 1. 7.
Then touch'd upon the game, how scarce it was
This season. Tennyson, Audley Court.
4. Singular, extraordinary, incomparable, choice.
rare^ (v&t), a. [A dial, form of rear^, q. v.]
Not thoroughly cooked ; partly cooked; under-
done: applied to meat: as, rare beef; a rare
chop, pn common use in the United States,
but now only dialectal in Great Britain.]
New-laid eggs, which Baucis* busy care
Turned by a gentle fire, and roasted rare.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., viii. 98.
Scanty mutton scrags on !Fridays, and rather more sa-
voury, but grudging, portions of tlie same flesh, rotten-
roasted or rare, on the Tuesdays. Larnb, Christ's Hospital
The word rare, applied to meat not cooked enough, did
sound really strange to me ; but an eminent citizen of
yours presently showed me that it had for it the authority
of Dryden. E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 69.
rare^ (rar), adv. [Also rear; prob. a reduction
of rather (with sense of the positive rath) : see
rather, rath\ adv. Cf. rareripe for rathripe.'\
Early. [Prov. Eng.]
rare* (rar), v. A dialectal form of rear^. [U. S.]
rarest, i>- An obsolete form of roar.
rarebit (rar'bit), «. [An altered form of rabbit^
in the phrase Welsh rabbit, simulating an ab-
surd derivation from rare^ + bit, as if ' a rare
delicacy.'] See Welsh rabbit, under rabbif-.
raree-show (rar'e-sho), n. [Appar. contract-
ed from * rarity-show, < rarity + show, n. (cf. Gr.
raritdten-Tcabinet, a 'cabinet of curiosities or
rarities,' raritdtenhasten, peep-show, D. rare-
hykkas, a 'rare show,' show-box).] A peep-
show ; a show carried about in a box.
Thou didst look into it with as much innocency of heart
as ever child look'd into a raree-show box.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, viii. 24.
rarefaction (rar-f-fak'shon), n. [< P. rarefac-
tion = Pr. rarefdccio = 8p. rarefaccion = Pg.
rarefacgao = It. rarefasione, < L. as if *rarefae-
<io(»-), < rarefacere, pp. raref actus, rarefy: see
rarefy.'] The act or process of rarefying or
making rare, or of expanding or distending a
body or mass of matter, whereby the bulk is
increased, or a smaller number of its particles
occupy the same space ; also, the state or con-
dition so produced: opposed to condensation.
The term is used chiefly in speaking of gases, the terms
dilatation and expansion being applied in speaking of solids
and liquids. There was formerly a dispute as to whether
rarefaction consisted merely of an increase in the mean
distance of the particles (as it is now held to doX or in
an enlargement of the particles themselves, or flnaUy in
an intrusion of foreign particles. In the strictest sense,
the word was understood to signify the second action.
Either we must say . . . that the selfsame body does
not only obtain a greater space in rare/a^)twn, , . . but
adequately and exactly filled it, and so when rarefied ac-
quires larger dimensions without either leaving any vacui-
ties betwixt Its component corpuscles or admitting be-
tween them any new or extraneous substance whatsoever.
Now it is to this last (and, as some call it, rigorous) way
of rarefaction that our adversary has recourse.
Boyle, Spring of the Air, I. lii.
When the rarefaction of a gas is extreme (one-millionth)
Its matter becomes radiant.
A. Daniell, Prin. of Physics, p. 584.
rarefactive (rar-e-fak'tiv), a. [= F. rarifaetif
= Pr. rarefactiu = 8p. Pg. rarefactive; as rare-
faet(ion) + ■dve.'] Causing rarefaction; making
rarer or less dense. [Kare.]
The condition of the bone was not a tumour, but a rare-
factive disease of the whole bone accompanied by new
growth. Lancet, No. 3423, p. 684.
rareflable (rar'e-fi-a-bl), a. [< rarefy + -able.']
Capable of being rarefied.
rarefy (rar'e-fi), v.; pret. and pp. rarefied, ppr.
rarefying. [Also, incorrectly, rarify; < F. rarj-
fier = Pr. rareficar = Sp. rarifiear = It. rwr^
care, < ML. as if "rareficare, < L. rarefacere (> Pg.
rarefazer), make thin or rare,< rarus, thin, rare,
+/acej-e, make.] I. trans. To make rare, thin.
4964
porous, or less dense ; expand or enlarge without
adding any new matter; figuratively, to spread
or stretch out; distend: opposed to condense.
Presently the water, very much rarijied like a mist, be-
gan to rise. Court and Times of Charles I., L 113.
For plain truths lose much of their weight when they
are rarify'd into subtillities. StiUingfleet, Sermons, I. iv.
A body is commonly said to be rarefied or dilated (tot I
take the word in a larger sense than I know many others
do) . . . when it acquires greater dimensions than the
same body had before. Boyle, Works, 1. 144.
Rarefjring osteitis, an osteitis in which the Haversian
canalsbecome enlaiged and the bone rarefied. Also called
osteovorosis. .
II. intrans. To become rare ; pass mto a thin-
ner or less dense condition.
Earth rarefies to dew ; expanded more,
The subtil dew in air begins to soar. Dryden.
rarelyi (rSr'li), adv. [< rare\ a., + -ly^.] 1.
Seldom; not often: as, things rarely seen.
His friend alwayes shall doe best, and you shall rarely
heare good of his enemy.
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Partiall Man.
The good we never miss we rarely priise.
Cavoper, Retirement, 1. 406.
2. Finely; excellently; remarkably well; with
a rare excellence.
I could play Erole^rare!^, or a part to tear a cat in, to
make all split. ShaJc., M. N. D., i. 2. 31.
Argyll has raised an hunder men.
An hunder harness'd rairdy.
Bonnie House of Airly (Child's Ballads, VI. ] 86).
You can write rardy now, after all your schooling, I
should think. Oearge Eliot, Mill on the Floss, iii. 3.
3. In excellent health: in quasi-adjective use.
Compare purely in like use. [Prov. Eng. and
U.S.]
rarely^ (rar'li), adv. [< rare'^, a., + -ly^.] So
as to be underdone or only partially cooked :
said of meats : as, a roast of beef rarely cooked.
rareness^ (rar'nes), n. [< rare\ a., + -nes«.]
1. Thinness; tenuity; rarity: as, the rareness
of air or vapor. — 2. The state of being scarce,
or of happening seldom; uncommonness; in-
frequency.
It that the follye of men hadde not sette it [gold] in
higher estimation for the rarertesse sake.
Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Robinson), ii. 6.
Bareness and difficulty give e^imation
To all things are i' th world.
Webster, Devil's Law-Case, v. 6.
3. Uncommon character or quality; especial-
ly, unusual excellence, fineness, or the like.
[Rare.]
Roses set in the midst of a pool, being supported by
some stay ; which is matter of rareness and pleasure,
though of small use. Baeon, Nat. Hist., § 407.
His providences toward us are to be admired for the
rareness and graciousness of them. Sharp, Sermons, II. i.
rareness^ (rar'nes), n. [< rare^, a., + -ness.']
The state of being rare orunderdone in cooking.
rareripe (rar'rip), a. and n. [A reduction of
raihripe, q. v.] I, a. Early ripe; ripe before
others, or before the usual season : as, rareripe
peaches.
II. n. An early fruit, particularly a kind of
peach which ripens early.
rarify (rar'i-fi), v. ; pret. and pp. rarifiedj ppr.
rarifying. A common but incorrect spelling of
rarefy.
rarita (ra-re'ta), n. [S. Amer.] Same as rara.
rarity (rar'i-ti" j, K. ; pi. rarities (-tiz). [= OP. ra-
rite, raretei'F. rarete— Pr. raritat, raretat=%y.
raridad = Pg. raridade = It. raritd, = D. rariteit
= G. raritat = Dan. Sw. raritet, < L. rarita{t-)s.
the state of being thin or not dense, looseness of
texture, tenuity, also fewness, rarity, a rare or
curious thing, esp. in pi., < rarus, thin, rare: see
rare'^.'] 1. The condition of being rare, or not
dense, or of occupying, as a corporeal sub-
stance, much space with little matter; thin-
ness; tenuity: opposed to density: as, the rar-
ity of a gas.
This I do . . . only that I may better demonstrate the
great rarity and tenuity of their imaginary chaos.
BenMey, Sermons
A few birds . . . seemed to swim in an atmosphere of
more than usual rarity.
R. L. Stevenson, Treasure of Franohard.
2. The state of being uncommon or of in-
frequent occurrence ; uncommonness ; infre-
quency.
Alas, for the rarity
Of Christian charity
TFnder the sun !
Hood, Bridge of Sighs.
3. Something that is rare or tmcommon; a
thing valued for its scarcity or for its unusual
excellence.
rascal
g<m. But the rarity of it is— which is Indeed almost be-
yond credit.
Seb. As many vouched rariMes are.
Shak., Tempest, a 1. 60.
How ignorant had we been of the beauty of Florence, of
the monuments, urns, and rarities that yet remain.
I. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 34.
In climates where wine is a rarity intemperance
abounds. Macaulay, Milton.
ras^ (ras), n. [< Ar. ras, head ; cf . rais, reis, head,
chief: see m«2.] i. Apromontory; cape ; peak :
a term prefixed to the names of promontories
or capes on the Arabian and African coasts, etc.
— 2. In Abyssinia, the title of the vizir or chief
minister, and also of generals and governors.
The ras of the empire was for a long period — down to
the accession of the usurping King Theodore in 1865— the
actual ruler, the nominal Negus being merely a puppet.
The ras commonly owed his position to superior military
strength as governor of some province.
ras'' (ra), n. [F. : see rash^.] A smooth ma-
terial of wool, and also of silk: a French term
used in English, especially in certain combina-
tions.
rasamala (ras-a-ma'ia), n. [Native name.]
A tree of Java" and parts of India, AlUngia
excelsa, of the Samamelidex, closely related to
the liquidambars. It has a tall straight trunk,
ascending 90 or 100 feet before branching.
rasant (ra'zant), a. ' [< P. rasant, m., rasante,
f., ppr. of rdser, touch, graze, raze: see rase^,
raze*.] In /or*., sweeping or grazing. A rasant
fire is a flanking fire that impinges on or grazes the face
which it defends, or a low Are that sweeps along near the
ground. A rasant line is a direct line of fire of this kind.
A rasant fiarik is the fiank of a bastion the fire from which
passes along the face of an adjoining bastion.
rasberryt, n. An obsolete form of raspberry.
Basbora (ras-bo'ra), n. [NL. (Hamilton); from
a native name.] " The typical genus of Sas-
borina, containing numerous small cyprinoids .
of the Oriental and African waters. The lateral
line runs along the lower half of the caudal
part.
Sasborina (ras-bo-ri'na), n. pi. [NL., < Sas-
bora + 4na^.] A iiivisibn of Cyprinidee, repre-
sented by Easbora and four other genera;
rascabiliant (ras-ka-bU'yan), re. [A perverted
form of rascalUon.]' A rascal.
Their names are often recorded in a court of correction,
where the register of rogues makes no little gaine of rax-
cabUians. Breton, Strange News, p. 6. {Dames.)
rascaillet, n. A Middle English form of rascal.
rascal (ras'kal), n. and a. [Early mod. E. ras-
call; < ME. 'rascdll, raskaUe, rascaile, rascaille,
rascayle, raslcaille, rasskayle, rascalie, rascalye,
< OF. (AF.) rascaille, raskaylle, raskayU, a rab-
ble, mob, F. racaille, "the rascality or base
and rascall sort, the scumme, dregs, offals,
outcasts, of any company" (Cotgrave), lit.
'scrapings,' < OF.*rasquer, scrape, = Sp. Pg.
rascar, scratch, rasgar, tear, rend, scrape, =
Olt. raseare, burnish, rub, furbish (see rash^),
< LL. *rasicare, freq. of L. radere, pp. rasus,
scrape: see rase\ raze^.] I. n. If. The com-
monalty of people; the vulgar herd; the gen-
eral mass.
So rathely they rusche with roselde speris
That the raskaiUe was rade, and rane to the grefes.
Marte Arthure (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 2882.
Lo 1 here the fyn and guerdon for travaiUe,
Of Jove, ApoUo, of Mars and swich rescaUte.
Chaucer, Troilus, v. 1863.
The church is sometime taken for the common rascal of
all that believe, whether with the mouth only, and carnal-
ly without spirit, neither loving the law in their hearts.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc, I860),
[p. 114.
2. In hunting, a refuse or despicable beast or
class of beasts ; an animal, or animals collec-
tively, unfit to chase or to kill, on account of
ignoble quality or lean condition ; especially, a
lean deer.
I wondir not hyly thouj heed-dere thou ftailid ;
flor litill on goure lyf the list ftor to rewe
On rascaiie that rorid with ribbis so lene,
flfor ftaute of her ffode that fflatereris stolen.
Bichard the Bedeless, ii. 119.
Other bestys all,
Where so ye theym fynde, rascaM ye shall them oalL
Quoted in Walton's Complete Angler, p. 31.
Horns? Even so. Poor men-alone? No, no ; the noblest
deer hath them as huge as the rascal.
Shak., As you Like it, iii. 8. 68.
3t. A low or vulgar person ; one of the rabble ;
a boor or churl.
'Tis true, I have been a rascal, as you are,
A fellow of no mention, nor no mark,
Just such another piece of dirt, so fashion'd.
Fletcher (and arwtherl), Prophetess, v. 2.
4. A low or mean fellow; a tricky, dishonest
person; a rogue; a knave; a scamp: used in
rascal
objurgation -with much latitude, and often, like
rogue, with slight meaning. Compare rascally.
I have matter in my head . , . against your cony-catch-
ing rafcals, Bardolph, Nym, and FistoL
Shdk., M. W. of W., i. 1. 128.
Shall a rmedl, because he lias read books, talk pertly to
me? CitixT.
There were many men who wore green turbans, he said,
that were Teiy great tomoIs: but he was a Saint, which
was better than a Sherriff e. Bruce, Source of the Nile, L 76.
n. a. 1. PaJtry; worthless; unworthy of con-
sideration ; in a special use, unfit for the chase,
as a lean deer : used of things or animals. [Ob-
solescent.]
When Harcus Bmtns grows so coTetoos^
To lock such raecal counters from his friends,
Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts !
Shak., 3. C, ly. 3. 80.
2. Low ; mean ; base ; common ; ignoble ; vulgar;
knavish: used of persons, formerly with refer-
ence to class or occupation, but now only with
an implication of moral baseness or dishonesty.
[Not now common as an adjective.]
Paid, being in prison in Bome, did write divers epistles^
in wliich he expresseth the names of many wliii^ were in
comparison of Peter but ragcal personages ; but of Peter
he speaketh never a word.
J. Bradford, letters (Parker Soc, 1853), n. 145.
Metaphore ... as one should in reproch say to a poore
man, thou raskaU knaue, where ra^dU is properly the
hunter's terme giuen to young deere, leane and out of sea-
son, and not to people.
Puttenhmn, Arte of Eng. Poesie (ed. Arber)^ p. 191.
Clodius shrieked tor help. His rascal followeiB rushed
in with lighted torches. Fnyude, Csesar, xr.
rascaldom (ras'kal-dum), n. [< rascal + -dom.']
1. The sphere or domain of rascals; a class or
body of rascally persons.
How has this turbulent Alexandrian rascaldom been be-
having itself in my absence? Kingsley, Hypatia, ii.
View of the rascaldom of Paris, tragical at this time (for
where is now that reiving and stewing, that squeaking
and jabbering — of lies?X otherwise unprofitable.
Carlyle, in Fronde (First Forfy Years, IL xvii).
2. BascaUy character or action; the spirit or
practice of rascals ; rascalism. [Bare.]
The " tliree K's," if no industrial training has gone along
with them, are apt, as Miss Nightingale observes, to pro-
duce a fourth £ — of rascaldom.
Fraude, at St. Andrews, March, 1869.
Falstaff . . . is a character of the broadest comedy, . . .
enjoying the confusion betwixt reason and the negation of
reason — in other words, the rank Toscaldom be is calling
by its name.
Emerson, Letters and Social Aims, The Comic.
rascaldryt (ras'kal-dri), n. [Tor *rasealry, <
rascal + -ry.] A'body or the class of rascals;
the common herd; the rabble. [Rare.]
So base a rasealdry
As is too farre from thought of cbyualry.
Breton, Pasquil's Fooles-cappe, p. 21. (Davies.)
rascalism (ras'kal-izm), n. [< rascal + -wto.]
The spirit or practice of a rascal or of rascals;
rascally character or quality.
A tall handsome man with ex-military whiskers, with a
look of troubled gaiety and rasecUism.
Carlyle, Diamond Kecklace, ziv. (Davies.)
rascality (ras-kal'i-ti), n. [< rascal + •ity.']
1. Low or mean people coUeetively; rascals
in general; rascaldom: now used chiefly in the
moral sense. See rascal, a., 2.
Your baboons, and your jackanapes, being the scum and
raseali^ of all hedge-creepers, they go in jerkins and man-
dilions. Dt^tker, Gull's Hornbook, p. 69.
Pretended philosophers judge as ignorantlyin their way
as the rascality in theirs. GlanviUe.
A favorite remedy [expulsion] with the Scotch for the
purpose of disembarrassing themselves of their superflu-
ous nundtty.
Ribton-Tumer, Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 129.
2. The character or an actioQ of a rascal; the
quality of being a rascal; low or mean mck-
ery; base or dishonest procedure; villainy;
fraud.
Why, goodman Hobby-horse, if we out of our gentility
offered you to begin, must you out of your rascality needs
take it? R. Taylor, Hog hath Lost its Pearl, ilL
This letter (full of raseatttties against King Ch. n. and
his Ck>art). Wood, Athense Oxon., IL 629.
rascal-like (ras'kal-Uk), a. Like a rascal, in
any sense ; in the quotation, like a lean deer.
If we be English deer, be then in blood ;
Not rascaU&e, to fall down with a pinch.
Shak., 1 Hen. VL, iv. 2. 49.
rascallion (ras-kal'yon), n. [< rascal + 4on.
Hence. var. rapscaUion.'] A low, mean wretch ;
a rapscallion.
Used him so like a base rascallion.
S. Butler, Hndibras, I. iii. 327.
rascally (ras'kal-i), a. [< rascal + -ly^.'] Like
or characteristic of a rascal; base; mean;
4965
trickish; scampish: used of persons or things
with much latitude, often with slight meaning.
These same abominable, vile. . . . raseaUy verses.
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, i. 3.
Well, Mr. Sharper, would you think it? In all this
time — as I hope for a Truncheon — this rascally Gazette-
writer never so much as once mention'd me.
Congreve, Old Batchelor, ii. 2.
None of your rascally "dips " — but sound,
Bound, ten-penny moulds of four to the pound.
BarTiam, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 94.
rasclef, v. i. See raxle.
rase^, raze^ (raz), v. t.; pret. and pp. rased,
ppr. rasing. [Early mod. E. also race (con-
fused with ra^) ; < ME. rasen, racen (= D.
rasen = Gr. rasiren = Sw. rasera), < OF. raser,
P. raser = Sp. Pg. rasar = It. rasare, < ML.
rasare, freq. of L. radere, pp. rasus, scrape,
scratch, shave, rub, smooth, level, graze,
touch, strip; akin to rodere, gnaw (see rodent).
Hence ult. erase, razor, razee, rascal, rash^,
abrade, etc.] 1. To scrape or glance along .
the surface of; scratch; graze; shave.
A friendly checke killeth thee, when a rasor cannot rase
thee. ^^, Euphnes .and his England, p. 381.
Have you been stung by waspe^ or angry bees.
Or rased with some rude bramble or rough briar?
B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, iL 2.
His breast's of such well tempered proof e
It may be rac'd, not pearc't^ by savage tooth
Of foaming malice.
Marston, Antonio and Mellida, XL, il 2.
Nor miss'd its aim, but where the plumage dauc'd
Ra^id the smooth cone, and thence obliquely glanc'd.
Pope, Hiad, xL 454.
This inside line is rased or scratehed in.
Thearie, Naval Arch., § 39.
2. To obliterate by scraping; erase; cancel;
hence, to strike out of existence; annul; de-
stroy: often with out. [Obsolete or archaic]
I have a licence and all ; it is but raang out one name
and putting in another.
JB. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, v. 2.
I write, indite, I point, I rase, I quote,
I interline, I blot, correct^ I note.
I>rayton, Matilda to K. Johii-
And in derision sets
Upon their tongues a various spirit, to rase
Quite out their native language.
Jfflton.P. L.,xii. 53.
He raath all bis foes with fire and sword.
Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great, L, iv. 1.
3. To level with the ground or the supporting
surface; tear down or demolish; reduce to
ruins : in this sense now always spelled raze.
Bellona storms,
With all her battering engines bent to rase
Some capital city. Milton, P. L., iL 923.
We touch'd with joy
The royal hand that razed unhappy Troy.
Dryden, .SEneid, xi. 378.
Sacrilegious and rebellions hands had razed the church,
even to the foundation thereof, and laid the honourof the
ciown low in the dust. Bp. AUerbury, Sermons, L xviL
The strangers . . . who found a fiendish pleasure in
razing magnificent cities. Maeaulay, Machiavelli.
=S7I1. 3. Raze, Demolish. See demolish.
rase^, raze^ (raz), n. [< rase\ ».] A scratch;
an abrasion ; a slight wound.
They whose tenderness sbrinketh at the least rase of a
needle point. Hooker, Eccles. Polity. (Latham.)
rase^t, ». A Middle English form of racei.
rase^f, v. t. Same as race^.
rased (razd), a. [< rase^ + -ed2 ] -In her., same
as raguly.
ras^e (ra-za'), a. [< F. rasS, pp. of raser, rase:
see rase^."] In her., same as raguly.
rasgado (ras-ga'do), n. [Sp., a rent, break, la-
ceration, < rasgar, rend, break: see rascal.^ In
guitar-playing, an effect produced by sweeping
the strings with the thumb ; a kind of arpeggio.
ra^i (rash), a. [< ME. rash, rasch, hasty,
headstrong; not found in AS. except in the
rare verb rsescan, move quickly (of light), quiv-
er, glitter, rsescettan, crackle, sparkle (= OHGr.
raskezzan, sparkle) ; = D. rasch, quick, swift, =
MLGr. rasch = OHG. rase, also rosch, MHG.
rasch, also resch, risch, Gr. rasch, quick, swift,
= Dan. Sw. raslc, brisk, quick, rash, = leel.
roskr, strong, vigorous (> roskir, quick) ; with
adj. formative -s7c (-sh), from the root of AS.
rsede, quick (> rsednes, quickness), = MD. rade,
raede, D. rad = MLG. rat (rad-), quick (see
rath^), and of OFries. reth, rad = MD. D. rad =
MLG. rat, LG. rad = OHG. rad, MHG. rat, G.
rad, wheel, = Ir. roth = L. rota = Lith. ratas,
wheel, = Skt. ratlia, a wagon, chariot, war-
chariot. Cf. rosfe2.] i^f. Quick; sudden; hasty.
Oner meruelons meres so mad arayed.
Of raas [race, way, course] thas I were rasch & ronk,
set rapely ther-inne I watz restayed.
AUiteratim Poems (ed. Morris), i. 1166.
rash
As strong
As aconitum or rash gunpowder.
SJiak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 4. 48.
2. Hasty in council or action; precipitate;
headstrong; impetaous; venturesome: as, a
rash statesman or minister ; a rash commander.
In her faire eyes two living lamps did flame, . . ,
That quite bereav'd the rash beholders sight.
Spenser, F. Q., IL iil 23.
Be not rash with thy mouth. EccL y. 2.
For, though I am not splenitive and rash.
Yet have I something in me dangerous.
Shak., Hamlet, v. 1. 284.
Her rash hand in evil hour
Forth Teaching to the Iruiti she pluck'd, she eat!
Maion, P. L., ix. 780.
Of the dead what hast thou beard
That maketb thee so rash and unaf eared?
WUliam Morris, Earthly Paradise, IIL 240.
3. Marked by or manifesting inconsiderate
haste in speech or action; resulting from te-
merity or recklessness: as, rash words; rash
measures.
Of all my rash adventures past
This itantic feat must prove the last !
Scott, L. of the L., iv. 28.
The plan is rash; the project desperate.
Brouming, Ring and Boole, IL 62.
4t. Requiring haste ; urgent.
My lord, I scarce have leisure to salute you.
My matter is so rasK Shak., T. and C., iv. 2. 62.
=Syn. 2 and 3. Enterprising, Foolhardy, etc (see adven-
turous), precipitate, hasty, headlong, inconsiderate, care-
less, heedless. See list under reddess.
rashi (rash), V. t. [< rash?-, a. Cf. AS. rsescan
= G. rasclien = Sw. raska, move quickly, =
Dan. raske, refl., rise ; from the adj.] If. To
put together hurriedly; prepare with haste.
In my former edition of Acts and Monuments, so hastily
rashed [var. raked] vp at that present, in such shortoesse
of time. Foxe, Martyrs, p. 646, an. 1439. (Richardson.)
2. To publish imprudently; blab. Jamieson.
[Scotch.] — 3. To cook too rapidly; bumfrom
haste : as, the beef has been raslied in the roast-
ing. SaUiweU. [Prov. Eng.]
raffll^ (rash), a. and n. [Prob. < Sw. Dan. rask,
quick, = Icel. roskr, strong, vigorous; cf. Icel.
roskvask, refl., ri;pen (said of persons): see
rash^.'] I. a. So ripe or dry as to break or fall
readily, as com from dry straw in handling.
[Local, Eng.]
H. n. Com in the straw, so dry as to fall out
with handling. [Local, Eng.]
rash^t (rash), «. t. [By aph^esis from *arash,
var. of arace, < MB. aracen, arasen, also arachen,
< AF. aracer, OF. aracier, arachier, mixed with
erachier, esrachier, F. arracher, uproot, tear up,
eradicate: see arace^ and eradicate, and cf.
raee^. But the form and sense seem to be due
inpart totheverbrasfti. Hence perhaps rasfe-
eri.] To tear or slash violently; lacerate; rend;
hack; hew; slice.
Lfke two mad mastiffes, each on other flew.
And shields did share, and mailes did rash, and helmea
did hew. Spenser, F. Q., IV. ii. 17.
He dreamt the Ix>ar bad rashed oS his helm.
Shak., RiclL HL, liL 2. 11. (Nares.)
He strikes Clarindo, and rashes off his garland.
Daniel, Hymen's Triumph, iv. 3. (Nares.)
I mist my purpose in liis arm, rashed his doublet-sleeve,
ran him close by the left cheel^ and tlirough his hair.
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, iv. 4.
rash* (rash), n. [(a) = D. LG. ras = G. rasch,
woolen cloth, = Dan. rask, serge, = Sw. rask,
a kind of cloth; prob. < OF. ras, a woolen stuff,
F. ras, short-nap cloth, = Sp. It. raso, a smooth
cloth material; cf.Sp. dim. rosjite, serge; per-
haps < L. rasus, pp. of radere, scrape, rub:
see rosei. (6) Cf. It. rascia, serge, 'rash,'
said by Muratori to be < Sas<»a, a region in
Bosnia where this stuff is said to have origi-
nated, (c) Cf . also arras, tapestry, = It. arazzo
= MHG. arraz, arras (ML. arrasium, arracium),
also, by apheresis. It. razzo = Pg. raz, arras, <
F. Arras, also Aras, a town in northern France
where arras was first made. Some confusion
of these forms seems to have occurred.] A
kind of inferior manufacture of silk or of silk
and stuff.
Be it therefore enacted, for the maintenance of the same
trade in velvets, satins, sylkes, rashe, and other stuffs, as
fitt for tearing as fine for wearing . . .
Siith Decree of CJhristmas Prince, p. 21. (Ifares.)
Sleeveless his jerkin was, and it bad been
Velvet, but 'twas now (so much ground was seen)
Become tufftaff aty ; and our children shall
See it plain rash awhile, then nought at all.
Donne, Satires, iv. 34.
I see it, mistress ; 'tis good stuff indeed ;
It is a silk rash; I can pattern it
Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, iv. 3.
rasb
rashS (rash), n. [< OF. rasche, also rasque, rash,
scurf, F. rache, an eruption on the head, scurf,
= Pr. rosea, itch; < Pr. rascar = Sp. Pg. rasear,
scratch, rasgar, tear, rend, scrape, etc., < LL.
*rasicare, scratch (cf . L. rasitare, shave often),
freq. of L. radere, pp. rasiis, scrape, shave : see
rase\ raee\ and cf . rascal.'] A more or less ex-
tensive eruption on the sMn.
rasllB (rash), n. An obsolete or dialectal form
of rush^.
They biggit a bower on yon bum brae,
And theekit it o'er wi' raslies.
Bessy Bdl and Mary Gray, in Aitken's Scottish Song, p. 20.
rasheri (rash'er), n. [(a) < rasia + -eri (cf.
"rasher on the coals, quasi rashly or hastily
roasted"— Minsheu) (see rash\ v.); or (6) <
rashS, slice, + -er^; the sufSs -er being taken
passively in either case.] In cookery, a slice
of bacon, and formerly of any meat, for frying
or broiling.
Ca/rbonata, a carbonada, meat broiled vpon the coles, a
rasher. m<rrio, 1698.
This making of Christians will raise the price oJ hogs ;
il we grow all to be pork-eaters, we shall not shortly have
a rasher on the coals for money. STuth, M. of V., iil. 6. 28.
He that eats nothing but a red herring a-day shall ne'er
be broiled for the deTil's rasher.
Beau, and Fl., Love's Cure, ii. 1.
He had done justice to a copious breakfast of fried eggs
and broiled rashers. Thackeray, Pendennia, I. 313.
rasher^ (rash'fer), ». [Perhaps < 8p. rascacio =
Pg. rascacio, also rascas, names of the Euro-
pean Scorpsena scrofa and related fishes.] A
seorpsenoid flsh of California, SebasUchtin/s or
Sebastodes "miniatus, of a red color variously
marked. It is one of a large group of rock-fish
or rock-cod, others of which no doubt have the
same name.
rashfult (rash'ful), a. [< rash^ + -/«?.] Rash ;
hasty; precipitate. [Bare.]
Then you with hastie doome and rashfuU sentence straight
Will vaunt that women in that age were all with vertue
fraught.
TurberoUle, Dispraise of Women that allure and love not.
rashlingt (rash'ling), n. [< rasfei + -Ung^.] A
rash person. [Rare.]
What rashliTigs doth delighl^ that sober men despise.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas.
rashly (rash'li), adv. In a rash manner ; has-
tily; -with precipitation; inconsiderately; pre-
sumptuously; at a venture.
rashness (rash'nes), n. 1 . The character of be-
ing rash; incons^erate or presumptuous haste;
headstrong precipitation in decision or action ;
temerity; unwarranted boldness.
Such bold asseverations as in him [the apostle Paul] were
admirable should in your mouths but argue rashness.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, Pref., vi.
And though he stumbles in a full career,
Yet rashness is a better fault than tear.
Oryden, Tyrannic Love, Prol., 1. 21.
2. A rash act ; a reckless or foolhardy deed.
Why not set forth, if I should do
This rashness, that which might ensue
With this old soul in organs new ?
Tennyson, Two Voices.
=Syn. 1. Rashness, Temerity. Rashness has the vigor of
the Anglo-Saxon, temerOy the selectness and dignity of
the Latin. Temerity implies personal danger, physical or
other : as, the temerity of undertaking to contradict Samuel
Johnson ; temerity m going upon thin ice. Rashness is
broader in this respect. Rashness goes by the feelings
without the judgment; tejiwntyrather disregards the judg-
ment. Temerity refers rather to the disposition, rashness
to the conduct. See adventuroits.
For rashness is not courage. Rashness flings itself into
danger without consideration or foresight. But courage
counts the cost, and does not make any display of itself.
J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, p. 336.
As the note of warlike preparation reached them [the
Moors] in their fastnesses, they felt their temerity in thus
bringing the whole weight of the Castilian monarchy on
their heads. Preseott, Ferd. and Isa,, iL 7.
rasinf, n. An obsolete form of resm.
rasing (ra'zing), n. [Verbal n. of rase\ «.] In
ship-building, the act of marking by the edges
of molds any figure upon timber, etc., with a
rasing-knife, or with the points of compasses.
rasing-iron (ra'2ing-i"em), n. A kind of calk-
ing-iron for clearing the pitch and oakum out
of a vessel's seams, preparatory to recalking.
rasing-knife (ra'zing-mf), n. A small edged
tool fixed in a handle, and hooked at its point,
used for making particular marks on timber,
lead, tin, etc.
rasion (ra'zhon), re. [< L. rasio{n-), a scraping,
shaving, < radere, pp. rasus, scrape, shave : see
rasei.] If. A scraping or shaving; rasure.
Bailey, 1731.— 3. Inphar., the division of sub-
stances by the rasp or file. BungUson.
raskailet, »• An obsolete form of rascal.
4966
Raskolnik (ras-kol'nik), Ji. [Euss.] In Russia,
a schismatic ; a dissenter. There are many sects
of Kaskolniks, most of them differing from the Orthodox
Church by even greater conservatism in ritual, etc Some
sects retain the office of priest, while others are Presby-
terian or Independent in poliiy ; others, again, are of wild-
ly fanatical and antinomian character.
rasoo (ra-sb'), n. [E. Ind.] A fiying-squirrel
of India, a species of Pteromys.
Rasores (ra-s6'rez), n. pi. [NL., pi. of L. rasor,
a scraper (applied to a fiddler), < radere, pp. ro-
siis, scrape, scratch: see rcwei, raee^."] If. In
niiger's system (1811), the rasorial birds, or
scratchers, an order of Aves, including the gal-
linaceous and columbaceous birds. — 2. The
I, X, head and foot of dunghill-cock ; 2, 2, head and foot of moor-
fowl (La£-opus seoticTts).
same excluding the pigeons : now usually called
GalUnse (which see).
rasorial (ra-s6'ri-al), a. [NL., < Rasores +
-ial.] Given to scratching the ground for food,
as poultry ; belonging to the Basores, especially
in the secondsense of that word; gallinaceous.
raspi (rftsp), V. [< MB. raspen, rospen, < OF.
rasper, P. rdper, scrape, grate, rasp, = Sp.
Pg. raspar = It. raspare, scrape, rasp, < ML.
raspare, scrape, rake, < OHG. raspon, MHG.
raspen, scrape together (cf. D. MLG. raspen =
MHG. freq. raspelen, G. raspeln, rasp, = Dan.
raspe = Sw. raspa, rasp, in part from the noun) ;
of. OHG. hrespan, MHG. respen, rake together,
pluck; leel. rispa, scratch (> So. risp); prob.
from the root of OB.G.*raffon, MHG. G. raffen,
etc., seize: see r«M)2. Cf . raspi, ». Hence ult.
(prob.) rapier.] I. trans. 1. To abrade by rub-
bing or grating with a coarsely rough instru-
ment; grate, or grate away, with a rasp or some-
thiug comparable to it.
Al that thise fli'st vii [years of plenty) maken,
Sulen this othere vii [years of famine] rospen & raken.
Genesis and Exodus (£. E. T. S.), 1. 2132.
That fellow . . . who insists that the shoe must fit him
because it fitted his father and grandfather, and that, if
his foot will not enter, he will pare and rasp it.
Landor, Imaginary Conversations, Solon and Pisistratus.
When the cane [in sugar-making] has been rasped to
shreds [by a rasper], it is reduced to pulp by disintegrating
apparatus. Spom^ Encyc. Uanvf., II. 1879.
2. Figuratively, to affect or perform harshly,
as if by the use of a rasp; grate upon; utter
with a rough and jarring effect : as, to rasp one's
feelings; to rasp out a refusal.
Through all the weird September-eves
I heard the harsh, reiterant katydids
Rasp the mysterious silence.
J. G. Holland, Kathrina, i.
Grating songs a listening crowd endures,
Ra^d from the throats of bellowing amateurs.
0. W. Holmes, An After-Dinner Poem.
II. intrans. To rub against something grat-
ingly ; produce a rasping effect : as, the vessel
rasped against the quay : literally or figuratively.
Rasped harshly against his dainty nature.
Lowell, Vision of Sir Launf al, i. 5.
raspi (r&sp), n. [= D. Dan. Sw. rasp = G. raspe,
< OP. raspe, F. rdpe (> G. rappe) (= It. raspa),
a rasp, grater, < rasper, F. rdper, grate, rasp,
file: see raspi, v.] 1. A coarse form of file,
having its surface dotted with separate pro-
truding teeth, formed by the indentations of
a pointed punch, in cabinet-rasps, wood'rasps, and
farriers' rasps the teeth are cut in lines sloping down from
the left- to the right-hand side ; in rasps for use in making
boot- and shoe-lasts the teeth slope in the opposite way ;
raspberry
and rasps for makers of gun-stocks and saddletrees are
out with teeth arrayed in circular lines or in crescent
form : sometimes used figuratively.
The horses from the country were a goodly sight to see,
with the rasp of winter bristles rising through and among
the soft summer-coat.
R. D. Blaekmore, Lorna Doone, IHX.
2. A machine or large instrument for use in
rasping; a rasper.
The juice [of beet-roots] from the rasp and the press is
brought into a boiler and heated by steam.
Spons' Encyc. Manvf., I. 210.
3. The radula or odontophore of a moUusk;
the lingual ribbon. See cut under radula.— 4.
A rasping surface, (at) The steel of a tinder-box.
[Prov. Eng.] (6) The rough surface of the tongue of some
animals.
He dismounted when he came to the cattle, and walked
among them, stroking their soft flanks, and feeling in the
palm of his hand the rasp of their tongues.
The Century, XXXV. 947.
rasp2 (rasp), n. [Formerly also respe, also ras-
pis, raspise, raspice, respass (with occasional pi.
raspisses), appar. orig. pi., prop, raspes (the ber-
ries), used as sing, (the bush, and later trans-
ferred to a single berry ?), prob. < rasp^, n.,
or abbr. of raspoerry, < ran>^ + berry\ with ref .
to its rough outside ; cf . It. rcispo, a raspberry
(Plorio): see rasp^.} The fruit of the common
(Buiopean) raspberry. See raspberry. [Obso-
lete or prov. Eng.]
The soyle of this playne biyngeth f oorth feme and bram-
ble busshes bearynge blacke berries or wylde raspes, which
two are tokens of coulde regions,
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. 172).
For kindes of fruites, they haue . . , rasps, strawberies,
and hurtilberies. Eakluyt'e Voyages, L 477.
Eosey had done eating up her pine-apple, artlessly con-
fessing . . . that she preferred it to the rasps and hinny-
blobs in her grandmamma's garden.
Thackeray, Newcomes, xxiii.
raspS (rasp), V. i. [Cf . G. rduspem, hawk or clear
the throat; prob. imitative.] To belch; eject
wind from the stomach. [Old and prov. Eng.]
Let them bind gold to their aching head, drink Cleopar
tra's draught (precious stones dissolved), to ease their rac-
ing stomach. Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 424.
This man of nice education hath a feeble stomacke, and
(rasping since his last meale) doubts whether he should
eat of his laste meale or nothing.
Bp. Hall, Heaven upon Earth, § 26.
raspatory (ras'pa-to-ri), n. ; pi. raspatories (-riz).
[< ML. raspatorium (of. Sp. Pg. raspador, a
scraper), < raspare, rasp, scrape : see rasp^, v.]
A surgeons' rasp ; an instrument for scraping
or abrading bones in surgical or anatomical
operations.
raspberry (raz'ber'i), «.; pi. raspberries (-iz).
[Formerly also rasberry and raspis-berry ; <
rasp\ or rasp^ (see rasp^), + berry^.'] 1. The
fruit of several plants of the genus JRubus, con-
sisting of many small juicy grains or drupes,
which, unlike those of the blackberry, separate
from the convex receptacle together when ripe,
thus giving the fruit the shape of a thimble.
Besides its extensive use as a dessert fruit, the raspberry
is used for jellies and jam, and its juice tor flavoring, for
cooling drinks, and in wines and brandies.
Herewith (at hand) taking her home of plentie,
Fill'd with the choyse of every orchard's daintie.
As peares, plums, apples, the sweet rasms-berry.
W. Browne, Britannia's Fastorsds, L 5.
2. The plant that produces this berry. The com-
mon garden raspberry, the first of the name, is Rubus Idee-
us, a native ol Europe and Asiatic Russia— a shrub with
perennial creeping rootstock, nearly erect, prickly, biennial
stems, and a red pleasant fruit. It was cultivated by the
Romans in the fourth century, and is the source of the best
raspberries, affording many varieties, some of them yel-
low-fruited. The wild red raspberry, R. strigosus, of North
America, is a very sunilar plant, but not quite so tall, the
leaves being thinner, and the fruit not so firm, large, or
well-flavored. It is common northward, especially on new-
ly cleared grounds, and its fruit is much gathered ; while
under cultivation it has yielded several good varieties.
The black raspberry, thimbleberry, or blackcap is the
American R. oceidenialis, a shrub with long recurved bi-
ennial stems, rooting at the tips, and a black fruit. It is
very productive with little care, and affords good garden
varieties.— Dwarf raspberry, an unimportant Ameri-
can species, Rubus trifiorus, with herbaceous trailing or
ascending stems, resembling a blackberry.— FloweSns
raspberry, a name of two American species, Rubue odo-
ratus, the purple, and R. Nvtkanus, the white flowering
raspberry. The former is a rather ornamental shrub of
the eastern United States, with ample three- to flve-lobed
leaves, and showy purple or pink flowers blooming all
summer, the fruit of little worfh. In England it is soni e-
times called Virginian raspberry. R. Nutkanus is a similar
western species with white flowers ; also, and better, called
sainjon-fterr!/,- Himalayan raspberry, Rubux rosstfoli-
us,a.ti East Indian species widely naturalized and culti-
vated in warm countries, and often grown as a greenhouse
shrub, on account of its profusion of white, often double,
flowers. The large fmit consists of many minute orange-
red grahis.— Raspberry vinegar, a Mnk made with
sugar, vinegar, and the juice of raspberries.— Vllglnlan
raspbezxy. see flowering raspberry.
Raspberry-borer l^Betnbecia
fnacuiata),
a, male ; d, female. (Natural size.)
raspberry-borer
raspberry-borer (raz'ber-i-b6r*6r), n. The
larva of one of the clear-winged sphinxes
or hornet - moths,
Bembecia maculata,
common in the
United States, it
bores the roots of rasp-
berries and blackber-
ries. The larva of a
beetle, Oberea bimaeu-
lata, which also bores
into the same plants,
is often called by this
name.
raspberry-bush
(ra,z'ber-i-bush), n.
The shrub, bush, or
bramble producing
any of the kinds of
raspberry.
raspberry-jam tree
(riz'ber-i-jam tre).
One of the Austra-
lian wattle - trees.
Acacia acuminata.
Its wood is used in cabinet-work, and has the
odor of jam made from raspberries.
rasped (raspt), a. [Pp.ofraspi,?).] 1. Affected
as if by rasping; hoarse or raucous, as the voice;
raspy ; nervous or irritable, as from continued
slight provocations. — 2. In bookbinding, said of
book-covers which have the sharp angles taken
off, but are not beveled.
rasper (ras'p6r),_7i. [< raspi + -eri.] 1. One
who or that which rasps ; a cutting scraper.
Speciflcally — (a) A coarse file for removing the burnt crust
from over-baked bread, (p) A rasping-machine ; an in-
strument for rasping sugar-cane, beet-root, or the like to
shreds ; a large grater.
The typical representative of the internal system of grat-
ing is Champonnois' rasper.
Spom' Hmsye. Mamtf., II. 1838.
2. In himting, a difficult fence. [Colloq.]
Three fourths of our fences . . . average somewhat
better than four feet in height, with an occasional rasper
that will come well up to five. The Century, XXXIL 336.
3. A contrivance for taking fish, consisting of
several bare hooks fastened back to back, to
be jerked through the water with a line ; a
pull-devil. [Canada.]
rasp-house (rasp'hous), ». A place where wood
is dressed or reduced to powder by rasping, for
use in dyeing, etc.
We went to see the Rasp-house, where the lusty knaves
are compell'd to worke, and the rasping of Brasill and
Logwood is very hard labour.
Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 19, 1641.
raspicef, n. Same as rag>2.
rasping (ras'ping), n. [verbal n. of rasp^, v.']
A particle rasped off from a body or mass of
matter. Compare ^Kng'i, 2.
The wood itself, either reduced to shavings, rasf^ngs, or
powder. W. Crookes, Dyeing and Calico-printing, p. 337.
rasping (ras'ping), p. a. [Ppr. of ra^'^, «.] 1 .
Characterized by grating or scraping: as, a
raspJMgr sound; hence, irritating; exasperating.
— 3. ti hunting, said of a fence difficult to take.
You cannot . . . make him keep his seat over a rasphng
fence. Dr. J. Brown, Spare Hours, 3d ser., p. 60.
raspingly (ras'ping-li), ado. With a harsh,
rasping sound or effect; in a coarse, harsh
manner; gratingly; irritatingly; exasperat-
ingly.
I told him to stay at home, quite raspingly, and he was
very ready to admit that I had done him a good turn in
doing so. F. H. Burnett, Pretty Polly Femberton, vli.
Tasping-machine (ras'ping-ma-shen"), n. 1. A
machine for rasping wood and' bark for making
dyes, tinctures, etc.; a bark-cutting machine.
— 2. A machine for grating beet-root, for mak-
ing sugar. E. M. Knight.
Tasping-mill (ras'ping-mil), n. A saw-like
machine for reducing a substance to shreds or
fine particles, as a bark-eutter or a grinding-mill
for beet-roots ; a rasping-machine ; a rasper.
xaspisf, n. Same as rasp^.
The raspis is planted in gardens. Gerard.
Haspis are of the same vertue that common brier or
bramble is of. It were good to keepe some of the juyce
of ra«pis-berries in some wooden vessel, and to make it, as
it were, raspis wine. Langbmn, Garden of Health, p. 522.
Tasp-palm (rasp'pam), n. A common palm of
the Amazon region, Iriartea exorhisa, notable
in that its stem is supported by a cone of aerial
roots, of sufficient height for a man to pass be-
neath. These roots are covered with hard tu-
bercles, and are used by the natives as graters,
whence the name.
xasp-pod (rasp 'pod), n. An Australian tree,
FUndersia austraUs: so named from its woody
4967
capsules, covered with tubercles and used as
graters.
rasp-punch (rasp'puneh), n. A tool, rather more
like a cold-chisel than a punch, used for form-
ing the teeth of rasps by cutting into, and turn-
ing upward above the surface, parts of the metal
before it has been hardened and tempered.
raspy (las'pi), a. [< rasp^ + -^i.] Grating ;
harsh ; rough.
Such a raspy, untamed voice as that of his I have hardly
heard. Carlyle, Misc., IV. 197. (Davies.)
rasse^ (ras), n. [< Javanese rasa, smell, taste,
< Skt. rasa, sap, taste, savor.] A kind of civet-
oat; the lesser civet, a viverrine quadruped
of the genus Viverricula, V. malaeeensis, widely
distributed in China, India, the Malay penin-
sula, Java, etc. it is about 20 inches long without the
tail, and is sometimes called l^e MaZaeca weasel. Its per-
fume, called by the natives dedes, is secreted in a double
pouch like that of the civet; it is much valued by the
Javanese. For its sake the animal is often kept in cap-
tivity. It is savage and irritable, and can inflict a very
severe bite.
rasse^t, ». [ME.] .An eminence; a mound; a
summit.
On a rarne of a rok hit reste at the laste,
On the moimte of Mararach of Armene hilles.
AUateraUve Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 446.
rastral (ras'tral), n. [< rostrum + -al.'] Same
as rostrum.
rastrite (ras'trit), n. A zoijphyte of the genus
Bastrites; a graptolite.
Bastrites (ras-tn'tez), n. [NL., < L. rostrum,
a rake, + -jte.] A genus of fossil Silurian
zoophjrtes : same as GraptoUthus.
rastrum (ras'tmm), n. ; pi. rastra (-tra). [NL.,
< Ii. rastrum, a rake, hoe, mattock, "< radere,
scrape: see rasei.] 1. A five-pointed pen for
ruling staffs for music; a music-pen. — 2. A
herse.
rasure (ra'zur), n. [Early mod. E. also razure;
< P. rasure "= Sp. Pg. It. rasura, a shaving, a
blotting off, also the priest's tonsure, < L. ror-
sura, a shaving, scraping, < radere, pp. rasus,
scrape : see rase^. Cf . erasure.l 1 . The act of
scraping or shaving; a rasing or erasing; a
scratch. [Rare.]
With the tooth of a small beast like a rat they race some
their faces, some their bodies, after diners formes, as if it
were with the scratch of a pin, the print of which rasure
can neuer be done away againe during life.
HakluyVs Voyages, ILL 674.
A forted residence 'gainst the tooth of time
And razure of obUvion. Shah., M. for M., v. 1. 13.
2t. Same as erasure.
There were many raeures in the book of the treasury.
Bp. Burnet.
rat^ (rat), n. [Formerly also ratt; < ME. ratte,
roUe, pi. rattes, < AS. rest {rsett-) = MD. ratte,
D. rat = OLG. ratta, MiM. ratte, LG. ratte,
also rat, rot = OHG. rato, m., ratta, f., MHG.
rat, rate, m., ratte, rate, f., MHG. also rate,
ratse, G. ratze, m., = Icel. rotta = Sw. rdtta
= Dan. rotte, a rat; ef. P. Pr. rat = Sp. Pg.
rato = It. ratto = ML. ratus, rattus; ef. also
Ir. Gael, radan, Bret, raz, a rat. The relations
of the Teut., Kom., and Celtic groups to one an-
other, and the ult. source of the word, are un-
known. Some refer the word to the root seen
in L. radere, scratch, scrape (see rase\ raze^),
rodere, gnaw (see rodent). The forms of the
word cat are equally wide-spread.] 1. A ro-
dent of some of the larger species of the ge-
nus Mus, as M. rattus, the black rat, and M.
decumanus, the gray, brown, or Norway rat:
distinguished from mouse. The distinction between
rat and jnouse, in the application of the names to animals
everywhere parasitic with man, is obvious and familiar.
But these are simply larger and smaller species of the
same genus, very closely related zoologically, and in the
application of the two names to the many other species of
the same genus all distinction between them is lost.
2. Any rodent of the family Muridm; a mu-
rine ; in the plural, the Muridse. in this sense, rat
includes nuyuse. American rats or mice are a particular
section of the subfamily 3fuW7i^, called Sigmodontes, con-
fined to America, where no other Murine are indigenous.
Field-rats, water-rats, meadow-mice, or voles are Muridse
of the subfamily Arvicolinm. See cuts under Arvicdla,
Muridse, mvihrat, Neotama, NesoKa, and Nesomys.
3. Any rodent of the suborder Myomorplia.
Different animals of several families, as Dipodidx, Zapo-
didsB, SaccomyidXy^ Geomyidw, SpalacidsB, are often known
as rats of some kind distinguished by qualifying words
or compound names. See cut under mole-rat.
4. Some other rodent, or some insectivore,
marsupial, or other animal like or likened to a
rat. Thus, among hystricomorphio rodents, many spe-
cies of Octodomtidse are called rats: as, the spiny rati of
the subfamily Echinomyinse, Some large aquatic shrews
are known as muskrats. (See Myogale.) Some rat-like
marsupials are known as kangaroo-raitx. (See hettang, and
cuts imder kangaroo-rat and Eehimys.)
rat
5. A person who is considered to act in some
respect in a manner characteristic of rats : so
called in opprobrium. Speciflcally— (o) A man who
deserts a party or an association of any kind for one op-
posed to it in order to gain some personal advantage or
benefit; a self -seeking turncoat ; a renegade. [Colloq.]
He [Wentworth] was the first of the Bats, the first of
those statesmen whose patriotism had been only the co-
quetry of a political prostitution, and whose profligacy has
taught governments to adopt the old maxim of the slave-
market, that it is cheaper to buy than to breed, to import
defenders from an Opposition than to rear them in a Min-
istry. Macaulay, Hallam's Const. Hist.
(6) A workman who accepts lower wages than those cur-
rent at the time and place or required by an authorized
scale, or one who takes a position vacated by a striker, or
one who refuses to strike when others do. [Colloq.]
The men who agree to go into the strike are always the
more united and determined class. The rats who refuse
suffer accordingly. Tlie American, UL 181.
(ct) A clergyman : so called in contempt. HalliweU.
6. Something suggesting the idea of a rat, as
a curving roll of stuffed cloth or of crimped
hair- work, with tapering ends, formerly (about
1860-70) and still occasionally used by women
to puff out the hair, which was turned over it.
At one time even a small amount of natural hair easily
served the purpose of covering the crescent-shaped pillows
on which it was put up, the startling names of which were
rats and mice. Tfie Century, XXXVI. 769.
Alexandrian rat, a gray or rufous-backed and white-bel-
lied variety of Mus rattus, to which the name M. alexan-
drinus has been applied, owing to its having been flrst dis-
covered at Alexandria in Egypt, but which is not specifi-
cally distinct from the black rat. — Bamboo-rat, an Indian
murine rodent mammal of the genus Rhizomys, as R. sumo-
tranus. The bay bamboo-rat is R. liadius. The species
are also called canets. See cut under Rhizomys. — Ban-
dicoot rat. (a) The Anglo-Indian name of the large
murine rodents of India, of the family ilfurute, subfamily
P7d€eomyin£B, and genus Nesokia, of which there are several
species, all Indian. N. grijffithi is an example. See cut
under SesoHa. (6) Same as bandicoot, 2.— Black rat,
M^^s rattus, one of the most anciently known rats, now
almost cosmopolitan, and typicaUy of a blackish color, but
very variable in this respect. It is rather smaller than the
Norway gray rat. In one of its varieties it is known as roof-
rai (Mus tectorvm) and white-bellied rat. See cut under 3f«-
ridee. — Haxe-talledrat. Seeiemmin^.— Maorlrat,the
black lut, Mus rattus, introduced and naturalized in New
Zealand. — Mountain rat, the large bushy-tailed wood-
rat of the Bocky Mountain region, Neotomd einerea; the
pack-rat. [U. S. ] — Norway rat, the common rat, Mus de-
cumanus. — Pack-rat, the mountain rat, Neotoma einerea :
so called on account of Its curious and inveterate habit of
dragging off to its hole any object it can move. [Western
U. S.] — Pbaraonlc rat, Pharaoh's rat, the ichneumon :
a phrase traceable hack at least to Belon (about 1555). See
Herpestes. Also called Pharaoh's nwuse. — Pouched rat.
See pouched. — To have a rat in the garret, to be
slightly crack-brained ; same as to have a bee in one's bon-
net (which see, under bee). — To smeU a rat, to be sus-
picious that all is not right ; have an inkling of some mis-
chief, plot^ or underhand proceeding.
Quoth Hudibras, "I smell a rat:
Balpho, thou dost prevaricate."
5. BvUer, Hudibras, I. i. 821.
rati (rat), v.; pret. and pp. ratted, ppr. ratting.
[< rat^, ra.] I. intrans. 1. To catch or kill rats ;
foUow the business of a ratter or rat-catcher.
— 2. To go over from one party or cause to
another, especially from a party or cause that
is losing or likely to lose, as rats run from a
falling house; desert one's party or associates
for advantage or gain; become a renegade.
[Colloq.]
His ci-devant friends curse the hour that he raited.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, n. 385.
I am f nlly resolved to oppose several of the clauses. But
to declare m^ intention publicly, at a moment when the
Government is in danger, would have the appearance of
ratting. Macaulay, in Trevelyan, I. 275.
3. To work for less than current wages, to re-
fuse to strike with fellow-workmen, or to take
the place of one who has struck: often with
indefinite it. See rat\ n., 5 (6). [CoUoq.]
II. trans. 1. To puff out (the hair) by means
of a rat. See rat^, n., 6. [Bare.]
Next morning, at breakfast^ Sin Saxon was as beautifully
milled, raMed, and crimped — as gay, as bewitching, and
defiant — as ever. Mrs. ITAitJiei/, Leslie Goldthwaite, x.
2. To displace or supplant union workers in:
as, to rat an office or a shop. [CoUoq.]
rat^t (rat), n. [Usually in pi. rats, < ME. rattes,
rags ; either from the verb, ME. ratten, tear (see
rat^, v.), or < Icel. krat, hrati, rubbish, trash, =
Norw. rat, rubbish : cf . Sw. Norw. rata, reject,
refuse (see rofei).] A rag; tatter. [Prov.Eng.]
I rattes and i clutes. Old Eng. EomUies, L 227.
rat^t (rat), V. t. [< ME. ratten = MHG. ratzen,
tear; cf. rat^, to.] To tear.
How watj thou hardy this hous for thyn vnhap [to] neje,
In on so raUed a robe & rent at the sydes?
AUiterative Poems (ed. Morris), 11. 144.
rats (rat), V. t. [Prob. a var. of rot; of. drat^,
in similar use.] A term of objurgation, used
in the imperative.
rat
rat*t. A Middle English contracted form of
redeth, the third person singular present indica-
tive of reacP-. Piers Plowman.
rata (ra'ta), n. [New Zealand.] A tree of
New Zealand, Metrosideros robusta, growing
from 60 to 80 feet high, the wood of which is
■used in cabinet-wor^, and in civil and naval
architecture. The name belongs also to M. florida, a
stout-trunked climber ascending tlie highest trees ; it is
also more or less extended by settlers to other species of
the genus. Besides in several cases yielding valuable
wood, these trees are notable lor their prolusion of bril-
liant flowers, which are generally, as in M. robusta, scar-
let. See fire-tree and Metrosideros.
ratability (ra-ta-bil'i-ti), n. [< ratable + -ity
(see -6jij%).] The quality of being ratable.
Athenseum, No. 3261, p. 535.
ratable (ra'ta-bl), a. [Also rateable; < rate^ +
-able.'] 1. Capable of being rated, or set at a
certain value.
I collect out of the abbay booke of Burton, that 20 Orse
were ratable to two markes of siluer.
Camden, B-emains, Money.
2. Beckoned according to a certain rate ; pro-
portional.
In conscience and credit [poets were] bound, next after
the diuine praises of the Iramortall gods, to yeeld a like
ratable honour to all such amongst men as most resembled
the gods by exceliencie of function.
PvtterSham, Arte of Bug. Poesie, p. 28.
A rataMe payment of all the debts of the deceased, in
equal degree, is clearly the most equitable method.
Blackstone, Ck>m., in. IL
3. Liable or subjected by law to be rated or as-
sessed for taxation.
ratableness (ra'ta-bl-nes), n. Ratability.
ratably (ra'ta-bli), adv. According to rating
or valuation ; at a proportionate rate ; propor-
tionally.
I will thus charge them all ratablye, according to theyr
abilityes, towardes theyr maintenaunce.
Spenser, State of Ireland.
The shareholders of every national banking association
shall be held individually responsible, equally and ratably.
National Bank Act, U. S. (ed. 1882), p. 14.
ratafia (rat-a-fe'a), n. [Formerly also ratifia,
raUfie, raUfee, also ratafiaz; = D., etc., ratafia,
< P. ratafia, formerly also ratafiat (cf. P. tafia,
rum, arrack), = Sp. ratafia = Pg. ratafia, < Ma-
lay araq, a distilled spirit, arrack (< Ar. 'araq,
jidoe, distilled spirit: see arrack), + tafia, taffia,
& spirit distilled from molasses.] 1. A sweet
cordial flavored with fruits : sometimes limited
to those the flavor of which is obtained from
black currants, bitter almonds, or peach- and
cherry-kernels.
It would make a Man smile to behold her Figure in a
front Box, where her twinkling Eyes, by her Afternoon's
Drams of Matifee and cold Tea, sparkle more than her Pen-
dants. Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Keign of
[Queen Anne, I. 201.
2. A kind of fancy cake or biscuit.
Give him three ratafias, soaked in a dessert-spoonful of
cream. George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, vi. 1.
ratan, rattan^ (ra-tan' ), ». [Pormerly also rat-
toon, rotan, rotang, rottang; = D. Sw. Dan. rot-
ting (NL. Botang), < P. rotin, rotang = Sp. rota,
< Malay rotan, ratan. The E. accent, on the
last syllable, is appar. in imitation of the P. ;
the Malay word is accented on the first sylla-
ble.] 1. A palm of one among numerous spe-
cies, mostly of the genus Calamus, a few of the
genns Bhapis ; a ratan-palm. The species of CoJo-
tmis are prevailingly climbing palms, attaining a length
sometimes of 500 feet, with a thickness not exceeding an
inch — ascending the tallest trees, falling in festoons, and
again ascending. A few species are found in Africa and
Australia, but they abound chiefly in the East Indies, on
the mainland and islands. The species of RTiapis are erect
slender canes growing in dense tufts, and are natives of
China and Japan. JRatans of this habit are commercially
distinguished from the climbing ones as ground-ratans.
2. The stems of the ratan collectively as an
economic material. Among its chief commercial
sources are Calamus Rotang, C. rudentum, C. verus, C.
erectus, and 0. Soyleanus. The most valuable ratan Is
produced in Borneo. On account of its length and light,
tough, flexible, and flssile character, ratan is applied to
very numerous uses. In native regions the product of
C. rudentum and other species is split and twisted in
vast quantities into all sizes of cordage from cables to
fishing-lines. Basket-making is another common use.
In some places the stems of climbing ratans are used
for the suspension of foot-bridges of great length. In
China whole houses are made of ratan, there afforded
chiefly by Bhapis fiabellifcirmis. Matting made of split
ratan is exported thence to all parts of the world. The
same fiber serves also to make hats, the bottoms of rice-
sisves, tliread lor sewing palm-leaves, etc. In recent
tildes ratan has become an important article In western
commerce. It is now not only used for walking-sticks,
but extensively made into chairs and chair-bottoms, bod-
ies for fancy carriages, fine and coarse basket-work, etc.
It has almost superseded willow in making the large
Iiaskets required in manufacturing and other industries.
4968
3. A switch or stick of ratan, especially a walk-
ing-stick.
Mr. Humley did give me a little black rattoon, painted
and gilt. Pepys, Diaiy, an. 1660.
ratan, rattan^ (ra-tan'), v. t. [< ratan, rattan"^,
m.] 1. To use ratan in making; cover or form
with interlaced lengths of ratan.
The second class coach is finished in native ash with
Moorish designed ceilings, rattaned sofa seats, and closet
and toilet rooms. Set. .47»er., N. S., LIX. 3.
2. To use a ratan upon; beat with or as with a
ratan-oane. [CoUoq.]
ratan-cane (ra-tan'kan), n. Same as ratan, 3.
ratanhine (rat'an-in), «. [< Braz. Pg. ratanhia
(see ratany) -f -ine^.] An alkaloid (OiqHis
NO3) occurring in small quantity in the ex-
tract of ratany-root.
ratany (rat'a-ni), n. [Also rattany, ratanhy, and
rhatany; ="F. ratanhia, < Braz. Pg. ratanhia, <
Peruv. ratana, native name.] 1. A procum-
bent South American
shrub, Krameria tri-
andra, yielding a
medicinal root, its
foliage is silver-gray with
silky hairs, and it bears
star-like lake-colored
flowers singly in the up-
per axils. See Krameria
and ratany-root.
2. A medicinal sub-
stance procured from
this plant: same as
ratany-JTOot. — Pari,
BrazlUan, or Ceara
ratany, a substitute lor
the true ratany, obtained
from Krameria argentea Ratany {Krameria triamira).
ot northeastern Brazil.
ratany-root (rat'a-ni-rot), n. The root-sub-
stance of the ratany, used in medicine for its
astringent, diuretic, and detergent properties,
and in the adulteration of port-wine.
rataplan (rat-a-plon'), m. [P.; imitative. Cf.
rattan^, rat-a-tat.'] The sound or music of
the military drum; a tattoo or "rub-a-dub."
rat-a-tat (rat'a-taf), n. [Imitative. Ct. rat-
tat, rat-tat-tool] A rattling sound or effect, as
from the beating of a drum.
rat-catcher (rat'kaoh"6r), n. One whose busi-
ness is the catching of rats ; a ratter.
rat-catching (rat'kach"ing), n. The catching
of rats, now pursued as a business by rat-
catchers, and formerly to a large extent in
Great Britain, with dogs or ferrets, as a popu-
lar amusement.
ratch^ (raoh), V. [An assibilated form of rack^,
or in part a var. of reteh^ or reach'^ : see racfei,
v.] I. trans. 1 . To stretch or pull asunder. — 2.
To spot or streak. HalUwell.
[Prov. Eng. in both uses.]
II. intrans. Natit., toTnake a stretch or vary-
ing stretches in sailing; sail by the wind or by
tacks ; stand off and on.
There was a fleet of smacks ratching to the eastward on
our port bow. W. C. Russell, Jack's Courtship, xxiii.
ratch^ (rach), n. [An assibilated form of rack^:
see racfci, n. In defs. 3 and 4, directly from the
verb. Cf . dim. ratchet.] 1. In a machine, a bar
having angular teeth, into which a pawl drops,
to prevent the machine from being reversed in
motion. A circular ratch is a ratchet-wheel. —
2. In clockwork, a sort of wheel having fangs,
which serve to lift the detents and thereby
cause the clock to strike. — 3. A straight line.
[Prov. Eng.] — 4. A white mark on the face of
a horse. [Eng.]
ratchet (rach), n. [Early mod. E. also rach,
raehe; < ME. racche, rache,< AS. reecc, a dog, =
Icel. rakki, a dog.] A dog that hunts by scent.
As they ryde talkynge,
A rach ther come flyngynge
Overtwert the way.
Thanne seyde old and yonge,
From her first gynnynge.
They ne sawe honde never so gay.
Lybeaus Disconus (Siison's Metr. Bom., II.).
There are in England and Scotland two kinds of hunt-
ing dogs : the first is called a raehe; and this is a foot-
scenting creature, both of wild beasts, birds, and fishes
also which lie hid among the rocks ; the female hereof is
called in England a brache. Oentleman's Recreation, p. 28.
ratch^ (raoh), V. t. Same as rash^. [Scotch.]
ratch* (rach), n. [Origin obscure. Cf . ratchel.]
A subsoil of stone and gravel mixed with clay.
Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
ratched (raoht), p. a. [Pp. of ratch^, v.] Rag-
ged; in a ruinous state. Jamieson. [Scotch.]
ratchel (rach'el), n. [Also ratchell, vatchil; cf.
ratch^, ratcher. Perhaps < Gr. rutschel, the frag-
ments from two masses of rock sliding one on
rate
the other, < rutsehen, slide, slip.] Fragments
of stone; gravelly stone; also, a hard, rocky
crust below the soil. Jamieson. [Prov. Eng.
and Scotch.]
ratcher (rach'6r), n. [Cf. ratch^, ratchel.] A
rock. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
ratchet (rach'et), n. [< ratch^ + -et] A de-
tent or pivoted piece designed to fit into the
teeth of a ratchet-wheel, permitting the wheel
to rotate in one direction, but not in the other.
A similar device so arranged as fio move the wheel is termed
a pallet. (See ratehet-wTieel, clicks, 3, pawl, and delent.'i
Combined with the ratchet-wheel as a means of convert-
ing a reciprocating into a rotary motion, the ratchet ap-
pears in a number of tools and gives its name to each : as,
the ratchet bed-key, etc.
ratchet-brace (rach'et-bras), n. See braced.
ratchet-burner (rach'et-bfer'ner), n. A burner
for a lamp in which the wick is moved up and
down by means of a wheel with notched points.
ratchet-coupling (rach'et-kup'ling), n. A de-
vice for uncoupling machinery in the event of
a sudden stoppage of the motion of a driving-
wheel, as by an obstruction . it consists of a ratchet-
wheel inserted in a sleeve on the exterior shaft of a driv-
ing-wheel. The ratchet is efficient as long as it transmits,
the initial motion ; but if the revolution of the driver is
checked, the sleeve slips over the ratchet until the ma-
chinery loses its momentum, thus avoiding a shock.
ratchet-drill (rach'et-dril), n. A tool for drill-
ing holes by means of a ratchet in a narrow
plane where there is no room for the common
brace.
ratchet-jack (rach'et-jak), n. A form of screw-
jack in which the lever-socket is fitted with a.
pallet engaging a ratchet-wheel, so that the jack
may be operated by oscillation of the lever.
ratchet-lever (raeh'et-lev'Sr), n. A lever with
a collar fitted around a ratchet-wheel which en-
gages a pallet on the lever, used for operating
a drill or screw by oscillation of the lever.
ratchet-pedal (rach'et-ped"al), n. Bee pedal.
ratchet-post (rach'et-post), n. Milit., a metal-
lic post fastened to the rear transom of the top-
carriage of a heavy gun, to serve as a support
or fulcrum for the elevating-bar.
ratchet-punch (raoh'et-punch), n. A pimch
worked by a screw which is revolved by means
of a ratchet-lever.
ratchet-wheel (raeh'et-hwel), n. A wheel with
pointed and angular teeth, against which a>
ratchet abuts, used either for converting a re-
ciprocating into a rotatory motion on the shaft
to which it is fixed, or for admitting of its mo-
tion in one direction only.
For both purposes an arrangement
similar to that shown in the cut is
employed, a is the ratchet-wheel,
and b the reciprocating lever, to
the end of which is jointed a small
ratchet or pawl c, furnished with a
catch of the same form as the teeth
of the wheel, which, when the lever
ismoved in one direction, slides over
the teeth, but in returning draws
the wheel with It. The pawl c is
forced into engagement with the
teeth of the ratchet-wheel by the
spring /. The other ratchet, d,
which maybe used either separately
or in combination with the first, permits of the motion of
the wheel in the direction of the arrow, but opposes its re-
turn in the opposite direction. Also called click-whed.
See also cut under pa/tsl.
ratchet- wrench (raoh'et-rench), n. A ratchet
bed-key wrench.
ratchety(rach'e-ti),a. l< ratchet +-y^.] Like
the movement of a ratchet; jerky; clicking.
Baikes . . . poured out a ratchety bnt vehement pane-
gyric. The Money-Makera, p. 128.
ratchil, n. See ratchel.
ratchment (rach'ment), n. [< ratch^ + -ment.']
In arch., a flying-buttress which springs from
the principals of a herse and abuts against the
central or chief principal. Oxford Glossary.
rate! (rat), v. ; pret. and pp. rated, ppr. rating.
[< ME. raten, chide, scold, in comp., < Sw. rata,
reject, refuse, slight, find fault with (cf. rat-
gods, refuse goods), = Norw. rata, reject, cast
aside as rubbish; akin to Norw. rat, refuse,
rubbish, trash, =Icel. hrat, fcraij, rubbish, trash,
skins, stones, etc., of berries; Norw. rata, bad,
worthless: see ra«2.] I. trans. 1. To chide
with vehemence ; reprove; scold; censure vio-
lently.
He shal be rated of his studying.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 277.
Go, rate thy minions, proud insulting boy I
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., U. 2. 84.
His mother is angry, rates him.
B. Jormm, Sad Shepherd, Arg.
2t. To affect by chiding or reproving ; restrain
by vehement censure.
Ratchet-wheel.
rate
No words may rate, nor rigour him remove
From greedy bold ot that his blouddy teast
Spemer, F. Q., IV. ix. 31.
H. intrans. To utter vehement eensiire or
reproof; invoigh scoldingly: witli at.
Yea, the Moores, meeting with this beast, doe rate and
braule at him. PurcTuiSy Pilgrimage, p. 42.
Such a one
As all daylong hath rated at her child,
And Text his day.
Tennyion, Oareth and Lynette.
rate^ (rat), n. [< OP. rate, price, value,=Pr. Sp.
Pg. It. rata = G. rate, < ML. rata, rate, pro-
portion (L. pro rata parte, or pro rata portione,
or sinx-plj pro rata, according to a certain part
or portion (see pro rata, pro-rate)) ; fern, of L.
ratus, determined, fixed, settled, pp. otreri (ind.
reor), think, deem, judge, orig. reckon, calcu-
late. From the same L. verb are ult. derived
E. rate^, ratio, ration, reason, areason, arraigrfl-,
etc., ratify, eta.'] 1. A reckoning by compara-
tive values or relations; proportional estima-
tion according to some standard; relative
amount, quantity, range, or degree: as, the rate
of interest is 6 per cent, (that is, $6 for every
$100 for every year) ; the rate per mile of rail-
road charges, expenses, or speed ; a rapid rate
of growth or of progress.
He lends out money gratis, and brings down
The rate of usance here with us In Venice.
5Aoft., M. olV., i. 3. 46.
One of the necessary properties of pure Motion is Velo-
city. It is not possible to think of Motion without think-
ing ot a corresponding Bate of motion.
A. Daniell, Prin. of Physics, p. 62.
As regards travelling, the fastest rate along the high
roads was ten miles an hour.
W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. B.
It was no longer practicable to levy the duties on the
old plan of one rate for unrefined and another rate for re-
fined sugars. S. DoweU, Taxes in England, IV. 31.
2. Charge or valuation according to a scale or
standard ; comparative price or amount of de-
mand ; a fixed measure of estimation.
A jewel that I have purchased at an infinite rote.
Shttk., M. W. of W., ii. 2. 213.
I am not . . . content to part with my commodities at
a cheaper rate than I accustomed ; look not for it.
B. Jongon, Volpone, ii. 1.
They have no Goods but what are brought from Manilo
at an extraordinary dear rate. Dampier, Voyages, I. 308.
Servants could be hired of their nominal owners at a
barley-corn rate. The Century, YYYTy. 139.
3. A fixed public tax or imposition assessed on
property for some local purpose, usually ac-
cording to income or value: as, poor-rates or
church-rates in Great Britain.
They paid the Church and Parish Bate,
And took, but read not the Keceit.
Prior, An Epitaph.
The empowering of certain boards to borrow money re-
payable from the local r<Ues, to employ and pay those out
of work. B. Spencer, Man vs. State, p. 9.
A sewers rate, however, was known as early as the sixth
year of Hemy VI. (1427).
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 477.
4t. A proportion allotted or permitted; an al-
lotment or provision; a regulated amount or
supply.
The one right feeble through the evill rate
Of food which in her duresse she had found.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. viiL 19.
The people shall go out and gather a certain rate every
day. Ex. xvL 4.
5. A relative scale of being, action, or conduct ;
comparative degree or extent of any mode of
existence or procedure; proportion in manner
or method : as, an extravagant rate of living or
of expenditure. Seeafa?iyrate,a<»orate, below.
With wyse men there is rest & peace, after a blessed rate.
Babeet Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 92.
With might and delight they spent all the night.
And liv'd at a plentiful rate.
SoWn Hood and the Banker (Child's Ballads, V. 210).
Tom hinting his dislike of some trifle his mistress had
said, she asked him how he would talk to her after mar-
riage, if he talked a,^ this rate before. AddUrni.
Hence — 6t. Mode or manner of arrangement;
order; state.
Thus sate they all around in seemely rate.
Spenter, F. Q., IV. i. 52.
7t. Degree, rank, or estimation; rating; ap-
praisement: used of persons and their qualities.
I am a spirit of no common rate.
Shale., M. N. D., ill. 1. 167.
With the common rate of men there is nothing com-
mendable but what they themsejves-may hope to be par-
takerg of. Slede, Spectator, No. 188.
8. The order or class of a vessel, formerly reg-
ulated in the United States navy by the num-
ber of guns carried, but now by the tonnage
displacement. Vessels of 6,000 tons displacement and
4969
over are of the first rate, of 3,000 and above but below
5,000 tons of the second rate, of 1,000 and above but be-
low 3,000 tons of the third rate, of less than 1,000 tons of
the fourth rate. In classifying the navies of England,
France, and the other principal European powers the
term does is used instead of rate, and relates not so much
to the actual weight or power of the ships as to arbi-
trary divisions of types of vessels, and to their relative
Importance as battle-ships, cruisers, ete.
9. In the United States navy, the grade or po-
sition of any one of the crew: same as rating^,
2. — 10. In horology, the daily gain or loss of a
chronometer or other timepiece. A losing rate is
called by astronomers a positive rate, because it entails a
positive correction to the difference of readings of the
clock-face.— At any rate, in any manner, or by anymeans;
In any case; at all events; positively; assuredly: as, I
shall stay at any rate ; at any rate the claim is a valid one.
I have no friend,
Project^ design, or country but your favour,
Which I'll preserve at any rate.
Fletcher (and another). False One, i. 1.
At no ratef, in no manner; by no means; not at alL
[Rare.]
This day at no rate
Shalt thou performe thy worke, least thou doe draw
My heavy wrath vpon thee.
Times' Whittle (E. E. T. S.), p. 16.
County rates, landing-rates, police rate, eto. See
eountyi, landing, ete.— Kate 01 change. In math., the
ratio of an inflnlliesimal increment of any function to that
of the independent variable. Thus, the rate of change of
a!2 relatively to x is 2x.— Bate of exchange. Same as
course of exchange (yiiadti see, under exchange). — Bate of
profit. Seepronl. (See elm church-rate, poor-rate.)=&Ya.
3. Assesament, Impoet, etc. See tax.
rate^ (rat), t). ; pret. and pp. rated, ppr. rating.
[< rate'^, m.] 1. trans. 1. To reckon by com-
parative estimation ; regard as of such a value,
rank, or degree ; hold at a certain valuation or
estimate ; appraise ; fix the value or price of.
If thou be'st rated by thy estimation.
Shatc., M. of v., iL 7. 26.
The frigid productions of a later age are rated at no more
than their proper value, Macavlay, Dryden.
2. To assess as to payment or contribution; fix
the comparative liability of, for taxation or the
like ; reckon at so much in obligation or capa-
bility ; set a rate upon.
Tell us (I pray you) how ye would have the sayd landes
rated, that both a rente may rise thereout unto the
Queene, and also the souldiours paye.
Spenser, State of Ireland.
Look on my George ; I am a gentleman ;
Bate me at what Uiou wilt, thou shalt be paid.
5Anft., 2 Hen. Vt, Iv. 1. 30.
Charles S. What do you rate him at, Moses?
Moses. Four guineas. 5AeruIan, School for Scandal, iv. 1.
3. To fix the relative scale, rank, or position
of: as, to rate a ship; to rate a seaman. — 4.
To determine the rate of, or rate-error of, as a
chronometer or other timepiece. See rate^, n.,
10.
Our chronometers, rated but two weeks ago at Uper-
navik. Kane, Sec. Grinn. Exp., L 68.
Bating-instrument, a rude transitinstrument for de-
termimng time accurately to half a second, in order to
rate watehes.
H. intrans. To have value, rank, standing, or
estimation: as, the vessel rates as a ship of the
line.
When he began milling in a small way at the Falls of St.
Anthony, Minneapolis flour rated very low.
The Century, XXXn. 46.
patent (rat), n. [< ML. rata, f., a stipulation,
contract, ratum, neut., a decision, fem. or neut.
of L. ratlis, pp. of reri, think, deem, judge: see
rate^.'\ A ratification.
Neuer without the rates
Of all powers else. Chapman, Iliad, i. 608.
rate^t, i>. t. [< rate^, n. Cf. ratify.'] To ratify.
To rate the truce they swore. Chapman,
rateable, a. See ratable,
rate-book (rat'buk), n, A book in which a rec-
ord of rates is kept; a book of valuations.
Horses by papists are not to be ridden ;
But sure the Muses' horse was ne'er forbidden ;
For in no rate-book was it ever found
That Pegasus was valued at five pound.
Dryden, Don Sebastian, Prol., 1. 43.
rateen, n. See ratteen.
ratel (ra'tel), n. [< F. ratel, dim. of rat, a rat :
see rat^,] A carnivorous quadruped of the
family Mustelidx and subfamily MeUivorinie,
as Mellivora capensis or M, rateUus, the honey-
ratel of the Cape of Good Hope, and M. indica,
that of India ; a honey-badger. See Mellivora,
and cut in next column.
ratepayer (rat'pa*6r), n. One who is assessed
and pays a rate or local tax. [Great Britain.]
In the vestry-meeting the freemen of the township, the
ratepayers, still assemble for purposes of local interest,
not involved in the manorial jurisdiction.
Slubha, Const. Hist, § 43.
ratb
Ratel (Mellivora capetisis).
They have already in many towns supplied us, at the
expense of the ratepayers, with hospitals, museums, free
libraries, art galleries, baths, and parks.
Westminster Bev., CXX.V. 17.
ratepaying (rafpa^ing), a. Paying a local tax ;
relating to taxation by assessment.
In addition to the . . , eccentricity from an Australian
point of view of a ratepaying or property basis for the par-
liamentary franchise, Tasmania has another legislative
peculiarity which she copied from Victoria, and shares
only with that colony and with New Zealand.
Sir C. W. IHlke, Frobs. of Greater Britain, it 4.
rater (ra'tfer), n. [< rate^ -¥ -eri.] One who
rates or sets a value; one who makes an esti-
mate.
rate-tithe (rat'tiTH), n. In old Eng. law, a
tithe paid for sheep or cattle which are kept in
a parish for less than a year, in which case the
owner must pay tithe for them pro rata, accord-
ing to the custom of the place. Sir A. Fitzher-
bert, Natura Brevium (1534 and later),
rat-fish (raffish), n. A selachian fish, the
Chimiera collisd. [Pacific coast, U. S.]
rat-goose (rat'gSs), n. [< rat-, said to be imi-
tative, + goose. Cf. clack-goose, another name
of the same bird.] The brent- or brant-goose,
Bernicla brenta: so called from its cry,
rath^ (raTH), a. [Also improp. rathe; < ME.
rath, rad, reed, quick, early, < AS. hrseth, hreth,
also hrsed (pi. hrade), quick, swift, fleet, sud-
den, active, = D. rad = MLG. rat (rad-) =:
OHG. hrad, hrat, rat, MHG, rad, rat = Icel,
hradhr, quick, swift, fleet ; root uncertain ; the
forms without the aspirate merge with simi-
lar forms mentioned under rash^, q, v. Hence-
rath^, adv,, and ratlier,] It. Quick; swift;
speedy. — 2. Early; coming before others, or
before the usual time ; youthful. [Obsolete or
archaic]
Last of all, vnto guhoseactionis, in special!, snld Eyngi»
geue rathest actendence.
Lauder, Dewtie of Kyngis (E. E. T. S.X To the Redar.
The rather lambes bene starved with cold.
Spenser, Shep. CaL, Februarie.
Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies.
MUton, Lycidas, 1. 142.
Thy converse drew us with delight.
The men of rathe and riper yeara.
Tennyson, Li Memoriam, ex.
3\. Near; proximate.
rath^ (rasH), adv, [Also rathe; < ME. rathe, <
AS. hrathe, quickly, < hrseth, quick: see rath\
a.] If, Quickly; swiftly; speedily.
With hise salte tons gan he bathe
The ruby in his signet, and it sette
Upon the wex deliverliche and rathe.
Chawxr, Troilus, ii. 1088.
Thane this lyche mane rat^ arayes his byernez,
Rowlede his Romaynez, and realle knyghtoz.
Jforte Arthure (E. E. T. S.X 1. 2022.
2. Early; soon. [Obsolete or archaic]
Bobet is hir damoisele sire Doweles dougter.
To serue this lady lelly bothe late and rathe.
Piers Plouman (B), ix. 13..
What eyleth yow so rathe for to ryse?
Chaucer, Shipman's Tale, 1. 99.
But lesynges with her false flaterye . . ,
Accepte ben now rathest unto grace.
Lydgate, Complaint of the Black Knight, 1. 427.
Bathe she rose, half -cheated in the thought
She needs must bid farewell to sweet Lavaine.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
Bath ripe, early ripe. See rathripe,
rath^ (rath), n. [Early mod. E. also rathe; <
Ir. rath, an earthen fort or fortified dwelling.]
A fortified dwelling of an ancient Irish chief.
The word occtirs as the initial element in many-
Irish place-names, as Bathkeale, Eathlin, ete.
There is a great use amongst the Irish to make great as-
semblyes togither upon a rath or hill, there to parley (they-
say) about matters of wronge ■ betwene towneship and
towneship, or one private person and another.
Spenser, State of Ireland, p. 642.
The Bath was a simple circular wall or enclosure of
raised earth, enclosing a space of more or less extent, ii>
which stood the residence of the chief and sometimes th&
dwellings of one or more of the officers or chief men of
ratb
tlie tribe or court. Sometimes also the Sath consisted of
two or tliree concentric walls or circumTaUations ; but it
does not appear that the erection so called was ever in-
tended to be surrounded with water.
O'Curry, Ano. Irish, IL xix.
raths (rat), n. [E. lud.] A name given to cer-
tain roek-out Buddhist temples in India.
The oldest and most interesting group of monuments
at Mahavellipore are the so-called five ratM or monolithic
temples standing on the sea-shore.
J. Fergusson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 328.
rath* (rat), n. [Hind, rath, a carriage, < Skt.
ratha, chariot.] A Burmese state carriage.
Every day the State rath, or chariot, of the Bhavnagar
Dunbar is drawn by two oxen about the Upper Gardens.
ColonicU and Indian Exhibition, 1886, p. SO.
rat-hare (rat'har), n. Same as pika.
rathe, a. and adv. See rath^.
rathelf, v. t. [ME. rathelen; origin obscure.]
To fix; root.
Gawayn graythely hit bydez & glent with no membre,
Bot stode stylle as the ston, other a stubbe autber,
That rathekd is in roche grounde, with rotez a hundreth.
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.X 1. 2292.
rathelyt, adv. See rathly.
rather (rasn'Sr), adv. [< ME. rather, rether,
< AS. hratlwr, more quickly, sooner, earlier,
compar. othrathe, quick, soon, early: seerath^,
adv. Cf. superl. rathest (obs.), < ME. rathest,
ratheste, soonest, earliest, < AS. hrathost: see
raifei.] If. More quickly, quicker. See rath^,
adv., 1. — 2t. Earlier; sooner.
Thilke sterres that ben cleped sterres of the north
arisen rather than the degree of hire longitude, and alle
the sterres of the south arisen after the degree of hire
longitude. Chamer, Astrolabe, i. 21.
And git Bchal erthe vn-to erthe rather than he wolde.
Bymns to Virgin, etc. (E. B. T. S.), p. 88.
8. More readily or willingly ; with better lik-
ing; with preference or choice; in preference,
as compared with something else.
Men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil. John iii. 19.
4. In preference ; preferably ; with better rea-
son; better.
Give us of your oil. . . . Not so ; . . . but go ye rather
to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. Mat. xxv. 9.
Dye r(Uher, dye, then ever from her service swerve.
Spenser, F. Q., III. v. 46.
Had he who drew such gladness ever wept?
Ask rather could he else have seen at all.
Or grown in Nature's mysteries an adept?
Lowell, To a Friend.
5. More properly; more correctly speaking;
more.
The Doctor by this oversight (or cunningness, rather)
got a supply of money. Bouiell, Letters, IV. 2.
A certain woman . . . had spent all that she had, and
was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. Mark v. 26.
This is an art
Which does mend nature, change it rather, but
The art itself Is nature. Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 96.
Covered with dust and blood and wounds, and haggard
with fatigue and horror, they looked like victims rather
than like warriors. Irving, Granada, p. 92.
6. On the contrary; to the contrary of what
has been just stated. — 7. In a greater degree ;
much; considerably; also, in colloquial use, in
some degree; somewhat: qualifying a verb.
He sought her through the world, but sought in vain.
And, no-where finding, rather f ear'd her slain.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., 1. 799.
Wal, of course he made his court to Kuth ; and the Gin-
eral, he rather backed him up in it.
B. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 37.
8. In some degree or measure ; somewhat ; mod-
erately: usually qualifying an adverb or an ad-
jective : as, she is rather pretty. [Chiefly col-
loq.]
An Indian camp is a rather interesting, though very
dirty, place to visit. The Century, XXXVI. 39.
[In this sense often used ironically, in answering a ques-
tion, as an emphatic affirmative.
"Do you know the mayor's house?" " Rather," replied
the boots significantly, as if he had some good reason to
remember it. JXckem.]
Had rather. See to have rather, under Aaue.— Leet ra-
ther. See leeti.—'Ra.t'hBr better than, somewhat in ex-
cess of ; rather more than.
Five hundred and fifty musketeers, rather belter than
three to one. G. P. E. James, Arrah Neil, p. 60.
Rather . . . than otherwise. See otherwise.— The
rather, by so much the more ; especially ; for better rea-
son ; for particular cause.
You are come to me in happy time ;
The rather for I have some sport in hand.
Shak., T. of the S., Ind., i. 91.
This I the rather write, that we may know there are other
Parts of the World than those which to us are known.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 60.
ratherish (raSH'fer-ish), adv. [< rather +
-isfei.] Slightly; to a smaU extent; in some
degree. [CoUoq.]
4970
Xavalette is ratherish against Popish temporality ; Gen.
Gnyon is rather favorable to it.
New York Tribune, April 22, 1862.
Rathke's duct. The Miillerian duct when it is
persistent in the male.
Eathke's trabeculae. See trabeeula.
rathlyt, adv. [ME., also rathely, radly, radliche,
< AS. hrxdUce, quickly, hastily, speedily, <
hrsBth, quick: see rathK] In a rath manner;
quickly; suddenly.
Thomas rathely vpe he rase.
Thomas of Ersseldoune (Child's Ballads, L 100).
Ryse we now full radly, rest here no longer.
And I shall tell you full tyte, and tary no thing.
Destructimo/Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 772.
rat-hole (rat'hol), n. 1. A hole gnawed in
woodwork, etc., by a rat or rats. — 2. In print-
ing, same as pigeonhole, 6.
ratholite (rath'6-lit), ». Same as pectoKte.
rathrine (rasn'rip), a. and n. [< ME. *rathripe, <
AS. rsedrtpe, hrsedripe, early ripe, < hrxth, quick,
+ ripe, ripe : see rath^ and ripe. Cf. rareripe.']
I, a. Early ripe; ripe before the season; rare-
ripe. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Such as delight in rathripe fruits. Fuller.
Bathripe baxley, barley derived from a long saccession
of crops on warm gravelly soil, so that it ripens earlier
than common barley under different circumstances.
II. n. A rareripe. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
ratifiat, ratiflet, «• Obsolete forms of ratafia.
ratification (raf'i-fi-ka'shon), n. [Early mod.
E. raUficacion, < OP. ratifioation, ratifieaeion, F.
ratification = Pr. ratiffication = Sp. raUficacion
= Pg. ratificafSo = It. ratifieagione, < ML.
ratificaUo(n-), < ratificare, ratify: see raUfy.']
1. The act of ratifying; the act by which a
competent authority gives sanction and valid-
ity to something done by another; also, the state
of being ratified; confirmation: as, the ratifica-
tion at a treaty, or of a contract or promise.
The kyng of England sent Sir Nicholas Carew, knighfi
master of his horses, and Doctor Sampson, to Bononie, for
the ratifieaeion of the league concluded at Cambray.
Ball, Hen. Vm., an. 21.
It was argued by Monroe, Gerry, Howel, EUery, and
myself that by the modern usage of Europe the raUfieation
was considered as the act which gave validity to a treaty,
until which it was not obligatory.
Jefferson, Autobiography, p. 46.
2. In law, the adoption by a person, as binding
upon himself, of an act previously done in his
name or on his behalf, or in such relation that
he may claim it as done for his benefit, al-
though done under such circumstances as
would not bind him except by his subsequent
consent, as in the case of an act done by a
stranger having at the same time no authority
to act as his agent, or by an agent not having
adequate authority to do the act. intention to
ratify is not necessary in order to constitute a ratification,
for an acceptance of the results of the act may itself be
conclusive upon the party. But a knowledge of all the
material circumstances is usually necessary in order to
make a ratification binding.— Rati&catlon by a wife, in
Scots la/io, a declaration on oath made by a wife in presence
of a justice of the peace (her husband being absent) that a
deed she has executed has been made freely, and that she
has not been induced to make it by her husband through
force or fear. — Satiflcatlon meeting, in the United
States, a political meeting called for the purpose of ex-
pressing approval of the nominations made by a political
party, and of creating enthusiasm for their support.
ratifier (rat'i-fi-6r), n. One who or that which
ratifies or sanctions.
Antiquity forgot, custom not known.
The raiifiers and props of every word.
Shak., Hamlet, iv. 6. 105.
ratify (rat'i-fi), v. t. ; pret. and pp. ratified,
ppr. ratifying. [< OF. ratefier, P. raUfier = Pr.
Sp.'Pg. ratificar=lt. ratificare, < ML. ratificare,
confirm, ratify, < L. ratus, fixed, settled, +
-ficare, ifacere, make: see ra*e2 s.nA-fy.'] 1.
To confirm ; establish ; settle conclusively or
authoritatively ; make certain or lasting.
We have ratified to them the borders of Judea.
1 Mac. xi. 34.
Covenants will be ratified and confirmed, as it were by
the Stygian oath. ' Bacon, Political Fables, 11., Expl.
Shaking hands with emphasis, ... as if they were rati-
fying some solemn league and covenant.
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xvii.
2. To validate by some formal act of approval ;
accept and sanction, as something done by an
agent or a representative ; confirm as a valid
act or procedure.
This Accord and final Peace signed by both Kings was
ratified by their two eldest Sons.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 123.
A solemn compact let us raiify.
And witness ev'ry power that rules the sky.
Pope, Odyssey, xiv.
ratio
The unfortunate king, unable to make even a protest
for the rights of his son, was prevailed on to ratify the
agreement. Stubhs, Const. Hist., § 677.
Batlfjring convention, a convention held for the pup-
pose of ratifying certain measures, acts, etc. ; specifically
used in United States politics of the conventions held by
the several States of the American Union for the purpose
of ratifying the Federal Constitution of 1787.
ratihahitiont (rat-'i-ha-bish'on), n. [= Sp. rati-
habicion = Pg. ratihabigSo '= It. ratiabizione,
< LL. ratihaMUo(n-), ratification at law, < L.
ratus, fixed, settled (see rate^), + habere, have :
see habit.] Approval, as of something done or
to be done; precedent or subsequent consent;
sanction ; confirmation of authority or of action.
In matters criminal ratihabition, or approving of the
act, does always make the approver guilty. Jer. Taylor.
To assure their full powers, they had letters of commis-
sion or of ratihabition, or powers of attorney, such as were
usually furnished to proctors or representative officers.
Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 747.
rating^ (ra'ting), n. [Verbal n. of rate^, v.] A
scolding.
rating^ (ra'ting), «. [Verbal n. of rate^, v.] 1.
A fltxmg of rates ; proportionate distribution as
to charge or compensation; determination of
relative values or rights.
The loss by any railway company of its whole share of
this traffic, in consequence of being crippled in competi-
tion by regulations as to rating.
Covttemporary Bev., U. 78.
The following table of ratings and of the number pen-
sioned at each rate shows how the allowance is distributed
among invalid survivors. The Century, XXXVIII. 686.
2. Classification according to grade or rank;
determination of relative standing; hence,
rank or grade. The rating of men in the navy signifies
the grade in which they are rated or entered in the ship's
books. The rating of ships is the division into grades (see
rateZ, n., 8) by which the complement of officers and cer-
tain allowances are determined.
ratio (ra'shio), n. [< L. ratio, a reckoning, ac-
count, calculation, relation, reference, reason,
etc., < ren, pp. ratus, think, deem, estimate:
see rate^, and cf. ration and reason, from the
same L. noun.] 1. The relation between two
similar magnitudes in respect to quantity; the
relation between two similar quantities in re-
spect to how many times one makes so many
times the other. There is no intelligible difference
between a ratio and a quotient of similar quantities ; they
are simply two modes of expression connected with differ-
ent associations. But it was contrary to the old usage to
speak of a ratio as a quantity — a usage leading to intoler-
able complications. Thus, instead of saying that the mo-
mentum of a moving particle is the product of its mass
into its velocity — a mode of expression both convenient
and philosophical— the older writers say that the momenta
of two particles are in the compound ratio of their masses
and velocities. This language, which betrays several er-
rors of logic, is now disused ; although some writers still
persist in making numbers the only subjects of addition
and multiplication. By mathematicians ratio is now con-
ceived and spoken of as synonymous with quotient.
The numbers which specify a strain are mere ratios,
and are therefore independent of units.
J. D. Enerett, Units and Physical Constants, p. 43.
2. Proportion of relations or conditions ; coin-
cident agreement or variation; correspon-
dence in rate; equivalence of relative move-
ment or change.
There has been a constant ratio kept between the
stringency of mercantile restraints and the stringency of
other restraints. H. Speneer, Social Statics, p. S27.
3. Reason; cause: of ten used as a Latin word
in current Latin phrases.
In this consists the raUo and essential gi'ound of the
gospel doctrine. Waterland.
4. In rmisieal acoustics, the relation between
the vibration-numbers of two tones. It is the
physical or mathematical representation of the
interval between them. — 5. In civil law, an ac-
count ; a cause, or the giving of judgment there-
in— ^Alternate ratio, the ratio of the first to the third
or the second to the fourth term of a proportion. — An-
hanuonlc ratio. See anhamwnic. — Arithinetical ra-
tio. See arithmetical. — Change-ratio. See change.—
Composition of ratios, the uniting of two or more sim-
ple ratios into one, by taking the product of the antece-
dents and the product of the consequents. — Compound
ratio. See compoundi. — Consequent of a ratio. See
consequent.— Diiect ratio, (a) A ratio not inverse. (6)
Loosely, a du-ect and simple ratio : as, the weights of bodies
are in the direct ratio of their masses— that is, the weight
of one is to that of another as the mass of the former is
to that of the latter. Also direct proportion. — Direction
ratio, duple ratio. See the qualifying words.— Dis-
similar ratios, unequal quotients.- Division Of a ra-
tio. See division.- Duplicate ratio, a ratio of squares.
The old writers, instead of saying that the distance passed
over by a falling body is proportional to the square of the
tune, say that the spaces are in the duplicate ratios of the
™?s.— Inverse or reciprocal ratio, in math. , the ratio
of the reciprocals of two quantities.— Irrational ratio,
a ratio of surds.— Measure of a ratio. See measure.—
mixed ratio, see miawdi.— Modular ratio. See mod-
!dor.— Mnltlplloate ratio, a ratio of powers.— Oxygen
ratio, m mineral. , the ratio between the number of oxygen
ratio
atoms belonging to the different groups of acidic or basic
compounds in the composition of a mineral. The oxygen
ratio of silica, sesqulozid, and protoxid in garnet is 2 : 1 : 1.
— Pedal raUo, in ane. pros., the proportion of the num-
ber of times in the arsis to that in the thesis, or vice versa.
The pedal ratio (\6yot iroSucos) is usually either equal or
iiarrhythmu! ratu) (1 : 1), dipUmc or double ratio (1 : 2i
or hemiolie ratio (2:3 = 1: ij). Besides these three, the
ordinary pedal ratios, two others were anciently recog-
nized—the triplaiic or triple ratio (1 : 8), and the epttrilic
ratio (3:4 = 1: IJ). The dochmius, regarded as a sin-
gle foot, had a pedal ratio different from all these (3:6;
w_ I -£w_). Isorrhythmio, diplasic, hemiolie, triplasic,
epitntic, and dochmiac feet are feet having the pedal ratios
just named. See/oot, 11, irrational, rhythm.— Vliiae and
Ultimate ratios, phrases first introduced, at least In a
system, by Newton, who preferred them to the terms
suggested by his own method of fluxions. The method
of prime and ultimate ratios is a method of calculation
which may be considered as an extension of the ancient
method of exhaustions. It may be thus explained: let
there be two variable quantities constantly approaching
each other in value, so that their ratio or quotient con-
tinually approaches to unity and at last differs from
unity by less than any assignable quantity ; the ultimate
ratio of these two quantities is said to be a ratio of equal-
ity. In general, when different variable quantities re-
spectively and simultaneously approach other quantities,
considered as invariable, so that the differences between
the variable and the Invariable quantities become at the
same time less than any assignable quantity, the ultimate
ratios of the variables are the ratios of the invariable
quantities or limits to which they continually and simul-
taneously approach. They are called prime ratios or vlti-
mate ratios according as the ratios of the variables are
considered as receding from or approaching to the ratios
of the limits. The first section of Newton's "Principia"
contains the development of prime and ultimate ratios,
with various propositions. — Frogresslon wl^ n ra-
tios. See iwosreissoij.— Quadruple ratio, the ratio of 4
to 1.— (iuadruplicate ratio, a ratio of fourth powers.—
Quintuple ratio, the ratio of 6 to l.— Batio coraio-
scendi (L.), a reason.— Eatio decidencU (L.), inlaw,
the ground or reason on which a judicial decision is con-
ceived as proceeding. The effect of such a decision as a
precedent or evidence of the law is largely dependent on
the ratio decidendi, which is usually indicated in the opin-
ions of the court, but often obscurely or with conflict ;
hence what was tlie ratio decidendi is often a question for
commentators and text-writers.— Ratio essendl (L.), a
cause. — Rational ratio, a ratio between rational quanti-
ties.—Ratio Of equality. See c}i«rii«j/.— Ratio of ex-
Chan^e, in polit. econ., the proportion in which a given
quantity of one commodity may be exchanged for a given
quantity of another, especially when the commodities cor-
respond in form and mode of measurement: as, the ratio
qf exchange between gold and silver, or between wheat and
barley.
When 1 proposed in the first edition of this bools to use
Ratio of Exchange instead of the word value, the expres-
sion had been so little if at all employed by English Econ-
omists that it amounted to an innovation. . . . Yet ratio
is unquestionably the correct scientific term, and the only
term which is strictly and entirely correct.
W. S. Jeoons, Theory of Polit. Econ., p. 89.
Ratio Of greater (or lesser) ineciuallty, the ratio of a
greater quantity to a lesser one (or of a lesser to a great-
er).— Ratio Of similitude, in geom., the ratio between
corresponding dimensions of similar figures. See homo-
thetic. — Ratio Bufflciens (L.). Same as sufficient reason
(wliich see, under reason). — Reciprocal ratio. Same as
inverse ratio. — Simple ratio, (a) A ratio between first
powers, (b) A ratio not compound. — Sullduple ratio.
See <fu}>2e.— 'Subduplicate ratio, an inverse ratio of
squares (sub in all names of ratio indicating the inver-
sion of the ratio) : as, the gravity of two equal masses is
in the subduplicate ratio of their distances from the grav-
itating center.— gubmultlple ratio, the ratio which
exists between an aliquot part of any number or quantity
and the number or quantity itself : thus, the ratio of 3 to
21 is submultiple, 21 being a multiple of 3. — To cut a
line In extreme and mean raUo. See extreme.—
Tiriple ratio, the ratio of 3 to 1.
ratiocinant (rash-i-os'i-nant), a. [< L. ratio-
cinan(t-)s, ppr.of raUoemdri, reason: see ratio-
dnate.'] Beasoning Ratiocinant reason. See
reason.
ratiocinate (rash-i-os'i-nat), V. i.; pret. and
■pp.ratiocirMtecl, ppr. ratiocinating. [< L. raUo-
dnatus, pp. of raOomnari ( > It. raziooinare = Sp.
Pg. raeiocinar=F. ratiociner), teekon, compute,
calculate, consider, deliberate, meditate, rea-
son, argue (cf. ratiocinium, a reckoning, a com-
putation, > It. raziocinio = Sp. Pg. raciocirdo,
reasoning), < ratio(n-), reckoning, reason : see
ratio, reason.'] To reason; from tvyo judg-
ments to infer a third. The word usually im-
plies an elaborate deductive operation.
ratiocinate (rash-i-os'i-nat), a. [< L. raiiodi-
natus, pp. of ratiodnari, reason : see the verb.]
Keasoned about — Ratiocinate reason. See rea-
son.
ratiocination (rash-i-os-i-na'shon), n. [< F.
raUoci/nation = 'PT. raciocinaeio = Sp. radodna^
don = Pg. radodnagSo (cf . It. ragiodnamento,
raziodnio, reasoning), < L. ratiocinaUo(n-), rea-
soning, argumentation, a syllogism, < raUod-
nari, pp. raUodnatus, reason: see ratiod/nate.']
1 . The mental process of passing from the cog-
nition of premises to the cognition of the con-
clusion; reasoning. Most writers make raKoanation
synonymous with reasoning. J. S. Mill and others hold
that the word is usually limited to necessary reasoning.
The Latin word is especially applied by Cicero to proba-
ble reasoning.
4971
The great Instrument that this work [spiritual medita-
tion] is done by is rottoanatum,, reasoning the case with
yourselves, discourse of mind, cogitation, or ttiinking ; or,
if you will, call it consideration.
Boirter, Saints' Best, iv. 8.
The schoolmen make a third act of the mind, which they
call raUocination, and we may stile it the generation of a
judgement from others actually in our understanding.
A. Tucker, Light of Nature, I. L 11.
Ratiocination is the great principle of order in thinking ;
it reduces a chaos into hs^ony; It catalogues the ac-
cumulations of knowledge ; it maps out for us the rela-
tions of its separate departments ; it puts us in the way to
correct its own mistakes.
J. H. Newman, Gram, of Assent, p. 273.
2. A mental product and object consisting of
premises and a conclusion dravra from them ;
inference ; an argumentation.
Can any kind of ratiocination allow Christ all the marks
of the Messiah, and yet deny him to be the Messiah ?
SoutK
Ratiocination denotes properly the process, but, improp-
erly, also the product of reasoning.
Sir W. Hamilton, Logic, xv.
= Syn. Reasoning, etc. See inference.
ratiocinative (rash-l-os'i-na-tlv), a. [< F. ra-
UodnaUf, < L. ratiodnativm, of or belonging to
reasoning, syllogistic, argumentative, < ratiod-
nari, reason : see raUodnate.'] Of the nature
of reasoning; pertaining to or connected with
the act of reasoning. The word is misused by
some modern writers. See ratiodnation, 2.
The conclusion is attained quasi per saltum, and with-
out any thing of ratiocinative process.
Sir M. Hale, Grig, of Manldnd, p. 51.
The ratioanaUm meditativeness of bis character.
Again, itnotunfrequently happens that, while the keen-
ness of the ratiocinative faculty enables a man to see the
ultimate result of a complicated problem in a moment^ it
takes years for him to embrace it as a truth, and to recog-
nize it as an item in the circle of bis knowledge.
J. H. Newman, Gram, of Assent, p. 159.
ratiocinatory (rash-l-os'l-na-to-rl), a. [< ra-
tiocinate + -ory .] SsjUie as ratiocinative. [Bare.]
ration (ra'shon or rash'gn), n. [< F. ration =
Sp. radon = Pg. ragao,' regSo = It. razione, a
ration, a rate or allowance, < L. ratio(n-), a
calculation, reckoning, hence In ML. a com-
puted share or allowance of food : see ratio, rea-
son (whichare doublets of raUon), and cf . rate^.2
1 . An allowance of means of subsistence for a
fixed period of time ; specifically, in the army
and navy, an allotment or apportionment of
provisions for dally consumption to each offi-
cer and man, or of forage for each horse, offi-
cers* rations are generally commuted for a money pay-
ment at a prescribed rate ; and soldiers' and sailors* rations
may be partly or wholly commuted under some circum-
stances.
2. Any stated or fixed amount or quantity dealt
out; an allowance or allotment.
At this rate [two years and a half tor three vowels], to
master the whole alphabet, consonants and all, would be
a task fitter for the centurial adolescence of Methuselah
than for our less liberal ration of years.
Lowell, Harvard Anniversary.
ration (ra'shon or rash'gn), v. t. [< ration,
m.] 1. To supply with rations; provision.
It had now become evident that the army could not be
rationed by a wagon train over the single narrow and almost
impassable road between MlUiken's Bend and Perkins'
plantation. U. S, Grant, Personal Memoirs, I. 471.
2. To divide into rations; distribute or appor-
tion In rations. [Rare.]
The presence of hunger began ; they began to ration out
the bread. The Nation, March 9, 1871, p. 160.
rationability (rash'-'on-a-bU'l-tl), n. [= Sp.
radonahilidad = Pg. radonabiliOAide = It. ra-
zionabiUtA, < LL. rationabilita( t-)s, < raUonaUUs,
reasonable : see rationable.l The possession of
reason, as the distinctive attribute of man.
RatioruiMHty, being but a faculty or specifical quality,
is a substantial part of a man, because it is a part of his
definition, or his essential difference.
BramhaU, ii. 24. {Datries.)
rationable (rash'on-a-bl), a. [= OF. rationaile
= Sp. radonabJe = Pg. radonavel = It. razion-
abile, < LL. rationdbilis, reasonable, rational, <
L.ro«jo(m-), reason: see reason.'] Reasonable,
as an agent or an act.
She was, I take it, on this matter pot quite ratntmable.
Miss Edgeworth, Belinda, xxvi.
rational (rash'on-al), a. and n. [I. a. < OP.
rationel, rational, F. rationnel = Pr. Sp. Pg. ra-
donal = It. razionale, < L. rationalis, of or be-
longing to reason, rational, reasonable, < ra-
tio(n-), reason: see ratio, ration, reason. II. n.
< OP. rational, < ML. rationale, a pontifical stole,
a pallium, an ornament worn over the chasuble,
neut. of L. rationalis, rational: see I.] J, a. 1.
Of, pertaining to, or springing from the reason,
in the sense of the highest faculty of cognition.
rational
He confesses a rational sovrantie of sonle, and freedom
of will in every man. Milton, Eikonoklastes, vL
Devout from constitution rather than from rational con-
viction. Macavlay, Essays, History, p. 394.
Contradiction . . . must be absurd when it is regarded
as fixed, and rational when it is regarded as superable.
Veiteh, Introd. to Bescartes's Method, p. clxxvill.
2. Endowed with reason, in the sense of that
faculty which distinguishes man from the
brutes : as, man is a rational animal.
It is our glory and happiness to have a ratMnal nature.
Law.
Are these men rationaZ, or are not the apes of Borneo
more wise ? Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, let. x.
He [man] is ratiomd and moral according to the organic
internal conformation of his mind.
Swedenborg, Christian Psychol, (tr. by Gorman), p. 72.
There has been an idea of good, suggested by the con-
sciousness of unfulfilled possibilities of the rational nature
common to all men.
T. H. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, § 207.
3. Conformable to the precepts of reason, es-
pecially of the practical reason; reasonable;
wise.
You are one
Of the deepest politics I ever met.
And the most subtly rational.
B. Jonswn, Magnetlck Lady, ill. 4.
He had his Humour as other Men, but certainly he was
a solid ratmnal Man. Howell, Letters, 1. vi. 17.
His bounties are more rational and moderate than be-
fore. Goldsmith, Vicar, liL
4. In arith. and alg. : (a) Expressible In finite
terms : applied to expressions In which no ex-
traction of a root is left, or, at least, none such
indicated which cannot be actually performed
by known processes. The contraries of these are
called surd or irratiomU quantities. Thus 2, 12^, '9, are ra-
tional quantities, and ^27 yj^eto., are irrational or surd
quantities, because their values can only be approximately
and not accurately assigned, (ft) In Euclid's "Ele-
ments" and commentaries, etc., on that work,
commensurable with a given line, in senses (o)
and (b) rational (Latin rationalis) translates Greek pijro?,
expressible. It may be remarked that some inconvenience
arises from the fact that words derived from Latin ratio,
originally signifying an account, are used to translate
words connected with Greek Adyo?, whose original mean-
ing (a word) is entirely different,
5. In anc. pros., capable of measurement in
terms of the metrical unit (semelon or mora).
A ratiorud time (x^oj/os pijrdy) is a time divisible by this
unit without remainder. Thus, disemic times (times of
two semeia) are rational, while irrational times (xpdi-oi
aAoyoO can be expressed only by fractions (as |, H, ZJ, 28)
of a semeion.— Geometrically rational, algebraic. —
Rational and integral function. See function.—
Rational certainty, cognition, cosmology. See the
nouns.— Rational class of functions, a class which is
relative to a group of operations produced by combina-
tions of additions, subtractions, multiplications, and divi-
sions.— Rational composition, in logic: (a) The compo-
sition of elements which only differ as viewed by the mind,
and not as they exist, as the composition of essence and
existence, of being and relation, etc. (6) The union of
several objects so far as they are brought together into or
under one concept.— Rational derivative. See deriva-
tive.— Rational formula. See chemical formula, under
chemical. — Ra^onal fraction, function. See the nouns.
— Rational horizon, (a) The astronomical horizon.
(6) The limits of rational knowledge. — Rational Infer-
encet, a ratiocinative inference or syllogism.— Rational
instinct, an innate idea, or natural belief. — Rational
knowledge, (a) Knowledge of an object through its
cause or causes.
The knowledge why or how a thing is is termed the
Imowledge of the cause ; philosophical, scientific, rational
knowledge. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., liL
(&) Knowledge springing directly or indirectly from rea-
son,, and not from experience. — Rational mechanics,
the science which establishes and puts into shape the
laws of motion.— Rational numlier, a number expressi-
ble as an ordinary fraction, in contradistinction to a
continued fraction.— Rational power, proposition,
ratio, etc. See the nouns.— Rational psychology.
See psychology. — Rational theology, theology so far
as drawn from a priori ideas.— Rational transforma-
tion, the transformation of a geometrical continuum
into another, so as to make a one-to-one correspondence
between the points of the two, except for a finite num-
ber of exceptional points. =Syn. Rational, Reasonable,
sensible, enlightened, discreet, intelligent, sane, sound.
The first two words are somewhat different^ according
as they refer to persons or things. As to persons, ration-
al is the more speculative, reasonalAe the more practi-
cal term ; rational means possessing the faculty of reason,
while reasonable means exercising reason in its broader
sense, in opposition to unreaxonaMe — that is, guided by
prejudice, fancy, etc. In fever the patient may become ir-
rational and give irrational answers ; when he is rational
he may through weakness and fretf ulness make unreason-
dble demands of his physician. As to things, the distinc-
tion continues between the narrower and the broader
senses : a rational proposition is one that might proceed
from a rational mind ; a reasonable proposition is one that
is marked by common sense and fairness. It is irrational
to look for a coal-mine in a granite-ledge ; it is unreason-
able to expect good work for poor pay. See absurd.
II. n. 1. A quiddity; a universal; a nature.
Thus, in the first quotation " the world of rationals "is the
rational world, the system of general or possible entities.
The conception is Platonic.
He, the great Father, kindled at one flame
The world of rationals. Young, Night Thoughts, iv.
rational
This absolute end, prescribed by Eeason neoessarily and
a priori, which is lor all rational beings as such, can be
nothing but Reason itself, or the Universe of SationcUs.
H. Sidgwiek, Methods of Ethics, p. 362.
2_. Hecles. : (a) The breastplate of the Jewish
high-priest. The name ratUmal for the Jewish high-
priesfs breastplate (Hebrew choshen, an 'ornament,' ac-
cording to others a 'pouch' or 'receptacle') comes from
the Latin rationale, a mistaken translation in the Vulgate
of the word Aoyioi' or >^oyelov in the Septuagint, etc., mean-
ing an 'oracle' or 'oracular instrument,' with allusion to
the consultation of the Urim and Thummim. Henee
(&) A square plate of gold, silver, or embroi-
dery, either jeweled or enameled, formerly-
worn on the breast over the chasuble by bish-
ops during the celebration of mass. Also pec-
toral and rationale in both senses.
But upon the English chasuble there was to be seen,
more or less often, up to the fourteenth century, an appen-
dage, the rational, as beautiful as becoming, which is never
found adorning the same Anglo-Saxon vesture.
Mock, Church of our Fathers, i. 363.
rationale (rash-o-na'le), n, [L., neut. sing, of ra-
Uonalis, of or belonging to reason, rational : see
rational.l 1. The rational basis or motive of
something ; that which accounts for or explains
the existence of something; reason for being.
The raUonale of your scheme is just :
"Pay toll here, there pursue your pleasure free."
Browning, Ring and Book, n. 292.
Thoroughly to realize the truth that with the mind as
with the body the ornamental precedes the useful, it is
needful to glance at its rationale.
H, Spemier, Education, p. 25.
2. A rational explanation or statement of rea-
sons ; an argumentative or theoretical acootmt ;
a reasoned exposition.
I admire that there is not a raticfnale to regulate such
trifiing accidents, which consume much time, and is a re-
proch to the gravity of so greate an assembly of sober men.
JEvelyn, Diary, Nov. 23, 1666.
Since the religion of one seems madness unto another,
to afford an account or rationale of old rites requires no
rigid reader. Sir T. Browne, TJm-burial, iv.
Theological dogma is nothing in the world but a rationale
of the relations in which God places Himself towards us in
the very act of revealing Himself.
Cont&mpora/ry Rev., -yT.TY, 345.
3. Same as rational, 2.
rationalisation, rationalise, etc. See ration-
alisation, etc.
rationalism (rash'on-al-izm), n. [= F. ratio-
nalisme = Sp. Pg. facwnalismo = It. razionalis-
mo=:Gr.rationalismus; a,srational+ -ism.'] 1.
In general, adherence to the supremacy of rea-
son in matters of belief or conduct, in contradis-
tinction to the submission of reason to author-
ity ; thinking for one's self.
From the infinite variability of opinion our great writers
deduced the necessity of toleration in the place of perse-
cution and of roMorudism in place of obedience to autlior-
ity. Leslie Stephen, £ng. Thought, il. ^ 4.
2. In theol.: (a) In general, the subjection of
religious doctrine and Scriptural interpretation
to the test of human reason' or imderstanding;
the rejection of dogmatic authority as against
reason or conscience ; rational latitude of reli-
gious thought or belief.
What seemed most to protect the dogma of the Church
from depravation really left it without defence against the
scholastic rationaliem. Cairdf Philos. of Kant, p. 26.
(&) More specifically, as used with reference to
the modern school or party of rationalists, that
system of doetiine which, in its extreme form,
denies the existence of any authoritative and
supernatural revelation, and maintains that the
human reason is of itself, and imaided by spe-
cial divine inspiration, adequate to ascertain
all attainable religious truth. As a theological sys-
tem rationalism regards the reason as the sole, final, and
adequate arbiter of all religious questions, and is thus op-
posed to mysticism, whicli maintains the existence in man
of a spiritual power transcending observation and the
reasoning faculty. As a doctrinal system, it includes the
doctrines founded upon rationalistic philosophy as a pos-
tulate, and embraces a denial of the authority of the Scrip-
ture and the supernatural origin of Christianity, but main-
tains as at least probable opinions the existence of a Ood
and the immortality of the soul, and as indisputable facts
the great principles of the moral law. As an interpreta-
tion of Scripture, it holds that the Scriptures themselves,
rightly interpreted, corroborate rationalism, and thus it
eliminates from them all supernatural elements. The
term is, however, one of somewhat vague import, and is
used with various modified meanings in modern polemical
theology.
3. In metaph., the doctrine of a priori cogni-
tions; the doctrine that knowledge is not all
produced by the action of outward things upon
the senses, but partly arises from the natural
adaptation of the mind to think things that are
true.
The form of Rationalism which is now in the ascendant
resembles the theory of natural evolution in this, that as
the latter finds the race more real than the individual, and
4972
the individual to exist only in the race, so the former looks
upon the individual reason as but a finite manifestation of
the universal reason.
W. R. Sorley, Ethics of Naturalism, p. 18.
rationalist (rash'on-al-ist), n. [= F. rationa-
liste = Sp. Pg. racion'alista = It. razionalista =
D. G. Dan. Sw. rationalist; as rational + -is*.]
1 . One who follows reason and not authority in
thought or speculation ; a believer in the su-
premacy of reason over prescription or prece-
dent.
There is a new sect sprung up among them, and these
are the rationalists; and what their reason dictates them
in church or state stands for good, until they be convinced
with better. Clarendon, State Papers, II. xi., Introd.
2. In theol., one who applies rational criticism
to the claims of supernatural authority or rev-
elation ; specifically, one of a school or party,
originating in Germany in the eighteenth cen-
tury, who maintain as an ultimate conclusion
that the human reason is of itself, and unaided
by special divine inspiration, adequate to ascer-
tain all attainable truth, and who accordingly,
in interpretation of the Scripture, regards it as
only an illustration and af&rmation, not as a
divine revelation, of truth. See rationalism, 2
(6). — 3. A believer in metaphysical rationalism.
rationalistic (rash"on-a-lis'tik), a. [< ration^
alist + -ic. ] Of or pertaining to rationalists or
rationalism; conformable to or characterized
by rationalism : as, rationalistic opmions; a ra-
tionalistic interpretation.
From the publication of the essays of Montaigne we
may date the influence of that gifted and ever enlaiging
rationalisUc school who gradually effected the destruction
of the belief in witchcr^t. Lecky, Rationalism, X. 114.
Rationalistic Monarcliians, See Monarehian.
rationalistical (rash"on-a-lis'ti-kal), a. [< ra-
tionalistic + -al.] Same as rationalistic.
rationalistically (rash^gn-a-lis'ti-kal-i), adv.
In a rationalistic manner.
rationality (rash-o-nal'i-ti), n. [< F. rationa-
lite = Sp. radonalidad = Pg. racionalidade =
It. razionaUtdj, < LL. rationaUta(t-)s, reasona-
bleness, rationality,< L. rationalis, reasonable:
see rational.] 1. The rational faculty; the
power of reasoning; possession of reason; in-
telligence.
God has made rationality the common portion of man-
kind. Dr. E. More.
Yea, the highest and most improved parts of raiional-
ity are frequently caught in the entanglements of a tena-
cious imagination, and submit to its obstinate but delu-
sory dictamens. QlanvUle, Vanity of Dogmatizing, xi.
2. The character of being rational ; accor-
dance with reason; reasonableness; congru-
ity; fitness.
Well directed intentions, whose rationaliHes will not
bear a rigid examination. Sir T. Browne.
"It may do good, and it can do no harm," isthepleafor
many actions which have scarcely more ratvmoMy than
worship of a painted stone.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., App. A.
3. The exercise, result, or manifestation of rea-
son; rational principle, motive, or causation;
basis in reason.
An essay onthe "Rationality otEistory," . . . in which
history is represented as a " struggle towards rational free-
dom." H. Sidgwiek, Mind, XIII. 406.
The solid black vote, cast, we said, without rationality at
the behest of a few scoundrels. TM Century, XXX. 676.
rationalization (rash"on-al-i-za'shon), n. [<
rationalize + -ation.] i. I'he act of rational-
izing; a making rational or intelligible; sub-
jection to rational tests or principles.
Lysons argues very strongly in favour of the famous
story of " Wbittington and his Cat," and rejects the ratimu
alimtion which explains the legend by supposing Whit-
tington's fortunes to have been made in the voyages of a
medisBval cat or merchant-vessel. En£yc.Brit.,XSSV.&5Q.
2. In alg., the process of clearing an equation
from radical signs.
Also spelled rationalisation.
rationalize (rash'on-al-iz), v.; pret. and pp.
rationaUzed, j>pT." rationalizing. [< F. ratio-
naliser; as rational + -ize.] I, trans. 1. To
make conformable to reason ; give rationality
to ; cause to be or to appear reasonable or in-
telligible.
Eusebius tells us that religion was divided by the Ro-
mans into three parts : the mythology, or legends that had
descended from the poets ; the interpretations or theories
by which the philosophers endeavoured to rationalise, fil-
ter, or explain away these legends ; and the ritual or offi-
cial religious observances. Lecky, European Morals, L 429.
When life has been duly rationalized by science, it will
be seen that among a man's duties care of the body is im-
perative, u. Spencer, in Pop. Sci. Mo., XXII. 867.
The faculties of the mind have been ratimwlised into
functions of the mind ; so many sorts of operations, classi-
fied as observation demands.
Hodgson, Phil, of Reflection, n. 247.
ratline
2. To subject to the test of reason ; explain or
interpret by rational principles ; treat in the
manner of a rationalist: as, to rationalize reli-
gion or the Scriptures. — 3. In alg., to free from
radical signs.
II. intrans. To think for one's self; employ
the reason as a supreme test; argue or specu-
late upon the basis of rationality or rational-
ism; act as a rationalist.
If they [certain theologians] rationaliee as the remark-
able school of Cambridge Platonists rationalised, it is with
a sincere belief that they are only bringing out the full
meaning of the doctrine which they expound.
Leslie Stephen, Eng. Thought, ii. If 60.
To raUonalise meant to apply the canons of our limited
enlightenment to the unlimited ranges of actuality.
W. Wallace, Logic of Hegel, Prolegomena, vi.
In order to know, in any wide and large sense, we must
rationaliee.
Benry Calderwood, New Princeton Rev., III. 23.
Also spelled rationalise.
rationalizer (rash'gn-al-i-zfer), n. One who-
rationalizes, or practises the methods of the
rationaUsts ; one who tests doctrines, princi-
ples, etc., by the light of abstract reason, or
who employs reason alone in interpretation or
explanation. Also spelled rationaliser.
Like many other rationalisers, he [Thomas Burnet] fan-
cied himself to be confirming instead of weakening Scri]>-
tural authority. Leslie Stephen, Eng. Thought, i. U 8.
rationally (rash'qn-al-i), adv. In a rational
manner; in consistency with reason; reason-
ably: as, to speak rationally; to behave ro-
rationalness (rash'on-al-nes), n. The state of
being rational, or consistent with reason.
rationary (rash'on-a-ri), a, [= P. rationnaire,
one who receives rations, one who receives a
salary, < ML. ratiotuirius, relating to accounts,
an accountant, < L. ratio(,n-), a reckoning, an
account, ML. allowance: see ration.] Of or
pertaining to accounts. [Eare.]
ration-money (ra'shgn-mun'''i), n. Money paid
as commutation for rations.
Ratitx (ra-ti'te), n. pi. [NL., fern. pi. (se. Aves,
birds) of ratitus : see ratite.] One of the prime
divisions of birds, including the ostriches, cas-
sowaries, emus, and kiwis; the group of stru-
thious birds, as contrasted with Carinatse, to
which all other existing birds belong. The Rati-
tse are flightless, with more or less rudimentary wings ;
the sternum is a flattened or concavo-convex buckler-like
bone, without a keel, developing from paired lateral cen-
ters of ossification. Associated with this condition of the
sternum is a special configuration of the scapular arch,
the scapula and coracoid meeting at a very obtuse angle,
or with nearly coincident axes, and clavicles being absent
or defective. The bones of the palate are peculiarly ar-
ranged, the pterygoids articulating with the nasisphenoid
in a manner only paralleled in Carinatse in the tinamous.
The Cretaceous genus Sesperomis was ratite in sterna]
characters, but is excluded from Ratitse by* the possession
of teeth. The families of living Ratitse usually recognized
are the Struthionidse, Rheidse, Casuariidse, andApterygidse;
the genera are Strvlhio, Rhea, Casuarius and Dromseve,
and Apteryx; the species are few. The extinct New Zea-
land moas {Dinomithidse and Palapterygidse) and the
Madagascar uEpyormthidse are also Ratitse. The name
was introduced by B. Merrem in 1813 ; it passed almost
unnoticed for some years, but has lately come into almost
universal use.
ratitate (rat'i-tat), a. [< ratite + -ofei.] Same
as ratite. [Rare.]
ratite (ra'tit), a. [< NL. raUtus, < L. ratitus,
marked with the figure of a raft, < ratis, a raft.]
Eaft-breasted, as a bird ; having a flat breast-
bone or sternum with no keel; having no keel,
as a breast-bone ; eearinate ; of or pertaining
to the Batitse.
ratiuncule (ra-shi-ung'knl), n. [< NL. *raUun-
culus, dim. of L. ratio{n-), a ratio : see ratio.]
A ratio very near unity.
rati-weight, n. Same as retti-weight.
rat-kangaroo (rat'kang-ga-r6"'),m. Akangaroo-
rat; any species of
See
cut under kangaroo-
rat.
ratline, ratlin (raf-
lin), n. [Also cor-
ruptly ratling, rat-
fling; formerly also
rare-line; appar. <
rail -t- Unffi (cor-
rupted to rare-line,
as if 'thin line'?);
a seamen's jocular
name, as if forming
ladders for the rats
to climb by. Of. D.
weefUjn, ratline, lit.
'web-line.'] Naut.,
Ratlines (a, a).
ratline
one of a series of small ropes or lines which
traverse the shrouds horizontally, thus form-
ing the steps of ladders for going aloft Sheer
ratline, every fllth ratline, which is extended to the
swifter and after shroud.
ratline-stuff (rat'lin-stnf), n. Naut., small
tarred rope, of from 12 to 24 threads, from
which ratlines are made.
ratling (rat'ling), n. A corruption of ratline.
ratmara (rat'ma-ra), n. [Native name.] An
East Indian lichen, used in dyeing.
rat-mole (rat'mol), n. Same as mole^at.
ratont, n. An obsolete form of ratten.
ratonert, n. See rattener.
Itatonia (ra-to'ni-a), n. [NL.] A former genus
of Sapindeicese, now referred to Matayba. See
bastard mahogany, under mahogany.
ratoon (ra-ton'), n. [Also rattoon; = Sp. retoito,
a new sprout or shoot (> retonar, sprout anew,
put forth shoots again), < Hind, ratun, a second
crop of sugar-cane from the same roots.] 1.
A sprout or shoot springing up from the root
of a plant after it has been cropped; especial-
ly, a new shoot from the root of a sugar-cane
tiiat has been cut down. Compare pkmt-cane.
Plant canes generally take more lime than ratoons to
cause the juices to granulate,
T. Rmtghley, Jamaica Planter's Guide (1823X p. 344.
Next year [second crop] the cane sprouts from the stub-
bly and is called first ratoanx. . . . The second year it
sprouts again, and is called second ratoons.
The Century, XXXV. 111.
2. The heart-leaves in a tobacco-plant. Imp.
Diet.
ratoon (ra-tSn'), V. i. [= Sp. retofiar, sprout or
spring up anew; from the noun : see ratoon, m.]
To sprout or send up new shoots from the root
after being cropped or cut down.: said of the
sugar-cane and some other plants.
The cocos, cassavas, and sweet potatoes will ratoon in
two or three years ; the negro yams are a yearly crop, but
the white yams will last in the ground for several years.
T. BougMey, Jamaica Planter's Guide, p. 317.
On the Upper Coasl^ above New Orleans, it is customary
to let the stubble ratoon but once. In Cuba it often ra-
toons six successive years, but the cane becomes constantly
more woody and poorer in saccharine matter.
The Century, XXXY. 111.
ratounti »*■ -An obsolete form of ratten.
rat-pit (rat'pit), n. An inolosure in which rats
are baited or killed. The object is to ascertain how
many rats a dog can kill in a given time, or which of two
or more dogs can kill them most rapidly. .
rat-poison (rafpoi^zn), n. 1. Something used
" to poison rats with, as a preparation of arsenic.
— 2. AWest African shrub, Chailletia toxicaria,
whose seeds are used to destroy rats. The genus
belongs to the CkaUletiaeesB, a small order allied to the
Cetastrinese and Rhamnaeeae. In the West Indies Haane-
lia patens is called rat-poison.
ratsbane (rats'ban), n. [< rafs, poss. of rafi,
+ 6anei, as in henbane, etc.: see 6a»ei.] 1.
Eat-poison. Arsenioiis acid is often so called.
Wherefore . . . you see by the example of the Bomans
that playes are ratshane to government of common- weales.
Prynne, Histrio-Mastix, I., iv. 1.
We live like vermin here, and eat up your cheese —
Your mouldy cheese that none but rats would bite at ;
Therefore 'tis just that ratsbane should reward us.
Fletelter, Sea Voyage, iv. 3.
S. A plant, Chailletia toxicaria. See rat-poison, 2.
ratsbane (rats'ban), v. t. ; pret. and pp. rats-
baned, p;pr. ratsbaning. [< ratsbane, ».] To
poison with ratsbane.
rat-snake (rat'snak), n. A oolubrine serpent
of the genus Ptyas, P. mucosus, a native of In-
dia, Ceylon, etc., attaining a length of 7 feet,
frequently entering houses. Some similar
snakes are also called by the same name.
rat's-tail (rats'tal), n. 1. Same as rat-tail. —
2. A slender rib or tongue tapering to a point,
used to reinforce or stiffen a bar, plate, or the
like, as on the back of a silver spoon.
rattt, n. An obsolete form of rafi-.
rat-tail (rat'tal), n. and a. I. n. Ju. farriery :
(a) An excrescence on a horse's leg, growing
from the pastern to the shank. (6) A disease
which causes the hair of a horse's tail to fall
off; also, a horse's tail thus denuded of hair.
Also rafs-tail.
II. a. Same as rat-tailed — Eat-tall file, radish,
etc. See the nouns.— Rat-tail maggot. See under rat-
tailed.
rattail (rat'tal), n. 1. A fish of the genus Ma-
crurus, as M.fabrieii otM. rupestris; the onion-
fish or grenadier. See cut under Macrurm. —
2. A horse which has a taU bare or nearly
bared of hair. — 3. One of various plants hav-
ing tail-like flower-spikes, as the common
plantain and the ribwort plantain, and vari-
ous grasses, including species of Botfbatllia in
4=973
the United States and Isehsmum laxum {An-
dropogon nervosns) in Australia.
rat-tailed (rat'tald), a. 1. Having a tail like
a rat's ; having a rat-tail, as a horse.
Here comes the wonderful one-boss shay.
Drawn by a rat-tailed, ewe-necked bay.
0. W. Holmes, The Deacon's Masterpiece.
2. Like a rat's tail in shape — ^Bat-tailed kanga-
roo-rat, Hypsiprymnus murinits, an Ausi^alian marsu-
pial.—Rat-taUed larva or maggot, the larva of certain
syrphid flies, ending in a long slender stigmatophorous
Rat-tailed Ma?got and Fly of Eristalis tenax.
(Line ^ows natural size of fly.)
tail of two telescopic joints, forming an organ which en-
ables the larva to breathe from the surface while lying
hidden in mud, etc. The larva of Erl^alis tenax is an
example.— Rat-tailed serpent, Bofhrops laneeolat'us, a
very venomous American pit-viper.— Rat-tailed Shrew.
See shrew.
rattan^, n. See ratten.
rattan^, n. and V. See ratan.
rattan^ (ra-tan'), n. [Imitative; of. F. rata-
plan, imitation of the sound of a drum ; cf . also
rat-tat.'i The continuous beat or reverberation
of a drum ; rataplan ; rat-a-tat. [Eare.]
They had not proceeded far, when their ears were saluted
with Uie loud rattan of a drum. W. H. Ainxworth,
rattanas (rat'a-nas), n. [Native name.] A
kind of coarse sacking made in Madagascar and
Mauritius.
rattany, n. See ratany.
rat-tat (rat-tat'), n. Same as rat-a-tat.
A breeze always blowing and playing raUtat
With the bow of the ribbon round your hat.
Lowell, Appledore.
rat-tat-too (rat'tat-tiS'), n. An intensified form
of rat-a-tat.
The rat-tat-too of a drum was heard in the distance.
Philadelphia Times, Oct. 24, 1886.
ratteen (ra-ten'), n. [Also rateen; = D. ratijn
= Gr. Sw. Dan. ratin, < F. ratine, a kind of cloth,
= Sp. Pg. ratina = It. rattina; origin uncer-
tain ; prob. (like F. rate, milt, spleen) so called
from its loose cellular texture and likeness to
a honeycomb, < LG. rate, honeycomb.] A kind
of stuff, usually thick and resembling drugget
or frieze : it is chiefly employed for linings,
ratten (rat'n), n. [Also rattan, ration, ratlin,
rotten, rattan; < MI!, ratan, rataun, ratone, <
OF. (and F.) raton, a rat, = Sp. raton, a mouse,
< ML. rato(n-), a rat: see rat^. Cf. kitten as
related to cat.'] A rat. [Obsolete or prov.
Eng. and Scotch.]
Thanne ran ther a loute of ratojies, as it were,
And smale mys with hem mo than a thousand.
Piers Plou/man (C), i. 166.
I comawnde alle the ratons that are here abowte.
That non dwelle in this place with-inne ne with-owte.
PoliiicaZ Poems, etc. (ed. rurnivalli p. 28.
The bald rottons
Had eaten his yellow hair.
Young BeJae (Chad's Ballads, IV. 11).
" A Yorkshire burr," he afifirmed, "was as muchbetter
than a Cockney's lisp as a bull's bellow than a rattan's
squeak." Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, p. 64.
ratten (rat'n), V. i. [<ratten,n. Cf. ra*i,v.] To
play mischievous tricks upon, as an obnoxious
person, for the purpose of coercion or intimida-
tion. The members of a trades-union ratteri a fellow-
workman who refuses to join the union, to obey its behests,
or to pay his dues, by secretly removing or breaking his
tools or machinery, spoiling his materials, or the like, and
ironically ascribing the mischief to rats. The practice
was at one time prevalent in some of the manufacturing
districts of Great Britain.
For enforcing payment of entrance-fees, contributions
towards paying the f ermes (dues), as well as of fines, the
Craf t-GUds made use of the very means so much talked of
in the case of the Sheffield Trade-Unions, namely ratten-
ing: that is, they took away the tools of their debtors.
English G«<fs(E. E. T. S.), Int., p. cxxvii.
A piece of sulphate of copper put into an indigo-vat
throws it out of order, by oxidising the white indigo and
sending it — in an insoluble state — to the bottom. This
is a method of rattening not unknown in dye-works.
W. Crookes, Dyeing and Calico-printing, p. 548.
Battening, as defined by the Report of the Royal Com-
mission, is "the abstraction of the workman's tools, so
as to prevent him from earning his livelihood until he has
rattle
obeyed the arbitrary orders of the union." It is satisfao.
tory to know that this system . . . was chiefly confined
to Sheffield and Manchester.
Oeorge Howell, Confiiots of Capital and Labor, viL § 13.
rattenert, rattonert, «■ [< ME. ratonei; rat-
onere, rat-catcher, < OF. raton, a rat: see rat-
ten.'] A ratter or rat-catcher.
A rybidour and a ratrnier, a rakere and bus knane.
Piers Plowman (C), viL 371.
ratteri (rat'fer), n. [< rat^, v., + -eri.] 1. One
who catches rats; a rat-catcher. — 2. An ani-
mal which catches rats, as a terrier.
ratter^ (rat'er), n. [< rati, «., 2, -t--erl.] One
who rats, or becomes a renegade ; also, a work-
man who renders himself obnoxious to a trades-
union. See ratting, 2. [CoUoq.]
The Essay on Faction is no less frank in its recognition
of self-interest as a natural and prevailing motive, and al-
most cynical in its suppression of resentment against rat-
ters and traitors. E. A. Abbott, Bacon, p. 84.
rat-terrier (rat'ter"i-6r), n. A small active dog
used to kill rats.
rattery (rat'6r-i), n. [< ratter^ + -y (see -ery).']
The qualities orpraetiees of a ratter ; apostasy ;
tergiversation. [Eare.]
Such a spectacle refreshes me in the rattery and scoun-
dreUsm of public life.
Sydney Smith, Letters, 1822. (fiavies.)
rattinet (rat-i-nef), n. [< F. ratine, a kind of
cloth (see ratteen), + dim. -et.] A woolen stuff
thinner than ratteen.
ratting (rat'ing), n. [Verbal n. of rat\ v., 2.]
1. The act of deserting one's principles, and
going over to the opposite party. — 2. In the
trades, the act of working for less than estab-
lished or demanded prices, or of refusing to
strike, or of taking the place of a striker. — 3. A
low sport consisting in setting a dog upon a
number of rats confined in a tub, cage, or pit,
to see how many he wUl kill in a given time.
rattisb (rat'ish), a. [< rat^ -I- -isfei.] Charac-
teristic of rats; having a rat-like character;
like a rat.
rattlei (rat'l), v.; pret. and pp. rattled, ppr. rat-
tling. [< ME. ratelen, rattle, clatter, etc., < AS.
*hreetelan (cf. hrsetelwyrt, 'rattlewort') = D.
ratelen, rattle, = LG. rateln, rqteln = MHG.
razzeln, rage, roar, G. rasseln (> Dan. rasle =
Sw. rasla), rattle; freq. of a simple verb seen
in MHG. razzen, ratzen, rattle; perhaps aMn
to Gr. KpaSaivuv, swing, wave, brandish, shake ;
perhaps in part imitative (cf . rat-a-tat, rat-tat,
in imitation of a knock at a door, rattan^, P.
rataplan, in imitation of a drum, etc.), and in
so far comparable with Gr. Kpdros, a rattling
noise, Kporeiv, knock, rattle, KporoMfi), a rattle,
KpoTokil^eiv, rattle (see Cratalus, rattlesnake).
Cf . dial, rankle, a var. of rattle. Hence ult. rail^,
Mallus, rdle.'\ I, intrans. 1. To give out a
rapid succession of short, sharp, jarring or
clattering sounds; clatter, as by continuons
concussions.
The quiver ratUeth against him. Job xxxix. 23.
To the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire, and rifted Jove s stout oak
With bis own bolt. Shak., Tempest, v. 1. 44.
"Farewell ! " she said, and vanished from the place ;
The sheaf of arrows shook, and raided in the case.
Dryden, Pal. and Arc, iii. 282.
Swift Astolpho to the rattling horn
His lips applies.
Hoole, tr. of Orlando Furioso, xxxiii.
One or two [rattlesnakes] coiled and rattled menacingly
as I stepped near. T. Boosevelt, The Century, XXXVL 201.
2. To move or be carried along with a continu-
ous rapid clatter; go or proceed or bear one's
self noisily: often used with reference to speed
rather than to the accompanying noise.
And off my mourning-robes ; grief, to the grave ;
For I haue gold, and therefore will be brave ;
In silks I'll ratHe it of every colour.
J. Cook, Green's Tu Quoque.
Ill take a good ratUing gallop.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, Iv. 20.
Wagons . . . racing along the hollow roads, and over
the distant hills. Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 445.
We ratUed away at a merry pace out of the town.
jR. D. Blackmore, Loma Doone, xiv.
3. To speak with noisy and rapid utterance ;
talk rapidly or in a chattering manner: as, to
rattle on about trifles.
The racing tongue
Of saucy and audacious eloquence.
Shak., M. N. D., v. 1. 102.
The girls are handsome, dashing women, without much
information, but rattling talkers.
C. D. Warner, Then- Pilgrimage, p. 183.
H. trans. 1. To cause to make a rattling
sound or a rapid succession of hard, sharp, or
jarring sounds.
rattle
Her chain she rcMes, and her whip she shakes.
Dryden.
Rattle his bones over the stones !
He's only a pauper whom nobody owns !
T. Noel, The Pauper's Drive.
2. To Utter in sharp, rapid tones ; deliver in a
smart, rapid manner : as, to rattle off a string
of names.
He rattles it out against Popery and arbitrary power.
Swift, Against Abolishing ChriBtianity.
The rolls were rattled ofl ; the short, crisp commands
went forth. The Centwry, XXXVU. 466.
3. To act upon or affect by rattling sounds ;
startle or stir up by any noisy means.
Sound but another, and another shall
As loud as thine ratSe the welkin's ear.
Shak., K. John, v. 2. 172.
These places [woodlands] are generally strongholds tor
foxes, and should be regularly rattled throughout the sea-
son. Emsyc. Brit, XII. 396.
4. To scold, chide, or rail at noisUy; berate
clamorously.
If my time were not more precious
Than thus to lose it, I would rattle thee,
It may be beat thee.
Beau. andFl., Honest Man's Fortune, v. 3.
I to Mrs. Ann, and, Mrs. Jem being gone out of the
chamber, she and I had a very high bout. I rattled her
up, she being in bed ; but, she becoming more cool, we
parted pretty good friends. Pepya, Diaiy, Feb. 6, 1660.
5. To shake up, imsettle, or disturb by censure,
annoyance, or irritation; bring into an agi-
tated or confused condition. [CoUoq. or slang. ]
Tlie king hath so rattled my lord-keeper that he is now
the most pliable man in England.
Cottin^fton, To Strafford (1633X quoted in Hallam's Const.
[Hist., n. 89.
Unpleasant stories came into my head, and I remember
repeating to myself more than once (candor is better than
felicity of plu'ase), " Be careful, now ; don't get rattled I "
Atlantic monthly, LXIV. 110.
rattle^ (rat'l), n. [< ME. ratele, a rattle, < AS.
*hrsetele, in comp. hrsBtelwyrt, 'rattlewort,' a
plant in whose pods the seeds rattle ; = MD.
ratele, D. ratel = G. rassel, a rattle ; from the
verb: see rattle^, v. Cf. G. ratsche, a rattle,
clapper ; Sw. rassel, clank, clash, clatter, etc.]
1. A rapid succession of short, sharp, clatter-
ing sounds, as of intermitting collision or con-
cussion.
Ill hold ten Pound my Dream is out;
I'd tell it to you but for the SatOe
Of those confounded Drums.
Prior, English Ballad on tr. of Boileau's Taking of Namur,
[St. 10.
I aren't like a bird-clapper, forced to make a rattle when
the wind blows on me. George Eliot, Adam Bede, Hi.
2. A rattling clamor of words; sharp, rapid
talk of any kind ; hence, sharp scolding or rail-
ing.
Tliis raMe in the crystal hall
Would be enough to deaf them all.
Cotton (Arbor's Eng. Garner, I. 218).
Beceiving such a ratUe for his former contempt by the
Bishop of London that he came out blubbering.
Heylin, Life of Laud, p. 257. {Davies.)
I chid the servants and made a raSUe.
Swift, Journal to Stella, Ix.
3. An instrument or toy contrived to make a
rattling sound. The watchman's rattle, formerly used
for giving an alarm, and the child's toy resembling it, con-
sist of a vibrating tongue slipping over the teeth cf a
rotating ratchet-wheel, and producing much noise when
rapidly twirled by the handle. Other toy rattles for
children, and those used by some primitive races for vari-
ous purposes, commonly consist of a box or casing, or even
a hollow gourd or shell, ^ith or without a handle, contain-
ing loose pebbles or other hard objects.
The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Braaflea nearly
enough resemble each other. Raleigh.
They vse Rattles of the shell of a certaine fruite, in which
they put Stones or Graines, and call them Maraca, of which
they naue some superstitious conceit.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 837.
Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law.
Pleased with a rattle, Molded with a straw.
Pope, Essay on Man, it 276.
4. One who talks rapidly and without mod-
eration or consideration; a noisy, impertinent
talker; a jabberer.
She had not been brought up to understand the propen-
sities of a ratde, nor to know to how many idle assertions
and impudent falsehoods the excess of vanity will lead.
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, ix.
They call me their agreeable Rattle.
Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer.
It may Sf em strange that a man who wrote with so much
perspicuity, vivacity, and grace should have been, when-
ever he took a part in conversation, an empty, noisy, blun-
dering rattle. Macaulay, Goldsmith.
5. The crepitaeulum of the true rattlesnake,
consisting of a series of horny epidermic cells
of an undulated pyramidal shape, articulated
one within the other at the extremity of the
tail. See rattlesnake.— 6. (a) An annual herb,
4974
Mhinanthus Crista-galU, of meadows and pas-
tures in Europe and northern Asia, it attaches
itself by its fibrous roots to the roots of living grasses,
etc., thus doing much damage. Its calyx in fruit is oi^
bicular, Inflated but flattened, containing a capsule of
sunilar form with a few large flat, generally winged seeds.
This is the common or yellow rattle, also called locally
penny-grass, penny-rattle, rattlebags, ratHeboz, and rattle-
penny, (b) One of the Old World louseworts,
Pedicularispalustris, the red rattle — The rattles.
(a) Croup, (p) The death-rattle.
rattle^ (rat'l), v. t. ; pret. and pp. rattled, ppr.
rattling. [A back formation from rattling, a
corruption of ratline but taken as a verbal
noun m -dng, whence the assumed verb rattle.']
Naut., to furnish with ratlines — To rattle down,
to seize or fasten ratlines on (the shrouds of a vessel).
rattlebags (rat'1-bagz), n. See rattW-, 6 (a).
rattle-barrel (rat'l-bar"el), n. "10. founding, a
tumbling-box for castings, used to free them
from sand, and sometimes to remove the cores.
rattlebox (rat'1-boks), n. 1 . A toy that makes a
rattling noise ;
a rattle.— 2. (a)
Aplantjtheyel-
lowrattle. See
rattle'^, 6 (a).
(6) Any of the
North Ameri-
can species
of Crotalaria;
chiefly, C. sa-
gittaUs, a low
herb of sandy
soil in the east-
ern half of the
United States.
The seeds rat-
tle in the in-
flated leathery
pod. (c) The
calico - wood,
snowdrop-, or
silverbeU-tree,
rattlesnake-grass
rattleskuU (rat'1-skul). n. Same as rattlepate.
rattlesnake (rat'1-snak), n. [< rattle^ + snake.']
A venomous serpent of the family Crotalidse,
whose tail ends in a rattle or crepitaeulum ; a cro-
talif ormor solenoglyphio serpent, or pit-viper, of
either of the genera Crotalus and Crotalophorus,
These poisonous reptiles are conflned to America, where
there are many species. Those whose head is covered on
top with scales like those of the back belong to the genus
Crotalus; others, with the top of the head plated, belong
to Crotalophorus, Caudisona, or Sistrurus. The former
are the larger species ; both are equally venomous-, in pio-
portion to their size, and both have the pit between the
eyes and nose characteristic of all the pit-vipers. (See cut
under pit-viper.) The rattle is an epidermal or cuticular
tera: so named
from its large
dryfruit,wHch
is bony within
and contains a
single seed in
each of its 1 to
Plant, with Flowers and Pods, of Rattlebox 4 CCllS. SoC
icr«/aiariasas^ttam. SaUsia and
calico-^ood.
rattlebrain (rat'l-bran), n. A giddy, chatter-
ing person; a rattlepate.
rattle-brained (rat'l-brand), a. Giddy; chat-
tering; whimsical; rattle-headed.
rattlebush (rat'1-bush), ». The wild indigo,
BapUsia tinctoria, a bushy herb with inflated
pods.
rattlecap (rat'1-kap), n. A giddy, volatile per-
son ; a madcap : generally said of a girl. [Col-
loq.]
rattled (rat'ld), o. l. Confused; flurried. [Col-
loq. or slang.] — 2. AfEected by eating the loco
or rattleweed ; locoed. [Western IT. S.]
rattlehead (rat'1-hed), «. A giddy, chattering
person ; a rattlepate.
rattle-headed (rat'l-hed"ed), a. Noisy ; giddy ;
trifling.
rattle-mouset (rat'1-mous), n. [< rattle^ +
mouse. Cf . flittermouse, reremo%se.] A bat.
Not vnlike the tale of the rattle mmise.
Pvttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, il. 18 [18].
rattlepate (rat'l-pat), n. A noisy, empty fel-
low; a trifling or impertinent chatterer.
rattle-pated (rat'l-pa'''ted), a. Same as rattle-
headed.
rattler (rat'lfer), re. [< rattle^ + -er'^.] 1. One
who rattles, or talks away without reflection or
consideration; a giddy, noisy person. — 2. Any-
thing which causes a person to become rattled,
as a smart or stunning blow. [Slang or oolloq.]
And once, when he did this in a manner that amounted
to personal, I should have given him a rattler for himself
if Mrs. Bomn had not thrown herself betwixt us.
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend.
3. A rattlesnake. [U. S.]
We have had rattlers killed every year ; copperheads less
frequently. Sm. Amer., N. S., LVI. 86.
4. A big or bold lie. [CoUoq.]— 5. Among
cutlers, a special form of razor with a very thin
blade, the faces of which are ground to an angle
of fifteen degrees Diamond rattler, the diamond
rattlesnake.
rattleran (rat'l-ran), n. The lower half of a
fore quarter of beef; a plate-piece. [U. S.]
Hinder Part of a Rattlesnake, showing the rattle, with seven
"rings" and a "button."
structure, representing the extreme of development of the
horn or spine in which the tail of many other serpents
ends. It consists of several hai'd horny pieces loosely ar-
ticulated together, so that when rapidly vibrated they make
a peculiar whiiTing or rattling noise, Kattlesnakes are
sluggish and naturally inoffensive reptiles, only seeking
to destroy their prey, like other animals. When alarmed
or irritated they prepare to defend themselves l3y coiling
in the attitude best adapted for striking with the fangs, at
the same time sounding the warning rattle, during which
process both the head and the tail are held erect. The
Rattlesnake {Crotalus durisstts) coiled to strike.
snake can strike to a distance of about two thirds of its
own length. The mechanism of the jaws is such that, when
the month is wide open, the fangs are erected in position
for piercing ; and, when the mouth closes upon tlie wound
the fangs have made in the flesh, a tiny stream of venom
is spirted through each fang into the bitten part. (See cuts
under Crotalus and poison-fan^.) The poison, which is
specially modified saliva, is secreted in avenom-gland near
the angle of the jaw, and is conveyed by a venom-duct to the
tooth. It is extremely dangerous, readily killing the small
animals upon which the snake feeds, and is often fatal to
man and other large animals. It has an acid reaction,
neutralizable by an alkali, and is harmless when swallow-
ed, if there is no lesion of the mucous membrane, though et-
ceedingly poisonous when introduced into the circulation.
The flesh of the rattlesnake is edible, and some animals,
as hogs and peccaries, habitually feed upon these snakes.
Among the best-known species are the banded and the
diamond rattlesnakes, which inhabit eastern as well as
other regions of the United States, and sometimes attain
a length of 5 or 6 feet ; many similarly large ones are found
in the west, among them Crotalus pyrrhus, of a reddish
color. The commonest species of the west is the Missouri
rattlesnake, C. confluentus, very widely distributed from
the British to the Mexican boundary. Among the smaller
species are the massasauga, Crotalophorus tergemirms (Sis-
trurus catenatus), also known as the sideunper, from its
habit of wriggling obliquely. One species, C. cerastes, has
a small horn over each eye.
rattlesnake-fern (rat'l-snak-ffem), n. One of
the moonworts or grape-ferns, Botrychium Fir-
ginianum, found through a large part of North
America and in the Old World. The sterile seg-
ment of the frond is broadly triangular, thin and flnely
divided, and of ample size or often reduced. The name
is apparently from the resemblance of the fruit to the rat-
tles of a rattlesnake.
rattlesnake-grass (rat'l -snak-gras), n. An
American grass, Glyceria Canadensis, a hand-
some stout species with a large panicle of
drooping spikelets, which are ovate, and flat-
tish but turgid, like those of Briza, the quak-
rattlesnake-grass
ingrgrass. It is a useful forage-grass in wet
places. Sometimes called tall gudking-grass.
rattlesnake-herb (rat'l-
sna.k-6rb), n. The bane-
beiyy or cohosh. See Ae-
tsea.
rattlesnj^e-master
(rat'l-snak-mas'tfer), re.
One of several Ameri-
can plants at some time
reputed to cure the bite
of the rattlesnake, (o)
The false aloe. Agave Virgi-
Tiica, said to be so called in
Soath Carolina, A tincture of
this plant i& sometimes used
for flatnleut colic. (6) Accord-
ing to Pursh, Liatris tcariosa
and L. egmm-osa, in Virginia,
Kentucky, and the Carolinas.
(c) A species of erlngo, Bryit-
gium yvKcafMum, also called,
like Liatrit, tmUon-snakeroot;
but the plants are quite unlike.
See the generic names.
rattlesnake-plantain
(rat'l-Bnak-plan*tan), re.
Any one of the' three
American species of
Goodyera.
rattlesnake-root (rat'l-
snak-rot), re. A plant, Prenanthes serpentaria,
also P. alba and P. altissima, the first at least
Rattlesnake-raaster {Eryns^i-
umyuceat/oliwn).
I, upper part of the stem
•mSa the heads ; 3t a leaf; o,
a flower, with the bract.
Rattlesnake-root iPrenaniA^ alba).
I, the inflorescence ; 2, lower part of stem with nx)t ; o, a head, after
anthesis; ^, the achenium with the pappus.
having some repute in North Carolina, etc., as
a remedy for snake-bites. See PrenantJies and
caneer-weed.
rattlesnake-weed (rat'1-snak-wed), re. Ahawk-
weed, Hieracium venosum, of the eastern' half
of the United States, it has a slender stem a foot
or two high, forking above into a loose corymb of a few
yellow heads. The leaves, which are marked with purple
veins, are situated mostly at the base. These and the root
are thought to possess an astringent virtue.
rattletrap (rat'l-trap) , re. A shaky, rattling ob-
ject; especially, a rattling, rickety vehicle j in
the plural, objects clattering or rattling against
each other. [Colloq.]
Hang me if I'd ha' been at the trouble of conveying her
and her ratUe4raps last year across the channel.
Mrs, Oore, Castles in the Air, xzxiv.
" He'd destroy himself, and me too, if I attempted to
ride him at such a raUMrap as that." A ra/Metrap ! The
quintain that she^ad put up with so much anxious care.
> Trmope^ Barchester Towers, viii.
rattleweed (rat'1-wed), re. A plant of the ge-
nos Astragalus, in numerous species. It in-
cludes various loco-weeds, and is presumably
extended to Oxytropis in the Kocl^ Mountain
region.
rattlewing (rat'l-wing), re. The golden-eyed
duck, or whistlewing, Clangula glaiidon. Also
called whistler. [Eng.]
rattlewort (rat'l-wert), re. [Not found in
ME.; < AS. hrsetelwyrt, rattlewort, < *hrsBtele,
a rattle, + wyrt, wort : see rattle^, roor<l.] A
plant of the genus Crotalaria. Compare rattle-
box, 2 (6).
rattling! (rat'ling), n. [Verbal n. of ratUei^, «.]-
1. The act of making a rattle, clatter, or con-
tinuous jarring noise.
The noise of a whip, and the noise of the ratUini o' ^^^
wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping
chariots. Nahum iii. 2.
S. The act of berating or raUing at or other-
wise assailing or attacking: as, to give one a
rattling.
4975
rattling! (rat'ling), p. a. [Ppr. of rattle\ t>.]
1. Making or adapted for making a rattle;
hence, smart; sharp; lively in action, move-
ment, or manners : as, a rattling rider ; a rattling
pace ; a rattling game ; a rattling girl.
He ance tell'd me . . . that the Psalms of David were
excellent poetry ! as if the holy Psalmist thought o' rat-
tling rhymes in ablether, like his ain silly clinknm-clankum
things that he ca's verse. Scott, Bob Roy, xxL
2. Bewilderingly large or conspicuous: as, rat-
tling stakes or bets. [Colloq. or slang.]
rattling^ (rat'ling), n. A corruption of ratline.
ration, re. See ratten.
rattonert, re. See rattener.
ratf oon^, re. See ratoon.
rattoon^f, re. Same as ratan.
rat-trap (rat'trap), n. A trap for catching rats ;
also, something resembling or suggesting such
a trap. — Bat-trap pedaJL See pedal.
rauchwacke(ra,k'wak;G.pron.rouch'va'ke),re.
[Gr., (.ratich, smoke (= B. reek), + wacke, a sort
of stone consisting of quartz, sand, and mica:
see waeke. Cf . graywaoke.'] Dolomite or dolo-
mitic limestone, containing many small irregu-
lar cavities, frequently lined with crystals of
brown-spar: a characteristic mode of occur-
rence of the Zechstein division of the Permian
in various parts of Germany.
rancid (ra'sid), a. [< li.*rau<ndus, LL. dim.
raumdiilus, hoarse, < raiicus, hoarse : see rau-
cous.^ Same as raucous.
Methinks I hear the old boatman [Charon] paddling by
the weedy wharf, with raitcid voice, bawling "sculls."
Lamb, To the Shade of Elliston.
raucity (rsb'si-ti), re. [< P. raueitS, hoarseness,
< L. raucita{t-)s, hoarseness, also snoring, <
raueus, hoarse: see raticous.'] Roughness or
harshness of utterance ; hoarseness.
The purling of a wreathed string, and the raucity of a
trumpet. Bacon, Nat Hist., § 700.
raucle (r3,'kl), a. [A var. of racket, rackle, rash,
fearless, also stout, firm, strong: see rackle,
rakel.'] Coarse; harsh; strong; firm; bold.
[Scotch.]
Auld Scotland has a rauda tongue.
Bums, Prayer to the Scotch Representatives.
raucons (rS,'kus), a. [= P. rav^vs = Pr. rav^,
ranch = Cat. rone = Sp. ronco, rauco = Pg. roueo
= It. rauco, < L. raueus, hoarse ; cf . Skt. V ru,
cry out.] Hoarse; harsh; croaking in sound:
as, a raucous voice or cry.
raucously (r4'kus-li), adv. In a raucous man-
ner; with a croaking sound; hoarsely.
raughtM. An obsolete preterit and past parti-
ciple of reach^.
raught^f . An obsolete preterit and past parti-
ciple of reck.
raun (rS,n), re. A dialectal form of roe^.
rauncet, n. See rance^.
raunceount, v. t. A Middle English form of
ransom.
raunch (ranch), v. t. Same as ranch^.
raiinsont, rannsount, n. and v. Middle English
forms of ransom.
rauracienne (ro-ras-ien'), re. In dyeing, same
as orseillin.
Bausan (P. pron. ro-zon'), re. [P. : see def.]
A wine of Bordeaux, of the commime of Mar-
gaux : its best variety is the wine of Ch&teau
Bausan, often exported under the name of JJa«-
san-Margaux.
Bauwolfia (rau-wol'fl-a), re. [Nli. (Plumier,
1703), named after Leonhard Sauwolf, a Ger-
man botanist and traveler of the sixteenth
century.] A genus of gamopetalous plants of
the oTdeTApocynacese, the dogbane family, tribe
Plumeriex, and type of the subtribe Bauwolfiex.
It is characterized by a salver-shaped corolla with in-
cluded stamens, an annular or cup-shaped disk, and an
ovary with two carpels, each with two ovules, in fruit
becoming drupaceous and united, often beyond the mid-
dle. There are about 42 species, natives of the tropics in
America, Asia, and Africa, also in South Africa. They are
trees or shrubs, commonly with smooth whorled leaves
which are three or four in a circle, and finely and closely
feather-veined. The small flowers and fruit are in cymose
clusters which become lateral and commonly resemble
umbels. Most species are actively poisonous; some, as
Jt. nitida, are in repute as cathartics and emetics. Sev-
eral medicinal species, with remarkably twisted roots and
stems, were formerly separated as a genus OpAio^Zon (Lin-
naeus, 1767X on account of their producing both sterile
flowers wifli two stamens and fertile flowers with five :
as B. serpentina, the Kast Indian senientwood, a climber
with handsome leaves, the root of which is used in India
and China as a febrifuge. E. Sandmeengis, the hao of
the Hawaiians, a small milky tree with white scarred
branches, is unlike all other species in its leafy sepals.
ravage (rav'aj), re. [< P. ravage, ravage, havoc,
spoil, < ravir, bear away suddenly : see ravish.']
rave
Desolation or destruction wrought by the vio-
lent action of men or beasts, or by physical or
moral causes; devastation; havoc; waste; ruin:
as, the ravage of a Hon ; the ravages of fire or
tempest ; the ravages of an invading army ; the
ravages of passion or grief.
Would one think 'twere possible for love
To make such ravage in a noble soul? Addison.
And many another suppliant crying came
With noise of ravage wrought by beast and man.
Tennyson, Gareth and Lynett&
=Syn. Pillage, plunder, spoliation, despoilment. These
words all apply not to the treatment of people directly, but
to the des^^ction or appropriation of property.
ravage (rav'aj), v.t.; pret. and pp. ravaged, ppr.
ravaging. [< P. ravager, ravage; from the
noun.] To desolate violently ; lay waste, as by
force, storm, etc. ; commit havoc on ; devas-
tate; pUlage; de^oil.
Caesar
Has ravaged more than half the globe, and sees
Mankind grown thin by his destructive sword.
Addison, Cato i. 1.
While oft in whirls the mad tornado flies.
Mingling the ravaged landscape with the skies.
Ooldmath, Des. ViL, L 358.
=Syil. To plunder, waste. See the noun.
ravager (rav'aj-6r), re. [< p. ravageur, < rav-
ager, ravage : see ravage.'] One who ravages ;
a plunderer; a spoiler; one who or that which
lays waste.
Bavaton's operation. See operation.
rave! (rav), v. ; pret. and pp. raved, ppr. raving.
[< ME. raven, rave, talk like a madman (cf.
MD. freq. ravelen, D. revelen, dote, etc.), < OP.
raver, resver, rave, dote, speak idly, P. rSver,
dream (cf. OP. ravasser, rave, talk idly, reve,
madness), = Sp. rabiar, rave, = Pg. raivar,
■ rage (cf. It. ar-rabbiare, rage, go mad), < LL.
*rabiare, rave, rage,< L. rabSss, ML. rabia, rage,
< L. rabere, rave, rage : see rage, re., and cf . rage,
v., practically a doublet of rave^. Cf. also
reverie.'] I. intrans. 1. To talk like a madman ;
speak with delirious or passionate extrava-
gance; declaim madly or irrationally; rage in
speech.
Peter was angry and rebuked Christy and thought ear-
nestly that he had raved, and not wist what be sayde.
Tyndale, Works, p. 26.
Have I not cause to rave and beat my breast?
Addison, Cato, iv. 3.
Three days he lay and raved
And cried tor death.
Wittiam Morris, Earthly Paradise, L 336.
Z, To talk about something with exaggerated
earnestness, and usually witii little judgment
or coherence; declaim enthusiastically, im-
moderately, or ignorantly.
He must fight singly to-morrow with Hector ; and is so
prophetically proud of an heroical cudgelling that he raves
In saying nothing. Shak., T. and C, iii. 3. 249.
Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand.
They rave, recite, and madden round the land.
Pope, ProL to Satires, L 6.
3. To produce a brawling or turbulent sound ;
move or act boisterously : used of the action
of the elements.
His bowre is in the bottom of the maine,
Under a mightie rocke^ gainst which doe rave
The roring billowes in their proud disdaine.
Spenser, F. Q., IIL viii 37.
On one side of the church extends a wide woody dell,
along which raves a large brook among broken rocks and
trunks of fallen trees. Iroing, Sketch-Book, p. 444.
II. trans. To utter in frenzy ; say in a wild
and excited manner.
Pride, like the Delphic priestess, with a swell
Ravd nonsense, destln'd to be future sense.
Young, Night Thoughts, viL 696.
rave^t (rav). An obsolete preterit of rive.
rave^t (rav), v. t. [< ME. raven; a secondary
form of were, after the pret. rave : see rive'^.]
To rive.
And he worowede him, and slowhe him ; ande thanne he
ranne to tJie false emperes, ande ravide hir evine to the
bone, but more harme dide he not to no mane.
Gesta Romanorwm, p. 202. (HoIUukU.)
rave* (rav), v. t. [A dial, form of reave."] 1.
Same as reave, 3.
Thairfoir I hald the subject value.
Wold rave us of our right.
Battle of Balrinnes (Child's Ballads, VIL 220).
2. To tear up ; pull or tear the thatch or cover-
ing from (a house): same a,s reave, 4. HalliweU.
[ftov. Eng.] —To rave up, to pull up ; gather toge-
ther. [Prov. Eng.]
rave* (rav), re. [< rave*:, v.] A tearing; a hole
or opening made by tearing out or away: as, a
roue in an old building. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
rave^ (rav), re. [Origin obscure.] One of tiie
side pieces of the body of a wagon or other ve-
hicle.
rave
The rave bolts [in a bob-sleigh] extend upward from the
runners in front and rear of the knees, and the ravea rest
between their ends on the bottom of the recess.
Sci. Amer., N. S., LTV. 130.
Floating raves, a light open frame of horizontal bars,
attached along the top of the sides of wagons, and sloping
upward and outward from them. They are convenient
for supporting and securing light bulky loads. Farrmo,
Mil. Encyc, 1. 679.
rave^t (rav), n. [MB., < OF. rave, < L. rapa,
rapum, a turnip: see rape*.] A turnip.
Save, as brassik for vyne as ille is fonde.
Palladiui, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.)i p. 173.
lave-hook (rav'huk), m. In ship-carp., a hooked
iron tool used when enlarging the butts for re-
ceiving a sufficient quantity of oakum ; a rip-
ping-iron.
raveli (rav'el orrav'l), v.; pret. and pp. raveled
or ravelled, ppr. raveling or ravelling. [Former-
ly also reavel and (as a var. of the noun) revel;
early mod. E. also *rivel, ryvell (< OF. riuler, un-
ravel, < LGr.); < MD. ravelen, entangle (L. mj-
trieare, Kilian), ravel (Hexam, Sewel) (uit ra-
velen, ravel out, unravel), D. rafelen, unravel,
unweave, = LG. reffeln, rebelnjTehbeln, uni'avel,
unweave; origin unknown. There is no obvi-
ous connection with Or. raffeln, snatch up, rake,
raffel, a rake, grate for Sax, < raffen, snatch:
see raff, ro^i.] I. trans. 1. To tangle; en-
tangle ; entwine confusedly ; involve in a tan-
gled or knotted mass, as thread or hair mingled
together loosely.
Sleepe that knits vp the rauel'd Sleeue [that is, floss-silk]
of Care. Shak. , Macbeth (folio 1623), ii. 2. 37.
I've reavell'd a' my yellow hair
Coming against the wind.
aienlcindie (Child's Ballads, IL 12).
Minute glands, which resemble ravelled tubes, formed
of basement membrane and epithelial scales.
J. R. Nichole, fireside Science, p. 186.
Hence — 3. To involve; perplex; confuse.
What glory 's due to him that could divide
Such raverd int'rests, has the knot untied? Waller.
St. To treat confusedly ; jumble ; muddle.
They but ravel it over loosely, and pitch upon disputing
against particular conclusions. Sir K. Digtyy.
4. To disentangle; disengage the threads or
fibers of (a woven or knitted fabric, a rope, a
mass of tangled hair, etc.); draw apart thread
by thread; unravel: commonly with OMi: in this
sense (the exact contrary of the first sense),
originally with out, ravel out being equivalent
to unravel.
Must I ravel out
My weaved-up folly ?
Shak., Kich. n., iv. 1. 228.
The Action pleas'd ; their loves I long elude ;
The night still raveU'd what the day renew'd.
Fentorit in Pope's Odyssey, xix.
A favorite gown had been woven by her maids, of cot-
ton, striped with silk procured by raveling the general's
discarded stockipgs. The Century, XXXVII. 841.
II. intrans. 1. To become entangled or
snarled, as the ends of loose and dangling
threads, or a mass of loose hair. Hence — 2.
To become involved or confused; fall into per-
plexity.
As you unwind her loVe from him,
Lest it should ravel and be good to none.
You must provide to bottom it on me.
Shak., T. G. of V., iU. 2. 62.
Till, by their own perplexities involved.
They ravel more, still less resolved.
Mmon, S. A., 1. 305.
3. To curl up, as a hard-twisted thread.
Jamieson. [Scotch.] — 4. To become untwisted
or disjoined, as the outer threads of a loosely
made fabric or the strands of a rope ; become
disjoined thread by thread j fray, as a garment
at the edges: commonly with out.
I ryveU out, as sylke doth, Je rivle. Palsgrave.
Hence — 5. To suffer gradual fllsintegration
or decay.
Do's my lord ravdl ffutf do's he fret?
Uartiion, The Fawne, ii. 1.
And this vast Work all ravd OMf'again
To its first Nothing. Cowley, Davideis, i.
6t. To make a minute and careful examination
in order to straighten what is confused, unfold
what is hidden, or clear up what is obscure;
investigate; search; explore.
It can be little pleasure to us to rave [^c ed. 1660, 1671 ;
rake, ed. 1681, 1686: read ravd] into the infirmities of God's
servants, and bring them upon the stage.
Bp. Sanderson, Works, L 100.
It will be needless to ravel far into the records of elder
times. Decay of Chrietian Piety.
The humour of ravelling into all these mystical or en-
tangled matters . . . produced infinite disputes.
SirW. Temple.
4976
ravell (rav'el or rav'l), n. [Formerly or dial.
also revel; iraveV-, v.'] 1. A raveled thread;
a raveling. [Rare.]
Life goes all to ravels and tatters. Carlyle, in Froude.
2. pi. The broken threads cast away by women
at tixeir needlework. Halliwell (spelled revels).
— 3 . In weaving, a serrated instrument for guid-
ing the separate yarns when being distributed
and wound upon the yarn-beam of a loom, or
for guiding the yams wound on a balloon ; an
evener ; a separator.
Also, in Scotch spelling, raivel.
raveP (rav'el), v. Same as rahble^. [Prov.
Eng.]
ravel-bread (rav'el-bred), n. Same as raveled
bread. See raveled. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
raveledt, ravelledt, «. [< OF. ravaU, ravalU,
brought low, abated, lessened in price, pp. of
ravaler, ravaller, ravailler, bring down, bring
low, abate, diminish, lessen in price, < re-, back,
+ avaler, let down, come down: see avale.']
Lower-priced: distinctively noting wheaten
bread made from flour and bran together.
The raveled is a kind of cheat bread, but it reteineth
more of the grosse and lesse of the pure substance of the
wheat. Harrison, p. 168. (Halliwell.)
They had four different kinds of wheaten bread : the
finest called manchet, the second cheat or trencher bread,
the third ravelled, and the fourth in England called mes-
celin [see niaslin*^], in Scotland mashloch. The ravelled
was baken up just as it came from the mill, flour, bran, and
sdl. Amot, Hist, of Edin. {Jamieson.)
ravelin (rav'lin), n. [Formerly also rax^lin,
corruptly raveling; < OF. ravelin, F. ravelin,
m., OF. also raveline, f., = Sp. reeellin = Pg.
revelim, < Olt. ra-
vellino, revellino,
It. ri/oellino, a
ravelin ; origin
unlinown; hard-
ly, as supposed,
< L. re-, back, -I-
vallum, a wall,
rampart: see
walA Cf. P.
dial. ravelin,
dim. of ravin, a
ravine, hollow:
see ravine^.'] A
detached trian-
fortification, with two embankments which
form a projecting angle, in the flgure BB is the
ravelin, with A its redout, and CC Its ditch. J)D is the
main ditch of the fortress, and E the passage giving ac-
cess from the fortress to the ravelin.
We will erect
Wals and a raveling that may safe our fleet and us pro-
tect. Chapman, Iliad, vii.
This book will live, it hath a genius ; . . .
. . . here needs no words' ezpence
In bulwarks, rav'lins, ramparts for defence.
B. Jonson, On the Poems of Sir John Beaumont.
ravelingi, ravelling (rav'el-ing), n. [Verbal
n. of raveP-, «.] A raveled thread or fiber; a
thread drawn out from a woven, knitted, or
twisted fabric : as, to use ra/oeUngs for basting.
raveling^t, »• An obsolete form of ravelin.
raveling-engine (rav'el-ing-en''''jin), n. In pa^
per-manuf., a machine for tearing rags for
making into pulp; a rag-engine or tearing-
cylinder.
ravelledt, ravelling. See raveled, rameling^.
ravelly (rav'el-i), a. [< ravel^ + -i/i.] Show-
ing loose or disjoined threads; partly raveled
out. [Colloq.]
Dressed in a dark suit of clothes that looked seamed and
ravelly, as if from rough contact with thorny undergrowth.
The Century, XXXIX. 444.
ravelment (rav'el-ment), n. [< ravel^ + -ment.']
A pulling or drawing apart, as in raveling a
fabric; hence, disunion of feeling; disagree-
ment; embroilment.
raven^ (ra'vn), n. and a. [< ME. raven, reven,
revin; pi. ravenes, refnes, remes; < AS. hrsefn,
hrefn, hrsemn, hremn = D. raven, rave, raaf =
MLGr. raven, rave, LG. rave = OHG. rabo, also
hraban, raban, hram, ram, MHG. rabe, also
rappe, raben, ram, ramm (forms remaining in
the proper names Uapp and Wolf-Jram) = feel.
hrafn = OSw. rafn, ramn = Dan. ravn (not re-
corded in Goth.), a raven; perhaps, like the
crow and owl, named from its cry, namely
from the root seen in L. crepare, rattle: see
crepitation, discrepant. The alleged etymologi-
cal connection with L. corvus, Gr. xSpa^, raven,
L. comix, Gr. Kopimj, crow, Pol. Tcruk, a raven,
Skt. kdrava, a raven, is not made out.] I. «.
1. A bird of the larger species of the genus
Bavenala
Corvus, having the feathers of the throat lance-
olate and distinct from one another. The plu-
mage is entirely black, with more or less lustrous or me-
tallic sheen ; the bill and feet are ebony-black ; the wings
are pointed, the tall is rounded, and the nostrils are con-
cealed beneath large tufts of antrorse plumules. The
voice is raucous. The common raven is C. corax, about
Kaven {f^orvus corax).
2 feet long and 60 inches in extent of wings. It inhabits
Europe, Asia, and some other regions, and the American
bird, though distinguished as C. camivorue, is scarcely
different. There are several similar though distinct spe-
cies of various countries, among them C. eryptoleueus of
western North America, which has the concealed bases
of the feathers of the neck snowy- white. Havens are easi-
ly tamed, and make very intelligent pets, but are thievish
and troublesome. They may be taught to imitate speech
to some extent. In the wild state the raven is omnivo-
rous, like the crow ; it nests on trees, rocks, and cliffs,
preferring the most inaccessible places, and lays lour or
five greenish eggs heavily speckled with brown and black-
ish shades. The American raven is now almost unknown
in the eastern parts of the United States, but is still
abundant in the west. Ravens have from time immemo-
rial been viewed with superstitious dread, being supposed
to bring bad luck and forebode death.
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Shak., Macbeth, i. 5. 40.
2. A kind of fish. See sea-raven and Semi-
tripteridee.
II, a. Black as a raven; evenly and glossily
or lustrously black: as, raven locks.
Smoothing the raven down
Of darkness till it smiled.
Milton, Comus, 1. 261.
raven^ (jav'n), n. [Also ravine; early mod. B.
also ravin; < ME, ravin, ravine, ravyne, ra-
veyne, < OF. ravime, ravine, rabme, prey, plim-
der, rapine, also rapidity, impetuosity, prob. =
Pr. rabina, < L. rapina, plunder, pillage : see
rapine, a doublet of raven^.'] 1. Plunder;
rapine; robbery; rapacity; furious violence.
[Archaic]
And whan thei herde the home a-noon thei slaked
theire reynes and spored theire horse and smote in to the
hoste with grete ravyne. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 824.
Oh gods !
Why do we like to feed the greedy raven
Of these blown men? Fletcher, Valentinian, v. 4.
2. Plimder; prey; food obtained with rapacity.
That is to seyn, the foulis of ravyne
Were heyest set.
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 323.
Egles, Gledes, Bavenes, and othere Foules of raveyne,
that eten Flesche. Mandemlle, Travels, p. 309.
The lion . . . filled his holes with prey, and his dens
with ravin. Nah. ii. 12.
raven^ (rav'n), v. [Also ravin; < OF. raviner,
seize by force, ravage, < L. *rapinare (in deriv.),
plunder, < rapina, plunder, impetuosity: see
raven^, ».] I. trans. It. To seize with rapa-
city, especially food ; prey upon; ravage. See
ravined. — 2. To subject to rapine or ravage;
obtain or take possession of by violence.
Master Carew of Antony, in his Survay of Comewall,
witnesseth that the Sea hath ravened from that Shire that
whole Country of Lionesse. HakeiiMl, Apology, i. 3, § 2.
Woe to the wolves who seek the flock to raven and de-
vour I Whittier, Cassandra Southwick.
3. To devour with great eagerness; eat with
voracity; swallow greedily.
Our natures do pursue.
Like rats that ravin down their proper bane,
A thirsty evil. SAat., M. for M., i. 2. 138.
They rather may be said to rauen then to eate it ; and,
holding the flesh with their teeth, cut it with rasors of
^™°8' Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 778.
• II. intrans. To prey with rapacity; show ra-
pacity.
Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf. Gen. xlix. 27.
Ravenala (rav-e-na'la), n. [NL- (Adanson,
1763), from a native name in Madagascar.] A
genus of monocotyledonous plants, of the order
Ravenala
Musaeese, the banana family, it is characterized
hy a locuUcidally Uu-ee-Talved and three-celled capsule
with numeroas seeds in six rows, and by separate long
and narrow sepals and petals, three of each, all similar
and unappendaged. There are but 2 species, natives one
of Madagascar, the other of northern Brazil and Guiana.
In both the stem is sometimes short, with the leaves almost
all radical, at other times forming a tall woody trunk
. reaching 30 feet high, ringed by leaf-soars. The handsome
oblong and two-ranked leaves resemble those of the ba-
nana, and are of Immense size, being considered the largest
undivided leaves known, with the exception perhaps of
the Victoria lily. The long concave leafstalks are divid-
ed within Into small cubical chambers, about a half-inch
square, tilled with a clear watery sap which forms a re-
freshing drink, whence the name traveler' s-tree^ used in
botanic gardens for R. ISadagasmrieneis. The leaves are
also used as a thatch for the native huts. The large flow-
ers form a short many-flowered raceme within the spathe,
and are followed by woody capsules and edible seeds with
a lacerate and pulpy blue aril which yields an essential
oil. See traveler's-tree.
Taven-cockatoo (ra'vn-kok-a-to" ),n. A black
cockatoo. See cockatoo.
ravenert (rav'n-6r), n. [< ME. raviner, rav-
inere, ravyner, ravinour, ravynour, raveynour, <
OF. ravineor, ravinour, < L. rapinator, a plun-
derer, robber, < *rapinare, plunder, rob : see
raven^.'] 1. One who ravens or plunders; a
greedy plunderer ; a devourer or pursuer.
We scome swich raviTiers and honters of fouleste
thinges. Chaucer, Boethius, L prose 3.
And then he is such a ravener after fruit.
B, Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, 1. 1.
3. A bird of prey. Holland.
ravening (rav'n-ing), n. [Verbal n. of raven"^,
w.] Eagerness for plunder ; rapacity.
Your inward part is full of raveniTig [extortion, R. V.]
and wickedness. Luke xL 39.
xaveningly (rav'n-ing-U), adv. In a ravening
or ravenous manner; voraciously; greedily.
Liguirire somtymes is auldfe and helluosfe, that is gried-
ily and ravemnglye or gluttonously to devour very much.
UdM, mowers, fol. 98.
ravenous (rav'n-us), a. [< OF. ravinos, ravi-
nous, ravineus, F. ravine'ux, violent, impetuous,
= It. rapinoso, ravenous, etc., < MX;, "rapino-
sus, < L. rapina, rapine : see ramen'^. Of. rapi-
nmisJ\ 1. Furiously voracious ; hungry even
to rage; devouring with rapacious eagerness:
as, a ravenous wolf, lion, or vulture ; to be rave-
nous with hunger.
I will give thee unto the raveTwus birds of every sorl^
and to the beasts of the fleld, to be devoured.
Ezek. xxxix. 4.
I wish some ravenmts wolf had eaten thee I
Shak., 1 Hen. VL, v. 4. 31.
2. Grreedily eager for gratification; tending to
rapacity or voracity: as, ravenous appetite or
desire.
Thy desires
Are wolvish, bloody, starved, and ravenous.
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 138.
=Syn. Voracious, etc. See rapadovs.
ravenously (rav'n-us-li), adv. In a ravenous
manner ; with raging voracity.
ravenousness (rav'n-us-nes), n. The state or
character of being ravenous; furious avidity;
rage for prey.
The ravenousness of a lion or bear are natural to them.
Sir if. Hale.
ravenry (ra'vn-ri), n.; pi. ravenries (-riz). [<
rave'nX + -ry.] A place where ravens nest and
breed or are kept.
Nothing short of a reward given on the hatching-ofl of
a ravenry . . . would Insure protection.
Nature, XXXYH. 602.
Bavensara (rav-en-sa'ra), n. [NL. (Sonnerat,
1782), < Malagasy ravin-dzara, said to mean
'good leaf.'] A genus of trees of the order
Laurineie and tribe Perseacese. it is distinguished
bybaving the parts of the flower in threes, two-celled an-
thers, an enlarged perianth-tube closed over the ovary in
fruit, and a seed with six lobes descending into as many
false cells of the pericarp. The 3 or 4 species are smooth
aromatic trees of Madagascar. J?, aromatiea has a clove-
like fragrance throughout, and its fruit, called clove-mO-
meg or ravensara-niS, is used in Madagascar as a spice.
raven's-duck (ra'vnz-duk), n. A fine kind of
hempen sail-cloth.
ravenstone (ra'vn-ston), n. [Tr. Gr. ralenstein, a
gallows (also a black stone), < rabe, = E. raven, +
steJ»=E.«foMe:socalledasaplaoe where ravens
(birds of ill omen) and vultures congregate.
Cf. D. raven-kop, hangman, Ut. 'raven-head':
see ra«e»i and sfonei.] A gallows. [Rare.]
To and fro, as the night-winds blow.
The carcass of the assassin swings ;
And then alone, on the raven-i^one.
The raven flaps his dusky wings.
Byron, Manfred (first MS.}, liL
raver (ra'ver), n. [< ME. ravare; < rave^ + -eri.
Cf. F. r4veur, dreamer.] One who raves or is
furious ; a maniac.
313
4977
As old decreplte persons, yong Infantes, f ooles. Madmen,
and Ravers. Touchstone of Complexions, p. 94. {Daviet.)
raveryf (ra'v6r-i), n. [< OF. resverie, raving,
dreaming: see rave^, and cf. reverie.'} The act
or practice of raving; extravagance of speech
or expression ; a raving.
Reject them not as the raveries of a child.
Sir J. SempUl, Sacrilege Sacredly Handled, Int. (Davies.)
ravint (rav'in), n. and v. See raven^.
ravine^, n. Same as ravenK
ravine^ (ra-ven'), n. [< ME. ravine, rauyne, <
OF. ravine, rahine, a raging flood, a torrent, an
inundation, a hollow worn by a torrent, a ra-
vine, F. ravine, ravin, a ravine; a particular
use of ravine, violence, impetuosity, plunder, <
L. rapina, rapine, violence, ]plunder: see rapine,
and cf. rawero^.] i|. Aragmgflood.
A ravine, or inundation of waters, which overcometh all
things that come in its way. Cotgraee.
2. A long deep hollow worn by a stream or tor-
rent of water; hence, any deep narrow gorge,
as iu a mountain; a gully. =Syn, 2. Glen, Gorge,
etc. See valley.
ravinedf (rav'ind), a. [Irreg. < ravin, raven^,
+ -e(J2.i Kavenous.
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark.
Shaic., Macbeth, iv. 1. 24.
ravine-deer (ra-ven'der), n. The goat-antelope
of the Deocaii, which inhabits rocky places.
Ravine-deer ( Tetraceros quadricornis).
It has many names, vernacular and technical, as VlacktaU,
dakara, chousmgha, kaleiepie, AntUope chikara or quadri-
comis, Tetraeeros gvadrieomis, and Tragops bennetH.
raving (ra'ving), n. [< ME. ravynge; verbal
n. of rave'^, «.] Furious exclamation; irra-
tional incoherent talk.
They are considered as lunatics, and therefore tolerated
in their ravings. Steele, Tatler, No. 178.
raving (ra'ving), j>. a. 1. Furious with deliri-
um; mad; distracted. — 3. Fit to excite admi-
ration or enthusiasm ; hence, amazing, intense,
superlative, or the like. [Colloq. or slang.]
A letter of raving gallantry, which Orlando Furioso
himself might have penned, potent with the condensed
essence of old romance. I. D'lsradi, Amen, of Lit., II. 262.
The veterans liked to recall over the old Madeira the
wit and charms of the raving beauties who had long gone
the way of the famous vintages of the cellar.
New Princeton Rev., L 6.
ravingly (ra'ving-li), adv. In a raving man-
ner; with furious wildness or frenzy; distract-
edly.
The swearer is ravingly mad ; his own lips so pronounce
him. Bev. T. Adams, Works, I. 283.
ravisablet, «■ [ME., < OF. ravissaUe, < ravir,
ravish: see ravish.'\ Ravenous.
And inward we, withouten fable,
Ben gredy wolves raviscMe,
Rom. qfthe Rose, 1. 7016.
ravisantt, a. [ME., also ravisaunt; < OF. ravi-
sant, ravissant, ppr. of ravir, ravish: see ravish.
Cf. ravissant.} Ravishing; ravening; preda-
tory.
The wolf, wilde and ravisaunt.
With the schep jeode so milde so lomb.
MS. Laud. 108, f. 11. (HaUiwett.)
ravish (rav'ish), V. t. [< ME. ravissJien, rav-
ischen, ravisen, ravicJien, < OF. (and F.) raviss-,
stem of certain parts of ravir, ravish, snatch
away hastUy, = It. rapire, < L. rapere, snatch,
seize: see rape'^ and rapid. Cf. ravage.} 1.
To seize and carry off; transport or take away
forcibly; snatch away. [Obsolete or archaic]
Thanne thei seyn that he is ravmht in to another
world, where he is a grettre Lord than he was here.
MandemUe, Travels, p. 254.
raw
And the gret fray that the [they] mad in the tyme of
masse it ravyehed my witts and mad me ful hevyly dys-
posyd. Pfuton Letters, IL 81.
These hairs, which thou Aosiravish from my chin,
WiU quicken, and accuse thee. Shak., Lear, ill. 7. 38.
3. To transport mentally; enrapture; bring
into a state of ecstasy, as of delight or fear.
Sore were all their mlndes rauished wyth feare, that in
maner half beside themselves they said . . .
Golding, tr. of Caesar, foL 173.
Thou hast ravished my heart. Cant. iv. 9.
The view of this most sweet Paradise [Mantua] . . . did
even ravish my senses. Coryat, Crudities, I. 146.
My friend was ravished with the beauty, innocence, and
sweetness that appeared in all their faces.
Addison, Freeholder, No. 47.
3. To deprive by seizure ; dispossess violently:
with of.
They may ravish me o' my life.
But they canna banish me fro' Heaven hie.
Hughie the Graeme (Child's Ballads, VI. 57).
And am I blasted In my bud with treason?
Boldly and basely o/my fair name ravisKd?
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Malta, ii. 5.
4. To violate the chastity of; commit rape upon;
deflower.
Their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravixhed.
Isa. xiiL 16.
My heroes slain, my bridal bed o'ertum'd.
My daughters ravish'd, and my city burn'd,
My bleeding infants dash'd against the floor.
Pope, niad, xxlL 89.
ravisht (rav'ish), M. [(.ravish, v.} Ravishment;
ecstasy ; a transport or rapture.
Most of them . . . had bnilded their comfort of salva-
tion upon unsound grounds, viz. some upon dreams and
ravisT^ of spirit by fits ; others upon the reformation of
their lives. Winthrop, Hist. New England, 1. 219, an. 1636.
ravisher (rav'ish-6r), n. [< ME. ravischour,
ravissour, < OF. raviseor, raviseur, F. ravisseur,
ravisher^ < ravir, ravish: see ravish.} 1. One
who ravishes or takes by violence.
Gods ! shall the ravisher display your hair.
While the fops envy and the ladies stare?
Pope, R. of the L., iv. 103.
2. One who violates the chastity of a woman.
Thou ravisher, thou traitor, thou false thief !
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 888.
3. One who or that which transports with de-
light.
ravishing (rav'ish-ing), n. [< ME. ravisshing,
ravyschynge; verbal n. of ravish, v.} Ecstatic
delight ; mental transport. [Rare.]
The raviskings that sometimes from aboue do shoot
abroad in the inward man. FeWurni, Resolves, il. 66.
ravishing (rav'ish-ing), j). a. 1. Snatching;
taking by violence ; of or pertaining to ravish-
ment.
Tarquln's ravishing strides. Shak., Macbeth, ii. 1. 65.
2. Exciting rapture or ecstasy; adapted to en-
chant; exquisitely lovely ; enrapturing.
Those delicious villas of St. Fietro d' Arena, which pre-
sent another Genoa to you, the ravishing retirements of the
Genoese nobility. Evelyn, Diary, Oct. 17, 1644.
He [Emerson]. . . gave us ravtsAtTi^ glimpses of an ideal
ander the dry hn^ of our New England.
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 380.
St. Moving furiously along; hurrying. Chaur-
cer, Boethius, i. meter 5.
ravishingly (rav'ish-ing-li), adv. In a ravish-
ing manner; so as to delight or enchant.
ravishment (rav'ish-ment),»j. [< OF. (and F.)
ravissement, a ravishing, ravishment, < ravir,
ravish: see ravish.} 1. The act of seizingand
carrying off, or the act or state of forcible ab-
duction; violent transport or removal. — 2.
Mental transport ; a carrying or being carried
away with delight; ecstasy; rapture.
All things joy, with ravishment
Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze.
Milton, P. L., V. 46.
The music and the bloom
And all the mighty ravishment of Spring.
Wordsworth, Sonnets, il. 18.
3. Violationof female chastity; rape.
In bloody death and ravishment delighting.
Shak., Lucrece, L 430.
ravissant (rav'i-sant), a. [See ravisant.} In
her., leaping in a position similar to rampant:
usually noting the wolf.
ravisset) v.t. A Middle English form of ravish.
Chaucer.
rawl (r&), a. and». [< ME. raw, rau, ra, < AS.
hredw, hriew, raw, uncooked, unprepared, sore,
= OS. hrd = D. raauw = MLG. rauw, ro, LG. rau
= OHGr. rdo, ro, rou {raw-), MHG. ro (raw-),
Or. roh = Icel. hrdr = Sw. ra = Dan. raa, raw,
crude ; akin to L. crudus, raw, cruentus, bloody,
cruor, gore, blood (see crude), Gr. icpia^, flesh,
Skt. Jcravis, raw meat, krUra, cruel, hard, OSlav.
raw
fen««», Lith. ftrajt/og, blood.] I. a. 1. Existing in
the state of natural growth or formation; un-
changed in constitution by subjection to heat
or other alterative agency ; uncooked, or chemi-
cally unaltered: as, raw meat, fish, oysters, etc.;
most fruits are eaten raw; raw medicinal sub-
stances ; raw (that is, unbumt) umber.
DistOled waters will last longer than raw waters.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 347.
On this brown, greasy napkin ... lie the raw vege-
tables she is preparing for domestic consumptioa.
H. James, Jr., Little Tour, p. 165.
2. In an unchanged condition as regards some
process of fabrication ; unwrought or unman-
ufactured. In this sense raw is ttsed either of sub-
stances in their primitive state, or of partly or wholly fin-
ished products fitted for working into other forms, accord-
ing to the nature of the case ; as, the raw materials of a
manufacture; raw silk or cotton (the prepared fiber); raw
marble ; raw clay.
Eight thousand bailes of raw silke are yearly made in
the Island. Sandys, Travailes, p. 192.
Like a cautious man of business, he was not going to
speak rashly of a raw material in which he had had no
experience. George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, iii. 6.
It [the German mindj has supplied the raw material in
almost every branch of science for the defter wits of other
nations to work on.
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 293.
3. In a rudimental condition; crude in quality
or state; primitively or coarsely constituted;
unfinished; untempered; coarse; rough; harsh.
Her lips were, like raw lether, pale and blew.
Spenser, F. Q., V. xii. 29.
The coast scene of Hoguet . . . copied iu water-color,
. . . and blind-haltered with a blazing space of rauv white
all around it. The Nation, Feb., 1876, p. 84.
The raw vessels fresh from the wheel, which only re-
quire a moderate heat to prepare them for being glazed,
are piled in the highest chamber. Encyc. hrit,, XIX. 688.
The glycerine is of a brownish colour and known as raw,
in which state it is sold for many purposes.
Workshop Receipts, 2d ser., p. 310.
4. Harshly sharp or chilly, as the weather;
bleak, especially from cold moisture; charac-
terized by chilly dampness.
Once, upon a raw and gusty day. Shak,, J. C, i. 2. 100.
Dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twi-
light, with nipped fingers and toes.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, i.
A raw mist rolled down upon the sea.
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 15.
5. Crude or rude from want of experience,
skill, or reflection; of immature character or
quality; awkward; untrained; unfledged; ill-
instructed or ill-considered: said of persons
and their actions or ideas.
No newelie practised worshippinges alloweth he for hys,
but vtterlye abhorreth them aU as thinges rawe and unsa-
uerye. Bp. Bale, Image, ii.
An opinion hath spread itself very far in the world, as
if the way to be ripe in faith were to be raw in wit and
judgment. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iii. 8.
I have within my mind
A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks,
Which I will practise. ' Shak., M. of V., iii. 4. 77.
He had also a few other raw Seamen, but such as would
have made better Landmen, they having served the King
of Siam as Soldiers. Dampier, Voyages, II. 1 112.
His [Sherman's] division was at that time wholly raw, no
part of it ever having been in an engagement.
U. S. QranA, Personal Memoirs, I. 338.
6. Looking like raw meat, as from lividness or
removal of the skin ; deprived or appearing des-
titute of the natural integument: as, a raw
sore ; a raw spot on a horse.
His oheeke-bonesraw, and eie-pits hollow grew.
And brawney armes had lost their knowen might.
Spenser, F. Q.,'1V. xii. 20.
When raw flesh appeareth in hrm [a leper], he shall be
unclean. Lev. xiii. 14.
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
After the Danish sword. Shak., Hamlet, iv. 3. 62.
7. Feeling sore, as from abrasion of the skin;
harshly painful; galled.
And all his sinews waxen weak and raw
Through long imprisonment.
Spenser, F. Q., L i. 2.
Sec. Oent. Have you no fearful dreams?
Steph. Sometimes, as all have
That go to bed with raw and windy stomachs.
Fletcher, Pilgrim, iii. 7.
8. In ceraw!., unbaked— thatis, either fresh from
the potters' wheel or the mold, or merely dried
without the use of artificial heat — Eaw edge,
that edge of any textile fabric which is not finished with
a selvage, nor hemmed or bound or otherwise secured,
and which is therefore liable to ravel out.— KaW hide.
See hide2 and rawhide.— 'Raw material oil, sienna,
Bilk, etc. See the nouns. = Syn. Baw, Crude. These
words, the same in ultimate origin and in earlier mean-
ing, have drawn somewhat apart. Raw continues to ap-
ply to food which is not yet cooked, as raw potatoes ; but
4978
erode has lost that meaning. Raw Is applied to material
not yet manufactured, as cotton, silk ; crude rather to that
which is not refined, as petroleum, or matured, as a theory
or an idea.
II. m. 1. A raw article, material, or product.
Specifically— (a) An uncooked oyster, or an oyster of a
kind preferred for eating raw : as, a plate of raws. [Col-
loq.] (d) Haw sugar. [Colloq. or trade use.]
The stock of raws on hand on the 31st of December, 1884,
amounted to 1,000,000 kilograms.
U.S. Cans. Rep., ?fo. Ix. (1886), p. 96.
2. A raw, galled, or sore place; an established
sore, as on a horse; hence, soreness or sensi-
tiveness of feeling or temper. [CoUoq.]
Like savage hackney coachmen, they know where there
is a raw. Dc Quineey. (Webster.)
It's a tender subject, and every one has a raw on it.
Lever, Davenport Dunn.
Here is Baynes, ... in a dreadfully wicked, murderous,
and dissatisfied state of mmd. His chafing, bleeding tem-
per is one raw; his whole soul one rage and wrath.
Thackeray, Philip, xxvii.
3. In hot., same as ragi-, 3 (6). [Prov. Bng.]
—To toucll one on the raw, to irritate one by allndmg
to or joking him about any matter in respect to which he
Is especially sensitive.
raw^ (i-a), n. An obsolete or dialectal form of
roiv^.
Clavers and his Highlandmen
Came down upo' the raw.
Battle of Killieerankie (Child's Ballads, VII. 163).
rawbonet (ra'bon), a. l<raw'>- + l)one,n.'] Same
as raw-boned. Spenser, F. Q., IV. v. 34.
raw-boned (r&'bond), a. Having little flesh on
the bones ; lean and large-boned ; gaunt.
Lean raw-boned rascals ! who would e'er suppose
Tliey had such couri^e and audacity?
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., i. 2. 36.
rawhead (r^'hed), n. 1. A specter; a nursery
bugbear of frightful aspect: usually coupled
wim bloody-bones.
I was told before
My face was bad enough ; but now I look
Like Bloody-Bone and Maw-Head, to fright children.
Fletcher (and another^). Prophetess, iv. 4.
The indiscretion of servants, whose usual method is to
awe children, and keep them in subjection, by telling
them of raw-head and bloody-bones.
Locke, Education, § 138.
2. The cream which rises on the surface of
raw milk, or milk that has not been heated.
HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
rawhide (r&'htd), n. and a. [< raw^ + hide^, ».]
I. ». 1. The material of mitanned skins of
cattle, very hard and tough when twisted in
strips for ropes or the like, and dried. — 2. A
riding-whip made of twisted rawhide.
II. a. Made of rawhide : as, a rawlUde whip.
ra'Wisb (rft'lsh), a. [< raw'^ + -is7»i.] Some-
what raw; rather raw, in any sense of that
word..
The rawish dank of clumsy winter.
Marston, Prol. to Antonio's Kevenge.
rawly (rS,'li), adv. 1. In a raw, crude, un-
finished, immature, or untempered manner;
crudely; roughly.
Nothing is so prosaic as the rawly new.
W. W. Story, Boba dl Koma, i.
2t. In an unprepared or unprovided state.
Some crying for a surgeon, some upon their wives left
poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some
upon their children rawly left. Shak., Hen. V., iv. 1. 147.
rawness (r^'nes), n. [< ME. rawenes, rawnesse,
rownes; < ratc^ + -ness.'] 1. The state or qual-
ity of being raw, in any sense.
Of what Comodity such vse of arte wilbe in our tounge
may partely be scene by the scholastioall rawnesse of some
newly Commen from the vniuersities.
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), 1. 2.
Much if not most of this rawness in the use of English
must come, not merely from defective training in schools,
but from defective training at home.
The Nation, XLVIII. 392.
2t. Unprepared or precipitate manner ; want
of provision or foresight.
Why in that rawness left you wife and child, . . .
Without leave-taking? Shak., Macbeth, iv. 3. 26.
rawnsaket, v. t. An old form of ransack.
raw-port (ri'port), n. A port-hole in a small
sailing vessel through which in a calm an oar
can be worked.
raw-pot (ra'pot), n. A yotmg crow. [Local,
Irish.]
The crows . . . feeding the young rawpots that kicked
up such a bobbery in their nests wid hunger.
Mrs. S. C. Hall, Sketches of Irish Char., p. 36.
rax (raks), v. [< ME. raxen, roxen, rasken,
rosken, stretch oneself, < AS. *racsan, raxan,
stretch oneself after sleep ; with fermative -s
(as in cleanse, rinse, etc. ), from the root of racK^,
stretch: see rack^.^ I. trans. To stretch, or
ray
stretchout; reach out; reach or attain to; ex-
tend the hand to; hand: as, rax me ower the^
pitcher. [North. Eng. and Scotch.]
He raise, and raxed him where he stood,
And bade him match him with his marrows.
Raid of the Reidswire (Child's Ballads, VI. 134).
When ye gang to see a man that never did ye nae ill
raxing a lialter [that is, hanging).
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lotliian, v.
So he raxes his hand across f table, an' mutters summat
as he grips mine. Mrs. GaskeU, Sylvia's lovers, xlilL
II, intrans. To perform the act of reaching-
or stretching; stretch one's self; reach for or
try to obtain something. [North. Eng. and
Scotch.]
raxlet, v. i. [ME. raxlen, roxlen, rasclen, a var.
or freq. of raaen, stretch; seeraa;.] To stretch
one's self ; rouse up from sleep. Compare rax.
I raxled & fel in gret affray [after a dream].
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), i. 1173.
Benedicite he by-gan with a bolke and hus brest knokede,.
Rascled and remed and routte at the laste.
Piers Plowman (C), viii. 7.
rayl (ra), n. [< MB. roA/e, < OF. ray, rat, raid,
P. rais, a spoke, ray, = Pr. rai, raig, rait,
spoke, ray, = Sp. rayo, a spoke, ray, thunder-
bolt, right line, radius, radio, radius, = Pg. raio,.
a spoke, ray, thunderbolt, radio, radius, = It.
raezo, a spoke, ray, beam, raggio, a ray, beam,,
radius, radio, ray; also in fem., OF. 7-aie, P.
raie, a line, stroke, = Pr. Sp. raya, a line^
streak, stroke, limit, boundary (see ra/y^); < L.
radius, a staff, rod, a beam or i&j, etc. : see-
radiits.2 1. Light emitted in a given direc-
tion from a luminous body; a line of light,
or, more generally, of radiant energy; tech-
nically, the straight line perpendicular to the
wave-front in the propagation of a light- or
heat-wave. For different waves the rays may have
different wave-lengths. Thus, in a pencil or beam of
light, which is conceived to be made up of an indefinite
number of rays, the rays all have the same wave-lengtli if
the beam is monochromatic ; but if it is of white light,
the wave-lengths of the rays vary by insensible degrees
from that of red to that of violet light. (See radiant energy
(under energy), spectrum.) A collection of parallel rays,
constitutes a beam; a collection of diverging or converg-
ing rays a j
' Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear.
Gray, Elegy.
2. A beam of intellectual light.
A ray of reason stole
Half through the solid darkness of his soul.
Pope, Dunciad, iii. 226.
3. A stripe; streak; line.
Wrought with little rates, streames, or streaks.
Ba/ret, Alvearie, 1680.
4. In geom., an unlimited straight line. As it is-
desirable to give the line different names according as it-
is conceived (1) as a locus of points, (2) as an intersection
of planes, or (3) as an element of a plmie, in 1865 the prac-
tice was begun of calling the unlimited straight line con.
sldered as a locus of points a ray. But as it was found
that the word did not readily suggest that idea, owing to
other associations, the practice was changed, and the line
so considered is now called a range, while the word ray is
taken to mean an unlimited straight line as an element
of a plane. In older geometrical writings ray is synon-
ymous with radius, while a line considered as a radial
emanation is called a beam.
5. In bot.: (a) One of the branches or pedicels
in an umbel. (&) The marginal part as opposed
to the central part or disk in a head, umbel, or
other flower-cluster, when there is a difference
of structure, as in many Compositse and in wild
hydrangeas, (c) A ray-flower, {d) A radius.
See ffiedullary rays, under medullary. — 6. One
of the ray-like processes or arms of the Badiata,
as of a starfish ; a radiated or radiating part or-
organ ; an aetinomere. See cuts under Asterias
and Asteriidse. — 7. One of the hard spinous or
soft jointed processes which support and serve
to extend the fin of a fish ; a part of the skele-
ton of the fin ; specifically, one which is articu-
lated, thus contradistinguished from a hard or
inartioulated one called specifically a spine; a
fin-ray. — 8. In entorn., one of the longitudinal
neivures or veins of an insect's wing. — 9. pi.
In her.: (a) Long indentations or dents by
which a heraldic line is broken, whether di-
viding two parts of the escutcheon or bound-
ing any ordinary. Compare radiant, 3 (a),
(b) A representation of rays, whether issuing
from the sun or from a corner of the escutch-
eon, a cloud, or an ordinary. They are sometimes
straight, sometimes waving, and sometimes alternately
straight and waving; it is in the last form that they
are usually represented when surrounding the sun.—
Branchial ray, branchioategal rays. See the ad-
jectives.—Calorific rays, heat-rays. See Tieat and speo-
trttm.— Cone of rays. See com«.— De-viation of a ray
of light. See deviation.— Jiireet rays. See direct illv^
mination, under direct.— Divergent rays. See divergent.
ray
— BztraonUiiary ray. See r^froeeMm.— Herschelian
rays of the spectrum. See BerscheHan.—VledvHaiy
rays, (a) See medvUary. (6) Bundles of straight or col-
lecting tubules of the kidney contained in the cortex ;
the pyramids of Feirein. See (u6u2e.— Obscure rays.
See obscure and spectrum. — Ordinary ray. See r^/roo
tian — PrinclMl ray. See prirecipoJ.— Ritteric rays.
See iiittertc.— Visual rays. See vimaL— Cathode rays,
a form of radiation generated in a vacuum-tube, in con-
nection with the cathode, or negative pole, when an
electric dlschargeis passed through It.— X-rays, or Riint-
fen rays, a form of radiation having characteristic and
istinctive properties, discovered by Professor Wilhelm
Konrad ESntgen, of Wiirzburg (announced by him in
December, 1895). He showed that the discharge of a
large Biibmkorn coil through a vacuum-tube produces a
form of railiation external to the latter, which has the prop-
erty of causing va-
rious substances to
fluoresce ; of affect-
ing the ordinary
photographic plate
like light (though
itself invisible);
and of penetrating
opaque bodies in
various degrees, ac-
cording to their
density and rela-
tive tMckness, plat-
inum, lead, and
silver being quite
opaque, while alu-
minium, wood, and
paper are quite
transparent. He
also found that
these rays are not
refracted by prisms
of carbon disul-
phid, and that un-
certain refraction
occurs with vul-
X-ray photograph of a foot in a shoe.
canized rubber prisms and those made of aluminium;
that powdered substances, opaque to white light, are
quite as transparent to these rays as solid bodies of equal
mass ; and that bodies having rough surfaces act like
those whose surfaces are polished. These facts forced
him to conclude that refraction and regular reflection
do not exist, but that such bodies behave to X-rays as
muddy media to light. Other conclusions were that these
rays pass through all substances at the same speed ; that
air absorbs a very much smaller part of them than of
cathode rays ; that they are not deflected by a magnet;
that the spot on the wall of the tube which fluoresces
most decidedly is to be regarded as the principal point of
their radiation ; that when the cathode rays are deflected
within the tube^ the spot is changed, thus producing a new
source of radiation ; thatj therefore, cathode rays and X-
lays are not Identical ; that X-rays are rectillnearly propa-
gated ; that no Interference phenomena of X-rays were
found to exist ; that the above facts tend to show that they
have properties not hitherto known in connection with ul-
tra-violet visible^ and infra-red light ; and that, therefore,
they do not consist of transverse vibrations of the ether,
but of longitudinal vibrations. The source of X-rays has
been shown to be the surface upon which the cathode
rays first strike, whether that surface be the wall of the
tube or an object placed within the tube : when this ob-
ject within the tube is the anode Itself, the emanations
are most powerful. It has also been found that X-rajrs
have the property, in common with ultra-violet light, of
dispersing negative charges on insulated surfaces and the
power of positively electrifying such surfaces ; and that
regular reflection, though weak, may be demonstrated by
the use of the photographic plate and long exposure.
Hertz had previously shown that cathode rays penetrate
opaque bodies, and Lenard that such rays maypass through
aluminium forming a part of the wall of the tube and affect
the photographic plate, but that their absorption is exces-
sive beyond afewmlllimeters from the aluminium window.
ray^ (ra), v. [< OF. raier, F. rayer, mark with
lines, streak, stripe, mark out, scratch, = Pr.
raJar = Sp. rayar, form lines or strokes, streak,
= Pg. raiar, radiate, sparkle, = It. raggiare,
razzare, radiate, also Sp. Pg. radiar = It. ra-
diare, radiate, sparkle; < L. radiare, furnish
■with spokes or beams, radiate, shine forth, <
radius, a staff, rod, spoke of a wheel, ray, etc. :
see rayi, n., and cf. radiate.'] I. trans. 1. To
mark with long lines ; form rays of or in.
Unloved, the sun-flower, shining fair.
Hay rouud with flames her disk of seed.
Tennysorif In Memorlam, cL
2. To shoot forth or emit; cause to shine out.
Shines o'er the rest, the pastoral queen, and rays
Her smiles, sweet-beaming, on her shepherd-king.
Thornton, Summer, 1. 401.
St. To stripe.
I wll yif him a f eder bedde
Rayed with golde.
CTutucer, Death of Blanche, 1. 252.
II. intrans. To shine forth or out as in rays.
In a molten glory shrined
That rays off into gloom. Mrs. Brimming.
ray2 (ra), n. [< ME. raye, < OF. raie, raye, F.
rate = OCat. raja = 8p. raya = It. raja, razza
(ef. ML. ragadia), < L. raia, a ray; prob. orig.
*ragia, akin to D. roch, rog = L(3-. ruche (> L&.
roche), a roach, a ray, = Dan. rokke, a ray, =
AS. reohhe, reohche (glossed by "Mli. f annus),
rehse, rohge, a roach: see roach^.'] 1
4979
ed body, which becomes a broad disk from
Its union with the extremely broad and fleshy
pectorals, which are joined to each other be-
fore or at the snout, and extend behind the two
sides of the abdomen as far as the base of the
ventrals, resembling the rays of a fan. — 2.
Any member of the order Hypotremi, Batoidei,
or Baix, such as the sting-ray, eagle-ray, skate,
torpedo, etc. See cuts under MlasmobrancMi,
sJcate^ sting-ray, and torpedo Beaked rays, £Ia-
nobatidee.— Cleax-I10Se& ray, Saia eglanteria.— Cow-
nosed ray, BAinoptera quadrUoba. Also called clam-
cracker, corn-cracker, whipperee, etc — Fuller or fuller's
ray, BaiaftUlonica.—'BomeA ray, a ray or batold fish of
the family CepTialopteridee or ManttcUe : so called from the
horn-like projections on the head. See cut under devU-JisK
— Fainted ray. See painted. — Sandy ray, Raaa circu-
laris.— Starry ray or skate, Raia radiota.— Stingless
rays, Anacanthidai.—1orpe6.0Ta:yB,Torpedinida. See
torpedo. (See the generic and family names ; also bishop-
ray, butterjly-ray, eagle-ray, sting-ray.)
raySf (ra), «. [< ME. raye, ray, < OP. rei, rat,
roi, array : see array, of which ray^ is in part an
aphetic form.] Array; order; arrangement;
rank; dress. Mir. for Mags., I. 237.
ray^t (ra), v. t. [< ME. rayen; < rayS, n. Cf.
array, v., of which ray^ is in part an aphetic
form. In def. 2, the. same verb used (as ar-
ray also was used) in an ironical application ;
hence, in comp., beray.] 1. To array. — 2. To
beray with dirt or filth; daub ; defile.
Fie on ... all foul ways ! Was ever man so beaten!
was ever man so rayed > Shak., T. of the S., Iv. 1. 3.
ray*t (ra), n. [Early mod. E. also rey; < ME.
raye ; prob. a particular application of ray'^, a
stripe, line, etc.] A kind of striped cloth.
Ich drow me among drapers, . . .
Among the rlche rayes ich rendered a lesson.
Piers Plommm (C),vli. 217.
Foure yards of broad Cloth, rowed or striped thwart
with a different colour, to make him a Goune, and these
were called Rey Gounes. Stow, Survey of London, p. 852.
ray^ (ra), n. [Cf. MH(J. reige, reie, rei, Q. rei-
hen, reigen, a kind of dance.] A kind of dance.
HalKweU. [Prov. Eng.]
rajT® (ra), n. [Origin obscure.] A certain dis-
ease of sheep, also called scab, sTiab, or rubbers.
ray'^t, n. Same as roy.
Rayai, Rayah (ra'ya), n. [= F. rayah, raia, <
Ax. raiya, pi. ra'dyd, people, peasants, subjects,
cattle, < ra'a, pasture, feed; ef. rdaya, flocks,
herds. Cf. ryot, ult. the same word.] Any
subject of the Sultan of Turkey who is not a
Mohammedan.
raya^ (ra'ya), n. [E. Ind.] An Indian broad-
throat of the family EuryUetHidse, Psarisomus
dalhousise, inhabiting the Himalayas. The
term is also one of the several generic desig-
nations which this species has received.
Rayah, n. See Saya^.
rayat, rayatwari. See ryot, ryotwar.
rayed (rad), a. [< ME. rayed, rayyd, rayid; <
. ray^ -f- -ed^.] 1 . Having rays or ray-Uke pro-
cesses, as a flower-head or an animal; spe-
cifically, in zoiil., radiate. — 2. Having rays (of
this or that kind): as, a many-rds/efJ fin; a
soft-rayed fish. — 3t. Striped.
The sheriffs of London should give yearly rayed gowns
to the recorder, chamberlain, etc.
Areheeologia, XXXIX. 367.
Rayed fl.Tl^ma.^H, See Radiata.
rayerf (ra'er), n. [< ME. rayere,< raye, striped
cloth: see raj'*.] A seller of ray-cloth. Piers
Plowman.
rayey (ra'i), a. [< ray^ + -ey = -j/i.] Having or
consisting of rays.
The rayey fringe of her faire eyes. Cotton, Song.
ray-floret (r^'flo'^ret), n. -A ray-flower: used
chiefly of Compositse.
ray-flower (ra'flou*6r), n. One of the flowers
which' collectively form the ray (see rayi, 5
(6)) ; most often, one from the circle of ligulate
flowers surrounding a disk of tubular flowers
in the h^ads of many Compositse.
ray-grass (ra'gras), n. A good forage-grass,
Lolium peremte. -Also rye-grass.
rayket, raylet. See rahe^, rail.
rayless (ra'les), a. [< raj/l + -less.] 1. With-
out rays or radiance; tmillumined; lightless;
dark; somber ; gloomy. Young, Night Thoughts,
i. 19. — 2. In hot. and zool., having no rays or
ray-like parts.
raymet, "• »• ^ Middle English form of roam.
Raymond's blue. See bine.
Raynaud's disease. See disease.
Raynaud's gangrene. Same as Baynaud's dis-
razorbill
ray-oil (ra'oil), n. Oil prepared from the livers
of batoid fishes or rays.
rayont (ra'gn), n. [< P. rayon, a ray, beam, <
ra«s,aray:8eera3;i.] Abeamorray. Spenser,
Visions of Bellay (ed. 1591), ii.
rayonnant (ra'o-nant), a. [< P. rayonnant,vvT.
of rayonner, radiate, shine, < rayon, a ray: see
rayon.] Eadiating; arranged in the direction
of rays issuingfrom a center. Decoration is often
said to be rayonnarU when, as in the case of a round dish
or other circular object, the surface is divided into panels
growmg larger as they approach the circumference, and
bounded by the radii and by arcs of lai-ger and smaller
circles.
rayonned (ra'gnd), a. l< rayon + -ed^.] Same
as rayonnant.
razel (raz), v. t. See rase\
raze^t, n. An obsolete form of race^.
raze^ (raz), «. [Origin obscure.] A swinging
fence set up in a watercourse to prevent the
passage of cattle. HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
razed (razd), p. a. [Pp. of raee\ v.] In her.,
same as ragged, 7.
razee (ra-ze'), n. [< P. 7-as^, cut down {vaisseau
ras4, a vessel cut down), pp. of raser, shave,
rase : see rasei, rase^.] A ship of war cut down
to a smaller size by reducing the number of
decks.
razee (ra-ze'), v. t. [< razee, n.] To cut down
or reduce to a lower class, as a ship ; hence, to
lessen or abridge by cutting out parts : as, to
razee a book or an article.
razor (ra'zor), n. [Early mod. E. also rasour,
raser; < ME. rasour, rasour e, ra-
sowre, rasure, a razor, < OF. (and
F.) rasoir = Pr. razor = OCat.
rasd = It. rasoio, < ML. rasorium,
a razor (cf. rasorius, razor-fish),
< L. rachre, pp. rasus, scrape,
shave : see rase^, raze'^.] 1 . A
sharp-edged instrument used for
shaving the face or head. The
blade is usually made with a thick round-
ed back, sides hollowed or sloping to a
very thin edge, and a tang by which it is
pivoted to and swings free^ in a two-
leafed handle. The &ng has a prolonga-
tion by the aid of which Mie razor is flrmly
grasped and controlled. There are also
razors formed on the principle of the car-
penters' plane, by the use of which the
risk of cutting the skin is avoided. In
Eastern countries razors are made with
an immovable handle continuous with
the blade. Compare ra^t&r, 5.
2. A tusk : as, the razors of a boar. Johnson.
— Occam's razor, the principle that the unnecessary sup-
position that things of a peculiar kind exist, when the ob-
served facts may be equ^y well explained on the suppo-
sition that no such things exist, is unwarranted (,EnHa nan
sunt mulUplicanda prseter necessitatem). So called after
William of Occam (died about 1349) ; but, as a historical
fact, Occam does not make much use of this principle,
which belongsrathertothecontemporary nominalist Wil-
liam Durand de St. Pourgain (died 1332).
razorablet (ra'zor-a^-bl), a. [< razor -I- -able.]
Fit to be shaved'.
Till new-born chins
Be rough and raiorable.
Shak., Tempest, 11. 1. 260.
razorback (ra'zor-bak), n. 1. A rorqual, fin-
fish, or finner-wiiale, of the family Balsmopte-
ridas. — 2. Ahog whose back has somewhat the
form of a sharp ridge. This formation, accompanied
by long legs, is chai'acteristic of breeds of hogs that have
long been allowed to run wild In woods and waste places
and feed upon mast, wUd fruits, etc. The flesh of such
swine , particularly that of the hams, is usually of superior
quality for the table.
razor-backed (ra'zor-bakt), a. 1. Having a
sharp back; hog-backed: as, the razor-backed
buffalo, a fish, Ictiobus urus, of the Mississippi
valley. — 2. Having a long sharp dorsal fin
which cuts the water like a razor, as the rorqual.
razorbill (ra'zor-bil), n. 1. The razor-billed
auk, or tinker, Alca or Utamania torda, so called
from the deep, compressed, and trenchant bill.
The bill is f eatheredf or about one half its length, in the rest
of its extent being vertically furrowed, and hooked at the
a and b, ordi-
narjj forms ; c.
section known as
"half-rattler"; flT,
backed razor.
ME ... .
One of the elasmo]^ranchiate fishes constitut
ing the genus Bma, recognized by the flatten- rayne^t, rayne^t. See rain^, reign.
Razorbill {Alca iorda), in winter plumage.
razorbill
tip ; one of the furrows is white, the bill b^g otherwise
black, like the feet ; the mouth is yellow. The plumage
is black on the upper parts, the lower parts from the neck
in summer, and from the bill in winter, being white ; there
is a narrow white line from the bill to the eye, and the
tips of the secondaries are white. The bird is about 18
inches long, and 27 in extent of wings. It inhabits arctic
and northerly regions of both hemispheres, subsists chief-
ly on fish, and nests on rocky sea-coasts, laying a single egg
about 3 by 2 inches, white or whitish, spotted and blotched
with different shades of brown. The flesh is eatable.
2. The skimmer or cutwater, Rhynchops nigra.
See shimmer and EJiynchops.
razor-billed (ra'zor-bild), a. Having a bill lik-
ened to a razor in anyway: specifically noting
certain birds — Razor-billed auk. See razarwa, i.—
Razor-billed curassow, a bird of the genus Mitma, as
M. tuberom of Guiana.
razorblade (ra'zgr-blad), n. A long, slim oys-
ter. [Connecticut.]
razor-clam (ra'zor-klam), n. A bivalve mol-
lusk of the family Solenidse, especially of the
genera Ensis, Solen, or Siliqua; a razor-flsh or
razor-shell: so called from its shape. See cut
under Ensis.
razor-fish (ra'zor-fish), n. 1. A fish of the
family Lahridse, Xyrichthys lineatus, of the West
Indies, occasional on the southern coast of the
United States. — 2. A related fish, Xyrichthys
novacula, of the Mediterranean. — 3. A razor-
clam: so called from the shape of the shell,
which resembles a razor. The common razor-flsh
of Great Britain is Ensis sUiaua, also called spouUJish and
razor-shell. Siliqua pcOula is a Callfornian species, used
for food,
razor-grass (ra'zgr-gras), n. A West Indian
nut-rush, Scleria scindens, with formidable cut-
ting leaves.
razor-grinder (ra'zor-griu''d6r), n. The night-
jar: same as grinder, 3.
razor-hone (ra'zor-hon), n. A fine hone used
for sharpening or setting razors. See hone^.
razor-paper (ra'zor-pa"per), n. Smooth unsized
paper coated on one side with a composition of
powdered crocus and emery, designed as a sub-
stitute for a strop.
razor-paste (ra'zor-past), ». A paste of emery-
powder or the like, for spreading on the surface
of a razor-strop to give it its sharpening prop-
erty.
razor-shell (ra'zor-shel), n. The shell of a ra-
zor-fish ; a bivalve moUusk of the genera Ensis,
Solen, or Siliqua: so called from the shape of
the shell, which resembles a razor. Compare
razor-fish, 3.
razor-stone (ra'zor-ston), n. Same as novacu-
lite.
razor-strop (ra'zgr-strop), n. An implement
for sharpening razors. See strop. Also called
razor-strap.
razuret (ra'zhur), ». [= P. rasure, < L. rasura,
< radere, pp. rasiis, scrape: see rase^, raze^.2
See rasure.
razzia (rat'si-a), n. [< F. razzia = Pg. gazia,
gaziva, a raid" < Algerian Ar. ghazia (Turk.
ghazya) (pron. nearly razia in Algiers, the in-
itial letter gh being represented by the F. r
grass4y4), a military expedition against infidels,
a crusade, a military incursion.] Properly, a
military raid intended for the subjection or
punishment of hostile or rebellious people by
the carrying off of cattle, destruction of crops,
etc. ; by extension, any plundering or destruc-
tive incursion in force. Kazziaa were formerly com-
mon in Arabian countries. They were practised by the
Turkish authorities in Algeria and otherprovinces against
tribes or districts which refused to pay taxes ; and the
word was adopted, and the practice continued for a time,
by the Krench in Algeria alter its conquest.
It was probable he should hand the troops over to John
Jones for the razzia against the Moulvie.
W. B. RussM, Diary in India, n. 27.
Bb. The chemical symbol of rubidium.
R. C. Aii abbreviation of Roman Catholic.
E. D. An abbreviation (a) of Royal Dragoons ;
(b) of Rural Dean.
E. E. An abbreviation (a) of Royal Engineers;
(b) of Royal Exchange,
rei (ra), n. [See gamut.'] In solmization, the
syllable used for the second tone of the scale.
In the scale of C this tone is D — a tone which
• is therefore sometimes called re in France and
[taly.
re^ (re), n. [L., abl. of res, thing, case, matter,
affair : see res^.] A word used in legal language
in the phrase in re : as, ' in re Bardell vs. Pick-
wick,' in the case of Bardell against Pickwick:
often elUptieally re: as, re Bardell vs. Pick-
wick ; re Brown.
re-. [MB. re- = OF. re-, P. re-, rS- = Sp. Pg. re-
= It, re-, ri-, < L. re-, before a vowel or h gen-
4980
erally red-, but later also re- (the form red- also
occurring in red-dere, render, and, assimilated,
in rel-Ugio, religion, rel-Uquiee, relics, rec-ddere,
fall back, and with a connecting vowel in redi-
vivus, living again), an inseparable prefix, back,
again, against : see def. The OF. and It. form
re- often appears as ra- by confusion with the
true ra- (< L. re- + ad-), and the following con-
sonant is often doubled, as in OF. reppeller, <
L. repellere, repel ; It. rappresentare, < L. reprse-
sentare, represent; etc. Words with the prefix
ra- in OF. usually appear with re- in B., except
when the accent has receded, as in rally'^.'] An
inseparable prefix of Latin origin (before a vow-
el usually in the form red-), meaning 'back,'
' again.' it occurs in a great number of verbs and derived
adjectives and nouns taken from the Latin, and is also com-
mon as an English formative. It denotes (a) a turning back
(* back '), as in recede, recur, remit, repel, etc. ; (6) opposition
('against'), as in reluctant, repugnant, etc. ; (o) restora-
tion to a former state ('back,' 'again,' English «n-2), as in
restitution, relegate, redintegrate or reintegrate, and with
some words of non-Latin origin, as in recall, remind, renew,
etc. ; (d) transition to an opposite state, as in rd2
retract, reveal, etc. ; (e) repetition of an action (' again '),
as in remse, resume, etc., becoming in this use an extreme-
ly common English formative, applicable to any English
verb whatever, whether of Latin origin, as in react, reen-
ter, recreate, readdress, reappear, reproduce, reunite, etc.,
or of Anglo-Saxon or other origin, as in rebind, rebuild,
redye, refill, refit, reheat, relight, reline, reload, reset, re-
write, etc. In many words taken from thp Latin, either
directly or through the Old French, the force of re- (red-)
has been lost, or is not distinctly felt, in English, as in re-
ceive, reception, recomfmend, recover^, reduce, redeem^, recu-
perate, recreate^, refer, rejoice, relate, religion, remain, re-
nown, repair^, repair^, report, reqitest, require, and other
words containing a radical element not used In the par-
ticular sense concerned, or not used at all, in English.
Some of these words, as recoverS^recreate'i; are distinguished
from English formations with the clear prefix re-, again,
often written distinctively with a hyphen, as in re-cover, re-
create, eta In many instances the prefix, by shifting of ac-
cent and change of sound, or lossof adjacentelements, loses
the character of a prefix, as in rebel, a., relic, relict, remTumt,
■rest^, restive, etc., and in words from Old French in which
the prefix re- combines with the prefix a- in the form ra-,
not recognized as an English prefix, as in rallg^, rabate,
etc. In some other words also re- is reduced to r-, as in
ransom (doublet of redemption), rampart, rerwounter, etc.
The prefix re- is found in many words formed in Old French
from non-Latin elements, as in regret, rega/rd, reward, etc.
As an English formative re- may be prefixed to a primitive
verb, adjective, or noun, or to derivatives, indifferently,
and such secondary forms as reestablishment, reaction, etc.,
may be analyzed either as re- -)- establishment, re- -(- adion,
etc., or as reeetaHlish -f -merd, react -t- -ion, etc. Prefixed
to a word beginning with e, re- is separated by a hyphen,
as re-estaUish, re-estate, re-edify, etc. ; or else the second e
has a dieresis over it : as, reestoMisli, reembark, etc. The
hyphen is also sometimes used to bring out emphatically
the sense of repetition or iteration : as, sung and re-sung.
The dieresis is not used over other vowels than e when re-
is prefixed : thus, reinforce, reunite, reaboUsh.
reabsorb (re-ab-s6rb'), V. t. [= p. rSabsorler;
as re- + absorb.'] To draw or take in anew
by absorption, imbibition, or swallowing, as
something previously ejected, emitted, or put
forth.
During the embryo stage of the higher vertehrata tem-
porary organs appear, serve their purpose awhile, and are
subsequently reabsorbed.
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 468.
reabsorption (re-ab-s6rp'shon), n. [= F. r6-
absorpUon; as re-'+ absorption.] The act of
reabsorbing, or the state of being reabsorbed.
reaccommodatet (re-a-kom'o-dat), v. t. [< re-
+ accommodate.] To readjust; resettle; bring
into renewed order.
King Edward, . . , discovering the Disturbance made
by the Change of Place, instantly sends to charge that
Part, without giving them Time to re-acecrmmodate them-
selves. . Baker, Chronicles, p. 121.
reaccuse (re-a-kuz'), v. t. [< re- + accuse.] To
accuse again or afresh ; make a renewed accu-
sation against.
Her'ford, . . . who re-occws'd
Norfolk for words of treason he had us'd.
Daniel, Civil Wars, 1. 60.
reach^ (rech), v.; pret. and pp. reached (for-
merly raught), ppr. reaching. [Also dial., with
shortened vowel, retch, and unassibilated reelt;
< MB. rechen (pret. raughte, raghte,raght, rehte,
reahte, pp. raught, raugt), < AS. riecan, riecean
(pret. rsehte), reach, get into one's power, =
OFries. reha, retsia, resza = MD. reychen, D.
reiken = MLGr. reken, LG. reiken = OHG. reihhen,
reiclien, MHG. G. reichen, reach, extend, stretch
out. _ The word has been more or less associat-
ed with the group to which belong rack^, rake\
rax, retch^, etc., Goth, ralgan, etc., stretch, and
L. reg-ere,por-rigere, Gr. bpiyeiv, stretch, but an
orig. connection is on phonetic grounds improb-
able.] I. trans. 1. To hold or stretch forth;
extend outward.
Beach hither thy flnger, and behold my hands; and
reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side.
John IX. 27.
reach
He shall flourish.
And, like a mountain cedar, reach his branches
To all the plains about him.
Shak., Hen. VIII., v. 5. 68.
To his
She reached her hands, and in one bitter kiss
'Pjifl^prf his tc&Tfi
WiUiam Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 307.
2. To deliver by or as if by the outstretched
hand; hand out or over; extend out to.
First, Christ took the bread in bis hands ; secondarily,
he gave thanks ; thirdly, he broke it ; fourthly, he raught
it them, saying. Take It.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc, 1860),
[p. 241.
The prince he reacht Robin Hood a blow.
Bobin Hood and the Stranger (Child's Ballads, v. 416).
Beach a chair;
So ; now, methinks, I feel a little ease.
Shak., Hen. VIIL, iv. 2. 3.
I stand at one end of the room, and reach things to her
woman. Steele, Spectator, No. 137.
3. To make a stretch to ; bring into contact by
or as if by stretching out the hand; attain to
by something held or stretched out : as, to reach
a book on a shelf; to reach an object with a
cane.
He slough man and horse whom that he ra/ught with his
axe that he heUde with hothe hondes.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 288.
Wilt thou reach stars, because they shine on thee?
Shak., 1. Q. of V., liL 1. 166.
4. To take, seize, or move by stretching out
the hand, or by other effort.
Than Troiell with tene the tourf er beheld, . . .
Bdches his reynis & his roile [rowel] strykes,
Caires to the kyng with a kant wille.
Destruction of Troy (B. E. T. S.), 1. 10216.
The damesell hym thanked, and raught bym vp he the
honde. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ill. 697.
Lest therefore his now bolder hand
Beach also of the tree of life, and eat.
And live for ever. Milton, P. L., xi. 94.
5. To attain to by movement or progress ; ar-
rive at, physically or mentally; come or get to:
as, to reach a port or destination; to reach
high office or distinction; to reach a conclu-
sion by study or by reasoning.
And through the Tyrrhene Sea, by strength of toiling oars,
Baught Italy at last. Drayton, Polyolbion, L 326.
He must have reached a very advanced age,
Barham, Ingoldshy Legends, I. 98.
He [Dante] has shown us the way by which that coun-
try far beyond the stars may be reached.
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 124.
6. To extend to in continuity or scope ; stretch
or be prolonged so as to extend to, literally or
figuratively; attain to contact with or action
upon; penetrate to.
There is no mercy In mankind can reach me.
Fleteher, Bonduca, iv. 3.
Thy desire . . . leads to no excess
That reaches blame, but rather merits praise.
MOtan, P. L., lii. 697.
The loss might be repaired again ; or, H not, could not
however destroy us by reaching us in our greatest and
highest concern. South, Sermons, II. L
When he addresses himself to battle against the guar-
dian angels, he stands like Tenerifle or Atlas; his stature
reaches the sky. Carlyle.
7. To come or get at; penetrate or obtain ac-
cess to; extend cognizance, agency, or infiu-
enee to : as, to reach a person through his van-
ity.
The fewness and fulness of his [George Fox's] words have
often struck even strangers with admu-ation, as they used
to reach others with consolation.
Penn, Rise and Progress of Quakers, v.
It is dilBcult indeed in some places to reach the sense of
the inspired writers. Bp. Aiterbury, Sermons, IL ix.
He [Atterbury] could be reached only by a bill of pains
and penalties. Macaulay, Francis Atterbury.
8t. To attain to an understanding of ; succeed
in comprehending.
But how her fawning partner fell 1 reach notv
Unless caught by some springe of his own setting.
Middleton, Women Beware Women, v. 1.
Sir P. I reach you not.
Lady P. Right, sir, your policy
May bear it through thus.
B. Jonson, Volpone, iv. 1.
II. intrans. 1. To stretch; have extent in
course or direction; continue to or toward a
term, limit, or conclusion.
By hym that rauhte on rode [the cross].
Piers Plowman (C), v. 179.
And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the
earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.
Gen. xxviii. 12.
Thus far the fable reaches of Proteus, and his flock, at
liberty and unrestrained.
Bacon, Pfiyslcal Fables, vii., ExpL
reach
They [consequences] reach only to those ol their poster-
ity who abet their forefathers' crime, and continue in
their mfldelity. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, H. v.
There are the wide-reocAfjw views of fruitful vaileys
and of empurpled hill-sides.
D. 6. Mitchea, Wet Days atEdgewood, Pliny's Country
[Places.
In the distance . . . the mountains reooA away in faint
and fainter shades of purple and brown.
Harpen's Weekly, Jan. 19, 1889.
2. To extend in amount or capacity; rise in
quantity or number; amount; suffice: with to
or unto.
What may the king's whole battle [army] reach unto!
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iv. 1, 129.
Every one was to pay his part according to his propor-
tion towards ye purchass, & all other debts, what ye profile
of ye trade would not reach Urn.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 216.
A very exceptional grant was made, two fifteenths and
tenths first, and then another sum of the same amount,
reaching, according to Lord Bacon, to £120,000.
Stubba, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 360.
3. To make a stretch to or toward something,
as with the hand or by exertion; stretch for-
ward or onward; make a straining effort: as,
to reach out for an apple; to reach at or after
gain.
Ful semely after hire mete she raughte.
Chaucer, Gen. ProL to C. T., L 136.
. He dytte the shelde as fer as that he rawght, and the
kynge Ban sente hym a stroke with Corshease, his goode
swerde. Merlin, (E. E. T. S.), ii. 344.
One may reach deep enough, and yet
Find litHe. Shak., T. of A., UL 4. 15.
Oft the first that (without right or reason)
Attempt Hebellion and do practice Treason,
And so at length are lustly tumbled down
Beneath the foot, that raught aboue the Crown.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i 1.
Why was I not contented? Wherefore reach
At things which, but for thee, O Latmian !
Had been my dreary death? Keats, Endymion, lii.
4. To attain ; arrive ; get, as to a point, desti-
nation, or aim.
Festus, . . , whose ears were unacquainted with such
matter, heard him [the apostle Paul], but could not reach
unto that whereof he spake. Booker, Eccles. Polity, lii. 8.
The wind being very great at S. W., he could reach no
farther than Cape Ann harbour that night.
Winthrop, Hist New England, I. 115.
5t. To turn; start forth.
Tip he sterte, and on his weye he raughte,
Tu she agayn hym by the lappe caughte.
Chaucer, Trbilus, ii. 447.
6. Naut., to sail with the wind free,
reachi (rech), M. [<reac/ji,».] 1. A continuous
stretch or course; an uninterrupted line of
extension or continuity: as, a reach of level
ground; an inland reach of the sea; a reach of
a river (a straight course between bends); a
reach of a canal (the part between locks, hav-
ing a uniform level).
And, on the left hand, hell
With long reocA interposed. JfiZfon, P. L.,x.322.
The silver Phea's glittering rills they lost.
And skimm'd along by Elis' sacred coast,
Then cautious through the rocky reaches wind,
And, turning sudden, shun the death designed.
Pope, Odyssey, xv.
We walk'd
Beside the river's wooded reach.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, IxxL
2. Limit or scope of stretch or extension;
power of reaching by the outstretched hand or
any other agency; the act of or capacity for
reaching : as, the rea^ch of the arm ; to be within
one's reach, or within the reach of the law.
All others have a dependent being, and within thereocA
of destruction. Sir T. £r(nOTW,.trm-burial, v.
Out of the reach of danger, he [Junius] has been bold ;
out of the reach of shame, he has been confident.
Johnson, Thoughts on late Trans, in the Falkland Islands.
Poor the reach.
The undisguised extent, of mortal sway I
Wordsworth, Canute and Alfred, on the Sea-Shore.
The study of spectra has opened a new world of research,
and added some such reach to our physics and chemistry
as the telescope brought to vision.
C. A. Young, The Sun, p. 67.
Most of the villages of Egypt are situated upon emi-
nences of rubbish, which rise a few feet above the reach
of the inundation. E. W. Lane, Modem Egyptians, 1. 24.
3. Effective extent or scope; range of capa-
city or ability; power of accomplishment;
grasp; penetration; comprehension.
Men more andacions and precipitant then of solid and
deep reaxh. Uuton, Heformation in Eng., iL
Be sure yourself and your own reach to know.
How far your genius, taste, and learning go.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 163.
Groves that inspire tie Nightingale to trill
And modulate, with subtle reach of skill
Elsewhere unmatched, her ever- varying lay.
Wordsworth, Sonnets, ill. 6.
4981
His [Wordsworth's] mind had not that reach and ele-
mental movement of Milton's.
LaiceU, Among my Books, 2d sen, p. 241.
4. A reaching out for something; forecast in
aim or purpose ; a scheme of effort for some end.
I have brains
That beat above your reaches.
Fletcher, Mad Lover, i 1.
The Buke of Parma had particular reaches and ends of
his own underhand to cross the design. Bacon.
Others
Think heaven a world too high for our low reaches.
Chapman, Caesar and Pompey, iv. 3.
5. The pole connecting the rear axle to the
bolster of a wagon or other vehicle; a cou-
pling-pole. See cut under hound, 7. — 6. Naut.,
the distance sailed between tacks: same as
ioard, 13 (c).— 7. An extended point of land;
a promontory. [Local, IT. S.] —Head reach, the
distance to windward traversed by a vessel while tacking.
reach^ (rech), v. A variant of retch'-'. [Prov.
Eng.]
readable (re'cha-bl), a. [< reach^ + -o6fe.]
Capable of being'reached; within reach.
reacher (re'cher), m. 1. One who or that which
reaches, or is capable of or serves for reach-
ing.
Hold in your rapier ; for, though I have not a long reach-
er, I have a short hitter.
Greene and Lodge, Looking Glass for Lend, and Eng.
He . . . spoke to Jennings, the reacher of the records,
that he should let him have any record.
J^e qfA. Wood, p. 205.
2t. An exaggeration; a " stretcher." [Slang.]
I can hardly believe that reacher, which another writeth
of him, that " with the palms of his hands he could touch
his knees, though he stood upright."
Fuller, Worthies, Monmouthshire, It. 435.
reaching-post (re'ching-post), n. In rope^maJc-
ing, a post fixed in the ground at the lower end
of a rope-walk.
reachless (reoh'les), a. [< reacK^ + -less."] Be-
yond reach; unattainable; lofty.
To raise her silent and inglorious name
Unto a reaeUesse pitch of praises bight.
Bp. HaU, A Defiance to Envy.
reach-me-down (reoh'me-doun'), a. [< reach\
v., + me, indirect object, + downl, adv. Cf.
piclc-mie-up.'] Eeady-made. [CoUoq., Eng.]
You know in the Palais Boyal they hang out the most
splendid reach-me-down dressing-gowns, waistcoats, and
so forth. Thackeray, Philip, xxiv.
reacquitet (re-a-kmf), v. t. [< re- + acquite."]
To pay back; give a return to or for; requite.
You shall assuredly find the gentleman very honest and
thankful, and me ready to re-acquite your courtesy and fa-
vour to him so shewn, in that I possibly may.
G. Harvey, Four Letters, L
react (rf-akf ),v. [< re- -t- act, v. Cf . F. reagir,
react.]' I. trans. To act or perform anew; re-
enact: as, to read a play.
II. in^ans. 1. To exert, as a thing acted
upon, an opposite action upon the agent.
If fire doth heate water, the water reacteth againe . . ,
upon the fire and cooleth it.
Sir K. Digby, Treatise of Bodies (1644), xvi
Great minds do indeed re-act on the sociei? which has
made them what they are ; but they only pay with inter-
est what they have received. Macatday, Dryden.
Every opinion reacts on him who utters it. It is a thread-
ball thrown at a mark, but the other end remains in the
thrower's bag. Emerson, Compensation.
2. To act, after being acted upon, in a maimer
directly opposed to the first action, and in in-
creased measure. Thus, when the body has been
chilled by a bath, it is said to react in becoming warmer
than before ; and, in like manner, when misfortune stimu-
lates the mind to greater efforts, the mind is said to react.
3. To act mutually or reciprocally upon each
other, as two or more chemical agents.
reaction (re-ak'shon), n. [= P. reaction = Sp.
reacdon = !Pg. redcgSo = It. reazione; as re- +
action.'] 1. Any action in resistance or re-
sponse to the influence of another action or
power; reflexive action or operation; an op-
posed impulse or impression.
Of reaction in locall motion, that each agent must suffer
in acting and act in suffering.
Sir K. Digby, Treatise of Bodies (1644), xvL
Sense being nothing else, as some conceit, but motion,
or rather re-aetian of a body pressed upon by another
body. Dr. H. More, Immortal, of Soul (1662), i. 12.
Attack is the re-oAion; I never think I have hit hard,
unless it re-bounds. Johnson, in Boswell, an. 1775.
Every trespass produces a r^oc^ibn, partly general and
partly specif — a reocfion which is extreme in proportion
as the trespass is great. H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 484.
2. In dynamics, a force called into being along
with another force, being equal and opposite
to it. All forces exist in pairs ; and it is a fundamental
law (Newton's third law of motion) in mechanics that
"action and reaction are always equal and contrarj," or
read
that the mutual actions of two bodies are always equal
and exerted iu opposite directions. This law was an-
nounced, in the form that the quantity of motion is pre-
served in all percussion, simtiltaneously in 1669 by Chris-
tian Huygens, John Wallis, and Sir Christopher Wren,
but was experimentally proved by Wallis only.
3. Action contrary to a previous influence, gen-
erally greater than the first effect; in politics,
a tendency to revert from a more to a less ad-
vanced policy, or the contrary.
The violent reaction which had laid the Whig party
prostrate was followed by a still more violent reactum in
the opposite direction. Macauiay, Hist. Eng., it
4. Jncliem., the mutual or reciprocal action of
chemical agents upon each other Achillea ten-
don reaction, the contraction of the calf-muscles evoked
by tapping the Achilles tendon. — AmphlgeaouB, am-
photeric, etc., reaction. See the adjectives.— Color-
reaction, in chein., a reaction which causes a character-
istic development or change of color : used in testing. —
Dlazo-reaction. Same as Ehrlich's reaction. — EIiTllcb's
reaction, a reaction in the urine of typhoid and other
patients in which it strikes a deep dark red on being
treated with a mixture containing sodium nitrite, sul-
phanilic acid, and hydrochloric acid, and alkalinized with
ammonia. Also called Ehrlich's test, and diazo-reaction.—
Law of action and reaction. See action. — Faxadox-
ical reaction. See paradoxical.— Reaction of degen-
eration, a modification of the normal reaction of nerve
and muscle to electric stimuli, observable in cases where
the lesion lies in the motor nerve or its immediate central
or peripheral terminations. The complete form presents
(a) total loss of irritability of the nerve below the lesion ;
(b) on direct stimulation of the muscle, (1) loss of irrita-
bility for very brief currents, such as induction-shocks ;
(2) retention and even increase of irritability for making
and breaking of currents of longer duration (this galvanic
irritability also becomes lost in the terminal stages of the
severest forms) ; (3) increase of irritability for making cur-
rents at the anode as compared with the cathode, so that
the anode closing contraction may exceed the cathode
closing contraction ; (4) a sluggishness of contraction and
relaxation.
reactionary (rf-ak'shon-a-ri), a. and n. [= P.
r^cUonnaire ;' SiS reaction -h -ary.'] I. a. 1.
Of or pertaining to reaction in general ; con-
sisting of or characterized by reflex or recipro-
cal action ; reactive.
The reactionary excitement that gave her a proud self-
mastery had not subsided.
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, vi. 10.
Specifically — 2. Of or pertaining to political
reaction; favoi'ing reaction: as, reactionary
principles or movements.
The poverty and suffering of millions of the working
classes came in aid of the rettctionary party and the more
egotistical line of policy.
W. S. Greg, Misc. Essays, 1st ser., p. 33.
II. m.j pi. reactionaries (-riz). A promoter
of reaction ; specifically, one who attempts to
check, undo, or reverse political action.
The reactionaries and conservatives of Sweden — and
there are many of them in this old country — are afraid that
free Norway will lead Sweden into the path of reforms.
Harper's Mag., LXXVm. 804.
reactionist (re-ak'shpn-ist), n. [< reaction +
■isW] A favorer of reaction; an advocate of old
methods or principles ; a reactionary.
Those who are not afraid of the nickname of reactbmisls
will be slow to condemn her [Austria] for the maintenance
of a principle on which she has grown into power.
Stuhbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 239.
reaction-period (re-ak'shgn-pe''ri-od), n. Same
as reactiorir-Ume.
reaction-time (re-ak'shon-tim), n. The time
between the application of a stimulus and some
reaction, as when a signal is rendered on the
perception of some sensation. ThereducedreaMon-
time is the part of this which is consumed in perception
and willing, as distinct from what is consumed in trans-
mission and in the period of muscular latency.
reaction-wheel (rf-ak'shon-hwel), n. See tur-
iine.
reactive (re-ak'tiv), a. [= P. r6acitf; as re-
act + -ive.']' Pertaining to or causing reaction ;
acting reflexively or reciprocally; resulting
from reflex action.
Ye fish, assume a voice, with praises fill
The hollow rock and loud readive hill.
Sir R. Blackmore, Creation, vii.
Knowledge of Sanscrit . . . will be kept alive by the
reacHve influence of Germany and England.
Maine, Village Communities, p. 25.
This equilibration between new outer forces and reac-
tive inner forces, which is thus directly produced in indi-
viduals. H. Spencer, Prin. of BioL, § 296.
reactively (re-ak'tiv-li), adv. By reaction,
reactiveness (re-ak'tiv-nes), n. The quality
of being reactive.
reactivity (re-ak-tiv'i-ti), n. [< reactive + My.]
The state of being "reactive ; the process or
course of reaction, as from a diseased condition.
The occurrence of colour, therefore, is more frequently
than not concomitant with a high degree of reactivUy.
Nature, XXXVIL 503.
readi (red), v.; pret. and pp. read (red), ppr.
reading. [Early mod. E. also reed, reede, rede; <
read
ME. reden, earlier rmden, rathen, roihen (a weak
verb, pret.j-edde, radde, pp. red, rod, i-rad),
<_A.S. (a) r sedan (a weak verb, pret. rxdde, pi.
■rseddoii, pp. rseded, rsedd, gerled), mixed with
(b) rsedan, Anglian also redan, rethan (a strong
redupl. verb, pret. re6rd, pp. rMden; found only
in poet, or Anglian use), counsel, advise, con-
sult, etc., read (a writing, whether aloud or to
oneself), = OS. rddan (pret. red, pp. giradan),
counsel, take counsel upon, provide, = OFries.
reda (pret. red), counsel, = MD. D. raden, coun-
sel, advise, interpret, guess, = MLG. rotoj, LG.
raten, counsel, advise, = OHG. ratan, MHG. ra-
ten, G. raten, ratfeera (pret. riet, rieth, pp. geraten,
gerathen), counsel, advise, iHterpret, guess, =
Icel. rddha (pret. redh, pp. rddhinn), counsel,
advise, etc., = Sw. rdda, counsel, advise, pre-
vail, ra, can, may, = Dan. raade, counsel, rule,
control, also interpret, = Goth. *redan, in comp.
ga-redan (pret. ga-rairoth), provide for; per-
haps akin (having then an orig. present forma-
tive -d) to L. reri (pp. ratus), thmk, deem, con-
sider: see rate^, ratio, reason. Some compare
Skt. •/ rddh, be successful, Russ. radu, glad,
happy, ready, Lith. rodas, willing, etc. Hence
read^, «., riddle^, aread, etc. The verb read in
the already obsolete sense ' counsel, advise,' was
much affected by Spenser, and in the early mod-
ern and ME. spelling rede which he used has
likewise been much affected by his archaizing
imitators ; but there is no historical ground for
a difference in spelling. The pret. read (red)
should be written red, as it was formerly ; it is
exactly parallel with led, pret. of lead^, and
with let, pret. of let^ (inf. formerly lete, with
long vowel).] I. trans. If. To counsel; ad-
vise; recommend.
And she thus brenneth bothe in love and drede,
So that she nyste what was best to rede.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 679.
And seththe he radde religioun the rule lor to holde —
*'Leste the kyng and his counseil 3or comunes apeire,
And beo stiward in oure stude til 30 be stouwet betere."
Piers Pl&umuin (A), v. 38.
We may read constancy and fortitude
To other souls. B. Jomon, Poetaster, i. 1.
If there 's a hole in a' your coats,
I rede you tent it.
Bums, Captain Grose's Peregrinations.
My Ladye reads you swith return.
Scott, L. of L. M., iv. 22.
2. To teach ; instil, as a lesson.
Are these the arts,
Bobin, you read your rude ones of the wood,
To countenance your quarrels and mistakings?
B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. 2.
3. To explain the meaning of ; explain; inter-
pret ; make out ; solve : as, to read a riddle ;
to read a dream.
Joseph, ... he that redde so
The kynges metynge, Pharao,
Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 1. 281.
Did you draw bonds to forfeit, sign to break?
Or must we read you quite from what you apeak?
D<mne, Expostulation (ed. 1819).
"I'll read your dream, sister," he says,
"I'll read it into sorrow."
The Braes fi' Yarrow (Child's Ballads, m. 71).
1 can read my uncle's riddle. Seott, Waverley, Ixii.
4t. To declare; tell; rehearse.
That hast my name and nation redd aright.
Spenser, F. Q., I. a. 67.
5f . To suppose ; guess ; imagine ; fancy.
Kight hard it was for wight which did it heare
To read what manner musicke that mote bee.
Spenser, F. Q., II. xiL 70. (Nares.)
6. To understand by observation or scrutiny ;
acquire a knowledge of (something not other-
wise obvious) by interpreting signs or indica-
tions; study out; interpret: as, to read the signs
of the times ; to read the sky or a person's
countenance.
Who is 't can read a woman?
Shak., Cymbeline, v. 6. 48.
Let thy ambitious eye
Read noble objects. Qvxirles, Emblems, v. S.
7. To discover by observation or scrutiny; per-
ceive from signs or indications.
Those about her
From her shall read the perfect ways of honour.
Shak., Hen. VIXI., v. 5. 38.
Let vs looke backe to Adam, who in this wicked fruit of
his bodie might reade continuall lectures of repentance
(or the sinne of his soule. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 34.
All the gazers on the skies •
Bead not in fair heaven's story
Expresser truth, or truer gloiy.
Than they might in her bright eyes.
B, Jonson, Epigrams, xL
4982
If once the reality of the phenomena were established,
we should all be able to read each other's secrets.
Proe. Soc. Psych. Research, II. 10.
8. (a) To observe and apprehend the meaning
of (something written, printed, inscribed, or
stamped in letters or other significant charac-
ters) ; go over with the eyes (or, in the case of
the blind, with the fingers) and take in the
meaning of (significant characters forming or
representing words or sentences); peruse: as,
to read a book, newspaper, poem, inscription,
or piece of music.
He . . . radde it over, and gan the letre fold.
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 1085.
A man of Ethiopia . . . sitting in his chariot read Esaias
the prophet. Acts viii. 27, 28.
I heard of a late Secretary of State that could not read
the next Morning his own Hand-writing.
HoweU, Letters, I. v. 37.
In :i;3 snort life, and without ostentation, he fShelley]
had in truth read more Greek than many an aged pedant
who, with pompous parade, prides himself upon this study
alone. Bogg, in Dowden's Shelley, I. 73.
(6) To note the indication of (a graduated in-
strument) : as, to read a thermometer or a
circle. — 9. To utter aloud: said of words or
sounds represented by letters or other signifi-
cant characters.
The king . . . read in their ears all the words of the
book of the covenant 2 Ki. xxiii. 2.
In their Synagogues they make one of the best sort to
read a Chapter of Moses. Howell, Letters, I. vi. 14.
10. To peruse or study (a subject in the books
written about it); learn through reading: as,
to read law or philosophy; to read science for
a degree; to read the news; we read that the
meek shall inherit the earth.
Chyif e of folis, men yn bokys redythe.
Able yn his foly to holde residence,
Ys he that nowther God louethe nor dredethe,
Nor to his chyrche hathe none aduertence.
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 79.
At Iherico, as it is red, our Lord dyde many grete myra-
cles. Sir R. Guylfarde, Pylgiymage, p. 41.
11. To perceive or assume in the reading or
study of a book or writing (something not ex-
pressed or directly indicated); impute or import
by inference : as, to read a meaning in a book
which the author did not intend ; to read one's
own notions into a book; to read something
between the lines.
Nascent philosophy and dawning science are read into
the sacred literature. Maine, Early Law and Custom, i.
After their usual manner of speculating about primitive
practices, men read back developed Ideas into undeveloped
minds. H. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., § 346.
12. To affect by reading so as to bring into a
specified condition: as, to read a child asleep;
t6 read one's self blind.
No, no ; give him a Young Clark's Guide. What, we
shall have you read yourself into a Humour of rambling
and fighting, and studying military Discipline, and wear-
ing red Breeches. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, iii. 1.
13t. To read about.
Of the fynest stones f aire
That men rede in the Lapidaire.
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 1352.
To read (one) a chapter. See chapter.— To read one's
self In, in the Church of JSngland, to read the Thirty-nine
Articles of Keligion, and repeat the Declaration of Assent
(to the Articles, Prayer-book, and Ordinary) prescribed by
law, which is required of every incumbent on the first
Sunday on which he ofBciates in the church of his bene-
fice, or on some other Sunday appointed and allowed by
the ordinary.
On the following Sunday Mr. Arabin was to read him-
self in at his new church.
TroUope, Barchester Towers, xxiL
To read out of, to expel from, or declare no longer to
belong to (some organization), by proclamation of any
kind : as. to read a person out of a political party.
II. intrans. It. To counsel; advise; give ad-
vice or warning.
"Syr," he seyd, "now haue I redd;
Ete we now. and make vs glad,
And euery man fle care."
The Horn of King Arthur (Child's Ballads, I. 22).
A monster vile whom God and man does hate ;
Therefore I read beware. denser, F. Q., I. i. 13.
As for this carping girl, Iphigena,
Take her with thee to bear thee company,
And in my land I rede be seen no more.
Greene, Alphonsus, iii.
2t. To speak; discourse; declare; tell.
Sojourned hath this Mars, of which I rede.
In chambre amyd the paleys prively.
Chaucer, Complaint of Mars, 1. 78.
3. To peruse something written or printed;
acquire information from a record of any kind.
I have read of Caligula's Horse, that was made Consul.
UtyweU, Letters, I. v. 37.
To read well— that is, to read true books in a true spirit
— is a noble exercise. Thareau, Walden, p. 110.
readable
4. To utter aloud the words of something writ-
ten or printed; enunciate the words of a book
or-writing.
So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly,
and gave the sense. Neh. viii. 8.
5. In music: (a) To perform or render music
at first sight of the notes : applied to either vo-
cal or instrumental performance : as, he plays
well, but reads very slowly. (6) To perform or
render music in a particular way ; put a certain
expression upon it; interpret it: used of a per-
former or conductor. — 6. To give a recital or
lecture ; rehearse something written or learned :
as, to read before a public audience.
For, if I take ye in hand, I shall dissect you,
And read upon your phlegmatic dull carcases.
Fletcher (and another), Elder Brother, iv. 8.
7. To study systematically from books or writ-
ings : sometimes with up.
The Bachelors, most of them Scholars, reading for Fel-
lowships, and nearly all of them private tutors.
C. A. Brieted, English University, p. 36.
Men should ... be compelled to read up on questions
of the time, and give in public a reason for the faith which
is in them. Harper's Hag., LXXVni. 209.
8. To appear on reading; have a (specified)
meaning. — 9. To have a certain quality or ef-
fect in perusal ; used absolutely, to be sxdtable
or desirable for perusal.
Then again, his [Sheridan's] works, unlike those of
Burke, do not read, possess no attractions, are not indis-
pensable to the library. Jon Bee, Samuel Foote.
The following passage, however, with some historical
basis, reads rather curiously. Mind, XII. 624.
To read between the lines, to detect a meaning or pur-
pose not specifically expressed in a book or other writing ;
discover some recondite motive or implication in what is
read. — To read by sound, in teleg., to make out the
words or terms of a message from the sounds made by the
instrument in transmitting it.
readi (red), p. a. [Pp. of reaS^, «.] Having
knowledge gained firom reading; instructed by
reading; in general, versed: now usually with
well : as, well read in the classics.
You are all read in mysteries of state.
Ford, Perkin Warbeck, ii 3.
An Oxford-Man, extremely read in Greek,
Who from Euripides makes Pheedra speak.
Prior, Epilogue to Phcedra.
One ca.nnot\}e well read unless well seasoned in thought
and experience. A. B. Aleott, Tablets, p. 134.
readi (red), ». [Earlymod. E. also rede; < ME.
• rede, < AS. reed =: 08..rdd = OFries. red = D.
road = MLG. rod, LG. rad = OHG. MHG. rat,
G. rat, rath = Icel. rddh = Sw. rdd = Dan. raad,
counsel, advice ; from the orig. verb : see read^-,
V. In the sense ' counsel, advice,' the noun is
used archaically, in the spelling reds, like the
verb.] If. Counsel; advice.
But who so wol nat trowen rede ne lore,
I kan not sen in hym no I'emedie,
But lat hym worohen with his f antasie.
Chaucer, Troflns, v. 327.
And whan the kynge was come to Cardoel, he sente after
the men of hys counseile, and asked what was theire rede
in this thinge. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 81.
To whose wise read she hearkning sent me streight
Into this land. Spenser, F. Q., VI. U. 30.
May you better reck the rede
Than ever did th' adviser !
Burns, Epistle to a Young Friend.
2f. Interpretation.
I repeated
The read thereof for guerdon of my paine,
And taking downe the shield with me did it retaine.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. x. 10.
3t. Speecn; tale; narrative.
Why then a final note prolong,
Or lengthen out a closing song.
Unless to bid the gentles speed.
Who long have listened to my redet
Scott, Marmion, L'Envoy.
4t. A saying; a proverb.
This reede is ryf e, that of tentime
Great clymbfers fall unsott.
Spenser, Shop. Cal., July.
5. Reading; perusal. [Colloq.]
My first read of the newspaper.
Thackeray, Great Hoggarty Diamond, x.
_ I got the other day a hasty real! of your "Scenes of Cler-
ical Life. E. Ran, in Cross's George Eliot, II. ix.
read^t, a. An obsolete form of red^-.
reads (red), v. t. A dialectal form of red^.
readability (re-da-bil'i-ti), n. [< readaUe +
-ity (see -Ulity).'] Readableness.
readable (re'da-bl), a. [< read^ + -able.'] 1.
Capable of being read; legible.— 2. Of suffi-
cient interest to be read ; worth reading; easy
or interesting to read: as, a readable story.
Nobody except editors and sohool-teaohers and here and
there a literary man knows how common is the canacitv of
rhymmg and prattling in readaUe prose.
0. W. Holmes, Poet at the Breakfast-Table.
readable
3. Enabling to read; capable of being read by.
[Rare.]
Those who have heen labonring to introdnce Into onr
railway carnages not only a good readable lightL but a light
generally acceptable to everyone.
£leet. Rev. (Eng.X XXV. 601.
readableness (re'd»-bl-nes), n. The state or
character of being readable.
A book remarkable for its succinctness, Its Tivldness
and its eminent readaUemetii. Hmper'i Mag., LXXVL 805.
readably (re'da-bli), adv. In a readable man-
ner; legibly.
readdress (re-a-dres'), »■ *. [< re- + aMress.l
To address or direct again.
He . . . n-addre»aed himself to her.
Boyle, Works, Vt 29a
leadeptt (re-a-depf), «. fc [< re- + adept] To
regain; recover.
The which Duchie if he might by their meanes readtpt
and recover, he would never let passe out of hys memorie
so great a beniflte. floS, Edward IV., f. 25. (ffoZJfwwS.)
Teadeption (re-a-dep'shon), n. [< re- + ade/p-
iion.] A regaining; recovery of something lost.
In whose begynnyng of raedepdon [rea-), the erle of
Worcester, whiche for his cmelnesse was called the bochler
of Engla[n]de, was taken and put in streyght pryson.
Faiyan, Chron., II. 659, an. 1570.
Will any say that the readeption of Trevigi was matter
of scruple? Bacon.
Teader (re'dSr), «. [< ME. reder, redere, redare,
redar, reader, coxmselor, adviser, < AS. rxdere,
redere, a reader, scholar, church reader (lec-
tor), reader of riddles, diviner (= D. rader,
adviser, = OHG. rdtari, rdtiri, MHG. rdtsere,
counselor, adviser, guesser, diviner), < rxdan,
advise, read: see read^.'] If. One who coun-
sels ; a counselor ; an adviser.
Loke . . . uram [from] kueade [evil] redereg, and neakse
-no red at foles. AyerUnte qflnvryt (E. E. T. S.), p. 184.
2. One who interprets ; one who acquires ]aiow-
ledgeA-om observation or impression ; an inter-
"preter : as, a reader of weather-sims or of proba-
bilities. See mindrTeader. — 3. One who reads;
a, person who peruses, studies, or utters aloud
that which is written or printed.
And the reader droned from the pulpit^
Like the murmur of many bees.
The legend of good Saint Guthlac.
LangfMow, King Witlat's Brinking-Hom.
Headers are multiplying daily ; but they want guidance,
help, plan. Mneteewth Century, XXIV. 499.
-Specifically —(a) One who reads for examination or criti-
cism ; an examiner of that which is offered or proposed
for publication ; as, an editorial or a publisher's reader, (b)
One who is employed to read for correction for the press ; a
jiroof-reader. (c) One who recites before an audience any-
thing written: as, an elocutionary re£u2gr. Particularly —
<<2) One whose office it is to read before an audience ; an
officer appointed to read for a particular purpose ; a lec-
tor ; a lecturer. (1) In the early church, the Greek Church,
the Roman Catholic Church, and some other churches, a
jnember of one of the minor clerical orders, appointed to
read Scripture lections in the church. The order of reader
existed as early as the second century. At an early date
it was not unusual to admit young boys, even of five ur six,
to the office of reader, but by the sixth century the age of
■eighteen was required by law. In the Boman Catholic
Church this order is little more than one of the steps to
the priesthood. The reader Gector) ranks above a door-
keeper and below an exorcist> and the form of ordination
lis the delivery to him of the book from which he is to read.
In. the Greek Church the reader (anagnost) ranks below a
-«ubdeacon, and it is his office, as it was in the early church,
to read the Epistle, the deacon reading the Crospel. In
the Church of England the order fell into abeyance after
the Keformation, but lay readers were frequently licensed,
•especially in churches or chapels without a clergyman.
They could not minister the sacraments and other rites of
the church, except the burial of the dead and the church-
ing of women, nor pronounce the absolution and benedic-
tion. Of late years, however, bishops have regularly admit-
ted candidates to the office of reader by delivery of a copy
of the New Testament. In the American Episcopal Church
lay readers conduct services in vacant churches or under
a rector by his request with license from the bishop for a
definite period (a year or less). They cannot give absolu-
tion or benediction, administer sacraments, nor use the
occasional offices of the church except those for the burial
of the dead and visitation of the sick and prisoners, nor
deliver sermons of their own composition. (2) One who
reads the law in a Jewish synagogue. (3) In the TTnivei'si-
ties of Oxford and Cambridge, the English Inns of Court,
etc. , a lecturer, or, where there are two grades of lecturers,
a lecturer of the higher grade, the others being called »td}-
iectors or lecturers.
4. A reading-book for schools ; a book contain-
ing exercises in reading — Gentle reader, lay
reader, etc. See the adjectives.
Teadership (re'der-ship), n. [< reader + -ship.]
The oflce of reader. See reader, 3 (d) (3).
Oxford has decided to establish a BeadersMp in Ge-
ography. Nature, XXXV. 475.
areadily (red'i-li), adv. [< ME. redely, reddely,
redili, rediliche; < ready + -ly^.] 1. In a ready
manner; with facility; quickly; speedily;
promptly; easily.
4983
On hir fete wexen saugh I
Fartriches winges redely.
Chaucer, House of Fame, I. 1392.
Mr. Carlyle is for calling down fire from Heaven when-
ever he cannot readily lay his hand on the match-box.
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 128.
2, With readiness or alacrity; without delay
or objection; willingly.
She answered that she oouldreadily obey what her father
and mother had done. Pepys, Diary, July 17, 1665.
I readily grant that one truth cannot contradict another.
Locke.
3t. Just now; at once.
A tydynge for to here . . .
That shal nat now be told for me.
For it no nede is redely.
Chaucer, House of Fame, L 2137.
=Syn. See ready.
readiness (red'i-nes), n. [Early mod. E. readi-
ties, redynes; < ME. redinesse, redynesse; < ready
+ ■^ness.'] 1 . The condition of being ready ; the
state of being adapted or in condition for im-
mediate use or action ; present preparedness or
fitness ; ready availability or qualification.
At the Archynale there be closed within, alwaye in a
redynesse to set forth whan they woll.
Sir B. Guylforde, Fylgrymage, p. 7.
If it [death] be not now, yet it will come ; the readi-ness
is all. Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 234.
Probed many hearts, be^nning with his own,
And now was far in readiness for God.
Brouming, Sing and Book, L 16.
2. Ready action or movement; instant facility
or aptitude ; promptness ; quickness : as, readi-
ness of thought or of speech; readiness in off-
hand drawing.
I thought, by your readiness in the office, you had con-
tinued in it some time. Shak., M. tor M., iL 1. 275.
Good abstractive power shows itself in a superior rea<f^
ness to frame any kind of concept.
J. SuUy, Outlines of PsychoL, p. 385.
3. Ready disposition; present willingness;
mental preparedness.
They received the word with all readiness of mind.
Acts xviL 11.
Digby made his peace with Cromwell, and professes his
readiness to spend bis blood tor him.
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 274.
=Syil. 2. Beadiness, Facility, Expertness, Knack, prompti-
tude, aptness, preparation, preparedness, inclination. The
first four words agree in meaning that the person can do
a thing with ease and quiclmess. Beadiness emphasizes
promptitude : as, readiness in repartee. FacUity by deri-
vation emphasizes ease, whether partly natural or wholly
acquired. (See ease, n.) Expertness is facility acquired :
as, expertn£Ss with the pen, at figures. In working a sewing-
machine; it is primarily physical, and especially manual,
but also mentaL Knack is a familiar word, applying to
facility or expertness viewed as a happy and rather sur-
prising possession of skill or faculty.
reading (re'ding),_»j. [< ME. redynge, reeding,
reading, < AS. reeding, reading, a reading, a
passage or^lesson, also rule, government ; ver-
bal n. of riedan, counsel, rule, read: see reatJi.]
1. The act of interpreting; interpretation; ex-
position, as of a riddle or dream; interpreta-
tion of signs, marks, or the like ; a rendering
or discovery of what is signified by the state or
marking of an instrument, by arbitrary signs
of any Mud, or by the existing condition or ac-
tion of anything: as, the readings of a steam-
indicator; a correct reading of the slsy (as to
weather), or of a person's countenance or pro-
ceedings.
For instance, if the freezing-point is lowered, we must
subtract the amount of fall from each reading.
J. Trowbridge, New Physics, p. 187.
Take the readings of the two pegs [in adjusting a field
level], which will give their true dUerence of level.
Sei. Amer. Supp., p. 8905.
2. The particular interpretation given to a
composition of any kind, an event or a series
of events, etc. ; also, a rendering in speech, act,
or performance ; delineation ; representation.
You charm me^ Mortimer, with your reading of my weak-
nesses. By-the-by, that very word Beading, in its critical
use, always charms me. An actress's reading of a cham-
ber-maid, a dancer's reading of a hornpipe, a singer's read-
ing of a song, a marine-painter's reading of the sea, the
kettle-drum's reading of an instrumental passage, are
phrases ever youthful and delightful.
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, iiL 10.
For Englishmen in their own tongue to have from such
a man [Von Banke] a reading of the most critical period of
English history would be a boon of incalculable value.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 58.
His reading of Bach's Italian Concerto was a scramble,
so far as the first and last movements were concerned.
The Academy, June 29, 1889, p. 466.
3. The act of perusing that which is written or
printed; perusal.
You write with ease to show your breeding.
But easy writing 's curst hard reading.
Sheridan, Clio's Protest.
readjust
4. The utterance or recital of recorded words,
either from the record (as a printed page) or
from memory ; specifically, a public lection or
lecture: as, to give readings from the poets,
or upon law or philosophy. See read^, v. »., 6.
The Jews had their weekly readings of the law.
Hooker,
The readings [in the Inns of Court] were from the very
first deemed of vital importance, and were delivered in the
halls with much ceremony. Encye. Brit., XIII. 88.
5. That which is read or to be read; any writ-
ten or printed medium of thought or intelli-
gence ; recorded matter or material.
It is in newspapers that we must look for the main
reading of this generation. Be (iuincey. Style, L
Eemembering bis early love of poetry and fiction, she
unlocked a bookcase, and took down several books that
had been excellent reading in their day.
Ha-wthome, Seven Gables, ix.
6. The indication of a graduated instrument:
as, the reading of a barometer. — 7. Textual
structure or construction ; a form, expression,
or collocation in a writing, or in a particular
copy or impression of it; a version: as, the
various readings of a passage in Shakspere ; the
reading seems to be corrupt.
When you meet with several Beadings of the Text, take
heed you admit nothing against the Tenets of your Church.
Selden, Table-Talk, p. 22.
Disjunctor reading. Seedisjunetor. — Fenny reading,
an amateur entertainment consisting of readings, recita-
tions, music, etc., admission to which is only one penny :
common in the British Islands, where such entertainments
seem to have been introduced about 1860. — Keading
aegrotat. See ^^t^otnt.— Beading notice. See noUee.
reading (re'ding),j). a. Inclined to read; hav-
ing a taste for reading; of a studious disposi-
tion: as, a reading community Beading man.
See man.
William himself was not a reading man.
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii.
reading-book (re^ding-buk), n. [< ME. *red-
ing-bok, < AS. reeding-boe, reading-book, lec-
tionary, < rssding, reading, + hoc, book.] 1.
A lectionary. — 2. A book containing selections
to be used as exercises in reading.
reading-boy (re'ding-boi), n. fii printing, a
boy employed to read copy to a proof-reader;
a reader's assistant: in the United States called
copy-holder.
reading-desk (re'ding-desk), n. A desk adapt-
ed for use in reading ; specifically, a high desk
for holding a book or manuscript to be read by
a person while standing; in a church, same as
lectern, 1.
He feared he should acquit himself badly in St. Ewold's
reading-desk. TroUope, Barchester Towers, xxiii.
reading-glass (re'ding-glas), n. A magnifying
lens set in a frame with a handle, for use in
reading fine print, or for persons with defec-
tive vision.
reading-lamp (re'ding-lamp), n. A lamp es-
pecially adapted for use in reading; specifi-
cally, a form of lamp for use in public reading
or speaking, arranged so that its light is con-
centrated upon the reading-desk.
reading-pew (re ' ding-pii), n. In English
churches, a pew from which to read part of
the service ; especially, after the Reformation,
an inolosure in the body of a church, with a
door, seat, and desk or desks, used instead of
the older and later form of reading-desk or
stalls.
reading-room (re'ding-rom), n. 1. An apart-
ment appropriated to reading ; a room furnished
with newspapers, periodicals, etc. , to which per-
sons resort for reading. — 2. Aroom or closet set
apart for the use of professional proof-readers.
reading-stand (re'dlng-stand), n. A stand to
support a book, (a) Same as reading-taile. Q>) Same
as reading-desk.
reading-table (re'dihg-ta'bl), «. A table pro-
viding support for a heavy book or books, when
in use, and frequently space for other books
needed for consultation, and the like. There
are many patterns, some having a revolving top.
readjourn (re-a-jem'), v. t. and i. [< P. rea-
jonrner, readjourn; as re- + adjourn. Of. re-
journ.] To adjourn again.
Parliament assembling again . . . was then re-ad;oumed
by the king's special command till Tuesday next.
Sir H. Wotton, Beliquiee, p. 443.
readjoiirnment (re-a-jern'ment), n. '[< F. ri-
ajoumement, reaiidjoumment ; as readjourn +
-ment.] A succeeding adjournment ; adjourn-
ment anew.
readjust (re-a-jusf), v. t. [< re- + adjust.] 1.
To settle again ; put in order again, as what had
been discomposed.
readjust
The beau sheathed his hanger, and readjusted his hair.
Fielding.
2. To adjust in a new way; make a different
adjustment, arrangement, or settlement of.
The problem these gentlemen had to solve was to re-
adjust the proportion between their wants and their in-
come. George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, ii. 4.
My scheme, your better knowledge broke.
Presently readjusts Itself, the small
Proportioned largelier, parts and whole named new.
Browning, Ring and Book, II. 221.
reacMuster (re-a-jus't6r), n. lireadjust + -ei-i.]
1. One who readjusts, or takes part in a re-
adjustment of sometMng. — 2. leap.'] Specifi-
cally, a member of a party in Virginia, formed
about 1878, under the leadership of General
William Mahone, and originally composed prin-
cipally of Democrats, for the forcible readjust-
ment of the debt on terms dictated by the State
without the consent of the bondholders. The
exceptional losses of the State in the civil war made the
large debt previously contracted very burdensome ; and
the amount of its liability was in dispute with the State
of West Virginia, which had been set off from Virginia
without a decision of this question. The Keadjustera
elected the State government in 1879, and also United
States senators for the terms 1881-7 and 1883-9, in op-
position to the Conservative Democrats, or Funders ; but
the party failed to effect a permanent settlement of the
debt, and was merged in thelKepublican party about 1882.
Fui'ther news from Virginia indicates that the Kepudia-
tors, or Headjusters, as they call themselves, have elected
a majority of the General Assembly.
The Nation, Nov. 13, 1879, p. 317.
readjustment (re-a-just'ment), n. [< readjust
+ -ment.] 1. The act of "readjusting, or the
state of being readjusted. — 2. Specifically, in
TJ. S. politics, the political schemes of the Ke-
adj asters.
readmission (re-ad-mish'qn), n. [< F. riadmis-
sion = Sp. readmision = Pg. readmissao ; as re-
+ admission.'] The act of admitting again; the
state of being readmitted ; renewed admission.
In an exhausted receiver, animals that seem bb they were
dead revive upon the readfnission of fresh air. Arhmhnot.
readmit (re-ad-mif), V, t. [= ¥. rSadmettre =
Sp. readinitir = Pg. readmitUr = It. riammettere,
readmit ; as re- + admit.] To admit again.
Whose ear is ever open, and his eye
Gracious to re-admU the suppliant.
MiUon, S. A., 1. 117S.
readmittance (re-ad-mifans), n. [< re- + ad-
mittance.^ Permission to enter again ; readmis-
sion.
Humbly petitioning a readmittance into his college.
T. Warton, Sir T. Pope, p. 84. (Lattuim.)
readvance (re-ad- vans'), "• »• [< re- + advance,
v.] To advance again or afresh.
Which if they miss, they yet should readvance
To former height,
£. Jonson, Epigrams, xxxv.. To Sir H. Goodyere.
readvertency (re-ad-ver'ten-si), n. [< re- +
advertency.] The act of adverting to or re-
viewing again. [Bare.]
Memory he does not make to be a recovery of ideas that
were lost, but a re-advertency or reapplication of mind to
ideas that were actually there, though not attended to.
Nmris, Reflections on Locke, p. 9.
ready (red'i), a. and re. [< MB. redy, redi,
rsedi, rsedig, i-redi, ready, prepared, prompt,
near, < AS. rsede (rare and uncertain )j usually
gersede, ready, swift, prompt, easy, plam (suffix
-e becoming -i by confusion with the common
adj. suffix ME. -i, -y, > E. -y^) ; = OPries. rede,
red = D. ree = MLGr. rede, reide, ret, reit, LGr.
rede, reed = OHG. M-reiti, MHG. bereite, he-reit,
Or. ie-veit, ready, prepared, = leel. g^eithr {*ga
reithr), ready (whence ult. E. graith, grade"^),
= OSw. reda, Sw. he-red = Dan. rede, ie-redt,
ready ; perhaps = Goth, garaids, set, appointed ;
ef. raidjan, appoint, ga-raidjan, enjoin, com-
mand, ga-raideins, an ordinance, rule, author-
ity. Otherwise akin to loel. reithi, harness,
outfit, gear, implements; or to AS., etc., ridan
(pret. rod), ride, rdd, a riding, expedition: see
ride, road, raid. Hence, in eomp., already, and
ult. array, eurry\ ray^, raiment, etc.] I. a. 1 .
Completely prepared, as for immediate action
or use, or for present requirement; suitably
equipped, ordered, or arranged ; in proper trim
or condition.
Gomaand, sir kyng, that a clone nany
Be redy to rode on the rugh see,
All well for the werre, with wight men ynogh.
Destruetim of Troy (E. E. T. 3.), 1. 2549.
My oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things aie
ready. Mat. xxii. 4.
Be ready, Claudio, for your death to-morrow.
Shak., M. for M., iiL 1. 107.
2t. Dressed.
4984
Up ryseth fresshe Canacee hirselue, . . .
Noon hyer waa he [the sun] whan she redy was.
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 379.
The French leap over the walls in their shirts. Enter,
several ways, . . . Alenjon and Reignier, half ready, and
half unready. Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ii. 1 (stage direction).
Bid my wife make herself ready handsomely,
And put on her best apron.
Fletcher {and another), Queen of Corinth, ii. 4.
3. Suitably disposed in mind; mentally pre-
pared; willing; inclined; not reluctant.
The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak,
Mark xiv. 38.
A persecutor who inflicts notliing which he is noiready
to endure deserves some respect.
Macaulay, HaUam's Const. Hist.
4. Prepared by what has gone before ; brought
to a fit state or condition ; not unlikely ; imme-
diately liable: with an infinitive.
The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon
me. Job xxix. 13.
Our king, being ready to leap out of himself for joy of
his found daughter, . . . cries, "0, thy mother!"
Shak., W. T., v. 2. 64.
The miserable prisoner is ready to famish.
Dekker, Seven Deadly Sins, p. 46.
5. Already prepared or provided; available for
present use or requirement; immediately at
hand or within reach ; opportune : as, a ready
means of escape ; a ready way.
And the olde knyght seide that he sholde do sette ther
a cheyer, that euer more sholde be redy loi the knyght in
to sitte that sholde be so trewe in lovynge whan he were
come. Merlin (B. E. T. S.), iL 362.
It sometimes cometh to pass that the readiest way which
a wise man hath to conquer is to fly.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, Pref.
Nine-score and seventeen pounds ; of which he made
five marks, ready money. Shak., M. for M., iv. 3. 7.
He pays in ready guineas very liberally.
Swift, Letter, May 13, 1727.
6. Prompt in action or movement; expert; dex-
terous; facile.
Beady in gibes, quick-answer'd, saucy, and
As quarrelous as the weasel.
Shak., Cymbeline, iii. 4. 161.
Reading maketh a full man, conference a rectdy man,
... and therefore, if a man . . . confer little, he had need
have a present wit. Bacon, Studies.
There 's a sudden turn now ! You have a ready wit for in-
trigue, I find. Cdlman, Jealous Wife, L
7. Prompt; quick; offhand: as, a. ready reply
or retort; a rea(i^ admission; a ready welcome.
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Ps. xlv. 1.
Unless he had done this with great dexterity and ready
address, he would frequently have been involved in immi-
nent danger. Bacon, Physical Fables, x., Expl.
8t. Present; at hand; here: used in answering
a call.
Duke. What, is Antonio here ?
Ant. Beady. Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 2.
[Ready is much used in compounds, with participles and
sometimes nouns, or in combinations that are properly
compounds; aB,ready'jDSide; ready-cooked, etc.] — Mak-
ing ready, in printing, the process of preparation for tak-
ing regular impressions from a form on the press. It in-
cludes the adjustment of the form on the press, the proper
distribution of the pressure on type and cuts by means of
underlays and overl%s, and the adaptation of ink to pa-
per.—Ready about. See aiioMfc— Ready money. See
money.— To make ready, (a) To prepare; set in order.
Whiche the ffryers kepte and ther thei Tnade the redy
in ornaments and began ther a very solempne procession.
Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 41,
They sit downe at tables, and then must the Bridegrome
make triall of his breast in singing a long prayer : others
in the meane time call to make readie the hens.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 214.
(6t) To dress.
While Master Mathew reads, Bobadill makes himself
ready. B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, i. 4.
Go, and make thee ready straight
In all thy best attire. B. Jormm, Volpone, ii. 8.
A man may make him ready in such clothes
Without a candle.
MiddleUm (and others), The Widow, iii. 3.
=Syn. Ready, Easy; disposed, apt, expert, handy, skil-
ful, clever, smart ; expeditious, unhesitating. So many of
the meanings of ready convey the idea of a movement of
mind, and especially a consent of the will, that there is a
tendency to use other words where disposition is not in-
cluded. Hence it is better to say this may easUy be seen,
than this may readily be seen. See quotation from Locke
under readiZy. Easy of approach ; easryto be done ; ready
to hear. All the senses of ready, active or passive, grow
out of that of being prepared.
II, n. 1. Eeady money; cash: usually with
the definite article. [Slang.]
Lord Strutt was not flush in ready, either to go to law,
or clear old debts. Arbuthnot, Hist. John Bull. (IMham.)
2. The condition of being ready. [CoUoq.] —
3. The position of a soldier's weapon following
the command "Make ready!" or "Eeady!"
[CoUoq.]
[The hunter] beats patiently and noiselessly from the
leeward . . . with his rifle at the ready.
T. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips, p. 119.
reafforestation
A good ready, a state of being tuUy ready or prepared;
a good condition of readiness. [CoUoq.]
ready (red'i); v. t. ; pret. and pp. readied, ppr.
readying. [< MB. redien, redyen (= D. reeden,
prepare, dress, = MLG. reden, reiden = MHG.
reit«n, reiden; ai. ME. heredien = G. be-reiten =
Sw. be^eda = Dan. be-rede, prepare, get ready,
eto.y, < ready, a.] 1. To make ready; put into
proper condition or order; dispose; arrange;
prepare. [Obsolete or archaic]
Thare-fore what-so-euer thou bee that redies the for to
lufeGode, . . . haueinmyndebeselyfortohaldethename
of Ihesu in thi mynde.
Bampole, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S.), p. 3.
And, having readied all these costly things.
In a poore pedlers trusse he packs his wares.
Heywood, Troia Britannioa (1609). (Nares.y
2t. To direct.
For, for the gretnesse of the Erthe and of the See, men
may go be a 1000 and a 1000 other weyes, that no man
cowde redye him perfltely toward the parties that he cam
fro, but zit it were be aventure and happ, or be the grace
of God. JUandeoille, Travels, p. 186.
ready-made (re&'i-mad), a. 1. Previously
made and now ready for use; furnished or ob-
tained in a formed state ; specifically, in trade,
made ready for chance sale, and not made to
order for a particular person : as, ready-made
clothing; ready-made opinions or excuses.
When he hears
The tale of horror, to some ready-made face
Of hypocritical assent he turns.
Shelley, Queen Mab, iii.
The provision-man had honestly the effect of having got
for the day only into the black coat which he had bought
ready-made for his flrst wife's funeral.
HoweUs, Annie Kilbum, xxii.
2. Pertaining to articles prepared beforehand r
as, the ready-made department of a tailor's or
shoemaker's business. [Trade use.]
ready-man (red'i-man), n. One of the men
sent aloft in a man-of-war to prepare for evo-
lutions with spars or sails.
ready-pole (red'i-pol), n. A bar fixed across a
chimney to support the pot-hook. It is now
commonly of iron, but was formerly made of
wood. Ealliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
ready-reckoner (red'i-rek'ner), n. A book of
tabulated calculations, giving the value of any
number of things from the lowest monetary
unit upward, as also the interest on any sum of
money for any period from a day upward, etc. ;
a book of tables to facilitate calculations.
I could almost think from the preface (but such deduc-
tions are very deceptive) that the earliest of the books
which are now called reaa^ reckoners, meaning those which
have totals at given prices ready cast up, was the follow-
ing : London 1693. Wm. Leybom. Panarithmologia ; be-
ing a mirror for merchants, a brieviate for bankers, a trea^
sure for tradesmen, a mate for mechanics, and a sure
guide for purchasers, sellers, or mortgagers of land, leases,
annuities, rents, pensions, etc., in present possession or
reversion, and a constant concomitant fitted for all men's
occasions. Be Morgan.
The Clerk in Eastcheap cannot spend the day in verify-
ing his Ready-Reckoner; he must take it as verified, trna
and indisputable. ' ~ ~
reaft, n. [Usually in Sc. spelling reif, rief; <
ME. ref, reef, reaf, reve, < AS. r^(tf, spoil, plun-
der: see reave.] Spoil; plunder; robbery.
Meaning to live by reff of other mennes goodes, wherein
they have no maner of propertie.
Halinshed, Chron. (If ares.)
The man that wons yon foreste intill,
He lives by reif and f elonie !
Sang of the Ovilaw Murray (Child's Ballads, VI. 32).
reaffirm (re-a-fferm'), V. t. [= F. r4affirmer; as
re- + affirm.] To affirm again.
I close with re-afrming the truth that I have aimed to
impress. Ckanning, Perfect Life, p. 25.
reaffirmance (re-a-f6r'mans), n. [< reaffirm +
-ance.] Renewed affirmation ; reaffirmation.
A reaffirmance after such revocation. Ayliffe, Parergon.
reaffirmation (re-af-6r-ma'shpn), n. [< reaf-
firm + -ation.] ' Renewed aifermation; a re-
peated affirmation.
The great movement of thought which characterises the
nineteenth century is a movement through negation to
reafirmatitm, through destruction to reconstruction.
E. Caird, Hegel, p. 1.
reafforest (re-a-for'est), v. t. [< re- + afforest.J
To convert anew into a forest ; renew the forest-
growth of; reforest.
The Legislature was obliged to take steps to reaffaretf:
considerable tracts. The American, VII. 229.
reafforestation (re-a-for-es-ta'shon), n. [< re-
afforest + -aUon.] A second afforestation ; pro-
motion of renewed forest-growth.
Even partial reafforestation in Brescia.
Tlte Century, XXXL bSO,
reagency
reagency (re-a'jen-si), n. [< re- + agency. 2 Ac-
tion of or as of a reagent; reflex agency or ac-
tivity; counter-agency; reaction.
Stni, the mind, when acted on, is only excited to self-
agency, to manUest what It is in itself, in the way of re-
agemsy. H. B. Smith, Christian Theology, p. 173.
reagent (re-a'jent), n. [< re- + agent. Cf. re-
act.'i 1. One who or that which exerts reflex
action or influence ; an agency that produces
reciprocal effects ; a cause or source of counter-
results.
These tools have some questionable properties. They
are reagenU. Machinery is aggressive. The weaver be-
comes a web, the machinist a machine.
Emerson, Works and Days.
2. In chem., a suljstance used to effect chemical
change in another substance for the purpose of
identifying its component parts or ofascertain-
ing its percentage composition . Thus, the infusion
of galls is a reagent which indicates iron In solution by
a dai'k-purple precipitate. Barium chlorid is a reagent
which separates sulphuric acid from a solution in the in-
soluble form of barium sulphate which can be weighed,
and from the weight of which the actual amount of sul-
phuric acid can readily be deduced.
3. Anything used for the treatment of a sub-
stance under investigation to render its nature
or condition more evident. Ordinarily the object is
to see what changes axe thus produced, but the word is
used more loosely, as in hardening reagents.— 'SesAei's
reagent, a reagent used to detect and determine minute
quantities of ammonia, particularly in water. It consists
of a strongly alkaline solution of potassium iodide and mer-
curic chloiid. A few drops, added to a few Suidounces of
water will cause a slight reddish-yellow tinge if one part
of ammonia is present in twenty million paits of water.
reaggravation (re-ag-ra-va'shgn), n. [< reag-
gravate -I- -iom.] In Mom. CafK. eccles. law, the
last monitory, published after three admoni-
tions and before the excommunication.
reagree (re-a-gre'), v. [< re- + agree.^ I, »«-
trans. To agree again ; become reconciled.
Il.t trans. To cause to agree again; recon-
cile.
And fain to see that glorious holiday
Of union which this discord reagreed.
Daniel, Civil Wars, vii 111.
reakt, v. i. An obsolete spelling of r-eefci.
reakef , «. [Perhaps an erroneous form for wrack
at wreck, or an error for reate, q. v. : see wrack,
wreck.'] A kind of plant. [The word occurs only
in the passage quoted, where it is used as a translation of
Latin ulva, seaweed.]
The bore is yll in Laurente soyle.
That f cedes on reakes and reedes;
Somtymes frome goodly pleasant vine
A sower tendreU speedeS.
Drant, tr. of Horace's Satires, 11. 4.
reaksf. See to play rex, under rex.
reaks-playerti n. One who plays reaks (rex).
Cotgrave.
reali (re'al), a. and n. [< ME. real, reall, < OF.
real, reel','F. reel = Pr. Sp. Pg. real = It. reale,
< ML. realis, belonging to the thing itself (in
the disputes of the Nominalists and BeaUsts),
< L. res, a thing; perhaps allied to Skt. ■/ ra,
give. Hence realige, realieation, realism, real-
ist, reality, etc. ; also, from L. res, E. rebus, repub-
lic, republican, etc.] I. a. 1. Actual; genu-
ine; true; authentic; not imaginary, artificial,
counterfeit, or factitious : as, real lace.
I waked, and found
Before mine eyes all real, as the dream
Had lively shadow'd. Milton, P. L., viii. 310.
Homer tells us that the blood of the gods is not real
blood, but only something like it.
Addison, Spectator, No. 275.
The hatred of unreality was uppermost with Carlyle;
the love of what is real with Emerson.
0. W. HolrMS, Emerson, iv.
It is probable that the American inventor of the first
aneesthetic has done more for the real happiness of man-
kind than all the moral philosophers from Socrates to
Mill. Lecky, Europ. Morals, I. 91.
The Teutonic words are all of them real words, words
which we are sdways wanting.
E. A. Freepian, Amer. Lects., p. 163.
2. Of genuine character; not pretended or pre-
tending ; unassumed or unassuming.
Phoebe's presence made a home about her. . . . She was
real ! Hawthorne, Seven Gables, ix.
Beal kings hide away their crowns in then- waidrobes,
and affect a plain and poor exterior.
Emerson, Works and Days.
3. Specifically, in pMlos., existing in or per-
taining to things, and not words or thought
merely; being independent of any person's
thought about the subject ; possessing charac-
ters mdependently of the attribution of them
by any individual mind or any number of minds ;
not resulting from the mind's action : opposed
to imaginary or intentional. Eeid differs from aanial,
inasmuch as what is only in germ or in posse, in so far as
it has a power of developing into a definite actuality, is
4985
real, and independent of what we may think about it. Real
objects are either external to the mind, when they are in-
dependent altogether of our thought, or they are Internal,
when they depend upon thought, but not upon thought
about them.
The term real {realis), though always importing the exis-
tent, is used in various significations and oppositions. . . .
1. As denoting existence, in contrast to the nomenclature
of existence— the thing as contradistinguished from its
name. Thus we have definitions and divlsionsreoJ, and defi-
nitions and divisions nominal or verbal. 2. As expressing
the existent as opposed to the non-existent — a something
in contrast to a nothing. In this sense the diminutions of
existence, to which reSiity in the following significations
is counterposed, are all real. 3. As denoting material or
external, in contrast to mental, spiritual, or internal, exis-
tence. This meaning is improper. ... 4. As synonymous
with actval; and this (a) as opposed to potential, (6) as op-
posed to possible existence. 5. As denoting absolute or ir-
respective, in opposition to phsenomenal or relative, exis-
tence ; in other words, as denoting things in themselves
and out of relation to all else, in contrast to things in re-
lation tO/ and as known by, intelligences, like men, who
know only under the conditions of plurality and differ-
ence. In this sense, whiph Is rarely employed and may
be neglected, the real is only anothei' term for the uncon-
ditioned or absolute — to ovtws ov. 6. As indicating ex-
istence considered as a subsistence in nature (ens extra
animam, ens naturae), it stands counter to an existence
considered as a representation in thought. In this sense,
reale, in the language of the older philosophy (Scholastic,
Cartesian, Gassendian), as applied to esse or ens, is opposed
to ivJtentimmle, noiionale, conceptSMe, imaginarium, ra-
tionis, cognitionis, in anima, in iriteUectu.provi cognituTn,
ideale, etc. ; and corresponds with a parte rei as opposed
to a parte intellectus, with sub^ecHvum as opposed to o&-
jectivwm, with propHum, principale, and fundameviale as
opposed to vicarium, with material^ as opposed to for-
inale] and with formale in seipso and entitativum as op-
posed to representativum, etc. [Jnder this head, in the
vacillating language of our more recent philosophy, real
approximates to, but is hardly convertible with, objective,
in contrast to subjective in the signification there preva-
lent. 7. In close connection with the sixth meaning,
real, in the last place, denotes an identity or difference
founded on the conditions of the existence of a thing in
itself, in contrast to an identity or difference founded
only on the relation or point of view in which the thing
may be regarded by the thinking subject. In this sense
It is opposed to logical or rational, the terms being here
employed in a peculiar meaning. Thus a thing which
really (re) or in itself is one and indivisible may logically
(ratione) by the mind be considered as diverse or plural.
Sir W. Hamilton, Heid's Works, Note B, § 1, 5, foot-note.
Ideas of substances are real when they agree with the
existence of things.
Locke, Human Understanding, II. xxx. 5.
We substitute a real for a dramatic person, and judge
him accordingly. Lamb, A.rtificlal Comedy.
For the first time the ideal social compact was real.
Emerson, Hist., Discourse at Concord.
4t. Sincere; faithful; loyal.
Then the governor told them, if they were real, as they
professed, he should expect their ready and free concur-
rence with him in all affairs tending to the public service.
Memoirs of Colonel Hutohinson (1643). (Nares.)
5t. Relating to things, not to persons; not
personal.
Many are perfect in men's humours that are not greatly
capable of the real part of business. Baeon.
6. In law, pertaining to or having the quality
of things fixed or immovable. See real estate,
etc., below. — Chattel reaL See chattel. — Covenant
real. See covenant.— Tieal abstraction. See abstrac-
tion.— Keal action, in Zaw. Seeaction,8. — Real assets.
See assets, 1.— Real attribute, an attribute known by
ordinary observation, generalization, and abstraction,
and signified by a term of first intention : opposed to a
notional attribute, which is signified by a term of second
intention. — Real burden, in Scots 2az0, aburden in money
imposed on the subject of a nght, as on an estate, in the
deed by which the right is constituted, and thus distin-
guished from a personal burden, which is Imposed merely
on the receiver of the right.— Real Character. See char-
acter.—'R^aX component of a force. See eamponerO,.-
Real composition, (a) The union of objects having ex-
istences distinct from one another, (b) In Eng. cedes, law,
an agreement made between the owner of lands and the
parson or vicar, with consent of the ordinary, that such
lands shall be discharged from payment of tithes, in con-
sequence of other land or recompense given to the parson
in lieu and satisfaction thereof. Also called composition
of iitftes.— Real concordance. See eoneordarux, 3.—
Real contract. See c(mtract.—Real oonveniencet, the
agreement of a thing with itself.— Real definition, the
definition of a thing — that is to say, of a species— by stat-
ing the" components of its essence, or its place in natural
classification. For the nominalists there could be no real
definition, in the proper sense ; hence, finding the defini-
tions so called useful, they invented new definitions of the
phrase. The real definition, for Leibnitz and Wolf, is the
definition from which the possibility of the thing defined
follows ; for Eant, the definition which sets forth the pos-
sibility of the thing from its essential marks ; for Mill, the
definition of a name with an implied assumption of the ex-
istence of the thing.— Real degradation. See degrada-
tion, 1 (a). — Real distinction, (a) A distinction indepen-
dent of any person's thought. (6) A distinction between
real objects. The Sootists made subtle and elaborate defi-
nitions of this phrase.— Real diversity, division, ens,
essence. See the nouns.— Real estate, in law: (a) land,
including with it whatever by nature or artificial annexa^
tion inheres with it as a part of it or as the means of its
enjoyment, as minerals on or in the earth, standing or
running water, growing trees, permanent buildings, and
fences. In this sense the term refers to those physical
objects of ownership which are immovable. (6) The own-
ership of or property in lauds, etc. ; any legal or equitable
real
interest in lands, etc., except some minor, temporary, or
inchoate rights which by fhe laws of most jurisdictions
are deemed to be personal estate. " At common law, any
estate in lands, etc., the date of the termination of which
is not determined by or ascertainable from or at the date
of the act which creates it, is real estate." (Robinson.) The
line between the two classes of property is differently
drawn in detail, according as the object of the law is to
define what shall be taxed, or what shall go to the heir in
case of intestacy as distinguished from what shall go
through the administrator to the next of kin, or what
shall come within the rules as to recording titles, or other
purposes.— Real evidence, exchange, focus, fugue.
See the nouns.— Real horse-power. Same as indicated
horse-power (which see, under horse-power). — Real Iden-
tity, the non-difference In reality of the extremes of a re-
lation— Real immunity (eccles.). See immunity, 3.—
Real induction. See induction, 6.— Real laws, laws
which directly and indirectly regulate property, and the
rights of property, without changing the state of the per-
son.— Real noon. Same as apparent noon (which see,
under OEparent).- Real partition, the mental separa-
tion of an object into p^s which might be physically
separated.— Real poinding, possibility, power, pre-
cision, presence, privilege. See the nouns.— Real
property. Same as real estote.- Real quality, quan-
tity, relation, representative, restriction, right.
See the nouns.— Real question, a question where the at-
tribute in regard to whose presence or absence inquiry is
made is a real one. — Real science or philosophy, (a)
A science or philosophy that is caused in the mind by a
real thing, as physics, mathematics, metaphysics ; a spec-
ulative science : opposed to practical science, which is
caused in the mind by an idea of a thing to be brought
about. (&) A science which has a determinate reality for
its object, and is conversant about existences other than
forms of thought : in this sense, mathematics is not a real
science. — Real services. Same aspredial services (vfhich
see, under predial). — Real things, in law, things substan-
tial and immovable, and the rights and profits annexed to
or issuing out of them. — Real truth, the agreement of a
judgment with its object: opposed to formal truth, which
consists in the agreement of a reasoning with the prin-
ciples of logic. — The real Stuf^ the genuine thing; that
which is really what is represented or supposed : used es-
pecially of liquors. [Colloq.]
In this exhibition there are, of course, a certain number
of persons who make believe that they are handing you
round tokay — giving you the real imperial stuff, with the
seal of genuine stamped on the cork.
Thackeray, Men and Pictures.
Real warrandice. SeewarraTMfice. =Syn. Iand2. Real,
Actual, Positive, veritable, substantial, essential. Real
applies to that which certainly exists, as opposed to that
wMch is imaginary or feigned : as, real cause for alarm ;
a reaZ occurrence ; a real person, and not a ghost or a shad-
ow ; real sorrow. Actual applies to that which is brought
to be or to pass, as opposed to that which is possible, proba-
ble, conceivable, approximate, estimated, or guessed at.
Actual has a rather new but natural secondary sense of
present. Positive, from the idea of a thing's being placed,
fixed, or established, is opposed to uncertain or doubtful.
II. n. 1. That which is real; a real existence
or object ; a reality.
While it is true that correlatives imply each^other, it is
not true that all correlatives imply Recus. . . . The only
meaning we can attach to Reality is that every Real has
a corresponding feeling or group of feelings.
G. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, II. 19.
2f. A realist.
Scotists, Thomists, Reals, Nomlnals.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 677.
The real, (a) Reality. (&) The real thing ; the genuine
article. [Colloq.]
A cynic might suggest as the motto of modem life this
simple legend, — " Just as good as the real."
C. D. Wamer, Backlog Studies, p. 4.
reall (re'al), adij. [< real^, o.] Keally; truly;
very; quite. [Colloq., Eng. and U. S.]
real^t (re'al), a. [< ME. real, riall, rial, ryall,
ryell, roidt, royal, regal, < AP. reial, roial, OF.
real, F. rM (used only in certain antique locu-
tions), = Sp. Pg. real = It. reale, regale, < L.
regaUs, regal, kingly, royal: see royal and re-
gal\ doublets of real'^. Cf. leal, loyal, lagal,
similarly related.] Royal; regal; royally ex-
cellent or splendid.
Thus, real as a prince is In his halle,
Leve I this chauntecleer in his pasture.
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, L 364.
Sir, I could wish that for the time of your vouchsafed
abiding here, and more real entertainment, this my house
stood on the Muses' hill.
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, il. 1.
Redll, magnanimous, bountions.
Marst&n, Antonio and Mellida, I,, ii. 1.
real^ (ra-al'), n. ; pi. reales (ra-a'les). [Also rial;
< Sp. real, a coin so called, lit. 'royal,'< L. regaUs,
regal, royal: se&reaP,
royal, regal^.'] A sub-
sidiary silver coin
and money of account
in Spain and Span-
ish-American coun-
tries. The current real
of Spain (real de veUon) is
one quarter of the peseta
or franc, and worth about 5 United States cents. The Mex-
ican real, corresponding to the old Spanish real de j^ata,
is one eighth of a dollar (Mexican peso), and reckoned at
12J cents. The latter coin, both.Spanish and Mexican, cir-
culated largely in the United States down to about 1850,
Obverse. Reverse.
Silver Real of Isabella II.— British
Museum. (Size of orig^inal.)
real
being called a Spanish or Mexican shilling In New York, a
levy ^see leoy3, i) in the South, etc.
real* (re'al), n. [Cuban, perhaps < Sp. real, roy-
al: see reaP, real^. Cf . OF. real, a kind of stur-
geon.] The big-eyed herring, or saury, Elops
saurus. [Cuba.]
reales, n. Plural of reals.
realgar (rf-al'gar), n. [Also resalgar, < ME. re-
aalgar, rysalgar, rosalgar; = OF. realgal, reagal,
riagal, realgal, risigal, P. rSalgar = Sp. resalgar
= Pg. rosalgar = It. risigallo {ML. risigallum),
< Ar. rahj al-ghar, realgar, lit. 'powder of the
mine,' mineral powder (so called because de-
Tived orig. from silver-mines) : rahj, rehj, dust,
powder; al, the ; ghar (gar), cavern, mine. Cf.
At. rahj asfar, orpiment.] Arsenic disulphid
( AS2S2), a combination of an equal number of
«ulphur and tosenic atoms; red sulphuret of
arsenic, which is found native in transparent
•crystals, and also massive. Kealgar differs from
orpiment in that orpiment is composed of two equivalents
■of arsenic and three of sulphur, and has a yellow color.
Kealgar, also called red arsenic or ruby sulphur, is pre-
pared artificially for use as a pigment and for making white
lire, which is a mixture of 2 parts of ruhy sulphur and 10
parts of niter.
realisation, realise. See realization, realize.
realism (re'al-izm), n. [= P. rMisnie = Sp. Pg.
It. realismd'= Gr. realismus, < NL. realismus;
as rcaii H- -tsfls.] 1. The doctrine of the realist,
in any of the senses of that word. See espe-
cially realist, n., 1.
(1) Extreme realism taught that universals were sub-
stances or things, existing independently of and separate-
ly from particulars. This was the essence of Plato's the-
ory of ideas. ... (2) Moderate realism also taught that
universals were substances, but only as dependent upon
and inseparable from individuals, in which each inhered :
that is, each universal inhered in each of the particulars
ranged under it. This was the theory of Aristotle, who
held that the roSe rt or individual thing was the first es-
aence, while universals were only second essences, real in
a less complete sense than first essences. He thus reversed
the Platonic doctrine, which attributed the fullest reality
to universals only, and a merely participative reality to
individuals. ... (3) Extreme nominalism taught that
universals had no substantive or obj ective existence at all,
but were merely empty names or words. [See mmiiiwil-
ism.] (4) Moderate nominalism or conceptualism taught
that universals have no substautive existence at aU, but
yet ai-e more than mere names signifying nothing ; and
that they exist really, though only subjectively, as con-
cepts in the mind, of which names are the vocal symbols.
... (5) [The medieval schoolmen] Albertus Magnus,
Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and others fused all these
views into one, and taught that universals exist in a three-
fold manner: universalia ante rem, as thoughts in the
mind of Ood ; universalia in re, as the essence [quiddity]
of things, according to Aristotle; and universalia postrem,
as concepts in the sense of moderate nominalism. This
is to-day the orthodox philosophy of the Catholic Church,
as opposed to the prevailingly exclusive conceptualism of
the Protestant world. ... In contrast with aU the views
above presented, another and sixth view will now be
stated. ... (6) Kelationism or scientific realism teaches
that universals, or genera and species, are, first, objective
relations of existence among objectively existing things ;
secondly, subjective concepts of these relations, deter-
mined in the mind by the relations themselves ; and third-
ly, names representative both of the relations and of the
concepts, and applicable alike to both. This is the view
logically implied in all scientific classifications of natural
objects, regarded as objects of real scientific knowledge.
F. E. Abbot, Scientific Theism, Int.
2. In Uteratwre and art, the representation of
what is real in fact; the effort to exhibit the
literal reality and unvarnished truth of things;
treatment of characters, objects, scenes, events,
circumstances, etc., according to actual truth
or appearance, or to intrinsic probability, with-
out selection or preference over the ugly of what
is beautiful or admirable: opposed to idealism
and romanticism. Compare naturalism..
I wish the reader particularly to observe, throughout all
these works of Tintoret, the distinction of the imaginative
verity from falsehood on the one hand, and from realistn
•on the other. Smidn, Modern Painters, ni. ii. 8.
A far fuller measure of the ease and grace and life of
the realism which Giotto had taught.
D. G. Mitchell, Bound Together, ii.
By realism I mean simply the observation of things as
they are, the familiarity with theh- aspect, physical and
intellectual, and the consequent faculty of reproducing
them with approximate fidelity.
C&ntempcrary Hev., L. 241.
Exact realism. See Herftartiaji.— Hypothetic real-
ism. See hypothetic.— TSsiiaral realism, the doctrine
that in sensation (if not also in volition) we have a direct
consciousness of a real object other than ourselves, so that
we are as sure of the existence of the outer world as we
are of our own, or even of the presence of ideas.
In the act of sensible perception, I am conscious of two
things ;— of myself as the perceiving subjeoti and of an ex-
ternal reality . . . as the object perceived. . . . I am con-
scious of knowing each of them, not mediately, in some-
thing else, as represented, but Immediately in itself, as ex-
isting. . . . Each is apprehended equally, and at once, in
the same indivisible energy . . . ; and . . . each is appre-
hended out of, and in direct contrast to, the other. . . . The
«)ntent8 of the fact of perception, as given in conscious-
uess, being thus established, what are the consequences to
4986
philosophy, according as the truth of its testimony is, or
is not, admitted? On the former alternative, the veracity
of consciousness, in the fact of perception, being uncondi-
tionally acknowledged, we have established at once, with-
out hypothesis or demonsti'ation, the reality of mind and
the reality of matter ; while no concession is yielded to
the sceptic, through which he may subvert philosophy in
manifesting Ite self-contradiction. The one legitimate
doctrine, thus possible, may be called natural realism or
natural dualism. ... If the testimony of consciousness
to our knowledge of an external world existing be rejected
with the idealist, but with the realist the existence of
that world be affirmed, we have a scheme which— as it
by many various hypotheses endeavours on the one hand
not to give up the reality of an unknown material universe,
and on the other to explain the ideal illusion of its cogni-
tion may be called the doctrine of cosmothetio idealism,
hypothetical realism, or hypothetical dualism. This last
[system] . . . is theone which . . . has found favour with
the immense majority of philosophers.
Sir W. Hamatm, Beid's Works, Note A, § 1, 10.
realist (re'al-ist), n. and a. [= P. x^aliste =
Sp. Pg. It."realista = Gt. realist, < NL. realis-
ta; as reaU + ■4st.'\ I. n. 1. A logician who
holds that the essences of natural classes have
some mode of being in the real things : in this
sense distinguished as a scholastic realist : op-
posed to nominalist. As soon as intellectual devel-
opment had reached the point at which men were ca-
pable of conceiving of an essence, they naturally found
themselves realists. But reflection about words inclined
them to be nominalists. Thus, a controversy sprang up
between these sects in the eleventh century (first in the
Irish monasteries, and then spread through the more civ-
ilized countries of northern Europe), and was practically
settled in favor of the realists toward the end, of the
twelfth century. During the fourteenth century a reac-
tion from the subtleties of Scotus produced a revival of
nominalistic views, which were brought into a thorough-
going doctrine by Occam, his followers being distinguish-
ed as tcrministii from other schools of nominalists. At the
time when scholasticism came to a rather violent end,
owing to the revival of learning, the terminists were in
the ascendant, though some of the universities were
Scotist. The Cartesians did not profess to be realists ; and
Leibnitz was a decided nominalist ; while the whole weight
of the English school (Occam, Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley,
Hume, Hartley, Keid, Brown, the Mills, and others) went
in the same direction. At the present day philosophy
seems to be, and science certainly is, prevailingly realistic.
. See quotation under realism, 1.
3. A philosopher who Ijelieves in the real ex-
istence of the .external world as independent
of all thought about it, or, at least, of the
thought of any individual or any number of
individuals. — 3. In literature and art, a be-
liever in or a practiser of realism; one who
represents persons or things as he conceives
them to b« in real life or in nature ; an oppo-
nent of idealism or romanticism.
How hard and meagre they seem, the professed and
finished realists of our own day, ungraced by that spiritual
candor which makes half the richness of Ghirlandaio !
H. James, Jr., Trans. Sketches, p. 298.
4. One who advocates technical as opposed
to classical education; one who upholds the
method of the real-schools. [A German use.]
II, a. Of or pertaining to realism ; realistic ;
naturalistic.
realistic (re-a-lis'tik), a. l<. reaUst + 4c.'] 1.
Of or pertaining to the realists in philosophy ;
characteristic of speculative realism.
The realistic tendency— the disposition to mistake words
for things — is a vice inherent in all ordinary thinking.
J. FUke, Cosmic Philos., 1. 122.
3. Exhibiting or chdracterized by realism in
description or representation; objectively real
or literal; lifelike, usually in a bad or depre-
ciatory sense: as, a realistic novel or painting;
a realistic account of a murder.
A bit of realistic painting, in the midst of a piece of
decorative painting, would offend us, and yet the realistic
bit would add a certain amount of veracity.
P. G. Hamxirton, Graphic Arts, v.
Realistic they are in the nobler sense : that is, they are
true to nature without being slavish copies of nature.
C. C. Perkins, Italian Sculpture, p. 91.
Realistic dualism. See dualism.
realistically (re-a-lis'ti-kal-i), adv. In a re-
alistic manner; in a manner that has regard to
the actual appearance of objects or circum-
stances, or the real facts of existence.
realityi (re-al'i-ti), ». ; -pi. realities (-tiz). [=P.
rMite = Sp. realidad = Pg. realidade = It. re-
alitd, < MXi. realita(t-)s, < realis, real: see real^.
Cf. realty^.] 1. The being real; truth as it is
in the thing; objective validity; independence
of the attributions of individual thought; posi-
tively determinate being.
Hee exhorted him to beleeve the reality of the sacra-
ment after the consecration.
Foxe, Martyrs, p. 1159, an. 1643.
Meality shall rule, and all shall be as they shall be for-
ever. Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., ill. 24.
For this, in reality, is the port of Acre, where ships lie
at anchor. Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 56.
realize
In the English plays alone is to be found the warmth,
the mellowness, and the reality of painting.
Macaulay, Diyden.
Nothing can have realUy for us until it enters within
the circle of Eeeling, either directly through perception,
or indirectly through Intuition. Conception is the sym-
bolical representation of such real presentation.
G. a. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, n. 11.
2. That which is real or genuine j something
that really is or exists, as opposed to what is
imagined or pretended; an essential verity or
entity, either in fact or in representation.
Of that skill the more thou know'st.
The more she will acknowledge thee her head,
And to realities yield all her shows.
Miltm, P. L., vili. 676.
Only shadows are dispensed below,
And Eartt has no reality but woe.
Cowper, Hope, L 68.
They who live only for wealth, and the things of this
world, follow shadows, neglecting the great realities which
are eternal on earth and in heaven.
Swnmer, Orations, 1. 194,
3. In law, same as realty'^. [Now rare.]— Abso-
lute reality. See absdjOe.— 'Empirical reality, the re-
ality of an object of actual or oonoitlonate experience.
What we insist on is the empirical reality of time, that
is, its objective validity, with reference to all objects
which can ever come before our senses. What we deny
is that time has any claim to absolute reality, so that,
without taking into account the form of our sensuous con-
dition, it should by itself be a condition or quality inherent
in things ; for such qualities as belong to things by them-
selves can never be given to us through the senses.
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, tr. by Miiller.
Objective reality, truth; reference to a real object
This is the sense in which this phrase is used by Kant.
At an earlier date it would have meant existence in the
mind. With later writers it means nearly the same as
absolute reaiffy.- Practical reality, in the Eantian phi-
los., that force in a postulate of the practical reason by
which it becomes the source dt the possibility of realizing
the summum bonum.
I have, indeed, no intuition which should determine its
objective theoretic reality of the moral law, but not the
less it has a real application, which is exhibited in con-
creto in intentions or maxims : that is, it has a pra^ti-
eal reality which can be specified, and this is sufficient to
justify it even with a view to noumena.
Karit, Critique of Practical Reason, tr. by T. K. Abbott,
[p. 146.
Reality of laws, a legal phrase for all laws concerning
property and things.— Subjective reality, real existence
in the mind.
Time has subjective reality with regard to internal ex-
perience; that is, I really have the representation of time,
and of my determinations in It.
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, tr. by Miiller, p. 37.
Theoretical reality, in the KanUan phUos., validity
as a hypothesis.— Transcendental reality. Same as
absolute reality. = Syn. 1 and 2. Verity (see reoil).
Reality means that a thing certainly is ; truth applies to
the correctness of what is said or believed about the thing,
the conformity of such report or belief to reality. The
reality of a danger; the actu^ity of the arrival of help;
the truth about the matter.
reality^t, n. Same as realty^.
Our reality to the emperor. Fvller.
realizability (re-a-li-za-bil'i-ti), n. [< reali-
zable + -ity (see -iilityj'.'] Capability of being
realized. [Bare.]
realizable (re'a-li-za-bl), a. [< P. rSalisable;
as realize + -aih.] "Capable of being realized.
realization (re"al-i-za'shon), n. [< OP. reali-
sation, F. realisation; as realize + -ation.1 1.
A bringing or coming into real existence or
manifestation, as of something conceived or
imagined : as, the realization of a project.
The realimtiim of the rights of humanity in the nation
■is the fulfillment of righteousness.
• E. Mvlford, The Nation, vL
The desire is the direction of a self-conscious subject
to the realisation of an idea.
T. B. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, § 161.
2. Perception of the reality or real existence
of something; a realizing sense or feeling: as,
the realization of one's danger.
An intrinsic and awful realizatian of eternal truths.
Islay Bums, Memoir of W. C. Burns, p. 98.
3. The act of realizing upon something; con-
version into money or its equivalent ; exchange
of property for its money value. [Trade use.]
— 4. The act of converting money into land
or real estate. Imp. Diet.
Also spelled reaUsaUon.
realize (re'al-iz), v. ; pret. and pp. realized, ppr.
realizing. [< OP. realiser, P. rhliser = Sp. Pg.
realizar; as reaU + -dze."] J. trans. 1. To make
or cause to become real ; bring into existence
or fact: as, to realize a project, or a dream of
empire.
His [Clive's] dexterity and resolution realised, in the
course of a few months, more than all the gorgeous visions
which had floated before the imagination of Dupleix.
Macaulay, Lord Cllve.
realize
All art is the endeavour to realue in material forms and
colours an idea of beauty latent in the human spirit from
the beginning. PaUha of the World, p. B.
Children are, as it were, fresh blocks of marble, in which,
if we have any ideal, we have a new chance of realizing
It after we have failed In ourselves.
J. H. SeOey, Nat. Keliglon, p. 128.
2. To perceive or comprehend the reality of;
make real or distinct to one's self; recognize
the real nature or the actual existence of: as,
to fealize the horrors of war; to realize one's
-danger or one's deficiencies.
Intrenched witliin these many walls, the people of this
gay capital cannot realize war. W. Ware, Zenobia, II. xL
In order to pity suffering we must realise it.
Lecky, Europ. Morals, 1. 138.
He [Samuel Adams] wanted the whole world to realize
that the rule of a republic is a rule of law and order.
J. Fitke, Critical Period of Amer. Hist., iv.
3. To manifest as real or as a reality; exhibit
i;he actual existence or character of; cause to
appear real or distinct.
To put these materials to poetical nae is required an
Imagination capable of painting nature, and realizing fic-
tion. Johnson, muton.
The child realizes to every man his own earliest remem-
brance, and so supplies a defect in our education, or en-
ables us to live over the unconscious history with a sym-
pathy so tender as to be almost personal experience.
Emerson, Domestic Life.
Correggio appears to have been satisfied with realising
the tumult of heaven rushing to meet earth, and earth
straining upwards to ascend to heaven in violent commo-
tion. ■ J. A. SymoncU, Italy and Greece, p. 271.
4. To bring or get into actual possession; make
■one's own; clear as a profit or gain; obtain a
return of : as, to realize a fortune from specu-
lation.
Send me an account of the number of crowns you real-
ize. Shelley, To H. Eeveley, Oct. 18, 1819.
Pope was the first Englishman who, by the mere sale of
his writings, realised a sum which enabled him to live in
■comfort and in perfect independence.
Macaiday, Montgomery's Poems.
Man begins with nothing realized (to use the word), and
he has to make capital for himself by the exercise of those
faculties which are his natural inheritance.
J. H. Newman, Gram, of Assent, ix.
The question of imposing upon what has been termed
realised income a higher poundage than that for what
has been termed precarious income has been frequently
raised. S. DaweU, Taxes in England, III. 136.
5. To bring into form for actual or ready use;
exchange for cash or ready means : as, to realize
one's stock or securities. [Trade use.] — 6.
To fetch as a price or return; bring in ex-
change or as compensation; make a return of:
as, how much did the cargo realize f his labor
realizes but little.
A farm he so\ireaMsed less than was anticipated.
Whyte Melville, White Hose, II. xxvi.
7. To convert into real estate ; make real prop-
erty of. Imp. Diet.
II. intrans. To obtain ready money or profits
by sale of property.
Also spelled realise.
realizedness (re'al-i-zed-nes), n. The state of
being realized. [Bare.]
But taking pleasure to be the feeling of the realizedn£ss of
the will or self, we should doubt if apart from some pres-
ent function or activity pleasure could exist.
F. H. Bradley, Ethical Studies, p. 119.
realizer (re'al-i-z6r), n. One who realizes.
Coleridge. "
xealizingly (re'al-i-zing-H), adv. So as to real-
ize. [Kare.]
reallege (re-a-lej'), v. t. [= OF. reaUegiier, P.
rcalleguer ; as re- + allege'-.'] To allege again.
Cotgrave.
realliance (re-a-li'ans), n. [< re- + alliance.']
A renewed alliance.
reallicht, adv. See really^.
really^ (re'al-i), adv. [< reaU + -ly^.] 1. In
a real manner; with or in reality; in fact, and
not in appearance only; in truth; actually;
truly.
The bread thca'efore ohangeth not to his essence, but is
bread reallie, and is the bodie of Christ sacramentallie.
Foxe, Martyrs, p. 456.
James . . . hoped to obtain a law, nominally for the
removal of all religious disabilities, but really for the ex-
cluding of all Protestants from all offices.
Macatilay, Sir J. Mackintosh.
2. Indeed; to tell the truth; as a fact: often
used as a slight corroboration of an opinion or
declaration, or interrogatively or exolamatorily
to express slight surprise. [CoUoq.]
Why, realty, sixty-flve is somewhat old. Young.
Really, no ; a dyspeptic demigod it makes one dyspeptic
to think of ! -De Quineey, Homer, ii.
=Syn. 1. Truly, absolutely, certainly, verily, positively.
4987
really^t (re'al-i), adv. [< ME. realyche, realy,
rially, realliclie; < real^ + -ly^. Cf. royalh/.]
Boyally; in a royal or regal manner; like a
king.
It is f ul fair to ben yclept madame.
And gon to vigilies al byfore.
And han a mantel riallyehe ibore'.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., L 878.
really3(re-a-U'),«.*. i<re- + ally. Gt.rally^.']
To form or arrange again; recompose.
That whil'st the Gods . . .
Were troubled, and amongst themselves at ods.
Before they could new counsels re-alUe,
To set upon them in that extasie.
Spemer, V. Q., VII. vi. 23.
realm (relm), n. [< ME. realme, ryalme, roialme,
royahne, reaume, reume, rewme, reame, reme, rem,
< OP. realme, reaume, roialme, royaume, P.
royaume = Pr. realme, reyalme, reialme = OSp.
reame, realme = It. reame, < ML. as if *regali-
men, a kingdom, < L. regalis, of a king: see
real^, royal, regal.] 1. A royal jurisdiction or
extent of government; a king's dominions; a
kingdom.
Pes among the puple he put to the reaume.
WiUiam qf Paleme (B. E. T. S.)il. 5240.
Sydrak, Misak, and Abdenago: that is to seye, God
glorious, and God victorious, and God over alle Tninges
and Hemes. MandevUle, Travels, p. 85.
Whoso wol seken actes of sondry remes
May rede of dremes many a wonder thing.
Ctiaueer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 316.
Which Salique land the French unjustly glose
To be the realm of France. Shak., Hen. V., L 2. 41.
Thou, great Anna ! whom three realms obej?
Pope, S,. of the L., iii. 7.
These are our realms, no limit to their sway —
Our fiag the sceptre all who meet obey.
^ Byron, Corsair, L 1.
2. Piguratively, a jurisdiction or domain in
general ; a sphere of power, influence, or opera-
tion; province; arena.
The Goddess goes exulting from his sight.
And seeks the seas profound, and leaves the realrns of light.
Dryden, Hiad, i.
3. In zoogeog., a prime division of the earth's
surface ; a faunal area of the largest extent ; a
zo61ogi<!al region of the first order To abjure
tbe realm. See a3)^re.
realness (re'al-nes), n. The state or condition
of being or appearing real; manifest genuine-
ness ; freedom from artifice or any deception.
There is such a,reaXness to his narration that one is will-
ing to overlook his many deficiencies in the art of expres-
sion. Science, VI. 472.
real-school (re'al-skol), n. [Tr. Gr. realsehule,
< real, real, practical, = E. reaU, + schule,
school, = E. school^.] One of a class of pre-
paratory scientific or technical schools in Ger-
many, corresponding in grade to the gymnasia
or classical schools.
realtyi (re'al-ti), n. [< OP. *realte = It. realtd,,
< ML. reatita{t-)s, reality: see reality^. Cf.
lealty and legality, speaalty and speciality, per-
sonalty and personality, ete.] It. Beality. — 2.
In law: (a) Immobility, or the fixed, permanent
nature of that kind of property termed real. (6)
Landed property; real estate. See reaU and
personalty.
realty^t (re'al-ti), n. [< MB. realte, rielte, reaute,
roialtee, < OlP. realte, reaute, royaulte, P. roy-
aut4, royalty, =It. realtd,, < ML. regaUta(t-)s, <
L. regalis, regal: see regal, real^. Cf. reality^,
royalty.] 1. Royalty.
Whi sholdys thou my realte oppress?
Cfiaucer, Fortune, L 60.
Kings do . . . hazard infinitely
In their free realties of rights and honours.
Where they leave much for favourites' powers to order.
Chapman and Shirley, Admiral of France, i.
2. Loyalty; fealty.
O heaven ! that such resemblance of the Highest
Should yet remain, where faith and realty
Kemain not. MiUon, P. I., vL 115.
reami (rem), n. [Also reem, raim; < MB. rem,
reme, < AS. redm = D. room = MLG. rom, LG.
rom = MHG. roum, G. raum, rahm = Icel. rj&mi,
cream; origin unknown.] Cream; also, the
cream-like froth on ale or other liquor; froth
or foam in general. [Prov. Bng. and Scotch.]
Soone af tir je schal se as it were a liqour of oyle as-
cende vp fledge aboue in maner of a skyn or of a reme.
Book of <itdnte Essence (ed. FumlvallX p. 9.
. Cristened we weore in red rem
Whon his bodi bledde on the Beem
Of Cipresse and Olyue.
Boly Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 146.
ream! (rem), v. i. [< ream^, n.] 1. To cream;
mantle ; foam ; froth. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
Wi' reaming swats [ale] that drank divinely.
Bums, Tarn o' Shanter.
reanimate
A huge pewter measuring pot, . . . which, in the lan-
guage of the hostess, reamed . . . with excellent claret.
Scott, Waverley, xL
2. To appear like foam; be fleecy. [Kare.]
Farewell the flax and reaming wooll
With which thy house was plentif ull.
Herrick, The Widdowes Teares.
ream^ (rem), v. t. [Also reem, dial, rim, rime;
< ME. remen, rimen, rumen, < AS. ryman, widen,
extend, spread, enlarge, etc. (= OS. rumian =
OFries. rerna = MD. D. ruimen = MLG. rumen
= OHG. rUmian, rUman, MHG. rumen, yield,
give way, make room, retire, relax, G. rdumen,
make room, etc. , = Icel. ryma, make room, clear,
quit, z= Sw. rymma = Dan. romme, quit), < rUm,
wide, roomy: see roomi.] If. To make wide;
widen; extend; extend by stretching; stretch
or draw out.
His full growne stature, high his head, lookes higher rise ;
His pearching homes are ream'd a yard beyond assise.
A Herrings Tayle (1698). {ITares.)
Specifically — 2. To widen or enlarge by the
use of a rotatory cutter: often with out: used
especially of a hole or an opening in metal, and
most commonly in connection with splayed or
funnel-shaped holes. — 3. Naut.,to open (seams)
for calking. — 4f. To leave ; quit.
Thu makedest me fleme [flee].
And thi lond to reme.
King Horn (B. E. T. S.X p. 36.
ream^ (rem), ». [Early mod. E. reme; < late
ME. reeme = T>. riem, < OP. rayme, raime, rame,
P. rame (ML. reflex rama) = It. risma, formerly
alsons8J«a,< Sp. Pg. resma (ML. risma) (cf. late
MHG. ris, riz, rist, G. ries, riess = Dan. Sw. ris,
with loss of final syllable), < Ar. rizma (pi. ri-
zam), a bundle, esp. of clothes, also of paper.
The word was brought into Europe by the Moors,
who introduced the manufacture of cotton pa-
per into Spain.] A quantity of paper, consist-
ing, for ordinary writing-paper, of 20 quires of
24 sheets each, or 480 sheets ; for some kinds of
drawing-paper, of 472 or 500 sheets ; for print-
ing-paper, of 21^ quires, or 516 sheets. Writing-
paper is usually put up in half- or quarter-ream packages,
printing-paper in bundles of two reams.— A ream Of In-
sides, 480 sheets of perfect paper.— Perfect ream, an
improper use for prirvters' ream. — Printers' ream, or
printing ream. See printer.
reamet, n. A Middle BngUsh form of realm,
reamer (re'mer), n. [Also rimer (= G. raumer, a
person who or an instrument that makes clean) ;
< ream'^ + -er^.] One who or that which reams ;
specifically, a tool used for reaming out holes.
Beamers have a variety of forms, of which triangular,
square, or pentagonal shafts or bodies with sharp angles.
Reamers.
a and *. machinists' reamers; c, section of fluted reamer, for pro-
ducing salient edges ; d and e, flat-sided reamers, or broaches.
fluted bodies with sharp edges, and bodies formed with
intersecting right and left spiral grooves with sharp edges
are prominent types. The bodies are of uniform thick-
ness for reaming straight holes, and tapered for reaming
tapered holes or for enlarging holes. Compare ream^, v. t,
2. — Expanding reamer, a reamer having a device which
can be extended after the insertion of the reamer into a
hole, so as to make an undercut.
reamer-bit (re'mfer-bit), ». Same as reaming-hit.
reaminess (re'mi-nes), n. [< reamy + -ness.]
A creaming or foaming condition; an appear-
ance as of foaming or frothing. [Bare.]
Rea/miness, or wavy marks, of uneven thickness in the
fllm . . . are most lOcely to occur in thick viscous samples
of collodion. Silver Sunbeam, p. 457.
reaming-bit (re'ming-bit), n. A bit used for
enlarging or splaying holes in metal.
reaming-iron (re'ming-i^fem), n. Naut., an
iron instrument used for opening the seams of
planks so that they may be more readily calked.
ream-kit (rem'kit), ». A cream-pot. Halli-
well. [Yorkshire, Eng.]
reamy (re'mi), o. [< reaml + -yl.] Creamy;
creaming ; in a foaming condition ; appearing
frothy. [Bare.]
rean^ (ren), n. [< ME. rene, a watercourse : see
rine, run^.] A watercourse ; a gutter; specifi-
cally, the furrow between ridges of plowed
land to take off the water. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
rean^t, »■ and v. An old spelling of ref»i.
reanimate (re-an'i-mat), v. [< re- + animate.
Cf. P. rSanirrier = Sp. Pg. reanimar = It. riani-
mare.] 1, trans. 1. To revive; resuscitate;
reanimate
restore to life, as a person dead or apparently
dead: as, to reanimate a person apparently
drofrned.
We are our re-animated ancestours, and antedate their
resniTection. OlanvUle, Vanity of Dogmatizing, xv.
We may suppose that the creative power returns and
reanimates some among the dead.
Isaac Taylor, TSat. Hist. Enthusiasm, p. 66.
2. -To revive when dull or languid ; invigorate ;
infuse new life or courage into: as, to reani-
mate disheartened troops; to reanimate drowsy
senses or languid spirits.
Variety reanimjiieii the attention, wliich is apt to lan-
guish under a continual sameness.
Sir J. Heynolds, Discourses, viii.
II. intrant. To revive ; become lively again.
[Rare.]
" There spoke Miss Beverley ! " cried Delvile, reanimat-
ing at this little apology. Miss Bumey, Cecilia, ix. 6.
reanimation (re-an-i-ma'shon), n. [< reani-
mate + -ion.'i the act or operation of reani-
mating, or reviving from apparent death; the
act or operation of giving fresh spirits, courage,
or vigor ; the state of being reanimated.
Having opened his father's casque, he was rejoiced to
see him give symptoms of reanimatitm.
Scott, Anne of Geierstein, xxxvi.
reannez (re-a-neks'), V. t. [< re- + annex.'] To
annex again; annex what has been separated;
reunite.
King Charles was not alittle inflamed with an ambition
to repurchace and re-annex that duchie.
Bacon, Hist. Hen. VTI., p. 40.
reannexation (re-an-ek-sa'shon), n. [< rean-
nex + -ation.'i 'fhe act of annexing again.
reanoint (re-a-noinf), v. t. [< re- + anoint]
To anoint again or anew.
And Edward, . . .
Proud in his spoils, to Xondon doth repair.
And, reanointed, mounts th' imperial chair.
Brayton, Miseries of Queen Margaret
reanswer (re-an's6r), ». <. [<.re- + answer.] 1.
To answer again ; make a renewed reply to. —
2t. To answer or satisfy as a return; corre-
spond to; equal; balance.
Bid him therefore consider of his ransome ; which must
proportion the losses we have borne, , . , which in weight
to re-an£wer, his pettiness would bow under.
STiak., Hen. V., iii 6. 136.
reap (rep), v. [< ME. repen, reopen, ripen (pret.
rap, rep, pi. repen, ropen, pp. repen, ropen,
later reaped), < AS. ripan, a variable verb, be-
ing in part strong (pret. ;pl. ripon), also geripan
(pret. pi. geripon), also with snort vowel ripan,
Anglian riopan, rioppan, hrioppan, hrippan
(pret. *riep, pi. rsepon), and in part (and appar.
orig. ) weak, rypan (pret. *rypte, not found), reap
(cf . rip, ryp, a reaping, harvest) : appar. a par-
ticular use of r^MJs, prop, rroan (pret.pl.ri/jjtow,
rt^ton), plunder, spoil, = OHG. roufen, MHG.
roufen, reufen, rotten, G. raufen, pluck, pull,
etc., = Goth, rawpjan, pluck. Cf . D. rapen, reap,
gather.] I. trans. 1. To cut with a sickle or
other implement or machine; cut down and
gather : used specifically of cutting grain : as,
to reap wheat or rye.
When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou Shalt not
wholly reap the comers of thy field. Lev. xix. 9.
That which they reapt on the land was put into store-
houses built for that purpose.
Purchae, Pilgrimage, p. 876.
And no Man ever reapt his Com,
Or from the Oven drew his Bread,
Ere Hinds and Bakers yet were born,
That taught them both to sow and knead.
Prior, Alma, i.
2. To cut a crop of grain, or something likened
to such a crop, from ; clear by or as if by reap-
ing.
His chin new reap'd
Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., i. 3. 84.
3. Figuratively, to gather in by effort of any
kind ; obtain as a return or recompense ; gar-
ner as the fruit of what has been done by one's
self or others.
They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirl-
wind. Hos. viii. 7.
Of our labours thou shalt reap the gain.
SAait., SHen. VI.,v. 7. 20.
He cannot justly expect to reape aught but dishonour
and dispraise. Milton, Eikonoklastes, v.
Do thou the deeds I die too young to do,
And reap a second glory in thine age !
M. Arnold, Sohrab and Kustum.
n. inirans. 1. To perform the act or opera-
tion of reaping ; cut and gather a harvest.
Yf y repe, [I] ouere-reche, other gaf hem red that repen
To seee to me with here sykel ; that ich sew neuere.
Piers Plowman (C), vii. 270.
4988
Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap. Micah vi. 15.
I would the globe from end to end
Might sow and reap in peace.
Tennyson, Epilogue.
2. Figuratively, to gather the fruit of labor or
works ; receive a return for what has been done.
For wel I wot that ye han herbeforne
Of makynge [poetry] ropen, and lad awey the come.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 74.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Ps. cxxvi. 6.
reapt (rep), n. [Early mod. E. also repe; < ME.
reepe, rep, rip, < AS. rip, ryp, a reaping, a crop,
harvest (also in eomp., as rip-man, harvester,
rip-tima, harvest), also a sheaf of grain, etc., <
ripan, rypan, reap: see reap, v.] A sheaf of
grain. [Prov. Eng.]
As mych as oone reepe.
Tmmeley Mysteries, p. 13. (BaUiwell.)
reaper (re'per), ». [< ME. repare, riperc, < AS.
ripere, a reaper, < ripan , reap : see reap, v.] 1 .
One who reaps ; one who cuts grain with a sickle
or other implement or machine; hence, one
who gathers in the fruits of his own or others'
labor or work.
When brown August o'er the land
Call'd forth the reapers* busy band.
Scott, Eokeby, vi. 35.
In the vast field of criticism on which we are entering,
innumerable reapers have already put their sickles.
Macaulay.
Only reapers, reaping early
In among the bearded barley.
Hear a song that echoes cheerly.
Tennyson, Lady of Shalott, i.
There is a reaper whose name is Death,
And with his sickle keen
He reaps the bearded grain at a breath,
And the flowers that grow between.
LongfeUaw, The Reaper and the Flowers.
2. A machine for cutting grain; a reaping-ma-
chine.— The reaper, an ancient sophism, to the follow-
ing effect : If you are to reap, it is not true that perhaps
you will reap and perhaps not, but you will certainly reap.
On the other hand, if you are not to reap, it is not true
that perhaps you will reap and perhaps not, but you will
certainly not. Thus you will either necessarily reap, or
necessarily not reap, and the statement that there is a
"perhaps" is false.
reap-liook (rep'huk), ». Same as reaping-hook.
SalUwell. \Piov. Eng.]
reaping-hook (re'ping-hiik), n. A curved blade
wifii a short handle for reaping; a sickle; spe-
cifically, a sickle without the notched edge
which formerly distinguished that implement.
The reapers in Palestine and Syria still make use of the
reaping-hook in cutting down their crops : and "fill their
hand" with the com, and those who bind up the sheaves
their "bosom." — Ps. cxxix. 7 ; Ruth ii. 5. Kitto.
reaping-machine (re'ping-ma-shen'''), n. A
harvesting-machine for grain-crops ; a mechan-
ical reaper drawn over a field of standing grain
by horses. The reaping-machine is a modified mow-
ing-machine or mower, both mower and reaper being
harvesters; the two machines are identical in their
Reaplng-and-binding Machine.
mechanism for cutting down the standing grain, of which
mechanism the essential feature is the reciprocating knife
moving within the fingers of a finger-bar. The reaper is
distinguished from the mower by the addition of a reel
for bending the grain down upon the knives, and by a
platform, a raking mechanism, a discharging mechanism
or dropper (by which the gavels or sheaves are thrown out
of the machine), and a binding mechanism ; of these de-
vices any or all may be present in one machine. Reaping-
machines are often distinguished according to their at-
tachments : thus, a dropper is a reaping-machine that au-
tomatically throws out the out grain at intervals ; a se^-
rdker or a self-hinder, sometimes called a harvester and
binder, is one with a raking or a binding attachment. The
discharging mechanism or dropper is a device for causing
the platform upon which the grain falls when cut to throw
off its load. The raking attachment consists of a series
of rakes moving over the platform to gather the grain into
gavels and sweep it off upon the ground. The binding at-
tachment consists essentially of an endless-belt elevator
for lifting the cut grain, and a pair of curved anns for
gathering and compressing it into a bundle and holding it
while the binding mechanism proper draws wire or twine
around it, twists the wu-e or loops and knots the twine,
cuts the bundle from the wire or twine, and discharges
the bound sheaf.
rear
reapmant (rep'man), V. [< ME. repman, < AS.
''ripman. (Anglian hripemav), a harvestman, <
rip, harvest, + man, man.] A reaper; a har-
vestman.
Oon daywerk of a goode repman may gete
V strik, a f ebbler for III may swete.
Paltadius, Husbondrie (E. B. T. S.), p. 158.
reapparel (re-a-par'el), V. t. [< re- + apparel,
V. Of. reparel'.] To apparel or clothe again or
anew.
Then [at the resurrection] we shall all be invested, re-
appareUed, in our own bodies.
Bonrhe, Devotions, Expostulation, xiv.
reapparition (re-ap-a-rish'on), n. [< re- + up-
parition.] A renewed apparition; a coming
again; reappearance. [Eare.]
There would be presented the phenomena of colonies,
reapparitions, and other faunal dislocations in the verti-
cal and horizontal distribution of fossil remains.
Winehell, World-Life, p. 281.
reappear (re-a-per'), V. i. [= It. riapparire; as
re- + appear" Cf. OF. rap2)aroitre, F. reappa-
raUre, reappear.] To appear again or anew;
return to sight or apprehension ; be seen again,
in either the same or a different example.
The law of harmonic sounds reappears in the harmonic
colors. Emerson, Nature, v.
Energy. . . only vanishes to reappeor under some other
form. W. L. Carpenter, Energy in Nature, p. 12.
The river that reappears at Ombla is an old friend,
B. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 238.
reappearance (re-a-per'ans), n. [< reappear +
-ance.] A new appearance; another coming
into view or apprehension: as, the reappear-
ance of Encke's comet.
reapplication (re-ap-li-ka'shon), n. [< re- +
applioation.] The act of applying again, or the
state of being reapplied.
A readvertency or reappHcaJHon of mind to ideas that
are actually there.
Nffrris, Reflections on Locke, p. 9. {LaXhavu)
reapply (re-a-pli'), V. t. and i. [< re- + apply.]
To apply again.
reappoint (re-a-poinf), ®. *• [< re- + appoint.]
To appoint again.
reappointment (re-a-point'ment), n. [< reap-
point + -ment.] A renewed appointment.
reapportion (re-a-por'shon), V. t. [< re- + ap-
portion.] To apportion" again; make a new
apportionment.
reapportionment (re-a-p6r'shon-ment), n. [<
reapportion + -ment.]' A renewed"apportion-
ment; a new proportional distribution or ar-
rangement: as (in the United States), the re-
apportionment of members of Congress or of
(Tongressional districts under a new census.
reapproach (re-a-proch'), v. [< re- + approach.]
1. intrans. To come near again.
II. trans. To bring near together again.
We were able to produce a lovely pui-ple, which we can
destroy or recompose at pleasure, by severing and re-ap-
proachinff the edges of the two irises.
Boyle, Works, L 738.
reap-silvert (rep'siFv^r), «. [ME. repsilver;
< reap, n., + silver.] Money paid by feudal
serfs or tenants to their lord as a commutation
for their services in reaping his crops,
reari (rer), v. [Early mod. E. als^ reer, rere,
also dial, rare; < ME. reren, < AS. reeran (= Icel.
reisa = Goth, raiejan), cause to rise, lift up,
establish, rouse, elevate, etc.; causative of
risan (pret. rds), rise : see rise^, and cf . raise\
which IS from the Icel. form (reisa) of the same
verb. The change of the orig. medial s to r oc-
curs also in were (pi. of was), ear^, iron, lorn,
etc.] I, trans. 1. To raise, lift, or hoist by or
as if by main strength ; bring to or place in an
elevated position; set or hold up; elevate; bear
aloft.
Off with the traitor's head.
And rear it in the place your father's stands.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., ii. 6. 86.
And higher yet the glorious temple reafd
Her pile. Milton, P. B., iv. B46.
2. To form by raising or setting up the parts
of; lift up and fix in place the materials pt;
erect; construct; build.
Seint dauid aboute this holi gerde a strong wal let rere.
Holy Mood (E. E. T. S.), p. 28.
O'er his Grave a Monument they rear*d.
Congreve, Iliad.
3t. To raise from a prostrate state or position ;
uplift; exalt.
The Ladle, hearing his so courteous speach,
Gan reare her eyes as to the chearefull light.
Spenser, F. Q., VL ii. 42.
In adoration at his feet I fell
SubmisB ; he rear'd me.
Milton, P. L., viii. 316.
rear
Charity, decent, modcBt, eaxv, kind,
Softens the high, and rears the abject mind.
Prior, Charity.
4t. To lift or carry upward; give an upward
bent or turn to.
Up to a hill anon his steps he rear'd.
From whose high top to ken the prospect round.
Milton, P. E., ii. 286.
5t. To cause to rise into view ; approach (an
object) so that it appears above the visible
horizon. See raise\ 10.
And In .xv. degrees, we dyde reere the crosslers ; and we
myght haue rered them sooner if we had loked lor theym.
J!. Eden, First three Eng. Books on America (ed. Arber),
[p. 380.
6t. To carry off, as by conquest; take away by
or as if by lifting; wrest. See raise\ 6.
He, in an open Turney lately held.
Fro me the honour of that game did reare.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. vi 6.
It rereOi our hearts from vain thoughts.
Barrow. (ITeftster.)
7t. To cause to rise to action ; stir up ; rouse.
Item, the Eyng Cometh to London ward, and, as It is
seyd, rerelh the pepyll as he come. Paston Letters, I. 506.
, Into the naked woods he goes.
And seeks the tusky boar to rear,
With well-mouthed hounds and pointed spear.
Bryden, tr. of Horace's Epode ii.
They were not In any hope that the citye wold hastelye
consent to rere war. Golding, tr. of Csesar, fol. 201.
The waves come rolling, and the billowes rore.
For not one puSe of winde there did appeare.
That all the three thereat woxe much afrayd,
Unweeting what such horrour straunge did reare.
Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 22.
8f. To raise in amount; make a rise in; in-
crease.
He stirs men up to outrageous reaHng of rents.
jMtimer, 6th Sermon bef. Edw. VI.
9. To develop or train physically or mentally
or both, as young; care for while growing up;
foster; nurture; educate: used of human be-
ings, and less frequently of animals and plants.
See raised.
The pokok men may rere up esily
Yf bestes wilde or theves hem ne greve.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.}, p. 23.
She [Pharaoh's daughter] takes him vp, and rears him
royal-like ;
And his quick Spirit, traiu'd in good Arts, is like
A wel breath'd Body, nimble, sound, and strong.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Lawe.
Delightful task I to rear the tender Thought,
To teach the young Idea how to shoot.
Thomson, Spring, 1. 1150.
10. To mock; gibe. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
=8351. 9. ^rin^wp, etc. Seeraisel.
n. imtrans. 1. To rise up; assume an ele-
vated posture, as a horse or other animal in
standing on its hind legs alone.
Of te hit [the ark] roled on-rounde, and rered on ende.
AUiterative Poems (ed. Morris), iL 423.
Anon he rears upright, curvets, and leaps.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 279.
2. To rise up before the plow, as a furrow.
Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]— Bearing vein, in coal-
mirdnff, a vein that seems to rear like a horse or mule.
See rearm; 3.
xear^ (rer), a. [Early mod. E. also reer, rere,
also dial, (now in common use in the tJ. S.)
rare ; < MB. rere, < AS. hrer, underdone (said
only of eggs): hrer henne seg,Ja, rear hen's
egg,' hrereribrxden xg, hrerebrsed xg, 'a rear
roasted egg,' gebrieddcm hrere segeran, 'roasted
rear eggs'; appar. not an independent adj., but
the stem of a verb, in comp. *}irer-seg (= Gr.
ruhr-ei, a scrambled egg, buttered egg; ef. eier
ruhren, beat eggs), < hreran, move, shake, stir,
+ xg, egg: see rear^.2 Underdone ; nearly raw;
rare : formerly said of eggs, now (in the United
States, in the form rare) of meats. Compare
rear-boiled, rear-roasted. [Obsolete or provin-
cial.]
Eere, or nesche, as eggys. Mollis, sorbilis.
Prompt. Pa/rt>., p. 430.
If they [eggs] be re/re, they do dense the throte and brest.
Sir T. Elyot, Castle of Health, ii. 13.
Maces and ginger, rere egges, and poched eggs not hard,
theyr yolkes be a cordiall. Borde, Breviary of Health.
Can a soft, rear, poor poach'd iniquity
So ride upon thy conscience?
MiddleUm, Game at Chess, iv. 2.
rearS (rer), n. and a. [Early mod. E. also reer,
rere; < MB. rere, in comp. rereward, rearward
and arere, arrear (see arrear^, adv.), < OP. rere,
riere, back, < L. retro, back, backward, < re,
back, + compar. suffix (in abl.) -tro. But in
ME. and mod. B. rear as a prefix is rather an
aphetic form of arear, arrear: see arrear^, adv."]
I. n. 1, The space behind or at the back; atraet
4989
or a position lying backward; the background
of a situation or a point of view.
Tom Pipes, knowing his distance, with great modesty
took his station in the rear. SmoUM, Peregrine Pickle, ii.
Crook . . . conducted his command south in two paral-
lel columns until he gained the reor of the enemy's works.
P, H. Sheridan, Personal Memoirs, II. 37,
2. The back or hinder part; that part of any-
thing which is placed or comes last in order or
in position.
His yeomen all, both comly and tall.
Did quickly bring up the rear.
Rotin Mood and Maid Marion (Child's Ballads, V. 376).
Like a gallant horse fall'n in first rank.
Lie there for pavement to the abject rear,
O'er-run and trampled on.
Shak., T. and C, ilL 3. 162.
While the cock, with lively din.
Scatters the rear of darkness thin.
Milton^ L' Allegro, 1. 50.
Were they in the front or in the rear of their generation?
Macaiday, Sir J. Mackintosh.
3. In specific military use, the hindmost body
of an army or a fleet ; the corps, regiment,
squadron, or other division which moves or is
placed last in order : opposed to van : as, the
rear was widely separated from the main body.
The Vanguard he commits to his Brother the Count de
Alanson, the Beer to the Earl of Savoy.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 121.
To bring up the rear. See iring. [in comp. rear is
practicaffy a prefix. In older words it is always rere; for
such words, see entries in rere-.]
II. a. JPertaining to or situated in the rear;
hindermost; last: as, the reor rank.— Eear front,
the rear rank of a company or body of men when faced
about and standing in that position. — Sear BUppert.
See rere-supper, — Rear vault, in arch., a small vault
over the space between the tracery or glAss of a window
and the inner face of the walL
rear^t (rer), v. t. [< rear^, ».] To send to or
place in the rear.
rear*t, v. t. [< ME. reren, < AS. hreran, move,
shake, stir, = OS. hrorian, hrorien, hruorian,
shake, = OHGr. hruorjan, hrorjan, ruoran, MHGr.
rUeren, G. ruhren, shake, touch, = Icel. hrmra
= Sw. rora = Dan. rore, move, stir; perhaps =
Goth. *hr6ejan (not recorded), akin to hri^an,
shake. Hence; in comp., rearmouse, reremouse,
ajid uproar. Of. rear^.] 1. To move; stir. —
2. To carve : applied to the carving of geese.
Halliwell.
Rere that goose. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 265.
rear^t, idv. Same as rare^.
O'er yonder hill does scant the dawn appear.
Then why does Cuddy leave his cot so rear?
Gay, Shepherd's Week, Monday, L 6.
rear-admiral (rer'ad'^mi-ral), n. See admiral, 2.
rearaget (rer'aj), n, [ME., by apheresis for
arerage: see drrearage.'\ Arrearage.
Such dedes I did wryte, sif he his day breke.
I haue mo manerea [manors] thorw rerages than thorw
miseretur et comodat. Piers Ploumum (B), v. 246.
flor he wylle gyle a rekenyng that rewe salle aftyre, . . .
Or the rereage be requit of rentez that he claymez I
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), \. 1680.
rear-boiledt (rer'boild), a. [Formerly rere-
boiled; < rear^ + boiled.} Partly boiled.
A rere-boiled egg, Een hall gaar gekookt ey.
Sewel, Eng.-Dutch Diet.
reardt, n. [< ME. rerd, rerid, reorde, rorde, rurd,
< AS. reord (for *reard), voice, speech, language,
= OHG. rarta = Icel. rodd (gen. raddar) = Goth.
razda, a voice, sound.] A voice ; sound.
Ecko ... is the rearde thet ine the hege belles [high
hlUs] comth ayen. Ayenbite of Jnwit (E. E. T. S.), p. 60.
reardorsef, n. [< ME. reredors: see reredos."]
1. An open fireplace against the rea,rwall of
a room, without -a chimney, the smoke rising
and escaping through the louver.
In their [the old men's] yoong dales there were not aboue
two or three [chimneys], if so manie, in most vplandish
townes of the realme (the religions houses, manour places
of their lords, alwaies excepted, and peraduentui'e some
great personages), but ech one made his fire against a
reredosse in the haU, where he dined and dressed his meat.
Harrison, Descrip. of Eng., 11. 12. (Holinshed.)
Also, you shall inquire of all armorers aud other artifi-
cers using to work in mettal, which have or use any rear-
dorses, or any other places dangerous or perillous for fire.
CaUhrop's Reports (1670). (Nares.)
2. A piece of armor for the back.
Ane hole brest-plate, with a rere-dars
Behynde shet, or elles on the syde.
Clariodes, MS. (HaUiwell.)
rear-eggt, «. An underdone egg. See rear^, a.
rearer (rer'Sr), n. 1. One who rears or raises;
one who brings up.
Pholoe, . . . the rearer of the steed.
Lewis, tr. of Statius's Thebaid, z.
2. A rearing horse, ass, or miUe; an animal
that has a habit of rearing. — 3. In coal-minmg,
Rearing^-bit.
rearward
a seam of coal having an inclination of more
than thirty degrees.
rear-guard (rer'gard), n. [Early mod. E. rere-
garde, for *areregarde, < OF. *ariere-garde, ar-
riere-gardeiF.arrHregardejTesLi-gaaxi; as rear^
+ guard, n, Cf. reaneard.'] Part of an army
detached during a march for the protection of
the rear, especially in retreating when the at-
tacks of a pursuing enemy are feared.
We can nat ae aboute vs, nor haue knoledge of your
reregarde nor vowarde.
Bemers, tr. of Froissart's Chron., IL cxiii.
reargue (re-ar'gli), v. t. [< re- + argue.} To
argue over again.
reargument (re-ar'gu-ment), n. [< re- -i- ar-
gument.'] A renewed argumentation, as of a
ease in court ; a new arguing or pleading upon
the same matter.
rearhorse (rer'hdrs)^ n. A gressorial and rap-
torial orthopterous msect of the family Manti-
dx; a praying-mantis, camel-insect, or devil's
coach-horse : so called from the way in which
it rears upon its hind legs.
The common rearhorse of the Unit-
ed States is PhasmmnantU Carolina.
See Emgousa, and cut under maniig.
rearing-bit (rer'ing-bit), n.
A bit intended to prevent a
horse from lifting his head
when rearing, in the accompa-
nying cut, a, a are rings for cheek-
straps, to which also the chain !i is
attached, in use passing imder the
horse's lower jaw ; c,c are rings for
attachment of curb-reins. The side-
pieces, d, d act as levers when the
reins are puUed, and force open the
horse's jaw, the curved part of the
bit pressing forward and downward upon the tongue of
the animal, thus causing him pain when he attempts to
rear.
reariug-box (rer'ing-boks), n. In fish-culture,
a fish-breeder.
rearly (rer'li), adv. [< rear^ + -ly^."] Early.
[Prov. Eng.]
Jailer's Brother. I'U bring it to-morrow.
Jailer's Daughter. Do, very rearly, I must be abroad else.
To call the maids.
Fletcher (and another). Two Noble Kinsmen, iv. 1.
rearmost(rer'most), a. superl. [< rear^ + -most.']
Furthest in the rear; last .of all.
The rest pursue their course before the wind.
These of the rear^most only left behind.
Route, tr. ol Lucan's Pharsalia, iii.
rearmouse, n,. See reremouse.
rearrange (re-a-ranj'), v. t. [< re- + arrange.']
To arrange anew; make a different arrange-
ment of.
rearrangement (re-a-ranj 'ment), n. [< rear-
range + -ment.] A" new or different arrange-
ment.
rear-roastedt (rer'r6s''''ted), a. Partly roasted.
Compare rearK
There we complaine ol one reare-roasted chick.
Here meat worse cookt nere makes us siclc
Sir J. Harington, Epigrams, Iv. 6. (JVares.)
reart (rert), v. t. [A corruption of reet, a dial,
var. of right, v.] To right or mend. Halliwell.
[Local, Eng.]
rearwardH (rer'wa.rd), n. [Early mod. E. rere-
ward; < ME. rerewarde, short for arere-warde,
< OF. arere-warde, < arei-e, back, -1- ward, garde,
ward, guard: see arrear^ and ward. Ci. dou-
blet rear-g'Mord.] 1. A rear-guard; a body or
force guarding the rear.
The standard ol the camp ol the children ol Dan set
forward, which was the rereward [rearward, K. V.] ol all
the camps. Num. x. 25.
The God ol Israel will be your rereward [rearward, E. V.].
Isa. lit 12.
Because ... it was bootlesse lor them [the Turks] to
assaile the lorelront ol our batteU, . . . they determined
to set vpon our rereward. HakluyVs Voyages, II. 20.
Hence — 2. Any company or body of persons
bringing up the rear; the rear.
He . . . speaks to the tune ol a country lady, that ccHnes
ever in the rearward or train of a fashion.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, iv. 1.
rearward^ (rer'ward), adv. [< rear^ + -ward.]
At or to the rear ; toward the hinder part ; back-
ward from anything.
Rearward extended the curtain of mountains, back to
the Wolkenburg. LongfeUow, Hyperion, i. 1.
rearward^ (rer'ward), a. and n. [< rearward^,
adv.] I. a. Situated at or toward the rear;
being or coming last.
II. n. Place or position at the rear; the part
that comes last; rear; end; conclusion; wind-
up.
'A came ever in the rearward of the fashion.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iU. 2. SSa
rearwardly
rearwardly (rer'ward-li), adv. In a rearward
direction; toward the rear; rearward. [Objec-
tionable.]
Having a handle . . . extending rearwardly beyond the
suction tube. The Engineer, LXV. 874.
reascend (re-a-send'), v. i. and i. [< re- +
ascend.'\ To ascend, mount, or climb again.
Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down
The dark descent, and up to reascend.
Milton, P. L., iii 20.
He mounts aloft and reascends the skies. Addison.
reascension (re-a-sen'shon), n. [< re- + ascen-
sion.} The act of reascending; a remounting.
reascent (re-a-senf), n. [< re- + ascent.} A
rise of ground following a descent.
Hence the declivity is sharp and shorty
And such the reaseenL Cmiper, Task, i. 327.
reason^ (re'zn), n. [< ME. reson, resun, resoun,
raisoun, reisun, < OF. reson, resoun, reison, rea-
soun, reason, raison, raisoun, raisun, P. raison, P.
dial, roison = Pr. raso, raxio = Cat. raho = Sp.
razon = Pg. razao = It. ragione, < L. ratio{n-),
reckoning, list, register, sum, affair, relation,
regard, course, method, etc., also the faculty of
reckoning, or of mental action, reason, etc., <
reri, pp. ratus, think: see rate'^. Reason^ is a
doublet of ratio and ration."] 1 . An idea acting
as a cause to create or confirm a belief, or to
Induce a voluntary action ; a judgment or be-
lief going to determine a given belief or line
of conduct. A premise producing a conclusion is said
to be the reason of that conclusion ; a perceived fact or re-
flection leading to a certain line of conduct is said to be a
reason for that conduct ; a cognition giving rise to an emo-
tion or other state of mind is said to be a reason of or for
that state of mind.
And be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.
1 Pet. iii. 15.
Give you a reason on compulsion I If reasons were as
plentiful as blackberries, 1 would give no man a reason
upon compulsion. Shak., 1 Hen. lY., ii. 4. 264.
2. A fact, known or supposed, from which an-
other fact follows logically, as in consequence
of some known law of nature or the general
course of things ; an explanation.
No sooner sighed but they asked one another the reason;
no sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy.
Shak., As you Like it, v. 2. 39.
Not even the tenderest heart, and next our own.
Knows half the reasons why we smile or sigh.
KeUe, Christian Year, 24th Sunday after Trinity.
3. An intellectual faculty, or such faculties col-
lectively, (a) The Intellectual faculties collectively.
(&) That kind and degree of intelligence which distin-
guishes man from the brutes.
And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up
mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understandingreturned
unto me, and I blessed the most High. ... At the same
time my reason returned unto me. Dan. iv. 86.
0 judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.
Shal:., J. C, iii. 2. 110.
For smiles from reason flow,
To brute denied. Jfilton, P. I.., ix. 239.
(e) The logical faculties generally, including all that is
subservient to distinguishing truth and falsehood, except
sense, imagination, and memory on the one hand, and the
' faculty of intuitively perceiving first principles, and other
lofty faculties, on the other.
The knowledge which respeoteth the Faculties of the
Mind of man is of two kinds : the one respecting his Un-
derstanding and Reason, and the other his Will, Appetite,
and Affection ; whereof the former produceth Position or
Decree, the later Action or Execution. . . . The end of Logic
is to teach a form of argument to secure reason, and not
to entrap it ; tlie end of Morality is to procure the affec-
tions to obey reastm, and not to invade it ; the end of Rhet-
oric is to fill the imagination to second reason, and not
to oppress it. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii.
But God left free the will; for what obeys
Jteason is free, and reason he made right.
But bid her well be w^e, and still erect ;
Lest, j>y some fair-appearing good surprised,
Slie dictate false, and misinform the will
To do what God expressly hath forbid.
Milton, P. L., ix. 352.
We may in reason discover these four degrees : the first
and highest is the discovering and finding out of proofs ;
the second, the regular and methodical disposition of
them, and laying them in a clear and fit order, to make
their connection and force be plainly and easily per-
ceived ; the third is the perceiving of their connection ;
and the fourth is a making a right conclusion.
' Locke, Human Understanding, iv. 17, § 8.
(d) The faculty of drawing conclusions or inferences, or
of reasoning.
When she rates things, and moves from ground to ground,
The name of reason she obtains by this ;
But when by reason she the truth hath found,
And standeth flx'd, she understanding is.
Sir J. Dames, Immortal, of Soul, § 26.
The Latins called accounts of money rationes, and ac-
counting ratiocinatio; and that which we in books of ac-
counts call items they call nomina, that is, names; and
tlience it seems to proceed that they extended the word
ratio to the faculty of reckoning in all other things. The
4990
Greeks have but one word, Xovoi, for both speech and
reason; not that they thought there was no speech with-
out reason, but no reasoning without speech. . . . Out of
all which we may define, that is to say determine, what
that is which is meant by this word reason, when we
reckon it amongst the faculties of the mind. For reason,
in this sense, is nothing but reckoning.
Hobhes, Leviathan, i. 4.
{«) The faculty by which we attain the knowledge of first
principles ; a faculty for apprehending the unconditioned.
Some moral and philosophical truths there are so evident
in themselves that it would be easier to imagine half man-
kind run mad, and joined precisely in the same species of
folly, than to admit anything as truth which should be ad-
vanced against such natural knowledge, fundamental rea-
son, and common sense. Shaftesbury.
Season is the faculty which supplies the principles of
knowledge a priori.
Kant, Critique of Pure Eeason, tr. by Muller, p. 11.
4. Intelligence considered as having imiversal
validity or a catholic character, so that it is
not something that belongs to any person, but
is something partaken of, a sort of light in
which every mind must perceive. — 5. That
which recommends itself to enlightened in-
telligence ; some inward intimation for which
great respect is felt and which is supposed to
be common to the mass of mankind; reason-
able measure; moderation; right; what mature
and cool reflection, taking into account the
highest considerations, pronotmces for, as op-
posed to the prompting of passion.
You shflU find me reasonable ; if it be so, I shall do that
that is reason. Shak., M. W. of W., i. 1. 218.
Season is the life of the law ; nay, tlie common law it-
self is nothing else but reason. Sir E. Coke, Institutes.
To subdue
By force who reason for their law refuse.
Bight reason for their law, and for their King
Messiah, who by right of merit reigns.
MUton,'P.L., vi. 41.
Many are of opinion that the most probable way of
bringing France to reason would be by the making an
attempt upon the Spanisli West Indies.
Addison, Present State of the War.
6. A reasonable thing ; a rational thing to do ;
an idea or a statement conformable to com-
mon sense.
And telle he moste his tale as was resoun.
By forward and by composicioun.
As ye ban herd.
Clia/ucer, Prol. to Knight's Tale (ed. Morris), 1. 847.
It is not reason that we should leave the word of God
and serve tables. Acts vi. 2.
. Men cannot retire when they would, neither will they
when it were reason. Bacon, Great Place.
7. The exercise of reason; reasoning; right
reasoning; argumentation; discussion.
Your reasons at dinner havebeen sharp and sententious.
Shak., L. L. L., v. 1. 2.
I foUow'd her ; she what was honour knew.
And with obsequious majesty approved
My pleaded reason. MiUon, P. L., viii. 510.
8. The intelligible essence of a thing or spe-
cies; the quiddity.
That other opinion, that asserts that the abstract and
universal rationes, reasons, of things, as distinct from
phantasms, are nothing else but mere names without any
signification, is so ridiculously false that it deserves no
confutation at all.
Cudworth, Eternal and Immutable Morality, Iv, 1.
9. In logic, the premise or premises of an ar-
gument, especially the minor premise.
A premiss placed after its conclusion is called the Rea-
son of it, and is introduced by one of those conjunctions
which are called causal : viz., "since," " because," &c.
Whately, Logic, i, § 2.
By reasont. (a) For the reason that; because.
'Tis not unusual in the Assembly to revoke their Votes,
by reason they make so much hast.
Selden, Table-Talk, p, 108.
(6) By right or justice ; properly ; justly.
And, as my body and my beste ougte to be my liegis.
So rithfluUy be reson my rede shulde also.
Richard the Reddest, ProL
By reason of, on account of ; for the cause of.
And try reson of gentill fader ought come gentill issue.
Merlin (B. E. T. S.), iii. 660.
The days of our years are threescore years and ten ; and
if by reason o/ strength they be fourscore years, yet is their
strength labour and sorrow. Ps. xc. 10.
Mr. Bradford and Mr. Collier of Plimouth came to Bos-
ton, having appointed a meeting here the week before,
but by reason q^foul weather were driven back.
Winlhrop, Hist, New England, I, 166.
The Parliament is adjourned to Oxford, by reason o/the
Sickness which increaseth exceedingly.
Howell, Letters, I. iv, 20.
I cannot go so fast as I would, by reason of this burden
that is on my back. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 89.
We elected a president, as many of the ancients did
their kings, lyy reason of his height.
Addison, Spectator, No. 108.
Discourse of reason, the operation or faculty of reason-
ing, or the conscious and voluntary use of beliefs already
had to determine others.
reason
0 God I a beast, that wants discourse (tf reason.
Would have mourn'd longer. Shak., Hamlet, i. 2. 160.
DisCUrSlTe reason, reason in the sense 3 (d) ; the diano-
etic faculty, or faculty of drawing conclusions and infer-
ences. Compare iniuitive reason, below.
Whence tile soul
Reason receives, and reason is her being.
Discursive or intuitive; discourse
Is oftest yours, the latter most is ours,
Differing but in degree, of kind the same.
Milton, P. L., V. 487.
Diversity of reasont. See diversity.— 'Ens of reason.
See ens. — False reason, an inconclusive reason. — Feast
of reason, (a) DeUghtful intellectual discourse.
There St. John mingles with my friendly bowl
The /cost of reason and the flow of soul.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. i. 128.
(6) [caps.] In French hist, an act of worship of human rea-
son, represented by a woman as the goddess of Heason, per-
formed on November 10th, 1798, in the cathedral of Notre
Dam e, and also in other churches (renamed temples of Rea-
son) in France on that and succeeding days. The worship
of Reason was designed to take the place of the suppressed
Christian worship ; recognition of the Supreme Being was
restored through the influence of Robespierre. — Genera-
tlvereason. ^eegenercUive. — Inreason. (a)Intheview
or estimation of reason; reasonably; justly; properly.
His unjust unkindness, that in all reason should have
quenched her love. ShaJc., M. for M., iii. 1. 260.
The Oath which binds him to performance of his ought
in reason to contain the summ of what his chief trust and
Ofilce is. Milton, Eikonoklastes, vi.
(6) Agreeable to reason ; reasonable ; just ; proper ; as, I
will do anything in reason,— Intuitive reason, reason ia
the sense 3 (e) ; the noetic faculty, or sense ofjHimal truth.
See quotation under discursive reason.— Lopcal reason,
discursive reason.— Objective reason. See oMeclive.—
Out of reason, without or beyond reason ; devoid of cause
or warrant.
If we desyre no redresse of dedis before.
We may boldly vs byld with bostis out of Refison.
Destruction of Troy (E, E. T. S,), I. 2222.
Practical reason. See yroclicoJ.— Principle of suffi-
cient reason, the proposition that nothing happens with-
out a good and sufficient reason why it should be as it is
and not otherwise. This doctrine denies, first, that any-
thing happens by chance or spontaneity, and, second, that
anything happens by irrational and brute force. It is in-
extricably bound up with the principle of the identity of
indiscernibles. It requires that there should be a general
reason why the constants of nature should have the pre-
cise values they have. It is in conflict with every form of
nominalism, teaching that general reasons are not only
real, but that they exclusively govern phenomena ; and it
appears to lead logically to an idealism of a Platonic type.
It is not the mere statement that evei^ything has a cause,
but that Uiose causes act according to general and rational
principles, without any element of blind compulsion. The
principle was first enunciated by Leibnitz in 1710, and has
met with extraordinary favor, the more so as it has often
been misunderstood. — Pure reason, reason strictly a pri-
ori; reason quite independent of experience. Seeimrc,8.
Reason is pure if in reasoning we admit only definitions
and propositions known a priori.
Baumeisier, Philosophia Definitiva (trans.), 2d ed., 1738,
[§823.
Pure reason is that faculty which supplies the principles
of knowing anything entirely a priori.
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, tr, by Muller, p. 11.
Ratiocinant reason, (a) A reason or cause as it exists
in the mind : opposed to ratiocinate reason.
I have not asked this question without cause causing,
and reason truly very ratiocinant.
tfrquhart, Rabelais, III, vi. (Datnes.)
(6) The human understanding ; the discursive reason.—
Ratiocinate reason, a reason as an element of the quid-
dity of things, according to the Aristotelian conception :
opposed to raiiodnant reason. — Reason of state, a po-
litical motive for a public act which cannot be accounted
for publicly ; a concealed ground of action by a govern-
ment or a public officer in some matter concerning the
state's welfare or safety, or the maintenance of a policy.—
Relation of reason. See reJaKon.— Right reason, rea-
son in sense 5, above.— Rime nor reason. See rimei —
Speculative reason, reason employed about supersensu-
ous things.— Subjective reason, reason which is deter-
mined by the subject or agent.— Sufficient reason. See
principle of sufficient reason, above. — Theoretical rea-
son, reason as productive of cognition.- There is no
reason butt, there is no reason why not ; it is inevitable ;
it cannot be helped.
There is no reason but I shall be blind.
Shak., T.G. otV., ii, 4, 212.
To do one reasont. (o) To do what is desired, or what
one desires ; act so as to give satisfaction.
Lord Titus, by your leave, this maid is mine.
... [I am] resolved withal
To do myself this reason and this right.
Shak., Tit. And., i, 1, 279.
Strike home, and do me reason in thy heart. Dryden.
(b) See (foi.— To have reason, to have reason or right on
one s side ; be in the right, [A Gallicism,]
Mr. Mechlin has reason. Foots, Commissary, ill. 1.
To hear reason, to yield to reasoning or argument ; ac-
cept a reason or reasons adduced ; act according to ad-
vice.
Con. You should hear reason.
D.John. . . . What blessing brings it?
Con. If not a present remedy, at least a patient suffer-
ance. Shak., Much Ado, i, 3. 6.
To stand to reason. See stand. =8Ya. 1. Inducement,
etc. (see motive), account, object, purpose, design.
reasoni (re'zn), v. [< ME. resonen,< OP. raisoner,
raisonner, raisnier, reason, argue, discourse,
reason
speak, F. raisoniier, reasoB, argue, reply, = Pr.
razonar, rasonar = Cat. rakonar = Sp. razonar
= Pg. razoar = It. ragionare, reason, < ML. ra-
iionare, reason, argue, discourse, speak, cal-
culate, < L. ratio{n-), reason, calculation: see
reason^, n. Cf. areason.'] I, intrans. 1. To
exercise the faculty of reason ; make rational
deductions; think or choose rationally; use in-
telligent discrimination.
He [the serpent] hath eaten and lives.
And knows, and speaks, and reasons^ and discerns,
Irrational till then. MUton, P. L, \x. 765.
We, only reason in so far as we note the resemblances
among objects and events.
J. Svlly, Outlines of Psychol., p. 415.
2. To practise reasoning in regard to some-
thing; make deductions from premises; en-
gage in discussion ; argue, or hold arguments.
Let us dispute again.
And reason of divine Astrology.
Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, ii. 2.
Come now, and let us reoion together, saith the Lord.
Isa. i. IS.
3f. Toholdacoount; make areckoning; reckon.
Since the affairs of men rest stiU incertain,
Let's reason with the worst that may heffOl.
Shak., J. C, V. 1. 97.
4. To hold discourse ; talk; parley.
They reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the
heir : come, let us kill him. Luke xx. 14.
But reason with the fellow.
Before you punish him. Shak., Cor., iv. 6. 51.
II. trans. 1. To reason about; consider or
discuss argumentatively ; argue; debate.
Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Mark ii. 8.
Condescends, even, to reason this point. Brougham:
2. To give reasons for; support by argument;
make a plea for: often with out: as, to reason
out a proposition or a claim.
This hoy, that cannot tell what he would have.
But kneels and holds up hands for fellowship,
Does reason our petition with more strength
Than thou hast to deny 't. Shale., Cor., v. 3. 176.
3. To persuade by reasoning or argument.
Men that will not be reasoned into their senses may yet
be laughed or drolled into them. Sir S. L'Sstrange.
4t. To hold argument with ; engage in speech
or discussion; talk with; interrogate.
reason^t, ». An obsolete spelling of raisin^. In
the following passage it is apparently applied
to some other fruit than the grape.
A medlar and a hartichoke,
A crab and a small reason. •
Cotgrave, Wits Interpreter (1671), p. 219. (Ifares.)
reasonable (re'zn-a-bl), a. [< ME. resonable,
resunable, resnabyl,"resnable, renahle, runnable,<
OP. resonable, raisonnable, regnable,resnable, ra-
tionablt, P. raisonnable = Pr. razonable = Cat.
rahonable = Sp. razonable = Pg. razoavel = It.
razionabile, < L. rationabilis, reasonable, < ra-
tio(n-), reason, calculation: see reason^ and
-able.2 1. Having the faculty of reason; en-
dowed with reason; rational, as opposed to
brute.
If he have wit enough to keep himself warm, let him
bear it for a difference between himself and his horse ; for
if is all the wealth that he hath left, to be known a reason-
able creature. Shak., Much Ado, i. 1. 71.
2. Characterized by the use of reason ; amena-
ble to reason or sound sense ; not senseless, fool-
ish, or extravagant in thought or action.
Hir raaners might no man amend ;
Of tong she was trew and renoMe,
And of hir semblant soft and stabile.
Ywaine and Oawaine (Kitson's Metr. Kom., 1. 10), 1. 208.
[{Fiffrs Plowman, Notes, p. 17.)
The BAieotrve reasonable . . . denotes a character in which
reason (taking it in its largest acceptation) possesses a de-
cided ascendant over the temper and passions ; and im-
plies no particular propensity to a display of the discursive
power, if indeed it does not exclude the idea of such a pro-
pensity. D. Stewart, Human Mind, ii. 10, note.
3. Conformable to or required by reason ; due
to or resulting from good judgment; rationally
sound, sensible, natural, etc.
Ther doth no wyghte nothing so resonable
That nys harme in her [jealousy's] ymagynynge.
Chaucer, Complaint of "Venus, 1. 35.
I beseech you . . . present your bodies a living sacri-
fice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonaile
service. ' Kom. xii. 1.
A law may be reaaonaUe in itself, though a man does not
allow it. Sv»ft.
The terrors of the child axe quite reasonaile, and add to
his loveliness. Emerson, Courage.
4. Not exceeding the bounds of reason or com-
mon sense ; moderate ; tolerable.
I will marry her upon any reasonable demands.
Shak., M. W. of W., i. 1. 233.
4991
5. Moderate in amount or price ; not high or
dear : as, reasonable charges or prices ; reason-
able goods. — 6. In law, befitting a person of
reason or sound sense; such as a prudent man
would exercise or act upon in his own affairs :
as, reasonable care ; reasonable diligence ; rea-
sonable cause. — 7t. Calculable; computable;
hence, detailed ; itemized.
And rekene byfore reson a resonable acounte.
What one hath, what another hath, and what hy hadde
bothe. Piers Plowman (C), xiv. 35.
8t. Talkative ; ready in conversation.
Lo \ how goodly spak this knight . . .
I . . . gan me aqueynte
With him, and fond him so tretable,
Kight wonder skilful and resonable.
Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 1. 634.
Proof beyond a reasonable doubt, such proof as will
produce an abiding conviction to a moral certainty, so
that a prudent man would feel safe to act upon that con-
viction in matters of the highest concern to his personal
interests. — Reasonable aid, a euphemistic expression
for aid\ 3, corresponding to the term benevolence as used
for forced loans or gifts.— Reasonable alms. See alms.
— Reasonable doubt, in law, doubt for which a pertinent
reason can be assigned ; that state of a case wMch, after
the entire comparison and consideration of the evidence,
leaves the minds of jurors in that condition that they can-
not say they feel an abiding conviction, to a moral cer-
tainty, of the truth of the charge. Shaw, C. J. — Rea-
sonable dower. See dower^, 2.=Syn. national, Bea-
sonable. See rational.
reasonablet (re'zn-a-bl), adv. [< reasonable, a.]
Reasonably.
I have a reasonable good ear in music. Let's have the
tongs and the bones. Shak., M. N. p., iv. 1. 31.
The Library of the Sorbonne is a very long and large
Gallery, reasonable well stored with Books.
Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 128.
reasonableness (re'zn-a-bl-nes), n. The char-
acter of being reasonable; conformity to or
compliance with the requirements of reason ;
agreeableness to rational-ideas or principles.
The method of inwardness and the secret of self-re-
nouncement, working in and through this element of
mildness, produced the total impression of his [Jesus's]
" epieikeia," or sweet reasonablertess.
M. Arnold, Literature and Dogma, vii. § 5.
reasonably (re'zn-a-bli), adv. [ME. resonably,
renably; < reasonaile + -ly^.'i 1. In a reason-
able manner; agreeably to reason ; with good
sense or judgment.
And speke as renably and faire and wel
As to the Phitonissa did Samuel.
Chaucer, ]Mar's Tale, 1. 211.
The abuse of the judicial functions that were properly
and reasonably assumed by the House wa£ scandalous and
notorious. Lecky, £ng. in 18th Cent, iii.
2. Within the bounds of reason; with good
reason or cause ; justly ; properly.
Whate'er Lord Harry Percy then had said . . .
May reasonably die. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., i. 3. 74.
It might seem that an egg which has succeeded in being
fresh has done all that can reasonably be expected of it.
H. Ja/tms, Jr., Little Tour, p. 248.
3. To a reasonable extent; in a moderately
good degree ; fairly ; tolerably.
Verely she was heled, and left her styltes there.
And on her fete wente home resonably well.
Joseph of Arimathie (E. E. T. S.), p. 47.
As a general rule. Providence seldom vouchsafes to
mortals any mor,e than just that degree of encouragement
which suffices to keep them at a reasonably full exertion
of their powers. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, iii.
reasoned (re'znd), p. a. Characterized by or
based upon reasoning; following a logical or
rational method; carefully argued or studied.
reasoner (re'zn-er), n. [< reason^ + -er^. Cf.
P. raisonneur = Pr. razonador = Sp. razonador
= Pg. raciocinador = It. ragionatore, < ML. raWo-
natoi; a reasoner, < rationare, reason : see rea-
son^, ».] One who reasons or argues, or exer-
cises his reasoning powers ; one who considers
a subject argumentatively.
They are very bad reasoners, and vehemently given to
opposition. Swift, Gulliver's Travels, iii. 2.
reasonfuUyt (re'zn-ful-i), adv. [ME., < reason^
+ -fill + -ly^.'] With full reason ; most reason-
ably.
So then reasonfulli maye we sey that mercy both right
and lawe passeth. Testament of Love, iii.
reasoning (re'zn-ing), n. [Verbal n. of reason^,
v.] 1. The use of the faculty of reason; dis-
criminative thought or discussion in regard to
a subject; rational consideration. — 2. A pres-
entation of reasons or arguments; an argu-
mentative statement or expression; a formal
discussion.
Hear now my reasordng, and hearken. Job xiii. 6.
3t. Discussion; conversation; discourse.
Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them
should be greatest. Luke ix. 46.
reassure
Chain of Teasoning. See chain.— JieAuctive, dia-
grammatic, dllemmatic,Fennatlan reasoning. See
the adjectives. =Syn. Reasoning, Argumentation, Rear
soning is much broader than argumentaUan. The lat-
ter is confined to one side of the question, or, in another
sense, supposes a proposition, supported by arguments on
the affirmative side and attacked by arguments on the
negative. Reasoning may be upon one side of a proposi-
tion, and is then the same as argumentaiitm; but it may
also be the method by which one reaches a belief, and
thus a way of putting together the results of investigation :
as, the reasoning in Euclid, or in Butler's Analogy ; the
reasoning by which a thief justifies himself in stealing.
A piece of reasoning is like a suspended chain, in which
link is joined to link by logical dependence.
J. P. Clarke, SeU-Culture, p. 168.
A poem does not admit argumentation, though it does
admit development of thought. Coleridge, Table-Talk.
reasonless (re'zn-les), a. [< reason^ + -less.']
1. Lacking the faculty of reason; irrational,
as an animal. [Bare.]
The reasonless creatures [the two kine] also do the will
of their maker.
Rp. Hall, Contemplations (ed. Tegg, 1836), II. 144.
2. Deficient in reason or judgment; lacking
in good sense ; unreasoning. [.Archaic.]
AVhen any of them [animals] dieth, it is . . . buried in
a holy place, the reasonZesse men howling and knocking
their breasts in the exequies of these vnreasonable beasts.
Purehas, Pilgrimage, p. 674.
3. Not marked or justified by reason ; sense-
less; causeless; unwarranted.
This proffer is absurd and reasonless.
Shak., 1 Hen. VL, v. 4. 137.
reason-piece (re'zn-pes), n. [A corruption of
raising-piece.'] In building, a timber lying un-
der the ends of beams in the side of a house ; a
wall-plate.
reassemblage (re-a^sem'blaj), n. [< re- -i- as-
semblage.] A renewed assemblage.
New beings arise from the re-assemblage of the scattered
parts. Harris, Three Treatises, Note 7 on Treatise I.
reassemble (re-a-sem'bl), v. [< re- + assem-
ble. "Cf. P. rassembler, reassemble.] I. trans.
To assemble or bring together again; gather
anew.
ReassemMing our afflicted powers,
Consult how we may henceforth most offend.
MUton, P. L., i. 186.
II. intrans. To assemble or meet together
again.
The forces of Surajah Dowlah were dispersed, never to
reassemble. iiacavlay. Lord Clive.
reassert (re-a-serf), V. t. [< re- + assert] To
assert again'; proclaim or manifest anew.
With equal fury, and with equal fame.
Shall great Ulysses reassert his claim.
Pope, Odyssey, xvii. 147.
reassertion (re-a-ser'shon), n. [< reassert +
-ion.] A repeated assertion of the same thing ;
the act of asserting anew,
reassess (re-a-ses'), V. t. [< re- + assess.] To
assess again,
reassessment (re-a-ses'ment), n. [< reassess +
-ment.] A renewed or repeated assessment.
re&:SSign (re-a-sin'), v. t. [= P. reassigner; as
re- + assign'.] To assign again ; transfer back
or to another what has been assigned.
reassignment (re-a-sin'ment), n. [< reassign
-f -ment.] Arenewed or repeated assignment.
reassume (re-a-sum'), v. t. [= Sp. reasumir =
Pg. reassumir = It. riassumere; as re- + assume.]
To assume or take again; resume.
And when the sayd v. dayes were expyred, ye kynge re-
assumyd the crowne of Pandulph.
Fabyan, Chron., II., an. 1212.
reassumption (re-a-sump'shon), ». [< re- -1-
assumption.] Aresiiming; a second assumption.
reassurance (re-a-shor'ans), n. [= P. reassu-
rance; as reassure + -ance.] 1. Assurance or
confirmation repeated.
A reassurance of his tributary subjection.
Prynne, Treachery and Disloyalty, iii. 25.
2. Restoration of courage or confidence ; deliv-
erance from apprehension or doubt.
How plainly I perceived hell fla«h and fade
0' the face of her — the doubt that first paled joy.
Then, final reassurance.
Browning, Ring and Book, II. 49.
3. Same as reinsurance.
No re-assurance shall be lawful, except the former in-
surer shall be insolvent, a bankrupt, or dead.
mackstone. Com., IL xxx.
reassure (re-a-shor'), v. t. [=P. reassurer =
Pg. reassegufar = It. riassicurare ; as re- +
assure.] 1. To assure or establish anew; make
sure again ; confirm.
Let me fore-warn'd each sign, each system learn,
That I my people's danger may discern,
Ere 'tis too late wish'd health to reassure.
ChurchiU, Gotham, ill .
reassure
But let me often to these solitudes
Uetire, and in Oiy presence reassure
My feeble virtue. Bryant, Forest Hymn.
2. To give renewed assurance to; free from
doubt or apprehension ; restore to confidence.
They rose with fear, and left the unfinished feast,
Till dauntless Fallas re-assured the rest.
Dryden, .ffineid, yiii. 146.
3. Same as reinsure.
reassurer (re-a-shdr'6r), n. One who reassures,
or assures or insures anew.
reassuringly (re-a-sher'ing-li), adv. In a re-
assuring manner;' so as to reassure.
reast^ (rest;, v. [Also reest (and rease, reeee,
in pp. reasecl, reezed), Sc. reist (as v. t.); prob.
< Dan. riste, broil, gjrill ; cf . Sw. rosta, roast :
see roast.'^ I. trans. To dry (meat) by the heat
of the sun or in a chimney; smoke-dry.
Let us cut up bushes and briars, pile them before the
door and set flre to them, and smoke that auld devil's
dam as if she were to be reisted for bacon.
Scott, Black Dwarf, ix.
They bequeath so great sums for masses, and dirges, and
trentals, . . . that their souls may at the last be had to
heaven, though first for a while they be reezed in purgatory.
i?«v. T. Adams, Works. I. 65.
II. intrans. If. To become rusty and rancid,
as dried meat. Cath. Aug., p. 304.
The scalding of Hogges keepeth the flesh whitest,
iPlumpest, and fullest, neither is the Bacon so apt to reast
as the other ; besides, it will make it somewhat apter to
take salt. Markham, Countrey Farme (1616), p. 107.
2. To take offense. SalKwell. [Prov. Eng.]
least^t, V. An obsolete spelling of rest^.
xeasted (res'ted), p. a. [Also reested, reesUt,
*reased, reezed, rezed, reised; < ME. rested, cgntr.
reste; pp. of reasP-, v."] Become rusty and ran-
cid, as dried meat. Cath. Aug., p. 304.
Or once a weeke, perhaps, for novelty,
Bsez'd bacon soords shEdl f easte his family.
Bp. Ball, Satires, IV. li.
What accademick starved satyrist
Would gnaw re^d bacon?
J/orston, Scourge of Villanie, iii. (Ifares.)
Of beef and re^etf' bacon store,
That is most fat and greasy.
We have likewise to feed our chaps.
And make them glib and easy.
KiTig Alfred and the She;pherd. iNares.)
reastiness (res'ti-nes), n. [< reasfij + -ness.']
The state or quality of being reasty ; rancid-
ness. [Prov. Eng.]
reasty^ (res'ti), a. [Also resty and rusty (simu-
lating rust) ; <.reasf^ + -y^. Cf . the earlier adj.
reasted.'] Same as reasted.
Through folly, too beastly,
Much bacon is reasty,
Tusser, Husbandry, November Abstract.
And than came haltynge Jone,
And broughte a gambone
Of bakon that was resty.
Skelton, Elynour Kummyng, L 328.
Thy flesh is restie or leane, tough & olde,
Or it come to borde unsavery and colde.
Barclay, Cytezen & Uplondyshman (Percy Soc), p. 39.
Uflath. Ang., p. 304.>
reasty^ (res'ti), a. Same as resty'^.
Teata (re-a'ta), n. [Also riata; < Sp. reata, a
rope, also a leader mule (= Pg. reata, ar^iata,
a halter), < Sp. reatar, tie one beast to another,
retie (= Pg. reatar, ar-riatar, bind again), < re-
(< L. re-), again, back, + Sp. Pg. Cat. atar,
bind, < L. 'aptare, fit on, fit together, etc. : see
apf.] A rope, usuallj^ of rawhide, with or
without a noose, used in western and Spanish
America for catching or picketing animals ; a
lariat.
' j"-
bounded forward.
Bret Harte, Tales of the Argonauts, p. 17.
leate (ret), n. [Also reit; prop, reat or reet;
origin obscure. Cf. reahe.'] The water-crow-
foot, Sanunculus aquaUUs: probably applied
also to fresh-water algse and various floating
plants. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
This is the onely fish that buildeth upon the reites and
mosse of the sea, and laieth her egs, or spawneth, in her
nest. HoUand, tr. of Pliny, ix. 26.
Seits, sea weed, of some called retts, of others wrack,
and of the Thanet men wore. Bp. Emnett.
The soft tree-tent
Guards with its face of reate and sedge.
Browning, Sordello.
reattach (re-a-taeh'), J). «. \i re- + attach. Cf.
P. rattacher, "attach again.] To attach again,
in any sense.
reattachmeat (re-a-tach'ment), n. [< reat-
tach + -ment.'] A second or repeated attach-
ment.
reattempt (re-a-tempf), «>• *• [< re- + attempt.^
To attempt again.
4992
His voyage then to be re-attempted.
Bakluyt's Voyages, III. 168.
reaumet, »• -A-u obsolete form of realm.
Eeaumuria (re-6-mii'ri-a), n. [NL. (Linnrous,
1762), named after Een§ A. F. de Miaumur
(1683 -1757) , a French naturalist.] 1 . A genus
of polypetalous shrubs of the order Tamarisd-
neee and type of the tribe Eeaumuriex. it is
characterized by numerous stamens which are tree or
somewhat united into Ave clusters, from five to ten bracts
close to the calyx, five awl-shaped styles, and densely
hairy seeds. There are about 12 species, natives of the
Mediterranean region and of central Asia. They are gen-
erally very branching and procumbent undershrubs, with
small or cylindrical crowded leaves and terminal solitary
flowers, which are sometimes showy and red or purple.
Several species are occasionally cultivated as ornamental
shrubs. J{. vermieulata, a pink-flowered species, is used
as an external remedy for the itch.
2. In entom., a genus of dipterous insects.
Desvoidy, 1830.
Eeaumuriese(re"6-mii-ri'e-e), n.pl. [NL.(Ehr-
enberg, 1827), < iteaumuria + -eie.} A tribe
of polypetalous plants of the order Tamarisci-
nese, the tamarisk family, characterized by free
petals, long-haired seeds, and solitary axillary
or terminal flowers. It includes 2 genera, Hololachne,
a monotypic undershrub of the salt marshes of central
Asia, and Heavmuria.
Keaumur's porcelain. See porcelain''-.
Reaumur's scale. See thermometer.
reave (rev), v.; pret. and pp. reaved, reft (for-
merly also raft), ppr. reaving. [Early mod. E.
also reve, reeve (Sc. reive, etc.), dial, rave; < ME.
reven (pret. revede, reved, refde, rafte, refte, pp.
raft, reft), < AS. redfian, rob, spoil, plunder, =
OS. *r6hhon (in comp. hi-robhon) = OFries. rd-
via, rdva = D. rooven = MLG. LG. roven = OHG.
roubon, MH(j. rouben, G. rauben, rob, deprive,
= Icel. raufa = Sw. rofva = Dan. rove, rob, =
Goth. *raub6n, in comp. li-raubon, rob, spoil; a
secondary verb associated with the noun, AS.
redf, spoil, plunder, esp. clothing or armor taken
as spoil, hence clothing in general, = OFries.
rdf= D. roof = MLG. rof = OHG. roub, roup,
raup, MHG. roup, G. raub = Icel. rauf=z Sw.
ro/=Dan. rov, spoil, pltmder (see reaf); from
the primitive verb, AS. *re6fan, in comp. he-red-
fan, bi-redfan, deprive, = Icel. rjiifa (pp. rofinn),
break, rip, violate, =:li.rumpere (■\/ rup), break:
see rupture. Hence, in comp., bereave. From
the Teut. are It. ruba, spoil, etc., rubare, spoil,
= OF. rober, robber, rob, whence E. rob, etc. ; It.
roba = OF. (and F. ) robe, garment, robe, whence
E. robe, rubble, rubbish : see robe and rob. Prom
the D. form are E. rove^, rover.'] I. trans. 1. To
take away by force or stealth; carry off as
booty ; take violently ; purloin, especially in a
foray: with a thing as object. [Now rare.]
Aristotill sais that the bees are feghtande agaynes hym
that will drawe thaire hony fra thaym, swa sulde we do
agaynes deuells that aflorces tham to reue fra vs the hony of
poure lyfe. Hampole, Prose Treatises (E. E. I. S.), p. 8.
Since he himself is r^t from her by death.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, L 1174.
A good cow was a good cow, had she been twenty times
reaved. 0. MacDondld, What's Mine's Mine, p. 303.
2. To take away ; remove ; abstract ; draw off.
[Obsolete or archaic]
Hir clothes ther scho ra/e hir fro,
And to the wodd gane scho go.
Perceval, 2157. (Salliwell.)
And (from goure willffuU werkis goure will was chaungid.
And rafte was goure riott and rest, ffor goure daiez
Weren wikkid thoru goure cursid counceill.
Siehard the Medeless, 1. 6.
The derke nyght
That revCth bestis from here besynease.
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 86.
Sith nothing ever may redeeme nor reave
Out of your endlesse debt so sure a gage.
Spenser, F. Q., To Lord Grey of Wilton.
We reave thy sword.
And give thee armless to thy enemies.
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Malta, v. 2.
3. To rob; plunder; dispossess; bereave: wi^h
a person as object. [Obsolete or archaic]
And sitthe he is so leel a lorde, ioh leyue that he wol nat
Reven ous of oure ryght. Purs Plowman (C), xxi. 310.
To reave the orphan of his patrimony.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., y. 1. 187.
So reft of reason Athamas became.
Longfellow, tr. of Dante's Inferno, xxx. 4.
Then he reft us of it
Perforce, and left us neither gold nor field.
Tennyson, Gareth and Lynette.
4. To tear up, as the rafters or roof of a house.
[Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Agaynst them Troians down the towres and tops of bouses
rold,
And rafters vp they rea/ue. Phaer, .^neid, ii.
5. To ravel; pull to pieces, as a textile fabric.
—To ramp and reavet. See ramp.
rebate
II. intrans. To practise plundering or pil-
laging ; carry off stolen property. [Now only
Scotch.]
Where we shall robbe, where we shall rem.
Where we shall bete and bynde.
I/yt£ll Geste ofSobyn Bode (Child's Ballads, V. 46).
To slink thro' slaps, an' reive an' steal
At stacks o' peas, or stocks o' kail.
Bums, Death of Poor Mallie.
reavelt, "• An obsolete form of raveU.
reaver (re'v6r), «. [Early mod. E. also reever
(Sc. reiver); < ME. revere, < AS. redfere (=
OFries. rdvere, raver = D. roover = MLG.
rover = OHG. roubare, MHG. roubsere, G. rdn-
ber = Icel. raufari, reyfari = Sw. rofoare = Dan.
rover), a robber, < redfian, rob, reave : see reave.
Cf. rover, from the D. cognate of reaver.] One
who reaves or robs; a plundering forager; a
robber. [Obsolete or archaic, or Scotch.]
To robbers and to reueres. Piers Plowman (B), xiv. 182.
Those were the days when, if two men or three came
riding to a town, all the township fled for them and weened
that they were reavers.
E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, V. 189.
reavery (re'ver-i), «. [= D. rooverij = MLG.
roverie = G. rduberei = Sw. rofveri = Dan.
roveri; as reave -I- -ery.] A carrying off, as
of booty ; a plundering or pillaging ; robboiy.
[Rare.]
Wallace was ner, quhen he sic reueri saw.
Wallace, iv. 40. (Jamieson.)
reballing (re-ba'ling), n. [< re- + bain + -infli.]
The catching of eels with earthworms attached
to a ball of lead which is suspended by a string
from a pole. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
rebaptism (re-bap'tizm), n. [< re- + baptism.]
A new or second baptism, it has always been the
generally accepted teachmg that to perform the ceremony
on one known to have been really baptized already is
sacrilegious ; and what is or may be rebaptism is permis-
sible only because the validity of the previous ceremony
has been denied, or because the fact of its administration,
or the manner in which it was performed, is disputed
or doubtful. Conditional or hypothetical tapHsm is ad-
ministered in the Koman Catholic Church to all candi-
dates coming from Protestant churches, under a form
beginning "If thou hast not been baptized," the question
of the validity of Protestant baptism being held in abey-
ance. Such rebaptism is also administered in the Angli-
can churches in special cases, as where the candidate him-
self desires it. Baptist churches require rebaptism of all
who have not been immersed on profession of faith.
rebaptist (re-bap'tist), n. [< re- + baptist.]
(Dne who baptizes again, or who undergoes
baptism a second time ; also, a Baptist or Ana-
baptist.
Some for rebaptist him bespatter.
For dipping rider oft in water.
T. Brown, Works, IV. 270. (Dames.)
rebaptization (re-bap-ti-za'shon), m. [=F. re-
baptisation; as rebaptize + -ation.] The act of
rebaptizing; renewed or repeated baprism.
St. Cyprian . . . persisted in his opinion of rebaptiza^
tion until death. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), II. 313.
rebaptize (re-bap-tiz'), v. t. [< OF. rebaptiser,
rebapUeer, F. rebaptiser = Sp. rebautigar = Pg.
rebapUzar = It. ribattezeare, < LL. rebaptizare,
baptize again, < re-, again, + baptizare, baptize :
seebaptize.] 1. To baptize again or anew; re-
peat the baptism of.
Cyprian was no hereticke, though he beleeued rebaptis-
ing of them which were baptised of heretloks.
Foxe, Martyrs, p. 1468, an. 1665.
2. To give a new name to, as at a second bap-
tism.
Of any Paganism at that time, or long before. In the Land
we read not, or that Pelagianism was rehapti^d.
Milton, Hist Eng., iii.
rebaptizer (re-bap-ti'z6r), «. One who rebap-
tizes, or who believes in rebaptism; also, an
Anabaptist.
There were Adamites in former Times and Eebaptizers.
Bowell, Letters, iv. 29.
rebate! (re-baf), v.; pret. and pp. rebated, ppr.
rebating. [< ME. rebaten, < OF. rebatre, re-
battre, beat or drive back again, repel, repulse,
P. rebattre, beat again, repeat (= It. ribattere,
beat again, beat down, blunt, reflect, etc.),< re-,
back, again, -I- hatrej>attre, beat : see bate^-, bat-
ter^. Gt.rabate.] I. <rares. If. Tobeatbaok;
drive back by beating; fend or ward off; re-
pulse.
This is the city of great Babylon,
Where proud Darius was rebated from.
Greene, Orlando Furioso.
This shirt of mail worn near my skin
Rebated their sharo steel.
Beau, and Fl. (?), Faithful Friends, iii. 3.
2t. To beat down; beat to bluntness; make
obtuse or dull, literally or figuratively; blunt:
bate.
rebate
One who . . .
. . . doth rebate and blunt hia natural edge
With profits of the mind, study and fast.
Shak., M. for M., L 4. 60.
Thou wilt belie opinion, and rebate
The ambition of thy gallantry.
Beau, and Fl., Laws of Candy, L 2.
But the broad belt, with places of silTer bound.
The point rebated, and repelled the wound.
Pope, niad, zL 304.
8. To set or throw off; allow as a discount or
abatement; make a drawback of. See the
noun. [Rare or obsolete.]
Yet was I verie ill satisfied, and forced to rebate part [of
a debt], and to take wares as payment for the rest.
Hakluyt'e Voyages, I. 332.
n.t intrans. To draw back or away; with-
draw; recede.
He began a little to rebate from certain points of popery.
Foxe, Martyrs, p. 1621, an. 1555.
rebatei (re-bat'),K. [<.rebate\v. Ct. rahate,n.']
Diminution; retrenchment; specifically, an al-
lowance by way of discount or drawback ; a
deduction from a gross amount Rebate and
discount, in ariCA., a rule by which abatements and dis-
counts upon ready-money payments are calculated.
rebate^ (re-bat '), n. [An altered form of
rdbate: see rabate and ro66ei.] 1. A longi-
tudinal space or groove cut back or sunk in a
piece of joinery, timber, or the Uke, to receive
the edge of some other part.
On the periphery at the socket end [of the brush] a shal-
low reibat£ is formed, to receive the binding string.
Spoiuf Encyc. Mamif., I. 644.
2. A kind of hard freestone used in pavements.
Elwes. — 3. A piece of wood fastened to a han-
dle, used for beating mortar. Elwes.
rebate''' (rf-baf), »• *•; pret. and pp. rebated,
■ppv. rebating. [<re&ote2^m.] To make a rebate
or rabbet in, as a piece of joinery or other work ;
rabbet.
rebated (r^-ba'ted),^. a. 1. In feer., cut short:
noting any ordinary, especially a cross, charac-
terized by having one or more of its arms too
short to reach the edge of the field. — 2. Blunt.
rebatement (rf-bat'ment), n. [< rebate^ +
-ment.^ 1. The act of "rebating, or the state of
being rebated ; a blunting; abatement; draw-
back. [Rare.] — 2. In her. : (a) A cutting off, or
shortening, as of one arm of a cross, or the
like. (6) Same as abatement, in the sense of
degradation of or dishonorable addition to a
coat-armor. — 3. A narrowing.
For without in the wall of the house he made narrowed
rests [margin : nanowings, or rdtatetrt^Tits] round about,
that the beams should not be fastened in ijie walls of the
house. 1 KL vi. 6.
In the description of the side-chambers of the temple,
the r^tateTiient signifies the narrowing of the walls which
left a ledge for the joists of the upper chambers to rest
on. W. A. Wright, Bible Word-Book, p. 497.
rebatot, n. Same as rabato.
rebaudt, rebawdet, rebaudryt. Obsolete forms
of ribald, ribaldry.
rebec, rebeck (re'bek), n. [(o) Early mod. E.
also rebeke; < ME. rehecke, rebeJcke, rebeke, < 01".
rebec, rebeke, F. rebec = Pg. rabeca = It. ribeca,
ribecca (ML. rebeca, rebecca) ; also with diff . ter-
minations, (6) F. dial, rebay = Pr. rabey; (c) Sp.
rabel = Pg. rabil, arrabil; (d) ME. rebibe, rihibe,
rubibe, ribible, < OF. rebebe, rebesbe, reberbe, It.
ribeba, ribebla, < Ar. rabdba = Hind, rdbab, ru-
bdb, Pers. rabdb, rubdb, a rebec, a fiddle with
one or two strings.] 1. A musical instrument,
the earliest known form of the viol class. It had
a pear-shaped body, which was solid above, terminating in
a slender neck and a carved head, and hollow below, with
sound-holes and a sound -post. The number of strings was
usually three, but was sometimes only one or twa They
were tuned in fifths, and sounded by a bow. The tone was
harsh and loud. The rebec is known to have beeninusein
Unrope as early as the eighth century. Its origin is dis-
pnted, but is usually attributed to the Moors of Spain. It
was the precursor of the true viol in all its forms, and con-
tinued in vulgar use long after the latter was artistically
established.
When the merry bells ring round.
And the jocund rebecks sound
To many a youth, and many a maid.
Milton, L' Allegro, 1. 94.
2f. An old woman: so called in contempt. Com-
pare ribibe, 2.
" Brother," quod he, "heere woneth an old rebelcke.
That hadde almoost as lief to lese hire nekke
As for to geve a peny of Mr good."
Chaucer, I^iar's Tale, L 275.
Bebeccaism (re-bek'a^-izm), «. [< Mebecca{ite)
+ 4sm.'] The principles and practices of the
Eebeccaites.
Bebeccaite (re-bek'a-it), n. [< Rebecca, (see def .)
+ -ite^."] A member of a secret anti-turnpike
society in Wales, about 1843 - 4. The grievance of
the Eebeccaites was the oppressive number of toll-gates,
314
4993
and they turned out at night in large parties, generally
monnted, to destroy them. Their leader, dressed in wo-
man's clothes, received the title of Rebecca from a fanci-
ful application of the Scriptural passage Gen. zxiv. 60 ; and
the parties were called "Bebecca and her daughters."
rebel (reb'el), a. and ». [< ME. rebel, rebele,
< OP. rebelle, rebele, F. rebeUe = Sp. Pg. rebelde
= It. ribeUo, rebellious, a rebel, < L. rebeUis,
adj., making war again, insurgent, rebellious;
as noun, a rebel ; < re-, again, + bellum, war : see
belligerent, duel. Ct. rebel, v.'] 1. a. 1. Resist-
ing authority or law ; rebellious.
Qwo-so be rebele of his tonge asein the aldirman, or dis-
pise the aldirman in time that he holden here momspeche,
seal paien, to amendement of the glide, vj. d.
English Gilds (E. £. T. S.), p. 95.
His pride
Had cast him out from heaven, with all his host
Of rebel angels. MUton, P. L., i. 38.
2. Of a rebellious nature or character; char-
acteristic of a rebel. [Rare.]
Thow drowe in akorne Cnpide eke to recoide
Of thilke rebel worde that thow hast spoken.
For which he wol no lenger be thy lorde.
Chaucer, Envoy of Chaucer to Scogan, 1. 23.
H. n. 1. A person who makes war upon the
government of his country from political mo-
tives ; one of a body of persons organized for
a change of government or of laws by force
of arms, or by open defiance.
Enow whether I be dextrous to subdue
Thjrebels, or be found the worst in heaven.
Milton, P. L., V. 742.
For rebellion being an opposition not to persons, but
authority, which is founded only in the constitution and
laws of the government, those, whoever they be, who by
force break through, and by force justify their violation
of them, are truly and properly rebels.
Locke, Civil Government^ i,
Kings will be tyrants from policy, when subjects are
rebels from principle. Burke.
Hence — 2. One who or that which resists au-
thority or law ; one who refuses obedience to
a superior, or who revolts against some con-
trolling power or principle.
As reason is a rebel unto faith, so passion unto reason.
Sir T. Brovme, £,eligio Medici, 1. 19.
She shall die unshrived and unforgiven,
A rebel to her father and her God.
SheUey, The Cenci, iv. 1.
=Syn. 1. Traitor, etc. See insurgent, n.
rebel (rf-bel'), v. i. ; pret. and pp. rebelled, ppr.
rebelling. [< ME. rebellen, < OF. rebeller, rebeler,
reveler, P. rebeller = Sp. rebelar = Pg. rebellar =
It. ribeUare, < L. rebellare, wage war again (said
of the conquered), make an insurrection, revolt,
rebel, < re-, again, + bellare, wage war, ^bellum,
war. Cf . rebel, o.] To make war against one's
government, or against anything deemed op-
pressive, by arms or other means; revolt by
active resistance or repulsion.
In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up,
and Jehoiakim became his servant three years : then be
turned and rebelled against him. 2 EL zzlv. 1.
The deep fall
Of those too high aspiring, who rebeWd
With Satan. MiUtm, P. L, vi. 899.
Our |>resent life, in so far as it is healthy, rebels once for
all against its own final and complete destruction.
W. K. Cliford, Lectures, I. 231.
rebeldom (reb'el-dum), n. [< rebel + -dom.']
1. A seat of rebellion; a region or sphere of
action controlled by rebels. [Rare.] — 2. Re-
bellious conduct. [Rare.]
Never mind his rebeldom of the other day ; never mind
about his being angiy that his present-s were returned.
TluKkeray, Virginians, IL
rebellert (re-bel'er), re. [<re&eZ,».,-f--eri.] One
who rebels"; a rebel.
God . . . shal . . . scourge and plague this Dacion,bee-
ing nowe many a long dale a continuall rebeller agaynste
God. J. Udall, On Luke xzi.
rebellion (rf-bel'yon), n. [< ME. rebellion, <
OF. rebeUioti, F. rSbeUion = Sp. rebelion = Pg.
rebelliao = It. ribelUone, < L. rebellio{n-), a re-
newal of war, revolt, rebellion, < rebellis, mak-
ing war again: see rebel, o.] 1. War waged
against a government by some part of its sub-
jects ; armed opposition to a government by a
party of citizens, for the purpose of changing
its composition, constitution, or laws; insur-
rectionary or revolutionary war.
He told me that rebellion had bad luck,
And that young Harry Percy's spur was cold.
Shak., 2 Hen. rv., i. 1. 41.
Then shall yon find this name of liberty
(The watch-word of rebellion ever ns'd . . .)
But new-tum'd servitnde.
Danid, Civil Wars, ii 15.
2. The act of rebelling or taking part in a re-
bellious movement ; open or armed defiance to
one's government; the action of a rebel.
reboatlon
Baling. On what condition stands it [my fault], and
wherein?
York. Even in condition of the worst degree.
In gross rebeUian, and detested treason.
Shak., Sich. n.. ii. 3. 109.
From all sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion, . . .
Good Lord, deliver us. Boo* of Common Prayer, Litany.
Hence — 3. Revolt against or defiance of au-
thority in general; resistance to a higher
power or to an obligatory mandate; open dis-
obedience or insubordination; determination
not to submit.
For he addeth rebellion unto his sin; he . . . mnltipli-
eth his words against God. Job zzxiv. 37.
Civil rebellion, in Scots law, disobedience to letters of
homing. See homing. — CommiBSlon of rebellion, in
late. See eomntusumi. — Shays's rebellion, an insur-
rection in Massachusetts, under the lead of Daniel Shays,
directed against the State authorities, which broke out in
1786 and was suppressed in 1787. — The Great Bebellion,
in Bng. hisL, the war waged by the Parliamentary army
against Charles I. from 1642 tiU his execution in 1649, and
the subsequent maintenance by armed force of a govern-
ment opposed to the excluded sovereign Charles II. till
the Restoration (1660).— The Rebellion, in U. S. hist.,
the civil war of 1861-5. See cibiJ.— Whisky Insurrec-
tion or Rebellion. See insurrection. = Sjn. Sedition,
Revcit, etc. See insurrection.
rebellions (rf-bel'yus), a. [< rebelli(on) +
-ous.'] 1. Acting as a rebel, or having liie dis-
position of one; defying lawful authority;
openly disobedient or Insubordinate.
BebeHious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steeL
Shak., R. and J., i. 1. 88.
2. Pertaining to or characteristic of a rebel or
rebellion ; of rebel character, relation, or use.
These are his substance, sinews, arms, and strength.
With which he yoketh your rebellious necks.
Shak., 1 Hen. VT, ii. 3. 64.
3. Hard to treat or deal with; resisting effort
or operation; refractory: applied to things.
—Rebellions assembly, in old J^. law, a gatbermg
of twelve persons or more, intending, going about, or
practising unlawfully, and of their own authority, to
change any laws of the realm, or to destroy any property,
or do any other unlawful act^Syn. 1. Insubordinate^
disobedient. See insurgent, n., and insurrection.
rebellionsly (re-bel'yus-li), ado. In a rebellious
manner; with violent or obstinate disobedience
or resistance to lawful authority.
rebellionsness (rf-beryus-nes), n. The state
or character of being rebellious.
rebellow (re-bel'6), v. i. [< re- + bellow.^ To
bellow in return; echo back as a bellow; re-
sound loudly.
And all the aire rebellowed againe.
So dreadfully his hundred tongues did bray.
Spenser, F. Q., V. xiL 41.
rebelly (reb'el-i), a. [< rebel + -^1.] Inclined
to rebellion ; rebellious. [Rare.]
It was called "Rebelly Belfast" in those days [of 1798,
etc.]. The American, VITL 198.
rebibet, rebiblet, n. Same as rebec.
rebind (re-bind'), «.*. [<.re- + bind.'\ To bind
anew; furnish with a new binding, as a book
or a garment.
rebirfil (re-berth'), m. [< re- + birth.'] 1. Re-
newed birth; a repeated birth into temporal
existence, as of a soul, according to the doctrine
of metempsychosis ; a new entrance into a liv-
ing form: now oftener called reincarnation.
Gautama Buddha's main idea was that liberation from
the cycle of rebirths (Samsara) was to be by means of
knowledge. The Academy, Feb. 4, 1888, p. 84.
2. Renewed life or activity; entrance into a
new course or phase of existence ; reanimation ;
resuscitation; renascence; regeneration.
This rebirth of the spirit of free inquiry.
Guizot, Hist. Civilization (tranB.X p. 148.
rebite (re-bif), v. t. [< re- + bite.] In engrav-
ing, to deepen or restore worn lines in (an en-
graved plate) by the action of acid.
rebiting (re-bi'ting), n. [Verbal n. of rebite, ».]
In etching, a repetition of the process of biting,
in order to restore or freshen worn lines, or
to deepen lines which have been but imper-
fectly attacked.
reboant (reb'o-ant), a. [< L. reboan(t-)s, ppr.
of reboare, bellow back, resound, reecho, < re-,
back, + boare, bellow: see boation.] Rebel-
lowing; loudly resounding. [Rare.]
The echoing dance
Of reboant whirlwinds.
Tennyson, Supposed Confessions.
reboation(reb-o-a'shon),n. 1<M1,. reboaUo(n-),
reboacio{n-), < L. reboare, resound, bellow back:
see reboant.] A resounding; the return of a
loud sound.
I imagine that I should hear the reboaHon of an univer-
sal groan.
Bp. Patrick, Divine Arithmetick (1659), p. 2. {Latham.)
reboil
reboil (re-boil'), v. [< ME. reboylen, < OF. re-
bouillir, resiouilUr, P. rebouilUr = It. riboUirc,
< L. rebulUre, bubble up, cause to bubble up, <
re-, again, + bullire, bubble, boil: see boiV^.I
1. intrans. If. To bubble up ; effervesce ; fer-
ment.
Also take good hede of your wynes euery nyght with a
candell, bothe rede wyne and swete wyne, & loke they re-
boyle nor leke not> & wasshe y« pype hedes euery nyght
with oolde water. Babeet Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 267.
Some of his companyons therat reboyleth, infamynge hym
to be a manne without charytle.
Sir T. Elyot, Qovemour, ii. 7.
2. To boil again.
II. trans. To cause to boil again; subject
again to boiling.
reboise (re-boiz'), v. t. [< F. reboiser, reforest,
< re-, = E.Ve-, + bois, a wood, forest : see bush^.']
To reSstabUsIi a growth of wood upon, as a
tract of land j reforest ; reafforest. [A recent
Gralliclsm.]
reboisement (re-boiz'ment), n. [< F. reboise-
ment, < reboiser, reforest: see reboise.'] A re-
planting of trees on land which has been de-
nuded of a former growth of wood, especially
with a view to their effect on climate and moist-
ure; reforestation: used chiefly with reference
to French practice. [A recent Gallicism.]
reborn (re-b6rn'), «. [< re- + born.] Bom
again or anew; reappearing by or as if by a
new birth ; endowed with new life. See rebirth.
reboso, rebosa, n. Same as rebozo.
Beboulleau's blue. See bins.
rebound (re-bound'), V. [< ME. rebounden, <
OF. rebundir, rebondir, F. rebondir, leap back,
rebound, < re-, back, -t- bondir, leap, bound,
bundir, resound: see re- and bound^, v.] I.
intrans. 1. To bound or spring back; flyback
from force of impact, as an elastic or free-mov-
ing body striking against a solid substance.
As cruel waves full oft be found
Against the rockes to rore and cry,
So doth my hart fall oft rebound
Agaynst my brest full .bitterly.
Surrey^ The Lover describes, etc.
Bodies which are either absolutely hard, or so soft as to
be void of elasticity, will not rebound from one another.
Newton, Opticks, iii. query 31.
2. To boimd or bounce again; repeat a bound
or spring; make repeated bounds or springs.
Clamours from Earth to Heav'n, from Heav'n to Earth,
rebound. Congreve, On the Taking of Namure.
Along the court the fiery steeds rebound.
Pope, Odyssey, xv. 162.
3. To fall back; recoil, as to a starting-point
or a former state ; return as with a spring.
Make thereof no laugheng, sporte, ne lape ;
For of te tymes it doith rebounde
Vppon hym that list to crie and gape.
Booke 0/ Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 110.
When it does Hardness meet and Pride,
My liove does then rebound V another side.
Cowley, The Mistress, Kesolved to be Beloved, il.
4t. To send sounds back and forth ; reverber-
ate; resound; reecho.
Every hall where in they stay'd
Wi' their mirth did reboun'. .
Sir Patrick Spens (Child's Ballads, III. 310).
Where the long roofs rebounded to the din
Of spectre chiefs.
T. Warton, On his Majesty's Birthday, June 4, 1788.
Rebounding lock. See lock^. =Sya. 1. Rebound, Bever-
berate, Eecml. Sebound and reverberate apply to that which
strikes an unyielding object and bounds back or away ;
recoil applies to that which springs back from a position
of rest, as a cannon or ride when discharged, or a man and
a rattlesnake when they discover their proximity to each
other. Reverberate, by onomatopoeia, applies chiefly to
heavy sounds, but has other special uses (see the word) ;
it has no figurative extension. RecoiU is most freely used
in figure : as, a man's treachery recoUe upon himself ; in
sudden fright the blood recoils upon the heart.
Il.t trans. To throw or drive back, as sound ;
make an echo or reverberation of; repeat as
an echo or echoes.
The dogge tyger . . . rored soo terrybly that it grated
the bowels of suche as harde hym, and the wooddes and
montaynes neare aboute rebourided the noyse of the hor-
ryble crye.
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. 144).
Through rocks and caves the name of Delia sounds ;
Delia each cave and echoing rock rebmmds.
Pope, Autumn, 1. 50.
rebound (re-botmd'), n. [< rebound, v.] The
act of flying back on collision with another
body ; a bounding back or in reverse ; resili-
ence; recoil; reecho; reverberation.
Te haue another figure which by his nature we may call
the Rebound, alluding to the tennis ball which being
smitten with the racket reboundes backe againe.
Puttmham, Arte of Eng. Foesie, p. 173.
4994
I do feel,
By the rebmmd of yours, a grief that smites
My very heart at root. Sbak., A. and C, v. 2. 104.
Xenophon. The fall of a king is terrible.
Cyrux. The rebound is worse. When your Saturn fell
from heaven, did any god or mortal lend a hand to raise
him up again? „ , . „
Landar, Imaginary Conversations, Xenophon and Cyrus
[the Younger.
Comedy often springs from the deepest melancholy, as
if in sadden rebound. O. H. Lewes.
rebozo (Sp. re-bo'tho; Sp.-Am. -z6), n. [Sp., a
mufder, short mantle, <
rebozar, muffle, overlay,
< re-, back, + bozo, a
headstall.] A shawl or
long scarf worn by Mex-
ican and other Spanish-
American women, cover-
ing the head and shoul-
ders, and sometimes part
of the face, one end be-
ing thrown over the left
shoulder ; a kind of man-
tilla. AJso written re-
boso, rebosa, and ribosa.
The ladies wear no hats,
but wind about their heads
and alioalders a graceful scarf
called the redozo. This is pass-
ed across the face, leaving only
one eye of the lady exposed. Rebozo.
J. Jefferson, Autobiog., p. 292.
rebrace (re -bras'), v. t. [< re- + brace.] To
brace up anew ; renew the strength or vigor of.
Oh ! 'tis a cause
To arm the hand of childhood, and rebrace
The slacken'd sinews of time-wearied age.
Gray, Agrippina, i. 1.
rebucoust (re-bii'kus), a. [< rebuke + -ous.]
Of the nature of rebuke ; rebuking; reproving.
[Bare.]
She gaue vnto hym many rebueovs wordys.
Fabyan, Chron. (ed, Ellis), p. 657, an. 1399.
rebuff (rf-buf'), v. t. [< OF. rebuffer (also ra-
buffer) (= It. rebuffare, ribuffare, also rabbuf-
fare), check, chide, repulse, < re- + buffer (= It.
buffare), puff, blow: see buff^ and buff^.] To
repel; make inflexible resistance to; checlc;
put off with an abrupt and unexpected denial.
Marvelling that he who had neuer heard such speeches
from any knight should be thus rebuffed by a woman.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iii.
=S3rn. To repel, repulse, throw back. See r^vse^.
rebuff (re-buf '), n. [< OF. rebuffe = It. rebuffo,
ribuffo; ifrom the verb.] 1. A repelling; a re-
percussion.
The strong rebuff oi some tumultuous cloud,
Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him
As many miles aloft. Milton, P. L., ii. 936.
2. An interposed check; a defeat.
These perplexing rebuffs gave m^ uncle Toby Shandy
more perturbations than you would imagine.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ii. 1.
The rebuffs we received in the progress of that experi-
ment. Burke, A Kegicide Peace, iii.
3. A holding off or in check; repulsion, as of
inquiry or solicitation ; peremptory denial or
refusal.
Who listens once will listen twice ;
Her heart, be sure, is not of ice,
And one refusal no rebuff. Byron, Mazeppa, vi.
All eyes met her with a glance of eager curiosity, and she
met all eyes with one of rebuff and coldness.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, zvUL
rebuild (re-bEd'), V. t. ; pret. and pp. rebuilt,
ppr. rebmiding. [< re- + build.] To build or
build up again ; build or construct after having
been demolished; reconstruct or reconstitute:
as, to rebuild a house, a wall, a wharf, or a city ;
to rebuild one's credit.
rebuilder (rf-bil'der), n. One who reconstructs
or builds again.
The rebuUders of Jerusalem after the captivity.
Bp. Bull, Works, I. 240.
rebukable (re-bu'ka-bl), a. [< rebulce + -able.]
Deserving of rebnte or reprehension.
Rebukeable
And worthy shameful check it were to stand
On more mechanic compliment.
Shak., A. and C, iv. 4. 30.
rebuke (re-biik'), v. t. ; pret. and pp. rebuked,
ppr. rebulmig. [< ME. rebuken, < OF. rebouguer,
later reboucher, dull, blunt (a weapon), < re-,
back, -1- bouquer, F. boueher, stop, obstruct, shut
up, also hoodwink, < bouque, F. bouche, mouth,
< Ii. bu^ea, cheek: see bouche, bucca.] 1. To
reprove directly and pointedly; utter sharp dis-
approval of; reprimand; chide.
rebus
In grete anger rebukyng hym full soore.
Oenerydes (E. E. T. S.), L 1443.
Thus the duke was at the same time superseded and
publicly rebuked before all the army.
Swift, Mem. of Gapt. Creichton.
2. To treat or affect reprehendingly ; check or
restrain by reprimand or condemnation.
He stood over her, and rebuked the fever ; and it left
her. Luke Iv. 39.
To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf.
And to rebuke the usurpation
Of thy unnatural uncle. Shak., K. John, u. 1. 9.
The manna dropping from Gkid's hand
Rebukes my painful care. WhitUer, My Psalm.
3t. To buffet; beat; bruise.
A head rebuked with pots of all size, daggers, stools, and
bed-staves. Beau, and Fl.
=Syn. 1. Reprove, Reprimand, etc See censure.
rebuke (rf-btik'), «. [< rebuke, v.J 1. A di-
rect reprimand; reproof for fault or wrong;
reprehension; chiding.
And refuse not the sweete rebuie
Of him that is your friend.
Babees Book(E. E. T. S.), p. 102.
But yet my caution was more pertinent
Than the rebuke you give it. Shale., Cor. , ii. 2. 68.
2. A manifestation of condemnation ; a repre-
hending judgment or infliction ; reprobation in
act or effect.
They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
Ps. Ixxx. 16.
And who before the King of kings can boast?
At his rebuke behold a thousand flee.
Jones Very, Foems, p. 76.
3. A check administered; a counter-blow.
He gave him so terrible a rebuke upon the forehead
with his heel that he laid him at his length. .
Sir R. L'-Fstrange.
The gods both happy and forlorn
Have set in one world each to each to be
A vain rebuke, a bitter memory.
W. Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 109.
4t. Behavior deserving rebuke; rudeness.
[Bare.]
She would not in disconrteise wise
Scorne the faire offer of good will prof est;
For great rebuke it is love to despise.
Spenser, F. Q., III. i. 65.
= Syn. 1. Monition, Reprehension, etc. See ad/movition.
rebukeful (re-buk'ful), a. [Early mod. E. also
rebukful; < 'rebuke + -ful.] Of a rebuking
character ; full of or abounding in rebuke.
Therfore he toke vpon him the rebukful miserie of our
mortalltee, to make us partakers of his godlye glorie.
J. Udall, On" John i.
rebukeftlUy (rf-buk'fid-i), adv. "With reproof
or reprehension.
Unto euery man disclose nat thy harte, leest ... he
. . . reporte rebukcfuUy of the.
.Sir T. Elyot, The Govemour, iii. 28.
When I returned to the hotel that night. Smith stood
rebukefuUy . . . before the parlor fire.
T. B. Aldrich, Ponkapog to Pesth, p. 187.
rebuker (rf-bu'kfer), n. One who rebukes.
These great Rebukers of Nonresidence.
MUtffn, Hist. Eng., iii.
rebukingly (re-bti'king-li), adv. In a rebuking
manner; by way of rebuke.
A certain stillness of manner, which, as my friends often
rebvldngly declared, did but ill express the keen ardour of
my feelings. Carlyle, Sartor Uesartus, ii. 4.
rebuUitiont (re-bu-lish'on), n. [< L. rebullire,
pp. rebulUtus, bubble up, also cause to bubble
up : see reboil.] A renewed ebullition, effer-
vescence, or disturbance.
There may be a rebuUititm in that business.
Sir H. Wotton, Keliquige, p. 582.
reburset (re-b6rs'), v. t. [< re- -I- btirse. Cf.
reimburse.] Topay over again; expend anew.
I am in danger to reburse as much
As he was robbed on ; ay, and pay his hurta.
B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, Iii. 1.
rebus (re'bus), n. [< OF. rebus. F. rebus, a re-
bus; derived, according to Menage, from sa-
tirical pieces which the clerics of Pieardy com-
posed at the annual carnival, and which, as
they referred to current topics, follies, etc.,
were entitled de rebus quie geruntur, 'of things
which are going on'; otherwise explained as
words represented 'by things'; < L. rebus, abl.
pi. of res, a thing, an object: see reaP^.] 1. A
puzzle or riddle consisting of words or phrases
represented by figures or pictures of objects
whose names resemble in sound those words
or phrases or the syllables of which they are
composed; an enigmatical representation of
words by means of figures or pictures sug-
gestive of them.— 2. In her.: (a) A bearing or
Rebus of Bishop Oldham
(" owldom "), Exeter Cathe-
rebos
succesBion of bearings which make up the name
or a word expressing the profession or office
of the bearer. The origin of
many bearings in early heridry
is such an allusion ; and on the
other hand many proper names
have been derived from the
bearings, these having been
granted originally to persons
having a name or territorial
designation which a descendant^
perhaps of a younger Ijranch,
abandoned for the £dlusive sur-
name suggested by the bearing :
thus, in the case of the name
Tremain, and the bearing of three human hands, either
the bearing or the name may have originated the other.
Also called aUtigive arms.
Excellent have been the conceipt[s] of some citizens,
who, wanting armes, have coined themselves certaine
devices as neere as may be alluding to their names, which
we call rebus.
H. Peaehmn, The Gentleman's Exercise (1634), p. 165.
iiSheat.)
(6) A motto in which a part of the phrase is ex-
pressed by representations of objects instead
of by words. In a few rare cases the whole motto is
thus given. Such mottos are not commonly borne with
the escutcheon and crest, but form rather a device or im-
presa, as the figure of a sun-dial preceded by the words "we
must," meaning "we must die all."
You will have your relnts still, mine host.
B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1.
rebus (re'bus), V. t. [< rebus, ».] To mark
with a rebus; indicate by a rebus. Fuller, Ch.
Hist., rV. iv. 34.
rebut (re-buf), v.; pret. and pp. rebutted, ppr.
rebutting, piarly mod. E. rebutte; < OF.rebouter,
repulse, drive back, reject, F. rebouter, also
re&Mfer = Pr. re6otor = It. riimttare, repulse, re-
ject; as re- + butt^.'] I. trans. If. To repel
by force ; rebufE ; drive back.
He . . . rusht upon him with outragious piyde ;
Who him rencountring fierce, as hauke in flight,
Perforce rebutted backe. Spenser, F. Q., I. xi. 53.
Philosophy lets her light descend and enter wherever
there is a passage for it; she takes advantage of the
smallest crevice, but the rays are rebutted by the smallest
obstruction.
Landor, Imaginary Conversations (Epicurus, liContion, and
[Temissa).
2. To thrust back or away, as by denial; re-
fuse assent to ; repel ; reject.
The compliment my friend rebutted as best he could,
but the proposition he accepted at once.
Poe, Tales, I. 218.
3. To repel by evidence or argument; bring
counter-arguments against ; refute, or strive to
refute: much used in legal procedure.
Some of them he has objected to ; others he has not at-
tempted to rebut,; and of others he has said nothing.
J), Webber, Speech, Senate, June 27, 1834.
4t. To withdraw : used reflexively.
Themselves . . .
Doe backe rebutte, and ech to other yealdeth land.
T, 1". Q., I. iL 15.
II. intrans. 1. In tote, to make an answer, as
to a plaintiff's surrejoinder. Compare surrebut.
The plaintiff may answer the rejoinder by a sor-re-
joinder ; upon which the defendant may reMit.
Blackstone, Com., m. xx.
2. In curling, to make a random stroke with
great force, in the hope of gaiuing some advan-
tage in the striking and displacement of the
stones about the tee.
rebuttable (rf-but'a-bl), a. [< rebut + -able."]
That may be rebutted.
rebuttal (re-but'al), «.. [< rebut + -al."] 1.
The act of rebutting; refutation; confutation;
contradiction.
There is generally preserved an amazing consistency
in the delusion, in spite of the incessant rebuttals of sen-
sation. Warren, Diary of a Physician, ziv.
2. In law, that part of a trial in. which the
plaintiff endeavors to meet the defendant's
evidence by counter-evidence.
rebutter^ (re-but'6r), n. [< rebut + -e»-l.] One
who rebuts or refutes. [Rare.]
rebutter^ (re-but'6r), n. [< OF. rebouter, inf.
used as noun: see rebut.'] An act of rebutting ;
specifically, in law, an answer, such as a de-
fendant makes to a plaintiff's surrejoinder.
Compare surrebutter.
recadency (re-ka'den-si), n. [< re- + cadency.
Cf. L. redder'e, fall Iback: see recidwous.'] The
act of falling back or descending again; re-
lapse. [Bare.]
Defection is apt to render many sincere progressions in
the first fervor suspected of unsoundness and recadency.
W. Montague, Devoute Essays, Address to the Court.
recalcitrance (re-kal'si-trans), ii. [< recalci-
tran(t) + -ce.] Refusal of submission; obsti
4995
nate noncompliance or nonconformity ; refrac-
toriness.
recalcitrant (rf-kal'si-trant), a. [= F. recal-
citrant = It.ricalcitrante,"< L. recaleitran{t-)s, <
recalcitrare, kick back: see reealmtrate.'] Re-
fusing to submit; exhibiting repugnance or op-
position; not submissive or oompnant; refrac-
tory.
recalcitrate (re-kal'si-trat), v.; pret. and pp.
recalcitrated, ppr. reealdtraUng. [< L. recald-
tratus, pp. of vecaldtrare (> OF. recaldtrer, F.
rScaldtrer = Sp. Pg. recaldtrar = It. ricald-
trare), Mok back, deny access, < re-, back, +
caldtra/re, kick.] I. intrans. To show repug-
nance or resistance to something; refuse sub-
mission or compliance ; be refractory.
Wherefore recalcitrate against that will
From which the end can never be out off?
LangfeUttw, tr. of Dante's Inferno, ix. 94.
II. trans. To kick against ; show repugnance
or opposition to. [Rare.]
The more heartily did one disdain his disdain, and re-
calcitrate his tricks. J>e Quincey.
recalcitration (re-kal-si-tra'shon), n. [< recal-
dtrate + -ion.] the act of recalcitrating; op-
position; repugnance.
Inwardly chuckling that these symptoms of recaleitra-
turn had not taken place until the fair malecontent was,
as he mentally termed it, under his thumb, Archibald
coolly replied, "That the hills were none of his making."
Scott, Heart of Mid- Lothian, ih.
recalesce (re-ka-les'), V. i.j pret. and pp. reca-
lesced, ppr. recalesdng. [i L. re-, again, + ca-
lescere, grow hot, inceptive of calere,\)e hot : see
ealid.'] To show renewed caleseence ; resume
a state of glowing heat.
recalescence (re-ka-les'ens), n. [< recalesce +
-ence.] Renewed caleseence; reglow; specif-
ically, in physics, a phenomenon exhibited by
iron as it cools gradually from a white heat
(point of high incandescence): at certain tem-
peratures, as at 1,000°, the cooling seems to be
arrested, and the iron glows more brilliantly
for a short time, it has also been found that certain
other properties of the metal, magnetic and electrical, un-
dergo a sudden change at these points of recalescence.
recall (re-kai'), v. t. [< re- + calX^.] 1. To
call back' from a distance ; summon or cause to
return or to be returned; bring back by a call,
summons, or demand : as, to recall an ambassa-
dor or a ship; we cannot recall our lost youth.
If Henry were recalFd to life again,
These news would cause him once more yield the ghost.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., L 1. 66.
At the expiration of six years he was suddenly recalled
to his native country by the death of his father.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 5.
2. To call back to mind or perception ; renew
the memory or experience of ; bring again, as
something formerly experienced.
How soon
Would highth recall high thoughts !
MUton, P. L., iv. 95.
I recaU it, not see it ;
Could vision be clearer?
Loioell, Fountain of Youth.
3. To revoke ; take back, as something given
or parted with ; countermand ; abrogate ; can-
cel: as, to recaH a decree or an order; to recall
an edition of a book.
Passed sentence may not be recdU'd.
Shak., 0. of E., i. 1. 148.
The doore of grace tumes upon smooth hinges wide
opening to send out ; but soon shutting to recaU the pre-
cious offers of mercy to a nation.
MUton, Church-Government, i. 7.
The Gods themselves cannot recall their gifts.
Tennyson, Tithonus.
=Syn. 3. Recant, Ab^re, etc. (see renounce)', Repeal,
Rescind, etc. (see oidisiK).
recall (re-kai'), n, [(.recall, v.] 1. A calling
back; a summons to return ; a demand for re-
appearance, as of a performer after he has left
the stage (usually indicated by long-continued
applause) : as, the recall of an ambassador ; the
recall of an actor. — 2. A calling back to mind;
the act of summoning up the memory of some-
thing; a bringing back from the past.
The recall, resuscitation, or reproduction of ideas al-
ready formed takes place according to fixed laws, and not
at random. Mind, XII. 161.
3. Revocation; countermand; retraction; ab-
rogation.
Those indulgent laws
Will not be now vouchsafed ; other decrees
Against thee are gone forth without recall.
MUton, P. L., V. 885.
'TIS done, and, since 'tis done, 'tis past recaU.
Dryden, Spanish Friar, iii. 3.
• recapitulation
4. A musical call played on a drum, bugle, or
trumpet to summon back soldiers to the ranks
or to camp. — 5. A signal-flag used to recall a
boat to a ship.
recallable (re-kal'ar-bl), a. [< recall + -able.]
Capable of being recalled, in any sense.
Delegates recallable at pleasure. Madison.
The glow of a gorgeous sunset continues to be recalla-
ble long after faintly coloured scenes of the sam e date have
been forgotten. B. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., § 99.
recallment, recalment (re-kal'ment), n. [<
recall + -wjeref.] 'The act of recalling, or the
state of being recalled. [Rare.]
I followed after.
And asked, as a grace, what it all meant?
If she wished not the rash deed's reccUmentf
Browning, The Glove.
recant (rf-kanf), v. [< OF. recanter, recJian-
ter, sing again, = Pr. reehantar = Pg. recantar
= It. ricantare, sing again, < L. recantare, sing
back, reecho, also sing again, repeat in singing,
recant, recall, revoke, charm back or away, <
re-, back, -I- contere, sing: 8eeclianta,n6.cant^.]
1. trans. If. To sing over again; utter repeat-
edly in song.
They were wont ever after in their wedding songs to
reeant and resound this name — Thalassius.
Holland, tr. of Plutarch, p. 704.
2. To unsay; contradict or withdraw formally
(something which one had previously assert-
ed) ; renounce ; disavow ; retract : as, to recant
one's opinion or profession of faith.
Which duke . . . did recant his former life.
Fabyan, Chron. (efl. Ellis), IL 712, an. 1653.
We haue another manner of speech much like to the re-
pentant, but doth not as the same recant or vnsay a word
that hath bene said before.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 180.
He shall do this, or else I do recant
The pardon that I late pronounced here.
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 391.
=Spi. 2. Al>}ure, Forswear, etc. See renounce.
xl, intrans. To revoke a declaration or propo-
sition; unsay what has been said ; renounce or
disavow an opinion or a dogma formerly main-
tained ; especially, to announce formally one's
abandonment of a religious belief.
And many, for offering to maintain these Ceremonies,
were either punish'd or forced to recant
Baker, Chronicles, p. 304.
It is against all precedent to bum
One who recants; they mean to pardon me.
Tennyson, Queen Mary, iv. 2.
recantation (re-kan-ta'shpn), n. [= Sp. re-
cantacion = Pg. recantagao = It. ricantazione;
< L. as if *reeantaUo(nr-), < recantare, recant:
see recant.] The act of recanting ; retraction ;
especially, solemn renunciation or abjuration
of a doctrine or religious system previously
maintained, with acknowledgment that it is
erroneous.
Your lord and master did well to make his recantation.
Shak., All's Well, iL 3. 196.
Cranmer, it is decided by the Council
That you to-day should read your recantation
Before the people in St. Mary's Church.
Tennyson, Queen Mary, iv. 2.
recanter (re-kan't6r), n. One who recants.
The public body, which doth seldom
Play the recanter. Shak., T. of A., v. 1. 149.
recapacitate (re-ka-pas'i-tat), v. t. [< re- -I-
capadtate.] 'To qualify again ; confer capacity
on a^ain. Bp.Atterbury, To Bp. Trelawney.
recapitulate (re-ka-pit'u-lat), V. [< LL. reca-
pitulatus, pp. of recapitulare (> It. ricapitolare
= Sp. Pg. Pr. recapitular = P. ricapituler), go
over the main points of a thing again, < L. re-,
again, + capitulum, a head, main part, chapter
(>ML. capitulare, capitulate): see capitulate.]
I. trans. To repeat, as the principal things men-
tioned in a preceding discourse, argjument, or
essay ; give a summary of the principal facts,
points, or arguments of; mention or relate in
brief.
When they met. Temple began by recapitulating what
had passed at their last interview.
Macaulay, Sir William Temple.
=Syn. Recapitulate, Repeat, Recite, Rehearse, R^rate.
Recapitulate is a precise word, applying to the formal or
exact naming of points that nave been with some exact-
ness named before : as, it is often well, after an extended
argument, to recapitulate the heads. In this it differs from
repeat, recite, rehearse, which are freer in their use. Te
reiterale is to say a thing a second time or of tener.
II. intrans. To repeat in brief what has al-
ready been said.
recapitulation (re-ka-pit-u-la'shon), n. [< OP.
recapituladon, recapitulation, ¥!' recapitulation
= Sp. recapituladon = Pg. recapitulagdio = It.
ricapitulazione, < LL. recapitulalM){rir) (teohni-
recapitulation
oal as trans, of Gti. avanetpalaiuaig), < L, recapitu-
lare, recapitulate: see recapitulate.'] 1. The
act or process of recapitulating.
X>. Fer. Were e'er two friends engag'd in an adventure
So intricate as we, and so capricious?
D. JiU. Sure never in this world ; methinks it merits
A special recapituMum. Digby, Elvira, ilL
2. In rhet., a summary or concise statement or
enumeration of the principal points or facts in
a preceding discourse, argument, or essay. Also
anacephalsBOsis, enumeration. See epanodos.
Such earnest and hastie heaping vp of speaches be made
by way of recapUiUation, which commonly is in the end of
euery long tale and Oration, because the speaker seemes
to make a collection of all the former materifdl points, to
binde them as it were in a bundle and lay them forth to en-
force the cause. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 198.
recapitulative (re-ka-pit'u-la-tiv), a. [< re-
capitulate + ■ive.'] Of or pertaining to recapit-
ulation ; resulting from or characterized by re-
capitulation; giving a summary of the chief
parts or points.
It has been shown that these [rudimentary structures]
are the last recapittdative remnant of an independent
series of structures developed outside the spore in the
fern. Nature, XU. 316.
recapitulator (re-ka-pit'u-la-tor), n. [< reca-
pitulate H- -ori.] One wto recapitulates.
recapitulatory (re-ka-pij'u-lar-to-ri), a. [< re-
capitulate + -ory.'] Of tHe nature of or con-
taining recapitulation.
This law is comprehensive and recapituHatcry (as it were)
of the rest concerning our neighbour, prescribing univer-
sal justice toward him. Barrow, Expos, of the Decalogue.
recaption (re-kap'shon), n. [< re- + caption.']
The act of retaking ; reprisal ; in law, the retak-
ing, without force or violence, of one's own
goods, chattels, wife, or children from one who
has taken them and wrongfully detains them.
Also called reprisal Writ of recaption, a writ to
recover property taken by a second distress pending a re-
plevin for a former distress for the same rent or service.
recaptor (re-kap'tor), n. [< re- + captor.] One
who recaptures ; one who takes a prize which
had been previously taken.
recapture (re-kap'tur), n. [< re- + captvA'e, n.]
1 . The act of retaking ; particularly, the retak-
ing of a prize or goods from a captor. — 2. That
which is recaptured; a prize retaken.
recapture (rfiap'tur), v. t. [< re- -i- capture,
v.] To capture back or again; retake, partic-
ularly a ;prize which had been previously taken.
recarburization (re-kar"bu-ri-za'shou), n. [<
recarhurize + -ation.] The adding "of carbon
to take the place of that removed.
recarburize (re-kar'bu-iiz), v. t. [< re- + car-
burize.] To restore to (a metal) the carbon
previously removed, especially in any metal-
lurgical operation connected with the manu-
facture of iron or steel.
recamify (rf-kar'ni-fi), V. t. [< re- + carnify.]
To convert again into flesh.
Looking upon them [a herd of kine] quietly grazing up
and down, I fell to consider that the Flesh which is daily
dish'd upon our Tables is but concocted Grass, which is
recamified in our Stomachs and transmuted to another
Flesh. Howell, Letters, ii. 50.
recarriage (re-kar'aj), n. [< re- + carriage.]
A carrying back or again; repeated carriage.
Another thing there is in our markets worthie to be
looked vnto, and that is the recariage of graine from the
same into lofts and soUars.
Harruson, Descrip. of Eng., ii. 18 (Holinshed's Chron., L).
recarry (rf-kar'i), v. t. [< re- -\- carry.] To
carry back', as in returning; carry again or in
a reversed direction.
When the Turks besieged Malta or Hhodes, . . .pigeons
are then related to carry and recarry letters.
I. Walton, Complete Angler, i. 1.
recast (re-kasf), o. t. [< re- -t- castK] 1. To
throw again.
In the midst of their running race they would oast and
recast themselves from one to another horse.
Florin, tr. of Montaigne, p. 155.
2. To oast or found again: as, to recast can-
non.— 3. To cast or form anew; remodel; re-
mold : as, to recast a poem.
Your men of close application, though taking their
terms from the common language, find themselves under
a necessity of recaMng them in a mould of their own.
A. Tucker, Light of Nature, I. L 6.
Not painlessly doth God recall
And mould anew the nation.
ITAittier, " Ein Feste Burg ist unser Gott."
4t. To cover anew with plaster: said of an old
wall or building. — 5. To compute anew; re-
calculate : as, to recast an account.
recast (re-kasf), n. [< recast, v.] A fresh
molding, arrangement, or modification, as of a
work of art, a writing, etc.
4996
Popular feeling called for a diaskeu^, or thorough re-
caiL De Quvncey, Bomer^ ill.
recaulescence (re-k&-les'ens), ». [< re- +
caulescen(t) + -ce.] In lot., the adnation of a
petiole to a peduncle or a leafy branch: a term
of Schimper's.
recchet, "• -A- Middle English form of reck.
recchelest, a. A Middle English form of reck-
recedei (re-sed'), «■ »■; pret. and pp. receded,
ppr. receding. [< OF. receder, F. recdder = It.
recedere, < L. recedere, go back, withdraw, re-
treat, < re-, back, + cedere, go: see cede.] 1.
To move back; retreat; withdraw; fall away.
The world receded from her rising view,
When heaven approach'd as earthly things withdrew.
Crahbe, Works, IV. 186.
2. To withdraw an affirmation, a belief, a de-
mand, or the like ; turn back or aside.
It is plain that the more you recede from your grounds,
the weaker do you conclude.
£aeon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 369.
3. To have a backward inclination, slope, or ten-
dency: as, a receding! coast-line ; a,receding ehin.
=Syil. 1. To retire, reteograde, give way. See retreat^.
recede^ (re-sed'), v. t. [< re- + cede.] To cede
back; grant or yield to a former possessor: as,
to recede conquered territory.
recedence (re-se'dens), n. [< recede^ + -ence.]
Same as recession'^. [Eare.]
The beaded brown kelp deepens to bronze in . . . the
wet. rich, pulpy recedence of the ebb.
Harpei'sMag.,'LXS11.9i.
receipt (re-sef), «. [Formerly also recei* (the
p being inserted in imitation of the L. original,
and the proper spelling being receit, like conceit,
deceit) ; (a) < ME. receit, receyt, receite, receipt,
recipe, < AF. receite, OF. recete, reeepte, regoite,
F. recette = Pr. recepta = Sp. receta = Pg. re-
ceita = It. rieetta, f., receipt, recipe, < ML.
recepta, f., receipt, recipe, money received,
a treasury, a right of pasture, lit. (so. res, a
thing) ' a thing received,' f em. of L. receptus,
pp. of reoipere, receive ; (6) in defs. 5 and 6,
also reset (see resets), < MB. reeet, reset, resset,
rescet, resate, < OF. recet, receit, recept, reset, re-
goit, rechet, rechiet, etc., = Sp. recepto = It. ri-
cetto, m., a retreat, refuge, abode, asylum (see
reci^eai), < L. receptus, m., a receiving, place of
retreat, refuge, < recipere, pp. receptus, receive :
see receive. Cf. resef^ and redlieat, doublets of
receipt; of. also recept.] 1. A thing received ;
that which is received by transfer ; the amount
or quantity of what is received from other
hands : as, the receipts of cotton at a port.
Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais
Disbursed I duly to his highness' soldiers.
Shak., Kich. II., i. 1. 126.
He wintered for the second time in Dublin ; where his
own pieces, and Macklin's " Love-a-la-Mode," brought
great receipts to Crow-Street theatre.
W. Cooke, Memoirs of S. Foote, I. 61.
2. The act or state of receiving by transfer or
transmission; a taking of that which is de-
livered or passed over; a getting or obtaining:
as, the receipt of money or of a letter; he is in
the receipt of a good income.
Christ in us is that receipt of the same medicine where-
by we are every one particularly cured.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, ». 55.
Villain, thou did'st deny the gold's receipt.
shak., C. of E., ii 2. 17.
3. A vfTitten acknowledgment of having re-
ceived something specified, with date, source,
signature, and such other particulars as the
case requires, a receipt may be for something re-
ceived as a trust or a purchase, or for money or other
valuable thing taken either in pwt or in full jpayment of
a debt. At common law a mere unsealed receipt, though
expressed to be in full for a debt, does not by its own
force operate to discharge the debt if the payment in fact
be of a part only. A receipt is not deemed a contract
within the rule that a written contract cannot be varied
by oral evidence.
4. A formula or prescription for the making of
something, or the production of some effect;
a statement of that which is to be taken or done
for some purpose : distinguished from recipe by
the common restriction of that word to medical
or related uses : as, a receipt for a pudding ; a
receipt for gaining popularity.
Come, sir, the sight of Golde
Is the most sweet receit for melancholy.
And will reuiue your spirits.
Heywood, Woman Killed with Kindness (Works, ed. Pear-
[son, 1874, IL 107).
We have the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invisible.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 1. 9«.
No Beceipt can Human-kind relieve,
Doom'd to decrepit Age without Reprieve.
Conffreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love.
receive
5t. Reception ; admittance ; a granting of en-
trance or admission.
He wayted hym aboute, & wylde,hlt hym tho^t)
<S aexe no syngne of reeette.
Sir Oawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.\ L 2164.
Ther [in heaven] entres non to take resci.
That bere3 any spot. ,.„_,,• ,^.
AUiterative Poems (ed. Morris), L 1068.
Come, cave, become my grave ; come, death, and lend
Beceipt to me within thy bosom daxk.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iiL
6t. A place for the reception of persons or
things ; a place where anything is received or
taken in; a station or a receptacle for lodg-
ment.
Men han made a litylle Beseeyt, beayde a Pylere of that
Chirohe, for to rescey ve the Oflrynges of Pilgrymes.
MandeoHle, Travels, p. 112.
Gk) forth, tary we not behynd,
Vnto som receit nye the wodes lynde,
Wher we mow thys tym receyned to be.
Bom. qf ParUnay (E. E. T. S.X L 169.
He saw Levi . . . sitting at the receipt of custom [place
of toll, E. V.]. Mark a 14.
Memory, the warder of the brain.
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only. Shak., Macbeth, Ll.ee.
7t. Power of receiving or taking in; extent of
accommodation ; fitness for holding or contain-
ing.
The foresaid ships were of an huge and incredible capa>
citie and receipt HaJtluyt's Voyages, I. 593.
In things of great receipt with ease we prove
Among a number one is reckon'd none.
Shak., Sonnets, cxxxvt
Such be the capacity and receipt of the mind of man.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, L 9.
Accountable receipt. See accountable. ^Sya. Beeipe,
etc See reception.
receipt (re-sef), V. t. [Also in technical legal
use rese* (see reseti-Y, < ME. recetten, reseten;
from the noun: see receipt, n.] If. To receive;
harbor.
And je hit make, and that me greves,
A den to reset inne theves.
Cursor Mundi, M3. Coll. Trin. Cantab., f. 91. (HaUiweU.)
My lorde hym recetted in hys castell
For the dewkys dethe oton.
MS. Cantab., Ft ii. 38, f. 220. (HttlliwM.)
2. To give a receipt for; acknowledge in
writing the payment of : as, to receipt a bUl
(usually by writing upon the bill "Keceived
payment" and the creditor's signature).
receiptable (re-se'ta-bl), a. [< receipt + -able.]
Capable of being receipted ; for which a receipt
may be granted.
receipt-book (re-sef biik), n. A book contain-
ing receipts, ineither sense 3 or sense 4.
receiptment (re-sef meut), n. [< receipt +
-ment.] In old Eng. law, the receiving or har-
boring of a felon with knowledge on the part
of the harborer of the commission of a felony.
Burrill.
receiptor (re-se'tor), n. [< receipt + -or\] One
who gives a receipt; specifically, in law, a per-
son to whom property is bailed by an officer,
who has attached it upon mesne process, to
answer to the exigency of the writ and satisfy
the judgment, the obligation of the receiptor
being to have it forthcoming on demand.
jnarton.
receitt, n. A former spelling of receipt (and of
the ultimately identical recheat).
receivabiUty (re-se-va-bil'i-ti ), n. [< receimabU
+ -ity (see -Ulity).] "The quality of being re-
ceivable. Imp. Diet.
receivable (rf-se'va-bl), a. [< F. recevable (ef.
Pg. recebivel = It. ncei;euoZe), receivable; as re-
ceive-h -able.] 1. Capable of being received;
fit for reception or acceptance. — 2. Awaiting
receipt of payment; that is to be paid: as,
bills receivable. See bill payable, bill receivable,
under bill^.
receivableness (re-se'va-bl-nes), n. The char-
acter of being receivable ; capability of being
received.
receive (re-sev'), v. ; pret. and pp. recewed, ppr.
receiving. [Early mod. E. also reoeeve, receave ;
< ME. receiven, receyven, reseyven, resseyven, re-
sceyven, resayven, resaven, < OF. recever, reeevoir,
regovure, F. recevoir = Pr. reoehre = Sp. recibir
= Pg. receber = It. ricevere, receive, < L. reci-
pere, pp. receptus, take back, get back, regain,
recover, take to oneself, admit, accept, receive,
take in, assume, allow, etc., < re-, back, + ea-
pere, take : see capaciom. Cf . conceive, deceive,
perceive. Hence ult. (from the L. verb) receipt,
receptacle, recipe, etc.] I. trans. 1. To taie
from a source or agency of transmission ; get
receive
by transfer: as, to receive money or a letter; to
receive gifts.
They be like Gray Friars, that will not be seen to receive
bribes themselves, but have others to receive for them.
LaUrmr, 6th Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1649.
Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedit thy
good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things.
Luke zvi. 26.
2. To take or get from a primary source : as,
to receive favors or a good education ; to receive
an impression, a wound, or a shook.
Receives not thy nose court-odour from me?
Skak., W. T., iv. 4. 757.
The idea of solidity we receive by our touch. LocJce.
No Norman or Breton ever saw a Mussulman, except to
give and receive blows on some Syrian field of battle.
Macaulay, Von Kanke's Hist. Fopes.
3. To take notice of on coming or appearing;
greet the advent of; salute or treat upon ap-
proach: as, to receive an actor with applause;
to receive news joyfully.
To Westmynstur the kyng be water did glide,
Worshypf ully resayvid with procession in frett,
Besayvid with reverence, his dewte not denye.
JUS. Bibl. Reg. 17 D. xv. (BaUiwea.)
My father was received with open arms by all his old
friends. Lady Holland, Sydney Smith, vi.
4. To take or consider favorably; admit as
credible, worthy, acceptable, etc.; give ad-
mission or recognition to : as, to receive a per-
son into one's friendship ; a received authority.
What he hath seen and heard, that he testifleth ; and
no man receiveth his testimony. John iii. 32.
He is a Gentleman so receiv'd, so courted, and so trusted.
^xele. Tender Husband, i. 1.
Every person who should now leave received opinions
. . . might be regarded as a chtmerical projector.
OMxmith, The Bee, No. 4.
5. To admit for intercourse or entertainment;
grant audience or welcome to ; give a friendly
reception to : as, to receive an ambassador or
guests.
The quen with hire companie com him a-3ens,
& reeseyued as real! as swiche rinkes ougt.
WiUiam of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), L 3939.
It was so fre that Men resceyved there alle manere o£
Fugityf es of other places for here evyl Dedis.
MandevUle, Travels, p. 66.
They kindled a fire, and received us every one, because
of the present rain, and because of the cold. Acts xxviii. 2.
6. To take in or on; give entrance to; hold;
contain; have capacity for: as, a box to re-
ceive contributions.
The brasen altar that was before the Lord was too little
to receive the burnt offerings. 1 KL vilL 64.
This cave, fashion'd
By provident Nature in this solid rock
To be a den tor beasts, alone receivee me. .
Beam, and FL, Enight of Malta, iv. 1.
7t. To perceive; comprehend; take into the
mind.
To be received plain, 111 speak more gross.
SAa*., M. for M., u. 4. 82.
8. In law : (a) To take by transfer in a crimi-
nal manner ; accept the custody or possession
of from a known thief: as, to receive stolen
goods.
You must restore all stoln goods you receiv'd.
Fletcher {and another). Love's Cure, v. 3.
(6) To admit as pertinent ; take into consider-
ation; permit the reception of: as, the court
refused to receive the evidence, and ordered it
to be stricken out To receive the canvast. See
canvas.— To receive the coif. See coif.=Sya. l and
2. Receive, Take, Accept. These words are in the order
of strength in regard to the willingness with which the
thing in question is received, etc., but none of them is
warm. One may receive a letter, a challenge to a duel, a
remittance, detriment^ or a wound ; the word thus may be
wholly neuter. One may talce cold, but, more often, take
that which he might refuse, as a present, a bribe, offense,
a pinch of snuff, or an orange. One may accept one's fate,
but even then the word means a mental consent, a move-
ment of mind ; more often it means to receive vrith some
willingness, as to accept a proposition, an invitation, or an
offer. An offer, etc., may be recnved and not accepted.
II. intrans. 1. To be a receiver or recipient ;
come into custody or possession of something
by transfer.
Every one shall receive of thy words. Deut xxxiii. 3.
Freely ye have received, freely give. Mat. x. 8.
2. To give, or take part in holding, a reception ;
greet and entertain visitors, especially at cer-
tain fixed times.
As this name was called the person presented advanced,
bowed first to the prince and then separately to the two
members of the royal family who were receiving with him.
T. C. Crawford, English Life, p. 38.
received (rf-sevd'), a- Jnentom., projecting be-
tween other parts — Received Bcutellum, a scutel-
lum which lies between the bases of the elytra, as in most
beetles.
4997
receivedness (re-se'ved-nes), n. The state of
being received; general allowance or belief.
Others will, upon account of the receivednets of this
opinion, think it rather worth to be examined, than ac-
quiesced in. Boyle.
receiver (re-se'v6r), n. [Early mod. K. also
receever, re'ceaver; < ME. resaver, receyvour, <
OF. recevour, receveur, P. receveur, < recevoir,
receive: see receive.'^ 1. One who or that which
receives, in any general sense; a recipient; a
receptacle ; a taker or container of anything
transmitted: as, a recei/oer of taxes; a receiver
for odds and ends.
We are receivers through grace and mercy, authors
through merit and desert we are not, of our own salva^
tion. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v., App. 1.
But in this thankless World the Givers
Are envy'd ev'n by the Receivers.
Cowley, Pindaric Odes, L 11.
This invention covers a combined grass receiver and
dumper to catch and carry the grass while the lawn mower
is being operated. Sci. Amer., N. S., LXII. 364.
2. An officer appointed to receive public money ;
a treasurer ; specifically, a person appointed by
a court of eqxuty or other judicial tribunal to
take, pending litigation, the custody and man-
agement or disposal of propertyin controversy,
or to receive the rents and profits of land or the
produce of other property. — 3. One who, for
purposes of profit or concealment, takes stolen
goods from a thief, knowing them to be stolen,
thus making himself a party to the crime.
Were there noe receavers, there would be noe theeves.
Spenser, State of Ireland.
4. Id. chem.: (a) A vessel for receiving and con-
taining the product of distillation. (&) A vessel
for receiving and containing gases. — 5. The
glass vessel placed on the plate of an air-pump,
in order to be exhausted of air: so named be-
cause it is the recipient of those things on which
experiments are made. See air-pump. — 6. The
receiving magnet of an electric telegraph, the
receiving apparatus of a telephone, or the like.
— Exhausted receiver. See exhaust. — Florentine re-
ceiver. See Florentine. — Enittin^-needle receiver, an
apparatus consisting of a magnetizing coil with a knitting-
needle in its axis, used byKels as a telephonic receiver. The
action of this receiver depends on Page's discovery that an
iron bar gives a sharp click when magnetized ; the rapid
succession of clicks in the receiver, corresponding to the
successive make-and-breaks of the Keis transmitter, repro-
duces the sound.— Mall-bag receiver and dischargei'.
See mail-cateher. — Receiver and manager. See man-
ager,i. — Receiver of the fines, formerly, in England, an
officer who received the money of all such as compounded
with the crown on original writs sued out of Chancery. —
Receiver's certificates, evidences of debt, issued by %
receiver of property in litigation, for the discharge of ob-
ligations incurred in the management of it, to be redeemed
out of its proceeds when finally disposed of or restored to
its owners. Such certificates may be authorized by the
proper court, and made a lien upon the property, when the
expenses connected with it cannot be otherwise met with-
out detriment.— Receivers Of wreck, officers appointed
by the British Board of Trade for the preservation of
wreck, etc., for the benefit of the shipping interests. They
were formerly called receivers of droits ofadmiraZty.
receiver-general (rf-se'ver-jen'e-ral), n. In
some countries or states, an officer wfio receives
the public revenues in general or in a particu-
lar territory: in some of the United States, an
additional title of the State treasurer.
receivership (rf-se'ver-ship), n. [< receiver -i-
-ship.'] The office of a receiver of public
money, or of money or other property in liti-
gation ; the collection and care of funds await-
ing final distribution by legal process.
receiving (re-se'ving), n. [< MB. receyving;
verbal n. ot receive, «.] The act of one who
receives, in any sense of that verb — Receiving
apparatus or instrument, in tdeg., any appliance used
at a telegraph-station, by the action of which the signals
transmitted from another station are rendered perceptible
to any of the senses of the receiving operator.— Receiv-
ing tubes of the Mdney, the straight tubules of the
kidney.
receiving-house (re-se'ving-hous), n. A house
where letters or parcels are received for trans-
mission; a place of deposit for things to be
forwarded; a depot. [Great Britain.]
receiving-magnet (re-se'ving-mag'''net), n. See
magnet.
receiving-office (re-se'ving-of^is), n. In Great
Britain, a branch post-office where letters, par-
cels, etc., may be posted, but from which no
delivery is made to persons addressed.
receiving-ship (re-se'ving-ship), k. a ship
stationed permanently in a harbor to receive
recruits for the navy until they can be trans-
ferred to a cruising ship.
receiving-tomb (rf-se'ving-tom), n. Same as
receiving-vault.
receiving-vault (re-se'ving-vUlt), n. A build-
ing or other structure in which the bodies of
recent
the dead may be placed temporarily when it is
impossible or inconvenient to inter them in the
usual manner.
recency (re'sen-si), n. [< ML. recentia, < L.
recen{t-)s, new, fresh: see recent.'\ The state
or quality of being recent; recentness; new-
ness; lateness; freshness.
So also a scirrhus in its recency, whilst it is in its aug-
ment, requireth milder applications than the confirmed
or inveterate one. Wiseman, Surgery, i. 19.
An impression of recency is given which some minds
are clearly unable to shake off.
Maine, Early Law and Custom, p. 198.
recense (re-sens'), v. t. ; pret. and pp. recensed,
ppr. recen'sing. [< OP. recenser, number, count,
peinise, muster, review, P. recenser, number,
take the census of, = Pr. recensar = Pg. recen-
sear, examine, survey, < L. recensere, recount,
examine closely, review, muster, revise, etc., <
re-, again, -f- censere, think, deem, judge : see
censtis.2 To review ; revise. [Rare.]
Sixtus and Clemens, at a vast expence, had an assembly
of learned divines to recense and adjust the Latin Vulgate.
Bentley.
recension (re-sen'shon), n. [< P. recension, <
L. recensio(n-), an enumeration, reviewing, re-
cension, < recensere, review: see recense.'] 1.
Eeview; examination; enumeration. [Obsolete
or rare.]
In this recension of monthly flowers, it is to be under-
stood for the whole period that any flower continues,
from its first appearing to its final withering.
Evelyn, Calendarium Hortense, January.
2. A critical or methodical revision, as of the
text of a book or document; alteration of a
text according to some authority, standard, or
principle ; a reediting or systematic revisal.
He who . . . spends nine years in the elaboration and
recension of his book . . . will find that he comes too late.
G. P. Marsh, Lects. on Eng. Lang., xxL
3. A text established by critical or systematic
revision ; an edited version.
The genuine ballad-book thus published was so success-
ful that in less than ten years three editions or recensions
of it appeared. Ticknor, Span. Lit., 1. 115.
Using the ancient versions in this way, we can recover
a recension (or recensions) differing more or less widely
from i^at represented by the traditional Hebrew text.
Contemporary Rev., L. 595.
4. A critical examination, as of a book ; a re-
view; a critique.
He was . , . bitterly convinced that his old acquain-
tance Carp had been the writer of that depreciatory recen-
sion which was kept locked in a small drawer of Mr. Ca-
saubon's desk, and also in a small dark closet of his verbal
memory. George Eliot, Middlemarch, xxix.
recensionist (re-sen'shon-ist), «. [< recension
+ .^t.] One wto reviews or revises, as the text
of an ancient author ; an editor.
recent (re'sent), a. [< OP. recent, P. recent =
Pr. recent = Sp. reciente = Pg. It. recente, < L.
recen(t-)s, fresh, new ; (a) in one view, < re- -(-
-cen(t-)s, supposed to be allied to W. cynt, first,
earliest, Skt. kaniydns, smaller, Icanistha, small-
est (cf. Buss. ^o-cftiwo<i, begin); (&) in another
view, orig. ppr. from a root *rec = Zend ■\f rag,
come (cf. recens a victoria, 'just coming from a
victory' ; Bhodo recentes Somam venerunt, 'they
came to Rome just from Rhodes,' etc.: see def.
5).] 1. Of or pertaining to time just before
the present; not long past in occurrence or
existence; lately happening or being; newly
appearing, done, or made: as, recent events;
recent importations; recent memories; recent
news; a recent speech. — 2. Of modem date,
absolutely or relatively; not of primitive or
remote origin; belonging to or occurring in
times not far removed. — 3. Still freshin quality
or existence ; not old or degenerate ; unchanged
by time : said of things liable to rapid change,
as newly gathered plants or specimens in nat-
ural history.
The odour [of essential oUs] is seldom as pleasant as that
of the recent plant. Ure, Diet, HI. 456.
4. In geol., of or pertaining to the epoch re-
garded as the present from a geological point
of view. Strata so called contain few, if any, fossils be-
longing to extinct species. The alluvial formations in the
valleys are generally of recent formation, as well as most
of the superficial detrital material. The deposits which
belong to the Post-tertiary, or which are more recent than
the Tertiary, are with difficulty classified, except for pur-
poses of local geology. In glaciated regions, the traces
of the former presence of ice adds variety to the phenom-
ena, and complexity to the classification, of the various
forms of detrital material. The existence of very ancient
remains and works of man is a further element of inter-
est in the geology of the recent formations.
5. Lately come; not long removed or sepa-
rated. [Poetical and rare.]
recent
Shall I not think that, with disorder'd charms,
All heav'n beholds me recent from thy arms?
Pope, Iliad, xiv. 882.
Amphitryon recent from the nether sphere.
Lewis, tr. of Statius's Ihebaid, viii,
= Syn. 1. Late, Fresh, etc. See new.
recently (re'seBt-li), adv. At a recent time;
newly; lately; freshly; not long since: as,
advices recently received; a town recentl^'bmlt
or repaired; an isle recently discovered.
recentness (re'sent-nes), n. The state or qual-
ity of being recent; newness; freshness; re-
cency; lateness of origin or occurrence: as,
the recentness of alluvial land ; the recentness of
news or of events.
4998
borne. (3) In Fucacese, a part of the thallus in
which ooneeptacles (see conceptacle) are con-
gregated. They are either terminal portions of
branches or parts sustained above water by air-
bladders. (4) In Fungi, sometimes same as stro-
ma; in Ascomycetes, same a,s pycnidium, 1 (also
the stalk of a discoearp); in Phalloidex, the
inner part of the sporophore, supporting the
gleba. (5) In lichens, the cup containing the
soredia. The term has some other analogous
applications. — 3. In eool. and anat., a part or
an organ which receives and contains or detains
a secretion ; a reoeptaeulum : as, the gall-blad-
der is the receptacle of the bile.
recept (re'sept), re. [< L. receptum, neut. of receptacula, n. Plural of reeeptaculum.
""""■'■■" "■ " • receptacular (re-sep-tak'u-lar), a. [= F. r4-
ceptaculaire, < L. receptacutkm, a receptacle:
see receptacle.^ 1. In 6o<., of or pertaining to
a receptacle. — 2. In eool. and anat., serving
as a receptacle or reservoir; pertaining to a
reeeptaculum.
receptaculite (re-sep-tak'u-lit), n. [<NL.iJe-
ceptaeuUtes.2 A fossil of the genus Meoepta-
_ . PP- of recipere, receive: see receive.
Cf . receipt.^ That which is received ; especial-
ly, something taken into the mind from an ex-
ternal source; an idea derived from observa-
tion. [Eeoent.]
The bridge between recept and concept is equally im-
passable as that between percept and concept
Athenseum, No. 3193, p. 12.
receptacle (rf-sep'ta-kl, formerly also res'ep-
ta-kl), n. [< OF. receptacle, F. receptacle = Pr.
receptacle = Sp. receptdculo = Pg. receptaculo
= It. ricettacolo, recettaoulo, < L. reeeptaculum,
a receptacle, place to receive or store things
in, < recipere, pp. receptus, receive, hold, eon-
tatu: see receive.'] 1. That which receives or
holds anything for rest or deposit; a storing-
place; a repository; a container; any space,
open or closed, that serves for reception and
keeping.
As in a vault, an ancient receptcuHe,
Where, for these many hundred years, the bones
Of all my buried ancestors ai'e pack'd.
Shak., E. and J., iv. 3. 39.
Least his neighbor's countrey might be an harbonigh
or receptacle of his foes and aduersaries.
HaU, Edw. III., an. 10.
2. In hot. : (a) In a single flower, the more or
less enlarged and peculiarly developed apex of
the peduncle or pedicel, upon which aU the or-
gans of the flower are directly or indirectly
Beceptaculites (re-sep-tak-u-li'tez), n. [NL.
(Defranoe, 1827), < L. reeeptaculum, a recepta-
cle (see receptacle), + 4tes (see -jte^).] The
typical genus of Beeeptaculiticlse.
jReceptaculitidae (re-sep-tak-a-lit'i-de), n. pi.
[NX., < MeceptacuUtes + -idse.] A family of
fossil organisms, typified by the genus Becepta-
culites, of a very doubtful nature. They have been
referred by many to the silicious sponges ; but the skele-
ton was originally calcareons, and the silicious examples
are the result of f ossilization. They are of a spherical or
pyriform shape, with a central closed cavity and an upper
and lower pole, and the wall is composed of pillar-like
spicules at right angles to the surface and expanded at
their outer ends into rhomboidal summit-plates forming
a mosaic-like outer layer. The species lived in tlie seas
of the Silurian and Devonian epochs. Also called ReceptOf
cvZidee.
reeeptaculum (re-sep-tak'u-lum), n. ; pi. recep-
tacula (-la). [L.: see receptacle.'] In zooL,
anat., and iot., a receptacle; a reservoir of
fluid ; a saccular or vesicular organ to receive
andretain a fluid.—Receptaoulmh chyli.a dilatation
receptrix
or delivery ; a taking into custody or possession
of something tendered or presented; an in-
stance of receipt: as, the recepUon of an invi-
tation; a taking into place, position, or asso-
ciation; admission to entrance or insertion; a
taking or letting in: as, a groove or socket for
the reception of a handle ; the reception of food
in the stomach ; recepUon of a person into so-
ciety.— 2. Admission into the mind; a taking
into cognizance or consideration ; a granting
of credence ; acceptance : as, the reception of
a doctrine.
Ood never intended to compel, but only to persuade,
us into a reception of divine truth.
Bp. Atterbvrp, Sermons, II. viL
3. A receiving into audience, intercourse, or
entertainment; treatment of a person on ap-
proach or presentation ; greeting or welcome,
as of a visitor: as, a cordial recepUon. — 4.
An occasion of cel-emonious or complimentary
greeting; an assemblage of persons to be in-
dividually received or greeted by a.n enter-
tainer or by a guest selected for special atten-
tion: as, to give weekly receptions.
He assembled all his train,
Pretending so commanded, to consult
About the great reception of their King,
Thither to come. XHton, P. 1., v. 769.
5t. A retaking; recapture; recovery.
He was right glad of the French King's reception of those
Townes from Maximilian. Bacon, Hist. Hen. VII., p. 44.
6t. Power or capacity of receiving; receptiv-
ity; suseeptivity.
That were to extmd
His sentence beyond dust and nature's law,
By which all causes else, according still
To the reception of their matter, act,
Not to the extent of their own sphere.
MUton, P. I<., z. 807.
7. In astrol., the interchange of the dignities of
two planets, owing to each being in the other's
house or exaltation. =Syn. 1 and 3. Receptbm, Re-
ceipt, iRecipe. Reception is used of a person or a thing :
as, he got a very gracious reception; receipt of a thing:
as, the recepUon or, better, the receipt of news or a letter;
recipe, in medicine or, latterly, in cooking. We say a re-
ceipt OT recipe for making a cake, a receipt for money paid.
■" ' " ' ' ■■ ■ A room
of the thoracic duct, situated upon the body of the first rpppntinTi-rnnm Crfi-sfi-n'Hlir.Ti rKml «
or second lumbar vertebra, into which the lymphatics of f„„ ftji", " +• W'Sep snon-rom;, n.
the lower extremities and the laoteals of the intestine ^°^ ™? reception of Visitors.
discharge. Also called reeeptaculum Pecqueti, cistern or receptlVe (re-sep'tiv), a. [< OP. recepUf =
Various Forms of Receptacle (r).
reaenoir of Pecguel^ JacfeoZ sac.— Reeeptaculum ganglll
petrOBi, a depression in the lower border of the petrous
portion of the temporal bone, for the lodgment of the pe-
trous ganglion.— Eeceptaculum Fecquett Same as
recepfocMiumcAj/K.— Reeeptaculum seminis.in zoiil., a
spermatheca in the female ; any kind of seminal vesicle
*vhich may receive semen fi-om the male and store it up
See cut under Nematmdea.
receptaryt (res'ep-ta-ri), a. and n. [= OF.
receptaire = Sp. recetario = It. ricettario, a
book of prescriptions or receipts, < ML. *re-
ceptarius, adj. (as a noun receptarius, m., a
receiver, collector), < reeepta, a receipt, pre-
scription: see receipt.] I. a. Commonly re-
ceived or accepted but not proved ; uncertain.
[Bare.]
Baptista Porta, in whose works, although there be con-
tamed many excellent things, and verified upon his own
experience, yet are there many also receptary and such as
will not endure the test. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., i. 8.
II. n. 1. A collection of receipts.
Receptaire [F.], a receptary: a note of physical receits.
Cotgrave.
2. A thing commonly received but not proved ;
an assumption; a postulate. [Bare.]
Nor can they which behold the present state of things,
and controversy of points so long received in divinity, con-
demn our sober enquiries in the doubtful appertinancies
of arts and receptariei of philosophy.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., To the Reader.
receptibility (re-sep-ti-bil'i-ti), n. [< P. r^eep-
tiUlit6 = Pg. receptiiiUdade = It. recetUUUta ;
as recepMlle + -ity (see -biUty).] 1. The qual-
ity of being receptible ; reoeivableness.
The peripatetiok matter is a pure unactuated power,
and this conceited vacuum a mere receptibUity.
QlanvUle, Vanity of Dogmatizing, xvi.
2t. Something that may be received or be-
lieved in. Imp. Diet.
Pg. recepUvo = It. ricettivo, reeettivo = Gr. re-
ceptiv, < NL. *reeeptivus, < L. recipere, pp. recep-
tus, receive : see receive.] Having the quality of
or capacity for receiving, admitting, or taking
in ; able to hold or contain.
The soul being in this sort, as it is active, perfected by
love of that infinite good, shall, as it is receptive, be also
perfected with those supernatural passions of joy, peace,
and delight. Booker, Bccles. Polity, i. 11.
To acquire knowledge is to receive an object within the
sphere of our consciousness. The acquisitive faculty may
therefore, also, be called a receive faculty.
Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., xxt
I am somehow receptive of the great soul. . . . More
and more the surges of everlasting nature enter into me.
Emerson, Essays, 1st ser., p. 289.
The outer layer of rods and cones (bacillary) is un-
doubtedly the true receptive layer. Le Conte, Sight, p. 68.
Reeeptlve power. See jioweri.— Receptive spot, in
oot., the hyaline spot in an oBsphere at which the male
gamete enters. Ooetel.
~ or
a. Dandelion ^Taraxacum officinal^; 6, Fragaria tlftticr (lon-
gitudinal section) ; c. CUotfu integri/otia (longitudinal section) ; flf.
Geranium maculatum; e, Rosa rubiginosa (longitudinal section),
borne : the Linnsean and usual name : same as
the more specific and proper torus of De Can-
doUe and the thalamus of Toumef ort. The recep-
tacle varies in size and texture. In form it may be convex
or conical (as most often), elongated, as in Magnolia, or con-
cave, as in the rose ; it may develop into a stipe, ffynolase,
disk, carpophore, or hypanthium (see these words), or it
may greatly enlarge in fruity as in the strawberry. As be-
longing to a single flower, sometimes termed jTroperrec^- .^
tade. (6) In an inflorescence, the axis or rachis receptible (re4ep'ti-bl), a. [< OF. reeeptihle
of a head or other short dense cluster; most = Pg. receptivel = It. recettibile, < LL. recepti-
often, the expanded disk-like summit of the pe- Ulis, that may be acquired again, recoverable,
duncle in Compositas (dandelion, etc.). on which < L. recipere, pp. receptus, acquire, recover, re-
are borne the florets of the head, surrounded by ceive: see receive.] Capable of or suited for
an involucre of bracts ; a olinanthium. In con- being received ; receivable. Imp. Diet.
trast with the above, sometimes called common reception (rf-sep'shon), n. [< MB
receptacle. (c)Inanovary, sameasptocerato, 4. '-- -^ ' '- - — " '- —
((i) Among cryptogams — (1) In the vascular
class, the placenta. (2) In Marchantiacese,
one of the ximbreUa-like branches of the thal-
lus, upon which the reproductive organs are receive.] 1
receptiveness (re-sep'tiv-nes), n. Power
readiness to receive ; receptivity.
Many of her opinions . . . seemed too decided under
eveiy alteration to have been arrived at otherwise than by
a wifely receptiveness. Oeorge Eliot, Daniel Deronda, ilL
receptivity (re-sep-tiv'i-ti), n. [= p. rScep-
Uvite = Or. recepMvitdt, < NL. *receptvvitn(t-)s, <
receptivus, receptive : see receptive.] The state
or property of being receptive ; ability to re-
ceive or take in ; specifically, a natural passive
power of the mind.
We call sensibUity the recepUvUyot the soul, or its power
of receivmg representations whenever it is in anywise af-
fected. Kant, Cntique of Pure Reason, tr. by Miifler, p. 61.
Objectivity, with subjectivity, causatlvity, plasticity, re-
ceptimty, and several other kindred terms, have come into
ISf ?*'. A'™^ the two last generations, through the influ-
ence of German philosophy and esthetics,
F. HaU, Mod. Eng,, p. 308.
„Jil°'^v™'°^,?3"*®'"' ^ marked by the doyetaUing of
classes, the quality of recepUvity for these influences . .
is raised to its maximum. Qladslone, Gleanings, I. 46.
receptoryt .(re-sep'to-ri), n. [< LL. receptorius,
ut tor receiving (neut. receptorium, a place of
shelter), < L. recipere, pp. receptus, receive:
see receive.] A receptacle. "
(in astrology) <* OPV reception, F. reception = receptrix^ie-^p'tei^sr T ^''^^''^■
Pr. receptto = Sp. recepcion = Pg. recepgSo = It. f em. of receptor, a receiver
ncezione,recezione,<'L.receptio{n-),a,Tebemng, receptus, Teeeive: see receive.] In o"feysir/'»,
reception, < renpere,vv. receptus, reee ve: see dynamo'-maehine used to tSsfo^ffi &to
The act of receiving by transfer mechanical energy the electrical energy prc^
n. [< LL. receptrix,
ver, < L. recipere, pp.
receptrix
duoed by a generatrix; an electric motor. See
generatrix.
receptual (re-sep'Ju-al), a. [< L. receptus {re-
ceptu-), a receiving (see receipt, recept), + -al."]
Relating or pertaining to that which is received
or taken in ; consisting or of the character of a
recept or recepts. [Recent.]
The difference between a mind capable of however lim-
ited a degree of conceptual ideation and one having only
receptual ideation is usually agreed to be the possession of
language by the first, and its absence in the other.
Science, XV. 90.
receptually (re-sep'|u-al-i), adv. In a recep-
tual manner; by receiving or taking in. [Re-
cent.]
There is then the denotative stage, in which the child
uses names receptuaU]/ by mere association.
Science, XV. 90.
recerceld (re-ser-se-la'), a. [OF., also recercelU,
pp. of recerceler, reeerceller, curl up, curve, also
hoop, encircle, { re-, back, -1- cerceler, hoop, en-
circle, < oercel, cerceau, hoop, ring, < L. cir-
cellus, dim. of oireu^, a ring: see eircus.2 In
her. : (a) Curved at the ends more decidedly
than in other forms, such as moline: noting
a cross each end of which is divided into two
points rolled backward into a spiral. (6)
Same as moline.
recercelled (re-s6r'seld), a. In her., same as
recerceU.
recess (re-ses'), n. [< OF. reces, recez, a, de-
parture, retreat, recess (as of a school), setting
(of a star), repose, = Sp. receso = Pg. It. recesso,
recess, retreat, < L. recessus, a going back, re-
treat, departure, also a retired place, corner,
retreat, etc., < recedere, pp. recessus, recede, re-
treat, etc. : see recede^.'] 1. The act of reced-
ing, or going back or away: withdrawal; re-
tirement; recession. [Obsolete or archaic]
Men . . . have made too uutimely a departure and too
remote a recess from particulars.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 164.
Every day of sin, and every criminal act, is a degree of
recess from the possibilities of heaven.
Jerr. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 182.
Fliny hath an odd and remarkable passage concerning
the death of men and animals upon the recess or ebb of
the sea. Sir T. Browne, To a Friend.
The access of frost in the autumn, and its recess in the
spring, do not seem to depend merely on the degree of
cold. Jefferson, Notes on Virginia (1787), p. 132.
2t. A state of being withdrawn or retired; se-
clusion; privacy.
In these are faire parks or gardens call'd villas, being
onely places of recesse and pleasure, at some distance from
the streetes, yet within the walls.
Evelyn, Diary, May 6, 1645.
Good verse recess and solitude requires. Drydem.
3. A time of withdrawal or retirement; an in-
terval of release from occupation ; specifically,
a period of relief from attendance, as of a
school, a jury, a legislative body, or other as-
sembly ; a temporary dismissal.
Before the Bevolution the sessions of Parliament were
short and the recesses long. MacoMlay, Sir William Temple.
It was recess as I passed by, and forty or fifty boys were
creating such a hubbub in the school-yard.
The Century, XXVTII. 12.
4. A place of retirement or seclusion ; a remote
or secret spot or situation ; a nook ; hence, a hid-
den or abstruse part of anything: as, the re-
cesses of a forest; the recesses of philosophy.
Departure from this happy place, our sweet
" MiUon, P. L., XL 304.
I went to Dorking to see Mr. Charles Howard's amphi-
theatre, garden, or solitary recess, environed by a hill.
Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 1, 1665.
Every man who pretends to be a scholar or a gentleman
should . . . acquaint himself with a superficial scheme of
ail the sciences, . . . yet there is no necessity for every
man of learning to enter into their difficulties and deep
recesses. Watts, Improvement of Mind, I. xz. § 10.
The pair
Frequent the still recesses of the realm
Of Hela, and hold converse undisturb'd.
M. Arnold, Balder Dead.
5. A receding space or inward indentation or
depression in a line of continuity.^ a niche, al-
cove, or the like : as, a recess in a room for a
window or a bed; a recess in a wall or the side
of a hill. See cut under ambry.
A bed which stood in a deep recess. Irving. (Webster.)
Inside the great portal at Koyunjik was a hall, 180 ft.
in length by 42 in width, with a recess at each end, through
which access was obtained to two courtyards, one on the
right and one on the left. J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., 1. 178.
6. A treaty, law, decree, or contract embody-
ing the results of a negotiation ; especially, a
decree or law promulgated by the Diet of the
old German empire, or hy_ that of the Hanseatic
League. — 7. In hot., a sinus of a lobed leaf. —
4999
8. In anat. and goal., a receding or hoUowed-
out part; a depression or sinus; a recessus.
— Contrariety of access and recess. Same as contra-
riety of motion (which see, under contrariety). — Lateral
recess. See recessus lateralis ventriculi quarU, under re-
cessus.— Peritoneal recesses. Same as i^eritimeaZ/os?^
(which see, under ^en'(on«a2). =Syn. 3. Prorogation, Disso.
hiMon, etc. (see adjournment), intermission, respite.— 4.
Retreat^ nook, corner.
recess (re-ses'), V. [< recess, m.] I, traris. 1.
To make' a recess in; form with a space sunk
beyond the general surface : as, to recess a wall.
Cutters for boring bars should be, if intended to be of
standard size, recessed to fit the bar.
J. Rose, Pract. Machinist, p. 218.
2. To place in a recess ; form as a recess; make
a recess of or for ; hence, to conceal in or as if
in a recess.
Behind the screen of his prodigious elbow you will be
comfortably recessed from curious impertinents.
Miss Edgewood, Manoeuvring, xiv.
The inscription is engraved on a recessed tablet, cut in
the wall of the tunnel a few yards from its lower end.
Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, I. 233.
The head of Zeus on these interesting coins is of the
leonine type, with deeply recessed eye.
B. V. Head, Historia Numorum, p. 88.
Recessed arch. See archi.
II, intrans. To take a recess; adjourn or
separate for a short time : as, the convention
recessed till the afternoon. [(JoUoq.]
recession^ (re-sesh'on), n. [< F. rScession, go-
ing back, withdrawing, < L. recessioin-), a go-
ing back, receding, < recedere, recede: see re-
ceSei and recess.^ 1. The act of receding or
going back; withdrawal; retirement, as from
a position reached or from a demand made.
Our wandering thoughts in prayer are but the neglects
of meditation, and recessions from that duty.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 73.
3. The state of being put back ; a position rela-
tively withdrawn.
But the error is, of course, more fatal when much of the
building is also concealed, as in the well-known case of
the recession of the dome of St. Peter's. RusTdn.
recession^ (re-sesh'on), ». [< re- + cession.'] A
cession or granting back; retrocession: as, the
recession of conquered territory to its former
sovereign.
We believe a large sentiment in California would sup-
port a bill for the recession [of the Yosemite Park] to the
United States. The Century, XXXIX. 475.
recessional (re-sesh'on-al), a. and n. [< reces-
sionX + -al.] 1. a. Pertaining to or connected
with recession, or a receding movement, as that
of the choir or congregation at the close of a
service : as, a recessional hjrmn.
II, n. A hymn sung while the clergy and
choir are leaving a church at the end of a ser-
vice of public worship.
recessive (re-ses'iv), a. [< recess + -we.] Tend-
ing to recede; receding; going back: used espe-
cially of accent regarded as transferred or
moved backward from the end toward the be-
ginning of a word, in Greek grammar the accent is
said to DC recessive when it stands as far back from the
end of the word as the laws of Greek accentuation per-
mit—that is, on the antepenult if the ultimate is short, or
on the penult if the ultimate is long.
recessively (re-ses'iv-li), adv. In a recessive
or retrograde manner; with a backward move-
ment or course.
As she [Greece] passes recessively from the grand Attic
period to the Spartan, the Theban, the Macedonian, and
the Asiatic. Edinburgh Bev., CT.XTV. 494.
recessus (re-ses'us), n. ; pi. recessus. [L. : see
recess.] In anat. and zool., a recess Recessus
ChlasmatlB. Same as recessus opticus. — BecessuB in-
frapinealls, a small cleft extending from the third ven-
tricle into the conarium. Also called ventriadus conarii.
— Recessus infundibuli,the funnel-shaped cavity at the
bottom of the third ventricle ; the cavity of the inf undi-
bulum.— Recessus labyiintbi. Same as ductus endo-
lympMticus (which see, under ductus).— Reoesaua late-
ralis ventriculi ciuarti, the lateral recess of the fourth
ventricle, containing the lateral choroid plexus.— Re-
cessus opticus, a V-shaped recess of the floor of the third
ventricle, in front of the infundibulum, bounded ante-
riorly by the lamina tei-minalis, posteriorly by the optic
chiasm. Also called recessus ehiasmatis. Mihalcovics. —
Recessus praepontilis, a name given by Wilder in 1881
to the medUn pit formed by the overhanging of the front
border of the pons Varolii.
Eechabite (rek'a-bit), n. [= F. Bichabite; <
Eechdb, father of Jonadab, who founded the
sect, + -ife2.] 1. A member of a Jewish fam-i
ily and sect descended from Rechab, which,
in obedience to the command of Jonadab, re-
fused to drink wine, build or live in houses, sow
seed, or plant or own vineyards. Jer. xxxv.
6,7. Hence — 2. A total abstainer from strong
drink.
A Bechaibite poor Will must live,
And drink of Adam's Ale.
Prior, Wandering Pilgrim.
recidivation
3. A member of a society composed of total
abstainers from intoxicating drinks, called the
Independent Order of Rechabites.
Bechabitism (rek'a-bi-tizm), n. [< Bechabite
+ 4sm.] 1. The practice of the ancient Recha-
bites in respect to abstinence from strong drink.
The praises of Bechabitism afford Just as good an oppor-
tunity for the exhibition of sportive fancy and a lively
humor as lyrical panegyrics on the most exquisite vintage
of France or the Hhine.
B. J. Hinton, Eng. Radical Leaders, p. 220.
2. The principles and practice of the Indepen-
dent Order of Rechabites.
The advantages which BechabMsm offered above other
friendly societies.
BechaMte Mag., July, 1886, p. 176. (Eneye. Diet.)
rechantt (rf-chanf), v. t. and i. [< re- + chant.
Of. recant.] To chant in alternation ; sing an-
tiphonally.
Hark, hark the cheertull and re-chaunting cries
Of old and young singing this ioyf nil Dittie.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Handy-Crafts.
rechase (re-chas'), v. t. [< MB. rechasen,< OF.
(and F.) rechasser, drive back, < re-, back, -f-
chasser, drive : see ehase^.] 1 . To chase or drive
back or away, as to a forest or covert J turn back
by driving or chasing: as, to rechase sheep by
driving them from one pasture to another. JBCaU
Imiell. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Withynne a while the herte y-founde ys,
I-hallowed, and rechased faste
Longe time. Cha/ucffr, Death of Blanche, 1. 379.
Then these assail; then those re-chase again;
Till stay'd with new-made hills of bodies slain.
Daniel, Civil Wars, iv. 47.
2. To call baok (hounds) from a wrong scent.
rechasef , n. [< rechase, v.] Aeall (in hunting).
.Seven score raches at his rechase.
Squyr of Lowe Degri, 1. 772. (HaUiweU.)
rechatet, n. and v. Same as recheat.
rechauffe (ra-sho-fa'), n. [F., pp. of richauffer,
dial, r^caufer, recofer, warm up, warm over, <
re-, again, + ^chauffer, warm, < L. excalfacere,
warm: see excalfacUon, and cf. eschaufe, chafe.]
A warmed-up dish ; hence, a new concoction of
old materials ; a literary rehash.
We suffer old plots willingly in novels, and endure with-
out murmur rickauff&s of the most ancient stock of fiction.
Saturday Bev.
rechet, v. An old spelling of reacK^.
recheatt (rf-ehef), ». [Early mod. E. also re-
chate, receii; < OP. recet, receit, etc., also rechet,
rechiet, a retreat, refuge : see receipt.] In hunt-
ing, a melody which the huntsman winds on the
horn to call back the dogs from a wrong course,
or to call them of£ at the close of the hunt ; a
recall on the horn.
In hunting I had as leeve stand at the receit as at the
loosing. Lyly, Euphues. (Nares.)
That I will have a recheat winded in my forehead, or
hang my bugle in an invisible haldrick, all women shall
pardon me. Shak., Much Ado, i. 1. 242.
recheatt (re-chef), v. i. [Early mod. E. also re-
chate; < ME. rechaten, < OF. receter, recheter,
rechaiter, receive, give refuge, refl. take refuge,
retreat, < recet, rechet, etc., recheat: see re-
cheat, ».] In hunting, to play the recheat ; call
back the hounds by the tones of the recheat on
the horn.
Buntes hyged hem theder, with homez ful mony
Ay reehatande arygt til thay the renk segen.
Sir Qavmyne and the Qreen Knight (B. E. T. S.), 1. 1911.
Bechating with his horn, which then the hunter chears,
Whilst still the lusty stag his high-palm'd head up-bears.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xiiL 127.
recherche (r6-sher'sha), a. [F., pp. of recher-
cher, seek again: see research.] Much sought
after; hence, out of the common; rare; dainty.
We thought it a more savoury meat than any of the re-
cherche culinary curiosities of the lamented Soyer.
Capt. M. Thomson, Story of Cawnpore, v.
recliris'ten (re-kris'n), v. t. [< re--+ christen.]
To christen or name again; fix a iewname
upon.
Abbeys which have since been . . . rechristened with
still homelier names.
Tremelyan, Early Hist. Chas. Jas. Fox, p. 47.
The faculties . . . are in part rechristened, and also re-
arranged. Nature, XXXIX. 244.
recidivatet (rf-sid'i-vat), v. i. [< ML. recidiva-
tus, pp. of remdivare (> F. riddiver), fall back,
relapse, < L. recidivus, falling back, etc. (cf. re-
cidivatu^, a restoration) : see recidwous.] To
fall back, relapse, or backslide; return to an
abandoned course of conduct.
To recidivate, and to go against her own act.
Bp. Andrews, Opuscuto, Speech, p. 79 (1629). (Latham.)
recidivationt (re-sid-i-va'shon), n. [< OF. re-
cidivaUon, F. ripidivation, < ML. recidwaUo(n-),
recidivation
falling back, < recidivare, fall back: see recidi-
vate.'] A falling back; relapse; return to an
abandoned course ; backsliding.
Jteeidivation Is so much more dangerous than our first
sickness, as our natural strength Is then the more f eebled,
and unable to endure means of restoring,
Sev. T. Adami, Works, L 447.
recidivist (rf-sid'i-vist), n. [< P. riddiviste,
< ricldive, a repetition of a fault or crime, <
L. recidivus, falling back: see reddivotts.] In
French law, a relapsed CTiminal; one who falls
back into the same criminal course for which
he has already been condemned.
The French Cabinet ottered a pledge that no reddivista
should be sent to the Islands.
Appleton's Ann. Cyc, 1886, p. 60.
recidivoust (re-sid'i-vus), a. [= OP. reeidif =
It. reeidivo, < L. recidivus, falling back, return-
ing, recurring, < reddere, reccidere, fall back, <
re-, back, + cadere, fall: see cadent.'] Liable
to backslide to a former state. Imp. Diet.
recipe (res'i-pe), V. t. [L., impv. of redpere,
take : see receive.'] Take : a Latin imperative
used (commonly abbreviated E, or ^) at the
beginning of physicians' prescriptions, as for-
merly and in pajt stiU written in Latin.
recipe (res'i-pe), ». [= OF. recipe, F. ridpi =
Sp. recipe = Pg. It. recipe, a recipe, < L. recipe,
take, used as the first word in a prescription,
and hence taken as a name for it : see redpe, v.']
1 . A formula for the compounding of a remedy,
with directions for its use, written by a phy-
sician ; a medical prescription.
He deals all
With spirits, he ; he will not hear a word
Of Oalen or nis tedious recipes.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, 11. 1.
2. A prescribed formula in general, but espe-
cially one having some relation or resemblance
to a medical prescription ; a receipt.
There was a greatness of mind in Paracelsus, who, hav-
ing furnished a recipe to make a fairy, had the delicacy to
refrain from its formation. ,
I. S'Israeli, Curios, of lit., IV. 186.
The one grand recipe remains for you — the be-all and
the end-all of your strange existence upon earth. Move
on ! Dickena, Bleak House, xix.
=Syn. Receipt, etc. See reception.
recipiangle (re-sip 'i-ang-gl), n. [< p. rMpi-
angle, irreg. < L. redpere, receive, -I- angulus,
angle: see receive, and ang'teS, ji.] In engin.-OD.
instrument formerly used for measuring angles,
especially in fortification. Buchanan.
recipience (re-slp'i-eus), n. [< recipien(t) +
-ce.] A receiving ; the act of or capacity for
receiving; receptivity. [Bare.] Imp. Diet.
recipiency (rf-sip'i-en-si), n. [As rempienee
(see -cy).] Same as fedpi^ice.
We struggle — fain to enlarge
Our bounded physical recipiency.
Increase our power, supply fre^ oil to life.
Brcwninff, Cleon.
recipient (re-sip'l-ent), a. and n. [= P. r^dpi-
ent, a receiver, water-clock, = Sp. Pg. It. reoipi-
ente, receiving, a receiver, < L. redpien{t-)s, ppr.
of redpere, receive: see receive.] I. a. Keceiv-
ing; receptive; acting or serving as a receiver;
capable of receiving or taking in.
The step from painting on a ground of stanniferous
enamel to a similar surface on a metallic recipierit body is
an easy and obvious one. Ctrf. Soutages Coll., p. 99.
Recipient cavity, inentom., a cavity in which an organ
or part is received at the will of the insect; specifically,
acavity of the mesostemum which corresponds to a spine
of the prosternum, the spine and cavity forming in the
EUUridse a springing-organ. See spring.
II. n. 1. A receiver or taker; especially,
one who receives or accepts something given
or communicated ; a taker of that which is of-
fered or bestowed: as, recipients of charity or
of public education; the recipients of the eu-
charist.
Whatever is received is received according to the ca-
pacity of the recipient.
Cudwarth, Intellectual System, p. 726.
Something should have been inserted to signify that,
when the recipient is fitly qualified and duly disposed,
there is a salutary life-giving virtue annexed to the sac-
rament. Waierland, Works, V. 428.
The first recipients of the Itevelation.
J. H. Newman, Development of Christian Doctrine, iL § 1.
2. That which receives; formerly, the receiver
in an apparatus or instrument.
The form of sound word^ dissolved by chymical prepa-
ration, ceases to be nutritive, and, after all the labours
of the alembeck, leaves in the recipient a fretting corro-
sive. Decay oj Christian Piety.
recipiomotor (re-sip'i-o-m6"tor), a. [Irreg. <
L. redpere, receive, + motor, mover.] Ke-
oeiving a motor impulse or stimulus ; afferent,
5000
as a nerve, in an ordinary sense: correlated
with liberomotor and dirigomotor. See motor.
Each afferent nerve is a redpio-motffr agent.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., § 18.
reciprocal (re-sip'ro-kal), a. and «. [< NL. as
if "redprocaiis, < £. redprocus, returning, al-
ternating, reciprocal (> It. Pg. redproeo = Sp.
redproco = OP. redproque, > obs. E. redprock) ;
perhaps lit. 'moving backward and forward,' <
*recus (< re-, back, + adj. formative -cus: see
Ac) + procus (ipro, forward, + adj. formative
-cms). Ct.redvrocous,redprock.] I. a. 1. Mov-
ing backward and forward; alternating; re-
ciprocating.
The stream of Jordan, south of their going over, was
not supplied with any reciprocal or refiuous tide out of
the Dead Sea.
FvXler, Pisgah Sight, II. i. 17. (Dames, under refiuims.)
Obedient to the moon, he spent his date
In course redproeal, and had his fate
Link'd to the mutual flowing of the seas.
XUton, Second Epitaph on Hobson the Carrier.
3. Mutually exchanged or exchangeable ; con-
cerning or given or owed by each (of two or
more) with regard to the other or others: as,
redproeal sXA; redproeal rights, duties, or ob-
ligations ; reciprocal love or admiration.
let our reciprocal vows be remembered.
Shak., Lear, iv. 6. 267.
The Liturgy or service . . . consisteth of the reci^oco^
acts between God and man.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 378.
I take your gentle otter, and withal
Yield love again for love reciprocal.
Beau, and, PI., Knight of Burning Pestle, i, 2.
The king assured me of a reciprocal affection to the king
my master, and of my particular welcome to his court.
liord Herbert of Cherbury, Life (ed. Howells), p. 129.
The liberty of the enemy's fishermen in war has been
protected by many French ordinances, and the English
observed a reciprocal indulgence.
Wodlsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, 1 170.
There is much the same relation of reciprocal depen-
dence between judgment and reasoning as between con-
ception and judgment.
J. SuUy, Outlines of Psychol., p. 414.
3. Having an interchangeable character or re-
lation; mutually equivalent or correspondent ;
concordant; agreeing.
Knowledge and power are redprocat.
Bacon, Physical Fables, x., Expl., note.
Sometimes a universal affirming maybe converted saving
the quantity, to wit when consisting of reciprocal terms :
as, every man is a rational animal, and therefore every
rational animal is a man.
Burgersdidus, tr. by a Gentleman, i. 32.
He [the king] must guide the vast and complicated
machine of government, to the reciprocal advantage of all
his dominions. A. Hamilton, Works, II. 56.
Thence came her friends of either sex, and all
With whom she lived on terms reciproeai.
CraSbe, Works, T. 61.
Bedprocal consecution. See consectiMon Kecipro-
cal cross, a reciprocal hybrid.
A reciprocal cross is a double cross between two species
or varieties, one form being used in one case as the father
and in the other case as the mother.
W. Z. Brooks, Law of Heredity, p. 126.
Reciprocal determinant, diagrams, equation. See
determinant, diagram,, etc.— Reciprocal eUlpBOld of
ezpansion. See eUipfoid.—'Reciproca.l figures in
geom., two figures of the same kind (triangles, parallelo-
grams, prisms, pyramids, etc.) so related that two sides of
the one form the extremes of an analogy of which the
means are the two corresponding sides of the other. — Re-
ciprocal functions, hybrids, matrix. See function, etc.
—Reciprocal polars, two curves such that the polar of
any point on either (with respect to a fixed conic) is a tan-
gent of the other.— Reciprocal pronoun, a pronoun ex-
pressing mutual or reciprocid relation, such as Greek aA-
A^Aoi>'(of each other, of one another). — Reciprocal pro-
portion. See jjrpportMm.- Reciprocal quantities, in
math., those quantities which, multiplied together, pro-
duce unity.— Reciprocal ratio. See raeio. -Reciprocal
screws, a pair of screws so related that a wrench about
one produces no twist about the other. Given any five
screws, a screw reciprocal to them all can be found. —
Reciprocal terms, in logic, those terms that have the
same signification, and consequently are convertible and
may be used for each other. = Syn. Bedprocal, MvHual.
There is a theoretical difference between these words,
although it often is not important. That is rrmiMol which
is a common act on the part of both persons at the same
time. MvXual is not properly applicable to physical acts
or material things, as blows or gifts. Bjedprocal means
. that one follows another, being caused by it^ with empha-
sis upon that which is viewed as caused : as, redproeal
love or hate. See remarks under mviiUal as to the propri-
ety of using mutwil for eammom.
II. M. 1. That which is reciprocal to another
°' No more
Te must be made your own redprocaU
To your loved city and fair severals
Of wives and houses.
Chapman, tr. of Homer's Hymn to Apollo.
Love is ever rewarded either with the redproeal, or with
an inward or secret contempt. Bacon, Love (ed. 1887).
2. In math,., the quotient resulting from the
division of unity by the quantity of which the
reciprocate
quotient is said to be the reciprocal. Thus, the re-
dproeal of 4 Is }, and conversely the reciprocal of i is 4 ;
the reciprocal of 2 is 4, and that of o -f a Is 1/ (o-l- x). A
fraction made by Inverting the terms of another traction
is called the reciprocal of that other fraction : thus, J is
the reciprocal of 5.— Polar reciprocals. Same as re-
dproeal polars. Seel.
reciprocality (rf-sip-ro-kal'i-ti), n. [< redpro-
eal + -ity.] The state or character of being
reciprocal.
An acknowledged remprocality in love sanctifies every
little freedom. Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, II. i.
reciprocally (re-sip'ro-kal-i), (K^B. 1. In a re-
ciprocal manner; witli reciprocating action or
effect; alternatingly ; interchangeably; corre-
spondingly.
The Aristotelians . . . believe water and air to be re-
dprocally transmutable. Boyle, Works, II. 342.
Virtue and sentiment redprocally assist each other.
Goldsmith, Cultivation of Taste.
Faults in the life breed errors in the brain.
And these redprocally those again.
Cowper, Progress of Error, I. 566,
2. In a reciprocal ratio or proportion ; inverse-
ly. Thus, in bodies of the same weight the density is
reciprocally as the magnitude— that is, the greater the
magnitude the less in the same proportion the density,
and the less the magnitude the greater in the same pro-
portion the density. In geometry two magnitudes are
said to be reciprocally proportional to two others when
one of the first pair is to one of the second as the re-
maining one of the second is to the remaining one of the
first.
reciprocalness (re-sip'ro-kal-nes), n. The state
or character of being reciprocal.
reciprocant (rf-sip'ro-kant), n. [< L. redpro-
can(t-)s, ppr. of redpro'care, move back and
toTth: see redprocate.'] 1. The oontravariant
expressing the condition of tangency between
the primitive quantic and an adjoint linear
form. — 2. A differential invariant : a function
of partial differential coefficients of n variables
connected by a single relation, this function be-
ing such that, if the variables are interchanged
in cyclical order, it remains rmchanged except
for multiplication by some nth root of unity into
some power of the same root of the continued
product of the first differential coefficients of
one of the variables relatively to all the others.
For an example, see Schwartzian, m.— Absolute
reciprocant, one whose extrinsic factor reduces to unity,
so that the interchange of variables produces no change
except multiplication by a root of unity. — Binary recip-
rocant, one having two variables.— Cbaracteristic Of
a reciprocant, the root of unity with which it becomes
multiplied on interchange of the variables.— Character
of a reciprocant, its kind with respect to its characteris-
tic.— Circular reciprocant, areciprocant which, equated
to zero, gives the equation of a locus which is its own in-
verse with respect to every point. — Degree Of a recip-
rocant, the number of factors (differential coefiicients)
in that term which has the greatest number. Thus, if
that term is (D^)" (DJy)* (D=j/)t, the degree iaa-\-b + e.
— Even reciprocant, one whose characteristic is 1. — Ex-
tent of a reciprocant, the weight of the most advanced
letter which it contains. — Homogeneous reciprocant,
a reciprocant all the terms of which are of the same de-
gree in the differential coefficients. — HomograpMc bi-
nary reciprocant, one which remains uniutered when
X and y are changed respectively into (la; -t- M) / (a! -|- N)
and (Py + Q.) / (y + R), where the capitals are con-
stants.— Integraole reciprocant, a reciprocant which,
equated to zero, gives an equation which can beintegrated.
— Isobaric reciprocant, a reciprocant having the sum
of the orders of the differential coefiicients the same in
all the terms.- Odd reciprocant, one whose character-
istic is not 1.— Orthogonal reciprocant, one which re-
mains unchanged by an orthogonal transformation of the
variables.- Type of a reciprocant, the combination of
its character, weight, degree, and extent.— Weight of a
reciprocant, the sum of the orders, each diminished by
two, of the factors (differential coefiicients) of the term
having the greatest weight. Thus, if that term is (D,y)a
(Dj!')* (P^y (Diyy, the weight is -o -|- c -f 2<f.
redprocated, ppr. redprocating. [< L. redpro-
catus, pp. of redprocare, move back and forth,
reverse (> It. redprocare = Sp. Pg. reciprocar
= F. rSdproquer, reciprocate, interchange), <
recJprocMs, reciprocal: see reciprocal.] I. trams.
1. To cause to move back and forth; give an
alternating motion to.
The sleeve is redprocated from a rock shaft journaled
m the lower aligning ends of the main frame.
Sd. Amer., N. a, IXII. 75.
2. To give and return mutually ; yield or per-
form each to each; interchange: as, to redp-
rocate favors.
For 'tis a union that bespeaks
Redprocated duties.
Cowper, Friendship, 1. 48.
.At night men crowd the close little cattS, where they re-
ciprocate smoke, respiration, and animal heat.
Howells, Venetian life, ill.
3. To give or do in response ; yield a return of ;
requite correspondingly.
reciprocate
It must happen^ no doabt, that frank and generons wo-
men will excite lore they do not reiAprocaJU.
Margaret FxiUer, Woman In 19th Cent., p. 140.
H. intrans. 1. To move backward and for-
ward ; have an alternating movement ; act in-
terchangeably; alternate.
One brawny smith the puffing bellows plies,
And draws and blows rec^ocaUTig air.
Sryden, tr. of Virgil's Qeorgics, iv. 249.
2. To act in return or response ; do something
equivalent or accordant : as, I did him many fa-
vors, but he did not reovprocate. [CoUoq .] — Ee-
dprocatlng engine, a form of engine in which the piston
and piston-rod move back and forth in a straight line, ab-
solutely or relatively to the cylinder, as in oscillating-cyl-
Inder engines: in contradistinction to rotatory enffine.
See rotator;/.— Reciprocating force. See/orcel.— Ee-
Clprocatlng motion, in rnacn., a contrivance frequently
employed in the transmission of power from one part of
a machine to another. A. rigid bar is suspended upon a
center or axis, and the parts situated on each side of the
axis take alternately the positions of those on the other.
See cut under pitman — Reciprocating propeller, a
propeller having a paddle which has a limited stroke and
returns in the same path. — Reciprocating propor-
tion. See proposition.
reciprocation (re-sip-ro-ka'shon), n. [< F. rd-
ciprocation = Sp. redprocaoim = Pg. recvpro-
cagao = It. reciprocasione, < L. re&fproeatioln-),
a going back upon itself, a returning by the
same way, a retrogression, alternation, reflux,
ebb, < reeiiprocare, pp. rec^ocatns, move back
and forth: see reevproeate^ 1. A going back
and forth; alternation of movement.
When the bent spring is freed, when the raised weight
falls, a converse series of motions must be efEected, and
this . • . would lead to a mere redproeaHon [of force].
W. R. Grme, Corr. of Forces, p. 24.
2. The act of reciprocating; interchange of
acts; a mutual giving and returning: as, the
reciprocation of Mndnesses.
We do therefore lie, in respect of each other, under a
reciprocation of benefits.
ScM, Heart of Mid-Lothian, Frol.
3. In logic, the relation of two propositions
each the converse of the other.— Polar recipro-
cation, in geam., the process of forming the polar recip-
rocal of a figure.
reciprocative (re-sip'ro-ka-tiv), a, [< recipro-
cate + ■4ve.'] Of a reciprocating character ; giv-
ing and taking reciprocally.
Our four-handed cousins apparently credit their biped
kinsmen with redprocative tendencies.
Pop. Sei. Mo., XXXIV. 111.
reciprocatory (re-sip 'ro-ka-to-ri), a. [< recip-
rocate + -ory."] "Groing backward and forward;
alternating in direction or in action; recipro-
cating: opposed to rotofor^.
Impart a reciprocatory motion to the carriage.
0. T. Davis, Leather, p. 467.
A rotatory movement could be combined with the recip-
rocatory one. Dredge's Electric lllundnaUan, L 888.
reciprocity (res-i-pros'i-ti), n. [< p. r4cvproat4
= Sp. reciproddad = I'g. recipromdade = It. re-
oiprocith, < ML. *remprocita(t-)s, < L. recipro-
eus, reciprocal: see reciprocal.^ 1. Recipro-
cal action or relation ; free interchange ; mu-
tual responsiveness in act or effect: as, reci-
pfocity of benefits or of feeling; redproeity of
influence.
By the Convention of 1815 a reciprocity of intercoijrse
was established between us and Great Britain.
D. Webster, Speech, Jan. 24, 1832.
2. Equality of commercial privileges between
the subjects of different governments in each
other's ports, with respect to shipping or mer-
chandise, to the extent established by treaty.
On the Continent, after the fourteenth century, a system
of reciprocity was frequently established between the sev-
eral towns, as for instance in 1365 at Tournay.
English Gilds (B. E. T. S.), p. cxxix.
The reciprocity stipulations in our previous treaties were
thought to operate disadvantageously to American navi-
gation in the case of the Hanse towns, especially in regard
to tobacco. E. Schuyler, Amer. Diplomacy, p. 432.
Another illustration may be found in the history of red-
TM'oeity with Canada.
G.E. Edmunds, Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 428.
3. In the Kantian philos., mutual action and re-
action in the strict mechanical sense.
Reciprocity, which, as a pure conception, is but the re-
lation of parts or species in a generic whole, becomes . . .
invariable coexistence, or coexistence according to a uni-
versal rule. E. Caird, Philos. of Kant, p. 412.
Glance once again at reciprocity and causality. The one
is a necessary to and fro ; the other only a necessary fro.
J. H. Stirling, Mind, X. 65.
4. In geom., the mutual relationship between
points and straight lines in a plane, or points
and planes in space, etc. ; duality — Hermite's
law of reciprocity [named from the French mathemati-
cian Charles Bermm, born 1822], the proposition that the
number of invariants of the nth order in the coefficients
possessed by a binary quantic of the pth degree is equal
5001
to the number of invariants of the order p in the coeffi-
cients possessed by a quantic of the nth degree. — Law of
reciprocity of prime numbers. See towi. — Plane bi-
rational reciprocity, a one to one correspondence be-
tween the elements of a field of points and those of a field
of rays.— (Juadratlc reciprocity. See gaodrafic.— Re-
ciprocity toeaty, a treaty granting equal privileges of
commercial intercourse in c^tain specified particulars to
the people of the countries concerned. The reciprocity
treaty between Great Britain and the United States, exist-
ing from 1854 to 1866, provided for freedom of trade in cer-
tain commodities, chiefiyrawor half-manufactured prod-
ucts, between the latter country and the Canadian prov-
inces. It was abrogated on previous notice given under
its terms by the United States. The United States govern-
ment formed a similar treaty with that of Hawaii in 1876.
=Syn. 1. Exchange, interchange, reciprocation.
reciprockt, a. [Also redproque; < OP. reci-
progue, P. rSdprogue = Pr. redproe = Sp. re-
dproco = Pg. It. redproco, < L. redprocus, re-
ciprocal : see redprocous and reciprocal.'] Be-
ciprocal.
'Twixt whom and them there is this reeiprock commerce.
B. Jomcn, Cynthia's Kevels, v. 2.
reciprocomous (re-sip-ro-k6r'nus), a. [< L. re-
dprodcornis, having horns curved backward, <
redprocus, turning back the same way (see re-
dprocal), + cornu, a horn : see corn^ and feom.]
Having horns turned backward and then for-
ward, as a ram. This form is characteristic of the
sheep tribe, though not peculiar to it. Bee arielifarm, and
cuts under Kgfimi, argali, aoudai, and 0ms.
reciprocoiisi (re-sip'ro-kus), a. [< L. redpro-
cus, turning back the same way: see recipro-
cal.'] Reciprocal.
For the removing of which imparity, the cardinal ac-
quainted Taylor "That he had devised to make the band
reciproc&us and egal."
Strype, Memorials, Hen. VIII., I. i. 5.
reciprociliet, «• See redproek.
recision (re-sizh'on), re. [< OP. redsion, P. re-
dsion = Sp. redsion = Pg. redsSo = It. redsione,
< L. redsio{n-), a cutting off, retrenchment,
diminution, < reddere, pp. redsus, cut off, < re-,
back, again, -I- csedere, cut.] 1. The act of cut-
ting off. Cotgrave. — 2. Specifically, in surg.,
same as resection.
recital (re-si'tal), n. [< redte + -al.] 1.
The reciting or repeating of something pre-
viously prepared; especially, an elocutionary
recitation; the rhetorical delivery before an
audience of a composition conmiitted to mem-
ory: as, the redtal of a poem; a dramatic re-
cital.— 2. A telling over; a narration; a
relation of particulars about anything, either
orally or in writing : as, the redtal of evidence.
Some men . . . give us in recitals of disease
A doctor's trouble, but without the fees.
Cotoper, Conversation, 1. 313.
He poured out a recital of the whole misadventure.
HowMs, Undiscovered Cotmtry, p. 154.
3. That which is recited ; a story ; a narrative :
as, a harrowing redtal. — 4. In law: (a) That
part of a deed which rehearses the circum-
stances inducing or leading to its execution.
(6) Any incidental statement of fact in a deed
or contract: as, a redtal is evidence of the
fact recited, as against the party making it.
— 5. A musical performance or concert, vocal
or instrumental, especially one given by a single
performer, or a concert consisting of selections
from the works of some one composer: as, a
Wagner redtal; a piano redtal,=ByrL 2 and 3.
Relaticn, Narrative, etc. (see account), repetition, speech,
discourse.
recitation (res-i-ta'shgn), re. [< OP. redtation,
P. redtation = Sp. r'edtadon = Pg. redtagSto
= It. redtazione, < L. redtatio{n-), a reading
aloud of judicial decrees or literary works, <
redtare, pp. redtatus, read aloud, recite : see
redte.'] 1. The act of reciting or repeating
what has been committed to memory; the oral
delivery of a composition without the text, es-
pecially as a public exercise or performance.
— 2. The rehearsal by a pupil or student of a
lesson or exercise to a teacher or other person ;
a meeting of a class for the purpose of being
orally examined in a lesson. — 3. In mtisic: (a)
Same as recitative. (6) Same as redUng-note.
—Mystic recitation. See mysHe.
recitationist (res-i-ta'shon-ist), re. [< redta-
tion + -ist.] One who practises recitation; a
public reciter of Ms own or others' compo-
sitions.
The youth who has heard this last of the recitationists
deliver one of his poems will recall in future years the
fire and spirit of a veteran whose heart was in his work.
Stedman, Poets of America, viii. § 3.
recitation-room (res-i-ta'shon-rom), n. A room
for college or school recitations.
recitative (res^i-ta-tev'), a. and n. [< P. red-
tatif, n.jilt. redtativo, n. , a recitative in music ;
recite
as redte + -ative.] I. a. In miisie, in the style
of a recitative; as if spoken.
II. n. In miisic: (a) A form or style o£ song
resembling declamation — that is, in which reg-
ularity of rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic
structure is reduced to the minimum, it is a
union of song and speech, with the emphasis sometimes on
one element and sometimes on the other, but with a care*
ful avoidance of technical "form" in the musical sense.
The division into phrases is properly governed by rhetoi^
leal reasons only. The strictly tonal and metrical quali-
ties of a balanced melody are usually but meagerly repre-
sented. The sequence of harmonies and of tonalities isof ten
entirely unrestricted. An unaccompanied recitative {reci-
tative secco) has only a few detached instrumental chords,
or a basso contitvuo, to suggest or sketch the harmonic
basis of the melody. Accompaniments of this sort have
been given at different periods to different instruments,
such as the harpsichord, the violoncello, or the string or-
chestra alone. An accompanied recitative (xecUaMvostrO'
mentato) has a continuous instrumental background, which
occasionally becomes highly descriptive or dramatic, and
may be assigned to a full orchestra. This variety of reci-
tative passes over insensibly into the arioso and the aria
parlante. The recitative was invented, in the latter part
of the sixteenth centuiy, in the course of an attempt by
cei*tain Florentine musicians to recover the dramatic dec-
lamation of the ancient Greeks. Its recognition as a le-
gitimate style of composition opened the way for the de-
velopment of the dramatic forms of the opera and the
oratorio, in both of which it has always retained a prom-
inent place. Its value in such extended forms is due to
its adaptability to descriptive, explanatory, and epic matter
generally, as well as to strictly dramatic utterance of every
kind. It has been customary to introduce lyric arias by
recitatives ; but in the operatic works of the present cen-
tury the formal distinction between recitative and aria
has been more or less abandoned as arbitrary. The meZos
of Wagner is an intermediate form, capable of extension
in either direction. Also recUaMon.
What they call Reciiative in Musick is only a more tune-
able Speaking ; it is a kind of Prose in Musick.
Congreve, Semele, Arg.
Ballads, in the seventeenth century, had become the de-
light of the whole Spanish people. . . . llie blind beggar
gathered alms by chanting them, and the puppet-showman
gave them in recitative to explain his exhibition.
Ticknor, Span. Lit., m. 77.
(&) A section, passage, or movement in the style
described above,
recitatively (res*i-ta-tev'li), adv. In the man-
ner of recitative.
recitative (ra-che-ta-te'vo), re. [It.^ a recitative
in music : see reciiaijfe.] Recitative.
She tripp'd and laugh'd, too pretty much to stand ; . . .
Then f£us in quaint reeitatioo spoke.
Pope, Dunciad, iv. 52,
recite (re-sit'),i;.; pret. and pp. rented, ppr. re-
dting. '[< OP. redter, P. rSdter = Pr. Sp. Pg.
redtar = It. redtare, < L. redtare, read aloud,
recite, repeat from memory, < re-, again, -I-
dtare, aite: see dte^.] I. trans. 1. To repeat or
say over, as something previously prepared or
committed to memory; rehearse the words of ;
deliver orally : as, to redte the Litany ; to redte
a poem.
All the parties concerned were then called together ; and
the f edtah, or prayer of peace, used in long and dangerous
journies, was solemnly recited and assented to by them alL
Bruce, Source of the Nile, II. 504.
3. In music, to deliver in recitative.
The dialogue [in the first operas] was neither suug in
measure, nor declaimed without Music, hut recited in sim-
ple musical tones. Bumey, Hist. Music, IV. 18.
3. To relate the facts or particulars of; give an
account or statement of; tell: as, to recite one's
adventures or one's wrongs.
Till that, as comes by course, I doe recite
What fortune to the Briton Prince did lite,
Pursuing that proud Enight.
Spenser, F. Q., VL vi. 17.
Lest the world should task you to recite
What merit lived in me. SMk., Sonnets, Ixxii.
"I make," cries Charley, reciting the shield, "three
morions on a field or, with an earl's coronet"
Thackeray, Virginians, xxxii.
4. To repeat or tell over in writing; set down
the words or particulars of; rehearse; cite;
quote.
Which booke(deRationeStudii et delaberisEducandis)
is oft recited, and moch praysed, in the tragmentes of
Nonius, even for authoritie sake.
Aschami, The Scholemaster, 11.
Lucianus, the merry Greeke, reeiteth a great number of
them [prophecies], deuised by a coosening companion, one
Alexander. PwOienham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 218.
The thoughts of gods let Granville's verse redte.
Pope, Windsor Forest^ 1. 425.
To redte one's beads. See to bid beads, under head.
= Syn. 3. Cite, Adduce, etc. (see mwte) ; Rehearse, Reiterate,
etc. (see recapitulate) ; enumerate detail.
II. intrans. To make a recitation or rehearsal;
rehearse or say over what has been learned : as,
to redte in public or in a class.
They recBe without boolc
E. W. ifflTW, Modem Egyptians, II. 126.
recitet (rf-sif), n. [< redte, ».] Recital.
All former recites or observations of long-liv'd races.
Sir W. Temple, Health.
reciter
reciter (re-si'ter), n. [< OF. reeiteur, recita-
tetir, F. r^citateur = It. recitatm'e, < L. recita-
tor, a reoiter, < recitare, recite: see recite.']
One who recites or rehearses: a narrator or
declaimer, especially of what has been previ-
ously written or told.
Narrative songs were committed to memory, and de-
livered down from one reciter to another.
Bp. Percy, On Ano. Metrical Romances, 1 1. (Latham.)
reciting-note (re-si'ting-not), m. In chanting,
a note or tone on which several or many sylla-
Wes are recited in monotone, in Gregorian music
this tone is regularly the dominant of the mode, but m
Anglican chants it may be any tone. Usually every chant
contains two, or a double chant four, reciUng-notes.
reck (rek), V. ; pret. and pp. recked (formerly
r aught). [Formerly also reah, sometimes mis-
spelled wreak; < MB. reclcen, rekken, assibilated
recchen, later forms, with shortened vowel, of
reken, assibilated reclien (pret. roughte, rouhte,
rogte, roghte, rohte), < AS. recan, reccan (pret.
rohte), care, reck, = OS. rokian = MLG. roken,
ruken, LG. roken, ruken, rochen = OHG. ruohJi-
jan, ruochan, ruochen, MHG. ruochen (also, in
oomp., OHG. geruochan, MHG. geruochen, G.
geruhen) = loel. rssikja, reck, regard, etc. (cf .
Dan. rogte, care, tend, etc.); of. AS. *roc (not
recorded) = OHG. rv,oh, ruah, MHG. ruoch, care,
heed ; perhaps akin to Gr. akeyuv (for "aptyuv),
have care, heed, reck.] I, intrant. 1. To take
heed; have a care; mind; heed; care: usually
in a negative clause, often followed by of.
And whether thei had good ansuere or euell, thei raught
neu». Book qf the Knight qf La Tour LavAry, p. 2.
Sith that he myghte do her no companye,
" He ne roghie not a myte for to dye.
Chaucer^ Complaint of Mars, 1. 126.
He recketh not, be so he Wynne,
Of that another man shall leee.
GoweTj Conf. Amant., u.
I reck not though I end my life to-day.
Shak., T. and C, v. 6. 26.
0/ God, or hell, or worse.
He reck'd not. Milton, P. L., ii. 60.
Light recking of his cause, but battling for their own.
Scott, Vision of Don Roderick, The Vision, st. 45.
2t. To think.
Forthe ther ys oon, y reke.
That can well Frensche speke.
MS. Cantab. Ff. iL 38, f. 115. (BaUiwett.)
II. trans. To take heed of ; care for; regard;
consider; be concerned about. [Obsolete or
poetical.]
This son of mine, not recking danger, . . . came hither
to do this kind office, to my unspeakable grief.
Sir P. Sidney.
An' may you better reck the rede
Than ever did th' adviser t
Bums, Epistle to a Young Friend.
It recks (impersonal), it concerns.
Of night, or loneliness, it recks me not.
Milton, Comus, 1. 404.
reckent, v. An obsolete (the more correct) form
of reckon.
reckless (rek'les), a. [Formerly also assibilated
reckless, retohless, and misspelled wreekless,
wretchless; < MB. rekles, reckeles, rekkeles, as-
sibilated recheles, reccheles, rechlesse, < AS. reee-
leds, recceleds, careless, reckless, thoughtless,
heedless, etc., = D. roekeloos, reckless, rash,
= MLG. rokelos, roeelos = OHG. ruahchalos,
MHG. rv/>chelos, G. ruchlos, careless, untrou-
bled, wicked, notorious; < *r6c or *rece (not re-
corded) = OHG. ritoh, MHG. ruoch, care (see
reck, v.), + -teds = E. -less.'] If. Not recking;
careless; heedless; inattentive: in amUd sense.
A monk, whan he is reccheles.
Is likned to a flssch that is waterles—
This is to seyn, a monk out of his cloystre.
Chaucer, Gen. ProL to C. T.,1. 179.
First when thu spekist be not rekles,
Eepe f eete and flngeris and handes still in pese.
Babeea Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 26.
3. Not reeking of consequences; desperately
heedless, as from folly, passion, or perversity ;
impetuously or rashly adventurous.
I am one, my liege.
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
Have so incensed that I am reckless what
I do to spite the world. Shak., Macbeth, iii. 1. 110,
TJnhappily, 7ameB, instead of becoming a mediator, be-
came the fiercest and most reckless of partisans.
Macavlay, Hist. Eng., vi.
=Syn. 2. Enterprising, Bash, etc. (see adventurom), in-
cautious, unwary, unconcerned, indifferent, thoughtless.
See list under rashX.
recklessly (rek'les-li), adv. [< ME. reklesly,
rekkelesVy, < AS. *receledsUce, recceledslice, <
receleds, reckless: see reckless and -ly^.] In a
reckless manner ; with rash or desperate heed-
5002
recklessness (rek'les-nes), n. [Formerly also
assibilated recklessness, retcklessness ; < MB. rek-
lesnes, reehelesnesse, recckelesnes, < AS. receleds-
nes, < receleds, reckless: see reckless a,ni -ness,.]
The state or quality of being reckless or heed-
less ; perverse or desperate rashness.
reckling (rek'ling), n. and a. [Also ruckling;
prob. < leel. reklingr, an outcast, < reka, drive,
toss, drift, etc. (= wreak), + -lingr = E. -ling^.
Cf . wretckcock, the smallest of a brood of fowls.]
I. n. 1. The smallest and weakest one in a lit-
ter, as of puppies, kittens, or pigs; the runt.
Hence — 2. A helpless babe.
There lay the reckling, one
But one hour old 1 What said the happy sire?
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
II, a. Small; puny; stunted.
A mother dotes upon the reckling child
More than thfe strong.
Sir H. Taylor, Ph. van Artevelde, n., v. 3.
reckmastert (rek'mas"t6r), n. [Irreg.< reek{on)
+ master'.] A professional computer and ac-
countant. [Rare.]
The common legist, reckmasler,ov arithmetician.
Dr. John Dee, Preface to Euclid (1670);
reckon (rek'n), v. [Early mod. E. recken; < ME.
reckenen, rekenen, reknen, count, account, reck-
on, esteem, etc., < AS. *reeenian, found only in
the once-occurring comp. ge-recenian, explain,
= OFries. rekenda, reknia = D. rekenen = MLG.
LG. rekenen = OHG. rehhanon, MHG. reckenen,
G. rechnen = Icel. reikna (for *rekna f) = Sw.
rdkna = Dan. regne, reckon, = Goth, raknjan
(for *raknjan ?), reckon ; a secondary verb,
with formative -n (see -«»!), parallel with an-
other verb (the common one in AS.), AS.
reccan (pret. reakte, rehte), narrate, tell, say,
explain, expound, = OS. rekkian, narrate, ex-
plain, = OHG. rachjan, recchen, narrate, ex-
plain, reckon; these verbs being derived from a
noun, AS. raeu, t., an account or reckoning, an
account or narrative, an exposition, explana-
tion, history, comedy, = OH<j. rahka, i., a sub-
ject, thing, = Icel. rok, neut. pi., a reason,
ground, origin; prob. akin to Gr. /Idyof, an ac-
count, saying, word, reason, Xiyeiv, say: see
Zogos, logic, legend, etc. The AS. verb reccan,
narrate, is generally confused with reccan, di-
rect, rule, also stretch: see rack^, retch^. The
former spelling recken is historically the proper
one, the termination -on, as with beckon, being
prop. -e»i: see -e»i.] I. trans. 1. To count, or
count up; compute; calculate; tell over by
items or one by one : often with up.
No man vpon molde schuld now deuise
Men richlier a-raid to rekens alle thinges.
William of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1934.
I have not art to reckon my groans.
Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 121.
If we reckon up only those days which God hath accepted
of our lives, a life of good years will hardly be a span long.
Sir T. Brown£, To a Friend.
To reckon right it is required, (1.) That the mind dis-
tinguish carefully two Ideas which are different one from
another only by the addition or subtraction of one unit.
(2.) That it retain in memory the names or marks of the
several combinations from an unit to that number.
Locke, Human Understanding, II. xvi. 7.
3. To take into account ; include in an account
or category; set to one's account; impute;
charge or credit.
Faith was reckmied to Abraham for righteousness.
Bom. iv. 9.
Also these Vies of Ynde, which both evene azenst us,
beth noght reckned in the Climates ; for thei ben azenst
us that ben in the lowe Gontree.
MandevUle, Travels, p. 186.
Was any man's lust or intemperance everreekoned among
the Titles of his honour? Stilling fleet. Sermons, I. it
Among the costs of production have to be reckoned taxes,
general and local. H. Spencer, Man vs. State, p. 23.
St. To take account of'; inquire into; consider.
Thane saUe we rekkene fulle rathe whatt ryghte that be
claymes. Marie Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1275.
4. To hold in estimation as ; regard; consider
as being.
We ought not to recken and conmpt the thynge harde
That bryngeth ioye and pleasure £tterwarde.
Babeee Book (E. E. T. 8.), p. 839.
For that they reckened this demeanoure attempted, not
BO specially againste the other Lordes, as agaynste the
Kinge hymseUe. Sir T. Mare, Works, p. 43.
Though it be not expressly spoken against in Scripture,
yet I reckon it plainly enough implied in the Scripture.
Latimer, Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1660.
This is reckoned a very polite and fashionable amuse-
ment here. Goldmuth, Citizen of the World, Ixxxvi.
A friend may well be reckon£d the masterpiece of nature.
Emerson, Friendship.
^Syn. 1. Toenumerate,cast, castup.— Iand2. Compute,
Count, etc. (see calculate).
reckoning
II, intrans. 1. To make a computation ; cast
up an account; figure up.
And when he had begnne to recken, won was browghte
vnto hym whlohe ought hym ten thonsande talenttes.
Tyndale, Mat. xvUL 24.
3. To make an accounting; settle accounts;
come to an adjustment or to terms : commonly
followed by with.
"Parfay," seistow, " som tyme he r*n« Bhal, . . .
For he noght helpeth needfulle in her nede."
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 12.
The lorde of those servauntes cam, and reckened with
them. Tyndale, Mat. xxv, 19.
Know that ye shall to-morrow be placed before God,
and reckoned with according to your deeds.
E. W. Lane, Modem Egyptians, 1. 104.
St. To give an account of one's self; make an
explanation.
PandaruB, withouten rekenynge.
Out wente anon to Eleyne and Deipnebus.
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 1640.
4t. To take account of the points or details of
a subject; reason; discriminate.
Nothing at all, to reHn rycht,
Different, in to Goddis sycht.
Than bene the purest Creature
That enir wes firmit of nature.
Lauder, Deiytie of Kyngis (E. E. T. S.), 1. 63.
5. To base a calculation or expectation; rely;
count; depend: with on or upon.
My Lord Ambassador Aston reckons upon you, that you
will be one of his Train at his first Audience in Madrid.
Howell, Letters, I. vi. 28.
Thus they [men] adore the goodly scheme by which
they brought all these things to pass, and reckon upon it
as sure and infallible for the future.
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. vii.
In the whole corporation [of Newcastle-on-Tyne], the
government could not reckon on more than four votes.
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., viil.
6. To hold a supposition or impression ; have
a notion; think; suppose; guess: as, I reckon
a storm is coming. [The use of reckon in this sense,
though regularly developed and found in good literature,
like the corresponding sense of the transitive verb (defini-
tion 4), has by reason of its frequency in colloquial speech
in some parts of the United States, especially in the South
(where it occupies a place like that of guess in New Eng-
land), come to be regarded as provinciid or vulgar.]
I reckoned [thcught, R. V., margin] till morning that as a
lion so will he break all my bones. Isa. xxxviii. 13.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us. Rom. viiL 18.
What, you are a courtier, I reckon? No wonder yon
wish the press was demolished. Foote, The Bankrupt, ill.
There is one thing I must needs add, though I reckon
it will appear to many as a very unreasonable paradox.
Su}ift, Nobles and Commons, v.
I reckon you wiU be selling out the whole — it's needless
making twa bites of a cherry. Scott, St. Eonan's Well, x.
I recfttm they will always be '*the girls" to us, even if
they're eighty. Harper's Mag. , LXXVIIL 444.
7. To expect; intend. [Obsolete or ooUoq.]
Another sweet invention,
The which in brief I reckon to name.
UnttaMrOed Londonderry (Child's Ballads, VII. 249).
To reckon for, to give an account for ; be answerable
for.
If they fail in their bounden duty, they shall reckon for
it one day. Bp. Sanderson.
To reckon without one's host. See hott^a.
reckoner (rek'n-6r), n. [< MB. rekenere, reh-
nare (= D. rekenaar = G. rechner = Sw. be-
raknare = Dan. be-regner) ; < reckon + -er^.]
1. One who reckons or computes: as, a rapid
reckoner.
But retrospects with bad reckoners are troublesome
things. Warhurton, On Occasional Reflections.
In Ireland, where the reckoner would begin by saying
The two thumbs is one." Harper's Mag., LXXVUL 489.
3. Something that assists a person to reckon
or cast up accounts, as a book containing a se-
ries of tables ; a ready-reckoner.
reckoning (rek'n-ing), n. [Early mod. B. also
reckning; < ME. rekemnge, rekninge, rekning,
recning (= D. rekenmg, a bill, account, reckon-
mg, = MLG. rekeninge = OHG. rechenunga,
MHG. reckenunge, G. rechnvmg = Sw. rdkning
= Dan. regning, a reckoning, a computation) ;
verbal n. of reckon, v.] X. The act of coimt-
ing or computing; hence, an account or cal-
culation ; an adjustment of acoovmts.
For it pleaseth a Mayster much to hane a true reckon-
*'^- Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 66.
I am ill at reckoning. Shak., L. L. L., 1. 2. 42.
The way to make reckonings even is to make them often.
South.
2. A bill of charges, especially in a hotel, tav-
ern, inn, or other place of entertainment; an
itemized statement of what is due ; a score.
reckoning
Cerviclns paies for all, his purse
Defraies aU reclmingi.
Timei Whistle (K E. T. S.), p. 61.
We were treated in the most friendly manner by these
^ood people, and had no reason to complain of our reckon-
mg on leaving. B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 860.
He paid the goodwite's reckoning
In the coin of song and tale.
Whitlier, Ckibbler Eeezar's Vision.
Till issuing arm'd he found the host, and cried,
" Thy reckoning, friend?" Tennyson, Geraint.
3. An accotmt of time.
Truth is truth
To the end of reckoning.
Shak., it. for M., v. 1. 46.
4. The estimated time of a cow's calving.
[Now only Scotch.]
Canst thou their reck'nings keep, the time compute?
Sandys, Paraphrase upon Job, xzxix.
5. A smnming up in general^ a counting of
cost or expenditure ; a eompanson of items or
particulars in any matter of accountability.
Let us care
To live so that our reckonir^s may fall even
When we^re to make account.
Ford, Broken Hearty ii. 3.
The waste of it [time] will make you dwindle, alike in
intellectual and moral stature, beyond your darkest reck-
onings. Qladstone, Might of Bight, p. 21.
6. An accounting for action or conduct; ex-
planation; inquisition; scrutiny.
We two to rekenynge must be broujt ;
Biwaare ! free wille wole make thee woode.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 60.
7. A holding in estimation; assignment of
value; appreciation.
You make no further reckoning of it [beauty] than of
an outward fading benefit nature bestowed.
Sir P. Sidney.
8. Standing as to rank, quality, or worthiness ;
rating; consideration; reputation.
Neither ought they [certain men] to be of such reckon-
ing that their opinion or conjecture should cause the
laws of the Church of England to give place.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, Pref., iv.
Of honourable reckoning are you both.
Shak., B. and J., L 2. 4.
One M. Harvey, a right honest man, of good reckoning;
and one that above twenty years since bare the chiefest
office in Walden with good credit.
G. Harvey, Four Letters, i.
9. Naut., the calculation of the position of a
ship from the rate as determined by the log,
and the course as determined by the compass,
the place from which the vessel started being
known. See dSeod-recfcoraiwfl'.— Astronomical reck-
oning, a mode of stating dates before Christ, used by as-
tronomers. The year B. 0. 1 is called 0 ; B. 0. 2 is called
— 1, etc. — Count and reckoning. See counts.— The
day of reckoning, the day of judgment ; the day when
account must be rendered and settlement made. — To be
astern of the reckoning. See astern.— To run ahead
of one's reckoning (navt.), to sail beyond the position
erroneously estimated in the dead-reckoning.
reckoning-book (rek'n-ing-buk), n. A book
in which money received and expended is set
down. Johnson.
reckoning-penny (rek'n-ing-pen'i), n. [= G.
rechenpfennig.'i Ametallic disk or counter, with
devices and inscriptions like a coin, formerly
used in reckoning or casting up accounts.
reclaim (re-klam'), V. [Early mod. E. also re-
clame; < Mte. reelaimen, reclaymen, recleimen, re-
cleymen, < OP. reclaimer, reclevmer, reclamer, F.
reclamer, claim, reclaim, cry out against, ex-
claim upon, sue, claim, = Pr. Sp. Pg. reclamar
= It. richiamare, < L. reclama/re, cry out against,
exclaim against, contradict, call repeatedly, <
re-, again, + clamare, call: see clairn^.'] I.
intrans. If. To cry out; exclaim against some-
thing.
Hereunto Folomar redavnUng againe, began to aduance
and magnifle the honour and dignitie of generall councels.
Foxe, Martyrs, p. 687, an. 1438.
"I do not design it," says Tom, " as a reflection on Vir-
gil ; on the contrary, I know that all the manuscripts re-
dmm against such a punctuation." Addison, Tom Folio.
2. In Scots law, to appeal from a judgment of
the lord ordinary to the inner house of the
Courtof Session.— 3t. To draw back; give way.
Ne from his currish will a whit reclaim.
Spenser. (Webster.)
4. To effect reformation.
They, harden'd more by what might most reclaim,
Grieving to see his glory, at the sight
Took envy. Milton, P. L., vi. 791.
II, trans. If. To cry out against; contradict;
gainsay.
Herod, instead of reclaiming what they exclaimed, em-
braced and hugged thek praises. , „^ ^^ .. ,„,
Fuller, Pisgah Sight, u. 8. (Trench.)
2t. To call back; call upon to return; recall;
urge backward.
5003
And willed him for to redayme with speed
His scattred people, ere they all were slaine.
Spenser, F. Q., V. xii. 9.
3. To claim the return or restoration of; de-
mand renewed possession of; attempt to re-
gain: as, to reclaim one's rights or property.
A tract of land [Holland] snatched from an element per-
petually reclaiming its prior occupancy. Coxe.
A truly great historian would reclaim those materials
which the novelist has appropriated. Hacarday, History.
4. To effect the return or restoration of; get
back or restore by effort ; regain; recover.
So shall the Briton blood their crowne agayn reclame.
Spenser, F. Q., III. ill. 48.
This arm, that h&th redaim'd
To your obedience fifty fortresses.
ShaJc., 1 Hen. VI., iii. 4. 5.
5t. In /aZcojtr^, to drawback; recover.
Another day he wol, peraventure,
Seelayme thee and brlnge thee to lure.
Cfiaucer, Prol. to Manciple's Tale, 1. 72.
To the bewits was added the creance, or long thread,
by which the bird in tutoring was drawn back, after she
had been permitted to fly ; and this was called the redcUm-
ing of the hawk. Strutl, Sports and Pastimes, p. 91.
6t. To bring under restraint or within close
limits; check; restrain; holdback.
By this means also the wood is redaimed and repressed
from running out in length beyond all measure.
Hottand, tr. of Pliny, xviL 22.
Or is her tow'ring Flight redainCd
By Seas from Icarus' Downfall nam'd?
Prior, Carmen Seoulare (1700), st 23.
It cannot be intended that he should delay his assis-
tance till corruption is redaimed.
Johnson, Debates in Parliament (ed. 1787), II. 376.
7. To draw back from error or wrong-doing;
bring to a proper state of mind; reform.
IfhebewUd,
IHieredaimi'ng him to good and honest, brother.
Will make much for my honour.
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, i. 1.
'Tis the intention of Providence, in its various expres-
sions of goodness, to reclaim mankind. Rogers, Sermons.
8. To bring to a subdued or ameliorated state ;
make amenable to control oruse; reduce to obe-
dience, as a wild animal; tame; subdue; also,
to fit for cultivation, as wild or marshy land.
Thou [Jason] madest thy redaymynge and thy lures
To ladies of thy staately aparaunce.
And of thy wordes farsed with plesaunce.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 1371.
The elephant is never won with anger.
Nor must that man that would reclaim a lion
Take him by the teeth. Fletcher, Valentinian, i. 3.
Upon his fist he bore, for his delight.
An eagle well redaimed, and lily white.
Dryden, Pal. and Arc, ili. 89.
A pathless wilderness remains
Yet unsubdued by man's reclaiming hand,
Shelley, Queen Mab, ix.
9t. To call or cry out again; repeat the utter-
ance of ; sound back; reverberate.
Melt to teares, poure out thy plaints, let Eccho redame
them. Greene, The Mourning Garment.
Reclaimed animals, in law, those animals, naturally
wild, that are made tame by art, industrjr, or education,
whereby a qualified property is acquired in them.=S7n.
4 and 6. To recover, regain, restore, amend, correct.
reclaim (re-klam'), n. [< ME. redayme, re-
cleyme, < OJ'. reclaim, F. reclame = Sp. Pg. It.
reclamo, calling back (in falconry); from the
verb.] The act of reclaiming, or the state of
being reclaimed, in any sense; reclamation; re-
call; restoration; reformation.
Non of hem aU that him hide mysh
But cam with him a redayme ifro costis aboute,
And flell with her fletheris flat yppon the erthe.
Richard the Redeless, ii. 182.
I see you are e'en past hope
Of all redavm.
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, i. 1.
reclaimable (rf-kla'ma-bl), a. [< reclaim +
-able.'] Capable of being reclaimed, reformed,
or tamed.
He said that he was young, and so redaimMle : that this
was his first fault. Dr. CocMmm, Bem. on Burnet, p. 41.
reclaimably (re-kla'ma-bli), adv. So as to be
capable of being reclaimed.
reclaimantt (re-kla'mant), n. [< OP. recla-
mant, P. riclarhant (= Pg. It. reclamante), ppr.
of reclamer, reclaim: see reclami.'] One who
reclaims, or opposes, contradicts, or remon-
strates.
reclaimer (rf-kla'mer), n. One who reclaims.
reclaiming (rf-kla'ming), p. a. [< ME. re-
cleymynge; ppr. of reclaim, v."] 1. Serving or
tending to reclaim; recalling to a regular course
of lite; reforming. — 3. In Scofe Zaw, appealing
from a judgment of the lord ordinary to the
inner house of the Court of Session Reclaim-
recline
Ing days, in Scots law, the days allowed within which to
take an appeal.— Reclaiming note, in Scots law, the
petition of appeal in a case of reclaiming,
reclaimless (rf-klam'les), a. [< reclaim +
-less.] IneapalDle of being reclaimed; that can-
not be reclaimed; not to be reclaimed; irre-
claimable. [Bare.]
And look on Guise as a redaimless Bebel.
Lee, Duke of Guise, ii. 1.
reclamation (rek-la-ma'shgn), n. [< OP. re-
clamation, P. reclamation = Sp. reclamadon =
Pg. reclamagSo = It. richiam,aeione, a contra-
diction, gainsaying, < L. reclamatio{n-), a cry
of opposition or disapprobation, < reclamare,
cry out against: see reclaim."] 1. A reclaim-
ing of something as a possession ; a claim or
demand for return or restoration; a require-
ment of compensation for something wrongly
taken or withheld ; also, a claim to a discovery
as having been previously made.
When Denmark delivered up to Great Britain three
prizes, carried into a port of Norway by Paul Jones In the
revolutionary war, we complained of it, and continued
our reclamations through more than sixty years.
Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, App. iiL, p. 448.
2. A calling or bringing back, as from aberra-
tion or wrong-doing; restoration; reformation.
Not for a partnership in their vice, but for their recla-
mation from erill.
Bp. Hall, Satan's Fiery Darts Quenched, iiL § 6.
3. The act of subduing to fitness for service or
use; taming; amelioration: as, the reclamation
of wild animals or waste land.
A thorough course of redamation was then adopted
with this land, which was chiefiy bog and cold bomder
clay. Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XL. 206.
4. A remonstrance; representation made in
opposition ; a cry of opposition or disapproba-
tion.
I suspect you must allow there is some homely truth
at the bottom of what called out my worthy secretary's
admonitory reclamation. Nodes Ambrosianse, Sept., 1832.
reclamation-plow (rek-la-ma'shgn-plou), n.
A heavy plow used for breaking li'ew land and
clearing it of roots and stones. Some forms
are drawn by a steam-plow engine, others by
oxen or horses.
reclinant (re-kli'nant), a. [< P. riclinant, ppr.
of recliner :' see recline.] In Tier., bending or
bowed.
reclinate (rek'li-nat), a. [= P. ricUni = Sp.
Pg. reclinado = It. reclinato, < L. reelinatus, pp.
of reclimare, bend back, recline: see recline.]
Bending downward, (a) In hot., said of stems or
branches when erect or ascending at the base, then turn-
ing toward the ground ; of leaves in the bud in which the
blade is bent down upon the petiole or the apex of the
blade upon its base ; of a cotyledon doubled over in the
seed. (6) In entom., said of parts, processes, hairs, etc,
which cuiTe down toward a surface, as if to rest on it.
reclination (rek-li-na'shon), n. [= P. reclinai-
son = Sp. recUnacion = Pg. recUnagSo, < L. re-
clinare, pp. recUnatvs, bend back: see recline
and reclinate.] 1. The act of leaning or re-
clining ; the state of reclining or being reclined.
— 2. In dialing, the angle which the plane of
the dial makes with a vertical plane which it
intersects in a horizontal line. — 3. In smrg.,
one of the operations once used for the cure of
cataract. It consists in applying a specially constructed
needle in a certain manner to the anterior surface of the
lens, and depressing it downward or backward into the
vitreous humor.
reclinatoryt (rf-kli'na-to-ri), n. [ME. reclina-
torye; < ML. reclinatbr^m, a place for reclin-
ing, a pillow, < L. recUnare, recDne : see recline. ]
Something to recline on ; a rest.
Therinne sette his reclyruUorye.
LydgaU, MS. Soc Antiq. 134, f. 3. (HaMweU.)
recline (re-klin'), V. ; pret. and pp. reclined, ppr.
recUrdng.' [< OP. recliner, P. recliner = Sp. Pg.
reclinar = It. reclinare, lean back, < L. recU-
nare, lean back, recline, < re-, back, + *clinare,
lean: see dine and lean^, v.] I, intrans. 1. To
lean backward or downward upon something;
rest in a recumbent posture. — 2. To bend
downward; lean; have a leaning posture.
[Eare.]
Eastward, in long perspective glittering, shine
The wood-crowned cliffs that o'er the lake recline.
Wordsworth, Descriptive Sketches.
Reclining dial. See dial.=Sya. Recline is always as
strong as han, and generally stronger, indicating a more
completely recumbent position, and approaching lie.
II. trans. To place at rest in a leaning or
recumbent posture; lean or settle down upon
something: as, to recline the head on a pillow,
or upon one's arm.
The mother
Bedined her dying head upon his breast. Dryden,
recline
In & shadowy saloon,
On silken cushions halt redined,
I watch thy grace. . Tennyson, Eletoore.
recline (rf-klin'), a. [< L. recUnis, recUnus,
leaning 'baek, bent back, reclining, < reclinare,
lean baek, recline: see recline, «.] Leaning;
being in a reclining posture. [Rare.]
They sat recline
On the soft downy bank damask'd with flowers.
Milton, P. L., Iv. 333.
recliner (re-kl!'n6r), n. One who or that which
reclines ; specifically, a reclining dial.
reclining-board (re-kU'ning-bord), 11. A board
to which young persons are sometimes strapped,
to prevent stooping and to give erectness to the
figure. Mrs. S. C. Sail.
reclining-cliair (rf-tli'ning-char), n. A chair
the back of which" can be tilted as desired, to
allow the occupant to assume a reclining posi-
tion ; an invalid-chair.
reclivate (rek'li-vat), a. [< LL. reclmis, lean-
ing backward, < L. re-, back, -f- cliims, sloping :
see oUvous.'] In entom., forming a double curve ;
curving outward and then inward : noting mar-
gins, parts of jointed organs, and processes.
reclotue (re-kloTH'), v. t. [< re- + clothe.] To
clothe again.
The Taiying year with blade and sheal
dothes and' rec2o£Aes the happy plains.
Tennyson, Day Dream, The Sleeping Palace.
recludet (re-klod'), v. t. [= OF. reelure, re-
elorre, F. reelure = Pr. reclaure, reselure = Sp.
Pg. reoluir, shut up, seclude, = It. richiudere,
unclose, open, < LL. reclwdere, shut up or off,
close, < L. reoVadere, unclose, open, also in LL.
shut up, < re-, back, -1- claudere, shut : see closed,
and of. conclude, exclude, include, preclude, se-
clude, occlude.'] To open ; unclose.
Hem softe enclude,
And towarde nyght hir yates thou reclude.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (B. E. T. S.), p. 39.
recluse (re-klos'), a. and n. [1. < ME. recluse,
n., < OF. reclus, P. reclus, fern, recluse = Pr. reclus
= Sp. Pg. recluso = It. rioMtiso, < LL. reclmvg,
shut up (MXi. reclusus, m., rechusa, f ., a recluse),
pp. of recludere, shut up, L. unclose, open, etc. :
see reclmde. 2. < ME. recluse, < OF. recluse, a
convent, monastery, < LL. reclusa, f em. of yecZM-
««s, shutup: see above.] I. a. Shut upor apart
from the world ; retired from public notice ;. se-
questered; solitary; existing or p&ssed in a soli-
tary state : as, a recluse monk or hermit ; a re-
cluse life.
Here, as recluse as the Turkish Spy at Paris, 1 am almost
unkuown to every body.
Goldsmith, To Kev. Thomas Contarine.
II. n. 1. A person who withdraws from the
world to spend his days in seclusion and medi-
tation; specifically, a member of a religious
community who is voluntarily immured for life
in a single cell. The life of a monastic recluse was a
privilege accorded only to those of exceptional virtue,
and only by express permission of the abbot, chapter, and
bishop. In earlier monasticism, the recluse was immured
In a cell, sometimes underground, and usually within the
precincts of the monastery. He was to have no other ap-
parel than that which he wore at the time of his incarce-
ration. The doorway to the cell was walled up, and only
a sufficient aperture was left for the conveyance of provi-
sions, but so contrived as not to allow the recluse to see
or be seen. Later monasticism greatly modified this rigor.
2t. A place of seclusion; a retired or quiet
situation ; a hermitage, convent, or the like.
It 18 certain that the church of Christ is the pillar of
truth, or sacred recluse and peculiar asylum of Religion.
J. Wise, The Churches' Quarrel Espoused.
recluset (re-klSz'), v. t. [< ME. reclusen; < re-
cluse, a.] To shut up ; seclude ; withdraw from
intercourse.
Keliglous out-ryders reclused in here cloistres.
Piers Plowman (C), v. 116.
I had a shrewd Disease hung lately upon me, proceed-
ing, as the Physicians told me, from this long redused Life.
Howell, Letters, ii. 29.
reclusely (re-klos'li), adv. In a recluse man-
ner; in retirement or seclusion from society;
as a recluse. Lee, Bccles. Grloss.
reclnseness (re-kl5s'nes), n. The state of be-
ingrecluse; retirement; seclusion from society.
A kind of calm reeluseness is like rest to the overlabour'd
man. Feltham, On Bccles. U. 11. (fiesolves, p. 349.)
reclusion (re-klS'zhon), n. [< F. reclusion =
Sp. reclmsion = Pg. reclusao = It. reolusione, <
ML. reeVimo{n-), < LL. recludere, pp. reclusus,
shut up : see reclude and recluse,'] I . A state of
retirement from the world ; seclusion. Johnson.
— 2. Specifically, the life or condition of a re-
cluse or immured solitary.
reclusive (re-kl6'siv), a. [< recluse + -we.]
Affording retirement from society ; recluse.
5004
And if it sort not well, you may conceal her . . .
In some redusive and religious life.
Shak., Much Ado, ir. 1. 244.
reclusory (re-kl8'so-ri), re. ; pi. rechusoriesi^-Az).
[= Sp. ft. r'eclusor'io, < ML. reclusorium, < LL.
recludere, pp. reclusus, shut up, close: see re-
cluse.] The abode or cell of a recluse.
recoctf (re-kokf), v. t. [< L. recoctus, pp. of
recoqu^re,' cook again, < re-, again, + coquere,
cook: see eooh^, v.] To cook over again;
hence, to vamp up or renew.
Old women and men, too, . . . seek, as it were, by
Medea's charms, to recoct their corps, as she did jEson's,
from feeble deformities to aprightly handsomeness.
Jer. Taylor (?), ArUf. Handsomeness, p. 71.
recoction (re-kok'shon), n. [< recoct + -«oto.]
A second cootion or 'preparation. Imp. Diet.
recognisable, recognise, etc. See recognizable,
etc.
recognition^ (rek-og-nish'on), n. [< OF. re-
cognition, F. ricogriition = ft. i-icogrdeione, re-
eognizione, < L. recognitio(n-), < recognoscere,
pp. recognitus, recognize, know again : see rec-
ognize^.] 1. The act of recognizing; a know-
ing again; consciousness that a given object is
identical with an object previously cognized.
Every species of fancy hath three modes : recognition of
a thing as present, memory of it as past, and foresight of
it as to come. N. Orem.
Sense represents phenomena empirically In perception,
imagination in association, apperception in the empirical
consciousness of the identity of these reproductive repre-
sentations with the phenomena by which they were given
therefore in recognition.
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, tr. by Miiller, p. 115.
A person's recognition of a colour is in part an act of in-
ference. J. Sully, Sensation and Intuition, p. 67.
2. A formal avowal of knowledge and ap-
proval or sanction; acknowledgment: as, the
recognition of one government by another as
an independent sovereignty or as a belligerent.
The lives of such saints had, at the time of their yearly
memorials, solemn recognition in the church of God.
Moolcer.
This Byzantine synod assumed the rank and powers of
the seventh general council ; yet even this title was a
recognition of the six preceding assemblies.
Oiibon, Decline and Fall, xlix.
On the 4th he was received in procession at Westmin-
ster, seized the crown and sceptre of the Confessor, and
waa proclaimed king by the name of Edward IV. , . .
From the 4th of March the legal recognition of Edward's
royal character begins, and the years of his reign date.
Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 355.
Tliat a man's right to the produce of his brain is equally
valid with his right to the produce of his hands is a fact
which has yet obtained but a very imperfect recognition.
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 155.
3. Cognizance; notice taken; acceptance.
The interesting fact about Apollonins is the extensive
recognition which he obtained, and the ease with which
his pretensions found acceptance in the existing condition
of the populEU' mind. Froude, Sketches, p. 103.
4. In Scots law, the recovery of lands by the
proprietor when they fall to him by the fault
of the vassal ; or, generally, any return of the
feu to the superior, by whatever ground of evic-
tion. =syn. 1, See recognizei-.
recognition^ (re'kog-nish'on), n. A repeated
cognition.
recognitive (re-kog'ni-tiv), a. [< L. recognitus,
pp. of recognoscere, recognize, + -ive. Cf . cog-
nitive.] Eecognizing; recognitory.
recognitort (re-kog'ni-tor), n. [< AF. reco-
gnitor, < ML. recognitor,' <. L. recognitus, vp. of
recognoscere, recognize : see recognize^.] !m law,
one of a jury impaneled on an assize : so called
because they acknowledge a disseizin by their
verdict. The recognitor was a witness rather
than a juror in the modem sense.
The inquests by Recognitors which we hear of from the
time of tlie Conqueror onwards — the sworn men by whose
oaths Domesday was drawn up — come much more nearly
[than compurgators] to our notion of Jurors, but still they
are not the thing itself.
E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, V. 803.
recognitory (re-kog'ni-to-ri), a. [< L. recog-
nitus, pp. of recognoscere, recognize, + -ory'^.]
Pertaining to or connected with recognition.
A pun and its recognitory laugh must be co-instanta^
neous. Lamb, Distant Correspondents.
recognizability (rek-og-ni-za-bil'i-ti), ». [< rec-
ognizable + -ity (see -bility).] The state of
being recognizable; capacity for being recog-
nized.
recognizable (rek'og-ni-za-bl or re-kog'ni-
za-bl), a. [< recognize^ + -a&fe. Cf. OF. recon-
noissaUe, F. reconnaissahle.] Capable of being
recognized, known, or acknowledged. Also
spelled recognisable. "
recognizably (rek'og-ni-za-bli or re-kog'ni-za-
bli), adv. So as to be recognized.
recognize
recognizance (re-kdg'ni-zans or re-kon'i-zansV
n. [< ME. recognisance, "reconyssaunce, < "OF.
recognoissance, reconnoisance, reconoisance, re-
cunuissance, reconisance, etc., F. reconrwissance
(> E. reconnaissance) = Pr. reconaissensa, rego-
noyssensd= Pg. reconheeenga = It. riconoscensa,
< ML. recognoscentia, a recognizing, acknow-
ledgment, an obligation binding one over to do
some particular act, < L. recognoscen(t-)s, ppr.
ol recognoscere, recognize: see recognize^. Cf.
cognizance.] 1. The act of recognizing; ac-
knowledgment of a person or thing; avowal;
recognition.
The great bell that heaves
With solemn sound— and thousand others more.
That distance of recognizance bereaves.
Make pleasing music and not wild uproar.
Keats, Sonnet, " How many Bards."
2. Mark or badge of recognition ; token.
She did gratify his amorous works
With that recognizance and pledge of love
Which I first gave her [a handkerchief].
Shak., OtheUo, v. 2. 214.
3. In law : (a) An obligation of record entered
into before some court of record or magistrate
duly authorized, conditioned to do some par-
ticular act, as to appear at court, to keep the
peace, or pay a debt.
He was bounden in a reconyssaunce
To paye twenty thousand sheeld anon.
Chaucer, Shipman's Tale, L 380.
This fellow might be in 's time a great buyer of land,
with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double
vouchers, his recoveries. Shak., Hamlet, v. 1. 113.
(6t) The verdict of a jury impaneled upon as-
size. — To enter into recognizanceB. See enterK
recognizant (re-kog'ni-zant or re-kon'i-zant),
a. [< OP. recbgnoissant,' ppr. of" recognoistre,
etc., recognize: see recognize'^.] Recognizing;
perceiving.
The laird did his best to help him ; but he seemed no-
wise reeognizant.
George MacBonald, Warlock o' Glenwarlock, xv.
recognization (re-kog-ni-za'shon), n. [< recog-
nize^ + -aUon.] The act of recognizing.
recognize^ (rek'og-niz), V. ; pret. and pp. recog-
nized, ppr. recognizing, [with aooom. tenn.
-ize (as if from recognizance), after OP. reco-
gnoistre, F. reconnattre (> E. reconnoiter) = Pr.
recognosoer, reconoscer = Sp. reconocer = Pg.
reconhecer = It. riconoscere, < L. recognoscere,
know again, recall to mind, recognize, examine,
certify, < re-, again, + cognoscere, know: see
cognition. Cf. cognize.] I, trans. 1. To know
(the object) again ; recall or recover the know-
ledge of; perceive the identity of with some-
thing formerly known or in the mind.
Then first he recognis'd the sethereal guest ;
Wonder and joy altemate fire his breast,
Fentcn, in Pope's Odyssey, L 415.
To recognise an object is to identify it with some object
previonSly seen. J. SiMy, Outlines of Psychol., p. 226.
2. To avow or admit a knowledge of, with
approval or sanction; acknowledge or accept
formally: as, to recognize one as ambassador;
to recognize a government as an independent
sovereignty or as a belligerent.
Hebrought several of them . . . to recognise their sense
of their undue procedure used by them unto him.
Bp. Fell, Life of Hammond. (Lutham.)
Only that State can live in which injury to the least
member is recognized as damage to the whole.
F!merson, Address, Soldiers' Monument, Concord.
Holland, immediately after the surrender of Yorktown,
had recognised the independence of America, which had
as yet only been remgmsed by France.
Lecky, Eng. to 18th Cent., xv.
3. To indicate one's acquaintance with (a per-
son) by a salute : as, to pass one without recog-
nizing him.— 4. To indicate appreciation of:
as, to recognize merit. — 5. To review; reex-
amine ; take cognizance of anew.
However their causes speed in your tribunals, Christ
will recognize them at a greater. SouOi.
6. To acknowledge; admit or confess as aa.
obligation or duty.
It is more to the purpose to urge that those who have
so powerful an engine | as the press] in their hands should
recognize their responsibility in the use of it.
H. N. Oxenham, Short Studies, p. 87.
= Syn. 2-4. Recognize, Acknowledge. The essential dif-
ference between these words lies in the difference be-
tween letting in to one's own knowledge (recognize) and
Mting out to other people's knowledge (ackmrnledge).
Hence the opposite of recognize is disown or some kindred
word; thatotcusknouiledgem conceal or deny. To recognize
an obligation and to acknowledge an obligation differ pre-
cisely in this way. The preacher may be able to make a
man recognize, even if he cannot make him acknowledge.
his need of moral improvement See acknowledge.
recognize
n. intrans. In law, to enter an obligation of
record before a proper tribimal : as, A. B. rec-
ognized in the sum of twenty dollars.
Also spelled recognise.
recognize^ (re-kog'niz), v. t. To cognize again.
By the aid of Keasoning we are guided in our search,
and by it re-cognize known relations under somewhat dil-
f erent attendant circumstances.
8. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Kind, n. 172.
recognizee (re-kog-ni-ze' or re-kon-i-ze'), n.
[< recognize^ + -eel.] In law,' the person to
whom a recognizance is made.
The recognizance is an acknowledgment of a former debt
upon record, the form whereof is "that A. B. doth ac-
knowledge to owe to our lord the king, to the plaintiff,
to C. D., or the like, the sum of ten pounds" . . . : in
which case the king, the plaintiff, C. D., &c., is called the
recognizee, "is cui oognoscitur" ; as he that enters into
the recognizance is called the cognizor, "isquicognoscit."
BlaeknUme, Com., II. zz.
recognizer (rek'og-ni-z6r), n. [< recognize^ +
-eri. Cf . recognizor.'] One who recognizes.
recognizingly (rek'og-ni-zing-li), adv. With
recognition; consciously; appreciatively.
I know not if among all his "friends" he [John Wilson]
has left one who feels more reco^7ii2in^2j/ what he was . . .
than I. Carlyle, in Froude, Life in London, xxii.
recognizor (rf-kog'ni-zgr or re-kon'i-zor), n.
[< OP. *recognoissew, F".' recowmisseur ; as rec-
ognize'^ + -or^."] In law, one who enters into a
recognizance.
recognoscet, v. t. [< L. recognoscere, recognize :
see recognize'^.'] Same as recognize^. Boyle.
The Examiner [Boyle] might have remembered . . .
who it was that distinguished his style with ' ' ignore " and
"recogTUJSce," and other words of that sort, which nobody
has yet thought fit to follow him in.
BenUey (quoted in I'. Hall's Mod. Eng., p. 118).
recoiU (re-koil')i ^- [Early mod. E. also recoyle,
recule; <'ME. recoilen, reculen, < OP. reeuler, P.
reculer, draw back, go back, recoil, retire, defer,
drive off (= Pr. Sp. recular = Pg. reouar = It.
reculare, rinculare), < ML. remUare, go back-
ward, < L. re-, back, + culvs (> P. cul), the hind-
er parts, posteriors; cf. Ir. Gael. c«?, the back,
hinder part, = W. dl, back, a retreat.] I, irir-
trans. 1. To draw back; go back; retreat; take
a sudden backward motion after an advance.
Sodainely he blewe the retraite, and reeuled almoste a
myle backewarde. HaU, Hen. V., an. 6.
We were with Tyolence and rage of the sayde tempest
constreyned to recoyle and turne backwardes, and to soke
some hanyn vpon the coste of Turkey.
SirR, Gwylforde, Pylgrym^e, p. 69.
Ye both forwearied be ; therefore a whyle
I read you rest, and to your bowres reeayle.
Spenser, F. Q., I. X. 17.
Looking on the lines
Of my boy's face, methoughts I did recall
Twenty-three years, and saw myself unbreech'd.
Shak., W. T., L 2. 154.
Their manner is, when any will inuade them, to allure
and drawe them on by flying and reailing (as if they were
afraide). HaMuyVs Voyages, I. 489.
His men were compelled to recoil from the dense array
of German pikes. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., iL 12.
2. To start or draw back, as from anything
repulsive, distressing, alarming, or the like;
shrink.
First Fear his band. Its skill to try.
Amid the chords bewildered laid.
And back recaUed, he knew not why.
E'en at ttie sound himself had made.
Collins, The Passions.
The heart
JRecoUs from its own choice.
Cowper, Task, t 467.
3. To fall, rush, start, bound, or roll back, as
in consequence of resistance which cannot be
overcome by the force impressed; return after
a certain strain or impetus : literally or figura-
tively.
These dread curses, like the sun 'gainst glass,
Or like an overcharged gun, recml.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 2. 331.
Bevenge, at first though sweet,
Bitter ere long, back on Itself recoUs,
Milton, P. L., ix. 172.
4t. To fall off; degenerate.
Be revenged ;
Or she that bore you was no queen, and you
SeeoU from your great stock.
SlMk., Cymbeline, 1. 6. 128.
Il.t trans. To drive back.
Mariners and merchants with much toyle
Labour'd in value to have seour'd their prize, . . .
But neither toyle nor traveUl might her backe recoyle.
Spenser, F. Q., IL xii. 19.
recoili (re-koil'), »• [Earlymod. E. also recule;
< OP. recul, recoil, backward movement, re-
treat, P. recul, recoil, rebound, = Pg. recuo, a
recoil; from the verb.] If. A drawing back;
retreat.
5005
Where, having knowledge of Omore his recule, he pur-
sued him. Holinslied, Descrip. of Ireland. (.JlTara.)
2. A backward movement; a rebound: literally
or figuratively.
On a sudden open fly
With impetuous recoU and jarring sound
The infernal doors. MUton, P. L., it 880.
The recoil from formalism is scepticism.
F. W. EdberUan.
Who knows it not — this dead recotZ
Of weary fibres stretched with toil?
0. JT. Holmes, Midsummer.
3. Specifically, the rebound or resilience of a
firearm or a piece of ordnance when discharged.
Like an unskilful gunner, he usually misses his aim, and
is hurt by the reaxU of his own piece.
Sheridan, The Duenna, L 3.
Energy of recoil See eTiejw.— EecoU-check. See
recoil^ (re-koil'), V. t. [< re- + coiJl.] To coil
again.
He [the driller] then reverses the motion, uncoils it
[the cable], and recoils it up the other way.
Sa. Amer., N. S., LV. 116.
recoiler (rf-koi'ler), n. One who recoils or falls
back. Bp. Saclcet, Abp. Williams, p. 98.
recoil-escapement (rf-koil'es-kap"ment), n.
In horol., an escapement in which after each beat
the escape-wheel recoils, or moves backward
slightly: opposed to a dead-teat escapement, in
which the escape-wheel rests dead, or without
motion in the interval between the beats.
recoilment (re-koil'ment), n. [Pormerly also
recuilment; < OF. (and'P.) reaulement, < reculer,
recoil : see recoil^.'] The act of recoiling.
The sharp pains of the stone were allay'd by that heavi-
ness of sense which the recuHmerd of serous moisture into
the habit of the body and insertions of the nerves occa-
sion'd. Bammumd, in Bp. FeU.
recoil-pallet (re-koil'paFet), n. One of the
pallets which form an essential part of the
mechanism of a recoil-escapement.
Eecml pallets — wad dead ones too— should only just
clear the teeth. Sir E. Beckett, Clocks and Watches, p. 79.
recoil-wave (re-koil'wav), n. A^dicrotic wave.
recoin (re-koin*), v. t. [< re- + coini-."] To coin
again : as, to recoin gold or silver. Xocfce.
recoinage (re-koi'naj), n. [< recoin + -age.]
1. The act of coining anew. — 2. That which
is coined anew.
recoiner (re-koi'ner), n. One who recoins.
recollect^ (re-ko-lekt'), v. [< L. recoUectus,
pp. of recolligere'Q It. raccogliere, raccorre, ri-
cogUere, ricorre = Pg. recolher = Sp. recolegir
= P. recueillir, also recolUger), gather up again,
recollect, < re-, again, + colUgere, pp. colleetus,
gather, collect : see collect. Cf . recollecP and re-
eaeU.'] I. trans. 1. To collect or gather again;
collect what has been scattered: often written
distinctively re-collect: as, to re-collect routed
troops.
So oft Shalt thou eternal favour gain,
Who recoUectedst Ireland to them twain.
Ford, Fame's MemoriaL
The Lake of Zembre, . . . now dispersed into ample
lakes, and againe recoUecting his extravagant waters.
Sandys, Travailes, p. 73.
He [Gray] asks his friend Stonehewer, in 1760, "Bid you
never observe (while rocking winds are piping loud) that
pause as the gust is re-colleekng itself?"
Lowell, New Princeton Eev., 1. 163.
2t. To summon back, as scattered ideas; re-
duce to order; gather together.
" Young man " (quoth she), " thy spirites recoUect;
Be not amazde mine vncouth shape to see."
Times' WhisUe (E. E. T. S.), p. 13&
BeeoUectinff of all our scattered thoughts and exterior ex-
travagances. . . is the best circumstance to dispose us to
a heavenly visitation. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), 1. 29.
3. To recover (one's self); collect (one's self):
used reflexively in the past participle.
, Tlior. Youll be temperate.
And hear me.
Qer. Speak, I am re-eolleeted.
Shirley, Love in a Maze, ii. 3.
Now it Joseph would make one of his long speeches, I
might recollect myself a little.
Sheridan, School for Scandal, v. 3.
4t. To gather; collect.
These fishers . . . from their watery empire recollect
All that may men approve or men detect
SJmk., Pericles, ii. 1. 54.
II. intrans. To come together again; reunite.
Though diflus'd, and spread In infinite.
Shall recollect, and in one all unite.
Donne, To Lady Bedford.
recollect^ (rek-g-lekt'), «• *• [In form and ori-
gin same as reconecfi, but in pronunciation and
sense depending upon the noun recollecUon.']
To recover or recall knowledge of; bring back
to the mind or memory; remember.
recomfort
Conscious of age, she recoUeets her youth.
Cowper, Truth, L 153.
Perchance
We do hut recollect the dreams that come
Just ere the waking. Tennyson, Lucretiu&
=Syn. To call up, call to mind, ^ee remember and mem.
ory.
Recollect^ (rek'o-lekt), n. Same as Mecollet.
The BecoUeets were uninfected by Jansenism.
Rom. Cath. Diet., p. 709.
recollectedness (rek-q-lek'ted-nes), rt. 1. The
result of searching t£ie memory, as putting a
person into complete possession of what he re-
members.
i2ecoZZec£e(fn«££ to every good purpose; unpremeditated-
ness to every bad purpose.
Bentha/m, Judicial Evidence, IL iv.
2. Self-possession ; mastery of what is in one's
mind.
I spoke with recdUededTUSS and power.
Bp. tfUber/oree, Diary, March 3, 1857.
recollection (rek-o-lek'shon), n. [< OP. reeoU
lecUon, P. r4collecUon = Sp. recolecdon, reeoUee-
tion, = Pg. recoleigSo, retirement, < L. recolkc-
tio{n-), < recolligere, pp. recollectus, collect again:
see recollect^, recolUcI^.] 1. The act of recol-
lecting, or recalling to the memory ; the act by
which objects are volimtarily recalled to the
memory or ideas are revived in the mind ; the
searching of the memory; reminiscence; re-
membrance.
If it [the idea] be sought after by the mind, and with pain
and endeavour found, and brought again in view, it is rec~
ollectum. Locke, Human Understanding, IL xix. 1.
2. The power of recalling ideas to the mind,
or the period over which such power extends;
remembrance: as, the events mentioned are
not within my recollection.
When I think of my own native land.
In a moment I seem to be there ;
But alas ! recollection at hand
Soon hurries me back to despair.
Cowper, Alexander Selkirk.
How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood.
When fond recollection presents them to view !
S. yroodworth. The Bucket.
3. That which is recollected; something re-
called to mind.
One of his earliest recoUectwns. Macaulay.
Thinks I, "Aha!
When I can talk, I'll tell Mamma."
— And that 's my earliest recf^ectum.
F. Locker, A Terrible Infant.
4. The operation or practice of collecting or
concentrating the mind; concentration; col-
lectedness.
From such an education Charles contracted habits of
gravity and recotteetntm which scarcely suited his time of
life. W. Robertson, Charles V.
=ijIl.\-Z. Remembrance, Beminiscence,ete. Seememory.
recoUective (rek-o-lek'tiv), a. [< recollect^
+ -dve.] Having the power of recollecting.
Foster.
BecoUet (rek'o-let), n. [Sometimes spelled
Recollect; < OP. recollet, P. recollet = Sp. Pg.
recoleto = It. recolletio, m. (P. recollette = Sp.
Pg. recoleta = It. recolletta, f.), < L. recollectus,
pp. of recolligere, recollect : see recollect'^.'] A
member of a congregation of a monastic order
which follows an especially strict rule. The most
noted Kecollets belong to the Franciscan order, and form
abranchot the Observantines. See Franciscan.
recolor, recolour (re-kul'or), «. [< re- + color,
colour.] I. trans. To color or dye again.
The monuments which were restored . . . may also in
part have been recoloured. Athenseum, 'So. 3237, p. 643.
II. intrans. To reassume a color ; flush again.
[Eare.]
The swarthy blush reatours in his cheeks.
Byron, Lara, L 13.
recomandt, v. A Middle English form of rec-
ommend.
recombine (re-kom-bm'), «• *• [= P- recomUner
= Sp. recombindr; as re- + conMne.] To com-
bine again.
Which when to-day the priest shall recombine.
From the mysterious holy touch such charms
Will flow. Carew, On the Marriage of P. K. and C. C.
recomfort (re-kum'f6rt), v. t. [< ME. recom-
forten, reconfortefn, recounforten, < OP. recon^
forter, reeunforter, P. riconforter = It. ricort-
fortare, strengthen anew; as re- + comfort.]
If. To give new strength to.
The kynge Pyngnores com with vii""! Saisnes, that hem
recounforted and moche sustened, for thei smyten in
among the kynge Ventres meyne.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.X u. 245l
In strawbeiTies . . . it is usual to help the ground with
muck, and likewise to recoTttfort it sometimes with muck
put to the roots. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 403.
recomfort
2. To comfort again ; console anew.
And hym with al hire wit to reco'ufortet
As Bche best koude, she gan hym to disport.
Chaucer, Troflus, il. 1672.
Secom/ort thyself, wench, in a better choice.
MidiUeton, Family of Love, ii. 4.
recomfortlesst (re-kum'Wrt-les), a. [< *reeom-
fort, n. (< P. recohfort, succor, consolation), +
-less.'] Without comfort.
There all that night remained Britomart,
Eestlesse, recomfiyrtlesse, with heart deepe grieved.
Spenser, F. Q., V. vi. 24.
recomforturet (re-kum'ffer-tur), n. [< recom-
fort + -ure.] Renewal or restoration of com-
fort.
They shall breed
Selves of themselves, to your recomfmiure [orig. recom-
Jiture]. Shak., Rich. III., iv. 4. 425.
recommence (re-kg-mens'), "• [< F. recom-
mencer = Pr. recomensar = It. rieominoiare ;
as re- + commence.'] I, intrans. To begin
again to 'be ; begin again.
He seemed desirous enough of recommencing courtier.
Johnson, Swift.
The transport of reconciliation was soon over ; and the
old struggle recommmoed.
Haemday, Sir William Temple.
II. trans. To cause again to begin to be ; be-
gin again.
I could be well content, aJlow'd the use
Of past experience, . . .
To recommence life's trial Cowpea; Four Ages.
recommencement (re-ko-mens'ment), n. [<
OF. (and F. ) recommencement = It" ricominda-
mento; a.s recommence + -ment,] A commence-
ment anew.
recommend (rek-g-mend'), V. t. [Early mod.
E. also recommannd; < ME. recommenden, reco-
manden, recomaunden, < OF. recommander, re-
cumander, F. recommander = Pr. recommandar
= Cat. recomanar = Sp. recomendar = Pg. re-
commendar = It. raccomandare, < ML. recom-
mendare, recommend, < L. re-, again, + com^
mendare, commend: see commend.] 1. To
commend to another's notice ; put in a favor-
able light before another; commend or give
favorable representations of ; bring under one's
notice as likely to be of service.
Custance, your^child, hir recomandeth of te
Un-to your grace.
Chwucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 180.
And we praye the kynge of Fraunce that he wyll vs
reeommaunde to the myghty kyng of Bnglande.
R. Eden, tr. of Amerigo Vespucci (First Books on Amer-
ica, ed. Arber, p. xxxvi).
In my most hearty wise I recormnend me to you.
Sir T. More (Aiber's Bng. Garner, I. 297).
He recom/meiids a red striped silk to the pale complex-
ion, white to the brown, and dark to the fair.
Addison, Spectator, No. 265.
2. To make acceptable ; attract favor to.
Conversing with the meanest of the people, and choos-
ing such for his Apostles, who brought nothing to recom^
mend them but inuocency and simplicity.
StUlingJleet, Sermons, I. ilL
As shades more sweetly recomm,end the light,
So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit.
P(^, Essay on Criticism, 1. 301.
3. To commit or intrust, as in prayer.
Alle thehretherin and sistrin . . . han recomxmndid in
here mynde the stat of holi Chirche, and for pes and vnite
in the lond. EnglUh OUds (E. E. T. S.), p. 37.
Paul chose Silas, and departed, being reconvmcTided by
the brettiren unto the grace of God. Acts xv. 40.
4. To advise, as to an action, practice, mea-
sure, remedy, or the like; advise (that some-
thing be done).
If there be a particular inn . . . where you are well ac-
quainted, . . . recommend your master thither.
Swift, Advice to Servants, To the Groom.
He reconvmeTided that the whole disposition of the camp
should be changed. Irving, Oranada, p. 67.
I was . . . strongly recoimnended to sell out by his
Koyal Highness the Commander-in-Chief.
Thackeray, Fitz-Boodle's Confessions.
5t. To give or commit in kindness.
Denied me mine own purse,
Which I had recommended to ms use
Not half an hour before. Shak., T. N., v. 1. 94.
To reconunend itself, to be agreeable ; make itself ac-
ceptable.
This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
ITnto our gentle senses. Shak., Macbeth, L 6. 2.
reconunendable (rek-g-men'da-bl), a. [< OF.
(and F.) recommandaile = 8p. reoomendable =
Pg. recommendavel; as recommend + -aile."]
Capable of being or suitable to be recom-
mended; worthy or deserving of recommenda-
tion or praise. Glanville, Vanity of Dogmatiz-
ing, Pref .
5006
recommendableness (rek-g-men'da-bl-nes), n.
The quality of being recommendable. Dr. S.
More.
recommendably (rek-g-men'da-bli), adv. In a
recommendable manner; so as to deserve rec-
ommendation.
recommendation (rek'''g-men-da'shgn), n. [<
ME. recomendacyon, < OF. (and F.) recomman-
dation = Pr. recomandatio = Sp. recomendacion
= Pg. recommendajSo = It. raccommandazione,
< ML. recommendaUo{n-), < recommendare, rec-
ommend: Bee recommend.] 1. The act of rec-
ommending or of commending ; the act of I'ep-
resenting in a favorable manner for the pur-
pose of procuring the notice, confidence, or
civilities of another.
My wife . . . referred her to all the neighbors for a
character ; but this our peeress declined as unnecessary,
alleging tliat her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would
be sufficient. Goldsmith, Vicar, xi.
2. That which procures a kind or favorable
reception; any thing, quality, or attribute,
which produces or tends to produce a favor-
able acceptance, reception, or adoption.
Poplicola's doors were opened on the outside, to save
the people even the common civility of asking entrance ;
where misfortune was a powerful reeommendoMon.
3t. Favor; repute.
Whome I founde a lorde of hyghe reeomenAu^on, no-
ble, lyberall, and curtesse.
Bemers, tr. of Froissart's Chron., II. xxvii.
It [the burying of the dead] hath always been had in an
extraordinary recommendation amongst the ancients.
North, tr. of Plutarch, ii.
4. A letter of recommendation. [CoUoq.] —
Letter of recommendation, a letter given by one per-
son to another, and addressed to a third or " to whom it
may concern," in which the bearer is represented as
worthy of consideration and confidence.
recommendativet (rek-q-men'da-tiv), n. [=
OF. recommandatif = It. raccoinandativo ; as
recommend + -ative.] That which recommends ;
a recommendation. Imp. Diet.
recommendatory (rek-g-men'da-to-ri), a. [=
Sp. recomendatorio = It. raccom'andatorio ; <
recommend + -at-ory. Cf . commendatory.] Serv-
ing to recommend; recommending.
If you . . . send us withal a Copy of your Recammen^
datory Letters, we shall then take care that you may with
all speed repair to us upon the Public Faith.
Milton, Letters of State (Works, VIIL 271).
recommender (rek-g-men'd6r), n. [< OF. (and
P.) recommandeur = Pg. recommendador = It.
raccomandatore ; from the verb.] One who or
that which recommends.
This letter is in your behalf, fair maid ;
There 's no denying such a recammiender.
Dighy, Elvira, i 1.
recommit (re-ko-mif), V. t. [= It. ricommet-
tere ; as re- + 'commit. Cf . ML. recommittere,
commend.] 1. To commit again: as, to recom-
mit persons to prison.
When they had bailed the twelve bishops who were in
the Tower, the House of Commons expostulated with them,
and caused them to be recommiitted. Clarendon.
2. To refer again as to a committee.
I shall propose to you to suppress the Board of Trade
and PlantationB, and to recommit all its business to the
council. Burlce, Economical Reform.
If a report is recommitted before it has been agreed to
by the assembly, what has heretofore passed in the com-
mittee is of no validity.
Gushing, Manual of Parliamentary Practice, § 291.
recommitment (re-kg-mit'ment), n. [< recom-
mit + -ment] 1. A'second'or renewed com-
mitment.— 2. A renewed reference to a com-
mittee.
recommittal (re-kg-mit'al), n. [< recommit +
-al.] Same as recommitment.
recompact ^e-kgm-pakt')) i>. t. [< re- + com-
pact^, v.] To compact or join anew.
Repair
And reemnpact my scatter'd body.
Donne, A Valediction of my Name.
recompencet, i>. and n. An old spelling of rec-
ompense.
recompensatiou (re-kom-pen-sa'shgn), n. [<
ME. recompensacion, recompensadoun, <. OF. re-
compensation = Sp. recompensacion = Pg. re-
compensafSto = It. ricompensazione, < ML. re-
compensatio(n-), a rewarding, < recompensare,
reward: see recompense.] If. A recompense.
They ne owhte nat ryht for the recompensacyon for to
geten hem bounte and prowesse.
Chaucer, Boethins, iv. prose 4.
And that done, he shuld geue vnto the duke, in recom-
pensacion of his costys, so many wedgys of golde as shulde
charge or lade viil charettis.
Fttbyan, Chron,, II., an. 1391.
2. In Scots law, a case in which the plaintiff
pursues for a debt, and the defendant pleads
recompletion
compensation, to which the pursuer replies by
pleading compensation also,
recompense (rek'om-pens), v.; pret. and pp
recompensed, ppr. recompensing. [Formerly also
recorwence; < ME. recompensen,<. OF. recompen-
ser, F. r4compenser = Pr. Sp. Pg. recompensar
= It. ricompensare, < ML. recompensare, reward,
remunerate, < L. re-, again, -f- compensare, com-
pensate: see compensate.] I. trans. 1. To make
a return to ; give or render an equivalent to, as
for services or loss; compensate: with a person
as object.
For they cannot rec(mipence the, butt thou shalt be re-
compensed at the resurreccion of the iuste men.
TyndMe, Luke xiv, 14,
Yet fortune cannot recompense me better
Than to die well and not my master's debtor.
Shak., As you Like it, ii, 8. 76.
2. To return an equivalent for; pay for; re-
ward; requite.
I will recompense their iniquity. Jer. xvL 18.
He means to rec&mpense the pains you take
By cutting off your heads, Shai., K. John, v. 4, 16,
He shall recompense them their wickedness, and destroy
them in their own malice.
Book (if Commum Prayer, Psalter, xciv. 28,
3. To pay or give as an equivalent; payback.
Recompense to no man evil for evil Bom. xii, 17,
4. To make amends for by some equivalent;
make compensation for; pay some forfeit for.
If the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass
unto, Num, v, 8.
So shall his father's wrongs be recompensed.
Shale, 1 Hen, VL, iiL 1, 161.
The sun, whose presence they are long depriued of in
the winter (which is recompensed in their nightlesse Sum-
mer), is worshipped amongst them.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 434.
Where thou mightst hope to change
Torment with ease, and soonest reconwenge
Dole with delight. Miltan, P. L., iv. 893.
He is a very licentious translator, and does not recom-
pense his neglect of the author by beauties of his own.
Johnson, Stepney,
5. To serve as an equivalent or recompense for.
The tenderness of an uncle recompensed the neglect of
a father. Ooldsmith, The Bee, No. 2.
=Syn, 1 and 2. Remunerate, Reimburse, etc. (seeindem-
nify\ repay,
Il.t intrans. To make amends or retmn,
Chaucer.
recompense (rek'gm-pens), n. [Formerly also
recompence; < OF. recompense, F. recompense =
Sp. Pg. recompensa = It. ricompensa, f ., rieom-
penso, m., < ML. recornpensa, recompense ; from
the verb.] An equi valent returned for anything
given, done, or suffered; compensation; re-
ward; amends; requital.
To me belongeth vengeance and recompence.
Deut. xxxil. 86.
Is this a child's love? or a recompense
Fit for a father's care?
Beau, and Fl., Captain, i, 8.
Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere ;
Heaven did a recompense aa largely send,
&ray, Elegy,
recompensementt (rek'gm-pens-ment), n. [<
OF. recompensement = It. ricompen'samento ; as
recompense -\- -ment.] Eecompense; requital,
Edfryde had great summes of money in reemnpeneement
of his brother's deth. Fabyan, Chron., L cxxxv.
recompenser (rek'om-pen-s6r), n. [< OF. re-
compensewr, P; rScompenseur = Pg. recompense-
dor, < ML. recompensator, < recompensare, rec-
ompense: see recompense.] One who or that
which recompenses.
recompensive (rek'gm-pen-siv), a. [< recom^
pense + -dve.] Having the character of a rec-
ompense; compensative.
Reduce those seeming Inequalities and respective distri-
butions in this world to an equality and recompensive jus-
tice m the next. Sir T. Brmime, Religio Medici, i. § 47.
recompile (re-kom-pil'), «. *. [< re- + compile.]
To compile anew. Bacon.
recompilement (re-kgm-pn'ment), n. [< re-
compile + -ment.] A new compilation or digest.
Although I had a purpose to make a particular digest or
recompHemeni, of the laws, I laid it aside.
Bcuxm, A Compiling an Amendment of tbe Laws.
recomplete (re-kgm-plef), v. t. [< re- + com^
plete.] To complete anew; make complete
again, as after an injury.
The ability of an organism to recomplete Itself when one
of its parts has been out off is of the same order as the
ability of an injured crystal to recomplete itself.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Biol,, 1 64.
recompletion (re-kom-ple'shon), n. [< re- +
compleUon.] Completion again, as after an in-
jury which has caused incompleteness.
recompletion
In this way, by successive destruction and re-eompUHon.
J. D. Dana, Text-book ol Geology (3d ed.^ p. 33.
recompose (re-kom-p6z'), V. t. [< OP. (and P.)
recomposer; as re- + compose. Cf. Sp. recom-
ponei- = Pg. reeompdr = It. ricomporre, reeom-
pose.] 1. To qmet anew; compose or tran-
quilize that which is ruffled or disturbed: as,
to recompose the mind.
By music lie was recomposed and tamed.
Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, iv. 3.
2. To compose anew ; form or adjust again.
We were able to produce a lovely purple, which we can
destroy or recompose at pleasure. Boyle, Works, I. 738.
recomposer (re-kom-p6'zfer), re. One who or
that which recomposes.
Kg animal figure can off er to move or wagge amisse but
it meets with a proper corrector and re-composer of its
motions. Dr. H. More, Moral Cabbala, i.
recomposition (re-kom-po-zish'on), n. [< P.
recomposition = Sp. recorriposidon = Pg. recom-
posigSo; as re- + composition.'] The act of re-
composing ; composition renewed.
I have taken great pains with the recomposition of this
scene. Irtimb. To Coleridge. (Latham.)
recomptt, v. t. An obsolete form of recounfl.
reconcentrado(re-kon-sen-tra'd6), n. ; pi. recon-
centrados^-AoT.). [Sp.<recoreceretrar, concenter.]
In the Cuban rebellion of 1895-98, one of the
Cubans who were forced by the Spanish mili-
tary authorities to abandon their homes in the
country and concentrate in the towns.
reconcilable (rek'gn-si-la-bl), a. [Also recon-
eileable; < reconcile + -able. Cf . F. rSconciliaile
= Sp. recondliable = Pg. reconeiliavel = It. n-
conciliaMle,<. L. as if *reconcilidbilis, < reconcili-
are, reconcile : see reconcile."] Capable of be-
ing reconciled. Specifically— (o) Capable of being
brought again to friendly feelings ; capable of renewed
friendship, (b) Capable of being made to agree or be cou-
sistent ; able to be harmonized or made congruous.
Acts not reconcileable to the rules of discretion, decency,
and right reason. Bp. Atterbui-y, Sermons, I. ii.
= Syn, (a) Appeasable, placable. (6) Consistent (with).
reconcilableness (rek'on-si-la-bl-nes), n. The
quality of being reconcilable, (a) Possibility of
being restored to friendship and haiTuony. (b) Consisten-
cy ; harmony. Also spelled reconeUeoMeTiess.
Discerning how the several parts of Scripture are fitted
to several times, persons, and occurrences, we shall dis-
cover not only a reconcUabletiess, but a friendship and per-
fect harmony, betwixt texts that here seem most at vari-
reconcilably (rek'on-si-la-bli), adv. In a recon-
cilable manner. Jilso re'concileably. Imp. Diet.
reconcile (rek'on-sil), «.; pret. and pp. recon-
ciled, ppr . recon'ailing. [< ME. recondlen, recon-
sylen, recounselen, < OP. recondlier, reconsdller,
P. recondlier = Pr. Sp. Pg. reconciliar = It.
ricondliare, < L. reconciliare, bring together
again, reunite, reconcile, < re-, again, + condli-
are, bring together, conciliate: see condliate.]
1. trans. 1. To conciliate anew; restore to
union and friendship after estrangement or
variance; bring again to friendly or favorable
feelings.
First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and
offer thy gift. Mat. v. 24.
We pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconeiled to God.
2 Cor. V. 20.
To be friends for her sake, to be reconciled.
Tennyson, Maud, xix.
2. To adjust; pacify; settle: as, to recondle
differences or quarrels.
You never shall, so help you truth and God !
Embrace each other's love in banishment ; . . .
Wor never write, regreet, nor reconcile
This louring tempest of your home-bred hate.
SlMk., Rich. II., L 3. 186.
3. To bring to acquiescence, content, or quiet
submission: with to.
The treasurer's talent in removing prejudice, a,nd recon-
ciling himself to wavering affections. Clarendan.
I found his voice distinct till I came near Front street.
. . . This reconciled me to the newspaper accounts of his
having preached to twenty-five thousand people in the
fields. B. FYanklin, Autobiog., p. 169.
Men reconcile themselves very fast to a hold and good
measure when once it is taken, though they condemned
it in advance. Emerson, Amer. Civilization.
4. To make consistent or congruous; bring to
agreement or suitableness : often followed by
with or to.
Such welcome and unwelcome things at once
Tis hard to reconcile. Shale., Macbeth, iv. 3. 139.
If it be possible to reconcile contradictions, he will praise
him by displeasing him, and serve him by disserving him.
MUton, Eikonoklastes, xxv.
5. To rid of apparent discrepancies; harmo-
nize : as, to recondle the accounts of a fact given
by two historians : often with with or to.
Howeuer, it breeds much difficulty to recondle the an-
cient Historic of the Babylonian and Assyrian great and
5007
long continued EmjHre inth the kingdomes and Kings in
that Chapter by Moses mentioned.
PuTchcLS, Pilgrimage, p. 71.
6. Eecles., to restore to sacred uses after dese-
cration, or to unity with the church, by a pre-
scribed ceremonial: as, to recondle a church or
a cemetery which has been profaned, as by mur-
der ; to recondle a penitent (that is, to restore to
communion one who has lapsed, as into heresy
or schism).
Cure righte Heritage before seyd [Palestine] scholde be
reconsyled and put in the Hondes of the righte Heires of
Jesu Gist. MandeviUe, Travels, p. 4.
The chirche is entredited til it, be re&mcUed by the
bysshop. dtaucer. Parson's Tale.
Innocent III. ordered that the remains of the excom-
municated person . . . should ... be exhumed ; if not,
that the cemetery should hereconcUed by the aspersion of
holy water solemnly blessed. Bmn. Cath. Diet., p. 134.
7t. To recover; regain.
Othir kynges of the kith, that comyn fro Troy,
That were put fro there prouyns, Kepairet agayne,
BecowmeUd to there cuntre, comyns & other.
And were welcom, I-wis, to wyuis & alL
Deslructim, of Troy (E. E. T. S.), L 12931.
8. In ship-huilding, to join (a piece of work)
fair with another. The term refers particularly
to the reversion of curves. = Syn. 1. BeconcHe, Con-
ciliate, pacify, appease. BeconcHe may apply to one or
both parties to a quarrel ; ameUiaie to only one. With
either word, if only one side is meant, the person or per-
sons seem to be rather in a position of superiority. — 2. To
compose^ heal.
Il.t intrans. To become reconciled.
Your thoughts, though much startled at first, reconcile
to it. Abp. Sancroft, Sermons, p. 104. {Latham.)
reconcilement (rek'on-sil-ment), n. [< OP. re-
condliement, P. recondliement = Pr. recondlia-
ment^lt. rieondliamento ; as recondle + -ment.]
1 . The act of reconciling, in any sense ; recon-
ciliation; renewal of interrupted friendship.
BeconeUement is better managed by an amnesty, and
passing over that which is past, than by apologies and ex-
cusations. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii 316.
2. Adjustment.
By reconcilement exquisite and rare.
The form, port, motions, of this Cottage-girl
Were such as might have quickened and inspired
A Titian's hand. , Wordsworth, Excursion, vi.
reconciler (rek'gn-si-16r), n. One who recon-
ciles ; especially, one who brings parties at va-
riance into renewed friendship.
reconciliation (rek-on-sil-i-a'shon), n. [< OP.
recondliation, F. recondliation = Pr. recondli-
atio = Sp. recondliadon = Pg. recondliagSo =
It. ricondliazione, < L. recondliatio(n-), a resto-
ration, renewal, reconciliation, < recondliare,
reconcile: see recondle.] 1. The act of recon-
ciling parties at variance ; renewal of friend-
ship after disagreement or enmity.
A man that languishes in your displeasure,
. . . your lieutenant, Cassio. Good my lord,
If I have any grace or power to move you.
His present reconciliation take.
Shall., Othello, iii. 3. 47.
I have found out a Pique she has taken at him, and
have fram'd a letter that makes her sue lot Becom^iation
first. Cortgreve, Old Batehelor, iii. 11.
3. The act of harmonizing or making consis-
tent ; an agreement of things seemingly oppo-
site, difEerent, or inconsistent.
These distinctions of the fear of God give us a clear and
easy reconciliation of those seeming inconsistencies of
Scripture with respect to this affection. D. Bogers.
3. -Ecctes.: (a) Eemoval of the separation made
between God and man by sin; expiation; pro-
pitiation ; atonement. 2 Chron. xxix. 24. (6)
Kestoration to sacred uses after desecration, or
to communion with the church. See recondle, 6.
The local interdict is quite peculiar to the Church of
Borne. It is removed by what is termed reconciliation.
Bncyc. Brit., XIII. 188.
=Syn. 1. Atonement, Expiation, ete. (see propitiation);
reconcilement, appeasement, pacification, reunion.
reconciliatory (rek-on-sil'i-a-to-ri), a. [== OP.
recondliatoire, P. ricondliatoire = Sp. recondli-
atorio, < L. recondliare, pp. recondliatus, recon-
cile : see recondle.] Able or tending to recon-
cile.
Those recmtciliatory papers fell under the eyes of some
grave divines on both parts.
Bp. Hall, Specialties of the Life of Bp. Ball.
recondensation (re-kon-den-sa'shon), n. [<
recondense + -ation.] The act of recondens-
ing.
recondense (re-kon-dens'), i>. t. [= OP. recon-
denser = It. ricdndensare ; as re- + condense.]
To condense again.
recondite (rf-kon'dit or rek'on-dit), a. [< MB.
*recondit, re'condet,< OF. recmdit=Sp. reedndito
= Pg. It. recondite, hidden, secret, etc., < L. re-
reconnoiter
conditus, put away, hidden, secret, pp. of recon-
dere, put back again, put away, hide, < re-, back,
+ condere, put together: see condiment, con-
dite^.] 1. Hidden from mental view; secret;
abstruse : as, recondite causes of things.
When the most inward and recondite spirits of all things
shall he dislodged from their old close residences.
Glaniaie, Pre-existence of Souls, xlv. (Latham.)
Occasionally, . . . when a question of theological or po-
litical interest touches upon the more recondite stores of
history, we have an industrious examination of ancient
sources. Stubis, Medieval and Modem Hist, p. 55.
2. Profound; dealing with things abstruse.
Men of more recofodite studies and deep learning.
Fettan, On Blading the Classics. (ZotAom.)
It is this mine of rdcoruftte quotations in their original
languages, most accurately translated, which has im-
parted such an enduring T^ue to this treasure of the an-
cient theology, philosophy, and literature.
I. D'lsraeli, Amen.' of Lit, IL 400.
The most trivia] passages he regards aB oracles of the
highest authority, and of the most recondite meaning.
Macautay, Dryden.
3. In hot., concealed; not easily seen. — 4. In
entom., said of organs which are concealed in
repose : opposed to exserted. Specifically applied
to the aculeus or sting of a hymeuopterous insect when
it is habitually withdrawn into the body.=Syn. 1. Oc-
cult, mystical, mysterious, deep.
reconditeness (re-kon'dit-nes or rek'on-dit-
nes), n. The character or state of being'recon-
dite; profound or hidden meaning.
recon£tory (rf-kon'di-to-ri), n.; pi. reeondi-
tories (-riz). [= Pg. It. reconditorio, a hiding-
place, < ML. reconditorium, a repository for
archives, < L. recondere, pp. recondittis, put or
hide away: see recondite.] A repository; a
storehouse or magazine. [Bare.] Imp. Diet.
reconduct (re-kon-dukf), V. t. [< L. recon-
ducttis, pp. of reconducere, bring back, hire anew
( > It. ricondwire, prorogue, continue, = Sp. re-
condtidr, renew a lease, = Pg. recondueir =
P. recoTMuire, reconduct), < re-, back, + condu-
cerCj lead: see conduct.] To conduct back or
agauL.
Amidst this new creation want'st a guide
To reconduct thy steps ?
Dryden, State of Innocence, ii. 1.
reconduction (re-kon-dui'shgn), n. [= P. re-
conduction = Sp. feoonducdon, renewal of a
lease, = Pg. reconducgao, prorogation, con-
tinuance, < NL. *reconductio{n-), < L. recon-
ducere, pp. reconductus, hire anew: see recon-
duct.] In law, a renewal of a lease.
reconfrm (re-kon-ferm'), v. t. [< OF. (and F.)
reconfirmer, < ML. reconfirmare, confirm anew,
< L. re-, again, + confirmare, confirm : see con-
firm.] To confirm anew. Clarendon, Life, m.
835.
reconjoin (re-kpn-join'), V. t. [= It. riconn
giugnere, < ML. reconjungere, join again, < L.
re-, again, -I- conjungere, conjoin: see conjoin.]
To conjoin or join anew. Boyle, Works, I. 739.
reconnaissance (re-kon'a-sans), n. [Also re-
connoissance ; < F.' reconnaissance, formerly re-
connoissance, recognition, reconnaissance : see
recognizance.] The act or operation of recon-
noitering; preliminary examination or survey.
Specifically — (a) An examination of a territory or of an
enemy's position, for the purpose of directing military
operations, (b) An examination or survey of a region in
reference to its general geological character, (c) An ex-
amination of a region as to its general natural features,
preparatory to a more particular survey for the purposes
of triangulation, or of determining thelocation of a public
work, as a road, a railway, or a canal. — Reconnaissance
in force (milU.), a demonstration or attack by a consid-
erable body of men for the purpose of discovering the
posftion or strength of an enemy.
reconnoissance (rek-o-noi'sins), n. Same as
reconnaissance.
reconnoiter, reconnoitre (rek-o-noi'tfer), v.;
pret. and pp. reconnoitered, reconnoitred, ppr.
reconnoitering, reconnoitring. [< OP. recognois-
tre, reconoistre, P. reconnoitre, recognize, take
a precise view of: see recognize^.] I. trans. It.
To know again ; recognize.
So incompetent has the generality of historians been for
the province they have undertaken, that it is almost a
question whether, if the dead of past ages could revive,
they would be able to reconno&re the events of their own
times as transmitted to us by ignorance and misrepresen-
tation. Walpole, Historic Doubts, Pref.
He would hardly have reconncitred Wildgoose, however,
in his short hair and his present uncouth appearance.
Graves, Spiritnal Quixote, iv. 1. (Daviet.)
2. To examine with the eye ; make a prelimi-
nary survey of; specifically, to examine or
survey, as a tract or i^on, for military, engi-
neering, or geological purposes. See recon-
naissance.
A second
[< re- +
reconnoiter
These gardens also seem to be those where Titus was In
mch great danger when he came to reconnoitre the city.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. L 19.
An aged, soor-visaged domestic rec&nnoitered them
throagh a small square hole in the door.
SeoU, Kenilworth, UL
H. intrans. To make a survey or inspection
preliminary to taking some action; examine a
position, person, opinion, etc., as a precaution.
He. . . thrust out his head, and, after r«<!onno{(eWnj7 for
a couple of minutes, drew it in again.
Bafham, in Mem. prefixed to Ingoldsb; Legends, L 61.
She saw a tardigrade slowly walking round a bladder
[of Utrwularia ciandeetLna]^ as if recommtring,
Darwin, Insectlv. Plants, p. 408.
reconnoiter, reconnoitre (rek-o-noi'tfer), ».
[< reconnoiter, reconnoitre, «.] £. preliminary
survey; a reconnaissance.
Satisfied with his reeonruiitre, Losely quitted the skele-
ton pile. Bulwer, What Will He Do with It! x. 1.
reconquer (re-kong'k6r), v. t. [< OF. reconque-
rir, reconquerre, F. reconquirir (cf . Sp. Pg. recon^
quistar = It. riconquistare) ; as re- + conquer.']
1. To conquer again; recover by conquest.
Belisarius has reconquered Africa from the Vandals.
Br(mgham.
2. To recover ; regain.
Nor has Protestantism in the course of two hundred
years been able to reconquer any portion of what she then
lost Macavlay, Yon Ranke's Hist Popes.
reconquest (re-kong'kwest), n. [< OF. recon-
queste, F. ree6nqu4te = Sp. Pg. n
It. riconquista; as re- + conquestJ]
or repeated conquest. Hall.
reconsecrate (re-kon'sf-krat), v. t.
co}isecrate.~i To consecrate anew.
If a church should be consumed by flre^ it shall, in such
a case, be reconseerated, Ayliffe, Parergon.
reconsecratlon (re-kon-se-kra'shgn), n. [< re-
+ coiiseeration.'} A renewed consecration.
reconsider (re-kon-sid'6r), V. t. [< OF. recon-
siderer, F. recorisidSrer = It. riconsiderare ; as
re- + consider.] 1. To consider again; turn
over in the mind again ; review.
Becongider from time to time, and retain the friendly
advice which I send you. Cheeterjield.
He had set himself ... to reconsider his worn suits of
clothes, to leave off meat for breakfast, to do without pe-
riodicals. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xxiv.
2. Jjo. parliamentary language, to take into con-
sideration a second time, generally with the
view of rescinding or of amending: as, to re-
consider a motion in a legislative body ; to re-
consider a vote.
It is believed the motion to reconxider, as in use in this
country [the United States], is of American origin.
dusking. Manual of Parliamentary Practice, § 267
reconsideration (re-kon-sid-e-ra'shon), n. [<
reconsider + -ation.] The act" of reconsidering.
(a) A renewed consideration or review in the mind.
Unless on reconsideration it should appear that some
of the stronger inductions have been expressed with
greater universality than their evidence warrants, the
weaker one must give way. J. S. MiU, Logic, III. It. § 3.
(b) A second consideration; specifically, in deliberative
asaemblies, the taking up for renewed consideration that
which has been passed ox acted upon previously, as a mo-
tion, vote, etc. Usually a motion to reconsider can be
made only by a person who voted with the majority.
The inconvenience of this rule [that a decision by vote
cannot be again brought into question] . . . has led to
the introduction into the parliamentary practice, of this
country [the United States] of the motion for reconsidera-
tion. CusJdng, Manual of Parliamentary Practice, § 264.
reconsolatet (re-kon'so-lat), v. t. [< re- + con-
solate. Cf. OE*. (and P.) reconsoler = It. n-
consolare.] To console or comfort again-
That only God who can reconsolate us both.
Sir H. Wotton, Eellquiss, p. 439.
reconsolidate (re-kon-sol'i-dat), V. t. [< re- +
consoUdate. Cf. F. reconsolider, reconsolidate.]
To consolidate anew.
reconsolidation (re-kon-sol-i-da'shon), n: [<
reconsolidate + -ion.] The act of reoonsoMat-
ing, or the state of being reeonsolidated ; a
second or renewed consolidation.
reconstituent (re-kon-stit'n-ent), a. Reconsti-
tuting; forming anew; giving a new character
or constitution to. Nature, XL. 636. [Rare.]
reconstitute (re-kon'sti-tiit), v. t. [< re- +
constitute.] To constitute anew; furnish again
with a constitution, whether the original or a
different one.
reconstitution (re-kon-sti-tu'shon), n. [= F.
reconstitution ; as reconstitute + -ion.] The act
or process of forming anew, or of bringing to-
gether again the parts or constituents of any-
thing that has been broken up or destroyed.
No thorough reconstitution of the council was, however,
made during the reign. Stvibs, Ck>nst Hist, § 367.
5008
reconstruct (re-kon-stmkt'), »• '• [< re- + con-
struct. Cf. OF. (and F.) reeonstruire = Pg. re-
construir, reconstruct.] To construct again;
rebuild.
The aim of the hour was to reconstruct the South ; but
first the North had to be reconstructed.
Emerson, Address, Soldiers' Monument, Concord.
Out of an enormous amount of material, Cailyle reeoni.
stnicts for ua Frederick ■William L of Prussia, a living,
moving, tantalising reality. , „ , „. ..
Stubbs, Medieval and Modem Hist, p. 92.
reconstruction (re-kon-struk'shon), n. [= P.
reconstruction = Sp. reconstrv,ceion-='Pg^ recon-
strucqcU); as reconstruct +■ -ion.] 1. The act
of constructing again.
Goethe . . . has left an interesting memorial of Buri-
oidean study in his attempted reconstruction, of the lost
Phaethon. Encye. BHt, VHL 679.
2. Specifically, in U. S. hist., the process by
which, after the civil war, the States which had
seceded were restored to the rights and privi-
leges inherent in the Union. The period of re-
construction extended from 1865 to about 1870.
— 3. That which is reconstructed. [Rare.]
A fleet of above thirty vessels, all carrying cannon, was
in about three months little less than created, though a
few of the largest were reconstructions, having been first
framed and sent over from Great Britain.
Belsham, Hist Great Britain, an. 1777.
Keconstruction Acts, two acts of Congress, of which the
first, entitled "an act to provide for the more efiicient
government of the rebel States," was passed over the
President's veto on March 2d, 1867 ; and the second, a sup-
plementary act, was passed later in the same month.
These acts embodied the congressional plan of reconstruc-
tion, providing that every State should remain under mili-
tary government until certain acts should be performed.
The principal conditions were that each State should hold
a convention and frame a constitution ; that this constitu-
tion must be ratified by popular vote and approved by Con-
gress ; that the new State legislature must ratify the Four-
teenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ; and
that when the requisite number of States had ratified this
amendment, any State which bad fulfilled all requirements
should be readmitted to the Union, and entitled to con-
gressional representation. By 1870 all the seceding States
were readmitted, but they were not all represented in Con-
gress until 1871.
reconstructionary (re-kon-struk'shon-a-ri), a.
[< reconstruction + -aryj] Of or pertaining to
reconstruction, especially to reconstruction in
the southern United States: as, "reconstruc-
tionary influence," Congregationalist, June 17,
1886. [Rare.]
reconstructionlst (re-kon-struk'shon-ist), n.
[< reconstruction + -»«<.]' An adherent of re-
construction ; specifically, in U. iS. poUtics, an
adherent of the policy of reconstruction in the
South.
The Republican reconstrucHojtists . . . barred the way.
J. C. Harris, Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 703.
reconstructive (re-kon-struk'tiv), a. andm. [<
reconstruct 4- -ive.] " I. a. Tending to recon-
struct; having the power of reconstructing.
II, n. In med., that which is adapted or ser-
viceable for reconstructing.
Oysters, on the other hand, are extremely useful as nerve
reconstructives. Science, XV, 219.
recontinuance (re-kon-tin'n-ans), n. [< recon-
tinue + -ance.] The state of recontinuing ; re-
newed continuance. [Rare.]
Of which course some have wished a recontinuance.
Selden, lUustratious of Drayton's Polyolbion, iv. 177.
recontinue (re-kgn-tin'u), V. t. and i. [< OF.
(and F.) recontinuer; as re- + continue.] To
continue again or anew. [Rare.]
All at an instant shall together go.
To recontinue, not beginning so.
Stirling, Doomesday, The Fourth Hour.
reconvalescence (re-kon-va-les'ens), n. [< re-
+ convalescence.] Complete restoration of
health.
reconvene (re-kon-ven' ),v. [< ML. reconvenire,
make an additional demand in a suit at law, lit.
'come together again,' < L. re-, again, + corwe-
mjre, come together: see convene.] 1. intrans.
To come together again.
II. trans. To call together again.
reconventt (re-kon-venf), v. t. [< ML. recon-
ventus, pp. of reconvenire, in lit. sense ' come
together again': see reconvene, convent.] To
bring together, assemble, or collect again.
He reconuenting armes therefore.
Warner, Albion's England, v. 27.
reconvention (re-kon-ven'shon), n. [< OF.
(and P.) reconvention = Sp. "reconvemnon =
Pg. reconvengao = It. ricowvenisione, < ML. re-
convenUo{n-), a contrary action brought by a
defendant, < reconvenire: see reconvene.] In
law, an action by a defendant againsta plaintiff
in a previous or pending action; a oross-bill or
counter-claim. Thus, one who could not be made de-
record
tendant in an original action, by reason of not being sub-
ject to the jurisdiction, may in some cases. If he sues as
plaintiff, be compelled to respond to a cross-action or
counter-claim, by way of reconsentian in reduction or ex-
tinction of bis demand.
reconversion (re-kon-v6r'shon), n. [< re- +
conversion.] A second or renewed conversion ;
also, a conversion back to a previous belief.
reconvert (re-kon-vfert'), v. t. [< OP. (and P.)
reconvertvr = It*, riconvertire ; as re- + convert,
v.] To convert a second time ; also, to convert
back to a previously abandoned belief.
About this time the East Saxons, who . . . hadexpell'd
their Bishop Mellitus, and renounc'd the Faith, were by
the means of Oswi . . . reconverted. MiUon, Hist £ng., Iv.
reconvey (re-kon-va'), «• *• [< OP. (and P.)
reconvier, also reconvoyer, reconvey, reconvoy;
as re- + eomvey.] . 1. To convey back or to its
former place : as, to reconvey goods.
As rivers, lost in seas, some secret vein
Thence reconveys, there to be lost again.
Sir J. Denham, Cooper's HilL
2. To transfer back to a former owner: as, to
reconvey an estate.
reconveyance (re-kgn-va'ans), n. [< reconvey
+ -ance.] The act of reconvey ing; especially,
the act of transferring a title back to a former
proprietor.
record (re-kdrd'), v. [< MB. recorden, < OP. re-
corder, repeat, recite, report, P. recorder = Pr.
Sp. Pg. recordar = It. ricordare, < L. recordari,
LL. also recordare, call to mind, remember,
recollect, think over, meditate npon, ML. also
recite, record, revise, < re-, again, + cor{dr-),
heart, = E. heart: see cordial. Cf. accord, cotv-
cord, discord.] I. trans. If. To call to mind;
recall; remember; bear in mind.
Preyeth to God, lord of misericorde^
Our olde giltes that he nat recorde.
Chaucer, Mother of God, 1. 119.
In solitary silence, far from wights
He gan record the lamentable stowre
In which his wretched love lay day and night
Spenser, F. Q., IV. xlL 19.
2t. To recall (to another's mind) ; remind.
Ye woote youre forward, and I it yon reeortte.
Chaucer, Gen. ProL to C. T., L 829.
8t. Tobring to mind; suggest.
For every other wey ye kan recorde,
Myn herte ywis may therwith noght acorde.
Chaucer, Troilns, iv. 1618,
4f. To see or know by personal presence; bear
witness to; attest.
For thei that misseden here mete wold make gret noyse,
& record it redeli in Rome al a-boute.
William of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1828.
And alle ryghtf ul recordeden that Reson treuthe seyde.
Piers Plounnan (C), v. 151.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you,
that I have set before you life and death. Dent. xxx. 19.
How proud I am of thee and of thy gifts
Rome shaU record. Shdk., Tit And., L 1. 265.
5. To recite; repeat; sing; play.
Lay al this mene while Troylus
Becordynge his lesson in this manere ;
"Ma fey!" thoghthe, "thuswoll seyeand thus."
Chaucer, 'Troilus, ill. 61.
And to the nightingale's complaining notes
Tune my distresses and record my woes.
~ v., T. G. ofV., V. 4. 6.
For you are fellows only know by rote,
As birds record their lessons.
Pletcher, Valentinian, ii 1.
6. To preserve the memory of by written or
other characters ; take a note of; register; en-
roll; chronicle; note; write or inscribe in a
book or on parchment, paper, or other mate-
rial, for the purpose of preserving authentic or
correct evidence of: as, to record the proceed-
ings of a court ; to record a deed or lease ; to re-
cord historical events.
The Levites were recorded . . . chief of the fathers.
Neh. xii. 22.
That he do record a gift,
Here in the court, of all he dies possess'd.
Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter.
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 388.
And I recorded what I heard,
A lesson for mankind,
Cowper, The Doves.
7. To mark distinctly. [Rare.]
So even and mom recorded the third day.
iiaton, P. L., vU. 338.
8. Figuratively, to imprint deeply on the mind
or memory : as, to record the sayings of another
iSaiSf.f^®*?-:?*'"'^^^ ^^' secretary, tele-
graph, etc. See the nouns.— Recording gage, a gage
provided with means for leaving a visible record of it« in-
?.'S"ions. =Syn. 6. Becord, Begister, Chronicle, Enrott, En-
list. To record events, facts, words ; to register persons,
voters, things ; to enroll volunteers, scholars ; to chronicle
record
events ; to enlist soldlera, marines. To record a mortgage
or deed ; to regisUr a marriage.
II. intrans. If. To reflect; meditate; ponder.
Praying all the way, and reevrding npon the vords which
he before had read. FuUer.
2. To sing or repeat a tune : now only of birds.
She had no sooner ended with the joining her sweet lips
together but that he recorded to lier music l&e rural poesy ;
and with the conclusion of his song he embraced her.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iit
Sweet robin, linnet, thrush.
Record from every bush.
B. Jtynson, The Penates.
The young males [birds] continue practising, or, as the
bird-catchers say, recording, for ten or eleven months.
Dttmin, Descent of Man, I. 63.
record (rek'grd, formerly also rf-kSrd'), n. [<
ME. record,"recorde, < OP. record, recort, wit-
ness, reoord, mention, = Pr. recort = Cat. record
= 8p. remterdo, remembrance, = It. ricordo, re-
membrance, warning, instruction, < ML. recor-
dum, witness, record, judgment ; from the verb :
see record, «.] 1. Attestation of a fact or
event; testimony; witness.
Purely hir symple recorde
Was foonde as trewe as any bonde.
Chamser, Death of Blanche, L 934.
Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true.
John viiL 14.
Heaven be the record to my speech !
Shak., ilich. II., 1 1. 30.
The record of a nameless woe
In the dim eye's imploring stare.
TTAittter, The Human Sacrifice.
2f. Memory; remembrance.
Via. My father . . . died that day when Viola from her
bu:th
Had nnmber'd thirteen years.
Seh. O, that record is Uve]^ in my soul !
Shak., T. N., v. 1. 253.
3. That which preserves remembrance or mem-
ory; a memorial.
Nor Mars his sword nor war'^ quick fire shall bum
The living record of your memory. Shak., Sonnets, Iv.
4. Something set down in writingor delineated
for the purpose of preserving memoiy; specif-
ically, a register ; an authentic or ofGiCial copy of
any writing, or an account of any facts and pro-
ceedings, whether public or private, usually en-
tered in a book for preservation; also, the book
containing such copy or account: as, the rec-
ords of a court of justice ; the records of a town
or parish ; the records of a family, in law the
term is often used, even without qualification, to designate
the records of a family, a corporation, a priest or church,
etc., but these, except when rendered public by law or le-
gal sanction, are really private records.
He commanded to bring the book of records of the chron-
icles ; and they were read before the king. Esther vi. 1.
Bum all the records of the realm.
Shale., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 7. 16.
Probably the very earliest record which we possess of
any actual event is the scene depicted on a fragment of
an antler, which was found in the rock shelter at Laueerie
Basse, in Anvergne. Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, I. 16.
5. The aggregate of known facts in a person's
Uf e, especially in that of a public man ; person-
al history: as, a good record; a candidate with
a record.
Because in America party loyalty and party organiza-
tion have been hitherto so perfect that any one jput for-
ward by the party will get the full party vote if his char-
acter is good and his record, as they call it, unstained.
J. Bryee, American Commonwealth, I. 76.
6. In racing, sports, etc., the best or highest
recorded achievement of speed, distance, en-
durance, or the like : as, to beat the record in
leaping. — Tf. Same as recorder, 4. [Eare.]
Melodious instruments, as Lutes, Harpes,B.ega1s, Records
and such like. Pvttenlimn, Arte of Eng, Poesie, p. 53.
Assurances or conveyances by record, those made or
evidenced by the authority of a court of record, as a con-
veyance by private act of Parliament or rojral grants or
a fine and recovery. — Closing the record, in Scotslaw,
the judicial declaration that ^e pleadings in a cause are
at issue for trial.— Contract Of record. See contract.—
Court of record. See court, 7.— Debt of record, a debt
which is shown by public record to exist.— Estoppel by
record. See estoppel.— Tn record, on record, upon rec-
ord, set down ; registered ; recorded.
Mine were the very cipher of a function,
To fine the faults whose fine stands in record.
And let go by the actor. S?Mk., M. for M., it 2. 4a
Convicted fools they are, madmen upon record.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., To the Reader, p. 75.
Judgment record. Seejwj^nieTit.— Hatter of record.
See matter.- Nisi prius record. See nisi prius.—'Prib-
lic records, offlcisd entries of facts, transactions, or doc-
uments, made by public officers pursuant to law, for the
purpose of affording public notice or preserving a public
memorial or continuing evidence thereof. More specifi-
cally—(a) In lid Eng. Mw, authentic documents in official
rolls of parchment, particularly of judicial proceedings,
and preserved in a court of record. (6) In modem use,
the original process and pleadings in an action or suit, with
the judgment and such other proceedings as are involved
therein and required to be included by the law of the
315
5009
forum, which are filed and registered as containing a per-
manent memorial of the essential features of the adjudi-
cation.—To beat, break, or cut the record, in contests
of speed, skill, endurance, etc., to surpass any recorded ex-
ploit in the line in question : as, to treak the record for the
runningjump. [Colloq.]— To discharge Of record. See
discharge.— to falsity a record. See falsify. — nrial by
record, a common-law mode of trial, had when a matter
of record is pleaded and the opposite party pleads that
there is no such record. The trial is by inspection of the
record itself ; no other evidence is admissible. =Syn. 4.
Note, chronicle, account, minute, memorandum.
recordable (re-k6r 'da-bl), a. 1 . Capable of rec-
ordation or being known as past. — 2. Worthy
of being recorded; deserving of reoord.
Of very important, very recordaUe events, it was not
more productive than such meetings usually are.
Jane Austen, Emma, xxxviii.
recordancet (re-k&r'dans), n. [< OF. recor-
danee, remembrance, < recorder, remember: see
record.'] Remembrance; recollection. Bowell,
Letters.
recordari facias loquelam (rek-6r-da'ri f a'shi-
as lo-kwe'lam). [So called from these words
in tlie writ, in the L. (ML.) form, lit. 'cause the
complaint to be recorded': L. recordari, pass, of
recordare, usually deponent recordari, remem-
ber, ML. also recite, record; famas, 2d pers.
sing. pros. subj. (in impv. use) of facere, make,
cause; loquelam, aoc. of loquela, complaint.]
In law, an old writ directed to the sheriff to
make a record of the proceedings of a cause
depending in an inferior court, and remove the
samfe to the King's (Queen's) Bench or Common
Pleas.
recordation (rek-pr-da'shon), m. [Early mod.
E. recordacion; < OP. recordation, recordadon,
P. recordation = Pr. recordado = Sp. recorda-
don = Pg. recordacSo = It. ricordagione, < L.
recordaUo{n-), recalling to mind, recollection,
remembrance, < recordari, remember: see rec-
ord.'] If. Eecollection ; remembrance.
For suche as be in sorowe, care, or peyne can not sleape
soundely, for the often recordadon of theyr euils.
UdaU, Mowers, foL 138.
To rain upon remembrance with mine eyes.
That it may grow and sprout as high as heaven,
For recordation to my noble husband.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iL 3. 61.
Sinfull man, whose very heart should bleed
With recordation of soe straunge a deed.
Time^ Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 68.
2. The act of recording; also, a record; a re-
gister.
I think that the wittes of many readers bane diuerted
from the weyght of great affaires, to the recordation of
such pleasannt thynges.
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. 200).
Ulyss. Why stay we, then!
Tro. To make a recordation to my soul
Of every syllable that here was spoke.
Shak., T. and C, v. 2. 116.
Papers pertaining to the probate and recordation of
wills. Code of Virginia, 1873, civ. § 7.
recorder (r§-k6r'd6r), n. [< ME. recorder, a
pipe, *recor'dour, recordowre, a witness, < OP.
recordeor, recordeour, recordewr, one who re-
cords or narrates, a witness, a judge, a min-
strel, = Sp. recordador, recorder, = It. ricor-
datore, remembrancer, <! ML. recordator, a re-
corder, < L. recordari, remember: see record.]
If. One who bears witness; a witness. Prompt.
Pare., p. 426. — 2. One who records; specifi-
cally, a person whose of&cial duty is to -register
writings or transactions, as the keeper of the
rolls of a city, or the like.
Elihoreph and Ahiah, . . . scribes; Jehoshaphat the
son of Ahilud, -the recorder. 1 Ki. iv. 3.
I . . . asked the mayor what meant this wilful silence ;
His answer was, the people were not wont
To be spoke to but by the recorder.
Shak., Eich. in., iii. 7. 30.
3. A judge having local criminal jurisdiction
in a city or borough. [The designation is little
used in the TJnitea States except in the State of
New York.] — 4t. A musical instrument of the
flageolet family, having a long tube with seven
holes and a mouthpiece, in some cases an eighth
hole, covered with gold-beaters' skin, appears near the
mouthpiece, apparently to influence the quality of the
tone. The compass of the instrument was about two oc-
taves. Also record.
Q,tbe recorders! let me see one. . . . Will you play upon
this pipe? Shak., Hamlet, iii. 2. 360.
Anon they move
In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood
Of flutes and soft recorders. MilUm, P. L, L 651.
5. A registering apparatus; specifically, in te-
leg., a receiving instrument in which a perma-
nent record of the signals is made, in the earlier
form, as invented by Morse, the record was made by em-
bossing on a ribbon of paper by means of a style fixed to
one end of a lever, which carried at the other end the
armature of an electromagnet. Several devices for using
recountal
ink were afterward substituted for the style. In Bain's
chemical recorder the dots and dashes were registered by
Morse Recorder or Register,
a, base ; 6, electromaenet ; e, screws for terminals of the wires ; tf.
armature ; e, aimature'Iever;^ stylus, earned by lever e,' ^, paper
tape ; h, mechanism for unwinding the tape from the spool t, and
feeding it between the ioWsj,j'; A, atmature-lever spring.
the chemical decomposition of some substance witb which
the paper was impregnated, the decomposition being pro-
duced on the passage of a current of electricity. In Thom-
son's siphon recorderj used principally on long cable-lines,
afine glass tube bent mto the shape of a siphon is attached
to the movable part of the receiving instrument, one arm
Siphon Recorder, a, siphon ; 6, reel.
of which dips into a vessel of ink, and the other moves
back and forth at right angles to a strip of paper which is
regularly moved by clockwork. The electrification of the
ink causes it to be projected from the end of the tube in
minute drops, so that the movements of the coil are record-
ed on the sUp of paper in very fine dots very near one an-
other. The principal advantage of this instrument is that
only a very feeble current is required to give a permanent
record of {be signals.
recordership (re-k6r'd6r-ship), n. [< recorder
+ -ship.] The office of recorder; also, the pe-
riod during which a person holds this office.
record-ofS.ce (rek'ord-of'is), rt. A place where
public records are'kept and may be consulted.
recorporiflcation (re-k6r''po-ri-fi-ka'shon), n.
[< re- + corporification.] The act of embody-
ing again, or the state of being reembodied;
the state of being invested anew with a body.
Boyle, Works, III. 53. [Rare.]
recouch (re-kouch'), V. i. [< OP. (and P.) re-
eoucher = It. ricollocare, replace; as re- +
couch, v.] To lie down again ; retire again to a
couch. SirS.Wotton,'Re]iqxdm,'p.386. [Rare.]
recounself, v. t. A Middle English form of
recount^ (re-kounf), V. t. [Early mod. E. also
recompt; < ME. recompten, < OP. reconter (cf. P.
raconter) = Sp. Pg. recontar = It. ricontare, <
Mli. recomputare, recall to mind, narrate, count,
relate, < L. re-, again, + computare, count, com-
pute: seecount^.] 1. To relate in detail; recite;
tell or narrate the particulars of; rehearse.
The greatest enimyes to discipline, as Plato recompteth,
are labours and sleepe.
Lyly, Enphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 143.
I must
Once in a month recount what thou hast been.
ShaJc, Tempest) t 2. 262.
The lawyer . . .
Went angling down the Saco, and, returning,
Recounted his adventures and mishaps.
WhiUier, Bridal of Pennacook.
2t. To account ; consider.
Thy wordes as japes ought wel to be recom^ed.
Lydgate, The Bayte.
==Syn. 1. To narrate, repeat^ detail,
recount^ (re-kounf), v. t, [< re- + count^.] To
count again,
recount^ (re-kounf), n. [< recount^, v.] A
counting anew ; a second or repeated count.
recountal (rf-koun'tal), n. [< recount^ + -alj}
The act of recounting; a detailed narration.
[Rare.]
recountal
A mere recountal ol facts,
A. V. J. Allen, Jonathan Edwarde, p. t.
recountment (rf-kount'inent), n. [< recounfl- +
-ment.'] Relation in detail ; recital. [Eare.]
When from the first to last betwixt us two
Tears our recornvtinenti had most kindly bathed.
Shah., As you Like it) It. 3. 111.
recoup (re-kbp'), V. t. [< OF. recouper, recoup-
per, recotper, recoper, out again, cut back, cut
off, strike, P. recouper, cut again, < re-, again,
+ couper, cut: see coupon, coup4.'\ X. In law,
to keep 'back as a set-off or discount ; diminish,
by keeping back a part : as, to recoup from a
servant's wages the damages caused by his
negligence; to recoup from the price of goods
sold a claim for breach of warranty as to qual-
ity.— 2. To reimburse or indemnify for a loss
or damage by a corresponding advantage : com-
monly used reflexively.
Elizabeth had lost her venture ; but, it she was bold, she
might recoup herself at Philip's cost. Froude.
It was necessary for parliament to intervene to compel
the landlord to recoup the tenant tor his outlay on the
land. W. S. Qregg, Irish Hist, tor Eng. Headers, p. 161.
3. To return or bring in an amount equal to.
Why should the manager be grudged his ten per cent.
. . , when it would be the means of securing to the share*
holders dividends that in three or four years would recoup
their whole capital?
Saturday Sev., Aug. 1, 1868, p. 161. (Latfimn.)
recoup (re-kop'), n. [< OP. recoupe, recouppe,
something cut off, a shred, < recouper, cut off:
see recoup, ».] In law, the keeping back of
something which is due ; a deduction ; recoup-
ment; discount. Wharton.
recoup^ (r6-ko-pa'), a. [< P. recoup4, pp. of re-
couper, cut again: see recoup, «.] In her., cut
or divided a second time : especially noting an
escutcheon which, being divided per fesse, is
divided again barwise, usually in the base.
recouped (rf-kopf), a. [< recoup + -ed?, after
P. recoupi: see recoup, «.] In her. : (a) Same
as couped. (6) Same as recoup^.
recouper (rf-ko'per), m. In law, one who re-
coups or keeps back. Story.
recoupment (re-kop'ment), n. [< OF. (and P.)
recoupement, < recottper, recoup : see recoup, ».]
In law, the act of recouping or retaining a part
of a sum due by reason of a legal or equitable
right to abate it because of a cross-claim aris-
ing out of the same transaction or relation.
recourt, recouret, v. t. Obsolete forms of re-
cover^.
recourse (re-k6rs')> »• [< ME. recours, < OP.
(and P.) reisours = Pr. recors = Sp. Pg. recu/rso
= It. ricorso, recourse, retreat, < L. recursus,
a running back, return, retreat, < recurrere,
pp. recursus, run back, retreat: see recur. Cf.
cowrsei.] 1. Eesort for help or protection, as
when in difficulty or perplexity.
As I yow sale, so schall it bee,
Ye nedis non othir recours to craue.
York Flays, p. 237.
Eippomenes, therefore, had recourse to stratagem.
Bacon, Physical Fables, ir.
Though they [the Italians] might have reemirae to bar-
barity as an expedient, they did not require it as a stimu-
lant. Moicavlay, Machiavelli.
2. Kesort; customary visitation or communi-
cation.
Vpon their countrye bordered the Nemtans, of whose
nature and condicions Cesar founde thus muche by en-
quirye, that there was •aorecourse of merchants vnto them.
Oolding, tr. of Csesar, f oL 63.
3t. Access; admittance.
111 give you a pottle of burnt sack to give me recourse
to him, and tell him my name is Brook.
Shak., M. W. of W., ii. 1. 223.
4t. Return; new attack; recurrence.
Preventive physick . . . preventeth sickness In the
healthy, or the recourse thereof in the valetudinary.
Sir T. Browne.
5t. Repeated course ; frequent flowing.
Priamus and Hecuba on knees,
Their eyes o'ergalled with recourse of tears.
Shak., T. and C, v. 3. 66.
6. In Scots law, the right of an assignee or dis-
ponee under the warrandice of the transaction
to recur on the vendor or cedent for relief in
case of eviction or of defects inferring war-
randice— Indorsement without recourse. See in-
dorsement.
recourset (rf-kors'), *'• *• [< L. recursare, run
back, freq. of recurrere, run back: see recur,
and ef. recourse, v.] 1. To return; recur.
The fiame departing and recowrsing thrise ere the wood
took strength to be the sharper to consume him.
Foxe, Martyrs, p. 924.
Seamrsing to the thinges forepaste, and divining of
thinges to come. Spemer, F. Q., To the Header.
5010
2. To have recourse.
The Court re-courst to Lakes, to Springs, and Brooks :
Brooks, Springs, and Lakes had the like taste and looks.
^Ivester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, U., The lawe.
recoursefult (re-kors'fid), a. [< recourse +
-fuW] Returning; moving alternately.
Thetis' handmaids still in that recours^ful deep
With those rough Gods of sea continual revels keep.
Drayton, Polyolbion, L 279.
recover! (re-kuv'6r), V. t. [< OP. (and P.) re-
comjrir, cover again, cover up, = Pr. recdbrir =
OCJat. ricobrir = It. ricoprire, cover again, < L.
re-, again, + cooperire, cover, hide : see cweri,
V.'] To cover again or anew. Sometimes writ-
ten distinctively re-cover.
When they [old shoes] are in great danger, I recover
them. Shak., J. C, i. 1. 28.
recover^ (re-kuv'er), v. [< ME. reooveren, re-
coevren, recoeuren, recouren, recuren, rekeveren,
relceuren, < OP. recovrer, recouvrer,- recwiirer, re-
coevrer, recoverer, recouverer, regain, recover,
get, obtain, etc., P. recouvrer, recover, = Pr. Sp.
recoirar = Pg. recuperar = It. recuperare, < L.
recuperare, redperare, get again, regain, recov-
er, revive, restore; in ML. also intr., revive, con-
valesce, recover; < re- + -cuperare, -ciperare,
of uncertain origin; perhaps orig. 'make good
again,' < Sabine *CMj)rits, Cyprus, good; or orig.
' desire,' < L. cupere, desire : see Cupid. Cf . re-
cuperate, and recvre^, a contracted form, and
cover^, a reduced form, of recover^."] I. trans.
1 . To regain ; get or obtain again (after it has
been lost).
And some to lyde and to recoeure that vnrigtfully was
wonne. Piers Plowman (B), xix. 239.
Than com alle the Bretouns oute of the wode, and haue
recouered the felde. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 664.
And B&vidrecovered all that the Amalekites had carried
away. 1 Sam. xxx. 18.
I spier'd for my cousin f u' couthy and sweet.
Gin she had recover'd her hearin*.
Bums, Last May a Braw Wooer.
2. To restore from sickness, faintness, or the
like; cure; heal.
Am I God, . . . that this man doth send unto me to
recover a man of his leprosy? 2 Ki. v. 7.
He 's most desperate ill, sir ;
I do not think these ten months will recover him.
Fletcher, Eule a Wife, v. 3.
3. To repair the loss or injury of; retrieve;
make up for: as, to recover lost time.
" For los of catel may recovered be.
But los of tyme shendeth us," quod he.
Chaucer, Prol. to Man of Law's Tale, 1. 27.
Yet this loss,
Thus far at least recover'd, hath much more
Establish'd in a safe nuenvied throne.
MUUm, P. L., 11. 22.
Diligence . . . gives great advantages to men : it loses
no time, it conquers difficulties, recovers disappointments,
gives dispatoh, supplies want of parts.
Penn, Advice to his Children, ilL § 10.
Jamaica society has n^yev recovered the mixture of Buc-
caneer blood.
Dr. Arnold, Life and Correspondence, p. 605.
He had given a shake to her confidence which it never
could recover. J. H. Nevyman, Loss and Gain, p. 263.
4. To rescue ; save from danger.
That they may recover themselves out of the snare of the
devil 2 Tim. ii. 26.
If you will not undo what you have done — that is, kill
him whom you have recovered [saved from drowning] —
desire it not. Shak., T. N., ii. 1. 39.
He fell Into the water, near the shore, where it was not
six feet deep, and could not be recovered.
WirMrop, Hist. New England, I. 291.
5f. To reach by some effort; get; gain; find;
come to; return to.
With cormerantes make thy nek long,
In pondys dene thy pray to recouere.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Fumivall), p. 26.
If she be lost, we shal recovere another.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 406.
Sir And. Ii I cannot recover yonr niece, I am a foul way
out. Shak., 1. N., ii. 3. 200.
The forest is not three leagues o£E ;
If we recover that, we are sure enough.
Shak., T. G. of V., v. 1. 12.
Your son-in-law came to me so near the time of his go-
ing away as it had heen impossible to have recovered him
with a letter at so far a distance as he was lodged.
Donne, Letters, lix.
6t. To reconcile; reSstabUsh friendly relations
with.
What, man ! there are ways to recover the general again :
you are but now cast in his mood ; . . . sue to him again,
and he's yours. STiak., Othello, ii. 3. 273.
7. In law, to obtain by judgment in a com-t of
law or by legal proceedings: as, to recover
lands in ejectment; to recover damages for a
wrong, or for a breach of contract, it does not
recoverable
necessarily imply the actual gain of satisfaction or pos-
session, but ordinarily only the obtaining of judgment
therefor.
There is no luge y-sette of suche trespace
By which of right one may recouered be.
PolMcal Poems, etc. (ed. Fumivall), p. 74.
8. In hunting, to start (a hare) from her cover
or form. Halliwell. — 9t. To fetch; deal.
He [Pounce] . . . smote the kynge vpon the helme, . . .
and whan Pounce wolde have recovered a-nother stroke,
the kynge spored his horse in to the stour.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii 391.
lOf. To restore to a previous state.
To hiden his desire al in mewe
From every wyght yborne, alle outrely.
But he myghte aught recovered be therby.
Clumeer, Troilus, i. 383.
Recover arms (mUit.), a word of command, in firing, re-
quiring the piece to be brought back or recovered from
the position of aim to that of ready.— To recover one's
self, (o) To regain one's strength, consciousness, com-
posure, or the like.
He fell down for dead ; . . .
But Robin he soon recovered hirmelf.
And bravely fell to it again.
RoMn Bood and the Ranger (Child's Ballads, V. 209).
(!>t) To recoup one's self.
I shall pay the Wager in the Place appointed, and try
whether I can recover myself at Gioco d'amore, which the
Italian saith is a Play to cozen the DevQ.
Howell, Letters, I. v. 26.
To recover the wind of, to cause (an animal pursued)
to run with the wind, that it may not perceive the snare.
Why do you go about to recover the wind of me, as if
you would drive me into a toU ? Shak., Hamlet, iii. 2. 361.
=SjTi. 1 and 2. To get back, repair, recruit, recuperate,
reestablish.
II, intrans. 1. To regain health after sick-
ness; grow well again : often followed by o/ or
from.
Go, enquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether
I shsdl recover of this disease. 2 EL i. 2.
With the help of a surgeon he might yet recover.
Shak., M. N. D., v. 1. 317.
2. To regain a former state or condition, as
after misfortune or disturbance of mind: as,
to recover from a state of poverty or depres-
sion. In this sense formerly and stiU some-
times used elliptically without /rom.
Twelue of the men in the flyboat were throwne from the
Capstem by the breaking of a barre, and most of them so
hurt that some never recovered it.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, 1. 102.
Two of . . . [the men] fell into the ice, yet recovered
again. Winthrop, Hist. New England, 1. 302,
As soon as Jones had a little recovered his first surprise.
Fielding, Tom Jones, v. 6.
Just as we were recovering the effects of breakfast, the
sound of firing from Outram's position summoned all idlers
to the front. W. H. Russell, Diary in India, I. 284.
3t. To come ; arrive ; make one's way.
With much ado the Christians recaoered to Antioch.
FvUer.
4. To obtain a judgment at law; succeed in a
lawsuit: as, the plaintiff has recovered in his
suit.
recover^ (re-kuv'6r), n. [< ME. recover, recure;
from the verb.] If. Recovery.
He was in peril to deye.
And but if he hadde recourere the rather that rise shulde
he neure. Piers Plmimum (B), xvU. 67.
I'le witness when I had recovered him.
The prince's head being split against a rocke
Past all recoiwr. Tragedy qf Hoffman (.16S1).
2. In boaUng, the movement of the body by
which a rower reaches forward from one sfroke
in preparation for the next: as, the bow oar is
slow in the recover,
recoverability (re-kuv*6r-a-bil'i-ti), n. [< re-
coverable + -ity (see -biliiy).'] "The state or
property of being recoverable.
recoverable (re-kuv'6r-a-bl), a. [< OP. (and
P.) recowvrable; as recover^ + -able. Cf. recu-
perable.'] 1. Capable of being regained or re-
covered.
You have lost nothing by missing yesterday at the trials
but a little additional contempt for the High Steward ; and
even that is recoverable, as his long paltry speech is to be
printed. Walpole, letters, H. 43.
2. Restorable from sickness, faintness, dan-
ger, or the like.
It is a long time ... to spend in [mental] darkness;
... If I am recoverable, why am I thus?
Cowper, To Eev. John Newton, Jan. 13, 1784.
3. Capable of being brought back to a former
condition.
A prodigal course
Is like the sun's ; but not, like his, recoverable.
Shak., T. of A., ilL 4. IS.
4. Obtainable from a debtor or possessor: as,
the debt is recoverable.
recoverable
Being the only case in which damages were recoveraUe
In any possessoiy actions at the common law.
Blackitcne, Com., III. x.
6. That may be recovered from. [Bare.]
Whether the slcknesse or disease be curahle and recimr-
o«e, yea, or no? J. Oavle, Uif-iiama, an. 16S2, p. 240.
recoverableness (re-kuv'6r-a-bl-nes), n. The
state of being recoverable ; capability of being
recovered.
recoverancet (rf-kuv'Sr-ans), n. [< OF. re-
coverance, reeovranoe, reciivrance, recouvrance,
P. recouvrant, pp. of recouvrer, recover : see re-
eover^.l Recovery. York Plays, p. 223.
recoveree (re-kuv-6r-e' ), m. [< recover^ + -eel.]
In law, the tenant or person against whom a
judgment is obtained in common recovery. See
common.
recoverer^ (re-kuv'er-6r), n. [< MB. reeoverer,
< OP. reeovreor, recouvreur, < recovrer, recover:
see recover^.'} One who recovers; a recoveror.
recoverer^f, n. [MB.,< OF. recovrier, aid, help,
recovery, < recovrer, recover: see recover^.^
Aid; help; recovery.
And by that Castell where-ot I speke hadde the salsnes
all her recouerer and aU her socour of the contrey.
Merlin (B. E. T. S.), IL 185.
recoveror (re-kuv'6r-or), n. [< OF. reeovreor,
etc.: see recoverer^."]" In tew, the demandant
or person who obtains a judgment in his favor
in common recovery. See common.
recovery (rf-kuv'6r-i), n.; pi. recoveries (-iz).
[Early mod. E. recovery, recoverie; < AF. re-
covery (Littleton), OF. recovree, recuvree, re-
couvree, recoveree, recovery, < recovrer, recover :
see recover^, v. Of. recover^, n., and discovery.^
1. The act or power of recovering, regaining,
retaking, conquering again, or obtaining re-
newed possession: as, to offer a reward for the
recovery of stolen goods.
What the devil should move me to undertake the re-
eoeery at this drum ? Shak., All's Well, iv. 1. 38.
Mario Sanudo, a Venetian, . . . lived about the 14th Age,
a Man tuU of zeal for the recovery of the Holy Iiand.
Arbuthnot, Ancient Coins, p. 269.
2. Restoration from a bad to a good condition;
especially, restoration from sickness, f aintness,
or the like ; also, restoration from low condition
or misfortune.
Let us come in, that we may bind him fast.
And bear him home for his recovery,
Shak., C. of B., V. 1. 41.
This year much of the wheat is destroyed, . . . but the
Lord hath sent much rain for the recovery of the remainder.
N. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 32L
Pray tell me how you are, and if you are making a good
recovery. Sydney Smith, To Countess Grey.
Sf. Attainment; reaching.
To thintent that his adversaryes showld not have ready
recovery of the shore, and coome a land.
Polydore Vergil, Hist. Eng., xxv. (Camden Soc), p. 213.
4. In law, the obtainiug of right to something
by a verdict or judgment of court from an op-
posing party in a suit : as, the recovery of debt,
damages, and costs by a plaintiff ; the recovery
of costs by a defendant ; the recovery of land in
ejectment. Compare fitie^, n., 3. — 5. In fen-
cing, the return of the fencer to his original
position "on guard" after extending himself in
the lunge (which see), it is done by raising the left
hand sharply, withdrawing the right foot from its place
in extension, and Sezing ti^e right elbow more or less till
the foil or sword is In the proper position to await the
opponent's riposte (which see). — Abolition of Fines
and Recoveries Act. See ./inei.— Common or feigned
recovery. See conrnum.
xecrayedf, a. [ME., < OF. recreil (= It. ricre-
duto), pp. of recroire, be recreant (see recreant),
+ E. -ed2.] Recreant.
Ac reddestow neuere Begum, thow reerayed Mede,
Whi the veniaunce fel on Saul and on his children?
Piers Plowman (B), ilL 267.
recreance (rek're-ans), n. [< ME. recreance, <
OF recreance, weariness, f aintness, faint-heart-
edness, < recreant, weary, faint-hearted, cow-
ardly : see recreanf] Recreancy. Chaucer.
Xecreancy (rek'rf-an-si), n. [As recreance
(see -ey).'] The quality of being recreant; a
eowarcfly yielding; mean-spiritediiess.
Amidst the poignancy of her regrets, her shame for her
recreancy was sharper stUl.
Howells, Annie Eilbum, xxvii.
recreandiset, n. [ME. reoreaundise, <_0F. re-
ereandise, recreantise, weakness, cowardice, rec-
reancy, < recreant, recreant: see recreant."]
Recreancy; apostasy; desertion of principle.
I seye nought for recreaundiee,
For I nought doute of youre servise.
Bom. of the Base, 1. 2107.
recreant (rek're-ant), a. and n. [< ME. recre-
ant, recreaunt, recrayhand, < OF. recreant, re-
5011
creaunt, giving up the contest, acknowledging
defeat, weary; as a noun, one who acknow-
ledges defeat, a craven, recreant; < ML. reere-
den(t-)s, ppr. (cf. equiv. recreditus, a recreant,
prop, pp.) of recredere (> OF. recroire), give in,
recant; se recredere, own oneself beaten in a
duel or judicial combat; lit. 'believe again,' < L.
re-, again, + credere, believe: see credent. Gt.
miscreant. "] 1. a. 1. Ready to yield in fight; ac-
knowledging defeat; hence, craven; cowardly.
Compare craven.
He that despeireth hym is lyke the coward champioun
recreant, that seith "recreaunt " withoute nede.
Chaucer, Parson's Tale,
Thou wear a lion's hide ! doff it for shame,
And hang a calf 's-skin on those recreant limbs.
SMk., E. John, iii. i. 128.
2. Unfaithful to duty; betraying trust.
And if I eny man it graunte,
Holdeth me for recreaunte.
Bom. o/the Base, L 4090.
Who, for so many benefits received,
Tum'd recreant to God, ingrate and false.
MUtan, F. E., iii. 138.
Then and there I . . . oSEered up a vow . . . that I
would in no manner prove recreant to her dear memory, or
to the memory of the devout alf ection with which she had
blessed me. Poe, Tales, I. 449.
II. n. One who yields in combat and cries
craven; one who begs for mercy; hence,amean-
spirited, cowardly, or unfaithful wretch.
With his craftez ganne he calle.
And callede tbame reerayhandes alle,
Kynge, knyghtes in-with walle.
Perceval, 610. (EaMweU.)
You are all recreantg and dastards.
Shak., 2 Hen. YL, iv. 8. 28.
We find St. Paul
No recreant to this faith delivered once.
Broimimg, King and Book, II. 84.
recreantly (rek're-ant-li), adv. [< ME. recre-
antly; < recreant' + -%2.] in a recreant or
cowardly manner; basely; falsely.
That he wold be dede f ul recreantly.
Or disGomflte wold this cruell geant.
Bom. ofPartenay(E. E. T. S.), 1. 4436.
recreate! (rek'rf-at), v. [< L. reereatus, pp. of
recreare (> It. ricreare = Sp. Pg. Pr. recrear =
OF. recreer, F. recrSer), create or make again,
revive, refresh, recruit, < re-, again, + creare,
create : see create.'] I. trans. To revive or re-
fresh after toU or exertion; reanimate, as lan-
guid spirits or exhausted strength; amuse; di-
vert; gratify.
Sweete sauers [savors] greatly recreatynge and comfort-
ynge nature.
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 161).
Go, recreate yourselves abroad ; go, sport.
B. Jonson, Volpone, v. 3.
Painters, when they work on white grounds, place be-
fore them colours mixed with blue and green to recreate
their eyes. Dryden.
As every day brought her stimulating emotion, so every
night yielded her recreating rest.
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xx.
=&ni. To reanimate, enliven, cheer, entertain.
II. intrans. To take recreation.
They suppose the souls in pnrgatoiy have liberty to
recreate. L. Addison, State of ttie Jews, p. 121. (Latnimn.)
recreate^ (re-krf-af), v. t. [< L. reereatus,
pp. of recreare, create again: see recreate^.]
To create anew: often written distinctively
re-create.
On opening the campaign of 1776, instead of reinforcing,
it was necessary to recreate the army.
MarshaU. (Webiter.)
The mass of men, whose very souls even now
Seem to need re-creating.
Browning, Ring and Book, IL 225.
recreation^ (rek-re-a'shon), n. [< ME. recre-
ation, recreacyon, recreaSoun, < OF. recreation,
F. ricr^aiion = Pr. recreacio = Sp. recreaoion
= Pg. recreacSo = It. ricreazione, recreation,
diversion, < L. recreaUo(n-), recovery from ill-
ness, restoration, < recreare, pp. reereatus, re-
fresh, revive: see recreate^.] 1. The act of
recreating, or the state of being recreated; re-
freshment of the strength and spirits after toil ;
amusement ; diversion ; also, some occupation
which serves to recreate or amuse.
Vnkyndely thei kidde them ther kyng for to kenn^
With carefull comf orth and colde ijpoor] recreaeioun.
York Plays, p. 481.
God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recre-
ation than angling. /. Walton, Complete Angler, i 6.
Soft BecreatUms fit the Female-kind ;
Nature for Men has rougher Sports design'd.
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love.
2. A short piece of music introduced among
technical exercises for variety and practice in
style. — 3t. Dinner; refreshment; refection.
recrimination
We will to our recreation. Shak., L. L. L., iv. 2. 173.
=Syn. 1. Amusement, Entertainment, etc. (see pastime),
sport, play.
recreation^ (re-kre-a'shon), n. [< L. reorea-
tio(n-), in lit. sense : sea recreation^ and recre-
ate^.] The act of creating or forming anew; a
new creation ; specifically, in tkeol., regenera-
tion. Also written re-ereaUon.
recreational (rek-rf-a'shon-al), a. [< reerea-
tion^ + -al.] Of, pertaining to, or conducing to
recreation. Tlie Century, XL. 176.
recreation-ground (rek-rf-a'shon-ground), n.
A place set apart for sports and" other recrea-
tions.
recreative (rek're-a-tiv), a. [< OF. recreatif,
F. recreatif, diverting, amusing, = Sp. Pg. re-
creativo = It. ricreativo, < L. recreare, pp. reere-
atus, recreate, revive, restore, etc. : see reere-
atei.] Tending to recreate; refreshing; giv-
ing new vi^or or animation ; giving relief after
labor or pain; amusing; diverting.
Another Vision happned to the same Authoure, as com-
fortable recreatyve as the former was dolorous.
PttttenTuurb, Partheniades.
Let not your recreations be lavish spenders of your time :
but choose such which are healthful, short, transienti
recreative. Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, i. 1.
In this ''Manual of Sins" . . . our recreative monk has
introduced short tales, some grave and some he deemed
facetious, which convey an idea of domestic life and do-
mestic language. /. D'ltraeli, Amen, of Lit., 1. 138.
recreatively (rek're-a-tiv-li), adv. In a rec-
reative manner; with" recreation or diversion.
Imp. Diet.
recreativeness (rek're-a-tiv-nes), n. The qual-
ity of being recreative, refreshing, or diverting.
recrement (rek're-ment), n. [< OF. recrement,
P. ricr^ment = Sp. fg. recremento, refuse, < L.
recrementum, dross, slag, < *recernere, < re-,
back, + cernere, pp. cretus, separate: see con^
cern, concrete, and cf. excrement^.] 1. Super-
fluous matter separated from that which is
useful; dross; scoria; spume.
Of all the visible creatures that God hath made, none is
so pure and simple as light ; it discovers all the foulness
of the most earthly recrements, it mixeth with none of
them. Bp. Ball, Bemaius, p. 41.
2. In med., a fluid which, after having been
separated from the blood, is returned to it, as
the saliva, the secretion of serous membranes,
etc.
recremental (rek-rf-men'tal), a. [< recrement
+ -al.] (Consisting of or pertaining to recre-
ment ; reorementitious. Armstrong, Art of Pre-
serving Health, iii. 254. ^
recrementitial (rek*re-men-tish'al), a. [< F.
ricrimentiUel ; as recrement + -ii^al,] Same
as reorementitious.
reorementitious (rek*re-men-tish'us), a. [=
Sp. Pg. recrementido ; as recrement + -it-ious.]
Drossy ; consisting of superfluous matter sepa-
rated from that which is valuable. Boyle,
Works, I. 645.
recrewt (rf-kro'), v. t. [< *recrew, < OF. recreue,
recrue, a "supply, spare stores, recruit, F. re-
crue, supply, addition, recruit, levy: see re-
cruit.] To recruit.
One intire troop with some other odd troopers, and some
stragling foot, that were to recrew other companies.
Prince Bupert's beating up of the Bebel Quarters at Post-
[comb and Chinner (1643), p. xvi. (Davies.)
recriminate (re-krim'i-nat), v. [< ML. recri-
minatus, pp. oi recriminare (> It. recriminare =
Sp. Pg. recreminar = OF. recriminer, P. ricrimi-
ner), accuse in return, < L. re-, back, + crimi-
nari, accuse: see criminate.] I. intrans. To
return one accusation with another; retort a
charge; charge an accuser with a like crime.
Such are some of the personalities with which Decker
recriminajted. I. D'Israeli, Calamities of Authors, II. 339.
II. trans. To accuse in return. [Rare.]
Did not Joseph lie under black infamy? he scorned so
much as to clear himself, or to recriminate the strumpet.
South.
recrimination (rf-krim-i-na'shon), n. [< OF.
recrimination, P. 'recrimination = Sp. recrimi-
nacion = Pg. recriminagSo = It. reoriminazione,
< ML. recriminatio(,n-), < recriminare, recrimi-
nate: see recriminate.] 1. The act of recrim-
inating; the meeting of an accusation by a
counter-accusation: as, to indulge in mutual
recriminations.
Let us endeavour to remove tliis objection, not by re-
criTnination (which is too easie in such cases), but by living
suitably to our holy Religion.
StiMngJleet, Sermons, IL vt
Short-sighted and injudicious, however, as the conduct
of England may be in this system of aspersion, recrtmiTia-
tion on our part would be equally ill-judged.
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 76.
recrimination
2. In law, an accusation, brought by an accused
person against the accuser, of being in a simi-
lar guilt as charged, or derelict in a correspond-
ing duty; a counter-accusation.
recriminative (re-krim'i-na-tiv), a. [< recrimi-
nate + -i»e.] Of the nature of or pertaining to
recrimination; indulging in recrimination; re-
criminatory. Imp. Diet.
recriminator (r|-krim'i-na-tgr), ». [Cf. P. rS-
criminateur = Sp. recriminador, one who recrim-
inates, recriminating; as recriminate + -orl.]
One who recriminates; one who accuses the
accuser of a like crime.
recriminatory (rf-krim'i-na-to-ri), a. [= F.
r4eriminatoire = Pg. recrvndriatorio ; as recrimi-
nate + -ory.'] Eetorting accusation; recrimi-
nating.
They seem to have been so entirely occupied with the
defence of the !French directory, bo very eager in finding
reerimmatary precedents to justify every act of its intol-
erable insolence. Bmrke, A Eegicide Peace, iiL
recrossed (re-krdst'), o. In her. : (a) Having
the ends crossed. (6) Same as crossed when
noting a crosslet: thus, a cross crosslet re-
crossed is the same as a cross crosslet crossed.
recrucify (re-kro'si-fl), v. t. [< re- + crucify.'i
To crucify again.
By it [wilful sin] we do, as the Apostle teaches, reanuify
the Son of God, and again expose Him to open shame.
Barrow, Works, VI. 79.
recmdency (rf-kro'den-si), n. [As recrud(esce)
+ -ency.~\ Same as recrudescence.
recrudesce (re-kr§-des'), v. «.; pret. and pp.
recrudesced, ppr. recrudescing. [= Pg. recru-
descer, < L. rearudescere, become raw again,
< re-, back, again, + crudescere, grow harsh, <
erudus, raw: see crude.'] 1. To become raw
or exacerbated again. — 2. To revive; become
alive again ; be renewed.
Ideas which have made no part of the waUng life are
apt to recTude&x in the sleep-w^ng state.
Miva, IX. lis.
recrudescence (re-kr^-des'ens), n. [< F. recru-
descence = Sp. Pg. recrudescenda ; as recrudes-
cen{t) + -ce.] 1. The state of being recrudes-
eent, or becoming raw or exacerbated again.
Hence — 2. A reopening; renewal; a coming
into existence anew; a fresh outbreak.
The king required some regulations should be made for
obviating the recrudescence of those ignoramus abuses for
the future that had been so scandalous before.
£oger North, Examen, p. 632. (Dailies.)
That recrudescemx of military organization which fol-
lowed the Conquest B. Spencer, Frin. of Sociol., § 625.
3. In med., increased activity of a disease or
morbid process after partial recovery.
A kind of recrudescence [of scarlet fever], but without
the reappearance of the rash, would seem possible up to
the eighth week. Quain, Med. Diet., p. 1392.
4. la hot, the production of a fresh shoot from
the top of a ripened spike.
recmdescency (re-krij-des'en-si), n. [As re-
crudescence (see -cy).] Same as recrudescence.
Browning, King and Book, 1. 578.
recrudescent (re-krij-des'ent), a. [= Pg. re-
erudescente, < L. recrudescen{t-)s, ppr. of recrvr-
deseere, break out afresh, become raw again,
< re-, again, + crudescere, become raw.] 1.
Growing raw, sore, or painful again. — 2. Com-
ing into existence or renewed vigor again.
recruit (rf-krof), v. [Formerly also recrute;
= D. recruteren = G. recruHeren = Dan. rekru^
tere = Sw. rekrytera, < OF. recruter, levy, prop.
recluter, mend, = Pg. recrutar, reclutar, levy, =
Sp. reclutar, complete, supply, also recruit, =
It. reclutare, complete, levy,< ML. reclutare (af-
ter Eom.), recruit, orig. mend, patch, < L. re-
+ Teut. (AS.) ciat (> OF. clut), clout, lit. 'rag,'
'piece': seeclout^. The orig. sense was forgot-
ten, and confusion ensued with OF. recreue, re-
crue, a supply, spare stores, etc., recrue, a levy
of troops, prop, an addition, supply, fem. of
recreu, F. recru, pp. of recroitre, recroistre,
grow again, < L. re-, again, + erescere, grow,
increase : see crease^, increase, etc. Cf . aecrew,
reorew, crew^.1 I. trans. 1. To repair by fresh
supplies ; supply lack or deficiency in.
Her cheeks glow the brighter, recruili'iM their colour.
GranmOe, Phyllis Drinking.
2. To restore the wasted vigor of; renew the
health, spirits, or strength of; refresh: as, to
recruit one's health.
And so I began the world anew ; and, by the blessing
of God, was again wetty well recruited before I left this
town. A Knox (Arber's Eng. Oamer, I. 386).
I sat down and talked with the family while our guide
recnut$d himself with a large dish of thick sour milk.
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 419.
5012
3. To supply with new men; specifically, to sup-
ply with new men for any deficiency of troops ;
make up by enlistment: as, to recruit an army.
His [Amurath's] forces, . . . though daily recruited by
the new supplies which came to them, yet mooldred
away. North, tr. of Theuet's Lives.
The Frank population of Cyprus . . . was either con-
stantly diminishing or reeruttedbj arrivals from the West.
SbMs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 168.
4. To provision: take supplies on board of, as
a vessw: as in the phrase to recruit ship. = Syn.
Keinforce, replenish.
II. intratis. 1. To gain new supplies of any-
thing lost or wasted ; gain flesh, health, spirits,
etc.
My master, said I, honest Thomas ... is come to Bath
to recruit. Yes, sir, I said to j-ecmi*— and whether for
men, money, or constitution, you know, sir, is nothing to
him, nor any one else. Sheridan, The Bivals, iL 1.
2. To gain new supplies of men for any object ;
specifically, to raise new soldiers.
When a student in Holland he there met Carstairs, on
a mission into that country to recruit for persons qualified
to fill the chairs in the several njiiversities of Scotland.
Sir W. Hamilton.
3. To enter port for supplies, as a vessel.
recruit (re-krof), n. [=D. reeruut=z G. recrut =
Dan. rekrut = Sw. rekryt, < OF. recreute = Sp.
recluta = Pg. recruta = It. recluta, recruit;
from the verb, confused in OF. with recreue,
a supply, recrue, a levy of troops.] 1. A fresh
supply of anything wasted or used, as of pro-
visions and supplies on shipboard, etc.
Carrying also plentiful rearuite of provisions.
Beverley, Virginia, L 1[ 9.
A BecruU of new People. Howell, IiCtters, I. i. 38.
The state is to have recmiti to its strength, and reme-
dies to its distempers. Burke.
2. A soldier or sailor newly enlisted to supply
the deficiency of an army or a navy; one who
has newly filled a vacancy in anybody or class
of persons.
The powers of Troy
With fresh recruits their youthful chief sustain.
Dryden.
3. A substitute for something wanting. [Bare.]
Whatever Kature has in worth deny'd,
She gives in large recruits of needful pride.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, L 206.
Fort Of recruit (noue.), a recruiting-station.
recruital (re-kie'tal), n. [< recruit + -al."] A
renewed supply of anything lost or exhausted,
especially of strength or vigor, bodily or men-
tal. [Bare.]
Shortly after this communion Mr. Chalmers sought re-
lief and recrmtal in an excursion to Fif eshire.
W. Harma, Chalmers, II. 65.
recruiter (rf-kro'tfer), n. One who recruits.
recruithood' (rf-krof hud), n. [< recruit +
-hood.] The condition of a recruit ; the state
or the period of being a recruit. [Rare.]
Old soldiers who read this will remember their green
recruUhood and smile assent. The Century, XXIX. 108.
recruiting-ground (rf-krb'ting-ground), n. A
place or region where recmiits are or may be
obtained.
The murderers of Csesarhad turned the provinces which
they governed into one vast recruiting-ground for a last
decisive struggle. W. W. Capes, The Early Empire, Int.
recruiting-party (re-kr8'ting-par"ti), n. A
number of soldiers, in charge of an officer or
a non-commissioned officer, who are detached
from their regiment or post for the purpose of
enlisting recruits.
recruiting-sergeant (re-kr8'ting-sar"jent), n.
A sergeant deputed to enlist recruits.
recruitment (rf-krot'ment), n. [< P. reorute-
ment = Sp. reclutamiento = Pg. recrutamento,
the act of recruiting ; as recruit + -^nent.] The
act or business of recruiting; the act of rais-
ing new supplies of men for an army or a navy.
The theoretical recruitment is partly voluntary and part-
ly by lot for the militia. FortnighUy Bev., If . S., XLIII. 40.
Sec. Sec. An abbreviation of Becordmg Sec-
retary.
rectt, a. [ME., < L. rectus, straight, direct,
right: see right."] Direct; immediate.
Thns ys mede and mercede as two manere relacions,
Jiect and indyrect. Piers Ploumum (C), iv. 836.
rect. An abbreviation of (a) in pharmacy,
(recUficatus) rectified; (6) rector,
recta, n. Plural of rectum,
rectal (rek'tal), a. [< rectum + -al,] Pertain-
ing to or connected with the rectum or straight
gut: as, rectal -paxts or organs; rectal disease,
operation, instrument; rectal action, evacua-
tion.— Bectal alimentation, the administration of
enemeta containing food specially prepared for absorp-
tion by the mucous membrane of the large intestine. —
Rectangle.
rectification
Rectal onsBStliesia, the administration of ether or other
anesthetics by the rectum. — Bectal chemise. See che-
mise.— Bectal ctises, paroxysms of pain in the rectum,
often with tenesmus, and sensations as of a foreign body,
met with in cases of locomotor ataxia.— Bectal dia-
phragm, the sheet of muscles closing the rectal outlet
of the pelvis, consisting of the sphincter anl extemus
superficially, and a deeper layer composed of the levator
ani and coccygeus.— Bectal fissure, a very painful crack-
like opening in the mucous membrane of the lower part of
the rectum.— Bectal glands. See gland,
rectalgia (rek-tal'ji-a), n. [NL., < rectum, rec-
tum, + (Jr. a?iyog, pam.] Neuralgia of the rec-
tum : same as proctalgia.
rectangle (rek'tang-gl), a. and n. [< OP. (and
P.) rectangle = Sp. reetdngulo = Pg. rectangulo
= It. rettangolo, rectangular, a rectangle, <
LL. rectiangulvmi, having a right angle, < rec-
tus, right, + a/ngulus, an angle : see right and
angle^.] I.t a. Eectangular; right-angled.
It all Athens should decree that ... in rectangle tri-
angles the square which is made of the side that sub-
tendeth the right angle is equal to the squares which are
made of the sides containing the right angle, . . . geo-
metricians . . . would not receive satisfaction without
demonstration thereof. Sir T. Broume, Vulg. Err., i. 7.
II. n, 1, A quadrilateral plane figure having
all its angles right angles
and its opposite sides conse-
quently equal. When the adja-
cent sides are equal, it is a square.
The area of a rectangle is equal to
the product of two adjacent sides ;
thus, if its sides measure 6 feet and
4 feet, its area is 24 square feet
2. The product of two lengths. Thus, especially
In old books, "the rectangle under two lines " is spoken o^
meaning substantially the product of their lengths.
St. A right angle.
Th' acute, and the ree^ Angles too.
Stride not so wide as obtuse Atigles doo.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, IL, The Colnmnes.
rectangled (rek'tang-gld), a, [< rectangle +
-ed^,] 1. Having a right angle or right an-
fles ; right-angled. — 2. In
er., forming a right angle,
or broken twice, forming two
right angles: said of a he-
raldic line and also of a di-
vision of the field so bounded
by it: as, a chief rectangled. —
Fesse rectangled. See/esse.
rectangular (rek - tang ' gu -
lar), a. [= F. rectangul
= Sp. Pg. rectangular, < L. rectan.gulus, rectan-
gled: see rectowjZe.] Eight-angled; having an
angle or angles of ninety degrees Bectangular
coordinates, in analytical geom. See coSrdiTmte. — Bec-
tangiUar hyperbola, a hyperbola whose asymptotes
are at right angles to one another.
— Bectangular map-projectlon.
See ^q;"ecfeo«.— Bectangular solid,
in geom., a solid whose axis is perpen-
dicular to its base.
rectangularity (rek -tang- gu-
lar'i-ti), n, [< P. rectangularitS;
a,sr'ectangular + -ity.] The qual-
ity or state of being rectangu-
lar or right-angled; rectangu-
lamess.
rectangularly (rek-tang'gn-lar-li), adv. In a
rectangular manner; with or" at right angles.
— Bectangularly polarized, in opties, oppositely po-
larized.
rectangularness (rek-tang'gu-lar-nes), n. Bee-
tangularity. Imp. Diet.
rectascension (rek-ta-sen'shgn), n. [< h.rectus,
right, -1- ascensio{n-), ascension.] In astron.,
right ascension.
recti, n. Plural of rectus,
recticrurseus (rek^ti-krjj-re'us), «.; pi. recticru-
rm (-i). [NL., < L. rectus, straight, -1- crus (erur-),
leg: see crureeus.] The straight muscle of the
front of the thigh; the rectus femoris. Coues.
rectifiable (rek'^ti-fi-a-bl), a. [< P. rectifidble
= Sp. recUficahle ='!Pg. recUficavel; as rectify
+ -able.] 1. Capable of being rectified, cor-
rected, or set right: as, a rectifiable mistake.—
2. In geom., said of a curve admitting the con-
struction of a straight line equal in length to
any definite part of the curve.
rectification (rek*ti-fi-ka'shqn), n. [< OP. (and
P.) recUfi^xiUon = Pr. rectificaUo = Sp. rectifl-
caeUm = Pg. rectificagOo = It. rettificazion^, <
ML. recUficatio{n-), < rectificare, rectify: see
rectify.] The act or operation of rectifying.
(a) The act of correcting, amending, or setting right that
which is wrong or erroneous : as, the rectijieation of errors,
mistakes, or abuses.
The proper rectification of the expression would be to
insert the adverb as. H. Blair, Khetoric, xxli.
(6) The process of refining a substance by repeated or
fractional distillation: it is in this way freed from other
substances which are either more or less volatile than
Argent, a Chief Rec-
tangled gules.
Rectangular Hy-
perbola.
rectification
itaeU, or from non-ToIatile matters : aa, the rectUusaMon
of apirits. The concentration of sulphuric acid in platinum
or glass yeasela is sometimes (improperly) callearecti/ico-
turn.
Tlie process of reMfication ia generally done by redis-
tilling, and filtering throogh alternate layers of woolen
blankets, sand, and granulated bone or maple charcoal.
Pop. Sei. Mo., XXIX. 80.
(e)In geom., the determination of a straight line whose
length is equal to a given portion of a curve ; the finding
a formula for the length of the arc of a given curve. —
Bectiflcation of a globe, in oMron. and geog., the ad-
jostment of it preparatory to the solution of a proposed
problem.
rectified (rek'ti-fid), J), a. [Pp. of rec«/j/.] 1.
Hade right; corrected.
Be just therefore to thyself all the way, pay thyself, and
take acquittances of thyself, all the way, which is only
done under the seal and in the testimony of a recHfled
conscience. Donne, Sermons, ir.
2. In hort., developed in a desired direction, as
when plain tulips are propagated till they sport
into variegated forms.
Some of the progeny "break," that is, produce flowers
with the variegation which is so much prized. G?he flower
is then said to be "reeHJled." Eneyc. Brit., XII. 259.
rectifier (rek'ti-fi-6r), n. [< rectify + -eri.]
One who or that which rectifies, (a) One who cor-
rects or amends.
Fast friend he was to reformation, . . .
Next recHfler of wry law.
5. BuOer, Hudibras, L ii. 432.
(ft) One who refines a substance by repeated distillations
or by filtering or any other method ; specifically, one who
rectifies liquors. (0) In the distillation of alcoholic liquors :
(1) A vessel or receptacle in which a second distillation is
carried on, to condense the liquor and increase its alcoholic
strength, or to flavor it by exposing the flavoring substance
to the vaporized spirit. (2) A cylindrical vessel continu-
ons with a primary still, in which repeated distillations
occur till the alcohol reaches the desired strength. Also
called rectifying column, and simply column, (d t) An in-
strument formerly used for indicating the errors of the
compass. Falconer.
rectify (rek'ti-fi), «. *. ; pret. and pp. recUfied,
ppr. rectifying. [Early mod. E. recUfle, reetyfye;
< OF. (and F.) rectifier = Pr. Sp. Pg. recUficar
= It. retUficare, < ML. rectificare, make right,
rectify, ,< L. rectus, strateht (= E. right), +
-fiea/re, ifacere, make.] 1. To make right or
straight; correct when wrong, erroneous, or
false; amend: as, to rectify errors, mistakes,
or abuses: sometimes applied to persons.
1 meant to reci^y my conscience,
SAdJr., Hen. VIII., iL 4. 203.'
I onlle strive
To reMfie abuses which deprive
The Oospell of his propagation
And plentif nil encr«ase.
Times' WUsOe (E. E. T. S.), p. 16.
I a common-wealth with debaushed people is
Capl. John Smith, Works, II. 106.
When an authentic watch is shown.
Each man winds up and recHJiee his own.
Stirling, Aglaura, Epil.
This morning I received from him the following letter,
which, after having rectified some little orthographical
mistakes, I shall make a present of to the public.
Addigon, Husbands and Wives.
5013
plane with the curve to which it belongs, the latter is un-
rolled into a right line : it is perpendicular to the normal
and the osculating planes. — RectifTing edge|^e cuspi*
dal edge of the rectifying developable. — Bectlfying line,
the line commctn to two consecutive rectifying planes. —
Bectifyillg plane, a plane tuigent to the recU^ng sur-
face—To rectify alcoholic liquors. See def. 2.— To
rectify a sun-dial. Bee the quotation.
To rectify the dial (using the old expression, which means
to prepare the dial for an observation).
Enagc. BriL, "VTL 161.
To rectify the course of a veBSel, in nav. , to determine
its true course from indications of the ship's compass, by
correcting the errors of the compass due to magnetic van
riations and local attractions. — TO rectify the gloT]e, in
attron. and geog., to bring the sun's place in the ecliptic on
a globe to the brass meridian, or ouierwise to adjust it in
order to prepare it for the solution of any proposed prob-
lem. =Syn. 1. Improve, Better, etc. (see amend), redress,
adjust, regulates.
Bectigradse (rek-tig'ra-de), n. pi. [NL. : see
rectigrade.'] A group of spiders ; the rectigrade
spiders. Also RecUgrada, BecUgrades.
rectigrade (rek'ti-grad), a. [< L. rectus,
straight, + gradi, step : see ^radel.] Walking
straight forward, as a spider; pertaining to
the Mectigradse: correlated with laterigrade,
saltigrade, etc.
rectilineal (rek-ti-Un'f-al), a. [Cf . It. rettilineo
= OP. (and F.) recUlighe; < ML. *rectilmeus,
having a straight line, < L. rectus, straight,
right, + linea, a line : see right and line^, ».]
Same as recUVmear.
rectilineally (rek-ti-lin'e-al-i), adv. Same as
rectilinear (rek-ti-lin'e-Sr), a. [< L. rectlUnetis,
rectilineal (see recUlmeal), + -orS.] Straight-
lined; bounded by straight lines; consisting
of a straight line or of straight lines ; straight :
as, a rectilinear figure or course. Also recti-
lineal.
Whenever a ray of light is by any obstacle turned out
of its rectilinear way, it will never return to the same rec-
tilinear way, unless perhaps by very great accident.
Newton, Opticks.
Rectilinear lens, motion, etc. See the nouns. — Recti-
linear muscle. See muicW; 2.
rectllinearity (rek-ti-lin-e-ar'i-ti), n. [< recU-
Ivnear + -ity.'^ The state of tieing rectilinear.
TorecfMi
impossible.
Specifically — 2. In distilUng.- (a) To remove
impurities from (an alcoholic distillate) and
raise to a required proof or strength by repeat-
ed distillation. As flavoring materials are often added
during rectiflcation in the manufacture of gin, cordials,
factitious brandy, etc., the term rectify has been extended
to the performance of these processes. Hence — (2>)
To bring (a spirit) by repeated distillation to
the strength required, and at the same time to
impart to it the desired flavor. See rectifier.
— 3. La chemical manuf. and in phar. : (a) To
separate impurities from (a crystalline body)
by dissolving and reerystallizing it, sometimes
repeatedly, and sometimes also with intermedi-
ate washing of the crystals. (6) To raise (a li-
quid) to a prescribed strength by extraction of
some part of its liquid components. Distillation
under ordinary atmospheric pressure or in a vacuum, and
absorption of water by substances having strong affinity
for water, as caustic lime, calcium chlorid, etc., when such
■nbstances do not affect the chemical constitution of the
substances under treatment, are common processes em-
ployed in rectification, (c) To remove impurities
from (solutions) by filtering them through sub-
stances absorbent of dissolved impurities, but
non-absorbent of, and chemioally inactive up-
on, the substance to be purified. Of such ma-
terials bone-black is a typical example, espe-
cially in sugar-refining, (d) To purify by one
or more resublimations. — 4. In math., to deter-
miue the length of (a curve, or a part of a curve)
included between two limits. — 5. In the use of
the globes, to place (a globe) in such a position
that the solution of a given problem may be ef-
fected with it — Rectifying developaMe, or rectl-
frlng developable surface of a non-plane curve, a
ctev^opable surface such that, when It is unrolled into a
rectilinearly (rek-ti-lin'f-ar-li), a^v. In a
rectilinear manner or direction ; in a right line.
rectilinearness (rek-ti-lin'f-ar-nes), n. The
quality or condition of being' rectilinear. W.
S. Greg, Misc. Essays, 2d ser., p. 230.
rectilineoust (rek-ti-lin'e-us), a. [= OP. (and
P.) recttUgne = Sp. rectilvneo = Pg. recUUneo =
It. rettilineo, < ML. *rectilineus : see rectilineal.']
Keetilinear, Bay, Works of Creation, i.
rectinerved (rek'ti-n6rvd), a. [< L. rectus,
straight, -I- Mer^jts, nerve, + -ed^.] In hot., hav-
ing nerves running straight from their origin
to the apex or to the margin: said mostly of
parallel-nerved leaves.
rection (rek'shpn), n. [< L. recto(»8-),a lead-
ing, guiding, government, direction, <. regere,
pp. rectus, mle, govern: see regent.] In gram.,
the influence or power of a word in consequence
of which another word in the sentence must
have a certain form, in regard to number, case,
person, mode, or the Hke ; government.
rectipetality (rek'''ti-pe-tari-ti), n. [< L. rec-
tus, straight, + petere, seek (see peUtwn), + -al
+ -dty.] In hot., the inherent tendency of stems
to grow in a right Une, as indicated by Voech-
ting's experiments with the elinostat. Even parts
grown crooked incline to straighten when freed &om de-
flecting influences. This general tendency is modified,
however, by an irregularity called heteramceeis{which see).
rectirostral (rek-ti-ros'tral), a. [Cf . P. recti-
rostre; < L. rectus, straight, + rostrum, beak, -I-
-al.] Having a straigjht bill or beak, as a bird.
rectischiac (rek-tis'ki-ak), a. [< NL. rectum
-f ischium + -ac] Same as ischiorectal.
rectiserial (rek-ti-se'ri-al), a. [< L. rectus,
straight, -I- series, a row: see serial.] 1. Dis-
posed in a right line ; rectilinear or straight, as
a row or series of parts. — 3. In hot, disposed
in one or more straight ranks : specifically used
by Bravais, in contrast with cwrviserial (which
see), to describe those forms of phyUotaxy in
which a second leaf soon stands exactly over
any given leaf, and thus all fall into right lines.
rectitic (rek-tit'ik), a. [< recUUs + -«c.] Per-
taining to or affected with rectitis.
rectitis (rek-ti'tis), n. [NL., < rectum + -itis.]
Inflammation of the rectum.
rectitude (rek'ti-tM), n, [< OF. rectitude, ret-
titude, P. rectitude = Pr. rectetut= Cat. rectitut
= Sp. recUtud = Pg. rectitude = It. rettitudine,
< L. rectttVido (-iw-), straightness, uprightness,
< rectus, straight, = E. right: see right.] 1.
rector
Straightness : as, the rectitude of a line. John-
son.
Young pines, bent by . . . snowfalls or other accident,
in seeking to recover their rectitude, describe every grace-
ful form of curve or spiral. A. B. Alcott, Tablets, p. 12.
2. Bightness of principle or practice ; upright-
ness of mind; exact conformity to truth, or to
the rules prescribed for moral conduct by ei-
ther divine or human laws; integrity; honesty;
justice.
Of the rectitude and sincerity of their life and doctrine
to judge rightly, wee must judge by that which was to be
their rule. MUtan, Reformation in Eng., L
Provided they "keep o' the windy side of the law," the
great majority are but little restrained by regard for strict
rectitude. H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 465.
3. Correctness; freedom from error, as of con-
duct.
Perfectly conscious of the rectitude of her own appear-
ance, [she] attributed all this mirth to the oddity of mine.
Ooldimith, The Bee, No. 2.
=Syn. 2, Integrity, Uprightness, etc. (see lumesly), prin-
ciple, equity.
recto (rek'to), n. [1. < L. recto, abl. of rectum,
right: see right, n. 2. For recto folio, 'the
right page',' opposed to verso folio, "the oppo-
site page': L. recto, abl. of rectus, right; folio,
abl. ot folium, a leaf, sheet: see folio.] 1. In
law, a writ of right, now abolished. — 2 . hi.print-
ing, the right-hand page of an open book : op-
posed to the left-hand, reverso or verso. In books
as commonly printed, the odd folios, pages 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.,
are the rectos ; the even folios, pages ^ 4, 6, 8, etc., the
reverses.
Junius had seen books ot this kind printed by C!oster
(the beginnings ot his labours) on the rectos of the leaves
only, not on both sides. Eneyc. Brit., XXTTT, 689.
recto-. In composition, rectal ; of the rectum.
rectocele (rek'to-sel), n. [< NL. rectum, rec-
tum, + (Jr. idiT^v, tumor.] Prolapse of the rec-
tovaginal wall through the vagina. Compare
proctocele.
rectogenital (rek-to-jen'i-tal), a. [< NL. rec-
tum, rectum, + L. genitalia, genital.] Of or per-
tainiug at once to the rectum and to the geni-
talia: as, the rectogenital chamber.
rector (rek'tor), n. [= OP. rettevr, recteur, P.
recteur = Pr.'Sp. rector = Pg. rector, reitor = It.
rettore, < L. rector, a ruler, director, rector, < re-
gere, pp. rectus, rule: see regent.] 1. A ruler
or governor. [Bare.]
The rector of the vniuersitie called to counsell all the
doctors regentes that were that tyme at Tholose.
Hall, Hen. Vm., an, 22.
Beason (which in right should be
The special rector of all harmony).
B. Jonsim, Poetaster, v. 1.
Who shall be the rectors of our daily rioting?
Milton, Areopagitica (ed. Hales), p. 24.
2. In the Ch. of Eng., a clergyman who has
the charge of a parish and full possession of
all the rights and privileges attached thereto.
He differs from the mcaria that the latter is entitled only
to a certain proportion of the ecclesiastical income spe-
cially set apart to the vicarage. The latter, again, differs
from the curate (in the narrower or popular sense of that
word), who is subject to the incumbent whether rector or
vicar, and the amount of whose salary is determined not
by the law, but by the patron of the benefice, or by the
incumbent employing him. Abbreviated RecL
The bishops that are spoken of in the time ot the primi-
tive Church, all such as parsons or rectors ot parishes are
with us. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, viL 13.
3. In the United States, a clergyman in charge
of a parish in the Protestant Episcopal Church.
— 4. In the Bom. Cath. Ch., an ecdesiastic in
charge of a congregation, a college, or a reli-
gious house; specifically, the superior of a
Jesuit seminary or college.
His wife . . . fled ... to Saint Jaques le Grand ; . . .
her death . . . was faithfully conflrmed by the rector of
the place. Shak., All's Well, iv. 3. 69.
5. The chief elective ofBeer of some universi-
ties, as in France and Scotland, in Scotland reOar
is also the title of the head master of an acsdemy or impor-
tant public school ; in England, of the heads ot Exeter and
Lincoln colleges, Oxford. In the United States it is a title
assumed by the principals of some private schools : as, the
rectors of St. John's and St. Paul's. In Germany rector is
the title ot the head of a higher school ; the chief officer of
a university is styled redffr nmgnificus or, when the prince
of the country is the titular head, reOar magnifieentissimu».
The rector ... in the first instance was head of the
faculty of arts. ... It was not until the middle of the
14th century that the rector became the head of the col-
lective university [of Paris]. Eneyc. Brit. , XXIII. 835.
6. The presiding officer or chairman of certain
gilds and associations.
Many artists. . . as rectors represented the greater and
lesser art guilds in the city government [of Siena].
C. C. Perkins, Italian Sculpture, p. 51.
Lay rector, in the Oft. of Eng., a layman who receives and
possesses the rectorial tithes of a benefice. Lee, Glossary.
— MlBSionary rector, in the Rom. Cath. Ch., a priest
rector
appointed by the bishop to certain parishes in England,
in the United States to the charge of any parish.— Rec-
tor of a Board of Trustees, the presiding officer.
rectorage (rek'tor-aj), n. [OP. rectorage,<rector
+ -age^ A rector's benefice. Gom^axe vicarage.
Sic pastoris wyll be weiU content
To leil vpon the f er les rent,
Nor hes sum Vicaie lor his wsdg^
Or Rector for his Sectoraige.
Lauder, DewUe of Kyngis (E. B. T. S.), L 326.
rectoral (rek'tor-al), a. [< F. rectoral= Sp. reo-
toral, < ML. *rectoraUs, < L. rector, a rector: see
rector.'] Same as rectorial. BUickstone.
rectorate (rek'tor-at), n. and a. [< P. rectorat
= Sp. rectorado = tg. reitorado = It. rettorato,
< ML. reetoratus, the office of a rector, < L. rec-
tor, a rector: see rector.2 I. n. The office or
rank of rector ; the period of incumbency of a
rector.
His two rectorates in onr city, from 1829 to 1845, saw the
beginning of a successful revolt against the leadership of
Evangelicals. T?ie American, X. 297.
II, a. Same as rectorial.
His very instmctlve rectorate address on The Baclcward-
ness of the Ancients In Natural Science.
Pop. Sd. Ho., Xin. 263.
rectoress, rectress (rek'tor-es, -tres), n. [< rec-
tor + -ess.] 1. A female rector or ruler; a
governess. [Rare.]
Be thou alone the rect'rese of this isle,
With all the titles I can thee enstile.
Drayton, Legend of Matilda, st. 39.
Great mother Fortune, queen of human state,
Bectrees of action, arbitress of fate.
B. Jonsan, Sejanus, r. i.
2. A rector's -wife. [Humorous.]
In this way the worthy Rectoress consoled herself.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xlviil.
Also rectrix.
rectorial (rek-to'ri-al), a. [< rector + -ial."] Of
or pertaining to a rector or a rectory.— Recto-
rial tithes, tithes payable to the rector, ordinarily those
of corn, hay, and wood. Also grea^ tithes.
The tithes of many things, as wood in particular, are
in some parishes rectffrial, and in some vicarial Whes.
Btaeketone, Com., I. zi.
rectorship (rek'tor-shlp), n. [< rector + ship.']
1. The office or'rank of a rector. — Sf, Blue;
direction; guidance.
Why, had your bodies
Ko heart among you ? or had you tongues to cry
Against the rectorship of judgement?
S?uik., Cor., ii. 3. 213.
rectory (rek'tor-i), n. ; pi. rectories (-iz). [< OF.
rectorie = Sp"rectoria = Pg. reitoria = It. ret-
toria, < ML. rectoria, the office or rank of a rec-
tor, < L. rector, a rector: see rector.] 1. Apar-
ish church, parsonage, or spiritual living, with
aU its rights, tithes, and glebes. — 2. A rector's
mansion or parsonage-house.
The Eectory was on the other side of the river, close
to the church, of which it was the fitting companion.
George Eliot, XAix. Holt) xxiii.
rectoscope (rek'to-skop), n. [< NL. rectum, rec-
tum, -I- Gr. ammslv, view.] A speculum used for
rectal examination.
rectostenosis (rek"to-ste-no'sis), n. [NL.,<
rectum (see rectum) '+ Gfr. crivoatQ, stricture :
see stenosis.] Stricture of the rectum.
rectotomy (rek-tot'o-mi), n. [< NL. rectum, rec-
tum, -1- Gr. -To/iia, K ri/ivetv, ra/islv, cut.] The
operation for dividing a rectal stricture.
recto-urethral (rek'to-u-re'thral), a. Pertain-
ing to the rectum and to the urethra : as, the
recto-urethral space (a vertical triangular inter-
val between the membranous urethra above
and the rectum below, with the apex at the
prostate gland) — Recto-uretliral fistula, a flstida
connecting the rectum and the uretlu^
recto-uterine (rek-to-u'te-rin), a. Of or be-
longing to the rectum and the uterus.— Recto-
uterine folds or ligaments, semilunar folds of perito-
neum passing one on each side f?om the rectum to the
posterior upper surface of the uterus, forming the lateral
walla of the rectovaginal pouch.— RectO-uterine fOBSa,
the space between the uterus and the rectum above the
borders of the recto-uterine folds. — Recto-uterine
pouch. See pouch.
rectovaginal (rek-to-vaj'i-nal), a. _ Of or be-
longing to the rectum and tfie vagina — Recto-
vaAialflStUla, a fistulous opening between the rectum
and the vagina.— Rectovaginal hernia. Same as rec-
«o(!«i«.— Rectovaginal pouch. See poroft.— Rectovagi-
nal septum, the tissues separating the rectum and the
vagina.
rectovesical (rek-to-ves'i-kal), a. [< NL. rectum
+ E. vesical.] Of or belonging to the rectum
and the bladder.— Rectovesical fascia. See/Mcia.
— RectoveslcaJ folds, the posterior false ligaments of
the bladder, lunate folds of peritoneum between the blad-
der and the rectum in the male. Also called semilunar
folds of DouffJosg.- Rectovesical fossa, the pouch of
peritoneum lying between the bladder and the rectum.—
Rectovesical pouch. See pouch.
5014
rectress, «. See rectoress.
rectrices, «. Plural of rectrix.
rectricial (rek-trish'al), a. [< NL. rectrix (rec-
tric-), a tail-feather"(^see rectrix), + 4al.] Of
or pertaining to rectrices.
rectrix (rek'triks), n.; pi. rectrices (rek-tri'sez).
[< L. rectrix, dii-eetress, governess, mistress,
fern, of rector, ruler, governor : see rector.'] 1 .
Same as rectoress.
A late queen rectrix prudently commanded.
Sir T. Herbert, Travels in Africa. ^Latham.)
2. In ornith., a tail-feather; one of the long
or large quiU-feathers of a bird's taU: so call-
ed from its use in directing or steering the
course of a bird in flight, like a rudder. The rec-
trices are comparable to the similar large flight-feathers
of the wing, called remiges. In the Saururx, or Jurassic
birds with long lizard-like bony tail, the rectrices are bi-
seriaUy or distichously arranged in a row on each side of
the caudal vertebrse. In all modern birds they are set
together in a fan-like manner upon the pygostyle. (See
Eurhipidwra.) In a few birds they are rudimentary, as
in grebes. The most frequent number by far is twelve,
which prevails (with few anomalous exceptions) through-
out the great order Passeres, and also in very many other
birds of different orders. In many picarian birds the
number is ten ; in a very few eight. In various water-
birds the rectrices run up to higher numbers, twenty-four
being probably the maximum. There is normally always
an even number, these feathers being paired. In size,
shape, and texture they are endlessly varied, giving rise
to iSl the different shapes a bird's tail presents.
rectum (rek'tima), ».; pi. recta (-ta). [= P.
rectum = Sp. Pg. recto = It. retto, "< NL. rec-
tum, abbr. of L. rectum intestinum, the straight
intestine: recfam,neut. of rec*«s, straight: see
right.] In. anat. and eool., a terminal section
of the intestine, ending in the anus: so called
from its comparatively straight course in man;
the lower bowel: more fully called intestinum
rectum, in man the rectum is the continuation of the
sigmoid flexure of the colon, beginning about opposite the
promontory of the sacrum, a little to the left side, and run-
ning through the pelvis to the anus. It is supported by a
proper duplication of peritoneum, the mesorectum, and
other fasciae. Its structure includes well-developed longi-
tudinal and circular muscular flbers, the latter being ag-
gregated into a stout internal sphincter muscle near the
lower end. In animals whose colon has no special sigmoid
flexure there is no distinction of a rectum from the rest of
the large intestine ; and the term applies only to any given
or taken terminal section of the bowel, of whatever char-
acter. In mammals above monotremes the rectum is en-
tirely shut off fr6m the urogenital organs, ending in a dis-
tinct anus ; but in most animals it ends in a cloaca com-
mon to the digestive and urogenital systems. The rectum
receives the refuse of digestion, and retains the feces until
voided. See cuts under intestine, peritoneum, Pvlmonata,
Pyenogonida, Appendicvlaria, and £lattidai.—ColamDB
of the rectum. See colum^n.
rectus (rek'tus), m.j pi. 7-ecU (-ti). [NL., abbr.
of L. rectus musculus, straight muscle: rectus,
straight: see right.] In anat., one of several
muscles so called from the straightness of their
course, either in their own axis or in the axis of
the body or part where they lie Recti capitis,
five pairs of small muscles, the anticus major and minor,
posticus major and minor, and the laterfdis, all arising
from the lower part of the occipital bone and inserted into
the transverse processes of the upper cervical vertebrse. —
Rectus abdominis extemus. Same s.apyramidalis{a).
—Rectus abdominis Intemus, the straight muscle of
the abdomen, in the middle line in front, mostly inclosed
in an aponeurotic sheath formed by the tendons of other
abdominal muscles, usually intersected by several trans-
verse tendons, and extending from the pubis to the ster-
num, in some animals to the top of the sternum. — Rectus
femoris, the anterior part of the quadriceps extensor. It
is a fusiform, bipennate muscle, arising by two heads from
the ilium, and inserted into the base of the patella. See
cut under TntwcZel. —Rectus lateralis, the lateral straight
muscle of the head, arising from the transverse process of
the axis, and inserted into the jugular process of the occip-
ital.— Rectus medialis oculi. Same as rectut oeuli inter-
nus.— Rectus ocull extemus, inferior, intemus, su-
perior, the external, inferior, internal, superior straight
muscle of the eyeball, turning the ball outward, down-
wai'd, inward, or upward. See out under eyeball. — Rec-
tus stemalfs, in man, an occasional slip lying length-
wise upon the sternum, representing the prolongation up-
ward of the rectus abdominis ezternua, as is normal in
many animals. — Rectus thoracis, in man, an occasional
slip, similar to the last, but lying deep-seated, supposed
to represent the continuation upward of the rectus ab-
dominis intemus.
recubant (rek'ii-bant), a. [< L. recul)an{t-)s,
ppr. of recubare, lie back : see recuiaUon.] Ly-
ing down ; reclining ; recumbent.
recubation (rek-ii-ba'shon), n. [< L. recubare,
pp. recubatus, lie upon ihe- back, lie back, re-
cline: see recumbent.] The act of lying down
or reclining. [Rare.]
The French and Italian translations, expressing neither
position of session or recubation, do only say that he placed
himself at the table. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., v. 6.
recueil (r6-k6y'), n. [P., a collection: see re-
cule^.] A collection of writings.
recuileti v. and n. An obsolete form of recoil^.
recuilementt, n. An obsolete form of recoil-
merit.
recuperative
recule^t, i). and n. An obsolete form of recotP-,
recule^t, «. [ME., also recuyell, < OP. recueil,
P. reeiml, a collection, < reoueillir, collect: see
recol^ct.] A collection of writings ; a book or
pamphlet. Caxton; HalliweU.
recultivate (re-kul'ti-vat), V. t. [< re- + culti.
vate. Of. OP. recultiver, recidtivate.] To cul-
tivate anew.
recultivation (re-kul-ti-va'shon), n. [< reculti-
vate + -ion.] The act of cultivating anew, or
the state of being cultivated anew.
recumbt (rf-kum'), v. i. [< L. recumbere, lie
back, recline: see recumbent,] To recline; lean;
repose.
The king makes an overture of pardon and favour onto
you, upon condition that any one of you will recunibe, rest,
lean upon, or roU himself upon the person of his son.
Barrow, Works, II. iv.
recumbence (rf-kum'bens), n, [< recumben(t)
+ -ce.] Same "as recumbency.
A reeurnbence or reliance upon Christ for justification
and salvation. Lord North, Light to Paradise^ p. 64.
recumbency (re-kum'ben-si), n. [As recum-
bence (see -cy).'S 1. The state of being recum-
bent ; the posture of reclining, leaning, or lying.
But relaxation of the languid frame.
By soft recmnbeneu of outstretched limbs,
Was bliss reserved for happier days.
Cowper, Task, i. 82,
2. Rest; repose; idleness.
When the mind has been once habituated to this laqr
recumibency and satisfaction, ... it la in danger to ren
satisfied there. Locke,
3. The act of reposing or resting in confidence.
There are yet others [Christians] who hope to be saved
by a bare act of recumbency on the merits of Christ.
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, II. xiv.
recumbent (rf-kum'bent), a. [< L. recum-
ben(t-)s, ppr. 6t recumbere, lie back, recline, <
r«-,back, + cubare, lie: see cumbent.'} 1. Lean-
ing; reclining.
The Roman recumbent ... posture in eating was intro-
duced after the first Punic war.
Arbuthtuit, Ancient Coins, p. 134.
2. Reposing; inactive; idle; listless.'
What smooth emollients in theology
Becuvribeni virtue's downy doctors preach!
Youiy, Night Thoughtg^ It. 644.
3. In sool. and bot., noting a part that leans
or reposes upon anything Recumbent hairs, in
erUom., hairs that lie partly against the surface^ but are
not pressed close to it;
recumbently (re-kum'bent-li), adv. In a re-
cumbent manner or posture.
recuperability (re-ku''pe-ra-bil'i-ti), n. [< re-
cuperable + -ity (see -Uli^).] "Ability to re-
cuperate; power of recuperation. [Rare,]
A state of almost physiological reeuperoMity.
Alien, and Neurol., YIL 463.
recuperable (rf-ku'pe-ra-bl), a. [< ME. re-
cuperable, < 0'F.'re<yupera'ble= Sp. recuperable =
Pg. recuperavel, < ML. *recuperabiUs, < L, re-
cuperare, reeovei', recuperate: see recuperate,
recover^. Of. recoverable.] Recoverable ; that
may be regained.
And hard it is to ravysshe a treasonr
Which of nature is not recuperable.
LydgaU, The Tragedies.
Thertore, if thou yet by counsaile arte reeuperiMe,
Flee thou from idlenesse and alway be stabl&
Sir T. Elyot, The Oovemour, L 13.
recuperate (rf-ka'pe-rat), v. ; pret. and pp. re-
cuperated, ppr. recuperaUng. [< L. recupera-
tus, pp. of recuperare, reeiperare (> It. reevperare
= Sp. Pg. recuperar = P. rieupirer), get again,
regain, recover, revive, restore, ML. also intr.,
revive, convalesce, recover: see recover^, the
older form in E.] I, trans. X. To recover; re-
gain: as, to recuperate one's health or spirits,
— 2. To recoup. [Rare.]
More commonly he [the agent] paid a fixed sum to the
clergyman, and reeuperated himself by a grinding tyranny
of the tenants. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., xvL
II. intrans. To recover; regain strength or
health. [U.S.]
recuperation (re-kti-pe-ra'shon), n. [< OF. re-
cuperation, F. recuperation = Sp. recuperacion
= Pg. recuperagSo = It. recuperagione, < L. re-
cuperaUoirir), a getting back, regaining, recov-
ery, < recuperare, pp. recuperatus, regain, re-
cover: see recuperate and recover^.] 1, Re-
covery, as of something lost.
The reproduction w recuperation of the same thing that
was before. Dr. B. More, Mystery of Godliness, p. 226.
2. Specifically, recovery of strength or health.
recuperative (re-kii'pe-ra-tiv), a. [= Sp. Pg.
reeuperativo, < L, recuperativus, recoverable, <
recuperare, pp, recuperatus, recover: see re-
cover^ and recuperate.'] Tending to recovery;
recuperative
pertaining to recovery, especially of strength
or health.
The seasons being in turn reeuperalive, . . . even the
frosts of winter impart virtues that pass into summer,
preserving the mind's vigor and fertility during the reign
of the dog-star. A. B. AleoU, Table-Tallc, p. «8.
recuperator (rf-ku'pe-ra-tor), n. [= Sp. Pg. re-
cuperador, < L. recuperator, a reooverer, < re-
cuperare, pp. recvperatus, recover: see recuper-
ate.'] 1. One who or that -which recuperates
or recovers.— 2. That part of the Ponsard fur-
nace which answers the same purpose as the
regenerator of the Siemens regeneration fur-
nace. See regenerator.
recuperatory (re-ku'pe-ra-to-ri), a. [= Sp. Pg.
recuperatorio, < L. recuperatorim, < recuperator,
a recoverer, < recuperare, pp. recuperatus, re-
cover: see recuperate.'] Same as recuperative.
recur (re-k6r'), V. i. ; pret. and pp. recurred, ppr.
recurring. [< OF. recov/rer, recorir, recourre,
recourir, F. recourir = Pr. recorre = Cat. recorrer
= Sp. recurrir = Pg. recorrer = It. ricorrere, <
L. recurrere, run back, return, recur, < re-, back,
-I- currere, run : see current^.] 1. To go or come
back; return: literally or figuratively.
When the fear of Popery was over, the Tbries reeurred
to their old principles. Brougham,.
And Fancy came and at her pillow sat, . . .
And chased away the itiW-recwrritig gnat.
Tennyson, Three Sonnets to a Coquette, 1.
2. To return in thought or recollection.
He . . . had received a liberal education at a charity
school, and was apt to reeur to the days of his muffin-cap
and leathers. Bairham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 25.
3. To return to the thought or mind.
When any word has been used to signify an idea, that
old idea will recur in the mind when the word is heard.
Watti, Logic, L vi. § 3.
Acted crime.
Or seeming-genial venial fauli^
BeourHng and suggesting still.
Tennyson, WilL
4. To resort; have recourse ; turn for aid.
For if his grace were minded, or would intend to do a
thing inlque or unjust, there were no need to recur unto
the pope's holiness for doing thereof.
Bp. Burnet, Records, 1. ii., No. 22.
5. To occur again or be repeated at stated in-
tervals, or according to some rule.
Food, sleep, amusement recur in uniform succession.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 272.
In volcanic archipelagos . . . the greater eruptions
usually recur only after long intervals.
Darwin, Geol. Observations, i. 144.
redirect (re-kiir'), V. [< ME. recuren, < OF. re-
curer, < It.' reourare, restore by taking care of,
make whole again, cure, also take care of, pre-
pare carefully, < re-, again, + curare, care, cure :
see cure, v. The verb was partly confused with
recure^, ME. recouren, a form of recoveren, re-
cover: %&e recure^, recover^.] I. trans. To cure
again; cure; heal.
Which [ills] to recure, we heartily solicit
Your gracious self to take on you the charge
And kingly government of this your land.
Shak., Elch. III., ilL 7. 130.
Jammannns, a Faithfull Bishop, who with other his fel-
low Labourers, by sound Doctrin and gentle dealing, soon
reeur'd them [the East^Sazons] of thir second relaps.
Milton, Hist. Fng., iv.
II. intrans. To recover; get well.
Babert Lanerawns is wele amendyd, and I hope xall re-
erne. Paston Letters, 1. 112.
lecureV (rf-tur')) »*• [< ME. recMre; irecure^,
partly < recure^, v.] Eecovery.
Secure to fynde of myn adversite.
Lydgate, Complaint of a Lover's Life, 1. 681.
Had she been my daughter,
My care could not be greater than it shall be
For her recure. Xiddleton, Spanish Gypsy, ill. 2.
recure^t (re-kur'), v. t. [Early mod. B. also re-
eoure; < Mfe. recuren, recouren, var. of recoveren,
lecover: see recover^.'] To recover; get again.
Fredom of kynde so lost hath he
That never may recured be.
Bom. of the Ease, 1. 4920.
But Hector fyrst, of strength most assured.
His stede agayne hath anone recured.
Lydgate, Troye (1665X sig. P, v. (Eamwett.)
For sometimes Paridell and Blandamour
The better had, and bet the others backe:
Eftsoones the others did the field reeoure.
Spenser, F. Q., IT. ix. 26.
recurefult (rf-kur'fld), a. [< recurel + -ful.]
Curative; healing.
Let me forever hide this staine of beauty
With this reeureful maske.
Chapman, Gentleman Usher, v. 1.
5015
recurelesst (re-kur'les), a. [< MB. rekewrles;
< recure'^ + -less.] Incapable of recovery or
remedy; incurable.
Ye are to blame to sette yowre hert so sore,
Sethyn that ye wote that hyt [ys] rekewrles.
MS. Cantab. Ff. i. 6, f. 14. {HaUiwell)
My recureless sore. G. Femurs.
'Tis foolish to bewail recureless things.
Greene, James the Fourth, IL
recurelesslyt (rf-kur'les-li), adv. So as not to
be cured.
Recurelesly wounded with his own weapons.
Greene, Groats- worth of Wit( Works, ed. Dyoe, Int., p. xxvi.).
recurrence (re-kur'ens), n. [= F. recurrence;
as recurren{ty+ -ee'.] 1. The act of recurring,
or the state of being recurrent; return.
Atavism, which is the name given to the recurrence of
ancestral traits, is proved by many and varied facts.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., § 83.
2. Resort ; the having recourse.
In the use of this, as of every kind of alleviation, I shall
insensibly go on from a rare to a frequent recMjremce to the
dangerous preparations. Jer. Taylor.
recurrency (rf-kur'en-si), n. [As recurrence
(see -cy).] Salme ad'remurrence. Bailey,
recurrent (re-kur'ent), a. and n. [< OF. recur-
rent, F. r4cur'rent='Pg. recurrente = It. ricorrente,
< L. recurren(t-)s, ppr. of recurrere, run back,
return, recur: see recur.] 1, a. 1. Recurring;
returning from time to time ; reappearing; re-
peated: as, recMrrerai pains of a disease. JProf.
BlacMe.
The music would swell out again, like chimes borne on-
ward by a recurrent breeze.
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, v. 1.
Nature, with all her changes, is secure in certain noble
recurrent types. Stedman, Vict Poets, p. 160.
2. In crystal., noting a crystal which exhibits
an oscillatory combination of two sets of planes.
See oscillatory. — 3. In anat., turned back in its
course, and running in a direction the opposite
of its former one: specifically noting the infe-
rior laryngeal branch of the pneuniogastric.
See the following phrases. — 4. In entom., turn-
ing back toward the base : as, a recurrent pro-
cess— Posterior Interosseous recurrent artery, a
branch of the posterior interosseous artery whi^h gives oS
branches in the region of the olecranon which anastomose
with the superior profunda, posterior ulnar recurrent, and
radial recurrent arteries. — Badlal recurrent artery.
See radta;.— Recurrent arteries of the deep palmar
arch, branches which pass from the upper side of the pal-
mar arch and anastomose with branches of the anterior
carpal arch.— Becilrrent branch of the ophthalmic
nerve, a small branch arising near the Gasserian gan-
glion, and running backward across the fourth nerve fo be
distributed in the tentorium.— Becurrent fever. See
/everi.— Becurrent fibroid tumor. Same as small spin-
cUe-cell sarcoma. See sarcoma. — Becuixent lar3mgeal.
See laryngeal. — Becurrent mania. Same as periodical
Tiutnut.- Becurrent nerve. Same as m£ningeal nerve
(which see, under Tieroe).- Recurrent nerve of the in-
ferior maxillary, a branch from the inferior maxillary
as it passes through the foramen ovale, which passes
back into the skull through the foramen spinosum, giv-
ing rise to two branches, one going to the great wing of
l^e sphenoid, the other to the mastoid cells, — Becur-
rent nerve of the superior- maxillary, a branch giv-
en off from the superior maxillary near its origin, which
passes to the dura mater and middle m^ningesd artery. —
Becurrent nervure of an insect's wing, (it) A branch
which is more or less turned toward the base of the wing.
In a direction contrary to the nervure from which it
arises. Many of these recurrent nervures are distin-
guished. (&) A vein of the wing wliich, after running to-
ward the apex, is bent or curved back toward the base, as
in many Coleoptera.—'RecarreD.t pulse. See pulsed.—
Becurrent radial artery, an artery which arises from
the radial artery near its origin, and anastomoses with the
anterior terminal branch of the superior profunda. — Re-
current sensibility, the sensibility manifested by the
anterior root of a spinal nerve. This is due to fibers de-
rived from the posterior root.— Becurrent tibial ar-
teries, (a) The posterior, arising near the perforation of
the interosseous membrane, and anastomosing with the
lower articular popliteal arteries. (&) The anterior, a larger
branch, arising just behind the perforation of the inter-
osseous membrane, and anastomosing with the lower ar-
ticular popliteal arteries. — Recurrent ulnar arte-
ries, (a) The anterior, arising from the upper part of the
ulnar, and joining the anastomotic branch of the brachial.
(6) The posterior, arising a little lower than the anterior
(though they often have a common origin), and communi-
cating with the interior profunda, the anastomotic, and
posterior interosseous recurrent.
II. n. Any recurrent nerve or artery.
recurrently (re-kur' ent-li), adv. In a recurrent
manner; with recurrence.
For a long time I had under observation a middle-aged
man who, throughout his life, has recurrently been tor-
mented by this parasite.
B. W. Richardson, Preventive Medicine, p. 668.
recurring (rf-ker'ing), p. a. Returning again.
—Recurring continued fraction. See conUnued frac-
tion, under continued.— Recurring decimal. See ded-
maZ.— Recurring series, in alg., a series in which the
coefficients of the successive powers of x are formed from
a certain number of the preceding coefficients accord-
ing to some invariable law. Thus, a -)- to -t- (a •(■ 2>>c' -i-
recusance
{a + Wft' + (_ia-\-?ib')x^ +(3a + 6h)x^ + . . . Isarecnrring
aeries.— Recurring utterances, a form of aphasia in
which the patient can repeat only the word last uttered
when taken ill.
recursant (re-k6r'sant), a. [< L. recursan{t-)s,
ppr. of recursare, run or hasten back, come
back, return, recur, freq. of recurrere, run back,
recur : see recur.] In her., turned in a way con-
trary to the usual position, or with the back
displayed instead of the front. Thus, an eagle
recursant shows the back of the bird with
the wings crossed — Displayed recursant. See dis-
recursion (re-k^r'shon), n. [< L. recursioin-),
a running back, return, < recurrere, pp. recursus,
runbaek, return: see recar.] Return. [Rare.]
When the receiver was full of air, the included pendu-
lum continued its recursions about fifteen minutes.
Boyle, Works, I. 61.
recurvant (rf-ker'vant), a. [< L. recurvan(t-)s,
ppr. of recurvare, bend or curve backward, turn
back: eeerecwrve.] In Aer., of a serpent, coiled
up, with the head projecting from the folds;
bowed-embowed.
recurvate (re-k6r'vat), v. t. [< L. reeurvatus,
pp. of recurvare, bend backward, curve back:
see recurve.] Same as recurve. Imp. Diet.
recurvate (re-k6r'vat), a. [< L. reeurvatus, pp.:
see recurvate, v.] In tot. and zool., recurved.
recurvation (re-kfer-va'shon), n. [< recurvate
+ -4on.] The act or process of recurving ; the
state of being curved up or back : opposed to
decurvation: as, the recurvation of a bird's bUl.
Also recurvature, recurvity.
By a serpentine and trumpet recurvation, it [the wind-
pipe] ascendeth again into the neck.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iii. 27.
recurvature (re-k6r'va-Jur), n. [< recurvate +
-ure.] Same as recurvation.
recurve (rf-kferv'), v. [= OF. recorber, recurier,
recourber, F. recourber = Pr. Pg. reeurvar, < L.
recurvare, bend or curve backward, turn up or
back, < re-, back, + eurvare, curve : see cu/rve,
v.] I. trans. To curve back; turn backward.
Also recurvate.
II, mtrans. To be recurved.
recurved (re-k6rvd'), j). a. 1. In bat., curved
back or downward: as, a recurved leaf, petal,
etc. — 3. In sod7., bent upward: the opposite of
decii/rved: as, the recurved beak of the avoset.
recurviroster (re-ker-vi-rosft6r), n. [< NL. re-
curvirostrm, < L.' recurvus, bent or curved back,
crooked (see recwrvous), + rostrum, beak, bUl:
see rostrum.] A bird of the genus Eecwrviros-
tra; an avoset.
Eecurvirostra (re-kfer-vi-ros'tra), n. [NIi.,
fern, of recurvirostrus: see recurvi/roster^ A
genus of precoeial limlcoline grallatorial birds,
type of the family Becurvirostridse, having a
long and very slender depressed and recurved
bill, extremely long slender legs, and four toes,
the three front ones of which are webbed; the
avosets. The body is depressed, and the under parts
are clothed with tliick plumage like a duck's, so that the
birds swim with ease by means of their webbed feet See
avoset. Also called Avocetta.
recurvirostral (re-ker-vi-ros'tral), a. [As recur-
viroster + -al.] Saving a recurved bill, as an
avoset; belonging to the geuaa Becurvirostra;
pertaining to a recurviroster.
Becurvirostridse (re-k6r-vi-ros'tri-de), n. pi.
[NL., < Becwrvvrostr'a + -idse.] A family of
wading birds with long and slender bUl and
legs, typified by the genus Eecurvirostra, and
divided into the Becurvirostrinse and Himanto-
podinse; the avosets and stilts.
Becurvirostrinse (re-k6r''''vi-ros-tii'ne), n. pi.
[NL., <. Eecurvirostra + -inse.] A subfamily of
Becurvirostridse, having the characters of the
genus Becu/rvirostra, as distinguished from
those of Himantopvs, and including only the
avosets.
recurvity (rf-kfer'vi-ti), n. [< L. recv/rvus, bent
back (see re'cwrvous), + -ity.] Same as recurva-
tion. Bailey.
recurvo-patent (re-k6r' v6-pat''''ent), a [< L. re-
curvus, bent back, + paten{t-)s, open, spread-
ing: seepatent^.] In6ot.,bentbackandspread-
ing.
recurvous (re-k6r'vus), a. [= Pg. recurvo =
It. ricurvo, < L. recurvus, bent or curved back, <
re-, back, + curvus, curve : see curve.] Bent
backward.
recusance (rek'u-zans), n. [< recusan(,t) + -ce.]
Same as recusancy.
The parliament now passed laws prohibiting Catholic
worship, and imposing a fine of one shilling, payable each
Sunday, for recusance.
W. S. Gregg, Irish Hist for Eng. Readers, p. 64.
recusancy
recusailicy (rek'u-zan-si), n. [As recusance (see
-cy).'\ 1. Obstinate refusal or opposition.
It is not a recwxnticyf for 1 would come ; but it is an ex-
communication, 1 must not.
Donne, Devotions, m., Expostulation.
Tf any one, or two, or ten, or twenty members of con-
gress should manifest symptoms of recusancj/, . . . the
weird sisters of ambitious hearts shall play before their
eyes images of foreign missions, and departments, and
benches of justice. R. Choate, Addresses, p. 339.
2. The state of being a recusant.
The papists made no scruple of coming to our churches ;
recusancy was not then so much as a chi-isom, not an em-
bryo. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), n. 98.
There is also an inferior species of recusancy (refusing
to make the declaration against popery enjoined by stat^
ute 30 Car. n. St. 2, when tendered by the proper magis-
trate). Blaekstmie, Com., IV. Iv.
We shall see that mere recumncy was first made punish-
able, later on in the reign, by the Second Act for Unifor-
mity of Edward.
R. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., xv., note.
3. The tenets of the recusants, or adherence to
those tenets.
The penalties of recusancy were particularly hard upon
women, who . . . adhered longer to the old religion than
the other sex. HaUam, Const. Hist., yii., note.
recusant (rek'u-zant or re-kii'zant), a. and n.
[< OF. recusant, F" recusant = Sp. Pg. rectisante
= It. ricusante, < L. recusan(t-)s, x>pr. of recit-
sare, reject, object: see recuse.'] I. a. Obsti-
nate in refusal; specifically, in Eng. hist, re-
fusing to attend divine service in Anglican
churches, or to acknowledge the ecclesiastical
supremacy of the crown.
No recusant lord might have a vote in passing that act.
II. n. 1. One obstinate in refusing; one who
will not conform to general opinion or practice.
The last rebellious recusants among the fami^ of na-
tions. De Quincey,
He that would not take the oath should be executed,
though unarmed; and the recusants were shot on the
roads, ... or as they stood in prayer.
Bancroft, Hist. XJ. S., n. 411.
2. Speoiflcally, in Eng. hist, one who refused
to attend divine worship in Aiiglican churches,
or to acknowledge the ecclesiastical supremacy
of the crown. Heavy penalties were inflicted on such
persons, but they pressed far more lightly on the simple
recusant or nonconformist than on the Boman Catholic
recusant, the chief object being io secure national unity
and loyalty to the crown, in opposition to papal excom-
munications, which declared British subjects absolved
from their allegiance (as in 1670), and to plots against the
government. The name recusant, though legally applied
to both Protestants and Boman Catholics, was in general
given especially to the latter.
As well those restrained ... as generally all the pa-
pists in this kingdom, not any of them did refuse to come
to our church, and yield their formal obedience to the
laws established. And thus they all continued, not any
one refusing to come to our churches, during the first ten
years of her Majesty's [Queen Elizabeth's] government.
And in the beginning of the eleventh year of her reign,
Cornwallis, Bedingfield, and Silyarde were the first reeur-
sants, they absolutely refusing to come to our churches.
And until they in that sort began, the name of recusant
was never heard of amongst us.
Sir Edward Coke [in 1607], in Blunt, Annotated Book of
[Common Prayer, p. 24.
recusation (rek-u-za'shon),m. [< OP. recusation,
P. recusation = tr. recusation = Sp. recusadon
= Pg. recusa^ao = It. riausazione, < L. recusa-
Uo{n-), a declining, refusal, objection, protest,
also nausea, rejection, < recusa/re, pp. recusatvs,
object, decline, reject: see recuse.] In law,
the interposition of an objection or challenge
for cause to a judge or arbitrator, or to an ex-
pert appointed by a court ; also, the objection
or challenge so presented.
He [Bonner], to deface his Authority (as he thought),
did also then exhibit in writing a ReeusaMion of the Sec-
retaries Judgment against him.
Foxe, Martyrs, II. 35, an. 1549.
recusative (re-kfl'za-tiv), a. [< recuse + -ative.]
Tending or prone to recuse or refuse ; refusing;
denying; negative. [Rare.]
The act of the will produces material and permanent
events; it is acquisitive and eflfective, or recusoHve and
destructive, otherwise than it is in any other faculties.
Jer. Taylor, Kule of Conscience, IT. i. 1.
recuse (re-kuz')> «'• *•; pret. and pp. recused,
ppr. recusing. [< OP. reamer, P. ricuser = Pr.
Sp. Pg. recusar = It. ricusare, < L. recusare,
object, decline, reject, refuse, protest against,
plead m defense, < re-, back, + causa, a cause :
see cause. Of. accuse.] To refuse; reject;
specifically, in Icm, to reject or challenge (a
judge or juror) as disqualified to act.
Yet she [the queen] nevertheless persisting in her for-
mer wilfulness and in her Appeal, which also by the said
Judges was likewise recused, incontinently departed out of
a»e Court, Bp. Burnet, Kecords, I. ii., No. 28.
5016
A judge may proceed notwithstanding my appeal, un-
less I rmtse wtn as a suspected judge. Aylige, Parergon.
recussion (re-kush'on), n. [< L. recutere, pp. re-
cussus, strike back, beat back, etc., < re-, back,
+ quatere, strike, shake: see quashK CI. con-
cussion, discussion, percussion.] The act of beat-
ing back. Bailey.
redl (red), o. and n. [< ME. red. reed, rede, ear-
Uer read'reod, < AS. redd = OS. rod = OPries.
rod = D. rood = MLG. rot, LG. rod = OHG.
MHG. rot, G. rot, roth = loel. rauthr = Sw. Dan.
rod = Goth, rauths (raud-), red; ef. AS. redd
(= Icel. rjddhr), red, rud, rudu, redness (see
rud) ; < AS. reddan, make red, kUl, = Icel. rjo-
dha (pret. raudh), redden (see redl, v.); akin to
L. ruber (rubr-, for ruthr-, = Gr. Epvdpds), red,
rufus, red, ruUdus, dark-red, rubere, turn red,
blush, rubicundus, red, reddish, russus, red(Ush,
rutilus, reddish, robigo, rust, etc. ; Gr. epvBpdg,
red, epevdog, rediiess, epsvBelv, redden; Ir. Gael.
ruadh = W. rhudd, red; OBulg. riidru, red, rii-
dieti, blush, etc., ruda, metal, etc., = Bohem.
Pol. ruda, ore, rust, mildew, etc., = Euss. ruda,
ore, mineral, a mine, blood, etc. ; Lith. rudas,
rusvas, red-brown, raddas, rauddnas, red, raudd,
red color; Skt. rudhira, red, blood, rohita (for
*rodhita), red. Prom the E. root, besides red-
den, reddish, etc., are derived rud, ruddle, rudr-
dock, ruddy, rust, etc. ; from the L. are derived
E. rtiby, rubescent, rubric, rubicund, rufous, rus-
set, ruUlate, rutilant; from the Gr. are Erythrsea,
erythric, etc. Sed, like iead2 (led), with which
it is phonetically parallel, had in ME. a long
vowel, which has become shortened. The long
vowel remains, however, in the surnames Bead,
Beade, Beed, Beid, which represent old forms
of the adj., and the existence of which as sur-
names explains the almost total absence of the
expected surname Bed, parallel to Black, Brown,
White, etc. As a noun, of. ME. rede, redness, =
0H(3-. roU, G. rotlte, redness, red ; from the adj.]
I. a. 1. Of a bright, warm color resembling
that of'blood or of the highest part of the pri-
mary rainbow. See II.
Dropes red£ as ripe cherrees,
That fro his flesshe gan lave.
Hay Bood (E. E. T. S.), p. 217.
The ladye blushed scarlette redde.
And f ette a gentill sighe.
Sir CoMline (Child's Ballads, III. 181).
Your colour, I warrant you, is as red as any rose.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 28.
3. Ultra-radical: revolutionary; violent: from
the use of a red fiag as a revolutionary em-
blem: as, a red republican.
Ev'n tho' thrice again
The red fool-fury of the Seine
Should pile her barricades with dead.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, czxvii.
The Social Democratic Federation has degenerated into
a red Anarchist organization. The Nation, XLVn. 450.
Black-breasted red game. See^omei.— Neltherflesh,
fffWl, nor good red nerrlng, nondescript ; lacking dis-
tinctive character; neither one thing nor another: same as
neither hay nor grass. — Order of the Sed Eagle. See
eagle. — Red adder. Sarae as copperhead, l. Ba/rtlett. —
Bed admiral. See admiraZ, 5.— Bed a&B3, red or pur-
plish seaweeds constituting the claBaFlorideie. Also
known as the Bhedosporem and Rhodospermeee. See Blui-
dospermese and Algx. — Bed ant, a small ant of a red color,
as Pharaoh's ant and some similar species. See cut under
Monomorium. — Bed antimony. Same as kermesite. —
Bed arsenic. Same as realgar.— 'ReAsiBh, band-flsh,
bark, bay. See the nouns. — Bed bat, the common New
York bat, Daeiurus or Ataiapha noveboracensis, a small red-
dish bat of wide distribution in North America, and one of
the most abundant in eastern parts of the United States.
It is rather larger than the brown bat, VespertUio subula-
tus, and easily recognized by Its coloration and the dense-
ly furry interfemoral membrane. — Bed bead-vine. See
Rhynchosia. — ^Eed bear-cat, the panda or wab. See out
nni^T panda. — Bed beds, a conspicuous formation in the
Bocky Mountains ; a series of deep-red, sandy, gypsiferous
strata lying upon the Carboniferous, and generally consid-
ered to be of Triassic age. They are often eroded into fan-
tastic and picturesque forms.— Bed beech, beefWOOd,
birch, bird's-eye. See the nouns.— Bed body, in iehth.,
an aggregation of capillaries forming a gland-like body.
These tufts of radiating capillaries are much localized
at various places, as in Esocidae ; or the tufts are so aggre-
gated as to form gland-like red bodies, the capillaries re-
uniting into larger vessels, which again ramify freely
round the border of the red body.
Oilnther, Study of Fishes, p. 147.
Bed Book, (a) A book containing the names of all the
persons in the service of the state.- (b) The Peerage. See
peerage, 8. [CoUoq.]
I hadn't a word to say against a woman who was inti-
mate with every duchess in the Red Book.
Thackeray, Book of Snobs, xxv.
Bed Book of the Exchequer, an ancient record in which
are registered the names of all the holders of lands per
baroniam in the time of Heniy II.— Bed buckeye, a
shrub or low tree, JEbcuIvs Pama, of the southern United
States. Its fiowers are red, and showy in cultivation. — Bed
button. Same as red rosette.— 'Sua. Cabbage, a strongly
red
marked variety of the common cabbage, with purple or
reddish-brown heads, used chiefly for pickling.— Bed ce-
dar. See cedar, 2.— Bed cent, a copper cent. The cop-
per cent is no longer current, but the phrase red cent re-
mains In use as a mere emphatic form of cenl : as. It is not
worth a red cent. [Colloq., V. S.]
Every thing in New Orleans sells by dimes, bits, and
picayunes ; and as for copper monw, I have not seen the
first red cent. B. Taylor, in N. Y. Tribune. (BorUeH.)
Bed chalk, chickveed, copper, coral See the nouns.
—Red cock, an Incendiary fire. [Scottish Gipsies' slang.]
We'll see If the red cock craw not in his bonnie barn yard
ae morning before day dawning. Scott, Guy Mannering.
Bed crab. See crofti, 1.— Bed Crag, the local name of a
division of the Pliocene in England. It is a dull-red iron-
stained shelly sandstone of Inconsiderable thickness, con-
taining a large number of fossils — molluacan, coralline,
and mammalian remains — among which last are the ele-
phant, mastodon, rhinoceros, tapir, hog, horse, hyena, and
stag.-RedcroBS. See crossi,andMni(m jdcft (under union).
—Bed crossbill, currant, deal See the nouns.— Bed
cusk. See red-cusk.— 'Rea cypress. See Tamdivm.—
Bed dace. See red-dace.— Bed deer, ear, elder. See
the nouns.— Bed ensign, in England, the usual British
flag— that is, a plain red flag with the canton filled by the
union jack. It is used at sea for all British vessels not be-
longing to the navy, but previous to 1864 was also the spe-
eial flag of the so-called Bed Squadron of the navy.— Bed
fever, dengue.— Bed flr, a name of the Oregon pine, and
of Abies nobais and A. magrdfiea of the western United
States : the last two are trees sometimes 200 feet high, but
of moderate economic worth.— Bed flas. See;!o^2.— Bed
flamingo, fog, fox, game, gilthead, goose, grouper.
Bee the nouns.— Bed CTOUSe. Same as red ^ame.— Red
gum. See redrgum.--Rei. gurnard, hand, hat, havk.
See the nouns.— Red hay, mowbumt hay. In distinc-
tion from green hay, or hay which has taken a moderate
heat, and from vinny or moldy hay. EaUiweU. [PKPV.Eng.)
—Bed heat, hematite, hepatization, herring, In-
dian. See ttie nouns.— Bed iodide Of mercury oint-
ment. See ointment.— 'BjbA Iron ore. Seeiron.- Bed
ironwood. See Darling 2)J«m, under pturn^.— Bed Jas-
mine, land. See the nouns.— Bed lane, the throat See
lane\S. [Slang.]— Bed latticet, lead, llimet. Seethe
nouns.— Bed lead ore. Same as erocoite.— Bed Uquor,
lump-fish, magnetism, mahogany. See the nouns.-
Bed man. Same as Bied Jndutn. — Bed manganese,
mangrove, maple, marlin, meat. See the nouns.—
Bed Marl Series. S«e »utr<i.— Bed Men's Act, an act
of West Virginia (1. 188^ c. 136) prohibiting the carrying
of dangerous weapon^ and providing for the punishment
of unlawful combinations and consplranles to injure per-
sons and property, designated In the act as "Bed Men,"
"Eegulators, "Vigilance Committees," ete. — Bedmll^
minnow, mulberry, mullet. See the nouns.— Bed
murrain on. Same as plague on.
A red murrain o' thy jade's tricks !
Shak., T. and C, ii. 1. 20.
Bed nudeus, ocheir, oil, osier. See the nouns.— Bed
orpiment. Same asreol^ar.- Bed OWL the reddish phase
of the common gray screech-owl of the United States,
Seops (Megascops) asio, formerly considered a distinct spe-
cies, now known to be an erytlmsm. — Bed 03dd Of man-
ganese. See manganese. — Bed oxid of mercury oint-
ment. See ointment. — Bed pepper. See Capsicum.—
Bed perch. SeeperchU — Bed pestilence. Same as red
Now the red pestUenee strike aU trades In Borne !
SlMk, Cor., iv. 1. 13.
Bed phalazope. See phaZarope. — Bed pheasant, a tra-
gopan; a pheasant of the genus Ceriomis.—'ReA phos-
phorus. See phosphorus, 2. — Bed pimpernel Seepim.
pemel, 4.— Red pine. See j)inel.— Red plague, a form
of the plague characterized, according to the physicians
of the middle ages, by a red spot, boil, or bubo. Compare
W,ack death, under death.
You taught me language, and my profit on 't
Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you I
Sliak., Tempest, L 2. 364.
Red pole, poppy, precipitate. See the nouns.- Bed
porphyry. See jjeoWewore.- Red puccoon. Seeimo
coon, 1.— Red raU. Same as Virginia ran (which see, un-
der roa*).- Red republican, Ribbon, rosette. See the
nouns.— Red rock-cod. See cods.— Red roncador.
See roncador.— Red ruffed grouse. See ruffed grouse,
under^roiMe.- RedrUBt See ru8ti.— Red sandalwood,
red sajiderswood. See the nouns. — Bed sandstone.
See sandstone.— 'Red. Saunders, the sliced or rasped heart-
wood of Pterocarpus santaMims. It imparts a red color to
alcohol, ether, and alkaline solutions. It isused for coloring
alcoholic liquors, and in pharmacy for coloring tinctures.
— Red seaweeds. Same as red algse.—'Sue& mlver. See
prousttte and pyrwrgyrite.— Red snapper. See snapper.
— Red snow. See Protococcus.— Red softening, a form
of acute softening of the cerebral substance characterized
by a red punctlform appearance due to the presence of
blood. See «(i«enin^.— Red sword-grasB moth, CoZo-
mrnpa vetusta: a British collectors' name.— Bed tape.
See tope.— Red tiger. Same as coug'ar.- Red tincture.
Same as great elixir (which see, under eliixir, 1).— Bed
twm-spot carpet-moth, a British geometrid moth, Co-
remm ferrugata.—'ReA venison. See tienison.— Bed vi-
per. Same as copperhead, 1.— Bed vitrioL SameascoJ-
cotAor.- Bed Wind. See winda.- The red chop. See
the grand chop, under cApp*.— To fly lie red fiae. See
fiy^.—lo pafiit the town red. See painL = Syn. Hash-
ing, flonung, fiery, bloody.
II. n. 1. A color more or less resembling that
of blood or the lower end of the spectrum. Red
IS one of the most general color-names, and embraces col-
ors ranging In hue from rose aniline to scarlet iodide of
mercury and red lead. A red yeUower than vermilion is
called scarlet; one much more purple is called crimson.
A very dark red, if pure or crimson, is called maroon; if
brownish, chestnut orehocolate. A pale red— that is, one of
low chroma and high luminosity —is called a pink, rang-
mg from rose-pink, or pale crimson, to sahnon-plnk, or
pale scarlet.
red
2. A red pigment. The most useM reds tor paint
tag are carmine, obtained from the cochineal-insecf ; the
lakes and madders, of vegetable origin ; vermilion, chrome-
red, Indian red, and burnt sienna,
3. An object of a red color, as wine, gold, etc.
Now kepe yow fro the whyte and fro the rede.
And namely fro the whyte wyn of Lepe,
That is to selle in Fish strete or in Chepe.
Chaucer, Pardoner's Tale^ L 100.
No pint of white or red
Had ever half the power to turn
This wheel within my head.
Tennysm, Will Waterproot
4. Specifically, a red cent. See under I.
[Slang, U. S.] — 5. A red republican (which
see, under repiMican). — 6. pi. The catamenial
discharges; menses — Adrianople red. Same as
Turkey retf.— Alizarin red, in leather-manvf., a pale
flesh-color produced by rubbing the cleansed and trodden
skins with a solution of alizarin or extract of madder in
weak soda-lye, and rinsing in water. C. T. Davit, Leather,
p. 736.— Aniline red. Same as fuchgin.—Axisol red, a
coal-tar color of the oxy-azo group, formerly used in dyeing
silk and wool, but not now a commercial product. — Anti-
mony red, a sulphid of antimony suggested as a pigment,
but not permanent : used for coloring rubber and the
heads of friction-matches. — Aurora red, alight red, like
that of the spinel ruby.— Barwood red. See harwood.
— Bengal red, a coal-tar color used in dyeing. It pro-
duces brilliant reds similar to those of eosin, but more blue
in tone. It is the alkali salt of tetraiododichloro-fluores-
cein. Also called rose Aen^aZe.- Bristol red, a dye tor
stuffs, in favor in the sixteenth century.
Her kyrtel Sryetmc red.
Skdton, Elynour Bummyng, 1. 70.
Brown red. Same as red ocher (which see, under oeher).
— Cadmium red, an artists' pigment composed of the
cadmium sulphid. It is more orange in hue than ver-
milion, but is very brilliant and permanent. — GMca or
cbico red. See chieo, l.— Cobalt red, a phosphate of
cobalt sometimes used as an artists' color. It ia durable,
but poor in hue. — Congo red, a coal-tar color used in
dyeing. It may be applied to cotton and wool, produ-
cing a bright scarlet fast to soap, but not to light or acids.
It is a sodium salt of a tetrazo dye from benzidine. —
Corallin red, a coal-tar color used in dyeing, produced
by treating aurin with ammonia at a high temperature.
It is used by calico- and woolen-printers, but is quite fugi-
tive. See eoraUine, 3.— English red. Same as VetietCan
red. — Fast red, a coal-tar color used in dyeing a gamet-
red on woolen. It is of complex composition, and belongs
to the azo-gioup. Also known in commerce as rocellinf
oreeillin, n^bidin, and rauradenne. — French red, a coal-
tar color used in dyeing, being a mixture of claret-red and
naphthol orange. — Indian red, an important pigment
nsed by artists and house-painters. Originally it was a
natural earth rich in oxid of iron, brought from India. It
is now prepared artificially by heating iron sulphate in
a reverberatory furnace. The sulphuric acid is driven
off, and the iron is immediately oxidized to the red oxid.
The color varies from a purple to a light-yellowish red,
according to the temperature at which the process is con-
ducted. It is a color of much body, and is very perma-
nent. Also called Indicm ocher. — Jewelers' red. See
jeweler.— JAga.t red, a light yellowish-red oxid of iron
prepared similarly to Indian red. It is also sometimes
made by calcining Oxford ocher. It is used as an artists'
pigment.— Madder-red. See»M(Jd«ri.— Magdalared,
a coal-tar color used to produce bright pinks on silk.
It is the hydrochlorid of the base rosa-naphthylamine.
— Mars red, a pigment used by artists. It is some-
what similar in composition and color to Indian red. —
Mock Turkey red. See Garwood.- Naphthalene red.
See naphthalene.— 'Sew lei. Seefvchxin — Paris red.
Same as ma/uioein. — Peony red. Same as caraUin red.
— Persian red. Same as the normal form of Indian
red.— Phenetol red. Same as coccimn.- Plccolpasso
red, a name given to the deep red of the Italian majoli-
ca, obtained by the use of silicate of alumina, in which
there is much oxid of iron, and applied upon the yellow
enamel already flred; so called from Piccolpasso, a six-
teenth-century writer on Italian potteries, — Pompadour
red. See rose pompadmr, under rose^. — Pompeian red.
See Pom^an. — Prussian red. Same as VeneHan red.
— Saturnine red. Same as red lead (which see, under
leads), — SpEUlish red. Same as Venetian red. — Turkey
red, an intense scarlet red produced on fabrics by dye-
ing with the color-giving principles of the madder-root.
This has been almost entirely superseded by exactly the
same color produced on fabrics by means of artificifd ali-
zarin. See cdizarin. Also called Adrianople red.— TUT-
key-red oil, an oil with which cloth is treated in dyeing
the color called Turkey red. It is prepared by mixing
castor-oil with dilute sulphuric acid; the acid is then
washed away with a solution of common salt, and the
fatty acids saponified with ammonia. The oil consists
chiefly of ammonium sulpho-ricinoleate. Compare Gat-
lipoli oU, under <n2.— Venetian red, an important pig-
ment used by artists and house-painters. Formerly it
was a natural earth simulating Indian red. It is now
made by calcining a mixture of lime and iron sulphate,
the resulting product being a mixture of calcium sulphate
and oxid of iron in nearly equal proportions. * It is some-
what darker than brick-red in color, and is very permar
nent. (See also chrome-red, claret-red.)
red^ (red), v. t; pret. and pp. redded, ppr. red-
ding. [< ME. reden, readen, redden, < AS. red-
dan, a strong verb (pret. redd, pi. rudon), red-
den, stain with blood, also wound, kiU, = Icel.
ijddha (pret. raudh, rautt, pp. rodhinn), redden
with blood (see red^, a.); also (and in other lan-
guages only) weak, AS. reddian, also reddian,
= G. roten, rothen, become red; from the adj.
C£. redden.2 To make red; redden.
For he did red and die them with their own blood.
Foxe, Martyrs, I. 664.
5017
red^ (red), V. t. A dialectal form of rid^.
red^ (red), V. t. ; pret. and pp. red, ppr. redding.
[Also redd, dial, rid ; < ME. reden, put in order ;
in part same as reden, redien, make ready, but
prob. from the related Sw. reda, prepare, put
in order (reda ut sit Mr, comb out one's hair),
= Dan. rede, prepare : see ready, v. This verb
has become coniused with reS^, var. of rid^:
seendi.] 1. To put in order; tidy: often with
up : as, to red up a house or one's self.
When the derke was done, and the day sprange,
All the renkea to row redyn hor shippes,
Hallt out of hauyn to thehegh see.
There plainly thaire purpoa put to an end.
DestruMm of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 5648.
When you rid up the parlour-hearth in a morning,
throw the last night's ashes into a sieve.
Swift, Advice to Servants (House-Maid).
Jeanie, my woman, gang into the parlour — but stay,
that winna be redd up yet.
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxvL
The fire . . . was redd up for the afternoon — covered
with a black mass of coal, over which the equally black
kettle hung on the crook.
Mrs. Oaskett, Sylvia's Lovers, xvi.
2. To disentangle; clear; put a stop to, as a
quarrel, by interference ; adjust.
Cp rose the laird to red the cumber.
Baid itfthe Beidtwire (Child's Ballads, TL 135).
He maun take part wi' hand and heart ; and weel his
part it is, for redding his quarrel might have cost you
dear. Scott, Guy Mannering, liii.
3. To separate, as two combatants.— To red
one's feet, to free one's self from entanglement : used
chiefly in reference to moral complications. — To red the
hair, specifically, to comb the hair.
[Now chiefly colloquial in all uses.]
red* (red), n. [Perhaps < red^.'i In coal-minmg,
rubbish; attle; waste. [Prov. Eng.]
red^ (red), TO. [Also redd; perhaps < red^, ».]
The nest of a fish ; a trench dug by a fish in
which to spawn. [Prov. Eng.]
A trout's redd or nest is a mound of gravel which would
fill one or even two wheelbarrows.
Day, Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland, 11. 105.
red^, V. and TO. An obsolete or dialectal form of
reacfl-,
red-. A form of re- used before vowels.
-red. [< ME. -rede, -reden, -rseden, < AS. rMden,
condition, rule, reckoning, estimation, occur-
ring as second part of about 25 compounds,
being a form, with suffix -en, of reed, counsel,
advice, etc. (=OH(3r. MHG. rat, advice, counsel,
etc., frequent in comp., as haus-rat, household
things, hei-rath, marriage, = AS. hiw-rMden,
household, = ME. hired) : see read^, m.] A suffix
of Anglo-Saxon origin, meaning 'condition,'
'state,' occurring in haired, kindred (for "kin-
red), gossipred, etc. It is analogous to -hood,
which has taken its place in a few instances,
as in brotlierhood, neighborhood.
redact (rf-dakt'), «• *• [< OF. redacter = Sp.
redactar, redact, edit, < L. redactus, pp. of re-
digere (> P. rSdiger = D. redigeren = (S. redi-
giren = Sw. redigera — Dan. redigere), drive,
lead, or bring back, call in, collect, raise, re-
ceive, reduce to a certain state, < red-, back,+
agere, drive, do : see act.'] If. To bring to a
specified form or condition ; force or compel to
assume a certain form ; reduce.
Then was the teste or potsherd [the brasse, golde, and
syluer] redatte into dust. Joye, Expos, of Daniel iL
They were now become miserable, wretched, sinful, re-
daet to extreme calamity.
Bacon, Works, p. 46. (HattiwM.)
Plants they had, hut metals whereby they might make
use of those plants, and redact them to any form or in-
struments of work, were yet (till Tubal Cain) to seek.
Bp. SdU, Character of Man,
2. To bring into a presentable literary form;
edit.
I saw the reporters' room, in which they redact their
hasty stenographs. ilmerson, Eng. Traits, p. 265.
redacteur (re-dak-tfer'), to. Same as redactor.
redaction (re-dak' shgn), to. [= D. redaktie = G.
Sw. Dan. reiaktion = F. rSdacUon, a compiling,
also a working over, editing, the editorial staff,
= Sp. redaccion = Pg. redacgao = It. redazione,
< NL. redacUo(,n-), redaction, < L. redigere, pp.
redaetv^, lead back, collect, prepare, reduce to
a certain state : see redact.] 1. The act of re-
ducing to order ; the act of preparing for pub-
lication : said of literary or historical matter.
To work up literary matter and give it a presentable
form is neither compiling, nor editing, nor resetting;
and the operation performed on it is exactly expressed by
redaction. F. Ball, Mod. Eng., p. 310.
2. A work thus prepared ; a special form, edi-
tion, or version of a work as digested, revised,
or rewritten.
redback
In an early redaction of the well-known ballad of iiord
Konald . . . the name of the unfortunate victim to " eels
boil'd in brue" Is Laird Eowland.
N. and Q., 6th ser., XIL 134.
This fresh discovery does not furnish us with the date
of the story, but it gives us the date of one of Its redactions,
and shows it must have existed in the middle of the four-
teenth century. Edinburgh Bev., CLXIV. 192.
Ionic redjustian of Cynaithos of Chios about the middle
of the sixth century. Amer. Jour. PhUol., VII. 233.
3. The staff of writers on a newspaper or other
periodical; an editorial staff or department.
Imp. Diet. — 4t. The act of drawing back; a
withdrawal.
It . . . takes away all reluctation and redaction, inf us-
eth a pliable willingness ; of wolfish and dogged, makes
the will lamb-like and dove-like.
Bev. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 31.
redactor (re-dak' tor), TO. [Also, as P., redacteur;
< P. ridacteur = Sp. Pg. redactor = It. redattore,
< Nli. redactor, an editor, < li.redigere, pp. redac-
tus, lead back, collect, reduce to a certain state :
see redact.] One who redacts ; one who pre-
pares matter for publication ; an editor.
Each successive singer and redactor furnishes it [the
primeval mythus] with new personages, new scenen^, to
please a new audience. Carlyle, Kibelungen Lied.
Distrust of Dorothea's competence to arrange what he
had prepared was subdued only by distrust of any other
redactor. George Eliot, Middlemarch, 1.
redactorial (re-dak-to'ri-al), a. [< redactor +
4al.] Of or pertaining to a redactor or redac-
tion; having the character of a redaction.
Three chief documents, viz. the Yahwlstic, the Elohistic,
and the Editorial or Bedat^^irial.
The Academy, Feb. 11, 1888, p. 92.
redan (re-dan'), TO. [More prop, redent; < OP.
redan, redent, P. redan = Pg. redente, a double
notching or jagging, as in a saw, < L. re-, back,
-f- den{t-)s = E. tooth.] 1. In field fort., the
simplest kind of 4»/.
work employed, ^^Mi. .-siJlfc//
consistiig of M^^, ^Wm
earth raised so WJbxk^ ^J^^^w%
as to form a '^M m#' '^W ^k^'
salient angle, ^ ^R.dan^^ ^
with the apex
toward the enemy and unprotected on the rear.
Two redans connected form a qfaeue d'aronde, and three
connected form a ionnet d (or de) prttre. Several redans
connected by curtains form lines of intrenchment.
2. A downward projection in a wall on uneven
ground to render it level.— Redan battery, redan
Une. See&a((efy, 2t7ie2. = Syn. 1. See/orti/Scotwn.
redargue (re-dar'gu), ». t. ; pret. and pp. redar-
gued, ppr. redarguing. [< OP. redarguer, P.
ridarguer, blame, reprehend, = Pr. redar-
gvAre = Sp. Pg. redarguir = It. redarguire, <
L. redarguere, disprove, confute, refute, con-
tradict, < red-, back, against, + arguere, argue :
see argue.] 1. To put down by argument; dis-
prove; contradict; refute.
Sir, I'll redargue you
By disputation.
B. Jonson, Magnetick Lady, ilL 4.
Wherefore, says he, the libel maun be redargued by the
panel proving her defences.
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xii.
Consciousness cannot be explained nor redargued from
without. Sir W. Hamilton.
2t. To accuse ; blame.
When he had redargiied himself for his slothfulness, he
began to advise how he should eschew all danger.
Pttscottie, Chron. of Scotland, p. 19. (Jamieson.)
How shall I be able to suffer that God should redargue
me at doomsday, and the angels reproach my lukewarm-
ness? Jer. Taylor. (AUibone.)
redargntiont (red-ar-gu'shon), n. [ME. redar-
guacion, < OP. redarguaeiori, redargaUon (prop.
redargudon, redarguUon) = Sp. redargudon =
It. redarguizione, < L. redargutio(n-), a refuta-
tion, < redarguere, disprove, refute : see redar-
gue.] Eefutation; conviction.
To pursue all tho that do reprobacion
Agayns our lawes by ony redarguacUm.
Dighy Mysteries, p. 33. (MaUiweU.)
The more subtile forms of sophisms and illaqueations
with their redargvUane, which is that which is termed
clenches. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 224.
redargutoryt (re-dar'gu-to-ri), a. [< redargur-
t(ion) + -ory.] Tending to redargue or refute ;
pertaining to refutation ; refutatory.
My privileges are an ubiquitary, circumambulatory,
speculatory, interrogatory, redargutory immunity overtdl
the privy lodgings. Carew, Coelum Britannicum.
redback (red'bak), TO. 1. The red-backed sand-
piper, or American dunlin. J. JFibom. See cut
xmder dunlin. [New Jersey.] — 2. The pectoral
sandpiper, Tringa macidata. [Local, U. S.]
red-backed
red-backed (red'bakt), a. Having a red back:
as, the red-bached sandpiper, Trvnga alpina;
the red-backed shrike, Lanius rufus; the red-
hacked humming-bird, Selasphorws rufus.
red-bass (red'bas), n. The redflsh, Scisenops
ocellatus.
red-beaked (red'bekt), a. Same as red-billed:
as, the red-beaked hombUl, Buceros erythrorhyn-
cJius, of Africa.
redbeard (red'berd), n. The red sponge, Mi-
crociona prolifera, which commonly grows on
oysters, forming a beard on the shell. TLocal,
U. S.]
red-bellied (red'bel'id) , a. Having a red belly,
or the under parts red: as, the red-bellied nut-
hatch, Sitta canadensis; the red-bellied snipe,
Macrorhamphus scolopaceus; the red-bellied
woodpecker, Centunts caroUnus; the red-bellied
monkey of Africa, Cercopithecus erythrogaster ;
the red-bellied terrapin, Chrysemys or Pseude-
mys rubriventris Red-bellied perch. See percM.
redbelly (red'bel"i), n. 1. The slider, potter,
or red-fender, Chrysemys rubriventris, an edible
terrapin of the United States. See red-fender.
— 3. The torgoch, a Welsh variety of the char,
Salvelinws unwla. — 3. The red-bellied minnow,
Chrosomus erythrogaster. [Southern U. S.] —
4. The red-bellied perch or sunfish, a centrar-
choid, Lepomis auritus. [South Carolina.] —
5. The red grouper, Epinephelus morio. [U. S.]
red-belted (red'beFted), a. Belted or banded
with red: as, the red-belted clearwing, a moth,
Trochilium myopxforme.
redberry (red'ber*i), n. ; pi. redberries (-iz). A
plant of the genus Bhagodia. [Australia.]
red-billed (red'bild), a. Having a red bill or
beak, as a bird: as, the red-billed curlew, Ibi-
dorhynchus struthersi, of Asia ; the red-billed
wood-hoopoe, Irrisor erythrorhynchus. See cut
under Irrisor.
redbird (red'bferd), n. A name of sundry red
or partly red birds. Speoiflcally— (o)The common
ballflDch of Europe, Pyrrhvla vulgarU. (6) The cardinal
grosbeak of the United States, CardinaHs virgimanus. See
cardinaXAnri, and cut under CardinoMx. (c) The sum-
mer tanager, Piranga seativa, or scarlet tanager, P. ruibra,
both of the United States, (d) Pericrocotus speciosus.
All day the red-bird warbles
Upon the mulberry near.
Bryant, Hunter's Serenade.
red-blooded (red'blud'ed), a. Having red or
reddish blood: specifically noting the higher
worms, or annelids, in which, however, the
blood is often greenish.
redbreast (red'brest), a. and n. [< ME. red-
breste; < red + breast."] I. a. Red-breasted.
II. ». 1. A small sylviine bird of Europe,^*-
thacus rubeeula; the robin, or robin redbreast.
See robin. [Eng.]
To relish a love-song like a robin -red&reost.
SAa*.;T. G. of V.,ii. 1. 21.
The redbreast warbles still, but is content
■With slender notes. Camper, Task, vi. 77.
2. The American robin or migratory thrush,
Merula migratoria or Tardus migratorius. See
robin. [U.S.] — 3. The red-breasted sandpiper,
or knot, Tringa canutus. See robin-snipe. — 4.
The red-bellied sunfish, Lepomis auritus.
red-breasted (red'bres"ted), a. Having a red
or reddish breast Little red-l>reasted rail. Same
as Virginia raiZ(which see, under raif^), — Bed-breaBted
flncbt. See ilncAi.— Red-breasted goose, Aneer rufl-
coSi>.— Red-breasted merganser, Itergns serrator.—
Bed-breasted plover. Same as redlrreast, 3.— Bed-
breasted sandpiper, IViii^atxinueus.— Bed-breasted
snipe, (a) Maercfrhanvphui griseus, the dowitcher: also
called gray snipe, brown snipe, quail-snipe, German snipe
(compare daivUcher), robin-snipe, grayback, brownback,
driver, sea-pigeon, and New York godwtt. (b) A misnomer
of the American woodcock, Philohela minor. [Local, U. S.]
(c) Same as redbreast, 3.
redbuck (red'buk), ». The roodebok, Cepha-
lophus natalensis. See roodebok.
reabud (red'bud), n. Any tree of the American
species of Cercis; the Judas-tree. The best-known,
common in the interior and southern United States, is
C. Canadensis, a small tree, the branches clothed in early
spring with fascicles of small flowers of nearly peach-
blossom color, followed by rather large heart-shaped
pointed leaves. In southwestern woods it is very con-
spicuous when in blossom, and it is often cultivated for
ornament. The flowers have an acid taste, and are said
to be used, like those of the Old World Judas-tree, in
salads, etc. The name is from the color of the flowers,
and doubtless from their bud-like aspect even when open.
C. reniformis, a Texan and Mexican species, is a smaller
tree or a shrub often forming dense thickets, and C. occi-
dentalis is a Californian shrubby species.
red-bug (red'bug), n. A heteropterous insect,
Dysdercus saturellus, which damages cotton in
the southern United States and in the West
Indies. Also called cotton-stainer.
5018
redcap (red'kap), n. 1. The goldfinch, Car-
duelis elegans, more fully called King Harry red-
cap. [Local, British.]
The redmp whistled ; and the nightingale
Sang loud. Tennyson, Gardener's Daughter.
2. A variety of the domestic hen, of English
origin . The plumage resembles that of the golden-span-
gled Hamburg, but is duller ; the fowl is larger than the
Hamburg ; and the flat rose-comb is very large.
3. A specter having long teeth, popularly sup-
posed to haunt old castles in Scotland.
red-capped (red'kapt), a. Having red on the
head: as, the red-capped snake, a venomous
Australian species, Braehysoma diadema.
red-carpet (red'kar"pet), n. A British geomet-
rid moth, Co^'emia munitata.
red-cheeked (red'chekt), a. In ornith., having
red lores : as, the red-cheeked eoly, Colius ery-
thromelas.
red-chestnnt (red'ches"nut), ». A British moth,
Tseniocampa rubricosa.
redcoat (red'kot), ». A British soldier. [Col-
loq.]
King Shames' red-coats should be hung up.
Battle of Killiecrardcie (Child's Ballads, VH. 166).
You know the redcoats are abroad ; . . . these English
must be looked to. Cooper, Spy, xii.
red-cockaded (red'ko-ka"ded), a. Having a
tuft of red feathers on each side of the back of
the head: only in the phrase red-cockaded wood-
pecker, a bird of the southern United States,
Picus borealis or querulus.
red-cod (red'kod), n. A fish of the family Ga-
didx, Pseudophycis bacchus, having two dorsal
fins and one anal, of a reddish-silvery color.
[New Zealand.]
red-corpuscled (red'k6r"pus-ld), a. Having
red blood-disks.
red-crested (red'kres'ted), a. Having a red
crest : as, the red^crested duck or pochard, Fvy
ligula rufina.
red-cross (red'krds), a. Wearing or bearing a
red cross, such as the badge of the Order of the
Temple, the cross of St. George, or one with a
religious, social, or national meaning: as, a red-
cross knight (which see, below); the red-cross
banner, the national flag of Great Britain.
And their own sea hath whelm'd yon red-cross Powers I
Scott, Vision of Don Boderick, Conclusion, st. 2.
Bed-cross knight, a knight bearing on his shield or
crest a red cross as his principal cognizance, whether as
being a Templar or with religious significance, as in Spen-
ser's "Faerie Queene," I. i. 2.
A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd
To a lady in his shield.
Tennyson, Lady of Shalott.
Bed-Cross Society, a philanthropic society founded to
carry out the views of the Geneva Convention of 1864. Its
objects are to care for the wounded in war, and secure the
neutrality of nurses, hospitals, etc., and to relieve suffer-
ing occasioned by pestilence, floods, fire, and other calam-
ities.
red-cusk (red'kusk), n. A brotuloid fish, Dine-
matichthys or Brosmophyds marginatus, of the
coast of California, of a pale-reddish color.
reddi, v. t. See red?.
redd^, n. See red^.
red-dace (red'das), n. A common fish of the
eastern United States, Notropis megalops, for-
merly named Leuciscus cornutus. Also called
redfin and rough-head.
reddet. A Middle English preterit of read^.
redden (red'n), v. [< redi -f- -emi. Cf. Icel.
rodhna = Dan. rodme, redden.] I. intrans. 1.
To become red ; grow red.
For me the balm shall bleed, and amber flow.
The coral redden, and the ruby glow.
Pope, Windsor Forest, 1. 394.
Hence — 2. To blush; become flushed.
Sir Roderick, who to meet them came,
Bedden'd at sight of Malcolm Graeme.
Scott, L. of the L., ii. 27.
II. trans. 1. To make red.
And this was what had redden'd her cheek
When I bow'd to her on the moor.
Tennyson, Maud, xix. 6.
2. To cure (herrings). Salliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
reddendo (re-den'do), n. [So called from the
first word of the clause in the Latin form, red-
dendo inde annuatim, etc. : L. reddendo, abl. of
reddendum, neut. gerundive of reddere, render,
return, give up or back: see render^.] In. Scots
law, a clause indispensable to an original char-
ter, and usually inserted in charters by progress.
It specifies the feu-duty and other services which have
been stipulated to be paid or performed by the vassal to his
superior.
reddendum (re-den'dum), n. [So called from
the first word in the Latin form of the deed or
clause (seedef.): L. reddendum, neut. gerundive
reddle
of reddere, return, render, give up or back: see
render^.] In law, a reservation m a deed where-
by the grantor creates or reserves some new
thing to nimself , out of what he had granted be-
fore. (Broom and Hadley.) Thus, the clause in a
lease which specifies the rent or other service to be ren-
dered to the lessor is termed the reddendum, or reddendwm,
davte.
redder (red'fer), n. [< red^ + -eri.] One who
settles or puts in order; especially, one who
endeavors to settle a quarrel. [Scotch.]
" But, father," said Jenny, "if they come to lounder ilk
ither as they did last time, suldna I cry on you?" "At
no hand, Jenny ; the redder gets aye the warst lick in the
fray." Scott, Old Mortality, iv.
reddidit (red'i-dit). [L. reddidit, 3d pers. sing,
pret. ind. of reddere, give up, render: see ren-
der^.'] In law, a term used in cases where a
man delivers himself in discharge of his bail,
redding! (red'ing), n. [< ME. redynge; verbal
n. of redi, «.] 1. Eeddle. [Prov. Eng.]
Sedynge colowre. Eubioulum, rubiatura.
Prompt. Pan}., p. 427.
The traveller with the cart was a reddleman— a person
whose vocation it was to supply farmers with redding for
their sheep. T. Hardy, Return of the Kfative, i. L
2. A compound used to redden the jambs and
hearth of an open wood-fireplace. Bartlett.
[U. S.]
The brick hearth and jambs aglow with fresh redding.
Mrs. Whitney, Leslie Goldthwaite, vil
redding^ (red'ing), n. [Verbal n. of red^, ».]
The act or process of clearing up or putting in
order.
redding-comb (red'ing-kom), n. A large-toothed
comb for combing the hair. (SeerecJS.) Trans.
Amer. Philol. Ass., XVH. 42.
reddingite (red'ing-it), n. [< Bedding (see def . )
-(- -ite2.] A hydrous phosphate of iron and
manganese, resembling scorodite in form, found
at Branchville, in the town of Bedding, Con-
necticut.
redding-straik (red'ing-strak), n. A stroke re-
ceived in attempting to separate combatants
in a fray; a blow in return for ofi&cious interfer-
ence. (Compare red3, 2, 3, and re(i(Jer. [Scotch.]
Said I not to ye. Make not, meddle not? — Beware of the
redding Araikl You are come to no house o' fair-strae
death. Scott, Guy Mannering, xxviL
reddish (red'ish), a. and n. [< redX -I- -Ml.]
I. a. Of a color approaching red.
A bright spot, white, and somewhat reddish.
Lev. xiii. 19.
Reddish egrets. See e^ret.— Reddish light-arches, a
British noctuid motb, Xylophasia sublustris.
II. n. A reddish color.
reddishness (red'ish-nes), n. The state or
quality of being reddish; redness in a moderate
The reddishness of copper. Boyle, Works, I. 721.
reddition (re-dish'on), n. [< F. reddiUon = It.
reddizione, < L. red!dAtio{n-), a giving back, re-
turning, rendering, also (in gram.) the apodo-
sis, < reddere, pp. redditus, give back, return,
render: see render^. Ct. rendition."] 1. Are-
turning of something; restitution; surrender.
She [Ireland] is . . . reduc'd ... to a perfect obedi-
ence, . . . partly by voluntary reddiff on and desire of pro-
tection, and partly by conquest.
Howell, Vocall Forrest, p. 32.
2. Explanation; rendering.
When they used [to carry branches] in procession about
their altars, they used to pray "Lord, save us ; Lord, pros-
per us "_ ; which hath occasioned the reddition of " Hoschi-
annah" to be, amongst some, that prayer which they re-
peated at the cari-ying of the "Hoschiannah,"a8 if itself
did signify "Lord, save us."
Jer. Taj/Jor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 288.
3. Inlaw, a judicial acknowledgment that the
thing in demand belongs to the demandant, and
not to the adversary. [Eare.]
redditiye (red'i-tiv), a. [< L. redditivus, of or
belonging to the apodosis (in gram.), conse-
quential (cf. redditio, the apodosis of a clause),
< reddere, pp. redditus, give back: see reddiUon.]
Conveying a reply; answering: as, redditive
words. •
For this sad sequel is, if not a relative, yet a redditive
demonstration of their misery ; for after the infection of
sin follows that infliction of punishment.
itev. T. Adams, Works, L 261.
reddle (red'l), n. [Also raddle; var. of ruddle\
q. v.] An earthy variety of hematite iron ore.
It is fine-grained, and sufliciently compact to be cut into
strips, which are used for various purposes, as for marking
sheep and drawing on board. This material is found in
several localities in England, and much more rarely in
the United States, where it is generally called red chalk.
Reddle spreads its lively hues over everything it lights
on, and stamps unmistakably, as with the mark of Cain
any person who has handled it for half an hour.
T. Hardy, Return of the Native, i. 9.
reddleman
reddleman (red'l-man), ».; pi. reddlemen (-men).
[< reddle + -man.'] " A dealer ia reddle or red
chalk, usually a sort of peddler. Also raddle-
man, niddleman.
SaddleTTum then is a BeddZemau, a, trade (and tbat a
poor one) only in this county [Rutland], whence men bring
on their backs a pack of red stones, or ochre, which they
Bell to the neighbouriug countries for the marking of
sheep Fuller, Worthies, Rutlandshire, III. 38.
Reddlemen oi the old school are now but seldom seen.
Since the introduction of railways Wessex farmers have
managed to do without these somewhat spectral visitants,
and the bright pigment so largely used by shepherds in
preparing sheep for the fair is obtained by other routes.
T. Hardy, Return of the Native, i. 9.
reddock (red'ok), n. Same as ruddock. [Prov.
Eng.]
red-dog (red'dog), n. The lowest grade of flour
produced in the roller-milling processes. Ori-
ginally the term was applied to a poor flour made from
middlings ; now it is applied to the lowest grade produced
by the new-process milling.
reddourt, n. See redowr.
red-drum (red' drum), n. The southern red-
fish, or red-bass, Scisenops ocellatus, an impor-
tant food-fish of the Atlantic coast of the TJnit-
ed States from Chesapeake Bay southward.
See cut under redfish.
redeH, *• and n. See read^.
rede^, a., n., and v. An obsolete form of red^.
rede^t, «. *■ An obsolete form of red^.
rede*t, a. An obsolete variant of ready.
redecraft (red'kraft), n. [A pseudo-archaism,
purporting to represent a ME. *rede-craft or
AS. "reed-orseft, which was not- in use.] The
art or power of reasoning; logic. Barnes.
Ted-edge (red'ej), n. A bivalve mollusk of the
family Ludrmdie, Codakia tigerina. [Florida.]
redeem (re-dem' ),v.t. [Early mod. E . redeme ;
< OP. redimer, vernacularly raemibre, reembre,
rainibre, raiembre, etc., F. rMimer = Sp. redimir
= Pg. remir = It. redimere, < L. redimere, buy
back, redeem, < red-, back, + emere, buy, orig.
take : see emption, exempt, etc. Hence ult. re-
demption, ransom, etc.] 1. To buy back; re-
cover by purchase ; repurchase.
If a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he
may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold.
Lev. XXV. 29.
2. Specifically — (a) In law, to recover or dis-
encumber, as mortgaged property, by payment
of what is due upon the mortgage. Commonly
applied to the property, as in the phrase "to redeem from
the mortgage"; but sometimes applied, with the same
meaning, to the encumbrance: as, "to redeem the mort-
gage." (6) In com., to receive back by paying
the obligation, as a promissory note, bond, or
any other evidence of debt given by a corpo-
ration, company, or individual. — 3. To ransom,
release, or liberate from captivity or bondage,
or from any obligation or liability to suffer or
be forfeited, by paying an equivalent : as, to re-
deem prisoners, captured goods, or pledges.
Alas sweet wife, my honour is at pawn ;
And, but my going, nothing can redeem it.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ii. S. a
Prepare to die to-morrow ; for the world
Cannot redeem ye.
Fletcher (and anotfier), Sea Voyage, v. 2.
Thrice was I made a slave, and thrice redeem'd
At price of all I had. Bean, and FL, Captain, ii. 1.
One Abraham, found a Delinquent, redeems himself for
seven hundred Marks. Baker, Chronicles, p. 82.
If a pawnbroker receives plate or jewels as a pledge or
security for the repayment of money lent thereon on a
day certain, he has them upon an express contract or con-
dition to restore them if the pledger performs his part by
redeemiTtg them in due time. Blaekit(me, Com., II. xxx.
4. To rescue; deliver; save, in general.
Bedeem Israel, 0 God, out of all his troubles.
Ps. XXV. 22.
How if . . .
I wake before the time that Romeo
Come to redeem me? Shak., R. and J., Iv. 3. 32.
That valiant gentleman you redeem'd from prison.
Fletcher, Beggars' Bush, iv. 3,
Six thousand years of fear have made you that
lYom which I would redeem you.
Tennyion, Princess, iv.
5. In theol., to deliver from sin and spiritual
death by means of a sacrifice offered for the
sinner. See redemption (c).
I learn to believe in . . . Ood the Son, who hath re-
deemed me, and all mankind.
' Book of Cirnmum Prayer, Cateebiam.
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, be-
ing made a curse for us. Gal. iii. 13.
6. To perform or fulfil, as a promise; make
good by performance : as, to redeem an obliga-
tion.
Had he lived, I donbt not that he would have redeemed
the rare promise of his earlier years.
0. W. Bolmes, Old Vol, of Life, p. 69.
5019
7. To make amends for ; atone for ; compen-
sate for.
This feather stirs ; she lives ; if it be so.
It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows
That ever I have felt. Shak. , Lear, v. 3. 266.
You have shewn much worth this day, redeem'd much
error. Fletcher, Bonduca, v. 5.
Passages of considerable beauty, especially in the last
two acts, frequently occur ; but there is nothing to redeem
the absurdity of the plot.
Gifford, Int. to Ford's Plays, p. xxii.
To redeem defeat by new thought, by firm action, that
is not easy. Emersim, Success.
Detect at least
A touch of wolf in what showed whitest sheep,
A cross of sheep redeeming the whole wolf.
Brmming, Ring and Book, I. 27.
8. To improve, or employ to the best advan-
tage.
Bedeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Eph. V. 16.
He [Voltaire] worked, not by faith, but by sighti in the
present moment, but with indefatigable energy, redeemr.
ing the time. J. F. Clarke, Self -Culture, p. 78.
9t. To restore ; revive.
Hee wyll redeme our deadly drowping state.
Oascoigne, De Profundls, The Auctor.
redeemability (re-de-ma-bil'j-ti), n. [< redeem-
able + -^ty (see -hility).] iRedeemableness. Imp.
Diet.
redeemable (rf-de'ma-bl), a. [< redeem + -able."]
1. Capable of being' redeemed; admitting of
redemption. — 2. Capable of being paid off;
subject to a right on the part of the debtor to
discharge, satisfy, recover, or take back by
payment : as, a redeemable annuity.-
Every note issued is receivable by any bank for debt
due, and is redeerndble by the natiouEd government in coin
if the local bank should fail. Harper's Mag., LXXX. 458.
Redeemable rights, in laiw, those conveyances in prop-
erty or in security which contain a clause whereby the
grantor, or any other person therein named, may, on pay-
ment of a certain sum, redeem the lands or subjects con-
veyed.
redeemableness (re-de'ma-bl-nes),«. The state
of being redeemable. Johnson.
redeemer (re-de'm6r), n. [< redeem + -eri.]
1. One who' redeems, ransoms, or atones for
another. See redemption.
And his redeemer challeng'd for his foe.
Because he had not well mainteind his right.
Spenter, F. Q., n. v. 20.
Specifically — 2. ^cap.] The Saviour of the
world, Jesus Christ.
The precious image of our dear Bedeemer.
Shak., Rich, in., ii. 1. 123.
Christian libertie purchas'd with the death of our Be-
deemer. MUton, Eikonoklastes, ziii.
Ky Bedeemer and my Lord,
I beseech thee, I entreat thee.
Guide me in each act and word.
LongfeHow, Golden Legend, ii.
Congregation of the Redeemer, one of several Roman
Catholic fraternities, the most famous of which is entitled
the Congregation of the Most Holy Bedeemer. See Bedemp-
torist. — Order of the Redeemer, an order of the king-
dom of Greece, founded in 1834.
redeeming (rf-de'ming), p. a. [Ppr. of redeem.]
Saving; maldng amends; noting what is good
as exceptional to what is generally bad: as,
there is not a single redeeming feature in the
scheme.
redeemless (rf-dem'les), a. [< redeem + -less.]
Incapable of being redeemed; without redemp-
tion; irrecoverable; incurable.
The duke, the hermit, Lodowick, and myselfe
Will change his pleasures into wretched
And redeemelesse misery.
Tragedy of Hogman (1631). (Narea.)
redelt, redelest, »• and v. Obsolete forms of
riddle^.
redelet, ». -An obsolete form of riddle^. _
redelesst, «• [ME. redeles, redles, < AS. reedleds
(= OBG. rdtilos, WSGr. Q. ratios = loel. rddh-
lauss), without counsel, unwise, confused, <
rsed, counsel (see read^, n.), -h -leds, E. -less.]
Without counsel or wisdom; wild.
For drede of hire drem [she] deulfnlli quaked, . . .
& romed than redli al redles to hure chapel,
& godly be-sou3t God to gode tume hire sweuen.
WiUiam of Podeme (E. E. T. S.), L 2915.
Now, Richard the redeles, reweth [have pity] on 3ou-self,
That lawelesse leddyn joure lyf, and goure peple bothe.
Bichard the Bedeless(ed. Skeat), 1. 1.
The opponents of Eadward . . . dreaded that he would
" govern by his own unbridled will," that he would be, in
a word, what they afterwards called .^thelred — a king
redeless, or uncounselled.
J. B. Qreen, Conq. of England, p. 339.
redeliver (re-de-liv'6r), V. t. [< OP. redelivrer;
as re- + deliver^.] 1. To deliver back; return
to the sender; restore.
redemption
But at the coming of Cesar, when thinges were altered,
the Heduanes had theyr hostages redelivered, theyr old
alyes and confederaces restored, new brought in by Cesar.
Qolding, tr. of Ceesar, loL 164.
My lord, I have remembrances of yours
That I have longed long to redeliver.
Shak., Hamlet, iii. 1. 94.
Having assembled their forces, [they] boldly threatned
at our Ports to force Smith to redeliver seven Salvages,
which for their viUanles he detained prisoners.
Quoted in Capt John Smith's Works, 1. 171.
2. To deliver again; liberate a second time.
— 3. To report; repeat.
Osr. Shall I re-ddiver you e'en so?
Ham. To this e&ect, sir. STiak., Hamlet, v. 2. 186.
redeliverance (re-de-liv'er-ans), n. [< re- +
deliverance.] A second deliverance; redelivery.
Imp. Diet.
redelivery (re-df-liv'er-i), n. [< re- -i- delivery.]
The act of delivering back; also, a second de-
liverance or liberation.
They did at last procure a sentence for the redelivery of
what had been taken from them.
Clarendon, Life, an. 1665.
redemand (re-de-mand'), v. t. [< OP. (and F.)
redemander = tr. redemandar = It. ridomanr-
dare; as re- + demand, v.] To demand the re-
turn of; also, to demand a second time.
They would say, God hath appointed us captains of
these our bodily forts, which, without treason to that
majesty, were never to he delivered over till they were
redemanded. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iv.
Our Long-boats, sent to take in fresh Water, were assall'd
in the Fort, and one taken and detain'd : which being re-
demanded, answer was made, That neither the Skiff nor
the Seamen should be restor'd.
Milton, Letters of State, May, 1658.
She sang the Bell Song with brilliant effect, and it was
redemanded. New York TrQmne, March 8, 1887.
redemand (re-de-mand'), n. [< redemand, v.]
The repetition of a demand ; also, a demand for
the return of anything.
redemise (re-df-miz'), v. t. [< re- + demise.]
To demise back; convey or transfer back, as
an estate in fee simple, fee taU, for life, or for
a term of years.
redemise (re-de-miz'), n. [< redemise, v.] Be-
conveyance ; the transfer of an estate back to
the person who has demised it : as, the demise
and redemise of an estate in fee simple, fee taU,
or for life or years, by mutual leases.
redemptible (re-demp'ti-bl), a. [< L. redemp-
tus, pp. of redimere, redeem: see redeem and
-jftte.] Capable of being redeemed; redeemable.
redemption (re-demp'shgn), n. [< MB. redemp-
cion, < OP. redemption, fedemptiun, P. redemp-
tion = Pr. redempeio = Sp. redendon = Pg. re-
dempgao = It. redensione, < L. redemptio{n-), a
buying back or off, a releasing, ransoming, re-
demption, < redimere, buy back, redeem: see
redeem. Cf . ransom, a reduced form of the same
word.] The act of redeeming, or the state of
being redeemed ; ransom ; repurchase ; deliver-
ance; release: as, the redemption of prisoners
of war, of captured goods, etc.
But peaceful measures were also employed to procure
the rec^m-ption of slaves ; and money sometimes accom-
plished what was vainly attempted by the sword.
Sumtruer, Orations, I. 232.
Such a sacrifice
Alone the fates can deem a fitting price
For thy redemption.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 318.
Specifically— (o) In law, the recovering or disencumber-
ing of property by one who had a right to it subject to
the encumbrance or defeasible conveyance, as where a
debtor by paying his debt gets back a pledge or a mort-
gaged estate ; also, the right of redeeming and reentering,
(b) In arm., payment to the holders by the issuer of notes;
bills, or other evidences of debt, (c) In Hveol., deliverance
from sin and its consequences by the obedience and sacri-
fice of Christ the Redeemer. The word redemption pre-
supposes that man is in a state of bondage to the powers
of evil — either spiritual powers external to himself, or evil
passions and propensities within himself, or both — and
that he can be delivered from them only by the sacrifice and
suffering of another. Thissufleringisregardedastheprice
or ransom paid to redeem the captive. Thus, redemption is
substantially equivalent to salvation, but involves the idea
of a new and additional right over man acquired by God ;
and the doctrine of redemption includes the doctrines of
atonement, justification, regeneration, and sanctification.
The Mounte of Caluery, where our Sauyonr Criste was
crucyfyed and suSred dethe for our redempetan.
Sir B. Ouylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 26.
Plantagenet,
Which held thee dearly as his soul's redem/[Men.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., a 1. 102.
By sin man was principally bound to God, as relates to
punishment, because he had principally sinned against
God ; but he was bound to the devU as a tormentor, to
whom he was justly delivered by God's permission ; but
the price of redemption ought to be paid to the principal,
not to the intervening agent, and therefore Christ ex-
hibited His death as the price of our redemption to God
the Father for our reconciliation, and not to the devil.
Durandus, in Owen's Dogmatic Theology, p. 279.
redemption
Bretbien of tbe Bedemptlon of CaptlTes. See Irother.
— Covenant of redemption, in iV^ Enff. theol. See
eotenant.— Equity of redemption. See ejuttj/.
redemptionary (re-demp'shon-a-ri), «. ; pi. re-
dempHonaries (-riz). [< re'^mption + -ary.'\
One who is or may be redeemed or set at liber-
ty by paying a compensation; one wh.o is or
may be released from a bond or obligation by
fulfilling the stipulated terms or conditions.
None other then sach as haue adnentured in the flrst
voyage, or shall become aduenturers in this supply at
any time hereafter, are to be admitted in the seld society,
but as redempUoTiarieSf which will be very chargeable.
BaUuyt's Voyages, III. 176.
redemptionert (re-demp'shgu-6r), n. [< re-
dempUon + -erl.] ' One who "redeemed himself
or purchased his release from debt or obliga-
tion to the master of a ship by his services, or
one whose services were sold to pay the ex-
penses of his passage to America.
Sometimes they [indented servants] were called redemp-
tioners, because, by their agreement with the master of
the vessel, they could redeem themselves from his power
by paying their passage. Jefferson, Ck>rreBpondence, 1. 406.
Poor wretch I ... he had to find out what the life of a
Bedemptvmer really was, by bitter experience.
J. Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, IL 247.
redemptionist (re-demp'shon-ist), n. [< re-
dempUon + -dstj] ' See Trinitarian.
redemptive (rf-demp'tiv), a. [< L. redemptus,
pp. of redimere, redeem: see redeem.^ Re-
deeming; serving to redeem.
The redeTnptive and the completive work of Messiah.
Schaff, Hist. Christ. Church, I. § 83.
redemptorf, redemptourt, »■ [< ME. redemp-
tour, \ OF. redempteur, vernacularly raembeor,
raiemhew, F. redempteur = Pr. redeniptor = Sp.
redentor = It. redentore, < L. redemptor, redeem-
er, < redimere, pp. redemptus, redeem, etc.: see
redeem.'] A redeemer.
Becord of prophets thou shalt be redem-phmr.
And slnguler repast of everlastyng lyf.
Candlemas Day, ap. Hawkins, L 23. {^Nares.)
redemptoricf, a. [< redemptor + ■4c.'} Re-
demptory; redemptive. [Bare.]
Till to her loved sire
The black-ey*d damsell he resign'd ; no redemtMric hire
Tooke for her freedome ; not a gift ; but all the ransome
quit. Clmpman, Iliad, 1.
Bedemptorist (rf-demp'tor-ist), n. [< F. ri-
demptoriste; as redemptor + ■dst.'] A mem-
ber of a Roman Catholic order founded by
Alfonso Maria da Liguori of Naples in 1732.
The especial object of the order (which is called the Con-
gregation of the Most Holy Bedeemer)is missionary work
among the poor. The Bedemptorists exist in the United
StateSj in several European countries, etc. On account
of their cooperation with the Jesuits, they have been ex-
cluded in some countries, as in Germany at the time of the
Kulturkampt. Also Ligumian, Liguorist.
Bedemptoristine (re-demp-to-ris'tin), n. [<
Sedemptorist + -meK] A member of the Order
of the Most Holy Redeemer, a Roman Catholic
order of cloistered and contemplative nuns,
founded in connection with the congregation
of the Redemptorists.
redemptory (re-demp'to-ri), a. [< L. redemp-
tus, pp. of redimere, redeem, etc. : see redeem.']
1. Serving to redeem ; paid for ransom.
Omega sings the exequies.
And Hector's redemptorie prise.
Chapman, Iliad, xxlv., Arg.
3. Of or pertaining to redemption.
Clinging to a great, vivifyiog, redemptory idea.
The Century, XXXI. 211.
redemptourt, n. See redemptor.
redempturet (rf-demp'tur), n. [< L. redemp-
tura, an undertaking by contract, a contract-
ing, < redimere, contract, hire, redeem: see re-
deem.] Redemption.
Thou moost mylde mother and vyrgyn moost pure.
That barest swete Jhesu, the worldys redempture.
Fabyan, Chron., IL, an. 1326.
redentt, n. Same as redan.
redented (rf-den'ted), a. [As redent + -ed^.]
Formed like the teeth of a saw; indented.
redescend (re-de-send'), ®.i. i='V.redeseendre;
as re- + descend,.] To descend again. HoweU.
redescent (re-df-senf), n. [< re- + descent.]
A descending or falling again. Sir TV. Hamil-
ton.
redescribe (re-des-krib'), ii.t. [< re- + describe.]
To describe a second time ; describe again: as,
Nasua narica was redescriled by Von Tschudi
as N. leucorhynchtis.
redetermine (re-de-t6r'min), v. t. [< re- + de-
termme.] To determine again.
The titanium was then . . . redetermined in the solu-
tion by the calorimetric method.
Amer. Chem. Jour., X. 38.
5020
redevablet, «• [< F. redevable, < redevoir, remain
in one's debt, < re-, back, again, + devoir, owe,
be in debt: see due\ devoirTi Beholden; under
obligation.
I must acknowledge my self exceedingly redevable to
Fortunes kindnesse (continued he) for addressing me into
the company of a man whose acquaintance I shall be proud
to purchase. Cowieal History of FrancUm (,1666). (Nares.)
redevelop (re-de-vel'up), v. [< re- + develop.]
I, intrans. To develop again.
II. trans. To develop again or a second time;
specifically, in photog., to intensify by a sec-
ond developing process.
redevelopment (re-de-vel'up-ment), n. [< re-
+ development] Specifically, in photog., the
act or process of redeveloping : a form of in-
tensification in which the negative is bleached
with cupric or mercuric chlorid and then sub-
jected anew to the action of the developer.
redeye (red'i), n. 1. A cyprinoid fish, Leuds-
cus erythropMhalmus, having a red iris; the
rudd. — 2. The blue-spotted sunfish, Lepomis
q/aneUus.—3. The loek-'bass, Ambloplites rupes-
fris. See cut under rocWass. [Ohio.] — 4. The
red-eyed vireo or greenlet, Vireo oUvaceus, hav-
ing the iris red. See cut under greenlet. — 5.
A strong and fiery whisky: so called from its
effect upon the eyes of drinkers. [Low, U. S.]
red-eyed (red'id), a. [= loel. raudlieygdhr ; as
red + eye + -ed"^.] 1. Having red eyes, the iris
being of that color: as, the red-eyed vireo or
greenlet or flycatcher, Vireo olioaceus. See cut
under greenlet. — 2. Having a bare red space
about the eyes, as some birds. — 3. Having con-
gested eyelids, as after shedding tears.— Red-
eyed pocltaxd. See pochard.
red-faced (red'fast), a. 1. Having a red face.
— 2. In omith., having the front of the head
red: as, the red-faced or Pallas's cormorant,
Phalacrocoraa; perspicillatus.
red-fender (red'fen"der), n. The red-bellied
salt-water terrapin of the United States, Chry-
semys or Pseudemys nibriventris, also called j)ot-
ter, redbelly, and slider, it grows much larger than
the true diamond-back, often attaining a length of eighteen
or twenty inches, but the meat is coarse and flshy. The
market value is much less than that of the diamond-back,
and this terrapin is much used to adulterate dishes of the
latter.
red-flghter (red'fi"t6r), n. The common bull-
finch, Pyrrhula vulgaris. See cut under bull-
finch.
red-figured (red'fig"urd), a. Bearing or marked
with red figures : specifically noting the class
of (Jreek pottery bearing red figures or orna-
ment on a solid black ground, wmoh succeeded
the archaic black-figured pottery about the
second quarter of the fifth century b. c, and
includes the vases of the highest artistic type.
See vase, and cuts uniei Poseidon, psykter, and
pyxis.
Chachiylion painted none hut red-Jigured vases, but he
is one of the earliest masters of the style, and must be
placed early in the Afth century.
Harrison and VerraU, Ancient Athens, p. cxL
redfin (red'fin), n. 1. The red-dace, Notropis
megalops. [IJ. S.] — 2. The common yellow
perch of the United States, Perea flavescens.
Also yeUowfin. [Southern U. S.] — 3. The red-
cusk, Dinematiehthys or Brosmophycis margina-
tus. [California.] — 4. The cyprinoid fish .JTo-
tropis or I/ythrurus ardens.
rednsh (red'fish), n. 1. The blue-backed sal-
mon, Oncorhynchus nerka. [Idaho.] — 2. The
red perch or rose-fish, Sebastes marimis or vi-
viparus. — 3. The labroid fish Trochocopus or
Pimelometopon pulcher; the fathead. See cut
uniei fathead. [Pacific coast, U. S.] — 4. The
red-drum, Sdsma ocellata or Sdeenops ocellatus;
v^
Redfish {Scianofs ocellatus).
the southern red-horse. [Florida and (Julf
Coast.] — 5. A preparation of fish, very popular
among the Malays. Alter the heads have been re-
moved, the flsh are cleaned, salted in the proportion of
one part salt to eight parts of flsh, and deposited in flat,
glazed earthen vessels, in which they are for three days
submitted to the pressure of stones placed on thin boards
or dried plantain-leaves. The flsh are next freed from
salt and saturated with vinegar of cocoa-palm toddy, after
redhibition
which powdered ginger, black pepper, brandy, and pow-
dered red rice are added. The anchovy {Stolmhorvs or
Engravlis) is the most esteemed constituent, but other
fishes are used in the same way. The preparation Is also
called Malaeeafish. Cantor.
red-footed (red'fufed), a. Having red feet: as,
the red-footed dow:orioovL\i,Nyctipithecus rufipes.
—Red-footed falcon. See/otom.
redgoundt, »• [-^so redgown (and, by further
corruption, red-gum, q. v.), early mod. E. reed
gounde; < ME. redgownd, radegounde, < rede,
red, + gownde, < AS. gund (= OH(j. gund,
gunt), matter, pus, virus : see red^ and gound^^.]
A corruption of red-gum^. [Prov. Eng.]
Seed gounde, sicknesse of chyldren. Palsgrave.
red-green (red'gren), a. Of a reddish-green
color: as, the red-green carpet (a British moth).
—Red-green blindness, a form of color-blindness in
which there is inability to recognize either the red of the
spectrum or the complementary color bluish-green — the
former appearing blackish-gray and the latter whitish-
gray. Also called an>erythrobl^sia, anerythropsia.
redguUet (red'gul*et), n. Same as redmouth.
red-gumi (red'gum), n. [< red^ + omto2.] 1.
A disease of grain : same as rust. [Prov. Eng.]
— 2. The resinous product of several eucalypts;
Australian kino. — 3. A red-gum tree.— 4. See
Liquidambar, 1 Red-eum tree, one of several spe-
cies of Eucalyptus— E. resmijera, E. calophytta, E. tereH-
comis, E. rostrata, and others : so named from the red gum
which they exude. Jr. resinifera, next to the blue-gum, is
most frequently planted in Europe for sanitary purposes.
E. rostrata is exceptionally 200 feet high, and its timber is
one of the best of eucalyptus woods, being heavy, hard,
and strong, and very durable in all situations. It is em-
ployed for railway-ties, piles, many ship-building pur-
poses, etc.
red-gum^ (red'gum), n. [A corruption of red-
gound, q. v.] An unimportant red papular
eruption of infants. Also called gum-rash and
strophulus.
Their heads are hid with skaUs,
Their Limbs with Bed-gums.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartes's Weeks, ii.. The Furies.
I found Charlotte quite in a fuss about the child : she
was sure it was very ill ; it cried and fretted, and was all
over pimples. So I looked at it directly, and " Lord ! my
dear, says I, " it is nothing in the world but the reA-gum:'
Jane Austen, Sepse and Sensibility, xxxvii.
red-haired (red 'hard), a. [= leel. raudh-
hssrdhr; as red^ + hair + -ed*.] Having red
or reddjsh hair.
red-hand (red'hand), a. Same as red-handed.
red-handed (red'han"ded), a. With red or
bloody hands ; hence, in the very act, as if with
red or bloody hands : said originally of a per-
son taken in the act of homicide, but extended
figuratively to one caught in the perpetration
of any crime : generally in the phrase to be taken
red-handed.
I was pushed over by Pnmblechook, exactly as If I had
that moment picked a pocket, or fired a rick ; indeed it was
the general impression in court that I had been taken
red-handed; for as Pnmblechook shoved me before him
through the crowd I heard some people say, "What's he
done?'* and others, "He's a young 'un too.
Vicketis, Great Expectations, ziiL
redhead (red'hed), n. [< redi + head, n.] 1.
A person having red hair. — 2. A red-headed
duck, the pochard, FuUgula or Mthyia ferina, a
common bird of Europe, a variety of which
bears the same name in America and is called
more fully red-headed duck, red-headed raft-
duck, red-headed broadbill, also grayback, Wash-
ington canvasback, and American pochard, in
the male the head is of a bright chestnut-red with coppery
or bronzy reflection. It is a near relative of the canvas-
bacl^ for which it is sometimes sold, and is much esteemed
for the table. See pochard.
3. The red-headed woodpecker, Melanerpes
erythrocephalus. See cut under Melanerpes, —
4. A tropical milkweed, Asclepias Curassavica,
with umbels of bright-red flowers. The root and
the expressed juice are emetic, or in smaller doses cathar-
tic. Also called blood-Jlawer and bastard ipecacuanha.
[West Indies.]
red-headed (red'hed^ed), a. 1. Having red
hair, as a person.— 3. Having a red head, as
a bird: as, the red-headed woodpecker, Mela-
nerpes erythrocephalus. See cut under Melaner-
SSf:'^^^-^^^ onrre, duck, pochard, poker,
raf^duck, or widgeon. Same as redhead, 2.— Red-
neaded flnoh or Enuet, the redpoll.— Red-headed
si^W, the female smew or white nun, Mergdlus albellus.
— Red-lieaded teal. Same as greenwing.
redhibition (red-hi-bish'on), n. [= F. ridhi-
UUon = Sp. redhibidon = Pg. redhiUcSo = It.
redibizione, < L. redhibiUo{n-), a taking back,
the giving or receiving back of a damaged ar-
ticle sold, < redhibere, give back, return, < red-,
back, -t- habere, have : see habit] In law, an
action by a buyer to annul the sale of a mov-
able and oblige the seller to take it back be-
cause of a defect or of some deceit. Also re-
hibition.
redhibitory
redhibitory (red-hib'i-to-ri), a. [= OP. red-
hibitoire, ¥. rMhibitoire = Sp. Pg. recOiiUtono =
It. redibitorio, < LL. redhibitorim, < L. redhibere,
give back, return: see redhibition.^ In law,
pertaining to redhibition. Also rehibitory.
redhorn (red'hdm), n. An insect of the fam-
ily ShodoceridsB.
rea-horse (red'h6rs), n. 1. The common
white or lake sucker, a catostomoid fish, Moxo-
stoma nMorolepidotum, or any other of the
same genus; a stone-roller or white mullet.
The golden red-horse is M. aureolum. The
long-tailed red-horse is M. anisurum. — 2. The
red-drum, Seisenops ocellatus. See cut under
redfish. [Florida and Gulf States.]
red-hot (red'hot), a. 1. Ked with heat; heat-
ed to redness: as, red-hot iron; red-hot balls.
Hence — 2. Extreme; violent; ardent: as, a
red-hot political speech. [Slang.] —Red-hot
poker. Same as flame-flmiier.—'Re&-bOt diot, cannon-
balla heated to redness and fired at shipping, magazines,
wooden buildings, etc. , to combine destaiction by flre with
battering by concussion.
red-humped (red'humpt), a. Having a red
hump : noting a bombyeid moth of the genus
Nbtodonta: as, the red-humped prominent, N.
eonainna. See cut under Notodonta.
redit, a. A Middle English form of ready.
redia (re'di-a), n.; pi. rediie (-e). [NL., so
called after Medi, an Italian naturalist.] The
second larval stage of some fluke-worms or
Trematoda, &sIHstoma, intervening between the
condition of the ciliated embryo and the more
advanced form known as eerearia. a redia is a
sporooyst, containing the germs of other redia, which
eventually develop into cercariee. The redia of Distoma
is also known as km^s yellow worm. See cercana (with
cut) and Dietmna.
From each ovum [ot Digtoma] issues a ciliated larva,
showing the rudiments of ... a Sedia. The perfect
Redia . . . bursts, and these new zooids [cercarise] are set
free, . . . Several generations of Bedix may intervene
between the third and fourth stages ; or the mature ani-
mal may appear at the close of this stage, having under-
gone no Cercarian metamorphosis.
Hvaley, Anat. Invert., p. 180.
redient (re'di-ent), a. [< L. redien{t-)s, ppr. of
redire, go bac£, return, < red-, back, + ire, go :
see iieri.'] Ketuming. E. H. Smith. [Bare.]
redifferentiate (re-dif-e-ren'shi-at), V. i. [< re-
+ differentiate."] To difterentiate a differential
or differential coefficient.
redifferentiation (re-dif-e-ren-shi-a'shgn), n.
[< re- + differentiation.'] " The differentiation
of a result of differentiation.
redigest (re-di-jesf), v. t. [< re- + digest, v.]
To digest or reduce to form a second time.
redingkingt, n. [ME. redyngkynge, prob. erro-
neously for "redyngynge, lit. 'riding-man,' <
*redyng, for ridyng, riding, + -ynge, E. -mg^, in-
dicating a dependent. Cf . AS. radmiht, E. as if
*roadknight, one of " certain seruitours who held
their lands by seruing their lord on horseback "
(Minsheu, under rodmights, radhnights).] One
of a class of feudal retainers ; a lackey.
Keynald the reue, and redyngkifnges menye,
Munde the mylnere, and meny mo othere.
Piers Ploumum (C), ill. 112.
redingote (red'ing-got), n. [= Sp. redingote,
< F. rSdingote, a corruption of E. riding-coat.]
1. A double-breasted outside coat with long
plain skirts not cut away at the front. — 2. A
similar garment for women, worn either as a
wrap or as part of the house dress, frequently
cut away at the front.
The existing redingote, which has been fashionable for
the last few years, and is highly popular just now, is a
garment of silk, plush, or cloth, cut somewhat after the
manner of a gentleman's tail-coat^ richly trimmed, and
adorned with very large buttons.
FartniglMy Rev., N. S., XUL 287.
redingtonite (red'ing-ton-it), n. [< Redington
+ -jfe2.] A hydrous chromium sulphate, oc-
curring in fibrous masses having a pale-pur-
ple color. It is found at the Reiungton mine,
Knoxville district, California.
red-ink plant. See Phytolacca.
redintegrate (re-din'tf-grat), v. t.; pret. and
pp. redintegrated, ppr,' redintegrating. [< L.
redintegratus, pp. of redintegrare (> It. redinte-
grare = Pg. redintegra/r), restore, make whole
again, < redr, again, + integrare, make whole :
see integrate. Ct. reintegrate.] To bring back
to an integral condition ; recombine or recon-
struct; renew; restore to a perfect state.
BedinOegrate the fame first of your house,
Bestore your ladyship's quiet.
B. Jonimn, Magnetick Lady, iv. 2.
Christendom should be no longer rent in pieces, but
would be rediiitegrated in a new pentecost.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), 11. 304.
5021
Cut off the legs, the tail, the jaws [of the newt], sepa-
rately or all together, and . . . theseparts not on^ grow
again, but the redirUegraled limb is formed on the same
type as those which were lost.
Huxley, lay Sermons, p. 261.
redintegrate (re-din'tf-grat), a. [< redinte-
gratCyV.] Renewed; restored to wholeness or
a perfect state.
The ignorances and prevarications and partial uholl-
tions of the natural law might be cured and restored, and
by the dispersion of prejudices the state of natural reason
be redintegrate. Jer. Taylor, Great Exemplar, Fref., p. 11.
redintegration (re-din-tf-gra'shon), n. [< F.
redintegration = Pg. redintegragao = It. reditu
tegraeione, < L. redintegraUo{n-), restoration,
renewal, < redintegrare, pp. redintegratus, re-
store, renew: see redintegrate. Cf. reintegra-
tion.] 1. The act or process of redintegrating;
recombination, restoration, or reconstruction;
restoration to a whole or sound state.
Let us all study first the redinlegraiion of that body of
which Christ Jesus hath declared himself to be the head.
Donne, Sermons, zxii.
This rediTUegration, or renewing of us into the first con-
dition, is . . . called repentance.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), 1. 181.
They . . . absurdly commemorated the redintegration
of his natural body by mutilating and dividing his mysti-
caL Decay qf Christian Piety.
2. In chem., the restoration of any mixed body
or matter to its former nature and constitution,
— 3. In psychol., the law that those elements
which have previously been combined as parts
of a single mental state tend to recall or sug-
gest one another — a term adopted by many
psychologists to express phenomena of mental
association.
redirect (re-di-rekt'), V. t. [< re- + direct.] To
direct again or anew : as, the parcel was sent
to Boston and there redirected to Cambridge.
redirect (re-di-rekt'), a. [< re- + direct.]
Direct a second time : used only in the legal
phrase redirect examination (which see, under
examination, 2).
redisburse (re-dis-bfers'), v. t. [Early mod. E.
also redisbourse; < re- + disburse.] To repay
or refund.
But when the fioud is spent, then backe againe.
His borrowed waters f orst to redisbourse,
He sends the sea his owne with double gaine.
And tribute eke withall, as to his Soveraine.
Spenser, V. Q., IV. ill. 27.
rediscover (re-dis-kuv'6r), V. t. [< re- + dis-
cover.] To discover again or afresh.
rediscovery (re-dis-kuv'6r-i), n. [< re- + dis-
covery.] A discovering again or afresh: as,
the rediscovery of Encke's comet.
redispose (re-dis-poz'), v. t. [< re- H- dispose.]
To dispose or adjust again.
redisposition (re-dis-po-zish'gn), n. [< redis-
pose + -iUon.] The act or process of redis-
posing; a disposing afresh or anew; a rear-
rangement.
redisseize (re-dis-sez'), v. t. [< re- + disseize.]
In law, to disseize anew or a second time.
redisseizin (re-dis-se'zin), n. [< re- + dis-
seizin.] In law, a writ to recover seizin of
lands or tenements against a redisseizor.
redisseizor (re-dis-se'zor), n. [< re- + dis-
seizor.] A person who disseizes lands or tene-
ments a second time, or after a recovery of the
same from him in an action of novel disseizin.
redissollltion (re-dis-o-lii'shon), n. [< re- +
dissolution,.] A dissolving again or anew; a
second dissolution.
After the protoplasm in a tentacle has been aggregated,
its redissolvtion always begins in the lower part.
Danoin, Insectiv. Plants, p. 243.
redissolve (re-di-zolv' ), «. *. [= F. redissoudre;
as re- + dissolve.] To dissolve again.
The protoplasm last aggregated is first redisaolved.
Darwin, Insectiv. Plants, p. 243.
redistribute (re-dis-trib'ut), v. t. [< re- + dis-
tribute. Cf. F. redistribuer, redistnbute.] To
distribute again; deal back; apportion afresh.
redistribution (re-dis-tri-bu'shon), n. [= F.
redistribution; as re- + distribuU(m.] A dealing
back; a second or new distribution.
A state of raised molecular vihration is favourable to
those re-distributions ot matter and motion which consti-
tute Evolution. H. Spemser, Prin. of Biol., § 18.
We have said that in our opinion the redistribution of
seats [see the phrase below] formed an essentiid paort of
reform. Oladstone.
Redistribution of Seats Act, an English statute of 1885
(48 and 49 Vict., c 23) making extensive changes in the
subdivision of the country into districts entitled to elect
members of Parliament, mostly with the object of equal-
izing them as regards the number of electors.
red-morocco
redistrict (re-dls'trikt), v. t. [< re- + district.]
To divide or apportion again, as a State, into
districts or other electoral units. [U. S.]
redistricting (re-dis'trik-ting), n. [Verbal n.
of redistrict, v.] The act or practice of rear-
ranging (a State or other territory) into new
electoral districts. [U. S.]
redition (rf-dish'on), n. [< L. reditio(n-), a re-
turning, going or coming back, < redire, pp. re-
ditus, go or come back, return: see redient.]
The act of going back; return. [Bare.]
Address suite to my mother, that her meane
May make the day of your redition seene.
Cliapman, Odyssey, vL
redivide (re-di-vid'), v.t. [< re- + divide.] To
divide again.
redivivedt (red-i-vivd'), a. [< L. redivivus, liv-
ing again (see redivivus), + -ed^.] Made to
live again; revived.
New-devised or redivived errours of opinion.
Bp. Ball, Revelation Unrevealed, § 11.
redivivus (red-i-vi'vus), a. [L., living again,
< red-(i-), again, + vimis, living : see vivid. Cf.
revive.] Alive again; renewed; restored.
The IN'apoleonic empire redivivus.
G. W. Curtis, Potiphar Papers.
redknees (red'nez), n. The water-pepper,
Polygonum Hydropiper. [Prov. Eng.]
red-lac (red'lak), n. The Japan wax-tree, Rhus
succedanea. See waa-tree.
red-legged (red'leg'ed or -legd), a. Having red
legs or feet, as a bird: specmeally noting sev-
eral birds — Bed-legged crow. See crowz.—Red-
legged gull, the black-headed gull, Chrmcocephalus ridi-
bundus. [Local, British.]— Ked-legged ham-beetle.
See hamrbeetle.— 'Red-legged Uttlwake, Rissa brevi.
rostris, a three-toed gull of the North Pacific, having
coral-red legs.— Bed-legged mew. Same as redshank, S.
—Bed-legged partridge, Caccabis r^/a. —Bed-legged
plover. See plover.
redlegs (red'legz),w. l. In ornith.-. (a) The red-
legged partridge. (6) The red-legged plover
or tumstone, StrepsiUis interpres. [Massachu-
setts.] (c) The purple sandpiper, Tringa mari-
ttma. [Caermarthen.] (ti) The redshank. —
2. In bot., the bistort. Polygonum Bistorta, so
named from the redness of its stems. The
name is applied also to some other species of
Polygonum. [Prov. Eng.]
redlest, a. See redeless.
red-letter (red'tet-'Sr), a. Having red letters ;
marked by red letters.— Bed-letter day. (o) Ecdes.,
one of the more important church festivals : so called be-
cause formerly marked in the calendar of the Book of
Common Prayer (as still in some copies, and in Eoman
Catholic missals and breviaries) by red-letter characters.
Only the red-letter days have special services provided for
them in the Prayer-book. Opposed to Uack-Utter day.
The Calendar was crowded with Bed-Letter Days, nom-
inally indeed consecrated to Saints ; but which, by the en-
couragement of Idleness and Dissipation ot Manners, gave
every kind of countenance to Sinners.
Bourne's Pop. Antiq. (1777), p. viiL
The red-letter days now become, to all intents and pur-
poses, dead-letter days. Lamb, Oxford in the Vacation.
Hence — (6) A fortunate or auspicious day.
It is the old girl's birthday ; and that is the greatest holi-
day and reddest-letter day in Mr. Bagnet's c^endar.
Dickens, Bleak House, xlix.
redlicheti adv. A Middle English form of rathly.
red-litten (red'lif'n), a. [< red^ + lit, pp. of
lights, Hitten, an extended form with suffix -enl,
after the analogy of hidden.] Exhibiting a red
light or illumination. [Eare.]
And travellers, now, within that valley.
Through the red-litten windows see
Vast forms, that move fantastically
To a discordant melody.
Poe, Haunted Palace.
red-looked (red'lukt), a. Having a red look;
causing or indicated by a red face. [Kare.]
Let my tongue blister.
And never to my red-look'd anger be
The trumpet any more. Shak., W. T., il. 2. 34.
red-louse (red'lous), «. See louse^ («). »
redly (red'li), ads. i< redi- + -ly'^.] "With red-
ness; with a red color or glow.
red-meld (red'mad), a. [< redi + mad^. Cf.
redwood^.] Quite mad. Salliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
redman (red'man), ».; pi. redmen (-men). A
holoeentroid fish, Holocentrus ascensionis, of a
brilliant reddish color. [St. Thomas, "W. I.]
red-metal (red'mefal), n. A name given to
several metallic compounds, mostly alloys of
copper, used in modem silverware; also, a
Japanese alloy much used in decorative metal-
work.
red-morocco (red'mo-rok'6), n. The plant
pheasant's-eye, Adoriis autumnalis: so called
from its red petals.
red-morocco
It is one of those plants which are annually cried about
our streets under the name Red Morocco.
Curtis, Flora Londinensis.
redmouth. (red'moiith), n, and a. I. n. A fish
of the genus Hmmulon for Diabasis) ; a grunt.
Also called redgullet. See Hsemulon, and out
under grunt.
II. a. Having a red mouth or lips; red-
mouthed : as, the redmouth buffalo-fish, Ictiobus
iubalus. J). S. Jordan.
red-necked (red'nekt), a. Having a red neck.
— Red-necked footman, IMhosia rubncoUis, a British
moth.— Red-necked grebe, Podiceps griteigena or P.
rubricoUis, one ol the largest species of the family.— Red-
necked phalarope, Ldbipes hyperboreue, the northern
phalarope.
redness (red'nes), n. [< ME. rednesse, rednes,
< AS. reddness, reddnyss, reddnes, redness, < redd,
red: see recP-.'] The quality of being red; a
red color.
There was a pretty redness in his lip.
Shak., As you Lilte it, iii. S. 120.
red-nose (red'noz), a. Same as redrnosed.
The red-nose innkeeper of Daventry.
Sha^t., 1 Hen. IV., iv. 2. 51.
red-nosed (red'nozd), a. 1. Having a red nose,
asatoper. — 2. Having a red beak: as,thered-
rwsed a,-a}i^et,Simorhynchuspygmseus, also called
whiskered auklet.
redo (re-do'), v, t. [< re- + dol.] To do over
again.
Prodigality and luxury are no new crimes, and ... we
doe but re-doe old vices. Sandys, Travailes, p. 204.
red-oak (red'ok), n, 1. An oak-tree, Querous
rubra, common in eastern North America,
there extending further north than any other
species, its height is from YD to 90 feet. Its wood is
of a light-brown or red color, heavy, hard, strong, and
coarse-grained, now much employed for clapboards and
cooperage, and to some extent for inside finish. A Texan
variety is smaller, with the wood much closer-grained.
Also 6!ac*-oai.
2. Another American species, Q. fcHcata, the
Spanish oak. See Spanish.
redolence (red 'o -lens), n. [OF. redolence, <
redolent, redolent: see redolent.^ The state of
being redolent; sweetness of scent; fragrance;
perfume.
We have all the redolence of the perfumes we bum upon
his altars. "
=Syn. See smell.
redolency (red'o-len-si), n. [As redolence (see
-cy).] Same as redolence.
Their flowers attract spiders with their redolency.
Mortimer.
redolent (red'o-lent), a. [< ME. redolent, < OP.
redolent = It. redblente, < L. redolen{t-)s, ppr. of
redolere (> It. redolere, OF. redoler), emit odor,
be redolent, < red-, again, + olere, be odorous :
see olid.'] Having or diffusing a sweet scent;
giving out an odor; odorous; smelling; fra-
grant: often with of.
In this graue full derke nowe is her bowre.
That by her lyf e was sweete and redolent.
Fabyan, Chron., I. ccxzxvili.
Thy love exceUs the joy of wine ;
Thy odours, O how redolent!
Sandys, Paraphrase of Song of Solomon, L
, redolent of joy and youth.
Gray, r
" " , Prospect of Eton College.
redoleutly (red'o-lent-li), adv. In a redolent
manner; fragrantly.
redondilla (red-on-de'lyS), n. [< Sp. redondilla
(= Pg. redondilha), a roundel or roundelay, dim.
of redondo, round, < L. rotvmdus, round: see
rotund, and cf . round, roundel, roundelay, ron-
deau.] A form of versification formerly used
in the south of Europe, consisting of a union
of verses of four, six, and eight syllables, of
which generally the first rimed with the fourth
and the second with the third. At a later period
verses of six and eight syllables in general, in Spanish and
Portuguese poetry, were called redondUlas, whether they
made perfect rimes or assonances only. These became
common in the dramatic poetry of Spain.
redorse (re-d6rs' ), n. [A reduction of reredorse,
as if < re- + dorse^.] The back or reverse
side of a dorsal or dorse. See quotation under
dorse^, 2.
redoss (re-dos'), n. Same as redorse.
redouble (re-dub'l), v. [< OF. (and F. ) redoubler
= Sp. redoilar = Pg. redobrar = It. raddoppiare,
< ]VUi. reduplicare, redouble, double, < L. re-,
again, + dupUcare, double: see double, v. Cf.
reduplicate.] I. trans. 1. To double again or
repeatedly; multiply; repeat often.
So they
Doubly redoiibled strokes upon the foe.
Shak., Macbeth, L 2. 38.
5022
Often tymes the omittynge of correction redouMeth a
trespaca .Sir T. Mlyot, The Governour, iii. 21.
2. To increase by repeated or continued addi-
tions.
And .Etna rages with redoubled heat.
Addison, tr. of Ovid's Metamorpb.
Each new loss redoubles all the old.
Lowell, Kightwatches.
3t. To repeat in return.
So ended she ; and all the rest around
To her redoubled that her undersong. Spemer.
Redoubled interval, in music, same as compound inter-
val. See interval, 6. , ,
II. intrans. To become twice as much; be
repeated; become greatly or repeatedly in-
creased.
Envy ever redovbleth from speech and fame.
Bacon, Envy (ed. 1887), p. 92.
Peal upon peal redoubling all around.
Cmeper, Truth, 1. 240.
redoubtl (re-douf), v. t. [< ME. redouten, re-
dowten, < Of', redouter, redoter, reduter, later re-
doiibter, F. redouter (= Pr. redoptar = It. ridot-
tare), fear, < re- + douter, fear: see doubt, v.]
1. To fear; dread. [Obsolete or arohaie.]
Sholde I thanne redowte my blame?
Chaucer, Boethius, 1. prose 3.
The more superstitious crossed themselves on my a^-
f roach ; ... it began at length to dawn iipon me that if
was thus redoubted it was because I had stayed at the
residencia. H. L. Steiieneon, Olalla.
2t. To venerate ; honor.
Sholde thilke honour maken hym worshipful and re-
dowted of straunge folk? Chaucer, Boethius, ilL prose 4.
redoubt^, n. See redout^.
redoubtable (re-dou'ta-bl), a. [Also redouta-
ble; < ME. red6utable,"redowtable, < OF. redou-
table, redotable, later redoubtable, F. redouta-
Me (= Pr. redaptable), feared, redoubtable, <
redouter, redoubter, fear: see redoubt^.] 1.
That is to be dreaded; formidable; terrible:
as, a redoubtable hero; hence, valiant: often
used in irony or burlesque.
The Queen growing more redoubtable and famous by the
Overthrow of the Fleet of Eighty eight.
Howell, Letters, I. vL 3.
The enterprising Mr. lintot, the redoubtable rival of Mr.
Tonson, overtook me. Pope, To Earl of Burlington, 1716.
This is a tough point, shrewd, redovbtable;
Because we have to supplicate the judge
Shall overlook wrong done the judgment-seat.
Browning, King and Book, IT. 104.
2t. Worthy of reverence.
Redowtable by honour and strong of power,
Chaucer, Boethius, iv. prose 5.
redoubted (re-dou'ted), p. a. [ME. redouted;
< redoubt^ -t- -ed^.] Dreaded; formidable;
honored or respected on account of prowess ;
valiant; redoubtable.
Lord regent and redovMed Burgundy.
5&iJ:.,lHen. VI.,ii. 1. 8.
redoubting-f (re-dou'ting), n. [ME. redoutyng ;
verbal n. of redoubt\ v.] Honor; reverence;
celebration.
"With sotyl pencil depeynted was this storie
In redoutyng of Mars and of his glorie.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1192.
redound (re-dound'), V. i. [< OP. redonder, ren-
donder, P. redonder, rSdonder = Pr. redondar =
Sp. Pg. redundar = It. ridondare, < L. redun-
dare, overflow, abound, < red-, again, back, +
undare, surge, flow, abound, < unda, a wave:
see red- and ound, and cf . abound, surround. Cf .
redundant.] If. To overflow; be redundant;
be in excess ; remain over and above.
For every dram of bony therein found
A pound of gall doth over it redound.
T, F. Q., IV. X. 1.
redpoll
redound (rf-dound'), n. [< redound, v.] 1,
The coming back, as of consequence or effect;
result; reflection; return.
Not without redound
Of use and glory to yourselves ye come,
The flrstfruits of the stranger.
Tennyson, Princess, 11.
2. Reverberation ; echo. [Rare.] Imp. Diet.
redoundingt (re-doun'ding), n. [Verbal n. of
redound, v.] Reverberation; resounding.
Such as were next to the abby herde clerely the re-
doundynge of the Naueroyse, for, as they went, their bar.
neys clatteredde and made some noyse.
Bemers, tr. of Froissart's Chron., I. clxxxv.
redourt, reddourf, n. [< ME. redour, redur,
also raddour, reddour, reddur, < OP. rador, ra-
dour, radeur, violence, rapidity, < rade, < L.
rapidus, rapid (see rapid) ; prob. confused also
with raidour, raideur, roideur, stiffness, < L. rt-
S'idMS, stiff, rigid: see rigid.] Violence; rough-
ness.
His londes, his legemen, out of lyue broght ;
His suster into seruage & to syn put ;
And other redurs full ryf e in his rewme dyd.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1806.
But trewely no fora of thi reddour
To hym that over hymseU hath the maystrye.
Chaucer, Fortune, L 14.
redout^t, "• See redoubt^.
redout^, redoubt^ (re-douf), n. [The form re-
doubt is erroneous, due to confusion with re-
doubt^ and redoubtable; -prop, redout (= D. G.
redoute = Sw. redutt = Dan. redute), iormeTly
also reduit (and, after L., reduct) ; < OF. reduit,
m., reduite, t., P. reduit, also (fem. It.) redoute
= Sp. reducto = Pg. reducto, reduto = It. ridotto,
a retreat, refuge, redout, < ML. reductus (> E.
reduct), a retreat, refuge, redout, < L. redueere,
bring back: see reduce.] In fort., a general
name for nearly every class of works wholly in-
closed and undefended by reentering or flank-
ing angles. The word is, however, most generallyused
for a small inclosed work of vai'ious form— polygonal,
square, triangular, or even circular— serving mainly as a
temporary fleld-work. The name is also given to a cen-
tral or retired work constructed within another, to serve
as a place of retreat for the defenders : in this sense gen-
erally reduit. Redouts ai'e usually provided with para-
pet, ditch, scarps, banquette, etc., as in regular forti-
fication. They are especially useful in fortifying the
tops of hills, in commanding passes, or in feeling the
way through a hostile or wooded country.— Demilune
redout, a redout placed within the demilune. = Syn. See
fortification.
redout^ (re-douf), a. [< OF. reduit, < L. reduc-
tus, brought back, pp. of redueere, bring back:
see reduce. Cf . redout?, n.] In her., bent in
many angles : noting a cross with hooked ex-
tremities, in the form of the fylfot or swastika.
redoutable, a. See redoubtable.
redowa (red'o-a), n. [< P. redowa, < Bohem.
rejdowdlc, r^dowachJca, the dance so called, <
r^dowaU, turn, turn around, bustle about.] 1.
A Bohemian dance, which has two forms — the
rejdowdk, resembling the waltz or the mazurka,
and the r^dowachJca, resembling the polka. —
2. Music for such a dance or in its rhythm,
which is properly triple and quick, but m an-
other form is duple, and readily assimilated to
that of the polka.
red-paidle, «. The lumpsuoker. [Scotch.]
redpoll (red'pol), n. [Also redpole : so called
from the red color on the head ; < red^ + poll'-.]
1. A small fringilline bird of the genus JEgio-
thus {or AcantMs), the male of which has a crim-
The gates wide open stood, . . . and, like a furnace month.
Cast forth redounding smolse and ruddy flame.
MfUion, P. L., ii. 889.
2. To be sent, rolled, or driven back; roll or
flow back, as a wave ; rebound.
Indeed, I never yet took box o' th' ear.
But it redounded, I must needs say so.
F%etcher (and anotherT), Nice Valour, Iv. 1.
The evil, soon
Driven back, redounded as a flood on those
From whom it sprung. MUton, P. L., vii. 67.
3. To conduce; result; turn out; have effect.
I will, my lord; and doubt not so to deal
As all things shall redound unto your good.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 9. 47.
Whenever he imagines the smallest advantage will re-
dound to one of his foot-boys by any new oppression of
me and my whole family and estate, he never disputeth
it a moment. Suifl, Story of th^ Injured Lady.
He thinks it will redmmd to his reputation.
Goldsmith, Criticisms.
Redpoll i,jEgiothus linaria),
son poll, a rosy-red breast, and the plumage
streaked with flaxen and dusky brown and
white. The bill is small, conic-acute, with a nasal ruff ;
the wings are pointed ; the tall is emarginate. Several
species inhabit the arctic and north temperate regions of
Europe, Asia, and America. The common redpou is -lE.
Unana ; the mealy redpoll is j®. eanescens; the American
mealy redpoll is yE. exUipee,
redpoll
2. The red-polled warbler, or palm-'warbler, of
North America, Dendroeca palmarum, having a
chestnut-red poU: more fully called yellow redr
poll. See palm-warbler.
red-polled (red'pold), a. Having a red poll, or
the top of the head red.
redraft (re-draft'), V. t. [< re- + draft.'] To
draft or draw anew.
redraft (re-draff), ». [,< redraft, v.] 1. A sec-
ond draft or copy.— 2. A new bill of exchange
which the holder of a protested bUl draws on
the drawer or indorsers, by which he reimburses
to himself the amount of the protested bill with
costs and charges.
redraw (re-dra'), v. [< re- + draw.'] I. trans.
To draw again ; make a second draft or copy of.
II. intrans. In com., to draw a new bill of ex-
change to meet another bill of the same amount,
or, as the holder of a protested bill, on the draw-
er or indorser.
redress^ (re-dres'), v. [< ME. redressen, < OP.
redrescer, redrecer, redrecier, redresser, F. re-
dresser, set up again, straighten, < re-, again, 4-
dresser, direct, dress: see dress.] I. trans. If.
To set up or upright; make erect; reerect.
Bight as floures, thorgh the cold at njghte
Yclosed, Btoupen on her stalkes lowe,
Sedressen hem agein the Bonne brighte.
Clwitcer, iToilas, ii. 969.
2. To set right again; restore; amend; mend.
Sedreeie me, mooder, and me chastise ;
For certeynly my Faderes chastisinge,
That dai I nought abiden in no wise.
Chaucer, A. B. C, L 129.
As broken glass no cement can redress,
So beauty blemish'd once 's for ever lost.
ShaJc, Pass. Pilgrim, 1. 178.
In yonder spring of roses intermix'd
With myrtle, find what to red/ress till noon.
MUton, P. Ii., ix. 219.
3. To put right, as a wrong; remedy; repair,
relieve against, as an injury : as, to redress in-
juries ; to redress grievances. See redress''-, n., 2.
And redresse vs the doma^e that he don has.
By Paris his proude son, in our prise londis.
Destruelion of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4917.
Orisouns or preyers is for to seyn a pitous wyl of herte
that redresieth it in God and expresseth it by word out-
ward to remoeven harmes. Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
The state of this unconstant world . , . bringeth forth
daily such new evils as must of necessity by new reme-
dies be redrest Hooker, Eccles. Polity, vl. 2.
Their duty
And ready service shall redress their needs.
Not prating what they would be.
Fletcher, Valentinian, ii. 3.
He who best knows how to keep his necessities private
is the most likely person to have them redressed.
Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 3.
4. To relieve of anything unjust or oppressive ;
bestow relief upon ; compensate ; make amends
to.
Sedres mans sowle from alle mysery.
That he may enter the eternal glorye.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Fumivall), p. 82.
Will Gaul or Muscovite redress ye?
Byron, ChUde Harold, iL 76.
Il.t intrans. To rise again; reerect one's
self.
Tet like the valiant Palme they did sustaine
Their peisant weighty redressing vp againe.
Budixm, tr. of Du Bartas's Judith, ii.
redress^ (re-dres'), n. [< OF. redresse, redresce,
redrece, redress; from the verb: see redress^,
v.] If. A setting right again; a putting into
proper order; amendment;, reformation.
The redresse of boistrous & stnrdie courages by perswa-
sion. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 19.
The father, with sharpe rebukes sesoned with louing
lookes, causeth a redresse and amendment in his childe.
Lyly, Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 150.
For us the more necessary is a speedy redress of our-
selves. Booker.
2. Deliverance from wrong, injury, or oppres-
sion; removal of grievances or oppressive bur-
dens; undoing of wrong; reparation; indem-
nification. In its most general sense redress includes
whatever relief can be afforded against injustice, whether
by putting an end to it, by compensation in damages, by
punishing the wrong-doer, or otherwise.
Is not the swoord the most violent redress that may be
used for any evill? Spenser, State of Ireland.
Be factious for redress of all these griefs.
Shak., J. C, L 3. 118.
Fair majesty, the refuge and redress
Of those whom fate pursues and wants oppress.
Dryden, .£neid, i. 838.
Think not
But that there is redress where there is wrong,
Se we are bold enough to seize it.
Shelley, The Cenci, iii. 1.
Bing in redress to all mankind.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, cvi.
5023
To every one o" my grievances law gave
Redress. Brouming, King and Book, L 237.
=Syn. 2. Belief, amends, compensation.
redress^ (re-dres'), v. t. [< re- + dress.] To
dress again, in any sense: as, to redress furni-
ture or leather ; to redress a wound.
redressal (re-dres'al), n. [< redress^ + -al.]
The act of redressing. Imp. Diet.
redresser (re-dres'6r), n. One who gives re-
dress.
Don Quixote of the Mancba, the righter of wrongs, the
redresser of injuries.
ShelUm, Don Quixote, iv. 25. {JjiMam.)
redressible (rf-dres'i-bl), a. [< redress^-'r-iyie^
Capable of being redressed. Imp. Diet.
redressive (re-dres'iv), a. [< redress^ + -ive.]
AiEording redress ; giving relief . [Eare.]
Can I forget the generous band
who, touch 'd with human woe, redressive search'd
Into the horrors of the gloomy jail?
Thomson, Winter, L 860.
redressless (rf-dres'les), a. [< redress^ + -less.]
Without redress or amendment ; without relief.
redressment (re-dres'ment), n. [< OF. redrece-
ment, redressertient, F. redressement; as redress
+ ^ment.] Redress; the act of redressing.
red-ribbon (red'rib"on), n. The band-fish.
redrive (re-driv'), v\ t. [< re- + drive.] To
drive back; drive again. Soufhey.
red-roan (red'ron), a. See roan^.
red-robin (red'rob"in), n. The red-rust, P«cci-
nia graminis. [Eng.j
redroot (red'rot), n. 1. An American shrub,
Ceanothiis Amerieanus, the New Jersey tea.
The stems are from 1 to 3 feet high from a dark-red root,
the leaves ovate or oblong-ovate, the smfdl white flowers
gathered in rather pretty dense clusters at the ends of
leafy shoots. The name is more or less extended to other
members of the genus.
2. A herbaceous plant, Laclmanthes tinctoria,
of the HsBmodoracese, or bloodwort family. It
grows in wet sandy places in the eastern United States
near the coast. It has a simple stem with sword-shaped
leaves mostly from near the base, and woolly flowers, yel-
lowwlthin, crowded in adense compound cyme. Theroot
is red, and has been used in dyeing. Upon authority ad-
duced by Darwin ("Origin of Species," ch. i.), the root of
this plant is fatally poisonous to white pigs which eat it,
but not to black ; the statement, however, requires con-
firmation. Also paintroot.
3. The alkanet, Alkanna tinctoria. — 4. One of
the pigweeds, Amarantus retroflexus. [TJ. S.]
redruthite (red'rSth-it), n. [< Bedruth, in Corn-
wall, England, -I- -ite^.j Copper-glance: same
as chalcocite.
redsear (red'ser), v. i. [< red + sear (?).]
To break or crack when too hot, as iron under
the hammer : a word used by workmen. Also
redshare.
red-seed (red'sed), to. Small crustaceans, as os-
tracodes, oopepods, etc., which float on the sur-
face of the sea, and upon which mackerel, men-
haden, etc., feed. Some red-seed is said to in-
jure the fish.
red-shafted (red'shaf'ted), a. Having red
shafts of the wing- and tail-feathers : specifically
applied to Colaptes mexicanus, the red-shafted
woodpecker or Mexican flicker, related to the
common flicker or yellow-shafted woodpecker.
It abounds in western North America.
redshank (red'shangk), n. [< redi + s'hank.]
X. IHa.et.eldiS.axe, Tardus pilaris. [Local, Eng.]
— 2. A wading bird of the family Scol<ypacidse
and genus Totanus, having red shanks. The
common redshank is T. caiidris, about 11 inches long, com-
redstart
Irish, in allusion to their dress leaving the legs
exposed.
Mamertinus . . . dooth note the Redshanks and the
Irish (which are properlie the Scots) to be the onlie enimies
of our nation.
Harrison, Descrip. of Britain, p. 6 (Holinshed's Chron., h).
And when the Redshanks on the borders by
Incursions made, and rang'd in battell stood
To beare his charge, from field he made them file.
Where flshie Moine [in Galway] did blush with crimson
blood. Hir. for Mags. (England's Eliza, st. 106).
They lay upon the ground covered with skins, as the
red-shanks do on heather. Burton, Anat. of MeL, p. 627.
Though all the Scottish hinds would not bear to be com-
pared with those of the rich counties of South Britain, they
would stand very well in competition with the peasants of
France, Italy, and Savoy, not to mention the mountaineers
of Wales, and the red-shanks of Ireland.
Smollett, Humphrey Clinker, iL 41. (Davies.)
redshanks (red'shangks), n. 1. Sstme as herb-
robert. — 2. See Polygonum.
redshare (red'shar), V. i. A variant of redsear.
red-short (red'shdrt), a. Noting iron or steel
when it is of such a character that it is brittle
at a red heat.
The former substance [sulphur] rendering the steel
more or less brittle when hot {^ed-short or ho1>short).
Encyc. Brit., XHX 283.
red-shortness (red'shdrt-'nes), n. In metal.,
the quality or state of being red-short.
Red-shortness is often the result of the presence of an
undue proportion of sulphur in the metal.
W. H. Greenwood, Steel and Iron, p. 10.
The cold-shortness or red-shortness of iron or steel is
due principally to an admixture of oxide of iron.
Sd. Amer., N. S., LX 408.
red-shouldered (red'shoFderd), a. Having
the "shoulder" — that is, the carpal angle or
bend of the wing — red, as a bird. The red-shoul-
dered blackbird is Agelsevs gvbemaJbor, common in west-
em North America, where it replaces to some extent the
common red-winged blackbird, from which it differs in
having the scarlet patch on the wing not bordered with
buff. The red-shoiUdered buzzard is Bvleo lineatus, one
of the commonest of the large hawks of the United States,
having the lesser wing-coverts reddish when adult. —
Bed-ShOUldOTed ^cont, the adult red-shouldered buz-
zard.
red-sided (red'si'^ded), a. Having red on the
sides: specificallynotingthe red-winged thrush,
Turdus iliacus.
redsides (red'sidz), n. A small cyprinoid fish,
Notropis or Lythrurus ardens, common in the
streams of the southern United States. Also
called redfin.
redskin (red'sMn), n. A Bed Indian; a North
American Indian,
The Virginia frontiersmen were angry with the Penn-
sylvania traders for selling rifles and powder to the red-
skins. The Atlantic, LXIV. 819.
red-spider (red'spi'^dfer), n. A small red mite
or acarine, Tetranychtis telarius, formerly called
Acarus telarius, now placed in the family Tetra-
nycMdee : found in conservatories.
red-staff (red'staf ), «. A millers' straight-edge,
used in dressing millstones. The true edge, red-
dened by ocher, is gently rubbed on the stone, and the
projecting points are thus detected, even when the irregu-
larity of surface is very minute.
redstart (red'start), n. [< red^ + starts.]
One of several entirely different birds which
have the tail more or less red. (a) A small sylviine
bird, Rulicilla phcenicura, of Europe, Asia, and Africa, re-
Redshank {Totanus calidris').
mon in many parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The spot-
ted ^'edshanlc, T. fuscns, is a related species of similar dis-
tribution. Compare greeraharUe, yellowshank.
3. The hooded or black-headed guU, Chroico-
cephalus ridibundus : so called from its red legs :
more fully called redshank gull and red-legged
gull or mew. — 4. pi. A name given in contempt
to Scottish Highlanders, and formerly to native
European Redstart {Ruttcitla fkienicura),
lated to the redbreast and bluethroat. Also fretaH, red-
tail, etc. A similar species, R. titys or tithys, is known as
the blade redstart. (6) In the United State^ a fly-catching
warbler, Setophaga rvticUla^ of the family S^lvicdlidee
or WniotUtidse. The male is lustrous blue-black, with
white belly and vent, the sides of the breast, the lining of
the wings, and much of the extent of the wing- and tail-
feathers fiery orange or flame-color, the bill and feet
black. The female is mostly plain olivaceous, with the
parts which are orange in the male clear pale yellow.
The length is 5J inches, the extent 7|. This beautiful
bird abounds in woodland in eastern North America; it
is migratory and insectivorous, has a singular song, builds
redstart
American Redstart {Setophaga ruttciUa\
a neat nest in the fork of a branch, and lays four or five
eggs, which are white, speclded with shades of reddish
brown.— Blue-tliroated redstaxt. Same as UueOvraat.
redstreak (red'strek), re. 1. A sort of apple,
so called from the color of the skin.
The reditredk, of all cyder fruit, hath obtained the
preference.' Mortimer, Husbandry.
2. Cider pressed from redstreak apples.
Herefordshire redstreak made of rotten apples at the
Three Cranes, true Brunswick Mum brew'd at S. Eath-
erines. Character of a Coffee-htmee (1673), p. 3. (HaUiwell.)
redtail (red'tal), re. and a. I, re. 1. Same as
redstart (a). — 2. The red-tailed buzzard, Buteo
borealis, one of the commonest and largest
hawks of North America, when adult having
the upper side of the tail bright chestnut-red.
The plumage otherwise is very variable, not only with age,
but also according to geographical distribution, there be-
ing several varieties or local races in western parts of the
continent. It is commonly known as henrhawk or chicken-
hawk, and the young, without the red tail, is the white-
bremted hawk. The male is from 19 to 22 inches long, and
48 inches or more in spread of wing ; the female is 21 to
24 inches long, and spreads 66 inches. See cut under
Biiteo.
H. a. Having a red tail.
red-tape (red'tap'), a. [< red tape: see tape.l
Pertaming to or characterized by ofBcial rou-
tine or formality. See red tape, under tape.
Exposures by the press and criticisms In Parliament
leave no one in ignorance of the vices of red-tape routine.
H. Spencer, Man vs. State, p. 55.
We working men, when we do come out of the furnace,
come out not tinsel and papier rnach^, like those fops of
red-tape statesmen, but steel and granite.
Etngdey, Alton Locke, iv. (Davies.)
red-taped (red'tapf), a. [< red tape + -ed2.]
Same as red-tape. Nature, XLII. 106.
red-tapery (red'ta'pe-ri), re. [< red tape +
-ery.^ Same as red-tapism.
red-tapism (red'ta'pizm), re. [< red tape +
4sm,.1 Strict observance of official formalities ;
a system of vexatious or tedious official rou-
tine.
He at once showed . . . bow little he had of the ofilcial
element which is best described as red-tapdem.
T. W. Reid, Cabinet Portraits, p. 62.
He loudly denounces the Tchinovnik spirit — or, as we
should say, red-ta^ixm in all its forms.
D. M. WcUlace, Kussia, p. 261.
red-tapist (red'ta'pist), n. [< red tape + -ist.^
1. A clerk in a public office. Quarterly Rev. —
3. One who adheres strictly to forms and rou-
tine in official or other business.
You seem a smart ^onng fellow, but you must throw
over that stiff red-tapist of yours, and go with Public
Opinion and Myself. Btdwer, My Novel, x. 20. {Pavies.)
In no country Is the red-tapist so out of place as here.
Every calling is filled with bold, keen, subtle-witted men,
fertile in expedients and devices, who are perpetually in-
venting new ways of buying cheaply, underselling, or
attracting custom.
• W. Mathews, Getting on in the World, p. 99.
red-thighed (red'thid), a. Having or charac-
terized by red thighs.— Bed-thlghed locust. See
locnatX.
red-throated (red 'thro "ted), a. Having a
patch of red on the throat: as, the red-throated
diver, Colymhus or Vnnator septentrionalis.
red-thrush (red 'thrush), re. The redwing,
Tii/rdus iliacus.
red-tipped (red'tipt), a. Having the wings
tipped with red: as, the red-twped clearwing,
a British moth, Sesiaformiceejvrmis.
redtop (red'top), re. A kind of bent-grass,
Agrostis vulgaris (A. alba, var. vulgaris). The
Sjecies is common throughout the northern parts of the
Id World, and is thoroughly naturalized in America. It
is marked to the eye by its large light panicle of minute
spik-elets on delicate branches, which is of a reddish
hue. Other varieties, called ^orfn, white bent, etc., have a
whitish top and a longer ligule. Eedtop, at least in the
United States, is a highly valued pasture-grass, and is also
5024
sown for hay. It forms a fine turf, and is suitable for
lawns. Also called fine bent, finetop-grass, and herds-
grass. [IT. S.]— False redtop, the fowl meadow-grass,
Poa serotina, which has somewhat the aspect of redtop.—
Northern or mountain redtop, Agrostis exarata, a spe-
cies found from Wisconsin to the Pacific, aUied to tlje
common redtop, and giving promise of similar service ra
its own range.— Tall redtop, a tall reddish wiry grass,
Triodia cuprea, found in the united States.
red-tubs (red'tubz), n. The sapphirine gur-
nard, Trigla hirundo. [Local, Eng.]
redubt (re-dub'), v. t. piarly mod. E. also re-
doub; < 6f. redouber, redauber (also radauber,
radouber, P. radouber), repair, mend, fit, < re-,
again, + douber {adouber), mend, repair, etc. :
see dub^-.l To repair or make reparation for;
make amends for; requite.
Whiohe domage . . . neither with treasure ne with
powar can be redoubed.
Sir T. Myot, The Governour, ii. 14.
I doubte not by Goddes grace so honestly to redvibe all
thynges that have been amys.
Ellis, Literary Letters, p. 4.
O Gods, redubbe them vengeaunce inst.
Phaer, .^neid, vi.
Whether they [monks] will conform themselves gladly,
for the redvbbing of theirformer trespasses, to go to other
houses of their coat, where they shall be well received.
State Papers, I. 640, in R. W. Dixon's Hist. Church of
[Eng., vii., note.
redubbert (re-dub '6r), n. [Also redubbor; <
OF. *red(yiAeur, radoubeur, one who mends or
repairs a ship, < redouber, radouber, mend : see
redub."] One who bought stolen cloth and so
altered it in color or fashion that it could not
be recognized.
reduce (rf-diis '),«.*.; pret. and pp. reduced, ppr.
reducing.' [< ME. reducen, < OF. reduder, ver-
nacularly reduire, F. rMuire = Pr. reduzir, re-
duire= Cat. reduir = Sp. reducir = Pg. reduzir
= It. ridurre, < L. reducere, lead or bring back,
draw back, restore, replace, bring to a certain
condition, reduce, < re-, back, + ducere, lead,
bring: see duct. Cf. reduct, reduit, redout^.']
If. To lead or bring back ; restore; resolve to
a former state.
Therupon he reduced to their memorie the battailes they
had fought. J. Brende, tr. of Quintus Curtius, iv.
Abate the edge of traitors, gracious Lord,
That would reduce these bloody days again.
Shdk., Rich. IIL, v. 5. 36.
A good man will go a little out of his road to reduce the
wandring traveller ; but if he will not return, it will be an
unreasonable compliance to go along with him to the end
of his wandring.
Jer. Taylor, Rule of Conscience, n. ill. 19.
Mr. Cotton . . . did spend most of his time, both pub-
licly and privately, to discover . . . errors, and to reduce
such as were gone astray.
Winthr(^, Hist. New England, I. 304.
And 'cause I see the truth of his affliction.
Which may be your's, or mine, or any body's.
Whose passions are neglected, I will try
My best skill to reduce him.
Shirley, Hyde Park, v. 1.
It were but right
And equal to reduce me to my dust.
MUtm, P. L., ». 748.
2. In surg., to restore to its proper place, or so
that the parts concerned are brou^t back to
their normal topographical relations: as, to re-
duce a dislocation, fracture, or hernia. — 3. To
bring to any specified state, condition, or form :
as, to reduce civil affairs to order: to reduce a
man to poverty or despair; to reduce glass to
powder; to reduce a theory to practice ; to re-
duce a Latin phrase to English.
Being inspired with the holy spirlte of God, they [the
72 Interpreters chosen by Eleazar out of each tribe] re-
duced out of Hebrue into Greeke all the partes of the
olde Testament.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 380.
Doe yon then blame and flnde faulte with soe good an
Acte in that good pope as the reducing of such a greate
people to Christianitye? Speneer, State of Ireland.
He had beene a peace-maker to reduce such and such,
which were at oddes, to amitie.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 453.
Beduc'd to practice, his beloved rule
Would only prove him a consummate fool.
Cowper, Conversation, L 139.
Holland was reduced to such a condition that peace was
her first necessity. Leeky, Eng. in 18th Cent., p. 463.
4 . In metal, and chem., to bring into the metal-
lic form ; separate, as a metal, from the oxygen
or other mineralizer with which it may be com-
bined, or change from a higher to a lower de-
gree of oxidation: as, to reduce the ores of sil-
ver or copper. — 5t. To atone for; repair; re-
dress.
Till they reduce the wrongs done to my father.
Marlowe.
6. To bring down; diminish in length, breadth,
thickness, size, quantity, value, or the like : as.
reducement
to reduce expenses; to reduce the quantity of
meat in diet; to reduce the price of goods; to
reduce the strength of spirit; to reduce a figure
or design (to mate a smaller copy of it without
changing the form or proportion).
He likes your house, your housemaid, and your pay;
Reduce his wages, or get rid of her,
Tom quits you. Cowper, Truth, 1. 211.
7. Tobring to an inferior condition; weaken;
impoverish; lower; degrade; Impair in fortune,
dignity, or strength : as, the family were in re-
duced circumstances; the patient was mueh
redu:ced by hemorrhage.
Yet lo ! in me what authors have to brag on I
Reduced at last to hiss in my own dragon.
Pope, Dnnciad, ill. 288.
The Chamber encroached upon the sovereign, thwarted
him, reduced him to a cypher, imprisoned him, and slew
him. W. R. Greg, Misc. Essays, 2d ser., p. 93.
I dare say he was some poor musicianer, or singer, or a
reduced gentleman, perhaps, for he always came after
dusk, or else on bad, dark days.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 331.
8. To subdue, as by force of arms ; bring into
subjection; render submissive: as, to reduce
mutineers to submission; Spain, Gaul, and
Britain were reduced by the Roman arms.
Charles marched northward at the head of a force suf-
ficient, as it seemed, to reduce the Covenanters to submis-
sion. Macaulay, Nugent's Hampden.
Montpensier was now closely besieged, till at length,
reduced hy famine, he was compelled to capitulate.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa,, ii. 2.
The fortresses garrisoned bjr the French in Spain were
reduced ; but at what a prodigious expenditure of life was
this effected I Encyc Brit., IX 457.
9. To bring into a class, order, genus, or spe-
cies ; bring within certain limits of definition
or description.
I think it [analogy between words and reason] very
worthy to be reduced into a science by itself.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 236.
Zanchius redruxth such infidels to four chief secta.
Burton, Anat. of MeL, p. 698.
I shall . . . reduce these authors under their respec-
tive classes. Addison, Of the Christian Religion, § i. 1-
The variations of languages are reduced to rules.
Johnson, Diet
10. To show (a problem) to be merely a special
ease of one already solved. — 11. To change
the denomination of (numbers) : as, to reduce a
number of shillings to farthings, or conversely
(see reduction (i)); change the form of (an al-
gebraic expression) to one simpler or more con-
venient.— 12. To prove the conclusion of (an
indirect syllogism) from its premises by means
of direct syllogism and immediate inference
alone. — 13. To adjust (an observed quantity)
by subtracting from it effects due to the spe-
cial time and place of observation, especially,
in astronomy, by removing the effects of refrac-
tion, parallax, aberration, precession, and nu-
tation, changing a circummeridian to a me-
ridian altitude, and the like. — 14. In Scots
law, to set aside by an action at law; re-
scind or annul by legal means : as, to reduce a
deed, writing, etc.— 15. Milit., to take off the
establishment and strike off the pay-roll, as a
regiment. When a regiment is reduced, the
officers are generally put upon half-jay Ee-
duced eye, an ideal eye in which the two nodal points of
the refractive system are considered as united into one,
and also the two principal points : this simplifies the
mathematical treatment of certain problems. — Reduced
form of an imaginary, the form r(cos 4 -|- i sin A\ first
used in 1828 by Cauchy.— Reduced hub. See hut, 7.—
Reduced inertia of a machine. See inertia and nui-
cAtm.— Reduced iron, metallic iron in a fine powder, ob-
tamed by reducing ferric oxid by hydrogen at a dull-red
heat. Also called powder of iron, iron-powder, iron by hy-
drogen.—'ReAueeA latitude. Same as geocentric latltiule
(which see, under latitude).— tieOaceA reaction-time.
See reaction-time.— Reducing flame, in blowpipe analy-
sis. Seetone,l.— Reducing square. See smare.- To
redlice the square (milit.), to bring back a battalion
which has been formed in a square to Its former position
in line or column. Farrow.— To reduce to the ranks
(mUit.), to degrade, for misconduct, to the condition of a
private soldier. = Syn. 6. To lessen, decrease, abate, cur-
tail, shorten, abridge!, contract, retrench.
reduceablet (rf-dii'sa-bl), a. [= OF. reduisa-
ble; as reduce + -a6te. Cf. reducible.'^ Same
as reducible.
They [young students] should be habituated to consider
every excellence as reducedble to principles.
Sir J. Reynolds, tAseoraeet, L vili.
reducement (rf-dus'ment), re. [= Sp. redu(^
miento = It. ridudmento ; as reduce + -ment."]
1. The act of reducing; a bringing back; res-
toration.
This once select Nation of God . . . being ever since
incapable of any Coalition or Reducement into one Body
P"'™"- HoweU, Letters, Ii. &
<z, reducer, connectinET the pipe
of la^er diameter * with the pipe
of smaller diameter c.
reducement
By this we shall know whether yoara be that ancient
Prelaty which you say was first constituted for the reduce-
ment ot quiet and unanimi^ Into the Church.
ifioon, Church-Goremment^ L 6.
2. Reduction; abatement.
After a little reducement of his passion, and that time
and further meditation had disposed his senses to their
perfect estate.
Hietory of Patient Qritel, p. 40. (HaUiweU.)
leducent (re-du'sent), o. and n. [< L. recUi-
(ien(t-)s, ppr. of feducere : see reduce.'] I, a.
Tending to reduce.
II. n. That which reduces. Imp. Diet.
leducer (re-dti'ser), n. 1. One who or that
which reduces, in any sense.
The last substances enumerated are those in general use
as reducers or developers in photography.
SUver ^nbeam, p. 95.
An accumulator is indeed merely a chemical converter
which is unequalled as a pressure-redttcer.
Electric Rev. (Eag.), XXy. BBS.
2. A joint-piece for connecting pipes of vary-
ing diameter. It may
be of any form, straight,
bent, etc. Also called
rediicing-coupling.
reducibility (re-dii-si-
bil'i-ti), n. [< reducible
+ -ity (see ■-bility).']
Reducibleness; reduc-
tibility.
The theorem of the reducibUi^/ of the general problem
of transformation to the rational is, however, stated with-
out proof in this paper. Eneyc. Brit., XIII. 70.
It was, however, quite evident, from . . . the history
and the complete redvaibUity of the tumour, that it must
be a pulmonary hernia. Lancet, Ko. 3429, p. 1002.
reducible (re-dii'si-bl), a. [< OP. redusible =
Sp. reducible = Pg. reduzivel = lt. riducibile; as
reduce + -ible. Ct. reduceable.] Capable of be-
ing reduced ; convertible.
In the new World they have a World of Drinl^s ; for there
is no Root, Flower, Fruit, or Pulse but is reducible to a
notable Liquor. HoioeU, Letters, ii. 54.
The line of its motion was neither straight nor yet re-
diMible to any curve or mixed line that I had met with
among mathematicians. Boyle, Works, III. 683.
I have never been the leas satisfied that no cause reduci-
ble to the known laws of nature occasioned my sufferings.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, 1. 198.
Reducible circuit. See circuit.— Reducible hernia,
a hernia whose contents can be returned by pressure or
posture.
reducibleness (re-du'si-bl-nes), n. The quality
of being reducible.
The reducibleness of ice back again into water.
Boyle, Works, in. 50.
reducibly (re-dii'si-bli), adv. In a reducible
manner.
xeducine (re-du'sin), n. [< reduce + -ine^.] A
decomposition product of uroehrome.
reducing-coupling (re-dii'sing-kup"ling), n.
Same as reducer, 2.
xeduciUg-press (rf-dii'sing-pres), n. An aux-
iliary press used in sheet-metal work to com-
plete shapes that have been partially struck up.
reducing-scale (rfrdu'sing-skal), n. A form of
scale used by surveyors to reduce chains and
links to acres and roods by inspection, and also
in mapping and drawing to different scales; a
surveyine-scale.
reducing-T (re-du'sing-te), n. AT-shaped pipe-
coupling, having arms different from the stem
in diameter of opening. It is used to unite
pipes of different sections. Also written redu-
cing-tee.
reducing- valve (re-dti'sing-valv), n. In steam-
engin., a peculiar valve controlled by forces
acting in opposite directions. The parts are so ar-
ranged that the valve opens to its extreme limit only when
the pressure on the delivery side is at a prescribed mini-
mum, closing the part in the valve-seat more or less when
this minimum is exceeded. The pressure on the delivery
side of the valve is thus kept from varying (except between
very narrow limits) from its predetermined pressure, al-
though the pressure on the opposite side may be variable,
and always higher than on the delivery side. Such valves
are much used for maintaining lower pressures in steam-
heating and -drying apparatus than is carried in the boiler.
They are also used in automatic air-brakes for railways
and in other pneumatic machines, and, in some forms, as
gas-regulators for equalizing the pressure of gas delivered
to gas-burners, etc. Also called pressure-redueing valve.
reductt (re-dukf), «• *• [< L. reductus, pp. of
reducere, lead or bring back: see reduce.] To
reduce.
All the kynges host there beylng assembled and reducte
into one companye. Hall, Edw. IV., an. 10.
Pray let me reduct some two or three shillings for points
and ribands. ,,._.„ . ,
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, iv. 5.
reduct (re-dukf), n. [< ML. reductus, a with-
drawing-Blace : see redout^.] In building, a lit-
316'
5025
tie piece or cut taken out of a part, member,
etc., to make it more uniform, or for any other
purpose : a quirk. Gwilt.
reductibility (re-duk-ti-bil'i-ti), n. [= F. r6-
ductifyilite; as r'ed/uct + -ibility.] The quality
of being reducible : reducibleness. Imp. Diet.
reductioadabsuTauin(rf-duk'shi-6adab-ser'-
dum). [L. : redttciio, a leading, reduction; od,
to ; absurdum, neut. of absurdus, absurd: see ab-
surd.] A reduction to an absurdity; the proof
of a proposition by proving the falsity of its
contradictory opposite: an indirect demonstra-
tion. In geometry the reductio ad absurdum consists in
drawing a figure whose parts are supposed to have certain
relations, and then showing that this leads to a conclusion
contrary to a known proposition, whence it follows that
the parts of the figure cannot have those relations. Thus,
in Euclid's "Elements" the proposition that if a triangle
has two angles equal the sides opposite those angles will
be equal is proved as follows. In the triangle ABC, let the
angles ABC and ACB be equal. Tlien, suppose AB to be
greater than AC. Lay off BD = AC and join
DC. Then, comparing the two triangles ACB
and DBC, we have in the former the sides AC
and BC and their included angle ACB equal
in the latter to the sides DB and CB and their
included angle DBC. Hence, these two tri-
angles would be equal, or the part would be
equal to the whole. This proof is a reductio
ad absurdum. This kind of reasoning is con-
sidered somewhat objectionable as not show-
ing the principle from which the proposi- B
tion flows; but it is a perfectly conclusive
mode of proof, and, in fact, is in all cases readily converted
into a direct proof. Thus, in the above example, we have
only to compare the triangle ABC with itself, considering
it as two triangles according as the angle B is named be-
fore C or vice versa. In the triangle ABO the angles B and
C with the included side BC are respectivelj; equal in the
triangle ACB to the angles C and Bwith the included side
CB; hence the other parts of the triangles are equal, and
the side AC opposite the first angle B in the first triangle
is equal to the side AB opposite the first angle C in the
second triangle.
reduction (re-duk'shon), ». [< OF. reducUon,
P. reduction "= Pr. reducUo = Sp. reduccion =
Pg. reducgSiO = It. riduzione, < L. reductio(n-),
a leading or bringing back, a restoring, restora-
tion, < reducere, le&d orbringback: seereduce,
reduct.] The act of reducing, or the state of
being reduced, (ot) The act of bringing back or re-
storing.
For reduction of your majesty's realm of Ireland to the
unity of the Church. Bp. Burnet, Secords, II. ii.
(b) Conversion into another state or form : as, the reduc-
tion of a body to powder ; the reduction of things to order.
(c) Diminution : as, the reduction of the expenses of gov-
ernment; the reduction of the national debt; a reduc-
tion of 25 per cent, made to wholesale buyers.
Let him therefore first make the proper reduction in
the account, and then see what it amounts to.
Waterland, Works, VI. 186.
(d) Conquest ; subjugation : as, the reduction of a prov-
ince under the power of a foreign nation ; the redttction
of a fortress, (e) A settlement or parish of South Amer-
ican Indians converted and trained by the Jesuits.
Governing and civilizing the natives of Brazil and Par-
aguay in the missions and reducHon^, or ministering, at
the hourly risk of his life, to his coreligionists in England
under Elizabeth and James I., the Jesuit appears alike
devoted, indefatigable, cheerful, and worthy of hearty ad-
miration and respect. Encye. Brit., XIII. 649.
The Indians Tunder the Jesuits in Paraguay] were gath-
ered into towns or communal villages called bourgaden
or rediictions, where they were taught the common arts,
agriculture, and the practice of rearing cattle.
Johm Hopkins Univ. Studies, 8th ser., IV. 32.
(/) The bringing of a problem to depend on a problem
already solved. (,g) The transformation of an algebraic
expression into another of a simpler kind. (A) The low-
ering of the values of the numerator and denominator of
a fraction, or of the antecedent and consequent of a ratio,
by dividing both by the same quantity, (i) The conver-
sion of a quantity expressed in terms of one denomination
so as to express it in -terms of another denomination. As-
cending reduction is conversion to terms of larger units ;
descending reduction, conversion to terms of smaller units.
(J) The proof of the conclusion of an indirect syllogism
from its premises by means of a direct syllogism and im-
mediate inferences. This is said to be a reduction to the
mode of direct syllogism employed, (ft) A direct syllogism
proving, by means of conversions and other immediate
inferences, that the conclusion of an indirect syllogism
follows from its premises, if) The act or process of
making a copy of a figure, map, design, draft, etc., on a
smaller scale, preserving the original proportions ; also,
the result of this process, (m) In mrg., the operation of
restoring a dislocated or fractured bone to its former
place, (n) Separation of a metal from substances com-
bined with it: used especially with reference to lead,
zinc, and copper, and also applied to the treatment of iron
ore, as when steel is made from it by a direct process,
(o) in a^tron., the correction of observed quantities for
instrumental errors, as well as for refraction, parallax,
aberration, precession, and nutation, so as to bring out
their cosmical significance. A similar process is applied
to observations in other physical sciences, (p) In Scots
law, an action for setting aside a deed, writing, etc. —
Apagogical reduction, in logic, a reduction in which
the contradictory of the conclusion becomes one of the
premises, and the contradictory of one of the premises
the conclusion. Apagogioal reduction is an application
of the reductio ad absurdum, and is also called reductio
per impossibile. Example :
redundant
Baroco.
AU M is P.
Some S is not P.
Ergo, Some S is not M.
Reductio per vmpossibHe.
AU M is P.
All S is M.
Ergo, All S is P.
Chasles-Zeuthen reduction, a method of finding how
many figures fulfil certain conditions, by the considera-
tion of degenerate figures composed of simpler figures
with lower constants. Thus, in this way we readily find
that the number of conies touching five given conies in
a plane is 3,264. — Iron-reduction process. See pro-
cess^— Long reduction, in logic, a reduction in which the
major premise of the original syllogism becomes the minor
premise, and vice versa, and in which one of the premises
and the conclusion are converted. Example :
Camestres. Long Reduction.
All M is P. Ho P is S.
No S is P. All M is P.
Ergo, No S is M. Ergo, No M is S.
Ostensive reduction, that reduction which has for its
premises the original premises or their conversions, and
for its conclusion the original conclusion or its converse.
— Reduction and reductlon-improbation,in Scots law,
the designations given to the two varieties of rescissory
actions. See improbation, 2. — Reduction reductive, an
action in which a decree of reduction which has been erro-
neously or improperly obtained is sought to be reduced.
— Reduction to the ecliptic, the difference between
the anomaly of a planet reckoned from its node and the
longitude reckoned from the same point. — Short reduc-
tion, in logic, a reduction which differs from the original
syllogism only in having one of its premises converted.
The following is an example :
Cesare. Short Reduction.
No 51 is P. No P is M.
All S is P. All S is P.
Ergo, No S is M. Ergo, No S is M.
=Syn. (c) Lessening, decrease, abatement^ curtailment,
abridgment, contraction, retrenchment.
reduction-compasses (re-duk'shon-kum''pas-
ez), n.pl. Proportional dividers, or whole-and-
half dividers. .
reduction-formula (rf-duk'shon-f6r'''mu-la), n.
In the integral calculus, a formula depending on
integration by parts, reducing an integral to
another nearer to one of the standard forms.
reduction-works (rf-duk'shon-werks), n. sing.
and5>?. A metalturgical establishmenit ; smelt-
ing-works.
reductive (rf-duk'tiv), a. and n. [= P. rSduc-
Uf= Sp. Pg'. reductivo = It. riduttioo, (.It. re-
ductus, pp. of reducere, lead or bring back: see
reduct, reduce.] I. a. Having the property,
power, or effect of reducing ; tending to reduce.
Inquire into the repentance of thy former life particu-
larly ; whether it were of a great and perfect grief, and
productive of fixed resolutions of holy living, and reduc-
tive of these to act. Jer. Taylor, Holy Dying, iv. 6.
Reduction reductive. See reduction.— Reductive
conversion, in logic, a conversion of a proposition in
which there is some modification of the subject or predi-
cate : as, no man is a mother, therefore no mother is some
man. See conversion, 2. — Reductive principle, a prin-
ciple by which an indirect syllogism is reduced to a direct
mood. The reductive principles were said to be conver-
sion, transposition, anci reductio per impossibile.
II. n. That which has the power of reducing.
So that it should seem there needed no other reductive
of the numbers of men to an equability than the wars
that have happened in the world.
Sir if. Hale, Orig. of Mankind, p. 215.
reductively (rf-duk'tiv-li), adv. By reduction ;
by consequence.
Love,.and simplicity, and humility, and usefulness : . . .
I think these do reductively contain all that is excellent
in the whole conjugation of Christian graces.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), H. 44.
reduitt, n. See redout^.
redundance (re-dun'dans), n. [< OP. redoti-
dance, P. redondance, redondance = Sp. Pg. re-
dunddncia = It. ridondanza, < L. redundantia,
an overflow, superfluity, excess, < redundan(t-)s,
redundant: see redundant.] 1. The character
of being redundant; superfluity; superabun-
dance.
He is a poor unwieldy wretch that commits faults out
of the redundance of his good qualities.
Steele, Tatler, No. 27..
2. That which is redundant or in excess; any-
thing superfluous.
redundancy (re-dun'dan-si), u. [As redundance
(see -cy).] Same as redundance.
The mere
Redundancy of youth's contentedness.
Wordsworth, Prelude, vi.
=Syn. Verbosity, Tautology, etc. (seeplaonasm); surplus-
age.
redundant (rf-dun'dant), a. [< OP. redondant,
P. redondant, r4doncUint = Sp. Pg. redundante
= It. ridondante, < L. redundan{t-)s, ppr. of re-
dundare, overflow, redound: see redound.] If.
Rolling or flowing back, as a wave or surge.
On his rear.
Circular base of rising folds, that tower'd
Fold above fold, a surging maze ! his head . . .
Amidst his circling spires, that on the grass
Floated redundant. MUton, P. L., ix. 503.
redundant
2. Superfluous; exceeding what is natural or
necessary; superabundant; exuberant.
Notwithstanding the redundant oil in fishes, they do not
Increase fat so much as flesh. Arbuthnot, Aliments, iv. 1.
With foliage of such dark redumlant growth.
Coviper, Taak, i. 226.
A farmer's daughter, with redundarit health.
Orabhe, Works, VIII. 216.
3. Using or containing more words or images
than are necessary or useful: as, a redundant
style.
Where the author is redundant, mark those paragraphs
to he retrenched. WaUe.
Kedundant chord or interval, in music, same as aug-
Tnented chord or int&rvdl — that is, one greater by a half -step
than the corresponding major chord or interval. Also
pluperfect, exkrewa, superfliuym chard or interval. So re-
dbtmdant fourth, ffth, sixth, etc.— Redundant hyper-
hola, a curve having three or more asymptotes.— Re-
dundant number, a number the sum of whose divisors
exceeds the number itself.
redundantly (re-dun'dant-li), adv. In a redun-
dant manner; with superfluity or excess; su-
perfluously; superabundantly.
red;Underwing (red'an'^dSr-wing), n. A large
British moth, Catocala nupta, exjianding three
inches, having the \inder wings red bordered
with black. See underwing.
reduplicate (re-du'pli-kat), v. [< ML. (LL. in
derived noun) reduplicatus, pp. of reduplieare
(> It. reduplieare = Sp. Pg. redupUoar), redou-
ble, < L. re-, again, + dupUcare, double, dupli-
cate: see duplicate. Cf. redouble.2 I. trans.
1. To double again ; multiply; repeat.
That reduplicated advice of our Saviour.
Bp. Pearson^ Expos, of Creed, xil.
•Chen followed that ringing and reduplicated laugh of
his, so like the joyous bark of a dog when he starts for a
ramble with his master.
Lowell, The Century, XXXV. 614.
2. In pMlol., to repeat, as a syllable or the in-
itial part of a syllable (usually a root-syllable).
See reduplication.
II. intrans. In pMlol., to be doubled or re-
peated; undergo reduplication: &b, reduplicat-
ing verbs.,
reduplicate (r§-dii'pli-kat), a. [= P. ridupUguS
= Sp. Pg. reauplicado = It. redupUcato, < ML. re-
duplicatus,-pp. : see the verb.] 1. Redoubled;
repeated ; reduplicative.
Reduplicate words are formed of repetitions of sound, as
in murmur, singsong. 5. S. Haldeman, Etymology, p. 23.
2. In hot. : (a) Valvate, with the edges folded
back so as to project outward: said of petals
and sepals in one form of estivation. (6) De-
scribing an estivation so characterized. Also
Sinea diadema, one
of the Redwviidte.
(Line shows natural
reduplication (re-dii-pli-ka'shon), n. [= F. re-
duplication = Sp. redupUcacion = Pg. redupli-
cacSo = It. reduplicazione, < L. reduplicatio{n-),
< (ML.) reduplica/re, redouble, reduplicate: see
reduplicate.'] 1. The act of reduplicating, re-
doubling, or repeating, or the state of being
reduplicated.
Jesus, by redui^ication of his desire, fortifying it with a
command, made it in the Baptist to become a duty.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 97.
The memory-train is liable to change in two respects,
which considerably modify its structure: viz., (1) through
the evanescence of some parts, and (2) through the partial
recurrence of like impressions, which produces reduplica-
tions of varying amount and extent in other parts.
J. Ward, Encyc. Brit., XX. 61.
2. In i^het., a figure in which a verse ends with
the game word with which the following begins.
— 3. InpMlol.: (a) The repetition of a sylla-
ble (usually a root-syllable), or of the initial
part, often with more or less modification, in
various processes of word-formation and inflec-
tion. In our languages, it is especially the perfect tense
that exhibits reduplication : thus, Gothic haihald, Latin
cedrd, Greek 7reif>6i;-y«i, Sanskrit iabhira; but also the pres-
ent tense : thus, Latin sido, Greek SiSia/ni, Sanskrit dadami,
etc.; and elsewhere, (ft) The new syllable formed
by reduplication. — 4. In logic, an expression
affixed to the subject of a proposition, showing
the formal cause of its possession of the predi-
cate: as, "man, as an animal, has a stomach,"
where the expression "as an animal" is the re-
duplication.— 5. In anat. and zool., a folding
of a part; a folded part; a fold or duplication,
as of a membrane, of tihe skin, etc. Also re-
duplicature Attic reduplication, in Or. gram., re-
duplication in the perfect of some verbs beginning with
o, e, o, by prefixing the first two letters of the stem to the
same letters with temporal augment: as aA^At^a from
iAei4>a>, aKTJfcoa from aKovai, A similar reduplication is
found in the second aorist (riyayov from ayu) and in the
present (apapt'o-Ko)). This reduplication did not especially
characterize the Attic as distinguished from contemporary
dialects, but was called Attic by late grammarians as op-
posed to the less classic form used in their own days.
5026
reduplicative (rj-dii'pli-ka-tiv), a. [< P. rf
duplicaiif z= Sp. Pg. reduplicativo = It. redupl%-
cativo, < NL. reduplicativus, < ML. redupUca,re,
reduplicate : see reduplicate.] 1. Containing
or effecting reduplication, in any sense.
Some logicians refer reduplicative propositions to this
place, as " Men, considered as men, are rational creatures "
— that is, because they are men. Watts, Logic, ii. 2.
2. In lot., same as reduplicate, 2.
reduplicature (re-du'pli-ka-tur), n. [< redu-
plicate + -ure.y Same as reduplication, 5.
[Rare.]
The body [in Phyllopoda] is either cylindrically elon-
gated and clearly segmented, without free redijpJicotMre of
the skin, e. g. Branchipus, or it may be covered by a broad
and flattened shield. Claus, Zoblogy (trans.), p. 416.
Eeduviidse (red-u-vi'i-de), n. pi. [NL. (Ste-
phens, 1829), < Be'duvius + -idee.] An important
family of predaceous bugs,
named from the genus Bedu-
Vius, They have the thoracic seg-
ments concentrated, the coxse short,
two ocelli, four-jointed antennee, a
three-jointed rostrum, three-jointed
tarsi, and long strong legs, of which
the anterior are sometimes prehen-
sile. It is a large and wide-spread
family, containing a great variety of
forms grouped into nine subfamilies
and many genera. Throughout their
life they are predaceous and feed on
other insects. A very few species,
like Conorhinus sanguisuffus, suck the
blood of warm-blooded animals. See
also cuts under Conorhinus, Harpae-
tor. Pirates, and Sedumus.
reduvioid (re-dii'vi-oid), a. and n. [< Beduvius
+ -oid.] I, a. Of or pertaining to the Bedun
viidse; resembling a reduviid.
II. K. A member of the family Bedimiidee.
Beduvilis (rf-du'vi-us), n. [NL. (Pabricius,
1776), < L. reduvia, a hangnail.] A genus of
heteropterous in-
sects, typical of the
family Bedwviidse,
formerly of very
large extent, but
now restricted to
species which have
the postocular sec-
tion of the head
longer than the an-
teocular section,
and the first joint
of the head scarce-
ly shorter than the second. About 50 species are
now Included, most of them African. A few are Euro-
pean, and one only is found in America. R,p&rsOnatus
is a European species, an inch long, known as the Jly-bug,
of a dark-brown color with reddish legs.
redux (re'duks), a. [L., that leads or brings
back, also led or brought back, < reducere, lead or
bring back: see reduce] 1. Led or brought
back, as from a distance, from captivity, etc. :
as, "Astrsea Bedux" (the title of a poem by
Dryden on the restoration and return of
Charles II.).
Lady Laura Standish is the beat character in " Phineas
Finn and its sequel "Phineas Sedux."
Trdlope, Autobiog., xviL
2. In med., noting the return of certain physi-
cal signs, after their disappearance in conse-
quence of disease.
redware (red'war), n. A seaweed, Laminaria
digitata, the common tangle.
red-wat (red'wof), a. [< redX + wat, a Sc. form
of wet: see wet] Wetted by something red, as
blood. [Scotch.]
The hand of her kindred has been red-wat in the heart's
blude o' my name ; but my heart says. Let byganes be by-
ganes. Blackwood's Mag., VII. 384.
redwater (red'w£l,"ter), n. A disease of cattle,
also called hemoglobinuria, or Jiemoglobinemia,
because the coloring matter (hemoglobin) of
the red blood-corpuscles which have been
broken up in the system appears in the urine,
and imparts to it a pale-red or a dark-red, port-
wine color. The disease prevails in various countries
in undrained, unimproved meadows and in woods, whence
it is also called wood-evil. According to some, it is caused
by the ingestion of food growing in such localities ; others
attribute it to rheumatic attacks, resulting from exposure.
Redwater is also a prominent symptom of Texas cattle-
fever, and occasionally accompanies anthrax in cattle. It
is rarely observed among sheep and swine.
red-water tree (red'wa'ter tre). The sassy-
bark tree. See Erythrophlcemn.
redweed (red 'wed), n. 1. The corn-poppy,
Papaver Bhoeas, whose red petals have been
used as a dye. Also applied locally'to various
reddish-stemmed plants. [Eng.] — 2. A spe-
cies of Phytolacca, or pokeweed. [West Indies.]
reech
red-whelk (red'hwelk), n. A whelk, Chrysodo-
mus antiguus. See cut under reversed. [Local,
Eng.j
red-whiskered (red'hwis"k6rd), a. Having red
whiskers: applied in ornithology to several
birds: as, the red-whiskered bulbul, Otocompsa
jocosa of India.
redwing (red 'wing), n. 1. The red-winged
thrush of Europe, Turdus iliacus. — 2. The red-
winged marsh-blaekbird of America, Agelseus
phoeniceus. See Agelseus and blackbird.
red- winged (red'wingd), a. Having red wings,
or red on the wings.
red-withe (red'with), n. A high-climbing vine
of tropical America, Comiretum Jacquini.
[West Indies.]
redwood (red'wud), «. 1. The most valuable of
Californian timber-trees, Sequoia sempervirens,
or its wood, it occupies the Coast ranges, where ex-
posed to ocean fogs, from the northern limit of the State
to the southern borders of Monterey county, but is most
abundant north of San Francisco. It is the only congener
of the famous big or mammoth tree, which it almost rivals
in size. It grows commonly from 200 to 800 feet high, with
a straight cylindrical trunk, naked to the height of 70 or
5 c
Reduvius fiersottdtus.
*, fly (parts of rierht side removed); €,•
larva.
Brancli with Cones of Redwood [Sequoia semfiervirens).
a, a cone ; i>, a seed.
100 feet ; the diameter is from 8 to 12 feet. The bark is from
6 to 12 inches thick, of a bright cinnamon color ; the wood
is of a rich brownish red, light, straight-grained, easily
' worked and taking a fine flnish, and very durable in con-
tact with the soil. Its wood is widely used as building-
timber on the Pacific coast of the United States ; in Cali-
fornia it is used almost exclusively for shingles, fence-
posts, railway-ties, telegraph-poles, wine-butts, etc.
2. The name is also applied, to various other
trees. Thus, the East Indian redwoods are Soymidafeb-
rifuga, also called East Indian mahogany; Pteroearms
santalmus, the red sandalwood (see sandalwood); and P.
Indieus (including P. dalbergioides), the Andaman red-
wood, or padouk. The last is a lofty tree of India, Burma,
the Andaman Islands, etc., with the heart-wood dark-red,
close-grained, and moderately hard, used to make furni-
ture, gun-carriages, carts, and for many other purposes.
Other trees called redwood are Comus mas, of Turkey ;
Bhamnvs Erythroxylon, the Siberian buckthorn ; Melhania
Erythroxylon of the StercuZiaceie, an almost extinct tree of
St. Helena ; the Jamaican Laplacea (Gordonia) Hsematoxy-
Ion of the Temstroemiacese ; Colubrinaferruginosa, a rham-
naceous tree of the Bahamas ; Ochna arborea of the Cape
of Good Hope ; Ceanothus ^nosus, a shrub or small tree
of southern California ; and any tree of the genus Ery-
throxylon. Redwood is also a local name of the Scotch
pine. ■ See jnnel.
red-wood (red'wud), a. [Also redrioud; < «di
intensive (of. red-mad, etc.) -I- wood^, mad:
see wood^.] Stark mad. [Scotch.]
An* now she 's like to rin red-wud
About her Whisky.
Bums, Prayer to the Scotch Representatives,
reel (re), v. t. [Also rie; supposed to be a dial,
reduction of riddle^.] To riddle; sift; sepa-
rate or throw off. [Prov. Eng.]
After malt is well rubbed and winnowed, you must then.
ree it over in a sieve. Mortimer, Husbandry.'
ree2 (re), a. [< ME. 'ree, reh,< AS. hredh, hridh,
contr. hrei, fierce, wild, stormy, troubled, = OS.
/ire, wild.] 1. Wild; outrageous; crazy. [Prov.
Eng.] — 2. Half -drunk; tipsy. [Prov. Eng.]
ree2^(re), n. [Cf. ree^;a.] A state of.teiApo-
rary delirium. [Prov. Eng.]
reeS (re), m. [Origin obscure.] A river; a>
flood. [Prov. Eng.]
ree* (re), interj. A reduction (as an exclamation)
of reet, dialectal form of right: used in driving
horses.
reebok (ra'bok). n. [< D. reebok = E. roebuck :
see roebuck.] A South African antelope, Pelea
capreola: so called by the Dutch colonists. The
horns are smooth, long, straight, and slender, and so sharp
at the point that the' Hottentots and Bushmen use them
for needles and bodkins. The reebok is nearly 6 feet in
length, 2i feet high at the shoulder, of a slighter and more
graceful form than most other antelopes, and extremely
swift. Also reh-bok and rheehok.
reecht, n. [< ME. reche, reeeh, an assibilated
form of reek, smoke: see reek^.] Smoke.
Such a rothun of a reche ros.
Alliterative Poems (E. E. T. S.), Ii. 1009,
':"] Smokily ;
reectaily
reechilyt, adv. [< reechy +
squalidly.
And wash his face, he lookt so reechUie.
Like bacon hanging on the cliimnie roof e.
B. BelcMer, See me and See me notj sig. C. 2 b. (JTotm.)
reScho (rf-ek'o), V. [Early mod. B. re-eecho; <
re- + echo.'i I. intrans. To echo back; sound
back or reverberate again.
A charge of snufl the wily virgin threw ; . . .
And the high dome re-echoes to bis nose.
Pope, R. of the L., v. 86.
II. trans. To echo back; return; send back;
repeat ; reverberate again : as, the hills reecho
the roar of cannon.
The consecrated roof
Be-ecJiomg pious anthems 1 Corwper, Task, L 843.
regclio (re-ek'6), m. [< reec/io, «.] The echo of
an echo ; a second or repeated echo.
The hills and rallies here and there resound
With the re-echoes of the deepe-mouth'd hound.
IF. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, i. 4.
reechyt (re'ohi), a. [An assibilated form of
reeky.'] Tarnished with smoke; sooty; foul;
equaUd; filthy.
The kitchen malkin pins
Her richest lockram "bout her reechy neck.
Shak., Cor., ii. 1. 225.
reed^ (red), n. [< ME. reed, red, read, irreg.
rehed, reheed, < AS. )iredd = OD. ried, D. riet
= MLG. ret, LG.
ried=0'H.G.hriot,
riot, MHG. riet,
Gr. ried, riet, a
reed; root un-
known.] 1. Any
tall broad-leafed
grass growing on
the margins of
streams or in oth-
er wet places ;
especially, any
grass of one of the
genera Phragmi-
tes, Arundo, or
Ammophila. The
common reed is
Phragmites effrnTrm-
nis, a stately grass
from 5 to 12 feet
high, found in near-
ly all parts of the
world. It serves by
its creeping root-
stocks to fix alluvial
banks ; its stems
form perhaps the
most durable thatch,
and are otherwise
useful; and it is
planted for orna-
ment. See the generic names, and phrases below,
pare reed-grass.
He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed,
and tens. Job xl. 21.
We glided winding under ranks
Of iris, and the golden reed.
T&tinysrm, In Memoriam, ciii.
2. Some one of other more or less similar
plants. See phrase^ below. — 3. A musical pipe
of reed or cane, having a mouthpiece made
by slitting the tube near a joint, and usually
several flnger-holes ; a rustic or pastoral pipe ;
hence, figuratively, pastoral poetry. See cut
under p»pei.
Ill . . . speak between the change of man and boy
With a reed voice. Shak., M. of V., ill. 4. 67.
Sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops.
Milton, Comus, 1. 345.
Now she tries the Reed, anon attempts the Lyre.
Congreve, Epistle to Lord Halifax.
4. In music : (a) In musical instruments of the
oboe and clarinet classes, and in all kinds of
organs, a thin elastic plate or tongue of reed,
wood, or metal, so fitted to an opening into
a pipe, as nearly to close it, and so arranged
that, when a current of air is directed through
the opening, the reed is drawn into or driven
against it so as to close it, but immediately
springs back by its own elasticity, only to be
pressed forward again by the air, thus produ-
cing a tone, either directly by its own vibrations
or indirectly by the sympathetic vibrations of
the column of air in the pipe. When the reed is of
metal, the piteh of the tone depends chiefly on its size ; but
when of reed or cane, it may be so combined with a tube
that the pitch shall depend chiefly on the size of the air-
column. A firee reed is one that vibrates in the opening
without touching its edges ; a beating or striking reed is one
that extends slightly beyond the opening. In orchestral
instruments, the wood wind group includes several reed-
instruments, which have either double reeds (two wooden
reeds which strike against each other, as in the oboe, the
bassoon, the English horn, etc.), ora single reed (a wooden
reed striking against an opening in a wooden mouthpiece
or beak, as In the clarinet, the basset-horn, etc.). A pipe-
Common Keed{PAraff7nt£es communis).
1, flowering plant; a, the panicle;
a, a spikelet.
Com-
5027
organ usually contains one or more sets of reed-pipes, the
tongues of which are nearly always striking reeds of brass.
(See reedrpipe.) A reed-organ is properly a collection of
several sets of reeds, the tongues of which are free reeds
of brass. (Seereed-organ.) In the brass wind group of in-
struments, with but few exceptions, the tone is produced
by the player's lips acting as free membranous reeds within
the cup of the mouthpiece. The mechanism of the hu-
man voice, also, is essentially a reed-instrument, the vocal
cords being simply free membranous reeds which may be
stretched within the tube of the larynx. The quality of the
tone produced by a reed varies indefinitely, according to
the material and character of the reed itself, the method in
which it is set in vibration, and especially the arrangement
of the tube or cavity with
which it is connected. The f\\
accompanying fig. 1 shows ,
the construction of an organ- ^
reed: a is the reed-block,
which in use is inserted in
its proper slot in the reed-
board ; b, the metal tongue,
which is set in sonorous vi-
bration when air is forced
through the opening c. Fig.
2 shows the mouthpiece of
a clarinet, in which a is the
reed, held to the body of
the mouthpiece by the split-
bands b, which are drawn
tight by the screws c. Air entering between the reed
and the margin of an opening which it covers causes it to
produce a musical tone, the pitch of which is varied part-
ly by the position of the mouthpiece in the mouth and
partly by the action of the keys. Fig. 3 shows the mouth-
piece of an oboe, and similar reeds are used for bassoons
and bagpipes. The reed is made of two counterparts of
the same shape bound together by the thread a. The
lower and middle parts of the mouthpiece are circular in
cross-section, but the upper part c, the reed proper, is flat-
tened. Air forced through this opening causes the reed
to emit a harsh tone, which is softened in quality by the
tube of the instrument, (ft) In reed-instruments
of the oboe class, and in both pipe- and reed-
organs, the entire mechanism immediately sur-
rounding the reed proper, consisting of the
tube or box the opening or esohaUot of which
the reed itself covers or fills, together with
any other attachments, like the tuning-wire of
reed-pipes. (See reed-organ and reed^pe.) In
the clarinet the analogous part is called the
beak or mouthpiece, (c) Any reed-instrumeut
as a whole, like an oboe or a clarinet: as, the
reeds of an orchestra, (d) In organ-bmlding,
same as reed-stop. — 5. A missile weapon; an
arrow or a javelin : used poetically.
With cruel Skill the backward Reed
He sent, and, as he fled, he slew.
Prior, To a Lady, st. 8.
The viewless arrows of his thoughts were headed
And wing'd with flame.
Like Indian reeds blown from his silver tongue.
Tennyson, The Poet.
6. Eeeds or straw prepared for thatching;
thatch : a general term : as, a bundle of reed. —
7. A long slender elastic rod of whalebone, ra-
tan, or steel, of which several are inserted in a
woman's skirt to expand Or stiffen it. — 8. In
mining, any hollow plant-stem which can be
filled with powder and put into the cavity left
by the withdrawal of the needle, to set off the
charge at the bottom. Such devices are nearly
or entirely superseded by the safety-fuse. Also
called spire. — 9. An instrument used for press-
ing down the threads of the woof in tapestry,
so as to keep the surface well together. — 10. A
weavers' instrument for separating the threads
of the warp, and for beating the weft up to the
web. It is made of parallel slips of metal or reed,
called dents, which resemble the teeth of a comb. The
dents are fixed at their ends into two parallel pieces of
wood set a few inches apart.
The reed for weaving the same is measured in an equally
complex manner, for the unit of length is 37 inches, and
according to the number of hundreds of dents or splits
it contains, so is the reed called. For instance, a "four-
teen-hundred reed " means that 37 inches of a reed of that
number, no matter what length, contains 1400 dents, or
about 38 per inch. A. Barlmo, Weaving, p. 329.
11. In her., a bearing representing a weavers'
reed. See slay^. — 12. A Hebrew and Assyrian
unit of length, equal to 6 cubits, generally taken
as being from 124 to 130 inches.
A measuring reed of six cubits long, of a cubit and a
handbreadth each. Ezek. xl. 5.
13. Sa,me as rennet-bag. W. B. Carpenter. — 14.
In arch., carp., etc., a small convex molding;
in the plural, same as reeding, 2.
The three pillars [of the temple] which stand together
are fluted ; and the lower part, filled with cablins olreeds,
is of one stone, and the upper part of another.
Pocoeke, Description of the East, IL ii. 169.
Canary reed, the reed canary-grass. See Phalaris.—
Dutch reeds, in the arts, the stems of several kinds of
horsetail or scotiring-rush {Equisetum) used, on account of
their silicious crust, to polish wood and even metals. —
Egyptian reed, the papyrus.— Fly-reed, in weaving, a
reed of a fly-shuttle loom, provided with springs which
limit the force with which the reed strikes the weft
thread to a constant or very nearly a constant quan-
reediness
tity, and thus produce a greater uniformity of texture.
— Great reed, a reed of the genus Arundo, especially
Arundo Dimoz.- Harmonic reed. See harmonic — In-
dian reed, the canna or Indian-shot.— New Zealand
reed, a fine ornamental grass, Arundo conspieua, bloom-
ing earlier than pampas-grass. — Number of the reed,
set of the reed, in weaving. See number. — Paper reed.
See paper-reed. — Beed bent. See bentK— Beed bent-
grass. Same as muM reed (which see, below). — Beed
meadow-grass. See Tneadow-pross.- Beed Of hemp.
Same as boon. — Sea-reed, or sea-sand reed, the marram
or mat-grass, Ammopkila arundinacea. — Small reed, any
species of CaZamagrostis or of Deyeuxia, including the use-
ful blue-joint grass. — Trjunpet-reed, Arundo ocdden-
talis, of tropical America (West Indies).— Wood-reed,
writing-reed, Calamagrostis Epigeios, of the northern
parts of the Old World.
reed^ (red), v. t. [< ME. reden; < reed^, ».] 1.
To thatch. Compare reed^, »., 6.
Where houses be reeded,
Now pare of thd moss, and go beat in the reed.
Tusser, Husbandry.
2. In carp., arch., etc., to fashion into, or deco-
rate with, reeds or reeding.
reed^t, a. An obsolete form of red^ (stiU ex-
tant in the surname Meed).
reed^t, ^'. and n. An obsolete form of read^.
reedbeeret, n. [< reed^ + beer as inpillow-beer,
etc.] A bed of reeds.
A place where reedes grow : a reedebeere.
Namendaiar. (Nares.)
reed-bird (red'berd), ». 1. The bobolink, Do-
Uchonyx orygimorus : so called in the late sum-
mer and early fall months, vrhen the male
has exchanged his black-and-buff dress for a
plain yellowish streaked plumage like that of
the female, and when it throngs the marshes
in great flocks, becomes very fat, and is highly
esteemed for the table. The name reed-bird obtains
chiefly in the Middle States, where the birds haunt the
fields of water-oats or wild rice (Zizania a^uatica) ; fur-
ther south, where it similarly throngs the nce-flelds, it is
called rice-bird. It is known as Imtter-bird in the West
Indies, and is also called ortolan. See bobolink, Doll.
chonyx, orrtdan.
2. A reed-warbler.
reedbuck (red'buk), n. [Tr. D. rietbok.'] A
name of several kinds of aquatic African an-
telopes ; specifically, EUotragus arundinaceut,:
Also rietbok.
reed-bunting (red'bun"ting), n. The black-
headed bunting, Emberiza schoeniclus. it is a
common bird of Europe, frequenting the reeds of marshes
and fens, and is about six inches long. Also called reed-
sparrow.
reedent (re'dn), a. [< reed^ + -e»2.] Consist-
ing of a reed or reeds; made of reeds.
Through reeden pipes convey the golden flood,
r invite the people [bees] to their wonted food.
J>ryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, iv. 385.
reeder (re'd^r), n. [< ME. *redere, redare; <
reed^ + -eri.] 1 . One who thatches with reeds ;
a thatcher. Prompt. Parv., p. 426. — 2. A
thatched frame covering blocks or tiles of dried
china-clay, to protect them from the rain while
permitting free ventilation.
A number of thatohed gates or reeders.
Sports' Encyc. Mani^f., I. 637.
reed-goundt, n. See redgound.
reed-grass (red'gras), n. [= D. rietgras = G.
riet- (ried-) gras ; as reed^ + grass.] It. The
bur-reed, Sparganium ramosum. — 2. Any one
of the grasses called reeds, and of some oth-
ers, commonly smaller, of similar habit. See
phrases. — Salt reed-grass, Spartina polystachya, a
tall stout salt-marsh grass with a dense oblong purplish
raceme, found along the Atlantic ccast of the United
States.- Small reed-grass. Same as smaU reed (which
see, under re«<fl).— Wood reed-grass, either of the two
species of Cinna, C. arundinacea and C. pendvla, northern
grasses in America, the latter also in Europe. They are
graceful sweet-scented woodland grasses, apparently of
no great value.
re€dificationf (rf-ed'^i-fi-ka'shon), n. [= OP.
reedification, P. rSSdification = Sp. reedificadon
= Pg. reedificagao = It. riedificazione; as re- +
edification.] The act or operation of rebuild-
ing, or the state of being rebuilt.
The toun was compellid to help to the Reedification of it.
Leland, Itinerary (1789), III..11.
reSdifyt (re-ed'i-fi), V. t. [Early mod. E. also
reesdify; ME.redifyen; <0¥.reedifler,F.r^^di-
fiir = Sp. Pg. reedifi^ar = It. riedificare, < LL.
resedificare, build again, rebuild, < L. re-, again,
+ aedificare, build: see edify.] To rebuild;
build again after destruction.
The ruin'd wals he did resed%fye.
Spenser, F. Q., II. x. 46.
Eeturn'd from Babylon by leave of kings
Their lords, whom God disposed, the house of God
They first re-edify. MUton, P. L., xii. 350.
reediness (re'di-nes), n. The state or property
of being reedy, in any sense.
It (the Idszt organ] possesses great freedom from reedi.
nessin sound. Sci. Amer., N. 8., LVin. 402.
reediness
The greater number of these tests are to detect reedi-
nese, lamination, or looseness in the fibrous structure of
the iron, these defects occurring more frequently in an-
gle, T, and beam irons than in plates.
Thearle, Naval Arch., § 832.
reeding (re'ding), n. [< ME. redynge; verbal
n. of reedi, ».] 1. Thatching. [Obsolete or
prov. Eng.]
. Redynge of howses. Arnndinacio.
I Prompt. Pan,, p. 427.
2. la arch., a series of small convex or beaded
moldings designed for ornament; also, the con-
vex fluting or cabUngcharaoterizing some types
of column.
These [external walls of Wuswus at Wurka] were plas-
tered and covered by an elaborate series of reedings and
square sinkings, forming a beautiful and very appropriate
mode of adorning the wall of a building that had no ex-
ternal openings. J. Pergrtsson, Hist. Arch., I. 162.
In
5028
tension ; but in the harmonium the waste-valve of the
bellows may be closed by drawing a stop-knob called the ea;-
preesionrstop, so that the force of the tones may be directly
varied by the rapidity of the treadling. In the American
organ the force of the tones is varied by a lever, operated
by the player's knee, which opens or closes a shutter in
the box inclosing the vibrators. The harmonium some-
times has a mechanism called the pereumon, providing a
little hammer to strike the tongue of each reed as its digi-
tal is depressed, thus setting it into vibration very prompt-
3. The milline
silk-weaving, i
on the edge of a coin. — 4.
iee the quotation.
Reeding and harnessing are subsidiary processes in put-
ting the warp in proper shape on the loom. These consist
in putting each warp-thread through its proper slit in the
reed and eyelet in the harness.
Harper's Mag., LXXI. 256.
reed-instrument (red'in"stro-ment), n. A mu-
sical instrument the tone of which is produced
by the vibration of a reed; especially, an or-
chestral instrument of the oboe or of the clari-
net family.
reed-knife (red'nif), n. A long knife-shaped
implement of metal for reaching and adjusting
the tuning-wires of reed-pipes in a pipe-organ.
Also called ttining-Tcnife.
reedless (red'les), o. [< reecJi + -fes«.] Desti-
tute of reeds.
Youths tombed before their parents were,
Whom foul Cocytus' reedless banks enclose. May.
reedling (red'ling), n. [< reed^ + -ling^.'] The
bearded tit, Panurus or CalamopMlm biarmious,
a common bird of Europe and Asia: so called
from frequenting reeds. Also called reed-pheas-
ant.
reed-mace (red'mas), n. The cattail ; any plant
of the genus Typha, chiefly T. latifoUa and T.
angusUfolia, the great and the lesser reed-mace,
the two species known in England and North
America. T. loMfolia is the common plant. It is a tall,
straight, erect aquatic with long flag-like leaves and long
dense spikes of small flowers, brown when mature. The
abundant down of the ripened spikes makes a poor ma-
terial for stuffing pillows, etc. ; the leaves were formerly
much used by coopers to prevent the joints of casks from
lei^ing, and have been made into mats, chair-bottoms,
etc. It is so named either directly from its reed-like
character and the resemblance of its head to a mace
^club), or {Prior, " Popular Names of British Plants ") from
its being placed in the hands of Christ as a mace or scep-
ter in pictures aud in statues. Less properly called mX.
rush. In the United States known almost exclusively as
cattail or cattail fiag.
reed-mote (red'mot), n. Same as fescue, 1.
Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
reed-moth (red'm6th), n. A British moth, Ma-
crogaster arundinis.
reed-motion (red'm6"shgn), n. In weaving, the
mechanism which, in power-looms, moves the
batten, carrying the reed for beating up the weft
between the ttoeads of the warp. The term has
also been inappropriately applied to a "stop-motion"
whereby, when the shuttle is trapped in its passage
through the warp, the movement of the batten is stopped,
to prevent breaking warp-threads by the impact of the
reed against the shuttle. See stop-motion.
reed-organ (red'6r"gan), n. A musical instru-
ment consisting essentially of one or more grad-
uated sets of small free reeds of metal, which
are sounded by streams of air set in motion by
a bellows, and controlled from a keyboard like
that of the pianoforte. The two principal varieties
are the fiarmonium, which is common in Europe, and the
so-called Amffrican organ, the chief essential difference
between which is that the former is sounded by a com-
pression-bellows driving the air outward through the
reeds, and the latter by a suction-bellows drawing it in-
ward through them. The tone of the harmonium is usu-
ally keener and more nasal than that of the American
organ. The apparatus for compressing or exhausting the
air, and for distributing the current among the various
sets of reeds and among the channels belonging to the
various digitals of the keyboard, is not essentially differ-
ent from that of a pipe-organ, though on a much smaller
scale. (See organl.) The bellows, however, is usually
operated by means of alternating treadles. The keyboard
is exactly similar to that of the pipe-organ or the piano-
forte, and has a compass of about four or five octaves.
Tlie tone- producing apparatus consists of one or more sets
of small brass vibrators or reeds (see illustration); the
pitch of the tone depends on the size of their vibratile
tongues, and its quality on their proportions and on the
character of the resonating cavities with which they are
connected. Each set of vibrators constitutes a stop, the
use of which is controlled by a stop-knob. The possible
variety of qualities is rather limited. The treadles operate
feeders, which are connected with a general bellows, so
that the current of air may be maintained at a constant
Reed-organ.
<i, case ; £. stop-rail and stops ; c music-rack ; li, keyboard ; e, one
of the pedals or treadles : /, one of the pedal- or treadle-straps which
operate the bellows^,* A, pedal-spring which lifts the pedal after the
latter has been relieved from the pressure of the foot ; t, bellows-
spring which opens the bellows after compression; / and A, tipper
and lower boards of wind-chest, inclosing space into which air is deliv-
ered from \he bellows: y, reed-board, which supports the reeds in
slots formed therein (see cut under reed^)\ k' , «', swells [see cut
below); I. reed-valve; ȣ, valve-spring which closes the valve after
the latter is opened by push-pin shown in the cut below. There is
one of these valves for each Icey, admitting wind to one or more
reeds of a set or such sets of reeds as are allowed to act by the stops
pulled out, and of a particular tone corresponding with the key;
«. stop-arm : o key-frame.
ly. A Iremmlani is often introduced, consisting of a re-
volving fan, by which the current of air is made to oscil-
late slightly. More than one manual keyboard and a pedal
keyboard, with separate stops for each, as in the pipe-
organ, occur in large instruments. Occasionally a set of
pipes is also added. Various devices for sustaining tones
Stop-action of Reed-organ.
*, stop-rail ; *', stop-knob ; b", srop-shank ; n, stop-arm ; '«', rock-
lever, connected at n" to the lever v. the latter bemg pivoted to a
rait at s, A downwardly projecting arm engages the crank of an-
other rock-lever t. connecting with and actuating the stop-valve u ;
k, k, swells ; /, reed-valve opened by the push-pin V, and closed by
the spring m.
in the bass after the fingers have left the digitals, or for
emphasizing the treble, are sometimes introduced. Piano-
fortes are made with a harmonium attached (sometimes
called an sealian attachmerU). The reed-organ has become
one of the commonest of musical instruments. Its popu-
larity rests upon its capacity for concerted music, like the
pianoforte and pipe-organ, combined with simplicity,
portability, cheapness, and stability of intonation. Ar-
tistically regarded, its tone is apt to be either weak and
negative or harsh and unsympathetic. A variety of re-
cent invention, the vocalion, has a remarkably powerful
and mellow tone.
reed-palm (red'pam), «. A ratan-palm ; a palm
of the genus Calamus.
reed-pheasant (red'fez'''ant), n. The bearded
titmouse or reedling, Panurus hiarmicus: so
called in allusion to the long tail. Also called
simply plieasant. [Norfolk, Eng.]
reed-pipe (red'pip), re. In organ-bnilding, a pipe
whose tone is produced by the vibration of a
reed or tongue : opposed to flue-pipe. Such pipes
consist of a foot or numthpiece containing the reed, and a
tubular body furnishing a column of air for sympathetic
vibration. The term reed is applied to both the vibratile
tongue and the mechanism immediately surrounding it.
reef
In the latter sense, a reed consists of a metal tube connect-
ing the foot and tlie body of the pipe ; at its lower end is
an oblong opening or eschallot, oyer or in which is fixed
the brass tongue or reed proper. The effective length of
the tongue is controlled oy a movable spring or tuning-
wire, the head of which projects outside the pipe-foot.
The pitch of the tone depends primaiily upon the vibrat-
ing length of the tongue, but is modified by the length of
the air-column in the body of the pipe. A reed-pipe, there-
fore, is tuned both on the reed and on the top of the pipe.
The quality of the tone depends somewhat on the form of
the tongue, but chiefly on that of the body as a whole.
The force of the tone depends on the pressure of the air-
current, on the size of the inlet to the f oot^ and on the
exact adjustment of the tongue to the eschallot. Most
reed-pipes have strilung reeds, but free reeds are occa-
sionally used. A set of reed-pipes is called a reed-stop.
reed-pit (red'pit), n. [ME. reedepytte; < reed^
+ mil.] A fen. Prompt. Pare. (MalUwell.)
reea-plane (red'plan), n. in joinery, a concave-
soled plane useo in making beads.
reed-sparrow (red'spar"6), n. Same as reed-
bunting. [Local, Eng.]
reed-stop (red'stop), n. In organ-building, a set
or register of reed-pipes the use of which is con-
trolled by a single stop-knob: opposed to flue-
stop. Each partial organ usually has one or more such
stops, though they are less invariable In the pedal organ
than in the others. They are generally intended to imitate
some orchestral instrument, as the (r«mpe« (usually placed
in the great organ), the oboe (usually in the swell organ),
the clarinet (usually in the jchoir organ), the trombone
(usually in the pedal organ), the cornopean, the clarion, the
coTilra/agotto, etc. They may be of eight-feet, four-feet,
orsixteen-feettone. (Seeorgan'^.) Reed-stops are specially
valuable because of their powerful, incisive, and individual
quality, which is suited both for solo effects and for the
enrichment of all kinds of combinations. The most pecu-
liar reed-stop is the vox humana. A reed-stop is often
called simply a reed.
reed-thrush (red'thrush), n. The greater reed-
warbler, Acrocephalus tttrdoides.
Specimens of the . . . reed-thrush, to use its oldest Eng-
lish name.
Yarrdl, Brit Birds (4th ed.), I. 366. {Encyc. Diet.)
reed-tussock (_red'tus"ok), n. A British moth,
Orgyia csmosa. See tussocTc.
reed-wainscot (red'wan"skot), n. A British
moth, Nonagria cannse.
reed-warbler (red' w^r'^bler), n. One of a group
of Old World sylviine birds, constituting the ge-
nus Acrocephalus. The species to which the name
specially applies is A. strcperus or A. arundinaceia, also
called Calamofierpe or Saticaria arundinacea. Another
species, A. turdoides, is known as the greater reed-warUer,
reed-thrush, and reed-wren.
reed-work (red'werk), n. In organ-building,
the reed-stops of an organ, or of a partial organ,
taken collectively : opposed to flue-work.
reed-wren (red'ren), n. 1. The greater reed-
warbler. — 2. An American wren of the family
Troglodytidse and genus Thryothorus, as the
great Carolina wren, T. carolinensis, or Bewick's
wren, T. bewicM: There are many species, chiefly of
the subtropical parts of America, the two named being
the only ones which inhabit much of the United States.
reedy (re'di),a. l<reed^ + -yi. Ct.AS.hreddiht,
reedy.] 1. Abounding with reeds.
Ye heathy wastes, immix'd with reedy fens.
Rums, Elegy on Miss Burnet.
2. Consisting of or resembling a reed.
With the tip of her reedy wand
Making the sign of the cross.
Longfellttw, Blind Girl of Casta Cnille, i.
3. Noting a tone like that produced from a
reed-instrument. Such tones are usually some-
what nasal, and are often thin and cutting.
The blessed little creature answered me in a voice of such
heavenly sweetness, with that reedy thrill in it which you
have heard in the thrush's even-song, that I hear it at this
moment. 0. W. HolmeSj Autocrat, ix.
4. Noting a quality of iron in which bars or
plates of it have the nature of masses of rods
imperfectly welded together.
reef 1 (ref), n. [Formerly riff; < D. rif= MLG.
rif, ref, L(J. riff, reff (> G. riff), a reef, = Icel.
rif = Dan. rev, a reef, sand-bank ; akin to Icel.
rifa, a fissure, rift, rent, = Sw. refva, a strip,
cleft, gap; Sw. refvel, a sand-bank, = Dan.
revle, a sand-bank, bar, shoal, a strip of land, a
lath; prob. from the verb, Icel. rifa, etc., rive,
split: see nwei. Cf. n/ti.] 1. A low, narrow
ridge of rocks, rising ordinarily but a few feet
above the water. A reef passes by increase of size
into an island. The word is especially used with refer-
ence to those low islands which are formed of coralline
debris. See atoll, and coral reef, below.
Atolls have been formed during the sinking of the land
by the upward growth of the reefs which primarily fringed
the shores of ordinary islands.
Darwin, Coral Reefs, p. 165.
The league-long roller thundering on the reef.
Tennyson, Enoch Arden.
2. Any extensive elevation of the bottom of
thesea; ashoal; abank: so called by fishermen.
reef
The riff, or bank of rocks, on which the French fleet
was lost, runs along from the east and to the northward
about three miles. Dampier, Voyages, I., an. 1681, note.
3. In Australia, the same as lode, vein, or ledge
of the Cordilleran miner: as, a qtiartz-ree/(that
is, a quartz-vein).
Many a promising gold field has been ruined by having
bad machinery put up on it. Reefe that would have paid
handsomely with good machinery are abandoned as un-
payable, and the field is deserted.
H. Fmeh-natton, Advance Australia, p. 218.
4. A kind of commercial sponge which grows
on reefs. [A trade-name.]
British Consul Little of Havana says, according to the
"Journal of the Society of Arts," that the classes [of
sponges) included are sheep wool, velvet, hard-head, yel-
low, grass, and glova. Very little reef, it any, is found in
Cuba. Science, XIV. 861.
Coral reef, an accumulation of calcareous material which
has been secreted from the water of the tropical ocean,
and especially of the Pacific to the south of the equator,
by the reef-building corals. Such accumulations, which
are often of great dimensions, offer curious peculiarities
of form and distribution. They have been classified un-
der the names of friiiging and harrier reefs and atolls.
Fringing reefs border the land ; barrier reefs extend paral-
lel with but at some distance from the shore ; atolls are
approximately circular or elliptical in form, and typical
atolls inclose a lagoon, which usually communicates with
the ocean by one or more passages through the reef. Bar-
rier reefs may be hundreds of miles in length ; that oil the
shore of Australia is 1,250 miles long, and from 10 to 90
broad. Atolls vary from 1 to 50 miles and over in diameter.
The principal mass of a coral reef consists essentially of
dead coral, together with more or less of the skeletons and
shells of other marine organisms ; this dead material is
mingled with debris resulting from the action of breakers
and currents on the coralline formation. The exterior of
such a reef, where conditions are favorable to the develop-
ment of the coral animals, especially on its seaward face,
is covered with a layer or mantle of living and growing
coral, and the rapidity and vigor of this growth depend
on the supply of food brought by the oceanic currents.
Where the conditions for this supply have not been favor-
able, there the reefs are not found ; where the conditions
have been such as to encourage growth, but have ceased
to have this character, there the fonnation of the reef has
slackened or been stopped altogether. Investigations
have shown that the reef-building corals cannot flourish
where the temperature of the surface-water sinks below
70° ; in the typical coral regions the temperature is decid-
edly higher than that, and its range very small. Neither
can the reef-buildersworkat a considerable depth, or above
the level of low tide ; their entire vertical range is not
more than 15 or 20 fathoms at the utmost. These condi-
tions of coral-reef formation, coupled with the fact that
the carbonate of lime in the form in which it has been left
by the death of the organisms by which it was secreted is
decidedly soluble in sea-water, are sufficient to account
for all the peculiarities in tlie distribution and mode of oc-
currence of these remarkable structures. It is because
the currents sweeping toward the eastern shores of the
continents are warm and constant that, while the western
sides of Africa and South America exhibit only isolated
patches of coral, the eastern borders are abundantly sup-
plied with it. It is not now considered necessary to call
in the assistance of a general subsidence of the Pacific
Ocean bottom in order to account for the form of the atolls ;
for it is the opinion of most of the recent investigators that
all the characteristic features of the coral formations —
whether these occur as fringing or barrier reefs, or as atolls
— can be produced in regions of subsidence or of eleva-
tion, as well as in those where no change of level is taking
reef 2 (ref ), n. [Formerly riff; < ME. riff, < MD.
rif (also rift), D. reef = LG. reff, riff (> G. reef,
reff) = Icel. rif = Sw. re/ = Dan. reb, a reef of
a sail; of uncertain origin; perhaps of like ori-
gin with reef^. Hence reef'^, v., and reeve^.'i
Naut. , a part of a sail rolled or folded up, in order
to diminish the extent of canvas exposed to the
wind. In topsails and courses, and sometimes in top-
gallantsails, the reef is the part of the sail between the
head and the first reef -band, or between any two reef -bands ;
in fore-and-aft sails r^efs are taken on the foot. There
are generally three or four reefs in topsails, and one or two
in courses.
Calms are our dread ; when tempests plough the deep,
We take a reef, and to the rocking sleep.
Crabhe, Works, I. 48.
Close reef. See dose^. — French reef, reefing of sails
when they are fitted with rope jackstays instead of points.
reef2 (ref), v. [< reep, n. Cf. the doublet
reeve^.'i I. trans. 1. Naut., to take a reef or
reefs in ; reduce the size of (a sail) by rolling
or folding up a part and securing it by tying
reef -points about it. in square sails the reef-points
are tied round the yard as well as the sail ; in fore-and-aft
sails they may or may not be tied round the boom which
extends the foot of the sail. In very large ships, where
the yards are so large as to make it inconvenient to tie
the reef-points around them, the sails are sometimes
reefed to jackstays on the yards.
Up, aloft, lads ! Come, reef both topsails !
Davenant and Dryden, Tempest, i. 1.
2. To gather up stuff of any kind in a way simi-
lar to that described in def . 1. Compare reefing.
— Close reefed, the condition of a sail when all its reefs
have been taken in.— To reef paddles, in steamships, to
disconnect the float-boards from the paddle-arms and bolt
them again nearer the center of the wheel, in order to di-
minish the dip when the vessel is deep.— To reef the
bowspilt, to rig in the bowsprit. The phrase usually has
5029
application to yachts ; men-of-war are said to rig in their
bowsprits.
The bowsprits on cutters can be reefed by being drawn
closer in and fidded. YacMman's Guide.
II. intrans. See the quotation. [CoUoq.]
In some subtle way, however, when the driver moves the
bit to and fro in his mouth, the effect is to enliven and
stimulate the horse, as if something of the jockey's spirit
were thus conveyed to his mind. If this motion be per-
formed with an exaggerated movement of the arm, it is
called reefing. The Atiantie, LXIV. 115.
reef 3 (ref), a. and n. [Also (Se.) reif, rief; < ME.
ref, < AS. hredf, scabby, leprous, rough (> hred-
fol, hredfl, scabbiness, leprosy, hredflig, lep-
rous, hreofla, a leper), = OHG. rioi, leprous, =
Icel. hrjUfr, scabby, rough. Cf. Icel. ryf scurf,
eruption of the skin ; perhaps connected with
rif a, break: see rive.'] I. a. Scabby; scurvy.
Kings and nations, swith awa!
Seif randies, I disown ye !
Bums, Louis, What Eeck I by Thee?
II. n. 1. The itch; also, any eruptive dis-
order. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. Dandruff. [Prov.
Eng.]
reef-band (ref 'band), n. A strong strip of can-
vas extending across a sail, in a direction par-
allel to its head or foot, to strengthen it. The
reef-band has eyelet-holes at regular intervals for the
reef -points which flecure it when-reefed. — Balajice reef-
band, a reef-band extending diagonally across a fore-and-
aft sail. See reefs, n.
reef-builder (ref 'bil"der), n. Any coral which
builds a reef.
reef-building (refbil'ding), a. Constructing
or building up a coral reef, as a reef-builder.
reef-cringle (ref ^kring'gl), n. See cringle (a).
reef-earing (ref 'er"ing), n. See earingi.
reeferi (re'fer), n. [< ree/i + -eri.] An oyster
that grows on reefs in the wild or untransplant-
ed state ; a reef-oyster.
reefer^ (fe'fer), n. [< ree/2 -I- -eri.] 1. One
who reefs : a name familiarly applied to mid-
shipmen, because they attended in the tops
during the operation of reefing. Admiral Smyth,
The steerage or gun-room was ever heaven, the scene of
happiness unalloyed, the home of darling reefers who own
the hearts they won long years ago, the abode of briny
mirth, of tarry jollity. Harper's Mag., LXXVII. 166.
2. A short coat or jacket worn by sailors and
fishermen, and copied for general use by the
fashions of 1888-90.
reef-goose (ref'gos), ». The common wild
goose of North America, Bernicla canadensis.
See cut under Bernicla. [North Carolina.]
reefing (re'fing), ». [Verbal n. of reef 2, ^j.] in
upholstery, the gathering up of the material of
a curtain, valance, or the like, as in short fes-
toons.
reefing-beckets (re'fing-bek'''ets), n. pi. Sen-
net stra'ps fitted with an eye and toggle, used
in reefing when sails are fitted with French
reefs. The toggle 4)art is generally seized to the iron
jackstay on the yard, and the tail of the strap is taken
around the rope jackstay on the sail, the eye being then
placed over the toggle.
reefing-jacket (re'fing-3ak"et), n. A close-fit-
ting jacket or short coat made of strong heavy
cloth.
reefing-point (re'fing-point), n. Naut., a reef-
point.
reef-jig, reef-jigger (ref 'jig, -jig"er), n. Naut. ,
a small tackle sometimes used in reefing to
stretch the reef-band taut before knotting the
points.
reef-knot (ref'not), n. Same as square knot
(which see, under hnot^).
reef-line (ref 'lin), n. Naut., a temporary means
of spilling a sail, arranged so that it can serve
when the wind is blowing fresh.
reef-oyster (ref ois"ter), M. A reefer. Seeree/-
eri and oyster.
reef-pendant (ref 'pen'-'dant), n. Naut., in fore-
and-aft sails, a rope through a sheave-hole in
the boom, with a tackle attached, to haul the
after-leech down to the boom while reefing; in
square sails, a rope fastened to the leech of the
sail and rove up through the yard-arm, having
a purchase hooked to the upper end, to serve
as a reef-tackle.
reef-point (ref'point), n. Naut., a short piece
of rope fastened by the middle in each eyelet-
hole of a reef-band, to secure the sail in reef-
ing.
reef-squid (ref 'skwid), n. A lashing or earing
used aboard the luggers on the south coast of
England to lash the outer cringle of the sail
when reefing.
reef-tackle (ref'tak'l), «. Naut., a tackle fas-
tened to the leeches of a sail below the close-
reel
reef band, used to haul the leeches of the sail
up to the yard to facilitate reefing.
reeki (rek), r. [< ME. reken, reoken; (a) < AS.
redcan (strong verb, pret. rede, pi. rwcon), smoke,
steam, = OPries. riaka = D. rieken, ruiken =
MLG. ruken, LG. ruiken, rieken = OHGc. riiih-
han, riohhan, MHG. riechen, G. riechen (pret.
rock), smell, rauclieii, smoke, = Icel. rjUka (pret.
rauk, pi. ruku) = Sw. roka, ryka = Dan. roge,
ryge = Goth. *riukan (not recorded), smoke;
(b) < AS. recan (pret. rehte) (= OPries. reka =
D. rookeii = MLG. roktn = OHG. rouhan = Icel.
re^fc/a),tr., smoke, steam. Hence ree/tl, «. No
connection with Skt. raja, rajas, dimness, sky,
dust, pollen, rajani, night, •/ ranj, dye.] I. in-
trans. To smoke; steam; exhale.
The encence out of the fyr rekelh sote fsweet].
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 2612.
Frae many a spout came running out
His reeKnj7-het red gore.
BatOe of Tranent-Muir (Child's Ballads, VTI. 170).
I found me laid
In balmy sweat, which with his beams the sun
Soon dried, and on the reeking moisture fed,
Milton, P. L., viii. 266.
The reeking entrails on the fire they threw.
And to the gods the grateful odour flew.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., xii. 211.
The floor reeked with the recent scrubbing, and the god-
dess did not like the smell of brown soap.
Thackeray, Pendennis, Ixvi.
II. trans. To smoke ; expose to smoke.
After the halves [of the moulds] are so coated or reeked,
they are fitted together.
W. B. Greenwood, Steel and Iron, p. 423.
reeki (rek), n. [< ME. reek, rek, rike, reik (also
assibilated reche, > E. reech), < AS. rec, smoke,
■ vapor, = OS. rok = OFries. rek = D. rook =
MLG. roke, LG. rook = OHG. rouh, MHG. roucli,
G. raueh, smoke, vapor, = Icel. reykr, smoke,
steam {at.rokr, twilight: see Bagnarok),= Sw.
rok = Dan. rog, smoke; from the verb. Cf.
Goth. rjftwis, darkness, smoke.] 1. Smoke; va-
por ; steam ; exhalation ; fume. [Obsolete, ar-
chaic, or Scotch.]
You common cry of curs ! whose breath I hate
As re-ek o' the rotten fens. Shak., Cor., iii. 3. 121.
As hateful to me as the reek of a lime-kiln.
Shak., M. W. of W., iii. 3. 86.
The reek it rose, and the fiame it flew.
And oh the fire augmented high.
Quoted in Child's Ballads, VI. 178.
The reek o' the cot hung over the plain
Like a little wee cloud in the world its lane.
Hogg, Kilmeny.
2t. Incense.
Reke, that is a gretyngful prayer of men that do pen-
ance. JIfS. Coll. Eton. 10, f. 25. (HaUiwdl.)
Kale through the reek. See kaU.
reek^t (rek), n. [< ME. reek, < AS. hredc = Icel.
hraukr, a heap, rick. Cf. the related rick and
ruck.'] A rick; also, a small bundle of hay.
Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
I'll instantly set all my hinds to thrashing
Of a whole reek of corn.
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, ii. 1. (Nares.)
reeky (re'ki), a. [Also in Sc. spelling reekie,
and assibilated reechy ; < reeA;l -1- -y^.] 1.
Smoky; soiled with smoke.
Now he [the devil] 's taen her hame to his ain reeky den.
Bums (1st ed.). There lived a Carle on Kellybum Braes.
2. Giving out reek or vapor ; giving out fumes
or odors, especially offensive odors. See reefei.
Shut me nightly in a charnel-house, . . .
With reeky shanks, and yellow chapless skulls.
Shak., E. and J., iv. 1. S3.
Seeing the reeky
Bepast placed before him, scarce able to speak, he
In ecstasy mutter'd, " By Jove, Cocky-leeky ! "
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 310.
reeU (rel), n. [< ME. reel, reele, rele, reyle, a
reel, < AS. redl, also liredl (glossing ML. ali-
brum), a reel; cf. Icel. hrsell, rxll, a weavers'
rod or sley; (Jael. ruidhil, a reel for winding
yam on. Eootimknown. Ct.reeP.] A cylinder
or frame turning on an axis, on which thread,
yarn, string, rope, etc., are wound. Specifically
— (a) A roller or bobbin for thread used in sewing; a
spool.
Down went the blue-frilled work-basket, . . . dispers-
ing on the floor reels, thimble, muslin-work.
George Eliot, Felix Holt, v.
(6) A machine on which yarn is wound to form it into
hanks, skeins, etc.
Oh leeze me on my spinning-wheel,
Oh leeze me on my rock an' reel.
Bums, Bess and her Spinning-Wheel,
(c) In rope-making, the frame on which the spun-yarns
are wound as each length is twisted, previous to taiTing
or laying up into strands, (d) The revolving frame upon
which silk-fiber is wound from the cocoon, (e) Anything
prepared for winding thread upon, as an open framework
reel
turning on a pivot at each end, upon which thread is wound
as it is span, or when a skein is opened for use. (J) In
teleg., a barrel on wliich
the strip of paper for re-
ceiving the message is
wound in a recording tel-
egraph. Encyc. Dia. (g)
A winch used by English
and Scotch whalemen for
regaining the tow-line. It
is not employed by Ameri-
cans. (A) Naut., a revolv-
ing frame varying in size,
used for winding up haw-
sers, hose, lead-line, log-
lines, etc. (f) A wind-
lass for hoisting oyster-
ilredges. (J) In milling,
the drum on which the
bolting-cloth is placed. " j
(k) In agri., a cylinder Click-reel,
formed of light slats and „, ^ , j„„„akd in sides of
radial arms, used with a the frame or case d; c, pinion
reaper to gather the grain on the axis of the spool ; u, small
into convenient position E?" meshing with c (in use these
fov fhn Irntv^a t-n^^rioata whecls are Covered by the covcr tf) ;
lor tne Knives to operate y; ^^^ ^f the wheel d (this axis is
on it^ and to direct its fall squared on the outer end and tits
on the platform. (I) In into the crank.socket e, when the
haUng, a cylindrical frame '=°''" ' •= a"adied to the fr^e by
^ot.^rTn.1 f.»a...4 -^..-.c .,.,., small screws i) ; A, crank fitted to
carrying^ bread-pans SUS- crank-socket i;; j] reel-seat ; *, *,
reel-bands which fasten the reel-
seat to the rod r: s, click which,
when not pressed out of engage-
ment with a small serrated wheel
on the end of the spool-shaft op-
posite the pinion c, emits a sound'
when the line is running out and
warns the sportsman that his bait
is taken ; /, click-button, which
. - - . presses out the click from its en-
ing on an axis moved by gagement with the serrated wheel,
a small crank or spring, as when winding in the line.
The salmon-reel is about
four inches, and the trout-reel about two inches in di-
ameter ; the length is about two inches. In angling the
reel plays an important part^ its use and action requiring
to be in perfect accord or correspondence with the play of
the rod and line. To meet these requirements, clicks and
multipliers are employed. The click checks the line from
running out too freely, and the multiplier gathers in the
slack with increased speed, (n) A hose-carriage.— Off tie
Teel, one after another without a break ; in uninterrupted
succession : as, to win three games of the reel. [Colloq.]
— Keel-and-bead molding, in arch., etc., a simple mold-
ing consisting of elongated or spindle-shaped bodies alter-
pended from the horizon-
tal arms of the frame. It
is used in a form of oven
called a reel oven, (m) A
device used in angling,
attached to the rod, for
winding the line, consist-
ing of a cylinder revolv-
Reel-and-bead Molding.
I. Greek (Erechtheum). 2. Renaissance (Venice).
Dating with beads either spherical or flattened in the di-
rection of the molding. — Beel Of paper, a continuous
roll of paper as made for use on web printing-machines.
[Eng. ] — Beel oven. See oven.
reeU (rel), v. t. [< ME. relen, reolen, relien,
reel; from the noun: seereeP;n. Ct.reel^,v.']
To wind upon a reel, as yam or thread from
the spindle, or a fishing-line.
To karde and tq kembe, to clouten and to wasche.
To rubbe and rely. Piers Plowman (C), x. 81.
I say nothing of his lips ; for they are so thin and slen-
der that, were it the fashion to reel lips as they do yarn,
one might make a skein of them.
Jarvie, tr. of Don Quixote, II. iii. 15. (pames.)
Silk reeling is one of the industries.
Harper's Mag., IXXVII. 47.
To reel in, in angling, to recover by winding on the reel
(the line that has been paid out).— To reel off, to give out
or produce with ease and fluency, or in a rapid and con-
tinuous manner. [Colloq.]
Mr. Wark and Mr. Faulhamus [telegraphers], who sent
in the order named, reeled o^ exactly the same number of
words. Electric Rev. (Amer.), XVI. viii. 7.
To reel up, to wind up or take in on a reel (all the line).
reel^ (rel),ti. [Early mod. E. also rele; < ME.
reUn, turn round and round ; appar. a particu-
lar use of reeU, v., but ef . Icel. ridhlask, rook,
waver, move to and fro (as ranks in battle), <
ritha, tremble. Not connected with roll."] I.
intrans. 1. To turn round and round ; whirl.
Hit [the boat] reled on roun[d] vpon the roje ythes [rough
waves]. Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), iii. 147.
2. To sway from side to side in standing or
walking; stagger, especially as one drunk.
To knyjtez he kest his yje,
& reled hym vp & doun.
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E, T. S.), L 229.
But when they saw the Almayne rele and staggar, then
they let fall the rayle betwene them.
HiUl, Hen. Vm., an. 6.
The tinker he laid on so fast.
That he made Robin reel.
RoUn Hood and the Tinker (Child's Ballads, V. 236).
5030
Kathelesse so sore a buff to him it lent
That made him reele, and to his brest his bever bent.
Spenser, F. Q., II. v. 6.
Flecked darkness like a drunkard reds
From forth day's path. 5Aa*., R. and J., ii. 3. 3.
She [France] staggered and reded under the burden of
the war. Bolingiroke, State of Europe, viiU
3. To be affected with a whirling or dizzy sen-
sation : as, his brain reeled.
Your fine Tom Jones and Grandisons,
They make your youthful fancies reel.
Bums, Oh leave Kovels.
When all my spirit reels
At the shouts, the leagues of lights.
And the roaring of the wheels.
Tennyson, Maud, xxvi.
=S3m. 2. Reel, Stagger, and Totter have in common the
idea of an involuntary unsteadiness, a movement toward
falling. Only animate beings red or stagger; a tower or
other erect object may totter. Reel suggests dizziness or
other loss of balance ; stagger suggests a burden too great
to be carried steadUy, or a walk such as one would have in
carrying such a burden ; totter suggests weakness : one
reels upon being struck on the head; a drunken man, a
wounded man, staggers; the infant and the very aged
totter.
Pale he tum'd, and reel'd, and would have fall'n.
But that they stay'd him up. Tennyson, Guinevere.
His breast heaved, and he staggered in his place,
And stretched his strong arms forth with a low moan.
WUliam Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 279.
He [iETewcastle] thought it better to construct a weak and
rotten government, which tottered at the smallest breath,
. . . than to pay the necessary price for sound and durable
materials. JUacavlay, William Pitt.
Il.t trans. 1. To turn about; roll about.
Ruuischly his rede yjen [eyes] he rded aboute.
Sir Oawayne and the Qreen Knight (E. B. T. S.X 1. 304.
2. To roll.
And Sisyphus an huge round stone did reele
Against an hill. Spenser, F. Q., I. v. 85.
3. To reel or stagger through.
You are too indulgent. Let us grant, it is not
Amiss to . . . keep the turn of tippling with a slave ;
To reel the streets at noon. Shak., A. and C, i. 4. 20.
4. To cause to reel, stagger, totter, or shake.
reeP (rel), n. [< reel^, v.] A staggering mo-
tion, as that of a drunken man ; giddiness.
(The attendant . . . carries off Lepldus [drunk].) . . .
Eno. Drink thou ; increase the reels.
Shak., A. and C, ii. 7. 100.
Instinctively she paused before the arched window, and
looked out upon the street, in order to seize its permanent
objects with her mental grasp, and thus to steady herself
from the reel and vibration which affected her more imme-
diate sphere. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xvi.
reeP (rel), n. [Formerly also reill; < Gael.
righil, a reel (dance).] 1. A lively dance,
danced by two or three couples, and consisting
of various circling or intertwining figures. It
is very popular in Scotland. The strathspey (which see) is
slower, and full of sudden jerks and turns.
There 's threesome reds, there 's foursome reds.
There 's hornpipes and strathspeys, man.
Burns, The Deil cam Fiddlin' thro' the Town.
Blythe an' merry we 's be a', . . .
And dance, till we be like to fa'.
The reel of Tullochgorum.
Rev. J. Skinner, Tullochgorum.
2. Music for such a dance or in its rhythm,
which is duple (or rarely sextuple), and charac-
terized by notes of equal length.
Oeilles Duncane did goe before them, playing this reiM
or daunce upon a small trump.
Newesfrom Scotland (1691), sig. B. iii.
Virginia reel, a country-dance supposed to be derived
from the English "Sir Roger de Coverley." [IT. S.]
reels (rel), v. i. [< reeP, «.] To dance the
reel; especially, to describe the figure 8 as in
a reel.
The dancers quick and quicker flew ;
They reel'd, they set, they cross'd, they cleekit.
Burm, Tam o' Shanter.
reelable (re'la-bl), a. [< reeP- + -aWe.] Capa-
ble of being reeled, or wound on a reel.
At least six species of Bbmbyx . . . form reddble co-
coons. Encyc. Brit., XXII. 60.
reel-band (rel'band), n. A band of metal used
to confine a reel in the reel-bed of a fly-rod.
reel-bed (rel'bed), n. The place on an anglers'
rod where the reel is fitted; a reel-seat.
reel-check (rel'chek), n, Ally device for check-
ing the run of a flshmg-line from the reel.
reel-click (rel'klik), n. An attachment to an
anglers' reel, by a light pressure of which the
movement of the line is directed, it checks the
line from i-unning out too freely. Some clicks graduate
the strain upon the line, checking it almost entirely, or
permitting it to run without any check at all. The click
also indicates to the ear what the flsh is doing.
reel-cotton (rerkot^n), n. Sewing-cotton which
is sold on reels instead of being Aade up into
balls, including generally the finer grades.
Compare spool-cotton.
reem
reelect (re-e-lekf), V. t. [< re- + elect. Cf. P.
r4iUre, reelect, = Sp. reelegir = Pg. reeleger =
It. rieleggere.1 To elect again.
The chief of these was the strategos or commander-in-
chief, who held his office tor a year, and could only be n-
dected after a year's interval. Brougham.
reflection (re-e-lek'shon), n. [= P. riilecUon
= Sp. reeleccion = Pg. reeleigSo = It. rielezione;
as re- + election.'] Election a second time for
the same office : as, the reelection of a former
representative.
Several acts have been made, and rendered ineffectual
by leaving the power of reelection open. Swift.
Several Presidents have held office for two consecutive
terms. . . . Might it not be on the whole a better system
to forbid immediate re-decHon, but to allow re-election at
any later vacancy? E. A, Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. SSL
reeler (re'lSr), n. 1. One who reels, in any
sense ; specifically, a silk-winder.
The syndicate were able to advance somewhat the price
of cocoons, and to induce the reders to provide themselves
liberally for fear of a further rise.
U. S. Com. Report, No. 73 (1887), p. Ixxxiv.
2. The grasshopper-warbler, Acrocephalus nie-
vius: so called from its note. [Local, Eng.]
In the more marshy parts of England . . , this bird has
long been known as the Reder, from the resemblance of
its song to the noise of the reel used, even at the begin-
ning of the present century, by the hand-spinners of wool.
But, this kind of reel being now dumb, in such districts
the countoy-folks of the present day connect the name
with the reel used by the fishermen.
Yarrell, Brit. Birds (4th ed.), I. 385. {Encyc. Diet.)
reel-holder (rel'h61'''d6r), n. 1. A frame or
box with pins upon which reels of silk, cotton,
etc., for use in sewing can be put, free to re-
volve, and kept from being scattered. See spool-
holder. [Eng.] — 2. Naut., on a man-of-war,
one of the watch on deck who is stationed to
hold the reel and haul in the line whenever the
log is heaved to ascertain the ship's speed.
reeligibility (rf-er'i-ji-bil'i-ti), n. [= P. r^i-
gibiUt^; as reeligihle + -iiy (see -MUty).'] Eli-
gibility for being reSlected to the same office.
With a positive duration [of the presidency] of consid-
erable extent I connect the circumstance of re-eligiinlity.
A. Hampton, The Federalist, Ko. 72.
There is another strong feature in the new constitution
which I as strongly dislike. That is, the perpetual re-eli-
gibility of the President.
Jeff&rs&n, Correspondence, n. 291.
reeligible (re-el'i-ji-bl), a. [= p. r^^Ugible =
It. rieleggiUle; as re- + eligible.'] Capable of
being elected again to the same office.
One of his friends introduced a bill to make the tribunes
legally reeligible. Proude, CsBsar, p. 29.
reeling (re'ling), TO. [Verbal n. of reeZi,D.] 1.
The act or process of winding silk, as from ttfe
cocoons. — 2. The use of the reel of an anglers'
rod. Forest and Stream.
reeling-machine (re'ling-ma-shen'O, n. 1. A
machine for winding thread on reels or spools; a
spooling-maohine or silk-reel. X Ef. Knight—
2. In cotton-manuf., a machine which takes the
yarn from the bobbins of the spinning- or twist-
ing-frames, and winds it into hanks or skeins.
reel-keeper (i'erke''''per), n. In angling, any de-
vice, as a clamping ring, etc., for holding a reel
firmly on the butt section of a rod.
reel-line (rel'lin), n. A fishing-line used upon
a reel by anglers; that part of the whole une
which maybe reeled, as distinguished from the
easting-line or leader.
reel-oven (re^uv^n), n. See oven.
reel-pott (rel'pot), n. A drunkard. Middleton.
{Encyc. Diet.)
reel-rail (rel'ral), adv. [Appar. a repetition
of reel; cf . whim-wham, rip-rap, etc.] Upside
down; topsy-turvy. [Scotch.]
The warld "s a" reel-rail but wi' me and Zate. There 's
nothing but broken heads and broken hearts to be seen.
Donald amd Mora, p. 17. (/amvieson.)
reel-seat (rel' set), TC. l. The plate, groove, or
bed on an anglers' rod which receives the reel.
— 2. A device used by anglers to fasten the
reel to the butt of the rod. it is a simple bed-plate
of sheet-brass, or of silver, screwed down upon the butt of
/^.J * ^"^ °* clamps into which tlie plate of the
Adjusting a light ... reel ... to the reel-seat at the
extreme butt of the [flshing-]rod.
The Century, XXVI. 378.
reel-stand (rel'stand), n. A form of reel-holder,
reemit, n. and V. An obsolete form of ream^-.
reem^, v. t. Same as ream^.
reemS (rem), v. i. [< MB. remen, < AS. hryman,
hreman, cry, call out, boast, exult, also murmur,
complain, < kredm, cry, shout.] To cry or moan.
Halliwell. [North. Eng.]
reem* (rem), n. A dialectal variant of rime^
"em 5031 reexMbit
"^nf ?^ l^^^l'i"' "^5 ^^^'^ l^^Jf ^^^^ "^"^^ reenthronize (re-en-thio'niz), v. t. [< re- + reet2 (ret), V. t. [A dialectal variant of right.l
?foh^Si^ q „t?*?°''^'^-'''f^i^^'^?^f*fr'^* en«Arom>e.] To reenthxone. [Rare.] To smooth, or put in order ; comb7aa thehair.
tJODXxxix. a, etc.;, variously translated 'uni- This Mustapha they did rMntftronwe, and place in the HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
Ottoman Empire. HowM, Letters, I. iiL 22. reetle, V. t. [A freq. of reet^."] To put to rights ;
reSntrance (re-en' trans), ». \<.re- + entrance^.'] repair. HalUweU. [R-ov. Eng.]
The act of entering again. ^ ' ' " ' "
Their repentance, although not their first entrance, is
notwithstanding the first step ol their re^^ntranoe into
life. Hooker.
corn,' 'wild ox,' and 'ox-antelope,' now identi-
fied as Bos primigenius.
Win the tall reem, which knows no Lord but me.
Low at the crib, and ask an alms of thee?
Ymng, Paraphrase on Job, 1. 241.
reembark (re-em-bark'), V. [= F. rembarquer
= Sp. Pg. reemharcar; as re- + embark.'] I.
trans. To embark or put on board again.
On the 22d of August, 1776, the whole army being n-em-
barlced was safely landed, under protection of the shipping,
on the south-western extremity of Long Island.
JBOeham, Hist. Great Britain, George III.
II. intrans. To embark or go on board again.
Having performed this ceremony [the firing of three vol-
leys] upon the island, ... we re^mbarked in our boat.
Cook, Krst Voyage, II. v.
reSmbarkation (re-em-bar-ka'shon), n. [< re-
+ emharTcation.'} A putting on board or a going
on board again.
Reviews, re-embarkations, and councils of war.
Smollett, Hist. Eng., iii. 2. (Latham.)
reemingf, n. [Verbal n. of reem^, v.] Lament-
ing; groaning.
On this wise, all the weke, woke thai within.
With Remyng & rauthe, Eenkes to be-hold.
Destruction <ff Troy (E. E. T. S.), L 8696.
reenact (re-e-nakf), v. t. [< re- + enact.'] To
enact again, as a law.
reevei (rev), n. [< ME. reeve, reve, < AS. gerefa
(rarely geredfa, with loss of prefix refa, with
syncope in Anglian groefa), a prefect, steward,
fiscal officer of a shire or county, reeve, sher-
iff) judge, count; origin uncertain. The form
It is not reasonable to think but that so many of their
orders as were outed from their fat possessions would nprHn Knaaoa^a a HomTroK^r, ^no^^™- 7~ V
endeavour are-crrfrance against those whom they account ^Zf^^^-^^^f^ ^ derivation (as ong. an hon
Dryden, Eeligio Laici, Pref. orary title), < ge-, a generahzmg prefix, + roj
(= OS. rof, ruof), famous, well-known
heretics. " Dryden, Beligio
reentrant (re-en'trant), a. [= F. rentrant =
Pg. reintranie = It. rientrante; as re- + en-
trant.] Same as reentering.
A reentrant fashion. Amer. Jomr. Sd., XXX. 216.
Seentrant angle. Seeein^Jes.—Keentrant l>raiich,in
geom. See branch, 2 (d).
reentry (re-en'tri), ». l< re- + entry.'] 1. The
act of reentering ; a new or fresh entry.
A right of re-entry was allowed to the person selling any
office on repayment of the price and costs at any time be-
fore his successor, the purchaser, had actually been ad-
mitted. Brougham.
2. In law, the resuming orretaking possession
of lands previously parted with by the person
so doing or his predecessors : as, a landlord's
reentrji tor non-payment of rent Proviso for
reentlTt ^ clause usually inserted in leases, providing
that upon non-payment of rent, public dues, or the like,
the term shall ceaife.
or
The Construction of Ships was forbidden to Senators, by reenverset, V. t. [For renverse, < OF, ren/verser,
a Law made by Claudius, the Tribune, . . . and re-enacted reverse: Bee renverse.] To reverse,
by the Julian Law of Concessions. t,,^ „„■ -t.
^rW.««*, Ancient Coins, p. 259. ^^'-'"^i^P^eudo-Martyr, p. 274. (^. !«»«.)
The Southern Confederacy, in its short-lived constitu- „„ /-/i\ ai -j-j-i x- i
tion,re-enac(edaUtheesBentlalfeaturesoftheconstltutlon reaper (re p6r), n. A longitudinal section of
of the United States. the Palmyra-palm, used in the East as a build-
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 897. ing-material.
reSnactment (re-e-nakt'ment), w. [(.reenact + reermouse, «. See reremouse.
-ment.] The enacting of a law a second time; reesH, «• See racei.
the renewal of a law. Clarice,
reinforce, reinforcement, etc. See reinforce,
etc.
reengender (re-en-jen'dfer), v. t. [< re- + en-
gender.] To regenerate.
The renovating and rei-ngenderinff spirit of God.
MUton, On Dsf. of Humb. Bemonst.,
§4.
reSnslave (re-en-slav'), V. t. [< re- + enslave.] '^^esjit, v. See reasfi-
rees^ (res), n. A unit of tale for herrings (= 375).
reescatef, v. t. Same as reseat.
reesk (resk), n. [Also reysh, reyss; < Gael.
riasg, coarse mountain-grass, a marsh, fen. Cf .
mfti, rwsfei.] 1. A kind of coarse or rank
grass. — 3. Waste land which yields such grass.
[Scotch in both senses.]
To enslave again ;_oast again into bondage,
reSnslavement (re-en-slav'ment), n. [< reen-
slave + -ment.] The act of reenslaving, or sub-
jecting anew to slavery.
Consenting to their reSnalavement, we shall pass . . .
under the grasp of a military despotism.
The Independent, April 24, 1862.
reenstamp (re-en-stamp'), V. t. [< re- + en-
stamp,] To enstamp again. Bedell.
reenter (re-en'ter), V. [< re- + enter. Cf. F.
rentrer, reenter, = It. rientrare, shrink.] I,
intrans. 1. To enter again or anew.
That eloiy , . . into which He re-entered after His pas-
sion and ascension. Waterland, Works, IV. 66.
reest^ (rest), v. [Also reist, a dial, form of rest^ :
see rest^.] I. intrans. To stand stubbornly still,
as a horse ; balk. [Scotch.]
In cart or car thou never reeitnt.
The steyest brae thou wad ha'e fac'd it.
Bums, Auld Fanner's Salutation to his Auld Mare.
II. traris. To arrest; stop suddenly; halt.
[Scotch.]
reestablish (re-es-tab'lish), v. t. [< re- H- es-
tablish. Cf. OF. restdblir, retablir, F. rStdblir,
Pr. restablir, Sp. restablecer, Pg. restabelecer, It.
ristabilire, reestablish.] To establish anew ; set
up&gain: as, to reestablish one's health.
And thus was the precious tree of the crosse reestaib-
lysMd in his place, and thauncyent myracles renewid.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 164.
The French were re-eataUished in America, with equal
power and greater spirit, having lost nothing by the war
which they had before gained.
Johnson, State of Affairs in 1756.
One who
valiant, stout, a poetical epithet of imprecise
meaning and unknown origin. But gerefa may
perhaps stand for orig. *grefa (Anglian grrnfa)
= OFries. greva = D. graaf = OHG. grdvo,
MHG-. grave, greeve, (J. graf, a count, prefect,
overseer, etc. : see graf, graved, greeioe^.] 1. A
steward; a prefect: a bailiff; a business agent.
The word enters into the composition of some titles, as
horough^eem, hog-reeve,portreeve, sheriff(shire^e^ve), town-
reeee, etc., and is itself in use in Canada and in some parts
of the United States.
Selde falleth the seruant so deepe in arerages
As doth the reyue other the conterroUer that rekene mot
and a-counte
Of al that thei hauen had of hym that is here maister.
Piers Plowman (C^ xii. 298.
His lordes scheep, his neet, his dayerie,
His swyn, his hors, his stoor, and his pultrie,
Was holly in this reeves govemynge.
Chavcer, Gen. Prol. to C. T. (ed. Morris), 1. 599.
In auncient time, almost every manor had his reoe,
whose authoritie was not only to levle the lords rents, to
set to worke his servaunts, and to husband his demesnes
to his best profit and commodltie, but also to goveme his
tenants In peace, and to leade them foorth to war, when
necessitie so required.
Lamiarde, Perambulation (1696), p. 484. (HaUiwell.)
A lord "who has so many men that he cannot person-
ally have all in his own keeping" waB bound to set over
each dependent township a reeve, not only to exact his
lord's dues, but to enforce his justice within its bounds.
J. E. Green, Conq. of Eng., p. 217.
The council of every village or township [in Canada]
consists of one reeve and four councillors, and the county
council consists of the reeiies and deputy-reeues of the
townships and villages within the county.
Sir C. W. DUke, Probs. of Greater Britain, i. 2.
2. A foreman in a coal-mine. Edinburgh Eev.
[Local.]— Fen reeve, in some old English municipal
cotporations, an officer having supervision of the fens or
marshes.
The Fen Reeve [at Dunwich] superintends the stocking of
the marshes, and his emoluments are from 5^. to 62. ayear.
Municip. Corp. Report (1835), p. 2222.
reeve^t (rev), v. i. An obsolete variant of reave.
reeve* (rev), v. t. ; pret. and pp. reeved or rove,
ppr. reeving. [< D. reven = Dan. rebe, reef or
reeve, < reef, a reef: see ree/2, n. Cf. ree/2, v.,
a doublet of reeved. The pp. rove is irreg., ap-
par. in imitation of hove, pret. and pp. of heave.]
Naut., to pass or run through any hole in a
block, thimble, cleat, ring-bolt, cringle, etc.,
as the end of a rope.
When first leaving port, studding-sail gear is to be rove,
all the running rigging to be examined, that which is un-
fit for use to be got down, and new rigging rave in its
place. R. H, Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 15.
2. In law, to resume or retake possession of
lands previously parted with. See reentry, 2.
As In case of Disseisin, the law hath been, that the dis-
seisor could not re-enter without action, unless he had as
it were made a present and continual claim.
&J<ten,IUustration3 of Drayton's Polyolbion,xvii. 128. reSstablisher (re-es-tab'lish-er), n,
II. trans. 1. Toenteranew: as, (a)to»'ee»<er reestablishes,
a house ; (b) to reenter an item in an account Restorers of virtue, and re-estaUishersoi a happy worid.
or record. — 2. In engraving, to cut deeper, as SirE. Sandj/s, state of Religion.
lines of an etchedplate Which the aqua fortis reestablishment (re-es-tab'lish-ment), n. [< Eeeves's pheasant. See Phasianus.
has not bitten sutfciently, or which have be- reestablish + -ment. Cf. OF. resiabUssement, "■««»«»." P^.'"*'"'?*- ^ee sr,^-,anus.
reeve* (rev), n. [Ap^ar. formed by irreg. vowel-
change from the original of ruff^i see ruff^.]
A bird, the female of the ruff. Machetes pugnax.
See Pavoneella, and cut under ruff^.
The reeves lay four eggs in a tuft of grass, the first week
In May. Pennant, Brit. ZoBl. (ed. 1776), p. 468. (JodreH.)
come worn by repeated printing,
reentering (rf-en'ter-ing), n. In hand-block
calico-printing, the secondary and subsequent
colors, which are adapted to their proper place
in the pattern on the cloth by means of pin-
points. Also called grounding-4n,. U.S. Knight.
reentering (re-en'te^-ing), j). a. En-
tering again or anew — Reentering f7 N
angle, an angle pointing inward (see any
gle'i); specifically, in fort., the angle of a
work whose point turns Inward toward the ReSntenng
defended place.
An^le.
All that can be seen of the fortress from the river, upon ra'datatoi /va pa t3f'\ v f
whichitfronts is a long, low wall of gray stone broken ^l^fowtii!^ tlwX'
sharply into salient and reentering angles with a few can-
non en barbette. T?ie Century, XXXV. 621.
shook the whole Roman empire,
Addison, Of the Christian Religion, vliL 6.
The re-estdblishment of the old system, by which the
dean and chapter O'ointly) may have the general conduct
of the worship of the church, and the care of the fabric.
Edinburgh Rev., CLXIII. 183.
[< re- + estate.] To
reestablish ; reinstate.
Had there not been a degeneration from what God made
Reentering polygon. See polygon. us at first, there had been no need of a regeneration to
reenthrone (re-en-thron'), «. ;. [<re- + en- re-estate ns in it. FaZ/is, Two Sermons, p. 26.
throne.] To enthrone again; restore to the reested,reestit(res'ted, -tit),jp. a. Seereasted.
throne. reet^ (ret), n. A dialectal variant of roofi-.
He disposes in my hands the scheme The highest tree in Elmond's-wood,
To rccjrfftrone the king. Southeme. He 's pu'd it by the re«e.
reenthronement (re-en-thron'ment), n. [< re- Young AUn (Child's Ballads, L 180).
enthrone + -ment.] The act of enthroning reet^ (ret), a. and n.
again; restoration to the throne. right.
, reexamination (re-eg-zam-i-na'shon), n. [=
retabhssement, F. retabhssement, bp. restableci- Sp. reexaminadon = Pg. reexaminageh ; as re-
miento, Pg. restabelecimento. It. ristabilimento.] -f- examination.] A renewed or repeated ex-
The act of establishing again, or the state of amination ; specifically, in law, the examina-
being reestablished ; restoration. tion of a vidtness after a cross-examination.
The Jews . . . made such a powerful effort for their re. reexamine (re-eg-zam'in), «. t. [= Sp. Pg. re-
es«oMigAmen« under Barchocab, in the reign of Adrian, as examinar; as re- + examine.] To examine
anew ; subject to another examination.
Spend the time in re-examining more duly your cause.
Hooker.
reSxchange (re-eks-chanj'), n. [< re- -I- ex-
change, n.] 1. A renewed exchange. — 2. In
com., the difference in the value of a bill of
exchange occasioned by its being dishonored
in a foreign country in which it was payable.
The existence and amount of it depend on the
rate of exchange between the two countries.
TFharton.
reexchange (re-eks-chanj'), v. t. [< re- -F ex-
change, v.] To exchange again or anew.
reexhibit (re-eg-zib'it), v. t. [< re- + exhibit.]
To exhibit again or anew.
A dialectal variant of reSxhibit (re-eg-zib'it), n. [< reexhibit, v.] A
second or renewed exhibit.
legzperience
reexperience (re-eks-pe'ri-ens), n. [< re- + ex-
perience, n.'] Arenewedorrepeated experience.
reSxperience (re-eks-pe'ri-ens), v. t. [< re- +
experience, D.] To experience again.
reexport (re-eks-porf), v. t. [= F. rSexporter;
as re- + export.'] To export again; export
after having imported.
The goods, tor example, which are annaally purchased
with .the great surplus of eighty-two thousand hogsheads
of tobacco annually re-exported from Great Britain, are
not all consumed in Great Britain,
Adwm Smithf Wealth of !N'ations, iv. 7.
reexport (re-eks'port), n. [< reexport, v.] 1.
A commodity that is reexported. — 2. Keexpor-
tation.
Foreign sugars have not been taken to Hawaii for re-ex-
port to the Pacific Coast. Tlie American, VI. 387.
reexportation (re-eks-por-ta'shon), n. [= P.
reexportation; as reexport -H -atiok.] The act of
exporting what has been imported.
In allowing the same drawbacks upon the re-e!i^}ortation
of the greater part of European and East India goods to
the colonies as upon their re-exportation to any indepen-
dent country, the interest of the mother country waa sac-
riilced to it, even according to the mercantile ideas of that
interest. Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, iv. 7.
reextent (re-eks-tenf), n. [< re- + extent.'] In
law, a second extent on lands or tenements, on
complaint that the former was partially made,
or the like. See extent, 3.
reezet, ». t. See reast^.
reezeaf, a. See reasted.
ref. An abbreviation of (o) reformed; (b) ref-
erence.
refactiont (re-fak'shgn), n. [= P. refaction =
Sp. refaccioii, < L. as if *refactio{n-), for refec-
tio(n-), a restoring (cf. ref actor, a restorer): see
refection.] Eetritmtion.
The Soveraigne Minister, who was then employed In
Elaiana, was commanded to require refaction and satis-
faction against the informers or rather inventours and
forgers of the aforesaid mis-information.
HoweU, Vocall Forrest, p. 113.
refait (P. prou. re-fa'), n. [P., a drawn game, <
refait, pp. of refaire, do again, < re-, again, +
faire, do: see/ea*i.] A drawn game; specifi-
cally, in rouge-et-noir, a state of the game in
which the cards dealt for the players who bet
on the red equal in value those dealt for the
players who bet on the black.
refasMon (re-fash'on), V. t. [= OF. refagoner,
refagonner, P. refagonner, fashion over, re-
fashion; as re- + fashion, v.] To fashion,
form, or mold into shape a second time or
anew.
refashioninent (re-fash' on-ment), n. [< re-
fashion + -merit.] The act o£ fashioning or
forming again or anew. L, Hunt.
refasten (re-fas'n), v. t. [< re- + fasten.] To
fasten again.
refectt (rf-fekf), v. t. [< L. refectvs, pp. of
reflcere, restore, refresh, remake, < re-, again,
-I- facere, make : see fact. Cf. refete, refit.]
To refresh; restore after hunger or fatigue;
repair.
A man in the morning is lighter in the scale, because
in sleep some pounds have perspired ; and is also lighter
unto himself, because he is refected.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iv. 7.
refectt (rf-fekf), p. a. [ME., < L. refectus, re-
freshed, restored, pp. of refieere, restore, re-
fresh: see refect, v.] Recovered; restored;
refreshed.
Tak thanne this drawht, and, whan thou art wel re-
fresshed and r^ect, thow shal be moore stydefast to stye
[rise] into heyere questiouns.
Chaucer, Boethlus, Iv. prose 6.
refection (re-fek'shon), n. [< ME. refeccion,
refeceyon, < OF. refection, P. refection = Pr.
refectio = Sp. refeccion = Pg. refeigSo, refecgSo
= It. refezione, < L. refeetio(nr-), a restoring,
refreshment, remaking, < refieere, pp. refectus,
restore, remake : see refect.] 1 . Refreshment
after hunger or fatigue; a repast: applied es-
pecially to meals in religious houses.
And whan we were retoumed ayen into ye sayde chap-
ell of oure Lady, after a lytel refeceyon with mete and
drynke ... Sir R. Guylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 27.
But now the peaceful hours of sacred night
Demand refection, and to rest invite.
Pope, Iliad, xxiv. 754.
Beside the rent in kind and the feudal services, the chief
who had given stock was entitled to come with a com-
pany . . . and feast at the Daer-stock tenant's house at
particular periods. . . . This "right of re/erttoi" and lia-
bility to it are among the most distinctive features of an-
cient Irish custom.
Maine, Early Hist, of Institutions, p. 161.
2. In civil law and old Eng. law, repair; resto-
ration to good condition.
5032
refectioner (re-fek'shon-6r), n. [< refecUon -t-
-e)-2.] One who has charge of the refectory
and the supplies of food in a monastery.
Two most important officers of the Convent, the Kitch-
ener and Jiefectioner, were just arrived with a sumpter-
mule loaded with provisions. Scott, Monastery.
refective (re-fek'tiv), a. and n. [< refect +
-ive.] I. o.' Refreshing; restoring.
II n. That which refreshes.
refectorer (re-fek'to-rfer), n. [< P. refectorier
= Sp. refitole'ro = Pg. refeitoreiro = It. refetto-
riere, < ML. refectorarins, one who has charge
of the refectory, < refectorium, refectory: see
refectory.] Same as refectioner.
refectory (re-fek'to-ri), «.; pi. refectories (-riz).
[= OF. refe'ctoir, refeitoir, also (with intrusive
r) refrectoir, refreitoir, refrietv/r, refretor, etc.,
P. refectoire and rSfectoir = Pr. refector, refeitor
= Sp. refectorio, refitorio = Pg. refeitorlo = It.
refettorio, < ML. refectorium, a place of refresh-
ment, < L. refieere, pp. refectus, refresh, restore,
refect: see refect.] A room of refreshment;
Sacred to neatness and repose, th' alcove,
The chamber, or refect<yry. Cowper, Task, vi. 572.
To whom the monk : . . . "a guest of ours
Told us of this in our refectory."
Tennyson, Holy Grail.
refelt (re-fel'), V. t. [< OP. refeller, < L. refellere,
show to be false, refute, < re-, again, back, +
fallere, deoeiye (>falsus, false): seefaiP-.] To
refute; disprove; overthrow by arguments; set
aside.
How I persuaded, how I pray'd and kneel'd.
How he refeU'd me, and how I replied.
Shak., M. for M., v. 1. 94.
I shall confute, refute, repel, ref el.
Explode, exterminate, expunge, extinguish
Like a rush-candle this same heresy.
Chapman, Revenge for Honour, i. 2.
refeoflf (re-fef), v. t. [< ME. refeffen; as re- +
feoff.] I'o feoff again; reinvest; reendow.
Kynge Arthur refeffed hym a-geln in his londe'that he
hadde be-fore. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 479.
refer (rf-ffer'), v. ; pret. and pp. referred, ppr.
referring. [< MB. referren, < OP. referer, P.
r&f6rer = Pr. referre = Sp. referir = Pg. referir-
se, referir = It. riferire, < L. referre, bear back,
relate, refer, < re-, back, -I- ferre, bear, = E.
Seari. Cf. confer, defer, differ, infer, prefer,
transfer, etc. Cf. relate.] I. trans. It. To bear
or carry back ; bring back.
Alle thinges ben referred and browht to nowht.
Chaucer, Boethlus, iii. prose 11.
He lives in heav'n, among the saints referred.
P. Fletcher, Eliza.
Cut from a crab his crooked claws, and hide
The rest in earth, a scorpion thence will glide.
And shoot his sting ; his tail, in circles tossed,
Refers the limbs his backward father lost.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamotph.,zv.
2. To trace back; assign to as origin, source,
etc. ; impute ; assign; attribute.
Wo be to the land, to the realm, whose king is a child :
which some interpret and refer to childish conditions.
Latimer, 2d Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1660.
Mahomet referred his new laws to the angel Gabriel, by
whose direction he gave out they were made.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 603.
In the political as in the natural body^ a sensation is
often referred to a part widely different from that in which
it really resides. Macttulay,SAlUm'B Const. Hist.
referee
3. To hand over or intrust for eonsideratioa
and decision ; deliver over, as to another per-
son or tribunal for treatment, information, de-
cision, and the like : as, to refer a matter to a
third person ; parties to a suit refer their cause
to arbitration ; the court refers a cause to in-
dividuals for examination and report, or for
trial and decision.
Now, touching the situation of measures, there are as
manie or more proportions of them which I referre to the
makers phantasie and choise.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 74.
I r^er it to your own judgment.
B, Jormm, Every Han in his Humour, ii, 2.
4. Reflexively, to betake one's self to ; appeal.
I do refer me to the oracle. Shak., W. T., iii. 2. lie.
My father's tongue was loosed of a suddenty, and h&
said aloud, " I r^er myeell to God's pleasure, and not to
yours." Scott, Redgauntlet, letter zi.
5. To reduce or bring in relation, as to some
standard.
You profess and practise to refer all things to yourself.
Bacon.
6. To assign, as to a class, rank, historical posi-
tion, or the like.
A science of historical palmistry . , . that attempts to
refer, by distinctions of penmanship, parchment, paper,
ink. Illumination, and abbreviation, every manusciipt to
its own country, district, age, school, and even individual
writer. SM>hs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 76.
7. To defer; put off; postpone. [Rare.]
Marry, all but the first [challenge] I put ofE with engage-
ment ; and, by good fortune, the first is no madder of fight-
ing than I ; so that that 's referred : the place where it
must be ended is four days' journey off.
Beau, and Fl., King and no King, iii. 2.
My account of this voyage must be referred to the sec-
ond part of my travels. Swift, Gulliver's Travels, i. 8.
Refectory of the Monastery of Mont St. Michel, Normandy;
13th century.
an eating-room ; specifically, a hall or apart-
ment in a convent, monastery, or seminary
where the meals are eaten. Compare fraiter.
8. To direct for information ; instruct to apply
for any purpose.
Mywife . . . r^erredhertoalltheneighborsforaohar-
acter. Oold&frdth, Vicar, xi.
I would refer the reader ... to the admirable exposi-
tion in the August issue of the "Westminster Review."
Contemporary Rev., LIV. 329.
=Syn. 2. Ascribe, Charge, etc. See attribute.
II, intrams. 1. To have relation ; relate.
Breaking of Bread : a Phrase which . . . manifestly re-
fers to the Eucharist. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. vli.
2. To have recourse; apply; appeal: as, to re-
fer to an encyclopedia; to refer to one's notes.
Of man, what see we but his station here^
from which to reason, or to which refer?
Pope, Essay on Man, L 20:
3. To allude; make allusion.
I proceed to another affection of our nature which bears
strong testimony to our being bom for religion. I refer
to the emotion which leads us to revere what is higher
than ourselves. Channing, Perfect Life, p. 11.
4. To direct the attention; serve as a mark or
sign of reference.
Some suspected passages . . . are degraded to the hot-'
tom of the page, with an asterisk referring to the places
of their insertion. Pope, Pref. to Shakspere.
5. To give a reference : as, to refer to a former
employer for a recommendation.=Syn. 1. To be-
long to, pertain to, concern.— 1 and 3. Allude, Hint, etc.
See advert.
referable (ref '6r-a-bl), a. [< OP. referable, < re-
ferer, refer : see refer and -able. Cf . refmribU.]
Capable of being referred; that may be as-
signed; admitting of being considered as be-
longing or related to.
As for those names of Ai()poSiTi), Zu'via, Ac, they are all
referable to Tafiot, which we have already taken notice of
in our defence of the Cabbala.
Dr. h; More, The Cabbala, iv. 4.
Other classes of information there were— partly ob-
tained from books, partly from observation, to some ex-
tent referable to his two main employments of politics
and law. R. Choate, Addresses and Orations, p. 304.
France is the second commercial country of the world ;
and her command of foreign markets seems clearly refer-
able, in a great degree, to the real elegance of her produc-
tions. Gladstone, Might of Right, p. 47.
Isaac Barrow, Sir Thomas Browne, Heniy More. Dr.
Johnson, and many other writers, down to our own time,
have rtiferrible [instead of referable]. . . . Possibly it was
pronunciation, in part, that debarred preferrible, and dis-
couraged referribU. F. Hall, Adjectives in -able, p. 47.
referee (ref-6-re'), «. [< P. r&f^d, pp. of re-
ferer, refer : see refer.] 1 . One to whom some-
thing is referred ; especially, a person to whom
a matter in dispute has been referred for set-
tlement or decision; an arbitrator; an umpire.
He was the universal referee; a quarrel about a bet or
a mistress was solved by him in a moment, and in a man-
ner which satisfied both parties. Disraeli, Coningsby, i. 5.
2. Specifically, in law, a nerson selected by
the court or parties under authority of law to
try a cause in place of the court, or to exam-
referee
ine and report on a question in aid of the
court, or to perform some function involving
judicial or quasi-judicial powers.=S3m Umpire,
Arbitrator, etc. See judge, n.
referee (ref-e-re'), v. t. [< referee, ».] To pre-
side over as referee or umpire. [Colloq.]
The boys usually asked him to keep the score, or to
re/erec the matches they played. St. Nieholas, XIV. 50.
reference (ref'6r-ens), n. [< F. reference ='Sp.
Pg. referenda = It. riferenza,< ML. *referentia,<
L. referen{t-)s, ppr. of referre, refer: see refer.']
1. The act of referring, (a) The act of assigning:
as, the reference of a work to its author, or of an animal to
Its proper class. (6) The act of having recourse to a work
or person for information ; consultation : as, a work of
reference : also used attributively, (c) The act of mention-
ing or speaking of (a person or thing) incidentally.
But distance only cannot change the heart ;
And, were I call'd to prove th' assertion true.
One proof should serve — a reference to you.
Cowper, Epistle to Joseph Hill.
(d) In law : (1) The process of assigning a cause pending in
court, or some particular point in a cause, to one or more
persons appointed by the court under authority of law to
act in place of or in aid of the court. (2) The hearing or
proceeding before such person. Abbreviated ref.
2. Relation; respect; regard: generally in the
phrase in or with reference to.
Bos. But what will you be call'd?
Crf. Something that hath a reference to my state ;
'So longer Celia, but Aliena.
Shak., As you Like it, i 3. 129.
I have dwelt so long on this subject that I must contract
what I have to say in reference to my translation.
Dryden, tr. of Juvenal, Dedi
If we take this definition of happiness, and examine it
vnth reference to the senses, it will be acknowledged won-
derfully adapt. StDift, Tale of a Tub, ix.
3. That which is or may be referred to. (a) A
written testimonial to character or ability. Hence — (6)
One of whom inquiries may be made in regard to a per^
son's character, abilities, or the like.
4. A direction in a book or writing to refer
to some other place or passage : often a mere
citation, as of book, chapter, page, or text. —
5t. Assignment; apportionment.
I crave fit disposition for my wife,
Due reference of place and exhibition [maintenance].*
Shak., Othello, i. 3. 238.
6t. An appeal.
Hake your full reference freely to my lord,
Who is so full of grace that it flows over
On all that need. Shak., A. and C, v. 2. 23.
Book or work of reference, a book, such as a dictionary
or an encyclopedia, intended to be consulted as occasion
requires.— Reference Bible, a Bible having references
to parallel passages, with or without briet explanations,
printed on the margin. — Reference book, a book or
work of reference.— Reference library, a library con-
taining books which can be consulted only on the spot :
in contradistinction to a lending or dreulaUng library. —
Reference-marks, in printing, the characters * t J II § IT,
or figures, or letters, used in a printed page to refer the
reader from the text to notes, or vice versa.
referendar (ref"er-en-dar'), n, [Gr. : see refe-
rendary.'] In Germany, a jurist, or one not
yet a full member of a judicial college, whose
functions vary in different states. In Prussia,
since 1869, two examinations are required in the judicial
service; after passing the first the candidate becomes a
referendar, and serves generally without pay and without
a vote.
referendary (ref-e-ren'da-ri), n. [< OF. ref-
ferendaire, referendaire, F. rifirendaire = Sp.
Pg. referendario = It. riferendario, referendario
= Gt. referendar, < ML. referendarius, an officer
through whom petitions were presented to and
answered by the sovereign, and by whom the
sovereign's mandates were communicated to the
courts, commissions signed, etc., < L. referen-
dus, to be referred to, gerundive of referre, re-
fer: see refer.] 1. One to whom or to whose
decision anjrthing is referred; a referee.
In suits which a man doth not well understand, it is
good to refer them to some friend of trust and judgment;
. . . but let him chuse well his referendaries, for else he
may be led by the nose. Bacon, Suitors (ed. 1887).
If I were by your appointment your referendary for
news, I should write but short letters, because the times
are barren. Donne, Letters, xxiv.
2. An officer acting as the medium of com-
munication with a sovereign. — 3. [Tr. Gr. pe-
(fiepevSaptoQ.] An official who is the medium of
communication between the patriarch of Con-
stantinople and the civil authorities. This of-
fice has existed since the sixth century.
referendum (ref-e-ren'dum), re. [= G. refe-
rendum, etc., < NIJ'. referendum, neut. of L. refe-
rendus, gerundive of referre, refer: see referen-
dary.] 1. A note from a diplomatic a^ent ad-
dressed to his government, asking for instruc-
tions on partictdar matters. — 3. In Switzer-
land, the right of the people to decide on cer-
tain laws or measures which haye been passed
by the legislative body, in one of its two forms,
facuUaMve referendum (fiontingeat on certain conditions)
5033
or oUigatory referendum, it exists in nearly all the can-
tons. Since 1871 the facultative referendum forms part of
the federal constitution : if 8 cantons or 30,000 voters so
demand, a federal measure must be submitted to popular
vote.
referential (ref-e-ren'shal), a. [< reference
(ML. *referentia) "+ -al.] Relating to or hav-
ing reference ; relating to or containing a refer-
ence or references.
Any one might take down a lecture, word for word, tor
his own referenUoL use. Athenseum, No. 2944, p. 411.
referentlally (ref-e-ren'shal-i), adv. By way of
reference.
refermentit (re-fer'ment), n. [= It. riferi-
mento; as refer'+ -ment.] A reference for de-
cision.
There was a referment, made from his Majesty to my
Lord's Grace of Cant., my Lords of Durham and Roches-
ter, and myself, to hear and order a matter of difference in
the church of Hereford. Abp. Laud, Diary, Dec. 6, 1624.
referment^ (re-f^r-ment'), v. [= Pg. refermen-
again. Maunder.
tar; as re- + ferment.] I. intrans. To ferment
II. trans. To cause to ferment again.
Th' admitted nitre agitates the flood,
Revives its fire, and refermerUs the blood.
Sir Ji. Blackmore, Creation, vL
ref err er (re-fer'er), n. One who refers.
referrible (re-fer'i-bl), a. [= Sp. referible =
Pg. referivel; as refer + -ible. Cf. referable.]
Same as referable.
Acknowledging. . . the secondary [substance] to be re-
ferrible also to the primary or centrall substance by way of
causall relation. Dr. H. More, Immortal, of Soul, 1. 4.
I shall only take notice of those effects of lightning
which seem referrible , . . partly to the distinct shapes
and sizes of the corpuscles that compose the destructive
matter. Boyle, Works, III. 68'2.
Some of which may be referrible to this period.
HaUam.
refetet, «• *• [< ME. refeten, < OP. refeter, re-
faiiter, < refait, < L. refectns, pp. of reflcere, re-
fect : see refect. Cf. refit.] To refect; refresh.
Thay ar happen also that hungeres after ryjt.
For thay schal frely be refete ful of alle gode.
AUiteratioe Poems (ed. Morris), iii. 20.
refigTire (re -fig'ur), v. <. {(.'K'E.refiguren; <re-
-i- figure.] 1. To go over again; figure anew;
represent anew.
Be^gurynge hire shap, hire wommanhede,
Withinne his herte, and every word or dede
That passed was. Chaucer, Troilus, v. 472.
The child doth not more expresly refigure the visage of
his Father then tliat book resembles the stile of the Re-
monstrant. MUton, Apology for Smectymnuus.
When the fog is vanishing away.
Little by little doth the sight refigure
Wbate'er the mist that crowds the air conceals.
LangfeUow, tr. of Dante's Inferno, xxxi. 35.
Specifically — 2. In astron., to correct or re-
store the parabolic figure of: said of a para-
bolic mirror.
refill (re-fir), v. t. and i. [< re- + fim.] To
fill again.
See ! round the verge a vine-branch twines.
See ! how the mimic clusters roll.
As ready to refill the bowl !
Broome, tr. of Anacreon's Odes, 1.
refine (re-fin'), "• [= Sp. Pg. refinar; as re-
+ fine^. ' Cf . P. raffiner (= It. raffinare), refine, <
re- + affiner, refine, fine (metal) : see affine'^.] I.
trans. 1. To bring or reduce to a pure state;
free from impurities ; free from sediment ; defe-
cate ; clarify ; fine : as, to refine liquor, sugar,
or petroleum.
Wines on the lees well refined. Isa. xxv. 6.
The temper of my love, whose flame I find
Fin'd and rejin'd too oft^ but faintles flashes.
And must within short time fall down in ashes.
Stirling, Aurora, Sonnet xxii.
Now the table was furnished with fat things, and wine
that was weU refined. Bunyan, PDgrim's Progress, p. 122.
2. Inmetal., to bring into a condition of purity
as complete as the nature of the ore treated
will allow. Used chiefly with reference to gold and
silver, especially with reference to the separation (parting)
■of these two metals from each other and from the baser
metals with which they are combined in what are known
as bullion-bars or bricks of mixed metals, as they come
from the mills located at or near the mines. Refining is,
in general, the last stage or stages in the metallurgical
treatment of an ore. As the term refining is commonly
used with reference to the manufacture of iron, it means
the partial decarburization and purification of pig in the
open-hearth furnace, for the purpose of rendering it more
suitable for use in the puddling-furnace in wliich the
process of converting it into malleable iron is completed.
This method of puddling is called dry puddling. The op-
eration of converting pig- into wrought-iron in the open-
hearth furnace, when begun and completed without pud-
dling, is generally called fining, and in this process char-
coal or coke is used. There are many modifications of
the fining process, but the principle is the same in all. In
puddling, raw coal is used, and the fuel does not come in
contact with the metal ; in fining, the ore and fuel (either
charcoal or coke) are together upon the same hearth. The
refinement
various fining processes for converting pig- into wrought-
iron, with charcoal as fuel, were of great importance be-
fore the invention of puddling, by which method muclk
the larger part of the wrought-iron now used in the world,
is prepared, and this is done, for the most part, without
previous partial decarburization of the pig in the refinery,
by the process known as wet puddling, or pig-boiling. Se&
puddle^ ani ftneryi.
I win bring the third part through the fire, and will re-
fine them as silver is refined. Zech. xiii. 9.
To gUdrefined gold, to paint the lily.
Shak., K John, iv. 2. 11..
3. To purify from what is gross, coarse, de-
basing, low, vulgar, inelegant, rude, clownish,
and the like ; make elegant ; raise or educate,
as the taste ; give culture to ; polish : as, to re-
fine the manners, taste, language, style, intel-
lect, or moral feelings.
So it more faire accordingly it [beauty) makes.
And the grosse matter of this earthly myne
Which clotheth it thereafter doth refyne.
Spenser, In Honour of Beautie, L 47-
Love refines
The thoughts, and heart enlarges.
MUton, P. L., viii. 590-
ReSned madder. See madderU
II. intrans. 1. To become pure; be cleared
of feculent matter.
So the pure limpid stream, when foul with stains.
Works itself clear, and, as it runs, refines. Addison.
2. To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or in
anything that constitutes excellence.
Chaucer has refined on Boccace, and has mended the
stories which he has borrowed. Dryden, Pref. to Fables.
But let a lord once own the happy lines.
How the wit brightens I how the style refines.'
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 421.
A new generation, refining upon the lessons given by
himself [Shelley] and Keats, has carried the art of rhythm U>
extreme variety and finish. Stedman, Vict. Poets, p. 380.
3. To exhibit nicety or subtlety in thought or
language, especially excessive nicety.
You speak like good blunt soldiers ; and 'tis well enough ;
But did you live at court, as I do, gallants,
You would refine, and learn an apter language.
Fletcher (and another). False One, iii. 2-
Who, too deep for his hearers, still went on refining.
And thought of convincing, while they thought of dfining-
Goldsmith, Retaliation, 1. 35.
refined (re-find'), p. o. Purified; elevated; cul-
tivated; subtle: as, a refined taste; a refined
discrimination; re/reed society.
There be men that be so sharp, and so over-sharpe or re-
fined, that it seemeth little unto them to interprete words,,
but also they holde it for an office to diuine thoughts.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 133-
Modern taste
Is so refined, and delicate, and chaste.
Cowper, Table-Talk, 1. 511.
refinedly (rf-fi'ned-li), adv. With refinement;
with nicety or elegance, especially excessive-
nicety.
Will any dog . . .
Befinedly leave his bitches and his bones.
To turn a wheel?
Dryden, Essay upon Satire, 1, 135-
Some have refinedly expounded that passage in Matt. xiL
Calvin, On Jonah (Calv. Trans. Soc, 1847), p. 20.
refinedness (rf-fi'ned-nes), n. The state of be-
ing refined ; purity ; refinement ; also, affected
purity.
Great semblances of peculiar sanctimony, integrity, scru-
pulosity, spirituality, refinedness. Barrow, Works, III. xv.
refinement (re-fin'ment), n. [=Pg.refinamento;
as refine + -ment. Ct.F. raffinemeni = It. raffina-
mento.] 1. The act of refining or purifying;
the act of separating from a substance all ex-
traneous matter; purification; clarification r
as, the refinement of metals or liquors.
The soul of man is capable of very high refinements, evea
to a condition purely angelical.
Dr. H. More, Immortal, of Soul, iii. 1.
2. The state of being pure or purified.
The more bodies are of a kin to spirit in subtilty and
refinement, the more diffusive are they. Norris.
3. The state of being free from what is coarse,
rude, inelegant, debasing, or the like ; purity
of taste, mind, etc.; elegance of manners or
language; culture.
* I am apt to doubt whether the corruptions in our lan-
guage have not at least equalled the refinements of it.
Su^ift, Improving the English Tongue.
This refined taste is the consequence of education and
habit ; we are born only with a capacity of entertaining
this refinement, as we are born with a disposition to re-
ceive and obey all the rules and regulations of society.
Sir J. Reynolds, Discourses, xiii.
Befinement as opposed to simplicity of taste is not ne-
cessarily a mark of a good aesthetic faculty.
J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 544.
4. That which proceeds from refining or a de-
sire to refine ; a result of elaboration, polish, or
nicety: often used to denote an over-nicety, or
refinement
afEeeted subtlety: as, the refinements of logic
or philosophy ; the refinements of cunning.
It is the Poet's Beflnement upon this Thought which I
most admire. Addison, Spectator, No. 303.
From the small experience I have of courts, I have ever
found refinements to be the worst sort of all conjec-
tures ; ... of some hundreds of facts, for the real truUi
of which I can account, I never yet Icnew any refiner to
he once in the right. Svnft, Change in Queen's Ministry.
As used In Oreece.its [the Boric column's] beauty was
very much enhanced by a number of refinements whose ex-
istence was not suspected till lately, and even now can-
not be detected but by the most practised eye.
J, Fergusson, Hist. Arch., I. 249.
5f. Excessive or extravagant compliment; a
form of expression intended to impose on the
hearer.
I must tell you a great piece of refinement of Harley. He
charged me to come to him often ; 1 told him 1 was loth
to trouble him in so much business as he had, and desired
I might have leave to come at his levee; which he imme-
diately refused, and said that was not a place tor friends
to come to. Sviifl, Journal to Stella, v.
=Syii. 3. Cultivation, etc. See culture.
refiner (rf-fi'nfer), n. 1. One who refines li-
quors, sugar, metals, etc.
And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.
Mai. UL 3.
2. An improver in purity and elegance.
As they have been the great refiners of our language, so
it hath been my cliiet ambition to imitate them. Sw(fl.
S. An inventor of superfluous subtleties; one
who is ovemice in discrimination, or in argu-
ment, reasoning, philosophy, etc.
Whether (as some phantasticall rtfyners of phylosophy
-will needes perswade vs) hell is nothing but error, and that
none butfooles and idiots and mechanicall men, that haue
no learning, shall be damnd.
Ncahe, Fierce Penilesse, p. 68.
No men see less of the truth of things than these great
refiners upon incidents, who are so wonderfully subtle and
over wise in their conceptions. Addison,
4t. One who indulges in excessive compliment;
one who is over-eivil ; a flatterer.
The worst was, our guilded refiners with their golden
promises made all men their slaues in hope of recom-
pences. Quoted in Ca%(t. John Smith's vfoil^ 1. 169.
For these people have fallen into a needless and endless
way of multiplying ceremonies, which have been extremely
troublesome to those who practise them, and insupporta-
ble to every body else; insomuch tliat wise men are often
more uneasy at the over civility of these refiners than they
could possibly be in the conversation of peasants or me-
chanics. Swiift, Gk>od Manners.
5. An apparatus for refining; specifically, in
England, a gas-purifier,
refinery (re-n'n6r-i), ». ; -pi. refineries {-iz). [<
• refine + -e'ry. Of. P. raffi/nerie, arefinery,< raf-
finer, refine: see refine.'] A place or establish-
ment where some substance, as petroleum, is
refined; specifically, in metal., a place where
metals are refined. Beei refine and. fi/nery^.
refit (re-fif), V. [< re- + fifi-, v. Partly due to
ME. r^etew, repair: sea refete.] I. frOMS. 1. To
fit or prepare again; restore after damage or
decay; repair: as, to refit ships of war.
Permit our ships a shelter on your shores.
Refitted, from your woods with planks and oars.
Dryden, .^neid, i. 777.
We landed, in order to refit our vessels and store our-
selves with provisions. Addison, Frozen Words.
2. To fit out or provide anew.
II, intrans. To repair damages, especially
damages of ships.
Having received some Damage by a Storm, we . . . put
In here to refit before we could adventure to go farther.
Vampiefr, Voyages, I. 418.
At each place [Tampa Bay and Fensacola Bay] we have
a railroad terminus, while at the latter harbor are ample
means for reftiMng. Jour, of Mil. Service Inst., X. 686.
lefit (re-fif), «• [< refit, v.] The repairing or
renova'ting of what is damaged or worn out;
specifically, the repair of a ship: as, the vessel
came in for refit.
refitment (re-fit'ment), TO. [< refit + ■mmt.']
The act of refitting!
refl. An abbreviation of refismve.
xeflairt, «■ [< MB.; asre- +^ai>-.] An odor,
gif hit watz semly on to sene,
A fayre refiayr get fro hit flot,
Ther wonys that worthyly I wot & wene.
AUiteraMve Poems (ed. Morris), i. 46.
refiairt, v. i. \WE. reflaren; < refiair, ».] To
arise, as an odor.
Haill ! floscampy, and flower vyrgynall,
The odour of thy goodnes refiars to vs all.
Yorlc Flays, p. 444.
xeflame (re-flam'), V. j._ [< re- + flame.'] To
blaze again ; burst again into flame.
stamp out the fire, or this
Will smoulder and re~fiame, and bum the throne
Where you should sit with Philip.
Tennyson, Queen Mary, I. 6.
5034
reflect (re-flekf), »• [< OP- refl^ecter, F. refiA-
ter (= Sp. reflectar, refi^ar), reflect; vernacu-
larly, OF. refleohir, bend back, F. r^fleehir, re-
flect, etc., = Pr. Sp. Pg. refiecUr = It. riflettere,
reflettere, reflect ; < L. refiectere, bend backward,
< re-, back, + fiectere, bend: see flecUon.] I.
trans. 1. To bend back; turnback; cast back;
throw back again.
Reflect I not on thy baseness court-contempt?
•' Shdk., W. T., iv. 4. 768.
And dazled with this greater light, I would refieO, mine
eyes to that reflexion of this light.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 13.
let me mind the reader to refiect his eye upon other
quotations. FuUer.
Do you rejlecl that Guilt upon me?
Cangreiie, Way of the World, il. 8.
2. Hence, flguratively, to bend the will of; per-
suade. [Bare.]
Such rites beseem ambassadors, and Nestor urgid these,
That their most honours might reflect enraged (Eacides.
Chapman, Iliad, ix. 180. (Davies.)
8. To cause to return or to throw off after
striking or falling on any surface, and in ac-
cordance with certain physical laws; as, to
reflect light, heat, or sound; incident and re-
fleeted rays. See reflection, 2.
Then, grim In arms, with hasty vengeance flies,
Arms that reflect a radiance through the sides.
/■pgje, Iliad, xv. 1S7.
Like a wave of water which is sent up against a sea-
wall, and which refieetg itself back along the sea.
W. K. Cliford, lectures, H. 40.
4. To give back an image or likeness of; mirror.
Nature is the glass reflecting God,
As by the sea reflected is the sun.
Young, Night Thoughts, ix. 1007.
Heav'n reflected in her face. Cowper, A Comparison.
The vast bosom of the Hudson was like an unruffled
mirror, reflectinff the golden splendor of the heavens.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 344.
Among the lower forms of life there is but little varia-
tion among the units ; the one reflects the other, and spe-
cies are founded upon differences that are only deter-
mined by using the micrometer.
Anur. Nat., June, 1890, p. 678.
II. intrans. 1. To bend or turn back; be re-
flected.
Let thine eyes
Reflect upon thy soul, and there behold
How loathed black it is.
Seau. and M., Captain, Iv. 6.
Not any thing that shall
Reflect injurious to yourself.
Shirley, love's Cruelty, L 1.
2. To throw back light, heat, sound, etc. ; give
reflections; return rays or beams: as, a. reflect-
ing mirror or gem.
She lifts the coffer-lids that close his eyes.
Where, lo, two lamps, burnt out, in darkness lies ;
Two glasses, where herself herself beheld
A thousand times, and now no more reflect.
ShaJc., Venus and Adonis, 1. 1130.
3. To throw or turn back the thoughts upon
something; think or consider seriously; revolve
matters in the mind, especially in relation to
conduct; ponder or meditate.
Who saith, Who could such ill events expect?
With shame on his own counsels doth reflect.
Sir J. Venha/m, Prudence.
Content if hence the unlearn'd their wants may view,
The leam'd reflect on what before they knew.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 740.
We cannot be said to reflect upon any external object ex-
cept in so far as that object has been previously perceived,
and its image become part and parcel of our intellectual
furniture. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., x.
let boys and girls in our schools be taught to think ;
let them not be drilled so much in remembering as in re-
flecting. J. P. Clarice, Selt-Cultur^ p. 187.
4. To bring reproach ; cast censure or blame :
followed by on or wpon.
This kind of language reflects with the same ignominy
upon all the Protestant Keformations that have bin since
luther. MUton, Eikonoklastes, xiiii.
She could not bear to hear Charles reflected tm, notwith-
standing their difference.
Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 1.
5t. To shine.
Lord Saturnine ; whose virtues will, I hope,
Reflett on Borne as Titan's rays on earth,
And ripen justice. Shak., Tit And., 1. 1. 226.
=Syn. 3. To consider, meditate upon, etc. (see list under
contemplate\ cogitate, ruminate, study.
reflectt, ». [irefiect,v.] Areflection. [Bare.]
Would you inblindnesse live? these raies of myne
Give that reflect by which your Beauties shine.
Heywood, Apollo and Daphne (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874,
[VI. 289).
reflected (re-flek'ted), p. a. 1. Cast or thrown
back: as, refiected light. — 2. In armt., turned
back upon itself. See refiecUon, 10. — 3. In en-
tom., turned upward or back: as, a reflected
reflection
margin. — 4. In her., same as reflexed,B.—Tlectei
and reflected. See fleeted.— Keflected Ufbt, In paint-
ing, the subdued light which falls on objects that are in
shadow, and serves to bring out their forms. It is treated
as reflected from some object on which the light falls di-
rectly, whether seen in the picture or supposed to influ-
ence it from without.
reflectentt (re-flek'tent), a. [< L. refleeten(t-)s,
ppr. of refleet'ere, reflect : see reflect.] 1 . Bend-
mjg or flying back; reflected.
The ray descendenij and the ray refleetent,
Sir K. Digby, Nature of Man's Soul (Latham.)
3. Capable of reflecting.
When light passes through such bodies, it flnds at the
very entrance of them such reslstences, where it passes,
as serve it for a reflecting body, and yet such a refleetent
body as hinders not the passage through, but only from
being a straight line with the line incident.
Sir K. Digby, Of Bodies, xUL
reflectible (re-flek'ti-bl), a. [< reflect + 4hle.
Cf. reflsxi'ble.'\ Capable of being reflected or
thrown back,
reflecting (re-flek'ting),^.o. 1. Throwing back
light, heat, etc., as a mirror or other polished
surface.
, A
any ray.
perfectly reflecting body is one which cannot absorb
ray. Polished silver suggests such a body.
TaH, light, § 807.
2. Griven to reflection; thoughtful; medita-
tive ; provident : as, a reflecUrfg mind.
No reflecting man can ever wish to adulterate manly
piety (the parent of all that is good in the world) with
mummery and parade.
Sydney Smith, in lady Holland, iii.
Befiecting circle, an instrument for measuring altitudes
and angular distances, constructed oh the principle of the
sextant, the graduations, however, being continued com-
pletely round the limb of the circle.— Befiecting dial.
See dioJ.— Befiecting galvanometer. See Thomson's
mirror galvanometer, under galvarmmeter. — Befiecting
goniometer. See ganimneter. — Befiecting lamp, a
lamp with an upper reflector so arranged as to throw
downward those rays of light which tend upward.— Be-
fiecting level, (a) An Instrument for determining a
horizontal direction by looking at the reflection of an ob-
ject at a distance. Thus, in Mariotte's level, the level is
determined by bisecting the distance between the direct
image of an object and its reflection in a sort of artificial
horizon. In Cassini's level, a telescope hangs vertically,
carrying before its object-glass a plane mirror inclined
45° to the line of sight. (6) An instrument in which a
slow-moving bubble is viewed by reflection, so that the
image of the middle of it can be seen by the side of the
direct image of a distant object. Such are Abney's and
locke's levels, used by topographers. See Locke level,
under 2ei>e21.— Befiecting microscope. See microscope.
~ Befiecting power, the power possessed by any surface
of throwing off a greater or less proportion of incident
heat. This power is a maximum for the polished metals
and a minimum for a surface of lampblack ; it is the re-
ciprocal of the absorptive (and radiating) power.— Be-
fiecting quadrant, see quadrant, 4.— Befiecting
Bight, in firearms, a reflecting surface placed at such an
angle as to reflect to the eye light from one direction only.
E, H. Knight. — Befiecting telescope. See telescope.
reflectingly (re-flek'ting-li), adv. 1. With re-
flection.— 2. With censure; reproachfully; cen-
soriously. [Bare.]
A great indiscretion in the archbishop of Dublin, who
applied a story out of Tacitus very reflectingly on Ml'. Har-
ley. Swift, Journal to Stolla, xx.
reflection, reflexion (re-flek'shon), n. [< MB.
reflexion, refl^eMoun, < 0!P. reflexwn, F. reflexion,
r6flection = Pr. reflexio = Sp. reflexion, =:'Pg. re-
fiexSo = It. riflessione, < LL. reflexio(n-), a bend-
ing or turning back, < L. refiectere, pp. reflexns,
bend back, reflect: see refl^ect.] 1. A bending
back ; a turning.
Crooked Erimanthus wyth hys manye tnmynges and
reflexions is consumed by the inhabytours with wateryng
their ground. J. Brende, tr. of Quintus Curtius, f ol. 232.
2. The act of reflecting, or the state of being
reflected; specifically, in physics, the change
of direction which a ray of light, radiant heat,
or sound ex]^eriences when it strikes upon a
surface and is thrown back into the same me-
dium from which it approached. Uefleotion fol-
lows two laws, viz.— (1) the angle of refiection is equal to
the angle of incidence ; and (2) the reflected and incident
rays are in the same plane with a normal to the surface. H
DB represents the surface of a mir-
ror and CB the Incident ray, then HBC
is the angle of incidence, and HBA.equal
to it, is the angle qf reflection. This ap-
plies alike to sound, to radiant energy
(heat and light), and also to a perfect
elastic body bounding from a perfectly
elastic rigid surface. The plane pass-
mg through the perpendicular to the
reflecting surface at the point of incidanoe and the path
of the reflected ray of light or heat is called the plane qf
reflectim. (See mirror, echo.) For the total reflection of
rays when the critical angle is passed, see reaction.
lights, by clear re/teetion multiplied
From many a mirror. Cmoper, Task, iv. 268.
RefleMm always accompanies refraction ; and If one of
these disappear, the other will disappear also.
Tyndall, light and Elect, p. 39.
reflection
3. That which is produced by being reflected;
an image given back from a reflecting surface.
As the sun in water we can bear.
Yet not the sun, but his reflection, there.
Dryden, Eleonora, L 137.
Mountain peak and village spire
Retain reflection of bis flre.
Scott, Eokeby, v. L
The mind is like a double mirror, in which reflexions ot
self within sell multiply themselves till they are nndis-
tinguishable. J. H. Newman, Gram, of Assent, p. 185.
4. The act of shining. [Eare.]
Aa whence the sun 'gins his reflection
Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break.
Shak., Macbeth, i. 2. 25.
5. The turning of thought back upon past
experiences or ideas; attentive or continued
consideration; meditation; contemplation; de-
liberation ! as, a man much given to reflection.
Education begins the gentleman ; but reading, good
company, and reflection must finish him.
Locke. ^Allibone.)
Where under heav'n is pleasure more pursued.
Or where does cold reflection less intrude?
Covfper, Expostulation, 1. 8.
6. A mental process resulting from attentive
or continued consideration; thought or opinion
after deliberation.
A gentleman whose conversation and friendship furnish
me still with some of the most agreeable reflections that
result from my travels.
Bruce, Source of the Nile, Int., p. xxli
He made very wise reflections and observations upon all
I said. Swift, Gulliver's Travels, ii. 3.
" I am sorry, but I mtist do it ; I am driven to it ; every
body has to do it; we must look at things as they are , *
these are the reflections which lead men into violations of
morality. J. B. Seeley, Nat. Religion, p. 57.
7. A kind of self -consciousness resulting from
an outward perception, whether directly or in-
directly; the exercise of the internal sense;
the perception of a modification of conscious-
ness ; the faculty of distinguishing between a
datum of sense and a product of reason; the
consideration of the limitations of knowledge,
ignorance, and error, and of other unsatisfac-
tory states as leading to knowledge of self;
the discrimination between the subjective and
objective aspects of feelings. The latin word re-
Jlexio was first used as a term of psychology by Thomas
Aquinas, who seems to intend no optical metaphor, but
to conceive that consciousness is turned back npon itself
by the reaction of the object of outward perception. Ac-
cording to Aquinas, pure thought in itself can know
nothing of singulars, or particular things ; but in percep-
tion there is a peculiar sense of reaction or reciprocation
which he calls reflection, and this first makes us aware of
the existence of actual singulars and also of thought as
being an action ; and this, according to him, is the first
self-consciousness. Scotus accepted reflection, not as af-
fording the first knowledge of singulars, but as a percep-
tion of what passes in the mind, and thus the original
meaning of the term was modified. Walter Burleigh, who
died in 1337, affords an illustration of this when he says that
the thing without is apprehended before the passion which
is in the soul, because the thing without is apprehended
directly, and the passion of the soul only indirectly, by
reflection. Ramus, in his dissertation on reflection, de-
fines it as "the successive direction of the attention to
several partial perceptions." A still further change of
meaning had come about when Goclenius, in 1613, deflned
reflection as "the inward action of the soul, by which it
recognizes both itself and its acts and ideas." The impor-
tance of the word in the English school of philosopb;^ (Ber-
keley, Hume, etc.) may be said to be due entirely to its use
by Locke, who explains it as follows :
The other fountain from which experience fumisheth the
understanding with ideas is the perception of the opera-
tions of our own mind within us, as it is employed about
the ideas it has got; which operations, when the soul
comes to reflect on and consider, do furnish the under-
standing with another set of ideas, which could not be
had from things without; and such are perception,
thinking, doubting, believing, reasoning, knowmg, willing,
and all the different actings of our own minds ; which we
being conscious of, and observing in ourselves, do from
these receive into our understandings as distinct ideas as
we do from bodies affecting our senses. This source of
ideas every man has wholly in himself ; and though it be
not sense, as having nothing to do with external objects,
yet it is very like itj and might properly enough be called
internal sense. But asl call the other sensation, so I call
this reflection, the ideas it affords being such only as the
mind gets by reflecting on its own operations within itself.
By reaction, then, in the following part of this discourse,
1 would be understood to mean that notice which the mind
takes of its own operations, and the manner of them ; by
reason whereof there come to be ideas of these operations
in the understanding.
Locke, Human Understanding, II. i. 4.
Eeid endeavored to revive the Ramist use of the word,
for which he is condemned by Hamilton. Eant, in his use
of the term, returns to something like the Thomist view,
for he makes it a mode of consciousness by which we are
made aware whether knowledge is sensuous or not. Eant
makes use of the term reflection to denote a mode of con-
ficiousness in which we distinguish between the relations
of concepts and the corresponding relations of the objects
ot the concepts. Thus, two concepts may be different,
and yet it may be conceived that their objects are iden-
tical ; or two concepts may be identical, and yet it may
be conceived that their objects (say, two drops of water)
are different. Mr. Shadworth Hodgson, in his "Philoso-
5035
phy of Reflection," 1878, uses the term to denote one of
three fundamental modes of consciousness, namely that
in which the objective and subjective aspects of what is
present are discriminated without being separated as per-
son and thing.
The faculty by which I place the comparison of repre-
sentations in general by the. side of the faculty to which
they belong, and by which I determine whether they are
compared with each other as belonging to the pure under-
standing or to sensuous Intuition, I c^ transcendental re-
fiection,
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, tr. by Miiller, p. 261.
The particular reflection that states of consciousness are
things, or that the Subject is its Objects, constitutes . . .
the reflective mdUe of consciousness. . . . Perception . . .
is the rudimentary function in reflection as well as in pri-
mary consciousness ; and reflective conception is a deriva-
tive from it. S. Hodgson, Philosophy of Reflection, L 2, § 3.
8t. That which corresponds to and reflects
something in the mind or in the nature of any
one.
As if folkes complexiouns [constitutions, temperaments]
Make hem dreme of reflexiauns.
Chaucer, House of Fame, L 22.
9. Reproach cast ; censure; criticism.
To suppose any Books of Scripture to be lost which con.
tained any necessary Points of Faith is a great Beflexion
on Divine Providence. StUlingfleet, Sermons, IIL ii.
He bore all their weakness and prejudice, and returned
not reflection for reflection.
Penn, Rise and Progress of Quakers, v.
10. In anat.: (a) Duplication; the folding of
a part, as a membrane, upon itself; a bending
back or complete deflection. (6) That which is
reflected; a fold: as, a reflection of the perito-
neum forming a mesentery. — 11. In eool., a
play of color which changes in different lights:
aa, the reflections of the iridescent plumage of
a humming-bird, Ooues.— Axis of reflection. See
oxisi.— Logical reflection. See logical.— Foiat of re-
flection. SeejwiTrfi.— Totalreflection. Seere/ractumi.
=SyiL 6. Rumination, cogitation.— 6. See remark^, n.
reflectiont (re-flek'shon), V. t. [< reflection, «.]
To reflect. fEare.]
Butj reflecOoning apart, thou seest. Jack, that her plot
is beginning to work.
Biehardson, Clarissa Harlowe, IV. xxi
reflectionist (re-flek'shon-ist), n. [< reflection
+ -is*.] An adierent of Shadworth Hodgson's
philosophy of reflection. The doctrine is that a
power of perceiving the relations of subjective and ob-
jective aspects and elements is the highest mode of con-
sciousness.
reflective (re-flek'tiv), a. [= F. rSflectif; as
reflect + -ive'. Gi. reflexive.'] 1. Throwing back
rays or images ; giving reflections; reflecting.
In the reflective stream the sighing bride
Viewing her charms impair'd. Prior,
A mirror ... of the dimensions of a muffin, and about
as reflective. L. M. Alcott, Hospital Sketches, p. 62.
3. Taking cognizance of the operations of the
mind ; exercising thought or reflection ; capa-
ble of exercising thought or judgment.
Forc'd by reflective Reason, I confess
That human Science is uncertain Guess.
Prior, Solomon, L
His perceptive and re/fecfive faculties, . . thus acquired
a precocious and extraordinary development.
Motley. (Weister.)
3. Having a tendency to or characterized by
reflection.
The Greeks are not reflective, but perfect in their senses
and in their health, with the finest physical organization
in the world. Emerson, Essays, 1st ser., p. 23.
Several persons having the true dramatic feeling . . .
were overborne by the reflective, idyllic fashion which then
began to prevail in English verse.
Stedman, Vict. Poets, p. 2.
4. Devoted to reflection; containing reflections.
[Eare.] — 5. In gram. , reflexive — Reflective fac-
ulties, in phren., a division of the intellectual faculties,
comprising the two so-called organs of comparison and
causality.— Reflective judgment, in the KarUian termi-
nology, that kind of judgment that mounts from the par-
ticular to the general.
reflectively (re-flek'tiv-li), adv. In a reflective
manner; by reflection, in' any sense of that
word.
reflectiveness (re-flek'tiv-nes), n. The state
or quality of being reflective.
The meditative lyric appeals to a profounder reflective-
ness, which is feelingly alive to the full pathos of life, and
to all the mystery of sorrow.
J. C. Shairp, Aspects of Poetry, p. 118.
reflectoire (ref-lek-twor'), n. [< P. r^flectoire; as
reflect + -ory.'] A geometrical surface whose
form is that of
the appearance
of a horizon-
tal plane seen
through a layer
of water with air
above it. — Ee-
flectoire curve,
a curve "which is a
reflex
central vertical
section of the sur-
face called a re-
flectoire. It is a
curve of thefourth
order and sixth
Reflectoire. class, having a tac-
node on the sur-
face of the water at infinity, and a double point at the eye.
reflector (re-flek'tgr), TO. [= F. reflecteur; as
reflect + -dr^.'] 1. One who reflects or con-
siders.
There is scarce anything that nature has made, or that
men do suffer, whence the devout reflector cannot take an
occasion of an aspiring meditation. Boyle, On Colours.
3. One who casts reflections ; a censurer.
This answerer has been pleased to find fault with about
a dozen passages; . , . the reflector is entirely mistaken,
and forces interpretations which never once entered into
the writer's head. Swifl, Tale of a Tub, Apol.
3. That which reflects. Srecifically—(o) A polished
surface of metal or any other suitable material, used
for the purpose of reflecting rays of light, heat, or sound
in any required direction. Reflectors may be either
plane or curvilinear; of the former the common mirror
is a familiar example. Curvilinear reflectors admit of a
great variety of forms, according to the purposes for
which they are employed ; they may be either convex or
concave, spherical, elliptical, parabolic, or hyperbolic,
etc. The parabolic form is perhaps the most generally
serviceable, being used for many purposes of illumina-
tion as well as for various highly important philosophi-
cal instrumenta. Its proper^ is to reflect, in parallel
lines, all rays diverging from the focus of the parabola,
and conversely. A series of parabolic mirrors, by which
the rays from one or more lamps were reflected in a par-
allel beam, so as to render the Ught visible at a great dis-
tance, was the arrangement generally employed in light-
houses previous to t£e invention of the Fresnel lamp, or
dioptric light. The annexed cut is a section of a ship's
lantern fitted with an Argand lamp and parabolic reflector,
a a is the reflector, h the
lamp, situated in the focus
of the polished concave
paraboloid, c the oil-cis-
tern, d the outer frame
of the lantern, and e the
chimney for the escape of
the products of combus-
tion. (6) A reflecting tele-
scope, the speculum of
which is an example of the
converse application of the
parabolic reflector, the par-
allel rays proceeding from
a disiant body being in this -
case concentrated into the
focus of the reflector. See
telescope, and cut under
catoptric.
Reflectors have been made as large as six feet in aper-
ture^ the greatest being that of Lord Bosse.
Newcomb and Sdlden, Astron., p. 68.
Double-cone reflector, a form of ventilating-reflector,
connected with a chandelier or a similar device for sup-
plying artificial light : used in the ceiling of a hall or other
place of pubUc assembly.— Parabolic reflector, a re-
flector of paraboloidal shape ; used either for concentrat-
ing rays upon an obj ect at the focus, as in the microscope,
or, with a light at the focus, for reflecting the rays in
parallel lines to form a beam of light, as in lighthouse
and some other lanterns. See def. 3, ttnd cut above,
reflectory (re-flek'to-ri), a. [< reflect + -ory.]
Capable of being rejected.
reflet (F. pron. r6-fla'), re. [F., reflection, < L.
reflectere, reflect : see reflect.] 1 . Brilliancy of
surface, as in metallic luster or glaze on pot-
tery, especially when having an iridescent or
many-colored flash.
A full crimson tint vrith a brilliant metallic reflet or iri-
descence. J. C. BoUnson, S. E. Spec. Ex., p. 421.
3. A piece of pottery having such a glaze, es-
pecially a tile : sometimes used attributively.
There is in this place an enormous refla tile. . . . The
r^let tiles in which a copper tint is prominent.
S. O. W. Benjamin, Persia and the Persians, pp. 285, 287.
Reflet m^tallique. See metallic luster, under luster^, 2.
— Reflet nacr^, a luster having an iridescent appearance
like that of motber-of-pearL
reflex (re-fleks'), ". *• [< L- reflexus, pp. of re-
^ctere, reflect : seere^c*.] 1. To bend back;
turn back.
Parabolic Reflector.
. his head reflext upon his taiL
J.G - ■■
A dog lay, . .
Gregory, Posthuma, p. 118.
8t. To reflect; cast or throw, as light; let
shine.
May never glorious sun reflex his beams
Upon the country where you make abode.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., v. 4. 87.
reflex (re'fleks or re-fleks'), a. [< L. reflexus,
pp. of reflectere, reflect : see reflect.] 1 . Thrown
or turned backward ; having a backward direc-
tion; reflective; reactive.
A reflex act of the soul, or the turning of the intellec-
tual eye inward upon Its own actions. Sir M. Hale.
The order and beauty of the inahim ate parts of the world,
the discernible ends of them, do evince by a reflex argu-
ment that it is the workmanship, not of blind mechanism
or blinder chance, but of an intelligent and benign agent.
BenUey.
reflex
2. In painting, illuminated by light reflected
from another part of the same picture. See
reflected light, under reflected. — 3. In biol., bent
back; reflexed— Reflex action, motion, or move-
ment, m physiol., those comparatively simple actions of
the nervous system in which a stimulus is transmitted
along sensory nerves to a nerve-center, from which again
it is reflected along efferent nerves to call into play some
muscular, glandular, or other activity. These actions
are performed involuntarily, and often unconsciously, as
the contraction of the pupil of the eye when exposed to
strong light.
There is another acHon, namely, that of aggregation,
which in certain cases may be called reflex, and it is the
only known Instance in the vegetable kingdom.
Darwin, Insectiv. Plants, p. 242.
Reflex movement have slightly more of the appearance
of a purposive character than automatic movements,
though this is in many cases very vague and ill-deflned.
J. Sully,, Outlines of Psychol., p. 594.
Reflex angle. See angle^i, 1.— Eeflex epUepsjr, epilepsy
dependent on some peripheral irritation, as a nasal poly-
pus— Reflex excitation, muscular movement produced
by the irritation of an efferent nerve. — Reflex neuralgia,
neuralgia dependent on a source of irritation in som e more
or less distant part.— Reflex paralysis. See paralysis.—
Reflex perception, (a) Consciousness of our states of
mind ; reflection ; internal sense ; self-consciousness. (&)
A sensation supposed to be produced by the irritation of
an efferent or motor nerve : but the existence of the phe-
nomenon is denied.— Reflex science, the science of sci-
ence ; logic— Reflex sense, the power of perceiving re-
lations among objects of imagination. This term, in the
form reflected sense, was introduced by Shaftesbury, with
whom, however, it merely means secondary sensation, or
a sensation produced by ideas, fiutcheson modified the
meaning and form of the expression.— Reflex theory,
any one of the theories proposed to account for or explain
the phenomena of reflex action in physiology.- Reflex
Vision, vision by means of reflected light, as from mirrors.
— Reflex zenith-tube, an instrument used at Greenwich
to observe the transit of y Draconis in an artificial hori-
zon, that star coming nearly to the zenith at that observa^
tory.
refles: (re'fleks, formerly also re-fleks'), «■ [<
F. r^flexe = Sp. reflf^o = Pg. refiexo = It. rifles-
so, a reflex, reflection, < L. reftexus, a bending
back, a recess, < reflectere, pp. reflexus, bend
back: see reflect, reflex, v.'] 1. Reflection; an
image produced by reflection.
Yon grey is not the morning's eye,
"Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow.
STuik., B. and J., iii. 6. 20.
To cut across the refl£x of a star. •
Wordsworth, Infiuence of Natural Objects (ed. of 1842;
[in ed. of 1820, reflection).
Like the reflex of the moon
Seen in a wave under green leaves.
Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, iii. 4.
2. A mere copy; an adapted form: as, a Mid-
dle Latin reflex of an Old French word. — 8.
Light reflected from an illuminated surface to
one in shade ; hence, in painting, the illumina-
tion of one body or a part of it by light reflect-
ed from another body represented in the same
piece. See reflected light, under reflected.
Yeti since your light hath once enlumind me.
With my reflex yours shall encreased be.
Spenser, Sonnets, Ixvi.
4. Same as reflex action (which see, under re-
flex, a.).
These reflexes are caused by mechanical irritation of the
pleural surface. Medical News, LIl. 496.
Abdominal reflex. See aMomiTioi.— Cornea-reflex,
wlnldng on Irritation of the cornea. — Cremasteric re-
flex, contraction of the cremaster muscle on stimulation
of the skin on the inside of the thigh.— Deep reflexes,
reflexes developed by percussion of tendons or bones,
as the knee-jerk.— Ep^astrlc reflex, irritation of the
sldn in the fifth or sixth intercostal space on the side of
the chest, causing a contraction of the highest fibers
of the rectus abdominis muscle. — Gluteal reflex, con-
traction of the gluteal muscles, due to irritation of the
skin of the nates. The center is in the spinal cord in the
region of the fourth or fifth lumbar nerve.— Knee-reflex.
Same as tjiee-jerft.— Paradoxical pupilary reflex, the
dilatation of the pupil on stimulation of the retina
by light. Also called paradoxical pupilary reaction. —
Fatellar-tendon reflex. Same as kr^ejerk.— Plan-
tax reflex, the reflex action producing movements in
toes and toot evoked by tickling the sole of the foot.
Also called soJe-rc/fei.-PupUaiy light-reflex, the con-
traction of the pupil when light falls on the retina. Tlie
action is bilateral, both pupils contracting though only
one retina is stimulated. The paradoxical pupilary re-
flex or reaction is the dilatation of the pupil when light
falls on the retina: it occurs in rare abnormal states.
—Pupilary skin-reflex, the dilatation of the pupil on
more or less intense stimulation of the skin. The motor
path is through the cervical sympathetic. — Reflex-cen-
ter, the collection of nerve-cells or nucleus in the brain
in which the afferent sensory impulse becomes changed to
the efferent motor impulse.— Scapular reflex contrac-
tion of the posterior axillary fold, due to irritation of the
skin in the interscapular region, — Sole-reflex. Same as
plantar reflex.— Spinal reflexes, such reflex actions as
have their centers in the spinal cord. — Superflcial re-
flexes, such reflexes as are developed from skin-stimula-
tion, as the plantar, cremasteric, abdominal, or other re-
flexes.— Tendon-reflex. Same as myotatic contraction
(which see, under myotatic).
reflexed (rf-fleksf), a. [< reflex,v., + -ed^.'] 1.
In hot., bent abruptly backward : said of pet-
5036
als, sepals, leaf-veins, etc.— 2. In zool., bent
back or up; reflex.— 3. In her., curved twice:
same as hawed, but applied especially to the
chain secured to the collar of a beast, which
often takes an S-curve. Also reflected — Re-
flexed antennse, antennae carried constantly bent back
over the head and body.— Reflexed ovipositor, an ovi-
positor which is turned back so as to lie on the upper
surface of the abdomen, as in certain Chalcididse.
reflexibility (re-flek-si-bil'i-ti), II. [= F. r^-
fl^xibilite = Sp. reflexibilidad = Pg. reflexibili-
dade = It. reflessibilitct ; as reflexible + -ity (see
-bilitij).'] The quality of being reflexible, or
capable of being reflected: as, the reflexibility
of light-rays.
Reflexibility of Rays is their disposition to be reflected
or turned back into the same Medium from any other
Medium upon whose surface they fall.
Newton, Opticks, I. i. 3.
reflexible (rf-flek'si-bl), a. [= F. reflexible =
Sp. reflexible = Pg. reflexvoel = It. reflessibile ;
as reflex, v., + 4ble (cf. flexible).'] Capable of
being reflected or thrown back.
Rays are more or less reflexible which are turned back
more or less easily. Newton, Opticks, I. i. 3.
reflexion, n. See reflection.
reflexity (rf-flek'si-ti), n. [< reflex, a., + -ity.']
The capacity of being reflected. [Rare.]
reflexive (rf-flek'siv), a. and n. [< OF. reflexif,
F. r&ftexif = Pr. reflexiu = Sp. Pg. reflexivo =
It. reflessivo, riflessivo, < L. reflexus, pp. of reflec-
tere, bend backward: see reflect.] L. a. 1. Re-
flective; bending or turning backward; having
respect to something past.
Assurance reflexive . . . cannot be a divine faith.
Hanmwnd, Pract. Catechism, i. § 3.
The reflexive power of flame is nearly the same as that
of tracing-paper. A. Darmll, Prin. of Physics, p. 413.
2. Capable of reflection ; reflective.
In general, brute animals are of such a nature as is de-
void of that free and reflexive reason which is requisite to
acquired art and consultation.
Dr. H. More, Immortal, of Soul, iii. 13.
3t. Casting or containing a reflection or cen-
sure.
I would fain know what man almost there is that does
not resent an ugly refleayive word. South, Sermons, X. vi.
Reflexive verb, in gram., a verb of which the action
turns back upon the subject, or which has for its direct
object a pronoun representing its agent or subject : as, I
bethought myself; the witness/or^wore himjSelf. Pronouns
of this class are called reflexive pronouns, and in English
are generally compounds with seZ/; though such examples
as he bethought him how he should act also occur.
I do repent me, as it is an evil.
And take the shame with joy.
Shak., M. for M., ii. 3. 35.
II. n. A reflexive verb or pronoun.
What I wish to say is, that the reflexive which serves to
express the passive is a causal reflexive.
J. Badley, Essays, p. 209.
reflexively (re-flek'siv-li), adw. 1. In a reflex-
ive manner; in a direction backward: as, to
meditate reflexively upon one's course. — 2. In
gram., after the manner of a reflexive verb. —
3t. Refleetingly; slightingly; with censure.
Ay, but he spoke slightly and reflexively of such a lady.
South, Sermons, VI. iii.
reflexiveness (rf-flek'siv-nes), n. The state or
quality of being' reflexive.
reflexly (re'fleks-li or re-fleks'li), adv. In a re-
flex manner.
reflexogenic (re-flek-so-jen'ik) , a. [< L. reflexus,
reflex (see reflex, a.), -f- -genus, producing: see
-genie] Producing an increased tendency to
reflex motions.
refloatt (re-flof), n. [< re- + float, after F. re-
flot, reflux, ebb: see float.] A flowing back;
reflux; ebb.
Of which kind we conceiv4 the main float and reflxtat of
the sea is, which is by consent of the universe as part of
the diurnal motion. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 907.
reflorescence (re-flo-res'ens), n. [< L. reflores-
cen(t-)s, ppr. of r'eflorescere, begin to bloom
again, < re-, &gaim., + florescere, begin to bloom:
see flourish. Cf. reflowish.] A blossoming
anew; reflowering.
Nor can we, it is apprehended, peruse the account of
the flowering rod of Aaron . . . without being led to re-
flect on the ascertainment of the Melchisedekian priest-
hood to the person of Christ, by the reflorescence of that
mortal part which he drew from the stem of Jesse.
Home, Works, IV. xvi.
reflourish (re-flur'ish), V. i. [< OF. refleuriss-,
stem of certain parts of reflurir, reflorir, re-
fleurir, F. refleurir = It. rifiorire, < L. *reflo-
rere, bloom again (cf. Sp. Pg. reflorecer, < L.
reflorescere, begin to bloom again), <re-, again,
-I- florere, bloom: see flourish.] To revive,
flourish, or bloom anew.
refoot
For Israel to reflourish, and take new life by the influxes
of the Holy Spirit. Waterland, Works, III. 421.
reflow (re-flo'), V. i. [< re- + flow, v.] To flow
back; ebb.
When any one blessed spirit rejoices, his joy goes round
the whole society ; and then all their rejoicings in his joy
reflow upon and swell and multiply it.
J. Scott, Christian Life, I. iii. § s.
reflow (re-flo'), n. [< reflow, v.] A reflux; a.
flowing back ; refluence ; ebb.
reflower (re-flou'er), V. [< re- + flower, v. Cf.
reflorescence, reflourish.] I. intrans. To flower
again.
II. trans. To cause to flower or bloom again.
Her footing makes the ground all fragrant-fresh ;
Her sight re-flourres th' Arabian Wildernes.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Magnificence.
reflowing (re-flo'ing), «. A flowing back; re-
flux.
By . . . working upon our spirits they can moderate
as they please the violence of our passions, which are
nothing but the flowings and reflowings of our spirits to
and fro from our hearts.
J. Scott, Christian Life, II. vii. § lo.
refluence (ref'18-ens), n. [< refluen(t) + -ce.]
1. A flowing bact; reflux; ebb. — 2. A back-
ward movement.
Nay but, my friends, one hornpipe further, a refluence
back, and two doubles forward.
Greene, James the Fourth, iv.
refluency (ref'lo-en-si), n. [As refluence (see
-ey).] Same as refluence.
All things sublunary move continually in an interchange-
able flowing and refluencie.
W. Montague, Devoute Essays, I. vi. 2.
refluent (ref'lp-ent), a. [= F. refluant = Sp.
Pg. refluente = It. rifluente, < L. refluen(t-)s, ppr.
of refluere (> It. rifluire = Sp. Pg. refluir = F.
refluer), flow back, < L. re-, back, +fluere, flow:
see flitent. ] Flowing or surging back ; ebbing :
as, the refluent tide.
And refluent through the pass of fear
The battle's tide was poured.
Scott, L. of the L., vi. 18.
And in haste the refluont ocean
Fled away from the shore, and left the line of the sand-
beach
Covered with waifs of the tide.
Longfellow, Evangeline, i. 5.
refluousf (ref'lo-us), a. [= It. refluo, < L. re-
fluus, flowing back, < refluere, flow back: see
refluent.] Flowing back; refluent; ebbing.
The stream of Jordan, south of their going over, was not
supplied with any reciprocall or reflumis tide out of the
Dead Sea. Fuller, Pisgah Sight, II. i. 17. (Davies.)
reflux (re'fluks), n. [< reflux = Sp. reflujo = F.
Pg. refluxo = It. riflusso, < ML. *refluxus, a flow-
ing back, ebb, < L. refluere, pp. refluxus, flow
back: see refluent.] A flowing back: as, the
flux and reflux of the tides.
If man were out of the world, who were then to search
out the causes of the flux and reflux of the sea, and the
hidden virtue of the magnet?
Dr. ff. More, Antidote against Atheism, ii. 12.
There will be disputes among its neighbours, and some
of these will prevail at one time and some at another, in
the perpetual flux and reflux of human affairs.
Bolingbroke, The Occasional Writer, No. 2.
TheoldmiracleoftheGreekproverb, which adopted
the reflux of rivers towards their fountains as the liveliest
type of the impossible. De Quincey, Homer, iii.
reflux-valve (re'fluks-valv), n. An automatic
valve designed to prevent reflux; a back-pres-
sure valve. E. H. Knight.
refocillatet (rf-fos'i-lat), v. t. [< LL. refodlla-
ius, pp. of refocillare (> It. rifodllare, refocillare
= Sp. refocilar = Pg. refooillar), warm into life
again, revive, revivify, < L. re-, again, + focil-
lare, focillari, revive by warmth, cherish, < fo-
cu^, a hearth, fireplace: see focm.] To warm
into life again ; revive ; refresh ; reinvigorate.
The first view thereof did even refocUlate my spirits.
Coryat, Crudities, 1. 110.
refocillationt (re-fos-i-la'shon), n. [= Sp. re-
fodlacion = Pg. refoeillagSoi'< LL. as if *refooil-
latio(n-), < refocillare, refoeillate: see refocil-
late.] The act of refooillating or imparting
new vigor; restoration of strength by refresh-
ment ; also, that which causes such restoration.
Marry, sir, some precious cordial, some costly refoeOla-
tion, a composure comfortable and restorative.
Middleton, Mad World, iii. 2.
refold (re-fold'), ?;. «. \;<re-+fom.] To fold
again.
refolded (rf-fol'ded), a. In entom., replicate:
noting the wings when fluted or folded longi-
tudmally, like a fan, and then turned back on
themselves, as in the earwigs.
refoot (re-fuf ),«.«. [<re--i-foot.] To repair
by supplying with a new foot, as a boot or a
stocking.
reforest
reforest (re-for'est), «. t. \<. re- + forest.'] To
replant with forest-trees; restore to the condi-
tion of forest or woodland; reafforest.
Within the last twenty years, France has reforested
about two hundred and fifty thoasand acres of mountain-
lands. Pop. Sei. Mo., XXXII. 228.
The reforesting of the denuded areas in the lower hills.
Nature, XXXVII. 467.
reforestation (re-f or-es-ta'shon), «. [< reforest
+ -ation.'] The act or process of reforesting;
replanting with forest-trees.
Quite recently districts have been enclosed for refareHa-
twrif and the eucalyptus and other trees have been planted.
Encyc. Brit., XXII. 93.
reforge (re-forj'), v. t. [= F. reforger; as re-
+ fwge.'\ To forge or form again ; hence, to
fabricate or fashion anew ; make over.
The kyngdome of God receiueth none but suche as be
reforged and chaunged according to this pateme.
J. UdcM, On Luke xviii.
reforger (re-f or' j6r), n. One who ref orges ; one
who makes over.
But Christe, beyng a newe reforger of the olde lawe, in
stede of burnte oflreyng did substitute charitee.
J. Udall, On Luke xxlv.
reform (re-fdrm'), V. [Early mod. E. also re-
fourm ; < "ME. reformert, refourmen (= D. refor-
meren = G. reformiren = Sw. reformera = Dan.
reformere), < OP. reformer, refurmer, reformer,
reffourmer, form anew, reform, rectify, etc., F.
r^ormer, form anew, reformer, reform, rectify,
correct, reduce, put on half-pay, = Pr. Sp. Pg.
reformar = It. riformare, ref orm,< L. reformare,
form anew, remodel, remold, transform, meta-
morphose, change, alter, amend, reform (as
manners or discipline), < re-, again, -I- formare,
form: see form.'] I, trans. 1. To form again
or anew; remake; reconstruct; renew. [Inthis,
the original sense, and in the following sense, usually with
a full pronunciation of the prefix, and sometimes written
distinctively re-form.]
Then carppez to syr Gawan the knygt in the grene,
"Sefourme we oure forwardes [covenants], er we fyrre
passe."
Sir Qawayne and the Qreen Knight (K E. T. S.), L 377.
And right so in the same forme.
In flesshe and blond he shall reforrme.
Whan time cometh, the gnicke and dede.
Gower, Conf. Amant., ii.
Beholde the buyldynge of the towre ; yf it be well I am
contente, and yf ony thynge be amysse yt shall be re-
fourmed after your deuyse.
Bemere, tr. of Troissart's Chron., II. Ixxxiil.
She saw rhe bees lying dead in heaps. . . . She could
render back no life ; she could set not a muscle in motion ;
she could re-form not a filament of a wing.
S. Jvdd, Margaret, L 5.
Napoleon was humbled; the map of Europe was re-
formed on a plan which showed a respect for territorial
rights, «nd a just recognition both of the earnings of
force and of the growth of ideas.
StiMe, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 237.
2. To restore to the natural or regular order or
arrangement : as, to reform broken or scattered
troops.
In accustoming officers to seek all opportunities for
re-forming dispersed men at the earliest possible mo-
ment. Eneye. Brit, XXIV. 364.
Then came the command to re-form the battalion.
The Century, XXXVII. 469.
3. To restore to a former and better state, or
to bring from a bad to a good state ; change
from worse to better,; improve by alteration,
rearrangement, reconstruction, or abolition of
defective parts or imperfect conditions, or by
substitution of something better; amend; cor-
rect: as, to reform a profligate man; to reform
corrupt manners or morals ; to reform the cor-
rupt orthography of English or French.
And now, forsooth, takes on him to reform
Some certain edicts, and some strait decrees
That lie too heavy on the commonwealth.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iv. 3. 78.
In the Beginning of his Eeign, he refined and reformed
the I^ws of the Bealm. Baker, Chronicles, p. 66.
When Men have no mind to be reformed, they must
have some Terms of Reproach to fasten upon those who
go about to do it. StiUingJleet, Sermons, III. v.
Reforming men's conduct without reforming their na-
tures is impossible. H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 384.
4. To abandon, remove, or abolish for some-
thing better. [Bare.]
1 Play. I hope we have reformed that [bombastic act-
ingl indifferently with us, sir.
Hamlet. O, reform it altogether.
Shak., Hamlet^ iii. 2. 40.
5t. To mend, in a physical sense ; repair.
He gave towardes the reforming of that church [St.
Helen's] five hundred maikea.
Stowe, Survey of London, p. 181.
6, To correct. [Rare.]
5037
The prophet Esay also saith, " Who hath reformed the
Spirit of the Lord, or who is of His council to teach Him?"
Beeon, Works, iL 39. (Domes.)
To reform an instrument, in law, to adjudge that it
be read and taken differently from what it is expressed,
as when it was drawn without correctly expressing the
intenf of the parties. =S3ni. S. Improve, Better, etc. (see
a/mend), repaJr, reclaim, remodeL
II. intrans. 1. To form again; get into order
or line again; resume order, as troops or a pro-
cession. [In this use treated as in I., 1, above.]
— 2. To abandon that which is evil or corrupt
and return to that whictis good; change from
worse to better; be amended or redeemed.
Experience shows that the Turk never has r^omwd, and
reason, arguing from experience, will tell us that the Turk
never can reform. E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 422.
reform (re-form'), «. [= D. reforme = G.
Sw. Dan. 'reform; < P. rSforme = Sp. Pg. re-
forms = It. riforma, reform; from the verb.]
Any proceeding which either brings back a bet-
ter order of things or reconstructs the present
order to advantage ; amendment of what is de-
fective, vicious, depraved, or corrupt ; a change
from worse to better ; reformation : as, to intro-
duce reforms in sanitary matters ; to be an ad-
vocate of reform.
A variety of schemes, founded in visionary and imprac-
ticable ideas of reform, were suddenly produced.
Pitt, Sjieech on Parliamentary Reform, May 7, 1783.
Great changes and new manners have occur'd.
And blest reforms. Cowper, Conversation, 1. 804.
Our fervent wish, and we will add our sanguine hope,
is that we may see such a reform of the House of Com-
mons as may render its votes the express image of the
opinion of the middle orders of Britain.
Macaiday, Utilitarian Theory of Government.
Revolution means merely transformation, and is accom-
plished when an entirely new principle is — either with
force or without it — put in the place of an existing state
of things. Reform, on the other hand, is when the prin-
ciple of the existing state of things is continued, and only
developed to more logical or just consequences. The
means do not signify. A reform may be carried out by
bloodshed, andarevolution in theprofoundest tranquillity.
LassaUe, quoted in Rae's Contemporary Socialism, p. 66.
Ballot reform, reform in the manner of voting in popu-
lar elections. Since about 1887 several of the United States
have passed laws designed to promote secrecy in voting,
to discourage corruption at elections, and to provide for
an exclusively officii ballot ; these laws are modeled more
or less on the so-called Australian system in elections. —
Civll-servlce reform, in U. S. politics, reform in the
administration of the civil service of the United States ;
more generally, reform in the administration of the entire
public service, federal, State, and local. The main ob-
jects of this reform are the abolition of abuses of pa-
tronage and the spoils system, discouragement of the in-
terference of office-holders in active politics, abolition of
arbitrary appointments to and removals from office, quali-
fication by competitive examination for appointment to all
offices of a clerical nature, and promotion for merit. Since
the passage of the Civil-service Act in 1871 this reform has
been one of the leading questions for public discussion.
See Civil-service Act (under civU) and spoils system (under
spoa).— Eeform Act. See Reform Bill.— 'Reform Bill,
specifically, in Eng. hist., a bill for the purpose of enlarg-
ing the number of voters in elections for members of the
House of Commons, and of removing inequalities in rep-
resentation. The first of these bills, passed in 1832 by
the Liberals after a violent struggle, and often called spe-
cifically The Reform Bill, disfranchised many rotten bor-
oughs, gave increased representation to the large towns,
and enlarged the number of the holders of county and
borough franchise. The effect of the second Reform Bill,
passed by the Conservatives in 1867, was in the direction of
a more democratic representation, and the same tendency
was further shown in the franchise Bill (see franchise)
passed by the Liberals in 1884.— Kefoim school, a re-
formatory. [U.S.]— Spelling reform. See spelling.—
Tariff reform. See tariff. =§j]i. Amendment, etc. See
reformation.
reformable (rf-f6r'ma-bl), a. [< ME. reforma-
hle, < OF. reformable, P. r6formable = Sp. re-
formable = Pg. reformavel = It. riformabile, <
ML. *reformabilis, < L. reformare, reform : see
reform, v.] Capable of being reformed; inclined
to reform.
Yf ony of the said articlis be contrary to the liberte of
the said cite, or old custumes of the same, thath hit be
reformabylt and corrigabill by the Mayre, Bailiffs, and the
comen counsayle of the citee.
English GUds (E. E. T. S.), p. 337.
A seruaunt not reformable, that
Takes to his charge no heede,
Of te tymes falleth to pouertye ;
In wealth he may not byde.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 83.
Woman [Eliz. Young], I have sued for thee indeed, and
I promise thee, if thou wilt be reformable, my Lord will be
good unto thee. Foxe, Martyrs, III, 769, an. 1568,
reformadet (ref-6r-mad'), n. [Appar. an An-
glioization of reformado.] A reduced or dis-
missed officer; a disbanded or non-effective
soldier.
They also that TOieReformades, and that came down to
see the Battle, they shouted . . . and sung. [Marginal
note by author, " The Refarmades joy."]
Bunyan, Holy War, p, 128.
reformadot (ref-6r-ma'd6), n. and a. [< Sp.
reformado = Pg. reformado = It. riformato = F.
reformation
reform^, reformed, reduced, < L. reformatus,
pp. of reformare, reform, refashion, amend : see
reform, v.'] I. m. 1. A monk who demands or
favors the reform of his order.
Amongst others, this was one of Celestin the pope's
caveats for his new reformadoes. Weever. (Latham.)
2. A military officer who, for some disgrace, is
deprived of his command, but retains his rank
and perhaps his pay; also, generally, an officer
without a command.
He had . . . writhen himself into the habit of one of
your poor infantry, your decayed, ruinous, worm-eaten
gentlemen of the round. . , . Into the likeness of one of
these reformados had he moulded himself.
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, ill. 2.
II. a. 1. Penitent; reformed; devoted to
reformation.
Venus, and all her naked Loves,
The reformado nymph removes.
Fenton, The Fair Nun.
2. Pertaining to or in the condition of a refor-
mado; hence, inferior, degraded.
Although your church be opposite
To ours, as Black-friars are to White,
In rule and order, yet 1 grant
You are a reformado saint.
S. Butler, Hudibras, n. ii. 116.
reformalizet (re-f6r'mal-iz), V. i. [Irreg. < re-
form + -al + -ize; ot'K. re- + formalize.'] To
make pretension to improvement or to formal
correctness.
Christ's doctrine [is] pure, correcting all the unpure
glosses of the refonnaXizing Pharisees.
Loe, Blisse of Brightest Beauty (1614), p. 25. (LaXhjam.)
reformation (ref-Or-ma'shon), n. [< OF. refor-
macion, reformation, F. reformation = Pr. refor-
mado = Sp. reformacion = Pg. reformagUo = It.
riformazione, < L. reformatio(n-), a reforming,
amending, reformation, transformation, < re-
formare, pp. reformutus, reform : see reform, «.]
1 . The act of forming anew ; a second forming
in order: as, the reformation of a column of
troops into a hollow square. [In this literal sense
usually pronounced re-f6r-ma'shon, and sometimes writ-
ten distinctively with a hyphen.]
2. The act of reforming what is defective or
evil, or the state of being reformed; correction
or amendment, as of life or manners, or of a
government.
I would rather thinke (sauing reformacion of other hot-
ter learned) that this Tharsis . . . were rather some other
countrey in the south partes of the world then this Thar-
sis of Cilicia.
R. Eden, First Books on America (ed. Arber), p. 8.
Never was such a sudden scholar made ;
Never came reformation in a flood
With such a heady currance, scouring faults.
Shak., Hen. V., L 1. 33.
God has set before me two great objects, the suppres-
sion of the slave trade and the reformation of manners.
WUberforce, Journal, Oct. 28, 1787 (Life, v.).
Specifically, with the definite article — 3. [cap.]
The great religious revolution in the sixteenth
century, which led to the establishment of the
Protestant churches, laie Reformation assumed dif-
ferent aspects and resulted in alterations of discipline or
doctrine more or less fundamental in different countries
and in different stages of its progress. Various reformers
of great influence, as Wyclif and Huss, had appeared be-
fore the sixteenth centuiy, but the Reformation proper
began nearly simultaneously in Germany under the lead
of Luther and in Switzerland under the lead of Zwingli.
The chief points urged by the Reformers were the need of
justification by faith, the use and authority of the Scrip-
tures and the right of prij^ate judgment in their interpre-
tation, and the abandonment of the doctrine of transub-
stantiation, the adoration of the Virgin Mary and saints,
the supremacy of the Pope, and various other doctrines
and rites regarded by the Reformers as unscriptural. In
the German Reformation the leading features were the
publication at Wittenberg of Luther's ninety-flve theses
against indulgences in 1517, the excommunication of
Luther in 1520, his testimony before the Diet of Worms
in 1621, the spread of the principles in many of the Ger-
man states, as Hesse, Saxony, and Brandenburg, and the
opposition to them by the entperor, the Diet and Con-
fession of Augsburg in 1630, and the prolonged struggle
between the Protestants and the Catholics, ending with
comparative religious equality in the Peace of Passau in
1562, The Reformation spread in Switzerland under
Zwingli and Calvin, in France, Hungary, Bohemia, the
Scandinavian countries. Low Countries, etc. In Scotland
it was introduced by Knox about 1560. In England it led
in the reign of Henry VIII. to the abolition of the papal
supremacy and the liberation from papal control of the
Church of England, which, after a short Roman Catholic
reaction under Mary, was firmly established under Eliza-
beth. In many countries the Reformation occasioned an
increased strength and zeal in the Roman Catholic Church
sometimes called the Couvier- Reformation. The term Ref-
ormation as applied to this movement is not of course
accepted by Roman Catholics, who use it only with some
word of qualification.
Prophesies and Forewarnings . . . sent before of God,
by divers and sundry good men, long before the time of
Luther, which foretold and prophesied of this Reforma-
tion of the Church to come.
Foxe, Martyrs (ed. 1684), n. 43.
reformation
Festival of the Beformation, an annual comraemorap
tion in Germany, and among Lutherans generally, of the
nailing of the nlnety-flve theses ou the doors of the Castle
church at Wittenberg on October 31st, 1S17.— Reforma-
tion Of the calendar, the institution of the Gregorian
calendar. See calendar. =Sytl 2. Amendment^ Reform^
Jieformation. Amendment may be of any degree, however
small; reform applies to something more thorough, and
r^ormatwn to that which is most important, thorough,
and lasting of all. Hence, when we speak of temperance
reform, we dignify it less than when we call it temperance
refonruitlon. Moral reform, religious rcformoMon; tem-
porary amflndjnent or reform, permanent r^ormaiAon, Re-
form represents the state more often than refornvxtion.
reformative {re-f6r'ma-tiv), a. [= Sp. Pg. re-
formaUoo; as reform + -a Uve. ] Forming again ;
having the property of renewing form.
reformatory (re-f6r'ma-to-ri), a. and n. [= F.
r4for»ta<OM'e = 'Sp. Pg. Ve/brmaiono; as reform
+ -atory.'\ I. a. Having a tendency to reform
or renovate; reformative Reformatory school,
a reformatory. See II.
II. «. ; pi. reformatories (-riz). An institution
for the reception and reformation of youths who
have already begun a career of vice or crime.
Reformatories, or reformatory schools, are, in Great Brit-
ain, identical in character with certified industrial schools,
admission to either being determined by differences of age
and criminality, and they differ from ragged schools in so
far as they are supported by the state, and receive only such
children or youths as are under judicial sentence.
reformed (re-f6rmd'),j). a. [Early mod. E. also
refourmed;'< reform + -ed^.'] 1. Corrected;
amended; restored to a better or to a good state :
as, a reformed profligate ; reformed spelling.
Very noble and refourmed knight, by the words of your
letter I understood howe quickly ye medicine of my writ-
ing came to youi' heart.
Chtevarttt Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 181.
2t. Deprived of rank or position, or reduced in
pay. See reformado, 2._Captaln reformedt. See
captain. — Reformed Beruardlnes. See FeuUlant, i. —
Reformed Church, (a) A general name for the Protes-
tant bodies on the continent of Europe which trace their
origin to the Swiss reformation under Zwingli and Calvin,
as distinguished from the Lutheran Church. In ITrance
the Reformed were known as Huguenots. In the Nether-
lands the Arminians afterward separated from the Cal-
vinists (Gomarists). In Germany, after 1817, the greater
part 01 the Reformed and Lutherans combined to
form the United Evangelical Church. Specifically — (&)
In the United States : (1) The Reformed (Dutch) Church
in America, growing out of a union among the Dutch
churches in America in 1770 and finally perfected in
1812. The territory of the denomination was at first
limited to the States of New York and New Jersey and a
small part of Pennsylvania, but was gradually extended
to the West. The affairs of each congregation are man-
aged by a consistory, consisting of elders and deacons
chosen for two years. The elders, with the pastor, receive
and dismiss members and exercise discipline ; the deacons
have charge of the alms. Both together are ex officio
trustees of the church, hold its property, and call its min-
ister. Ex-elders and ex-deacons constitute what is called
the Great Consistory, which may be summoned to give ad-
vice in important matters. The minister and one elder
from each congregation in a certain district constitute a
classis, which supervises spiritual concerns in that district.
Four ministers and four elders from each classis in a larger
district make a Particular Synod, with similar- powers.
Representatives, clerical and lay, from each classis, pro-
portioned in number to the size of the classis, constitute
the General Synod, which has supervision of the whole,
and is a court of last resort in judicial cases. The church
is Calvinistic in its theological belief, and possesses a lit-
urgy the greater part of which is optional except the ofilces
for the sacraments, for ordination, and for church disci-
pline. (2) The Reformed (German) Church in the United
States. This church was constituted by colonies from
Germany in New York, Maryland, Virginia, and North and
South Carolina. The first synod was organized September
27th, 1747, under the care of the Reformed Classis of Am-
sterdam. The church holds to the parity of the ministry,
maintains a presbyterial form of government, is moder-
ately Calvinistic in its theology, and provides liturgical
forms of service, which are, however, chiefly optional. (3)
The True Reformed Dutch Church, the result of a seces-
sion from the Reformed Dutch Church in America in 1822.
(4) The Reformed Episcopal Church, an Episcopal church
organized in the United States in 1878, by eight clergy-
men and twenty laymen previously members of the Prot-
estant Episcopal Church. It maintains the episcopacy
as a desirable form of church polity, but not as of divine
obligation, continues to use the Book of Common Prayer,
but in a revised form, and rejects the doctrines of apos-
tolic succession, the priesthood of the clergy, the sacrifice
or oblation in the Lord's Supper, the real presence, and
baptismal regeneration.— Reformed officer. In the Brit-
ish army, one who is continued on full pay or half-pay
after his troops are broken up. Farrow, Mil. Encyc. — Re-
formed Preshyterian Church, a Presbyterian denomi-
nation originating in Scotland. See Cameronian, n., 1,
and Covenanter, 2.— Reformed procedure. See equity,
2 (6).— The Reformed, on the continent of Europe, Cal-
vinistic Protestants as distinguished from Lutherans.
reformedlyf (re-f6r'med-li), adv. In or after
the manner of a reform. [Kare.]
A fierce Reformer once, now ranckl'd with a contrary
heat, would send us back, veryreformedly indeed, to learn
Reformation from Tyndarns and Rebuffus, two canonical
Promoters. Milton, Touching Hirelings.
reformer (re-f6r'm6r), n. [< reform + -erl.]
1. One who' effects a reformation or amend-
ment : as, a reformer of manners or of abuses ;
specifically [cop.], one of those who instituted
5038
or assisted in the religious reformatory move-
ments of the sixteenth century and earlier.
God's passionless reformers, influences
That purify and heal and are not seen.
Lowell, Under the Willows.
2. One who promotes or urges reform^ as, a
tariff reformer; a spelling reformer.
They could not call him a revenue refiyrmer, and still
less could they call him a civil-service r«/orm«r, for there
were few abuses of the civil service of which he had not,
during the whole of his life, been an active promoter.
' • The NoHm, XV. 68.
reformist (re-f6r'mist), n. [= F. rSformiste;
as reform + ^st] If. [cap.'] One who is of the
reformed religion ; a Protestant.
This comely Subordination of Degrees we once had, and
we had a visible conspicuous Church, to whom all other
Reformists gave the upper Hand. Howell, Letters, iv. 36.
3. One who proposes or favors a political re-
form. [Bare.]
Such is the language of reform, and the spirit of a re-
formist! I. D' Israeli, Calam. of Authors, p. 204.
refortify (re-f6r'ti-fi), V. t. [= OF. (and F.) re-
fortifler = It. rifortificare, < ML. reforUficare,
< L. re-, again, + ML. fortificare, fortify: see
fortify.'] To fortify anew.
refossiont (re-fosh'on), n. [< L. refossus, pp.
of refodere, dig up or out again, < re-, again, +
fodere, dig : see fossil.] The act of digging up
again.
Hence are . . . r^ogswrnofgraues, torturing of the sur-
viving, worse than many deaths.
£p. Hall, St. Paul's Combat.
refound^ (re-found'), V. t. [< OF. (and F.) re-
fonder, found or build again, < re-, again, -1-
fonder, found : see found^.] To found again or
anew; establish on a different basis.
George 11. refoumled and reformed the Chair which I
have the honour to fill.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 4.
refound^ (re-found'), V. t. [< OF. (and F.) re-
fondre = Pr. refondre = Sp. Pg. refundir = It.
rifondere, cast over again, recast, < L, refun-
dere, pour back or out, < re-, back, -1- fundere,
pour: aeefound^.] To found or east anew.
Perhaps they are all antient bells refounded.
T. Warton, Hist. Kiddington, p. 8.
refounder (re-foun'der), n. [< refound^ + -er^.]
One who refounds, rebuilds, or reestablishes.
Charlemagne, . . . the refounder of that empire which
is the ideal of despotism in the Western world.
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 142.
refract (re-frakf), V. t. [= F. rSfracter, < L.
refractus, pp. of refringere, break back, break
up, break open, hence turn aside, < re-, back,
+ frangere,hTea,'k: see fraction. Ci. refrain^.]
To bend back sharply or abruptly ; especially,
in optics, to break the natural course of, as of a
ray of light ; deflect at a certain angle on pass-
ing from one medium into another of a differ-
ent density. See refraction.
Visual beams refradted through another's eye.
Sdden, Vt&I. to Drayton's Polyolbion.
refractable (re-frak'ta-bl), a. [< refract +
-able.] Capable of being refracted; refrangi-
ble, as a ray of light or heat. Dr. S. More.
refractaryt (re-fi'ak'ta-ri), a. [= OF. refrae-
taire, F. r4fraotaire ="8p. Pg. refractario = It.
refrattario, < L. refractarius, stubborn, obsti-
nate, refractory, < refringere, pp. refractus,
break in pieces : see re/racf and -oj-i/i. Cf. ?-e-
fractory.] The earlier and more correct form
of refractory. Cotgrane.
refracted (re-frak'ted), a. In 6ot, same as re-
floxed, but abruptly bent from the base. Gray.
refracting (rf-frak'ting), p. a. Serving or tend-
ing to refract; turning from a direct course. —
Doubly refracting spar, Iceland spar. See caldte and
8;7or2.— Refracting angle of a prism, the angle formed
by the two faces of the triangular prism used to decom-
pose white or solar light. — Refjractlng dial. See dial.
—Refracting surface, a surface bounding two trans-
parent media, at which a ray of light, in passing from one
into the other, undergoes refraction.- Refracting sys-
tem, in lighthouses, same as dioptric system, (which see,
under dioptric).— 'RetracfSjig telescope. See telescope.
refraction (re-frak'shon), n. [< OF. refraction,
F. refraetion'= Sp. refraccion = Pg. refracgdo =
It. rifragione, refrazione, < ML. refractio{n-), lit.
a breaking up (in logic tr. Gr. avdK>iaaig), NL. re-
fraction, < L. refrin,gere, pp. refractus, break up,
breakopeujbreaktopieces: seerefract.] 1. The
act of refracting, or the state of being refracted :
almost exclusively restricted to physics, and
applied to a deflection or change of direction
of rays, as of light, heat, or sound, which are ob-
liquely incident upon and pass through a smooth
surface bounding two media not homogeneous,
as air and water, or of rays which traverse a
refraction
medium the density of which is not uniform, as
the atmosphere, it is found (l) that, when passing
into a denser isotropic medium, the ray is refracted toward
the perpendicular to the surface, and bent away from it
when passing into one less dense ; (2) that the sines of the
angles of incidence and refraction bear a constant ratio to
each other for any two given media ; and (3) that the inci-
dent ray and the refracted ray are in the same plane. Thus,
if (fig. 1) SP represents a ray
incident upon the surface of
water at P, it will be bent away
from its original direction SPL
toward the perpendicular Qg in
passing into the denser medium,
and make an angle qVR, such
that the ^!° .^^"^ is a constant
sm KPg
quantity — that is, the perpen-
dicular distance of a point q
(such that the line from it to P,
the point of incidence, is normal
to the surface) from the refracted
path bears a constant ratio to its distance from the path
as it would be without refraction, however the angle of
incidence varies ; but this constant depends on the nature
of the two media. If the first medium is air, this con-
stant ratio is called the index of refraction or refraetiiie
index of the given substance (or n). Again, if the ray
proceeded from R to P, it would be bent away from the
perpendicular in the direction PS. The latter case is pe-
culiar, however, in that for a certain angle of incidence
called the critical angle (whose sine = l/)i) the angle of re-
fraction of QPS is a right angle and a ray incident at F
at any greater angle cannot pass out into the rarer medium
at all, but suffers total reflec-
tion at P. In fig. 2, AHC is
the angle of incidence, and
EHEtheangle of refraction,
CD being the normal to the
surface ; if, further, the sec-
ond surface is parallel to the
first, the ray emerging into
the original medium at E
has a direction EF parallel
with its first direction, AH.
If (fig. 3) the refracting me-
Fig. 2.
Fig- 3-
Section of a Prism, showing the re-
fraction of a transmitted Iight-ray
alonff the path LF, FE, EG.
dium has the form of a prism (ABC), the incident ray LF
suffers a double change of direction, first (FE) in passing
into the prism, and second (EG) in emerging from it ; the
total angle of deviation IDL varies in value with a change
in the direction of LF, but has a definite minimum value
when the angles of incidence and emergence are equal.
If d represents the angle of the prism BAG, and r the
angle of minimum deviation, LDI, then the refractive
index n of the material of which the prism is made is
sin Jt (d -1~ 9*)
given by the relation n = . ^ , . The angle of de-
sin 4 a
viation or refraction also increases as the wave-length of
the ray diminishes, and hence a beam of white light in
passing through a prism
is both refracted and dis- j-
persed, thus yielding a '•""•
spectrum. The phenom-
ena of the refraction of
light explain the proper-
ties of lenses (see lens)
and of prisms (see pri«m
and spectrurft). Sound-
waves may also be re-
fracted when passing
from one medium to an-
other of different den-
sity, obeying the same
laws as light. Double
refraction is the separa-
tion of a ray of light into two rays, which are unequally
refracted upon passing through an anisotropic medium.
This property belongs to all transparent crystalline sub-
stances except those of the isometric system. A strik-
ing example is calcite, hence called doubly refracting
spar. In uniaxial crystals (those belonging to the te-
tragonal and hexagonal systems) one of the rays follows
the ordinary law of refraction (see law (2), above), and is
called the ordinary ray; the other, which does not, is
called the extraordinary ray ; both rays are polarized
(see polarizatiorC), the ordinary ray having vibrations
perpendicular to and the extraordinary ray vibrations
parallel to the vertical axis. If the index of refraction
is greater for the ordinary ray than for the extraordi-
nary ray, the crystal is said to be negative, and in the op-
posite case positive : otherwise expressed, a crystal is neg-
ative or positive according as the crystallographic axis
(optical axis) is the axis of greatest or of least flasticity.
In the direction of the vertical axis a ray suffers no double-
refraction, and this direction is called the optic axis. In
biaxial crystals (those belonging to the orthorhombic,
monoclinic, and triclinio systems) neither ray follows the
ordinary law of refraction, and there are two directions,
called optic axes, lying in the plane of the axes of greatest
and least elasticity, in which a ray sufliers no double re-
fraction. There are also three indices of refraction, corre-
sponding to the rays propagated by vibrations parallel to
the three axes of elasticity. A biaxial crystal is called
negative or positive according as the acute bisectrix coin-
cides with the axis of greatest or of least elasticity. Ac-
cording to the degree of difference between the two indices-
of refraction of a uniaxial crystal and between the greatest
and least of the three indices of a biaxial crystal, the double
refraction is said to be et!rong or weak; upon this difference
depends the brilliancy of color of thin sections of a crystal
as seen in polarized light. Amorphous substances like
glass do not show double refraction, except under abnor-
mal conditions, as when subjected to unequal strains, as
in glass suddenly cooled. This is also true of crystals be-
longing to the isometric system, which, however, some-
times show secondary or abnormal double refraction (as
garnet), due to internal molecular strain or other cause,
lor the refraction of the eye, see eyel, and cn/stattine hu-
mmr (under eryetaUine). Errors of refraction in the eye are
tested by trial with lenses, test types, etc., by the ophthal-
moscope, or by skiascopy or the shadow-test, and are cor-
rected by appropriate glasses.
refraction
2. In logie, the relation of the Theophrastian
moods to the direct moods of the first figure. —
Astronomical or atmospheric re&actton, the appa-
rent angular elevation of the heavenly bodies above their
true places, caused by the refraction of the rays of light in
their passage through the earth's atmosphere, so that in
consequence of this refraction those bodies appear higher
than they really are. It is greatest when the body is on
the horizon, and diminishes all the way to the zenith,
where it is zero.— Azls of double re&actlon. See
optic axis (b), under optic.— Ajoa of refiraction. See
axisi.— Caustic by refraction. See diacaustic.— Coni-
cal refiraction, the refraction of a single ray of light,
under certain conditions, into an infinite number of rays
in the form of a hollow luminous cone, consisting of
two kinds, external conical refraction and internal coni-
cal refraction, the ray in the former case issuing from the
refracting crystal as a cone with its vertex at the point of
emergence, and in the latter being converted into a cone
on entering the crystal, and issuing as a hollow cylinder.
—Double refraction. See def. 1.— Dynamic refrac-
tion, refraction of the eye as increased in accommoda-
tion.—Electrical double refraction, the double refrac-
tion produced in an isotropic dielectric medium, as glass,
under the action of an electrical strain. — Index Of re-
fraction. See index, and def. 1.— Plane of refrac-
tion, the plane passing through the normal or perpen-
dicular to the refracting surface at the point of incidence
and the refracted ray.— Point Of refraction. Seepointl.
-Refraction equivalent, a phrase used by Landolt to
express in the case of a liquid the quantity obtained by
multiplying the molecular weight of the liquid by the
so-called specific refractive energy, as defined by Glad-
stone ahd Dale (namely, the refractive index less unity
divided by its density referred to water). The refraction
equivalent of a compound is said to be equal to the sum of
the equivalents of its component parts. — Be&action of
altitude and declination, of ascension and descen-
slon, of latitude and longitude, the change in the
altitude, declination, etc., of a heavenly body due to the
effect of atmospheric retraction. — Bef^actlpn of soimd,
the bending of abeam of sound from its rectilinear course
whenever it undergoes an unequal acceleration or retar-
dation, necessarily turning toward the side of least ve-
locity and from the side of greatest velocity. — Static re-
fkU(^on,- refraction of the eye when the accommodation
is entirely relaxed.— Terrestrial refraction, that re-
fraction which makes terrestrial objects appear to be
raised higher than they are in reality. This arises from
the air being denser near the surface of the earth than it
is at higher elevations, its refractive power increasing as
the density increases. The mirage is a phenomenon of
terrestrial refraction.
refractive (re-frak'tiv), a. [< P.- rSfracUf= Pg.
refractivo; as refract + -iue.] Of or pertaining
to refraction ; serving or having power to re-
fract or turn from a &eot course Reflractlve
index. Same aa index of refracHan. See index and re-
fraction.— Refractive power, in opties, tlie degree of in-
fluence which a transparent body exercises on the light
which passes through it : used also in the same sense as
refractive index.
refractiveness (re-frak'tiv-nes), n. The state
or quality of being refractive.
refractivity (re-frak-tiv'i-ti), n. [< refractive
-t- -ity.'] See the quotation.
The refracHvUy of a substance is the difference between
the index of refraction of the substance and unity.
PhUosopMeaZ Mag., Bth ser., XXVIII. 400.
refractometer (re-frak-tom'e-ter), n. [Irreg. <
L. refractvs, pp. of refringere, break up (see re-
fract), + Gr. fierpov, measure.] An instrument
used for measuring the refractive indices of
different substances. Many forms of this have been
devised; and the term is specifically applied to an in-
strument which employs interference fringes and which
allows of the measurement of the difference of path of
two interfering rays — the immediate object of observa-
tion being the displacement produced by the passage of
the ray through a known thickness of the given medium,
from which its refractive power can be found. Such re-
fractometers {inferential r^aettrmeters) may also be em-
ployed for other purposes, for example, in certain cases
of linear measurement.
refractor (re-frak'tgr), n. [= F. r4fracteur;
as refract -f- -or^.'i' A refracting telescope.
See telescope.
refractorily (rf-frak'to-ri-li), adv. In a refrac-
tory manner; perversely; obstinately. Imp.
Diet.
refractoriness (rf-frak'to-ri-nes), n. The state
or character of being refractory, in any sense.
refractory (re-frak'to-ri), a. and n. [Errone-
ously for the earlier refractary, < L. refractarius,
stubborn, obstinate, refractory: see refractary. "l
1. a. 1. Resisting; unyielding; sullen or per-
verse in opposition or disobedience ; obstinate
in non-compliance ;, stubborn and unmanage-
able.
There is a law in each weIl-order*d nation
To curb those raging appetites that are
Most disobedient and refractory.
SMk., T. and C, U. 2. 182.
Our care and caution should be more carefully emi)loyed
in mortification of our natures and acquist of such virtues
to which we are more refmuAory.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), n. 8.
He then dissolved Parliament, and sent its most refrac-
tory members to the Tower.
D. Webster, Speech, Senate, May 7, 1834.
2. Resisting ordinary treatment or strains, etc. ;
difficult of fusion, reduction, or the like : said
5039
especially of metals and the like that require
an extraordinary degree of heat to fuse them,
or that do not yield readily to the hammer.
In metellurgy an ore is said to be refractory when it is
with difficulty treated by metallurgical processes, or when
it is not easily reduced. Stone, brick, etc., are refractory
when they resist the action of fire without melting, crack-
ing, or crumbling. Kef factory materials are such as can
be used for the lining of furnaces and crucibles, and for
sipiilar purposes.
3. Not susceptible; not subject; resisting (some
influence, as of disease). [Rare.]
Pasteur claimed to so completely tame the virus that a
dog would, in being rendered riffraetary to rabies by hy-
podermic inoculation or trepanning, show no sign of ill-
ness. Science, IIL 744.
Refractory period of a muscle, the time after a first
stimulus when the muscle is not irritable by a second stim-
ulus. This has been found for striated frog's muscle, after
a maximal first stimulation, to be about ^ second. =Syn.
1. Stubborn, Intractable, etc. (see obstinate), unruly, ungov-
ernable, unmanageably headstrong, mulish.
II. n. ; pi. refractories (-riz). If. One who is
obstinate in opposition or disobedience.
Bender not yourself a r^ractory on the sudden.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Hevels, v. 2.
2f. Obstinate opposition.
Glorying in their scandalous refractories to public order
and constitutionB.
Jerr. Taylor (?), Artif. Handsomeness, p. 138.
3. In pottery, a piece of ware covered with a
vaporable flux and placed in a kiln to communi-
cate a glaze to other articles. E. M. Knight.
refraeture (re-frak'Jnr), n. [< re- + fracture. In
def. 2 with ref. to refractory. '\ 1. A breaking
again, as of a badly set bone. — 2t. Refractori-
ness; antagonism. [Rare.]
More veniall and excusable may those verbaJl reluctan-
- cies, reserves, and refractures (rather than anything of
open force and hostile rebellions) seem.
Bp. Gauden, Tears of the Church, p. 662. (Davies.)
refragability (ref"ra-ga-bil'i-tl), «. [< ML.
refragahilita(t-)s, < fefragraftjJis, refragable : see
refragable."] The state or quality of being ref-
ragable; refragableness. Bailey,
refragable (ref 'ra-ga-bl), a. [= Pg. refragavel,
< ML. refragaM'tis, resistible, < L. refragari,
oppose, resist, gainsay, contest: see refragate.']
Capable of being, opposed or resisted; refuta-
ble. Bailey.
refragableness (ref 'ra-ga-bl-nes), n. The char-
acter of being refragable. [Rare.]
refragatet (ref'ra-gat), V. i. [< L. refragatiis,
pp. of refragari,' opTpose, resist, contest, gain-
say, < re-, back, again, -I- fragari, perhaps <
frangere (-^^ frag), hie&'k: seefragile.li To op-
pose ; be opposite in effect ; break down under
examination, as theories or proofs.
And 'tis the observation of the noble St. Alban that
that philosophy is built on a few vulgar experiments;
and if, upon further inquiry, any were found to refragaie,
they were to be discharg'd by a distinction.
GlanvUle, Vanity of Dogmatizing, xix.
refrain^ (rf-fran'), v. [Early mod. B. refrayne,
refreyne, <'ME. refreinen, refreynen, refraynen,
< OF. refraindre, refreindre, also refrener^. re-
frSner, bridle, restrain, repress, = Pr. Sp. re-
frenar = Pg. refrear = It. raffrenare, < LL. re-
frenare, bridle, hold in with a bit, < L. re-, back,
+ frenum, frxnum, a bit, curb, pi. frena, curb
and reins, a bridle : see frenum.'] I. trans. 1.
To hold back; restrain; curb; keep from ac-
tion.
My son, . . . refrain thy foot from their path.
Prov. i. 15.
In this plight, therefore, he went home, and refrained
himself aa long aa he could, that his wife and children
should not perceive his distress.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 84.
The fierceness of them shalt thou r^rain.
Ps. Ixxvi. 10 (Psalter).
2t. To forbear ; abstain from ; quit.
Men may also r^eyne venial sinne by receyvynge
worthily of the precious body of Jhesu Crist.
Cha^leer, Parson's Tale.
At length, when the sun waxed low.
Then all the whole train the grove did r^rain,
And unto their caves they did go.
Bobin Hood and Little John (Child's Ballads, V. 222).
I cannot refrain lamenting, however, in the most poig-
nant terms, the fatal policy too prevalent in most of the
states.
Washington, quoted in Bancroft's Hist. Const, I. 282.
II. intrans. To forbear ; abstain ; keep one's
self from action or interference.
Breadfull of daunger that mote him betyde.
She oft and oft adviz'd him to refraine
From chase of greater beastes.
Spenser, F. Q., m. L 37.
Refrain from these men, and let them alone.
Acts V. 38.
The chat, the nuthatch, and the jay are still ;
The robin too r^ains.
Uairpen's Mag., LXXVII. 718.
refreid
refrain^ (re-fran'), n. [< ME. refraine, refreyne,
< OF. (and F.) refrain, a refrain (=Pr. refranh,
refrim, a refrain, = Sp. refran = Pg. refrao, a
proverb, an oft-repeated saying), < refraindre,
repeat, sing a song, = Pr. refranher, refrenher,
repeat, = It. refragnere, refract, reverberate, \
L. refringere, break back, break off: see re-
fract.'] 1 . A burden or chorus recurring at reg-
ular intervals in the course of a song or ballad,
usually at the end of each stanza.
Everemo "alias?" was his refreyne.
Chaucer, Troilus, it 1571.
They sang the refrain :—
"The roads should blossom, the roads should bloom,
So fair a bride shall leave her home ! "
Longfellow, Blind Girl of Casta-Cuillft.
2. The musical phrase or figure to which the
burden of a song is set. it has the same relation to
the main part of the tune thatthe burden has to the main
text of the song.
3. An after-taste pr -odor; that impression
which lingers on the sense : as, the refrain of a
Cologne water, of a perfume, of a wine.
refrainer (re-fra'ner), n. [Early mod. E. re-
freinor; < refrain^ + -eri.] One who refrains.
So these ii. persons were euer cohibetors and refreinora
of the kinges wilfull skope and vnbrideled libertie.
Hall, Hen. VII.. an. 18.
refraininff (re-fra'ning), n. [< ME. refraiyi-
ing, the smging of the burden of a song ; verbal
n. of *refrain^, v., < OF. refrener, sing a refrain,
refraindre, repeat, sing a song: see refrain^.]
The singing of the burden of a song.
She . . . couthe make in song sich refreynynge.
It sat [became] hii' wonder wel to synge.
Mom. of the Rose, L 749.
refrainiuent (re-fran'ment), n. [= F. refrhie-
ment = Sp. refrenamiento = Pg. refreamento =
It. raffrenamento ; as refrain^ -I- -menf.] The
act of refraining; abstinence ; forbearance.
Forbearance and Indurance . . . we may otherwise call
Rfifrainment and Support.
Shaftesbury, Judgment of Hercules, vi. § 4.
refraitt, »• [Also ref ret; < ME. refraite, refraide,
refrayde, refret, < OF.refrait, a refrain, < refrain-
dre, repeat : ^60 refrain^.] Same as refrain'^.
The refraite of his laye salewed the Kynge Arthui' and
the Queue Gonnore^ and alle the other after.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 615.
reframe (re-fram'), V. t. [ire- + frame.'] To
frame or put together again.
refranation (ref -ra-na ' shon), n. [Irreg. < L.
refrienatio{n-), refienation: see refrenation.]
In astrol., the failure of a planetary aspect to
occur, owing to a retrograde motion of one of
the planets.
refrangibility (rf-fran-ji-bil'j-ti), n. [= F. re-
frangibilite = Sp. refrangibilidad = Pg. refran-
gibilidade = It. rifrangibilitd ; as refrangible +
-ity (see -biliiy).] The property of being re-
frangible; susceptibility of refraction; the dis-
position of rays of light, etc., to be refracted or
turned out of a direct course in passing out of
one medium into another.
refrangible (re-fran'ji-bl), a. [= F. refrangi-
ble = Sp. refrangible = Pg. refrangivel = It. ri-
frangibile, refrangible, < L. refringere, refract
(see'refract), -i- -ible.'] Capable of being re-
fracted in passing from one medium to an-
other, as rays of light. The violet rays in the
spectrum are more refrangible than those of
greater wave-length, as the red rays.
Some of them [rays of light] are more refrangible than
others. Locke, Elem. of 'Sa.t, Philos., xi.
refrangibleness (re-fran'ji-bl -nes), n. The
character or property of being refrangible ; re-
frangibility. Bailey.
refreeze (re-frez'), v. t. [< re- + freeze.'] To
freeze a second time.
Partially refrozen under continual agitation.
Proc. Physical Soe., London, ii. 62. (Encyc. Diet.)
refreidt, refroidt, v. [ME. refreiden, refreyden,
refroiden, < OF. refrdder, refreidier, refroidir,
reffroidir, F. refroidir, render cold or cool, chill,
etc. , = Pr. refreidar, refreydir = Sp. Pg. resfriar
= It. raffreddare, < ML. refrigidare, make cold
or cool, < L. re-, again, +frigidus, cold: see
frigid. Cf. refrigerate.] I. trans. To make
cool; chill.
He . . . shal som tymebe moevediu hymself, but if.he
were al refreyded by siknesse, or hy maleflce of sorcerie, -
or colde drynkes. Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
Nevew, be not so roth, refroide youre jnaltalente, flor
wrath hath many a worthi man and wise made to be holde
for foles while the rage endureth.
Merlin (E. E. T. 3.), iii BOa
II. intrans. To grow cool.
God wot, refreyden may this hoote fare,
Er Calkas sende Troylus Cryseyde.
Chaucer, Troilus, v. 507
re&enation
Tefirenationt (ref-rf-na'shon), n. [< OF. refre-
nation, P. refrdnaUon = Sp. refrenacion, < L.
refrenatio{n-), a bridling, euibing, restraining,
< refrenare, bridle, curb, check: see re/raini.j
The act of restraining. Cotgrave.
refresh (re-fresh'), V. [< MB. refreshen, re-
freschen, r'efrisschen,<. OF. refreschir, refraischir,
also refreschier, refraissier (= Sp. Pg. refrescar
= It. rinfrescare, < ML. refrescar e, refriseare),
refresh, cool, < L. re-, again, + friscus, freseus,
new, recent, fresh: see/resA.] I. trans. 1. To
make fresh or as if new again; freshen; im-
prove; restore; repair; renovate.
1 have desirid hym to move the Gounsell for refreshing
of the toun of Vermowth with stuff of ordnance and
gonnes and gonne powdre, and he seid he wolde.
Paston Letters, I. 427.
Before I entered on my voyage, I took care to refresh my
memory among the classic authors.
Addison, Remarks on Italy, Pref.
I remember, old gentleman, Slow often you went home
in a day to r^resh your countenance and dress when Terar
minta reigned in your heart. Steele, Tatler, No. 95.
As in some solitude the summer rill
M^reshes, where it winds, the faded green.
Cfywper, In Memory of John Thornton.
2. To make fresh or vigorous again ; restore
vigor or energy to ; give new strength to ; re-
invigorate; recreate or revive after fatigue,
privation, pain, or the like ; reanimate.
I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus,
... for they have refreshed my spirit and yours.
1 Cor. xvi. 17, 18.
And labour shall refresh itself with hope.
To do your grace incessant services.
Shak., Hen. V., ii. 2. 37.
There are two causes by the influence of which memory
may he refreshed, and by that means rendered, at the time
•of deposition, more vivid than, by reason of the Joint in-
fluence of the importance of the fact and the ancientness
■of it, it would otherwise be. One is intermediate state-
ments. . . . Another is fresh incidents.
Bevlham, Judicial Evidence, i. 10.
3. To steep and soak, particularly vegetables,
in pure water with a view to restore their fresh
appearance. =Syii. 1 and 2. To revive, renew, recruit,
recreate, enliven, cheer.
II. intrans. 1 . To become fresh or vigorous
Sigain : revive ; become reanimated or reinvig-
orated.
I went to vlsite Dr. Tenison at Kensington, whither he
was retired to refresh after he had ben sick of the small-
poz. Evelyn, Diary, March 7, 1681.
2. To take refreshment, as food or drink. [Col-
loq.]
Tumblers refreshing during the cessation of their per-
formances. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Ixvi.
3, To lay in a fresh stock of provisions. [Col-
loq.]
We met an American whaler going in to refresh.
Simrrumd's Colonial Mag. (Imp. IHet.)
refresht (re-fresh'), n. [< refresh, v.1 The
act of refreshing; refreshment.
Beauty, sweete love, is like the morning dew,
Whose short refresh upon the tender green
Cheers for a time. Daniel, Sonnets, xlvil.
refreshen (re-fresh'n),«.*. l<re-+freshen.2 To
make fresh again; refresh; renovate. [Eare.]
In order to keep the mind in yepair, it is necessary to
replace and refreshem, those impressions of nature which
are continually wearing away.
Sir J. Reynolds, On Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting, Note 28.
It had begun to rain, the clouds emptying themselves
in bulk ... to animate and refreshen the people.
S. Judd, Margaret, i. 13.
refresher (re-fresh'er), m. 1. One who or that
which refreshes, revives, or invigorates; that
which refreshes the memory.
This [swimming] is the purest exercise of health,
The kind refresher of the summer heats.
Thomson, Summer, 1. 1258.
Every fortnight or so I took care that he should receive
a. refresher, as lawyers call it — a new and revised brief
memorialising my pretensions.
De Quincey, Sketches, I. 72. (Davies.)
Miss Peecher [a schoolmistress] went into her little oiB-
■cial residence, and took a refresher of the principal rivers
and mountains of the world.
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, ii. 1.
2. A fee paid to counsel for continuing atten-
tion or readiness, for the purpose of refieshing
his memory as to the facts of a case before
him, in the intervals of business, especially
when the case is adjourned. [CoUoq., Eng.]
Had he gone to the bar, he might have attained to the
dignity of the Bench, after feathering his nest comfort-
ably with retainers and refreshers.
Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XL. 28.
refreshful (rf-fresh'ful), a. [< refresh + -ful.'\
Pull of refreshment ; refreshing.
They spread the breathing harvest to the sun.
That throws refreshful round a rural smell.
Thomson, Summer, 1. 364.
5040
refreshfuUy (rf-f resh'ful-i), adv. In a refresh-
ing manner ; so as to refresh.
RefreshfvUy
There came upon my face ... .
Dew-drops. Kea^, Endymion, l
refreshing (re-fresh'ing), n. [Verbal n. of re-
fresh, V .] Refreshment ; that which refreshes ;
relief after fatigue or sufEering.
And late vs rest as for a daye or twayne.
That your pepill may haue refresshing;
Thanne we woUe geve them batell new ageyn.
GmerydesCE.. E. T. S.), 1. 2901.
Secret refreshings that repau: his strength.
MiUan, S. A., I. 665.
refreshing (re-fresh'ing),i). a. [Ppr. of refresh,
«.] Tending or serving to refresh ; invigorat-
ing; reviving; reanimating: sometimes used
with a humorous or sarcastic implication. •
Who [Ceres] with thy saffron wings upon my flowers
Diflusest honey-drops, refreshing showers.
Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 79.
And one good action in the midst of crimes
Is "quite refreshing," in the affected phrase
Of these ambrosial Pharisaic times.
Byron, Don Juan, viii. 90.
refreshingly (rf-fresh'ing-li), adv. In a re-
freshing manner; so as to refresh or give new
life.
refreshingness (re-fresh'ing-nes), ». The char-
acter of being refreshing. Imp. Diet.
refreshment (rf-fresh'ment), n. [< OF. re-
freschement, refraischemerit, etc. (also rafre-
chissement, rafraischissement, rafraichissement,
P. rafraichissement), refreshment; as refresh -f
-ment.2 1 . The act of refreshing, or the state of
being refreshed; relief after exhaustion, etc.
Although the worship of God is the chief end of the in-
stitution [the Sabbath], yet the refreshment of the lower
ranks of mankind by an intermission of their labours is
indispensably a secondary object.
Bp. Horsley, Works, II. xxiii.
2. That which refreshes; a recreation; that
which gives fresh strength or vigor, as food,
drink, or rest: in the plural it is now almost
exclusively applied to food and drink.
When we need
R^reshment, whether food or talk between.
Food of the mind. Milton, V.L.,ix. 237.
Having taken a little refreshment, we went to the Latin
Convent, at which all Frank Pilgrims are wont to be en-
tertained. MaundreU, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 67.
Such honest refreshments and comforts of life our Chris-
tian liberty has made it lawful for us to use. Bp. Sprat.
" May I offer you any refreshment, Mr. ■? I haven't
the advantage of your name." Thackeray, Pendennis^ xv.
Kefreshment Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent ; Mid-
lent Sunday. The name of Refreshment or Refection Sun-
day (Dominica Refectionis) is generally explained as refer-
ring to the feeding of the multitude mentioned in the
Gospel for the day (John vi. 1-14). Also called Bragget
Sunday, Jerusalem Sunday, Leetare, Mothering Sunday,
Rose Sunday, Simnel Sunday.
refrett, refretet, n. See refrait.
refricationt (ref-ris-ka'shgn), n. [< L. refricare,
rub or scratch open again, < re-, again, -f- fri-
care, rub: see friction^ A rubbing up afresh.
In these legal sacrifices there is a continual refrication
of the memory of those sins every year which we have com-
mitted. Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, Heb. x. 3.
refrigerant (re-frij'e-rant), a. and n. [< OP. re-
frigerant, P. r'4frig£rant= Sp. Pg. reftigerante =
It. refrigerante, rifrigerante, < L. refrigeran{t-)s,
ppr. of refrigerare, make cool, grow cool again:
see refrigerate.'] I, a. Abating heat; cooling.
Unctuous liniments or salves . . . devised as lenitive
and refrigerant. Holland, tr. of Pliny, xxxiv. 18.
II. re. 1. Anything which abates the sensa-
tion of heat, or cools. — 3. Figuratively, any-
thing which allays or extinguishes.
This almost never fails to prove a refrigerant to passion.
Blair.
refrigerate (re-frij'e-rat), V. t.; pret. and pp.
refrigerated, ppr. refrigerating. [< L. refrige-
ratus, pp. of refrigerare i^y It. refrigerare, rifrige-
rare = Sp. Pg. refrigerar = P. r6frig6rer), make
cool again, < re-, again, + frigerare, make cool :
see frigerate.'] To cool; make cold; allay the
heat of.
The great brizes which the motion of the air in great
circles (such as are under the girdle of the world) produ-
ceth, which do refrigerate. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 398.
The air is intolerably cold, either continually refrige-
rated with frosts or disturbed with tempests.
Goldxmith, Animated Nature, 1. 142.
refrigerate! (re-frij'e-rat). a. [< ME. refrige-
rate,<.'L.refrigeratus,-pT^.: seetheverb.] Cooled;
made or kept cool; allayed.
Nowe benes, . . .
. . . upplucked soone,
Made clene, and sette up wel refrigerate.
From grobbes saue wol kepe up theire estate.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 160.
refrigeration
refrigerating-chamber (re - frij ' e - ra - ting -
cham"b6r), n. A chamber in which the air
is artificially cooled, used especially for the ,
storage of perishable provisions during warm
weather.
refrigerating-machine (re -f ri j ' e - ra -tin g-ma -
shen'), n. A machine for the artificial produc-
tion of cold. In such machines mechanical power is
amployed for the conversion of heat into work by operat-
ing upon a gas at a temperature far removed from that at
which such gas becomes a liquid. They perform the fol-
lowing cycle of operations : first, the gas is compressed
into a smaller volume, in which compression its contained
heat is increased by the heat-equivalent of the work per-
formed in the compression; secondly, the compressed
gas is cooled under constant pressure, and thus brought
near to the temperature of the cooling medium (usually
water), and the increase of heat due to compression is re-
moved; tliirdly, the compressed and cooled gas is permitted
to expand, expending a portion of its expansive force in the
performance of work. This work having been performed
at the expense of the store of heat originally contained in
the gas, the latter has now lost the heat-equivalent of the
work, and its temperature is greatly lowered. The now
cold gas can be used for the refrigeration of any other sub-
stance which has a higher temperature by methods de-
scribed under icemachme and r^'rigeration. In other ma-
chines a gas or vapor the ordinary temperature of which
is near to that at which it liquefies is compressed and
cooled, and subsequently permitted to assume the gaseous
form. By the compression the temperature of liquetaction
is raised till it becomes the same as or a little higher than
that of a conveniently available cooling medium, such as
ordinary atmospheric air, or, most commonly, water at or-
dinary temperature, the application of which to cooling
the gas still under constant pressure reduces it to the
Uquid state, or to a state of intermixed liquid and gas. The
subsequent expansion of the liquid into gas is performed
at the expense of its inner heat. It therefore suffers a re-
duction of temperature, to restore which it absorbs its la-
tent heat of vaporization from a surrounding or contigu-
ous substance (usually a saline solution), which, thus made
cold, is used for cooling air-spaces, or refrigerators or sub-
stances therein contained, or for making ice. Machines
of either of the above classes are very commonly called ice-
machines, and are so styled in the classifications of inven-
tions in both the United States and British patent-ofBces,
whether designed for the manufacture of ice, for merely
cooling substances in insulated spaces or refrigerators, or
for both these purposes.
refrigeration (re-frij-e-ra'shon), n. [< OP.
refrigeration, P. r^frig^ation = Sp. refrigera-
cion = Pg. refrtgeragao = It: refrigeraziotie, <
L. refrigeratio{n-), a cooling, coolness, mitiga^
tion (of diseases), < refrigerare, pp. refrigera-
tus, make, cool again: see refrigerate.'] 1.
The act of refrigerating or cooling; the abate-
ment of heat ; the state of being cooled.
Suche thynges as are f yned by continual! heate, mouynge,
and circulation are hyndered by refrigeration or coulde.
R. Eden, tr. of Jacobus Gaataldus (First Books on
[America, ed. Arber, p. 294).
The testimony of geological evidence . . . indicates a
general refrigeration of climate.
Crdll, Climate and Time, p. SSO.
Specifically — 2. The operation of cooling va-
rious substances by artificial processes. This is
effected by the use of inclosures in which the articles to
be cooled are placed on or in proximity to ice or other refri-
gerating substances or freezing-mixtures, or in air cooled
by a refrigerating-machine or -apparatus ; or, as in beer-
cooling, by floating metallic pans or vessels containing ice
upon the surface of the liquid to be cooled, or by circulat-
ing the latter over an extended surface of some good con-
ductor of heat cooled by continuous contact of cold water,
cold air, or cold brine with the opposite surface. Seeice-
machine and refrigeraUng-machine.—ClhQlxa.'cil refii.g6-
ration, refrigeration by the use of mixtures of substances
which, during their admixture, by mutual solution of each '
in the other, or the solution of one or more in another or
others, become lowered in temperature by absorotion of
the latent heat of liquefaction from the sensible heat
Bemarkable changes of temperature are thus produced
by a variety of refrigerating mixtures or freezing-mix-
tures. See freeging-mixture.— Mechanical refc&era-
tion. (a) Ig its strictest sense, the conversion of heat
into work by the expansion of a volume of gas or vapor
which performs work dtu'ing the act of expansion, as in
moving a piston against some resistance, usually that of
a pump or compressor for compressing another volume
of such gas or vapor. The gas during the expansion, if it
expands adiabatically, is reduced in temperature by the
conversion of its inner heat into work, the reduction being
found in degrees by dividing the work due to the expan-
sion by the product of the specific heat of the gas, the
weight of the volume expanded, and the mechanical equiv-
alent of heat. Air mechanically refrigerated is frequently
discharged directly into refrigerators or rooms it is desired
to cool, but in apparatus for cooling by the use of other
gases and vapors a strong solution of some salt which re-
sists freezing at low temperatures — as sodium, calcium, or
magnesium chlorid — is used as a medium for extracting
heat from the substances and spaces to be cooled, and as
a vehicle for conveying the heat so abstracted to the me-
chanically cooled gas. See ice-machine, (b) In a broader
sense, a process of refrigeration in which the cycle of heat-
changes is only partly produced by mechanical action, as
in compression ice-machines using anhydrous ammonia,
wherein the cooling of the vapor takes place entirely dur-
ing the formation from the liquid, and is caused by ab-
sorption of the latent heat of vaporization fi-om the sen-
sible heat of the substance, the mechanical part of the
process being wholly confined to compressing the ammo-
nia-vapor while liquefying it under the action of cold and
pressure. Such machines are the most effective and the
most extensively used.
reftigerative
refrigerative (re-frij'e-ra-tiv), a, and n. [=
OF. refrigeraUf, F. r^hg'&raUf = Sp. Pg. re-
frigerativo = It. refrigerativo, rifrigerativo ; as
refrigerate + -foe.] i; a. Cooling; refrigerant:
as, a refrigerative treatment.
All lectaces are by nature refrigeralim, and doe eoole
the bodie. Holland, tr. ol Pliny, xlx. 8.
II. n. A medicine that allays the sensation
of heat ; a refrigerant.
refirigerator (rf-frij'e-rar-tor), n. [< refrigerate
+ -ori.] That which refrigerates, cools, or
keeps cool ; Bpecifieally, any vessel, chamber, or
apparatus de-
signed to keep
its contents at
a temperature
little if at
all above the
freezing-point.
In a restricted
sense, a refiigeia-
tor is an Inclosed
chamber or com-
partment where
meats, fish, fruit,
or liquors, etc.,
are kept cool by
the presence of ice
or freezing-mix-
tures, or by the
circulation of cur-
rents of cold air or
liquid supplied by
an ice-machine or
a refrigeratlng-
machine. Domes-
tic refrigerators
are made in a
great variety of
shapes, and may
be either portable
or built into the
walls of a house.
They range from
the common ice-
box (which in its
simplest form is
merely a metal-
lined wooden box
Refxigerator.
a, body of the refrigerator; d, paper sheath-
ing ; e, a. shelf for supporting ice i/ /\ drip-
pipe ; £", air-trap : h, drip-pan ; y, J', lias
covering ice-chamoer ; A, door of compart-
ment containing shelves /, of corrugated gal-
vanized iron, on which are supported the arti-
cles to be preserved by refrigeration ; ^, zinc
lining.
with facilities for drainage, kept partly filled with ice on
which fish or meat may be kept) to large and elaborate
ice-chests and ice-rooms. Small refrigerators are some-
times called ice-safes. — Anesthetic refrigerator. See
anesthetic.
refrigerator-car (rf-frij'e-ra-tor-kar), n. A
freight-car fitted up for the preservation by
means of cold of perishable merchandise. Such
cars are supplied with an ice-chamber, and sometimes with
a blower, which is driven bjj a belt from one axle of the
car, and causes a constant circulation of air over the ice
and through the car. [U. S.}
refrigeratory (rf-frij'e-ra-to-ri), a. and n. [=
Sp. Pg. It. refrigeratorioj <'Li. refrigeratoriiis,
cooling, refrigeratory, < refrigerare, pp. refri-
geratus, cool: see refrigerate.'] I, a. Cooling;
mitigating heat.
This grateful acid spirit that first comes over is . . .
highly refrigeratmy, diuretic, sudorific.
Bp. Berkeley, tr. of Siris, § 120.
II. ri.; pi. refrigeratories (-riz). Anjrthing
■which refrigerates ; a refrigerant; a refrigera-
tor ; any vessel, chamber, or pipe in which cool-
ing is effected.
A delicate wine, and a durable refrigeratmy. Uortimer.
refrigeriumt (ref-ri-je'ri-um), n. [= It. Sp. Pg.
refrigerio, a cooling, mitigation, consolation, <
LL. refrigerium, < L. refrigerare, make cool:
see refiigerate.J Cooling refreshment; refri-
geration.
It must be acknowledged, the ancients have talked much
of annual refrigeHwrns. SffUtJu
refringef , v. t. [< L. refringere, break up, break
open, < re-, back, +fringere, break: seefraction.
Cf . refract, refrain^, and infringe.] To infringe
upon. Palsgrave. (HalUweU.)
refringenCT (re-frin'jen-si), n. [< refringen(t)
+ -cy.] The power of a substance to refract a
ray; refringent or refractive power.
refringent (rf-frin'jent), a. [< F. rifringent=
Sp. refringente, < L." refringen(t-)s, ppr. of re-
fringere, break up, break off: see refract.]
Possessing the quality of refractiveness ; re-
fractive; refracting: as, a refringent prism.
[Rare.]
Refraction is the deflection or bending which luminous
rays experience in passing obliquely from one medium to
another. . . . According as the refracted ray approaches
or deviates from the normal, the second medium is said
to be more or less refringemt or refracting than the first.
Athinson, tr. of Ganot's Physics (10th ed.), § 536.
refroidet, v. Same as refreid.
reft^ (reft). Preterit and past participle of reave.
reft^t, reftet, n. Obsolete forms of r*/«i.
refugei (ref'uj), n. [< ME. refuge, < OF. (and
F.) refuge = Pr. refug, refuch = Sp. Pg. It. re-
317
5041
fugio, < L. refugium, a taking refuge, refuge, a
place of refuge, < refugere, flee back, retreat, <
re-, back, + fugere, flee : see fugitive. Cf. re-
fuit, refute^.] 1. Shelter or protection from
danger or distress.
And as thou art a rightful lord and juge,
Ne yeve us neither mercy ne refuge.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 862.
Bocks, dens, and caves ! But I in none of these
Find place or refuge. MiUon, P. L., ix. 119.
2. That which shelters or protects from danger,
distress, or calamity ; a stronghold which pro-
tects by its strength, or a sanctuary which se-
cures safety by its sacredness ; anyplace where
one is out of the way of a threatened danger or
evil ; speeificaUy, an institution where the des-
titute or homeless find temporary shelter; an
asylum.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble. Ps. xlvi. 1.
The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the
rocks for the conies. Fs. civ. 18.
Drawn from his refuge in some lonely elm,
. . . ventures forth . , .
The squirrel. Cowper, Task, vL 310.
3. .An expedient to secure protection, defense,
or excuse ; a device ; a contrivance ; a shift ; a
resource.
Their latest refuge
Was to send him. Sfu^., Cor., v. 3. 11.
O, teach me how to make mine own excuse I
Or at the least this refuse let me find ;
Though my gross blood be stain'd with this abuse.
Immaculate and spotless is my mind.
Shak., lucrece, 1. 1654.
A youth unknown to Phcebas, in despair,
Puts his last refuge all in heaven and prayer.
Pope, Dunciad, iL 214.
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Johnson, in Boswell, an. 1775.
CityofReftage. See ct'«j^.— Harbor of refuge. Seehar-
6orl.— House of refuge, an institution for flie shelter of
the homeless or destitute. — School Of refuge, a charity,
ragged, or industrial school. .Also called bays' or girl^
house of refuge. = %Ya. 1. Safety, security.— 2. Asyliun, re-
treat, sanctuary, harbor, covert.
refuge^ (ref'tij), v.; pret. and pp. refuged, ppr.
refuging. \i OF. refugier, P. refugier = Sp. Pg.
refugiar = It. refugiare, take refuge ; from the
noun.] I. trans. To shelter; protect; find ref-
uge or excuse for.
SUly beggars.
Who, sitting in the stocks, refuge their shame.
That many have and others must sit there.
Shak., Kich. IT., v. 6. 26.
Even by those gods who refuged her abhorred.
Dryden, Maeii, ii. 782.
II. intrans. To take shelter. [Rare.]
The Duke de Soubise refuged hether from France upon
miscarriage of some undertakings of his there.
Sir J. Finett, Foreign Ambassadors, p. 111.
Upon the crags
Which verge the northern shore, upon the heights
Eastward, how few have rouged /
refuge^ (ref'uj), n. A dialectal form of refuse"^.
BaUiwell.
refugee (ref-u-je'), n. [< F. rifugi4 (= Sp. Pg.
refugiado = It. refugiato), pp. of refugier, take
refuge: see refuge^, v.] 1. One who flees to a
refuge or shelter or place of safety.
Under whatever name, the city on the rocks, small at
firsts strengthened by refugees from Salona, grew and pros-
pered. E. A. Freerman, Venice, p. 229.
3. One who in times of persecution or political
commotion flees to a foreign country for safety.
Poor refugees at first, they purchase here ;
And soon as denlzen'd they domineer.
Dryden, tr. of Satires of Juvenal, ill.
3. One of a band of marauders during the
American Revolution : so called because they
placed themselves under the refuge or protec-
tion of the British crown : same as cow-boy, 3.
refugeeism (I'ef-u-je'izm), ». [< refugee + -dsm.]
The state or condition of a refugee.
A Pole, or Czech, or something of that fermenting sort;
in a state of political refugeeism.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xxii.
refuitt, n. [ME. , also refuyt, refute, refut, refutt,
< OP. refuit, refuyt, refwi, m., refuite, refute, F.
refuite, t., flight, escape, < refuir, flee, < L. re-
fugere, flee : see refuge^.] Refuge ; protection.
Thou art largesse of pleyn felicitee,
Haveue of refute, of quiete, and of reste.
Chaucer, A. B. C, 1. 14.
How myght ye youre-self guyde that may nought se to
here a baner in bateile of a kynge that ought to be refute
and counfort to alle the boste.
Me^in (E. E. T. S.), iii. 622.
refulgence (re-ful'jens), n. [< OP. refulgence
= Sp. Pg. refulgend'a = It. refulgenza, < L. re-
fulgentia, reflected luster, refulgence, < reful-
gen(t-)s, refulgent: see r^ulgent] The state
refusal
or character of being refulgent ; a flood of light ;
splendor ; brilliancy.
A bar of ore, the heat and refulgenee of which were al-
most insupportable to me at ten feet distance.
Wraaall, Tour through Northern Parts of Europe, p. 169.
= Syn. Effulgence, Splendor, etc. (see radianee), brightness.
refnlgency (re-ful'jen-sl), n. [As refulgence
(see -c^).] Same as refulgence.
refulgent (re-ful'jent>, a. [< OF. refulgent,
P. refulgent = Sp. Pg. refulgente = It. riful-
gente, < L. refulgen(t-)s, ppr. of refulgere, flash
back, shine brilliantly, < re-, back, + fulgere,
flash, shine: see fulgent.] Emitting or reflect-
ing a bright light; shining; splendid.
If those refulgent beams of Heav'n's great light
Gild not the day, what is the day but night?
Quarles, Emblems, v. 12.
Where some refulgent sunset of India
Streams o'er a rich ambros^ ocean isle.
Tennyson, Experiments, Milton.
refnlgently (re-ful'jeut-li), adv. With refvd-
gence ; with great brightness.
refund^ (re-fund'), V. t. [< OP. refondre, re-
melt, recast, refondre, refonder, restore, pay
back, P. refondre, remelt, recast, remodel, re-
form, = Pr. refondre, = Sp. Pg. refundir, pom-
out again, = It. rifondere, pour out, remelt,
recast, < L. refundere, pour back, restore, <
re-, back, + fundere, pour: see refound^. The
OF. refondre, in the form refonder, in the sense
' restore,' seems to be confused with refonder,
refunder, reestablish, rebuild, restore: see re-
found^. In def. 2 the E. verb appar. associ-
ated with /itridi, «. Ct. refund^.] If. To pour
back.
Were the humours of the eye tinctured with any color,
they would refund that colonr upon the object.
Bay, Works of Creation, ii
3. To return in payment or compensation for
what has been taken ; repay ; restore.
With this you have repaid me two thousand Pound,
and if you did not refund thus honestly, I could not have
supply'd her. Stede, Tender Husband, L 1.
3. To resupply with funds; reimburse; in-
demnify. [Rare.]
The painter has a demand ... to be fully refunded,
both for his disgraces, his losses, and the apparent dan-
ger of his life. Surift, to Bp. Horte, May 12, 1736.
Befunding Act, a United States statute of July 14th,
1870, providing for the issue of 5, 4^, and 4 per cent, bonds,
and for devoting the proceeds to the redemption of out.
standing bonds.
refund^ (re-fund'), n. [< refunS^, v.] Repay-
ment ; return of money. [CoUoq.]
Their lots were confiscated ; no refund was made of the
purchase money or compensation allowed for improve-
ments. Pop. Sci. Mo., XXVin. 784.
No r^und of duty shall be allowed after the lapse of
fourteen days from the time of entry.
U. S. Cons. Beports (1886), No. 72, p. 532.
refund^ (re-fund'), «). «. l< re- -i- fundi-.] To
fund again or anew, as a public debt.
refunder^ (re-fun'der), n. [< refund^ + -erl.]
One who refunds or repays.
refunder^ (re-fun'd^r), n. [< refund^ + -erl.]
One who refunds or favors refunding or fund-
ing anew.
refundment (re-fund'ment), n. [< refund^ +
-ment.] The act of reJEunding or returning
in payment or compensation that which has
been borrowed or taken ; also, that which is re-
funded.
Church land, alienated to lay uses, was formerly de-
nounced to have this slippeiy quality [like thawing snow).
But some portions of it somehow always stuck so fast
that the denunciators have been fain to postpone the
prophecy of r^undment to a late posterity.
Lamb, PopiUar Fallacies, Ii.
refurbish (re-fer'bish), V. t. [< re- + furbish. Cf .
OF. reforbir, refourbir, F. refourbi/r = It. rifor-
bwe, refurbish.] To furbish anew; polish up.
It requires a better poet to refurbish a trite thought
than to exhibit an original.
handar. Imaginary Conversations, Abbe Delille and Wal-
[ter Landor.
refurnisll (re-fer'nish), v. t. [< re- + furnish.
Cf. OF. refoumir, F. refournir = It. rifornire,
refurnish.] To furnish or supply anew; refit
with furniture.
By his moste excellent wltte, he [Henry VII.] . . . re-
uiued the lawes, . . . refumisshed his dominions, and re-
payred his manours. ^r T. Elyot, The Govemour, i. 24.
refusable (re-fu'za.-bl), a. [< OP. (and F.) re-
fusable; as refuse^ + -atle.] Capable of being
refused; admitting refusal.
A refusable or little thing in one's eye.
Young, Sermons, Ii.
refusal (rf-fu'zal), n. [< AF. refusal; as re-
fuse^ + -al.] 1. The act of refusing ; denial
refusal
or rejection of anything demanded, solicited,
or offered for acceptance.
For upon theyr r^ueaU and f orsakinge of the eospell,
the same was to you by so muche ye rather offered.
J. UdtUl, On Kom. xi.
I beseech you
That my rtfusal of so great an offer
May make no ill oonsfaruction.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, 1. 1.
2. The choice of refusing or taking; the right
of taking in preference to others; option of
buying; preemption.
1 mean to be a suitor to your worship
For the small tenement. . . .
Why, if your worship give me but your hand.
That I may have the ryusal, I have done.
B. Jansan, Volpone, v. 4.
Neighbour Steel's wife asked to have the refusal of it, hut
I guess I won't sell it. Hal-Bmrttm.
Barnard's Act [passed in 1735], which avoided and pro-
hibited all speculative dealings in the British public funds,
"puts" and r^u«a?s, and even such ordinary transactions
as selling stocks which the vendor has not in his posses-
sion at the time. Nimteenth Century, XXVl. 852.
3. In hydraul. engin., the resistance of a pile
at any point to further driving To buy the re-
fusal Of7 See \my.
refuse'- (re-fiiz'), v.; pret. and pp. re/i*«eS, ppr.
refusing. ' [< ME. refusen, refftisen, < OF. re/u-
ser, renfuser, ranfuser, P. refuser = Sp. rehusar
= Pg. refusar = It. rifusare, refuse, deny, re-
ject; origin uncertain; perhaps (1) < LL. *re-
fusare, freq. of L. refundwe, pp. refvMts, pour
back, give back, restore fsee refund^, and cf.
refuse''^) ; or (2) irreg. < L. refutare, refuse (see
refute^), perhaps by confusion with recusare,
refuse (see recuse); or (3) < OP. refus, refuse,
leavings (see refuse^)."] I. trans. 1. To deny,
as a request, demand, or invitation ; decline to
do or grant : as, to refuse admittance ; she re-
/Mse(J herself to callers.
Accepteth than of us the trewe entente,
That never yet r^useden your heste.
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 72.
If you refuse your aid
In this so never -needed help, yet do not
Upbraid 's with our distress. Shak., Cor., v. 1. 33.
He then went to the town-hall ; on their refwsirig him
entrance, he burst open the door with his foot, and seated
himself abruptly. Walpale, Letters, II. 2.
2. To decline to accept; reject: as, to refiise
an office ; to 'refuse an offer.
And quhome je aucht for to refuse
Frome that gret office, chairge, and cure.
Lauder, Dewtie of Kyngis (E. B. T. S.), L 508.
The stone which the buildersr^u^etJ is become the head
stone of the corner. Fs. cxviii. 22.
I, Anthony Lumpkin, Esquire, of Blank place, refuse you,
Constantia Neville, spinster, of no place at all.
OoldsmMh, She Stoops to Conquer, v.
3t. Todisown; disavow; forsake. Nares. ["God
refuse me I " was formerly a fashionable impre-
cation.]
Seffvse me nat oute of your Eeme[m]braunce.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 41.
He that yn yowthe no vertue wyll vse.
In Age all honour wyll hym Refuse.
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 68.
Deny thy father, and refuse thy name.
Shak., B. and J., ii. 2. 34.
4. Milit., to hold (troops) back, or move (them)
back from the regular alinement, when about
to engage the enemy in battle. In the oblique
order of battle, if either flank attack, the other
flank is refused. — 5. Pail to receive; resist;
repel.
The acid, by destroying the alkali on the lithographic
chalk, causes the stone to refuse the printing ink except
where touched by the chalk.
Warkshop Receipts, 1st ser., p. 162.
=Syn. 1 and 2. Decline, Refuse, Reject, Repel, and Rebuff
are in the order of strength.
II. intrans. To decline to accept or consent;
fail to comply.
Our [women's] hearts are f orm'd, as you yourselves would
choose.
Too proud to ask, too humble to refuse,
Oarth, Epil. to Addison's Cato.
Free In his will to choose or to refuse,
Man may improve the crisis, or abuse.
Cowper, Progress of Error, 1. 26.
refuse't (re-ftiz'), n. [< ME. refuse, < OF. refus,
m., refuseif., = It. refuso, m., a refusal; from
the verb: see refuse^, v. Cf. refuse^.'\ A re-
fusal.
He hathe hurte ful fele that list to mftke
A yif te lightly, that put is in refuse.
Political Poems, eto. (ed. Furnivall), p. 70.
Thy face tempts my soul to leave the heavens for thee.
And thy words of refxtse do pour even hell on me.
Sir P. Sidney (Arber's Eug. Gamer, 1 567).
refuse^ (refus), n. and a. [< ME. refus, refuee,
< OF. refus, reffus, repulse, refusal, rejection
5042
(faire refus de . . . , object to, refuse, d, refus,
so as to cause rejection, eire de re/«s,be refused,
cerfdc refus, a refuse stag, etc.), associated with
the verb refuser, refuse, and prob. < L. refusus,
pp. of refundere, pour back, give back, restore :
see refuse^, refund^. Some confusion may have
existed with OF. refus, refugee, refus, refuit,
refuge: see refuit, refute^.'] 1. n. That which
is refused or rejected ; waste or useless matter ;
the worst or meanest part; rubbish.
Thou hast made us as refuee. Lam. iii. 4.5.
Yet man, laborious man, by slow degrees . . .
Gleans up the riffuse of the general spoil.
Cowper, Heroism, 1. 70.
Shards and scurf of salt, and scum of dross.
Old plash of rains, and rtfuse patch'd with moss.
Tennyson, Vision of Sm, v.
= Syn. Dregs, scum, dross, trash, rubbish.
II. a. Eefused; rejected; hence, worthless;
of no value : as, the refuse parts of stone or
timber.
To sen me languyshinge,
That am rtfus of every creature.
Chaucer, Troilus, i 670.
They fought not against them, but with the refuse and
scattered people of the overthrown army his father had
lost before. North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 207.
Everything that was vile and riifuse, that they destroyed
utterly. 1 Sam. xv. 9.
refuse^ (re-fuz'), v. t. [< re- + fuse^, «).] To
fuse or melt again.
refuser (re-fu'zer), n. One who refuses or re-
jects.
The only refusers and condemners ol this catholic prac-
tice. Jef- Taylor.
refusion (re-fu'zhon), n. [< OF. refusion, P.
refusion = It. rifusione, < L. refusio(n-), an
overflowing, < refundere, pp.refusus, pour back:
see refuse^, refund.'] 1 . A renewed or repeated
melting or fusion. — 2. Theactof pouring back ;
a reflowing.
It hath been objected to me that this doctrine of the
refusion of the soul was very consistent with the belief of
a future state of rewards and punishments, in the inter-
mediate space between death and the resolution of the
soul into the to ev. Warburton, Legation, iii., note cc.
refutability (re-f ii-ta-bil'i-ti), n. [< refutable +
4ty (see -bility'j.'] Capability of being refuted.
refutable (re-fu'ta-bl), a. [= OF. 'refutable
= Sp. refutable = Pg. refutavel; as refute^ +
-able.'] Capable of being refuted or disproved ;
that may be proved false or erroneous.*
He alters the text, and creates a refutaUe doctrine of
his own. Junius, Letters, liv.
refutably (re-fii'ta-bli), adv. In a refutable
manner; so as to be refuted or disproved.
refutal (rf-fii'tal), n. [< refute^ + -al.] Refu-
tation. [Kare.'i
A living refutal of the lie that a good soldier must needs
be depraved. Xfatioml Baptist, XXI. ziii. 1.
refutation (ref-u-ta'shgn), n. [< OF. refuta-
tion, F. refutation = Sp. refutaeion = Pg. re/jt-
tagdk>= It. rifutazione, < L. refutatio(n-), a refu-
tation, < refutare, pp. refutatus, refute : see re-
fute^.'] The act of refuting or disjiroving; the
overthrowing of an argument, opinion, testi-
mony^ doctrine, or theory by argument or coun-
tervailing proof; confutation; disproof, r^u-
tation is distinguished as direct or ostensive, indirect or
apagogical, a priori or a posteriori, according to the kind
of reasoning employed.
It was answered by another boke called the Refutaeion
or Ouercommyng of the appollogie, of the conuencion of
Madrill. Hall, Hen. VIIL, an. 18.
As for the first intorpretation, because it is altogether
wasted, it nedeth no refutation.
Caluine, Declaration on the Eighty-seventh Psalm.
The error referred to ... is too obvious to require a
particular refutation.
BushncO, Nature and the Supernat., xi.
refutatory (rf-fa'ta-to-ri), a. [< F. rSfutatoire
= Sp. Pg. refutatorio, < LL. refutatorius, of or
belonging to refutation, refutatory, < L. refu-
tare, pp. refutatus, refute : see refute'^.] Tend-
ing to refute ; containing refutation.
refute^ (rf-fuf), v. t. ; pret. and pp. refuted,
ppr. refuting. [< OF. refuter, refute, confute,
P. rifuter = Sp. Pg. refutar = It. rifutare, re-
futare, < L. refutare, check, drive back, repress,
repel, rebut, etc., < re- + *futare as in confutare,
confute: see con/Mte.] 1. To disprove and over-
throw by argument or conntervailing proof;
prove to be false or erroneous : as, to refute a
doctrine or an accusation.
And then the Law of Nations' gainst her rose,
And reasons brought that no man could refute.
Spenser, F. Q., V. ix. 44.
Then I began to refute that foule error, howbeit my
speach did nothing at all preuaile with him.
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 60.
regal
How wilt thou reason with them, how r^ute
Their idolisms, traditions, paradoxes?
Uaton, P. E., iv. 283.
And he says much that many may dispute.
And cavil at with ease, but none refute.
Cowper, Truth, 1. 360.
2. To overcome in ar^ment ; prove to be in
error : as, to refute a disputant.
There were so many witnesses to these two miracles
that it is impossible to refute such multitudes. Addison,
=Syn. 1. Confute and Refute E^eeln representing a quick
and thorough answer to assertions made by another. Con-
fute applies to arguments, rtfute to both arguments and
charges.
refute^t, n. See refuit.
refuter (re-fu't6r), «. One who or that which
refutes.
My refuler's forehead is stronger, with a weaker wit.
Bp. BaU, Honour of Married Clergy, i. § s.
reg. An abbreviation of (o) regent; (6) register;
(c) registrar; (d) regular; (e) regular^.
regain (re-gan'), V. t. [< OP. regaignier, regaa-
gner, rew'aignier, F. regagner (= Sp. reganar =
Pg. reganhar = It. riguadagnare), < re-, again,
-I- gaagnier, gaigner, gain: see gaivX.] 1. To
gain anew; recover, as what has escaped or
been lost; retrieve.
But by degrees, first this, then that regain'd.
The turning tide bears back with flowing chance
Unto the Dauphin all we had attain'd.
Daniel, Civil Wars, v. 44.
If our Fathers have lost their Liberty, why may not we
labour to regain it? Selden, Table-Talk, p. 40.
Hopeful to regain
Thy love, the sole contentment of my heart.
Milton, P. L., X. 972.
Ah, love ! although the morn shall come again,
And on new rose-buds the new sun shall smile,
Can we regain what we have lost meanwhile?
WUliami, Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 338.
2. To arrive at again ; return to ; succeed in
reaching once more : as, they regained the shore
in safety.
The leap was quick, return was quick, he has regain'd the
place. Leigh Sunt, 'The Glove and the Lions.
= Syn. 1. To repossess.
regal' (re'gal), a. and n. [< ME. regal, regall,
< OF. regalj regal, royal (as a noun, a royal
vestment), m vernacular form real, P. rSal (>
E. real^) and royal (> E. royal); = Pr. reial,
rial = Sp. Pg. real (> E. reaP, a coin) = It.
regale, reale, < L. regalis, royal, kingly, < rex
'-), a king: see rex. Cf. reaV^, redfi, royal,
' " ] I, o. Pertaiiling to a king; kingly;
royal: as, a regal title; regal authority; regal
pomp.
Most manifest it is that these [the pyramids], as the
resl^ were the regaU sepulchres of the iEgyptians.
Sandys, Travafles, p. 99.
With them [Ithuriel and Zephon] comes a third of regal
port,
But faded splendour wan. Milton, P. L., iv. C69.
Among, the gems will be found some portraits of kings
in the Macedonian period, which may be best studied in
connexion with the r^al coins of the same period.
C. T. Newton, Art and ArchaeoL, p. 374.
Begal or roval fishes whales and sturgeons : so called
from an enactment of Edward II. that when thrown asliore
or caught on the British coasts they can be claimed as the
property ol the sovereign. = Syn. Kingly, etc. See royal.
Il.t n. pi. Royalty; royal authority.
Now be we duchesses, both I and ye.
And sikered to the regals of Athenes.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 2128,
regal^ (re'gal), n. [Early mod. E. regall, re~
galle, aXso ri'gole, regole; < OP. regale, P. rigale,<,
Olt. regale, a regal, It. regale, a hand-organ (Sp.
regalia, an organ-pipe), < regale, regal, royal, <
L. regalis, regal, royal : see regal^.] 1. A small
portable organ, much
used in the sixteenth
and seventeenth cen-
turies, consisting of
one or sometimes two
sets of reed-pipes
played with keys for
the player's right
hand, with a small
bellows for the left
hand, its compass in-
cluded only a few tones.
In many cases the instru-
ment was made to shut up
within covers, like a large
book: hence the name
Bible-organ. If there was
hut one pipe to each note^
the instrument was callea
a single regal, if two pipes
to each note, a double regal.
Regal.
{From an old painting.)
The invention of the regal
IS often erroneously ascribed to EoU, an organ-builder of
Nuremberg, in 1576 ; the instrument was common in Eng-
land in the reign of Henry VIIL It is now obsolete, but
the name is still applied in Germany to certain reed-stops
regal
of the organ. In England a single Instrument was nsnally
called a pair qf regah.
With dolsemers and the regatts.
Sweet sittrons melody.
Leighton, Teares or Lamentations (1613X (HaUiweU.)
And In regals (where they have a pipe they call the
nightingale pipe, which containeth water) the sound hath
a continuall trembling. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 172.
£epresentationB of regals shew as if they were fastened
to the shoulder, while the right hand touches the keys,
and the left is employed In blowing a small pair of bel-
lows. GenOeman'a Mag., IXXIV. 328.
2. An old instrument of percussion, composed
of sonorous slabs or slips of wood, it was a sort of
harmonica, and was played by striking the slips of wood
with a stick armed with a ball or knob.
regale^ (re-gal'), v.; pret. and pp. regaled, ppr.
'-■- - [< OF. regaler, regaller, P. r6galer, en-
5043
Those privileges and liberties of the Church which
were not derogatory to the regale and the kingdom.
R. W. Dixon, Hist Church of Eng., L
3. pi. Ensigns of royalty; the apparatus of a
coronation, as the crown, scepter, etc. The re-
galia of England consist of the crown, the scepter with the
cross, the verge or rod with the dove, the so-called staff of
Edward the Confessor, several swards, the ampulla tor the
sacred oil, the spurs of chivalry, and several other pieces.
These are preserved In the Jewel-room in the Tower of
London. The regalia of Scotland consist of the crown,
the scepter, and the sword of state. They, with several
other regal decoration^ are exhibited in the crown-room
in the castle of Edinbnrgh.
4. pi. The insignia, decorations, or "jewels"
of an order, as of the Freemasons Begalla of
the Cllurcll, in England, the privileges which have been
conceded to the church by kings ; sometimes, the patri-
mony of the church.
tertain, regale (= Sp. regular, entertain, caress, Begalecidse (reg-ar-les'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Re-
fondle, pet, = Pg. regular, entertain, charm,
please, = It. regalare, entertain, treat); of
doubtful origin: (o) in one view orig. 'treat
like a king,' ' treat royally,' < regal, royal (cf .
OF. regaler, regaller, take by royal authority)
(see regaP-); (6) in another view, lit. 'rejoice
oneself,' < re- + galer, rejoice: see gala^; (c)
the Sp. is identified by Diez with regular, melt,
< L. regelare, melt, thaw, warm, lit. 'unfreeze,'
< re-, back, + gelare, freeze : see congeal, and
cf. regelation; (d) cf. OF. regaler, regaller,
divide or share equally, distribute, equalize, <
re- + egal, equal: see egal, equal.'} I. trans.
To entertain sumptuously or delightfully ; feast
or divert with that which is highly pleasing;
gratify, as the senses : as, to regale the taste,
the eye, or the ear.
The Portuguese general then invited the monks on board
his vessel, where he regaled them, and gave to each pres-
ents that were most suitable to their austere life.
Bruce, Source of the Nile, n. 144.
Every old burgher had a budget of miraculous stories to
tell about the exploits of Hardkoppig Piet, wherewith he
regaled his children of a long winter night.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 361.
Heliogabalus and Galerius are reported, when dining, to
have regaled themselves with the sight of criminals torn
by wild beasts. Lecky, Europ. Morals, I. 298.
II. intrans. To feast; have pleasure or diver-
sion.
See the rich churl, amid the social sons
Of wine and wit, regaling !
Shenstone, Economy, L 14.
On twigs of hawthorn he regal'd,
On pippins' russet peel.
Cowper, Epitaph on a Hai-e.
galecus + -idse.^ A family of tSBniosomous
fishes, typified by the genus Begalecus. They
have the body much compressed and elongated or ribbon-
like, the head oblong and with the opercular apparatus
produced backward, several of the anterior dorsal rays
elongated and constituting a Irind of crest, and long, sin-
gle, oar-like rays in the position of the ventral flns. The
species are pelagic and rarely seen. Some attain a length
of more than 20 feet.
Begalecus (re-gal'e-kus), n. [NL. (Briiunich),
lit. 'king of the herrings,' < L. rex (reg-), king,
+ NL. alec, herring: see alec.'] A genus of
ribbon-fishes, typicd of the f anuly Begalecidse.
King of the Herrings, or Oar-fish iR^galecus frlesne).
The northern B. glesne is popularly known as
the Mng of the herrings. Also called Gymnetrus.
regalement (rf-gal'ment), n. [= F. regalement
= Sp. regalamiento ; as regale''- + -ment.'] Re-
freshment; entertainment;' gratification.
The Muses still require
Humid regalement, nor will aught avail
Imploring Phcebus with unmoisten'd lips.
J. PMlipB, Cider, ii.
One who or that which
The little girl . . . was met by Mrs. Norris, who thus
regaled in the credit of being foremost to welcome her.
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, ii.
regale^ (re-gal'), n. [< F. rigal, also r4gale, a regaler (re-ga'ler), n
banquet, amusement, pleasure-party (=Sp.Pg. regales. Imp. Diet.
It. regalo, a present, gift: see regalia^, regalio), regaliai, n. Plural of regale^.
< regaler, regale, entertain: see regale^-, v.] A regalia^t, n. [Confused in E. with regalia^-; <
choice repast; a regalement, entertainment, or Sp. 'P^. It. regalo, < F. r4fiale, a banquet: see
treat; a carouse.
The damned . . . would take it for a great regale to
have a dunghill for their bed, instead of the burning coals
of that eternal fire. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836X I. 386.
] Same as regale''-.
The Town shall have its regalia; the Coffee-house ga-
pers, I'm resolv'd, shan't want their Diversion.
D'Urfey, Two Queens of Brentford, i., (fiavies.)
egg-flip? To which we answering in the negative, he as-
sured us of a regale, and ordered a quart to be prepared.
SmoUett, Eoderick Eandom, xiv.
Our new acquaintance asked us if ever we had drank regalia^ (re-ga'lia), n. [< Cuban Sp. regalia, a
m_ _.!..■.. i :_ 41 .«,.. 1 . g^^ grade of cigar (regalia imperial, irapeiial
regalia, media regalia, medium regalia), lit.
'royal privilege': see regale'^.'] AsuperiorMnd
of cigar. See the quotation.
The highest class of Cuban-made cigars [are] called
"vegueras." . . . Next come the regalias, similarly made
of the best Vuelta Abajo tobacco ; and it is only the low-
er qualities, "ordinary regalias," which are commonly
found in commerce, the finer . . . being exceedingly high-
priced. Eneyc. Brit., XXIII. 426.
[< F. r4galien, apper-
„ . ., ., f'i regal: see regaP-,
regale^."] Pertaining to a king or suzerain; re-
gal ; sovereign ; belonging to the regalia.
Chester was first called a county palatine under Henry
II., but it previously possessed all regalian rights of ju-
risdiction. HaUam, Middle Ages.
He had a right to the regalian rights of coining.
That ye may garnish your profuse regales
With summer fruits brought forth by wintry suns.
Cowper, Task, iii. 551.
regale^ (rf-ga'le), n. ; pi. regalia (-lia). [= OF.
regale, F.' regale = Sp. regale = It. regalia, a
royal privilege, prerogative, < ML. regale, roy-
al power or prerogative, regalia, pi. (also as
fem. sing.), royal powers, royal prerogatives, regalian (re-ga'lian), a
the ensigns of royalty, etc., neut. of L. regalis, taining to royalty, <
regal, royal: s&eregaP-.'] 1. A privilege, pre- - ^- - - -
rogative, or right of property pertaining to the
sovereign of a state by virtue of his office. The
regalia are usually reckoned to be six— namely, the power
of judicature; of life and death; of war and peace; ofmas-
terless goods, as estrays, etc. ; of assessments ; and of mint-
ing of money.
The prerogative is sometimes called jura regalia or re- -owolint -» Rnrnfi as rcn«7pl
galia, the regalia being either majora, the regal dignity regailOt, n. »ame as regaie
and power, or minora, the revenue of the crown.
Eneyc. Brit., XIX. 672.
Do you think . . . that the fatal end of their journey
being continually before their eyes would not alter and
deprave their palate from tasting these regalios?
Cotton, tr. of Montaigne's Essays, xvl. {Dames.)
2. In eccles. hist, the power of the sovereign
in ecclesiastical affairs, in monarchical countries
where the papal authority is recognized by the slate, the
regale is usually defined by a concordat with the papal
see ; in other monarchical countries it takes the form of
the royal supremacy (see supremacy). In medieval times regalism (re'gal-izm), n.
especially tlie regale involved the right of enjoyment of
the revenues of vacant bishoprics, and of presentation to
all ecclesiastical benefices or positions above the ordinary
parochial cures during the vacancy of a see. These rights
were exercised by the Norman and Flantagenet kings of
England and by the French kings from the eleventh cen-
Fools, which each man meets in his dish each day.
Are yet the great regalios of a play.
Dryden, Sir Martin Mar-.A11, Prol., 1. 3.
[< regaU + -ism.]
The control or interference of the sovereign in
ecclesiastical matters.
Nevertheless in them [the Catholic kingdoms of Europe]
regalism, which is royal supremacy pushed to the very
verge of schism, has always prevailed. Card. Manning.
tury onward with constantly widening application and in- -,. J. ,- 1,. x--, rTPorl-o- m^i^ Ti' «.z./.«7
creased insistence tUl the time of Louis XIV. Opposed regality (re-gal i-ti), n. [Jiarly mod. J!., regal-
to pontificale. See investiture. ite, < OF. regaUte = It. regahtd, < ML. regah-
regard
ta{t-)s, kingly office or character, rOTalty, < L.
regalis, kingly, regal : see regaV-. Ci. regalty,
realty^, royalty, doublets of regality.^ 1. Roy-
alty; sovereignty; kingship.
The nobles and commons were wel pleased that Eyng
Bichard should frankely and f rely of his owne mere mocion
resigne his croune and departe from his regalite.
Hall, Hen. IV., Int
Is it possible that one so grave and judicious should
... be persuaded that ecclesiastical regiment degener-
ateth into civil regality, when one is allowed to do that
which hath been at any time the deed of more?
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, vii. 14.
He came partly in by the sword, and had high courage
In all points of regality. Bacon, Hist. Hen. VII.
2. In Scotland, a territorial jurisdiction for-
merly conferred by the king. The lands over which
this jurisdiction extended were said to be given in libe*
ram. regalitatem, and the persons receiving the right were
termed lords qf regality, and exercised the highest prerog*
atives of the crown.
There be civill Courts also in everie regalitie, holden by
their BailiSes, to whom the kings have gratiously grant-
ed royalties. Holland, tr. of Camden, ii. 8. ^Davies.)
Si.pl. Things pertaining to sovereignty; insig-
nia of kingship ; regalia.
For what purpose was it ordayned that christen kynges
. . . shulde in an open and stately place before all their
sublectes receyue their crowne and other BegalitCes!
Sir T. Elyot, The Govemour, iii. 2.
Such which God . . . hath reserved as his own apprO'
priate regalities. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 201.
Burgh Of regality. See turgh.
regally (re'gal-i), adv. In a regal or royal man-
ner.
regalof (re-ga'lo), n. [< It. Sp. Pg. regalo : see
regaW^.] Same as regale'^.
I thank you for the last regalo you gave me at your
Musseum, and for the good Company.
Bowetl, Letters, I. vi. 20.
I congratulate you on your regalo from the Northumber-
lands. Walpole, To Mann, July 8, 1768.
regalst (re'galz), n.pl. Same as regalia''. See
regale'-^, 3.
regaltyt (re'gal-ti), n. [< ME. regalty, < OF.
*regalte, regalite, royalty: see regality, realty^.']
Same as regality.
For all Thebes with the regalty
Put his body in such jeopardy.
Lydgale, Story of Thebes, ii.
This was dangerous to the peace of the kingdom, and
entrenched too much upon the regalty.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835X II. 99.
regalyt, n. [< ME. regalie, regalye, < OF. re-
galie, i., < ML. regalia, voyaltj, royal preroga-
tive, prop. neut. pi. of L. regalis, royal : see re-
gaU, regale^.] 1. Royalty; sovereignty; pre-
rogative.
Hit stondeth thus, that youre contraire, crueltee,
-Allyed is agenst your regalye
Under colour of womanly beaute. Chaucer, Pity, L 65.
To the entente to make John, sone of the same Duke,
King of this your seid realme, and to depose you of your
heigh regalie therof. Paston Letters, 1. 100.
3. pi. Same as regalia^. See regale^, 3.
The regalies of Scotland, that is to meane the crowne,
with the septer and cloth of estate.
Fabyan, Chron. (ed. 1669), IL 140.
regar, n. See regur.
regard (rf-gard'), v. [Formerly also reguard
(like guard); < OF. regarder, reguarder, rewar-
der, P. regarder (= Pr. regardar, reguardar =
Pg. regardar = It. riguardare, ML. regardare),
look at, observe, regard, < re- + garder, keep,
TieeA, tastA: see guard. Ct. reward.'] 1. trans.
1. To look upon; observe; notice with some
particularity ; pay attention to.
If much you note him.
You shall oif end him ; . . .
Feed, and regard him not.
Shak., Macbeth, iii. 4. 58.
Him Sir Bedivere
Remorsefully regarded thro' his tears.
Tennyson, Passing of Arthur.
The horse sees the spectacle ; it is only you who regard
and admire it. H. James, Subs, and Shad., p. 295.
2t. To look toward; have an aspect or pros-
pect toward.
Calais is an extraordinary well fortified place, in the old
Castle and new Citadell, reguarding the Sea.
Ewlyn, Diary, Nov. 11, 1643.
3. To attend to with respect ; observe a certain
respect toward; respect; reverence; honor;
esteem.
He that regardeth the day regairdeth it unto the Lord.
B-om. xiv. 6.
This aspect of mine . . .
The best-regarded virgins of our clim^
Have loved. Shak., M. of V., ii. 1. 10.
4. To consider of importance, value, moment,
or interest; mind; care for; as, to regard the
feelings of others ; not to regard pain.
regard
His bookes of Husbandrie are moch to be regarded.
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 162.
Facts from various places and times prove that in mili-
tant commmiities the claims to life, liberty, and property
are little regarded. H. Spemer, Prln. of Socio!., | 66a
5. To have or to show certain feelings to-
ward; show a certain disposition toward;
treat; use.
His associates seem to have re^ar(2e(2 him with kindness.
Macaulay.
6. To view; look on; consider: usually fol-
lowed by as.
They are not only regarded as authors, but as partisans.
Addison.
A face perfectly quiescent we regard as signifying ab-
sence of feeling. H. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., § 497.
I regard the judicial faculty, "judgment," . . . as that
on which historical study produces the most valuable
results. Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 94.
7. To have relation or respect to ; concern: as,
this argument does not regard the question.
This fable seems to regard natural philosophy.
Ba^on, Physical Fables, xi., Expl.
The deed is done.
And what may follow now regards not me.
Shelley, The Cenci, iv. 4.
8t. To show attention to ; care for; guard.
But ere we go, regard this dying prince.
The valiant Duke of Bedford. Gome, my lord,
We will bestow you in some better place.
Shak., 1 Heu. VI., iii. 2. 86.
As regards, with regard to ; as respects ; as concerns :
as, as regards that matter, 1 am quite of youi' opinion.
=Sto. To remark, heed, estimate, value.
n. intrans. To have concern ; care.
The Knight nothing regarded
To see the Lady scoifed.
Con^tarwe of Cleveland (Child's Ballads, IV. 229).
regard (re-gard'), n. [Formerly also regiiard
(like guard); < ME. regard, < OP. regard, regort,
reguard, F. regard = Pr. regart, reguart = OSp.
reguardo = Pg. regardo = It. riguardo (ML. re-
gardum), regard, respect; from the verb: see
regard, v.2 1 . Look or gaze ; aspect.
I extend my hand to him thus, quenching my familiar
£mile with an austere regard of control.
Shak., T. N., ii. 5. 731.
You are now within regard of the presence.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, ii. 1.
2. Attention, as to a matter of importance or
interest; heed; consideration.
Beleue me (Lord), a sonldiour cannot haue
Too great regaarde whereon his knife should cut.
Qascoigne, Steele Glas (ed. Arber), p. 66.
Things without all remedy
Should be without regard; what's done is done.
Shak., Macbeth, iii. 2. 12.
We have sufficient proof that hero-worship is strongest
where there is least regojrd for human freedom.
H. SpeMxr, Social Statics, p. 461.
3. That feeling or view of the mind which
springs especially from estimable qualities in
the object; esteem; affection; respect; rever-
ence : as, to have a great regard for a person.
Will ye do aught for regard o' me?
Jamie Telfer (ChUd's BaUads, VI. 111).
To him they had regard, because that of long time he
had bewitched them with sorceries. Acts viii. 11.
I have heard enough to convince me that he is unworthy
my regard. Sheridan, School for Scandal, iii. 1.
4. Repute, good or bad, but especially good;
note ; account.
Mac Tinelaghe was a man of meanest regarde amongest
them. Spenser, State of Ireland.
I am a bard of no regmd,
Wi' gentle folks and a' that.
Barm, Jolly Beggars.
5. Eolation; respect; reference; view: often
in the phrases in regard to, with regard to.
Thus conscience does ma,ke cowards of us all ; . . .
And enterprises of great pitch [folios have pith] and mo-
ment
With this regard their currents turn awry.
Shak., Hamlet, iii. 1. 87.
To . . . persuade them to pursue and persevere in vir-
tue leith regard to themselves, in justice and goodness
with regard to their neighbours, and piety toward God.
Walts.
6. Matter; point; particular; consideration;
condition; respect.
Love *s not love
When it is mingled with regards that stand
Aloof from the entire point. Shak., Lear, L 1. 242.
I never beheld so delicate a creature [a horse] ; ... in
all reauards beautif ull, and proportioned to admiration.
Evelyn, Diary, Nov. 17, 1684.
Nature ... in the first sentiment of kindness antici-
pates already a benevolence which shall lose all particular
regards in its general light. Emerson, Love.
7t. Prospect; object of sight; view.
Throw out our eyes for brave Othello,
Even till we make the main and the aerial blue
An indistinct regard. Shak., Othello, ii. 1. 40.
5044
8. JxL old English forest law: (a) Official view or
inspection. (5) The area within the jurisdic-
tion of the regarders.— 9. ^l- Respects; good
wishes: compliments: as, give my best reg-artte
to the family. [CoUoq.] - At regard oft, in com-
parison with.
Thanne shewede he hym the litel erthe that here is,
4J regard 0/ the hevenesquantite.
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 67.
Court of regaxd(or survey) of dogs.an old forest court
in England which was held every third year for the law-
ing or expeditation of mastiffs.— Field Of regard, a sur-
face conceived as plane or spherical, fixed with regMd to
the head, in which the fixation-point wanders with the
movements of the eyeball. Also called field of fixatwn.—
In regardt. (a) In view (of the fact that) : usually with
ellipsis of thM following.
England . . . hath been . . . an overmatch [of France],
in regard the middle people of England make good soldiers,
which the peasants of France do not. , _ . i
Boom, True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates.
I fear it [my last letter] miscarried, in regard you make
no mention of it in yours. Howell, Letters, 1. 1. 15.
(fi) Comparatively ; relatively. Compare in respect.
How wonderfully dyd a f ewe Bomayns, in regarde, de-
fend this litel territory. ^. .^
SirT. Elyot, Image of Govemaunce,fol. 62, b. (Encyc. Diet.)
In regard of. (a) In view of ; on account of.
Change was thought necessary inregard of the great hurt
which the church did receive by a number of things then
in use. Booker.
Jn regard of his hurt. Smith was glad to be so rid of him .
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 6.
(fi) In regard to ; in respect to. [Objectionable.]
In regard of its security, it [the chest of drawers] had
a great advantage over the bandboxes.
Dickens, Martin Chuzdewit, xlix.
In this (that) regard, in this (that) respect. [Objection-
able.]—Point of regard. See pointi.— With regard
oft, with regard to ; considering.
How in safety best we may
Compose our present evils, with regard
Of wliat we are, and where. Milton, P. L., ii. 281.
=Syn. 2. Notice, observance (of), care, concern. — 3. Esti-
mate, Estimation, etc. See esteem, level.
regardable (rf-gar'da-bl), a. [< OF. (and F.)
regarddble; as regard + -able.'] Capable of
being regarded; observable; worthy of notice;
noticeable.
Herein is not only regardable a mere history, but a
mystery also. Bex. T. Adams, Works, 1. 1.
regardant (rf-gar'dant), a. [Formerly also re-
guardant; < 'OF. rega/rdant, ppr. of regarder,
look at, regard: see regard, v.] 1. Regarding;
looking to ; looking behind or backward ; watch-
ing.
You might have known that by my looks and language.
Had you been regardant or observant.
B. Jonson, New Inn, iv. 3.
Withlookes regardiani [read reguardant] did the Tliracian
gaze. Marstan and Barksted, Insatiate Countess, ii.
2. In her., looking backward : applied to any
animal whose face is turned ..^ ,
toward its tail. — 3. Looking at
one another ; turned so as to face
one another.
Two regardant portraits of a lady and
gentleman (in a marble relief).
Soulages Catalogue, No. 440.
Passant regardant. See passant. —
Rampant regardant. See rampant.
—Regardant reversed, having the
head turned backward and downward ; especially said of
a serpent bent into a figure of eight, with the head below.
-Villein regardant, regardant vUlein, in feudal
la/w, a villein or retainer annexed to the land or manor,
charged with the doing of all base services within the
same.
regarder (re-gar'der), n. 1. One who or that
which regards.
Modern science is of itself . . . a slightres'anierof time
and space. J. N. Lockyer, Spect. Anal., p. 35.
2. In Eng. law, an officer whose business it
was to view the forest, inspect the officers, and
inquire concerning aU offenses and defaults.
A Forest . . . hath also her peculiar Officers, as Forest-
ers, Verderers, Bjega/eders, Agisters, &c.
UomM, Letters, iv. 16.
regardful (re-gard'ful), a. [< regard + -ful.']
Having or paying regard. Especially— (a) Full of
regard or respect ; respectful.
To use all things and persons upon whom his name is
called, or any ways imprinted, with a regardful and sep-
arate manner of usage, different from common, and far
from contempt and scorn. Jer. Taylor, Holy Dying, iv. 8.
(6) TaMng notice; heedful; observing with care; atten-
tive.
When with regardfuU sight
She, looking backe, espies that griesly wight.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. vii. 22.
Let a man be very tender and regardful of every pious
motion made by the Spirit of God to his heart. South.
= S3m. (J) Observant, mindful, watchful, careful.
regardfuUy (re-gard'ful-i), adv. In a regardful
manner, in any sense.
regence
regarding (rf-gar'ding), prep. [ppr. of regard,
J)!] Respecting; concerning; in reference to-
as, to be at a loss regarding one's position.
" Regarding personalities," he added, "I have not the
same clear showing." George Eliot, Felix Holt, xxiv,
regardless (re-gard'les), a. [< regard + -less.}
1. Not having regard or heed; not looking or
attending; heedless; negligent; indifferent;
careless.
My eyes
Set here unmov'd, regardless of the world.
Though thousand miseries encompass me!
Beau, and FI., King and No King, i. 1.
Bliudeth the beauty everywhere revealed.
Treading the Mayflowers with regardless feet.
WhUUer, Among the Hills, Prel.
2. Not regarded; slighted. [Rare.]
Yes, Traitor ; Zara, lost, abandon'd Zara,
Is a regardless Suppliant, now, to Osmyn.
Cangreve, Mourning Bride, ii. 9.
= Syn. 1. Unmindful, inattentive, unobservant, neglect-
ful, unconcerned.
regardlessly (re-gard'les-li), ad». In a regard-
less manner; heedlessly; carelessly; negli-
gently.
regardlessness (rf-gard'les-nes), n. Heedless-
ness; inattention"; negligence.
regard-ring (re-gard' ring), n. A ring set with
stones the initial letters of whose names make
up the word regard, as ruby, emerald, garnet,
amethyst, ruby, and diamond.
regather (re-gasE'er), v_. t. [< re- + gather.]
To gather or collect again.
When he had renewed his provisions and regathered
more force. Hakluyfs Voyages, III. 640.
regatta (rf-gat'a), «. [= F. rugate, < It. regatta,
rigatta, regata, a boat-race, yacht-race, a row-
ing-match, a particular use (orig. Venetian) of
OB. regatta, rigatta, a strife or contention for
the mastery, < Olt. regattare, rigattare, sell by
retail, haggle as a huckster, wrangle, contend,
cope or fight for the mastery (cf . Bp. regatear,
retail provisions, haggle, rival in sailing; re-
gateo, a haggling, a regatta), prob. a dial, form
of recatare, *recattare, buy and sell again by
retail, retail, regrate, forestall (cf . Sp. reeatear,
retail; recatar, take care, be cautious), < re-,
again,-!- cattare, get, acquire, purchase (cf. Sp.
catear, taste, try, view), < L. capta/re, catch,
capture, procure: see catch^, and cf. aeate
Cf. regrate^.] Originally, a gondola-race iii
Venice; now, any regularly appointed boat-
race in which two or more row-boats, yachts,
or other boats contend for prizes.
A regatta of wherries raced past us.
Hawthorne, Our Old Home.
They penetrated to Cowes for the race-balls and regatta
gayeties. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxxix.
regelate (re'je-lat), v. i.; pret. and pp. regelated,
ppr. regelating. [< L. regelatus, pp. of regelare.
(> It. regalare = Pg. regelar = F. regeUr), air,
cool off, <.re-,\>a,e]^,+ gelare, congeal: see gealK]
To freeze or become congealed again; specifi-
cally, to freeze together.
Everjrtbing yields. The very glaciers are viscous, or
regelate into .conformity, and the stiifest patriots palter
and compromise. Bimersan,, Fortune of the Eepublio.
regelation (re-je-la'shon), n. [= F. regilation,
a freezing over,'< LL. regelaUoin-), a thawing, <
L. regelare, thaw, warm, < re-, back, again, also
= un^, + gelare, freeze : see regelate.] The phe-
nomenon of congelation and cohesion exempli-
fied by two pieces of melting ice when brought
into contact at a temperature above the freez-
ing-point. Not only does this occur in air, but also in
water. The phenomenon, first observed by Faraday, is
obscure.
Two pieces of ice at 32° Fahr., with moist surfaces,
when placed in contact, freeze togetlier to a rigid mass.
This is called regetatimi. Faraday. (Webster.)
An attempt . . . has been made of late years to recon-
cile the brittleness of ice with its motion in glaciers. It
is founded on the observation, made by Mr. Faraday in
1850, that when two pieces of thawing ice are placed to-
gether they freeze together at the place of contact. . . .
The word Regelation was proposed by Dr. Hooker to ex-
press the freezing together of two pieces of thawing ice
observed by Faraday ; and the memoir in which the term
was first used was published by Mr. Huxley and Mr. Tyu-
dall in the Philosophical Transactions for 1857.
TyndaU, Forms of Water, p. 164.
regencet (re'jens), n. [= OF. regence, F. re-
gence = Sp. Pg. regencia = It. reggenza, < ML.
regentia, rule, < L. regen{t-)s, ruling: see re-
gent.] Government; rule.
Some for the gospel, and massacres
Of spiritual affidavit-makers.
That swore to any human regerux
Oaths of suprem'cy and allegiance,
S. Butler, Hudibras, III. ii. 275.
regency
regency (re'jen-si), n. ; pi. regencies (-siz). [As
regence (see -cy).'] X. Rule; authority; gov-
ernment.
The soeptre of Chriat's regency. Hooker.
3. More speeifically, the office, government, or
jurisdiction of a regent; deputed or vicarious
govermnent. See regent, 2.
The king's Olneas placed the queen and the duke of
York in direct rivalry for the regency.
Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 349.
3. The district under the jurisdiction of a re-
gent or vicegerent.
Eegions they pass'd, the mighiy regeadet
Of seraphim. Jfflftm, P. L, t. 748.
4. The body of men intrusted with vicarious
government: as, a regency constituted during a
king's minority, insanity, or absence from wie
kingdom.
By the written law of the land, the sovereign was em-
powered to nominate a regency in case of the minority
or incapacity of the heir apparent.
Preicott, Ferd. and Isa., il 17.
5. The existence of a regent's rule; also, the
period during which a regent administers the
government.
I can just recall the decline of the grand era. . . . The
ancient hahitu^s, . . . contemporaries of Erummell in his
zenith — hoon companions of George IV. in his regency —
still haunted the spot. Bvlwer, My Novel, xi. 2.
To the forced and gloomy bigotry which marked the
declining years of Louis Quatorze succeeded the terrible
reaction of the regency and Jbhe following reigns.
W. R. Qreg, Misc. Essays, 2d ser., p. 17.
6. The office of a university regent, or master
regent. — 7. The mimicipal administration of
certain towns in northern Europe.— Albany re-
gency, in U, S. hist. , a group of politicians who, by the skil-
ful use of patronage, controlled the nominating conven-
tions and other machinery of the Democratic party in the
State of New York, from about 1820 to about 1860. The
most noted members were Wright, Mai'tin Van Buren,
Marcy, and Dix. — Regency Act, a name given to special
statutes regulating regency, as, for instance, an English
statute of 1840 (3 and 4 Vict., c. 62), which authorized the
Prince Consort to act as regent, in case of the demise of
Queen Victoria, during the minority of her successor. —
The Regency, in French hist., the period of the minority
of Louis XV., 1716-23, when Philip of Orleans was regent.
regenderf (re-jen'd6r), v. t. [< re- + gender. Cf .
regenerate.^ To gender again ; renew.
Furth spirts fyre freshlye regendred.
StamChurst, iGneid, ii. 496.
regeneracy (re-jen'e-ra-si), n. [< regenera(te)
+ -ey.'i The state of being regenerated.
Though Saul were, yet every blasphemous sinner could
not expect to be, called from the depth of sin to regene-
racy and salvation. Ham/mond, Works, IV. 686.
regenerate (re-jen'e-rat), v. t. [< L. regenera-
tus, pp. of re'generare (> It. regenerare, rigene-
rare = Sp. Pg. regenerar = F. r^ginSrer), gene-
rate again, < re-, again, + generare, generate :
see generate. 2 1. To generate or produce anew;
reproduce.
In a divided worm, he [Biilow] says, the taU is regene-
rated from cell-layers developed in the same way and ex-
actly eauivalent to the three layers of the embryo.
Mind, IX. 417.
2. In theol., to cause to be born again ; cause to
become a Christian ; give by direct divine influ-
ence a new spiritual life to. See regeneration, 2.
No sooner was a convert initiated . . . but by an easy
figure he became a new man, and both acted and looked
upon himself as one regenerated and born a second time.
Addison, Def. of Christ. B.elig., ix. 2.
regenerate (re-jen'e-rat), a. [= F. regenere =
Sp. Pg. regenerado = It. regenerato, rigenerato,
< L. regeneratus, pp. : see the verb.] 1, Re-
produced; restored; renewed.
O thou, the earthly author of my blood.
Whose youthful spirit, in me regenerate.
Doth with a twofold vigour lift me up.
Shak., Bich. II., i. 3. 70.
Who brought a race regenerate to the field, . .
And raised fair Lusitania's fallen shield.
Scott, Vision of Don Roderick, Conclusion, st. 14.
2. In theol., begotten or born anew; changed
from a natural to a spiritual state.
Seeing now . . . that this child is regenerate, and graft-
ed into the body of Christ's Church, let us give thanks
unto Almighty God for these benefits.
Book of Common Prayer, Oflice of Public Baptism of
[Infants.
regenerateness (re-jen'e-rat-nes), n. The state
of being regenerated, bailey.
regeneration (re-jen-e-ra'shon), n. [<ME. re-
generadoun, < OP. regeneraUon, P. reg^nSraUon
= Sp. regeneradon = Pg. regeneragSo = It. re-
generazione, rigenerasione,<. LL. regeneraUo(n-),
a being bom again, regeneration: see regene-
rate.'] 1. The act of regenerating or producing
ang-vr. — 2. In theol.: (a) A radical change in the
spirit of an individual, accomplished by the di-
5045
rect action of the Spirit of God. Evangelical tbe-
ologians agree that there is a necessity for such a radical
spiritual change in man in order to the divine life ; but
they differ widely in their psychological explanations of
the change. They are, however, generally agreed that it
consists of or at least necessarily involves a change in the
affections and desires of the souL Regeneration is also
understood, as by the Roman Catholic Church, to be the
gift of the germ of a spiritual life conferred regularly by
God's ordinance in baptism, which is accordingly called
the sacrament of regeneration, oTBmiply regeneration. The
word regeneration occurs only once in the New Testament
in its ordinary theological meaning ; but equivalent ex-
pressions are found, such as "begotten again," "bom
again," "bom of God," "born of water and of the Spurtt."
According to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Tit. ilL 5.
Baptism is ... a sign of Regeneration or New-Birth,
whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive Baptism
rightly are grafted into the Church.
Thirty-nine Articles ofJIeligion, xxviL
(6) The renovation of the world to be accom-
plished at the second coming of the Messiah.
Ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when
the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also
shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
IsraeL Mat. xix. 28.
3 (re-jen-e-ra'shon). In Uol., the genesis or
origination'of new tissue to repair the waste of
the body, or to replace worn-out tissue; also,
the reproduction of lost or destroyed parts or
organs. Regeneration of tissue constantly goes on in
all animals in the ordinary repair of waste products of
vital action ; but the replacing of lost parts, as a Umb, is
nearly confined to animals below vertebrates, in many of
which It is an easy or usual process. — Baptismal re-
generation. See iaptimial. =ayii. 2. See conversion.—
3. See reproduction.
regenerative (re-jen'e-ra-tiv), a. [= OP. re-
generaUf, P. re'g&n6ratif' = Sp. Pg. regenera-
tivo; as regenerate + •ive.'] 1. Producing re-
generation; renewing.
She identified him with the struggling regeneroMve pro-
cess in her which had begun with his action.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, Izv.
In Mahommedanism there is no regenerative power ; it
is "of the letter, which killeth" — unelastic, sterile, bar-
ren. Faiths of the World, p. 331,
2. In metal., on the principle of the Siemens
regenerator, or so eonetrueted as to utilize that
method of economizing fuel, as in the term re-
generati/ve gas-furnace. See regenerator Re-
generative burner. See ^Mmer.— Regenerative
chamber, in a furnace, a regenerator.— Regenerative
furnace. See furnace.
regeneratively (rf-jen'e-ra-tiv-li), adv. In a
regenerative manner; so as to regenerate.
regenerator (rf-jen'e-ra-tor), n. [= F. r4gin6-
rateur, n. ; as regenerate + -ori.] 1. One who
regenerates.
He la not his own regenerator, or parent at all. In his n ew
birth. Waterland, Works, VI. 352.
All these social regenerators panted to be free.
The American, XIV. 23.
2. In metal., a chamber filled with a checker-
work of fire-bricks ; that part of a regenerative
furnace in which the waste heat of the gases
escaping from the hearth is, by reversal of the
draft at suitable intervals, alternately stored
up and given out to the gas and air entering
the furnace. The idea of employing what is now gen-
erally called the "regenerative system" of heating was
first conceived by Robert Stirling, in 1816, but his arrange-
ment for carrying It out was not a practical one. The
present form of the furnace, and in general the success-
ful application of the principle, constituting a highly im-
portant Improvement in the consumption of fuel, are due
to the brothers Siemens. The regenerative system has
already been extensively applied in various metallurgical
and manufacturing processes, and is likely to receive still
further development. According to the Siemens regene-
rative method, there must be at least one pair of regene-
rative chambers, in order that the heat may be in process
of being stored uj) in one while being utilized in the other.
In the Siemens regenerative reheating- or miU-furnace
there are two pairs of chambers, each pair consisting of
one larger and one smaller chamber, through one of which
the air passes, and through the other the gas on its way
to the furnace. The so-called "Ponsard recuperator" is
a form of regenerator in which, by an ingenious arrange-
ment of solid and hollow fire-brlcka, the current is made
continuous in one direction, instead of requiring reversal
as in the Siemens regenerative furnace. Thia form of fur-
nace has been employed for reheating in rolling-mills.
regenerator-furnace (re-jen'e-ra-tor-fer'^nas),
n. Any form of furnace with which a regen-
erator is connected .
regeneratory (re-jen'e-ra-to-ri), a. [< regen-
erate + -ory.'] Regenerative; having the power
to renew; tending to reproduce or renovate.
regenesis (re-jen'e-sis), n. [< re- + genesis."]
The state of 'being renewed or reproduced.
There tended to be thereafter a continual regenesis of
diaaenting sects. B. Spenxser, Pop. SoL Mo., XXvIII. 368.
regent (re'jent), a. and n. [< OP. regent, P. rS-
gent = Sp. {"g. regente = It. reggente, ruling, as
a noun a regent, vicegerent, < L. regen{t-)s, rul-
ing; as a noun, a ruler, governor, prince; ppr. of
regent-oriole
regere, pp. rectus, direct, rule, correct, lit. ' make
straight,' ' stretch,' = Gr. bptyeiv, stretch, = Skt.
V raj, stretch out, = Goth. uf-raJ^an, stretch out,
etc. (see racfci); cf . Skt. •/ raj, direct, rule, rd-
jan, Idng, L. rex {reg-), king (see rex). The two
roots in Skt. may be orig. identical, as they have
become in L. Prom the L. regere are also ult.
regimen, regiment, regime, region, rector, rectum,
rectangle, rectilineal, etc., correct, direct, erect,
etc., dress, address, redress, etc. Related B.
words of Teut. origin are right, rack^, etc.]
1. a. 1. Ruling; governing.
To follow nature's too affected fashion.
Or travel in the regent walk of passion.
Quartes, Emblems, 11. 4.
He together calls.
Or several, one by one, the regent powers.
Under him regent. HfUton, P. L. , v. 697.
Some other active regent principle that resides in the
body. Sir M. Bale.
2. Exercising vicarious authority: as, a prince
regent. — 3. Taking part in the government of
a university.— Queen regent. See cpieen.
II, n. 1. A ruler; a governor: in a general
sense.
Uriel, . . . regent of the sun, and held
The sharpest-sighted spirit of all in Heaven.
MUtan, P. L., ill. 690.
The moon (sweet regent, of the sky)
Sllver'd the walla of Cumnor Hall.
Mickle, Cumnor Hall.
2. One who is invested with vicarious authori-
ty ; one who governs a kingdom in the minority,
absence, or disability of the king, in mopt heredi-
tary governments this office is regarded as belonging to
the nearest relative of the sovereign capable of under-
taking it; but this rule is subject to many modifications.
I say, my aovereign, York ia meetest man
To be your regent in the land of Prance.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., L 3. 164.
3. In the old universities, a master or doctor
who takes part in the regular duties of instruc-
tion or government. At Cambridge all resident mas-
ters of arts of less than four years' standing, and all doctors
of less than two, areregents. AtOxfordtheperiodof regen-
cy is shorter. At both universities those of a more advanced
standing, who keep their names on the college books, are
called non-regents. At Cambridge the regents compose
the upper house and the non-regents the lower house
of the senate, or governing body. At Oxford the regents
compose the congregation, which confers degrees and
doea the ordinary business of the university. The regents
and non-regents collectively compose the convocation,
which is the governing body in the last resort.
Only regents — that is,- masters actually engaged in
teaching — had any right to be present or to vote in con-
gregationa [at Bologna]. Bncye. Brit., XXIII. 835.
4. In the State of New York, a member of the
corporate body known as the University of the
State of New York. The university is officially de-
scribed aa conaiating "of all incorporated Inatltutions of
academic and higher education, with the State Library,
State Museum, and such other libraries, museums, or
other Inatltutions for higher education In the state as
may be admitted by the regents. . . . The regents have
power to incorporate, and to alter or repeal the charters
of colleges, academies, libraries, museums, or other educa-
tional institutions belonging to the University ; to distrib-
ute to them all funds granted by the state for their use ;
to inspect tfielr workings and require annual reports un-
der oath of their presiding officers ; to establish examlna-
tiona aa to attainments In leai-nlng, and confer on success-
ful candidates suitable certificates, diplomas, and degrees,
and to confer honorary degrees."— House of regents. See
ftiMMei.— Necessary regent, one who is obliged to serve
as regent ; opposed to a regent ad planum, who has seiTed
the necessary term and ia at liberty to retire.
regent-bird (re'jent-berd), 71. An Australian
bird of the genus Serioulvs, S. chrysocephalus
or melinus, the plumage of which is velvety-
black and golden-yellow in the male : so called
Regent-bird {.SericiUus chrysocephatus'i
during the regency of the Prince of Wales,
afterward George IV., in compliment to him.
It is related to the bower-birds, but has been
variously classified. See Sei-ieuXus. Also re
gent-oriole.
regentess (re'jen-tes), n. [< regent + -ess.]
A female regent; a protectress of a kingdom.
regent-oriole (re'jent-6"ri-61), n. Same as re-
gent-iird.
regentship
regentship (re'jent-ship), n. [< regent +
-ship.'] The office or dignity of a regent, es-
peeiaUy of a vicegerent, or one who governs for
a king ; regency.
If York have ill demean 'd himself in France,
Then let him be denay 'd the regentsMp.
Shah., 2 Hen. VI., i. 3. 107.
regerminate (re-j6r'mi-nat), v. i. [< L. re-
germinatiis, pp. of regerminare, sprout again,
< re-, again, + germinare, sprout, germinate:
see germinate.'] To germinate again.
regermination (re-j6r-mi-na'shon), re. [< L.
regerminatioin-), < regerminare, pp. regermina-
tus, sprout again : see regerminate.] A sprout-
ing or germination anew.
The Jews commonly express resurrection by regermina-
tion, or growing up again like a plant.
Gregory, Notes on Scripture, p. 125.
regestt<re-jest'), I', t. [< L. regestus, pp. of re-
gerere, throw or cast back, retort, also record,
chronicle, < re-, Ijack, + gerere, carry: see
gest^.] To throwback; retort.
"Who can say, it is other than righteous, that thou
shouldest regent one day upon us, Depart from me, ye
wicked? Bp. Hall, Contemplations, iii. 6.
regestt (re-jesf), n. [< P. (obs.) regeste, pi. re-
gestes (= !Pg. registo, resisto), a register, < L. re-
gestum (pi. regesta), neut. of regestus, pp. of re-
gerere, tbcotA: see regest, V. Ci. register^.] A
register.
Old legends and Cathedrall regeds.
Milton, Hist. Eng., iii.
leget (ve-gef), V. t. l<re-+geii.] 1. To get
or obtain again.
And then desire in Gascoign to reget
The glory lost. Daniel, Civil Wars, vi. 71.
2t. To generate or bear again.
Tovy, although the mother of vs all,
Begetts [read regents ?] thee in her wombe.
Davies, Scourge of Folly, p. 52. (Davies.)
reghte% adv. A Middle English form of right.
regiam majestatem (re'ji-am maj-es-ta'tem).
[So called from these words at the beginning
of the collection; L.: regiam, aoc. fem. of re-
gius, pertaining to a king, royal (< rex (.reg-),
king) ; majestatem, ace. of majestas, majes-
ty: see majesty.] A collection of early laws,
said to have been compiled by the order of
David I., king of Scotland, it resembles so closely
the Tractatus de Legibus, supposed to have been written
by Glanvil in the reign of Henry II., that no doubt one was
copied from the other.
regiant (re'ji-an), n. [< L. regius, of a king (see
regious), + -an.] 1. An adherent or upholder
of regalism.
This is alleged and urged by our regiam to prove the
king's paramount power in ecclesiasticis.
Fuller, Ch. Hist, II. ill. 88.
2. A royalist.
Arthur Wilson . . . favours all Republicans, and never
speaks well of regians (it is his own distinctions) if he can
possibly avoid it.
Bp. Hacket, Abp. Williams, i. 39. (Daines.)
regiblet (rej'i-bl), a. [= It. reggiUle = Sp. re-
gible, < LL. regibilis, that may be'ruled, gov-
ernable, tractable, < L. regere, rule : see regent.']
Governable.
regicidal (rej'i-si-dal), a. [< regicide^ + -al.]
Consisting in, relating to, or having the nature
of regicide; tending to regicide.
regicide^ (rej'i-sid), n. [= F. rupioide = Sp.
Pg. It. regicida, < L. rex (reg-), a, king, + -cida,
< esedere, kill.] A king-killer; one who puts
a king to death; specifically, in Ikig. hist., a
member of the high court of justice constituted
by Parliament for the trial of Charles I., by
which he was found guilty of treason and sen-
tenced to death in 1649.
The regicides who sat on the life of our late King were
brought to tryal m the Old Bailey.
Evelyn, Diary, Oct. 11, 1660.
regicide^ (rej'i-sid), n. [= p. regicide = Sp.
Pg. It. regicidio, the slaying of a king, < L. rex
{reg-), king, + -cidium, a killing, < esedere, kill.]
The killing of a king.
Did Fate, or we, when great Abides dy'd.
Urge the bold traitor to the Regiddef
Fenian, in Pope's Odyssey, i. 48.
regifagium (re-ji-fii'ji-um), «.; pi. regifugia
(-a). [= Pg. regifugio, < LL. regifugium, 'the
king's flight,' < L. rex (reg-), king, + fuga,
flight, < /itfifere, flee : see fugitive.] An ancient
Eoman annual festival, held, according to some
ancient writers, in celebration of the flight of
Tarquin the Proud.
xegild (re-gild'), v. t. [< re- + gild^.] To gild
anew.
regime (ra-zhem'), n. [< F. regime, < L. regi-
men, direction, government: see regimen.] 1.
5046
Mode, system, or style of rule or management;
government, especially as connected with cer-
tain social features ; administration ; rule.
The industrial riigime is distinguished from the preda-
tory rigime in this, that mutual dependence becomes
great and direct, while mutual antagonism becomes small
and indirect. H. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., § 626.
2. In French law, specifically, the systeni of
Eroperty rights under the marriage relation,
xed upon by the parties by an ante-nuptial
contract. The principal systems are rigime de com-
munauU (see community property, under commumty), ri-
ginui de separation de Mens, and rigime dotal (see dot2).—
Ancient regime [F. andm rigime], a former style or
system of government; an ancient social system; spe-
ciflcaily, the political and social system which prevailed
in France before the revolution of 1789.
regimen (rej'i-men), n.; pi. regimens, regimina
(rej'i-menz, re-jim'i-na). [= OP. regime, P. re-
gime = Sp. regimen = tg. regimen, regime = It.
regimine, < L. regimen, guidance, direction, gov-
ernment, rule, < regere, rule : see regent. Cf . re-
gime.] 1. Orderly government or system ; sys-
tem of order; government; control.
It concerneth the regimen and government of every
man over himself, and not over others.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 278.
Time . . . restored the giddy revellers to the regimen
of sober thought. 0. W. Holmes, Emerson, xvi.
2. Any regulation or remedy which is intended
to produce beneficial effects by gradual opera-
tion; specifically, in med., the regulation of
diet, exercise, etc., with a view to the pres-
ervation or restoration of health, or for the
attainment of a determinate result; a course
of living according to certain rules : sometimes
used as equivalent to hygiene, but most com-
monly used as a synonym for diet^, 2.
My Father's disorder appeared to be a dropsy, an in-
disposition the most unsuspected, being a person so ex-
emplai^yly temperate, and of admirable regimen.
Evelyn, Diary, Oct. 30, 1640.
Yet I have heard yon were ill yourself, and kept your
bed I , . . this was (I imagine) only by way of regimen,
and not from necessity. Gray, Letters, I. 340.
3. Imool., habit or mode of life with regard
to eating; choice of food; dietetics: as, an
animal or a vegetable regimen; carnivorous
regimen. — 4. In gram.: (a) Government; the
control which one word exercises over the form
of another in connection with it.
The grammarians posit the absence of regimen as one of
the differential features of a conjunction.
F. Hall, False Philol., p. 84.
(6) The word or words so governed.
regiment (rej'i-ment), TO. [< ME. regiment, r6ge-
ment, < OF. regiment, regement, government,
sway, later a regiment of soldiers, = Pr. regi-
ments Sp. regimiento, government, a regiment,
= Pg. regimento = It. reggimento, < LL. regimen-
tum, rule, government, < L. regere, rule : see re-
gent. Cf. regimen, regime.] If. Eule ; govern-
ment; authority.
That for hens forth y' he be under the regement and
gouei-nance of the Mayr and Aldermen of the same cite.
Charter of London, in Arnold's Chronicle, p. 43.
The first Blast of the Trumpet against the monstrous
Segim^nt of Women. Knox, title of work.
The regiment of Debora, who ruled twentie yeares with
religion. Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 455.
3t. A district ruled; a kingdom.
The triple-parted regiment
That froward Saturn gave unto his sons.
Greene, Orlando Furioso.
3t. Rule of diet; regimen.
This may bring her to eat, to sleep, and reduce what 's
now out of square. with her into their former law and
regiment.
Fletcher (and another), Two Noble Kinsmen, iv. 8.
4. Mint., a body of soldiers, consisting of one
or more battalions of infantry, or of several
squadrons of cavalry, commanded by a colonel,
or of a certain division of artillery, it is the
largest permanent association of soldiers, and the third
subdivision of an army-corps, several regiments constitut-
ing a brigade, and several brigades a division. These com-
binations are, however, temporary, while in the regiment
the same officers serve continuously, and in command of
the same bodies of men. The strength of a regiment may
vary greatly, as any regiment may comprise any number
of battalions. The organization of the British Royal Artil-
lery is anomalous, the whole body forming one regiment.
It consists of about 33,000 officers and men, distributed
ill a number of brigades, each of which is as large as an
ordinary regiment. In the United .States service the full
strength of a cavalry regiment is now 821, and of infantry
821. Abbreviated regt.
E. John. Up higher to the plain ; where we'll set forth
In best appointment all our regimewte.
■Bast. Speed then, to take advantage of the field.
Shah., K. John, ii. 1. 296.
Marcblng regiment. See march^.— Royal regiment
of artillery. See artillery.
region
regiment (rej'i-ment), V. t. [=z Sp. regimentar,
form into regiments; from the noun.] To
form into a regiment or into regiments with
proper officers; hence, to organize; bring un-
der a definite system of command, authority,
or interdependence.
If women were to be regimented, he would carry an
army into the field without beat of drum.
Richardson, Sir Charles Grandison, III. 314. (Daviet.)
regimental (rej-i-men'tal), a. and to. [= Pg.
regimental; as regiment' + -al.] I. a. Of or
pertaining to a regiment: as, regimental offi-
cers ; regimental clothing.
The band led the column, playing the regimental march.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxx.
Regimental adjutant, fund, etc. See the nouns.
II. TO. pi. (rarely used in the singular). Mili-
tary clothing: so named from the former prac-
tice of discriminating the uniforms of different
regiments very decidedly one from another — a
fashion nearly abandoned at the present time.
If they had been ruled by me, they would have put you
into the guards. You would have made a sweet figure in
a regimental. Colman, Man of Business, ii. [Davies.)
You a soldier ! — you're a walking block, fit only to dust
the company's regiTnentals on.
Sheridan, The Kivals, iii. 1.
In their ragged regimentals
Stood the old Continentals,
Yielding not.
G. H. JXcMaster, Carmen BellicoBum.
regimentation (rej''''i-men-ta'shgn), TO. [< regi-
ment, v., + -ation.] The act of forming into
regiments, or the state of being formed into
regiments or classified systems ; organization.
The process of militantorganization is a process of regi-
mentation, which, primarily taking i}lace in the army, sec-
ondarily affects the whole community.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., § 563.
regimina, n. Latin plural of regimen.
regiminal (re-jim'i-nal), a. [< L. regimen (regi-
min-), rule, + -al.] "Of or pertaining to regi-
men : as, strict regiminal rules.
Regina (rf-ji'na), to. [NL. (Baird and Girard,
1853), < L. regina, a queen, fem. of rex (reg-),
a king: see rex.] In herpet., a genus of water-
snakes or aquatic harmless serpents of the fam-
ily Colubridse. The type is the striped water-
snake of the United States, B. leberis.
Re^na purple. See pmple.
region (re'jqn), TO. [< ME. region, regioun, <
OP. region, "W. region = Pr. regio, reio = Sp. re-
gion = Pg. regiao = It. regione, a region, < L.
regio(n-), a direction, line, boundary-line, boun-
dary, territory, quarter, province, region, < re-
grere, direct, rule : see regent.] 1. Any consid-
erable and connected part of a space or surface ;
specifically, a tract of land or sea of consider-
able but indefinite extent; a country; a dis-
trict; in a broad sense, place without special
reference to location or extent: as, the equa-
torial reg'Jores; the temperate regions; the polar
regions; the upper regions of the atmosphere.
Zit there is, toward the parties meridionales, many Con-
trees and many Begyouns. MandevUle, Travels, p. 262.
The regions of Artois,
Wallon, and Picardy. Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ii. 1. 9.
Gawain the while thro' all the region round
Rode with his diamond, wearied of the quest.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
2. An administrative division of a city or ter-
ritory; specifically, such a division of the city
of Rome and of the territory about Rome, of
which the number varied at different times; a
district, quarter, or ward (modern rione). Under
Servius TuUius there were four regions in the city and
twenty-six in the Roman territory.
The series of Roman Macedonia begins with coins of
the regions issued by permission of the senate and bearing
the name of the Macedonians, from 158 to 146 B. c.
Bneyc. Brit., XVU. 640.
His [Alberic'a] chief attention was given to the militia,
which was still arranged in soholse, and it is highly prob-
able that he was the author of the new divison of the
city [Rome] into twelve regions. Bncyc. Brit., XX. 788.
Rome has seven ecclesiastical regions, each with its
proper deacons, subdeacons, and acolytes. Each regUyn
has its own day of the week for high ecclesiastical func-
tions, which are celebrated by each in rotation.
Encye. Brit., XVI. 509.
3. Figuratively, the inhabitants of a region or
district of country.
All the regions
Do smilingly revolt. Shak., Cor., iv. 6. 102.
4. In anat., a place in or a part of the body in
any way indicated : as, the abdominal regions.
Let it fall rather, though the fork Invade
The region of my heart. Shak., Lear, i. 1. 147.
The mouth, and the region of the mouth, . . . were about
the strongest feature in Wordsworth's face.
De Qmjwej/ (Personal Traits of Brit. Authors, Wordsworth).
region
5t. Place; rank; station; dignity.
He is of too high a region; he knows too much.
Shah., M. W. of W., iii. 2. 75.
6t. Specifically, the space from the earth's sur-
face out to the orbit of the moon: properly
called the elemental region.
The orb below
As hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder
Doth rend the region. Shak., Hamlet, U. 2. 609.
I should have fatted all the region kites
With this slave's offal. Sliak., Hamlet, it 2. 607.
7. In zoogeog., a large faunal area variously
limited hy different authors. Especially— (o) A
realm ; one of several primary divisions of the earth's sur-
face, characterized by its fauna ; as, the Palearctic or the
Nearctio region. The term acquired specific application
to certain large principal areas from its use in this sense
by P. L. Sclater in 1857. Sclater's regions, adopted with
little modification by Gunther and Wallace, were six in
number: the Palearctic, Ethiopian, Oriental or Indian,
Australian, Nearctic, and Neotropical. (See these words.)
Baird added a seventh, the West Indian, now considered
a division of the NeotropicaL In 1874 Sclater, following
Huxley, recognized as primary divisions (1) Aretogsea, com-
prising the Palearctic, Ethiopian, Indian, and Nearctic re-
gions ; (2) Denctrogsea, represented by the Neotropical re-
gion ; (3) Aritarctogeea, with an Australasian region ; and
<4) OrnithogiBa, with a New Zealand region. (6) A secon-
dary faunal area, the primary being called a realm : as, the
Antillean, Central American, and Brazilian regions of the
American Tropical realm. In this sense it has been used
by most American zoBloglsts. Various other divisions
have been proposed, as by A. Murray in 1866, Huxley in
1868, W. T. Blanford in 1869, E. Blyth in 1871, A. Newton
in 1875, T. Gill in 1878, and J. A. Allen in 1878. Each of
the main divisions, however defined by different natural-
ists, is subdivided into several subregions or provinces,
more or less minutely in different systems. Thus, for ex-
ample, the Ethiopian region is divided by Newton into the
Libyan, Guinean, Gaffrarian, Mozambican, and Madagas-
carian subregions, and the Libyan subregion itself into the
Arabian, Egyptian, Abyssinian, and Gambian provinces.
The waters of the globe have been either included in the
prime divisions based on the land faunas, or segregated in
peculiar ones. — Ahdominal regions. See abdominal.—
Agrarian region, anal region. See the adjectives.—
A^llary region, a region on the side of the thorax, ex-
tending from the axilla to a line drawn from the lower bor-
der of the mammary to that of the scapular region. — Ba-
silar region, the region of the base of the skulL — ^Blue-
grass region. See i/rosA— Broca's region. Same as
Broca's convolution. See convoliUion. — Ciliary region,
that part of the eyeball just back from the cornea which
corresponds to the ciliary muscle and processes. — Clavic-
ular region, the region on the front of the chest imme-
diately over the clavicle. — Clypeal region. See dypeal.
— Cordilleraa region. See cordillera.—- Cyclic, dorso-
Itunbar, epigastric, gluteal, li3^ogastrio region. See
the adjectives.— Hyomental region, the space between
the lower jaw and the hyoid bone.— Hypochondriac
region, (a) Of the abdomen. See aidormnal regions. (6)
Of the thorax, same as inframammary region — Iliac re-
gion. See abdominal regions. — Inao-Facific region.
See Jjido-Poci/Sc— Infra-axillary region, the region on
the side of the chest extending from the axillary region to
the free border of the ribs. Also called mbaxiUary re-
gion Infraclavicular region. See infrackmcular.—
Infrahyoid region, the space between the hyoid bone
and the sternum.— Inframammary region. See M%/ra-
m<wnmar!/.— Infrascapular region, the region on the
back of the thorax on either side of the median line below a
horizontal line through the inferior angle of each scapula.
Also called subscapular region. — Interscapular region,
the region on the back of the thorax between the shoulder-
blades.— Ischiorectal region, the space corresponding
to the posterior part of the pelvic outlet. — LeuticulOStri-
ate region, the anterior parts of the lenticular and caudate
nuclei and the intervening part of the internal capsule.—
Lentlculothalamic region, the posterior part of the
lenticular nucleus, the optic thalamus, and the interven-
ing part of the internal capsule.— Lumbar region. See
tomiari. — Mammary region, the region on the front of
the chest extending from the upper border of the third to
the upper border of the sixth rib.— Mesogastric region,
the umbilical and right and left lumbar regions taken to-
gether.— Multiply-connected region, in math., a region
such that between any two points of it several paths can
' be drawn which cannot be changed one Into the other by
gradual changes or variations without going out of the re-
gion in question.— Parasternal, pelvic, Foljrneslan,
popliteal, precordial, etc., region. See the adjectives.
— Region of calms. See eaZmi.— Sternal region, su-
perior and inferior. See sternal.— SuTaaxMlaxy region.
Same as infroraxillary region. — Subclavicular region.
Same as infradavwular region. — Submammary region.
Same as inframammary r«5*)n.— Subscapular region.
Same as infrascapular region. — Suprahyoid region, the
region of the front of the neck above the hyoid bone ; the
hyomental region.— Supramammary' region. Same.
as infradamndar re^on.— Suprascapular region, the
region on the back above the spine of the scapula. — Su-
prasternal region. See mpraslemal. = Syn. 1. Quarter,
locality, clime, territory.
regional (re'jon-al), a. [< F. regional = Sp. Pg.
regional = It. regionale, < LL. regionalis, of or
belonging to a region or province, < L. regio{n-),
a region, province : see regfjon.] 1. Of or per-
taining to a particular region or place; sec-
tional; topical; local.
The peculiar seasonal and regional distribution of hur-
ricanes, r^ AtlanMCj XLIX. 334.
2. Of or pertaining to division into regions, as
in anatomy and zo8geography; topographical.
It is curious that the Japanese should have anticipated
Europe in a kind of rude rmoruU anatomy.
O.W. Holmes, Med. Essays, p. 224.
5047
Regional anatomy. Same as topographical anatomy.
See anatomy.
regionally (re'jgn-al-i), adv. With reference
to a region or particular place; topically; lo-
cally; in zoogeog,, with reference to faunal re-
gions or areas.
He thought it was the duty of the surgeon to treat it
regionally. Medical News, LII. 273.
The preservation of rock-oils in every formation, of
every geological age, all over the world — subject, however,
locally or regionally, to subsequent change or destruction.
Science, Vm. 233.
regionarius (re'''ji-o-na'ri-us), n. ; pi. regionarii
(-1). [NL., < L. reffio(ra-), a region : see region.^
A title given to various Roman Catholic eccle-
siastics who are assigned to duty in or juris-
diction over certain regions or districts in the
city of Rome.
regionary (re'jgn-a-ri), a. [< region + -ary.'i
1. Of or pertaining to a region or regions.
But to this they attributed their successes, namely, to
the tropical and regionary deities, and their entertaining
so numerous a train of gods and goddesses.
Evelyn, True Kellgion, L 104.
2. Of or pertaining to a region or administra-
tive district, especially of the city of Rome. —
Regionary deacon. See deacon.
From the time of Honorius II., Rome had twelve re-
gionary deacons. Rom. Cath. IXct., p. 714.
regionic (re-ji-on'ik), a. [< region + ■4c.'\ Same
as regional. [Rare.]
A regionic association.
BvcKs Handbook of Med. Sciences, IV. 768.
regioust (re'ji-us), a. [= Sp. Pg. It. regio, < L.
regius, kingly, royal, regal, < rex {reg-), a king:
seerea;.] Pertainingto a king; royal. J.Har-
rington,
reglsteri (rej'is-ter), n. [< ME. regester (= T>.
G. Sw. Dan. register), < OF. registre, F. registre,
a record, register, = Pr. registre = Sp. registro
= Pg. registro, registo, resisto = It. registro, a
register, record, < ML. registrum, also registra,
register, a register, an altered form of reges-
tum, a book in which things are recorded, a
register, orig. pi., L. regesta, things recorded,
records, neut. pi. of regestus, pp. of regerere,
record: see regest, n. and v. In the later
senses 6-10, from the verb, and in part practi-
cally identical, as 'that which registers,' with
register^, 'one who registers': see register^.}
1. An official written account or entry, usually
in a book regularly kept, as of acts, proceed-
ings, or names, for preservation or for refer-
ence ; a record ; a list ; a roll ; also, the book
in which such a record is kept: as, a parish
register; a hotel register.
Of soules fynde I nat in this registre.
CMucer, Knight's Tale, L 1054.
Each time of sorrow is naturally evermore a register of
all such grievous events as have happened either in or
near about the same time. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 72,
2. In old Eng. law, a compilation of the forms
of writs in use, both original and judicial, which
seems to have grown up gradually in the hands
of clerks and of copyists, and therefore to vary
much in different copies. Harvard Law Re-
view, Oct., 1889. — 3. In com., a document is-
sued by the customs authorities as evidence of
a ship's nationality. See registration of British
ships, under registration. — 4. The printed list
of signatures at the end of early printed books.
— 5. In music: (a) The compass or range of a
voice or an instrument. (6) A particular series
of tones, within the compass of a voice or of cer-
tain instruments, which is produced in the same
way and with the same quality : as, the ehest-
register of the voice, or the chalumeau regis-
ter of the clarinet. The vocal registers are distin-
guished by quality more than by pitch, since the same
tone can often be produced in more than one register.
The difference lies in the way in which the larynx is used,
but the exact nature of the process is .disputed. The so-
called head-register and ehest-regieter include tones that
call the cavities of the head and chest respectively into
decided sympathetic vibration. The different vocal qual-
ities are also called the low, middle, and high registers,
or the thick, middle, and thin registers, depending in the
first case upon the pitch of the tones for which they are
best suited, and in the second upon the supposed condi-
tion of the vocal cords in producing them, or the quality
of the tones produced.
It is true that alto boys cannot be made effective when
choir-masters prohibit the use of the chest register.
Harper's Mag., LXXVIL 73.
6. In organ-building : (o) Same as stop or stop-
Mob. (6) A perforated frame or board for hold-
ing a set of trackers in place. — 7. A device for
registering automatically the number of revolu-
tions made or the amount of work done by ma-
chinery, or for recording the pressure of steam,
air, or water, or other data, by means of appara-
register
tus deriving motion from the object or objects
whose force, velocity, etc., it is desired to as-
certain.— 8. A contrivance for regulating the
passage of heat or air, as the draft-regulating
plate of a furnace, or the damper-plate of a loco-
motive engine; a perforated plate with valves
governing the opening into a duct which ad-
mits warm air into a room for heat, or fresh
air for ventilation, or which allows foul air to
escape.
Look well to the register;
And let your heat still lessen by degrees.
B. Jonxon, Alchemist, ii. 1.
I should like to know if an artist could ever represent
on canvas a happy family gathered round a hole in the floor
called a register. C. D. Warner, Backlog Studies, p. 13.
9. Inprinting, exact adjustment of position in
the presswork of. books or papers printed on
both sides of the leaf, when pages, columns, and
lines are truly square, and back one another precisely on
the leaf, or when two or more adjacent colors meet with-
out impinging, they are said to be in register; otherwise,
out (tf respiter.
10. The inner part of the mold in which types
are cast. — 11. In bookbinding, a ribbon at-
tached to a full-bound book to serve as a
marker of place for the reader Anemometro-
grapUc register. See anemAymeter.— Army Register.
See armglist, 1.— Lloyd's Register of British and For-
eign Shipping. See Lloyd's. — Meteorological register.
See meteorological table (a), under meteorological. — Morse
register. Same as indicator, 1 (6).— Out Of register.
See def . 9. — Parish register, a book in which thenirths,
deaths, and marriages that occur in a given parish are
registered. — Register counties, in JEng. law, certain
counties or paris of counties, including Middlesex except
London, the North, East^ and West Ridings of Yorkshire,
and Kingston-upon-Hull, in which peculiar laws for regis-
tration of matters affecting land-titles are in force-
Register ship, a ship which once obtained permission
by treaty to trade to the Spanish West Indies, and whose
capacity, per registry, was attested before sailing. —
Register thermometer. See thermometer. — Seamen's
register, a record containing the number and date of
registration of each foreign-going ship and her regis-
tered tonnage, the length and general nature of her voyage
or employment, the names, ages, etc., of the mast&r and
crew, etc. [Eng.]— Ship's register, a document show-
ing the ownership of a vessel and giving a general de-
scription other. It is used as a permit issued by the United
States government to give protection and identification
to an American vessel in a foreign trade, being prac-
tically for the vessel what a deed is for a house. — To
make register, in printing, to arrange on the press
pages, plates, or woodcuts in colors exactly in their proper
positions. = Syn. 1. Catalogue, etc. (see 7id5\ chronicle, ar-
chives.
register^ (rej'is-ter), V. [< F. registrer = Pr.
Sp. Pg. registrar = It. registrare, < ML. regis-
trare, register ; from the noun : see register^, n. ]
1. trans. 1. To enter in a register; indicate by
registering; record in any way.
Here are thy virtues shew'd, here registei'd.
And here shall live forever.
Fletcher, Double Marriage, v. 2.
Many just and holy men, whose names
Are registefd and calendared for saints.
Tennyson, St. Simeon Stylites.
The gray matter of the nervous system is the part in
which sensory impulses are received and registered.
Science, V. 258.
2. To mark or indicate on a register or scale.
— 3. In rope-making, to twist, as yarns, into a
strand — Light-registering apparatus. See lights.
=Sra. 1. See record.
II. mtrans. 1. To enter one's name, or cause
it to be entered, in a register, as at a hotel,
or in the registry of qualified voters. — 2. In
prinimg, etc. : (a) To correspond exactly in
symmetry, as columns or lines of printed mat-
ter on opposite sides of a leaf, so that line
shall fall upon line and column upon column.
(6) To correspond exactly in position, as in
color-printing, so that every different color-
impression shall fall exactly in its proper place,
forming no double lines, and neither leaving
blank spaces nor passing the limits proper to
any other color. — 3. In organ-playing, same as
register^ (rej'is-tfer), n. [An altered form, due
to confusion with register^, of registrer, now
usually written registrar: see registrar."] 1.
One who registers: same as registrar.
0 comfort-killing Night ! . . .
Dim register and notary of shame I
Shak., Lucrece, I. 705.
And hauing subscribed their names, certaine Begisters
oopie the said Orations. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 439.
Specifically — 2. In law: (a) An officer of a
United States district court, formerly appointed
under the United States bankruptcy act, for the
purpose of assisting the judge in the perform-
ance of his duties under that act, by attending
to matters of detail and routine, or purely ad-
ministrative in their character. Bump. (6) In
some parts of the United States, an officer who
register
receives and records deeds so as to give pubKe
notice thereof .—Lord register, or lord clerk regis-
ter, a Scottish officer of state who has the custod; of the
archives.— Register in bankruptcy. Same as bank-
ruptcy eommistioner (which see under iankruptey). —
Register of deeds, in the United States, a public officer
who records at length deeds, conveyances, and jnortgt^es
of real estate situated within a given district. — Re-
gister of probate or of wills, in some of the United
States, a public officer who records all wills admitted to
probate.— Register of the Treasury, an officer of the
Treasury Department of the United States government,
who has charge of the account-books of the United States,
registers all warrants drawn by the Secretary of the Trea-
sury upon the treasurer, signs and issues all government
securities, and has charge of the registry of vessels.
registerable (rej'is-ter-a-bl), a. [< register^ +
-able.'] Admitting of registration, or of being
registered or recorded. Fortnightly JJeu., N. S.,
XXXIX. 26.
registered (rej'is-tferd), p. a. Beeorded, as in
a register or book; enrolled: as, a registered
voter (one wbose name is duly entered in the
official list of persons qualified to vote in an elec-
tion)— Registered bond, invention, letter, etc. See
the nouns.— Registered Company,a company entered in
an official register, but not incorporated by act or charter.
registerert (rej'is-ter-er), n. [< register^, v., +
-eri. Ci. registrar.] One who registers ; a re-
gistrar ; a recorder.
The Greelies, the chiefe registerers of worthy actes.
Oolding, tr. of Csesar, To the Reader.
register-grate (rej'is-ter-grat), n. A grate
furnished with an apparatus for regulating the
admission of air and the heat of the fire.
registering (rej'is-ter-ing), n. [Verbal u. of
register^v^ Same as registration.
register-office (rej'is-t6r-of 'is), «. 1. An office
where a register is kept, or where registers or
records are kept ; a registry ; a record-office. —
2. An agency for the employment of domestic
servants. [U. S.]
register-plate (rej'is-tfer-plat), n. In rope-mak-
ing machines, a concave metallic disk having
hole's so arranged concentrically as to give the
yarns passed through them the proper positions
for entering into the general twist.
register-point (rej'is-t6r-point), n. The ad-
justable point or spur attached to a printing-
press and used to aid in getting register. See
point\ 2 (c).
registersmp (rej'is-tfer-ship), n. [< register'^ +
-ship.] The office of a register or registrar.
registrable (rej'is-tra-bl), a. [< register^ +
-able.] Admitting of registration; that may or
can be registered. Lancet, No. 3474, p. 733.
registrar (rej'is-trar), TO. [Formerly registrer;
< ME. registrere, K ML. registrarius, one who
keeps a register or record, a registrar, notary,
< registrum, a register, record: see registerK
Cf. registrary and register'^. Cf . also OF. regis-
treur, regis^ateur, < ML. registrator, < regis-
trare, register.] 1 . One whose business it is to
write or Keep a register or record; a keeper of
records.
1 make Fieres the Plowman my procuratour and my reve.
And regystrere to receyue. Pi^s Pl(noman (B), xix. 254.
The patent was sealed and delivered, and the person
admitted sworne before the registrar.
T. Warton, Bathurst, p. 136.
2. An official who acts as secretary to the eon-
gregation of a university — Registrar's license.
See license.
registrar-general (rej'is-trar-jen'e-ral), TO. An
officer who superintends a system of registra-
tion; specifically, in Great Britain, an officer
appointed by the crown, under the great seal,
to whom is intrusted, subject to such regula-
tions as shall be made by a principal secretary
of state, the general superintendence of the
system of registration of births, deaths, and
marriages.
registrarship (rej'is-trar-ship), n. [< regis-
trar + -sWjp.J The office of registrar.
registrars' (rej'is-tra-ri), TO.; pi. registraries
(-riz). [< ml" regisirariiis, one who registers :
see registrar.] A registrar. The registrar of
the TJniversity of Cambridge is so called.
Lo, hither commyth a goodly maystres,
Occupacyon, Famys regestary.
Sltelton, Garland of Laurel, 1. 621.
registrate (rej'is-trat), v.; pret. and pp. regis-
traied, ppr. registrating. [< ML. registratus,
pp. of registrare, register: see register^, v.] I.t
trans. To register ; enroll.
WTiy do ye toil to registrate your names
On icy pillars, which soon melt away?
Drumnwnd, Flowers of Sion.
II. intrans. In organ-playing, to arrange or
draw stops for playing ; make or set a combi-
nation. See registration, 3. Also register.
5048
registratet, «• Registered; recorded.
Those madrigals we sung amidst our flocks . . .
Are registrate by echoes in the rocks.
Lrummond, To Sir W. Alexander.
registration (rej-is-tra'shon), TO. [< OF. regis-
tration, <ML. registratio(n-), a registering, <
registrare, register: see registrate and regis-
ter^, v.] 1. The act of inserting or recording
in a register; the act of recording in general:
as, the registration of deeds ; the registration of
births, deaths, and marriages; the registration
of voters.
Man's senses were thus indefinitely enlarged as his
means of registraMon were perfected.
J. Fiske, Idea of God, p. 48.
2. Specifically, in the law of conveyancing, a
system for the recording of conveyances, mort-
gages, and other instruments affecting the title
to real property, in a public office, for the in-
formation of all concerned. The general policy of
registry laws is to make a duly registered instrument
notice to all the world, so that no one can claim any ad-
vantage over the registered owner by dealing with an un-
registered owner or claimant in ignorance of theregistered
title. Under some systems a specified time is allowed for
registering; and in some neglect to register an instrument
within the tune limited marks it with infirmity. The more
generally accepted principle is to give effect to each in-
strument in the order of its registration, as against all
unregistered instruments of which thepurchaser, etc., had
no actual notice. Another important element in registry
laws is a provision that the record or certified copy shaU
be evidence in all courts equally as the original ; bnt in
some systems the non-production of the original must be
accounted for before the record can be received in lieu of it.
3. In organ-playing, the act, process, art, or
result of selecting or combining stops for play-
ing given pieces of music, it includes every effect
of Bght and shade, of quality or power, that is needed for
a complete rendering. Including the choice of manuals,
the drawing and retiring of stops, and the use of all me-
chanical accessories, like couplers, the swell pedal, etc.
In most recent organ-music the registration is somewhat
carefully indicated by the composer or editor, but organs
are so diverse that every player must interpret such
marks for himself. Older music is usually unmarked, and
the registration requires special study as well as special
talent.— Decree of registration. See decree.— Parlia-
mentary Registration Act, an English statute of 1843
(6 and 7 Vict., c. 18), which requires the registration of
voters and defines certain rights of voting. It has been
amended by later statutes.— Registration Act. (a) An
English statute of 1885 (48 Vict., c. 16), which extends the
borough system of registration of voters to county voters.
(&) One of numerous American statutes in various States,
providing for registration, and often requiring it as a con-
dition of the right to vote.— Registration of births,
marriages, and deaths, the system of collecting vital
statistics by requiring attending physicians, etc., in case
of births and deaths, and clergymen and magistrates
solemnizing marriages, to report at once each case, with
appropriate particulars, to the public authorities, for the
purpose of preserving permanent and systematic records.
—Registration of British ships, a duty imposed on
ship-owners in order to secure to their vessels the privileges
of Biitish ships. Registration is to be made by the prin-
cipal officer of customs at any port or place in the United
Kingdom, and by certain specified officers in the colonies.
The registration comprises the name of the ship, the names
and descriptions of the owners, the tonnage, build, and
description of the vessel, the particulars of her origin, and
the name of the master, who is entitled to the custody of
the certificate of registry. The vessel is considered to
belong to the port at which she is registered, — Registra-
tion of copyright, the name given in England to the
recording of the title of a book for the purpose of securing
the copyright: corresponding to entry of copyright in
the United States.— Registration of trade-marks, the
system by which one claiming the exclusive right to a
trade-mark may register it for the purpose of giving public
notice of his claim, and preserving record evidence there-
of from the time of entry. — Registration of voters or
electors, (a) in the United States, a system for the pre-
vention of frauds in the exercise of the suffrage, by re-
quiring voters to cause their names to be registered in
books provided for the purpose in eacli election district,
with appropriate particulars of residence, age, etc., to en-
able Investigation to be made, and the right of the voter
to cast the ballot to be challenged, if there be occasion.
(b) In Great Britain and Ireland, the making up of a list
of voters which, after judicial revision, is the accredited
record of an elector's title to vote.
registrational (rej-is-tra'shon-al), a. [< regis-
tration + -al.] Of or pertaining to registration.
Lancet, No. 3457, p. 1135.
registry (rej'is-tri), TO.; pi. registries (-triz).
[Early mod. E. also regestery, regestary ; <ME.
regestery, < ML. *regestarium, < regestum, a regis-
ter: see register^.] 1. The act of reeor(Ung
or writing in a register, or depositing in the
place of public record: as, the registry of a
deed; the registry ot a will, etc. — 2. The place
where a register is kept. — 3. A series of facts
recorded; a record.
I have sometimes wondered why a registry has not been
kept in the colleges of physicians of all such [specific
remedies] as have been invented by any professors of every
age. Sir W. Temple, Health and Long Life.
Our conceptions are but the registry of our experience,
and can therefore be altered only by being temporarily an-
nihilated. J. Fiske, Cosmic Philos., I. 59.
Certificate of registry. See certificate, 2.— District
registry, in Ung. law, an office in a provincial town /or
regnal
the transaction or record of steps incidental to litigation
by attorneys within the district, in order to avoid the ne-
cessity of taking every step in the central offices in London.
regitivef (rej'i-tiv), a. [Irreg. < L. regeie, rule
(see regent), + -itive.] Ruling; governing.
Their regitive power over the world.
Oentleman's Calling, vii. § S. ^Latham.)
regium donum (re'ji-nm do'num). [L. : re-
gium, neut. of regius, royal (see regions); do-
nwm, a ^t, grant : see donate.] A royal grant;
specifically, an annual grant of prublie money
formerly given in aid of the maintenance of
the Presbyterian and other dissenting clergy
in Ireland, commuted in 1869 for £791,372.
He had had something to do with both the regium do-
num and the Maynooth grant.
TroUope, Barchester Towers, iii.
regius professor (re'ji-us pro-fes'or). [L.: re-
gius, royal; professor,' professor.] A royal
professor; specifically, one of those professors
in the English universities whose chairs were
founded by Henry "Vlll. in the Scotch universities
the same name is given to all professors whose professor-
ships have been founded by the crown. Abbreviated reg.
prof.
regive (re-giv'), i>. t. [< re- -I- give.] To give
back; restore.
Bid day stand still,
Bid him drive back his car, and reimport
The period past, regive the present hour.
Young, Night Thoughts, ii. 309.
regleti »• [Also reigle; < OF. regie, reigle, rie-
gle, rigU, reule, rieule, F. rkgU, a rule, etc. : see
rule'^. Cf . reglet, reglement. In def. 2, cf . reg-
let, and also rule^ and the doublet raiU, a
straight bar, etc.] 1. A rule; a regulation.
Halliwell. — 2. A hollow cut or channel for guid-
ing anything; a groove in which something
runs : as, the regie of a side-post for a flood-
gate.
In one of the corners next the sea standeth a flood-gate,
to bee drawne vp and let downe through reigles in the side
postes, whose mouth is encompassed with a double frith.
R. Carew, Survey of Cornwall, fol. 105.
reglet, v. t. [Also reigle; < OF. regler, reigl&i;
(.LiL, regulare, rule: see rule^, regulate.] To
rule; govern; regulate.
AH ought to regie their lives, not by the Pope's Decrees,
bnt Word of God. FvUer, Worthies, Wales, III. 49.
reglementt (reg'1-ment), TO. [Also reiglement;
< OF. reglement, F.'rSglement = Sp. reglamen-
to — Pg. regulamento = It. regolamento, < ML.
regulamentmm, ruling, regulation, < LL. regu-
lare, rule, regulate: see regie, rule^.] Regula-
tion.
To speak now of the reformation and reglement of usury,
how the discommodities of it may be best avoided.
Bacon, Usmy.
reglementary (reg-le-men'ta-ri), a. [< OF.
reglementaire, conformable to rule, < reglement,
a rule, regulation: see reglement.] Of, per-
taining to, or embodying regulations ; regula-
tive : as, a reglementary charter. Encyc. Diet.
[Rare.]
reglet (reg'let), TO. [Also riglet; < OF. reglet,
F. riglet (= Sp. regleta = Pg. regreta), a reglet, <
regie, a rule: see regie.] 1. In printing, a thin
strip of wood, less than type-high, used in com-
position to make blanks about a page, or be-
tween the lines of large types in open display.
Eeglets are made of the width of ordinary text-types, from
pearl to great primer. Broader strips of wood are known
as/wmiture.
2. In arch., a narrow flat molding, employed
to separate panels or other members, or to
form knots, frets, and other ornaments.
reglet-plane (reg'let-plan), to. A plane used for
making printers' reglets. Reglets are not made
in America with planes, but with fine circular
saws. [Eng.]
reglow (re-gl6'), V. i. [< re- -I- glow.] Same as
recalesce.
reglow (re-glo'), TO. [< reglow, v.] Same as
recalescence.
regma (reg'ma), TO. ; pi. regmata (-ma-ta) . [< Gr.
P^y^a, a fracture, breakage, < ^t/yviivai, break:
see break.] In bot., a capsule with two or more
lobes and as many one-seeded, two-valved Cells,
which separate at maturity, splitting elastical-
ly from the persistent axis (carpophore), as in
Euphorbia and Geranium. It is one form of
schizooarp.
regmacarJE) (reg'ma-karp), TO. [< Gr. livy/M, a
fracture (see regma), + aapwdg, fruit.] In bot.,
any dehiscent fruit. Masters.
regiaa, n. Plural of regnum.
regnal (reg'nal), a. [< ML. regnalis, < L. reg-
num, kingdom, reign: see reign.] Pertaining
to the reign of a monarch.— Regnal years, the
regnal
number of years a sovereign has reigned. It has been
the practice In various countries to date public doca-
ments and other deeds from the year of accession of the
sovereign. The practice still prevails in Great Britain in
the enumeration of acts of Parliament.
regnancy (reg'nan-si), n. [< regnan(f) + -ey.']
The act of reigning; rule; predominance.
Coleridge.
regnant (reg'nant), a. [= F. rSgnant = Sp.
reinante = Pg. regnante, reinante = It. regnante,
< L. regnan(t-)s, ppr. of regnare, reign: see
reign.'] 1. Eeigning; exercising regal author-
ity by hereditary right.
The church of martyrs, and the church of saints, and
doctors, and confessors, now regnant in heaven.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835X 11. 214.
3. Ruling; predominant; prevalent; having
the chief power.
His guilt is clear, his proofs are pregnant,
A traitor to the vices reg'nant. Swifl.
This intense and regnant personality of Carlyle.
The Century, XXVI. 532.
Queen regnant. See queen.
regnativef (reg'na-tiv), a. [< L. regnatus, pp.
of regnare, reign, -f -i«e.] Ruling ; governing.
[Rare.]
regnet, n. and V. An obsolete spelling of reign.
regnicide (reg'ni-md), n. [< L. regnum, a king-
dom, + -cida, < esedere, kill.] The destroyer of
a kingdom. [Rare.]
Begicides are no less than regnicides, Lam. Iv. 20 ; for the
life of a king contains a thousand thousand lives, and trai-
tors make the land sick which they live in.
Sev. T. Adams, Works, I. 418.
Regnoli's operation. See operation.
regnum (reg'num), n. ; pi. regna (-na). [ML., a
particular use of L. regnum, kingly government.
5049
confusion with OP. regrater, dress, mend, scour,
furbish up for sale : see regrate^) for "regater =
Sp. regatar, rival in sailing, prob. formerly sell
by retail, haggle (cf. deriv. regatear, retail,
haggle, wriggle, avoid), = Pg. regatar, buy,
sell, traffic (of. deriv. regatear, haggle, bargain
hard), = Olt. regattare, rigattare, sell by retail,
haggle, strive for mastery, also *recattare, re-
catare, buy and sell again by retail, retail, re-
grate, forestall the market (ML. refl. regatare,
buy back, redeem), < re-, again, -I- cattare, get,
obtain, acquire, purchase, < L. captare, strive
to seize, lay hold of, snatch at, chase, etc.: see
ekase^, catch^, and cf. aeate a,nd. purchase. Cf.
also regatta, from the same source.] To retail ;
specifically, to buy, as com or provisions, and
sell again in or near the same market or fair —
a practice which, from its effect in raising the
price, was formerly made a criminal offense, of-
ten classed with engrossing and forestalling.
And that they regrate no come commynge to the market,
in peyne of lesynge xx. s. for euery of the seid offences.
English Gilds (E. E. T. S.X p. 381.
Neither should they likewise buye any come to sell the
same agayn^ unless it were to make malte therof ; for by
such engrossing and regrating we see the dearthe that nowe
comonly raigneth heere in England to have bene caused.
Spenser, Present State of Ireland.
regrate^ (re-graf), v. t. [< OF. regrater, dress,
mend, scour, furbish up for sale, lit. 'scrape
again,' P. regratter, scrape or scratch again, re-
grate (masonry),< re-, again, + grater, P. gratter,
scrape, scratch, grate: see grate^. The word
has hitherto been confused with regrate'^ : see
regrate^.] 1. In masonry, to remove the outer
y^ .,»^,x^<.x 1.00 ^,1. ^.j, ci,,™,«. j^K V 6" » cinmciiu, surface of (an old hewn stone), so as to give it
royalty: see rezgn.] 1. A badge or mark of a fresh appearance.— 2+. To grate or rasp; in a
royalty or supremacy, generally a crown of
some unusual character. The word is especially ap-
plied to early forms of the papal tiara, a crown similar to a
royal crown with a high conical cap rising from within it.
St Peter (in the seal of the mayor of Exeter) has a lofty
regnum on his head.
Jour. Brit. Archmil. Ass., XVIII. 257.
2. [eap.J [NL.] One of three main divisions of
natural objects (collectively called Imperium
Naturse), technically classed as the Begnum Ani-
mate, M. Vegetahile, and S,. Minerale: used by
the older naturalists before and for some time
after Linnaeus, and later represented by the
familia* English phrases animal, vegetable, and
mineral Hngdom. (See kingdom, 6.) A fourth,
B. Primigenium, was formally named by Hogg.
See Primalia, Protista.
regorget (re-gdrj '),v.t. [< OF. (and P.) regorger
= Pr. regorgar = It. ringorgare, vomit up; as
re- + gorge, v.] 1. To vomit up; eject from the
stomach; throw back or out again.
It was scoffingly said, he had eaten the king's goose, and
did then regorge the feathers. Sir J. Hayward.
2. To swallow again or back.
And tides at highest mark regorge the flood.
Bryden, Sig. and Guis., 1. 186.
8. To devour to repletion. [Rare.]
Drunk with idolatry, drunk with wine.
And fat regorged of bulls and goats.
MUton, S. A., 1. 1671.
regracesf, n. pi. [ME., < OP. regraces, thanks,
< regracier, < ML. regratiare, regratiari, thank
again, thank, < L. re-, again, -I- ML. gratiare,
thank: see grace.] Thanks.
With dew regraces.
Flumpton Correspondence, p. 5. (Halliwell.)
rei[radef (re-grad'), v. i. [Altered to suit the
orig. grade', and degrade, retrograde, etc.; < L.
regredi, go or come back, turn back, retire, re-
treat, < re-, back, + gradi, go: see graded. Cf,
figurative sense, to offend; shock. [Rare.]
The most sordid animal, those that are the least beau-
tified with colours, or rather whose clothing may regrate
the eye. Derham, Physico- Theology, iv. 12.
regrate^t, n. A Middle English form of regret.
regrater, regrator (re-gra'ter, -tor), n. [(a) E.
regrater, < ME. regraiere, < OF. regratier, P. re-
grattier, a huckster, = Pr. regratier = Sp. re-
gatero = Pg. regateiro = It. rigattiere (ML.
regratarius, later also regraterius), huckster;
(6) E. regrator, < ME. regrato%ir,i. OF. regrateor,
regratmr, regratteur (= Pg. regateador; ML. as
if *regratator), a huckster, regrater, < regrate);
regrate: see regrate^.] A retailer; a huck-
ster; specifically, one who buys provisions and
sells them, especially in the same market or
fair.
Ac Mede the mayde the maire hath bisou5te.
Of alle suche sellers syluer to take,
Or presentz wlth-oute pens as peces of siluer,
Einges or other ricchesse the regrateres 1» maynetene.
Piers Plowman (B), ilL 90.
No regratour ne go owt of towne for to engrosy the chaf-
f are, vpon payne for to be f ourty-dayes in the kynges piys-
one. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 353.
Regrater or Regratw, a Law-word formerly us'd for one
that bought by the Great, and sold by Retail ; but it now
signifies one that buys and sells again any Wares or Vic-
tuals in the same Market or Fair or within five Miles of
it. Also one that trims up old Wares for Sale ; a Broker,
or Huckster. E. Phillips, 1706.
Begraters of bread com. Tatler, No. 118.
Eorestallers and regrators haunted the privy councils of
the Idng. I. D'Israeli, Amen, qj Lit, I. 379.
regrateryt, n. [ME., < OP. "regraterie (ML. re-
grataria), < regrater, regrate: see regrate^.]
The practice of regrating.
For thise aren men on this molde thatmoste harm worch-
eth
To the pore peple that parcel-mele huggen [buy at re-
tail] ; . . .
Thei rychen thorw regraterye. Piers Plowman (B), iiL 83.
regrede. Cf.LL.reg'ra^are, restore to one's rank regratiatoryt (re-gra'shi-a-to-ri), m. [<ML.re-
or to a former condition, also degrade from one's ' ' •■•■ -
rank.] To retire; go back; retrograde.
They saw the darkness commence at the eastern limb of
the suu, and proceed to the western, till the whole was
eclipsed ; and then regrade backwards, from the western
to the eastern, till his light was folly restored.
Hales, New Analysis of Chronology, III. 230.
regrant (re-granf), -0. t. [< AF. regranter, re- regrator, n. See regrateiT'"'
graunter, grant agam; as re- + grant.] To regratoriet, n. A variant of
grant again. regratresst (re-gra'tres), n.
This their grace Is long, containing a commemoration " ' '
of the benefits vouchsafed their fore-fathers, & a prayer
for regranUng the same. Purehas, Pilgrimage, p. 200.
regrant (re-granf), «• [< regrant, v.] The act
of granting again; a new or fresh grant.
gratiator, one who gives thanks, < regratiari,
give thanks (cf . AF. regraces, thanks) : see re-
graces. Gt. ingratiate.] A returning or giving
of thanks; an expression of thankfulness.
That welnere nothynge there doth remayne
Wherewith to gyue you my regraciatory.
Skelton, Garland of Laurel.
regratery.
[< regrater + -ess.]
Xwoman who'sells at retail ; a female huckster.
No baker shall give unto the regratresses the six-pence
, . . by way of hansel-money.
RUey, tr. of Liber Albus, p. 232, quoted in Hers Plowman
[(ed. Skeat), Notes, p. 43.
As there had been no forfeiture, no resroTi* was needed, regrede (re-gred'), v. i. [< L. regredi, go or
E. A. Freeman, Norman Cionquest, V. 9. come back,' return, retire, retreat, regrade, < re-,
regrate^ (re-graf), v. t. [< ME. regraten, < OF. back, + gradi, go : see graded, and cf . regress,
regrater, sell by retail, regrate, F. regratter, regrade.] To go back; retro^ade. astheapse
haggle, higgle ; with intrusive r (appar. due to of a planet's orbit. Todhunter. [Rare.]
regret
regrediencet (re-gre'di-ens), n. [< L. regre-
dien{t-)s,ypr. of regredi, go back: see regrede.]
A returning; a retrograding; a going back.
No man comes late unto that place from whence
Never man yet had a regredienee.
Berrick, Never too Late to Dye.
regreet (rf-gref ), v. t. [< re- + greets.] 1. To
greet again; resalute.
You, cousin Hereford, upon pain of life^
Till twice five summers have enrich'd our fields,
Shall not regreet our fair dominions.
Shak., Eich. n., L 3. 142.
2. To salute ; greet. [Rare.]
Lo, as at English feasts, so I regreet
The daintiest last, to make the end more sweet
Shak., Eich. II., I. 3. 67.
regreet (rf-gref ), M. \<. regreet, t.] A return
or exchange of salutation; a greeting.
One that comes before
To signify the approaching of his lord ;
I^m whom he bringeth sensible regreets.
Shak., M. of v., iL 9.89.
Thus low in humblest heart
Regreets unto thy truce do we impart.
Ford, Honour Triumphant, Monarch's Meeting.
regress (rf-gres'), «. «. [= Sp. regresar = Pg.
regressar, < L. regressus, pp. ot regredi, go back,
< re-, back, -I- gradi, go : see regrede. Cf . di-
gress, progress, v.] 1. To go back; return to a
former place or state.
All . . . being forced into fluent consistences, do natu-
rally regress into their former solidities.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., ii. 1.
2, In astron., to move from east toward west.
regress (re'gres), n. [= OF. regres, regrez, P.
regres = Sp. regreso = Pg. It. regresso, < L. re-
gressus, a returning, return, < regredi, pp. re-
gressus, go back: see regress, v.] 1. Passage
back; return.
The standing is slippeiy, and the regress is either a
downfall, or at least an eclipse.
Baeon, Great Place (ed. 1887X
'lis their natural place which they always tend to, and
from which there is no progress nor regress. Burnet.
2. The power or liberty of returning or passing
back.
My hand, bully; thou shalt have egress and regress.
Shak., M. W. of W., iL 1. 226.
3. In Scots law, reentry. Under the feudal law,
letters of regress were granted by the enperior of a wadset,
under which he became bound to readmit the wadsetter,
at any time when he should demand an entry to the wad-
set
4. In canon law. See access, 7. — 5. In logic, the
passage in thought from effect to cause. —
Demonstrative regress, demonstrative reasoning from
effect to cause.
regression (rf-gresh'on), n. [= OP. regression,
P. regression = Sp. regresion = Pg. regressao =
It. rigressione, < L. regressio(n-), a going back,
return, etc., < regredi, pp. regressus, go back:
see regress.] 1. The act of passing back or
returning; retrogression.
I will leave you whilst I go in and present myself to the
honourable count; till my regression, so please you, your
noble feet may measure this private, pleasant and most
princely walk. B. Jonson, Case is Altered, iii. 3.
2. In asirmi., motion from east toward west. —
3. In geom., contrary flexure; also, the course
of a curve at a cusp — Edge of regression, the cus-
pidal edge of a developable surface. See eusptdal. — Re-
gression of nodes, a gyratory motion of the orbit of a
planet, causing the nodes to move from east to west on the
ecliptic.
regressive (rf-gres'iv), a. [= P. regressif; as
regress + 4ve'.] Passing back; returning: op-
posed to progressive Regressive assimilation,
assimilation of a sound to one preceding it. — Regressive
method, the analytic method, which, departing from par-
ticulars, ascends to principles. Sir W. HamilUm, Logic,
xxiv.— Regressive paralysis. See paralysis.
regressively (rf-gres'iv-li), adv. In a regres-
sive manner; in a backward way; by return.
Be Quincey.
regressus (rf-gres'us), n. [NL.: see regress.]
In hot., that reversion of organs now known as
retrogressive and retrograde metamorphosis.
See metamorphosis.
regret (re-gref ), V. t. ; pret. and pp. regretted,
ppr. regretting. [< P. regretter, regret, OF. re-
gretter, regreter, regrater, desire, wish for, long
after, bewail, lament, = Pr. regretar (after P. ) ;
not found in other Rom. languages, and vari-
ously explained: (a) Orig. 'bewaU,' < OF. re-
+ *grater, from the OLG. form cognate with
AS. grxtan, ME. greten, E. greet = Icel. grata,
weep, wail, mourn, = Sw. gr&ta = Dan. grsede
= Groth. gretan, weep: see greet^. (6) < L. re-,
taken as privative, + gratus, pleasing, as if
orig. adj., 'unpleasing,' then a noun, 'displea-
sure, grief, sorrow': see grate^, gree^, agree,
maugre. (c) < ML. as if "regradus, a return
regret
^of a disease), as in Walloon U r'gret (Pon mav,
'the return of a disease,' < regredi, go back:
see regrede, regress, (d) < L. as if *requiritari,
< re- + quiritare, bewail: see cry. (e) < L.
requiritare, ask after, inquire for, freq. of re-
gxdrere, ask after, require: see require. Of
these explanations only the first is in any de-
gree plausible.] 1. To look back at with sor-
row; feel grief or sorrowful longing for on
looking back.
Sure, if the;^ catch, to spoil the to; at most.
To covet flying, and regret when lost.
Pope, Moral Essays, ii. 231.
Beauty which you shall feel perfectly but once, and re-
gret forever. Howdls, Venetian Life, iL
2. To grieve at; be mentally distressed on ac-
count of : as, to regret one's rashness ; to regret
a choice made.
Ah, cruel fate, thou never struck'st a blow
By all mankind regretted so.
Cotton, Death of the Earl of Ossoiy.
Those the impiety of whose lives makes them regret a
Deity, and secretly wish there were none, will greedily
listen to atheistical notions. Glanville.
Poets, of all men, ever least regret
Increasing taxes and the nation's debt.
Camper, Table-Talk, 1. 176.
Alone among the Spaniards the Catalans had real reason
to regret the peace. Leeky, Eng. in 18th Cent., i.
=Syn. To rue, lament. See repentance.
regret (rf-gref), n. [Early mod. E. also reflrrafe;
< OF. regret, desire, will, grief, sorrow, regret,
P. regret, regret; from the verb (which, how-
ever, is later in E.) : see regret, v.'] 1. Grief or
trouljle caused by the want or loss of something
formerly possessed; a painful sense of loss; de-
sire for what is gone ; sorrowful longing.
AYhen her eyes she on the Dwarf had set^
And saw the signes that deadly tydinges spake,
She feu to ground for sorrowf uU regret.
Spenser, 1'. Q., I. vii. 20.
Anguish and regret
For loss of life and pleasure overloved.
Maton, P. I., X. 1018.
A pain of privation takes the name of a pain of regret
in two cases ; (1) where it is grounded on the memory of
a pleasure which, having been once enjoyed, appears not
likely to be enjoyed again ; (2) where it is grounded on
the idea of a pleasure which was never actually enjoyed,
nor perhaps so much as expected, but which might have
been enjoyed (it is supposed) had such or such a contin-
gency happened, which, in fact, did not happen.
Bentham, Introd. to Morals and Legislation, v. 20.
2. Pain or distress of mind, as at something
done or left undone; the earnest wish that
something had not been clone or did not exist;
bitterness of reflection.
A passionate regret at sin, a grief and sadness at its mem-
ory, enters us into God's roll of mourners.
Decay <tf Chrittian Piety.
Many and sharp the num'rous ills
Inwoven with our frame 1
More pointed still we make ourselves
Eegret, remorse, and shame.
Bums, Man was Made to Mourn.
3f. Dislike; aversion.
Is it a virtue to have some ineffective regrets to damna-
tion ? Decay q/' Christian Piety.
4. An expression of regret : commonly in the
plural. [CoUoq.] — 5. A written communica-
tion expressing sorrow for inability to accept
an invitation. [Colloq.] =S3m. 1. Concern, sorrow,
lamentation.— 2. Penitence, Com^nmetion, etc. See re-
pentance.
regretful (rf-gret'fvd), a. [< regret + -ful.]
Full of regret; sorrowful.
regretfully (re-gret'ful-i), adv. With regret.
regrettable (re-gret'a-bl), a. [< regret + -a6te.]
Admitting of or calling for regret.
Otregrettable good English examples can be quoted from
1632 onwspds
J. A. H. Murray, N. and Q., 7th ser., Vin. 134.
regrettably (re-gret'a-bli), adv. With regret;
regretfully.
My mother and sisters, who have so long been regret-
tably prevented from making your acquaintance.
H. James, Jr., International Episode, p. 126.
regrowth (re-groth'), n. [< re- + growth.^ A
growing again ; a new or second growth. Dar-
win.
regt. An abbreviation of (a) regent; (6) regi-
ment.
reguardantt, a. See regardant,
reguerdont (re-g6r'don), n. [< ME. reguerdoun,
< OF. reguerdon; as' re- + guerdon, ».] A re-
ward ; a recompense.
And in reguerdon of that duty done,
I gird thee with the valiant sword of York.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ill. 1. 170.
reguerdont (re-ger'don), V. t. [< OF. reguer-
donner, reward; as re- + guerdon, v."] To re-
ward; recompense.
5050
Yet never have you tasted our reward.
Or been reo««rdon'd with so much as thanks.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., liL 4. 23.
reguerdonment (re-gSr'don-ment), n. [< re-
guerdon + -ment.] Reward; return; requital.
In generous reguerdonrmnt wheteol he sacrameutally
obliged himselfe. „
Nttshe, Lenten Stufle (Earl. Misc., VI. 163).
regula (reg'u-ia), n. ; pi. regulx (-le). [< L. regu-
la, a rule: see rule^, and cf. regle.'\ 1. A book
of rules or orders governing a religious house ;
the rule. Bev. F. G. Lee.— 2. In arch., a short
band or fillet, bearing guttse or drops on the
lower side, corresponding, below the crowning
tenia of the Doric architrave, to the triglyphs
of the frieze. See cut under ditriglyph — Reg-
ula CfflCl, a rule of arithmetic for solving two Unear equa-
tions between three unknown quantities in whole num-
bers.—Regllla falsi, the rule of false. See position, 7.
regulable (reg'u-la-bl), a. [< regulalte) + -ble.}
Admitting of regulation ; capable of being regu-
lated.
regulse, n. Plural of regula.
regular (reg'u-lar), a. and n. [< ME. reguler,
< OP. regulier, F. rigulier = Pr. reglar = Sp.
reglar, regidar = Pg. regular = It. regolare, <
L. regularis, regular, < regula, a rule, < regere,
rule, govern: see regula and ntfei.] I. a. 1.
Conformed to or made in accordance with a
rule; agreeable to an established rule, law,
type, or principle, to a prescribed mode, or to
established customary forms; normal: as, a
regular epic poem; a regular verse in poetry;
aregularTplsea.; regular- tesLtvaee; aregularhmld-
ing.
The English Speech, though it be rich, copious, and sig-
nificant, and that there be divers Dictionaries of it, yet,
under Favour, I cannot call it a regular Language.
Howell, Letters, ii. 55.
But soft— by regular approach —not yet —
First through the length of yon hot teiTace sweat.
Pope, Moral Essays, iv. 129.
Philip was of the middle height; he had a fair, florid
complexion, regular features, long flowing locks, and a
well-made, symmetrical figure.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., iL 19.
2. Acting, proceeding, or going on by rule; gov-
erned by rule or rules ; steady or uniform in a
course or practice; orderly; methodical; un-
varying: as, regular in diet; regular in atten-
dance on divine worship ; the regular return of
the seasons.
ISot a man
Shall . . . offend the stream
Of regular justice in your city's bounds.
But shall be rendered to your public laws.
Shak.,T. of A., V. 4. 61.
True Courage must be a Regular thing ; it must have
not only a good End, but a wise Choice of Means.
StiUingjleet, Sermons, 111. v.
This gentleman is a person of good sense, and some
learning, of a very regular life, and obliging conversation.
Addison, Spectator, No. 106.
3. Specifically, in law, conformable to law and
the rules and practice of the court. — 4. In
math., governed by one law throughout. Thus,
a regular polygon is one which has all its sides and all its
angles equal ; a regular body is one which has all its faces
regular polygons, and all its summits formed by the junc-
tion of equal numbers of edges, those of each summit be-
ing equally inclined to one line.
5. In gram., adhering to the more common form
in respeftt to inflectional terminations, as, in
English, verbs forming their preterits and past
participles by the addition of -d or -ed to the
infinitive ; as nouns forming their plurals with
•s or -es; as the three conjugations of French
verbs known as regular; and so on. — 6. Be-
longing to and subject to the rule of a monastic
order; pertaining to a monastic order: as, reg-
ular c\.«ig^,vci distinction from secular clergy.
As these chanouns regvlers.
Or white monkes, or these blake.
Rom. 0/ the Rose, 1. 6694.
7. Specifically, in hot., having the members of
each circle of floral organs (sepals, petals, sta-
mens, and pistils) normally alike in form and
size : properly restricted to symmetry of form,
as distinguished from symmetry of number.
— 8. In zool., noting parts or organs which
are symmetrically disposed. See Begularia. —
9. In music: (a) Same as strict: as, regular
form; & regular tagae, ete. (6) Same as simi-
lar; as, regular motion. — 10. Milit., perma-
nent; standing: opposed to volunteer: said of
an army or of troops. — 11. In U. S. politics,
of, pertaining to, or originating from the rec-
ognized agents or "machinery" of a party: as,
& regular ticket. — 12. Thorough; out-and-out;
perfect; complete: as, a regular humbug; a
regular deception; a regular brick. [Colloq.]
regularnesB
— Eegular abbot, body, canon. See the nouns.—
Begmax benefice, a benefice which could be conferred
only on a regular priest— Regular curve, (a) A curve
without contrary flexure. (6) A curve defined by the same
equation or equations throughout. — Eegular decagon,
dodecagon, dodecahedron. See the nouns.— Regular
function, a function connected with the variable oy the
same general law for all values of the latter.— Regular
physician, a practitioner of medicine who has acquired an
accepted grade of knowledge of such things as pertain to
the art of healing, and who does not announce himself as
employing any single and peculiar rule or method of treat-
ment, in contrast with the allopath (if such there be),
homeopath, botanic physician, hydropath, electrician, qr
mind-cure practitioner. But nothing in his character of
regular physician prevents his using drugs which may be
made to produce in a healthy person ettects opposite to
or simDar to those of the disease in hand, or using drugs
of vegetable origin, or water in its various applications,
or electricity, or recognizing the tonic efleots of faith.—
Regular place, a place within the precincts of a reli-
gious house.— Regular polygon, pclyliedrcn. Seethe
nouns.— Regular proof, a proof drawn up in strict form,
with all the steps accurately stated in their proper order.
—Regular relation. See reJoKon.- Eegular sales, in
stock-SroHng and similar transactions, sales for delivery
on the following day.— Regular syllcglsm, a syllogism
set forth in the form usual in the books of logic, the major
premise first, then the minor premise, and last the con-
clusion, each proposition being formally stated, with the
same expressions used for the terms in the different propo-
sitions, and the construction of the proposition being that
which logic contemplates.- The regular ay stem, in crys-
tal, the isometric system. = Syn. 1. Ordinary, etc. See
nonnal. — 2. Systematic, uniform; periodic, settled, estab-
lished, stated.
II, n. 1. A member of any duly constituted
religious order which is bound by the three
monastic vows.
They declared positively that he [Archbishop Abbot] was
not to fall from his Dignity or Function, but should still
remain a Regular, and in statu quo prius.
Howell, Letters, I. iii. 7.
As in early days the regidars sustained Becket and the
seculars supported Henry II. Stubbs, Const. Hist, I 405.
2. A soldier who belongs to a standing army,
as opposed to a militiaman or volunteer ; a pro-
fessional soldier.
He was a regular in our ranks ; in other services only a
volunteer. Sumner, John Pickering.
3. In chron.: {a) A number attached to each
year such that added to the concurrents it
gives the number of the day of the week on
which the paschal full moon falls. (6) A fixed
number attached to each month, which assists
in ascertaining on what day of the week the first
day of any month fell, or the age of the moon
on the first day of any month.— colle^ of regu-
lars. See cone^e.- Congregation of Bishops and
Regulars. See cangregatum, S (a) (8).
Begularia (reg-u-la'ri-a), n. pi. [Nli., neut.
pi. of L. regularis, regular : see regular. "l Eegu-
lar sea-urchins, with biserial ambulacral plates,
centric mouth, and aboral anus interior. Also
called Endoeycliea.
regularise, v. t. See regulariee.
regularity (reg-u-lar'i-ti), n. [< OF. regularite,
regulavrete, F. riguldriti = Sp. regularidad =
Pg. regularidade = It. regolaritA, < ML. *regu^
larita{t-)s, < L. regularis, regular: see regular.']
The state or character of being regular, in any
sense : as, regularity of a plan or of a build-
ing; regularity of features; the regularity of
one's attendance at church; the watch goes
with great regularity.
He was a mighty lover of regularity and order.
Bp. Atterlury.
There was no regularity in their dancing.
E. W. Lane, Modem Egyptians, II. 212.
Regularis and proportion appeal to a primary sensi-
bility of the mind. A. Bain, Emotions and Will, p. 236.
regularization(reg"u-lar-i-2a'shoh), n. [iregu-
larize + -ation.'] The act or process of regular-
izing, or making regular; Qie state of being
made regular. [Rare.]
At present (1885), a scheme combining the two systems
of regula/rization and canalization is being carried out, for
the purpose of securing everywhere at low water a depth
of 6 feet 3 inches. Encyc. Brit., XX. 628.
An ancient Chinese law, moreover, prescribed the regu.
tarizatum of weights and measures at the spring equinox.
Eneyo. Brit., XXIV. 792.
regularize (feg'u-lar-Iz), v. t. [< P. r^gula-
riser; as regular + -ize.] To make regular.
The labor bestowed in regidarisdng and modulating our
language had operated not only to impoverish it but to
check its growth. F. Hall, Mod. Eng., p. 282.
Their [the alkaline metals'] mode of action is greatly
regulanaed by being made into amalgam with mercury.
W. Crookes, Dyeing and Calico-printing, p. 440.
Also spelled regularise.
regularly (reg'u-lSr-li), adv. In a regular man ■
ner, in any sense of the word regular.
regularness (reg'u-lar-nes), n. Regularity,
Long crystals . . . that did emulate native crystal as
well in the regvlamees of shape a« in the transparency of
the substance. Boyle, Works, HI. 680.
regulatable
xegulatable (reg'u-la-ta-bl), a. [< regulate
4- -able.] Capable of being regulated. E. H.
Knight.
xegnlate (reg'u-lat), v. t. ; pret. and pp. regu-
lated, ppr. regulating. [< L. regulatus, pp. of
regulars (> It. regolare = Sp. reglar, regular =
Pg. regular, regrar = F. regler), direct, rule,
regulate, < regula, rule: see ruW-. Cf. regie,
rait^jV.I X. To adjust by rule, method, or es-
tablished mode ; govern by or subject to cer-
tain rules or restrictions ; direct.
If we think to rraidat Printing, thereby to reotifle man-
ners, we must regvlat all recreations and pastimes, all that
is delightfull to man. Milton, Areopagitica, p. 23.
When I travel, I always choose to regulate my own sup-
per. Ooldgmith, She Stoops to Conquer, ii. 1.
One of the settled conclusions of political economy is
that wages and prices cannot be artificially reffulated.
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 601.
2. To put or keep in good order : as, to regu-
late the disordered state of a nation or its
finances ; to regulate the digestion.
You must learn by trial how much half a turn of the
screw accelerates or retards the watch per day, and after
that you can regulate it to the utmost nicety.
Sir E. Heckett, Clocks, Watches, and Bells, p. 300.
3. Specifically, in musical instruments with a
keyboard, so to adjust the action that it shall
be noiseless, prompt, and sensitive to the touch.
=Syil. 1. JRvle, Manage, etc. See govern,
regulating (reg'u-la-ting), 71. 1. The act indi-
cated by the verb regulate. Specifically — 2.
In rail., the work in the yard of making up
trains, storing cars, etc.; drilling or switch-
ing.
regulating-screw (reg'u-la-ting-skrS), n. In
organ-iuilding, a screw by which the dip of the
digitals of the keyboard may be adjusted.
regulation (reg-u-la'shgn), n. and a. [= F. regu-
lation = Sp. regulaeion = Pg. regulagSo. = It.
regolazione, < ML. *regulatio{n-), (regulare, reg-
ulate: Bee regulate.'] 1, n. 1. The act of reg-
ulating, or the state of being regulated or re-
duced to order.
No form of co-operation, small or great, can be carried
on without regulation, and an implied submission to the
regulating agencies. H. Spencer, Man vs. State, p. 39.
2. A rule or order prescribed by a superior or
competent authority as to the actions of those
under its control ; a governing direction; pre-
cept; law: as, police regulations; more specifi-
cally, a rule prescribed by a municipality, cor-
poration, or society for the conduct of third per-
sons dealing with it, as distinguished from (a) by-
law, a term which is generally used rather with
reference to the standing rules governing its
own internal organization and the conduct of its
officers and members, and (6) ordinance, which
is generally used in the United States for the
local legislation of municipalities. — 3. In musi-
cal instruments with a keyboard, the act or pro-
cess of adjusting the action so that it shall be
noiseless, prompt, and sensitive to every varia-
tion of touch — Army regulations. See army^.—
General regulations, a system of ordinances for the ad-
ministration of the affairs of the army, and for better
prescribing the respective duties and powers of officers
and men in the military service, and embracing all forms
of a general character. Jties. =Syn. 1. Disposition, ordet
iug, adjustment. — 2. Ordinance, Statute, etc. See towl.
II. a. Having a fixed or regulated pattern or
style ; in accord with a rule or standard. [Col-
loq.]
The regulation mode of cutting the hair.
Dickens, Oliver Twisty xviii.
My regulation saddle-holsters and housings.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxx.
regulation (reg-u-la'shgn), v. t. [< regulate +
-ion.] To bring under regulations; cause to
conform to rules. [Rare.]
The Javanese knows no freedom. His whole existence
is regulationed. Quoted in Encyc. Brit., XIII. 604.
regulative (reg'u-la'-tiv), a. [< regulate + -we.]
Eeg^ulating; tending to regulate.
Ends and uses are the regulaiive reasons of all existing
things. Bushndl, Sermons lor Sew Life, p. 12.
It is the aim of the Dialectic to show . . . that there are
certain ideas of reason which are regvlaUve of all our em-
pirical knowledge, and which also limit it.
E. Caird, Philos. of Kant, p. 197.
Regulative faculty. Sir W. Hamilton's name for the fac-
ulty of principles ; the noetic faculty.— Kegulative Idea,
a conception resulting from or cairying with it a regula-
tive principle.— Regulative principle, (a) In logic, the
leading principle of an argumentation or inference ; that
general proposition whose truth is required to justify the
habit of inference which has given rise in any case to the
particular inference of which this proposition is said to
be the regulative principle : opposed to constitutive prin-
ciple, or pre-major premise. [This use of the term oilgi-
nated in the fifteenth century.]
5051
Which be the principles irregulatiue? The Principlee
regulatiue of a syllogisms be these two phrases of speech :
to be spoken of all, and to be spoken of none.
BlundemUe, Arte of Logicke (ed. 1619), v. L
(b) Since £ant, a rule showing what we ought to assume,
without giving any assurance that the fact to be assumed
is true ; or a proposition which will lead to the truth if
it be true, wbUe if it be false the truth cannot be at-
tained ; such, for example, is the rule that we must not
despair of answering any question by sufficient investiga-
tion, (c) A. rule of conduct which, if it be pursued, may
lead us to our desired end, while, if it be not pursue*^
that end cannot be attained in any way. — Regulative
use Of a conception. See conetitutive use of a concep-
tion, under constituHve.
regulator (reg'u-la-tor), n. [= F. regulateur =
Sp. Pg. regulator = it. regolatore, < ML. regu-
lator, a regulator, ruler, < regulare, regulate ; see
regulate.] 1. One who or that which regulates.
Members of the unauthorized associations which have at
various times been formed in parts' of the United States
for the carrying out of a rough substitute for justice in
the case of heinous or notorious crimes have been called
regulators.
2. A mechanical contrivance intended to pro-
duce uniformity of motion, temperature, power,
etc. (a) In enjffin. and mach.: (1) A governor in the sense
described and illustrated tmder governor, 6. (2) A gover-
nor employed to control the closing of the port-opening for
admission of steam to the cylinder of an automatically va-
riable cut^oft' steam-engine. This is a numerous class of
regulators, in which the ball-governor described under
governor, 6, is used to control the motion of the induction-
valve instead of that of the throttle- valve. By leaving the
throttle-valve fully open and closing the induction-valve
earlier or later in the stroke, the steam arrives in the cylin-
der nearly at full pressure, and with its full store of avail-
able heat for conversion into work by expansion. (3) An
arrangement of weights, springs, and an eccentric or ec-
centrics, carried on the fiy-wheel shaft or on the fly- wheel
of a steam-engine, connected with the stem of the induc-
tion-valve by an eccentric-rod, and automatically varying
Re^lator.
Fig. 2.
a, fly-wheel shaft ; a, i, and a, 6', ecceatricittes in differeat posi-
tions of the eccentrics c and d. The eccentric c turns freely on the
shaft a, and is actuated by links e, that are pivoted to ears formed
on the eccentric, and are also pivoted to weights /. The weights
have the form ot curved bars, and are pivoted atone end to spokes of
the wheel, ^ shown at ^. The eccentric c/is fitted to and turns freely
upon tlie perimeter of the eccentric c. It is also connected by a link k
to the toe of one of the weights, and is rotated on c by the motion of
the weight toward or away from the center of the shaft a. The ec-
centric f is also rotated on the shaft a by the motion of the weights to
or from the center of the shaft, but it is turned in a direction opposite
to that in which d is turned. These two eccentricities, therefore, con-
stitute a compound eccentric, the eccentricihr or "throw" of which
varies with the position of the weights, while the " lead " remains
practically the same. Coiled springs A constantly press the weights
y toward the center, and the action of these spnngs is more or less
oveicome by centrifugal force as the shaft a rotates with greater or
less velocity. The higher the velocity the less will be the throw of
the valve and the shorter the cut-off, and vice versa. Fig. i shows
the weights in their extreme outward position, in which the throw
ai is the least possible. Fig. 2 shows the extreme inward position of
the weights, in which the throw ad' is the greatest possible. The
range of variable cut-off is thus carried from simple lead to 0.7 of
the stroke, and a very small percentage of change in the velocity is
sufficient to change the cut-off from its least to its greatest limit.
the cut-off, maintaining a uniform speed of rotation under
conditions of widely varying work. One of the most in-
genious and scientific of this class is illustrated in the cut
with an accompanying explanation. (4) A throttle-valve.
(6) The induction-valve of a steam-engine. (6) The brake-
band of a crab or crane which regulates the descent of a
body mised by or suspended on amachine. (b) In heating
apparatus : (1) A register. (2) A thermostat, (3) An au-
tomatic draft-damper for the furnace or fire-box of a steam-
boiler. Also called damper-regulator, (c) In lurrol.: (1)
A clock of superior order, by comparison with which
other time-pieces are regulated. (2) A clock which, being
electrically connected with other clocks at a distance,
causes them to keep time in unison with it. (3) A device
(commonly a screw and small nut) by which the bob of a
pendulum is raised or lowered, causing the clock to go
faster or slower. (4) The fly of the striking mechanism of a
clock. (See/3/l,3(o)(l).) (6) A small lever which shortens
or lengthens the hair-spring of a watch, thus causing the
watch to go faster or slower according as the regulator is
moved toward a part marked F. or 5. (d) In the electric
light, the contrivance, usually an electromagnet, by which
the carbon-points are kept at a constant distance, so that
the light is steady (see electric light, under electric) ; or, in
general, a contrivance for making the current produced by
the dynamo-machines of constant strength. — Many-light
regulator, a regulator for voltaic arc-lights, controlling
numerous lights on one circuit. — RegiUator-boz. (a)
A valve-chest or -box. (6) The original valve-motion of
Watt's double-action condensing pumping-engine. It
was a valve-box having a spindle through one of its sides, '
on which was a toothed sector working on a central bear-
ing, and meshing with a rack attached to a valve. A
tripping-lever attached to the sector and operated by the
plug-tree caused the oscillations of the latter to open and
close the valve.— Regulator-cock, one of the oil-cocks
which admit oil to the steam-chest or valve-chest of a loco-
motive engine.— Regulator-cover, the cover or bonnet
of a valve-chest or steam-chest of a steam-engine cylinder.
— Regulator-shaft and -levers, in locomotive engines,
the shaft and levers placed in front of the smoke-box when
each cylinder has a separate regulator : now collectively
regurgitation
called valve-gear or valve-motion. — Regulator-valve, a
throttle- valve.
regulatory (reg'u-la-ta-ri), a. [< regulate +
-ory.] Tending to regulate; regulative. N.Y.
Med. Jour., XL. 476.
regulatress (reg'u-la-tres), n. [< regulator +
-ess.] A female regulator; a directrix. Knight,
Anc. Art and Myth. (1876), p. 99.
Begulins (reg-u-li'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Begulus
+ -inee.] The kinglets as a subfamUy of Syl-
viidse (or of Turdidse), typified by the genus Be-
gulus. They are only 4 or 5 inches long, generally with a
conspicuous colored crest. The tarsi are booted, and the
first primary is strictly spurious. The species are numer-
ous, and inhabit chiefly the Old World. Sometimes Begu-
lidx. as a separate famjly.
reguline^ (reg'u-lin), a. [< F. regulin, having
the character oi regulus, the condition of per-
fect purity ; as regulus + -ine^.] Of or pertain-
ing to a regulus.
The regidive condition is that of the greater number of
deposits made in electrometallurgy.
Jour. Franklin InsL, CXIX. 90.
re^line^ (reg'u-lin), a. In ornith., of or per-
taining to the Begulinm.
regulize (reg'u-liz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. regulized,
ppr. regulizing. [< regulus + -ize.]- To reduce
to regulus.
regulus (reg'u-lus), n.; pi. reguli (-li). [< L.
regulus, a little king, a king's son, a king bee, a
small bird so called, LL. a kind of serpent, ML.
regulus, metallic antimony, later also applied
to various aUojrs and metallic products; dim.
of rea; (rep-), a king: seerea;.] 1. laornith.: (a)
An old name of the goldorest or crested wren of
Europe; a kinglet. (6) [_cap.] [NL.] The typi-
cal genus of BegulinsB ; the kinglets, xhe com-
mon goldcrest of Europe is B. cristatus (see cut under
golderest); the flre-crested wren of the same country is
iZ. ignica;^lzts. The corresponding species of America
is the golden-crowned kinglet, B. satrapa. The ruby-
crowned kinglet is ii. calendula. See kinglet.
2. In alchemy and early chemistry, the reduced
or metallic mass obtained in the treatment of
various ores, pari;icularly those of the semi-
metals (see metal); especially, metallic anti-
mony {regulus antimonit) : but various alloys of
antimony, other brittle metals, and even the
more perfect metals were also occasionally so
called, to indicate that they were in the me-
tallic condition. — 3. [cap.] [NL. (Coperni-
cus), tr. Gr. paaMcKOQ, the name of the star in
Ptolemy.] A very white star, of magnitude
1.4, on the heart of the Lion; a Leonis. — 4. In
geom., a ruled surface or singly infinite system
of straight lines, where consecutive lines do
not intersect — Dalmatian regulus. SeeDdlmalmn.
regur, regar (re'ger, re'gar), n. [Hind, regur,
prop, regada, regadi, bla'cjs; loam (see def.), <
reg, sand.] The name given in India to a dark-
colored, loamy, superficial deposit or soil rich
in organic matter, and often of very consider-
able thickness, it is distinguished by its fineness and
the absence of forest vegetation, thus resembling in char-
acter the black soil of southern Kussia (tschemozem) and
of the prairies of the Mississippi valley.
regurgitant (re-ger' ji-tant), a. [< ML. regurgi-
tan(t-)s, ppr. of regurgitare, regurgitate : see
regurgitate.] Characterized by or pertaining
to regurgitation.
The diseases of the valves and orifices of the heart
which produce mechanical disorders of the circulation
. . . are of tyo kinds, obstructive and regurgitant.
Quain, Med. Diet., p. 623.
Regur^tant cardiac muiiuurs. See murmur.
regurgitate (rf-ger'ji-tat), v. ; pret. and pp. re-
gurgitated, ppr. regurgitaUng. [< ML. regurgi-
tatus, pp. of regurgitare (> It. regurgitare =
Sp. Pg. regurgitar = OP. regurgiter, F. re-
gurgiter), regurgitate, < LL. re-, back, + gurgi-
tare, engulf, flood: see gurgitation.] I. trans.
To pour or cause to rush or surge back ; pour
or throw back in great quantity.
For a mammal, having its grinding apparatus in Its
mouth, to gain by the habit of hurriedly swallowing un-
masticated food, it must also have the habit of regurgitat-
ing the food for subsequent mastication.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., § 297.
Il.intrans. Tobepom-edback; surgeorrush
back.
Many valves, all so situate as to give a free passage to
the blood and other humours in their due channels, but
not permit them to regurgitate and disturb the great cir-
culation.
Nature was wont to evacuate its vicious blood out of
these veins, which passage being stopt, it regurgitates up-
wards to the lungs. Haney.
regurgitation (re-ger-ji-ta'shon), n. [= F.
regurgitation = Sp. regurgitacion = Pg. regurgi-
tagao, < ML. regurgitaUo{n-), < regurgitare, re-
gurgitate: see regurgitate.] 1. The act of re-
regurgitation
gurgitating or pouring iDaek. — 2. The act of
swallowing again ; reabsorption.
In the lowest creatures, the distribution of crude nutri-
ment is by slow gurgitations and regwrgitalions.
H. Spencer, Universal Progress, p. 417.
3. In med.: (a) The puking or posseting of
infants. (6) The rising of solids or fluids into
the mouth in the adult, (c) Specifically, the
reflux through incompetent heart-valves: as,
aortic regurgitation, (re&uxthiovigii leaking aor-
tic valves).
reh (ra), 11. [Hind.] A saline efSoreseenoe ris-
ing to the surface and covering various exten-
sive tracts of land in the Indo-Gangetie allu-
vial plain, rendering the soil worthless for cul-
tivation. It consists chiefly oi sodium sulphate mixed
with more or less common salt (sodium chlorid) and sodi-
um carbonate. It is known in the Northwest Provinces
of India as reh, and further west, in the Upper Punjab, as
kaiar or leuUar.
Those who have travelled through Northern India can-
not fail to have noticed whole districts of land as white as
if covered with snow, and entirely destitute of vegetation.
. . . This desolation is caused by reh, which is a white
ilocculent efflorescence, formed of highly soluble sodium
salts, which are found in almost every soil. Where the
subsoil water-level is sufficiently near the surface, the
strong evaporating force of the sun's heat, aided by cap-
illary attraction, draws to the surface of the ground the
water holding these salts in solution, and these compel
the water, which passes off in the form of vapour, to leave
behind the salts it held as a white efflorescence.
A. 0. F. Eliot James, Indian Industries, p. 195.
rehabilitate (re-ha-hil'i-tat), V. t. [< ML. re-
liaMUtatus, pp. of rehabilitare (> It. ridbilitare
= Sp. Pg. rehabilitar = OF. rehabiUter, F. re-
liaMUter), restore, < re-, again, + habilitare,
habilitate: see liabilitate.'] 1. To restore to a
former capacity or standing ; reinstate ; qualify
again ; restore, as a delinquent, to a former
right, rank, or privilege lost or forfeited : a term
drawn from the civil and canon law.
He is rehabilitated, his honour is restored, all his attain-
ders are purged ! Burke, A Kegicide Peace, iv.
Assured
The justice of the court would presently
Confirm her in her rights and exculpate,
Re-integrate, and retmbUitate.
Browning, Ring and Book, II, 327.
2. To reestablish in the esteem of others or
in social position lost by disgrace ; restore to
public respect: as, there is now a tendency
to rehabilitate notorious historical personages ;
Lady Blank was rehabilitated by the influence
of her family at court.
rehabilitation (re-ha-bil-i-ta'shon), n. [= OF.
rehabilitation, F. rehabilitation = Sp. rehabili-
tacion = Pg. rehabilitagao = It. riabilitazione,
< ML. rehabilitatio{n-), < rehabilitare, pp. reha-
hilitatus, rehabilitate : see rehabilitate.'] The
act of rehabilitating, or reinstating in a former
rank, standing, or capacity ; restoration to for-
mer rights; restoration to or reestablishment
in the esteem of others.
This old law-term [rehabilitate] has been gaining ground
ever since it was introduced into popular discourse by
Burke, to whom it may have been suggested by the French
r^habiliter. Equally with its substantive, rehabilitation,
it enables us to dispense with a tedious circumlocution.
F. Hall, Mod. Eng., p. 299, note.
rehaitt, rehetet, v. t. [ME. rehaiten, rehayten,
reheten, < OF. rehaitier, make joyful, < re-, again,
-I- haitier, make joyful.] To revive; cheer;
encourage; comfort.
Thane the conquerour kyndly carpede to those lordes,
Itehetede the Romaynes with realle speche.
MoHe Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 221.
Hym wol I comforte and reh^te,
For I hope of his gold to gete.
Som. 0/ the Rose, 1. 6509.
rehandle (re-han'dl), V. t. [< re- + handle.']
To handle or have to do with again; remodel;
revise. The Academy, March 29, 1890, p. 218.
rehash (re-hash'), v. t. [< OF. rehacher, hack
or chop again, < re-, again, -I- haclier, chop,
hash : see hash^.] To hash anew; work up, as
old material, in a new form.
rehash (re-hash'), ra. l<.rehash,v.] Something
hashed afresh; something concocted from ma-
terials formerly used: as, a literary rehash.
[Colloq.]
I understand that Dr. G 's speech here, the other
evening, was principally a rehash of his Yreka effort.
Sermtor Broderick, Speech in California, Aug., 1859.
[(Bartlett.)
Your finest method in her hands is only a rehash of the
old mechanism. Jour, of Education, XVIII. 377.
rehead (re-hed'), v. t. [< re- + head.] To fit or
furnish with a head again, as a cask or a nail.
rehear (re-her'), v. t. [< re- + hear.] To hear
again ; try a second time : as, to rehear a cause
in a law-court. Bp. Home, Com. on Ps. Ixxsii.
5052
rehearing (re-her'ing), n. [Verbal n. of re-
hear, v.] A second hearing; reconsideration;
especially, in law, a second hearing or trial;
more specifically, a new trial in chancery, or a
second argument of a motion or an appeal.
If by this decree either party thinks himself aggrieved,
he may petition the chancellor for a rehearing.
Blacistone, Com., III. xxvii.
rehearsal (re-hfer'sal), n. [Early mod. E. re-
hersall; < Mfi. rehersaille, < OF. rehearsal, re-
hersall, repeating, < reherser, rehearse : see re-
hearse.] The act of rehearsing, (a) Repetition
of the words of another.
Twice we appoint that the words which the minister
pronounceth the whole congregation shall repeat after
him : as first in the publick confession of sins, and again
in rehearsal of our Lord's prayer after the blessed sacra-
ment. Hooker, Eccles. Polity.
(S) Narration ; a telling or recounting, as of particulars :
as, the rehearsal of one's wrongs or adventures.
Be not Autour also of tales newe.
For callyng to rehersaUl, lest thou it rewe.
Booke 0/ Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 110.
You haue made mine eares glow at the rehearsall of your
loue. Lyly, Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 7B.
(c) In mMM! and the drama : (1) The process of studying by
practice or preparatory exercise : as, to put a work in re-
hearsal. (2) A meeting of musical or dramatic performers
for practice and study together, preliminary to a pubHc
performance.
Here 's a marvellous convenient place for our rehearsal.
This green plot shall be our stage.
Shak., M. N. D., iii. 1. 3.
Full rehearsal, a rehearsal in which all the performers
take part.— Public rehearsal, a rehearsal to which a
limited number of persons are admitted by way of com-
pliment or for their criticism, or even as to a regular per-
formance.
rehearse (re-hers'), v.) pret. and pp. rehearsed,
ppr. rehearsing. [Early mod. E. also reherse;
< ME. rehereen, rehersen, rehearsen, < AF. reher-
ser, rehereer, repeat, rehearse, a particular use
of OF. reherser, harrow over again, < re-, again,
-I- hercer, harrow, < herce, F. herse, a harrow :
see hearse^.] I. trans. 1. To repeat, as what
has already been said or written ; recite ; say
or deliver again.
Her f aire locks up stared stiff e on end,
Hearing him those same bloody lynes reherse.
Spenser, F. Q., III. xii. 36.
When the words were heard which David spake, they
re?tearsed them before Saul. 1 Sam. xvii. 31.
We rehearsed our rhymes
To their fair auditor.
WhUtier, Bridal of Pennacook.
2. To mention ; narrate ; relate ; recount ; re-
capitulate ; enumerate.
With many moe good deedes, not rehearsed heere.
. Bob. of Gloucester, p. 582.
Of swiche unkynde abhomynacions
Ne I wol noon reherce, if that I may.
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 89.
There shall \h&y rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord.
Judges V. 11.
3. To repeat, act, or perform in private for ex-
periment and practice, preparatory to a public
performance : as, to rehearse a tragedy ; to re-
hearse a symphony.
A mere boy, with but little physical or dramatic strength,
coming upon the stage to rehearse so important a charac-
ter, must have been rather a shock . . . to the great actor
whom he was to support. J. Jefferson, Autobiog., p. 129.
4. To cause to recite or narrate ; put through
a rehearsal; prompt. [Bare.]
A wood-sawyer, living by the prison wall, is under the
control of the Defarges, and has been rehearsed by Madame
Defarge as to his having seen her [Lucie] , . , making
signs and signals to the prisoners.
Dickens, Two Cities, iii. 12.
= ^pi. 2. To detail, describe. ^q& recapitulate.
n. intrans. To repeat what has been already
said, written, or performed; go through some
performance in private, preparatory to public
representation.
Meet me in the palace wood ; . . . there will we rehearse.
Shak., M. N. D., i. 2. 105.
rehearser (rf-h^r'sfer), n. One who rehearses,
recites, or narrates.
Such rehearsers [of genealogies] who might obtrude fic-
titious pedigrees. Johnson, Jour, to Western Isles.
rehearsing (re-her'sing), n. [< ME. rehersyng,
rehersynge; verbal n. oirehearse, v.] Eehearsal ;
recital; discourse.
Of love, of hate, and other sondry thynges.
Of whiche I may not maken rehersynges.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 24.
reheat (re-hef), v. t. [< re- + heat] To heat
again or anew.— Reheating-fumace. See furnace.
reheater (re-he'tSr), n. An apparatus for re-
storing heat to a previously heated body which
has entirely or partially cooled during some
stage of a manufacture or process, in a diffusion
reify
apparatus for extraction of sugar from beet-roots or from
sugar-canes, reheaters are arranged in alternation withdif-
f users, commonly twelve in number, containing the sliced
roots. The hot water for diffusion is directed through
pipes connecting the diff users with the reheaters by means
of cocks or valves, and is reheated by passing through a
reheater after passing through a diSuser. Thus, through
the aid of heat and pressure, the water becomes charged
with sugar. See diffusion a'pparaXus (under diffvmin), and
rehedt, »• A corrupt Middle English form of
reedX.
reheel (re-hel'), v. t. [< re- + heeP-.] To sup-
ply a heel to, especially in knitting, as in mend-
ing a stocking.
rehelm (re-helm'), v. t. [< re- + helm^.] To
cover again, as .the head, with a helm or hel-
met.
With the crossynge of their speares the erle was vn-
helmed ; than he retourned to his men, and incontynent
he was rehelmed, and toke his speare.
Bemers, tr. of Froissart's Chron., II.. cxlviii.
rehersaillet, »• -A. Middle English form of re-
hearsal.
rehersef, v. An obsolete spelling of rehearse.
rehetet, «>• t. See rehait.
rehibition (re-hi-bish'on), n. Same as redhibi-
tion.
rehibitory (re-hib'i-to-ri), a. Same as redhibi-
tory.
rehybridize (re-hi'bri-diz), v. t. [< re- + hy-
bridize.] To cause to hybridize or interbreed
a second time and with a different species.
rehypothecate (re-hi-poth'f-kat), v. t. [< re-
+ hypothecate.] To hypothecate again, as by
lending as security bonds already pledged. See
hypothecate.
rehypothecation (re-hi-poth-e-ka'shpn), n. [<
re- + hypothecation.] The pledging of property
of any kind as security for a loan by one with
whom it has already been pledged as security
for money he has loaned.
rei, ». Plural of reus.
reichardtite (ri'ohar-tit), n. [< Beidiardt +
4te.] Amassive variety of epsomite from Stass-
furt, Prussia.
Beichertian (ri-ch6r'ti-an), a. [< Beichert (see
def .) + -ian.] Pertaining tothe German anat-
omist K. B. Eeiohert (1811-83).
Beichsrath (G. pron. riohs'rat), n. [G., <
reichs, gen. of reich, kingdom, empire (= AS.
nee, kingdom: see riche), -(- rath, council, par-
liament: see read^, rede^.] The chief delibera-
tive body in the Cisleithan division of Austria-
Hungary. It is composed of an iipper house (Herren-
haus) of princes, certain nobles and prelates, and life-
members nominated by the emperor, and of a lower
house of 353 deputies elected by landed proprietors and
other persons having a certain property or particular in-
dividual qualification. By the law of June 14, 1896, 72
additional members are chosen by the whole body of
electors (namely, all male citizens over 24 years of age,
not otherwise disqualified), making the total number 42S.
Beichsstadt (G. pron. rieh'stat), n. [G., <
reichs, gen. of 7'eich, kingdom, empire, + stadt,
a town. Cf. stadtholder.] In the old Eoman-
German empire, a city which held immediate-
ly of the empire and was represented in the
Eeichstag.
Beichstag (G. pron. riehs'tach), «. [G., <
reichs, gen. of reich, kingdom, empire, + tag,
parliament: see da?/!. Ct Landtag.] The chief
deliberative body in certain countries of Europe .
For the Reichstag of the old Roman-German empire, see
diet2. In the present empire of Germany, the Reichstag,
in combination with the Bundesrath (which see), exercises
the legislative power in imperial matters ; it is composed
of 397 deputies, elected by universal suffriige. In the
Transleithan division of Austria^Hungary it is composed
of a House of Magnates and a lower House of Represen-
tatives. Reichstag in all these senses is often rendered in
English by di£t or parliament.
reichsthaler (G. pron. richs'ta^lfer), n. [G., <
reichs, gen. of reich, kingdom, empire, + thaler,
dollar: see dollar.] Same as rix-dollar.
reift, n. See ree/s.
reification (re'''i-fi-ka'shon), n. [< reify +
-ation(see-fication).] Materialization; objec-
tivization; extemalization ; conversion of the
abstract into the concrete; the regarding or
treating of an idea as a thing, or as if a thing.
[Eare.]
reify (re'i-fl), v. t. ; pret. and pp. reified, ppr.
reifying. [< L. res, a thing, -t- -ficare, < facere,
make (see -fy).] To make into a thing; make
real or material; consider as a thing.
The earliest objects of thought and the earliest concepts
rnust naturally be those of the things that live and move
about us; hence, then — to seek no deeper reason for
the present— this natural tendency, which language by
providing distinct names powerfully seconds, to rafy or
personify not only things, but every element and relation
of things which we can single out, or, in other words, to
concrete our abstracts. J. Ward, Encyc. Biit., XX. 78.
reighte
reightet. A Middle English variant of raughte
for reached.
reiglet, n. and V. See regie.
reiglementt, n. See reglement.
reign (ran), ». [Early mod. B. also raign,
raine; < ME. regne, rengne, < OF. reigne, regne,
P. regne = Pr. regne = Sp. Pg. reiiw = It. regno,
< L. regnum, kingly government, royalty, do-
minion, sovereignty, authority, rule, a king-
dom, realm, estate, possession, < regere, rule :
see regent.'] 1. Eoyal or imperial authority;
sovereignty; supreme power; control; sway.
Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but eaxth and dust?
Shak., 8 Hen. VI., v. 2. 27.
That flx'd mind . . .
That with the Mightiest raised me to contend,
And to the fierce contention brought along
Innumerable force of spuits arm'd
That durst dislike his reign. MUlon, P. L., i. 102.
In Britain's isle, beneath a George's reign.
Cowper, Heroism, i. 90.
2. The time during which a monarch occupies
the throne: as, an act passed in the present
In the fifteenth year of the reiflw of Tiberius CcBsar . . ,
the word of God came unto John. Lulte iii. 1.
3t. The territory over which a sovereign holds
sway; empire; kingdom; dominions; realm.
He conquerede al the regne of Femenye.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, L 8.
Then stretch thy sight o'er all her rising reign, , . .
Ascend this hill, whose cloudy point commands
Her boundless empire over sea and lands.
Pope, Dunciad, iii. 65.
4. Power; influence; sway; dominion.
She gan to stoupe, and her proud mind convert
To meeke obeysance of loves mightie raine.
Spenser, F. Q., V. v. 28.
In her the painter had anatomized
Time's ruin, beauty's wreck, and grim care's reign.
Shak.f Lucrece, 1. 1451.
That characteristic principle of the Constitution, which
has been well called " The Reign of Law," was established.
J. Bryce, American Commonwealth, I. 216.
Beign of Terror. See terror.
reign (ran), V. i. [Early mod. E. also raign,
raine; < ME. reinen, reignen, regnen, < OP.
regner, P. rdgner = Pr. regnar, renhar = Sp.
Pg. reinar = It. regnare, < L. regnare, reign,
rule, < regnum, authority, rule : see reign, n. Of.
regnant.'] 1. To possess or exercise sovereign
power or authority; govern, as a king or em-
peror; hold the supreme power ; rule.
In the Cytee of Tyre regned Agenore the Fadre of Dydo.
Mandeville, Travels, p. 30.
Alleluia : for the Lord Qod omnipotent reigneth.
Eev. xix. 6.
Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.
auton, P. L., i. 263.
5. To prevail; he in force.
The spavin
Or springhalt reigned among 'em.
Shak., Hen. VIII., i. 3. 13.
The sultry Sirius burns the thirsty plains.
While in tliy heart eternal winter reigns.
Pope, Summer, I. 22.
Fear and trembling reigned, for a time, along the fron-
tier. Irving, Granada, p. 101.
Silence reigned in the streets ; from the church no Ange-
lus sounded. Longfellow, Evangeline, 1. S.
3. To have dominion or ascendancy; predom-
inate.
Let not sin therefore r^gn in your mortal body, that ye
should obey it in the lusts thereof. Kom. vi. 12.
Our Jovial star reign'd at his birth.
Shak., Cymbeline, v. 4. 105.
Insatiate Avarice then first began
To raigns in the depravM minde of man
After his fall. Time^ Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 41.
Two principles in human nature reign:
Self-love to urge, and Season to restrain.
Pope, Essay on Man, ii. 53.
reigner (ra'ner), n. [< reign + -eri. Of. It.
regnatore, ruler, < L. regnator, ruler.] One
who reigns ; a ruler. [Eare.]
reikt, »• A variant of reeK^.
Teilt, '"'■ A Middle English form of rail?.
Beil S band. A fibrous or muscular band ex-
tending across the right ventricle of the heart,
from the base of the anterior papillary muscle
to the septum. It is frequent in man, and rep-
resents the moderator band found in the heart
of some lower animals.
reim (rem), n. Same as riem.
reiiubark, v. See reemiark.
xeimbnrsable (re-im-b6r'sa-bl), a. [= F. rem-
boursahle — Sp. reembolsdile ; as reimburse +
-able.] Capable of being or expected to be re-
imbursed or repaid.
Let the sum of 660,000 dollars be borrowed, . . . reim-
bursable within five years.
A. BamUton, To House of Kep., Dec. 3, 1792.
6053
reimburse (re-im-b6rs'), v. t. [Aecom. < OF.
(and P.) rembourser = Sp. Pg. reembolsar = It.
rimborsare, reimburse; as re- + imburse.] 1.
To replace in a purse, treasury, or fund, as an
equivalent for vniat has been taken, expended,
or lost; payback; restore; refund: as, to reim-
burse the expenses of a war.
It was but reasonable that I should strain myself as far
as I was able to reimburse him some of his charges.
Suriift, Story of the Injured Lady.
If any of the Members shall give in a Bill of the Charges
of any Experiments which he shall have made, . . . the
Money is forthwith reimbursed by the King.
IMer, Journey to Paris, p. 79.
2. To pay back to; repay to; indemnify.
As if one who had been robbed . . . should aUege that
he had a right to reimburse himself out of the pocket of
the first traveller he met. Paley, Moral Fhilos., iii. 7.
=Syn. 2. Bermmera^, Becompense, etc. ie& indemnify.
reimbursement (re-im-bers'ment), n. [Accom.
< OP. (and F.) remboursemeni' = It. rimborsa-
mento; as reimburse + -roewi.] The act of re-
imbursing or refunding ; repayment.
She helped them powerfully, but she exacted cautionary
towns from them, as a security for her reimbursement
whenever they should be in a condition to pay.
BoUngbroke, The Occasional Writer, No. 2.
reimburser (re-im-ber'ser), re. One who reim-
burses ; one who repays or refunds what has
been lost or expended.
reimplacet (re-im-plasO, v. t. [Aecom. < OF.
remplacer, replace ; as re- + emplace.] To re-
place.
For this resurrection of the soul, for the reimpladjig
the Divine image, . . . Ood did a greater work than the
creation. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 866.
reimplant (re-im-planf), V. t. [< re- + im-
plant.] To implant again.
How many grave and godly matrons usually graffe or
reimplant on their now more aged heads and brows the
reliques, combings, or cuttings of their own or others*
more youtlif ul hair 1
Jer. Taylor (?), Axtit. Handsomeness, p. 46.
reimplantation (re-im-plan-ta'shon), n. [< re-
impimt + -aUon.] The act or process of reim-
planting.
Successful BeimplantaHon of a Trephined Button of
Bone. Medical News, Ul. p. 1. of Adv'ts.
reimport (re-im-p6rt'), V. t. [< P. reimporter,
reimport; as re- + import.] 1. To bring back.
Bid him [day] drive back his car, and reimport
The period past. Young, Niglit Thoughts, ii. 308.
2. To import again ; carry back to the country
of exportation.
'Goods. . , clandestinely rei7?i23orfe(f into our own [coun-
try]. Adam, Smith, Wealth of Nations, iv. 4.
reimport (re-im'p6rt), «. [< reimport, v.] Same
as reimportation.
The amount available for reimport probably has been
returned to us. Th£ American, VI. 244,
reimportation (re-im-por-ta'shon), n. [< F.
reimportation; as reimport + -aiion.] The act
of reimporting; that which is reimported.
By maUng their reimportation illegal.
The American, VI. 244.
reimpose (re-im-poz'), v. t. [< OP. reimposer,
P. reimposer; as re- + impose.] 1. To impose
or levy anew: as, to reimpose a tax. — 2. To tax
or charge anew ; retax. [Rare.]
The parish is afterwards reimposed, to reimburse those
five or six. Adam, Smith, Wealth of Nations, v. 2.
3. To place or lay again: as, to reimpose bur-
dens upon the poor.
reimposition (re-im-po-zish'on), n. [< P. rS-
imposition; as re- + imposition.] 1. The act
of reimposing: as, the reimposiUon of a tax.
The attempt of the distinguished leaders of the party
opposite to form a government, based as it was at that pe-
riod on an intention to propose Qi^reimpoe^ion of a fixed
duty on corn, entirely failed. Qladsttme.
2. A tax levied anew.
Such reimpositions are always over and above the taille
of the particular year in which they are laid on.
Adam, Smith, Wealth of Nations, v. 2.
reimpress (re-im-pres'), v. t. [< re- + impress.]
To impress anew.
Religion . . . will glide bydegrees out of the mind un-
less it be reinvigorated and reinvpressed by external ordi-
nances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influ-
ence of example. Johnson, Milton.
reimpression (re-im-presh'on), n. [< F. rMm-
pression = Sp. reimpresion = Pg. reimpressSo;
as re- + impression.] 1. A second or repeated
impression ; that which is reimpressed.
In an Appendix I have entered into particulars as to my
reimpression of the present poem.
F. Hall, Pref . of Lauder's Dewtie of Kyngis (E. E. T. S. ), p. v.
2. The reprint or reprinting of a work.
remcrease
reimprison (re-im-priz'n), v. t. [< re- + im,.
prison.] To imprison again.
reimprisonment (re-im-priz'n-ment), n. [< re-
imprison -f- -m,ent.] The act of confining in
prison a second time for the same cause, or af-
ter a release from prison,
rein 1 (ran), n. [Early mod. E. also rain, reigne ;
< ME. reins, reyne, reene, < OF, reine, resne,
resgne, F. r&ne = Pr. regna = Sp. rienda (trans-
posed for *redina) = Pg. redea = It. redine, <
LL. *retina, a rein (cf . L. retinaculum, a tether,
halter, rein), < L. retinere, hold back, restrain:
see retain.] 1. The strap of a bridle, fastened
to the curb or snafSe on each side, by which
the rider or driver restrains and guides the ani-
mal driven; any thong or cord used for the
same purpose. See cut under harness.
Ther sholde ye haue sein speres and sheldes fiote down
the river, and the horse all quyk withoute maister, her
reynes trailinge with the strem.
Herlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 493.
How like a Jade he stood, tied to the tree.
Servilely master'd with a leathern reini
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 392.
She look'd so lovely as she sway'd
The rein with dainty finger-tips.
Tennyson, Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere.
2. A rope of twisted and greased rawhide.
E. H. Knight.— 3. pi. The handles of black-
smiths' tongs, on which the ring or coupler
slides. E. JS. Knight. — 4. Figuratively, any
means of curbing, restraining, or governing;
government ; restraint.
Dr. Davenant held the rain» of the disputation; he
kept him within the even boundals of the cause.
Bp. Backet, Abp. Williams, i. 26. (.Davies, under boundal.)
No more rein upon thine anger
Than any child. ,
Tennyson, Queen Mary, iii. 4.
Overhead rein, a guiding-rein that passes over the head
of a horse between the ears, and thus to the bit. It is
used with an overcheck bridle. Also called overcheck rein.
— To draw rein. See draw.— To give the rein or the
reins, to give license : leave without restraint.
Do not give dalliance
Too much th£ rein.' the strongest oaths are straw
To the fire 1' the blood. Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 62.
To take the reins, to take the guidance or government.
reini (ran), V. [< OF. *reiner, resner, F. rSner,
bridle a horse, < rene, a rein ; from the noim.j
1. trans, 1. To govern, guide, or restrain by
reins or a bridle.
As skilful Kiders rein with diff'rent force
A neW'back'd Courser and a well-train'd Horse.
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love.
She [Queen Elizabeth] was mounted on a milk-white
horse, which she reined with peculiar grace and dignity.
Scott, Eenilworth, xxx.
2. To restrain ; control.
Being once chafed, he cannot
Be rein*d again to temperance ; then he speaks
What's in his heart. 5A(ti:., Cor., iiL 3. 28.
3. To carry stifly, as a horse does its head or
neek under a bearing-rein To rein in, to curb;
keep under restraint^ as by reins.
The cause why the Apostles did thus conform the Chris-
tians as much as might be according to the pattern of the
Jews was to rein them in by this mean the more^ and to
make them cleave the better.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iv. 11.
II, intrans. To obey the reins.
He will bear you easily, and reins weU.
Shak., T. N., iii. 4. 3E&
To rein up, to halt ; bring a horse to a stand.
But, when they won a rising hill,
He bade his followers hold them still : . . .
^*Bein up; our presence would impair
The fame we come too late to share."
Scott, Lord of the Isles, tL 18.
rein^t, '»• An obsolete singular of rei/ns.
reina, n. See rena.
reincarnate (re-in-kSr'nat), v. t. [< re- + in-
carnate.] To incarnate anew.
reincarnation (re-in-kar-na'shon), n. [< rein-
carnate + -ion.] The act or state of being in-
carnated anew; a repeated incarnation; a new
embodiment.
reincenset (re-in-sens'), v. t. [< re- + incense'^-. ]
To incense again ; reMndle.
She, whose beams do re-incense
This sacred fire. Daniel, Civil Wars, viii. 1.
Indeed, Sir James Croft (whom I never touched with the
least tittle of detractions) was cunningly incensed and re-
incensed against me. G. Harvey, Four Letters, UL
reincite (re-in-sif), v. t. [= OF. reinciter, F
r^indter; as re- + incite.] To incite again; re-
animate; reSncourage.
To dare the attack, he reineites his hand,
And makes the last effort.
W. L. Lewis, tr. of Statius's Thebaid, xii
reincrease (re-in-kres'), «. t. [< re- + increase )
To increase again ; augment; reinforce.
remcrease
When they did perceane
Their wounds recur'd, and forces reincreast.
Of that good Hermite both they toolce their leave.
Speiwer, F. Q., Vl tL 15.
reincmdation (re-in-krQ-da'shon), n. [< re- +
"inorudation (< im-^ + crude H- -ation), equiv.
to in(yrv,descence.'\ Recrudescence. [Eare.]
This writer [Artephius an adept] proceeds wholly by
reincTud^jMon, or in the via humida.
Smift, Tale of a Tub, L
reindeer (ran'der), n. [Formerly also rain-
deer, ranedeer; < ME. raynedere (= D. rendier =
Oc. rennthier = Dan. rensdyr), < *rein (< Icel.) or
ron, < AS. 'hrdn, a reindeer (cf. F. renne = Sp.
reno = Pg. renna, renno = It. r&ima, a reindeer),
< Icel. hreinn = Sw. ren, a reindeer (of. Svr.
ren-ko, a female reindeer (fco = E. cow^), > Lapp
and Fma.raingo, a reindeer); < Lapp mno, pas-
turage or herding of cattle, a word much asso-
ciated with the use and care of the reindeer (for
which the Lapp word is patso), and mistaken by
the Scandinavians for the reindeer itself.] 1.
A deer of the genus Bangifer or Tarandus, hav-
ing horns in both sexes, and inhabiting arctic
and cold temperate regions ; the Cervus taran-
dus, Bangifer tarandus, or Tarandus rangifer.
5054
reinforce, reenforce (re-in-fors', re-en-fors'),
Reindeer l,Rangiftr tara»dtts)
It has branched, recurved, round antlers, the crowns of
which are more or less palmated ; the antlers of the male
are much larger than those of the female, and are remark-
able for the size and asymmetry of the brow-antler. The
body is of a thick and square form, and the legs are shorter
in proportion than those of the red-deer. The size varies
much according to climate : about 4 feet 6 inches may be
given as the average height of a full-grown specimen. The
reindeer is keen of sight and swift of foot, being capable
of maintaining a speed of 9 or 10 miles an hour for a long
time, and can easily draw a weight of 200 pounds, besides
the sledge to which it is usually attached when used as a
beast of draft. Among the Laplanders the reindeer is a
substitute for the horse, the cow, and the sheep, as it fur-
nishes food, clothing, and the means of conveyance. The
caribou of North America, if not absolutely identical with
the reindeer, would seem to be at least a well-marked
variety, usually called R. carOiou. The American baiTCn-
ground reindeer has been described as a different species,
B. graerdandicus. See also cut under caribou.
2. In her., a stag having two sets of antlers,
the one pair bending downward, and the other
standing erect. — Reindeer period, the timewhenthe
reindeer flourished and was prominent in the fauna of
any region, as it is now in Lapland: used chiefly with
reference to Belgium and France.
M. Dupont recognizes two stages in the Palffiolithic Pe-
riod, one of which is called the Mammoth period, and the
other, which is the more recent, the Reindeer period.
These names . . . have never met with much acceptance
in England, . . . for it is quite certain that the reindeer
occupied Belgium and France in the so-called Mammoth
period. J. Qeikie, Prehistoric Europe, p. 101.
Reindeer tribe, a tribe using the reindeer, as do the
Laplanders at the present time, and as the dwellers in
central Europe have done in prehistoric times: used
chiefly with regard to the prehistoric tribes of central
France and Belgium.
reindeer-lichen (ran'der-li"ken), n. Same as
reindeer-moss.
reindeer-moss (ran'der-mds), n. A lichen, Cla-
donia rangiferina, which constitutes almost the
sole winter food for the reindeer in high north-
em latitudes, where it is said to attain some-
times the height of one foot, its nutritive proper-
ties depend chiefly on the gelatinous or starchy matter of
which it is largely composed. Its taste is slightly pun-
gent and acrid, and when boiled it forms a jelly possess-
ing nutritive and tonic properties, and is sometimes eaten
by man during scarcity of food, being powdered and mixed
with flour. See Cladonia and lichen.
reinfect (r«-in-fekt'), V. t. [< OF. reinfecter;
as re- + infect.'] To infect again. Cotgrave.
reinfection (re-in-fek'shon), n. [< reinfect +
-4on.'] Infection a second time or subsequently.
reinfiame (re-in-flam'), V. t. [< re- + inflame.]
To inflame anew ; rekindle ; warm again.
To re-inflame my Saphnis with desires.
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Pastorals, viii. 92.
force.] 1. To add new force, strength, or
weight to ; strengthen : as, to reinforce an argu-
ment.
A meane to supply her wants, by renfardng the causes
wherein shee is impotent and defectiue.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 263.
To insure the existence of the race, she [Nature] retn-
forcea the sexual instinct, at the risk of disorder, grief,
and pain. Emerson, Old Age.
Specifically— 2. (a) iffiZJ*., to strengthen with
additional military or naval forces, as troops,
ships, etc.
But hark! what new alarum is this same?
The French have reinforced their scatter'd men ;
Then every soldier kUl his prisoners.
Shak., Hen. T., iv. 6. 36.
(6) To strengthen any part of an object by an
additional thickness, support, or other means.
Another mode of reinforcing the lower pier is that
which occurs in the nave of Laon. ... In this case Ave
detached monolithic shafts are grouped with the great
cylinder, four of them being placed so as to support the
angles of the abacus, and the fifth containing the central
member of the group of vaulting shafts.
C. H. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 66.
3t. To enforce; compel. [Rare.]
Yet twise they were repulsed backe againe.
And twise renforst backe to their ships to fly.
Spemer, r. Q., n. x. 48.
reinforce (re-in-fors'), n. [< reinforce, v.] An
additional thickness or support imparted to
any part of an object in order to strengthen
it. (a) A strengthening patch or additional thicloiess
sewed round a cringle or eyelet-hole in a sail or tent-
cover, (b) A second outer thickness of cloth, applied to
those parts of trousers or breeches which come next the
saddle, (c) The part of a cannon nearest to the breech,
which is made stronger to resist the explosive force of
the powder. The first reinforce is that which extends
from the base-ring of the gun to the seat of the projectile.
The second reinforce is that which Is forward of the first
reinforce and connects it with the chase of the gun, and
from which the trunnions project laterally. — Reinforce-
band, in ordnance, a flat ring or molding formed at the
junction of the first and second reinforces of a gun. —
Relnforce-rings, flat hoop-like moldings on the rein-
forces of a cannon, on the end nearest to the breech.
See hooping aaifrettage. '
reinforcement, reenforcement (re-in-fors'-.
re-en-fors'ment), n. [Accom. < OP. (and F.)
renforaement = It. rinforzamento; as reinforce,
v., + -ment.] 1. The act of reinforcing.
The dreadful Sagittary
Appals our numbers ; haste we, Diomed,
To reinforcement, or we perish all.
Shak., T. and C, v. 5. 16.
2. Additional force ; fresh assistance ; specifi-
cally, additional troops or forces to augment
the strength of a military or naval force.
Alone he [Coriolanus] enter'd, . . .
And with a sudden re-inforcefmenJt struck
Corioli like a planet. Shak., Cor., 11. 2. 117.
3. Any augmentation of strength or force by
something added.
Their faith may be both strengthened and brightened
by this additional reinforcement.
Waterland, Works, V. 287.
reinforcer, reenforcer (re-in-, re-en-for's6r), n.
One who reinforces or strengthens.
Writers who are more properly feeders and re-enforcers
of life Itself. The Century, XXVIL 929.
reinforcible, reSnforcible (re-in-, re-en-for'si-
bl), o. [<.rei7iforce,v.,+-il>ie.] Capable or sus-
ceptible of reinforcement; that may be strength-
ened anew.
Both are reinforcible by distant motion and by sensation.
Medical News, LII. 680.
reinform (re-in-f6rm'), V. t. [< re- + inform^.]
To inform again.
Redintegrated into humane bodies, and reinfomwd with
their primitive souls. J. Scott, Christian Life, 11. 7.
reinfund (re-in-fund'), v. i. [< re- -I- infund.]
To flow in again, as a stream. Swift, Works (ed.
1768), 1. 169. [Rare.]
reinfuse (re-in-fliz'), i;. <. [<. re- + infuse.] To
infuse again.
reingratiate (re-in-gra'shi-at), V. t. [< re- +
ingratiate.] To ingratiate again; recommend
again to favor.
Joining now with Canute, as it were to reingratiate him-
self after his revolt, whether real or complotted.
Milton, Hist Eng., vi.
reinhabit (re-in-hab'it), v. t. [< re- + inhabit.]
To inhabit again.
Towns and Citties were not ra,nhabiUd, but lay ruin'd
and wast. Miltan, Hist. Eng., ill.
rein-holder (ran'hoFdfer), n. A clip or clasp
on the dashboard of a carriage, to hold the
reinstate
reins when the driver has alighted. E. E.
Knight.
rein-hook (ran'htik), n. A hook on a gig-saddle
to hold the bearing-rein. E. H. Knight.
reinite (ri'nit), n. [Named after Prof. Eein of
Marburg.] A tungstate of iron, occurring in
blackish-brown tetragonal crystals. It is found
in Japan.
reinless (ran'les), a. [< reml -I- -less.] Without
rein ; without restraint ; unchecked.
A wilfuU prince, a rainelesse raging horse.
Mir. for Mags., p. S86.
Lyle corrupt, and rainlesse youth.
brant, tr. of Horace's Satires, L 6.
reinoculation (re-in-ok-u-la'shon), n. [< re- -I-
inoculation.] Inoculation a second time or sub-
sequently.
rein-orcms (ran'dr'kis), n. See orchis^.
reins (ranz), n. pi. [Early mod. E. also raines;
< ME. reines, reynes, reenus, < OP. reins, pi. of
rein, P. rein (cf. Sp. reflon, riflon) = Pg. rim =
It. rene, < L. ren, kidney; pi. renes, the kidneys,
reins, loins ; perhaps akin to Or. 6p^, the mid-
riff, pi. fpheQ, the parts about the heart and
liver: s^ephren.] 1.' The kidneys or renes.
What man soever ... is a leper, or hath a running of
the reins. Lev. xxil. 4 (margin).
Hence — 2. The region of the kidneys; the
loins, or lower parts of the back on each side.
All living creatures are fattest about the raines of the
backe. Holland, tr. of Fliny, xi. 25.
3. The seat of the affections and passions, for-
merly supposed to be situated in that part of
the body; hence, also,- the emotions and affec-
tions themselves.
I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel : my
reins also instruct me in the night seasons. Ps. xvi. 7.
Reins of a vault, in arch., the sides or walls that sus-
tain the vault or arch.
reinscribe (re-in-skrib'), V. t. [< re- + inscribe.]
In French law, to record or register a second
time, as a mortgage, required by the law of
Louisiana to be periodically reinscribed in or-
der to preserve its priority.
reinsert (re-in-s6rt'), V, t. [< re- + insert.]
To insert a second time.
reinsertion (re-in-ser'shon), n. [< reinsert +
-ion.] The act of reinserting, or what is rein-
serted ; a second insertion.
rein-slide (ran 'slid), ». A slipping loop on an
extensible rein, holding the two parts together
near the buckle, which is adjustable on the
standing part. E. H. Knight,
reinsman (ranz'man), «.; pi. reinsmen (-men).
A person skilled iii managing reins or drivings
[Recent.]
Stage-drivers, who, proud of their skill as rein»m£n, . . .
look down on and sneer at the plodding teamsters.
T. Roosevelt, The Century, XXXV. 601.
rein-snap (ran'snap), n. In a harness, a spring-
hook for holding the reins ; a harness-snap or
snap-hook. E. M. Knight.
reinspect (re-in-spekf), V. t. [< re- + inspect.] •
To inspect again.
reinspection (re-in-sjjek'shon), n. [< reinfect
+ -ion.] The act of inspecting a second time.
reinspire (re-in-spir'), V. t. [< re- + inspire.]
To inspire anew.
While Phoebus hastes, great Hector to prepare . . .
His lab'ring Bosom re-inspires with Breath,
And calls his Senses from the Verge of Death.
Ppjw, Homer's Iliad, xv. 66.
With youthful fancy re-inspired.
Tennyson, Ode to Memory, v.
reinstall, reinstal (re-in-stai'), v. t. [= F. r^-
installer; as re- + install.] To install again ^
seat anew.
That which alone can truly re-install thee
In David's royal seat. MUton, P. R., ilL 372.
reinstalment, reinstallment (re-in-st&r-
ment), n. [< reinstall + -ment; or < re- + in-
stalment] The act of reinstalling; a renewed
or additional instalment.
reinstate (re-in-staf), v. f. [< re- + instate.]
1. To instate again; place again in possession
or in a former state ; restore to a state from
which one had been removed.
David, after that signal victory which had preserved his
life [and] reinstated him in his throne . . .
Government of the Tongue.
Theodore, who reigned but twenty day^
Therein convoked a synod, whose decree
Did reinstate, repope the late unpoped.
Browning, Ring and Boole, n. 171.
2. In fire insurance, to replace or repair (prop-
erty destroyed or damaged).
The condition that it is in the power of the company to-
reimtate property rather than to pM' the value of It.
meyc. Brit, XIII. 166.
reinstatement
reinstatement (re-in-stat'ment), n. [< m»-
state + ■ment.'] 1 . The aet of reinstating ; res-
toration to a former position, o£Bce, or rank;
reestablisliment.
The re-imtaUment and restoration of corruptible tliingB
is tile noblest work of natural philosophf.
Batxm, Physical Fables, iii., Expl.
2. liyfireAnsurance, the replacement or repair-
ing of damaged property.
The insured hag not the option of requiring reimtaU-
ment. Brwyc. Brit., Xni. 165.
reinstation (re-in-sta'shon), ». [< reinstate +
-ion.'\ The act of reinstating ; reinstatement.
Gentleman's Mag.
reinsurance (re-in-shdr'ans), n. [< reinsure +
-ance.'i 1. A renewed or second insurance. — 2.
A contract by which the first insurer relieves
himself from the risks he had undertaken, and
devolves them upon other insurers, called m»-
surers. Also called reassurance.
reinsure (re-in-shSr'), V. t. [< re- + msure."]
To insure again ; insure a second time and take
the risks, so as to relieve another or other in-
surers. Also reassure.
reinsurer (re-in-shor'er), n. One who reinsures.
See reinsurance.
reintegrate (re-in'tf-grat), v. t. [< ML. reirir-
tegratus, pp. oi reintegrare (> It. reintegrare =
Pg. Sp. Pi. reintegrar = P. rSintigrer, OP. rein-
tegrer) for earlier (L.) redintegrare, make whole
again, restore, renew: see redintegrate. 2 If. To
make whole again; bring into harmony or con-
cord.
For that heauenly city shall be restored and reintegrate
with good Christian people.
Bp. Fisker, Seven Penitential Psalms.
Desiring the King nevertheless, as being now freed from
her who had been the occasion of all this, to take hold of
the present time, and to reivtegrate himself with the Pope.
Wood, Athenee Oxon., L 117.
2. To renew with regard to any state or quality ;
restore ; renew the integrity of.
The league drove out all the Spaniards out of Germany,
and revntegrated that nation in their ancient liberi^y.
Bacon.
To reintegrate the separate jurisdictions into one.
J. Fiske, Amer. Pol. Ideas, p. 49.
reintegration (re-in-te-gra'shon), n. [= OF.
reintegration, P. r&mtSgraMon "= Sp. reintegra-
eion = Pg. reintegragao = It. reintegraeione, <
ML. reintegraUo{n-), making whole, restoring,
renewing, < reintegrare, pp. reintegratvs, make
whole again: see reintegrate. Of. redintegra-
Uon.'] The act of reintegrating ; a renewing or
making whole again.
During activity the reintegration falls in arrear of the
disintegration. H. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., § 62.
reinter (re-in-ter'), V. t. [< re- + inter^."] To
inter again.
They convey the Bones of their dead Friends from all
Places to be re-interred. Howell, Letters, ii. 8.
reinterrogate (re-in-ter'o-gat), v. t. [< re- +
interrogate; cf. OP. rein'terroger, P. rSinterro-
ger.l To interrogate again; question repeat-
edly. Cotgrave.
reintlirone(re-in-thr6n'),®. *. l<re- + inthrone.']
Same as reenthrone.
A pretence to reinthrane the king.
Sir T. Herbert, Memoirs of King Charles I. (Latlutm.')
reinthronizef (re-in-thro'niz), V. t. [< re- + in-
thronize.^ An obsolete form of reenfhronize.
reintroduce (re-in-tro-dus'), V. t. [< re- + in-
troduce.'] To introduce again.
reintroduction (re-in-tro-duk'shon), n. [< re-
-*- introduction.] A repeated introduction.
reinundate (re-in-un'dat or re-in'un-dat), v. t.
[< re- + inundate.] To inundate again.
reinvent (re-in-venf), "• *• [^ ^e- + invent]
To devise or create anew, independently and
without knowledge of a previous invention.
It is immensely more probable that an alphabet of the
very peculiar Semitic style should have been borrowed
than that it should have been reinoented from independent
germs. Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, H. 3H.
reinvest (re-in-vesf), v. t. [< ML. reinvesUre,
invest again; as re- + invest.] 1. To invest
anew, with or as with a garment.
They that thought best amongst them believed that the
souls departed should be reinvested with other bodies.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), H. 131.
2. To invest anew, as money or other property.
reinvestment (re-in-vest'ment), «. [< reinvest
+ -ment; or < re- + investment.] The act of
Investing anew; a second or repeated invest-
ment.
The question of re-investment in securities bearing a
higher rate of interest has been discussed at both Oxford
and Cambridge. The Academy, March 8, 1880, p. 168.
5055
reinvigorate (re-in-vig'or-at),D. t. [< re- + in-
vigorate.] To revive vigor in; reanimate.
reinvigoration (re-in-vig-o-ra'shon), n. [< re-
invigorate + -ion.] A starengthening anew; re-
inforcement.
reinvite (re-in-vit')i »• *• [< OF- rmwier, in-
vite again; as re- + invite.] To invite again.
reinvolve (re-in-volv'), v. t. [< re- + involve.]
To involve anew.
To reinvolve us in the pitchy cloud of infernal darlmess.
MUton, Keformation in Eng.
reirdt, n. A variant of reard.
reis^ (ras), n, [Pg. reis, pi. of real: see real^.]
A Portuguese money of account: 1,000 reis
make a milreis, which is of the value of 4s. 5d.
sterling, or about $1.08. Large sums are calculated
in contos of reis, or amounts of 1,000,000 reis ($1,080). In
Brazil the milreis is reckoned at about 55 cents. Also rais.
reis^, n. Same as ras\ 2.
reiset, v. An obsolete form of raised.
reissuable (re -ish'8-a-bl), a. [< reissue + -aVle.]
Capable of being reissued: as, reissuable bank-
notes.
reissue (re-ish'o), v. [< re- + issue, v.] I. intrans.
To issue or go forth again.
But even then she gain'd
Her bower; whence reissuing, robed and crown'd.
To meet her lord, she took the tax away.
Tennyson, Godiva.
II. trans. To issue, send out, or put forth a
second time: as, to reissue an edict; to reissue
bank-notes.
reissue (re-ish'6), n. [< reissue, v.] A second
or renewed issue : as, the reissue of old notes or
coinage.
reisti, V. t. See reast^.
reist^, V. A dialectal form of resl^.
reistert, ». See reiter.
reitt (ret), n. An obsolete form of reate.
reiter (ri'ter), n. [Early mod. E. also reister,
< OF. reistre, "a reister or swartrutter, a Ger-
man horseman" (Cotgrave), < Gr. reiter, a rider,
trooper, cavalryman, = E. rider : see rider. Cf .
ritter.] Formerly, especially in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, a Grerman cavalry-
soldier ; in particular, a soldier of those bodies
of troops which were known to the nations
of western Europe during the religious wars,
etc.
Offer my services to Butrech, the beat doctor among
reisters, and the best reieter among Doctors.
Sir P. Sidney, To Hubert Languet, Oct., 1577 (Zurich Let-
[ters, ii. 293). (JDavies.)
reiterant (rf-it'e-rant), a. [= OF. reiterant, F.
r&.t^rant, < L. 'reiieran{t-)s, ppr. of reiterare,
repeat: see reiterate.] Reiterating. [Bare.]
In Heaven they said so, and at Eden's gate.
And here, re-iterant, in the wilderness.
Mrs. Browning, Drama of Exile.
reiterate (re-it'e-rat), V. t. ; pret. and pp. reit-
erated, ppr.' reiterating. [< L. reiteratus, pp.
of reiterare (> It. reiterare = Sp. Pg. reiterar =
P. rSitSrer), repeat again, repeat, < re-, again,
+ iterare, say again, repeat: see iterate.] 1.
To repeat again and again; do or say (espe-
cially say) repeatedly: as, to reiterate an ex-
planation.
You never spoke what did become you less
Than this ; which to reiterate were sin.
Slialc., W. T., i. 2. 283.
Th' employs of rural life,
Eeiterated as the wheel of time
Kuna round. Coioper, Task, ilL 626.
He reiterated his visits to the flagon so often that at
length his senses were overpowered.
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 65.
Simple assertion, however reUerated, can never make
proof. ' StiAbs, Medical and Modem Hist., p. 18.
2t. To walk over again; go along repeatedly.
No more shall I reiterate thy Strand,
Whereon so many statelj^ Structures stand.
Herrick, Hesperides, Teares to Thamasis.
=Syn. 1. See recapitulate.
reiterate (re-it'e-rat), a. [= F, rHt^re = Sp.
Pg. reiterado = It. reiterato, < L. reiteratus, pp.
of reiterare, repeat: see the verb.] Eeiterated.
Southey. [Rare.]
reiteratedly (re-it'e-ra-ted-li), adv. By reitera-
tion ; repeatedly. "Surke, Regicide Peace, iv.
reiteration (re-it-e-ra'shon), n. [= OF. reite-
ration, F. reiteration = Sp. reiteracion = Pg.
reiteraqao = It. reiteraeione, < L. reiteratio(n-),
a repeating, reiteration, < reiterare, pp. reitera-
tus, repeat: see reiterate.] 1. The act of reit-
erating; repetition.
The r&teration again and again in fixed course in the
public service of the words of inspired teachers . . . has
in matter of fact been to onr people a vast benefit.
J. B. Nevmum, Gram, of Assent, p. 54.
rejectment
2. Inprintinp, printing on the back of a sheet
by reversing it, and making a second impression
on the same form.
reiterative (rf-it'e-ra-tiv), n. [< reiterate +
■4ve.] 1. A word "or part of a word repeated
so as to form a reduplicated word: as.prittle-
prattle is a reiterative of prattle. — 2. In gram.,
a word, as a verb, signifying repeated action.
Beithrodon (ri'thro-don), n. [NL. (Water-
house, 1837), < Gr. 'l>e'Spov, a channel, + oSobg
(bSovT-) = E. tooth.] A genus of South Ameri-
can sigmodont rodents of the family Muridse,
having grooved upper incisors. It includes sev-
eral species of peculiar appearance, named ii. cunitmloide*,
R. typicus, and B. chinchUUndes. The name has been er-
roneously extended to include the small North American
mice of the genus Ochetodon.
reive, reiver. Scotch spellings of reave, reaver.
reject (re-jekf), V. t. [< OP. rejecter, regeter,
P. r^eter = Pr. regetar = Sp. r^itar = Pg. re-
geitar, rejeitar = It. rigettare, reject, < L. r^ec-
tare, throw away, cast away, vomit, etc., freq.
of reicere, r^icere, pp. r^ectus, throw back, re-
ject, < re-, back, + jacere, throw: seejefi. Cf.
adject, conject, dyect, eject, inject, pryect, etc.]
If. To throw or cast back.
By forse whereof [the wind] we were put ayen bak and
r^ecte unto the coste of a desert yle.
Sir R. Quylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 62.
2. To throw away, as anything undesirable or
useless; cast off; discard: as, to pick out the
good and reject the bad; to reject a lover.
At lasl^ reiecting her barbarous condition, [she] was
maried to an English Gentleman.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, IL 31.
Favours to none, to all she smiles extends ;
Oft she rejects, but never once oif ends.
Pope, K. of the L., ii 12.
3. To refuse to receive ; decline haughtily or
harshly; slight; despise.
Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject
thee. Hos. iv. 6.
Then woo thyself, be of thyself rejected.
Shah., Venus and Adonis, L 159.
Good counsel rejected returns to enrich the giver's
bosom. Goldsmith, Vicar, xxviL
= Syn. 2. To throw aside, cast off. See refusel.
rejectable (re-jek'ta-bl), a. [= OF. ryettdble,
rejetdble, F. ryetaiile; as r^ect + -able.] Ca-
pable of being rejected; worthy or suitable to
be rejected. Also rejectible.
rejectamenta (rf-jek-ta-men'ta), n. pi. [NL.,
pi. of Mli.^r^ectamentum, < L. rejectare, throw
away: see reject. Cf. rejectment] Things re-
jected; ejecta; excrement.
Discharge the rejectamenta again by the mouth.
Owen, Anat., ix. (Latham.')
rejectaneoust (re-jek-ta'ne-us), a. [< L. reiec-
taneus, that is to be rejected, rejectable, <
reicere, pp. rejeetus, reject: see r^ect.] Not
chosen or received ; rejected.
Profane, rejectanemis, and reprobate people.
• Barrow, Works, m. xxix.
rejected (re-jek'ted), p. a. Throvni back: in
entom., noting the scutellum when it is exte-
riorly visible, but lies between the pronotum
and the elytra, instead of between the bases
of the latter, as in the coleopterous genus
Passalus.
rejecter (rf-jek'ter), n. One who rejects or
refuses.
rejectible (rf-jek'ti-bl), a. [< reject + -ible.]
Same as r^eciable.
Will you tell me, my dear, what you have thought of
Lovelace's best and of his worst? — How far eligible for the
first, how tax rejectible for the last?
Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, I. 237.
rejection (re-jek'shon), n. [< OF. rejection, P.
r^ection, <'L rejectio(n-), < reicere, pp. re/eo
tus, throw away: see r^ect.] The act of re-
jecting, of throwing off or away, or of casting
off or forsaking ; refusal to accept or grant : as,
the r^ection of what is worthless ; the r^eetion
of a request.
The rejection I use of experiments is infinite ; but if an
experiment be probable and of great use, I receive it.
Bacon.
rejectitioust (re-jek-tish'us), a. [< reject +
-itious.] Worthy of being rejected; implying
or requiring rejection.
Persons spurious and rejectitious, whom their families
and allies have disowned.
Waterhouse, Apology, p. 161. (LatTiam.)
rejective (re-jek'tiv), a. [< reject + -ive.] Re-
jecting or tending to reject or cast off. Imp.
Diet
rejectment (rf-jekt'ment), n. [< OF. r^ecte-
ment, F. rejetiement =' It. rigettamento, < ML.
*rejectamentum, what is thrown away, the act
rejectment
of throwing away, < L. rejectare, throw away:
see )'e;ect] Matter thrown away.
rejector (re-Jek'tor), n. One who rejects.
The rejectors of it [revelation], therefore, would do well
to consider the grounds on which they stand.
Warburton, Works, IX. xiii.
rejoice (re-jois'), v. ; pret. and pp. rejoiced, ppr.
rejoicing. [< ME. rejoicen, rejoisen, rejoisclien,
< OF. resjois-, stem of certain parts of re^oir,
F. r^ouir, gladden, rejoice: see rejoy, and cf.
joice.'] I. trarts. 1. To make joyful ; gladden;
animate with lively and pleasurahle sensations ;
exhilarate.
Whoso loveth wisdom rejaketh his father. Prov. xxix. S.
I love to rejaiee their poor hearts at this season [Christ-
mas], and to see the whole village merry in my great hall.
Addison, Spectator, No. 269.
2f . To enjoy ; have the fruition of.
To do so that here sone after mi dessece,
Migte reioische that reaume as rigt eir bi kinde.
William of Pcdeme (B. E. T. S.), 1. 4102.
For lenger that ye keep it thus in veyne.
The lesse ye gette, as of yourhertis reste,
And to rewise it shal ye neuere atteyne.
PoUMeal Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 66.
3t. To feel joy on account of.
Ne'er mother
Rejoiced deliverance more.
Shak., Cymbeline, v. 5. 370.
II. intrans. To experience joy and gladness
In a high degree; be exhilarated with lively and
pleasurable sensations; be joyful; feel joy;
exult : followed by at or in, formerly by of, or
by a subordinate clause.
When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.
Prov. xxix. 2.
Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth. Eccl. xi. 9.
He rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninetj^ and
nine which went not astray. Mat. xviii. 13.
To rejoice in the boy's correction.
Shak., T. G. of V., iii. 1. 394.
May they rejoice, no wanderer lost,
A family in Heaven I
Rums, Verses Left at a Friend's House.
rejoicet (re-jois'), ». l<. rejoice, v.'] The act of
rejoicing.' [Eare.]
There will be signal examples of God's mercy, and the
angels must not want their charitable rejoices for the con-
version of lost sinners.
Sir T. Brotvne, Christian Morals, ii. 6.
rejoicementt (re-jois'ment), n. [< ryoice +
-ment.2 Eejoieing.
It is the most decent and comely demeanour of all ex-
ultations and reioycements of the hart, which is no lesse
naturall to man then to be wise or well learned or sober,
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 244.
rejoicer (re-joi's6r), n. 1. One who causes to
rejoice: as, a rejoicer of the comfortless and
widow. Pope. — 3. One who rejoices.
rejoicing (re-joi'sing), n. [< ME. rejoisyng, etc. ;
verbal n. of re/oice, ».] 1. The feeling and ex-
pression of joy and gladness ; procedure expres-
sive of joy ; festivity.
The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles
of the righteous. Ps. cxviii. 16.
A day of thanksgiving was proclaimed by the King, and
was celebrated with pride and delight by his people. The
rejoicings in England were not less enthusiastic or less
sincere. Macaviay, Frederic the Great.
2. The experience of joy.
Iff he [a child] be vioius, and no thing will lerne,
... no man off hym reioeynge will haue.
Rooke of Precedence (E. E. T. 8., extra ser.), L 57.
But let eveiy man prove his own work, and then shall
he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
GaL vi. 4.
3. A subject of joy.
Thy testimonies have I talcen as an heritage for ever ;
for they are the rejoicing of my heart. Ps. cxix. 111.
rejoicingly (rf-joi'sing-li), adv. With joy or
exultation.
She hath despised me rejoicingly, and
111 be merry in my revenge.
Shak., Cymbeline, iii. 6. 150.
rejoiet, '»■ t. Same as rejoy.
rejoin (re-join'), V. [Early mod.E. r^oyne; <
OF. rejoindre, F. rejoindre = It. rigiugnere, re-
join, overtake, < L. re-, again, + jungere, join:
see ^oin.] I. trans. 1. To join again; unite
after separation.
A short space severs ye,
Compared unto that long eternity
That shall rejoine ye.
R. Jonson, Elegy on my Muse.
The Grand Siguier . . . conveyeth his galleys . . . down
to Grand Cairo, where th ey are taken in pieces, carried upon
camels' backs, and rejoined together at Suez.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vi. 8.
The letters were written not for publication . . . and to
rejoin heads, tails, and betweenities which Hayley had
severed. Southey, Letters, III. 448
. 5056
3. To join the company of again; bestow one's
company on again.
Thoughts which at Hyde-park corner I forgot
Meet and rejoin me in the pensive Grot.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. u. 209.
3. To say in answer to a reply or a second or
later remark; reply or answer further: with a
clause as object.
It will be replied that he receives advantage by this
lopping of his superfluous branches ; but I rejoin that a
translator has no such right.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid s Epistles, Pret.
"Are you that Lady Psyche?" I rejoin'd.
Tennyson, Princess, n.
II, intrans. 1. To answer to a reply; in gen-
eral, to answer.
Your silence argues it, In not rejoining
To this or that late libel.
R. Joneon, Apol. to Poetaster.
2. In law, to answer the plaintifE's replication.
I rejoyne, as men do that answere to the lawe, and make
answere to the byll that is put up agaynst them.
Palsgrave.
rejoinder (re-join'd6r), n. [< F. rejoindre, re-
join, inf. used as noun: see rejoin. Cf. attain-
der, remainder."] 1. An answer to a reply; in
general, an answer.
The quality of the person makes me judge myself obliged
to a rejoinder. QlanmUe, To Albius.
Rejoinder to the churl the King disdain'd ;
But shook his head, and rising wrath restrain'd.
Fentan, in Pope's Odyssey, xx. 231.
2. In law, the fourth stage in the pleadings in
an action at common law, being the defendant's
answer to the plaintiff's replication. The next
allegation of the plaintiff is called surrejoinder.
= Syn. 1. Reply, retort.
rejoindert (re-join'dfer), v. i. [< rejoinder, «.]
To make a reply.
When Nathan shall rejoinder with a "Thou art the man."
Hammond, Works, IV. 604.
rejoinduret (re-join'dur), n. [< rejoin (rejoin-
der)+-ure.'] Ajoining again; reunion. [Kare.]
Rudely beguiles our lips
Of all rejdndure, forcibly prevents
Our lock'd embrasures,
Shak., T. and C, iv. 4. 38.
rejoint (re-joinf), V. t. [< re- -i- joint. Cf . F. re-
jointoyer, rejoint, < rejoint, pp. of rejoindre, re-
join.] 1. To reunite the joints of; joint anew.
Ezekiel saw dry bones rejoynted and reinspired with life.
Rarrow, Resurrection of the Body or Flesh.
2. To fill up the joints of, as of stone in build-
ings when the mortar has been displaced by
age or the action of the weather.
rejolt (re-jolf), V. t. [< re- + jolt.] To jolt
again; shake or shock anew; cause to rebound.
Zoeke.
rejolt (re-jolf), n. [< r^oU, v.] A reacting
jolt or shook.
These inward rejolts and recoilings of the mind.
South, Sermons, II. v.
rejournt (re-j6m'), v. t. [For *readjourn, < P.
reajourner,' a.djpum again; as re- + adjourn.]
1. To adjourn to another hearing; defer.
You wear out a good wholesome forenoon in hearing a
cause between an orange wife and afosset-seller, and then
rejourn the controversy of threepence to a second day of
audience. Shak., Cor., ii. 1. 79.
Concerning mine own estate, I am right sorry that my
coming to Venice is rejourned a month or two longer.
Sir H. Wotton, Beliquiie, p. 702.
2. To refer; send for information, proof, or
the like.
To the Scriptures themselves I rejoume all such Atheis-
tical spirits. Rurton, Anat. of Mel., p. 27.
rejournmentt (re-j6rn'ment) «. [< rejourn +
-ment.] Adjournment.
So many rejaurmnenU and delays.
North, tr. of Plutarch, p, 713.
rejoyt (rf-joi'), v. t. [< ME. rejoyen, rejoien, <
OF. resj'oir, F. r^ouir, gladden, rejoice, < re-,
again, + esjoir, F. ^ouAr, joy, rejoice, < es- (< L.
ex-, out) -1- joir, F. jouir, joy, rejoice : see joy,
v., and cf. enjoy and rejoice.] To rejoice; en-
joy.
Ris, lat us speke of lusty lif in Troye,
That we have led, and forth the tyme dryve,
And ek of tyme comynge us rejorye.
Chaucer, Troilus, v. 395.
And that I and my assignez may peasseble rejoie theym
[certain lands). Paston Letters, II. 332.
rejudge (re-juj'), v. t. [< OF. (and F.) rejuger;
as re- + judge.] To judge again ; reSxamine ;
review; call to a new trial and decision.
'Tis hers the brave man's latest steps to trace,
Rejudge his acts, and dignify disgrace.
Pope, Epistle to Harley, 1. 30.
It appears now too late to rejudge the virtues or the
vices of those men. 6old«mUh, Pref. to Roman History.
reking
rejuvenate (re-j8've-nat), v. t. [< re- + juve-
nate. Cf. OF.'rejovenir, rejovener, re)oennir, re-
jeunir, renjovenir, rajeunir, F. rajeunir = Pr. re-
jovenir = OSp. rejuvenir = It. ringiovanire, rin-
giovenire, rejuvenate.] To restore the appeai--
ance, powers, or feelings of youth to ; make as
if young again; renew ; refresh.
Such as used the bath in moderation, refreshed and re-
stored by the grateful ceremony, conversed with all the
zest and freshness of rejuvenated life.
Rulwer, Last Days of Pompeii, i. 7.
No man was so competent as he to rejuvenate those dead
old skulls and relics, lifting a thousand years from the
forgotten past into the middle of the nineteenth centuiy.
Harper's Mag., LXXX. 398.
rejuvenation (re-je-ve-na'shon), n. [< r^me-
nate + -ion.] The act of rejuvenating, or the
state or process of being rejuvenated; rejuve-
nescence.
Instances of fecundity at advanced ages are not rare.
Contemporaneous writers mention examples of r^uvena-
tion which must be regarded as probably legendary.
Pop. Sci. Mo., XX. 99.
rejuvenator (re-j8've-na-tor), n. [< rejuvenate
+ -ori.] One who or that which rejuvenates.
A great beautifler and rejuvenator of the complexion.
Lancet, No. 3433, p. 1193.
rejuvenesce (rf-jo-ve-nes'), «. J.; pret. and pp.
rejuvenesced, ppr. rejuvenescing. [< ML. rejave-
nescere, grow young again, < L. re-, again, +ju-
venescere, grow young: see rejuvenescetit] To
grow young again; renew one's youthfulness
by reacquiring vitality ; specifically, in Uol., to
accomplish rejuvenescence, or repair vitality
by conjugation and subsequent fission, as an
infusorian.
The dark, double-bordered cells are those which were
sown but did not rejuvenesce.
Pasteur, On Fermentation (trans.), p, 177.
rejuvenescence (re-j6-ve-nes'ens), n. [< r^u-
venescen(t) + -ce.] 1. A renewal of the appear-
ance, powers, or feelings of youth.
That degree of health I give up entirely ; I might as
well expect rejuvenescence.
Chesterfield, Misc. Works, IV. 275. (.Latham.)
2. InMol., a transformation whereby the entire
protoplasm of a vegetative cell changes into a
cell of a difEerent character — that is, into a pri-
mordial cell which subsequently invests itself
with a new cell-wall and forms the starting-
point of the life of a new individual. It occurs
in numerous algsB, as CEdogonium, and also in
some diatoms.
rejuvenescency (rf-jo-ve-nes'en-si), n. [As re-
juvenescence (see -cy).] Same as rejuvenescence.
The whole creation, now grown old, expecteth and wajt-
eth for a certain rejuvenescency.
J. Smith, Portrait of Old Age, p. 264.
rejuvenescent (re-j8-ve-nes'ent), a. [< ML.
rejuvenescen{t-)s, ppr. of rejmenescere, become
young again : see rejuvenesce. Cf. juvenescent]
Becoming or become young again.
Rising
Rejuvenescent, he stood in a glorified body.
rejuvenize (re-j6've-niz), V. t. ; pret. and pp. re-
juvenized, ppr. rejuvenizing. [i rejuven(esce) +
4ze.] To render young again; rejuvenate.
rekeif, v. A Middle English form of reelc^.
reke^t, «. A variant of reefc2.
rekeS, v. An obsolete or dialectal form of rafefii.
rekelsti n. [ME., also rekils, rekyls, rekles, as-
sibilated rychellys, rechles, recheles, < AS. reeels,
incense, < recan, smoke, reek: see reek^.] In-
cense. Prompt. Parv., p. 433. (Stratmann.)
rekenif, v. A Middle English form of reckon.
reken^t, a. [ME., < AS. recen, ready, prompt,
swift.] Ready; prompt; noble; beautiful.
Thou so ryche a reken rose.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), L 905.
The rekeneste redy mene of the rownde table.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4082.
rekindle (re-Mn'dl), v. [< re- + kindle'^.] I.
trans. 1. To kindle again; set on fire anew.
On the pillar raised by martyr hands
Bums the rekindled beacon of the right.
0. W. Holmes, Commemoration Services. Cambridge,
. [July 21, 1866.
2. To inflame again; rouse anew.
ReMndled at the royal charms,
Tumultuous love each beating bosom warms.
Fenton, in Pope's Odyssey, i. 466.
II. intrans. To take fire or be animated anew.
Straight her rekindling eyes resume their Are.
Thomson, To the Prince of Wales.
rekingt (re-king'), v. t. [< re-+ tool.] To
make king again ; raise to the monarchy anew.
[Rare.]
reking
You hasBard lesse, re-kinffing him.
Then I vn-king'd to bee.
Warner, Albion's England, iii. 194.
rekket, v. A Middle Englisli form of rech.
Teknef, v. A Middle English form of reckon.
leknowledget (re-nol'ej), v. t. [< re- + know-
ledge.'] To confess a knowledge of; acknow-
ledge.
But in that you have rehnowledged Jesus Criste the au-
tor of saluaoion. J. UdaU, On John IL
Although I goe bescattered and wandering in this
Courte, I doe not leaue to rekrwmledge the good.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1677), p. 192.
xelais (re-la'), n. [< F. relais, a space left: see
reiai/i.] In fort., a walk, four or five feet wide,
left without the rampart, to receive the earth
which maybe washed down and prevent it from
falling into the ditch.
Telapsable (re-lap'sa-bl), a. [< relapse + -able.]
Capable of relapsing, or liable to relapse. Imp.
Diet.
relapse (re-laps'), v. %. [< L. relapsvs, pp. of
relabi, slide back, fall back, < re-, back, -f- laM,
slip, slide, fall: see lapse, v.] 1. To slip or
slide back; return.
Agreeably to the opinion of Demooritus, the world might
relapse into its old confusion.
Bacon, Physical Fables, 1, ExpL
It then remains that Church can only be
The guide which owns unfailing certainty ;
Or else you slip your hold and change your side.
Relapsing from a necessary guide.
Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii. 486.
S. To fall back; return to a former bad state
or practice ; backslide : as, to relapse into vice
•or error after amendment.
The oftener he hath relapsed, the more significations
lie ought to give of the truth of his repentance.
Jer. Taylar.
But grant I may relapse, for want of grace,
Again to rhyme. Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. ii. 88.
3. To fall back from recovery or a convalescent
state.
He was not well cured, and would have related.
And now— alas for unforeseen mishaps !
They put on a damp nightcap, and majise.
Ctywper, Co^iversation, 1. 322,
Telapse (re-laps'), re. [i relapse, v.] 1. A slid-
ing or falling back, particularly into a former
evil state.
Base would recant
"Vows made in pain, as violent and void, . . .
Which would but lead me to a worse rOapse
And heavier fall. Milion, P. L., iv. 100.
Sf. One who has ref alien into vice or error;
specifically, one who returns into error after
having recanted it.
As, when a man is falne into the state of an outlaw, the
lawe dispenseth with them that kils him, & the prince ex-
cludes him from the protection of a subieot, so, when a
man is a relaps from God and his lawes, God wlthdrawes
his prouidence from watching ouer him, & authorizeth the
.deull, as his instrument, to assault him and torment him,
so that whatsoeuer he dooth is limitata potestate, as one
;aaith. Nashe, Pierce Fenilesse, p. 84.
3. In med., the return of a disease or symptom
■during or directly after convalescence. See re-
crudescence.
Sir, I dare sit no longer in my waistcoat, nor have any-
-thing worth the danger of a relapse to write.
I>onn£, Letters, vi.
A true rdapse [in typhoid] is not merely a recurrence of
pyi-exia, but a return of all the phenomena of the fever.
Quoin, Med. Diet., p. 1683.
relapser (re-lap's6r), n. One who relapses, as
into vice or error.
Of indignation, lastly, at those speculative relapsers that
have out of policy or guiltinesse abandoned a knowne and
received truth. Bp. Hall, St. Paul's Combat.
lelapsing (rf-lap'sing), p. a. Sliding or falling
back ; marked by a relapse or return to a former
worse state.— Relapsing fever. Seefeveri.
xelata, n. Plural of relatum.
relate (re-laf), v. ; pret. and pp. related, ppr. re-
lating. '[< OF. relater, F. relater = Sp. Pg. re-
latar = It. relatare,< ML. relatare, refer, report,
relate, freq. of referre, pp. relatus, bring back,
refer, relate: see refer.] I. trans. If. To bring
back; restore.
Mote not misllke you also to abate
Your zealous hast, till morrow next againe
Both light of heven and strength of men relate.
Spenser, F. Q., HI. viii. 51.
St. To bring into relation ; refer.
Who would not have thought this holy religious father
worthy to be canonised and related into the number of
saints. Becon, Works, p. 137. (HaUiwdl.)
3. To refer or ascribe as to a source or origin;
connect with; assert a relation with.
318
5057
There has been anguish enough in the prisons of the
Ducal Palace, but we know little of it by name, and can-
not confidently relate it to any great historic presence.
Howe&s, Venetian Life, L
4. To tell I recite; narrate: as, to relate the
story of Pnam.
When you shall these unlucky deeds refate,
Speak of me as I am. Shak., Othello, v. 2. 341.
Misses ! the tale that I relate
This lesson seems to carry.
Cawper, Pairing Time Anticipated.
5. To ally by connection or blood.
How lov'd, how honour'd once, avails thee not,
To whom related, or by whom begot.
Pope, Elegy on an Unfortunate Lady.
To relate one's self, to vent one's thoughts in words.
[Hare.]
A man were better relate Mmsdf to a statue or picture
than suffer his thoughts to pass in smother.
Bacon, Friendship.
=Syil. 4. To recounfi rehearse, report, detail, describe.
See account, n,
II. intrans. 1. To have reference or respect;
have regard; stand in some relation; have some
understood position when considered in connec-
tion with something else.
This challenge that the gallant Hector sends . . .
Relates in purpose only to Achilles.
Shak., T. and C, L 3. 323.
Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves ; vanity
to what we would have others think of us.
Jane Avxten, Pride and Prejudice, v.
It was by considerations relating to India that his
[Olive's] conduct as a public man in England was regu-
lated. Macautay, Lord Olive.
3t. To make reference ; take account.
Beckoning by the years of their own consecration, with-
out rdaUtig to any imperial account. FuUer.
3. To have relation or connection.
There are also in divers rivers, especially that relate to,
or be near to the sea, 'as Winchester, or the Thames about
Windsor, a little Trout called a Samlet.
I. Walton, Complete Angler, L 4.
relate (re-laf), ». [< ML. relatum, a relate, an
order, report, neut. of L. relatus, pp. : see relate,
v.] Anything considered as being in a relation
to another thing; something considered as be-
ing the first term of a relation to another thing.
Also relatum.
If the relation which agrees to heteronyms has a name,
one of the two relateds is called the relate: to wit, that
from which the relation has its name ; the other the cor-
relate. Burg&rsdiefive.
Heteronymous, predlcamental, etc., relates. Seethe
adjectives. — Synonymous relates. See heteronymous
relates. — Transcendental relates. See predicamental
relates.
related (rf-la'ted), p. a. and n. [Pp. of relate, v.]
I. p. a. i. Eecited; narrated. — 2. Allied by
kindred; connected by blood or alliance, par-
ticularly by consanguinity: as, a person reUited
in the first or second degree.
Because ye're sumam'd like his grace ;
Perhaps related to the race.
Burns, Dedication to Gavin Hamilton.
3. Standing in some relation or connection :
as, the arts of painting and sculpture are close-
ly related.
No one and no number of a series of related events can
be the consciousness of the series as related.
T. B. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, § 16.
4. In mvMC : {a) Of tones, belonging to a me-
lodic or harmonic series, so as to be susceptible
of close connection. Thus, the tones of a scale when
taken in succession are mdodAeally related, and when
taken in certain sets are harmordcaUy related. See rela>-
tion, 8. (6) Of chords and tonalities, same as
relative.
Il.t ri. Same as relate. [Rare.]
Relateds are reciprocated. That is, every related is re-
ferred to a reciprocal correlate.
Burgersdielus, tr. by a Gentleman, L 7.
relatedness (rf-la'ted-nes), n. The state oi
condition of being related ; aflfinity.
We are not strong by our power to penetrate, but by our
relatedness. The world is enlarged for us, not by new ob-
jects, but by finding more affinities and potencies in those
we have. Emerson, Success.
relater (rf-la'tSr), n. [< relate + -eri.] One
who relates, recites, or narrates; a historian.
Also relator.
Her husband the relater she pref err'd
Before the angel, and of him to ask
Chose rather. MUtan, P. L., viii. 52.
relation (rf-la'shon), n. [< ME. relation, rela-
eion, < op! relation, F. relation = Pr. relation
= Sp. relaeion = Pg. relagdlo = It. relatione, <
L. relatio(n-), a carrying back, bringing back,
restoring, repajdng, a report, proposition, mo-
tion, hence a narration, relation, also reference,
regard, respect, < referre, pp. relatus, refer, re-
relation
late: see refer, relate.] 1. The act of relating
or telling; recital; narration.
He schalle telle it anon to his Conseille, or discovere It
to sum men that wille make relacioun to the Emperour.
Mandeville, Travels, p. 235.
I shall never forget a story of our host Zachaiy, who on
the relation of our perill told us another of his owne.
Evelyn, Diary, Oct. 16, 1644.
I remember to have heard an old gentleman talk of the
civil wars, and in liis relation give an account of a general
officer. Steele, Spectator, Ho. 497.
2. That which is related or told ; an aceoimt ;
narrative : formerly applied to historical nar-
rations or geographical descriptions: as, the
Jesuit Relations.
Sometime the Countrie of Strabo, to whom these our
Relations are so much indebted.
Purchas, Pilgiimage, p. 320.
Oftimes relatioTis heertofore accounted fabulous have
bin after found to contain in them many foot-steps and
reliques of somthing true. MUton^ Hist. Eng., i.
Political and military relations are for the greater part
accounts of the ambition and violence of ibankind.
Burlce, Abridg. of Eng. Hist.
3. A character of a plurality of things ; a fact
concerning two or more things, especially and
more properly when it is regarded as a predi-
cate of one of the things connecting it with the
others; the condition of being such and such
with regard to something else: as, the relation
of a citizen to the state ; the relation of demand
and supply. Thus, suppose a locomotive blows off
steam ; this fact constitutes a relation between the loco-
motive and the steam so far as the " blowing " is conceived
to be a character of the locomotive, and another relation
so far as the "being blown " is conceived as a character of
the steam, and both these relations together are embraced
in the same relationship, or plural fact. This latter, also
often called a relation, is by logicians called the founda-
tion of the relation. The two or more subjects or things
to which the plural fact relates are termed the relates or
correlates; the one which is conceived as subject is spe-
cifically termed the subjetA of the relation, or the relate ;
the others the correlates. Words naming things in i heir
character as relates are called relatives, as father, cousin.
A set of relatives referring to the same relationship ac-
cording as one or another object is taken as tlie relate are
called correlatives: such are buyer, seller, commodity,
price. The logical nomenclature of relations depends on
the consideration of individual relations, or relations sub-
sisting between the individuals of a single set of corre-
lates, as opposed to general relations, which, really or in
conception, subsist between many such sets. Belations are
either dual — that is, connecting couples of objects, as in
the examples above — or plural — that is, connecting more
than two correlates, as the relation of a buyer to the
seller, the thing bought, and the price. Every individual
dual relation is either a relation of a thing to itself or a
relation of a thing to something else. Logical relations are
those which are known from logical reflection : opposed,
to real relations, which are known by generalization and
abstraction from ordinary observations. The chief logi-
cal relations are those of incompossibUity, eoeayistence,
identity, and otherness. Beal dual relations are of five
classes: 0.) differences or alio-relations, being relations
which nothing can bear to itself, as being greater than ;
(2) sibi^relations or concurrencies, being relations which
nothing can bear to anything else, as self-consciousness ;
(3) agreements, or relations which everything beai's to it-
self, as similarity ; (4) relations which evei^hing bears
to everything else, which may be called distanees; and
(5) variform relations, which some things only bear to
themselves, and which subsist between some pairs of
things only. Other divisions of relations are important in
logic, as the following. An iterative or repeating relation
is such that a thing may at once be in that relation and
its converse to the same or different things, as the relation
of father to son, or spouse to spouse : opposed to ajinial
or nan^epeaUng relation, as that of husband to wife. An
equiparanee or convertible relation, opposed to a disguipa-
ranee or inecenvertible relation, is such that, if anything
is in that relation to another, the latter is in the same re-
lation to the former, as that of cousins. A relation which
cannot subsist between two things reciprocally, as that of
greater and less, may be called an irredprocable relation,
opposed to a reciprocable relation, which admits recipro-
cation as possible merely. A relation such that if A is so
related to B, and B so related to C, then A is so related to
C, is called a transitive, in opposition to an intransitive re-
lation. A relation such that if A is so related to some-
thing else, C, there is a third thing, B, which is so related
to C, and to which A is so i-elated, is called a concatenated,
in opposition to an inconcatenated relation. A relation
subsisting between objects in an endless or self-returning
series is CEdled an inexhaustible, in opposition to an eo:-
haustible relation. If there is a self-returning series, the
relation is termed cyclic, in opposition to acyclic. A transi-
tive relation such that of any two objects of a certain cate-
gory one has this relation to the ottier may he called a
linear relation; and the series of objects so formed may
he cidled the line of the relation. According as this is
continuous or discontinuous, finite or infinite, and in the
latter case discretely or absolutely, these designations
may be applied to the relation. According to the nom-
inalistic (including the conceptualistio) view, a relation is
a mere product of the mind. Adding to this doctrine that
of the relativity of knowledge, that we know only relations,
Kant reached his conclusion that things in themselves ai'e
absolutely incognizable. But most Kantian students come
to deny the existence of things in themselves, and so reach
an idealistic realism which holds relations to he as real as
any facts. The realistic view is expressed in the dictum
of Scotus that every relation without which, or a term of
which, its foundation cannot be is, in the thing (realiter),
identical with that foundation— that is, what really is £
relation
a fact relating to two or more things, and that fact viewed
as a predicate of one of those things is the relation.
Thus is relttcUm rect, ryht as adiectlf and substantlf
A-cordeth in aUe kyndes with his antecedent.
Piert Plowman (C), It. 363.
The last sort of complex ideas is that we call relation,
which consists in the consideration and comparing one
idea with another. Locke, Human Understanding, ii. 12.
The only difference between relative names and any
others consists in their being given in pairs ; and the rea-
son of their being given in pairs is not the existence be-
tween two things of a mystical bond called a relation and
supposed to have a land of shadowy and abstract reality,
but a very simple peculiarity in the concrete fact which
the two names are intended to mark.
J. S. Mill, Kote to James Mill's Human Mind, xlv. 2.
In natural science, I have understood, there is nothing
petty to the mind that has a large vision of relations.
Oeorge Eliot, Mill on the Floss, Iv. 1.
Most relations are feelings of an entirely different order
from the terms they relate. The relation of similarity,
e. g., may equally obtain between jasmine and tuberose,
or between Mr. Browning's verses and Mr. Story's ; it is
itself neither odorous nor poetical, and those may well be
pardoned who have denied to it all sensational content
whatever. W. James, Mind, XII. 13.
4. Intimate connection between facts; signifi-
cant bearing of one fact upon another.
For the intent and purpose of the law
Hath full relation to the penalty,
Which here appeareth due upon the bond.
SAo*., M. ofV.,iv. 1. 248.
The word relation is commonly used in two senses con-
siderably different from each other. Either for that qual-
ity by which two ideas are connected together in the im-
agination, and the one naturally introduces the other . . . ;
or for that particular circumstance in which ... we may
think proper to compare them. ... In a common way we
say that "nothing can be more distant than such or such
things from each other, nothing can have less relation," as
if distance and relation were incompatible.
Hume, Human Nature, part L § 6.
! '. Connection by consanguinity or affinity ; kin-
ship ; tie of birth or marriage ; relationship.
Selaiions dear, and all the charities
Of father, son, and brother, first were known.
MUton, P. L., iv. 766.
6. Kindred; connection; a group of persons
related by mnship. [Rare.]
He hath need of a great stock of piety who is ilrst to
provide for his own necessities, and then to give portions
to a numerous relation,
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 644.
7. A person connected by oonsanguinitjr or
affinity ; a kinsman or kinswoman; a relative.
Sir, you may spare your application,
I'm no such beast, nor his relation.
Pope, Imlt. of Horace, I. vil. 60.
I am almost the nearest relation he has in the world,
and am entitled to know all his dearest concerns.
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Irl.
8. In math.: (a) A ratio; proportion. (6) A
connection between a number of quantities by
which certain systems of values are excluded ;
especially, such a connection as may be ex-
pressed by a plexus of general equations. — 9.
In music, that connection or kinship between
two tones, chords, or keys (tonalities) which
makes their association with each other easy
and natural. The relation of tones is perceived by the
ear without analysis. Physically it probably depends
upon how far the two series of upper partial tones or
harmonics coincide. Thus, a given tone is closely re-
lated to its perfect fifth, because the 2d, 6th, 8th, 11th,
etc., harmonics of the one are respectively identical with
the IB^ 3d, 5th, 7th, etc., of the other; while for converse
reasons it is hardly at all related to its minor second.
Tones that have but a distant relation to each other, how-
ever, are often both closely related to a third tone, and
then, particularly if they are associated together in some
melodic series, IHce a scale, may acquire a close relation.
Thus, the seventh and eighth tones of a major scale have
a close relation which is indirectly harmonic, but appa-
rently due to their habitual melodic proximity. The re-
lation of chords depends primarily on the identity of one
or more of their respective tones. Thus, a major triad is
closely related to a minor triad on the same root, or to a
minor triad on the minor third below itself, because in
each case there are two tones in common. Thus, the
tonic triad of a key is related to the dominant and sub-
dominant triads through the identity of one of its tones
with one of theirs. As with tones, chords having but a
distant relation to each other may acquire a relation
through their respective close relations to a third chord,
especially if habitually brought together in harmonic pro-
gressions. Thus, the dominant and subdomlnant triads
of a key have a substantial but indirect relation ; and,
indeed, a relation is evident between all the triads of a
key. The relation of keys (tonalities) depends properly
on the number of tones which they have in common ;
though it is of ten held that a key is closely connected with
every key whose tonic triad is made up of its tones. Thus,
a major key is most intimately related to the major keys
of its dominant and subdomlnant and to the minor key
of its submediant, because each of them differs from it by
but one tone, and also to the minor keys of its mediant
and supertonic, because their tonic triads are also com-
posed of its tones. Hence a major key and the minor
key of its submediant are called mutually relative (rela-
tive major and relative minor), in distinction from the
tonic major and tonic minor, which are more distantly
related. When carefully analyzed, the fact of relation is
5058
found to be profoundly concerned in the entke "^uoture
and development of music. It has caused the estabhsh-
ment of the major diatonic scale as the norm of all mod-
em music. It is the kernel of tonality, of haraomc and
melodic progression, of form in general, and of many ex-
tended forms in particular.
10. In law: (a) A fiction of law whereby, to
prevent injustice, effect is given to an act done
at one time as if it had been done at a previous
time, it being said to have rei!a<Jo» back to that
time : as, where a deed is executed and acted
on, but its delivery neglected, the la w may give
effect to its subsequent delivery by relation
back to its date or to its execution, as may be
equitable. (6) Suggestion by a relator ; the
statement or complaint of his grievance by one
at whose instance an action or special proceed-
ing is brought by the state to determine a ques-
tion involving both public and private right. —
11. In arch., the direct dependence upon one
another, and upon the whole, of the different
parts of a building, or members of a design.—
Abellan relation, a relation expressed by certain iden-
tical linear equations given by Abel connecting roots of
unity with the roots of the equation which gives the val-
ues of the elliptic functions for rational fractions of the pe-.
riods.— Accidental relation, an indirect relation of A to
C, constituted by A being in som e relation to B, and B being
in an independent relation to C. Thus, if a man throws
away a date-stone, and that date-stone strikes an invisible
genie, the relation of the man to the genie is an accidental
one.— Actual relation. See actual. — Aggregate rela-
tion, (a) A relation resulting from a disjunctive con-
junction of several relations, such that, if any of the latter
are satisfied, the aggregate relation is satisfied. (6) Same
as composite relation (a). [This is the signification attached
to the word by Cayley, contrary to the established ter-
minology of logic.]— Alio relation, a relation of such a
nature that a thing cannot be in that relation to itself : as,
being previous to.— Aptitudinal relation. See apHtudi-
rial.— Categories of relation. See category, 1.— Com-
posite relation, (o) A relation consisting in the simul-
^eous existence of several relations. (6) Same as ag-
gregate relation (a). [This is the signification attached
to the phrase by Cayley, in opposition to the usage of
logicians.]- Confidential, cyclical, discriminant re-
lation. See the adjectives.— Definite relation, a rela-
tion unlike any relation of the same relate to other corre-
lates. [This is Kempe's nomenclature, but is objection-
able. Peeuliar relation would better express the idea. ] —
DlBtrlbutively satisfied composite relation. See
distrHuiively.—'Dovible relation, dual relation, rela-
tion between a pair of things, or between a relate and a
single correlate.— Dynamic relations. See dynamic.—
Enharmonic relation. See enharmonic. — Exterior re-
lations. See extmor.— Extrinsic relation, a relation
which is established between terms already existing.—
False or Inharmonic relation, in rmtxic. See false. —
In relation to, in the characters that connect the sub-
ject with the correlate which is the object of the prepo-
sition to : as, music in relation to poetry (music in those
characters that connect it with poetry). — Intrinsic re-
lation. See intrinsic. — Involutorlal relation. See in-
volutorial. — Irregular relation, a relation not regular.
— Jacoblan relation, the relation expressed by equat-
ing the Jacobian to zero.— K-fold relation, a relation
which reduces by k the number of independent ways in
which a system of quantities may vary.— Legal rela-
tion, the aggregate of legal rights and duties character-
izing one person or thing in respect to another. — Omal
relation, a relation expressed by a system of linear equa-
tions. [With Legendre, omaZ means having the differen-
tial coefficient constantly of one sign; but Cayley uses
the word as a synonym of Ttomalmdal or linear.'] — Order
Of a relation, in math. See order, 12.— Parametric
relation, a relation involving parameters, or variables
over and above the coordinates. — Plural relation, a rela-
tion between a relate and two or more correlates, as when
A aims a shot, B, at C— Fredicamental relation, a
relation which comes under Aristotle's category of rela-
tion.— Prime relation, a relation not resulting from the
conjunction of relations alternatively satisfied. — Real
relation, a relation the statement of which cannot be
separated into two facts, one relating to the relate and the
other to the correlate, such as the relation of Cain to Abel as
his killer. For the facts that Cain killed somebody and that
Abel was killed do not together make up the fact that
Cain killed Abel: opposed to relation of reason.— Rega-
lar relation, a relation of definite manitoldness. [So de-
fined by Cayley ; but it would have been better to denomi-
nate this a hatiwplasiaJl relation, reserving the term regvla/r
relation for one which follows one law, expressible by gen-
eral equations, for all values of the coordinates — this mean-
ing according better with that usually given to regutwr.] —
Relation of disquiparance, a relation which confers
unlike names upon relate and correlate. — Relation of
equiparance, a relation which confers the same relative
name upon relate and correlate : thus, the being a cousin of
somebody is such a relation, for if A is cousin to B, B is
cousin to A Relation of reason, a relation which de-
pends upon a fact which can be stated as an aggregate of
two facts (one concerning the relate, the other concerning
the correlate), such that the annihilation of the relate or
the correlate would destroy only one of these facts, but
leave the other intact : thus, the fact that Fi'anklln and
Kumford were both scientific Americans constitutes a
relationship between them with two correlative relations ;
but these are relations of reason, because the two facts
are that Franklin was a scientific American and that
Kumford was a scientific American, the first of which
facts would remain true even if Rumford had never ex-
isted, and the second even if Franklin had never existed.
— Resultant relation, a relation between parameters
involved in a superdeterminate relation.— Self-relation,
(a) A relation of such a sort that a thine can be in that
relation to itself : as, being the killer of* but better (6)
a relation of such a sort that nothing can be so related
to anything else, as the relations of self-consciousness.
relative
self-depreciation, self-help, etc.— Superdeterminate
relation, a relation whose manifoldness is as great as or
greater than the number of coordinates.- Transcen-
dental relation, a relation which does not come under
Aristotle's category of relation, as cause and effect, habit
and object. =Syn. 1. Narration, Pecital, etc. See account.
-3. Attitude, connection. — 5. Affiliation.— 5 and 7. Re-
lation, Belative, Connection. When applying to family af-
filiations, relation is used of a state or of a person, but in
tlie latter sense relative is much better ; relative is used
of a person, but not of a state ; connection is used with
equal propriety of either person or state. Jielation and
relative refer to kinship by blood ; connection is increas-
ingly restricted to ties resulting from marriage.— 6. Km-
dred, kin.
relational (re-la'shon-al), a. [< relation + -al]
1. Having relation' or kindred.
We might be tempted to take these two nations for re-
lational stems. Tooke.
2. Indicating or specifying some relation: used
in contradistinction to notional : as, a relational
part of speech. Pronouns, prepositions, and
conjunctions are relational parts of speech.
relationality (re-la-shg-ual'i-ti), n. [< rela-
tional + -ity.'] I'he state or property of having
a relational force.
But if the remarks already made on what might be
called the relationality of terms have any force, it is obvi-
ous that mental tension and conscious intensity cannot be
equated to each other. J. Ward, Mind, XII. 66.
relationism (re-la'shon-izm), n. [< relation -^■
-ism.'] 1. The doctnne that relations have a
real existence.
Selationism teaches . . . that things and relations con-
stitute two grea^ distinct orders of objective reality, in-
separable in existence, yet distinguishable in thought.
F. E. Abbot, Scientific Theism, Introd., ii.
2. The doctrine of the relativity of knowledge.
relationist (re-la'shon-ist), «. [< relation +
-ist.] If. A relative; a relation. Sir T.Browne.
— 3. An adherent of the doctrine of relationism.
relationship (rf-la'shon-ship), «. [< relation +
-ship.'] 1. The" state of being related by kin-
dred, affinity, or other alliance.
Faith is the great tie of relationship betwixt you [and
Christ]. Chalmers, On Bomans viii. 1 (ed. R. Carter).
Mrs. Mugford's conversation was incessant regarding
the Ringwood family and Firmln's relationship to that
noble house. Thackeray, Philip, xxi,
2. In music, same as relation, 8. Also called
relatival (rel-a-ti'val or rel'a-tiv-al), a. [<
relative + -al.^ Pertaining to relative words
or forms.
Conjunctions, prepositions (personal, relative, and in-
terrogative), relatival contractions.
E. A. Abbott, Shakespearian Grammar (cited in The
[Nation, Feb. 16, 1871, p. 110).
relative (relVtiv), a. and n. [< MB. relatif,
< OF. (and ^'.) relaUf = Pr. relatiu = Sp. Pg.
It. relalMio, < LL. relalmus, having reference or
relation, < L. relatus, pp. of referre, refer, re-
late: see refer, relate.] I. a. 1. Having rela-
tion to or bearing on something; close in con-
nection ; pertinent ; relevant ; to the purpose.
The devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape ; yea, and perhaps . . .
Abuses me to damn me. Ill have grounds
More relative than this. Shak., Hamlet^ iL 2. 638.
2. Not absolute or existing by itself; consid-
ered as belonging to or respecting something
else ; depending on or incident to relation.
Everything sustains both an absolute and a relative
capacity : an absolute, as it is such a thing, endued with
such a nature ; and a relative, as it is a part of the uni-
verse, and BO stands in such a relation to the whole.
South.
Not only simple ideas and substances, but modes also,
are positive beings: though the parts of. which they con-
sist are very often relative one to another.
Locke, Human Understanding, II. xxvi. § 6.
Religion, It has been well observed, is something rela-
tive to us ; a system of commands and promises from God
towards us. J. H. Newman, Parochial Sermons, i. 317.
3. In giraTO., referring to an antecedent; intro-
ducing a dependent clause that defines or de-
scribes or modifies something else in the sen-
tence that is called the antecedent (because it
usually, though by no means always, precedes
the relative): thus, he wlio runs may read; he
lay on the spot where he fell. Pronouns and pro-
nominal adverbs are relative, such adverbs having also
the value of conjunctions. A relative word used without
an antecedent, as implying in itself its antecedent, is often
called a compound relative ; thus, who breaks pays : 1 saw
where he fell. Relative words are always either demon-
stratives or interrogatives which have acquired seconda-
rily the relative value and use.
4. Not intelligible except in connection with
something else ; signifying a relation, without
stating what the correlate is: lims, father, bet-
ter, west, etc., are relative terms.
Profundity, in its secondary as in its primaiy sense, is a
relative term. Macavlay, Sadler's Ref . Refuted.
relative
6. In music, having a close melodic or harmonic
relation. Thus, rdative eJiords, in a narrow sense, the
triads of a given key (tonality) having as roots the suo-
cesBive tones of its scale; rmtive keys, keys (tonalities)
having several tones in common, thus affording opportu-
nity for easy modulation hack and forth, or, more nar-
rowly, keys whose tonic triads are relative chords of each
other ; rdaiive major, rdative minor, a major key and the
minor key of its submediant regarded with respect to each
other. Also related, parallel. See cut under chord, i. —
Belatiye beauty, beauty consisting in the adaptation
of the object to its end.— Relative chxonology, in cieol.,
the geological method of computing time, as opposed to
the absolvte or MstorieaZ method.— Relative end, ens,
equilibrium. See the nouns.— Relative enunciation,
an enunciation whose clauses are connected by a relative :
as, "Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be
gathered together."— Relative gravity, (a) The accel-
eration of gravity at a station referred to that at another
station, ana not expressed in terras of space and time. (6)
Same as epeeifio gravity (which see, under gravity).— Rela-
tive ground of proof, a premise which itseU requires
proof .— Relative humidity, hypermetropia, locality.
See the nouns.— Relative motion. See mo(io».— Rela-
tive opposites, the two terms of any dual relation. —
Relative place, the place of one object as defined by the
situations of other objects. — Relative pleasure or pain,
a state of feeling which is pleasurable or painful by force
of contrast with the state which preceded it.— Relative
pronoun, proposition, etc. See the nouns.— Relative
syllo^sm, a syllogism whose major premise is a relative
enunciation : as. Where Christ is, there will also the faith-
ful be ; but Christ is in heaven ; therefore there also will
the faithful be. — Relative term, a term which, to become
the complete name of any class, requires to be completed
by the annexation of another name, generally of another
class : such terms are, for example, father of, the qualities
of, tangent to, identical with, man that is, etc. Strictly
speaking, all adjectives are of this nature.— Relative
time, the sensible measure of any part of duration by
meanq of motion.
II. n. 1. Something considered in its rela-
tion to something else ; one of two things hav-
ing a certain relation. — 2. A person connected
by blood or affinity; especially, one allied by
blood; a kinsman or kinswoman; a relation.
Our friends and relatives stand weeping by,
Dissolv'd in tears to see us die.
Pamfret, Prospect of Death.
There is no greater bugbear than a strong-willed relative
In the circle of his own connections.
Mauithome, Seven Gables, xi.
3. In gfrojB., a relative word; a relative pronoun
or adverb. See I,, 3. — 4. In logic, a relative
term. — IiOglc of relatives, that branch of formal logic
which treats of relations, and reasonings concerning them.
=Syn. 2. CwiTKCtion, etc. See relation.
relatively (rel'a-tiv-li), adv. In a relative man-
ner; in relation or respect to something else;
with relation to each o&er and to other things ;
not absolutely; comparatively: often followed
by to : as, his expenditure in charity was large
relaUveh/ to his income Relatively Identical,
the same in certain respects.— Relatively prime. See
prime, 7.
relativeneSB (rel'a-tiv-nes), n. The state of be-
ing relative or having relation.
Therefore, while for a later period of the dialect-life of
Hellas the expression ' ' dialect " is one of peculiar relative-
ness, it is a justifiable term for certain aggregations of
morphological and syntactical phenomena in the earlier
periods of language^ when dieilect-relations were mor6
sharply defined. Amer. Jour. PhUol., VII. 444.
relativity (rel-a-tiv'i-ti), n. [■= F. relati/oitS, <
NL. *relaUvita(i-)s,<!'h'h. retottuMS, relative : see
relative.^ 1. The character of being relative;
relativeness ; the being of an object as it is by
force of something to which it is relative. Spe-
cifically— 2. Phenomenality; existence as an
immediate object of the understanding or of ex-
perience; existence only in relation to a thinking
mind — The doctrine of the relativity of existence,
the doctrine that the real existence of the subject, and also
of the object, depends on the real relation between them.
—The doctrine of the relativity of knowledge. The
phrase relaUwty of Imowledge has received divergent sig-
nifications, (a) The doctrine that it is impossible to have
knowledge of anything except by means of its relations to
the mind, direct and indirect, cognized as relations, (b)
The doctrine of phenomenaUsm, that only appearances
can be known, and that the relations of these appearances
to external substrata, if such there be, are completely in-
cognizable. This doctrine is sometimes associated with a
denial of the possibility of any knowledge of relations as
such, or at least of any whose terms are not independently
present together in consciousness. It would therefore
better be denominated «Ae doctrine of the impossibiltty (tf
relativity of cognition, (o) The doctrine that we can onfy
become conscious of objects in their relations to one an-
other. This doctrine is almost universally held by psy-
chologists.
Relative and correlative are each thought through the
other, so that in enouncing relativi^ as a condition of the
thinkable —in other words, that thought is only of the rela-
tive—this is tantamount to saying that we think one thing
only as we think two things mutually and at once ; which
again is equivalent to the doctrine that the absolute (the
non-relative) is for us incogitable, and even inconceivable.
Sir W. UamUton, Metaph., App. T. (e).
When a philosopher lays great stress upon the relativity
qf our knowledge, it is necessary to cross-examine his
writings, and compel them to disclose in which of its
many degrees of meaning he understands the phrase. . . .
5059
To most of those who hold it, the difference between the
Ego and the Non-ego is not one of language only, nor a
formal distinction between two aspects of the same real-
ity, but denotes two realities, each having a separate ex-
i8tence,andneitherdependenton the other. . . . Theybe-
lieve that there is a real universe of "things in them-
selves," and that whenever there is an impression on our
senses, there is a "thing in itself," which is behind the
phsenomenon, and is the cause of it. But as to what this
thing is " in itself," we, having no organs except our senses
for communicating with it^ can only know what our senses
tell us ; and as they tell us nothing but the impression
which the thing makes upon us, we do not know what it
is in itself at all. . . . Of the ultimate realities, as such,
we know the existence, and nothing more. . . . It is in this
form that the doOrine of the relativity of knowledge is held
by the greater number of those who profess to holdit^ at-
taching any definite idea to the term.
J. S. Mill, Examination of Hamilton, iL
relator (re-la'tor), n. [< P. relafeur = Sp. Pg.
relator = It. reldiore, < Li. relator, a relator, nar-
rator, < referre, pp. relatus, relate, etc. : see re-
late."] 1. Same as retoter.
When this place affords anything worth your hearing,
I will be your relator. Donrle, Letters, xxxi.
3. In law,& person on whose suggestion or com-
plaint an action or special proceeding in the
name of the state (his name being usually joined
therewith) is brought, to try a question involv-
ing both public and private right.
relatrix (re-la'triks), n. [ML., fern, of rela-
tor,"] In iaiB, a female relator or petitioner.
Story.
relatum (re-la'tum), n. ; pi. relata (-ta). [ML. :
see relate, «.] Same as relate.
The SeSatwm and its Correlate seem to be simul nature.
Grote, Aristotle, I. ill.
relax (rf-laks'), v. [< OF. (and F.) relaxer =
Pr. relaxar, reliachar = Sp. relajar = Pg. relaxar
= It. rilassare, rilaseiare, release, < L. relaxare,
relax, < re-, back, -I- laxare, loosen, < laxiis,
loose : see ZflKri. Doublet of reJeosei.] "L. trans.
1. To slacken; make more lax or less tense or
rigid; loosen; make less close or firm: as, to
relax a rope or cord; to relax the muscles or
sinews.
Nor served it to relax their serried files.
Milton, P. L., vi. B99.
The self-complacent actor, when he views . . .
The slope of faces from the floor to th' roof . . .
Belaa^d into a universal grin. Coiuiper, Task, iv. 204.
2. To make less severe or rigorous; remit or
abate in strictness : as, to relax a law or rule.
The statute of mortmain was at several times relaaxd by
the legislature. ~ ' "
His principles, though not inflexible, were not more
relaxed than those of his associates and competitors.
Macaulay, Burleigh and his Times.
3. To remit or abate in respect to attention,
assiduity, effort, or labor: as, to relax study; to
relax exertions or efforts. — 4. To relieve from
attention or effort; afford a relaxation to; un-
bend: as, conversation relaxes the mind of the
student. — 5. To abate; take away. — 6. To
relieve from constipation ; loosen ; open : as,
medicines relax the bowels. — 7. To set loose
or free ; give up or over.
The whole number of convicts amounted to thirty, of
whom sixteen were reconciled, and the remainder rdaaed
to the secular arm : in other words, turned over to the
civil magistrate for execution. Prescott.
=Syn. 1. To loose, unbrace, weaken, enervate, debilitate.
— 2. To mitigate, ease. — 4. To divert^ recreate.
II. intrans. 1. To become loose, feeble, or
languid.
His knees relax with toil. Pope, Iliad, xxi. 309.
2. To abate in severity; become more mild or
less rigorous.
The bill has ever been petitioned against, and the muti-
nous were likely to go great lengths, if the Admiralty had
not bought off some by money, and others by relaxirtg in
the material points. Walpole, Letters, II. 147.
She would not relax in her demand.
Lamb, Imperfect Sympathies.
3. To remit in close attention; unbend.
No man can fix so perfect an idea of that virtue [justice]
as that he may not afterwards find reason to add or rdax
therefrom. A, Tucker, Light of Nature, II. iii. 24.
The mind, relaxing into needful sport.
Should turn to writers of an abler sort.
Cowper, Retirement, 1. 716.
relaxt (rf-laks'), n. [< relax, v.] Eelaxation.
Labours and cares may have their relaxes and recrea-
tions. FeiUham, Resolves, ii. 58.
relaxt (rf-laks'), a. [= It. relasso, weary, <
ML. relaxus, relaxed: see relaai, v.] Relaxed;
loose.
The sinews, . . . when the southern wind hloweth, are
more relax. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 381.
relaxable (re-lak'sa-bl), a. [< relax + -able.]
Capable of being relaxed or remitted.
relay
How, saith Ambrose, can any one dare to reckon the
Holy Ghost among creatures? or who doth so render him-
self obnoxious that, if h e derogate from a creature, he may
not suppose it to be relaxal)le to him by some pardon?
Barrow, Works, II. xxxiv.
relaxant (rf-lak'sant), n. [= F. relaxant = Sp.
relajante ='Pg. relaxante = It. rilassante, < L.
relaxan(t-)s, ppr. of relaxare, relax: see relax.]
A medicine that relaxes or opens. Thomas,
Med. Diet.
relaxate (rf-lak'sat), v. t. [< L. relaxatus, pp.
of reZoicare, relax: see retea;.] To relax. [Eare.J
Man's body being relaxated ... by reason of the heav
of . . . Summer.
T. Venrwr, Via Electa ad Vitam Longam, p. 265.
relaxation (re-lak-sa'shon), n. [< OF. (and F.)
relaxaUon = Pr. relaxaUo — Sp. relajacion = Pg.
relaxagdo = It. rilassazione, < L. relaxatio{n^,
a relaxing, < relaxare, relax, etc.: see relax.]
1. The act of relaxing, or the state of being
relaxed, (a) A diminution of tone, tension, or firmness ;
specifically, in pathol., a looseness; a diminution of the
natural and healthy tone of parts ; as, relaxation of the soft
palate.
All lassitude is a kind of contusion and compression of
the parte ; and bathing and anointing give a relaxation or
emoUition. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 730.
But relaxation of the languid frame
By soft recumbency of outstretch'd limbs
Was bliss reserv'd for happier days.
Cowper, Task, i. 81.
(S) Remission or abatement of rigor.
Abatements and relaxations of the laws of Christ.
Waterland, Works, VI. 25.
The late ill-fortune had dispirited the troops, and caused
an indifference about duty, a want of obedience, and a re-
laxation in discipline in the whole army.
Bruce, Source of the Nile, II. 373.
(c) Remission of attention or application : as, relaxatum
of efforts.
A relaxation of religion's hold
Upon the roving and untutor'd heart
Soon follows. Cowper, Task, ii. B69.
There is no better known fact in the history of the world
than that a deadly epidemic brings with it a reUtxation of
moral instincts. E. Sartorius, In the Soudan, p. 76.
2. Unbending; recreation; a state or occupa-
tion intended to give mental or bodily relief
after effort.
There would be no business in solitude, nor proper re-
laxatiora in business. Addison, Freeholder.
For what kings deem a toil, as well they may.
To him is relaxation and mere play.
Cowper, Table-Talk, 1. 156.
Hours of careless relaxation. Maca/iday.
It is better to conceal ignorance, but it is hard to do so
in relaxation and over wine.
Heraditus (trans.), Amer. Jour. Psychol., I. 668.
Letters of relaxation, in Scots law, letters passing the
signet, whereby a debtor is relieved from personal dili-
gence, or whereby an outlaw is reponed against sentence
of ouHawry : now employed only in the latter sense.
relaxative (re-lak'sa-tiv), a. and n. [< relax +
-at4ve.] I. a. Having the quality of relaxing;
laxative.
II. f. 1. That which has power to relax; a
laxative medicine.
And therefore you must use relaxatives.
B. Jonson, Magnetick Lady, iii. 4.
2. That which gives relaxation ; a relaxation.
The Moresco festivals seem . . . relaxatives otcoTpoveal
labours. L. Addison, West Barbary, xvii.
relayl (re-la'), n. [< ME. relaye, < OF. relais,
rest, stop, remission, delay, a relay, F. relais,
relay, = It. rilasso, relay; cf. rilasso, relasso,
same as rilasdo, a release, etc. ; < OF. relaisser,
release, let go, relinquish, intr. stop, cease, rest,
= It. rilassare, relasdare, relax, release, < L. re-
laxa/re, loosen, let loose, allow to rest : see relax
and release^.] 1 . A fresh supply, especially of
animals to be substituted for others; specifi-
cally, a fresh set of dogs or horses, in hunting,
held in readiness to be oast off or to remount
the hunters should occasion require, or a relief
supply of horses held in readiness for the con-
venience of travelers.
Ther overtok I a gret route
Of huntes and eke of foresteres,
With many r«iaj/e« and lymeres.
ChoMcer, Death of Blanche, 1. 362.
Roh. What rcZoj/« set you?
John. None at all ; we laid not
In one fresh dog.
B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, 1. 2.
Through the night goes the diligence, passing relay
after relay. Ttackeray, Philip, xxix.
2. A squad of men to take a spell or turn of
work at stated intervals; a shift. — 3. Gener-
ally, a supply of anything laid up or kept in store
for relief or fresh supply from time to time.
Who call aloud . . .
For change of follies, and relays of joy.
Young, Night Thoughts, iL 250,
relay
4. An instrament, consisting prinoipally of an
electromagnet with the armature delicately
adjusted for a slight motion about an axis,
and with contact-points so arranged that the
movement of the armature in obedience to the
signals transmitted over the line puts a bat-
tery, known as the local battery, into or out
of a short local circuit in which is the record-
ing or receiving apparatus. Also called reto^-
TOffg'net.— Microphone relay. See microphone.— Vo-
larized relay, a relay in whlcn the armature is perma-
nently magnetized. The movements of the armature
are accomplished without the use of a retractile spring,
and the instrument is thus more sensitive than one of
the ordinary form.— Relay Of ground, ground laid up
in fallow. Sichardson,
relays (re-la'), v. t. [< re- + layt-J] To lay
again; lay a second time: as, to relay a pave-
ment.
relbun (rel'bun), n. See Calceolaria.
releasable (rf-le'sa-bl), a. H release + -able.']
Capable of being released.
He [Ethelhald, Idng of Mercland] discharged all mon-
asteries and churches of all kind of taxes, works, and im-
posts, excepting such as were for building of forts and
hridges, being (as it seems the law was then) not releas-
dble. Selden, Illustrations of Drayton's Folyolbion, xl.
release^ (re-les'), v. t. ; pret. and pp. released,
ppr. releasing. [< ME. relesen, relessen, re-
leschen, < OP. relaiasier, relessier, relesser, re-
lease, let go, relinquish, quit, intr. stop, cease,
rest, F. relaisser (also OP. relacher, relascher,
P. reUdher), relax, release, = Pr. relaxar, re-
lachar = Sp. relajar = Pg. relaxar = It. relas-
sare, rilassare, rilasciare, relax, release, < L.
relaxare, relax: see relax, of which release is a
doublet. Of. reZa^i.] 1. To let loose; set free
from restraint or confinement ; liberate, as from
prison, confinement, or servitude.
But Mlate answered them, saying. Will ye that I release
unto you the King of the Jews ? r Mark xv, 9.
The Earls Marchar and Syward, with Wolnoth, the
Brother of Harold, a little before his Death, he [King Wil-
liam] released out of f risen. Baker, Chronicles, p. 26.
And I arose^ and I released
The casement, and the light increased.
Tennyson, Two Voices,
3. To free from pain, care, trouble, grief, or
any other evil.
They would be so weary of their lines as either fly all
their Countries, or giue all they had to be released ot such
an hourely misery.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 91.
Leisure, silence, and a mind reteas'd
From anxious thoughts how wealth may be increas'd.
Cowper, Retirement^ 1. 139.
3. To free from obligation or penalty: as, to
release one from debt, or from a promise or
covenant.
About this time William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, and High
Treasurer of England, finding himself to droop with Age,
. . . sent Letters to the Queen, entreating her to rdeoM
him of his pnblick Charge. Ba^er, Chronicles, p. 387.
The people begged to he released from a part of their
rates. Emerson, Hist. Discourse at Concord.
"Good friends," he said, "since both have fled, the ruler
and the priest,
Judge ye if from their further work I be not well re-
leased." Whittier, Cassandra Southwiok.
4t. To forgive. — 5. To quit; let go, as a legal
claim; remit; surrender or relinquish: as, to
release a debt, or to release a right to lands or
tenements by conveying to another already
having some right or estate in possession.
Thus, a remainder-man releases his right to the tenant in
possession ; one coparcenerrdZ^oseshis right to the other;
or the mortgagee releases to the mortgager or owner of the
equity of redemption.
I releshe the my ryght with a rank will,
And graunt the the gouemanse of this grete yie.
Destruction of Troy (B. B. T. 8.), L 18626.
Item, that the duchy of Anjou and the county of Maine
shall be released and delivered to the king her father.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., i. 1. 51.
We here release nnto our faitlrful people
One entire subsidy, due unto the crown
In our dead brother's days.
Webster and Dekker, Sir Thomas Wyatt, p. 31.
Tithes therfore, though jlaim'd, and Holy under the Law,
yet are now released and quitted, both by that command to
Peter and by this to all Ministers above cited,
MUbm, Touching Hirelings.
6t. To relax.
It may not seem hard if in cases of necessity certain
profitable ordinances sometimes be released, rather than
all men always strictly bound to the general rigor thereof.
Hooker.
7t. To let slip; let go; give up.
Bidding them fight for honour of their love,
And rather die then Ladies cause release.
Spenser, r. Q., IV. ii. 19.
8. To take out of pawn. Nabbes, The Bride (4to,
1640) , sig. P. iv. (SalUwell. ) = Syn. 1. To loose, de-
liver.—1-3. Li^eriUe, etc. See disenffage.—S. To acquit.
5060
releasel (re-les'), »■ [< ^E. rekes, rehs, re-
lece, < OP. 'rales, relez, relais, rellais, P. relais =
It. riZosCTO, a release, relay; from the verb: see
release^ v., and of. relay^.'] 1. Liberation or
discharge from restraint of any kind, as from
confinement or bondage.
Confined together,
... all prisoners, sir, . . .
They cannot budge till your release.
Shak., Tempest, v. 1. 11.
Thou . . .
Who boast'st release from hell, and leave to come
Into the heaven of heavens. Mttton, F. E., L 409.
2. Liberation from care, pain, or any burden.
It seem'd so hard at first, mother, to leave the blessed sun.
And now it seems as hard to stay, and yet His will be done I
But still I think it can't be long before I find release.
Tennyson, May Queen, Conclusion,
When the Sabbath brings its kind release.
And care lies slumbering on the lap of Peace.
0. W. Holmes, A Khymed Lesson.
3. Discharge from obligation or responsibility,
as from debt, tax, penalty, or claim of any kind ;
acquittance.
The king made a great feast, . . . andhemadeareJeme
to the provinces, and gave gifts. Esther ii. 18.
Henry III. himself . . . sought in a papal sentence of
absolution a rdease from the solemn obligations by which
he had bound himself to his people.
&tbs, Const. Hist., § 403.
4. In law, a surrender of a right; a remission
of a claim in such form as to estop the grantor
from asserting it again. More specifically— (<t) An
instrument by which a creditor or lienor discharges the
debt or lien, or frees a particular person or property there-
from, irrespective of whether payment or satisfaction has
actually been made. Hence usually it implies a sealed
instrument. See receipt. (6) An instrument by which a
person having or claiming an ulterior estate in land, or a
present estate without possession, surrenders his claim to
one having an inferior estate, or having an alleged wrong-
ful possession ; a quitclaim. See lease and release, under
5. In a steam-engine, the opening of the ex-
haust-port before the stroke is finished, to less-
en the back-pressure.; — 6. In archery, the act
of letting go the bowstring in shooting; the
mode of performing this act, which differs
among different peoples Out of releaset, with-
out cessation.
Whom erthe and se and heven, out ofretees,
Ay herien. Cha^lcer, Second Nun's Tale, 1. 46.
Kelease of dower. See dowerZ. = Syn. 1-3. Deliverance,
excuse, exemption, exoneration, absolution, clearance.
See the verb.
release^ (re-les'), v. t. [< re- + lease^."] To lease
again or anew. Imp. Diet.
releasee (re-le-se'), ». [< release^ + -eel. Cf.
lessee, reUssee."] In law, a person to whom a re-
lease is given; a relessee.
releasement (rf-les'ment), n. [< release^ +
-meni. Cf. OF. 'relaschement, P. reldchement =
Pr. relaxamen = Sp. relajamiento = Pg. relaxa-
mento = It. relassamento, releasement.] The
act of releasing, in any sense ; a release.
Tis I am Hercules, sent to free you all. —
... In this club behold
All your releaeements. Shirlejf, Love Tricks, ill. 5.
The Queen Interposeth for the Bdeasement of my Lord
of Newport and others, who are Prisoners of War.
HoweU, Letters, I. v. 8.
releaser (re-le'sfer), «. 1. One who releases. —
2. In meeh., any device in the nature of a trip-
ping mechanism whereby one part is released
from engagement with another. [Rare.]
release-spring (rf-les'spring), n. A spring at-
tached to the end-piece of a truck for the pur-
pose of throwing the brakes out of contact with
the wheels. Car-Builder's Diet. .
releasor (re-le'sor), n. [< release'^ + -oj-i.] In
law, one who grants a release ; one who quits
or renounces that which he has ; a relessor.
releest, «. A Middle English form of releaseK
releet (re-let'), n. [< re- + leet.] A crossing
of roads." Malliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
relefet, n. An obsolete spelling of relief,
relegate (rel'e-gat), v. t.; pret. and pp. rele-
gated, ppr. relegating. [< L. relegatus, pp. of
relegare (> It. relegare = Sp. relegar = Pr. rele-
gar, relegua/r = P. reUguer), send away, des-
patch, remove, < re-, away, back,-t- legare, send:
see legate.'} 1. To send away or out of the
way^ consign, as to some obscure or remote
destination; banish; dismiss.
We have not relegated religion (like something we were
ashamed to shew) to obscure municipalities or rustic vil-
lages. Burke, Eev. in France.
Relegate to worlds yet distant our repose.
M. Arnold, Empjdocles on Etna.
Relegated by their own political sympathies and Whig
liberality ... to the comparative uselessness of literary
retkement. Stmibs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 6.
relentlessness
2. In Bom. law, to send into exile ; cause to re-
move a certain distance from Rome for a oer
tain period. — 3. In law, to remit or put off to
an inferior remedy.
relegation (rel-e-ga'sKgn), n. [< OF. relega-
cion, relegation, "F. religation = Sp. relegadon =
It. relegazione, (.h.relegaiw^n-), a sending away,
exiling, banishing, < relegare, send away: see
relegate.'} The act of relegating; banishment:
specifically a term in ancient Roman law, and
also in ecclesiastical law, and in that of univer-
sities, especially in Germany. See relegate, 2.
The exiles are not allowed the liberty of other banished
persons, who, within the isle or region of relegation, may
go or move whither they please.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 183B), I. 388.
Arlus behaved himself so seditiously and tumultuarily
that the Nioene fathers procured a temporary decree for
his r^egatCon.
Jer. Taylor, Liberty of Prophesying, Ep. Bed.
relent (re-lenf), V. [< ME. relenten, < OP. ra-
lenUr, rdllentir, slacken, relent, P. ralentir =
Pg. relentar (of. Sp. relentecer, soften, relent, <
L. relentescere, slacken) = It. rallentare, < L. re-,
back, + lentus, slow, slack, tenacious, pliant: •
akin to lenis, gentle, and E. lithe'^ : see lenient.']
1. intrans. If. To slacken; stay.
Tet scarcely once to breath would they relent.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. iL 18.
2f. To soften in substance; lose compactness;
become less rigid or hard.
He stired the coles til relente gan
The wex agayn the f yr.
Chaucer, Canon's Yeoman's Tale, I. 267.
There be some houses wherein sweet-meats will relmt
. . . more than in others. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 809.
When op'ning buds salute the welcome day,
And earth relenting feels the genial ray.
Pope, Temple ot Fame, I. 4,
3t. To deliquesce; dissolve; melt; fadeaway.
The colours, beynge natsuerly wrought, . . . bymoyst-
nesse of wether relenteth or f adeth.
Sir T. Myot, The Governour, iii. 19,
All nature mourns, the skies relent in showers.
Pope, Spring, 1. m.
4. To become less severe or intense; relax.
[Rare.]
The workmen let glass cool by degrees, and in such re
lentings of Are as they call their nealing heats, lest it
should shiver in pieces by a violent succeeding of air.
Sir K. Digby, On Boflles.
The slave-trade had never relented among the Mahom-
etans. Baucr-o/e, Hist. U. S.,1. 129.
5. To become less harsh, cruel, or obdurate;
soften in temper ; become more mild and ten-
der; give way; yield; comply; feel compas-
sion.
Relent and yield to mercy. Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 8. 11.
Stem Proserpine relented,
And gave him back the fair.
Pope, Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, 1. 85
No light had we ; for that we do repent ;
And, learning this, the bridegroom will relent.
Too late, too late 1 ye cannot enter now.
Tennyson, Guinevere.
Il.t trans. 1. To slacken; remit; stay; abate.
But nothing might relent her hasty flight.
Spenser, F. Q., IIL iv. 49.
2. To soften; mollify; dissolve.
In water first this opium relent.
Of sape until it have similitude.
Paladins, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 102.
AU his body shulde be dyssolued and relented into salto
dropes. Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, Ii. 12.
relentt (re-lenf), n. [< relent, «.] 1. Remis-
sion; stay.
Ne rested till she came nithout rdent
TJnto the land of Amazons.
Spenser, F. Q., V. vU. 24.
2. Relenting.
Fear of death enforceth still
In greater minds submission and relent.
Greene, Orlando Furioso.
relenting (re-len'ting), p. a. Inclining to relent
or yield; soft; too easily moved; soft-hearted;
weakly complaisant.
BelerMng fool, and shallow, changing woman I
Shak., Rich. HL, Iv. 4. 431.
relentless (re-lent'les), a. [< relent + -less.]
Incapable of relenting; unmoved by pity; un-
pitying; insensible to the distress of others;
destitute of tenderness.
Only In destroying I find ease
To my relentlesa thoughts. UUton, P. L.,ix. 130.
= Syn. Im/placfMe, etc. See inexoraWe, and list under un-
reterOxng.
relentlessly (rf-lent'les-li), adm. In a relent-
less manner; without pity.
relentlessness (re-lent'les-nes), n. The quality
of being relentless, or umnoved by pity. Imip.
Diet.
relentment
relentment (re-lent'ment), n. [= It. raUenta-
mento; as relent + -nwnt.] The act or state
of relenting : compassion. Imp. Diet.
reles^f, n. A Middle English form of release^.
reles^t, ». A Middle En^ish form of relisli.
releaset, v. A Middle English form of release^:
releasee (rf-le-se'), ». [Var. of releasee, imi-
tating the simple lessee.'] In law, the person to
whom a release is executed.
relessor (r§-les'or), n. [Var. of releasor. Cf.
relessee.} In law, the person who executes a
release.
There must be a privity of estate between tberelesior
and relessee. BlacksUme, Com., II. xx.
relet (re-let'), v. t. [< re- + let\ ».] To let
anew, as a house.
relevance (rel'e-vans), n. [= Pg. relevanda;
as relevan{i) + -ce'.'] Same as relevancy.
relevancy (rel'e-van-si), «. [As relevance (see
-*2/)-] If. ThestateofaJEording relief or aid. —
2. The state or character of l>eing relevant or
pertinent; pertinence; appUeaWenessy defi-
nite or obvious relation ; recognizable connec-
tion.
Much I marrelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so
plainly,
Xhough its answer little meaning— little relevancy bore.
Poe, The Raven.
3. In Scots law, fitness or sufficiency to bring
about a decision. The relevancy of the libel, in Scots
law, is the sufficiency of the matters therein stated to war-
rant a decree in the terms asked.
The presiding Judge next directed the counsel to plead
to the relevancy : that is, to state on either part the argu-
ments in point of law, and evidence in point of fact,
against and in favour of the criminal.
Seott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxii.
relevant (rel'e-vant), a. [< OF. relevant, assist-
ing, = Sp. Pg. relevante, raising, important, <
li. relevan(t-)s, ppr. of relevare, lift up again,
lighten, relieve, hence in Bom. help, assist :
see relieve, and ef . levant^.'] 1 . To the purpose ;
pertinent; applicable: as, the testimony is not
relevant to the ease.
dose and relevant arguments have very little hold on the
passions. Sydney Smith.
2. In law, being in subject-matter germane to
the controversy; conducive to the proof or
disproof of a fact in issue or a pertinent hy-
pothesis. See irreleioant.
The word relevant means that any two facts to which it
is applied are so related to each other that, according to
the common course of events, one, either taken by itself
or in connection with other facts, proves or renders prob-
able the past, present, or future existence of the other.
3. In ;6icote ^w, sufScient legally: as, a relevant
plea.
The Judges . . . recorded their judgment, which bore
that the indictment, if proved, was r^evant to infer the
pains of law : and that the defence, that the panel had
communicated her situation to her sister, was a relevant
defence. Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxil.
=Syn. 1 and 2. Apposite, appropriate, suitable, fit.
relevantly (rel'f-vant-llj, adv. In a relevant
manner; with releTOncy.
relevationt (rel-e-va'shon), n. [= Sp. releva-
cion, < L. rekvalM>{n-), alightening, relief, < re-
levare, lighten, relieve: see relevant, relieve.']
A raising or lifting up. Bailey.
relevet, v. A Middle English form of relieve.
reliability (re-li-a-bil'i-ti), n. [< reUable + -ity
(see -bility).^ T^iie state or quality of being
reliable; reliableness.
He bestows all the pleasures, and inspires all that ease
of mind on those around him or connected with him,
which perfect consistency, and (if such a word might be
framed) absolute rdiaMity, equally in small as in great
concerns, cannot but inspire and bestow.
Coleridge, Biog. lit, lii.
reliable (re-li'a-bl), a. [< rely^ + -able.] That
may be refied on ; fit or worthy to be relied on ;
worthy of reliance; to be depended on; trust-
worthy. [This word, which involves a use of the suffix
•aile superBoially different from its more familiar use in
provable, *thatmaybeproved,'eato6te, 'thatmay be eaten,'
etc., has been much objected to by purists on philological
grounds. The objection, however, really has no philologi-
cal justification, being based on an imperiect knowledge
of the history and uses of the suffix -oJfe, or on a too nar-
row view of its office. Compare available, conversable, dis-
pensable, lavghdble, and many other examples collected
by Ktzedward Hall in his work cited below, and see -Me.
As a matter of usage, however, the word is shunned by
many fastidious wiiters.]
The Emperor of Bossia may have announced the res-
toration of monarchy as exclusively his object. This is
not considered as the ultimate object, by this country,
but as the best means, and most reliaMe pledge, of a higher
object, viz. our own security, and that of Europe.
Coleridge, Essays on His Own Times, p. 296 (on a speech by
IMr. Pitt (Nov. 17, 1800), as manipulated by Coleridge) :
[quoted in F. Hall's Adjectives in -able, p. 29.
5061
According to General Livingston's hnmorous account,
his own village of Elizabethtown was not much more
relicMe, being peopled in tlioss agitated times by "un-
known, unrecommended strangers, guilty-looking tones,
and very knavish whigs." Irving. (Webster.)
He [Mr. Grote] seems to think that the reliable chronol-
ogy of Greece begins before its reliaMe history.
Gladstone, Oxford Essays (1867), p. 49.
She [the Church] has now a direct command, and a re-
liable influence, over her own institutions, which was
wanting in the middle ages.
J. B. Newinan, Lectures and Essays on University Sub-
Uects (ed. 1869), p. 302.
Above all, the grand and only rdidble security, in the
last resort, against the despotism of the government, is
in that case wanting — the sympathy of the army viith the
people. J. S, Mill, Representative Government; xvi.
The sturdy peasant . . . has become very well accus-
tomed to that spectacle, and regards the said lord as his
most relialle source of trinkgelds and other pecuniary ad-
vantages.
Ledie Steplien, Playground of Europe (1871X p. 47.
=Syn. Trustworthy, trusty.
reliableness (rf-li'a-bl-nes), n. The state or
quality of beiog reliable ; reliability.
The number of steps in an argument does not subtract
from its reliableness, if no new premises of an uncertain
character are taken up by the way.
J. S. Mia, Logic (ed. 1865), L 303.
reliably (re-ll'a-bli), adv. In a reliable man-
ner; so as to 1)6 relied on.
reliance (rf-li'ans), n. [< rely'^ -^ -amce.] 1.
The act of relying, or the state or character of
being reliant ; confident rest for support ; con-
fidence; dependence: as, we may have perfect
reliance on the promises of God; to have reli-
ance on the testimony of witnesses.
His days and times are past.
And my reliances on his fracted dates
Have smit my credit. Shak., T. of A., ii. 1. 22.
Who would lend to a government that prefaced its over-
tures for borrowing by an act which demonstrated that no
reliance could be placed on the steadiness of its measures
for paying? A, HamUUrn, The Pederalist, No. xxx.
2. Anything on which to rely; sure depen-
dence ; ground of trust.
reliant (re-li'ant), a. [< rely^ + -ant.] Having
or indioating'reliance or confidence; confident;
self -trustful : as, a reZianf spirit ; a reZioKf bear-
ing.
Dinah was too reliant on the Divine will to attempt to
achieve any end by a deceptive concealment.
George Eliot, Adam Bede, liL
relic (rel'ifc), n. [Formerly also relick, relique;
< ME. relylce, relike, chiefly pi., < OF. reliques,
pi., P. relique, pi. reliques = Pr. reliquias = Sp.
Pg. It. reliquia = AS. reliquias, relies (also in
comp. relic-gong, a going to visit relics), < L.
reliquise, remains, relies, < relinquere (pret. reli-
qui, pp. relictus), leave behind: see relinquish.
Cf . relict.] 1 . That which remains ; that which
is left after the consumption, loss, or decay of
the rest.
The Mouse and the Catte fell to then- vlctnalles, beeing
such reliques as the olde manne had left.
Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 234.
They shew monstrous bones, the Meligpies of the Whale
from which Perseus freed Andromeda.
Purelias, Pilgrimage, p. 95.
Fair Greece I sad relic of departed worth !
Byron, Childe Harold, ii. 73.
S. The body of a deceased person ; a corpse, as
deserted by the soul. [Usually in the plural.]
What needs my Shakspeare, for his honour'd bones,
The labour of an age in piled stones?
Or that his hallow'd rdiques should be hid
Under a star-ypointing pyramid?
Milton, Epitaph on Shakspeare.
3. That which is preserved in remembrance;
a memento; a souvenir; a keepsake.
His [Peter Stuyvesant's] silver-mounted wooden leg is
still treasured up in the store-room as an invaluable
relique. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 466.
4. An object held in reverence or affection be-
cause connected with some sacred or beloved
person deceased ; specifically, in the Som. Catli.
Ch., the Gr. Ch., and some other churches, a
saint's body or part of it, or an object supposed
to have been connected with the life or body of
Christ, of the Virgin Mary, or of some saint or
martyr, and regarded therefore as a personal
memorial worthy of religious veneration. Rel-
ics are of three classes: (a) the entire bodies or parts
of the bodies of venerated persons, (B) objects nsed by
them or connected with their martyrdom, and (c) objects
connected with their tombs or sanctified by contact with
their bodies. Relics are preserved in churches, convents,
etc., to which pilgrimages are on their account frequently
made. The miraculous virtues which are attributed to
them are defended by such instances from Scripture as
that of the miracles which were wrought by the bones of
Elisha (2 Ki. xiii. 21).
The in a Chirche of Seynt Silvester ys many grett rel-
imiis, a pece of the vesture of our blyssyd lady.
Torkingtan, Diane of Eng. Travell, p. 4.
relief
What make ye this way? we keep no rdics here,
Nor holy shnnes. Fletcher, Pilgrim, i. 2.
Lists of relics belonging to certain churches in this coun-
try are often to be met with in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts.
Rock, Church of our Fathers, IIL i. 357, note.
5t. Something dear or precious.
It is a f ulle noble thing
Whanne thyne eyen have metyng
With that rdike precious,
Wherof they be so desirons.
Mam. qf the Rose, L 2907.
6t. A monument.
Shall we go see the rdiques of this town?
Shaic., T. N., iii. 3. 19.
=Syn. 4. Remains, Rdics. The remains of a dead person
are his corpse or his literary works ; in the latter case they
are, for the sake of distinction, generally called literary
remains. We speak also of the remains of a feast; of a
city, building, monument, etc. Relics always suggests
antiquity : as, the rdics of ancient sovereigns, heroes, and
especially saints. The singular of rdics is used; that of
remains is not.
relic-knife (rel'ik-nif), n. A knife made so
as to contain the relic or supposed relic of a
saint, either in a small cavity provided for the
purpose in the handle, or by incorporating the
relic, if a piece of bone or the like, in the deco-
ration of the handle itself. Jour. Brit. Arcliseol.
Ass., X. 89.
reliclyt (rel'ik-li), adv. [< relic + -ly^.] As a
relic; with care such as is given to a relic.
[Rare.]
Asa thrifty wench scrapes kitchen-stuft.
And barrelling the droppings, and the snoff
Of wasting candles, which in thirty year,
ReUdy kept, perchance buys wed&ig cheer.
Donne, Satires, ii.
relic-monger (rel'ik-mung'ger), n. One who
traffics in relics; hence, one who has a passion
for collecting objects to serve as relics or sou-
venirs.
The beauty and historic interest of the heads must have
tempted the senseless and unscrupulous greed of mere
rdic-mongers. Karpei's Mag., LXXVL 302.
relict (rel'ikt), n. and a. [< OF. relict, m., relicte,
f ., a person or thing left behind, esp. relicte, f.,
a widow, < L. relictus, fem. relicta, neut. relic-
iiim, left behind, pp. of relinquere, leave be-
hind: see relic, relinquish.] I. n. If. One who
is left or who remains ; a survivor.
The eldest daughter, Frances, ... is the sole relict of
the family. B. Jonson, New Inn, Arg,
2. Specifically, a widower or widow, especially
a widow.
He took to Wife the virtuous Lady Emma, the Rdict of
K. Ethelred. Baker, Chronicles, p. 16.
Though the rdict of a man or woman hath liberty to
contract new relations, yet I do not find they have liberty
to cast off the old. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), IL 84.
Who cou'd love such an unhappy Reliet as I am?
Steele, Grief A-la-Hode, iiL 1.
3f. A thing left behind; a relic.
To breake the eggeshell after the meat is out, wee are
taught in our childhood, and practice it all our lives, which
neverthelesse is but a superstitious rdict.
Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Epid. (1646X v. 21.
II. a. Left; remaining; surviving.
His Rdict Lady . . . lived long in Westminster.
FtiSer, Worthies, Lincoln, IL 13. (Davies.)
relictt, V. t. [< L. relictus, pp. of relinquere,
leave : see relinquish.] To leave.
A vyne whoos fruite humoure wol putrifle
Pampyned [pruned] is to be by every side,
Rdicte on hit oonly the croppes hie.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 188.
relicted (re-lik'ted), a. [< L. relictus, pp. of
relinquere, relinquish, leave behind (see relin-
quish, relict), + -e(J2.] In law, left diy, as land
by the recession of the sea or other body of
water.
reliction (re-lik'shon), n. [< L. relictio(n-), a
leaving behind, forsaking, < relinquere, pp. re-
lictus, forsake, abandon : see relict, relinquish.]
In law, the recession of the sea or other body
of water from land; also, land thus left un-
covered.
relief (re-lef), n. [< ME. releef, relefe, relef,
also relif, relyf, relyve, relief, also remnants left
over, relics, a basket of fragments, < OF. relef,
relief, a raising, relieving, a relief, a thing
raised, scraps, fragments, also raised or em-
bossed work, relief, F. relief, relief, embossed
work, = Pr. releu = Cat. relleu = Sp. relieve,
a relief, relievo, embossed work, relevo, relief
(milit.), = Pg. relevo, embossed work, = It.
rilevo, remnants, fragments, rilievo, embossed
work (see bas-relief, basso-rilievo); from the
verb: see relieve.] 1. The act of relieving, or
the state of being relieved; the removal, in
whole or in part, of any pain, oppression, or
relief
burden, so that some ease is obtained ; allevia-
tion; succor; comfort.
Bycause it was a deserte yle, there was no thynge to be
founde that myght be to onr raefe, nother in yytayUes nor
otherwyse, whiohe discomforted vs right moche.
Sir E. Ouylforie, Pylgrymage, p. 62.
Wherever sorrow is, retUf would be.
Shak., As you Like it, iii. 6. 86.
To the catalogue of pleasures may accordingly be added
the pleasures of rdirf, or the pleasures which a man ex-
periences when, after he has been enduring a pain of any
kind for a certain time, it comes to cease, or to abate,
Bentham, Introd. to Morals and Legislation, v. 16.
2. That which mitigates or removes pain, grief,
want, or other evil.
What nUefe I should haue from your Colony I would
satisfle and spare them (when I could) the like courtesie.
Capt. John Snath, Works, II. 80.
Kty the sorrows of apoor old man, . , ,
Oh I give relief, and Heaven will bless your store.
T. Moss, Beggar's Petition,
He [James IL] . . . granted to the exiles some relief
from his privy purse, and, by letters under his great seal,
invited his subjects to imitate his liberality.
MacavZay, Hist. Eng., Ti.
3. In Grreat Britain, assistance given under
the poor-laws to a pauper : as, to administer
outdoor relief. — 4. Eelease from a post of
duty by a substitute or substitutes, who may
apt either permanently or temporarily; espe-
cially, the going off duty of a sentinel or guard
whose place is supplied by another soldier.
For this reliif, much thanks ; 'tis bitter cold,
And I am sick at heart. Shak., Hamlet, i. 1. 8.
6. One who relieves another, as from a post of
duty ; a soldier who relieves another who is on
guard; collectively, a company of soldiers who
relieve others who are on guard.
Even in front of the National Palace the sentries on
dul^ march u_p and down their beats in a slipshod fashion,
whue the reluif loll about on the stone benches, smoking
cigarettes and otherwise making themselves comfortable.
Harper't Mag., LXXTX. 820.
6. In gcMto., arch., etc., the projection (in
painting, the apparent projection) of a figure
or feature from the ground or plane on which
it is formed. Kelief is, in general, of three kinds : high
relief (alto-rilievo), low relief (hatso-rUievo, has-relitf), and
middle or half relief (7»es20-rSie»o). The distinction lies
in the degree of projection. High relief is that in which
5062
High Relief.— The Rondanini mask of Medusa m the Glyptothek,
Munich— illustrating the late beautified type of the Gorgon.
the figures project at least one half of their natural cfr-
comf erence from the background. In low relief the fig-
ures project but slightly from the ground, in such a man-
ner that no part of them is entirely detached from it, as
In medals, the chief effect being produced by the treat-
ment of light and shadow. Middle or ftoV relief is inter-
mediate between the other two. The varieties of relief
are still further distinguished as ttiaedalo rUieoo, or very
flat relief, the lowest possible relief, of which the projec-
tion in parts hardly exceeds the thickness of a sheet of
paper ; and cavo-rUievo, hollow relief, also called irdaglio
rilmato, or eoelanaglyphic sculpture, an Egyptian form of
relief obtained by cutting a furrow with sloping sides
around a figure previously outlined on a stone surface,
leaving the highest parts of the finished work on a level
with the ori^nal surface-plane. See also cut in next
column, and cuts under orant, Proserpine, aUo-rUieoo, and
bat-relief.
You find the figures of many ancient coins rising up in
a much more beautiful relief than those on the modem.
Addison, Ancient Medals, ilL
7. A work of art or decoration in relief of any
of the varieties described above.
On each side of the door-place [of several grottos] there
are rough unfinished pillars out in the rock, which sup-
port a pediment, and over the door there is a reli^ of a
spread eagle. Pococke, Description of the East, II. 1. 136.
Hollow-relief or Cavo-rilievo Sculpture.- Court of Edfu, Egypt;
Ptolemaic age, 2d century B. C.
8. In her., the supposed projection of a charge
from the surface of the field, represented by
shading with a heavier bounding-line on the
sinister side and toward the base than on the
dexter side and toward the chief. Thus, if an es-
cutcheon is divided into seven vertical stripes, alternately
red and white, it would not be blazoned paly of seven gules
and argent, as the rule is that paly is always of an even
number, but the sinister side of three alternate stripes
would be shaded to indicate relief, and the blazoning would
be gules, three pallets argent, the assumption being that
the pallets are m relief upon the field.
9. In pJiys. geog., the form of the surface of
any part of the earth, considered in the most
general way, and with special regard to differ-
ences of elevation: little used except in the
name relief -^map, by which is meant a geograph-
ical or geological map in which the form of
the surface is expressed by elevations and de-
pressions of the material used. Unless the scale
of such relief -maps is very large, there must be consider-
able exaggeration, because differences of vertical eleva-
tions in nature are small as compared with superficial ex-
tent. Belief -maps are occasionally made by preparing a
model of the region it is desired to exhibit, and then pho-
tographing this model under an oblique illumination.
The relief of the surface is also frequently indicated on
maps by. various colors or by a number of tints of one
color. Both hachure and contour-line maps also indicate
the relief of the surface, to a greater or less extent, accord-
ing to their scale and artistic perfection. Thus, the Du-
f our map of Switzerland, especially when photographed
down to a small size, has in a very striking degree tlie
effect of a photograph from an actual model, although in
reality a hachure-map.
10. In fort., the perpendicular height of the
interior crest of the parapet above the bottom
of the ditch. — 11. Piomiuence or distinctness
given to anything by something presenting a
contrast to it, or brought into close relation
with or proximity to it; a contrast.
Here also grateful mixture of weU-match'd
And sorted hues (each giving each reli^.
And by contrasted beauty shining more).
Caiuipeir, Task, UL 634.
Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be
thrown into r^i^ by poor dress.
Qeorge Eliot, Mlddlemarch, i.
12. In hunUng, a note sounded on the horn on
reaching home after the chase.
Now, Sir, when you come to your stately gate, as you
sounded the recheat before, so now you must sound the
rdeefe three times, BelMmfrom Pamasms (1606)^ 11, 6.
13t. What is picked up; fragments left; broken
meat given in alms.
After dener, ther shall come all fire sowerys, and take
the relef of the mete and drynke that the florsayde M. and
shopholderis levyth. English OUds (E. B. T. B.\ p. 315.
14. In law, that which a court of justice awards
to a suitor as redress for the grievance of which
he complains. — 15. In feudal la/w, a fine or
composition which the heir of a tenant hold-
ing by knight's service or other tenure paid
to the lord at the death of the ancestor, for the
privilege of succeeding to the estate, which, on
strict feudal principles, had lapsed or fallen
to the lord on the death of the tenant. This re-
lief consisted of horses, arms, money, etc., (jhe amount of
which was originally arbitrary, but af terwtod fixed by law.
The term is still used in this sense in Scots law, being a
sum exigible by a feudal superior from the heir who en-
ters on a feu. Also called eastuMy of relief.
relieve
On taking up the inheritance of lands, a rdixf [was paid
to the king]. The reZf^ originally consisted of arms, ar-
mour and horses, and was arbitrary in amount^ butwas sub-
sequently "ascertained," that is, rendered certain, by the
Conqueror, and fixed at a certain quantity of arms and ha-
biliments of war. After the assize of arms of Henry It,
it was commuted for a money payment of 100s. for eveiy
knight's fee, and as thus fixed continued to be payable ever
afterwards. S. Darnell, Taxes in England, I. 25.
Absolute relief, in fvrt., the height of any point of a work
above the bottom of the ditch.— Alternative relief, in
law, different modes of redress asked in the alternative,
usually because of uncertainty as to some of the facts, or
because of a discretionary power in the court to award
either.— Bond of relief. See doTitfi.— Constructive
relief, in fart., the height of any point of a work above
the plane of construction.— Conversion of relief. See
conversion.— Indoor relief, accommodation in the poor-
house, as distinguished from outdoor relief, the assistance
given to those paupers who live outside. [Great Britain.]
— Infeftment of relief. See infeftmeiA. — Outdoor re-
lief. See indoar relief.— Vaxocidal relief. See paro-
ehicU. — Relief Churcll, a body of Presbyterian dissenters
in Scotland, who separated from the Established Church
on account of the oppressive exercise of patronage,
Thomas Gillespie, its founder, was deposed by the Gen-
eral Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1752, and or-
ganized the " Presbytery of Belief" on October 22d, 1761.
In 1847 the Belief and United Secession churches amal-
gamated, forming the United Presbyterian Church.— Re-
lief law. See Jawi.— Relief processes, those processes
in mechanical or "process" engraving by which are pro-
duced plates or blocks with raised lines, callable of being
printed from like type, or togetherwithtype, in an ordinary
press.— Relief Batine, or sating relief. Same as raised
satinrstiteh (which see, under satin-stitch).— Roman Catb-
olic Relief Acts. See Catholic.— Specific relief, in law,
action of the court directly on the person or property, as
distinguished from that in which an award of damages only
is made, to be collected by execution. =Syn. 1. Mitiga-
tion.—2. Help, aid, support,
relief-ful (re-lef'fia),a. [irelief+ -ful.'] Full
of relief; giving relief or ease.
Never was there a more joyous hearty . . . ready to bunt
its bars for rAixf-f-td expression.
JitcAordson, Clarissa Harlowe, IIL lix.
reliefless (re-lef'les), a. [< relief + -fegg.]
Destitute of 'relief, in any sense.
relief-map (re-lef 'map), ». See reUef, 9,
relief-perspective (rf-lefpfer-spek-'tiv), «.
dPhe art of constructing homological figures in
space, and of determining the relations of the
parts of bas-reliefs, theatrical settings, etc., to
make them look like nature. Every such repre-
sentation refers to a fixed center of perspective and to
a fixed plane of homology. The latter in a theater set-
ting is tlie plane in which the actors generally stand ; In
a bas-relief it is the plane of life-size inures. Every natu-
ral plane is represented by a plane cutting it in a line lying
in the plane of homology. Every natural point is repre-
sented by a point in the same ray from the center of per-
spective. The plane of homology represents itself, and
the center of perspective represents itself. One other
point can be taken arbitrarily to represent a given point.
There is a vanishing plane, parallel to the plane of homol-
ogy, which represents the portions of space at an infinite
distance.
relief-valve (re-lef 'valv), n. 1. In a steam-en-
gine, a valve through which the water escapes
into the hot-well when shut off from the boiler.
— 2. A valve set to open at a given presbore
of steam, air, or water; a safety-valve. — 3, A
valve for automatically admitting air to a cask
when the liquid in it is withdrawn.
relief-work (re-lef'w6rk), n. Work in road-
making, the construction of public buildings,
or the like, put in hand for the purpose of af-
fording employment to the poor in times of pub-
lic distress. [Eng.]
Those, . . whobelievethatanyemploymentgivenbythe
guardians on rAief-warks would be wasteful and Injurious
may find that the entire question is one of administration,
and that such work proved a success in Manchester dur-
ing the cotton famine. CofOemporary See., LIIL 61.
relier (re-li'6r), n. [< rely"^ + -eri.] One who
relies or places confidence.
My friends [are] no reliers on my fortunes.
Fletcher, Tamer Tamed, L 8.
relievable (re-le'va-bl), a. [< relieve + -aUe."]
Capable of being relieved; fitted to receive re-
lief.
Neither can they, as to reparation, hold plea of things
wherein the party is relievaele by common law.
SirM. Hale.
^ _ . ^. HP.
Pg. relevar'= It. nJware,' lift up, relieve, < L.
relevare, lift up, raise, make light, lighten, re-
lieve, alleviate, lessen, ease, comfort, < re-,
again, -f levare, lift: see levant\ levity, etc.,
and ef. relief, relevant, etc.] I. trans. If. To
lift up ; set up a second time ; hence, to collect;
assemble.
Supposing ever, though we sore smerte,
To be releved by him afterward.
Chaiicer, Prol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, L 319.
That that deth doun bronhte deth shal relme.
Piers Plovmum (C), xxL MB.
relieve
2. To remove, -wholly or partially, as anything
that depresses, weighs down, pains; oppiesses,
€te.; mitigate; alleviate; lessen.
Misery . . . never relieved by any.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, I. 708.
1 cannot behold a beggar without relieving his necessi-
ties with my purse, or his soul with my prayers.
Sir T. Browne, Keligio Medici, ii. 13.
Accident In some measure relieved our embarrassment.
Goldsmith, Vicar, vil
3. To free, wholly or partly, from pain, grief,
want, anxiety, trouble, encnmbranee, or any-
thing that is considered to be an evil ; give ease,
comfort, or consolation to; help; aid; support;
succor: as, to relieve the poor and needy.
He relieveth the fatherless and widow. Ps. cxItL 9.
And to remember the lady's love
That last reliev'd you out of pine.
Tmmg Beiehan and Sime Pye (Child% Ballads, IV. 8).
The pain we feel prompts us to relieve ourselves in re-
lieving those who suSer. BurJCe, Sublime and BeautifuL
4. Speolfioally, to bring efficient help to (a be-
sieged place) ; raise the siege of.
The King of Scots, with the Duke of Gloucester, about
the 8th of July besieged Dreux; which agreed, it It were
not relieved Dy the twentieth of that Month, then to sur-
render it. Baker, Chronicles, p. 176.
5. To release from a post, station, task, or
duty by substituting another person or party;
put another in the place of, or take the place of,
in the performance of any duty, the bearing of
any burden, or the like : as, to reUeve a sentinel
or guard.
Mar, Farewell, honest soldier.
Who bath relieved you?
Fran. Bernardo has my place.
Sltak., Hamlet, i. 1. 17.
6. To ease of any burden, wrong, or oppression
by judicial or legislative interposition, by in-
demnification for losses, or the like; right. — 7.
To give assistance to ; support.
Parallels or like relations alternately iie2£et>e each other,
when neither will pass asunder, yet they are plausible to-
gether. Sir T. Brorume.
8. To mitigate; lessen; soften.
Not a lichen relievee the scintillating whiteness of those
skeleton cliffs. Harper's Mag., LXV. 197.
9. To g^ve relief or prominence to, literally
or figuratively; hence, to give contrast to;
heighten the e-f ect or interest of, by contrast
or variety.
The poet must take care not to encumber his poem with
too much business ; but sometimes to relieve the subject
with a moral reflection.
Addieon, Essay on Virgil's Georgics.
The vegetation against which the ruined colonnades
are relierved consists almost wholly of almond and olive
trees, * • • both enhancing the warm tints of the stone.
J. A, Synumde, Italy and Greece, p. 189.
RellGTlnS arch. Same as arch of discharge (which see,
under archl). — Relieving officer, in England, a salaried
official appomted by the board of guardians of a poor-law
union to superintend the relief of the poor in the parish
or district. He receives applications for relief, inquires
into facts, and ascertains whether the case is or is not
within the conditions required by the law. He visits the
houses of the applicants in order to pursue his Inquiries,
and gives immediate relief in urgent cases. — Relieving
tacUes. See taci:2e.— To relieve nature. See nature. —
To relieve of, to take from ; free from : said of that which
is burdensome.
He shook hands with none until he had helped Miss
Brown to unfurl her umbrella, [and] had relieved her of
her prayer-book. Mrs. QaskeU, Cranford L
=Syn. 2. Mitigate, Assuage, etc. (see alleviate); diminish,
lighten.
Il.f intrans. To rise ; arise.
As soon as I might I releved up again.
Lamentation ofMairy Magdalene, st. 29.
Thane relevis the renkes of the ronnde table
Be the riche revare, that rynnys so f aire.
Marts Arfhure (E. E. T. S.\ I. 2278.
At eche i^me that he [Fiolle] didde rdeve, he [Galashln]
smote hym with his swerde to ground^ that his men wende
wele that he hadde be deed. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iil 397.
relievementt (rf-lev'ment), n. [= F. reUve-
ment = Pr. relevament = It. rileBamento, < ML.
relevamentwm, relieving, relief, < releoare, re-
lieve : see relieve."] The act of relieving, or the
state of being relieved, in any sense ; that which
mitigates or lightens ; relief.
His [Robert's] delay yields the King time to confirm
him Friends, under-work his Enemies, and make himself
strong with the English, which he did by granting relaxa-
tion of tribute, with other relievements at their doleances.
DanM, Hist. Eng., p. 53.
reliever (re-le'v6r), n. [< relieve + -cri.] 1.
One who or that which relieves or gives relief.
O welcome, my reliever;
Arlstins, as thou lov'st me, ransom me.
B. Jonmn, Poetaster, Hi. 1.
It acts In three ways , . . (2) as a rrffetier of congestion.
Lancet, TSo. 3149, p. 3 of Adv'ts.
rdit suddenly, and glowed warm in her
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xvilL
5063
2. In gun., an iron ring fixed to a handle by
means of a socket, whi(3i serves to disengage
the searcher of a gun when one of its points
is retained in a hole. — 3. A garment kept for
being lent out. [Slang.]
In some sweating places there is an old coat kept called
the reliever, and this is borrowed by such men as have
none of their own to go out in.
Eingsley, Cheap Clothes and Nasty. {Davies.)
relievo, n. See rilievo.
relict (re-lif), V. [< re- + lighfi.'] I. trans.
1. To light anew; illuminate again.
His power can heal me and relight my eye. Pope.
2. To rekindle ; set on fire again.
H. intrans. To bum again; rekindle; take
fire again.
The desire
heart.
religieuse (re-le-zhi-6z'), n. [< F. religieuse
(f em. of religiemc), a religious woman, a nun,
= Sp. Pg. It. fem. religiosa, < L. re-{rel-)Ugi-
osa, fem. of reUgiosus, religious : see religiotis.']
A nun.
religieux (re-le-zhi-e'), TO.; pi. religietix. [< F.
reUgieux, n. and a., religious, a religious per-
son, esp. a monk: see religioiis.'] One who is
engaged by vows to follow a certain rule of life
authorized by the church; a member of a mo-
nastic order ; a monk.
religion (re-lij'gn), n. [< ME. reUgiun, reli-
gioun, < Oi'. religium, religion, F. religion = Pr.
religio, religion = Sp. religion = Pg. religiSo =
It. religkme = D. religie = G. Sw. Dan. religion,
< L. religio{n-), relligio(n-), reverence toward
the gods, fear of (Jod, piety, conscientious scru-
pulousness, religious awe, conscientiousness,
exactness ; origin uncertain, being disputed by
ancient writers themselves: (a) according to
Cicero, < relegere, go through or over again in
reading, speech, or thought ("qui omnia qua
ad cultiun deorum pertinerent diligenter re-
traotarent et tamquam relegerent sunt dicti re-
ligiosi ex relegendo, ut elegantes ex eligendo,"
etc. — (Scero, Nat. Deor.j ii. 28, 72), whence ppr.
religen\t-)s (rare), revermg the gods, pious (cf.
the opposite TOecMfl'e»(t-)s, negligent); ct.G/i.iiXi-
yeiv, reverence. (6) According to Servius, Lae-
tantius, Augustine, and others, and to the com-
mon modern view, < religare, bind back, bind
fast, as if 'obligation' (of. obligation, of same
radical origin), < re-, back, + ligare, bind: see
ligament, (c) < relegere, the same verb as in
(a) above, in the lit. sense 'gather again, col-
lect,' as if orig. 'a collection of religious formu-
las.' Words of religious use are e^ipecially lia-
ble to lose their literal meanings, and to take
on the aspect of sacred primitives, making it
difficult to trace or impossible to prove their
orig. meaning or formation.] 1. Eecognition
of and allegiance in manner of life to a super-
human power or superhuman powers, to whom
allegiance and service are regarded as justly
due.
One rising, eminent
In wise deport^ spake much of right and wrong.
Of justice, of religum, truth, and peace.
And judgment from above. Muton, P. L., zi. 667.
By Beligion I understand the belief and worship of Su-
preme Mind and Will, directing the universe and holding
moral relations with human life.
J. Martineau, A Study of Beligion, 1. 15.
By Bdigiori I mean the knowledge of God, of His Will,
and of our duties towards Him.
J. B. Newnum, Gram, of Assent, p. 378.
Beligion is the communion between a worshipping sub-
ject and a worshipped object — the communion of a man
with what he believes to be a god.
Faiths of the World, p. 345.
2. The healthful development and right life of
the spiritual nature, as contrasted with that of
the mere intellectual and social powers.
For religion, pure religion, I say, standeth not in wear-
ing of a moiik s cowl, but in righteousness, justice, and
well doing. Latimer, Sermons, p. 392.
Beligion is Christianity, which, being too spiritnal to be
seen by us, doth therefore take an apparent body of good
life and works, so salvation requires an honest Christian.
Donne, Letters, xxx.
Beligion, if we follow the intention of human thought
and human language in the use of the word, is ethics
heightened, enkindled, lit up by feeling; the passage
from morality to religion is made when to morality is
applied emotion. M. Arnold, literature and Dogma, i.
3. Any system of faith in and worship of a
divine Being or beings: as, the Christian reli-
gion ; the religion of the Jews, Greeks, Hindus,
or Mohammedans.
1?he church of Rome, they say, . . . did almost out of
all religions take whatsoever had any fair and gorgeous
show. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iv. 11.
religionism
After the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a
Pharisee. Acts xxvi 6.
No rdiffum binds men to be traitors.
B. Jonson, Catiline, ill. 2.
4t. The rites or services of religion ; the prac-
tice of sacred rites and ceremonies.
What she was pleased to believe apt to minister to her
devotions, and the religions of her pious and discerning
souL Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 7B6.
The invisible
Glory of him that made them to transform
Oft to the image of a brute adorn'd
With gay religions full of pomp and gold.
MUUm, P. L., i 872.
5. The state of life of a professed member of
a regular monastic order : as, to enter religion;
her name in religion is Mary Aloysia: now es-
pecially in Boman Catholic use.
He[Dobet]iBlowea8alombe,andlouelicheof speche, . . .
And is ronne in-to religion, and rendreth bus byble^
And precbeth to the puple seynt Ponies wordes.
Piers Ploumum (C), xi 88.
And thus when that thei were counselled,
In black clothes thei them clothe,
The dongbter and the lady both.
And yolde hem to religion.
Gower, Conf. Amant., viiL
He buryed Bedewere
Hys frend and hys Botyler,
And so he dude other Echon
In Abbeys of Bdygyoun
That were cristien of name.
Arthur (ed. Fumivall), L 488.
6. A conscientious scruple; scrupulosity. [Ob-
solete or provincial.]
Out of a religion to my charge^
And debt professed,! have made a self-decree
Ne'er to express my person.'
B. Jonson, New Inn, L 1.
Its [a jelly's] acidity sharpens Mr. Wall's teeth as for
batfl& yef^ under the circumstances, he makes a rdigUm
of eatmg it. W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 199.
7. Sense of obligation; conscientiousness;
sense of duty.
Bos. Keep your promise.
Orl. With no less religum than if thou wert indeed my
IU)salind. Shak., As you Like it, iv. 1. 20L
Established religion, that form of religion in a country
which is recognized and sanctioned by the state. See es-
tablishment, 6.— Evidences of revealed religion. See
evidences of Christianity, under Christianity. — Experi-
mental religion. See experimental. — Natural rell- ,
glon, that knowledge of and reverent feeling toward God,
and that knowledge and practice of our duties toward our
fellow-men, which is based on and derived from nature,
apart from revelation. — Religion of Humanity. See
positive philosophy, under positive. — Revealed religion,
that knowledge of God and right feeling toward him,
and that recognition and practice of duty toward our
fellow-men, which is derived from and based upon posi-
tive revelation. — To experience religion. See experi-
ervec—lo get religion. See peti.= Syn. 1. Religion,
Devotion, Pi.ety, Sanctity, SainUiness, Godliness, Holiness,
Beligiosity. in the subjective aspect of these words
religion is the most general, as It may be also the most
formal or external; In this sense it is the place of the
win and character of God in the heart, so that they are
the principal object of regard and the controlling in-
fluence. Devotion and piety have most of fervor. De-
votion is a religion that consecrates itself, being both
a close attention to God with complete inward subjec-
tion and an equal attention to the duties of religion.
Piety is religion under the aspect of filial feeling and con-
duct, the former being the primary idea. Sanctity is gen-
erally used objectively ; subjectively it is the same as
holiness. Sainiliness is more concrete than sanctity, more
distinctly a quality of a person, likeness to a saint, ripe-
ness for heaven. Godliness is higher than saintliness; it
is likeness to God, or the endeavor to attain such Uke-
ness, fixed attention given immediately to God, especially
obedience to his will and endeavor to copy his character.
Holiness is the most absolute of these words; it is moral
and religious wholeness, completeness, or something ap-
proaching so near to absolute freedom &om sin as to make
the word appropriate; it includes not only being free
from sin, but refusing it and hating it for its own sake.
Beligiosity is not a very common nor a very euphonious
word, but seems to meet a felt want by expressing a sus-
ceptibility tq the sentiments of religion, awe, reverence,
admiration for the teachings of religion, etc., without
much disposition to obey its commands.
religionary (re-lij'on-a-ri), a. and TO. [< P. re-
ligionnaire = Sp. Pg. It. religiona/rio ; as religion
+ -ary.] I, a. 1. Relating to religion. — 2t.
Pious.
His [Bishqp Saundersbn's] religionary professions in his
last will and testament contain something like prophet-
ical matter. Bp. Barlow, Remains, p. 638.
II. n.; pi. religionaries (-riz). Same as reli-
gionist. [Bare.]
religioner (re-lij'on-6r), n. [< P. religionnaire
= Sp. religionario, a religionist, < NL. *reUgi-
onarius, < L. religio{n-), religion: see religion.']
A religionist. [Bare.]
These new-fashioned religioners have fast-days.
Scott, Monastery, xxv.
religionise, v. See religionize.
religionism (re-Hj'on-izm), n. [< 
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